Megan Rapinoe is not in the starting lineup for the United States' semifinal match against England on Tuesday.

Christen Press has replaced Rapinoe for the 3 p.m. ET kickoff. Lindsey Horan is also starting in place of Sam Mewis.

Rapinoe did not participate in pregame warm-ups.

The decision to put Rapinoe on the bench was not disciplinary, according to a U.S. Soccer spokesperson.

Rapinoe has scored five goals in four matches during the Women's World Cup, including a pair of goals in both knockout matches for the Americans so far. She shares the lead for most goals at the World Cup with three others, including teammate Alex Morgan and England's Ellen White.

Rapinoe has also drawn attention from the release of a months-old video of her saying, "I'm not going to the f---ing White House" should the United States win a second straight Women's World Cup.

For England, Carly Telford has replaced Karen Bardsley as the starting goalkeeper. Bardsley has a hamstring injury.

Bardsley had not allowed a goal in England's last four matches in France.

Toni Duggan and Fran Kirby also are not in the starting lineup, replaced by Beth Mead and Rachel Daly.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

Smriti Mandhana, the star performer in Western Storm's ride to the Kia Super League semi-final in 2018, will rejoin the team for the upcoming 2019 season, alongside India team-mate Deepti Sharma.

Mandhana, the 22-year-old opener, topped the KSL batting charts last year with 421 runs at an average of 60.14 and a strike rate of 174.68, hitting a century and two half-centuries, helping Storm reach Finals Day before having to return for India duties.

"I enjoyed my time with Western Storm last year and I'm looking forward to coming back in 2019. We played some outstanding cricket last year and hopefully we can go a little further this season and lift the trophy," she said in a statement on the team's website. "Everyone involved with Western Storm made me feel so welcome and, if given the opportunity, I was always going to come back.

"The culture around the team, from top to bottom, was very good and I know that everyone will be looking for success once again. The squad has a good mix of experienced players plus young players who have a point to prove. I hope that I can score the runs that will help to contribute to a successful year for Western Storm."

Speaking about the signing, Storm head coach Trevor Griffin said, "Everyone knows what Smriti is capable of and she was absolutely sensational for us last year. Her performances on the field were superb and really set the tone for what we were trying to achieve in each match.

"It wasn't just the volume of her runs that was impressive, it was the manner in which they were scored that really caught the eye. She was exceptional off the field as well. Her team ethic and the way in which she goes about her training will no doubt inspire some of our younger players, who will certainly learn from someone like her."

On June 28, allrounder Deepti was announced as a Storm player, a few days after batsman Jemimah Rodrigues had signed up with Yorkshire Diamond.

Storm recently announced re-signing the England quartet comprising Heather Knight, Anya Shrubsole, Fran Wilson and Freya Davies, and the New Zealand wicketkeeper-batsman Rachel Priest, who have all been part of the franchise since the inaugural season, held in 2016.

There are a few contenders for the lowest moment in the history of England cricket. There have been defeats to the Netherlands, Ireland and Scotland. Global campaigns where it seemed they couldn't beat an egg. A home World Cup where, infamously, they lost before the theme song was released.

But if you want to find a single moment, a one-off game, where they didn't just plunge the depths, but went pot-holing in search of new ones, it is hard to look past February 20, 2015. Certainly, that's the view of Eoin Morgan, who reckons that defeat at the hands of New Zealand in the early stages of the previous World Cup was "rock bottom."

They weren't just defeated, he reckons, but "beaten off the park" in a manner that was "humiliating." Any pretense that England had a hope in that tournament - and there wasn't much, anyway - had been rubbished.

If Morgan's reflections on that game sound like an exaggeration, it may be worth a brief recap of what happened that afternoon in Wellington in February 2015. New Zealand took just 12.2 overs to chase down their target. Brendon McCullum smashed 77 in 25 balls while Steven Finn conceded 49 from his two overs. At one stage, England lost seven wickets for 19. The day-night match lasted, in its entirety, only 45.4 overs and was finished before there was a need to turn the lights on. It wasn't just a defeat; it was a massacre.

But sometimes rock bottom can prove a decent foundation. And, somewhere among the rubble of that World Cup campaign, Morgan came to some conclusions that were to prove the basis of England's resurgence over the next four years. And central to them was influence of that New Zealand side and their charismatic captain, McCullum.

