Dynamo vs. Sporting Kansas City: Victory at a Cost

Now that the initial euphoria and joy from the Houston Dynamo's victory at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park has begun to wear off a little, we are left with the lingering concern that while the Dynamo will play for the MLS Cup in two weeks, the already difficult task has been made considerably harder due to an injury to team MVP Brad Davis. While it does take just a bit of the shine off the win, I doubt Davis himself would want us not to celebrate and enjoy the evening.

I doubt you could of scripted a better 90 minutes for the Dynamo than how things played out in Kansas City on Sunday evening. A dominating defensive performance that saw Houston clean sheet a team that has been an offensive powerhouse of late. Another scrappy set piece goal from Andre Hainault (who also scored the first goal in the Union series) and a second MLS goal for Carlo Costly who has come up big a key moments of late for the Dynamo after some disappointing early performances.

It's another feather in the cap of head coach Dominic Kinnear who has guided this team from the depths of the 2010 season that saw Houston miss the playoffs for the first time, all the way back to an MLS Cup Final, the third trip to the final in this franchise's six season. There were plenty of doubters along the way and plenty of questions about if Kinnear could still get things done, and he proved them all wrong by getting the Dynamo settled and playing their best soccer as the playoffs began.

Like the idea of playoffs or not, Kinnear is a master of getting his teams to peak at just the right time and making all the right adjustments in the pressure cooker environment of the postseason. It's not a situation every coach thrives in, but there's little doubt Kinnear is one of the best when the pressure is the greatest and the spotlight is the brightest.

As for Davis, the injury appears to be a torn right quadricep which will likely keep him out of the final. Anything is possible, but it looks like the Dynamo will have to finish their third championship without a key part of what got them here in the first place. However, it's not like Kinnear hasn't dealt with that before and previous experience plus two weeks to prepare should mean the Dynamo will be more than ready when they take the field at the Home Depot Center on November 20th.

For tonight though, let's just enjoy this.

The Dynamo are the Eastern Conference Champions...that's fun to say. Let's see if we can say even more two weeks from tonight.