New York Cosmos owner Rocco B. Commisso is close to completing a deal to purchase Serie A club Fiorentina for around $150 million, according to ESPN FC sources.

Billionaire Commisso moved to the United States from Italy when he was 12 and is the founder of cable company Mediacom.

Sources have told ESPN FC the deal could be finalised as soon as Monday, with La Viola's Serie A future to be decided on Sunday where defeat to Genoa could see the club relegated to the second tier.

Fiorentina are owned by shoemaking tycoons Diego and Andrea Della Valle, who have put the club up for sale for the past year.

The Della Valle brothers bought the club in 2002 when bankruptcy saw Fiorentina re-branded and start again in the fourth tier. However, failure to progress and a tendency to sell the club's best-players led to fan protests.

Commisso took over the Cosmos in 2017. At the time, both the club and the North American Soccer League were struggling and Commisso effectively saved both financially.

Should the deal go through, Commisso, 69, would become the latest in a series U.S. businessman to purchase a Serie A club.

AC Milan are owned by hedge fund Elliott Management, while Roma's president is James Pallotta. Joey Saputo is the Bologna chairman.

England's World Cup hopes may have sustained a serious blow after injury scares to both of their fastest bowlers.

Mark Wood and Jofra Archer, the two men in the England squad who can regularly surpass 90 mph with the ball, were obliged to leave the pitch within minutes of one another in the opening hour of the warm-up match against Australia in Southampton.

First Wood, after one ball of his fourth over, stopped halfway through his run-up and left the pitch having indicated that he may have an issue. Just two balls later Archer, a surprising choice as substitute fielder for Wood, slid as he attempted to stop a ball on the midwicket boundary and appeared to sustain an injury. He left the pitch moments later, but returned to the field after treatment half an hour later.

An ECB statement confirmed that Wood had experienced some "left foot discomfort", a concern given his lengthy history of ankle problems. "He will continue to spend some time with the medical team before a decision is made on whether he will return to the match."

Archer, meanwhile, is understood to be carrying a minor niggle in his leg that contributed to his limited involvement in the ODI series.

It meant that Paul Collingwood, one of England's assistant coaches, was briefly forced into service as a substitute fielder. Collingwood turns 43 tomorrow, and retired as a player at the end of the 2018 season. Joe Root, who was due to miss the game following the death of his grandfather on Thursday, was also pressed into service as a substitute fielder.

England are also without the injured pair of Eoin Morgan, who sustained a fractured finger in training on Friday, and Adil Rashid, who has a long-standing shoulder injury. They also confirmed that Chris Woakes, who is expected to open the bowling in the World Cup, was playing in this match as a specialist batsman and would not bowl as they seek to manage his even more long-standing knee problems.

According to the ICC's playing conditions for the World Cup, substitute fielders are not permitted from outside the 15-man playing squad, although those rules do not apply to the warm-up games.

CLERMONT, Ind. – Australian drivers have a long history of success in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship, and Cameron Shields added to that legacy with a beautifully judged drive to victory in Friday’s Cooper Tires Freedom 75.

Shields, who hails from Toowoomba, Queensland, the same hometown as defending Indianapolis 500 champion Will Power, started second, took the lead by holding on around the outside at the start and proceeded to lead throughout the 75-lap race around the 0.686-mile oval.

Polesitter Colin Kaminsky couldn’t keep pace with Shields but was edging away from an intense battle for third between Mexico’s Manuel Cabrera and Frenchman Alex Baron until the pair hauled up behind some lapped traffic shortly after the halfway mark.

On Lap 43, Baron made a move to the inside of Cabrera at the entrance to turn one. Unfortunately, Cabrera found himself pinched in between Baron and, on the outside, the lapped Pabst Racing Tatuus USF-17 of Brazil’s Bruna Tomaselli, who herself was embroiled in a tense battle with the Jay Howard Driver Development pair of Christian Bogle, from Covington, La., and Englishman Matt Round-Garrido, plus Venezuelan Anthony Famularo.

