New scouting hire at Loudoun, Miami statement on Leagues Cup brawl, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
Happy Friday! As you probably know, World Cup qualifiers kicked into high gear yesterday. I did not get to watch as many as I would have liked but will hopefully have time for some more today.
Checking in on UEFA World Cup qualifying (SBNation)
To help you figure out what to watch, Donald Wine did breakdowns for SBNation on where every federation currently stands in their qualification tournaments. This link is for UEFA’s, but the others are live on the site.
Loudoun United Football Club appoints Alen Marcina as Director of Scouting (Loudoun United)
Marcina’s most recent gig was as head coach of San Antonio FC.
Washington Spirit games provide a field for Trump resistance (The 51st)
The 51st spoke to Spirit supporters about their history of activism and current protest efforts in support of statehood and the end of National Guard deployment to the city.
Mitrovic discusses U.S. U-20 team’s progress as World Cup nears (American Soccer Now)
Before the men’s U-20 begins in October, coach Marko Mitrovic talks about the team’s readiness. (Brief) Matai Akinmboni mention!
Inter Miami Statement on Leagues Cup Final (Inter Miami)
It took them four days to come up with… this?
What the MLS CBA says about suspensions after Luis Suarez’s spitting incident in Seattle (CBS Sports)
Relatedly, this article indicates that MLS may be able to discipline player misconduct at the Leagues Cup, even though it wasn’t a league game.
US cities confront FIFA over World Cup costs (Politico)
Planning for the 2026 World Cup continues to… go. I have to say, it’s pretty embarrassing that Mexican and Canadian cities have committed to big FanFests, while U.S. cities are trying to scale theirs back.
Chelsea seal deal for Angel City’s Alyssa Thompson – sources (ESPN)
The various reports coming out about this deal throughout the week, and especially yesterday, really set the women’s soccer world ablaze. This transfer fee number is higher than previously reported, so I think people will chill out about it a little bit, maybe.
El Salvador 1-0 Guatemala (ESPN)
Late addition, but here are the stats from yesterday’s El Salvador vs. Guatemala game, in which Aaron Herrera and Arquímides Ordóñez played for Guatemala.
For some Friday fun, I have video of the two goals Richmond Kickers scored in their game Wednesday night so you can marvel at the disparity in skills displayed. The first one involves some bad defending, and the second some very fun attacking.
Finally, here’s the schedule of games for the weekend. Hope it’s a good one!
| Teams | When | Where | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| D.C. United vs. Club América | Sat., Sep. 6 at 6:30 p.m. ET | Washington, DC | – |
| Loudoun United FC vs. El Paso Locomotive | Sat., Sep. 6 at 9 p.m. ET | El Paso, TX | ESPN+ |
| Washington Spirit vs. Seattle Reign | Sun., Sep. 7 at 4 p.m. ET | Washington, DC | Paramount+ |
Alyssa Thompson’s transfer drove Tobin Heath and Christen Press to lacerate NWSL for their use of the salary cap. Basically, they talk about how paying any one player more creates a scarcity mindset, and argue that players have no incentive to stay if they can make the jump lucratively. They’re also really not happy with the fact that the transfer fee goes to and can only be spent by the club.
Tobin also HATEs the notion of the league adopting DP rules. Here’s the link to the full podcast, if you’re interested.
https://youtu.be/BYb92aKAOWk?si=JTbGETh0sA4ahU5w
I admittedly don’t follow NWSL as closely as MLS, but do they have the same single entity sort-of structure that MLS does, where the league itself pays most of the players?
I’m not an expert, Annie could give a more accurate answer, but the structure seems quite similar in mentality. I could be wrong about this, but there might be an even larger contingent of NWSL owners that would like to spend a lot more than MLS, while some clubs (who are called out in the podcast) who don’t even spend to the measly cap that exists now.
Salary cap aside, I’d be curious to know why she thinks the player should get part of the fee for essentially allowing them to break their contract. Will have to watch
I will say, generally in the men’s market, the player (and agent) often get a taste of the transfer fee. I don’t see why the player’s camp shouldn’t benefit from a massive money deal they personally earned by upping their profile.
On Miami, it’s crazy that they get to work in-house with MLS and Leagues Cup to… what, exactly? Where’s the fucking pride from the latter organizations? Man, this is depressing.
