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The storyline that has been at the forefront of the MLS offseason appears to be on its way to reaching its resolution.
According to reports out of Houston, the Houston Dynamo are engaged in advanced talks with the Montreal Impact for a deal that would send former Dynamo captain and forward Brian Ching back to Houston. Exactly what would be going from Houston to Montreal was not divulged, but Ching going to Houston would provide a boost for a club in need of more reliable forward options. The deal, according to Houston's Fox television affiliate, is contingent on Houston and Ching coming to terms on a new contract agreement.
The Impact announced on Monday that Ching took a leave of absence from preseason training for "personal reasons," raising an eyebrow over whether a deal involving him might be in the works.
The possibility of Ching being dealt from Montreal to Houston has been raised ever since the MLS Expansion Draft, when Montreal selected the player despite his assertion that he would retire if picked. The Impact called his bluff, and Ching reported to Montreal's preseason and has participated with the club throughout its preparations for its first MLS season.
Ching faced off against the Dynamo just last week in a preseason match, and in his post-game comments he made it seem like he had accepted his professional fate.
"It's definitely growing on me," Ching told SBI. "Obviously, it was a very emotional time for me when (the trade) happened, but like I said, I’ve been with the team for about a month now and I enjoy playing with the guys and I enjoy the project of trying to build a competitive team here. It’s still a work in progress."
Instead, it looks like he might just be getting his wish and returning to the city in which he's played since 2006.
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What do you think of this development?
Share your thoughts below.
To win championships we need another DeRo and arguably a striker like Ching in his prime. I think you’re blinded by a decent playoff run that ran right into the LA buzzsaw. Which if you’re paying attention has happened twice in three years. I don’t care what concept Kinnear thinks he has — strong defense first or whatever — without more offense we won’t beat LA. We’ve been eliminated by them twice in three years without scoring a goal.
We made it to the final based on a stout defense and Brad Davis. Subtract Brad Davis and you had an offense unable to produce a goal in the final. You tout the diversified scoring but the reality is that in a huge game I can’t expect Hainault to score a goal in the run of play. Against LA or the really good teams they aren’t going to give up many dead ball goals, they aren’t going to give up crap scores, and you will have to earn it. We need better offense to earn it.
I recognize it costs money but I also recognize we are now in the new stadium — Robertson is no longer an excuse — and AEG long ago said “Go Big.”
I look forward to the season and particularly the CCL, but the ability to move from 08-present also-rans back to 06/07 champions revolves around upping the offense. DK’s recent obsession with defense has made a caricature of himself. This used to be a team that could score goals. Remember 5-2 over Colorado the first night? Go back and look at the old scorelines, this used to be a team that could put up 4 or 3 goals if that’s what it took to win.
FWIW, having watched Hainault and Boz get split by the Timbers for goals in preseason, I’m not sold this defense is in an end-state, which you seem to suggest. I think the defense needs to get even tougher to ensure championships.
“What does that tell me?” It says that you prefer a team with dedicated forwards who score repeatedly and produce highlight reel after highlight real. The reason Houston made it to the finals last year with the youngest team in MLS (average age) and what made them so dangerous was the fact that teams didn’t know where the goals were going to come from. Boswell, Cameron, Hainault, Ching, Bruin, etc. They all had 5 or more goals. The only thing that was predictable was that the service was coming from Brad Davis. Teams tried all season to stop him and they couldn’t. The only thing that stopped Brad Davis was his body finally gave out.
Carr, Kandji, etc. are good in that they offer speed and can help stretch opposing teams defenses like Oduro did and I agree that our midfield has struggled since Clark, Holden, and DeRo left but I’m really excited at what Luiz Carmargo has to offer once he’s match fit and Adam Moffatt has been a great addition as well. What’s missing is a right midfielder. Having Colin Clark, who’s left footed, play right midfield is a no-no. Also, Moffatt and Carmargo need to switch places. Carmargo is to passive to play an attacking mid position and Moffatt is to aggressive to be a defensive midfielder.
Again, what you fail to realize is that it costs MONEY to attract good talent and when the Dynamo were playing at Robertson Stadium, the Univ. of Houston was getting a very large slice of the revenue. Now with our own stadium, that scenario changes.
It’s true, you have to score goals to win and Houston did that, they just weren’t all from the forwards/strikers. Houston won back to back championships because of their defense and their midfielders and that’s what Kinnear is trying to recreate.
+1
I don’t see how it’s a “distortion” to point out that a coach who once had a pretty darned good attack, circa 06/07, has proven less and less effective at re-creating it. It was a steady deterioration from DeRo to Holden in the middle to Cameron plugged in the middle to you pick ’em last season.
All due respect to trying but I haven’t seen a decent center attacking midin the #10 format even trialed much less signed here since Holden left a few years ago. And I feel like the litany of Caraccio, Akinbiyi, Landin, Garey, Koke, and Costly speaks for itself.
You may point out Weaver and Bruin, but 5 goals in a great season is nothing to write home about. What kind of strike rate is that? Bruin has promise, but part of the problem with the forward line is speed and mobility…I’m glad Kandji was brought in.
And I think it matters to silverware success because we used to score goals through DeRo and Holden in the run of play, and now it’s predominantly dead balls in their absence.
Everyone looked to Ching in 2010 and Oduro flourished. Carr was what elevated the offense to decent late in the year. I anticipate Kandji will offer the same wrinkle this year. But I don’t see a really great striker and I think the whole mess of Dynamo strikers save Kandji are overrated. They get paid to score. And the backs score as much as they do! What does that tell you?