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Atlanta United welcomes NYCFC to Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Saturday night with five regulars away on international duty and six points separating the two teams. Tata Martino likes the answers his rebuilt roster is finding. What he keeps asking is whether they're coming in time. Also in today's edition: Europe's biggest leagues take aim at FIFA's leadership, the USMNT starts a new World Cup cycle against Peru, and the U.S. U-17 women name their roster for Morocco.

Tata Martino has spent most of this season asking his team to be the protagonist, to keep the ball and make the other side react. In Portland last Saturday, Atlanta United didn't always get to do that. For long stretches, the Timbers had the game. Atlanta held anyway, won 1-0 on Alexey Miranchuk's sixth goal of the season, and Martino walked into Thursday's media availability calling it the best performance of the year.

"We were solid with the ball, and we were solid when the opponent had it," Martino said in Spanish. "We had to suffer, and we did it well. If you measure the quality of the opponent, playing away from home, I think it was the performance I'd single out most this year."

The evidence backs him up. Atlanta has back-to-back clean sheets for the first time since October 2025. Giuliano Galoppo went 63 minutes in his debut and combined with Miranchuk like they'd been doing it for months, not a handful of training sessions. Breel Embolo won eight duels, a season high, and now sits fifth in MLS in that category. Matt Edwards, thrown in early when Tomás Jacob started feeling something, logged 12 defensive contributions in 58 minutes and turned his matchup with Portland winger Kristoffer Velde into a personal feud. "Once he started getting in my face and pulling my jersey, I think that helped me get more involved," Edwards said. "I like that stuff because it fuels me. It makes me go a little harder."

Saturday tests how much of that holds without much of the spine. Seven Atlanta players were called up for the international window. Embolo and Cooper Sanchez will play Saturday before joining their national teams, but Miranchuk, Miguel Almirón, Júnior Alonso, Paulo Díaz, and Fafa Picault are already gone. Martino is calling up Daniel Chica and Cameron Dunbar from Atlanta United 2, which just clinched an MLS NEXT Pro playoff spot. Chica came up as an attacker and midfielder, took the first chance a pro coach gave him at center back, and told me earlier this season he models his game after Thiago Silva. Dunbar, MLS NEXT Pro's Playmaker of the Year, had nine goals and 13 assists and plays a drifting, cut-inside role that looks a lot like where Almirón and Miranchuk live in the first team. Whether a third call-up comes depends on Jacob, but Martino said "so far, we're optimistic." He also made a case for MLS loosening its rules on using second-team homegrowns: "There are kids who put in a lot of effort and earn a lot, and limiting their chances to play for the first team doesn't seem right to me."

Edwards, who came through that same academy, kept his advice for Chica and Dunbar simple. "Play with the same confidence that they play with down there," he said. With Alonso and Díaz gone, more of the organizing falls to him, wherever he lines up. "Left back, right back, center back, I need to be able to do all those," he said.

New York City FC comes to Mercedes-Benz Stadium (7:30 p.m. Saturday, Apple TV and 92.9 The Game) sitting 10th in the East with 32 points, six clear of Atlanta in 14th. It isn't arriving in form. NYCFC has one win in its last eight, capped by a 1-0 loss to Red Bull New York in the Hudson River Derby that turned on a soft James Sands back pass. Nicolás Fernández Mercau has 15 goals, triple anyone else on the roster, and he won't sit in the box waiting for service. NYCFC is short-handed too, with goalkeeper Matt Freese among its international absences, and it claimed former MLS Defender of the Year Matt Miazga off waivers this week to shore up the back line. Martino wasn't interested in complaining about the calendar. "I don't think it's right," he said of playing through the window, "but there's no complaint, because the rest of the teams, New York City included, have the same problem we do."

"We're playing catch-up, so every game is important," Edwards said. "We know we need a result here." Martino put it more starkly. The answers are coming now, he said, as a rebuilt roster finally starts playing together. What he keeps returning to is "whether we'll still be in time. That's what I regret most."

