teams

Like with WSL clubs, most US teams share another franchise’s premises, be it a men’s team’s ground or a venue usually reserved for other sports, such as NFL stadium Lumen Field for Seattle Reign.

Kansas City buck this trend, and Denver Summit president Jen Millet believes it makes financial sense to follow suit.

“A big part of a sustainable business model is controlling revenue streams,” Millet says. “Women have been tenants and missed out on those things – food, beverage, parking, rentals, retail.

“It’s massively important to operate your own stadium.”

Having their own venue has also enhanced KC Current’s marketing strategy – something Kirsten Ross, president of official supporters’ club The Blue Crew, says has greatly raised the team’s profile.

“[The club] do a really good job of ramping up when the team is playing,” she says.

“Previously, people had no idea FC Kansas City existed. Now you can’t walk anywhere without knowing there’s a game for KC Current.”

Chris Long argues a bespoke stadium brings the best out of players – after all, Kansas City dominated the 2025 regular season and won the NWSL Shield by 21 points, even if they lost in the play-offs.

“It’s the feeling of belonging,” he says. “If you’re a tenant, the schedule isn’t based on you… you put your stuff in the locker room but have to take it out because it’s temporary.”

Jemison adds: “You feel like a visitor in your own home. We didn’t want that.”

Who: Manchester United vs Aston Villa
What: English football’s Premier League
Where: Old Trafford, Manchester, United Kingdom
When: Sunday March 15, at 2pm (14:00 GMT)
How to follow: Al Jazeera’s live coverage begins at 11:00 GMT

Manchester United and Aston Villa face a crunch clash on Sunday in the race for UEFA Champions League qualification.

The pair hold third and fourth spots respectively in the Premier League, with United edging Villa on goal difference, while Chelsea and Liverpool sit three points behind the pair in fifth and sixth.

With only the top four being guaranteed a place at the top table of European football, the encounter at Old Trafford holds huge value to both with nine games to go of the season.

Al Jazeera Sport takes a closer look at the match.

Man Utd look to bounce back from first defeat under Carrick

Manchester United’s ⁠interim manager Michael Carrick on Friday said his players were “itching to get going” again, after suffering their first ⁠defeat under his leadership.

Last week, 10-man Newcastle United ended Carrick’s unbeaten run since he replaced Ruben ⁠Amorim in January.

“I understand the first defeat feels different but it was going to come at ‌some point. Most teams have suffered that at some point,” Carrick told reporters.

“It has been a really good week in some ways, we have put ourselves in a position where there is a lot to play for.”

Carrick brushes off Scholes dig at Man Utd

United’s ⁠defeat by Newcastle prompted a dig from former player Paul Scholes, ⁠who wrote on Instagram: “Michael has definitely got something special about him … cos Utd have been crap last four games.”

Asked about his former teammate’s comment, Carrick said: “It was nothing really, nothing to say about it really.

“I think that is just where we are in terms of social media and things, and captions and quotes. It can be taken in different ways, so just be calm about it and understand the real meaning of things.

“Listen, there are different opinions out there and it’s fine. People can have different opinions.

“It’s just things get taken from one extreme to another. It is what it is. I am not worried about it and don’t make a big deal of it either.

“There’s nothing to say about it, really,” he said.

How have Aston Villa fared in the Premier League this season?

Villa had a turbulent start to the campaign, as they failed to register a win in their first five league matches – losing two. A run of 12 league wins in 13, however, propelled them into a title challenge by the turn of the year.

A 4-1 defeat at Arsenal on New Year’s Eve marked the start of another downturn, though, with only three wins recorded in 11 games starting with the defeat in London.

The midlands club have lost three of their last five on the road in the league, recording only one win in that time.

Last up for Man Utd

United suffered their first defeat under Carrick in their match at Newcastle United on March 4.

The home side were reduced to 10 men when Jacob Ramsey was sent off on the stroke of half-time.

It came in a frantic end to the first half that saw Anthony Gorden give Newcastle an injury-time lead from the penalty spot, only for Casemiro to head home an equaliser to send the sides in level.

