Croix Bethune out for rest of season, Women’s Ballon d’Or nominees, and more: Thursday Freedom Kicks
It’s Thursday, y’all. I hope the weather continues to get cooler and that the rain stays away this weekend. Until then, we start the Freedom Kicks with awful news.
Washington Spirit Midfielder Croix Bethune to Miss Remainder of 2024 Season with Injury (Spirit)
Apparently, the injury stems from Croix throwing out the first pitch at a Nationals game last week. Not assigning blame to the mound here, but damn this is such a gut punch.
The Ballon d’Or nominations came out yesterday and on the women’s side, Trinity Rodman is among 5 American players who are on the shortlist! However, Naomi Girma is not on the shortlist somehow and that is absolutely criminal.
Hey Spirits episode: Frustration, finishing, and free agency (DP)
We have a new Hey Spirits episode out, so fire that up today if you haven’t already!
If you’re up this morning early enough, Michele Kang is going to be on CBS Mornings for some special announcement. Wonder what it will be!
Inter Miami stadium: Miami Freedom Park to open in 2026 (MLS)
Miami Freedom Park finally has an open date: 2026. Looking forward to a stadium being just a couple of miles from where I lived for law school.
Atlanta United parts ways with VP Carlos Bocanegra (ESPN)
The Atlanta United front office shakeup continues with Carlos Bocanegra leaving the club.
The American family who swapped Texas for Tonga to chase a World Cup dream (The Athletic)
This is a pretty cool story of a kid who just wanted to play international soccer and found his dream with Tonga.
This interview really didn’t do Landon Donovan any favors here.
Fan engagement, merchandise and tifos – what the WSL can learn from the NWSL (The Guardian)
The Guardian dives into what the WSL should be doing to catch up to the NWSL.
Finally, as you jump into your Thursday, if your mind needs a vacation, I invite you to send it to Bonaire with the latest episode from one of my podcasts!
The mystery investor is Magic!!
https://x.com/WashSpirit/status/1831671854076932220
Perhaps the higher ups at the Ballon D’or setup simply believe that Naomi Girma is a powerful sorceress, capable of sapping the strength of those who oppose her with an unholy aura, and that therefore they cannot allow her near the ceremony?
Spitballing here, have no other sound explanation for her not being there
*Cough* She’s American *cough*…and FIFA only likes the US because of the money it can provide. Or at least that’s my impression.
Naomi Girma is a soccer Goddess. There is no trophy worthy of being seen near her. She has our fully committed adulation. Olympus weeps when she leaves to hit the pitch. Let the cries of pitiful mortals be ignored as she seeks her next sacrifice. I hope it is martini-sucking FIFA committees that she destroys.
Absolutely mind-blowing. If Virgil (respect) gets there, so should the best CB in the world. Yes, she would start for every team in the world. I’ve said this from the start.
Except it’s not FIFA, basically a bunch of French journalists create a list
Still, let her destroy FIFA. The French journalist will simply consume themselves.
Yeah, the injury to Bethune is truly a gut punch. This is now 4 surgeries on her knees. You have to wonder at which point she can’t be effective any more.
As for as the BallonDOr, that list (and the voting) is often a joke. It’s Euro-centric. Asia and South America are under-represented. You’re absolutely right about Girma. I don’t think Horan should be on that list. And frankly, as good as Swanson is, she’s only recently been a force in 2024. Bronze shouldn’t be on that list. NWSL is under-covered by most of the people making this selection. IMHO, Girma should get it but she’s not on the list. Of the people that are, I’m make it between Rodman and Bonmati-Conca. The season that Barcelona had, it’s hard to argue with Bonmati again. And Rodman (more than any of the other US players) has been the constant performer for the US Women, even more so than Horan.
Horan is on the list because she makes Eurosnobs drool: “US soccer fans are idiots….”
Girma>>>>>>>>>Horan
While I was initially thinking “ugh why Horan over Girma,” in the spirit of homerism, I’m going to instead ask if any of the other entries on the list would be better to exclude.
