THE SOCCER REPORT

Chelsea host Manchester United in Carabao Cup; Houston Dynamo, USWNT name new managers

Victor Araiza
Oct 30, 2019, 6:55 am
Christian Pulisic became the second American to score a hat-trick in the Premier League after doing so for Chelsea aginst Burnley. Photo: Getty Images

The Houston Dynamo officially announced the appointment of former U.S. Men's National Team midfielder Tab Ramos as the club's new Head Coach last Friday. Ramos arrived in the Bayou City on Monday and has begun to plan for the 2020 Major League Soccer season.

The Dynamo were not the only ones with a new manager as the U.S. Women's National Team announced the appointment of two-time NWSL Championship winning coach Vlatko Andonovski. The 2019 NWSL Coach of the Year takes over for Jill Ellis, who took the USWNT to back-to-back FIFA Women's World Cup titles.

The U.S. Men also had positive news of their own to share. Sergiño Dest, the 18-year-old Ajax defender, revealed his intent to play for the United States over the Netherlands. Dest had played with the USMNT earlier this year but is yet to be permamently tied through an appearance in an official encounter. Dest also played with the youth national teams of Team USA, including under Ramos at the 2019 U-20 FIFA World Cup.

Here is the rest of the soccer ongoings from the past week:

Major League Soccer

The MLS Cup Playoffs have one finalist decided after Seattle Sounders upset LAFC on Tuesday night. Seattle will play for the championship at Atlanta or will host Toronto, depending on the results of Wednesday night's match.

Conference semifinals results

  • New York City FC 1-2 Toronto FC
  • Atlanta United 2-0 Philadelphia Union
  • Los Angeles FC 5-3 LA Galaxy
  • Seattle Sounders 2-0 Real Salt Lake
Conference finals results
  • Los Angeles FC 1-3 Seattle Sounders
  • Atlanta United vs. Toronto [to be played Wednesday]
MLS Cup Final - November 10th 2:00 p.m. CT

National Women's Soccer League

The 2019 NWSL season came to an end as the North Carolina Courage succesfully defended their title with a 4-0 win over the Chicago Red Stars.

English Premier League

After weeks of concern from U.S. Men's National Team fans over the playing time of Christian Pulisic, the 21-year-old American prodigy scored his first goal for Chelsea F.C. - delivering three in the process. Pulisic became the second U.S. player with a hat-trick in the EPL and the first since Clint Dempsey.

The Premier League resumes this coming weekend but first, English clubs are taking part in the League Cup - known also as the Carabao Cup - during the midweek slate.

Top six: Liverpool (28), Man City (22), Leicester City (20), Chelsea (20), Arsenal (16), Crystal Palace (15)

Scoring leader: 9 - Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)

Assists leader: 9 - Kevin De Bruyne (Man City)

Spanish La Liga

Updated through October 29 matches

Top six: Barcelona (22), Granada (20), Atletico Madrid (20), Real Sociedad (19), Sevilla (19), Real Madrid (18)

Scoring leader: 7 - Gerard Moreno (Villareal) / Lorenzo Garica (Real Betis)

Assists leader: 4 - Leo Messi (Barcelona) / Santi Cazorla (Villareal)

German Bundesliga

Top six: Monchengladbach (19), Bayern Munich (18), Freiburg (17), Wolfsburg (17), Dortmund (16), RB Leipzig (15)

Scoring leader: 13 - Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

Assists leader: 5 - Jadon Sancho (Dortmund) / Thorgan Hazard (Dortmund)

Italian Serie A

Top six: Inter Milan (25), Juventus (23), Atalanta (20), Napoli (17), Roma (16), Lazio (15)

Scoring leader: 10 - Ciro Immobile (Lazio)

Assists leader: 5 - Four players tied

French Ligue 1

Top six: PSG (27), Nantes (19), Lille (18), Reims (18), Brest (17), Angers (17)

Scoring leader: 9 - Wissam Ben Yedder (Monaco)