William Osula netted the winner in the 90th minute to give Eddie Howe’s side all three points despite their numerical disadvantage.

“It was disappointing the way the game ended (against Newcastle) but we have digested that, looked at it and learned from it,” Carrick said ahead of the Villa match.

“We have trained really well this week and the boys are itching to get going.”

Last up for Aston Villa

Villa were 1-0 winners at Lille in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday, ending a four-game winless streak that included three defeats.

Ollie Watkins scored the only goal of the game in the 61st minute.

The return leg will be played at Villa Park on Thursday.

What happened the last time Man Utd played Aston Villa?

Villa recorded a 2-1 win in the reverse Premier League fixture at Villa Park in November, despite an encouraging display for Ruben Amorim’s United.

Morgan Rogers scored both goals for Villa – his first was scored in the 45th minute but United were level in first-half stoppage time through Matheus Cunha.

What happened in the corresponding fixture between Man Utd and Villa last season?

United were 2-1 winners in the Premier League match at Old Trafford last season.

The Red Devils were greatly aided by the sending off of Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez just before the break.

Amad Diallo and an 87th minute Christian Eriksen penalty sealed the win for the home side.

Head-to-head

This will be the 202nd meeting between the clubs with Manchester United winning 107 of the matches. Aston Villa have won 52 of the encounters, which date back to November 1892 and a 2-0 home win for United in the old Division One.

Manchester United team news

Carrick said Mason Mount had taken a “big step” and could return from a two-month absence against Villa this weekend.

The ‌midfielder missed their last six league games due to injury.

“He is an important player for us,” he said.

“He is not 100 percent and he has only trained for a small period of time. ‌But ‌he is back and that’s good for us. We will see if he is involved on Sunday. That is it in terms of the players coming back.”

Matthijs de Ligt, Patrick Dorgu and Mason Mount all remain absent though, and Lisandro Martinez has been added to that list with a calf injury, while there remains an injury doubt over Luke Shaw.

The defender was forced off with injury in the defeat by Newcastle, but Noussair Mazraoui, who also came off injured in that game, is set to be available.

Aston Villa team news

Midfielder John McGinn returned to action at Lille on Thursday night and could be in line for a start at Old Trafford.

Youri Tielemans and Boubacar Kamara remain absent through injury, leaving a gaping hole in the middle of the Villa lineup.

Right-back Matty Cash is also a doubt having missed the Lille match after picking up a knock in Villa’s last Premier League outting.

Manchester United predicted starting lineup

Lammens; Mazraoui, Yoro, Maguire, Shaw; Casemiro, Mainoo, Mbeumo, Fernandes, Cunha; Sesko

Aston Villa predicted starting lineup

Martinez; Bogarde, Konsa, Torres, Maatsen; Luiz, Onana, Sancho, Rogers, Buendia; Watkins

From Thuc Nhi Nguyen: In this game of “he said, he said,” Luka Doncic got the last laugh.

Doncic, fueled by trash talk from his opponents Thursday, recorded his first 50-point game with the Lakers, checking out with 1:41 remaining to a standing ovation with 51 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists to lead the Lakers to a 142-130 win over the Chicago Bulls.

The Lakers (41-25) jumped into third place in the Western Conference with their seventh win in their last eight games, climbing from sixth in just one week despite not having LeBron James for the last three games.

James, returning from elbow and hip contusions sustained in a fall against the Denver Nuggets on March 5, had 18 points with seven rebounds and seven assists. Austin Reaves scored 30 points with seven assists to reach 5,000 career points, and Deandre Ayton had his second consecutive double-double with 23 points and 10 rebounds.

The Lakers let the struggling Bulls (27-39) go on a 12-3 run to tie the score at the end of the first quarter but started to heat up when Doncic scored 10 consecutive points in the second quarter. The streak signaled to the six-time All-Star he was going to have one those nights.

“Somebody started talking to me,” Doncic said, “so I woke up.”

