Loudoun United signs Omari Glasgow, Gainbridge SL/NASCAR collab, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
It’s Friday! We’ve got another weekend of nice weather ahead before the temperature climbs back up to the 90s. Unfortunately, there are no home soccer games, so we’ll have to find other reasons to go out and enjoy it.
Loudoun United Football Club Signs Midfielder Omari Glasgow on Loan from MLS Side Chicago Fire FC for the Remainder of the 2025 Season (Loudoun United)
Glasgow is Guyana’s all-time leading goal scorer and will hopefully help the team get back to their winning ways of the early season.
USWNT falls to #2 in FIFA world rankings (Stars and Stripes FC)
Let me tell you: England and Brazil fans are not happy about this one! The top 10 for reference:
Washington Spirit Forward Sofia Cantore Nominated for 2025 Ballon d’Or Féminin (Washington Spirit)
Washington Spirit’s newest player has been nominated for a Ballon d’Or, though we must assume it is unrelated to her play with the Spirit, as she is expected to take the pitch for them for the first time this weekend (at the earliest).
Here’s the full list of nominees for further information.
Gainbridge Goes Top Shelf at Richmond Raceway (Gainbridge Super League)
This is a bit of an unusual collaboration. The Gainbridge Super League is teaming up with NASCAR, and Justin Haley’s No. 7 Chevrolet will display the logos of all nine teams at the Richmond Raceway Aug. 15 race. Click through for a picture of the car!
DC United co-owner clarifies squad selection in 3–0 loss to Ethiopia (Pan-Africa Football)
It sounds like D.C. United is a bit defensive about the decision to play largely academy players in the friendly against Ethiopia.
Jobe Bellingham receives Giovanni Reyna’s No. 7 Borussia Dortmund tricot (Yahoo Sports)
Gio Reyna’s future at Dortmund continues to look bleak.
In more embarrassing news:
Surely an LA Councilwoman has someone who can research and prepare remarks for her to avoid this kind of thing?
NC Courage: ‘Multiple factors’ in abrupt firing of coach Nahas (ESPN)
This story continues to be weird, and yesterday’s press conference did not shed much light on the reasons for Nahas’s firing.
2024 NWSL analytics survey: A retrospective look at the state of data in women’s soccer (American Soccer Analysis)
The survey responses are a bit dated now, but this was an interesting look at the use of data analytics (or at least the perception of it) in the NWSL. Unfortunately, none of the staff members surveyed are happy with their data provider.
Here’s the match schedule for this weekend: all Saturday games and none at home.
| Teams | When | Where | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington Spirit vs. NJ/NY Gotham FC | Sat., Aug. 9 at 12 p.m. ET | Harrison, NJ | ESPN |
| Loudoun United FC vs. Rhode Island FC | Sat., Aug. 9 at 7 p.m. ET | Pawtucket, RI | ESPN+ |
| D.C. United vs. New England Revolution | Sat., Aug. 9 at 7:30 p.m. ET | Foxborough, MA | Apple TV |
We’ll wrap up with Jordan Farr interviewing fans on Meet the Team Day. Have a good weekend, everyone!
The LA Councilwoman can do it or has a staffer that can do it for her…..
Striking in it’s ignorance and lack of preparation. First Schweinsteiger, now Son. It is remarkable.
Loudoun United is active in the transfer portal, we trade discovery rights for TAM.
Uh…what is Colorado doing…they sent their best midfielder to Toronto for $9 mil cash ($8 mil up front + $1 mil in performance incentives) + %sell on clause….
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/toronto-fc-trade-djordje-mihailovic-colorado-rapids-usmnt-mls-midfielder
From what’s been reported, Toronto had 2 offers rejected, and then Mihailovic specifically asked for Colorado to accept something from them. It has been listed as “for personal reasons,” my guess to which is maybe to be marginally closer to family? But its hard to say. Either way, Colorado didn’t actually want to trade him, but let him go since he asked for it. Would imagine its similar to when Paul left DC
Yeah, unless Colorado were treating him poorly/failing to field a team he deemed competitive, I don’t think we should be clowning them. There’s a good chance they fail to make use of the money, as often happens, though they’ve made a number of good moves over the last year that suggests they spend well.
He would have been a nice addition to DCU…..
sigh……
I don’t think the ownership would fork over that much cash, plus why would he want to come here? Why would any player want to come to this franchise that has lost its identity?
While I would agree DC is a hard sell currently, let’s not pretend like Toronto is an easy sell currently either. Toronto has been about as inept as, if not more than, DC over the last 4 years.
Not an easy sell, and he still chose them specifically. I think it’s a mix of them being further along the rebuild and $$$. Also, Toronto is probably a less chaotic place sociopolitically over DC.
Sure would be nice to have a plan (and budget)…
For most teams, there’s a reason why these things happen when they do.
https://x.com/ColoradoRapids/status/1953909311471530069
OFFICIAL: The club has acquired winger Alexis Manyoma on loan from Club Estudiantes de La Plata.
My understanding is that this was entirely a personal thing for Mihailovic. I don’t know the details, but he was happy with the coach and team, getting PT, but he felt he needed to move. People have speculated he was unhappy with the club or wanted more money but neither of those seem to ring true. Since going to TFC, he’s praised their vision and being a big club but that seems to me to just be empty words you say whenever someone signs you (like: when we sign someone they praise DCU’s history and legacy).
I wonder when the Reynas will try to dig up dirt on the Dortmund manager……
The women’s list for the Ballon D’Or is again embarrassing. Only 2 players from NWSL (I’m not counting Cantore because she didn’t get there based on NWSL play).
Heaps and Fox made it–they’re the lone Americans. I guess you can rationalize that because US women’s soccer is so inept (sarcasm alert). If they want this award to be taken seriously, they need to realistically consider talent from outside Europe–and they’ve failed to do so.
Weiler was supposedly going to be introduced today, but they postponed the presser …
Life got busy so I’m a bit behind on DCU news, but when searching didn’t see any news of any players coming in. With 13 days left in the window, is DCU just mailing it in for the season? Hoping to rebuild while in the USL next year?
You are correct in seeing there has been literally 0 news or even rumors about players coming in. There has really only been about 1.5 rumors on players leaving (one with Pirani to Malmo, in which there have actually been bids, and the other for Benteke to Poland, which I’m not really sure the validity on)
Could they compete in USL? I guess so. They did beat Charleston, though I thought Charleston had the better of the play.
I think DCU is more of a USL League One outfit without a healthy Benteke, but with a healthy Benteke I think they could manage USL Championship.
Apparently DCU will potentially be facing Matt Turner in goal for the Revs tomorrow night. He’s on a one year loan from Olympique Lyonnais.
https://fieldlevelmedia.com/mls/skidding-revolution-turn-to-matt-turner-as-d-c-united-pay-a-visit/
https://www.foxsports.com/watch/fmc-c96mfrffrcaa8db0
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/45913126/angus-gunn-joins-matt-turner-exit
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6537663/2025/08/06/matt-turner-new-england-revolution-usmnt-world-cup/
https://www.revolutionsoccer.net/news/turner-homecoming-inspired-by-past-fueled-by-future
I’m commenting over on behind enemy lines for DCU v NER
Before playing DCU tonight, the NER had not won a match since May.