REIMS, France -- The United States will need to overcome both Spain and scheduling disadvantages when it plays its first knockout-round game Monday in the FIFA Women's World Cup.

The U.S. was the tournament's most dominant team in winning all three of its games in the group stage. The Americans set a World Cup group-stage record by scoring 18 goals while not allowing any in wins against Thailand, Chile and Sweden. But in addition to being one of only two group winners that plays a second-place finisher in the initial knockout round instead of a third-place finisher, the U.S. will play Spain with considerably less rest than its opponent.

While the U.S. played Sweden in its final group game on Thursday, Spain played its final group game against China on Monday. Both the U.S. and Spain played those games in Le Havre.

U.S. coach Jill Ellis downplayed the effects and noted that her team hosted tournaments like the annual SheBelieves Cup and Tournament of Nations with an eye toward this sort of scenario.

"We're very used to a three-day rhythm," Ellis said Sunday. "It's what we've done in certain tournaments, specifically for [that] purpose of having a consistent rhythm in what we do. And we can't control, obviously, what our opponent has."

In this year's SheBelieves Cup, for example, the U.S. played Japan on Feb. 27, England on March 2 and Brazil on March 5, traveling at least 700 miles between each game. But its opponents in that and similar tournaments had identical travel and recovery periods.

Complicating matters ahead of Monday's game, temperatures in Reims are expected to peak at 90 degrees in the hour before the 6 p.m. local kickoff, the hottest weather the U.S. has experienced in France.

"I haven't paid attention to the weather report," Ellis said. "But for us, everything has been about making sure our recovery was happening the night of the Sweden game. After the huddle, I just said to them, 'The MVP right now is going to be your recovery and your hydration and your attention to detail,' in terms of making sure they do that. I think our players are fantastic with that, in terms of knowing that the next game starts as soon as that game is over."

Four years ago, the U.S. had five days off between its final group game and first knockout-round game against Colombia, which was ranked 28th in the world at the time. Spain is currently ranked 13th.

The oldest team in this World Cup, the U.S. already faced a condensed schedule by virtue of being one of the final two teams to play its opening game. If it reaches the final in Lyon on July 7, it will play seven games in 27 days.

"I would have taken an extra day or two," Kelley O'Hara said of the Spain game. "But no, it doesn't matter. It's all about getting the job done, whoever we're playing, focus on that."

The winner of Monday's game plays again on Friday in Paris against the winner of Sunday's game between France and Brazil.

Cleveland Indians prospect Bobby Bradley, the Triple-A home run leader, has been promoted from the minors and will make his major league debut Sunday against the Detroit Tigers.

The Indians recalled Bradley from Triple-A Columbus and optioned left-hander Josh Smith to Columbus in a corresponding move.

Bradley, 23, will start at first base and bat seventh in the lineup Sunday against Tigers left-hander Daniel Norris.

A third-round draft selection of the Indians in 2014, Bradley was batting .292 with 24 homers and 55 RBIs in 67 games for Columbus this season. He has hit at least 23 homers in each of the last five seasons in the minors.

The Indians promoted Bradley one day after designating outfielder Leonys Martin for assignment. Martin batted just .199 for the Indians this season and was mired in a 6-for-60 slump.

The Washington Nationals released right-handed reliever Trevor Rosenthal on Sunday after his struggles continued in his second stint in the major leagues this season.

Rosenthal had a 22.74 ERA in 6 1/3 innings over 12 appearances this season. In his final game for Washington on Saturday, he allowed three earned runs and three walks without recording an out as the Nationals blew a four-run lead in a 13-9 loss to the Braves.

The 29-year-old Rosenthal had rejoined the Nationals in June after starting the season with a 36.00 ERA in seven games -- not recording an out over his first four appearances -- and agreeing to go to extended spring training.

Things didn't go much better upon his return, as he had a 10.80 ERA over five appearances this month.

The Nationals have a major league worst 6.32 ERA from their bullpen this season.

An All-Star in 2015 with the St. Louis Cardinals, Rosenthal underwent Tommy John surgery in 2017 and missed all of the 2018 season.