When the plan surfaced in July, it caught nearly everyone off guard. Gianni Infantino wanted to spin FIFA's commercial rights, World Cup included, into a new company called the FIFA Forward Enterprise, valued at $20 billion, and sell about 20 percent of it to private investors in a deal anchored by Josh Kushner, brother of President Trump's son-in-law. Each of FIFA's 211 member federations was offered $20 million to approve it. UEFA, CONCACAF, and the Asian Football Confederation fought back, pointing out that FIFA could hand every federation $10 million straight from reserves that now top $5 billion after a successful World Cup. The plan was dead before July was over.

The plan is gone. The fight isn't. This morning, the Premier League, LaLiga, Serie A, and the Bundesliga issued a joint response, and it was blunt. The four leagues said football "has suffered one of the biggest abuses of power in FIFA's history" and accused Infantino of promoting "exploitative ideas rather than safeguarding against them." They stopped short of calling for him to step down. They didn't need to. "Now is the moment to decide not only who will lead FIFA," they wrote, "but also how FIFA should be led."

This is the latest chapter in a long argument. Europe's leagues have spent years pushing back on FIFA's expanding calendar of international competitions, which they say wears down players and chips away at domestic soccer, and they filed a formal complaint about FIFA's governance with the European Commission in 2023. What they're asking for now is structural: a permanent body giving national associations, leagues, clubs, and players from the men's and women's game a real say in decisions, a firm wall between FIFA's role as regulator and its role as a business, and decisions grounded in evidence. "FIFA's governance problem goes far beyond the role of one individual," they said.

Infantino has tried to get ahead of it. Earlier this week, he wrote to the FIFA Council and all 211 federation presidents proposing an independent external review of how FIFA makes major decisions, and the 37-member Council will take it up at an Oct. 15 meeting in Zurich. "This is not about generating positive headlines," he wrote Thursday on Instagram. "It is about doing what is right for the game." The leagues weren't moved, calling surface-level process changes in the aftermath of the failed plan "not enough."

The clock that matters most is the election. Infantino still plans to run next year for a final term through 2031, and three of his own vice presidents on the Council, UEFA's Aleksander Čeferin, CONCACAF's Victor Montagliani, and the AFC's Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, have led the opposition to him. The candidate deadline is Nov. 18, four months before FIFA's members vote in Morocco on March 18. The leagues want whoever files by then to run on reform. Infantino, for now, is running on listening.

The road to 2030 started this week in Fayetteville. Mauricio Pochettino opened the first U.S. Men's National Team camp of the new World Cup cycle at the Arthur M. Blank U.S. Soccer National Training Center with 13 uncapped players on the roster. Saturday, they get their first test against Peru at Inter.co Stadium in Orlando (4:30 p.m. ET on TNT, HBO Max, Telemundo, Universo, and Peacock), the first of four friendlies in 11 days. Chile follows Tuesday in St. Louis, then Mexico on Oct. 3 in Glendale, Ariz., and Canada on Oct. 6 in St. Paul.

Most of the newcomers didn't come out of nowhere. Eight of the 13 played at youth World Cups last year: Cole Campbell, Zavier Gozo, Peyton Miller, Brooklyn Raines, and Frankie Westfield at the U-20 level, and Mathis Albert, Julian Hall, and Cavan Sullivan at the U-17 level. Hall, for what it's worth, scored the winner for Red Bull New York against NYCFC in last weekend's Hudson River Derby. Tyler Adams knows that road. He was 14 at his first youth national team camp, alongside Christian Pulisic and Weston McKennie, and all three were part of the team that won Group D this summer and set a program record for wins at a single World Cup. "When I look at the players that I came through with, there's this ability of trust, of chemistry, of understanding the places that we want to be on the field," Adams said. "We can't take for granted the opportunity to play with a Youth National Team."

Gozo might be the clearest picture of where this group is headed. The 19-year-old winger from Utah had never lived anywhere else until last month, when a breakout spring with Real Salt Lake (six goals and five assists in 16 MLS matches) earned him a reported $15 million move to Crystal Palace. He made his Premier League debut off the bench against Manchester City on Aug. 22 and has been fighting for minutes since, which is exactly what he signed up for. "It was just about development for me," Gozo said, "and every day coming in and going from being one of the best players on my team in the MLS and going back to being the worst player on the team again." He's a natural attacker, but Pochettino could use him at wingback behind World Cup veterans Sergiño Dest and Antonee Robinson, and he's eligible for the 2028 Olympic team too.

