EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Mexico head coach Gerardo "Tata" Martino agrees with U.S. boss Gregg Berhalter: Mexico has the edge over the Stars and Stripes right now.

Berhalter said earlier Thursday ahead of the friendly between the two sides in MetLife Stadium on Friday that he believed Mexico was "slightly ahead of us, having beaten us in the last game and having performed well over the last few years."

Martino concurs, but doesn't believe there is much in it.

"What I think is that Greg and I have a quite similar amount of time [in charge of our teams]," said Martino in a news conference on Thursday. "He probably had more knowledge of MLS when he took over than I had of Mexican football and the Mexican league.

"I think that as a general panorama, our players are competing in leagues that are better than the players in the United States national team and I also think that the Mexican league is above MLS, which means it's very probable that [Berhalter] is right and that from his position he sees the Mexican national team as a little bit better than the U.S. in a general context.

"Having said that, these are two teams that compete well together," continued the Argentine. "We won the Gold Cup final, I think justly, but it was quite an even game and I'm expecting as difficult a game [on Friday]."

Former Atlanta United manager Martino, who won MLS Cup in his second year in the league, praised the way players are increasingly being developed and exported from the United States to European leagues, but believes that Mexico also has the potential to export more youngsters.

"The United States has transformed into a country that exports a lot of young players to Europe," said Martino. "Evidently the development of those players will bear fruits in the future for the United States national team.

"That doesn't mean we don't have the same possibility. I think we have some young players, and others that are already there, that could go to Europe soon and that would be beneficial for us."

Martino will be without Monterrey center-back Cesar Montes and Tigres full-back Luis "Chaka" Rodriguez on Friday and confirmed that the team that faces the United States will be vastly different to the one to play Argentina on Tuesday in San Antonio.

Javier Hernandez, Hirving Lozano, Miguel Layun, Jesus Corona and Hector Herrera are all in El Tri's squad after missing the Gold Cup, but there have been some criticism of Martino for not including 19-year-old striker Jose Juan Macias, who is currently leading the Liga MX goal-scoring chart.

"The hurry comes from you guys [the press], not him and not me," explained Martino, who hinted Macias would be included in the squads to play the CONCACAF Nations Leagues in October and November.

Guyana Amazon Warriors 155 for 9 (Paul 38, Green 28, Malik 28, McCoy 4-41, Fawad 2-25) beat St Lucia Zouks 142 for 9 (Cornwall 36, Shadab 3-16, Shepherd 2-18, Green 2-28) by 13 runs

Left-arm seamer Obed McCoy bagged career-best T20 figures of 4 for 41 and Rahkeem Cornwall blitzed 36 off 14 balls, but it still wasn't enough for St Lucia Zouks as Guyana Amazon Warriors opened their CPL 2019 campaign with a 13-run win in front of a boisterous home crowd at Providence.

In pursuit of 156, Zouks enjoyed a blistering start, with Cornwall carting six boundaries in a mere eight balls. However, spinners Shadab Khan and Chris Green claimed five wickets between them to put the target beyond the opponents' reach.

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It was stand-in captain Green who took the prized scalp of Cornwall and marshalled his resources smartly after regular captain Shoaib Malik copped a blow on his right forearm in the batting innings and did not take the field in the chase. His arm was seen in a sling at one point, but Green said later that it was just a precautionary measure.

The calm before the storm

Zouks will be without Lasith Malinga for the entire CPL 2019, but Krishmar Santokie and Kesrick Williams made an early impression with their pace variations and reduced Amazon Warriors to 25 for 2 in the fourth over. Shimron Hetmyer tempered his naturally attacking strokeplay and set about working past the early strikes along with Malik on a slow Providence track.

They put on 48 together in 47 balls before McCoy duped Hetmyer with his back-of-the-hand variation in the 12th over. Guyana's new marquee player Nicholas Pooran fell for a golden duck and then Fawad Ahmed had both Malik as well as Sherfane Rutherford stumped with fizzing wrong'uns, but Keemo Paul and Green landed the mighty blows at the death. They, too, forged a 48-run stand, but this came at a breakneck speed off only 21 balls.

Paul showed why he was named West Indies' T20 player of the year, marrying power with composure. He took seven balls to get off the mark, but then teed off with a rasping slogged six over midwicket against the break off Fawad. He pressed on to smash Santokie for three successive boundaries in the penultimate over of the innings, helping Amazon Warriors breach 150.

