Hardly a bead of sweat appeared on Davy Arnaud’s forehead despite the August heat that had most observers huddling in the minimal shade at the Houston Dynamo’s training facility.



Summertime is so brutal in this part of the world that the team practices a few hours earlier than most of their Major League Soccer counterparts, wrapping up around 9:30 a.m., before the thermostat cranks up and humidity congeals the air into soup. But while it was already toasty by mid-morning, Arnaud didn’t seem to be bothered. He’s a native of Nederland, Texas, an hour and a half east, on the Louisiana border. He might as well have been born in a sauna.



This was just Arnaud’s second practice as interim head coach, after Wilmer Cabrera was fired at the beginning of the week. It was a bit weird, Arnaud conceded. Cabrera had been a good mentor. This was also a chance for which he’d been waiting, and one that few get.



“You go through...