Cade Cowell’s blistering start to the Liga MX Apertura season continued Saturday with the American attacker adding to his goal tally this summer.
Cowell scored the winning goal in Chivas’ 2-0 home triumph over Mazatlan, giving him three goals in four appearances so far this season. The former San Jose Earthquakes homegrown danced his way into the Mazatlan box before drilling a right-footed shot into the far right corner of the net.
It marked Cowell’s fourth goal involvement of the summer, setting the tone for Chivas to earn its second-straight victory. The 20-year-old also won two duels and completed 91% of his passes, logging a positive 81 minutes from his left wing position.
Cowell’s next match will certainly be an emotional one as Chivas hosts the Earthquakes in the start of Leagues Cup action on July 27.
Elsewhere in Mexico, Frankie Amaya continued his early days with Toluca while Brandon Vazquez featured off the bench for Monterrey.
Here is a closer look at this weekend’s Americans Abroad:
Scotland
League Cup
Dante Polvara is OUT (Injury) for Aberdeen.
Norway
Eliteserien
Sam Rogers dressed but did not play in Hamkam’s 1-0 loss to Fredrikstad on Sunday.
Denmark
Superliagen
Jonathan Amon started and played 90 minutes in Lyngby’s 2-0 loss to FC Kobenhaven on Monday.
Christian Cappis dressed but did not play in Brondby’s 3-3 draw with Viborg on Sunday.
Mexico
Liga MX
Cade Cowell started, scored ONE GOAL, and played 81 minutes in Chivas 2-0 win over Mazatlan on Saturday.
Brandon Vazquez came off the bench and played 14 minutes in Monterrey’s 2-1 win over Queretaro on Saturday.
Frankie Amaya came off the bench and played 15 minutes in Toluca’s 1-1 draw with Cruz Azul on Saturday.
Alex Zendejas is OUT (Injury) for Club America.
He keeps putting up numbers he won’t be in Liga MX very long. I know Serie A teams were already interested in him before he made the move to Chivas. It will depend on Chivas asking price. Still wonder if Chivas said no to an Olympic call up or he wasn’t selected? Hope he continues to keep up the consistency. USMNT is lacking wing depth.
Newcastle was interested and Bayern Munich before the Chivas deal. If he can keep this production going interest will grow even more.
His pace, agility/ drobbling, and strength as well as his growing ability with his crossing will open those European doors.
Haha, wow wow wow……I watched that goal over again again and again. Cade Cowell out here looking like a “DP” in Liga MX……absolute GOLAZO, making space with the whole defense getting back. Beats the first player, freezes THREE DEFENDERS and getting the shot off quickly……Amazing individual effort. Before that, he set-up Chicharito for a beautiful header that was saved by Hugo González.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdubiR_UZTY
The Kid is happy, which is very very import for a player’s psyche and development, is playing well and has been accepted very well by the group in Mexico……..and you can see that from the dual celebration of him and Armando González Alba after the second goal. I LOVE IT!!!!
I figured it’d go one of two ways for Cowell and there was probably no in-between: he was either going to thrive and develop in an environment where technical ability and tactical intelligence – far more than pure athleticism – is everything, and where there’s more pressure and the professional standard is less forgiving. Or he was going to wash out and be back in MLS in six months because Liga MX punishes the sloppy and uncommitted. MLS has gained a significant edge on Liga MX in terms of athleticism and owing to the DP rule, the best players in MLS are better than the best ones in Liga MX…but in roster spots 4-20+ the competition for spots and playing time is still substantially higher in Liga MX. I thought Cowell could well sink like a stone.
I think we can see how it’s going. He’s got a fair bit of Gareth Bale in him – an extraordinary athlete who was wild colt playing 3/4’s out of control early in his career, but with a potentially world-class ceiling if he could ever get it under control like Bale did. If he can continue to rise to the level and refine his game…well.
I’ll admit I am a bit pleasantly surprised. I was hoping this would happen with Cowell but I’d have put my money on him failing. I’m delighted to be getting proven wrong.
On the other hand, Brandon Vasquez has done pretty much what I expected – which is bang in goals for fun, since he massively outmatches Liga MX defenders physically, and Monterrey being Monterrey, a Monterrey forward is going to get a ton of chances and excellent service. He hasn’t just waltzed in and grabbed a starting gig like I thought he would – I thought he’d look pretty much like Godzilla wading through Tokyo at Monterrey – but he’s scored 10 goals since January, most of them off the bench and is on pace for something like 18 goals his first year…which ain’t half-bad by any measure. And Monterrey does have two really good strikers ahead of him and they like to shuffle their forwards based on tactical considerations and match conditions anyway.
We’ll see what pressure and competition does for Vasquez’s game too. Big strikers tend to peak later and play longer than smaller faster ones. Didier Droga probably peaked at 34 with Chelsea – the year he won the Champions League for them – and Zlatan was still banging them in at 40 years old.
Whatever, it’s been a really good showing for our guys in Mexico lately. That’s definitely not historically been a usual thing.