Meghan Klingenberg — not Hope Solo — made the biggest save of the night for the United States.

Klingenberg, a diminutive defender, leaped to head a shot by Sweden’s Caroline Seger. The ball hit the crossbar and caromed away from the goal.

Goal-line technology was used to confirm the ball never crossed the line.

The save in the 77th minute preserved the 0-0 draw with Sweden on Friday night in one of the most anticipated group-stage matches at the Women’s World Cup.

“Brilliant,” U.S. coach Jill Ellis said of Klingenberg’s heroics. “Believe it or not, we actually practice that.”

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Lionel Messi is officially the Argentinian player with the most titles ever. pic.twitter.com/RTb1FBcMxe

— BarcaHD (@Barcelona_HD) June 7, 2015

Stanislas Wawrinka shocked world number one Novak Djokovic 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 to win the French Open and claim his second Grand Slam title.

There were no jeers this time as Swiss Stan Wawrinka defied the odds to win the French Open with a courageous 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4 victory over world number one Novak Djokovic in an enthralling final on Sunday.

The eighth seed, booed by the crowd when he played French opponents this year, handed Serbian Djokovic his third defeat in three Roland Garros finals to add a second major to his 2014 Australian Open title.

“I played the match of my life, it’s hard to believe. Playing against Novak was one of the biggest challenges. I know how much he wanted this Roland Garros,” Wawrinka said courtside.

“It was a crazy atmosphere these two weeks. I’d like to thank you.”

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American Pharoah became the first horse since Affirmed in 1978 and 12th overall to win horse-racing’s Triple Crown Saturday in the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park.

American Pharoah finished 5 1/2 lengths ahead of second-place Frosted while Keen Ice was third.

The 3-year-old bay colt by Pioneerof the Nile completed one of the most difficult feats in sports, leading wire to wire to win the third jewel of the Triple Crown. He earlier won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, all in a span of five weeks.

American Pharoah ended a streak of 13 horses that came to Belmont with a chance but could not successfully navigate the 1 1/2-mile race called the Test of the Champions on a track called Big Sandy.

Emotional trainer Bob Baffert said he wished his parents were there to see history being made. “I just feel like I have a very special horse,” he said. “It wasn’t me; it was the horse.”

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In a tournament rich in drama there was, weirdly, little, as Serena won 10 of the first 14 games and found herself two games from the match. But then, perhaps inevitably, it descended midway through the second set. Safarova, fiercely game, won four straight games and forced a tiebreaker.

Serena, double-faulting and missing makeable shots, seemed to shrink. And so, for only the second time in 14 years, the French Open had a women’s final that was going the distance.

Really? Did you think Serena would lose in that monumental spot?

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Novak Djokovic squeezed his eyes shut and raised both arms, a rather reserved celebration at the conclusion of his up-and-down, two-day, five-set French Open semifinal victory over Andy Murray.

There’s one more match for Djokovic to win if he’s going to collect his first championship at Roland Garros and complete a long-sought career Grand Slam, and conserving energy was key.

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The U.S. cracking down on international football’s governing body looks like a recipe for geopolitical disaster. Fortunately, the only thing the world hates more than American unilateralism is corrupt officials compromising the integrity of the world’s most popular sport. These five facts explain the FIFA scandal and the geopolitical implications of this growing story.

1. Sepp Blatter

Nine FIFA officials were indicted last week by the U.S. Department of Justice for taking $150 million in bribes while awarding FIFA broadcast rights. This kicked off a Swiss investigation into the bidding process for the 2018 Russia World Cup and the 2022 Qatar World Cup. Since the story broke last week, FIFA president Sepp Blatter has managed to win reelection and then resign his post.

For years the worst-kept secret in sports was FIFA’s extensive ”˜patronage’ system. Blatter is accused of using FIFA development money, earmarked for promoting soccer in impoverished nations, to secure votes and general support for his initiatives. FIFA generated nearly $6 billion over the last four years””that’s a lot of money to work with.

