New Washington Spirit and Loudoun United kits, MLS roster profiles, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
Happy Friday, everyone! The Hey Spirits crew are getting ready for Spirit Fest this weekend, where the Washington Spirit have invited us to do our first ever live show! So if you were lucky enough to get a ticket, we will see you there.
Today’s first piece of news is Washington’s new kit. The leaks were correct, but it definitely looks better on the players than on the mannequin at Dick’s. I actually think it might be a slight improvement on last year’s yellow-on-yellow, and I’m encouraged by the fact that they’ve named the darker green “Spirit green.” Maybe a sign that the branding is solidifying?
2025 NWSL Secondary Jerseys Ranked Worst to Best (Sports Illustrated)
Now, take a look at the rest of the league. I’m finding them a little uninspired as a group.
Next, Loudoun United have announced a THIRD kit this week. How fun! It’s not clear what kind of occasion they’ll use these red ones for, as opposed to the black and white versions that debuted earlier in the week. I’m a fan of the Pegasus detail on both this and the black jerseys.
MLS has released Club Roster Profiles for this spring. With only one DP and two U22s, it wasn’t entirely clear which model D.C. United would be relying on, but Jason Anderson did some follow-up reporting:
As a kid, he left Japan to jump-start his career. As an adult, he landed with D.C. United. (Washington Post $)
A profile of Hosei Kijima, focusing on his time in youth soccer and decision to come to the US to emulate a Japanese tennis star.
Christian Pulisic docuseries exemplifies USMNT’s mostly silent golden generation (The Guardian)
Kind of an interesting rumination on how uninterested this generation of USMNT players is in being public personalities.
Finally, it’s your table of events for the weekend. Just one soccer game for our local teams this weekend, but don’t worry; more are rapidly approaching. Also D.C. United are hosting a watch party at Irish Channel, in case anyone’s interested.
| Teams | When | Where | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Old Glory DC vs. San Diego Legion | Sat., Mar. 1 at 4 p.m. ET | Boyds, MD | ESPN+, MNMT |
| D.C. United vs. Chicago FC | Sat., Mar. 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET | Chicago, IL | MLS Season Pass |
I’m really questioning the reason for us to use the 3/3 model and forego extra GAM unless a DP signing was imminent…which it really sounds like it isn’t.
Follow Goff on Bluesky folks. I’ve been avoiding the post as much as possible since the disaster with their endorsement, and even moreso now. That said, his player profiles have been nice. It’s gonna suck when their reduced subscriber base becomes reason to let good journalists walk.
Goff was being adamant yesterday that DC was in a 2/4/$2 roster construction, citing that as coming directly from Ally Mackay. I have no idea whether he or Jason is right, but it seems to be not a good thing that two different answers are coming from the team.
I agree with you that the reason to be in a 3/3 model right now is that a DP signing is imminent. That would be cool, but also very surprising. Are they just waiting for Lukas MacNaughton’s green card to come through so they have an open international slot to announce the player? That would seem ridiculous, but… well, ridiculous isn’t really disqualifying as a reason for anything DC does.
And yeah, Goff and Thomas Floyd are the biggest reasons I’m keeping my WaPo subscription. The higher-ups are making that a harder decision, though.
I’ve thought about it and I have a plausible explanation. MacKay told Goff it’s the 2-4 model. But if the club didn’t specify to MLS HQ, HQ picked out an option they thought fit (3-3 because of Klich). Jason didn’t say that the club told him they were following the 3-3 model. He said the official documents released by MLS HQ said “3-3.” So one very plausible explanation is: the club says it’s a 2-4 model, it wasn’t specified to the league, someone at HQ eyeballed it and decided it was 3-3 and that’s what went on to the official documents released by the league. Since we’re in compliance with either model, it doesn’t matter what the league put down. It was probably just sloppiness by the league HQ.
Well, it makes a difference (theoretically) because of the GAM involved. Either way, it signals that DC doesn’t want to spend that money. Remember, the extra $2 million GAM doesn’t come from the league. It’s just available for the teams to spend themselves. DC, no matter who put down 3/3, is choosing to not spend that GAM, AND not fill the DP slots, AND not fill the U-22 slots. It’s a bad look all the way around, unless they’re sitting on a DP signing.
DC has a little video of the “Soul Kits” being packed up as they make their debut tomorrow. They showed the jerseys for Jacob Murrell, David Schnegg, Aaron Herrera, Kim Joon Hong, Dominique Badji, Kye Rowles, and Christian Benteke. But they also show Fidel Barajas. So, looks like our new guy is going to be in the gameday 20 tomorrow.
Also, Apple’s analysis of the DC-Chicago game is pretty damn bad. They talk about how good Brian Gutierrez looked for the Fire, without mentioning that he’s suspended for this game. They said that everything DC does goes through Benteke, ignoring a lot of the thoughtful analysis exploring how DC was trying to do something different in their game against Toronto.
Rotten to the core
I’m sure Klejstan and BWP will get right to the bottom of this.
I miss Matt Doyle. He wasn’t always right, but he was a heck of a lot more thoughtful than this.
One of the consequences of being a perceived bottom-feeder is analysts just mail it in when it comes to your team. I’m not arguing we should be seen as an MLC Cup contender. But analysis of DCU has been pretty lame and mostly just a rehash of last year. Which is kind of funny given the roster turnover.
There are some great early analyses on substack from Marc Machado and Matt Hilliard. Lame that half the league doesn’t “deserve” at least accurate line ups, but the local guys still know their stuff.
I think its less how good the team is, and more so just the team itself and who Apple hired to cover the league. The Galaxy were awful in 2023 in the first year of Apple coverage, and they still got detailed coverage. When all of your analysts are New York or LA related, you only get good coverage of good teams and the NY and LA teams.
With that being said, I think a hire Apple got right was Lloyd Sam. Absolutely LOVE having him on the DC coverage. Dude always does a great job and actually knows what he’s talking about
I really enjoy having Lloyd Sam call a game. I don’t think he actually always knows what he’s talking about, but he’s pretty good in that department. He just lets himself be very human in his reactions, and so the games are much more fun to watch. Like you’re watching it with a friend who can fill you in on some things that you’re missing, but you’re both experiencing the game pretty similarly. He’s one of my absolute favorites.