Rooney struggles at Birmingham City, Capo FC joins NISA, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
Happy Friday, everyone! It continues to be a pretty slow news week, but we’re here anyway for the final Freedom Kicks of 2023!
Wayne Rooney has taken Birmingham City to a whole new level (of badness) (Pro Soccer Wire)
A little schadenfreude to start off your long weekend. Since Rooney took over as coach, Birmingham City has slid from 6th place to 19th.
Amateur standout side Capo FC makes the jump to participate in NISA (NISA)
Based in San Juan Capistrano, CA and moving up from USL 2 League, Capo FC will join the third-tier National Independent Soccer Association.
Files reveal ex-PM Blair wanted Premier League team in Belfast (ESPN)
Tony Blair seems to have thought moving Wimbledon FC to Belfast in the 1990s would help… solve The Troubles?
USMNT star Weston McKennie’s dramatic turn around at Juventus is earning rave reviews in Italy (CBS Sports)
McKennie is changing Italian minds on American soccer talent, despite his outré takes on pasta. I myself ate pesto with tomatoes earlier this week. Please do not tell the Italians.
NJ/NY Gotham FC is The Athletic’s American soccer team of 2023 (The Athletic)
Last place to champions is a pretty good storyline.
Finally, a little celebration prank from the J League:
That’s all I have for now. Have a happy New Year!
I’m telling the Italians! 🤣
Anyway, I 💯 would have advised Rooney to cool his jets and take a decent assistant manager job, find out more about how modern, competent managers do it, and grow his approach waiting for the right opportunity. But, looks like he’s jumped the shark so publicly that EPL management is well out of sight.
He’s done. Frankly, he stunk here (but wouldn’t anyone?) and he has tossed B’ham in the dumpster.
As a player, iconic. That doesn’t translate to management.
I certainly wish him well, but this is not likely the best path to plow for him.
Happy New Year, Commentariat. If you raise bubbly on New Year’s Eve, raise an ounce for me as I turn (gulp) 61.
He recycled his line about making 11 substitutions at halftime if he could. It’s a good line, but when you have to keep using it, it starts to speak to your ability to pick a starting XI, and to train up and motivate your squad.
Yeah, I saw that, as well. It’s definitely not a catch phrase you want as a coach, it’s emblematic of a mindset that “I don’t know why the team didn’t play great, cuz I’m great” mentality. That won’t fly very long when the standings aren’t reflective of that mindset.
Everyone can have a bad day. It happens. And it can happen that everyone has a bad day on the same day. But if it’s habitual, and it coincides with the team dropping 14 places since your arrival… that’s a big “look in the mirror” warning.
He also keeps publicly saying that he needs better players to compete, which is just the laziest manager excuse in the book and one that he used here a lot. A good leader, whether in sports or the business world, should be making those around themselves better and not bemoaning a lack of talent. Rooney showed that he could do it a lot as a player, but he failed at it pretty hard with DC.
Admittedly he was a little unlucky in terms of injuries, but after Rushton left it seemed like he had a lot of input into roster construction and our roster last year was way too thin in key places to play the system he wanted. Yet it took a good chunk of the season for him to change formations and then the tactics were basically lump it to Benteke and pray.
I think his good work with Derby probably was in large part due to most of the roster having played/practiced with him. So they saw the fired up Rooney that he was as a player. But at DCU he seemed to be trying to exude calmness and that just is the antithesis of what made Rooney a great player.
Because of his status as a legend, I think he can rehab his managerial profile with said stints as an assistant somewhere. I don’t think there’ll be too many clubs calling him for the top job after this. He does have some tactical knowledge and good ideas about play, but seems to be pretty stubborn and slow to acknowledge things aren’t working.
Mac and cheese with tuna and tomato last night.
Forza Amurrica!
Sorry to see Rooney do so poorly. I don’t wish bad things for anyone who has shown some passion for this club (DCU) as a player or a coach.
I wish we were getting more updates from DCU about the status of some players still on the roster who were injured last year (Jeahze, Rodriguez, Miller). And I wish we had an update from Goff on the coaching search.
As we approach a new year, with hopes and dreams of what DC United (and the Washington Spirit) can become, it’s also appropriate to share what we’re thankful for. I am very thankful for the District Press. I really appreciate the work and commitment that all of you “guys” put in to make this a reality and provide such a timely and rich resource for fans of the professional teams here in DC. Kudos to the District Press team.
There’re few blogs that are the reason to watch games, and for me, this blog qualifies. One New Year’s resolution I can keep is to appreciate the sprawling content that the writers present even more.
2024 may be rough for the world, but I hope it is good for y’all, those who keep this going. Cheers!
I share JoeW’s gratitude. One of my wishes for the New Year is that more Commentariat members would pay more attention to the outstanding coverage that Andre, Annie and others provide.
If you think about it, the rebuild starts here. Thank you all!
We are thankful to all of you for following us to a new site and continuing to support our work!
Not as thankful as the rest of us are for doing what you do. Not only covering professional soccer (okay, rugby and racing too) with the emphasis on the home sides. But providing a clearing house for local soccer maniacs to share insights and complaints and news. And doing it with good cheer and professionalism too. I hope Santa was very generous to you and the rest of the staff. You all belong on the “Nice” list.
well said