Spirit Win Group, Trin Injured, USWNT Roster Drops, Coachella Dates, and more: Thursday Freedom Kicks
Today is Dominique Badji’s birthday. D.C. United’s Senegalese forward turns 33. Yesterday was a busy day with the Spirit in action in the CONCACAF W Champions Cup, a USWNT roster drop, potentially concerning injures to key USWNT and USMNT players, and D.C. United announcing some preseason plans. Let’s get to it.
Washington Spirit defeat Rayadas to book Semifinals (CONCACAF)
The Spirit secured the top spot in Group B and a spot in the CONCACAF W Champions Cup Semifinal with a 4-0 win over C.F. Monterrey at Audi Field. Croix Bethune, Rosemonde Kouassi, and Gift Monday each tallied for the Spirit. An own goal by C.F. Monterrey’s Valeria Del Campo gave the Spirit their final goal of the night.
Trinity Rodman injured during Washington Spirit Concacaf W Champions Cup match (Pro Soccer Wire)
The Spirit’s victory may become a pyrrhic one. Shortly before halftime, reigning NWSL player of the month, Trinity Rodman went down with a knee injury. She crutched her way off the field at the halftime break. She was seen again after the game with the crutches and a knee brace. Adrián González indicated the club would have more information on Rodman’s condition after she is examined today. Spirit fans send all of your good thoughts Trinity’s way that this is nothing major.
October USWNT roster sees return of Trinity Rodman (SSFC)
Rodman’s injury puts a sour note on what had been a good day with her returning to the USWNT for the first time since April. Joining Rodman on the roster is teammate Tara the Explorer.
Washington Spirit Forward Sofia Cantore Called Up to Italy Women’s National Team (Washington Spirit)
Sofia Cantore received a call up from Italy in advance of their friendlies with Brazil and Japan. As of now, the Spirit have 7 players who will depart for international duties.
D.C. United Set to Participate in the 2026 Coachella Valley Invitational (DC United)
With their season set to end on Sunday, D.C. United is looking towards next year. Yesterday the club announced they will play Coachella in February. Not that Coachella….. this one. The field for the MLS preseason tournament will feature the Fire, Charlotte, NYCFC and several Western Conference teams. As of now the NWSL tournament will feature the Dash, Angel City, Portland, San Diego, Seattle, and in their debut, the Denver Summit.
In the Kang constellation of teams, OL Lyonnes took on St. Polten in the Women’s Champions League. Lily Yohannes, who also received a USWNT call up, put and exclamation point on OL Lyonnes 3-0 win with this stunner from deep.
I was surprised to learn, but probably shouldn’t be, Tuesday was the first time in the eight games that the USMNT has conceded first under Pochettino the US was able to eek out a win. Could that match and that feisty, fiery performance mark a turning point for this iteration of the USMNT
Report: AC Milan fears ‘serious’ injury for Pulisic (Pro Soccer Wire)
The major downside to the USMNT’s friendly was the departure of Christian Pulisic with what was described as a hamstring injury. Pulisic started the Serie A season red hot for AC Milan and claimed the league’s player of the month award. Hopefully, this injury isn’t as serious as is currently feared.
The Back Four: Week 32 boogaloo (USL Tactics)
USL Tactics highlights Keegan Tingey’s unsung contributions to Loudoun’s success this year and the Richmond Kicker’s academy success.
Though their have been some missteps (price hikes, Super League), FSG has done a remarkable job stabilizing and returning the Reds to glory.
I want to end on a somewhat amusing note. Suriname was in Panama on Tuesday to take on Los Canaleros in Group A World Cup Qualifying. The night before, Panamanian fans engaged in the time honored practice of making sure their country’s opponent didn’t a restful night’s sleep by making a ton of noise outside their hotel. Suriname’s player’s decided to have some fun with the situation.
Its random moments like this that just add to my love of soccer. Suriname and Panama drew 1-1. Both teams sit tied atop Group A with 6 points (1-3-0) with Guatemala one point behind.
What did I miss?
I’m not sure where that “Poch hasn’t conceded first” thing came from, cuz we definitely conceded first against Ecuador the game before.
I think I mangled what I was trying to say. Under Poch, the US has conceded first eight times. Tuesday was the first time they came back to win a match where they did so.
It’s so rough for Trin, so unfortunate for her Spirit teammates who for sure would have looked to her in tough postseason moments. I of course hope it’s not a devastating injury, but requiring crutches this time of year is a virtual guarantee that she’ll have to miss the playoffs in their entirety.
Why does it seem like the Spirit always end up with a major player injured heading into the playoffs? Or is that just me?
Actually, although you may be spot on, putting an oft injured player on crutches until you have a diagnosis is very prudent. Let’s hope for a good result on her work-up. She is a hell of a player, no doubt.
