On the pitch
Soccer weekly recap: Cristiano Ronaldo named “The Best,” Dynamo secure home field for playoffs opener
Oct 24, 2017, 2:00 am
The Dynamo are back in the playoffs and will have a home game. Houston Dynamo
European competition takes a break this week as FIFA celebrated “The BEST” in London after an action-packed weekend. Here are the takeaways from the week in soccer:
The Best FIFA Football Awards 2017
The second edition of FIFA’s “The Best” award ceremony took place this past Monday in London. Cristiano Ronaldo was named the best male player for the second year in a row over Lionel Messi. Here is the complete list of winners:
Men’s Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
Women’s Player: Lieke Martens
Men’s Coach: Zinedine Zidane
Women’s Coach: Sarina Wiegman
Goalkeeper: Gianluigi Buffon
Puskás Award: Olivier Giroud
Fan Award: Celtic supporters
Fair Play Award: Francis Kone
World11: Gianluigi Buffon; Dani Alves, Leonardo Bonucci, Sergio Ramos, Marcelo; Toni Kroos, Andres Iniesta, Luka Modric; Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar.
UEFA Champions League
The group stage reached the halfway point in Europe’s premier club competition. The biggest takeaway is that, for the moment, all five English teams lead their groups. Harry Kane forced an own goal and Cristiano Ronaldo tied things up in Tottenham’s 1-1 draw at Real Madrid. Manchester City scored two goals in the first 13 minutes to win 2-1 at home against Napoli, at the time the only perfect team out of one of Europe’s top league’s.
Wednesday’s matchups featured wins by Barcelona, Juventus, Manchester United and Paris while Chelsea and Roma played to a thrilling 3-3 draw at Stamford Bridge. Atletico Madrid made life difficult on themselves by tying 0-0 at Azerbaijan champion Qarabag.
UEFA Europa League
In Europa’s secondary competition, the scores that stand out are wins by Marseille, Zenit, Red Bull Salzburg, Real Sociedad, Lazio and Hoffenheim. Arsenal collected three points in Serbia against Red Star Belgrade on an 85th minute wonder goal by Olivier Giroud to extend their comfortable lead in the group. AC Milan still lead their group despite a 0-0 draw at home against AEK Athens. Everton remains in the bottom of their group, with only one point, after a 2-1 loss at French club Lyon.
Premier League
Chelsea, Manchester City and Newcastle all took care of business by collecting three points. Manchester United, however, were upset 2-1 at newly-promoted Huddersfield Town, managed by former United States national team forward David Wagner. After firing their manager Craig Shakespeare, Leicester City bounced back with a 2-1 win at Swansea. Everton’s downward spiral continued with a 5-2 loss at home against Arsenal and Tottenham demolished Liverpool 4-1 at Wembley.
Top 5: Manchester City (25), Manchester United (20), Tottenham (20), Chelsea (16), Arsenal (16)
La Liga
Everything was business as usual in Spain this weekend as Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico collected three points. Real Betis, Valencia and Villarreal also picked up three themselves as did Leganes over Athletic Bilbao.
These results lead to the top 5 to look like this: Barcelona (25), Valencia (21), Real Madrid (20), Atletico Madrid (19) and Leganes (17).
Bundesliga
In Germany, things are getting interesting at the top as Dortmund dropped points by drawing 2-2 at Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayern Munich earned a 1-0 win at Hamburg. Leipzig and Schalke also earned wins as Hoffenheim drew at Wolfsburg.
The top 5 in Germany: Dortmund (20), Bayern Munich (20), RB Leipzig (19), Hoffenheim (16), Schalke 04 (16).
Ligue 1
PSG remain at the top of the table but not without some drama as Neymar was ejected from his first match in Ligue 1 in the 2-2 draw at Marseille. Monaco got right with a 2-0 win over Caen and Lyon got a 5-0 win at Troyes.
The top 5 in France: Paris Saint-Germain (26), Monaco (22), Nantes (20), Lyon (19), Marseille (18)
Serie A
The weekend in Italy began on Friday with a matchup of the two top teams in the standings. Napoli hosted Inter Milan to a 0-0 draw at home, a result that ends their perfect run to start the season. Roma got a 1-0 win at Torino, Juventus demolished Udinese 6-2 on the road and AC Milan continued their winless form with a 0-0 draw vs. Genoa.
