Breakfast Links - February 10, 2023
(image via PumasMX/Twitter)
This week has been exhausting. Maybe it’s just me. However, it’s Friday, and we are just another week closer to the start of meeting up at Shell Energy Stadium for a match or two, ha! Here are your Breakfast Links.
Houston
The Houston Dynamo are in town for a short pit stop before heading to Fort Lauderdale for more friendlies. The first one will be against CF Montreal on Saturday afternoon. The club has been pretty tight lipped with the preseason matches but if anything comes out, check our social medias for news. The club did announce the signing of defender Djevencio van der Kust on loan from FC Utrecht. He is here until the summer but has a purchase option that can be triggered. Let’s go Dynamo!
The Houston Dash, and the rest of the teams in the NWSL, can sleep at night as the regular season schedule finally dropped. The ladies will open the season at home against Racing Louisville on Sunday, March 26. Get your tickets now and fill up the stadium. DTFO!
Make sure you check out the latest episodes of the Bayou City Soccer Podcast, available everywhere you get your podcasts.
Major League Soccer
San Jose Earthquakes defender Nathan is "out indefinitely" with a right anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury and will undergo surgery, the club announced Thursday. No timetable was given for the 27-year-old Brazilian center back's return from the injury, which he suffered in a preseason friendly against USL Championship side Monterey Bay FC on Saturday. Nathan has now endured knee injuries in back-to-back seasons, tearing his left meniscus in San Jose's 2022 season opener.
FC Cincinnati have completed an important offseason checklist item, announcing Thursday they’ve signed Colombian international right back Santiago Arias on a free transfer. The 31-year-old defender’s deal runs through the 2023 MLS season with an option for 2024.
"It's unfathomable," said Canada men's national team defender Sam Adekugbe of the Kahramanmaras earthquake that's destroyed much of Antakya, Turkey (where he plays club soccer with Hatayspor) and devastated large portions of Turkey and Syria. Adekugbe, a 2013 homegrown signing of Vancouver Whitecaps FC, joined CanMNT captain Atiba Hutchinson in Istanbul, where the latter plays club soccer for Beşiktaş, for an interview on Canada's OneSoccer television network to speak about the disaster and call for donations. The Turkish Süper Lig is currently on pause following the tragedy.
LAFC sold Chicho Arango to LigaMX side Pachuca and now reports have them signing international super star, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. We should find out if the rumors are right, soon enough.
Around the World
A future European Super League could include as many as 80 teams, Bernd Reichart, the chief executive of A22 Sports Management, a company formed to sponsor and assist in the creation of the breakaway football league, said Thursday.
Paris Saint-Germain's Lionel Messi is an injury doubt to face Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie on Tuesday after suffering a hamstring strain, sources have told ESPN. Messi completed the full 90 minutes in PSG's 2-1 Coupe de France defeat to Marseille on Wednesday, but he subsequently felt pain in his hamstring and a scan revealed a strain, sources said.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored four times, including registering his 500th career league goal, as Al Nassrbeat Al Wehda 4-0 in the Saudi Pro League on Thursday. Ronaldo netted all four goals within 30 minutes either side of half-time, including a 51st-minute penalty, in a one-sided away win at King Abdulaziz Sports City Stadium.
Tigres have terminated the contract of head coach Diego Cocca and confirmed his imminent appointment as the next manager of Mexico's men's national team in a statement released Thursday.
Premier League players will take a knee before their matches for the next two weekends as part of the "No Room for Racism" campaign, it was announced Thursday. Club captains across the league voted in August to limit taking a knee to "select significant moments." Players took a knee as part of the anti-racism campaign for two weeks in October, and will again display their unity against discrimination from Feb. 11-19.
