D.C. United sign Enow, Continental tournaments continue, and more: Wednesday Freedom Kicks
Happy Wednesday folks! My continued apologies for my absence as work and family responsibilities picked up dramatically over the last few months. All is well – just very busy! I’m free now though, so let’s get to some Wednesday Freedom Kicks!
SSFC Spotlight: Croix Bethune dominating in rookie season (SSFC): I don’t wish ill on any of the members of the Olympic squad, but if I could see the Spirit’s young phenom play for the Stars and Stripes in Paris, I’ll be happy.
Also going to the Olympics is Loudoun United member Roley Bidois. Enjoy Paris!
D.C. United strikes deal with Israeli club for midfielder Boris Enow (Washington Post): United are trying something to prevent the results like that seen on Saturday.
Power Rankings: Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers enter top 10 (MLS): D.C. United find themselves at rock bottom of the Eastern Conference. If I had any gif-making skills, I’d have an absolute blast with that fact, but since my creativity ends with making memes in PowerPoint, this will have to do:
Stock Up, Stock Down: FC Cincinnati overtake Inter Miami in Shield race (MLS): *grumble grumble* It can only go up from here. *grumble grumble*
US Open Cup: How to watch, stream quarterfinals on MLS Season Pass (MLS): The cool American tournament continues this week. Atlanta lost to Indy last night. Sacramento faced off against Seattle far too late for me. How did they do? More action tonight!
Argentina 2-0 Canada (Fox Sports): CONCACAF will not be winning this year’s CONMEBOL tournament, as Jesse Marsch’s Canadian side could not best the 2022 World Cup champs. The winner of tonight’s Uruguay-Colombia match-up will meet Argentina in the final, while the loser will play for 3rd against Canada.
Spain 2-1 France (Fox Sports): Spain defeat France to move on to the Euro finals. As a Francophile, I blame the kit rather than the rock-solid Spanish defense of that second half. France would have won if the donned a gorgeous set of blue shirts, white shorts, and red socks. It’s the same reason they lost the World Cup final. Spain will face the winner of today’s Netherlands-England match.
DC Power Football Club Announce Roster Ahead of Inaugural 2024/25 Season (Power FC): Something I hadn’t realized until now is that this USL Super League team aims to go by “Power FC” and not “DC Power”. Unfortunate. Nevertheless, the team has finally announced its inaugural squad. The team kicks off the season on August 17th facing Carolina Ascent FC in Charlotte.
DC Sports Hall of Fame to induct Zimmerman, Bullett, Holdsclaw, other greats on Sunday, July 21 (Medium): Well hello there Eddie Pope and Dave Johnson!
That’s all the kicks I have for you today. Get kicking in the comments below!
Croix will be playing for the USWNT soon, no doubt, or at least get a shot in some friendlies.
With the changes in the Olympic “injury” rules she might even be playing in this Olympics.
Given how hard it is for LaValle to stay healthy, the replacement at A-mid is either Macario or Bethune.
Yeah, unfortunately, I was thinking the same thing
Klopp is coming….
A decent transfer window for us. On the surface, Enow doesn’t fill a gaping hole but if Mackay/Lesesne don’t think Klich will be back next year or if they really want Peltola as a CB then it makes more sense.
The description of Enow and the highlights I’ve seen seem to indicate he’s much more of a ball winner in midfield. He’s a disruptive presence, like Canouse, but perhaps even more tenacious. That’s not really either Klich or Peltola’s role, and I think all three could easily coexist on next year’s team, if Klich decides he wants to come back (and DC picks up his option).
I think he’s going back to a 4-2-3-1 or something closer to that if he can. We need numbers in the midfield if we decrease the number of defenders
Actually, I think Enow does feel a gaping hole. It may mean that Klich moves back to A-mid and doesn’t play as deep. We’re a team that can’t hold a lead and doesn’t pitch shutouts–that’s an indictment of our defensive abilities. Hopkins still looks like he’s not healthy in the near term.
I’m assuming the “Power FC” branding is to leave the door open for a move to Baltimore when the MLS Next Pro team moves there.
Shh that makes too much sense and is not allowed in the DC metro area…just kidding…
Also the Spirit have signed Côte d’Ivoire international Rosemonde Kouassi from FC Fleury.
https://x.com/JasonDCsoccer/status/1810725879472906361
I’d have to imagine this means Hatch is getting traded, if not this summer then definitely at the end of the season. She’s probably earning good money and is way too good to be an unused sub. I don’t think it’ll be as much if a surprise as it was for Staab and Sanchez. Maybe she even reunites with one of them…
Seems like she should move on. Doesn’t seem like she fits with the more “offensive skill soup” of the rest of the team- seems like the new system doesn’t want a target player. She’ll find a place, if she does hit the market
I’m shocked that Utah didn’t make a big play for her prior to the start of the season. And I think that she moves on probably because we now have so many attackers.
