This is Early Kick Off from the Men in Blazers media network and presented by our great friends of the pod STōK Cold Brew Coffee, all your global football stories straight from the back pages of Europe's newspapers in around 10 minutes.

On today’s episode: In the first leg of their Carabao Cup semifinal, Isak and Gordon score to put Newcastle 2-0 up on aggregate; Julen Lopetegui remains in limbo at West Ham; Bournemouth’s striker Evanilson is set for a lengthy spell on the sidelines; Didier Deschamps will leave his position as France head coach after World Cup 2026; the first USWNT roster of 2025 has dropped; we bring up up to date on the transfers making headlines in the January window, which includes stories about Garnacho, Mainoo and Neymar; we preview tonight’s Carabao Cup game; and Elon Musk’s father claims his son is interested in buying Liverpool. 

Football don't sleep, and neither do we.

This episode was made in the UK for Men In Blazers by…

Host: Betty Glover

Producer: George Cooper and Sammy James

Assistant producer: Elizabeth Barnard

Researcher: Jack Collins

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