New York City’s Mayor Zohran Mamdani congratulated Abdul El-Sayed on winning Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary, praising his focus on healthcare and cost of living. He dismissed Republican claims branding El-Sayed a ‘mini Mamdani’, joking, ‘he can lift a lot more than I can’.
Published On 6 Aug 20266 Aug 2026
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WASHINGTON — The narrow victory of progressive doctor Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan’s bitterly fought Democratic Senate primary sets up a defining test of the party’s progressive wing in one of the highest-stakes U.S. Senate contests of the midterms.
Whether El-Sayed, a former public health official, can carry swing voters in a battleground state could both determine the outcome of a Senate seat viewed as crucial to determining control of Congress and have broader ramifications on the Democratic Party’s struggle for its identity.
El-Sayed, a 41-year-old epidemiologist, defeated U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, a moderate Democrat, by a narrow margin Wednesday after a long and intense campaign that was seen as a proxy for the party’s fissures.
The race was far closer than some polls had indicated. El-Sayed was leading Stevens by 15,000 votes, about 1 percentage point, with 99% of votes counted Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.
El-Sayed will face former Rep. Mike Rogers, a Republican, in the general election. The winner will succeed retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, whose seat Democrats see as critical to retain for the party to have a chance at flipping the Senate.
“We’ve got an opportunity to bring ourselves back together, to come together around a movement, to take our democracy back,” El-Sayed said Wednesday on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe.”
El-Sayed’s victory will put to the test in a swing state the broader strength of the progressive movement, which has found success in deep-blue places like New York City, where Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor last year, and Los Angeles, where City Councilmember Nithya Raman is locked in a tight race mayoral contest with incumbent Karen Bass. Both Mamdani and Raman are democratic socialists.
As Democrats struggle over the party’s post-2024 identity and grapple with how to win back voters, the divide between the party’s progressive and centrist wings has been on display in primary fights. Both camps have notched victories: Many of the leftist wins have come in intensely blue districts, such as in New York, while more moderate districts have chosen centrists, as in Iowa.
On Tuesday, two progressive congressional candidates in Michigan beat out establishment Democrats in House races — in one case, ousting an incumbent. But in Missouri, democratic socialist and former Rep. Cori Bush lost to incumbent Rep. Wesley Bell, a moderate, for a key House seat.
In California, a handful of progressive candidates are on the November ballot, including the challengers to Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento) and Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford). In the Aug. 18 runoff to fill the vacant seat of former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, progressive state Sen. Aisha Wahab is battling it out with fellow Democrat and BART board president Melissa Hernandez.
Progressive leaders celebrated El-Sayed’s win on Wednesday. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who backed El-Sayed, argue that his working-class-centered politics are more likely to have mass appeal.
“If you’re a working-class Republican in Michigan, I think you’re going to listen to what El-Sayed says,” Sanders told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “I think many of them will end up voting for him, independents as well, of course.”
Throughout the campaign, Stevens argued that El-Sayed would not be able to defeat Rogers, a refrain some moderates repeated Wednesday. El-Sayed vowed to unite Democrats around defeating Rogers, who previously served seven terms in Congress, saying that he and Stevens would be focused on “bringing the party back together.”
Rogers on Wednesday portrayed El-Sayed as an “extremist,” saying in a statement that the election is “about deciding whether Michigan has a future built on common sense — or whether we hand the keys to the most fringe extremists in the nation.”
El-Sayed, a former city and county health official, focused on opposing money in politics and pushing for Medicare for All, among other issues. His opposition to Israel’s war in Gaza and Stevens’ support for Israel became a major issue in the campaign. AIPAC, the pro-Israel lobbying group, spent millions in support of Stevens.
Early in the primary race, El-Sayed sought to temper some of the concerns around his progressive agenda by presenting himself as a Michigan-first, working-class-focused candidate, said John Barry Ryan, a University of Michigan professor of political science.
But as excitement over his campaign began to mount among progressives on a national level, Ryan said, El-Sayed’s public posture swung to a middle ground.
“The signal he’s trying to send is, I’m not a moderate, but I’m also not an extremist,” Ryan said.
Whether El-Sayed can effectively sell his message to undecided voters against Rogers now becomes a key question of the general election, said Corwin Smidt, a politics professor at Michigan State University.
“[Rogers] has experience. He has credentials,” Smidt said. “El-Sayed doesn’t have that. But I do think he’s got the skill and the right language to get him over.”
At least two key Michigan Democrats signaled a desire to move past the primary’s fights. Late Tuesday, Mallory McMorrow, a Michigan state senator who launched her own bid for the seat but suspended her campaign in early July, released an endorsement of El-Sayed.
“Whatever differences there were between the candidates in this race, those differences are nothing compared to the contrast in November,” McMorrow wrote on X. “The only way we get there is together.”
After conceding, Stevens sent a similar signal in a statement:
“We need to win this Senate race,” she said.
Rashid Khan takes a five-wicket haul as MI London defeat the Manchester Super Giants by 45 runs to move up to second in the Men’s Hundred table.
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The Hundred women’s competition, Edgbaston
Welsh Fire 144-3 (100 balls): Voll 78 (55); Capsey 2-24
Birmingham Phoenix 145-3 (99 balls): Perry 68 (46), Capsey 51 (29); Voll 1-9
Birmingham Phoenix won by seven wickets
Ellyse Perry and Alice Capsey starred as Birmingham Phoenix picked up their first win of the women’s Hundred with a nail-biting seven-wicket victory over Welsh Fire.
Chasing 145 in front of minority shareholder and England midfielder Jude Bellingham at Edgbaston, Capsey, who had earlier picked up two wickets, hit 51 (29) and Perry an unbeaten 68 (46) to help Phoenix home with one ball to spare.
Opener Davina Perrin fell just five balls into Phoenix’s chase while Tammy Beaumont couldn’t capitalise on being dropped on 10, picking out Heather Graham for 14, before Capsey and Perry came together for a match-changing 86-run third-wicket stand.
Capsey’s dismissal, caught cheaply at deep mid-wicket by Graham off the 82nd delivery, nearly proved the turning point, with Phoenix faltering from 24 runs required from 19 balls to needing 12 runs off the final set.
But captain Perry held her nerve, trading singles with Annerie Dercksen before dispatching Graham for a six and a four to see her side over the line.
The victory – only their third in 12 matches since the beginning of the 2025 edition – moves Phoenix off the foot of the table and into fifth place after four matches. Welsh Fire slip down to seventh, with one win and three defeats.
Earlier, the tournament’s leading run-scorer Georgia Voll struck a half-century for Fire against her former side, hitting nine fours and two sixes as she top-scored with 78 (55).
The Australian put on 58 for the first wicket with Ella McCaughan and a further 35 with Sophie Devine, who hit a flurry of late boundaries in her unbeaten 35 (19), but Fire were left to rue their lethargic powerplay, posting a run-a-ball 25-0.
Capsey collected 2-24 but Lauren Filer was the pick of the bowlers, conceding just 15 runs from her 20 deliveries.
A UCLA jersey worn by Lew Alcindor in the 1968 NCAA national championship game and the 1969 Final Four is set to garner more than $1 million at auction.
The man who has owned it for the past half century — a former Los Angeles resident who was a huge fan of the player now known as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — didn’t have to pay nearly as much for the historic piece.
In fact, he paid no money at all. Instead, he traded for it after a Lakers game in the Forum parking lot back sometime in the mid- to late-1970s, giving up one of his prized possessions as a teenager living in South Gate:
His transistor radio.
