Sports
Galaxy and LAFC vying to host MLS Cup now that Inter Miami has been ousted
Forty-two million dollars can buy a lot of things, but apparently it can’t buy an MLS championship, because for the second time in as many seasons Inter Miami came up short in trying to spend its way to a league title.
This time it was Atlanta United, the lowest seed in the 18-team playoff field, a team that has played the last five months with an interim coach and one with a payroll less than half the size of Miami’s, who delivered the fatal blow, beating Lionel Messi’s team Saturday in the deciding game of a best-of-three, first-round playoff series.
That has wrecked the plans of MLS — which has all but rechristened itself Messi Soccer League — and its broadcast partners at Apple, who both were deeply invested in drawing a massive global audience for a league championship game with Messi at its center.
Cinderella, however, ruined the coronation by proving mentality is still more valuable than money, grit can still beat greed and the magic of pixie dust should never be underestimated.
“Grinding, man. Grinding. Believing. Resilient,” Atlanta’s ageless goalkeeper Brad Guzan, who stopped nine shots in the 3-2 win, said of his team’s performance. “There’s some fairy dust in our locker room.”
Guzan and his teammates weren’t the only ones celebrating because Miami’s loss opened a wide path for the MLS Cup to return to Southern California for the second time in three years. LAFC and the Galaxy are the highest remaining seeds in the playoff tournament, meaning if both win their Western Conference semifinals in two weeks, the title game will definitely be played here no matter who wins the conference final.
There’s also an upside to the upset for MLS.
The league’s overarching philosophy since its founding has been parity, a goal its byzantine salary rules were designed to support. And Miami’s loss — to a team whose salary is 35% of its payroll — means the best-paid team won’t win the MLS Cup for the seventh straight year and the 12th time in 13 seasons.
According to figures compiled by the Spotrac website, the last time the league’s highest-salaried team was also its best-performing one was in 2017, when Toronto won the only treble in MLS history with a payroll of $22.5 million. In the last six seasons, just one MLS champion — Columbus in 2020 — has ranked in the top three in spending. In a sport where cash often determines champions, that’s something MLS should be cheering.
Messi might be a World Cup champion — in addition to winning 10 La Liga titles, four Champions League crowns, three FIFA Club World Cups, two Ligue 1 titles, two Copa Américas and an Olympic gold medal — but he’s never lifted the MLS Cup.
This, too, is something the league should tout.
The best player in history comes to MLS, scores 21 goals and gets 18 assists in 25 regular-season games over a season and a half, but his team gets bounced in quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup and the round of 16 in the Leagues Cup. It didn’t even make the playoffs last year.
Messi and Barcelona buddies Luis Suarez, Jordi Alba and Sergio Busquets have done much to raise the league’s profile and turn Inter Miami into a global brand. Now that spotlight can be used to highlight the strength and competitiveness of the league overall.
Even with the loss, it hasn’t been a totally lost season for Inter Miami since the team broke the league’s single-season points record and won the Supporters’ Shield, which goes to the team with the best record heading into the playoffs. That’s a trophy many players consider more important than MLS Cup since it recognizes excellence over a full reason rather than just the final six weeks.
Yet coach Tata Martino, who won an MLS Cup with Atlanta in 2018, isn’t interested in consolation prizes.
“It’s not a success when you lose in the quarterfinal round,” he told reporters after Saturday’s loss. “If one considers the expectations we had for these playoffs, we’ve come up very short.”
He was even more direct in an interview with the Athletic last August.
“When you win the MLS Cup, you earn that star above the badge,” he said. “The day that I’m given a star for winning the Supporters’ Shield, it’ll be worth it.”
Martino is now the third of three MLS coach-of-the-year candidates to lose in the first round of the playoffs. You know who hasn’t been eliminated? The actual best coaches of the year — the Galaxy’s Greg Vanney and LAFC’s Steve Cherundolo.
Vanney guided a Galaxy team that won just eight games last year to a record-tying season, one in which it matched modern-era franchise bests for wins (19) and goals (69). If it hadn’t conceded a score on the final touch of the regular season, the team would have won its first conference title since 2011 as well.
