Josef Martinez scored a late penalty to rescue a point for Gabriel Heinze's Atlanta United, though Seattle Sounders remain unbeaten in MLS.
Martinez equalised via an 86th-minute spot-kick to earn Atlanta a 1-1 draw with the Sounders at Lumen Field in Seattle on Sunday.
The Sounders had taken a sixth-minute lead from Raul Ruidiaz, who headed home Joao Paulo's corner to make it six goals in seven games.
Last season's MLS Cup runners-up Seattle remain undefeated and top of the Western Conference through seven matches, but had their four-game winning run ended as Atlanta – led by former Manchester United and Real Madrid defender Heinze – sit fifth in the east.
Last season's Supporters' Shield winners Philadelphia Union moved up into third in the east with a 1-0 victory away to DC United.
Kacper Przybylko netted the winner on the stroke of half-time for the Union, who are now unbeaten in their past four games.
Jamiro Monteiro laid off a perfectly weighted pass into the box for the Polish attacker to control and convert.
Union goalkeeper Andre Blake made a spectacular second-half save to deny United's 18-year-old midfielder Kevin Paredes with a curled effort from the edge of the box.
Undefeated Nashville edged past newcomers Austin 1-0 courtesy of a 35th-minute volley from Randall Leal.
Jared Stroud thought he had scored a second-half equaliser but it was disallowed by VAR for offside.
Nashville, who drew four of their opening five games, have won two of their past three matches to move up to fourth in the Eastern Conference, while Austin have lost three in a row on the road.
Following PCR Tests administered on Friday, 21 May, for all members of the West Indies Men’s red-ball training camp being held in St Lucia, Jamaican fast bowler, Marquino Mindley, tested positive on his second COVID-19 test.
In accordance with the medical protocols established with the St Lucian Ministry of Health, Mindley, who is currently asymptomatic, will now self-isolate in his hotel room under the supervision of the Cricket West Indies (CWI) Medical Team until he returns two back-to-back negative results.
All other members of the training squad and coaching team were re-tested and isolated in their rooms, with training cancelled for the weekend. All of these training squad and coaching team members have now tested negative following their repeat tests and the squad will train in small groups starting on Monday 24 May, at the Daren Sammy Cricket Ground.
The West Indies red-ball training camp is being held in a bio-secure environment ahead of the ICC World Test Championship two-match Series against South Africa, scheduled to start on June 10.
CWI continues to work with all the regional governments and CARPHA to encourage and assist all squad members to get vaccinated. To date, 43 members of West Indies Men’s playing and coaching staff have received vaccination doses.
The Jamaica Tallawahs have retained T20 star Andre Russell, former Windies T20 captain Carlos Brathwaite, Rovman Powell and Chadwick Walton ahead of the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League, which begins on August 28, in St Kitts & Nevis.
Russell boasted the team’s highest average of 44.40 last year, having scored 222 runs in 9 matches. The all-rounder also bagged three wickets. Brathwaite largely struggled with the bat, averaging just 12 runs in 11 matches but took 10 wickets.
Powell, who was the team captain, also had a below par season, scoring 106 runs in 11 matches for an average of 11.77, while Walton struggled after averaging 3 runs in eight matches, with a high score of 10.
Interestingly, there has been no mention of the team’s leading run-scorer last season, Glenn Phillips, who has been one of the team’s most consistent performers for the last 4 seasons. The 24-year-old was recently offered his first retainer contract by New Zealand Cricket.
Afghan off-spinner Mujeeb-ur-Rahman, who was the team’s leading wicket-taker with 16 wickets last season, and Nepal leg-spinner Sandeep Lamichhane, who snared 12 wickets, the second most, have also not been retained.
In the meantime, the Tallawahs have also kept faith with fast bowler Fidel Edwards who showed plenty of pace after returning to the CPL in 2020. The Jamaica-based franchise will also be welcoming back left-arm spinner Verasammy Permaul and ICC America's player from last season, Ryan Persaud.
The rest of the squad, which includes the remaining 10 spots, will be announced in the coming weeks.
The West Indies cricket team camp in St Lucia is reportedly dealing with a COVID-19 scare, which has seen players and the management team forced into isolation.
The details or extent of the outbreak are yet to be confirmed by Cricket West Indies (CWI), but the team’s practice session at the Darren Sammy Grounds in St Lucia on Saturday was cancelled, with no official reason yet to be provided.
Several members of an 18-man squad, which had been called ahead of a flurry of upcoming T20 international series, reported to a bio-secure environment, where they were to live and train in preparation for the upcoming series. The players and support staff were expected to undergo rigorous COVID-19 testing.
In addition to that, however, 13 members of the training squad and management received vaccinations against the coronavirus last week.
