Yesterday In Sports 06 27

Hey, I'm Chris Horvidell, and this is Yesterday in Sports. The show that gets you caught up on the biggest things that happened yesterday, why they mattered, and what you need to know before pretending you watched every second of it. Here we go. Welcome to Yesterday in Sports. I'm Chris Horvidell, and we've got a big show for you today, leading off with France making a World Cup statement, Cape Verde making history, and the NHL Draft kicking off. Today's episode is brought to you in part by our friends at NordVPN, but more on that later. We'll start with the World Cup, where France reminded everybody that their attack is not just Kylian Mbappe. France beat Norway 4-1 in Foxborough, and Ousmane Dembele stole the show with a first half hat-trick. That's the headline, but the context is what makes it interesting. Norway rested Erling Haaland and Martine Odegaard because both teams had already advanced. France still treated the game like a statement. Dembele scored three times in the first 25 minutes, giving him his first World Cup goals after 11 scoreless appearances across previous tournaments. Reuters reported he became just the third French player to score a World Cup hat-trick joining just Fontaine and Mbappe. That's significant because France can win in a lot of different ways. If Mbappe is the central threat, but Dembele is still this sharp, and Desiree Due is adding a late goal off the bench, then France's ceiling looks even higher. France finished Group I with 9 points from 9 and now gets Sweden in the round of 32. Norway still advances, but get the Ivory Coast next, and that's suddenly a much more serious threat. The bigger World Cup story, though, might be Cape Verde. Cape Verde drew Saudi Arabia 0-0 in Australia and became the smallest country ever to reach the World Cup knockout round. Population-wise, football-wise, historically-wise, that is a stunning achievement for the nation. It wasn't a flashy, possession-heavy performance, it was survival, organization, and belief. Their 40-year-old goalkeeper Vazinha was central to it, and this is the kind of story that makes the expanded World Cup feel different. You can argue about tournament expansion, you can argue about the format, but when a country like Cape Verde gets through the group stage on the biggest stage in the sport, that's real. And personally, I say bring another 12 in. This has been so much fun, let's go to 60. Each group gets 5 teams next time, why the heck not? Spain also did what Spain does. They beat Uruguay 1-0 in Guadalajara and topped Group H. It wasn't a festival, but tournament soccer doesn't always need to be. Spain controlled enough of the game, got the result, and moves forward with the kind of structure that travels well in knockout play. So, the World Cup picture is starting to sharpen. France looks dangerous, Spain looks stable, Cape Verde already has made history, and the round of 32 is going to have a few matchups that feel much tougher than the seeding may indicate. Now to hockey, where the NHL opened their draft in Buffalo, and Toronto made the first pick. The Maple Leafs selected Gavin McKenna number one overall, and it's a fascinating fit for the franchise always under the microscope. McKenna's been one of the most talked about prospects in the sport for years. The skill is obvious, the pace is obvious, the pressure is also obvious, because going first overall to Toronto is different than going first overall to almost any other team. Toronto fans do not. Toronto fans aren't typically about the future. The Leafs are measured by postseason failure more than regular season competence. So McKenna becomes more than just a top prospect, he becomes a symbol of the next version of the franchise. San Jose picked second, Vancouver picked third, and the first round included plenty of movement, including Boston acquiring JJ Paterka from Utah for two first round picks. Paterka's 24 had 25 goals and 22 assists last year and gives Boston another legitimate scoring option. For the Bruins, it's a win-now move. For Utah, it's a bet on draft capital and timeline flexibility. Anaheim also made a major move sending Mason McTavish to St. Louis for two first round picks. McTavish is still only 23, already has 181 career points, and gives the Blues a young center with pedigree and production. That's why draft night is not just all about teenagers. It's also a night where teams kind of reveal what they think they are. McKenna was betting on a franchise-level prospect, Boston is buying offense, St. Louis is buying a young NHL center, Anaheim and Utah are stacking assets. To baseball, where the Chicago White Sox had one of those nights where the box score just looks like a misprint. The White Sox beat the Royals 22-1, they had 23 hits, they scored 10 runs in the third inning alone. Miguel Vargas and Jacob Gonzalez each hit 3-run home runs in that inning, Tristan Peters hit a grand slam and finished with 6 RBIs, Kyle Teal and Andrew Benatendi also homered. This was not just a blowout, it was the kind of game that tells you a team's offense is seeing everything. Carter Jensen extended his hitting streak to 17 games for Kansas City, but otherwise this was all Chicago. And for the White Sox, who have had plenty of rough seasons recently, a night like this matters. It doesn't make you a contender by itself, but it changes the energy around a team. You get 23 hits, you win by 21, and suddenly people start paying attention. Let's move to basketball for a minute because the WNBA had a record-setting shooting night. Camila Cardoso went 13-for-13 from the field and scored a career-high 30 points as the Chicago Sky beat the Portland Fire 124-94. That 13-for-13 night set a WNBA record for perfect shooting volume, and it came from a player whose development matters to Chicago. Cardoso was already a major interior presence. At 6'7", she changes shot angles defensively and gives the Sky a natural paint target. But when she finishes that cleanly, it changes the geometry of the floor. Defenses have to collapse earlier, guards get more room, offensive possessions get more simplified. Chicago scoring 124 points also tells you this was more than one player having a great night. It was a whole offensive avalanche. But Cardoso's efficiency is justifiably the part that people are going to remember. Now to a developing report in the NHL, and this one is worth watching closely. Jets GM Kevin Kveldeoff said Winnipeg is listening to offers for Connor Hellebuck. That doesn't mean that Hellebuck has requested a trade. It does not mean a deal is close, but when a team openly says it's listening on a goalie of that caliber, the league notices. Hellebuck is a three-time Vezina Trophy winner, had five seasons left on his contract, and has won an Olympic gold with Team USA. This is not a normal rumor name. He's one of the best goalies of his generation. If Winnipeg is even open to listening, the price would have to be massive. Goalies are tricky in the trade market because the position is volatile, but elite goaltending changes playoff series. For a team that may think they're one piece away, Hellebuck is exactly the kind of player that creates uncomfortable conversations in the front office. And for our last story of the day, we go outside the Big Five and head to Formula One, where the Austrian Grand Prix weekend opened with practice at the Red Bull Ring. This is always one of the more compact, high-pressure laps on the calendar. It's short, it's fast, and traffic can become a real issue because lap times are so tight. Practice in Austria matters because qualifying position is huge, but so is race pace through the middle sector where tire management can swing an entire weekend. It's not the biggest story of the day, but it's a good weekend to watch because Austria often gives you strategy tension. Track limits drama and a race that looks so simple until it gets so chaotic. And things like that remind me of why NordVPN is so useful. Days like this are exactly why I like having something quietly working in the background protecting me. You're bouncing between World Cup streams, draft reports, box scores, WNBA highlights and trade rumors, and half the battle is just keeping your information clean and safe while browsing. NordVPN is one of those tools that make that part a lot easier. I'm Chris Horwoodell and that's it for today's show about what happened yesterday. We'll see you tomorrow.