ON THE PITCH
Soccer Recap - Dynamo fall to Vancouver Whitecaps; Atlanta draws 72,035 to set MLS record
Mar 13, 2018, 1:17 pm
The Houston Dynamo lost their second match of the season, a 2-1 loss to Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Victor Araiza/SportsMap
If you love the world’s game, there is plenty to talk about these days. Every major league in the world is in full swing, international competition is nearing its peak and motors rev up as the countdown to the 2018 FIFA World Cup continues.
Here are the top stories in soccer:
UEFA Champions League
Real Madrid is finding themselves in great form again. With the injury to Neymar, Real was too much for Paris Saint-Germain to overcome as PSG lost 2-1 at home to Los Blancos and exit the Champions League. Tottenham fans also had their hearts broken as they saw their team exit at home to a 2-1 loss of their own at the hands of another traditional power - Juventus.
In the other two matches this week, Liverpool drew nil-nil at home with Porto while Manchester City was beaten at home, 2-1 by FC Basel. These results mattered little as both had dominant victories in the first match of their series, making the second leg games a formality. Four more spots await to be filled this week as the Champions League narrows down to the elite eight.
UEFA Europa League
Round of 16 action in the Europa League kicked off with wins from Atletico Madrid (3-0 over Lokomotiv Moscow), Red Bull Salzburg (2-1 over Dortmund), Arsenal (2-0 over A.C. Milan), Lyon (1-0 at CSKA Moscow), RB Leipzig (2-1 vs. Zenit), Sporting CP (2-0 over Plzeň) and Marseille (3-1 over Bilbao). The only draw of the week came in Lazio’s 2-2 home match vs. Dynamo Kyiv.
Premier League
Marcus Rashford scored two first half goals to lead Manchester United to a 2-1 win over historic rival Liverpool - the only goal against being an own goal. Juan Mata almost scored the goal of the weekend with a bicycle kick that was just wide. Newcastle picked up a 3-0 win over Southampton at St. James’ Park in a match where U.S. defender DeAndre Yedlin featured for the full match. Everton, Leicester City and Burnley also picked up three points as did a trio of London clubs in Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham. On Monday, Manchester City inched closer to the title in a 2-0 win at Stoke.
Top 5: Manchester City (81), Manchester United (65), Tottenham (61), Liverpool (60), Chelsea (56)
La Liga
Promoted side Girona continues to win - now up to seventh in the table - as they picked up a 2-0 win over Deportivo. Real Madrid won away at Eibar, Valencia did the same at Sevilla. Levante, Barcelona, Villareal and Betis all picked up away wins as well. Espanyol, Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao were the only sides beside Girona to get home wins. Las Palmas (20), Deportivo (19) and Malaga (13) are the three sides staring at relegation.
Top 5: FC Barcelona (72), Atletico Madrid (64), Real Madrid (57), Valencia (56), Sevilla (45)
Bundesliga
League leaders FC Bayern continue with another dominant win, this time a 6-0 victory over Hamburg. FCB’s featured a Lewandowski hat-trick and a Franck Ribery double. Meanwhile, it was not a good weekend for RB Leipzig, who continue to fall out of the top five as they tied nil-nil at Stuttgart. Dortmund picked up a 3-2 over Frankfurt win in front of their home fans as Christian Pulisic played the entire match. Schalke 04, Bayer Leverkusen, Werder Bremen, Hoffenheim and Augsburg also got wins.
Top 5: FC Bayern Munich (66), Schalke 04 (46), Dortmund (45), Bayer Leverkusen (44), Eintracht Frankfurt (42)
Serie A
The Serie A resumed after being postponed last week due to the death of Fiorentina captain Davide Astori. Tributes were seen across Italy but especially in Florence where the club dedicated their 1-0 win over Benevento to their former captain. Roma, Hellas Verona, Juventus, Atalanta, Crotone, and A.C. Milan all picked up three points. Inter Milan and Napoli was among the biggest name matches of the weekend but it delivered a scoreless draw.
Top 5: Juventus (71), Napoli (70), Roma (56), Lazio (53), Inter Milan (52)
Ligue 1
PSG returned to league dominance with a 5-nil win over Metz. Of course they lead the league by 14 points and it’s only of matter of time before they make it official. As for the rest of the Champions League spots, Monaco continues to lead in second place with a 3-1 away win. Nantes won over Troyes and is back in the top five. Seventh-place Nice picked up a 5-2 win at Guingamp ahead of next week’s encounter with PSG. Alassane Pléa stood out in that match, scoring four goals for Nice.
Top 5: Paris Saint-Germain (77), Monaco (63), Marseille (59), Lyon (54), Nantes (43)
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CONCACAF Champions League
There are three MLS vs. Liga MX series in the quarterfinals of the Champions League and all of them provided great drama. New York Red Bulls went into Tijuana and won 2-0 over Xolos - the largest margin of victory by a U.S. team on Mexican soil - to set themselves up well for the return leg at home. Toronto FC defeated Tigres 2-1 in Canada in match between the two current champions of MLS and Liga MX, respectively. Seattle Sounders FC defeated Guadalajara 1-0 at CenturyLink Field. Club America comfortably won 4-0 over Panama’s Tauro.
