Rodman and Abiodun win monthly awards, October USMNT roster, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
Happy Friday! I am going to my first Maryland Renaissance Festival this weekend, so if anyone has any tips on where to get the biggest turkey leg or which jouster to root for, let me know. Before then, there’s plenty of soccer news to talk about, including two Spirit player awards that have me excited to see the rest of September’s awards today.
Washington Spirit Star Trinity Rodman Named NWSL Player of the Month, presented by EA Sports (Washington Spirit)
In her second month back from injury, Trinity Rodman scored three goals, made two assists, and was named Player of the Month. It is so good to have her back, and I hope there’s more to come. (Michele Kang please, re-sign this woman!)
Washington Spirit Midfielder Deborah Abiodun Named NWSL Rookie of the Month, presented by Ally (Washington Spirit)
Honestly, it’s been easy to forget Deb Abiodun is a rookie, watching her on the field for Washington since they ended her loan. She’s a commanding presence on the field, winning almost every ball that enters her midfield, and is giving the Spirit a boost as they close out the season.
Three Power FC Players Named to Gainbridge Super League September Team of the Month (DC Power FC)
The other local women’s team earned some recognition this month too. Alexis Theoret made Gainbridge Super League Team of the Month, while Sydney Cummings and Gianna Gourley were named to the bench.
Mauricio Pochettino seeks competition with October USMNT roster (SSFC)
Poch continues to tinker with the USMNT’s roster as they prepare for the World Cup. This squad will face Australia and Ecuador later this month.
United States stuns France to book U20 WC knockout spot (ESPN)
Meanwhile, the junior men are doing well in their World Cup, advancing to the knockout round with a 3-0 win over France.
In some good employment news (rare!), longtime Washington Post soccer journalist Steven Goff reports he’s found a new job:
London to host inaugural Women’s Champions Cup (BBC)
The first edition of the FIFA Women’s Champions Cup will take place in London next year. Washington Spirit have a chance to make the competition if they win the… Concacaf W Champions Cup. Let’s work on coming up with more than one name for these things, ok?
MLS Announces Calendar of 2025-26 Offseason Roster Building Events (MLS)
If, as I suspect, some of you are ready to move on from this season, MLS has you covered on things to speculate about and look forward to/dread!
Washington Spirit embraces ‘unique power’ in community hit heavily by US government shutdown (The Athletic $)
It sounds like Washington Spirit’s ticket giveaway for federal employees was a hit, all 200 claimed in just a few hours. The fans have been in the spotlight a few times recently for activism (and are in this article as well), but the team is doing a lot right too.
Celebrating the Olimpico, one of soccer’s most audacious goals (ESPN)
For some Friday fun, ESPN took a look at the history of the Olimpico and some of the best examples of the form.
Finally, here’s the schedule of events for the weekend. Have a good one!
| Teams | When | Where | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| D.C. United vs. Charlotte FC | Sat., Oct. 4 at 2:30 p.m. | Washington, DC | Apple TV |
| Loudoun United FC vs. Birmingham Legion | Sat., Oct. 4 at 5 p.m. | Leesburg, VA | ESPN+ |
| DC Power FC vs. Carolina Ascent | Sat., Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. | Charlotte, NC | Peacock |
| Washington Spirit vs. San Diego Wave | Sun., Oct. 5 at 1 p.m. | Washington, DC | ESPN |
Renn Fair is so much fun! Definitely grab a seat early (like 30 minutes before) if you want to see the jousting. And got some food on a stick (options include pickle on a stick, cheese cake on a stick etc).
Also the Olimpico article was fun. I didn’t realize Pinoe is the only player to do it in the Olympics and she’s actually done it twice! We should rename them from Gol Olimpico to Gol Pinoe
Perhaps a controversial opinion, but the turkey leg is the worst food offering at the Renn Fest. All the tendons and stuff make it hard to get good bites, and the taste is closer to corned beef than turkey.
But literally every other food offering there is AMAZING! Just skip the turkey leg, and go for any/everything else.
Spirit is a terrific organization and Michele Kang is the best owner in all of pro sports in my opinion. She will get Trinity Rodman re-signed (probably involving some off the books business deals). Trinity is the face of American women’s soccer, possibly of world soccer. Nobody combines her offensive talents with her defensive skills.
Agreed 100%.
Tell that to the Balon d’or voters…
Trinity will absolutely sign for a Michelle Kang team in the offseason. I certainly hope it’s The Spirit. Kang has other assets and interests, so it will be a telling offseason.
Can’t say I agree at all about Kang being the best owner. Some of the stuff she’s done has made me really uneasy. I also share Talonesque’s hypothesis that I think Rodman will re-sign with Kang, but not the Spirit.
