After winning MLS Cup 2006 in a penalty kick shootout to complete the club's first season in south Texas, victorious Houston Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear was clearly in a celebratory mood in the postgame press conference. The first thing the Houston field boss did was offer thanks to three different groups of Dynamo supporters.
"My first thanks always goes to thank (Dynamo investor/operator) Philip Anschutz for the time and commitment he gives to U.S. soccer," Kinnear said. "My second thanks goes to the players and their families for making the transition (from San Jose) as easy as it could. We had a lot of problems. It's not documented from when we were moving. For the players and their families to pick up and come here and do what they've done this year is impressive.
"My third thanks goes to the Houston fans and also on the side to the San Jose fans who have been very supportive. I go back to that first away game in L.A. when we had a lot of blue people (Earthquakes fans) there," he added. "But you can't deny the Houston fans. They've been wonderful. We were fortunate that our MLS Cup was a drive away. They brought a definite great atmosphere to the game. Congratulations to them."
The Houston head coach said that he thought the match was an even affair.
"The game started off pretty well for us. We had a chance in the first minute. The chances weren't a ton. Pat (Onstad) made a great save on Taylor Twellman in, I think, the 20th minute," Kinnear said. "Then, it was a little bit of a chess match. We changed up our formation a little bit because we thought they were getting a few too many good runs in the midfield.
"In the second half, I thought both defenses held very well and didn't give away too much," he added. "In overtime, there were a lot of guys cramping and a lot of guys tired. They got their goal but it shows our guys and their will to win. To get that chance 30 seconds later showed that. They had penalty kicks a few weeks ago against Chicago. So, that gave us kind of a scouting edge, but not really."
Kinnear then saw his team come through with the victory in the shootout.
"I thought our penalties were outstanding and Pat (Onstad) made some great saves," he said. "My heart goes out to the Revolution because I thought they played very well. As we all know in soccer, it (penalty kicks) can be a cruel way to decide a championship but those are the rules that we play with and our team is the fortunate one today."
The match was scoreless until New England leading scorer Taylor Twellman put one past Onstad in the 113th minute to give his side a 1-0 edge. Just a minute later, Houston's Brian Ching answered with a great header that went past Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis for the equalizer. Ching's goal came off a great cross from Brian Mullan.
Kinnear admitted that he was still in shock after Twellman's goal and Ching's equalizer made him incredulous.
"The first thing you do (when a team scores late like New England did) is look at the clock and see if you have a chance," he said. "When you throw a lot of bodies forward, you do give up a lot in the back but do end up getting one chance. I didn't think it was going to come that soon.
"When (Brian) Ching's header hit the net, I was in a state of disbelief," Kinnear said. "You go from complete despair to complete elation. I think it really kind of gave us an edge because we were really trying to win the game again. People were jumping up and down on the bench (after the goal) but I wasn't because I couldn't believe it."
The title marked Kinnear's first as an MLS head coach. He was an assistant on San Jose's championships in both 2001 and 2003 under Frank Yallop, but he had never before won as a head coach until Sunday.
"They're all very special," he said. "I think the 2001 one was an eye-opener because it was my first year in coaching and just the way the team played was impressive. It went by so fast. The one in 2003 was one where I thought we would win it the whole year because we were the best team (in MLS). This one was a little more special because I had more responsibility."
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
