Month: March 2026

After a couple of races away from the winner’s circle, INDYCAR’s most dominant driver has picked up another win. Alex Palou raced to victory at the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix on Sunday, getting his second victory in four races in the 2026 INDYCAR season. Palou dominated Sunday’s race, leading for 79 of the 90 laps. He finished just over 13 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Christian Lundgaard, who was also the runner-up at last year’s Alabama Indy Grand Prix. This marks Palou’s second straight victory at Barber Motorsports Park. He actually won last year’s race in slightly more dominant fashion, leading that race for 81 laps before beating Lundgaard by over 16 seconds. Graham Rahal finished third in Sunday’s race at Barber Motorsports Park. It’s his best finish in a race since 2023. Here’s the full top 25 from the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix: 1. Alex Palou 2. Christian Lundgaard 3. Graham Rahal 4. David Malukas 5. Kyle Kirkwood 6. Marcus Armstrong 7. Scott Dixon 8. Santino Ferrucci 9. Marcus Ericcson 10. Josef Newgarden 11. Alexander Rossi 12. Will Power 13. Felix Rosenqvist 14. Rinus Veekay 15. Romain Grosjean 16. Scott McLaughlin 17. Pato O’Ward 18. Nolan Siegel 19. Christian Rasmussen 20. Kyffin Simpson 21. Caio Collet 22. Sting Ray Robb 23. Dennis Hauger 24. Mick Schumacher 25. Louis Foster​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Alexi Lalas doesn’t want the United States men’s national team to brush aside goalkeeper Matt Turner’s performance in its 5-2 loss to Belgium in Saturday’s friendly. With the World Cup just over two months away, Lalas believes Turner’s outing on Saturday was devastating enough that it should cost him the opportunity to compete for the United States’ starting goalkeeper job with Matt Freese “Some day may start today for certain people, but I don’t think it starts today when it comes to Matt Turner,” Lalas said on the latest episode of “State of the Union.” “You are going to be associated with shipping five goals. You, unfortunately, Matt Turner, don’t get the benefit of the doubt because I do think that Freese is the incumbent. “I think we would all agree that this position has been such a position of quality and talent over the years — we’re going into the second World Cup in a row, from a men’s perspective, where there are questions about our goalkeeping, and that’s not something we’ve had to worry about in the past.” Saturday’s outing was actually Turner’s first start in net for the men’s national team since June of last year. In that start, Turner gave up four goals in a 4-0 loss to Switzerland. Freese started in net for the USA in the 12 games after that showing, including all six matches in the nation’s run to the CONCACAF Gold Cup final last summer. Freese averaged a goal allowed per match during that tournament, and has largely provided solid play in net for Team USA since he took over for Turner. The 27-year-old New York City FC goalkeeper has eight wins in those 12 starts, including three clean sheets. But U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino sounded as if he wanted to see Turner so he could evaluate his form in case Freese gets hurt. The U.S. was ahead before Belgium got a 45th-minute equalizer, the first of five straight goals. “Matt Freese was playing a lot in the last year with us and I think we thought that it was necessary to provide the opportunity to another keeper,” Pochettino said. “For the World Cup, circumstances can happen.” Turner, 31, was the U.S. starter at the 2022 World Cup, giving up four goals in four matches in that tournament. But he’s had some struggles since late 2023, allowing 23 goals in his last 12 appearances for the national team. Still, Pochettino emphasized the desire to get a full look at his squad as the 2026 World Cup nears. ‘It’s not that when you concede a goal, it’s only the keeper or mistake of the keeper,’ Pochettino said. “It is good to see him to perform after a long period. We all know that he has experience in the national team and in the previous World Cup, and that is a point that we need to use, use being in the starting 11 or not.” Turner hasn’t gotten off to a great start to 2026 with his club team, either. He’s surrendered nine goals in the New England Revolution’s first four matches this season, and holds a 65.4 save percentage. Last season, Turner gave up 16 goals in 10 matches for the Revolution after rejoining the squad in August. Despite the struggles, Turner’s confidence hasn’t wavered. “My overarching theme for earning that opportunity again is just to continue to be myself, to go out there,” Turner said. “Obviously, they’ve seen something that they like that I’m doing in training. They’ve seen something they like in my performances in New England. “I understand and feel in my bones that this coaching staff is very fair and they’re going to give people that deserve chances a chance,” Turner added. “So just stay calm. I know that a lot can change in three months time and it did from September to November back in the last go-around.” Lalas, however, believes Turner should return to the bench for the United States’ next match against Portugal. “I don’t think Matt Turner did anything to win the job back or change anyone’s mind — in fact, he might have gone the opposite direction — but Freese is the incumbent simply because he’s played the last 13 games, not because he’s necessarily a great goalkeeper,” Lalas said. “If there was ever a moment to shine, obviously it’s going to be this summer. I would absolutely play Freese in this next game.” The Associated Press contributed to this report.​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports

Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta) — Christian Pulisic wants this responsibility. The one that requires him to carry the pressure weighing on the U.S. men’s national team as it embarks on what is expected to be a historic World Cup on home soil this summer. Pulisic, 27, has been in the senior national team for 10 years. He entered as a 17-year-old “next big thing” and has morphed into the face of the program. He’s seen unprecedented success playing in Europe, and at one point this season was AC Milan’s scoring leader. But on Saturday, following Belgium’s 5-2 dismantling of the American squad in a World Cup tuneup at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Pulisic was forced to once again explain a poor performance from the U.S. “I think we played well for big stretches of the game, but it’s just fine margins,” a frustrated Pulisic told a group of reporters. “I mean, I have to be a bit more clinical and, yeah, defend. I mean, overall, it’s a tough result for us, but I don’t feel like it was a 5-2 game necessarily. So there are some things that we can definitely take positives from. But some things for sure we have to work on.” The Americans were actually the better team for most of the first half against Belgium. Weston McKennie, who has been close friends with Pulisic since their youth soccer days, scored the first goal in the 39th minute off a corner from Antonee “Jedi” Robinson to give the U.S. a 1-0 lead. Belgium quickly responded, equalizing moments before halftime. Pulisic had scoring chances early. There was a header that soared over the top of the goal in the seventh minute, and he looked dangerous when a low shot went wide in the 14th. In the 52nd minute, Tim Weah did the dirty work and beat Maxim De Cuyper deep near the right corner of the field and flicked a pass with the outside of his left foot to Pulisic near the box. Pulisic dribbled inside with excitement and speed, but couldn’t get the ball exactly where he wanted and skied his shot over the crossbar. Less than a minute later, Aston Villa midfielder Amadou Onana gave Belgium a 2-1 edge when he needed just one touch to slip a strike past U.S. goalkeeper Matt Turner. Eventually, the game got out of hand and fans found the exits before the final whistle. Pulisic doesn’t need to be reminded of the importance of finishing chances. No one is more disappointed than him when he doesn’t. He expects more from himself. He knows the U.S. will need to beat talented teams like Belgium in order to go far in the World Cup, and he will have to play a major role in that. “If we score there, we’re talking in a different way,” U.S. manager Mauricio Pochettino said after the game. “2-1 or 3-1 to us, we get the result. But sometimes you get what you want or you get things you don’t like. If you remember, the next section we concede [a goal]. “To feel the pain sometimes is good.” There is a silver lining following Saturday’s result. The squad gets right back to it with another match Tuesday vs. Portugal, a World Cup dark horse. Regardless of how that game shakes out, there’s still time for the U.S. to get things right before the tournament begins — its first match vs. Paraguay is on June 12 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. There have also been similar situations in the past where the U.S. hasn’t played well enough in one game and made adjustments quickly. In 2024, Colombia thrashed the team 5-1 in a friendly ahead of Copa América. A few days later, the squad regrouped and drew Brazil, 1-1, and Pulisic scored the equalizing goal. Last year, the squad was embarrassed by both Türkiye and Switzerland in friendlies before the Gold Cup, but then made a run to the tournament final. [Clash of Colors?: USA-Belgium Jersey Combo Was An Eyesore For Players] Pochettino himself has said on multiple occasions that it’s more important for the team to play its best during the World Cup and not peak in matches beforehand. He never wants to lose and has often stated he wants players to believe and dream that they can win the World Cup. He’s still in the process of whittling the player pool down to a final 26-man roster, which will be announced on May 26, so these matches are also important for him to get last looks at different player combinations. At some point, he’ll have to work on building chemistry with more specific lineups. All of that is to say, losing now is not necessarily indicative of how the team will perform this summer. Even so, Pulisic is the team’s biggest star, and it needs more from him. He has been in a scoring drought for the national team – his last goal came in 2024, and he hasn’t scored for AC Milan yet in 2026. He started his club season in fine form, scoring eight goals between August and December, but has hit a speed bump. He’s motivated to turn things around and has more to give. He’ll recover, watch film, and do everything possible to be better next time. “We have to take this on the chin,” Pulisic said. “It was a tough loss. It’s a very good team, but in a lot of ways there’s things that we can do better. “I have to improve. The team has to improve. All we can do is go push and try to get a result.”​Latest Sports News from FOX Sports