The United State men’s national team inspired confidence on Friday night that it can make a run in the 2026 World Cup. At SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, the Americans turned in a showing that belonged in Hollywood. They started and finished on the aggressive, dominating possession throughout a 4-1 victory over Paraguay in their first match of group play.

The USMNT’s four goals were the most it’s scored in a World Cup match, period. And, according to Fox Sports PR, the 15,986,000 viewers, on average, the USMNT drew on Fox, Fox One and Tubi were a record, too.

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In fact, that made up the most-watched USMNT telecast ever. It doubled as the most-watched men’s World Cup group stage telecast in English-language U.S. history, according to Fox.

The showdown between Group D teams peaked with 18,860,000 viewers from 10:45-11 p.m. ET, per Fox. The average viewership was up 106% from the USMNT’s 2022 World Cup opener in Qatar, where it pulled in an average of 7,763,000 viewers amid a 1-1 tie with Wales on Nov. 21 of that year.

In its ratings report, Fox cited Nielsen preliminary fast-nationals, Adobe Analytics and data from the Fox-owned streaming service Tubi. It’s worth noting that Nielsen shifted to a new methodology last fall that couples its traditional panel with “Big Data” from smart TVs and set-top boxes. That’s notable when considering the surging figures, as is the fact that, per Sports Media Watch, the 2026 World Cup is just the second since Nielsen started including out-of-home viewing in its estimates.

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Right from the jump, this year’s World Cup has indicated that a multitude of viewership records are in danger of being broken. The tournament’s opener, a Thursday afternoon match between Mexico and South Africa, attracted an average of 6,309,000 viewers while Mexico secured a 2-0 win in Mexico City, per Fox, which cited the same combination of ratings data as above on Friday.

That meant that, according to Fox, Mexico-South Africa was the most-watched men’s World Cup opening match and non-USMNT World Cup group stage telecast in English-language U.S. history.

Laura Wolvaardt of South Africa plays a shot as Beth Mooney of Australia keeps during the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 match at Old Trafford on June 13, 2026 in Manchester, England. (Photo/Getty Images)

Australia began their ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 campaign with a 65-run win over South Africa at Old Trafford on Saturday, riding on Phoebe Litchfield’s quickfire half-century and a disciplined bowling display led by Georgia Wareham.After being asked to bat, Australia recovered from an early wobble to post 172/8 in their 20 overs. South Africa, in reply, were bowled out for 107 in 16.4 overs, with captain Laura Wolvaardt top-scoring with 44.Australia’s innings got off to a difficult start when Georgia Voll was dismissed for a duck by Marizanne Kapp in the first over. Beth Mooney also struggled and fell for seven, leaving Australia under pressure.Litchfield then shifted the momentum. She hit a boundary off her first ball and attacked from the outset, helping Australia reach 52/2 at the end of the powerplay. The left-hander brought up her fifty in just 23 balls and eventually made 51 off 24 deliveries, including nine fours and a six.South Africa hit back when Ashleigh Gardner was dismissed for one, reducing Australia to 57/4. However, Georgia Wareham and Ellyse Perry added 58 runs for the fifth wicket to steady the innings. Wareham made 32 off 22 balls with six boundaries before Nadine de Klerk ended the partnership.Perry anchored the later stages with 36 off 26 balls, while Annabel Sutherland chipped in with 21 from 14 deliveries to take Australia past the 170-mark.South Africa’s bowlers shared the wickets. Ayabonga Khaka, Nonkululeko Mlaba and Nadine de Klerk picked up two wickets each, while captain Laura Wolvaardt impressed in the field with three catches.Chasing 173, South Africa lost Sune Luus lbw to Sophie Molineux in the first over before Kim Garth bowled Annerie Dercksen in the next, leaving them 7/2.Wolvaardt and Nadine de Klerk repaired the innings with a 41-run stand. De Klerk scored 25 before Wareham broke the partnership soon after the powerplay.Marizanne Kapp briefly counterattacked with 12, but a mix-up between the wickets ended her stay. Wolvaardt continued to hold one end and reached 44 off 39 balls, but her dismissal to Wareham effectively ended South Africa’s hopes.Alana King then removed Sinalo Jafta and Kayla Reyneke in quick succession, while Ashleigh Gardner dismissed Shabnim Ismail. Wareham wrapped up the innings by dismissing Chloe Tryon and Nonkululeko Mlaba.Wareham finished with 3/13, while Molineux and King claimed two wickets each as Australia completed a comfortable victory and made a strong start to their campaign.

