The truth about this contest is if it wasn’t a World Cup year the entire thing would be largely irrelevant, but it’s deeply irrelevant because Scotland are on the clock now.

Time is ticking. Ivory Coast on Tuesday, Curacao on 30 May, a flight to America the next day, a final friendly in New Jersey in early June – and then the big show.

Scotland need momentum, they need to crash rather than limp into the World Cup, they need to hit the ground running. They had, and did, none of these things at the Euros in Germany. The power they had in qualification dissipated during the warm-up games. They arrived at the Euros searching for confidence and failed to find it.

That would have been one of the big takeaways from that tournament – the need to hold on to the energy and feelgood that got them there in the first place.

Scotland still have time to regain it before America. A rousing performance against Ivory Coast – ranked 35 in the world to Scotland’s 20 – in Liverpool and they’ll be where they want to be. After that, Curacao at home. A win against the world number 82 to send them on their way, surely?

Clarke’s team are becoming a bit of an enigma, a curiosity that’s hard to read. The performances rise and fall. It’s hard to get an angle on where they’re at.

Take their games in qualification. Tremendously resilient in Copenhagen in getting a goalless draw in round one, ultra professional in beating Belarus in round two.

Then, a bizarre 3-1 win at home to Greece on a night when the visitors were by far the better side, followed by a 2-1 win against Belarus that led to so many players, and Clarke, expressing disappointment in the most brutal and graphic terms. John McGinn described the pair of victories as “jobby” performances.

Next, to Greece. Losing 3-0 – it could have been been five had it not been for Craig Gordon’s heroics – Scotland rallied and eventually lost 3-2. They were heading for the play-off until Belarus did them the most enormous favour in Copenhagen.

So, a mix of bottle and luck got them to the big showdown against Denmark where sheer class and never-say-die took them the rest of the way. This Scotland team has many faces.

Saturday was a return to their reserved selves when, really, you wanted to see the warriors of November, or at least a version of them. All eyes on Tuesday night, then, and Scotland’s search for the intensity and vitality we know they have.

Clarke has promised six or seven changes. The new blood need to infuse Scotland with some verve. Now is not the time to go into their shell. Against Ivory Coast, they need to come out fighting.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium (ATLANTA) — The United States men’s national team impressed early against Belgium. Then the wheels fell off.

A first-half lead in Saturday’s high-profile World Cup warmup match against Belgium — FIFA’s No. 9 ranked squad — melted away as the UA conceded four straight goals in front of a heavily pro-USA crowd of 66,867 fans at the home of the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United.

Weston McKennie put coach Mauricio Pochettino’s team ahead in the 39th minute by deftly redirecting an Antonee Robinson corner kick past Belgian goalkeeper Senne Lammens. The visitors equalized before the first half was over, though, when fullback Zeno Debast’s low rocket flew through a sea of bodies, past the outstretched hand of USA keeper Matt Turner and into the bottom corner of the net.

Belgium got another shortly after the break, then scored three more as they ran away with the second-to-last match before Pochettino must select his final 26-player World Cup roster, though the Americans did pull one back late via second half substitute Patrick Agyemang. 

Here are my takeaways:

1. USA Faltered In the Second Half

Pochettino’s side entered the match on a three-match winning streak, all against World Cup-bound foes. But Belgium is better than any of those teams by some distance. Still, the USA matched them almost evenly in the first half, even if the guests had almost 60 percent of possession and one more shot on target. Only a brilliant (and lucky) save by Senne Lammens on McKennie’s earlier shot in the opening stanza kept the game scoreless almost until the intermission.

With former Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne and current Man City star forward Jeremy Doku leading coach Rudi Garcia’s attack, Belgium tested a USA backline missing injured center back Chris Richards repeatedly, mostly to no avail. Central midfielders Tanner Tessmann and Johnny Cardoso covered when fullbacks Robinson and Tim Weah bombed forward, repeatedly frustrating the Red Devils. Tim Ream and Mark McKenzie held firm, while Turner made a series of acrobatic saves in his first start since losing the No. 1 job to Matt Freese last June.

The winning streak is over. A 5-2 loss is unsightly, at best. But based on the performance, the lopsided scoreline was probably both a little bit harsh on the home squad and a crucial reminder that there are no moral victories at the highest level. For the U.S., it’s better to learn that lesson now than in June.

