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New Angel City FC midfielder Ally Sentnor said she believes the team can break out of its slump and win during her introduction to the fans.
“Angel City has so many tools and opportunities at their disposal and it’s right there,” Sentnor said during a season-ticket holder party Saturday. “And it’s just pushing over the edge of just little things that are gonna make this team a constant top-of-the-table contender.”
Angel City traded for Sentnor, bringing her to her third National Women’s Soccer League team. Sentnor was selected by the Utah Royals with the first pick in the 2024 draft. She was acquired by the Kansas City Current in August 2025 and helped them finish atop the table.
This season, she has started 12 league matches, earning two goals and two assists.
U.S. midfielder Ally Sentnor and Japan defender Moeka Minami go up for the ball during a friendly on April 14 in Seattle.
(Lindsey Wasson / Associated Press)
“This is an important moment for our team and we are very excited to welcome Ally to Los Angeles,” Angel City sporting director Mark Parsons said. “Ally is one of the world’s top young talents, has senior U.S. women’s national team experience and has built up important minutes in the NWSL.”
She arrived the same week Angel City sent midfielder Kennedy Fuller to Bay FC and fired coach Alexander Straus. The team went on a 1-6-1 slide before the World Cup break and sits in 12th place in the 16-team league.
Parsons said it was important to make the coaching change with 19 games remaining and a chance to move up the standings. Assistant Leif Gunnar Smerud was named interim coach while the team searches for Straus’ replacement.
“We’d been really clear over the last 12 months when we made the hire that this is a team heading in a direction to be able to make the playoffs,” Parsons said, noting the coach has to be able to continue to develop players and put them in position to succeed.
Sentnor hopes to add a new layer to the team, making a difference on and off the field.
“Most of the team style speaks for itself on the field, and all these girls are absolutely incredible and I’m excited to go in those relationships,” Sentnor said. “The energetic, passionate style of play is something really exciting.”
Sentnor, 22, brings experience to the Angel City roster at a relatively young age. She grew up in the national team system since age 12. She recalled traveling from Massachusetts to Colorado to attend camps and take the next steps in her career.
She has 22 appearances with the national team, recording seven goals and three assists.
The Massachusetts native hasn’t lived on the East Coast in years and has enjoyed traveling the country. She’s looking forward to the weather in California.
“It’s so fun for me to be able to try out different cities across the United States and immerse myself in different cultures,” Sentnor said.
She said her family attends many of her games, helping her feel comfortable anywhere she plays.
“Home is where the people are, so when my family travels and comes out here, it feels like home. So wherever my people are is where home is,” Sentnor said.
Tyrone have been drawn to face reigning All-Ireland champions Kerry in the quarter-finals of the All-Ireland Senior Football Championship.
The draw also pitted Monaghan, the only other remaining Ulster county, against Louth, with Galway up against Dublin and Cork to take on Mayo.
All four quarter-finals will be played at Croke Park on Saturday 27 and Sunday 28 June, with the details of dates and times expected to be confirmed later on Monday.
Tyrone are aiming to secure their fifth Sam Maguire title and their first since their most recent success in 2021.
Ulster runners-up Monaghan progressed to the last-eight stage by overcoming Westmeath 1-28 to 2-19 in round three on Sunday.
Munster champions Kerry kept their bid for a third All-Ireland in five years on track with a comprehensive 4-18 to 0-17 victory over Armagh.
The Dubs were 2-26 to 2-22 winners over Donegal after extra-time on Saturday as they attempt to reclaim the title they last won in 2023.
Meath beat Mayo to book their berth in the quarter-finals.
Cork, Galway, Louth and Tyrone all had the benefit of a weekend off after advancing straight to the quarter-finals from round two.
The eight remaining counties are chasing places in the semi-finals, which will be held on 11 and 12 July.
Haaland had to wait until the age of 25 not just to make his World Cup debut, but his international tournament bow too.
And the Leeds-born striker is clearly eager to make up for lost time.
“He’s the opposite of Mbappe and Messi,” Williams said. “He’ll beat you without the ball, which makes it even more dangerous.
“You want to help your midfield by squeezing up, so they don’t have to cover too much distance.
“But as soon as you leave the space in behind, he’s going to exploit that straight away.”
One of the keys to limiting Haaland’s influence, Williams says, is to prevent his team mates getting the ball to him.
“You’ve got to stop the balls in behind first and foremost,” Williams said. “Stop the supply going into him.
“If you can play your distances between your midfield and limit his chances, you’ve got half a chance.
“There’s not many times when he actually drops in, gets the ball, beats four players, and scores his own goal, so he does feed off what he’s getting served.”
Haaland is the most clinical of the four, with 57 goals in just 51 caps.
“He’s more lethal,” Williams added. “If he gets a chance, it’s probably going to be a goal.”
What about dealing with Haaland one on one?
“Around the box, you’ve got to get tight and try to get him on his right foot,” Williams said.
“Then you’re just going to have to be as strong as you can, don’t be clever, just get the ball away and buy time.”
McDermott’s relationship with Queiroz goes back to 2011 and has spanned three different national teams with two spells at Iran as well as one at Qatar and now Ghana, but it was a mutual connection that got the ball rolling for the two to meet.
“Carlos was considering the Iran job in 2011 and my former head coach in the USL in America was Carlos’ long-term goalkeeper coach. I was already in the Middle East, working in Abu Dhabi for a club team and the conversations started. I met Carlos in Doha, we talked and myself and two other staff members joined Carlos and accepted the Iran job and that was the start of it,” he explained.
While he did not accompany Queiroz to Colombia or Egypt, instead taking over at the “mighty Glentoran” where he won an Irish Cup, McDermott did not hesitate in following him to Qatar and now to Ghana after a spell with League of Ireland First Division side Cobh Ramblers.