Assists leader: 6 - Islam Slimani (Monaco) / Yoann Court (Brest)

TV listings (All Times CT):

Wednesday, October 23

1:00 p.m. - [Serie A] Napoli vs. Atalanta (ESPN+)

1:00 p.m. - [La Liga] Valencia vs. Sevilla (beIN Sports)

2:30 p.m. - [English League Cup] Liverpool vs. Arsenal (ESPN+)

2:45 p.m. - [English League Cup] Aston Villa vs. Wolves (ESPN+)

2:45 p.m. - [German Cup] Dortmund vs. Gladbach (ESPN3)

2:45 p.m. - [German Cup] St Pauli vs. Frankfurt (ESPN3)

3:00 p.m. - [Serie A] Juventus vs. Genoa (ESPN+)

3:00 p.m. - [Serie A] Udinese vs. Roma (ESPN+)

3:00 p.m. - [English League Cup] Chelsea vs. Man United (ESPN+)

3:00 p.m. - [La Liga] Real Madrid vs. Leganes (beIN SPORTS)

7:00 p.m. - [MLS Cup Playoffs] Atlanta United FC vs. Toronto FC (FS1, FOX Deportes)

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Houston's celebration has to wait

Rangers get walk-off win over Astros who continue to wait for playoff berth

Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images

After the big offensive showing to take the opener on Thursday, the Astros entered Friday's game at Globe Life Field against the Rangers just one win or Angels loss away from securing their spot in the playoffs. Here is how the game unfolded:

Final Score (10 innings): Rangers 5, Astros 4.

Record: 29-29, second in the AL West.

Winning pitcher: Brett Martin (1-1, 1.98 ERA).

Losing pitcher: Enoli Paredes (3-3, 3.05 ERA).

Urquidy goes seven while allowing two

The Rangers would strike first in Friday's game, getting a two-out solo home run against Jose Urquidy in the bottom of the second to grab the early 1-0 lead. Urquidy did relatively well on the night, though he would allow another solo homer in the bottom of the fifth. Those were the only two runs he allowed, working in and out of some trouble throughout the game on his way to finishing seven innings. His final line: 7.0 IP, 7 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K, 2 HR, 98 P.

Houston grabs their first lead late

Unlike their hot night at the plate the night prior, it took the Astros until the fifth inning to get on the board. It came after Carlos Correa hit a leadoff single, then came all the way around to score on an RBI-triple by George Springer, making it a 1-1 tie at the time.

After the Rangers went back in front 2-1 in the bottom of the inning on their second solo homer of the night, Alex Bregman would tie it up again with a solo home run of his own, making it 2-2. Houston would get their first lead of the night in the top of the eighth, with Altuve working a leadoff walk before scoring later in the inning on an RBI-single by Yuli Gurriel.

Rangers get the walk-off to keep Houston waiting for playoff bid

After Urquidy, Blake Taylor would take over on the mound in the bottom of the eighth, retiring the Rangers in order for a scoreless inning to hold the one-run lead. Still 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth, Houston turned to their closer, Ryan Pressly. After two quick outs, he would allow a game-tying solo home run, making it 3-3 to postpone Houston's celebration at least another inning as the game headed to extras.

In the top of the tenth, Jose Altuve was placed on second as the free runner. He advanced to third on a groundout to start the inning, then scored on a sac fly by Alex Bregman, making it a 4-3 lead for Houston. Enoli Paredes would load the bases before Texas would tie the game on a sac fly in the bottom of the inning, keeping runners on second and third. Houston made the change to Brooks Raley to try and extend the game another inning, but instead, the Rangers would get the walk-off win, spoiling Houston's chance to clinch their playoff spot themselves with a win.

Up Next: The third game of this four-game set will get underway at 6:05 PM Central on Saturday. On the mound for Texas will be Kyle Gibson (2-6, 5.87 ERA), and, as of now, the Astros still have Lance McCullers Jr. (3-3, 4.24 ERA) listed as their starter.

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