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Wednesday’s 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 quarterfinal beatdown at the hands of Novak Djokovic was far less surprising. Nadal has been struggling on clay for the first time in his career, while Djokovic is playing the best tennis of his life.

“It’s a special thing, it’s a special match,” Djokovic said looking happy but weary. “Playing against Rafa on a court he has lost only once, it’s not easy to execute the plan you prepared for the match. But I did that. It’s definitely a big win. It’s a match I will remember for a long time.”

The funny/sad thing? Nadal — the ultimate fighter — almost seemed to quit in the ragged third set. The match ended with a double fault. Nadal, who has one of the most feared forehands in the game, had exactly three forehand winners. Djokovic had 20 more. The match required 2 hours, 26 minutes, but it felt much, much faster.

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But by themselves, they are not likely to change the culture of the organization, a fact made clear Friday by the re-election of long-standing FIFA President Sepp Blatter. So though he obviously rated the equivalent of a red card (a game-ejecting penalty), he’s still in charge.

Two years ago Mr. Blatter suppressed a critical internal report on evidence of vote buying and other corruption in FIFA, causing the author, former U.S. Attorney for New York Michael Garcia, to resign in protest.

Observers of FIFA have long suspected rampant vote-selling in the choosing of World Cup host nations, such as the surprising decision to award the 2018 tournament to Russia.

The call to play the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was even more stunning.

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Few arrests can have provoked such Schadenfreude as those of seven senior officials of FIFA, football’s world governing body, early on May 27th at a swish Swiss hotel. The arrests are part of a wide-ranging investigation by America’s FBI into corruption at FIFA, dating back over two decades. The indictment from the Department of Justice named 14 people on charges including racketeering, wire fraud and paying bribes worth more than $150m. They are likely to face charges in a US federal court. As more people start talking in a bid to sauve qui peut, the investigation will with luck reach into every dark and dank corner of FIFA’s Zurich headquarters…

American extraterritorial jurisdiction is often excessive in its zeal and overbearing in its methods, but in this instance it deserves the gratitude of football fans everywhere. The hope must be that FIFA’s impunity is at last brought to an end and with it the career of the ineffably complacent Sepp Blatter, its 79-year-old president, who was nonetheless expected to be re-elected for a fifth term after The Economist had gone to print.

The evidence of systemic corruption at FIFA has been accumulating for years, but came to a head in 2010 with the bidding for two World Cups. When the right to hold the competition in 2022 was won by tiny, bakingly hot Qatar, against the strong advice of FIFA’s own technical committee, suspicions that votes had been bought were immediately aroused. Thanks to two female whistleblowers and the diligent investigative work of the Sunday Times, a wealth of damning evidence was unearthed involving a Qatari FIFA official, Mohamed bin Hammam, who allegedly wooed football bigwigs in Africa with a $5m slush fund.

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The FBI director, James Comey, commenting on the arrests in Zurich yesterday of senior Fifa officials, identified rampant, systemic and deep-rooted corruption in the federation. “Undisclosed and illegal payments, kickbacks and bribes became a way of doing business at Fifa,” he said. The raids by both the American and Swiss authorities were cynically welcomed by Mr Blatter’s team as a sign that it was cleaning up its act.

Nothing could be farther from the truth. The decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, as our sister paper The Sunday Times has diligently exposed, was secured by the rigging and purchase of votes. Despite clear evidence of wrongdoing, Qatar has held on to the cup. An investigation by Fifa’s ethics committee, a body created by Mr Blatter to soothe the many doubts about federation practices, was not published in full to spare the leadership embarrassment. On an almost daily basis, the absurdity of Qatar hosting the cup becomes apparent, from its treatment of construction workers to the extraordinary decision to switch the games to the winter in the midst of the European club season.

The Blatter years have been distinguished by a Machiavellian manipulation of the executive committee and of the broader football voting community.

Read it all (requires subscription) [my emphasis].

United States law enforcement officials declared in forceful terms on Wednesday that their broad investigation of FIFA had only begun and pledged to rid the international soccer organization of systemic corruption.