The Nationals recalled right-hander Austin Voth from Double-A Harrisburg to fill the open roster spot. Voth, 26, was 1-1 with a 6.57 ERA in four games (two starts) for the Nationals last year.

The Atlanta Braves have optioned right-hander Mike Foltynewicz to Triple-A Gwinnett, the team announced Sunday.

Foltynewicz, a first-time All-Star last season, is 2-5 with a 6.37 ERA over 11 starts in 2019. He allowed eight runs on eight hits in four innings against the Washington Nationals on Saturday, though the Braves rallied for a 13-9 win.

"I've got a 7 ERA on a first-place team," Foltynewicz said after the game. "It's just tough. I'm battling every night. It's just tough. It's just the person I am. I'm going to wear that stuff on my sleeve, especially when things aren't going my way. It's just tough. It's all my fault, too."

The Braves recalled right-hander Chad Sobotka from Gwinnett in a corresponding move. Sobotka has an 8.25 ERA in 12 innings over 13 relief appearances for Atlanta this season.

Foltynewicz, 27, hasn't pitched past the sixth inning this year, with his ERA sitting above 5.00 all season.

He got a late start in 2019 after opening the season on the 10-day injured list with a right elbow bone spur, making his debut April 27.

Netball star Maria Folau will not be punished for supporting sacked rugby player husband Israel Folau.

Australian rugby union authorities terminated the devout Christian's contract over a social media post in which he said "hell awaits" gay people.

New Zealand international Folau, 32, shared a post from her husband on social media asking people to support his legal action against his sacking.

Australia's netball authorities - where Folau plays - have backed her.

In a statement, the sport's national governing body Netball Australia said it is "committed to providing welcoming, inclusive and supportive places for all people to play and watch our great game".

"We are aware that Adelaide Thunderbirds' athlete Maria Folau re-posted her husband's GoFundMe page details via social media. There is no action required by the league," the statement said.

"We will continue to support Maria as a valued member of the Thunderbirds and the Suncorp Super Netball league."

A statement by the chief executive of regional body Netball South Australia, Bronwyn Klei, said Folau has not broken the rules of her contract.

Klei added: "First and foremost, I want to be very clear that Netball South Australia is fiercely determined to provide an inclusive environment that allows anyone to participate in the great game of netball regardless of gender, belief, age race or sexual orientation.

"We also believe in fairness and perspective. Like millions of other people across Australia, Maria Folau uses her personal social media platform to share her life and beliefs with her family, friends and fans.

"While Netball SA is no way endorses the reposting, we do not believe Maria has contravened our social media policy."

Folau was in action on Sunday, missing two shots on the buzzer as her Thunderbirds side drew 51-51 with New South Wales Swifts in the Australian Super Netball Premiership.

Folau - the background

Capped 73 times by Australia, Israel Folau has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise AU $3m (£1.6m) for his legal case against his sacking.

By Sunday morning, more than 8,500 people had contributed AU $662,000 (£360,000) to the appeal.

Rugby Australia says Folau - who has also represented his country in rugby league and Australian rules football - was sacked "because of a serious breach of the Professional Players' Code of Conduct".

He has taken the matter to the Fair Work Commission, Australia's workplace relations tribunal, claiming his contract was unlawfully terminated.

Last weekend, Folau was recorded delivering a sermon at his church in Sydney. He said "the devil" is trying to influence the debate over transgender rights.

His wife has been questioned about his comments since his original social media post in April, but refused to comment.

Australia netball international Ashleigh Brazill recently said she received the New Zealander's support when she married her female partner.

Folau has 138 Test caps for the Silver Ferns and is expected to feature for her country at this summer's Netball World Cup in Liverpool, which starts on 12 July.

MADISON, Ill. – Ty Gibbs scored his first ARCA Menards Series victory with a last-lap pass on Sam Mayer in Saturday’s Day to Day Coffee 150 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Gibbs had the dominant car over the last third of race, but came down pit road under the final caution flag of the night with 10 laps to go. When the race restarted with six laps to go, Gibbs was eighth but he knifed his way through the field to second within three laps. He stalked Mayer the final three laps, and the two made contact in the final corners and Mayer drifted up the track and Gibbs went on to the victory.

