The USMNT avoided disaster Wednesday night, rebounding from an abysmal first half with a remarkable one to beat Honduras, 4-1, and turn its World Cup Qualifying fortunes around.

• First half: Honduras led 1-0 after 45 minutes, with the Americans failing to register a shot on goal while looking out of sync in a new 3-4-3 formation. Everyone on Twitter was freaking out, me included.
• Second half: Coach Gregg Berhalter made adjustments at halftime, shifting to a more customary 4-3-3 and bringing on Antonee Robinson, Brendan Aaronson and Sebastian Lletget — all three of whom scored.

Man of the match: 18-year-old Ricardo Pepi, a dual-national who committed to the program mere weeks ago, helped set up three goals and scored the winner in his USMNT debut.

• The El Paso-born striker chose to play for the U.S. over Mexico because "this country [gave] me and my family a home, and endless possibilities to achieve my dreams," he wrote on Aug. 26.
• "It has supported me, it has lifted me up and it has shown me when you work hard you will be rewarded."

Of note: This is just the second time in 41 qualifying matches that the USMNT has won after trailing at intermission.

The big picture: All eight CONCACAF teams have now played three matches (of 14). The top three finishers qualify for the World Cup, while the fourth will enter an intercontinental playoff.

• 🇲🇽 Mexico: 2-1-0 (7 pts)
• 🇨🇦 Canada: 1-2-0 (5 pts)
• 🇺🇸 USA: 1-2-0 (5 pts)
• 🇵🇦 Panama: 1-2-0 (5 pts)
• 🇨🇷 Costa Rica: 0-2-1 (2 pts)
• 🇭🇳 Honduras: 0-2-1 (2 pts)
• 🇸🇻 El Salvador: 0-2-1 (2 pts)
• 🇯🇲 Jamaica: 0-1-2 (1 pt)

What's next: The U.S. will host Jamaica (Oct. 7) and Costa Rica (Oct. 13) and travel to Panama (Oct. 10) next month. Most notably, Mexico comes to town on Nov. 12.

🎥 Watch: Highlights (Twitter)

Men's: Novak Djokovic won his career-best 11th straight quarterfinal match on Wednesday and is now two wins away from the Calendar Slam. We're witnessing history, folks. Don't miss it.

• Tomorrow, TBD: No. 12 Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. No. 2 Daniil Medvedev
• Tomorrow, TBD: No. 1 Djokovic vs. No. 4 Alexander Zverev (a rematch of the Olympic semifinals, which Zverev won)

Women's: Emma Raducanu, 18, continued her magical run, becoming the first qualifier ever (male or female) to reach the U.S. Open semifinals. She has yet to drop a set in New York.

• Today, 7pm ET: Leylah Fernandez vs. No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka
• Today, 8:15pm: Raducanu vs. No. 17 Maria Sakkari

The Cowboys top Sportico's annual NFL valuations list at $6.92 billion, making them North America's most valuable sports franchise, just ahead of the Yankees at $6.75 billion (subscription).

The big picture: The average NFL team is worth $3.5 billion, up 13% from last year. Thanks to lucrative new TV deals, not a single team lost value from 2020 despite attendance dropping 93% amid COVID restrictions.

• Biggest risers: Broncos and Seahawks (up three spots from 2020)
• Biggest fallers: Jaguars (down four), Dolphins (down three), Packers (down three)

What to watch: The Broncos are widely expected to hit the market after this season. The franchise was put in a trust in 2014 by late owner Pat Bowlen, and his seven children can't settle on a successor.

⚾️ Comeback kids: The Giants rallied Wednesday for their MLB-best eighth win in which they trailed in the 9th inning or later. They're now an MLB-best 90-50, the fastest they've reached 90 wins in 100 years.

🏈 College football ratings: Five games averaged 5+ million viewers last week, the most for a Week 1 since 2016, per Sports Media Watch. Georgia-Clemson (8.8M on ABC) drew the most viewers, as expected.

🥎 WCWS expands: The Women's College World Series will expand to a nine-day event in 2022, adding two days and eliminating the need for doubleheaders for teams that lose on the first day.

🏁 Schumacher update: F1 legend Michael Schumacher's wife, Corinna, has offered a rare update after his 2013 brain injury. "Michael is here. Different, but he's here," she says in an upcoming Netflix doc.

The U.S. Ryder Cup team is complete, with captain Steve Stricker finalizing his squad two weeks ahead of the biennial event at Whistling Straits (Haven, Wisconsin).

Automatic spots: Six players qualified based on a cumulative points system linked to recent performances.

