USL Championship playoffs begin, Chat GPT coaching, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
Happy Halloween! I have returned from my vacation just in time to bring you these Freedom Kicks. Whether I will also put out my spooky lights and plastic skeleton before trick-or-treat tonight remains to be seen.
Seattle Reign boss Harvey admits ChatGPT is her assistant coach (Pro Soccer Wire)
Laura Harvey told a podcast recently that she relied on ChatGPT to determine formations for her Seattle Reign to use against specific NWSL opponents. Why would you do this and, just as importantly, why would you admit to it?
Naturally, everyone following the league was having some fun with this yesterday, including the guys at Expected Own Goals:
Martin, Loudoun “feel pretty good” heading into playoffs (The DP)
Nobody is covering Loudoun United like our Ryan Keefer. In the leadup to their playoff match on Saturday, he spoke with long-time head coach Ryan Martin about their preparations.
And if you’re tuning in for the first time for the occasion, get to know the players a little better with these paper plate awards:
USL Championship 2025 playoff tiers: Favorites, dark horses, and better-luck-next-times (Backheeled $)
A look around the league at what you can expect from USL Championship playoffs.
Seven years without a period as a professional soccer player (note)
An older blog post by Narumi Miura that she recently translated into English with the help of teammate Kaylie Collins. In it, Narumi talks about how the physical and mental stresses of being a young athlete impacted her menstrual cycle and how she worked with specialists to become healthier.
Ranking every team’s chance of forcing a Game 3 (MLS)
MLS playoffs continue this weekend, and Joseph Lowery tries to estimate which Game 1 losers could win in Game 2.
Angel City captain Sarah Gorden made a statement yesterday responding to teammate Elizabeth Eddy’s op-ed in the NY Post this week in favor of gender testing for NWSL athletes. Gorden and Angelina Anderson both said Eddy does not speak for them or the team and called out racist and transphobic aspects of the article.
International Round Up: How Did Spirit and D.C. Power Players Do? (The DP)
With the FIFA window now closed, PJ catches us up on how the players from Washington Spirit and Power FC performed for their national teams.
Chase for coveted spot in 2026 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup continues this weekend during third qualifying round (US Soccer)
Between various playoffs and the return of the women’s leagues there are a lot of games to follow this weekend. Here are some more to be aware of, including one at the Maryland SoccerPlex and one in Falls Church.
Finally, here’s your schedule of local matches for the weekend. It features Loudoun United’s first ever playoff game, as well as Washington Spirit’s final regular season game.
| Teams | When | Where | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Loudoun United FC vs. North Carolina FC | Sat., Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. | Cary, NC | ESPN+ |
| Washington Spirit vs. Utah Royals | Sun., Nov. 2 at 5 p.m. | Sandy, UT | NWSL+ |
| DC Power FC vs. Dallas Trinity FC | Sun., Nov. 2 at 5 p.m. | Dallas, TX | Peacock |
The Galaxy released their roster decisions yesterday. Despite going the whole first half of the year without a win, they only let go of two players. One was DC alumni Miguel Berry.
They did decline the option on Diego Fagundez, who was someone I sort of entertained DC going after, but they’re in discussions to bring him back on a new deal.
I think DCUnited not releasing roster decision information shows that there is some chaos with the change in team management. I think they know what they want to do but have to figure out the MLS rules and team contracts to do it. I am guessing Levien and Kasper have to be involved now, too.
I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some disagreement over Benteke’s option. Levien seemed to say that he was someone they wanted to build around in 2026, but then didn’t mention him in the video to supporters. Weiler and Sogut may want to go with their own guys, or may have assessed that Benteke is a bit past what they want from a DP. Benteke himself may be making it clear that he wants OUT.
I have no idea how likely any of those scenarios are. But deciding what to do with Benteke is the single most important personnel decision of this offseason. I don’t mind them taking their time to get it right.
Benteke scores goals and the team needs that. This year was an off year. I would want him for one more year as a known quantity. I also think they feel they need to have a DP with more impact for the money they pay. I know in the final stretch Weiler used Benteke differently than he had been before. So he may want a different type of player. I guess I just made your point about deciding what they want to do with Benteke. Who knows whats going on, but they would normally announce a DP signing.
My thinking is that, while Weiler has shown he’ll adapt the scheme to the players, he may have concluded that Benteke is a target man (and thus an outlet and distributor) but he doesn’t want to play a game where we’re always direct and we’re crossing the ball inside for him to head. And in that narrative, they may think Benteke is too expensive.
Personally, I think he should be retained. His dominance in the air is so extreme. It’s always good to have at least one thing where no-one can match up with you in that area…maybe an outside player who is 10 steps faster than anyone else in the league, or a DM who covers 20% more ground than anyone else in the league. That kind of extreme edge is useful, even if he’s not the point of the attack.
