Paredes’ Surgery Blow, DP Enticements in MLS, FIFA Greed, and More: Wednesday Freedom Kicks
Hope in DC might be, well, a bit camouflaged these days, shall we say. But we are a community, both here on the blog and out on the streets. So, let’s enjoy what today has to offer, both out there and what I could find on the internet.
Starting off with some unfortunate DC alumni news:
https://sports.yahoo.com/article/wolfsburg-confirm-foot-surgery-usmnt-140500156.html
We all know how high Kevin Paredes’ ceiling could be, but he’s once again bedeviled with injuries that keep him from playing again, likely in 2025. Best wishes on recovery, we root for your success.
Title is pretty self explanatory. Sometimes the smaller markets outside of NY, LA, Miami, and NJ (tee hee) can attract some major talent with various offerings. Not a bad subject for an article.
In case you were wondering how our remarkable USWNT stars faired this weekend, here’s a recap.
When Freddy Adu looks at your career trajectory and does the DiCaprio pointing at the screen meme, you know you’re hard up as a professional soccer player.
Gregg whines. Reminder that this was the coach who yelled at his players the favorable (and temporary) result in another game rather than telling them to focus on winning against a tough opponent and taking matters into their own hands. Good riddance.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/power-rankings-seattle-sounders-orlando-city-leap-into-top-five
I know, if there’s one thing fans of DC United love, it’s subjective power rankings. Spoiler: We’re glued to the bottom. That’s 29 teams out of 30 deemed better than us.
Roses are red, violets are blue, FIFA are incredibly greedy and can’t bother to pay thousands of potential workers.
Basically no need to read the article, I’ll just tell you- Cristian Romero is the new captain of EPL side Tottenham Hotspur after Son Hueng-min’s departure. Romero is a very gifted defender who sets a gritty tone for his team, but also gets enough reds that I question this decision. Can’t be captain if you’re not on the field.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/articles/c5y0p4y80wjo
And finally, a fun article about some up and coming gems about to grace the new English Premier League season, which starts on Friday. I’ve personally missed my EPL viewings, and hope this season is gonna be fun.
That’s all I’ve got! One up me in the comments, and have a great sporting day!
Late addition: Apparently Klich is out of MLS now. Waiting on word for what this means for DC
Probably nothing, I’m not sure how he did it but Mackay seemed to make some unbreakable pact to make sure Klich continued being on our books through the season. Overly pessimistic? We may never know. But since it appears we aren’t getting any players at all, it doesn’t matter anymore.
It’s definitely too late to make a signing to “save the season,” but I hope it’s good for Klich and clarifies things for next season
Certainly, I hope he ends his career well. I would imagine this is the only year we’ll be under this bizarre situation.
He is serving me and Messi drinks in C5 (this is as close as Messi will get to our pitch)
https://www.transferfeed.com/transfers/mateusz-klich-atlanta-united-cracovia-krakow/12356942
Rumor is Klich is signing at the club where he started in Poland.
Good for him.
Per Jason, no DP slot opening up for us. Not that we would use it, let alone effectively.
I have no idea how a deal could be this bad, nor a relationship with league management this broken
Wear pink and get away with anything.
The Spirit put out a very nice and appropriate statement in praise of the people and city of DC. Haven’t seen anything like that from United (or any of the other local teams, but I don’t really pay attention to them).
We won’t be making any comments because we don’t care, but I doubt the Commanders will risk their precious new stadium dreams by supporting their fan’s freedoms.
I’d hazard a guess that Levien and Kaplan are more likely to be part of the “give supreme leader something shiny to get ahead” crowd than say something remotely supportive of the city’s denizens.
Just sitting here remembering Ben Olsen and the gang painting “I CAN’T BREATHE” and “BLM” on the Audi Field grass.
With a new coach, DCU are going to rebuild the roster again. Other than Benteke and Herrera, who should they build around and who should be going?
My short answer is, 3 new DPs who work well together in an offensive tactical system. Will make all the assets we have already able to do their jobs better. We won’t be able to get rid of enough of them to truly remake the squad, but I think the likes of Herrera, Kijima, Peglow, and maybe even pieces like Servania and Bartlett do their jobs better
That said, I’d move Rowles on, he has not been what we needed out of him
I’ve actually thought Rowles has been decent. But if we do go out and get another high level CB and/or a Roman Burki type goalkeeper, I wouldn’t be sad about it.
Definitely need to shore up the defense and goalie corps. I would like to see if they can use Hopkins and Petola more, too. Develop some young players. I think about a dozen contracts could end in December. Two are Benteke and Herrera. There should be some off season changes coming, but it will depend on what they are willing to spend.
What I’ve seen from Rowles was not what the packaging suggested. He’s not a traffic cone, but he’s also just physically not tough enough to get through, and not even athletic enough to avoid desperation yellows that make him even more vulnerable. The current iteration of MLS is just not his level, especially as someone expected to lead the line on a decent salary
We’re in the same conundrum we’ve been in since Rooney (the player) left, but it’s kind of something we have to hope works the 4th time around just because that’s how the books work. Overall, there’s no question that higher-level talent and more experienced coaching will raise the floor of guys who should look like better players than they have this year.
Is Benteke’s option for next year a player one or a team one? I’m not totally sold he’ll want to remain if it’s the former.
I just don’t see how there’s a real revitalization while keeping him on a contract next year. He’s been great, but we need to be ruthless about getting better. Maybe the owners won’t be, but I’m far more worried we have no plan past Benteke if he stays.
