ON THE PITCH
Soccer weekly recap: Italy bows out of FIFA World Cup
Nov 14, 2017, 10:19 am
The Dynamo returned to the pitch to prepare for the Western Conference finals. Victor Araiza
International soccer was the focal point of the weekend with the World Cup picture becoming complete. Only three spots remain to be filled and those teams will be known within the next 24 hours.
FIFA World Cup Qualifying
Senegal, Morocco and Tunisia have secured the final three spots left from the African confederation by virtue of winning their respective groups. Morocco returns for the first time since 1998, Senegal since 2002 and Tunisia since the 2006 World Cup. The results also eliminates a regular like Ivory Coast, who was looking to make a fourth consecutive World Cup.
In Europe, Switzerland, Croatia and Sweden have gone on to secure their spot via a playoff series. Switzerland carried over a 1-0 score from the first leg to eliminate Northern Ireland and Croatia also advanced via their first leg win, 4-1 over Greece. The big shock in Europe - at least in terms of historical powers - was the elimination of four-time champion Italy, who will miss their first FIFA World Cup since 1958. The Azzurri could not overturn the 1-0 defeat at Sweden in the first leg and join the list of countries that will miss out next summer, including the Netherlands and the United States.
Both of the interconfederation playoffs ended in nil-nil draws in the first leg and will have everything to play for on Wednesday. Houston Dynamo players Alberth Elis, Romell Quioto and Boniek Garcia will look to qualify Honduras to their third-consecutive World Cup with a win or a draw with goals in Australia while the Socceroos need a win to advance. New Zealand held Peru to zero goals at home and will need a win or a draw with goals to advance to their first World Cup since 2010. Peru will look to ride their home crowd to a win and a return to the World Cup for the first time since the 1982 edition.
Friendlies
The Mexican national team traveled to Europe to face two fellow national teams that have booked their ticket to Russia. El Tri managed a thrilling 3-3 draw against Belgium on Friday, behind a double from 22-year-old Hirving Lozano, and followed it up with a 1-0 draw at Poland on Monday.
Argentina managed a 1-0 draw at World Cup hosts Russia thanks to Sergio Agüero goal. The Albiceleste will be without Lionel Messi as they stay in Russia for a friendly against Nigeria on Tuesday.
Neymar, Marcelo and Gabriel Jesus all scored in Brazil’s 3-1 win against Japan and continue to look every bit the contender. On Tuesday, they face off against an England side that played Germany to a scoreless draw on Friday. Germany faces off against France on Tuesday. Spain, meanwhile, dominated Costa Rica to a 5-nil win and faces Russia to close out their international fixtures.
Major League Soccer
Teams continue to train during the international break ahead of the conference finals next week. The Houston Dynamo returned to their normal schedule on Thursday after a four day break following their 2-1 win in Portland. The break comes at a great time as injured players like DaMarcus Beasley and Leonardo could feature in next Tuesday’s Western Conference final opener against Seattle.
NASL/USL
Both of U.S. Soccer’s second division leagues came to a close over the weekend. The San Francisco Deltas won the North American Soccer League championship 2-0 over the New York Cosmos to cap off their debut season. Tommy Heinemann and Devon Sandoval scored for San Francisco. The official attendance was 9,691.
In the United Soccer League playoffs, 14,456 were on hand at Slugger Field to see Louisville City FC win their first USL Cup over Swope Park Rangers. The game’s only goal came from Cameron Lancaster in the 88th minute of the match.
Liga MX
Monterrey and Santos played to a 1-1 draw on Thursday night in the league’s only official match while other team’s toured the U.S. with friendlies. The 2017 Apertura season concludes this weekend with the final playoff spots to be determined. This weekend also features the Monterrey derby between Monterrey and Tigres, a match with the top seed in the table up for grabs.
MVP of the Week - Gianluigi Buffon
Italian legend Gianluigi Buffon is this week’s MVP after a valiant effort to not allow any goals in Italy’s scoreless draw with Sweden. Despite his performance, his side’s failure to convert means they will watch next year’s World Cup from home. The 2006 FIFA World Cup champion goalkeeper immediately apologized after the match for his country’s failure to qualify and officially called it an end to his international career. Many will remember him for his class, the same he showed in defeat as he did as a winner as he goes down as one of the greatest goalkeepers the game has produced.
