Page 2B
SPORTS
East Oregonian
Friday, July 21, 2017
Soccer
MLS expansion tour continues after Nashville makes its case
By ANNE M. PETERSON
Associated Press
The
Major
League
Soccer 2017 expansion tour
continued this week with
official league visits in North
Carolina.
Charlotte and Raleigh are
among 12 cities hoping to
land an MLS team. Nashville
appeared to make a strong
case recently when league
Commissioner Don Garber
visited in conjunction with
the U.S. national team’s Gold
Cup opener against Panama.
The
turnout
caught
Garber’s eye. The July 8
game drew 42,622 fans to
Nissan Stadium. A U.S.
women’s national team
SheBelieves Cup match
against France last year drew
more than 25,000 fans.
“If you don’t have success
with friendlies or interna-
tional competition, you’re
not going to have success in
MLS,” Garber told reporters
during the visit. “So that’s a
checked box that we’ve actu-
ally checked a while ago.”
The Nashville bid is led
by billionaire businessmen
John Ingram. The one thing
missing is a solid stadium
plan, which MLS requires for
an expansion franchise.
Twelve locations are
competing for MLS expan-
sion franchises. Two winning
bids are expected to be
announced later this year,
bringing the league to 26
teams, with two additional
teams to be added in the
future.
MLS expanded to 22
teams this season with the
addition of Atlanta United
FC and Minnesota United
FC. LAFC, which replaces
the now-defunct Chivas
USA, joins next year.
Miami’s expansion effort, led
by David Beckham, would
bring the league to 24.
In addition to Nashville
and the two North Carolina
bids, the other areas that are
vying for an expansion team
include: Cincinnati, Detroit,
San Antonio, Sacramento,
San Diego, St. Louis, Tampa/
St. Petersburg, Indianapolis
and Phoenix.
Sacramento’s bid looks
to be among the strongest,
with the USL’s Sacramento
Republic FC drawing very
well and detailed plans for
a stadium in place. Phoenix
has also emerged as a
front-runner with a bid that
includes private financing for
a stadium and an established
star — Didier Drogba —
joining the campaign. Tampa
Bay won approval in April to
expand and upgrade Al Lang
Stadium, home of the USL’s
Tampa Bay Rowdies.
MLS Deputy Commis-
sioner Mark Abbott visited
Charlotte
on
Tuesday
and Raleigh-Durham on
Wednesday.
North Carolina Football
Club owner Steve Malik,
leading the Triangle’s bid for
a team, unveiled plans for a
downtown Raleigh stadium
and entertainment complex
at a news conference before
a rally led by the Oak City
Supporters. The effort even
has a hashtag: 919TOMLS .
“This is the beginning of
a journey. We need to get
there pretty quickly if we
want to take advantage of the
catalyst of an MLS franchise
and I believe we can do that,”
Malik said at a news confer-
ence Wednesday.
GAME
OF
THE
WEEK: Looking forward
to the weekend, the Cascadia
Cup rivalry continues on
Sunday when the Portland
Timbers visit BC Place and
the Vancouver Whitecaps.
The rivalry between the
two teams actually dates back
to 1975, when both were
part of the North America
Soccer League, but the
Cascadia Cup was created by
fans in 2004 as a three-way
competition with the Seattle
Sounders. Based on points,
the Sounders and Timbers
are tied atop the table so far
this season.
GOLF: McIlroy, Johnson battle the wind, sit six shots back
Continued from 1B
5-under 65.
U.S. Open champion Brooks
Koepka, with no competition and
barely any practice since capturing
his first major a month ago, ran off
three straight birdies and holed a
tough shot from a pot bunker for
eagle on the par-5 17th hole for a
5-under 65.
Joining them was Matt Kuchar,
who first endeared himself to these
British fans as a 19-year-old amateur
in 1998 at Royal Birkdale. Kuchar
tied the course record with a 29 on
the front nine, only to fall into a
routine of pars the rest of the way.
He still shot 65, his best score ever
in a major.
They had a one-shot lead over
Paul Casey and Charl Schwartzel on
a day that started nasty and ended
with 39 players breaking par. The
biggest question after a long day on
the links was what was in store for
Friday, when high wind and occa-
sional showers were in the forecast.
