Nashville SC fires Smith, Messi’s MLS salary, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
Happy Friday! I am jetting off to Ohio for a family wedding this afternoon and trying to get some last-minute work done this morning, but there’s still time for some Freedom Kicks. Let’s jump right in.
Nashville SC fires Gary Smith, only coach in team history (ESPN)
Perhaps the most surprising thing about this story is that Smith is the only MLS coach to be fired so far this season.
Segra Field to host matches for USL League 2 and USL-W Clubs (Loudoun United)
Starting this weekend, Segra Field will be hosting eight games for lower-division teams Northern Virginia FC and VA Marauders.
Lionel Messi, MLS’s biggest star, is also its highest-paid player (Washington Post)
On the one hand, this is news because MLS salary information just came out; but on the other hand, is it?
Copa America rosters will expand to 26 players, CONMEBOL confirms (Pro Soccer Wire)
I think expanding tournament roster sizes is a good thing, especially with the increase in games played each year.
Loudoun United’s Hugo Fauroux is up for Save of the Week:
Chelsea eyes weekend finale with WSL title in sight (Just Women’s Sports)
Things looked shaky for a bit there, but Emma Hayes might just be leaving for the USWNT with one more trophy for her shelf.
Venu Sports introduced as name for forthcoming sports streaming service (ESPN Press Room)
How many streaming services do we need, exactly?
D.C. United File Discovery Rights Claim On Philadelphia Union Raccoon (The Nutmeg News)
Because it’s Friday, we need some jokes.
Also, just a funny little video about Wayne Rooney meeting Donald Trump on the golf course:
Finally, the schedule of games for the weekend. I believe someone requested that I include the NPSL Mid-Atlantic teams when their season started, since they’re all nearby. Let me know what you think!
| Teams | When | Where | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loudoun United FC vs. Monterrey Bay FC | Sat., May 18 at 6:45 p.m. ET | Leesburg, VA | ESPN+ |
| Washington Spirit vs. Angel City FC | Sat., May 18 at 7:30 p.m. ET | Washington, DC | Ion |
| D.C. United vs. Inter Miami | Sat., May 18 at 7:30 p.m. ET | Fort Lauderdale, FL | Apple TV |
| Alexandria Rough Diamonds vs. Annapolis Blues | Fri., May 17 at 7 p.m. ET | Washington, DC | – |
| FC Frederick vs. DMV Elite | Sat., May 18 at 7 p.m. | Buckeystown, MD | – |
| VB City FC vs. Grove Soccer United | Sat., May 18 at 7 p.m. | Norfolk, VA | – |
| D.C. Defenders vs. St. Louis Battlehawks | Sun., May 19 at 12 p.m. ET | St. Louis, MO | ABC |
| Alexandria Reds vs. Annapolis Blues | Sun., May 19 at 5:30 p.m. ET | Alexandria, VA | – |
That’s all I have. Feel free to share more Kicks in the comments!
Also, while I was sleeping, FIFA voted to hold the 2027 Women’s World Cup in Brazil!
I guess any World Cup now not played in Saudi Arabia is a win
Saudi Arabia just bought Brazil…….
While I wish that the Spirit and DC United didn’t play at the same time, I do get ION, so will be able to view it after on record
Huh, I think ION is now DefyTV, and the Spirit don’t look to be airing??
ION is still ION. DefyTV is something separate. ION is still showing the match on its TV schedule tomorrow.
Dang, I guess it very recently got removed from my channel selection, no idea, I recorded a Spirit game not long ago on that channel. Shit
Ion is also on a lot of streaming platforms. More info: https://iontelevision.com/find-us
DC’s salary spend is interesting. We went down in overall salary from last year but apparently didn’t have any money left in the budget for an additional signing this spring.
My guess is that we used most of of our TAM/GAM on buying down transfer fees (to save the owners money) over the last two seasons and so now we can’t buy down contracts that much. I saw a cool year over year comparison on Twitter this morning that includes transfer fees and has DC closer towards the bottom of the league in terms of overall spending this season.
https://x.com/MLS_Box2Box/status/1791137526700540189?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1791137526700540189%7Ctwgr%5E14ff4c4049644e2647227de845c98bcfcd8e1200%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.redditmedia.com%2Fmediaembed%2F1ctnzec%2F%3Fresponsive%3Dtrueis_nightmode%3Dfalse
Still a mystery to me. DC are middle of the pack on wages, but bottom quartile in transfer spend this past year (crazy that SKC are at $0). More to the point about ambition, the bottom 8 are WWWAAAAYYY off the pace there — big gap to the next chunk of teams. TFC a bit if an exception — only SKC has spent less on transfers in last 2 years, but their wage bill is far higher than the rest of the league, except for Miami.
Hard to understand why DCU claim to have no cap space to add talent.
Mind you, it’s not an exact match to success — Minn Utd managing to flourish without the money, Philly still good — and of course there are teams that lose despite the money spent, like Nashville, Dallas, Portland, Atlanta, New England, and most of all Chicago. Still…
Surprised that RSL are on top in the West? They’re a top 10 team in combined spending. FC Cincinnati, too.
FCC has been super busy the last few seasons, so not surprising. RSL brought in Chicho, who’s worth whatever he’s paid and whatever else they paid to get him. They’re very competitive even if a bit uneven (I’m not sold on Mastroeni as a top coach but he seems to have gotten their culture right).
For the bottom spenders…SKC is “reaping” what they’ve “sowed”…the team keeps getting older but there doesn’t seem to be an interest in turning a new leaf. I’m thinking Ryan is onto something re: our supposed financial crunch. At least McKay has shown he knows how to bring in good players on good deals (for the team).
Our racoon has just been assigned discovery rights to Inter Miami….
sigh….
Meanwhile, in Portland…
Honestly, how did anyone not see this coming?
I mean, DC United hired Wayne Rooney…and then Birmingham did the same…
That really worked out for Birmingham….
Rooney is not nearly as inept as Phil Neville. That isn’t even a compliment for Rooney, Neville is the WOAT
Is Neville worse than Chris Armas?
Armas is a dunderhead. Hiring Neville is like voluntarily giving your squad Lyme disease.