D.C. sign Kim Joon Hong, players impacted by LA fires, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
Happy Friday, everyone! It’s been kind of a weird week, with snow days and many of us off for President Carter’s funeral, but now we have just one more day before the weekend and plenty of signing news to speculate about. Let’s get into it!
D.C. United Signs South Korean Goalkeeper Kim Joon Hong from Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC (D.C. United)
The long-rumored signing has finally been announced! Kim Joon Hong has been signed through 2027 with an option for 2027.
‘How is this real’ – Angel City defender Riley loses home in LA fires (Pro Soccer Wire)
Our thoughts are with everyone impacted by the fires in Los Angeles, including soccer players Ali Riley and Carlos Vela.
Washington Spirit sign Brazilian attacker Tamara Bolt (The DP)
The Spirit continue their offseason pattern of not signing defenders.
In some tangentially-related to DC soccer news, Lucas Bartlett’s brother Jacob has signed with Sporting KC:
MLS sorry after falsely confirming Atlanta transfer for Kyogo (ESPN)
MLS named a completely wrong player when reporting the transfer of Kyogo Furuhashi yesterday. In fact, Cayman Togashi will be heading to Atlanta United.
Jesse Marsch reveals Canada could not afford January international camp (Yahoo Sports)
Canada Soccer’s struggles continue. Marsch said he hopes they will be able to hold a January camp next year, but this is a bad situation!
Héctor Herrera’s Toluca start delayed due to MLS spitting ban (ESPN)
Herrera will have to serve the three-day suspension he earned for spitting at a ref, despite his transfer to Liga MX. I’m a little surprised to hear there’s this kind of reciprocity between the leagues.
Finally, to take us into the weekend, here’s a cute little video about Andi Sullivan’s elderly relatives coming to watch her play at Audi Field:
I’m bullish about the idea of Kim Joon Hong, and I hope it’s a bit of a coup for the club.
And I’m bullish that you’re bullish. Happy New Year.
Hope we assemble a decent backline for him to work with! It was refreshing for Mackay to note that he was targeted because he matched Lesesne’s desired profile.
I think MacNaughton and Rowles are going to be significant upgrades in man-marking ability. It kind of got lost a bit in how dominant Christian Benteke was with aerial duels, but Lucas Bartlett finished with the second most headers in MLS last year. We get a full year of David Schnegg. Hopefully he’s an upgrade defensively over our left back situation last year, which was fairly atrocious. And hopefully Boris Enow is comfortable here now and takes a leap forward shielding the backline.
That’s a lot of “hopefully’s” but I’m hopeful that you’re right!
I like that he’s fulfilled his 18 month military service to Korea already. I like that the team is hiring a translator/integration person for him (best case scenario, it works out like Rory Molleda with Wayne Rooney). I like his shutout record. I like that they say he’s very good with his feet and his distribution. I didn’t think Alex Bono was particularly bad at that, and neither was Tyler Miller, but if he’s an upgrade over them, then that’s going to be impressive. Playing direct to Benteke or out wide to Stroud or Peglow sounds like a pretty good approach, particularly without a lot going on for us in the center of the field.
Hopefully he does really well and either moves on (for a nice fee) or has a nice long career with us. The only international goalkeeper we’ve had that has been at all decent was Louis Crayton.
The Danish(?) dude that came into Bill Hamid’s roll with Lucharoo wasn’t that bad.
David Ousted was pretty good with Vancouver. He was the single worst goalkeeper United had had since Zach Wells, and only Rafael Romo has eclipsed him.
Ousted: 17 games, 32 goals allowed, 0 clean sheets.
Romo: 14 games, 34 goals allowed, 1 clean sheet.
Fair enough. Maybe I have a poor memory. I do have a distinct recollection of Zach Wells, a nice guy who totally lost his nerve out there.
I’m bullish about the idea of Kim Joon Hong being at DC United making the club an interesting option for Son Hueng-min if and when he starts looking for a place beyond Europe to wind down his amazing career
And yeah, the Spirit are absolutely stacked for offensive players, but as you’ve shown, only have six defenders signed. That’s frankly a recipe for disaster as minutes and knocks accrue.