CWI has been painstakingly and, for the most part, successfully navigating play during the coronavirus pandemic for the last several months. The West Indies and England were the first teams to return to playing international cricket, with the Raise The Bat series, which took place in a biosecure environment in England in July of last year.
Shadae Lawrence, Jamaica women’s national record holder in the discus, shattered the record twice on her way to a second-place finish at the USATF Throws Festival at the University of Arizona on Saturday evening.
Orlando City continued their unbeaten start to the season Saturday as New England Revolution remained top of the MLS Eastern Conference table.
Tesho Akindele's header after 12 minutes to give Orlando City a 1-0 victory against Toronto FC, giving the Florida side three wins and three draws through six matches.
The Revolution saw off 10-man New York Red Bulls 3-1 behind first-half goals from Gustavo Bou and Tajon Buchanan and an Adam Buksa tally late to seal it.
Two late strikes from Lucas Zelarayan helped the Columbus Crew stun New York City FC 2-1 after the home side led into the 82nd minute.
Felipe Mora's second-half brace and a penalty from Diego Valeri lifted Portland to a 3-0 triumph over 10-man LA Galaxy.
Diego Rossi scored twice before the break as Los Angeles FC held on to defeat Colorado Rapids 2-1.
Houston's Memo Rodriguez and Maximiliano Urruti provided the winning margin for Houston as they won 2-1 over Vancouver.
Sporting Kansas City continued their strong start, shaking off an early San Jose Earthquakes goal from Javier Lopez en route to a 3-1 win as Jaylin Lindsey, Alan Pulido and Daniel Salloi found the back of the net.
Luka Stojanovic lifted Chicago Fire past Inter Miami 1-0 for their first win of the season, and FC Cincinnati also emerged victorious for the first time this term with a 2-1 win at Montreal.
Real Salt Lake escaped with a 2-2 draw at FC Dallas thanks to Damir Kreilach's goal after 86 minutes.
Reigning Olympic 100m champion, Elaine Thompson-Herah, will not be a part of Sunday’s showdown with compatriot Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and the fastest woman in the world this season, Sha'Carri Richardson, at the Gateshead Diamond League.
The Jamaicans and the American seemed set for a blockbuster showdown over the distance, having recorded three of the six fastest times in history.
However, Thompson-Herah is not listed on the start list for the meet and according to reports has pulled out of the event. There has been no official reason provided for the sprinter’s withdrawal.
The field will, however, still boast plenty of quality, with Great Britain’s fastest woman, Dinah Asher-Smith, and another Jamaican, Natasha Morrison, also set to face the starter. Morrison has clocked the third-fastest time over the distance this year, having run her personal best of 10.87, in Florida, last month.
According to reports, Thompson-Herah is also registered to face off against Richards at next week’s Doha Diamond League meet, where multiple world medallist Marie-Josée Ta Lou (Ivory Coast) and Nigeria’s national record holder Blessing Okagbare are also expected to be a part of the field. Thomspon-Herah is the second-fastest woman this season having clocked a time of 10.78 in Florida last month.
Frustrated by recurring injuries that have stifled his ambition and cut his progress off at the knees, 2013 World U18 Champion Martin Manley has opted for retirement at the age of 24.
West Indies leg-spinner, Hayden Walsh Jr, admits he is eager to put a difficult year behind him, with solid performances in the upcoming series of T20 internationals.
The 29-year-old was named as part of a preliminary 18-man squad that recently began preparations to face South Africa, Australia, and Pakistan in a flurry of upcoming T20 internationals.
The group was named with preparations for the T20 World Cup in mind, which is slated for India later this year. Despite not featuring in a number of matches for the regional team this year, he was one of 18 players offered an international retainer contract. Chief of selectors Roger Harper went on to explain that the player’s status as the only quality leg-spinner, in the region, prompted the selectors to include him in the team’s retainer plans.
The player suffered from misfortune last year after being forced to pull out of the tour to Bangladesh, after testing positive for Covid-19.
“I’ve been having a tough year so far, so the fact that I am still in the plans and I still have a lot to work for, it’s still a good feeling,” Walsh said in an interview with the Antigua Observer.
“I started out the year testing positive for Covid, which ruled me out of the Bangladesh series, which I was really looking forward to. I came back to the Super 50 and I didn’t really do as well, mainly because I’ve been in isolation and I didn’t have any preparation,” he added.
“If that did not happen, then I probably most likely would have been around the T20 and One Day squads against Sri Lanka, so I feel like I’ve missed out a lot.”
Fedrick Dacres, the 2019 World Championship discus silver medalist said he is not satisfied but thankful following his season-best throw that earned him victory at the 2021 Tucson Elite Classic in Arizona on Thursday.
