Despite a Poor MLS Season but with a U.S Open Cup Win, Was This Season a Success For Houston?

Fan Perspective: no, failing to make the playoffs for the 4th time in 5 years renders the season as unsuccessful. Especially coming off of a playoff year. USOC win is nice and fun but did DC United consider their 2013 disaster of a season as a success because they won the Open Cup? They won more Open Cup games than MLS games that year.

FO/Ownership Perspective: show me the Forever Orange LLC 2018 statement of cash flows and that will give you the answer

 

if you look at it from a balance sheet perspective then this season was a bust.

pros:
Manotas
USOC
El Batallon
sold Cubo and recouped some $

cons:
no playoffs
no jersey sponsor
declining season tix base
declining butts in seats
little local media interest (print, radio, bloggers)
doubtful future as recent acquisitions have been busts
no foreseeable playas at Toros or in the academy
it's a football town and Rockets/Astros are knocking it out of the park
Texian Army
misspent Cubo money
poor customer service
parking has a been a mess due to construction (not Dynamo's fault)
no sizzle of an exciting World Cup
no playoffs for Dash
in-state rival (FCD) has been better these past years
i'm tired of typing

 

4th season out of the last 5 with no playoffs in a league where missing the playoffs consistently is pretty damn hard (plus last year were extremely lucky to make the playoffs thanks to Vincente Sanchez playing out of his mind in the last 4-6 games of the year).

Plus can cite all the stuff Rey mentions. No, not a successful season. Just another painful memory in the recent history of painful memory. Last 5 seasons, this team has been awful.

 

MLSsoccer.com has a form chart or game log of results expressed in color coded form. From game 12 thru 27 this season, the Dynamo were 2-11-3. It’s hard to have a stretch like that and consider it a successful year unless you blow it out the other 18 games. Outside of San Jose, our 11 game winless streak (some ties) was longest in the league.

Sorry, that’s not just Cabezas being injured.

 

Explain EB and TA further pls.

 

Pros:
Mauro ********ing Manotas breaking team records left and right!
Lifting the USOC
Fans starting to wake up to the BS this FO is trying to sell us

Con:
FO showing they are a bunch of potatoes
Our Defense
Fan attendance
season ticket holder drops

 

It will only be a successful season if Cabrera and Canetti get fired. I have seen enough of Cabrera to know that there is nothing there. And how the hell is this team worthless playing away year after year.

 

Yes this has been probably an all time low in away point (did not fact check), but historically we have been bad. In saying that, doesn't mean it is ok. Just not expecting us to even have mediocre away results right now.

 

I checked.
Away games record:

2006 - 17 pts/16 games, 1.06 PPG, 3 wins
2007 - 24/15, 1.60 PPG, 7 wins
2008 - 17/15, 1.13 PPG, 3 wins
2009 - 18/15, 1.20 PPG, 5 wins
2010 - 12/15, 0.80 PPG, 3 wins
2011 - 15/17, 0.88 PPG, 2 wins
2012 - 14/17, 0.82 PPG, 3 wins
2013 - 20/17, 1.18 PPG, 5 wins
2014 - 11/17, 0.65 PPG, 3 wins
2015 - 11/17, 0.65 PPG, 2 wins
2016 - 12/17, 0.71 PPG, 2 wins
2017 - 10/17, 0.59 PPG, 1 win
2018 - 8/14, 0.57 PPG, 1 win

AVERAGE: 0.90 PPG, 3 wins per season
The Dynamo need a road win in the last three games to move this season above 2017 as the worst ever.

 

Have you been to the games? That should be all the explanation needed.

 

Shit, worse than I thought! lol

Thanks Andy!

 

The answer is simple. No.

The issue for me is time and the last year and half. Last year, Matt Jordan and Wilmer Cabrera hit the player acquisition trifecta. They found three exceptional players (Elis, Quito, and Cabezas) and got them into the team. Surround those three with what Houston already had (Manotas/Cubo, DMB) and mix in a few other acquisitions (AJDLG, Machado, Leonardo) and you had the backbone of a young extremely talented quality attacking team. IMHO after about May when it became apparent Mauro was growing up, off-loading Cubo - I think it was pretty obvious to all Dynamo fans that the Quito-Manotas-Elis front line was as good as any in MLS.

So instead of seizing the day and pushing their chips all in, they went Houston Dynamo on it. DP Tomas Martinez. A solid player, but not a DP and definitely still not a #10. They added Senderos making an old injury prone backline older and more injury prone. Then they signed Feunmayor and Lundquist both to costly deals in terms of tying up cap space and being misses. Mix in a few more MLS misses (like Alvarez and Ceren) and you have the current team.

