I got into Houston the other day and decided to go to the Houston Dynamo’s opening night match against the Columbus Crew last night.  Being a Dallas fan, I sat near a few very quiet Crew Supporters in the upper corner.  The view isn’t bad from up here though, giving a nice perspective of downtown and the Dynamo supporters huge flags.

The weather has been really weird here in the mornings, and yesterday I drove by the Galleria to go pick up the tickets and snapped a shot of this building surrounded by an eerie haze. 

Rushing to the game down Kirby Drive, I blew past all the healthy food options.  The food in Houston is really outstanding though and there is a reason this place is always amongst the fattest cities in America.  Three words to remember whenever visiting Houston- Goode Company Barbeque (sign is on the right here).

A lot of hardcore soccer fans are very much against cheerleaders.  But during halftime, it gets pretty boring if you are not going off to buy funnel cake and $7 beer.  A Dynamo Girl routine is much preferable to “dot races” and the t-shirt gun, in my opinion.  I obviously could not keep the camera still.  Attendance was around 16,000, and although I might have expected more, it was a lively crowd.  Stuart Holden is without a doubt the most popular Dynamo from my unscientific survey of cheers from the ladies.

I sat near the Texian Army.  They kept it going for most of the game, and had created some interesting flags.  It’s cool to see how creative fans can get - this checkerboard skull and crossbones flag really looks sharp.

As for the game, the Dynamo went up at around the 53rd minute on a goal from Brian Ching, but the Crew played very solid all night and Schelotto tied it around the 80th minute.   It was a choppy, physical game.  These two teams have no problems beating up on the competition.  For me, Schelotto was just amazing to watch, and dangerous on every play.  Frankie Hejduk is another guy who can just outrun anyone and had a nice cross to set up the goal.  The Crew will be strong this year.  For Houston, they played without Kei Kamara (and obviously without DeRosario now in Toronto) and they are still figuring things out a bit more in the midfield.  From my perspective, Pat Onstadt appears to play with a barely contained rage, literally seconds from brawling at all times.

Overall, a fun match.  Both teams are going to be good.  If Dallas thinks they can waltz into Houston now and take games, it may be harder than they thought.  And although the Crew now has Chicago/Toronto/NYRB giving them heavy competition in the East, they play with a lot of pride and will not be easy to beat.