Gareth Bale is "happy and settled" at Los Angeles FC after a first goal for the club, with the Wales star's comments further hinting at Real Madrid acrimony.
Bale ended his near-decade-long association with another pair of titles in La Liga and the Champions League last term, but once more cut a peripheral figure at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Having spent the 2020-21 season back on loan with former club Tottenham, the forward made only 12 appearances last season for Madrid.
But Bale marked his fresh start in MLS on Saturday in style after coming off the bench for his LAFC debut, striking a typically fine effort to ensure a 2-0 victory against Sporting KC.
"I'm enjoying it here - everybody at the club has made me feel very welcome, and I've settled straight away," he said in his post-match interview.
The Welshman added a possible jibe at his Madrid treatment, following up with: "I think any player will tell you when they feel happy and settled, they start to play their best football."
Cristian Aranga opened the scoring for the visitors at Children's Mercy Park just before the hour mark, before Bale came off the bench to make his first appearance for the club.
His low effort secured a third straight win for LAFC, cementing their lead at the top of the Western Conference, as they look to build momentum for an anticipated postseason push.
"Obviously, I think the most important thing is that we won the game, first and foremost," Bale added. "We all knew the first half maybe wasn't good enough but the manager had another great team talk and got us going.
"[It was] nice to come on and grab a goal to help the team get three points. From a personal point of view, it's nice to get off the mark and help the team get three points."
"The transition has been a normal one, We'd be in pre-season now in Europe, so I'm getting my fitness back up quickly.
"The club's doing an amazing job to progress me and not push me too quick. I'm starting to feel better and better, and I'm glad to contribute tonight."
Los Angeles FC momentarily opened up a four-point gap atop the Western Conference in the MLS, defeating Sporting KC 2-0 on Saturday.
Gareth Bale came off the bench to score his first goal in the MLS and seal the three points for LAFC, after Cristian Arango's well-taken opener.
With Giorgio Chiellini also starting, Steve Cherundolo's side absorbed pressure after Arango scored in the 56th minute, firing past Tim Melia at his near post with a confident finish on the run.
Bale was able to settle the result in transition for LAFC in the 83rd minute, driving low into the corner after creating separation from Nicolas Isimat-Mirin.
The win puts LAFC four points ahead of second-placed Austin FC in the West, who are still to face New York RB on Sunday, while Nashville and Cincinatti played out a 1-1 draw.
FC Dallas kept their hopes of a top-four finish in the West alive meanwhile, emerging 1-0 victors away to Real Salt Lake, while Minnesota moved to third with their 2-1 victory over Houston Dynamo.
The Seattle Sounders are now a point from the playoff spots, overcoming Kelyn Rowe's 47th-minute red card to defeat the Colorado Rapids 2-1, while the Portland Timbers beat the SJ Earthquakes with the same result.
Philadelphia Union hold a one-point lead atop the Eastern Conference, with Daniel Gazdag's 39th-minute goal handing them a critical 1-0 win away to Orlando City.
The stingiest defence in the MLS held out to maintain their gap to New York City, who beat Inter Miami 2-0 via goals from Maximiliano Moralez and Heber.
CF Montreal moved back to third, with a Romell Quioto brace handing them a 2-1 win over DC United, while Toronto FC claimed a shock 4-0 win over a ten-man Charlotte FC.
Chicago Fire took advantage to move two points from the playoff spots, with Xherdan Shaqiri helping them to a 3-1 win over the Vancouver Whitecaps, while Columbus Crew and New England Revolution played out a goal-less draw.
West Indies batsman Brandon King believes there is plenty of encouragement to be drawn from the team’s batting performance despite a 3 runs loss to India in the first One Day International series on Friday.
King made a crucial 54 from 66 balls as the Windies attempted to chase down India’s total of 308. Despite eventually falling short of the target, the performance was one of the team’s best in several ODIs, particularly on the back of a poor showing against Bangladesh.
In addition to King, Kyle Mayers added a half-century, while the lower order pair of Akeal Hosein and Romario Shepherd added a valuable 53-run partnership, which got the team close. King himself formed part of two half-century partnerships, the first with Shamarh Brooks, then Nicholas Pooran.
“We always believe that if we bring a game down to the final five overs we have guys that can chase down a total. Shepherd and Akeal showed that today (Friday), we were always in the game. We would have liked some of the early wickets not to fall so we could have some batsmen at the end but that’s part of cricket,” King said.
“It’s just our batting formula and how we want to play cricket. I think bringing down the game to the last ball, chasing 300 plus, was very good for us, another day we would have gotten over the line.”
