The World Cup ended five days ago, and if this morning is any indication, the sport isn't slowing down to catch its breath. Atlanta United 2 opens a new home pitch this weekend, Jürgen Klopp already has a message for the German press, and Nicolás Otamendi closed the book on a legendary international career with one line worth holding onto. Also inside: what the numbers say about the World Cup's time wasting crackdown, and a conversation with a World Cup referee on the best officiated tournament he's seen.

The game never stops and neither do we. Welcome to the SDH Network, around the corner from everywhere. Morning Espresso is brought to you by Kaiser Permanente.

Atlanta United 2 is home again this weekend, though "home" comes with an asterisk on Sunday. The club announced Thursday that Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground will host its final six MLS NEXT Pro home matches of 2026, starting Sunday against New York City FC II. That opener kicks off at 11 a.m. and is closed to the public, but we will have the radio broadcast on the SDH Network and you can watch on YouTube or the OneFootball app. Every match after that is free and open, first come first served, with a valid ticket claimed through Ticketmaster on the ATL UTD 2 website.

Ahead of the match, Madison Crews and I sat down with Atlanta United 2 manager Jose Silva, and the conversation kept circling back to one word: identity. One more win would give this team more victories than any season in club history, with ten matches still to play in an Eastern Conference table Silva says has flattened out compared to years past. "Everyone is really even," he said. "That gave a different experience to our young players, to continue to develop. Every game is kind of like a final."

Silva breaks his roster into three groups: veteran depth brought in to raise the daily competition, academy products who have earned a professional contract, and academy players still waiting on one. Winger Cameron Dunbar represents the first group, and Silva says the growth has been real, from a touchline only winger to someone who can now combine through the middle. "If he continues like that, he's going to be one of the top three wingers in this league," Silva said. Ignacio Suárez-Couri represents the second group, following the same climb Cooper Sanchez made a year ago, from the end of the bench into first team opportunities. And Andrew Jardines represents the third: no contract, no expectations entering the year, and now a starter Silva points to as proof of what daily work can do. "This is the way you have to be behaving day to day," Silva said, "if you want to go from a backup to a bench player to a star."

The bigger framework Silva uses to explain all of this is what he calls identity, and it's the same lens he applies to what American soccer can learn from Spain's development model. "You need to be loyal to one identity," he said. "You need to believe in the good times and the bad times." For Silva, identity isn't a formation or a system. It's the philosophy that decides how a team presses, defends and attacks, and the formation gets built afterward around whichever players actually walk through the door. His advice for U.S. Soccer at large mirrors what he's built at the training ground: "Find your identity, don't copy." Study the environment, understand the player pool you actually have, and build from there.

Those same lessons showed up on the field last week too. Atlanta played well but watched Huntsville City come back with two second half goals, and Silva walked away with two takeaways: patience against a low block, since it can take a half for the game to open up, and matching an opponent's physical willingness once a match turns into a battle instead of a game plan. He felt like the team got away from the identity that has served them so well in 2026 in the second half. He expects NYCFC II to look different Sunday, pressing higher and holding the ball more than Huntsville did. "If we do that," Silva said, "we are going to be close to the three points."

Join us from the Proving Ground as Atlanta United 2 hosts NYCFC II on Sunday, pregame coverage starts at 10:30 a.m. on the SDH Network with kickoff set for just after 11 a.m.

FIFA and IFAB set out to buy back more live football at this World Cup, and the numbers say they got it. The ball was in play for an average of 58 minutes, 16 seconds per match this tournament, according to figures analyzed by The Times, a mark higher than the Champions League (56:43) or Premier League (55:23) produced last season.

That figure is only marginally ahead of Qatar 2022, where the ball was in play for roughly 58 minutes as well. But Qatar's matches ran longer to get there. This year's games delivered essentially the same amount of live football in less total time, which means a materially higher share of every match was actual football rather than the sport standing around it.

