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• 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

• '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.

• Eriksen says Man Utd players must take blame for Selhurst Park rout

  Christian Eriksen believes Manchester United's players must take the blame after their miserable season hit a new low with Monday's 4-0 defeat to Crystal Palace.

  Erik ten Hag's injury-hit Red Devils were torn apart by Palace as Michael Olise scored a wonderful brace and was joined on the scoresheet by Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell.

  United's 13th loss of the Premier League season – their most in a league campaign since 1989-90 (16) – leaves them eighth in the table and facing an uphill battle to qualify for Europe.

  They have now conceded 81 goals across all competitions this season, their most in a single campaign since they shipped the same number in 1976-77.

  While the manner of the defeat will only raise further questions about Ten Hag's future at Old Trafford, Eriksen says the players are primarily responsible.  

  "It's a big disappointment. We just had an off-day, and we weren't in it," the midfielder told BBC Sport.

  "It is what it is. We can't really change the injury things. We have to do what we can on the pitch to change it. Today it didn't matter who we played, everyone could have done better.

  "I don't know what the conclusion is for how it went. We weren't good enough. We tried to do what we could but we were not good enough. We'll take the blame as players."

  Since the start of last season, only Nottingham Forest (five) have lost more away Premier League games by a margin of four or more goals than United (three), with the Red Devils also going down 4-0 at Brentford and 7-0 at Liverpool last term.

  They now trail sixth-placed Newcastle United by two points and are behind seventh-placed Chelsea on goal difference, with fixtures against Arsenal, Brighton and Hove Albion and Newcastle to come this season.