“In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king” said a famous philosopher centuries ago, but he may as well have been writing for MLS Talk about the 2011 Eastern Conference champions.  The Houston Dynamo took advantage of a weak conference and a hot streak to face the Los Angeles Galaxy in the MLS Cup last season.  This is not to take anything away from the Dynamo: they are a very talented team centered around 2011 revelations Tally Hall, Geoff Cameron, and Brad Davis.  To dismiss this team as a one-year wonder could be a mistake, as they return most of their conference championship line-up in 2012 as well as their most critical component: Dominic Kinnear.

However, the team does face some critical questions in the new year, questions that require some attention in the few months remaining before First Kick 2012.  As such, here are “Three Questions” about the Houston Dynamo:

1. Who will play up front?

The big offseason story for the Dynamo (more than the stadium naming or the rumor that AEG might sell their stake in the club) is that legend Brian Ching has accepted his role as a member of the Montreal Impact (for background see the article I wrote late last year).  While it allows the club to move forward without sacrificing a good player to Montreal and with a little more cap space, the impact (no pun intended) of Ching being left unprotected will resonate with the fans and their view of management.  Setting that aside, the loss also leaves the team with a bit of a gap at the forward position, especially considering that Carlo Costly has moved on to Atlas.

Currently, the club has three forwards under contract: Calen Carr, Will Bruin, and Cam Weaver.  All three are good players, none of them are currently consistent top-level goal scorers the team needs to take advantage of Brad Davis’s assists.  While the team has limited cap space (more on this below) they need to find that Blas Perez-type consistent, veteran presence who they know will finish the chances the midfield will create.

2. Is the defense the best in MLS, or as good as it looks?

Don’t look know, but Houston may be challenging Los Angeles and Real Salt Lake for the best defense in the league.  It may not be this year, but probably soon.  Start with keeper Tally Hall, who made a huge step forward last season to enter into top-flight MLS keeper status with an excellent year.  In his late twenties, he is approaching the prime years for a keeper and looks to add some polish to his already impressive game.

In front of Hall is a back line that is coming together nicely.  Bobby Boswell and Geoff Cameron form a good center back pairing that lacks the pizazz of some other partnerships, but is effective for the team.  The two starting full backs (Andre Hainault and Corey Ashe) look to have established themselves as ideal for the positions.  Right now Houston does not have the best defense in MLS, but with an offseason of growth we may soon be speaking of them with the likes of Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Real Salt Lake.

3. What’s the money situation?

Ownership has already made a few moves to bolster the team, specifically making a trade to acquire Nathan Sturgis from wheeling-dealing Toronto FC.  However, ownership has stressed that they will be making do with little cap space.  These pronouncements come at an odd time: the new stadium has a naming-rights deal and the team even has a small local TV deal.  However, the biggest financial question mark is the announcement by AEG that they want to sell their 50% stake in the team.  This is a positive development for the league (anyone who says last year’s MLS Cup was not a conflict of interest is crazy) but how the salaries will be managed until the deal is complete may limit the team’s financial flexibility.  Keep an eye on this situation.

It’s always a drag when work gets in the way of your retirement dreams.  On Wednesday as millions of us were travelling to Thanksgiving dinner, the Montreal Impact selected ten players left unprotected by their fellow MLS clubs and, for the most part, their picks were quality and unremarkable.  However, their first pick has sparked a little of an MLS firestorm.

The Impact used their first pick of the expansion draft on Dynamo captain Brian Ching, a former U.S. national team player who had expressed a desire to retire in the burnt orange.  Despite the fact they left him unprotected, Houston reacted with offense and shock at one of their big-name players being selected and began a media campaign aimed at getting him back.  Ching, for his part, has expressed his unhappiness with the situation and his disdain at playing for Montreal.  All of this soap opera-esque drama needs a quick Q&A to walk MLS fans through the situation, which has yet to be resolved.  Here is a rundown of the situation (Chinggate 2011?) as it stands:

Why did the Impact use its first pick on Ching?

