Two weeks ago, Houston Dynamo thought they were dead and buried, sitting in second place in the Western Conference. After their 2-1 loss against the Los Angeles Galaxy, walking into the Houston locker room felt like going to a funeral.
But, with Chivas USA tying and losing their last two games and Dynamo's win at Real Salt Lake on Monday, Houston has breathed new life into its season and have a chance to capture first place in the conference Saturday night when they take on Chivas at The Home Depot Center.
"Actually, after (the L.A.) game, it was a funeral," said Dynamo defender Craig Waibel. "We had buried our hopes of winning the Western Conference. That's why it felt like that in there. We know what we had let slip. To our ... little bit of luck and a lot of hard work from other teams, they've given us a chance to get it back."
Saturday's matchup will decide the West with Dynamo needing a win, while Chivas needs to just tie. For the Orange, the Western Conference regular season championship would be nice, but home-field advantage throughout the playoffs is more important.
"Home-field advantage (is most important)," said Dynamo goalkeeper Pat Onstad. "I think Chivas is in the same boat. The most important thing is to get home field throughout the Western Conference playoffs. We saw how important it was for us last year. The fact that we were able to host the Western Conference final even though we finished second made a world of difference for us. I think if we can do that again, it makes it very difficult for teams to come through here and make it to the (MLS Cup)."
Houston will go into the game missing three key members of their squad as midfielder Ricardo Clark continues to sit out due to his nine-game suspension, and defenders Ryan Cochrane and Eddie Robinson will sit out due to yellow card accumulation.
Young players have continued to step up for Dynamo this season as second-year midfielder Stuart Holden scored the game's only goal against RSL on Monday with forward Brian Ching and midfielder Dwayne De Rosario missing from the lineup.
Houston head coach Dominic Kinnear said rookie defender Patrick Ianni probably will start in one defender position and Waibel might start as another center back to fill the two holes.
"We understand the importance of the game," Kinnear said. "But, look at the Salt Lake game. No Ricardo, no Dwayne, no Brian and the guys were able to handle it. We go into this game knowing no Ricardo, no Eddie and no Ryan, so it's still the same attitude. I think the guys are attentive enough to other people's play to understand what's expected at each position. I think that we have confidence in each other and know there is no need to panic."
This weekend there are a lot more games that will decide who makes the postseason and who goes home in MLS. The Chivas-Houston matchup is just the icing on the cake for some.
"I'm a dinosaur in this league, and I don't remember a weekend this important," Waibel said. "There has never been a time when I can remember five teams fighting for a playoff spot and two teams fighting for first place in the Western Conference. This is fun. It starts the playoffs a week early to be honest. That's kind of nice. After five and a half to six months, we need that because the guys are tired and running on low fumes."
The importance of Saturday is not lost on anyone in the Dynamo locker room. They understand that first place in the West would mean the path to the MLS Cup would have to go through Houston. That's the way they want it.
"You want to finish as high as you can," Kinnear said. "We've said that all through the year, and we aren't going to back away from that. You want to feel good about where we are mentally and physically going into the playoffs. We are going into the game to win, and we want to come out on top. We were lucky to get home-field throughout the playoffs last year, and it worked out great for us. Fans here were fantastic. It means that if you are fortunate enough to get through the first round, you have another game at home and it gives you an advantage."
Jeremy Rakes is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
