The Houston Dynamo just released this video today of last Saturday's 4-0 win over SMU, the team's first with Brian Ching back in the lineup. The Captain mentioned on Glenn Davis' program last night that Brad Davis told him he thought this might be Dynamo's most technical-oriented squad ever. Even allowing for the level of competition, you see some nice pieces of skill in this video.

About 12 seconds in, Corey Ashe, playing in an advanced position on the left (This must be preseason.) does a nifty little behind the back move to send in a cross that Bryan Ownby (I think) makes a mash out of. Come on Bryan. I'm rooting for you, but that little header? Yuck.

Oops, what was I saying? At the 30-second mark, Ashe again playing up on the left sends a pretty bending cross to Ownby, who this time buries it. OK, all is forgiven UCLA boy.

Rain obscures the lens somewhat at this point of the video, so you can't get clear views of two horrendous misses. But then, not letting Ownby be the only Bruin to score, the Dancing Bear Will Bruin comes in just past the minute mark to get on the board. What time! I've seen PKs more pressured than that.

Warning: Don't look too close after that, or you will see JeVaughn Watson still in a Dynamo uniform, congratulating Bruin. I wonder what he's saying. Any ideas? (Please keep it clean. This is a family site.)

Don't keep your eyes closed too long, though. A few seconds later, Brazilian trialist Emerson Sato rises to meet a long cross and buries it for his first goal in preseason. Then a few second later, someone (thankfully) cleans off the lens at halftime and Colin Rolfe scores the final after a pretty cross.

Preseason to me is like a gentleman's agreement, it isn't worth the paper it's not printed on. Still, in the context of meaningless friendlies, it's always nice to see some good play, and play that is getting better as we go along. For those of you scoring at home, here are Dynamo's scoring leaders in the preseason so far:

• Bruin (4)

• Ownby, (4)

• Clark (3)

• Rolfe (3)

• Weaver (3)

• Dixon (2)

• Kandji (2)

• Sato (2)

• Sturgis (2)

• Aseweh

• Arreola

• Escobar

• Moffat

Next up is Dynamo's trip to Orlando, Florida this weekend for the Disney Pro Soccer Classic. Before taking the Emirates Cup last year, this was the New York Red Bulls' first and only trophy! Also, some team from Frisco beat us at PKs in the final of this event in 2011 for their only trophy. Charity is a wonderful thing, ain't it?

Friday at 5 p.m., the Orange play the Sporks, followed by Sunday at noon against Vancouver and, TA-DUM!!!, Wednesday, Feb. 29, at 7 p.m. against the Montreal L'Impact, all at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex.

Houston Dynamo past and present has been on parade over the last week. On the same day the reigning MLS MVP Dwayne De Rosario inked a new deal with DC United, the person those of us with an Orange persuasion consider the real 2011 MVP is back at work.

The Houston Chronicle is reporting that Brad Davis has been cleared by doctors for "all soccer activities." And what's more, Calen Carr has also been given the A-OK to get back to practice tomorrow.

In one sense, the Davis news is quite possibly bigger news than the return last week of No. 25. Not only is Davis the motor that makes the Dynamo go, he is quite possibly the third leg of the playing triumvirate that has been at the heart of all Dynamo success since the beginning. I'm speaking of course about the Flyin' Hawaiian (MVP of MLS Cup 2006 and the club's all-time leading scorer), the above mentioned De Rosario (MVP of MLS Cup 2007 and arguably one of the best players in MLS history) and Davis, the man of whom David Beckham wishes he was a right-footed version.

The discussion has been broached here and elsewhere of the need to create a Dynamo Hall of Fame (Naranjall of Fame?) that enshrines some of the great achievers in club history. The team does have an Orange Blazer Club that right now has a grand total of five members, broadcaster and former pro player Glenn Davis, Houston Mayor Annise Parker, Harris County judge Ed Emmett, tireless soccer advocate Victor Delgadillo and former Houston Hurricane and TV executive Jack Stanfield, with a sixth, former team president Oliver Luck clearly on the way. The organization adds one member ever year.

