Deja vu all over again

So, once again it’s the return of the team that used to be the team that wasn’t allowed to return, or something like that. Actually, there are only a dozen former Quakes on the Dynamo roster (if you include Kei Kamara and Richard Mulrooney, neither of whom participated in the “merry Christmas, you’re moving to Houston” experience of December, 2005), so it’s not as much of a homecoming as some in the media might think.

The good news is that, whatever you think of that drama, today’s match will pit the two hottest teams in MLS. The Quakes are undefeated in their last eight games, the longest such streak in MLS this season, while the Dynamo have won six out of their last seven league matches. Tonight’s match should be a treat, and if San Jose prevails, it will push them past Chivas into third and, depending on the outcome of Real Salt Lake’s sojourn to New York, could put them into a tie for second. We’ll also note here that Houston’s road record is 2-4-5, so they are not unbeatable despite their recent form.

If you haven’t done so already, we highly recommend reading Tim Hanley’s breakdown of the match. For your pregame enjoyment, we also offer audio interviews with coach Frank Yallop and players Ronnie O’Brien, Joe Cannon, and Arturo Alvarez.

In other pre-game news:

- On the newspaper side, we have previews from Mark Emmons of the Mercury News,  who was told by Earthquakes coach Frank Yallop that Houston wants “to kick our ass,” and from Bernardo Fallas of the Houston Chronicle, who talks about the preparations made families of Houston players to weather Hurricane Ike.

- On MLSnet.com, our own Jeff Carlisle provides a match preview and junior journalist Collin Handlin takes the helm of Quake Shake for an interview with Nick Garcia. There’s also a pre-match fact sheet.

- Also on MLSnet.com, Steve Davis takes a look at the playoff picture in this week’s Five-a-side column.

-  Goal.com also offers a match preview and prediction.

- SSV’s Colin McCarthy notes Major League Soccer’s rosy future over on the Soccer Silicon Valley blog.

- Finally, we can report that Ramiro Corrales was doing some running and exercising with team trainer Bruce Morgan yesterday at practice. Don’t expect to see him in the next couple weeks, but know that his recovery from his sprained MCL is well under way.