Christian Lundgaard is on the search for a new team in the NTT IndyCar Series. On Monday, Arrow McLaren announced that Lundgaard will not return to the organization in 2027. This comes after Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist joined McLaren. So, where is Lundgaard likely to go for the 2027 campaign?

Lundgaard has emerged as the “definitive favorite” to replace Dixon in the No. 9 car at Chip Ganassi Racing in 2027, as reported by FOX Sports’ Bob Pockrass. This would be an outstanding landing spot for the McLaren driver, who would become teammates with four-time IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou.

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There aren’t many better seats in IndyCar than Chip Ganassi Racing’s No. 9 car, and Lundgaard appears to be the heavy favorite to take it over. It was a very disappointing development for Lundgaard to be pushed out of McLaren; however, he could earn one of the most coveted seats on the IndyCar grid for 2027.

More: Marcus Ericsson linked to Indy 500 winning organization for 2027

This article originally appeared on Motorsports Wire: Christian Lundgaard’s most likely IndyCar team for 2027 revealed

Rain or Shine guard Gian Mamuyac during a game against Barangay Ginebra in the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines–Coach Yeng Guiao is hopeful that Rain or Shine can ink up Gian Mamuyac and Andrei Caracut to long-term deals by the time the team’s campaign in the PBA Governors’ Cup comes to a close.

Both Mamuyac and Caracut’s contracts were set to expire this month, but Guiao bared that they were automatically extended until the end of the season-ending conference as per league rules.

“We still have a few things to work on with Mamu and Andrei’s contracts,” Guiao said after the Elasto Painters clobbered the shorthanded Macau Giant Pandas, 139-98, in a tune-up game held Tuesday inside the exclusive Acropolis subdivision in Quezon City.

READ: PBA: Rain or Shine rewards Clarito with fresh three-year pact

Rain or Shine’s Andrei Caracut shoots against Ginebra’s RJ Abarrientos during the PBA Commissioner’s Cup semifinals.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

“But I’m hopeful that we can settle those [contracts] in the next few days or weeks at the most. But because of the automatic extension that the league allows, there’s no problem for this conference.”

Rain or Shine had been holding out hope that the two would remain with the team, especially after coming off a semifinal series loss to Barangay Ginebra in the Commissioner’s Cup.

Mamuyac is said to be receiving offers to play overseas, though Rain or Shine has already laid out a three-year offer in order to keep its elected team captain in the fold.

The Elasto Painters, however, have yet to put out a concrete offer for Caracut, who, apart from his playmaking role, has emerged as one of the team’s most popular players given his social media presence.

READ: PBA: Guiao gives props to Ginebra, proud of Rain or Shine semis stint

“I think both offers are very fair,” Guiao said. “It’s also a three-year contract. So that’s also something that they’re fairly secured with the term of the contract. But it’s really up to them.

“We love Mamu. We love the time we spend together. We think he benefited from us, we benefited from him. I think he won’t be at a disadvantage with our proposal, so maybe they’re already thinking about it.

“Andrei’s details have yet to be straightened out. We have the next four to five months to still be able to do that,” added Guiao.

Rain or Shine opens its third conference campaign on Saturday against Blackwater in Rodriguez, Rizal, and Guiao doesn’t see the uncertainty of both players as a distraction, citing their “professionalism” and being “high-character players.”

INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–For the first time in eight years, the National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP) will increase its fees for the handicapping system, not for bloated income, but to basically make every golfer in the country a stakeholder, with the funds collected to help finance the National Team and host of world-class events, among others.

Members of the NGAP board of trustees passed this measure in a resolution recently, with the new rate, P100 a month, to be collected starting this month.

READ: PSC, NGAP open golf courses to youth 

It is indeed a far departure from the P500 annually the golf body charged before, but under the leadership of new president Al Panlilio, all stakeholders can be assured that collections from hereon will go directly to all of the NGAP’s undertakings, foremost of them the PH squads and the elite tournaments.

The new leadership is also encouraging all golfers to use the NGAP app, which will also see constant improvements moving forward with the help of the stakeholders as the country’s governing agency for the sport continues to upgrade NGAP services to be in line with the modern times for all of the country’s golfers.

