Monday Morning Centre Back: Hamstrung

by Zach Woosley on Mar 14, 2011 9:25 AM CDT in Monday Morning Centre Back

The big news for the Dynamo from the weekend wasn't the results of their final two pre-season matches in Atlanta. Instead, it was the re-injured hamstring of forward Brian Ching whose status is in doubt for the season opener on Saturday against the Philadelphia Union.

Ching left Friday's 1-0 loss to the Columbus Crew in the 28th minute after aggravating the same hamstring that had caused him to miss the past three matches. Despite the injury, the club still hopes to have Ching available against the Union, but we should get a pretty good idea of that possibility based on how much Ching is able to train this week.

If Ching is unavailable, the question becomes who will start up front in the season opener. Kinnear has two veteran options in Jason Garey and Cam Weaver, but it seems likely that fan sentiments will be towards rookie Will Bruin getting the nod. Bruin continued his strong pre-season on Sunday against the New England Revolution with a brace and his first goals against MLS competition.

While I was unable to see the match, both of Bruin's goal were supposedly highlight reel worth strikes. With the injury issues Ching has faced so far, the emergence of Bruin is a real potential positive for the Dynamo.

Ching has struggled with fitness over the past couple seasons and these issues with the hamstring are filling anyone with confidence. Every Dynamo fan loves Ching and there is genuine concern that there could be a more extensive issue with his leg that could severely limit his availability this season. It's all speculation at this point but I think it's fair to say that the other forwards on the roster will be looked to for goal production this season.

As the season opener approaches, Dynamo Theory will have a big season preview post from three of our writers along with our MLS season predictions. Seven to eight months from now, we can look back and laugh at how bad we were or gloat about our genius. We shall see.

We'll have full coverage this Saturday of the Dynamo home opener live from Robertson Stadium with a live game thread and updates on Twitter.

We're working to make our coverage of the Dynamo this season the best is can be and look forward to further building our community here on the blog.

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Nickname time

Ginge, I apologize for the double post, but thought you’d like to see this. I put this up over at Glenn Davis’ site as well.

Here’s a look at some nicknames for this year:

Oduro: The Cunning Spider. That is a great story.
Will Bruin: Ursa Major, the Big Bear. That’s a big guy.
Kofi Sarkodie: His Highness since he’s Ghanaian royalty and all that
Brian Ching: Still the Flyin’ Hawaiian
Mike Chabala: Shave his head or no, he’s still Chewbacca
Eddie Robinson: Johnny Rocco (from Edward G. Robinson’s character in Key Largo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACTkVM6t_bo)
Corey "Volcanic" Ashe
Bobby Boswell: His nickname is Bobby Boswell because you can’t improve on that. :>
Geoff the Giraffe Cameron
Danny Cruz is… The Arizonan or High Desert
Brad Davis: D for Delivery
Tyler "Oil" Deric
Alex Dixon Ticonderoga
Hunter Freeman: Well, that’s just two nicknames right there.
Jason Garey: The Tap-in
Jordan Graye: One-man wall (Did you read his Q&A on the Dynamo site? Read it and you’ll see.)
Andrew Hainault: Easy to go with ginger names here, as he’s the only orange-headed guy in Dynamo history. How about this: The Canuck Carrot
Tally Hall Pass
Francisco Navas Cobo: The Cisco Kid
One Lovel Palmer
Jermaine Taylor: He’s Jermaine in the Middle
Cam Shaft Weaver
Josue Soto, Evan Newton, Colin Clark: No nickname because you have to do something in Orange first