Breakfast Links - June 5, 2023

(image via Houston Dash)

Happy Monday everyone! Hope y’all had an incredible weekend. Here are your links to kickoff this new week.

Houston

Let’s start off this week talking about the Dash who picked up another victory, this time at home to the Orlando Pride. The Dash went up only six minutes into the match through Sophie Hirst. This was her first goal in NWSL and first goal for the Dash. Right before halftime, Michelle Alozie, who has been on fire lately, converted a solo effort to make it 2-0. The Dash went on to see out the game and preserve the shutout.

The other team to win in Houston was Houston Dynamo 2. Kenny Bundy’s squad went on the road to play LAFC II and won 2-0. The first goal of the game came from Diego Gonzalez. This is now his fifth goal of the season from midfield. He might be a player the senior team should look at soon. Papa N’Doye went on to make it two just fifteen minutes later. Javen Romero got a red card right at the end to put the game out of reach for LAFC II.

The only losing team this weekend was the Dynamo as they traveled to St. Louis and lost 3-0. In the first ten minutes, left back Chase Gasper gave away what was a fairly soft penalty to really shake up the Dynamo’s approach to the game. Early in the second half, they then went and conceded on a set piece from a wonderful delivery from Eduard Lowen. The Dynamo then went and gave away another soft penalty for St Louis to make it 3-0. It was another rough day for the team and with such a tough schedule approaching, the Dynamo are going to need some hard-fought points to stay around the playoff line.

MLS/NWSL

This weekened turned out to be quite a boring matchday for MLS with three different 0-0 draws. The highest scoring game came between Columbus and Charlotte, a 4-2 win for the Black and Gold. Former Dynamo striker Christian Ramirez bagged two goals in this game along with goals from Cucho Hernandez and Max Arfsten. Charlotte answered back with two goals of their own from Justin Meram and Karol Swiderski. The other two Texas teams also found themselves on the losing side, with Austin losing to Real Salt Lake and Dallas losing to Nashville. Not a great week for Texas in MLS.

There were two massive matchups in NWSL this week with OL Reign hosting the Portland Thorns and Gotham FC hosting the San Diego Wave. In Seattle, OL Reign fell short as Portland were able to score early through Sophiea Smith. Portland then went on to dominate the game and found a second goal through Christine Sinclair right at the end. The San Diego Wave went to New Jersey and won their game 1-0 over Gotham FC. The goal came from Makenzy Doniak seconds after coming on as a half time sub. All four of these teams continue to show their strengths as they occupy four of the playoff spots along with Washington and the Dash.

LAFC and Leon played the second leg of the Concacaf Champions League Final. Leon prevailed as they added to their 2-1 advantage in the first leg by winning the second 1-0. There was chance after chance for LAFC and they just could not convert on the night. The Leon goal came from Lucas Di Yorio in the 20th minute. Disappointing for LAFC, but that was an incredible job from Leon over two legs.

Around the World

In Europe, Serie A, La Liga, and Ligue 1 all came to a close this weekend. No surprises in Italy at the top as the title winner and top four spots were well wrapped up. At the bottom of the table both Spezia and Hellas Verona lost, setting up the relegation playoff between the two. In France the biggest move was Nantes winning their game to escape relegation and send Auxerre down as they failed to win. In Spain, Celta Vigo beat Barcelona 2-1 to avoid the drop and sending Real Valladolid down.

In England, Manchester United had a great chance to stop Manchester City’s pursuit of a treble. United came short, conceding two goals from Ilkay Gundogan. They did score a penalty from Bruno Fernandes, but it was not enough. Man City saw out the game 2-1 to win their second trophy of the season. City now have just the Champions League final to claim their treble.

The United States U20 national played their knockout match against Uruguay at the U20 World Cup. The Americans fell short 2-0 as they struggled to put the ball in the net. The US had so much possession and opportunities to find the goal but it just never came. The second goal Uruguay scored was a self-inflicted error from Josh Wynder to put the US in a poor position. The United States feeling like they should have done better while losing to Uruguay in a quarter final is real progress for this team. In the past, Americans would have been very ok with the result, but this time it felt like an upset.