A proud Houston Dynamo FC season ticket member since 2013, Christian Montano has been attending matches since the team first played at Roberston Stadium in 2006.
“My father was always into soccer and put me into club sports,” Montano said. “From there, I grew my love of soccer. I didn’t really start following Major League Soccer until we actually had a team. I was excited for it.”
The Houston native, whose family is from Colombia, said his favorite Dynamo memory came in 2012, the opening day of BBVA Compass Stadium (now Shell Energy Stadium). Montano sat near the scoreboard, and despite the heat, he knew from that day on he would be a season ticket holder.
“It was the first time the whole family went to a sporting event,” Montano said proudly. “Growing up, my family didn’t do that. I was able to bring my whole family.”
Montano said his favorite all-time Dynamo player is Brian Ching, who admittedly was in the twilight of his career by the time he had season tickets. However, Ching had not lost his bite.
“I remember seeing him in person,” Montano said. “The thing that we loved about Brian Ching was his killer instinct. He was a great scorer in my mind. Me and my buddy loved the killer instinct, how he would attack the ball and try to score.”
As for Montano’s favorite player on the current roster, his mind went directly to Héctor Herrera.
“I love his game,” Montano said. “Although he might be better, his game reminds me of Boniek García. I love that type of game because he was able to distribute the ball here and there. Héctor is the same way. His precision on where to place the ball for the players to run is awesome.”
Montano said he has had the same seats since securing his season tickets more than a decade ago – the front row of section 212.
“I love our seats,” he said. “You can see everything. Nobody is in front of you. There’s a railing in front of you so you can put your drinks down. I’ve been going ever since.”
Now a pricing analyst for a third party logistics company, Montano said he usually attends games with his sports friend Jacob Gibson or his wife Gaby. Either way, the gameday routine rarely wavers.
“A typical normal gameday for us, we will go to either Pitch 25, or back in the day Lucky’s Pub, and pregame there,” Montano, who now calls Tomball home, said. “Then we walk to the stadium. I just love seeing the creativity of all these players.”
Christian Montano will be honored as SeatGeek’s Member of the Match at Saturday’s matchup versus Inter Miami FC.
