Crystal Dunn signs with Gotham FC, Hugo Lloris signs with LAFC, and more: New Year’s Day Freedom Kicks
Good morning, everyone. Happy New Year, and welcome to 2024!! Hopefully you all rang in the new year on a good note, and may this year be the best year yet for all of us! It was a wild weekend of soccer news, so these first Freedom Kicks of the year are stacked. Let’s get to it!
Gotham FC Signs World Cup Champion and NWSL Champion Crystal Dunn (NJ/NY Gotham FC)
Crystal Dunn has signed with the NWSL champions, which means that they’re just a signing or two away from becoming the Monstars. Seriously, they appear to be loaded for another run next season.
The biggest domestic signing of the weekend on the men’s side was Hugo Lloris signing a contract with LAFC. He will earn $350K in 2024, with options for 2025 and 2026.
Turkish Super Cup final in Saudi cancelled before kickoff (ESPN)
This weekend, the Turkish Super Cup final between Galatasaray and Fenerbache was canceled after Saudi officials prohibited the teams from wearing shirts to honor Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the modern republic. The teams decided to cancel the match rather than carry on without the shirts.
Brazil-linked Ancelotti signs new Real Madrid deal until 2026 (ESPN)
Carlo Ancelotti will remain at the Bernabeu, signing a new deal with Real Madrid until the end of the 2025-2026 season. His team is in the knockout stage of Champions League and leading La Liga.
Real Madrid to make fresh Kylian Mbappe move; PSG forward given mid-January deadline (The Athletic)
The Real Madrid-Kylian Mbappe tango enters a new chapter, with the team saying that they will move on if Mbappe doesn’t sign a contract by January 15th.
USMNT forward Sargent returns after 4 months out with injury (ESPN)
Welcome back, Josh Sargent! After injuring himself while scoring a goal 4 months ago, he returned to the field over the weekend. Great to see him back with Norwich.
Poll Results: SSFC USWNT Goal of the Year (SSFC)
Our Trinity Rodman wins the Goal of the Year vote for her awesome goal against South Africa back in September!
2023 in review: Did our bold USWNT predictions come true? (SSFC)
A year ago, I made some predictions on how the USWNT would do in 2023. Needless to say, many of those predictions were duds.
2023 in review: Did our bold USMNT predictions come true? (SSFC)
I did the same on the men’s side, and while a few fell short, I had a couple that were pretty much spot on! This morning, the 2024 predictions for the WNT and MNT will be released at Stars & Stripes FC.
Why doesn’t US coverage of soccer include more US voices? (The Guardian)
The Guardian does a deep dive on why American voices aren’t used to provide American soccer coverage.
Tim Ream has inked a new deal with Fulham that will take him to the end of the 2024-25 season.
Brazil pays tribute to legend Pelé a year after his death (ESPN)
Brazil commemorated the one year anniversary of Pelé’s passing with several tributes, including a ceremony at Santos’ stadium and lighting Christ the Redeemer in his jersey.
Nashville has made a trade with the LA Galaxy to acquire Tyler Boyd. This could be a good pickup for Nashville.
PFA exploring legal action over increasing number of matches (BBC)
The EPL’s players association is considering suing the FA over schedule congestion. They contend that too many matches is leading to an increase in the number of serious injuries.
Let’s make 2024 our year!
Great way to start out 2024–lots of diverse and detailed soccer coverage–thanks! And a Happy New Year to you and the rest of the DP Team.
Congrats to Trinity Rodman. And Tim Ream seems to have discovered the Fountain of Youth.
Always worth remembering that Andy Najar won Rookie of the Year over Tim Ream.
The flashy attacking player is always gonna have a leg up on a quiet CB. Ream also continued to grow as a player well into his 30s and avoided the chronic injuries Najar has had to deal with.
Tyler Miller is making $50,000 more than Hugo Lloris, supposedly.
There’s so much wrong with this roster, but let’s start there….
