Lionel Messi’s status for Argentina’s friendly against Venezuela in Miami on Friday, Oct. 10 is still to be determined. It’s unclear if he will be a starter, substitute or spectator at the match inside Hard Rock Stadium.

Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni said a decision would be made after the defending World Cup champions held a practice session Thursday, Oct. 9.

‘We’ll talk to him, and we’ll decide,’ Scaloni said regarding Messi during a news conference one day before the match at Hard Rock Stadium.

‘Obviously, I’d like to try out a few players, because that’s what these games are for, while always respecting the opponent. We’ll make a final decision today.’

Scaloni also said earlier this week that he did not want to risk any players in a non-consequential match.

Messi spent time with the national team this week in meetings at a Fort Lauderdale hotel, and training sessions held at Inter Miami. He has played in seven matches in the 21 days with Inter Miami since Sept. 13.

‘These are important games for the national team, but they are friendlies,’ Scaloni said. ‘Whoever has a minor problem, whether it’s (Messi) or someone else, we are not going to take any risks whatsoever.’

How to watch Argentina vs Venezuela match?

When is the Argentina vs Venezuela match?

The match is Friday, Oct. 10 at 8 p.m. ET (9 p.m. in Argentina and Venezuela).

Where is the Argentina vs Venezuela match?

The match is at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Is Messi playing tonight in Argentina vs Venezuela match?

Messi’s status will be confirmed when Argentina announces its starting lineup, roughly an hour before the match.

Is Messi playing Saturday in Inter Miami vs Atlanta United match?

Messi’s MLS club Inter Miami will host Atlanta United in an MLS regular season match with playoff seeding implications on Saturday, Oct. 11 at 7:30 p.m. ET at Chase Stadium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Inter Miami coach Javier Mascherano told reporters Friday that Messi is with the national team, and they had not had any discussions about him playing against Atlanta.

‘If he doesn’t play (with Argentina) and there’s a chance, I’d be delighted. Imagine having Leo Messi. But the reality is he hasn’t been with us,’ Mascherano said. ‘The truth is, I haven’t spoken to Leo. Now, we’ll see what happens tonight … but it was never on my mind because Leo wasn’t with us.’

Inter Miami will play its MLS regular-season finale on the road against Nashville SC on Oct. 18. The MLS Cup playoffs begin on Wednesday, Oct. 22.

Inter Miami is in third place in the MLS Eastern Conference, needing victories against Atlanta and Nashville to secure a Top 4 seed to have home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

The WNBA MVP was by joined by Minnesota Lynx forward Napheesa Collier as unanimous first-team picks. The pair were joined on the team by Phoenix Mercury forward Alyssa Thomas, Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray and Indiana Fever guard Kelsey Mitchell.

Wilson and Collier, the runner-up for the WNBA MVP, were named to the All-WNBA first-team on all 72 ballots in voting by a national panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. It’s Wilson fourth straight season on the first team and fifth overall. Collier, a four-time All-WNBA Team selection, was voted to the first team for the third straight season.

Thomas makes her third consecutive appearance on the first team and fourth overall. Gray and Mitchell are All-WNBA firs-team selections for the first time. 

Seattle Storm forward Nneka Ogwumike, Aces guard Jackie Young, Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu, Fever center Aliyah Boston and Dallas Wings guard Paige Bueckers were named to the second team.        

Ogwumike is an All-WNBA pick for the eighth time, Ionescu the fourth time and Young the second time. Boston and Bueckers, a rookie, make their respective debuts on the list.

Each member of the All-WNBA first-team is awarded $10,300 and the second-team $5,150.

First team

A’ja Wilson, Las Vegas Aces

Wilson became the first player to win WNBA MVP four times and was a co-winner of the WNBA Defensive Player of the Year. Wilson averaged 23.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 2.3 blocked shots and 1.6 steals this season. She led the league in points and blocks per game and scored the most points (937) in the WNBA.

Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx

Collier was also selected to the WNBA All-Defensive Team for the fourth time. She was second in the league in scoring with a career-best 22.9 points per game. In addition, The Lynx finished the regular season at 34-10, the league’s best record.

Alyssa Thomas, Phoenix Mercury

Thomas was third in MVP race after setting a WNBA regular-season record with eight triple-doubles, adding to her WNBA career record of 19. She also had a league record for total assists (357) and was selected to the WNBA All-Defensive Team for the seventh time.

Allisha Gray, Atlanta Dream

Gray finished fourth in voting for MVP ranking seventh in the league in scoring with a career-best 18.4 points per game. She also set career highs in rebounds (5.3) and assists per game (3.5) .

Kelsey Mitchell, Indiana Fever

Mitchell, who finished fifth in the MVP voting, scored a career-best 20.2 points per game and made a league-leading 111 3-pointer.

Second team

Nneka Ogwumike, Seattle Storm

Ogwumike earned her 10th All-Star selection and became the sixth player in league history to reach 7,000 career points and only one to do it while shooting at least 50% from the field.

Jackie Young, Las Vegas Aces

Young averaged 16.5 points 5.1 assists per game, each were the second best of her career.

Sabrina Ionescu, New York Liberty

Ionescu led the league in free throw percentage (93.3) and averaged 18.2 points and 5.7 assists per game.

Aliyah Boston, Indiana Fever

Boston averaged career bests in points (15) and assists (3.7). She added 8.2 rebounds per game.

Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings

Bueckers was named Rookie of the Year and averaged 19.2 and 5.4 assists per game. She set the WNBA single-game rookie scoring record with 44 points against Los Angeles Sparks on Aug. 20.

2025 All-WNBA voting

First team

Second team

PHOENIX ― The Las Vegas Aces haven’t had an easy route to the WNBA Finals.

The Aces were 11-11 at the All-Star break before their inconceivable 16-game win streak to finish the regular season. They went from ninth place in the WNBA standings to the WNBA Finals. Forward A’ja Wilson was asked to describe the season in one word and eventually settled on circuitous, meaning having a circular or winding course. Wilson’s depiction of the Aces’ path to a possible third title in four seasons is perfect in every sense of the word.

As the 2025 WNBA Finals continue, USA TODAY asked the Aces one question: What goes into championship DNA? The players pointed to several key components including keeping their composure, doing all the little things right, being relentless and putting team over self.

‘I don’t know if people understand the pressure that athletes face in any game, but obviously in the Finals, it’s just different,’ guard Jewell Loyd said. ‘I think having that resilient mindset and just being really composed ― you can’t really forget who you are and what got you here.’

Loyd said Las Vegas has had numerous conversations about fundamentals like boxing out, rebounding and meeting the ball, which may feel akin to things players practice in middle school basketball. Still, Loyd maintains everything matters at this stage. Guard Chelsea Gray says to winning a championship involves things that don’t show up on a stat sheet.

As USA TODAY chatted with more Aces players, there was another overarching sentiment and premise that they agreed upon. Any athlete in the WNBA Finals is typically a ‘dawg,’ someone who is relentless in their pursuit of winning at a high level. Dawgs are the ultimate competitors who would stop at nothing to win, but also they are selfless for the greater good of the team.

They put the team before themselves, and they are so good individually, but even better with other ‘dawgs.’ Guard Dana Evans, who had 21 points off the bench in Las Vegas’ Game 1 win over the Phoenix Mercury, gave a simple yet rousing definition of what being a ‘dawg’ means at this stage.

‘You gotta really, really want it because both teams are gonna fight really, really hard to be the champion,’ Evans said. ‘You gotta be able to separate yourself, and have that ‘dawg’ mentality, like, ‘No, I’m going to take it’ pretty much attitude.’

Many on Las Vegas’ roster are familiar with taking titles. Gray leads the team with three rings. Wilson, Loyd, guard Jackie Young, forward Kierstan Bell and center Kiah Stokes each have two championships. Evans rounds out the group with the title she won with Chicago Sky in 2021. With that much experience, it’s easy to think players might have the need to take over. However, center Megan Gustafson says it’s the opposite.

