USMNT coming to the DMV, Charlotte unveil 2024 kit, and more: Wednesday Freedom Kicks
Happy Valentines Day! I will be spending mine by taking my wife on a date with lots of food and desert. *checks calendar* I will be spending mine by getting some ashes on my forehead and fasting, for Lent has snuck up on me. What this means for those less orthodox (lower case “c”) is that you can expect fish tacos to be popular on Fridays until Easter arrives on March 31.
Tuesday was rather low on District soccer news, and rather than dig deep in the barrel to provide some neat stories from around the soccer world, I’m instead playing my “life is hectic” card today, so behold a particular brief Freedom Kicks for you all!
USMNT to face Colombia in Copa America warm-up in June (ESPN): While the USMNT prepares for the Copa America in the DMV, I prepare for a return of chaos theory being applied to American international soccer.
D.C. United did not offer Brandon Parrish a contract. The squad that kicks off the 2024 season is becoming clearer with each passing day.
DC United, New York City FC & Real Salt Lake previews (MLS): Spoiler alert: who on earth really knows?
Charlotte FC Launches New Primary Kit Ahead of 2024 Season (Charlotte FC): If you’re like me, you bathe in sports graphic design… that is, when a logo or jersey reveal takes place, you are eager to know about it. With the season ONE WEEK AWAY, we have what I think is the second 2024 jersey reveal after Inter Messi Miami’s; Charlotte have a “mountains to sea” inspiration on this one.
In my best Bernie Sanders meme impression… I am once again asking you all to pitch your kicks in the comments below, to make up for my brief kicks today.
The link for the preview from MLS links to yesterday’s FK.
Your Tuesday Kickoff: DC United, New York City FC & Real Salt Lake previews | MLSSoccer.com
I give you so little, and I don’t even get that right. Good catch!
I also added what I meant to include: the conclusion of the Brandon Parrish saga.
I’ve been slowly catching up on Outlander, and whatever they’re using for shooting locations for North Carolina are certainly worthy of commemorating on a jersey.
Filmed in Scotland.
It’s really beautiful.
Aww shucks. You know, at the highlands geographical museum, it is very implied that our Appalachians track with the Scottish highlands, including geological specimens. When you one looks at the fault lines and southwest to northeast tracking, it does kind of fit (in the scheme of a long period of time and geological shifting). See K. Hess THIS is what you get when you open the floodgates of the Commentariat!!!!
That said, I like Charlotte’s effort on this one. The Carolinas have much to enjoy, for sure.
Yeah, the Appalachians, Scottish Highlands, Atlas Mountains, etc. were all part of the same mountain chain, and then separated by the movement of the tectonic plates and forming of the Atlantic Ocean.
I did not know about the Atlas in that group. See, K. Hess, we are a scholarly crew today! :^)
Just sitting here, feeling angry that the team is set up so well to max out their U-22 slots, and not having any cap space or international slots to do that. Possibly, we could fill those slots in the summer, but if we go all year without filling them, it’s going to feel like such a waste.
Now Goff says we’re getting Conner Antley, a 28 year old defender/midfielder from the Tampa Bay Rowdies.
Is the scouting report on him anything besides “warm body?”
Looks like he was the 2019 USL League One Defender of the Year, and also chipped in six goals that year. He hasn’t scored since.
There’s talent in USL, but outside of some homegrowns getting time at Loudoun, United hasn’t had a really good track record of utilizing that talent. Drew Skundrich is probably the biggest success, in those terms. Dane Kelly, Hayden Sargis, and Gouassou Samake are some others that come to mind of players they’ve signed from the lower levels, and together those three have played in fewer than 500 minutes in 11 total games for DC.
Yeah, our history suggests this will be an underwhelming move at best. What would he be coming in as, a CB? DM? Winger of some sort?
It looks like he’s spent time at RB, or RWB. So I’m guessing that he’s the back up for Herrera (or Stroud). All the USL fans are bummed to see him leave/happy to see him make the jump, and they say he’s got good speed and can cross the ball well.
This makes me feel a bit better than just my “warm body” comment, and I’m glad there’s finally a back up player at right back. I still think they should sign Graham Jones, and I still won’t believe this guy will provide more than Samake did until I see it. And it was a bit of a splash of cold water to say I wanted two U-22 signings and then see we were getting a USL journeyman, but… we are where we are.
To be fair, the new coach needs to see what he actually has on the field at the same time in order to conscientiously assess what changes need to be made. I don’t think he can get an accurate picture at pre-season training/camp, especially if he has missing players who are supposed to be part of the attacking core (Pirani). A clear or clearer picture can only come during regular season game time, that means that we will need to be patient and understanding. And heck, if any MLS supporters have experience in both life skills is us.
My life skills are torches and pitchforks….
:^)
Outside defender or wingback
He was positively historic, when he came to Indy in 2019. Per Wikipedia:
I’d guess they got a pretty solid player. A notable upgrade for the back line over Sargis and Tubbs, and probably over Akinmboni, too He might even challenge for playing time on the backline over Bartlett and McVey, who don’t have the same depth of game experience.