“Here we are again, another brilliant project with a brilliant football nation. It’s an opportunity I don’t think anyone can say no to, to work with the Ghana football team and Carlos again, it’s been brilliant.”
While many managers and their coaching staff have a few months to plan everything from travel to squad selection for the World Cup, Queiroz and McDermott did not have that luxury.
Appointed in April, they did not get to work with their full 26-man squad until the end of May, with just one full training session before a 1-1 friendly draw against Wales on 2 June and a flight to the US the next day.
“The logistics and travel were already in place, we tweaked them a little,” he said. “A big group of our players didn’t arrive until 30 May and we didn’t have a full training session until 31 May.
“We had two days, played Wales and flew the next day to the US. We had to submit our 26-man list before we even played Wales but the players have been brilliant to work with.”
Their last-minute preparations do not seem to have hampered things on the pitch, with Ghana beating Panama 1-0 in their opening Group L game in Toronto, courtesy of a 95th-minute winner from Caleb Yirenkyi.
McDermott has been impressed with how the squad has gelled off the pitch and their musical talents.
“When they are together, as you can see from social media, there is a bond and it’s new to me. I’ve been around the Middle East, Asia, Ireland and US and have had groups with good atmospheres but this, it’s hard to express it. I stand sometimes and just enjoy it,” he said.
“It was the night before we played Panama in the hotel and they have a tradition where the day before their first game after the training session they have a prayer and a song.
“The song went from the pitch and carried on to the 30-minute bus to the hotel and carried on to the hotel and once they got going they got going, it went on for an hour and a half. When you see the positive energy it gives them it’s nice. My foot started tapping!”
The rules are simple. Each day there’s a new footballer and the challenge is to guess who they are in as few attempts as possible.
After each wrong guess you unlock a new clue. Guess the answer after as few clues as possible to score more points.
Three is a good score, four or five points is exceptional.
So, take part in quiz number 15 and return for more tomorrow.
Today’s player and clues are set by BBC Sport’s Huzaifah Khan.
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Salah may have been a superstar at Liverpool. He is on an even higher plane in Egypt.
With every touch comes loud cheers from his country’s fans, with huge pressure on his shoulders on every appearance.
Sunday’s goal was his 68th for his country in 118 appearances, leaving him just one shy of manager Hassan’s all-time goal scoring record, and some will say it’s his most important yet as Egypt finally ended a 92-year wait for a World Cup win.
No player has been involved in more shots during a game at this World Cup than Salah was against New Zealand – having five shots himself and creating five more for others.
Former Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou, told ITV: “If there was any doubt about Mo’s impact on this team, you can still see it.
“It will give them enormous belief. They had to deal with adversity and their big player stood up and that will give them big confidence. You need your big players to perform to progress.”
Former Jamaica winger Jobi McAnuff added: “Just when he was needed, Mo Salah stood up for his country.”
Salah has played for the senior national team for 14 years and his importance to Egypt is such that high-ranking government officials have been known to get involved when he has been injured.
“I even had calls from Egypt’s Minister of Health,” recalls Dr Mohamed Aboud, the national team’s medic, about the time Salah sustained a serious shoulder injury in Liverpool’s defeat by Real Madrid in the 2018 Champions League final, leading to speculation he could miss the World Cup in Russia a few weeks later.
But, despite helping Liverpool to the Premier League title in 2019-20 and 2024-25, the player has yet to lift a trophy for his country.
The generation before Salah won three Africa Cup of Nations titles in a row between 2006 and 2010. Since then, there have been two defeats in finals, against Cameroon in 2017 and Senegal in the 2021 edition, which took place in early 2022.
This World Cup win at least banishes one of Egypt’s ghosts.
SOUTHAMPTON, N.Y. — On the edge of the greatest collapse in U.S. Open history, Wyndham Clark held his nerve against a charge by Sam Burns and a Shinnecock Hills gallery that never gave him much love Sunday until he captured his second Open title in four years.
Six shots ahead at the start of the final round, Clark’s final act was two putts from just outside 50 feet for par that gave him a three-over 73 and a one-shot victory over Burns.
Clark, who won the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, became the first wire-to-wire winner of the U.S. Open since Martin Kaymer at Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014.
This sure didn’t feel like that. His lead was down to a single shot after just five holes, and the stress followed him the rest of the way.
The clincher for Clark was one of his worst drives of the day on the par-5 16th. He gouged that out and narrowly cleared a bunker. His eight-iron barely stayed on the back of the green. And he rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt that gave him a two-shot lead with two holes to play.
It was a signature moment with muted applause. The gallery rooted against him all day, putting all their support behind Scottie Scheffler and his bid for the career Grand Slam. Scheffler had his own share of mistakes and never got closer than three shots all day.
Clark had the highest final round of a U.S. Open champion since Graeme McDowell closed with a 74 to win at Pebble Beach. No matter. The 32-year-old American has two U.S. Open titles, and two wins in the last month.
Burns closed with a 67, his second chance in as many years to win the U.S. Open. He missed two birdie chances on the final two holes, but what hurt just as much was a three-putt bogey on the 15th when he was trying to catch Clark.
Scheffler, in his first try to get the only major he hasn’t won, was three shots back when he rammed a 30-foot birdie putt some six feet on the 14th and three-putted for bogey and a 71.
Clark capped off quite a turnaround from a year ago. He was playing poor and looking angry, throwing a driver at the PGA Championship that made a marshal flinch, and then bashing in his locker at storied Oakmont Country Club after missing the cut in the U.S. Open last year.
Oakmont banned him until he made good — which Clark did — and he set out to work on his head and his game. Both looked better than ever at Shinnecock Hills.
