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Portugal: 2018-19 UEFA Nations League Winners
At a glance
Portugal have added the UEFA Nations League crown to their UEFA EURO 2016 triumph after Gonçalo Guedes's second-half strike downed the Netherlands.
Defences held sway in an even first 59 minutes. Cristiano Ronaldo, Memphis Depay and Bernardo Silva all carried menace, but as soon as they encountered their opponents' defensive walls, impenetrable fortifications marshalled by Virgil van Dijk and José Fonte, they floundered.
Then, on the hour, came the breakthrough. Bernardo Silva looked to have overcooked his disguised pass to Guedes, but the Valencia forward wrapped his foot around it and squeezed a shot inside the post. Despite getting two hands to the ball, Jasper Cillessen could not keep it out.
The Oranje have become used to falling behind and responded gamely, with Depay going close from a header. The Portuguese rearguard held firm, however, with the sight of Ronaldo clearing from open play an indication that it was all hands to the pump. Portugal have done it again.
Man of the match: Rúben Dias
"An assured performance from the young central defender," said UEFA Technical Observer David Moyes. "He played with a lot of confidence and took a lot of responsibility with the absence of Pepe through injury."
View from the stadium
Joe Walker, Portugal
Portugal have gone some way to banishing the demons of 2004 by claiming UEFA Nations League glory on home turf to add to their UEFA EURO 2016 title. On the balance of play, you have to say they were good value for it. Fernando Santos got his selection spot-on, Guedes repaying the faith with a fine winner and Danilo a colossus in midfield.
Derek Brookman, Netherlands
We didn't get to see the dynamic, bold Dutch we've become accustomed to. Frenkie de Jong never got the chance to dictate the rhythm of the game, Georginio Wijnaldum looked a little off the pace, and the gaps between the lines were too great. Maybe the long season finally caught up with the players. The team, nonetheless, can be immensely proud of their progress.
Key stats
1: Portugal are the inaugural UEFA Nations League winners!
4: Gonçalo Guedes's goal was his fourth in 17 appearances for Portugal, and his first competitive international strike.
10: Portugal are unbeaten in their last ten matches (W5 D5).
14: Portugal are 14 competitive games unbeaten on home turf, dating back to September 2014.
50: Jasper Cillessen became only the fifth goalkeeper to earn 50 caps for the Netherlands.
What's next?
A summer of celebrations for Portugal! Eventually, attention will then switch back to UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying this autumn. Portugal resume their title defence away to Serbia on 7 September. The Netherlands face Germany yet again on 6 September – it was, of course, a 3-0 victory against their great neighbours that set the Oranje on the road to the UEFA Nations League final.
Liverpool: 2018-19 UEFA Champions League Winners
Liverpool are champions of Europe for the sixth time after a 2-0 defeat of Premier League rivals Tottenham in Madrid.
The Reds' victory, courtesy of a Mohamed Salah penalty awarded in the first minute and converted in the second, plus a late Divock Origi effort, not only exorcises the demons of last season's 3-1 loss to Real Madrid in Kyiv but also ends Jürgen Klopp's run of six successive club final defeats.
It gets sweeter still for Salah. His delight – or was it relief? – at converting from the spot after Moussa Sissoko was penalised for handball after just 24 seconds was no doubt magnified by the fact he was forced off injured in the Ukrainian capital last year.
Salah's strike was not the start of a customary deluge from Liverpool, though, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson going closest to doubling their lead with shots from distance later in the half. Heung-Min Son twice ran in behind for Spurs, but the north London club failed to engineer any clear openings of their own.
Then, much like buses in the city they call home, three came along all at once; Dele Alli headed over, before Son and then Lucas Moura were denied by Alisson Becker. Substitute James Milner had gone close to adding to Liverpool's lead by that point, but it was left to fellow replacement Origi to finish the job with a precise low effort three minutes from time.
Man of the match: Virgil van Dijk
As commanding as he has been ever since moving to Anfield in January 2018; another colossal performance from the Dutchman. Thomas Schaaf, leader of the UEFA Technical Observers in Madrid, said: "Van Dijk showed outstanding leadership and was Liverpool's best defender. He made crucial interventions when needed and played with a cool head throughout."
View from the stadium
Matthew Howarth, Liverpool reporter
This was far from vintage Liverpool, who struggled to keep possession for large periods of a nervous contest. Spurs, despite their best efforts, failed to capitalise on some promising situations in the final third as the Reds held their nerve to get over their 2018 heartbreak. A sixth European Cup is the least the club deserves after a quite remarkable campaign at home and on the continent.
Spurs will depart their first UEFA Champions League final perhaps harbouring a few regrets. Mauricio Pochettino's side were not quite as precise as usual against a Liverpool side that did its level best to disrupt the midfield. There were chances, but ultimately Spurs did not play with the freedom that has characterised what has nevertheless been a memorable run.
Reaction
Jürgen Klopp, Liverpool manager
I don't want to explain why we won it; I only want to enjoy that we won it. We'll celebrate together, we'll have a sensational night. I feel mostly relief, relief for my family. The last six times we flew on holiday with only a silver medal it didn't feel too cool.
