After Argentina’s shock 2-1 defeat to Paraguay, the cracks in the squad’s once unshakable foundation are becoming more evident. The triumphs in recent years – the Copa América, the Finalissima, and, of course, the crowning glory of the 2022 World Cup – seem like distant memories now. The current form of the Argentine national team, especially in the South American qualifiers, raises serious concerns. It’s clear that the winning formula that once brought the team together is slowly being undone, with key players aging, tactical rigidity setting in, and new talent failing to emerge with the same consistency and hunger.

Lionel Messi, the talismanic figure behind much of Argentina’s recent success, is no longer the same player who lit up the World Cup. While still a remarkable talent, his age and physical limitations are starting to show. His ability to carry the team on his shoulders has been compromised, and the collective depth of Argentina is becoming more apparent. The midfield, once a strength with the likes of Enzo Fernandez and Rodrigo De Paul dictating tempo, now looks disjointed and vulnerable, unable to provide the same defensive security and offensive creativity. The lack of cohesion in the middle of the park was evident against Paraguay, where Argentina struggled to control the game and were often caught in transitions.

Moreover, the defensive solidity that Argentina prided itself on under Lionel Scaloni is starting to fray. The backline, which was so resolute during their World Cup triumph, has shown worrying signs of vulnerability. Argentina’s inability to close out games and their increasing tendency to concede soft goals signals a lack of composure that could prove costly in upcoming fixtures. The goalkeeper, Emiliano Martínez, despite his heroics in Qatar, has shown inconsistency, further complicating an already fragile defensive setup.

Perhaps the most worrying aspect is the lack of fresh faces and the slow integration of new talent. While the older generation is still carrying much of the load, the younger players haven’t been able to step up and fill the void. Argentina’s forward line, while still boasting the likes of Lautaro Martínez and Julian Álvarez, has been too predictable and lacks the dynamism and fluidity that once made the team so dangerous. The tactical setup also feels increasingly stale, with Scaloni’s once-famed versatility now giving way to a more rigid approach. Without new ideas or a refreshed squad, Argentina risks slipping into a decline, with the golden years of their recent triumphs fading faster than anyone expected.

Roma have appointed ex-Leicester and Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri as their new head coach until the end of the season.

The 73-year-old has come out of retirement to manage Roma for a third time.

The Italian, who announced his retirement from football in May after a spell at Cagliari, succeeds Ivan Juric following his sacking on Sunday.

At the end of the season, Ranieri will transition into a senior executive role at Roma, where he will advise the ownership on all sporting matters at the club.

The Serie A side also confirmed they are searching for a long-term managerial appointment, with Ranieri having input on the decision.

Ranieri, who famously led Leicester to Premier League glory in 2016, will take charge of his first Roma fixture on November 24 with a trip to Serie A leaders Napoli.

Ranieri will then return to England for his first European fixture back at the club as Roma visit Tottenham in the Europa League on November 28.

Bolivia has always been a difficult place to play. Now the challenge is even higher. The men’s national soccer team is hoping that hosting World Cup qualifiers at an altitude higher than ever will help it improve in the South American standings.

The Bolivians usually play in the capital La Paz at 3,640 meters (11,940 feet) above sea level, but the South American soccer body CONMEBOL has allowed them to move their games to El Alto, the second largest city in the country at an altitude of 4,150 meters (13,615 feet). That’s as high as nine Empire State Buildings on top of each other.

With one win and five losses, Bolivia is second to last in the standings, and needs a win on Thursday against visiting Venezuela, which is fifth and coming off a quarterfinal run at the Copa America.

New Bolivia coach Oscar Villegas will make his debut after replacing Antonio Carlos Zago, who was fired in July after a winless Copa. Villegas hopes to exploit the higher altitude by picking a squad in which 80% of the players are used to the thinner air, including six from Always Ready club in El Alto, and six more from Bolívar in La Paz.

El Alto Municipal Stadium opened only in 2017 and is considered a jewel in the Bolivian highlands. On its green grass, marked in white, is the phrase, “You play where you live.” Oval-shaped with seating for 24,000 spectators, the El Alto stadium is smaller than the 40,000-seat Hernando Siles Stadium in La Paz. But El Alto’s elevation is 560 meters (1,840 feet) higher.

The president of the Bolivian Football Federation, Fernando Costa, says the stadium is being trialed to see how the players respond, to determine if El Alto can become a permanent venue for home games. Venezuela’s home matches are at sea level, and it has not complained about the change of venue, but it is taking measures.