The Justice Department, F.B.I. and I.R.S. described soccer’s governing body in terms normally reserved for Mafia families and drug cartels, saying that top officials treated FIFA business decisions as chits to be traded for personal wealth. One soccer official took in more than $10 million in bribes, Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch said.

The schemes involving the fraud included the selection of South Africa as the host of the 2010 World Cup; the 2011 FIFA presidential elections; and several sports-marketing deals

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The Justice Department unsealed a 47 count indictment early Wednesday charging 14 world soccer figures, including officials of FIFA, with racketeering, bribery, money laundering and fraud. Four of the accused have already pleaded guilty.

The announcement in a press release followed a round-up of officials of FIFA, the world soccer federation, at a swanky Zurich hotel where they were assembling for an important meeting.

“The indictment alleges corruption that is rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted both abroad and here in the United States,” said Attorney General Loretta Lynch. “It spans at least two generations of soccer officials who, as alleged, have abused their positions of trust to acquire millions of dollars in bribes and kickbacks.”

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Hundreds of former players have filed a lawsuit claiming all 32 NFL teams, their doctors, trainers and medical staffs obtained and provided painkillers to players ”” often illegally ”” as part of a decades-long conspiracy to keep them on the field without regard for their long-term health.

The lawsuit reprises some of the allegations made in a federal lawsuit last year on behalf of 1,300 former players against the NFL. That complaint was filed in May, 2014 and dismissed in December by Judge William Alsup of the U.S. Northern District in California. Alsup wrote that the collective bargaining agreement between the league and the NFL Players Association was the appropriate forum to resolve such claims. That decision is being appealed.

The new lawsuit was filed Thursday in the U.S. Northern District of Maryland. It names each NFL team individually as a defendant and lists 13 plaintiffs, including Hall of Fame cornerback Mel Renfro of the Dallas Cowboys and Etopia Evans, the widow of Charles Evans, a running back who played eight years with the Minnesota Vikings and the Baltimore Ravens and retired after the 2000 season. Evans died of heart failure in October 2008 at age 41.

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Three things from the Estadio Vicente Calderon, where Barcelona clinched the La Liga title thanks to a 1-0 victory over Atletico Madrid on Sunday night.

1. First step of treble completed

Lionel Messi’s goal midway through the second half has clinched the La Liga title for Barcelona, after a slow-burning afternoon of action saw Barcelona do enough to beat Atletico at the Calderon, meaning Real Madrid’s 4-1 win at Espanyol counted for nothing in the race at the top.

The game very much showed the real turnaround in fortunes for both Barca and their Argentine talisman. On May 17, 2014, Tata Martino’s side were unable to beat Atletico at home to win the title. They even went ahead in that game, but with the pressure on they wilted, and Diego Godin’s header clinched last season’s championship for Diego Simeone’s men.

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Young has been the unexpected outfield success of the season. If United could have themselves matched his renaissance then maybe there would have been more to salute at the end of the 2014-15 than just some glimmers of hope that the good old days will return.

Nobody is irreplaceable but you do have to wonder if David de Gea is Madrid-bound then can the Reds build on their top four finish next season.

Without the Spanish goalkeeper this season United could well have been facing a similar seventh place finish without European football they had to contemplate this time last year. He’s been that good.

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As teams take turns to attack the others goal line they use their own set of balls, so by gently under-inflating theirs New England made it easier to both grip and throw especially in cold rain which was falling that day.

What makes it more astonishing is that New England were favourites, and would surely have won anyways. They did and went on to take the prestigious Superbowl a month later.

So why risk it all with underhand tactics?

Listen to it all (just under 5 minutes).

Barcelona reached their first Champions League final since 2011, despite Pep Guardiola’s Bayern Munich salvaging pride in the return leg in Germany.

Trailing 3-0 from the first leg, Bayern revived their hopes through Medhi Benatia’s early downward header.

Barca levelled when Luis Suarez squared for a tap-in from Neymar, who drilled in after the pair combined again.

Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Muller both curled in as Bayern won on the night, but Barca still progressed.

