Thursday night sees one of the world’s top clubs visit BBVA Compass Stadium for the 2015 Dynamo Charities Cup (7:30 p.m. CT; TICKETS). For DaMarcus Beasley it is not only a chance to test his mettle against a prestigious opponent but an occasion that evokes fond memories of a year in England he views as a career highlight.
The Dynamo left back spent a season on loan at Manchester City in 2006-07, making 22 appearances including eleven English Premier League starts.
When Dutch side PSV Eindhoven changed coaches and Beasley was told he would not be first-choice, then-City manager Stuart Pearce swooped to sign him. Aged 24, and a winger at the time, Beasley scored a handful of valuable goals including a late winner in a 1-0 victory over West Ham United.
That was an “unbelievable feeling, a goal I’ll never forget,” he told Glenn Davis on Soccer Matters. “It was a great time,” he added on the Yahoo Sports Radio 1560 AM show. “Big stadium, great fanbase, it was a no-brainer for me and one of my dreams was always to play in the Premiership. To be able to do that with Man City was great.”
Beasley also recalls the intensity of the rivalry with Manchester United. “Man City back then wasn’t as known I guess you could say as it is now with all the stars and all the money that’s gone into the club, but any time there was a rivalry, a derby day, you’d always get that sense of heightened excitement,” he said.
City finished 14th in the EPL standings that year and the former USMNT star stayed in the United Kingdom, moving permanently to Scottish giants Glasgow Rangers. In 2008, City were bought by the ultra-wealthy and ambitious Abu Dhabi United Group and quickly grew from a solid EPL side into one of the world’s top teams. They won the English championship in 2011-12 and 2013-14 and arrive in Houston on the back of a second-place finish in the campaign that ended last Sunday.
They are arguably the strongest opponents the Dynamo have ever faced in the BBVA Compass Dynamo Charities Cup, the annual fundraiser for good causes that began in 2009 with a Houston win over Mexican side Monterrey. City will be the fourth English side to take part in the past five years after Bolton Wanderers, Stoke City and Aston Villa, who beat the Dynamo 1-0 last July.
City’s traveling roster includes a host of famous names, such as goalkeeper Joe Hart, defenders Vincent Kompany and Gael Clichy, midfielders David Silva, Yaya Toure, Samir Nasri, David Silva and James Milner and strikers Wilfried Bony and Edin Dzeko.
Naturally, Dynamo goalkeeper Tyler Deric is looking forward to seeing Hart. “He’s England’s number one, the best goalkeeper in England and one of the best in the Premier League. He’s a world-class keeper and it’s just a great privilege to have him come to Houston and watch him play against us,” he told HoustonDynamo.com.
“It’s a great measuring tool to see where you match up with other players in the world and obviously Manchester City play in the Premier League, the best league in the world. So you’re going to see some of the best players from the best league in the world. Every time you play against a Premier League team you’re expecting a great game and they’re all world-class athletes.”
Dynamo head coach Owen Coyle—who remembers being in the stadium to see Beasley score for City in a win over Fulham in London back in 2007—agrees. With Houston then heading to the East Coast for Saturday’s first-ever MLS encounter with New York City FC, Coyle will have to shuffle his pack to maximize performances in the two matches. But he sees it as an opportunity for some of the fringe players.
“For Houston Dynamo to be able to attract the quality of Manchester City is a tremendous coup. Obviously it’s a Thursday night and we have a big, big game on Saturday so it’s getting the balance with that. There’s no doubt that we’ll utilize the full roster because there’s a number of boys that need games as well, some of the boys that have been on the periphery,” he told HoustonDynamo.com.
Youngsters who’ve been out on loan, such as Memo Rodriguez and Taylor Hunter, figure to see some game time. “It’s a wonderful experience and that’s the great thing, that’s why we’ve brought the two young kids back from their loan spells. They’ll obviously return to the clubs they’ve been on loan to after that but we just felt it was important in their learning curve that we could bring them into a game of this magnitude with the quality that Manchester City hold,” said Coyle. “When they’re in full flow they’re awesome, this is one of the elite teams in world soccer.”
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Asked what separates the small percentage of players who’ve risen to the very highest level from the rest, Coyle said: “They’re the ones that have that technique but they also have the pace and power to go with it, and that soccer intelligence, and Manchester City players have that in abundance.
“You can be attacking Manchester City in their own 18 yard box; within three or four seconds they’re up threatening your goal, that’s how quickly they break in that transition because they have quality, speed of movement and wonderful passing skills. And at the top end of the pitch they have matchwinners.”
Given the visitors’ status and the amount of media attention focused on everything they do, Thursday is also an opportunity for Houston to demonstrate its credentials as a soccer city to a global audience. “We’ve got a 22,000 all-seater stadium, a stadium that could go in any league in the world, and it’s great when you’ve got the privilege of showing that off against a quality side of Manchester City’s caliber. The whole of world soccer sits up and takes notice,” said Coyle.
Tom Dart is a contributing writer to HoustonDynamo.com and HoustonDashSoccer.com. Former editor and reporter for The Times of London and reporter for SI.com, Dart currently freelances for The Guardian.