He has help. Chris Richards, the Alabama native who anchored the U.S. back line at this summer's World Cup, is in his fifth season at Palace and lives right across the street from Gozo in London. Richards's daughter, Luna, has already adopted the new neighbor. "Having guys like Chris there to help me and guide me, and make me feel comfortable where I'm at," Gozo said, "I kind of have a mini-family like right across the street." Every newcomer in camp has to sing in front of the group as part of their initiation. Gozo went with "Let Me Love You" by Mario, and Richards said he surprised everybody.

These friendlies carry a little more weight than usual. The U.S. will learn its CONCACAF Nations League quarterfinal opponent during this window, with the home leg set for Cincinnati on Nov. 17. The next World Cup is four years away. The next game that counts is less than two months out.

Last fall's U.S. Under-17 Women's World Cup run ended at the penalty spot: a 1-1 draw with the Netherlands in the Round of 16, then a 7-6 loss in the shootout. Two players from that team are going back for another shot. Head coach Ciara Crinion named her 21-player roster Thursday for this year's tournament in Morocco, which runs Oct. 17 to Nov. 7. The Americans open Group E against Samoa in Rabat on Oct. 19 at 1 p.m. ET, then face China PR and Kenya.

Maddie DiMaria is one of those two returners, alongside defender Meila Brewer of Dallas Trinity FC, the only professional on the roster. DiMaria is the most-capped player in the group with 18 appearances and its leading scorer at this level with 12 goals. When this team held its final pre-tournament camp in Fayetteville in August, she stood out to me more than anyone. She was dangerous every time she got the ball, and just as dangerous making runs without it. She saved her best for the camp finale, a hat trick (two from the penalty spot) in a 4-1 win over Canada, with our own Madison Crews on the call.

Then there's Loradana Paletta. She's the youngest player on the roster, born in 2011, and she'll still be 15 when the tournament kicks off. You wouldn't know it watching her. Paletta is incredibly talented on the ball, and she made things happen all over the field, again and again. She already has 16 caps at this level, recently trained with the U.S. Under-20s before their World Cup in Poland, and plays her club soccer in NYCFC's boys academy. Yes, that NYCFC.

The attack is what makes this group so much fun. The U.S. went unbeaten in that August camp, drawing Mexico 1-1 and beating Chile 1-0 before the Canada win. Amari Manning scored twice, and Deus Stanislaus came off the bench to head home the winner against Chile. Go back to CONCACAF qualifying in Costa Rica this spring and 14 players on this roster helped win all three group games by a combined 32-0, with Stanislaus leading the way on six goals. This group scores, and it scores in bunches. "We know how important World Cups are in developing our young players for the future," Crinion said.

Last fall ended at the penalty spot. This fall starts against Samoa on Oct. 19.

Atlanta United 2 Picks CT United for Its First-Ever Playoff Game: As the No. 3 seed in the East, Atlanta United 2 chose No. 7 seed CT United FC as its Eastern Conference quarterfinal opponent during Wednesday's MLS NEXT Pro Pick-Your-Opponent Selection Show. The match is Friday, Oct. 16, at 6 p.m. at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta Training Ground, with tickets on sale to the public Oct. 1 and the broadcast on OneFootball and MLSNEXTPro.com. Atlanta (14-9-5, 48 points) beat CT United 4-1 in the teams' only meeting this season and brings the league's Golden Boot winner, Arif Kovac (20 goals), and Playmaker of the Year, Cameron Dunbar (13 assists, tying the league's single-season record).

Two Atlanta United 2 Players Called Up to the U.S. U-17s: Goalkeeper James Donaldson and midfielder Ignacio Suarez-Couri will join the U.S. Under-17 Men's National Team in Spain for friendlies against the Republic of Ireland (Sept. 30), Norway (Oct. 3), and the Netherlands (Oct. 6). Donaldson made seven starts for ATL UTD 2 this season and kept a clean sheet in his professional debut, a 2-0 win over Inter Miami CF II in April. Suarez-Couri had five goals and two assists in 24 appearances and made his MLS debut off the bench at Charlotte FC in July.

