Loudoun United announces new coach, Heaps comes home, and more: Tuesday Freedom Kicks
Morning beautiful people of DC! I’ll be the first to admit that normally Tuesdays are a bit *light* on DMV footie relevant news and I am able to be a bit more liberal with the content I pick to include. Today, however, is not one of those days as we were inundated with news! All of the local teams made some moves (minus the DC Power). Lets dive right in!
Loudoun United FC Announces Anthony Limbrick as Head Coach
Loudoun announced new coach Anthony Limbrick. the Australian has mainly coached in the UK including a successful spell with the New Saints in Wales winning the league with them in 21-22.
Loudoun United FC Sign Defender Noah Adnan through 2026
Loudoun was a roll today and also announced the signing of Gaithersburg, Maryland native, Noah Adnan. The former Stanford standout also played for FC Cincinnati 2 in MLS NEXT Pro and even played a few games for the first team (mainly in cup games).
Lindsey Heaps comes home: USWNT captain signs with Denver Summit FC (USA Today)
The big news in women’s soccer today is the Colorado native and USWNT captain coming back to these shores. The 31 year old will join the team in the summer and stay on until 2029. I’m curious if she’ll join on a High Impact Player (HIP) contract? 🤔
Speaking of HIP, “Hey Spirits” dives into the topic on the latest episode. Also TIL that our own Annie Elliot is a lawyer by trade.
The Spirit continues to make moves in the offseason as Narumi leaves for Utah, joining another former Spirit in Courtney Brown. By my count, the Spirit now have 11 international players and 8 international slots. The math ain’t mathin’ quite yet…
The NWSL schedule will be released on Thursday! I’m looking forward to being able to plan around away games soon.
Qatar in talks with Fifa to host first Women’s Club World Cup in January 2028 (The Guardian)
Frankly I’m getting tired of the sports washing from Qatar. Also I learned from this article that Qatar had a women’s team but have not played an official game in 12 years. How about they invest in their own domestic women’s team before they think of hosting the first WCWC.
Bob Bradley, Wilfried Nancy and the uphill battle for MLS coaches in Europe (The Guardian)
This is interesting because I mentioned last week in FKs how Nancy’s abysmal 33 day reign in Scotland would affect MLS coaches. Also Bob Bradley really should watch Ted Lasso.
D.C. United Waives Forward Dominique Badji and Defender David Schnegg
There has been rumors about both and now their departures are official. I’m a bit surprised about Schnegg. He led the team in matches (32) and minutes played (2,703) in 2025. But that doesn’t mean much in a Wooden Spoon “winning” season. And after the purchase of Kurokawa, I suppose the writing was on the wall.
It appears as though the former Loudoun United and DC United player (and Clifton, Virginia native) is coming back to the U.S. after a few years in Belgium.
FIFA+ livestreams fuel global in-play betting markets for illegal operators
I loathe sports betting and I’ll leave it at that.
US international Josh Sargent refused to play in FA Cup game, says Norwich coach (AP)
Josh Sargent is allegedly trying to force a move to the MLS this January, perhaps to throw his name into the hat for starting forward at the World Cup.
Mario Balotelli’s best moments: Fireworks, ‘Why Always Me?’ (ESPN)
Finally I end with a fun piece about Italy’s most notorious player of the last ten years. As an Inter Milan fan, I’ve followed his career since his very first game. I always wondered what kind of career he could’ve had with a bit more focus and a lot less shenanigans.
Anyways, that does it for me! I’ll be sipping my coffee and resting my legs after my rec league game last night (I scored and we won!) while cruising through the comments!
I had no idea Annie was a lawyer. Happy to see Yow doing well–Benny always said he was the best finisher on the team. I too hate sports betting. And I too think it’s ridiculous for Qatar to be hosting that competition when they don’t have a women’s league or even just one team that would compete in a Middle Eastern women’s league. The Spirit need to acquire some more international slots. Given the # of GKs on the roster, I’d say that McIver is the next candidate to be traded or released.
Agree on all points, 100%. Sports betting is grotesque.
So, training camp has begun for DC. With Schnegg being waived, the team is now really light on left back depth. Conner Antley can maybe fill in there, but Aaron Herrera is also probably likely to be called up to the Guatemalan national team from time to time, and he’ll be needed on the right.
Even more importantly, the midfield was arguably the weakest part of the team last year. The only additions that Sogut has made are Oscar Avilez and Richie Aman. The team needs some more chance creation in midfield, and likely some beefing up of defensive midfield to go along with Matti Peltola and Brandon Servania.
There were also rumors of Kim Joon Hong being loaned to Korea, which would necessitate bringing in a third goalkeeper as well.
And there’s the third DP to consider.
With Schnegg and Badji waived, the team sits at 27 players on the roster. Lots of moves still to make!
It’s honestly crazy to me that we have 27 players on the roster. Strangely enough, it feels both like a bloated squad and a squad with not a lot of quality. I see a lot more moves being made in the coming weeks.
