MLS rules changes, Kang buys London City, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
Another late-ish Freedom Kicks to give you some time to enjoy Donald’s from yesterday. Luckily there’s plenty of new stuff for us to talk about, so let’s dive right in.
MLS rule changes for 2024 don’t include spending boost (Pro Soccer Wire)
How are we feeling about these rules changes?
Michele Kang acquires London City Lionesses Football Club (Washington Spirit)
In the wake of yesterday’s speculation about Kang being willing to spend big on a new Spirit coach comes this news that she’s acquired a third (or second; not sure where things actually stand on her OL Féminin purchase) women’s soccer team. The Lionesses are in the second tier of England’s women’s football, finishing second in the league in 2021-22 and third in 2022-23.
Loudoun United’s goalkeeper is in the finals for USL Championship’s Save of the Year fan vote. Voting is open until midnight on Sunday.
Loudoun also signed two new players this week.
D.C. United select Ethan Dobbelaere from end-of-year waiver list (DC United)
Speaking of signings, this one just came in.
WWC winners Spain top FIFA rankings, 1 spot ahead of USWNT (ESPN)
Not a big surprise, in my opinion.
If you’re looking for something to watch this afternoon and have already finished soccer documentaries The Million Dollar Goal and Under Pressure, here’s a fun episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out about a Wikipedia prank that may have influenced a Honduran player’s career. I tried to put the video directly on this page, but FIFA blocked it somehow.
NWSL expansion draft: Best players for Bay FC and Utah Royals (Just Women’s Sports)
The 2024 NWSL Expansion Draft takes place tonight at 7 p.m. on CBS Sports Network. The Spirit are safely out of contention after trading for protection earlier this week, so I can just sit back and enjoy the chaos. Just Women’s Sports have a break-down of who they think the two expansion sides should take.
That’s all from me. Have a good weekend! I will be doing some holiday baking and trying to get gift shopping done.
I know MLS likes its incrementalism, but this little amount of change was a bit dispiriting. Especially if DC United are now prepared to be “spenders.” Of course, if they don’t have the talent identification in place just yet, then it doesn’t really matter.
I know nothing about Ethan Dobbelaere, and pretty much everyone we’ve gotten from Seattle outside of Lamar Neagle has been a big “meh,” and this seems a little too close to our habit over the last few years of filling out our roster with USL guys (although Dobbelaere is on a higher salary than Jared Stroud), but mostly this just feels like another vote of no confidence in Jeremy Garay. Hopefully Dobbelaere does well, but I’m getting antsy to start making some real moves. Having a coach would help with that.
Put me in the B.J. Callaghan camp over Bruce Arena. Bruce is obviously a great coach, but until there’s any kind of explanation over what exactly went down, I think a club that just had to let go of two employees last year for alleged acts of racism would do well to steer clear of any kind of controversy there. Not to mention that Bruce is kind of used to being a GM as well as a coach, and who knows how he’d work with Mackay. We don’t need another coach undermining the novice GM (with Kasper in the wings).
I think Arena doesn’t return to DC precisely because MacKay is in charge. It also would help us avoid signing Omar Gonzalez and/or other long-declining veterans.
Yeah, I also wonder what went really on with Bruce at New England. I doubt someone like Richie Williams, who has played for and worked with Arena for so many years, would just make something up about someone he likely appreciates at some level. And if Arena is an *ss with people he has known for so long, how will he behave with new/younger assistants?
He’s better than Jacob Greene. I’m assuming this is what Mackay was hinting at when he said Ethan could play midfield/defender. He’s a right sided midfielder and I’m assuming he can play right fullback. So with this move, we may not see Greene return.
Too be fair, Ethan put up some good numbers in this last USOC. I think he will be a good player who still has a higher ceiling.
I feel similarly (for not necessarily any good reason) about Lucas Bartlett.
I could tell you right now Bartlett has been putting exceptional numbers defensively per 90 than Birnbaum. At this point he’s the best CB on the team.
…although Goff is reporting that Matai Akinmboni has performed well in a training assignment with Villarreal, and they’re considering putting in an offer.
He wouldn’t be eligible to go until the fall, but well done to Matai!
Thanks, Annie. You and Donald have become the most reliable Freedom Kicks posters (at whatever hour). It is much appreciated.
I a little surprised to see the Michelle Kang’s purchase of Olympique Lyonnaise Feminine still hasn’t closed.
It seems like the may be waiting for the team to sell the Reign to formally approve it, even though OL/Reign and OL Féminin don’t have the same ownership… Who knows really?
Thanks, Annie.