Love Swanson. But her 2024 has not been consistently great. Naeher–superb big game keeper, deserved all the accolades she got at the Olympics. And….her club work the past 3 years has been passible, her NT performance earlier (particularly the loss to Mexico) has been bad. I’d have no problem with either of those two (and possibly Horan) being removed and Girma being added.
I’m not going to claim to be a doctor or to know a ton about the dangers of pitching mounds, but I feel like if her meniscus tore that easily, it was probably going to tear regardless at some point soon
Gut punch was so spot on, unfortunately (meant well), so are you. Time bomb.
Just so weird its hard to comprehend. I hope for a speedy recovery.
Alex Morgan just announced her retirement. An amazing legacy for her!
(She also coupled it with a pregnancy announcement, so congratulations to her and her family!)
I agree with Joseph Lowery on why DCU probably won’t make the playoffs despite being a bubble team.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/eastern-conference-why-bubble-teams-will-or-wont-make-mls-playoffs
For sure, but I also would eschew the normal logic that our backline is solely responsible. This has a lot to do with an often frustrated offense, and uncertainty about our midfield shape. Think we need to retool personnel all over the field, and we knew that from the beginning. I really like Herrera, Bartlett, and McVey as pickups, we can certainly strengthen the defensive core more and get some fullback depth, but yeah
We definitely need a high-caliber CB1. I agree that our defensive pickups have been good, just none of the guys in the center has proven that they command their area and can be relied on to do everything Lesesne demands of them consistently. The ever-rotating midfield obviously hurts us too. It’ll take a while even if we make more moves next season just because there will again need to be a period of chemistry building and understanding roles/each other’s movements.
We certainly need to replace Birnbaum, and sign some competitive depth so that Bartlett and McVey aren’t screeching the red zone all season. I do think it’s underrated how much not having an impactful, dangerous attacking unit puts pressure on the backline- the other team is waiting for you to be done with your nonsense, and get at you quickly. Anyway, there is solid, decent MLS CB starting quality out there that won’t break the bank, and I prefer we spend on players that unlock Benteke next season
I don’t think our goalkeeping has been “consistently poor.” Tyler Miller was pretty poor, but he’s basically being shunted off the team at this point. Alex Bono hasn’t been amazing or anything, but he’s been fine. It’s been a shame to see so few clean sheets, but I think that has a lot more to do with the defense in front of the goalkeeper.
Put it this way: we can definitely upgrade the goalkeeper position, but it’s pretty low on my list of positions that need an upgrade.
Put another way: if we upgrade a bunch of spots on the field, we can probably ride Bono to a home playoff game. I don’t think that we’re one year away from winning a trophy yet, but the team is on a good path right now.
Really nice piece on Benteke on mlssoccer.com
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/christian-benteke-spearheads-dc-united-project-i-always-challenge-myself
I think that we can call him the best DP signing in DC history. I think by the end of this contract, that’s going to be beyond all doubt (unless we sign a really amazing guy next year!).
In terms of effective goal scoring, his only competition is a (memory redacted).
Rooney. Emilio was a better scorer, and De Ro and even Espindola might have a shout because of their playmaking abilities, but all of them got DP status at the tail end of their careers, after their best days in Black and Red.
Ha, perhaps I forgot we had Rooney for other reasons. The times I thought Buzzard Point might be a hopeful place are also redacted
It is downright astonishing how little of a homefield advantage it provides. We’ve lost more games at home than we have on the road, and the only team with more home losses in MLS is San Jose. But we also had the worst home record in 2022, and second worst in 2020 ahead of only Cincinnati.
Then again, the Spirit do pretty well there, so it seems like it’s something that United-specific.
Lack of home field advantage is all because of DCU ownership’s failure to call it Buzzard Point, its true, soccer gods-given name. Because Michelle Kang is not an owner (yet) of our stadium, the Spirit are exempt from the soccer gods’ curses.