In a preliminary squad of 47 players, Venezuela coach Fernando Batista included some who are active in cities where the game is played at altitude, among them goalkeeper Alain Baroja from Bolivian club Always Ready. The Venezuelans are preparing by undergoing oxygen breathing exercises and acclimatization in hyperbaric chambers.

Bolivia hasn’t qualified for the World Cup since 1994.

Indonesia has been chosen as the host for the 2026 AFC Futsal Asian Cup, following a recommendation from the AFC Futsal & Beach Soccer Committee.

Iran are the current AFC Futsal Champions having beaten hosts Thailand 4-1 in the 2024 final. Iran have won the title 13 times with Japan the only other nation to have triumphed with four wins.

The hosting award to Indonesia is a significant turnaround for the country that was cancelled as the host country for the AFC Futsal Asian Cup 2024 group B qualifier. Saudi Arabia instead hosted those qualifiers.

For 2026 the AFC will now use FIFA’s recently launched Futsal World Ranking to determine seeding for both the Futsal Asian Cup and the Women’s Futsal Asian Cup, replacing the previous system that relied on rankings from the prior edition. Effective from 2025, this adjustment aims to provide a more dynamic and globally aligned seeding approach.

For the AFC U17 Asian Cup, which now follows an annual schedule, the 2026 Finals will run from May 14 to 31, with Qualifiers set for November 22-30, 2025. With Qatar serving as host for the FIFA U17 World Cup from 2025 to 2029, an additional World Cup berth has been created for AFC nations.

Should Qatar, as a qualified host, place in the top eight in the AFC U17 Asian Cup, the ninth World Cup slot will go to the best third-placed team across all groups, based on criteria from the AFC Competition Operations Manual.

The AFC has also introduced new seeding principles based on each team’s results across their three most recent AFC competitions, ensuring a balanced approach for tournaments without FIFA rankings, including youth and beach soccer, starting in 2025.

Tuchel’s will not officially start as England manager until January 1, despite being announced as Gareth Southgate’s permanent replacement last month, meaning Carsley faces a difficult task in encouraging the remaining players for the two upcoming matches, knowing that he will not be there in the new year.

In the aftermath of the withdrawals, the Telegraph claim that insiders from several Premier League clubs believe that the delay in Tuchel’s official takeover is the reason for the high number of pull-outs.

There is also the belief that even more players will leave the camp after the match against Greece, considering that so much hinges on that result, and anything but a win will likely make the Ireland clash a dead rubber.

The Telegraph’s source on this issue claims in the report: “At least half of those players would still be with the squad if Tuchel was in charge for these games.

“That’s not to say they don’t have injuries or issues, but players aren’t going to take any risks when they know the current manager won’t be there after this break.

“Players are physically and mentally tired, and many of them, and their clubs, see this as the only opportunity for a break before a run of a lot of games packed into a short space of time.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more withdrawals after the first game against Greece.”
The fact that many pundits and managers in England see the Nations League as a hindrance rather than a competition that should be taken seriously will have not made the situation any easier either.

While not speaking out specifically on multiple first-choice players pulling out, the FA has responded to criticism over Tuchel’s January start date.

They explain that it was their intention all along for the German to start in 2025, allowing him to fully concentrate on long-term objectives for the time being, instead of these upcoming UNL games.

The plan when Carsley was placed in temporary charge was for him to lead the team through the three international windows this autumn, ensuring a smooth transition into Tuchel’s tenure, and the appointment of the ex-Chelsea boss was not intended to change that.

While Algeria have already written their name in the book of qualified nations at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations tournament, Equatorial Guinea could join their upcoming opponents on that list when the two sides meet at Neuvo Estadio de Malabo on Thursday afternoon.

The Dessert Warriors boast a perfect record in their 2025 AFCON qualifying bid, after picking up four wins from four matches in Group E so far.

As a result of their scintillating form, Algeria are one of seven teams that have already booked their spot at the Morocco showpiece while Equatorial Guinea will hope to follow suit.

National Thunder currently sit in 2nd spot in Group E after accumulating seven points in four matches played so far. Victory over Algeria will see Equatorial Guinea secure their spot in next year’s edition of the competition.

The Algerian Football Association confirmed that they will be without Hull City forward Bachir Belloumi and Hertha BSC attacker Ibrahim Maza for their upcoming tie.

“The Algeria national team has just arrived in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, for the AFCON2025 qualifier against the Nzalang Nacional on Sunday,” the Algerian FA reported on Tuesday.

“The Desert Foxes made the trip without two players who are injured: Bachir Belloumi and Ibrahim Maza.”

