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Good morning! Match that offer sheet today. Inside:

Oui, Monsieur: Mbappé, incroyable

With all due respect to the World Cup superstars we will see play in the coming days, no one is doing it like Kylian Mbappé right now. Or, for that matter, France.

Before we get to the words about it, just look at Mbappé’s goal yesterday in a 2-0 quarterfinal win over Morocco:

Masterful from Mbappé.

France leads Morocco in the second half 🔥 pic.twitter.com/FxympbUZuX

— FOX Sports (@FOXSports) July 9, 2026

An impossible shot, both to execute and defend. I named the .gif file “Mbappe wtf” because it was the only proper reaction to the kick. It was Mbappé’s eighth goal of the tournament, tying him atop the Golden Boot (the award for most goals scored in each World Cup) leaderboard:

T1. Mbappé (8)
T1. Lionel Messi (8)
3. Erling Haaland (7)
4. Harry Kane (6)
5. Ousmane Dembélé (5)

It’s a beautiful encapsulation of where we are — all the above players are still in this Cup, with Haaland and Kane facing off against each other tomorrow, and Messi following against Switzerland afterward. Dembélé, Mbappé’s French running mate, scored France’s second goal yesterday.

The French are still the terrifying favorites. Mbappé and Messi, once club teammates, are engaging in a beautiful war of goals. There’s more excellent soccer ahead.

On to news:

News to Know

Ducks match Carlsson offer
Leo Carlsson will remain in Anaheim after the Ducks announced yesterday they would match Philadelphia’s record offer sheet of five years and $90 million. Carlsson becomes the highest-paid player in the NHL at $18 million average annual value. Anaheim management said the decision was easy, as the 21-year-old Carlsson will be a centerpiece going forward. In Philadelphia, the team is still looking for answers.

Pulisic suffered microfracture
USMNT star Christian Pulisic suffered a bone bruise and microfracture in his leg during Monday’s loss to Belgium, multiple sources told The Athletic, and the injury will sideline the AC Milan forward for several weeks. He would not have been able to play any subsequent World Cup matches had the Americans advanced. More details here.

It’s an all-Czech final
Coco Gauff is done at Wimbledon after a heartbreaking three-set loss yesterday to Karolína Muchová, whom the American had beaten in six of seven previous matchups. The third-set tiebreak between the two went to 12-10, which was just scintillating tennis. Read more about that match.

Muchová will face 21-year-old Linda Nosková, who beat Marta Kotsyuk in straight sets yesterday, in tomorrow’s final. It’s a matchup built on Czech legacy at Wimbledon.

More news:

• The Kawhi Leonard trade will not go through until the NBA finishes its investigation into the Aspiration scandal. See our full report.
  
• England right back Jarell Quansah will serve a two-game suspension for his red card in the country’s win against Mexico, FIFA ruled yesterday. Brutal news.
  
• Need any more evidence that soccer interest exploded here? The Americans’ loss to Belgium drew 33 million viewers on Fox, a U.S. single-network record.
  
• USMNT legend Steve Cherundolo will coach the men’s Under-23 national team at the 2028 Summer Olympics. Read more here.
  
• Christian Eriksen, the Danish soccer player who collapsed on the pitch last month after a second cardiac incident, will soon start a rehab assignment. Full update inside.
  
• Track phenom Gout Gout will miss the Under-20 World Athletics Championship after tearing his hamstring.
  
• Jalen Brunson’s jersey from Game 1 of the NBA Finals sold for $1 million at auction. More here.
  
• Bryce Harper will participate in the Home Run Derby, happening at his home park. Read more.

📰Find more news here 24/7.

Monitoring 👀: Yeah, he already looks good

Ethan Miller / Getty Images

It’s Friday, which means we’re back on watch. Things to monitor:

Summer in Vegas. The top two picks in a possibly generational NBA Draft class faced off for the first time as pros last night, with AJ Dybantsa’s Wizards edging Darryn Peterson’s Jazz 92-88. Dybantsa scored 27, while Peterson had 24. There are plenty more games today. Zach Harper’s Summer League preview, published yesterday, is valuable.

Corey Seager, elsewhere? Texas’ 2023 World Series hero is injured for the 47-46 Rangers, who sit tied atop a mediocre AL West right now. In a perfect world, per Ken Rosenthal and Will Sammon’s latest notebook, Seager would get healthy just in time for the Rangers to make another run at the postseason. But if they falter in the next three weeks, Seager could be an interesting trade prospect … with caveats. Read the full notebook for that and more trade deadline chatter.

NFL breakout offenses. Can you smell football? The scent wafts forward as the World Cup nears its end. Ted Nguyen pinpointed five NFL offenses poised to break out next season, led by a certain crew in Los Angeles with a new offensive coordinator. See the list here.

James Franklin’s next act. It’s easy to forget the longtime Penn State head coach is now at Virginia Tech. Ralph D. Russo visited Franklin in Blacksburg, Va., this spring and came away with an interesting conclusion: Despite how badly his Nittany Lions tenure ended, Franklin still believes in his process. Fascinating.

NHL free agency, rewound. As Harman Dayal wrote, this year’s class is one of the weakest in recent memory. Here are the best nine signings. Maybe they’ll prove us wrong.

A USMNT lookahead. The Americans are still tending wounds from a disappointing exit in the home World Cup, but it never hurts to wonder about the next time around. This is the same bit we run with next season’s Top 25/Power Rankings the morning after a championship game. Anyway, Tom Bogert picked 30 players to watch for the 2030 World Cup cycle.

Thank you, once again, for monitoring. Almost to the weekend:

Watch Guide

📺 Wimbledon: Men’s semifinals
8:30 a.m. ET on ESPN
We get the men’s semis today, with Arthur Féry — the British Cinderella here — against second-seeded Alexander Zverev, followed by the marquee matchup: Jannik Sinner against Novak Djokovic. Settle in for morning fun.

📺 World Cup: Spain vs. Belgium
3 p.m. ET on Fox and Telemundo
This is prime stuff, of course. The Spaniards are a slight favorite, but Belgium is coming off its best showing yet against the U.S. earlier this week, while Spain barely escaped against Portugal. Expect tension.

📺 NBA: Summer League
4 p.m. – 11 p.m. ET on Prime Video and ESPN networks
As we mentioned above, Summer League is in full swing. If you’re avoiding soccer, this is on the entire afternoon into the evening.

📺 WNBA: Valkyries at Sun
7:30 p.m. ET on Ion
We haven’t given enough love to Golden State, the hottest team in the league right now, on a six-game winning streak. I suspect it gets to seven against last-place Connecticut.

Pulse Picks

This story, from my colleague Nick Miller, stopped me in my tracks this week: On the soccer ball that went to space, 30 years after it survived the Challenger crash. Just read it.

We are still waiting on a decision from LeBron James, and it’s increasingly evident that his agent’s podcast is playing a big role in it. Fascinating intel from Joe Vardon.

Need a workout plan? We have training tips from NHL and PWHL performance coaches, which include lavender oils, speed tests and something called “skater jacks.” Get skater-jacked here.

Brooks Peck has a very valuable list of the best World Cup kits we didn’t get to see on the pitch. I’m enamored with the yellow Curaçao get-up.

Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The World Cup rooting quiz.

Most-read on the website yesterday: The France-Morocco live blog.