MEXICO CITY -- León captain James Rodríguez and coach Eduardo Berizzo urged FIFA on Friday to reconsider booting the Mexican team from the Club World Cup.

León was axed last week for failing to comply with regulations regarding multi-club ownership.

León and fellow Mexican club Pachuca both qualified but have the same owner, Grupo Pachuca.

"It's a big injustice," Rodríguez said in a news conference. "If they leave us out it is not going to be fair and it will be a stain on soccer. There are fans that have bought tickets and are in debt to pay for them. How do you tell them now that they are not going to go?"

Rodríguez, the Golden Boot winner at the 2014 World Cup, signed a one-year deal to play for León and one of the reasons was to play in the Club World Cup staged in the United States this summer.

"I'm happy to be here," Rodriguez said. "Whether or not we play in the Club World Cup does not change the fact that I want to stay here. This is something new for me. I never qualified for a Club World Cup, and weeks before they tell you that you are out. I hope FIFA can do something."

León's owner Grupo Pachuca has announced it will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport next month.

"The CAS should rule in our favor," Berizzo said. "We have the right to compete, we did not break any law. The decision is unfair, there is time to fix this."

FIFA has yet to announce a replacement team but Costa Rican club Liga Deportiva Alajuelense has put its hand up. Alajuelense asked FIFA last November to enforce its multi-ownership rules.

"The teams raising their hands for the right to compete in our place should be ashamed of themselves," León midfielder Andrés Guardado said.

"It is a brutal injustice. If anyone has done things wrong it is FIFA. Multi-club ownership in Mexico has existed for many years and FIFA still allow us to compete."

In Mexico, beside León and Pachuca, three more companies own two or more clubs in the first division. Grupo Caliente owns Tijuana and Queretaro, while Grupo Orlegi controls Atlas and Santos. TV Azteca owns Mazatlan and has partial ownership of Puebla.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- MiLaysia Fulwiley scored 23 points, including a go-ahead layup with 2:22 left, and Chloe Kitts added 15 points and 11 rebounds to help No. 1 seed South Carolina beat fourth-seeded Maryland 71-67 on Friday in the Sweet 16 of the women's NCAA tournament.

The defending national champion Gamecocks went back and forth with the Terrapins all game before putting it away in the final few minutes.

South Carolina will face Duke in the Elite Eight on Sunday. The Blue Devils beat Atlantic Coast Conference rival North Carolina 47-38 earlier Friday.

Dawn Staley's team trailed 60-59 with 3:25 left before holding Maryland without a point over the next three minutes. Fulwiley's layup began the 7-0 run that gave the Gamecocks (33-3) just enough cushion.

Kitts added three free throws during the spurt and Fulwiley scored on a coast-to-coast drive.

The Gamecocks were up 66-60 with 25 seconds left when Saylor Poffenbarger ended Maryland's scoring drought with a 3-pointer.

But the Terps couldn't get closer as the Gamecocks made five of six free throws down the stretch, including two by Fulwiley with 10.9 seconds left that made it 71-65.

Kaylene Smikle scored 17 points to lead Maryland (25-8) before fouling out.

Neither team got into an offensive flow in the first three quarters. South Carolina trailed 43-39 late in the third before closing out the period with a 13-7 run that was capped by a spectacular transition basket by Fulwiley, who went behind her back and then hit a pull-up shot.

The two teams had met once in the NCAA tournament, an 86-75 win for South Carolina in the Elite Eight in 2023.

South Carolina avoided becoming the first defending champion to lose this early in the tournament since Louisville knocked off Brittney Griner and Baylor in 2013 in the Sweet 16.

OWINGS MILLS, Md. -- The Baltimore Ravens reached a three-year contract extension with coach John Harbaugh on Friday, which maintains continuity for one of the most stable franchises in the NFL.

The new deal keeps Harbaugh under contract with the team through the 2028 season.

Harbaugh, 62, was entering the final year of a contract that he signed in March 2022. The Ravens have never let him start a regular season on the final year of his contract since he was hired in 2008.

