Association Football 2023/2024 Discussion Thread

[NewYorkExpress]

Mexico names Tigres Head Coach Diego Cocca as their new Head Coach.

[NewYorkExpress]

Real Madrid defeated Al Hilal 5-3,to win the Club World Cup.

[buritobr]

Since FIFA Club World Cup was created in 2005, only 3 South Americans won: São Paulo 2005, Internacional 2006, Corinthians 2012. 6 South Americans were defeated by a non-European in the semifinal. In the remaining ones, the European team defeated the South American team in the final. The South American teams lost to non-Europeans in the semifinal more often than they won against Europeans in the final. South American clubs are falling behind.

Until 2004, when there was only the game European champion vs South American champion in Japan, the South Americans won more times.

[Santander]

How did Jesse Marsch pull that off? The power of Red Bull...

[NewYorkExpress]

Apparently an amateur porn video was shot at the Nice/Lille game on January 29.

Ligue 1 club Nice have a filed a police complaint after a pornographic video was filmed at their stadium during a match last month, the club confirmed to ESPN.

The amateur video was filmed in the toilets of the Allianz Riviera during Nice's 1-0 victory over Lille on Jan. 29.

[JGibson]

Arsenal threw away their 8-point lead in the table, as they lost 3-1 to Manchester City. The teams are level on points, but City have the superior goal differential, thus City are on top. Arsenal still have a game in hand.

[NewYorkExpress]

Bottom of the table Southampton about ten minutes away from embarrassing Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. The Saints currently lead 1-0.

[JGibson]

Arsenal regain their place at the top of the Premier League table with a come-from-behind 4-2 win over Aston Villa and the fact that Manchester City threw away two points in a 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest.



They have a 2-point edge with a game in hand over Man City. 

[Santander]

Union Berlin have the chance to overtake Bayern on top of the table if they can beat rather hopeless Schalke at home.

[NewYorkExpress]

It says a lot about PSG that they forgot how to play defense in their game against Lille today and they still won 4-3. as all three of Mbappe, Messi and Ronaldo scored at least once (Mbappe bagged a brace).

[Lechasseur]

It says a lot about PSG that they forgot how to play defense in their game against Lille today and they still won 4-3. as all three of Mbappe, Messi and Ronaldo Neymar scored at least once (Mbappe bagged a brace).

[JGibson]

With Union Berlin drawing Schalke nil-nil and Dortmund thrashing Hertha Berlin 4-1, we have a 3-way tie for 1st (Bayern is #1 due to much superior goal differential) in the Bundesliga table.

https://twitter.com/ESPNFC/status/1627377729204023298

[NewYorkExpress]

It says a lot about PSG that they forgot how to play defense in their game against Lille today and they still won 4-3. as all three of Mbappe, Messi and Ronaldo Neymar scored at least once (Mbappe bagged a brace).

Oops. I think of Neymar as a Poker Player these days, since apparently he's just as good at that as he is in football.

[NewYorkExpress]

Europa League Round of Sixteen Draw is out.

Union Berlin vs Union Saint-Gillose

Sevilla vs Fenerbahçe

Juventus vs SC Freiberg

Beyer Leverkusen vs Ferencvaros

Sporting CP vs Arsenal

Manchester United vs Real Betis

AS Roma vs Real Sociedad

Shakhtar Donetsk vs Feyenoord


Easy matchups for Manchester United and Roma (especially after Manchester United's thrilling battle with Barcelona). Arsenal's got a tricky match with Sporting and really should be prioritizing the Premier League more anyways.

[JGibson]

St. Louis City SC played their first ever MLS game and got their first ever win to take home 3 points.
They took a 1-nil lead, then lost it to go down 2-1, and recovered to win 3-2.
Tim Parker scored the team's first ever goal, Jared Stroud scored the match-tying goal to level it 2-2, and João Klauss scored the winner.

[Santander]

Easy matchups for Manchester United and Roma (especially after Manchester United's thrilling battle with Barcelona). Arsenal's got a tricky match with Sporting and really should be prioritizing the Premier League more anyways.

You could make better posts with a random text generator.

The #3 and #5 teams in Spain are "easy" while the #4 team in Portugal is "tricky"? Arsenal is an overwhelming favorite over Sporting while Roma is probably a slight underdog to Sociedad.

