The game belongs to the bold. A 19-year-old dances in front of the loudest crowd in France after scoring at the Parc des Princes. A city locks in a training ground before its team has ever kicked a competitive ball. A striker from Texas lifts the Championship's highest honor. Olivia Rodrigo doesn't ask for permission either, and today she shows up in a very soccer context. The game never stops, and neither do we. Welcome to the SDH Network, Around the Corner from Everywhere.
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There is a version of ambition that waits for permission. It asks whether the moment is right, whether the crowd will approve, whether the risk is worth it. The game has very little use for that version. The stories that last are the ones where someone decided the answer was yes before anyone else thought to ask the question.
🕺 Hakimi Needs to Let Endrick Dance
Endrick is 19 years old, on loan at Lyon from Real Madrid, and he just scored and assisted in a 2-1 win over PSG at the Parc des Princes. Of course he danced. The Brazilian striker's goal celebration, a shimmy directly in front of the PSG ultras, set off a chain reaction that says a lot more about the reaction than the dance itself.
PSG defender Achraf Hakimi confronted Endrick on the pitch during the match and then explained himself afterward. "He should focus on football," Hakimi said. "But when he does things that have nothing to do with football, it irritates me, especially because we were losing." With respect to one of the best fullbacks in the world, that is a bad take. Dancing after scoring a goal has everything to do with football. It is one of the best parts of football.
Players are allowed to celebrate in opposing stadiums. Full stop. The unwritten rule that visiting players should keep it subdued after scoring is not a rule at all. It is a preference held by people who are losing. Yes, Endrick risks a hard tackle or two by poking the bear, and yes, he might fire up the home crowd. That is his call to make. He made it. Lyon won.
What makes Hakimi's complaint land even flatter is the context. This is Endrick's seventh goal in 17 appearances for Lyon. He is 19. He is auditioning for a World Cup squad spot, with Brazil's list coming out May 18. He is third in Ligue 1 with Lyon and fighting for Champions League qualification. The kid is producing. If Hakimi doesn't want Endrick dancing at the Parc des Princes, the answer is simple: don't let him score.
🏗️ Atlanta Sets the Standard as Columbus Stumbles Toward NWSL
The Marietta City Council voted 7-0 on Monday to approve the site for Atlanta's NWSL expansion team's headquarters and training facility. Seven to zero. AMB Sports and Entertainment will develop a nearly 34-acre site along Franklin Gateway, roughly a half-mile from Atlanta United's existing training ground, with four full fields, two half-pitches, and approximately 38,000 square feet of facility space. As part of the deal, the City of Marietta receives 10 acres of land for public park space and community use. The community gets something real. The vote was unanimous. This is how it is supposed to work.
It fits the pattern Atlanta has been building. When the NWSL awarded Arthur Blank's group an expansion franchise in November 2025, the ambition was stated clearly: this club would not spend its early years catching up. The most lucrative front-of-kit deal in women's sports history with Aflac was one signal. A world-class training ground in place before the 2028 debut season is another. Atlanta United did not enter MLS quietly, and Atlanta's NWSL club does not intend to either.
Now look at Columbus, Ohio. The city's council voted 5-3 Monday to approve an amended public funding proposal for its own NWSL expansion bid, with the Haslam Sports Group leading ownership. The deal involves $25 million from the city, matched by Franklin County, but it comes with significant community frustration attached. The proposed training facility site at McCoy Park displaces plans the city had already made for an inclusive neighborhood park, complete with renderings, that never got built. Council President Shannon Hardin, who voted yes, called out Mayor Ginther's administration directly for negligence and a failure to communicate. Three council members voted no. One abstained.
Columbus is a real soccer market and the Crew have built something worth building on. An NWSL team there would matter, and frankly, Columbus is almost certainly getting one. The vote passed, the bid goes forward, and the league wants them. But winning the expansion bid is now the easy part. The harder work is rebuilding trust with a southwest Columbus neighborhood that watched a promised park get traded away in a process that left them out entirely. The question was never whether this would cost Columbus an NWSL team. The question is how much extra work the city and the Haslam group now have to do to make the community feel like partners in something instead of casualties of it.

Fifty-one days. That is how long until the 2026 World Cup kicks off with Mexico hosting South Africa in Mexico City on June 11. Atlanta's summer starts four days later when Spain and Cape Verde open Group H at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on June 15. The squads are not set yet, the base camps are still filling in, and the city is already starting to feel the tournament coming. Here is where things stand today.
