Sports
Vinicius Junior helps Brazil rally for opening draw vs. Morocco
June 13, 2026; East Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S.; Brazil’s Vinicius Junior in action with Morocco’s Achraf Hakimi. Mandatory Credit: Caean Couto-Imagn Images EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Vinicius Junior scored his first goal of this World Cup and helped Brazil salvage a 1-1 draw against Morocco following a rocky start to their Group C opener on Saturday evening.
The 25-year-old’s thunderously struck leveler in the 32nd minute countered Ismael Saibari’s slickly taken opener 11 minutes earlier for a Morocco side seeking another historic result to follow their 2022 semifinal run.
The North Africans bossed the five-time World Cup champs for the opening half-hour. But the South Americans shaded the second 45 minutes after manager Carlo Ancelotti swapped out Casemiro and Roger Ibanez for Fabinho and Danilo at the interval.
In the end, both teams were probably satisfied with the point before a star-studded crowd that included former NFL star Tom Brady, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and 2002 Brazilian World Cup winners Ronaldo and Roberto Carlos.
Each will be favored in remaining group matches against Scotland and Haiti, who play later Saturday in Foxborough, Mass., to open their Group C campaigns.
Having called this tournament “the most important time in my life and in my career” on Friday, Vinicius Jr. played like it, at the center of nearly everything the Brazilians did well going forward.
That included a precious equalizer that came against the run of play.
From the left side of the penalty area, the Real Madrid star played a quick 1-2 with Bruno Guimaraes, cut in on his right foot against the defending Neil El Aynaoui, and then from just beyond the corner of the 6-yard box, unleashed a powerful right-footed strike that left lunging goalkeeper Yassine Bounou little chance.
Morocco started brightly, then went in front just as it appeared Brazil might have weathered the early onslaught.
With his back to goal, Brahim Diaz took a pass at midfield, turned and immediately fed it forward to Saibari as he surged on a run at the space between Brazil’s center and right backs.
The PSV Eindhoven attacker reached it and chipped the charging Alisson with his first touch for a superb first career World Cup goal.
Bounou made four saves, including one on a Danilo Santos shot right at him in the third minute of second-half stoppage time. Alisson finished with two saves, including a point-blank stop in the ninth minute of stoppage time to keep the game level.
–Ian Nicholas Quillen, Field Level Media
Sports
Reports: Luigi Suigo withdraws from NBA Draft, commits to Villanova
Jan 20, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; General view of the Big East logo on the court at Wells Fargo Center before a game between the Villanova Wildcats and the Connecticut Huskies. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images Italian center Luigi Suigo has withdrawn from the 2026 NBA Draft and committed to Villanova, according to multiple media reports.
Suigo, 19, averaged 8.1 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks across 18.1 minutes per game last season for Mega Superbet in the AdmiralBet ABA League. He is listed at 7’3″ with a 7’5.5″ wingspan.
The prospect, from Tradate, Varese, Italy, was viewed as a potential late first-round pick by media outlets. ESPN ranked him 32nd overall on their big board.
Suigo had offers from Villanova, Illinois, Purdue and Indiana. He will now join a Wildcats’ squad that is fresh off a NCAA Tournament appearance. They went 24-9 in Kevin Willard’s first season as head coach.
–Field Level Media
Sports
WTA Roundup: Emma Raducanu wins twice in one day to reach London finals
Emma Raducanu gets set to serve to Amanda Anisimova during their third-round match at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., Sunday, March 8, 2026. Former U.S. Open champion Emma Raducanu thrilled the home crowd in London by winning a pair of matches over several hours at the HSBC Championships on Saturday to advance to the tournament finals.
The oft-injured 2021 champion knocked off Uzbekistan’s Kamilla Rakhimova, 6-3, 7-5, then came back a few hours later to oust No. 6 Iva Jovic, 6-2, 6-2.
In between those matches, Croatian Donna Vekic, a lucky loser into the main draw, defeated the United Kingdom’s Katie Boulter, 6-1, 6-3.
Vekic and Raducanu will meet for the first time on Sunday. The 29-year old Vekic has four WTA titles under her belt, while the London native is seeking her second.
Raducanu broke Jovic five times in their match and took advantage of the 18-year old American’s 58 percent first serve efficiency.
Vekic won 23-of-25 points on her first serve against Boulter and never faced a break point.
Libema Open
Robin Montgomery, ranked No. 484 in the world, knocked off Australia’s Ajla Tomljanovic, 6-4, 6-2, to reach her first-ever finals in the ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands event on Saturday.
Montgomery, will take on eighth-seeded Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic in Sunday’s finals. Krejcikova, the lone seeded player to reach the quarterfinals of the grass court event, edged Poland’s Magda Linette, 6-3, 7-6 (4).
Linette served at 5-4 in the second set, staved off four break points, but could not convert on a fifth. She took a 3-0 lead in the tie-breaker, but Krejcikova stormed back to win seven-of-eight to earn the win.
Montgomery smacked 11 aces and won 28-of-33 points on her first serve against Tomljanovic.
The two players have never competed against one another in a tour-level match.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Ivan Herrera homers twice as Cardinals fend off late rally by Twins
Jun 12, 2026; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Blaze Jordan (33) hits an RBI single against the Minnesota Twins in his major league debut at bat in the second inning at Target Field. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Kluckhohn-Imagn Images Ivan Herrera hit two home runs, with the second sparking a five-run seventh inning for the St. Louis Cardinals, who posted a 9-6 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Saturday in Minneapolis.
Herrera went 2-for-3 with a walk and drove in three on his eighth and ninth homers. Jordan Walker also homered in the seventh, a 454-foot homer that hit off the third-deck facade in left field, and Blaze Jordan capped the inning with his first Major League long ball, a three-run shot.
In just his second game in the bigs, Jordan had his second 2-for-4 game and added a triple. Pedro Pages went 3-for-4 with two doubles.
Justin Lawrence (0-3) struck out the first two Cardinals he faced in the seventh, but St. Louis rocked him with four straight hits. Solo homers from Herrera and Walker, his 18th, started the rally. Jordan greeted Travis Adams with a three-run shot.
Royce Lewis (2-for-4) hit his third home run in his last four games for the Twins. Byron Buxton (2-for-4) hit his 22nd home run, and Luke Keaschall added a two-run shot for Minnesota’s scoring.
Matt Svanson (2-1) was perfect in 1 2/3 innings of relief for the Cardinals.
Herrera put the Cardinals up just six pitches into the game as he hit a two-run homer off Connor Prielipp. St. Louis got another two off the Twins starter in the second, thanks to Jordan’s triple, Pages’ first double and a Masyn Winn sacrifice fly.
Prielipp settled down from there to last six innings. He allowed seven hits and two walks while striking out two before giving way to Lawrence, who was tagged with his first loss with the Twins after they acquired him from Pittsburgh on June 2.
Minnesota got its three homers in the fourth and fifth innings off Cardinals starter Matthew Liberatore to tie the game. Liberatore gave up five hits and a walk in 4 1/3 innings and struck out four.
Kody Clemens’ RBI single in the eighth cut the Cardinals’ lead to four. St. Louis closer Riley O’Brien, pitching in a non-save situation, walked the first three batters he faced in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate three straight times. But only Josh Bell could bring in a run on a fielder’s choice.
–Field Level Media
Reports: Luigi Suigo withdraws from NBA Draft, commits to Villanova
WTA Roundup: Emma Raducanu wins twice in one day to reach London finals
