Sports briefs
By Associated Press
Lionel Messi asked to apologize for Argentina players’ racist chant
Lionel Messi faced calls on Wednesday to apologize for racist chants made by Argentina’s players after they won the Copa America.
An Argentinean government official said Messi, who is the team captain, and the president of the country’s soccer federation, Claudio Tapia, should apologize after a video was shared on social media showing members of Argentina’s triumphant squad singing a racist chant about French players with African heritage.
Midfielder Enzo Fernandez said he was “truly sorry” for the incident and his Premier League club Chelsea said it had begun disciplinary action, describing discriminatory behavior as “completely unacceptable.”
It is unclear from the video if Messi — widely regarded as one of the greatest soccer players of all time — participated in the chant. But Argentina’s sports sub-secretary, Julio Garro, said he should say sorry.
“The national team captain must also come out to apologize for this case. The same AFA (Argentina Football Association) president,” Garro said in radio statements. “I think it is appropriate. It leaves us as a country in a bad position, with so much glory.”
Argentina beat Colombia 1-0 on Sunday at Miami Gardens, Florida. Afterwards a video posted on Instagram showed Fernandez and Argentina players chanting about France’s team as they celebrated.
The same chants — by some Argentina fans — emerged before the team beat France in the World Cup final in 2022. The derogatory chants single out France players of African heritage, from several countries, and holding a French passport.
FIFA said it was also looking into the incident after the French soccer federation pledged to file a complaint with the sport’s world governing body over “racist and discriminatory remarks.”
Chelsea’s response comes after one of Fernandez’s clubmates, France defender Wesley Fofana, posted the video on his social media accounts Tuesday and called it “uninhibited racism.”
Fofana has family ties to Ivory Coast and is among several French players who are Black in the Chelsea first-team squad.
“We are proud to be a diverse, inclusive club where people from all cultures, communities and identities feel welcome,” Chelsea said in a statement Wednesday. “We acknowledge and appreciate our player’s public apology and will use this as an opportunity to educate.
“The Club has instigated an internal disciplinary procedure.”
Fernandez apologized for “getting caught up in the euphoria of our Copa America celebrations.”
“That video, that moment, those words, do not reflect my beliefs or my character,” he said on Instagram. “I am truly sorry.”
Fernandez became the most expensive player in British soccer history after joining Chelsea from Benfica for 106.7 million pounds ($131.4 million) in 2023.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has said soccer and its 211 national federations must have a zero tolerance approach to racism and in May committed to relaunching a task force to monitor incidents.
“FIFA is aware of a video circulating on social media and the incident is being looked into,” the governing body said Wednesday. “FIFA strongly condemns any form of discrimination by anyone including players, fans and officials.”
It is unclear what jurisdiction FIFA has over the incident on a team bus after a tournament, but the governing body likely could act if the Argentina federation’s handling of the case is considered unsatisfactory.
Mavericks star Kyrie Irving breaks left
hand in offseason workout, has surgery
DALLAS | Kyrie Irving broke his left hand during an offseason workout and had surgery, and the Dallas Mavericks didn’t provide a timeline for his recovery in an announcement of the injury Tuesday night.
Irving and Luka Doncic led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals in their first full season together. Boston won the title series in five games.
The 32-year-old Irving averaged 25.6 points in 58 games during the regular season while dealing with foot, heel and thumb injuries.
Irving made his deepest playoff run since going to the finals with Cleveland in 2017, and helped the Mavs get that far for the first time since Dallas won its only championship in 2011.
The team said updates on Irving would be provided as necessary. Training camp opens in about 2 1/2 months.
MLB will consider whether to return to club uniforms in All-Star Game
ARLINGTON, Texas | Major League Baseball will consider going back to having players wear their team uniforms for the All-Star Game.
Club uniforms were used by the American League from 1933-2019 and by the National League from 1934-2019. When the game resumed in 2021 following the pandemic-related cancellation in 2020, MLB had started a uniform contract with Nike and Fanatics, and All-Stars were outfitted in specially designed league uniforms that drew criticism from traditionalists.
This year’s AL uniforms had a sandy base with red sleeves and lettering and the NL had a navy base with light blue sleeves and lettering.
“I’m aware of the sentiment on this issue,” Manfred told the Baseball Writers’ Association of America on Tuesday. “I think where my head is on it, it’s something we’re going to have a conversation about coming out of the All-Star Game. We’ve got a lot of uniform things going on. And, obviously, the conversations have to involve the players first and foremost but Nike, some of our partners. But I am aware of the sentiment, and I do know why people kind of like that tradition.”
MLB and Nike were criticized for club uniforms this year and said in May that 2025 club outfits will have larger lettering on the back of jerseys and individual pant customization. Players complained this year that white pants worn by some teams are see-through enough to show tucked-in jersey tops.
Regional sports networks
Manfred said a national steaming package of local television broadcasts is a future possibility.
“I could see a situation where we grow into a 30-club model. It might start on the digital side, where you have 14 or 15 clubs, and, you start with a digital product there as your first alternative,” he said.
