This article is part of our Finding Fútbol series, a special feature produced by The Athletic to chronicle how the U.S.’s Hispanic communities celebrate and enrich the beautiful game.

Cecilio Waterman isn’t tired of any of it. It has been three months since that moment when a friend’s joke changed his life. Everyone laughs, but like all the best jokes, it’s funny because there’s some truth behind it.

Before Waterman scored a dramatic, stoppage-time winner for Panama against the U.S. men’s national team, then jumped over the advertising boards, climbed onto a TV network’s stage and celebrated with his idol, he was not exactly a household name. He got buzz, he got attention, but Waterman insists it was never about going viral or anything to do with social media, though his profiles got a boost.

“I didn’t do it for marketing. It simply came to me in the moment,” Waterman said this month.

As part of the pre-Nations League media day, he’d been asked who his idol was growing up and selected Thierry Henry, not knowing the Arsenal legend would be watching Panama’s Concacaf Nations League semifinal against the U.S. pitch-side as part of CBS Sports’ coverage.

“He was there, and it came out of my heart to go hug and celebrate with him. It was totally natural,” Waterman told The Athletic.

Now that he’s known in Panama and beyond, everyone jibes. Things seem to be going a little more smoothly.

Cecilio Waterman’s goal defeated the United States and sparked an impromptu meeting with Thierry Henry. (Robin Alam / ISI Photos / Getty Images)

“When I got here with the national team, they were all reminding me of that moment, and it was just a great moment with how everything went down,” Waterman said. “I got back to my club (Chilean side Coquimbo Unido), I became a starter again, I started scoring — everyone joked it was because of Henry. It was a really beautiful moment for me.”

It wasn’t just Waterman shouting in the stadium. With a population of around 4.5 million, Panama is the smallest country in Central America, aside from Belize. Unlike other countries in the region, there haven’t been huge waves of immigration to the U.S., either. Yet, a small but mighty group of Panama supporters who live in the U.S. were at the Nations League semifinal in SoFi Stadium.

Victor Chancay, who lives in San Diego, travels around the country to support Panama in tournaments like the Nations League and Gold Cup. His group tries to get seats in the end zone to make its support felt more strongly.

As he remembers watching the Waterman goal, he says he felt like the buildup to the moment — Janpol Morales’ winning the ball back, Adalberto “Coco” Carrasquilla playing Waterman in — happened in slow motion.

“Us Panamanians just had an enormous shout, a huge cheer,” he said. “This goal was very, very important for Panama, and we celebrated it in a way where … you just don’t have the slightest idea how we celebrated that goal and the passage to the final.”

Like many TV viewers and the crew on the desk themselves, Chancay was confused at first when he paused his celebration to see Waterman in the face of the Arsenal legend.

“I saw him shouting, and Titi was like, ‘Damn, is this guy crazy?’” he recalls. “I said, ‘Wow, they’re going after Titi for something,’ but after, on TV, I saw he was shouting, ‘You’re my idol, you’re my idol.’ From afar, I couldn’t hear because all us Panamanians were cheering.”

Panama made its only World Cup appearance in 2018 in Russia, where Felipe Baloy celebrated after scoring the team’s first goal. (VI Images via Getty Images)

Waterman can understand the confusion, even from his countrymen. But he insists the moment was distinctly Panama, a moment when he couldn’t contain his joy and expressed it unreservedly.

“It comes from our childhood. It’s something cultural: having joy, having good energy, enjoying the moment,” Waterman said. “Sometimes when we talk, you think we’re shouting, but that’s just how we are — we’re happy. In the national team, we laugh a ton. It’s a very loving country.”

Though Waterman is happy to relive those moments, he also knows it’s time to turn the page. Like most of the current Panama group, the journeyman attacker wasn’t part of Panama’s first trip to the World Cup in 2018. At age 34, the 2026 tournament in the U.S. is undoubtedly his best chance to play in a World Cup.

Even as Los Canaleros made the Nations League final in March and the 2023 Gold Cup final, Panama manager Thomas Christiansen and his players have remained consistent: A continental trophy would be a remarkable achievement, but their focus is fixed on a return to the World Cup. That’s why clinching a place in the third and final round of qualification this week was so important for Waterman.

After that, he’ll also be working to make sure he has a place in the squad. After his goal in the semifinal, Waterman earned a start in the final against Mexico. But competition among him, semifinal starter José Fajardo and other attackers remains stiff as Christiansen works to find a consistent scorer.

“My goal is to push Panama as a group to the World Cup, do things well. In Chile, after the moment with Henry, I started to be a starter with the club. The manager there gave me confidence, I started scoring, and we’re in this good moment,” Waterman said. “Wherever you are, when you come to the national team, it’s a good time.

“When I scored that goal against the United States, I started on the bench. When you come to the national team, you’re open to supporting the team in whatever role as a good teammate so the country of Panama wins.”

