Breakfast Links - December 18, 2023
(image via Ray Acevedo-USA TODAY Sports)
Happy Monday everybody! Hope everyone had a lovely weekend. Here are your links to recap the soccer news from around the world.
Houston
No news to share this weekend with the Dynamo, but the Dash have made their first acquisition of the offseason. The Dash sent $50,000 of allocation money to Bay FC for San Diego midfielder Sierra Enge, who Bay FC selected in the expansion draft from San Diego. The Dash then sent Sierra Enge back to San Diego in exchange for $60,000 in allocation money, a third-round pick in this coming draft, and midfielder Belle Briede. A clever move for Alex Singer as she traded $50,000 in allocation money for a pick, a player, and a $10,000 profit. Briede had a promising early career in college and for the youth national teams. She has yet to make a big mark in NWSL but this change of scenery could be exactly what she needs. Hopefully the Dash can get a coach in next.
MLS/NWSL
On Friday afternoon, a controversial decision from MLS was announced where MLS teams will be pulled out of the US Open Cup and instead MLS NEXT Pro teams will be participating. There have been loads of opinions on this situation as many are very upset over the situation. Some are fearing that it will kill the Open Cup forever. Unless something changes, the Dynamo will be the final MLS first team to have won the cup and will have no chance at defending their title.
The first big DP signing of the offseason has arrived and it was not from a club you would expect to make a big move. The New York Red Bulls have acquired Emil Forsberg from RB Leipzig in Germany. Forsberg has been a regular for Leipzig since 2015. In 2017, Forsberg was named Bundesliga player of the season for the 2016-17 season. He contributed eight goals and nineteen assists that year. This past year he contributed nine goals and seven assists in all competitions. This is the first European star to join the Red Bulls since Thierry Henry in 2010.
In the NWSL, along with San Diego’s trade for Sierra Enge, they also went and traded for forward Elyse Bennet from the Utah Royals. Bennet was selected in the expansion draft from OL Reign following a two goal and two assist season. The expansion draft did not have too much excitement with how many teams traded for protection. Bay FC made most of the selections with them selecting Alyssa Malonson, Tess Boade, Rachel Hill, and Katelyn Rowland. Utah only selected and kept Paige Monaghan.
Around the World
The Liga MX Apertura season came to a close with Club America destroying Tigres 4-1 on aggregate. Leg two took place this Sunday in a wild game that saw two red cards for Tigres. Raymundo Fulgencio got the first red card just ten minutes before the match went into extra time. Club America scored through Julian Quinones to start extra time before Nahuel Guzman received two quick yellow cards to put Tigres down to nine men. Richard Sanchez and Jonathan Rodriguez added on two more goals for Club America to put the game out of reach for Tigres.
PSV continue to dominate the Eredivisie every week. This week they traveled to a good AZ Alkmaar team and demolished them 4-0. Malik Tillman and Sergino Dest combined for the third goal of the game to please all the Americans following the team. After going 3-0 within sixteen minutes, Alkmaar made a triple substitution in the first half taking off American midfielder Djordje Mihailovic. Unfortunately for PSV, Feyernoord won again so the title race is still somewhat alive. Ajax have dropped points again, so that likely takes them out of contention for the title or even an automatic Champions League spot. It will take a massive downfall from PSV or Feyenoord for that too happen.
