Callum Brittain’s first goal for Blackburn earned his side a third straight win in the Championship as they came from behind to defeat managerless Millwall 2-1 at The Den.
It certainly was not the finish of a man who had not previously struck since signing from Barnsley last year, but it enabled Jon Dahl Tomasson’s team to seal the points.
This was Millwall’s first home game since the departure of Gary Rowett six days ago, and his former charges are now winless in three.
They were, however, ahead in only the third minute when Jake Cooper kept alive Joe Bryan’s free-kick, allowing Wes Harding to get in a fairly tame header on goal.
It was one that Blackburn goalkeeper Leopold Wahlstedt somehow allowed to run in through his legs and give Harding his first Lions goal since his summer move from Rotherham.
Another goalkeeping clanger then gifted the visitors an equaliser after 22 minutes when Joe Rankin-Costello played a one-two with Brittain before his shot squirmed under Bartosz Bialkowski and trickled in.
Rovers almost completed the turnaround just after the half-hour when Dominic Hyam’s ball across was flicked goalwards by Harry Pickering, but Bialkowski this time got down to save.
Blackburn looked the more likely to move ahead in the remainder of the half, but the two teams went into the break level in the score and level when it came to errors by the men between the sticks.
Parity was broken six minutes into the second half when James Hill’s pass put Brittain into space and he was able to advance into the area before bending a superb finish into the top corner to put the visitors ahead.
Millwall responded well, however, and were almost level within three minutes as Tom Bradshaw’s header needed to be pushed over the bar by Wahlstedt.
Blackburn then should have moved further in front in the 59th minute when substitute Andrew Moran was put through by Rankin-Costello, only to be denied by Bialkowski, who then clawed away Sammie Szmodics’ header moments later.
Still in the hunt, the Lions again came close to equalising when Romain Esse’s chipped ball into the box was flicked wide by Cooper’s head.
Then from George Honeyman’s corner, Bradshaw flicked the ball on, but the sliding Harding was unable to turn it home at the back post.
Bialkowski then continued to keep the hosts alive, when he did brilliantly to tip Szmodics’ effort onto the bar after Blackburn’s top scorer had been teed up by Tyrhys Dolan, but Brittain’s super strike was enough to claim the points.
Jamaica, T&T drawn in Group B of League A for 2024/25 Concacaf Nations League
Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago are set to cross swords in the group stages of this year’s fourth edition of the Concacaf Nations League, as both were drawn in Group B of League A for the 2024/25 campaign which is scheduled to kick off in September.
This year’s Concacaf Nations League will again be contested in a three-league format –Leagues A, B and C –and will see the Confederation’s 41 senior men’s national teams doing battle during the FIFA match windows of September, October, and November 2024. The semi-finals and finals of the tournament, which serves as the qualifiers for next summer’s 2025 Concacaf Gold Cup, are scheduled for March 2025.
The teams have been grouped across the respective Leagues based on their results from the 2023/24 staging. The Reggae Boyz and their Soca Warriors counterparts, who contested the business end of the competition for the first time in that campaign, will be hoping to do so again on this occasion.
They are among 12 teams, split in two groups of six teams each to contest League A in a “Swiss style” league system, with each team playing a total of four games (two at home and two away).
Jamaica, last edition’s semi-finalist, and Trinidad and Tobago, who made the quarterfinals, are drawn alongside Honduras, Cuba, Nicaragua, and French Guiana, while Group A comprises, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Martinique, Guadeloupe, Suriname, and Guyana.
After group stage play in September and October, the first and second-place finishers of each group, will advance to the quarterfinals, where they will join the four top-ranked League A teams, Mexico, United States, Panama, and Canada. The quarterfinals will be played in a home-and-away format, with the winner of each fixture, on aggregate, set to secure a berth in next year’s Finals.
Meanwhile, League B will feature 16 teams divided into four groups of four teams. Each team will play every team in its group twice. The groups were drawn as follows:
Group A -El Salvador, Montserrat, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Bonaire
Group B -Curacao, Saint Lucia, Grenada, and Saint Martin
Group C -Haiti, Puerto Rico, Aruba, and St Maarten
Group D -Dominican Republic, Bermuda, Antigua and Barbuda, and Dominic
Matches in each group will be played at a centralized venue instead of the previous home-and-away format, to alleviate travel challenges that Member Associations face.
The third best-ranked teams in each group will host the September matches, the second best-ranked teams will host the October matches, and the best-ranked teams will host the decisive November matches.
Over in League C, which consists of nine teams, divided into three groups of three teams, the format takes a similar shape, where each team will play every team in its group twice.