Australia were a good side, of course. They nearly always are. They beat New Zealand in that World Cup final, after all. For many years, the default solution when England have struggled was to copy the Australian way. Remember all the keepers employed in the role of Adam Gilchrist? Or the legspinners asked to do an impression of Shane Warne? England aped their methods, employed their coaches and imitated their behaviour. Very often to no avail. So why not use them as a template?

The problem was that Australian side bristled and snarled. It seemed to need that energy. And while that worked for them, it didn't suit an England side containing Jos Buttler, Moeen Ali, Ian Bell et al. Remember Joe Root trying to sledge the Sri Lanka team of 2014? It was Shih Tzu employed as a guard dog. It didn't work and it didn't suit him.

So that New Zealand template was a far better fit. They still played aggressive, exhilarating cricket. But they did it with a smile and without the snarling and sledging for which Australia had become known. And their supporters weren't just proud of their results, they were proud of the way they played, the men they were and the nation they represented. In short: McCullum's New Zealand side showed England that you could play brilliant, aggressive cricket - the sort of cricket that can inspire a side and a new generation of followers - without being prats.

"It was as close to rock bottom as I've been," Morgan said of the 2015 defeat on Tuesday. "Certainly as a captain and as a player: being beaten off the park like that is humiliating.

"It was a terrible day. One of those moments in my career that will stand out forever in my life as a day where I was devastated not only with the way we performed but also the way we carried ourselves.

"But the influence of New Zealand throughout that whole World Cup on all the other teams around the world was quite extreme. New Zealand proved a point that you can actually be really good humans and grow the game and play cricket in your own way and win at the same time. It was incredibly eye-opening for a lot of countries around the world. I thought that rubbed off on everybody at the World Cup."

It was an impression strengthened in the months that followed. McCullum led his New Zealand team to the UK at the start of the 2015 season where they contested an especially entertaining series of games against a reborn England. In the first ODI, England made 400 for the first time and, three days later, made their highest score (at the time) batting second: 365-9. And still lost. Both sides played brilliant, outrageous, attacking cricket in a series that was a fantastic advert for the game. The Test series - in which Ben Stokes was recalled to bat at No. 6 and told he was staying there - was hardly less entertaining. The 'McCullumisation' of English cricket was underway. So was its revival.

England reminded themselves of the values and priorities instilled in those days following the defeat against Australia. They held a team meeting - much more of a rarity these days than was once the case - where they spoke honestly about their failings in the tournament to date. The consensus seemed to be: we've strayed from the method that made us; we need to get back to it.

"We haven't needed those meetings often," Morgan told the BBC. "It's happened a couple of times before, but not under the pressure of a World Cup. But the Australia game was clearly very frustrating for everyone in the changing room because we hadn't played to our potential. It wasn't that we had lost a few games, it was that we hadn't played anywhere near to the standard of the last four years. That was the most frustrating thing.

"So we discussed being adaptable and trying to stick to our strengths. Trying to play our A game with the bat and the ball and not trying to change anything that has got us to being No. 1 or see us coming into the tournament as joint-favourites.

"The majority of the guys spoke in the meeting. I thought it was extremely productive. The guys came out of it feeling energised, motivated and eager to take on India. It was a good clear indicator to reset, accept where we are at the moment and give clear direction on what we need to do in order to get to the semi-finals. It was extremely pleasing not just to win, but player in the manner we did. It gives the guys a lot of confidence."

They may need that confidence on Wednesday. The aftermath could be even worse than Wellington. Not in performance, perhaps - both sides really would have to go some to recreate those margins - but in outcomes. The simple fact is, this could be England's final match of the tournament: lose and there is a good chance they will be eliminated. And they haven't come all this way - figuratively, at least - to go out at this stage.

They go into the match, at least, with many things the way they want them. With the weather improving all the time, this Durham pitch looks hard and full of runs; the England management reckon it is the best batting surface they have encountered so far. And while there are aches and pains throughout the squad, Jofra Archer and Jason Roy are both deemed to be fit. Mark Wood is sore but should be fit, leaving Moeen Ali again likely to miss out.

Much as England want to win - you could make a case to suggest this is England biggest ODI since 1992; it's actually their biggest since Sunday - Morgan is insisting his team stick to their mantra: concentrate on the process.

