Sports
France primed for rematch with Morocco side that won't have top scorer
July 4, 2026; Houston, Texas, U.S.; Morocco’s Ismael Saibari is checked on by teammates after sustaining an injury. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-Imagn Images FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — France and Morocco meet on Thursday in the World Cup’s first quarterfinal, reprising their engrossing semifinal in 2022.
France again will be favored after edging that meeting in Qatar 2-0 on an early first goal from Theo Hernandez and late second from Randal Kolo Muani.
And this time, France’s Kylian Mbappe enters in even better form than that of his Golden Boot-winning 2022 performance.
Mbappe owns seven goals through five matches, including his decisive penalty in France’s professional 1-0 triumph over a petulant Paraguay in the round of 16 on Saturday. He’s tied with Norway’s Erling Haaland and one behind Argentina’s Lionel Messi for the tournament lead.
Les Bleus also enter the match with a sense of minor injustice after they were the recipients of all three cautions issued by Uzbek referee Ilgiz Tantashev on Saturday, despite Paraguay’s consistent role as instigators.
That included one to Michael Olise, who leads the tournament with five assists but could be out of a possible semifinal if he earns another caution on Thursday. France appealed Olise’s yellow card against Paraguay, but manager Didier Deschamps confirmed that FIFA’s disciplinary committee had not overturned the decision.
Thursday’s match will be officiated by Argentine Facundo Tello, with the two assistant referees and the fourth official also coming from Argentina, the nation that defeated France on penalties in the 2022 final and will play its own quarterfinal on Saturday.
“I try to trust the referees,” Deschamps said through an interpreter. “I hope that Mr. Tello and his assistants, who we’ll have tomorrow, are as good as (French referee Francis) Letexier and his assistants who refereed another match.
“Obviously, there are always decisions that can lead to discussion. It all depends on which side you’re on, but I consider Morocco to be the opponent. I’m not going to consider the referee an opponent. Quite the opposite, he’s there to ensure the laws of the game are applied as fairly as possible.”
Meanwhile, the Atlas Lions will no longer be a surprise to the world at this stage.
They have followed their 2022 semifinal appearance by winning the 2025 African Cup of Nations — albeit after the fact via an AFC ruling disqualifying Senegal for its behavior in the final — and reaching this stage by drawing Brazil in the group stage and defeating the Netherlands on penalties in the round of 32.
But Morocco will have to carry on, at least on Thursday, without striker Ismael Saibari. He leads his side with three goals at this tournament, but he played only 22 minutes of their round of 16 victory over Canada on Saturday after succumbing to a muscle strain.
While his injury originally was not characterized as serious, he did not participate in Tuesday’s training and was ruled out by manager Mohamed Ouahbi during his news conference Wednesday evening.
“Everybody is available except for Saibari,” he said through an interpreter, “because the match is too early. But I am sure, and I hope that he is not out for the rest of the competition.”
Without him, Morocco eventually overcame a resolute Canadian effort with a brace from Azzendine Ounahi and then Soufiane Rahimi’s second goal of the tournament late in added time.
Only Belgium have more multiple-goal scorers this tournament with four.
–Ian Nicholas Quillen, Field Level Media
Sports
Jimmy Crooks homer lifts Cards to rain-delayed win over Braves
Jul 10, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Blaze Jordan (33) hits a double against the Atlanta Braves during the third inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images Jimmy Crooks hit a go-ahead solo home run in the eighth inning on Friday to lift the St. Louis Cardinals to a 2-1 victory over the visiting Atlanta Braves.
After a rain delay of nearly three hours in the top of the fourth derailed the game, Crooks hit his second home run of the season off Atlanta’s Danny Young (0-1) to help the Cardinals claim the series opener. Kyle Leahy threw three scoreless frames, surrendering a single and striking out two for St. Louis before being replaced by George Soriano after the delay.
JoJo Romero (1-2) tossed a perfect eighth inning to earn the win, and first-time All-Star Riley O’Brien posted his 23rd save in 27 tries for the Cardinals, who had dropped five of six entering the game.
Chris Sale started for Atlanta, allowing two hits in three scoreless innings, striking out five and walking one before the delay. Victor Mederos threw a pair of impressive innings in relief for Atlanta, which mustered just three hits. Austin Riley’s fifth-inning RBI single accounted for the Braves’ only run, as the visitors lost their fourth game in six tries.
In the bottom of the third, Blaze Jordan ripped a one-out double for the game’s first extra-base hit. After Sale issued a two-out walk to JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera’s flyout ended the threat.
With Ozzie Albies leading off in the fourth, the game was halted by rain. After the delay, Soriano struck out Albies before retiring Matt Olson and Drake Baldwin.
Atlanta struck first in the fifth, though, as Mike Yasztremski doubled and scored on Riley’s RBI single. Justin Bruihl then relieved Soriano and threw 1 2/3 scoreless frames.
Didier Fuentes took over in the sixth for the Braves, allowing a one-out walk to Wetherholt and consecutive singles to Herrera and Jordan Walker, tying the score at one apiece.
