CHARLESTON, S.C. - As Houston Dynamo walked off the field at Blackbaud Stadium after Wednesday night's disappointing 1-1 draw with the Charleston Battery, there was the slightest hint of a change in the posture of both the Dynamo players and coaching staff.
Earlier in the week everyone had been loose, enjoying the warm South Carolina Lowcountry weather and savoring a somewhat easy 2-0 victory against Toronto FC in the tournament opener. The absence of several key players could not help but be noticed Wednesday. Six would-be starters were missing from the lineup that faced Toronto, either gone for national team duty, or in Ricardo Clark's case, injured.
But on Wednesday, Brian Ching and Dwayne De Rosario, both of whom had played for their national teams over the weekend, were back with the Orange. And with their return, along with Wade Barrett and Brian Mullan on Thursday, comes the change in posture. Everyone's jaws seem to be clenched a little tighter, their shoulders hunched forward a little more. The jovial banter is still there, but it's more subdued.
With the closing whistle to Wednesday's game came a change in focus for Dynamo. A week away lies arguably the biggest challenge the club will face this year, with the return leg of the CONCACAF Champions' Cup semifinal in Mexico against Pachuca. With a full team for the first time in since the first leg of the series on March 15, coach Dominic Kinnear must now get his club focused on one of the biggest games in the club's brief but storied history.
"With everyone back we really are going to start to focus on Pachuca," Kinnear said. "We have a week to get ready. Saturday's game against New York is an important step."
As much as Kinnear would like to field his first 11 in Saturday's game, he is not sure if he will be able to.
"We'll see how healthy everyone is," Kinnear said. "Once we have everyone together we can take a look at that for Saturday."
One key factor in the Pachuca game will be the health of De Rosario, who pulled a hamstring in the quarterfinal series against Puntarenas and only saw about 20 minutes in the opening semifinal leg in Houston. Still, it was a productive 20 minutes. As a substitute, his pace and craftiness on the ball led to Chris Wondolowski's second-half goal that gives Houston a two-goal cushion going into the game.
"Right now I'm about 85 percent," De Rosario said. "In another week I hope to be pretty close to full."
De Rosario played 70 minutes in Canada's 3-0 drubbing of Bermuda, before joining his Dynamo teammates in Charleston for Wednesday's game. As a late-game substitute he had little impact on the game that had taken a very defensive posture as the Battery desperately threw everything forward. The desperation paid off for the hosts with a late second-half goal that secured the draw.
"We are going to have to play with more intensity," De Rosario said. "We have two big games next week."
Following Thursday's meeting with Pachuca, Dynamo kick of the MLS regular season April 8 at home against the Los Angeles Galaxy. In Mexico, if Dynamo win, draw, or lose by fewer than two goals, they will face the winner of the D.C. United-Chivas series. Those teams played to a 1-1 draw in the opening leg in Washington.
"Those are some big games," Wells said, "games we want to be ready for."
Following Houston's game Saturday in Charleston - which if they win or draw will give the club its second consecutive CCC title - it will return to Houston for two days before traveling to Mexico City. For some of the Dynamo players, it has been nearly a month since they spent any time at home.
"It will be nice to get back," De Rosario said. "It's been a very long preseason. I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and having my kids come in and wake me up in the morning."
But before that, De Rosario and the rest of the Dynamo squad is looking forward to next Thursday and Pachuca.
"We'll be ready," Kinnear said. "Hopefully we'll win another Carolina Challenge Cup and then go down to Pachuca and get a good result."
Houston faces New York in the final game of the Carolina Challenge Cup Saturday at 8:15 p.m. ET. Dynamo currently are in first place with a win and a draw followed by Toronto and New York, with the tournament hosts bringing up the rear.
Andrew Mosier is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
