and I mean, everybody -- was just starting to listen to "Hey Ya!" by OutKast, and Will Ferrell was running around in green tights in Elf.
For Houston Dynamo, it must seem like a lifetime ago.
Back then, the club was not only located in the Bay Area, but a move wasn't even in the cards. Alexi Lalas hadn't even started his reign as president and general manager of the Earthquakes. Frank Yallop was the head coach with Dominic Kinnear as his right-hand man. Landon Donovan was the team's star player and Dwayne De Rosario wasn't even a starter. And the leaders of the team were Jeff Agoos and Richard Mulrooney.
While the feel of Dynamo is similar to those memorable Earthquakes sides from earlier in the decade -- largely in part to the continuity in play with Kinnear taking over for his good friend, Yallop, before the 2004 season -- this is not the same group that won the 2003 MLS Cup.
This Dynamo team is, in essence, comprised of many cast-offs from other teams around the league. It is a locker room filled with players who did not, for one reason or another, achieve the same level of success at their previous clubs or, in some cases, never got the proper opportunities. Most famously, Brian Ching and Brian Mullan were afterthoughts in Los Angeles before blossoming into two of the top players in MLS on this team. Pat Onstad, the oldest player in Major League Soccer at 38, was in the A-League before winning a pair of Goalkeeper of the Year awards with the Quakes. Brad Davis was looked upon as an incredible talent, but one who had underachieved before Kinnear gave him a shot with his third team in four years before the start of the 2005 season. Even Ricardo Clark upped his game when he came aboard last year after two promising years as a young player with the MetroStars.
In many ways, a victory against the New England Revolution on Sunday would be just. It would justify the tough, tough move the players and coaches were forced to make from California to Texas last winter. It would justify the confusing times they experienced at the beginning of the team's tenure in Houston when a name change was in order. And it would also be sweet revenge for several players who were unhappy with their old teams before joining the club.
The fact that they get to do it in front of what Kinnear expects to be several thousand orange-clad fans traveling up to Frisco from Houston as well as those making the flight down to Texas from northern California makes it a unique situation.
"We haven't left the San Jose fans behind," said Kinnear, who grew up in the Bay Area. "Our memories of San Jose are still fond and not far away. We have two groups of fans and we've been embraced by fans in two cities. Hopefully we'll see some Earthquakes jerseys in the stands Sunday as well."
Despite a home-field advantage of sorts, winning their first MLS Cup title as Dynamo won't come easy, though. After D.C. United, only the New England Revolution has failed to compile as many points as Houston/San Jose has over the past two seasons. This matchup also represents the heavyweight title fight that everyone seemed to want to see last year after both teams were top seeds in their respective conferences heading into the playoffs. New England held up its end of the bargain and reached last year's MLS Cup, but Kinnear's side faltered against eventual champion L.A. Galaxy.
Just as it would have in 2005, intriguing matchups and storylines exist all over the field when you look at these two teams.
From the Dynamo perspective, the prospect of facing Taylor Twellman and Pat Noonan cannot be something to look forward to, especially after watching the two hook-up, once again, for a goal-scorer's goal by Twellman last Sunday against D.C. United. When they are both in form, there might not be two players in MLS who function in tandem as well as these two St. Louis boys. This should pose quite a test for a back four that could be rearranged to makeup for the absence of Ricardo Clark in the midfield (Adrian Serioux or Kelly Gray could slide into Clark's holding role). Eddie Robinson will surely muscle up to Twellman, while either Serioux or Ryan Cochrane will likely see more of Noonan, who likes to drift out to the right side on occasion where Wade Barrett will have to deal with him.
Speaking of St. Louis, how about the potential battle between Steve Ralston and Brad Davis on their side of the midfield? The two were teammates on the CONCACAF Gold Cup-winning U.S. national team last summer and are good friends out of the same youth club in Missouri. Ralston spoke of taking Davis on a few hunting and fishing expeditions during this upcoming offseason, but he knows he'll have to be wary of the Houston's left-sided midfielder when they matchup on Sunday.
"He's got such a great left foot when crossing the ball," said Ralston. "You can't give him any room to shoot because he can just smash the ball. We have to be really careful giving away free kicks around the box because he is deadly on those, as well. I think he's really improved on his defensive work. He's gotten much better just getting back and tackling. He's playing really well right now."
Ralston singled out Davis, but it would be easier to point out those who are not playing well for Houston than those who are. Ever since going down 2-1 on the road against Chivas USA three weeks ago, last year's Supporters' Shield winners have looked like the class of the league. Ching and Paul Dalglish have partnered well up top, combining for four goals in the playoffs, and Mullan has been exceptional on the right flank opposite Davis on the left. De Rosario has remained as the central figure in it all, forcing opposing holding midfielders and defenses to adjust to his runs and playmaking out of the midfield. The defense has broken down probably more than Kinnear and his staff would like recently, but Onstad has usually been up to the challenge, which is nothing new.
Since neither team has any holes and is hardly shocked to be in this game, it'll likely come down to which of the target strikers can get their head onto a cross at the right time. Ching is having the best year of his career and poses a size matchup for the Revolution's steady center back Michael Parkhurst, yet Twellman has a flair for the dramatic and is driven to erase more than 200 minutes of being held scoreless in MLS Cup matches.
If it's someone else for Houston, expect it to be De Rosario, a man who knows a little something about scoring goals in MLS Cup Finals, not to mention winning titles. Should he once again come up big with everything on the line, it'll be difficult not to think back to his days wearing the blue and white of the Earthquakes, and celebrating with Donovan, Agoos and Mulrooney among others -- just three short years ago.
Marc Connolly is the managing editor of ussoccerplayers.com and regularly writes for MLSnet.com. Marc can be reached at marc@oakwoodsoccer.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
