After many weeks of pleasant temperatures and the fortunate lack of monsoon rain, the Houston Dynamo are starting to feel the effects of springtime in south Texas.
Temperatures are warming into the 80s and those low clouds signaling a suffocating humidity welcomed the team home from a bittersweet trip to Los Angeles last weekend.
The Dynamo had to settle for a 2-2 tie after twice leading by a goal, making the trip less than satisfying and making the search for the elusive first win all the more intense.
After four league matches, the team has scored just five goals en route to an 0-1-3 record as the league's only winless team.
Also missing from any Houston boxscore is the presence of Brian Ching and Dwayne De Rosario who both are still looking for their first goals of the season.
Last year, the pair combined to score 13 of the teams 46 goals and added 19 assists to those numbers. And Stuart Holden, who recorded five goals and five assists in 2007, is still looking for his first point.
Franco Caraccio, who has scored twice in four league matches, is picking up the slack and keeping the Dynamo in the race with his timely strikes.
He said the lack of scoring overall is not something to worry about this early in the season.
"That is just some of the things that shape the sport of soccer," Caraccio said. "That is just the way the sport is. Maybe it is me that is scoring today. Tomorrow, it could be any one of those other guys."
There is more of a problem with the bigger picture, the rookie said.
"We are not winning," said Caraccio. "I would rather be winning. I would rather be not scoring goals and seeing this team have success on the field and win."
The Dynamo will get a chance to stop the season-opening slide in Columbus as they will take on the surprising Crew in Ohio.
Brad Davis and Geoff Cameron are the only other players to score for the Dynamo this season, and the team got an own-goal in a 3-3 tie against FC Dallas on April 6.
Head coach Dominic Kinnear, whose team will complete a season-high tying three-match road trip Saturday, is not overly concerned about the lack of punch from players like Ching and De Rosario.
In fact, he is more pleased with others stepping up when the opposition is perhaps more focused on keeping the ball away from Ching and De Rosario.
"Dwayne and Brian are a huge part of our attack, as we know and as all the teams in this league have come to know," Kinnear said. "Because of that, those teams focus on them and prepare for that and their game plan is to cancel them out.
"And because of that, you are going to need some other people to score some goals and so far, I am very happy with the balanced attack. I have been happy with the contribution."
Richard Mulrooney is still looking for his first points of the season as well. He had a team-high tying five assists with Holden in 2007 and was an integral part of the team that won its second consecutive title with a win against the New England Revolution in the MLS Cup Final.
Mulrooney said the balanced attack to this point will only help the team as the season progresses. The team lost some punch with Nate Jaqua and Joseph Ngwenya left to play in Europe, he said, but the early season scoring woes aren't for a lack of effort.
Contribution from everyone, he said, is paramount in today's MLS.
"If you just rely on one or two guys to get your goals, and they have an off day, who is going to get your goals," Mulrooney asked. "So, I think it is good that we are getting a balanced attack and it is just a matter of time before Ching or De Ro, whoever, catches fire, and we just start putting more goals in the back of the net."
Andrew J. Ferraro is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
