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NY/NJ Gotham FC: 2023 NWSL Champions
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – A new champion was crowned on Saturday night as NJ/NY Gotham FC earned a NWSL Championship trophy following a worst-to-first campaign from last year to now. Gotham produced a 2-1 win as it relied on goals from forwards Lynn Williams and Esther González to best a Reign side that got on the scoresheet via midfielder Rose Lavelle in the first half.
The match was hampered after just five minutes as an injury to Reign’s Rapinoe saw her exit forced, writing an unfortunate end to the NWSL icon’s career. Replacing Rapinoe was forward Bethany Balcer, who jumped in and attempted to adapt to the circumstances straight away.
The first opportunity of the night came in the 21st minute when a cross into the box from Gotham defender Bruninha was headed to the opposite side of the area by a Reign defender where Gotham forward Lynn Williams was waiting. Williams was able to collect the ball and get a shot away that sailed toward the far post, but she could not get over it enough to direct it into the back of goal.
However, Gotham did not have to wait much longer for the night’s opening goal, and it came through Williams again as she tapped home a Midge Purce cross to send her team ahead midway through the first half. In the 25th minute, Purce was sent down the right side of the field into space, and as she worked her way toward the endline she was able to pull a cross back and pick out Williams in the middle of the box. From there, Williams pushed an effort past Reign goalkeeper Claudia Dickey and in. The goal is Williams’s first playoff goal since the 2016 NWSL Championship and her first playoff goal scored in regulation time. In addition, the assist was Purce’s first in the NWSL Playoffs.
Four minutes later, though, the Reign found themselves level again as Rose Lavelle got in behind the Gotham defense and buried a chance past Gotham goalkeeper Mandy Haught to reset the match and even the score at one-all. Lavelle had been played clean through the Gotham defense, leaving her in a 1-on-1 with Haught in goal. Though the shotstopper did all she could to get back, Lavelle still squeezed a shot around her and in.
Another big chance in the first half came by way of Gotham midfielder Delanie Sheehan, who rattled the bar with a strong effort in the 38th minute after a loose ball had yet to be fully cleared away in the Reign penalty area. An initial chance for Williams, the forward could not get enough on her shot to get it through the Reign defense, but the ball bounced around the penalty area and eventually fell into Sheehan’s path. With a venomous right-footed effort, Sheehan ripped the ball off the underside of the crossbar and back into play before it was eventually cleared.
Gotham would continue to knock on the Reign’s door before the halftime break, and in the second minute of first-half stoppage time Gotham forward Esther González put her team in front. Midge Purce was on corner kick duty where she delivered a ball into the middle of the box where Esther was in position to meet it. Guiding her headed effort past Dickey, the Spaniard restored her team’s lead just ahead of the interval.
Into the second half, the Reign came close to finding a second goal on the night and a second equalizer as forward Veronica Latsko was played through on goal by Lavelle. Lavelle, who had done brilliantly to spin out of trouble just inside her own half, unleashed Latsko down the right side with a powerful through ball on the ground in between Gotham defenders. Latsko then latched onto the pass and approached goal, but her hesitation in picking a direction allowed Haught to get big and push Latsko’s effort away to preserve the lead.
Then, just as the fulltime whistle was looming, a dramatic ending saw Gotham goalkeeper Mandy Haught sent off for handling the ball outside the box as Reign attacker Elyse Bennett came sprinting toward a pass over the top. Haught had attempted to cut off the pass early, but in doing so it was ruled that she handled the ball outside the box and so after VAR review she was sent off and Gotham had to finish the match with 10 players.
The Reign were then awarded a free kick on the edge of the box with Gotham midfielder Nealy Martin stepping into goal for her side in the closing moments. Lavelle stepped up to take, but her effort clattered off the wall and was eventually cleared away, putting an end to the Reign’s opportunities in front of goal.
After 12 minutes of total added time played, the fulltime whistle sounded and Gotham FC won its first-ever NWSL Championship after finishing bottom of the league last season.
Fluminense: 2023 Copa Libertadores Winners
John Kennedy struck a spectacular extra-time winner as Fluminense ended their long wait for a first ever Copa Libertadores crown on Saturday with a 2-1 victory over Argentina's Boca Juniors.
Substitute Kennedy volleyed home from the edge of the area in the 99th minute of an ill-tempered final at Rio's Maracana Stadium after the match finished 1-1 after 90 minutes.
Kennedy was promptly sent off for collecting a second yellow card for an over-exuberant celebration among Fluminense's delirious home fans following the goal.
The 21-year-old Kennedy – named by his history-loving father after the 35th President of the United States – had been a decisive influence for Fluminense after being brought on as a substitute for playmaker Ganso 10 minutes from the end of normal time.
At that point, Boca looked to be getting on top after equalising with a 72nd-minute shot from Peruvian international right back Luis Advincula which cancelled out Fluminense's 36th-minute opener from veteran forward German Cano.
But the arrival of Kennedy breathed fresh life into the Fluminense attack and in the first half of extra-time, the young forward made the breakthrough.
A deft touch by Keno teed up the ball for Kennedy in space, who crashed a thunderous right-foot volley beyond the dive of Boca's former Manchester United and Argentina international goalkeeper Sergio Romero.
Tempers flared near half-time of extra-time with an ugly multi-player melee after unsuccessful Boca appeals for a penalty.
- Cagey 90 minutes -
Boca's Frank Fabra was given his marching orders by Colombian referee Wilmar Roldan after a VAR review caught him aiming a slap at Fluminense defender Nino.
With both teams down to 10 men, Fluminense could have wrapped up victory but Guga's effort after a sweeping counter-attack came back off the inside of the post and rolled across the face of goal.
