USMNT draw Brazil, Lionel Messi out of Olympics, and more: Thursday Freedom Kicks
Happy Thursday, everyone. The USMNT had a much better showing last night, so I’m much happier this morning! Another short one today, so before you dive into work on this Thursday, here’s what happened yesterday…
2024 Friendly – USA 1-1 Brazil: A much improved showing for the Stars and Stripes (SSFC)
A much better performance for the USMNT, who draw Brazil and probably should have won it. It was great to be in the stands for that one!
Lionel Messi rules out playing 2024 Olympics with Argentina (ESPN)
Lionel Messi says that he can’t do it all, and he will not play for Argentina at the Olympics next month after finishing Copa América.
Lionel Messi: Inter Miami will be my last club (MLS)
Messi further states that when his time is done at Inter Miami, he will be done with soccer. The next big question for him is whether he will continue with Argentina through the 2026 World Cup, despite saying in 2022 that would be his final World Cup.
World Cup 2026 knockout schedule set for U.S., Mexico, Canada (ESPN)
The USMNT could have a ton of West Coast matches should they advance out of the group at the 2026 World Cup. If they win the group, they will remain in the Pacific time zone all the way through the semifinals.
USMNT loses highly rated Sounders midfielder Vargas to Mexico (Pro Soccer Wire)
18-year-old Obed Vargas has decided to commit to El Tri for his international future. The Alaskan midfielder had been in the United States youth system.
Enjoy the day, y’all!
That was so much better.
We were much more disciplined and compact, and actually countered at times. Think Musah brought back some familiarity to the midfield, so I appreciated his shift. Also applause to Weah for tracking back to help Scally with Vini Jr., who was largely contained on the night.
Brazil didn’t seem to think much of playing the United States in comparison to Colombia, so I still have the same concern that teams that decide to stay compact and counter when we over commit will whoop us. But this was a lot better. Turner had a lot to do, but Allison was forced into some jaw dropping saves.
Also shoutout to Rodrygo, who was en fuego throughout.
My only real critique is that, the staff need to ignore Pulisic’s claims that he needs to go on if he gets that gimpy. Not only is it dangerous for the pre-tournament health of a massive player for us, but he also lost a lot of effectiveness even before the half.
Ok, maybe one other thing, Balogun needs to match Pepi’s intensity in the press. He was too passive and anemic when he came on out of possession, and that was a lot of the rest of the game. Read the room.
But yeah, strong performance, and I hope we play like this more often
Today is Mateusz Klich’s birthday. Happy 34th, Klichy!
“The Alaskan midfielder commits to play for Mexico” is something that just sounds wild in concept
On a completely different note Ryan Keefer retweeted a post earlier from the FC Bayern account based in the US that said that Bayern would be playing DC today. Havent seen literally anyone else mention it, but I guess its possible its happening in some way?
A year ago today. (?)
Well, according to Dave Johnson, they are actually playing each other. DC U19s are playing the Bayern World Squad (whatever that is?)
https://x.com/davejsports/status/1801315691284377855
Ah!
Goff reporting that Birnbaum has re-aggravated his left knee issue and is now out indefinitely
Honestly, I know we are low on bodies but I put this on the coach. When Birbaum was just returning he said that they would take it easy on him, that they would ease his way into playing time to make sure nothing got aggravated. That resolved lasted what? Two games and a half? Birbaum went from playing like 15-20 minutes to playing 80-90+ minutes in a span of 4-6 games total. Again, I know we are low on bodies, especially on defense, but it is not like he couldn’t go to Tubbs and Matai.
At the time, Matai was on loan to Loudoun, or in the process of being loaned to Loudoun. Of course, that was also probably something of a coach’s decision. He got recalled for the last game, and I’d expect him to stick around at least until McVey is healthy.
During the offseason, I was definitely advocating for a “play your kids” approach to this season. We had some good homegrown talent that needed minutes, we got some other intriguing talents like Tubbs and Murrell, we signed a Young DP, and we had a U-22 in Pirani that had shown some flashes of potential in 2023. We also had the ability to sign two more U-22s, and had two DPs that were reaching the end of their contracts after this season. A year of seasoning (that might suck, record-wise) for this young core, and then the ability to add two new DPs that were more in their prime would really make 2025 something special.
Well, Benteke and Klich are playing even better this year than last year. Some of the “scrubby MLS vets” the team brought in are playing really well. This was especially true of Bartlett and McVey, and it was keeping Tubbs and Akinmboni from getting minutes. Pirani and the other homegrowns were getting minutes, but outside of maybe Jackson Hopkins, no one was really impressing.
Well, now Tubbs and Akinmboni will get the chances to develop thanks to injuries and a shockingly small number of available bodies. (I kind of wonder, if Lesesne opts to keep a three man backline, is he going to recall Sargis, too?) The team has certainly performed better than a “lost season, let’s play the kids” approach would suggest. But maybe they can do both? Play the kids, and really try to compete for that playoff spot.
I definitely feel bad for Birnbaum, but the team was clearly moving on from everybody. If he hadn’t signed the extension he did last year, he’d be gone too. And at least it’s his knee rather than his head.
Oof. Gotta feel bad for him. Tubbs has seemed decent at least but if we continue with three in the back then we’re pretty light back there (and everywhere but GK for that matter)
Maybe once the new LB arrives we go back to 4 defenders? We’re gonna have to make some deals either way.
Fresh off a loss in the UCL final, Dortmund is starting to clear house. Terzić resigns and the club decides to move on from Hummels. Many clubs make the mistake of trying to catch lightning in a bottle after a campaign like this year (one that is probably not reproducible). Probably a smart move even if it’s sad for the fans.