HARRIS COUNTY - HSA INSIDER
A weekly look at all things Houston sports from the Harris County - Houston Sports Authority: Soccer is growing
Melanie Hauser
Nov 17, 2017, 7:05 am
The U.S., Canada and Mexico are teaming up for the 2026 World Cup. Courtesy photo
The Harris County – Houston Sports Authority Insider will take you inside Houston Sports each Friday because #WeAreHoustonSports!
While most of you spent the week debating quarterbacks, American League MVP or the latest college football poll, a dozen or so square blocks of downtown Houston was focused on just one thing -- soccer.
Specifically taking the game to the next level. Well, make that levels.
Over at BBVA Compass Stadium, Houston Dynamo president Chris Canetti was bouncing from interview to interview in preparation for Tuesday night’s sold-out Western Conference Championship match at home against the Seattle Sounders.
This is his team’s seventh trip to the conference finals in 12 seasons and the first in three years and, no, he hasn’t tired of chatting about the Dynamo’s resurgence. Or about the chance to win a third MLS Cup title.
Meanwhile, a quarter of a mile to the west, representatives from 32 cities and officials from the United Bid Committee were meeting to discuss concepts and roles for an unprecedented three-country bid for the 2026 World Cup.
United Bid communications director Brian Reich said they came into the four days of meetings hoping to come up with one solid concept for the bid from the United States, Canada and Mexico. Instead, they’ve come up with multiple concepts every day and serious momentum for a bid that is due next spring.
“We’ve actually created a problem for ourselves,’’ he said. “We have great concepts, any of which could be transformative in the context of an event like this and we have to figure out how to put it together in a short period of time.’’
Yes, soccer is exploding in H-town. Again.
A decade ago, Canetti remembers a packed crowd rocking
Robertson Stadium to watch the Dynamo knock off the then-Kansas City Wizards.
“There’s no doubt no doubt that evening was a springboard to who we are as a brand,’’ said Canetti of the win that eventually led to a second consecutive MLS title. “It defined us.
“This is a chance for us to do that again.”
The Western Conference matchup sold out of reserved seats last Friday and sold out of standing room only tickets earlier this week.
“It’s going to be a great evening here for soccer and sports fans in the city,’’ Canetti said, “just like it was across the way at Minute Maid during the Astros playoff run.’’
“I think the Astros created a lot of positive energy around the city and around sports so there’s no question that some momentum built up around their magical World Series run, but I would also say we’ve created our own energy with our own success, bringing back the excitement that existed with the Dynamo for so many of our early years.’’
The Dynamo won back-to-back titles in their first two years (2006, 2007) and were in the finals again in 2011 and 2012, but lost to the Los Angeles Galaxy both times. Then, after three hard years, they’re back in the conference finals.
“The place will be rocking,’’ Canetti said. “It will be another moment in our brief history that helps us grow and helps us build.’’
Canetti has seen a steady growth in soccer fans over the years, noting the current base is a much wider group of fans, including Houstonians who don’t know soccer, but love the Dynamo. He sees even more room to expand the base, including drawing in international fans of other teams who move to Houston.
“Over time, we want them to love the Dynamo too,’’ he said.
And, now that the team has been here more than a decade, parents are beginning to pass their passion onto their children.
“I always like to explain it I grew up in Connecticut and I’m a New York Yankees fan,’’ he said. “My grandfather was a Yankees fan, my father was a Yankees fan and they taught me to be a Yankees fan unknowingly. They bought me Yankees caps and we watched Yankees game together on TV and went to Yankees games. So I was molded to be a Yankees fan.’’
It has happened with the Astros and Rockets, he said, so why not the Dynamo?
“Soccer is the fastest growing game in this country, Major League Soccer is the fastest growing league with enormous upside,’’ Canetti said. “When you look at the demographic in this country, it lines up perfect for soccer. When you look at amount of participants on youth and adult level, it’s enormous.’’
That same growth is one of the major reasons the United bid -- #2026United – appears so strong. Reich said FIFA wants to grow the soccer fan base by a billion people over the next decade and a lot of that growth will come from North America.
“The whole soccer global community benefits, in our view, from a United bid,’’ he said. “There’s great growth and engagement in all three countries.’’
The U.S. is now three decades removed from hosting an impressive 1994 World Cup, which still holds the World Cup record for most tickets sold. Mexico has a 75-year legacy of passionate soccer fans and Canada is an emerging soccer nation. If successful, the United bid calls for the U.S. to host 60 of the 80 games, with Canada and Mexico hosting 10 each.
Only 12-16 of the cities meeting here will host games, but all 32 could be involved. Those not hosting games could be home to training facilities and base camps, for example.
“We want to highlight what makes each of these potential host cities such a powerful, exciting contributor to the United bid as a whole,’’ Reich said.
Organizers chose Houston, one of the 32 cities, to host the meetings after Hurricane Harvey. Reich said it has been the perfect site. Not only is it centrally located for the other cities, but it accommodated all their needs with downtown meeting facilities and hotels and restaurants within walking distance.
