ON THE PITCH
Soccer Recap - Chivas wins Concacaf, Barcelona clinch title ahead of El Clasico
May 2, 2018, 5:59 am
Club Deportivo Guadalajara held off Toronto FC to win the 2018 Concacaf Champions League last Wednesday. Victor Araiza/SportsMap
As the countdown to the 2018 FIFA World Cup continues (now at 44 days), most leagues across the globe are reaching the end of their calendar. The great matches don’t stop, however, as this coming week is packed with blockbusters - including the most heated rivalry in the game as FC Barcelona hosts Real Madrid.
Here is the week that was in soccer:
UEFA Champions League
Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino had their way with the Roma defense as the trio guided Liverpool to a 5-2 first leg win at Anfield in the UCL semi finals. Salah led the way with two spectacular goals against his former club in a performance that increased the conversation for the Egyptian to win the Ballon d'Or. A 5-nil lead had LFC looking like they were all but through to the final before two late goals by Roma brought intrigue for the second leg. Roma need three goals at home - something they've done already in the previous round when they eliminated FC Barcelona.
In the other semifinal, another chapter was written in one of Europe's biggest rivalries. Real Madrid defeated Bayern Munich 2-1 at the Allianz Arena behind goals from Marcelo and 22-year-old Marco Asensio. Cristiano Ronaldo was influential in his teams win even if he did not show up on the scoresheet. The defending champions now head back to Madrid looking to go to the final and conquer their third consecutive European title. Joshua Kimmich got the lone goal for Bayern as the Bavarians hope to complete a comeback at the Bernabeu.
Premier League
West Brom, Stoke City and Southampton are all staring at relegation, although Swansea, Huddersfield and West Ham aren't far behind. West Brom and Southampton slightly helped their case with wins over Newcastle and Bournemouth respectively, while Stoke pulled a point against Liverpool. With only two matches on their schedule - one ahead of the other two - Stoke need to win out to stay in the Premier League.
At the top of the table, Chelsea continue to chase London rivals Tottenham to secure a Champions League spot, though it's hard to make up ground as Spurs continue to win. Liverpool remains in the pole position for the third UCL spot as second place Manchester United has already secured qualification.
Top 5: Manchester City* (93), Manchester United (77), Liverpool (72), Tottenham (71), Chelsea (66)
La Liga
FC Barcelona clinched their 25th La Liga title - their seventh in the past 10 seasons - as they demolished Deportivo La Coruña 4-2 away. Club legend Andres Iniesta announced his departure from the Catalan side would come at the end of the season. He initiated last week with that announcement and began this week with his final championship parade. Barcelona have yet to lose this season and have four matches left - including Sunday’s Clasico against Real Madrid - to finish as the only undefeated side in La Liga history.
Based off the same result, Deportivo were assured relegation to Spain’s second division. Las Palmas and Malaga also clinched relegation after not being able to survive the weekend. At the top of the table, Atletico Madrid and Real have secured themselves a Champions League spot for next season.
Top 5: FC Barcelona* (86), Atletico Madrid (75), Real Madrid (71), Valencia (67), Real Betis (59)
Bundesliga
Bayern Munich continued their winning streak going in a 4-1 win over Eintracht Frankfurt while Schalke 04, Dortmund and Hoffenheim have assured themselves a spot in at least the Europa League next season. Bayer Leverkusen and RB Leipzig both lost, taking hits to their Champions League qualification goals. Cologne lost 3-2 at Freiburg and are the first Bundesliga team to be relegated to the 2. Bundesliga.
Top 5: FC Bayern Munich* (81), Schalke 04 (57), Dortmund (55), Hoffenheim (52), Bayer Leverkusen (51)
Serie A
Last week, Napoli pulled in close to Juventus at the top of the table to make the title race interesting. This week, Napoli may have conceded the league. Juventus took care of their business by picking up three points in a 3-2 win at Inter Milan. Napoli, on their end, could not pull out a result on the road and lost 3-0 at Fiorentina. In the race for Champions League spots, Roma and Lazio both picked up three points to further solidify their positions at three and four. Atalanta and A.C. Milan both won to stay in sixth and seventh for the moment. Bevento drew 3-3 against Udinese but the result matters little for the one team that is already guaranteed to go down to the Serie B next season.
