2006 Houston Dynamo season

The 2006 Houston Dynamo season was the inaugural season of the club.

The team was created on December 15, 2005 when the San Jose Earthquakes were relocated, due to owner AEG's failure to secure a soccer-specific stadium. Although effectively a relocation of the Earthquakes, the team name, intellectual property, and statistical history were not carried over to Houston, Houston Dynamo statistical history with the Earthquakes instead being treated as having gone "inactive", San Jose Earthquakes statistical history while the Dynamo are regarded as a new club formed in 2005. Houston Dynamo FC History The Earthquakes would be "reactivated" through league expansion in 2008. San Jose Earthquakes to return to Major League Soccer in 2006 This agreement was identical to establishment of the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League.

First season

The Dynamo played their first game on April 2, 2006. Amidst a crowd of 25,462 people in Robertson Stadium, the Dynamo beat the Colorado Rapids 5–2. Brian Ching led the charge for the Dynamo with four goals, all of which were set up with assists from teammate Dwayne De Rosario. In stoppage time, Alejandro Moreno scored MLS' Goal of the Week with a game-clinching bicycle kick. On May 6, 2006, the Houston Dynamo won their first intrastate rivalry game against FC Dallas, 4–3 at Robertson Stadium. Craig Waibel had a career year for the Dynamo, ending up one of the finalists for defender of the year. He logged 5 goals and 1 assist during the regular season. Ronald Cerritos and Julian Nash were released in June to make room for Paul Dalglish.

Mike Chabala, Stuart Holden, Martin Hutton, Patrick Ianni, Mpho Moloi, Adrian Serioux, and Zach Wells were the new additions to the pre existing San Jose Earthquakes 2005 Roster.

The Dynamo finished their first season in Houston with an 11–8–13 record, good for second place in the Western Conference. They lost the first game of the two-legged conference semifinal to C.D. Chivas USA, 2–1, on October 22 in Los Angeles. Chivas goalkeeper Brad Guzan stopped De Rosario on a penalty kick that could have tied the match.

In the second leg on October 29, Houston defeated Chivas USA 2–0 at Robertson Stadium, advancing in dramatic fashion. After a red card to Chivas' Juan Francisco Palencia, Houston's Brad Davis converted a second-half penalty kick to tie the aggregate score. With the match in second-half stoppage time, Brian Ching headed in the winning goal from close range to delight the crowd of more than 17,000.

On November 5, 2006, the Dynamo defeated the Colorado Rapids 3–1 in the Western Conference final to earn a spot in its first MLS Cup. Scottish forward Paul Dalglish scored twice in front of an MLS Cup Playoffs-high crowd of 23,107.

On November 12, 2006, the Dynamo defeated the New England Revolution 4–3 on penalty kicks after a 1–1 tie to win the 2006 MLS Cup held at Pizza Hut Park in Frisco, Texas. The game was scoreless until the second session of extra time, when New England's Taylor Twellman scored. Only one minute and six seconds later, Brian Ching headed in the tying goal for Houston, and the championship was, for the first time in MLS history, decided by a shootout. Substitutes Kelly Gray and Stuart Holden made Houston's first two penalty kicks, and standouts Dwayne De Rosario and Brian Ching made the last two. Ching's gave Houston a 4–3 lead, and goalkeeper Pat Onstad stopped New England's Jay Heaps on the final attempt to secure the win.

With the win, the Dynamo advanced to the 2007 CONCACAF Champions' Cup.

2006 Dynamo Squad This is the final roster for the Houston Dynamo at the end of the 2006 Season.

Player movement Players who were with the Earthquakes at the end of the 2005 season and moved to Houston are not listed. Likewise, players who were with the Earthquakes and were released, retired, or out of contract after the 2005 season and did not move with the team to Houston are not listed.

In Per Major League Soccer and club policies terms of the deals do not get disclosed. DatePlayerPositionAgePrevious clubNotesRefJanuary 20, 2006 Patrick IanniDF20UCLASelected with the 8th overall pick in the 2006 MLS SuperDraftJanuary 20, 2006 Zach WellsGK24 MetroStarsAcquired in exchange for a 4th round pick in the 2006 MLS SuperDraftJanuary 20, 2006 Andre SchmidFW22St. John's UniversitySelected with the 8th pick in the 3rd round (32nd overall) in the 2006 MLS SuperDraftJanuary 20, 2006 Mike ChabalaMF21University of WashingtonSelected with the 8th pick in the 4th round (44th overall) in the 2006 MLS SuperDraftJanuary 26, 2006 Mpho MoloiMF22University of ConnecticutSelected with the 7th overall pick in the 2006 MLS Supplemental DraftFebruary 16, 2006 Marcus StoreyFW23 Columbus CrewAcquired in exchange for a 2nd round pick in the 2007 MLS Supplemental DraftMarch 24, 2006 Adrian SeriouxMF26 New York Red BullsAcquired in exchange for Danny O'RourkeApril 18, 2006 Stuart HoldenMF20 SunderlandFree TransferAugust 17, 2006 Paul DalglishMF29 HibernianFree Transfer

Out DatePlayerPositionAgeDestination ClubNotesRefMarch 24, 2006 Danny O'RourkeDF22 New York Red BullsTraded to New York Red Bulls in exchange for Adrian Serioux Andre SchmidFW22 New York Red BullsReleased. Joined the reserves for the Red BullsAugust 21, 2006 Ronald CerritosFW31 San SalvadorReleased

Loans Per Major League Soccer and club policies terms of the deals do not get disclosed.