Group A -Barbados, Bahamas, and US Virgin Islands
Group B -Belize, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Anguilla
Group C-Saint Kitts and Nevis, Cayman Islands, and British Virgin Islands
Where centralized venues are concerned, the second highest-ranked teams in each group will host the September matches, and the highest-ranked teams will host the October matches.
Schedule:
Group Stage: September 2-10, October 7-15, and November 11-19, 2024
Quarterfinals: November 11-19, 2024
Semifinals: March 20, 2025
Final and Third Place Match: March 23, 2025
Nottingham Forest unsuccessful in appeal against Premier League points deduction
Nottingham Forest have been unsuccessful in their appeal against a four-point deduction for breaching the Premier League's profit and sustainability rules.
In March, Forest were deducted four points after admitting to breaching the league's financial rules by overspending by £34.5million over a three-year assessment period ending last season.
Everton have also lost eight points to two separate deductions, having been found to have breached the rules in the period culminating in 2022-23 and the period ending last campaign.
Forest's penalty dropped them into the thick of the relegation battle, with the club saying they were "extremely dismayed by the tone and content" of the Premier League's submissions to an independent commission and pledging to appeal.
Forest argued their lack of recent Premier League history placed them at a disadvantage to other clubs and said the sale of Brennan Johnson to Tottenham, which went through last September after the end of the assessment period, was within the "spirit" of sustainability.
The club's appeal against their penalty was heard on April 24, but an appeal board decided to uphold the punishment, which was itself more lenient than that requested by the Premier League.
In a statement released on Monday, the Premier League said: "The PSR sanction applied to the assessment period ending in season 2022-23 and was appealed by the club on two grounds.
"The club argued that the independent commission committed an error in not treating its sale of a high-profile player shortly after the assessment period as a mitigating factor, and that it committed a further error in electing not to suspend some or all of the points deduction it imposed.
"Each of these grounds was rejected by the appeal board, which found the independent commission was entitled to immediately impose the sanction it did. The four-point deduction will therefore remain in place."
It means Forest stay 17th in the table with 29 points, having pulled three clear of 18th-placed Luton Town by beating already-relegated Sheffield United 3-1 on Saturday.
Nuno Espirito Santo's team face Chelsea and Burnley in their final two games of 2023-24, with Luton likely to need at least four points from meetings with West Ham and Fulham to overhaul them.
Burnley, down in 19th, need to win their last two matches – against Tottenham and Forest – to have any chance of avoiding the drop.
'Call it a day' – Casemiro told to quit Man Utd after hapless Palace display
Casemiro has been told to quit Manchester United after producing a dire display in Monday's 4-0 loss at Crystal Palace, with Jamie Carragher saying the Brazilian can no longer cut it at the top level.
United produced arguably their worst performance of the season on Monday, with Michael Olise scoring twice as Palace hammered Erik ten Hag's injury-hit side at Selhurst Park.
With Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez, Raphael Varane and Victor Lindelof all sidelined, Casemiro played as a makeshift centre-back alongside Jonny Evans and endured a nightmare outing.
The Brazilian was beaten all too easily by Olise for Palace's opener, then was outmuscled by Daniel Munoz for Olise's second goal just after the hour mark.
Carragher believes the time has come for the five-time Champions League winner to step away from the top level, saying a move to MLS or the Saudi Pro League should be on the cards.
"I think Casemiro should know himself, as an experienced player, that he should only have three games left at a top level," Carragher said in his role as Sky Sports pundit.
"Then he should say, 'I'm going to head to MLS or Saudi'. His agent or the team around him need to tell him. We're watching one of the greats of the modern time.
"But I always remember something when I retired, a saying I'll always remember, 'leave the football before the football leaves you'.
"The football's left him at this top level. He needs to call it a day at this level of football and move."
Casemiro has struggled throughout his second season at Old Trafford. Last campaign, the former Real Madrid star won possession 8.68 times per 90 minutes, on average, in the Premier League, also managing 1.44 interceptions per game.
Both of those figures are down this term, with Casemiro only winning possession back 6.14 times and making 0.84 interceptions per 90 minutes.
Since the turn of the year, meanwhile, United have faced a Premier League-high 317 shots, while only West Ham (36.35), Luton Town (35.78), Burnley (31.88) and Sheffield United (31.6) have allowed opponents to generate more expected goals (xG) than their 31.47.
Ten Hag, however, refused to single out Casemiro for criticism after Monday's match, saying: "You can't put this down to one player, it's a team performance."
Casemiro has been dribbled past on 52 occasions in the Premier League this season, with only eight players being beaten by opponents more often in the competition.
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