Champs' Cup: Houston Attacks!

With the kick off to the Houston Dynamo's semifinal first leg now just hours away, I thought I'd squeeze in some last minute notes on what to expect.

First of all, don't think that Mexico's Pachuca isn't up for this one. As an item on Soccer365.com points out, they seem to view winning this competition as a natural progression in their growing success.

Turning to Houston, the Houston Chronicle is churning out some good stuff, though with an assist from MLSnet.com. The latter chipped in today (or yesterday) with a preview; the key detail came with Houston coach Dominic Kinnear's blunt game-plan:

"Let's go try to attack them and see if they can handle us."


Well, we'll see how that goes.

Turning to the Chronicle, apart from passing on a classic phrase from Kinnear - he's adivising the team to "play within ourselves" - there's some good dish on tactics, notably about attacking down the flanks, something the absence of Dwayne DeRosario encourages. Another interesting wrinkle to consider: with King Foul-Lure Alejandro Moreno looking likely to take DeRosario's place, that may open up some free-kick opportunities for the Dynamo. Given Brad Davis' left foot - and hoping he's been practicing with it a lot - perhaps the Dynamo ought to play Moreno to the right to provide Davis with ideal opportunites.

Finally, another Chronicle item gives us all a heads-up that, due to Kinnear's hesitance to tinker with a line-up that worked before, Eddie Robinson won't start this one; we should expect to see Craig Waibel paired with Ryan Cochrane in the middle, with Kelly Gray on the right and Wade Barrett on the left.

All right, y'all. Happy viewing. (MUST stop stalling...must look at Chicago Fire...to...preview...the...season....)

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