On the surface, this was a very strange pick by Montreal.  Brian Ching still has a few more miles left in his tank, and is one of the more well-known players in MLS, but he has not been a truly impact player for a few years plus is now injury-prone.  In the MLS Cup he was a nonfactor.  So why choose him?  Simple: Montreal and Jesse Marsch knew that Ching did not want to play for them and could extract some value from the pick.  According to The Sporting News, that value would have to be a player or draft picks (since Houston allegedly does not have allocation money) and Montreal is shooting for the stars: Andre Hainault for Brian Ching straight up.  While that is not the deal that will ultimately be done, I suspect Montreal may end up with some good value here.

But there may be a larger, more nefarious strategy in play here.  Jeremiah Oshan notes that the Montreal picks in the expansion draft seem rather vindictive (my phrase).  The Ching selection is one of a couple that seem aimed at tweaking other clubs and taking valuable either home-town or much loved players.  Interesting hypothesis, and one that would really help the Impact begin with a “bad boy” reputation.

Why doesn’t Brian Ching want to play for Montreal?

Ching has seemingly settled on finishing his career in Houston, although the unprotected status and selection by Montreal may complicate that.  You can’t blame a player for wanting to finish his career with a franchise where he’s found success and a bit of fame.  But as Ben Chew notes, the reason may be deeper than that.  Impact manager Jesse Marsch was an assistant coach to Bob Bradley during the 2010 World Cup cycle when Ching was one of the last cuts made before South Africa.  So there may be some personal animosity there that when Ching made it clear that he would not play for Montreal if selected, Marsch may have added to that bad history by selecting him.

Who is at fault here and how will it end?

As I mentioned above, Montreal will ultimately be the winner here as they will extract from Houston a quality player and draft pick in all likelihood for Ching and possibly allocation.  That said, the “blame” for this controversy can be spread far and wide.  Houston took a gamble on leaving Ching unprotected and should not be surprised that Montreal took him in the draft, as they have a right to do.  Ching is slightly to blame, as he should have been less emphatic that he would never play for Montreal, making his selection a good target for a larger trade.  And if Marsch is playing the “evil genius” game, while he technically did nothing wrong, he certainly is at fault for trying to push a bad-boy image.  Overall, though, Houston certainly has to look in the mirror and accept that they gambled and lost with this situation.

Dorothy Gale gave sage advice to any MLS team: there’s no place like home.  Every home team in MLS got at least a point this weekend, showing that there is an advantage to playing in front of hometown fans.  What that meant for the standings is that when the dust cleared, LA stood atop the Supporters’ Shield standings while New York and Houston look like the favorites in the Eastern Conference.  It also means the first loss of the season for Real Salt Lake, days after they lost the CONCACAF Champions League final.

Your weekend summary follows:

Houston Dynamo 4, DC United 1: Just like the United/Red Bulls match last weekend, this was the case of a team on a roll facing a team with questions.  Again it was DC’s backline which was the difference, as the youngsters looked disorganized against a hungry Houston attack.  The fourth goal on the throw-in was a thing of beauty or embarrassing, depending on your perspective.  This week is a big test and better measuring stick for the Black-and-Red; they have the Sounders and Dallas at home.  Houston’s Will Bruin had his coming out party with a hat trick, but he was just one of the positives that Dominic Kinnear saw in this match.  If they can continue to get production from Bruin and Weaver, as well as something from Ching, they should be a solid bet for a playoff spot.

Philadelphia Union 1, San Jose Earthquakes 0: It was more of a Broad Street Bullies match out there than a soccer match with four yellows and a red being handed out, as well as a few scuffles.  Nevertheless, again it was the Union finding a way to win despite being down a man the entire second half on a controversial Jordan Harvey kick to Chris Leitch.  Seba LeToux gets his first goal of the season on a penalty.  San Jose is struggling mightily right now and desperately need to find some offense to help Chris Wondolowski.

