Spirit Injury Update, NWSL Attendance, Lalas Pontificating, Punk Rock, and more: Wednesday Freedom Kicks
Welcome to Wednesday everyone. I don’t have any good soccer-related intro material for you today. I will, however, share a moment of joy for me from yesterday. Everyone has that movie, song, book, whatever that helps them detox and recenter. Among the movies that serve that function for me are The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. Yesterday it was announced that the movie’s original stars Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weiss were in talks to return for another round. Its been a long time since the third one came out (The less said about it the better.) but I am hopeful it will capture the spirit of the first two. Now on to a busy day news.
When the Spirit’s injury report came out prior to this weekend’s game against Utah, I did a double take. (So did a lot of people probably.) The number and quality of player’s missing the match was worrisome. How much of it was resting players after their return from international duty or in advance of the playoffs? How much was precautionary as opposed to concerning? The District Press’s own Jason Taylor attended the Spirit’s open practice and provided insight. Rose Kouassi and Leicy Santos trained with the full team. Deb Abiodun, Croix Bethune, Rebecca Bernal, and Nirumi Miura, and Brittany Ratcliffe worked with trainers. In news that will please everyone, Trinity Rodman was spotted running with a leg sleeve rather than a brace.
Falcons’ star Gift Monday mourns dad with emotional tribute (The Nation)
Gift has been absent from the Spirit due to the passing of her father, who she described as her “first hero and my greatest supporter”. Condolences to Gift and her family.
Following last week’s NY Post by Angel City’s Elizabeth Eddy, the NWSL and NWSL Player’s Association both issued statements yesterday. The NWSL specifically addressed attacks against Orlando City’s Barbara Banda, while the NWSLPA took a borader approach addressing attacks against all their members, especially the African women target by the demeaning language.
NWSL attendance down 5% from last year’s record mark (Sports Business Journal)
While league wide attendance is down, the Spirit prove to be one of the exceptions to the rule with attendance increasing over 9%. Even more impressive, Spirit average attendance is up 43% over two years ago.
North Carolina FC is a team with definite history. They’ve knocked the LA Galaxy out of the US Open Cup three times and hosted West Ham. It’s rough for the players and fans to lose their team because the owner wants to position himself for a new league that may or may not actually come to fruition years into the future.
With November’s USMNT roster announcements looming, Tuesday was generally a good day for the prospect pool in the Champions League. It did lead me to one kind of odd question. Is Balogun’s goal, scored against Bodø/Glimt in Norway the first goal scored for club or country by a USMNT player above the Arctic Circle?
Lalas: Pulisic missing USMNT duty would be ‘bad look’ (Pro Soccer Wire)
I don’t agree with Alexi Lalas on this one. He hasn’t played since he was subbed off in the last USMNT match. Having Christian Pulisic healthy and on the field is more important in June of next year and than it is now. Plus having Pulisic sit this round out provides someone on the bubble one last window to state their case to be with the team when the World Cup opens.
Final Round Field Finalized: 2026 U.S. Open Cup Third Qualifying Round Review (US Soccer)
We’ve reached the final qualification round for next year’s US Open Cup. Thirty two teams are left, but only 16 will take part in next year’s tournament. Following up on an item from last week, former D.C. United winger Lamar Neagle had a brace and two assists in Ballard FC’s 5-1 victory over Sharktopus FC. The final round schedule is set to be released later this week.
And finally….
Portland’s newest sports team is named after a punk rock anthem from the ’70s (OregonLive)
The new USL W team, which will debut next year, draws its name from the song “Cherry Bomb” by the Runaways. The name, the logo, and the story behind them make for a fun story and something a little more interesting than just City FC or Sporting City.
What did I miss?
The Runaways of course featured noted Wheaton High School alumna Joan Jett.
Che-Che-Che-Cherry Bomb!!!!!!!!!
MLS Best 11 is now out:
GK: Dayne St. Clair (Minn); Defense: Alex Freeman (Orlando), Tristan Blackmon (Vancouver), Kai Wagner (Philly), Jakob Glesnes (Philly); Midfield: Evander (Cincy), Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver), Cristian Roldan (Seattle); Forwards: Lionel Messi (Miami), Denis Bouanga (LAFC), Anders Dreyer (SD)
No real surprises on who made it. You could argue Freese over St. Clair. I think an argument could also be made for Najar over Freeman. Surridge is deserving of being in it too, but Im not sure who you drop to add him.
I do not think it will actually happen, but I would like to see DC United make a run at signing Dayne St. Clair.
That has been my hope as well. Give him Max-TAM or whatever he wants. He’d be a great pickup
Luis Suarez has been suspended from Miami’s next playoff game (game 3 against Nashville) for kicking Andy Najar in game 2.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/46859670/miami-luis-suarez-one-match-ban-kicking-nashville-najar
I’m still wondering when DCU is going to announce who is coming back (or at least who is NOT coming back at this point).
On NWSL, I’m a bit surprised that attendance is down–that is puzzling. I would have though that with an increase by the Spirit, a full year of the KC stadium, a year after the Gold Medal at the Olympics, you’d see the NWSL doing better in terms of numbers.
And regarding Arctic circle goals, I’ve got to think that Aron Johannsson might be a contender for the first US player to do that.
On attendance, MLS had a similar decrease. There are a couple other factors that may play into it, particularly you’ve got some of the newer teams like Bay FC who are in year to and may lose a little of the new team bounce. Then there’s the economy and weather issues.
I completely forgot about Aron Johannsson! Thank you for reminding me. Good call.
I would chalk up a significant amount of the decrease in attendance to the economy and the weather. The biggest surprise is how many fans SD Wave have lost. Even Angel City lost a bunch. That new team bounce is definitely gone for both teams.
Apparently the Revs are going to hire US U-20s head coach Marko Mitrovic.
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/46860645/new-england-revolution-usa-u20-coach-marko-mitrovic
There’s been some recent success with guys involved in the youth national team setup. Callaghan and Varas look like solid hires for Nashville and San Diego. There’s also Ramos’ less inspiring stint in Houston. I guess there’s something to be said about trying someone outside the list of MLS retreads.
Apparently a Wrexham player punched a Cardiff supporter ahead of the match last week: https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/46860002/wrexham-james-mcclean-says-threw-punch-cardiff-fan