Postecoglou started his managerial career with South Melbourne in 1996, securing back-to-back NSL championships in 1998 and 1999. His tactical approach emphasized attacking football, high pressing, and quick passing. After club success, he took charge of Australia’s U-17 and U-20 teams but faced criticism and was dismissed in 2007. Despite this setback, he remained determined to prove his philosophy could succeed at the highest level.

Ange Postecoglou’s Tactical Revolution From Australia to Japan’s Football Success

In 2009, Postecoglou took over Brisbane Roar and completely transformed the team’s style of play. His possession-based, high-pressing system led to a record 36-game unbeaten streak and consecutive A-League titles in 2011 and 2012. His brand of football, later known as “Ange-ball,” gained national recognition and earned him the position of Australia’s national team coach in 2013.

Tasked with revitalizing a struggling Australian national team, Postecoglou introduced young talent and implemented a bold attacking philosophy. Though results at the 2014 World Cup were challenging, his long-term vision paid off when Australia won the AFC Asian Cup in 2015, their first major international trophy. He led the team to qualification for the 2018 World Cup but resigned before the tournament, seeking a new challenge. His next step took him to Japan.

Postecoglou joined Yokohama F. Marinos in 2018, aiming to transform a team that had not won the J-League in over a decade. By 2019, he guided them to the league title with an exhilarating, attacking style of play. His success in Japan demonstrated that his tactical philosophy could work outside Australia, setting the stage for his move to European football.

Ange Postecoglou’s European Triumph From Celtic Glory to Transforming Tottenham Hotspur

Despite skepticism over his lack of European experience, Postecoglou took charge of Celtic in 2021 and quickly silenced critics. Implementing an aggressive, high-tempo style, he led Celtic to a league and cup double in his first season and secured a domestic treble in his second. His success in Scotland established him as an elite manager, paving the way for his appointment at Tottenham Hotspur in 2023.

Taking over a struggling Spurs team, Postecoglou immediately changed their playing style, emphasizing high pressing, quick passing, and fearless attacking football. His ability to adapt and inspire players led to an impressive start to the 2023-24 season. Though challenges remain, including delivering long-term success, his impact is undeniable. His journey—from Australia to Europe—has reshaped football philosophies across continents, proving that visionary leadership and tactical brilliance transcend borders.

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“I heard that from some people, do you really want to go in that division?” Kelly said during a Zoom call on Wednesday.

“But I think if you’re a competitor, you do. And if you have a chance to win that division, then that means you beat the best, and the best that’s playing in football right now is the Chiefs.”

Kansas City, led by coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes, is aiming for a third straight Super Bowl title when it plays the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in New Orleans.

The division also features coach-quarterback combinations like Jim Harbaugh and Justin Herbert with the Los Angeles Chargers, and Sean Payton and Bo Nix with the Denver Broncos.

All three teams made the playoffs last season, while Las Vegas finished with a 4-13 record and changed coaches, moving from Antonio Pierce to Pete Carroll. With Carroll’s arrival, every head coach in the division has appeared in the Super Bowl, though only Harbaugh has not won one yet.

Kelly mentioned that working with Carroll played a big role in his decision to take the job, and he had productive talks with owner Mark Davis, general manager John Spytek, and minority owner Tom Brady.

“The tradition of this program speaks for itself,” Kelly said. “To the catch phrases that I think everybody uses in everyday life, ’Just win, baby.’”

Kelly was the offensive coordinator for Ohio State’s national championship team last season after previously being the head coach at Oregon and UCLA, as well as the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers.

In hiring Kelly, the Raiders hope to revive an offense that was one of the worst in the league last season, ranking fourth-worst with 303.2 yards per game and last in rushing with an average of 79.8 yards.

Addressing the quarterback position is a top priority, but Kelly says he is still getting to know the team and figuring out what players will be available through the draft or free agency. Las Vegas holds the No. 6 pick in the upcoming draft.

“So I think it’s really your evaluation of the personnel that’s available to you and then fitting them into that system,” Kelly said.

Kelly earned a reputation as an innovative offensive coach while at Oregon, first as offensive coordinator in 2007 and 2008, then as head coach for the following four seasons. He posted a 46-7 record, including an appearance in the Bowl Championship Series national championship game in the 2010 season, and finished in the top four of the AP poll in his last three years.

