⚽️ Y! Sports AM: Belgium 4, USA 1
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⚽️ END OF THE ROAD FOR THE USMNT
(Jamie Squire/Getty Images)Despite showering in the glory of topping the group and winning a knockout game in front of an adoring and electric home crowd, the U.S. journey ends in the same place as it did in its last three attempts: the Round of 16.
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Red, white, and bruised: A calamitous American defensive performance, married with a mostly toothless attack, granted Belgium a 4-1 win on Monday in Seattle, sending the Red Devils into the quarterfinals and relegating the red-card drama of the previous 36 hours to a historical footnote.
- There was exactly one highlight for the Stars and Stripes, as Malik Tillman's 31st-minute free kick tied the game at one goal apiece and made him the first player in over 40 years to score on two direct free kicks in a single World Cup. But the joy was (extremely) short lived.
- Belgium regained the lead two minutes later on a goal that, like their first one, exposed more about the Americans' deficiencies than Belgium's talent. The third goal, on a disastrous sequence by goalkeeper Matt Freese, effectively ended the game before the fourth put it on ice.
What they're saying: "We were not the same team that during the tournament showed quality — a very bad day," said coach Mauricio Pochettino. "It was unlike any other performances we've had this summer, to be honest," added left back Antonee Robinson. "It's hard to say where it went wrong."
Complicated legacy: At its best, this American contingent reached heights of quality rarely seen in U.S. Soccer history. And yet, the ultimate result was unchanged, underscoring the size of the gap that they've only partially closed to date.
- This USMNT rallied a nation behind their footballing cause with bravery; but, in their unceremonious exit, failed to show the same swashbuckling confidence that previously suggested times had changed.
- Unlike the gallant underdog effort of a 2014 USMNT woefully deficient in talent against a superior Belgium side, this was a game that, based on form, appeared tantalizingly winnable. That the U.S. never came close to doing so leaves a bitter aftertaste from an otherwise sweet experience.
- The result also exposed a simple truth, succinctly stated by Yahoo Sports' Steven Goff: "The U.S. is a good team, but it's not a really good team."
Take me home: The next time the U.S. is eligible to host the World Cup is in 2038, 12 long years away. Perhaps a new generation will rise, inspired by this one, to lift the trophy on American soil. Like many before them, though, the legacy of this USMNT awaits definition by those who will follow in a trail they helped to blaze.
(Yahoo Sports)More from Monday: Spain have yet to concede a goal in this year's tournament, as a stoppage time winner from Mikel Merino clinched a 1-0 victory over Portugal and a place in the quarterfinals for La Roja. They'll join France, Morocco, Belgium, Norway, and England, with the two remaining spots to be decided in today's Round-of-16 action.
Siuuu you later: Portugal's defeat ended 41-year-old Cristiano Ronaldo's accomplished but ultimately unfulfilled World Cup career. Though Ronaldo never captured the elusive title that finally found his chief rival in 2022, he recorded his share of history, appearing in six World Cups and scoring in all of them. Happy trails, CR7…
🎾 AND THEN THERE WERE EIGHT
(Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)The quarterfinals are (nearly) set at the All England Club, where nine men and eight women remain in contention for the Wimbledon Championships.
- Men: No. 1 Jannik Sinner vs. Jan-Lennard Struff; No. 3 Félix Auger-Aliassime vs. No. 7 Novak Djokovic; No. 9 Flavio Cobolli vs. Arthur Fery*; No. 6 Taylor Fritz vs. No. 2 Alexander Zverev or No. 13 Jiri Lehecka (Zverev was up two sets when play was suspended on Monday due to darkness).
- Women: No. 4 Jess Pegula vs. No. 7 Coco Gauff; No. 10 Karolína Muchová vs. No. 14 Naomi Osaka; No. 12 Marta Kostyuk vs. No. 13 Jasmine Paolini; No. 9 Linda Nosková vs. No. 25 Elise Mertens.
Goliaths bare their teeth: As you can see above, just two unseeded players are still alive, both on the men's side (Struff and Fery). Indeed, this is the first time since 2007 that all eight women's quarterfinalists are seeded. Having said that, one of those women did pull off a pretty major upset…
Naomi Osaka reacts after clinching her biggest victory in years. (Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)Here comes Osaka: Osaka stunned top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets on Sunday to reach her first-ever Wimbledon quarterfinal, earning her first win over a world No. 1 since 2019. It was probably her biggest victory since coming back from maternity leave at the start of the 2024 season, and it came with an added measure of revenge, too.
- Sabalenka had eliminated Osaka in the Round of 16 three times this year, including last month at Roland Garros, before she finally flipped the script on Sunday with her own Round of 16 victory over the Belarusian.