Netflix Wants In on the Men's World Cup: Netflix executive Bela Bajaria said this week the streamer will stay in the conversation for U.S. rights to the 2030 and 2034 men's World Cups, which have already drawn interest from Disney, YouTube, and Fox as FIFA holds preliminary talks. Netflix already owns U.S. and Canadian rights to the 2027 and 2031 Women's World Cups. Fox aired this summer's tournament in English, and FIFA could sell English- and Spanish-language rights together going forward.

Messi Buys the House Next Door: An LLC linked to Lionel Messi paid $8 million for a five-bedroom waterfront home next to the Fort Lauderdale house he bought in 2023 for $10.8 million, Bloomberg reported. Bloomberg noted the purchase could signal Messi intends to stay in South Florida; he signed a contract extension with Inter Miami last year.

SDH AM is live right now on our YouTube and Twitch channels and on the National Sports Broadcast Network, and this morning's lineup is stacked. Jon Nelson is joined by NYCFC radio play-by-play voice Glenn Crooks and Apple TV's Calen Carr, Marcelo Balboa, and Diego Valeri to break down the MLS weekend. No other show gives you this many of the voices calling this league on a regular basis. If you're an MLS fan, Friday is becoming appointment viewing, and with NYCFC's own play-by-play voice in the room the day before it visits Mercedes-Benz Stadium, you'll want to hear this one.

Tonight, I'll be on the call at Oglethorpe University as the Stormy Petrels women host nationally ranked Emory at 7:30 p.m. A ranked opponent on a Friday night in Brookhaven is a great way to start your soccer weekend. If you can't make it out, I'll have the call on FloSports.

Saturday night, I'm on the radio call for Atlanta United and NYCFC with Mike Conti on 92.9 The Game. Abe Gordon and Madison Crews get you ready on the Five Stripes Countdown at 6:30 p.m. before the 7:30 kickoff. With five regulars away and six points on the table, that's a game you want to hear. Watching on Apple TV? You can switch the audio over to our call.

Then Sunday, I'm back at Georgia State for the men's match against Coastal Carolina, with Madison joining me on the call at 4 p.m. on ESPN+.

Georgia State Stays Perfect at Home: Georgia State beat Georgia Southern 2-1 Thursday night at the GSU Soccer Complex to improve to 5-0-0 at home this season. Himari Sato scored her first goal of the year in the 31st minute off a Brielle Delgado assist, and Aaliyah Faddoul converted a penalty early in the second half for her seventh goal. Goalkeeper Alondra Iriarte made six saves as the Panthers (6-3-1, 1-1-0 Sun Belt) held off a late Eagles push; they play at South Alabama Sunday at 2 p.m. on ESPN+.

I had the call on ESPN+ last night. Here's Sato's brilliant opener.

Georgia Grabs a Road Point at Arkansas: Georgia drew 2-2 at Arkansas Thursday, with Mona Childs scoring on her 20th birthday and Kieryn Jeter netting the first goal of her college career off a Kiera Staude assist. Arkansas earned 16 corners, the most ever by a Georgia opponent, but goalkeeper Jordan Brown and the Bulldogs (3-3-4, 0-1-2 SEC) held on for a point. Georgia has now earned a point in 18 of 21 SEC road matches under Keidane McAlpine and plays at LSU Sunday at 7 p.m. on SEC Network+.

No. 6 Georgia Gwinnett Men Look to Bounce Back at Pikeville: The Grizzlies (4-2-1) visit Pikeville today at 1 p.m., looking to rebound from a 1-0 loss to No. 23 University of the Cumberlands decided with 16 seconds left. GGC has won all three of its road matches this season, and sophomore Ousmane Fall leads the team with six goals. The Grizzlies return home Tuesday to host No. 3 Cumberland University in a White Out match.

Georgia Gwinnett Women Fall Short in Ranked Road Test: No. 22 Georgia Gwinnett rallied from two goals down but fell 2-1 at No. 13 Southeastern University in Lakeland, Fla., Thursday. Sophomore Barbora Kadlecova scored her third goal of the season from the penalty spot in the 67th minute. "We have outshot or tied in shots every single team we have played," head coach Dr. Mike Giuliano said. "But, shots don't equal wins, goals do."