She was unable to put weight on the injured foot/leg, I can’t imagine she’s good for the intensity of playoff games for that stretch
Again, you may be right. I hope not ( smiling). I have seen first hand things looking grim, and then a nothingburger, and things looking rosy and then disaster. Regardless, my point was crutches and a knee brace was prudent for the protection of the player. Minor can exacerbate if protections are not put in place, let’s just hope this wasn’t major. I love seeing her play. She has the gift.
Speaking of gift, Lily is still growing….world soccer beware….
Lily is, imo, the most unique talent in the women’s game. The truth in sports generally is, you get the athletes you pay for, basically the resources devoted to creating and sustaining players matters a lot.
The men’s global soccer game has a staggering level of investment both from the public and from ownership groups and sponsors. All that money has only ever produced a handful of players that have Lily’s level of passing skill- Xabi Alonso, Xavi, and Pirlo come to mind. Lily’s ability to do a sweeping long ball and have it die on the pitch basically wherever she wants is something that, as I said, very few players possess.
Basically, this makes Lily a unicorn within the women’s game, and it’s my fervent hope that the level of funding for women’s soccer can produce more and more of these sorts of talents. If Lily can be produced in this business model, keep going.
I’ll be seeing her giddy Auntie today at my bank (she’s the manager) and I will covey your excellent perceptions, to her.
I think you are spot on. You can just feel your jaw drop with what she does at 18 years old. Ajax did her good! Lyon can make her fly.
Suriname is the TEAM OF DESTINY
(You know they are happy, when they join in on the Panama shenanigans! Way to flip the script!)
That Lily Yohannes goal was sick. Hope she comes to the NWSL at some point
A nod to her Ajax roots, I remember Cruyff hitting one of those for the Dips from inside the the circle. A bit more of a missile, but he was smiling from above on that one….
If my short term memory is correct, Gift Monday and Rosemonde Kuoassi are now seventh on the all-time Buzzard Points (home goals) list and Kuoassi and Brittany Radcliffe are now ninth on the Talones (home assists) list.
Looks like, seemingly out of nowhere, DC has signed 15 year old Oscar Avilez to a homegrown deal. I know nothing about the kid, and we’re still waiting for an announcement about what’s happening with MLS Next Pro, but hopefully that’s indicative of SOMETHING happening there. DC really needs to be able to develop their young players in ways that they just haven’t since… Kevin Paredes?
Welcome to the Black and Red, Oscar. Good luck to you!
Came here to say essentially this too. He’s not a name I ever remember coming up before. I feel like Greg Roche usually has a pretty good feel for the Youths, but I don’t remember him ever mentioning Avilez
Yeah, I’m definitely curious to hear what Roche has to say. I’m not really sure who the top prospects in our academy are these days. It may be that some of our brighter prospects are waiting to see what the path for development is before they sign any contracts that may or may not have been offered.
Either way, we’ll have at least four homegrown players on the roster next year, assuming that Jackson Hopkins’s and Kristian Fletcher’s options are picked up (I feel pretty sure about Hopkins, less sure about Fletcher), to go along with Avilez and Gavin Turner. We’ll also have Hakim Karamoko, and quite possibly the #1 draft pick on our squad. Probably at least half of those will be out on loan to our Next PRO affiliate or some other team, but it’s nice to have some young talent. It would be really fucking nice to have a mechanism to cultivate and develop that talent, as well as a coaching staff that is willing to play that talent. Guess we’ll see!
Lucky us, he just provided his input:
“I’ve seen Avilez play a number of times and he’s legit. Probably too much to expect he’ll be a contributor next season but definitely a prospect to get excited about”
Sounds like a decent pickup then
https://www.dcunited.com/news/d-c-united-signs-15-year-old-forward-oscar-avilez-as-a-homegrown-player
Looks like he was born in Honduras. A homegrown player that is from Honduras and now playing in DC sounds like a good thing to me!
Would he take an international slot or no?
From the MLS rules page:
“Homegrown International Rule
Any player who, at the time of their initial signing with MLS, meets the requirements to qualify as a Homegrown Player as a member of an MLS club academy, either in the U.S. or Canada, or has met similar requirements as a member of a Canadian Approved Youth Club, will count as a domestic player (i.e., he will not occupy an international roster slot) on both U.S. and Canadian club rosters provided that:
With that, I think he counts as domestic from what we know (he started in the academy last year, when he was seemingly 14)
Maybe Weiler took some time during the international break to scout the academy. Either way, Avilez will indeed need some luck, and some hard work!
Maybe our new GM scrolled his cell phone and saw him on it?
When was an announcement made about shifting time and place from Monterrey and 9 pm to Buzzard Point? All my internet feeds said otherwise. I turned in to Paramount Plus at 9 pm at it showed match at half time and final 4-0 score?
Also, five matches, Sandy McIver five clean sheets. Great to have such a high quality backup for Kingsbury.
If anyone is interested here is the full slate of the November International Window for the USA Eagles Men’s XVs. These are all good tests against Australia 2027 qualified teams.
Is the Scotland game on TV?