Berhalter lands a job in MLS, United continues to gather praise, and more: Wednesday Freedom Kicks
Greetings on this rare Wednesday edition of Freedom Kicks! My absence was long, and my return is short-lived as the events that kept me away will continue doing so in the future, but I am here today! It was a bit of a slow Tuesday, but we did have Loudoun United engage in a critical matchup against Indy Eleven with huge playoff implications on the line. Unfortunately, these kicks are scheduled prior to the completion of that match, so tell me how it went!
Stock Up, Stock Down: DC continue playoff push, Miami eye points record (MLS): Turns out, winning two games in the span of a handful of days to put oneself into the wild card driver’s seat is an excellent way to improve one’s stock.
Power Rankings: Orlando, Minnesota surge into Decision Day (MLS): D.C. United (15) > New York Red Bulls (16). Stop the count!
Chicago Fire name Gregg Berhalter director of football & head coach (MLS): Someday, I truly believe Chicago won’t suck. But it is not this day. So Chicago is handing over the reigns to Gregg Berhalter who, prior to the USMNT, led the Columbus Crew to consistent competitive seasons.
Pochettino’s USA training already more intense – Robinson (ESPN): Meanwhile, Berhalter’s replacement on the USMNT is hard at work preparing the team for a pair of friendlies (Panama, Mexico). A lot of eyes will be looking at Pochettino’s coaching style as 2024 quickly comes to a close, meaning we’re only 1.5 years from a World Cup on domestic soil.
USMNT boss Pochettino: MLS players may be ahead of European options not playing (ProSoccerWire): Surely this will make him a popular coach among the more Eurocentric fans in America.
Rooney charged with improper conduct after red card (BBC): It seems the former D.C. United player and manager continues to face the repercussions of his red card incident over the weekend.
And because I know you all have eagerly missed NASCAR updates in your soccer kicks… Sunday’s NASCAR race at Talladega saw the largest crash in the history of its top series. Ordinarily, I’d be the lone guy complaining in the room of otherwise-satisfied fans – superspeedway pack racing is an abomination to proper motorsports and only presents a few laps of genuine interesting racing – but in this instance, my preferred driver made it through this mess and locked himself into the Round of 8, so… enjoy the spectacle below!
That’s all for today. As always, get kicking in the comments!
Welcome back, Kerry. I’ve missed your Wednesday Freedom Kicks. Maybe globe-trotting Donald can give you some pointers on how to compile a Freedom Kicks from anywhere.
Donald’s generous time given to this labor of love is indeed commendable!
That was not NASCAR, the was the 270 spur…..
Greg Roche had a new episode of Pitch Pass up. It was a bit of a departure from his normal format where he does (excellent) interviews. This time, he was doing a news rundown, but the most interesting part was that he was including a look at the academy, which is something that is kind of hard to get for even pretty engaged fans such as all of us.
Apparently his son is in the academy, and so he gets to see a lot of the action firsthand. He seems optimistic about Graham Jones being signed. He also teased a big academy announcement to come this week, so that’s something to look forward to! Does that go along with his feeling that the academy will start separating from the Loudoun facility a bit? We’ll see!
The Pochettino likes MLS players that play over euro based players that don’t… almost makes me want to go over to the Stars and Stripes comment section to bask in the cognitive dissonance. Doubt their brains can handle their dream guy valuing MLS play. Key word: Almost.
More on the Angel City FC salary cap violations: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5827745/2024/10/08/angel-city-salary-cap-violation-was-revealed-by-former-player-nwsl-commissioner/
Sam Mewis and Lynn Williams voiced their opinions on this topic in a recent Women’s Game podcast, and found their takes interesting. Their consensus was that the players should absolutely not be punished with consequences for them just because they accepted money from accountants.
Andi Sullivan update of the worst kind: she tore her ACL and will be out the remainder of this year.
Dammit. Hope her recovery is linear, cuz it sure as hell will be too long for her
Double dammit.
This is truly terrible news. Terrible for her, terrible for the Spirit. I don’t know if Hayes would have considered her for the USWNT even after the comments by Giraldez but this came at a really bad time for her. Given the recovery time for ACLs, that will run in to next season almost certainly.
I read the Pochettino comments as him saying “those of you in Europe sitting on the bench–get a loan or a transfer to a team where you are getting minutes–NOW!”
Accurate. In particular, it might be telling Gio to get his ass to another club, and if it has to be MLS, so be it
Gio is going to Chicago. It is a perfect fit.
In Major League Rugby News, MLR has completed the Dallas Jackals dispersal draft today.
https://www.americasrugbynews.com/2024/10/09/dallas-jackals-dispersal-draft-results/
Old Glory took no one on in the 1st round. In the 2nd round they took Argentinian tight head prop Juan Pablo Zeiss who will take an international slot. In the 3rd round, they took American Fly-half/full-back Kieran Farmer who counts as a domestic player.
This past Saturday, France used a first half try and a strong start to the 2nd half to leap out to a 22-0 lead. The US would score twice, but it was too little too late with the 2nd try in 2nd half stoppage for a 22-14 final. That leaves the US Women with 2 defeats with 1 game remaining in the WXV 1st division. The US wraps up WXV 1st Division play against Ireland on Friday.
https://www.americasrugbynews.com/2024/10/05/france-too-strong-for-womens-eagles-in-langley/
Yesterday, Old Glory announced the signing of Steffan Hughes a center from Wales for the 2025 season.
https://oldglorydc.com/old-glory-dc-signs-welsh-center-steffan-hughes-for-2025-season/
No DCU players make the top 22 under 22 for 2024.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/2024-22-under-22-presented-by-bodyarmor-rankings