Jürgen Klopp on Liverpool's Madrid glory
We were all crying on the pitch because it means so much to us. It wasn't important for me to touch the cup; I loved seeing the boys having it and seeing some faces in the crowd. Going to Liverpool tomorrow with something to celebrate is big and I'm really looking forward to that.
Mauricio Pochettino, Tottenham manager
Now it's impossible to talk – we're all very disappointed, but I feel so proud of my players. Finals are about winning, not about playing well; it's not tactics. I want to congratulate Liverpool, Klopp, the players, the club and the fans because they've had an amazing season. They were fantastic. It's so painful, but we need to keep going.
Key stats
2: Salah's goal was the second fastest in a final after Paolo Maldini's effort 51 seconds into the 2005 decider.
5: A substitute has scored in five of the last six finals: Marcelo (2014), Yannick Carrasco (2016), Marco Asensio (2017), Gareth Bale (2018) and now Origi.
6: Liverpool's sixth European Cup means they go third on their own on the all-time honours board, behind only Real Madrid (13) and AC Milan (7).
6: Klopp's run of six successive final defeats, including three with Liverpool, stretched back to Borussia Dortmund's 2013 UEFA Champions League final loss to Bayern.
13: England now has 13 European Cups, clear in second place behind Spain (18) and ahead of Italy (12).
17: Klopp is the 17th coach to win the UEFA Champions League.
20: Of the 26 UEFA Champions League finals that have yielded a goal, 20 have been won by the team scoring first. Only 2003 ended goalless.
Tonight
We try to know it, take it just for tonight
Let your feeling ride all over the place
To make your joy, well, enjoy yourself
Don't give up the pleasure of tonight
Don't be so worried, baby
Everything is gonna be great
Why don't you try to know it
You don't have a thing to forget
Oh it will toll you
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We got the pleasure in the right way
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You and me, better off
We're finally together
Oh, oh (tonight)
We will see tonight
We got the pleasure in the right way
Oh, oh (tonight)
You and me, better off
We're finally together
Stop to the movin' and just listen to me
Will be bad enough to lose your mind
Catch the moment, enjoy yourself
Try to touch it with the love in your eyes
Don't be so worried, baby
Everything is gonna be great
Why don't you try to know it
You don't Have a thing to forget
Oh it will toll you
Oh, oh
We will see tonight
We got the pleasure in the right way
Oh, oh
You and me, better off
We're finally together
Oh, oh (tonight)
We will see tonight
We got the pleasure in the right way
Oh, oh (tonight)
You and me, better off
We're finally together
You don't Have a thing to forget
Oh it will toll you
Oh, oh (tonight)
We will see tonight
We got the pleasure in the right way
Oh, oh (tonight)
You and me, better off
We're finally together
Oh, oh (tonight)
We will see tonight
We got the pleasure in the right way
Oh, oh (tonight)
You and me, better off
We're finally together!
Baby Baby
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Cold chill down on my spine.
No no more tears, show me a smile.
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Baby baby,
Why can't we just stay together?
Yeah yeah yeah!
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Cold chill down on my spine.
No no more tears, show me a smile.
Cold chill down on my spine.
No no more tears, beauty of a smile.
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Why can't we just stay together?
Yeah yeah yeah!
Baby baby,
Why can't we just stay forever?
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Manchester City: 2018-19 Premier League Champions
European football’s financial regulators are poised to recommend that newly minted Premier League champions Manchester City be barred from the Champions League, the New York Times reported Monday.
European football’s governing body UEFA and the Premier League launched an investigation this year after allegations made in German magazine Der Spiegel that the club broke Financial Fair Play rules.
Members of the investigatory chamber of UEFA’s financial control board, set up to analyze the accounts of clubs suspected of breaking cost-control regulations, met two weeks ago in Switzerland to finalize their conclusions, the newspaper said.
“The investigatory panel’s leader, the former prime minister of Belgium Yves Leterme, will have the final say on the submission to a separate adjudicatory chamber, which could be filed as soon as this week. The body is expected to seek at least a one-season ban,” the Times said.
It was unclear if such a ban, if levied, would be enforced next season or in the 2020-21 campaign, the Times said, noting that with qualifying for Europe’s most prestigious and lucrative club championship set to start in June there is little time to finalize a sanction.
Manchester City would also have the right to appeal such a ban to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Manchester City vigorously denied any financial irregularities, saying in March they welcomed UEFA’s investigation as an opportunity to clear their name.
City, who were fined 60 million euros ($67.3 million) and subjected to squad, wage and spending caps in a 2014 settlement agreed with UEFA following a previous breach of the rules.
But the club says the claims made in Der Spiegel were an “organized and clear” attempt to damage its reputation.
An investigation into accusations that Premier League champion Manchester City misled European soccer’s financial regulators in pursuit of its success on the field is expected to recommend that the team be barred from the Champions League, European soccer’s richest competition and the trophy the club covets most.
English soccer authorities and officials at UEFA, European soccer’s governing body and the organizer of the Champions League, have for months been investigating Manchester City amid allegations of rule-breaking revealed in damaging leaks over much of the past year. Members of the investigatory chamber of UEFA’s financial control board, a group set up to analyze the accounts of clubs suspected of breaking strict cost-control regulations, met two weeks ago in Nyon, Switzerland, to finalize their conclusions.