Cherundolo, whose rebuilt roster finished atop the conference table, is the only coach to take his team to two cup finals in 2024, winning the U.S. Cup and losing to Columbus in the Leagues Cup. By reaching the MLS Cup final, which LAFC won two years ago, Cherundolo will become the first person to take his team to the league title game three times in as many years since 2007.
Now both coaches are within reach of their second titles. If LAFC, which has the fifth-highest payroll in the league, can beat Seattle on Nov. 23, and the Galaxy, whose payroll ranks seventh, gets by Minnesota United the next day, the neighbors will meet in the Western Conference final.
The winner of that game will earn the right to play host to the league championship game — a game in which neither money nor Messi will influence.
That’s something worth cheering, for MLS, its fans and its corporate partners.
⚽ You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week’s episode of the “Corner of the Galaxy” podcast.
Sports
Conor McGregor’s long-awaited Octagon return cut short by apparent knee injury seconds into UFC 329
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Nearly five years after his last walk to the Octagon, Conor McGregor made his long-awaited UFC return Saturday night against fellow MMA star Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 329 in Las Vegas.
McGregor opened aggressively, attempting a running kick before throwing a head kick moments later. He appeared to slip on both tries. Holloway quickly capitalized after the second, taking top position and landing a right hand before McGregor was able to work his way back to his feet.
Moments later, McGregor hit the canvas again after trying to throw a kick with his right leg, which appeared to buckle underneath him.
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Conor McGregor of Ireland participates in the walkout before facing Max Holloway of the United States in their welterweight bout during UFC 329 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. (Ian Maule/Getty Images)
The official inside the Octagon waved off the fight moments later, giving Holloway a TKO victory.
During the broadcast, UFC CEO Dana White pointed to a first-round replay that appeared to show the moment McGregor suffered the injury. The apparent injury was not to the same leg McGregor broke during his 2021 fight against Dustin Poirier, which led to a lengthy absence from the Octagon.
The loss extended McGregor’s long winless drought, with his last UFC victory coming by first-round TKO against Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone in January 2020.
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McGregor earned a unanimous decision over Holloway in a featherweight clash in 2013, when neither was an MMA megastar. In the blink of an eye, McGregor’s star rose.
Conor McGregor and Max Holloway face off during the UFC 329 ceremonial weigh-in at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on July 10, 2026. (Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)
On Wednesday, he admitted he got caught up in his own stardom after winning UFC belts in two weight classes and becoming one of the biggest names in combat sports.
“I launched an Irish whiskey,” McGregor said. “I didn’t drink heavily, if at all, at that time of my life. I was an athlete at the top of my game. Next thing you know, thousands upon thousands of bottles (are) in my garage.
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“‘Sell this, Conor.’ OK, I’d leave my property with two bottles under my arm, and that was it. I was caught. And I wasn’t used to it. And that’s it. God gave me these lessons. That’s it. I was trapped and caught, and it is what it is.”
Conor McGregor jumps into the air for a kick as he fights Max Holloway in a welterweight bout at UFC 329 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (John Locher/AP)
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Easier said than done, perhaps, as the controversial former champion has been embroiled in multiple controversies and legal issues over the past several years.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
LAS VEGAS — The door opened for Arthur Kaluma to show his worth for the Lakers in the NBA Summer League on Saturday night.
He did so in a big way.
Kaluma had 34 points and five rebounds during the Lakers’ 91-70 win over the Dallas Mavericks at the Thomas & Mack Center.
He was 11 for 16 from the field and six for 10 from three-point range.
With Lakers rookie guard Cameron Carr unable to play because of a right thumb contusion, Kaluma took over the scoring role. Carr, the 24th pick in the NBA draft, is averaging 17 points per game.
“Cam doesn’t play tonight, so he gets a little bit more minutes, gets a couple more touches,” said Lakers Summer League coach Ty Abbott about Kaluma. “But he’s done a really good job of making the most of it when he doesn’t have actions run for him. So the way that he’s been able to stay ready, find windows for himself has kept him in a rhythm. So, on a night like tonight, when we can run some actions for him, he knocks them down and just plays out of his mind. It was great.”
