Graham Potter’s season ended as it began, with a 3-0 defeat. And there the similarities may have ended, given that the victorious teams were Sunderland and France. Eliezer Mayenda, Daniel Ballard and Wilson Isidor, Potter’s tormentors in August, are rarely compared with Kylian Mbappe and Bradley Barcola, who ended Sweden’s World Cup.

He has gone from the Stadium of Light to the MetLife Stadium. Sacked by West Ham, a saviour for Sweden, there has been a redemptive feel to it. The eventual verdict must be that he is among those culpable for West Ham’s relegation, even if his own participation in their campaign was curtailed by a September firing. He got five games with the Hammers in the Premier League, four with Sweden in the World Cup.

He ended it looking more comfortable in his skin and confident in his demeanour than he ever appeared at Chelsea and West Ham. It also finished with Sweden being utterly outclassed by France. The consolation prize may be that they lost to the eventual World Cup winners. “We had to be perfect and even if we were I am not sure if that would have been enough, if I am brutally honest,” said Potter. “I personally haven’t seen a better team.”

Sweden may be a more forgiving environment than east or west London – though his axed predecessor Jon Dahl Tomasson might disagree – but Potter could be spared a brutal inquest. It is a perilous time to be a manager of a European side returning home. Steve Clarke and Ronald Koeman are gone, falling on their own swords. Julian Nagelsmann may fall on someone else’s. Potter’s Sweden were porous at the back in the United States but he has enhanced his reputation in the last few months. He will survive.

Realism dictated Sweden were underdogs against France. “You look at the careers and CVs of the French team and compare them to ours,” said Potter. The magnificence of Michael Olise and Mbappe meant they would have demolished many a side. And, in the wider picture, Potter has taken Sweden further than felt feasible.

Or, indeed, fair. They propped up a pool in qualifying, winless with two points. The nonsensical Nations League rules gave them a reprieve in the form of a play-off. Potter, and Viktor Gyokeres, capitalised, his hat-trick against Ukraine and 88th-minute winner against Poland booking them a transatlantic flight.

They peaked early, the opening 5-1 thrashing of Tunisia the first time Sweden had scored more than four in a World Cup match since 1938. Another slice of history followed as they lost 5-1 to the Netherlands; no one had done the 5-1 double in consecutive World Cup games before. A draw with Japan was laudable. A third-placed finish – another backdoor route of advancing – meant they met France, and their match.

“I have no complaints with the players,” Potter added. “I said to them after the game that it is no disgrace to lose to France. For us, this is a foundation to go forward. I am proud of what we have done so far.”

It is evident he has a bond with his charges, which rarely felt the case at Chelsea and West Ham. Perhaps his confidence in himself and belief in them was reflected in his bold decision to play 4-4-2 against France. Certainly, Potter is a manager of many ideas, not all of them good. He got his team wrong at the start against the Dutch. Fielding captain Victor Lindelof in midfield against Japan, however, was a qualified success.

But the context means it is hard to brand his tactics in the MetLife a mistake. “You can play four or three or five [in midfield] but the quality of the opponent is the quality of the opponent,” shrugged Potter. And the quality of Sweden is disproportionately distributed in a top-heavy team; with Alexander Isak and Gyokeres and Anthony Elanga, his three best players may all be forwards, and he played them all. It would have been intriguing where and how Potter would have accommodated Dejan Kulusevski if fit.

Unlike many a Swedish side of old, however, there was rather less talent at the back. Sweden conceded 10 goals in four games, a tally that reflects their shortcomings as well as a demanding fixture list. Potter was pleased the veteran Lindelof said he wants to continue his international career; Sweden nevertheless need a formula to keep clean sheets.

Potter talked, too, of the youth of much of a squad in which Yasin Ayari and Lucas Bergvall are two with considerable potential to improve. “We are a young, developing team,” he said. “We have had a great tournament to grow and learn. To recover after the Netherlands and get a point against Japan was fantastic and we have to learn from that.”

For now, Potter is at a stage where Sweden seem on an upward curve. Time will tell if this is part of progress or an illusion of it. But as his season of rejection and renewal, when he was cast aside in his own country and found a new home in his adopted one concluded, Potter had an air of contentment.