[NewYorkExpress]

Manchester United ends a six year trophy drought,winning the Carabao Cup 2-0 over Newcastle United.

The win is Manchester United's first trophy of any kind since winning the Europa League in 2017 (a competition they are still alive in- they face Real Betis next).

[NewYorkExpress]

Jurgen Klinsmann has been named the manager of the South Korean National Team.

For a side like South Korea, this is a fantastic hire. They aren't going to contend for World Cups, but a hire like this could be the difference in winning the Asian Cup this year.

[Sprouts Farmers Market ✘]

Serie C has a couple interesting storylines with nine games to play:

First, Girone A has a three way tie for first amongst some names from Lombardy that we haven't heard from in a lifetime.

FeralpiSaló has scored just 26 times through 29 matches (second fewest of the 20 team group), but are clinging onto the tie yet with the largest goal differential amongst the three clubs involved. They've been in Serie C for their entire history, and after their best finish last year (3rd), they are in the fight of their history for the first promotion. Potentially very funny if they replace the provincial capital in Serie B after Brescia's indescribable stumble since the World Cup with 2 points from their last 12 matches.

Pro Sesto (San Giovanni) was not supposed to be anywhere near the promotion race, and with a +2 GD, surely there is no way the good fortunes take them the distance. The remaining home games should be a breeze, but four tricky road games including the season finale in Saló stand between them and their first Serie B appearance since 1950!

Lecco is in a similar place, if slightly better because its three tough games will all be at home. Looking to break a 50 year drought so the timing is convenient for our base-10 numerical system.

Sadly, I bring this up now because the most likely outcome is that Pordenone and/or Vicenza mere points back capitalize on their superior talent and return to Serie B after just one season below - but the good stories are there for the taking!


The second storyline is that I've been watching all season to see if Catanzaro can crack 100 goals and/or points in Girone C as they've humiliated every opponent. They're now on pace for 102 goals and 99.5 points. Unfortunately I think odds are bleak as they will need to win 8 of their last 9. 2nd, 3rd and 4th place squads all on the calendar and they've only blanked them 5-0 aggregate in the first legs. But if this historic feat does occur, how much do they owe to Catania's coffers for the bankruptcy (although they may have merely displaced Pescara northward)?

I've had several Calabresi walk up to me with so much excitement for this club, even when they are fans of a regional rival. What a buzz they have going for them.

[NewYorkExpress]

Over in the FA Cup today, fourth-tier Grimsby Town knocked out Southampton (a Premier League side) to advance to the Quarterfinals.

The Haddocks will face Brighton & Hove Albion in the Quarterfinals on March 18.

[JGibson]

What an epic comeback win by the Arsenal. Down 2-nil, we came back to win 3-2, thanks to Reiss Nelson's last-second winner at the death.

The lead stays 5 points over Manchester City.

[JGibson]

Liverpool delivered a caning session to Manchester United, as they beat them 7-nil.

[JGibson]

BBC's Match Of The Day programme (program for the American-minded) will be presenterless and punditless today in solidarity of presenter Gary Lineker's unfair dismissal from the program over his comments on Twitter that rightly criticized the Sunak Government's cruel asylum policy.

Jim Waterson at The Guardian:

Match of the Day will be broadcast without presenters, pundits or its usual commentators this weekend, after the main host, Gary Lineker, was suspended from the BBC for breaching impartiality guidelines after criticising the government’s asylum policies.

In a dramatic and unexpected escalation of a crisis that has been brewing all week, the corporation took the decision to remove its highest-paid presenter from its flagship football show after he was criticised by Tory MPs and the rightwing media.

His suspension immediately led to displays of solidarity from Lineker’s co-hosts Ian Wright and Alan Shearer, who publicly announced that they would not be turning up to present Saturday’s show.


Faced with an effective strike by its on-screen staff and unable to find willing replacements, the BBC took the unprecedented decision to announce that the Premier League highlights programme would go ahead without any hosts or studio presentation. It will feature only match footage.

[JGibson]

Arsenal beat Fulham 3-0 today to restore the 5-point advantage.

[NewYorkExpress]

A match in Bolivia's Primera Division between Blooming and Palmaflor del Tropico ended up with forty-two minutes of extra time. The referees involved have been suspended.