Hey everyone. Hope you had a great weekend. The weekend was full of home soccer, as all 4 of the teams we cover were at home. We start with all of those matches:
Recap: D.C. Power FC downed 2-0 by Ft. Lauderdale United FC, but plenty of bright spots (DP)
D.C. Power had their first ever home match at Audi Field on Friday night, and they unfortunately lost 2-0 to Ft. Lauderdale FC. Jasmine Hamid, sister of Bill, was the second goalscorer for Ft. Lauderdale.
Recap: Washington Spirit comfortably defeat the Houston Dash, 3-0 (DP)
The Spirit continue to thrash, beating the Dash 3-0 behind a brace from Ashley Hatch and a worldie from Trinity Rodman. But guess what else? They already qualified for the playoffs! Thanks to some results on Friday night, the Spirit will play in the postseason for the first time since they won it all in 2021.
D.C. United was able to pull off a 1-1 draw against NYCFC Saturday night at Audi Field. Christian Benteke scored his 19th goal via the penalty spot, which keeps him in the lead for the Golden Boot.
Loudoun United beats Birmingham at Segra Field (DC News Now)
It was a wild match at Segra Field, but Loudoun United gets the 4-2 win over Birmingham Legion. They are 7th in the Eastern Conference table.
The District Press (+ the GOAT Jason Anderson) ran the press box for D.C. Power’s home opener, and we had a chance to speak with USL Super League commissioner Amanda Vandervort during halftime of that match. It was great to get her thoughts on how the league was progressing and how they plan to succeed in competitive markets. And, she included us in her TikTok as well.
Gabriel’s towering header secures derby win for depleted Arsenal at Tottenham (The Guardian)
North London is red, as Gabriel’s goal secures a win for Arsenal against rivals Spurs.
Pochettino: USMNT must aspire to USWNT’s level of success (PSW)
At his introductory press conference, new USMNT head coach Mauricio Pochettino said there’s an easy role model for the USMNT to follow, and they’re in the same building: the USWNT. He hopes the team can aspire to reach the USWNT’s success and make that the golden standard for the program. He also thinks we should be aiming to win the 2026 World Cup.
Lionel Messi scores 2 goals in first game played for Inter Miami since June (The Athletic)
Lionel Messi was finally back on the field after being hurt in the Copa América final, and he got right back to business, scoring 2 goals.
England will not face Euros expulsion for having regulator, key officials say (The Guardian)
There was talk that England could face a ban from European competitions, including the Champions League and Euros, over their plan to have an independent regulator overseeing the FA’s operations. However, it seems like they will not have a ban for that.
Enjoy the week, y’all.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5769491/2024/09/15/houston-dash-coach-fran-alonso-absence/
If Benteke scores two more goals, he’ll be tied with Roy Lassiter for fifth most goals in United history. He’s currently tied with Marco Etcheverry for seventh (Ola Kamara is sixth).
I just saw that Junior Moreno was picked up by Houston as a free agent. Enow is probably the better long term pick, and probably a better fit for Lesesne’s system, but I’m sad that we couldn’t get him back. Probably my favorite player of the last five years.
Definitely would have been a pretty nice pick up if they’re not expecting to bring Russell Canouse next year.
People need to stop betting against Canouse. He doesn’t strike me as one to give up, and I think his effort to come back at his age will earn him a spot, maybe even a starting role
I think a lot of it depends on salary negotiations. He’s making $650,000 this year. We have Enow and Peltola (who are on pretty high salaries) and also Jackson Hopkins at his position. With the situation we found ourselves in with the cap, some cuts are going to need to be made (although from what I understand, the team was also borrowing against the cap in future years for moves it made under Rooney and Kasper, so hopefully all of that will have expired after this season).
