Shoot, we might as well right?

Let's start with Sanna Nyassi. Good young player, promising, great speed. But played today for the first time since Aug. 20. With Michael Fucito's emergence -- he had some good reserve and training games as has good speed and determination and can play forward or midfield -- Nyassi might be expendable in expansion draft.

GM Adrian Hanauer and technical director Chris Henderson have already started looking into what pieces could be added to the puzzle for 2010. With the season over there will be more time to talk with Sigi Schmid and the coaching staff about what needs are to be addressed.

More to come on this topic for sure....

Galaxy will host West final at 8 p.m. Friday on ESPN2. Will you watch?

DYNAMO MIDFIELDER STUART HOLDEN

On winning the playoff series ...
"We did the Houston magic tonight, and that's what we got them on. Great effort."

On the mentality of the team coming into the match ...
"To be honest, I think this group and the mentality was that we were the only team that was going to win. They had a couple of chances on counter attacks and maybe set pieces. Other than that, I was confident that even if they scored, that we would have the chance to get one back as we've done previously in other playoff games. That's the mentality of this team: We are never going to give up, and we knew it was going to take something special tonight. Brian came up with that for us."

On the defensive effort ...
"Pat Onstad made a huge save in the first half off of Geoff Cameron, and made another great save off a chip from Freddie Ljungberg. He kept us in it all night. Geoff and Bobby [Boswell] were great in the middle winning a lot of aerial battles against Nate [Jaqua]. Mike [Chabala]and Andrew [Hainault] did a good job getting forward and defending and helping out the attack. I think 1 to 14, including subs, you couldn't pick a player that had a bad night tonight."

DYNAMO MIDFIELDER BRAD DAVIS

On Houston's performance ...
"If we keep playing with the same mentality and the same desire, I definitely think we can raise that [MLS] cup in the next couple of weeks."

On who they will face in the Western Conference final ...
"It doesn't really matter right now to us. If we play Chivas, we are at home, which would be great. If not, we play against LA, and both will be tough match-ups. We will take a couple of days and enjoy it, and we will start preparing for them next week."

Thanks to Dynamo staff. Two things...please post any comments or email me with what the scene at the airport was like, for those of you who go tonight. You can email me photos if you want that I can post.

Second thing, expansion draft is right after MLS Cup, I think the Wednesday before Thanksgiving or around there. Seattle can protect 11 plus Freddie Ljungberg as designated player. I would imagine we'll know who will be protected right before the expansion draft.

SEATTLE SOUNDERS HEAD COACH SIGI SCHMID

On the game ...

"It was a hard-fought game. It was a physical game. They had some good chances. They created some good things, and we dodged some bullets. I thought we had some good chances as well and missed them. At the end, a little bit of a mistake in the back, and Brian Ching buried a good goal. There's not much that separates these two teams."

On Ching's goal ...

"Roger [Levesque]'s just got to flick the ball on. The ball's bouncing, and instead of flicking it on and heading it over Mullan, he ends up turning and he hits the ball into Mullan, and he sort of blocks it, and it falls to Ching, and he hits a good first-time shot."

On the possession battle ...

"I don't think we played particularly well this game. Houston did a good job of winning the duels in the middle of the midfield. Any one-on-one headers, they won the majority of that. Those are like face-offs in hockey, so they got more possession all the time and that hurt us a little bit. We were probably a little too direct at the beginning of the game, and once we settled and played a little bit more, I thought we played a little bit better. I thought it was going to head to penalties the way it was going, but obviously it didn't."

On the break between games ...

"I thought it was too long in between games, personally. They were maybe a little more banged up than we were, so it helped them get healthier, but it is what it is, so we just have to deal with it."

SEATTLE SOUNDERS GOALKEEPER KASEY KELLER

On the game ...