The West Indies will attempt to level the series when they play India in the second ODI on Sunday.
Five-time world 100m champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce has urged fans to be mindful of the things they say to athletes when things aren’t going well.
“Jamaicans have a short-term memory. You’ll do a great thing this year and come back and not have a good year and they want to beat you down to the ground,” Fraser-Pryce said to over 8,000 fans who tuned in to her Instagram live on Thursday.
There have been many instances where athletes have had a good year and, because of injuries or other troublesome circumstances, have failed to produce those performances consistently in the years after.
“It’s a whole lot they have to deal with so you have to be careful with your comments sometimes, because sometimes you make some comments and some of the athletes take them to heart and dwell on them,” Fraser-Pryce said.
“You have to big up the athletes. Every year is not the same…it’s not easy so, when you see the athletes out here representing you must know it takes a whole lot of work and they’re going to have good times and bad times,” she added.
Fraser-Pryce used her teammate and 200m gold medallist Shericka Jackson as an example. At last year’s Tokyo Olympics, Jackson failed to advance out of the heats of the 200m and, a year later, she is the world champion and fastest woman alive at the distance.
“Last year, Shericka didn’t run the 200m, and I know she cried and she came back and look, 21.45. She went back and put in the work, so you just have to understand that everything is a process and it takes time,” Fraser-Pryce said.
A late attacking onslaught from Romario Shepherd and Akeal Hosein proved to be inadequate as the West Indies came up short by 3 runs, against India, in a thrilling start to the One Day International series.
After a solid top order partnership of 117 from Shamarh Brooks and Kyle Mayers, following the loss of Shai Hope, the Windies found themselves needing 120 off the last 15 overs and with seven batsmen in reserve.
Shardul Thakur, however, checked that momentum after taking two wickets in two overs. The pacer removed both Brooks and Mayers. Unlike the previous series, however, the Windies managed to keep putting partnerships together. Brandon King and Nicholas Pooran then kept the score ticking over for the regional team with a 51-run stand.
Pooran was dismissed by Mohammed Siraj in the 36th over, and Yuzvendra Chahal lifted Indian spirits even higher when he removed Rovman Powell. King, Hosein, and Shepherd though, continued to take the fight to the India bowling line-up. King stitched together another fifty-run stand with Akeal Hosein before he was dismissed.
Hosein and Shepherd seemed determined to bring things over the line. Hosein anchored from one end while Shepherd attacked from the other. They kept going into the last three overs, hammering Siraj for 11 in the 48th and Prasidh for 12 in the 49th. The equation came down to 15 off Siraj’s last over but the bowler held his nerves, conceding 11 runs off and keeping Shepherd largely silent. In pursuit of 308 for 6, the West Indies got to 305 for 6.
Former West Indies opener Philo Wallace described the feeling of watching the West Indies batsmen struggle against spin bowling as “disheartening.”
“It’s very disheartening to see our batsmen continue to struggle against spin,” said Wallace on the Mason & Guest radio show in Barbados on Tuesday.
The West Indies suffered an embarrassing 0-3 series defeat against Bangladesh last week at Providence in Guyana, a surface known to favor spin bowling.
“They have to find a method of how to play slow bowling. I find it very uncomfortable that our batsmen don’t seem to understand how to play on that type of surface,” said Wallace, who played seven Tests and 33 ODIs from 1997-2000.
The inability to play spin meant that the hosts were unable to bat out the full 50 overs in any of the matches, something Wallace said is not acceptable.
“You can’t consistently get bowled out inside 50 overs. When you find yourself three or four wickets down inside the first 20 overs, you’re going to struggle. They’re not getting the starts from the openers. The middle order is struggling and leaving it to some sluggers at the bottom,” he said.
When questioned about a solution to the problem, Wallace pointed to something that has been an issue for the West Indies in limited overs cricket for more than a decade, rotation of the strike.
“You have to be fit and you’ve got to work around the ball and know your partner at the other end. When you get your ones and twos up front, it will make it easier for the guys at the back end,” Wallace said.
He further emphasized his point by highlighting an innings played by South African Rassie van der Dussen against England on Tuesday where he scored 134 off 117 balls hitting only 10 fours and no sixes. South Africa hit no sixes in their innings and were able to score 333-5 from their 50 overs before bowling England out for 271.
West Indies coach Phil Simmons admits he is pleased to welcome Jason Holder back to the fold after the all-rounder was recently rested due to load management considerations.
