Donovan Pines signs in Europe, Spirit top attendance, and more: Tuesday Freedom Kicks
I mean, can this glorious summer weather get any better?! Let’s enjoy it while it lasts because as we know DC weather can turn on you in an instant! Anyways, here’s your Tuesday Freedom Kicks:
It looks like our old friend, Donovan Pines, has landed back in Europe; this time in Austria. This will shut down any rumors that he’ll be back in DC (though he’ll remain an investor with DC Power).
Washington Spirit tops NWSL attendance this week with 16,007 fans. Honestly, the Spirit is a model for how to grow the game. DC United, take notes!
Speaking of just how good the Spirit are, we have players nominated in every awards category this week! We have Croix up for both assign of the week and player of the week, Rodman for goal of the week, and Kingsbury for save of the week. Can we get a clean sweep of awards this week?!
Orlando Pride’s Watt becomes Denver Summit FC’s first player – sources (ESPN)
The Denver Summit, who start their first NWSL season next year, have signed their first player. Watt will finish out the current season with the Pride before transferring to the Summit in 2026.
Son poised to join LAFC for potential record fee (BBC)
De Paul, Muller, and now Son have joined MLS teams during the current transfer window. Meanwhile, DCU continues to sit on the sidelines and trade for…allocation money?!
Vermont Green FC claim national title over Seattle’s Ballard FC (WBUR)
Finally, some news from the lower divisions of the US. After capturing the hearts and minds of footy fans all over Vermont, Vermont Green FC won the USL2 Championship title by overcoming Ballard FC 2-1. I’ve really enjoyed following the team and can’t wait to see them organically grow the game as well as advocating for sustainable practices for their club!
Congrats to the Spirit players up for awards. Glad that Croix is getting acknowledgement for her “cheeky” assist to Trin.
All start of the season we were hearing from DCU “we’re going to make a big addition come summer transfer window.” I agree, we should add someone who makes sense. But now, selling of Pirani (which may be a good decision) and apparently adding no-one (that’s what it looks like), we are basically a USL team plus Benteke.
Without Benteke, this team would not win the USL. It is rancid.
I just spent some time digging through Twitter to see if there was ANYTHING coming up about DC transfer rumors. Couldn’t find anything at all player related in the last couple of days. However, I did see a Volleyball related account say that DCU’s owners (which I assume means Levien and maybe Kaplan) have been awarded an expansion for a DC based women’s professional volleyball team. This post on Instagram seems to confirm that a team is coming:
https://www.instagram.com/realprovb/p/DM-jSvRRTcR/welcome-dc-to-mlv/
I wonder if Jose Andres will lend his name to the concessions there too…..(?)
I’d like to think that the general reason we’re not kicking up any dust in the transfer market is that we don’t want to make desperate moves before the new coach gets his visa.
Thing is, if the reason was anything other than neglect and a desire not to spend money, what would be different?
I’d like to think at this point the coach probably has his visa, or is pretty close to it (being a white guy from Europe surely helps that process along nowadays), given that its been 3 weeks since he was announced. And I’d also like to think that even before he could legally work, he’s probably attended practices, met with players, etc. And even then, Aly is the one “in charge” of the roster. Im sure he wants coach input as to what kind of players he should be after…but I feel like Aly could still do something
Or have plans in the works, I agree that it’s unsettling.
We had the Yow report before the window even opened, but other than that, I feel like the only thing we’ve had was that one minority owner saying that he wants old Premier League guys, which wasn’t even linking it to a specific player or anything, just a concept.
And the Yow thing had to be a nothing burger, anyway, I was certain he wouldn’t want the move, and that Westerlo had no reason to do so.
It’s not unsettling, it is typical.
Imagine if we got Son, or Mueller, or a player of such pedigree….
Not going to happen. Rooney showed what can happen when you add something special (I love Benteke, but his range is different, he is bloody effective in his zone).
We really never rebuilt after Rooney and Lucho’s ~1 seasons worth of stellar play. Benteke, Kamara and (unfortunately) Fontas have been pretty much the only effective attackers worth their salaries in the six years since. It’s been a rotating cast of journeymen and overpriced transfers all over the pitch otherwise. Too many back and forths trying to be an aggressive (and disorganized) transition team to being a passive (and ineffective) possession team.