West notes: Kinnear's midfield dilemma
Dynamo coach needs to revamp squad in offseason with potential departures
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"In 2008 I was just in shock," said Kinnear in a phone interview. "This year I'm just depressed. We had a good team."
Yet Kinnear knows he'll have to navigate his way through the seven stages of playoff grief quickly, as the Dynamo face some daunting offseason challenges. This year's edition of the expansion draft is coming up, and Houston could very easily lose a key performer. The question of what to do with aging players like defender Wade Barrett and midfielder Brian Mullan, and the salary cap considerations contained therein, will likely weigh heavily on Kinnear's mind. Then there is the challenge of getting Designated Player signing Luis Angel Landin to shed the 20 (or more) pounds needed to become a force in MLS.
But it looks like Kinnear's most pressing need is determining how to revamp his midfield. According to the Houston Chronicle, Ricardo Clark has informed the team he intends to look abroad rather than re-sign with MLS. And Kinnear's problems don't end there, either. U.S. international midfielder Stuart Holden is also out of contract, and might decide to follow Clark's lead and head overseas.
Kinnear refused to say how confident he was that Holden would return, stating only that, "We've reached out to [Holden] and we're making aggressive attempts to re-sign him."
It's a drama that could play out either way. For all of Holden's success in recent months, he's only been a full-time starter for one season, lessening the chances that he'll latch on with a big club. That said, his previous spell with English Premier League side Sunderland, not to mention the fact that he holds a U.K. passport, could ease his passage to a European team.
But even if the worst comes to pass, and both Clark and Holden depart, the Dynamo have some talented options that would minimize the damage. Midfielder Brad Davis recorded a career-high 12 assists in 2009, and performed well in previous stints in the center of midfield. This would also open up an opportunity for Corey Ashe to step in out wide.
As for Clark, replacing his immense range will be difficult, but Geoff Cameron has proven himself to possess plenty of athletic ability, and his size could bring a slightly different dimension to the position. The move would weaken the backline, but not overly so. Houston has a fair amount of depth with former Best XI defender Eddie Robinson as well as Ryan Cochrane waiting in the wings.
"We've played [Cameron] where we've needed him, and we may need him in the middle next year," said Kinnear.
Of course, no manager has been able to improvise better over the years than Kinnear. The Houston manager successfully added some depth to his frontline this season. And while the team did announce that Brian Ching had knee surgery on Tuesday to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee, it's a group that could become devastating if Landin puts in the necessary fitness work in the offseason, and players like Dominic Oduro and Cam Weaver continue to improve.
Along those lines, there's no reason the same approach couldn't be taken in midfield, but Kinnear is intent on not looking too far ahead.
"You never know how things are going to turn out," said the Houston manager while channeling Forrest Gump for a moment. "You can have great plans, and then they don't turn out the way you want."
After the team's latest playoff disappointment, Kinnear knows that all too well.
The night the lights went out in Carson: From the Better Late Than Never Department, there is news that Southern California Edison, the utility company tasked with supplying power to The Home Depot Center, has opened an investigation as to why the lights at the stadium went out twice during Friday's Western Conference Championship.
Steve Conroy, a spokesman for the power company told The Daily Breeze, "There's an engineering team that's looking at this. Hopefully, within the next couple days they'll determine what may have caused the lighting system to fail."
According to Alison Groendal, a spokeswoman for the Home Depot Center, this was not the first time that the lights had gone out at the stadium, which is connected to the local industrial power grid. It was just the most noticeable.
"It's not unheard of that a power outage happens," she said. "Unfortunately, when you have a nationally televised game it draws more attention than the average power outage."
Rocky Mountain fallout: Just over a week after a stormy postseason training session, one that saw forward Conor Casey hurl expletives at the coaching staff for making the team run additional sprints, Colorado Rapids head coach Gary Smith insisted that things have simmered down with his squad, and that there are no lingering issues with Casey.
"I think the situation with Conor [Casey] was blown all out of proportion," said Smith. "It was a tempest in a teacup, really."
Smith went on to reiterate his belief that it was a case of frustration boiling over due to the team's failure to qualify for the postseason.
Yet Smith did admit a tinge of regret over his comments following the team's season-ending 3-0 defeat to rivals Real Salt Lake. After that game, Smith stated that "some of the guys in that changing room are not good enough."
The comments were made at a time when the Rapids postseason hopes hadn't been completely dashed. Had New England lost their season finale against Columbus, Smith would have had to rally his troops for a playoff series with his words still hanging in the air. Three weeks on, his tone had eased just a bit.
"I didn't mean for those comments to be interpreted that way," said Smith. "The team gave me everything, and it was a group that achieved a great deal for most of the season. But the fact is we fell short, and the group does need to get better."
Whether all will be forgotten when Colorado's training camp opens next year will be one of the more interesting preseason storylines to watch.
Califf returning? One rumor gaining a little traction has U.S. international Danny Califf exploring a possible return to MLS. The rugged defender has struggled with some minor injuries, and as a consequence hasn't been getting much playing time with Danish club FC Midtjylland. With time on his World Cup dream ticking away, a return Stateside could see him burrow his way back onto the U.S. roster.
"He's definitely not happy in his current situation," said Califf's agent, Dan Segal of Wasserman Media Group. "[Califf] is making a lot of money in Denmark, so that complicates things, but we're definitely exploring all our options."
If Califf were to return, he would be the property of Houston, given that his last MLS season was with San Jose in 2005, which then became the Dynamo. That would add some considerable depth to what is already a strong backline.
Jeff Carlisle is a regular contributor to ESPN Soccernet, and covers the San Jose Earthquakes for Center Line Soccer and MLSnet.com. Jeff can be reached at eljefe1@yahoo.com. Views and opinions expressed in this column are the author's, and not necessarily those of Major League Soccer or MLSnet.com.
