2026 Local Soccer Schedule, Spirit Arrivals and Surprise Departure, More on DCU’s Arrivals, Soccer Innovations, and more: New Year’s Freedom Kicks
Welcome everyone to 2026! Entering the new year, I am hopeful that the next 365 days will be better than the previous ones. I am excited for this upcoming year for a variety of reasons, including a milestone birthday later this year, some fun planned adventures, and the return of the Men’s World Cup to North America for the first time in 32 years. (I know I’ve groused about it plenty on this site but I still am looking forward to the tournament.) Beyond the world Cup, the calendar is jam packed with exciting soccer. Here’s an early look at what the calendar holds.
- Now – 18 January – CAF Africa Cup of Nations
- 24 January – USWNT vs Paraguay WNT International Friendly (Carson, CA)
- 27 January – USWNT vs Chile WNT International Friendly (Santa Barbara, CA)
- 7 February – DC Power return to action in the Gainbridge Super League at Sporting Jax
- 7 February – D.C. United preseason match vs Portland Timbers (Coachella Valley Invitational, Coachella, CA)
- 11 February – D.C. United Preaseason match vs Minnesota United (Coachella Valley Invitational, Coachella, CA)
- 20 February – NWSL Challenge Cup
- 21 February – D.C. United season opener vs Philadelphia Union
- 24 February – 7 March – Women’s International Match Window (Potential SheBelieves Cup window based upon last year’s schedule)
- 1 March -21 March – AFC Women’s Cup
- 13 March – NWSL Season starts
- 13 March – DC Power return to Audi Field vs Dallas Trinity
- 17 March – 3 April – CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations
- 23 March – 31 March – Men’s International Match Window
- 28 March – USMNT vs Belgian MNT International Friendly (Atlanta, GA)
- 7 March – Loudoun United season opener at Rhode Island FC
- 14 March – Loudoun United home opener vs Pittsburgh Riverhounds FC
- 31 March – USMNT vs Portuguese MNT International Friendly (Atlanta, GA)
- 7 April – 18 April – Women’s International Match Window
- 6 May – DC Power home finale vs Sporting Jax
- 9 May – DC Power season finale vs Spokane Zephyr FC
- 31 May – USMNT vs Senegalese MNT International Friendly (Charlotte, NC)
- 1 June -28 June – NWSL Break
- 1 June – 9 June – Men’s International Match Window
- 1 June – 9 June – Women’s International Match Window
- 6 June – USMNT vs German MNT International Friendly (Chicago, IL)
- 11 June -19 July – FIFA World Cup
- 12 June – USMNT vs Paraguayan MNT (Los Angeles, CA)
- 19 June – USMNT vs Australian MNT (Seattle, WA)
- 25 June – USMNT vs TBD (Los Angeles, CA)
- 21 September – 6 October – Men’s International Match Window
- 5 October -13 October – Women’s International Match Window
- 24 October – Loudoun United season finale vs Brooklyn FC
- 30 October – 1 November – NWSL Decision Days
- 9 November – 17 November – Men’s International Match Window
- 7 November – DC United season finale vs NYCFC
- 21 November – NWSL Final
- 24 November – 5 December – Women’s International Match Window
Now onto the news.
Since the end of the season, the Spirit have largely been radio silent on their roster decisions for next year other than extending Gabby Carle. Yesterday the first two of an unknown number of moves were announced.
Washington Spirit Signs Defender Lucia Di Guglielmo (Washington Spirit)
Last season, the Spirit added NWSL’s first Italian player. Now the team has a pair. Di Guglielmo brings extensive international experience with over 40 appearances for Le Azzurre, including competing in two UEFA Women’s Championships and one FIFA Women’s World Cup.
This other news of the day, however, materialized out of nowhere.
Given the Spirit haven’t released their end of year roster decisions and Brown was under contract through 2026, the fact that she had parted ways with the team caught everyone by surprise. When asked for comment by Annie, the Spirit had this to say:
Best of luck in Utah, Courtney.
New Season, New #9: Tai Baribo (All-Points Bulletin)
Matt Hilliard over at All-Points Bulletin takes a very in depth look at D.C. United’s first DP acquisition of the off season. He breaks down Baribo’s history, how profile compares with D.C. United’s recent bellwether Christian Benteke, and why his time here could be a disaster or just might work.
