Spirit win on penalties, advance to NWSL Final, and more: Monday Freedom Kicks
Good morning everyone! I’m in St. Louis for the USMNT match this evening…hope to get another win to advance to the Concacaf Nations League Finals. SPEAKING OF FINALS…there’s one this Saturday night AND THE WASHINGTON SPIRIT ARE IN IT!!
Washington Spirit defeat Gotham FC in penalties, head to second NWSL Championship in four years (DP)
YEAAAAAH! Hal Hershfelt’s goal in second half stoppage time tied it up for the Spirit and sent it to extra time. It went to penalties where Aubrey Kingsbury was the hero. 3 penalty saves later, the Spirit are back in the NWSL final for the first time since 2021!
The Spirit will face the Orlando Pride, the NWSL Shield winners, after they beat Kansas City 3-2 in the other semifinal. Really looking forward to this one, and you know The District Press will have all of the coverage!
Soccer stars Sam Kerr, Kristie Mewis announce pregnancy (ESPN)
Congrats to Sam and Kristie on the news of their expected child!!
Jamaica pair to miss USMNT clash after losing passports (PSW)
Always know where your passport is…don’t end up like these guys where you have to miss out on a trip, especially for a soccer match that you’re supposed to play in!
Mexico head coach Javier Aguirre struck by projectile, bloodied after Honduras game (The Athletic)
After Mexico’s loss to Honduras on Friday night, Mexico coach Javier Aguirre was bloodied after getting hit by a full beer bottle in the head. This is one of the ugly parts of the game and it’s really dumb and should be stopped immediately.
That’s it for today…go go USA and VAMOS SPIRIT!!
With their 36-17 win over Tonga on Saturday the USA Men’s Eagles have risen to 15th in the World Rugby Men’s rankings (Old Glory DC player Jack Iscaro got on the score sheet with a try). They switch places in the rankings with Portugal who they beat back on Nov 9th. This is the highest ranking since they were in the 2019 Rugby World Cup. The men have one more game this year on Saturday against #17 Spain in Spain. It’ll be a tough match.
The USA Women’s Eagles are ranked 9th. They fell from 8th after losing all 3 of their WXV Division 1 games in September and October to higher ranked teams.
https://www.rugbypass.com/news/world-rankings-all-blacks-fall-eagles-soar/
https://www.world.rugby/rankings
The Spirit are really showing how important it is to have a good organizational vision. I was really concerned about Krikorian’s roster moves between this season and last because he moved obviously talented veterans on. But he hit on a million draft picks and brought in a solid coaching staff (including an unusual but successful interim appointment). And most importantly, the team doesn’t fall into the sunk cost fallacy. Parsons did not get the results they wanted from what they viewed (rightfully) as a talented group of players, so they made major changes.
Meanwhile, DCU has zig zagged between being wretched and subpar for the better part of 5 years since they haven’t had a consistent vision, have always felt they were a piece or two away from making the playoffs (not even considering competing for trophies), and hold on to people for too long. A lot of that, fortunately, seems to be changing.
Owners make a difference at every level. Kang is both way more involved and way more invested, in every sense of the world.
Also, if I was a billionaire, I’d go hog wild on the value in the women’s market, the prices for high quality players is insanely cheap compared to even the desired transfer fee for, say, Akinmboni
Big important things!! Tottenham reimagining its bird and remastering their font!!
“Introducing the Club’s remastered brand identity, embracing our rich history and unmistakable heritage.
The cockerel reimagined. An icon reborn. Our font remastered.
To Dare Is To Do. 🤍”
Also — if you’re a local Spurs fan, MoCo Spurs is having a holiday / watch party on Sun. 12/8 for the 11:30 Spurs-Chelsea game. Saints Row Brewing in Gaithersburg.
Amazingly varied and delectable freedom kick offerings, Donald!
Congrats to Mewis and Kerr, especially! If they hyphen for the offspring’s last name, Mewis should totally claim top billing
A prediction: in 2025, Washington Spirit will surpass DC United in average attendance at Buzzard Point. DCU’s “announced” attendance average in 2024 was 18,167; adding their two sellout playoff matches , Spirit’ average was 14,650.
My confidence is increased if (a) Spirit bring home the NWSL’s championship trophy, and b) DCU would revert to an honest count of bodies through the gates rather than tickets sold (including to speculators who cannot unload some).
I’ve attended almost every DCU and Spirit home match since Buzzard Point opened and I know what my eyes tell me.
But have you invested in the Blue Halo Club?
Never. My seat in the West Stands is far better and at a quarter of the price. But Blue Halo nicely illustrates the difference between Jason Levien and Michele Kang’s marketing strategies. Levien seems to want to soak more deep pocketed fans for every dollar while Kang offer much more affordable deals to maximize fans in seats. My Spirit season ticket is less than half my DCU season ticket for the same seat.
But the Blue halo Club offers true value, likes seats in C9 that cost double my seats at midfield in C5. A premium experience.
I think the ticket sales vs “through the gate” method is used by most sports leagues when calculating or announcing attendance. I know its definitely the case for NASCAR. I think the argument for that is that if someone buys a ticket, and doesn’t show up to the game without re-selling the ticket, then no one else can actually fill the seat. The only way to really counteract that would be to only sell tickets when you enter the stadium and not at all ahead of time.