“I used to listen to Dodger games on it under my pillow,” said the auction’s consignor, a man named David who asked to have his last name withheld because of privacy concerns.
Back then, David and some friends would often take the bus to the Forum, where they would try to convince fans to give them their extra tickets to attend the Lakers game that night. Afterward, they would wait in the parking lot for players to leave the building.
A UCLA jersey, worn by Lew Alcindor during the 1968 national championship game and a 1969 national semifinal, is up for bid at Grey Flannel Auctions.
(Grey Flannel Auctions)
“We were young and crazy. We waited till the players came out and kind of talked to them,” said David, who says he once walked with Wilt Chamberlain to his car. “And there were other kids there. We would trade stuff, and that is basically how I got the jersey.”
By then, Abdul-Jabbar was a star with the Lakers, after winning three NCAA titles under legendary UCLA coach John Wooden and leading the Milwaukee Bucks to an NBA championship in 1971.
The young man who was originally wearing the No. 33 Bruins jersey that night was actually a USC fan, David said, so the trade was fairly easy to pull off.
“Back then transistor radios were real popular,” David said.
Over the decades, he mostly kept the jersey stored away neatly, occasionally pulling it out for a look or to show others. Recently, David said, he was “just cleaning things out” and decided it was time to part ways with the cherished item.
“I said, you know, someone else will really enjoy this,” David said. “And they’ll display it, and people can enjoy it more than I will stuck in some kind of storage thing.”
According to Michael Russek, director of operations for Grey Flannel Auctions, David didn’t know a lot about the jersey’s history when he first brought it in, only that it was issued by UCLA and had likely been worn by Alcindor in some game at some point.
Photo-matching revealed that he had worn it in several games, including some very significant ones. He wore it while scoring 34 points with 16 rebounds in UCLA’s 78-55 victory over North Carolina in the 1968 national championship game and also during multiple games the following season, including the Bruins’ 85-82 victory over Drake in a national semifinal game (Alcindor had 25 points and 21 rebounds).
UCLA’s Lew Alcindor steals the ball and dribbles away from a group of North Carolina players
(Harold Filan / Associated Press)
“That’s when it really started to come together that we have something that’s truly special,” Russek said.
As of Friday morning, bidding had reached $850,101, with a 22% buyer’s premium bringing the price to nearly $1.04 million. The auction ends Aug. 16.
David said he was “very surprised at how it took off so quick. I’m not familiar with these kind of auctions or jerseys, really. But there’s a lot of alumni from UCLA down there, and a lot of people would like something like that.”
The current Oregon resident added that he hasn’t thought about what he’s going to do with all that cash.
“I’m not the kind of person who does plans for money until I have it,” he said.
SAN FRANCISCO — Mike Trout had his first four-hit game in more than five years, Jorge Soler and Jo Adell homered and the Angels beat the San Francisco Giants 4-3 on Sunday to snap a three-game skid and avoid a series sweep.
Angels starter José Soriano (9-6) allowed an unearned run in five innings. The 27-year-old right-hander gave up three hits, walked three and had five strikeouts. Mitch Farris got the final two outs for his first career save.
San Francisco, which had its four-game home win streak snapped, is the only team in MLB without a series sweep of three-plus games this season.
Trout’s first four-hit game since April 26, 2021, moved him past Tim Salmon on the Angels’ career doubles and singles lists. He went four for four with a double and three singles.
Trout’s double was his 340th, moving past Salmon for second on the franchise list behind Garret Anderson’s 489. Trout also is now fourth on the Angels’ all-time list with 1,014 singles, trailing Anderson (1,572), Darin Erstad (1,082) and Brian Downing (1,062).
Trout’s four-hit game was the 21st of his career and raised his average to .247.
Soler hit a leadoff homer, Nolan Schanuel walked and Adell’s 446-foot home run gave the Angels a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning.
Luis Arraez had an RBI groundout in the fifth and added a two-run double in the ninth for the Giants. Drew Cavanaugh went two for two and walked twice.
Carson Whisenhunt (2-1), who was recalled from triple-A Sacramento, gave up four runs and had seven strikeouts in five innings.
Up next for the Angels: RHP Walbert Ureña (6-7, 2.78 ERA) starts Tuesday in the opener of a three-game home series against Houston. The Astros have not named a starter.
PARIS — Tadej Pogacar confirmed his status as one of cycling’s all-time greats after winning a record-equaling fifth Tour de France title in emphatic style.
Daring mountain attacks from deep, multiple stage wins and an ice-cool temperament all helped the 27-year-old Slovenian seal his victory on Sunday. He joined Belgian Eddy Merckx, Spaniard Miguel Indurain and Frenchmen Jacques Anquetil and Bernard Hinault as the only riders to win five Tours.
“I’m speechless. It’s an incredible day, there was an incredible atmosphere,” Pogacar said. “I’ve ridden seven Tours already and I’ve always finished on the podium. You might think this is a fairy tale, it’s incredible for me too.”
After competing strongly in Sunday’s 21st and exciting final stage in Paris, Pogacar finished 6 minutes, 26 seconds ahead of Belgian rider Remco Evenepoel in the overall standings.
Two-time Tour champion Jonas Vingegaard was Pogacar’s main rival heading into the race but the Dane crashed out on the 15th stage.
“Shame that Jonas and others crashed out of this Tour,” Pogacar said. “I hope we can all fight again next year.”
Pogacar’s UAE Team Emirates XRG teammate Isaac Del Toro, a 22-year-old Mexican making his Tour debut, was third at 9:42 back from Pogacar, who smiled and held up his hand to signify his wins. His teammates then joined him as they stood proudly on the Champs-Élysées.
“I don’t know how I do it,” Pogacar said. “I now have to find a new goal to chase. Which goal? Let’s just not jump ahead of ourselves, and enjoy this moment.”
Pogacar won the Giro d’Italia in 2024 but has not won the Spanish Vuelta, which starts on Aug. 22.
“Will I be at La Vuelta in a few weeks?” he said. “Let’s see.”
Pogacar won five stages at this year’s race to take his impressive tally to 26 overall.
He tried to win on Sunday, too, but victory ultimately went to Dutchman Mathieu van der Poel, who just held off the chasing pack on the home straight for his second stage win at this year’s race and fourth overall.
Sunday’s 55-mile stage looped around Paris and was mostly processional, although less so than in previous years, which were usually entirely flat stages for sprinters and not for the rest of the peloton.
The stage was shortened and its starting point in Thoiry, west of the capital, was changed to Paris so as to reduce pressure on emergency services combating wildfires in the southwest. Some security forces initially mobilized for Paris were redeployed to help response efforts.
For the second straight year the stage featured the hugely popular uphill climb through the Montmartre district, a sharp 0.62-mile dash which riders tackled three times before finishing on the Champs-Élysées.
It proved even too much for Pogacar, who could not match Van der Poel’s raw power in the closing stages.
Shortly before 6 p.m. local time, Pogacar shook hands at the start line with Evenepoel and Ecuadorian veteran Richard Carapaz, wearing the polka-dot jersey for the best climber.
“I battled hard to win this jersey, it was a great fight,” the 33-year-old Carapaz said. “It’s the best feeling to win it.”
Van der Poel and Dane Mads Pedersen, the green jersey winner as best sprinter, were among the expected contenders for the stage win.
Crowds roared as the riders began the first climb up Rue Lepic in Montmartre, with the famed Sacré-Coeur basilica looming over them.
