Hadebe in another Texas derby win
By Eddie Chikamhi
Life is slowly getting back on track for Teenage Hadebe in the United States after his team Houston Dynamo posted their second Major League Soccer win inside a week with the 3-2 victory over FC Dallas on Saturday.
Hadebe played 90 minutes in the final edition of the Texas Derby this season as Dynamo claimed maximum points for the second time in the last three games.
With the win, the Dynamo claimed the 2021 Texas Derby, finishing with a win and two draws in the annual series, to ease draw consolation for Tab Ramos’ men.
The winner of the annual series captures El Capitan, a Texas Revolutionary War-era cannon, and the cannon will return to Houston for the first time since 2017.
It was also a brilliant weekend for most of the Zimbabwean players abroad as Jordan Zemura’s AFC Bournemouth moved top of the English Championship.
Bournemouth, who have now collected maximum points in their last three outings, beat Cardiff City 1-0 away to climb to the apex with 18 points.
Zemura played the whole match as the Cherries gave themselves a two-points cushion ahead of second-placed Fulham, after eight games.
Tendayi Darikwa’s Wigan Athletic also cruised to the top of the English Football League One with the 4-1 demolition of hosts, Accrington Stanley, on Saturday.
Darikwa, who was named Wigan captain of the third tier side at the start of the season, has not missed a minute of action in the opening seven games.
Forward Macauley Bonne scored his fifth League One goal in Ipswich Town’s 1-0 win away to Lincoln on Saturday. Defender Brendan Galloway also featured for Plymouth Argyle when they beat Wimbledon 1-0 to climb into the top five in the English third tier.
But it was Hadebe who had every reason to be happy with the progress in the last week. Hadebe, who arrived at Dynamo in July, needed 11 games to taste victory for the first time last weekend when they thrashed Austin 3-0 in another game of the Texas Derby series.
Before that, the Zimbabwean defender has had a miserable start to life in the MLS after enduring a depressing run of six defeats and four draws.
At the end of the day, it didn’t matter it took him 11 games to celebrate victory for the first time. The win also ended Houston Dynamo’s 16-game win-less streak in the MLS. Houston had last won a league match back in May. They played 1-1 draw against LA Galaxy last week before bouncing back to another big win. Dynamo did not need long to break open the scoring.
Fafa Picault whipped a pass across the 18-yard-box that found the feet of forward Griffin Dorsey at the back post, where he hammered home his second goal in the past three matches.
Dorsey’s goal marked the third consecutive match in which the Dynamo scored first, all of which have ended with Houston earning at least a point.
Houston built on the momentum from the early goal with a dominant first-half performance, keyed in large part by the play of Dorsey and Picault.
The duo connected on Houston’s second goal of the game in the 20th minute. This time it was Dorsey who found Picault for the sliding effort to put the home side up 2-0. The goal was Picault’s 10th of the season, tying his career high from 2018 while with Philadelphia.
Dynamo extended the lead to 3-0 early in the second half when defender and captain Tim Parker drew a foul inside the box while attempting to corral the ball in the 59th minute. After the foul was called, midfielder Darwin Quintero took the penalty kick and coolly curled the ball past a diving effort from Dallas goalkeeper Phelipe.
The goal was the first of the season for Quintero.
FC Dallas broke into the scoring column twice late in the game. The first goal for the visiting side came in the 86th minute when forward Jáder Obrian received a pass from midfielder Jesús Ferreira before scoring to pull a goal back for the visiting team. The Herald
