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Madrid is part of the European Club Association Chris Baker Jersey , which has voiced concerns about FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s proposals for a quadrennial Club World Cup to replace the annual tournament and pushed for players to get more mandatory rest periods.

Europe’s top domestic competitions, including the English Premier League and Spain’s La Liga, have also opposed FIFA’s plans.

But Madrid, winner of the last two editions of the Club World Cup, is endorsing Infantino’s vision of the tournament being played every four years in June or July with 12 representatives from Europe.

Madrid’s director of institutional relations, Emilio Butragueno, believes fans would prefer the new tournament over the current seven-team format.

BERLIN (AP) – German officials called on the global soccer federation FIFA to intervene Saturday after a journalist who exposed systematic doping in Russian athletics was denied entry to Russia to report on the upcoming World Cup.

German lawmaker Dagmar Freitag, who chairs the sports committee in parliament, said the cancellation of Hajo Seppelt’s visa was ”not just completely unjustified, but pretty scandalous.”

Freitag told German news agency dpa she was ”anxious to see how (FIFA chief Gianni) Infantino reacts.”

Reinhard Grindel, the head of the German soccer federation, also noted FIFA’s pledge to uphold press freedom. He told dpa he had ”full confidence FIFA will use its influence so Mr. Seppelt can report unhindered from Russia.”

Seppelt works for German public broadcaster ARD. FIFA confirmed that it had already approved his accreditation request and was trying to obtain further information from Russian authorities about the case.

GOLF

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) – Tiger Woods shot a 3-under 69 in the final round of the Players Championship and tied for 11th at 11-under 277.

His round could have been much closer to the 65 he shot Saturday, except his approach on 14 spun off the green. He then missed an 8-foot par putt that caused him to flip his club Walter Payton Jersey , ended up with a disappointing bogey and limped home with a double at the famed 17th . Woods, however, left the course feeling better than ever about his comeback. He’s still seeking his first victory since returning from a fourth back surgery.

”This weekend was more like it,” Woods said.

Woods felt like he finally pulled together all aspects of his game: His driving was impeccable, his iron play was better than it’s been all week and his putting was as good as it’s been all season. He stirred packed galleries into a frenzy on Mother’s Day while wearing his traditional red shirt. Fans young and old stood dozens deep, scurrying from tee to fairway to green, just for a brief peek at Woods.

BASEBALL

CHICAGO (AP) – Major League Baseball has warned Ben Zobrist of the Chicago Cubs against wearing black cleats.

Zobrist posted a letter from the league office on Instagram saying the cleats he wore May 2 against Colorado violated the collective bargaining agreement. MLB says they must be at least 51 percent blue – the Cubs’ color – and warned he could be fined and disciplined if he doesn’t comply.

Zobrist wrote he has worn black cleats for day games at Wrigley Field the past two years to honor the game’s past. He said he was inspired by watching highlights of greats such as Ernie Banks and Stan Musial in the 1950s and 1960s.

He had little to say about the warning after the Cubs beat the crosstown White Sox on Saturday, other than he plans to talk to the league and union about it. He came in to play left field as part of a double switch. And yes, he had on black cleats.

BASKETBALL

BOSTON (AP) – Jaylen Brown had 23 points and eight rebounds, Marcus Morris added 21 points and 10 boards, and the Boston Celtics opened a 21-point, first-quarter lead and scorched the Cleveland Cavaliers 108-83 on Sunday in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

Al Horford scored 20 points for the Celtics, who ran off 17 consecutive points in the first quarter and never allowed the Cavaliers within single digits again. Boston led by 28 when Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue pulled LeBron James for good with 7:09 left.

Game 2 is Tuesday night.

Kevin Love had 17 points and eight rebounds, and James finished with 15 points Michael Gallup Jersey , nine assists and seven boards. The Cavaliers missed their first 14 3-point attempts of the game and shot just 32 percent in the first half.

By that time, Boston led 61-35 – the biggest halftime playoff deficit in James’ career.

HOCKEY

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) – The Washington Capitals scored in the opening minute of the game and twice in the last 1:02 of the second period to pull away to a 6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning on Sunday night and a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference final.

Evgeny Kuznetsov and Lars Eller each had a goal and two assists. Alex Ovechkin and Tom Wilson had a goal and an assist apiece.

Devante Smith-Pelly and Brett Connolly also scored for the Caps, who took the first two games of the best-of-seven matchup on the road. Since 1974-75, teams that take a 2-0 lead in the conference final or semifinal have a series record of 39-2 (95.1 percent).