In a flash, Cabrera’s car started to spin, taking both himself and Tomaselli into the wall to trigger the first of two full-course cautions.

A second interruption came just 10 laps after the restart, on lap 61, when Jack William Miller spun and crashed out of seventh place between Turns Three and Four.

Each time, Shields was picture-perfect out front. The 18-year-old rookie held off the advances of Kaminsky, who instead came under increasing pressure from a charging Baron, who had started fifth. Baron finally made his move for second place into turn one with just four laps remaining.

“That was absolutely incredible, I just can’t believe it,” Shields said. “I’ve worked so hard to get here, and even to finish the year I have to work really hard to make that happen. It was a really, really tough race – my mental state changed quite a lot. I had such a big lead and, all of the sudden, the yellow comes out and everything changed. There was a bit of panic but I recouped and did a good job to keep the guys behind me. I really have to thank the team; they gave me a perfect car to do it and taught me well how to drive an oval. My driving style is very smooth and sometimes on the road courses, I’m not aggressive enough so right now, this couldn’t suit me any better. I’m so happy to do this with fellow Aussies here, especially the Australian Consul-General, it was so special to have them here to witness this win.”

Fourteen-year-old Jak Crawford drove another impressive race to claim fourth ahead of championship leader Braden Eves.

CLERMONT, Ind. – Singapore’s Danial Frost led from flag to flag for Exclusive Autosport in round five of the Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires Friday night at Lucas Oil Raceway.

Frost, 17, was in imperious form on the ultra-fast oval. He was comfortably fastest in last week’s prerace test, led the way in qualifying and, after fighting off an early challenge from last year’s dominant USF2000 champion Kyle Kirkwood, controlled the proceedings to score a thoroughly well-deserved victory in the Cooper Tires Freedom 90.

Frost’s only serious challenge came following the race’s only caution, which came after 51 laps when Nikita Lastochkin’s Exclusive Autosport Tatuus PM-18 ground to a halt with a mechanical failure.

Frost took the restart directly ahead of Sting Ray Robb, from Payette, Idaho, who had found a way past Kirkwood in turn one moments before the yellow, but didn’t take long to reestablish a clear advantage. His final margin of victory after 90 laps was 4.8048 seconds.

“I’m so grateful to get my first win, especially on the oval for the Cooper Tires Freedom 90,” Frost said. “I’m so happy with what the team has accomplished. I worked hard to keep my focus toward the end but as soon as I saw the checkered flag I started to celebrate. A couple of guys really put some pressure on me but I stayed composed and did my own thing, and eventually we were able to break the draft. Once we got into traffic, I worked at catching the guys in front because, for me, it’s better if I have someone to chase. That’s what I did for the whole race. The team gave me such a great car, I’m so happy.”

Championship leader Rasmus Lindh chased both his teammate, Robb and Kirkwood, virtually throughout the race before finally finding a chink in Kirkwood’s armor on the very last lap when he took advantage of an open-door opportunity on the high line into turn one. Robb moved quickly alongside, then carried his momentum through turn two to edge ahead and hold off Kirkwood for third on the line.

Carlos Vela took his MLS leading goals tally to 15 as LAFC thrashed the visiting Montreal Impact 4-2 at Banc of California Stadium on Friday night.

The win extends LAFC's unbeaten run to seven games and keeps them undefeated at home with a record of seven wins and one draw.

Goalkeeper Evan Bush gifted the hosts their opening goal, misplaying the ball out of the back and allowing Christian Ramirez to block his clearance into the back of the net.

MLS goals leader Vela then pulled the strings for the next two goals, getting in behind the Montreal defense and beating Bush to double LAFC's lead before picking out Diego Rossi, who squared to Latif Blessing for a tap in to make it 3-0 at half-time.