And the Orange Blazer Club is a very nice and classy move from a classy organization. One thing it is not, however, is a true Hall of Fame. The Houston Dynamo have not been in existence very long when it comes down to it, but I think the first members of any Naranjall would be obvious to all, starting with Brian Ching, Dwayne De Rosario, Pat Onstad and Brad Davis as players and Dominic Kinnear as manager.

The question I have for you, my dear Dynamo Theoreticians, is what players would you include in addition to those four? It would have to be a player or players with impeccable credentials, whose contributions to team and community are beyond question. I am not talking about debatable inclusions here, but rock solid and incontrovertible choices. My job was the easy one, as I gave you the first five obvious choices (four players plus one manager). I'm including a poll below with some other potential choices. For any choice you make, please in the comments field include your rationale.

This should be fun.

You know, Jonathan Yardley may be broadcasting games in South Oklahoma these days, but Jonathan Kaplan and the rest of the Houston Dynamo press office with this video serve notice that they have not lost a step. Well done, HappyKappy and Crew..

A nice video while we await word on the completion of the deal to bring Captain Kamehameha back home where he belongs.

And if the first five seconds doesn't bring a smile to your face, then I don't know what will.

"I'm Brian Ching from the Houston Dynamo, and this is My Houston."

And of course, Dom's Disciples have weighed in. And even though I might be a little uncomfortable with Herr Schickelgruber the Wallpaper Hanger being portrayed as a Dynamo fan, I can't help but laugh.

Howard...gratefully claims it... Distribution...Brilliant...Are things on here for the USA?... Can they do it?...

Who among us can listen to those words of Ian Darke and not get goosebumps? Well, that is some ice water indeed flowing through your veins if that does not describe you.

In my daily meanderings over at du Nord (What? You don't visit il Brucio's site everyday? Shame on you.) and ran across a link to the above video, a trailer for a film called Laduma, a documentary that, judging from the trailer seems to be about equal parts the South Africa World Cup and the experience of US Supporters in traveling over there and following it.

The film is the combined effort of One Goal, a group of documentary filmmakers who are dedicated to producing this kind of thing. Click on over to that website and you'll see what these guys are all about. But the main takeaway for me is this quote from the site:

One Goal is an internally funded, grassroots movement dedicated to growing the support fr our National Team and spreading the love of the Beautiful Game in the Land of the Free.

Says it all right there, don't it? It's enormous fun checking out the site, and series of webisodes they have on their efforts over there are guaranteed to take some time away that you were planning to spend on other things. You can also follow One Goal on Twitter here and Facebook here. The group says the goal right now is to screen Laduma in film festivals and organize private screenings to build buzz, a strategy employed both by the Pelada filmmakers as well as the guys behind Rise and Shine: The Jay DeMerit Story.

OK, I'm sensing some blank faces out there. You trying to tell me you have not seen Pelada? That movie is, quite simply, one of the best, if not THE best, soccer films I have ever seen, examining the street game as it is played and lived all over the world. I put the trailer down below for you just in case you have not seen it. After that, click on this link here to buy your own copy. If you don't, you will have to face the soccer gods on your own to explain yourself. I will not speak for you.

Same goes for the Jay DeMerit movie. You don't check that out, then you're not an American. Simple as that.

Here are the relevant trailers:

I have high hopes for Laduma to join the perhaps thin ranks of great football films. So let's throw it to the floor here, what are your favorite football films of all time? And don't be shy. I'm not afraid to admit that I hold a special place in my heart for Victory/Escape to Victory, the 1981 film with Sly Stallone, Michael Caine, Sir Bobby Moore, Pele, Osvaldo Ardilles, etc. I saw that film at the old Meyerland Theatre when it came out and had a great time. Trivia time: What nationality was Pele's character in that film?

I have to admit, I love that movie, and I know full well that, as a movie, it is wretched. But I still love it. Here're the final credits from it:

So, come on, what's your guilty football film pleasure?

Hannukah begins at sundown tonight, and for those of you who will be celebrating the Jewish Festival of Lights, the Houston Dynamo have something for you. (You can purchase it by clicking here.)

Shalom.

via www.houstondynamo.com

Of course, there are plenty of other Dynamo related items for you out there. I generally do my footy shopping locally here in Houston at Soccer-4-All, and am quite satisfied with supporting that local business that has done so much for growing the sport here. However, I am wondering where everyone else does theirs. Any tips?