"Part of the meeting the other day was to emphasise the process we've been through," he said. "The hard work we've put in and also the hard work you have to put in in order to earn the right to win a game of cricket. It will be a matter of staying in the moment and trying to stick to that process. And not being lured into worrying about consequences."

There's a lot to like about this England ODI team. Over the last four years, they've played some bold and brilliant cricket and given us rich entertainment. They've also done everything they can to reengage with a public who seemed, in part, to have fallen out of love with their sport and their team. If the game was still broadcast free-to-air, you suspect many of them would be household names and fine role-models. Early elimination would not entirely erase that, but it would be disingenuous to pretend it would not damage their legacy and their chance to reach a new generation. Put simply, success sells a lot easier than failure. England owe New Zealand plenty, but they have to be ungrateful on Wednesday.

India 314 for 9 (Rohit 104, Rahul 77, Pant 48, Mustafizur 5-59) beat Bangladesh 286 (Shakib 66, Saifuddin 51, Bumrah 4-55, Pandya 3-60) by 28 runs
As it happened

Bangladesh are out of the 2019 World Cup. They've beaten the teams they were expected to beat, and also a couple they may not have been, but they haven't managed to win any of their meetings with the tournament favourites, despite looking impressive and coming close on a couple of occasions. They came close against India at Edgbaston, but not close enough, falling 29 runs short in a chase of 315.

With this result, India become the second team after Australia to seal a spot in the semi-finals. They won an important toss, and got to a hugely advantageous position via a 180-run opening stand between Rohit Sharma, who scored his fourth hundred of this World Cup, and KL Rahul. Bangladesh kept chipping away at that advantage, with Mustafizur Rahman's cutters limiting the damage India could do in the slog overs, and their batsmen keeping them close to the required rate right through their chase, but they never completely nullified it.

Bangladesh lost a few too many wickets off not particularly threatening deliveries, and ended up with only two half-centurions - the unfaltering Shakib Al Hasan and their No. 8 Mohammad Saifuddin. That, in the end, sealed the deal.

The match was played on the same pitch that hosted the England-India match on Sunday, and it remained the same kind of pitch: flat but progressively slower. It also meant the square boundaries were the same - short on one side, long on the other. Both teams picked their teams with the boundaries rather than the surface in mind: spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Mehidy Hasan went out, and seamers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Rubel Hossain came in.

Batting first was a no-brainer, and Rohit and Rahul gave India the perfect start. Bangladesh's bowlers took a while getting used to the conditions, and offered plenty of hittable balls, with Rohit in particularly damaging form, pulling Mashrafe Mortaza and launching Saifuddin over extra-cover for big sixes in the first six overs. Bangladesh could have dismissed him in between, for 9, but Tamim Iqbal dropped a sitter at deep square leg when he miscued a pull off Mustafizur. That miss will go down alongside the no-ball from the 2015 World Cup quarter-final in the annals of what-if moments in Rohit vs Bangladesh.

More to follow...

Megan Rapinoe is not in the starting lineup for the United States' semifinal match against England on Tuesday.

Christen Press has replaced Rapinoe for the 3 p.m. ET kickoff. Lindsey Horan is also starting in place of Sam Mewis.

Rapinoe did not participate in pregame warm-ups.

The decision to put Rapinoe on the bench was not disciplinary, according to a U.S. Soccer spokesperson.

Rapinoe has scored five goals in four matches during the Women's World Cup, including a pair of goals in both knockout matches for the Americans so far. She shares the lead for most goals at the World Cup with three others, including teammate Alex Morgan and England's Ellen White.

She has also drawn attention from the release of a months-old video of Rapinoe saying, "I'm not going to the f---ing White House" should the United States win a second straight Women's World Cup.

For England, Carly Telford has replaced Karen Bardsley as the starting goalkeeper. Bardsley has a hamstring injury.

Bardsley had not allowed a goal in England's last four matches in France.

Toni Duggan and Fran Kirby also are not in the starting lineup, replaced by Beth Mead and Rachel Daly.

Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.

SAMS MEMORIAL STADIUM in Brownsville, Texas, sits 2 miles from the Mexican border and a world away from the home of Leo Ramos' mother on the other side. It's senior night for the Lopez High School football team, and Leo, a 17-year-old running back/defensive back for the Lobos, stands on the field waiting to be announced, looking up at the crowd. His mother has never seen him play and won't tonight either.