“I thought today’s round was
extremely important, as they all are,”
Spieth said, atop the leaderboard at
a major for the first time since last
year’s Masters. “But given the
forecast coming in, I thought you
really needed to be in the red today.
You can certainly make up ground
in a round tomorrow, and we’ll see
it happen. But being able to kind of
play with shots, or play a little more
conservative because you don’t try to
do too much on a day like tomorrow,
that’s nice and very helpful.”
Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy
fall into that category.
AP Photo/Peter Morrison
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy plays out of the bunker on the 7th
hole during the first round of the British Open Golf Championship,
at Royal Birkdale, Southport, England Thursday, July 20, 2017.
Johnson, the No. 1 player who
hasn’t played the weekend at a
major since the British Open last
year, managed only one birdie on
a decent day for scoring and shot
71. McIlroy also shot 71 and was
relieved. Coming off three missed
cuts in his last four events, he was
5 over through six holes when his
caddie gave him a pep talk. McIlroy
closed with three birdies over the last
four holes to stay in the game.
Phil Mickelson failed to make
a birdie, the first time that has
happened in a major in five years,
and shot 73.
Kuchar was the only one at 65
who played in the afternoon. The
wind remained strong, though the
course was manageable for everyone
who stayed out of bunkers and deep
grass and who holed putts.
“I watched some of the golf this
morning on TV. It looked awfully
challenging,” Kuchar said. “It
looked like anything under par was
going to be a good score. Seemed
like the later your tee time, the better
draw you got. ... For me, to start my
British Open with a 29 on the front
nine is a great way to start.”
Charley Hoffman had the best
start of all, holing out from the rough
on the daunting opening hole for
an eagle. He was poised to join the
leaders when he reached 5 under
with a birdie on the 15th, only to
drop shots on the next two holes.
Hoffman shot 69 and was in a group
that included Ian Poulter and Rafa
Cabrera Bello.
Defending champion Henrik
Stenson, who played with Spieth,
had a 71. Stenson also played with
Spieth the first two rounds of the
2015 Masters that the Texan won
wire-to-wire and knew what to
expect.
But his best shot was with his
feet in the sand. Spieth was in thick
rough to the right of the 16th fairway
when his shot crept into the back of a
pot bunker. Not only was the ball on
a slight slope, the rake marks left his
ball between two ridges.
“This is dangerous,” he said to his
caddie.
He aimed to the right of the hole
to avoid it going off the green on the
other side and into another bunker,
and it came off perfectly about 10
feet away.
“That was awesome,” were his
next words to his caddie.
He made the par putt — Spieth
made a lot of putts on picked up
a two-putt birdie on the 17th and
narrowly missed a 7-foot birdie
putt on the last. It was his best start
in a major since he shot 66 at the
Masters a year ago. Spieth rated it
among the top five or six rounds he
has ever played in a major, not bad
for someone who came close to the
Grand Slam two years ago.
“I couldn’t have done much better
today,” he said.
DUCKS: Need to replace Brooks, Dorsey, Bell, Ennis, Boucher
Continued from 1B
join the Ducks as a grad transfer if
he joins Elijah Brown on the roster.
The 6-4 Brown earned all-Moun-
tain West Conference honors the
past two seasons at New Mexico
while averaging 21.7 points per
game as a sophomore and 18.9 as
a junior.
The son of Golden State
Warriors assistant coach Mike
Brown committed to Oregon in
May.
The Ducks added forward
MiKyle McIntosh as a graduate
transfer from Illinois State last
month. The 6-7 McIntosh averaged
12.5 points and 5.6 rebounds for
the Redbirds last season.
Oregon coach Dana Altman
has added a handful of graduate
transfers during his tenure but three
would be his most in one season.
The coach said his positive expe-
rience with five previous senior
transfers has encouraged him to
continue welcoming players for
their final season.
Mike Moser and Jason Calliste
each played their senior season for
the Ducks in 2013-14 while Jay-R
Strowbridge played in 2010-11 and
Olu Ashaolu arrived the following
season.
Dylan Ennis helped Oregon
reach the Final Four last season as
a grad transfer.
