Spirit win in Jona’s last home match, DC United lose football game, and more: Monday Freedom Kicks
Happy Monday y’all. I did a lot of driving this weekend, traveling up to Hartford for the USMNT match and then back in time to watch the Spirit match. We begin at Rowdy Audi:
Jona Giráldez signs off at Rowdy Audi with a 3-1 win over North Carolina (DP)
What a fun match it was yesterday! The rain held off and the Spirit got some great goals as they took care of business against the Courage.
DC United had a terrible outing on Saturday night, giving up a touchdown and the extra point to Chicago.
Takeaways from Loudoun’s draw with Charleston (DP)
Loudoun took the draw against the Charleston Battery. They will be back at home again on Saturday against Detroit City, and yours truly will be in attendance.
Mistakes cost USMNT in 2-1 loss to Türkiye (SSFC)
I was in Hartford for this match. After Jack McGlynn scored for the USMNT inside of a minute, they had two WPIOOTBGW moments within 3 minutes and that led to both Türkiye goals. The USMNT are back in action again tomorrow night.
Portugal’s Nations League win overshadows Ronaldo vs. Yamal (ESPN)
Portugal held off Spain on penalties to win the UEFA Nations League, their 2nd Nations League title. They have won 2 of the 4 UEFA Nations League titles.
Boston Legacy FC reveals crest ahead of NWSL expansion season (PSW)
Thoughts on the new Boston Legacy FC crest?
Italy sack coach Luciano Spalletti after Norway defeat (ESPN)
Luciano Spalletti was fired as Italy’s head coach after losing 3-0 to Norway in their first World Cup qualifier. But he’s still coaching the team today against Moldova
USA Soccercast, Episode 156: WNT look dominant, MNT Gold Cup roster released (SSFC)
On my latest podcast episode, I dip into the USWNT’s recent window and examine the USMNT Gold Cup roster that dropped late last week.
Enjoy the day, y’all.
So after the final matchday of the MLS regular season the playoff field is set. Over the weekend, Old Glory DC went to San Diego and go blown out by a Legion team in a must win situation and had to score at least 4 tries and a large margin in the process 50-5. Unfortunately for San Diego who needed Seattle to lose or win with fewer than 4 tries or end up with a lower points differential, they didn’t get the result they needed as Seattle beat Miami 42-17. Seattle used their man up advantages as Miami suffered multiple yellow cards and a red card throughout the match.
As for the Old Glory game in general, San Diego started fast and didn’t look back while they leveraged OGDC’s league leading turnover rate (256 total over the season or 16 turnovers/game) to their advantage. Old Glory DC’s only scoring a single try while being up a man for 20 minutes due to a red card was criminal but also showed how strong San Diego’s defense was. Old Glory turned it over multiple times while 5 meters or less out from scoring a try. Plus they just couldn’t stop San Diego’s lethal offense.
Here are the final regular season standings
Eastern Conference: (w-d-l)
New England Free Jacks (2 time defending MLR champ) 16 gp, 11-0-5, +84 pd, 11 bonus points, 55 pts totalChicago Hounds (1st trip to the playoffs) 16 gp, 11-0-5, +69 pd, 9 bonus pts, 53 pts totalOld Glory DC 16 gp, 8-0-8, -40 pd, 13 bonus pts, 45 pts totalMiami Sharks (1st trip to the playoffs) 16 gp, 8-0-8, -62 pd, 9 bonus pts, 41 ptsNOLA Gold 16 gp, 4-0-12, -45 pd, 16 bonus pts, 32 pts totalAnthem RC (winless through first 2 seasons) 16 gp, 0-0-16, -288 pd, 5 bonus pts, 5 pts totalWestern Conference (w-d-l)
Utah Warriors 16 gp, 11-0-5, +86 pd, 14 bonus pts, 58 pts totalHouston SaberCats 16 gp, 10-0-6, +93 pd, 14 bonus pts, 58 pts totalRFCLA 16 gp, 8-1-7, +4 pd, 17 bonus pts, 51 pts totalSeattle Seawolves 16 gp, 8-1-7, +38 pd, 15 bonus pts, 49 pts totalSan Diego Legion 16 gp, 8-0-8, +61 pd, 16 bonus pts, 48 pts totalEastern Conference Semifinal
#4 Miami Sharks @ #1 New England 2 PM 15 June 2025 at Veterans’ Memorial Stadium in Quincy, MA (aka Ft Quincy)
#3 Old Glory DC @ #2 Chicago Hounds 7PM 14 June 2025 at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, IL (former home of the Chicago Fire)
Western Conference Semifinal
#4 Seattle Seawolves @ #1 Utah Warriors 8:30 PM 15 June 2025 at Zion Banks Stadium in Herriman, UT (sw side of Salt Lake City)
#3 RFCLA @ #2 Houston SaberCats 10:00 PM 14 June 2025 at SaberCats Stadium in Houston, TX
Conference Finals are on 21 June 2025
MLR Final at Centreville Bank Stadium in Pawtucket, RI brand new home of Rhode Island FC of the USL Championship on 28 June 2025.
