SOCCER

The United States won its first match in Gregg Berhalter’s second term as men’s soccer coach, beating Uzbekistan 3-0 in an exhibition Saturday in St. Louis behind goals by Tim Weah, Ricardo Pepi and Christian Pulisic.

Weah put the U.S. ahead in the fourth minute, Pepi doubled the lead in second-half stoppage time, and Pulisic converted a penalty kick in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIP: Ukraine ended England’s perfect record in Euro 2024 qualifying, as Oleksandr Zinchenko’s first-half goal helped secure a 1-1 draw in Wroclaw, Poland.

Zinchenko put Ukraine ahead with a side-footed finish in the 26th minute before Kyle Walker, in his 77th appearance, equalized with his first goal for England in the 41st minute.

The Ukrainian fans celebrated as if it was a win after the final whistle, with the players applauding the supporters in return. The team is playing all its home games in Poland because of the war against Russia.

• Defending champion Italy was held to a 1-1 draw at home against North Macedonia and remained tied for third in its group, behind England and Ukraine.

AUTO RACING

NASCAR CUP SERIES: Christopher Bell won the pole for Sunday’s playoff race at Kansas Speedway, putting himself in good position to wiggle off the playoff bubble and make next week’s cut-off a little less stressful.

Bell was the only driver among the 10 in the final round of qualifying to go over 180 mph, turning a lap of 180.276 for a comfortable margin over Kyle Larson, who locked up his place in the next round of the playoffs with a win last week at Darlington.

Larson, who finished second to Denny Hamlin in the spring race at Kansas, will start alongside the No. 20 Toyota on the front row. Fellow playoff contender Martin Truex Jr. qualified third. Chase Elliott, who did not make the playoffs, was fourth and Tyler Reddick fifth.

XFINITY: John Hunter Nemechek dominated an Xfinity Series race at Kansas Speedway, denying second-place finisher Brandon Jones the win that would have gotten him into the playoffs and allowing Parker Kligerman to slide into the final spot.

Sheldon Creed finished third, Kligerman was fourth, and Austin Hill rounded out the top five.

BASKETBALL

WNBA: The Seattle Storm signed All-Star guard Jewell Loyd to a multi-year contract extension as she wraps up the best season of her career.

Terms were not announced, but the new deal will keep one of Seattle’s pillars with the franchise as it continues a rebuild following the departure of Breanna Stewart and the retirement of Sue Bird.

CYCLING

SPANISH VUELTA: Remco Evenepoel won a mountainous 14th stage in Larra-Belagua, Spain, a day after his bid to retain his title suffered a devastating blow, while American Sepp Kuss held the overall lead of the three-week race.

GOLF

EUROPEAN TOUR: Rory McIlroy birdied his last two holes in Straffan, Ireland, to move into contention for a second Irish Open title as most of the players in front of him faltered in the third round.

McIlroy finished off a 6-under 66 with a short birdie putt on the 18th to push into third place, two shots behind leader Hurly Long of Germany.

Long needed a birdie on the last hole to restore a two-shot advantage over McIlroy, as a 70 gave him a 13-under total of 203. Jordan Smith, who held a share of the overnight lead with Shubhankar Sharma, also birdied the par-5 18th to move into second place, one shot behind Long.

LPGA: Two-time major champion Minjee Lee opened with three straight birdies, made up a six-shot deficit at the turn and posted a 7-under 65 in Cincinnati to take a two-shot lead into the final round of the Kroger Queen City Championship.

Lee leads Charley Hull of England and Peiyun Chien of Taiwan, who rallied from a rough start to get back to even par for the day, only to go long over the 18th green and miss a 5-foot par putt.

HOCKEY

NHL: The Tampa Bay Lightning terminated the contract of veteran forward Josh Archibald after the offseason acquisition told the team he was taking time off from hockey.

The Lightning signed free agent Tyler Motte to replace him on a one-year, $800,000 deal.

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