Columbus Crew 2, Vancouver Whitecaps 1: There were a ton of story lines in this entertaining match.  The Crew are still undefeated at home and found some offense from Emilio Renteria, who converted a penalty and added another goal nine minutes later.  Statistically the match was even except for the time of possession, which saw the Crew control and probe the ‘Caps defense the first half until finding their breakthroughs in the second half.  Congratulations to 2011 #1 pick Omar Salgado who got his first MLS goal and almost equalized late in the match.  He looked pretty impressive out there, and this was his first start after playing 19 minutes in his last three games.

New York Red Bulls 1, Sporting Kansas City 0: The good news for KC is that they only gave up one goal this match; the bad news is that’s all New York needed for the win.  Luke Rodgers is quickly becoming a must pick-up for any MLS fantasy team as he has scored his third goal in three games.  New York looked like a team that wanted three points early in this match and after Rodger’s 22nd minute goal, cruised home.  Kansas City desperately needs to ride out this long road trip and hope for a Portland-like boost from their new stadium; as of right now it’s tough sledding for the last place team in the East.

Colorado Rapids 1, Chicago Fire 1: What to make of this result?  Colorado continues their slide with a poor result against a struggling Chicago team.  Andre Akpan got his first MLS goal for the home team shortly after halftime to equalize and grab the point.  Again Colorado had the greater bulk of possession but could not take advantage of a Fire squad without Logan Pause and Cory Gibbs.  On the other hand, this was a good result for a Chicago team in disarray, and they get the ‘Caps at home this Saturday with a chance to string together some points.

Seattle Sounders 3, Toronto FC 0: For one night, Seattle proved the pundits wrong.  The Sounders’ offensive outburst helped them cruise to a good win over struggling Toronto at home, with the early goal from Alvaro Fernandez setting the stage.  It was also an excellent Steve Zakuani tribute from the fans, the video of which I posted above.  Seattle has a chance to make a statement when they travel to struggling DC this Wednesday; they have never lost at RFK Stadium and a win would boost their momentum.

Portland Timbers 1, Real Salt Lake 0: What does the CCL loss mean for RSL?  Will they need some psychological adjustment time to get back on track from the loss?  Will this be another season where some early season struggles give the Supporters’ Shield to another team but see them most dangerous at the end of the season?  Hats off to Portland, who came to play at home and got their first clean sheet.  Kenny Cooper scored his third MLS goal of the season in the 22nd minute for the match’s only goal.  Draft pick Darlington Nagbe and DP Diego Chará helped the Timbers dominate possession in the game and thwart the RSL attack.

Chivas USA 3, New England 0: Ouch New England.  Just when the Revolution looked to be hitting a stride, they take a knock from the woeful Goats.  This game had a weird vibe because of the odd choice by Chivas to pass on Benny Feilhaber last week, but the midfielder was ineffective in this match and at least for one game vindicated Chivas’ decision.  This is the type of game where the home team can use it to gain some momentum and the visitors have to shake off a bad performance before a huge match against a visiting Rapids team this weekend.

FC Dallas 2, Los Angeles Galaxy 1: This was an odd match due to the herky-jerky nature of play – lightening strikes caused the game to be suspended for an hour before Brek Shea’s game winner with minutes left in the second half.  Landon Donovan continued his climb up the all-time goals list when he answered Fabian Castillo’s goal with his own early in the second half.  Like Seattle, Dallas continues to roll along without a star player as Schellas Hyndman used Eric Avila in David Ferreira’s role.

Dorothy Gale gave sage advice to any MLS team: there’s no place like home.  Every home team in MLS got at least a point this weekend, showing that there is an advantage to playing in front of hometown fans.  What that meant for the standings is that when the dust cleared, LA stood atop the Supporters’ Shield standings while New York and Houston look like the favorites in the Eastern Conference.  It also means the first loss of the season for Real Salt Lake, days after they lost the CONCACAF Champions League final.

