One week to go ramblings

One week from today, Dynamo start training camp in preparation for their six (!) competitions of 2008, the Pan-Pacifics, CONCACAF Champions Cup, MLS season, SuperLiga, CONCACAF Champions League and Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. I repeat all six of these competitions over and over in my mind just to drive myself crazy, I think, at the unfairness of having to play so many fixtures during the season. Oh well, last season, Dynamo played in the second-most amount of games in MLS (DC United was first) and it led to the squad's second consecutive MLS title, so I really shouldn't whine about it all.


The fact is, for committed supporters like the three of us (and for our committal hearings, we ask only for orange-colored straps on our strait-jackets. Is that too much to ask now?) this blog, you can never have too many games. So bring them all on, baby!


When camp opens next week, Bernardo Fallas over at the Chron is reporting that Dynamo will be without our five American heroes, who will be in either US senior national camp or Olympic camp, in order Eddie Robinson, Brad Davis, Rico Clark, Stuart Holden and Pat Ianni. Also in Canadian national team camp right now in Florida are Dwayne De Rosario and Pat Onstad, but I believe that camp will be over by Feb. 1.

First up for the Men in Orange is the Pan Pacific Championships in Hawaii. The official site has a nifty little Q&A with DeRo. Among the highlights, this little nugget: "It's a great opportunity to play meaningful games and prepare for the intense schedule ahead of us. So it is all in good timing." Is our boy DDR media savvy or what? Dynamo take on a team from Australia's A-League at 8:30 p.m. Feb. 20 in Honolulu, but that'll be 12:30 a.m. Feb. 21 here. Still no word on TV coverage, if any. But with that team from LA in the event, you've got to think that some coverage will come calling.


Next of course, is the CONCACAF Champions Cup, where Dynamo face CD Municipal from Guatemala City in the first round March 12 (in Guatemala City) and March 19 (at Robertson Stadium). In advance of this, Dynamo have helpfully posted a nice scouting report on Los Rojos, which you can find here. Among my favorite little nuggets there are: It was formed by city hall workers in Guatemala City in 1936; they've never been relegated; they have three guys named Pablo on their roster. For those of us who were there at last season's games against Puntarenas and Pachuca, the CCC is a ton of fun.

Of course, last year, those two series were blamed for Dynamo's somewhat listless start to MLS competition. This year, we'll see just how true or false that is. The Men in Orange open at the New England Revolution March 29 and then at home to raise their 2007 championship flag vs. the Frisco Candystripers April 6 at 2 p.m. here at Robertson.

SuperLiga, CONCACAF Champions League and Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup are all summer competitions that will severely test the team's depth, as will the Olympics, which might claim Holden and Ianni and various national team call-ups.

So to conclude this somewhat rambling post, here's one of my faves, Dynamo's 10 best goals from 2007. Enjoy.