Annapolis Blues FC break record (x2), Michele Kang interview in Forbes, and more: Tuesday Freedom Kicks
Happy Tuesday everyone! I just want to introduce myself very quickly as I will be doing Tuesday Freedom Kicks from now on!
My name is Dennis. I am a DMV native (shoutout Falls Church!), I am a member of the Rose Room Collective, and I still kick butt in my 30+ indoor soccer league!
Anyways, here’s your Tuesday roundup:
Annapolis Blues FC beat Christos FC in men’s home opener [Capital Gazette]
Local USL2 team, Annapolis Blues FC, set a USL attendance record with over 12,000 showing up for their 2-0 victory over Christos FC. Their womens team also debuted in a double header and set a USL W League attendance with over 7,000 in attendance. Below is current DC United player (and former Annapolis Blues FC player) Jacob Murrell wishing the team good luck before the game.
Interesting timing that this interview with Spirit owner Michele Kang drops on the same where much of the fanbase is feeling some type of way due to mid season coaching changes.
U-20 USWNT beats Puerto Rico 3-1 in Concacaf Championship group stage [Soccer Wire]
Washington Spirit player Chloe Ricketts starts during the USWNT U-20 team’s win over Puerto Rico. The US is in pole position to advance out of the group and into semis with a win today over Costa Rica.
U.S. UNDER-23 WOMEN’S NATIONAL TEAM DEFEATS GERMANY, 2-1 [US Soccer]
Another Spirit player also started for a US team; this time it was Spirit player McKenna Morris featuring with the U-23s as they beat Germany.
MESSI BECOMES INTER MIAMI’S ALL-TIME LEADING GOAL-SCORER [Men in Blazers]
Messi becomes the top scorer for Inter Miami in MLS with…31 goals. The GOAT needs quite a few more to catch up to Moreno’s 145 goals for DCU. Check out his record setting goal below:
Finally a quick reminder that the USWNT plays against Jamaica tonight at 8 PM EST. Keep an eye out for Spirit standout defender, Tara McKeown, as she could be poised to start at central defense.
That’s all from me today folks! Get outside and enjoy the day before the DC humidity strikes!
Welcome to the Freedom Kicks gang, Dennis!!
Thanks y’all! Excited to contribute!
Great read!
Welcome aboard! And thanks for the assist!
Welcome aboard!
Apparently, the Fire are going to build a soccer specific stadium in Chicago proper.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/chicago-fire-fc-plan-soccer-specific-stadium-for-2028-debut
This could potentially be even bigger than the Revs building their stadium in Boston.
Let us shed a tear for the community of Bridgeview, and all those other suburban communities who have been seduced by the lure of a professional sports arena. Looking at you, Landover.
Not knowing Chicago, I felt compelled to google map the city and I located where the stadium is going. Nice location. Across the river is a massive Amtrak depot. It’s not far from Soldier Field, if I have it all right.
My friend in Chicago seemed bullish (appropriate for Chicago sports, I suppose) about the location, although he cryptically mentioned that it was haunted.
For their own sake, I hope Berhalter gets them back to being a respectable team. They’ve been just about as inept as we have been (and at times even worse), but also while spending oodles of money. At least their owner is willing to do so.
TBH, I never thought Berhalter was that special an MLS manager
He seems to be able to get great seasons out of his #9.
Neat. I wish we could have a soccer specific stadium with a natural grass surface going forward in DC too.
I saw what you did there :^)
Welcome, Dennis! Glad to see the ranks filling out, way to step up!
Regarding Messi’s goal….
Does Darth Garber have that Columbus goalie’s family in irons somewhere…???
J Sam Jones moves DCU up 4 spots to #23 in his power rankings this week.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/power-rankings-inter-miami-gain-steam-before-fifa-club-world-cup
Okay under the current MLS roster rules how the hell would Miami afford Brian Rodriguez? Rodriguez was with LAFC from 2019-2021 and currently plays for Club America in Ligue MX.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/45437206/america-rodriguez-playing-messi-factor-club-future
Based on the current rules and their current roster makeup, the max he could be would be a TAM player. They have just over $2M in GAM to work with, not counting whatever CWC GAM bonus they get. I don’t know what their cap room looks like at the moment, but I’d imagine he’d have to be a max-TAM signing if he came. They also have 14 out of 14 (!!!) international spots filled at the moment, so they’d need to get another one of those, or ship one of their current internationals somewhere else. Knowing how Miami and the league itself works, not gonna rule out this happening, but boy would it raise some eyebrows, and rightfully so
KDB is on his way too…..
Last I read Chicago was the only MLS team in contention
Somewhere else would be outside of the league unless its LAFC or Seattle Sounders as no one else has the special CWC transfer window.
ESPNFC’s MLS power rankings sees DCU move up 2 spots from #26 to #24: https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/45429729/mls-power-rankings-lionel-messi-luis-suarez-help-inter-miami-surge-list
DCU’s missing pieces due to June call-ups:
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/every-mls-call-up-june-2025-international-window
So we won’t have any depth in the backline or at DM. I’ll be interested to see what our starting XI and bench looks like amid this craziness.
Philly is hurting even more though:
We have 27 players on the roster (28 if you count the ability to recall Karamoko from Loudoun). So we’ll be missing 5 to international duty, and we’ll see the injury list, but Benteke, MacNaughton, Joon, Tubbs, and Hopkins have all been on that recently. That would leave us with 17 players to choose from, and that 17 would include Gavin Turner, who hasn’t featured yet, and Fidel Barajas, who’s barely played.
Don’t forget Barajas’ loan is ending soon iirc.
His loan is thru the end of the month, when the int’l call-ups will be over, and most of those injured players will be back.If he can’t find his way back onto the pitch in the next 10 days, we won’t be missing him later.
The real struggle here is to field a credible defense in the next 2 games. We have Dotson, Bartlett, Antley and Schnegg. Zero depth in a 4-man backline right now. Tubbs and/or McNaughton are needed desperately.
If the team goes with back 3, I it would be great if Tubbs can play in one of those games at least. Dotson and Schnegg playing wingback. Guatemala isn’t going to advance out of their Gold Cup group, so we’d get Herrera back for the Nashville game on the 28th. And Rowles could be available on the 14th in Utah, if needed, Maybe he flies there directly from Saudi Arabia, and meets the team there.
The midfield should be OK with Pirani, Servania, Barajas and Zouhir centrally, Peglow, Kijima, Stroud and Leal out wide or able to slot in centrally, and Gavin Turner in reserve, wherever it is that he plays. The nice thing would be to at least see Turner make the bench.
And Murrell, Fletcher and Badjii at least offer us the bodies we need up top.
Fletcher is called up by the US U-20s and will be in camp June 2-10. They face Colombia on June 6 and Egypt on June 10.
https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2025/05/us-under-20-mens-national-team-fifa-world-cup-prep
So he’s gone for Saturday’s home game against Chicago.
End of June. It’s a bummer because he’s a talented young American, but hasn’t had any chance here to improve his skills, and the cost to extend his loan/outright acquire him would seem to be prohibitive. I guess we’ll see though.