The investigatory panel’s leader, the former prime minister of Belgium Yves Leterme, will have the final say on the submission to a separate adjudicatory chamber, which could be filed as soon as this week. The body is expected to seek at least a one-season ban.
Even the suggestion of a ban would be a stinging rebuke for Manchester City and its Gulf owners, who celebrated a fourth Premier League title in eight seasons on Sunday. They long have sought to add the Champions League — club soccer’s top prize — to the club’s growing haul of domestic trophies, and any effort to bar the team is likely to spark a monumental legal fight.
Manchester City’s current squad, assembled and financed at the cost of more than $1 billion, is just the latest example of the financial might the club’s owner, Sheik Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan, the brother of the ruler of the United Arab Emirates, can bring to bear. Sheik Mansour has invested billions over the past two decades — on players, coaches, facilities and the team’s operations — to transform Manchester City, which played in England’s second tier as recently as 2002, into one of soccer’s biggest and most successful brands.
It remains unclear if any Champions League ban, if levied, would be enforced next season or in the 2020-21 campaign. Qualification games for next season’s tournament begin in June, meaning UEFA faces a race against time to finalize a sanction that City would have the right to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Manchester City has vigorously denied wrongdoing, and its officials have warned UEFA that they would mount an aggressive response to any effort to bar the club from the competition. “The accusation of financial irregularities are entirely false,” City said in a statement earlier this year. “The club’s published accounts are full and complete and a matter of legal and regulatory record.”
If UEFA is unable to establish a case and enforce a punishment, it risks seeing its system of financial rules — in place since 2011, and designed to impose a measure of financial fairness within the European soccer economy — rendered meaningless. Several officials on the financial control bodies also have said privately that their reputations could be harmed if their work is seen to be toothless.
Many of the allegations of financial impropriety and rule-breaking lodged against Manchester City came to light after they were reported by news media outlets with access to the so-called Football Leaks files. The files are said to include emails and internal club documents showing efforts by City to circumvent UEFA’s financial fair-play regulations by masking cash infusions from a United Arab Emirates state-backed investment company through inflated sponsorship agreements with entities including the U.A.E.’s national airline, Etihad. Etihad is City’s principal sponsor, its name adorning the team’s stadium, its signage during matches and even the front of the players’ jerseys.
City has not labeled false any of the information reported to date. Instead, it has dismissed the reports as “an organized and clear attempt” to smear the club’s reputation through the publication of documents that it says were obtained illegally. The European authorities in January unmasked a Portuguese citizen as the hacker behind Football Leaks, a clandestine operation that revealed some of the soccer industry’s most closely held secrets.
UEFA’s financial rules, first implemented in 2011, were designed to prevent clubs from risking their financial futures by overspending on talent. At the time, dozens of teams were tens of millions of dollars in debt, in part because of a rapid rise in the cost of top players fueled by lavish spending by a handful of superwealthy owners.
The rules permit sponsorships from companies linked to a club’s owners as they try to balance their accounts, provided the agreements are struck at prices that reflect the market rate.
Etihad signed up as principal sponsor of Manchester City a year after Sheikh Mansur’s takeover, branding the club’s jersey, its stadium and an affiliated campus City has built. But an internal email published by German news weekly Der Spiegel last year suggested that the airline financed only 8 million pounds ($10.4 million) of the 59.5 million pound ($77.8 million) agreement, with the rest coming from ADUG, the investment vehicle Mansour used to buy City. The Speigel reports also outlined a number of other arrangements that allowed the club to evade UEFA’s financial regulations.
According to the people with knowledge of the investigation, City’s punishment most likely will be linked to an accusation that it provided misleading statements in resolving an earlier case, as well as false statements to licensing authorities in England, and not over the true value of the sponsorship agreements. That made the case a curious fit for the financial control officials, who were assigned the case instead of UEFA’s main disciplinary body.
In 2014, City agreed to a settlement agreement with UEFA related to an earlier breach of the spending rules; as punishment, it agreed to pay a conditional 49 million pound fine (about $63.4 million) and to accept restrictions on incoming transfers.
As part of their current inquiry, the UEFA investigators, an independent group of governance and finance specialists led by Leterme, met with City officials in April in Switzerland. The investigators were unconvinced by the club’s explanations, according to a person with knowledge of those discussions.
Their decision to press forward in seeking punishment against Manchester City could have serious implications for UEFA, which essentially would be accusing a team backed by the U.A.E.’s royal family of cheating and lying to a range of stakeholders, including the Premier League, as it built itself into a champion.
The outcome of the case will be monitored closely amid mounting concern over the credibility of UEFA’s financial fair play regulations when it comes to sanctioning the biggest clubs. Paris St.-Germain, the French club that also is owned by Gulf royalty, in its case the ruling family of Qatar, managed to avoid a major punishment recently when it faced similar questions about its sponsorship agreements, and its ability to comply with the financial control mechanisms, when it bought the world’s two most-expensive players — the forwards Neymar and Kylian Mbappé — in a single summer transfer window.
