Former Borussia Dortmund and Australia goalkeeper Mitch Langerak has taken the J1 League by storm since joining Nagoya Grampus in 2018.
If making history for most clean sheets in Japan's top flight was not enough in 2020, Langerak broke his own record through just 28 matches this season – 18.
No stranger to breaking records, Langerak also eclipsed the mark for most consecutive J1 League clean sheets with nine earlier in 2021.
Third-placed Nagoya have conceded just 22 goals after 29 rounds – a figure only bettered by leaders Kawasaki Frontale, while Langerak has kept four clean sheets for the 2010 J1 League winners en route to the AFC Champions League quarter-finals.
Speaking to Stats Perform ahead of Wednesday's trip to FC Tokyo, Langerak said: "We're a very strong team at the moment. Obviously it helps when we have a strong mentality within the group and a good bunch of guys who are really working together for the team's benefit, whether that is going forward or back.
"I think it's a complete team effort. I don't really count clean sheets or worry too much about them because I tend to look at my performances as a whole. I can be equally as happy if I concede one goal but done so many good things as opposed to not doing a lot but keeping a clean sheet. I try to look at my game as a whole and continually try to improve on the things I don't do so well."
Since leaving LaLiga's Levante for Nagoya three years ago, Langerak has registered the most clean sheets (50) for a goalkeeper.
Langerak has conceded 0.76 goals per game in J1 League this season. Since 2015, Cerezo Osaka's Kim Jin-hyeon in 2019 (0.74) is the only goalkeeper to boast a better average of goals conceded per game in a season than the Australian.
Nagoya have not conceded in 18 of their 29 league fixtures this term. If Massimo Ficcadenti's men keep another clean sheet, they will surpass the 1995 Yokohama F.Marinos (18 in 52 league matches at the time) for the most shutouts in J1 history.
"In the last couple of years, I've really started to enjoy my football a lot more. Really been a lot calmer and relaxed about my game," Langerak said. "Looking at my performances as a whole and not only worrying about making saves or clean sheets or goals conceded. Just trying to do all the small things right.
"One of the biggest things is controlling balls in the air. These days I come out for more or less everything. Getting a good punch as much as I can or taking clean crosses. Getting out and dominating the box so much more than when I was a bit younger. That's the biggest thing I've changed. I've realised I'm stopping a lot of goals purely by getting balls of out of the box that get put in from the sides."
This season, Langerak has a save percentage of 72.15 – he finished with a 72.55 percentage at the end of 2020.
The 33-year-old's save percentage in the penalty box (66.67) is currently a career high in the J1 League.
For punches, Langerak (26) is second only to Avispa Fukuoka goalkeeper Masaaki Murakami (30).
In terms of clearances (including punches), Langerak ranks fourth among goalkeepers this season with 35, behind Kashiwa Reysol's Kim Seung-gyu.
His clearances and punches numbers have both increased since 2018-19 – Langerak's 35 clearances are a personal best in the J1 League, while his 26 punches are equal with his previous best last season.
"I'm always looking at the stats and data. Watching footage of opposition players. Regularly looking at everything after games – my own ball contacts, passing accuracy. Things like this I'm interested in," added Langerak.
"Obviously a huge effect comes from the way your team plays. So for a goalkeeper, with passing stats, it's generally determined by how your team plays. If you're playing out then you're going to have a lot of short passes that are 100 per cent successful or if you're a team that maybe plays longer balls or doesn't tend to take risks at the back, you might play long balls to your striker where your passing accuracy is a little off.
"In terms of opposition, I look at the expected front four, highlights, where they've scored their goals, where they're dangerous, what they like to do – right foot, left foot. I try not to go into too much depth, just a four-minute snapshot video."
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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