The shock would breed animosity in other situations, but when the Portland Timbers were eliminated from last year’s MLS Cup Playoffs, few blamed the Houston Dynamo, even if Wilmer Cabrera’s team was going on to the conference finals. No, to the extent that anybody had taken anything away from the Timbers – who’d finished the regular season top of their conference – it felt like fate, bad luck, randomness that landed so many people on the injury report. Perhaps some blame could be cast at the turf in Houston that broke Diego Chara’s foot, or the hotel hot water that burned Sebastián Blanco’s, but the Dynamo themselves?
Know Your Opponent | Welcoming back a new, improved Houston Dynamo