P.S.G. and UEFA have a tangled relationship. The team’s owners also run beIN Sports, the broadcaster that is UEFA’s biggest media rights buyer. Both the club and beIN Sports are run by Nasser al-Khelaifi, a Qatari national who was elected to a position on UEFA’s executive board earlier this year.
Long Beach State: 2019 NCAA Men's Volleyball National Champions
It was a night they’ll be talking about for a long time. Inside their home arena, the Long Beach State men’s volleyball team became the first program in school history to win back-to-back NCAA championships, taking down Hawaii in the Pyramid in a battle of the two best teams in the nation. Hawaii took the first set before Long Beach rallied to win it, 23-25, 25-22, 25-22, 25-23.
With the two best teams in the country on the floor, a huge crowd, and a second NCAA trophy, it was an epic end to what has been a truly golden chapter in the school’s athletic history. The senior class led by TJ DeFalco, Josh Tuaniga, and Kyle Ensing will graduate having played in four Final Fours, won back-to-back national titles and set a new school record for consecutive home wins at 42.
“They did it the right way, they were very unselfish, they worked hard, and they brought their teammates along,” said Long Beach State coach Alan Knipe.
After the nets had been cut down, after the trophy had been passed around, after hundreds of hugs and pictures, that senior trio joined Knipe for the postgame press conference. It was a rare grouping of historic talent: DeFalco a two-time National Player of the Year (and MVP of this year’s NCAA Tournament), Tuaniga last year’s National Player of the Year, and Ensing this year’s Big West Player of the Year. All three will be headed to Anaheim shortly to join the USA National Team and begin preparations for this summer and the 2020 Olympics next year.
Hawaii head coach Charlie Wade said twice earlier in the week that he thought this year’s Long Beach State team was one of the best–if not the best–in the history of the sport.
“These guys have moved the mark like no other group has,” said Knipe. “Final Fours, national championships, player of the year awards. More importantly, they energized volleyball across the country. This group will go down as the group that moved the mark the farthest.”
When the evening began, it didn’t seem like it would end in tears of joy for Long Beach. Hawaii came out driving hard, pounding aggressive serves and taking advantage of a Long Beach State side that seemed tense in front of their home crowd. Long Beach fell behind big in the first set but rallied to make it close at the end. Then Long Beach won the second set thanks in part to back-to-back aces from Tuaniga; it looked like another five-set thriller (which would have been their sixth in a row) was in order. When Hawaii took a 5-0 lead in the third set, however, it was time to dig deep or pack it in.
“We talk about grit every day,” said Tuaniga. “We had to buckle down and execute.”
That’s exactly what they did. The Long Beach State serves found their targets and took Hawaii out of system, and the Beach’s Big Three took over. DeFalco finished with 20 kills on .516 hitting, four assists, three aces, five digs, and three blocks. Tuaniga guided Long Beach to a .427 attack with 43 assists, three aces, five digs, and three blocks. Ensing had 13 kills, three digs, and three blocks.
All three of them had major starpower moments. Ensing had critical kills late in sets, Tuaniga and DeFalco both had back-to-back aces, and everyone stepped up late in each frame. Knipe had told the media on Friday that the winner would be whoever could execute when it was 23-23, and he was right. A Hawaii service error and a block from Tuaniga and Nick Amado sealed the second set; a hitting error and a kill from DeFalco sealed the third; and two kills from DeFalco put it away in the fourth.
Knipe doesn’t like to compare teams across generations because of the major evolution the sport has gone through.
“But I’ll say this, I’ve been around this game for a long time, and I just know for all the teams I’ve been around, I’d like to suit up this team against any of them and see how it works out,” he said.
The scene afterwards was hard to conceive of. The players were on the floor they practice on five days a week, a floor they’d won 42 matches on dating back to 2017, and suddenly there was an NCAA trophy. Suddenly they were cutting down the net at center court of their home court, and their athletic director Andy Fee was tearfully hugging Knipe just a few seconds’ jog from both of their offices. The banner that will be raised next season will go up directly over where they were celebrating the win.
“Winning back to back national championships especially in our senior year is one of the most exciting times of our lives,” said Ensing. “Winning it here has been a blessing.”
While all the players celebrated with their families, that celebration carried a joyous surprise for DeFalco: all six of his siblings made the trip to Long Beach to see him play in the final game of his college career.
“For me living here and being here somewhat on my own for the majority of college and then to look up and see my literal entire family was very special to me, I didn’t know they were all going to be here,” he said. “Something like that just makes it that much more special.”
Asked about the future of the program and who the leaders on next year’s team would be, Knipe politely declined to comment. “To get too much into that wouldn’t be fair to these guys and this moment and what they’ve accomplished,” he said.
What they’ve done, of course, is to win, and then win again.
After the Pyramid had been closed down and the garish blue NCAA floor pulled up, the team pulled off on a bus to do something no team in the history of the school had done before: carry on an NCAA championship winning tradition. Just like last year, Long Beach State went to EJ Malloy’s near campus to celebrate, as city councilman Daryl Supernaw and others poured into the pub to take pictures with the team and the trophy.
