Germany will play Chile for Confed Cup VICTORY IN HIS SIGHTS Calgary Stampeders QB Bo Levi Mitchell looks for a target while under pressure from Ottawa Redblacks defensive lineman Steven Miller in Calgary on Thursday. The Stampeders, who fought Ottawa to
Leon Goretzka scored two quick-fire early goals as Germany reached the Confederations Cup final by exploiting Mexico’s defensive frailties to win 4-1 on Thursday. Head coach Joachim Loew is using the competition to assess his pool of talent by bringing an inexperienced squad, but the world champions could end with more silverware if Germany beats Chile on Sunday in St. Petersburg, Russia. Timo Werner and Amin Younes also scored for Germany. Marco Fabian had Mexico’s lone marker. Mexico will play Portugal in the thirdplace match on Sunday.
MLB umpire rescues woman from bridge
John Tumpane can’t explain why he approached the woman as she hopped over the railing of the Roberto Clemente Bridge on Wednesday in Pittsburgh. The woman told Tumpane she just wanted to get a better view of the Allegheny River below. The look on her face and the tone of her voice suggested otherwise to Tumpane, a Major League Baseball umpire in town to work a series. So the 34-year-old Tumpane reached for the woman even as she urged him to let her go. Tumpane secured one of her arms. Two bystanders grabbed her other arm and legs while Tumpane mouthed to someone in the crowd to call 911. “I happened to be in the right spot at the right time,” he said after she was taken away. “Tried to be as comforting as I could and talk her through it. Thankfully that was the outcome.”
NBA graded well for diversity hiring
A diversity report shows the NBA again leads professional sports in racial and gender hiring practices. The league received an A for racial hiring and a B for gender hiring practices for the 2016-17 season. The NBA drew an overall grade of A-minus, continuing its run of A grades since the start of the 2000s. The report card was released Thursday by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport. The NBA sets the pace, with people of colour making up 30 per cent of the head coaches and 45 per cent of the assistants. The NBA is also the first major sports league to have three owners of colour.
Gordon will set pace for Brickyard 400
Five-time Brickyard 400 winner Jeff Gordon will lead the field into the race one more time next month — as the pace car driver. Gordon competed in each of the first 23 races on the four-kilometre oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway that is not far from his childhood home. Gordon, who won three poles at Indy, will drive a supercharged 2017 Camaro ZL1. The race is scheduled for July 24.
Djokovic advances to Eastbourne semis
Novak Djokovic converted his fourth match point to beat Donald Young 6-2, 7-6 (9) Thursday and advance to the Aegon Championships semifinals in Eastbourne, England. Top-seeded Djokovic will play Daniil Medvedev in the semifinals of the Wimbledon warm-up tournament. Second-seeded Gael Monfils will play seventh-seeded Richard Gasquet in the other semifinal match on Friday. In the women’s tournament, Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova — the top three seeded players — joined Johanna Konta, Caroline Wozniacki and Svetlana Kuznetsova in advancing to the quarter-finals.
McGill hires top rugby player as coach
Magali Harvey, international women’s rugby player of the year in 2014, was named coach of the McGill University Martlets on Thursday. Harvey, 26, helped Canada win gold at the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto and silver medals at the 2014 world championship and 2015 and 2013 World Cup sevens tournament. She also won bronze at the 2012 and 2015 world sevens events. She plans to continue playing for Canada while coaching. The Quebec City native earned a Level 2 coaching certification with the Waikato Rugby Union in New Zealand.