Barnhart and Unkel retire, biggest potential January moves, and more: New Year’s Eve Freedom Kicks
Happy New Year’s Eve, everyone! As an avid planner, this is one of my favorite holidays. I love to spend time thinking about what I want to do and achieve in the new year (and this year’s planning includes plenty of thoughts on ways to improve and grow the District Press). Also, I love champagne.
Washington Spirit GK Nicole Barnhart announces retirement (The DP)
Goalkeeper Nicole Barnhart announced her retirement from professional soccer yesterday at the age of 43. Barnhart has been a big name in women’s soccer for decades, earning 54 caps with the USWNT and setting records and winning championships in the NWSL. She spent her last three years with Washington Spirit and played her final game in this year’s NWSLxLiga MX Femenil Summer Cup.
A retirement some may be happier about, PRO referee Ted Unkel is hanging up his whistle after 13 seasons in MLS.
From Chloe Kelly to Naomi Girma: 10 players who could move in January (The Guardian)
There are some players on here I definitely don’t see leaving their current teams (e.g. Marta), but these are some pretty big names in WoSo. Of them, I think Naomi Girma’s the most likely to make a splashy move. The way things are going in San Diego, her next contract could very well be up-for-grabs.
Jonas Eidevall set to become San Diego Wave head coach on three-year deal (The Athletic $)
Speaking of the situation in San Diego…
13 potential January transfers: Rashford, Gyökeres, Zubimendi (ESPN)
On the men’s side, some of the bigger names (to me) are Marcus Rashford and Antonee Robinson. Any moves you all think are particularly likely here?
Argylle and Rooney mutually part ways (Plymouth Argylle)
I feel bad for Wayne Rooney, but his Argylle were really bad. Maybe he needed some more time as an assistant before becoming a head coach? Unfortunately, he didn’t get it, and I now suspect his future as a coach at all is in jeopardy.
Inside the new-look Jagermeister Cup: Not a pro-rel “test balloon” but could help elevate the USL (Backheeled $)
More information on the expanded USL cup.
That’s all I have. See you in 2025!
Thanks, Annie, for all the great coverage.
I think Rooney screwed up his coaching career badly. He left DCU early so he could be a player assistant for a coach he admired (Cocu) but the team situation was bad. He ended up with a great season playing a lot of youth. But since then, his coaching record with I believe 4 teams in different leagues has been crap. He hasn’t shown that he’s good at selecting talent (his mis-placed faith with Reval Morrison is a great example). Rooney is someone who would have benefited from a couple of years as an assistant. He played under some great coaches. But there are so many sides to coaching (talent evaluation, tactical sense) that he never developed.
Definitely took on more than he could chew. Maybe getting appointed manager at Derby was the worst thing that could’ve happened to him. He saw himself doing a fairly good job considering the circumstances and assumed he would just do better if he had the money to play a proper squad. I’m not sure he gets another 1st team manager gig after this. Someone will no doubt ask if he wants to join them as part of their team though, and it might actually benefit both sides.
It’s seems possible that Rooney was just too gifted of an all around athlete and player to know the basic steps of how an inferior player can grow and compete. It may be that high level soccer game so naturally to his own body and brain, that he was not good at teaching his instincts to others.
At any rate, it would almost be unfair to everyone else if he was also a genius at being a coach, so it’s probably fine for him to not achieve in that arena, as disappointing as it is for him.
Think top level players looking at coaching should start as assistants lower on the chain then work their way up. Not the level of player as Rooney but consider Olsen, he could have really benefited from a few years of assisting at a lower level before moving up to MLS assistant and then to head coach. For Rooney, it would have shown a lot of humility and willingness to learn if he had started out as an assistant in the second division. 5 years as an assistant and he would have been much better positioned for success as a head coach at a high level.
I definitely thought he should slow down and decide which manager he should work under after DC let him go. Some personalities never shy away from the biggest challenges, and Rooney has certainly squared up to and defeated enough in his day, but coaching is obviously a different animal. He seemed to have the ability to understand implementing a number of formations ok. Ah well, I’m not going to mourn someone who has that many millions in the bank at his age.
