How a five-a-side facility in Wimbledon helped Trinity Rodman return from back injury

When Trinity Rodman thundered in that stoppage-time winner for the Washington Spirit against the Portland Thorns in the NWSL on Aug. 3, it was a comeback goal celebrated throughout the 16,000-strong crowd at Audi Field. A small corner of Wimbledon, south London, also rejoiced in that moment.

The U.S. women’s national team forward made a successful return to football after a four-month absence due to a back injury she says might never fully heal. After her volley earned the Spirit a 2-1 victory, the 23-year-old was overcome with emotion, having thought she might not get to experience that feeling again.

“That was just the hardest thing I’ve had to go through, injury and everything,” Rodman told ESPN. “Being back, and being at the home stadium with the crowd behind me, scoring a goal like that — you saw I buried that. I wasn’t going to miss it.”

Thousands of miles away at Goals Wimbledon, a soccer centre that rents out five-a-side pitches for personal use, they feel like a small but proud part of Rodman’s comeback trail.

At the end of June, Rodman, an Olympic champion in France last summer, was in England supporting her boyfriend, No. 6 world-ranked professional tennis player Ben Shelton, as he reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon. Fresh from being the face of Adidas’ advertising campaign for the F50 Sparkfusion women’s football boots, Rodman walked up to the Goals reception desk and asked manager Barry Horsnell if she could hire one of its (artificial turf) pitches.

Horsnell didn’t know who this person was at first, but sensed she was famous. Her American accent, along with the fact she had turned up with a coach — Josh Angulo, the Spirit’s team chiropractor, who was accompanying her in Europe — piqued his interest.

Trinity Rodman signing a ball at Goals Wimbledon. (Barry Horsnell / Goals Wimbledon)

“I’m nosy, so I’ll just ask (people) questions,” Horsnell tells The Athletic. “She said she was here for the tennis, with her other half playing at Wimbledon.

“I said: ‘I really want to pretend that I know who you are, but I don’t’. She just laughed and was so nice about it.”

Rodman began training on pitch No. 11 — a seven-a-side field at the far end of the facility called Estadio Centenario, after the national stadium of Uruguay. As she ran through drills for an hour and a half, back in the office, Horsnell typed Rodman’s name into Google and was blown away by her level of stardom. Rodman rented the pitch that day for £6 (just over $8) per hour per person. It would be the last time she would have to do so.

Horsnell refused to charge them on later visits but did ask one thing in return — if fans spotted Rodman training on his pitches, which sit next to a golf driving range and a motorcycle-riding school, would she be OK with posing for photographs with them? Rodman kindly agreed, and it wasn’t long before locals spotted her being put through her paces and finding the top corner on repeat during shooting practice.

Sisters Sophie and Emily Day train at the centre. Sophie is 13 and plays as a centre-back for Brighton & Hove Albion’s academy, a 90-minute drive to the south, and Emily, 10, is in west London club Chelsea’s youth pathway.

“There are so many good female role models for girls, and so much more opportunity now as well,” their father, Richard, says, after finding out Rodman trained here. “Opportunities which just didn’t exist. And when you listen to the players that are coming towards the ends of their careers, the opportunities they’re seeing for girls that are going into the game versus what they had – but they’ve paved the way for it.”

The clientele of Goals Wimbledon are accustomed to celebrity visitors. Nigel James, father of England and Chelsea stars Lauren and Reece James, runs his youth academy from there, with plenty of appearances from his daughter and son over the years.

“There was a girl training with Nigel James Elite Coaching; she was doing a one-to-one session with a coach. I watched Trinity walk out and I thought: ‘I wonder if she’ll recognise her’,” Horsnell says. “As soon as Trinity walked out, you could just see this girl’s eyes light up. She knew straight away who Trinity was, and she couldn’t concentrate on her own football for the next 10 minutes.”

But like Horsnell on her first arrival, not everybody recognised Rodman.