Continue reading here

Lakers box score

NBA standings

Donovan Dent leads UCLA men past Rutgers

From Ryan Kartje: This was hardly a masterpiece of Big Ten basketball, what with the barrage of bricks and busted possessions. Nor was it the sort of night to convince you of UCLA’s chances as a surefire conference contender.

But amid the mess of its 72-59 win over 14th-seeded Rutgers on Thursday night, UCLA showed the sort of mettle it may need to keep its season kicking this March.

It started with Donovan Dent, whose masterful month continued with his first career triple-double — and the first triple-double in Big Ten tournament history. The senior tallied 12 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists. He and Tyler Bilodeau, who added a game-high 21 points, were the rare bright spots on offense for the Bruins.

Otherwise, UCLA struggled to find any sort of rhythm. It shot just 38% from the field, worse than it had in any win this season. And still, the Bruins were in control for most of the game after pulling away early in the second half.

None of that will fly against No. 3 seed Michigan State on Friday at 6 p.m. PDT, which beat UCLA by 23 points the last time they met.

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UCLA box score

Controversy about L.A. Marathon finish

From Anthony Solorzano: Just 0.18 seconds separated Michael Kimani Kamau from $15,000. Sunday’s 41st L.A. Marathon was decided by a late-charging sprint from Nathan Martin, the winner who received $25,000 for first place. The runner-up earned $10,000.

With five miles to the finish line and no one else picking up pace, Martin decided to push himself to the end. Kamau’s experience down the stretch was different. Less than a quarter mile from the finish, his race took an unexpected turn because of a fan.

With many fans cheering him on, one interfered and led him off course. A video posted on Reddit shows Kamau following a fan off course for roughly 10 seconds.

He briefly followed the lead vehicles off the designated course while trying to avoid a spectator who ran into his path. Fans immediately stopped him and pointed him in the right direction.

“I actually thought he won until I got home later that day and saw the news channels reporting that Nathan had an amazing kick at the end,” said Ivan Torres, who filmed the scene.

Organizers are aware of the video but no protests were filed and the results are unchanged.

Continue reading here

Trent McDuffie’s wish comes true

From Gary Klein: Trent McDuffie was a young high school player in Southern California when the Rams returned from St. Louis to Los Angeles in 2016.

In 2020, McDuffie watched HBO’s “Hard Knocks” episodes about the team, and he was enamored by coach Sean McVay.

“I remember just being like, ‘Dang, I would like to play for that guy,’” McDuffie said Thursday.

McDuffie, an All-Pro cornerback acquired by the Rams in a blockbuster trade, recalled those thoughts during an introductory news conference at the team’s facility in Woodland Hills after he signed a record-breaking four-year extension that reportedly includes $100 million in guarantees.

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Concerns about L.A. Olympics

From Kevin Baxter: A report on how Olympic organizers will tackle civil rights, homelessness and human trafficking ahead and during the 2028 Games has not been made public by the city more than two months after it was filed and no date for its release has been set, leaving human rights advocates fearing the issues will not get the attention and funding they deserve.

Council president Marqueece Harris-Dawson, who chairs the ad-hoc committee on the LA28 Games, has not included the human rights report on the committee’s agenda. His office did not respond to requests for comment and Sharon Tso, the city’s chief legislative analyst, and Matthew Szabo, the city’s administrative officer, both said they have not seen the report and “nothing appears on the council file,” according to Tso.

The delay is limiting discussion on an important topic, said Stephanie Richard, a clinical professor who leads the Sunita Jain Anti-Trafficking Initiative at Loyola Law School, which released its own comprehensive report on human trafficking and the 2026 World Cup and 2028 Olympics in December.

Continue reading here

Ducks lose to Toronto

William Nylander broke a tie on a power play 36 seconds into the third period and the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Ducks 6-4 on Thursday night to end an eight-game losing streak.

The victory was tempered by the loss of captain Auston Matthews on a knee-on-knee hit from Ducks defenseman Radko Gudas with four minutes left in the second period. Matthews stayed down favoring his left leg before being helped to the locker room. Gudas was assessed a major penalty and game misconduct.

Matthews scored earlier to end a 12-game goal drought.

