Sports Brief
Wow! What a week in sports as the Houston Dynamo started their season with a home opening win last Saturday against DC United. Houston went ahead in the 80th minute when Houston’s Brad Davis shot a corner kick toward the penalty area where Houston’s Ricardo Clark and DC United James Riley were battling for the ball. Riley headed the ball accidentally in the wrong direction into his own goal giving Houston a 1-0 lead. Ricardo Clark came back and scored again for Houston in the 89th minute when he received a pass from substitute Warren Creavalle making it 2-0. That’s how it ended.
Houston started the season off well, extending their undefeated at-home streak to 26 (30 in all competitions and the second longest in MLS history). Their success went on into Tuesday’s matchup at home against Santos Laguna of Mexico in the first game of the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinals. Boniek Garcia was able to head the ball back into the Santos goal area after a goal kick for Santos. Brad Davis received the ball and quickly passed the ball wide to Corey Ash. Ash took the ball into the penalty area before passing the ball in front of the net where Brad Davis was ready to execute a low shot into the far side of the net for the winner.
Houston kept their home winning streak alive and will now go on to play the second leg of their CONCACAF quarterfinal matchup with Santos today at the Estadio Corona in Torreon, Mexico at 7:30 p.m. CT.
More news from the world of soccer:
It was announced that Houston will host the Men’s Mexican National Team on May 31, 2o13 as part of Mexico’s three-match tour in the United States as they prepare for World Cup qualifying and the CONCACAF Gold Cup this summer. Their match in Houston will be against Nigeria better known as the Super Eagles. The Super Eagles are coming off their dramatic 1-0 victory over Burkina Faso in the African Cup of Nations last month. They are one of the strongest sides in African football and they now prepare to go to Brazil in July to participate in the FIFA Confederations Cup where they will compete against World Cup Champions Spain, along with Uruguay and Tahiti in the group stages.
Mexico’s team is also heading to Brazil to participate in the Confederations Cup and will be grouped with Italy, Japan, and Brazil. The other two matches of the three-match tour include Denmark, who they played to a 1-1 draw, and Peru who they will play in San Francisco at Candlestick Park on April 17,2013. When Mexico has come to Houston in the past, their games usually sellout as they have had over 70,000 fans come out to see them play. Tickets are now on sale for this match and available at your local Ticketmaster.
In international news:
In a recent match, Real Madrid knocked Manchester United out of the round 16 of the European Champions League with a 2-0 win at Old Trafford in Manchester.
In other matches, Italy’s Juventus rolled over Scotland’s Celtic 2-0 and advanced. Paris Saint-Germain drew 1-1 with Spanish club Valencia and advanced. Borussia Dortmund defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 3-0.
This week, Barcelona plays AC Milan and Schalke 04 takes on Galatasaray. Bayern Munich will take on Arsenal and Malaga will take on Porto FC.
In local rugby news:
The Houston Athletic Rugby Club better known as HARC men’s side took on the Huns from Austin this past Saturday in two matches.
Rad Rich