For those whose Romanian is a little rusty, CFR Clu’s owner says Louis Munteanu to the Black and Red is done except for the physical. The deal apparently includes bonuses for goals, starts, and (triple checks notes) wins the MLS Cup.
This part is just rumor at this point. If true, someone at D.C. United must REALLY expect great things from Munteanu if they’re going to give up over a third of any resale.
2025 in review: Did our bold USWNT predictions come true? (SSFC)
As we proceed further into the new year, a little reflection about the past year is always a good thing. Donald takes a look back at USWNT team predictions made at the beginning of the year. Some were pretty accurate while others were a little off.
2025 in review: Did our bold USMNT predictions come true? (SSFC)
Though it ended on a high note, most of the year was dour for the USMNT and its near impossible to predict in advance.
Richards to miss Fulham match with foot injury (Pro Soccer Wire)
It looks like RIchards’ injury will keep him out at least through the weekend. But both he and coach Oliver Glasner are indicating he shouldn’t be out too long.
The Revs long nightmare may be ending. Since their inception the MLS originals have shared a home with the New England Patriots, first at Foxboro Stadium and then at Gillette Stadium. The new deal could result in a soccer-specific stadium along the banks of the Mystic River,with access to the public transit system, just outside of Boston. Looking at a map, it seems like a nice area. I look forward to road tripping to a DCU away game after its built.
Philadelphia has seemingly made a number of moves this off season. It seems like there is another one in the works.
Maybe the Union won’t hang a touchdown on DCU in the season opener.
I’ll end with this.
7 of the latest innovations that could alter soccer’s future (ESPN)
“Innovations” seems like a bit of an oversell here. The first six were all things that I assumed were fairly common already. The last portion about sharing genetic information, while framed around common sense things like personalized nutrition and training regimes, seems like the prologue of a dystopian nightmare to me.
I hope everyone had a great new years and that 2026 is everything you hope it is. I’m going to start the day off on the right foot, with a large cup of coffee in my hands and Liverpool the tv.
What did I miss?
Glad to see the USWNT back in action this month, but a little unnerved at how far away the next men’s camp will be. Poch’s implementation of the 3-4-2-1 has been a promising transition and the success of it has boosted morale, but I don’t think anyone would claim we know who the most effective and impactful personnel for it are when we can bring a full force to bear.
If the likes of Roldan, Berhalter, Freeman, Luna, and Arftsen are important squad members now, they need to know who they’re playing with and build that chemistry ASAP, and preferably have time to let it sink in.
I like the direction, but the length of runway gives me jitters
Happy New Year all! Don’t let the world (or your favorite soccer team) bring you down!
Seeing that Benteke has signed for Al Wahda in the UAE. He’ll likely continue banging in the goals and collecting some well-deserved checks for his dominance in the air. Wonder if this is his last stop or if he’ll go to Europe one more time.
My guess is Benteke is smart enough to look at his age profile and finances and decide to pad his banking account rather than prioritize one last competitive run somewhere in Europe, most likely in a second division as a stop gap player. He’ll be a dogged, committed professional in any league he plays in, but I think he knows that taking advantage of the cash flow in the Middle East leagues is the best for his future, which is swiftly approaching.
It’s also close to his home and family in Dubai, so that’s got to be very nice for him.
I’m just glad we won’t have to see him score against DCU.
So true! Minnesota signing him would have been ugly for the rest of the league.
Happy New Year’s to all! Hopefully 2026 will be more fun to follow United.
I remain a little perplexed by Munteanu. I just have seen his YouTube highlight reels, and he looks like a pretty useful player. I thought perhaps once we signed Baribo and news around him kind of dried up that we’d moved on, and I was okay with that. Having them together seems like a fun idea, even though they’re kind of similarly profiled in terms of attacking approach, and both will thrive on service, which hopefully our third DP can provide.
Anyway, does Munteanu seem like he’s worth a club record transfer? Does he seem like he’s worth hitching the wagon to for several years as a DP (and more to the point, having a pairing of him and Baribo for several years as DPs)? I wouldn’t necessarily think so, but I’m also more bullish on him than some (cough Matt Doyle, cough Jason Anderson). Those two know a ton more about soccer than me, and I’m often shown to be an idiot, but I still think it will largely work out. The fact that DC is THAT committed to getting him, and the fact that clubs like Celtic and Lyon were in on him as well is reassuring to me. He’s only 23, and could well improve. He’s likely not a golden boot winner, and he’s probably better than his two goals scored this season too. Between him and Baribo, we might have a pair of double digit goalscorers, which would be nice.
