DC United schedule released, US Soccer says nah to MLS, and more: Thursday Freedom Kicks
Happy Thursday, everyone. We had a lot of news drop yesterday, so let’s get to some of it!
Major League Soccer and D.C. United Announce 2024 Schedule (DCU)
The 2024 schedule is out. Which matches are you circling on your calendar? As for the Atlantic Cup, MLS has thrown its importance all the way down the drain…
The Atlantic Cup is not even listed on MLS’ top games on the schedule. It’s a shame. Anyway, D.C. United put out a video where Dave Johnson is the president and introducing our schedule. Dave Johnson 2024.
Meanwhile, U.S. Soccer told MLS that they have denied their request to have MLS Next Pro clubs take their place in the U.S. Open Cup. Looks like this isn’t done.
Washington Spirit sign Metayer, Bosselmann to three-year deals with an option for 2027
The Spirit sign a couple of players to 3 year deals. Welcome back Air Metayer & Lyza Bosselmann!
Casey Krueger close to signing with Washington Spirit, sources say (The Athletic)
Make this happen right now!!
It sounds like the Black-and-Red are closer to finding a spot for their MLS Next Pro team.
USWNT midfielder Kristie Mewis set to join West Ham (The Athletic)
Kristie Mewis could be headed to join her fiancee in London, as she’s reportedly signing with West Ham United in January.
Congrats to Lorne Donaldson, who will coach the Chicago Red Stars beginning next season.
Keep it going in the comments!
Le sigh the European super league is back: https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/39160077/64-clubs-3-divisions-super-league-new-plan-ruling
Opened the article, blanched, not reading that damn thing through.
Too many in soccer asking the truly compassionate question: Will no one think of the Money??
Based on that article only the presidents of Real Madrid and FC Barca have come out in support. While FIFPRO, UEFA, FIFA, and the European Club Association (ECA) have come out against. The Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga, Manchester United, and Bayern Munich have also said they won’t support it. There are several others listed in the article as being against it.
The Atlantic Cup erasure, now pretty much demonstratively intentional by the league, really grinds my gears.
This is as ancient of beef as it gets in MLS. True loathing. MLS wants to make fetch happen with new ones. I could expound, but a simple fuck you, Garber will suffice.
Darth Garber is moving the MessiStar over your home as I type. If you see a blast of Flamingo Pink light coming from orbit, run.
Miami’s mascot is a huron, even though they use pink as a color. The only flamingo in American soccer is Forward Madison.
Yeah. There’s not that many midweek games on the schedule anymore, so to have gotten the Red Bulls either midweek or Sundays for so many years in a row can’t help but feel intentional at this point.
Is it me, or does MLS actively try to kill tradition?
DC United has not been super active at fostering tradition, itself. But yeah, MLS definitely has its favorites and tries to promote that (Hudson River Derby, for instance). Which is fine, that should be a big deal, but it should be a big deal ALSO. The Red Bulls can have two rivals. MLS was also trying to assert its own control over the Cascadia Cup, but that was too big for it to really co-opt. Those supporters fought back and retained control. We, sadly, didn’t have that strength.
A couple of reports came out last night that DC have interviewed Domenec Torent and Hugo Perez for head coach. Bruce Arena also seems to be in the running
Perez might well be a good choice.
He’s definitely my prefence, he’s an “Oscar Pareja lite”, very similar approaches. I do wish Fraser got a legit shot, another possession oriented guy, but with a focus on positional awareness and being compact.
All in all, I wouldn’t be too upset because Arena’s tactics are still relevant and he has history with the club; not to mention the best MLS coach period. But I’m praying for Perez or Fraser.
Ok, Arena, thoughts on:
Hiring him would not be morally neutral, but it’s not really the ethics that overwhelmingly make me want him not to be contracted by my club. I think there’s a fantasy pushed by movies of the controversial, genius coach with a heart of gold and impulse control. It’s as much a fantasy as the police station holding back the brilliant but reckless cop who just needs to be let loose of “by the book” strictures. If we all know the second is not the issue with police departments by now, why are we still buying into the former fantasy?
The narrative around him is just a pile of red flags someone wants to be a fairy tale. After the Taxi debacle, why do we want the blind eye reputation increased?