If David Sullivan is serious about replacing Julen Lopetegui this year as West Ham coach then the consensus is that there are two possible calendar opportunities; We are in one right now and there’s no sign of the axe being wielded so we will have to assume that Lopetegui will still be at the helm at the end of the transfer window.

There are big arguments for delaying until the first two games after the Premier League resumption are concluded. Newcastle and Arsenal are – in our current state- unwinnable and it would be something of a poisoned chalice to sack Lopetegui now and then expect a new coach to come in and get something from either of those two games.

Trouble is, time doesn’t work to the Hammers advantage. One of the principal targets named by various sources and a coach we’d love to see at West Ham is former assistant to Slaven Bilic, Edin Terzic. He is well known and liked, has had great success in Germany and is available – at present.

However he has been shortlisted by Roma for their vacant managers role. Gazzetta.it report today that he is in discussions since Roma fired their manager on Sunday. Whilst some sources claim ‘he has turned down Roma’ the truth is that we believe talks are still ongoing and the same report details that the Italian mega club are also considering Graham Potter and Erik ten Hag.

We hope they do the decent thing and appoint Ten Hag, to be honest. Terzic and West Ham have some unfinished business together.

Clubs across Europe are interested in signing the former Coventry hitman, with Arsenal, Chelsea, PSG and now Manchester United all eager to get their hands on a player who has been scoring at a rate of more than a goal per game this season.

Strangely, Gyokeres drew a blank in Amorim’s final game in charge of Sporting before leaving to hook up with Man Utd, yet in a fitting conclusion to the coach’s time at the Lisbon club, it was a player the boss expects to ultimately replace him, Conrad Harder, who scored a late brace to help turn a 2-0 deficit into an incredible 4-2 victory.

“Viktor is a special player and Conrad will take his place,” Amorim said, effectively confirming Gyokeres’ imminent exit for the second time. “I don’t know when it will happen, but I’m happy for the club.”
Sporting’s prospects of retaining Gyokeres at least until the summer have been boosted by the news that Arsenal are looking at alternatives to the striker for the January transfer window.

CaughtOffside reports that a €50 million deal is in the works for Atalanta’s Mateo Retegui as the Gunners seek a ‘Plan B’ to provide additional scoring muscle after falling nine points off the pace in the Premier League.

This should offer encouragement to the likes of Man Utd and PSG, who are the clubs most obviously in need of a centre-forward.

Gyokeres has a release clause of €100m, which would likely have to be triggered to instigate a January deal.

However, there are widespread reports that a gentleman’s agreement is in place between the striker and Sporting that he will be able to leave for €70m if he remains until the summer.

Coventry parted ways with Mark Robins earlier this week, with Chelsea and England legend Frank Lampard now expected to take the reins of the Championship club.

The 46-year-old former England international is understood to be at the top of the list of replacements for Mark Robins. Lampard has been out of frontline management since leaving Chelsea for a second time in the wake of Graham Potter’s sacking by the Stamford Bridge club.

But he remains set on a career at the coalface in English football and he is uppermost in the thoughts of Coventry City owner Doug King. It was the businessman who called time on Robins’s seven-year spell in charge of the Sky Blues last week following a limp home defeat by Derby County.

And although Wycombe Wanderers’ boss Matt Bloomfield led the early betting, it appears that King wants a more established name to take the reigns at the CBS Arena.

As he is without a job at the moment, Lampard would be free to take over before Coventry’s next game – at home against in-form Sheffield United after the international break.

Coventry legend Steve Ogrizovic was one of many to question the dismissal of Robins, who has taken the Sky Blues from League Two all the way to a Championship play-off final.

Barcelona’s seven-match winning streak was brought crashing to a halt on Sunday as Real Sociedad handed them a 1-0 defeat in LaLiga, courtesy of Sheraldo Becker’s goal.

Becker’s first-half strike was enough to deal Hansi Flick just his second league loss in charge of the Blaugrana, as they allowed title rivals Real Madrid to make up ground at the summit.
Becker beat Flick’s aggressive offside trap in the 33rd minute, racing onto a Luka Sucic header before slotting a tidy finish just inside the post.

With star winger Lamine Yamal absent due to a muscle injury, Barcelona struggled for chances after Robert Lewandowski saw an early strike chalked off for offside following a VAR review.

In truth, La Real were unfortunate not to win by a greater margin. Mikel Oyarzabal missed a glorious chance following good work from Takefusa Kubo just before half-time, with the home skipper also drawing Inaki Pena into action in the second period.