Your weekend summary follows:

Houston Dynamo 4, DC United 1: Just like the United/Red Bulls match last weekend, this was the case of a team on a roll facing a team with questions.  Again it was DC’s backline which was the difference, as the youngsters looked disorganized against a hungry Houston attack.  The fourth goal on the throw-in was a thing of beauty or embarrassing, depending on your perspective.  This week is a big test and better measuring stick for the Black-and-Red; they have the Sounders and Dallas at home.  Houston’s Will Bruin had his coming out party with a hat trick, but he was just one of the positives that Dominic Kinnear saw in this match.  If they can continue to get production from Bruin and Weaver, as well as something from Ching, they should be a solid bet for a playoff spot.

Philadelphia Union 1, San Jose Earthquakes 0: It was more of a Broad Street Bullies match out there than a soccer match with four yellows and a red being handed out, as well as a few scuffles.  Nevertheless, again it was the Union finding a way to win despite being down a man the entire second half on a controversial Jordan Harvey kick to Chris Leitch.  Seba LeToux gets his first goal of the season on a penalty.  San Jose is struggling mightily right now and desperately need to find some offense to help Chris Wondolowski.

Columbus Crew 2, Vancouver Whitecaps 1: There were a ton of story lines in this entertaining match.  The Crew are still undefeated at home and found some offense from Emilio Renteria, who converted a penalty and added another goal nine minutes later.  Statistically the match was even except for the time of possession, which saw the Crew control and probe the ‘Caps defense the first half until finding their breakthroughs in the second half.  Congratulations to 2011 #1 pick Omar Salgado who got his first MLS goal and almost equalized late in the match.  He looked pretty impressive out there, and this was his first start after playing 19 minutes in his last three games.

New York Red Bulls 1, Sporting Kansas City 0: The good news for KC is that they only gave up one goal this match; the bad news is that’s all New York needed for the win.  Luke Rodgers is quickly becoming a must pick-up for any MLS fantasy team as he has scored his third goal in three games.  New York looked like a team that wanted three points early in this match and after Rodger’s 22nd minute goal, cruised home.  Kansas City desperately needs to ride out this long road trip and hope for a Portland-like boost from their new stadium; as of right now it’s tough sledding for the last place team in the East.

Colorado Rapids 1, Chicago Fire 1: What to make of this result?  Colorado continues their slide with a poor result against a struggling Chicago team.  Andre Akpan got his first MLS goal for the home team shortly after halftime to equalize and grab the point.  Again Colorado had the greater bulk of possession but could not take advantage of a Fire squad without Logan Pause and Cory Gibbs.  On the other hand, this was a good result for a Chicago team in disarray, and they get the ‘Caps at home this Saturday with a chance to string together some points.

Seattle Sounders 3, Toronto FC 0: For one night, Seattle proved the pundits wrong.  The Sounders’ offensive outburst helped them cruise to a good win over struggling Toronto at home, with the early goal from Alvaro Fernandez setting the stage.  It was also an excellent Steve Zakuani tribute from the fans, the video of which I posted above.  Seattle has a chance to make a statement when they travel to struggling DC this Wednesday; they have never lost at RFK Stadium and a win would boost their momentum.

Portland Timbers 1, Real Salt Lake 0: What does the CCL loss mean for RSL?  Will they need some psychological adjustment time to get back on track from the loss?  Will this be another season where some early season struggles give the Supporters’ Shield to another team but see them most dangerous at the end of the season?  Hats off to Portland, who came to play at home and got their first clean sheet.  Kenny Cooper scored his third MLS goal of the season in the 22nd minute for the match’s only goal.  Draft pick Darlington Nagbe and DP Diego Chará helped the Timbers dominate possession in the game and thwart the RSL attack.