Strake Jesuit alumnus and Notre Dame goalkeeper Pat Wall via www.houstondynamo.com

If you're like me, you're watching football around the globe, following whatever teams you enjoy following (I hear there are other teams out there that are not Celtic and Barcelona, but that may just be a rumor.), and are just slowly burning, wanting to know why these teams are not in Orange. Well, the Houston Dynamo, like the big guy in the red suit and the reindeer fetish, are here to to answer your desires.

The annual Dynamo Academy Showcase Game will be played tonight at 5 p.m. at Houston Amateur Sports Park. Here's a quick release from Dynamo detailing who will be there (not Sebastien Ibeagha, who as we have heard already, is in Florida at the US Men's Olympic Camp).

HOUSTON, TX (Monday, December 19, 2011) -- The top prospects from the Houston Dynamo Academy, presented by Statoil, will be on display Monday night in the annual Dynamo Academy Showcase, set to kick off at 5 p.m. at the Houston Amateur Sports Park.

First team head coach Dominic Kinnear and his staff will be on hand to evaluate players, with a full match pitting the Dynamo's college-protected players and select guests against players from their U-18 and U-16 teams.

College participants include:

DF Leo Ayala (Challenge Early College), University of Central Florida

DF Matt Boullt (Fort Bend Clements), Tulsa

MF Ábe Matamoros (Strake Jesuit), Tulsa

MF Daniel Roberts (Fort Bend Clements), UNC-Wilmington

MF Johnny Torres (Atascocita), Wake Forest

GK Pat Wall (Strake Jesuit), Notre Dame

MF Miguel Zapata (Katy Mayde Creek), Tulsa

Dynamo Academy home-grown players may be signed to the Dynamo first team without being subject to the MLS SuperDraft or the allocation process. Houston has signed four players from its Academy, goalkeeper Tyler Deric (Klein) and midfielder Francisco Navas Cobo, both of whom made their professional debuts in 2010, and midfielders Alex Dixon (Humble Atascocita) and Josue Soto (Prepa Tec, Mexico), both of whom competed in last year's Academy Showcase.

In case you're wondering what you might see if you can get out there this evening, here's a lookback to the 2010 event.

It's not the first team, but it's a nice Holiday present to those of us who can (A) get down to HASP for the event and (B) just want to see some guys in Orange kick a ball in anger. That's a pretty nice deal, anyway you slice it.

And speaking of Ibeagha, here's an interesting Twitter exchange between Soccer by Ives' Ives Galarcep and Taylor Twellman during the US Olympic Camp intrasquad game yesterday:

@SoccerByIves Ibeagha looks MLS ready. Should sign homegrown deal w/ Hou ASAP. No point in going back 2 coll

Followed by

@TaylorTwellman @SoccerByIves he is a bit of a between the ears project. Athletically gifted but not the brightest esp during college ball

Make of it what you will

Meanwhile, here's an update from the Olympic Camp, including a certain right midfielder with which we are all well-acquainted.

Forza Naranja

HRH Kofi Sarkodie is at it again, wrapping up the European adventures of both himself and teammate Will Bruin with the Generation adidas team in the Netherlands.

And here you thought with that title that I was going to write about Landon Donovan heading back to Everton. Well, for Ginge's sake, I hope Donovan kicks ass across the Mersey. But for all of our sakes, I hope Donovan gets smart this time and stays over there, even if he has to wage a legal fight to do so. Becoming the American Bosman and winning would be the greatest gift he could possibly give to American soccer, and certainly the biggest contribution to American sports since Messersmith-McNally. This control that the single entity structure gives over a player's career has got to stop for everyone's sake, and I sincerely hope Donovan is the one to break the power while he does his version of Occupy Goodison.

Maybe that's controversial, but I sincerely hope that comes to pass, even though at the same time I enjoy having the best US outfield player ever playing in MLS. I think that challenging the league on this one would be a bigger contribution for the next phase of his career, because the way it is right now, players abroad have a lot of control over their very short careers, while American-based players have almost none.

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