With Ennis and Chris Boucher
graduating, Dillon Brooks, Tyler
Dorsey and Jordan Bell leaving
early for the NBA, and Casey
Benson and Kavell Bigby-Wil-
liams transferring to other schools,
Oregon will return only five players
from last season.
Altman has signed four
freshmen and two transfers but
still has two scholarships open for
next season. The coach has said he
wants to save some scholarships for
the fall signing period and adding
Onwuasor would allow him to do
that.
Oregon has three seniors on the
roster with Brown, McIntosh and
Roman Sorkin. That leaves Oregon
with five openings for the 2018
recruiting class with 6-8 forward
Miles Norris of Chula Vista, Calif.,
the only player who has committed
to the Ducks.
Onwuasor would add depth to
Oregon’s backcourt that currently
features Brown, sophomore Payton
Pritchard and freshmen Troy
Brown Jr. and Victor Bailey Jr.
Onwuasor, who is from Ingle-
wood, Calif., played his first two
seasons at Texas Tech and averaged
4.2 points per game as a sophomore
before transferring to Southern
Utah and sitting out a season.
Oregon won a school-record 33
games last season and are 187-70
(.727) in 7 seasons under Altman.
The Timbers defeated
the Whitecaps 2-1 earlier
this season at Providence
Park. Vancouver has won the
past three matches at home
against Portland.
BEST OF THE REST:
Two of the top teams in the
Eastern Conference, Chicago
and NYCFC, meet on
Saturday at Yankee Stadium.
The match will showcase two
of the league’s top players,
New York’s David Villa and
the Fire’s Nikolic Nemanja,
who leads the league with 16
goals this season.
The Fire are unbeaten
in their last 11 matches,
going 8-0-3 over the span.
NYCFC was going to be
coming off a tough challenge
on Wednesday night with
a match at home against
Toronto.
TOUR:
Continued from 1B
rockslides in thinning air at
an altitude of 2,360 meters
(7,743 feet).
He sped away from
Froome’s group and grad-
ually reeled in riders ahead
of him on the hairpin bends
and steep road — the last
being John Darwin Atapuma
of Colombia, with about 1.5
kilometers (1 mile) left to
ascend.
From there, Barguil
labored on alone to win
the first stage to finish at
the summit of Izoard in the
114-year history of the Tour.
Barguil also won in the Pyre-
nees on Bastille Day.
Only the hardiest pines
survive at such high altitudes.
And only the hardiest riders,
too.
The climb showed again
what was already becoming
apparent on the first day of
big Alpine mountains on
Wednesday: that Froome is
super-strong and only Uran
and Bardet are capable of
staying with him.
They are now the only
riders within a minute of
Froome overall, after Italian
Fabio Aru faded again and
continued his slide down the
overall rankings.
Going into the Alps, Aru
was second overall, breathing
down Froome’s neck. He is
now fifth overall, nearly two
minutes behind Froome.
Bardet
outsprinted
Froome in the final ramp of
the climb, and got four bonus
seconds for finishing the
stage in third place — behind
Barguil and Atapuma.
As a consequence, Bardet
moved a tiny bit closer to
Froome overall, having been
27 seconds behind him at the
start of the stage in Briancon.
Uran lost a couple of
seconds at the top, and is
now 29 seconds back from
Froome in third place.
Barguil has recovered
remarkably quickly from a
pelvis fracture in a crash in
April. He was also struck by
a car on a training ride last
year, fracturing his wrist.
“I had a lot hard luck.
Luck is now on my side,” he
said. “I had big problems, but
I never gave up.”
SCOREBOARD
Baseball
MLB
AMERICAN LEAGUE
East Division
W
L Pct GB
Boston
54 43 .557 —
Tampa Bay
51 45 .531 2½
New York
49 45 .521 3½
Baltimore
46 49 .484
7
Toronto
44 51 .463
9
Central Division
W
L Pct GB
Cleveland
48 45 .516 —
Minnesota
48 46 .511
½
Kansas City
47 47 .500 1½
Detroit
43 51 .457 5½
Chicago
38 54 .413 9½
West Division
W
L Pct GB
Houston
63 32 .663 —
Seattle
48 49 .495 16
Los Angeles
47 50 .485 17
Texas
45 50 .474 18
Oakland
43 52 .453 20
———
Thursday’s Games
Toronto 8, Boston 6
Baltimore 9, Texas 7
Kansas City 16, Detroit 4
N.Y. Yankees 4, Seattle 1
Friday’s Games
Houston (Fiers 6-4) at Baltimore (Jimenez
4-5), 4:05 p.m.
