Breakfast Links - November 27, 2023
(image via Aldo Canale)
It was another beautiful weekend to be a Dynamo fan! Hope everyone enjoyed last night’s game as much as I did. Here are your links to recap the game and more.
Houston
After a five-year playoff drought, the Dynamo have found themselves in the Western Conference final after beating Sporting Kansas City 1-0 at Shell Energy Stadium. Both teams came into this game incredibly hot after finishing their regular seasons strong. There were loads of chances for both teams early in the game, but it took until the 39th minute for Franco Escobar to head home the only goal of the match. The second half wasn’t pretty, but the defense and Steve Clark held on to the 1-0 win. The Dynamo will face LAFC in Los Angeles on Saturday for a chance to play in MLS Cup.
Major League Soccer
The Eastern Conference semifinals kicked off Saturday with Orlando hosting Columbus in the early game. After a scoreless 90 minutes, Columbus took over the game in extra time scoring through former Dynamo striker Christian Ramirez. Already down a man, Orlando struggled to get back into the game and conceded a long-range strike from Cucho Hernandez on an empty net. Columbus then waited to see who won the next game between FC Cincinnati and the Philadelphia Union. This game also looked like it was going to extra time after a scoreless draw in the 90 minutes, until Yerson Mosquera scored the winning goal in stoppage time. There were tons of controversy surrounding this goal, as it looked offside after the replays. VAR decided it was a good goal and Cincinnati moved on to face Columbus in the East Finals.
For the second Western Conference matchup, Seattle hosted the current title holders, LAFC, in yet another hard-fought low scoring affair. Seattle had all the chances in the early stages with Jordan Morris missing a clear opportunity that he usually buries in these clutch moments. LAFC made them pay for their missed chances with an incredible goal from MLS Golden Boot winner Denis Bouanga. Seattle just could not find the back of the net for the rest of the 90 minutes, so LAFC will move on to face the Dynamo.
Around the World
After the boring international break, soccer around the globe was back in motion. In the Premier League, there was tons of drama at the top of the table this weekend with Manchester City drawing with Liverpool in the early game. Neither team had a particularly strong showing, and a draw was the clear result. With this result, Arsenal just needed all three points to go top of the table. Traveling to Brentford has proven to be a tricky fixture for a lot of the bigger teams in the Premier League, so this was no easy task. It was a stale game offensively for both sides until Saka whipped in a ball for Kai Havertz that saw Arsenal win 1-0. Havertz has seen tons of scrutiny since before he even played his first game for Arsenal, so this was exactly what he needed.
In Spain, Barcelona just continues to fall down the table with another disappointing result. They drew 1-1 against Rayo Vallecano and just barely got away with that point. An own goal in the 82nd minute earned Barcelona that point which can be huge in their title race. Real Madrid on the other hand, just keeps winning games. They pulled out another strong 3-0 win with Rodrygo and Jude Bellingham getting on the scoresheet. Real Madrid sits top of the table again, but Girona still have that game in hand this afternoon. With a win, Girona will be top of the table after this matchday.
