Hello everyone! I switched days with Donald this week as I will be traveling to California this evening. We have plenty of news from this week to chat about, so let’s get started.
2030 World Cup to take place in Europe, Africa, South America (SSFC)
A combined Spain-Portugal-Morocco World Cup actually sounds pretty fun, but also having home games for three South American teams is insanity.
The 2034 host is also all but set: FIFA specifically invited member nations of the Asian Football Confederation and Oceania Football Confederation to bid, and the AFC has announced that it will put all of its support behind Saudi Arabia. So… get ready for another controversial Cup hosted by a repressive regime, I guess.
D.C. United to exercise purchase option for Gabriel Pirani from Santos FC (Fansided). Pirani’s current loan expires at the end of the year, so there may not be an official announcement until then.
D.C. United also banned supporter’s group, La Banda del Distrito, from matches “for an indefinite amount of time, the group revealed in a statement this week. The ban is apparently linked to some violent conduct at the Sep. 23 match against New York Red Bulls.
Sportico published NWSL team valuations for the first time. By their estimate, Angel City FC is the most valuable team at $180 million. Washington Spirit are in 5th, valued at $54 million. Y. Michele Kang’s purchase of the team for $35 million in February 2022 was likely part of that calculation.
Finally, for anyone who needs a little push to go to a Loudoun United FC game, parking will be free at home games next season.
Uruguay makes sense as a host for the 2030 World Cup as its the centennial and Uruguay hosted the first World Cup in 1930. A World Cup in which the US participated and made it to the semi-finals and then won the third-place game.
That would be grounds for the South American bid winning. What they did was basically insulting.
The conspirator minded would note that by hosting 3 games it would knock South America out of bidding for the 2034 tournament leaving only Asia and New Zealand in Oceania as viable bidders. The fact that Saudi Arabia immediately announced a solo bid for the 2034 tournament sort of gave away the game.
I like the decision to exercise the purchase option on Pirani’s loan deal.
Can we loan our FO to Pirani’s club?
I was going back and forth last night whether it was actually a good idea to sign Pirani or not. He’s got skills, but as the article mentions, he hasn’t really put anything together. I’ve been surprised that he hasn’t gotten an assist yet. His shooting is pretty poor (he should have scored the winner against Vancouver). He’s not the playmaker yet. He can’t drive the offense. But he does connect pretty well.
United is in a tricky situation. Its best players are north of 30. The team will have to be built around Benteke and Klich again next season. Birnbaum and Santos will be there. Maybe Davis. Then you’ve got the next wave of folks around 30. Williams, Miller, Bono, Ruan, Najar, Asad, Canouse, Rodriguez. And then the mid-20s and teens, like Ku-DiPietro, Fletcher, Pirani, Akinmboni, Hopkins, Pines, Durkin, Jeahze.
I think that Klich and Benteke can probably deliver again next year, and the team might be tempted to “win now” again. But if they get a Young DP to fill out their ranks, I think they can get two more Under 22 players to complement Pirani. Instead of loading up on expensive old talent, they could restock on expensive young talent with an eye towards really competing in 2025 and beyond.
But we’d need a GM with that vision, and a coach that could develop those players. At the very least, we need somebody to bring Pirani along.
I also feel like not making the playoffs – and last night pretty much guarantees we won’t – should mean the end of the road for Kasper and Rooney.
Eh idk about Rooney, but Kasper has to go. The fact that he’s been the “interim” GM since Rushton was let go has irked me no end. The only thing he’s good for is using the byzantine roster acquisition rules of MLS and that is losing its value of late.
They’re still not moving on from him, but the ownership seems to be trying to move him away from whatever he’s doing. We might have a new GM soon (Goff sounds more sure but I’m not holding my breath), who will report to ownership instead of the president/technical director. Where that leaves those two spots is a whole other question.
Still pisses me off how they undermined Lucy Rushton. And, judging by her recent tweet, still pisses her off too.
Rooney
Kasper will survive
It *should* mean the end of him. This dude would put a cockroach’s ability to survive to shame.
We need to transition to clean energy. Repressive regimes built on oil money would topple, and wouldn’t host any more world cups due to a decrease in bribe potential.
My shares of Nextera Energy (NEE) would tell you otherwise. Man, I have taking a beating in that sector the last two weeks.
This season is an existential bummer. We’ve technically had worse seasons, this one feels like an attention and devotion breaker. It’s almost not worth delineating the reasons, we all basically know them.
Putting the pieces together long term, I don’t see any competent or caring hands doing that any time soon. We’re truly adrift, and there may or may not be a hole in the boat.
Yeah. The fact that our supporters group with the drums got banned and I just kind of treat it with a shrug… that’s not good. The energy around this team is just a miasma of bad vibes.
Ever since the move to Buzzard Point its felt like the FO wants to change the fan base and that to them includes extracting the old fan base. They’ve had snafus with the Supporter Groups from the get go since leaving RFK.
And I don’t think La Banda has been behind every instance, but there’s been a shocking amount of violence towards away fans since we moved into Audi Field too.
I still remember the last RFK game against RBNY and watching a lit flare drop from where the RBNY supporter groups where sitting fall into the area with the VW garage. I was sitting nearby. Thankfully it didn’t hit anyone especially the kids that had been playing down there.
Idk if the away fans have done anything like that since the move to Buzzard Point, but we also need to be aware of violence by away fans.
The FO clearly wants the old fans to be replaced. They keep us around for revenue until the hive has been converted.
October 23 for the USMNT just announced, Parades made it, and as a forward, no less! Think that’s the correct way to look at him, and I think he rightly turned heads in his brief appearance against Oman. Promising as far as his chances of making the ‘26 squad, will be delighted if he gets minutes against this stronger opposition
Man I wonder what our offense would be like if we still had Paredes on the left. The move to Wolfsburg was good for Paredes, but DCU haven’t really managed to replace what he did on the left.
Nor Arriloa.
Nor Gressel
Good riddance to La Banda. They have a history of starting fights after games.
Men’s Rugby World Cup expanding to 24-team format for the 2027 edition. The US hosts the 2031 edition for the men and the 2033 edition for women.
https://www.americasrugbynews.com/2023/10/05/incoming-expansion-to-24-teams-for-rugby-world-cup-2027/
(French coverage) https://www.france24.com/fr/sports/20231004-coupe-du-monde-de-rugby-comment-hausser-le-niveau-des-petites-%C3%A9quipes
(British Coverage) https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/oct/04/world-rugby-to-reject-plate-competition-for-emerging-nations-at-world-cups