Pogacar moved ahead after the second ascension of Montmartre, with Van der Poel, Evenepoel and Pedersen alongside him.
Van der Poel attacked on the third and final climb with Pogacar responding well, and the one-day classics rivals surged ahead.
But they were caught with 700 meters left and, after Pogacar faded, the 31-year-old Van der Poel still had work to do.
He got his bike just over the line ahead of Belgian Jasper Philipsen, his Alpecin-Premier Tech teammate, and Pedersen. Pogacar eased up and finished 30th.
“I thought the sprinters would catch us up so I launched [my attack] from very far away,” Van der Poel said. “I gave everything I had left in my legs and it was just enough.”
Van der Poel is widely considered one of the best cyclists in the world. He has multiple victories in one-day classics and Cyclo-cross world championship titles, and is also a former world road race champion.
His father Adri van der Poel won two stages on the Tour in the late 1980s.
His maternal grandfather was French cyclist Raymond Poulidor, who raced in the 1960s and ’70s, finishing second on the Tour three times and third five times. Nicknamed “Poupou” and “The Eternal Runner-up,” he was adored by French fans.
The nine-stage women’s Tour starts in the Swiss city of Lausanne on Aug. 1 and finishes in Nice on Aug 9.
Frenchwoman Pauline Ferrand-Prévôt won on debut last year.
Pugmire writes for the Associated Press.
SAN FRANCISCO — Rafael Devers homered in his first at-bat and hit a walk-off single in the 10th inning to give the San Francisco Giants a 7-6 victory over the Angels on Friday night.
Casey Schmitt also homered and Luis Arraez had two hits to help the Giants end a five-game losing streak. They rallied after blowing leads of 5-1 and 6-4.
Bryce Eldridge doubled, walked and scored twice while Drew Gilbert added two hits for the Giants.
Vaughn Grissom had two hits for the Angels, including a tying two-run home run in the eighth inning.
Pinch-runner Jesus Rodriguez began the 10th at second base and advanced to third on Arraez’s soft single to left. After Heliot Ramos grounded out, Bryce Eldridge walked before Devers hit a deep fly to left off Chase Silseth (3-2) that bounced on the warning track and landed in the stands.
Devers’ winning hit came moments after the Giants got a big defensive play out of center fielder Grant McCrary in the top of the 10th.
McCrary, who entered the game as a pinch-hitter in the ninth, caught Wade Meckler’s fly ball in the top of the ninth then made a strong throw to third to get Grissom for an inning-ending double play.
Caleb Kilian (3-6) retired three batters for the victory.
San Francisco’s walk-off win came after the Giants bullpen spoiled Logan Webb’s chance at winning for the first time in nearly a month. Webb allowed four runs and six hits with four strikeouts and two walks in six innings.
Devers got San Francisco (43-60) going with an opposite field two-run home run in the first inning. Schmitt added a three-run blast in the third after the Angels (41-63) issued a two-out intentional walk to Devers.
Both home runs came against Angels starter Grayson Rodriguez.
Up next: Giants LHP Robbie Ray (8-6, 3.33 ERA) was set to face Angels RHP Ryan Johnson (2-4, 6.10) on Saturday.
Lukas MacNaughton and Marcel Hartel scored four minutes apart late in the first half to break open St. Louis City’s 3-1 victory over the Galaxy on Wednesday night.
Simon Becher scored in the second half after Galaxy defender Emiro Garcés was sent off in the 49th minute with his second yellow card, and St. Louis cruised to its third straight win.
St. Louis, which is unbeaten in six straight since early May, also leapfrogged the Galaxy into the Western Conference’s playoff positions with this victory.
Troy Elgersma scored his first MLS goal in the 86th minute for the Galaxy, who have lost two home matches by a combined 6-1 since selling top goal-scorer Gabriel Pec to Brazil’s Cruzeiro for a club-record fee of at least $12 million during the World Cup break. Pec had 43 goals and 28 assists across 101 matches for the Galaxy.
MacNaughton opened the scoring in the 42nd minute when he glided through the box and headed Hartel’s corner in off the Galaxy’s back post.
With Galaxy captain Marco Reus down behind the play after a St. Louis player stepped on his foot in the first minute of stoppage time, Hartel dribbled outside the penalty area and looped in a shot that froze goalkeeper JT Marcinkowski, who made eight saves. The teams exchanged shoves after the goal, with Reus and Garcés receiving yellow cards.
Garcés was sent off shortly after the break for kicking the ball away after a foul.
Becher sneaked behind L.A.’s back line and chipped home on the counter in the 68th minute.
Elgersma, a 22-year-old midfielder who starred at Redlands High, entered his second MLS match as a late substitute and ruined Roman Bürki’s clean sheet.
Harbor Miller started in Pec’s place on LA’s front line for the Galaxy, whose fans chanted “We want better!” in the second half. The Galaxy are awaiting the arrival of Kyōgo Furuhashi after acquiring the Japanese striker from Birmingham City on Tuesday.
João Klauss, the longtime St. Louis forward acquired by the Galaxy in January, has been out since undergoing foot surgery in April.
The Hundred men’s competition, The Oval
Sunrisers Leeds 143 (99 balls): Marsh 41 (27); Gleeson 4-25, Curran 2-27
MI London 144-3 (84 balls): Curran 60* (39), Pooran 58* (22); Carse 2-18
MI London won by seven wickets
Sam Curran’s all-round brilliance led MI London to a convincing seven-wicket win over Sunrisers Leeds in the opening match of the men’s Hundred.
Chasing 144, Curran finished unbeaten on 60 as MI London eased to their target with 16 balls remaining.
After Brydon Carse’s fine spell of 2-18 had given Sunrisers hope, Curran added 93 from just 40 balls for the fourth wicket with Nicholas Pooran.
The destructive Pooran struck a magnificent 19-ball fifty which took the game from Sunrisers, as he clubbed five fours and five sixes in his 58 not out.
Curran had earlier taken 2-27 and seamer Richard Gleeson also impressed with 4-25 as Sunrisers were bowled out for 143.
Mitchell Marsh top-scored with 41 at the top of the order but Sunrisers struggled for momentum after his departure, though Tom Alsop’s cameo of 31 from 18 balls gave them a late boost.
England white-ball captain Harry Brook fell for eight and Sunrisers skipper Zak Crawley only managed 13.
MI London, who were previously known as Oval Invincibles prior to the private investment in the Hundred, have won the past three men’s tournaments.
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — This summer’s World Cup was so good, nobody wanted it to end.
So Spain and Argentina played on and on in Sunday’s final, through 90 minutes of regulation time and then through a 15-minute extra period before Ferran Torres gave Spain the only goal it needed to claim the title with a 1-0 victory over the defending champion at a sold-out MetLife Stadium.
It was an epic finish to an epic tournament, one that set records for everything from attendance and TV viewers to games played and goals scored. And it was almost certainly the last World Cup for Argentine captain Lionel Messi, 39, who finished his record-setting sixth tournament as the all-time leader in games (34), assists (12) and goal contributions (33).
His parting gift was a silver medal, a handshake from President Trump and a hug from the King of Spain. But none of those were the prize he wanted most, so when he left the stage after receiving his medal, he broke down in tears.
A swarming Spanish defense made him little more than a spectator for most of the match. So while Argentina came into the final leading the tournament in goals per game, it also became the first team to go 90 minutes without a shot in a World Cup final. It was outshot 20-2 for the game, and Spanish keeper Unai Simón, who gave up just one goal in eight matches, was not forced to make a save in registering his seventh clean sheet.