Stoppage time tells the same story. This tournament averaged 6 minutes, 24 seconds of stoppage, plus another six minutes across the two three-minute hydration breaks. Qatar averaged 11 minutes, 22 seconds of stoppage with no hydration breaks to account for. The gap suggests the time bled off through injuries, substitutions and goal celebrations has been cut sharply, even with the breaks added back in.

Two changes did most of that work. Referees began enforcing a five second countdown on delayed goal kicks and throw-ins, taking away the easiest place to stall a match. And substitutions became time limited: a player has 10 seconds to leave the pitch, or the incoming sub waits until the next stoppage, which has to be at least a minute later. Neither change is complicated. Both moved the number.

Matthew Conger has refereed two World Cups himself, so when he says this tournament was strongly handled, it carries weight. The Athens, Georgia native and former FIFA referee for New Zealand told me the opener and the final set the tone for the whole month, two different personalities in the middle but both well managed, and everything in between mostly held to that bar. He singled out the Atlanta semifinal between Argentina and England as the standout individual performance, with Ismail Elfath keeping a lid on a match that could have boiled over in the first half. "I thought he did enough to keep the lid on it," Conger said, noting Ismail's two assistant referees deserved credit too for how attuned they stayed to the game around them.

The time-wasting crackdown, the same one that produced the numbers in today's Refill on ball-in-play time, got a strong review from someone who actually lived it. Conger said the impact was visible from the first match, players moving off quickly at substitutions, restarts happening faster, and different referees leaning on different tools to get there. Some used personality and flow to keep games moving without constant whistling. Others stayed visibly locked onto the count. "Neither one is more correct than the other," he said, "but they're all different ways of getting to the same thing." His takeaway is that referees now have more options in the toolkit, and that is worth keeping.

The tournament also expanded how VAR gets used, most notably for reviewing a yellow card given to the wrong player after a case of mistaken identity or simulation. Conger pointed to two moments this cycle: one in a U.S. match involving Tim Ream and Miguel Almirón that passed with some notice, and a bigger one in the Switzerland-Argentina game, where review corrected a yellow card wrongly shown to Leandro Paredes after Breel Embolo went down trying to draw the foul. Conger said the mechanism existed in a gray area of the VAR protocol rather than a clean, written use case, and that using it took institutional backing. "It landed on his side," Conger said of the Dutch referee, Danny Makkelie, who made the call in the U.S.-Paraguay match. "It's good. Players need not do this."

The final's biggest moment came without VAR calling for it. Slavko Vinčić’s decision to award a penalty for Nicolás Otamendi getting stepped on was made in real time, no VAR intervention to make the call, no long delay, and it held up once the replays circulated. Conger framed it as a case of a referee who had worked himself into position to see the play clearly and trusted what he saw. "You didn't see a lot of arguing about it," he said, "because the referee made the decision, which is great to see."

That trust in the person making the call runs through everything Conger believes about where officiating should go next. He is not sold on referee body cameras as a fix for how officials get treated, calling it a distraction from the real work of developing referees the way clubs develop players and coaches. "Don't call it about making it better for referees when it could potentially just become a distraction," he said. "We want referees to be humanized." His closing thought was simple: a human game, played by humans, needs to stay refereed by humans too.

Check out Total Referee for more of Matthew’s work to improve referee development.

Jürgen Klopp was unveiled as Germany's head coach on Friday, and before he talked about tactics or targets, he talked about his family. "If at any point you all think, it's not enough for just one or two to feel this way, that I should leave, I will leave without severance pay," Klopp told reporters. "If you go after my family and don't leave them alone, I will leave. I've seen what happened with Julian [Nagelsmann] and [Thomas] Tuchel. I know it's worse in other countries." He asked for one thing in return: criticism when it's earned, no praise required when things go well, and a willingness on his end to keep working when they don't.