As a note for the entirety of the playoffs Old Glory DC will be the away team in all matches unless they end up hosting Miami in the Eastern Conference Final.
Also I don’t know why the MLS scheduling algorithm didn’t give us, Austin, or Seattle a bye this past weekend. All 3 of those teams have now played 18 games while New England somehow only has 15 games played…
Seattle playing at least made some sense (as did the LAFC game) because those were essentially make-up games from last week (since both Vancouver and LAFC had Concacaf related games to play). But absolutely no reason that the Saturday game shouldn’t have been Chicago and New England playing each other
Could there be a greater study in contrasts than DC United and the Spirit? I could expound, but we all know how depressing this is. Even with Kang showing a bit of a villain streak, these organizations are tiers apart
To follow up, DCU’s “announced attendance” on Saturday night was 16,715. To my eyes, less than half that number were in the stands. (DCU attendance = tickets allegedly sold).
Spirit’s Sunday afternoon attendance on rain-threatened day was 17,645 — and they were really there.
I thought it was actually decently attended, I honestly thought there would be less people in attendance. I wouldn’t say 16K but also not 8K. To my eyes, it was like around 14K. I went knowing we would lose, we had no chance, given all the absences, but it was still a sad spectacle. I’m thinking that Saturday was the perfect game for Bennyball. We would likely still have lost, but it wouldn’t have been 7-1.
Generous accounting. The C5 section was a tomb, until (well meaning) opportunists moved to midfield. They were welcomed.
Bizarro. Some of the best seats anywhere, empty…..
106 was half/ two thirds full at kickoff, and less so after halftime. Heading towards wed night open cup attendance, except probably for the Miami game.
As a STM of both: DCU 1 Chicago 7. After last week’s upset of Cincinnati, I put this humiliation on Troy Lesesne. Yes, we had ten players missing on injury or national team call ups, including our top scorer DP and eight other sometime starters, but Chicago had eight missing, including their DP top scorer.
Yet Lesesne continued the high press and continued to have keeper boot the ball upfield as if Benteke were still there Result: 0 for 8 (I was counting); and we only nabbed one second ball. Chicago turned those into three fast break goals in first half; the fourth came on a Zouhir giveaway (Zouhir was awful.) And Murrell was terrible; never won a long kick and missed a gimme header.
To his credit, Lesesne yanked both at halftime but continued with same tactics. DP thread was critical of Antley playing like a RB in a four man line rather than as one of three CBs. I watched carefully in second half and he was still playing like an RB. So he was doing what Lesesne wanted.
We should have bunkered from outset and hoped for a moment of magic moment in counter attacking.
Antley’s spacing was way too wide and Chicago continually attacked into the space he left behind. It felt like a 3 man backline sometimes only a 2 man backline…
Completely agree here. The coach should have played for a tie and bunker, bunker, bunker. Ask 10 of them to play defense and have Pirani dance around in hopes of a lose ball. I didn’t even get mad at the players (except for Zouhir who was just incompetent); it was the coach’s lack of pragmatism that created the disaster. He was supposed to protect his players from what unfolded. He should take the blame entirely.