First, from a purely practical standpoint–you can’t make the offer to Arena until you know the league will re-instate him. Otherwise, it’s major egg on the face to make an offer, the league meets and by the time a decision is made you’re a week from the start of camp and if it’s “no” then suddenly you’re scrambling.
Second, Arena has also been a big ego guy. I’ve talked to people who dealt with him directly and they talked about how arrogant and sarcastic he always has been. So he says some terrible things (let’s assume for a second they deal with racism–though they could have been homophobic or some other bad stuff). Saying you slap his wrists and force him out of the league for a couple of months–that’s “weak cheese” (as another coaching friend of mine would say). I don’t see it. Arena has ties here, glory day stuff. But we do need to stand for something.
I do think Torrent and Perez are very credible and innovative options–not just looking at MLS assistants or former head coaches. And I think both would adapt to MLS well (in part because Torrent has been here before). Everyone says great things about Fraser and like Benny–his teams always punched above their weight. Those are 3 decent choices to consider.
Agreed all around, although I think your first point is already resolved- I think I saw the league approved him to be considered.
I’d be a bit concerned with Perez being too one-dimensional ala Losada. El Salvador was only able to put up about 45 minutes of good soccer between running out of breath/getting caught out defensively. He does have a good background with youth players though, and it looks like we’re going to have a ton of fairly young guys on the team even if they aren’t first XI.
One tweet I saw even said Arena is the choice, but I wouldn’t put money on it yet, especially since Goff seemed kind of lukewarm on an offer going out before Christmas last article.
I’m not sure I blame Perez too much for the El Salvador debacle, just seemed like a historically weak squad.
I’d have more confidence in him structuring a squad to fit his style in the professional sphere, getting what you get for a national team in CONCACAF sometimes screws you
I’ll say it again, aside from Perez, Fraser should be a finalist. I think they both suffer from teams not giving them full support and lack of talent. Plus I think it would be nice to see fresh faces and not lean on familiar one. We finally got Ally, pair him up with Fraser or Perez.
Except I see no “debacle” with El Salvador. What Perez put forth was a team that had little depth and talent and yet attempted to attack (usually), work hard, play smart, and compete with the big boys in Concacaf. I think Perez did a terrific job as the coach for El Salvador.
Garrison Tubbs to DC is official. I think this is likely our Donovan Pines replacement, and Lucas Bartlett seems to be our Brendan Hines-Ike replacement. Obviously, there’s a lot less experience, but I think some really good potential there. Combine that with Matai Akinmboni, who’s good enough to have gotten at least a perfunctory offer from Villarreal, and United’s backline could be something special down the road. I even think there could be some hope for Hayden Sargis.
Our center backs have gotten younger, and taller. Our fullbacks are a bit younger, too, and should be good at crossing the ball. I still wonder if we might see Eric Davis back because of this.
I think we need a quality veteran center back still, our Derrick Williams replacement. It’s probably not going to be Miles Robinson as our third DP, but will it be somebody who is obviously a starter? Will they be giving Akinmboni and Tubbs the opportunity to get real playing time and develop, or will it be Birnbaum and Player To Be Signed starting?
I guess that’s what will be decided when a coach is hired. Mackay has made some good moves for the future with Tubbs and drafting Murrell. Trading for Aaron Herrera and Jared Stroud is closer to a “win now” sort of mentality, but I think Herrera especially will have several years of productivity left. A lot depends on if a coach is willing to develop a core group, and also what kind of player Mackay does go after for a third DP. I’ve been saying go Young DP and supplement that with three U-22s to really get a talented young group, but Mackay may go for someone more along the lines of Taxi or Edison Flores, a mid-20s player that will bring more roster balance.
But not tooo like Fountas or Flores… in fact, let’s avoid a F named DP for a bit
If we could combine Taxi’s ability to score some goals out of basically nothing with Flores’s ability to not drop racial slurs all the damn time, we’d be cooking!
LMAO, good one
I am impressed with the ability of Mackay to finalize this deal. There were lots of moving parts to get someone who arguably would have gone very high in the first round of the draft. By all accounts (positional need, amount of money, degree of wheeling and dealing, and future potential), this is a good deal for the team. Perhaps it won’t work out, but getting a young center back at a reasonable price bodes well for future offseason moves.
I agree with this post.
As do I