The St. Louis bullpen retired the final seven Atlanta batters in order, with two of them flying out to the warning track.
–Field Level Media
Sports
Rockies awaken in 9th, rally past Giants
Jul 10, 2026; San Francisco, California, USA; Colorado Rockies outfielder Jake McCarthy (31) runs after bunting a pitch thrown by San Francisco Giants pitcher Caleb Kilian (not pictured) during the ninth inning at Oracle Park. Mandatory Credit: Robert Edwards-Imagn Images Kyle Karros flipped a deficit into a lead with a two-run single, Cole Carrigg padded the advantage with a sacrifice fly and the visiting Colorado Rockies rallied for three runs in the ninth inning to stun the San Francisco Giants 4-3 on Friday night.
After Rafael Devers’ third hit in the seventh inning gave the Giants a 2-1 lead they took into the ninth, closer Caleb Kilian (2-5) didn’t retire any of the four batters he faced, allowing a single to Mickey Moniak, a walk to pinch hitter Troy Johnson and a bunt single to Jake McCarthy, setting up Karros’ hit through a drawn-in infield.
Carrigg followed with his run-scoring flyball to left field off Kilian’s replacement, Erik Miller, giving Jordan Romano a two-run cushion for the bottom of the ninth.
The Rockies needed both runs after Romano served up a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to Devers before walking Willy Adames to again load the bases with two outs. Juan Mejia then came on and got Bryce Eldridge to ground out to second base on his first pitch, securing his fourth save.
Antonio Senzatela (9-1), who pitched a scoreless eighth, was credited with the win.
After the Rockies tied the contest in the fifth, neither team scored again until Luis Arraez stroked a two-out single in the seventh, stole second, advanced to third on a passed ball and jogged home when Devers grounded a single into right field.
Neither starting pitcher got a decision after carrying a 1-1 tie into the sixth inning.
Rockies starter Tanner Gordon worked around eight hits and a walk to limit the Giants to a single run in five innings. He struck out one.
San Francisco’s only run against him was the game’s first, when Devers lofted his 19th home run of the season into the right field bleachers to lead off the second inning.
Giants starter Robbie Ray took a shutout in the fifth, when the Rockies got even on back-to-back two-out doubles by Ezequiel Tovar and McCarthy.
The left-hander left three batters into the sixth, having walked each of them. Thanks to Dylan Smith retiring the next three batters to get out of the jam unscathed, Ray allowed only the one run on four hits and six walks. He struck out four.
Karros finished with three hits, while McCarthy and TJ Rumfield had two hits apiece for the Rockies, who have beaten their National League West rivals five times in eight meetings this season.
Devers totaled three RBIs, while Arraez joined his teammate with three hits for the Giants, who fell to 2-3 on their week-long homestand.
– Field Level Media
Sports
Jimmy Crooks' homer lifts Cardinals to rain-delayed win over Braves
Jul 10, 2026; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Blaze Jordan (33) hits a double against the Atlanta Braves during the third inning at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images Jimmy Crooks hit a go-ahead solo home run in the eighth inning on Friday to lift the St. Louis Cardinals to a 2-1 victory over the visiting Atlanta Braves.
After a rain delay of nearly three hours in the top of the fourth derailed the game, Crooks hit his second home run of the season off Atlanta’s Danny Young (0-1) to help the Cardinals claim the series opener. Kyle Leahy threw three scoreless frames, surrendering a single and striking out two for St. Louis before being replaced by George Soriano after the delay.
JoJo Romero (1-2) tossed a perfect eighth inning to earn the win, and first-time All-Star Riley O’Brien posted his 23rd save in 27 tries for the Cardinals, who had dropped five of six entering the game.
Chris Sale started for Atlanta, allowing two hits in three scoreless innings, striking out five and walking one before the delay. Victor Mederos threw a pair of impressive innings in relief for Atlanta, which mustered just three hits. Austin Riley’s fifth-inning RBI single accounted for the Braves’ only run, as the visitors lost their fourth game in six tries.
In the bottom of the third, Blaze Jordan ripped a one-out double for the game’s first extra-base hit. After Sale issued a two-out walk to JJ Wetherholt, Ivan Herrera’s flyout ended the threat.
With Ozzie Albies leading off in the fourth, the game was halted by rain. After the delay, Soriano struck out Albies before retiring Matt Olson and Drake Baldwin.
Atlanta struck first in the fifth, though, as Mike Yasztremski doubled and scored on Riley’s RBI single. Justin Bruihl then relieved Soriano and threw 1 2/3 scoreless frames.
Didier Fuentes took over in the sixth for the Braves, allowing a one-out walk to Wetherholt and consecutive singles to Herrera and Jordan Walker, tying the score at one apiece.
The St. Louis bullpen retired the final seven Atlanta batters in order, with two of them flying out to the warning track.
–Field Level Media
EA reverses course, removes microtransactions from College Football 27
Jimmy Crooks homer lifts Cards to rain-delayed win over Braves
