New Champions League anthem, Neuer retires from international soccer, and more: Thursday Freedom Kicks
Happy Thursday, everyone. Looking forward to seeing everyone at Audi Field this weekend. Before we get there for some excellent soccer, let’s recap some of the news from yesterday.
We have a new Champions League anthem! It’s very similar to the last one, but…what do y’all think?
Germany’s Neuer announces international retirement (BBC)
Manuel Neuer is done with international soccer. He announced his retirement from the German national team yesterday, but presumably will continue on for a while with club soccer.
Wolfsburg winger Paredes to miss start of season with foot injury (Pro Soccer Wire)
Kevin Paredes sadly will miss the start of Wolfsburg’s season with a foot injury. It sounds like he’s on track to be back after the September international friendlies.
Takeaways from Washington Spirit’s friendly loss to Arsenal WFC (DP)
Annie breaks down what we learned from the Spirit’s friendly against Arsenal over the weekend.
Canada defender Carle slams coach Priestman over drone scandal (Pro Soccer Wire)
Our very own Gabby Carle had some choice words for Canada coach Bev Priestman and her suspension over the Canada drone scandal. Simply put: she’s not happy.
When will the USWNT’s Olympic gold medalists be back in club action? (The Athletic)
Is it possible we could see our USWNT gold medalists back in action this weekend? This article paints a promising picture, but I still wouldn’t be surprised if some (or all) of them are not back on the field for the Spirit.
I miss The Silverdome every single day. We relive its mark in World Cup and USMNT history in this look back.
Have a good day!
Apparently a study is being funded in Baltimore to look at a stadium site for DCU II, or whatever it ends up being called.
https://foxbaltimore.com/news/local/waste-watch-the-cost-of-moving-dc-uniteds-minor-league-to-baltimore
DC 2nited.
You win on pure lunacy and cynicism.
Brilliantly done!
Some details on the new NWSL CBA:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/40945371/nwsl-players-agree-cba-no-draft-expanded-leave
…(further down in the article)…
People have been focusing on the elimination of the draft, but requiring all trades to require player consent is a pretty goddamn big deal. It’s the moral and ethical thing to do and kind of astounding it took until now to happen, but it’s pretty seismic. Does Ashley Sanchez accept a trade to Carolina? Does the Spirit go out and outbid other teams to sign Croix Bethune anyway? Really interesting to see where this goes.
Does Julian Gressel consent to a trade to Vancouver?
My immediate thought, well done, Ryan.
I was just looking at the active MLS stats leaders, and both Lucho Acosta and Julian Gressel are in the top 5 for assists. United would arguably be a lot better off if players could nix the trades that the front office comes up with.
(Props for the Durkin-for-Stroud-AND-Bartlett-AND-$300K trade though.)
Lucho wasn’t acting like he wanted to stay once the deal for a move to PSG fell through. I think he might’ve consented to the trade had that been a thing. Plus where would he and Gressel fit in the current scheme and salary budget?
Lucho was bye bye. Julian has been replaced by Herrera.
Julian hangs with Messi and drinks cool cocktails in Miami.
…and won a second MLS Cup and is in pole position to win a Supporters Shield.
Julian is good but his departure didn’t really bother me, other than thinking that the team handled it rather poorly. My thoughts on Julian were that he needed other good players to bring out the quality in him, where as players like Andy and Aaron are good regardless of the players who are around them. I still do mightily miss Paul A. though. He just felt more DCU than Julian ever did, at least to me.
Worth remembering that Dave and Wayne traded Julian Gressel to make room for Ravel Morrison.
And then about a month later brought in the most dominant aerial threat in MLS. Gressel has the ninth most assists in club history, and having him aim at Christian Benteke probably would have “brought out the quality in him.”
Oh, and Dave is still drawing a paycheck from this organization.
Lucho wanted out. And we didn’t trade him. Instead, he signed in Mexico. And I love me some Julian Gressel. But if we had Gressel, I don’t think we’d get the full benefit of Herrera–he’d have to stay home more often.
All correct. DCU might have traded his MLS rights, but that would’ve been because Acosta was prepared to sign with Cincy. All that said, it was big loss. There’s a title-contending team out there if we pieced together the ones that got away.
I’m very curious to see how these changes play out over the course of a few years. The glamour of the big cities will undoubtedly make them popular destinations, but only if the teams are well-run (from training resources to good coaching and all). The smaller market teams should still be attractive destinations because a) you’re traveling so much anyway and b) the cost of living on players salaries is definitely still a big deal.
Particularly with that minimum wage, which is going up but still pretty difficult to live on in certain markets.
I find it interesting that there is now no limit on on max salary, but still a salary cap. So the salary cap math just got more interesting.
I think some clubs will gain reputations as a good place to be. I’m not so sure the “big cities” will (at least for the next 5 years) be hot spots. For instance, KC (with local investors, a stadium owned by the club, and a coach–Vlatko–that has been very successful in NWSL with multiple teams) will be a very attractive spot to go to.
We can throw ourselves into that mix too. DC is never in the mix of “big cities” even though it’s the capital. But with Kang demonstrating her commitment to making us an elite soccer club, plenty of players will be drawn to the region.
WashPost has a nice piece on Spirit advertising push.
(DC United looks weak in comparison)
Per Goff, Benteke has signed a new contract with the team. He is now signed through 25, with an option for 26. His previous contract expired this year, with an option for next year.
I’m relieved, he’s having a good year and sounds like a great figure to have in the locker room. The higher salary doesn’t impact our budget either (unless ownership cheaps out on acquisitions to cover his modest raise).
And he’s 33, which, while not young, isn’t really overly old. And with his style of play, I’m not expecting him to drop off as quickly as a more mobile forward would. So I don’t really see too much of a downside to this
Per Tom Bogert: Tyler Miller might be going out on loan to Swansea, though he still needs to obtain a work permit, which is not a guarantee. His contract seemingly only goes through the end of this season, so I’m guessing this is just so he can try to get some playing time
DCU vs. Dallas is on for free this weekend on Apple TV.