Six years ago, on a dark and windswept spring evening, “former Sunderland winger” Andy Welsh popped up in the box at the standless north end of BMO Field’s plastic pitch to head in the only goal of the game against the Houston Dynamo.
Wild celebrations ensued and carried on the rest of the evening. Only four days after the infamous seat cushions that accompanied the club’s first goal TFC had won back-to-back home games and defeated the reigning MLS Champions. Soccer had arrived in T.O., the party had only started, and if that plucky little team could beat the champs then maybe, just maybe, they’d be able to push on and compete for a playoff spot over the rest of the season.
As it turned out, things all went a little Toronto after that: Houston ended up winning a second straight championship while the Reds eventually succeeded in establishing a league record goalless streak, didn’t win a game between July 4th and October 4th, and finished the season in last place overall.
Really, the Houston Dynamo are the anti-TFC.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
Those previously mentioned back-to-back championships in the team’s first two seasons were followed by playoff appearances in all but one year of the club’s history, a trip to the Western Conference Final in 2009, and now back-to-back Eastern Conference Championships in 2011 and 2012. Now they head to Toronto after only just breaking the MLS record for consecutive games unbeaten at home in all competitions. The Dynamo haven’t lost at home since June 18th, 2011 and have never lost at their new BBVA Compass Arena.
Granted, being the relocated San Jose Earthquakes means the Dynamo were never a true expansion team but for the fans, the ones watching in the stands and on television, that doesn’t change the fact that the club they follow has nearly always been a serious contender in Major League Soccer.
Over that whole time there have been two constants in Houston: Brad Davis and Dominic Kinnear.
Looking over the line-ups from the game where Andy Welsh scored his winner back in 2007 is a trip down memory lane for TFC fans who’ve been there since the beginning. Names like Sutton, Wynne, Brennan, Robinson, Edu, and Pozniak conjure memories of a team that supporters embraced even if the ultimately achieved very little. What’s striking though is how few of the players from that Toronto FC team are even active in professional football anymore let alone MLS.
Houston on the other hand was a team capable of leaving players like Patrick Ianni, Corey Ashe, and a certain Chris Wondolowski on the bench. Stuart Holden, who would eventually leave for England, came on as a substitute. Ricardo Clark, Brian Mullan, and Dwayne De Rosario were there to support the face of the franchise Brian Ching.
And there, right in the middle of the line-up, is the name Brad Davis.
While I’m sure he was well known to close observers of the league I must admit that I don’t really recall being aware of Davis when I headed to BMO Field that evening. Of course, by the end of the season it would be his left footed cross from the right hand side that set-up De Rosario’s MLS Cup winning goal in the final. He has since gone on to become one of the most prolific assist creators in MLS history and, even more than Ching, the player fans around the league most associate with the Dynamo.
Even last weekend he was instrumental in Houston’s record setting victory over the Chicago Fire. After beating his man on the left he whipped in a delicious ball to assist on the Dynamo’s first goal and, in the second half, scored the game winner by popping up on the right to curl an inswinging left-footed cross that eluded everyone to nestle in the back of the net. For his performance he beat out TFC keeper Joe Bendik for MLS Player of the Week honours.
The man picking Brad Davis for the Dynamo line-up has not changed over the last six years either. Where Toronto has had eight Houston has had one; Dominic Kinnear has been their head coach for the club’s entire existence.
In fact, Kinnear was not even hired as coach of the Dynamo. The longest tenured head coach in MLS was promoted from assistant by the San Jose Earthquakes to succeed Frank Yallop and moved with the entire franchise when they relocated for the 2006 season.
Undoubtedly, there is some Dynamo fan somewhere who is unhappy with Kinnear as head coach. The complaints would be predictable: his team doesn’t play with enough style, he’s picking the wrong players, why won’t he spend money on stars, and the club hasn’t actually won a trophy since 2007.
To that fan’s dismay Kinnear’s record of success, referenced above, makes him virtually bulletproof. The style of his teams might not be flashy but it has evolved over time and brought results with remarkable consistency.
It’s a system that nurtures young players like fullback Kofi Sarkodie and striker Will Bruin and lets the 2011 draft picks emerge into roles as regular starters before expectations are set too high. It can take an unheralded journeyman like Scot Adam Moffat and turn him into a regular starter in central midfield on a good MLS team. Critics of Ryan Nelsen’s reliance on Jeremy Hall and Terry Dunfield should take note.
Whether the faith shown in Kinnear is a cause or result of his success may be an unanswerable question but the consistency of approach is a credit to his leadership and that of the entire Dynamo organization. Toronto fans can barely imagine Ryan Nelsen being in charge in 2015 let alone 2019.
Now, none of this is to say that Toronto FC can’t be successful against the Dynamo on Saturday.
While Nelsen again deals with selection issues on his backline due to injuries and suspensions TFC is fortunate that they likely won’t have to face Kinnear’s newest sensation Oscar Boniek Garcia. The tricky and powerful Honduran midfielder was one of the best mid-season signings in the league last year but is currently listed as questionable due to Achilles tendonitis.
In his absence it becomes even more a question of shutting down Davis and limiting his influence on the game. So often, as Davis goes, so go the Dynamo.
And, in the end, if Andy Welsh could score a winner with his head in 2007 there’s no reason Hogan Ephraim couldn’t in 2013.