McKeown wins player of the week, Erkut Sogut’s side hustle, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
Happy Friday! Both Washington Spirit and DC Power FC played to 2-2 draws last night, and I’m not sure if that’s a good or a bad omen for our weekend. I did stay up until almost 1 a.m. to watch the West Coast Spirit game, so my apologies if today’s Kicks are a bit short.
Washington Spirit Star Tara McKeown Named Player of the Week, presented by AT&T (Washington Spirit)
We here at The District Press will never let you forgot that Tara is just in her third year as a center back.
7 Young Talents from the USL Championship, League One that took the spotlight in Week 28 | Young Player Spotlight (USL Championship)
Loudoun United’s Arquímides Ordóñez also got a shout-out from his league this week.
NWSL commissioner Berman on expiring contract: ‘Intend’ to stay (ESPN)
Jessica Berman has come under a lot of criticism this year for the league’s handling of Savy King’s on-field collapse and the decision to play a game in high heat. Based on her comments today, he plans to stick around, despite the “Berman Out” signs fans have held at several games.
Women’s football in Football Manager 26: How will it work? What could the impact of its inclusion be? (The Athletic $)
This is very much tempting me to get into Football Manager, but I do not need another hobby.
If some of you do find yourselves with extra time on your hands, I have your next book series picked out:
Finally, here’s your table of matches for the weekend. Both women’s teams played last night, so there are just two.
| Teams | When | Where | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| D.C. United vs. Inter Miami | Sat., Sep. 20 at 7:30 p.m. ET | Fort Lauderdale, FL | Apple TV |
| Loudoun United vs. Phoenix Rising | Sat., Sep. 20 at 10 p.m. ET | Phoenix, AZ | ESPN+ |
Have a good weekend!
Pro men’s rugby in the US is in a state of crisis as Major League Rugby is down to just 7 teams when 11 competed in this past season. And it may be six if Utah cannot find more investment. Rumors are also swirling about Super Rugby (Australia, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands) being linked to California Legion (merger of San Diego Legion and RFC LA (formerly Rugby ATL)) and United Rugby Championship (Europe and South Africa) being linked to the Chicago Hounds and potentially three time defending champion New England Free Jacks.
There’s also argument about Major League Rugby focusing on just American talent when its also been a primary development pipeline for Canada and some of the Pacific Islands as well.
https://thenationalmaul.substack.com/p/never-waste-a-crisis-major-league
Well, kudos to Sogut to being an author (good or not, I can’t attest to). The larger concern for me is this: the person in this role needs to run an organization, not just identify talent and negotiate contracts. Maybe Weiler’s role expands so he is overseeing the coaching of the various youth/academy/MLS Next/Pro sides. But just being a good agent doesn’t mean you’re a good manager and can run a tight ship organizationally.
Bingo. Between your comment and what Rob wrote below, it’s highly unlikely the overall needs of the organization will be met if he’s the guy in charge of it all. What’s kind of unclear is if he *is* the guy in charge of everything. Weiler has experience in a front office. Though Kasper has kind of just been floating around in the background, he has executive experience. Johnson is the president of business ops (which I’d imagine includes some development responsibility). And of course the owners are claiming that they’re going to be more hands-on going forward.
Owners being more hands-on going forward concerns me…..
I didn’t mean to suggest they’ll do a good job haha
I’m sure hoping that in between working with scouting, analytics, and Weiler to build that awesome 2026 roster, and establishing the brand new MLSNextPro partnership with (tba -Carolina Core?), and overseeing the academy teams and the “tripling” of dollars spent on them, super CSO Mr. Sogut will be able to squeeze in time to write another novel for his legions of fans.
Prophetic.
I will be at Four Courts tomorrow if you all want to rip me a spleen. ;^)
The owners made sure to say that the Next PRO announcement was coming by the end of this week. It’s Friday. If they don’t announce today, just one more example to throw on the pile of them just really not knowing what they’re doing.
Maybe I’m confused, or missed something, but I think they were saying that the GM would be announced by Friday
I’m going to add one other data piece on Sogut. Eric Wynalda called Sogut a “genius.” No idea what that is in reference to, only that he praised the hire. So there is that.
Kudos to Tara! Amazing reboot on positioning! True baller!
Unfortunately, she did follow this up immediately with an own goal.
Just saw the lowlight on YouTube. That’s a bad one
But good on the diminutive Bethune to get a headed goal!
Based on the highlights, pretty unfortunate that Cantore didn’t get the ball in the back of the net with some really solid opportunities.
Can’t remember if it got mentioned earlier this week in a FK, but the new Pitch Pass episode this week is a good listen. Roche and Pablo broke down all the recent news and more (apparently the guy that played Talon for over 18 years got fired recently). Lots of talk on what Dave Kasper’s current role with the team is too
Is Kasper gonna be Talon now?
Sadly no, seems like he might have a bit of a bigger role again
Oh, dear
He will have to because Weiler and Sogut will not know the MLS roster rules.
Miami on short rest, but Messi is back…I think Weiler will pick up his first loss this weekend. With Messi in the game I don’t see us winning or drawing.
We actually did a good job at stifling Messi last year, and then Leo Campana came in and scored at the death as he always does against DC.
Well, I want to make a retraction on my opinion that Musah will be well coached in Atalanta. The coach that really made them tick moved on in the offseason , apparently, replaced by someone who had a short and unsuccessful stint with Roma. Hopefully plenty of playing time still, but they looked completely dire and passive against PSG, at least from what I can tell from the extended highlights. Musah was also pretty clumsy giving away a PK just before halftime, sorta just stepped on Marquinhos’ heel as he tried to track him on a set play, totally unintentional, but definitely a pk.
Man.
The updated roster profiles were released by MLS. DC didn’t shift to the 2 DP/4 U22 model which would have allowed them to open up an additional $1 million in GAM (which may or may not have rolled over to next year; I’m unsure of that detail). Instead, we stayed in the 3 DP model, but did not add another DP. We did add a new U22 player in Caden Clark, but he has played 0 MLS minutes so far.
One little detail in the roster is that Aaron Herrera is now listed as being under contract through 2026 with no option. Previously his contract had been ending after this season, with an option for next year. I guess that got picked up (which is likely a good move), but kind of weird that the team wouldn’t make an announcement about that.
Good catch on Herrera. I had looked through it myself and hadn’t noticed that detail. I guess there’s the option too that it could have been triggered by some metric, as opposed to either side specifically enacting it. Either way, good to have him locked up for next year. I think with some improved wing play (which we’ve started to see recently) Herrera and Schnegg could really shine
My bet is that he’s willing to stick around to see what the club does next season, and will talk about additional years when things improve. Weiler seems to value him (rightly), hence my hypothesis.
I was wondering if they might not try to move on from him (or if he’d want out). Yes, he’s one of our best players, but he’s taken a step back I think this year, as has pretty much everyone. Conner Antley has done a decent job of defending on the right, and this was one opportunity to move a high salary off the books. But yes, I think it’s a net positive that he’ll be back.
First, we’re guessing at best at this point. But if DCU decides to play a back three, Herrera is a good right CB to have (he’s big for a RB and can distribute). And if he’s used as a wingback, he can put in some lovely crosses. I think part of a Herrera decision would be a function of what happens with Benteke. If he’s back, the value of having Herrera is greater. If not, then Herrera has less value.
The ladies from north of the border just upset the Ferns of New Zealand 34-19 in the Women’s Rugby World Cup semifinal and will play the winner of England vs France. Its the first time the Canadian women have qualified for the final. While Canada was ranked higher than New Zealand coming into the tournament the Ferns were still favored to win the game.