National Sports

ALMENDRALEJO — Fighting a valiant rearguard action, Canada was seconds away from a win over World Cup champion Spain on Friday.

CALGARY — Calgary Wild FC has named Afghan-Canadian midfielder Farkhunda Muhtaj its first player signing and also announced Winnipeg Jets defenceman Josh Morrissey as an investor in the soccer club.

MONTREAL — Montreal will host a second straight Short Track World Tour event next week after the International Skating Union relocated the event from Salt Lake City.

VANCOUVER — Vanni Sartini accepts that the betting odds are against his Vancouver Whitecaps as they head into the Major League Soccer playoffs.

HALIFAX — When Ilia Malinin stunned the crowd with his world championship performance in Montreal last March, he left the competition with much more than a gold medal hanging around his neck.

BASEL — Canada's Denis Shapovalov was eliminated from the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament Friday with a hard-fought 6-7 (7) 6-3, 7-6 (3) quarterfinal loss to France's Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard.

A pair of former Toronto FC coaches meet Saturday when the Los Angeles Galaxy hosts the Colorado Rapids in the first round of the MLS playoffs.

MONTREAL — Saturday’s regular-season finale between the Montreal Alouettes and Winnipeg Blue Bombers is a clash between division leaders, though for one team the stakes are significantly higher.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Vegas Golden Knights made Shea Theodore their second highest-paid defenseman Thursday, signing him to a seven-year contract worth an average of $7.425 million per year.

Longtime skip Brendan Bottcher will be wearing Canada colours when he makes his return to the four-player game with Team Gushue at the upcoming Pan Continental curling championship. Bottcher is the new second for the St. John's, N.L.