For Las Vegas, it’s about making sure everyone is a star in their role and ensuring each person is doing what is asked by the coaching staff and supporting one another. Gustafson says there may be superstars on their team, but when you’re chasing a championship, none of that matters.

‘At the end of the day, we don’t care about who has the most points, who’s doing the best,’ Gustafson said. ‘A’ja [Wilson] ― she doesn’t care at all. She just wants Aces to win. She doesn’t want herself to win. She wants Aces to win. We all want the Aces to win.’That sort of mentality is something coach Becky Hammon has prioritized throughout her entire tenure. Hammon made it clear she values high-character individuals who build good habits, and that’s why she’s passed on very good players who she believed, while talented, didn’t quite fit the Aces.

She also said she expects her players to be who they are every day, no matter the circumstance. Hammon said if she’s asking her team to be themselves, but ‘they are an a–hole, it’s probably not going to work out.’ In her words, she’ll take character and competitiveness because she can ‘cook with that,’ and she has, to within one win of another WNBA Finals championship.

‘I got a group of ladies that are all that, have all those intangibles,’ Hammon said. ‘You’re talking about character? Like A’ja [Wilson], Chelsea [Gray], Jackie [Young], Jewell [Loyd], Cheyenne [Parker-Tyus], Kiah [Stokes] … the whole list of them [are] high, high, level character people, and that’s why the wheels didn’t fall off. It’s because of their character.’

Giants rookie QB Jaxson Dart had quite the prime-time coming-out party … and plenty of help.
Can you name the last time the Eagles lost two in a row?
Philly RB Saquon Barkley flashed on and off the field Thursday … if only briefly between the lines.

A month ago, the Super Bowl 59 champion Philadelphia Eagles still officially ruled the NFL, while the New York Giants – saddled with the season’s toughest schedule (in terms of opponents’ aggregate .574 2024 winning percentage) – were widely projected as a league-wide cellar dweller.

As the teams kicked off Week 6 of the 2025 campaign Thursday night, both had only slightly regressed toward the mean in the interim – but now suddenly appear to be on something of a collision course following the Giants’ 34-17 upset of their bitter NFC East rivals, Philly losing consecutive games for the first time since the end of the 2023 season.

But there was a lot more going on at MetLife Stadium than the final result on the scoreboard. So let’s spell out Thursday’s ancillary winners and losers:

WINNERS

The rematch

At a time when the Eagles are fresh off capturing their second Lombardi Trophy and the Giants have rarely been relevant since they last won the Super Bowl nearly 14 years ago, it appears like these teams might finally have some new bile in their border war. If you missed Thursday night’s ambush of the champs, they’ll quickly get another shot at the Giants when they come to Philly in Week 8.

Giants rookies

After the G-Men became the first team to lose this year to the New Orleans Saints, they rebounded in a big way − powered by first-year players responsible for taking the Eagles to the woodshed. First-round QB Jaxson Dart, making his third NFL start, passed for 195 yards and a touchdown and ran for 58 more and another score. Fourth-round RB Cam Skattebo rushed for 98 yards and three TDs. And after the duo combined for four of New York’s five turnovers in the loss at New Orleans, they didn’t commit one Thursday.

Dart and Skattebo also put quite the exclamation point on the evening during their appearance on Prime Video’s post-game set.

‘Tush Push’

As long as it remains legal, the Eagles will apparently continue leveraging their signature offensive play to the max. That included running four straight times, starting from the 3-yard line, for their second-quarter touchdown after they’d used a variant of the formation in the passing game – which they also utilized in Tampa two weeks ago – on TE Dallas Goedert’s 3-yard TD catch in the opening period.

Brian Burns

The Giants pass rusher matched his career high with two of his team’s three sacks of Philly QB Jalen Hurts.

Saquon Barkley?