Oakland (Blackburn 1-0) at N.Y. Mets
(Matz 2-3), 4:10 p.m.
Texas (Darvish 6-8) at Tampa Bay (Cobb
8-6), 4:10 p.m.
Toronto (Estrada 4-6) at Cleveland (Bauer
7-8), 4:10 p.m.
Detroit (Sanchez 1-0) at Minnesota (Santa-
na 11-6), 5:10 p.m.
Chicago White Sox (Shields 2-2) at Kansas
City (Kennedy 3-6), 5:15 p.m.
Boston (Sale 11-4) at L.A. Angels (Nolasco
4-10), 7:07 p.m.
N.Y. Yankees (Sabathia 8-3) at Seattle
(Moore 1-1), 7:10 p.m.
NATIONAL LEAGUE
East Division
W
Washington
57
Atlanta
46
New York
43
Miami
42
Philadelphia
32
Central Division
W
Milwaukee
52
L
37
48
50
51
61
Pct
.606
.489
.462
.452
.344
GB
—
11
13½
14½
24½
L Pct GB
46 .531 —
Chicago
Pittsburgh
St. Louis
Cincinnati
West Division
49
48
46
40
45
48
49
55
.521
1
.500
3
.484 4½
.421 10½
W
L Pct GB
Los Angeles
66 30 .687 —
Arizona
55 40 .579 10½
Colorado
56 41 .577 10½
San Diego
41 54 .431 24½
San Francisco
37 60 .381 29½
———
Thursday’s Games
N.Y. Mets 3, St. Louis 2
Arizona 12, Cincinnati 2
Pittsburgh 4, Milwaukee 2
Atlanta 6, L.A. Dodgers 3
San Diego 5, San Francisco 2
Friday’s Games
St. Louis (Martinez 6-8) at Chicago Cubs
(Arrieta 9-7), 11:20 a.m.
Milwaukee (Garza 4-4) at Philadelphia
(Nola 6-6), 4:05 p.m.
Miami (Urena 7-4) at Cincinnati (Bailey
2-3), 4:10 p.m.
Oakland (Blackburn 1-0) at N.Y. Mets
(Matz 2-3), 4:10 p.m.
Pittsburgh (Williams 3-4) at Colorado
(Hoffman 6-1), 5:40 p.m.
Washington (Scherzer 11-5) at Arizona
(TBD), 6:40 p.m.
Atlanta (Garcia 3-7) at L.A. Dodgers
(Wood 11-0), 7:10 p.m.
San Diego (Cahill 4-3) at San Francisco
(Samardzija 4-11), 7:15 p.m.
MiLB
Northwest League
North Division
W
L Pct. GB
Vancouver
19 16 .543 —
Tri-City
17 17 .500 1½
Spokane
14 20 .412 4½
Everett
13 21 .619 5½
South Division
W
L Pct. GB
Hillsboro
20 14 .588 —
Eugene
20 14 .588 —
Boise
19 15 .558
1
Salem-Keizer
15 20 .429 5½
———
Thursday’s Games
Vancouver 8, Salem-Keizer 3
Boise at Everett, late finish
Spokane at Hillsboro, late finish
Eugene at Tri-City, late finish
Friday’s Games
Vancouver at Salem-Keizer, 6:35 p.m.
Boise at Everett, 7:05 p.m.
Spokane at Hillsboro, 7:05 p.m.
Eugene at Tri-City, 7:15 p.m.
Soccer
CONCACAF Gold Gup
QUARTERFINALS
Thursday
At Glendale, Ariz.
Quarterfinal Three
Mexico 1, Honduras 0
Quarterfinal Four
Jamaica 2, Canada 1
SEMIFINALS
Saturday
At Arlington, Tex.