He is the team's all-time winningest head coach with a 185-115 record over 17 seasons. Harbaugh guided the Ravens to a Super Bowl title in 2012, and his 12 playoff berths are the second most in the league behind Andy Reid (14) since he arrived in Baltimore.

Harbaugh is the second-longest tenured NFL coach behind the Steelers' Mike Tomlin, who completed his 18th season in Pittsburgh. No other coach has been with his current team for more than 12 years.

An extension between Harbaugh and the Ravens had been expected. Shortly after Baltimore's season ended with a 27-25 divisional round loss in Buffalo in late January, Harbaugh said he wasn't worried about his contract status.

This past season, Harbaugh led Baltimore to its second straight AFC North title despite an 0-2 start, which included a home loss to the 4-13 Las Vegas Raiders. He also helped first-year defensive coordinator Zach Orr bounce back from some early-season struggles by adding Dean Pees as a senior adviser.

Harbaugh's strength of keeping his team even keel came into play at the end of last season, when Baltimore fell to 8-5 heading into the bye and trailed first-place Pittsburgh by two games with four weeks remaining. The Ravens then rebounded to win their last four games of the regular season by a combined score of 135-43.

But playoff success has been a challenge lately, even with one of the top players in the NFL in quarterback Lamar Jackson. Under Harbaugh, the Ravens have advanced past the divisional round only once since winning the Super Bowl 12 seasons ago.

The Ravens have become one of the most sound franchises since relocating from Cleveland in 1996. Over the past 29 years, the Ravens have had three head coaches (Ted Marchibroda, Brian Billick and Harbaugh), two general managers (Ozzie Newsome and Eric DeCosta) and two owners (Art Modell and Steve Bisciotti).

When the Ravens hired Harbaugh in 2008, he was considered an outside-the-box hire because his expertise had been on special teams. In replacing Billick, Harbaugh changed the culture and turned the Ravens into a perennial Super Bowl contender.

Using bold decisions and a team-first mentality, Harbaugh has led Baltimore to a .617 win percentage -- including the playoffs -- and has guided the Ravens to six AFC North titles, two No. 1 seeds and four trips to the AFC Championship Game. The Ravens have had just two losing seasons under Harbaugh, when his starting quarterbacks Joe Flacco and Jackson suffered season-ending injuries in 2015 and 2021.

With Harbaugh's new deal, the Ravens removed one of the bigger question marks surrounding the championship-caliber team. By returning 19 starters, the Ravens have the third-best odds to win the Super Bowl this season (+650), according to ESPN BET.

SPOKANE, Wash. -- USC coach Lindsay Gottlieb made it clear Friday that she did not think the play that resulted in JuJu Watkins' season-ending ACL tear was dirty.

Gottlieb also condemned the online bullying against Mississippi State player Chandler Prater, who was guarding Watkins when she was injured in the first quarter of the Trojans' second-round win Monday.

"There was nothing to me that looked like it had any intent to hurt her. ... I mean, that's not a USC view at all," Gottlieb said. "It was a physical game. ... No one deserves online bullying in any realm, but certainly not a young woman in Chandler, who was trying to make a play, and unfortunately our player got hurt."

As Watkins sprinted down the floor, Prater came to guard her and the two made contact as Watkins started to drive toward the basket. Watkins' right knee buckled, and she crumbled to the court, eventually needing assistance to get back to the locker room. It was later revealed that she tore an ACL in the knee and was done for the year.

For the rest of the game, boos rained down on Mississippi State, especially any time Prater touched the ball.

Bulldogs head coach Sam Purcell said after the game that he was praying for Watkins, adding that his team doesn't "play to hurt, we play to compete." He also expressed his hope that the situation wouldn't stir up further unrest or ill will between the two teams.

But Prater still became the subject of hateful comments online. Some fans called her a "dirty" player and said "it's war" against her. Others told her to "learn to play basketball without fouling and injuring players."

Prater has disabled the ability for users to comment on her most recent social media posts, but fans went to older posts to send their messages.

