Naomi Girma’s Chelsea move complete, Boston NWSL stadium begins renovations, and more: Monday Freedom Kicks
Happy Monday. Could we see some warmer weather this week? Only time will tell!
Girma’s first interview: ‘It doesn’t matter where you came from, you can follow your dreams’ (CFC)
Naomi Girma’s move to Chelsea is official, and she gives her first interview to the club where she talks about following her dreams in her world record move.
White Stadium Demolition Begins While Opponents Remain Concerned (Blazing Musket)
Boston’s new NWSL team is starting to get its stadium demolished for remodeling as there are growing concerns over the rising costs. They only have a year to get everything done, including changing their name.
DC United had their first preseason match over the weekend as they played the New York Red Bulls down in Florida. The final score was 1-1 (of course, it wasn’t televised and there’s no video).
American soccer Reddit communities join growing X ban (PSW)
r/MLS and r/USSoccer (despite earlier social media reports) were among the first communities on Reddit to ban all Twitter links in response to Elon Musk’s nazi salute last week.
Micah Richards is a Brest lover (PSW)
The funny bit that is Micah Richards and reporting on Stade Brestois (aka Brest) during Champions League coverage on Paramount+ reaches new heights when the team sent him a nice little gift last week.
Congrats to Tori Huster, who has become the deputy executive director at the NWSLPA!
McKennie hints he and Weah could miss Gold Cup to play Club World Cup (PSW)
Ain’t no hints about it…FIFA has said that teams in the Club World Cup are not required to release their players to international duty. So, expect for the USMNT to be without Weston McKennie and Tim Weah this summer during the Gold Cup.
Amorim says he’d rather pick 63-year-old coach over Rashford (BBC)
Sounds like the beef between Ruben Amorim and Marcus Rashford has hit fever pitch. May wanna consider moving the English forward before the transfer window closes.
Greenland set for talks to join Concacaf, still probably not joining United States (PSW)
Unrelated to the geopolitical controversy that Greenland finds itself in the middle of, the Greenlandic federation will visit Concacaf’s headquarters in Miami in February to discuss its desire to join the confederation as its 42nd member.
Is transfer spending finally normal? Why a $100m player might be a thing of the past (ESPN)
For the record, I don’t believe this to be true. The price of the brick will continue to go up and teams will once again find the cycle of paying high transfer fees for players. It’s not leaving the sport anytime soon.
What accessories can players wear in the Premier League? (The Athletic)
From hair ties to wristbands, this covers what EPL players are allowed to wear on the field.
Enjoy the week, everyone.
For those that may have missed it, Goff figured out one of the trialists DC had with them in Florida. Brandon Servania, who used to play for Toronto. Goff notes that he seems to be the only trialist currently in contention to earn a contract, and also seems to be the biggest name among them.
I bet not only does he get a contract, but with how terrible our CM depth is he probably gets more than the league minimum. At least as long as he can sprint.
Servania plays a central midfield role, where we need numbers. I would definitely expect him to get a contract offer. He also fits our methodology of picking up players who had serious injuries in 2024 (Randall Leal and Lukas MacNaughton) and hoping to get them as kind of distressed assets that will bounce back. Perhaps they will, but I don’t know that United’s medical staff’s record gives us any reason beyond a coin flip to expect this will be true.
Anyway, Servania made $600,000 with Toronto last year. I think he would fit under the cap, and it’s not my money, but I’d still like to see that price point come down a bit.
Oh wow I doubt he gets more than half of that if we’re actually struggling with cap space. We’ll probably get some guy from the USL if our offer doesn’t suit him.
This may be a hot take, but the Paramount Champions league crew is a bit too unbuttoned at times. They have dragged that Brest joke out for so long it’s painful. Not to mention the snickering at every mild innuendo. Love the personalities and insight; I’m probably just old fashioned in the sense that I want the soccer people to talk about soccer.
Yep, analysis is rare, and you’re 💯 correct. The producers and the host clearly don’t run a tight ship, they seem to be in the business of collecting silly moments for the short video format of various platforms. I never tune in for that nonsense.
Glad I’m not the only one. The internet seems enamored with them for whatever reason. I too don’t bother with the pregame or postgame anymore.
What I’ve been seeing from various creators on YouTube I pay attention to, YouTube, Facebook, and other social media platforms have been lengthening allowed short form content in order to fill the expected void from the TikTok ban.