Seattle beat Sacramento 2-1. Sacramento couldn’t complete the comeback from 2-0.
DC just announced that they have recalled Zamudio from his loan. I noticed Crockford wasn’t on the bench for the Orlando game, so I’m curious if this is related to that, or if something else is going on. Surely they don’t need 3 goalies to be on the bench at the same time, so I’d guess one of them is either hurt or on their way out
Yeah, my first thought was “someone is hurt,” because that’s the way this season has gone.
I feel like Miller has had a point in each of the games he’s played where he’s had to get treatment, so maybe that’s finally caught up to him. That, or Crockford broke his arm after slipping on a banana peel at practice or some other highly unlikely sounding thing since that’s how this team apparently works these days
Plead can we have Bono instead of Miller?
Agree. I’ve noticed that Bono seems to be much better at linking up with Benteke in distribution.
It’s baffling, Miller-Benteke was such a strong link last year.
Maybe Zamudio is a more promising CB replacement than hte other goalies.
CB? I thought he was being brought in as a backup A-mid?
https://x.com/MattPStout/status/1810348927968776321
“NEW: The Mass. Senate is expected to pass a proposal on Thursday that’d enable the Kraft Group to build a
@NERevolution
soccer stadium in Everett. The Senate included the measure in a 124-page economic development bill it released Monday.”
Power FC’s roster looks about as deep (maybe deeper) than DCU’s roster and bench the past couple of months.
Berhalter is out as USMNT Coach
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40480333/usa-coach-gregg-berhalter-fired-copa-america
Beat me to it! I thought he was a very good hire 6 years ago. But to paraphrase or quote Talonesque, presently his ceiling was limited and his floor was pretty low. I didn’t expect us to win the Copa. But we should have done better against Bolivia. We shouldn’t have gotten crushed by Colombia in the friendly (a friendly!). OK, maybe a red card tilts the game against Panama. But for as hard as we played against Brazil (friendly) and Uruguay, there were never really any hope (based on the game) that we’d beat either side. Right now under Berhalter, we were a team that–at our best–might play any team in the world pretty evenly but had no real hope of beating them because we could create chances or finish them.
It will be interesting to see the list of candidates who make up the short list.
I think complacency set in, not with him and his tactics (that’s been an issue aside from a handful of games), but from the players. He actually did a good job letting guys like Dest and McKennie grow up after some bone-headed decisions. But such dumb mistakes were rolling through the squad even as other players played with confidence and levelheadedness.
I’m not sure we’re going to get a manager of the relative caliber that the women’s team got. It’s going to be a tough search if we assume Klopp Is out (and they’d better not waste 15 months trying to convince him).
Klopp may decide that being a NT coach (where you have weeks off, not the draining daily intensity of being a club coach at the highest levels) is something he wants to try. If not, there is nothing we can do that will convince him. His last salary was $50 million a year–Berhalter was making $2 million.
I don’t think complacency set in. But I think Berhalter was very good at transitioning the US (so we played more possession, more positional soccer, more sophisticated soccer). But he’s taken the US as far as he can. I don’t think he has the tactical sophistication to advance the team. I don’t think he has the offensive sophistication to make us better at creating chances and finishing them (again, some of that is on the players but I also don’t think he coaches the team in a way elevates the attacking capabilities).
I have a better word than complacency for what Berhalter instilled: Delusion. The players believed inherently that they were going to do something more than win games if they followed his instructions. Turns out his instructions weren’t nearly good enough when they got where they were going, and they just looked confused when the plan didn’t work.
We need a coach who knows how to get them to win some big games against good teams. And I think US Soccer has to roll big on the next one to salvage this. don’t think two years of competent Curtin or Nancy management does it. Klopp would. Do I believe that will happen even now, if Klopp was able to be seduced? I really doubt it, but I’d really, really love to be wrong this time.
I think Nancy is outstanding. But I think he’s a “club coach” at this point. He talks about repetition.
If anyone is interested the Washington Freedom are playing the Texas Super Kings in Major League Cricket on Monumental Network…though they are losing badly 75-0 atm.
That’s normal for cricket. One side scores all they can and then the other side gets to see if they can beat them.
Yeah I’m still trying to understand the game. The Freedom elected to bowl first.
The US Eagles (Men’s XVs rugby) have announced the 23 man squad for Friday night against Scotland at Buzzard Point. 4 Old Glory players are in the squad including Ethan McVey who makes the 23 for the first time.
https://eagles.rugby/news/usa-mens-eagles-named-for-scotland-in-the-nations-capital-2024710?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR2oXxqPZYl-K2ICwdws75dWJASMd9AoGVkeGHZRDsCTOALxjm9HZ62zQWs_aem_RoQKeB-6i_9zwk2BRawNPA
That was ugly