"We have really passionate fans, and there's a lot of love for JuJu, and I understand people being sad and hurt that she's hurt, but nobody in our camp feels like there was any type of attack on her and would not support any type of online bullying or things of that nature," Gottlieb said. "She's a young person that was playing basketball, too, and I'm sure did not want any part of a negative situation that it turned out to be."

USC continues its season Saturday in a Sweet 16 matchup against Kansas State.

PHOENIX -- Right-hander Brandon Pfaadt agreed to a five-year, $45 million deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday as the team continues its push to secure its young standouts on long-term contracts.

Pfaadt's deal begins in 2026 and includes a club option for 2031 and a mutual option in 2032.

Pfaadt, 26, was one of the team's most consistent pitchers last season, finishing with an 11-10 record and a 4.71 ERA while setting career highs in wins, starts (32), innings pitched (181) and strikeouts (185).

Pfaadt also gave the team an unexpected boost during its postseason run to the World Series in 2023, going 3-1 with a 3.27 ERA over five starts.

He'll make $799,400 this year before the new contract kicks in next season.

Pfaadt's deal is the latest example of the D-backs signing young players to long-term extensions, joining shortstop Geraldo Perdomo (four years, $45 million) and reliever Justin Martinez (five years, $18 million).

Pfaadt was a fifth-round pick out of Bellarmine in 2020.

MILWAUKEE -- Brewer Hicklen is no longer a Brewer.

The outfielder was traded by the Brewers to the Detroit Tigers on Friday for cash. The move comes a day after he was designated for assignment.

The 29-year-old Hicklen scored a run but went hitless in four plate appearances for Milwaukee last season while appearing in six games. He also hit .246 with 22 homers, 72 RBI and 44 steals in 115 games with Triple-A Nashville.

When Milwaukee called him up last September, it marked the first time in franchise history that the Brewers' roster had a player named Brewer.

Hicklen also appeared in six games with the Kansas City Royals in 2022.

TAMPA, Fla. -- Rookie Kameron Misner led off the ninth inning with his first major league home run, giving Tampa Bay a 3-2 win over the Colorado Rockies on Friday as the Rays began their season of home games at Steinbrenner Field.

Miser, a 27-year-old who debuted last August, entered as a defensive replacement in the eighth. He drove a first-pitch fastball from Victor Vodnik (0-1) over the right-field wall for his second big league hit.

He became the first player in major league history to have his first home run be a walk-off home run on Opening Day.

"I'm actually still trying to feel it," he said on the field after the win. "It all happened so fast. Best-case scenario."

Pete Fairbanks (1-0) worked around two walks in the ninth for the win.

Tampa Bay is playing at the New York Yankees' spring training home after Hurricane Milton destroyed the Tropicana Field roof Oct. 9.

Kyle Freeland struck out seven in six scoreless innings for the Rockies, coming off their sixth straight losing season. Freeland threw 53 of 67 pitches for strikes, starting his first eight batters with strikes and 15 of 20 overall.

Tampa Bay tied the score in the seventh on Jonathan Aranda's sacrifice fly and José Caballero's RBI single against Tyler Kinley.

Tampa Bay last year ended a streak of five straight postseason appearances.

Colorado's Ezequiel Tovar hit an RBI double in the third and Kyle Farmer a sacrifice fly in the fourth against Ryan Pepiot, who gave up two runs -- one earned -- and six hits in six innings with eight strikeouts and a walk.

Mickey Moniak made his Rockies debut as a pinch runner in the ninth and was caught stealing.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Novak Djokovic eased past Grigor Dimitrov to reach his first Miami Open final since 2016 and move within one win of his 100th career ATP title.

Bulgaria's Dimitrov broke Djokovic in the opening game, but the Serb, watched on by his British coach Andy Murray, broke back.

World number five Djokovic, 37, reeled off five straight games to win the first set.

Dimitrov made a shaky start to the second set and the 24-time Grand Slam champion took advantage to progress 6-2 6-3.

"It feels great [to reach the final] without dropping a set," Djokovic told Sky Sports.

"I am feeling as good as I have since the Olympics last year."

Things started off well in windy conditions for 14th seed Dimitrov, 33, in the oldest ATP Masters 1,000 semi-final in history.

