Tata Martino to depart Atlanta United, Wayne Rooney gets money, and more: Freedom Kicks for October 24, 2018

Hey everyone, happy Wednesday. Yesterday was a day of a lot of random news, so let’s get right to it:

Atlanta United announce head coach Tata Martino will move on after 2018 | MLS
Tata Martino will depart Atlanta United at the end of the season. Will it be to take over Mexico? Is he still in the running for the United States Men’s National Team job? It all remains to be seen, but in the short term, Atlanta will need to begin its search for a new head coach.

Wayne Rooney’s salary leads D.C. United | Black & Red United
The MLS salary list has been released, and to no one’s surprise, Wayne Rooney is earning the most money of anyone on the D.C. United roster. Although, I always laugh when the salary list is released because somehow Zoltan Stieber Zoltàn Stieber makes $999,999.96 per season. Who decided that he wasn’t getting those 4 extra cents to make it a million?

Champions League wrap: Dzeko dominates again; Real wins (just) | NBC Sports
Real Madrid looked good until they weren’t in Champions League, but they just held on for the victory against Viktoria Plzen. Also, Cristiano Ronaldo returned to Old Trafford for the first time in 5 years, and his Juventus beat Manchester United off a Paulo Dybala goal.

Official: USWNT to play road friendlies in Portugal, Scotland | Stars & Stripes FC
The USWNT will play away at Portugal and Scotland next month. One person they will be missing will be Kelley O’Hara, who will miss 8-12 weeks after undergoing arthroscopic ankle surgery yesterday. Hopefully, she will be back and ready to go by the early part of 2019.

Usain Bolt unlikely to agree professional deal with Central Coast Mariners | ESPNFC
Sounds like the Fastest Man Ever will not be playing in Australia, as chances of a deal with the Central Coast Mariners appear to be close to dead.

USA announce 20-man roster for 2018 Concacaf U-20 Championship | Stars & Stripes FC
No Chris Durkin on the 20-man roster for the CONCACAF U-20 Championship, which means he will be available for D.C. United during the playoffs. There is a chance he could be called in for the knockout stages of the tournament, which runs November 1-21

FIFA set to revive controversial plans for new Club World Cup and Nations League | BBC
FIFA is real set on trying to create this new Club World Cup and global Nations League that includes Saudi funding. UEFA isn’t having it. We’ll see who blinks in this game of chicken.

21 NWSL players complete first module of U.S. Soccer C license | U.S. Soccer
Among the group of players that passed this first module of C licensing includes Washington Spirit players Ashley Hatch and Francisca Ordega, as well as former player Tiffany Weimer.

Finally, NISA has decided to expand to Charlotte. We will see how that works with the Charlotte Independence also there.

That’s what I got for today. Hit the comments to discuss that and more news that hits the wires.