Friday Sports in Brief

Updated Oct. 24, 2020 2:05 a.m. ET

Associated Press

NFL

Washington coach Ron Rivera will have his last treatment for a form of skin cancer on Monday, two months after being diagnosed.

Rivera learned in August he had squamous cell carcinoma. The 58-year-old missed some practice time but no games while undergoing treatments, and has been told his long-term prognosis is good.

“I met with both doctors this week on Tuesday and Thursday,” Rivera said. “They both are very positive about the progress I’ve made. So, so far so good. I’ve got follow-ups, check-ups and scans still left to do. What I’ve been told is it’s headed in the right direction.”

Doctors scheduled Rivera to receive IV fluids at halftime of games to keep him hydrated. While usually prepared for happenings on the field with a decade of NFL coaching experience, some things about going through cancer treatment surprised him.

“There are certain things that pop up all of a sudden, side effects that you have: the fatigue, how tired you get; at times you get nauseous; honestly at times sometimes your equilibrium is messed with, almost a sense of vertigo,” Rivera said. “Then the nausea. It hits you at any time, anywhere. (And) the fatigue and going out to practice and stuff, it limited me, and that really bothers me because I can’t really coach the way I coach.”

Washington is 1-5 going into its game Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys. Rivera hopes he can get back to coaching like normal after his treatments are over.

“It’s probably going to take three or four weeks after I get my last treatment because of the recovery period, but I really am looking forward to it,” Rivera said.

METAIRIE, La. (AP) — New Orleans Saints receiver Emmanuel Sanders has tested positive for COVID-19 and Michael Thomas remained unable to practice on Friday because of a recent hamstring injury. Neither will be able to play Sunday against Carolina.

Thomas, the 2019 AP Offensive Player of the Year after setting an NFL record with 149 catches in a season, was listed as out on the Saints’ final injury report of the week. He has not played since the season opener, when he caught three passes for 17 yards before spraining his ankle when running back Latavius Murray was tackled into the back of the star receiver’s lower legs.

He was on schedule to return from the ankle injury in Week 5, only to be benched because of an outburst at practice in which he punched defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson. His punishment was lifted during the Saints’ Week 6 bye, but now he has a new lower-body injury, the severity of which Saints coach Sean Payton did not want to discuss.

“I’m not going to get into details but it’s something he’s working through and we’ll leave it at that,” Payton said.

Sanders practiced Thursday but was not feeling well afterward and was immediately tested for COVID-19.

When Sanders’ test came back positive, Payton said a combination of players and coaches totaling about 20 people who might have been close to Sanders were tested and all were negative.

Payton said the club has already determined that there was no issue with its coronavirus protocols.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL

UNCASVILLE, Conn. (AP) — A resort casino on tribal land in Connecticut is completing plans to host more than 30 college basketball teams for several early season tournaments, including two moved from New York.

The Mohegan Sun has teamed with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, which holds its men’s Tip-Off Tournament and Women’s Challenge there every year, and the Gazelle Group, which runs the Empire Classic and the Legends Classic in New York.

The organizers plan to hold those tournaments and several other “pods” of games, which will get names in the next few weeks, at at the Mohegan Sun, which is owned by the Mohegan Tribe and includes a 10,000-seat arena that is home to the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun.

“It’s a single site, secluded location, with enormous square footage for social distancing,” said Greg Procino, vice president of basketball operations for the Hall of Fame. “There are a lot of things that will work in our favor.”

Rick Giles, the president of the Gazelle Group, expects about 35 teams from more than a dozen conferences will participate at what they are dubbing “Bubbleville” between Nov. 25 and Dec. 5, with up to seven games a day.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL

The Army-Navy football game in December has been moved from Philadelphia to West Point because of attendance limits placed on outdoor events in Pennsylvania.

By playing the game on Army’s home field in New York, the entire Brigade of Midshipmen and Corps of Cadets will be able to attend.

The game is scheduled for Dec. 12. This will be the first time the Army-Navy game will be played at a home site since Army hosted the event in 1943 during World War II.

Navy athletic director Chet Gladchuk called West Point a “safe haven” for the Brigade and the Corps of Cadets at a time when “medical conditions and protocols dictate the environment in which we live.”

“History will repeat itself as we stage this cherished tradition on Academy grounds as was the case dating back to World War II,” Gladchuk said.

It is unlikely fans will be allowed at Michie Stadium beyond the Corps of Cadets and Brigade of Midshipmen.

SOCCER

CHICAGO (AP) — The U.S. men’s soccer team will return to the field for a Nov. 12 exhibition at Wales.

The Americans have not played since a 1-0 win over Costa Rica on Feb. 1 because of the pandemic. In that match at Carson, California, the U.S. used players mostly preparing for the Major League Soccer season.

The match against Wales in Swansea was announced Friday. It will be the first on a FIFA fixture day for the U.S. since a 4-0 win over Cuba in the CONCACAF Nations League last Nov. 19.

Gio Reyna could make his U.S. debut at Wales on the day before his 18th birthday. The son of former U.S. captain Claudio Reyna has become a regular at Borussia Dortmund in the past year and had been scheduled to be on the roster for two canceled exhibitions — at the Netherlands on March 26 and at Wales four days later.

Players will be tested for COVID-19 ahead of the training camp in Cardiff and then at least every two days.

The U.S. still is attempting to schedule a second match in Europe for the November window. A contemplated game against New Zealand in London fell through when New Zealand decided not to have its players travel.

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