USWNT beat Ireland, baby Giráldez arrives, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
Happy Friday, everyone! It’s been a long, hot week, and I’m glad we’re getting a little bit of a reprieve today.
USWNT 2025 June Friendlies – USA 4-0 Ireland Match One: It’s all Coffey and Roses (SSFC)
The USWNT handled Ireland pretty easily, although their goalkeeper put in a good effort, especially in the first half. They weren’t the toughest opponent, but I liked what I saw from a young group of US players.
Their next match (Sunday at 3 p.m.) lines up neatly with the USMNT’s Sunday evening Gold Cup quarterfinal Costa Rica (Sunday at 7 p.m.), and the local American Outlaws chapter is hosting a double-header game watch at Astro Beer Hall to celebrate.
Takeaways from Loudoun’s humbling to Louisville (The District Press)
Loudoun United have now lost two in a row, and our Ryan Keefer tried to analyze what went wrong.
Washington Spirit coach Jonatan Giráldez and his partner, Olaia, announced the birth of their second child, Ons, yesterday.
D.C. United Forward Kristian Fletcher to Undergo ACL Reconstruction Surgery (D.C. United)
The Fletcher injury news is officially official now.
Euro 2025 team-by-team preview, predictions, key players, more (ESPN)
The Euros begin next week, and I for one am very excited. Here’s a look at all the teams competing for a quick start, although The Guardian also has some very in-depth coverage, including a guide to all 368 players.
‘Put them on a pedestal’ – Twellman regrets calling current USMNT ‘golden generation’ (Pro Soccer Wire)
The intergenerational USMNT in-fighting continues.
At Club World Cup D.C. finale, Wydad and Al Ain sweat through the motions (Washington Post $)
The final Club World Cup match in DC took place yesterday afternoon, and boy, do I not envy them for playing in that heat.
Finally, here’s the schedule of matches for this weekend. Only two!
| Teams | When | Where | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loudoun United FC vs. Charlotte Independence | Sat., June 28 at 6 p.m. ET | Leesburg, VA | ESPN+ |
| D.C. United vs. Nashville SC | Sat., June 28 at 7:30 p.m. ET | Washington, DC | Apple TV |
I loved watching the USWNT last night. There were some clear standouts- Coffey is simply terrifying as a 6, Patterson was better than any Irish player as a fullback, Girma is made of grace, and Lavelle might have found a cure for whatever curse of frailty she’s had of late. And of course, Alyssa Thompson had one of the most impressive goals I’ve seen, Sentnor when she can find her place and earn a spot to affect play is devastating.
Anyway, I’m gonna now point out some players that might not be headline grabbing, but are potentially the future. Claire Hutton is a formidable partner to Coffey. She would have scored early against a less alert goalie, had the one touch forward play that unlocked the third goal, and just generally doesn’t seem to put a foot wrong at 19 years of age. I’d also point out Bugg, who was not challenged defensively on the night, but as a CB, her touch and passes seemed to be made of silk.
I said it last night, the prospect of adding Lily Yohannes and the Triple Espresso back in before the World Cup is practically slaughter rules stuff.
The MLS salary numbers came out the other day. DC has the sixth lowest roster spend in the league, and while some low-spenders are performing well and some high-spenders are performing poorly, this certainly lines up with DC’s position.
Since the spend is so low, there are some players that are some good values. Hosei Kijima and Jacob Murrell are both on a minimum salary. Luis Barraza is hitting the cap at $180,000. Kye Rowles is kind of surprising at hitting the cap at only $292,500.
On the flip side, Dominique Badji is making $400,000. Matti Peltola is making $750,000. Randall Leal is listed as $1.15 million, but Nashville is on the hook for $1 million of that. (However, DC is on the hook for about $1.4 million of Klich’s salary.)
Basically, the numbers look pretty decent, but there’s really not much top spend. We have an open DP slot, an open U-22 slot, and $104,000 coming off from Fidel Barajas’s loan ending.
I had a feeling Kijima was great value, I think he’d be a value piece on a much better MLS team that allows money to be spent elsewhere. Alas, we absolutely are not
Yeah, he’s one that if we ever did fill out our top talent would likely see his abilities magnified by the presence of better teammates. Fortunately, he’s still young and can potentially stick around for awhile. Unfortunately… the rest of our organizational structure.
We have organizational structure? I wasn’t sure.
Props to Bartlett on going from Senior Roster Minimum last year to $450k this year. Quite the bump in pay
Also the base salary and guaranteed compensation difference for Peglow and Rowles is really odd. I feel like you don’t see that kind of difference in them very often
Tom Bogert listed his Top Value Players. Two of them were Andy Najar and Chris McVey. If only we had some top performing defenders on very amenable contract numbers. I wonder which team was dumb enough to give them up.
Steve Goff is reporting that Patrick Agyemang is nearly about to transfer to Derby County for $7 million.
So much for the potential Benteke replacement!
Good for him!
Old Glory isn’t playing, but tomorrow is the Major League Rugby Championship match. The New England Free Jacks are going for the 3-pete, the first in pro US sports since the LA Lakers in 2000-2002. And the Houston SabreCats are going for their first. The game is at 2 PM EDT at Centreville Bank Stadium in Pawtucket, RI (home of USLC’s Rhode Island FC). The game will be televised on ESPN2.
Team Rankings
Players in the top 5 for different categories
Interesting. Seems that Inter Miami vs PSG will be broadcast on TNT on TV. This at noon before the USWNT friendly Sunday.
I’m sorta curious, and not sure who I’d root for. It’s possible I would giggle seeing PSG clean Miami’s clock, but who knows
As much as I dislike Miami (and lets be clear, they’re probably only behind NYRB and the Galaxy in terms of dislike), I’ve had to talk myself into the notion that Miami doing well is at least good for the league. I don’t think Miami will be winning that game, but if they can at least keep it close/competitive, or look respectable, it’s probably for the best. Even though I deep down I would love seeing them get beat 8-0 or something
Don’t really see that, in terms of reputation building. Had it been the case that a strong and effective MLS side held their own against PSG, that would speak well of the league. Miami is not that. They’re a lopsided mess with some of the greatest players of yesteryear showing their stuff. It would not be seen as the League’s victory, it would be Messi and Suarez capturing the headlines.
I guess I’m saying, I would have preferred a dominant MLS team at the crest of their team building operation try to steal one with organization, discipline, and connectivity than one with all the stars the league just ignored the rules or sense to acquire
I will root for Miami. I really, really, really dislike PSG. By the way, having watched a few games of this tournament, the MLS teams did fairly decent. They competed. Seattle, as I mentioned in the past, did themselves proud.
Well Miami is getting butchered.