Panama reached the final of the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup. (Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images)

In a small country like Panama, everyone needs to be pulling in the same direction. Chancay says when Panamanian TV stations show him and his group tailgating in the parking lot before matches, he’ll hear from friends in Central America. “There are Panamians there!” Chancay imagines the TV networks are saying the same thing.

Unlike many larger countries, many of those Panamanian reporters transmitting the images are happy to be seen wearing the national team’s jersey. In a country with such a relatively small population, viewers would find it strange if they weren’t supporting the national team. In a sense, aren’t we all rooting for Panama?

Waterman became a national hero in March, but he goes into this summer’s Gold Cup and fall’s World Cup qualification carrying the hopes and expectations of this country. Who else is going to score the goals but the guy who did it before — and received the blessing of a god of the game, to boot?

His friends continue to laugh about the moment, his teammates joking about Henry’s luck rubbing off on him during this stretch. Still, he’ll have the last laugh. He knows exactly what he’s going to do with the No. 14 Arsenal shirt Henry presented to him after the semifinal victory.

“I’m going to hang it and put it in the living room of my house,” Waterman said. “I have several shirts, but when it’s one you’ve wanted since you were a kid? I’ve got a lot of shirts from friends, but that’s the top, top.”

Now, with a smile, Waterman sets out to create another joyful moment his countrymen will remember forever – and he’ll never get tired of talking about.

(Top photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Imagn Images)

The Finding Fútbol series is sponsored by Modelo. The Athletic maintains full editorial independence. Sponsors have no control over or input into the reporting or editing process and do not review stories before publication.

A 2017 tweet from Simone Biles is going viral amid her women’s sports controversy.

Biles, one of the most iconic female athletes in U.S. history, is known for her dominance on the gymnastics mat. However, she has been going viral for her stance on transgender athletes. Biles, who won gold at the Summer Olympics in Paris, called out right-wing influencer Riley Gaines on X, formerly known as Twitter, over the weekend.

“You’re truly sick, all of this campaigning because you lost a race. Straight up sore loser. You should be uplifting the trans community and perhaps finding a way to make sports inclusive OR creating a new avenue where trans feel safe in sports. Maybe a transgender category IN ALL sports!! But instead… You bully them… One things for sure is no one in sports is safe with you around!!!!!” Biles wrote on X.

She added: “bully someone your own size, which would ironically be a male.”

Gaines, who swam collegiately at the University of Kentucky, clapped back on X.

“This is actually so disappointing. It’s not my job or the job of any woman to figure out how to include men in our spaces. You can uplift men stealing championships in women’s sports with YOUR platform. Men don’t belong in women’s sports and I say that with my full chest,” she wrote.

Meanwhile, a 2017 tweet from Biles has resurfaced, amid the controversy.

“ahhhh good thing guys don’t compete against girls or he’d take all the gold medals !!” Biles wrote back in 2017.

Biles will likely be asked about her old tweet moving forward.

Cricket might not be a global sport, but Virat Kohli is certainly a global athlete. The impact Virat has managed to create over the course of his esteemed career has drawn attention from not just cricket lovers but top athletes from other sports as well. As Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz took on Italy’s Jannik Sinner in the French Open 2025 men’s singles final, an old video of the Spaniard went viral. In the video, the commentators couldn’t help but compare the former’s exploits with those of the Indian cricket icon. The video was from a match between Alcaraz and Stefanos Tsitsipas from 2023.

Much like Virat did in cricket, Alcaraz has taken the tennis world by storm, thanks to his ability to excel in all conditions, against every opponent. The craft, skill, and grit that Alcaraz showed against Sinner in the Roland Garros summit clash on Sunday reminded the commentators of Virat.

European commentators about Carlos Alcaraz: “It’s like watching Virat Kohli in cricket or Michael Jordan in Basketball”

King Kohli is the face of World Cricket #Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/apqLQZGKIB

— Shekhar (@Shekhar499) July 17, 2023

After losing the first two sets in the Roland Garros final, Alcaraz bounced back in style to beat Sinner 3-2 in a 5-set thriller that went down in history as the longest final ever in French Open history. In fact, Carlos Alcaraz saved three championship points as he produced an astonishing fightback.

Reigning champion Alcaraz rallied from the brink of defeat to overcome world number one Sinner 4-6, 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 7-6 (7/3), 7-6 (10/2) to clinch his fifth Grand Slam title after five hours and 29 minutes.

The 22-year-old Spaniard is now unbeaten in five Grand Slam finals after snapping Sinner’s 20-match winning run at the majors.

Alcaraz pulled off his first-ever comeback from two sets down to stun Sinner in the longest Roland Garros final in history. It easily eclipsed the 1982 final in Paris when Mats Wilander triumphed in four sets over Guillermo Vilas in 4 hours and 42 minutes.

Alcaraz becomes the third youngest man to win five Grand Slams — after Bjorn Borg and compatriot Rafael Nadal — following an incredible duel between the two stars of a new generation.

Sinner fell agonisingly short of a third successive Grand Slam crown after last year’s US Open title and back-to-back Australian Open triumphs.