He was named the outstanding keeper of the tournament.
That allowed Torres, who started just once in the tournament, to become the hero.
“Honestly, I can’t believe it. I just am trying to enjoy it, but I don’t know what’s happening,” Torres said. “I didn’t think too much. I just saw the ball coming to me and I just shot with the power of all the Spanish people.”
Spain’s Ferran Torres celebrates after scoring in extra time against Argentina in the World Cup final Sunday.
(Julio Cortez / Associated Press)
Rodri, Spain’s captain and the anchor of the team’s smothering defense during its unbeaten World Cup run, won the Golden Ball award as the outstanding player of the tournament. He was equally stunned.
“I’m in shock,” he said. “I cannot express [my feelings] in words. I’m like in a cloud.”
For Rodri, who also led Spain to a European Championship two years ago, Sunday’s victory capped a personal two-year struggle to return from a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament he sustained in 2024, a month before he hobbled onstage with crutches to receive the Ballon d’Or award as the world’s best player.
“It’s been a really tough time,” said the midfielder, who broke the World Cup record for completed passes in the tournament with 747. “I just want new generations to see my example as an opportunity to when you go down, you can rise again. This is my philosophy my entire life.
“Sometimes things go well, things go wrong. But always the positive.”
Highlights from Spain’s 1-0 win over Argentina in the World Cup final on Sunday.
The only goal came seconds into the second extra-time period, with defender Pedro Porro sending a long cross to the left post for Nico Williams, who headed it back into the center of the box for Torres, a second-half substitute who buried the left-footed volley that would give Spain its second World Cup title.
Torres, who entered the game just past the hour mark, is the fifth man to come off the bench and score in a World Cup final and the first since Germany’s Mario Gotze, whose extra-time goal beat Argentina in 2014. Williams, who got the assist, was also a late-game substitute.
“We are world champions. I am very proud,” Luis de la Fuente, Spain’s coach, said through an interpreter after his team ran its unbeaten streak to a record 38 games.
“I’m very happy for my players. We’ve won in all the categories. We’ve grown together. We reached this stage today thanks to their talent, to their attitude, to their comportment, to their values and to the huge footballing talent.”
The goal ruined a superhuman effort by Argentine keeper Emiliano Martínez, who made 11 saves while playing with a fractured right ring finger that will require surgery. That’s two more saves than he had over the rest of the tournament.
But the moment that may have sealed Argentina’s fate came in the final minutes of second-half stoppage time when Enzo Fernández clattered into Spanish center back Pau Cubarsí at midfield, flipping him head over heels. Fernández had been booked minutes earlier for dissent, and the second yellow card led to his expulsion, forcing Argentina to finish shorthanded.
Spain wasted little time exploiting the advantage and appeared to have scored six minutes into extra time when Williams banged in the rebound of a Martínez save, only to have Slovakian referee Slavko Vincic wave it off, ruling that Spain’s Mikel Merino had fouled Argentine defender Nicolás Otamendi in the buildup to the goal.
Spain star Lamine Yamal in congratulated by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, left, and receives his medal from President Trump following Spain’s win over Argentina in the World Cup final Sunday.
(Justin Setterfield / Getty Images)
The capacity crowd of 80,663, matching the second-largest of the tournament’s 104 games, booed Trump when he appeared on a videoboard during the national anthem and again when he walked onto the pitch for the postgame awards ceremony.
During the victory ceremony after the final of last summer’s Club World Cup, played at the same stadium, Trump remained on the podium to celebrate with Chelsea’s players and was seen on TV pocketing one of the winners’ medals. On Sunday, after Trump joined FIFA President Gianni Infantino presenting the World Cup trophy to Rodri, the Spanish captain motioned to Trump to move to the left side of the stage. As Spain lifted the trophy, Infantino escorted the president off the podium and away from the celebration.
When Argentina gave the trophy back to Spain, it likely marked a passing of the torch. Argentina has played in three of the last four World Cup finals, but the average age of its starting lineup Sunday was more than 30, making it the second-oldest to play in a final behind the 11 Brazil used to win in 1962. And it got a bit older when Otamendi, 38, came on for 28-year-old Lisandro Martínez, who left with an apparent injury just before the end of the first half.
Argentina star Lionel Messi reacts after losing to Spain in the World Cup final.
(Pamela Smith / Associated Press)
Spain, meanwhile, had the sixth-youngest roster of the 48 teams. Two of La Roja’s starters — teenagers Cubarsí and wunderkind Lamine Yamal — hadn’t even been born when Messi made his World Cup debut in 2006.
“The way this team has matured, it built every day,” said Rodri, the third-oldest starter on the team despite being just 30. “We faced different opponents. Of course, lots of European opponents. But different moments and different types of games and we managed to play all of them.
“We grew in this sense and this generation is making history for our country.”
A history that de la Fuente said is just beginning.
“This team has a long way to go,” he said. “We are already thinking to what is next, what is coming up.”
Sports Editor Iliana Limón Romero and staff writers Jad El Reda and Eduard Cauich contributed to this report.
Spain players celebrate after defeating Argentina for the World Cup title on Sunday.
Spanish fans spent the night partying in Madrid after their team defeated Argentina 1-0 in the final of the World Cup. Al Jazeera’s Natacha Butler reports from the heart of the celebrations in Madrid.
Published On 20 Jul 202620 Jul 2026
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Spain and Lamine Yamal have grown through the tournament to leave him with the world at his feet and football’s two greatest prizes in his pocket.
As well as having glorious natural gifts, he is also Spain’s lucky charm. They completed their domination of the international stage with Ferran Torres’ decisive 106th-minute strike in extra time.
Lamine Yamal has yet to lose for his country in the 28 competitive matches he has played. He has started 13 games at major tournaments and won all of them – the longest 100% win rate of any European player across major tournaments when starting.
He also became – along with 19-year-old Spain team-mate Pau Cubarsi – just the fourth and fifth teenagers to start a World Cup final and win, after Pele for Brazil in 1958, Italy defender Giuseppe Bergomi in 1982 and Kylian Mbappe with France in 2018.
Spain coach Luis de la Fuente spoke afterwards of his “sincere gratitude” to Lamine Yamal.
“He has played great football that will help him to mature and be even a greater footballer than he already is,” he said.
“He really sacrificed for the collective good. This is very important in my squad. In my opinion he played a great World Cup.”
And this is not simply a special talent, it is a special talent with a special temperament.
He shrugged off Argentina’s obvious attempts to intimidate him as he regularly came into close contact with Nicolas Tagliafico in particular.
Former England goalkeeper and BBC Sport pundit Joe Hart summed it up well.
“Not only did Lamine Yamal not react,” he said. “He stood up to it. He was not rattled and he did not back down. He had the entire team trying to smash him.
“He just stayed real cool. It was real standout performance from him.
“Lamine Yamal is 19 years old. What a beautiful day for him. He’s 19 and has completed football.”
With virtually his whole career in front of him, and taking in the experience and influence of Spain team-mates such as his captain and player of the tournament Rodri, there is every chance Lamine Yamal will add more successes like this before he is done.
When Victor Marx was 3 years old, he was forced into a voodoo ritual involving a beheaded cat. At age 7, he killed a man.
Or so Marx says.
But he was not just a precocious child.
As an adult running a “high-risk” Christian ministry, Marx says he rescued 45,000 women and children from captivity and abuse. As a civilian, he supposedly called in a U.S. military airstrike that killed 70 ISIS fighters. He’s exorcised demons — and can do so over the telephone, he says, if need be.
