Breakfast Links - August 12, 2022

It’s the last Friday of the summer for many, as the school year starts for everyone soon. Here are the Breakfast Links as we head into the weekend.

Houston

The Houston Dynamo are currently in a 3 game losing streak that has pushed them to the lower part of the Western Conference table. Now they will host CF Montreal on Saturday night at PNC Stadium. The Canadian team is in top form, unlike Houston, and will look to gain points on the road. Can the Houston Dynamo stop them? I hope so. Aguante Houston. Vamos Dynamo!

The Dynamo did have one positive during the week. Midfielder Hector Herrera helped the MLS All-Stars defeat the LigaMX All-Stars in the MLS Skills Challenge Tuesday night. Herrera’s 65 point round in the Shooting Challenge set a new record, beating the previous best of 55 by Lucas Zelarayan of the Columbus Crew last year.

The Houston Dash are looking red hot since the arrival of Ebony Salmon and Juan Carlos Amorós. Tonight they will host Racing Louisville as the fans get to bid farewell to Dash legend Rachel Daly. Rachel’s departure was announced earlier this week as the Brit is heading home to England to play with Aston Villa. The match is set for 7:30 PM. Let’s fill the stadium up and give Rach a proper goodbye. Best of luck, captain and DTFO!

Houston Dynamo 2 are back at AVEVA Stadium this weekend and will fight to remain undefeated at home as they take on Colorado Rapids 2. Dynamo Dos haven’t tasted defeat in the last 7 matches. The game is set for 8:00 PM on Sunday. Show up and support the stars of tomorrow. Let’s go Dyna Dos!

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

Major League Soccer

LAFC had deals announced and ready to be registered as soon as the window opened, for both Italian legend Giorgio Chiellini and superstar forward Gareth Bale. Coming into deadline day, they were working on adding Gabon international winger Denis Bouanga as their third Designated Player. Carlos Vela and Brian Rodriguez are the Black & Gold’s other DPs. Timing was tight. In a move that went through “at the absolute last minute of the window” on Aug. 4, LAFC got their man from Saint-Etienne, though it wasn’t without consternation.

Major League Soccer has released the findings of an independent investigation into the Vancouver Whitecaps organization’s handling of allegations of misconduct brought by members of the Whitecaps’ women’s team against former coach Bob Birarda in 2008 and former coach Hubert Busby, Jr. in 2011. MLS engaged Janice Rubin of Rubin Thomlinson LLP, one of Canada’s foremost experts in workplace investigations, to conduct the investigation.

MLS fans may have to get used to this: LAFC forward Gareth Bale has won AT&T 5G Goal of the Week honors for Week 24 of the 2022 campaign. Bale took first place (35% of the vote) by turning on the open-field afterburners in the Black & Gold’s 4-1 win at Real Salt Lake, scoring his new team’s final goal. The Welsh superstar and former Real Madrid forward already has two goals in four substitute appearances, and his latest came in trademark fashion.

Around the World

FIFA has moved the start of the Qatar World Cup forward by a day, meaning the tournament will now begin on Sunday, Nov. 20, rather than the initially scheduled date of Monday, Nov. 21. The first game of the finals will now be the host nation Qatar’s clash with Ecuador on Sunday at 7 p.m. (4 p.m. GMT, 11 a.m. ET) rather than Senegal’s match against the Netherlands.

Paris Saint-Germain have contacted Marcus Rashford over the possibility of signing the Manchester United forward to strengthen their squad this summer, sources have confirmed to ESPN. The news of PSG’s interest was first reported by L’Equipe. Rashford, 24, has one year left on his contract at United with an option for another season that the club alone can trigger, meaning in effect, he has two years remaining.

Former Real Madrid left-back Fabio Coentrao has been handed a one-match ban and an €850 fine — a year after he retired from football to pursue a career as a fisherman. Coentrao, 34, received the punishment from the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) for “insults and reputational offences” while playing for Rio Ave in a heated 3-3 draw with Boavista in April last year. But the former Portugal international has not played since he left Rio Ave last year to concentrate on managing a fleet of fishing boats.