The former Giants star and 2024 NFL Offensive Player of the Year broke off an 18-yard run on the game’s first play from scrimmage – his longest of the season. Barkley also made a (temporarily) touchdown-saving tackle after a Hurts interception in the fourth quarter, though the Giants scored a few plays later. Finally, Prime Video also rolled out its newest NFL documentary – ‘SAQUON’ – Thursday, so it was an eventful day for Barkley regardless of the loss and his modest production.

LOSERS

Saquon Barkley?

The former Giants star and 2024 NFL Offensive Player of the Year had 17 runs of at least 20 yards last season – basically one per game during the regular season, when he rushed for a league-high and career-best 2,005 yards. After a 58-yard night Thursday, he’s on pace for 921 this season.

Russell Wilson

“Mr. Unlimited” was limited to two third-quarter plays when Dart absorbed a full-body sack and went to the medical tent − for what is still becoming a highly scrutinized (and now investigated) look into the Giants’ application of the concussion protocol. Wilson handed off once and threw an ugly (and incomplete) pass on third down, forcing a Giants punt and earning another serenade of boos from the Big Blue crowd. Free Jameis, Coach Daboll.

Eagles defense

The league’s top-ranked unit during Philly’s run to last season’s crown, it surrendered a season-high 34 points – obviously undermined by the absence of inactive DT Jalen Carter (heel) and top CB Quinyon Mitchell, who left the game early with a hamstring injury.

Philadelphia explosiveness

In addition to Barkley’s run to start the game, the Eagles had three completions over 20 yards, the longest a 36-yarder to Goedert when the outcome was essentially decided. Not nearly enough. Hurts missed wide-open WR DeVonta Smith early in the third quarter for what likely would have been a game-altering 89-yard TD.

AJ … Dillon

Barkley’s backup served an ugly reminder to why that’s his role. After the Giants went up by 17 with nearly 10 minutes left to play, Dillon muffed the subsequent kickoff, relegating Philly to its own 5-yard line on the ensuing possession. He put the game on ice seven snaps later, fumbling on the Giants’ 25-yard line immediately after Goedert’s 36-yard catch. Game, set, match. 

A.J. … Brown

The Eagles receiver finally had a productive night between the lines with six receptions for 80 yards. But his postgame interview with reporters, when he coyly denied involvement with a meeting that included Hurts and Barkley − at a time when this offense just isn’t clicking − isn’t going to help the suddenly concerning bigger picture surrounding this team.

Jalen Hurts

In addition to missing Smith, he found Giants CB Cor’Dale Flott in the fourth quarter for his first interception in 305 regular-season passes − ending the league’s longest active clean sheet … and, effectively, this game.

Two elimination games are set to take place in Major League Baseball’s best-of-five division series.

The Seattle Mariners and the Detroit Tigers will do battle in the ALDS for the right to take on the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League Championship Series.

The defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers await the Game 5 NLDS winner between the Chicago Cubs and the Milwaukee Brewers, who had the best record in baseball during the regular season. For the Cubs, a victory over their division rivals will mark the 11th time a team that has trailed 0-2 has come back to win in the division series. The last team to accomplish that feat was the 2017 New York Yankees, who rallied to beat Cleveland.