Cutter Gauthier, Ian Moore, Pavel Mintyukov and Alex Killorn scored for the Pacific Division-leading Ducks. Lukas Dostal stopped 23 shots.

Continue reading here

Ducks summary

NHL standings

This day in sports history

1894 — J.L. Johnstone of England invents the starting gate for horse racing.

1920 — NYU wins the national amateur basketball championship in Atlanta. The Violets beat Rutgers 49-24 in the final of the AAU tournament.

1961 — Floyd Patterson knocks out Ingemar Johansson in the sixth round to retain the world heavyweight title in Miami Beach.

1982 — Elaine Zayak of the United States wins the world figure skating championship.

1983 — Randy Smith’s consecutive game streak ends at 906 games, the longest in NBA history. Smith played for Buffalo, San Diego (twice), Cleveland and New York during the streak.

1997 — The America’s Cup, the oldest trophy in international sports and yachting’s most coveted prize, is all but destroyed by a Maori protester who struck it repeatedly with a sledgehammer in Auckland, New Zealand.

1998 — Bryce Drew hits a leaning three-pointer as time expires to give Valparaiso a shocking 70-69 upset of Mississippi in the first round of the NCAA Midwest Regional.

2001 — Philadelphia’s Mark Recchi picks up his 1,000th point during a 5-2 win over St. Louis. He’s the 60th player in NHL history to reach the mark.

2007 — Lance Mackey wins the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, becoming the first musher to win major long-distance North American sled dog races back-to-back. On Feb. 20, Mackey won his third consecutive Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race, a 1,000-mile race between Fairbanks and Whitehorse, Yukon.

2007 — Dallas’ Mike Modano becomes the 39th player in NHL history and second born in the United States to reach 500 goals, scoring with 10:24 left in the third period of a 3-2 victory over Philadelphia.

2008 — Bode Miller clinches the men’s overall World Cup ski title. Miller earns his second title in four years with a 12th-place finish in the super-G combined, along with Didier Cuche’s announcement that he would not enter the season-ending slalom in Bormio, Italy.

2011 — The NCAA men’s basketball selection committee releases its 68-team draw, which included a record 11 teams from the Big East, the deepest conference in the nation. The tournament adds three more at-large teams that will open the tournament in what the NCAA is calling the “First Four.”

2012 — BYU pulls off the biggest comeback in NCAA tournament history on a wild opening night. Noah Hartsock scores 16 of his 23 points in the second half and the Cougars rally from 25 points down to beat Iona 78-72 in the first round. It marks the biggest comeback in an NCAA tournament game. Previously, the largest deficit overcome was 22 points in 2001 when Duke fought back to beat Maryland 95-84 in the national semifinals. It’s the second incredible turnaround of the night in Dayton. With President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron watching, Western Kentucky comes back from a 16-point deficit in the final 5 minutes to beat Mississippi Valley State 59-58.

2018 — Russell Westbrook picks up the 100th triple-double of his career and the Oklahoma City Thunder uses a 16-0 run late in the fourth quarter to pull away from the Atlanta Hawks for a 119-107 victory. Westbrook scores 32 points, dishes out 12 assists and grabs 12 rebounds to become the third-fastest player to reach the milestone.

2020 — Elite football in Britain, including England’s Premier League, EFL, Women’s Super League plus in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, is suspended until at least April 3 because of COVID-19 pandemic.

2022 — After a 40-day retirement, record breaking quarterback Tom Brady announces he will play at least one more season in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

Who: Real Madrid vs Elche
What: Spanish football’s La Liga
Where: Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain
When: Saturday, March 14 at 9pm (20:00 GMT)
How to follow: Al Jazeera Sport’s live coverage begins at 17:00 GMT

After stuttering and spluttering in Spain’s La Liga of late, Real Madrid stormed back into life with a resounding win in the UEFA Champions League in midweek.

Now the record La Liga winners return their focus on catching league leaders, and defending champions, Barcelona, in the Spanish top flight.

Elche arrive in Madrid with major concerns of their own, sitting one place above the relegation zone.

