The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic’s daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox.Good morning! Enjoy a fairy tale today. Coming up:
What’s Left? The World Cup is still goodAt 4 p.m. yesterday, I felt a sort of withdrawal as I worked. Why wasn’t there a hum of soccer energy on the TV behind me? In the haze of a standard Wednesday, had I forgotten about a World Cup game that should’ve been on my screen? What was I missing? Nothing, in fact, as we had zero Cup games yesterday. It was an unwelcome respite. The paradoxical joy and pain of a tournament such as this is that as the matches theoretically get better, we get fewer of them. Alas. Even worse, if you were invested mostly in the U.S. team, you may feel a bit adrift as the tournament moves on. But you still want to watch, yeah? A few things to expect as we progress:
This is a World Cup still dominated by superstars. Kylian Mbappé, Erling Haaland, Harry Kane, Jude Bellingham, Lionel Messi, Lamine Yamal. They’re all still in play at this tournament, and due to face each other soon, should favorites advance. Reminder that this is not normal.
Need any evidence that interest is still high, even post-USMNT departure? England’s massive win on the road at the Azteca was the most-watched soccer game in U.S. history. Forty-four million people watched across Fox and Telemundo broadcasts. We’re still tuning in.
