DCU and Spirit Quiet, Ranking USWNT Newcomers, Matt Turner’s Odyssey, and more: Thursday Freedom Kicks
Happy Thursday. It remains very quiet on the DC United front. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t find any new, significant or even rumored, news about the club. Maybe it’s a factor of the new coach hasn’t arrived or the team isn’t playing meaningful soccer while a large portion of the other teams are in the League’s Cup. It was also pretty quiet for the Spirit too. On to the news.
USWNT debutants ranked: All 24 players with first caps under Emma Hayes (ESPN)
In Emma Hayes’s first 24 games behind the USWNT’s bench, 24 players received their first cap. Given Hayes stated she has seen enough to narrow down what will be the team’s core going forward. ESPN ranked all 24 by the impression they made. Three Spirit players made their first appearances for the US in that time. Hal Hershfelt, Tara McKeown, and Croix Bethune show up at 13, 11, and 6 on the list respectively.
Walmart, MLS ink partnership to capitalize on growing U.S. soccer fandom (CNBC)
Beginning with the League’s Cup, Walmart is an official MLS sponsor. The multi-year partnership will be more than just the standard advertising one. MLS will put together a “creator network” featuring influencers, players, teams, and others providing behind-the-scenes looks at the league and highlighting Walmart’s involvement with soccer. Additionally, next year this partnership will lead to programming around Saturday games, though there are no details on what this will look like at this time. I’m somewhat dubious on the creator networks among other parts of the deal. I am amused that Walmart’s Execs will see Target’s logo featured on a Loons jersey every week, for free, on a highlight show they sponsor.
Report: Revolution “Exploring” Reunion With Matt Turner (The Blazing Musket)
With his club situation in Europe still in limbo, Matt Turner’s old team, the New England Revolution, are apparently exploring bringing his return. Initial reports suggest the Revs are looking to bring Turner back at the Targeted Allocation Money level on a “loan with option to buy”. In a World Cup year, a return to his old stomping grounds probably gives Turner a better chance to reclaim the US number one goalkeeper spot than riding the pine somewhere in Europe.
Luis Diaz Bids Emotional Farewell to Liverpool With Poignant Message (Yahoo Sports)
Diaz departed the reigning Premier League champions for the Bavarian powerhouse Bayern Munich on a £65.5 million (~ $86 million) transfer, but took the time to post a farewell to the club where he has spent nearly four years and include a tribute to teammate Diogo Jota.
Ex-Canada coach Priestman lands first job since spying ban (Pro Soccer Wire)
You may remember Bev Priestman from the Canadian drone espionage caper at last year’s Paris Olympics. After serving a year ban imposed by FIFA, she has a new job managing the Wellington Phoenix in the A-League. New Zealand and the A-League are a long way from both England and Canada for Priestman, but she no longer felt safe in Canada after the suspension.
Ref-Cam makes history: FIFA approves Club World Cup innovation for all leagues (World Soccer Talk)
I didn’t get to see any of the Club World Cup, so I wasn’t really aware of this innovation, which uses a camera mounted on a referee’s headset to give the audience a first person view of the game. I could see MLS salivating over the possibility of highlights going viral online and drawing attention to the league, and then balking at the cost, given FIFA will not be supplementing purchase and installation.
How U.S. Soccer’s Extended National Teams Overcome Barriers to Recruit Talent (US Soccer)
The US Soccer Federation features nine Extended National Teams. US Soccer provides a look at how these teams identify and recruit players. Recruiting for these teams is clearly difficult, but there is something kind of wild about US Soccer literally dropping into a player’s DMs in order to recruit them.
Earlier this week the 54th Greenlandic Football Championship began in Nuuk, Greenland. Given the climate in Greenland, the season lasts just six days and features eight teams playing a total of 20 games. I never really thought of Greenland as a soccer hotbed, but the Danish-territory apparently is. Its soccer federation was even recently applied for and was rejected for membership in CONCACAF.
Until next week.