Panlilio, the former Samahang Basketbol ng Pilipinas president, and his board have buckled down to work, appointing people tasked to lead key committees, like Miko Alejandro, who was given the responsibility of overseeing the National Team compositions and how the squads are prepared for major international events.

“We are answerable to the golfing community whenever our national team performs,” Panlilio said. “So we are going to make sure–with the help of every golfer in the country–that they are equipped well and prepped in the best way to represent our country.”

Teaching and coaching will also get a boost from the NGAP, as it will help fund courses that will improve the techniques of those who teach the game, even as the integration of technology into the local golf landscape will also get a shot in the arm, as this will enable golfers without club affiliations to have legitimate handicaps.

“(Your) NGAP is committed to aligning Philippine golf with global standards,” Panlilio wrote in his letter to the PH golfing community. “At the heart of everything we do is a simple goal: to grow the game of golf in the Philippines.”

AB de Villiers on TOI Sports’ Bombay Sports Exchange Podcast (left) and Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers

Former Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) batter AB de Villiers has revealed that Virat Kohli tried to convince him not to retire from franchise cricket before he stepped away from the game in 2021.Speaking on TOI Sports’ Bombay Sports Exchange Podcast, de Villiers said Kohli made an effort to change his mind, but he had already decided it was the right time to move on. “Yes. He tried,” de Villiers said when asked if Kohli tried to stop him.The South African great retired from international cricket in 2018 after helping his team beat India and Australia at home. He continued playing franchise cricket, including for RCB in the Indian Premier League (IPL), before retiring from all forms of the game in 2021.“I walked away from international cricket exactly when I wanted to (2018). We had beaten India and Australia at home, and I left on a high.”“Then I decided I’d continue playing a few T20 tournaments, travel the world with my family, take them to the IPL, to England for the Blast, to Australia for the Big Bash and a few other tournaments. When I finally felt ready, I called it a day (from franchise cricket as well, in 2021).”De Villiers said retiring from the IPL was not a sudden decision and that he had been thinking about it throughout his final season.“It took time. That thought stayed in my mind throughout the final season or so. Eventually, I simply went up to Virat and said, ‘I’m done’,” de Villiers said.De Villiers also spoke about the pressure of playing in front of packed crowds at Bengaluru’s M Chinnaswamy Stadium, where fans chanted his name.“That can be draining as well. Those moments also bring sleepless nights. It’s not all sunshine and roses. There are difficult moments too. The expectations and pressure you put on yourself can sometimes become suffocating. I’ve spoken about that before. I’m incredibly proud of what I achieved. But before big matches, I’d often struggle to sleep. I’d be so focused on making an impact for the team that I found it difficult to simply be myself. So it wasn’t always easy,” De Villiers said on TOI Sports’ Bombay Sports Exchange Podcast.Reflecting on life after retirement, he said the joy of success does not last long, even for the biggest players.“Of course, I miss those moments. When everything clicked and the crowd helped me enter that zone, it was an incredible feeling. But success disappears very quickly. Every champion will tell you the same thing. You win the biggest trophy, and an hour later you’re already asking yourself, “Now what?” Then your attention shifts immediately to the next trophy. You’re never fully satisfied with those achievements. Having said that, I can now look back at those memories with enormous gratitude.“

SEATTLE – “It feels exactly the same,” Tyler Adams quipped.

The build-up to the U.S. men’s national team’s World Cup round of 16 was certainly different this time around. Between playing on home soil in front of electric, sold-out crowds and a string of entertaining wins behind them, head coach Mauricio Pochettino‘s side seemed in as great a position to reach their first quarterfinal in 24 years when they met Belgium at Lumen Field on Monday.

In an instant, though, it was over – Belgium’s Charles De Ketelaere scored nine minutes in, the forward taking advantage of a team that had not hit its stride and never would. A 4-1 loss was a fair result for a group that did not actually rise to the occasion, barely taking a stab at getting into the game and booking their fourth straight round of 16 exit at the World Cup.

