The Dynamo are confident they can turn things around despite a slow start.
Just like their American football counterparts, the Dynamo see no reason why a terrible start to the season cannot turn into something good by the end.
Last f all, the Texans lost four of their first five games and had fans calling for a quarterback change and/or the coach to be fired. The Dynamo are in a similar spot after winning one of their first eight games entering Saturday’s match against Sporting Kansas City at BBVA Compass Stadium.
Dynamo president Chris Canetti is much more than a soccer fan so he knows how the Texans turned it around and made the playoffs. With 26 matches left, plenty of time remains for the Dynamo to do the same.
“Right now it’s about believing in each other, staying strong and fighting through this,” Canetti said. “We don’t think we’re that f ar off. We don’t think it’s a situation in which this team cannot get back into it and compete.”
The Dynamo (1-5-2) led Western Conference coleader Real Salt Lake on Saturday thanks to Leonel Miranda’s goal in the 54th minute. As has been the case too many times the last two seasons, the Dynamo conceded late goals and limped home with a 2-1 loss.
Shooting selves in foot
The criticism has been that individuals are making mistakes in bad spots.
For instance, coach Owen Coyle said nobody on the technical staff has taught midfielder Boniek Garcia to get cute with the ball just outside the penalty area before clearing it from danger. Garcia did that against Salt Lake and had it stolen by Jamison Olave. That led to Jordan Allen’s tying goal eight minutes after the Dynamo had gone up 1-0.
“Teams are not opening us up and carving us up,” Coyle said. “We’ve been in good shape. We’ve been organized. Everything is there. We have to be focused when it comes to making key decisions.”
While t he Dynamo maintain they are close to turning things around, they have a lot of ground to make up if they do turn things around. They have earned only one point out of the last 18 offered and are five points behind Seattle Sounders FC — the next-worst team in the conference.
Perhaps the most important thing, defender DaMarcus Beasley and midfielder Ricardo Clark said, is that the players do not bail on the season.
To this point in 2016, the Dynamo have shown no signs of that.
Tuesday’s training session, for example, was competitive and full of hustle.
“Nothing is going right, but we have to stay together,” Beasley said. “We can’t get away from the team. We’re going to get it right.”
It is imperative the Dynamo get it right against Western Conference teams because those games offer a chance for them to gain points while holding clubs ahead of them to zero.
‘It’s time to get results’
Saturday presents another opportunity for that with Sporting Kansas City (4-4-2) occupying the spot immediately above the red line.
“This is a bottom-line business. We all understand that,” Canetti said. “Results are what matter here. While we felt like we had some moral victories early on and some things that were bad breaks, it’s time to get results.”