Paredes and Yow headed to Paris, Olympics roster rule change, and more: Tuesday Freedom Kicks
Happy Tuesday! Between the weather and the NATO crowds in downtown DC today, I hope most of you can stay home like me and enjoy your Freedom Kicks from there.
U.S. Men’s Olympic roster named (Stars and Stripes FC)
The men’s under-23 group includes D.C. United homegrowns Kevin Paredes and Griffin Yow.
USWNT coach Hayes confirms rule change regarding Olympic alternates (Pro Soccer Wire)
While Olympics rosters are still restricted to 18 players, alternates may get a chance to see some playing time under a new rule that allows coaches to switch injured players in and out of the active roster throughout the tournament. Possible good news for Spirit players Croix Bethune and Hal Hershfelt!
USL Championship Power Rankings – Week 18 (USL Championship)
After bringing their undefeated streak up to seven games last weekend, Loudoun United FC shoot up to #2 in the league power rankings.
On the subject of Loudoun’s last game, Wesley Leggett’s goal is up for Goal of the Week.
NWSL week 16: xG race charts & pass networks (BTVC)
Check in on how the NWSL teams are doing as they head out to their international break, with André’s weekly roundup of game-by-game graphics.
UEFA Euro 2024 semifinals: What to know about star-studded Spain vs. France, Netherlands vs. England matches (CBS Sports)
Previews for the Euro semifinal matches, beginning this afternoon at 3 p.m. with Spain vs. France. Hoping these are a little more exciting than the quarterfinals.
Euro 2024: England-Netherlands ref served match-fixing ban (ESPN)
The referee overseeing tomorrow’s England-Netherlands match was suspending for taking a bribe in 2005 to rule for a German club team. Are there are that few good referees that they need someone with this kind of history to officiate such a big match?
Lionel Messi will start vs. Canada in Copa America semifinal, Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni says (AP News)
Copa America semis also start tonight, with Canada playing Argentina at 8 p.m. Despite a leg issue, MLS star Lionel Messi will be playing.
On our local schedule, there are a couple of midweek matches in the NPSL this week, both tomorrow night at 7 p.m.
| Teams | When | Where | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Annapolis Blues vs. FC Frederick | Wed., July 10 at 7 p.m. ET | Annapolis, MD | – |
| Alexandria Reds vs. Virginia Dream | Wed., July 10 at 7 p.m. ET | Alexandria, VA | – |
Finally, for a bit of fun, here’s a purely silly post from Meme Monday on r/MLS. Have a good day!
That’s great that Paredes and Yow are going to Paris. I hope they both see lots of PT. They’re also examples why I’m so pissed that DCU has continually lagged behind the rest of the league in youth development sides. The DC area is a soccer hotbed. For a club that isn’t going to be a big spender, the best option is to “grown your own!” And we’ve been such idiots at really pursuing this.
I’m also pissed that there hasn’t been more development of the homegrown players that have signed with the club. Ted KDP seems to have regressed a bit. Kristian Fletcher hasn’t done much in his opportunities. Jackson Hopkins has gamely taken on the role of the 6, but he hasn’t been blowing anybody’s ears back. Matai Akinmboni has looked ok, but hasn’t had a ton of opportunities.
Sometimes players need to move on to a better situation or a better league fit (Collin Martin, Griffin Yow, Ian Harkes). Sometimes even if they move on, other coaches still can’t do that much with them (Moses Nyeman). Still, getting some more contributions from our homegrowns, and having a steady pipeline of them (which an MLS Next Pro team would VASTLY help) is going to be vitally important to our club’s success.
I had advocated going with a big youth movement this year, knowing that it would be a rough season. We’ve done that to a degree, but it’s been undercut a bit by the youngsters not really performing and some of the older veterans that were brought in actually doing pretty well. It’s also been undercut by the inability to bring in two more U-22 players. The team could still bring them in during this window, but all the noises have been how they don’t really have the room to bring in other players. Peltola has been okay, and Tubbs has been showing some good growth. The other youths… ehh. So much for my general manager plans!
I think Griffin Yow and Parades are some of the most impactful players on this roster. Unfortunately, that’s not a compliment.
