MOSCOW (AP) — The Latest on Saturday at the World Cup (all times local):
4:12 p.m.
The former captain of an Uruguayan team that reached the World Cup semifinals in 2010 is back and enjoying the tournament as just another fan in Russia.
Diego Lugano says ahead of La Celeste’s knockout game Saturday against Portugal that Uruguay is already a star of the tournament. The team hasn’t given up a goal and won all three of its group matches.
The former central defender was relaxing, playing pickup soccer and taking selfies on a beach in Samara.
And he isn’t dampening fans’ expectations: Lugano said this Uruguay team is strong enough to win it all.
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4 p.m.
Spain says some members of the World Cup squad have been screened for doping at the team’s hotel in Moscow.
The tests have been conducted a day before the team’s round-of-16 match against host Russia in the capital.
The Spanish soccer federation says players were asked to provide urine and blood samples to FIFA officials. It did not say which players were tested.
FIFA routinely screens players after matches but also conducts out-of-competition tests at team hotels and training camps.
Costa Rica complained with FIFA four years ago in Brazil when several of its players were called up for doping tests after a match, saying it unfairly raised suspicion about Costa Rican players.
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3:50 p.m.
Fox will wind up calling 31 of the 64 World Cup games from stadiums and the rest from its Los Angeles studios.
The network announced its schedule for the round of 16, which has the lead team of John Strong and Stuart Holden broadcasting Uruguay-Poland, Brazil-Mexico and Sweden-Switzerland on site.
JP Dellacamera and Tony Meola will be at France-Argentina and Belgium-Spain.
Three matches will be called from Los Angeles. Derek Rae and Aly Wagner have Spain-Russia and Colombia-England, and Mark Followill and Warren Barton will broadcast Croatia-Denmark
All games from the quarterfinals on will be called from on site.
The Strong-Holden and Dellacamera-Meola teams called nine games each during the group stage. Rae-Wagner had 10, Followill-Barton nine, Glenn Davis-Cobi Jones seven and Jorge Perez-Navarro and Mariano Trujillo four.
Telemundo Deportes, part of Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal Inc., will call at least 36 matches from stadiums. It had commentators on site for 23 group-stage matches and called the remainder from the International Broadcast Center outside Moscow. It planned to have broadcasters at five round-of-16 games and the remainder from the IBC. Crews will be at stadiums from the quarterfinals on.
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3:30 p.m.
Russia winger Denis Cheryshev says he feels calm as he prepares to play for the country of his birth against the country where he grew up.
Cheryshev was born in Russia but spent almost all his life in Spain after his father Dmitry, also a professional footballer, played and coached at a succession of Spanish clubs.
Speaking Russian with a slight Spanish accent, Cheryshev says “we are very relaxed and ready to do a good job.”
He sees Russia as the clear underdog for Sunday’s game in Moscow, adding that Spain is “close to being the best, but any team can hurt another.”
Russia and Spain played out a 3-3 draw in a friendly in November but coach Stanislav Cherchesov says Spain’s tactics have changed since then, particularly since Spain fired coach Julen Lopetegui on the eve of the World Cup and appointed Fernando Hierro.
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3 p.m.
Switzerland forward Breel Embolo is back in Russia after returning home to attend the birth of his first child.
The Swiss football federation says Embolo spent “the most beautiful 24 hours of his life” getting home in time to see his daughter, Naylia, born.
Embolo says “the timing was perfect” to be with his partner Naomi.
The 21-year-old forward played the full 90 minutes Wednesday evening in Nizhny Novgorod, where Switzerland drew 2-2 with Costa Rica.
Switzerland next plays Tuesday, against Sweden in the round of 16.
England midfielder Fabian Delph has also returned home between the group stage and first knockout round to attend a birth. England plays Colombia in Moscow on Monday.
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1:35 p.m.
Mexican players are insisting they’re relaxed ahead of their clash with Brazil in the round of 16 in the World Cup — now they seem to be proving it.
Ahead of Monday’s win-or-go-home game against the Brazilians in Samara, several members of Mexico’s team and even coach Juan Carlos Osorio took some time off to go sightseeing at Red Square.
Captain Andres Guardado along with his wife and son Maximo, defenders Jesus Gallardo and Edson Alvarez, midfielder Javier Aquino, striker Raul Jimenez and Osorio spent several hours Friday in downtown Moscow.
It’s Mexico’s seventh straight chance to qualify for the quarterfinals for the first time since hosting the World Cup in 1970 and 1986.
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12:51 p.m.
John Stones is back in training with England, two days after coming off at halftime of the 1-0 loss to Belgium at the World Cup because of a calf problem.
The center back was among the 21 players practicing in light rain Saturday at England’s training base just outside St. Petersburg.
Stones was pictured on the England bench with heavy strapping and ice around his left calf during the second half of the game against Belgium on Thursday.
The only absentees from training were Fabian Delph, who was back in England to be with his wife ahead of the birth of their third child, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who had a conditioning session back at the team hotel.
England plays Colombia in the last 16 on Tuesday.
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