WEEKLY RECAP
Weekly soccer recap: Man City, Barca, PSG remains undefeated, MLS Cup playoffs resume
Nov 21, 2017, 12:30 pm
The Houston Dynamo resume their playoff run when they host Seattle Sounders FC in the first leg of the MLS Western Conference final on Tuesday night. Victor Araiza
League play is back in full swing as the international calendar came to an end. The field of 32 teams going to the FIFA World Cup next year is set, with Australia and Peru solidifying the last spots. Clubs returned to business as usual, with deciding matches in the Champions League looming ahead to start the week.
Premier League
Manchester City seems to be the consensus favorite to win the Premier League despite the fact that it’s still only November. That’s because they’re running like a well oiled locomotive with no signs of stopping - and their form extends into the Champions League as well. Guardiola’s side won 2-0 against Leicester City displaying their menacing tactical style, though were lucky not to have their captain Vincent Kompany sent off.
While it seems that the rest might be a race for second, the field looks pretty good. Manchester United welcomed back the likes of Paul Pogba and Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a 4-1 win over Newcastle. Chelsea demolished West Brom 4-0 on the road, led by an Eden Hazard double while Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah had a double of his own in the Reds 3-0 win vs. Southampton.
The spotlight this weekend, however, was on the North London Derby where Tottenham was looked on as the heavy favorite. Arsenal had the last laugh in the 2-0 win at the Emirates, further frustrating their supporters about the inconsistency of their form.
Top 5: Manchester City (34), Manchester United (26), Chelsea (25), Tottenham (23), Liverpool (22)
La Liga
The Madrid Derby was the focus of the weekend in Spain as Atlético Madrid welcomed their crosstown rivals to their new stadium. Neither team really did much to separate themselves from the other and the real winner of this nil-nil draw was FC Barcelona, who’s lead in the standings only grows with the Catalan’s 3-0 win at Leganes. Valencia did pick up a 2-0 win over Espanyol and are quietly hanging around second place. Sevilla stays in fifth with a 2-1 win over Celta Vigo.
The 5: Barcelona (34), Valencia (30), Real Madrid (24), Atlético Madrid (24) and Sevilla (22)
Bundesliga
Remember when Bayern Munich fired their manager after that embarrassing 3-0 loss to Paris in the Champions League and trailed rivals Dortmund in the league? That was at the end of September and is now history as the Bavarians have gone undefeated in all competitions since then and are on a five game winning streak in the league. More importantly, they look to be on a steady path to their 27th Bundesliga title with a five point cushion over second place.
Schalke moved up to second with a 2-0 win over Hamburg and a 2-2 draw from RB Leipzig at Bayer Leverkusen. Dortmund fall to fifth after a 2-1 loss at Stuttgart, their third straight loss in the league.
Top 5: Bayern Munich (29), Schalke 04 (23), RB Leipzig (23), Mönchengladbach (21), Dortmund (20)
Ligue 1
All is well in the City of Lights as Cavanni, Di Maria and Pastore lit up the scoreboard in Paris Saint-Germain’s 4-1 win over Nantes. The result extends the Parisians lead in the league, currently at six points, and keep them undefeated along the likes of other European powers like Manchester City and Barcelona. The three closest teams in the table - Monaco, Lyon and Marseille - did not do themselves any favors as all three drew this weekend.
Top 5: Paris Saint-Germain (35), Monaco (29), Lyon (26), Marseille (25), Nantes (23)
Serie A
All eyes were on Rome to start the weekend as rivals Roma and Lazio faced off in the nation’s capital. Roma were 2-1 winners in the Derby della Capitale with a deciding goal from Radja Nainggolan. Napoli kept the lead at the top with a 2-1 win over A.C. Milan while Inter Milan keeps pace in second with a 2-0 win vs. Atalanta. The attention ended on Genoa as Sampdoria stunned Juventus with a 3-2 win.
The top 5: Napoli (35), Inter Milan (33), Juventus (31), Roma (30), Lazio (28)
Major League Soccer
The MLS Cup Playoffs resume after a two week break with the conference finals opening on Tuesday. Columbus Crew SC hosts Toronto FC followed by Houston Dynamo hosting Seattle Sounders FC. The second legs will be played next week but teams can set themselves up nicely, especially Toronto and Seattle who will be looking to leave with away goals. Sellout crowds are expected in both Columbus and Houston.