- And today the four-time major champion will get a chance for a little more revenge, facing the 10th-seeded Muchová less than two weeks after the Czech defeated her via walkover in the final at Bad Homburg.
The other side: Sabalenka's loss snapped not only her streak of reaching 14 straight major quarterfinals, but also her arguably even more impressive streak of winning at least one set in 121 consecutive Grand Slam matches. That is by far the best mark by any player this century, man or woman (Roger Federer is second, at 99).
Speaking of Federer… The Swiss legend's record for the most matches won by a man at Wimbledon (105) was broken on Sunday by Djokovic (106). If the Serb can win three more, he'll equal Federer's record of eight Wimbledon titles and, of course, break a tie with Margaret Court for the most Grand Slams ever won (25).
*Hometown hero: Fery, a 23-year-old Wimbledon local, is the first British wildcard (man or woman) to reach the quarterfinal of any major in the Open Era. The world No. 114 has already guaranteed himself a payout ($480K) worth more than half of his career earnings to date ($868K).
⚾️ MLB ALL-STAR ROSTERS REVEALED
(Joseph Raines/Yahoo Sports)The rosters for the 96th MLB All-Star Game were revealed on Saturday ahead of the Midsummer Classic, which will take place at Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park a week from today.
- AL starters: C Shea Langeliers (ATH), 1B Vladimir Guerrero Jr.* (TOR), 2B Ernie Clement (TOR), 3B Junior Caminero (TB), SS Bobby Witt Jr. (KC), OF Mike Trout (LAA), OF Aaron Judge (NYY), OF Byron Buxton (MIN), DH Yordan Alvarez (HOU)
- NL starters: C Drake Baldwin (ATL), 1B Freddie Freeman (LAD), 2B Ozzie Albies (ATL), 3B Max Muncy (LAD), SS CJ Abrams (WSH), OF Brandon Marsh (PHI), OF Juan Soto (NYM), OF Andy Pages (LAD), DH Shohei Ohtani (LAD)
Notes: The reserves and pitchers were also announced on Saturday, yielding a crop of 65 All-Stars who got the nod for next week's game.
- Team-by-team breakdown: The Dodgers, Braves and Phillies led the way with five All-Stars each, followed by the Yankees (4), Rays (4), Blue Jays (4), Guardians (3) and Tigers (3). Ten other teams had two All-Stars, and 12 had just one apiece.
- Most appearances: Trout leads all players with 12 All-Star nods, followed by Freeman (10), Chris Sale (10), Aroldis Chapman (9), Bryce Harper (9) and Judge (8).
- Fewest appearances: There are 26 first-timers, including five starters (Langeliers, Clement, Baldwin, Marsh, Pages) and four rookies (Detroit INF Kevin McGonigle, Cincinnati INF Sal Stewart and Cleveland's LHP Parker Messick and 2B Travis Bazzana).
- Bryce's "Legendary"status: Harper's selection came via commissioner Rob Manfred's "Legend Pick." The host team's most famous player didn't otherwise earn the spot, but was certainly deserving, as he's top 10 in the NL in HR (20), RBI (57), BB (57) and OPS (.895).
*Vladdy sits out: Vlad Jr., voted as a starter despite being mired in a career-worst season (4 HR, .693 OPS), has opted to skip the game to recuperate from a lower back issue. A's 1B Nick Kurtz, crushing the ball to the tune of 20 HR and a .928 OPS, will replace him as a starter.
(Hassan Ahmad/Yahoo Sports)Further reading: Contreras, Turang and Wheeler headline All-Snub Team(Jordan Shusterman, Yahoo Sports)
💯 BIG NUMBERS
Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring his first of two goals in Sunday’s victory over Brazil. (Al Bello/Getty Images)⚽️ 7 goals
Argentina's Lionel Messi, France's Kylian Mbappé and Norway's Erling Haaland are tied for the lead with seven goals apiece at the 2026 World Cup, marking the first time in the tournament's history that three different players have scored at least seven goals. And all three have at least one game left to add to their tallies!
Embarrassment of riches: What a treat this World Cup has been, giving us a Golden Boot race led by arguably the three best players in the world, all of whom have led their teams deep into the tournament. And it's not just the trio above: English superstar Harry Kane is right behind them with six goals, and France's Ousmane Dembélé, the reigning Ballon d'Or winner, has four.
⛳️ 5 wins
Just three golfers have won at least five times on the PGA Tour since the start of 2024: Scottie Scheffler (14 wins), Rory McIlroy (6) and Chris Gotterup, whose fifth victory came on Sunday at the John Deere Classic, where he overcame a five-stroke deficit with a scorching 9-under 62 to finish one stroke ahead (-20) of Max Homa (-19).