They ultimately did not need a second goal, however, and the victory takes them eighth in LaLiga with 19 points, six adrift of the top four.

Barcelona still lead the standings on 33 points, six ahead of Real Madrid, who have a game in hand in second, while Atletico Madrid are third on 26 points.
Barcelona could have no complaints about the result on Sunday, having failed to register a single shot on target.

It is just the second time they have failed to do so in LaLiga since Opta records began in 2003-04, after a goalless draw with Malaga in 2014 under Luis Enrique.

After scoring 29 goals across a seven-match winning run that included routs of Real Madrid (4-0), Bayern Munich (4-1), Sevilla (5-1), Young Boys (5-0) and Red Star Belgrade (5-2), the result represents a harsh reality check for Flick’s team.

Pep Guardiola is enduring the worst statistical run of his managerial career after Manchester City lost their fourth straight game on Saturday.

Brighton came from behind to beat the English champions 2-1 in the Premier League to leave second-placed City five points behind leaders Liverpool.

City hadn’t lost four games in a row in all competitions since 2006 — two years before the Abu Dhabi takeover of the club and 10 years before Guardiola’s game-changing arrival on the blue side of Manchester.

As for Guardiola, widely regarded as the world’s best coach, he had never lost four straight matches anywhere in his illustrious time in management that began in 2007.

The closest he had come was in the 2014-15 season when, at Bayern Munich, his team lost in a penalty shootout in the German Cup followed by three straight defeats — two in the Bundesliga, when Bayern had already clinched the title, and once in the Champions League.

So, Guardiola was asked, is this the end of the era, after leading City to an unprecedented four straight top-flight league titles?

“It’s what the people want, right?” he posed. “That’s normal — we won a lot. I would just like to have all the squad [available].”

That won’t be happening anytime soon considering star centre-midfielder Rodri, this year’s Ballon d’Or winner, is out for the season with an ACL injury. Guardiola also had his best four centre-backs — Rúben Dias, John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Aké — unavailable, while playmaker Kevin De Bruyne is clearly not sharp or fit enough on his return from injury.
Indeed, City were dominant in the first half and went in front when Erling Haaland scored his league-leading 12th goal of the campaign.

However, as in the 4-1 loss at Sporting in the Champions League on Tuesday, City couldn’t sustain its level in the second half and Brighton fought back, with Joao Pedro equalizing in the 78th and setting up Matt O’Riley for the winner in the 83rd on his Premier League debut.

City’s losing run started at Tottenham in the Carabao Cup last week, before a 2-1 defeat at Bournemouth in the league — their first league defeat in 11 months.

Atlanta United triumphed 3-2 in the best-of-three decider in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, after both sides had won one game each.

Miama finished the regular season with a record 74 points from 34 games in the Eastern Conference to win the Supporters’ Shield.

Miami took the lead at Chase Stadium when Matias Rojas scored from a rebound after former Aston Villa keeper Brad Guzan had denied Argentina forward Messi.

Two goals in two minutes from Jamal Thiare put Atlanta in front and, despite Messi equalising with a header, Bartosz Slisz scored the winner as Miami appealed for play to be stopped with defender Tomas Aviles lying on the pitch injured.

Last month Miami, who are co-owned by David Beckham, were named as one of the 32 sides in next year’s expanded Fifa Club World Cup.

“They are now officially one of the 32 best clubs in the world, already after a few years since their existence,” said Fifa president Gianni Infantino.

“And now they can start writing their story also on the global stage.”

In December Miami signed Uruguay striker Luiz Suarez, reuniting him with former Barcelona team-mates Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.

Atlanta scraped into the play-offs by finishing ninth in the Eastern Conference, then beat Montreal on penalties in a wildcard game to set up a meeting with Miami.

Atlanta will play Orlando City, and New York City face New York Red Bulls, in the semi-finals,, external which are decided by one game rather than three.

The winners will meet in the Eastern Conference final, and the winners of that will play the Western Conference play-off champions in the MLS Cup final on 7 December.

“This season has had good and bad things,” said Miami manager Gerardo Martino.

“If you think about the expectations we had for this play-offs, obviously we came up a little short.

“The players are sad, as they should be when there are so many expectations and the team can’t fulfil them.

“In this final part of the year we got used to achieving the objectives but we couldn’t achieve the most important one.”

Miami defender Alba said the MLS Cup format is “a bit unfair”.

“It’s been done for many years but I think it should be the champion of one conference against the champion of the other to make it as fair as possible,” he said.