True or, most likely, false, those woolly claims and epic tales of derring-do aren’t the weirdest thing about Marx.
The weirdest thing is that Marx is the Republican nominee for governor of Colorado, an actual part of these United States.
A political newcomer, Marx eked out his victory in a three-way race by less than 2,500 votes out of more than 520,000 cast. (It took almost nine days to declare a winner, but surely you knew that already, given the national outcry over how long it took Colorado to count its ballots. Oh, wait. Never mind.)
Although slender, Marx’s victory delivered a strong statement: about the grave condition of mainstream Republicanism; about the increasing embrace of oddity and extremism by a deeply disaffected slice of the American electorate; about the unsettled and unsettling nature of today’s politics.
“It’s almost cult-like,” Dick Wadhams, a former Colorado GOP chairman, said of Marx’s support. “You talk to some of these people, and there is no doubt in their mind he will be governor, because God has decided that he’s going to be governor.”
There’s fat chance of that. (Please don’t smite me.)
Colorado has elected only one Republican governor in the last 55 years, and that was back in 2002. It’s been 10 years since a Republican won any statewide office. The Democratic nominee, Atty. Gen. Phil Weiser, is as close to a November shoo-in — after stomping U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in the primary — as it gets.
But Marx, 61, a former Marine and expert in martial arts, is nothing if not swaggering. His role model is, of course, the political disrupter and fabulist-in-chief currently occupying the White House.
Like President Trump, Marx relies heavily on personal charisma, a strong social media presence and the purposeful shunning of campaign norms which, to the politically alienated, speaks to his independence from the establishment and offers a welcome break from the same old, same old.
He casts himself as a problem-solver and negotiator par excellence. He skimps on policy and skipped most of the preprimary debates; at the one he did attend, Marx brought his dog, a Dutch shepherd, onstage. In lieu of a closing statement, Marx prayed.
When asked, he hasn’t backed off his fantastical claims. But Marx hasn’t done a very good job substantiating them.
As a young boy growing up in Louisiana, he says, his abusive stepfather — the one who supposedly involved him in a satanic feline decapitation — drove him to rural Mississippi, where Marx shot and killed a man. Police told Colorado Public Radio they had no record of any unsolved homicides from that time.
“How many people have you killed?” Kyle Clark, an anchorman on Denver’s 9News, asked the candidate in a persistent and revealing sit-down interview.
“I don’t think that’s important,” Marx replied. “It’s actually kind of — it’s an odd question to me.”
Actually, it’s not.
(Conceding the Republican race, state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer — the runner-up — conspicuously declined to endorse Marx, urging voters to “choose the path that is best for Colorado” in November. “For the record,” she added. “I still haven’t killed anyone.”)
In many ways, Marx is a mainstream conservative Republican. He founded All Things Possible Ministries, a Christian nonprofit that tends to refugees and other victims of trauma. His focus on law and order, tax relief, small government and deregulation are all standard GOP fare.
But his florid tales of youthful homicide, telephonic exorcisms, personally intercepting human smugglers on the U.S.-Mexico border — well, not so much.
Most voters will probably have a hard time getting past those autobiographical extravagances, which could spell trouble — depressed GOP turnout, guilt by association — for other Colorado Republicans, including freshman Rep. Gabe Evans, who’s fighting to hang onto a closely fought congressional seat in the north-central part of the state.
It’s a loss Republicans can ill afford as they desperately seek to preserve their bare House majority.
Despite its preference for Democratic governors, Colorado was, until not that long ago, a competitive two-party state. It was a presidential battleground as recently as 2012. Republicans held a majority in the state Senate as recently as 2018.
But the MAGA-fication of the state GOP has hastened Colorado’s evolution from political battleground to a solidly blue bastion.
“The Colorado Republican Party right now is impotent and irrelevant,” said Wadhams, who fought unsuccessfully against its takeover by Trump-worshiping zealots. “The ironic twist to this story is that polling has shown over the past several months that voters are getting restless about what they see as the decline of Colorado in terms of education, energy, roads and transportation.”
Just last week, the annual Colorado Health Foundation issued its annual Pulse Poll, a dour report card on the state of the state that found three-quarters of respondents were concerned they may not be able to live there in the future.
But don’t expect Democrats to lose their sovereignty anytime soon.
That’s what happens when a party and its voters stop seriously competing and instead indulge their passions and fever dreams. You get candidates, and political caricatures, like Victor Marx.
God help us.
South Africa: Fassi; Williams, Kriel, de Allende, Arendse; Moyo, Reinach; Steenekamp, Marx, Sadie, C Wiese, van Heerden, de Villiers, PS du Toit (capt), J Wiese
Replacements: Venter, Wessels, Louw, Dixon, van Staden, Jantjies, Libbok, Willemse.
Wales: Murray; Rees-Zammit, Llewellyn, B Thomas, Mee; Edwards, Tomos Williams; Carre, Lake (capt), D Lewis, Teddy Williams, Beard, Mann, J Morgan, Wainwright
Replacements: Elias, N Smith, Warren, F Thomas, Reffell, Botham, Morgan-Williams, Hawkins.
Yellow card: Warren 65
Referee: Andrew Brace (IRFU)
Assistant Referees: Pierre Brousset (FFR) & James Doleman (NZRFU)
TMO: Olly Hodges (IRFU)
FPRO: Richard Kelly (NZRFU)
Son Heung-min scored his first goal of the season, Denis Bouanga continued his scoring streak in El Tráfico, and LAFC beat the Galaxy 3-0 on Friday night at Dignity Health Sports Park following an international break for the World Cup.
LAFC (8-5-3) evened the all-time series with the Galaxy at 10-10-7. The Galaxy (5-6-5) entered unbeaten in their last three meetings with LAFC.
Mark Delgado, who played for the Galaxy from 2022-24, opened the scoring in the 26th minute. Delgado’s initial header was blocked but it came right back to him for a shot past goalkeeper Novak Micovic.
Bouanga made it 2-0 in first-half stoppage time on a penalty kick that Micovic got a hand on. Bouanga has scored 11 goals in 10 matches against the Galaxy across all competitions and has scored in the last seven meetings, the longest streak in the rivalry’s history.
LAFC forward Denis Bouanga does a flip after scoring on a penalty kick against the Galaxy in the first half Friday.
(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)
Son scored in the 57th after getting a pass back from Delgado.
Up next for LAFC: Hosts Real Salt Lake on Wednesday.
Up next for the Galaxy: Host St. Louis on Wednesday.
JESY Nelson says she “can’t stop crying” over her “bittersweet” victory to test all babies in England with SMA – knowing it came too late for her twin daughters.
The groundbreaking rule change comes as the former Little Mix star faces fresh heartache over her one-year-old kids, Ocean Jade and Story Monroe, whose latest test results sparked concern following treatment for the muscle-wasting disease.
It’s feared the girls will never be able to walk after a late diagnosis of the life-threatening condition Spinal Muscular Atrophy Type 1.
In her new Prime Video show, Jesy Nelson: Life Changing, the singer breaks down in tears over the guilt she carries and worries her children will blame her, when they’re older, for not spotting the signs sooner.
Jesy told The Sun: “I know it’s not my fault, but when I watch back videos of when I brought them home and they were kicking their legs, I realise now that over the course of a month, they just stopped.
“That’s the part where the guilt kicks in because I don’t understand how I didn’t see that. Why didn’t I spot that?
“But when I left the neonatal ward, I was constantly told to check their temperature, make sure you’re monitoring their breathing and there was so much other stuff that I was looking out for because they were premature babies.