Upcoming matches (All Times CT):
Tuesday, Nov. 14:
10:30 a.m.- Friendly: Argentina vs. Nigeria (beIN SPORTS)
12:45 p.m.- Friendly: Russia vs. Spain (ESPN3)
1:45 p.m.- Leg 2: Ireland vs. Denmark (FS2)
1:45 p.m.- Leg 2: Ireland vs. Denmark (FS2)
2:45 p.m.- Friendly: Portugal vs. USA (FS1/UniMas/Univision Deportes)
Wednesday, Nov. 15:
3 a.m.- Leg 2: Australia vs. Honduras (beIN SPORTS)
8:15 p.m. - Leg 2: Peru vs. New Zealand (beIN SPORTS)
Friday, Nov. 17:
1:30 p.m.- Stuttgart vs. Dortmund (FS2)
Saturday, Nov. 18:
6:30 a.m.- Arsenal vs. Tottenham (NBC Sports)
8:30 a.m.- Bayern Munich vs. Augsburg (FS1)
9 a.m.- Leicester City vs. Manchester City (NBC Sports)
9 a.m.- Liverpool vs. Southampton (NBC Sports)
9 a.m.- West Brom vs. Chelsea (NBC Sports)
9:15 a.m.- Leganes vs. FC Barcelona (beIN SPORTS)
10 a.m.- PSG vs. Nantes (beIN SPORTS)
11:30 a.m.- Manchester United vs. Newcastle (NBC Sports)
11 a.m.- Roma vs. Lazio (beIN SPORTS)
1:45 p.m.- Atletico Madrid vs. Real Madrid (beIN SPORTS)
1:45 p.m.- Napoli vs. AC Milan (beIN SPORTS)
7 p.m. - Monterrey vs. Tigres (Univision)
Sunday, Nov. 19:
8 a.m. - Sampdoria vs. Juventus (beIN SPORTS)
12 p.m. - Toluca vs. Tijuana (Univision)
1:45 p.m.- Inter Milan vs. Atalanta (beIN SPORTS)
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The NFL Draft, NBA playoffs, and NHL playoffs all dwarf baseball in the sports pecking order this week, but that doesn’t detract from the Astros playing their best stretch of baseball in the still young season. Following up taking two of three from the previously sizzling hot Padres by sweeping the Blue Jays three straight has the Astros’ record at a just fine 13-11 as they open a three-game weekend series in Kansas City. 13-11 may not sound special, because it isn’t, but having come home from St. Louis last week with the record at 8-10 makes 13-11 a quality leap. Plus, a 13-11 pace over 162 games extrapolates to 87 wins, which last season were enough to win the American League West and for an AL Wild Card spot.
Batter up!
While no one will be confusing the potency of this Astros’ lineup with those of the 2017 or 2019 juggernauts, some welcome perking up may have kicked in, despite Yordan Alvarez still not getting rolling. After Joe Espada gave Christian Walker a “mental rest” game off Monday, Walker produced a three-hit game Tuesday and a two-hit follow-up Wednesday, including a home run. Walker’s .202 batting average and .640 OPS are still lousy, but a much lesser grade of lousy than the statistical abyss he was in starting the Toronto series. Yainer Diaz has been much worse than Walker to this point. Diaz managed at least one hit in all three games of the Jays series. Baby steps. He is still sitting on an unacceptable three walks in 78 plate appearances.
Speaking of hits and walks, Jeremy Pena carries a 14-game hitting streak into the weekend. One-quarter of the way to Joe DiMaggio’s big league record! Willy Taveras set the Astros’ record with a 30-gamer back in 2006. Pena hasn’t been crushing it during the streak, during which he has just two multi-hit games. He’s had stretches where he has hit better and slugged harder (2022 postseason anyone?), but while too small a stretch to declare a leap has been made, it is noteworthy that over the 14 games Pena has drawn six walks. That gives him eight free passes in 24 games this season. More math fun! That’s one walk drawn per three games, which over 162 games would make for 54. Last season in 157 games played Pena drew a paltry 25 walks. Add in that his defense has been superb so far this season with a number of fabulous plays made and just one error committed, and Pena could be making modest offensive improvement that makes him a meaningfully better player.
Furthermore speaking of hits and walks, it’s been a struggle on both fronts the last couple of weeks for Jose Altuve. A two-week funk does not represent a crisis, but there are troubling trends that bear watching as Altuve sets to turn 35 years old May 6. Over his last 14 games, Altuve’s OPS is a sub-Maldonadian .547. In this stretch he has two doubles as his lone extra base hits and drawn just two walks. Altuve has struck out 22 times in 24 games. Setting aside the short 2020 COVID season when Altuve never got it going, last year he had the worst strikeout percentage of his career, while his walk rate was his worst since 2015. So far this season, Altuve’s strikeout rate is more than 20 percent worse than last year’s, with his walk rate down 30 percent from 2024. He is hitting line drives at a much lower rate than ever before, and struggling to get the ball in the air. The season still isn’t 20 percent old, but since Altuve last season finished with his lowest OPS (.790, again, exempting 2020) since 2013, and his current .728 OPS is 62 points lower than that, the antennae of at least mild concern are up. This is the first season of Altuve’s five-year 125 million dollar contract extension. Remember, the Astros would not offer Kyle Tucker a contract that took him to age 35.
Bringing the heat!
Hunter Brown makes his next start Sunday in Kansas City. Good luck Royals! Until getting a doubleheader against the pathetic Rockies Thursday, K.C. was averaging under three runs per game. Brown's earned run average through five starts is 1.16! It's waaaaay early to focus on this, but the best season ERA for an Astro pitcher who qualified for the statistical lead (one inning pitched per team game played) belongs to Nolan Ryan who posted a 1.69 in the strike-shortened 1981 season. Over a full-schedule season, Justin Verlander's 1.75 in 2022 is the standard. Brown has fired 24 consecutive shutout innings. Ryan Pressly holds the Astros’ record with 38 consecutive scoreless innings pitched. Orel Hershiser set the Major League record by finishing the 1988 regular season with a ridiculous 59 straight shutout innings. Yes he won the National League Cy Young Award. The Cy Young is strictly a regular season award. Hershiser in 1988 also won the League Championship Series Most Valuable Player Award, and World Series MVP.
For Astro-centric conversation, 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.
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