Vela looked to have struck again at the start of the second half with a cheeky chip over Bush after another Montreal giveaway, but the linesman's flag was up for offside and the goal was ruled out.

However, the Western Conference leaders scored seconds later when Tristan Blackmon lost his marker in the penalty area and powered home a header from a corner kick to make it 4-0.

LAFC's Eddie Segura redirected the ball into his own net from an Impact cross to give the visitors their first goal. Saphir Taïder then scored from the penalty spot to halve the deficit as full-time approached after Walker Zimmerman brought down Anthony Jackson-Hamel in the area.

Despite playing their fourth game in 14 days, LAFC showed no signs of fatigue, outshooting the Impact by a 17-9 margin (10-6 in shots on goal), in a match that seemed more lopsided than those statistics might suggest.

Bush's error notwithstanding, the goalkeeper often looked outstanding in making six saves to keep the final score respectable. The Impact have just one victory (1-3-1) over their past five matches.

The win means Bob Bradley's team have now earned 34 points from its first 15 matches to top the Western Conference and stay nine ahead of the third-placed Galaxy, who beat Orlando City on Friday, and eight points ahead of the Seattle Sounders, who play Sporting Kansas City on Sunday.

USA Cricket has received a boost of over $1 billion investment from American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) for the development of a domestic T20 league. USA Cricket selected ACE as its strategic partner to conclude a multi-stage evaluation process that began in November 2018. The launch of the league is slated for 2021.

The billion-dollar deal is one of the biggest for the development of domestic cricket in the US. ACE is backed by Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan, the founders of Willow TV (the largest cricket broadcaster in North America), and Satyan Gajwani and Vineet Jain, of the Times of India group. USA Cricket had started the process by publicly inviting proposals for a US-based T20 league. They chose ACE whose proposal combined a large financial commitment to invest into the league, key deals for infrastructure and broadcast distribution, experienced and knowledgeable leadership, and a data-driven, analytical business strategy, which affirmed their ability to build a longstanding institution that will elevate US cricket.

"USA Cricket is excited to partner with ACE to launch a professional cricket league in the United States. We were thoroughly impressed by their comprehensive proposal," Paraag Marathe, USA Cricket board chairman said. "Vijay, Sameer, Satyan and Vineet provided a vision for the growth of cricket in the US on all levels, and we're confident they will create a world class T20 league here in America. This is a watershed moment for cricket in the United States and we look forward to a long-lasting, successful partnership."

ACE has commenced major infrastructure investment towards international grade cricket venues in several US metropolitan markets. ACE is also working to develop additional turf cricket pitches and auxiliary facilities in more than a dozen locations. Based on a major/minor professional league model, the new facilities will provide, for the first time in the US, the ability to stage and support major domestic and international cricket at all levels. In addition, ACE will provide support for USA Cricket's men's and women's national teams to ensure they can capitalise on their recent successes at the ICC World Cricket League Division 2 and the ICC Women's Americas Qualifier, respectively.

The league is expected to feature top international players from the USA team and around the world, combined with a focus on pathways to develop a homegrown player pool for USA Cricket and the league. A major component of ACE's plans is the developmental academies around the country that will be aligned to the league teams and will help foster and develop talent at the youth levels to ensure a strong pipeline of cricket players.

"Cricket has the second-largest audience in the world, and yet has little presence in the largest professional sports market," Gajwani said. "We want to develop a lasting institution that brings to the US the excitement and passion of cricket, enjoyed by billions of people globally. True grassroots development of any sport takes decades and we are excited and committed to play a role in developing world-class cricket in America.

A key highlight of ACE's proposal is distribution, sponsorship and exposure for the professional league and for USA Cricket's national teams via major TV and digital broadcast platforms, led by Willow TV which has over 4 million subscribers. In addition to the Willow assets, ACE and USA Cricket will seek out "free to air" platforms as well to ensure mainstream audiences are exposed to the league.

