The Houston Dynamo finally accomplished a season-long goal of getting to the top of the Western Conference standings with last weekend's 3-1 win against Toronto FC.
The fact that took until Week 11 notwithstanding, the Dynamo are currently tied with the high-powered Los Angeles Galaxy atop the West and have a chance to take sole possession of first with a win against New England at Robertson Stadium on MLS Primetime Thursday.
But they are going to have to do it the hard way.
The three stars from last Sunday's win against the Reds have been recalled to international duty. Gone are defending player of the week Brian Ching, midfielder-turned-striker Dwayne De Rosario and goalkeeper Pat Onstad.
Ching has joined the U.S. national team in advance of Sunday's World Cup qualifier against Barbados. De Rosario and Onstad will join the Canadian national team for their qualifier against St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
The Dynamo are going to have their hands full against a New England team that has risen to the top of the East after starting their season with a 3-0 win against Houston.
The team will have defender Eddie Robinson back from suspension and captain Wade Barrett could get some playing time after missing several games with a groin injury.
Midfielder Richard Mulrooney said he doesn't think the team's lack of stars will hurt the team's drive to stay in first place.
"It's not just another game," said Mulrooney. "We just got back to the top of the West and I would hate to have a setback and then slip out of first place, especially when we worked so hard to get there. Guys are going to have to step it up. This is not the first or last time that we are going to be losing guys to international call-ups."
Asked if the three-goal loss on opening day motivates the team to make it four consecutive wins at Robertson Stadium, Mulrooney just grinned and answered honestly.
"It's never a revenge game, but we learned our lesson from them earlier this year," Mulrooney said.
De Rosario and Ching were superb against Toronto last weekend, tormenting the Reds with an aggressive attack and producing each of the team's three goals.
But the encore will have to wait for now, and De Rosario said his thoughts will be with the Dynamo while he is competing for Canada.
And even he hinted at the revenge factor against that Mulrooney nearly side-stepped.
"I'm 100 percent confident in the talent on the bench, I'm sure they'll get the job done," De Rosario said. "I hope they're looking forward to Thursday. It's a huge game, it's an ESPN game. I think we owe them something at home, for them beating us at their home at the start of the year."
Defenseman Pat Ianni was full of compliments for Ching and De Rosario and the team's overall performance against Toronto. While he didn't say it was the team's best match of the season, he did say the team worked better as a unit and will have to step it up Thursday against the Revs.
"I think we are a pretty special team with those guys up there," Ianni said. "We have a great group of forwards all the way around, and there are a lot of guys on this team that can put the ball in the net, but when you put Dwayne and Chingy up front, that is just an incredible combination.
But we also have some very special passers on this team from Brian [Mullan] to Richard [Mulrooney] and right on down the line, the guys know how to set them up and we are finally showing what we can do when we put it all together."
Andrew J. Ferraro is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
