There is a longstanding dream of realizing QCD (and other confining gauge theories) as a string theory. The complete worldsheet theory lacking, our best tool so far has been to use an EFT description around the solution of a long confining string (or flux tube). While powerful, this approach treats equally any theory of dynamical strings, completely forgetting the underlying gauge theory. In this talk, we will see how to go beyond this paradigm by inputting into the worldsheet one prominent feature of these gauge theories, namely asymptotic freedom. After a brief review of the current status, I will discuss a worldsheet observable that smoothly interpolates between the EFT regime and the one where asymptotic freedom kicks in. We will then explore what implications this has on the scattering data of Goldstone bosons moving on the string.