SOCCER
Shane Long scored the quickest-ever Premier League goal as Southampton edged another point closer to safety with a 1-1 draw at Watford on Tuesday.
Long scored after 7.69 seconds – more than two seconds quicker than Ledley King managed for Tottenham in 2000 against Bradford.
The goal came from Watford’s kickoff. Roberto Pereyra played the ball from the center circle back to defender Craig Cathcart some 40 yards from his own goal.
As Cathcart attempted to launch the ball up field, Long charged it down and raced through before lifting it over Watford goalkeeper Ben Foster.
Southampton is now six points clear of Cardiff in the final relegation place with three games remaining.
• Christian Eriksen broke through Brighton’s resistance with a late goal to give Tottenham a 1-0 victory at London and boost the London club’s Champions League qualification bid.
LAWSUIT: A promoter has sued the U.S. Soccer Federation, asking a court to order the governing body to sanction an Ecuador league match in Florida.
Relevent Sports filed suit in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan, alleging the USSF illegally denied its application to have Ecuador’s Barcelona and Guayaquil clubs play on May 5 at Miami Gardens.
MLS: Toronto forward Jozy Altidore will be sidelined for 2 to 3 weeks with a hamstring injury.
OBIT: Billy McNeill, the captain of Glasgow soccer club Celtic when it became the first British team to win the European Cup in 1967, has died. He was 79.
TENNIS
BARCELONA OPEN: Second-seeded Alexander Zverev lost to 81st-ranked Nicolas Jarry after failing to convert a match point, and former champion Kei Nishikori and third-seeded Dominic Thiem easily advanced to the third round.
Zverev lost 3-6, 7-5, 7-6 (5) to Jarry, a 23-year-old Chilean who was given a lucky loser spot in the tournament. The third-ranked German cruised in the first set but was broken late in the second and then three times in the third before falling in the decisive tiebreaker after more than 2 1/2 hours for his fifth loss in seven matches.
Thiem, the finalist in Barcelona two years ago, cruised to a 6-3, 6-3 win over Diego Schwartzman.
Nishikori, the Barcelona champion in 2014 and 2015, defeated American Taylor Fritz 7-5, 6-2 for his 14th victory of the year.
FRENCH OPEN: Two-time Grand Slam runner-up Kevin Anderson is skipping the clay-court swing this season because of a lingering right elbow injury.
GYMNASTICS
OLYMPIC TRIALS: The 2020 U.S. Olympic men’s and women’s gymnastics team trials are heading to St. Louis.
USA Gymnastics announced the trials will be June 25-28, 2020, at the Enterprise Center, home of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues. Making the announcement 14 months in advance is a signal that USA Gymnastics is optimistic it will maintain its role as the sport’s national governing body amid the fallout from the Larry Nassar scandal.
SPORTS BETTING
EXPANSION: The number of states allowing sports betting is poised to expand.
Governors in Montana and Iowa are considering measures that would allow residents to wager on sports. Indiana lawmakers are scheduled to approve their own version as early as Wednesday.
They could be the first states to approve sports betting this year, joining six others that moved quickly last year after the U.S. Supreme Court allowed it nationwide.
The legalization of sports gambling hasn’t been as widespread as initially predicted after the court ruling ended Nevada’s virtual monopoly.
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