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France, Germany Beat Fierce Rivals in Nations League

France's forward #12 Randal Kolo Muani controls the ball during the UEFA Nations League League A, Group A2 football match between Belgium and France, at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, on October 14, 2024. (Photo by NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP)
France's forward #12 Randal Kolo Muani controls the ball during the UEFA Nations League League A, Group A2 football match between Belgium and France, at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, on October 14, 2024. (Photo by NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP)
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France, Germany Beat Fierce Rivals in Nations League

France's forward #12 Randal Kolo Muani controls the ball during the UEFA Nations League League A, Group A2 football match between Belgium and France, at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, on October 14, 2024. (Photo by NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP)
France's forward #12 Randal Kolo Muani controls the ball during the UEFA Nations League League A, Group A2 football match between Belgium and France, at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, on October 14, 2024. (Photo by NICOLAS TUCAT / AFP)

France and Germany had stand-in forwards to thank for wins over fierce rivals in the Nations League on Monday.
With Kylian Mbappé again absent, Randal Kolo Muani started up front for France and scored in each half in a 2-1 victory away to neighbor Belgium, The Associated Press reported.
The Belgians must be sick of the sight of Kolo Muani, who also netted in a 2-0 win in the reverse fixture in Lyon last month. It was also the Paris Saint-Germain striker’s shot that deflected into the net when France beat Belgium 1-0 in the last 16 at the European Championship during the summer.
On his debut for Germany, Jamie Leweling had a second-minute strike ruled out after a video review but had more luck with a rasping drive in the 64th to seal a 1-0 triumph over the Netherlands in Munich.
Leweling, a forward for Stuttgart, was one of four players making their first starts for Germany on a night fans paid tribute to four players — Toni Kroos, Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller and Ilkay Gundogan — who recently retired from national-team duty. Neuer, Muller and Gundogan were at Allianz Arena to receive the acclaim of Germany fans.
There were also victories for Italy, which beat Israel 4-1, and Hungary, a 2-0 winner in Bosnia, in the top-tier League A.
With two group games remaining in November, France, Italy and Germany all stand on the verge of clinching a top-two finish and spots in the quarterfinals.
France holds on France was forced to hang on to preserve its third win in four group matches after Aurélien Tchouaméni, its captain in the absence of Mbappé, was shown a second yellow card in the 76th for tripping Belgium midfielder Youri Tielemans.
Tielemans had earlier lifted a penalty kick over the bar in the 23rd, only for Kolo Muani to convert his own spot kick after Wout Faes was penalized for handball after falling to the ground attempting to challenge Bradley Barcola.
Loïs Openda headed in the equalizer from Timothy Castagne's cross, with the goal initially ruled out for offside but awarded after VAR check.
Kolo Muani, who has started only two games for PSG this season, grabbed the winner in the 62nd in Brussels by heading in Lucas Digne's left-wing cross.
New era It felt like a new era for Germany, with Neuer, Muller and Gundogan all given a fond farewell before the game. Together with Kroos, who wasn’t there in person due to commitments at his youth academy, the four players won more than 450 caps for Germany.
Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann is bringing through younger players, with Aleksandar Pavlovic, 20, and Angelo Stiller, 23, handed first starts and the 23-year-old Leweling making his debut in place of the injured Deniz Undav. At the other end of the age scale, goalkeeper Oliver Baumann became the third oldest debutant for Germany — at 34 years, 134 days — having been on the bench 26 times.
Baumann produced a brilliant flying save to deny Netherlands substitute Donyell Malen and keep a clean sheet, ensuring the Oranje's 13-match unbeaten streak in the group stage of the Nations League came to an end.
Germany is on 10 points from four games, five more than both the Dutch and Hungary.

