D2 EZ M2 THE WASHINGTON POST.TUESDAY, JULY 28 , 2020
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PRO FOOTBALL
Baker, Dunbar placed
on commissioner’s list
The NFL placed cornerbacks
DeAndre Baker of the New York
Giants and Quinton Dunbar of
the Seattle Seahawks on paid
administrative leave Monday by
putting them on the
commissioner’s exempt list,
according to a person familiar
with the situation.
Baker and Dunbar cannot
practice or play in any games
while on the list. They are
permitted, under league rules, to
attend meetings, participate in
workouts and undergo medical
treatment at the team facility.
The league’s placement of a
player on the list is designed to
last until there is a ruling about
potential discipline under the
personal conduct policy.
The two players have pleaded
not guilty to charges related to
an alleged armed robbery in
Miramar, Fla., at a gathering at a
home there in May. Authorities
reportedly are deciding whether
to prosecute the case.
Baker reportedly was told by
the Giants to stay away from
virtual meetings during the
offseason. The players can
appeal their placement on the
exempt list. Dunbar was traded
from Washington’s NFL team to
the Seahawks this offseason.
— Mark Maske
San Francisco 49ers running
back Raheem Mostert r eworked
his contract after previously
requesting a trade....
New Orleans Saints
quarterback Drew Brees and his
wife, Brittany, said they’re
donating $5 million toward a
partnership with a Louisiana
health-care provider to build
“numerous” health centers in
economically struggling
communities around the state.
COLLEGES
The NCAA reduced the
minimum number of contests
required of Division I fall sports
teams, excluding football, by
50 percent this season.
The decision by the Division I
Council coordination committee
to grant a blanket waiver for any
school that needs it affects c ross-
country, soccer, field hockey,
men’s water polo and women’s
volleyball teams....
The Metro Atlantic Athletic
Conference decided to cancel fall
sports competition because of
concerns surrounding the novel
coronavirus pandemic.SOCCER
Magnus Eriksson scored on a
pair of second-half penalty kicks
to help the San Jose Earthquakes
beat Real Salt Lake, 5-2, and
advance to the quarterfinals of
the MLS is Back To urnament in
Kissimmee, Fla....
Kylian Mbappé could miss
Paris Saint-Germain’s
Champions League quarterfinal
vs. Atalanta after being ruled out
for about three weeks with an
ankle ligament injury....
Spanish club Valencia hired
former Watford coach Javi
Gracia on a two-year deal.MISC.
The 22-month-old daughter of
Camilo Villegas died of tumors
on her brain and spine, the PGA
To ur announced.
Mia Villegas was diagnosed
March 14, two weeks after
Villegas and h is wife, Maria,
noticed she wasn’t as playful. She
had surgery, then chemotherapy.
She died Sunday night....
IndyCar is set for another
schedule revamp, with a race at
Portland International Raceway
and a doubleheader weekend at
Laguna Seca c anceled. It will
now run doubleheaders at Mid-
Ohio and at Indianapolis Motor
Speedway....
Kyrie Irving is making sure
WNBA players can sit out the
season and not stress about a
paycheck. The Brooklyn Nets
star committed $1.5 million to
supplement the income of
players who choose not to play
this season, whether because of
coronavirus concerns or for
social justice reasons.
— From news services
and staff reportsDIGESTBY SAMANTHA PELLtoronto — On the same day
MLB was thrown into disarray
when a novel coronavirus out-
break on the Miami Marlins
forced the postponement of two
games, the NHL reported zero
new coronavirus cases during its
last week of training camp.
From July 18 to Saturday, the
league administered 4,256 tests to
more than 800 players, with all
tests coming back negative. The
league reported only two positive
tests at camp July 13-17. As of
Sunday night, all 24 teams com-
peting for the Stanley Cup made it
to their respective hub cities, To -
ronto (Eastern Conference) and
Edmonton (Western Conference).