Al Jazeera Sport takes a closer look at the game.

How is Real Madrid and Barcelona’s La Liga title race looking?

Barcelona are four points clear of Real, having both played 27 matches. Barca have won 22 of their matches and lost four, while Real have lost that same number but have only won 20, drawing two more games than their rivals.

Barcelona entertain 14th-placed Seville on Sunday, meaning Real can cut the lead to just a point if they beat Elche.

How have Real Madrid fared in La Liga this season?

The turbulent time that marked the end of Xabi Alonso’s spell as Real manager appeared to return in recent weeks, with Los Blancos losing two on the bounce in La Liga for the first time this season.

With a tricky trip to Celta Vigo following the defeats by Osasuna and Getafe, Real’s title challenge appeared on the line.

A 2-1 win in Vigo, thanks to goals from Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde, last Friday cut Barca’s lead at the top to only a point, only for the Catalan club to restore their advantage with a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.

Los Blancos had won 13 of their opening 14 games in all competitions this season, only dropping points in the 5-2 defeat in the Madrid derby at Atletico.

The two wins in eight that followed set the tone for the remainder of Alonso’s time in charge, even five wins on the bounce thereafter couldn’t save the former Real midfielder from the chop, with the end coming following the Spanish Super Cup final 3-2 defeat by Barcelona.

Interim head coach, Alvaro Arbeloa, endured a torrid start – with a humiliating 3-2 defeat at Albacete in the Copa del Rey, but won the next five league games on the bounce to renew hope of catching Barcelona.

How have Elche fared in La Liga this season?

Elche were unbeaten in their opening seven games of the season, all in the league, winning four.

A seven-match winless run followed in La Liga, plunging the Alicante-based club into the relegation scrap.

Their latest winless run stretches to 11 matches – 10 in La Liga – with seven defeats in that time and only four league points snared.

Eder Sarabia’s side are now just one point and one place above the bottom three and are the only side in the competition yet to win away from home this season – losing nine of their 13 games on the road.

Last up for Real Madrid

Real’s season was given a welcome boost in midweek with a resounding 3-0 win against Manchester City – led by former Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola – in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie.

Valverde, who netted the winner last weekend in Vigo, scored a first-half hat-trick to hand Los Blancos a significant advantage heading to Manchester for the return fixture.

Last up for Elche

Elche were defeated 2-1 at Villarreal in La Liga last Sunday, in what was their fifth consecutive defeat on their travels.

The last four of those came in the league, while the run began with their Copa del Rey exit at Real Betis.

Leo Petrot had given Elche the lead in the 58th minute, but a double from Chimy Avila turned the game.

Stat attack – Elche

Elche are yet to keep a clean sheet on their travels in the league this season. In the 13 games on the road, they have conceded 26 goals – but, on a more optimistic note, they have managed to score in all but two of those games.

What happened the last time Real Madrid played Elche?

Elche secured a valuable point in a 2-2 draw in the reverse match against Real in La Liga this season.

Aleix Febas and Alvaro Rodriguez twice gave the home side the lead, the latter netting in the 84th minute, but Dean Huijsen and Jude Bellingham twice levelled for Los Blancos, before Victor Chust was sent off for the home side in injury time.

What happened the last time Elche entertained Real Madrid?

Real were 3-0 winners in this fixture in October 2022, with Federico Valverde, Karim Benzema and Marco Asensio netting the goals.

Los Blancos took the reverse fixture 4-0 in February 2023.

When did Elche last beat Real Madrid?

It has been a long wait for Elche to come away with the spoils in this fixture, with their last win – a 3-1 victory – coming in 1978.

Head-to-head

The teams have met 54 times, with Real winning 35 of the encounters. Elche have emerged victorious on six occasions.

All six of Elche’s victories have come at home.

Real Madrid team news

Kylian Mbappe’s absence remains Real’s major frustration, but the French striker heads a long list of absentees.

Ferland Mendy is a major doubt, having been forced off in the victory against Manchester City due to injury.

