LAFC GETS DEAL DONE WITH VELA
Although Carlos Vela expects Gareth Bale and Giorgio Chiellini to make a good team even better when they join him at Los Angeles FC, he also wants the European superstars to know they’ve still got plenty of work to do.
Vela issued greetings and advice to his new teammates after he re-signed with Los Angeles FC on Tuesday, extending his tenure with the Major League Soccer leaders through the 2023 season.
The Mexican striker became the first player in LAFC’s history in August 2017 when the expansion club signed him away from La Liga’s Real Sociedad nearly seven months before its first match. Vela made the transition from Europe to MLS superbly by scoring 73 goals in 118 total appearances for the franchise, including a leaguerecord 34 goals in 31 games while earning the league MVP award in 2019.
LAFC already sits atop the overall league standings at 10-3-3, and the club is about to get major reinforcements with the imminent arrivals of Welsh forward Bale and Italian defender Chiellini, who should both be eligible to play next week.
Vela is eager to welcome Bale to MLS after nine seasons spent mostly at Real Madrid — but he also expects hard work out of Bale, whose injury setbacks and overall commitment to Madrid were widely questioned in the Spanish media in recent years.
“As you know, this league is really physical,” Vela said. “If he’s in good shape and he comes in with a good mentality, a good attitude, he will be great. He’s an important player. He will have to come to work, because it’s not that easy like people think.”
More soccer
Kelley O’Hara scored in the 77th minute after a lengthy lightning delay, and the U.S. women beat Colombia 2-0 in Sandy, Utah, in their final tuneup ahead of World Cup qualifying.
The U.S. team extended its unbeaten streak to 69 games on home soil. Lightning was reported near Rio Tinto Stadium in the 75th minute, causing play to be suspended for more than 30 minutes.
Mexico will play a pair of World Cup warmups in September in California but is likely to be missing its European-based players because the matches are not on FIFA international fixture dates. No. 12 Mexico said it will play 21st-ranked Peru on Sept. 24 at Pasadena and No. 17 Colombia three days later at Santa Clara.
WNBA
Courtney Vandersloot, Kahleah Copper and Emma Meesseman will get a chance to play before their home fans as the trio was selected as reserves for the WNBA AllStar Game on July 10 in Chicago.
The Sky stars will join
Candace Parker, who was voted in as a starter to the game last week.
Other reserve guards picked included Washington’s Ariel Atkins, Phoenix’s
Skylar Diggins-Smith, Seattle’s Jewell Loyd and Dallas’
Arike Ogunbowale. Atlanta rookie Rhyne Howard was also picked by the league’s 12 coaches, who voted for three guards, five frontcourt players and four players at either position regardless of conference.
The coaches were not able to vote for their own players.
Las Vegas’ Dearica Hamby, New York’s Natasha Howard and Connecticut’s Brionna Jones and Alyssa Thomas also were chosen in the frontcourt. Jones is the only player to make the AllStar Game this season while coming off the bench.
The two teams will be drafted on Saturday.
The Seattle Storm signed five-time, first-team all-WNBA center Tina Charles for the rest of the season. The signing comes just days after she was let go by Phoenix. The 33-year-old Charles was averaging 17.3 points and 7.3 rebounds in 16 games with the Mercury before the sides settled on a contract divorce last weekend.
Moriah Jefferson had the first triple-double in franchise history with 13 points, 10 rebounds and a careerhigh 10 assists, leading the Minnesota Lynx to a 92-64 victory over the visiting Dallas Wings.
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