Curacao celebrates a goal.
Concacaf
Curacao, Aruba and Belize, all came up trumps in their respective League C Concacaf Women's Gold Cup qualifying fixtures on Monday.
Curacao vs. Anguilla
Curacao assumed pole position in Group D after they downed Anguilla 5-2 at the Stadion Rignaal Jean Francisca in Willemstad.
With the win, Curacao moved up to maximum six points from two games, while Anguilla are on four points from three matches.
Curacao enjoyed a great start with three goals inside the first 20 minutes. Kadisha Martina got the show going in the fifth minute with an easy finish.
The lead was doubled in the 12th as Taisha Hansen converted a penalty. Four minutes later, Hansen found the slashing Sadeyah Rosa, who hammered into net from a yard out.
Anguilla pulled a goal back in the 30th as Adriana Connor punched in a shot from inside the area.
But back came Curacao in the second half. Lauryn Richardson made it 4-1 on the hour-mark with a calm penalty conversion.
Two minutes later in the 62nd, Hansen scored her second of the night when her shot trickled in past Anguilla goalkeeper Esther Ward.
Anguilla would get one last goal in the 89th through Camile Gumbs, whose corner kick ended up rolling off the fingertips of Curacao's Julainy Fanijten and into goal.
Aruba vs. Bonaire
Aruba avenged their 3-1 defeat to Bonaire in Group A from last Thursday, with a 5-0 victory at home at the Complejo Deportivo Guillermo Prospero Trinidad in Oranjestad.
Aisse Gumbs opened the scoring in the 30th when she finished off a pass from Bonny Lammers.
Tarianna Doornkamp then doubled the lead on the stroke of half-time with a strong right-footed finish.
Vanessa Susanna stretched the advantage in the 63rd, thanks in part to a nice pass from Lammers, who then scored a goal of her own in the 86th to make it 4-0 when she ran onto a long ball from Aruba goalkeeper Hadassah Kock.
Susanna then capped the 5-0 festivities in the 90+4 when she turned in a rebound off a Lammers shot.
Belize vs. Turks and Caicos Islands
Belize consolidated their lead atop Group A with their fourth win in as many games, as they after blanked Turks and Caicos Islands 3-0 at the FFB Stadium in Belmopan.
The host broke the deadlock in the 44th and did so in style. A free kick from Mikhaila Bowden was played on the ground to Kaite Jones, who then flipped the ball to herself and hit an overhead kick into net for a 1-0 Belize lead.
Momentum was on Belize’s side, and they doubled the cushion in the 48th on a Right-footed finish from Khalydia Velasquez.
Jones then completed her brace of the night in the 52nd with a header off a corner kick.
As if things weren't already bad enough for Turks and Caicos Islands, Pekiera Brooks was given marching orders in the 56th when she picked up a second yellow card of the night.
However, Belize was unable to make the numerical advantage count to add to their tally.
Slot deserves praise for modest approach to Liverpool job – Mills
Arne Slot deserves praise for not being "arrogant" with his approach to succeeding Jurgen Klopp as Liverpool boss, according to Danny Mills.
The Dutchman has made a hugely positive start to life at Anfield since replacing long-serving Klopp ahead of the 2024-25 season.
The 28 points Slot has collected is the joint-most of any manager in their opening 11 Premier League games along with Guus Hiddink at Chelsea.
Liverpool's only blemish on an otherwise perfect start to the top-flight campaign was a 1-0 loss to Nottingham Forest in September.
Indeed, only in 2019-20 (31 points) have Liverpool collected more points after 11 games of a Premier League season than their 28 this campaign.
Former Leeds United and Manchester City defender Mills has been particularly impressed by Slot's approach to a new era at Anfield.
"Arne Slot has surprised me," Mills told Stats Perform. "They did have a difficult defeat against Nottingham Forest at home. That was a defeat not many people saw that coming, but the start he's had is unbelievable. It's incredible.
"Training might be slightly different, but the style of play is very similar. The players are comfortable with it. They've been high-energy, closing people down, and playing at 100 miles an hour when they win the ball back.
"It shows managerial intelligence to understand the players' qualities and build on what they had when they were successful. He hasn't overthought it or tinkered too much.
"He hasn’t been arrogant and said, 'I'm going to rip it up and start fresh'. It wasn't broken; it was already successful. He's just added to it."
Liverpool won a first ever Premier League title during Klopp's eight-and-a-half years in charge, as well the Champions League in 2018-19.
