Return to playoffs three years in the making
Jordan architect behind Orange’s climb back to postseason spot
As the seconds ticked up toward the end of the Dynamo’s penultimate regular season game on Oct. 15, Matt Jordan refused to look at scores from elsewhere in MLS.
He knew the Dynamo were in good position to qualify for the postseason with a draw that night against Sporting Kansas City, but he hoped his team would score the winning goal that would be enough all by itself.
That goal never came, but as the Dynamo fended off one more Sporting KC attack in the 97th minute to secure a draw, he knew the mission was accomplished. Three years after he was named the club’s first technical director, he had helped the Dynamo get back to the postseason for the first time since 2013.
It has been a long journey to Thursday’s knockout round game against Sporting Kansas City at 8:30 p.m. at BBVA Compass Stadium. Jordan has made good moves and bad moves. Some of those good moves have corrected bad moves. Making the right moves
Every move he made was with the objective in mind – return the Dynamo to the MLS elite.
“Making the playoffs (this year) was a big objective for us,” Jordan said. “What’s really good about this group is it is a validation of all of our hard work since day one of the preseason. At the same time, this is a group that is very competitive. It is a very strong team that wants more.”
While the trades he has made to acquire productive players have been important, the most pivotal move he made was hiring Wilmer Cabrera as coach.
The club suffered in Dominic Kinnear’s final year in 2014 and tabbed Owen Coyle as its coach for the start of the 2015 season. Coyle never lived up to the potential the club thought would come with his European experience.
Jordan said it was an opportunity to get things going in the right direction when Coyle was fired in May of 2016. When the club moved on from interim coach Wade Barrett in 2016, Jordan finally was able to hire a coach in Cabrera who sees things the same way as Jordan.
Cabrera’s disciplined, demanding and no-nonsense approach has won the heart of every player, from the young ones to the veterans.
“We finally have an idea of how we want to play,” said 34-year old left back DaMarcus Beasley, who has played for all four of the Dynamo’s coaches. “Almost every game we stick to our game plan. He’s very organized. He’s put our ship on a steady path.”
The Dynamo have taken significant steps since Cabrera’s hiring, but the foundation for that was laid well before that moment. Roster decisions
In April 2015, Jordan traded Jason Johnson for Alex Lima, who has found the best form of his career in Houston. Last July, Jordan traded allocation money to Montreal for dependable midfielder Eric Alexander.
Before the 2016 season, he traded for Andrew Wenger, who led the team in scoring that year and has been a strong back-up this season.
There have been mistakes, too.
The Dynamo acquired Cristian Maidana along with Wenger from the Philadelphia Union with the hope he could become a productive central midfielder. After a lackluster season in 2016, the Dynamo declined to pick up his option for 2017.
Midway through the 2015 season, the Dynamo signed Giles Barnes to a new contract. When it became clear in 2016 that he was not going to produce at the level expected of a highly-paid player, Jordan traded him to Vancouver to create precious salary cap space.
With that extra money, Jordan signed wingers Alberth Elis and Romell Quioto, who have combined for 17 goals and seven assists this year. Solid foundation
Player moves have been important, but building infrastructure like sports science and data analytics departments and a tree of developmental teams from which the first team can draw also has been important.
The Dynamo will take the field Thursday night with high hopes of advancing to the Western Conference semifinals. Now that they have a solid foundation for the future, however, they believe they once again can begin thinking about winning a third MLS Cup title.
“There is a lot of strategic planning that went into this,” Jordan said. “We outlined a clear plan. We were very disciplined with the decisions we made throughout this plan. Some were very hard decisions, but those decisions take time. We’re pleased with the direction this is going, but we’re not satisfied. We’re steadily continuing to move down that path.”