[17] The team's struggles were blamed, in part, on injuries and Clint Dempsey's call-up to play in the World Cup that required manager Steve Nicol to use different starting lineups to rotate players.

[19] Despite a six-match winless run in July and August, blamed on long road trips in the schedule, the Revolution remained in second place but fell further behind D.C. in the conference standings.

[25] The Revolution rallied in the second leg with goals by Taylor Twellman and Pat Noonan to tie 2–2 on aggregate and force a penalty shootout against the Fire, despite missing midfielders Dempsey and Shalrie Joseph.

[31][33] The team was renamed from Houston 1836 to the Dynamo prior to starting the season after objections from the area's Hispanic communities over its reference to the year 1836, which marked both the city's founding and Texas's independence from Mexico.

[34] The Dynamo lost only three of their first eighteen matches, including a ten-match unbeaten streak that lasted from May to late July, and only trailed in-state rivals FC Dallas in the Western Conference standings.

[35] Prior to the unbeaten run, Houston were without starting forward Brian Ching, who was called up to the U.S. national team at the World Cup and missed six league matches.

[37][38] To mitigate the loss of Ching, the Dynamo signed Scottish striker Paul Dalglish and relied more heavily on attacking midfielder Dwayne De Rosario, who recorded ten goals and five assists by late September.

[39][40] After a four-match winless streak in September, which still left the Dynamo in second place,[41] Houston went unbeaten in their remaining six league matches (with two wins) to secure a playoff berth, with 46 points.

[45] Houston played against third-seeded Chivas USA, themselves a first-time playoff team,[43] in the Western Conference Semifinals and lost 2–1 in the first leg at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.

After conceding twice before halftime, Brian Ching scored for the Dynamo and Dwayne De Rosario took a penalty kick in the 86th minute that was saved by Chivas goalkeeper Brad Guzan, denying an equalizing goal.

[46] In the second leg at home, Houston took advantage of a red card shown to Chivas striker Francisco Palencia and pushed for a series-equalizing goal, which came in the 64th minute on a penalty kick scored by Brad Davis.

[52][53] English play-by-play commentary was provided by Boston-based sportscaster Dave O'Brien and color analysis by Eric Wynalda and former U.S. men's national team coach Bruce Arena.

[58] Several thousand Dynamo fans traveled over 260 miles (420 km) from Houston to Pizza Hut Park for the match in a caravan of buses and hundreds of cars on Interstate 45 that was organized by "Mattress Mack" Jim McIngvale.

[67] Both teams traded shots after 20 minutes of play, with the Revolution requiring a save from Matt Reis on a rebounded attempt by Brad Davis and Dempsey failing to finish a cross from Pat Noonan.

[66] Near the end of regulation time in the 86th minute, Jay Heaps headed a ball into the six-yard box towards Taylor Twellman that was cleared away in front of the goal by Brian Ching.

[66] Houston responded from kickoff with a forward run and a cross from the right by Brian Mullan to Ching, who headed the ball into the net and tied the match at 1–1 only 71 seconds after Twellman's goal.

[62][67] The penalty shootout featured no saves or misses in the first two rounds, with shots scored by Houston's extra time substitutes Kelly Gray and Stuart Holden, and New England's Shalrie Joseph and goalkeeper Matt Reis.

[69] Pat Noonan's shot in the third round hit the crossbar, but the score remained level at 3–3 after Twellman converted and Brad Davis's penalty was saved by Matt Reis.

[70] Defender Jay Heaps attempted to slot his penalty into the goal, but the shot slowly rolled into the gloves of Pat Onstad to win the match for the Houston Dynamo.

[74] New England tied Los Angeles's three MLS Cup losses and was compared to similar perennial runners-up like the Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League.

[81] In the 2008 SuperLiga Final, hosted by New England at Gillette Stadium, the two teams drew 2–2 after extra time and played in a penalty shootout that the Revolution won 6–5 after eight rounds.