Catch all the action, analysis, numbers, tweets, banter and more from the England v Australia warm-up match. If you don't see the blog below, please refresh the page

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SAN FRANCISCO -- The Arizona Diamondbacks took out a week of frustrations on San Francisco's pitching staff.

Ildemaro Vargas had five hits and a home run, Adam Jones added four hits and a homer, and the Diamondbacks broke out of a slump in a big way, beating the Giants 18-2 on Friday night in the highest-scoring game in 20 seasons at San Francisco's waterfront ballpark.

"We needed it," said bench coach Jerry Narron, who filled in for manager Torey Lovullo. "Everybody knew we were going to break out at some point and someone would pay for it. Tonight was the night. Hopefully everybody can relax a little bit and swing the bat more aggressively."

Arizona had been held to 12 runs during a five-game losing streak before unleashing its bats on Drew Pomeranz (1-5) and an overmatched Giants bullpen.

Robbie Ray (4-1) was the beneficiary of the big offensive night, giving up two runs in 5 1/3 innings to win his fourth straight decision. Ray even got into the act on the offensive side with a two-run single in the third inning for his first hit of the year. He retired 13 in a row at one point with eight strikeouts in that span.

"That was me at my best today," Ray said.

Ray had plenty of help. Vargas homered in the first inning, and the Diamondbacks turned it into a laugher against reliever Nick Vincent with three-run homers by Jones in the fifth and Eduardo Escobar in the sixth inning.

Ketel Marte added a three-run homer off Derek Holland in the seventh, prompting cheers of "Let Pablo Pitch!" from the few fans remaining who were hoping that Giants infielder Pablo Sandoval could get his second appearance on the mound this season. But manager Bruce Bochy didn't oblige because he plans to start Sandoval at third base Saturday and didn't want him to have a sore arm.

Every member of the Diamondbacks' starting lineup either scored or drove in a run in Arizona's highest-scoring game of the season following a team meeting in San Diego after the latest loss Wednesday and a day off.

"It grinds on you," catcher Carson Kelly said. "When that happens, you want to be the guy to do too much. We just said, 'You know what, let's slow things down. We know we're a good team. Let's pick each other up.'"

Tyler Austin hit a two-run homer in the first inning for San Francisco, his third straight game with a home run. The Giants managed nothing else against Ray and fell to 1-4 on the homestand.

"Occasionally, you're going to have a game like this," Bochy said. "Trust me, they're not fun, especially at home. Started out rough, gradually got worse."

Zack Godley pitched three innings for his second save.

Pomeranz had another rough outing against an NL West opponent, giving up the solo homer to Vargas in the first, RBI singles to Marte and Vargas in the second, and then the two-run single to Ray in the third that ended his night. Pomeranz gave up five runs and eight hits in 2 2/3 innings, falling to 4-18 with a 5.34 ERA in his career against NL West teams.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Diamondbacks: LF David Peralta was put on the injured list because of an injured right shoulder. 1B Kevin Cron and OF Tim Locastro were called up from Triple-A Reno. Arizona had an open spot on the 25-man roster after sending pitcher Jimmie Sherfy to the minors.

Giants: SS Brandon Crawford missed his second straight game because of pink eye. ... C Buster Posey was held out of the lineup a day after catching 13 innings.

BALL MAGNET

Locastro was hit by pitches three times in the game. Pomeranz hit him in the third inning, Vincent in the sixth and Holland in the seventh. Locastro has been hit seven times this season in only 29 plate appearances.

FILLING IN

Lovullo missed the game to attend the high school graduation of his youngest son, Connor. Narron filled in as manager, and Luis Urueta took over as bench coach. Lovullo is expected back Saturday.

UP NEXT

The Diamondbacks will call up RHP Taylor Clarke (0-1) from Reno to start Saturday's game against Andrew Suarez (0-1). Arizona will need to make a roster move before the game to make room for Clarke.