“Belgium, they had a good game plan and they played balls in behind us when we pressed and it caused a lot of problems, won a lot of second balls and they were good in the boxes,” Christian Pulisic said. “That’s where the game comes down to and they were clinical and it was not quite enough from us.”

Pulisic, who came off in the 59th minute after tweaking his ankle and knee in the same play, offered the natural conceit that Belgium were simply better, both on paper and on the day. It was always destined to be the case at some point during this World Cup, no matter how ambitious or hopeful people were about this version of the USMNT. He is not wrong that small things went against them, the team always trying to punch above their weight. 

The moments that actually slipped away from them, though, were a step below the actual level expected of them. Hans Vanaken‘s goal to put Belgium 3-1 up in the 57th minute was the instance where it all slipped away, Matt Freese with a blunder of epic proportions to seal the deal.

“Disappointed for my involvement and error in judgment on the third goal,” Freese, whose rise from zero caps at the start of June 2025 to Monday’s game likely means his international career will be defined by that great mistake, said. “It’s part of the position. I know the guys in front of me did everything they could today to get the win and I’m so proud of them and I wish that that moment was different and wish the result was different … I felt him so close, I thought he was going to kick my leg and so I tried to get out of it.”

Freese is merely one of several players whose opportunities came and went, just as the team’s did. Pulisic is perhaps most representative of it – an injury kept him out of the second half of their win over Paraguay, the entirety of their win over Australia and much of their loss to Turkiye in the group stage. Another one meant he exited Monday’s game early, too, though against Belgium, he was also invisible on the pitch until he went down writhing in pain in the opening minutes of the second half. The dejection was obvious as he did his post-match rounds – a decade after becoming the face of his generation with a World Cup on home soil on the horizon, he did not manage to register all that much.

“I felt really good this summer playing with the guys and I thought my level was high,” he reflected. “It’s disappointing. I didn’t quite have the moments I was hoping to and to try to help us to really push and get over this next step of beating a really good team so I’m disappointed with myself, of course, but I’m going to try to stay positive. I did a lot of good things and the team did as well.”

The player whose name recognition grew the most was Folarin Balogun, who was caught in the quagmire of a suspension he graciously accepted and then was rescinded in the most controversial of ways. His spot in the lineup was unsurprising if an unwanted signal of organizational incompetence but he, too, was ineffective on Monday.

“When you know you’re given a red card and then usually the protocol is you usually don’t play the following game and then when that decision’s overturned, of course it’s going to controversial so for me, it’s something that didn’t really surprise me too much but as a player, my job is just to go out there and be focused on my job, “he said.

The team rejected the notion that Balogun’s case offered a distraction or that the moment was too big, even if it felt like the lights were too bright for them. They had no answer for Belgium but it was not simply a tactical matter – their trademark habits of the World Cup had gone out the door and it remains hard to know why.

“It’s difficult to say but I can only be honest,” Balogun said. “I don’t think we had a good game today, collectively. We played well in the other games. We were very intense, we were able to generate energy with the crowd and today we didn’t give the crowd a lot to cheer for. That’s the most disappointing thing and that’s the part that hurts the most for me personally. We have to wait four years again to be in this position, which is hurtful again.”

Even the team’s most honest players like Adams had no answers, spitting out platitudes about how elite sports work rather than knowing what to say as a great opportunity to make history and capture a nation’s always-evasive attention span was squandered.

“That’s a great question,” Adams said. “Wish I had the answer right now. I don’t know. I don’t know. I think that just overall, it was the small things. Second ball’s not falling to you when you feel like before, they were in the right spot and then winning them. Just little gaps that were being exploited. Just small connections in the game where in other games just felt like everything was a little bit cooler and sharper … I don’t think it was the opponent, the speed of the game, the moment, I don’t think any of that. I think it’s just small details of the game that got away from us. They get away from you like that and then obviously you’re going to lose the game.”

The peak years of the USMNT’s golden generation – or at least until another golden generation shows up – got away from them, even if not all of it was a surprise. A loss to Belgium, formidable even in their inconsistency, is not inherently the problem but the manner in which they did should weigh heavily on those who are tasked with ensuring the program improves. It is not a surprise that Freese is not of the same caliber as Belgium’s UEFA Champions League winner in goal, Thibaut Courtois. 

