Breakfast Links - February 18, 2022

Happy Friday, y’all! Here is to all who made it through another long week of faking adulthood. Cheers! Let’s get to the Breakfast Links in celebration of the cold weekend ahead of us. Wasn’t it just 80 degrees yesterday? Anyways, here we go!

Houston

The Dynamo bounced back from the 4-0 loss against Austin over the weekend by beating Toronto FC 2-1 on Wednesday. The team’s last preseason match will be against FC Dallas on Saturday night. The game will be streamed locally through the Houston Dynamo website. Also, the club released their Community Kit aka the Bayou City Kit, which will probably be added to many Houston Dynamo fans jersey collection. Here is the link to purchase it!

The Houston Dash are still amid preseason, awaiting their warmup matches before the 2022 NWSL Challenge Cup begins. However, a few of the players saw action yesterday, with a bunch of the women playing in the England vs Canada match in the Arnold Clark Cup. Rachel Daly, Allysha Chapman, Sophie Schmidt and Nichelle Prince where the four Dash teammates involved in that match.

Make sure you check out the latest episodes of the Dynamo Theory Podcast, available everywhere you get you podcasts.

MLS

More Major League Soccer teams have released new kits as the week has gone along. Real Salt Lake, Chicago Fire and the Vancouver Whitecaps are a few of the teams that released their new kits yesterday. Make sure to check out all clubs’ new look at mlssoccer.com.

Photo by WENDELL ESCOTO/AFP via Getty Images

The first leg of the round of 16 for the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League took place this week. Colorado Rapids played Comunicaciones from Guatemala last night, falling 1-0 to a late goal. The other MLS team to see action was Seattle Sounders, who played against the Honduran club Motagua. Seattle was unable to find a goal and settled for a 0-0 draw. The second leg of this round will be played next week to see which teams will join New England Revolution in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

The New York Red Bulls have signed midfielder Serge Ngoma as a homegrown player through 2025 with an option for 2026, the club announced Thursday. “Serge is a talent at the midfield position,” head coach Gerhard Struber said in a release. “We see big potential out of him. We want to see him continue to grow with Red Bulls II and hope his development goes in a positive way.” The New York Red Bulls academy is one of the best in the world, not just the league, but time will tell the future of this talented 16-year-old.

Around the World

La Liga president, Javier Tebas, has said he is certain that French international Kylian Mbappe will join Real Madrid this summer. A long-term target of Real Madrid, Mbappe has yet to sign a new contract with Paris Saint-Germain and becomes a free agent this summer. La Liga has not been the same after the departures of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in recent years.

Barcelona came from behind against Napoli in their Europa League knockout round playoff first leg at the Camp Nou on Thursday night, with the match ending in a 1-1 draw. Barcelona is finding their form with Xavi Hernandez at the helm during a very tough time for the Catalan club. The two teams will meet again in Naples next Thursday for the decisive second leg fixture.

The U.S. Soccer Federation revealed some of their staff salaries from 2021, with Gregg Belhalter being their highest-paid employee at $1.2 million. United States Women’s National Team coach Vlatko Andonovski earned a little over $350k in 2021. There is a lot riding on the USMNT making the World Cup this year after failing to qualify for the 2018 World Cup.