“It’s a city a lot of people haven’t seen,’’ he said. “They’re looking out and seeing Minute Maid (Park), seeing BBVA just off the balcony of the hotel kind of thing and they think of the city as a sports entity. It offered a lot of inspiration for folks.’’
As have those meetings. Reich said all the cities have taken ideas to the next level with their innovative thoughts, sharing them with each other in meetings and networking. The organizers have to spend the next month refining them for the rough draft of the United bid, then, after a few more tweaks, they will submit the final draft in March.
“It’s a truly united bid,’’ Reich said, “which is the power of soccer. It transcends politics and cultural differences . . .It’s not just about 30 days in June and July of 2026. It’s about the next eight years if we get the chance to host and about the legacy we leave behind.’’
And the sport itself.
“If we’re going to build a sport, if you look at the diversity that exists across these three countries,’’ Reich said, “soccer is one of those things that can legitimately unite people.’’
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Through 20 games, the Houston Astros have managed just six wins and are in last place in the AL West.
Their pitching staff trails only Colorado with a 5.24 ERA and big-money new closer Josh Hader has given up the same number of earned runs in 10 games as he did in 61 last year.
Despite this, these veteran Astros, who have reached the AL Championship Series seven consecutive times, have no doubt they’ll turn things around.
“If there’s a team that can do it, it’s this team,” shortstop Jeremy Peña said.
First-year manager Joe Espada, who was hired in January to replace the retired Dusty Baker, discussed his team’s early struggles.
“It’s not ideal,” he said. “It’s not what we expected, to come out of the shoot playing this type of baseball. But you know what, this is where we’re at and we’ve got to pick it up and play better. That’s just the bottom line.”
Many of Houston’s problems have stemmed from a poor performance by a rotation that has been decimated by injuries. Ace Justin Verlander and fellow starter José Urquidy haven’t pitched this season because of injuries and lefty Framber Valdez made just two starts before landing on the injured list with a sore elbow.
Ronel Blanco, who threw a no-hitter in his season debut April 1, has pitched well and is 2-0 with a 0.86 ERA in three starts this season. Cristian Javier is also off to a good start, going 2-0 with a 1.54 ERA in four starts, but the team has won just two games not started by those two pitchers.
However, Espada wouldn’t blame the rotation for Houston’s current position.
“It’s been a little bit of a roller coaster how we've played overall,” he said. “One day we get good starting pitching, some days we don’t. The middle relief has been better and sometimes it hasn’t been. So, we’ve just got to put it all together and then play more as a team. And once we start doing that, we’ll be in good shape.”
The good news for the Astros is that Verlander will make his season debut Friday night when they open a series at Washington and Valdez should return soon after him.
“Framber and Justin have been a great part of our success in the last few years,” second baseman Jose Altuve said. “So, it’s always good to have those two guys back helping the team. We trust them and I think it’s going to be good.”
Hader signed a five-year, $95 million contract this offseason to give the Astros a shutdown 7-8-9 combination at the back end of their bullpen with Bryan Abreu and Ryan Pressly. But the five-time All-Star is off to a bumpy start.
He allowed four runs in the ninth inning of a 6-1 loss to the Braves on Monday night and has yielded eight earned runs this season after giving up the same number in 56 1/3 innings for San Diego last year.
He was much better Wednesday when he struck out the side in the ninth before the Astros fell to Atlanta in 10 innings for their third straight loss.
Houston’s offense, led by Altuve, Yordan Alvarez and Kyle Tucker, ranks third in the majors with a .268 batting average and is tied for third with 24 homers this season. But the Astros have struggled with runners in scoring position and often failed to get a big hit in close games.
While many of Houston’s hitters have thrived this season, one notable exception is first baseman José Abreu. The 37-year-old, who is in the second year of a three-year, $58.5 million contract, is hitting 0.78 with just one extra-base hit in 16 games, raising questions about why he remains in the lineup every day.
To make matters worse, his error on a routine ground ball in the eighth inning Wednesday helped the Braves tie the game before they won in extra innings.
Espada brushed off criticism of Abreu and said he knows the 2020 AL MVP can break out of his early slump.
“Because (of) history,” Espada said. “The back of his baseball card. He can do it.”
Though things haven’t gone well for the Astros so far, everyone insists there’s no panic in this team which won its second World Series in 2022.
Altuve added that he doesn’t have to say anything to his teammates during this tough time.
“I think they’ve played enough baseball to know how to control themselves and how to come back to the plan we have, which is winning games,” he said.
The clubhouse was quiet and somber Wednesday after the Astros suffered their third series sweep of the season and second at home. While not panicking about the slow start, this team, which has won at least 90 games in each of the last three seasons, is certainly not happy with its record.
“We need to do everything better,” third baseman Alex Bregman said. “I feel like we’re in a lot of games, but we just haven’t found a way to win them. And good teams find a way to win games. So we need to find a way to win games.”