He then moved to Philadelphia, where he coached for three seasons, with a 10-6 record in each of his first two years. After a 6-9 record in 2015, he was let go. The 49ers hired Kelly, but he was fired after one season with a 2-14 record.

Kelly returned to college football in 2018 with UCLA but struggled early on, with losing records in his first three seasons. However, the Bruins went 25-13 in his last three years.

After the 2023 season, Kelly left UCLA to join Ohio State as their offensive coordinator. Under his guidance, the Buckeyes dominated the College Football Playoff, scoring 83 points in the first two rounds before beating Texas 28-14 in the semifinals and Notre Dame 34-23 in the championship game.

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Ronaldo, who will turn 40 on Wednesday, took his season total to 23 goals for Al-Nassr, the Riyadh club that had already secured a spot in the round of 16 before this final group-stage match.

New signing Jhon Duran, who joined Al-Nassr from Aston Villa on Friday, made his debut in the game.

Ali Al-Hassan gave Al-Nassr the lead in the 25th minute, and Ronaldo extended the advantage with a penalty just before halftime. In the 78th minute, Ronaldo scored again with a header. Mohammed Al-Fatil then added a fourth goal for the team.

With the win, Al-Nassr secured third place in the 12-team group, while Saudi rivals Al-Ahli moved to the top of the group after defeating Al-Sadd of Qatar 3-1.

Al-Sadd took an early lead with a goal from Akram Afif just 47 seconds into the match, but former Liverpool player Roberto Firmino equalized with a stunning bicycle kick in the 10th minute. Ibanez put Al-Ahli ahead just before halftime, and Riyad Mahrez, who joined from Manchester City in 2023, sealed the win with a goal in the 81st minute.

In other results, Qatar’s Al-Rayyan won 2-1 against defending champions Al-Ain, while Iraq’s Al-Shorta drew 1-1 with Iran’s Persepolis.

The top eight teams from the two groups, West and East Asia, will move on to the second round.

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This is the formula—especially the quarterback—that helped Washington achieve playoff success after nearly two decades of struggles.

Jayden Daniels ran for an important first down, setting up Zane Gonzalez’s 37-yard field goal that hit the right upright and went through as time ran out. The Commanders defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 23-20 in an NFC wild-card game on Sunday night, marking the franchise’s first playoff victory in 6,945 days.

Daniels, who played with a bandage under his right eye after being bloodied, became the third rookie quarterback in the past three years to win a playoff game.

The Commanders (13-5) will now face the No. 1 seed Detroit Lions (15-2) in the divisional round.

“It means a lot, man,” Daniels said. “You could just see all the fans over here, man, they’re waiting for us. They’ve waited a long time for this moment and this feeling, so I’m just so happy for them.”

Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers (10-8) missed several chances, and the veteran quarterback made a costly turnover in the fourth quarter. The Bucs couldn’t gain 1 yard on two tries from the Commanders’ 12-yard line and had to settle for a field goal to tie the game before Washington’s winning drive.

Daniels threw for 268 yards and two touchdowns, joining C.J. Stroud and Brock Purdy as rookie quarterbacks who have won playoff games in the past three seasons.

Washington hadn’t won a playoff game since defeating the Buccaneers in Tampa Bay 17-10 on Jan. 7, 2006.

The turnaround for the team began when Daniel Snyder sold the franchise in 2023 to a group led by Josh Harris, which includes NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson. They hired GM Adam Peters and coach Dan Quinn after their first season and selected Daniels with the No. 2 pick in the draft that April.

“You gotta give Josh a lot of credit because we picked the right people,” Johnson said. “When you pick Adam Peters and you pick coach Quinn and they picked the right players, the culture changed.

You went from a losing culture to a winning culture. But it’s about those players. They decided they wanted to win. They didn’t worry about what all the analysts said. And, the right quarterback. Enough said right there.”

The Buccaneers opened the season with a 37-20 victory over Washington in Daniels’ first game. Daniels went on to have an impressive season, earning a Pro Bowl spot and helping Washington improve from a 4-13 record to 12-5.

Now, he’s leading the team to Detroit to face Jared Goff and the Lions’ high-powered offense.

“We’re not going to give up until the clock hits zero,” Daniels said. “We’re going to keep fighting until the end.”

After Tampa Bay’s defense held Washington inside the 5-yard line in the opening minute of the fourth quarter to maintain a 17-13 lead, Mayfield gave the Commanders the ball back when he fumbled an exchange with Jalen McMillan. Washington recovered at the Buccaneers’ 13-yard line. On fourth-and-2 from the 5, Daniels threw a touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin in the back of the end zone for a 20-17 lead.

