moter Don King, a Cleveland resident and passionate Trump su

SANDY, Utah -- A year from now, the mountains that loom beyond the eastern rim of Rio Tinto Stadium will look?the same as they do now.The U.S. womens national team? Not so much.Close your eyes for even a second, and Allie Long is a defender.Take too long coming back from a halftime hot chocolate run and, what do you know, Lynn Williams has appeared in her first game and scored her first goal for the national team.If Wednesdays game against Switzerland was supposed to be a demonstration of change, it didnt disappoint. The 4-0 win wasnt conclusive in any particular respect. But it was definitely different and thus interesting.And frankly, fun.I think its great for the environment with the national team, said Morgan Brian, who in two years has gone from World Cup rookie to wise, old sage. It makes it way more competitive, like Jills been saying. Its only going to push us to get that much better for the next three years.If U.S. coach Jill Ellis wants competition as the cycle begins for the 2019 World Cup and 2020 Olympics, Williams and Andi Sullivan highlighted the best-case scenario of what that looks like. Five players debuted for the United States in front of 14,336 fans Wednesday. None fell on their faces. Williams excelled; she scored the games first goal just 49 seconds after entering as a substitute to begin the second half. And Sullivan succeeded in the middle?of good play.I thought they were fantastic, Ellis said. As much as they were allowed to express themselves, they also fit within the system. I was very impressed. Andis poise, her passing -- I think shes mature beyond her years, in terms of her first time in, and she looked like shes been doing it for a while. Lynn, obviously a great finish. Her work rate, penetration, back to pressure -- shes pretty multi-dimensional.Just over a week ago, Williams capped a breakthrough professional season with the Western New York Flash by scoring a late equalizer in the dying seconds of overtime in the NWSL final. She and the Flash went on to claim the title in penalty kicks in Houston, and then after a quick stop back in Buffalo, she was off to Utah. On Wednesday, she?raced in on goal in the opening minute of the half. Williams slotted the ball into the net; she was?calm enough to take one final touch that opened up the shooting angle to go back across the goalkeeper.When they first told us we were going in, some nerves come over your body, Williams said. But Carli [Lloyd] came up to me and said, Just connect your first pass and go from there. And then Sam [Mewis] came up to me and said, Lynn, you dont have to be anything that youre not.Technically, Williams first pass came after her first goal, but the message holds.The play Williams made to set in motion the third goal -- after Tobin Heath doubled the lead -- was in some ways more impressive than the goal. Williams sent a sublime pass to Kelley OHara in the right corner, and OHara set up Christen Press for an emphatic finish.Its more difficult to put together the highlight package for Sullivan, but she was no less impressive. A college junior, she played the No. 6 position with confidence beyond her years.Early in the game, she turned her back at midfield and was knocked off the ball by a Swiss player. Sullivan looked at the referee as if expecting a whistle but got nothing. Far from rattled, she went about her work, connecting passes and putting the teammates in front of her in good spaces. Ellis has said repeatedly that she still doesnt know Sullivans best position, and indeed, she has excelled as a No. 8 for Stanford this season. But a longtime holding midfielder, she looked mighty comfortable there Wednesday.I think she, Lindsey [Horan] and I played pretty well together, Brian said. I think we found seams and played off of each other. She was very composed and calm on the ball.And yes, if youre doing the math at home, that adds up to three midfielders in the center of the field. The biggest surprise before the game wasnt the names in the lineup. More jarring was the way the U.S. women lined up, placing midfielder Allie Long between Becky Sauerbrunn and Emily Sonnett in the last line of a 3-5-2 formation. Given that Ellis just released one center back from contract (Whitney Engen) and says she is looking to add to the position, it might seem a curious move to play three of them together, especially when one isnt a center back by trade.I think in our attacking weve been kind of rotating to get to that shape, Ellis said, pointing most recently to the game against the Netherlands last month. I said, You know what, its time for us to kind of, honestly, experiment and try new things. What I like about Allie is she has a profile; shes good in the air, shes a very good communicator. And her passing gives us the ability to play those penetrating balls and keep possession and build.Playing somewhat shorthanded and rather listlessly, Switzerland didnt do much on the offensive end, but the U.S. women had a couple of dicey moments after miscues. Still, there was no denying the amount of buildup play the United States was able to accumulate.We only have three in the back, which gets a little scary sometimes, Brian said. But we have some of the best defenders in the world, so its a pretty great formation for us. It gives us a lot of numbers centrally to be able to combine and play a good brand of soccer, which I think we enjoyed tonight.The first test to replicate the energy comes Sunday against the same Swiss team in Minnesota.The coaching staff and the veteran players have been super proactive about getting us up to speed and including us in this team, which is really special, Sullivan said. To be able to bring in a bunch of new players and still put on a performance like we did tonight, I think that says a lot about the leadership of this team.What does it mean? Who knows. It was one game in October, a long time from any game that matters. But if any conclusion can be drawn, it is that this will be interesting. 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Those who were looking forward to Tom Brady speaking at next weeks Republican National Convention in Cleveland will have to settle for Tim Tebow.Or will they?Tebow, the Heisman Trophy winner from Florida who is currently an ESPN analyst, is one of a number of sports figures on the list of speakers approved by presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump. The list was obtained by The Associated Press and other media outlets.However, Tebow took to Facebook on Thursday to say reports of his involvement at the convention are just a rumor.I wake up this morning to find out that Im speaking at the Republican National Convention, Tebow said in a video posted on Facebook. Its amazing how fast rumors fly. And thats exactly what it is, a rumor.The program will feature pro golfer Natalie Gulbis and UFC president Dana White.Brady has called himself a friend of Trrump and was teased as a possible speaker, but he is not scheduled to appear.dddddddddddd. Neither is former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight or legendary boxing promoter Don King, a Cleveland resident and passionate Trump supporter.Trumps children and wife, along with a host of politicians such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, will speak, and daughter Ivanka Trump promised the GOP convention will be different.It will be substantive. It will be interesting. It will be different. Its not going to be a ho-hum lineup of, you know, the typical politicians, she said in a recent radio interview.Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. ' ' '