MMCB: Dynamo get away with another draw against non-playoff team

The Dynamo tied 1-1 with the Montreal Impact on Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon, Sporting Kansas City saved their asses, at least for now, drawing 1-1 with the Columbus Crew. A Crew loss would have been better, but it keeps the Dynamo in fifth place, one point ahead of the Crew for the final playoff spot.

The draw against the Impact was the fifth time this season Houston has drawn against a non-playoff team. In 11 games against teams that won't be in the playoffs this season, the Dynamo have won four, drawn four and lost two. They may yet squeak in to the playoffs, but if they don't, that is why. Bad results against teams you should beat.

Anybody starting to wonder if this team really wants to make the playoffs?

MLS is a league built on parity and while there are a couple of teams at the top that are clearly better, most of the league is fairly close. Anyone could win any match, so in a league like that, what separates champions, contenders and riff-raff is how you play against "lesser" opponents. I use lesser only in the sense that teams are below you in the standings.

The offense wasn't good enough on Saturday, which has been an unfortunate common theme for the past few weeks. This team simply cannot score enough goals, and despite the fact that Brian Ching almost saved them again with a stoppage time goal that was disallowed, the attack simply isn't doing the job.

The Dynamo have two games left in league play. Home to the Union and away to Colorado to close the season. Two teams that are not going to the playoffs. The Union have owned Houston this season, while the Dynamo haven't played the Rapids. The Crew finish with a trip to DC and a home match against Toronto.

That's all that's left. Six points on the line for each team. If Houston wins out, they are in, no matter what Columbus does (thanks to SKC). If Houston draws or loses either of those games, they'll need help to make the playoffs. Will they make it? Hard to say, but I'm leaning towards no. This team has chronically underachieved against teams they should be beating this year and they've given us no reason to believe that will change. Then again, they've got a nice break before the Union match and maybe they can get their shit together by then.

Who knows what happens, but if the playoffs started today, Houston would travel to New York for a one-off wild card game. Given how the team has been playing, do you think they could actually win that? Sure, anything is possible in those type of games, but logic tells you, they'd be one and done.