MLS tournament game postponed after positive tests
The MLS is Back Tournament match between FC Dallas and the Vancouver Whitecaps set for Thursday has been postponed after eight players tested positive for the coronavirus.
The group-stage game will be rescheduled, the league said Saturday.
FC Dallas announced earlier this week that six players had tested positive for the virus upon arrival in Florida for the tournament. The entire team was quarantined.
Two Whitecaps players tested positive, forcing the team to remain in Canada, the league said. Additional tests were negative, but the team had to push back travel until Monday.
The tournament is set to open Wednesday with a match between Orlando City and expansion Inter Miami.
The league’s 26 teams will be sequestered in hotels for the duration of the monthlong tournament played without fans at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex at Walt Disney World.
MLS shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic on March 12 after teams had each played two games.
FC Dallas said all players and staff tested negative for the coronavirus before leaving for the tournament on June 27. Upon arrival, two players tested positive. Subsequent tests found four more players infected with the virus that causes COVID-19.
“In consultation with MLS medical officials, FC Dallas took proactive steps to isolate the newly affected players as well as all FC Dallas players and staff in Orlando out of an abundance of caution. All members of the club delegation are following MLS health and safety protocols and will remain quarantined in their hotel rooms pending the results of further COVID-19 testing,” the team said in a statement.
The names of the players were not released.
The league said no other team was in contact with the FC Dallas delegation. League protocol requires players and staff to be tested every two days upon arrival in Florida.
FC Dallas will now open the tournament on July 15 against the Seattle Sounders, while the Whitecaps will play the Earthquakes later that day.
Motorsports
DIXON BREAKS THROUGH WITH INDY WIN >> Scott Dixon finally made his second trip to Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s victory lane.
Twelve years after winning his only Indianapolis 500 on the Brickyard’s historic 2.5-mile oval, the five-time series champion added a second title Saturday — this one by a dominant 19.9469 seconds over Graham Rahal in the Indycar Grand Prix.
Dixon finished runner-up in each of the last three races on the track’s 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course. This time, second wouldn’t do.
“It’s so good to be standing here, racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” Dixon said after pumping his fist in a mostly empty and silent renovated winner’s circle. “We got lucky, man.”
The New Zealand star got some help when pole-winner and three-time race champion Will Power stalled in the pits. And he had to pass Rahal, whose team-owning father won the Indy 500 in 1986.
Otherwise, it was a relatively easy drive for Dixon, whose 48 Indycar wins rank third behind A.J. Foyt (67) and Mario Andretti (52).
Dixon also broke up Team Penske’s monopoly on winning this race — the first race held at the track since Roger Penske bought it from the Hulman family in November.
Power and Simon Pagenaud split the previous six races on the road course, the last five as teammates for the series powerhouse. Pagenaud finished third Saturday after qualifying 20th.
And for the first time in his 20year career, Dixon opened the season with back-to-back wins, having taken the season opener last month at Texas.
Dixon made it look easy after maneuvering his way through the field from the No. 7 starting spot. He took charge during the second half of the race and left nothing to chance.
• Chase Briscoe put on four new tires during a late pit-stop, then held off AJ Allmendinger and Austin Cindric over the final five laps to win the first Xfinity Series race on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course.
The Indiana native beat Justin Haley by 1.717 seconds.
“I have dreamed of coming to this race track and just getting to race here,” Briscoe said. “To win here is unbelievable. I can’t put it into words. To get our sponsors in victory lane and driving for Stewart-haas at Indianapolis. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
Noah Gragson was third. Allmendinger and Cindric faded to fourth and fifth after battling and bumping hard over the final few laps when the top three cars were within a second of one another.
It’s Briscoe’s second straight win, his third in the last four races and fifth of the season.
Golf
WOLFF JUMPS OUT TO THREE-SHOT LEAD >> Matthew Wolff had a rollercoaster round that went well enough to give him a three-shot lead in the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit. He shot his second straight 8-under 64 to move into position for his second PGA Tour win.
“I have to give credit to the ice cream truck that was circling the property,” said Wolff, who was 19-under 197 after three rounds. “I’m not joking, actually.”
Wolff made a 35-foot putt on the 138-yard No. 5 for birdie, his second of nine birdies.
“I heard the ice cream truck and I’m like, ‘I have a good feeling about this,’” Wolff recalled. “Just had that little like ice cream truck song in my head. I think that helped me just not think about the speed or the line or anything, just keep my head free.”
Ryan Armour and Bryson Dechambeau were tied for second after 67s.
Wolff made a 14-foot eagle putt at the 559-yard, par-5 14th to pull into a tie with Armour at 17 under, and added birdies on the par-3 15th and par-5 17th. He finished with the eagle, nine birdies, five pars and three bogeys.
If the 21-year-old Wolff can hold on today, it will be his first victory since the 3M Open last year in Minnesota.
NHL
REPORT: SEVERAL MEMBERS OF BLUES HAVE COVID-19 >> Multiple members of the St. Louis Blues have tested positive for the coronavirus, multiple media outlets reported.
Per The Athletic’s Jeremy Rutherford and Scott Burnside, the Blues shut down their facility in Maryland Heights, Mo., prior to Friday’s scheduled Phase 2 workouts stemming from the positive tests.
The St. Louis Post-dispatch reported that no coaches or staff members are believed to have been infected amid the pandemic.
The Blues are the second NHL team to have closed their practice facility amid the pandemic. Tampa Bay did the same last month after three players tested positive for the virus.
UFC
BURNS OUT OF UFC 251 >> Gilbert Burns is “not feeling well” and has reportedly been removed from the UFC 251 main event on July 11.
Sources told ESPN that Burns will not fight welterweight champion Kamaru Usman at UFC’S Fight Island in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Burns, 33, appeared to confirm the “devastating news” on Twitter. “... not feeling well but I’m going to win this battle! Stay safe out there! Much love,” he posted.
According to ESPN, neither Burns nor Usman were on the UFC charter flight that was scheduled to depart from Las Vegas to Abu Dhabi late Friday night.
Burns (19-3) has won his last six fights.