Matt Doyle did a rundown of every team’s SuperDraft needs. He had DC needing center back, fullback, and forward, but also correctly noted that Ally Mackay is doing a pretty big teardown/rebuild, and needs talent anywhere. Still, centerback is one of those places that you can find good value in the SuperDraft (hi, Steve Birnbaum!), and United only has Birnbaum, Matai Akinmboni, Hayden Sargis, and Lucas Bartlett. I think the team could definitely grab someone there, but even if they do, they’ll be looking for starters throughout the offseason.
The only real quibble I have is that Doyle said they haven’t picked anyone who had any kind of notable career in DC since 2017 (Chris Odoi-Atsem). That’s pretty much true, but I just wanted to give a shout out to Sofiane Djeffal for making the team and putting up 28 appearances as a second round pick.
In the past, United hasn’t been shy about either trading away picks (which is how we effectively got Ruan at the #2 spot), or trading to get more/higher picks (which is how we somehow turned the 4 and 5 picks into Kirmani Smith and Michael DeShields – although Ethan Bartlow is really the most notable pick after those two, and he hasn’t been super impressive).
We’re also not shy about selecting international players in the draft. I think United currently has five international players on the roster (six, if Gabriel Pirani returns), and hopefully they’ll use one of the remaining spots on a third DP. Ally Mackay has done a good job of getting domestic players in his wheelings and dealings so far (which was also a strength in Nashville), so we’ll see if he might continue the tradition of going international in the draft, or pick a US player. One of the few changes that MLS approved was how players can achieve domestic status, and I’m not sure how that would impact anyone on our team yet.
I’m also not at all aware of who’s available in the draft, and who I’d like United to get. Best player available, for me!
Can play midfield and defender. A real dobbel threat.
Seems with Dobbelaire, United have their new Durkin, though without his European pedigree, and definitely a downgrade in achievements at that age. Having never seen him play, I have nothing to add.
With Charlotte adding Dean Smith, maybe DC United could hire one of the John Thompsons? Maybe Joe Gibbs (always had a little of the Alex Ferguson in him)?
DC just announced on Twitter the departure of Rory Molleda. Not much info other than that he’s leaving
Yeah. There wasn’t a ton of “tradition” and team institutions still hanging around, but Rory definitely was one. Since we’re kind of building a whole new thing, it does make some sense for Rory to decide to move on (or whatever his reason for moving on was). But I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone have anything less than glowing to say about him. Wishing him the best, and thanks for all he did!
On a serious note — I think the new “The Off-Field Treatment Rule” is a bit misguided — too heavy-handed. I’m all for ending time-wasting, and also the embellishing that goes on with players laying on the ground trying to get referees to call a foul or issue a card. This could do a lot of that, but by being an unyielding rule, it carries the risk of unintended consequences. This change might actually incentivize some rough play, as it might produce a two-minute man advantage for the fouling or guilty team.
I’d prefer a rule change that ALLOWS referees to hold a player on the sidelines for 2 minutes. That would let them cut out a lot of the time-wasting and embellishments — but have some flexibility for players who legitimately needed a little treatment, or help with a muscle cramp, but who won’t need 2 additional minutes on the sidelines after a restart.
They trialed it in MLS Next Pro and it seemed to work really well.
Teddy KDP got engaged! They grow up so fast!
Congrats to Ted I Do-DiPietro!
Jeff Reuter just reported on the Athletic that MLS teams will no longer participate in the US Open Cup starting in 2024. The MLS Next Pro teams will, instead. This means that DC United have now officially been eliminated from the 2024 Open Cup, as we do not have a Next Pro team. Starting 2024 off strong!
In seriousness though, this is a terrible decision. Get rid of the stupid Leagues Cup instead of the Open Cup.
I think my primary reaction to this is: while DCU’s situation is purely a by-product of our own front-office incompetence, I’m happy we are not going to actively contribute to this complete Bowdlerization of the Open Cup. Just jaw-droppingly arrogant and stupid, even for a modern sports league.
Not having a MLS Pro Next move isn’t so boneheaded, it’s more the result of bad luck on getting USL side setup in Loudoun and then MLS changing the rules leaving a team contracted to keep them in USL.
Dick move by the league. I’m definitely going to be checking out my local teams’ games and watching what i can online. It also means some lower division team is getting a pretty good monetary prize if they can beat the teenagers MLS is putting out.
I both get why MLS did this and why it’s completely boneheaded move.
The bigger insult is that the winner of the Open Cup still gets a slot in the CCL which means that if a “2” team wins that “2” team not the parent goes to the international tournament. It’s a major FU to CONCACAF as well.
Don’t know if it’s true or not but rumors are swirling that now former Barcelona Femení coach Jonatan Giraldez is the next coach of the Washington Spirit