The wildest World Cup game so far, plus more on Balogun's return

The Pulse Newsletter | This is The Athletics daily sports newsletter.

Good morning! Park the bus today.

Inside: - Englands unthinkable win - Balogun returns - Osaka shocker Winners: Were doing power rankings Any weekend with World Cup knockout games ensures a compelling experience.

But even outside of those which were scintillating, to be clear yesterday was a banner day for winners across the sports spectrum.

Lets simply rank them: 1.

England, sheesh This was slotted at No.

2 until the match unfolded.

Excuse the possible hyperbole, but it was one of the best World Cup matches Ive ever seen.

England held on, 3-2, despite: - Playing Mexico at the Azteca, where El Tri is basically unbeatable - Having 10 players for half of the game after a red card in the 54th minute - Parking the bus just sitting back on defense for nearly the final 30 minutes of the game The tension was unreal, even through the TV screen.

Mexico had chance after chance, each swatted away, either by one of Englands superb backline defenders or keeper Jordan Pickford, who was incredible last night.

Advertisement Jude Bellingham scored two goals in what felt like eight seconds.

Harry Kane buried a penalty.

And that was enough to send England to the quarterfinals, where Norway and Erling Haaland who well come back to shortly await.

1a.

Folarin Balogun, easily In what might be the wildest story in the history of the U.S.

mens national team, the star striker Balogun, who received a straight red card against Bosnia and Herzegovina and thus a one-game suspension, will now be available for the Americans game tonight versus Belgium.

It is a stunner among stunners as far as updates go.

Two major facets here for me, with a caveat at the end: - Most rational fans will agree the red card was not justified.

Weve covered this at length since Thursday.

While Balogun did step on Tarik Muharemovics ankle, it was clear there was no negative intent present on the play.

Balogun handled it better than I would have.

- The reversal is also quite shady, and rankled non-U.S.

supporters, notably Belgium.

The red card itself was not rescinded; Baloguns one-game ban was suspended for a year.

The decision came via a FIFA disciplinary committee, which has broad powers to, essentially, do whatever it wants.

The news was so shocking that some American players thought it was AI.

But anyone who has observed FIFA for an extended period of time knows this isnt that unusual.

Dont forget FIFA pulled a similar move so Cristiano Ronaldo could play in this World Cup.

- The Athletics Adam Crafton and Dan Sheldon initially reported the news, and late last night followed with the inside story of how intervention efforts from President Donald Trump, commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and others helped address the Balogun suspension and spark a massive controversy.

Make time for this today.

And it all comes for the biggest game in USMNT history.

Before we see Balogun in action tonight, I wanted to get your thoughts on this, because my phone has been blowing up.

Was this reversal: - The right call - A bad look - Both Head over to the newsletter in your inbox to cast a vote, or leave a comment below.

Naomi Osaka, take a bow The re-ascension of Osaka since returning from pregnancy in 2024 has been remarkable.

There have been flashes of brilliance, along with some striking fashion choices, but nothing like what she has put on display this week at Wimbledon.

Osaka, the No.

14 seed, took out top-seeded Aryna Sabalenka in straight sets (6-2, 7-6) yesterday, behind a terror-inducing serve.

The funny part? Osaka, 28, has never been elite on grass until now.

The numbers in our story are mind-boggling.

- In other Wimbledon news: Coco Gauff is into the quarterfinals here for the first time after beating Belinda Bencic in three sets.

Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina also produced what was the best point of the tournament thus far.

See the whole days recap here.

Lets take a quick news break before finishing out: News to Know The boys are fighting In what has been a strange week of Commanders-related social media, employed Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels and hopeful Washington player Brandon Aiyuk squabbled via Instagram over the weekend, with Aiyuk dissing Daniels in multiple posts.

The pair were teammates at Arizona State and apparently friends before all this, and its clear from Daniels reaction and the general tenor of Aiyuks posts that the disgruntled wideout probably wont be a Commander anytime soon.

Catch up on the bizarre saga here.

Advertisement Robinson finally talks hand injury Former Knicks center Mitchell Robinson revealed yesterday that he fractured his hand just before the NBA Finals in a moment of frustration about a personal matter while banging it on his truck.

Mitchell had surgery on his pinkie days before Game 1 of the finals, and had the Knicks lost that series, the injury wouldve loomed large in any lingering fan resentment.

Instead, its a funny footnote.

Read his full account here.

More news: - Wildfires forced Tour de France organizers to make emergency changes to todays stage three of the race.

Yikes.

- Charles Leclerc emerged victorious in a chaotic British Grand Prix yesterday.

Read our recap.

- Cristiano Ronaldo, 41, confirmed this will be his last World Cup appearance.

He also thanked his haters.

- Chris Gotterup won the John Deere Classic yesterday, his third PGA Tour win of the season.

But the story was more about how poor Ben Kohles gave it away on No.

18.

- Canadian swimmer Summer McIntosh, 19, broke the longest-standing record in womens swimming yesterday.