Knipe lifted a glass and offered a champagne toast to his assistant coaches, players, and fans, and ended it with a message that gives some idea as to his plans for the future, both for Saturday night (and Sunday morning), and for 2020.
“Congratulations to all of you and the entire LB nation,” he said. “Let’s have a great night, let’s be safe, and let’s do it again!”
Baby Baby - 2019 NCAA Men's Volleyball National Championship
#NCAAMVB #GoBeach #LBNation #LBNation2030
Live Blog: 2019 Coupe De France Final
The last time Stsde Rennais FC lifted a trophy was back in 1971. Absolutely no one on this year's Rennes side were alive during that time, their parents were merely enjoying the springtime of their youth. But today, the hot dog capital of France is hoping to cut the mustard (to go with its world-famed galettes-saucisses) against Paris Saint-Germain and prove that French club football is more balanced than anybody thinks!
It's the 2019 Coupe de France Final from the Stade de France in Paris. Join Jo-Ryan Salazar at 0800 UTC -7 for coverage of the event via 24liveblog.
Alexander Rossi: 2019 Grand Prix of Long Beach Champion
Alexander Rossi turned the Grand Prix of Long Beach into more of a parade than a race.
The Californian won the 45th edition of the famed street race Sunday in even more dominating fashion than he did in winning at Long Beach a year ago.
Rossi captured the IndyCar Series race from the pole position, as he did in 2018, and he led 80 of the race’s 85 laps around the 11-turn, 1.97-mile course.
Rossi won by a crushing 20 seconds over second-place Josef Newgarden, the biggest margin of victory at Long Beach since Al Unser Jr. won by 23 seconds in 1995.
“It’s an amazing day,” Rossi said. “I have a great car and a great crew behind me” on the Andretti Autosport team, he said.
But Rossi also had mixed emotions and was subdued in his victory celebration because his grandfather died Saturday. “I want to dedicate this one to him,” Rossi said.
One factor that helped Rossi lengthen his lead was that the race was nearly accident-free.
“The whole time you hold your breath hoping the yellow [flag] doesn’t come” for a crash-related caution period that would bunch the field and wipe out Rossi’s lead, team owner Michael Andretti said.
Rossi “drove flawlessly all weekend,” Andretti said. “To be able to start on pole here is a big advantage. Everything went perfect today.”
Rossi, a 27-year-old native of Nevada City, quickly proved that his No. 27 Honda-powered car was the class of the field.
He took the lead on the opening lap, led by 11 seconds over the second-place car at the halfway point and kept stretching his lead with the help of flawless pit stops.
It was Rossi’s sixth career IndyCar victory. His first win came in 2016 when he captured the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie. Rossi also became the fourth different winner through the first four races of this year’s IndyCar season.
The win lifted Rossi into second place in the championship standings, 28 points behind Newgarden, the 2017 IndyCar champion who scored his best finish at Long Beach in eight starts. Rossi is pursuing his first IndyCar Series title.
Rossi said “you cherish those days” when a victory comes by such a big margin and added “we didn’t have a whole lot of pressure.” He agreed that starting in the first spot was a major advantage.
“Winning the pole is just huge come Sunday because it allows you to hopefully be in front leaving Turn 1 and really just control the race from there,” he said. “You can run your own strategy and your own pace.
“You just stay in the zone and stay focused,” Rossi said.
Graham Rahal crossed the finish line in third and Scott Dixon in fourth, but IndyCar officials penalized Rahal — and reversed their finishes — after finding that Rahal threw a block on Dixon that ran afoul of IndyCar rules as Dixon tried to pass Rahal on the final lap.
“I’m not upset about it. We had a good day,” Rahal said. “We were going to lose a spot anyway” because the “tires were just absolutely shot,” he said.
Still, Rahal said he wasn’t sure a penalty was warranted. “Yes, I blocked, but you’re allowed to block in this series” in certain situations. He added that he “gave [Dixon] a lane” to pass. “If he wanted to go, he could go,” Rahal said.
Dixon said that had Rahal “not defended or reacted the way he had done, we would have gotten the pass easily. Graham has definitely been racing on the edge.”
The Grand Prix capped three days of various forms of racing and other festivities at the Long Beach event, and organizers said there were about 187,000 spectators over the three days, a 1% gain from last year.
The Californian won the 45th edition of the famed street race Sunday in even more dominating fashion than he did in winning at Long Beach a year ago.
Rossi captured the IndyCar Series race from the pole position, as he did in 2018, and he led 80 of the race’s 85 laps around the 11-turn, 1.97-mile course.
Rossi won by a crushing 20 seconds over second-place Josef Newgarden, the biggest margin of victory at Long Beach since Al Unser Jr. won by 23 seconds in 1995.
“It’s an amazing day,” Rossi said. “I have a great car and a great crew behind me” on the Andretti Autosport team, he said.
But Rossi also had mixed emotions and was subdued in his victory celebration because his grandfather died Saturday. “I want to dedicate this one to him,” Rossi said.
One factor that helped Rossi lengthen his lead was that the race was nearly accident-free.