DENVER -- Trevor Story did a little fist pump after his seventh-inning shot. Just a way to commemorate becoming the fastest shortstop to reach 100 homers.

His 101st in the ninth? Now that was celebrated with a lot more gusto.

"I love that one," Story said of his 100th, "but I'll take the ninth-inning one."

Story hit a game-ending drive for his second two-run homer Friday night, helping the Colorado Rockies beat Baltimore 8-6 in the Orioles' first visit to Coors Field since 2004.

Nolan Arenado also went deep twice in the opener of a season-long 10-game homestand. Scott Oberg (2-0) had two strikeouts in a scoreless ninth to earn the win.

Story lined a 2-2 slider from Mychal Givens (0-3) over the wall in right field to ignite the festivities at home plate. It was Story's second career game-ending homer.

With his long ball in the seventh, Story became the quickest shortstop in major league history to reach 100 homers (448 games). He bettered Alex Rodriguez, who reached 100 homers in 470 games.

"It's pretty special to me," Story said.

Trailing 6-3 in the seventh, the Rockies tied it up when Story and Arenado hit back-to-back drives off Shawn Armstrong. Story's homer got the crowd fired up -- and Arenado, too. Arenado belted the next pitch for his second solo homer of the game. He let out an exhilarated roar.

"Trevor got me going," Arenado said. "He can do some things that I wish I could. I wish I could run like him, and I wish I could flip the ball to right-center with power. He does those things that are crazy."

Keon Broxton made an instant impact with a two-run homer on the first pitch he saw in his Baltimore debut. His blast off Jeff Hoffman in the second inning traveled an estimated 474 feet and landed on the left-field concourse.

The Orioles acquired Broxton from the New York Mets on Wednesday for $500,000 in 2019-20 international signing bonus pool allotment. Broxton was designated for assignment last week by the Mets after batting .143 in 34 games with no homers and two RBIs.

"I was actually going to bunt," Broxton said. "Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Arenado back, and then a couple of seconds before the pitch came, I saw him creeping up; I thought, 'I'm swinging right here.'"

Dwight Smith Jr. and pinch hitter Renato Nunez also homered for Baltimore.

Baltimore's bullpen allowed five runs after a solid start by John Means.

"It's concerning," manager Brandon Hyde said. "It's a little bit of a rough patch for our bullpen."

TRAINER'S ROOM

Rockies: OF Charlie Blackmon remains day-to-day with a tender right calf. "He's feeling better but is still sore," manager Bud Black said.

GRADUATION TIME

The Orioles will be missing a few coaches this weekend while they attend graduation ceremonies for their children. Pitching coach Doug Brocail was scheduled to miss Friday, while bullpen coach John Wasdin is expected to miss the weekend series.

HOMECOMING

Rookie infielder Brendan Rodgers played his first game at Coors after making his major league debut on the road. McMahon gave him a tour to show him where things like the lunch room and the batting cage were located.

"It was like a first day at school for me," Rodgers said.

Rodgers had about 22 family members and friends at the park. He had two hits, including a run-scoring single, and made a catch along the right-field railing before flipping into the stands. He also got thrown out at third in the eighth.

THIS & THAT

Colorado's lefties had four hits off Means. Entering Friday, the left-handed Means had allowed a total of four hits to left-handers all season. ... The Orioles' fathers accompanied them on the trip. ... Hoffman was recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque to make the start. Hoffman lasted five innings and surrendered five runs. ... Colorado scored six of its runs with two outs. ... The Orioles' last victory at Coors Field was June 20, 2004. In that game, they rallied for a 4-2 win when Brian Roberts hit a ninth-inning grand slam.

UP NEXT

Rockies lefty Kyle Freeland (2-5, 6.02 ERA) starts Saturday as he tries to break out of a slump. Freeland has allowed 22 earned runs over his past five outings. The Orioles will throw righty Andrew Cashner (4-2, 4.14 ERA).