Also, I think he was the one that chose to walk away rather than let the front office think about it more. It just happened that his next stop was a disaster of both his and the club’s own doing.
The team is still recovering from a number of signings and decisions that were made by Rooney (and Kasper, grr!). But he spotted a talent like Matai Akinmboni, who’s now making a move to a Premier League club. He signed Christian Benteke, which turned out to be a pretty solid deal. He… I dunno, made it possible for opposing teams to score some pretty memorable goals on Tyler Miller.
Frankly, it’s startling how similar his real life has mirrored that Nike “Write the Future” ad from a decade ago.
Sooo…what do we think of Derek Dodson? He’s seemingly been all over the eastern half of the US at both MLS and USL clubs. Mackay definitely values experience at any level of in play over the potential of youth signings from the looks of things.
Definitely don’t mind the signing at all if the purpose is to back up Herrera. Herrera and Schnegg should be the starters, no doubt, but having Antley and Dodson as their backups for potential international absences (or injuries) should be fine. I’m sure Dodson could probably be used as a late sub too (be it for winger or wingback). We’ve had some luck with USL Journeymen in the past, so I think he will be able to fill his role, and at a decent price point
Yeah, in isolation Dodson seems fine. And as a converted forward, he’s actually got some good attacking potential coming from the wingback.
While USL has plenty of talent, I do question just how much we’re leaning on it. Antley, as you noted, is a career USL player. So is Jordan Farr. Hosei Kijima spent a lot of time in USL last year, and Dodson hasn’t played a minute in MLS. We can even include the bulk of Lesesne’s coaching career, as well as his staff.
If we can see some good evidence of Lesesne and his staff being able to coach guys up and helping them hit a new performance level, then that’s a good underutilized resource. But Lesesne’s record at improving players’ performances is probably inconclusive at best after last year.
There’s still a good number of roster slots to fill, and I think Dodson is a nice enough backup, but they need to be swinging bigger with what’s left.
Maybe they’ve seem something in Dodson, but Minnesota probably saw something similar when they signed him a year ago, and then they never gave him a look with the senior club…and they were OK with letting him walk. The guy was a high first-round pick out of college, but hasn’t really impressed anyone enough since in training to give him even one minute at the MLS level.
We’ll see…maybe he’s on the verge of figuring it out. A team in need of an athletic, somewhat experienced professional in defense…maybe the perfect place for him to land and prove himself.
I think Lesesne with his USL ties also had some thoughts on Dodson.
We have seen many DCU ripples, which is fine for filling secondary roles. But I am ready for a splash.
Hate to say it, I don’t think we have the capacity to splash. A healthy plop or two, maybe. With no senior DP spots left, I doubt we’ll be wowed.
I think this is where we’re at too. I expect there to be another move for a CB, maybe another CM to take Klich’s roster spot. But since we’ve got his tag hanging over our neck all year without his presence, it’s going to be a journeyman or like, Hopkins.
I think Ally Mackay specifically referenced Hosei Kijima as being in line to get some of Klich’s minutes, and they might try Joao Peglow there too, especially if they get another U-22 winger (or the U-22 spot could go to a CM). All of those are pretty raw, untested options, and unlikely to be as productive as Klich, but could turn the team into something quicker overall.
I agree that the Klich situation leaves us in a real lurch, and unless they’re actually holding on to a way to buy themselves out of that DP designation (possibly in the summer), then there will be marginal improvement this year at best.
Just a thought. Would it be possible to buy down Peltola’s contract?
They are buying down Peltola’s contract. That allows them to go with the 2 DP/4 U-22/extra $2 million of GAM model.
So, their DPs are Benteke and Klich (who will be playing for Atlanta), and their U-22s are Pirani, Ku-DiPietro, and reportedly Kim Joon Hong. They have one extra U-22 spot to sign, and given the reported interest in Gabriel Aguayo, that’s probably the profile of player they’re looking at.
The interesting part is the extra $2 million of GAM, which the owners are responsible for paying. They’ve splashed out some decent money on Kijima and Peglow, but they should have lots more to play with, especially after transferring Akinmboni. They should be able to get a number of pretty good/not great players to fill out the remaining 6-7 roster slots (assuming at least one draft pick signs).
Nice and useful update!