On The Field
The race for Spain's World Cup roster is one of the most compelling storylines of the next five weeks, and Dani Carvajal sits right at the center of it. The 34-year-old right back was a leader of the group that won Euro 2024, then tore his cruciate ligament just three months later. This season brought a hamstring injury and a second knee problem, leaving him with just 858 minutes across 19 appearances. He was left out of Spain's March squad, with Marcos Llorente and Pedro Porro preferred. But according to Diario AS, the Spain camp called Carvajal personally to tell him the door is not closed. He and Rodri Hernández are considered special cases by Luis de la Fuente's staff. Five weeks of Real Madrid football remain to make the case.
Two World Cup finalists also made head coaching changes this month. Ghana replaced Otto Addo with 73-year-old Portuguese coach Carlos Queiroz following losses to Austria and Germany in March. Queiroz is heading to his fifth consecutive World Cup and his eighth national team job overall. Saudi Arabia, meanwhile, parted ways with Hervé Renard after a difficult March window that included a 4-0 loss to Egypt, with Georgios Donis reported as the likely successor. Morocco and Tunisia have also changed coaches since qualifying, with Mohamed Ouahbi taking over in Rabat and Sabri Lamouchi leading the Tunisians. The coaching carousel is spinning fast with the tournament two months out.
Off The Field
Atlanta's own King of Pops is getting into the World Cup spirit in the most Atlanta way possible. The city's beloved popsicle brand is launching a limited-edition series of eight flavors inspired by the countries playing matches at Mercedes-Benz Stadium this summer, from a Moroccan mint tea pop to a tinto de verano inspired by Spain to a stars-and-stripes strawberry, vanilla, and blueberry for the United States. Flavor development lead Jessica Luna reportedly polled Reddit communities from each country to get the recipes as authentic as possible. The pops debut in early May, each wrapper includes a scannable code for a chance to win semifinal tickets on July 15, and the first 100 people to collect all eight flavors win a Pop Cup scarf. King of Pops will also have a setup in South Downtown on match days. This is exactly the kind of thing that makes Atlanta's World Cup summer feel like something more than a sporting event.
Nashville SC Launches Seven-Week World Cup Celebration: Nashville SC announced a seven-week Summer Kickoff at GEODIS Park running through the tournament, featuring free World Cup watch parties for all three US group stage matches, a concert series including Thomas Rhett and Niall Horan, youth soccer camps, and community events. The series caps with Nashville hosting Atlanta United on July 17, two days before the World Cup Final.
Spokane Set to Host Egypt as World Cup Base Camp: Spokane appears to be the base camp for Egypt and star Mo Salah during the World Cup, with Gonzaga's soccer facility being prepared for the team's arrival. The city's police department has already requested equipment purchases for security around the training site, though FIFA and city officials have not yet made an official confirmation. Egypt plays two matches in Seattle and one in Vancouver.
🌍 Spain Holds On, But the Pack Is Closing
FIFA released the latest Women's World Ranking on Tuesday, the first update since December, covering 276 international fixtures including a significant stretch of World Cup 2027 qualifying action. Spain holds the top spot, but the ground is shifting around them.
The USWNT stays at second, unchanged, and that positioning feels about right for where this team is. They went 2-1 in a three-match friendly series against Japan this month, which is a useful data point. A loss to the Nadeshiko in a friendly is not a crisis, but it is a reminder that the gap between the United States and the teams chasing them is narrower than it used to be. Second in the world is still a strong place to be heading into a World Cup qualifying cycle, and the Americans have work to do to reclaim the top spot from Spain.
Japan is the story of this update among the top ten. The Nadeshiko jump three places to fifth on the back of a perfect AFC Women's Asian Cup run, winning all six matches en route to the continental title and securing their World Cup 2027 berth in the process. The friendly losses to the USWNT this month did not factor into the ranking movement, but they do provide useful context: Japan is good enough to be climbing the rankings and competitive enough to take a match off the United States in the same window. They remain one of the genuinely dangerous teams in world football heading toward Brazil 2027.
The England-Spain subplot is worth watching. Spain lost to England last week in a World Cup qualifying fixture, their only blemish in this cycle, yet still hold first place. England climbs one spot to third as a result, leapfrogging Germany in the process. Two of the last three Women's World Cup finals have featured Spain and England. The next one is in Brazil in 2027. Neither team looks like it is going anywhere.
🏘️ Domestic Focus
Jonathan Klinsmann Hospitalized After On-Field Collision: Cesena goalkeeper Jonathan Klinsmann was diagnosed with a fracture to the first cervical vertebra and suffered a head laceration during his club's 2-0 loss to Palermo on Saturday in Italian Serie B. The injury occurred in stoppage time when Palermo's Filippo Ranocchia's foot struck Klinsmann's head as both players slid toward a loose ball near the goal area. The 29-year-old, who has started 65 of Cesena's last 66 matches, posted on Instagram expressing gratitude to those at the stadium and hospital in Palermo. Cesena confirmed he would undergo further tests and a specialist neurosurgical consultation.