“It feels super safe here,” Wash-
ington Capitals winger Carl Hage-
lin said Monday. “It’s the safest
I’ve felt since this happened in
early March. The hotel is great as
well.”
While in their bubbles, all play-
ers and staff members will be
tested daily for the coronavirus,
with results available within
24 hours. During training camps,
players were tested every other
day and were not subjected to any
sort of quarantine away from the
rink. Now in their hub cities,
players will only be allowed in the
secure zones the NHL has set up,
which include hotels, practice
rinks, arenas, select dining op-
tions and recreational areas.
With encouraging news on thetesting front, teams started to hit
the ice Monday. The Capitals par-
ticipated in their first practice
session in To ronto at the Ford
Performance Centre.
All 31 players on the travel
roster participated in the prac-
tice. The Capitals will practice
again Tuesday before playing an
exhibition game Wednesday
against the Carolina Hurricanes
at 4 p.m.
“It was a sigh of relief [to get
here], and I think our practice
today was indicative of that,” Cap-
itals Coach To dd Reirden said
Monday. “Really upbeat practice
and not our normal practice time
of any means.... I t hought for the
most part our team was in really
good spirits today.”
The Capitals took a Sunday
afternoon flight into To ronto,
which was documented through
player and team social media ac-
counts. On a humid, hot day in the
Washington area, players donned
different masks of their choosing
as they waited to board the team
plane. Most players wore typical
blue surgical masks or plain face
coverings. Others, such as captain
Alex Ovechkin and winger To m
Wilson, opted for branded gaiters
and masks.
Ovechkin sported his “We Will
Skate Again” gaiter with Ovech-
kin’s signature logo, a cornered
No. 8 surrounded by the letter O.
All sales from the mask will ben-
efit Monumental Sports & Enter-
tainment Foundation’s Feedingthe Frontlines Fund to support
health-care workers and first re-
sponders during the pandemic.
Wilson was wearing a mask from
Bash Boxing, a gym in which the
winger has a financial stake.
“It was kind of weird getting
onto the plane at first,” defense-
man John Carlson said. “We ha-
ven’t been on a plane in a long
time. Just b eing in a hotel, haven’t
been in a hotel in a long time. So
in that sense, yeah, it does feel a
little more normal.... It does feel
a little bit more like this is our
calling and this is what we do and
it’s just something where it’s nor-
mal to us.”
Carlson said it felt a little more
normal going through the first
full day of practice and staying at
the hotel, minus wearing the
masks, being checked for symp-
toms and using the same hotel as
their opponents. Ovechkin added
that he thought the first night was
a little “tough” after being with
family for so long during the
pause.
“Everybody’s making sacrific-
es, but we’re having a good time,”
Carlson said. “We’re enjoying our-
selves. There’s a lot of people out
there that are really making an
actual sacrifice — doctors and
being away from family, that kind
of thing. Us being here, we’re
away from our families and that
stinks, but this is our job and
something that we love to do.
That’s what we’re here for. We’re
here to play hockey, have fun andput on a show for the fans.”
When they aren’t o n the ice, the
players will be spending a fair
amount of time together. For such
a tightknit group as the Capitals,
being together and figuring out
what to do to keep entertained
should prove to be the least of
their worries.
When the Capitals went on
their first trip in late February
with newcomers Ilya Kovalchuk
and Brenden Dillon, a day off was
scheduled in Minneapolis. So the
team decided to have a team
bonding experience and went
bowling. Braden Holtby recalled
that 10 or so players stopped in at
the bowling alley, and he made
sure to note that Wilson was pret-
ty good. As for his own bowling
game, well, he said it needed
work.
Bowling is not on the bubble
agenda, but there will be multiple
recreational activities for teams.
The Capitals also made sure to
bring along their own entertain-
ment: card games, video games
and, for Holtby, his guitar.