The defender could join Mbappe, Eder Militao, Jude Bellingham, Dani Ceballos and Rodrygo on the sidelines

Franco Mastantuono is suspended for the game, but Alvaro Carreras and David Alaba are both close to shaking off calf injuries.

Elche team news

Hector Fort, who is on loan from Barcelona, is out with a shoulder injury.

Pedro Bigas and John Donald are both injury doubts and face late fitness tests.

Predicted Real Madrid lineup

Courtois; Carvajal, Asencio, Huijsen, F Garcia; Valverde, Camavinga, Tchouameni; Guler; Vinicius, Brahim

Predicted Elche lineup

Dituro; Chust, Affengruber, Petrot; Josan, Febas, Aguado, Valera; Neto; A Silva, Rodriguez

From Mirjam Swanson: Wham, Bam, pfft.

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo scored 83 points Tuesday night, the second most in an NBA game in history, surpassing Kobe Bryant’s iconic 81 points two decades ago.

Congrats to Adebayo, I guess.

The way it went down was highly questionable. Nothing romantic or real about it. We thought flopping and foul-baiting made for unethical hoops, but those are but basketball misdemeanors; Adebayo’s big night was felonious.

Tuesday’s game featured intentional clock-stopping, game-extending fouls by the Heat. And it was ripe with free-throw-abetting fouls by the Washington Wizards, an actively tanking team that got itself blown out, 150-129.

So, no. Bryant’s necessary, organic 81 this was not. The Lakers trailed that game against the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 22, 2006, at halftime and actually needed Kobe’s 55 second-half points to pull away for the win.

The Heat were up by as many as 28 points in the fourth quarter with Adebayo continuing to play pop-a-shot in the historic farce — which also moved him past LeBron James, whose 61 points in 2014 stood as Miami’s previous franchise record.

Now a Laker, LeBron cheered the effort on X, writing: “BAM BAM BAM” with a bunch of fire emojis.

Clippers run up big score in victory

Kawhi Leonard scored 45 points and the Clippers routed the Minnesota Timberwolves 153-128 on Wednesday night, moving above .500 with their third straight victory and sixth in seven games.

Eighth in the Western Conference at 33-32 after opening 6-21, the Clippers had their highest point total of the season. They blew out Minnesota after beating New York on Monday night to open a five-game homestand.

Leonard was 15 of 20 from the the field, six of nine on threes and made nine of 10 free throws. Los Angeles made 19 of 37 threes.

Continue reading here

Clippers box score

NBA standings

USC men’s basketball season ends with a thud

From Luke DeCock: The eventual end of the USC men’s basketball season came the same way that it fizzled out during the past month, with yet another second-half collapse that featured the added pain of overtime.

Tuesday’s 83-79 overtime loss to Washington in the Big Ten tournament, the Trojans’ eighth straight defeat, brought to a close what USC coach Eric Musselman called the toughest stretch of his coaching career. It included not only USC’s longest losing streak in a decade, but a pair of 19-point losses to UCLA and the dismissal of leading scorer Chad Baker-Mazara from the team in the past 10 days alone.

The Trojans led the Huskies by 13 in the second half and had chances to win at the end of regulation and overtime, only to miss all three potential game-winning or game-tying shots and go 2-for-5 from the free-throw line in overtime. For a team that was once in NCAA tournament consideration before stumbling, that failure to finish was a persistent flaw.

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Iran won’t play in World Cup

From Kevin Baxter: Iran’s sports minister said his nation will not participate in this summer’s World Cup following the attacks on the country by the U.S., one of the tournament’s hosts.

The U.S. bombing campaign against Iran, which began two weeks ago, has triggered a region-wide conflict and killed more than 1,300 Iranians including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader, according to Iran’s U.N. ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani.

“Considering that this corrupt regime has assassinated our leader, under no circumstances can we participate in the World Cup,” sports minister Ahmad Donyamali said on state television Wednesday.

“Our players do not have security, and fundamentally the conditions for participation do not exist.”

Donyamali’s statement came just hours after FIFA president Gianni Infantino said he had received assurances from President Trump that Iran would be allowed to participate in the tournament, which will be played in the U.S., Mexico and Canada.