Rapid rise: The 26-year-old Maryland native turned pro in 2022 and earned his first win in 2024, but he was still ranked just 191st at the end of that year. In the past 12 months he's leveled up in a huge way with 10 top-five finishes and four wins — including three this year — to climb to No. 7 in the world. Next up, he'll look to defend his Scottish Open title this weekend.
Chapman salutes the dugout after breaking the record. (William Liang/AP Photo)⚾️ 1,364 strikeouts
Aroldis Chapman fanned his 1,364th career batter on Friday, breaking a tie with Hoyt Wilhelm for the most strikeouts by a reliever in MLB history. Boston's 38-year-old closer has continued the career resurgence that saw him finish seventh for the Cy Young last season, as he's currently sporting a 2.36 ERA with 18 saves (in 20 chances) for the Sox.
Speaking of dominant southpaws: Atlanta's Chris Sale made some history of his own over the weekend, becoming the 10th pitcher to strike out at least 500 batters with three different teams (White Sox, Red Sox). The other nine: Nolan Ryan, Roger Clemens, Bert Blyleven, Gaylord Perry, Curt Schilling, Dennis Eckersley, Zack Greinke, A.J. Burnett and Gerrit Cole.
🏊♀️ 2:01.65
Summer McIntosh broke the longest-standing individual world record in women's swimming on Sunday at the Canadian trials, posting a time of 2:01.65 in the 200m butterfly to eclipse the previous record of 2:01.81 set by China's Liu Zige back in 2009. The 19-year-old superstar, a four-time medalist at the 2024 Olympics, now holds four long-course world records.
End of an era: This was the last women's record standing from swimming's short-lived "super-suit" era in the late-2000s, when high-tech polyurethane swimsuits yielded a surge of record-breaking performances before being banned in 2009. Consider this: 98% of all swimming medals won at the 2008 Beijing Olympics — and 23 of the 25 world records broken there — were by athletes wearing those super suits.
📺 WATCHLIST: TUESDAY, JULY 7
Messi has scored in a World Cup record eight consecutive games. Will he make it nine today against Egypt? (Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images)⚽️ World Cup, Round of 16
The quarterfinals will be set this evening after Argentina takes on Egypt in Atlanta (12pm ET, Fox) and Switzerland faces Colombia in Vancouver (4pm, Fox).
Fresh blood: Argentina — the defending and three-time champion — is the only team playing today that has made regular trips to the World Cup quarterfinals. Egypt has never reached the last eight, Colombia has reached once (2014) and Switzerland hasn't been there since 1954.
🎾 Wimbledon, Quarterfinals
The quarterfinals begin today at the All England Club, where No. 1 Jannik Sinner and Jan-Lennard Struff get things started on Court 1 (8am, ESPN2) and No. 4 Jess Pegula takes on No. 7 Coco Gauff in an all-American clash on Center Court (8:30am, ESPN).
Up next: No. 10 Karolína Muchová and No. 14 Naomi Osaka play on Court 1 following the Sinner-Struff match, and No. 3 Félix Auger-Aliassime faces No. 7 Novak Djokovic on Center Court following the Pegula-Gauff match.
More to watch:
- ⚾️ MLB: Yankees at Rays (6:40pm, TBS) … Tampa (52-36) has taken a 3-game lead over New York (50-40) atop the AL East as the Yankees have lost nine of their last 11.
- 🏀 WNBA: Wings at Liberty (8pm, ESPN) … Fourth-place Dallas and fifth-place New York have the same 13-8 record.
- 🚴 Tour de France: Stage 4 (7:10am, NBCSN/Peacock) … The first stage to both start and end in France will go 113 miles from Carcassone to Foix on the southern tip of the country.
Got plans tonight? Gametime is the best place to score last-minute tickets to the events in your city. Get tickets now!
⚾ MLB TRIVIA
Trout rounds the bases after hitting a home run last month. (Melina Pizano/Getty Images)Mike Trout is just the third player in American League history to be elected as an All-Star starter by the fans at least 11 times.
Question: Can you name the other two?
Hint: Orioles, Royals
Answer at the bottom.
🌭 CHESTNUT KEEPS THE CROWN
(Anna Connors/AP Photo)Joey Chestnut won his record-extending 18th Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest on July 4 in Brooklyn's Coney Island, consuming 66 dogs to retain the Mustard Belt by a healthy margin — perhaps the only healthy thing about the event.
Full belly, full wallet: Chestnut earned $10,000 for the victory, or $151 per dog. That only slightly outpaced his career DPD (dollars per dog) of $149, earned after pocketing $180,000 and consuming 1,206.5 hot dogs across his 18 victories.
Trivia answer: Cal Ripken Jr. (17 fan-vote elections) and George Brett (11)
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