Jun. 13—PREP RESULTS — Baseball

STATE TOURNAMENT

At 7 17 Credit Union Park, Akron and Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium, Canton

Division I

Thursday’s Semifinals

At 7 17 Credit Union Park, Akron

Moeller 8, Perrysburg 6

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St. Xavier 5, Olentangy Orange 0

Friday’s Championship

At 7 17 Credit Union Park, Akron

St. Xavier 4, Moeller 2

Division II

Friday’s Semifinals

At Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium, Canton

New Albany 4, Harrison 1

Walsh Jesuit 3, North Canton Hoover 2

Saturday’s Championship

At 7 17 Credit Union Park, Akron

Walsh Jesuit vs. New Albany, 7 p.m.

Division III

Thursday’s Semifinals

At Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium, Canton

Badin 5, Parma Padua Franciscan 2: B: Driessen W CG 9 K, Cummins 2-2 RS 3 RBI, Taylor 1-3 2 RBI, Vangen 1-1 2 RS, Cooper 1-3 RS, Wolpert 1-3 RS.

Bishop Watterson 5, Cuyahoga Valley Christian 1

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Friday’s Championship

At 7 17 Credit Union Park, Akron

Badin 7, Bishop Watterson 2: B: Treadway W, Emerson 2-4 2B 2 RS RBI, Vangen 1-3 2 RBI, Laugle 1-2 RS RBI, Sawyer 1-2 RS RBI, Taylor 1-3 2B RS RBI, Ogden 1-2 2 RS.

Badin captures first state championship since 1996 with win over Bishop Watterson

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Division IV

Saturday’s Semifinals

At 7 17 Credit Union Park, Akron

Sandusky Perkins vs. Youngstown Cardinal Mooney, 10 a.m.

Fenwick vs. Fairfield Union, 1 p.m.

June baseball becomes reality for Fenwick, which seeks D-IV state championship

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Sunday’s Championship

At 7 17 Credit Union Park, Akron

Semifinal winners, 10 a.m.

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Division V

Thursday’s Semifinals

At Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium, Canton

Col. Academy 5, Findlay Liberty-Benton 2

Waynedale 7, Lucasville Valley 2

Friday’s Championship

At 7 17 Credit Union Park, Akron

Waynedale 9, Col. Academy 5

Division VI

Thursday’s Semifinals

At 7 17 Credit Union Park, Akron

Lake Center Christian 5, Galion Northmor 3

Berlin Hiland 7, St. Henry 2: SH: Boeckman 1-3 RS, J. Schwieterman 1-4 2B RBI, H. Schwieterman RS.

Friday’s Championship

At 7 17 Credit Union Park, Akron

Lake Center Christian 2, Berlin Hiland 1

Division VII

Friday’s Semifinals

at Thurman Munson Memorial Stadium, Canton

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Delphos St. John’s 5, Tiffin Calvert 3: DSJ: C. Elwer W CG 6 K, Lindeman 2-2 3B RS RBI, Wiechart 2-3 3B RS RBI, Swick 1-3 RS RBI, McClain RS.

Leipsic 11, South Webster 10

Saturday’s Championship

At 7 17 Credit Union Park, Akron

Delphos St. John’s vs. Leipsic, 4 p.m.

REPORTING RESULTS

Contact Dayton Daily News, Springfield News-Sun and Journal-News with scores and results as soon as possible after varsity high school athletic contests by email only at COPSports@coxincn.com. Please include any details from your contest that you would like published along with a contact name and phone number.

GM Nolan Teasley keeps making moves. The Vikings pickups involved bringing someone over from Cleveland and someone from Seattle.

Check out what Ian Rapoport of The NFL Network had to say: “The #Vikings plan to name Andrew Healy and Trent Kirchner as assistant GMs, adding two highly respected executives to the club’s football operation. Healy, who will serve as the team’s secondary football executive, while Kirchner is widely regarded as one of the NFL’s top talent evaluators.”

Alec Lewis sent along some added context: “The Vikings intend to name Andrew Healy and Trent Kirchner as assistant general managers in the coming days, per sources. Huge hires. Healey will serve as the team’s secondary football executive, revered for analytics; Kirchner is a premier evaluator.”

Vikings Pickup Front Office Talent

Recently, the news emerged of moving on from other executives.

In particular, there was the loss of Demetrius Washington, who is a brain. All along, the possibility existed that the Assistant GM would depart since he has a strong history and relationship with Kwesi Adofo-Mensah. He has been set free, allowed to chase his next opportunity.