Top 5: Juventus (88), Napoli (84), Roma (70), Lazio (70), Inter Milan (66)
Ligue 1
Memphis Depay scored in Lyon’s 2-0 win over Nantes to pull his team into second place, jumping Monaco after their 0-0 draw with Amiens. The win pulls Lyon closer to a Champions League spot with three matches left to play. Along with Lyon, Monaco and Marseille are assured at least Europa League next season. Saint-Étienne jumped up to fifth with a 1-0 win at Montpellier. No team is officially relegated to Ligue 2 yet but Metz may clinch that harsh reality if they don’t garner a result this coming weekend. Lille and Troyes are also in position to descend but they have a bit more breathing room.
Top 5: Paris Saint-Germain* (91), Lyon (72), Monaco (71), Marseille (70), Saint-Étienne (52)
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Concacaf Champions League
After a 2-1 loss in the first leg at home, Toronto FC needed to bring out their full arsenal if they were to walk out of Guadalajara as winners of the Concacaf Champions League. Orbelin Pineda’s goal in the 18th minute put Chivas up 1-nil before Jozy Altidore would tie things up six minutes later. Sebastian Giovinco, named the player of the tournament, would place TFC in the lead right before halftime to even the score on aggregate. In the second half, missed opportunities cost both sides and - given that the rules don’t allow for extra time - it was straight to a penalty shootout to decide the champion. Missing none of their kicks to Toronto’s two, it was Chivas who would lift their first international title since 1962 and advance to the 2018 FIFA Club World Cup.
Champions: Club Deportivo Guadalajara, 4-2 on penalties (3-3 agg.)
Major League Soccer
The story of the week may be the final game of weekend as new club LAFC debuted at home with a 1-0 win over Seattle Sounders FC. Even for over ninety minutes, the home side got the winner in stoppage time to inaugurate the Banc of California Stadium. David Villa reached 400 career goals as he led New York City to a 3-1 home win over FC Dallas, and back to the top of the MLS standings. Among other notable results, LA Galaxy fell 2-3 at home to the New York Red Bulls. Both NY teams will meet this coming weekend in their first derby of the year.
The Houston Dynamo, meanwhile, could not build on a 5-1 win over a depleted Toronto FC the previous week. Taking on a Minnesota side that was missing at least three key players, Alberth Elis put the Dynamo up 1-0 in the 10th minute. Another of Minnesota’s top players, Christian Ramirez, would leave the game in the 30th minute but the home side would fight back behind the efforts of former Liga MX midfielder Darwin Quintero. The Loons would break a four-game losing skid with a 2-1 win over the Dynamo as Houston would drop points in their third away game this season.
East Top 6: NYCFC (20), Atlanta United (19), Orlando City (16), New England Revolution (14), Columbus Crew SC (14), NY Red Bulls (12)
West Top 6: Sporting KC (17), LAFC (15), Vancouver Whitecaps FC (13), FC Dallas (12), LA Galaxy (10), Real Salt Lake (10)
Liga MX
The playoffs are set for the Clausura 2018 season in Liga MX. Pumas UNAM and Monarcas Morelia assured themselves the last two spots by virtue of their results this weekend. Among the sides that just missed out were Pachuca and Landon Donovan’s Leon, who won 2-0 at Chivas. Cruz Azul won 2-1 at Veracruz but that was hardly a consolation prize for a disappointing season. Monterrey rivals Tigres and Rayados met in a 2-2 derby draw that was a rematch of last season’s final. Mexican legend Rafa Marquez played his final minutes as he ended his club career and awaits to learn if he will be going to the FIFA World Cup with Mexico at the age of 39. Lobos BUAP was the side that gets “relegated” but that is yet to be seen as neither of the second division champions meet Liga MX’s requirements to be a first division team, leaving uncertainty for the number of teams that will participate in the top-flight next season.