Game 3 is Tuesday night in Washington.

Braden Point and Steven Stamkos had early power-play goals for Tampa Bay, which rebounded after falling behind on Wilson’s goal 28 seconds into the game.

No need to tell it to the Washington Capitals. They’ve spent 43 seasons chasing the elusive Cup, only to find an expansion team – of all things – in the way of finally ending the drought.

The battle for hockey supremacy heads to the nation’s capital all tied up 1-1 after a pair of games as entertaining as anything on the Las Vegas Strip. The goals keep coming and so do the hits, including one Wednesday night on Evgeny Kuznetsov that both knocked him out of the game and seemed to wake Washington out of its daze.

Their top playoff scorer out, the Caps rallied for three straight goals that stopped – at least for a moment – a team that has been virtually unstoppable throughout the playoffs.

”It galvanized us as a group,” Caps coach Barry Trotz said. ”I think it might be a turning point for us.”

On a night when Alex Ovechkin scored the first Stanley Cup Final goal of his 13-year NHL career to give the Caps a lead they somehow managed to hold onto even while being outplayed and outshot by the Knights in the third period, Washington won a final-round game for the first time ever to make the flight back home a lot sweeter.

For the Capitals it means service held, with the next two games in far friendlier confines at home.

For the Knights, it was a golden opportunity gone awry.

They were 7-1 in the playoffs at home Quincy Wilson Jersey , 11-1 overall when scoring the first goal. So when James Neal scored barely eight minutes into the game, the party was on.

And then, suddenly, it was off. At least for now.

Credit some of that to the resilience of the Caps, who were down a goal when Kuznetsov was knocked out of the game. Give a tip of the hat to Ovechkin, too, who scored the go-ahead goal in the second period.

But when the story of this Cup Final is finally written it may hinge on a hit by Brayden McNabb on Kuznetsov as he had the puck along the boards late in the first period. McNabb slammed into Kuznetsov with a high check and Kuznetsov immediately bent over holding his arm with what appeared to be a wrist injury.

Another team might have folded in front of the raucous crowd of 18,702. But the Caps have been resilient all the way through the playoffs, and this game was no exception.

”It was all about commitment. We blocked shots and played for each other,” forward Nicklas Backstrom said. ”It’s good to win and go back to Washington.”

On a 98-degree day in Las Vegas, the action on the ice was as hot as the weather outside. The Knights dominated play at times and outshot the Caps 39-26, but could not deliver on a 5-on-3 power play in the scoreless third period.

When Alex Tuch was denied on a spectacular stick save with 1:59 to play by Braden Holtby, the Knights would not be lucky on this night in the biggest game of chance on the Strip. Their Game 1 win, after all Nate Orchard Jersey , included the Caps’ Lars Eller missing a wide-open net from point-blank range in the final minutes.

”To me it was the hockey gods evening it up from the last game,” Trotz said. ”Once he made that save I knew we were going to win the game.”

Las Vegas pulled out all the stops to make the first two games as memorable off the ice as they have been on the ice. The Imagine Dragons – a Vegas Born group – sang just before the puck dropped and a flyover by the Air Force’s latest F-35 jets shook the building, as did the applause later between periods when the pilots appeared in front of the Knight’s faux castle to cheer the team on.

But just as Game 1 seemed to shift in the Knights’ favor after Jonathan Marchessault was knocked to the ice on what appeared to be a late hit by Washington’s Tom Wilson, this game seemed to turn on that hit by McNabb with the Knights up 1-0.

Not only did Washington score three straight goals, one of them came from the player who must be spectacular if the Capitals are forced to play without Kuznetsov for any length of time in the finals.

Ovechkin has toiled for the Capitals since being picked first in the 2004 draft, but had never played in a Stanley Cup Final until Game 1 – and never scored in one until Wednesday.

”He’s the heart and soul of this team,” Washington defenseman John Carlson said. ”He does so much and doesn’t get credit. We love him to death. He’s our leader and it’s nice to see him get that big goal for us.”

For the Knights it was a rare whiff in a season like no other. They’ve been one of the great stories in sports, an expansion team in its first season playing for the championship of the NHL.

But every great story needs a great ending, and for the Knights to write one they’re now going to have to win at least one game on the road.

”It’s the Stanley Cup final, it’s little things,” said Knights forward Erik Haula. ”Nobody said it’s gonna be a 4-0 series. It’s gonna be ups and downs. We’ve been here before, we’ve been good on the road. Just put this behind us, just learn from your mistake.”

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Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg(at)ap.org or  Kostas Antetokounmpo Jersey