USWNT January roster, Loudoun United creating USL W League team, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
It’s Friday!! The first work week of the New Year has been a long one, but we’ve made it through. How are your resolutions coming along? I’ve… mostly stuck to mine.
USWNT January Camp roster released (Stars and Stripes FC)
The U.S. Women’s National Team has announced their January camp roster, and there are FOUR Spirit players on it — Croix, Bethune, Hal Hershfelt, Tara Rudd (formerly McKeown), and Kate Wiesner — plus an “Unattached” Trinity Rodman. It’s a bit of an odd window, since none of the Europe-based or Gotham FC players are available, but congratulations to the rostered players regardless!
U.S.’s Coffey finalizing transfer from Thorns to Man City – sources (ESPN)
Speaking of Europe, it seems the NWSL is letting another of their top players slip through their fingers to a European league.
We also have plenty of transfer rumors closer to home:
Sources: New England Revolution Interested in Griffin Yow (The Blazing Musket)
First, NE look to be courting former D.C. United (and Loudoun United) Griffin Yow, who has spent the past few years at Westerlo.
Steven Goff also reports that FC Cincinnati is acquiring Kristian Fletcher, and that he expects to see some more departures from D.C. United:
There’s also apparently some reason to doubt the earlier rumors that United would be signing Meriton Korenica.
Loudoun United FC set to join USL W League in 2026 (Loudoun United FC)
This is interesting to me, in part because it’s structured as a partnership between Loudoun United and DC Power FC. I find the relationships between those teams, and D.C. United to be very mysterious.
DC Power Football Club Sign Emily Colton to a Contract Extension Through 2026/27 (DC Power FC)
DC Power have re-signed midfielder Emily Colton to a third year with the team.
Two Power FC Players Named to Gainbridge Super League December Team of the Month (DC Power FC)
And shortly after that announcement, Colton and teammate Gia Courley were named to the GSL Team of the Month for December! Colton made one assist and created 10 chances in December, while Courley scored three goals.
Everything You Need to Know About the Mali vs Senegal Quarterfinal at AFCON 2025 (BeIN Sports)
AFCON Quarterfinals are this weekend, beginning with this morning’s match between Mali and Senegal.
Nigeria’s AFCON bonuses issue resolved ahead of Algeria quarter-final, claims finance minister (The Athletic $)
Nigeria’s game against Algeria will hopefully be going forward tomorrow, after the country claims they’ve resolved a pay dispute. The players were threatening to boycott training, citing unpaid bonuses for their wins so far.
That’s all I have for now. Share more Kicks in the comments, and have a good weekend!
“I find the relationships between those teams, and D.C. United to be very mysterious.”
Who wore it better, Loudoun United/DC United/Attain/Virginia Revolution/Segra Field/LU 2/LU W League/DC Power or NVIDIA/OpenAI/Intel/Aligned/US Government/Microsoft/CoreWeave/BlackRock?
So, Keefer found the Cluj owner’s backtrack.
Seems the club was trying to up Korenica’s profile and interest level now that they had some attention, and United fans’ expectations were collateral damage.
Unclear who Bogert’s refuting sources were. DCU’s team probably should have addressed this themselves directly, but maybe negotiations with our 23 year old DP made that harder to do (this last part is of course speculation, which is what DCU tends to make us participate in lieu of transparent communication).
Yeah the reports out of Romania/Kosovo have been a rollercoaster. Keefer found another article yesterday interviewing Korenica himself, with him saying how excited he was to come to MLS and play against Messi, and that the teams were close to a deal. And now the owner is like “this never happened.”
I would have been fine with Korenica coming here, but hopefully now that he’s not, that 3rd DP spot can go to someone even better
I actually don’t think that United should be officially issuing statements on negotiations that are or aren’t happening. Sure, it’s a bit of a wild ride, but I think it’s probably more appropriate for outlets like Bogert or Goff to be used to provide updates on negotiations.
Yeah it’s pretty standard for teams to be pretty opaque on who and who isn’t on their transfer list.
I don’t know, I think it’s fully permissible and at times a good idea to tamp down on rumors like Cluj and Korenica generated. You don’t want your org to be pressured or your fans taken for a ride, especially when it seems pretty cynical smoke making by these entities
I think the key part of the Bogert post is “at the moment.” What that tells me is that DCU has their eyes on someone they think is better in some way (better player, better fit, better deal—at least one of those). So they aren’t completely ruling out Korenica but they may come back to him if some other plans don’t work out. And I’m fine with that.
