Trinity’s brace paces Spirit, USMNT lose, and more: Monday Freedom Kicks
Happy Monday everyone. It was a long soccer weekend, so here’s a quick glimpse at all that happened:
Coordinated play and Rodman brace see Washington Spirit defeat Seattle Reign 2-0 (DP)
Trinity Rodman bagged a brace and the Spirit are back in the win column!
USMNT vs. South Korea player ratings: Pochettino under pressure after deserved defeat (PSW)
I was at the game in Jersey on Saturday and…welp, we need a lifeline to get this team together.
San Diego Wave retire Alex Morgan’s iconic No. 13 jersey (ESPN)
Alex Morgan’s #13 is now retired by the San Diego Wave, who honored her last night after their match against the Dash. Her number is the first to be retired by the club.
World Cup qualifying: Depay sets scoring record as Dutch survive scare in Lithuania (The Guardian)
Memphis Depay passes Robin van Persie to become the all-time leading goalscorer in Dutch history during their World Cup qualifier against Lithuania.
That’s it for today. Discuss everything else in the comments.
If you’re interested. Here are the results for the US Men’s and Women’s Eagles XVs over the weekend.
Friendlies obviously mean nothing, but I still feel heartened that Pirani and Clark scored against Club America, and that Peglow has now scored five goals this year, counting preseason, and 40% of them have been bicycles. Insane ratio!
And Rene Weiler is still undefeated.
Do we have any idea what sort of a lineup America actually put out for this game? I figure they must have been missing some players for international duty, but I’m curious if they just rolled out the B team or if they took the academy approach. Either way though, good to see DC actually scoring more goals, and not just from Benteke (though he really does need to start scoring again himself)
America turned over almost their entire lineup midway thru the 2nd half, but the guys they started weren’t chumps. Not their first choice, but some players with pedigree. Ramon Juarez, and Igor Lichovsky in defense, along with Kevin Alvarez, Allan Saint, Maximin, Jonathan dos Santos, Henry Martin, and Victor Davila. The subs were a mix of bench players and a few starters, like Cristian Borja, Dagoberto Ezpinoza, and Raul Zuñiga
D.C. United hasn’t had a win by more than one goal since August 31, 2024 against Toronto.
Further back, there’s the 3-0 win against Santos on July 31 that year, and a 3-1 win against New England on Feb 24.
My point is, even this being a friendly, it’s a welcome sight to see United actually have a two-goal lead by the final whistle.
Dang I forgot it had been that long…..
First time this year that they’ve scored three goals in a game, too.
That’s not true. They scored three goals against Charlotte in the US Open Cup.
Still, pretty rare.
Pirani’s shot barely beat the final whistle, but yeah. Good stuff.
Welp indeed. Until the substitutions, it didn’t look like the US had any sort of game plan. No one on offense or (more disastrously) on defense was in sync. It was the kind of team that gets bounced from WC qualification when they’re not hosting.
I thought USMNT played pretty well. MOTM Korean keeper denied us at least two goals with fantastic reaction saves.
I have no idea why you would say that. Balogun was a bit incisive when he came on, but the team utterly failed at the modern game. We didn’t get a single direct attack in, SK were unbothered by our style of play until one play late.
This is just a bad national team when confronted with a competent opponent who are familiar with each other.
There was a lot made of the potential ceilings of these young players years ago, now we know. Some are talented and can play at a high level, but aren’t effective or particularly hungry when the get called in. Others aren’t good enough to impact. None of them make everyone else better.
If we make it out of our group, I’ll be surprised. Oh, and did I mention they’re not likable or compelling off the pitch? At least Adams is an expert PR person
If you mean the triple (?) save at close range, were great saves, but at best it got us 2-1. Balogun would’ve deserved a goal, he definitely brought some much-needed penetrating runs.
Otherwise, most things died at the edge of the box. There just wasn’t enough communication or heads-up play.
Some rugby news that just dropped. Sione Fukofuka the head coach for the Women’s Eagles XVs has announced that he is stepping down. As I posted earlier, the Women crashed out of the Women’s Rugby World Cup after failing to advance out of the group for the first time ever.
https://eagles.rugby/news/sione-fukofuka-to-step-away-as-usa-womens-eagles-head-coach-202597
MLS has made their decision on the Miami/Seattle scuffle:
Luis Suarez suspended 3 league games
Steven Lenhart has his credentials revoked for the rest of the year
No suspension for Sergio Busquets or anyone else
Its light, but at least its something, I guess.
Seattle itself was also fined for “misappropriation of credentials.” Nothing for Miami when their entire team lost their minds and started assaulting people.
Man, I hope Miami players do nothing heinous to us in the next game, who knows what MLS will do to someone at random in our organization
Darth Garber is now laughing maniacally as he confirms his plans for the horrors he will do to the Black and Red.
Aviles and Busquets got a Leagues cup suspension, but none from MLS. I guess the Leagues cup got it wrong.