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Lionel Messi is on the doorstep of two hundred international caps, and the whole world is watching. Argentina opens World Cup play against Algeria, and coach Lionel Scaloni says the planet stops for a moment like this. For Messi, it's another chapter in a career that has simply run out of superlatives.
Across the tournament, the Iran versus New Zealand match was something far bigger than a football game. Iranian dissidents packed the stands at Los Angeles Stadium, chanting against the regime while their national team took the pitch. The two-two draw was almost beside the point — what unfolded in the seats told a story about a nation still deeply fractured, and football caught right in the middle of it.
Shifting to baseball, Shohei Ohtani is doing what Shohei Ohtani does — dominating everything in sight. The Dodgers superstar has already cleared one million one hundred sixty-five thousand votes in the first All-Star ballot update, making him one of only two players to crack seven figures so far. Yordan Alvarez leads the American League side, but Ohtani is in a category all his own.
That's your play-by-play. Sports Desk, back to the booth.
