Canadians in Europe: Larin ends goalless drought
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Cyle Larin ended a lengthy goals drought in Mallorca's win. Plus, Promise David stayed molten hot and it was FA Cup heartbreak for Olivia Smith.
Here's a look at Canadians in Europe over the weekend.
Cyle Larin, Mallorca
One year can make a big difference in football. Last year at this time, Cyle Larin and Mallorca were coming off of a 1-0 loss to Real Madrid that left them only three points clear of the drop zone with seven matches remaining on the season. Flash forward a year and Los Piratas are making a push towards a first appearance in European football since 2004. On Saturday, Mallorca visited San Sebastian for a date with another team chasing Europe in Real Sociedad. It was Brampton, Ont.'s Larin who would open the scoring in the 20th minute and it was a goal that was a long time coming for Canada's men's record goal scorer. Heading into Saturday's match, Larin last scored on Dec. 21 in a 1-0 win over Getafe. But that goal was from the spot. His last goal from open play came on Dec. 14 when he scored both goals in a 2-1 win over Girona. Minutes after the hosts had an early goal ruled offside by VAR, Larin scored against the run of play. A long pass by Ander Barrenetxea was intercepted by Sergi Darder near midfield. Darder sent in a nicely weighted through ball for Larin to run onto that cut open the Sociedad backline. With Alex Remiro coming off of his line to cut the angle and Jon Aramburu attempting to dispossess him at the final moment, Larin sidefooted the ball past the goalkeeper and watched as it slowly trickled over the line before Aritz Elustondo could clear it. The goal was Larin's sixth league marker of the season and first in nine matches. While Larin's goal would be all that Mallorca would need, they weren't finished and it was Darder who would claim a goal to go with his assist only minutes into the second half. Dani Rodriguez won the ball at the touchline and sent it forward to Darder. Using Larin as a dummy, Darder shot through Elustondo's legs, surprising a screened Remiro to make it 2-0 in the 47th. With the victory, Mallorca moved to 43 points and jumped Sociedad into eighth place, level with seventh-place Celta Vigo for the final European place and a spot in the Conference League.
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Olivia Smith, Liverpool
Heartbreak was in the cards on Saturday for Liverpool as the Reds looked to return to the FA Cup Final for the first time since 1996. What started so promising for Liverpool couldn't have finished worse in their FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea at Kingsmeadow. As she as so often this season for the Reds, Toronto's Olivia Smith shined once again in a losing effort. In only her second pro season out of Penn State, the 20-year-old Smith picked up right where she left off last year at Sporting. In 18 league matches last season in Portugal, Smith scored 13 goals. In the Women's Super League where the Reds currently sit sixth, Smith has six goals in 16 matches. On Saturday, it was Smith who opened the scoring against the five-time champion Blues. With Chelsea pressing early, the Liverpool goal came against the run of play. Marie Hobinger sent a beautiful ball for Smith to run onto, getting a step on Sandy Baltimore, who had tracked back to mark. As Smith continued her run on goal, Millie Bright attempted a last-ditch tackle, but it was all for naught as Smith's low strike beat Hannah Hampton to make it 1-0 in the 21st. Liverpool attempted to hold out for the rest of the half, but the hosts pulled level in stoppage, seemingly from nothing. Baltimore's run to the touchline appeared to have been snuffed out, but the ball ricocheted around the box allowing for Mayra Ramirez to find Erin Cuthbert whose looping volley went off of the outstretched hand of Rachael Laws, then off of the far post and over the line. While questions can be asked of Laws on the goal, the shot was an awkward one and a difficult proposition. If that stoppage-time goal for Liverpool was bad, the next one was going to be much worse. As it appeared that the match was destined for extra time, there was one last twist of the knife from Chelsea. From a throw-in, Baltimore lofted a fine volley to the goalmouth where Aggie Beever-Jones was first to it and the England forward headed home to win the match in the 94th minute at 2-1. After the match, Smith acknowledged it was a crushing defeat. “Definitely extremely disappointed," Smith told BBC Merseyside. “I can say the same for my teammates. But we left it all out on the field, I’m very proud of them. It’s an unlucky result. This one is definitely going to hurt, we’re not going to be at Wembley. But we left it out on the pitch and we’re all proud of each other. We just have to stick together and look forward to the next game. Now we’ll reflect and feel it. Then moving forward to training this week, we’ll look forward to the next match. The same goes for my teammates, we’re definitely going to feel this one, but moving forward we’ll be okay.”
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Promise David, Union SG
Promise David is on one right now. There's really no better way to describe the form he's in as Union SG made it three wins from three matches in the Belgian Pro League Championship round, claiming the latest edition of the Brussels derby with a 2-0 victory over Anderlecht on Sunday. Like he had in the previous five matches, the 23-year-old David found the back of the net once again. In the final minute of the first half, Anouar Ait El Hadj managed to knock down a ball in the box into the path of David, who turned and fired past a diving Colin Coosemans just inside the far post. The goal was David's 11th league goal of the season. The 1-0 scoreline would hold all the way to the 82nd minute when Alessio Castro-Montes set up Ait El Hadj for a goal to go along with his helper to make it 2-0 and wrap up the three points for Union. With Club Brugge's 1-0 win over Genk in a battle of the top two teams in the table also on Sunday, Union pulled within three points of Genk and top spot in third place, two points behind Club Brugge. Asked after the match if he was in the best form of his life, David was brutally honest. "No, my best form of my life was when I was 13 years old playing at Brampton East," David said. Now with 16 goals across all competitions, David's first season in Belgium, having come over from Estonian side Kalju last summer, could be his last with his performances putting bigger clubs in Europe on notice.