THE SOCCER REPORT

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

Victor Araiza
Mar 9, 2020, 8:07 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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THE SOCCER REPORT

Soccer suspended worldwide by Coronavirus

The newly renamed BBVA Stadium. Photo courtesy of BBVA

In the span of a week, "the world's game" went from business as usual, while keeping a close eye on the Coronavirus situation, to most leagues stopping play altogether. The powers that be now look to solutions for some of the world's top competitions like the UEFA Champions League and the Premier League.

UPDATE: Both the UEFA EURO (European Championship) and CONMEBOL Copa America (South American Championship), the two most renowned international tournaments after the FIFA World Cup, announced the postponement of their 2020 editions on Tuesday. Both tournaments will now be played in the Summer of 2021.


Concacaf (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) also annnounced the suspension of it's international competitons, most importantly the Men's Olympic Qualifying tournament in late March. No announcement has been made yet as to what the fate will be for the Concacaf Nations League, the semifinals of which are scheduled to take place this June in Houston.

Here is the updates on the status of club football:

UEFA Champions League / Europa League

The UEFA Champions League and Europa League are suspended for the moment after due in big part to the inability of Italian teams to take part in the Round of 16 stage of either tournament. Some matches had already taken place with no spectators but the implementation of a nationwide quarantine in Italy and, subsequently, Spain have complicated the tournament to continue.

Update: UEFA hosted a videoconference with Presidents and General Secretaries of the 55 national associations, representatives of the European Club Association, European Leagues and FIFPro Europe on Tuesday to discuss the rest of the season.

The decision to postpone EURO 2020, and the colaboration for Copa America to do the same, was made to clear the schedule during the summer for club competitions. Now it's a wait and see but there is optimism to resume play as early as April and finish in late June or July.

CONMEBOL Libertadores / Copa Sudamericana

South America's club championships are on hold for the time being and will also benefit from the Copa America suspension to have a clear schedule this summer.

English Premier League

The Premier League went from expecting to play the weekend schedule to doing a 180 and announcing the suspension of the league after the news broke of Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta testing positive for Coronavirus.

Spain's La Liga

German Bundesliga

Italian Serie A

French Ligue 1

Ligue 1 has set April 15th as a target date for the best case scenario to comeback from the Coronavirus hiatus. The date takes into account two weeks of training before the league resumes.

Major League Soccer

National Women's Soccer League

Liga MX / Ascenso MX/ MX Femenil

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