Trinidad and Tobago and Guatemala in action.
Concacaf
League A of the 2023-24 Concacaf Nations League continued on Friday with Panama, Martinique and Trinidad and Tobago all collecting pivotal wins.
Curacao vs. Panama
Things in Group A got started at the Ergilio Hato Stadium in Willemstad, Curacao where visitors Panama topped Curacao 2-1.
Panama is now in second place with seven points, while Curacao have officially been relegated to League B with their third defeat.
Edgar Barcenas of Panama opened the scoring in the 29th on a play that was crafted by midfielder Adalberto Carrasquilla, who lofted an inch-perfect pass to the running Cristian Martinez and the cutback pass hit Barcenas in stride, making for an easy sweep into net.
Panama doubled their advantage in the second half in the 77th through Jose Rodriguez, who expertly headed in a cross from Barcenas.
Curacao would get on the scoreboard in the waning moments of second half stoppage time, with Rangelo Janga executing a tidy header of his own.
Martinique vs. El Salvador
Martinique made a strong move up the table thanks to a 1-0 victory over El Salvador at the Stade Municipal Pierre-Aliker in Fort-de-France.
Martinique now have six points and sit in third place, while El Salvador, by virtue of this, their third defeat, have officially been relegated to League B.
Just like they did in their Gold Cup group stage meeting over the summer, Martinique struck first in the first half and took a 1-0 lead in the 23rd.
It was a well-crafted goal from Les Matinino, who worked the ball up the field, switching sides before a cross from the right wing by Damien Dussaut hit the cutting Johnny Marajo, whose right-footed shot beat El Salvador goalkeeper Mario Gonzalez.
Martinique then had a great chance at doubling their lead in the 73rd when Brighton Labeau hauled in a pass deep in the area and used an exquisite first touch to have an open look at goal, only to see his shot sail wide.
El Salvador had one final chance in second stoppage time through Mayer Gil, but his shot rang off the post and rolled wide in front of goal, still three points were safe for Martinique.
Trinidad and Tobago vs. Guatemala
The day in Group A then concluded with a dramatic 3-2 comeback victory for Trinidad and Tobago against Guatemala at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Port of Spain.
Trinidad and Tobago remain atop the group with nine points, while Guatemala remain in fourth place with four points.
It was a dream start for Guatemala, as Rubio Rubin struck for the opener in the 12th by touching home a shot right in front of goal off a pass from Nathaniel Mendez.
Guatemala doubled their lead in the 32nd when an initial attempt from Oscar Santis was blocked by a defender, but Santis’ follow-up attempt was smashed off the post and in for the goal.
But Trinidad and Tobago responded well and pulled back to within a goal at 2-1 in the 35th when Alvin Jones converted a penalty after Noah Powder had been fouled in the area.
Trinidad and Tobago kept the pressure on and were back on level terms in the 54th when a Neveal Hackshaw header was saved by Guatemala goalkeeper Nicholas Hagen, but Reon Moore was there to hammer home the rebound.
Play remained wide open going into the final half-hour, with Guatemala nearly retaking a lead in the 70th on a Jose Pinto header that hit the crossbar and dropped onto the goal-line before being cleared.
The final says, though, belonged to Trinidad and Tobago, as Nathaniel James, who came off the bench to score a late winner on matchday one against Curacao, did it again, this time firing in a free kick in the 89th to deliver the telling blow.
Emery has no complaints after tired Aston Villa lose late on at Brighton
Unai Emery accepts Aston Villa can have no complaints over their 1-0 loss to Brighton and Hove Albion in the Premier League.
The Villans fell to a narrow defeat at the Amex Stadium on Sunday as Joao Pedro converted late on after his initial penalty attempt was saved.
Villa looked sluggish throughout yet were just minutes away from claiming a point that would have further boosted their top-four prospects.
John McGinn also had a goal ruled out for a marginal offside, but Emery admits his side were not deserving of a point on their travels.
"We competed but it was not enough," he told BBC Sport. "We weren't strong enough in 90 minutes to deserve anything more than we achieved.
"Now the most important thing is to rest, to rest today, rest tomorrow, after the match.
"We are having an amazing season, brilliant, but of course we are at the last chance and we have to try and give everything."
Villa remain seven points clear of fifth-place Tottenham, albeit having played a game more, after Spurs' 4-2 loss at Liverpool.
Before focus can turn to the Villans' home match with Liverpool in a week's time, they first travel to Olympiacos for their Europa Conference League semi-final second leg.
