After a storybook ending to the 2006 season, the 2006 MLS Cup Champion Houston Dynamo has returned to the practice fields. While most MLS teams are still on vacation, the Men in Orange have decided to kick the 2007 season off early, and with good reason.
Members from all media outlets in Houston were present at the team's training session, the first one for a team that will attempt to be the first organization since 1997 to win back-to-back MLS Cup Titles. However, due to the intensity of their schedule, the Dynamo need to get in shape...quickly.
"We know we have four tournaments that we will be participating in this year (MLS regular season, U.S. Open Cup, CONCACAF Champions Cup, and SuperLiga), so we want to be ready and in shape to do well in each of them", said Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear. "As in every tournament we play, we want to go and give it our best and win. Hopefully this year will be an even better season than the last one."
The first training session of the year was light, and with reason: the period of inactivity for the team was a long one (21/2 months), and the team needs a little bit of time to get back into playing shape. During the first half of practice, the team warmed up with various drills, only to finish up today's session with an inter-squad scrimmage.
"It feels good to get back, especially after the kind of season we had last year. Our goal is once again to win the whole thing. We know it's going to be hard, we know it's going to be difficult, but I believe we have the right people to do it. This team never quits, and this season is going to be the ultimate test of wills, with everything we've got going on", said Dynamo forward Brian Ching.
The team will start competing on February 21, when it faces off against Central American Champion Puntarenas FC of Costa Rica, at "Lito" Perez Stadium. The task at hand will not be easy, but getting a good result will be pivotal to the team's aspirations of moving on to the tournament's second round.
"We feel confident. We're back early, we have enough time to prepare, so we should not have much trouble in being ready for Puntarenas", said Dynamo forward Dwayne De Rosario. "We don't know much about them, other than the fact that they are a good team. It should be an interesting matchup."
The Dynamo is scheduled to open its regular season on Sunday, April 8, at Robertson Stadium against the Los Angeles Galaxy. The rest of the schedule will be released within the next few weeks.