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This day in sports history

1937 — The first National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) men’s basketball tournament is won by Central Missouri State. Central Missouri wins the eight-team, single-elimination tournament by defeating Morningside College (Iowa) 35-24.

1966 — In the last race of his 40-year career, John Longden wins the San Juan Capistrano Handicap at Santa Anita, aboard George Royal. He retires with a then-record number of victories, 6,032.

1984 — Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean of Britain become the first ice dancing team to record nine perfect marks of 6.0 during the world championships.

1985 — Larry Bird scores 60 points, including Boston’s last 16, to set a Celtics record and lead them to a 126-115 victory over Atlanta.

1994 — The Arkansas men’s track and field team wins its 11th straight NCAA Indoor Championship with a meet-record 94 points. The 54-point victory margin is the biggest in the meet’s 30-year history.

2002 — Siena (17-18), with an 81-77 victory over Alcorn State in the play-in game, becomes first team in 47 years to win an NCAA men’s basketball tournament game with a losing record.

2003 — Damian Costantino’s NCAA-record hitting streak ends at 60 games, one day after he broke Robin Ventura’s 16-year-old mark. Costantino, an outfielder for Division III Salve Regina of Newport, R.I., fails to get a hit in the first game of a doubleheader against Baldwin-Wallace. It’s the first time he finishes a game hitless since March 25, 2001.

2005 — Bode Miller becomes the first American in 22 years to win skiing’s overall World Cup title. He finishes ahead of his only remaining challenger, Benjamin Raich of Austria, in the season’s final giant slalom to capture the crown.

2008 — The Houston Rockets are the third team in NBA history to win 20 straight games and ties for the second-longest winning streak with an 83-75 victory over the Atlanta Hawks.

2009 — Syracuse outlasts Connecticut in the second-longest Division I game ever played, capping a Big East tournament quarterfinal doubleheader in which the second- and third-ranked teams in the nation both lose. Andy Rautins hits a three-pointer 10 seconds into the sixth overtime to give the Orange their first lead since regulation and they go on to a 127-117 victory over the third-ranked Huskies. Much earlier in the evening, West Virginia beats No. 2 Pittsburgh 74-60.

2011 — The No. 21 Connecticut Huskies win their seventh Big East championship by winning five games in as many days. Kemba Walker shatters the tournament scoring record, getting 19 points in the ninth-seeded Huskies’ 69-66 victory over No. 14 Louisville.

2017 — Joakim Jensen finally ends what is believed to be the longest game in hockey history, scoring in the eighth overtime in the Norwegian League playoffs. More than 8 1/2 hours after the game started — and after 217 minutes, 14 seconds of play — Jensen breaks through to give the Storhamar Dragons a 2-1 victory over the Sparta Warriors. Storhamar leads the best-of-seven quarterfinal series 3-2.

2018 — Alex Ovechkin scores twice to reach 600 goals as the Washington Capitals beat the Winnipeg Jets 3-2 in overtime. The Russian winger is the 20th player and fourth-fastest in NHL history to reach 600 goals.

2018 — Marc-Andre Fleury makes 38 saves to become the 13th goalie in NHL history with 400 wins, and Ryan Carpenter scores the winning goal with 2:40 left to lead the Vegas Golden Knights over the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2.

2020 — 2020 NCAA men’s basketball tournament is cancelled over concerns of the spread of COVID-19; first time ‘March Madness’ not held since it began in 1939; women’s tournament also cancelled.

2020 — NHL announces the pausing of the 2019-20 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at houston.mitchell@latimes.com. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

The Premier League’s power was supposedly emphasised by having six teams in the last 16 following the league stage, but this was something of a cold shower hosed on talk of its supremacy as City and Chelsea were heavily beaten, following on from defeats for Liverpool and Spurs on Tuesday.

Premier League leaders Arsenal needed Kai Havertz’s last-minute penalty to scrape a draw at Bayer Leverkusen, sixth in the Bundesliga, after winning eight from eight in the league phase.