“I had a pretty big gap coming to the white flag and I gained on him in turns one and two,” Gibbs said. “He overdrove it into three and four and gave me that shot and we’re at a short track so you might as well take it. It’s for the win and that’s pretty big. It’s a hard deal, but it’s been a long day. We had a motor issue and we fought back and won. It just shows how hard my guys work.

“I come to the track every week with the same determination and mentality to win the race,” he continued. “Every single weekend we run as hard as we can. We are super excited to that that first win.”

Mayer ended up third, and was not thrilled with the events of the last lap.

“I didn’t get passed,” Mayer said. “We had a fifth or sixth place car and we ended up third, so that’s good. But we were leading at the white flag. The GMS Racing guys gave me a really great car and made great calls to give us chance to win the race. I am really happy to come out of here with a third-place finish, which is probably better than we were going to be without that last caution. But we didn’t get passed on the last lap, we got moved on the last lap.”

Christian Eckes was able to sneak past Mayer in turn four to take second behind Gibbs. Eckes immediately climbed aboard his Kyle Busch Motorsports-owned Truck to compete in the CarShield 200 for the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series. He knew he didn’t have a shot to win without the last caution of the night, and his crew chief Kevin Reed made the only call he could to give him a chance to win.

“We had a great car but we weren’t going to catch Ty under green,” Eckes said. “We made the only call we could to pull off the win and we took it. We restarted second and finished second, so I guess it evened out. It was a great call by Kevin and the guys, and it was the only shot we had to win.”

Gibbs was joined post-race by his grandfather Joe Gibbs, team owner of Joe Gibbs Racing. The elder Gibbs is a member of the National Football Hall of Fame and is a 2020 inductee of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. While he has seen a lot of memorable moments in both sports, watching his grandson win for the first time was an emotional experience.

“I’ve been lucky to see a lot of really special moments in both football and in racing, but this is up there near the top,” he said. “We had a lot of success in football, and I thought Denny (Hamlin) winning the Daytona 500 with J.D. on the car was as good as it could get. But this is really special. When that last caution came out and we restarted eighth I was just…I was really discouraged. But he did a great job. Coy (Gibbs, Ty’s father) was here tonight and it’s just special we can all be here to see this.”

Corey Heim and Carson Hocevar rounded out the top five.

The finish:

Ty Gibbs, Christian Eckes, Sam Mayer, Corey Heim, Carson Hocevar, Drew Dollar, Travis Braden, Gavin Harlien, Thad Moffitt, Bret Holmes, Joe Graf Jr., Eric Caudell, Michael Self, Dick Doheny, Brad Smith, Chandler Smith, Tanner Gray, Tim Richmond, Tommy Vigh Jr., Mike Basham, Rick Clifton, Wayne Peterson.

KNOXVILLE, Iowa – Russ Hall picked up his first Pro Sprint Series presented by Pace Performance win at Knoxville Raceway Saturday night.

The native of Pleasant Hill, Iowa, held off the charge of veteran Chris Walraven to take the win aboard the Skillz Motorsports No. 29.

The Knoxville Raceway could not hold off the charge of Mother Nature, however.  Despite hard work all day by track crews and a quick program underway, persistent rains fell just after 8:30 p.m. bringing a halt to the action as the 360 sprint feature was ready to take the green.

Track officials will discuss the make-up of both the 360 and 410 features. Stay tuned for an announcement.

Rookie Mike Johnston was the early leader in the 15-lap Pro Sprints feature.  Second row starter Russ Hall trailed him, but took the lead coming to the completion of lap two.  Chris Walraven made a move by Jeff Wilke on the same circuit to take third.  On lap four, Walraven took the high side around Johnston for second and set his sights on the leader.