Likewise, the Vikings opted to move on from Jamaal Stephenson, Pat Roberts, and Salli Clavelle.

Prior to the GM decision being made — Nolan Teasley was a wise decision — PurplePTSD offered a piece considering Trent Kirchner. Consider a thought: “Quite possibly, Kirchner isn’t going to be a serious candidate. The general thought, though, of digging into Seattle’s brain trust makes a lot of sense. There has been a pile connections between Seattle and Minnesota; the Seahawks have proven to be far, far better over past couple decades.”

And another: “Another thought: when the Vikings needed more help to bridge the gap to a full-time GM, a former Seattle executive came over. Keep an eye on the ‘Hawks.”

Fast forward from the original publication of that piece (April 17th, 2026) and there’s no reason for a victory lap. After all, the guess was for Trent Kirchner to be the GM rather than Nolan Teasley. Nevertheless, there’s some merit within the insistence that plundering Seattle’s front office made sense.

Generally speaking, Minnesotans don’t have a great opinion of Adofo-Mensah since the former GM did so terribly in the draft (which is to say nothing of last year’s QB disaster). Does another analytics mind from Cleveland make sense? Some were left wanting more in the last decision maker who did analytics for the Browns.

The easy-to-connect dots are there for the taking, but every person should be allowed to shine or stumble based on his/her own merits (or lack thereof). The Browns, a terrible team, have nevertheless done some fantastic work of finding talent in the draft. Give Healy a fair shot.

Nolan Teasley and the Minnesota Vikings are coming off minicamp. Check out some of VT’s coverage in a piece, another one, and the one here.

Senior Editor for Vikings Territory & PurplePTSD . Twitter & Bluesky: @VikingsGazette. Email: k.joudry[at]vikingsterritory[dot]com. Canadian. Jude 1:24-25.

Saudi Arabia and Uruguay begin their 2026 FIFA World Cup campaign in this Group H encounter at Miami Stadium in Florida on Monday. The remaining teams in Group H include European champions Spain and World Cup newbies Cabo Verde.

Saudi Arabia have endured a challenging year in terms of results, with a 4-0 loss to Egypt and 2-1 losses to both Serbia and Ecuador, but they did turn things around in their last two matches. They beat Puerto Rico 3-0 on 6 June and then drew 0-0 with African giants Senegal on Wednesday, 10 June.

The Green Falcons can also look back fondly on a positive campaign in the FIFA Arab Cup in December 2025, when they reached the semifinals of the competition before losing 1-0 to fellow World Cup contenders Jordan.

Saudi Arabia came third alongside the United Arab Emirates due to bad weather in the third-place playoff, leading to the match being called off.

Meanwhile, Uruguay are the only nation at the World Cup that chose not to play any friendly matches in the immediate lead-up to the tournament, instead opting to let their players get some extra rest before joining the training camp and focusing on the tournament.

As such, La Celeste‘s most recent friendly matches were a pair of draws against England (1-1) and Algeria (0-0) in March.

Uruguay coach Marcelo Bielsa is famous for the relentless physical intensity of his training sessions, which often make his players particularly fit and mentally resilient. The Sky Blues can count on stars such as Real Madrid’s Federico Valverde, former Liverpool striker Darwin Nunez, and Tottenham‘s Rodrigo Bentancur.

Saudi Arabia vs Uruguay head-to-head stats and key numbers

• Uruguay and Saudi Arabia have faced each other three times in their history, with the head-to-head record being exactly even, with a draw and one win apiece.
• However, Uruguayans would argue that their country won when it mattered, in their most recent match at the 2018 World Cup (2-1), while the other games were friendlies.
• Uruguay have won the World Cup twice (in 1930 and 1950).
• This will be Uruguay’s 16th World Cup tournament, while Saudi Arabia have qualified for the World Cup seven times.

Saudi Arabia vs Uruguay prediction

Uruguay are expected to control possession and dictate the tempo through a high-intensity pressing structure that is typical of Bielsa’s teams. Saudi Arabia will try to be compact and well-organized at the back, with counterattacking football set to be their main threat up front.

Uruguay have struggled to score in recent games, but they still possess the quality to secure an opening-match victory over Saudi Arabia.

Prediction: Saudi Arabia 0-2 Uruguay

Saudi Arabia vs Uruguay betting tips

Tip 1: Uruguay to win

Tip 2: Uruguay to keep a clean sheet

Tip 3: Under 2.5 goals