Happy last day of May, also known as United day! The best way to get over a disappointing defeat is to quickly follow it up with a win, and with only four days since that loss at Toronto, D.C. United are given a particularly quick opportunity to do just that – this time against another Canadian team, Montreal. Sarah will preview that match later today, so until then, catch up on some kicks!
Let’s start off with who isn’t going to be playing against Montreal tonight. Russell Canouse will get some rest time to recover from the scary incident last weekend in Toronto. *subliminally signals for soccer headguards*
LA Galaxy, amid nightmare season, dismiss president Chris Klein (Pro Soccer Wire): When you lose as much as the Galaxy have lost, it’s only a matter of time until the front office starts taking some hits… at least… most of the time…. Your mileage may vary.
Power Rankings: Charlotte FC, Houston Dynamo climb after Matchday 15 (MLS): If the Galaxy can’t climb the Supporter’s Shield rankings, perhaps that reorganized Galaxy FO can do something about their position in these Power Rankings. Combined with LAFC, the city of LA is only like mid-table.
From #MLS4RSL to CCL favorites? LAFC leave MLS community divided (MLS): Speaking of that other LA team, LAFC are traveling to León tonight for the first round of the Champions League finals. I have personally never subscribed to the rallies of solidarity for MLS teams in this tournament – I don’t care to see most teams win tournaments that D.C. United could theoretically qualify for. It seems that solidarity is harder to come by this year as LAFC aren’t entering this match as underdogs.
USA advance to quarterfinals of U-20 World Cup after destroying New Zealand; squad has yet to concede a goal (CBS Sports): The U-20 men’s team has been having a casually decent World Cup so far as they are the only team in the tournament to still keep a clean sheet. They will face the winner of Gambia vs Uruguay in the quarterfinals.
USMNT to play October friendlies against Germany, Ghana (SSFC): The USMNT continues their efforts filling out their schedule in preparation for the 2026 World Cup. Will the team have a full-time coach hired by then? Who knows!? But we do know who isn’t going to be coaching the team…
U.S. Soccer Sporting Director Matt Crocker Elevates B.J. Callaghan to Head Coach of USMNT as Anthony Hudson Departs (U.S. Soccer): The plot toward a head coach for the USMNT moves sideways.
Loudoun United Signs 10-year-old to Pro Contract (LoudounNow): Ok, I may have twisted LoudounNow’s headline a tad. I didn’t lie! Loudoun United did indeed sign a 10-year-old! It just happened to be a 1-day contract as star athlete Elijah Harmelech of North Potomac, MD is expected to be out for the season due to a scheduled open-heart surgery this June.
I am left wanting to discuss this last weekend’s motorsports palooza with Formula 1’s Monaco, IndyCar’s Indy 500, and NASCAR’s Coke 600, but that task would require paragraphs that would dwarf this Freedom Kicks… so I want to hear from you all on which races from which you may have caught a lap or two. Get kicking in the comments!
Watched the Monaco Grand Prix, purposely avoided the others. Monaco, as usual, was a processional that included rain. The RB car and Verstappen are just miles ahead of anyone else. However, the race included the usual Ferrari comic relief of another botched strategy call. The real action at Monaco is qualifying and Verstappen picking up .3 seconds in the last sector to nip Alonso was riveting.
As for soccer and Chris Klein, we DCU fans can only hope lightening strikes again in the DCU FO and Dumpster Diving Dave joins Chris at the executives’ unemployment line.
I’m not sure I would purposefully avoid motorsports, especially as an F1 fan that knows Monaco disappoints every year. I love watching those F1 cars at the peak of their performance, but there’s so much more racing in the world. The Indy 500 was filled with excitement and fear (that tire flying off… whew…). The Coke 600 has been some of the best NASCAR racing in the last couple of years. Both events had their share of eye rolls with “cautions breed cautions”, but that didn’t detract from the races.
The two series have passing and competition, exactly the opposite of your admitted “processional” with Red Bull domination. I truly don’t mean to say this as “Don’t watch F1… watch IndyCar and NASCAR instead”. F1 is spectacular. But it doesn’t have to be exclusive. Each motorsports series has something to provide.
Just a preference, I have limited time and follow F1 and soccer (MLS mostly and international tournaments). I never “got” NASCAR and never will (the “let’s go Brandon” BS certainly didn’t entice me at all) and I view Indy as a place where very mediocre F1 drivers go and succeed, so doesn’t hold any interest for me. YMMV.
I’m very happy to see the U20s doing so well. Kevin Paredes is joining the team for the knockout rounds. But facing either Uruguay or Gambia will be a much sterner test. The African youth sides are traditionally strong because young players see this as a showcase for a foreign contract. In some African countries, the youth players offer bribes to be put on the youth sides for international tournaments. And Uruguay is typically organized and has a side of players who are all professional with clubs as starters or the first team bench.
It is amazing, considering population size, that Uruguay is always in the conversation in these tournaments at every age level.
Well, ditto with the Dutch National Team (the adult team).
Aww shucks, and wouldn’t you know I recently treated myself to an Ajax shirt with Cruyff 14 on the back. I agree, the Dutch always seem to be threatening. (“They are like roaches, they never go away…” said a German friend to me once…)
I think it’s “interesting” that no-one has mentioned the team that recruited Hudson away from the USSF. What that tells me is that he’s been hired by a club that still hasn’t dismissed their current manager (or maybe an exit contract is being negotiated).