“I just honestly didn’t focus on the movement of their legs.
“Thank God for my mum, because God knows what position I would have been in if she hadn’t spotted it.
“That will probably never leave me. I’ll be honest, I don’t think it ever will. But I really hope as they get older, they understand how flipping amazing they are because they are the most resilient little girls I’ve ever known.
“I’m literally in awe of them. Even with what they have to endure every day, they are the happiest babies.”
At Ocean and Story’s most recent three-month review at St Ormond Street’s Children’s Hospital, doctors warned Jesy the girls were not responding to treatment the way they had hoped.
She said: “Unfortunately, some of the numbers have gone down. We had a long discussion and there’s a possibility they may have to go back on treatment, which is just heartbreaking.
“I constantly battle between manifesting they’re going to defy the odds and trying to come to accept that that may not happen.
“It’s a really weird position to be in because you you think ‘well, if that doesn’t happen, am I just going to feel heartbroken for the rest of my life?’
“Then you worry, if I accept it, am I also manifesting that?”
She added: “I don’t ever want them to feel any less than or feel like it defines them. I really want them to know how special they are.
“I want this to be their little superpower.”
Speaking candidly, Jesy admits the success of her campaign for a breakthrough rule change – adding screening for spinal muscular atrophy to the NHS‘s newborn blood spot test – was a tough pill to swallow.
Every year 50 babies born with the condition will now find out they carry the genetic condition at birth. It means they can be given treatment before nerves and muscles are damaged beyond repair.
Jesy said: “I’ve not stopped crying, I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I just keep going through waves of emotions. I’ve had an outpouring of messages from families within the SMA community.
“It’s just a real weird one because obviously there’s a lot of mixed emotions. I think for people dealing with children that have got SMA, who got diagnosed too late, feel it’s almost a bit bittersweet.
“It’s a tough pill to swallow to know that, yes, this change is amazing and I really don’t want to take anything away from it, but if only this had been here for our children.
“It’s just sad because so many families have campaigned about this for years.
“So yeah I’ve going through a real mix of emotions, but ultimately I am super proud. I’m ridiculously proud and cannot wait until our children are old enough to tell them they’ve played a massive part in change.”
Her new Prime Video doc is released on Friday, July 17.
The 60-minute episode shows the moment Jesy finds out her daughters’ diagnosis and her grit and determination to launch her campaign.
While a phased rollout will begin in October 2026, Jesy’s fight continues to raise awareness of the condition because the screening won’t be available in other parts of the UK.
“I hope as many people as possible see the documentary because I wanted to raise as much awareness as I could about it and the signs to look out for.
“As amazing as the rollout is, Northern Ireland and Wales are still not part of the heel-prick test, meaning many babies will still be undiagnosed and not treated in time.
“I’m just praying that if they watch this documentary, they will spot the signs early enough, take them to the doctor and get them treatment.”
Spinal muscular atrophy is a disease which takes away a persons strength and it causes problems by disrupting the motor nerve cells in the spinal cord.
This causes an individual to lose the ability to walk, eat and breathe.
There are four types of SMA – which are based on age.
What are the symptoms?
The symptoms of SMA will depend on which type of condition you have.
But the following are the most common symptoms:
• Floppy or weak arms and legs
• Movement problems – such as difficulty sitting up, crawling or walking
• Twitching or shaking muscles
• Bone and joint problems – such as an unusually curved spine
• Swallowing problems
• Breathing difficulties
However, SMA does not affect a person’s intelligence and it does not cause learning disabilities.
How common is it?
The majority of the time a child can only be born with the condition if both of their parents have a fault gene which causes SMA.
Usually, the parent would not have the condition themselves – they would only act as a carrier.
Statistics show around 1 in every 40 to 60 people is a carrier of the gene which can cause SMA.
If two parents carry the faulty gene there is a 1 in 4 (25 per cent) chance their child will get Spinal muscular atrophy.
It affects around 1 in 11,000 babies.
Erling Haaland and SoFi Stadium, ladies and gentlemen. Your breakout stars of the World Cup.
We’ve all fallen for the blond forward who has rowed Norway to its first World Cup quarterfinal berth — and also for SoFi Stadium.
Or “Los Angeles Stadium,” FIFA’s designation for the $5.5-billion architectural masterpiece that welcomed the world to Inglewood.
I cover Rams and Chargers games there regularly, but the World Cup changed how I feel about the place. It has more soul now, more character.
There is more history attached, “core memories,” as Kevin Demoff, president of parent company Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, put it.
The exultation when the United States went up 1-0 in the seventh minute of its tournament-opening, 4-1 victory over Paraguay? “That’s now a core memory of this stadium,” Demoff said.
So is the proud Iranian diaspora showing up en masse to mostly support Team Melli twice, in draws with New Zealand and Belgium.
And the goal by LAFC’s Stephen Eustáquio in the second minute of second-half stoppage time to lead Canada to a 1-0 victory over South Africa in its first knockout game.
And Spain’s taut, 2-1 victory over Belgium in Friday’s high-stakes quarterfinals match.
FIFA might say these sensational scenes put L.A. — our tiny hamlet of more than 18 million people — “on the map.”
What they did was put SoFi Stadium on everyone’s radar as one of the world’s foremost football stadiums.
Jose Ovalle, a 34-year-old from Reynosa, Mexico, has watched matches at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City and Estadio BBVA in Monterey, both sites of World Cup action this summer.
“They’re amazing stadiums — a lot of history, so much history,” Ovalle said Friday. “But [SoFi Stadium] is one of the top stadiums in the world.”
Spain midfielder Fabián Ruiz, left, celebrates after scoring past Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, right, in the World Cup quarterfinals at SoFi Stadium on Friday.
(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)
Nah, said New Zealand coach Darren Bazeley: “This is the best football stadium I’ve ever been in.”
Swiss center back Manuel Akanji plays for Inter Milan and roots for the Atlanta Falcons. It was a big deal for him to play at their home field, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, in last year’s FIFA Club World Cup.
“It’s really nice, but this is the best,” Akanji said after Switzerland defeated Bosnia-Herzegovina in group play at Sofi Stadium. “This is the best I’ve seen overall among all the stadiums I’ve ever been to. It’s amazing.”
Eight matches, five group stage games, two round-of-32 knockout affairs, Friday’s quarterfinal and a partridge in a pear tree — it was a monthlong run that was everything SoFi Stadium’s team could have wished for when it began preparing to host eight years ago. And more.
“I don’t think you can envision the passion of national team fans,” Demoff said. “We’ve seen so many great events here, NFL games, concerts, but the pride of a national event and seeing people come to Los Angeles and the U.S. for the first time, and seeing this building for the first time…
“There’s something magical about 30,000 Bosnians in blue singing, marching from the airport to here. You can’t properly envision that, no matter how many times you’ve been here.”
People raved about sight lines and sound. They admired the architecture and the infinity screen and the way the canopy kept things cool. In line to buy merchandise Friday, Orange County’s Nick Valencia looked around and mused: “Wow, humans made this.”
Players had the run of the place on real grass, not the artificial turf in place for NFL games. (Don’t expect that to change, Demoff said, noting that upkeep would be doubly challenging at SoFi Stadium with two NFL teams using the field.)
Soccer fans amplified their positive reviews online, where the only complaint having to do with SoFi Stadium was that FIFA decided to give the World Cup final to the archaic-by-comparison MetLife Stadium — a.k.a. “New York/New Jersey Stadium” — instead.
