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Chicharito is starting over in Dallas, Zinedine Zidane finally has the job he spent five years waiting on, and English football just put a clock on goalkeepers who like to slow things down. We've got the World Cup's Goal of the Tournament, a full Refill from around the world, and everything happening across SDH platforms this week. But we start where the real mess is, and where Nick Aliffi has spent the last few days peeling back layers most of the coverage missed.

Guest column: Nick Aliffi

Paolo Maldini's second rescue mission lasted exactly sixteen days. Sixteen days ago, Italian soccer's most decorated modern hero returned to the Italian Football Federation as technical director, promising to rebuild an Azzurri program that had just missed its third straight World Cup. Monday, he and his longtime lieutenant Leonardo walked out the door instead.

The mess had been building for months. Federation president Gabriele Gravina and national team manager Gennaro Gattuso both left their posts in April. Giovanni Malagò took over as federation president, and Maldini arrived with the same mandate that once pulled AC Milan out of a decade in the wilderness: fix the disconnect between Italy's talent pipeline and its senior team.

That mandate ran through a short list before it ran out. Pep Guardiola said no. Carlo Ancelotti, still chasing results with Brazil, said no. A push for Thiago Motta went nowhere either. That left Andrea Pirlo, the candidate Maldini and Leonardo actually wanted, and the one who came with a problem nobody flagged in time.

Pirlo holds a sponsorship deal tied to a Russian betting firm, connected to his coaching job at UAE club FC United. In most years, that is a footnote. Italy is one of Europe's loudest supporters of Ukraine, and handing the national team job to someone with any commercial tie to Russian interests became a political problem before it ever became a soccer one. Pirlo called the deal strictly commercial and said it reflected nothing about his politics. Malagò decided the optics were not worth the risk and blocked the appointment.

Maldini reportedly told Malagò exactly what he thought on the way out the door: they do not want change. He and Leonardo resigned, and the federation went right back to the same safe names it always calls in a crisis, Roberto Mancini and Antonio Conte. What gets lost in the noise is that Italy's real problem was never a shortage of talent. The Under 18 teams and below are winning Euros and holding their own at youth World Cups. The break happens the moment those players reach senior football, when one bad half sends a promising kid to a third division loan instead of a real chance. Como manager Cesc Fàbregas has made the same point himself, describing a pipeline where the big clubs grab young players and immediately scatter them into irrelevance. Fixing that disconnect was supposed to be the entire point of bringing Maldini in. Instead the whole rebuild died over a sponsorship deal nobody checked closely enough before making the pitch.

I love Paolo Maldini. What he did at Milan, on the field and off it, is the reason I still believe one right hire can change a club's entire direction. That is exactly why this one stings. If he and Leonardo had done the same due diligence on Pirlo's sponsors that they clearly did on his coaching resume, none of this happens. That failure sits on Maldini, Leonardo, and Pirlo, not on the politicians who objected. None of it changes how I feel about this team. The Azzurri were the first team that ever made me cry and the first that made me genuinely euphoric, and I am not going anywhere. Shakespeare had a line for nights like this one: all are punished. Right now, that includes the fans too.

Javier "Chicharito" Hernández is not retiring. He is starting over in Texas.

Mexico's all-time leading scorer has signed with Atlético Dallas, the USL Championship expansion club set to begin play in 2027, becoming the team's first signing before it has played a single game. It is the ninth club of a career that has taken him from Chivas Guadalajara to Manchester United, Real Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, West Ham United, Sevilla, and LA Galaxy, where he scored 38 goals in 74 appearances from 2020 to 2023.

"I believe Dallas deserves a club that reflects its passion for football, its diversity, and its future," Hernández said in a statement. "I didn't come here simply to finish my career. I came here to help build the future of football in Dallas."

The move follows a difficult final chapter back home. Hernández returned to boyhood club Chivas and managed just three goals across the 2025 season, a stretch also marked by a federation fine over sexist remarks that drew real backlash in Mexico. He spent this summer as part of Fox's World Cup broadcast team, calling a tournament in which Mexico fell to England in the round of 16, all while his own international career has sat dormant since a final cap in 2019 despite 52 goals in 109 appearances and three World Cups.

