⚽️FA CUP MAGIC (FEAT. MAIDSTONE UTD)
A team from England's sixth-tier league is still alive in the Fourth Round.
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It’s a double-screen edition of The Early Weekend on this fine Friday, as two tasty FA Cup matches kick off almost simultaneously. Then there’s more FA Cup madness throughout the weekend along with some AFCON, some Serie A, and a bit of La Liga. The Premier League is not in action ‘til Tuesday.
CHELSEA vs ASTON VILLA
TOTTENHAM vs MAN CITY
IPSWICH TOWN vs MAIDSTONE UTD
LEEDS UTD vs PLYMOUTH ARGYLE
NIGERIA vs CAMEROON
NEWPORT COUNTY vs MAN UNITED
LAZIO vs NAPOLI
ATLÉTICO MADRID vs VALENCIA
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THE HEADLINES
➡️ Dutch authorities are seeking nine years in prison for ex-Ajax attacker Quincy Promes on charges that he attempted to import 1.37 tons of cocaine through the port of Antwerp. His trial has taken place in absentia as he plays for Spartak Moscow and Russia has no extradition treaty with the Netherlands.
➡️ Speaking of Spartak, they’ve reportedly made a $13 million bid for American forward Jesus Ferreira. FC Dallas were ready to accept and the player was open to moving to Russia, The Athletic’s Tom Bogert reports, but MLS stepped in to block the move.
➡️ Deloitte released its annual Football Money League report this week, and it makes for interesting reading:
➡️ The Africa Cup of Nations has been rough on the continent’s traditional powers, as Ghana and Algeria crashed out and others—like Egypt, Cameroon, and hosts Ivory Coast—haven’t exactly swept aside the competition. Nigeria, Senegal, and Morocco are through, however, and so are some far less likely names: Equatorial Guinea, Cape Verde, Angola, and Burkina Faso.
➡️ The Asian Cup hasn’t been a cakewalk for South Korea or Japan, either, but they’re through to the knockouts along with Australia and Iran. The Japanese actually finished behind Iraq in Group D, but the most beautiful moments arrived via Syria and Palestine’s qualification. They’ve never before escaped the group stage, and it’s a nice moment of respite for people in places where life has not been easy for a long time.
➡️ Jürgen Klopp quipped recently that the whole of England was shaking at the prospect of Kevin De Bruyne’s return, so how should we feel when Erling Haaland rears his flowing mane once more? He could be back for City’s Premier League clash with Burnley on January 31.
➡️ Barcelona crashed out of the Copa del Rey in an electric atmosphere away at Athletic Club in Bilbao on Wednesday. 16-year-old Lamine Yamal flubbed a massive chance to make it 3-2 Barça on 86 minutes and the miss proved costly. This season is threatening to dissolve away for Xavi’s team, and the legend’s managerial seat is heating up.
➡️ Check out this volley from Angel Di Maria (and the save from Dani Figueira). The 35-year-old Argentine is still playing—at Benfica, the club where he made his name in Europe—and he’s still got it.
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FRIDAY
CHELSEA vs ASTON VILLA (2:45pm ET, 7:45pm GMT)
Mauricio Pochettino was explicit this week about his desperation to win a trophy in England, though he’s far closer to that goal in the other domestic cup. Chelsea advanced to the League Cup final this week with a demolition job of Middlesbrough in the semifinal second leg, though they’ll need to get past Liverpool to lift the silverware. A trip to Wembley in the FA Cup is farther away, and Aston Villa are a formidable Fourth Round opponent for this young Chelsea side. Unai Emery is a cup manager with plenty of trophies on his resumé, and his Villans are 12 points and five places above the Blues in the Premier League table. They’ve got serious firepower, enough to blow Chelsea away even at Stamford Bridge, but they can also be got at. This could be a wild one.
TOTTENHAM vs MAN CITY (3pm ET, 8pm GMT)
It goes without saying that Manchester City are favorites in every match they play, even if Erling Haaland remains out. Kevin De Bruyne’s back, but they’d be favorites without him, too. Such is life at the top of the world’s game, with a squad of oceanic depth. But this isn’t any old game for the Citizens: it’s their bogey team. The Kryptonite. Tottenham Hotspur may have a trophy allergy, but they’re just about the only team in Europe who’ve enjoyed their meetings with Man City in recent years. A thrilling 3-3 draw in December was preceded by a run of eight meetings where Spurs won five. If ever there was a time to bet against the Sky Blues, it still isn’t this, but they really don’t like traveling down to London to play the Lilywhites: they’ve lost four of their last five at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. To top it all off, Ange Postecoglu said this week that James Maddison will be fit to play for the first time since November.
