SEVILLE, Spain -- "I don't sing very well," Johnny Cardoso says. "I prefer to play football." And with that, the United States midfielder, and new Atlético Madrid signing, starts laughing. "But I got up on a chair in front of everyone, and I started to sing, and I chose this song: Maroon 5, 'Payphone.'" If his initiation there is anything like it was with the national team, at least he knows what he's doing. Back then, it went pretty well; after all, he'd been practicing for years.
It was November 2020, and it was an unexpected choice, perhaps, but not a chance one; this was a track that connected Cardoso to home in Brazil, another time.