Not to mention potential International absences.
Good stuff Annie.
First, I watched the sizzle video of Kim Joon Hong. He’s the best pure shot stopper RIGHT NOW that we’ve had since Bill “Freaking” Hamid. Now, like most young keepers, I suspect his judgment on when to come out and his ability to organize a defense (especially since I’m sure he speaks no Spanish and probably little English) will be poor–at this point. However, it’s extremely encouraging that DCU praised his distribution and foot skills. I think this is a great signing.
Second, maybe it’s smoke that MacKay is blowing. But between moving Klich and then justifying it as clearing PT so we can assess young guys, signing a very young GK (who has a big upside but still–so much of that position is about judgment and positioning–wisdom in other words) and then going out to sign younger players, my read is that MacKay and Lesesne would like to make the playoffs this year but they really are viewing this team as building a foundation for 2-3 years from now. When Pirani, Hopkins, Tubbs, Murrell, Kim Joon Hong, etc. will have either developed or we’ve found them wanting and moved on. That’s my read anyway.
Third, one of the things that Jona Giraldez did at Barcelona was to take a world class attacker (Fridalina Rolfo) who started for one of the top 5-8 nations in the world (Sweden) and make her a left back. Given the attackers the team keeps signing, unless we’re looking to move on from Sarr or Radcliffe, is that some of these attackers are going to move to defensive positions (like Metayer did before the injuries to the midfield hit).
And yeah, Canada’s FA sucks. They’ve got a great coach, some very good talent, will be co-hosting the WC soon and….they can’t get out of their way and get things organized. Funding for a January camp is critical for Canada because their roster is good but thin and a lot of the key players (Fonzie, Larin, David) are based overseas. So a January camp would be about expanding the depth for guys who are in MLS or college, or USL
I noted on Annie’s report of her signing that a lot of Tamara Bolt’s sizzle reel shows her attacking from right back (although her goals seemed to come from a more forward position).
It could be, but I’d think you’d want at least one other CB who doesn’t have to be instantly converted
The whole Canada FA situation could be resolved by Canada being absorbed by the USA, maybe after the ’26 Cup, and then Marsch could just immaculately ascend to the role of USMNT coach, from within.
Just saying…
Is anyone else lightly infuriated by FIFA distributing World Cup tickets via NFT purchase?
Yes, but definitely something FIFA would do as they are all about money.
Not that I totally understand the concept, but tickets seem like one of the more obvious NFT/blockchain/etc applications. Obviously, if FIFA is doing it it’s likely to be done with a hefty amount of scandal and grift.
If they were selling tickets as NFTs, maybe. But my understanding is that they’re offering that if you buy enough NFTs fast enough, you’ll then get the right to buy tickets at a game of their choosing. Just driving up the price to prop up their NFT business
Least shocking scam from the least shocking source.
Oh, is that what the collectibles are? NFTs? Jesus. I signed up for emails from FIFA about WC tickets, just to maybe have a shot at something on the East Coast, but have been dismayed that they’re trying to get you to buy this rubbish.
The most interesting piece in Goff’s report was the section on Neymar and Inter Miami, getting Mascherano to say it’s impossible with MLS salary cap rules…as they are now.
Thus those rules will be reformed before the summer window, and DC United will be able to sign their own DP, no doubt someone with cachet similar to Neymar’s.
DCU has signed Costa Rican Randall Leal (I believe he has a green card), primarily a left-sided midfielder. He was originally a DP with Tennessee. He was waived primarily for cap reasons. Passed through waivers and then signed afterwards (so it was obviously a salary cut for him).
More details. He will count for $100k on the cap (the senior minimum) with Tennessee paying for the rest of his salary. Frankly, signing a guy who fits the system, knows MLS for $100k is a steal. I think he’s going to end up playing in a sort of wing-back role.
Could just straight up be thinking of left back conversion, though I also like the option to have someone who can cross from the wing effectively to Benteke.
I’m guessing that he and Peglow will be swapping between themselves between LM and CM.
The good news here for Peglow is that Leal can’t stay healthy, lots of missed time in ’22 and ’23, before tearing his hamstring in ’24.