I’m not quite as familiar the full scope of Kang’s dealings. What has made you uneasy?
I’ll qualify this by saying I don’t follow the Spirit super closely, but obviously get all the updates supplied here, so I would say I’m still relatively well informed.
I think when she first came into the Spirit ownership, for the first couple years, it was pretty good overall. Good changes, got out a lot of the bad people, overall success. If things stop there, I think I agree that she’s good overall. But after she started acquiring other teams, it hasn’t looked as great. The way the last coach was handled, and the way that it seems like she favors some of her teams over other, is just something that I never personally like to see. There was also the drastic change in the Spirit colors. I’m personally a much bigger fan of the new scheme (red white and blue is way too overdone), but that seems to indicate to me that she wants to change the identity too.
Whenever people say that they want her to by DCU, I’m always really hesitant. I wouldn’t want to lose the identity we have with DC, nor would I want them to potentially become a feeder team to some other European team. I guess it can boil down to it seems like she’s becoming too “football conglomerate,” and that’s not really something I want out the teams I follow
A very cursory search of her net worth makes me think she couldn’t afford to buy DCU anyway. Take that with a spoonful of salt, since she could just combine forces with some other money bag to get it done.
There are a lot of things to like about her actions with the Spirit – if she’s treating it like a product, she’s at least making it a good product. Whatever she’s spending on the team is probably made up by how popular it now is. She’s brought in a lot of talent, even if it now appears that she wants to distribute it amongst her other gems.
I’m with you in hoping she doesn’t go too far in rebranding the team. Most corporate rebrands these days are mid at the absolute best.
Kang ‘s explained that she’s acquiring other women’s teams because just one team cannot support the women’s sports health and fitness infrastructure she is building.
That doesn’t mean she won’t transfer Rodman. If she calculates it benefits her business enough to be worth the fanbase discontent, it happened to Giraldez, it can happen to Trin. Especially since she’s expressed an interest in Europe, and could live in London or possibly Lyon.
The MLSPA has a list of potential free agents out. A lot of these guys have pending options that could get picked up, or might sign a new deal, so it doesn’t mean that everyone on the list WILL be a free agent. But here’s a sampling of folks that DC could potentially sign.
Brendan Hines-Ike, Eryk Williamson, Michael Edwards, Brad Smith, Miguel Berry, David Ochoa, Andy Najar (I thought he signed a new deal?), Joe Willis, Earl Edwards, Jr., and Chris Durkin.
Oh, and Emmanuel Boateng.
I guess all of those guys have come through our ranks in one way or another before, but i’m not sure if that make them more or less likely to sign here.
Najar would be amazing, but I believe he’s off the table. Of the others, I guess Hines-Ike would be a good pick-up, though not great, Despite his injuries, Williamson still has ability. Joe Willis might be a decent stop-gap in goal. I could live without the rest.
Yeah, those are just all the free agents that played for DC at one point (or Williamson and Richards who came up through the academy). I don’t necessarily want any of them back, and I don’t think they would anyway. But the club has certainly brought back more than one former player in the past.
I believe Najar did sign an extension, yes. Looking through the names that DON’T have options, a few stand out as one’s that could be interesting for DC to take a look at, if possible:
Dayne St. Clair, Walker Zimmerman (though he’d be REALLY expensive), Uhre, Jon Bell (went to UMBC, so might not be difficult to convince him to come here). Lots of interesting names in the options as well
Yes, I agree. I haven’t gone through very carefully to see who all would be reasonably available, but Hassani Dotson is another name that I’d like to see DC go after. He was pretty publicly unhappy in Minnesota this year, and I was surprised he didn’t get moved during the season.
Other tidbits I saw, while following Annie’s links and other places…
US might have a role in hosting 2038 Men’s WC.
https://www.starsandstripesfc.com/usmnt-news/2025/5/17/24432139/report-2038-fifa-world-cup-new-zealand-united-states-usa-usmnt-fiji-hawaii
The tragic death and aftermath of a former Arsenal academy player who apparently hit his head on a retaining wall.
https://www.aol.com/articles/match-ahead-following-billy-vigars-143457178.html
And a story I’d never heard, about a lightning strike which wiped out one side of a 1998 match in Congo.
https://www.aol.com/unexplained-mystery-lightning-strike-killed-152719075.html
Is anybody excited about going to Rowdy Audi on a beautiful September afternoon?
Well. I am going. I’d rather be at Taste of Bethesda, tbh. And, I’d try to do both, except I’m using what’s left of my DCU ticket credit for the buffet in the A/V Club. So, it would be gratuitous to spend at Taste of Betehsda.
Cool, it will be interesting if you post a review of the A/V Club’s performance today. And, of course, I should have said beautiful October afternoon (as it’s not September any more!).