While Major League Soccer is in the middle of its offseason amongst preparations for the upcoming 2024 season, football/soccer is still being played all around the world, with a lot of leagues in their league cups.
England has both the FA Cup and the EFL Cup going on, while France has the Coupe de France, and Spain has the Copa del Rey. The Italian Coppa Italia quarter-finals were also going on as well. League cups are some of the most exciting times in football, as there is a chance that you will see small clubs face off against clubs who are giants, and may even see some surprise upsets in matches.
England
To start it off, England’s higher-level teams entered the FA Cup this past weekend, as the third round of the tournament began.
Third Round Scores (* = Replay due to Draw)
Crystal Palace 0-0 Everton *
Brentford 1-1 Wolves *
Fulham 1-0 Rotherham
Tottenham 1-0 Burnley
Maidstone United 1-0 Stevenage
Coventry 6-2 Oxford United
Millwall 2-3 Leicester City
AFC Wimbledon 1-3 Ipswich Town
Sunderland 0-3 Newcastle United
Watford 2-1 Chesterfield
Stoke City 2-4 Brighton
Gillingham 0-4 Sheffield United
Blackburn Rovers 5-2 Cambridge United
Newport County 1-1 Eastleigh *
Norwich City 1-1 Bristol Rovers *
QPR 2-3 Bournemouth
Plymouth Argyle 3-1 Sutton United
Southampton 4-0 Walsall
Hull City 1-1 Birmingham City *
Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 Cardiff City
Chelsea 4-0 Preston
Swansea 2-0 Morecambe
Middlesbrough 0-1 Aston Villa
West Ham 1-1 Bristol City *
Nottingham Forest 2-2 Blackpool *
Luton Town 0-0 Bolton *
Peterborough 0-3 Leeds United
Shrewsbury 0-1 Wrexham
West Brom 4-1 Aldershot Town
Manchester City 5-0 Huddersfield
Arsenal 0-2 Liverpool
Wigan Athletic 0-2 Manchester United
For the matches that will need a replay, those will be taking place on Tuesday, January 16th and Wednesday, January 17th. The fourth round of the English FA Cup will begin on Thursday, January 25th and will finish up on Monday, January 29th.
Along with the English FA Cup, the EFL Cup semifinals were also going on throughout the week, with Chelsea taking on Middlesbrough and Liverpool taking on Fulham. Both of these matches are the first of two legs, so the clubs will look to take an important advantage in leg number two. I
n the first semifinal matchup between Middlesbrough and Chelsea, a 37th minute goal by Hayden Hackney was all that was needed, as Michael Carrick’s Boro side took the 1-0 advantage over Chelsea going into the second leg. The other matchup would see a 2-1 for Liverpool, as goals by Curtis Jones and Cody Gakpo would see the home side comeback from a 1-0 to give them the advantage after the first leg. The second legs for both of these matches will be taking place on Tuesday, January 23rd and Wednesday, January 24th.
France
In France, the Coupe de France Round of 64 took place from January 5th to January 7th, seeing 32 different matchups throughout the weekend.
Coupe de France Round of 64 Scores (Team Advanced in Penalty Kick Shootout)
Challans 0-4 Rodez
Chambly 1-2 Racing Club de France
Feignies Aulnoye 1-0 Quevilly
Pau 1-4 Nantes
Sarreguemines FC 0-2 Valenciennes
Metz 1-1 Clermont Foot (Clermont Foot 3-1 in PKs)
Fabregues 1-4 Trelissac
Brest 1-0 Angers
Lille 12-0 Golden Lion de Saint Joseph
Lyon La Duchere 1-2 Le Puy
Olympique Ales 1-2 Paris FC
Orleans 2-1 Nimes
Romorantin 4-0 CS Le Moule
Amiens 1-2 Montpellier
Avoine Chinon 0-4 Strasbourg
Entente 1-1 Bordeaux (Bordeaux 4-2 in PKs)
Les Herbiers 2-2 Chateauroux (Chateauroux 4-3 in PKs)
Sochaux 2-1 Lorient
St Omer 2-3 Dunkerque
Nice 0-0 Auxerre (Nice 4-2 in PKs)
CA Pontarlier 0-3 Lyon
Guingamp 0-2 Rennes
Le Havre 2-1 Caen
Lens 2-2 Monaco (Monaco 6-5 in PKs)
Thionville Lusitanos 0-1 Marseille
Bergerac Perigord 2-1 Libourne
Chambery 0-3 Toulouse
Dieppe 0-4 Laval
Dinan-Lehon 0-3 Reims
Feurs 3-5 St Priest
Louhans Cuiseaux 0-2 Rouen
Revel 0-9 PSG
The Round of 32 for the Coupe de France will begin on Friday, January 19th and will take place over the entire weekend, with matches finishing on Sunday, January 21st.
Spain
The Round of 32 for the Spanish Copa del Rey was underway from January 6th to January 8th, as Spain’s league cup is starting to come to a close. The scores for the Round of 32 were as follows
Copa del Rey Round of 32 Scores (Team Advanced in Penalty Kick Shootout)
Lugo 1-3 Atletico Madrid
Espanyol 0-1 Getafe
Elche 0-2 Girona
SD Huesca 0-2 Rayo Vallecano
Deportivo Alaves 1-0 Real Betis
Arandina CF 1-3 Real Madrid
Burgos CF 0-3 Mallorca
SD Amorebieta 2-4 Celta Vigo
Castellon 0-1 Osasuna
Racing de Ferrol 1-2 Sevilla
Cartagena 1-2 Valencia
Eibar 0-3 Athletic Club
Barbastro 2-3 Barcelona
Malaga 0-1 Real Sociedad
Tenerife 2-0 Las Palmas
Unionistas de Salamanca 1-1 Villarreal (Unionistas 7-6 in PKs)
The Round of 16 for the Copa del Rey will be taking place over three days from Tuesday, January 16th to Thursday, January 18th.
Italy
Another country that has its League Cup going on at the moment is the country of Italy. The Coppa Italia quarter finals were underway from Tuesday, January 9th to Thursday, January 11th. The scores for these matches went as follows:
Coppa Italia Quarter Finals Scores (Team Advanced in Penalty Kick Shootout)
Fiorentina 0-0 Bologna (Fiorentina 5-4 in PKs)
Lazio 1-0 Roma
AC Milan 1-2 Atalanta
Juventus 4-0 Frosinone
The semifinals for the Coppa Italia will see Juventus face off against Lazio, and Fiorentina face off against Atalanta. The first leg for both of these matches will take place on April 3rd, with the second leg taking place on April 24th.
All in all, it is an exciting time to be a football fan in Europe. All of the league cups are entering their main stages, which provides some exciting matches for clubs. Hopefully your favorite clubs will continue to progress in the cup, and if they have been eliminated already, onto next year!
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