Association Football 2023/2024 Discussion Thread

[NewYorkExpress]

Ralf Rangnick is heading from Manchester United to being the head coach of the Austrian National Team, and his contract will run through the European Championship.

[NewYorkExpress]

The battle for the Premier League getting intense as we get to the home stretch. Liverpool and Manchester City both won today, with Liverpool beating Newcastle 1-0, and Manchester City obliterating Leeds United 4-0.

Both teams next have their UEFA Champions League Semifinals to worry about, with Liverpool traveling to Villarreal and Manchester heading to Santiago Bernabeu to face Real Madrid. 

[NewYorkExpress]

With Real Madrid's La Liga title, Carl Ancelotti becomes the first head coach to win all of Europe's Big Five leagues.

He previously won the Serie A title with AC Milan, the English Premier League with Chelsea, France's Ligue 1 with PSG, and the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich.

[NewYorkExpress]

Arsenal with a critical 2-1 win over West Ham United to give their Champions League chances a massive boost.

Everton gets a critical win over Chelsea as they try to avoid relegation, but they have another tough match against Leicester City next Sunday, while their nearest competitors, Leeds United and Burnley, face Arsenal and Aston Villa respectively, with Burnley's match being on Saturday.

[NewYorkExpress]

Villarreal almost knocked Liverpool out of the Champions League today. The Yellow Submarine had a 2-0 lead halfway through, and were this close to forcing the game to extra time, and possibly penalty kicks, before Liverpool rallied for three goals in the second forty-five minutes for a 5-2 aggregate victory.

Meanwhile, tomorrow we have the second leg of the Manchester City/Real Madrid match from Santiago Bernabeu, and the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League Final between the Seattle Sounders and Pumas UNAM.

[NewYorkExpress]

The other serial bottler oil emirate club bottles it again. Congrats to the best manager in the world!

I have to wonder if Pep Gaurdiola is in any danger of being fired. For all of the domestic success, that he's had at Manchester City, you'd have to think he should be able to win the Champions (or any other European trophy).

[NewYorkExpress]

The Seattle Sounders are CONCACAF Champions!!!

[NewYorkExpress]

The Europa Conference League Final matchup is set.

It'll be Roma vs Feyernood for the trophy.

[NewYorkExpress]

Fu......

I take it you are a Celtic fan?

[NewYorkExpress]

Chile accuses Ecuador National Team full back Byron Castillo, playing for Guayaquil side Barcelona of being ineligible to play for Ecuador. 

The Chilean Football Federation on Thursday asked FIFA to rule on the eligibility of an Ecuador player, alleging he used a false passport and birth certificate and throwing into question the Andean side's participation in this year's World Cup.

Chile said it had proof that Barcelona of Guayaquil full back Byron Castillo was born in Tumaco, Colombia, in 1995 and not in the Ecuadorean city of General Villamil Playas in 1998 as stated on his official papers.

Documents used in the filing to FIFA and seen by Reuters purport to show his "forged" birth certificates as well as an internal Ecuadorean investigation acknowledging inconsistencies in his documentation.

"All this is obviously well known by the FEF (Ecuadorean Federation)," the Chilean federation said in a statement. "The football world cannot close its eyes to so much proof. These serious and irregular practices in the registration of players cannot be accepted, especially when we are talking about a world competition."

It said it had sent evidence to FIFA asking it to investigate. FIFA acknowledged it had "received a formal complaint from the Chilean FA" but declined to comment further.

Reports from Ecuador in 2021 said Castillo had been ratified as an Ecuadorean citizen, enabling him to play for the national side.

Castillo made his debut five months after that decision, which was reported in the newspaper El Telegrafo.

The Ecuadorean FA dismissed on Thursday what it said were "unfounded rumours" designed to destabilise the Ecuadorean Football Federation by those who want to prevent its participation in the Qatar World Cup.

"We must be emphatic [and state] that Byron Castillo is Ecuadorean for all legal effects," a statement said.

Castillo's possible ineligibility could spell trouble for Ecuador, one of four South American teams who have so far qualified for the Qatar World Cup in November and December.

Castillo played in eight of Ecuador's 18 qualifiers, matches in which they picked up 14 of their 26 points. The Andean side finished fourth in the 10-team qualifying table, the last automatic qualifying spot.

If they lost points for the games in which Castillo appeared they could miss out on a place in Qatar.

[NewYorkExpress]

Empoli just blew a 2-0 lead to allow Inter to come back and tie their game up at 2-2 halfway through at the San Siro/Stade Gisueppe Meazza.

[NewYorkExpress]

Mikel Arteta has signed an extension with Arsenal that will keep him at The Emirates Stadium through 2025.

[NewYorkExpress]

Great defensive duel ongoing in a very important, must-win game between Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur.

Liverpool needs the win to pass Manchester City for the English Premier League lead, while Tottenham needs the win to pass Arsenal for fourth place and a Champions League spot.

[NewYorkExpress]

Manchester United officially eliminated from Champions League contention with their 4-0 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion.

The good news for them, is they've locked up an Europa League spot, as their final match will be against Crystal Palace, and they can finish no lower than sixth.

Meanwhile, both the battle for the Premier League Title and the Battle for 4th place will go down to the wire.