Every few minutes, trains speed by behind the center’s pitches, running back and forth from the suburbs of New Malden and Raynes Park in the direction of central London’s Waterloo station or towns southwest of the city, such as Richmond.

“There were hundreds of people going past, and they wouldn’t have realised who was training on that pitch. There were people playing on the other pitches as she walked past that wouldn’t have known who she was either,” Horsnell says. “It’s mad, isn’t it?”

Rodman – front row, second left – watching boyfriend Shelton at Wimbledon (Mike Hewitt / Getty Images)

Rodman was in London as Shelton, 22, was defeated by eventual Wimbledon champion Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals. A month before that, she had been in Paris watching as he reached the fourth round of the French Open, where he was also defeated by the eventual champion, Carlos Alcaraz.

As Shelton won the Canadian Open just over a week ago, Rodman, now back with the Spirit and building up her minutes, watched on television as her partner won his first ATP Masters 1000 title. And before the U.S. Open, which starts in New York this week, she paid a visit to the Cincinnati Masters to watch him win his opening match against Camilo Ugo Carabelli.

Back in Wimbledon, they are still marvelling at the fact that Rodman trained there. Feeling inspired by her visit and England’s Lionesses winning a second straight European Championship in Switzerland last month, Horsnell and his colleagues are excited about watching the center’s new women’s five-a-side league go from strength to strength.

“Even though we only met her a few times over that couple of weeks, it’s mad to see her scoring that last-minute goal and feeling more emotionally connected to it than we might have otherwise been,” he says. “You’d be happy for anyone scoring a last-minute goal, but we know what it means to her and are happy we could help play a small part.”

Trinity Rodman celebrates after scoring a stoppage-time winner for the Spirit (Roger Wimmer / ISI Photos via Getty Images)

“There was no air of arrogance, and her celebration for that goal was the same. It was so humble, she was just so happy to score it — and that is exactly how she came across. I know now how big a star she is in America and in women’s football, but each day that I met her, she was just so normal.”

Horsnell came out of it all with a Rodman-autographed football for his 11-year-old niece.

“I showed her the ball and she didn’t know who had signed it. Then I showed her the photo on my phone and she was like, ‘Oh my god! That’s Trinity Rodman!’”

Rodman will not be forgotten soon around these parts.

(Top photo: Dustin Satloff / NWSL via Getty Images)

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3 award-winning movies to watch on Netflix this weekend (June 12-14)

Netflix hosts a large library of award-winning movies, but finding the right one for your weekend streaming can sometimes feel harder than it should. While the latest trending titles may be all over your Netflix home, there are plenty of acclaimed films that are worth searching for.

This month, with Netflix’s summer roster heating up, new releases have left viewers spoiled for choice. June’s streaming schedule has also brought in some amazing older films that you should add to your watchlist. Here are three award-winning films streaming on Netflix U.S. this week.

Poor Things

A second chance at life

Poor Things is definitely one of the most eccentric films I’ve watched, but the premise was enough to keep me invested in the mind-bending thriller. Directed by Yorgos Lanthimos (Bugonia), the sci-fi film follows Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a young woman who is brought back to life by Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe) after her death. However, Bella returns with her unborn child’s brain, and she has to learn about the world in an adult body.

As she rapidly develops intellectually and emotionally, Bella becomes very curious about everything around her. Refusing to live under the protection of her creator, she leaves home with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a morally questionable lawyer. Together, the couple embarks on an adventure that takes them across Europe. Bella then experiences life and society for the first time and discovers herself along the way.

Poor Things was a decorated film, winning four Academy Awards, including Best Actress for Stone, and taking home two Golden Globe Awards: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actress for Stone.

Another Round

Four more shots, please

Want to dip your toes in something outside of Hollywood? Another Round is a perfect watch for fans of Hannibal actor Mads Mikkelsen. The Danish comedy follows four high school teachers who feel stuck in a loop of monotony and existential boredom. Inspired by a theory that humans function better with a small amount of alcohol constantly in their system, the group decides to conduct a scientific experiment on themselves: to maintain a steady level of intoxication throughout the workday at a 0.05% blood alcohol level (BAC) and see what happens.