“If we could all get in a room
and Holts just jams on the guitar
and we all chat and hang out, this
team finds it’s very easy for us to
entertain each other and hang out
and have fun,” winger T. J. Oshie
said during training camp. “Just
being together, I think, is going to
be important during this playoff
stretch here after a four-month
break from seeing each other.”
[email protected]Zero NHL positives as Caps hit bubble
BY STEVEN GOFFThe novel coronavirus pan-
demic’s impact on regional quali-
fying for the 2022 World Cup
came into full view Monday as
Concacaf, soccer’s g overning body
in this part of the planet, an-
nounced a new format.
For the U.S. men’s national
team, it m eans 14 matches instead
of 10, starting next June instead o f
this September.
It means an eight-team final
group instead of six. Informally
known as the “hexagonal,” the
stage will now be an “octagonal."
Concacaf President Victor
Montagliani said the previous
schedule had been “compro-
mised” by cancellations caused b y
the pandemic and “a new ap-
proach was required.”
“A ll teams now have the chance
to compete for direct access to
Qatar 2022 and dream of playing
at a World Cup, while we have also
respected the positions of those
nations w hich had already mathe-
matically qualified for the final
round under the previous sys-
tem.”
The delayed start allows U.S.
Coach Gregg Berhalter additional
time to mold h is young squad, but
it also creates a more perilous
path to one of the region’s three
automatic berths in Qatar. A
fourth team will advance to an
intercontinental playoff in June
2022.
Because of the Middle East’s
summer heat, the World Cup was
moved from its usual summer
time period to November-Decem-ber 202 2.
With the United States facing
four additional qualifying match-
es, there is more room for error
but also more teams vying for the
same number of slots.
“It’s good that we have clarity
regarding the format a nd schedul-
ing, which allows us to chart the
course ahead,” Berhalter said. “We
are looking forward to the chal-
lenge that this new World Cup
qualifying format will present. We
have a busy 2021 that gives us the
opportunity to compete for tro-
phies and also take a big step
towards qualifying for the World
Cup.”
Based on FIFA’s latest rankings,
the top five teams in Concacaf will
skip the preliminaries and go
straight to the final stage. They a re
Mexico, the United States, Costa
Rica, Jamaica and Honduras.
Previously, the top six were to
receive passes to the final round.
(El Salvador w ill now have to navi-
gate two steps to reach the last
stage.)
In t he first round, Concacaf will
set six five-team groups. Te ams
will play one another once — not
twice, as is customary. They will
play two games at home and two
away this fall.
El Salvador, Canada, Curaçao,
Panama, Haiti and Trinidad andTo bago are the top group seeds. A
draw will determine the full
groups and locations.
The six group winners will ad-
vance to the second round in
March. Three head-to-head
matchups, using a traditional
home-and-home format, will de-
termine who advances.
In the final round, teams will
play four matches apiece next
June, then two in each of the FIFA
windows in September, October
and November 2021 and January
and March 2022.
As a tuneup for qualifying, the
United States in March will com-
pete in the last stage of the Conca-
caf Nations League, which was
postponed this summer. The
Americans will face Honduras,
and Mexico will p lay Costa Rica, at
U.S. venues to be determined. The
third-place game and final will
follow a few days later.
Had the event taken place this
summer, the semifinals would’ve
unfolded at two venues in Hous-
ton and the third-place match and
final in Arlington, Te x.
As for the remainder of 2020,
the U.S. Soccer Federation is seek-
ing opportunities to schedule
friendlies in October and Novem-
ber. Berhalter would also like to
conduct the a nnual January train-
ing camp, followed by one or two
friendlies. However, the health
crisis will dictate whether any of
that is possible.
Concacaf also set the dates for
the 2021 Gold Cup: July 10-Aug. 1
at several U.S. venues to be deter-
mined.