Fluminense, the four-time champions of Brazil, were one of just two of the country's 12 biggest clubs never to have won the Libertadores prior to Saturday’s victory.
But Kennedy's extra-time thunderbolt handed Fluminense a victory that gives Brazilian clubs a fifth straight win in the tournament since the introduction of single-match format finals in 2019.
The game had gone to extra-time after a cagey 90 minutes finished level at 1-1.
Fluminense had taken the lead with a well-worked opening goal from veteran striker Cano after 36 minutes.
Keno was involved in that goal too, playing a neat 1-2 with Jhon Arias before pulling back for Cano, who swept in an emphatic low finish.
The final looked to be Fluminense's for the taking against a toothless Boca side who had just one shot in the first half.
The second-half began in much the same way, but as Boca began to press for an equaliser, Fluminense dropped deeper and looked increasingly nervous.
They paid the price for that approach on 72 minutes when right back Advincula advanced on goal, cutting in from the flank and unleashing a superb effort into the far corner beyond the dive of Fluminense goalkeeper Fabio.
The goal silenced the Maracana as Fluminense's fans feared the worst against the Argentine giants.
But Kennedy's arrival wrested momentum back in favour of the Rio club, setting up his extra-time winner.
Texas Rangers: 2023 World Series Champions
PHOENIX -- The Texas Rangers are World Series champions for the first time in franchise history after surviving Arizona ace Zac Gallen’s no-hit bid, getting a gutsy effort from starter Nathan Eovaldi and bringing their ample bats to the late innings in a thrilling 5-0 victory in Game 5 on Wednesday night at Chase Field.
In ending MLB’s longest title drought among title-less teams, the Rangers, who joined the American League as the expansion Washington Senators in 1961 before moving to Arlington and rebranding in '72, showed their mettle in what was, for eight innings, an ultra-tight tilt.
One night after erupting for 11 runs -- including 10 in the second and third innings -- Texas was held scoreless until Mitch Garver’s seventh-inning single brought newly minted two-time World Series MVP Corey Seager home to break a scoreless tie. The Rangers then took advantage of an untimely Alek Thomas fielding error in a four-run ninth highlighted by Marcus Semien’s two-run homer.
Eovaldi, on the other hand, had to sweat his way to success. He had baserunners abound, allowing four hits and five walks in six innings. But the D-backs went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position against him to strand all nine of those runners. They had two aboard with none out in the third, when No. 3 hitter Gabriel Moreno questionably put down a sacrifice bunt to advance the runners, and nothing came of it.
In short, the Snakes let Eovaldi off the hook and, in the process, left themselves vulnerable to anything short of perfection by their ace.
"I kind of joked around that I didn’t know how many rabbits I had left in my hat," Eovaldi said. "I didn’t really help myself out in some of those situations. Other times, they put together quality at-bats and were able to find the whole. A lot of the credit goes to Jonah back there behind the plate. He called a great game. We were on the same page for the most part. We were able to come out on top. That was the main thing."
Gallen finally bent in the seventh, and it began in an ironic way. Seager broke up the no-no, but he didn’t do it in the style that suited him all series. Rather, it was a softly hit grounder to the opposite side -- a ball that would have been harmless if third baseman Evan Longoria hadn’t been shifted toward shortstop. The ball reached the outfield grass, and the Rangers had life.
Reflecting a theme of this series, the Rangers seized the moment in a way the D-backs did not. Evan Carter ripped a double to put two runners in scoring position. And after a consultation on the mound with pitching coach Brent Strom, Gallen gave up a ground-ball single up the middle to Garver to bring Seager home with the game’s first run.
"Gallen was unbelievable tonight, but we came through," Semien said. "Once Corey got the first hit, everybody kind of woke up."
Though Gallen recovered to strike out Josh Jung and October relief hero Kevin Ginkel came on to record the last two outs and escape a bases-loaded jam of his own making in the eighth, the D-backs were made to pay for their early inability to cash in at the plate. The Rangers came out swinging in the ninth against Arizona closer Paul Sewald with consecutive singles from Jung and Nathaniel Lowe. Heim ripped a single to center that Thomas misplayed. The ball scooted toward the wall, as Jung and Lowe hustled home and Heim streaked to third. Two outs later, Semien went deep for the second time in as many nights to make it 5-0, igniting a Texas-sized soiree, 52 years in the making.
"This is the biggest moment, the World Series," Semien said. "Put up four runs in the ninth inning to be up 5-0 after being no-hit, it just felt so good. [I] just looked over to the bench and screamed. It’s just an unbelievable feeling."
South Africa: 2023 Rugby World Cup Champions
South Africa became the first nation to win four Rugby World Cup titles after holding off New Zealand in a dramatic final at Stade de France on Saturday.
Four Handre Pollard penalties to two from Richie Mo’unga gave the Springboks a 12-6 lead after a first half in which All Blacks flanker Shannon Frizell was sin-binned for an incident in which Mbongeni Mbonambi was forced off injured. Then New Zealand captain Sam Cane became the first player to be sent off in a RWC final for a high tackle on Jesse Kriel.
Siya Kolisi and Kurt-Lee Arendse both went close for South Africa before Kolisi was yellow-carded as the All Blacks fought back. Aaron Smith was denied a try for an earlier knock-on before Beauden Barrett touched down to bring them to within a point.
There was late drama as Cheslin Kolbe was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on and Jordie Barrett missed a long-range penalty that might have won it for New Zealand as the Springboks maintained their perfect record in finals, adding to their crowns in 1995, 2007 and 2019.
"I guess as a team we like drama," Mastercard Player of the Match, Pieter-Steph du Toit, who made 28 tackles, said. "The last three games have been quite tough. We played each one as a final and each one was [won] by one point.
"It shows the resilience of the team."
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