Los Angeles FC prevailed in a five-goal thriller in their 'El Trafico' derby against Los Angeles Galaxy, holding on for a 3-2 win.
In a clash between two of the Western Conference's top-four sides, league-leading LAFC struck first as Jose Cifuentes broke the deadlock 17 minutes in with a header from the edge of the six-yard box.
It would be the only goal of the opening half, before the scoring barrage began with Galaxy's equaliser through Samuel Grandsir at the 55-minute mark.
Cifuentes again found himself on the end of a dangerous cross in the 70th minute, heading home his second goal, before teammate Cristian Arango made it 3-1 just two minutes later with his right-foot hit from outside the box.
Rayan Raveloson set up a thrilling finish when he trimmed the margin back to 3-2 in the 81st minute, heading home Victor Vazquez's cross, and Raveloson almost equalised with a chance in the 87th minute, but he could not find the back of the net.
According to expected goal data, Raveloson's miss in the 87th minute was the best chance of the entire game for either side (0.54 expected goals).
Meanwhile, it was one-way traffic at Philadelphia's Subaru Park as the Philadelphia Union hammered DC United 7-0.
Both Alejandro Bedoya and Julian Carranza netted braces in the first 37 minutes, before Mikael Uhre made it 5-0 heading into the half-time break.
Uhre was the Union's third player to bag his second goal when he made it 6-0 in the 59th minute, and after Carranza missed a golden opportunity for a hat-trick from the penalty spot in the 69th minute, he made it up for it with his third goal of the contest just three minutes later.
Minnesota United showed supreme finishing in Friday's last game, defeating the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-1 despite neither side finishing with an expected goal.
Minnesota finished up on the expected goal count 0.91 to 0.74, but a late barrage saw them storm home after falling behind 1-0 in the 66th minute from substitute Lucas Cavallini's goal.
Their response was sharp, equalising five minutes later through Kemar Lawrence's left-foot hit from a tight angle, before Luis Amarilla put Minnesota ahead 2-1 with his long-range blast following a costly turnover in midfield.
Franco Fragapane's 88th-minute sealer ensured there would be no late twists as Minnesota held on for the result.
Jamaica international Leon Bailey has vowed to silence his critics ahead of the new season after an underwhelming start to life in English topflight football.
The 24-year-old winger joined English Premier League (EPL) club Aston Villa last summer amid a flurry of high expectations for everyone involved in the deal. The player has, so far, failed to live up to many of those expectations.
Bailey’s problems have in the main stemmed from being unable to take the pitch. Two thigh injuries and an ankle injury saw the players miss significant time on the sideline. In fact, the forward has only been able to take part in 18 matches, with just 7 starts.
The player has given glimpses of his tremendous potential in a cameo against Everton last September, assisting one goal before scoring a belter. Bailey suffered a season-ending injury but has since returned to action for the Jamaica national team where he scored in the CONCACAF Nation’s League. It is a trend the forward intends to continue.
“Talk the same talk you did last season,” Bailey warned his critics via Instagram.
“New season incoming, I’m coming for everything they said I couldn’t achieve, mark my words.”
Reggae Girlz head coach Lorne Donaldson believes the team will have to play its best game against Haiti if it is to secure one of the automatic spots to the FIFA women’s World Cup from the Concacaf W Championship.
Locked on three points each after two games, the Caribbean teams are set for a winner-take-all showdown on Monday, which will see the victor secure a spot at the global football showpiece event next year.
The stakes of the game will be even higher for the Reggae Girlz who must win to advance as they will head into the encounter trailing but goal difference. By most metrics, the Haitian team has had a more impressive tournament to date.
The team began with a strong showing against the United States, who defeated them 3-0, a score that based on the run of play slightly flattered the Americans. The USA went on to defeat the Jamaicans 5-0. In their second match, the Haitians went on to devastate hosts Mexico 3-0. The Jamaicans had only defeated the Mexicans 1-0, albeit missing several other presentable opportunities to score. The Haitians unit has so shown a high level of fitness, skill, and extraordinary organization. It is a challenge Donaldson believes the team can meet.