There is no shock value when Belgium can brag about bringing Jeremy Doku off the bench when the USMNT’s best option is a rusty Gio Reyna, who, at 23 years old, still has no consistent documented history of living up to his great potential. The surprise is that, after weeks of being one of the teams to watch at the World Cup, they exited the tournament with barely a whimper.

“That just didn’t feel like it was us out there today,” defender Antonee Robinson said. “We didn’t win any individual duels. We looked like we lacked energy. We looked like we weren’t as fluid as we have been.”

Questions about the team’s mental toughness will loom large as the long road to the 2030 World Cup officially begins, just as much as queries about the strength of the talent will. Some will take positives from the fact that they won their first knockout game in 24 years with the win over Bosnia and Herzegovina but the expanded format is more responsible for that than anything else, the round of 32 feeling like a holding place before the knockouts truly begin depending on the matchup. How exactly they dig themselves out of a multigenerational hole, though, remains the big question facing the team.

“We won the game against Bosnia,” Pulisic said. “We can for sure be proud of [that] but I just think we want to have higher hopes in that. We want to be able to go and compete in some of the best in the world and we just still have that next step to climb.”

Lionel Messi will look to continue his scoring dominance when he leads defending champion Argentina against Egypt in the 2026 World Cup Round of 16 on Tuesday. Messi already has seven goals in four World Cup matches, and he’s the second favorite at FanDuel Sportsbook at +165 to win the Golden Boot. The Argentinians are looking to win their fourth-ever World Cup and reached the quarterfinals for the 11th time. Egypt, meanwhile, have reached the Round of 16 for the first time since 1934 and are playing in just their fourth World Cup competition.

Kickoff for Argentina vs. Egypt is at noon ET in Atlanta. The latest Argentina vs. Egypt odds from FanDuel list Argentina at -310 (bet $310 to win $100) on the 90-minute money line, with Egypt at +1000 and a draw at +380. The over/under for total goals is 2.5. Argentina are -800 to advance, with Egypt at +520. Before locking in any Argentina vs. Egypt picks or World Cup 2026 predictions, check out the Argentina vs. Egypt predictions from SportsLine’s Martin Green.

After working in the sports betting industry for several years, Green became a professional sports writer and handicapper and has covered the game worldwide. Last year, Green was profitable in multiple areas on his soccer betting picks, including the Champions League (+211.25) and Bundesliga (+100). He’s also been red-hot in 2026, posting an 18-8 record over his last 26 UCL picks, returning nearly $1,000 in profit. He’s also on a an 18-7 roll (+908) on his World Cup picks. Anyone wanting to follow his World Cup betting advice at sportsbooks and on betting apps could see big returns.

Now, Green has studied Argentina vs. Egypt and just revealed his 2026 World Cup picks and betting predictions. You can head to SportsLine now to see his picks. Here are several World Cup odds and soccer betting lines for Argentina vs. Egypt:

Top Argentina vs. Egypt predictions

After examining Argentina vs. Egypt from every angle, Green is leaning Over 2.5 total goals (-106). Argentina have been explosive so far in the competition, outscoring their opponents 11-3. They are also on an 11-match winning streak, scoring no fewer than two goals in 10 of those matches during that stretch.

Egypt have allowed one goal in each of their four World Cup matches, but face a different challenge this time around. “Captain Lionel Messi has scored seven goals in four games at this tournament, and it will be difficult for the Egyptian defense to contain him,” Green said. See Green’s best bets for Argentina vs. Egypt at SportsLine, and you can bet the Over in Argentina vs. Egypt at FanDuel here:

How to make Argentina vs. Egypt picks

After studying Argentina vs. Egypt from every angle, Green has found a critical x-factor and locked in a pair of best bets, including one plus-money play. You can head to SportsLine to see what they are. 

So what are the best bets for Egypt vs. Argentina? Visit SportsLine now to see the best bets for Argentina vs. Egypt, all from expert on an 18-7 roll on WC picks, and find out.