He finished at four-under 276.
“New York didn’t really like me — I love you guys,” Clark said at the closing ceremony, hoisting the silver trophy. “But I get it. Some of it’s self-deserved. I did some unfortunate things last year that I really regret, and I’ve been sorry multiple times and I’m still sorry, so hopefully I can win you guys over eventually.”
But it was uncomfortable at times, not only seeing a six-shot lead disappear so quickly but a crowd so badly wanting a special day for Scheffler that it turned on Clark. One fan was ejected when he shouted, “Don’t choke, Wyndham” when it was Clark’s turn to hit on the fourth tee.
And there was a loud and instant cheer on the par-three seventh, the kind normally reserved for a shot close to the pin. This was for Clark’s tee shot rolling into a bunker, leading to a short miss for bogey that again trimmed his lead to one shot.
“I get it — they were rooting for Scottie,” Clark said. “Grand Slams only happen a few times. He’s going to get it. He’s the best player in the world. But today it’s my day.”
It almost wasn’t.
But Burns never caught him — he played even par over the last 10 holes. Tom Kim, who like Scheffler celebrated a birthday on Sunday, was on the fringes of seriously contending until he fell back with a bogey on the 17th and shot 70 to finish third.
Clark hit a superb wedge that spun back to four feet for birdie on the 10th to restore the lead to two shots. But then he went long on the 13th with a pitching wedge and couldn’t save par.
Burns last year had to deal with a rain-soaked Oakmont and a couple of shots he missed badly with so much water getting between the face of the iron and his golf ball. This time, it came down to the final two holes.
He made a weak attempt at birdie from 10 feet on the 17th to tie for the lead. His 17-foot birdie chance on the 18th rolled along the right edge of the cup at perfect speed and didn’t drop. Burns let go of his putter and dropped to his knees.
“I honestly thought I made it,” Burns said. ”Just the way it goes sometimes.”
That it went Clark’s way is hard to fathom considering where he was a year ago, where he was a month ago. He was No. 75 in the world, winless in two years, when he shot 60 in the final round to win The CJ Cup Byron Nelson.
Now he goes to No. 8 in the world ranking, and the smile he wore holding that U.S. Open trophy would suggest he feels on top of the world.
The 10-time WNBA All-Star and Sparks forward hit a buzzer-beating three-point shot to give the Sparks an electric 98-97 come-from-behind win over the New York Liberty on Sunday at Crypto.com Arena.
In a rematch of the WNBA’s first-ever game from June 21, 1997, the Sparks overcame a 17-point Liberty lead, all while celebrating the inaugural matchup — and iconic alumni — that changed women’s sports forever.
Ogwumike led the way with a game-high 24 points on 11 of 18 shooting while the rest of the starting lineup — Dearica Hamby, Erica Wheeler, Kelsey Plum and Ariel Atkins — all finished in double figures. Guard Rae Burrell also scored 19 off the bench.
Sparks head coach Lynne Roberts spoke highly of her team’s locker room pregame, even as L.A. entered riding a two-game losing streak. But the Sparks continued to fight, as Roberts expected, ultimately beating the No. 2 team in the Eastern Conference.
“I think it’s good,” Roberts said. “I wish we were fully healthy. Not having [Cameron Brink] is a big loss, or an impactful absence. But we got [Kelsey Plum]. And obviously, as you guys know, she’s the head of the snake. So that gives us, the whole group, a little more confidence … a little swagger, maybe that’s the right word.
“But the mood is good. We’ve had some great wins and some tough losses … it’s the process. You have to stay present and not freak out or panic … We’ve got great people in that locker room.”
Without Brink, who remains out after suffering an ankle sprain against Golden State, the Sparks were glad to have Plum back. L.A. entered with a 6-0 record in games in which Plum recorded six-plus assists, and the four-time WNBA All-Star, in her return from a one-game absence due to a leg injury, finished with seven to go with 12 points.
New York led for most of the night despite a cold game from guard Sabrina Ionescu, who finished with a quiet two points. The rest of the Liberty’s starting five — Breanna Stewart, Satou Sabally, Leonie Fiebich and Jonquel Jones — delivered, though, with a combined 63 points.
“Well, they’re big,” Roberts said pregame of the Liberty. “I think the unique thing is New York is huge all the way across, and so that enables them to do some things that are unique. I think the other thing they’re doing is putting [Jones] and Stewie in kind of lead guard positions. … They’ve got Hall of Famers over there. It’s a talented roster, which presents problems in and of itself, but they’re a good team.”
However, after a halftime break honoring Sparks and Liberty legends like Lisa Leslie and Teresa Weatherspoon, among many others at half court, L.A. was rejuvenated for the final 20 minutes. And after rapper Warren G performed after the third quarter, the Sparks — and their crowd — had all the momentum in the world. Ogwumike just delivered the icing on the cake.
Sunday, before anything else, was a celebration of the WNBA’s existence and the pioneers who fought to bring the game to its current standing.
“Just know that we never took a day for granted,” Leslie said at halftime. “We appreciate every moment, every day, every moment that you guys supported the WNBA from New York to L.A. and everywhere in between.”
But after Ogwumike’s game winner? WNBA fans exited Sunday’s game spoiled.
SACRAMENTO — Zach Neto hit a two-run homer in the ninth inning that gave them their first lead, Denzer Guzman tied the score with a three-run home run in the eighth, and the Angels beat the Athletics 9-7 on Sunday.
Donovan Walton also homered and had three RBIs, while Nolan Schanuel and Jose Siri each added two hits to help the Angels (32-47) split the series after losing the first two games, including blowing an 11-4 lead Friday night.
