MLS women’s league story retracted, Carle on Canada’s Olympics, and more: Tuesday Freedom Kicks
Happy Tuesday, everyone! I am back from my family wedding travel (although more is coming next week; it’s one of those years). After the excitement of the Olympics gold medal matches, I don’t have a ton of new stories for you today, but hopefully there will be something to spark your interest.
A message from Scarves and Spikes (Scarves and Spikes)
Approximately 24 hours after the story on MLS starting its own women’s league broke, the publishing site announced its retraction. Those paying attention to the reaction of some longtime journalists, like The Athletic‘s Meg Linehan, may have seen this coming.
22 Under 22: Which rising stars lead the pack? (MLS)
Diegos Gómez and Luna have the lead, but this writer puts Matai Akinmboni in the running.
“A big thank you to those who believed in us!” (RDS, Google Translate)
Washington Spirit’s Gabby Carle wrote about her experience playing for Canada in this Olympics, with all the drama and heartbreak that entailed.
Predicting every place in the 2024-25 Premier League table: Why Arsenal top Man City, Fulham relegated, more (CBS Sports)
The impending start of the Premier League season means it’s time for predictions.
Real Madrid’s Vinícius Jr. considering Saudi offer – source (ESPN)
Star soccer player interested in making €350 million a year: News at 11.
Finally, an interview with Arsenal Women’s Alessia Russo on what we can expect to see from her team at Buzzard Point this weekend:
Dallas acquired Ruan from Montreal for $50,000 in GAM. Our next game is at Dallas, so we’ll get to see another familiar face, along with Paul Arriola. Ruan has been quietly just as effective as Aaron Herrera this year, perhaps even slightly better (he has 2 goals and 6 assists to Herrera’s 1 goal and 6 assists). This seems like really good work from Dallas.
Ruan also had a habit of breaking Joseph Mora’s jaw back when he played for Orlando, so hopefully all of our players come out unscathed from this encounter.
Mora plays in Costa Rica now so he’s safe at least from Ruan.
FC Dallas are coming to Audi FIeld (assuming the field is…playable).
Sorry, yeah. Should have said next game is AGAINST Dallas.
Aug 24
Ruan was traded from Montreal to Dallas for just 50k GAM. He was okay here last year but Herrera is definitely an upgrade. That said, it would have been ideal for us to be able to have both on the roster. Luckily Herrera has been pretty durable because Dajome as a RB is not a winning solution.
I get how the Canadian women talk about people believing in them, pulling together as a team. And I suspect no players ever say any drone footage or an Asst saying “I snuck in to a closed practice.” But the bottom line is this: if before a game you know what corner kicks and restarts a team has practiced, if you see how they line up, what triggers they use to press, how they defend corners–those are huge edges. I can say as a former coach–I scouted opposition teams (legally–watched them in games) for any tournaments or all-star games my team was in and it absolutely affected how I coached when I felt I had a handle on the opposing team. I was far more specific in my direction, in the scenarios we practiced, what activities we used in practice. I think for the Canadian women to say “glad people believed in us and had our backs” is a denial of the benefit you get when your coaches have closed session info.
https://www.rugbypass.com/news/world-rugby-make-amendment-to-eligibility-criteria/