Breakfast Links - February 13, 2023
(image via CF Montreal/Twitter)
Happy Monday everyone! Hope you had an amazing weekend. An incredible Super Bowl has come to a close and you all know what that means. Dynamo and Dash soccer is right around the corner. Just one more weekend without it left! Here are your links to kickoff the week.
Houston
The Dynamo played their first of two friendlies in Ft Lauderdale against Montreal. The game ended in a 2-2 draw, with Thor Ulfarsson and Ivan Franco scoring the two goals. The first team played the first 75 minutes resulting in a 2-1 win, while the second team finished out the game losing 1-0. Former RSL fullback Tate Schmitt had an impressive game, having a hand in both goals. Schmitt is only on trial with the team but with impressive performances like that, it is only a matter of time before the Dynamo sign him.
Academy player Ezekiel Soto started and had an assist for the United States U17 National Team as they defeated Barbados 5-0. Houston’s other young star, Juan Castilla, came off the bench against Venezuela to defeat them 2-1 to finish in 3rd place in the CONMEBOL U-20 tournament. Juan should be returning to the Dynamo shortly to impress Ben Olsen.
The Dash loaned out forward Paulina Gramaglia to Red Bull Bragatino in Brazil. The young Argentine will get a great opportunity to develop while getting first team minutes down in South America after only making one sub appearance last season. The schedule finally dropped during this past week. I hope you all took the time this weekend to plan out what games you will be attending this season. Let’s all come out and support the Dash as much as we can!!
Major League Soccer
One of the biggest trades of the offseason took place between the Columbus Crew and the San Jose Earthquakes sending Jonathan Mensah to San Jose for 200k GAM, with the potential to become 500k. Not the biggest sum of GAM ever, but Mensah is an absolute rock at the back and will elevate San Jose to a much stronger team. This move was made very quickly after center back Nathan went down with a long term injury.
NYCFC are making massive plays to add some creativity into their midfield with reports of them agreeing a deal for Santiago Rodriguez to return as well as talks with Richie Ledezma. Santiago Rodriguez was with NYCFC on loan for the past two seasons, scoring 7 goals and adding 10 assists. His production last season was incredible and could be a long term Maxi Moralez replacement. Ledezma has been with PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands since 2018. The player has only made 22 appearances in that time, as he has struggled to cement himself a place in the team. This deal would come as a loan and would be another major piece in their midfield.
Around the World
The title race in the Bundesliga continues to heat up with all three title rivals winning this weekend. All three teams are within three points of each other creating the most exciting title battle in quite some time.
Over in France we had a massive upset, with Monaco defeating a pretty beat up PSG side. PSG were without Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe, and Marco Verratti. But even then, they are still heavy favorites in every game they play in France. This result along with Marseille’s win puts PSG at only a five point gap at the top. Potential USMNT player Florian Balogun scored again as he battles for the golden boot in France.
The Premier League continued it’s drama towards the top of the table with Arsenal dropping more points at home to a strong Brentford team who just can’t seem to lose at the moment. Both Manchester clubs picked up pretty comfortable wins against Leeds and Aston Villa, keeping them both on Arsenal’s trail. Leicester City had the performance of the week absolutely dominating Spurs 4-1 as they try to elevate themselves above midtable.
The Eredivisie has one of the most intense title battles in Europe right now with the top 5 all being within 6 points of each other. All five teams won comfortably this week with AZ Alkmaar getting a massive 5-0 victory. PSV saw what Alkmaar did and decided to one up them scoring six past FC Groningen sending USMNT star Pepi’s side into last place in the league.