He’s proven quality in the league, and that’s worth that salary. It’s not like he doesn’t fit his role, the way that Dajome just can’t quite cut it either defensively or in the final third. On top of that, with Birnbaum gone, there’s leadership shoes to fill on the defensive side of things
I’m not sure if he’ll be worth his current salary with both Enow and Peltola making decent money at that position. I think he’s still probably worth that much in this league, I just don’t know if he’s worth that much to DC when we have two high(ish) earning players already at that position.
Of course, it partially depends on whether Klich/Rodriguez are brought back and what formation Lesesne wants to play. If we end up in a 4-2-3-1 then Canouse would be good depth but if Lesesne wants to continue more with the 4-1-3-2 then I don’t know if keeping three DM’s at that high of a paycheck makes sense. The next five games should give us a better idea of where the three of them stand in Lesesne’s depth chart and it is possible he decides to move Peltola to the backline (a mistake imo).
I would like to see Canouse back, he adds good leadership and is a known quantity, but if it’s a choice between keeping him or Rodriguez then I’m not sure who wins right now. We need at least one more quality fullback and a winger (two if Dajome ends up leaving) so Mackay will have to find cap space somewhere.
Answer: Find a way to get Klich off the roster, and do the 4-2-3-1 that I expect Lesesne wanted all along. And I reject the “he’s depth” argument in that scenario, Enow moves to the bench if Canouse gets back to form
Food for thought: Canouse has a medical problem solved. He likely feels better than he has in years. I would not bet against him.
Ashley Hatch’s brace of Buzzard Points ties Rooney for all-time lead. Benteke one behind. Both have two home matches left this season plus playoffs (Spirit for sure, DC United maybe but not a home match). The top six all-time:
Buzzard Points (home goals): Ashley Hatch and Rooney (20); Benteke (19); Acosta and O Kamara (13); Trinity Rodman (12)
Talones (home assists): Rooney and Gressel (14); Acosta and Trinity Rodman (11); Benteke (8); Asad, Ashley Hatch and Klich (6)
I miss when comments would go green when they hit at least 3 likes.
I really like Esme Morgan at left center back. From my vantage point she played a near-perfect match Sunday. She’s calm on the ball, very fast and tall. (Anaig Butel lacks the latter two qualities.) I hope she locks down the starting position.
If you go on YouTube and look up Esme Morgan Women’s Game, there’s an extremely charming interview between Esme and Sam Mewis that is well worth seeing
Carlos Vela is back with LAFC: https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/carlos-vela-signs-with-lafc-el-rey-returns
Contract is through 2024 with an option for 2025 and the move was completed before the roster freeze on Sept 13.
LAFC has really lost the plot in my totally uninformed opinion. They’re making exactly the same type of vain, desperate signings as their crosstown rivals made from Arena’s later years until Vanney’s arrival. Lloris, Giroud and Vela are/were not going to get them past Columbus if they were really trying to win a Championship.
So, with his 19th goal, Christian Benteke has matched his career high for goals in a league season. He also had 19 in 2012-13 for Aston Villa. He scored four other goals in the league cup that year. He had two in Leagues Cup for DC this year, so just two more will match his total career high for goals across all competitions in a season.
He’s also squandered so many opportunities for more.
It’s our league, and we have to embrace it, but it’s obviously sadly lacking in quality both in attack and defense. Benteke in just over 2 seasons is about to match his total over 6 seasons at Crystal Palace, where he went when he was still in his prime.
To my eye, Benteke has been a lot less wasteful this year than he was last year. And to Benteke’s credit, he doesn’t get to face the DC defense that has given up the third most goals in the league (he also doesn’t get to face the San Jose defense, which has given up the most).
I reviewed the Pirani goal offside issue. It was really close, but McVey seems to be inches offside. One defender has his foot back and made it close.
The call on the field was no foul, so if he was onside, the goal would have been good.
McVey however, moved into the path of the defender. If he would have just stayed still, the goal would have been allowed. McVey was coming from an offside position and almost made it back.
Pirani has a fantastic touch on a very hard pass to put it in a place where he could score. Kudos to the rejuvenated Pirani.