MLS LOSES FIRST MATCH POST-RETURN TO COVID POSITIVE

Colorado’s MLS game against Sporting Kansas City was postponed after a Rapids player and three staff members tested positive for the coronavirus.

FC Cincinnati also announced that an unidentified player had tested positive and was in isolation. Defender Nick Hagglund later confirmed via social media that he contracted COVID-19.

Hagglund was tested Thursday at training and later that night developed symptoms. He said his wife’s test was negative and they are closely monitoring their daughter.

The Rapids suspended training while the player and staff members who tested positive were isolated. They were not identified. The team has conducted additional testing and contact tracing.

The match between the Rapids and Sporting in Commerce City, Colo., originally scheduled for today, is the first game to be postponed because of positive COVID-19 cases since the teams returned to play in their local markets following the MLS is Back tournament in Florida.

More soccer

LA Galaxy II, the reserve team for the MLS Galaxy, “mutually” parted ways with defender Omar Ontiveros after he directed a racial slur at an opponent in a game against the San Diego Loyal on Wednesday. The announcement was made via Twitter with no further comment. Ontiveros received a red card after the match and a six-game suspension.

The Loyal are a secondtier United Soccer League team co-owned and coached by U.S. legend Landon Donovan, and it announced Friday that it had wanted to forfeit the point it was awarded in a 1-1 draw against LA Galaxy II “following news that a racial slur was directed at a SD player during the match.”

• On another goal-filled day in a league where English Premier League defenses have temporarily gone missing, Manchester United beat Brighton 3-2 in a match that had pretty much everything to register its first victory of the campaign.

Golf

Adam Long took over the lead with a stretch of three straight birdies on the back nine and finished with key par saves for an 8-under 64 and a two-shot lead in the PGA’S Corales Puntacana Resort and Club Championship at Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. Hudson Swafford had to settle for nothing but pars on the back nine for a 69 and was two shots behind.

• England’s Aaron Rai shot 3-under 67 to take a onestroke lead after the third round of the Irish Open at Ballymena, Northern Ireland, as he looks for his second win on the European Tour.

Also

Chase Briscoe routed the field in the Xfinity Series playoff opener for his eighth win of the season, the number he’s said should earn him a promotion to NASCAR’S top level. Briscoe, in a Ford for Stewart-haas Racing, won all three stages at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, then beat hometown driver Noah Gragson on a late restart to grab control of the Xfinity Series title race.

• Stefanos Tsitsipas continued his impressive tuneup for the French Open by beating clay-court specialist

Christian Garin in the Hamburg (Germany) Open semifinals to set up a final against

Andrey Rublev.

• Poland’s Jan Blachowicz stopped Dominick Reyes late in the second round at UFC 253 to claim the light heavyweight title vacated by

Jon Jones. The 37-year-old Blachowicz (27-8) capped his late-career surge by winning his first UFC title on Fight Island, the mixed martial arts promotion’s bubble performance venue in the Middle East.

• Josh Taylor retained his WBA and IBF super lightweight belts after knocking out unbeaten challenger Apinun Khongsong in the first round. Taylor (17-0, 13 KO) caught the Thai (16-1, 13 KO) with a left-hand body shot to secure victory after 2 minutes, 41 seconds at London’s York Hall.