Minnesota United vs. Club America

When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where: Shell Oil Stadium, Houston
Stream: FS1, MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
Weather: 84 degrees, 5 mph east wind

Form: MNUFC got off to a steamrolling start to Leagues Cup with a 4-1 blowout win over Queretaro on Wednesday, while America stumbled in a 2-2 draw with Real Salt Lake. That ended with RSL earning an extra point in a penalty kick shootout.

Standings: After the opening match days for all teams, the Loons stand in the fourth and final MLS knockout spot with three points and a plus-3 goal differential. America is ninth in Liga MX table with one point and a zero goal differential.

View: This tournament shows how watered-down the MLS Cup Playoffs have become. Only 22% of teams in Leagues Cup advance (eight of 36), compared to 60% in MLS’ postseason (18 of 30). MLS does it this way to give mediocre teams something to play for late in the regular season, but it more so creates a bigger volume of playoff games. There is probably a happy middle ground between the two. But in the meantime, MLS gives out participation ribbons.

Context: Since the tournament expanded in 2023, the Loons have won four straight against clubs from Mexico’s Liga MX in this tournament: beating Puebla and Toluca two years ago and Necaxa last summer.

Quote: ESPN commentator Herculez Gomez on the status of America in a post on X: “4 wins in the last 18 games. Can’t defend set pieces to save their life. No new signings. On the brink of elimination from another international tournament. Club America may be coming off 4 straight league finals, but they can’t feel good about this.”

Full picture: With Minnesota in three competitions, here’s the club’s leading scorers across them all: 1. Kelvin Yeboah, 13 (9 MLS, 3 U.S. Open Cup, 1 Leagues Cup); 2. Tani Oluwaseyi, 10 (9, 0, 1); 3. Anthony Markanich, 9 (6, 2, 1). The Loons strikers are expected to be atop the list, but its once-backup left wingback continues a dream year.

Look-ahead: America is expected to be have a huge home field advantage in muggy Houston on Saturday, but the Loons will have some of their veterans rested and ready. Wil Trapp didn’t play Wednesday, while Michael Boxall came on for only 18 minutes against Queretaro.

Scouting report: America has two key attackers with U.S. connections: Brian Rodriquez and Alejandro Zendejas. Rodriquez played for LAFC, while Zendejas started at FC Dallas and is a U.S. international. Both were on the Liga MX team for the MLS All-Star Game in July. Each have scored this year, including Rodriquez vs. RSL.

Prediction: Given its championship standard, Club America will feel enormous pressure to beat a Loons side with a fraction of its payroll. MNUFC will be defensively sound and will likely find success on set pieces, but will only get one point in a draw (1-1) before falling in PKs.

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By ALICIA RANCILIO, Associated Press

Tracee Ellis Ross, the actor best-known for her roles in shows like “black-ish” and “Girlfriends,” happens to be single and without children, but she doesn’t let either hold her back from experiencing a fulfilling, joyful life, especially when it comes to vacations.

When friends and family can’t join her, or if she just wants to decompress, Ross will jet-set by herself and have a fabulous time doing it. She says she takes at least one solo trip a year, and if vacationing with others, might stay a little longer to include alone time.

In a new three-part docuseries streaming on The Roku Channel, “Solo Traveling with Tracee Ellis Ross,” a camera crew follows the actor on solo trips to Marrakech, Morocco; Cancún, Mexico; and Marbella, Spain.

This image released by Roku shows promotional art for the Roku original series “Traveling Solo with Tracee Ellis Ross. (Roku via AP)

Ross says her first solo travel experience was in her 20s, and she’s learned over the years that even the uncomfortable moments of being by herself have given her coping skills for everyday life.

“What I find is that I gain a muscle strength around being uncomfortable,” she told The Associated Press in a recent interview. “It’s like when a baseball player swings with two bats, and then by the time they get to the one bat, it feels lighter. When you get back into your regular day life and uncomfortable things happen, I have muscle memory to know how to walk through this on my own.”

Ross shared tips to traveling as a party of one:

Ease into it

“Start by going to dinner by yourself,” Ross says. “And if you feel nervous about doing that, go to dinner by yourself on a Tuesday night at 6 o’clock and work your way up to going to dinner by yourself on a Saturday or Friday night at 8 o’clock.

“Walk up to the host and say, ‘I need a table for one.’ See what it feels like to be in that experience because it will only be that times 10 on vacation.”

She suggests bringing something like a book or an iPad when you’re eating alone, and also for when you’re spending time in your room.

That way, “if you end up having to stay in your hotel room the whole time and only going to a restaurant in your hotel or somewhere just around the corner, you don’t feel like you have ruined your trip and done something stupid.”

Know why you’re taking the trip

Ross says there are different reasons for solo trips and you need to understand what yours is.

“Are you going on a solo trip because you’re single and want to meet other people? Are you going on a solo trip because your life is overwhelmed with your children, your dogs, your cats, your job, your life, your survival, all the things, and you’re going to have a moment to sort of recharge and get away by yourself? Or are you going for an adventure?” she asks.

Once you’ve decided what kind of experience you’re seeking, you can make plans to achieve it realistically and safely.