[email protected]USMNT’s path to 2022 Cup is altered
Americans will enter
qualifying in eight-team
final round next JuneWASHINGTON CAPITALS
Capitals winger Jakub Vrana, left, and goaltender Vitek Vanecek h ang out at the team hotel in Toronto before a workout M onday.BY AVA WALLACEThat the Washington Wizards’
stay in the Florida bubble is all
about youth is no secret at this
point. With the NBA’s abbreviated
regular season set to begin this
week, t he Wizards are determined
to use their time down south to
develop their young players and,
without Bradley Beal and Davis
Bertans, count on them to carry
the team through eight games and
— who knows? — possibly an
unlikely playoff push.
Washington’s youth was again
on display in its third and final
exhibition game Monday in Kis-
simmee, Fla. The Wizards lost to
the Los Angeles Lakers’ skeleton
crew, 123-116, looking every bit
their age with less than a week
before the regular season resumes
against Phoenix on Friday.
After a pair of solid, highly
competitive exhibition losses in
which the Wizards earned credit
from Coach Scott Brooks despite
the outcome, Washington was a
beat behind on defense from the
start Monday and struggled to
keep pace with the up-tempo Lak-
ers.
L os Angeles kept its heavy hit-
ters sidelined, resting LeBron
James, Anthony Davis and
Dwight Howard — Kyle Kuzma
also didn’t play because of a
slightly sprained ankle — but no
matter. Seasoned guards J.R.
Smith (20 points) and Dion Wait-
ers (18) stepped up to take the
youngsters to school.
“We had a quickness struggle
tonight,” Brooks said. “Whether
they weren’t ready to start the
game — I told them after the
game, we’ve been great for almost
three weeks. To night, we didn’t
get better.... We’ve got to be ready
to compete every minute we’re on
the floor. I don’t think we did that
tonight. Luckily for us, it was the
last game of our exhibition sea-
son, but that’s no excuse. We’ve
still got to bring it every time on
the floor. We were just a step
behind on everything.”
Guard Troy Brown Jr. returned
to the starting lineup after a
thumb sprain kept him out of the
Wizards’ loss to the Los Angeles
Clippers on Saturday but brought
little of the spark that made him
shine in the t eam’s f irst exhibition
last week. He made just 5 of 14
shot attempts, while another re-
cent standout, forward Isaac Bon-
ga, faded as well, making just 2 of
5.
Forward Rui Hachimura con-
tinued to be Washington’s most
consistent scoring option and led
the team with 19 points and three
rebounds. Guard Jerome Robin-
son picked up some slack and
scored 18 points to go with four
rebounds.
The team’s two veteran point
guards, starter Shabazz Napier
(16 points) and Ish Smith (12),rounded out the offense.
On defense, the Wizards’ sea-
son-long struggles cropped up
again. The Wizards didn’t neces-
sarily look lost in their schemes,
they simply lagged and couldn’t
contain players when they did get
set — something Brown attribut-
ed to effort.
“Just in general, us coming out
today our intensity wasn’t very
high,” Brown said. “That’s on us,
especially me.”
The Lakers shot 49.4 percent
from the field and 46.4 percent
from three-point range, while
Washington shot 46.1 percent
from the field and 29.4 percent
from deep. Without Bertans and
Beal, the Wizards finished all
three exhibitions shooting below
30 percent from beyond the arc.
That o utcome wasn’t a s urprise
to Brooks. He said the solution
rests in better — and faster —
decision-making and generally
better spacing. But as the coach
continues to teach his young play-
ers in Florida, the thing that has to
appear in every game above al-
most all else is a level of intensity
the Wizards were missing Mon-
day.
“You’re not going to win every
night,” B rooks said. “Obviously we
have a lot of players that have not
a lot of experience, but that has
nothing to do [with it]. We didn’t
play with the passion, the com-
mitment, to outwork our oppo-
nent like we have been.... Even
the last two scrimmages that
we’ve lost, we competed in
[them]. We d idn’t d o that tonight.”
[email protected]In defeat, Wizards show their youth
LAKERS 123,
WIZARDS 116Regular season resumes
Friday against Phoenix