Spirit Recall Gaines-Ramos, Estcourt and Power Part Ways, MLS GAM Totals, the Beep Test, and More: Thursday Freedom Kicks
Happy Thursday everyone. As Talonesque mentioned yesterday, the Spirit have an announcement planned in Los Angeles for 6 PM ET. Whatever the announcement is, its a big enough deal that Michele Kang and Haley Carter will be there. Given the USWNT are training nearby in Carson, there is a lot of speculation on the internet that the Spirit have found a way resign Trinity Rodman and bring to an end the ongoing intrigue? farce? fiasco? Pick your own appropriate noun. If that is the news, a lot of attention will focus on just how the Spirit accomplished this. Did Trinity accept a deal under the High Impact Player framework? Did the League raise the salary cap? Some unexpected method? Its going to be a long day waiting for the announcement. Until then, lets get to today’s Freedom Kicks.
Washington Spirit Recalls Forward Emma Gaines-Ramos From Loan (Washington Spirit)
The Spirit continue to mold their roster in preparation for the preseason, recalling Gaines-Ramos from Tampa Bay Sun FC. Gaines-Ramos will rejoin the team for preseason training later this month.
Speaking of Spirit players on loan, Jason dug a little more into Heather Stainbrook’s loan.
Chelsea monitoring NWSL star Trinity Rodman over potential move this month (SheKicks)
While there is much hope that the Kang/Carter to Spirit fans on going nightmare, it appears at least one more suitor for Trinity’s services has entered the chat.
DC Power FC and Midfielder Charlie Estcourt Agree to Mutually Terminate Contract (DC Power FC)
DC Power FC returns to action next month for the spring portion of their season. Charlie Estcourt will not rejoin the team when they do, as the Welsh midfielder and Power FC have mutually agreed to part ways.
MLS Publishes 2026 General Allocation Money (GAM) Available to Clubs (MLS)
MLS released where each team stands in terms of GAM allotment. DCU sits in the bottom third of the league (21st) with $4,220,649 in Garber bucks remaining. That’s roughly $2 million more than Austin FC who sit at the bottom of the list. At the other end, Minnesota United have amassed a pretty decent war chest with $7,259,300 in GAM available.
Five Road Trips Every FC Dallas Fan Should Take in 2026 (Big D Soccer)
Shocking to some, DCU is first on the list (and FC Dallas’s schedule). I really appreciate the author’s positive description of the city. Sometimes it feels like folks who haven’t lived in the area tend to ignore everything that is special about DC. It was nice to see someone lean into the positives. I also laughed a little at the Black and Red being a potential marquee opponent.
FIFA exec Jill Ellis wary of U.S. hypocrisy over Qatar as women’s football host (Yahoo Sports)
Ellis argues that critics questioning whether Qatar should host the inaugural Women’s Club World Cup over the countries human rights record and criminalization of homosexuality are hypocritical due to the number of anti-LGBTQIA bills here in the United States. I don’t fully take that as a good faith argument as the overlap in the Venn diagram of people questioning the choice of Qatar and those supporting those bills domestically is close to, if not absolutely, nil. She knows that too.
Kansas City is getting a powerhouse quartet of teams to call the City of Fountains their home away from home during the tournament. I think we officially have a greater than zero chance of a photo emerging of Messi, Harry Kane, or Virgil van Dijk eating KC BBQ with Jason Sudeikis and Brendan Hunt during this time. Also, if you haven’t had a chance to check out the list of approved FIFA base camps for the World Cup, do so here. There some options that generally surprised me.
The World Cup is out of reach for many. The hope lies outside the stadiums (The Guardian)
I’m very curious to see what the various cities do for their respective Fan Fests (and a little disappointed in New Jersey’s organizers). What I am more interested what non-host cities do, if anything, for the World Cup. Hopefully, we’re at a point where all fans are able to safely attend these events when the tournament kicks off.
