DC United Signs Munteanu, Celtic fires Nancy, and more: Tuesday Freedom Kicks
Morning beautiful people of DC! I am slowly (oh so slowly) getting back into my normal routine and that routine means bringing you a soccer news round up every Tuesday morning so let’s dive in!
The big news of the day yesterday was DCU opening up their wallet and opening it up wide. Donald did a quick summary of what has transpired over the last few weeks.
Celtic sack manager Wilfried Nancy – with Martin O’Neill to return… again (Sky Sports)
Oof. This decision had to be made after 6 losses in just 8 games including the final nail in the coffin which was losing against arch-rivals, Rangers, this past weekend. It does not help the reputation of MLS coaches trying to break through in Europe. Where will Nancy land next? Back in MLS?
Seems like Brilliant really likes the DMV and will be coaching just down the road in Springfield!
Women’s soccer stars Kristie Mewis, Sam Kerr tie the knot in Australia (PSW)
Congrats! Also NWSL and Brazil star, Marta, also got married this past weekend.
AFCON continues with a quarterfinal match up between Nigeria and Egypt set for later this week!
Speaking of AFCON, here’s a fascinating stat; more players were born in Île-de-France (45) than any African country participating in the tournament.
Wrexham striker Mullin’s Wigan loan cut short (BBC)
For fans of the Welsh team, a hero returns back to the team!
Sporting KC hire Raphaël Wicky as head coach on two-year contract (The Guardian)
He becomes the first full time coach for KC since Peter Vermes left early last season after 17 years in charge at the club.
The host reminisces with Bill about some of his past glories such as winning the USOC. Bill also mentions that he is still looking for a team in 2026.
A bit of discussion about new stadiums (mainly in Europe). DC is definitely building a new stadium for the Commanders and the Spirit may very well play there. What are your hopes for the stadium if the Spirit does end up making it their home? Sound off in the comments!
Can Professional Women’s Soccer in the U.S. Keep Up with the Global Market? (The New Yorker)
It appears that Trin and her team are keeping up the PR blitz.
“’The league has a choice to make,’ [Mehgan]Burke told me. ‘They either need to cater to and protect teams unwilling to grow, or unlock potential. They can’t do both.'” I, for one, am proud that Kang and co are pushing the league to pay players what they’re worth.
Are the Waldos making a return for the 2026 World Cup?! (SSFC)
I like the ‘Waldo’ look (and clearly some of us at DP LOVE it). I also think that the jersey dropping will make it feel like the World Cup is just a bit closer…
A interesting piece from our own André Carlisle looking at how NWSL leadership seems to be focusing on everything but the product on the field and how that can lead to the league falling (even) further behind other soccer leagues.
That’s it from me folks! See you in the comments!
Driven partially by trying to figure out how much roster flexibility there is, and partially by trying to figure out what formation they’re going to play, I worked on compiling a fairly comprehensive roster breakdown for the team, which can be seen here if anyone else is interested.
TLDR: DC is currently at 28/30 roster spots, with 18/20 senior spots and 10/10 supplemental spots filled. 7/8 international spots are also accounted for, as well as 2/3 DP and 3/3 U22 spots (assuming a 3/3 model). If they want to sign any more low-end players, like every draft pick other than Markovic (who has a guaranteed GA contract), they’ll need to loan some players elsewhere. The numbers could be slightly off, as several assumptions had to be made, like Segal counting as a Supplemental player as he did for Houston
This is really cool! I think that Richie Aman has already signed a contract, so that would bring us up to 29 players, and 11/10 supplemental spots, probably.
We’re still nowhere close to being done with roster moves. There’s a third DP to be signed, with reports linking us to Munteanu’s Cluj teammate Meriton Korenica. There’s also reports that Kim Joon Hong could be loaned back to South Korea, which would also necessitate bringing in another goalkeeper. Oscar Avilez, Gavin Turner, and Hakim Karamoko would seem like strong candidates for loan deals as well. And Sogut has shown some ingenuity – and willingness to work with sunk costs – in moving Boris Enow. Can he find takers for some other players? Is Schnegg on the way out with Kurokawa coming in? Peltola and Bartlett had also made some noise about moving on, and there is the possibility of buying out two contracts (Badji and Stroud?). Lots of moving pieces and lots more roster building still to do.
Yeah, I admittedly wasn’t 100% sure on Aman, but I can certainly move him up to the full team.
But I also expect there to be more movement, especially if Kim ends up going out on loan. I doubt we’d replace him with another U22 of any kind if he does, but we’d certainly need another goalie at least. The buyouts will certainly be interesting if they are used. I’m not as down on Stroud as most fans seem to be, and wouldn’t mind him seeing out his contract, but I do think there could be an argument for buying out Badji. That being said, it certainly looks like we’re going with a 2 striker system, so we’ll need a lot of striker depth and Badji does provide that.
If nothing else, I wanted to get a feeling for what we were currently working with, and this seems to paint a decent picture of that. Still some leeway in the senior team without moving on from anyone, but a couple more moves would also really open things up.
We might hold on to those guys just because making SO many moves is hard to do, and maybe the buyouts happen in the summer or something. Badji looks pretty well past it these days, but he’s also our biggest hold up threat now that Benteke is gone. If the team needs a slightly different tactical look, they can toss him up top as a target man. I’m not sure how effective he’ll be, but there’s some potentially some value there too.
With Stroud, everything just seemed to go wrong last year. His play was a little off, and when it was on, he got very unlucky. He went from having 10 assists in 2024 to 0 in 2025. After the Klich move, that was maybe the biggest single factor in 2025’s dire performance. He could certainly rebound in 2026, and Baribo and Munteanu are going to need his service if it’s there.