The top 5: Napoli (25), Inter Milan (23), Juventus (22), Lazio (22), Roma (18)
Major League Soccer
Decision Day, what has become an annual tradition in MLS, took place as all 22 teams took place in 11 simultaneous matches. One playoff berth was on the line and playoff positioning was at stake. The Houston Dynamo were big winners, 3-0 over Chicago Fire, as a Sporting Kansas City loss allowed them to move up to 4th place and will now host SKC in the one-off playoff match Thursday. The biggest loser was FC Dallas, who’s last minute effort at the playoffs was done in by San Jose’s stoppage time goal against Minnesota. By the way, expansion side Atlanta United broke their own record by once again setting an MLS record in attendance as 71,874 packed the Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday.
The MLS Cup Playoffs begin Wednesday and Thursday, with the winners advancing to take on the top two teams in each conference.
Knockout matches: Chicago vs. NY Red Bulls, Vancouver vs. San Jose, Atlanta vs. Columbus, Houston vs. Kansas City (TV listings below)
First round byes: Toronto FC, New York City FC, Portland Timbers, Seattle Sounders FC
MVP of the Week - Sebastian Giovinco
The “Atomic Ant,” dubbed that because of his 5’4 stature, continues to dazzle Major League Soccer as he rose to the occasion once again in front of the 71,874 record-breaking crowd in Atlanta. The former Juventus midfielder played the villain as his top-seeded Toronto, having nothing to play for as they are assured home-field throughout the playoffs, helped deny Atlanta a higher seed with a 2-2 draw. Altidore scored tied the match, 1-1, in the 60th minute and, after a fan threw a beer at Altidore, Giovinco picks up the cup and drinks the beer to celebrate. In the 84th minute, he drew the match 2-2 with one of his trademark free kicks. He is a big reason why Toronto where far and away the best club in the regular season and may be the reason they are favored to win it all.
Upcoming Matches (All Times CT):
Wednesday, Oct. 25:
7:30 p.m. - Chicago Fire vs. New York Red Bulls (FS1)
9:30 p.m. - Vancouver Whitecaps vs. San Jose Earthquakes (UniMás [ENG via SAP])
Thursday, Oct. 26:
6:00 p.m. - Atlanta United vs. Columbus Crew (ESPN2)
8:30 p.m. - Houston Dynamo vs. Sporting Kansas City (KUBE 57/UniMás [ENG via SAP])
Saturday, Oct. 28:
6:30 a.m. - Manchester United vs. Tottenham (NBC Sports)
8:30 a.m. - Hannover 96 vs. Dortmund (FOX Sports)
9:00 a.m. - Liverpool vs. Huddersfield (NBC Sports)
9:00 a.m. - West Brom vs. Manchester City (NBC Sports)
11:30 a.m. - Bournemouth vs. Chelsea (NBC Sports)
11:30 a.m. - Atletico Madrid vs. Villarreal (BeIN Sports)
11:30 a.m. - Bayern Munich vs. RB Leipzig (FOX Sports)
1:45 p.m. - Athletic Bilbao vs. FC Barcelona (BeIN Sports)
Sunday, Oct. 29:
10:15 a.m. - Girona vs. Real Madrid (BeIN Sports)
11:00 a.m. - Leicester City vs. Everton (NBC Sports)
Monday, Oct. 30:
3:00 p.m. - Burnley vs. Newcastle (NBC Sports)
How 3 major x-factors could tip the scales in Texans-Colts: Week 1
Sep 5, 2024, 7:27 pm
Each football game of a season carries much more weight than one game in a 162 Major League Baseball schedule. That reality, combined with the National Football League campaign opening and with it the most anticipated season in Texans’ history, the Astros are relegated to second banana this weekend. Just the way it goes despite the Astros’ phenomenal extended run from 10 games out of first place in mid-June to now having control of the American League West race and a likely (though definitely not yet certain) eighth consecutive year of postseason play.