"It was a tough game. Not an easy surface to play on, so it didn't account for a real pretty game. Everybody was just waiting for that one mistake or that one piece of magic, and it came from Brian. It was a tremendous finish, and we just couldn't get it in at the other end. We knocked on the door a few times, but we just couldn't quite sustain enough pressure. Overall, it could've gone either way. It didn't go our way, and it's always tough, and the playoffs are the playoffs."

On Seattle's inaugural season ...

"We're pretty happy. It's not real easy right now, because we felt we could've won the whole thing. But at the same time, we won the Open Cup, we attributed ourselves really well. The city was phenomenally behind us, and now we have to take the pill of not winning this tie and go out and spend the offseason thinking how we're going to make it better."

On elimination ...
"You lose in the playoffs and there's no tomorrow, and unfortunately there's no tomorrow for us. But all credit to Houston, they kept battling, and Brian scored one of the best goals he's ever scored... It bounced kindly for him, Brian turned inside of it and put it right in the upper corner. You couldn't have asked for a better place for it. You've got to give Brian a ton of credit. It was a fantastic finish and a goal worthy of winning any game."

I've got the closing credits song from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" by Oingo Boingo I think, in my head. "Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye"...etc.

Man it was fun wasn't it? On my end, still have an MLS Cup to cover and some follow-up work to do. So the blog will still be here and I will post. Lots to reminisce about in the days and weeks ahead and then were will be the expansion draft, the Superdraft, then before you know it training camp '10 will be here.

More to come tonight...but first, a couple of photos to call it a day here at Robertson Stadium.

The Dynamo fox mascot has a fake beard on, playoff beard.

Sounders FC gathers in a circle, Ljungberg with hugs and taps on the chest for his mates, and they take the field.

No sellout today. Plenty of empty seats up high and in upper end zone.

2:06 kickoff. 70 degrees.

3rd -- Ching with a bicycle kick off a good cross and Riley has to clear it out with Keller out of the net.

Sigi Schmid looks like he is going to a barbecue after the match. Dressed casually. It's muggy out.

7th -- Leo blocks Mullan's shot after good cross from Oduro.

12th -- Boswell inexplicably kicks ball over end line for a corner, and Tyrone Marshall's header is too high but Seattle's best chance thus far.

15 -- Ball gets through and somehow no Dynamo player gets a good foot on it, close one.

16 -- Clark with a ball in to Oduro and his shot is saved by Keller, right on point. Dynamo
knocking at the door.

23 -- As a balloon flew in front of Keller, Oduro fired off a blast that hit the post. Third good scoring chance for Oduro alone.

24 -- Marshall with aggressive tackle on Oduro and he had to, or Oduro was going to be on his own. Yellow for Marshall.

27- Montero beats his man and has a great chance but somehow shoots it wide. That has happened too many times this season. At the other end, Keller has to make a save as Seattle doesn't get back fast enough.

30 -- Holden up to Oduro, who beats Marshall down the side and Hurtado has a bad angle, shot to the far post has Keller beat, but it's wide.

31 -- Ching with a good chance and shoots it wide. This has not been a good first half for Seattle at all.

33 -- Just a bad call there as Gonzalez get called for a push on Ching, and now a free kick for Dynamo at top of the arc.
Into the wall and blocked.

36 -- Zakuani crosses and Cameron almost heads it in for an own goal. Sounders' second-best scoring chance of the game so far, that's how it's gone.

42 -- Ljungberg took an elbow and then Cameron tackles Ljungberg hard. It's a foul on Houston. Freddie hears it from the crowd as Sigi protests.

43 -- The free kick is headed by Clark back to Onstad who has to jump for a save as the ball was going in. Montero with the follow but its saved again.

Yellow to Chabala, he will miss next match if Houston advances.

HALF 0-0.

Back to action, Ljungberg fouled and Houston complains.

54 -- Jaqua left foots it near the goal but wide, good ball movement by Seattle but the chance is missed.

58 -- Holden with the corner to Ching and his header goes wide as the crowd rose, thinking something was going to happen.