The title fight between Manchester City and Liverpool will end on the final day, following Liverpool's 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur. Liverpool has three games left, against Aston Villa, Southampton and Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Manchester City faces Newcastle United tomorrow, then goes on to face Wolverhampton Wanderers, West Ham United and Aston Villa to close out the season.

In the battle for fourth, Tottenham's draw with Liverpool means they remain a point behind Arsenal for fourth. Arsenal plays Leeds United tomorrow in an important game for both teams (Arsenal needs the win to stay in fourth, Leeds needs the win to avoid being relegated), and then finishes the season with a massive clash against Tottenham on Thursday, followed by games against Newcastle United and Everton, while Tottenham Hotspur, ends their season with the game against Arsenal, followed by games against Burnley and Norwich City.

[NewYorkExpress]

The good news for them, is they've locked up an Europa League spot, as their final match will be against Crystal Palace, and they can finish no lower than sixth.

Um, no, they haven't. Not even close. Please stop posting your garbage.

West Ham would need to win out, and that isn't happening (they aren't beating Manchester City, and I don't think they'll beat Brighton & Hove Albion either).

[NewYorkExpress]

https://twitter.com/FabrizioRomano/status/1523704222914859008?ref_src=twsrc%5Etf...

[NewYorkExpress]

Kylain Mbappe has agreed to a deal with Real Madrid

Kylian Mbappe has agreed personal terms with Real Madrid, The Athletic understands.

The 23-year-old has not yet signed paperwork with Real and Paris Saint-Germain, his current club, are still trying to convince him to change his mind.

Mbappe’s contract with French champions PSG runs out at the end of the season and he is able to move to Real for free in the summer.

Real have been very confident for a significant period of time that Mbappe is coming to the Santiago Bernabeu and are just waiting for his signature, which they expect to come once PSG’s season is over.

[NewYorkExpress]

€50m net annual salary for Mbappe, plus €100m sign on bonus. This makes Messi's old Barcelona contract and Ronaldo's old Juventus contract look quaint.

How is PSG not committing Financial Fair play violations with that deal?

[NewYorkExpress]

Rather nasty behavior by Saint Eitenne fans after their promotion/relegation playoff against AJ Auxerre.

Angry fans invaded the field as Saint-Etienne, one of the most storied football teams in France, were relegated from the Ligue 1 on Sunday after losing 5-4 on penalty kicks to AJ Auxerre in their promotion-relegation playoff.

The second-leg game was 1-1 after 90 minutes with no goals added in extra time at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. That left the aggregate score at 2-2 after the sides also drew 1-1 in the first leg.


Saint-Etienne fans invaded the field immediately after the last penalty kick with flares being set off. Players from both teams rushed into the locker room as scores of angry fans ran across the pitch and lit flares.

L'Equipe newspaper said the supporters were then dispersed by police. No injuries were immediately reported.

[NewYorkExpress]

Real Madrid with another fantastic signing, adding Monaco midfielder Aurelien Touchameni for 80 million Euros.

Real Madrid have signed the highly rated France midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni from AS Monaco on a six-year contract, it has been announced.

The Champions League winners have agreed to pay a transfer fee of around €80 million to sign Tchouameni, 22, after seeing off competition from European rivals to land the player.


ESPN reported that Madrid and Monaco reached an agreement for the deal on Tuesday with the midfielder opting to join the Spanish champions over Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain.

The Real Madrid midfield is going to be fantastic for the next decade, with Valverde, Camavinga and Touchameni.

[NewYorkExpress]

Liverpool to sign Benefica forward Darwin Nunez for 100 million Euros.

This is a fantastic signing for Liverpool, especially with both Sadio Mane and Mohamad Salah's future at Liverpool in doubt, signing a forward like Nunez is a great move. He'll pair well with Roberto Firmino too.

[NewYorkExpress]

As we are approaching a new transfer window, and thus a new season, the thread has gotten a name change.

Welcome to the 2022/2023 Association Football thread.

World Cup discussion goes on the dedicated thread, with a special thanks to buritobr, for creating said thread.

[NewYorkExpress]

The United States crushed Grenada 5-0 on Friday and has a similarly easy matchup with El Salvador tonight as part of CONCACAF Nations League action

Before entering CONCACAF Nations League play, the U.S had an easy 3-0 friendly win over Morocco, an an excellent 0-0 draw with Uruguay in another Friendly at the beginning of this month.

[NewYorkExpress]

USA fail to beat El Salavdor, get a 1-1 draw.

I've got mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, El Salvador is a very easy opponent and we should beat them, no questions asked. On the other hand, we've historically struggled to win road games in Central America, so escaping with a draw here might not be a bad result, in actuality.

England lose! 🤡

Somehow I feel empty-quoting this is a bit inadequate today.

Given how much England lost by, and how much weaker a team Hungary is supposed to be compared to them, if it weren't for the fact the World Cup is right around the corner, I think Gareth Southgate would be out of a job today.

[NewYorkExpress]

Mauricio Pochettino sacked by PSG.

The current shortlist is Nice's Christophe Galtier, Sevilla's Julian Lopeteugi, River Plate's Marcelo Gallardo and Sporting's Rueben Amorim.