Plus, UEFA Nations League, a request from a reader, my rec league team finally wins, and more

All these Nations League finals competitions can be both annoying (it’s a third tier tournament) and exciting (good attacking play and solid goals).

It’s also an opportunity for countries to win an international trophy and to that end, Canada’s secured a berth in the CONCACAF Nations League final with a 2-0 semi-final win over Panama on Thursday night. Well-taken goals by Jonathan David and Alphonso Davies sealed the win.

Check out highlights of the Canadian win.

Les Rouges will take on the tournament hosts, the United States, after they defeated Mexico 3-0 in the late game on Thursday night.

The CONCACAF Nations League final takes place at 8:30 p.m. on Sunday night. Stream the match live on Fubo TV Canada or One Soccer.

Here are the highlights of the US goals against Mexico

UEFA Nations League and Euro 2024 Qualifiers

Croatia and Netherlands played out an exciting extra time semi-final match on Wednesday, which saw the Croatians take a 4-2 win over the UEFA Nationals League final host Dutch team.

The second semi-final, played between our beloved Azzurri and Spain on Thursday was a lot less exciting (at times a tad bit boring). La Roja deservedly beat Italia 2-1.

The Croatia-Spain final will kick-off on Sunday at 2:45 p.m., while the third place match between Italia and Netherlands goes earlier in the day at 9 a.m. DAZN Canada will be streaming both.

While the Nations League finals are taking place, the Euro 2024 Qualifiers are in full force during the international break with matches on Friday and Saturday, then again on Monday and Tuesday. DAZN Canada is also the broadcast provider of the qualifying campaign in Europe.

Friday’s matches don’t seem to have one that stands out, although Malta hosts England at 2:45 p.m.

Saturday offers a little more in the way of excitement with Scotland travelling to Norway and Montenegro at home to Hungary (both noon starts) with Belgium hosting Austria at 2:45 p.m.

Monday’s choice matches include England at home against North Macedonia, Romania away to Switzerland, Turkey hosting Wales, Greece travelling to France, and Iceland at home versus Portugal (all are 2:45 p.m. starts).

FOR GLEN DUFFIELD

So, it seems Italian teams (both club and national) have been a tad bit snake bitten these past few weeks.

Three European Cup finals in club competitions, three very close losses after Manchester City beat Inter Milan 1-0 in the Champions League last weekend.

Prior to that, Fiorentina suffered a heartbreaking last minute defeat to West Ham in the Conference League final, and before that AS Roma lost in penalty kicks to Sevilla in the Europa League final.

Oh, and the Azzurrini lost in the U20 World Cup final 1-0 to Uruguay.

Unlike the Nations League semi-final, it can be fairly said that all four of the cup final matches could have gone in the favour of those representing Italia.

But, they didn’t and despite (or maybe because of) Italia’s history of success at both the club level and international level (four world cups, two European championships – including being the current Euro title holders), people like to poke fun at every loss.

So, there you go Glen, I mentioned it in the weekly column.

HUNTSVILLE SOCCER CLUB ROUND-UP

We Won One! We Won One! Okay, I’m being dramatic, but after two straight weeks of being defeated handily, Dr. Marc – Algonquin Orthodontics finally got a win, 5-2 over Best Life. Maddie Durr had a brace for the good guys, while everyone on the team played well.

In the other match, Canvas Brewing Co. and Aimee Sinclair Fitness fought to a 1-1 draw.

On Monday, Week 4 of the Huntsville Women’s Soccer League, The SportLab won 4-0 over Kim O’Grady Chestnut Park Real Estate. and Cottage Country Flowers won 9 to 5 over Muskoka Tea Company. Players of the Match awards went to Grace Gaughan, Caroline Garbutt, Crystal Fleming and Kayla Zylstra.

On the Strikers rep development die of things, the U12 Girls suffered a narrow 1-0 loss at North Bay; the U10 Boys fell 5-2 on a very wet night in Orillia (Huntsville goals by Anderson
Sawyer and Blake Bourdon); the U10 Girls lost by the same score away to Sudbury (both Huntsville goals by Greer Wilson); and the U12 Boys fell 9-2 against Sudbury (both Huntsville goals by Will Evans).

The U11 Girls were on a bye week.

MUFC ROUND-UP

There was a lot to be happy about this week from a Muskoka United FC point of view with the U17 Boys staying unbeaten by coming back from two goals down to draw 4-4 with Collingwood. Zach Caplan had a hat trick with Knightley Weening adding the other.

The MUFC U15 Girls are also undefeated after winning 1-0 against Collingwood. Chase MacKinnon scored the lone goal in the match.

In I-Model Qualifying, the U15 Boys followed up a strong performance in a tough 7-3 loss against Aurora last Saturday with a 3-2 win over last place Inter FC on Tuesday to get their first win of the season. Against Aurora, MUFC saw Cam Bird score twice and Wesley Janas add the other, while in the win, Muskoka got two goals from Aiden Smith and one from Lucas Hills. Their final game of qualifying against first place Glen Shields Juventus didn’t go as well, losing 11-0.

The boys are now on a break as they await the announcement of their C2 Division opponents and schedule.

And the U13 Girls showed a lot of improvement and hard work despite a pair of 2-0 losses in their final I-Model Qualifying games. They are also on a break in between qualifying and commencing play in their their new division.

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