WWE star Sami Zayn has used Johnny Gargano as a sounding board for his complaints over the last few weeks on “Friday Night SmackDown.”

Gargano, known as “Johnny Wrestling,” has been lying face down during most of his segments for months. He hasn’t spoken to anyone nor has he been in a wrestling ring since Stand & Deliver all the way back in April. The only signal to know that Gargano is actually alive is when Zayn has spoken to him.

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Myles Borne competes against Johnny Gargano during NXT: Stand and Deliver at The Factory in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 2026. (Bradlee Rutledge/WWE Via Getty Images)

Zayn talked about Gargano and what it would take to get him moving again in an interview with Fox News Digital before he won the Undisputed WWE Championship at Night of Champions.

“I think he’s an immensely talented person. Anyone who’s followed his career, actually watched his work especially in NXT, knows what he’s capable of,” Zayn said. “Some people when they come to the main roster never really got to showcase what they’re made of and I definitely think he falls into that category. …

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Sami Zayn enters the ring during a WWE live event at Palacio Vistalegre in Madrid, Spain, on June 4, 2026. (Andrew Timms/WWE)

“He’s almost in this sort of vegetative state or whatever and he just needs like the Prince Charming or whatever is to come around and swoop him and get him out of it. … I think something just needs the right spark to get him to remember who he is and I do think if, and when, that happens we’re gonna get to see a side of him that’s very exciting, that hasn’t been seen in a very long time.”

Gargano is one of the best pure wrestlers on the roster.

He put on some of the best matches in NXT history. He’s won the NXT Championship, NXT North American Championship and the NXT Tag Team Championship, which made him the first NXT Triple Crown champion.

On the main roster, he’s been a WWE tag team champion twice.

Candice LeRae and Johnny Gargano look on during SmackDown at KFC YUM! Center in Louisville, Ky., on Feb. 27, 2026. (Mike Marques/WWE via Getty Images)

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But every fan is hoping that he gets another shot at wrestling again and snaps out of this slumber and gets back to what he does best.

Brazilian megastar Allycia Hellen Rodrigues survived the toughest test of her championship reign at The Inner Circle 19. In fact, the atomweight Muay Thai queen had to dig into reserves she had never been forced to touch before to keep her gold intact.

The defending ONE women’s atomweight Muay Thai world champion edged Thai warrior ‘The Queen’ Phetjeeja Lukjaoporongtom via split decision in their five-round world title showdown in Bangkok’s legendary Lumpinee Stadium on June 19.

She got her hand raised after a solid showing in the championship rounds — but it was the middle rounds that truly tested the Brazilian queen’s championship pedigree.

Allycia Hellen Rodrigues had started strong, only for Phetjeeja to flip the script in the third frame with a relentless body assault and a perfectly timed elbow that cut the champion. The road back required everything she had.

Speaking to ONE Championship after retaining her crown, the Phuket Fight Club athlete reflected on the moment she clawed her way back into the contest.

“For sure, she’s one of the strongest opponents of my life, but I felt good in the fight. In the beginning, I felt really great, and things were going really well. In Round 3, the fight became harder, but we came back and took the win,” Allycia Hellen Rodrigues said.

The 28-year-old continued, “The fight became harder at some point, but then I overcame it and kept clinching. Phetjeeja started running away, and that’s when the fight started going [my way.]”

Allycia Hellen Rodrigues continues to prove why she truly is the atomweight Muay Thai queen

Phetjeeja threw everything but the kitchen sink throughout their action-packed 15-minute fight in Bangkok, but Allycia Hellen Rodrigues did enough to get her hand raised.

The Brazilian’s defense may have been exposed during certain stretches of the contest, but it also allowed her to tap into her reserves to find a more creative way past Phetjeeja’s world-class defense in the championship rounds.

It was far from a clean win for the Phuket Fight Club athlete, but true world champions do anything – fight beautifully, make it a dirty fight, and tap into their vast IQ – to ensure victory favors them.

That is exactly what Rodrigues did to extend her reign as the ONE women’s atomweight Muay Thai world champion at The Inner Circle 19.

Phetjeeja will definitely work her way back into a rematch, but Rodrigues should use this fight as a blueprint to ensure she completely overwhelms the Thai if and when they do cross paths on the global stage again.