YIS 07 11 26

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. We've got a good show for you today, leading off with Spain surviving Belgium to reach the World Cup semifinals, Jannik Sinner ending Novak Djokovic's Wimbledon run in straight sets, and a White Sox rookie producing one of baseball's rarest accomplishments. Factors helping power the show as well today, we'll circle back to them a little bit later. Let's start with the World Cup, where Spain beat Belgium 2-1 in LA and booked a semifinal against France. This wasn't Spain at its most dominant, but it was Spain showing why they've become so difficult to eliminate. Fabian Ruiz opened the scoring, Belgium answered, then Mikel Moreno delivered another late winner in the 86th minute. Moreno already scored the stoppage time goal that eliminated Portugal in the previous round, so Spain has now survived back-to-back knockout games because its midfield continues to produce in decisive moments. Belgium also had to deal with two major injuries. Captain Jorri Tiemelens injured his hamstring during warmups and was removed from the lineup. Then Thibaut Courtois left early in the second half after experiencing discomfort in his leg. Replacement goalkeeper Senny Lemans was beaten by Moreno's late strike, although it would be unfair to reduce the loss to one goalkeeper or one moment. Spain kept applying pressure, and Belgium had already spent long stretches defending without the ball. The pregame lucky rebel market had Spain minus 162 to win in regulation and minus 345 to advance. An interesting number was Mikel Moreno at plus 320 to score because that's exactly the kind of midfield contribution that has separated Spain during this tournament. Spain now gets France in the semifinal and that matchup feels like a contrast between the two most reliable teams left. France have controlled matches with structure, depth, and efficiency. Spain has been more adventurous and have repeatedly found a late solution when games get uncomfortable. At Wimbledon, Yannick Sinner beat Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the men's final. Sinner was cleaner, younger, and more explosive across all three sets. Djokovic was coming off a quarterfinal that lasted 5 hours and 15 minutes and against the defending champion there was nowhere to hide physically. Djokovic is 39 and he was trying to reach another Wimbledon final after winning this tournament 7 times, but Sinner never allowed him to turn the match into a long tactical argument. Sinner protected his serve, attacked Djokovic's second serve, and closed the match without giving the crowd much opportunity to pull Djokovic back into it. The lucky rebel line had Sinner as a heavy 475 favorite and laying 5.5 games. He won by 6 games overall so the market was almost exactly right about the gap between them. Sinner will face Alexander Zverev who ended Arthur Ferry's remarkable wild card run in straight sets. Zverev is the first German man to reach the Wimbledon final since Boris Becker in 1995 and he's coming off of his first Grand Slam title at the French Open. The matchup history favors Sinner who has won 9 straight meetings with Zverev and 14 consecutive sets in the series. So Zverev may be playing the best tennis of his career, but Sunday's final still presents an enormous challenge for him. Before that, the women's championship is today with Karolina Mikova facing Linda Noskova in the first all Czech women's Grand Slam final. Lucky Rebel has Mikova as minus 128, Noskova at plus 106 and the total at 23.5 games. It's appropriately tight because Mikova has more experience and variety while the 21 year old Noskova has been serving with confidence and hasn't looked overwhelmed by the occasion. Back to baseball where Tristan Peters hit for the cycle in the White Sox 14-1 win over the Athletics. Peters went 4 for 4, drove in 4 runs and became the first White Sox player to hit for a cycle since 2017. A cycle always requires a little bit of everything, power, speed, placement and usually one moment where the ball ends up in exactly the right part of the park. Sean Burke gave Chicago 7 strong innings and the White Sox remain tied for first place in the American League Central. That standing is one of the season's bigger surprises and the future market is still treating it cautiously. Lucky Rebel has Chicago at 40-1 to win the World Series behind the Dodgers at plus 170, the Yankees at 5-1 and Atlanta at 10-1. The Detroit Tigers also won their 6th consecutive game beating Philadelphia 10-2. Kevin McGonigal and Spencer Torkelson each hit 2 run home runs and Detroit continues to look like a team capable of staying in the race rather than simply enjoying a good stretch. The Tigers were minus 125 in Friday's Lucky Rebel Moneyline market and they're still available at 45-1 to win the World Series. That future remains long because Detroit has to prove its lineup can maintain this level over a full season, but the rotation and the recent form are giving the team a legitimate foundation. Elsewhere, the Red Sox won their 7th straight game, Arizona beat the Dodgers 9-3, the Yankees rallied late against Washington and Toronto's Kazuma Okamoto tied a rookie home run record. In today's World Cup quarterfinals, Norway faces England before Argentina meets Switzerland. Norway and England gives us one of the tournament's best individual comparisons. Erling Haaland against Harry Kane. Haaland enters with 7 goals while Kane has 6. Lionel Messi and Achille Mbappe lead the Golden Boot race with 8 each so this match could change both the semifinal bracket and the scoring race. Lucky Rebel has England a slight minus 114 favorite, Norway at plus 310 and the draw at plus 270. England's also laying half a goal while the total sits at 2.5 overall. Argentina is the larger favorite in the later match. Lucky Rebel lists Argentina at minus 143, Switzerland at plus 440 and the draw at plus 255 with Argentina laying three quarters of a goal on the handicap. Switzerland's been organized throughout the tournament but Argentina has more ways to create a decisive moment, especially with Messi still producing at a level that has carried them deep into another World Cup. In transfer news, a developing report to watch includes Newcastle midfielder Bruno Gimaraes. Friday's British newspaper reports collected by Sky Sports indicated that Arsenal's expected to test Newcastle with an initial offer. There's no confirmed agreement and Newcastle has shown no public indication that it wants to sell so this could be treated as a report rather than an imminent transfer but still an interesting thing to watch. Gimaraes is central to Newcastle's midfield and moving him would require both an enormous fee and a replacement plan. Arsenal's interest makes tactical sense because he can defend, progress the ball and play through pressure but interest and an actual deal are two very different things. We'll finish with the Tour de France where Tim Merlier won stage 7 in a sprint finish at Bordeaux. Merlier was listed as the plus one ten favorite in the live Lucky Rebel stage market and he delivered despite getting boxed in during the final kilometer. He found a lane, accelerated at the right moment and collected his fourth Tour stage victory of his career. Tadej Pogacar kept the yellow jersey and remains 2 minutes and 42 seconds ahead of Jonas Vindegard. At this point the race is already asking the rest of the field a difficult question. How do you attack a rider who appears stronger in the mountains and is protected by the best position team? And when the margins are this small, whether it's finding a sprinting lane, recovering between mountain stages or preparing for another knockout match, removing one daily complication has real value. That is where Factor fits in. The meals arrive fresh, they're chef prepared and dietitian approved and they're ready in about 2 minutes. With high protein, calorie smart, keto, vegan and veggie choices depending on what works for you. Check out factor75.com for more information. I'm Chris Horwood-Ellen, that's it for today's show about what happened yesterday. We'll see you tomorrow.