Association Football 2023/2024 Discussion Thread

[JGibson]

Chelsea should face heavy point deductions and possibly automatic relegation for this, as the UK sanctions Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.


Joe Prince-Wright at NBC Sports:

The potential sale of Chelsea has been thrown into uncertainty, as owner Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned by the UK government and his assets, including Chelsea Football Club, have been frozen.


Chelsea have been given a special license (which runs out on May 31, 2022) to continue to operate as a club but they will not be able to buy and sell players, hand out new contracts to current players and benefit financially through merchandise, new ticket sales and many other avenues.

The UK government may ‘vary, revoke or suspend’ this license at any time, so there is the potential for the license to change in order for Chelsea to be sold but it appears the UK government will take over that process.

As of right now, the sale of the club is on hold as Abramovich was said to be close to selling Chelsea in the coming days for a reported fee of over $3 billion, as he previously said net profits would be donated to victims of the war in Ukraine.

[NewYorkExpress]

Chelsea should face heavy point deductions and possibly automatic relegation for this, as the UK sanctions Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich.


Joe Prince-Wright at NBC Sports:

The potential sale of Chelsea has been thrown into uncertainty, as owner Roman Abramovich has been sanctioned by the UK government and his assets, including Chelsea Football Club, have been frozen.


Chelsea have been given a special license (which runs out on May 31, 2022) to continue to operate as a club but they will not be able to buy and sell players, hand out new contracts to current players and benefit financially through merchandise, new ticket sales and many other avenues.

The UK government may ‘vary, revoke or suspend’ this license at any time, so there is the potential for the license to change in order for Chelsea to be sold but it appears the UK government will take over that process.

As of right now, the sale of the club is on hold as Abramovich was said to be close to selling Chelsea in the coming days for a reported fee of over $3 billion, as he previously said net profits would be donated to victims of the war in Ukraine.

Forget automatic relegation, why should the government allow Chelsea F.C to operate at all?

[Mike88]

I'm still shocked by Ajax being defeated by Benfica. The world has completely gone crazy.

[Santander]

I'm still shocked by Ajax being defeated by Benfica. The world has completely gone crazy.

They are the two greatest "finishing schools" for top talent in Europe.

Yes, Ajax played better, and have better talent right now, but they didn't create many real chances, and I don't know a single Ajax supporter who begrudges Benfica their win.

Also, Atleti merely lived up to expectations by beating Man Utd, unlike what some in the English media are saying. You look on paper, and while Man Utd is a good team, so is Atleti. João Félix (most talented young player in the world alongside Camavinga, imo), Griezmann, Koke, Llorente, Oblak... this is a world-class team.

[Mike88]

I'm still shocked by Ajax being defeated by Benfica. The world has completely gone crazy.

They are the two greatest "finishing schools" for top talent in Europe.

Yes, Ajax played better, and have better talent right now, but they didn't create many real chances, and I don't know a single Ajax supporter who begrudges Benfica their win.

Also, Atleti merely lived up to expectations by beating Man Utd, unlike what some in the English media are saying. You look on paper, and while Man Utd is a good team, so is Atleti. João Félix (most talented young player in the world alongside Camavinga, imo), Griezmann, Koke, Llorente, Oblak... this is a world-class team.

Yes, I agree, Ajax didn't played to win and that was surprising, but because Benfica's campaign in the Portuguese league has been a disaster, with recent tumbles against Vizela, Gil Vicente and Boavista, makes this win even more of a shocker.

United has been quite complete bad. Cristiano himself seems completely lost, don't know if he's fed up with playing in England anymore.

[NewYorkExpress]

Pretty sizable Champions League upset (at least in my opinion) as Villarreal wins 3-0 today in Turin, to finish off a 4-1 aggregate knockout of Juventus.

[NewYorkExpress]

Barcelona is back! Barcelona crushes Real Madrid, wins El Clasico 4-0.

With the El Clasico demolition job, Barcelona is now third, at 54 points, level with Atletico Madrid (and ahead of them on goal differential), three points behind Sevilla for second, and twelve points behind Real Madrid for the lead.