Liga MX
Mexico had a derby of their own as the Clásico Regio saw Monterrey finish at the top of the table with a 2-0 win over Tigres. Defending champions Guadalajara - who were eliminated from the playoffs a while back - ended their season with a 2-0 win over León. Necaxa and Tijuana were denied entrance into the playoffs and a deflected goal has pit crosstown rivals América and Cruz Azul into a first round playoff series. The playoffs kick off Wednesday.
Playoff matchups: (1) Monterrey vs. (8) Atlas, (2) Tigres vs. (7) León, (3) América vs. (6) Cruz Azul, (4) Morelia vs. (5) Toluca.
MVP of the Week - Mohamed Salah
A big reason why Liverpool have failed to regain the mystique that once made them one of “the big four” was the factor of having players who other teams had to account for. Players who would show up and win games for the club. Mohamed Salah has done that for LFC this year with nine goals in the league - now the top scorer - and four in the Champions League. He is proving to be a one-two punch for the Reds with the likes of Philippe Coutinho and could give Liverpool fans hope of long-standing success at the top if they can retain the two. So far Salah is the signing of the season.
Upcoming Matches (All Times CT):
Tuesday, Nov. 21:
11:00 a.m.- Besiktas vs. Porto (FS2)
1:30 p.m.- APOEL vs. Real Madrid (FS1)
1:30 p.m.- Dortmund vs. Tottenham (FS2)
1:30 p.m.- Manchester City vs. Feyenoord (FOX Sports Southwest)
1:30 p.m.- Sevilla vs. Liverpool (Facebook)
7:00 p.m.- Columbus Crew SC vs. Toronto FC (ESPN)
8:30 p.m.- Houston Dynamo vs. Seattle Sounders FC (FS1)
Wednesday, Nov. 22:
11:00 a.m.- Qarabag vs. Chelsea (FS2)
1:30 p.m.- Juventus vs. Barcelona (FS1)
1:30 p.m.- Basel vs. Manchester United (FS2)
1:30 p.m.- PSG vs. Celtic (FOX Sports Southwest)
1:30 p.m.- Atlético Madrid vs. Roma (Facebook)
7:30 p.m.- Toluca vs. Monarcas (Univision Deportes)
9:30 p.m.- León vs. Tigres (Univision Deportes)
Thursday, Nov. 23:
12:00 p.m.- FC Köln vs. Arsenal (FS1)
12:00 p.m.- Konyaspor vs. Marseille (FS2)
2:00 p.m.- Everton vs. Atalanta (FS1)
2:00 p.m.- A.C. Milan vs. Austria Vienna (FS2)
7:30 p.m.- Cruz Azul vs. América (Univision Deportes)
9:30 p.m.- Atlas vs. Monterrey (Univision Deportes)
Friday, Nov. 24:
1:20 p.m.- Hannover 96 vs. Stuttgart (FS2)
2:00 p.m.- West Ham vs. Leicester City (NBC Sports)
Saturday, Nov. 25:
9:00 a.m. - Manchester United vs. Brighton (NBC Sports)
9:15 a.m. - Real Madrid vs. Málaga (beIN Sports)
11:20 a.m. - Mönchengladbach vs. Bayern Munich (FS2)
11:30 a.m. - Liverpool vs. Chelsea (NBC)
7:00 p.m.- Tigres vs. León (Univision Deportes)
9:00 p.m.- Morelia vs. Toluca (Univision Deportes)
Sunday, Nov. 26:
8:00 a.m. - Burnley vs. Arsenal (NBC Sports)
10:00 a.m. - Huddersfield vs. Manchester City (NBC Sports)
1:45 p.m. - Valencia vs. Barcelona (beIN Sports)
6:00 p.m.- Monterrey vs. Atlas (Univision Deportes)
8:00 p.m.- América vs. Cruz Azul (Univision Deportes)
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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 eight 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 the 6-10 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. 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.