Breakfast Links - April 3, 2023
(image via USA Today)
Happy Monday everybody! Hope everyone had a great weekend despite the mixed results!
Houston
The Dynamo had a late-night loss on the road to the San Jose Earthquakes Satuday. Both teams played fairly poorly and there was some rough officiating throughout the game. The game ended 2-1 in favor of San Jose with all three goals scored coming off penalties. Individual errors plagued the Dynamo once again with this now being the third road loss in a row. The Dynamo fortunately return home next Saturday to play the winless LA Galaxy. Let’s hope for a better result this time!
What a great win for the Dash!! The Houston Dash got their first win of the season with a very solid performance on the road against the Chicago Red Stars. It was a very hard fought game in tough conditions due to the crazy wind in Chicago. Maria Sanchez opened the scoring early and new signing Diana Ordóñez scored her first goal to win the game. This was the first time in NWSL that two Mexican national team teammates scored in the same game. The Dash will have the next weekend off for international break.
Dynamo 2 really decided to break hearts this weekend, collapsing right at the end to lose to Colorado Rapids 2. The Dynamo struggled to convert the chances they had in the first half until finally finding the breakthrough in the 68th minute. The goal was scored by center back Talen Maples after recycling off a corner kick. The Dynamo looked like they had the win secured until conceding in the 87th minute and then again in stoppage time to ultimately lose 2-1 on the night. Houston Dynamo 2 continue their season on Friday on the road to St Louis CITY 2.
Major League Soccer
As usual, MLS played host to some incredibly exciting games this weekend. The most exciting of the bunch was Charlotte FC’s comeback on the road to Toronto FC. Toronto opened the scoring within five minutes with Federico Bernardeschi scoring directly from a corner kick. Corners were Toronto’s biggest threat with them scoring their second of the night on another corner. This time it was a header for Michael Bradley. Quickly into the second half Charlotte broke through with Ben Bender getting his first of the season. Jozwiak then also scored his first of the year leveling the score and completing the comeback.
The Leo Chu train continues to roll in Seattle with Chu getting yet another assist and finding his first goal of the season. Coming off last weeks incredible performance, Seattle yet again put on a dominating display on the road, this time against the LA Galaxy. Jordan Morris scored yet again, bringing his league leading tally to eight. Chu scored shortly after, from outside the box, to make it two. The Galaxy pulled one back through young defender Jalen Neal, but it was not enough.
Around the World
This weekend in Germany was the biggest game of the season. With Dortmund leading in the table by one point, this was the most important Der Klassiker in some time. The occasion proved way too big for Dortmund as they got destroyed by Bayern Munich 4-2. The game opened with an awful goalkeeping error to gift Bayern a goal. Thomas Muller then scored two quick goals to make it 3-0 going into the half. Kinglsey Coman then scored a fourth while Dortmund attempted to mount a comeback. They scored twice late but it was not nearly enough to overcome Bayern’s dominance. Bayern now sit two points clear at the top with eight games to go.
In England, the Premier League had one of the most hyped up matchups with Manchester City hosting Liverpool. Liverpool scored through Mohamed Salah in the 17th minute, but Man City went on to put up four unanswered goals to comfortably stay on Arsenal’s tail. In the race for the Champions League places, Newcastle hosted Manchester United in a pivotal match. Newcastle dominated the match offensively scoring two second half goals to put them right back in the top four.