Haji Wright Named to EFL Championship Team of the Season: The 27-year-old American forward earned the honor at the EFL's annual awards ceremony after scoring 16 goals for Coventry City, second in the Championship this season. Wright's performances helped the Sky Blues clinch promotion to the Premier League, ending a 25-year absence from the top flight. He was joined on the team by Coventry teammates Milan van Ewijk and Matt Grimes. Wright joins Antonee Robinson (Fulham, 2022) and Josh Sargent (Norwich City, 2025) as the only Americans named to the Championship's Team of the Season.
📍 Around the Corner
I'm heading to Atlanta United training this morning to hear from Cooper Sanchez and Tata Martino ahead of tomorrow night's match against New England at the Benz. There are real questions about what's clicking and what isn't for this attack right now, and I'm looking forward to hearing their perspective this morning.
Atlanta Soccer Tonight
10:00 PM on 92.9 The Game and the Audacy app: Everything from training feeds into tonight's show. We'll dig into what Atlanta United's attack has and hasn't been doing, what Tata and Cooper had to say, and what to watch for Wednesday night. Come find out what's going on with this team before they take the field.
SDH AM
9:05 AM on YouTube and Twitch: Jon Nelson has a great one this morning. MLS and NWSL commentator Kacey White is in to make sense of a busy weekend across the league, and Mary Persons High School coach Jacob Haygood joins to talk GHSA state playoffs, which kick off today. Georgia high school soccer's biggest stage starts now, and Haygood knows it better than anyone.
☕ The Refill: News from Around the World
Wolves Relegated From the Premier League: Wolverhampton Wanderers' eight-year run in the top flight is over after West Ham's draw at Crystal Palace on Monday confirmed their drop to the Championship. Rob Edwards' side had been sliding toward the second tier for months, and now the hard work of rebuilding begins under interim chairman Nathan Shi.
Toney Sends Al-Ahli to AFC Champions League Elite Final: Ivan Toney scored the winner as Al-Ahli came from behind to beat Vissel Kobe 2-1 in Monday's semifinal, with Galeno's curling equalizer setting up Toney's decisive finish. The Saudi side will face either Shabab Al-Ahli or Machida Zelvia in Saturday's final in Jeddah as they chase back-to-back titles.
Hagi Returns to Lead Romania: Romanian legend Gheorghe Hagi has signed a four-year deal to manage the national team for a second time, following the death of Mircea Lucescu earlier this month. The man who led Romania to three consecutive World Cup knockout rounds in 1990, 1994, and 1998 inherits a team that missed out on the 2026 tournament and sets his sights on the 2028 European Championship.
Real Madrid Closing In on Arbeloa's Replacement: Florentino Perez is set to meet with manager Alvaro Arbeloa in the coming days, with reports suggesting it is "difficult" to see him staying beyond this season. The profile emerging for his successor: experienced, a winner, and someone who commands immediate respect in the dressing room, with Jurgen Klopp among the names linked.
La Liga to Use Fully Automated Offside From 2026-27: La Liga president Javier Tebas confirmed the Spanish top flight intends to implement fully automated offside technology next season, using FIFA-approved microchips embedded in match balls to deliver instantaneous decisions and eliminate the contentious use of manual video frames entirely.
Banfield Coach Troglio Fires Back at Media: Argentine coach Pedro Troglio held a fiery press conference after his side's draw with Independiente Rivadavia, directly confronting reporters he accused of calling for his dismissal. "You can criticize me severely and disagree with me, and I accept that," Troglio said. "But you can't demand the coach's head." It is a reminder of the immense pressure coaches carry and how relentless media scrutiny can turn a rough patch into a full-blown crisis before anyone has had a chance to fix anything.
🏁 Final Whistle
The through line of today's edition is simple: the game rewards the bold. Endrick danced because he scored and he could. Atlanta is building because it intends to matter before day one. Haji Wright is going to the Premier League because he put in the work. The ones who play it safe, keep their heads down, and wait their turn are not the ones writing the stories worth telling.
I'll be at training this morning and on the air tonight at 10. See you then.
Song of the Day: "Drop Dead" by Olivia Rodrigo. Her new single drops just as Spotify prepares to put her name on Barcelona's shirt for El Clasico, which feels about right for a Tuesday when the game keeps reminding everyone that the boldest moves get the biggest stages.
Jason

