There were some huge results in MLS, the Women’s Euro and Norway over the weekend while things stayed tight at the top of the table in Sweden and Brazil.
We will be covering all of that, along with a couple of other matches from the Americas, in this edition of Last Weekend.
?? MLS: Philadelphia Union 7-0 DC United
It was rivalry week in MLS, so most matches were expected to be tense and closely fought. DC United’s visit to Philadelphia was anything but that as the hosts recorded the joint-largest margin of victory in MLS history.
Looking at the two sides’ recent form makes this result even more incredible because DC United had beaten Orlando City in an eight-goal thriller in midweek while the Philadelphia Union had failed to score in their last two matches. As the scoreline suggests, one-way traffic would be an understatement to describe this result. The final xG tally, 5.64-0.79, indicates that the Union absolutely deserved to win big.
There were only three goal-scorers – young Argentinean forward Julián Carranza, who scored a hat-trick, and Alejandro Bedoya and January signing Mikael Uhre, who bagged two apiece.
This win takes them level on points with Eastern Conference leaders New York Red Bulls – who only managed a draw against the nine men of FC Cincinnati.
The Philadelphia Union started the season incredibly well, winning five of their first six games, but they slowly began to slump, as their xG trendline (which shows a rolling average of a team’s Expected Goals and Expected Goals Against in a range of matches) depicts.
They will hope that this result serves as a catalyst to take them back to their very best.
? UEFA Women’s Euros: France 5-1 Italy
The 13th edition of the UEFA Women’s Euro got underway in England on Wednesday, and by the end of the weekend, the first round of matches had been played in each of the four groups.
The biggest result came in the very last match, which saw France thrash Italy 5-1. The Italians started well but they conceded twice in a four-minute period inside the first 15 minutes. Another blitz from France right before half-time when they scored three goals in the space of eight minutes put the match well beyond Italy’s reach and they could only grab a consolation goal in the second half.
The star of the show for France was Grace Geyoro, who scored her first-ever hat-trick in international football with three well-taken right-footed finishes inside the box.
Her Paris Saint-Germain teammate Marie-Antoinette Katoto also contributed with a goal and assist, and Lyon’s Delphine Cascarino netted the second from outside the box.
This certainly was a statement victory for on of the tournament favourites.
?? Norway: Molde 5-1 Tromsø
We have spoken of Lillestrøm’s unsustainably high xG overperformance previously in this column and they have now been knocked off their perch at the top of the Eliteserien. Their last-gasp loss to Viking played an important part in that but Molde’s win over Tromsø with a four-goal margin was crucial as although the sides are level on points, it took Molde’s goal difference to +15, just greater than Lillestrøm’s +14.
Tromsø did dare to score first but Molde were in front by the 20th minute and took a two-goal lead into the half-time break. A quickfire double just after the hour-mark saw the scoreline move to 5-1, after which, the hosts could coast home with all three points comfortably.
The man of the match was Molde’s teenage striker David Datro Fofana, who scored two goals and got an assist – taking his tally up to six goals in nine Eliteserien matches this season. Unsurprisingly, he has the most goal involvements in the league among his teammates, and all of those have come in his last six appearances.
?? Sweden: Mjällby 1-2 Häcken
Allsvenskan leaders Häcken completed a second-half turnaround against Mjällby to stay at the top of the table. Viktor Gustafson put the hosts in front a few minutes before half-time but Häcken equalised on the other side of the break and scored the winner in the 81st minute.
As the shotmap from the match shows, Mjällby will be disappointed to not have taken any points away from this game as they had over twice as many shots as their opponents and a notably greater xG tally, but Häcken deserve credit for making the most of their chances.
They may have gone against the will of the xG Gods on this occasion but Häcken have closely matched their xG over the course of the season by scoring 27 goals from an xG tally of 27.2 – both of which are league-highs. They also have the league’s top-scorer Alexander Jeremejeff, who may have blanked in this match, but has played a part in over half of his side’s goals with 12 goals and three assists.
We are not halfway through the season yet but Häcken look set to be one of the protagonists in the title race.
?? Brazil: Corinthians 1-0 Flamengo
The Copa Libertadores is the main showpiece of South American football at the moment but the domestic leagues are no less entertaining. In Brazil, one of the bigger games of the weekend saw Corinthians host Flamengo after both sides progressed to the quarter-finals of the Libertadores in midweek – where coincidentally they have been drawn against each other.
That tie is in August so they can afford to restore full focus to the league again now. Flamengo have to recover from a poor start to the season which has left them some way off the top of the table while Corinthians are trying to keep step with league-leaders and main rivals, Palmeiras.
This match itself was relatively uneventful but the decisive moment came early on in the second half when Rodnei made an absolute hash of dealing with a cross to the far post and turned it into his own net. Corinthians had a couple of chances to double their lead thereafter but there were no more goals scored.
With Palmeiras dropping points to bottom-club Fortaleza later in the night the gap at the top has come to down just one point.
?? Argentina: Racing Club 1-0 Independiente
We had the Avellaneda derby in Argentina between Racing Club and Independiente this weekend, two sides whose home stadiums are just a few hundred metres apart.
Most of the drama in the match happened early on. Gabriel Hauche gave the hosts the lead with a bicycle kick following a corner in the ninth minute, and about ten minutes later, Joaquín Laso gave away a penalty. Enzo Copetti, who had scored in each of his last three games, had the chance to double Racing’s lead but his effort rattled the post and came right back in his direction.
Independiente fired a fair few shots but never really managed to generate a clear-cut opening so Racing Club emerged victorious in a match where the two sides were very closely-matched.
?? Mexico: Toluca 3-2 Atlas
Matchday 1 of the 2022/23 Liga MX season was explosive as we saw last week, and the second round of fixtures was no less entertaining as it saw 27 goals scored, just two fewer than the opening weekend.
Among the most eventful matches was Toluca’s win over defending champions Atlas, who are yet to win in any competition this season. They were blown away early on in this game as the hosts scored thrice in the first quarter of an hour. Atlas had tons of chances in the second half, but they could not salvage anything from this match.
With this win, Toluca have shot up to the top of the table and are among just three teams who have both of their league matches so far – with the other two being Puebla and Pachuca.
Written by Neel Shelat.
Cover Image from IMAGO