Although we are still a long way way from the end of the season in the summer leagues, there were some big results in the title races in Scandinavia and Brazil. Elsewhere, Liga MX’s 2022/23 season got underway, while MLS and the Argentine Liga Profesional continued to entertain. Additionally, a couple of important youth tournaments drew to a close in Europe and North America.

We will be recapping all of that in this edition of Last Weekend.

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?? Sweden: Djurgården 1-0 Hammarby

We covered Hammarby’s comeback against league-leaders Häcken in the previous edition of the column and they had another big game this time out with city rivals Djurgården their next opponents at the Tele2 Arena – the Stockholm stadium that they share. Ahead of kick-off both sides were also locked on the same number of points in the table.

The match was entertaining from start to finish, as both sides looked quite dangerous when attacking, and neither seemed to back off at any point. Hammarby kept more possession (69%) but Djurgården posed a serious threat when counterattacking, which they did frequently.

There were no goals in the first half but an inspired double-substitution from Kim Bergstrand altered the course of the match. He sent Gustav Wikheim and Emmanuel Banda on in the 65th minute and shortly after the Zambian midfielder set Wikheim up to score with his first touch after coming on.

Hammarby pushed hard for an equaliser and came quite close in stoppage time when they hit the crossbar on two separate occasions. The xG scoreline of 2.19-1.53 paints a better picture of how entertaining the game was as it could easily have seen a couple more goals scored.

With these three points, Djurgården jump up to second and move ahead of their other local rivals AIK, who lost to Mjällby on Saturday. The pair are just a point behind Häcken who were held to a 1-1 draw by Elfsborg.

?? Brazil: Palmeiras 0-2 Athletico Paranaense

Back-to-back Copa Libertadores champions Palmeiras are currently one of the strongest sides in South America but they have not won their domestic league since 2018. They are however, on a mission to change that this year and they went in to the weekend sitting at the top of the Brazilian Serie A with 29 points.

It was then, something of a surprise, that they tasted defeat for just the second time this season as Athletico Paranaense beat them by two goals. The hosts were comfortably the better side as they kept over 70% of possession and outshot their opponents 35 to 13 but they simply failed to find the back of the net.

Vitor Roque and Vitor Bueno got the goals for Athletico, who are enjoying a very good season under their vastly experienced coach ‘Big’ Phil Scolari. They are now on a 13-game unbeaten run in all competitions and during the week confirmed reports that Fernandinho has rejoined his boyhood club after leaving Manchester City.

That unbeaten run has seen them climb up to second in the league with just a two-point deficit to Palmeiras, who will now be looking over their shoulder with the top-six are separated by just five points.

?? Norway: Odd 3-2 Bodø/Glimt

Bodø/Glimt have won the Eliteserien in each of its last two seasons but their title defence is in trouble less than halfway through the current campaign as they already trail league-leaders Lillestrøm by 11 points.

The gap widened this weekend after they were defeated by Odd in an exhilarating 3-2 game with both sides playing an expansive brand of football that entertained viewers throughout the match. Odd had a 2-1 lead at the hour-mark and looked on course to hold out for the win but a red card in the 84th minute spelt serious trouble and Glimt eventually equalised in the seventh minute of stoppage time. There was more drama in store for us, though, as Odd won a penalty immediately after the restart. They duly converted that chance for a 99th minute winner.

This is a very disappointing defeat for the defending champions because it comes at a time when they seemed to be getting into gear having won their previous four. The good news for them, though, is that their underlying numbers look quite healthy so it should just be a matter of time before the results follow suit.

The above scattergram shows the xG (Expected Goals) and xGA (Expected Goals Against) per game for all 16 Eliteserien teams with Bodø/Glimt highlighted and we can see they have the second-best attack and third-best defence in the league based on these metrics. Combine this with the fact that Lillestrøm are wildly overperforming relative to their xG, as we discussed last week, and you can see why things are not all bad for Glimt.

?? Mexico: Tigres 2-3 Cruz Azul

The 2022/23 Liga MX season got underway this weekend and it was back with an absolute bang! Puebla defeated Mazatlan 4-2 in the opener and Santos prevailed over Monterrey in a seven-goal thriller last night. Our focus, though, is on the winners of the inaugural Supercopa de la Liga MX Cruz Azul and their win over Tigres.