[NewYorkExpress]

Friday Night:

USA/Mexico at Estadio Azteca for all the marbles.

This is going to be a tough one, as we're going to Estadio Azteca, where we don't historically do well, and we'll be without several of our best players in Barcelona Full Back Sergino Dest, Wolfsburg Defender John Brooks and Juventus Defensive Midfielder Weston McKennie, all of whom are out with injuries.

If we win or draw and against Mexico, and follow it up with at least one win against against Panama and Costa Rica, we should lock up an automatic qualification spot and avoid the playoff against the OFC Champion (which I presume will be New Zealand).

[Alcibiades]

Oh, Italy…

[Santander]

Oh, Italy…

Almost as bad as Madrid losing to Sheriff at the Bernabeu.

[parochial boy]

Congrats to North Greece!

[Santander]

I hope North Macedonia beats Portugal. Nothing against Portugal, but it'd be nice to have a new team at the World Cup, it puts Ronaldo in his place, and it’ll trigger Greece. What more can you ask for?

[NewYorkExpress]

I think we've found our 2022 World Cup Champion.

[Suburbia]

I think we've found our 2022 World Cup Champion.

Who?

[NewYorkExpress]

I think we've found our 2022 World Cup Champion.

Who?

North Macedonia, who apparently beat Italy today and I didn't notice.

[NewYorkExpress]

Halfway through in USA/Mexico, and we are scoreless.

While the time of possession favors Mexico, 57%-43%, the USA is clearly outplaying El Tri when they do have the ball.

I still would be surprised if we actually win this one, but getting a draw, and thus one very important point wouldn't shock me at all right now.

[NewYorkExpress]

Well, we got a draw against Mexico, but more importantly, we outplayed Mexico at Estadio Azteca. We were very unlucky not to win this one.

All we need now is just one win against either Costa Rica or Panama and we'll be heading to Qatar this winter.

[NewYorkExpress]

USA just 45 minutes from locking up a spot in Qatar, as they are dominating Panama 4-0, halfway through.

[JGibson]

USMNT won 5-1 over Panama, with Christian Pulisic having a hat trick (including 2 from the spot). They clinch themselves at least an intercontinental playoffs place by placing Top 4 in the Octogonal and a good chance at clinching a ticket to Qatar outright on Wednesday.

[𝕭𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖆 𝕸𝖎𝖓𝖔𝖑𝖆]

Being eliminated by North Macedonia is embarrassing, but there could be worse years to skip the World Cup than the year it is hosted in Qatar in December...

[Alcibiades]

Just realised that the last time Italy made it to the knockout stages of the World Cup was when they won it in 2006. Yikes…

[NewYorkExpress]

USMNT won 5-1 over Panama, with Christian Pulisic having a hat trick (including 2 from the spot). They clinch themselves at least an intercontinental playoffs place by placing Top 4 in the Octogonal and a good chance at clinching a ticket to Qatar outright on Wednesday.

It's pretty much over. For us to go to the playoff, rather than straight to Qatar, we'd need to lose to Costa Rica on Wednesday by six goals.

[buritobr]

Now we are sure: except the host Qatar, none of the other 31 national teams will play the World Cup for the first time. All the remaining teams which can still qualify have already played at least one World Cup.

[Mike88]

I think we've found our 2022 World Cup Champion.

Who?

North Macedonia, who apparently beat Italy today and I didn't notice.

After watching today's match, I think it was rather Italy that lost and not Macedonia that won. Portugal didn't played a brilliant game, but Macedonia never had a chance.

[Santander]

I think we've found our 2022 World Cup Champion.

Who?

North Macedonia, who apparently beat Italy today and I didn't notice.

After watching today's match, I think it was rather Italy that lost and not Macedonia that won. Portugal didn't played a brilliant game, but Macedonia never had a chance.

Italy had 2 missed penalties in the group stage and literally missed a literal open goal against North Macedonia, so they definitely lost it.

Sweden dominated most of the game against Poland today, but were clueless after they conceded a second against the run of play. At least the best team in Africa, Senegal, squeaked past Egypt in yet another shootout.