Spirit lose, DC Power win, and more: Monday Freedom Kicks
Happy Monday, everyone. Let’s catch up with all the soccer from the weekend:
The Spirit lost to Gotham 3-0 in what wasn’t a great performance. But we saw Croix Bethune’s return to the field.
DC Power went up to Brooklyn and, just like in the fall, they come home with the 1-0 victory! Gianna Gourley netted the game-winner.
‘Euphoria’ as Arsenal reach first European final in 18 years (BBC)
Arsenal destroy Kang’s Lyon team to reach the European final for the first time since they won in 2007.
Liverpool surge to Premier League title after emphatic 5-1 win against Spurs (The Guardian)
Liverpool clinch the Premier League after destroying Spurs, winning the title for the first time since 2020.
DC United went up to Philly looking to get another victory. It was not a good night at the office, losing 3-0.
Loudoun United gets past Lexington SC in Jägermeister Cup action. Here’s the goal that won it at the death:
Loudoun United Football Club sign Garrison Tubbs on loan from D.C. United (LUFC)
Garrison Tubbs will get some playing time as he is loaned out to Loudoun United for the rest of the season.
Scoop: Commanders to unveil new NFL stadium deal with D.C. on Monday (Axios)
Sounds like Mayor Bowser will introduce a plan this morning to build a new stadium on the RFK site for the Washington Commanders.
Barcelona edge Real Madrid in ET thriller to win Copa del Rey (ESPN)
Barcelona is on a tear, sadly at the expense of my Real Madrid.
Let’s have a good week!
So, I’m joining a D&D campaign that plays pretty regularly on Saturday nights. I’ve been, for lack of a better term, holding space for DC United for a while on Apple, but currently I find everything but communing with the commenters in the thread to be an absolute drain. I still care, and will keep up with them, but the management (mostly ownership) of this club is losing me. Glad they beat the Redbulls away. Will hopefully be able to comment on a full game in happier times relatively soon.
I read your comments in the game thread Saturday from the safety of a short break during dinner with family, and had exactly this sense of satisfaction in the conclusion that my time was being better spent on other things. For my part, the home games are the core opportunity to keep up a 30-year friendship, so I’m still an STH and attending; but outside of that there’s no sense in losing sleep over a team that is this aimless and disordered.
Thanks for the understanding. As I became a DC fan as a child, it’s rough to hold on this loosely, but it may be for the best in order to not fully lose all sensation.
Hey, Jason Levien is trying really hard to sign Paul Pogba! (Nowhere in Goff’s reporting on this are Ally Mackay or Troy Lesesne’s preferences noted.)
I’ve never played D&D, but surely it’s better than this.
Both are based on fantasy….
(D&D is fun, really fun in middle and high school)
In said campaign, is there a wizard named Etcheverry, a fighter named Hristo, a rouge named Olsen, and a cleric named Eddie F’n Pope?
Ha, I hope not, or I may burst into tears
Great. Now I need to make a magic headband MacGuffin for my dnd campaign.
As for the Spirit, I got the rare experience of being able to watch. It certainly was a loss, but I think it’s pretty understandable to lose when your most potent offensive weapons are not available, or have to come on in the second half. The 5-3-2 Giraldez rolled out made sense as a “rumble in the jungle” strategy of taking the hits and hoping to snatch it late, but sometimes the game state doesn’t let you. We got knocked out pretty early.
Gotham are a playoff team, and getting two bank robberies against strong teams with the injuries we had was always gonna be unlikely. Hope Rodman, Sarr, Hershfelt, and Metayer to name a few are healthy soon, that Croix can round back into form.
The View from Buenos Aires
Well, DC United, Spirit and Old Glory RFC all lost, but Loudoun United, DC Power FC and New Mexico United all won so it wasn’t totally a lost weekend.