“Coming into the tournament I always said Haiti would have a big part to play in this tournament. They have been to the last U-17 championship, and they have been to the last U-20 championship. So, people don’t understand the type of players Haiti has, they all play in France,” Donaldson said.
“Their fitness is what most impresses me, their discipline, they have been playing together as a group for a long time. They are well organized. We have to go in now and try to execute. We have to play one of our best games and we have to play football to win,” he added.
“If coming into the tournament, myself, the players if you had offered us this situation to be in, we would have taken it.”
Olympic champion Keston Bledman was welcomed home on Thursday, two days after receiving his 2008 Beijing Games men’s 4x100 metres gold medal in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Andrew Price has been appointed as Head Coach of Calabar’s Manning Cup team, the school announced in a statement on Friday.
Price is a seasoned coaching professional with over 30 years of experience as a player and coach.
He was the National Premier League’s Coach of the year in 2012 and was the assistant coach of the Reggae Girlz team that participated in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup in France.
Additionally, Price continues to mentor and support youngsters through the Boys’ Town Football Club, with whom he has been associated for the past 20 years.
According to the statement released by Calabar on Friday, Price will be “responsible for the overall football programme and for coaching the Under-19 football team to develop students’ skills so that they may excel in football.”
The statement continued: “He is expected to deliver a competitive programme that contributes to the holistic development of the students in keeping with the school’s objective of producing rounded, capable young men with excellent leadership skills.”
Calabar are three-time winners of the Manning Cup with their latest triumph coming in 2005.
She is one of the fastest women in the world in the 100m hurdles but Ackera Nugent, the second-fastest Jamaican woman on the planet this year, is not considering turning professional just yet. According to the reigning World U20 champion, getting an education is among her goals and she still has unfinished business as a collegiate athlete.
Nugent, 20, who completed her sophomore year at Baylor University in May, ran a personal best of 12.45 at the Big 12 Championships in Lubbock, Texas on May 15.
The time, which she shares with Jamaican champion Britany Anderson, is the sixth-fastest in the world this year. Only Texas Tech’s Demisha Roswell’, who ran 12.44 to beat Nugent at the Big 12 Championships has run faster.
Notwithstanding, what is a significant accomplishment, Nugent is focused on completing her education at Baylor where she is majoring in Psychology.
“Basically, having an education with track is very important, so if I decide to go pro, I’d still be going to school but I have only ran 12.4 once and I haven’t run healthy, so I have decided that I should come back to college and focus on trying to get an outdoor NCAA title,” said the 2021 NCAA National Indoor champion.
Two years of college, she said, have been a great learning experience for her.
“It has taught me a lot. That I need to expect the unexpected, that you will have your highs and lows but you have to get up and do what you have to do, especially not having your family around you, your support system and when you have to put your trust in a coaching staff, a medical team,” she explained.
“It has helped me grow so much. I am more mature and Baylor is helping me grow into the amazing athlete that I think I am today.”
Nugent shut down her season in June after tearing her plantar fascia in regionals earlier this year. The decision saw her miss the NCAA Division I nationals in Oregon and also the Jamaica National Championships at the end of June.
Reggae Girlz head coach Lorne Donaldson says his team simply wasn’t good enough in their 0-5 hammering by defending World Champions the USA in the Concacaf Women’s Championship on Thursday.
The Americans sprinted out to a 2-0 lead through goals from Sophia Smith in the fifth and eighth minutes before adding three more goals in the second half through Rose Lavelle (59th), Kristie Mewis (83rd) and Trinity Rodman (86th) to complete the 5-0 demolition at the Estadio BBVA Bancomer.