Top 8: Toluca (36), Club America (29), Monterrey (29), Santos Laguna (29), Tigres UANL (28), Tijuana (25), Pumas (24), Monarcas Morelia (24)
Playoff matchups: (1) Toluca vs. (8) Monarcas, (2) Club America vs. (7) Pumas UNAM, (3) Monterrey vs. (6) Tijuana, (4) Santos Laguna vs. (5) Tigres UANL
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National Women’s Soccer League
The Houston Dash fell 2-0 to North Carolina Courage at BBVA Compass Stadium in the Lifetime Game of the Week. The home side simply could not contain the best team of the league - and the only undefeated team left - as Kealia Ohai made her home debut this season. The Dash are now on a five-game winless streak to start the season in what is becoming a harsh test for first-year Manager Vera Pauw. Earlier in the week, it was revealed that Pauw’s assistant and former Boston Breakers Head Coach Lisa Cole had parted ways with the team a few weeks back. It appears former Dynamo Brian Ching is an assistant, at least for the moment.
Top 4: North Carolina Courage (16), Chicago Red Stars (9), Portland Thorns (8), Seattle Reign (7)
Upcoming matches (All Times CT):
Tuesday, May 1:
1:45 p.m. - [UEFA Champions League] Real Madrid vs. Bayern Munich (FS1/FOX Deportes)
Wednesday, May 2:
1:45 p.m. - [UEFA Champions League] Roma vs. Liverpool (FS1/ESPN Deportes)
7:30 p.m. - [Liga MX Playoffs] Pumas vs. Club America (Univision Deportes)
9:30 p.m. - [Liga MX Playoffs] Tijuana vs. Monterrey (Univision Deportes)
Thursday, May 3:
2:05 p.m. - [UEFA Europa League] Atletico Madrid vs. Arsenal (FS1/ESPN Deportes)
2:05 p.m. - [UEFA Europa League] Salzburg vs. Marseille (FS2)
7:30 p.m. - [Liga MX Playoffs] Tigres UANL vs. Santos Laguna (Univision Deportes)
9:30 p.m. - [Liga MX Playoffs] Monarcas Morelia vs. Toluca (Univision Deportes)
Friday, May 4:
2 p.m. - [Premier League] Brighton vs. Manchester United (NBC Sports)
Saturday, May 5:
6:30 a.m. - [Premier League] Stoke City vs. Crystal Palace (NBC Sports)
9 a.m. - [Premier League] Bournemouth vs. Swansea (NBC Sports)
9 a.m. - [Premier League] West Brom vs. Tottenham (CNBC)
11:30 a.m. - [Premier League] Everton vs. Southampton (NBC)
12:55 p.m. - [MLS] New York Red Bulls vs. New York City FC (ESPN).
3 p.m. - [MLS] LAFC vs. FC Dallas (Univision/Twitter)
6 p.m. - [NWSL] Sky Blue FC vs. Houston Dash (go90/NWSLsoccer.com)
7 p.m. - [Liga MX Playoffs] Club America vs. Pumas (Univision Deportes)
7:30 p.m. - [MLS] Houston Dynamo vs. LA Galaxy (KUBE 57)
9 p.m. - [Liga MX Playoffs] Monterrey vs. Tijuana (Univision Deportes)
Sunday, May 6:
7:30 a.m. - [Premier League] Manchester City vs. Huddersfield (NBC Sports)
10:30 a.m. - [Premier League] Chelsea vs. Liverpool (NBC Sports)
10:30 a.m. - [Premier League] Arsenal vs. Burnley (CNBC)
1:45 p.m. - [La Liga] FC Barcelona vs. Real Madrid (beIN Sports)
12 p.m. - [Liga MX Playoffs] Toluca vs. Monarcas Morelia (Univision Deportes)
6 p.m. - [Liga MX Playoffs] Santos Laguna vs. Tigres UANL (Univision Deportes)
With overnight temperatures dipping into the 20s this week in Houston, it seems good timing to have the warm thoughts of baseball being back, at least spring training games. The Astros have more shakiness about their squad than they have had in nearly a decade, but the Astros still have a nucleus of an American League West contender. With the exits of Kyle Tucker and Alex Bregman, it’s just a notably different nucleus than in recent years.