Nick Kurtz hit his 19th home run, and Zac Gelof had a single and a double to extend his hit streak to 24 games for the A’s (38-40). Kurtz has 55 career homers, tied with Bob Johnson (1933-34) for the most in franchise history through the first two seasons of a career.
Five players drove in runs for the A’s. Joey Meneses had an RBI single in his Athletics debut after being called up from the minors before the game.
Chase Silseth (2-1) had two strikeouts and worked a scoreless eighth for the win. Sam Bachman pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his first save of the season.
Guzman’s third home run in as many days, a three-run drive off Hogan Harris (3-1), tied the score at 7-7.
After Siri singled with one out in the ninth, Neto belted an 0-and-1 fastball that landed just beyond the fence in left field.
Angels starter Reid Detmers gave up five runs and walked four in six innings.
Gelof singled leading off the game, doubled in the fourth, then reached on an error in the seventh before Kurtz’s home run. His hitting streak is tied for the second-longest in franchise history since 1961.
A’s starter Jack Perkins had eight strikeouts in five innings and gave up four runs.
Up next for the Angels: LHP Sam Aldegheri (2-2, 4.50 ERA) faces the Baltimore Orioles on Monday.
How it started: A dream. A French machine-gun officer in the trenches during the First World War. A man named Jules Rimet, who believed an international soccer tournament would bring the nations together with the goal of peace.
How it’s going: The world’s biggest party. A 48-nation celebration of the world’s most beloved sport. Expected to generate about $8.9 billion, it’s become such a big deal that it’s being hosted by three countries — one of which, yes, launched a war on a competing nation in the months before the tournament.
The United States’ war with Iran, costly in all the profound ways that war is, also laid the groundwork for an uneven — and possibly precedent-setting — playing field.
At this World Cup, Team Melli has been subjected to shifting travel restrictions and uncertainty unlike the other 47 teams, spending the tournament commuting between Southern California and its base in Tijuana.
And still, after Sunday’s 0-0 draw against Belgium, the world’s No. 10-ranked team, Team Melli is in position to not only get out of its group at the World Cup for the first time, but to win Group G.
Iran’s treatment only makes its performance more impressive — while bringing into question the future of a tournament that purports to be apolitical. And conjuring up concerns about how the Olympics will operate when L.A. is supposed to open its arms to the world two years from now.
Will we be laying down blanket bans again? Will it be easier to ditch diplomacy than to deal hospitably with a global audience for a global event?
Russia and Qatar were capable of implementing systems that relaxed visa requirements to accommodate every team and its fans in the previous two World Cups. Why couldn’t the United States?
Instead, the U.S. State Department suspended visa issuance for nationals from not only Iran, but also from participating countries Haiti, Senegal and Ivory Coast. Iraq’s striker, Aymen Hussein, was held and questioned for nearly seven hours at Chicago’s O’Hare airport.
And the U.S. has allowed members of Iran’s team — discounting the 15 administration officials who reportedly were denied entry — to enter the country only within 24 hours of a match and leave the same day.
And those arbitrary restrictions — they’re OK 24 hours before a match, but not 48? — have put Team Melli at a competitive disadvantage.
“I think that united us even more,” said winger Alireza Jahanbakhsh, who spoke eloquently in English postmatch, a gracious statesman in Adidas sneakers. “That’s one of the things that I think we showed today — we showed a great team character. And part of it comes from the situation we are in.”
Through an interpreter, coach Amir Ghalenoei broadened the scope of what Iran has been facing in its runup to the World Cup.
“We were in a state of war for six months, we didn’t have a league and I remember once during a FIFA qualifying day, we traveled 40 hours by land to another country to play,” Ghalenoei said. “Everybody knows about the visa issues. Everyone knows about our coming to America. A part of the team was in competition conditions and part of them had their domestic league suspended because of the war … and many of the teams that were supposed to play us, canceled.
“I think we entered the World Cup in the worst possible conditions. This is the part I wanted the whole world to know … but the players who entered the World Cup under these conditions are truly commendable.”
It’s been a spirited rebuttal to what’s felt like a counterattack on the inherent values of the World Cup. A reminder that governments and governing bodies can get it wrong, but the beautiful game stays undefeated.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino, left, and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio pose for a photo before a World Cup game between the U.S. and Paraguay at SoFi Stadium on June 12.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
But what about FIFA?
What about the all-powerful governing body that runs the sport, whose motto is “Football Unites the World”?
The world’s foremost party planning committee, with the cachet to override branded venue names with generic, location-based names — Los Angeles Stadium instead of SoFi Stadium — on Google and Apple maps?
What has FIFA done to flex its muscle to maintain the integrity of the world’s beautiful game?
Not much.
There have been niceties and brownnosing, but no sanctions or threats thereof. Not even a hint of repercussions for diminishing the integrity of the event.
No fines, like what FIFA imposed on six national football associations in response to racist incidents involving supporters during the qualifiers for the World Cup.
No bans, like what FIFA leveled in 1988, when it ousted Mexico from all FIFA competitions for using four overage players in the Under-20 World Cup, or in 2006, when Myanmar was banned from qualifying after refusing to play Iran in an Asian qualifying match for the 2002 World Cup.
Peace talks are ongoing between the United States and Iran, but Iran’s footballing ambassadors haven’t been free to move or to prepare as they wish ahead of its matches against Belgium, and before that, their 2-2 draw against New Zealand.
Apparently, though, Iran will get greater control over travel arrangements before its now hugely consequential final group-stage match is in Seattle against Egypt on June 26, or so Ghalenoei believed when he addressed reporters Saturday.
“What my problem is, why didn’t they let us come earlier for the first two games as well?” Ghalenoei asked. “If they’ve managed to do this now, why didn’t they do that for our first game and for this game?”
