THE SOCCER REPORT

Dynamo lose 0-4 away at Sporting KC, Coronavirus halts Italian Serie A

Victor Araiza
Mar 9, 2020, 9:07 pm
The Houston Dynamo fell in their first road test of the season. Photo: Houston Dynamo

Coronavirus concern has seeped into the soccer world, especially in the Italian Serie A where matches have gone from being played in empty stadiums to the league being postponed altogether. Major League Soccer had a few matches on the West coast that could potentially have been played behind closed doors - all where played with spectators. As of Monday, MLS has joined other U.S. sports leagues in closing access to locker rooms for media members.

Here is the week that was in the beautiful game:

English Premier League

Top six: 1. Liverpool (82), 2. Man City (57), 3. Leicester City (53), 4. Chelsea (48), 5. Manchester United (45), 6. Wolves (43)

Bottom three (relegation): 18. Bournemouth (27), 19. Aston Villa (25), 20. Norwich City (21)

Scoring leader: 19 - Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)

Assists leader: 16 - Kevin De Bruyne (Man City)

Spanish La Liga

Top six: 1. FC Barcelona (58), 2. Real Madrid (56), 3. Sevilla (47), 4. Getafe (46), 5. Atletico Madrid (45), 6. Real Sociedad (43)

Bottom three: 18. Mallorca (25), 19. Leganes (23), 20. Espanyol (20)

Scoring leader: 19 - Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona)

Assists leader: 12 - Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona)

German Bundesliga

Top six: 1. Bayern Munich (55), 2. Dortmund (51), 3. RB Leipzig (50), 4. Bayer Leverkusen (47), 5. Monchengladbach (46), 6. Schalke 04 (37)

Bottom three: 16. Fortuna (22), 17. Werder Bremen (18), 18. Paderborn (16)

Scoring leader: 25 - Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

Assists leader: 16 - Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich)

Italian Serie A

Top six: 1. Juventus (63), 2. Lazio (62), 3. Inter Milan (54), 4. Atalanta (48), 5. Roma (45), 6. Napoli (39)

Bottom three: 18. Lecce (25), 19. SPAL (18), 20. Brescia (16)

Scoring leader: 27 - Ciro Immobile (Lazio)

Assists leader: 12 - Luis Alberto (Lazio)

French Ligue 1

Top four: 1. PSG (68), 2. Marseille (56), 3. Rennes (50), 4. Lille (49)

Bottom three: 18. Nimes (27), 19. Amiens (23), 20. Toulouse (13)

Scoring leader: 18 - Kylian Mbappe (PSG)

Assists leader: 14 - Angel Di Maria (PSG)

Major League Soccer

The Houston Dynamo continue winless in their first two matches under new Head Coach Tab Ramos after a 0-4 loss at Sporting Kansas City over the weekend. Offseason signing Darwin Quintero made his debut with the club as a second half substitution while star forward Alberth Elis continues to be out injured.

The Dynamo host Seattle Sounders FC on Saturday at BBVA Stadium.

Liga MX

Clausura 2020

Top eight: 1. Cruz Azul (19), 2. Leon (18), 3. Club America (17), 4. Pumas UNAM (15), 5. CD Guadalajara (15), 6. Juarez (14), 7. Queretaro (14), 8. Pachuca (14)

Scoring leader: 8 - Jonathan Rodriguez (Cruz Azul)

Assists leader: 5 - Roberto Alvarado (Cruz Azul) / Pablo Barrera (Pumas)

Superliga Argentina

Boca Juniors crowned themselves champions of Argentina in dramatic fashion by winning 1-0 over Gimnasia, the team led by BOCA Legend Diego Maradona, and finishing top of the league by one point over archrivals River Plate.

TV listings (All Times CT):

For full info on soccer TV listings and streaming services in the United States, visit worldsoccertalk.com

Tuesday, March 10

3:00 p.m. - [UEFA Champions League] RB Leipzig vs. Tottenham (TNT, UniMas, TUDN)

3:00 p.m. - [UEFA Champions League] Valencia vs. Atalanta (Galavision)

7:00 p.m. - [Concacaf Champions League] Montreal Impact vs. Olimpia (FS1)

7:30 p.m. - [Copa Libertadores] Boca Juniors vs. Medellin (beIN Sports en Español)

7:30 p.m. - [Copa Libertadores] Palmeiras vs. Guarani (beIN Sports)

Wednesday, March 11

2:30 p.m. - [Premier League] Manchester City vs. Arsenal (NBC Sports)