Costa Rica vs. United States, 7 p.m.
MLS
EASTERN CONFERENCE
W L
T Pts GF GA
Toronto FC 11 3
6 39 36 21
Chicago
11 3
5 38 37 19
NYC FC
10 6
4 34 38 26
Atl. Untd. FC 9 7
3 30 39 27
New York
9 8
2 29 25 26
Orlando City 8 7
5 29 22 29
Columbus
9 10
1 28 30 32
Montreal
6 6
6 24 29 30
Philadelphia 6 8
5 23 26 23
New England 5 9
5 20 29 31
D.C. United 5 12
3 18 17 35
WESTERN CONFERENCE
W L
T Pts GF GA
Sporting K.C. 8 4
8 32 24 14
FC Dallas
8 3
7 31 30 18
Houston
8 7
5 29 34 29
Vancouver
8 7
3 27 25 27
Portland
7 8
6 27 35 35
Seattle
7 7
6 27 29 31
San Jose
7 8
5 26 23 31
Los Angeles 6 9
4 22 28 33
Real Salt Lake 7 12
2 23 27 41
Minn. United 5 11
4 19 25 42
Colorado
6 11
1 19 19 27
NOTE: Three points for victory, one point
for tie.
———
Friday’s Game
Atlanta United FC at Orlando City, 4 p.m.
Saturday’s Games
Chicago at New York City FC, 11 a.m.
New York at Minnesota United, 1 p.m.
Colorado at Toronto FC, 4 p.m.
Houston at D.C. United, 4 p.m.
FC Dallas at Montreal, 4:30 p.m.
Los Angeles at New England, 4:30 p.m.
Philadelphia at Columbus, 4:30 p.m.
Sporting Kansas City at Real Salt Lake,
7 p.m.
Sunday’s Games
Portland at Vancouver, 3:30 p.m.
San Jose at Seattle, 7:30 p.m.
Basketball
WNBA
EASTERN CONFERENCE
W
L Pct GB
Washington
12
9 .571 —
Connecticut
12
9 .571 —
New York
10
9 .526
1
Atlanta
9 11 .450 2½
Indiana
8 13 .381
4
Chicago
8 13 .381
4
WESTERN CONFERENCE
W
L Pct GB
Minnesota
16
2 .889 —
Los Angeles
14
6 .700
3
Phoenix
11
9 .550
6
Dallas
10 12 .455
8
Seattle
9 11 .450
8
San Antonio
3 18 .143 14½
———
Thursday’s Games
Chicago 82, Los Angeles 80
San Antonio 85, Indiana 61
Saturday
WNBA All-Star Game, East vs. West,
12:30 p.m. (ABC)
Cycling
Tour de France
Thursday
18th Stage
At Col d’Izoard, France
A 111.5-mile ride from Briancon to Izoard:
1. Warren Barguil, France, Team Sunweb,
4 hours, 40 minutes, 33 seconds.
2. Darwin Atapuma, Colombia, UAE Team
Emirates, :20 behind.
3. Romain Bardet, France, AG2R La
Mondiale, same time.
4. Christopher Froome, Britain, Team Sky,
same time.
5. Rigoberto Uran, Colombia, Cannon-
dale-Drapac, :22.
6. Mikel Landa, Spain, Team Sky, :32.
7. Louis Meintjes, South Africa, UAE Team
Emirates, :37.
8. Daniel Martin, Ireland, Quick-Step
Floors, :39.
9. Simon Yates, Britain, Orica-Scott, :59.
10. Alberto Contador, Spain, Trek-Sega-
fredo, 1:09.
11. Nairo Quintana, Colombia, Movistar
Team, 1:18.
12. Carlos Betancur, Colombia, Movistar
Team, 1:22.
13. Fabio Aru, Italy, Astana Pro Team,
same time.
14. Tony Gallopin, France, Lotto Soudal,
1:37.
15. Brice Feillu, France, Team Fortu-
neo-Oscaro, 1:54.
16. Mikel Nieve, Spain, Team Sky, 2:15.
17. Alexey Lutsenko, Kazakhstan, Astana
Pro Team, 2:54.
18. Andrew Talansky, United States,
Cannondale-Drapac, 3:01.