“The whole time you hold your breath hoping the yellow [flag] doesn’t come” for a crash-related caution period that would bunch the field and wipe out Rossi’s lead, team owner Michael Andretti said.
Rossi “drove flawlessly all weekend,” Andretti said. “To be able to start on pole here is a big advantage. Everything went perfect today.”
Rossi, a 27-year-old native of Nevada City, quickly proved that his No. 27 Honda-powered car was the class of the field.
He took the lead on the opening lap, led by 11 seconds over the second-place car at the halfway point and kept stretching his lead with the help of flawless pit stops.
It was Rossi’s sixth career IndyCar victory. His first win came in 2016 when he captured the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie. Rossi also became the fourth different winner through the first four races of this year’s IndyCar season.
The win lifted Rossi into second place in the championship standings, 28 points behind Newgarden, the 2017 IndyCar champion who scored his best finish at Long Beach in eight starts. Rossi is pursuing his first IndyCar Series title.
Rossi said “you cherish those days” when a victory comes by such a big margin and added “we didn’t have a whole lot of pressure.” He agreed that starting in the first spot was a major advantage.
“Winning the pole is just huge come Sunday because it allows you to hopefully be in front leaving Turn 1 and really just control the race from there,” he said. “You can run your own strategy and your own pace.
“You just stay in the zone and stay focused,” Rossi said.
Graham Rahal crossed the finish line in third and Scott Dixon in fourth, but IndyCar officials penalized Rahal — and reversed their finishes — after finding that Rahal threw a block on Dixon that ran afoul of IndyCar rules as Dixon tried to pass Rahal on the final lap.
“I’m not upset about it. We had a good day,” Rahal said. “We were going to lose a spot anyway” because the “tires were just absolutely shot,” he said.
Still, Rahal said he wasn’t sure a penalty was warranted. “Yes, I blocked, but you’re allowed to block in this series” in certain situations. He added that he “gave [Dixon] a lane” to pass. “If he wanted to go, he could go,” Rahal said.
Dixon said that had Rahal “not defended or reacted the way he had done, we would have gotten the pass easily. Graham has definitely been racing on the edge.”
The Grand Prix capped three days of various forms of racing and other festivities at the Long Beach event, and organizers said there were about 187,000 spectators over the three days, a 1% gain from last year.
Virginia: 2018-19 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Champions
MINNEAPOLIS -- Now that, Virginia, is the way to close out a season.
And quiet those critics, too.
Led by De'Andre Hunter and his NBA-ready game, the Cavaliers turned themselves into national champions Monday night, holding off tenacious, ferocious Texas Tech for an 85-77 overtime win -- a scintillating victory that came 388 days after a crushing setback that might have sunk a lesser team for years.
But Virginia was better than that.
A season after becoming the first No. 1 seed to lose to a 16 -- the one thing that had never happened in a tournament where anything can -- the Cavaliers watched a 10-point lead turn into a 3-point deficit before Hunter came to the rescue. The sophomore made the game-tying 3 with 12 seconds left in regulation, then made another with just over two minutes left in the extra period to give the Cavs the lead for good.
"Surreal," Hunter called it. "It's a goal we started out with at the beginning of the season. We knew we were going to bounce back from last year. We achieved our dreams."
After going without a field goal for the first 18 1/2 minutes, Hunter finished with a career-high 27 points, and if he leaves as a lottery pick -- well, what a way to go.
He helped the Cavs bring home the first NCAA title for a program with a colorful, star-crossed and, now, very winning history.
Ralph Sampson was in the house, and now it's possible that Sampson and the name "Chaminade" won't be at the top of Virginia's resume anymore.
Or "University of Maryland-Baltimore County." That was the No. 16 seed that stunned the Cavs in the first round last year, its playful social media manager online Monday night tweeting congratulations shortly after the final buzzer. Hunter missed that game with a broken wrist, but nobody thought they'd miss him THAT much.
Each of Virginia's 34 wins leading to the final, and each of its scant three losses, was punctuated by the reminder that only the end result would serve as the ultimate report card on whether the Cavs could truly shed the baggage of last year.
What a ride this was.
A 1 seed once again, they fell behind by 14 early to 16th-seeded Gardner-Webb in this year's opening round, and a nightmare seemed to be repeating itself. But this time, they overcame it. Then, they beat Purdue in the Elite Eight when the game looked lost, and did the same against Auburn on Saturday -- getting bailed out by a foul call and Kyle Guy's three free throws with 0.6 seconds left.
"I told them, I just want a chance at a title fight one day," Virginia coach Tony Bennett said. "That's all I want. ... You're never alone in the hills and the valleys we faced in the last year."
Hunter's key 3 in OT gave Virginia a 75-73 lead, and after the teams traded possessions, Tech guard Davide Moretti scrambled after a loose ball heading onto Virginia's end of the court. It appeared it would be Texas Tech ball, but a replay showed Moretti's pinkie finger had barely scraped the ball. Virginia got possession, and worked the ball into Ty Jerome, who got fouled and made two free throws.
Brandone Francis missed a 3 on the other end, and Virginia pulled away -- the first time this game felt remotely comfortable, even after Guy made a 3 to give the Cavs a 10-point lead with 10:22 left in regulation.
