Rose walkoff, DC United limp towards finish line, and more: Monday Freedom Kicks
Happy Monday, everyone. What a fun game yesterday at Audi Field, so let’s start there!
Washington Spirit do it again, score deep in stoppage time to beat San Diego Wave 2-1 (DP)
The Washington Spirit won 2-1 over San Diego Wave yesterday on a literal walkoff goal by Rose Kouassi. What a great moment for Rose, who had a brace in the match!
As someone said as we were leaving yesterday, “KOUASSI YOU LATER!!”
DC United’s last gasp at home comes up red in loss to Charlotte FC (DP)
On the other side, DC United’s home finale was a flop, as they got 2 red cards and lost 1-0. They have one more match to close out the season in a couple of weeks.
Washington Spirit veteran Casey Krueger announces pregnancy (PSW)
Congrats to Casey Krueger who announced that her and her husband are expecting another kid!! Great news for them!
DC Power suffered their first loss of the season against Carolina Ascent, losing 3-2 after a great comeback to give themselves a chance to leave with points.
Loudoun United also dropped one at home this weekend, losing to Birmingham Legion.
USMNT U20 claims top spot in World Cup group despite South Africa loss (ESPN)
The U-20s clinch Group E after beating New Caledonia and France, but falling short against South Africa in the group finale. They look to be playing Italy in the Round of 16.
Gift Monday: Is Super Falcons forward the most clinical player in the NWSL? (Seye Report)
Gift Monday has been incredible for the Spirit since her arrival. Here’s a deep breakdown on why she could be the most clinical player in the entire league.
Modric: It’s a joy to play with Pulisic (PSW)
It’s always great when a player gets a “game recognizes game” from a living legend. Christian Pulisic received that from his new teammate, Luka Modrić.
To close out, Savy King spoke with Sam Mewis on her collapse during an Angel City match a few months ago and how she’s hopefully on the full path to recovery. Definitely a must watch.
Have a great one!
From the Washington Post:
“Eyeing the 2026 campaign, Sogut and Levien identified star striker Christian Benteke and young midfielders Jackson Hopkins, Matti Peltola, Gabriel Pirani and Caden Clark as building blocks. As United enters the offseason with the freedom to sign two designated players — big-money acquisitions whose contracts largely circumvent the salary cap — the duo indicated that the club plans to add a defensive anchor and an attacking catalyst.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/10/04/dc-united-charlotte-fc-coach-gm/
I am surprised Herrera is not listed.
Sounds like this was mostly focusing on attacking players. Oddly enough, Herrera is under contract for next year, and as of now, Benteke is not. I’m more surprised that they explicitly mention Clark as a building block, when he’s barely played since coming in.
Yeah, just based on Clark as being a key player, I am not optimistic about this rebuild. Scouted at the Montreal game, and now a key player. Other teams would be making offers if it was that good a move. Who did they compare him to as options?
Matt Doyle posted that DCU can look at the MLS free agent list to rebuild the team.
https://bsky.app/profile/mattdoyle.bsky.social/post/3m2cjtwdnt22g
They fired the scout and data analytics guys, too. How are they going to evaluate free agents or any option?
I wondered if Herrera got the idiotic red card to put himself on the trade block. Maybe he just blew it, who knows?
Talk is cheap. I’ll believe it when I see it. They need a CB and an attacking midfielder. I mean DP kind of stuff.
Rene has praised Herrera before, I think he’s just lost his cool as the season fell apart. I don’t see this coach even dressing you if he thinks you’re checked out. That said, he’s been playing far below his best since returning from Gold Cup duty, and there’s probably a price the team will listen to for an expensive, if talented RB.
Based on the coach saying that they need quality players to be competitive I expect a complete rebuild like the last 2 years. Hopkins is the only player left from that rebuild. So my expectation is at least for a few years it will be the same story.
Yeah, more or less. Everyone knew this team was bottom of the barrel in terms of talent from day 1, the roster would’ve been razed even if we’d been in striking distance of the playoffs.
The only thing that really gives me hope that there’ll be progress this time, as opposed to slapping together a bunch of driftwood, is that the coach isn’t dogmatic about some extremely flawed philosophy. He wants talented players and will help them play to their abilities.
This should be a big old yikes. Bentek has been really good and proven he works in MLS, but he was incredibly durable in 2024 and much less durable this year. He also locks the team into basically trying to play a certain way, due to his skillset. I get that it’s difficult to find an impactful DP that immediately fits into your club, let alone 3, but I think it would have been a good idea for a rebuild to have moved on from Benteke.
But that’s the least problematic part.
Pirani has shown that he’s decent compared to other U-22 signings across the league. He’s fine as like a third or fourth banana on the roster, and it makes some sense to keep him around, but also wouldn’t have been heartbreaking to see him go. Clark I think has some skill, but I’ve been pretty astounded at Weiler’s hesitance to play him. It’s to the point that I believe that exercising his option for 2026 is no sure thing. It will likely happen, but Clark has wanted to go to Europe, didn’t request a trade from Montreal, and so it would be a very DC thing to wildly overspend for him, then not pick up his option and see him go off to Europe. And Jackson Hopkins has been a nice surprise under Weiler, probably the player to show the most improvement under the new coach. But he’s no building block. Maybe Peltola is, and he’s probably shown the second most improvement, but… none of these players are building blocks beyond Benteke, and he probably shouldn’t be.
So, they need a defensive anchor and attacking catalyst. Fine. Great. Whatever. But they’ve spent TAM money on Peltola, Boris Enow, and Kye Rowles over the last two years (as well as David Schnegg and Aaron Herrera). They gave Lucas Bartlett a big extension. They’ve sunk a lot of money into the defense. It hasn’t been great, and more talent is helpful, but it sure seems like they need more help in midfield, especially the offense, so that teams aren’t just always breaking through and putting the defense immediately under siege.
Anyway, all of that is bad. The players they’ve identified are basically “role players at best.” They need to hit on at least two DPs, when they probably should be shopping for three. And they’re going to need to exercise their two buyouts if they really are serious about trying to get a competitive team together, and probably also take a loss on shipping Kim Joon Hong back to Korea.
Ugh.
Old Glory DC and US Men’s Eagles Prop Jack Iscaro has joined Stade Francais of the Top 14 (France’s top flight rugby) as a Medical Joker. A Medical Joker is a short term contract signing to as an injury replacement to allow time for the injured player to recover.