National Sports

The overnight rating from major markets of the World Cup opener was less than half of the overnight for the first game of the 2014 tournament, hurt by a much earlier kickoff and less glamorous teams.

Canadian soccer fans descended on bars and restaurants across the country as a full slate of World Cup matches got underway Friday.

ST. LOUIS — Hundreds of people have gathered to say goodbye to Red Schoendienst. Among them are current and past St. Louis Cardinals players as well as fans. The Hall of Fame second baseman's public funeral was Friday at the Cathedral Basilica in St.

Ottawa Senators forward Mike Hoffman and his fiancee Monika Caryk say they have nothing to do with the cyberbullying of Melinda Karlsson, the wife of Senators captain Erik Karlsson.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Aziz Bouhaddouz, head in his hands and face buried in the turf, was probably unaware of the opposing players and coaches swarming all around him in jubilation. Some teammates tried to console him, but it did little good.

Nasty weather and the Canadian Football League have a long history together. Another chapter was written at the regular season opener that began on Thursday night but didn't end until 1:17 a.m. local time on Friday.

STUTTGART, Germany — Milos Raonic's impressive comeback from injury continued on Friday at the Mercedes Cup.

YEKATERINBURG, Russia — More than 5,000 people with tickets skipped Uruguay's 1-0 win over Egypt in Yekaterinburg on Friday, the worst-attended World Cup game in eight years. FIFA said it is investigating why, with "no-shows" one of the factors.

WINNIPEG — You wouldn't think a field-goal kicker would have the greatest focus at 1 a.m., but Sean Whyte did.

Coach Kingsley Jones will see familiar faces everywhere he looks Saturday when his Canadian side takes on Russia at Ottawa's Twin Elm Rugby Park. Russian forwards coach Alexander Voytov was Jones's captain when he coached Russia.