His teammates streamed onto the field in their orange and white, swarming Joe Willis as he came off his line. Head coach Wilmer Cabrera, stoic as ever, took a few steps onto the field, spun toward the fans, and offered a few short fist pumps.



And that was it. The Houston Dynamo, with little fanfare, had qualified for the first U.S. Open Cup final in club history with a win over LAFC on penalties. It should not have been a surprise; nine months earlier, the Dynamo reached the Western Conference finals, bumping off favored rivals Kansas City and Portland along the way.



The question is: how is this happening? The Dynamo has the league’s lowest payroll. Carlos Vela, the Mexican star who suited up for LAFC that night, earns more annually than all of Houston’s player budget combined. The Dynamo was miserable from 2014 to 2016, never finishing higher than eighth in the Western Conference and producing some of the league’s worst soccer.



And then,...