The stands are full. People file back from the concession stand with bags of chips and elote. Family, friends and players' girlfriends have painted paw prints on their cheeks and wear bedazzled T-shirts that say "Seniors 2019" and "Lobos." Leo stands on tiptoes to see into the parking lot over the crowd at the gate. He borrows a cellphone from his coach, Armando Gutierrez, hoping to reach his uncle Juan, who had to work late and is rushing with Leo's aunt Nancy to get to the stadium in time to walk him onto the field.

"It's OK, man. If they don't make it in time, I'll walk you out," Coach Gutierrez says. He knows this stadium and this moment well. He played for a nearby school and had his own name called on senior night in 1996.

Leo's aunt and uncle arrive as the names of the Lobos seniors are being read: Campos ... Garcia ... Mendoza ... Ramirez, and then, Ramos. Together, they walk onto the field with their arms linked, Leo in the center, and pause for photos. Aunt Nancy wears a yellow tank top with the number 28 to match Leo's jersey. Leo smiles as the crowd cheers for him, but as soon as the camera flashes, he dips his head and thinks of his mother. He walks into the locker room alone, stealing a last glance into the stands.

Leo doesn't allow himself the luxury of sentiment, though. This is a fall Friday night in Texas, and there is football to play. He and his teammates gather in the locker room for their last home game huddle.

This is not one of the done-up locker rooms of the bigger programs in Dallas and other parts of the state. There are no team colors painted on the walls, no names and numbers above the lockers. There are no lockers at all. Leo sits on a dark, worn wooden bench-his back to an open cubby into which someone else's initials are carved. Coach Gutierrez takes his place in the center of the circle his players have formed and pauses for a moment.

"What kind of men do you want to be? You know where you're from. You know what people expect of you. You need to go out there and prove everybody wrong every single day." Coach Armando Gutierrez to his team

"What kind of men do you want to be?" he asks. "You know where you're from. You know what people expect of you. You need to go out there and prove everybody wrong every single day." Coach meets the eyes of each player, one by one, his voice rising. "Be proud of who you are. Be proud of who you've become. The next time you talk about tonight, it's gonna be a memory, so make it a good one."

Football in Brownsville is different from in other American towns. The jersey on Leo's back is a symbol of the life and the opportunity he seeks on this side of the border. Leo is the only member of his family to be born in the United States. As an infant, his mother brought him back to Mexico but sent him to Brownsville to live with his aunt and uncle when he was 8 years old. "It was the most difficult decision of my life," she says.

She and Leo's four younger siblings live across the international bridge in Matamoros, in the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico, and cannot travel to the United States. Tamaulipas is designated with a Level 4 warning by the U.S. Department of State -- the same warning assigned to travel in Syria and Afghanistan -- due to high rates of violence and kidnapping carried out by drug cartels in the region. Despite these realities, Leo and his teammates try to find a sense of home on each side of the border.

MATAMOROS AND BROWNSVILLE are sister cities, separated naturally by the Rio Grande river and more noticeably by a 20-foot-high steel fence authorized under the Secure Fence Act in 2006 that runs along the river's northern bank.

In downtown Brownsville, Mexican cumbia music plays from the open doorways of small groceries and stores selling silk flowers. Brownsville's population of roughly 180,000 is over 95 percent Latino. The city is poor, the second-poorest in the country, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Many of the people working in these shops cross the bridge each night to go home to Mexico, where the cost of living is much lower.

From the right angle, you can almost forget which side of the border you're on-but widen your view and it becomes clear. Brownsville is a militarized city with unrelenting surveillance. Moving about feels tense. Vehicles and uniforms emblazoned with the logos of Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Brownsville Police, Texas State Troopers and the U.S. National Guard patrol the streets night and day.

Leo lives about 2,000 feet from the border at the very southern tip of Texas, in a part of town called La Southmost. People there love their football sons and they love their Dallas Cowboys. After each Cowboys victory, La Southmost is home to La Pitada, a celebration at which hundreds of cars form a makeshift parade and honk their horns through the streets. People in Cowboys jerseys stand on truck beds and hang out of windows waving American flags and Cowboys banners.

