SOCCER

Cristiano Ronaldo reached 800 career goals with a double that secured Manchester United a 3-2 victory against Arsenal in the Premier League on Thursday, as interim manager Ralf Rangnick saw his new team triumph from the stands.

Ronaldo scored the winner from the penalty spot after his first goal allowed him to reach 800 for his career, counting games for his club teams and Portugal.

Rangnick, a 63-year-old German, was granted a work permit on Thursday and will take charge of the team before Sunday’s game against Crystal Palace.

GERMANY: German politicians agreed to slash the maximum attendance at outdoor sports events to 15,000 people, though some states still plan to have empty stadiums.

Rising infection rates in recent weeks and the emergence of the new omicron variant of the coronavirus caused concern ahead of the talks between the state and federal leaders.

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The decision to play a Bundesliga soccer game in Cologne last week in front of a crowd of 50,000 provoked particular ire ahead of plans for 67,000 to attend Borussia Dortmund’s game against Bayern Munich on Saturday.

Indoor sports such as basketball, handball and hockey will have a maximum attendance of 5,000 people.

HIGH SCHOOLS

GIRLS’ HOCKEY: Marina Bassett scored four goals and set up two others as Cape Elizabeth/Waynflete/South Portland opened its season with an 8-2 win over St. Dom’s/Gray-New Gloucester/Winthrop/Monmouth (0-1) at Troubh Ice Arena.

Cape led 4-0 after one period, getting goals from Hartson Mosunic and Becca Good in addition to two from Bassett.

Libby Hooper and Catie Lee also scored for the Capers.

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Georgiana Davidson scored in the second period and Emma Roy in the third period for St. Dom’s.

GOLF

HERO WORLD CHALLENGE: Rory McIlroy shot a 6-under 66 to share the lead with Daniel Berger and Abraham Ancer at Nassau, Bahamas.

Webb Simpson one-putted his last seven greens, five of them for birdie, and was one shot behind along with Brooks Koepka and Justin Thomas, who was at 7 under before a double bogey on the 18th hole.

Collin Morikawa had a reasonable start in his bid to cap off his year with a win that would take him to No. 1 in the world. He shot 68 with a pair of sloppy 8-iron shots from the fairway that led to bogey.

BOBSLEDDING

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HUMPHRIES GAINS U.S. CITIZENSHIP: Kaillie Humphries, the reigning world champion in both monobob and women’s bobsledding, was sworn in as a U.S. citizen in San Diego on Thursday, ending her long saga to become an American and have the right to compete for the U.S. at the Olympics.

Humphries – a two-time Olympic champion and three-time Olympic medalist, all won for Canada – lives in San Diego, has held a green card and is married to an American, former bobsledder Travis Armbruster.

She won the right to slide for the U.S. in September 2019 after a lengthy and ongoing dispute with Canadian bobsled officials over claims of verbal abuse, mental abuse and harassment.

TENNIS

DAVIS CUP: Daniil Medvedev maintained his perfect record at the Davis Cup Finals to put Russia into the last four in Madrid.

Medvedev defeated Mikael Ymer 6-4, 6-4 to give Russia an insurmountable 2-0 lead over Sweden in the quarterfinals of the revamped team event.

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Andrey Rublev earlier outlasted Elias Ymer, Mikael’s older brother, in a 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (3) win.

Russia will face Germany in the semifinals on Saturday. Serbia and top-ranked Novak Djokovic play Croatia in the other semifinal on Friday.

SKIING

WORLD CUP: Marco Odermatt of Switzerland smoothly glided through the steep and sun-drenched Birds of Prey course to win a men’s super-G race in Beaver Creek, Colorado.

Odermatt navigated the technical course in a time of 1 minute, 08.61 seconds to beat Austria’s Matthias Mayer by 0.78 seconds. The real surprise on a warm day was the performance of Canadian Broderick Thompson, who placed third for his first World Cup podium finish.

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