I think they needed more players. They didn’t have any depth for injuries or national team call ups. And the depth they had was USL level. So not competitive enough for MLS. The only quality improvements, I think, are Baribo and Johnson. Munteanu is an unknown to me. Good in Romania, but will he be good in MLS? So its a gamble. Other signings are a wash to me. I also think some of the young, new players should be out on loan and not first team. I think the coaching will be better and that will help. They still need the summer transfer window to build the team. I am ok with waiting for the summer window for a the 3rd DP because the current ones are locked in for a few years.
We really need an MLS Next team to stick all these young players on to get them minutes….but the team still seems to be letting that process move at a glacial pace.
I heard Estonia has a promising striker…….
I really hope Munteanu is more Luciano Emilio than Erik Sorga…
I will note with those 27 players, currently 11 of them are probably supplemental roster spot guys (I’m making a couple of assumptions there, like Segal and the draft picks, but they most likely are). We can only have 10 of those, so at least one guy is getting sent to either Loudoun or whatever MLSNP team we partner with, and I’d assume more than that will. I would think at least Avilez is getting loaned, maybe Karamoko. Barring any more out-bound moves (like Kim), we’re sitting at 16/20 senior spots filled, so we do still have some wiggle room there. Though, I’m also not surprised if we start the season without all 30 spots being filled.
Goff reports that DC has a trialist: Brooks Lennon, Right-Back/Right-Wing, previously with Atlanta. Goff notes his 2025 salary was $740k, which I assume he will not be getting if he does sign. This would at least give us some quality RB depth (and ensures Antley is the LB depth)
Huh
A lot depends on his cap hit, but given how much Herrera will be absent, he’s solid
Agreed. For the right number, I don’t mind it at all. Also seems to imply we’re going with more of the wing-back route than traditional full-backs
Kurokawa, Herrera, and Lennon have that capability, but I’m still sorta convinced we’re headed for a 4-4-2 rather than a wingback system. None of the players I just listed are deficient further back, and a 4-4-2 requires more dynamic fullbacks than a 4-3-3 arguably.
That said, my assumption is largely based on the idea that Weiler knows Caden Clark is not an elite central playmaker and will be a right midfield winger. If he doesn’t, maybe your assessment is right, but also, oy vey, we’re in trouble
Wait why will Herrera be absent? As far as I know, he’ll play for Guatemala during international windows but often (not always) MLS is on break for those.
We missed our international call-up guys a couple of times last year. But with Guatemala not being in the world cup, I don’t think Herrera will miss quite as much as he did last year. Rowles could be a different story though.
Guatemala for international windows, plus some ability to rest him after he returns, plus injuries that he’s seemed increasingly prone to.
Playing a few less games, even when available, will benefit the team more than needing him for every start
My reading of this is that if United signs Lennon, Herrera is out the door. Very similar to the Schnegg/Kurokawa dynamic. Honestly, I think Lennon is an upgrade over Herrera, and has made quite a career serving in great balls from the right side, which Baribo and Munteanu would feast on.
Maybe, but I hope you’re wrong in that prediction. It’s confounding when even elite European sides have zero depth at key defensive positions. We need to have cover.
But, DC United has ridden this impossibly dangerous reasoning before.
Cincy has officially signed Kristian Fletcher. DC gets 50k in 2027 GAM, and up to an additional 200k GAM if performance incentives are met
Apparently DCU retains a sell on percentage as well.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/fc-cincinnati-sign-forward-kristian-fletcher
Matt Doyle did a run down of every Eastern Conference team’s DP/U-22 situation. He had us in a 2 DP/4 U22/$2M GAM lineup, which is possible. But all the indications we’ve heard from ownership has been that we’ll be going with 3 DPs. That said, if they decide they’re not bringing in a third DP until the summer (which… that’s not great), they should go with the 2 DP lineup model for the first half of the season to get that $1 million in GAM. Last year they opted for the 3 DP model, leaving that GAM on the table and just not signing a third DP.
I don’t know if DC has officially announced anything about that, and Doyle does say that the team could use a DP #10, particularly if they move on from Pirani. DC definitely does need a chance creator, whether Pirani is here or not. I don’t know if that would be a #10 or a winger, because the winger would seem to suit the way that the roster looks right now. Also, he lists Joon and Pirani as the team’s U-22s. I thought that Caden Clark was also a U-22, but maybe he’s been moved off that designation and I just haven’t heard anything about it.
Either way, getting production out of these premium roster slots is going to be pretty crucial. It’s something the team has only been sporadically good at, and a big reason why we haven’t won a playoff game in over a decade.
Sorry I didn’t see your post before my below comment.
Matt Doyle takes a look at the status of all Eastern Conference teams DP/Young DP slots as of this morning.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/eastern-conference-breaking-down-every-team-s-premium-roster-slot-status
Also looks like he thinks Pirani might be on his way out either this transfer window or during the summer given the interest in him last summer.