Houston Dynamo will be looking to do something that only one team in MLS history has ever done when they take the field on Saturday - repeat as MLS Cup champions.
In order to repeat, Dynamo will have to take step one on Saturday at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco against FC Dallas and beat their intrastate rivals in the first leg of their Western Conference Semifinal Series.
"Everything is on the line now," said Houston midfielder Brian Mullan. "When your back is against the wall, you tend to give the effort that you didn't think you had. It's going to be a tough series, and we're looking forward to it.
"We just have to go into Dallas thinking that we're going to win. We need to get a good result there and come back here and put them away."
Houston will be close to being back to full strength when it takes the field on Saturday as defenders Ryan Cochrane and Eddie Robinson will return to action after missing the regular season finale against Chivas USA due to yellow card accumulation.
But, Dynamo will still be without midfielder Ricardo Clark, who will miss the entire playoffs after an incident with FC Dallas striker Carlos Ruiz in the final meeting of the season between the two teams. With so much on the line, however, Houston doesn't think the Clark incident will factor into the two-game playoff.
"It's not that big of a deal, I don't think," said Dynamo forward Brian Ching. "Every game is different, and we approach it as a different game. I don't think there is too much tension there from our team to their team. Ricardo is not going to be playing, so there won't be any animosity towards him from their players. We're just going into this game as a playoff game. We have a lot of guys who have been there before, and we know what it's going to take to get a result up there."
Houston took on FCD four times this season, more than they played any other team. It would be an understatement to say the two teams know each other well, but because of their familiarity, the Orange knows they have to be prepared or they could lose their chance at a repeat.
"There's more on the line right now. It's going to be the same though," said defender Ryan Cochrane. "We've stuck with the same typical lineup against Dallas all year long. We know them very well, and they know us very well. It's going to be like a chess match between the two teams. We know the atmosphere is going to be good up there, great field, I know there will probably be a lot of fans up there for that. We'll be ready.
"I think we have to go up there and be organized, be sharp defensively. Whether they play three up top or two up top, all their forwards are very skilled, so we have to be smart. We can't let the game get away from us, especially in the late stages of the game. We have to be smart enough not to give up goals."
Two of Houston's goals have been reached by clinching a playoff spot and finishing the season as high as they can. Now, they want to reach their final goal of winning the MLS Cup.
"For us from the first day, we talked about it, and at the end of our list accomplishments and achievements we want to reach, is the MLS Cup, and it's not if we are the No. 1 seed or two seed or three seed or four seed," said Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear.
"We said the first thing we wanted to do was get in the playoffs, which we did. Of course, we wanted to do it a lot earlier. The second thing was finish as high as we can, which we tried to do up until the last minute in L.A. Now, that's done. Those 30 games are out of the way, and we look forward to two games against Dallas. We can't say OK, we're here. You have to look at the Dallas game on Saturday. You can't look at our home playoff game next week."
Houston begins their hunt for the Cup on Saturday, but they will continue it on Friday at Robertson Stadium in the second game against FC Dallas. Having the second game at home gives the defending MLS Cup champions a cushion and a goal to finish off the Hoops at home.
"It's nice. It's a good feeling to know that we can come back home," Cochrane said. "We had great crowds at the end of the year, and we know they will be pumped up. It's a comforting feeling to know that we can come back here to finish off the series in our home."
After losing the Western Conference regular season title by a point in the last game of the season to Chivas, Dynamo have refocused their attention to the Hoops. The Orange accomplished many feats during the season, but the one feat they want to accomplish is finish as MLS Cup champions.
"There was a little bit after the game, and we went through a brief summary of what we were successful at during the season," Kinnear said. "We set some records this season with goals against, goals against average and scoreless streaks, and I think that's a team accomplishments. A lot of guys played a lot of minutes at a lot of different positions.
"We talked about that for 10 minutes and just said look, it would be nice to do one that only one team has done, and that's D.C. in 1996-97. We all know it's going to be hard, and we are going to have to make some personal sacrifices, so in the end, the team comes out on top."
Jeremy Rakes is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