19. Bauke Mollema, Netherlands, Trek-Se-
gafredo, same time.
20. Serge Pauwels, Belgium, Dimension
Data, 3:04.
Also
89. Nate Brown, United States, Cannon-
dale Drapac, 22:43.
148. Taylor Phinney, United States, Can-
nondale Drapac, 28:33.
OVERALL STANDINGS
(After 18 stages)
1. Chris Froome, Britain, Sky, 78:08:19.
2. Romain Bardet, France, AG2R La
Mondiale, :23 behind.
3. Rigoberto Uran, Colombia, Cannondale
Drapac, :29.
4. Mikel Landa, Spain, Sky, 1:36.
5. Fabio Aru, Italy, Astana, 1:55.
6. Daniel Martin, Ireland, Quick-Step
Floors, 2:56.
7. Simon Yates, Britain, Orica-Scott, 4:46.
8. Louis Meintjes, South Africa, UAE
Team Emirates, 6:52.
9. Warren Barguil, France, Sunweb, 8:22.
10. Alberto Contador, Spain, Trek-Sega-
fredo, 8:34.
11. Damiano Caruso, Italy, BMC Racing,
13:41.
12. Nairo Quintana, Colombia, Movistar,
13:52.
13. Mikel Nieve, Spain, Sky, 23:11.
14. Alexis Vuillermoz, France, AG2R La
Mondiale, 23:33.
15. Emanuel Buchmann, Germany,
Bora-Hansgrohe, 31:01.
16. Brice Feillu, France, Fortuneo-Oscaro,
35:06.
17. Carlos Betancur, Colombia, Movistar,
36:25.
18. Serge Pauwels, Belgium, Dimension
Data, 37:31.
19. Tiesj Benoot, Belgium, Lotto Soudal,
40:49.
20. Bauke Mollema, Netherlands, Trek-Se-
gafredo, 47:03.
Also
42. Nate Brown, United States, Cannon-
dale Drapac, 1:54:33.
Golf
PGA Tour
British Open
Thursday
At Royal Birkdale Golf Club
Southport, England
Purse: $10.25 million
Yardage: 7,156; Par: 70 (34-36)
First Round Leaderboard
Jordan Spieth
31-34—65
Brooks Koepka 33-32—65
Matt Kuchar
29-36—65
Paul Casey
31-35—66
Charl Schwartzel 34-32—66
Ian Poulter
32-35—67
Justin Thomas
33-34—67
Richard Bland
34-33—67
Austin Connelly 33-34—67
Charley Hoffman 31-36—67
Rafa Cabrera Bello 32-35—67
Stuart Manley
34-34—68
Alex Noren
34-34—68
Hideki Matsuyama 33-35—68
James Hahn
33-35—68
Sung Kang
35-33—68
Martin Laird
34-34—68
Ernie Els
33-35—68
David Lipsky
32-36—68
Joost Luiten
34-34—68
Richie Ramsay 33-35—68
Daniel Berger
35-33—68
Bubba Watson 33-35—68
Also
Jason Day
34-35—69
Adam Scott
32-37—69
Rickie Fowler
32-39—71
Dustin Johnson 34-37—71
Rory McIlroy
39-32—71
Zach Johnson
37-38—75
LPGA Tour
Marathon Classic
Thursday
At Highland Meadows Golf Club
Sylvania, Ohio
Purse: $1.6 million
Yardage: 6,476; Par: 71 (34-37)
(a-amateur)
First Round Leaderboard
Gerina Piller
30-33—63
Peiyun Chien
30-34—64
Sung Hyun Park 30-34—64
Aditi Ashok
31-34—65
In-Kyung Kim
32-33—65
Kelly W Shon
32-33—65
Angel Yin
31-35—66
Sandra Changkija 31-35—66
Lexi Thompson 34-33—67
Alison Lee
33-34—67
-5
-5
-5
-4
-4
-3
-3
-3
-3
-3
-3
-2
-2
-2
-2
-2
-2
-2
-2
-2
-2
-2
-2
-1
-1
+1
+1
+1
+5
-8
-7
-7
-6
-6
-6
-5
-5
-4
-4