The last half of the race saw Walraven all over Hall for the lead.  On lap 11, he was just one-tenth of a second behind, and on the white flag lap was just ninety-five thousands of a second in arears.  Hall hit his marks on the low sides of turns two and four to carry his mount to the win

Following Hall across the line were Walraven, Johnston, Matthew Stelzer and Devin Wignall.  Chase Young, Mike Mayberry, Jeff Wilke, Brandon Worthington and Evan Epperson rounded out the top ten.  Walraven set quick time, while Johnston and Mayberry were heat winners.

“We put on junk tires to start with,” said Hall in victory lane.  “We had a hard time finding a used one in the pits. It’s good to be back in Victory Lane (Hall has three career 360 wins).  I’m glad to be racing!  I’m excited!  We had a good race there with Walraven.  I heard him there the whole time.  I didn’t know if I was going to make it.  I had a hard time getting off the corner.”

Lynton Jeffrey set his first quick time of the season in the 410 class, while Tasker Phillips, Sawyer Phillips and Josh Schneiderman won heat races.  Carson McCarl set quick time in the 360 class and won a heat, while Tasker Phillips and Josh Higday took the others.

FONDA, N.Y. – Rocky Warner, previously the man to beat in the Sportsman class at Fonda Speedway and around the Empire State, is rapidly achieving the same stature in the Modified division at Fonda.

Saturday night, Warner blasted around the outside after starting 11th to stand second behind Pep Coradi for a lap 20 restart.  On the green, he again hit turn one on the extreme outside and hit the backstretch with a lead that became a full turn in four laps and over a straightaway by the time the checkers were displayed.

Coradi held on for second despite Bobby Varin’s best efforts, with Jessica (Zemken) Friesen and Matt DeLorenzo rounding out the top five.  They were trailed by 16th starting rookie David Schilling, Steve Akers, Craig Hansen, Codie Bleau and Mike Maresca.

Scott Huber got the drop on polesitter Coradi on the initial break and led until lap ten, when Coradi and a handful of other pursuers finally got by him.  By then, Warner was sixth, but he kept charging and was all over Varin for fourth by halfway.

He drove around Varin in lapped traffic on 19, then did the same to second running Darwin Greene two laps later to put him alongside Coradi for the lap 20 restart.  From there, it was a cakewalk.

“I was running kind of far out there but there was nothing on the bottom,” said Warner.  “You can’t play follow the leader here.  Mostly, I was praying for a caution because Bobby Varin is so tough and that helped me get clear of him.”

Luke Horning was the Pro Stock winner in a feature that saw the lead pack run two, three and even four abreast through much of the race.  Kenny Gates drove from deep in the pack to swap the lead twice on the last lap, with Horning recovering to win by inches over Gates, Josh Coonradt and Nick Stone.

The visiting Vintage Replica racers feature saw Johnny Flach lead the entire distance in a replica of his own car, with Bryon Seyfield second in a popular Jack Johnson  No. 12A lookalike and Dan Wood third in a Kenny Tremont No. 115.

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Brandon Ward left with the trophy on Saturday at Bowman Gray Stadium, but Jonathan Brown was smiling just as big.

Ward qualified seventh – and when the entire modified field randomly drew for starting position, he was set to start fourth. Frank Fleming drew the pole for his start and shot out into the lead, with Ward quickly moving up to second.

Jonathan Brown  and John Smith elected to take on the Fans’ Challenge after qualifying in the top four: they would start in the rear and win $3,000 if either of them were to make it back up to top-four finish.

A few double-file restarts allowed Ward to challenge Fleming for the lead, completing the pass on lap 17. The double-file restarts also allowed defending champ Burt Myers of Walnut Cove to make his way forward up to second – where he began pressuring Ward.

Ward defended his territory until lap 74 when Myers completed a smooth pass for the lead on the outside row. It seemed like the race was over for Ward, but he battled back to reclaim the lead on lap 90. Myers delivered some stiff shots to Ward’s bumper, but Ward held strong and grabbed the checkered.

“We had a really good car early, and it just went away on me. It got way too free getting in, but these guys don’t give up on me – I can’t give up on them,” said Ward. “I just felt like if I could get a good start and get back to the front, get some laps under us, get some bite back in getting into the corner, we’d be okay.”