SATURDAY
IPSWICH TOWN vs MAIDSTONE UNITED (7:30am ET, 12:30pm GMT)
Maidstone is the largest town in Kent, southeast of London, and the local team played in the National League, England’s fifth tier, until United finished dead last in 2022-23. Now they’re in the National League South, four leagues below Ipswich, who are cruising in second place in the Championship. That makes the Tractor Boys the firm favorites, but Maidstone saw off League One Stevenage in the Third Round and will hope to generate a little more FA Cup magic here. They started this journey back in September in the second qualifying round, and they’ve never before made it to this stage. This is—as they always say—what this competition is all about.
LEEDS UNITED vs PLYMOUTH ARGYLE (10am ET, 3pm GMT)
Leicester vs Birmingham City is also an option in this match window, but I’d go with this one for the novelty of Plymouth Argyle. Founded as “Argyle” in 1886, this outfit has never made it to the Premier League or the First Division that preceded it. A six-season spell in the Championship at the beginning of this century ended in administration and back-to-back relegations down to League Two, but they’re back in the Championship now. They’re in mid-table but they’ve got an astonishing 47 goals scored, more than anybody outside the league’s top four, thanks to Morgan Whittaker (with 15, second in the charts) and Ryan Haddie (10). It’s just that they’ve also conceded 47, which suggests this could be a goalfest.
On the other side, Leeds are Leeds, a massive club relegated from the Prem last term but fourth in the table—with 51 goals scored—and very much in the mix to win promotion back to the top division this year.
NIGERIA vs CAMEROON (3pm ET, 8pm GMT)
The Cameroonians barely scratched out of Group C with a thrilling 3-2 victory over Gambia, and the group stage was not the most convincing case for their credentials in this tournament. They conceded six goals in three games, one more than they scored, though luckily Nigeria wasn’t exactly free-scoring in Group A. The Super Eagles took seven points, however, conceding just once, and they’ve got a powerful squad full of players who ply their trade at top clubs. Their opponents here are not the same Cameroon of Samuel Eto’o or Rigobert Song, though the latter is now the manager. He has exiled Manchester United keeper André Onana, who was benched last match having skipped the opening group stage game to play for United. He seems to be losing fans on two continents.
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SUNDAY
NEWPORT COUNTY vs MAN UNITED (11:30am ET, 4:30pm GMT)
Speaking of United, they’ve got an interesting Sunday on the horizon as they travel to South Wales to play a League Two side in the FA Cup. On paper, this should be easy work for the Red Devils, but Erik ten Hag’s side is full of surprises—and not always good ones. Newport County does not have a hugely rich history despite its founding way back in 1912, though the setting should be glorious: they’ll host mighty Manchester United at a ground called Rodney Parade, the third-oldest venue in the Football League with a capacity of just 7,850.
LAZIO vs NAPOLI (12pm ET, 5pm GMT)
Fiorentina host Inter a bit later in the day, but while that’s second against fourth in Serie A, they’re 17 points apart and I’d expect it to be one-way traffic. With Lazio-Napoli, on the other hand, anything could really happen. The Neapolitans have sunk down to ninth, and it won’t help matters that their star striker, Victor Osimhen, is away with Nigeria at AFCON. They battled Inter into extra time in the Supercoppa on Monday, though, and the reigning champions might just be showing one or two signs of life. Lazio are sixth, two points off Fiorentina and a Champions League place, and Maurizio Sarri has finally got this team firing. They’ve won four in a row in the league.
ATLÉTICO MADRID vs VALENCIA (3pm ET, 8pm GMT)
The visitors suffered through a disastrous start to the league season, but Valencia are one of the hottest teams in La Liga right now, behind only Real Madrid and cinderella Girona in the form charts. Head coach Rubén Baraja has picked up the pieces at this grand old club and they’ve won four on the trot, just in time to visit an Atlético Madrid side that is very far from what we’ve come to expect from Diego Simeone’s teams. They haven’t conceded a huge number of goals in the league, but Los Colchoneros are involved in more helter-skelter encounters than ever before—vertical matches where nobody has much control over proceedings. It helps to have Antoine Griezmann on your side: not long after some considered the 32-year-old past his best, he’s been among the standout players in Europe this season. Across the league, Copa del Rey, Supercup, and Champions League, the Frenchman has 18 goals in 29 matches.⚽︎