The stadium popped in person and on TV, its distinctive, futuristic shape making it immediately recognizable in a way that not every stadium is.
Vibes were good among volunteers and visitors from around the world and every corner of the United States — and among stadium staffers, who won raises in a late-breaking contract agreement that resulted in increases to more than $30 per hour.
The Rams’ house — and Chargers’ — was full almost every match, with four sold-out crowds of 70,492 and an eight-game total of 561,656.
People paid thousands of dollars for tickets and got their money’s worth at the world’s most-expensive stadium, a modern marvel that’s only getting better with age.
Dodger Stadium is dripping in lore, from Kirk Gibson’s legendary walk-off home run in 1988 to more history, like Shohei Ohtani playing perhaps the greatest game ever last postseason.
Staples — er, Crypto.com Arena — is where Kobe Bryant dropped 81. Decathlete Rafer Johnson lit the Olympic flame in 1984 at the Los Angeles Coliseum. And we all can picture Brandi Chastain ripping off her top in her iconic celebration after scoring the game-winning penalty kick in the 1999 Women’s World Cup at the Rose Bowl.
“We may not have the Brandi Chastain moment from ‘99,” Demoff said. “But we’ve had so many great moments off this tournament that I think will be replayed over and over and over again.”
There are more moments to come, with SoFi Stadium slated to host Super Bowl LXI in February and then, in 2028, to stage the Olympic Opening Ceremony and the Olympic swimming competition.
“Where the U.S. scored the opening goal,” Demoff said, “is going to be the middle of the Olympic swimming pool. I think that contrast blows people’s minds. It certainly blows mine.”
And for the past month, Los Angeles’ stadium blew the world’s mind.
Catalans Dragons head coach John Cartwright told Sky Sports:
“Intent-wise and physicality, it was a massive improvement on last week. To compete with them, we had to do that.
“Up until 16-0 down we were still in the game. We were unlucky because we should have scored a try and had to take our chances against a side like that, and we didn’t.
“There were a lot of things we had to get right to be in the game against them, and we didn’t quite do it. But physically, I just loved the way they had each other’s back in that second half.”
Leeds coach Brad Arthur told Sky Sports:
“We were pretty professional and thought we were quite tough as well. We wanted to dominate possession, and I thought we did that really well.
“Obviously there were some tactics after they came out after half-time, trying to rattle us, and we go back to round five and it worked for them. It was good that we learned our lesson.
“There are a couple of things we got wrong, but we were able to compose ourselves and just get back to our job.”
Catalans Dragons: Staines, Cotric, Laguerre, Faataape, Darrelatour, Sexton, Dodd, Allen, Leeming, Maria, Rogers-Smith, Lipowicz, Bousquet.
Interchanges: Condon, Navarrete, Wilson, Tison, Martin.
Leeds Rhinos: Miller, Sivo, Handley, Newman, Lumb, Croft, Connor, Oledzki, Levi, Jenkins, Hankinson, McDonnell, Watkins.
Interchanges: Holroyd, O’Connor, C. Smith, Cassell, Nicholson-Watton.
Referee: Liam Moore.
In an alternate universe, the Sparks’ win over Chicago on Friday could have been a barometer to indicate whether general manager Raegan Pebley’s gamble to trade Rickea Jackson to the Sky paid off.
Jackson didn’t get a chance for revenge after tearing an anterior cruciate ligament in May, making the Sparks’ 102-87 win at Crypto.com Arena not a true litmus test. Veteran guard Ariel Atkins, who was shipped out of Chicago in the Jackson deal, had her best game with the Sparks, finishing with a season-high 17 points.
The Sparks showcased their potential en route to their second straight win, even with All-Star Kelsey Plum (lower left leg) and Cameron Brink (left ankle) out. Nneka Ogwumike, the Sparks’ other All-Star, posted 25 points and 12 rebounds, Dearica Hamby and Rae Burrell both scored 17, and Erica Wheeler had 15 points and eight assists.
“The ball’s got to move,” Sparks coach Lynne Roberts said. “It can’t be a lot of one on one. And that’s what happens when you have 32 assists, the ball’s moving. So it’s just the continued emphasis of ball movement, player movement, getting those high-quality shots, and we’ve got players that are going to make them for percentage.”
Still a game under .500, the Sparks (10-11) have a long way to go to be considered serious postseason contenders. Chicago also has struggled mightily outside of a win against Phoenix this week and has been engulfed in drama around veteran guard Skylar Diggins, who sat out because of a knee injury.
The Sparks easily could have spiraled following Monday’s disaster in Seattle. Instead, their season has life.
“After the game on Monday, I think there was just kind of like an ‘enough’ mentality, and we all felt it,” Roberts said. “We all kind of just said, ‘enough.’ That doesn’t mean that we’re going to go undefeated the rest of the way, but we play like that. We give ourselves a chance in every game.”
For the second straight game, all five starters scored in double digits. Hamby had a late backhanded layup over 6-foot-7 Kamilla Cardoso to help close out the win.
Brought in to be Plum’s partner in the backcourt, Atkins has had an inconsistent offensive season, with career-low scoring and shooting numbers. Against her former squad, she showed why the Sparks wanted her, and why they need her to produce with Plum out of the lineup for the foreseeable future.
“It feels good to see shots go in,” Atkins said. “My biggest thing is that it feels good when we all feel good too. When they lead to wins, it makes it even better.”
After the Sparks opened up a 16-8 lead, Chicago (7-15) stormed back to keep it tight throughout the second quarter. The Sparks led 73-70 after three quarters before pulling away late.
Ogwumike made three three-pointers in the fourth to carry the Sparks across the finish line.
“Just to have that poise, like we haven’t shown that in a very long time,” Wheeler said. “So for us to display that tonight, like that should be the standard, and it felt good to have that poise.”
The Sparks scored 25 points off 15 Sky turnovers. They shot 51% from the field.
Ball movement has been emphasized all season, “so it’s good that we’re starting to figure it out,” Roberts said. “When you look at the assists, it wasn’t like one person had 16 or something, right? So it’s balanced. The ball’s moving. There’s [the thought of] ‘we need to get the win,’ not ‘I need to get the bucket.’ And I think that’s the mentality of great teams.”
Veteran forward Emma Cannon played 12 minutes and scored nine points as a key post presence late when Cardoso was in foul trouble.
Ogwumike moved into fifth on the Sparks’ all-time assists list with her third helper in the first quarter, passing Mwadi Mabika.
The Sparks are half a game outside the final playoff spot, not bad given how poor some of their performances have been. They head to Atlanta (13-9) to face a slumping Dream squad on Monday as they try to win three consecutive games for the third time this season.
“It took us a bit with KP out to figure out kind of how we can still flow,” Roberts said. “I think we’ve figured it out.”
ARLINGTON, Texas — Wyatt Langford lined a shot off the wall in left field to bring home Alejandro Osuna in the ninth inning, lifting Texas to a 7-6 victory over the Angels after the Rangers blew a five-run lead Thursday night.
Langford struck out three of his first four times up as the designated hitter after getting activated from the 10-day injured list in his return from a left hamstring strain.
Osuna led off the ninth with a single and went to second on pinch-hitter Nicky Lopez’s sacrifice bunt. Langford lined a 1-and-1 fastball from former Texas closer Kirby Yates (0-4) over Jose Siri’s head for the winning single.
Jo Adell had a tying, pinch-hit single to cap a five-run seventh a night after homering twice in the Angels’ 13-1 victory.