There was a time in Brownsville -- at least until the late 1990s -- when people would drop a coin into the turnstile on the international bridge, the southernmost point of entry into Mexico from the U.S., and cross into Matamoros for lunch, shopping or a night out. In high school, Coach Gutierrez and his friends would go to Mexico during sixth-period lunch and be back in time for seventh-period athletics. For the most part, people remember feeling safe visiting Matamoros, a much larger city of nearly 450,000, but that all changed in 2010.

THE GULF CARTEL is one of the oldest organized crime syndicates in Mexico, active since the 1930s. Its main business is drugs. Other crimes-money laundering, extortion, kidnapping, murder-are all tributaries feeding the river of drug trafficking. In February 2010, a faction of the Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas, broke ties. A cartel war immediately erupted in Matamoros over control of the territory, and thus began what has become nearly a decade of indescribable and indiscriminate violence throughout Matamoros, including kidnappings, beheadings, torture and murder.

Meanwhile, the violent crime rate in Brownsville is lower than that of Texas as a whole, highlighting the dual reality not only for Leo and his family but for so many border towns and families throughout the Southwest. Their lives are not wholly defined by the violence on the other side of the border, but like seeing a storm cloud build in the distance, it makes for a constant unease.

"You can see [on the news] there was this shooting in Mexico, but the reality is that it's right next door," says Aunt Nancy. "What can I do? How do I stay away from that?"

Leo and his aunt and uncle try to visit his mother, brothers and sister every Saturday, but some weeks it is too dangerous. "Everything just becomes scarier, because anything can hit you out of nowhere over there," Leo says. "I'm more aware of my surroundings. I start looking everywhere."

Each time he leaves his family to come back to the U.S., Leo stares out the car window as the roads become smoother, wondering if they will be safe until the next time he can see them. He knows-they all know-he is working to build what he hopes will be a better life for all of them, but sometimes he feels like he's on the clock. His brother is 14, and Leo worries he soon could be recruited into the cartel.

"I think he says goodbye in a happy manner, like, 'OK, Mom, goodbye. I'll see you next week,'" Nancy says. "Yet he still doesn't want to show that feeling of, 'Oh my god, I'll be gone for one more week, and if I don't come next week, it'll be the following week.' You know, that sadness, but he expresses it with happiness just so that his mother and his siblings don't see that."

LEO IS FAST. He pushes himself on the field as if there is a dare between his will and his body to see which will break first. After back-to-back long carries in a November rivalry game, he leans over a trash can on the sideline waiting to see if he will throw up, then jogs back out to line up for the next play.

Leo likes football for many reasons, not the least of which is the hitting. When so much of your life is shaped by violence that you can't control, the violence you can control feels good.

"The hitting took my fear away from everything that was going on around my family," he says. "[When] I'm playing football, I don't think about anything negative-the situation with my family, them living in Mexico. When I play football, I play it with a passion because I know I'm playing it for them."

Coach Gutierrez knows the feeling well. He's first generation American too -- the eldest son of a single mother who was a migrant worker when he was a child.

"My father left when I was 4, and football was my only way to take out aggression," he says. "I think Leo has that same fire. When he gets on the field, his demeanor changes. He's just focused and locked in. ... Out of everybody else, he'll step up."

Coach Gutierrez played football in Brownsville, went to college at the University of North Texas and coached high-profile high school programs in Dallas and Denton, Texas. After 10 years there, something -- God's plan, an upcoming 40th birthday, the ineffable instinct to return to the places we come from -- brought him home in August 2018.

Early in the season, Lopez High played Donna High and Leo scored a 65-yard touchdown off a punt return with 30 seconds left to put the Lobos up three. It was a play worthy of a highlight reel, until it was called back on an illegal block. The Lobos lost 17-14.

"He came in here ... and he just cried for like 30 minutes," Coach Gutierrez says.

Leo is generally shy. He has a thoughtfulness and gentleness about him, but like most 17-year-olds, his emotions are as tangled and far-reaching as the roots of an oak. Coach Gutierrez knew Leo was crying about more than the play. He knew it wasn't even any one thing in particular, that the weight of living life beyond your years, of straining on emotional tiptoes to hold together a family and live a life worthy of its sacrifice, can catch up with a young man.

"I told him my story too," Coach Gutierrez says. "He sat down and he goes, 'So you understand?' I go, 'Completely.'"

Football is a luxury in Brownsville. It is what comes after work is done and the family is looked after, but it is also the trellis on which Leo has grown up and continues to find his way.