“I was in Sun Valley last week and I did the whole speed-dating thing with everybody who’s ever streamed anything. When you talk to people in the streaming business, they’re not really interested in buying the state of Wisconsin and two counties in Michigan,” Manfred added. “They want to be able to stream quite frankly, all over the U.S. and Canada but more broadly internationally. So I think those conversations are a product of owners saying, holy cow, the RSN business is really deteriorating. We know the future’s going to be streaming. What we’re hearing from the streamers is they want a more national product, and we need to be responsive to what people want to buy.”
MLB took over production of Arizona and San Diego local television broadcasts last year following the bankruptcy of Diamond Sports’ Bally networks and said MLB will be available as an option for teams looking for new deals. He said Padres game are approaching 40,000 subscribers, which he called a good figure.
“Having said that, from a revenue perspective it is not generating what the RSNs did,” Manfred said. “The RSNs were a great business. Lots of people paid for programing they didn’t necessarily want. And it’s hard to replicate that kind of revenue absent that kind of bundling concept.”
Offense
While offense is near half-century lows, it has picked up from early in the season.
“The decline in offense is something that we’re paying a lot of attention to and we’ll continue to monitor to make a decision as to whether we think we need to do something. You do hear a lot of chatter about the dominance of pitching in the game. That’s absolutely true.”
Birmingham
After the success of the June 20 game between San Francisco and St. Louis at Rickwood Field, Manfred said MLB will return to the ballpark in Birmingham, Alabama, but the “exact form” had not been determined.
Stephen Curry strong in US men’s basketball team’s 105-79 win over Serbia
in Olympic warmup
Stephen Curry was relatively quiet offensively during the U.S. Olympic team’s first two exhibitions before the Paris Games.
He got a lot more assertive on Wednesday with his official Olympic debut less than two weeks away.
Curry scored 24 points, Bam Adebayo added 17 and the U.S. beat Serbia 105-79 to improve to 3-0 in its five-game slate of exhibitions in advance of the Paris Olympics.
Anthony Davis finished with seven points, six rebounds and six blocks, helping to lead a U.S. defensive effort that limited Serbia throughout. Anthony Edwards had 16 points. LeBron James added 11.
Curry scored the first nine points for the U.S. in a flurry that James said was by design.
“We drew it up for that particular reason, to get him going,” James said. “He sees one go through the hoop, you see what it opens up for the rest of his game, for the rest of the game for all of us. He set the tone.”
The U.S. led by as many as 31 points in the last of a pair of warmup games in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The Americans go to London to play two more tuneups before heading to France. The first is Saturday against South Sudan, followed by a matchup with Germany on Monday at London’s O2 Arena.
U.S. coach Steve Kerr likes the progress his team has made and said its ability to overwhelm teams with different defensive looks will be vital.
“I think the identity of the team is our depth, the strength of the team is the depth,” Kerr said. “If we can play in 4- or 5-minute bursts of intense defense, hitting bodies, rebounding, being physical, then it makes sense to play that way. We’ll see if we can keep doing it.”
The U.S. had an uneven start before using a 16-2 run in the second quarter to take a 56-42 advantage and led 59-45 at halftime.
Nikola Jokic had 16 points and 11 rebounds for Serbia. Aleksa Avramovic added 14 points. Serbia was playing its second game in two days, coming off a loss to Australia on Tuesday in which it rested captain Bogdan Bogdanovic.
Though Serbia was without Bogdanovic for the second straight game, it struggled offensively, shooting just 41% (29 of 71). The U.S. also held a 30-21 rebounding edge. Adebayo and Davis combined for 14 rebounds.
“Bam and AD together are really something,” Kerr said. “Just the switching, but they can also protect the rim and be in a drop if we go to that coverage.”
Wednesday’s matchup was an important preview for the Serbians and U.S., which will both compete in Group C at the Olympics. They open their quests for gold against each other on July 28.
FINISHING STRONG
After nearly squandering a big lead in its narrow victory over Australia on Monday, there was no such letdown for the U.S. this time.
The Americans led by 25 after three quarters and quickly increased it to 30 in the final quarter.
LINEUP SHUFFLE
The U.S. used its third different starting lineup, going with Curry, Jrue Holiday, Jayson Tatum, LeBron James and Joel Embiid.
The only constants over the three exhibitions have been Curry, James and Embiid.
One of the reason’s Embiid’s presence on the roster was a desire for the U.S. coaching staff this cycle was to counter bigger teams like Serbia, which features a trio of 7-footers.
Embiid’s conditioning still isn’t at its peak. But he was active on both ends, finding cutters on the offensive end and being an active deterrent in the lane on defense.
ENERGY SHIFTERS
For the second straight game, the U.S. reserves provided a spark. Edwards, Davis, Tyrese Haliburton, Bam Adebayo and Devin Booker entered the game for the first time with 4:54 remaining in the opening quarter and trailing 16-13.
The U.S. proceeded to outscore the Serbians 15-12 the rest of the period to tie the game at 28 entering the second quarter.
The American reserves accounted for 28 points off the bench in the first half.
STILL NO DURANT
Kevin Durant sat for the third straight game as he continues to recover from the calf strain he suffered early during training camp.
But guard Derrick White made his debut after joining the team over the weekend as Kawhi Leonard’s replacement. White had four rebounds and an assist in just over nine minutes.
—From AP reports
