French Guiana celebrate a goal against St Vincent and the Grenadines.
Concacaf
Nicaragua continued its winning streak as the 2023–24 Concacaf Nations League resumed with four encounters in League B on Friday.
Nicaragua and Dominican Republic were victorious in Group B as the former extended their lead atop the standing and maintained the charge toward promotion. Montserrat and Barbados trail in the group and look to avoid contending for relegation.
In Group C, St Vincent and the Grenadines was halted by French Guiana while Bermuda won at Belize. Vincy Heat remain in pole position due to its September victories and looks to defend that standing.
Montserrat vs. Nicaragua
Nicaragua defeated Montserrat by a scoreline of 3-0 at the Wildey Astro Turf Stadium in Barbados.
Juan Luis Perez opened the scoring in the fifth with a header to convert on an early corner kick opportunity.
Goalkeeper Corrin Brooks saved an attempt from Juan Barrera in the 31st to keep the deficit to a minimal difference as Nicaragua were pushing for more.
Ariagner Smith broke free in attack and nearly extended the lead in the 37th but Brooks was there for another save as both teams went tied to the break.
Harold Medina got the second for Nicaragua in the 72nd with a shot at the top of the arc.
Jacob Montes then added a third in the 90+4 to seal the three points for the group leader.
St Vincent and the Grenadines vs. French Guiana
French Guiana came away with a 4-1 victory against St Vincent and the Grenadines at the Arnos Vale Stadium in Kingstown.
Thomas Nemouthe struck in the seventh for the visitors with a left-footed shot from the right side of the box.
Arnold Abelinti extended the lead in the 11th with a right-footed hit from the penalty spot. The opportunity came from a handball into the box by defender Nigell Charles.
Jahvin Sutherland took one back for the home side in the 31st as a give-and-go off a corner kick made way for the defender to head in the ball inside the box.
Loic Baal struck again for French Guiana in the 42nd as the visitors retook a two-goal lead before halftime.
Jules Haabo iced the result with a strike in the 81st as a jubilant French Guiana team picked up its first three points of the campaign.
Barbados vs. Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic won 5-0 over Barbados at the Wildey Astro Turf Stadium in Barbados.
Dorny Romero struck in the seventh to cap off an elaborate play off a corner kick opportunity for the visiting side.
Edarlyn Reyes extended the lead in the 21st with a left-footed shot across goal on a counterattack.
Another free kick opportunity in the 45th made way for a third Dominican Republic goal by forcing an own goal from Ramon Griffith.
Heinz Morschel scored in the 57th with a rocket from the top of the box to get his first of the tournament.
Andre Applewhaite of Barbados was ejected in the 88th after a late tackle earned him a second yellow card. Riki Alba added a fifth in the ensuing free kick opportunity as the Dominican Republic earned its second victory of the tournament.
Belize vs. Bermuda
Bermuda took a 1-0 win against Belize at the FFB Stadium in Belmopan, Belize in the first-ever encounter between the two nations.
Kane Crichlow scored the opening goal in the 18th on a long-range attempt from midfield.
Eldon Reneau looked to have the equalizer in the 30th, but Bermuda goalkeeper Dale Eve blocked the shot. Nahjib Guerra then tried to get the tie for the hosts in the 45+1 but Eve was there for the save.
Jai Bean attempted in the 50th with a long-range shot. Meanwhile, Belize tried to go to its reinforcements on the bench as Horace Avila got on target in the 55th, forcing a save from Eve.
Belize goalkeeper Charles Tillett and Dale Eve both had important stops, as no goal would be scored for the remainder of the match.
Eve ended the day with four saves and the cleans sheet as Bermuda took its first win of the season.
'I will keep fighting' - Ten Hag adamant he is the right manager for Man Utd
Erik ten Hag insists that he is the right man for the job at Manchester United despite their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Crystal Palace on Monday.
Michael Olise netted twice against a sorry United team at Selhurst Park, with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also getting on the scoresheet.