If anyone is interested the USA Men’s Eagles take on Scotland tomorrow at 1:40 PM ET with the game streamed on Paramount+ and Peacock. Its the first of 3 test matches in the November international window.
Thanks for that.
Harvey may as well as have consulted reddit. Even though she said the coaches had to do their own work in figuring out how to do what it told them to do, it really highlights how these programs are striping away some of what I view as positive mental labor. Instead of doing problem solving and adapting their teams themselves, they’ve outsourced it to a machine. I’m sure some team executives are now going to tell their coaches “hey we’re not paying for another assistant, use robot.exe for your tactics”.
In terms of other teams’ roster updates, Pedro Gallese is leaving Orlando. Not sure what his plan is, but you have to wonder if that’s someone DC will be looking at. Though I’m not sure that I’d personally want a 36 year old starting goalie
He’s had a pretty rough year. Like, I’d rather be going after Sean Johnson.
Yeah, but even then, Johnson turns 37 in May. Would imagine they go for someone younger, unless they want to bring in someone to be a mentor to Kim (Joon?) and Farr
Please send Kim packing. He was a deer in the headlights. Zach Wells comes to mind (good guy, not trashing him personally, but he was a liability).
I agree he could have been better, but with him being on a U22 deal, he’s supposed to develop and get better over time. If they’re going to prioritize getting rid of someone that’s under contract still for a few more years, I’d certainly hope they’d try to move Enow more than Kim. Enow is taking up a lot more cap space, and makes entirely too much to be a 3rd or 4th pick in midfield.
I’m all in for Sean Johnson.
Or Bill Hamid.
I really hope we’re not. As Brendan mentioned, if we’re going for an older hand I’d rather it be Johnson. There’s a big chance it turns out more like Ousted (who I did like but wasn’t his best anymore) rather than let’s say Kasey Keller.
DC United meet the GM night November 4th evening.
Nice idea. Direct conflict with elections in Virginia. Typical.
Lots of northern Virginia voters will no doubt be attending the DCU event, perhaps swinging the election in favor of the R’s?
I legitimately have no idea how one would use ChatGPT to fill in a lineup, but professionally, you shouldn’t.
Psst, Gio. Hey, Gio.
(Points to Narumi’s brave piece that helps heal the world and give others hope)
This is how you use a platform. You self centered louse.
You never fail to make me laugh!
(a good thing)
That’s why he gets the big bucks as a member of the DP staff!
Watched the video of the response to the anti-trans article.
It’s just harmful for a player to write that, and glad the captain was able to address it so unequivocally.
For me, the question of trans athletes is not one of exclusion, but accommodation and nuanced case by case decision making. Instances of trans individuals are rare enough that making blanket decisions out of fear or prejudice is not at all conducive to reason nor humanity.
Let’s not make this any more uphill or traumatizing for trans individuals. Banning them from participating in anything as a gut reaction, I hate it.
It’s the international fascist propaganda machine at work. They’ve somehow convinced people who truly couldn’t/wouldn’t care less that there’s an army of dangerous ugly trans people ready to…be good at women’s sports and use the same bathrooms as girls? Same thing with autism, except the genius Musk. It truly blows my mind.
Absolutely agree that it’s something for not crazy people to make fateful blanket decisions on, but something that can be considered when it arises.
Well said. I agree completely.
2031 Men’s Rugby World Cup here in the US is identifying host cities and DC is on the list of applicants.
https://www.world.rugby/news/1018093/mens-rugby-world-cup-usa-2031-hosting-preparations-continue-at-pace-as-27-cities-and-areas-enter-the-applicant-phase
Fulli list of applicants:
Arizona, Atlanta, Baltimore, Birmingham, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cincinnati, Denver, Houston, Kansas City, Los Angeles Region, Miami, Minneapolis, Nashville, New Orleans, New York/New Jersey, Orlando, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, St. Louis, Vancouver, and Washington DC.
I thought Eddy’s op-ed was terrible. It’s particularly bad when there has been some derogatory comments about players like Banda questioning their gender plus the number of lesbian and/or bisexual players in NWSL. For her (Eddy) to stick this out there without consideration of how it plays with her teammates and her team–just dumb, really dumb.
I know of some women who’ve gone through RASP (Ranger Assessment and Selection Program) or try to qualify for combat infantry roles–the reduction in their body fat plus physical demands stopped their menstruation. However that was only a couple of months. But Miura–SEVEN YEARS! Wow. I’d worry something was wrong with my body.
I’m still wondering why we haven’t heard anything about DCU’s roster–who’s been cut loose, who’s being retained. I would think Weiler would have a pretty good idea even before the season ended. But…crickets.