2. ‘Jedi’ and Matt Turner among the silver linings

Turner played every minute of the USA’s four matches at the 2022 World Cup. Antonee “Jedi” Robinson was on the field for all but the final moments of the round of loss to the Netherlands in Qatar. But both veterans had been out of Pochettino’s lineup for most of the Argentine’s tenure — Robinson because of injury, Turner because of the emergence of Freese. But both returned to Poch’s 11 on Saturday. And while Jedi’s return — U.S. Soccer’s male player of the year in 2024 didn’t make a single appearance last year because of knee issues — was expected, Turner’s was the biggest surprise before the match against the Red Devils kicked off.

Jedi looked as good as ever, just as he has done with Fulham in the Premier League. And Turner justified Pochettino’s decision by making a series of fine stops during an overall confident display, even if his poor clearance led to a goal that was only ruled out because it inadvertently deflected in off forward Charles De Ketelaere’s arm. Turner’s best save of all might have been on the play that led to De Bruyne’s successful penalty, with Turner tipping the ball over his crossbar after it hit Ream’s hand and changed trajectory.

3. Pochettino went with his best available players

Richards wasn’t the only projected World Cup starter missing on Saturday. Tyler Adams, who captained the Americans at the last World Cup in Qatar, is injured. So is right back/winger Sergiño Dest. Yet Poch still got his best available players on the field, deploying Weah as an outside defender even with natural right back Joe Scally available. (Scally came on late in the second half.) At his core, Poch is a pragmatist. His lineup choices on Saturday confirmed as much — and provided a preview of what U.S. fans can expect in terms of personnel decisions when their World Cup campaign begins in earnest on June 12 versus Paraguay in Los Angeles. Who fills those spots is another matter. With just three more tuneup games to go before then, there are still plenty of lineup questions remaining.

4. Another big test awaits

Belgium is good. Very good. Reigning UEFA Nations League champions Portugal — FIFA’s sixth ranked side and the team that the USA will close out the March window in Tuesday’s match in Atlanta — is even better. That’s a scary thought. Yet it’s also an opportunity to right Saturday’s wrongs almost immediately and end this month on a decidedly brighter note.

World number one Aryna Sabalenka beat Coco Gauff 6-2 4-6 6-3 to retain her Miami Open title and extend her exceptional start to 2026.

Belarusian Sabalenka, 27, is the fifth female player – and the first since Iga Swiatek in 2022 – to complete the ‘Sunshine Double’ by winning titles at Indian Wells and Miami in the same season.

Victoria Azarenka, Kim Clijsters and Steffi Graf are the other three women to have previously achieved that feat.

Sabalenka has won three WTA Tour titles and 23 of her 24 matches during this calendar year.

Her only loss was in January’s Australian Open final to world number two Elena Rybakina, who had been the only player to win a set against Sabalenka in 2026 before American Gauff sent the Miami final into a decider.

UConn men’s basketball coach Geno Auriemma is ripping the double-regional format being used in the women’s NCAA Tournament, saying it doesn’t make sense for the teams still playing or for efforts to grow the game.

Auriemma brought up attendance, bad shooting percentages and teams having to come to the arena early and late on the same day when taking aim at the format that’s in place for the fourth year, and set to continue for at least five more.

“Well, I think the first question you’d have to ask is why did they go from four (sites) to two. What was the rationale?” the 12-time national champion coach said Saturday. “If they can explain it legitimately and then prove that it works, then great. So what was the reason?”

NCAA officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Associated Press.

The defending national champion Huskies (37-0), the overall No. 1 seed, play Notre Dame (25-10) in the Fort Worth Regional 1 final on Sunday.

The Huskies held their required media availability Saturday morning, after the Fighting Irish had already completed their session and before two Sweet 16 games in Fort Worth Regional 3 were played at Dickies Arena. UConn and Notre Dame both had scheduled practice times there later in the evening.

“So we had to get our kids up, come over here. You already knew who we were playing last night, but we can’t get on the court, and neither can the other teams,” Auriemma said. “Does anybody who makes these decisions ever ask the coaches and the players, hey, does this work?”

AP All-America teammates Azzi Fudd and Sarah Strong agreed with their coach’s strong sentiment.

“Everyone’s trying to figure that out right now,” Fudd said. “Every team is going through that. There’s no excuse in that. So we’ll figure it out. We’re making it work, but it definitely isn’t the most ideal setup.”

Auriemma, the winningest men’s or women’s NCAA basketball coach with 1,287 victories, didn’t wait for a question from reporters to share his thoughts on the format, opening his session by reading off a piece of paper these numbers: 4 for 20, 4 for 22, 1 for 17, 5 for 17, 4 for 16, 7 for 26.