"That play meant a lot to me because of the fact that I had done it for my team," Leo says. "[Coach] was telling me how this sort of thing happens in life. He told me that when you least expect it, somebody is going to take something away from you that you worked so hard for."

AS HE NEARS the Mexican border, Leo wrings his hands and looks out the window. His leg bounces as if all the things on his mind are in desperate need of a way out.

He has made this trip for nearly a decade, but the risk is never lost on him.

His mom and aunt check Facebook every day, sometimes every hour, to see which parts of town are active with shootings and cartel activity. When the violence metastasizes, everyone stays inside. This week, though, it's OK to visit.

Just through the border on the Matamoros side is an area Brownsville locals call the "green zone" -- a few small stores, a pharmacy, a taqueria -- where it is considered safe to visit. Continue on and the buildings fall into deeper disrepair, and foot traffic becomes sparse. The houses are set right against the road, each brightly painted with a small, enclosed patio behind an iron gate.

"It's a lot of pressure knowing that if I mess up, I'm failing them, and I don't want to do that." Leo Ramos on living in Brownsville while his family lives in Matamoros

Because he was born in Texas, Leo is afforded rights and opportunities not available to his mother and siblings. It is hard being away, of course-separated by laws and policies beyond their control-but in a different way, being with them for short stints can be hard too.

Angel greets him at the gate of his mother's home. The two brothers text each other throughout the week-mostly about girls and track or football-but it's been different the past year or so. The distance, both figuratively and literally, has become increasingly difficult to narrow.

"I mean, being away from my family, it really distanced us a lot," Leo says. "And I'm gonna be honest about it, sometimes when I go to Matamoros, I don't spend my time wisely with my family. Sometimes I just go to my room and lock myself inside there. ... I feel guilty about it, because instead of me communicating with my family, I lock myself up for no reason."

Leo has brought a video of his recent track meet. The whole family gathers around the kitchen table and watches him run -- even his two 8-year-old brothers are attentive and quiet. Leo's mother cries quietly, smiles sadly at the screen. She is raising Leo's four siblings alone, making around $7 per day working in a nail salon. She knows these opportunities wouldn't exist for Leo in Matamoros, but it doesn't ease the difficulty of watching her firstborn son live his life without her.

When it comes time to leave, Leo lingers in the doorway. His sister holds him tight around the waist and closes her eyes. It's not long before a familiar heaviness creeps into his thoughts like a fog rolling in.

"It's a lot of pressure. It's a lot of pressure knowing that if I mess up, I'm failing them, and I don't want to do that. I honestly want to succeed, you know? And to prove to them that anything is possible. I'm over here, like, having a good education, having sports without having to pay," he says. "Sometimes I do question myself, like, 'Why me? Why couldn't it be all my other brothers living up here and having a good life?' It's pretty difficult to think about it sometimes."

COACH GUTIERREZ watches from the 30-yard line as the seniors do a lap around the stadium track. Their friends join them, everyone in navy and gold, and together they sing and cheer and take photos, reveling in a moment for which many of them will someday grow nostalgic. The Lobos lost the game on senior night but never gave up against the best team in the district. Leo rushed for a touchdown. There is plenty to be proud of.

Leo and his two best friends lead the seniors as they take their final lap. Theirs is a team of young men, some of whom line up on the international bridge before dawn and cross the border each morning to come to school, some of whom are undocumented and unsure of what comes next for them, some of whom have lost loved ones to the violence in Matamoros, and some of whom have seen family members lured into the cartel. Their stories are different, but each is defined by fences, fears, bridges and marked SUVs.

There is a duality to each of them, as there is to football here in Brownsville. This is their American experience as they navigate what it means to be Mexican-American, or American-Mexican.

After the crowd has thinned, Leo and the same two friends walk out to the 50-yard-line. In the center of the field, the state of Texas is painted in red, white and blue. They take a knee right in the heart of it, and with hands on one another's shoulders, they pray.

"We prayed for better days," he says. "Because all of us go through something every day."

A few months later, Leo walks out onto the field again. This time, he's in a navy blue graduation robe. The stadium lights are on, and the stands are full again. He knows his mother isn't there, but he still looks for her face in the crowd. He takes a seat among his classmates and waits for his name to be called.

