Where Are We?

This is the first week of preseason camp! Dynamo players have arrived to Houston Sports Park to get their training on. Due to work requirements, I am not able to attend any of the open practices to actually get a first hand view of the almost complete roster.

At this point, the Dynamo roster is at 27 of the 28 slots available. This comes after the two most recent (pending) signings of David Rocha and Agustin "Agus" Iniguez, coming on January 21st. Based on the available youtube highlights of the players, it looks like these will be two moves intended to bolster the roster depth instead of make significant changes to the starting lineups.

Rocha seems to be a defensive midfielder and probably going to provide support (or "competition" as they like to call it) to Ricardo Clark. Agus's left-back history probably slots him into a backup to DeMarcus Beasley with the occasional centerback appearance.

Unfortunately, both players come in on the wrong side of 30, meaning they are not much younger than the players they look to be backing up. Thankfully, for the new additions, the old age of all the players probably means a little bit of rotation throughout the season. Unless these players are late bloomers, I don't see them surpassing the incumbents on the depth chart as both Rico and Run DMB are both play like World Cup veterans when not injured.

So, with that, I figured this would be a good time to go over the roster to this point.

Formation
After only one full season, I'm not sure where I stand with Owen Coyle. I'm sure he'll choose his lineups and formations from game to game based on the opponent, but I have a feeling that we'll be lined up in a 4-4-2 (or 4-3-1-2) for most of the season. I wouldn't be surprised to see the 4-3-3 every now and then based on the opponent.

Lineup
Right off the bat, here is my prediction for opening day lineup and formation:

In case you can't see the picture: 

Goal Keeper: Deric

Defense: Beasley, Horst, Raul, Anibaba

Midfield: Miranda, Maidana, Clark, Garcia

Forwards: Barnes, Bruin

Probably not much of a stretch. Same starting forwards as last year since I have no confidence in Cubo doing anything of value. We replace Davis with Miranda, who I thought had a good year while Brad was gone in 2015. Maidana comes in to be the attacking-mid. He won't play any defense and will likely be the start of many counter attacks against the Dynamo. Anibaba is a toss-up at right back. Seeing how Owen really liked Williams last year, I could probably see either player start here. And of course, Tyler Deric will be minding the net. With another year like 2015, I could see him getting a January 2017 call-up to the USMNT. But that story will come at another date.

Notable Subs:

Keeper: Willis will be another Open Cup starter. Won't see him during regular season unless Deric is injured or suspended

Defense: As mentioned above, I believe the Anibaba/Williams will slot in whenever the match-up favors one or the other or if the other is struggling. Expect Anibaba to slide into a central defender role, or perhaps Agus, when Horst or Raul are out. Agus will also fill in for Beasley when injured.

Midfield: Alex and Rocha will be the prominent subs in the midfield as I think Alex can play any position with fiery intensity, and Rocha will be needed to back up Clark's aging legs. 

Forward: Cubo and Wenger will probably be the most used Forward subs. However, I was really impressed with Manotas, and I would like to see him get some more chances. He'll probably end up being an Open Cup starter, a spot he earned with his Open Cup performance last year.

What do you think? Am I totally off? Think someone has or will impress more than I think, or do I value some players more than you think I should? Leave me a comment!