Breakfast Links - February 4, 2022

We hope you’re staying warm in Houston and wherever you’re reading this. Here’s a Friday edition of the Breakfast Links to get the blood flowing.

Houston

The Dynamo are in Tucson continuing their preparations for the 2022 season. The guys scrimmaged Real Salt Lake on Wednesday with the match ending in a 1-1 draw. Fafa Picault scored Houston’s goal, a nice header off a Darwin Quintero long-ball.

The Dash named Jessica O’Neill as the first president in team history. She met with the media on Wednesday and talked about her reaction to being the club’s first president.

“It’s a huge honor. I’m excited ultimately to – and I know I keep using that word but really that’s where it comes from – it comes from a place of an opportunity that I could ultimately not turn down. It was the right city, the right league, the right ownership, and enough potential to be able to have the trust of Ted to be able to run this organization alongside an incredible team that’s there and help improve and enhance the steps that they’re already doing, the proactive movements that they’re making to make sure that everybody has what they need so they can do the job in front of them as best they can, is what you want in a role, in a challenge, and I found that. So, there’s a lot of gratitude today for the people that I’ve worked with so far, for the journey, and I can’t wait to see what’s next because I know it will be rewarding and thrilling and challenging. There will be hard moments and ultimately that’s where I always feel like you learn the most. The things that are easy are easy to move on from and celebrate, but the stuff that really makes you have to stop and take a look at if you are doing the right thing for the club, for the fans, for the players, sometimes you can’t please everybody in those cases. So how do you find a middle ground? To be able to have all of that packaged in this opportunity that we’re talking about today is a real culmination of what I’ve been doing so far, and that’s a true honor.”

The Dash are also continuing their work ahead of the season, practicing this week in Houston. Michaela Abam and Shea Groom let us know what the weather is like in Houston, something I think we all can attest to this week.

MLS

Former USMNT striker Jozy Altidore is reportedly set to join Supporters Shield winners New England Revolution. Altidore is set to sign a 3 year deal, according to reports, after being bought out by Toronto FC.

Real Salt Lake announced the signing of Venezuelan forward Sergio Cordova on loan from FC Augsburg. RSL’s owner, David Blitzer, is also the owner of Augsburg. Cordova has scored 9 goals in the Bundesliga since joining in the 2017-2018 season.

DeAndre Yedlin has returned to Major League Soccer, signing with Inter Miami. The former Seattle Sounders homegrown spent 7 years in Europe at Tottenham Hotspur, Sunderland, Newcastle, and Galatasaray. Miami used their top spot in the allocation order to sign Yedlin. The Dynamo now sit third in that order.

Rest of the World

Photo by Ayman Aref/picture alliance via Getty Images

Egypt advanced to the Africa Cup of Nations Final, beating Cameroon in penalty kicks in their semifinal, but it was Seattle Sounders left back Nouhou who earned plaudits worldwide. Nouhou kept Liverpool star Mohamed Salah quiet for 120 minutes, earning praise from media and commentators around the world. It may be tough for Seattle to hold on to their defender if a big offer comes in after a performance like that.

The robots are coming! Robot VAR disallowed its first goal at the Club World Cup ahead of its roll out at the World Cup in Qatar later this year. The semi-automated system is designed to reduce the time it takes to make an offside decision and provide clear visualization for fans. The Club World Cup is the final trial for the system before we likely see it used throughout the world.