3:00 p.m. - [UEFA Champions League] Liverpool vs. Atletico Madrid (TNT, UniMas, TUDN)

3:00 p.m. - [UEFA Champions League] PSG vs. Dortmund (Galavision)

5:15 p.m. - [Copa Libertadores] River Plate vs. Binacional (beIN Sports en Español)

5:15 p.m. - [Copa Libertadores] Colo-Colo vs. Atletico-PR (beIN Sports)

6:00 p.m. - [SheBelieves Cup] USWNT vs. Japan (ESPNEWS, TUDNxtra)

7:00 p.m. - [Concacaf Champions League] NYCFC vs. Tigres (FS2)

9:30 p.m. - [Concacaf Champions League] Club America vs. Atlanta United (FS2)

Thursday, March 12

1:00 p.m. - [UEFA Europa League] LASK vs. Manchester United (UniMas)

3:00 p.m. - [UEFA Europa League] Olympiacos vs. Wolverhampton Wanderers (UniMas)

9:30 p.m. - [Concacaf Champions League] LAFC vs. Cruz Azul (FS2)

Friday, March 13

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

Saturday, March 14

7:30 a.m. - [Premier League] Watford vs. Leicester City (NBC Sports)

10:00 a.m. - [Premier League] Manchester City vs. Burnley (NBC Sports)

12:30 p.m. - [Premier League] Aston Villa vs. Chelsea (NBC Sports)

12:30 p.m. - [Bundesliga] Union Berlin vs. Bayern Munich (UniMas, TUDN)

7:30 p.m. - [MLS] Houston Dynamo vs. Seattle Sounders FC (KUBE57)

Sunday, March 15

9:00 a.m. - [Premier League] West Ham vs. Wolves (NBC Sports)

11:30 a.m. - [Premier League] Tottenham vs. Man United (NBC Sports)

Monday, March 16

3:00 p.m. - [Premier League] Everton vs. Liverpool (NBC Sports)

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A WEEKLY REVIEW OF O'BRIEN'S COACHING

Not my job: Texans outmatched when it counts against Steelers

Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images

Another game, another loss for the Texans. This time it was only a seven point loss to the Steelers as they fell 28-21 in Pittsburgh. This time around, Bill O'Brien looked to be on his game as far as decision-making was concerned. However, there is still room for improvement.

One thing that I did appreciate that O'Brien did was have trust in the offensive line. The Steelers pass rush could be problematic, but their defense overall is very stout. That's how they were able to nearly make the playoffs last year with a Duck at quarterback. While the Texans did give up five sacks, they weren't all due to poor offensive line play. The Texans lost 33 yards on those five sacks. Tytus Howard and Zach Fulton handled themselves fairly well after looking like turnstiles the first two games. O'Brien called longer developing pass plays and play action in spite of this and it paid off with Deshaun Watson and his receivers putting up 264 yards in the air.

There also wasn't an instance of Bumbling Bill this game. At the end of the first half, there was a minute and fourteen seconds left. The Texans were down 17-14 and had all three timeouts with the ball on their 25-yard line. Classic Bumbling Bill situation right? Wrong! Not only was the play-calling on point, but the players executed and the timeout situation was handled perfectly. First timeout was used after getting to midfield with 47 seconds left. Timeout number two was used after a 20 yard gain after the previous play. A 15 yard gain later to the Steeler 14-yard line and timeout number three was used with 28 seconds left. This set up perfectly for them to call a multitude of plays. They only needed one as Watson found Will Fuller in the end zone on a jump ball in which Fuller rose up and was physical enough to grab the ball over the defender. They went up 21-17 at the half.

Bill O'Brien's teams were 37-3 when leading at halftime. I say "were" because they lost this one after not scoring a single point in the second half. This was more on the defense not being able to fight its way out of a wet paper bag, and a lack of execution by the offense. Specifically, the run defense has been atrocious and Watson either needs quicker reads or to stop holding onto the ball so long by making quicker decisions. That's on coaching to put players in positions to succeed, but also the players to execute.

Ultimately, this was on O'Brien the general manager more than O'Brien the coach. This roster is woefully outmatched. The only time an outmatched roster can compete consistently is in college football with a wacky offense. It just doesn't happen in the NFL. Hey, at least Bumbling Bill didn't rear his butt chin today. Today's Culture Map play call menu was brought to you by Pour Behavior. I suggest getting over there and checking out their daily specials.

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