MLS leaders mulling relocation, expansion
Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber said Friday in Toronto that it’s “conceivable” a yet-to-be-named expansion team could join the league before a long-approved Miami team finally hits the field.
Speaking on the eve of the MLS Cup game today between Toronto FC and the defending champion Seattle Sounders, Garber also encouraged the city of Columbus to return to negotiations about keeping the struggling Crew in the Ohio capital. Team owner Anthony Precourt has been exploring a move to Austin, Texas, for the 2019 season.
“Like every professional sports league, we never want to relocate a team,” Garber said. “And while no decision has been made to relocate the Crew, MLS is supportive of the Precourt Sports Venture’s efforts to explore options in Austin.”
Last month, MLS chose Cincinnati, Detroit, Nashville and Sacramento as the finalists for its 25th and 26th expansion teams, set to begin play in 2020.
MLS owners plan to discuss expansion when they meet in New York on Dec. 14. PERU’S CAPTAIN OUT OF WORLD CUP >> Peru captain Paolo Guerrero will miss the World Cup after being banned by FIFA for one year because of a positive drug test.
The striker, who plays for Brazilian club Flamengo, was Peru’s top scorer with six goals in World Cup qualifying.
SOLO SEEKS LEADERSHIP POSITION >> Former U.S. Olympic and World Cup goalkeeper Hope Solo is running for president of the U.S. Soccer Federation.
“I know exactly what U.S. Soccer needs to do, I know exactly how to do it, and I possess the fortitude to get it done,” Solo said in a Facebook post.
Solo joins a field of eight other candidates to replace Sunil Gulati. She is the second woman to announce a bid for the job, joining Soccer United Marketing president Kathy Carter.
Figure skating
CHEN WINS MEN’S GRAND PRIX FINAL >> Nathan Chen edged Shoma Uno to win the figure skating Grand Prix Final in Nagoya, Japan.
Chen landed three of five attempted quad jumps in his free program. Uno, two points behind Chen after the short program, won the free skate but it wasn’t enough to overtake Chen, who finished a half point ahead with a total of 286.51 points. Russian skater Mikhail Kolyada was third with 282.00.
In the junior ice dance, Americans Christina Carreira and Anthony Ponomarenko of Morgan Hill are second after the short dance, earning a season’s best 64.10 points. They are less than two points behind Russians Anastasia Skoptcova and Kirill Aleshin.
“It was a great first day,” said Ponomarenko, whose parents Marina Klimova and Sergei Ponomarenko are three-time Olympic medalists.
The ice dancing competition concludes today.
Golf
EUROPEAN STALWART DIES AT 76 >> Tommy Horton, 76, the Englishman who played in two Ryder Cups and won four times on the European Tour, died at a hospital after becoming ill at a golf meeting.
Horton also won 23 times on the European Senior Tour and became an honorary European Tour life member in 2012.
PULKKANEN LEADS JOBURG OPEN >> Tapio Pulkkanen shot an 8-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead after two rounds of the European Tour’s Joburg Open. He is at 14-under 129 heading into the weekend.
Shubhankar Sharma was second after a 61. Mikko Korhonen (65) and Erik van Rooyen (67) were 12 under.
Skiing
WEATHER DISRUPTS COMBINED EVENT >> A World Cup combined event was canceled because of thick fog on Friday, soon after Mikaela Shiffrin was fastest in the opening slalom run.
The poor conditions wiped away Shiffrin’s chances of adding to her overall lead in the standings. Organizers first pushed back the super-G start time and then decided to scrap it.
Later, Shiffrin lost a second chance to win, as race organizers declined an option to let today’s scheduled super-G double as the second run of the combined.
Tennis
ITF HONORS NADAL, MUGURUZA >> Rafael Nadal and Garbine Muguruza have won the International Tennis Federation’s player of the year awards.
At 31, Nadal becomes the oldest ITF men’s world champion after a season in which he won a 10th French Open and a third U.S. Open.
Muguruza dropped only one set en route to her first Wimbledon title and finished the year at No. 2.