Chivas USA 3, New England 0: Ouch New England.  Just when the Revolution looked to be hitting a stride, they take a knock from the woeful Goats.  This game had a weird vibe because of the odd choice by Chivas to pass on Benny Feilhaber last week, but the midfielder was ineffective in this match and at least for one game vindicated Chivas’ decision.  This is the type of game where the home team can use it to gain some momentum and the visitors have to shake off a bad performance before a huge match against a visiting Rapids team this weekend.

FC Dallas 2, Los Angeles Galaxy 1: This was an odd match due to the herky-jerky nature of play – lightening strikes caused the game to be suspended for an hour before Brek Shea’s game winner with minutes left in the second half.  Landon Donovan continued his climb up the all-time goals list when he answered Fabian Castillo’s goal with his own early in the second half.  Like Seattle, Dallas continues to roll along without a star player as Schellas Hyndman used Eric Avila in David Ferreira’s role.

One week from today, the US Men’s National Team will play South Africa in a friendly in Cape Town, and Bob Bradley has yet to release his squad for the match.  The friendly comes at a bad time for most players – it is right in the middle of the major European leagues’ seasons plus it is the semifinals of the MLS playoffs.  For those two reasons, Bradley will have a limited number of players at his disposal for the match, which is part of the Nelson Mandela Challenge Cup.

Undoubtedly, this will be primarily a B-team but Bradley has to include a few “name” players to give the match some legitimacy, as well as try out some potential future starters.  South Africa announced their names today (which you can see here).

So what will Bob Bradley do?

Keeper: Tim Howard is the number 1, but with his Everton club facing two critical matches against Arsenal and Sunderland this weekend and next, I doubt Bradley will call him up.  Instead, I expect to see Aston Villa’s Brad Guzan to get the call and start in net for the visitors.

Back Line: If Bob Bradley’s smart, I think he will call up Oguchi Onyewu for two reasons – he needs to see if “Gooch” if healthy enough for international play and he knows Milan is probably more than happy to let him get away for a few days.  Jonathan Bornstein and Chad Marshall are both out of the MLS playoffs so their experience internationally would make them good additions to a team that would have less than a week to train together.  Also in the mix could be Clarence Goodson, who has finished his club season and I see as potentially starting over either MLS player.  On the right will probably be Eric Lichaj.

Midfield: I’ll go out on a limb and say Bob Bradley plays a 4-4-2.  In that case, DaMarcus Beasley is my guess to hold down the left side and Scandinavian professional Alejandro Bedoya will hold down the right.  As much as Bob Bradley would probably like to have his son in the middle, I don’t see him taking Michael away from his Bundesliga team.  So my guess is we will see Kyle Beckerman of the recently-defeated Real Salt Lake serving as a holding midfielder with Benny Feilhaber as the fourth midfielder.

Forward: My gut tells me Bob Bradley will want to get Jozy Altiodre some playing time, especially in an international setting, and he will be a starter for this match.  Next to him Bradley could go with fellow professional sub Eddie Johnson and I suspect he may have on his bench an MLSer like Robbie Findley (who may be looking to move abroad) or Brian Ching.

Agree or disagree?  Share your thoughts.

Update – It looks like Bob Bradley could be leaning towards calling up youngsters Juan Agudelo and Mikkel Diskerud, although that may be to lure the latter away from Norway.  We’ll let you know if it becomes official.

Bob Bradley’s selection of his 23 men for the World Cup this summer has conjured up a lot of controversy this afternoon over the pick of Robbie Findley instead of Brian Ching.

Did Bradley make the correct decision or not? Vote now in the above poll. And share your feedback in the comments section below.

Houston Dynamo and U.S. national team striker Brian Ching will miss four to six weeks with a hamstring strain, according to reports.

The early end of that prognosis has him back on the field for a few days before national team coach Bob Bradley names a pool for the team’s final World Cup camp in mid-May.