“I didn’t think it’d take 10 minutes. We gave up two goals in six minutes and you’re not going to play the World Champs and expect anything out of the game playing the way we did. We weren’t good,” Donaldson said in a post-match press conference.
“The Americans are the best team in the world. When you play the champions at the top of their game, bad things will happen if you don’t play well and we didn’t,” Donaldson added.
The Reggae Girlz are now third in Group A with three points after two games with their third and final preliminary encounter coming against Haiti on Monday.
The Haitians also have three points and will go into that game with supreme confidence after a convincing 3-0 win over Mexico on Thursday.
The winner of Monday’s match will join the USA as automatic qualifiers to next year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand while the loser will most likely have to book their spot through an inter-continental playoff.
“I think we’re going to be fine and ready,” Donaldson said.
Haiti leapfrogged Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz on the back of a five-star performance against Mexico, which saw them down the host 3-0 in the second match of the Group A Concacaf W Championship on Thursday.
This result also means the United States cannot finish lower than second place in the group and has officially qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.
The match started on a high for Haiti. In the 13th minute, Mexican defender Stephany Mayor committed a foul in the area and the referee awarded Haiti a penalty. Roselord Borgella calmly scored her first goal for Haiti in this round of the qualifiers.
Haiti kept pushing and in the 29th, Borgella scored what seemed to be the second goal of the match but after a VAR review, was judged to be in an offside position.
The irrepressible Haitians looked a constant threat and got another opportunity to add to the lead in the 65th minute when GK Emily Alvarado brought down Nérilia Mondésir in the area. Mondesir stepped up and scored the second goal of the match for her team.
Mexico’s faint comeback hopes received a fatal blow in the 77th minute when centre half Greta Espinoza received a yellow card but saw it upgraded to a red card after a VAR review.
A minute later, Sherly Jeudy stepped up to score a sensational freekick for Haiti, which flew over the wall and arrowed into the top left corner of the goal. The win was the first time that the Caribbean side has beaten Mexico in a CWC match and saw them move past Jamaica into second in the group on goal difference.
Mexico will close out group play with a match against the now-qualified USA, while Haiti will tackle Jamaica in a winner take all showdown for the next available spot from Group A.
Superstar gymnast Simone Biles received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Joe Biden on Thursday, becoming the youngest living person to be honoured.
Biles is the most decorated US gymnast in history, with 32 Olympic and world championship medals, and has also been an advocate for mental health and sexual assault survivors.
President Biden recognised her achievements both inside and outside the gym, as he awarded the 25-year-old yet another medal.
"When we see her compete, we see unmatched power and determination, grace and daring," Biden said.
"A trailblazer and a role model, when she stands on the podium, we see what she is: absolute courage to turn personal pain into a greater purpose, to stand up and speak for those who cannot speak for themselves.
"Today, she adds to her medal count of 32 – I don't know if you're going to find room."
In the same ceremony, Megan Rapinoe was the first footballer to be a recipient of this highest civilian award in the United States.
Rapinoe has won two Women's World Cups and an Olympic gold medal and has also been a prominent figure due to her activism.
The OL Reign captain has battled throughout her career for gender pay equality, racial justice and LGBTQ+ rights.
"Beyond the World Cup titles and the Olympic medals, Megan is a champion for [an] essential American truth that everyone – everyone – is entitled to be treated with dignity and respect," Biden said.
While Rapinoe was at the White House, her United States team-mates clinched qualification for the 2023 World Cup with a 5-0 win over Jamaica.
Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz suffered a setback in the bid to qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup following a 5-0 loss to world champions the United States, in the Concacaf W Championship on Thursday.
The loss was the first for the team in group A, after opening its campaign with a 1-0 over hosts Mexico. It did not take an industriously starting United States long to get on the score sheet as they broke the deadlock in the 5th minute courtesy of the boot of Sophia Smith.
The player doubled the lead just three minutes after with a lob over the head of Jamaica goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer, which looked to have been cleared off the line, but was judged to have crossed it.