Near the end of the ceremony, the Lopez Early College High School class of 2019 turns its tassels, and with that, Leo achieves what his mother hoped he could do when she sent him to Brownsville 10 years ago. Afterward, his aunt and uncle greet him with balloons and hugs.

"I finally made it. That was the moment. I finally made it," Leo says. "I accomplished one of the goals that I told my mom I was going to accomplish, which is to be a senior and I'm going to graduate."

He isn't sure what comes next. He has an offer to run track for Central Methodist University in Missouri, should his latest test scores come back high enough. His mother is conflicted about the possibly of him going so far away, and it weighs on Leo. "There was no happiness in her. She just said a few words and looked at her phone and just got up and walked away," he says about the moment he shared his college prospects.

Leo believes she will come around, however. Now that he's 18, he hopes to legally apply to bring his mother and siblings to the United States so they can be together, even though it will require navigating an intimidating and ever-changing immigration system.

"Every day I tell myself, 'You're gonna do this, and you're gonna do it right. You're not gonna mess up. You've got this opportunity and you're not gonna let it go,'" he says.

He sometimes wonders about what life might be like outside of Brownsville and Matamoros, about opportunities he might find beyond the Rio Grande Valley, but it's hard to look beyond the fence and the river, the gulf that divides and defines the only life his family knows. Even as he looks forward, Leo is drawn home.

"Just to keep making her proud," Leo says. "That's my goal."

E:60 feature producer Jeremy Williams contributed to this story.

Restricted free agent F/C Daniel Theis has agreed to a two-year, $10 million deal to stay with the Boston Celtics, CAA agents Michael Tellem and Aaron Mintz tell ESPN.

Theis will compete for minutes in the frontcourt, including at backup center. Boston lost five-time All-Star Al Horford in free agency, but signed free agent center Enes Kanter to a two-year deal and return 2018 first-round pick Robert Williams.

Theis, 27, has averaged 5.5 points and 3.9 rebounds in his two seasons with the Celtics.

Theis, a four-time German All-Star, played two seasons with the Brose Bamberg of the EuroLeague.

Restricted free-agent forward Dorian Finney-Smith has agreed to a three-year, $12 million deal to re-sign with the Dallas Mavericks, sources told ESPN.

Finney-Smith has developed into a quality role player since joining the Mavericks as an undrafted rookie three years ago. He averaged 7.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in 24.5 minutes per game last season and is one of Dallas' best perimeter defender.

The Mavs still have more than $22 million in salary-cap space and hope to sign Danny Green, according to sources. Green is waiting for two-time title teammate Kawhi Leonard to make his free-agency decision before determining whether he will accept Dallas' offer.

The Athletic first reported Finney-Smith's deal.

The Philadelphia 76ers offered All-Star guard Ben Simmons a five-year, $170 million maximum extension, and the sides are working through contract details toward an eventual agreement, league sources tell ESPN.

Sixers general manager Elton Brand and Simmons' agent, Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, have until mid-October to finalize a rookie extension, but there's a shared expectation a signed agreement will come significantly sooner, league sources said.

Simmons, the 2016 No. 1 overall pick and 2018 NBA Rookie of the Year, is one of the cornerstone stars for the 76ers. His teammates, including All-Star center Joel Embiid (five years, $150 million), Tobias Harris (five years, $180 million) and Al Horford (four years, $109 million) have been secured with long-term deals.

Simmons, 22, averaged 16.9 points, 8.8 rebounds and 7.7 assists for the Sixers last season. At 6-foot-10, he has one of the NBA's most unique skill sets as a playmaker and finisher at the rim.

Once again the Philadelphia 76ers have a new look, and once again it looks great on paper. Regardless of what Kawhi Leonard chooses to do in NBA free agency, the Sixers will enter next season as legitimate contenders in the Eastern Conference. Despite losing JJ Redick and Jimmy Butler, the quick acquisitions of Al Horford and Josh Richardson keep the Sixers in the conversation.

Still, the best NBA teams possess both strong offenses and defenses, and Philly is not there yet. Last season the Sixers ranked just 11th in net rating. The offense worked (No. 8 in the NBA), but the defense was just average (No. 14). That's not good enough.

The good news is that both new guys arrive with sterling reputations for getting stops. It's easy to imagine this new group becoming a top-10 defense soon.