Jimbo's opening salvo

Shadab had Andre Fletcher chopping on for 8, but Cornwall showed off his T20 prowess a week after making his Test debut. He golf-swung Paul down the ground, short-arm jabbed Ben Laughlin over the midwicket boundary, and laced Green against the turn over extra-cover. However, moments after he had taken Green for back-to-back fours, he was pinned lbw by a Green slider that straightened enough.

Where's your middle order, Zouks?

Malinga's Sri Lanka team-mate Niroshan Dickwella, too, had pulled out of the tournament while big-hitting New Zealand allrounder Colin de Grandhomme is away on international duty. The onus was on Darren Sammy, Thisara Perera, Najibullah Zadran and Chris Barnwell to see off the chase. But the spin of Shadab and the seam of Romario Shepherd were too much for the allrounders. From 52 for 2, Zouks slid rapidly to 109 for 7. Shadab, in particular, excelled with his legbreaks and googlies that gripped and turned sharply.

Santokie made a late cameo (15* off 9 balls), but all it did was to reduce the margin of defeat. These are still early days in the tournament, but Zouks need to patch up their flimsy middle order.

Bob Carter has been named coach of the New Zealand Women's team with a contract that will take him up to the end of 2021 Women's World Cup on home soil.

Carter, who has twice been assistant coach to the men's team, replaces Haidee Tiffen, who stood down from the tour of Australia earlier this year following a review that was put in place after New Zealand's disappointing T20 World Cup, before deciding not to reapply for her position.

Carter initially took temporary charge of the team on the Australia tour. He will now work on preparing for the home season, which involves a visit by South Africa ahead of the T20 World Cup in Australia.

"I see a lot of potential in this particular group of cricketers,'' Carter said. "We have a good blend of youth and experience that we can build from and I feel very positive about this next chapter of White Ferns cricket.

"It's an exciting time to come on board with two big world tournaments on the horizon. We have a number of senior players who have been performing at the top of the international game and remain committed to working hard in bringing success. With two ICC World Cups coming up and the women's game growing at all levels, it's a great time to be involved."

NZ's head of high performance Bryan Stronach said that a number of candidates had been interviewed for the position with the process involving representatives from the players.

"We're delighted to have Bob signed on and working with our top female cricketers," he said. "The recent Women's MOU has been a good development for the women's game but with the added funding and support comes an added professional responsibility. The players have endorsed Bob as a coach and enjoyed working with him in Australia."

Australia Women 308 for 4 (Healy 122, Lanning 121) beat West Indies Women 130 (Taylor 70*, Perry 3-17) by 178 runs

Australia began their tour of the West Indies in fine style as Meg Lanning and Alyssa Healy flayed centuries as part of a 225-run stand to set up a crushing 178-run victory in Antigua.

Lanning's was her 13th ODI century - the fastest player, male or female, to reach that landmark, in 76 innings, ahead of Hashim Amla's 83 - while Healy made her second as the pair dominated the majority of Australia's innings following the shock of losing Rachael Haynes first ball.

Healy was the first to her landmark off 95 balls with Lanning reaching three figures from 137 deliveries with a six off Stafanie Taylor. In all, Lanning struck four sixes with one of them landing in the swimming pool at the Coolidge Ground. Australia's eventual margin of victory was their largest by runs against West Indies.

The stand of 225 in 38 overs, in oppressively hot conditions, was Australia's second highest for any wicket in ODIs, behind the 244 added by Karen Rolton and Lisa Sthalekar against Ireland in 2005. Both players were given lives in what was a ragged display from West Indies.

"It was a tricky wicket, never really coming through at any great pace so was tricky to adapt to and you never really felt in," Healy said. "It was very hot, very different coming straight from the UK over here, but I enjoyed it - sweat out a few beers I've had in the last month and a bit celebrating the Ashes.

"It was probably one of the more scratchy innings I've played, never really felt in, and probably hit a few in the air that I didn't want to. Hopefully next game I can rectify it, but there's a hundred on the board and wouldn't change it for anything."

When Healy departed, Ellyse Perry chipped in with an unbeaten 33 off 31 balls - Australia's innings saw steady progression throughout with the five 10-over splits bringing 55, 51, 62, 66 and 74 runs.

There was precious little for West Indies to take from the innings after the early high of Shamilia Connell having Haynes caught behind although she and Afy Fletcher kept their economy rates under six an over in their allocation of 10 overs.

