MLS Playoffs: Canales Daily: Orange Crunch

By Andrea Canales

Houston Dynamo coach Dom Kinnear has earned his reputation as a players' coach - the sort who understands the dynamics of a team as a whole, but also the struggles of individuals beset by injuries and the pressure to perform.

It takes talent to effectively recall, without getting lost in nostalgia, one's own playing days and translate that into a coaching style that brings out the best in a roster, but Kinnear has managed that year after year, first in San Jose and then in Houston.

So it perhaps wasn't a surprise that Kinnear was steamed on behalf of his players after the Dynamo beat Chivas USA on the road in the final game of the MLS season, earning the second seed in the Western Conference.

Kinnear's frustrations lay with the fact the the Dynamo traveled to El Salvador for a CONCACAF Champions League match this past week, then out to Los Angeles for the Sunday match versus Chivas USA, and now the Houston squad has been handed the first match of the playoffs, facing Seattle on Thursday night.

That's three away games in essentially a week - and no other playoff team has that kind of fixture crush.


"I'm mad that we have to play on Thursday," Kinnear said. "Which is not to say that we won't go out there and be competitive, but to completely overlook our schedule and what we've been through is completely unfair to what we're trying to do."

The reason that MLS pushed Houston into the Thursday slot is that the league has a deal with ESPN for a game in that time period. 

It does seem odd that the club most exhausted by extra games because of international competition was the one chosen for that night, however.

"It's our 41st game (the Sunday tilt versus Chivas USA) and some teams have only played 34 - that's a good two months worth of soccer," Kinnear said.

Considering the fact that another MLS club involved in the CCL, DC United, failed to even make the playoffs, it's worth wondering if a club should even risk taking international competition seriously.

Of course, such tournaments are a way for the clubs to help the league earn prestige, but when MLS rewards thier efforts by essentially ignoring the toll the games take, players and coaches can feel hard done by.

"Every team is trying to win MLS Cup, and you want everything fair across the board," Kinnear explained. "I think this is unfair."

If Kinnear sounds a bit like Rodney Dangerfield, it might be related to the fact that at this point, the scheduling issue isn't an isolated gripe against the league.

There's also the matter of MLS deciding to grant the championship final to Seattle's Qwest Field, which has an artificial surface that is abhorred by many players and purists because it does not play like true grass.

Kinnear did not mince words on that subject.

"It's terrible that the players have to play on an artificial surface in the best, most important game of the season."

Another decision by the league - the move to eliminate the reserve teams this season - hit clubs like Houston especially hard. With extra games on the schedule, they were unable to rotate fresh reserve players in to help ease the load.

In Kinnear's view, however, the reserve teams are also a crucial tool to rehab injured players or perhaps be a bridge to help newly-signed players transition to the style and pace of play.

"[The return of the reserve league] would help out a lot of teams and players," said Kinnear.
Meanwhile, though, Kinnear and his players will cope with the situation they now face as best they can.

As fate would have it, a red card suspension kept Dynamo star Brian Ching on the bench versus Chivas USA, giving him a tad more rest than his teammates before the playoff opener.

"It is nice to have one of your good guys not be as tired as the rest," Kinnear noted.

Houston also decided to try to minimize the toll that travel will take on the players by remaining in Los Angeles until they fly to Seattle for the Thursday game.

Aside from the fervent crowds and the artificial turf at Qwest, Kinnear was well aware of the challenge posed by the Sounders.

"They're a tough team,"  Kinnear praised. "Freddie Ljungberg has quietly had a great season for them."

It's unlikely that the Dynamo will be complacent versus Seattle, given their memories of last season's unceremonious exit from the playoffs in the first round.

"We know what happened last year," Kinnear said. "It's going to be an interesting 180 minutes."

Indeed. The MLS playoffs are here, with attendant controversies and tension, and if Kinnear is trying to spark a spirited reaction from his troops by casting them as the hard-luck underdogs, no one can really blame him.

Andrea Canales is Chief Editor of Goal.com North America

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