Klopp also lifted the FA Cup, two EFL Cups, the UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup, setting a high benchmark to follow.
"Liverpool identified the man they wanted, brought him in, and he's been very clever," Mills added. "He looked at the squad and thought, 'these are good players. I don't need to change too much'.
"That's smart because Liverpool were very successful under Klopp. If you come in and rip up the playbook and it doesn't work, players will question why they're not doing what worked under Klopp."
Liverpool have conceded just six goals in the Premier League this season – four fewer than next-best Nottingham Forest.
They are conceding at a rate of around 0.5 goals per game, compared to around 1.1 in Klopp's final season in charge (41 goals in 38 matches).
"Slot has tweaked things slightly, maybe made them more defensively solid, which they needed to really challenge," Mills said. "Championship-winning or Champions League-winning teams are built on solid defences.
"You don't win without that. He's shored up the defence and allowed the players to continue doing what they were doing before."
Rodri: Messi is the greatest player of all time, without any doubt
Manchester City and Spain star Rodri has suggested that Lionel Messi pipped Cristiano Ronaldo as the greatest footballer of all time.
The 28-year-old was recently awarded the 2024 Ballon d'Or as recognition for a period in which he won the Champions League in 2023 and Euro 2024 with Spain the next year.
Ex-Barcelona man Messi has won three of the last four Ballon d'Ors prior to Rodri, with the midfielder claiming that the latter is the greatest "without any doubt" during an interview on Spanish TV.
"Lionel Messi is the greatest player of all time, without any doubt. Cristiano has managed to match Messi without innate talent. But those of us who have played against them can see the difference," said Rodri, speaking to El Hormiguero.
"We didn’t want Cristiano to step into the box because he was lethal there. But with Messi, the danger was everywhere on the pitch."
Ronaldo has scored a total of 928 goals in his career for club and country, winning 34 major trophies including five Champions League titles. He has also won the Ballon d'Or on five occasions.
Messi, meanwhile, has scored 877 goals, won the Champions League on four occasions and the Ballon d'Or five times, most recently in 2023.
Messi is now at Inter Miami, while Rodri is recovering from an ACL injury at Manchester City, although the two faced each other in LaLiga during the midfielder's spells at Villarreal and Atletico Madrid before his Premier League move.
"When Messi got the ball, you’d think: 'Oh, danger'," he added. "When I first started playing against him, I tried to take the ball from him, and he dodged you as if you were a bull in the ring. The feeling I had was that something bad was about to happen."
Bompastor pleased with Chelsea's rotated side in 3-0 Champions League win over Celtic
Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor was delighted with her side's 3-0 home victory over Celtic in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, which extended her 100% start and secured their place in the quarter-final.
Bompastor's side remain three points above Real Madrid at the top of Group B and can now no longer be caught by third-placed Twente.
"I told the players before the game tonight that it was an opportunity for us to qualify for the quarter-final, and we did that," she told the official club website after the game.
The result comes after a 2-0 victory over Manchester City in the WSL last weekend, which also has them top of that table with seven wins from seven.
"We also remain top of the table, which is also something we want to make sure we achieve. It's great news that we were able to rotate the squad and give opportunities to some players to play a Champions League game again.
"We could rest some players thinking about the Manchester United game [on Sunday]."
One of those players who got on the pitch as a result of that rotation was 17-year-old Lola Brown, who made her professional debut after coming off the bench in the 85th minute.
"It's a special week for her individually, but also for the club," Bompastor said. "I'm really pleased for her and the opportunity for her to come in, especially in a Champions League game.
"She's been training with us and I can see her talent, even if she is young. She's really dynamic as a player, really smart, and really good with the ball. She will progress and this experience tonight will bring her a lot of joy and a lot of confidence.
'As a manager, I worked a lot with the young players, especially when I was at the academy with Lyon, and it's also something special for me when I can give an opportunity to a young player to come in and show themselves. It's really good and shows the good job that the club is doing with young players.'
Aside from Brown, Bompastor made six changes to Chelsea's starting XI for the game and was pleased with the contribution of the players who came in.
"It's been my mindset from the beginning of the season. We play so many games and have to make sure everyone is involved. It's also the opportunity for me to show my trust in the players and the squad.
"It's important because it's not possible for a player to play 90 minutes every three days, especially with a lot of international players who play for their national team and club and travel all around the world. I think that's the way it has to be.'
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