Perry, getting the new ball to swing, then played a leading role in blowing away West Indies' top order which was missing the suspended Hayley Matthews who had been withdrawn from the ODI squad hours before the match started for breaching the code of conduct.

Both openers, Natasha McLean and Stacey-Ann King, fell for ducks as did Kyshona Knight as West Indies stumbled to 8 for 3 at the end of the second over and Perry's third wicket, trapping Reniece Boyce lbw, compounded the problems.

Taylor, who offered the majority of what resistance there was, with 70 off 114 balls, and Chinelle Henry briefly rallied before the latter drove a return catch to legspinner Georgia Wareham who claimed her second wicket when Lanning added to her stellar day by grabbing a stunning catch, full-stretch to her right, at slip to remove debutant Shabika Gajnabi.

Taylor showed her team-mates what was possible but was left stranded when Connell pulled to mid-on with Kycia Knight unable to bat. The only area where Australia slipped was conceding 26 wides.

Innings Afghanistan 342 all out (Rahmat 102, Afghan 92, Rashid 51, Taijul 4-116) v Bangladesh

Afghanistan lasted 90 minutes in the second morning in Chattogram, after Bangladesh bowled them out for 342 runs in 117 overs. There was enough time for the captain Rashid Khan to blast a quickfire half-century to boost their scoring. Thanks to his late runs, Afghanistan added 71 runs in the morning session, useful enough to hand the home side a proper challenge chasing the score. But their bowlers gave them some momentum by getting among the wickets early in the day.

Bangladesh found success in the fourth over of the morning when Asghar Afghan top edged him for 92. He added just four runs to his overnight total, and although this is his highest Test score, a century was very much in the offing. He had struck three fours and two sixes in his 174-ball knock.

Taijul Islam, who removed Afghan, then produced a beautiful delivery to knock out Afsar Zazai, getting the ball to spin from leg-stump and hitting his off-stump. Zazai could add just six runs to his overnight score, getting out on 41 off 115 balls.

Debutant Qais Ahmed became Shakib Al Hasan's first wicket in the match, before Yamin Ahmadzai was caught at slip for a duck.

Rashid, who survived a lbw review on 32 after Taijul was found to have overstepped, farmed the strike with the tail-enders to hit three sixes and two fours. Mehidy Hasan finally dismissed him with a sharp return catch as Rashid attempted to pinch a single off the last ball of the 117th over.

Taijul finished with a four-wicket haul while Shakib and Nayeem Hasan took two each.

On the first day, Afghanistan reached 271 for 5 with Rahmat Shah's historic century being the main highlight. He shared a 120-run third wicket stand with Asghar Afghan who reached his second Test fifty, as Bangladesh's spinners strived hard to bowl them out.

NEW YORK -- By no means was Serena Williams perfect at the start of her US Open semifinal.

She faced three break points in the opening game and managed to pull it out. She trailed 40-love in the second, then came through again. Another trio of break points arrived later in that initial set. Once more, Williams was up to the task. Soon enough, she was on her way to yet another final at Flushing Meadows -- and yet another shot at Grand Slam singles trophy No. 24.

Williams turned in an increasingly impressive performance for a 6-3, 6-1 victory over No. 5-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Thursday night, reaching her fourth final in the past six major tournaments.

"To be in yet another final, it seems, honestly, crazy,'' said Williams, a six-time US Open champion who will face 19-year-old Bianca Andreescu of Canada on Saturday. "But I don't really expect too much less.''

Nor does anyone else at this point.

"That's why she is who she is. You are playing in front of the best tennis player in the world,'' Svitolina said. "If you don't take it, she just grabs it. And there's no chance to take it back.''

Since returning to the tour last season after more than a year away while having a baby, she was the runner-up at Wimbledon twice, losing to Angelique Kerber in 2018 and to Simona Halep in July, and was also the runner-up, of course, a year ago at the US Open, losing to Naomi Osaka.

That one in New York was, and forever will be, overshadowed by Williams' extended argument with chair umpire Carlos Ramos, who docked her a point, then a game -- and was barred by the U.S. Tennis Association from officiating any matches she or her older sister, Venus, played in this year's tournament.

Asked whether she prefers to find motivation from that final against Osaka or would rather forget it, Williams stared straight ahead and replied, "I mean, it hasn't really crossed my mind.''

The 15th-seeded Andreescu reached her first major title match in only her fourth appearance at a Slam by eliminating No. 13 Belinda Bencic of Switzerland 7-6 (3), 7-5.