Atlético Dallas hired former LaLiga and Ligue 1 player Peter Luccin as its first manager back in February, and sporting director Brian Corcoran framed the Hernández signing as a cultural cornerstone as much as a soccer one. "Javier gives us world-class quality on the field, but just as importantly he brings professionalism, accountability, and an unwavering commitment to winning," Corcoran said. "His willingness to mentor, combined with the qualities he will bring on the field, makes this a perfect first signing for our club." Atlético Dallas will play in the USL Championship, the country's second tier, ahead of the league's planned USL Premier first division launching in 2028.

Three years ago, Sidny Lopes Cabral was playing in Germany's fifth division and hanging bin bags for curtains. This month, voters named his extra time strike against Argentina, the one that sent his mother fainting into the arms of strangers around her, the Hyundai Goal of the Tournament for the 2026 World Cup. Real Madrid legend Marcelo was one of the ballots cast in his favor, which tells you everything about how far a good touch and a little daring can travel.

Zinedine Zidane has been officially confirmed as France's next head coach, taking over from Didier Deschamps after a fourteen year run that included a World Cup title, a World Cup final, and this summer's semifinal exit against Spain. Zidane signed a four year deal, will start August 1, and plans to name his staff in September.

The wait itself is the story here. Zidane has been out of coaching since leaving Real Madrid for the second time in 2021, and by his own account turned down club offers for four or five years specifically to stay available for this job. "I've had offers over the last four or five years to take charge of a club, and I've turned them all down for the sake of the French national team," he said at his introductory press conference at FFF headquarters in Paris. "It's the only thing I've ever wanted to do."

That patience tracks with a career that has always run through the French federation, from the under-15s to the 1998 World Cup win alongside Deschamps, Fabien Barthez, and Bixente Lizarazu, to a farewell as a player that ended in a headbutt on Marco Materazzi in the 2006 final. Zidane was careful Tuesday not to promise a wholesale reinvention of a team that just went to a World Cup semifinal. "DD is DD. Laurent Blanc is Laurent Blanc. Zizou is Zizou," he said, framing the job as continuity rather than a break from what Deschamps built.

The specifics will come later. Zidane said he has not yet spoken with Deschamps about the handover, and has deliberately held off reaching out to Kylian Mbappé about the captaincy, saying he wants to let his players rest first. What he did commit to is the calendar: three weeks with the squad in September, opening with a trip to Turkey. Beating Spain, the team that ended this summer's run, is not the only target, but it is clearly the one on his mind.

English football has a new answer for goalkeepers who slow the game down under the guise of injury. Starting this season, if a goalkeeper needs treatment, the coach has 10 seconds to send one of their own outfield players off the pitch for a full minute. Miss that window and the captain gets pulled automatically. Genuine injuries are still protected: collisions, bleeding, and fouls that require immediate treatment are all exempt.

The trial, approved by IFAB and backed jointly by the FA, Premier League, EFL, National League, and Women's Super League, runs across the men's and women's professional game in England this season, with the League Cup match between Tranmere and Rochdale set to be the first game under the new rule. If it works the way last year's eight second holding rule did, expect this to go global for 2027-28. It is one more step in the same direction: less standing around, more actual soccer.

Ciara to Headline MLS All-Star Halftime Show: Grammy winner and Seattle Sounders FC part-owner Ciara will headline the halftime show at Wednesday's MLS All-Star Game presented by Chime in Charlotte. It marks Charlotte's first time hosting MLS All-Star Week. The game airs on Apple TV in more than 100 countries.

Portland Closing in on Vincent Janssen: The Timbers are finalizing a deal for free agent forward Vincent Janssen after his departure from Belgium's Royal Antwerp, per The Athletic. Janssen, who scored 13 goals last season and previously played in Liga MX with Monterrey, would fill the roster spot left by Felipe Mora's move to Atlético San Luis. He will not occupy a designated player slot.

