After nearly an hour of scoreless soccer against the New York Red Bulls last weekend, including at least 30 minutes with a man advantage, Houston Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear turned to his bench to provide a spark.
Kinnear called upon Chris Wondolowski and later Corey Ashe in an attempt to jumpstart the Orange attack. When Ashe found Wondolowski for Houston's lone goal on the night (
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), Kinnear was rewarded once again for putting his trust in his team's depth, something he has done successfully in previous years.
"If you look back to years prior, our second team pushes our first team," defender Mike Chabala said, who also made his first start of the season against New York. "Some of the success is that guys on the field are getting the job done, but guys behind them are pushing them to get on the field. When given a chance Stuart [Holden], Corey [Ashe] and Geoff [Cameron] were first making impressions and stepping up, so there's another wave of guys who can step in and make an impact."
Over the first quarter of the season, when given that chance, Houston's "reserves" have been up to the task. Geoff Cameron has stepped in effortlessly to replace Eddie Robinson and the team put together the longest streak in MLS this year without conceding a goal. Andrew Hainault and Chabala replaced injured starters last week and have looked solid in their limited minutes.
Wondolowski has two goals and an assist. Ashe has been providing an offensive spark off the bench in each game that he has played.
Each of these players wants nothing more than to start and Ashe is no different. But for now, Ashe's goal is to help the team win another championship and to do so, he will do whatever it takes.
"The goal is to break in the lineup and be one of the 11, but it's obviously to win a championship and help this team wherever possible," Ashe said. "As of right now, that's my role to provide the spark [off the bench] ... if that's the role I have to play to come off the bench and provide that spark, then that's what it takes."
When the MLS reserve division was eliminated, it made the task of each player not in the starting lineup that much more difficult. Players now have to be prepared at a moment's notice to start but don't have reserve games to stay sharp or match-fit. As a result, each practice becomes that much more important.
"You have to be a better pro than you have been," said Chabala. "It's one of the more challenging years because you don't have the games on the weekend and you don't get the game fitness. ... Anytime you can you want to impress, so guys are working hard at training doing extra work and extra runs. You have to stay on your game and you can't take a day off."
"Each day that I train I look as a learning experience," Ashe said. "We have a lot of veteran guys on this team, guys that provide great leadership. I am just trying to learn as much as I can, especially from the outside midfielders, [and coaches] Dom [Kinnear] and Spenny [assistant coach John Spencer]."
With suspensions, injuries, and national team call-ups around the corner, every team in MLS is beginning to feel the full effect of a 30-game schedule. The ability to adequately replace missing starters is going to begin to separate the haves from the have-nots in MLS. The Dynamo consider themselves among the haves, but it will be interesting to see if they can once again utilize their depth to gain ground in 2009.
"There are opportunities for guys to come in and make an impact," Chabala said. "With the summer hitting and guys leaving for call ups, it's a good opportunity for us to keep up the pressure and keep the wins coming. It will be a good test for us, but we are deep so it's good for us."
Dwain Capodice is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