Good questions.
Questions no one should be asking at the World Cup.
An eye-watering, cough-inducing thick stench of burning plastic permeated Dodger Stadium on Sunday morning. The smoke from the Boyle Heights warehouse fire had spread into every crevice and corner of the facility, inescapable despite the masks handed out to staff.
“It’s a little dark out there, little Gotham City when I was driving up,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said.
Major League Baseball approved the Father’s Day game to be played, according to Roberts. Still, the ominous atmosphere was hard to miss. When rolling up Vin Scully Avenue, a white smoke hung like a curtain behind the small hills on the other side of outfield walls, obscuring the normally scenic view of the San Gabriel Mountains.
Perhaps that should’ve been the first sign things wouldn’t go as planned for the Dodgers, who lost 12-1 to the Orioles. The loss marked the first time the Dodgers (49-29) have lost consecutive games since May 12.
“It’s everywhere in baseball, to be quite honest, but my concern is our team,” Roberts said of the Dodgers’ recent performances. “I don’t know the answer. It happens sporadically with all teams.”
By the time Emmet Sheehan took the mound, the smell had diluted, and the sunshine broke through the haze. The 26-year-old hasn’t won in more than a month, despite what at the time appeared to be a bounce-back performance against the Chicago White Sox last week. Sheehan lasted 3 1/3 innings against Baltimore, none particularly worse than the first.
Sheehan (3-5) loaded the bases, and Orioles catcher Samuel Basallo put Baltimore (37-42) on the scoreboard with a softly hit ball that split first baseman Freddie Freeman and right fielder Kyle Tucker. A two-out single by Colton Cowser put the Orioles up by two. With the bases loaded, Sheehan worked out of trouble with two strikeouts and a pop out. But the inning cost him four hits and nearly 30 pitches.
“We just got to have a better approach or plan with respect to the game situation,” Roberts said before the game. “Go out there and conduct, good and bad, not always gonna get the results, but I just think that we’re just missing at times the layer of the right approach in that particular situation.”
Sheehan struggled the most with his slider. Normally, the pitch elicits about a 43% chase rate, though against Baltimore it plummeted to 18%. The nose-dive, mainly caused by his inability to throw the slider in the zone, made his other pitches look less competitive, and the Orioles started connecting with his fastball. He gave up two home runs on the pitch to Taylor Ward in the second and Cowser in the third.
Meanwhile, Max Muncy drove in the Dodgers’ only run in the first with a line drive to left field. Shohei Ohtani, who had reached first on a walk and took second on Freddie Freeman’s single, slid home as the throw came in. However, the ball bounced off Basallo’s gear and ricocheted away from the plate.
The Orioles scored runs in four consecutive innings before Edgardo Henriquez threw a 1-2-3 inning in the fifth. The team tacked on four runs in the seventh, when, with a man on, the Dodgers ereliever Jonathan Hernández intentionally walked Gunner Henderson, who had gone two for four. So, He then threw a belt-high sinker down the middle of the plate that Pete Alonso smashed into the right field bleachers for a three-run homer. Hernández could only watch the ball soar, hunched over.
Blaze Alexander hit a two-run homer in the eighth. But position-player pitcher Miguel Rojas dealt a 1-2-3 ninth inning, one of the team’s three innings it held the Orioles scoreless. By then, the skies had cleared enough for the faint outline of the San Gabriel Mountains to appear. The Dodgers, though, finished the game as uncompetitive as it had started.
Injury Updates
Catcher Will Smith will not travel with the team this week as the team takes on the Twins and the Padres, Roberts said before the game. Smith is expected to participate in some baseball activities and will have a better estimate of his return depending on how he feels after.
Teoscar Hernández is slated to play in a rehab assignment Tuesday with the triple-A Oklahoma City Comets before joining the team in its final June series against the Athletics.
Reliever Blake Treinen, on the 15-day injured list with right elbow inflammation, got some good news. The MRI did not show any structural damage, only inflammation that Roberts attributed to the wear and tear of the season. “I don’t think it’ll be a long thing,” Roberts said. “Obviously, he’s on the IL, so it’s going to be two weeks, but hopefully it’s not much more beyond that.”
Iran’s terrible, horrible, no good, very bad World Cup got a lot better Sunday.
By playing Belgium to a scoreless draw before another packed house at SoFi Stadium, Iran is in position to win its group with a victory over Egypt on Friday and advance to the knockout stage for the first time.
That would be a just reward for a team that is unbeaten two games into what has been a trying tournament off the field.
Before it even left Iran, the team was forced to move its training camp from Tucson to Tijuana, and more than a dozen members of its delegation were told they would be barred from entering the U.S. The players had their movements in the U.S. severely limited, heard their national anthem jeered twice and generally have been unwelcome as the first qualifiers to play a World Cup game in a country with which they are at war.
And if all that wasn’t bad enough, on Sunday, Iran had a brilliant first-half goal, one that seemingly had given it its first lead of the tournament, erased on a video replay that confirmed the narrowest of offside violations.
The disallowed goal, one of the best any team has scored in this World Cup, came on a set piece in the 25th minute. Iranian captain Ehsan Hajsafi took the free kick from about 35 yards, but instead of going to the goal, he pushed the ball through the Belgium wall to Mehdi Taremi, who took a clean first touch, then put a left-footed ball between Belgian keeper Thibaut Courtois and the left post.
Iranian soccer fans hold a pre-revolutionary Iranian flag following the team’s scoreless draw with Belgium in the World Cup at SoFi Stadium on Sunday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
The play caught Belgium completely by surprise, and for one of the few times in this tournament, Iran had reason to cheer. But the celebration was short-lived when referee Dario Herrera took the goal away after a lengthy video review determined Taremi to be offside.