At first, the results seem positive, with their confidence and creativity improving, and life feeling more exciting. As the experiment escalates, the four teachers slowly increase the BAC, and things start going sideways, affecting their careers and families.

Mikkelsen delivers one of the best performances of his career (which says a lot given his filmography), with a strong supporting cast and excellent writing that keeps you invested in the train wreck that slowly unfolds. Another Round won the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film and was also nominated for Best Director (Thomas Vinterberg).

The Theory of Everything

The story behind a brilliant mind

A biographical film that stays with you for a long time after you watch it, The Theory of Everythingis a masterpiece in filmmaking and acting. It tells the true story of late physicist Stephen Hawking (played by Eddie Redmayne), from his education to his later research. The film begins during Hawking’s years at Cambridge University, where his intellect shines bright. Here, he meets literature student Jane Wilde (Felicity Jones), and the two fall in love. Their future seems bright until Hawking receives a devastating diagnosis of motor neuron disease (ALS), with doctors predicting he has only a few years to live.

Rather than giving in to the debilitating illness, Hawking continues pursuing groundbreaking research, stunning his peers and the world with his resilience. The Theory of Everything shows all that unfolds in Hawking’s notable journey, from his scientific achievements to the complexities of his relationship with Jane as the reality of the illness sets in.

For his stellar performance, Redmayne won the Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, and BAFTA Award for Best Actor.

The next time you’re stuck scrolling through Netflix, check out the platform’s collections (from award winners and nominees to seasonal ones) so you can escape the loop of stale recommendations. You can also filter and search better using Netflix’s secret codes, a great tool in your discovery arsenal.

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“I Had A Lot Of Awful Jobs”: Why Eric Church Got Fired From a Home Shopping Network

Yeah, that’ll get you canned pretty quick.

Of course these days Eric Church has a pretty sweet gig, making music that he loves, playing for crowds of adoring fans, and selling out arenas and amphitheaters around the country. But well before he was the country music legend that he is today, Church found himself in a situation that most of us find ourselves in at some point in life… working a terrible job just to scrape up some money.

And for Eric, that meant selling knives for a home shopping network. To be fair, it doesn’t sound all that bad, but according to Eric, he wasn’t very good at it, and there was one reason why… he actually encouraged callers to NOT but knives… why? Well, because they had no business owning one.

The Early Years

After graduating from Appalachian State, Church moved to Nashville to try to catch his big break in the music business. Of course, you don’t just immediately move to Nashville and become a country star overnight… well, these days some bozo can blow up on TikTok and get a record deal overnight… but generally, it took a lot of work and sometimes, a lot of luck. And Eric had to work some pretty terrible side jobs to support himself while he was grinding it out in his music career.

And according to Church, the worst was working the overnight shift at the shop at home network.

“I’ve had a lot of awful jobs…my worst one was when I first came to Nashville. I got a job at the Shop at Home Network. I worked midnight, graveyard, midnight to eight.

That was bad enough but then I would work all night, go home, shower and then I had writing appointments all day because I was trying to get a career started.

I’d go write songs and get meetings just trying to get signed. And end up getting done at 3 of 4 with all of that, I’d go home, take a shower or sleep for a little bit and then I had to be at work again at midnight.”

Yeah, that sounds miserable enough as it is. But Eric said that wasn’t the reason he didn’t stay at the job very long. It turns out, it had something to do with the product he was selling:

“I sold knives from midnight to 7 or 8am. And, anytime somebody calls you at 3 or 4am and needs 200 knives for $19.95, it’s automatically an alarming situation.

And I just, I was young and I’d been in a lot of these people’s shoes, I had done this…I knew they were drunk. I knew what they had done. They’d just come home from the bar, flipped on Shop at Home and said, ‘You know what? I need that.’”

