HOUSTON -- He was only kidding, but veteran defender Craig Waibel said the one thing the 2008 Houston Dynamo will be remembered for is that they were the first Houston team not to win a championship.
Despite the deadpan answer, he was correct.
In their first two seasons after moving to Houston from San Jose, the Dynamo notched second-place regular season finishes in the Western Conference, breezed through the playoffs and won the MLS Cup at Pizza Hut Park (2006) and at RFK Stadium (2007).
But this year, even though the team closed out the year with a 1-0 win against El Salvador's Luis Angel Firpo to advance to the semifinal round of the inaugural CONCACAF Champions League, the Dynamo fizzled out during the postseason.
A 3-0 loss to eventual MLS runner-up New York on Nov. 9 was the final, crushing blow for a team that expected to, yet again, be the final MLS club standing at The Home Depot Center in late November.
"We played 48 games this year, which I think is 15 more games than anyone else in MLS," said head coach Dominic Kinnear. "That is almost a good five months' worth of soccer right there, and it's been good for us.
"We have seen the emergence of some young players and we have seen the consistent play of the players that have been here for a long time."
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SIGHTS & SOUNDS
Brian Ching once again led the team with 13 goals and five assists. Dwayne De Rosario added seven more goals and four assists, and Nate Jaqua was signed mid-year to provide depth up front.
In his 14 games, including 11 starts, Jaqua chipped in with four big goals, four assists and more scoring chances per game than perhaps anyone else in the league.
Pat Onstad, whose statistics while playing in MLS are better than anyone else to have played goalkeeper, again led the league in goals against average (1.03).
Those kinds of numbers got the Dynamo to the top of the league standings, despite their participation in the preseason Pan-Pacific Championship in Hawaii, the CONCACAF Champions' Cup, one match in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, SuperLiga, MLS regular season play and, most recently, the CONCACAF Champions League.
Defender Eddie Robinson looked past the playoffs defeat to New York when asked about what the 2008 Orange would be remembered for. Instead, he looked at the entire body of work and at a schedule that would have most professional soccer players quivering at the thought of playing nearly 50 matches in eight months.
"To play as many games as we did all summer long and to still come away with as many points as we did, especially in league play, it's just incredible," said Robinson. "Coming down the stretch, I don't know how many games we went there without losing one. We were good, and I just think our attitude, for the last two and half months that felt like four, is something everyone should be proud of."
From July 29, their first match after the All-Star break, until a 3-0 loss to Pumas UNAM in the CONCACAF Champions League, the Dynamo played 16 games and lost just one time. They went an incredible 9-1-6 that included a stretch where two home matches had to be postponed because of Hurricane Ike's destruction in and around the Houston area in mid-September.
"What was the highlight of our season," Robinson asked. "Our perseverance."
There were many high points for the Dynamo in 2008, but, to be fair, the team had several blemishes that only makes their season story more interesting.
First there was the disappointment of Argentinean signing Franco Caraccio. He might have scored the team's first goal of the year in a 3-3 tie vs. FC Dallas on April 6 and added another goal and assist in 10 games (8 starts). But he struggled to gain the fitness he needed to compete for a full 90 minutes and he was eventually released.
On July 1, the team traveled to Charleston for their first match in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. After tying the game late, the Dynamo eventually lost in penalty kicks to their USL First Division rivals.
Then after their most exciting win of the season, a 2-0 win against Pachuca, a team that has quickly become their biggest international rival, the Dynamo traveled to New England and lost on penalty kicks in the SuperLiga final.
"Overall, it is a disappointing season when we don't reach the goals that we set forth as a team," said Onstad. "This team's aim is to win trophies, and unfortunately we did not do that this year."
Ching echoed that sentiment.
"Obviously this team has higher expectations than most, so it is a disappointment when we get close in SuperLiga and lose," he said. "It's even more disappointing when we positioned ourselves well for the playoffs and lose. It is just frustrating."
Waibel has some decisions to make. Despite being one of the go-to veterans for his three seasons in an Orange uniform, he and his wife had a deal that after his 10th professional season, he'd confer with her about returning for more.
Waibel had three assists this year in 14 games after scoring a career-high five goals in 2006. He played nine of his 10 pro years in MLS, and six of those were spent with the Dynamo and the San Jose unit that moved from California in 2005.
Waibel might make a good coach one day, but he's not saying exactly what his plans are just yet. Like many of his long-time teammates, he thinks the team can take more good than bad from this season because of the number of games they played and how much high-profile time many of the reserves got to see on the field.
"You have to look at the number of games we played this year, and to only lose nine of them, that is not bad," Waibel said. "Because of all the games, and all the experience we got off the bench this year, all of that really made us the deepest team in this league. That only happens because of all the games we played. The experience gained by Stuart Holden, Geoff Cameron and Corey Ashe, all the time they got on the field made them legitimate contenders for starting positions.
"The greatest thing to take away from this season, on top of the results, is that we are still one of the best teams in this league and we have a bench that is as deep as any."
After their loss to the New York Red Bulls in the Western Conference Semifinal Series, Ching mentioned that he thought there would be some big changes with the team, but failed to elaborate when pushed. Kinnear sidestepped the question and said the team next year would be fine.
Waibel acknowledged the possibility of a shakeup, but didn't dwell on the potential breakup in chemistry the team has relied upon since Day 1.
"If the next best thing comes along, someone is going to move out," Waibel said. "We'll wait and see if the next best thing comes along. That is all you can do. But I don't think anyone on this roster is banging down the door trying to get out of here.
"I think everyone that has been here and left is banging on the door trying to get back in."
As for goals in 2009 for whatever players might don the Orange and White next year, that's easy.
"The season is over," Kinnear said. "But our goal for next year is set already, and that is to win MLS Cup 2009."
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