Breakfast Links - April 13, 2022

It’s Wednesday and that means it’s time for another Breakfast Links. Let’s get into it.

Houston

After the victory over the weekend by Houston Dynamo FC, Sebastian Ferreira, with a good performance and a Se-Brace in his pocket, earned a spot on the MLS Team of the Week. This is the third time in six weeks that a Dynamo player got this honor with the other being Fafa Picault in Week 5 and Darwin Quintero in Week 3.

The Dynamo have a nice little streak going, can they keep it up against a good Portland Timbers team? Will a new player have a breakout performance and land on next week’s Team of The Week?

MLS

The Generation adidas Cup is being played in Frisco, Texas. MLS academies and academies from teams all around the world have sent their best in the U15 and U17 age groups. The Houston Dynamo U17 team in Group C, have 1 loss vs Tigres from Mexico and 2 wins against CF Montreal and Real Salt Lake. Houston will move on to the next stage in the competition in second place of their group. The Round of 16 will be played today April 16 starting at noon. You can watch these matches on YouTube and Twitch on the Major League Soccer channel. Houston Dynamo FC will be taking on Tigres at 2 PM Central time.

The HDFC U15 unfortunately, with 3 ties and 3 penalty shootouts, were not able to make it to the Round of 16. A showcase for those clubs that didn’t qualify will give them the opportunity to have a few more matches and measure themselves against great competition from MLS and around the world.

After a tough battle in Mexico City, we have our first finalist for the Concacaf Champions League. Pumas UNAM with a 2-1 victory in the first leg and a 0-0 tie to close this semifinals, advance to the finals and awaits the winner of Seattle Sounders versus New York City FC.

The Sounders have a 3-1 lead coming into this second game, and are looking to close this down in Red Bull Arena, while the Citizens will look for a comeback for the ages. Tonight’s game starts tonight at 8 PM Central Time.

Around the World

Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images

After putting on a clinic against the Paris Saint Germain of Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, Real Madrid went to Stamford Bridge to win the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal 3-1. The second leg of this match up didn’t let us down. After Chelsea took a 3-0 lead to turns things around in the Bernabeu, and with 10 minutes left of the clock, Luka Modric, the great Luka Modric, using the outside of his foot (de 3 dedos) served the most beautiful ball you’ll see this year for Rodrygo to give a pass to the back of the net. This goal brought the game to 4-4 on the aggregate. But once again, and no surprise to anyone, the one and only Karim Benzema, with a classic box number 9 header, gave Los Blancos the victory and the pass to the semifinals.

With a slim difference against Bayern Munich, The Yellow Submarine of Villarreal traveled to the German capital. Bayern took the lead on a goal from the legendary striker Robert Lewandowski in the 52nd minute. When everyone was waiting to go to extra time, in the agonizing minutes of the match, the Nigerian Samu Chukwueze, who had just entered the match only a few minutes earlier, found the equalizer and the goal to give Villarreal the 2-1 victory on aggregate. With this victory, Villarreal reaches the Semifinal stage of the Champions League for the second time in their club’s history. The last time Villarreal reached a semifinal in the Champions League, Juan Roman Riquelme was the team’s 10.

Today, the quarterfinals continue to find out who will join these two in the semifinals. Today’s matches are Atletico Madrid v Manchester City (0-1 on aggregate in favor of the Citizens). The winner of this tie will play Real Madrid. We’ll also get Liverpool v Benfica today (3-1 on aggregate in favor of Liverpool). The winner of this quarterfinal will play Villarreal.