Houston Dynamo

Houston Dynamo is an American professional soccer club based in Houston, Texas, United States. The franchise competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Western Conference. The Dynamo originally played their home games at Robertson Stadium on the University of Houston campus until moving to their home stadium, BBVA Compass Stadium, during the 2012 season.

Houston Dynamo won the 2006 and 2007 MLS Cups in their first two years of the franchise's existence. In 2008, Houston became the first Major League Soccer club to secure a point on Mexican soil in the CONCACAF Champions League era.

The Dynamo is owned by Gabriel Brener, Jake Silverstein, Ben Guill, and world and Olympic boxing champion Oscar De La Hoya. The team's head coach is Owen Coyle.

History

The team was created on December 15, 2005 when the San Jose Earthquakes players and head coach Dominic Kinnear were relocated, due to AEG being unable to secure a soccer-specific stadium, even though this stadium would not be finished until 2012. Although all of San Jose's players and Kinnear moved to Houston, the team's name, logo, history and statistics were not transferred and remained inactive in San Jose until the Earthquakes were reactivated in 2007. The Houston Dynamo MLS home record attendance currently is 70,550, which was set in 2006.

MLS Cup 2011

MLS Cup 2011, the 16th edition of Major League Soccer's championship match, was played between the Houston Dynamo and the Los Angeles Galaxy to decide the champion of the 2011 season. The match was played at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California on November 20, 2011. Los Angeles won their third championship, defeating Houston 1–0 off a 72nd-minute goal from Galaxy captain Landon Donovan.David Beckham and Robbie Keane assisted the game's lone goal. With the win, the Galaxy became the first team since the Columbus Crew in 2008 to win both the Supporters' Shield and MLS Cup in the same year.

For Los Angeles, it was a league-record seventh appearance in the MLS Cup final, while it was Houston's third appearance in the league final. Both the Galaxy and the Dynamo qualified for the 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League. The Galaxy earned their third successive berth, while the Dynamo earned their third ever berth in the Champions League and their first since the 2009–10 edition.

Road to the final

David Beckham

David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE (/ˈbɛkəm/; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer. He played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, Milan, LA Galaxy, Paris Saint-Germain, and the England national team for which he holds the appearance record for an outfield player. He is the first English player to win league titles in four countries: England, Spain, the United States and France. He announced his retirement in May 2013 after a 20-year career, during which he won 19 major trophies. Known for his range of passing, crossing ability and bending free-kicks, he was twice runner-up for FIFA World Player of the Year and in 2004 he was named in the FIFA 100 list of the world's greatest living players.

Beckham's professional club career began with Manchester United, where he made his first-team debut in 1992 aged 17. With United, he won the Premier League title six times, the FA Cup twice, and the UEFA Champions League in 1999. He then played four seasons with Real Madrid, winning the La Liga championship in his final season with the club. In July 2007 Beckham signed a five-year contract with Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy. While a Galaxy player, he spent two loan spells in Italy with Milan in 2009 and 2010. He was the first British footballer to play 100 UEFA Champions League games.

Landon Donovan

Landon Timothy Donovan (born March 4, 1982) is an American retired professional soccer player, who played as a forward.

A member of the inaugural class of the U.S. Soccer residency program in Bradenton, Florida, Donovan was declared player of the tournament for his role in the United States U17 squad that finished fourth in the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship. Donovan later signed with the German team Bayer Leverkusen. In 2005, after six years with the club, the majority of which were spent on loan at the San Jose Earthquakes, Donovan moved to the Los Angeles Galaxy. He later returned to the Bundesliga for a three-month spell at the start of 2009 on loan to Bayern Munich, and twice went on short loans to English Premier League team Everton, in 2010 and 2012.

In Major League Soccer, Donovan won a record six MLS Cups and is both the league's all-time top scorer with 144 goals and the league's all-time assists leader with 136.

For the United States men's national team, Donovan is the all-time leader in scoring and assists, and has the most caps of all active players. Donovan is the only American player to reach the 50 goals/50 assists mark. He is a four-time winner of the U.S. Soccer Athlete of the Year award (the only man to do so and the first man to win in consecutive years), as well as the only seven-time winner of the Honda Player of the Year award. Donovan starred in the U.S. team that reached the quarter-finals of the 2002 FIFA World Cup where he received the Best Young Player Award. His three goals in the 2010 FIFA World Cup made Donovan the highest scoring male American player in World Cup history and one of the three male American players to score in more than one World Cup (along with Brian McBride and Clint Dempsey). In 2015, he was named by The Guardian as the greatest male American soccer player of all-time.

Major League Soccer

Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league, sanctioned by U.S. Soccer, that represents the sport's highest level in both the United States and Canada. MLS constitutes one of the major professional sports leagues of the United States and Canada. The league is composed of 20 teams—17 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada. The MLS regular season runs from March to October, with each team playing 34 games; the team with the best record is awarded the Supporters' Shield. The post season includes twelve teams competing in the MLS Cup Playoffs through November and December, culminating in the championship game, the MLS Cup. MLS teams also play in other domestic competitions against teams from other divisions in the U.S. Open Cup and in the Canadian Championship. MLS teams also compete against continental rivals in the CONCACAF Champions League.

Major League Soccer was founded in 1993 as part of the United States' successful bid to host the 1994 FIFA World Cup. The first season took place in 1996 with ten teams. MLS experienced financial and operational struggles in its first few years: The league lost millions of dollars, teams played in mostly empty American football stadiums, and two teams folded in 2002. Since then, MLS has expanded to 20 teams, owners built soccer-specific stadiums, average MLS attendance exceeds that of the National Hockey League (NHL) and National Basketball Association (NBA), MLS secured national TV contracts, and the league is now profitable.