Last weekend, I looked at the MLS Cup playoff schedule and noticed something interesting. Three days after the MLS Cup Final, the Houston Dynamo has one last CONCACAF Champions League match, a home tie against Luis Angel Firpo of El Salvador, which was postponed because of Hurricane Ike. Houston has to win that in order to advance to the knockout stage and salvage any semblance of pride for MLS in this competition.
However, Houston sent its reserves to San Salvador to face L.A. Firpo two weeks ago, so as not to wear down the starters in advance of the playoffs. It seemed like Houston was as ambivalent about this Champions League as everyone else in MLS, and all that matter was winning a third MLS Cup in a row.
Their plan backfired spectacularly. The New York Red Bulls, a bizarre wild card in the Western Conference playoff bracket, gave the Dynamo a 3-0 beating and eliminated them from the playoffs. The Red Bulls will face Real Salt Lake in the conference final at Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday night, thus guaranteeing that only a few hundred people outside of New Jersey or Utah will see MLS’ new crown jewel stadium.
Meanwhile, the Columbus Crew host the Chicago Fire on Thursday in the Eastern Conference Final, and if Chicago wins, Houston will not get a bid to the Champions League next season. Columbus already has a bid because it won the Supporters Shield, so if the Crew wins, Houston gets in based on its regular season record.
With all this in mind, will the Dynamo care a little more about this last Champions League match on their calendar? Will they want to jump into a knockout stage with four in-form Mexican sides in late February, more than a month before the MLS season begins? Or will the Dynamo go into the tank on November 26 and focus on retooling its roster for the next MLS season, especially since there’s talk that Brian Ching and Dwayne DeRosario will be playing elsewhere in 2009?
I’d like to see the Dynamo go for it, but I’m not about to hold my breath waiting for that. This is MLS we’re talking about here. Only in America does a domestic league take precedence over a continental competition. You don’t see Tottenham Hotspur tanking in the UEFA Cup to get themselves out of the relegation zone.
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1 Will the Dynamo start to care about the CONCACAF Champions League? - The Run of Play // Nov 11, 2008 at 3:31 pm
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2 bford // Nov 11, 2008 at 10:38 pm
The Dynamo were in a huge string of games when they sent their reserves.. and truth is.. if you watched the game.. they outplayed the other team.. but never could get the second goal. They finally gave up the tying goal with just a few minutes remaining.
There were also some first team players there, but they were mostly backups.
They played great and almost pulled off the win. They will have their starting eleven ready for the next game and were planning on playing them no matter how the MLS playoffs were going. It’s a home game, it won’t be hard to get to and they will be well rested.
I doubt both Ching and DeRo are gone next year.