Rodman up for US Soccer and FIFA awards, Club World Cup draw, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
Happy Friday!
US Soccer announces 2024 end of the year award nominees (SSFC)
Trinity Rodman is on the list of nominees for Female Player of the Year, along with Alyssa Naeher, Naomi Girma, Sophia Smith and Mallory Swanson. Up for Male Player of the Year are Tim Ream, Antonee Robinson, Folarin Balogun, Ricardo Pepi, and Christian Pulisic.
Rodman and coach Jonatan Giráldez are also both up for FIFA annual awards, which you can vote for here: https://www.fifa.com/en/the-best-fifa-football-awards.
DC Power’s Madison Wolfbauer made the USL Super League’s Team of the Month for the second time this season.
Washington Spirit Fans Brought ‘Rowdy Audi’ to CPKC Stadium for NWSL Final (Sports Illustrated)
A look at the community of fans that has grown up around the Spirit from their days at Maryland SoccerPlex to now, including fans who followed the team to Kansas City for the Championship.
In international news, the Club World Cup draw took place yesterday, deciding the groups that will play beginning next June.
Club World Cup preview: best teams, players, predictions (ESPN)
A possibly way-too-early preview of the Club World Cup after yesterday’s draw.
Loudoun United FC extend Jacob Erlandson on two-year contract through 2026 with option for 2027 season (Loudoun United)
Loudoun continue locking down important players for additional time. This time, it’s defender Jacob Erlandson.
The six biggest stories that defined the USL Championship’s 2024: Transfers, stadiums, TV deals & more (Backheeled $)
If you’re looking to get into USL Championship, here’s a quick guide to the biggest stories of the year.
USWNT: Who are the candidates to replace goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher? (Pro Soccer Wire)
Jason Anderson takes a look at the pool of likely goalkeepers to replace Alyssa Naeher. He still has Aubrey Kingsbury in the mix, but I have a feeling her age (and apparent disfavor) will keep her as a back-up at best.
No games this weekend! There will be a DC Power game next week, but after that we’re in for a long wait until soccer returns to the DMV.
Thanks to you and your DP colleagues for the wonderful coverage this year. I cannot wait for the 2025 seasons to begin, especially for the Spirit.
There was a small DC related update from Tom Bogert last night. San Diego has acquired Chris McVey from DC in exchange for $50k GAM and an additional $50k in add-ons. DC had already declined his option, but this at least ensures that San Diego can pick him up without having to rely on the re-entry draft or anything. I saw some people theorizing that this could be linked to expansion draft protection for DC, but I guess we’ll see if that ends up being the case or not
Good business from us, I’m sure we’ll need the pocket change for another weird MLS-only transaction sometime this off-season.
Is DC’s roster big enough to be picked from? If you include guaranteed protections for academy kids maybe 2 players are available. Which is smart from Ally Mackay, if intentional.
Using the DC website as a reference, the current players listed are:
Akinmmbony, Antley, Badji, Bartlett, Benteke, Enow, Fletcher, Herrera, Hopkins, Klich, KDP, Murrell, Peltola, Pirani, Schnegg, Stroud, Tubbs. 17 players total. 18 if we add in Farr, who I believe would still count for the expansion draft.
I think its safe to say that Akinmbony, Fletcher, and Hopkins should all be safe as homegrowns. I am unsure if KDP’s new designation as a U22 still allows him to have the same homegrown protection or not. The DC site also lists Herrera as a homegrown, but not Tubbs (even though DC got him as a homegrown from Atlanta). Not fully sure what is going on there or how those 2 would work. Depending on how many players they are allowed to protect going into the draft, they could end up being mostly covered, but its hard to say
Tubbs lost the homegrown tag when he transferred.
Dajome is off to Mexico, with Santos. Hopefully they know not to put him at LB or anything crazy like that. Best of luck!
Can’t wait til we hear news about fully staffong the roster before preseason 🤞
Michail Antonio in horrific accident. Looking at his car, it’s amazing he survived.