SOCCER
Portugal advance 3-1
On a night when Portugal unveiled its newest star, it was the same old Cristiano Ronaldo who came through for the national team again. Teenager Joao Felix, who has been called Ronaldo’s successor, made his international debut on Wednesday, but it was Ronaldo who scored the hat-trick that gave Portugal a 3-1 win over Switzerland and a spot in the final of the inaugural Nations League. “Clearly these were three very important goals, beautiful goals, but the most important is that we won and that the team have qualified for the final, which was our objective,” Ronaldo said.
SOCCER
FA criticizes unruly fans
The Football Association (FA) has labeled troublemaking fans at the Nations League in Portugal “an embarrassment” after they clashed with police on Wednesday night. Riot police charged England fans in the center of Porto after beer glasses were thrown in the special fanzone set up for the Nations League finals. “The FA strongly condemns the scenes witnessed in Porto overnight. Anyone responsible for these disturbances cannot be seen as true England supporters and are not welcome in football,” it said in a statement. “They are an embarrassment to the team and the thousands of well-behaved fans who follow England in the right way. We are liaising with the UK Football Policing Unit.” England supporters were staying in Porto ahead of yesterday’s match in nearby Guimaraes against the Netherlands and had gathered in the fanzone to watch Wednesday’s match between Portugal and Switzerland on outdoor big screens. The Guardian newspaper reported that hundreds of England fans were baton charged by riot police after they threw beer glasses. Deputy Chief Constable Mark Roberts, the National Police Chiefs’ Council soccer policing lead, said in a statement that the behavior was “incredibly disappointing” and “completely unacceptable.”
OLYMPICS
USOC seeks pregnancy rule
The US Olympic Committee (USOC) says it is working on reforms to prevent athletes from losing health insurance coverage when they become pregnant. Three US senators on Wednesday wrote to USOC chief executive officer Sarah Hirshland, asking her to provide details about the insurance program, saying the discontinuation of coverage when an athlete becomes pregnant is “unconscionable and may put at risk her health and that of her child.” The USOC provides funding for insurance to US governing bodies that run individual sports, and those bodies are responsible for determining which athletes receive coverage and under what conditions.
RUGBY UNION
Folau starts legal action
Sacked Wallabies star Israel Folau yesterday began legal action against Rugby Australia’s decision to dismiss him over social media posts, saying the move was to defend freedom of religion. “No Australian of any faith should be fired for practising their religion,” Folau said in a statement after filing his case with Australia’s employment watchdog, the Fair Workplace Commission. Folau had his contract terminated last month after a Rugby Australia tribunal found him guilty of a “high-level” breach of the governing body’s code of conduct for a post on Instagram that said “hell awaits” sinners.
Barcelona star Lamine Yamal would be motivated by criticism ahead of the Clasico, Barcelona assistant coach Marcus Sorg said yesterday. Teenage winger Yamal has been in the spotlight in the Spanish capital after joking that Real Madrid “steal” and “complain” during an appearance on a social media stream. Champions Barca face Real Madrid today in La Liga at the Santiago Bernabeu, looking for a fifth consecutive win over their rivals. “Lamine is a top player and I think [the criticism] will be motivating for him,” Sorg told a news conference. “I hope we all see him tomorrow [give] the best performance.” The 18-year-old Spain
‘A HISTORIC moment’: ‘I think we all need to take a step back and appreciate Leo Messi is playing in Major League Soccer,’ league commissioner Don Garber said Lionel Messi raised the Golden Boot. He then got Inter Miami started with his head. The Argentine opened the scoring with a diving header in the first half, then capped the scoring in the 96th minute as Inter Miami opened the MLS playoffs with a 3-1 win over Nashville SC in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference best-of-three first-round series on Friday night. Messi and Ian Fray had the assists on Tadeo Allende’s second-half tally for Inter Miami, who now get two chances to advance out of the first round for the first time in Messi’s two-and-a-half-year tenure with the team. Game
‘COMPLETE GAME’: ‘To be honest, I’m not sure about the history, but I’m very happy about what I did today,’ Yamamoto said through a translator after the game Yoshinobu Yamamoto pitched a World Series game from another era. Sandy Koufax had October outings like this, and so did Orel Hershiser, but those types of performances have vanished in modern baseball. Until this 178cm starter from Japan delivered like the aces of old. Yamamoto threw a four-hitter for his second consecutive complete game, the first in the World Series since 2015, and the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays 5-1 on Saturday night to tie their best-of-seven matchup at one game apiece. “It’s kind of the throwback,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “When he starts a game, he
Japan’s narrow defeat by Australia showed they can compete with the best teams in the world, coach Eddie Jones said after his side fell to a 19-15 loss yesterday. Australia coach Joe Schmidt led the Wallabies for the first time against Eddie Jones, his predecessor and now Japan coach. During Jones’ second tenure as Australia coach, the Wallabies lost seven of nine tests and were eliminated in group play at the 2023 World Cup. “What I’m super pleased about is that now we [Japan] are a team that stays in the fight,” Jones told reporters. “We kept going, we could have won
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