Division Series Game 5 history in MLB playoffs

2024 ALDS: Guardians 7, Tigers 3
2024 NLDS: Dodgers 2, Padres 0
2022 ALDS: Yankees 5, Guardians 1
2021 NLDS: Dodgers 2, Giants 1
2020 ALDS: Rays 2, Yankees 1
2019 NLDS: Nationals 7, Dodgers 3
2019 NLDS: Cardinals 13, Braves 1
2017 ALDS: Yankees 5, Cleveland 2
2017 NLDS: Cubs 9, Nationals 8
2016 NLDS: Dodgers 4, Nationals 3
2015 ALDS: Blue Jays 6, Rangers 3
2015 NLDS: Mets 3, Dodgers 2
2015 ALDS: Royals 7, Astros 2
2013 ALDS: Tigers 3, Athletics 0
2013 NLDS: Cardinals 6, Pirates 1
2012 ALDS: Yankees 3, Orioles 1
2012 ALDS: Tigers 6, Athletics 0
2012 NLDS: Cardinals 9, Nationals 7
2012 NLDS: Giants 6, Reds 4
2011 ALDS: Tigers 3, Yankees 2
2011 NLDS: Brewers 3, Diamondbacks 2 (10 innings)
2011 NLDS: Cardinals 1, Phillies 0
2010 ALDS: Rangers 5, Rays 1
2005 ALDS: Angels 5, Yankees 3
2004 NLDS: Astros 12, Braves 3
2003 ALDS: Red Sox 4, Athletics 3
2003 NLDS: Cubs 5, Braves 1
2002 ALDS: Twins 5, A’s 4
2002 NLDS: Giants 3, Braves 1
2001 ALDS: Yankees 5, Athletics 3
2001 ALDS: Mariners 3, Cleveland 1
2001 NLDS: Diamondbacks 2, Cardinals 1
2000 ALDS: Yankees 7, Athletics 5
1999 ALDS: Red Sox 12, Cleveland 8
1997 ALDS: Cleveland 4, Yankees 3
1995 ALDS: Mariners 6, Yankees 5 (11 innings)

The face behind one of the biggest Cinderella teams in NCAA men’s basketball tournament history is no longer with us.

Sister Jean Dolores Schmidt, longtime team chaplain for Loyola-Chicago, died on Oct. 9, the university announced. She was 106 years old.

The Catholic nun was thrust into the national spotlight as the Ramblers staged an improbable run to the Final Four in 2018, becoming at the time just the fourth No. 11 seed to make it to college basketball’s grandest stage. Sister Jean had an infectious love for basketball, and prayed for the team before every game — which became a made-for-TV moment before every upset victory. She also sent personalized emails to players, complimenting them after a good game, and encouraging them after a bad game.

“She’s meant a lot to this program, to the city of Chicago,” former player Donte Ingram said at the Final Four in 2018. “Her aura is so bright. … She’s like no other.”

After Loyola-Chicago’s buzzer-beating win over Miami in the first round, Sister Jean became an overnight celebrity — with photos and videos of her hugging players after the win going viral.

“Everything just seemed to mushroom,” she said of her sudden popularity at a packed Final Four news conference in San Antonio. “I can’t believe it. I wake up and say, ‘Is this real or is it a dream?’ And I say, ‘No, it’s really for real.’ …This is the most fun I’ve had in my life.”

Her fame continued to skyrocket as the Ramblers reached their first Sweet 16 in 33 years and eventually got to their first Final Four since 1963 — when the program won the national championship in a game that broke racial barriers. She had her own bobblehead and Nike shoes, while her face was on T-shirts and socks as Loyola’s storybook run resonated outside of the sports world. In April, after Loyola’s run, she threw out the first pitch at the Chicago Cubs’ season opener and posed for photos alongside then-Ramblers coach Porter Moser, players and then-Cubs manager Joe Maddon.

Although Sister Jean became a household name, she was a fixture on Loyola’s campus on the North Side of Chicago long before all the hoopla. Dolores Schmidt, a religious sister of the Sisters of Charity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, came to Loyola in 1991 and became the team chaplain shortly thereafter. She maintained an office in the student center on campus and lived in a freshman dorm — where she offered advice to those who visited her.

“In many roles at Loyola over the course of more than 60 years, Sister Jean was an invaluable source of wisdom and grace for generations of students, faculty, and staff,” Loyola President Mark C. Reed said in a statement. “While we feel grief and a sense of loss, there is great joy in her legacy. Her presence was a profound blessing for our entire community and her spirit abides in thousands of lives.

‘In her honor, we can aspire to share with others the love and compassion Sister Jean shared with us.” 

This story has been updated with new information and a new gallery.