It is reality that getting swept out of Cincinnati cost the Astros two games in the standings to Seattle the last two days and trimmed their division lead to four and a half games going into this weekend. There was nothing shameful about getting swept. It’s not as if they choked. They got outplayed and beaten in all three games. Stuff happens within a 162-game season. The 2019 Astros were vastly better than the 2024 Astros. The 2019 ‘Stros posted the best record in franchise history at 107-55. In Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole they had the two best pitchers in the AL. The Reds finished 75-87 in ’19. In the lone Astros-Reds series five years ago, Verlander and Cole started two of the three games. The Reds swept the Astros out of Cincy by scores of 3-2, 4-3, and 3-2. Stuff happens. The following week the Astros called up Yordan Alvarez. There is no Yordan coming to fortify the offense now, but wait! Is that Kyle Tucker's music?
The Astros host the NL champs this weekend
It’s highly unlikely but it’s still a possible World Series preview at Minute Maid Park this weekend with the Astros home for three games versus the Arizona Diamondbacks. The reigning National League Champions woke up under .500 July 11, but since then have been sizzling with 33 wins against just 15 losses. Over the same time frame the Astros are 27-21. The Diamondbacks by a large margin have scored the most runs in MLB this season, and that’s while playing the last nearly three weeks without Ketel Marte because of a high ankle sprain. Marte has been far and away the best second baseman in the game this year. He may return this weekend in a designated hitter role. The Arizona offense overall has been sensational, however it has vulnerability against left-handed pitching, in significant part because it typically takes lefty-hitting platoon beast Joc Pederson out of the lineup. The D’Backs are 55-35 in games facing right-handed starters, just 24-27 in games started by opposing southpaws. The Astros have lefties Framber Valdez and Yusei Kikuchi set to go in the first two games this weekend. While the Astros deal with the Diamondbacks the Mariners are in St. Louis for three against the Cardinals.
Eleven Diamondbacks have had at least 200 plate appearances this season. Only one of them has an OPS below .725. The Astros also have 11 guys with at least 200 PAs. Five of them lug around sub-.715 OPSes: Jeremy Pena (.714), Jake Meyers (.664), Mauricio Dubon (.645), Jon Singleton (.697), and Chas McCormick (.566).
Maximizing Tucker's return
Speaking of returns, Tucker fiiiiiiinally should see action for the first time since his June 3 bone bruise. Oh wait, broken leg. Shame on the Astros for their BSing over this and other injuries. Yeah, Alex Bregman slept funny. Whatever. To boost the lineup Tucker doesn’t have to be the .979 OPS MVP candidate he was when felled. Ben Gamel has done some good work, but over time he’s Ben Gamel. Same for Jason Heyward. If Tucker's legs are under him his power is a B-12 shot and only Yordan is in his league in on-base percentage. Joe Espada has decisions to make as to how slot the batting order. Against a right-handed starter Jose Altuve, Tucker, Alvarez, Yainer Diaz, Bregman one through five makes sense with Tucker dropping down below Yainer against a left-handed starter. No question those are the top five in some order. How much of a workload Tucker is ready for bears watching. Presumably he doesn’t initially play the outfield day in day out. When Tucker DHs obviously Bregman (and Yordan) can’t so Alex’s ailing elbow holding up is key. One might say hopefully the bone chips don’t fall where they may. Tuesday the Astros start a stretch playing 16 days in a row.
Keep hope alive!
If you’re an Astros fan holding out hope of chasing down the second seed to avoid having to play the best-of-three Wild Card series, say it with me, whatever nausea it may induce: “Go Dodgers Go!” Hurt as it might, business is business. The Dodgers play host to the Guardians. The Astros trail Cleveland by five games with just 22 to play, but do finish the regular season with three games at Cleveland. It's pretty much over for the Astros to catch both the Orioles and Yankees.
Season-long trends mean nothing once the playoffs start, and that’s a good thing for the Astros provided they are in the playoffs. They continue to flat out stink in close games. Thursday’s 1-0 loss to the Reds has the Astros record in one-run games at 15-24. In two-run games they are 10-14. Correlatively, the Astros also continue to routinely fail late in close games. The Astros have played 14 games that were tied after seven innings. They have lost 11 of the 14. In games tied after eight innings they are 7-13. Every team loses an extremely high percentage of games when trailing after eight innings, but the Astros haven’t pulled out a single game they’ve trailed going to the ninth. 0-50. Oh and fifty. But hey, the White Sox are 0-92!
*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 The SportsMap HOU YouTube channel or listen to episodes in their entirety at Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.