That was the best thing that went right for Belgium in a first half it dominated, only to come up empty. It had an 11-2 edge in shots, completed six times as many passes and controlled the ball for more than 36 of the first 45 minutes. But it couldn’t get the ball past Iranian keeper Alireza Beiranvand.
If the World Cup has been trying for Iran, it’s been frustrating for Belgium, which needed an own goal from Egypt’s Mohamed Hany to escape with a draw in its opener. And a smothering Iranian defense that frequently packed seven players in the box added to that frustration Sunday.
Belgium forward Romelu Lukaku, left, and Iran defender Shojae Khalilzadeh battle for the ball in the second half of a World Cup match at SoFi Stadium on Sunday.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
That allowed Iran to get the first dangerous chance of the second half — and it also came off a set piece — with Taremi banging a clean volley on target from the center of the box. But Courtois stood his ground and made the save.
The game took a turn in the 62nd minute when Belgium’s Nathan Ngoy mishit a weak backpass, sending Taremi on a breakaway with only Courtois to beat. When Ngoy reached out and grabbed the Iranian by the shirt, pulling him to the ground, he drew a red card, leaving Belgium to play the final half-hour down a man.
Iran clearly deserved a better fate after absorbing wave after wave of a withering Belgium attack without breaking. It also was quicker and far more creative on offense, though it had nothing to show for that.
For Belgium, still looking for its first goal of the tournament, the result was another strain on an aging golden generation of players. If they don’t beat New Zealand in their final group-stage game Friday, they’ll leave the World Cup after the first round for a second straight time.
GUADALAJARA, México — While Mexico defeated South Korea at Guadalajara Stadium on Thursday in front of an elated crowd, protesters outside expressed a very different view of the World Cup’s impact on the city.
Community leaders, climate advocates and workers took to the streets to protest what they describe as “greenwashing through sports” by one of the official sponsors of the World Cup amid allegations of irregularities in its supply chain.
The protest organizers argue that Hyundai-Kia should hold its supplier, Ternium, accountable and issue it a “red card.” Protesters accuse Ternium of human rights violations, including alleged links to the disappearance of two environmental activists.
The demonstrations began with a rally at 5 p.m. in Plaza de la Liberación. Participants sought to draw attention to cases of missing persons in Guadalajara, stating they went missing after protesting Ternium’s iron ore mining activities.
Mariachis hold posters commemorating the disappearance of two environmental activists in Guadalajara: Ricardo Lagunes Gasca, a lawyer and human rights defender, and Antonio Díaz Valencia, a Nahua community leader and activist.
(Courtesy of Fair Steel Coalition)
A 2025 report by the environmental group Mighty Earth criticized Hyundai’s involvement in what it described as a “dirty steel supply chain,” as the South Korean automaker is one of Ternium’s main buyers of iron ore for use in steel production. Ternium has been the target of repeated criticism from activist groups for its alleged destructive environmental impact and corporate governance policies, as well as for the disappearance of activists Ricardo Lagunes Gasca and Antonio Díaz Valencia, which occurred three years ago in Mexico.
Ternium did not respond to the protesters’ allegations, while Hyundai did so in a statement.
“At Hyundai, we are committed to requiring our suppliers to meet the highest standards, and we enforce a strict Supplier Code of Conduct. Both we and our subsidiaries continue to conduct ongoing training, audits, and due diligence processes throughout the supply chain to identify and address potential issues across all our global operations,” said Michael Stewart, Hyundai’s director of communications.
Protesters carried signs bearing the names and photographs of environmentalists who disappeared.
More than 130,000 people have disappeared in Mexico in the past 20 years, according to the National Registry of Missing and Unlocated Persons. The kidnappings have been linked to run-ins with drug cartels and corrupt government officials, while there have also been cases involving young women who worked at the country’s many factories.
Protesters hold up signs featuring images of missing environmental activists ahead of Mexico’s World Cup match in Guadalajara.
(Fair Steel Coalition)
“[Hyundai] is trying to clean up its image through its sponsorship of the World Cup. But the facts are clear: Hyundai is linked to human rights and environmental abuses in Mexico, Brazil, the United States and other countries. By partnering with steel suppliers like Ternium, its slogan of ‘doing the right thing for humanity’ loses credibility,” said Diana Figueroa, a representative of the Fair Steel Coalition, one of the organizers of Thursday’s protests. She said the disappearance of a half dozen environmental activists in southern Mexico and deadly air pollution in Rio de Janeiro and Monterrey are attributed to Ternium.
The group plans to stage more protests throughout the World Cup.
On July 5, a symbolic soccer match and a concert will be held in Monterrey’s Fundidora Park to protest Ternium as one of the city’s most polluting companies.
On July 9, ahead of a World Cup quarterfinal match in Los Angeles, protests will focus on alleged human rights and labor rights violations in Hyundai’s supply chain, including reports of child labor,labor trafficking and documented prison labor.
Protesters also questioned Hyundai’s use of robots at World Cup venues and the tournament’s impact on local workers, including allegations of labor exploitation and rising housing costs in host cities. The organizations Public Citizen and Jobs to Move America demanded transparency from Hyundai regarding the type of data collected by the robots at World Cup stadiums.
Hyundai, in response to the allegations of data collection, said in a statement that it is focusing on the “Next Starts Now” campaign, in which it is “using mobility, robotics, technology, and engagement programs to connect people with the excitement of the event.”
For more than four decades his voice was embraced by millions, a calming baritone in a sea of Lakers bedlam.
Yet in the most unfair of twists, on the night his career ended he was silent and alone.
Three months ago, Lawrence Tanter was walking through his bedroom when he suddenly collapsed while losing all strength in his arms and legs.
