The US, Mexico and Costa Rica remained unbeaten in the semi-final phase of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying on Wednesday. The US stretched their lead atop Group 1 with a 3-0 victory over Trinidad and Tobago, Mexico downed Canada 2-1 in Tuxtla Gutierrez to consolidate their position atop Group 2, while Group 3 leaders Costa Rica beat hosts Haiti 3-1.
Bryan Ruiz scored in the 12th and 73rd minutes for Costa Rica and Alejandro Alpizar added a third in the 86th in Port-au-Prince.
The US, with nine points from three matches, are virtually assured of reaching the final phase of qualifying after pulling five points clear of Trinidad and Tobago and Guatemala.
Guatemala joined Trinidad on four points with a 4-1 win over Cuba in Guatemala City.
The top two teams in each of the three groups advance to the final phase. From there, three teams advance to the finals in South Africa, while the fourth-placed finisher plays off for a berth against a team from South America.
Bradley and Dempsey got the US off to a quick start.
Bradley struck first, firing home in the ninth minute.
Nine minutes later, Dempsey made it 2-0 with a powerful shot. Ching added a header in the 57th to round off the scoring.
Mexico received a spark from sub Omar Bravo when he fired a header past Lars Hirschfeld in the 58th minute.
Rafael Marquez made it 2-0 for Mexico in the 72nd, and Canadian Ali Gerba’s 77th minute goal wasn’t enough to prevent Mexico from remaining perfect with nine points from three matches in Group 2.
Honduras maintained their second-placed spot in Group 2 with a 2-0 victory over Jamaica in San Pedro Sula.
Ramon Nunez in the 60th minute and Amada Guevara from the penalty spot in the 73rd secured the victory for Honduras.
El Salvador stayed in position to advance with a 2-0 away win over Suriname in Paramaribo that left them on six points.
Shohei Ohtani on Wednesday homered for the fifth consecutive game, tying a Los Angeles Dodgers franchise record. Yankees star Aaron Judge was the last player to homer in five consecutive games, accomplishing that feat last year. Ohtani, who leads the National League with 37 home runs, homered in the first inning off Minnesota Twins starter Chris Paddack. He hit a slow curveball 134m to center. He carried the bat midway down the first-base line and then did a bat flip. He did not hit a home run later in the game with the Dodgers trailing, but his presence was felt. With two outs
US top seed Taylor Fritz dropped an early yesterday morning marathon to Alejandro Davidovich-Fokina of Spain, while the UK’s Emma Raducanu and Canada’s Leylah Fernandez reached the semi-finals of the ATP and WTA DC Open. World number four Fritz, two points from victory in the ninth game, dropped the last five games in falling to the 26th-ranked Spaniard 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 7-5 after three hours and five minutes in a match ending just before 2am. Davidovich-Fokina advanced to the semi-final against US fourth seed Ben Shelton, who beat sixth-seeded hometown hero Frances Tiafoe 7-6 (7/2), 6-4. Fritz, who had 20 aces and six
Ben O’Connor won Thursday’s monster Alpine stage to the ski resort of Courchevel as three-time Tour de France champion Tadej Pogacar responded to attacks from Jonas Vingegaard and dropped him to cement his grip on the yellow jersey. With just three stages left before the race ends in Paris, Pogacar looks poised to retain his title, with a comfortable lead of more than 4 minutes over Vingegaard, a two-time champion. Stage 18 featured three extremely difficult ascents, including the 26.4km climb of the Col de La Loze to the finish. At 2,304m, La Loze is the highest summit in this year’s Tour. Two
Taiwan’s world No. 6 shuttler Chou Tien-chen yesterday defeated India’s H.S. Prannoy to advance to the quarter-finals of the China Open in Changzhou. It was former world No. 2 Chou’s eighth win in 14 matches against Prannoy, who had earlier this week lamented the age divide between him and up-and-comers, although he is only two years younger than 35-year-old Chou. The Taiwanese, who is seeded sixth at the tournament, rebounded from a close 21-18 loss in game 1 on Court 2 at the Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium. He bounced back to take the next games 21-15, 21-8 and set up a tough quarter-final
RSS