Watched the Super Classico between River Plate and Boca Juniors on TV yesterday afternoon. River won 2-1 with the winner scored by Sebastian Driussi late of Austin FC. As I’ve said earlier, with 1,800 Argentines playing abroad, River-Boca is hardly the cream of the crop, but they still put on a good show. The aerial views of Mas Monumental, a totally open air stadium like the Rose Bowl, were impressive with 80,000+ fans.
A drawback. Every player who goes down acts as if he is mortally wounded. It gets a bit tiring.
River-Boca in El Monumental in August 1961 was the first professional soccer game I ever saw.
That sounds like a blast, but for the tedious and predictable embellishments.
So are we headed for another wooden spoon campaign? To compare where we were at in the 2013 dumpster fire, after 10 games DCU was 1 W 1 D 8 L with a -14 GD and we are currently at 2 W 3 D 5 L with a -11 GD. That’s just broad strokes though.
If it wins us another Open Cup, I can be okay with that.
Shh somehow Inter Miami will win the Open Cup despite not being in the tournament.
Their name is already engraved on the trophy.
Barring a miraculous turnaround, Montreal (and probably Toronto too) will prevent DC from finishing last. Kansas City is also very bad, as are the Galaxy (though you can argue LA have the talent to turn that around at some point). I think DC is closer to “in the hunt for the final playoff spot until the last few weeks” than to outright last place
Well this seems like a perfect Lesesne signing. /s
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/04/28/dc-united-paul-pogba-contract-talks/
This would be potentially a really bad signing. Pogba is a world class passing talent with superb ball carrying abilities, but he’s pretty disinterested in the defensive aspects of playing centrally, doesn’t know when he’s making risky decisions on the ball, has long had questions about his work ethic, was very nearly aged out by a years long doping sentence, and generally hasn’t pleased a fanbase since his first stint with Juventus.
It’s quite possible that his reputation for locker room poison at Man U was overblown, but since he played for them, he has proven to not be a good player to build around.
I’d advise United to not make him the desperation signing, but since when have they listened to long term fans and/or reason?
Add to it that the team is not talented enough to take advantage of his abilities and yes, this would get people canned.
Also, what about motivation? Is anyone kicking the tires on that? If he comes to MLS, he’s clearly giving up all hopes that he could break back into the France squad (that ship has almost certainly sailed, but that he’s not even trying is worrying). It also means Suadi clubs passed on him.
So, what are we doing?
I couldn’t think of a less motivated person. MLS will force this and deBruyna in Miami. Bank on it.
The first ever Concacaf women’s futsal championship starts today, and 5 out of 14 players on the US roster are from MD or VA.
https://www.ussoccer.com/teams/womens-futsal-national-team?tab=currentroster
Neat!
In the journalism department, Pablo Maurer just announced that he’s leaving the Athletic in June. He’s done some great work there, hopefully he lands somewhere else soon. And hopefully that new outlet lets him cover DC more in addition to his deep-dives
I think, given his druthers, he would rather not be covering DC.
But yeah, this stinks for Pablo and is yet another blow to the Athletic. They used to do a lot of great MLS coverage, and then got pared back to pretty much just Messi/Miami. Pablo was one of the few writers that would bring in other things (his recent Loudoun United piece comes to mind), especially his deep dives into American soccer arcana.
I just recently talked myself into re-subscribing to the Athletic, but hard to see myself doing that again.
Yeah, if I didn’t also use the Athletic for Nascar-related news, this would probably make me cancel my subscription too. And even the Nascar coverage has suffered a similar fate to MLS/Messi after they added F1 coverage, so that’s been rough too
Hey, Andy Najar made the Team of the Week!
Aw shit, he doesn’t play for us anymore.
On the Old Glory DC front, the loss to Houston combined with Miami cruising over Anthem Carolina and NOLA beating Seattle results in OGDC falling out of playoff position down to 5th in the Eastern Conference. Top 4 teams in each conference advance to conference semi-finals.
Eastern Conference as it stands:
Western Conference as it stands:
If you’re curious, MLR is single entity like MLS.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/44891477/mls-investigating-discrimination-vancouver-minnesota