He fell and couldn’t get up. He lives alone, so he couldn’t cry out for help. He was able to secure his phone, but he says he was too stubborn to call 911.
“I wanted to get up by myself,” he said. “I knew I would eventually get up by myself.”
But this 6-foot-7 bear of a man was too weak to get up by himself. Listening to a Lakers road game on a bedside radio, he remained on the floor and eventually fell asleep until finally summoning his oldest friend the next morning.
Lakers star LeBron James salutes public address announcer Lawrence Tanter before the start of a game in 2024.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
“I got there and I’m like, why didn’t you call sooner?” Joe Williams said. “I told him, ‘I know you’re a warrior but, c’mon man, this is serious.’”
Serious enough to be diagnosed as a stroke. Serious enough to quietly end the most sonorous, soothing stretch in local sports history.
For 43 years as the Lakers’ iconic public address announcer, Tanter has been the coolest sound in the city, the measured, reassuring voice that decorated the team’s two hype-filled homes with gravitas and grace.
When the Lakers announced his retirement last week as he continues to battle effects from the March 17 stroke, the man known to everyone as simply “LT” closed his career with taciturn perfection, summing up a Lakers lifetime in eight words.
“It’s been a great run,” he intoned this week from a hospital bed, his pipes still the strongest part of him. “I’ve been blessed.”
It is Lakers fans who have been blessed, gifted with a voice that, whenever they attended a game, reminded them they were home.
“LT is in every way a part of Laker history,” said former Laker and current broadcaster Mychal Thompson. “He too is a Laker legend.”
Lakers public address announcer Lawrence Tanter gets set up at the scorer’s table before a game in 2011.
(Gary Friedman / Los Angeles Times)
When the retirement news broke with the Lakers announcing they were moving LT into an advisory role — a classy good-bye — fans everywhere broke out their LT best.
“Toooo many steps.” … “James Woooorthy.” … ”LeBronnnn James.”
And, of course, everybody’s favorite…“Llllaker Girlsss.”
“I always imagine, if he could hear God’s voice, it would sound like LT’s,” Thompson said.
This was never more true than on a somber night in late January in 2020. LT put his giant arms around a grieving city with pregame introductions that will never be forgotten.
“At one guard, number 24, 6-6, 20th year out of Lower Merion High School, Kobeee Bryant.”
The player taking the court was Avery Bradley.
“At the other guard, number 24, 6-6, 20th year out of Lower Merion High School, Kobeee Bryant.”
Lakers public address announcer Lawrence Tanter watches play from his spot at the scorer’s table during a game in 2012.
(Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press)
The player taking the court was Danny Green.
And on it went, all five Lakers introduced as Kobe Bryant before their game against the Portland Trail Blazers, the ultimate tribute before the Lakers’ first game since Bryant’s death.
It might have been LT’s finest hour, and every second of it broke his heart.
“The hardest introductions ever,” he remembered.
LT handled it simply by being LT, a comforting bard who could elicit much emotion with a slight change in cadence or key.
“With his timing, his rhythm, he could get excitement going without raising his voice,” said Bob Steiner, the retired Lakers executive who hired LT in 1982. “Lawrence became a star in the same way Chick Hearn was.”
While working for the Lakers, LT also worked for several jazz and rhythm and blues radio stations in town, most notably KJLH, which gave him built-in credibility in the city.
“If you go around town, you will find that he was known almost as much for his radio work as his public address work,” Williams said.
In combining the rhythm of jazz with the tenor of basketball, LT was the coolest cat at the scorer’s table, a distinctive figure in a white goatee and a newsboy cap who raised the roof while never raising his voice.
“I never tried to be a cheerleader,” said LT, 76. “I just tried to be a public address announcer.”
While many of today’s public address announcers are screamers, LT was so subtle that his most repeated call involved not the action, but the in-game entertainment.
“Everywhere we go, somebody recognizes his voice and does an imitation,” Williams said. “But nothing gets repeated like ‘Llllaker Girlsss.’”
Those two words, uttered at the end of every routine by the iconic dance team, contain the essence of LT’s greatness. He knows what you’re watching doesn’t need any embellishment; he’s capturing the scene with the power of subtlety.
“You’re sitting in the stands and when the dancers finish dancing, you say to your friends out loud, ‘Llllaker Girlsss,’ and everybody laughs,” said Pete Arbogast, who was the master of ceremonies when LT was inducted into the Southern California Sports Broadcaster Hall of Fame last year.
LT’s speech that afternoon was dominated by individual thank-yous to his many friends who attended the ceremony, typical LT humility.
“From my nose to my toes, I say thank you,” he concluded.
Lakers public address announcer Lawrence Tanter is given brownies by actress Dyan Cannon before the start of a game in 2011.
(Los Angeles Times)
Today it is the Lakers who are thanking him.
“Since the 1980s, LT has narrated every chapter of Lakers basketball, connecting generations of fans, players, coaches and staff while becoming a trusted and unforgettable part of the Lakers experience,” Lakers governor Jeanie Buss said in a statement. “I am incredibly grateful for everything he has given to this franchise.”
His next stop should be the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, where he deserves to be enshrined as a contributor, becoming the first public address announcer to receive such an honor.
What other PA voice defined a franchise like LT? Who else missed just two games in 43 years? Name another PA announcer who accumulated nine championship rings yet refuses to wear any of them, ever, because it was never about him?
“It’s high time the Hall of Fame inducts him as a valuable and legendary contributor to the game,” Thompson said.
And if he is one day inducted, how would he introduce himself?
“At one forward, number 43, 6-foot-7, from Thornton Township High School, Llllawrence TAN-ter …”
LT laughed at the thought. He never actually would say that. But wouldn’t you like to hear it? Just once?
