Atlanta United tops Timbers for MLS Cup
ATLANTA — Finally, Atlanta has another team it can call champions.
Josef Martinez and Franco Escobar scored goals, and Brad Guzan came up with a couple of clutch saves as Atlanta United gave the city its first title since 1995 with a 2-0 victory over the Portland Timbers in the MLS Cup final Saturday night.
Cheered on by the largest crowd — 73,019 — in franchise history, United captured the crown in just its second season to set off a huge celebration in a city that has known so much sporting heartbreak. Owner Arthur Blank got to lift the trophy, just under two years after his other team, the NFL’s Falcons, squandered a 25-point lead in an epic Super Bowl collapse.
Martinez, capping the greatest goal-scoring season in MLS history, put United ahead in 39th minute. Escobar added an insurance goal in the 54th, turning the final minutes into a raucous, flag-waving celebration and sending coach Tata Martino out with a title in his final game as coach. He reportedly is headed to Mexico to take over as that country’s national coach.
Atlanta reveled in its first title since the Braves won the 1995 World Series — a gap of 8,442 days, for those counting.
SOCCER U.S. women again in Sweden group
The defending champion United States again is in a group with Sweden for the Women’s World Cup next summer in France as the draw for soccer’s premier tournament was held.
Host France will open the tournament June 7 with a match against South Korea at Paris.
The United States defeated Japan 5-2 — highlighted by Carli Lloyd’s hat trick — in Canada at the last World Cup in 2015.
The top-ranked Americans are grouped with Sweden for the fifth consecutive World Cup. Also in Group F are Thailand and Chile, which is making its World Cup debut. The United States will open the tournament against Thailand at Reims on June 11.
Twenty-four teams were placed in six groups at the draw. The pots for the draw were based on world ranking. France, as host, was atop the first pot, followed by the top-ranked U.S., Germany, England, Canada and Australia. In other news:
A legal attempt by Boca Juniors to be awarded the Copa Libertadores title failed after the Court of Arbitration for Sport said it rejected an urgent appeal by Boca filed Friday for an interim ruling to disqualify River Plate. The Buenos Aires city rivals will lay their twice-delayed secondleg game Sunday at Madrid. The teams drew 2-2 in the first leg hosted by Boca Juniors last month. Two weeks ago, the second leg at River’s stadium was not played because of fan violence. Several Boca Juniors players were injured before the first scheduled match Nov. 24 when River fans attacked the Boca team bus.
PRO FOOTBALL Giants’ Beckham won’t play today
New York Giants wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. was ruled out for Sunday’s game against Washington with a quadriceps injury. He did not travel to Landover, Md., with the team.
Beckham appeared on the team’s injury report Friday with a bruised quadricep and practiced on a limited basis. He was downgraded to out Saturday. In other news:
Cleveland cornerback Terrance Mitchell was activated from injured reserve after missing eight games with a broken right wrist. The Browns need Mitchell for Sunday’s game against Carolina because rookie cornerback Denzel Ward is out with a concussion suffered last week at Houston. Mitchell broke his wrist making a tackle Sept. 30 against Oakland.
Buffalo defensive end Jerry Hughes was fined $53,482 by the NFL for confronting an official in the tunnel after the BillsDolphins game last weekend. Hughes accused the official of calling him a vulgar name. The league also fined Tennessee left tackle Taylor Lewan $26,739 for yelling at referee Jerome Boger and his crew after the Jets-Titans game.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL West Virginia QB skipping bowl
West Virginia quarterback Will Grier will not play for West Virginia it the Camping World Bowl against Syracuse, instead focusing on preparation for the NFL draft.
The senior joins about a dozen high-profile college players who already have announced they will skip their team’s bowl games. The list includes Houston defensive tackle Ed Oliver, LSU cornerback Greedy Williams, Auburn quarterback Jarrett Stidham, Arizona State receiver N’Keal Harry and Michigan defensive tackle Rashan Gary.
Grier was a Heisman contender this season and a finalist for the Maxwell Award as player of the year. He averaged 351 yards passing and threw 37 touchdown passes.
COLLEGE VOLLEYBALL BYU ousts Texas in regional final
Fourth-seeded BYU blanked No. 5 Texas 3-0 in an NCAA regional volleyball final at Provo, Utah.
The Cougars won 25-23, 25-23, 25-21 to advance to the national semifinals at Minneapolis, where they will play Stanford on Thursday. Illinois and Nebraska will meet in the other semifinal.
GOLF 3 teams in lead at QBE Shootout
Gary Woodland and Charley Hoffman shot an 8-under-par 64 in modified alternate-shot play for a share of the lead in the QBE Shootout.
Woodland and Hoffman birdied the final three holes to match the teams of Emiliano Grillo-Graeme McDowell and Brian Harman-Patton Kizzire at 19-under 125, with a betterball round left at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla.
Grillo-McDowell and Harman-Kizzire, tied for the lead with Bryson DeChambeau and Kevin Na at 59 after the first-round scramble, each shot 66. Na and DeChambeau were a stroke back.
WINTER SPORTS Shiffrin prevails again in super-G
Mikaela Shiffrin won a World Cup super-G, confirming the slalom great’s arrival as a pure speed racer and all-round threat.
Shiffrin, who got her first career super-G victory last weekend, was 0.28 seconds faster than Lara Gut-Behrami and 0.42 clear of third-place Tina Weirather on the sun-soaked Engiadina course at St. Moritz, Switzerland.
Saturday’s race was just Shiffrin’s 10th super-G start in her nine seasons on the World Cup circuit, and the win days ago at Lake Louise, Alberta, was her first podium finish in the discipline.
It was the 47th victory on the World Cup tour for the 23-year-old American. Her fourth win in eight races this season already gives her a runaway lead in defense of her overall World Cup title. In other news:
Marcel Hirscher dominated again in the World Cup, winning a giant slalom by a 1.18-second margin. The seven-time defending overall champion protected his first-run lead to leave Henrik Kristoffersen runner-up yet again. Kristoffersen has finished second to Hirscher in seven giant slaloms, including at the Pyeongchang Olympics, since last December. Matts Olsson placed third, trailing by 1.31 on the Face de Bellevarde slope at Val d’Isere, France. Tommy Ford of the United States got a career-best finish of sixth.