Happy Friday! Have any of you seen the Washington Spirit metrobuses around town? I was delighted to see a Sam Staab, Secretary of Defense, bus on North Capitol on Wednesday.
DC United, Taxi Fountas terminate contract after second racial abuse probe (Washington Post)
Well, it’s official. Very interesting to me that the League came to the same conclusion it did last time he was accused of this: that the allegations were “credible” but nothing more. Glad DC United did the right thing on this one.
Spain vs. Netherlands highlights: Spain wins 2-1 in extra time (Fox Sports)
Spain becomes the first team to make it to the semifinals in the 2023 World Cup.
Lauren James handed two-game ban; available for WWC final (ESPN)
After stamping on a Nigerian defender in England’s round of 16 World Cup match, Lauren James will be suspended for two matches and can only return if her team makes the final or third-place match. I think this is fair. The foul was clearly intentional and uncalled for but also certainly not the most dangerous foul I’ve ever seen.
Chelsea reportedly on brink of $25.5M Tyler Adams transfer (Pro Soccer Wire)
Some transfer news for the USMNT and/or Tyler Adams fans among us.
New EPL season begins for Tim Ream, Fulham (Washington Post)
I enjoyed this profile of Ream, which includes the slightly astonishing detail that, when asked to join the USMNT for the 2022 World Cup, requested a night to “sleep on it.”
Sounder at Heart will become a reader-supported website Aug. 21 (Sounder at Heart)
Another of our former sister sites will be leaving Vox Media, although it sounds like Sounder at Heart, which covers the Portland Timbers and Thorns, are leaving of their own accord. We wish them luck in their journey to monetize an independent site!
Another light weekend for local soccer: just Loudoun United this time, on a quick turnaround from Wednesday’s game.
| Teams | When | Where | Watch |
| Loudoun United FC vs. Las Vegas Lights | Sat., Aug. 12 at 10:30 p.m. | Cashman Field | ESPN+ |
Let’s close out with some saves from our local goalies, who have been killing it lately. First, Hugo Fauroux of Loudoun United, who put on a heroic performance against Memphis 901 on Wednesday.
Now, Washington Spirit’s Nicole Barnhart, who made 7 saves to keep her team alive long enough to score a winning goal against Orlando Pride last week.
Once again, an early morning post to read with breakfast–well done Annie and the DP crew!
I watched the Spain-Netherlands match last night. I knew Spain was good but damn, they’re good. And then there’s this–about 12 players from their original squad weren’t selected because of the players’ revolt. I don’t know how I feel about their success. I love how they play, their technical brilliance. They’re so deep. I think Putellas is the best player right now in the women’s game and they’ve been doing this without her this WC. But do I want to see the Spanish Federation rewarded for this arrogance towards the players? I mean, their demands were things like “we want to see video of our opponents so we can study their restarts and dead ball setups.” How the hell you do ditch players for a request like that?
And I really thought that Japan was going to dissect Sweden–totally surprised by the result. I think that other than Australia (who does have some players who play in Europe for big clubs), the biggest lesson from this WC is how much the upgrade in club resources (analytics, film, physio access, longer seasons, competition against other big clubs raising the level of play) has impacted the resulting quality of the NTs for England, Spain, Netherlands, Sweden, Australia, and even Colombia. Yes, Vlatko was a bust. But NWSL needs to up its game or the Euro National Teams are going to continue to grow as the level of play of their club teams (at least the best ones) gets better and better.
And yes, I’m glad DCU took the action it did. We’ll see if they can they do something with the DP slot and salary money (even if it’s only for the rest of this season). I’m still pushing for Eden Hazard–I think the Benteke angle would be a little enticing.
And yes, it will be interesting to see how Sounder at Heart does.
I was in a CVS in Howard County and heard them advertising Spirit tickets overhead. That was pretty cool.
Heard that in a CVS in Petworth yesterday myself!
I believe that Chelsea was angling to get Moises Caicedo, and Liverpool outbid them for his services. So, getting Tyler Adams at a quarter of the cost seems like a pretty decent result for Chelsea (I don’t follow the Premier League close enough to know how much better Caicedo is than Adams).
Caicedo isn’t American, so he’s obviously better (/s). But he’s apparently holding off the deal because he wants to go to Chelsea (I bet they offered*him* more money).
Caicedo wants Chelsea, so the Adams signing there has fallen through. Apparently, Chelsea has told Brighton that they should look at Adams to replace Caicedo. Not a bad place to land if that happens.
So Caicedo wants to leave Brighton which qualified for Europa League for a team that won’t play any major tournaments other than EPL? Granted, Alexis Mac Allister is no longer at Brighton and that may mean a drop in quality for the team but I’m not sure that Chelsea will be much better, despite all the money that they have. Then again, Buonanotte might become the next big thing for Brighton. Anyway, hoping Adams is able to land in a good place.
So this just dropped…
https://theathletic.com/4765505/2023/08/11/tyler-adams-chelsea-usmnt-transfer/