If he can provide solid minutes at RB, that’s very valuable. We certainly had no depth there.
I think the coaches may be more confident with Antley. This also allows them to offer playing time for Akinmboni, Sargis and or Tubbs at Loudoun.
And, yeah, he will come cheaply and doesn’t require an international slot. Obviously, I haven’t seen any of these guys play except for a couple of minutes from Sargis, and a little more from Akinmboni. The latter looked better at the end of the season, but I am thinking this is a solid move. Looking to USL for proven, experienced talent is not a new idea, and it often pays off.
Bummed that Parrish didn’t work out. That still leaves a need in central midfield. Maybe that’s still to come.
Lesesne should know about him quite well. He was playing/coaching in the ULS (Charleston then New Mexico) while Antley was playing.
Hard to believe they don’t have the cap space to utilize U22. Maybe they simply haven’t had the time to vet players,, but they’re certainly missing out while other teams are adding young players from Europe and Latin America.
If they can’t slide a couple of players at $200k apiece, waiting until summer would mean they can get one or more for at most $100k in cap hit. Surely, they can manage that. If nothing else, there will probably be at least one player on the roster who will have a season-ending injury, opening up some more cap space,
I await the next two years of the Black and Red facing off against the Red and Black.
The Red Bulls become the third team to reveal their 2024 new kit. Expect more of this today with the season kicking off this week.
I don’t hate this design. The Red Bulls have been pretty adventurous with their designs over the years, and this one leans pretty heavily into the MetroStars era.
Agreed. I have given several Red Bulls kits an immediate thumbs down for a few years now, but this one is a good homage to the MetroStars while also being a good kit in general.
It looks like a long haired cat with its paw stuck in an electrical socket…..
;^)
This just made me remember the last one that looked like it had been peed on.
That was tragic. Actually the entirety of Red Bull NJ (and Metroweenies) is tragic.
The kit reveals keep coming. I said when the Revs rebranded that the new logo felt kind of felt baseball-ish, This new kit continues that feeling, but in all the right ways I think.
Meh. It could be worse.
Goff reporting:
“D.C. United acquiring defender-midfielder Conner Antley, 28, from second-flight Tampa Bay Rowdies, per source. Transfer terms tba. Antley was a three-year starter for Rowdies”
It’s Valentine’s Day and it’s a soccer blog, so here’s the English soccer hooligans singing “Truly, Madly, Deeply.”
Matt Doyle is listing every team’s potential breakout player. For DC, he pretty naturally picks Ted Ku-DiPietro. And for everyone who says he always hates on DC, he says that he could see Teddy KDP having a 12G/7A season.
That would be one of the best seasons by a United striker since Rooney. I think he’ll have a good year, but I’m not that bullish on him. If he improves on his five goals from last year, he’ll be doing well.
Since he sort of broke out last year anyway, my pick is Kristian Fletcher to really turn some heads, building on his offseason with Swansea. He’s already got three MLS goal contributions in only 188 minutes played.
But because United’s roster overall is so young, there’s plenty of candidates. Matai Akinmboni, Garrison Tubbs, heck maybe even Jackson Hopkins or Jacob Murrell.
Realistically for our playoff hopes, those players would all have to contribute, Akinmboni hopefully with the lightest responsibilities of that group. I think we need 10+ goals from TKD, baseline, and some clutch showings out of nowhere from Fletcher
Tom Bogert has a new MLS write-up on the Athletic that touches on Miami’s roster situation. His sources are saying that Miami is trying to get rid of Gregore, Jean Mota, DeAndre Yedlin, Robert Taylor and Sergii Kryvstov in order to be roster compliant. Apparently the feeling around the league is that Miami is “screwed,” trying to get rid of this man players in like 6 days
If Mackay isn’t on the phone right now asking about Robert Taylor…
He was the one that came to my mind as well. Kryvstov would have been solid as well, had we not picked up McVey. Maybe DC could get Taylor on the cheap since Miami really needs to shed players. But they also need GAM/TAM, so who knows
Again, relying on team rosters on their websites may be dicey, but Taylor’s bio entry is different than the bio links for Busquets, Messi, Alba etc. It doesn’t have a “Player Category” entry, where the other players are listed as “International.” Another reason why DCU would be a good place to move Taylor, if he’s being shopped.
Let’s say our team really is up against the cap, but has a bunch of TAM they can’t use — something Miami surely needs to move some would-be DPs below the DP max hit. Presto!! Deal.
There would be a bidding war there…but maybe Matti Peltola can plead our case.
While we’re signing USL right backs, Jacob Greene just signed with Columbus.
I’m betting Antler is better now, though Greene still has room to grow.
Hines-Ike signing with Austin.
*Antley
Tom Bogert with The Athletic takes a look at Miami’s Roster construction issues and a couple of other topics: https://theathletic.com/5274768/2024/02/14/inter-miami-roster-mls-preseason/