Man City players to refund traveling fans after Bodø/Glimt loss (ESPN)
I’m a Liverpool fan, so almost everything Manchester City does is anathema to me. I will fully acknowledge this is a classy gesture the team is making, refunding the cost of tickets to the 375 fans who witnessed their shocking upset in person.
On a sad note
For those who may not remember is based in Anne Arundel County and fields an adult team that faced DC United in the US Open Cup in 2017 at the SoccerPlex. Christos scored first and held DCU to just one goal until the 81st minute. This is terrible news. Sending all the best.
I’ll end with Loudoun’s befores and afters from the Beep Test.
Until next time. What did I miss?
“[…] as the Welch midfielder […]” just laughing at this silly typo haha
But agreed on the description of DC from the Dallas fan blog. We do have a special city (and a pretty nice stadium!) that I think everyone should visit.
Thanks for catching that. Going to go correct it.
I haven’t ever been to Dallas, and I try to limit my travel as much as possible to… certain locations. But when I was a high schooler, we hosted a foreign exchange student from Brazil. That guy now lives in Allen, TX with his wife and kids, not too far from Frisco. Someday I’ll go visit them, and catch an FC Dallas game (and trip to the US Soccer Hall of Fame).
Jill Ellis is really doing her dang best to go from the coach that won two world cups and pulled off the crazy swing that was Crystal Dunn at left back, to absolute goblin pariah.
Sometimes successful people can’t help by confuse themselves as an authority on hot button issues, and end up only revealing some twisted, self serving pathology.
Anyway, it does make me wonder what Emma Hayes would think if Chelsea acquired Trin to start on the opposite flank from Thompson.
I imagine it might be a mix of things- it’d be great for the development of their understanding as offensive teammates, would be incredible weapons for a club she obviously has deep roots with, but…
I do wonder if she’d be a bit nervous about a collapse of the domestic league in the US, which is still the most competitive top to bottom in the world.
She might also feel a twinge of “dang, coulda beat Barca with those two” jealousy from her club coaching career.
For the rugby crowd, South Africa vs. New Zealand in Baltimore on September 12th.
https://x.com/ravens/status/2014368078344179911?s=46&t=paPQ8Tf5oWZUMdX9vouocA
MLS announced several transfer window and roster related updates today:
Transfer windows this year will run 1/26 to 3/26 and from 7/12 to 9/2. Roster compliance date is 2/20, roster freeze is 10/9.
The amount of Cash for Player trades a team can make is no longer restricted (it was 2 incoming and 2 outgoing last year)
No age restriction on who can be loaned
International Roster Spots can now be traded for partial years (i.e. you can trade one away in the winter window and have it come back in the summer)
And several other changes
Even when aligning with the rest of the world, MLS processes are best described as byzantine.
The partial year international spots are going to make for some fun negotiations if green cards take too long to go through.
Brooks Lennon is no longer on trial with DC, per Goff. Some sort of injury is hampering his efforts to try to find a new team (Im assuming its from whatever long-term injury he had last season)
Dang.
All things being equal, I would have loved to have both him and Herrera on the roster- they’re good enough that one of them could have even covered for Kurokawa if he got injured on the left- but seems that’s not in the cards
Sucks for him obviously, and now we’re in a pickle having zero depth at outside back.
Yeah, like everyone, I was looking forward to this panning out, and I’m glad they were kicking that tire. But his injury issue is why he was available in the first place, and looks like it was too much to take a chance on. That’s a bummer for us, and especially for Lennon.
And yeah, Sorgut still has a lot that he needs to do. Outside back depth. Goalkeeper depth. Difference makers in the midfield.
I really just want an excellent playmaking DP, whether that’s another flank player or a central talisman. Can’t say we have a prime Canouse style enforcer in the bunch, but I think Weiler could still manage to cobble something together to support a facilitator.
Sean Nealis, CDM.
KC is a good location for a training base for the WC. Chicago and St. Louis would be as well. Why? Near major airport but also in a central time zone–less of an adjustment if you have to fly to the West Coast or East Coast. And probably not the oven that Dallas or Houston would be if you had a camp there.