DP Commentariat/Editors New Year’s resolution #1: at the risk of fulfilling the lament of that notable dialectition and grammarian, Professor Henry Higgins, to wit “Use proper English and you’re regarded as a freak”, I offer the following off-violated rules:
Its / it’s— “it’s” is used only as the contraction of “it is.” “Its” is the possessive. “Its’ “ DOES NOT EXIST.
Examples: “It’s DC United’s fate not to make the playoffs.”
“At season’s end, DC United faced its inevitable fate — not making the playoffs.”
Caution: Automatic spell check often gets the rule wrong.
You had me double-checking the article to see if I had a typo in there! LOL
Ain’t ain’t a word!
Happy New Year!!
It is now!! 🙂 https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ain%27t
Unfortunately, I think the answer to the “why not more American voices in soccer” is that, for every decent Stu Holden or Tim Howard, there are a lot more Charlie Davies and Taylor Twellmans out there. A lot of these commentators suck. It’s easier to get decent commentary from ex-EPL pros due to the staggering difference in pool depth. Not every British person is a luminary, but it’s easier to sift for them.
Stu and Howard both played in the PL, does that have something to do with it? I’m sure there are good MLS-only guys but they won’t be the loudest voices (aka the ones that get the clicks).
Looks like Josh Sargent scored in his return.
DP Commentariat/Editors New Year’s resolution #2: “who/whom”. “Who” is the subject (or actor) in a sentence or clause. “Whom” is the object (or acted upon) of a sentence or clause, or after a preposition.
Examples: Who is looking for the third DCU Designatedl Player?
For whom is Andy Mackay looking?
John Donne and Ernest Hemingway got it right: “For whom the bell tolls.”
I see “who” used so often when “whom” is proper usage in mainline publications , including WaPo, that I wonder if style books haven’t changed since my junior high English classes 70 years ago.
And to paraphrase an old joke: a freshman at Harvard asks a senior “Who is the bell tolling for?”
To which the senior haughtily replies “At Hah-ved we nevah end ah sentence with ah preposition.”
To which the freshman responds “Okay. Who is the bell tolling for, a**h***?”
There are some written language rules I try to respect, I have none for this particular one. Language is fluid, we’ve moved on from whom except for passively trying to assert class dominance on someone.
Also, New Year’s resolutions are personal, you’re not actually suggesting we all follow grammar school rules from the past century at the expense of communicating as we would?
DO Commentariat/ Editors New Year’s resolution #3: “complement/ compliment”. “complEment” means to complete, fulfill, even to enhance. “Compliment” means to praise, laud.
Examples: “The coach complimented Benteke’s holdup play.”
“Xxx??? will complement Benteke and KDP on DCU’s front line.
Goff just reported that DCU has purchased Gabriel Pirani from Santos with a two-year contract and a one-year option to renew.
I’m not sure how I feel about that. First, it probably means Klich isn’t going to be an A-mid: and I’m okay with that. Klich is a superb box-to-box midfielder who will run all day, play smart and hard, and occasionally make a late run in to the box and first time a shot on goal. Paired with Canouse (either as a double pivot or in a more advanced role), he’s got a couple more years left in him as a full-time starter in MLS. Pirani showed skill and adjusted to the league quickly (maybe that comes from having been loaned out twice before coming here). And winning the gold medal with Brasil–that implies that he got even better after his time here. All of that acknowledged, Pirani showed technique but not results. The man didn’t make a lot of line-breaking passes, had no assists. He’s got technical skills absolutely. Now we need to see if that translates in to performance. Also, I hope salary-wise he’s not our third DP.
Agree on your last point. We’re lacking in proven width if we do go with a midfield triangle of Canouse/Klich/Pirani, but at least we can count on them to be able to win and hold onto the ball. I’m anxious to have them appoint a coach so they can go into preseason with a reasonable roster for once.