Jonathan Brown flew from 22nd up to 4th to win the $3,000 in Fans’ Challenge bonus money. But just as exciting as the prize money for Brown was the performance of his car – and what that means for the future.

“The $3,000 is a nice bonus, but the main thing I’m happy about is building the car and making it better. I came last week after only having the car for two days, and we qualified seventh and got two top-fives,” said Brown. “We took it to the shop and completely rebuilt it – we finished up about one o’clock this morning. We came over all day long and busted our butts to make it better.

“Tonight we qualified fourth, so we’ve gained on it,” said Brown. “I know we were as fast as or faster than the leaders. We had something to win with, for sure.”

Burt Myers finished on Ward’s bumper in second, with brother Jason Myers finishing third.

In the McDowell Heating & Air Sportsman Series, Justin Taylor slipped past Kyle Southern to win in the first 20-lapper. In the second 20-lap race, Dylan Ward claimed victory.

Billy Gregg won for the Law Offices of John Barrow Street Stock Series after spending all day struggling to fix his car. He got it race-ready just minutes before the green flag and held on to take the win.

In the Q104.1 Stadium Stock Series, Chuck Wall and Chris Allison each brought home a victory.

MADISON, Ill. – Redemption was on the mind of Ross Chastain Saturday night at World Wide Technology Raceway and that’s exactly what he got.

One week after Chastain and his Niece Motorsports team were disqualified after winning in NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series competition at Iowa Speedway, Chastain and company rebounded in the best way possible with a victory in the CarShield 200.

“These guys went home and we were mad. We felt like we had one taken away from us,” Chastain said about the disqualification last week at Iowa Speedway.

The victory was the result of a gamble by Chastain’s crew chief Phil Gould, who called for a fuel-only pit stop during the final round of pit stops. At the time Chastain was chasing Kyle Busch Motorsports rookie Christian Eckes, who had driven by Chastain to take the lead shortly after a restart with 75 to go.

Eckes pitted with 29 laps left and took two tires and fuel, with Chastain following one lap later for his fuel-only stop. That allowed Chastain to cycle out in front of Eckes and inherit the race lead with 18 laps left.

“I didn’t want to take tires. It was up to me to freaking hold them off. I don’t know how,” Chastain said.

Chastain was still the leader when the final caution flag of the night waved with 14 laps left when Harrison Burton and Sheldon Creed made contact, sending Burton around and into the outside wall in turns one and two.

The resulting caution period allowed Eckes and the rest of the field to close the gap on Chastain, who now had to survive a restart if he was hoping to make it into victory lane.

“That was the last thing I wanted to see,” Chastain said of the caution.

The race resumed with seven laps left and Chastain spun his tires, but a big push from third-place Todd Gilliland allowed Chastain to hold serve and pull clear of Eckes coming out of turn two.

Eckes stayed glued to the bumper of Chastain for the next several laps, never letting Chastain get more than a car length ahead of him. Gilliland and Stewart Friesen were also in the mix as the top-four closed in on the white flag.

Coming to the white flag out of turn four Eckes slipped up the track, opening the door for Gilliland to move to his inside and take second. That allowed Chastain to build a gap on his pursuers with one lap left.

In turn one Eckes tried to make a crossover move on Gilliland to regain second, but contact from Friesen sent Eckes spinning. All of that happened well behind Chastain, who crossed the finish line .704 of a second clear of Gilliland to earn his second victory of the season.

“I buzzed my tires like crazy (on the restart). I’ve got to thank Todd (Gilliland) for pushing me and not wrecking me,” said Chastain, who also earned a $50,000 bonus for winning the final race of the Triple Truck Challenge. “We didn’t have the fastest truck today, but we executed and we believed in each other. Man, that feels really good.”

Chastain is now playoff eligible, but must make it into the top-20 in Truck Series points if he hopes to qualify for the playoffs. He is currently 38 points outside of the top-20.

Friesen ended up third after the contact with Eckes on the final lap. Chandler Smith, who started 25th, came through the field to finish fourth. Brett Moffitt completed the top-five.

Eckes, who led a race-high 57 laps, ended up 14th after the spin on the final lap.

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