Rugby games are missing.
Tomorrow morning at 8:30 AM EDT on CBS and Paramount+ the US Women’s Eagle XVs take on Samoa in their final pool game. Honestly, its probably their final game of the Women’s Rugby World Cup. With the 31-31 draw with Australia last weekend this is what the US Women need to advance out of their pool into the Quarterfinals.
Tomorrow evening at 9:05 PM EDT on Paramount+ the US Men’s Eagle XVs take on Japan in the Pacific Nations Cup as part of qualifying for Rugby World Cup 2027 in Australia. The US need to finish as one of the top 3 out of Tonga, Samoa, Canada and the US as Japan and Fiji are already auto qualified having advanced out of their pool at the last Rugby World Cup.
Currently the standings in pool B are as follows
Basically the USA must upset Japan and score 4 or more tries in the process. Otherwise they will end up in the 5th place game and probably will play Samoa who will probably lose to Fiji and have already lost to Tonga. This is because in the USA vs Canada game the Canadians came to play and outplayed the US.
missing? on a soccer site? u sure?
Will is quite the proselytizer
Yes I am. Also we do point out Old Glory DC games when in season.
We might include some non-soccer activities that take place at our local soccer fields from time to time, or other events of interest (I’m sure you all miss my NASCAR updates), but that’s at the discretion of the Freedom Kicks writer. Ultimately, I think we all understand that we’re here together for our shared love of soccer.
Currently, The District Press has no intention to branch out to other sports so that we can keep our discussions focused on that shared love. That doesn’t mean we can’t get off-topic, especially on the daily Kicks! It does, however, mean that we are unlikely to publicize news of other sports in any consistent capacity.
Eh I should’ve I said if anyone is interested instead of missing. Plus I think there are some that like the rugby updates I post. Just like there are some that like your NASCAR updates.
Plus I think there are topics that occasionally should be posted on that cross boundaries between sports such as the takedown of the illegal streaming platform article I posted in the FK comments a couple days ago.
How USL cities are positioning themselves to be part of the new first division men’s league https://share.google/EtxfQNWnOYnf6FaKj
We’re 279 days from the start of the World Cup and everyday I find myself thinking this is going to be a disaster. Between ticket costs, improvements to stadiums, security costs, and the geopolitical climate, this seems like a perfect storm is brewing.
I also see the US failing to get out of our group and losing the opening match of the tourney.
The US Men’s team plays South Korea tomorrow at 5 PM EDT on TNT/HBO Max/Telemundo/Peacock.
League Cup suspensions are out. Suarez gets 5 games, Busquets gets two games, Avilés three, and Seattle coach Steven Lenhart gets 5. None of this applies to MLS.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mls/2025/09/05/luis-suarez-suspended-leagues-cup-spitting-inter-miami/85997376007/
Suarez is out of contract with Miami after this season I believe. This suspension could ultimately be for nothing. I’m also curious what Lenard said or did that merits more of a suspension than someone who threw a punch.
That is very interesting.
I read an article that said MLS is still undergoing its own review. I took that to mean they’re hoping people tune out and forget.
Agreed. I kind of figured the timing of the announcement, late Friday afternoon, was a bit of a way of burying this.
The US Women’s Eagles defeat Samoa 60-0, but it looks like its not enough as in the 73′ England is only up 47-7 on Australia which would leave the Aussies with a +33 pd to the US’s -2. That means the US fails fails to advance out of the group for the firs time ever at the Women’s Rugby World Cup. All those missed conversions today on tries…we missed 4/5 in the first half alone which is 8 points on the table. Then we had a try at the death of the first half pulled back on TMO (VAR) review.
Peglow with a bicycle golazo!
2 minutes later, Club America carve up DCU defense (by which I mean David Schnegg) and get an own goal out of dangerous centering pass.
A minute later, DCU gets a break down the wing and Caden Clark gets his first
It finishes 3-1, for DC United who were looking pretty good in attack anyway.
In the final minute of extra time, it looked like DC might have a fast break attack, but Hopkins pulled up with the ball, and it looked like the team would be content to just kick it around and kill the clock off, but then the ball went to Benteke who had other ideas after being beaten up much of the 2nd half. He ran at the defense and sent Pirani in on goal with a nice pass. Pirani finished with what would’ve been the last kick of the game if he had missed.