Former Stanford star gets green light to play for USWNT

Brazilian-born midfielder Catarina Macario, who announced last week she was giving up her senior year at Stanford, received permission from FIFA on Wednesday to play for the U.S. women’s national team.

The governing body’s approval means she could appear in a pair of national team exhibition games in Florida against Colombia later this month.

“Now that I’m approved to play, it’s up to me to show the coaches I deserve to be on rosters and get playing time,” Macario said in a statement. “Nothing is guaranteed, and everything needs to be earned, so it’s up to me to get my fitness to the level needed and keep learning every day. Just to be in the position is a dream come true and I’ll never take any of it for granted.”

Macario, who came to the United States when she was 12 and played for Stanford, is currently in camp with the national team. She became an American citizen in October but hadn’t been able to play for the team while awaiting FIFA’s permission.

She has signed her first pro contract with seven-time European champion Lyon.

The two-time winner of the MAC Hermann Trophy as the nation’s best college player, Macario set a Stanford single-season record of 32 goals and 23 assists in 2019, when the Cardinal won the College Cup. She finishes her career at Stanford with 63 goals and 47 assists in 68 matches.

She was called up to her first national-team camp on the same day she became a citizen.

College football

STANFORD GETS OPENING GAME >> Stanford and Kansas State have been chosen to kick off the 2021 season on Sept. 4 in the 2021 Allstate Kickoff Classic at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, which annually hosts the premier season-opening contest in college football.

Kick off time, broadcast network and ticket information will be released at a later date.

The game was originally scheduled to be played at Kansas State’s Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium on the same day. The Cardinal is 1-0 all-time against the Wildcats, defeating K-State 26-13 to open the 2016 season on Sept. 2 at Stanford Stadium.

Next season’s nonconference slate will now feature Kansas State, a Sept. 18 game at Vanderbilt and a home game against Notre Dame on Nov. 27. LOUISIANA-MONROE HIRES RICH RODRIGUEZ AS COORDINATOR >> Rich Rodriguez is the new offensive coordinator and associate head coach at Louisiana-Monroe, the school announced Tuesday.

Rodriguez, the former West Virginia, Michigan and Arizona head coach, was most recently offensive coordinator at Ole Miss in 2019. Louisiana-Monroe was 0-10 in 2020 and last had a winning season in 2012 when it went 8-5.

Rich Rodriguez, 57, compiled a 118-83 record in 16 seasons as a head coach.

VIEWERSHIP DOWN FOR ALABAMAOHIO STATE >>

The Alabama-Ohio State college football playoff final Monday night averaged 18.7 million viewers across the ESPN networks, making it the least-watched title game since 2005.

The ratings declined 27 percent from LSU-Clemson (25.6 million) last year and 26 percent from ClemsonAlabama in 2019 (25.3 million), according to Sports Media Watch.

Baseball

SHAPIRO GETS 5-YEAR EXTENSION AS BLUE JAYS’ CEO >> Mark Shapiro has been given a five-year contract extension as the Toronto Blue Jays’ president and chief executive officer. Shapiro worked for the Cleveland Indians before becoming the Blue Jays’ president on Oct. 31, 2015. The Blue Jays returned to the playoffs last season for the first time since 2016. ASTROS SIGN RHP PEDRO BAEZ TO 2-YEAR DEAL >> The Houston Astros agreed to sign right-hander Pedro Baez to a two-year contract, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.

The 26-year-old Baez had a 3.18 ERA across 18 relief appearances with the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2020. He also tallied two saves.

In 355 career appearances, all with the Dodgers, Baez is 21-15 with a 3.03

ERA. He has 369 strikeouts in 356 innings.

Baez also has pitched in 31 playoff games, posting a 1-0 record with a 3.99 ERA in those matchups. He notched 10 strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings during the 2020 postseason, in which he won a World Series ring with Los Angeles.

Golf

PHOENIX OPEN REDUCING SPECTATORS IN FACE OF COVID-19 SPIKE >> There will be fewer spectators than originally planned for at the Waste Management Phoenix Open next month, but tournament organizers remained “confident” Wednesday that there would be a spectator presence at TPC Scottsdale.

Tournament chairman Scott Jenkins said attendance will be limited to fewer than 5,000 people per day for the tournament, which is scheduled for Feb. 4-7. Originally, organizers had hoped to have as many as 8,000 fans on site, but a recent spike in COVID-19 cases in Arizona caused the tournament to rethink that number.

Although the tournament stopped reporting attendance figures in 2019, the 2018 edition of the Phoenix Open exceeded 719,000 fans over the course of the week-long event.

VEGAS OUT OF SONY OPEN AFTER POSITIVETEST>> Jhonattan Vegas tested positive for COVID-19 and has withdrawn from the Sony Open in Hawaii, the PGA Tour announced.

First alternate Seamus Power replaces Vegas.

Tennis

SABALENKA WINS 3RD STRAIGHT TOUR TITLE >> Aryna Sabalenka won her third straight tour title and 15th straight match by beating Veronika Kudermetova 6-2, 6-2 in the Abu Dhabi Open final.

The fourth-seeded Belarusian, who won indoor tournaments in Ostrava and Linz at the end of last season, last lost in the fourth round of the French Open in October.

Sabalenka and Kudermetova will now travel to Australia, where they will spend time in quarantine with limited practice opportunities ahead of the Australian Open and its warmup events.