The star of the Houston Dynamo's 3-1 win over Colorado in the MLS Western Conference Finals last Sunday in evening was the newest addition to their roster - Scottish import Paul Dalglish. The talented striker had two goals for his side and is clearly ready to help Dynamo finish the job and win the MLS Cup on Sunday against New England.
When Dalglish first trained with the team in September before he was signed, he knew that he and Houston would be a great fit.
"I knew I was joining a good side because I trained with them before I signed," he said. "On any given day, we're as good as any team. What the guys have done moving from San Joe to Houston in the first season is a massive, massive achievement."
It's been a long road for Dalglish -- the son of Scottish legend Kenny -- to Houston. His father, considered by some the greatest player to every play for Scotland, and a star with Liverpool and Celtic, signed him to youth contracts when he managed those clubs. He then brought his son with him to Newcastle United.
But he saw his career take him to places such as Blackpool and Wigan Athletic and Norwich City. He was convinced not to retire by Livingston in Scotland, and after reviving his career, he moved to fellow Scottish Premier League side Hibernian.
Yet after a brief spell there, the opportunity came to move to MLS, and Dalglish jumped at it.
"I was happy there [at Hibernian], I scored in Europe for them and I was starting to establish myself when the opportunity to come to America came up," Dalglish said to BBC Sport. "I had always wanted to come to the States, not just for the football but for the lifestyle."
Dalglish played in six regular season games for Dynamo, three of those starts and had three goals and one assist. His debut came on Sept. 10, when he played 23 minutes as a second-half substitute against the Los Angeles Galaxy at the Home Depot Center. His first start came a week later in Houston against Chivas USA with his first MLS tally coming on Oct. 7 against Real Salt Lake.
Virtually from the time he joined the club, he noticed how strong the team chemistry is.
"You can see it even we got a goal down against Colorado (last week)," he said. "The team spirit and togetherness here is great. When we were a goal down, you looked around at everyone and everyone knew we could still do it. We still had the belief in each other (that we would do our best to win)."
No matter who you ask, everyone in Houston has nothing but good things to say about adding Dalglish to the roster.
"He offers something different from the way I play and the way how [Alejandro Moreno] plays," said Dynamo forward Brian Ching. "Paul gives us a little more speed up front and a little more through ball kind of attack. I think his acquisition has been good for the team. It will definitely help us because it hasn't given them a chance to play against him yet."
Added Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear: "He came in and trained with us for about five or six days," he said. "We noticed that he likes to try and run along that line where you ask if he's offsides or not. He looks for that ball over the top with smart runs. Once he gets in the box, he's a pretty good finisher.
"He's been a good pickup," Kinnear continued. "He's formed a pretty good partnership with Brian (Ching) where you have two different forwards. One is a back to the goal player and the other likes to try and stretch the defense. It's good for a lot of reasons. You can get them behind and it also works out well for Dwayne (DeRosario) to come in late. It's worked out well."
When asked about his two-goal performance against the Rapids in last weekend's West Finals, Dalglish replied a repeat performance on Sunday against the Revolution would be great.
"Two more (goals) would be nice," he said. "It's nice and it gives you confidence. That's four goals and an assist I've got since I got here in I think six starts and only five of them were up front. One of my starts was in midfield. I'm very pleased and hopefully I can continue my goal scoring form into the final."
Besides the strong team chemistry in Houston, something else not lost on Dalglish has been the incredible fan support the team receives from its legions of fans.
"It's like an army," he said. "They're coming in full force. The guy from Gallery Furniture is doing an amazing job organizing a convoy for thousands of fans to come here. It will be a great turn for our engine. Hopefully we can do them proud."
And, there's a couple of other fans who will be cheering for Dalglish come Sunday afternoon -- his parents. While the younger Dalglish was hoping to get them to the USA to attend the match, he knew they would still find a way to stay in touch.
"He's had to master the internet to keep in touch. My dad has been watching the games streamed live online," Dalglish said to BBC. "Both him and my mum have webcams and that's the way I speak to them at home. In fact, I probably speak to him more now than I did when I was at home."
Steve Hunt is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