This mage released by Roku shows actor Tracee Ellis Ross in a scene from the Roku original series “Traveling Solo with Tracee Ellis Ross.” (Emily V. Aragones/Roku via AP)

Safety, safety, safety

No matter how independent you are, certain kinds of travelers are more vulnerable than others, especially if they’re by themselves, Ross notes. Take safety seriously when mapping out your itinerary.

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“You might not feel vulnerable, but depending on where you’re going, it might leave you vulnerable. That’s a very specific distinction and something to plan for in order to have a good experience,” she says.

“If you are a Black woman, if you are a woman, if you are LGBTQIA, if you are non-binary, if you are differently abled — that might leave you vulnerable in a foreign place. Make sure you do the best diligence you can to make sure you’re going somewhere that can create a sense of safety for you with whatever those vulnerabilities,” she says.

Ross prefers to travel to destinations with resorts where she can feel safe on her own. “It allows me to not have to adventure off property,” she said. And she returns to places where she’s found comfort “all the time.”

Research many other parts of the trip too

Ross says she’s a planner by nature and does a lot of research online. She also asks around for info about best navigating the experience from beginning to end.

She likes to know whether particular airports are busy and what to expect when she gets there. If it’s a big airport and there’s a lot of walking, she makes sure she has comfortable shoes. She also will pack a personal fan if it’s going to be hot.

Knowing what to expect won’t just lead to feeling prepared and comfortable in general but feeling prepared and comfortable by yourself.

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are opening lower on Wall Street and Treasury yields are falling sharply after the government reported a sharp slowdown in hiring last month. Markets are also reacting early Friday to the latest tariff news. The S&P 500 fell 1% in the first few minutes of trading.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 383 points, or 0.8%. The Nasdaq composite was down 1.4%. The suprisingly weak hiring numbers led investors to step up their expectations for an interest rate cut in September.

President Donald Trump issued a new set of sweeping import duties that will apply to dozens of countries as of Aug. 7.

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE, Associated Press Technology Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal appeals court has upheld a jury verdict condemning Google’s Android app store as an illegal monopoly, clearing the way for a federal judge to enforce a potentially disruptive shakeup that’s designed to give consumers more choices.

The unanimous ruling issued Thursday by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals delivers a double-barreled legal blow for Google, which has been waylaid in three separate antitrust trials that resulted in different pillars of its internet empire being declared as domineering scofflaws monopolies since late 2023.

The unsuccessful appeal represents a major victory for video game maker Epic Games, which launched a legal crusade targeting Google’s Play Store for Android apps and Apple’s iPhone app store nearly five years ago in an attempt to bypass exclusive payment processing systems that charged 15% to 30% commissions on in-app transactions.

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The jury’s December 2023 rebuke of Google’s app store for Android-powered smartphones began a cascade of setbacks that includes monopoly judgements against the company’s ubiquitous search engine last year and the technology underlying its digital ad network earlier this year.

Although not as lucrative as Google’s search engine or ad system, the Play Store for Android apps has long been a gold mine that generated billions of dollars in annual revenue by taking a 15% to 30% cut from in-app transactions funneled through the company’s own payment processing system.

Following a month-long trial, a nine-person jury determined that Google had rigged its system to thwart alternative app stores from offering better deals to consumers and software developers. That verdict resulted in U.S. District Judge James Donato ordering Google to tear down digital walls shielding the Play Store from competition, triggering the company’s appeal to overturn the jury’s finding and void the judge’s mandated shakeup.

But a three-judge panel that heard Google’s appeal in February rejected its lawyers’ contention that Donato erred by allowing the case to be determined by a jury that deviated from the market definition outlined by another federal judge who mostly sided with Apple in Epic’s case against the iPhone maker’s app store.

Epic’s lawsuit “was replete with evidence that Google’s anticompetitive conduct entrenched its dominance, causing the Play Store to benefit from network effects,” the judges wrote in the decision.

The ruling “will significantly harm user safety, limit choice, and undermine the innovation that has always been central to the Android ecosystem,” Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland said in a statement.

Unless Google can extend the enforcement delay placed on Donato’s order issued last October, the company will have to begin an overhaul that includes making the Play Store’s entire library of more than 2 million Android apps available to would-be rivals and also help distribute the alternative options. Google has argued that the required revisions will raise privacy and security risks by exposing consumers to scam artists and hackers masquerading as legitimate app stores.

But Epic’s lawyers have ridiculed Google’s warnings about the changes as scare tactics in a desperate attempt to protect the fortunes of its corporate parent Alphabet Inc.

Although Epic fell short in its attempt to have the iPhone’s app store declared a monopoly, that case resulted in a judge issuing an order that required Apple to surrender exclusive control over the payment processing of in-app transactions and allow links to alternative systems without collecting a commission.

Besides being hit with Donato’s order, Google still faces further trouble ahead that could leave an even bigger dent in its finances.

As part of the effort to address Google’s illegal monopoly in search, a federal judge is weighing a proposal by the U.S. Justice Department that would require the sale of its Chrome web browser and ban the multibillion dollar deals that company has been making with Apple and others to lock-in its search engine as the main gateway to the internet.

Google is also facing a proposed breakup of its advertising technology as part of the countermeasures to its monopoly in that business. A trial on that proposal is scheduled to begin in September.