Spurs were humiliated by Atletico, Liverpool lost to Galatasaray – although Newcastle United can take credit as they were only denied victory by Barcelona’s last-gasp penalty at St James’ Park.

Some big performances are required in the second leg if boasts about the supposed superpower of the Premier League are not to be rendered hollow.

Five of those teams had first legs away from home. Chelsea, Manchester City and Spurs must all turn around three-goal deficits, although Arsenal and Liverpool are the best hopes of going through.

It was an unexpected downturn. Could it be that the heavy workload and intensity of the Premier League has taken the edge off performances when the Champions League comes around?

Taken on this evidence, the Premier League picture is not as rosy as some would suggest in the Champions League context.

It all looked so different from the newer league table format, which led to a clean sweep of Premier League teams, giving rise to suggestions they could dominate the latter stages.

Not so, as teams that made their way through the play-offs such as Bodo/Glimt, Atletico, Real, PSG and Galatasaray all impressed.

Former England goalkeeper Paul Robinson, who was at the Bernabeu, told BBC Radio 5 Live: “We spoke about the England teams and dominance in Europe. Look at how easily they qualified, in the Europa and Conference leagues as well. But in the Champions League, not one English team has won.

“Manchester City were in a better place than Real Madrid. They were injury-ravaged. It looked like an under-23 side with a scattering of experience for Real. But they were clinical and well-coached and hit City on the counter-attack.”

When Jeff Bryant was playing high school basketball at Sylmar, the top teams in the City Section were annually among the best in California.

“The City dominated back in the day,” Bryant, now the head coach at Palisades, said Tuesday before Southern California Regional Division II boys’ basketball final. His Dolphins lost a heartbreaker, 59-57 at Bakersfield Christian, falling a win short of a trip to Sacramento for the state finals.

Eleven days earlier Palisades captured the City Open Division crown, going undefeated against section opponents, and with 10 players — including all five starters — returning next season, Bryant not only has his sights set on a repeat, he wants to reverse a 15-year trend during which City teams have struggled to compete at the highest level.

City boys teams won the state’s top division five times in six years from 1993-98 and seven times in nine years from 2002-10. However, since the Open Division debuted in 2013 only two City teams have advanced to the regional finals in that division — Westchester in 2014 and Fairfax in 2015 — and the last time a City team made the Open bracket was five years ago when Birmingham lost in the first round.

Bryant, who graduated in 2006, will be rooting for his former coach on Friday when his alma mater plays for the Division V state championship under the guidance of Bort Escoto, who piloted the Spartans to the City Division II title on the same night Palisades won the Open Division. Sylmar was dropped down to Division V for regionals and ran the table.

Birmingham was upset by Fairfax in the opening round of the City Open Division playoffs Feb. 11 and dropped to Division III for the regional tournament. The Patriots have since reeled off four convincing victories and will also play for a state title Friday afternoon.

Birmingham and Sylmar are the latest City teams to benefit from regional playoff expansion in which teams are placed several divisions lower from where they played in their section. Chatsworth advanced to the Division II state final last winter after losing in the City Open Division final and reached the Division IV state final after its City Open semifinal loss two years ago. Like Sylmar this season, Verdugo Hills was the City Division II champion in 2024 and went on to play for the Division V state title.

On the girls’ side, no City squad has won an Open Division state playoff game. Five teams from the section have received berths in the highest division over the last 14 years, but none since Fairfax in 2018. Narbonne is the last City team to conquer the state’s top division, claiming back-to-back Division I titles in 2000 and 2001, long before the Open debuted.

Like the boys, City girls’ teams fare well when dropped to lower divisions.

Palisades, which fell in the first round in the City Open Division, plays for the state Division IV crown Saturday while City Open Division champion Westchester was seeded 14th in Division I for regionals and lost in the first round. Granada Hills went to the Division III state finals two years ago after losing in the first round of the City’s Open Division.

Before taking the helm at Palisades, Bryant guided West Ranch of the Southern Section into the Open Division regional playoffs in 2023. Now he aims to do the same at a school in the section he once played in.