OL Lyonnes sign NOVA native, Spain steamroll Belgium and more: Tuesday Freedom Kicks
Hey all, didn’t get to play in my indoor rec league as my ankle is still giving me some trouble. But it meant I lounged and watched a lot of footy this weekend!
Here’s your roundup:
OL Lyonnes complete signing of USWNT’s Lily Yohannes from Ajax (Yahoo Sports)
Rising USWNT star (and Springfield, VA native), Lily Yohannes joins fellow Americans Lindsey Heaps and recently signed Korbin Albert on the French superpowers.
The lead: Spain turn on the style again to thrash Belgium (ESPN)
Spain ran riot by trouncing Belgium 6-2 and therefore eliminating The Red Flames.
In the other game, Portugal tied with Italy 1-1. Future Spirit player, Sofia Cantore, had
Here’s the banger from Italian player, Cristiana Girelli:
RFK Refugees Podcast posted this one on Bluesky. Could DCU player, Gabriel Pirani, be on his way back to Brazil?
Here’s some viewership figures from Steve Goff. One of the most watched Gold Cup finals ever:
Finally, the world of soccer paid tribute to the late Diogo Jota:
That’s it for me folks! Don’t miss the Euro 2025 matches during the day today and the CWC semifinal!
It seems like the Refugees are implying that Pirani not playing on Saturday helps fuel the transfer fire here — Pirani was suspended, so he could not play regardless. He got suspended for an incident during the previous Nashville game. Not saying there’s no smoke there, but him not playing on Saturday is not part of it
I wasn’t aware he was suspended. But I recall the incident. How many games did they suspend him? I was at the Stadium wondering why he wasn’t playing this time, and pondering why Coach still insists on playing Stroud so much (he’s having such an underwhelming season) when he has other options. I like Stroud but he’s not the same Stroud as last season.
I think it was only 1 game.
In regards to Stroud, I believe Cobi Jones was commentating on the game on AppleTV and he kept calling him Peter Stroud, his brother, throughout the first half. He got it right in the 2nd half.
I caught that too. Though I do think it was Jalil Anibaba (no idea if I’m spelling that correctly), not Cobi Jones. I wish we could just have Lloyd Sam and Neil Sika every week
He ended up getting the suspension later in the week from the disciplinary committee, and it’s only for one game. So he should be good to go for this week’s games.
I think Stroud still did alright this game. He’s not had the season he had last year, sure, but we also know he’s capable of that. And in fairness, he and Peglow are really the only true wingers on the roster. Others can play there (Kijima comes to mind) but you can argue that the other players should also be playing in their actual positions
This development with Yohannes going to play with Heaps and Albert is intriguing to me. It will be interesting to see how this affects Hayes’ decision making going forward with lineups.
I was incredibly impressed by the midfield trio of Coffey, Hutton, and Lavelle in the friendlies, to the point where I was wondering if Heaps as captain realistically would be part of the best lineup. Now that Heaps, Lily, and Albert will have this chance to become super familiar with each other, it’s gonna be hard to overlook the potential cohesion that club play provides.
All that said, I don’t think Coffey is gonna be displaced in the lineup, and if so, chemistry with her as a 6 partner is paramount. Hutton has that already in ways Albert and Heaps never did. Hayes also loves Lavelle, and now that she’s overcome that injury apparently, it’s gonna be interesting.
It’s to the point that I wonder if we’ll have a whole backup midfield to play in quick turnaround tournaments. I still think Lily is too good to not see the field at least as a sub.
At any rate, really fascinating sea change
A good problem to have…..
Coffey has been very impressive, especially since she’s become more than a “destroyer.” That said, I wouldn’t count out Hal Hershfelt when healthy.
I mean, she was a 10 before she was converted to a 6. She’s always been more than a destroyer, just took her a bit to become comfortable enough doing both. I saw her in person at a Spirit game a few years ago, and she beat the Spirit when Sophia Wilson (then Smith) went down. She’s always been incredible, but now she’s on a different level.
All you can do when you have a player like this is complement her abilities with other partners.
Looks like most of the teams that are theoretically getting third jerseys are starting to tease them, with New England going as far to say the collection comes out on July 16th. DC is theoretically involved in this, but I haven’t seen anything from them yet.
We still haven’t replaced Claudia Pagan, either.
And that’s highlighted every time they play the Heineken recycling ad in the stadium where she’s the presenter.
I wonder if the person that has been doing it the last couple weeks is going to be doing it long enough for us to see her without her cast. Watching the endless cycle of new people being the gameday host has just emphasized how the club just can’t make decisions on anything efficiently.
We still haven’t paid off Klich’s contract and freed up a DP slot, to go along with the DP slot that we still haven’t filled. We still haven’t filled out our complement of USS players, but sure, let’s free up another.
We still haven’t launched an MLS Next Pro team. Or done any other outreach to soccer fans in Maryland. We probably still haven’t replaced Kurt Morsink as the team’s one and only talent scout.
We still haven’t started treating the STM with even a modicum of respect and consideration. We still haven’t…oh, wait, they did finally fill in the panels on the west side side stadium roof.
I get the feeling you are departing DC United. It’s cool. I will likely join you.
The organization seems to have no clue, no direction….it’s really sad.
With this ownership do you expect them to?
And there’s the post:
https://x.com/dcunited/status/1942624437985239133
Hey, current management, why don’t YOU fucking “honor the legacy?”
Hey now, they’re honoring the legacy of 2013
If they did that and fluked their way to a USOC final, I wouldn’t be completely upset. Not sure who plays the role of Lewis Neal this time around.
All joking aside, at this point, not sure who has the more disinterested ownership in the Navy Yard/Buzzard Point area, DCU or the Nats.
I don’t see us getting past Nashville tomorrow night.
To be fair, in the two games this year where DC and Nashville have played each other, the first game ended 0-0, and the other was 0-1, decided by a penalty. So all things considered, we’ve been pretty even in head-to-head matchups
Somehow DCU still isn’t dead last in the Power Rankings from the league: https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/power-rankings-hany-mukhtar-vaults-nashville-sc-into-top-spot or ESPNFC: https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/45686243/mls-power-rankings-vancouver-whitecaps-slip-nashville-sc-new-no-1
Amazing!
Major League Rugby sees success through ESPN deal, community outreach https://share.google/atO4hI4VrnC2zpVAV
New York Cosmos coming back in USL League One?
https://www.hudsonriverblue.com/new-york-cosmos-in-usl-league-one-at-hinchliffe-stadium-in-paterson-new-jersey-2026/