200 knives for $19.95? Something sounds off there… they can’t possibly be good knives. But that’s beside the point…

That being said, it’s pretty easy to do some drunk shopping, whether it’s online at Amazon or from some 3am infomercial that came on the TV while you drunkenly wolf down some Taco Bell.

But apparently Church wasn’t quite so eager to sell knives to people in the middle of the night:

“So the reason the job didn’t last long for me is that I was maybe the worst salesman in history because I ended up talking a lot of these people out of it.

I’d say, ‘I’ll tell you what man, go to bed, call me, I’ll be here in the morning. If you get up in the morning and want these knives you call me back.’

Because I knew what was going to happen, you know. They bought 200 knives for $19.95…first of all some of these people you didn’t know whether you should call the cops. What do you need 200 knives for? Even though I’m selling them…what do you need them for?”

But of course his bosses didn’t really appreciate the fact that he was talking people out of buying the product he was supposed to be selling:

“So, it was awful doing that job. And then they got rid of me because, they were like, ‘You’re the worst. I can’t believe you’re talking people out of it.’

I was like, ‘Man I know…I’ve been there.’ I’d want someone to talk me out of buying some of the stuff I’ve bought at 2am.”

Classic Eric Church: Never afraid to break the rules to look out for others.

And for obvious reasons, here’s this one:

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¿A qué hora juega Países Bajos vs. Japón? Horario y canal EN VIVO

El Estadio de Dallas abre sus puertas este 14 de junio para recibir el primer partido de Grupo F de la Copa del Mundo 2026, donde Países Bajos se mide ante Japón en la Fecha 1 de la Fase de Grupos, 16 años después por segunda ocasión en la historia mundialista.

Virgil Van Dijk y la Oranje aprovecharán la autoridad que mantienen sobre los nipones para dar un golpe sobre la mesa del grupo, pero tendrán que imponerse a unos enrrachados Blue Samurai que quieren demostrar ser una potencia; conoce los horarios, canales en vivo y pronósticos de #RushBet.

cintillo quiniela mediotiempo

¿Cómo llegan Países Bajos y Japón?

Ronald Koeman condujo a la selección neerlandesa a una destacada campaña en las Eliminatorias de la UEFA, donde finalizó como líder del Grupo G gracias a un registro de seis triunfos y dos empates, asegurando así su 12° participación mundialista. Pero su rendimiento en los partidos de preparación dejó algunas dudas, al sumar 2 victorias, 1 empate y 1 derrota, esta última frente a Argelia por 0-1.

Por su parte, el conjunto dirigido por Hajime Moriyasu también firmó una fase clasificatoria sobresaliente. Japón se adueñó del Grupo C de las Eliminatorias de la AFC tras acumular 7 victorias, 2 empates y apenas 1 derrota. Además, los Blue Samurai llegan en gran forma, ya que permanecen invictos en sus siete compromisos de preparación más recientes, con un saldo de 6 triunfos y 1 empate.

EL DATO

Autoridad neerlandesa

Este será el cuarto enfrentamiento entre Países Bajos y Japón, con la Oranje llevándose dos victorias y solo un empate. Además, este será su segundo enfrentamiento en una Copa del Mundo.

¿A qué hora juega Países Bajos vs. Japón HOY?

Fecha: domingo 14 de junio 2026
Horario: 14:00 horas (centro de México)
Sede: Estadio de Dallas, Texas

¿Dónde ver Países Bajos vs. Japón EN VIVO?

Transmisión: Azteca 7, Canal 5, TUDN
Streaming: VIX Premium (Pase Mundialista)
Minuto a minuto: mediotiempo

Pronósticos

#RushBet trae para ti los mejores números de apuestas deportivas, y los momios del partido entre Países Bajos vs. Japón van así hasta el momento.

Países Bajos: +102
Empate: +250
Japón: +260

Recuerda que los momios van cambiando constantemente, antes y durante el partido.