Guy is not Virginia's only clutch free-throw shooter, by the way. The Cavs went 12 for 12 from the line in overtime to ice this game. They scored the game's final 11 points.
As for the Red Raiders (31-7), well, what can you say?
The team full of overlooked grinders refused to quit.
They fell behind by 10 twice in this game -- seemingly too much in a matchup between two legendary defenses that allowed way more than the total of 118 points predicted by sportsbooks -- but just kept coming back.
Jarrett Culver, also lottery-pick material, made a spinning left-handed layup over Hunter with 35 seconds left in regulation to put the Red Raiders ahead 66-65. After Jerome missed a teardrop on the other end, Norense Odiase got fouled and made two free throws to make it 68-65.
The nation's best defense couldn't afford to give up a 3, but Jerome skipped a pass to Hunter, who was open on the wing -- and spotted up and drained it. Culver missed a 3 with Guy in his face with a second left, and we were headed to overtime, the first extra session in the final since Kansas beat Memphis in 2008.
"In terms of my guys, I've never been more proud," Red Raiders coach Chris Beard said. "This is real life. We'll bounce back."
The last five minutes of regulation and the OT featured several one-on-one matchups between the two NBA-bound stars, and Hunter came out the winner. He finished 8 for 16 after an 0-for-7 start. Culver, who stayed in his hometown of Lubbock to see how far he could take Tech, went 5 for 22 for 15 points, continuing a cold-shooting Final Four; he went 8 for 34 over the weekend.
Both will likely move on to the NBA. Hunter will go there with a title.
And somebody on Virginia ought to grab that sign.
In the stands, a fan made a cardboard sign with the capital letters "UMBC" running vertically, and this spelled out after each letter:
"Uva."
"Makes."
"Big."
"Comeback."
The Cavs couldn't have written it any better themselves.
Texas: 2019 National Invitation Tournament Champions
NEW YORK -- Texas can hook its horns to an NIT championship.
Dylan Osetkowski had 19 points and 11 rebounds to lead Texas to the NIT championship with an 81-66 win over Lipscomb on Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.
"It's great to win a championship," coach Shaka Smart said.
The Longhorns (21-16) beat South Dakota State, Xavier, Colorado and TCU to reach the final, and survived a few late shots at the lead to win their first NIT title since 1978.
Smart, just 71-66 in four seasons with the Longhorns, got Texas to cut down the nets the same time he is reportedly on the short list of candidates to take the UCLA vacancy. Texas has not won an NCAA Tournament game under Smart and few Texas fans would weep if he left for the Bruins.
Texas fans at the Garden enjoyed the title and held up the "hook em" hand gesture as the final seconds ticked off.
Smart was doused with water in the locker room and had a towel with him as he walked to a press conference.
"There have been teams that have come and won the NIT and used it as an unbelievable springboard," Smart said. "And there's teams that haven't."
Jase Febres held off the pesky Bisons -- don't call it a comb-back -- with 3s in the second half that extended the lead to 13 points each time and kept the Longhorns firmly in charge. He finished with 16 points and Kerwin Roach II had 16.
Smart shared a moment with the troubled Roach on the court, an emotional time for a senior in his final game who has been suspended three times over his career. Roach was named the NIT's most outstanding player.
"He's had some phenomenal moments," Smart said. "I don't think he thought he'd be in college this long."
Long enough to go out a champion.
Texas won in front of about 3,000 spectators, and not one sitting above the lower bowl.
Penn State about packed MSG last year, in large part because of a substantial alumni base and rapper Flavor Flav in the house rooting on his cousin.
But this year?
Well, there were a few hundred fans in burnt orange and that was about it.
So why come to this game?
Hours after the Mets won their home opener against the Washington Nationals, the train hub at Penn Station was packed with fans in Mets jerseys. Some even decided to make it a day-night doubleheader and hit MSG.
There was a small group that had made NIT games a tradition for the last 10 years. In a StubHub era in which tickets are grossly inflated from their face value cost, one fan said there wasn't anywhere else u can sit in the front row and watch basketball for a reasonable price.
StubHub had tickets in the prime 100 level going for $11 bucks 24 hours before tip -- which is at least cheaper than a concession stand burger. When one fan yawned toward the end of the first half, a security guard chirped, "it's too early for that."
Eh, not really.
Osetkowski hit three 3s for 15 points in the first half and the Longhorns raced out to a 41-27 lead. The Longhorns will take their shorn nets back to Texas -- with Smart's fate yet to be determined.
Garrison Mathews, named an Associated Press All-America honorable mention, scored 15 points for the Bisons (29-8). He made all 10 free throws but missed 8 of 10 shots from the floor. With their best player in a funk, Lipscomb was doomed.
"They took Garrison for the large part out of the game," Casey Alexander said. "The only thing to be sad about is that it's over."
South Florida: 2019 College Basketball Invitational Champions
CHICAGO -- David Collins had 19 points and eight rebounds, and South Florida beat DePaul 77-65 on Friday in the College Basketball Invitational championship.
