Donovan vs Pulisic beef, TST 7v7 tournament wraps up, and more: Tuesday Freedom Kicks
The Pulisic family is officially feuding with Landon Donovan (Pro Soccer Wire)
Not everyone is happy with the summer break Christian Pulisic is taking that happens to coincide with the Gold Cup. Donovan indirectly called Christian Pulisic’s commitment to the USMNT into question and Pulisic Sr. took a dig at Donovan via social media. Gloves are off!
Former USMNT teammates including former DC United forward, Eddie Johnson, and new Men in Blazers staff member, Clint Dempsey, also took the opportunity to take a swipe at Donovan:
US Women win TST title and its $1 million prize for second straight year (The Athletic)
The US Women, featuring legends like Heather O’Reilly and Carli Lloyd, came out on top again besting Bumpy Pitch FC 3 to 0. On the men’s side, Bumpy Pitch FC beat Puma de Alabama 2 to 1. If you got a chance to watch the games, they were fun, fast paced, and full of goals. Could this be the future of soccer?
VIDEO: Child runs onto field during DC United game (WTOP)
There wasn’t much to cheer for during DC United’s 1-7 loss on Saturday. However, there was a brief moment of excitement when a pint sized pitch invader appeared.
USL Super League Playoff Preview w/ Dallas Trinity FC”s Amber Brooks | GVFC CLIP (The Womens Game)
Former Spirit player, Amber Brooks, was on the TWG podcast to discuss her new team and the USL playoffs. An interesting look into the life of one of NWSL’s journey woman’s travels through the US soccer landscape.
Speaking of the Spirit, according to Ella Brockway on Bluesky, the Spirit pulled in more fans for their game this past Sunday than DC United did for their game on Saturday night (17,625 for the Spirit; 16,715 for DCU). I think this is arguably even more impressive considering that the Spirit had to contend with a Sunday afternoon time slot, dicey weather, and they were competing with a Nats game next door at the same time.
Looks like there will be no visits to the capital city of Nuuk in the near future for any of the US National Teams. Greenland does have some sick jerseys though…
MLS, players still at odds on Club World Cup compensation (ESPN)
The standoff between the players association and the MLS owners continues. This, coupled with sluggish ticket sales, means that the Club World Cup Tournament is looking very rocky even before a ball has been kicked.
Finally, a reminder that the USMNT plays a friendly against Switzerland tonight at 8 PM! Go go USA!
That Greenland jersey is awesome.
It is gorgeous. CONCACAF said no to them? That means we are invading. /s
I’m with the Pulisic family here.Donovan is utterly tone-deaf, so unaware that he’s maybe the last person who should call out a player for taking a break from int’l duty. If Landon wanted to talk about his regrets and to try to offer sage advice based on his own experience, that would be one thing. But, that’s not what he’s doing.
The Pulisics politely b-slapped him as a hypocrite.
I think the problem is the sheer numbers not coming for call up, not that I disagree with body maintenance. If Pulisic needs rest, Gold Cup is as good a time as any to do so.
Also in terms of so many not showing up . . . Argentina qualified for the World Cup back in March. Scaloni called up most of the usual suspects for the June games and all of them showed up for what might be perceived as meaningless games. Even someone like Julian who has likely play more minutes than any of the US players this year and whose team is also playing the Club World Cup. Nevermind, Julian should take a break at some point. But the contrast is just interesting.
I have nothing against Pulisic, he should take a break if he needs to. The problem is more about optics. The current “star” players have looked really bad as a team, particularly because, fairly or unfairly, many think of them as the “golden” generation. So the golden generation looks more like a cheap gold imitation. Had they won any recent games convincingly and then decided that a break was needed, most folks wouldn’t say anything. But . . . yeah, the USMNT is not looking great. I don’t understand why folks in the US like to take swipes at Donovan for whatever reasons they can find, funnily enough you ask folks from other countries, particularly Latin America and he’s the one American player people knew and respected. I guess no one is a prophet in their own land.
I certainly am not swiping at him. I just think he should speak generally about he absences, whether they are golden or just gold-plated. I think the Pulisics handled it just fine. “You took a break, Christian is taking a break.”
Donovan named NO names. Just a reminder.
Dempsey’s right. We’ve had this discussion before, but it’s one thing to take a mental health break, but coming back for the World Cup was more than a little shameful. We can debate speculation about Donovan’s mental health, Dempsey was there. Sometimes people are self indulgent, not haunted.
Donovan still has very real claim to greatest USMNT player ever, it’s just not right to say this wasn’t a blot on his otherwise impressive legacy.
For perspective, Benzema was kept from the France team for a while after blackmailing one of his national teammates. He was eventually let back in. Richarlison got a bit violent with Vinny Jr. and got banned for a bit, he’s back with Brazil. Those to me are actually ‘blots’, taking a break after years of service doesn’t quite compare.
He wanted to play for the World Cup, Jurgen the great didn’t let him I guess because he felt the same way you did. The US would have done much better with Donovan on that team. But anyway, whatever, I like Donovan (except when he was playing for the Galaxy). I respect the fact that he isn’t afraid to say things out loud even when he gets pushback. He earned it, same as Dempsey.
Spirit’s 17,625 was for real with that many fans in seats. DCU’s 16,715 (as usual, “tickets sold”) was phony. To my eye, only half that number (8,000-ish) were actually there though another DO commentariat thought 14,000ish.
I was there and certainly think it was more than 8000. But it was the quietest 10K-14K I’ve ever been around once that 4th goal went in. I would much rather have been at the Spirit game.
That said, I had a good time because a) misery was actually good company and b) the young kids were full of hope and seemed to be happy regardless of the score. The person I felt most sorry for was the lady doing halftime fun trying to hype the very grumpy crowd.
Honestly I’m just loving how DC embracing the Spirit and womens sports. We even topped the NWSL attendance this week. Considering that Angel City was home, that’s quite a feat!
It is indeed.
All walk-ons welcome.
We have an armada of USMNT players to come and boost season ticket sales!
#DCU goes USA!
ARE YOU A PATRIOT!!!????!!!
GET YOUR SEASON TICKETS NOW!!!!!