jonathan kaplan
Dynamo midfielder Giles Barnes was voted the Houston Dynamo's man of the match by the fans following Saturday night's match vs. the Vancouver Whitecaps. Barnes scored the game-tying goal in the 55th minute as Houston came from behind to defeat the Whitecaps 2-1 and extend their unbeaten streak at home in all competitions to 33 games.
In the latest Friday Forecase, Eddie Robinson breaks down Friday's World Cup qualifier between the USA and Costa Rica as well as Saturday's Dynamo match vs. the Vancouver Whitecaps at BBVA Compass Stadium.
Houston Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear looks back at the team's performance against FC Dallas on Sunday and previews this weekend's match against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
With the NCAA tournament set to tip-off on Thursday, we asked 12 Dynamo players whose alma maters are represented in the tournament, why or how their team can win it all. Not surprisingly, some players were more confident in their team than others. It's also not too late to change your bracket based on the commentary of our March Madness experts.
| Corey Ashe | North Carolina | Because Carolina is the best... |
| Tyler Deric | North Carolina | We will win because we have the best looking cheerleaders. |
| Alex Dixon | North Carolina | UNC is going to win because they are getting hot at the right moment. Even though we lost in the ACC tournament final, we are heating up. PJ Hairston is hitting the threes. I think we are going to surprise some teams and make that run to the championship. |
| Brad Davis | St. Louis | Only way we can win it all is if we bring back Larry Hughes. |
| Brian Ching | Gonzaga | We have a great coach, a great system and a great fan base. It's a good school and I think we deserve one. |
| Calen Carr | California | We are going to have to lie, cheat, steal and rob our way past every game, but I think we can do it. |
| Kofi Sarkodie | Akron | Because it's Akron... |
| Eric Brunner | Ohio State | We have a quality team that is competing every year. We beat Indiana at Indiana, which shows we can play on the road. We have great players and we're Buckeyes. |
| Jason Johnson | VCU | Over the last three years, I don’t know if I was the good luck, but they have been having quite a good stretch. This year, I had a chance to go to a couple games before I left college. But absolutely, VCU is going all the way. ALL THE WAY! VCU! |
| Omar Cummings | Cincinnati | I think we're a good team. If we can go on a good run, we can surprise some people. |
| Will Bruin | Indiana | We're the best team in the NCAA tournament. We will win by playing good Indiana basketball on the defensive end. |
| Tally Hall | San Diego St. | We will win because no one expects us to. |
On Tuesday, the Dynamo and Dynamo Charities, presented by Halliburton, kicked off the Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program at Rusk Elementary School in Houston's East End.
The program was funded through fan donations as well as through Calen Carr's "Big Play" campaign, which included a celebrity bowling event last October. The initiatives combined to raised more than $5,000 to jump-start the mentoring program. Mentors included Dynamo forward Calen Carr, team president Chris Canetti as well as 15 members of the Dynamo front office.
“We’ve got a lot of people from the Dynamo front office who have really gotten behind (this initiative), and we’re looking to keep the momentum going at this point," Carr said. "The impact we’ve been able to have on Rusk Elementary has been huge just in the short time that we’ve been here. It has been a fun and rewarding experience coming in here every week. I have a good time with my little brother. We hang out, play board games...he usually destroys me at “Connect 4”, but I’m working on it. I think this is a good imprint for the Dynamo and really good for the community as well.”
As a result of these efforts, Big Brothers Big Sisters named the Houston Dynamo its 2013 Community Partner of the Year.
Eddie Robinson offers five things to look for ahead of Saturday's home match vs. the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Tickets for the match can be purchased here or by calling (713) 276-GOAL.
Following the Dynamo's 3-2 loss to FC Dallas in the annual Texas Derby, Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear and defender Corey Ashe spoke to the media about the match.