Breakfast Links - May 29, 2023
(image via Houston Dynamo FC)
Good morning everybody! What an incredible weekend for Houston soccer! Here are your links to recap this great weekend.
Houston
Three wins from three this weekend for the Houston teams. The first team to get their win was the Dash on Friday night. The Dash traveled out to Kansas City and beat the Current 2-0. The goals were scored by Diana Ordóñez and Ally Prisock. The first goal came off an incredible counterattack led by Diana, Michelle Alozie, and Maria Sánchez. Diana had an incredible turn with her back to goal to put the ball into the net. This was a big win to get after such a disappointment last weekend.
The Dynamo hosted Austin FC for the second time this season and picked up their second win against them. In a must win game for the Dynamo, they had an extremely slow start to the match until conceding to Gyasi Zardes 22 minutes in. This goal massively woke up the Dynamo as they started to play some great soccer led by Aliyu Ibrahim and Amine Bassi. Their link up led to a rebound that Héctor Herrera buried to tie the game in the 37th minute. The Dynamo controlled the game for most of the second half until they found the eventual winner through Ivan Franco. This was Ivan’s first goal for the Dynamo, and it couldn’t have come at a better time.
To complete the Austin sweep, Dynamo 2 hosted Austin FC II and beat them 2-0. Austin came into this game as one of the strongest teams in MLS NEXT Pro. The Dynamo put in a great shift to beat them convincingly. They had a great start to the game scoring just 11 minutes in through Diego Gonzalez. They made it through waves of pressure from Austin and hit them on a counterattack to score a second before the half with Charles Auguste the scorer. Dos played great defense the rest of the way and held on to the 2-0 score.
MLS/NWSL
It wasn’t the most exciting weekend in MLS with not too many high scoring games unfortunately. The highest scoring of the weekend was New England hosting Chicago to a 3-3 draw. The Revolution saw their young up and coming American midfielder Noah Buck score his second goal of the season. The other goals were scored by their veteran American players Bobby Wood and Jozy Altidore. The Fire saw their two young Europeans Georgios Koutsias and Maren Haile-Selassie get on the score sheet.
FC Dallas and San Jose had the most intense match this weekend as two of the best teams in the west played to a 1-1 draw. The first half was a stalemate as neither team could create any real chances. It took until the 70th minute for San Jose to find the breakthrough with Benjamin Kikanovic. FC Dallas knocked on the door for the rest of the game until Alan Velasco found Nkosi Tafari with a wonderful cross to equalize in the last minute.
In NWSL, OL Reign took advantage of both Portland and Gotham dropping points this weekend to come within a point off the top of the table. Portland drew on the road against San Diego while Gotham tied on the road to Washington. OL Reign got a massive 4-1 result at home to Angel City. Megan Rapinoe and Veronica Latsko continued their hot starts to the season with Rapinoe getting three assists and Latsko bagging a brace.
Rest of the World
The drama at the top of the Bundesliga has come to a close, with Bayern München winning their 11th straight Bundesliga title. In typical Bundesliga fashion, just when Bayern looked like slipping up, they somehow fought back to claim another title. All Dortmund had to do was win at home and they slipped up going down 2-0 early to Mainz. Bayern also had to take care of business and win themselves. They found themselves up early until Koln equalized with only ten minutes to go. Everyone thought that was going to win Dortmund the title until Jamal Musiala scored out of nowhere to win Bayern the game and the title.
The Premier League also concluded this week, with the drama being at the bottom of the table and not the top. Leicester, Everton, and Leeds were all battling relegation on the final day. Leeds ended up getting killed by Tottenham, so they were the first to go down. Leicester City went up 1-0 in their game and it looked like they would stay up with Everton struggling to score. Everton eventually found the winner with an insane goal from Abdoulaye Doucoure to keep Everton in the Premier League. Leicester won their game 2-1 but it did not matter as they will play in the Championship next season, a massive fall from grace from the title winners less than ten years ago.
Tigres won their 8th Liga MX title Sunday night, coming from behind to beat Chivas in the extra time of the second leg of the Clausura Final. Chivas took a 2-0 lead at halftime after the teams played a scoreless first leg, but Tigres would come roaring back. André-Pierre Gignac and Francisco Córdova scored in the second half to send the game to extra time where Guido Pizarro got the game winner in the 110th minute. Tigres midfielder Sebastian Cordova got sent off three minutes from team but Tigres were able to hold on and win the title.