It is the first time that Palace have done the double over the Red Devils in the Premier League, as United extended their winless run on the road to five games.
There has been a lot of speculation over Ten Hag’s future following a disappointing second campaign in charge, with just one year left on his contract.
Asked if he was the right manager for United, he told Sky Sports: "Absolutely. If the right players are there and available, we have a good squad, but are missing the whole backline – we had problems.
"I will keep fighting. I prepared the team in the best way I could do. It was not good enough, by far – I have to take responsibility for that. But I will find energy and prepare them for Sunday’s game.
"At the end of the day, I have to do it with the players who are available. All season, we have huge [injury] problems. Many times we have sorted it out. Today we didn’t."
United have struggled with injury problems all season, with Harry Maguire and club captain Bruno Fernandes joining the lengthy list of players missing against Palace.
Ten Hag highlighted the lack of defensive options at his disposal but did not make excuses for the poor performance, adding: "It’s clear and obvious – this is underperforming. It’s not good enough. We are very disappointed in this. Our fans were behind us all the way – we should have kept fighting like the fans did.
"There are always reasons. Everyone sees our backline, we have huge problems, but at the end of the day we have to deal with it – we should have done better than we did.
"We know [how damaging it could be], but we have nine points to play, so we have to fight for the nine points."
Man Utd thrashing a 'big statement' but Palace are not surprised, says Eze
Eberechi Eze says Crystal Palace's 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United is a "big statement" but insists there should be little surprise that it happened.
Micheal Olise scored twice as Palace ran riot against the sorry Red Devils at Selhurst Park on Monday.
Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also got in on the act as Palace sealed their first league double over United.
Palace have now won four of their last five Premier League games, with Oliver Glasner having turned the tide in the past few weeks.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Eze said: "It says a lot, it's a big statement, but we're not surprised.
"We know what we're capable of, we know what we can do. The quality we've got in the dressing room is high – we don't see it as a surprise. We know what we came here to do today, it worked.
"You can see we’re creating chances, we're not worried about what's going on behind us. We're attacking, pressing, we're aggressive – we're going to continue to create chances for sure."
Also speaking to Sky Sports, Glasner said: "Congratulations to the team. I think in the first half, we didn't play as well as we could, but we were very efficient and scored very nice goals.
"At half-time, we made some adaptations, and the second half was much better. We created a lot of chances, scored some nice goals, and it's a great win.
"We know we have quality when we get our players in situations to score a goal.
"Good players, a good team spirit, but we must always stay humble. It's not so long ago we were struggling [in a relegation battle]. We are doing well, but we have a lot to improve."
This was Palace's biggest Premier League win since beating Leeds United 5-1 in April 2023, while it also marked their biggest on home soil in the competition since a 5-0 victory over Leicester City in April 2018.
Udinese 1-1 Napoli: Struggling Bianconeri grab last-gasp home draw
Napoli were held to a 1-1 draw at relegation-battling Udinese in Serie A on Monday after a stoppage-time goal by forward Isaac Success cancelled out a Victor Osimhen header.
Osimhen nodded home to give Napoli the lead in the 51st minute after Matteo Politano sent a lofted cross from the right into the middle of the box, and the Nigerian striker headed the ball in off the left post.
The Nigerian thought he doubled their advantage in the 80th minute, but his effort was ruled out for offside, before Success bundled in the leveller in stoppage time, netting from a Thomas Kristensen header.
Napoli moved up to eighth on 51 points from 35 games and are nine points behind both fifth-placed Atalanta and Roma, in sixth.
Data Debrief:
Osimhen is the third Napoli player to score in six matches in a row against a single team in Serie A in the three-points-for-a-win era, after Gonzalo Higuain against Lazio between 2013 and 2016 and Dries Mertens against Bologna between 2016 and 2019.
Despite fighting back to earn a point, Udinese have now failed to win three games under a new manager for the first time since August-September 2010 under Francesco Guidolin.
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