61 -- Marshall, who already has a yellow, kicked Ching in the leg and got away with it, no call. Very close to being sent off there.

66 - Montero shot wide.

68 -- Levesque in, Zakuani out.

70 - Save Keller on Ching shot.

74 -- Marshall is limping and hurting, and now he's yelling at Mullan. Ching and Ljungberg have also been going at it today. It's getting to crunch time and the pressure is on. Marshall still working out the leg pain but remains on the field.

Attendance announced at 27,465.

78 -- Levesque draws corner...looks like the rain will be here soon. Getting blustery. Player down for Seattle is Montero, working on his left leg, might be a cramp. Now he's up and the referee is rushing him off the field. Montero is off, Ljungberg will corner.

81 -- Montero back on after Ljungberg is called for flop. Levesque to Jaqua and Nate's shot is wide, and Cameron is hurt for Houston and it looks serious.

82 -- Landin on for Oduro for Dynamo.

83 -- Cameron came off. Back on in 84th minute.

Back-to-back offisides calls stop the Dynamo, and then a chance in the 89th minute goes over the goal.

3 min added time.

Cameron with a yellow in extra time, wow, he's been aggressive all game.

TWO 15-minute OT periods coming up. Keller and Ching shake hands before a coin toss. Short break for both teams (oranges and water) and now they take the field.

OT

5th (96th) -- GOAL DYNAMO. Ching with the one-timer blast, a shot right out of the air after Roger Levesque couldn't clear the ball out of the area. 1-0 Houston, 25 minutes left in Seattle's season right now.

10 -- Ljungberg with a shot from the side that was going in, but Onstad leaps for the save and hits the ball over the net.

Marshall is hurt and Leo just signaled to the bench for a sub. It will be Nyassi.

104 -- Nyassi is in for Marshall.

End of first OT period. 15 minutes for Seattle to tie.

Red card in the 120th minute to Riley, and now Sounders FC is showing its frustation. James Riley has to be held back, he has been sent off. Not a good way for this season to end. And end it will. What a year. What a team. What success for the most part. What a spring, summer and fall for Seattle soccer fans. But today it was not to be.

Final -- Dynamo 1, Sounders FC 0.

Sounders FC in blue kits. Dynamo walked out to a fog machine

A good 100 strong Sounders FC supporters in the corner of the upper deck on the sideline.
They were pretty excited, a couple even said hi. Nice to meet you! Dynamo player Richard Mulrooney was just introduced and walked onto the field with two Scottish bagpipers.

A shot at two Sounders FC players and a supporters group with this sign.

SEATTLE

GK: 18-Kasey Keller

RD: 7-James Riley

CD:14-Tyrone Marshall

CD: 34-Jhon Kennedy Hurtado

LD: 19-Leo Gonzalez

RMF: 21-Nate Jaqua

CMF: 6-Osvaldo Alonso

CMF: 3-Brad Evans

LMF: 11-Steve Zakuani

FW: 10-Freddie Ljungberg

FW: 17-Fredy Montero

SUBS:

DF: 4-Patrick Ianni

DF: 5-Tyson Wahl

MF: 8-Peter Vagenas

MF: 9-Sebastien Le Toux

MF: 23-Sanna Nyassi

MF: 24-Roger Levesque

GK: 28-Terry Boss

HOUSTON

GK: 18-Pat Onstad

RD: 17-Mike Chabala

CD: 32-Bobby Boswell

CD: 20-Geoff Cameron

LD: 31-Andrew Hainault

RMF: 9-Brian Mullan

CMF: 13-Ricardo Clark

CMF: 22-Stuart Holden

LMF: 11-Brad Davis

FW: 23-Dominic Oduro

FW: 25-Brian Ching

The field doesn't look too nice and the Univ. of Houston football lines and logo are still quite visible, and from up above where I am the soccer lines aren't super clear. But it's not so bad, to me anyway. The grass is brown and faded in spots. See what FL said about it yesterday in his blog.