His ability to stay fit will decrease as he ages, he’s going to be 35 next season.
Agreed. Benteke has been fantastic and provides something that no one else in MLS can provide. But he makes United very one note (which is also not helped by the fact that he’s never really had much in the way of other attacking DPs).
When you have someone who works in MLS, you are hesitant to move away from that player. But as good as Benteke has been, United has been very bad with him. It’s not his fault, but the team needs a new approach. I would say that they should decline his option and try bringing in three new DPs. Now, new DPs are always a question of whether they’ll work out in MLS, and if they do, will they work out with each other. But we have to take that risk. And we might have to hope that Rene Weiler’s eye for international talent is better and louder than Ally Mackay’s.
We also have another U-22 slot, and could have two if Pirani gets sold to Malmo. It’s not really a good idea to rely on U-22s as top contributors, but they could be talented youngsters. United is locked in to a number of contracts for next year, but they could potentially buy out two contracts to try and clear even more room on the roster for Weiler. If they want to get REALLY ambitious, they still have one more buyout for this year. They can use that to buy out someone’s contract now to get them off the roster for next season a little early (there’s not that much obligation in terms of salary for 2025 left).
These are the straws that I clutch at to try and cling to hope.
I think it will just be more of the same: Unknown fringe players that we toss in with our lot. Maybe the coach will be great (?), maybe we’ll get some serious signings(?), I’ll find out with my TV remote. I just don’t think the brain trust has it in them by moxey or will power. We are once again hurdling towards another wooden spoon with our eroding and languid play.
Is this even a destination that could attract decent players?
I’ll stay in the “I’d love to be pleasantly surprised” camp, but I really doubt much will go our way without a cultural and personnel upheaval.
Sorry….
If they can’t bank the buyouts, it actually might make some sense to use the one on some player who is still guaranteed for next year. And then buy out a couple next year. Cut bait with players who came up short of what the team had hoped. But, hard to see the ownership allowing any of that to happen.
Ownership has exercised a buyout in like three straight years. That’s due to terrible player acquisition/contracts, but Dave Kasper is still pulling a paycheck.
Selfishly as I expect this to a multiyear rebuild, I wouldn’t mind having him stay one more year. I don’t think it sets that process back too much and gives fans at least one element to enjoy.
I would like to see Herrera return. I would be OK with Benteke coming back, though I think there must be better options in terms of creating a dynamic attack.
Other than that? There are maybe 7 or 8 at most who could be worth hanging on to. Perhaps, Pirani, Peglow, Murrell, Hopkins, Rowles, Tubbs, Peltola, perhaps Kijima — but they’re not players to “build around.” Half of them would be solid depth, but maybe not even starters. Turner would be worth hanging onto — see how he develops. Maybe the same about Fletcher and possibly also Karamoko, The rest of the team is surplus to our needs, and can be jettisoned ASAP.
I would honestly prefer to have Servania over Peltola (and obviously over Enow), but he would ideally not be the starting DM or even CM. Our DM situation is unacceptable, and probably the CBs too. We really look as bad as we do in the back 6 because a) there is no clear cut CB1 leading the defense and 2) it’s entirely too late in the season to be trying to teach fundamental organization at the back.
The truth is the team was wretchedly poor in talent to start the year, forcing Troy to pretty much abandon his only effective game plan in hopes of saving his job. We’ve gotten even worse without him, so it’s also now impossible to tell who’s good enough to be on a competitive team next year. Herrera is clearly a good player suffering from a fractured mentality after coming back to this mess from the Gold Cup. Benteke doesn’t have the support to score goals anymore, Pirani pretty much only trusts himself and Peglow, and Peglow is out all the time.
Ideally, we could attempt to do a 2014-esque recruitment of known, productive league veterans to rebuild the team culture. There is no guarantee that we’ll be able to find and sign 3 DPs to save us, and it’s just as likely that they’ll get pissed off if the 8 other guys can’t complete a simple pass under light pressure.
We could potentially go for two DPs and an extra $2 million in GAM to try and pursue those MLS vets. It would also give us the ability to sign at least two more U22s (or 3 if Pirani doesn’t come back or is sold). That could theoretically provide a nice base to grow into, especially if the DPs are kind of young. Get a bunch of vets to stabilize us next year, and then let those young talents develop.
Of course, we have been ABYSMAL at developing young talents.
I know DCU has some unspent TAM and GAM, so I expect some big off season moves. I hope they improve the team. I know the coach has input on what they go after. Under Rooney, they got several EPL players (Klich, Benteke). Under Lesene, they got USL players (Farr, Antley). Under a new Swiss coach, I don’t know who they will look at. Looking at the fowards they have, there is not a lot of scoring production. They need to add another person like Pirani who can score some goals. Some of the problems this year, I have to think, is Lesene not recognizing players don’t necessarily fit his system and not adjusting. I don’t think our defenders playing a high press fit their skills. Do they need faster defenders to keep from getting beat in transition or do they adjust the system? With just the interim coach they changed player rotations and formation, so with a new coach there is going to be even more change. As an aside, I like the new coach’s rotations. It is giving me insight into more of the players on the team.
Thanks for the heads up that EPL starts Friday. I haven’t picked my fantasy team yet and probably would’ve been caught by surprise on Friday
It almost snuck up on me, too, despite listening to a lot of content on YouTube about soccer over there. Had I not been googling key words, including EPL every Wednesday morning, might have not caught on
Is there a District Press league?
Sorry, I botched: Is there an EPL fantasy District Press league?