The 30-year-old former captain has not represented the regional team since March of this year. Following his return from the India Premier League (IPL), it was announced that the player would be left out of the team, for the upcoming series, considering a recent heavy workload.
As a result, Holder has missed the team’s One Day International tours against The Netherlands, and Pakistan and a recent visit of Bangladesh. The team easily won the first series but could certainly have used Holder’s experience and explosive all-round play as they struggled to find their footing against both Pakistan and Bangladesh.
The player is once again available ahead of the team’s series against India, which begins on Friday and Simmons admits he is impressed by what he has witnessed in training so far.
“It’s good to have him back,” Simmons told members of the media on Wednesday.
“He looks fresh, he had some time out of the game. He has been bowling well the last two days and batting well too so it’s good to have him back.”
The West Indies and India will face off in three ODIs.
The West Indies will face India on Friday in the first of three ODIs in Trinidad and Tobago but they will be without one player that Captain Nicolas Pooran would dearly like to see taking the field sometime soon.
Shimron Hetmyer, who has not played for the West Indies since November 2021, has been training with the squad but according to the Windies' white-ball captain, the Guyanese middle-order batsman, still has a lot of work to do on his fitness before he can suit up once again.
“He is here doing a lot of work on his fitness and that is really nice to see, the effort that he has been putting in,” Pooran said during a media session on Thursday.
“He wants to play for the West Indies and trainers and coaches working with him, so expect to see him sooner than later.
“I have full confidence that he will be putting on the maroon colours again. He has a fitness test to pass shortly, so he is preparing himself for that.”
Former West Indies batting coach Toby Radford says the team needs to be more adaptable to compete with the best teams in the world in white-ball cricket.
Radford was a guest on the Mason & Guest radio show in Barbados on Tuesday in the wake of the Windies suffering a 0-3 ODI series defeat to Bangladesh.
“Clearly things have got to change with the white-ball because it is inconsistent. I’m sure the talent is there. It needs good planning, structure and organization,” Radford said.
“50-over cricket isn’t won by hitting balls over the ropes. You have to play the pitch; you’re not going to smash the ball over every boundary. On big grounds, you have to look for you ones and twos then when you get on small grounds, you can look to hit boundaries,” he added.
The hosts had a horrid time with the bat in the series, being restricted to scores of 149-9, 108 and 178 in their three times at the crease, unable to manoeuvre the Bangladeshi spinners on some difficult Guyanese pitches.
“You’ve got to be adaptable and flexible, play the situation, the team you are in front of and the ground you’re playing on. You can’t play white-ball cricket one way in every game and win. It’s not that type of game,” Radford said.
“If you can’t use your feet or you can’t sweep then you’ve really got to get one side of the ball, either stay leg-side or off-side. You have to do something. Just staying one place and allowing somebody to bowl at you and build up pressure is not going to take you anywhere,” he added.
Andrew Edwards, Jamaica’s former national U17 head coach, has taken the job as Technical Director for reigning Manning Cup champions, Kingston College.
Edwards was the technical director in the Turks & Caicos Islands between 2019 and 2021 and returned home in December last year. He told Sportsmax.TV Thursday that the appeal to be part of the development process of the 16-time Manning Cup winners was too good to turn down.
“The job at Kingston College is one of the most appealing at the schoolboy level in the country,” Edwards said while confirming that he started on Wednesday.
“I have a number of friends in management and among the teachers including Head Coach Raymond Watson. The only concern was how I could make it work alongside Genesis, my football academy.”
Genesis is based in Mandeville, Manchester.
In his first year as technical director, Edwards doesn’t believe Kingston College has a lot of rebuilding to do despite the loss of several players from the team that defeated Jamaica College 5-4 on penalties at Stadium East in Kingston after they played to a 1-1 draw at the end of regulation and extra time in January.
He revealed to Sportsmax.TV that KC has retained a number of players from last season and there will good transition from the U16 team from last season.
Edwards has had a long history coach at the youth level in Jamaica. He was head coach of the national U17 squad from 2014-2017 and was the assistant coach of Jamaica’s U23 team in 2015 during the 2016 Olympic campaign. He was also the assistant coach of the national U20 squad from 2010-2013.
He also coached at St Elizabeth Technical High School, Munro College and Titchfield High School.
West Indies coach Phil Simmons expects a much better showing from the team’s batsmen ahead of the upcoming series against India.
The Windies line-up struggled mightily against Bangladesh, albeit in difficult circumstances for batting in the most recent One Day International series. In three matches the team, batting first on each occasion, managed just a total of 435.