• Patrick Cantlay (Long Beach, California)
• Bryson DeChambeau (Clovis, California)
• Dustin Johnson (Columbia, South Carolina)
• Brooks Koepka (West Palm Beach, Florida)
• Collin Morikawa (Los Angeles)
• Justin Thomas (Louisville)

Captain's picks: Stricker announced his six picks on Wednesday, notably leaving out Patrick Reed and going with four Ryder Cup rookies.

• Daniel Berger (Jupiter, Florida)
• Harris English (Valdosta, Georgia)
• Tony Finau (Salt Lake City)
• Xander Schauffele (San Diego)
• Scottie Scheffler (Dallas)
• Jordan Spieth (Dallas)

The big picture: The Ryder Cup dates back to 1927, and the U.S. leads the all-time series, 26-14. But Europe has won 10 of the past 16 editions (including 2018 in France), often by lopsided scores.

What's next: European captain Padraig Harrington will complete his roster after this weekend's BMW PGA Championship in England.

Getty Images photographers picked their favorite photos from the Paralympics' final week and provided commentary on how they got the shot.

Caption: Team USA's Ezra Frech competes in the men's high jump.

"I love how Frech appears to be looking straight down my lens. It's a peak action moment, but also conveys a level of quietness and stillness. This was my first time covering high jump, and it was a lot more difficult than I expected, so I was very pleased to get this frame!"

Caption: Team Australia's Na Li Lei serves during a women's table tennis singles match.

"Taking advantage of the dark environment, I thought of the multiple exposure feature. Like athletes taking chances during play, risking different camera features, compositions and shutter speeds is fundamental to our profession and can pay off creatively."

Caption: Team Hungary's Eva Andrea Hajmasi reacts following her win in the women's team foil bronze medal match.

"To get reaction shots, you have to make a choice on where you think the athlete may look in the heat of the moment. Thankfully, Hajmasi reacted towards her teammates as I had hoped, but in an even bigger way. The raw emotion is evident and showcases the beauty of sport."

Caption: Team USA's Hannah Aspden competes in the women's 200m individual medley.

"Just incredible."

The NFL season is fast approaching. While we eagerly await its arrival, we're counting down the league's top 20 players.

• Player: Aaron Rodgers, QB (Packers)
• Age: 37
• College: California
• Contract: 4 years, $134M (FA in 2023)
• 2020 stats: 4,299 passing yards, 48 TD, 5 INT
• 2021 fantasy: No. 47 ADP (average draft position)
• Week 1: Packers at Saints

The big picture: After the Packers took Jordan Love in the first round of the 2020 draft, Rodgers responded by (easily) winning MVP — and then skipping the offseason program.

• By the numbers: Over the past two regular seasons, Rodgers leads all QBs in games won as a starter (26) and his TD-to-INT ratio (8.22) is by far the best in the NFL.
• Wild stat: Despite ranking 11th all-time in passing yards and seventh all-time in passing TD, Rodgers has thrown double-digit picks in a season just twice (13 in 2008; 11 in 2010).

What they're saying: "There's probably never been someone who can throw the ball like he does," a veteran NFL QB told ESPN (subscription). "It's effortless, a Marino release; only he can do it while rolling to his left."

ICYMI: 20. Dalvin Cook; 19. Trent Williams; 18. Bobby Wagner; 17. Tyreek Hill; 16. Jaire Alexander; 15. Stefon Diggs; 14. Myles Garrett; 13. Jalen Ramsey; 12. George Kittle; 11. Josh Allen; 10. Russell Wilson; 9. T.J. Watt; 8. Derrick Henry; 7. Quenton Nelson; 6. Davante Adams; 5. Travis Kelce; 4. Tom Brady

Four years ago today, unseeded Sloane Stephens won the U.S. Open, beating friend Madison Keys in the first all-American final since 2002.

Why it matters: Stephens is one of five Americans to win the U.S. Open this century, joining Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Andy Roddick and Pete Sampras.

• She's one of just four Black women to win a Grand Slam, following Althea Gibson and the Williams sisters.
• Stephens had started the year with a broken foot and fell so far down the rankings that she entered the U.S. Open unseeded.

The big picture: This remains the most recent U.S. Open title by an American, a streak that will continue for at least one more year.

Derek Jeter, now forever enshrined in Cooperstown, ranks second all-time in defensive games played at shortstop (2,674).

• Question: Who's the only active player in the top 50?
• Hint: He's spent his entire career in the same division.

Answer at the bottom.

Since the 2020 season didn't count towards eligibility, college football has a group of seventh-year seniors this season — some as old as 25.

What they're saying: "I played with Jared Goff, that's how old I am," said super-super senior Luc Bequette, who spent five years at Cal, transferred to Boston College last year when the Pac-12 season was briefly canceled, then transferred back to Cal.

Go deeper: Meet college football's super-super seniors (The Athletic)