The second legs take place Tuesday and Wednesday. Away goals are the primary tiebreaker with extra time and penalty shootout as the next options.
Major League Soccer
Week two in MLS had plenty of surprises including the second consecutive road win of expansion side LAFC, winning 5-1 at Real Salt Lake. Columbus and New England got gritty last minute wins at home, one off a penalty and the other off a free kick. Red Bulls continued their impressive form in Champions League with a 4-0 beatdown of Portland Timbers while everyone else won on the road on Saturday.
The winning road teams included the already mentioned LAFC, Sporting KC (in a 4-3 thrilling win at Chicago), Vancouver (picking up their first ever win in Houston) and Minnesota (where former Orlando coach Adrian Heath got a win over his former club).
Atlanta, meanwhile, opened at home in front of a full house of 72,035 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. In doing so they have now surpassed the single-match MLS attendance record, again. On the field they put on a show with three astonishing goals from star players Josef Martinez, Miguel Almiron and Hector Villalba.
East Top 6: Columbus Crew SC (6), NYCFC (6), NY Red Bulls (3), Philadelphia Union (3), New England Revolution (3), Atlanta United (3)
West Top 6: LAFC (6), Vancouver Whitecaps FC (6), Houston Dynamo (3), San Jose Earthquakes (3), Minnesota United (3), LA Galaxy (3)
Liga MX
South of the border, Santos Laguna continues to lead the standings in Mexico. Los Guerreros remain there with a 3-2 win over Monterrey. Cruz Azul picked up a 5-0 win against Pachuca, Club America defeated Club Leon 2-0 at home and Tigres defeated Xolos 1-0 in a battle of Champions League clubs. Toluca and Guadalajara both picked up 1-0 wins on the road, Monarcas won 2-0 over Veracruz while Queretaro and Queretaro split points. Atlas won 1-0 over Puebla but remain last in the standings.
Top 5: Santos Laguna (23), Club America (21), Toluca (21), Tigres (21), Monarcas (19)
MLS-Liga MX partnership
Revealed Tuesday, the top two leagues in North America have joined forces to provide some interesting matches. Beginning in September, the two league champions will face off in the “Campeones Cup.” Just as much of a spectacle, an MLS-Liga MX All-Star match is finally in the works with that format available as early as this year.
Upcoming matches (All Times CT):
Tuesday, Mar. 13:
2:45 p.m. - [UEFA Champions League] Manchester United vs. Sevilla (FS1/ESPN Deportes)
2:45 p.m. - [UEFA Champions League] Roma vs. Shakhtar Donetsk (Facebook LIVE)
7 p.m. - [CONCACAF Champions League] Tijuana vs. New York Red Bulls (go90/Univision Deportes)
9 p.m. - [CONCACAF Champions League] Toronto FC vs. Tigres UANL (go90/Univision Deportes)
Wednesday, Mar. 14:
2:45 p.m. - [UEFA Champions League] FC Barcelona vs. Chelsea (FS1/ESPN Deportes)
2:45 p.m. - [UEFA Champions League] Besiktas vs. Bayern Munich (FS2)
7 p.m. - [CONCACAF Champions League] Tauro FC vs. Club America (go90/Univision Deportes)
9 p.m. - [CONCACAF Champions League] Seattle Sounders FC vs. Guadalajara (go90/Univision Deportes)
Thursday, Mar. 15:
11 a.m. - [Europa League] Lokomotiv Moscow vs. Atletico Madrid (FS2/ESPN Deportes)
1 p.m. - [Europa League] Zenit vs. RB Leipzig (FS1)
1 p.m. - [Europa League] Bilbao vs. Marseille (ESPN Deportes)
3 p.m. - [Europa League] Arsenal vs. A.C. Milan (FS1/ESPN Deportes)
3 p.m. - [Europa League] Salzburg vs. Dortmund (FS2)
Friday, Mar. 16:
2:30 p.m. - [Bundesliga] Freiburg vs. Stuttgart (FS2)
2:45 p.m. - [Ligue 1] Monaco vs. Lille (beIN Sports)
Saturday, Mar. 17:
7:15 a.m. - [FA Cup] Swansea vs. Tottenham (FS1)
9:30 a.m. - [Bundesliga] Frankfurt vs. Mainz (FS2)
12:30 p.m. - [MLS] D.C. United vs. Houston Dynamo (KUBE 57)
2:45 p.m. - [FA Cup] Manchester United vs. Brighton (FS2)
2:30 p.m. - [MLS] NYCFC vs. Orlando City (Univision)
Sunday, Mar. 18:
7 a.m. - [Ligue 1] Nice vs. Paris-Saint Germain (beIN Sports)
8:30 a.m. - [FA Cup] Wigan vs. Southampton (FS2)
10:15 a.m. - [La Liga] FC Barcelona vs. Bilbao (beIN SPORTS)
11:30 a.m. - [FA Cup] Leicester City vs. Chelsea (FS2)
2:45 p.m. - [La Liga] Real Madrid vs. Girona (beIN SPORTS)
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After finishing up with the Guardians the Astros have a rather important series for early May with the Seattle Mariners heading to town for the weekend. While it’s still too early to be an absolute must-win series for the Astros, losing the series to drop seven or nine games off the division lead would make successfully defending their American League West title that much more unlikely.