He won the first game on Djokovic's serve but was unable to capitalise and the classy Serb hit his stride and cruised to the first set.

After a fan was ejected after saying something to annoy Dimitrov, the Bulgarian made a slow start to the second set.

Dimitrov, last year's beaten finalist, won three of his service games, but Djokovic was just too good.

The six-time Miami Open champion only made five unforced errors to his opponent's 32.

"There were a couple of tight games in the last part of the match," said Djokovic.

"It was 4-2, 30-30 and he missed a couple of forehands and then I found some really good serves with new balls in the last game.

"These were tricky conditions. Very swirly. The wind was not consistent, changing a lot. It's not easy to find control of the ball.

"I tried to make him play in these conditions because he's a clean hitter. I knew he'd struggle if I made him play an extra shot. He struggled with the first serve more than I did."

The fourth seed, at 37 years and 10 months old, is the oldest ATP Masters 1,000 finalist ever, having also been the oldest semi-finalist.

He will face either unseeded Czech Jakub Mensik or American Taylor Fritz, in Sunday's final. They play their semi-final later on Friday.

Among the spectators was Argentina footballing great Lionel Messi, who plays for Inter Miami.

Edinburgh: Goosen, Graham, M Currie, Lang, Van der Merwe, Thompson, Vellacott, Schoeman, Harrison, Rae, Sykes, Gilchrist, Ritchie, Watson, Bradbury.

Replacements: Cherry, Venter, Sebastian, Young, Douglas, Price, C Scott, McCann.

Dragons: Anderson, Dyer, Westwood, Owen, Hewitt, Reed, R Williams, Martinez, Dee, Latu, Davies, Cummins, Lewis-Hughes, Keddie, Wainwright.

Replacements: Coghlan, Kelleher-Griffiths, N Evans, Langton-Cryer, Basham, Blacker, J Thomas, J Rosser.

LONDON -- In just the third match of the 2024-25 season, Antonee Robinson knew Premier League opposition teams were paying extra attention to him. The U.S. international was in his usual left-back spot for Fulham , looking to attack down Ipswich Town's right wing. For most of last season, if he'd managed to get the ball near the halfway line, the right winger would have left him to attack one-on-one with their right back. Not anymore.

"It's happening a lot," he tells ESPN.

At Portman Road, Ipswich effectively deployed two players to nullify Robinson's attacking threat, with Axel Tuanzebe and Chiedozie Ogbene tracking Robinson's every move over 90 minutes. "That usually happens against the lower teams in the league," he says. "But then it happened against Chelsea" on Boxing Day at Stamford Bridge, where Malo Gusto and Pedro Neto teamed up on him.

"It can be frustrating to play when it feels like you're jammed on one side," Robinson says. "But if they're paying me that much respect to block me, then the space is going to be somewhere else for us." He helped tee up the Cottagers' first goal, then Rodrigo Muniz scored a 95th-minute winner off good work down the right.

Despite facing more obstacles on the pitch these days, Robinson is having the best season of his career. He has 10 assists in the Premier League, second only to Mohamed Salah. This form has seen him linked with UEFA Champions League teams such as Liverpool, but he remains focused on Fulham, who face Crystal Palace in the FA Cup quarterfinals on Saturday (7:45 a.m. ET, stream live on ESPN+). On the international stage, he's a mainstay in the United States men's national team and will be an indispensable part of the team unashamedly aiming to win the tournament on home soil next year.

All of that raises a question: why, at the age of 27, is he experiencing the best season of his career and being bracketed with the best left backs in the world?

"I don't really think about it like that," Robinson says. "I feel like I'm playing decently at a high level, but one of the best in my position? It's a strange thing to get my head around."

Robinson was never viewed as a footballing prodigy, certainly not like his friend Christian Pulisic who was tipped for greatness as he progressed through the age groups.

"I didn't come through as a star kid," he says. "I was one of the lads who didn't really get looked at as if he was going to do anything. I ended up being one of the best out of my academy, so I've always had this mindset of being humble, and not getting ahead of myself."

