Breakfast Links - September 8, 2023
(image via concacaf.com)
Here we are again, yet another Friday edition of the Breakfast Links. Let’s get you ready for the weekend.
Houston
The Houston Dynamo don’t have a game this weekend, as most of MLS is off due to the FIFA International window. I say most because there are still five matches being played for teams that need to catch up to the rest of the league. Dynamo midfielder Coco Carrasquilla played 83 minutes in Panama’s 3-0 win over Martinique last night. Carrasquilla assisted on the first goal of the match. Houston’s young goalkeeper Xavier Valdez and Dominican Republic will see action tonight against Nicaragua. Hector Herrera and Mexico will be playing two friendlies in this international window, with the first one set for tomorrow night against Australia in Arlington, TX. Let’s go Dynamo!
The Houston Dash is currently a fractured team after Sam Laity was relieved of his duties as head coach with four games remaining in the regular season. The ladies don’t have a match this week as the Challenge Cup Final will take place tomorrow night. General manager Alex Singer is yet to name an interim coach that will close out the season for the Dash. DTFO!
Houston Dynamo 2 is the only Houston squad playing this weekend. Kenny Bundy’s team has gone in a downward spiral as of late and making it in to the playoffs looks to be in danger. The boys have three games left in the regular season and are currently sitting below the playoff line. Dos will play Sunday night against Portland Timbers 2 at 9:00 PM. Vamos Dyna Dos!
Make sure you check out the latest episodes of the Bayou City Soccer Podcast, available everywhere you get your podcasts as well as our YouTube channel!
Major League Soccer
MLSsoccer.com’s Sam Jones released MVP Power Rankings in which Houston Dynamo captain Hector Herrera ranks 5th on the list. Herrera has been a major contributor to the turn around the team has seen in 2023.
The New York Red Bulls have signed highly-touted academy product Julian Hall to a first-team contract, the club announced Thursday. The 15-year-old forward becomes the second-youngest homegrown signing in RBNY history, inking a three-and-a-half year deal through the 2026 season that includes a club option for 2027.
D.C. United have loaned homegrown forward Kristian Fletcher to Swansea City AFC's Under-21 team through December 2023, the club announced Thursday. Fletcher joined the Black-and-Red in the summer of 2022 on a contract through the 2025 MLS season with an option for 2026. Prior to becoming the club's 19th-ever homegrown signing, he played for Loudoun United FC in the USL Championship. The 18-year-old attacker has also received US youth national team caps at the U-15 and U-19 levels.
Around the World
State prosecutors in Spain have filed a lawsuit against Luis Rubiales alleging sexual assault and coercion for kissing a player on the lips without her consent after the Women's World Cup final, the country's prosecutors' office said Friday. Rubiales, the now-suspended president of the Spanish football federation (RFEF), kissed Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the awards ceremony after Spain beat England to win the title on Aug. 20 in Sydney. Prosecutors presented a case against Rubiales to Spain's National Court in Madrid two days after Hermoso formally accused him of sexual assault.
Jadon Sancho is facing a battle to regain the support of his Manchester United teammates as well as manager Erik ten Hag following his angry reaction to being dropped for the Premier League defeat at Arsenal, a source has told ESPN. Sancho, 23, posted a strongly worded social media rebuttal of Ten Hag's postmatch claims that he had been omitted from the squad at the Emirates due to unsatisfactory training performances, with the England international rejecting the "completely untrue" comments and saying on his X account that he had been a "scapegoat for a long time."
Lionel Messi's second-half goal gave Argentina a 1-0 home win over Ecuador on Thursday to get their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign off on the right foot in front of 83,000 fans at the nearly full Monumental Stadium in Buenos Aires. World champions Argentina were dominant in possession, but frustrated in attack as they struggled to make the breakthrough. Captain Messi, however, continued the fine form he is showing with club side Inter Miami of MLS by scoring from a free kick in the 77th minute.
FIFA confirmed on Friday that clubs spent an all-time high $7.36 billion on international transfer fees this summer, with the Saudi Pro League spending second only behind the Premier League. The world football governing body announced in a statement that English clubs had the most expensive transfer arrivals from abroad, spending $1.98bn in 449 transfers, ahead of the Saudi Pro League who collectively spent $875 million.