“That’s the 3-point shooting yesterday across the country,” he said. “How many arenas are we going to sell out with that? Now, maybe it was just a bad day shooting by everybody. These are all teams that average probably 30%, over 30, for the season. Know what time our shootaround was yesterday? Six in the morning, 6:20, I think, for half an hour.”

He also mentioned the total combined attendance (18,821 announced) at the two venues Friday, in Fort Worth and Sacramento, California.

UCLA coach Cori Close, whose team is the top seed in Sacramento Regional 2 and plays Duke in an Elite Eight game on Sunday, said it is important to get maximum exposure and coverage while also looking for the best setup to have high-level basketball played on the court.

“I think that I was in favor of going to the two regional sites when that happened,” Close said. “I think every year we should look and go, where are we in our game, how did this play out efficiency-wise, from a student-athlete well-being side, is there some ways in which we can organize to make things a little bit more cohesive so teams aren’t going back and forth from media coverage to practices later and those kinds of things?”

Auriemma said there is a lack of input from coaches, and that nothing changes even when the NCAA sends representatives to schools every year after the tournament.

“Hopefully I’m speaking for the other coaches,” he said. “Some coaches might think I’m full of it. And this is not about UConn. I hope everybody understands that. This is not about us. … We’ve managed to go to the Final Four and win national championships no matter where they’re played, when they’re played, what time they’re played, whatever.

“I think there is a level of frustration right now among the coaches that’s higher than any time I’ve ever seen it.”

Duke coach Kara Lawson would like more practice time on the game court, especially more than the designated half-hour on game days for shootarounds, which routinely last about an hour the rest of the season.

“That would be the only thing I’d change,” Lawson said. “I mean two regionals. I think the arena thing is the thing that’s hard. It’s not that we’re in the same city, it’s that we don’t get long enough practice or shootaround times in the venue for your most important games of the season.”

For the second day in a row, Auriemma mentioned new rims and new basketballs being used during NCAA Tournament games, and the impact those have on shooting.

“It’s hard to make shots in the postseason,” Auriemma said Friday after UConn’s 63-42 win over North Carolina, in which the teams were a combined 8 of 42 on 3-pointers. “They just break out these new baskets, new rims, and then it gets in the kids’ heads.”

The coach on Saturday again brought up “new basketballs right out of the box” and the rims.

“Got people dribbling the ball off their feet,” he said. “You got people missing layups all over the place. You bounce the ball, and it goes up to the ceiling. There’s just no concept of how basketball is played. Not that I have any of the answers. 

“Believe me, I just have questions.”

Reporting by The Associated Press.

The 2026 UFL season will be a season of firsts across the board, and we already got one of those on Saturday.

With 9:08 remaining in the first quarter of the DC Defenders‘ Week 1 road matchup against the St. Louis Battlehawks, kicker Matt McCrane connected on a 60-yard field goal — marking the first four-point field goal in UFL history.

This year, among other rule changes, teams are given four points for field goals that are made from 60 or more yards.

McCrane has kicked for the defending UFL champion Defenders since 2023. Last year (2025), he made 14 of 20 regular-season field goal attempts (70.0%), while going 2-for-3 on kicks of 50 or more yards. He then went 5-for-5 on field goals in the UFL postseason.

McCrane previously kicked at Kansas State from 2014-17 and had practice squad/offseason stints in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals, Las Vegas Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles and Detroit Lions from 2018-24. He also kicked for the New York Guardians of the legacy XFL in 2020.

Other rules changes in what’s the third season of the UFL are the “tush push” being banned, only one foot having to be in bounds for a completion and teams not being able to punt inside the 50-yard line until the two-minute warning of both the first and second half.

The Week 1 slate continues Saturday with the Dallas Renegades hosting the Houston Gamblers on FOX (4 p.m. ET).

The Texas Rangers scratched two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom from his scheduled start Saturday against the Philadelphia Phillies because of neck stiffness.

Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said he expected deGrom to start Tuesday or Wednesday on the road against the Baltimore Orioles.

The Rangers gave left-hander Jacob Latz the start.

Latz failed to win a spot in the rotation out of spring training. He’s pitched mostly out of the bullpen in parts of four seasons with the Rangers.

deGrom’s final two years with the New York Mets were plagued by injury before he left in free agency after the 2022 season. He then had Tommy John surgery after only six starts in his Rangers debut in 2023, the season of their only World Series title. They won each of his starts that all came before the end of April that year.

The $185 million, five-year deal deGrom signed with Texas included a conditional sixth-year club option worth at least $20 million and up to $37 million for 2028 that has been triggered because of the time missed injured.

Reporting by The Associated Press.