During Horford's tenure in Boston, he was the centerpiece of one of the league's most dependable defenses. Out of the 15 NBA bigs who defended at least 2,000 pick-and-roll plays last season, Horford ranked second in efficiency, per Second Spectrum tracking. Opponents scored just 0.93 points per direct pick when Horford was defending the screener. Joel Embiid -- no slouch on defense either -- allowed 0.94.

Meanwhile, with the Miami Heat, Richardson built his brand by playing outstanding perimeter defense. He provides Philly with an active, versatile wing capable of frustrating even the world's best perimeter players. Just ask JJ Redick, or watch Richardson here:

Richardson is a top-notch 3-and-D wing who pairs that elite defense with above-average 3-point shooting. He's no Redick, but Richardson made 36% of his 3s last year, which is right at the league average. However, that 36% is a little misleading.

Drilling down a bit further, it's clear that Richardson is better at some kinds of 3s than others. In Philly, it's likely his 3-point activity will skew toward his strengths and away from his weaknesses.

Last year, Richardson hurt his overall 3-point efficiency by launching a bunch of off-the-dribble 3s. He made just 28% of them. As he moves from Miami's anemic offensive environment (which ranked No. 26 in efficiency last season) to Philly's star-studded lineup, his usage rate will dip and his shot quality will rise.

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Richardson is much better in catch-and-shoot situations than he is off the bounce. Last season, he hit 38% of his catch-and-shoot 3s (69th percentile, per Second Spectrum), and perhaps no young player in the world is as good at creating such shots than Ben Simmons, his new teammate. Last season, Simmons' passes led to 782 3-point shots for his teammates. Nobody in Miami had more than 312 ... and that was Richardson himself, who has developed into a much better playmaker over the course of his career. Unlike Butler, Richardson will be content to play off the ball and stretch the floor, making him an ideal wing alongside Simmons.

Richardson may not be as good as Redick as a shooter, but he's really good at hitting open catch-and-shoot 3s. His shooting percentage jumped to 42.4% (73rd percentile) when his defender was at least 6 feet away. Simmons created 452 such open looks last year, and it's fair to expect Richardson's 3-point activity to skew toward his strengths in Philly, where he'll play alongside higher-usage teammates who command a lot of defensive attention.

While Richardson seems like an ideal player alongside Simmons and Embiid, Horford's fit is a little more concerning. According to Basketball-Reference, Horford spent 92% of his time as a center last season. Philly already has a pretty good center. Can Horford and Embiid play together? In an era defined by smaller and smaller lineups, Philly is making a bet that they can.

It helps that both dudes are versatile two-way players. Horford is light-footed enough to guard smaller guys on defense and skilled enough to spread the floor on offense. He's a much better passer and floor general than Embiid, but it's still fair to question how these giants will space the floor in tandem. At least they'll have some time to experiment and figure it out during the regular season.

Horford doesn't clog up the paint or need to post up to thrive on offense. He's an efficient offensive player who does his best work in the paint and from downtown.

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He's another screener, another passer and another catch-and-shoot threat for head coach Brett Brown to play with on offense. Furthermore, he's an unselfish chameleon who already has demonstrated he'll do what it takes to fit in.

The challenge may be on defense. Will smaller, faster opponents be able to exploit the relative slowness featuring Horford and Embiid? Maybe, but Horford is no ordinary center. If he can effectively defend opposing 4s, Philly should be just fine, especially considering the fleet of help defenders who surround him. When Simmons is locked in, he can help clean up defensive miscues that arise.

And here's the thing: The Horford acquisition enables Brown to stagger his lineups (and his load managements) in ways that consistently will keep at least one great big on the floor. Embiid is likely to miss time, and Horford helps mitigate that. Similarly, the presence of Embiid helps Philly manage the minutes of its brand-new 33-year-old big man. Their combined presence means both can get more nights off while not needing to play more than 30 minutes per game.

Even if Kawhi returns to the Raptors, the East is wide-open. Toronto deserves to be the favorite to start the year, but Philly is right there with the Milwaukee Bucks threatening to dethrone the champs. And if Leonard leaves, the East looks like a two-team race between the Bucks and Sixers.

Last season, the Bucks logged the best record in the league because they paired a great offense with a great defense. With the arrival of Richardson and Horford, the Sixers are in the process of doing the same thing.