HOUSTON -- In less than a month, the Houston Dynamo will take the field in their much-anticipated MLS season opener against the Columbus Crew at Robertson Stadium.
Yet well into training and getting ready for their fourth season in the Bayou City, the Dynamo have two very important matches ahead of them before they officially take the field for the first time.
In the next two weeks, the Dynamo will play Atlante in the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals. The two-leg series alone is enough to make head coach Dominic Kinnear forget about the Crew, the team that now holds the MLS title after beating New York last season in MLS Cup.
"We are not really thinking about MLS just yet," said Kinnear. "I think we are looking pretty good health-wise so far. Right now, all we want to do is play as many games as possible against good opponents to get us ready both mentally and physically.
"After that, we'll see where we're at."
In between matches against Atlante, the Dynamo will play host to the Montreal Impact on Saturday, Feb. 28. After completing the series with the Mexican outfit with a trip to Cancun on March 3, the Dynamo will close out the preseason portion of their schedule against the USL-1 Austin Aztex in central Texas.
The Champions League matches and the preseason finales will give Kinnear and his Orange enough to worry about for now.
"Right now, I think we are doing pretty good results-wise," Kinnear said. "We have a couple of wins, a couple of ties and a loss, so that is not too bad for our first couple of games. There have been a few good individual performances and the team has been going pretty good too."
The Dynamo were unbeaten in their first three preseason matches against FC Dallas and Los Angeles. They did not allow a goal until San Jose scored twice in a 2-0 win against the Dynamo on Feb. 15.
Kinnear is happy with how things are progressing, especially defensively.
"In one of the periods against San Jose last week, there was a little bit of a lapse in concentration," said Kinnear. "That led to a couple of the goals, but it's really good to see the guys, for the most part, playing good on both sides of the ball this early in the season.
"Everyone has been very professional and has coming in ready and in shape. So far, everyone seems mentally sharp, and as always the motivation to do well is very high."
The Dynamo will be playing fewer games this season, and that should help the team down the stretch when the goal will be getting the MLS championship trophy back to Houston. They will be playing in regular season competition and the U.S. Open Cup as well as the 2009-10 version of the CONCACAF Champions League, though not participating in SuperLiga for the first time.
Other than mentioning that the players were aware of the number of games, Kinnear said the team wasn't worried about a potential benefit, especially short-term.
"The message isn't out there that we are playing a certain number of games," said Kinnear. "I think so far the guys are pretty level headed and they are not thinking too far ahead, and they are not took worried about what is behind them so they can always focus on the next thing in front of them.
"Right now that is Atlante on Tuesday night."
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