With the Dynamo set to face Mexican club Pachuca next Tuesday, the teams' fourth meeting in the last year and a half, fans and media alike have been quick to label the teams 'rivals.'
So we decided to take a look at the biggest rivalries in the Dynamo's two-and-a-half-year history and what makes those rivalries so special. We also posed the question to Dynamo defender and fan favorite Craig Waibel to get an inside perspective on the rivalries.
FC Dallas
• Series history: Houston leads 7-2-5 (5-1-5 regular season, 1-1 playoffs, 1-0 Open Cup)
• Defining factor: The in-state rivals are separated by just 272 miles
• Reward: El Capitán, 18th-century mountain howitzer
• Noteworthy: Houston is 6-0-2 at home against Dallas
• Memorable moments: Houston's 4-1 overtime playoff win in the second leg of the 2007 Western Conference semifinals; Ricardo Clark's foul on hated Dallas forward Carlos Ruiz, for which Clark was assessed a nine-game suspension; a thrilling 4-3 Houston win in the teams' first encounter in 2006.
• Waibel says: "Dallas, obviously being in-state and the other Texas team, is a rivalry no matter how you look at it."
Chivas USA
• Series history: Houston leads 4-2-4 (3-1-4 regular season, 1-1 playoffs)
• Defining factor: Both teams have been consistently good and consistently feisty against each other
• Reward: A high seed in the Western Conference playoffs
• Noteworthy: Houston is 4-0-2 at home against Chivas USA
• Memorable moments: Coaches pushing and shoving after last year's 0-0 tie; the Brad Davis hat trick in Houston's 4-0 home win in 2007; Brian Ching's dramatic game-winning header in the second leg of the 2006 Western Conference semifinal.
• Waibel says: "For whatever reason, they've been a very good team, and so have we, and the rivalry has grown out of the quality and consistency of both teams."
New England Revolution
• Series history: Houston trails 1-3-4 (0-3-3 regular season, 1-0-1 MLS Cups)
• Defining factor: The Dynamo have beaten New England in the last two MLS Cup finals (once in a shootout)
• Reward: Usually, the championship
• Noteworthy: New England outscored Houston 5-0 in two meetings this year
• Memorable moments: 2-1 Houston win at MLS Cup 2007; the teams' 3-3 tie in New England in 2007 when the Revolution broke the Dynamo's record shutout streak; the Dynamo's shootout win at MLS Cup 2006.
• Waibel says: "We seem to meet only them in championship games, and now that both teams are in the SuperLiga semifinals, there's another possibility for us to meet if everything goes MLS's way."
CF Pachuca
• Series history: tied 1-1-1 (1-1 Champions Cup, 0-0-1 SuperLiga)
• Defining factor: Pachuca has twice eliminated the Dynamo in extremely dramatic circumstances
• Reward: Advancement to the final of a major international tournament
• Noteworthy: Both semifinals between the teams have gone to overtime
• Memorable moments: Last year's penalty shootout in SuperLiga; Eddie Robinson's game-tying goal in SuperLiga; Christian Gimenez's series-winning goal in overtime in the Champions Cup; Houston's first home win over a Mexican team.
• Waibel says: "I hesitate to call it a rivalry because we've only played them three times. But they had no idea who we were, and we kind of put ourselves in the back of their heads in that first game. Believe me, they'll be taking this game seriously."
Have a different opinion? Share your thoughts on the Dynamo's biggest rivals at the team's official blog, Forever Orange.