Truthfully, the hosts were the better side in this match. They controlled proceedings with close to two-thirds of possession and fired thrice as many shots as the visitors. But they still ended up losing. As the xG timeline of the match shows, Tigres consistently posed a goal threat, but Cruz Azul made the most of their limited chances to take away all three points.

If the rest of the season in Mexico is half as entertaining as this weekend then we are in for a proper treat.

?? MLS: Sporting KC 0-1 New York Red Bulls

The lead in MLS’ Eastern Conference has changed hands in the last week and the New York Red Bulls are on top for the first time since the second matchday of the season after beating Atlanta United on Thursday night and Kansas City at the weekend.

Two common denominators in those matches are that NYRB won by a one-goal margin and Lewis Morgan was on the scoresheet on both occasions. The Scottish international has entered double digits for goal involvements in MLS this season and has scored or assisted in five of his last eight matches in all competitions – with NYRB failing to score at all in the other three.

Morgan has been used as a winger, inside forward, and wing-back by Gerhard Struber as he has switched between back-four and back-three systems this season, but the ex-Celtic man has consistently delivered. His ball-carrying ability and directness have been crucial to his side’s counterattacks and he has the highest xG as well as xA tally in the squad.

Morgan cost the Red Bulls a transfer fee of just €1.1 million when he joined from Inter Miami before the start of the season and he clearly has been worth every penny.

?? Argentina: Boca Juniors 0-3 Banfield

Boca won the Copa de la Liga, the precursor to the current league season in Argentina but they have not had a good time of it since and they now sit outside the top 10 after six matchdays. That Copa win may have seen them qualify for the 2023 edition of the Copa Libertadores but they will surely struggle to lift their fourth domestic title in six years should their domestic form continue on their path.

In truth though, their focus seems to be elsewhere, as their defeat at the hands of Banfield indicates. Sebastián Battaglia put out a second-string line-up with the key men rested ahead of their Libertadores Round of 16 tie against Corinthians – which is hanging in the balance after a goalless first leg on Tuesday night.

The young centre-back pairing of Gabriel Aranda and Gastón Ávila were making their first starts of the season but they did not have a great time of it as Banfield’s first two goals came from crosses they failed to deal. And second-choice keeper Javier Hernán García ended the game with more goals conceded than saves made.

Young midfielders Cristian Medina and Aaron Molinas did perform well as they helped Boca keep 66% of the ball, creating three chances between them, but neither could summon up a goal. Both may hope to feature in that vital second leg against Corinthians but the likes of Sebastián Villa, Dario Benedetto, Exequiel Zeballos, Marcos Rojo and Frank Fabra will surely be back in the starting line-up.

? Slovakia: Israel U19 1-3 England U19

The final of the Under-19 Euro was played in Slovakia on Friday, and it featured the tournament’s surprise package Israel, who were taking on a very talented England side.

Israel certainly did not boast the best squad in the competition but they really impressed with their direct style of play marked with intense counterpressing and dangerous counterattacks.

They beat one of the favourites, France in the semi-final and were on course to repeat the feat in the final when they took the lead just before half-time. The man who scored the goal was Oscar Gloukh, arguably the standout performer of the tournament.

England had, however, come from behind in their semi-final against Italy and they did so by scoring twice from set-pieces. They used that trick again here, equalising early in the second half through Callum Doyle but that was how it stayed for the rest of the 90.

A frantic extra time period saw both sides fashion presentable scoring chances but England prevailed thanks to goals from Carney Chukwuemeka and Aaron Ramsey (no, not that one). It isn’t all bad news for Israel, though, as they have secured a spot in next year’s FIFA Under-20 World Cup alongside the other semi-finalists and Slovakia, who beat Austria in the play-off.

? Honduras: USA U20 6-0 Dominican Republic U20

Another international youth football tournament also concluded over the weekend as the final of the CONCACAF Under-20 Championship was played in Honduras.

The USA secured their third consecutive title with a rout of the Dominican Republic, scoring three goals in each half. The tournament’s MVP, Paxten Aaronson (whose brother Brandon recently secured a move to Leeds United), was the standout performer in the match as he netted twice and played a key role in the build-up to a couple of other goals.

The Dominican Republic, like Israel, will take away something from this tournament as they too have qualified for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup due to be held in Indonesia next year, as have the other semi-finalists, Honduras and Guatemala. Record champions Mexico, however, will have to leave empty-handed as they were knocked out of the quarter-finals by Guatemala.

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Written by Neel Shelat.

Cover Image from IMAGO