Things are not looking good for Major League Rugby’s health.
https://thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/capital-fatigue-major-league-rugby?r=3hg19i&fbclid=IwQ0xDSwL4aF5jbGNrAvhn-2V4dG4DYWVtAjExAAEeBel9nRbsoX61rcjD6htXB3hS95xbNL2bWMbvfqNWI0sPgwVhR4KAu1_pgVM_aem_KgvZnltY99t5UW7gQYem3g&triedRedirect=true
Essentially the issue is that there is capital fatigue in the US with current owners and potential domestic owners. And there is fear that other places that don’t have capital fatigue such as Super Rugby (Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands), World Rugby (the governing body), the United Rugby Championship (Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, and South Africa), as well as R360 (a new global franchise league looking at starting play next year) eyeing the US market. They don’t understand US rugby culture, can be expected to know much about it, nor care much about it. They might come in just have teams of foreign players playing games in the US without a care for development of the game and American players.
Just as a record here are the teams that have left MLR and their timespans in the league:
The Gilgronis and Giltinis were owned by the same guy and he named the teams after drinks he’d had named after him….
Always assume the worst of big capital is the lesson we’ve supposed to have in our bones at this point.
DCU did…something…in the trade window.
D.C. United will acquire a 2026 third-round draft pick from FC Cincinnati in exchange for the rights of first refusal for goalkeeper Nate Crockford.
That is about as “nothing” of a trade as I think we can have.
I didn’t realize that we still held the rights to Crockford after letting him go. But yeah, third round picks are basically worth nothing, particularly for a team that doesn’t have an MLS Next PRO team. (For reference, Nate Crockford was a third round pick.) Good luck to Nate though. Cincinnati has shown that they can develop college keepers, or they at least did well with Roman Celentano.
I had no idea where he was playing these days so I looked it up. Apparently he plays for Cincy 2, so that at least makes this make some sense. I guess Cincy was seeing enough promise in him at Cincy 2 that they want the ability to sign him
Crockford had a decent college career. I don’t think he’s going to supplant Celentano or anything, but I think he could definitely make an MLS roster as a #3 or something.
It hasn’t happened yet, but seems in the offing- Liverpool are seemingly going to go after and add Isak to their spending spree. I think we’ve reached the point where it’s too many big pieces being integrated, and though it may be great in the future, I imagine next season will have some big growing pains as all the pieces adjust in a relatively chaotic environment.
I think Slot is a very good coach, but this is a lot.
Donald has reported on BlueSky that during the DC press conference for the Ethiopia game, one of the DCU minority owners said that he wants to pursue “older premier league players” like other teams in MLS are doing, and that he has talked with Levien about signing those sorts of players.
Not really the sort of transfer news I was hoping for, but I guess its something.
I mean, it’s kind of worked with Rooney and Benteke, and Klich a little bit. It’s not my preferred strategy, but it is a strategy, and Ally Mackay has also not shown much ability to identify and bring in younger international talent (they’ve been “fine” at best, with maybe Schnegg a little bit better than that).
I don’t think that’s really worked as a championship tactic (beyond serving as a supplemental piece like Bale) since… Robbie Keane? Maybe if you count Jozy Altidore with Toronto.
Yeah there can certainly be some value there, if its the right guy with the right mindset. I just hope by “older” they mean maybe like 30 and not like…38
I’m not entirely sure it’s meant as a championship tactic. It seems more of a business tactic. Fill the stands with PL or other Euro league fans who want to see their favorite player or at least some guy they’ve heard of. Maybe sell some jerseys. Also saves on infrastructure costs as there is less of a need for things like a DCU2.
I think a bunch of MLS teams are taking the wrong lesson from the Messi experience. In the long term it’s not sustainable.
To me, it also screams “lazy.” Everyone knows the EPL, no scouting required
Other than Messi, so many of the best DPs in the last decade have been in-their-prime guys like Bouanga, Giovinco, and Vela, or guys who became DPs after thriving on smaller contracts. I get the sense that this owner doesn’t watch us or the rest of the league enough to understand that old PL players are often a bad investment and don’t make teams elite on their own.
While I like to see the sport expand and minnows become more competent, can you imaging CONCACAF qualifying if Greenland was a member? They’d schedule matches in subzero weather with wind howling in using their location for advantage–just like Bolivia does with altitude.
Or like when the US played Costa Rica in a blizzard in Denver
I think we also subjected Honduras to hypothermia recently…
Yep, St Paul in February
RE: Ref-Cam
…
Kind of like VAR, which really stinks in MLS because of the lack of decent camera angles, or the goal-line tech, which MLS does not have..
Funny thing is apparently they were using the hawkeye system at Buzzard Point, according to the broadcast, when the US Men’s Eagles got whipped by England’s B team and the US Women’s Eagles held on to beat Fiji.