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Alysa Liu Delivers the US Its First Women’s Figure Skating World Championship in Nearly 2 Decades

Figure Skating - ISU World Championships - TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, US - March 28, 2025 Gold medallist Alysa Liu of the US celebrates with her medal after winning the Women’s Figure Skating World Championships. (Reuters)
Figure Skating - ISU World Championships - TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, US - March 28, 2025 Gold medallist Alysa Liu of the US celebrates with her medal after winning the Women’s Figure Skating World Championships. (Reuters)
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Alysa Liu Delivers the US Its First Women’s Figure Skating World Championship in Nearly 2 Decades

Figure Skating - ISU World Championships - TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, US - March 28, 2025 Gold medallist Alysa Liu of the US celebrates with her medal after winning the Women’s Figure Skating World Championships. (Reuters)
Figure Skating - ISU World Championships - TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, US - March 28, 2025 Gold medallist Alysa Liu of the US celebrates with her medal after winning the Women’s Figure Skating World Championships. (Reuters)

Alysa Liu skated around the ice in disbelief, her golden dress shimmering in the lights of TD Garden, and the appreciative roar from a sellout crowd reminded her why she had returned to the sport following a nearly two-year retirement.

When her score was finally read, the 19-year-old from Clovis, California, had made history.

Liu became the first American women’s figure skating world champion in nearly two decades, dethroning three-time defending champ Kaori Sakamoto with a brilliant free skate Friday night. Her program to a rendition of "MacArthur Park" by Boston native Donna Summer earned her a standing ovation, and allowed Liu to finish with 222.97 points.

"I mean, it means so much to me and everything I've been through," Liu said. "My last skating experience, my time away and this time around — I'm so happy, I guess. I'm mostly glad I could put out two of my best performances."

Liu's coaches, Phillip DiGuglielmo and Massimo Scali, pulled her into a hug in the kiss-and-cry area of the arena. Moments later, Sakamoto came over from where she had watched in the leader's chair and squeezed her tightly, as if Japan’s hero was passing Liu the torch as the first world champion from the US since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium in 2006.

Sakamoto finished with 217.98 points to add a silver medal to her three previous golds. Her Japanese teammate, Mone Chiba, was third with 215.24 points while Isabeau Levito and Amber Glenn gave the Americans three of the top five.

"We are all so strong," Levito said, "and we are all such fighters, and we all have our strengths, and are so different but we’re all so sweet with each other. I’m just so glad these are my fellow Team USA skaters."

Liu was once considered the sport's rising star, the youngest-ever US champ when she triumphed at the age of 13 in 2019, and then defended her title the following year. She fulfilled a childhood ambition by qualifying for the Olympics, finishing sixth at the 2022 Beijing Games, and earned a bronze medal at the world championships that year.

Then she stepped away. Liu decided that skating had become less of joy and more of a job, and she wanted to focus on being a normal college student. It wasn't until she went on a ski trip and felt the rush of competition — albeit in a much different way, and with far lower stakes — that she began to think about a comeback.

Early last year, she made it official with a cryptic posting on social media. And while the path back in a notoriously fickle sport was bumpy, to be sure, Liu took a big step forward with her second-place finish to Glenn at the US championships.

She took the last step up on the podium Friday night.

"Not every yesterday, I didn't expect this. I didn't have expectations coming in," Liu said. "I never have expectations coming into competitions anymore. It's more so, ‘What can I put out performance-wise?’ I really met my expectations on my part."

She left Sakamoto, the erstwhile champion, with feelings of awe and admiration.

"She went away and now she's back, and the world champion," Sakamoto said. "I wouldn't say she's changed. Her cheerfulness and kindness and the way she's always happy brought her to the top step of the podium."

Earlier in the night, American ice dancers Madison Chock and Evan Bates built a big cushion as they chase their third consecutive title, scoring a season-best 90.18 points for their rhythm dance to lead Canadian rivals Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.

Gilles and Poirier scored 86.44 points to their dance, set to music from The Beach Boys. They held the lead only long enough for the US duo to finish their "tour of the decades" program, which earned them a raucous ovation inside TD Garden.

The International Skating Union chose the theme this season of social dances and styles of the 1950’s, 60’s and 70’s. But while some skaters picked one — the Watusi, the Madison or disco — Chock and Bates threw it all into their rollicking showcase.

"It was probably the most fun I've had thus far on competitive ice in a performance, maybe ever," Chock said. "It was really a joy to perform in front of a home crowd and share that excitement with Evan. It was the best."

Now, Chock and Bates will try to finish off the first three-peat since Russia's Oksana Grishuk and Evgeni Platov in the 1990s.

"That’s a tough amount of points to catch up on," Poirier admitted, "but we also know that sport is really unpredictable."