Daniel Rouse

Manchester City succumbed to their first loss of the Premier League campaign and ended a 32-game unbeaten run after falling 2-1 to Andoni Iraola's energetic and positive Bournemouth on Saturday.

On the first Tuesday of every month during the 2024-25 season, we'll debate which clubs are among Europe's elite in our Soccer Power Rankings.

After the Wall: Inside the fallen world of East German soccer

Pep Guardiola lost a fourth straight match for the first time in his managerial career Saturday after Manchester City fell 2-1 at Brighton & Hove Albion.Defeats to Tottenham Hotspur (League Cup), Bournemouth (Premier League), and Sporting CP (Champions League) led to forecasts of a destabilizing crisis at the reigning English champions before quickfire second-half goals from Seagulls substitutes Joao Pedro and Matt O'Riley condemned them to yet another loss.Erling Haaland put Manchester City in the lead midway through the opening period.More to come.

Jordi Alba declared the Major League Soccer postseason format "unfair" after Inter Miami tumbled out of the opening round Saturday night following a shock 3-2 defeat at the hands of Atlanta United.Inter Miami broke the record for the most points in a single regular season (74) as they clinched the MLS Supporters' Shield. However, goals from Matias Rojas and Lionel Messi weren't enough to keep the Herons alive in the third game of their Eastern Conference series.Bartosz Slisz's 76th-minute header eliminated Miami and put Atlanta among the final eight teams vying for MLS Cup glory."It was a good season, but what we wanted was to win this more," Alba said post-match, according to ESPN's Lizzy Becherano. "This format seems a little unfair to me."It is clear that it has been done this way for many years, but if you ask me, if it were up to me, I would have to be the champion of one conference against the champion of the other, to make it as fair as possible, that's how it is," Alba continued. "I repeat, congratulations to the rival team. I think they competed very well against us, they knew their weapons, the goalkeeper was spectacular and good, I think that is what clearly marked the difference." Only 8 remain. // Audi #MLSCupPlayoffs pic.twitter/q5a53l8Weu— Major League Soccer (@MLS) November 10, 2024 MLS adopted its latest playoff format in 2023, starting with two wild-card matches between conference rivals who finish eighth and ninth. That's followed by a best-of-three series before moving on to knockout matches from the last-eight stage. Before that change, the postseason only featured single-elimination games, with the top seeds from the East and West getting a bye to the Conference Semifinals.Inter Miami won 2-1 at home to open their best-of-three showdown with Atlanta before losing by the same scoreline in Georgia. Miami outshot Atlanta 25-9 and had 64% possession for the decisive fixture back in Florida, but 40-year-old goalkeeper Brad Guzan made seven saves in a huge victory for Rob Valentino's Atlanta United."Today I think we have been superior, we have dominated, but they attacked four times and they scored three goals," Alba said. "And well, there's things to correct, clearly."The Messi-led era at Inter Miami won the Leagues Cup in 2023 but failed to reach the MLS postseason later that year after finishing the campaign in 14th place of the Eastern Conference. They also lost the U.S. Open Cup final to the Houston Dynamo.In 2024, Inter Miami impressed en route to clinching Supporters' Shield, with Messi and Luis Suarez scoring 20 goals apiece. Gerardo Martino's team was also booted from the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinals by Monterrey and turfed out of the Leagues Cup round of 16 by the Columbus Crew.

New Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim is prepared for a "very difficult" challenge at Old Trafford.The Portuguese boss officially starts his role at United this week. He inherits a team that's positioned 13th in the Premier League - but only four points adrift of third-place Chelsea - and that has recorded three draws and just one win in the opening round of the Europa League.United have the record number of English titles with 20 but haven't finished atop the Premier League since Sir Alex Ferguson's final season at the helm in 2012-13. Amorim is the sixth full-time boss hired in Stretford since Ferguson relinquished the reins."I feel ready for the new challenge," he told reporters after ending his Sporting CP tenure Sunday with a 4-2 comeback victory at Braga, as quoted by Reuters."I'm not naive, I know it's going to be very different, very difficult. I'm at peace now, I can focus on my new job and I'm looking forward to starting tomorrow."Amorim joins United after breaking the Benfica-Porto duopoly in Portugal. He delivered Sporting their first top-flight title since 2002 in the 2020-21 campaign and followed that up with another Primeira Liga crown last season. He's also won three Taca da Ligas as a coach: one with Braga and two with Sporting.Sporting currently hold a six-point lead over Porto at the Primeira Liga summit. They've won every game this season and last tasted defeat in the league in December 2023."I know it will be difficult to reproduce what I have here elsewhere, but there are other places with different exposure and pressure ... It's been a fantastic adventure," Amorim said."I apologize for this midseason decision, but I felt it was my time and my way."Amorim already endeared himself to Manchester United fans when Sporting trounced Manchester City in the Champions League with a 4-1 win last Tuesday. To add extra intrigue to the clubs' rivalry in the north-west, another architect of Sporting's recent success, sporting director Hugo Viana, officially swaps the Estadio Jose Alvalade for Manchester City's Etihad Stadium at the end of the season.Amorim's first match in charge of United is set to be a trip to Ipswich Town on Nov. 24 following the international break.

Lee Carsley called replacements into his England squad Monday after almost one-third of his 26-man squad pulled out due to injury.Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold, Chelsea's Levi Colwill and Cole Palmer, Manchester City's Phil Foden and Jack Grealish, Southampton's Aaron Ramsdale, and Arsenal's Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka all returned to their clubs.Aston Villa's Morgan Rogers earned his first senior call-up after the eight withdrawals, while West Ham United attacker Jarrod Bowen, Everton defender Jarrad Branthwaite, Newcastle United full-back Tino Livramento, and Burnley goalkeeper James Trafford were also late additions.Carsley now has 23 players at his disposal for Thursday's trip to Greece and Sunday's visit from the Republic of Ireland in the Nations League.

Manchester United have asked Ruben Amorim to work with what he's got at Old Trafford as the club keeps a close eye on transfer and wage budgets at the start of the new head coach's reign, a source told ESPN's Rob Dawson

USMNT icon Howard slams Pulisic after Trump dance: He glorified a 'racist'

Manchester City are well and truly in a rut. Pep Guardiola prolonging his stay at the Etihad Stadium during the international break counted