SOCCER

European champion Italy will miss a second consecutive World Cup, getting knocked out with a 1-0 loss to North Macedonia in a playoff semifinal Thursday in Palermo, Italy.

Aleksandar Trajkovski’s goal in the 92nd minute was North Macedonia’s only real opportunity after a completely dominant performance by Italy, which missed a number of chances and had several others saved by visiting goalkeeper Stole Dimitrievski.

Italy also failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, losing to Sweden in a two-legged playoff.

North Macedonia will play on Tuesday for a spot in the World Cup against Portugal, which beat Turkey, 3-1.

• Gareth Bale demonstrated his enduring value for Wales by scoring two goals, including a sensational free kick, in a 2-1 win over Austria at Cardiff, Wales, leaving his country one victory away from its first World Cup in 64 years.

Wales will host the winner of a semifinal between Scotland and Ukraine that was postponed until June because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

• Japan qualified for a seventh straight World Cup by beating Australia, 2-0, ending the Socceroos’ chances of automatic qualification.

The result in Sydney also qualified Saudi Arabia from Group B.

Substitute Kaoru Mitoma scored two late goals for Japan after Takumi Minamino came close on five occasions.

Australia remains in contention for a playoff spot in third place.

COLLEGES

WOMEN’S LACROSSE: Eliza Dean put home the winner as time expired, and Colby (5-1, 3-0 NESCAC) scored three goals in the final 48 seconds to rally for a 10-9 win over Hamilton (5-1, 3-1) at Sparks, Maryland.

Elizabeth Hennessey led Colby with three goals, Annie Eddy and Ally Franz each scored twice, and Hallie Schwartzman and Julie Jardina added a goal apiece.

TENNIS

MIAMI OPEN: Naomi Osaka advanced to the third round by easily handling 13th-seeded Angelique Kerber, 6-2, 6-3.

It was Osaka’s first win against a player ranked in the top-15 since she topped then-No. 10 Serena Williams in the 2021 Australian Open semifinals. Osaka went on to win that tournament but hasn’t been to a final since.

Among the men’s winners was two-time Miami Open champ Andy Murray, a 7-6 (4), 6-1) winner over Federico Delbonis to earn a second-round matchup against No. 1 seed Daniil Medvedev. Murray won the event in 2009 and 2013 when it was held at its former Key Biscayne home.

Sebastian Korda of the U.S., who made the quarterfinals last year, rolled past Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, 6-1, 6-1.

AUTO RACING

NASCAR: NASCAR issued steep penalties against Brad Keselowski and his new race team for illegally modifying a supplied part on the Next Gen car.

Keselowski was docked 100 driver points and the No. 6 Ford team docked 100 owner points. Matt McCall, his crew chief, was fined $100,000 and suspended from the next four Cup races.

The penalty plunged the 2012 NASCAR champion from 16th in the current standings to 35th – behind every other full-time driver in the field. Keselowski is in his first season as driver and part-owner of RFK Racing.

Additionally, should Keselowski qualify for NASCAR’s playoffs, he will be docked 10 points at the reset ahead of the first round.

The infraction was discovered in a teardown technical inspection of the No. 6 Ford at NASCAR’s research and development center in Concord this week. The RFK Racing entry was brought to NASCAR headquarters after Sunday’s race at Atlanta, where Keselowski was sent to the back of the field at the start for unapproved adjustments.

HORSE RACING

SUSPENSION: Bob Baffert has transferred four of his promising 3-year-old colts to other trainers, which will allow them to earn qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby while the Hall of Fame trainer appeals his 90-day suspension.

Baffert transferred Messier, Doppelganger and McLaren Vale to trainer Tim Yakteen, who is based at Santa Anita. Blackadder was sent to Kentucky to train under Rudolphe Brisset. All four colts are owned by SF Racing LLC and others.

The moves came four days after a Kentucky judge denied Baffert’s request to stay his 90-day suspension but delayed it until April 4 to allow his attorneys to seek emergency relief through the state’s Court of Appeals.

OLYMPICS

TOKYO: The final cost of the Tokyo Olympics is expected to be about $13.6 billion when the organizing committee dissolves in June and gives a report, organizing committee CEO Toshiro Muto said.

Muto hinted to reporters after an executive board meeting that the final cost might be a “little bit lower” but gave no specific reason why he believes that.

PARIS: After criticism from French national team players about a basketball venue planned for the 2024 Paris Olympics, organizers and the sport’s governing body agreed to find a new one.

NBA players Evan Fournier and Rudy Gobert, who helped France win a silver medal at last year’s Tokyo Olympics, were unhappy about the choice of Hall 6 at the Parc des Expositions for preliminary-round games in men’s and women’s basketball.

Fournier said the ceiling was too low and Gobert joked he was “not going to play in a room where I hit my head when I shoot.”

SWIMMING

RUSSIA: Russia contradicted the governing body of swimming by asserting that it has not withdrawn from all events on this year’s calendar in response to being banned from the world championships because of the war in Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Russian and Belarusian swimmers were banned from competing at the world championships in Hungary. FINA, as the sport’s governing body is known, had also said that Russia responded to the ban by withdrawing from all events on this year’s calendar.

But the Russian swimming federation said FINA published “an incorrect press release” and that it has only decided to skip the worlds in Budapest.

FIGURE SKATING

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Olympic bronze medalist Shoma Uno edged silver medalist Yuma Kagiyama to lead a Japanese sweep of the first three spots after the men’s short program at Montpellier, France.

Uno scored 109.63 points for his program, set to a Vivaldi concerto, for the second-highest score in the world this season behind Olympic champion Nathan Chen’s program in Beijing. Kagiyama scored 105.69 points while Kazuki Tomono edged 17-year-old American phenom Ilia Malinin by less than a point for third place.

• The International Skating Union has replaced its commentators at the figure skating world championships after an open mic picked up a demeaning remark directed at retired Canadian skater Meagan Duhamel.

The ISU said it was “shocked” by the language and that it apologized to Duhamel.

Simon Reed made the comment at the end of Wednesday’s pairs broadcast, apparently believing his microphone was off. It drew laughter from fellow commentator Nicky Slater.

“There is no place for harassing and abusive language or remarks and behavior in sport and our society,” the ISU said on Twitter. “The ISU took instant action with its service provider to suspend both commentators with immediate effect and neither will cover any future figure skating events for the ISU.”

It pledged to launch an “internal investigation.”

“The ISU offered its sincere apologies to Ms. Duhamel for the inappropriate and unacceptable behavior of the two commentators,” the skating federation said.

Duhamel, a two-time world champion in pairs and an Olympic champion in the team event, had been critical of Reed and Slater’s commentary earlier in the competition.

“Skating twitter, I hope we all enjoy some amazing skating today,” Duhamel wrote Thursday. “I have received personal apologies from Simon Reed and the ISU president and I don’t think a public apology is necessary at this point. I appreciate and respect their apologies.”

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