Robinson grew up obsessing over videos of elite attackers like Thierry Henry and Ronaldinho, but once he'd settled at left back, he watched Ashley Cole and Marcelo on YouTube instead. As he came through the Everton academy, having joined them at 11 years old, he watched Leighton Baines' every movement.

Robinson was named Everton's Under-18s players of the season, but struggled to break into their first team, so he had loan spells with Bolton and Wigan and signed a permanent deal with the latter in July 2019. He impressed there and in January 2020, he had a medical with AC Milan, only for the deal to break down when they found a heart abnormality. Fulham signed him that summer for a fee in the region of 2 million.

It wasn't an easy ride. He suffered a serious knee injury with the Everton U18s, followed by heart issues in January 2020. As it transpired, he didn't require surgery, instead controlling the symptoms by eliminating caffeine. Those early setbacks helped build resilience. Alongside that, he has an intricate knowledge of how hard he can push his body, so much so that he's missed just three Premier League matches across the past three seasons.

"There are going to be games where I'm not feeling physically at my best, but I will do a job for the team," he says. "I also have a decent pain tolerance. The odd times I am feeling something, I'll put myself forward and know I'll be able to get through it."

Since Marco Silva took charge at Fulham in July 2021, Robinson has been a mainstay in the first team at left back. This season, the man whose nickname is "Jedi" has been exceptional. His performance that drew the most acclaim this term was their 2-2 draw at Anfield on Dec. 14 in which he marshaled Salah. In the Egypt international's 12 one-on-ones with Robinson, Salah lost the ball four times, played two incomplete passes and was forced into a pass backwards on four occasions.

"I had this sense that it was my job to stop him," Robinson says. "I remember the gaffer saying to me, 'Show him on his right.' There were a couple of times where I did that and he went straight past me. You adjust in-game, and react to situations."

Although he's played well against Salah and Bukayo Saka this term, he finds attacking midfielders like Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne harder to handle.

"They drift in and out and go into positions that make it uncomfortable as you're trying to decide whether you jump out to them," he says. "If you do, you're leaving yourself exposed behind for someone else to run in, but if you don't go, they'll have too much space. Someone like those two and Cole Palmer get into clever positions and are harder players to play against."

In the Premier League, Robinson is in joint seventh for the most players tackled (77), fourth on crosses from open play (144) and is tied for the most interceptions (50, with Ryan Gravenberch).

"Marco used to get angry with me for guessing where the ball was going to go," Robinson says. "I might guess right five, six times in a row, and then guess one, where I go out to intercept it and it gets played in behind me and they get a chance from it. Regardless of how well I do in the rest of the game, that'll be the one that annoys him.

"He told me because I'm a fast player, I don't have to guess; I can start inside, let it go there, and then get to it. It's about anticipation and being in a good position, and waiting to see where the passer of the ball's looking and when I see the pass, it's pretty easy as you know your body and you can know if you can get there or not, and figure out the next problem."

Post-match, it's the running stats he checks first. "I like to see if I'm hitting my averages and compare that to how I felt in the game."

But it still raises the question: what clicked this season?

"The more you play at any level, the more confidence you get," Robinson says. "In that first season under Marco we finished 10th, we played well, I felt myself improving and I feel I've gotten better and better. This season I've had even more confidence in knowing the league, knowing what I can do and I think the manager's put faith in me. We've shifted how we play, so I'm higher up the pitch, and we're evolving the attack so it's a combination of things, really."

And this form comes just a year out from next men's World Cup, where the United States host the tournament alongside Mexico and Canada.

Since making his debut in 2019, Robinson has earned 50 caps for the U.S. men's national team. That first game against Bolívia had him in a defense featuring Erik Palmer-Brown, Walker Zimmerman and Eric Lichaj with Alex Bono winning his sole cap in goal. Personnel come and go -- the others have since faded from national team contention -- but Robinson has remained. He was omnipresent in the Qatar World Cup and played every minute as they reached the round of 16 -- but this current team has bigger aspirations heading into next year's tournament.

