Kingsbury red rescinded, USMNT narrowly beat Jamaica, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
Happy Friday! Plenty to chat about today, so let’s get into it.
NWSL independent review panel issues decision on Kingsbury red card (Washington Spirit)
Aubrey Kingsbury will be available for tomorrow’s game after a successful appeal of her red card. I think this is the right call; the attacker was not in control of the ball, and Tara McKeown was closer to it when Kingsbury (allegedly) handled it.
“Miraculous” own goal spares USMNT from its worst loss in years (Yahoo)
Honestly, this game was crazy. I did not think they were going to pull off the equalizer, and they kind of didn’t.
Washington Spirit to sign Colombian midfielder Leicy Santos from Atletico Madrid: Sources (The Athletic)
Mark Krikorian said at the team’s First Look event that the team would be announcing an international signing shortly. Could this be her? If so, it would be a big move, although I’d still like to see some defensive signings as well.
German national teams end long Adidas partnership with Nike deal (ESPN)
Why, though?
Relatedly, can someone explain to me why fans seem to be so much better at designing jerseys than the big apparel companies?
A high-pressing creative threat: D.C. United’s new era under Troy Lesesne (Total Football Analysis)
A deep-dive tactical analysis of the Black-and-Red under Troy Lesesne (so far).
In some other sports news, Loudoun United defender Robby Dambrot’s dad coaches Duquesne men’s basketball, who advanced to the round of 32 in NCAA March Madness yesterday. Just a fun connection, really.
Finally, here’s the schedule for the weekend. All three of our soccer teams play tomorrow, so you may face some tough choices about what to watch.
| Teams | When | Where | Watch |
| Loudoun United FC vs. Detroit City FC | Sat., Mar. 23 at 4 p.m. ET | Detroit, MI | ESPN+ |
| Washington Spirit vs. Bay FC | Sat., Mar. 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET | Washington, DC | ION |
| D.C. United vs. St. Louis City SC | Sat., Mar. 23 at 8:30 p.m. ET | St. Louis, MO | Apple TV |
| Old Glory DC vs. San Diego Legion | Sat., Mar. 23 at 4 p.m. ET | Boyds, MD | MNMT |
Unfortunately, for Old Glory captain Jamason Fa’anana-Schultz’s red card suspension is for 5 weeks. That would mean he’s not back until May 4th against Miami. The tackle looked bad, but circumstances show it was completely accidental. There was an overthrow on a lineout and Chicago’s captain Billy Meakes decided to jump for the ball on the bounce and landed on Fa’anana-Schultz’s shoulder. Fa’anana-Schultz attempted to help him stay up in the air, but Meakes’ momentum led to him folding in half over the shoulder and then unfortunately landed head-first. It remains to be seen if OGDC will appeal the decision.
https://www.americasrugbynews.com/2024/03/20/mlr-notes-jfs-suspended-houston-add-flanker-injury-watch/
Is a multi-game suspension common in rugby? Or is it because of the injury?
Fa’anana-Schultz has 2 prior red cards in MLR play in previous seasons. Prior red cards can be used as reasoning to increase the number of games on a suspension. I’m really hoping OGDC appeals and gets it reduced to only 1 or 2 games.
The fact that Meakes landed on his head definitely led to it being a red card. You can hear that in the discussion between the ref and the TMO on the stream/broadcast. If Meakes had landed on his shoulder or side, it probably would’ve only been a yellow.
Berhalter should no longer be coach. However, it’s not up to him, so let me write an open letter to the federation.
Dear USSF,
You (redacted) (redacted).
You put the team in a shitty situation in this game. You chose a cavernous stadium in Dallas, rolled out grass over a football field shittily, and made it a double header ticket situation so that you could squeeze maximum profit out of the Mexican fans. So, you made it so your own team would play in a near empty stadium devoid of cheering fans (save for some casuals and diehards like Donald), you made the playing surface the opposite of what Berhalter would like to play on, and the atmosphere hurt.
You are (redacted redacted) for doing this.
You can make it up to us, though.
Fire Berhalter.
You know what you did with him. Correct it. Regardless of atmosphere and field quality, this was a lifeless performance against a depleted Jamaican side. They had a quarter of their best players, and still deserved to wreck this team. But for an incredibly fortuitous (for the US) own goal, you might have been forced into a reckoning, but the reckoning should still come. The team was neither sufficiently prepared nor motivated, and tactically, against a bunker and counter team, we could not have been tactically worse.
There is more to say about the misuse of the squad, but you don’t even need to leave the stadium to find a better coach than Gregg. BJ would be better. Call the candidates back in, do the right thing. This man is complete garbage.
With absolutely no respect until you salvage this upcoming WC,
The fans that watched
We had problems with the low block from the Dutch at the last World Cup as well with Berhalter in charge. Jamaica has the speed to make a counter out of the low block work and it almost nailed us a couple of times. Especially late on there was that chance that thankfully was shot right at Turner.
I find Berhalter’s tactics to be so, so stupid. A good coach knows that the team that is better at flowing forward is going to win 9/10 times. A good coach strategizes about how to get space to attack into, to find weaknesses and gaps in the structure of the opponent. Gregg is not a good coach. We push numbers claustrophobically forward and painfully slowly. We leave our CB’s exposed to the counter, then after the counter we come back at a trot. Fuck this man, he just instructs them on how to play and never learns- he’s just waiting for it to work. Anyone who deigns to adjust or prepare for his tactics can nullify our most talented players. Fuck!!!
I had breakfast at iHop with Berhalter this morning. I was unsuccessful in finding any syrup that he was allergic to. I tried for anaphylaxis. I failed you, Talonesque. I even plotted to utilize expired epipens to fake saving the pitiable wretch.
I too picked Duquesne. Was in a wedding at their chapel in the 90s. Lovely views of Pittsburgh!
Tonight the stage is set for another Duchy, JMU, to seize glory. Go Dukes of all kinds!
Annie, what a “Meatie Monday” post!
#4 Couldn’t agree more with Brandon Liss’s article on DCU press. LOVE LOVE LOVE puts it best. That kid is a fine writer and analyst. He was in the Orlando system it seems.
To your third point: what teams *are* effective at beating a low block? A few years ago I remember Juventus pummeling Atlético with crosses and getting a result. Is it really just a matter of hammering the goal until they break?
It’s more about punishing teams for making that decision, and especially doing so when they ever try to get forward. Pep and Klopp are both excellent at it, but in very different ways. We don’t need a coach of that caliber to accomplish these strategies, but we do have the players to either pull teams apart with passing, patience, and movement, or being so transitionally devastating that the team gets so cross, they make a mistake.
It’s more about three things: (1) a team has an idea of what to do when it happens. They’ve worked on it and become comfortable dealing with it. (2) they’re very good in close space (and this team should be one of the best USMNT groups in terms of that). One-timing balls and combination play becomes incredibly important as a skill set to beat a low block. And (3) they have game-planned for that specific opponent. For instance, you don’t whip in dozens of crosses when their CB is Virgil van Dyjk or your #9 if Jesus Fereira. If their keeper likes to come out to “own” the area then that affects where you serve balls (on the edge of the keeper’s comfort zone).
Griffin Yow is getting the start for the U-23s against Guinea.
And Yow already has an assist, to Nathan Harriel.
Me like!