The job opened after Julian Nagelsmann resigned in the wake of Germany's penalty shootout exit to Paraguay in the round of 32, the third straight tournament to end in disappointment. Klopp signed a four year deal that runs through the 2030 World Cup in Spain, Portugal and Morocco, on terms reported to be roughly in line with what Nagelsmann was earning. He arrives with a full release from his role as Red Bull's global head of soccer, a job nobody outside the building ever fully explained. The DFB is making a one million euro donation to Red Bull's charitable foundation as part of the exit, and three future internationals will be played in Leipzig.

The path here was unusually public. Klopp spent this World Cup as a pundit on Magenta TV alongside Thomas Müller, which meant he spent the tournament analyzing, and at times openly second guessing, the man whose job everyone assumed he wanted. After suggesting Deniz Undav should start over Jamal Musiala, he walked it back on the next broadcast by telling viewers not to worry, because Nagelsmann was still picking the team. "For now," he added, and the room laughed nervously. By the time Nagelsmann resigned, the succession had stopped feeling like speculation and started feeling like the only version of events that made sense.

What Klopp inherits is bigger than results. Toni Kroos and Arsène Wenger both said in the tournament's aftermath that Germany's real problem isn't coaching, it's a shortage of genuine world class talent and natural goalscorers coming through the pipeline. Klopp, already part of a Bundesliga working group studying that exact shortfall, says he intends to be more protective of club managers than the international game usually allows. "If someone says you can't call him because he's played four matches in a row, I will say fine," he said. "I will not fight tooth and nail for that player. I will listen to the club coach." He'll have far less time on the training ground than he ever had at Dortmund or Liverpool, and he says he's made peace with that trade already.

Berhalter Set for Middlesbrough Move: Middlesbrough is finalizing a deal to sign USMNT midfielder Sebastian Berhalter from the Vancouver Whitecaps for a fee near $2 million, sources tell The Athletic. The 25 year old scored against Turkey at the World Cup this summer, made the 2025 MLS Best XI, and reunites with fellow American Aidan Morris, his former Columbus Crew teammate, at Boro.

USA Learns Its Nations League Path: The United States will face the best second place finisher from League A's two Swiss style first round groups, to be decided during the Sept. 21 to Oct. 6 window. As the second ranked seed, the USA opens the November quarterfinal round against that opponent, with the four winners meeting at SoFi Stadium in March 2027 for the final four.

FC Dallas Signs 15 Year Old, Agrees Future Chelsea Transfer: FC Dallas signed 15 year old forward Benji Flowers to a first team homegrown deal Thursday, the youngest player in club history to do so, and reportedly agreed to send him to Chelsea for roughly $3 million plus up to $7 million in add ons once he turns 18. Flowers made his North Texas SC debut in March at 14 years, 11 months old.

Eddie Pope Joins MLS Front Office: Hall of Famer Eddie Pope has been named MLS's Senior Vice President of Sporting Development and MLS NEXT Pro's Senior Vice President of Competition and Operations, overseeing the league's development pipeline. Pope won three MLS Cups with D.C. United and earned 82 USMNT caps across three World Cups.

Oakland Roots Facing Default Deadline: The Oakland Roots have until end of business Friday to pay $1.4 million owed to the Oakland Coliseum or submit a viable repayment plan, per the venue's Joint Powers Authority. The USL Championship club, seventh in the Western Conference, hosts its next home match Saturday at the Coliseum, which it has already said it will leave after this season.

Peacock Posts First Profit on World Cup Boost: Comcast reported Peacock's first profitable quarter in its six year history, adding two million subscribers to reach 48 million behind its Telemundo World Cup coverage. Revenue reached about $1.9 billion with $189 million in earnings, both ahead of estimates.

Chucky Lozano's Liga MX Search Hits Two Dead Ends: Hirving Lozano has been shut out by both Chivas de Guadalajara and Cruz Azul as he looks to leave San Diego FC, where he has fallen out of the club's plans, according to TUDN Insiders. Both Liga MX clubs declined to pursue a deal ahead of the Apertura 2026 season.