Pretty spot on. I wouldn’t disagree from a practical or tactical standpoint. Given how short manned DC were, playing for a 0-0 draw makes much more sense, hindsight and all.
Mainly though, I would echo one your earlier points and expand here on the organizational side. As noted, in terms of absolute numbers Chicago had almost as many absences for injuries or callups. One organization was able to field a fuller bench and got far more out of their depth pieces (CHI) and the others organization’s lack of depth and investment in the squad and academy (DC) was put on brutal display. The chants of “Sell the team” were well warranted in my opinion.
On to Spirit 3 NC Courage 1: what a delightful, rain-threatened but never fell, Sunday afternoon. Like DCU, Spirit still had ten injured — star attacker (Rodman), 2025 top scorer (Hatch), 2024 top scorer (Sarr), world-class attacking midfielder (Santos), USWNT defensive midfielder (Sullivan), backup right back/ center back (Metayer) and five others — plus five starters just back from national team call ups.
Yet though NC Courage dominated statistically, Spirit got the job done efficiently. Keeper Aubrey Kingsbury was all-universe this game — seven saves, numerous grabs of corners and crosses, even clearing ball out-of-bounds upfield on several occasions.
Jona Giraldez did a great job of managing the minutes of seven or eight back from injury or national team call ups.
Hopefully, by season’s end, a starting XI of Kingsbury; Carle, Morgan, McKeown, Krueger; Hatfield, Bernal, Bethune; Kouassi, Hatch, Rodman — and I haven’t even got starting spots for Sarr, Santos and Miura — can beat anybody, including OL Lyoness.
Did it autocorrect Hershfelt? Cuz Hal is definitely a starter even with everyone back
Yes, autocorrected Hershfelt. I didn’t catch it. I
If management sells, will I renew?
I have Neanderthal genes, fwiw….
I don’t understand the criticism of the USMNT performance vs. Turkiye. Despite a calamitous 5 minutes, including goals by one of the 5 best under-21 players in the world who has scored 9 goals already for Real Madrid, and another by regular striker at Benfica, I thought USA were the better team over the course of the game.
Sure, there’s no real comparison in the talent and experience on the pitch — Turkey’s attack features players from Juventus, Benfica, Real Madrid, The defense features a starter at Roma, and another who was once on the EPL Team of the Year. And everybody features at top clubs in Turkey.
There should have been no way the MLS players who ran out there would be able to hang with Turkiye. But they did hang, and probably should’ve had at least a draw. And McGlynn continues to state his case for a spot with a first-division European club. Except for the breakdown when the ball was going around the box that one time, we saw a great game from Richard and Freeman. Arfsten was solid too. Robinson had good moments. Tyler Adams continues to be a special player in a position where it’s tough to impress. Tillman was pretty good too, but his inability to finish may keep him off final WC squad. I thought Quinn Sullivan looked good off the bench, getting a bunch of crosses off despite lots of attention from Turkiye defenders.
I agree with much of this, but Malik Tillman and especially Johnny Cardoso have played their way off the roster, at least if I’m constructing one. Tillman shows none of the desire to go with the skill we only occasionally see that he exhibits far more often with his club. He should be standing out in this crowd, and he’s only a mention. That’s not good enough.
Cardoso has just stunk as a 6 in every opportunity he has gotten for us, full stop. The first “goal” was an atrocity from him. Think he should go back to La Liga and continue to build on his reputation there, he absolutely looks lost for the national team
I like Cardoso as a player but yeah, he’s not focused or something else is going on with him when he’s on the field with us. I thought it was an own goal when it happened because it was such a bad, bad decision. Perhaps they both need the kind of detail only a club coach will provide.
Most of the guys played pretty well. We definitely weren’t played off the pitch, but once Turkiye got the lead, they fell off into a more defensive posture, which let us have more time on the ball than we would’ve in a tie game. We’re still pretty desperate for someone who is dangerous in the box, and our ability to win second balls seemed a little suspect. The media narrative has been way more negative than the actual game (though the goals were extremely frustrating). The guys could use a strong showing the the GC to get the critics to stfu for a little while.