Ever since Mauricio Pochettino replaced Gregg Berhalter in September, he's been telling this group that they have the capability of winning the World Cup next year. Such a bold goal has seen Robinson turn to a young Tiger Woods for inspiration.

Back in 1996 ahead of his pro debut, Woods was interviewed by Curtis Strange. Strange, the two-time U.S. Open champion, asked Woods what his goal was. "Woods says, 'Oh, I'm gonna try and win the tournament.' And the interviewer is like, that seems a bit naive to say you're gonna win against some of these guys when you are young and you're new or whatever. And he's just like, 'Why go to a tournament if you're not trying to win?' And that's how we feel."

To achieve that ambitious goal, Pochettino is testing the players in as many different positions as possible. Against Panama on Oct. 12, Robinson was used as a left winger, while also slotting into central midfield. In their double-header with Jamaica, he was back at left back. Robinson missed this month's international window through an undisclosed ailment.

"We can perform well against anyone on our day," Robinson says. "[Pochettino's] obviously gonna use every window that he's got to test players in different positions as his short-term goal is winning, but slightly longer into next year, he's gonna be trying to win the World Cup.

"He's got a brief window to try and figure out, 'What can I do with different players if I'm playing this team, can he play there? Can he play there?' It's nice to see him doing that with me and different players."

Robinson feels the USMNT need to find more of an edge. He's seen them bullied before, but no more.

"Poch is very like win driven, and he said there are gonna be games where the football is not going to be pretty to watch. Poch used this great example, he said, 'Watch Argentina; they have very good players, but they're all ready to fight and hit people and do the dirty work, which is something we need to improve on because there's games where we haven't done it.'

"It's difficult as a lot of us play in like European leagues where it's very structured and you can't get away with much, whereas you go to Concacaf and people can like step on my foot in a huddle and walk away and nothing happens."

When the summer transfer window opens, Robinson knows his name will be mentioned. He's seen the reports linking him with Liverpool, courtesy of his family and friends who live in that part of the world, but he's taking it all with a large pinch of salt. He's aware of the fickle nature of the sport. He's been burnt before.

"I've been in the game long enough now, you know you've gotta block out the outside noise. I've been on the end of it when I've not been playing well; I saw the criticism when I was younger, people like doubting me and things. I know that there's two sides to the coin.

"You just have to take everything with a grain of salt. You have to believe in yourself, and when things are going bad, focus on yourself, and when things are going good, focus on keeping going. Transfer rumors and stuff like that, I try not to look at. The Liverpool one, all my friends and family are from Liverpool, so it's more them messaging me rather than me seeing newspaper stuff. And I say to them, 'It's just a story in the paper.'

"Eventually I want to perform at the highest level that I can. Whether that's playing Champions League, playing European competitions with Fulham, however I get there, I want to make sure I get there."

So in the meantime, his unwavering focus is on Fulham and his family. He's a fiancée to Darcy and father of his children, Ocean and Atlas.

"It's like working two shifts," he says. "But you want to make them proud. Football's a selfish sport, so it's always a balancing act. But being a dad lets you take a bit of pressure off your game as you can come home from a really bad game and switch off. They don't care if I've had a bad game, they just want to play with me. It allows you to refocus easily enough."

He's settled at the club, contracted through to 2028. It's all come together for Fulham this term. Robinson's built a wonderful partnership with Alex Iwobi on the left, and they're in the hunt for European spots while enjoying an FA Cup run.

Robinson has his own personal goal, too.

"I'm working on shooting," he says. "I haven't scored a goal in the Premier League yet so that'd be nice to tick off the checklist."

He has his celebration mapped out, if all goes to plan: "I'm hoping we'd be winning so I can, and there wouldn't be an offside to get checked off, but there'd be a back flip and then something. I'm not sure what the something is yet."

But that's just the next thing to tick off as he enjoys this wonderful run of form. It's come as no surprise to him, nor is there any magic answer to why he's played so well this season. It's just down to old fashioned graft.

"I'm nowhere near the finished article," Robinson says. "I never feel like I am, and I'm always trying to reach the highest level I know I can reach. There's always room to grow."