Ever Banega scored on a deflected shot, Federico Mancuello added a late goal and Argentina beat El Salvador, 2-0, in a friendly Saturday at FedEx Field in Landover. Argentina played a lackluster game without star Lionel Messi, who stayed on the bench with a bruised right foot. The Barcelona star was injured last Sunday in the Spanish League "Clasico" against Real Madrid, and missed several training sessions last week with the national team. Messi underwent tests Tuesday, which revealed no serious injury. Banega scored with a 54th-minute shot that deflected off defender Nestor Renderos and beat goalkeeper Derby Carrillo. Mancuello sealed the win with a free kick from a tight angle in the 88th minute. Argentina coach Gerardo Martino started Carlos Tevez for the first time since taking over the team last year, but the Juventus forward was ineffective in attack with Gonzalo Higuain and Angel Di Maria. Argentina faces Ecuador on Tuesday in the Meadowlands, in its last warmup match before Copa America in June.
Major League Soccer: Chris Pontius scored in stoppage time, lifting host D.C. United (2-1-0) to a 1-0 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy (1-1-2).
Baseball
Zimmermann to follow Scherzer in Nats rotation
Manager Matt Williams announced the rest of the Washington Nationals' season-opening rotation. Last week, he named Max Scherzer the Opening Day starter April 6 in D.C. against the New York Mets. Following Scherzer will be Jordan Zimmermann, Stephen Strasburg, Gio Gonzalez and Doug Fister. "There's no deep secret reason behind any of it," Williams said. "Gio gets a chance, whether he's [No. ] 4 or [No.] 5, to go against the Phillies, that throw a lot of left-handed hitters so he slots there really well. There's no reason other than that to do it."
—James Wagner, The Washington Post
Transaction: The Los Angeles Angels released former Orioles right-handed reliever Matt Lindstrom. Lindstrom, who was in camp this spring on a minor league contract, had a 11.12 ERA over 52/3 innings during Cactus League play.
NFL
Heisman Trophy winner Mariota to visit Redskins
The Washington Redskins plan to host Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota for a predraft visit, a person with knowledge of the situation confirmed. Despite reiterating this week that Robert Griffin III will enter the offseason program as the starter later this spring, coach Jay Gruden and general manager Scot McCloughan will continue to evaluate Mariota, who won the Heisman Trophy last season, along with the other top draft prospects. Washington holds the fifth overall pick in the draft.
—Mike Jones, The Washington Post
Horse racing
California Chrome second in $10M Dubai World Cup
Prince Bishop pulled away from 2014 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner California Chrome to win the $10 million Dubai World Cup, the world's richest horse race, by 23/4 lengths in the United Arab Emirates. California Chrome has not won on dirt since the Preakness. The third-place finisher, Lea, was saddled by William Mott, the U.S trainer who led Maryland-bred Cigar to victory at the inaugural Dubai World Cup in 1996.
Locally: The final day of Laurel Park's spring meet today will feature a mandatory payout of its $102,749.90 Jackpot Pick 5 carryover. No one picked five winners Saturday. Picking four of five winners returned $270.52. Today's Jackpot Pick 5 sequence will include a maiden special weight, an optional claimer and three claiming races. First race post today is 12:30 p.m.