"If someone told me a year ago that I would be in the finals of the US Open this year, I would have told them, 'You're crazy,''' said Andreescu, who took her semifinal's last five games after trailing 5-2.

She is the first player to get this far in her debut in New York since Venus Williams was the runner-up in 1997.

"It's just surreal,'' Andreescu said about the prospect of facing Serena Williams next. "Like, I really don't know what to say.''

So much of what the younger Williams does nowadays must be seen through the prism of tennis history, and that is certainly the case in this instance. Her 101st career match win at Flushing Meadows tied Chris Evert's tournament record.

"It's just impressive, I guess,'' Williams said. "I don't think about it. I just come out here and do what I can.''

By getting to the final, Williams set a mark for longest gap between first career Grand Slam title match and most recent such appearance: It's almost exactly 20 full years since she won the 1999 US Open as a teenager.

Most importantly, if she can beat Andreescu, Williams will equal Margaret Court with 24 Grand Slam singles titles, more than anyone else in a sport that dates to the 1800s.

"I watched her win most of her Grand Slam titles. I think she's fighting for her 24th on Saturday. I'm sure she's going to bring her A game,'' Andreescu said. "I'm going to try to bring my A game, too. Hopefully, I guess, may the best player win.''

At the start of the first semifinal, it was the 24-year-old Svitolina who was steadier. She earned those three chances to break from the get-go -- but failed to convert. Let the second game slip through her fingers, too. In all, Svitolina held eight game points across that opening pair, and was left with nothing to show for it. Quickly, it was 3-0 for Williams.

"I don't think she played amazing today,'' Svitolina said, "but she played [at a] very high level at the beginning, where you had to make a difference.''

Williams' assessment?

"Today was solid,'' she said. "It definitely wasn't my best tennis.''

Still, she launched serves at up to 119 mph and saved every break point she faced. She smacked three return winners in one game alone. She held a 10-3 edge in points that lasted nine or more strokes. She finished with a 34-11 advantage in winners. She showed no lingering effect from a rolled ankle earlier in the tournament.

As if for good measure, Williams even threw in a serve-and-volley approach while facing break point in the first set -- and, naturally, it worked, thanks to a swinging putaway.

"Don't expect that again,'' Williams said, joking that this was going through her mind: "What am I doing at the net?! Let me get back to the baseline!"

Maybe Svitolina, whose one upset of Williams in five previous matchups came at the 2016 Rio Olympics, was too passive, content to stay back and try to chase down everything sent her way.

Wasn't the proper strategy. At least not against this opponent, in this match, on this day.

"On the important moments, she steps up, always steps up,'' Svitolina said, "always brings her best game.''

That's usually the case for Williams, even as her 38th birthday approaches in three weeks. It just wasn't in the three most significant matches of her return so far: three Grand Slam finals, three losses.

She'll try again Saturday. One more for 24.

"Obviously, there's a lot of things that I've learned in the past,'' Williams said, "but I just have to go out there [and], above all, most of all, just stay relaxed."

CHICAGO -- The Green Bay Packers might not have to rely on quarterback Aaron Rodgers as much anymore.

At the very least, they can survive until Rodgers and first-year head coach Matt LaFleur get things rolling -- and not have to do it against a defense as fierce as the one the Chicago Bears fielded in Thursday night’s NFL opener.

That’s because for the first time since perhaps the Super Bowl season of 2010, the Packers can match teams defense for defense. Unless, of course, the Bears’ offense is as bad as the one that got booed off Soldier Field after several drives in the Packers' 10-3 victory over the defending NFC North champs.

“It gives us a lot of confidence because for so long everybody says we don’t have a defense and we’re the liability of the team,” said defensive tackle Kenny Clark, who stayed in the locker room longer than any player after the game to savor the performance. “For us to come out and put on a performance like that, it was great for our confidence going into next week.”

Not that this is a Super Bowl-contending team yet, but it has the makings of a top-10 defense -- something the Packers haven’t had since the championship-winning group ranked fifth. But it looks like the money that general manager Brian Gutekunst dished out in free agency was well spent.

His most expensive signing -- Za'Darius Smith ($20 million signing bonus) -- set the tone with a sack, a tackle for loss and six quarterback pressures.

His next-most expensive signing -- Preston Smith ($16 million to sign) -- came up with three pressures and 1.5 sacks in the second half, including the game-clincher with 1 minute, 2 seconds left.