Also, I saw some comments (can’t remember where) about “why no Sam Coffey on the USWNT invites list?” and some people put it off to giving her a break after a long season. Actually, she’s flown to the UK and it appears she’s signing with Manchester United. Me thinks that this may prompt NWSL to get off their respective arses and resolve the whole Rodman contract deal/HIP mess before she gets tired of it all and signs with Chelsea or someone else.
Also, with the waiving of Badji and Schnegg and sale of Fletcher, I think the current DCU braintrust has shown that if someone is under contract, that doesn’t mean he’s set on the roster. I’m going to be very surprised if we don’t cut-sell-trade-loan out at least 3 more players currently on the roster.
Reports are actually Man City, not Man U.
Berman potentially losing Trin would be a bigger deal from a marketing perspective than losing Coffey, but I wonder if the commissioner grasps what a recruitment tool having players like Coffey is for the league, and how irreplaceable that influence would be.
Coffey is the kind of leader and talent players respect and look up to, not just in the US, but in the international game in general. The kind of player who young talents or restless European stars might reach out to to ask about playing in NWSL.
You give WSL enough of those influential figures, and that’s not just a talent deficit, that’s a problem for incoming, as well.
It sure seems like Cluj is feeling a lot of heat to get some cash to pay off some debts. I certainly wouldn’t mind DC submitting an offer for Korenica, but one that would allow him to be a TAM player, and allow us to sign another DP as well. Like maybe Cluj would accept $2 million instead of $4 million for him. If DC even wants him at all.
Except if DC didn’t view him as a target, Korenica is just a 29 year old who Cluj wanted to get a transfer out of. There are a lot of players of this profile all over Europe that have been serviceable to good for the team, but it would be ideal to offload before their value is nil.
It’s likely Cluj knows they have to replace him with someone younger in the not-too-distant future, and getting a transfer from the original player is a good way to offset those costs.
DC finally announced the Boris Enow transfer to the Israeli league
DCU has announced its pre-season schedule:
Saturday, Feb. 7
Coachella Valley Invitational match against the Portland Timbers | Empire Polo Club | 5:30 p.m. ET
Wednesday, Feb. 11
Coachella Valley Invitational match against Minnesota United FC | Empire Polo Club | 3:30 p.m. ET
Saturday, Feb. 14
Exhibition match against St. Louis CITY SC | Empire Polo Club | TBD | Closed to the public
Looks like another pre-season of us not being able to watch the games. With Goff not at the Post anymore, I kinda doubt he’ll be there to live-tweet like we’ve had in previous years
One bit of good news on that front is that I wouldn’t expect too many trialists. Right now, the roster is pretty full. Right now we’ve got 27 players on the roster (assuming that we are waiving Schnegg and Badji). We could certainly be moving on from some more players (Joon has been rumored for a loan, Bartlett has asked about his future, Peltola has made noise about wanting to leave), but we are also expecting a third DP and hopefully some help at left back and defensive midfield. There’s also three other promising draft picks, although I’d say any of them are very long shots to make the roster.
Last year, we did sign two trialists to the team – Brandon Servania and Rida Zouhir. So, it could happen. But I don’t imagine there will be much in the way of trialists.
When did Peltola say he wanted to leave? I must have missed that; I knew about the others.
Agreed that we definitely need left back depth, and really outside back depth as a whole. Herrera, Kurokawa, and Antley are really the only true outside backs on the roster unless we’re making Peglow be a wing-back like we did with Dajome.
Hopefully the month between now and the first game gives them enough time to find and sign a couple more guys to help fill things out.
Apparently San Diego is parting ways with Chucky Lozano. I don’t know exactly what went down between him and the team, but… he’s available and we have an opening.
Would be expensive to pay, surely, but 9G/8A in 27 games last year isn’t bad. Could be worth looking into at least.
Oh yeah, his base salary was $6 million last year. Benteke’s was $4.5 million. So, that’s probably not happening.
Would be hilarious if we somehow got him like Atlanta got Klich from us. We pay him like $100k or something, SD pays him $5.9M and commits a DP spot to him
Hirving Lozano needs a fresh start to life in MLS. I would say that DCU is the place for that to happen. What do we have to lose?!
Didn’t Benteke have 9 goals last season?