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The result was released on Wednesday: a 243-page investigative report, which included a 68-page scientific report and appendices. But, truthfully, all of it could have been boiled down to a single sentence: Tom Brady ”” one of the most accomplished N.F.L. quarterbacks ever ”” is more probably than not a cheater.

Nobody called Brady a cheater directly in the report ”” gathering direct proof of his involvement was hampered partly by his refusal to hand over his text messages and emails ”” but the investigation did find that “it is more probable than not that Brady was at least generally aware of the inappropriate activities.”

Just as it is more probable than not that the Patriots just can’t seem to follow the league’s rules.

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The last shot in regulation is just incredible–watch it all.

United, who began the day eight points behind, dominated the opening period, but their only chance of note saw Wayne Rooney shoot narrowly wide.

Hazard then showed why he is favourite for the PFA Player of the Year prize, netting his 18th goal of the season on the counter-attack following Oscar’s fine flick.

The strike, seven minutes before half-time, shifted the momentum of the contest in Chelsea’s favour.

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Armen Keteyian: Describe your emotional state at that point in time.

Mike Pressler: Really pissed. Really shocked that they would have this party first and foremost. But anyway, I asked each one of ’em to their face, one at a time. The astonishment on their face. And when you know your people, I knew exactly from their reaction to the allegations this was absolutely untrue.

The problem was, few others did. This is how the late Ed Bradley described the media storm surrounding the Duke rape case here on “60 Minutes”:

The district attorney, Mike Nifong, took to the airwaves giving dozens of interviews, expressing – with absolute certainty – that Duke lacrosse players had committed a horrific crime.

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Eight goals, a big upset and two wonder strikes from Luis Suarez highlighted a pulsating night of Champions League quarterfinal action Wednesday.

Both first leg ties ended 3-1, but Porto’s home win over 2013 champion Bayern Munich was predicted by few, while Barcelona is a warm favorite to progress with a two-goal cushion after its away leg victory against depleted Paris Saint Germain.

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Jordan Spieth got more than redemption and a green jacket Sunday. He took his place among the best in the game with a Masters victory for the ages.

One year after Spieth lost a bid to become the youngest Masters champion, the 21-year-old Texan turned in one of the most dominant wins ever at Augusta National. He never let anyone get closer to him than three shots after his record start. He never gave anyone much hope on Sunday.

Spieth closed with a 2-under 70, missing a 5-foot par putt on the final hole that would have set yet another record. Instead, he tied the score set by Tiger Woods in 1997 at 18-under 270.

“This was the ultimate goal in my golf life,” Spieth said.

Read it all from AP.

Three thoughts on Manchester United’s 4-2 win vs. Manchester City in the Premier League.

1. Man United claim derby day honours

Now the balance of power has changed. For the first time since 2012, Manchester United have won a derby and, with the victory, have gone four points clear of Manchester City. They have recorded six straight league wins, whereas their neighbours’ slump continues. A sixth defeat in eight fixtures meant it wasn’t only the Mancunian downpour that made Manuel Pellegrini look a beleaguered figure as he stood on the Old Trafford touchline.

Predictably, the Chilean was serenaded with chants of “You’re getting sacked in the morning” after losing both the match and his 100 percent derby record. It meant there was no record fifth consecutive win for City in this fixture and no fourth successive triumph at Old Trafford.

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The 19-year-old freshman at Mount St. Joseph’s University inspired millions with her courage as she battled an inoperable brain tumor.

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Forty years ago, Lee Elder became the first black golfer to play in the US Masters – but when he qualified for the tournament, he received death threats and wondered whether taking part might cost him his life.

The crowds gathered at the opening hole of the Masters in 1975 were used to watching a black man stride on to the first tee. But Lee Elder was not there to carry the clubs of a white competitor – he was there to play.

It was one of the last colour barriers in US sport.

“When I arrived at the front gate and drove down Magnolia Lane that’s when the shakes began. It was so nerve wracking. I said a prayer and asked for help to get me through the day,” says Elder.

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