Breakfast Links - May 22, 2023
(image via North Texas SC)
Good morning, everybody! Hope y’all had a wonderful weekend. Here are your links to get you started this Monday.
Houston
There were mixed results this weekend in Houston. Let’s start with the second team who were the only winners. Houston Dynamo 2 played on the road to North Texas SC which is FC Dallas’s MLS NEXT Pro team. They found themselves down two early goals until they equalized through Yair Gonzalez and Jacob Evans. They then found themselves down again until the 94th minute when Isaiah Reid scored an equalizer to put the game into a shootout. Dynamo 2 won the shootout 6-5 to cap off an exciting night for them.
The Dynamo first team also played on the road in Dallas. They ended up tying FC Dallas 1-1 in a fairly rough game for both sides. Neither team played particularly well, so a draw was a fair result. The game was scoreless for the first half. There wasn’t much action in the second until Dallas scored off a free kick ten minutes in. The Dynamo poured men forward for the rest of the game until they scored a set piece of their own. Thor Ulfarsson got his head on a Hector Herrera corner kick to earn a very hard fought point.
The Dash unfortunately had their roughest game of the season at home to the San Diego Wave. They conceded just two minutes into the game through Alex Morgan. The Dash continued to struggle throughout the game and San Diego made them pay, scoring another two goals in the second half. The Dash ended up losing 3-0 and the less we talk about it the better. They will look to rectify this result on Friday traveling to Kansas City.
MLS/NWSL
There were so many goals this week in MLS with it being the highest scoring weekend of the season with 45 goals scored. The highest scoring game of this weekend was Chicago Fire against Atlanta United which ended in a 3-3 tie. Another two goals from Giorgos Giakoumakis keeps him in the lead for goals per 90 in MLS this season. The most goals scored from a single team this weekend was for St Louis where they pounded Sporting Kansas City 4-0. Indiana Vassilev scored a brace, which where his first goals for St Louis.
Other than the Texas Derby, there were multiple other rivalry games this weekend. The most hyped one was the Hell Is Real Derby between FC Cincinnati and The Columbus Crew. Cincinnati took a two goal lead early in this game until Columbus answered back with two of their own. In the 67th minute midfielder Junior Moreno found the game winner for Cincinnati to keep them at the top of the Supporter’s Shield standings. Other rivalry games included Real Salt Lake beating Colorado in the Rocky Mountain Cup, Vancouver beating Seattle in the Cascadia Cup, and Orlando beating Miami in a Florida Derby.
The NWSL also had some high scoring games with both Gotham and Portland scoring four goals this weekend. Portland did it in a 4-0 win over Chicago and Gotham did it in a 4-1 win over OL Reign. The biggest result of the weekend came with the struggling Orlando Pride ending Washington’s five game unbeaten run in all competitions. Orlando was able to win this game 2-1 with a strong performance from Marta.
Around the World
The biggest headline of the weekend came when Arsenal lost 1-0 on the road to Nottingham Forest. This game was massive because Forest secured survival in the Premier League and Manchester City secured the Premier League title. Brighton had an incredible 3-1 win with a brace from teenager Evan Ferguson. This win secures Brighton European soccer for the first time in their history.
In Germany, Borussia Dortmund have reclaimed their place at the top of the league with one week to go. They traveled to Augsburg and easily beat them 3-0 with Sebastien Haller scoring a brace. Bayern München played host to RB Leipzig and fell 3-1 to give Dortmund the opportunity to take top spot. Next Saturday Bayern travel to Koln and Dortmund host Mainz. All Dortmund needs to do is win and they claim their 9th Bundesliga title, their first since 2012.
