American men boot Jamaica
Jordan Morris scored in the 59th minute, and the United States beat Jamaica, 1-0, last night in Chattanooga, Tenn., to give Bruce Arena the first win of his second stint as men’s national team coach.
With the U.S. scoreless streak at 280 minutes, Benny Feilhaber, making his first start in five years, dribbled into the penalty area and pushed the ball back to Morris. The 22-year-old forward, last season’s Major League Soccer Rookie of the Year, beat goalkeeper Ryan Thompson inside the near post from 8 yards for his second international goal.
After starting 0-2 final round of World Cup qualifying in North and Central America and the Caribbean, the U.S. resumes the hexagonal March 24 against Honduras in San Jose, Calif., then plays four days later at Panama.
Before a crowd of 17,903 and playing a rare match on artificial turf, the Americans got their second straight shutout under Arena, who said a priority will be tightening up the U.S. defense.
A 2-1 home loss to Mexico and a 4-0 rout at Costa Rica caused the U.S. Soccer Federation to fire Jurgen Klinsmann, who had been in charge since 2011, and bring back Arena, the national coach from 1998-2006.
Arena changed nine starters from his return match, a 0-0 tie against Serbia last weekend. Captain Michael Bradley replaced Feilhaber in the 62nd minute, his first appearance off the bench since October 2011. . . .
Sporting Kansas City traded midfielder Lawrence Olum to the Portland Timbers for a first-round pick in the 2018 MLS draft and $50,000 in general allocation money. . . .
Portland defender Nat Borchers retired after a 14-year MLS career.
Iran bans U.S. wrestlers
Iran banned U.S. wrestlers from an important international tournament this month in response to President Donald Trump’s executive order forbidding visas for Iranians, the official IRNA news agency reported.
The competition, one of the sport’s most prestigious events, is set for Feb. 16-17 in the western Iranian city of Kermanshah.
The decision marks the first action taken by Iran in response to Trump’s executive order banning visas for seven Muslim countries.
USA Wrestling said in a statement it hasn’t officially been told it won’t be allowed to compete, adding if that is the case, USA Wrestling is “extremely disappointed” in an “unacceptable situation.” U.S. freestyle wrestlers have competed 15 times in Iran since 1998. The Iranians have made 16 visits to the U.S. since the 1990s.
NASCAR team sues sponsor
Stewart-Haas Racing filed a $31 million breach of contract lawsuit against Nature’s Bakery, accusing the company of refusing to pay millions of dollars it owes the team to sponsor driver Danica Patrick this season. Nature’s Bakery was scheduled to sponsor at least 20 races this NASCAR season. . . .
Jack Sock and John Isner gave the United States a sweep of singles matches in a first-round Davis Cup match against Switzerland in Birmingham, Ala.
Nathan Chen dazzled and dominated as he stamped himself as a future Olympic medalist contender with a short program record score of 106.39 at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Kansas City, Mo. Chen is nearly 20 points higher ahead of his closest competitor.