Senegal wins wild AFCON, Commisso passes, and more: MLK Day Freedom Kicks
Happy Monday, everyone. Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in America, and it’s a day to call for service and to honor one of the greatest Americans that has ever graced the earth.
I encourage you all to take some time today to not just throw up a quote but to listen to one of his speeches or talks to understand how he was able to be such a unifier in his 39 short years. Everyone will likely point to the “I Have A Dream” speech, and that’s one of the greatest speeches ever. If you want something different, watch this interview where he talked about the new phase of the civil rights struggle just under a year before he was assassinated.
Chaos at Africa Cup of Nations final after Senegal players walk off field (ESPN)
The AFCON Final was one of the wildest in soccer history, and I watched it all live. I’m not even going to tell you what happened because it wouldn’t do the wildness justice. Find a replay and let it fly. Congrats to Senegal who overcame what would have been one of the most controversial endings ever to win it all.
Rocco Commisso, former New York Cosmos owner and Fiorentina owner, one of the big voices in world soccer, passed away over the weekend.
The DC Power-Washington Spirit conflict on March 13th has been resolved, with DC Power moving their spring home opener to March 12th.
Mauricio Pochettino linked with Tottenham return after World Cup (USA Today)
Poch has been linked with yet another EPL team…seems more likely that he will go back there once the World Cup is done.
Looks like Kim Joon-hong will be headed to the K2 League on loan this season.
Gotham’s Rose Lavelle named U.S. women’s player of year (ESPN)
Congrats to Rose for winning U.S. Soccer Women’s Player of the Year. It was well deserved for the year she had.
Sphere wants to open a second location…at National Harbor?!
The PWHL held a game yesterday at Capital One Arena, and the attendance set a U.S. women’s hockey record for an arena game! Shows that DC is all about women’s sports, and cool events like this one should happen more often!
The Commanders put out a survey for their new stadium, and…are they seriously considering putting in bouncy seats in tribute to RFK?! The Commanders might be doing something very right.
As we close, tonight is the college football national championship. I will don my orange and root for my law school alma mater tonight, so no matter who you may have in that game, pass a thought for me and my blood pressure…Go Canes.
It’s a good thing I was seated (no pun intended) when you mentioned “bouncy seats” for the Commanders new stadium plan. Be still my beating heart–what a great idea this would be.
Now only if they’d done that at Buzzards Point
Take heart- DC may only be 40 or so years from moving in! 😉
What a whiff on Joon-Hong. I don’t think we paid a terribly large amount of money all things considered, it was just risky from a number of angles. Young (especially for a GK), international, behind a leaky defense, expected to start immediately.
A quick look at some of Mackay’s big moves:
*Joon-Hong: benched and loaned out
*Enow: came for $2 million, left on a free after weird contract clause (which is kind of a relief)
*Schnegg: waived (though he was ok)
*Badji: waived, Schnegg had more goal contributions as a left back
*Peltola: not bad, but on a fairly high salary that I don’t see us matching unless he makes a large improvement.
Still lots of room for improvement after cutting our loses, especially in the midfield.
Joon-Hong was a total whiff. He was a deer in the headlights kind of player. I wish him well, nontheless.
It’s not 💯 that Joon’s DCU story is over. He needs a break and a reset, but I’d actually be disappointed if there’s no indication of an offseason reassessment of his capabilities and growth.
I’ve posted this before, but we don’t actually know what his baseline is, let alone his ceiling. Youth prospects can sometimes thrive in a trial by fire, but we just tossed him in the kiln covered in lighter fluid.
This is true, but it’s not just our camp that can decide things anymore (even if we have a 2028 option). He might have a good enough time back in Korea that he requests a transfer. I don’t see Sogut holding it up if we get the money back + a sell on. Things could work out differently and he returns after Johnson’s contract expires, there’s still a lot of time for that day to come.
For sure, I just hope it’s at least a conversation
Solemn MLK Jr. day.
It’s been the mission of some forces to roll back everything he accomplished in the pursuit of voting and civil rights, but I think people need to grasp that he survived that process, and had seemingly acknowledged that there would likely be no greater progress of that kind in that era, though certainly hoped that his actions would be built upon.
He was killed as he was gearing up for a campaign for worker’s rights.
It’s not enough to pad your anti-racism credibility. It’s not enough to say “ look how far we’ve come.” We should protect and build upon his legacy, but that’s not enough, either.
Seek out the oppression and injustice in your lives, and don’t accept it. Making this history is failure.