With AFP inputs

The Indiana Pacers pulled off a stunning 111-110 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals.

After committing 19 turnovers in the first half, Indiana clawed back from a 15-point deficit in the fourth quarter where Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton drilled the game-winning field goal with .3 seconds left in regulation.

“This group is a resilient group,” Haliburton told reporters after the game. “And we don’t give up until it’s 0.0 on the clock.” Haliburton and the Pacers look to get a second win on the road before the series returns to Indianapolis.

Jade Jones, Haliburton’s girlfriend, who flew to Oklahoma City for the Pacers-Thunder showdown, returned to the Paycom Center for Game 2 on June 6.

RELATED: Tyrese Haliburton’s gf Jade posts insane custom jeans for Pacers-Thunders Game 1

Jones showed off her pregame fit on Sunday, rocking a navy crop top with a matching tennis skirt and a white sweatshirt around her shoulders.

Therefore, it was easy to identify to Jones when the TV cameras panned to the crowd and captured the former Iowa State cheerleader appearing to go off on a fan.

While it’s not clear what caused the animated response, the moment immediately went viral on social media. The Athletic’s James Boyd posted on X, “LOL!! The broadcast just cut to a shot of Ty’s girlfriend, Jade, in the crowd talking CRAZY to somebody. I respect the passion. “

One fan posted, “Someone remind Haliburton’s girlfriend that they are still down by 14.” Another fan commented, “Now that’s love.”

Haliburton did not have a great game against the Thunder in Game 2. Down 17 points and four minutes left in regulation, the 25-year-old guard was pulled.

Haliburton finished the night with 17 points, 6.0 assists, and 3.0 rebounds.

— Enjoy free dish of rich and fabulous players with The Athlete Lifestyle on SI —

No way!: Steph Curry’s 12-year-old daughter Riley almost as tall as dad in family pic

Curry x2: Ayesha Curry shares rare behind-the-scenes baby Cai photos with big bro

Smitten: Bronny James’ girlfriend Parker Whitfield joins LeBron family in Hawaii

Still flawless: Steve Sarkisian’s wife Loreal proudly goes makeup-free without baby

Awww: Tom Brady’s 12-year-old daughter looks like dad in rare selfie together

The Oregon Ducks and coach Dan Lanning hosted an elite group of recruits over the weekend, and photos from the photoshoot portion of the official visits are going viral on social media.

A number of top prospects were in Eugene, including five-star wide receiver Calvin Russell, five-star athlete Brandon Arrington, five-star EDGE Richard Wesley, five-star linebacker Tyler Atkinson, five-star safety Jett Washington, and four-star safety Joey O’Brien. Oregon also had a few commits from the class of 2026 on campus: four-star linebacker Tristan Phillips and four-star safety Xavier Lherisse.

Recruits taking photos in a team’s uniform has become commonplace around the country, but the Ducks’ latest photoshoots from the weekend are grabbing attention online. One of Oregon’s new backdrops included a science lab, and another featured aa black Mercedez-Benz G-Wagon.

In some of the photos, it appears as though members of the Ducks’ recruiting staff wore an Nike-branded, bright orange HAZMAT suit. Behind some of the photos is a large warning sign with sub-heading that reads, “Player Development In Progress.”

Additionally, every recruit posted photos of them wearing different Oregon uniforms from their official visit. With the Ducks’ new “Generation O” uniforms, there is seemingly an endless supply of combinations for recruits to choose from.

Prospects will also wear special edition jerseys like Oregon’s “Heroes” uniform or some throwback combinations. Five-star receiver Calvin Russell got the attention of Ducks fans by wearing Oregon’s diamond-plate jerseys that were first introduced in 2006.

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MORE: Coveted 5-Star Recruit Jett Washington Visiting Oregon Ducks Instead Of Ohio State

The Ducks have worn throwback uniforms from 1994, but some fans have been clamoring for a return of the early 2000s uniforms. Most recently, Oregon re-introduced the diamond plating as a small detail on the collar of the new “Fly Era” jerseys that were revealed before the 2024 season.

Lanning and his staff signed one of the best recruiting classes in the country in the 2025 cycle, and the Ducks are continuing to host some of the best high school prospects in the nation. After signing an elite group of defensive backs, Oregon is looking to continue adding depth with five-star athlete Brandon Arrington, five-star safety Jett Washington, and four-star safety Joey O’Brien.

The three defensive back recruits posed for a photo together, but can the Ducks actually land all three?

A few of the high school prospects that ere in Eugene over the weekend already have commitment dates set, with O’Brien scheduled to commit on June 20. Arrington and Russell are planning to reveal their decisions on July 5.

The Ducks will have to beat out Notre Dame, Clemson, and Penn State for O’Brien while Arrington is reportedly interested in Alabama, USC, and Texas A&M. As for Russell, the elite receiver out of Miami, Florida, could be hard to pull out of the South for Oregon. Russell is being recruited by Florida, Florida State, Miami, and LSU, in addition to the Ducks.