Happy Wednesday! My breakfast time was instead spent driving my dog to the vet for an eyelid mass removal and coordinating A/C repair (all under warranty thank goodness) before summer decides to Kool-Aid Man its way into the end of the week. As such, please forgive these kicks missing the breakfast prime-time, but now there is something to read over lunch, so… partial credit?
Power Rankings: Portland Timbers, St. Louis CITY get Matchday 8 boost (MLS): Beating the Power Rankings’ last-place team is still enough to bump D.C. up to 24th.
Team of the Matchday: Portland Timbers, St. Louis CITY take flight in Matchday 8 (MLS): Lewis O’Brien on the bench here.
Deadline day: 4 teams to watch before the Primary Transfer Window closes (MLS): We are indeed watching… waiting… hoping….
Your Tuesday Kickoff: Grading the league’s first-year coaches; MLS unveils One Planet kit (MLS): A list that includes one D.C. United coach and two ex-D.C. United coaches. And boy oh boy are they all over the map here. Also, that One Planet kit could definitely be worse based on history, so I’ll take this for United:
Dynamo manager Ben Olsen: ‘New ownership has committed to changing the course’ in Houston (The Athletic): Speaking of ex-D.C. United coaches…
5 things to watch as Orlando City returns home to meet D.C. United (Orlando City): We’re somehow already in the point in the season where United is matching off against opponents already seen this season. Here is what Orlando is looking out for prior to this weekend’s matchup. I’m not convinced that the Rooney Curse against Orlando is yet broken, so I’d say their 6th item of interest should be that curse.
D.C. United Announce Partnerships with DMV-Based Aslin Beer Co. and True Made Foods (D.C. United): More concession options at Buzzard Point?
ElMedkhar, Ryan, Samaké and Santos Earn USL Championship Team of the Week Honors in Week 6 (Loudoun United): Loudoun is basically the best team. The USL might as well admit it.
The future does look bright for Loudoun based on their age!
Washington Spirit vs. NJ/NY Gotham FC: preview, time, how to watch [Challenge Cup Edition] (The DP): Midweek Spirit soccer! Their player absences here:
Finally, I just wanted to point out that, while United feels like they’re dragging behind in MLS with only two wins, they are most definitely not alone. 15/29 teams in MLS, or 51.7%, currently sit at two wins or less.
That’s all for today. Kick away in the comments!
From Buenos Aires: last night during dinner at my nephew Diego’s home in suburban San Isidro, we watched a Copa Libertadores match between Deportivo Pereira (Brazil) and Boca Juniors. In a hard fought contest the Brazilians scored in the 70th minute only for Boca to tie it in the 88th and win it in the 98th!!!
Despite 1,800 of Argentina’s best players playing abroad (0nly one of the World Cup winning Albiceleste plays in the domestic league), both sides were remarkably skilled. What a fútbol factory Argentina is!
On a less positive note, the national government announced that the inflation rate was 7.7% FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH ALONE and economists estimate inflation will be 120% for 2023. (The annual USA rate is 6%.)
As a result the peso to dollar blue market exchange rate increased from 388 to 418 pesos to the dollar.
So for you Yanquis bitching today about a USPS increase from 63 cents to 66 cents for a first class letter , the cost in Denmark is $4.25 and the only countries with lower rates are postage stamp countries like Singapore (23 cents).
So, for all of our ills, be happy you live in the USA.
I’m always surprised that United isn’t going harder after Argentinians for these reasons (good at soccer, economy is sus). Perhaps that’s what you get with a bunch of English coaches at the helm.
Plus high probability that if United picks up an Argentinian player, even if a great player by MLS standards, that player probably won’t get international call ups
Yeah, I’ve thought that’s a good way to go for DP signings. I think Benteke fits that role at this point, but Taxi and Klich are still some kind of fringe national team players.
Nice to see Loudoun being good! One day, I’ll have to actually get out to a game at Segra. However, a round trip out there is literally the same distance as one way to Chester, PA
Well that got me thinking… Google clocks me 2:10 away from Subaru Park in Chester with current traffic, and 59 minutes to Segra if I avoid the Dulles Toll Road. I never thought of it like that.
It’s why an affiliated team in Baltimore would also be nice. It can be hard for your Maryland-based homegrowns to get out to Loudoun (although I guess Chris Durkin was commuting up from Richmond to DC, back in the day).
MLS’s Jonathan Sigal profiles and interviews former DCU player Kevin Paredes: https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/dc-united-to-wolfsburg-usmnt-hopeful-kevin-paredes-rides-never-give-up-mindset
So far the US Mexico friendly has shown the US based American players need work. And Sean Johnson shouldn’t be in goal, but he is.