It’s the new year, it’s an offseason, let’s be positive before the reality crushes us all!
The price is for his age profile. Even if he doesn’t improve at all, 23 is a great age to get a signing in terms of how many years and games they likely have in them before age becomes a problem.
Overall, a DP is a DP, and I’m not gonna wring my hands over this ownership group spending money on a player whe there’s no contractual limit to that spending in this scenario.
Remains to be seen if he’s worth the owners’ money, but that’s legitimately not even on the list of things I care about.
I somehow don’t think Celtic (currently in the midst of a total meltdown) or Lyon (who probably have a miles long list of young players on their radar) will be kicking themselves over losing out on Munteanu, unless he produces quite a lot. My concern with the ownership’s spending this amount of money for an unproven player is that they’ll swing wildly the other way to the Mackay mandate if/when it doesn’t work – “cut everything to the bone because this isn’t worth the money.” Otherwise, it’s just a hefty chunk of the league salary budget.
But it’s all just numbers and such until he takes the field here, so no sense in judgment.
I like your perspective. We’ve still got about a month left until the preseason starts and the European transfer window just opened. We’ve got an incomplete understanding of what DCU’s roster will look like.
On top of that given the depth of the rebuild needed, we probably won’t know about the wisdom of any of the additions until the 2027-2028 season, when Weiler and Sogut have had time to turn the roster over more. In general I’m trying to maintain an even keel about all of this until then.
I mean, the cut to the bone and wait for oil money to buy their DC sporting and real estate combo package for an obscene fee has been the norm for this ownership group. This has been a bit of a divergence from that mentality over one offseason, so I’m actually not so much worried about that mentality returning as expecting they could regress there at any point.
My hope isn’t that this owership group turns the corner fully- these guys clearly don’t believe in planting the seeds of the tree they’ll never sit in the shade of, absolutely not. What I do hope is that this is an upsurge in spending to polish the package items, and sell them wholesale to someone better.
It remains to be seen if someone better is interested in this club, and can afford to outbid anyone who’d be worse, cuz Levien and Kaplan don’t view themselves as torch passing stewards.
Is he going to be a DP or a Young DP? Cause I think he meets threshold for young DP, which would be less of a salary cap hit.
I sorta glaze over whenever it’s time to figure out the roster and salary rules these days, not the least of which is due to Miami making them a complete joke. I know DCU is bound by such things unfairly still, but I can’t bring myself to game it out from the stands anymore.
That said, I’ve not heard any mention of that young DP designation from anyone in all this talk on the subject from people who do track this stuff thoroughly, so I’m guessing it’s something about it his birthday or something.
In short, I’m pretty confident he’s just a regular DP and like going to be our highest paid one.
Just asked Keefer, he seems to think that he could qualify as a young DP.
Let’s see what it looks like
I’m inclined to believe if this does end up being a young DP move, Sogut really understands the crazy league rules and he has my respect for it. For years, people keep saying we need Dave Kasper or someone like him.
It would also be smart because one of the rules is if you have a young DP, you don’t have to pay for the 3rd slot. I really hope they use all 3.
The young DP hits at a lower cap hit too (something like $200,000 as opposed to ~$650,000), so that helps build the roster. I can’t remember if he will retain the Young DP designation for the life of the contract (as U22 players do) or if he becomes a regular DP when he ages out of it.
If both Munteanu and Baribo can produce somewhere between Benteke and Taxi, that would be great. Having 2 guys that might be able to get 15 goals apiece sounds fun for a change. As long as we can avoid another Flores situation.
Our previous record high transfer, I’d add.
One other thought that crossed my mind was that the league is shifting to a new schedule in 2027, in part to better align with the European calendar and the ability to bring in new, better players more easily (or sell current players for a higher price). And we’re locking ourselves in to presumably at least two DPs beyond that window of when we could hypothetically bring in better players.
If Baribo and Munteneau hit, then no worries. If they don’t, DC will once again find itself operating behind the other clubs in MLS.