COSTA RICA SETS WORLD CUP FIELD
Costa Rica’s core of stars Keylor Navas, Joel Campbell and Bryan Ruiz created national soccer history in a memorable run to the 2014 World Cup quarterfinals.
They were all still there Tuesday, all with more than 100 appearances, all key to a 1-0 win over New Zealand in a World Cup intercontinental playoff in Qatar.
All earned a ticket back to Doha for Costa Rica in November and their third straight World Cup tournament together.
“Today is a joyful day,” said Navas, the captain and goalkeeper whose saves late in the game preserved the lead earned by Campbell’s third-minute goal. “We played many finals to be here, we played many matches in which we knew we couldn’t make any mistakes. And today was another one of those.”
Costa Rica completed a 32-nation World Cup lineup by withstanding a New Zealand team that rallied from the early setback to dominate possession and create more and better scoring chances.
New Zealand pressed, and Navas responded, even after going down to 10 men for the last quarter of the match in the air-conditioned Ahmad bin Ali Stadium on the outskirts of Doha.
More soccer
Jordan Morris scored in stoppage time to give the U.S. a 1-1 draw with El Salvador on a muddy pitch in San Salvador with each team down to 10 men in the CONCACAF Nations League.
Mexico was held to a 1-1 draw against Jamaica on a rainy night at Independence Park in Kingston, Jamaica, in Nations League play.
England suffered its worst home loss since 1928 with a 4-0 loss to Hungary in the Nations League. European champion Italy was swept aside 5-2 by Germany as Timo Werner scored twice. Belgium’s 1-0 win over Poland in Group 4 was more restrained than its 6-1 thrashing of the same opposition last week. The Netherlands stayed top of the group by beating Wales 3-2.
Media
Apple and Major League Soccer have announced a 10year partnership on a streaming service that will allow fans to watch every game without local blackouts or restrictions. The service will be available exclusively through the Apple TV app beginning next year.
The deal is Apple’s second venture into streaming professional sports. In April, it began airing “Friday Night Baseball,” an exclusive weekly doubleheader of Major League Baseball games.
WNBA
WNBA star Brittney Griner will remain in Russian custody through at least July 2, Russian staterun news agency Tass reported.
The 31-year-old American basketball player has been held in Russia since February when she was detained at a Moscow airport after authorities there claimed she was carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil. The U.S. Department of State last month reclassified her as wrongfully detained.
The Khimki district court of the Moscow region extended Griner’s detention for a third time, according to the Tass report, which also cited a top Russian diplomat as saying that Moscow will not consider including Griner in a detainee swap “until a court investigation into her case is completed.”
Breanna Stewart had 29 points, including a goahead basket with 42.6 seconds left, and the Seattle Storm beat the host Minnesota Lynx 81-79 for their fourth straight victory.
Rookie Shakira Austin
had 16 points and 10 rebounds for her second double-double as the Washington Mystics routed the visiting Phoenix Mercury 83-65.
Local colleges
San Diego State men’s golfer Youssef Guezzale, who went to La Jolla High, advanced to match play at the 127th Amateur Championship at historic Royal Lytham & St Annes Club in Scotland.
Guezzale finished the two-round qualifying stroke play at 1-under par, which was tied for 27th out of 268 entrants. The top 64 and ties (79 total) qualified for match play. Guezzale will face Ireland’s Caolan Rafferty at 2:50 a.m. PDT today in the round of 64.
Sports and courts
New Orleans Pelicans center Jaxson Hayes has been sentenced to three years of probation, 450 hours of community service and a year of weekly domestic violence classes. The sentence follows a scuffle with police officers who were responding to a domestic violence call last summer in Los Angeles.