Breakfast Links - April 10, 2023
(image via Houston Dynamo FC)
What a great weekend! Hope everyone enjoyed their Easter. Here are your Breakfast Links to get your new week started.
Houston
Shell Energy Stadium is becoming a real fortress for the Dynamo early in the season. The Dynamo made it three straight shutout wins at home for the first time in quite some time. The LA Galaxy was no match for Houston’s hard working midfield and attack, losing 3-0 and barely putting up a fight. Hector Herrera opened the scoring with a wonderful free kick in the first half. Amine Bassi then tucked away his fourth penalty in four games, which is an MLS record. Bassi wasn’t finished there, scoring an incredible shot setup by Corey Baird. Unfortunately, Herrera did pick up a second yellow card so he will miss next week’s trip to Harrison to face the New York Red Bulls.
Houston Dynamo 2 have finally picked up their first win of the season, winning 3-1 away to St Louis CITY 2. This was a massive step towards returning to last season’s incredible form. The goals were scored by Diego Gonzalez, Papa N’Doye, and Jacob Evans. The Dynamo 2 will play home to LAFC 2 next Sunday. Let’s hope for the first home win of the season!
The Dash had off this weekend for international duty. Despite having no games, the Dash were very busy finalizing the signing of Mexican goalkeeper Emily Alvarado. Alvarado comes to Houston as the third Mexican international on the roster. Emily has made 15 appearances for Mexico, as of now. Speaking of Mexico, the national team played the Chicago Red Stars in a friendly with both Maria Sanchez and Diana Ordonez scoring against them for the second week in a row. The Dash will play the Mexican National team tomorrow night at Shell Energy Stadium.
Major League Soccer
Matchday seven in MLS was home to some very one-sided results. The first big result was LAFC thrashing Austin 3-0. Austin, now winless in three, struggled to get anything going against a rotated LAFC team. Denis Bouanga scored yet another hat trick, bringing his season total to eleven goals now across all competitions. LAFC looks unbeatable now while Austin looks a bit hopeless.
To follow up Montreal’s 5-0 loss to Vancouver last week, they went and lost 4-0 to New England on the road. At this point in the season Montreal look like they are heading for a wooden spoon finish, having conceded thirteen goals in just six games. New England opened the scoring early through a wonderful Dylan Borrero strike. After that it was all New England with Carles Gil, Bobby Wood, and Giacomo Vrioni all getting on the scoresheet.
The biggest result of the weekend went to Seattle at they demolished St. Louis CITY at home 3-0. After starting the season with five straight wins, St. Louis have now lost their second game in a row as Seattle dominated the play for 90 minutes. Josh Atencio scored his first MLS goal, Raul Ruidiaz then went on to score his first of many this season, and Jake Nerwinski capped off the scoring with an own goal. Both Seattle and LAFC look very difficult to stop at the moment.
Around the World
The end of the European seasons is really starting to heat up at this point. Nothing is heating more then the bottom of the table in the English Premier League. With the bottom eight all being separated by less than ten points; every game is must win now. This weekend saw massive wins for West Ham, Bournemouth, Wolves, and Crystal Palace to keep these teams above the relegation zone for now. Leicester, Southampton, and Nottingham Forest round out the bottom three at the moment as all three lost this weekend. At the top of the table, Arsenal have dropped points for the first time since February. Drawing 2-2 away to Liverpool is a great result for Arsenal, but it does feel a bit sour giving up a late lead.
One of the biggest games of the weekend was in Mexico with first place Monterrey traveling to fourth place Club America. Monterrey opened the scoring early through Maximiliano Meza in the first half. Diego Valdes then brought it level, scoring his sixth of the season. Federico Vinas came off the bench to score the winner in the 79th minute. This goal was Vina’s first goal of the season. Monterrey then went on to win a penalty in the 90th minute, but Joao Rojas failed to convert. Esteban Andrada then picked up a red card to end this heated game. Despite losing, Monterrey still sit top the table by six points.