Out DatePlayerPositionLoaned toNotesRef Mike ChabalaMF Portland TimbersJune 29, 2006 Martin HuttonGK Portland Timbers

Friendlies

Carolina Challenge Cup

Competitions

Major League Soccer

Standings Western Conference

Overall

Matches

MLS Cup Playoffs

US Open Cup

Player statistics

Appearances, goals, and assists {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;" |+ ! rowspan="2" |No. ! rowspan="2" |Pos ! rowspan="2" |Nat ! rowspan="2" | ! colspan="3" | ! colspan="3" | ! colspan="3" | ! colspan="3" | |- !Apps !Goals !Assists !Apps !Goals !Assists !Apps !Goals !Assists !Apps !Goals !Assists |- |1||GK||||align=left|||1||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||1||0||0 |- |2||DF||||align=left|||32||4||4||25||2||3||4||0||1||3||2||0 |- |3||DF||||align=left|||22||0||1||20||0||1||0||0||0||2||0||0 |- |4||DF||||align=left|||2||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||2||0||0 |- |5||DF||||align=left|||32||1||0||27||1||0||3||0||0||2||0||0 |- |6||DF||||align=left|||22||0||0||18||0||0||2||0||0||3||0||0 |- |7||MF||||align=left|||9||2||0||6||1||0||0||0||0||3||1||0 |- |8||FW||||align=left|||10||4||1||6||2||1||4||2||0||0||0||0 |- |9||MF||||align=left|||37||3||8||31||2||4||4||1||3||2||0||1 |- |11||MF||||align=left|||34||2||14||28||1||11||4||1||2||2||0||1 |- |12||FW||||align=left|||6||0||0||6||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0 |- |13||MF||||align=left|||36||2||4||31||2||3||3||0||1||2||0||0 |- |14||MF||||align=left|||37||12||7||30||11||5||4||0||2||3||1||0 |- |15||FW||||align=left|||37||6||7||30||3||6||4||0||1||3||3||0 |- |16||DF||||align=left|||33||5||2||28||5||1||4||0||1||1||0||0 |- |17||MF||||align=left|||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0 |- |18||GK||||align=left|||38||0||1||32||0||0||4||0||0||2||0||1 |- |19||DF||||align=left|||4||0||0||2||0||0||0||0||0||2||0||0 |- |20||FW||||align=left|Left during the season||16||1||1||15||0||1||0||0||0||1||1||0 |- |21||DF||||align=left|||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0 |- |22||MF||||align=left|||18||1||2||13||1||0||2||0||0||3||0||2 |- |23||MF||||align=left|||0||0|||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0 |- |24||DF||||align=left|||28||0||3||31||0||3||4||0||0||3||0||0 |- |25||FW||||align=left|||26||14||2||21||11||2||4||3||0||1||0||0 |- |26||FW||||align=left|||1||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||1||0||0||0 |- |30||GK||||align=left|||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0 |- |51||MF||||align=left|||27||1||0||20||1||0||4||0||0||3||0||0

Disciplinary record {| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;" |+ ! rowspan="2" |No. ! rowspan="2" |Pos ! rowspan="2" |Nat ! rowspan="2" |Player ! colspan="2" |Total ! colspan="2" |MLS ! colspan="2" |MLS Playoffs ! colspan="2" |US Open Cup |- !style="width:30px;"| !style="width:30px;"| !style="width:30px;"| !style="width:30px;"| !style="width:30px;"| !style="width:30px;"| !style="width:30px;"| !style="width:30px;"| |- |2||DF||||align=left|Eddie Robinson||13||1||11||1||0||0||2||0 |- |3||DF||||align=left|Kevin Goldthwaite||2||0||2||0||0||0||0||0 |- |5||DF||||align=left|Ryan Cochrane||5||0||4||0||1||0||0||0 |- |6||DF||||align=left|Kelly Gray||3||0||2||0||0||0||1||0 |- |8||FW||||align=left|Paul Dalglish||3||0||3||0||0||0||0||0 |- |9||MF||||align=left|Brian Mullan||6||1||6||1||0||0||0||0 |- |11||MF||||align=left|Brad Davis||5||0||4||0||1||0||0||0 |- |13||MF||||align=left|Ricardo Clark||6||1||4||1||2||0||0||0 |- |14||MF||||align=left|Dwayne De Rosario||3||2||2||2||1||0||0||0 |- |15||FW||||align=left|Alejandro Moreno||2||1||2||1||0||0||0||0 |- |16||DF||||align=left|Craig Waibel||4||0||3||0||1||0||0||0 |- |18||GK||||align=left|Pat Onstad||3||0||2||0||1||0||0||0 |- |24||DF||||align=left|Wade Barrett||1||1||1||1||0||0||0||0 |- |25||FW||||align=left|Brian Ching||2||0||1||0||0||0||1||0 |- |51||MF||||align=left|Adrian Serioux||5||0||4||0||1||0||0||0

Honors and awards

MLS Player of the Week +WeekPlayerRef1 Brian Ching6 Dwayne De Rosario

MLS Player of the Month +MonthPlayerRef.April Brian Ching

Annual +HonorPlayerRef.MLS All-Star Brian Ching Ricardo Clark

Dwayne De Rosario

Eddie RobinsonMLS Best XI Ricardo Clark

Dwayne De RosarioMLS Cup MVP Brian ChingMLS Goal of the Year Brian ChingMLS All-Star Game MVP Dwayne De Rosario

Dynamo team awards +MVPDefensive Player of the YearHumanitarian of the YearRef. Dwayne De Rosario Eddie Robinson Craig Waibel

Uniforms

Type Shirt Shorts Socks First appearance / Info Home Orange White Orange Home Alt. Orange Black Orange MLS, April 22 against Salt Lake City Away White Orange White Away Alt. White Black White MLS, June 24 against Los Angeles

References