“It’s disappointing because I believe in this team because we have the talent and the coaching staff to go far,” Mayfield said. “I did some dumb stuff and it’ll wear on me for a while.”

Mayfield drove the Buccaneers to a second-and-1 at the Commanders’ 12-yard line, but they settled for a 32-yard field goal by Chase McLaughlin to tie the game at 20-20 with 4:41 left.

The Bucs never got the ball back thanks to Daniels, who led his team down the field with confidence. With less than a minute remaining, he was hit behind the line of scrimmage but scrambled for 4 yards on third-and-2, allowing him to take a knee to set up Gonzalez’s game-winning kick.

Coach Quinn had previously passed on short field goals twice on fourth down, and the offense had failed to convert before McLaurin’s touchdown catch.

On fourth down from the Buccaneers’ 4-yard line less than a minute into the fourth quarter, Daniels threw an incomplete pass. He was pressured and threw an incomplete pass on fourth-and-2 from Tampa Bay’s 20-yard line on Washington’s first possession of the game.

“We were going to be bold but not reckless,” Quinn said.

Mayfield threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Bucky Irving to give the Buccaneers a 17-13 lead in the third quarter. On the previous play, 350-pound defensive tackle Vita Vea was Mayfield’s intended receiver, but the QB was sacked for a 2-yard loss.

Mayfield also threw a 1-yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans to tie the game at 10 late in the first half.

Gonzalez kicked a 22-yard field goal to give Washington a 13-10 lead on the opening drive of the second half. The Commanders had a first down at the 3-yard line, but Tampa Bay’s defense held.

After Austin Ekeler ran 2 yards on fourth-and-1 from the Buccaneers’ 23-yard line late in the first quarter, the Commanders took the lead on a 92-yard drive. Daniels, with his face bloodied, threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Dyami Brown for a 7-3 lead.

A holding penalty on cornerback Zyon McCollum negated a third-down sack by Yaya Diaby and allowed Washington to extend its next drive, which ended with Gonzalez making a 50-yard field goal for a 10-3 lead.

McLaughlin kicked a 50-yard field goal on the opening drive. The Buccaneers were 9-1 when scoring first in the regular season.

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This is the problem Jackson and Henry create for defenders. First, they have to figure out who has the ball, and if defenders are out of position, either Baltimore star can make them pay.

Jackson threw for two touchdowns in a perfect first half, Henry scored twice while leading Baltimore’s powerful running game, and the Ravens defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 28-14 on Saturday night to move on to the second round of the AFC playoffs.

Jackson and Henry had the Steelers chasing them all night as Baltimore outrushed Pittsburgh 299-29. This was the most rushing yards allowed by Pittsburgh in a playoff game, breaking the previous record of 232 set by the Oakland Raiders 51 years ago.

“My dad’s proud. Jack Harbaugh’s proud right now. He likes to pound the rock,” said Ravens coach John Harbaugh. “Derrick Henry was running hard, physical. Lamar started it off. Lamar carried the ball at different times in the first drive or two.”

The Ravens now move on to face either Buffalo or Houston after jumping out to a 21-0 halftime lead and holding off their AFC North rivals. Baltimore had a 19-2 advantage in first downs in the first half, when they scored touchdown drives of 95, 85, and 90 yards.

Henry ran for 186 yards.

Jackson, the two-time MVP still looking for a postseason breakthrough, showed from the start that he was going to make Pittsburgh (10-8) defend both his arm and his legs. He kept the chains moving, and the Ravens (13-5) were happy to advance the ball steadily against a Steelers team that relied heavily this season on forcing turnovers.

“They understood how to win a football game like this,” Harbaugh said. “It’s one thing to know it, it’s another thing to execute it and do it, and they did it.”

Pittsburgh’s season ends with five straight losses, two of them to Baltimore. The ending was a familiar one for the Steelers, who have now lost six consecutive playoff games. The last three times they’ve been in the postseason, they’ve fallen on the road in games that showed the gap between Pittsburgh and the top contenders in the conference.

“They were the better group today. That was obvious,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “The X factor was Lamar’s unique talents. It seems like every time we got him behind the sticks, he made up for it.”

The Ravens had 10 touchdown drives of at least 90 yards during the regular season, the most by a team since at least 2000. They began their first possession at their own 5-yard line and drove 13 plays for a touchdown.