Jose Altuve is the last remaining mainstay of the greatest era in Astros’ history, and he is one of the biggest stories of their preseason as he for the time being at least is left fielder Jose Altuve. By every indication he is embracing the challenge with class and energy. The obvious impetus for test driving the move is the soon-to-be 35 years old Altuve’s defensive deterioration. It can be tough for the player himself to notice that his range has declined. The voiding of defensive shifts after the 2022 season shined a brighter light on Altuve’s D decline. Still, last season Altuve made his ninth All-Star team and despite also displaying some offensive decline remained the clearly best offensive second baseman in the American League. It’s part of the tradeoff of reducing the defensive workload on Yordan Alvarez, and hoping to upgrade defensively at second with some combo of Mauricio Dubon, Brendan Rodgers, or other.
The natural comparison in Astros’ history of a franchise icon losing his defensive spot and making a late-career position change is to Craig Biggio. Biggio’s All-Star days were behind him when the Astros moved him from second base to center field for the 2003 season because of the signing of free agent Jeff Kent. It spoke to the athlete Biggio was that at 37 years old he could make the move at all. After not quite a season and a half in center, Biggio moved to left when the Astros traded for young stud center fielder Carlos Beltran. Both Kent and Beltran left in free agency after the 2004 season, and Biggio moved back to second for the final three seasons of his career.
Second basemen are often second basemen and not shortstops in part because of their throwing arms. Altuve’s throwing arm will be an issue in left field. Even though Daikin Park has the smallest square footage of fair territory in Major League Baseball because of its left to left-center field dimensions, Altuve’s arm will be a liability. In understandably wanting to put an optimistic spin on things, manager Joe Espada and general manager Dana Brown have talked of how Altuve will be able to get momentum behind throws more so than when playing second. That’s true when camping under a fly ball in the outfield. That is not true when Altuve will have to cut off balls hit toward the left field line, or cutting across into the left-center field gap. There will be balls that would be singles when hit to other left fielders that will become doubles when Altuve has to play them, and baserunners will go from first to third and second to home much more readily. As an infielder Altuve has always been outstanding at running down pop-ups, so there is reason to believe he’ll be solid tracking fly balls in the outfield. However, the reality of a guy who is five feet six inches tall (in spikes) is that there will be the occasional fly ball or line drive that is beyond his grasp that more “normal” sized outfielders would grab. Try to name a good outfielder who stood shorter than five-foot-nine...
Here’s one: Hall of Famer Tim Raines (also originally a second baseman) was (and presumably still is!) five-foot-eight.
Here's another: Hall of Famer Hack Wilson was five-six. Four times he led the National League in home runs topped by a whopping 56 in 1930 when he set the still standing record of 191 runs batted in for a single season.
And another: Hall of Famer five-foot-four “Wee” Willie Keeler. Who last played in 1910.
Just a bit outside
Another element new to the Grapefruit League in Florida (and Cactus League in Arizona) this year is the limited use of what Major League Baseball is calling the Automated Ball Strike System. The ABS is likely coming to regular season games next year. This spring will be our first look at its use in big league games. Home plate umpires making ball and strike calls will not be going the way of the dinosaur. Challenges can be made until a team is wrong twice. Significantly, only the batter, pitcher, or catcher can challenge and must do so within two seconds of the pitch being caught. No dugout input allowed. No time to watch a replay.
The Astros’ spring park in West Palm Beach is not among the 13 facilities set up with ABS cameras. That seems silly given that the Astros share the place with the Washington Nationals. More use would be gotten from, and more data collected there than will be from a park with half the spring games played in it.
The countdown to Opening Day is on. Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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