Cricket West Indies (CWI) will host the West Indies Professional Cricketers Draft for the 2021/2022 cricket season next Tuesday via video call.
The territorial board franchises will be convening to draft the final two players for their squads to play in the forthcoming season, which will hopefully include the CG Insurance Super50 Cup and the West Indies Championship.
The draft will be conducted over two rounds, where each franchise must pick a player in each round. Each franchise will pick two players to add to their pre-selected squad of thirteen (13) protected players, to make a full squad of fifteen (15) players. The franchises will be selecting their two picks from a pool of nearly 100 players.
For the 2021-22 season, each franchise will be allocated a pick number according to their final league position and performance of the franchise in the last West Indies Championship, held in 2019-20 and won by the Barbados Pride (see table below for sequence of draft picks). Each franchise will have 90 seconds in each round to make a pick. Where a selection is not made within this time period, the franchise will miss their turn and will have to wait until all the other franchises have made their selection in that round, before making its selection.
Once the franchises have made their full picks to confirm their fifteen retained players, a total of 90 cricketers across the six franchises will be retained on full-time regional contracts for the next twelve months.
CWI’s Cricket Operations Manager, Roland Holder said, “The draft, now in its eighth (8th) year, demonstrates that CWI remains committed to our professional cricket structure and system, even in these times of uncertainty from the COVID-19 pandemic. The ninety (90) regional players who will be awarded regional franchise contracts, will be able to train and practice professionally as CWI hopes for a return to normalcy in regional cricket later this year.”
Each choice by each Franchise selection committee will be monitored and recorded by the draft overseer (s), as notified to the Franchises by CWI.
West Indies white-ball captain Kieron Pollard says he wants to see Shimron Hetmyer competing in all three formats for the men in maroon, but believes the Guyanese batsman has to work harder if he wants to regain a Cricket West Indies (CWI) central contract.
The St Kitts & Nevis Patriots have announced their retentions for the 2021 Hero Caribbean Premier League which takes place in St Kitts & Nevis from August 28 to September 19.
The Patriots have brought in two players from other franchises. They have signed Dwayne Bravo from Trinbago Knight Riders in a trade deal that saw Denesh Ramdin go the other way. They have also signed Sherfane Rutherford from Guyana Amazon Warriors.
In addition to these two signings, they have retained Evin Lewis, Fabian Allen, Sheldon Cottrell, Jon Russ Jaggesar and Rayad Emrit.
Exciting young prospects Joshua da Silva and Dominic Drakes round out the retentions.
The Patriots have eight spots to fill to complete their squad and these will be announced in the coming weeks.
“The St Kitts and Nevis Franchise extends a warm welcome to the new players joining us this year as well as to our retained core team for yet another exciting season of the Hero CPL. This year makes it extra special with us playing at our home – Warner Park. I would like to thank all our team players, support staff and management as well as our global fan base for their continued love and support. I look forward to an amazing season in 2021,” said Patriots owner Mahesh Ramani.
The retained players are Dwayne Bravo, Evin Lewis, Fabian Allen, Sherfane Rutherford, Sheldon Cottrell, Rayad Emrit.
After a 14-month hiatus, football resumes in the land of wood and water with the Jamaica Premier League is set to kick off spectator free on Saturday, June 26, with the final scheduled for Sunday, September 26, 2021.
Chairman of the Professional Footballers Association of Jamaica, Chris Williams, made the announcement earlier today during a Zoom press conference and which was attended by the main stakeholders including Jamaica Football Federation President Michael Ricketts, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sports Olivia Grange as well representatives of team sponsors, presenting sponsors Digicel and broadcast partners Sportsmax Ltd.
Williams revealed that a total of 66 matches are expected to be played during the preliminary round of the competition where each of the 12 teams will play each other once. Matches will be played in double-headers on Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays.
At the end of the round, the teams will be separated into two tiers. The bottom six teams will play each other in a round-robin format for points that will determine rank.
Meanwhile, the top two teams will automatically advance to the semi-finals while the remaining four will play for the remaining two spots.
The semi-finals will take over two legs with the team with the better aggregate advancing to the finals.
No team will face relegation this season.
Four venues have been approved for matches with the National Stadium and Sabina Park being the preferred venues. Should there be a scheduling conflict, Williams explained, Stadium East and the Captain Horace Burrell Centre of Excellence at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus will be used to stage matches.
In relation to player and personnel safety, players and support staff will be tested for the Covid-19 virus in the days leading up to matches.
Minister Grange revealed that there is a plan is to have all players vaccinated.
Further announcements are planned to unveil team sponsors and uniforms as well as the fixture schedule.
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