The Steelers have recently made a habit of winning close games against the Ravens, often taking advantage of Baltimore mistakes. The Ravens avoided that on Saturday, taking few major risks.

They got creative on their first drive, lining Henry up for a direct snap from the center while Jackson came across and faked a sweep. Henry kept the ball for a 34-yard gain. Jackson capped the drive with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Rashod Bateman, who was Baltimore’s top healthy receiver with Zay Flowers (knee) out.

Jackson went 16 of 21 for 175 yards and rushed for 81 yards.

Henry made it 14-0 with an 8-yard run with 4:09 left in the half, and the Ravens didn’t attempt a single pass on that 13-play drive. After a Pittsburgh punt, the Steelers called a timeout on third-and-2 from the Baltimore 18, hoping to get the ball back. But the Ravens converted and quickly moved into position to score.

On second down from the Pittsburgh 5 with 11 seconds left, Jackson nearly used up all the remaining time scrambling, but he finally threw the ball to an open Justice Hill, who ran into the end zone with 2 seconds remaining.

“I just think in his head, he knows what 11 seconds is,” Harbaugh said. “The clock was going a little faster for me in my mind. I’m like, ‘Throw that thing away.’ He threw it, it was a touchdown. All I can say is ‘wow’ — I think I said ‘wow’ about seven times right there.”

The Steelers drove 98 yards for a touchdown on their first second-half possession, with Russell Wilson throwing a 30-yard touchdown pass to Van Jefferson. Baltimore quickly answered when Henry broke free up the middle for his 44-yard TD.

Wilson responded with a 36-yard touchdown pass to George Pickens in the third quarter, but that was the last score of the game. Wilson went 20 of 29 for 270 yards on a night when neither team turned the ball over.

Big day
This was the second-highest rushing total of Henry’s postseason career — the only bigger one came in the same stadium five years earlier to the day. On Jan. 11, 2020, as a member of the Tennessee Titans, he ran for 195 yards in a win over Jackson and the top-seeded Ravens.

“I can just hand the ball off — 10 yards, 20 yards, 30 yards and I’m just chilling,” Jackson said. “When they’re attacking him and I go, I’m fresh. Just making my job a lot easier. We just piggy-back off of each other.”

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Although international breaks can be a lull for club football enthusiasts, they are eagerly anticipated by national team fans who look forward to these fixtures. This November window features World Cup qualifiers in South America, Asia, and Africa, while teams in Europe and North America will continue their Nations League campaigns.

In Europe, the November break completes the UEFA Nations League group stage, with the quarterfinals and playoffs set for March 2025, and the finals following in June. These Nations League matches are currently the primary confirmed international events for European teams, as the draw for Europe’s World Cup qualifiers is yet to occur.

With 16 slots open to European teams in the expanded 48-team format for the 2026 World Cup, UEFA has announced a new 12-group qualifying system. The winner of each group will automatically qualify, while second-place teams will compete in playoffs along with the four highest-ranked Nations League teams that didn’t secure top-two finishes in their groups.

In Asia, the AFC is progressing through the third round of its World Cup qualifiers, a stage that started in September and runs until June 2025. Eighteen teams that advanced from the second round are now split into three groups of six, each playing home-and-away matches. The top two teams in each group will qualify directly for the 2026 World Cup, while third- and fourth-placed teams advance to an additional playoff round. This structure provides both a straightforward path to qualification for the strongest teams and an extra playoff chance for those who narrowly miss out.

For teams in North and Central America and the Caribbean, the CONCACAF Nations League has brought together 41 national teams across three divisions, with group-stage matches played in the September, October, and November windows. This competition builds up to the finals scheduled for March 2025. For CONCACAF teams, the Nations League serves as valuable preparation for future tournaments, including the 2025 CONCACAF Gold Cup, where Mexico will aim to defend its title. The format gives teams of all sizes a competitive platform, offering more exposure and opportunities for growth ahead of regional tournaments.

The international match calendar for the 2024/25 season outlines a structured timeline for these World Cup qualifiers and Nations League contests, leading up to the CONCACAF Gold Cup in June. With international breaks planned for November, March, and June, national teams have clear intervals for preparation and competition as they advance toward their qualification goals. These dates provide fans and teams alike with a roadmap of key matches, keeping excitement high for upcoming fixtures that will shape the qualification journey for the 2026 World Cup and beyond.

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