Since their own stumble out of the gate to a 6-10 record the Mariners have been racking up series wins, including one this week over the Atlanta Braves. The M’s offense is largely Mmm Mmm Bad, but their pitching is sensational. In 18 games after a 4-8 start, the Mariners gave up five runs in a game once. In the other 17 games they only gave up four runs once. Over the 18 games their starting pitchers gave up 18 earned runs total with a 1.44 earned run average. That’s absurd. Coming into the season Seattle’s starting rotation was clearly better on paper than those of the Astros and Texas Rangers, and it has crystal clearly played out as such into the second month of the schedule.
While it’s natural to focus on and fret over one’s own team's woes when they are plentiful as they have been for the Astros, a reminder that not all grass is greener elsewhere. Alex Bregman has been awful so far. So has young Mariners’ superstar Julio Rodriguez (though not Breggy Bad). A meager four extra base hits over his first 30 games were all Julio produced down at the ballyard. That the Mariners are well ahead of the Astros with J-Rod significantly underperforming is good news for Seattle.
Caratini comes through!
So it turns out the Astros are allowed to have a Puerto Rican-born catcher who can hit a little bit. Victor Caratini’s pedigree is not that of a quality offensive player, but he has swung the bat well thus far in his limited playing time and provided the most exciting moment of the Astros’ season with his two-out two-run 10th inning game winning home run Tuesday night. I grant that one could certainly say “Hey! Ronel Blanco finishing off his no-hitter has been the most exciting moment.” I opt for the suddenness of Caratini’s blow turning near defeat into instant victory for a team that has been lousy overall to this point. Frittering away a game the Astros had led 8-3 would have been another blow. Instead, to the Victor belong the spoils.
Pudge Rodriguez is the greatest native Puerto Rican catcher, but he was no longer a good hitter when with the Astros for the majority of the 2009 season. Then there’s Martin Maldonado.
Maldonado’s hitting stats with the Astros look Mike Piazza-ian compared to what Jose Abreu was doing this season. Finally, mercifully for all, Abreu is off the roster as he accepts a stint at rookie-level ball in Florida to see if he can perform baseball-CPR on his swing and career. Until or unless he proves otherwise, Abreu is washed up and at some point the Astros will have to accept it and swallow whatever is left on his contract that runs through next season. For now Abreu makes over $120,000 per game to not be on the roster. At his level of performance, that’s a better deal than paying him that money to be on the roster.
Abreu’s seven hits in 71 at bats for an .099 batting average with a .269 OPS is a humiliating stat line. In 2018 George Springer went to sleep the night of June 13 batting .293 after going hitless in his last four at bats in a 13-5 Astros’ win over Oakland. At the time no one could have ever envisioned that Springer had started a deep, deep funk which would have him endure a nightmarish six for 78 stretch at the plate (.077 batting average). Springer then hit .293 the rest of the season.
Abreu’s exile opened the door for Joey Loperfido to begin his Major League career. Very cool for Loperfido to smack a two-run single in his first game. He also struck out twice. Loperfido will amass whiffs by the bushel, he had 37 strikeouts in 101 at bats at AAA Sugar Land. Still, if he can hit .225 with some walks mixed in (he drew 16 with the Space Cowboys) and deliver some of his obvious power (13 homers in 25 games for the ex-Skeeters) that’s an upgrade over Abreu/Jon Singleton, as well as over Jake Meyers and the awful showing Chas McCormick has posted so far. Frankly, it seems unwise that the Astros only had Loperfido play seven games at first base in the minors this year. If McCormick doesn’t pick it up soon and with Meyers displaying limited offensive upside, the next guy worth a call-up is outfielder Pedro Leon. In January 2021 the Astros gave Leon four million dollars to sign out of Cuba and called him a “rapid mover to the Major Leagues.” Well…
Over his first three minor league seasons Leon flashed tools but definitely underwhelmed. He has been substantially better so far this year. He turns 26 May 28. Just maybe the Astros offense could be the cause of fewer Ls with Loperfido at first and Leon in center field.
Catch our weekly Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast. Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and I discuss varied Astros topics. The first post for the week generally goes up Monday afternoon (second part released Tuesday) via YouTube: stone cold stros - YouTube with the complete audio available via Apple Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.