SOCCER
Star attacker Christian Pulisic and goalkeeper Zack Steffen will miss the Americans’ opening World Cup qualifier at El Salvador on Thursday night, two major absences as the United States tries to rebound from its failure to qualify for the 2018 tournament.
Pulisic, the top American player and a regular with European champion Chelsea, is regaining fitness after testing positive for COVID-19. Steffen, the backup at Premier League champion Chelsea, has back spasms.
Both did not board the Americans’ charter flight to El Salvador and remained in Nashville, Tennessee, where the U.S. hosts Canada on Sunday night in its second of 14 qualifiers.
U.S. Coach Gregg Berhalter said Matt Turner, a 27-year-old who made his debut with Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution in 2018, will start in goal.
Berhalter said it is too early to determine whether Pulisic, who is fully vaccinated, will be available for Sunday’s match.
BAIL DENIED: Manchester City defender Benjamin Mendy was refused bail and will remain in custody ahead of a trial scheduled to start on Sept. 10 after being charged with four counts of rape and one sexual assault.
The 27-year-old Mendy has been in custody at a prison in Liverpool, northwest England, since last Friday, when he appeared in court and faced the charges. A second bail application was made in a closed hearing that lasted about 50 minutes, and it was turned down. The France international did not attend the hearing.
Mendy is charged with attacks on three different women, including one under 18, at his home.
RECORD: Cristiano Ronaldo became the highest-scoring man in the international soccer history with his 110th goal for Portugal.
The Portugal captain scored in the 89th minute against Ireland in a World Cup qualifier, moving ahead of former Iranian striker Ali Daei. Earlier in the game, he had a penalty saved in the 15th minute.
Ronaldo, 36, was playing in his 180th game for Portugal.
The only two men to net more than 100 times for their countries are Ronaldo and Daei, who scored 109 goals in 149 games for Iran from 1993-2006 and played for German clubs Bayern Munich and Hearth Berlin.
The most prolific scorer in international soccer is 38-year-old Christine Sinclair of Canada, who scored her 187th goal at the Tokyo Olympics where she won gold last month.
COVID-19: Switzerland captain Granit Xhaka tested positive for COVID-19 and is a doubt for a World Cup qualifying game against European champion Italy.
The Swiss soccer federation announced the news after Xhaka was not in the lineup to play a warm-up game against Greece. It would have been his 99th game for the national team ahead of hosting Italy on Sunday in Basel.
Xhaka showed symptoms in the morning and, after a rapid test returned a negative result, a subsequent PCR test revealed the infection, the Swiss federation said.
He is due to have another PCR test on Thursday.
BASEBALL
DOUBLE-A: The Portland Sea Dogs were rained out at New Hampshire. The teams will play a doubleheader on Sunday, starting at 12:05 p.m.
BASKETBALL
NBA: The Hawks and center Clint Capela have agreed to a two-year extension, which will keep Capela under contract in Atlanta through the 2024-25 season.
The deal is for $42 million, but could reach as high as $46 million via incentives, according to a person familiar with the situation. ESPN first reported the news.
“Clint is one of the premier defensive and rebounding big men in the league,” Hawks General Manager Travis Schlenk said.
Capela is coming off a sensational year with the Hawks, leading the league in rebounding with a career-high 14.3 per game, adding 15.2 points and two blocks. His physical presence and voice on defense elevated the team’s ceiling and helped the Hawks to a historic playoff run, going from 20-47 the season before last to winning two games in the Eastern Conference finals. He ended up finishing sixth in Defensive Player of the Year voting. Capela’s postseason experience also proved valuable for the Hawks, and in 18 playoff starts, he added 10.1 points, 11.2 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 31.6 minutes.
HOCKEY
NHL: After Lou Lamoriello was conspicuously quiet for most of the summer, he completed most of the New York Islanders’ offseason work by signing four players to multiyear contracts.
Goaltender Ilya Sorokin got $12 million over three years, homegrown winger Anthony Beauvillier $12.45 million over three years, trade deadline pickup Kyle Palmieri $20 million over four years and fourth-line mainstay Casey Cizikas $15 million over six years. The deals keep together a core that reached the third round of the playoffs each of the past two seasons.
“It’s exciting what we’re doing right now,” Cizikas said. “We’re gearing up for another big year.”
The Islanders’ only other signing of the summer was a $46 million, eight-year deal with defenseman Adam Pelech in early August.
• Defenseman Colton Parayko and St. Louis agreed on a $52 million, eight-year contract.
GOLF
PGA: Patrick Reed is headed for the Tour Championship, the final event of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup Playoffs, which begins Thursday at East Lake Golf Club.
After missing the Northern Trust and BMW Championship, the first two qualifiers for the playoffs, because of bilateral pneumonia, Reed made the final event as the last of the 30 players in the field. He practiced Monday under the supervision of medical personnel and was given a “cautious light to go and play,” he told Golfweek Tuesday.
Reed, who has had six top-10 finishes this season, has missed the last three tournaments. He tees off at 11:40 a.m. Thursday and says he plans “to give it my best shot.”
Winner of the Farmers Insurance Open in January, Reed ranks 19th in the world.
RYDER CUP: Phil Mickelson is returning for his 13th consecutive Ryder Cup, this time without his clubs.
Mickelson fills out the roster of five assistant captains to Steve Stricker for the American team that tries to win the cup back from Europe at Whistling Straits on Sept. 24-26.
Fred Couples also was announced as an assistant, joining Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson and Davis Love III.
CYCLING
SPANISH VUELTA: Two-time defending champion Primoz Roglic regained the overall lead in the Spanish Vuelta with a dominant performance during the mountainous 17th stage.
The 31-year-old Slovenian pulled away from Egan Bernal with 7.5 kilometers (4.6 miles) to go and finished alone up the iconic climb into Lagos de Covadonga for his third stage win, pumping his left fist as he crossed the line.
“I just tried to ride up the climb as fast as possible,” Roglic said. “At that point, Egan didn’t follow anymore so I just went in alone.”
With four stages remaining, Roglic leads the Movistar team pair of Enric Mas by 2 minutes, 22 seconds and Miguel Angel Lopez by more than 3 minutes.
“It’s never big enough, but yeah it’s nice, we deserve it,” Roglic said of his lead. “We’ll see if it will be enough then after tomorrow.”
Roglic’s Jumbo-Visma teammate, Sepp Kuss of the United States, finished the stage in second place just ahead of Lopez in a pack that was 1:35 behind the winner. Norwegian rider Odd Christian Eiking had kept the leader’s red jersey for a week but had a difficult day that included a crash. He dropped nearly 8 minutes off the lead.
AUTO RACING
FORMULA ONE: Kimi Raikkonen will retire at the end of the Formula One season, concluding a career that spanned two decades and included the 2007 world championship.
Raikkonen is in the final year of his contract with Alfa Romeo. The Finn announced his departure on Instagram on Wednesday ahead of this weekend’s Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort.
“This is it. This will be my last season in Formula 1,” Raikkonen wrote. “This is a decision I did during last winter. It was not an easy decision but after this season it is time for new things. Formula 1 might come to an end for me but there is a lot more in life that I want to experience and enjoy. See you around after all of this! Sincerely Kimi.”
Send questions/comments to the editors.