Emery's men have a major task on their hands if they are to reach the final as they trail 4-2 from last week's first leg at Villa Park.
"We want to put in a good effort on Thursday [against Olympiakos] and on Monday against Liverpool. Now is time to rest," Emery added.
"We had a lot of players injured and they are recovering. The most important thing is to get players back for balance and to be competitive."
Victory for Brighton was much needed after going six without a win in the Premier League, failing to score in four of those matches.
While Roberto De Zerbi was pleased to get back to winning ways, he accepts Brighton were given a helping hand by Villa's quick turnaround in games.
"To be honest, Villa were not themselves, maybe a little tired," he said. "They are playing in the Europa Conference League and they have a lot of injuries.
"I am proud because we played a great game against one of the best teams in the Premier League. Playing against Unai Emery's teams is very tough.
"We played well, we deserved to win and we could have scored more goals. I think Robin Olsen was the best player for Villa."
Declan Rice loss to blame for heavy West Ham defeats - David Moyes
Declan Rice's absence is to blame for a number of heavy West Ham defeats this season, according to manager David Moyes.
West Ham sold captain and influential midfielder Rice to Arsenal last July for a club-record fee rising to £105million with add-ons.
The Hammers have seen results nosedive since the turn of the year, most recently crashing to a 5-0 defeat away at Chelsea on Sunday.
That was the sixth time West Ham have conceded four or more goals away from home this season, and their fifth loss in six away games overall.
Asked at his post-match press conference exactly why his side are on the end of heavy losses so frequently of late, Moyes said: "Declan Rice."
The Scotsman, due to be out of contract next month, added: "You get the best midfield player in the country, protecting, making sure the moments and times you limit maybe 50 per cent of the attacks.
"It makes you a much better defensive team when you get that. We've lacked protection in front of the back four; we've lacked good enough defending; we've not been good enough on those things in many games.
"You've got to be careful. You're talking about a team sitting in a really, really strong position. We've had a couple of bad days away from home, which we have to try and eradicate and make better.
"I'm trying to put a bit of mental toughness when we need it. The teams I normally prepare would normally have it. You could always lose the way you lose."
West Ham have won just one of their past nine Premier League games, seeing them slip down to ninth place and now out of the top-six running.
United have also failed to keep a clean sheet in any of their past 16 in the competition - only the second time they have done so in a single Premier League season.
The poor run of form, which also includes elimination from the Europa League at the hands of a strong Bayer Leverkusen side, has raised doubts over Moyes' future at London Stadium.
Amid suggestions that former Real Madrid and Spain boss Julen Lopetegui has already been lined up, Moyes reiterated he will wait until after the season to hold talks over his future.
"I'm going to talk to the board at the end of the season, so we’ll do that then," he said.
Allegri admits to regrets as Juventus slump continues
Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri admitted to having regrets after the Bianconeri missed the chance to close the gap to second-placed Milan in Sunday's Serie A draw with Roma.
Romelu Lukaku put Roma ahead early on at the Stadio Olimpico but Bremer's header dragged Juventus level before the break, as two teams vying for a top-five finish cancelled each other out.
Juventus have now won just two of their last 14 league games, and Allegri reacted to the final whistle on Sunday by storming off the bench and throwing his jacket to the ground in frustration.
Speaking to DAZN after the game, Allegri said: "There are regrets, naturally we could've done better during this period, but football is vicious like that, sometimes it just doesn't go your way.
"We risked losing a game that we were in a position to win at the start of the second half."
Despite four consecutive Serie A draws, Juventus remain six points clear of fifth-placed Roma and nine ahead of Atalanta in sixth – though La Dea have two games in hand.
With Italy guaranteed five Champions League qualification places for next season, they remain in a strong position to return to Europe's premier club competition, while they are also due to face Atalanta in the Coppa Italia final on May 15.
"The important thing now is to concentrate on the next game, as that is the match point for the Champions League, then we have the Coppa Italia final," Allegri said.
"The club will evaluate at the end of the season, naturally there are some solid foundations for Juve, but we were missing players like [Paul] Pogba, [Nicolo] Fagioli and of course [Federico] Chiesa was on and off."
Despite Juventus enjoying a broadly positive campaign after finishing seventh in 2022-23, when they were hampered by a 10-point deduction after an investigation into their historical financial dealings, Allegri's position has been called into question lately.
Asked about his own future, he said: "I don't know, you'd have to ask the club.
"The important thing is for us to focus on the Coppa Italia final and hopefully, we’ll come back here with the Champions League already achieved."
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