“Laker games,” Thompson said, “will never sound the same again.”
Sharp, fearless and brimming with confidence, Lamine Yamal drifted past defenders with ease and injected life into Spain’s attack. There was a sense of inevitability about what would follow.
When the breakthrough came, it was fittingly his.
A low cross flashed across goal and Yamal arrived at the back post, sliding in to convert and score his first World Cup goal.
The Atlanta stadium erupted as fans cheered, danced and chanted Lamine’s name. This was the superstar they had come to see.
Guillem Balague, speaking on 5 Live, said he saw Lamine Yamal walking out looking around like he had just conquered the world.
“Is it arrogance? Or confidence? A mixture of both,” he said. “He is the chosen one, he wants to be the chosen one.
“He is so happy in the role he is taking on as leader of the team. He told me once that his joy when he plays football is seeing the same reaction when he used to play five-a-side.’
Yamal became the seventh player in history to score at a World Cup before turning 19, and only the second aged 18 or younger to open the scoring in a match, the other being a 17-year-old Pele for Brazil against Wales in 1958.
Wayne Rooney was highly complementary of the teenager – the comparisons to Lionel Messi inevitable.
“For Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the application and dedication they’ve had is the reason they are both playing in this World Cup,” the former England forward told Match of the Day. “They have done everything right. Hopefully Yamal can do that.
“What is really impressive to me is when Messi came in to that Barcelona team, there was some top players and a crossover with Ronaldinho.
“[Yamal] has come in to the Barcelona and Spain team and it is his team, he is the main man.
“Everyone is looking to him to win. [He was] a big part of winning the Euros and will be a big part of this World Cup. That is what really impresses me, he is taking the pressure on at such a young age. You hope he can do that for the next 15, 20 years.”
Marizanne Kapp struck a powerful unbeaten 81 as South Africa beat India by six wickets to keep their World Cup hopes alive.
Having taken 2-27 with the ball, the all-rounder struck seven fours and four sixes in a 45-ball innings as the Proteas chased down a target of 159 with five balls to spare.
Kapp joined Tazmin Brits at the crease at 25-2 in the final over of the powerplay and the pair began slowly, only reaching 59 at the halfway mark, before steadily beginning to accumulate.
With their partnership three short of a century Brits departed for a 36-ball 40, caught in the deep off Shafali Verma, while Kapp survived a drop by Radha Yadav later in the over.
She took advantage, hammering two sixes in Deepti Sharma’s penultimate over, before Chloe Tyron edged a winning four off Nandni Sharma.
India captain Harmanpreet Kaur – playing a record 200th T20 international – had chosen to bat and Shafali Verma got her side off to a strong start, striking three fours and a six in a 15-ball 31.
Her innings helped India reach 59-2 at the end of the powerplay, but by that point both openers were back in the dugout, with Smriti Mandhana bowled having missed a scoop shot and Verma gloving a short ball behind.
India were unable to press on from their platform, with none of their subsequent batters managing to outscore Shafali.
Deepti threatened for a time, striking 29 from 21 deliveries, but both she and Richa Ghosh chipped tamely to short fine leg as India closed on 158-7.
South Africa now join their opponents on four points, behind group leaders Australia on six.
They have fixtures with Bangladesh and the Netherlands to play, while the result likely makes India’s match against Australia at Lord’s on 28 June crucial to the outcome of the group.
The decision on Stokes and Atkinson brings an element of closure to an extraordinary period, as English cricket has had to deal with yet another off-field controversy.
Without Stokes and Atkinson, an inexperienced England team showing five changes to the one that won the first Test was soundly beaten in the second.
It means Stokes will be back for a crucial decider at Trent Bridge, with England desperate for a series win to alleviate pressure that has grown over the dismal Ashes winter and this latest chaotic episode.
And while Stokes’ return as a leader and all-rounder is vital for his team, there will be renewed scrutiny on his relationship with the rest of the England hierarchy, in particular head coach Brendon McCullum.
All of Stokes, McCullum and director of cricket Rob Key denied the captain and coach were at odds during the Ashes, when England were hammered 4-1.
Speaking on Sunday, after the loss at The Oval, McCullum said he is ready to work with Stokes again.
“We’ve worked together intimately for four years,” said McCullum. “We’ve achieved some cool things and let ourselves down in other things.
“Our motivation, belief and ambition for this side has not wavered. We have robust conversations all the way through and I think that is to be expected when you’re in positions of leadership. There is a mutual respect to how we operate with those.
“I anticipate we’ll be able to work together really well in the week coming and I’m sure that both of us have that same vision for this cricket team.”
England head coach Brendon McCullum says he is ready to work with Ben Stokes when the captain returns for the third Test against New Zealand at Trent Bridge.
The results of the investigation are still to be confirmed, but McCullum has confirmed Stokes will return as captain, a position he has held since 2022, in Nottingham.
“Ben will be back,” said McCullum. “He’ll be back and he’ll be captain.”
Following a 4-1 Ashes series defeat that was dogged by off-field problems, both Stokes and McCullum denied their relationship had deteriorated in Australia.
Then, following England’s win in the first Test since the Ashes – against New Zealand at Lord’s – Stokes broke the team’s midnight curfew in celebrating the victory.
On his relationship with Stokes, McCullum told BBC Test Match Special: “You’re just trying to make sure you’re very communicative right throughout.
“We all got the same ambition, which is to make English cricket a very good team and to try to achieve results on the field, and that hasn’t changed.”
McCullum said he has spoken to Stokes “every day” since the nightclub incident, which occurred in the early hours of Monday, 8 June.
The New Zealander also confirmed England director of cricket Rob Key has visited Stokes this week.