Yeah, I think that’s pretty much where I’m at. If we bring in a DP caliber winger, like Korenica, Stroud moves to more of a back-up and spot-starter role, which I think would be fair. We know he’s capable of more, and we hope he gets back to his 2024 form, but I don’t think his salary is egregious enough to warrant buying him out. Trying to replace him, even as depth, could end up costing more than just keeping him, and who knows what that new player would even be able to produce. Though, maybe Aman is actually that answer and Sogut and Weiler are confident in the new kid
Move Joon Hong, sign Bill frikkin Hamid.
I don’t think we’re close to being done. I think some guys currently under contract will get moved in some fashion.
Will note, based on what we know of the new players we’ve brought in and who is currently on the roster, I think the formation we play might be somewhere between a 3-4-1-2 and a 4-4-2. A high-caliber winger could definitely change that though
If this is the case and looking at the spreadsheet, they really need midfield help. A lot of midfield help.
Great spreadsheet. I think Schnegg got a green card and is not an international anymore.
Trying to figure out who plays where with the current set of players we have in midfield is a headache. Peltola is presumably the starting CDM, but he could also be lined up as a CB (though I think he’s better at CDM). Hopkins can go…anywhere in midfield but is probably somewhere between a 10 and 8. Pirani and Clark are both 10s that also can play on the wing (maybe Clark is even a starting winger, who knows!).
Even out wide, Peglow is presumably the starter on the left, but maybe that’s Kurakowa now. Does Herrera get played more as a RB or RW? If we have Kurakowa as a LWB/LW in the 3-4-1-2, does Schnegg play more as the left CB in the back 3?
I want to give Kijima and Peltola a shot at the double pivot.
We rarely saw Kijima there, not because he wasn’t promising when that was his role- I was pretty jazzed after his first start in that deeper position- but because he had to be shuttled up as an advanced player when it became clear how dreadfully thin and ineffective we were in the skill department going forward.
I’m looking at their different skillsets and attributes, and think it’s potentially an excellent partnership, as long as they are capable of working together and develop an understanding.
Traditionally, a DP in any role further back that AM is a friggin waste, because you’re only paying for marginal gains in a lot of those positions. So I think you need to be able to field that key midfield partnership with reasonable salaries. Could be Peltola isn’t worth his cut at the end, but he’s here now, so let’s make use of him at his actual position, and give him a partner who is able to do the ball carrying, passing, and well timed shuttling that you’d want.
This is probably right. 4-4-2 is a very popular out of possession stance teams tend to fall back into, but there’s some evidence that a form of it is becoming a viable formation even in possession.
Will be interesting.
Yeah, I would like to know what is going on with Bartlett after the news of other teams having interest in him.
Regarding Nancy….
Many of my former teammates are hard core Celtic boys. We are very much in touch. This train wreck was percolating and was of no surprise to me. What did surprise me was how comprehensively better Celtic was in the first half, only to crash like a deck of cards when Rangers bagged a (against the run of play) goal in the send half. Final score was 3-1, which is shocking at Celtic Park. I was giddy, but not for Nancy’s prospects. I guess management wouldn’t sack him on a Sunday (Catholic graciousness), but I knew I’d get the word by lunchtime on Monday.
To the point Dennis raises: how does this reflect on managers in MLS for the future? I think we can all agree that Nancy is class, and this was just a clearly an unfortunate fit.
Rangers features today on CBS Sports if you are inclined to watch…..(DVR for me)
Feel bad for the guy, but I think a lot of managers have a disastrous experience at some point that they learn from, and that having resilience both in that moment and after it is good for their mental strength
Well said.
I agree but I think when you Zoom out, you see a history of MLS coaches moving to Europe and bombing (Nancy, Bradley, Rooney *chuckles*). I think this will spook the Europeans from approaching an MLS coach for a long time IMO
Possibly. But frankly it might be a long time before the prestige of MLS merits an MLS coach getting a promising situation rather than a poisoned chalice in Europe
Sporting KC today literally hiring a former MLS coach who won the Swiss double before crashing out in his 2nd year, and the MN Utd coach is being looked at by Euro clubs.And Steve Cherundolo will probably get a coaching gig in Europe later this year.
All of three of those guys got started in Europe though. Did Nancy every coach in France/Europe before Montreal?
Huh. Looks like former NYCFC striker, Castellanos, has found himself starting today for West Ham United.
West Ham coach, Nuno, will be desperate to turn the fortunes of the club around while playing the side he got fired from earlier this season. West Ham were shocked last game by Wolves, who thrashed them 3-0. Wolves doubled their league points with that win, having previously only managed three draws in the 20th game of the season.
Tim Howard just said that the fee they spent to buy Castellanos from West Ham is not enough money to spend on a striker to prevent relegation.
Big game for West Ham.
B&RU Alum Jason Anderson announces on BlueSky that he is leaving USA Today/PSW and will now be working with Variance Incorporated, Transfer Flow, and Crux Football. Notes that he will also be making a new independent site covering DCU and the Spirit. More local coverage of the local teams certainly isn’t a bad thing at this point.
I want to point out something in the “Brilliant Fred” announcement that I think is really critical. He is described as a member of the St. James MLSNext staff.
Here is how I read that:
–At least a partial staff has been formed.
–At least initially, the MLSNext team will train at the St. James.
–Maybe all the “i”s haven’t been dotted and a few “t”s need to be crossed. But this seems to strongly suggest that having an MLSNext team isn’t just some PR from the owners but steps to actually field a team are occurring.
If I am right about this….be still my beating heart! This development would be incredible!