I will try to watch to support these two, but it seems this is going to be a drubbing
Would I be wrong in thinking the Olympics isn’t a good barometer for the health of a country’s soccer program? I think you can look at individuals’ performances and maybe glean who’s going somewhere. Otherwise the strange roster rules and inability to actually call up the “best” in that age range makes the teams a mishmash of who’s available.
If every youth player in a country is good, of course, maybe it doesn’t matter.
May I ask what makes it hard to call up the best in the age range? And why couldn’t the US call up Reyna or Aaronson, for example? Or Tyler Adams as your over 23? Argentina is including Julian Alvarez in the Olympic squad. Otamendi is also going but it makes sense for Masche to want to include a solid experience defender.
I mean, their clubs. We only think of the game minutes sometimes, but training for two tournaments before the season even begins is a no-go for most club teams
Clubs aren’t obligated to release players for the Olympics. For instance, Westerlo let Griffin Yow go, but wouldn’t release Bryan Reynolds, because they’re thin at right back, and also looking to transfer him.
Likewise, most national soccer organizations will use this as a youth tournament and an opportunity to give experience to players that aren’t already in the primary national team picture, or a chance to give rest to those that are.
It’s not like it doesn’t mean anything to win the Olympics, but Mexico won it in 2012, and it didn’t really portend much for their full senior national team.
For women, it’s more of a regular tournament, probably second only to the World Cup in terms of prestige in winning it.
^^this
FIFA has nerfed and neutered in negotiations with the Olympic committee to make the men’s competition fucking inane.
Testing.
I can see your comment Mayor Rusk
Only JoeW, Talonesque, and I seem to be following DP’s excellent coverage of the Spirit. More of the Commentariat should get involved in the DMV’s only world class futbol team.
And has any club in any sport ever had a rookie class with the top to bottom quality of the Spirit’s?
We did give up Staab and Sanchez for those picks, but this is some return, for sure
According to both Bogert and Goff, DC have now officially signed Boris Enow. Goff reports a transfer fee of $2.2 Million, Bogert indicates that its a TAM deal. 2.2 Million seems like its over the TAM threshold to me, so not fully sure what to make of that interaction.
On an aside, the Russian player from Atalanta that DC was linked to last week now might end up in Atlanta
Could be wrong, but isn’t it salary not transfer that determines the cap status?
My understanding of it is that it incorporates both. And that was the reason behind establishing the U22 initiative — when signing a U22 player, you can use unlimited money for a transfer fee and it wont impact the cap any further than what a U22 is listed as. But I think until a player signs a second contract with a team, their transfer fee does impact the salary cap in some way (if not fully)
Ok yeah, I just looked through the roster rules and “acquisition cost” is figured in when determining the player classification. Though transfer fees can be bought down with GAM/TAM. So I guess the team is throwing enough AM at the entire thing to make it to where he wont be a DP
MLS, Calvinball except for Miami, which is “everything goes.”
If you think of Miami as Calvin then it all makes sense.
I’m chalking this up as a win for Mackay’s negotiating skills. Apparently the deal was close to falling apart over money (Enow would have been at the DP threshold), but now it’s coming in as a TAM. That seems excellent to me. His highlight reel is nice to watch. Very tenacious in winning the ball, and also seems able to hit a nice long pass. I never got to see Richie Williams play, but in my mind, he looked like this.
Between Enow, Peltola, and Hopkins – and Mackay’s unflinching willingness to clean house – I suspect that we’ve seen the last of Russell Canouse. We’ll see how well Enow and Schnegg are able to make the transition to MLS, but if they pan out, they should be nice additions for United. And there’s still the ability to sign two more U-22s, although that may only happen if Mackay is able to move Martin Rodriguez to Colo Colo or something.
I will shed literal tears if Canouse is let go. I hope there’s space for him and a full recovery, and it would be rough to see him sign for someone else, too.
I share this sentiment. He’s a great player, and seems to be a great person as well. Would even love to see him stay on as an assistant or something after he retires, too
ATL has been ousted from the Open Cup by Indy Eleven