OK, all those who had Sheriff Tiraspol top of Group D after two rounds raise your hands…
Unfortunately I didn’t get that match today on the Spanish-language channel, but I’ll bet that was interesting to watch.
Madrid lose, Messi’s first goal, and Leipzig cannot keep it going.
Benfica 1-0 Barcelona
Early in the game but I don’t think Ronald Koeman has much longer in the Barcelona job. This club went from being the best team I have ever since in the Messi, Iniesta, Xavi days under Pep to a mediocre boring team in a decade.
It’s interesting…unlike some struggling managers, some of the players are sticking up for him, and saying it’s them. But Koeman said he isn’t sure of management’s view, and that’s usually a death knell.
I think the replacement is screwed too, especially since La Liga just cut Barca’s allowed budget again. Might as well keep him around until they can spend a little and then hire ten Hag or Xavi or whoever.
That would make sense, really. But Barca is so poorly run, they might just turn to the page in the playbook where you fire him and replace him with the plucky, younger ex-player who doesn’t cost much, who has a little bit of managing experience, and who keeps the fans mollified for a while. (I don’t know who that is, I’m just saying)
Starting a separate post to talk about UCL.
It’s been a funny couple of days, Ronaldo back at Man U with a winner, Messi lying on the ground underneath the wall, Real Madrid being shot by the sheriff.
Leroy Sané had a spectacular goal today, which is great after the rough run he has had, except he admitted after the match that he was trying to cross. 
Poor guy. At least he’s not Timo Werner.
Man Utd are a horrible team to watch given the star talent they have. But Solskjaer has been able to grind out wins when his neck is on the line. Better to be a lucky general than a good one.
Rashford has been out so they should soon be better.
He’s a very good player but I don’t think he’ll change them much. They weren’t much better with him. It’s the midfield that is the problem. They don’t play using the midfield to create chances. It is all crosses and long balls.
Im a Dortmund fan and it hurt to see Sancho go. Now he is only playing in about half their games and thats without Rashford. I can see his struggles having to do with a lack of linkup with the midfield but they dont seem to know how to employ him.
Sancho was amazing with Dortmund. Man Utd had been trying to sign him for a couple of years previously so he must feature more soon. I don’t rate Solskjaer highly as a manager. He has Van de Beek who cost 40M on the bench all the time when it is obvious to everyone the midfield needs something different.
CONCACAF qualifying is back on tonight. Canada at Mexico might be a good one - their Gold Cup semifinal was a fine match, with Mexico getting the winner in the 9th of the 7 minutes of stoppage time. 
Also Jamaica at USA, Panama at El Salvador, and Costa Rica at Honduras. If the US and Panama are able to win, there already starts to be a pretty big separation in the standings.
I see that the Costa Rica and Mexico matches on November 12 and 16 actually have been set for Commonwealth. For fun, I looked up the Edmonton high temperatures for some recent November 16ths:
Nov 16 2020: -6 C
Nov 16 2019: 6 C
Nov 16 2018: -12 C
Nov 16 2017: -10 C
Nov 16 2016: 3 C
We’ll see how it goes 
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The USA likes to have their winter home match against Mexico in Columbus, Ohio. Its a good strategy.
And very good prep for playing in Qatar 
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I remember when a Central American country (was it Costa Rica, I’m not sure), was incensed that for it’s January WCQ against the US was scheduled for Denver and it was single digits and snowy. The perks of home field advantage (after all, not as if sweltering hot WCQs in some Caribbean or Central American qualifiers aren’t just as difficult to play in).
Costa Rica, yes, in 2013. Clint Dempsey scored early and then the snow came down.
Columbus has a great history as a venue against Mexico in World Cup Qualifying. In each WC cycle from 2002 to 2014, each game the U.S. played against Mexico in Columbus ended 2-0 U.S. Dos a cero was a watchword for a long time until the last cycle, where Mexico ended the curse of Columbus with a 2-1 win.
The other dos a cero game was in the 2002 World Cup round of 16. (There was another back in the nineties in a Gold Cup, but it didn’t really become a thing until 2002).
1-1 draw for Canada in the Azteca is a good result. Canada was actually the better team in the first half, I thought, but Mexico was definitely better in the second. The US won and Panama lost, so the qualifying spots are currently USA, Mexico, Canada. Canada seems to be set up pretty well, since they’ve already played their away games with both Mexico and the US.
First team to ever gets points away against both Mexico and the US. If Canada doesn’t qualify it will be a big disappointment.
Lots of results going the US’s way. If they can grab all 9 points this break they should feel pretty confident.