Nashville SC Signs Senegalese Midfielder Famara Camara: Nashville has signed defensive midfielder Famara Camara from Norway's Ranheim IL through June 2029, pending his International Transfer Certificate and P1 visa. The 21 year old has represented Senegal's U20 side and helped the team to a bronze medal at the 2023 African Games.

Cruz Azul and Inter Miami Set for Campeones Cup: Cruz Azul will face Inter Miami CF in the 2026 Campeones Cup on September 16 at Miami's Nu Stadium. La Máquina secured the trip by winning both the Clausura title and the Campeón de Campeones match over the weekend. Tickets go on sale to the public August 14.

Esther González Steps Away From Gotham FC: Spanish World Cup winner and Gotham FC's all time leading scorer Esther González has agreed to a mutual contract termination to attend to personal matters in Spain. She joined Gotham after winning the 2023 World Cup and scored the winning goal in that year's NWSL final. Gotham has since added Sam Kerr, Midge Purce, Jaedyn Shaw, and rookie Jordynn Dudley to its attack.

SDH AM, Tuesday at 9:05 AM on YouTube, Twitch, and our simulcast on the National Sports Broadcast Network: Decatur City Manager Andrea Arnold joins at 9:30 to talk Watchfest and the World Cup's lasting mark on the city and at 10:30, with the Concacaf Nations League still going, Morehouse professor and Haiti native Howard Jean-Denis gives a backgrounder on Haiti as a footballing nation and what it took for them to reach the world stage.

Atlanta Soccer Tonight, tonight at 10 PM on 92.9 The Game and the Audacy app: Will Reilly and Matt Edwards speak with the media after training, and we break down what went wrong for Atlanta United in Saturday's loss in Foxborough, plus a look ahead to Wednesday's MLS All Star Game in Charlotte.

SDH Live at the Brewhouse Cafe, Wednesday, 7 PM at the Brewhouse Cafe in South Downtown, kickoff at 8 PM: we're live for the MLS All Star Game between MLS and Liga MX, with a full breakdown of the league season so far and what the next two years of the schedule look like.

John Stones Set to Sign With Inter Milan: Free agent defender John Stones has agreed terms with Inter Milan on a two-year deal worth four million euros annually, according to Gianluca Di Marzio. Stones made 295 appearances for Manchester City, winning six Premier League titles and a Champions League trophy under Pep Guardiola.

Bundesliga in Talks Over Billion Euro Loan: German football's governing body has held discussions with U.S. investment firm Apollo Sports Capital about a one billion euro loan guaranteed against future domestic broadcast earnings. Any deal would need approval from two thirds of the Bundesliga's 36 member clubs, and past attempts at outside investment have collapsed under fan protest.

World Cup Final Referee Slavko Vincic Announces Retirement: Vincic, who took charge of Spain's extra time win over Argentina in the World Cup final, has announced his retirement one week after the match. The Slovenian became the first official from his country to referee a World Cup final, capping a career that also included the 2024 Champions League final.

Premier League Outspends Europe's Other Big Four Leagues Combined: English clubs have spent more than 1.4 billion pounds on transfers this summer, about 303 million pounds more than the Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1 and Serie A combined, according to the Guardian. Tottenham's net spend of 149.7 million pounds is the highest in Europe so far.

Luis Díaz Reportedly a Target for Al Hilal: Saudi club Al Hilal have opened negotiations for Bayern Munich winger Luis Díaz and are preparing an opening bid of at least 70 million euros, per L'Équipe. Díaz scored 26 goals and added 23 assists in 51 appearances for Bayern last season.

Italy can burn through Guardiola, Ancelotti, Motta, and Pirlo in sixteen days and still not touch the actual problem, and Nick's memo gets at something bigger than the coaching search. The federation keeps swinging for saviors while the real gap, the one between a brilliant youth pipeline and a senior team that panics the moment a kid has a rough half, sits there untouched. Loving this team was never about the federation getting it right. It was about being there before any of them, and staying after all of them are gone.

Song of the Day: "Landslide" by Fleetwood Mac. A song about watching something you love change shape under you and choosing to stay anyway, which tracks with how Nick feels about the Azzurri these days.

Jason