The other end has him still hobbled when Bradley picks the 23 guys to board the plane with him for the trip to South Africa.

I thought he was a good bet to make the squad a few weeks ago, but now I’m not so sure.

Can Bradley afford to take Ching, who was never pacey to begin with, to the World Cup with him not being in top game shape? Of course, Ching’s main attributes as a national team player – intelligence and a willingness and ability to hold and then distribute the ball – are not really linked to his left leg.

With Herculez Gomez setting the world on fire with Puebla in Mexico – eight goals in 10 appearances – it will be tough to justify taking a less-than-100 percent Ching over a player in such a fine vein of form.

So, who’s the right choice here?

Is it Ching, Gomez or door number three?

The Galaxy are one victory from reaching MLS Cup 2009 thanks to 2009 Coach of the Year Bruce Arena

The Los Angeles Galaxy began the 2009 season at best as a team in transition, at worst as a team in turmoil. Despite initial problems, the Galaxy now stands only one game from winning the Western Conference. After dispatching city rival Chivas USA in what could only be called the “Battle of Los Angeles”, the LA Galaxy turn their attention to the next task at hand on the road to MLS Cup 2009 – the Western Conference Final against the Houston Dynamo (Friday, 8PM PST – ESPN2).  After a three season absence, “The Flagship Club of MLS” is  one match away from playing for the MLS Cup for an unprecedented sixth time. Before this dream can become a reality, the Galaxy must take on an experienced Dynamo side that is playing in their third conference final in four years.

Los Angeles won the season series with Texas based club (1-0-1) winning at Home Depot Center, 1-0 on June 29th, which snapped La Naranja’s team record 11 game unbeaten streak.  Following the victory over then top of the table Houston, the Galaxy began their transformation from also rans – 2-3-9 before the match against the Dynamo – to the top club in the Western Conference with a 10-3-3 tally after the win. This dramatic turn around can be attributed to the influence of newly named Coach of the Year Bruce Arena, who instituted a personnel change such as  the addition of  former US international defender Gregg Berhalter, who brought in a winning mentality into the team as well as a wealth of experience for the Galaxy’s myriad of young defenders.

“The attitude is better (under Arena), you always hear the team buying in to the coaching philosophy and that is exactly what we have done here. I can’t remember a time this year that a player has stepped up to management due to a lack of playing time. We all respect the decisions of Bruce (Arena) and Dave (Strachan) and are ready when called upon,” said forward Landon Donovan in a recent teleconference.

The improved chemistry in the locker room can only serve to help the Galaxy in what is sure to be a contentious 90 minutes.  The last match these two played against one another was a heated affair that saw Brian Ching sent off after a ruckus caused by a challenge on Ricardo Clark by midfielder David Beckham.  Over the two legs of the regular season series between the teams there were a total of 9 yellow cards as well as the one red card issued for violent conduct to the Houston forward.

One of the major impediments to Galaxy’s progress will be Brian Ching, who scored the series winning goal against the Seattle Sounders in the first overtime on Sunday, putting the Dynamo in the West Final. The captain of the Houston Dynamo has enjoyed a very successful season picking up several honors including the Dynamo’s Golden Boot for leading the team in goals scored with eight. Despite the danger that he poses, Ching is a familiar entity for Arena, who coached the Hawaiian forward during much of his career with the United States Men’s National Team.

“He’s a complete goal scorer and requires complete concentration from your back line. Brian is a true goal scorer, he can be hiding for certain segments of games but when he has an opportunity to jump on a chance, he’s there as we saw last game against Seattle. Overall,  He’s a proven goal scorer in big games and we have to be really focused on the challenge of dealing Brian on Friday night,” said the 2009 MLS Coach of the Year.

Ultimately because of their improved chemistry and cohesion on the field, Los Angeles is on the brink of their sixth appearance in the MLS Cup Final.