Covenant Blanks Oglethorpe in Atlanta: Covenant sophomore Carter Weekley scored his first career goal from the penalty spot in the second half as the Scots won 1-0 at Oglethorpe Thursday. Sophomore goalkeeper J.T. Tolson made four saves for his first career shutout. Oglethorpe (4-2-2) keeper Sebastian Lewis stopped five shots in the loss.

Yalcouye Stars on Debut as Ivory Coast Beats Ghana: Brighton & Hove Albion's Malick Yalcouye, 20, scored from outside the box just before halftime and won the penalty Franck Kessié converted in the 58th minute as Ivory Coast beat Ghana 2-0 in Bouaké to open Africa Cup of Nations qualifying. It was Hervé Renard's first match back in charge of the team he led to the 2015 title, while an injury-hit Ghana played without Mohammed Kudus and Antoine Semenyo. Tunisia, the only one of Africa's 10 World Cup teams not to advance past the group stage, was held 1-1 at home by Uganda.

Curaçao Rallies From 3-0 Down to Beat Costa Rica: Curaçao trailed Costa Rica 3-0 after an hour of its CONCACAF Nations League opener Thursday and won 4-3, with substitute Tahith Chong scoring the second goal after Dick Advocaat made three changes. The win puts Curaçao atop its group after a summer in which it scored its first World Cup goal against Germany and drew Ecuador 0-0.

Havertz Leaves Germany Camp With Muscle Injury: Kai Havertz left Germany's squad after a scan revealed a muscle sprain he suffered in the 30th minute of a 1-1 draw with the Netherlands. The 27-year-old returns to Arsenal for treatment after starting all five of its Premier League matches this season, and the club is hopeful the injury isn't serious. Arsenal hosts Leeds on Oct. 10.

Alaba Signs With Udinese: David Alaba, 34, joined Udinese as a free agent through the end of the season after his Real Madrid contract expired. The Austrian arrives with four Champions League titles between Madrid and Bayern Munich, making him the most decorated player in Serie A. Udinese sits 13th with four points from five matches and visits Torino on Oct. 12.

Bonmatí Says Liga F Is Losing Its Stars: Three-time Ballon d'Or winner Aitana Bonmatí told Marca that Spain's top women's league is "far off" being a top league, pointing to how many players leave each year, especially for England. Barcelona players including Alexia Putellas, Ona Batlle, and Mapi León have left for the WSL in recent seasons, and Salma Paralluelo left for OL Lyonnes, even as the club won seven straight league titles.

Burnham Calls Stadium Alcohol Ban "Discrimination": UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the 1985 law barring fans from drinking alcohol in view of the pitch at men's professional matches in England, Scotland, and Wales unfairly singles out football supporters, and suggested a trial as one way to change it. Government sources told the BBC the comments reflected Burnham's personal view, not a policy announcement. The Football Supporters' Association welcomed the remarks, while the UK Football Policing Unit warned that easing the ban would fuel disorder.

American Investor Buys 40 Percent of Legia Warsaw: Michael Gorzynski, an American investor of Polish heritage, acquired 40 percent of Legia Warsaw and became chairman of the club's supervisory board. Owner Dariusz Mioduski keeps a 60 percent majority, and the deal includes newly issued shares and a loan facility the club says will reduce debt and increase its ability to invest.

Scandinavia Cashes In on the Transfer Market: Danish clubs took in $194 million in international transfer fees during this summer's window while spending $70.8 million, according to FIFA data, and Swedish clubs brought in $117 million against $31.7 million spent. Denmark's income topped that of Türkiye, Argentina, and Scotland, while Belgian ($515 million) and Dutch ($405 million) clubs also sold far more than they bought.

This edition traveled a long way, from FIFA's power struggle in Zurich to a U-17 World Cup in Morocco, and it keeps coming back to one place. Saturday night, Atlanta United hosts NYCFC at Mercedes-Benz Stadium without five regulars, six points behind the team across the field, and coming off what its coach called the best performance of the year. Tata Martino says the answers are finally arriving. Saturday is a chance to show they're arriving in time.

The Five Stripes Countdown starts at 6:30 p.m. on 92.9 The Game, and Mike Conti and I will have the call at 7:30. See you Saturday.

Song of the Day: 'Coat of Many Colors' by Dolly Parton. It's Dolly Parton Day, and there's no better song for a team stitching a lineup together from whatever pieces it has left and wearing it proudly.

Jason