Makhanya's Philadelphia Absence Tied to Transfer Standoff: Philadelphia Union coach Ryan Richter said center back Olwethu Makhanya is away from the club for personal reasons, as the South African looks to force a move to Europe. Rangers and unnamed Belgian clubs have been linked, but Philadelphia has not accepted bids below its valuation.

Morning Espresso is taking the weekend off. Now that the World Cup is over, we're back to our regular Monday through Friday schedule.

SDH AM: Friday, live now on YouTube and Twitch: Jon Nelson previews the weekend slate, and Margaret Fleming of Front Office Sports joins in hour two to break down how the World Cup is reshaping the business side of the sport.

Atlanta United Training Report: Friday, later today on soccerdownhere.net and @soccerdownhere: Updates from Atlanta's session in Charlotte as the club preps for Saturday.

Atlanta United at New England Revolution: Saturday, pregame at 6:30 p.m. on 92.9 The Game: Madison Crews and Abe Gordon set the table before Mike Conti and I have the call at kickoff, 7:40 p.m. in Foxborough.

Otamendi Retires From Argentina: Nicolás Otamendi announced his retirement from international duty at 38, closing a 17 year career that included the 2022 World Cup title and two Copa América titles. His final appearance came as a substitute in Sunday's extra time World Cup final loss to Spain, finishing with eight goals in 139 caps.

Paredes Weighing His Argentina Future: Leandro Paredes said he is still deciding whether to continue with the national team after facing criticism for sparking a post-final brawl and possible FIFA sanctions. He returned to action just 96 hours after playing in the World Cup final, starting all 90 minutes for Boca Juniors in a Copa Sudamericana win over O'Higgins on Thursday.

De Jong Facing Months on the Sidelines: Barcelona confirmed Frenkie de Jong suffered a torn medial collateral ligament in his right knee, an injury that will keep him out of the LaLiga opener at Elche on Aug. 23 and possibly for months. De Jong played through knee pain across all four of the Netherlands' World Cup matches before further testing in Barcelona revealed the severity.

Modrić Signs On for Another Season at Milan: Luka Modrić, who turns 41 in September, extended his contract with AC Milan after returning from his fifth World Cup with Croatia. He made 37 appearances for the Rossoneri last season and will play under new coach Rúben Amorim in the Europa League this fall.

Van Bommel Named Belgium Head Coach: The Belgian Football Federation confirmed Mark van Bommel as its new national team manager, replacing Rudi Garcia after the World Cup. Van Bommel previously led Royal Antwerp to a league, cup and super cup treble in 2023 and takes charge of his first national team job.

Guardiola Turns Down Italy Job: Pep Guardiola declined an offer to become Italy's head coach after meeting with federation officials Paolo Maldini and Leonardo in Barcelona, citing personal reasons. Andrea Pirlo, currently managing United FC in the United Arab Emirates, has emerged as the new favorite for the role.

Premier League Replaces PSR With Squad Cost Ratio: The Premier League's new Squad Cost Ratio rules take effect this season, capping football related spending at 85 percent of a club's revenue plus profit from player sales, with clubs allowed to exceed that threshold by up to 30 percent before facing sanctions. The change replaces the previous Profit and Sustainability Rules, which limited losses to £105 million over three years.

Botafogo Investigating Textor Over Nottingham Forest Transfers: Botafogo is reviewing whether former owner John Textor used undervalued transfers of Cuiabano, Jair and Igor Jesus to Nottingham Forest to repay a personal loan from Forest owner Evangelos Marinakis. The club is considering legal action, and Textor is separately under investigation for unpaid employee salaries.

Trophies go into the record books. Love for the shirt is what actually lasts, whether it belongs to a World Cup champion walking away in Buenos Aires or a kid still trying to earn one at the training ground in Marietta.

Song of the Day: "My Way" by Frank Sinatra. Otamendi said it himself on his way out the door: no regrets, never held back an ounce of effort, head held high. That's the whole song.

Jason