SI:AM | The Philippines Makes World Cup History

Plus, Von Miller’s pursuit of a third Super Bowl ring.

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. Calculating World Cup advancement scenarios always makes my head hurt.

In today’s SI:AM:

💰 Why Saudi Arabia could threaten the NBA

🏈 General manager Von Miller?

⚾ J.D. Martinez’s bounce back

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Chaos in Group A

New Zealand had the biggest moment of its soccer history when it scored a shocking upset over Norway in the opening game of the Women’s World Cup. Today, it was another country’s turn to make history against the cohosts.

The Philippines knocked off New Zealand, 1–0, today in Wellington to earn the first World Cup win in the country’s history. The country had never previously qualified for the World Cup or the Olympics—on the men’s or women’s side.

The one goal came in the 23rd minute by California-born Sarina Bolden, who headed one home in heavy traffic in front of the net. The Philippines was held scoreless in its opening match against Switzerland, which meant that Bolden’s goal was the first in the country’s history at the World Cup.

The biggest star, though, was another California native, goalkeeper Olivia McDaniel, who made four saves for the Philippines, including this diving effort in stoppage time. McDaniel also impressed with some aggressive decisions to leave her net and collect loose balls.

New Zealand has every right to feel robbed after the loss. It dominated possession and had 16 attempted shots to just four for the Philippines. Worst of all, New Zealand had an equalizing goal waved off due to a ticky-tack offside call. VAR showed striker Hannah Wilkinson’s arm offside by just a hair, nullifying her assist to Jacqui Hand.

But the Philippines, the sixth-lowest ranked team in the 32-nation tournament, withstood the onslaught from New Zealand and came away with a result that the country will remember forever.

“I’ve got everyone else’s tears all over my eyes; it’s so emotional,” Philippines coach Alen Stajcic said. “You saw how long New Zealand had to wait for its first win—six World Cups—and to get it today was incredible.

“We made our own luck, but we also had a lot of luck. New Zealand were on the front foot the whole game and deserved something. But football is cruel sometimes.”

The upset, combined with Switzerland and Norway’s 0–0 draw, creates some very interesting possibilities in Group A. Norway, the pretournament favorite in the group, is in serious danger of bowing out of the World Cup. Switzerland leads the group with four points, followed by New Zealand and the Philippines with three and finally Norway with one point. On Sunday, Norway will play the Philippines, and Switzerland will play New Zealand. (Both games will start at 3 a.m. ET.)

Here is what each team needs to do to advance to the knockout stage:

• Switzerland can advance with a win or draw against New Zealand.
• New Zealand can advance with a win against Switzerland. Or, if New Zealand wins and the Philippines draws against Norway, New Zealand advances.
• Norway can advance only if it beats the Philippines. The only way Norway’s fate is not decided by goal differential is if Switzerland also wins. Otherwise, it gets complicated.
• The Philippines can advance with a win against Norway. If the Philippines draws against Norway, it can only advance with a Switzerland win and would also need some help in the form of goal differential.

We’re less than a week into the tournament, and things are already getting wild.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated

• For today’s Daily Cover, Greg Bishop profiled Von Miller, who’s still chasing a third Super Bowl ring but also planning big things for life off the field.
• After reports of Saudi Arabia’s one-year, nearly $800 million offer to Kylian Mbappé caught the attention of LeBron James and others, Chris Mannix believes that the country’s seemingly endless wealth poses a legitimate threat to the NBA.
• J.D. Martinez has turned his season around thanks to the Dodgers’ approach to hitting—and he isn’t the only one, Stephanie Apstein writes.
• The news that the Braves acquired Pierce Johnson to bolster their bullpen doesn’t immediately jump off the page, but Emma Baccellieri thinks that one new pitch could make Johnson better than he’s ever been before.
• Albert Breer has the details of how the Titans landed DeAndre Hopkins.
• The Giants avoided an awkward situation with Saquon Barkley by agreeing to a one-year contract.
• Yet another NFL player has been suspended for gambling on games.
• The Subway Series culminates Wednesday at Yankee Stadium, with tickets topping out at $2,300, per SI Tickets.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Nikola Jokić celebrating after winning a horse race.

4. Former Pirates infielder Jung Ho Kang catching a foul ball while attending a game as a fan.

3. Brewers rookie Sal Frelick’s first career home run, which tied the game for Milwaukee.

2. Kolten Wong’s pinch-hit go-ahead home run for the Mariners with two outs in the ninth. He’s only the third player in Mariners history to hit a go-ahead homer as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning or later. (The Twins won in extra innings, though.)

1. Elly De La Cruz’s 456-foot home run and the message on the Brewers’ scoreboard when he hit it.

SIQ

On this day in 2021, which country handed the United States its first Olympic men’s basketball loss in 17 years?

• Australia
• Spain
• Nigeria
• France

Yesterday’s SIQ: True or false: Barry Bonds led his league in home runs as many times as Chris Davis.

Answer: True. Even though he hit a whopping 762 career home runs, Bonds led the National League in homers only twice. He hit 46 in 1993 (tied with Juan González for the most in the majors that year) and, of course, 73 in 2001. Davis, meanwhile, led the AL with 53 in ’13 and 47 in ’15.

On the surface, it’s surprising Bonds won only two home run crowns. But if you look at his numbers more closely, it’s obvious why. Teams were petrified of pitching to Bonds. He led the league in walks 12 times and in intentional walks 10 times. After he set the single-season home run record in 2001, teams pitched around him to an absurd degree. In ’04, Bonds hit 45 home runs, three fewer than MLB leader Adrián Beltré. But Bonds was walked intentionally a stunning 120 times that season. Bonds had only 373 official at bats that year and hit a homer once every 8.29 at bats. If he’d had as many at bats as Beltré (598), he would have been on pace for 72 homers.