Enow scores for Cameroon, BOS Nation FC announced, and more: Tuesday Freedom Kicks
Happy Tuesday! I hope everyone had a nice long weekend, or at least an easy Monday if you were at work yesterday. I’ll put in a plug today for all of you to vote for Washington Spirit’s Anna Heilferty to win the Lauren Holiday Impact Award. An avid conservationist, Anna is partnering with Friends of Anacostia Park, and you can vote for her here every day until the end of the month.
NWSL’s Boston franchise to be named BOS Nation Football Club; announcement set for Tuesday (CBS Sports)
I challenge you to think of a worse soccer team name than this. And wait until you hear the tagline for their first advertising campaign: Too Many Balls. I swear I did not make that up.
Soccer-Cameroon seal Cup of Nations finals place with Kenya win (MSN)
Boris Enow scored the only goal of the match in his first appearance for Cameroon, earning them the win and a spot in the Africa Cup of Nations finals.
European football chiefs, FIFPRO slam FIFA over schedule (ESPN)
Players were already complaining about the increasing number of matches in the annual calendar, and FIFPRO and the European Leagues have now filed a complaint against FIFA as well.
Angel City put out a statement about their recent discipline by the NWSL for exceeding the salary cap. The statement implies that part (though not all) of the finding was for deals to provide additional money for childcare for players and that the league has denied their request to remove the three-point deduction on that basis.
The five biggest storylines that will define Decision Day 2024 (MLS)
Christian Benteke’s Golden Boot race and whether D.C. United can hang onto a playoff spot are among the biggest storylines to watch this Saturday.
Get ready for the weekend early, with this hype-up video from D.C. United for their final match of the season.
And finally, there’s one mid-week match this week: DC Power vs. Dallas Trinity FC. Dallas has two recent Spirit players — Amber Brooks and Wanda Hudson — on the roster, if that helps entice any of you to head to Buzzard Point on a Wednesday night.
| Teams | When | Where | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| DC Power FC vs. Dallas Trinity FC | Wed., Oct. 16 at 7:30 p.m. | Washington, DC | Peacock |
Have a good day!
Both All-time Buzzard Point (home goal) leaders with 21 on display this weekend— Christian Benteke and Ashley Hatch. Let’s hope both add to their totals and lead DC United and Washington Spirit to strong playoff positions.
An all time great of American National Team rugby has called it a career and is hanging up his boots. Perry Baker one of the best Rugby 7s players of all time has announced his retirement.
https://eagles.rugby/news/2x-world-rugby-player-of-the-year-winner-perry-baker-announces-retirement-from-usa-mens-sevens-20241014
Annie, you’ve been quite prolific here on the site with the amount of content you’ve been producing–kudos! Congrats to Enow. And you’re right about the Boston franchise. Why do I think the “too many balls” tag was created by a couple of guys. I don’t see anything about this (so far) resonating with women. And I know NWSL is more than just “let’s attract women fans” but if you’re a turn-off to women, that’s kind of a epic fail.
Finally, regarding the FIFA and FIFPRO contretemps, I think the ultimate solution for this is for someone (FIFA?) to set a maximum number of games that a club can play in a season. I recall reading that Santos (Brasil) when Pele was there, seeking to capitalize on his fame, once played over 100 matches in a season (the majority of them outside of Brasil and most of them exhibitions). Clubs pay higher salaries for stars and figure out they’ll afford it by adding exhibition matches or another tournament. The clubs are too greedy, FIFA is too greedy.
Nice Playoff Push Sizzle Reel (if that’s what it’s called) from United. Shows the highlights from the last 3 games and how they’ve moved the team into playoff position as Decision Day looms on Saturday. Hopefully DC’s PR folks are shopping it to local media. I watch the Channel 4 local NBC News (former home of Dave Johnson) and don’t remember seeing anything about United in quite some time.
Vamos United! este Sabado tenemos que ganar!!
That was a fine sizzle reel!
DC’s social / media has been pretty weak all year (my Twitter feed, for reasons I don’t fully appreciate, regularly shows me strong content from Inter Miami, LAFC, Seattle, Philly, LA Galaxy, but rarely see anything exciting from DC United. This was a nice change (I wouldn’t be surprised to learn they enlisted the former A/V producer, who (I used to play rec league ball with and) I often see walking up the aisle to his seats on game day.
I’d like to nominate the BOS Nation franchise for the Darwin Award….
BOS Nation intro video.
That’s… a vibe. I don’t know what kind of vibe, but it’s definitely a vibe of some kind. O.o
Everything about this team gets worse the more I see.
The hell did I just watch…?
Kerry and Will, your comments compelled me to watch that video. And now I can’t get those 3 minutes back. I once lived in Boston and then outside the city. I won’t claim to speak for the residents. But anyone from Boston I know would watch that and go “Nosuh!”
I know they had a woman narrate it… but did they have a woman READ it??