Kaluma said he was “a little nervous” but his three-point shooting said otherwise.
“When [teammate] Jon Elmore came down and he pitched it back to me for a three … I just knew when it came off my hand it was cash,” Kaluma said. “So I said, ‘Yeah, I’m hot.’ It went on from there.”
Late in the fourth quarter, Kaluma lined up a three-pointer, setting his feet and scoring from 29 feet out. He flashed three fingers and smiled. His teammates on the bench stood and cheered, as did the fans.
“We have such a great group of guys this year at Summer League and going through this it’s hard to get that camaraderie with a group,” Kaluma said. “But I feel like everybody wants to see everybody succeed and I felt that tonight. I’m not going to lie to you. They tell me to shoot the ball. I passed up a couple of shots and they were mad at me the other day.”
Kaluma played for the South Bay Lakers in the G League last season. He averaged 14.6 points per game, 4.9 rebounds and shot 55% from the field, 37% from three-point range.
“The G can get grimey, you know what I’m saying? It’s a time where everybody is trying to fight for a position and there is a certain hunger that you have to have in order to be successful in the G,” Kaluma said. “And I feel like that drive that I had my first year in it pushed me into this summer to really get better and work on my game and come here and have the opportunity to perform.”
Kaluma wasn’t alone in helping the Lakers improve to 2-0 in Summer League play.
Adou Thiero ran the court, took a lob pass from Chris Mañon and threw down a two-handed dunk. He had another solid outing with 15 points and four rebounds. He shot just four for 12 from the field, but was a plus-15.
But the night belonged to Kaluma.
“I pride myself on the defensive end,” he said. “I know I got hot offensively, but the shot was just falling today, you know what I’m saying? My game is three-and-D. I lock-up on defense and I know I can hit open shots. I just got hot today and I’m not going to try to let it get to my head.”
Sports
Golf star records lowest round in LPGA major history with astounding performance at Evian Championship
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There are good days on the golf course, and then there is what Haeran Ryu just did on Saturday.
Ryu, 25, recorded the lowest round in LPGA major history on Saturday with an 11-under 60 at the Evian Championship. With the South Korean golfer’s historic round, she holds a three-stroke lead.
Ryu’s round comes just two weeks after winning her first major at the Women’s PGA Championship. On the 18th hole, Ryu left a 30-foot eagle putt a few inches short, and instead settled for a birdie.
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Haeran Ryu of South Korea reacts on the 18th green after the third round of The Amundi Evian Championship at Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France, on July 11, 2026. (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
She said after the round that she had no idea what she had done until she counted up her scorecard.
“But after the putt and I counted my score with my caddie,” she said. “Oh my God, it’s 11-under par today. It was so amazing. My caddie says, ‘Yep.’ I’m so happy right now.”
If Ryu had made the eagle putt on the 18th hole, she would have been just the second player to shoot a 59 in LPGA history.
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Haeran Ryu of South Korea celebrates a birdie on the 15th green during the third round of The Amundi Evian Championship at Evian Resort Golf Club on July 11, 2026, in Evian-les-Bains, France. (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
Her 60 broke the record for the lowest round in an LPGA major by one shot. Leona Maguire and Jeungeun Lee6 in 2021, and Hyo Joo Kim in 2014, each shot 61 at the Evian Championship, which was designated as an LPGA major in 2013.
The lowest round in a men’s major is 62, which is shared by four players — Branden Grace at Royal Birkdale in the 2017 British Open, Xander Schauffele and Rickie Fowler in the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club, and Schauffele and Shane Lowry in the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla.
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Haeran Ryu of South Korea and Lottie Woad of England interact after their round on the 18th green during the third round of the Amundi Evian Championship at Evian Resort Golf Club in Evian-les-Bains, France, on July 11, 2026. (Stuart Franklin/Getty Images)
Ryu hopes her historic third round can help propel her to a second major win in three weeks.
“That is amazing, amazing dream,” Ryu said. “So I just want that one to come true, but we have one more day.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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