USF made three 3-pointers in a four-minute span to take the first double-digit lead of the second half at 57-47 and extended it to a 14-point advantage after an 8-0 run. The Bulls led by double figures for five-plus minutes until Max Strus made three free throws at 1:06 to pull to 71-64. Xavier Castaneda sealed it with two free throws with 40.4 seconds to play.
Justin Brown had 12 points for South Florida (24-14), which was picked to finish last in the preseason American Athletic Conference coaches' poll. LaQuincy Rideau added 10 points. Antun Maricevic had seven rebounds for the visitors.
South Florida led 37-20 with 6:15 remaining in the first half but didn't score again until Rideau beat the halftime buzzer with a layup for a 39-34 lead. DePaul went on a 14-0 run during USF's drought to get within three points with 25.7 seconds left.
Devin Gage had 19 points for the Blue Demons (19-17), who never led in the game. Strus added 16 points. Femi Olujobi had 14 points and 10 rebounds.
Marshall: 2019 College Insider Postseason Tournament Champions
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- C.J. Burks scored 28 points as Marshall romped past Green Bay 90-70 on Thursday night for the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament championship.
Burks also had seven rebounds, six assists and three steals in being named the most valuable player. He had a steal on back-to-back possessions and his fast-break dunk gave Marshall a 72-62 midway through the second half.
Taevion Kinsey added 21 points for the Thundering Herd (23-14). Jon Elmore had 17 points on just 5-of-18 shooting. Marshall was 1 for 12 from 3-point range to start the game and finished 3 of 26.
Tank Hemphill had 21 points for the Phoenix (21-17). Sandy Cohen III added 13 points -- all in the first half -- and JayQuan McCloud had 11.
Green Bay led by as many as 13 points in the first half, but Marshall pulled within 42-40 at the break. Cohen made a 3-pointer early in the first half to move into second on Green Bay's single-season scoring list, passing Virginia coach Tony Bennett.
Adelaide Crows: 2019 AFL Women's Premiers
A SERIOUS knee injury to Adelaide superstar Erin Phillips has cast a shadow over the Crows' emphatic 45-point victory over Carlton in the AFLW Grand Final at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.
Played in front of a record crowd for a women's game of Australian football of 53,034, the Crows lived up to their favourites' tag, demolishing the Blues, 10.3 (63) to 2.6 (18).
The attendance was the fifth-highest for a football match at Adelaide Oval.
After a one-point loss to the Western Bulldogs in round one, the Crows went on an eight-game winning streak under first-year coach Matthew Clarke to secure their second flag in three years.
Phillips was best on ground before tearing the ACL in her left knee in the third quarter, the crowd going silent while she was being treated before giving the 2017 AFLW best and fairest a rousing ovation as she left the ground.
Anne Hatchard and Ebony Marinoff dominated the midfield, Eloise Jones was lively in attack and Danielle Ponter kicked three goals.
The Crows also lost forward Chloe Scheer to a suspected ruptured ACL.
Blues captain Brianna Davey was the best for the visitors, who gave themselves too much to do after trailing by 40 points at half-time.
The moment
This was a monumental day for AFLW, and women's sport in general, in many ways. A crowd of 30,000 was expected, but the Adelaide public arrived in droves for an official attendance of 53,034. It was easily the largest crowd for a women's game of Australian football and the fifth-biggest crowd at Adelaide Oval for any football game.
The first blow
The Blues got away to the perfect start within three minutes when young gun Madison Prespakis was awarded a 50m penalty and kicked the opening goal of the game from the goalsquare. It was a rare highlight for the Blues, with the Crows kicking the next nine goals of the game to have the match won by half-time.
Get online now and watch this …
Crows forward Chloe Scheer took an absolute hanger, climbing on the back of Blues defender Kerryn Harrington in the second quarter. But that high turned to concern a few minutes later when Scheer went down on her right knee and was helped from the ground. Scheer missed all of last season with a torn ACL.
Did you see that?
It was attacking footy at its best as Crows speedster Eloise Jones found herself in plenty of space along the wing. After a couple of bounces, Jones delivered a pinpoint kick to Danielle Ponter just beyond the reach of her Blues defender and for her third goal of the game. Jones was influential up forward with her courageous marking and ability to hit targets by foot.
Work in progress
The Blues have been one of the feel-good stories of this season. After winning just two games last year, and a disappointing round-one loss to North Melbourne, they turned their season around under new coach Daniel Harford, playing an exciting brand of football. Led by captain Brianna Davey and NAB AFLW Rising Star favourite Madison Prespakis, the Blues can hold their heads high and have a bright future.
ADELAIDE 3.0 9.2 10.2 10.3 (63)
CARLTON 1.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 (18)
GOALS
Adelaide: Ponter 3, Phillips 2, Hatchard, Considine, Martin, Thompson, Jones
Carlton: Prespakis, Davey
BEST
Adelaide: Hatchard, Phillips, Jones, Randall, Allan, Marinoff, J.Foley
Carlton: Davey, Stevens, Prespakis, S.Hosking, Downie
INJURIES
Adelaide: Scheer (knee), Phillips (knee)
Carlton: Harris (knee)
Reports: Nil
Umpires: Toner, Heffernan, McGinness
Official crowd: 53,034 at Adelaide Oval
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