MLS jersey releases, Inter Miami salary cap issues, and more: Thursday Freedom Kicks
It’s Thursday, y’all. Unfortunately, we have to start it by once again sending our condolences to the victims of a mass shooting. This time, it’s Kansas City, who had a mass shooting at the Kansas City Chiefs Super Bowl celebration today. On a day of love and celebration, too many people have to once again suffer through tragedy. We gotta end this cycle.
New England Revolution unveil 2024 Boston Tea Party jersey (MLS)
Some MLS jerseys are starting to be released, and yesterday saw 6 teams reveal their 2024 looks. Besides New England’s, we saw the New York Red Bulls, Portland Timbers, Charlotte FC, Philadelphia Union, and Sporting Kansas City give us their jerseys. Which teams got it right?
This shouldn’t be a surprise, but once again Inter Miami needs to fudge some numbers and probably move some players around in order to be roster compliant by the start of the season. This is while they sign another player, Federico Redondo.
FC Juarez’s Diego Chávez dies in car accident, aged 28 (ESPN)
Sad news out of Liga MX as Diego Chávez dies in a car accident. Condolences to his family, friends, teammates, and Juarez fans.
Columbus Crew 2 Sign Defender Jacob Greene (Columbus Crew)
Former DC United Homegrown Jacob Greene has signed with Columbus Crew 2. Wishing him the best of luck in MLS Next Pro.
DC United has signed a new player from USL Championship side Tampa Bay Rowdies, Conner Antley. Antley was one of the best defenders in the USL Championship, so hopefully he can add some depth to the back line and defensive midfield.
Levante end Barcelona’s 70-game Liga F win streak at home (ESPN)
A shocker in Liga F as Barça draws with Levante 1-1, snapping a 70-game win streak.
The 2026 World Cup presents logistical issues for the NWSL (The Athletic)
The 2026 is going to be a logistical nightmare for the NWSL. Will they pause that summer while the world’s biggest tournament plays on our soil?
Quincy Promes is convicted and sentenced to 6 years in prison on some cocaine charges. However, since he plays for Spartak Moscow and Russia does not have an extradition treaty with the Netherlands, he’s not going to jail. He’s planning to remain in Russia for the long haul to avoid the prison sentence.
The Mid-Atlantic Conference for the NPSL is set, and it’s a DMV affair. 6 of the 8 teams are in the area, including Annapolis Blues and FC Frederick. The other 2 down are towards Richmond and Virginia Beach.
‘Freddy Adu was just like Messi’: what happened to America’s Pelé? (The Guardian)
The Guardian takes a look at Freddy Adu’s career and how he was not able to live up to what was historic hype back then.
Stay safe, everyone.
I like the Boston Tea Party uniform from the Revs it looks great.
I was underwhelmed, I’ll circle back on this…
Eh to me its the best of the bunch. There are no real standouts except maybe Portland’s…
OK, pine tree (check), player with tea cup (check, nod to Alex Morgan), otherwise I guess I just don’t get it
I am perplexed at how/why this is the “Boston Tea Party” jersey. If anyone has any insight on the connection, I’d love to hear it.
The pine tree? The tea cup in the player’s hand? I am flummoxed.
(Not questioning the opinion of our esteemed Will, he clearly has great taste!)
:^)
Rival teams in the league make a stink about salary cap restrictions and fairness, which must shock Miami. They didn’t realize there WERE rival clubs, much less restrictions and fairness standards! 🙄
I love this part of the article:
Love you for this.
Darth Garber will be coming for YOU, however….
I’m surprised there isn’t a SUPER-Special Targeted Allocation Reserve they can tap into.
^^^^THIS!
Darth Garber is on it….
Darth Garber has noticed your loyalty and compliance….
You shall receive an MLS commemorative pin….
Hines-Ike is apparently joining Austin. Sad that he ended up injured for so much of his time here. I think his technical skills will be a good fit with Wolff’s system. Maybe he won’t pass to a St. Louis striker.
Nice to see the jersey incorporating the Frederick Douglass Bridge.
The new naming partner is Guidehouse, a McLean consulting firm. I don’t know a lot about them, but wouldn’t be shocked if they were a little ethically iffy. I’m happy if I’m wrong about that.
But it’s a five year deal, worth $7.5 million a year, which seems like a pretty decent number. It also gets rid of XDC, the blockchain crypto thingy, which is also a win.
Overall, the jersey is fine. It’s black, it’s got some sublimated movement, it features the bridge. It’s not super exciting, or one of my favorites we’ve ever had, but it gets the job done and I have no complaints about it.
Yay.
Can we bring back the jerseys from the early days? Or the red 3rd kit I like that one?
Guidehouse used to be the government consulting side of PWC (PriceWaterhouseCoopers, so the govt. consulting side of one of the former “Big Eight” accounting firms). They’ve just recently been acquired by Bain. I’m not sure I’d call them “ethically iffy”–they’re a Beltway Bandit and do work with most Departments in the Federal government, have 16,000 employees scattered around the world and headquarters in the DC area (McLean specifically).
Thanks for the info. I don’t think there’s a ton of super desirable or ethical sponsors of pro sports teams out there, it could definitely (and has been) worse
Goff has a new story out saying that Steve Birnbaum will be out for the first few weeks of the season due to arthroscopic knee surgery. This is a bummer for him, because he’s far and away the most experienced defender, but if United is really going to swallow hard and take some lumps this year, it’s a chance for Matai Akinmboni and Garrison Tubbs to get some minutes (although Tubbs had an injury during preseason, too). Christopher McVey and Lucas Bartlett have a bit more experience, but I’d hope that it’s mostly going to be a case of one veteran and one developing prospect playing. If the plan is to look a bit longer term than this season, the kids need to get minutes to be ready for those next seasons.
It was also really savvy of Birnbaum to sign his extension when he did. If not, he’d likely have been gone with the rest of the vets last year.
Goff is also reporting that Canouse has been nursing an ankle injury (someone noted that he wasn’t featuring in the preseason games). His spot can probably be handled by Peltola and Klich, or maybe Garay will even get a run out.
Conner Antley — the rush to add him may in fact be connected to the Birnbaum surgery.
Maybe part of it, but everything I’m seeing suggests he’s much more of a right back.
Seattle have dropped a pinstripe kit: https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/seattle-sounders-fc-unveil-2024-the-anniversary-kit
Well, that’s different…
Are we doing MLS Fantasy League(s) again?