While I am happy this team won the Open Cup, I am mindful that with Houston's scouting budget and their lack of financial outlay for a big DP - this was a huge missed opportunity for a year and a half.

The team's attacking talent is good enough to get them to a Western Conference final and win an Open Cup. The rest of the team's talent is so bad that it whiffed on the playoffs by a huge margin.

So yeah, hurrah Open Cup. That's great.. But the team pissed away a two year window where it could have done so much more merely by:
1. Sign a legit DP #10.
2. Being better about its defensive acquisitions.

 

W in TF! It’s not like we’re in the Premiership or Bundesliga where winning away is difficult. How hard can playing in Columbus or Philadelphia be.

 

At MLSNHtown,

In my most humblest opinion I think you’re over rating Quioto, Manotas, and Elis.

Quioto - there’s seems to be an underlying attitude/mental issue. will stay in MLS or ship back to Honduras

Manotas - inproved but still flawed. MLS or lower table Columbian team.

Elis - MLS, Scandinavia or English Championship.

Im not saying these are terrible players, I’m just saying I’m not buying what the Dynamo/Canetti/Matt Jordan/Webb/Jay the ticket rep is trying to sell me.

 

We aren't going to score 70 goals like Atlanta, but those three with an elite DP #10 behind them and their pace and the 50 goals scored so far this year approaches 60.

You are 100% correct on Quito with an underlying attitude/metal issue. I think he forces his exit this year. Elis is exceptional for an MLS winger. Speed kills. If you put him up against elite outside backs that speed advantage goes away. Since it's most of all he has right now, you aren't wrong that he may struggle in other leagues - but he's still an elite attacking winger by MLS standards.

I'm not saying that I think any of them go on to great things. Just that by MLS standards, they are a very good collection of talent. They are young, and mobile. Which is why if you did put an elite DP #10 behind them the team would take off.

 

Don't forget Turkey and Greece for Elis.

 

very well said! I do believe that there is only maybe one or two teams in the MLS pound for pound better or equal to our attacking three. Atlanta being better, but once you get beyond that it drops off so far in talent that it is mind boggling.

 

As much as crap on the Dynamo, I’ve been consistent since last year that the frontline is good enough to win in MLS. Dynamo actually have a reverse problem from most of MLS in that the frontline is set but behind them needs the work.

And that hurts multiple ways: 1) we give up too many goals; 2) if there’s is no good #10, the frontline has to create by turnovers or dropping back too far on D to get ball and 3) tactically teams have neutered us because they know we can’t build up from the back.

Lastly, do we have the most defenders on the roster of any team in MLS? And we can’t ever get a good 4 in the back!!! We got all these “veterans” and yet we’ve had to play Wenger at fullback multiple times

 

I’ve had some moderate length drives this week around the area, I decided to listen to the Gen Orange Radio show against my better judgement to pass some time. The last 15 minutes is a discussion of the Dynamo that is filled with questionable observations that border on the absurd. It’s delusional to the point that it seems staged. These guys are like the soccer version of Lyndon LaRouche supporters.

One guy thought in the future we wouldn’t need to spend much on outside players because we have the development pipeline set up thru the Academy and RGV to teach them the Dynamo Way (because we’ve generated so much internal talent this far) There was another claim about how we are seeing the fruits of great scouting; yet another rant about how this team doesn’t suck because you can’t suck and win the Open Cup (I guess that 3 win 2013 DC United team was just extraordinarily unlucky outside of the USOC); how the Dynamo have just had a series of unfortunate occurances this year; we spent 7-8 million on Elis and 9-10 million overall; etc.

The best is when they claim the negative reddit opinions about the team are based on poor education and understanding about MLS!!!! Apparently being 16th in the table is more valuable than 1st. We have 35 points thru 30 games!!! Didn’t win for 11 games!!! I don’t need a UEFA “A” License to know that ain’t good.

 

How do the retarded ones get the voice on podcasts and live streams? Glenn Davis can be a homer from time to time (we all can), but if he see us shitting an egg he will call us a chicken...

 

Yeah...if the original hosts were listening to that they'd blow a gasket. My how things change....

 

Most successful season in 11 years if you count trophies

 

Did we win the Carolina Challenge Cup or Desert Diamond Cup the same year we won the BBVA Compass Charities Cup? Those count, right?

 

Hey we've won a couple Eastern Championships in the interim.

It's not the poor season, or string of them, per se that has everyone fired up. It's the lack of investment from ownership, cluelessness from the FO, mind-numbing trades and signings that show a lack of vision from staff, and the near f-you level attitude towards fans, supporters, charities...basically those a normal club relies on to spread the good word.

If those weren't issues, we wouldn't be seeing the level of 'who cares' from everyone.