The team’s captain Nicholas Pooran was the team’s scorer with 91 runs but scored 73 in the final game when the series was already decided. Shamarh Brooks was the next best and he totalled 42 over the three matches. Despite facing superior opposition, India, in another series beginning on Friday, Simmons does not expect such a brutal showing with the bat.
“You expect a better batting performance. You don’t really want to make excuses and in the last game we showed what we should have shown in the first two games, on what were bad cricket wickets on whole but we expect differently,” Simmons told members of the media on Wednesday.
“We’ve had two days of practice, we practiced yesterday and a really good session today, something that we did not get between Dominica and Guyana because of the rain that stopped us from practicing. From the sessions I have seen so far, the guys seem to be switched on again.”
Jamaica Reggae Girlz forward Khadijah Shaw and midfielder Drew Spence have been named to the Concacaf W Championship Best XI for the recently concluded tournament.
The duo was outstanding for the Jamaica national team who finished third overall at the event behind winners the United States and second place Canada.
The typically outstanding Shaw, the Jamaica national team’s all-time leading scorer, managed to net a tournament-leading three goals, which added up for a very productive 12 overall.
The introduction of Tottenham Hotspurs midfielder Spence was a major boost for the Jamaicans as she racked up a tournament-leading 15 pass interceptions an assist and a goal.
Also joining Shaw and Spence in the W Championship Best XI was Haiti livewire Melchie Dumornay who proved a slippery customer for opposing defenses to handle time and time again. The Caribbean players were selected as part of a 3-4-3 formation. The rest of the team was comprised of players from the United States and Canada.
Full squad
GK Kailen Sheridan, Canada
DF Becky Sauerbrunn, United States
DF Vanessa Gilles, Canada
DF Naomi Girma, United States
MF Melchie Dumornay, Haiti
MF Rose Lavelle, United States
MF Jessie Fleming, Canada
MF Drew Spence, Jamaica
FW Julia Grosso, Canada
FW Alex Morgan, United States
FW Khadija Shaw, Jamaica
Reggae Girlz coach Lorne Donaldson insists the team was prepared for a battle of attrition with Costa Rica after several recent close encounters between the teams.
A second-half extra-time goal from Kalyssa van Zanten secured a 1-0 win for Jamaica in a hard-fought encounter against their Central Americans in the third-place playoff. The win capped off a successful tournament for the Jamaicans who secured third place and with it a chance to qualify for the 2024 Olympics.
Having successfully secured a spot in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the Jamaicans will now have the chance to make more history when they face defending champions Canada in a home-and-away play-off next year. Getting past Costa Rica proved to be a challenge.
“We knew it was going to be a very tight game. Every time we play Costa Rica it comes down to the second half or overtime so we figured if we could get some speed on the field late on, we could get something, and Kiki came on and had a good finish,” Donaldson said.
The last 6 matches between the teams have been decided by a 1-0 score line with Costa Rica winning 3 of the matches with one draw. The coach was also full of praise for the young goal scorer.
“She’s been in a few games she’s a rookie, she’s a young player so she got over excited but this game she was calmer. When we looked in her eyes when I spoke to her, I told her you to have a goal in your boot and gave her some confidence but she has been growing confident.”
Inter Miami hope to be able to sign Lionel Messi and establish themselves as "the benchmark of soccer in the United States", co-owner Jorge Mas has reiterated.
The MLS outfit are owned by a group including former Manchester United, Real Madrid and England great David Beckham, so they are no strangers to big names.
But the arrival of seven-time Ballon d'Or winner Messi in the United States would likely represent a landmark transfer in the sport's history.
For now, Messi, who had spent his entire club career with Barcelona until last year, is under contract at Paris Saint-Germain for another season, while there is the option for a further 12 months, too.
However, Inter are not giving up hope of recruiting the 35-year-old before he calls time on a legendary career.
The club's chief business officer Xavier Asensi hinted at interest in Messi earlier this week, and Mas doubled down on their transfer market ambition in an interview with Sport as Barca visit Miami in pre-season.
Mas, a co-owner alongside Beckham, said: "Well, look, both David Beckham and I aspire to bring the best players in the world here to Miami.
"[It is] not only because of the project we are creating, because we want to be the benchmark of soccer in the United States, but when you talk about the best players in the world, Leo is obviously the best player on the planet.
"Hopefully the conditions will be for him being there, playing in the shirt of Inter Miami of the United States. We aspire to that. Hopefully the circumstances will arise.
"We have nothing guaranteed, there is no agreement, but I am a very optimistic man, and hopefully in the future Leo Messi can be part of our project."
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