A dominant performance for the Stars and Stripes continued in the second half when Rose Lavelle fired wide of Spencer after a 14-minute spell of resistance for the Jamaicans. With the game winding down substitute Paige Bailey-Gayle brought down Margaret Purce and Kristie Mewis scored the resulting penalty in the 84th minute. Substitute Trinity Rodman completed the rout with a goal two minutes later. The win saw the United States stay at the top of the group with 6 points, while Jamaica were second with 3 but with Haiti and Mexico yet to play in the later game.
Player of the Match Nicholas Pooran and Kyle Mayers scored half-centuries as the West Indies defeated Bangladesh by five wickets to take their three-match T20 series 2-0 on Thursday.
Edwin Allen High School speed twins – Tina and Tia Clayton – will go pro and join the MVP Track Club, according to a report published in the Jamaica Observer.
The twins, who turn 18 on August 17, have been standout high school athletes for the past few years with Tina developing more quickly than her sister Tia over the past couple of seasons.
Both were members of Jamaica’s 4x100m team that set a world record 42.94s at the World U20 Champions in Nairobi, Kenya last year. Both were also members of the team that ran 42.58, a world record at the 2022 Carifta Games held at the National Stadium in Kingston in April. However, that time was not ratified by World Athletics when Jamaican authorities failed to test Tia, who had won the 100m title the night before.
At the National Championships at the end of June, Tina, the World U20 100m, set a new national U20 record of 10.96, breaking the previous record of 10.97 set by Tokyo Olympic gold relay medallist Briana Williams.
Tia, the Carifta Games silver medallist, who was third at the national championships boasts a personal best of 11.25.
Sources indicate that on the basis of the incredible performance by Tina at the national championships several potential sponsors were chasing their signatures but according to a report in the Jamaica Observer, one of those companies managed to move ahead of the rest and seal a deal that will see the girls ending their respective impressive high school careers.
At MVP, Tina and Tia Clayton will most likely be under the guidance of Stephen Francis, who has enjoyed tremendous success over the past decade with two-time Olympic champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Elaine Thompson-Herah, the only woman to win the 100/200m double at consecutive Olympic Games.
Inter Miami have confirmed the signing of former Major League Soccer MVP Alejandro Pozuelo from Toronto FC.
Pozuelo, crowned MLS' best player in 2020 in the second of a three-and-a-half-season stay with Toronto, will occupy an International Roster slot and a Designated Player slot for Inter.
Phil Neville's side will pay $150,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM) to Toronto across two years for the signing of Pozuelo, which is subject to the Spaniard receiving a P-1 Visa.
Toronto will also retain a sell-on percentage in the event of a future transfer, while Inter will send additional conditional GAM if Pozuelo meets certain performance-based incentives.
"We're thrilled to be able to welcome a player of Alejandro's calibre," Inter sporting director Chris Henderson said.
"He has proven himself to be one of the brightest talents in the league and we are confident that will continue here in South Florida.
"We were looking to add a decisive, creative attacking player and we feel he fits the profile."
Prior to joining Toronto, where he scored 30 goals and assisted 34 in 100 appearances across all competitions, Pozuelo played for Real Betis, Swansea City, Rayo Vallecano and Genk.
As well as winning the MVP award two years ago, the 30-year-old was also twice named in the MLS Team of the Season.
"We believe Alejandro will fit right in with our group," head coach Neville said. "He's a player of tremendous quality that we feel can be a real game changer for us.
"We can't wait to integrate him into the squad and are looking forward to seeing him on the pitch in Inter Miami colours."
Pozuelo's departure from Toronto comes amid widespread speculation that the Canadian club are closing in on a move for former Juventus midfielder Federico Bernardeschi.
Shai Hope has signed for the Guyana Amazon Warriors as the draft for the 2022 season of the Caribbean Premier League was completed on Thursday.
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