Aloha from Hawaii, where things are looking very good for the Men in Orange: They have not lost a single game this pre-season, and after four games played, the defense has yet to allow a goal.
If preseason games can be described as "meaningful," the Dynamo will have their most meaningful contest of 2008 so far this Saturday night (early Sunday morning for all of our readers in Houston), when they take on Gamba Osaka in the final of the inaugural Pan Pacific Championship. The Dynamo will be playing for a nice, shiny trophy, a nice little purse and bragging rights as champions of the Pacific.
Let's backtrack a little, however, to Wednesday night's game between Houston and Sydney FC, where the Dynamo definitely looked like the team to beat in this competition.
Here are a few little snippets of information to give you a glimpse of what happened behind the scenes:
• In the 27th minute, Dwayne De Rosario scored what can safely be described as the goal of the tournament with a right-footed blast from 30 yards out that left Sydney FC goalkeeper Clint Bolton not knowing what had hit him. Here is De Ro's description of his goal:
"I just saw the opportunity to hit the ball and took it. Earlier, I had hit a shot with my left foot that hit the cross bar. I got another opportunity to shoot and said, 'Why not?' Luckily it went in. We've worked hard and gotten the chance to start our pre-season on a winning note, and now it's all about looking forward to Saturday and bringing another championship to Houston."
• Speaking of De Ro, if you paid attention to the way he celebrated his goal, you could argue that his was a very particular rendition of the Hula dance. It was, as he would describe it, "Hula dance with a little bit of Reggae mixed into it. It flowed like water." Whatever happened to his traditional way of celebrating goals?
"It was a little tribute to Chingy and to the people of Hawaii. I thought about it (on Tuesday) and said, 'If I score (on Wednesday), that's what I am going to do.' I did it, and it definitely needs a little touch-up. Hopefully, Brian can show me the right way of doing it."
• Chingy wasn't all that into it, though.
"It was a horrible attempt at Hula," said Ching. "I have only one word to describe it: 'Disgusting.'"
• Ching was definitely the man of the hour. He was not only the hometown boy coming back to play in front of family and friends after more than a decade, but he also had something to do, directly or indirectly, with all three goals. On top of that, he had plenty of support in the stands, where about 250 people cheered him on.
"It was awesome. It was very exciting from the start of the game to the way we finished it. The whole thing was just something special for me. We definitely had a good time, and I hope those cheering for me also had a good time. Hopefully we can come back on Saturday and make more noise."
• Wednesday was also a special night for first-year player Geoff Cameron, who made his first appearance with the first team just over a month after being selected in the third round MLS SuperDraft. Also joining the first team on the pitch for the first time in their careers were second-year midfielder Erik Ustruck and third-year midfielder Mike Chabala.
"It wasn't what I had expected," said Cameron. "I normally play as a midfielder, and when the opportunity came, (Dominic Kinnear) said, 'What do you think about going up top?' I wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to play. This has been a dream of mine ever since I first started playing soccer. Having 15,000 fans being there watching you play is a chilling moment. Now I have to keep moving, I've got to keep plugging along and working hard to eventually get a spot on the starting 11."
This Thursday, the players are enjoying a well-deserved day off. They will regroup tomorrow with a training session and a reserve-squad scrimmage against the Los Angeles Galaxy reserves at the Waipio Peninsula Sports Complex. Check back to houstondynamo.com for further updates.
