Lewis O’Brien to Wrexham, Euro 2025 final, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
Happy Friday, everyone! I remain on a whirlwind, local sports tour, having gone to USA Rugby last weekend, the DC Open Wednesday, and Washington Mystics tomorrow. Gotta get all my other sports in before the NWSL returns next week! Of course, I’ve still spared plenty of time and attention to soccer and have tried to pull together some good links for you today.
USL Top 50: Ranking the Championship’s best players (Backheeled $)
Three Loudoun United players — Abdellatif Aboukoura, Hugo Fauroux, and Tommy McCabe — made this list of top 50 USL Championship players.
Loudoun also announced a couple of departures this week, with Aaron Hurge heading to Ohio State University and Ethan Pendleton to UCLA!
MLS’s calendar, roster changes aren’t happening yet, but it’s a matter of time (The Athletic $)
I don’t know how to feel about this. I don’t love watching soccer in depths of D.C. summer, but will winter be any better? (And can we really play all outdoor sports then?)
Wrexham seal transfer of Lewis O’Brien from Nottingham Forest (ESPN)
After bouncing around the last few years, the erstwhile D.C. United player has signed a three-year deal with Wrexham.
2025 MLS Analytics Survey (American Soccer Analysis)
In addition to doing their own analysis of how the various MLS teams are approaching analytics, or at least how many staff members they have, American Soccer Analysis polled those staffers about which teams are best and worst at data analysis.
We meet again – England & Spain set for ‘amazing’ Euro 2025 final (BBC)
The 2025 Euros are drawing to a close this weekend with the finals match-up I least wanted to see: England vs. Spain. Washington Spirit’s own Esme Morgan will be playing for England, but I’m afraid I must root for Spain after England’s dreadful performance against Italy in the semis. Not that Spain’s win over Germany was so much better. Can I root for no one?
Anyway, the Spirit are hosting a watch party at Solace Outpost in Falls Church, if anyone’s looking for a place to watch.
Finally, here’s your schedule of games for the weekend. Enjoy!
| Teams | When | Where | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| D.C. United vs. Austin FC | Sat., July 26 at 7:30 p.m. | Washington, DC | Apple TV |
| Loudoun United FC vs. North Carolina FC | Sat., July 26 at 7:30 p.m. | Cary, NC | ESPN+ |
First-pass impressions of the analytics article: I think it suffers from the same issues as the subject it’s about. Mainly, soccer data is pretty murky, incomplete, or fails to properly model certain things. Case in point, the over/under rated players. Can you really say Nagbe is “overrated” with merely 2 votes for? Does that really speak about his impact on a team when he’s won as much as he has?
Soccer definitely seems to have a lot of lurking variables that can throw models off.
Could’ve used O’Brien back in our midfield….
CDM is arguably where Ally Mackay has laid out the most expense, bringing in both Matti Peltola and Boris Enow as TAM players. He also brought in Brandon Servania on a senior minimum deal, and Servania has often outplayed either Peltola or Enow for a starting spot.
It’s a shame that we haven’t been able to nail that spot down, and it also is one of the bigger question marks about Mackay’s ability to either identify talent or to get talent at a commensurate salary.
Psyched for this transfer window!
Id argue Peltola has been showing better since he got back from playing with Finland. I’ve at least been impressed with him from what I’ve seen over the last few games (excluding Columbus, which I could not watch). Still some room to improve for sure, but showing some good signs at least
The Euro Final watch party hosted by the Spirit is actually in Falls Church! However, I do believe that the Navy Yard location will also host a watch party…
I’m tempted- where’s the Spirit Euros Final watch party in Fall’s Church???
Ditto that thought. The flyer says Falls Church.
Incredible reading work by me! I’ll update it. Thanks!
For people in central Maryland (in the corridor area between WDC and BMD), http://www.tampicogrill.com in Laurel is a great viewing option!
Well, how management continues to disappoint:
I sit in C5 row 4 at the midfield line. I am a 96er. I have $1400 value in exchange money in the “bank.”
I wanted to give the AV lounge a spin for the heck of it, using some of the “bank”. Ok, but I would have to move from C5 to C9 and spend “bank” for the pleasure. Hard pass.
Stupid and bad policy. Just open the door. I feel valued….
I want to exchange for Miami game to bring guests. Miami game does not allow for exchanges. (We all know Messi will not be featured in the game, nor on the bench. Cynical, I know)
Bad, but understandable policy.
So, I get to exchange for the three final games, hopefully roping friends into going. I would assume they would be valueless on the open market.
Good policy to be able to bank tickets. Any extra “bank”, I will donate to charitable source via DC United.
I am hanging up my spurs after the October game. I’ll hit up the occasional game, maybe, down the line. The irony of considering a Legends jersey strikes me in the weirdest of ways.
This franchise has tarnished itself, and I no longer want to futilely try to polish it.
This makes me very sad. I am not treated like a Legend.
This bums me out, and I’ve never been a season ticket holder, or anything like that. I am very curious what their season ticket numbers are, because it sure sounds like every year there’s a ton of “I’ve been a STH since 96, but no more!” stories. They can’t be getting that many new folks to replace them. And if you can’t control the quality on the field, you can at the very least control the care and attention you give to your existing fanbase.
Really sad, and totally unnecessary. The vibes… they aren’t good.
Thanks Bro. I’ll continue to go here and there. I love my seats, but 80% of my section friends are gone.
MLS actually suspended Messi and Alba for missing the All Star Game. Very glad to see them actually stick to their own rules in regards to Miami for once. I didn’t think they had it in them, but good on the league for actually doing it.
Yeah I was just about to share the link from ESPN FC: https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/45822753/mls-hands-messi-alba-1-game-sanction-skipping-all-star-game
I was very pessimistic about it. Maybe Ibrahimovic phoned then up and said “hey wtf I’m better than him and you suspended me” /s
You say that with sarcasm…but that’s also 100% something Zlatan would do. “If you suspended a Lion, you can suspend a mere man”
Very Zlatan. Kudos.
Yes, it is good to be able to give Darth Garber credit where credit is due. Then, OTOH, maybe Mascherano was quietly pleased that Leo and Jordi are forced to take a much-needed break, without the coach having to directly intervene?
My girl and I just had that conversation. It wounds Miami zero. They get a two game break.
Then listing Saturday’s DC United game. I’ll take that as snark.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/jul/24/san-diego-wave-nwsl-investigation