Soccer:
France and Croatia will meet on Sunday to determine a champion. France will be favored to win the event, but you never know, especially in this World Cup! No one expected England to get past the round of 16, and they made a great run all the way to the semifinals. France has some greater expectations because of the level of talent on the team. I have been pleasantly surprised with how well one of Les Bleus stars, Paul Pogba, has played some defense. He never plays defense for his club team, Manchester United.
It is pretty amazing that Croatia has made it to the finals, because they played a whole additional game (measured in minutes on the field) in the three overtime wins during the knockout stage of the tournament. They are the first team ever to win 3 overtime games in the history of the tournament.
Tennis:
At Wimbledon, Serena Williams is back in the finals, where she is always expected to be, versus Angelique Kerber of Germany. This should be a close match. They played each other before, in a Grand Slam tournament final, at the 2016 Australian Open, where Kerber won the event. If Serena wins the match, it will be interesting to see her reaction upon winning her first grand slam tournament after becoming a mother. She will probably be very emotional.
On the men's side, all the quarterfinals were very exciting matches. Roger Federer lost in a big upset to Kevin Anderson in five sets after being up two sets to none. There will be an American representative in the semifinals playing Anderson, in the person of 6'10" John Isner. This will probably be Isner's best chance to win a Grand Slam championship because he is already 33 years old. I actually think that the winner of the tournament will come out of the other semifinal between Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal.
Baseball:
I was surprised that the 1st place Phillies did not get enough fan votes to have multiple All Stars for the National League. It just proves the point that the Phillies still have to show everybody they are for real, even to their local followers.
Aaron Nola is the only Phillie to get the recognition of All Star. He definitely deserves it. He has had a breakout year this season. I don't usually watch the homerun derby on the Monday before the All-Star game, but I will this year, because the Phillies' left fielder, Rhys Hoskins, is participating in it. Go Reese!!
See you on the sidelines!!
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A 2002 Cape grad and 2007 UD grad, Lewes resident Sumner Spence is one of the Cape area's biggest sports fans. Although he’s used a wheelchair his entire life, he has lived vicariously through his sports-playing father, brother, and friends, who gave him his love of sports. He hopes to provide new and interesting perspectives on the sports stories and issues of the day. Email Sumner at sumspence@gmail.com.
