Dynamo forward Brian Ching took some time before last Thursday's game against FC Dallas to answer questions about SuperLiga, MLS play, and more. Here's what he had to say:
The Dynamo are three points behind the leader Los Angeles Galaxy, you play FC Dallas then Real Salt Lake who lead the Dynamo by one point. How do you feel the team is playing going into these matches? What is the goal before the All-Star break?
These two games are real important, they are conference games and if you look at our conference it's pretty tight right now. Chivas USA is a point behind us, Real Salt Lake is a point ahead of us and Los Angeles is within striking distance. This little stretch can have a pretty big impact on where we finish the rest of the season. We have that in mind; we have a lot of home games we are looking forward to. We hope we can play better than we have the first third of the season. Hopefully we can come out of this stretch near the top if not at the top.
You have been scoring at an amazing pace over the last few weeks. Clearly that has been a factor in your involvement with the US national team. How different is it scoring with the Dynamo as opposed to the national team? Does one help lead to the other?
For sure, I think it's important to score for my club team, hopefully that gets me called up to the national team. First of all I just want to score for the Dynamo because we just want to win. We know we are a good team that is underachieving this year and we are looking to turn that around. You know, any time you can put the ball in the back of the net it only helps getting called up again.
Last year the Dynamo lost on penalty kicks to the eventual champion Pachuca, does coming so close give the team extra motivation?
I think it's just about winning. Our franchise loves to win and hates to lose. Any competition we enter we want to win. Outside of the MLS Cup, we haven't won too many trophies. We feel we have to do it if we want to become one of the franchises in MLS. It's something that's on our minds and something we are going to try and do this year. Pachuca is a great team and they played a good tournament, all credit to them. Hopefully we can turn things around this year, get to the final and win it.
How do you feel about playing Mexican powerhouse Chivas de Guadalajara? How about D.C. United, which sits at a very similar position as the Dynamo in the league?
Those are two difficult games. Playing D.C. in D.C. and then Chivas is hard. They are traditionally strong clubs and playing them takes a lot out of us. I don't think we have the same depth as some of the Mexican league teams. It's also a lot of games I think that affects us. We are going into some games not that fresh and with tired legs. That's going to affect the outcome of some games, especially when we are playing in the heat of summer. It's maybe a little more difficult for us and it might make us plays a little differently. We are going to have to pick and choose are moments to go and conserve our energy when we can.
As an American player, how important are these international club competitions? How about playing against clubs from Mexico, the United States' closest rival?
Well, it's fun. These are things you look forward to. You play against high quality opponents. I think if MLS wants to grow, our teams have to start doing well in competitions like this against Mexican Clubs. It's a small step right now, but hopefully we can eventually play against other leagues and in other tournaments.
The Houston Dynamo make their debut in this year's SuperLiga on July 12 at Robertson Stadium when they host Atlante.
