Youth serves as U.S. soccer blanks Bolivia
Josh Sargent scored in his American debut, fellow 18-year-old Tim Weah added a goal in his second international match and a young United States team beat Bolivia 3-0 in an exhibition Monday night in Chester, Pa.
Walker Zimmerman put the Americans ahead in the 37th minute and Sargent doubled the lead in the 52nd. Weah, the son of former FIFA Player of the Year and current Liberia president George Weah, scored in the 59th.
Weah, born on Feb. 22, 2000, became the fourthyoungest American to score when he displaced Sargent, who was born two days earlier. Sargent’s goal was particularly memorable with his back to the goal, he intercepted a pass over his head from the goalkeeper, played the ball to himself and put it in the net with a strong right-footed shot from about 11 yards.
With no World Cup to play for, interim U.S. coach Dave Sarachan went with youth. He gave six players their debuts, raising the total to 15 in four matches since the Americans were eliminated in qualifying. Defenders Erik PalmerBrown and Antonee Robinson and goalkeeper Alex Bono joined Sargent as debutants in the starting lineup, and defender Matt Olosune and midfielder Keatan Parks entered on the second half.
FIFA TO HOST 2026 WORLD CUP BID MEETING >> FIFA’s bid inspectors will hold a meeting in Zurich on Wednesday with the North American and Moroccan candidates hoping to host the 2026 World Cup.
Officials from the joint United States-Canada-Mexico team and Morocco are invited to answer questions from a FIFA-appointed panel evaluating their bids ahead of the June 13 vote, FIFA said. No date is set to publish the evaluation reports ahead of the vote by up to 207 FIFA member federations in Moscow.
While all the North American venues are in place for a 48-team, 80game tournament, Morocco’s bid plan calls for building or renovating 14 stadiums and more than 100 training bases.
IN OTHER SOCCER NEWS >> Liverpool reached a deal to sign Brazilian midfielder Fabinho from Monaco in a transfer reportedly worth 50 million euros ($58 million). ... Olivier Giroud moved level with Zinedine Zidane for international goals as France began its World Cup preparations with a comfortable 2-0 friendly win against Ireland in Paris. Giroud poked the ball home in the 40th minute after his initial header from a corner kick was cleared off the line. It took the Chelsea striker to 31 international goals on his 72nd appearance fourth with Zidane on France’s all-time scoring list. ... Mari Balotelli marked his return to the Italy team with the opening goal as the Azzurri beat Saudi Arabia 2-1 in an international friendly in Roberto Mancini’s first match in charge in St. Gallen, Switzerland . ... Portugal was held to a 2-2 draw by Tunisia in the teams’ first warm-up match for the World Cup in Braga, Portugal . ... Son Heung-min’s second-half strike helped South Korea earn a comfortable 2-0 win over Honduras in Daegu, South Korea.
MMA
Former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping announced he is retiring from mixed martial arts.
Speaking on his “Believe You Me” podcast, Bisping, who suffered a detached retina in 2003, attributed his retirement to worsening eye issues.
The 39-year-old last fought in November, losing his middleweight title to Georges St-Pierre at UFC 217 on Nov. 4 and then losing to Gastelum at UFC Fight Night on Nov. 25.
Motorsports
INDY 500 PAYOUT >> Will Power earned $2,525,454 for winning the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500. The overall purse for the 33 drivers in Sunday’s race was $13,063,073.
Horse racing
BAFFERT JOINS JUSTIFY FOR BELMONT TRAINING >> Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Justify galloped at Churchill Downs in front of trainer Bob Baffert as the Triple Crown hopeful trains for the Belmont Stakes.
Baffert arrived from Southern California to watch Justify gallop 1 mile on Monday. The trainer said the 3-year-old colt could breeze today. Baffert said everything is going smoothly with Justify’s training for the June 9 Belmont.
Miscellany
AUGUSTA’S EVERETT WINS NCAA INDIVIDUAL GOLF TITLE >> Broc Everett of Augusta University holed a 15foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to defeat Brandon Mancheno of Auburn for the NCAA individual golf title. YALE WINS LACROSSE TITLE OVER DUKE >> Jack Tigh scored 36 seconds into the game for his first of three goals in the opening half, and Matt Gaudet scored four goals as Yale beat Duke 13-11 to win its first NCAA lacrosse title in Foxborough, Mass.