Cole Winn (4-2) got Adell on a sharp liner to center field to end the ninth with the potential go-ahead run at third after replacing All-Star closer Jacob Latz, who went 1⅔ innings in his first outing in nine days.
Nathan Eovaldi struck out a season-high 10 for Texas but failed to get his 10th win for the fifth consecutive start. He exited with no outs in the seventh after Dezner Guzman reached on catcher’s interference, Logan O’Hoppe walked and Wade Meckler’s single scored Guzman.
Peyton Gray replaced Eovaldi and gave up a two-run single to Nolan Schanuel, who had four hits, and an RBI single to Jorge Soler.
Brandon Nimmo, Ezequiel Duran and Justin Foscue homered for Texas in the first four innings against Reid Detmers. The left-hander hadn’t given up more than one long ball in any of his first 18 starts.
Up next: Neither team announced the rotation for its final series before the All-Star break. Indications are the Angels will go with RHP Grayson Rodriguez (2-2, 8.06 ERA) on Friday at Minnesota. He has been on the injured list since mid-June because of lower back tightness. Texas is home against Houston.
WASHINGTON — The Republican-controlled Senate on Thursday narrowly approved President Reagan’s request for $100 million in aid to the Nicaraguan guerrillas–the first affirmative vote by Congress in three years on an aid package for the rebels that includes military assistance.
The 53-47 vote was a significant victory for the President, who conducted a tireless lobbying drive for his request and saw it narrowly rejected only a week ago by the Democratic-controlled House. The White House hopes that the Senate vote will help stimulate a reversal in the House, where the proposal will be reconsidered in mid-April.
Not since 1983, when Congress approved covert aid as part of the fiscal 1984 defense budget, has either chamber voted for military aid to the contras, as the rebels are called. Sentiment against such assistance rose sharply in early 1984 after it was learned that the CIA had secretly mined Nicaraguan harbors.
A Reassuring Signal
En route to his mountaintop retreat near Santa Barbara at the time of the vote, the President declared that the Senate action would “send a profoundly reassuring signal to the freedom fighters in Nicaragua and to Nicaragua’s threatened neighbors.”
Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind.), chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, hailed Thursday’s vote as a “good victory” for the President. “This is a very important issue for him–having spent two weeks turning heaven and earth to get this result,” he said.
But Democrats insisted that the narrow margin did not constitute an endorsement of Reagan’s Central American policy. “The vote was so close you can’t call it a victory for the Administration’s policy here in a body that his party controls,” Sen. Jim Sasser (D-Tenn.) said.
Eleven Senate Democrats voted with Reagan, but he lost 11 Republicans. Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) voted with the majority; Sen. Alan Cranston (D-Calif.) voted against the measure. Among the Democrats supporting Reagan was Sen. Bill Bradley of New Jersey, who earlier had opposed contra aid and is believed to be preparing to seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 1988.
Senate Democrats failed in their effort to withhold military aid for a brief period while forcing Reagan to seek bilateral negotiations with the Sandinista government of Nicaragua. A Democratic alternative authored by Sasser failed by a 67-33 vote, and another proposal by Cranston calling for bilateral talks was rejected, 66 to 34.
Warnings of Another Vietnam
Advocates of bilateral talks frequently warned that Reagan’s more belligerent approach was leading the nation into another Vietnam.
“It’s time to know where we are going in Central America before we find ourselves with U.S. troops on the battlefield and body bags coming home once again,” Sasser said. “We say negotiate first. This Administration owes that to the American people. This Administration owes that to our brave young men who will be called upon to fight and die in Nicaragua unless peace is achieved.”
Although the President was forced to make a few additional concessions to gain a majority, the package approved by the Senate was not significantly different from the compromise that Reagan offered voluntarily a week ago as an executive order in his unsuccessful effort to win House approval.
The measure would provide $25 million to the contras immediately and release $15 million every 90 days thereafter with the understanding that the President would search for a diplomatic solution during that period. With the first allotment of money, the contras would be permitted to buy surface-to-air missiles to use against Nicaraguan helicopters.
No offensive weapons for the contras would be funded until July 1, and then only after the President determines that the conflict cannot be solved by diplomacy. At least $30 million of the money would be used for humanitarian purposes, $3 million of it for human rights programs.
Direct Talks Not Required
Under the Senate plan, the President is not required to seek direct bilateral talks unless the Sandinistas are willing to negotiate with the contras as well–something the Nicaraguan government has declined to do. Reagan staunchly refused to agree to talks without contras involvement, even though it would have won him broad bipartisan support for the aid package.
Despite Reagan’s opposition, Lugar insisted that the Administration’s special envoy, Philip C. Habib, eventually would go to Managua seeking talks. But Democrats noted that Reagan never kept a pledge for bilateral negotiations that he made to the Senate in a letter last year to win approval of $27 million in humanitarian aid for the contras.
The rejected Democratic alternative proposed by Sasser would have withheld all military aid for six months to encourage negotiations. The President would have been required to enter into the talks if the Nicaraguans first agreed to a cease-fire.
Republicans said that Sasser’s proposal might have gained some GOP support if he had limited the waiting period to 90 days and provided some assistance for defensive weaponry during that period. “He went too far out to the left,” a top GOP aide said.
Cranston’s amendment would have withheld the money for only 90 days but, like Sasser’s proposal, it provided nothing but humanitarian aid during that period.
Amendments Defeated
The Senate also defeated amendments from the far left and far right. The vote was 74 to 24 against a proposal by Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) to eliminate all aid. A proposal by Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.)–what he described as a “put up or shut up” provision–which would have released all aid on May 15 if the Sandinistas refused to adhere to democratic principles by then, was defeated by a 60-39 vote.
The only amendment that succeeded was one offered by Sen. Alan J. Dixon (D-Ill.) that would prohibit American trainers and advisers inside Nicaragua. It passed by voice vote.
Although the Administration seized upon the recent incursion of Nicaraguan troops into Honduras as evidence of the need for contras aid, Lugar insisted that the fighting along Nicaragua’s northern border had no impact on the outcome in the Senate. However, the Administration hopes that House Democrats will be swayed by the incursion.
Despite the narrow vote, it was apparent that the mood of Congress had changed significantly since last year when the President had to fight almost as hard to get congressional approval of $27 million in humanitarian aid for the contras. Many Democrats who opposed all aid last year voted for the Sasser proposal this time.
As a result, it was frequently compared during floor debate to the Gulf of Tonkin resolution that opened the way for U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. Sen. Dale Bumpers (D-Ark.) predicted that the amount would continue to increase in the years ahead as it has since 1981 when the Administration first provided covert aid to the contras.
‘Tinkering With $100 Million’
“I don’t believe $100 million is going to do the trick, and I don’t think anybody does,” Bumpers said. “If Nicaragua represents a serious security threat to this hemisphere, why are we tinkering with $100 million?”
Wilson insisted that it was not a Gulf of Tonkin resolution for Central America. “We are asked not to send our sons, but to send a pittance,” the California Republican said.
But Sen. David Durenberger (R-Minn.), chairman of the Intelligence Committee, which has access to Administration intelligence reports from Central America, charged that Reagan had overstated the threat posed by the Sandinistas.
As it did in the House last week, Reagan’s highly partisan campaign on behalf of his contras aid request succeeded only in angering many senators, who resented White House efforts to portray their opponents as supporters of the Marxist regime in Managua.
“No one is more anti-Communist than I am,” Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio) said. “I deeply resent the President’s sickening display of neo-McCarthyism in this debate.”
