2025 MLS match ball unveiled, Magic Johnson wins Presidential Medal of Freedom, and more: Monday Freedom Kicks
Let it snow!! Hoping this finds us waking up to a ton of snow on the ground with more coming.
2025 MLS Official Match Ball unveiled (MLS)
The new soccer ball for the 2025 season is out, and it looks pretty good!!
Washington Spirit co-owner Magic Johnson is now a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He received it from President Joe Biden on Friday. Also winning one (but did not show up to receive it) was Lionel Messi.
Fulham’s Antonee Robinson named U.S. men’s player of the year (ESPN)
Congrats to Jedi for winning the U.S. Soccer Men’s Player of the Year award! He had a terrific 2024 and could be poised for a big move either this month or after the season is done to a major club.
San Diego FC and Club America announce friendlies in 2025, 2027 (PSW)
San Diego FC has lined up a couple of big time friendlies against Club America for this year and 2027. I hope they consider doing a friendly every year with Tijuana and create a cup rivalry out of it.
Kye Rowles nears Hearts exit with clubs in talks over six-figure deal (Hearts Standard)
Could DC United be gaining a new Australian national team centerback?
Stay warm and enjoy the snow!
Happy Orange Ball Day to those who celebrate!
Yeah, the snow is coming down–I’ve gotta go out and shovel soon. Love the new ball as well. I’m still surprised we haven’t seen an announcement about our new ROK keeper. Maybe they’re waiting for him to arrive in the US so he can be at the news conference in person?
Yeah, that’s a little odd. I’m also a bit surprised that there haven’t been more MLS moves made by DC. Ally Mackay really knocked that part of his job out of the park last year, especially with Aaron Herrera, Jared Stroud, and Lucas Bartlett. Now, so far he’s brought in Lukas MacNaughton (who I think will be, at worst, the replacement for Chris McVey), but everyone else seems to be a backup. Luis Barraza, Hosei Kijima, and maybe Derek Dodson, though that might be more correctly classified as a USL move. Mackay has talked about Kijima getting some of Klich’s minutes, but we’ll see if that comes to pass.
Once Kim and Rowles are official, we will have 22 players on the roster, plus Fletcher on loan. We will probably sign one of our draftees at least, so that’s 23. I’d imagine that there are four or five more players to come. I think one of them will be a high upside U-22 player, and that would take up the last of our international slots currently on hand (assuming that Kim and Rowles both come, and that MacNaughton as reported gets his green card).
United can get more international slots of course, but I think they’ll be looking to fill out the squad with more MLS players. United will have up to $2 million extra GAM to play with, along with all the transfer money on hand and from Akinmboni’s departure. We should be able to bring in some pretty decent quality MLS talent with that. For instance, Montreal just landed Jalen Neal from the LA Galaxy. Talent is out there to be had.
Mackay might be waiting a bit to pounce on late shenanigans. Either that, or we’re just not having a ton of luck enticing players, but I’d like to think it’s the former.
Maybe it’s a bit of both. I think he’s prioritized veterans from outside of the league. Part of that because signing free agents would be more expensive and may not add enough points to make it worth it.
There’s a lot of green in that ball, Seems an odd choice.