I always enjoy the Memorial Day triple-header of racing. I’ve always been a die-hard Nascar fan, and also love IndyCar, but I still try to catch F1 races when I can. Actually thought the F1 race was more entertaining than usual with the rain. Also seeing just how many mistakes the F1 guys made on the wet surface made me realize that the Nascar guys are WAY better on wet tires than they’re ever given credit for, even with it being rare.
The 500 was great. Glad the tire missed the stands though, that could have been catastrophic,
The 600 has really improved with the next-gen and I’m so glad for that. Not super thrilled with Chase’s, uh, questionable decision making, but really glad to see Blaney finally get another win. Seeing that emotion from him during the interview was awesome.
I was lost as a fan when Gordon retired. My mother migrated to Chase Elliott as many Gordon fans did. I suppose I did too. But I had sort of tuned out of NASCAR, only keeping up with the race results casually.
In 2020, I had worked my way back to the sport, in good time too so as to see Elliott’s championship. I cheered that day for the first time since Gordon’s last race in 2015. Still, I felt more neutral as a fan, which honestly was rather liberating. I enjoyed the sport as a whole. I could root for the entire Hendrick Motorsports stable for a change, and even toy with the possibility of my favorite driver being outside that organization (Ryan Blaney). It came without the immense highs that a Jeff Gordon win would bring, but it also came without the immense agony of a Jeff Gordon defeat. It was nice.
In 2021 though, when I saw Byron’s modern take on the rainbow paint scheme, and in victory lane to boot, I knew I was sucked back into Team 24. My soul has healed from Gordon’s retirement and I’m thrilled to be emotionally invested in a single team again.
All this is to say that my Memorial Day visit to my parents’ home was interesting. Chase Elliott’s suspension-earning decision soured my mom’s mood while my driver, Byron, had a real shot at victory. In the end, while I wanted that 4th win of the season, I am thrilled to see Blaney convincingly get back into Victory Lane. I may be a man in my 30s, but that interview choked me up.
I share your sentiment as a migrated Jeff Gordon fan haha. I ended up going with Chase since he took over for Jeff, and I’d still consider him my favorite, but Byron is a very solid second. Like you, I absolutely fell in love with the 21/22 Axalta scheme, and its so great to see him living up to the potential we all knew he has this year. But its been great to be able to root for the whole Hendrick organization again (I was never a huge fan of Jr) and have them all be successful. Love seeing Blaney do well too, and he’s my fiance’s favorite so that works out
One last thing: DCU-Montreal is on Apple TV free tonight.
I’m really stoked, and don’t want to jinx them, but I think this is the men’s u-20’s clearest shot at a deep tournament run they’re going to get. I do not know a ton about the quality of the individual teams, but looking at the bracket, most of the traditional economic and footballing powers are eating each other on the other side of the bracket. Maybe Gambia, Tunisia, or Israel are fantastic and could knock us out, but to me it seems that winning against Uruguay in the quarterfinals and Brazil in the Semis, the US could very well make it. One game at a time, but Slonina might have already won golden glove, and the team is getting goals all over the roster. May it continue! And eventually be televised on a real channel, why FS1 and FS2 are sold separately is beyond me.
FS1 and S2 are in my cable bundle together, FWIW.
Also, I love how other sites are probably melting down over this new “USMNT coach hiring,” and this group decided to talk about cars that go vroom instead. The situation is a bit of a joke, but clearly US Soccer doesn’t care a ton about the Gold Cup or the Nations League this summer compared to the coaching hire they will make later. I’d note that, if it was, I think Marsch gets hired immediately, as he’s probably the front runner and oh so available to coach those games.
Pellegrino Matarazzo is also supposedly in the running, and I find the man much more down to earth and intriguing, though I don’t know how his firefighting tactics with Hoffenheim would translate or even be altered to coach the men’s senior side. Again, I thought the next breath out of Crocker’s mouth after accepting the position would be “Jesse Marsch,” but they’re really, really waiting for other interviews, so who knows
Well cars that go vroom are fun. I enjoy the F1 races and if you go to the actual races you run into an international crowd that are almost always in a great mood and having a party. Going to Montreal in a few weeks with my son for 5th time. Also been to Austin, Spa and Monza. Always just a great time.
As for dissecting the USMNT coaching search. We DCU fans get enough dysfunction from our own FO, so we don’t need to double dip on that front.
My 2002 Subaru Forester cancels your Vroom Vroom. 275,000 miles. A Lot 8 veteran.
;^)
To be clear, I think it’s a positive that the site isn’t melting down over some dude named BJ, and I’m entirely neutral on cars that go vroom, as long as I don’t have to engage or care in any way.
This is a strange situation with US Soccer, but not one worth being pissed about, there’s some logic to what is happening.
I feel like I should order some Jalapeno Poppers at BJ Callaghan’s.
That’s legitimately funny
MLS All Star voting is open: https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/voting-open-for-2023-mls-all-star-game-presented-by-target
To vote: https://www.mlssoccer.com/all-star/2023/vote/fan-vote