It’s reported that he’ll be a U-22 player. We can still sign a DP. (And if we sign a Young DP, or a cheap-enough DP, we can sign two more U-22 players, which is what I’m hoping for. Potential now, and then growing together as a group and hitting their prime as we move past Benteke and Klich as DPs and Rodriguez and Dajome come off the books, and Mackay has shaped the squad to his liking.)
This isn’t the first year that DC United has had a shockingly bare cupboard at this time, but it never works out well…and this might be a new low.
I’m not a huge fan of Miller, but at least we’re sorta set for keeper this year, if he’s healthy. If not…based on what I saw against the Ghanaian team, I don’t think Zamudio is an MLS-level player. We will need a better option. Still, it might be our deepest position.At least the back-up (if healthy) is decent.
We have 2 veterans who might be ready to play at CB — one is a career back-up (Bartlett) and the other is old and oft-injured (Birnbaum). We also have Akinmboni, who at 17 is about as experienced as the other potential back-ups, Tubbs and Sargis.
We have one healthy veteran outside fullback, Herrera, I guess Santos could play the position…but… The back-up seems to be a tweener, Dobbelaere, who is more of a midfielder, but started one match last year. We also have a last 2nd round draft pick, Sanchez, but if he makes the team, it might be a flashing red alert. Will Jeahze be ready to start in 6 weeks? Will he even be training yet then?
Actually, compared to the crisis situation in the back line, the midfield is manageable. Canouse, Klich, and Pirani are a good group in the center. I think they may have gotten a steal in the 2nd round with Brandon Parrish. They need more MLS-ready depth, but there’s some stability there.
Santos and Stroud on the wing aren’t world-beaters, but they have experience and some quality. There’s no depth to speak of. Hopkins has to improve to earn any playing time. Maybe Rodriguez will be healthy some time before the summer. As a Sounders cast-off at 21, Dobbelaere seems like a huge long-shot, but he might develop in time.
Will Garay be able to make the jump to MLS?
Benteke and Ku-DiPietro are a nice unit up top. I love the Murrell pick, but even if he signs, he’s not ready to play in MLS. I’m sure it will take him a year to get up to MLS speed (and strength). Dajome and Fletcher are maybe a decent pair of forward-wingers — but is the team prepared to rely on one of them to step up in case of an injury?
I guess the team might be able to put together an 18-man roster for game-day, but there are some players there who I wouldn’t want to rely on to play and win. Maybe there’s even more in that category than not.
Is there even a starting XI there? Maybe, if they go with a 3-man back-line. or play Santos in the back…
And then, of course, we don’t even have a head coach. Are there assistants waiting for a head coach? I don’t know which would be worse — to hire someone in the next week and give him a week to put together his own staff, or to stick him with some holdover assistants…?
I get that MacKay is pointing towards 2025, but they owe ticket-holders better than this.
Really shocking.
The January window is upon us. Time to make some moves. Even within MLS, the better free agents are signing — Gressel, Lodeiro, Omir Fernandez, the 2 Derricks — Jones and Williams,
FC CIncy are kicking the tires on Miles Robinson. Atlanta may be opening up the wallet for Mensah, after screwing up with Miles Robinson
DC United doing nothing.
Dax McCarty was expected to go to Orlando, but with Lodeiro going there, I wonder if there’s a place for him there? Then again, not sure he’s a fit here either. There’s decent veteran depth at forward, with Baird, Rubio and Musovski available. Fafa Picault could fill in multiple positions — I’d rather see him I think than Santos on the wing.
On the international front, Miami and a few other teams seem to be angling for top South American talent. DC United? They have no irons in the fire we can see, and they sign Pirani, who MacKay says has “shown glimpses of potential.”
DCU have so many needs, and I don’t know where they’re going to find the players to fill them.
I am looking forward to my likely last STH year. I honestly don’t like how DCU has treated its fan base, nor do I like the direction of MLS. It pains me to say it, but there are simply other places to park my money.
Maybe they’ll give STH gifts like black and red bone saws to increase morale…..