And former Bears safety Adrian Amos ($11 million to sign) had an interception in the end zone with 1:58 to play.

“We didn’t do them a whole lot of favors with our own performance on offense,” Rodgers said. “I mean, every time we needed something, a stop, they came up with some really big plays. Great for Adrian coming back to the team that drafted him to get a pick in the end zone there. But a lot of credit to the front. I thought we put a lot of pressure on ‘em. It looked like obviously both the Smiths, they were in the mix a bunch. It was just a dominating performance. It gives you a lot of confidence when you play like that on offense and win a game by a touchdown.”

It was early in the preseason when it was suggested the defense could carry the Packers in the early going while LaFleur and Rodgers work through the installation of a new offense. LaFleur is the first Packers head coach to win in his head coaching debut against the Bears since Vince Lombardi in 1959.

He has his defense to thank for that.

“It seemed like they were all over the place,” LaFleur said. “It felt like we were getting pretty good pressure, I thought the coverage was on point, and that’s a great credit not only to those players but to our coaching staff as well. Mike Pettine and our staff on defense designed a great gameplan and certainly were able to get some free runners tonight.”

After Rodgers made sure he secured the game ball to give to LaFleur, he sought out second-year defensive coordinator Mike Pettine.

“With Mike and his staff and what the defensive guys did tonight was spectacular,” Rodgers said. “So, he was the first one I wanted to go to because we put them in some tough spots.”

The question now is how long it will take Rodgers to catch up?

The Packers had minus-12 total yards of offense in the first quarter -- their fewest total yards in any quarter since Sept. 18, 1994 (third quarter), according to ESPN Stats & Information research, against the Philadelphia Eagles with Brett Favre as the starting QB. It was the first time under Rodgers that the Packers had negative yards gained through the first three drives of a game. And then Rodgers made one Rodgers-like play -- a 47-yard bomb to Marquez Valdes-Scantling that, according to NFL Next Gen stats traveled 53.5 yards in the air for his fourth-longest completion through the air in the last three seasons.

The Packers totaled 213 yards and converted just 2-of-12 third downs.

Just don’t tell Rodgers that he should have played in the preseason.

He warned that, no matter what happened in the opener, there would be “a lot of room to grow regardless of our performance” and that there will be “a lot of room for growth within the scheme as we go on in the season."

Or maybe Mitchell Trubisky and the Bears offense is just that bad. But the hope for the Packers is their defense is that good and Aaron Rodgers & Co. will catch up.

Washington Wizards forward Rui Hachimura will miss Japan's final two FIBA World Cup games because of knee discomfort and general fatigue, it was announced.

"While everyone had hoped for Rui to finish the World Cup with Team Japan, the Wizards and Japan Basketball believe it is best for Rui to not play the final two games and have a short period of rest before he must start NBA training camp with the Wizards which begins only three weeks from now," the Japanese Basketball Association said in a statement released through the Wizards.

Hachimura's departure from Japan comes after he was held to four points on 2-for-8 shooting in a 98-45 loss to the U.S. on Thursday. Japan plays New Zealand on Saturday and wraps up with Montenegro on Monday.

Hachimura was the No. 9 overall pick by the Wizards in June's NBA draft.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Injured Tampa Bay Rays left-hander Blake Snell is scheduled to make his first rehab start Saturday in a playoff game with Triple-A Durham.

Last year's AL Cy Young Award winner has been out since July 22 because of bone chips in his throwing elbow that required surgery.

"I'm excited," Snell said Thursday. "I'm going to get to pitch again."

Snell had a 25-pitch bullpen session Wednesday and expects to throw an inning or 20 pitches Saturday. He is 6-7 with a 4.28 ERA in 20 starts.

Another Tampa Bay starter, right-hander Tyler Glasnow (6-1, 1.86 ERA), who has been sidelined since mid-May with a strained right forearm, is expected to either rejoin the Rays or pitch in his third minor league game this weekend.

The Rays entered Thursday night's game against Toronto on top of the AL wild-card standings in a tight race with Cleveland and Oakland.

Also, infielder Eric Sogard said he was available off the bench after he had his helmet and glasses knocked off by a pitch from Baltimore's Paul Fry on Tuesday. The ball struck his shoulder first, then his helmet and nose.

Sogard has a black eye and said his nose was a little sore.

First baseman Ji-Man Choi, who was hurt Tuesday when he was hit in the face by the glove of Baltimore third baseman Rio Ruiz while sliding to complete a triple, was in Thursday's lineup.