2026 MLS season begins, Spirit call-up deluge, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
Happy Friday, and happy MLS Opening Weekend! I love the start of a new season, and it seems like D.C. United has at least made some interesting changes in the lead-up to this one. How are you all feeling about it?
Two Washington Spirit Players Called Up to Italy Women’s National Team (Washington Spirit)
Two Washington Spirit Players Called Up to Nigeria Women’s National Team (Washington Spirit)
Washington Spirit Defender Rebeca Bernal Called Up to Mexico Women’s National Team (Washington Spirit)
At this rate, I expect the Spirit to have 11 players in training next week, two of whom are goalies.
Loudoun United FC Announces New York Life as Official Partner (Loudoun United)
A partnership with a company I’ve heard of? Could be a good deal for Loudoun.
You’ll have to click-through for this one, but it’s a very helpful thread of rule changes for the upcoming season, including referee signals.
Welcome to Green Line Soccer (Green Line Soccer)
Just in time for the new season, Jason Anderson launches his new blog!
Ranking all 30 MLS teams by tier for 2026 (Tactics Free Zone)
Matt Doyle’s preseason rankings, in which he doesn’t seem completely out on D.C. United. That has to be good, right?
Did your NWSL club ace the offseason? Analysts grade preseason moves (NWSL)
Why on earth would the NWSL publish something that includes this note: “(NOTE: This does not reflect the move to trade Croix Bethune to the Kansas City Current.)“? The trade was announced over a week ago! Go back to your analyst for an update!
Is the World Cup bump real? MLS is going to find out (The Guardian)
Another look at whether MLS will have (and be able to capitalize on) a World Cup bump this year.
ESPN Will Replace Summer ‘Sunday Night Baseball’ With ‘Women’s Sports Sundays’ (Variety)
Frankly, it’s about time ESPN put more effort into promoting the women’s sports. With several Sunday games this year, the Spirit should be featured a few times.
I love this little kit comparison slide show. An easy way to see who’s upgraded and who’s downgraded.
Finally, your schedule of events for the weekend: D.C. United is BACK!
| Teams | When | Where | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| D.C. United vs. Philadelphia Union | Sat., Feb. 21 at 7:30 p.m. | Washington, DC | Apple TV |
Man, did I love actual journalism surrounding Garber’s words.
The American press seems to not frankly care enough to do anything but detail some top line quotes with zero context or follow up.
I appreciated the couple “sure, Jan” moments scattered throughout the article, and that it dug into the subject.
Our DCU season preview is out as well! I meant to put it out yesterday so that it could be included today, but time ran short for me.
https://thedistrictpress.com/2026/02/20/2026-dc-united-season-preview-what-does-success-look-like/
It really good, given the relative paucity of what we know about this team. We assume it will be better, but competitive? Impossible to determine fully.
Well done, Donald, and Vamos, United!
I have such huge concerns around our midfield.
We’re playing a rather tight 4-4-2 generally, and I actually think Peltola is gonna get back to early signs Peltola this season.
The general reality of CMs in MLS is, they’re usually not incredible. Dax McCarty and Nagbe were way above average distributors, players like Portland’s Chara are friggin rare at the salary they kept him on. You’re not going to be able to spend a ton on them due to cap rules, and using a DP slot there has never, ever been worth it.
If Peglow and whoever plays on the right wing fall back into shape, and Peltola achieves form, I’m actually not as worried there.
Goal generation is gonna be the thing, and while the midfield obviously plays a part there, it’s gonna be more about finding a way to flow forward at times that the more advanced players have to be responsible for. I don’t know if we have the catalyst player to make that happen, but maybe Munteanu surprises big time. Who knows!
I decided to create MLS fantasy leagues if anyone would like to join. Annoyingly, MLS Fantasy is now done through Kickbase app on smartphones. You will need to pick a new team every round apparently. I set a $150 mil limit on the teams, which admittedly is the lowest one.
Here’s the classic league: https://kickbase.app.link/HZndzYh5T0b
Here’s the H2H league: https://kickbase.app.link/izsIk8p5T0b
I just found this from MLS fantasy boss, but here’s a Google Sheet how all players would’ve scored in fantasy last year had Kickbase been used.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wSL2Q8W6HniX_eHmg7yx8NqKWHyTn3lhNFH56kY3-oE/edit?gid=0#gid=0
Here’s a deep dive into how things are scored in the new system:
https://www.kickbase.com/en-us/points-table
Some things stand out from a quick analysis. The top 5 players on DCU in fantasy last year would’ve been.
Overall total
#1 Gabriel Pirani (M) with 2202 total points and an average of 79 pts
#2 Christian Benteke (F) with 2029 total points and an average of 81 pts
#3 Kye Rowles (D) with 1994 pts and an average of 64 pts
#4 Luis Barraza (G) with 1991 pts and an average of 83 pts
#5 David Schnegg (D) with 1981 pts and an average of 62 pts
Average Total:
#1 Luis Barraza (G) with 1991 pts and an average of 83 pts
#2 Gabriel Pirani (M) with 2202 total points and an average of 79 pts
#3 Jordan Farr (G) with 234 pts and an average of 78 pts
#4 Joon-Hong Kim (G) with 571 pts and an average of 71 pts
#5 João Gabriel Martins Peglow (M) with 1622 pts and an average of 58 pts.
Looks like Josh Sargent is getting the trade he wanted. Tom Bogert is reporting that Toronto will pay $22M for him. Tantrums work!
If Sargent plays half the fixtures healthy, I’d be surprised. His injury record is atrocious, and the injury points seem to directly correlate to the middle of a purple patch.
I wouldn’t pay 22 million, but eh, not my money, and Toronto desperately want to be good to great.
What if the salary is in Looneys?
TFC just added Daniel Salloi from Sporting KC too, which I think is a pretty solid move.
SKC should now be a lock for the wooden spoon.
Question for folks; I currently have Peacock for streaming. Is the cheapest way for me to watch DCU this season to do the Peacock/Apple TV bundle for $15 per month? Are there any other discounts or promos available at the moment?
This might be a question for Reddit, or one that has already been answered there
I thought the analyst for the Spirit on the NWSL team pre-season evaluation mailed it in. She mentions Carter and Rodman–admittedly big deals. But what about Di Guglielmo and Martinez? Or the subtractions (Radcliffe and Miura)? Or the differences of returning Moms like Sullivan and Krueger might have (effectively new additions to the team)?
I thought the Wilson article on the WC bump was pap. While he look at serious numbers, the reality is that most countries that have hosted the WC (like France or Brasil) weren’t going to see much of a bump because they already had serious established leagues with world class players. Qatar doesn’t apply–too like ability to expand players or fans. Really the only recent example that’s relevant is South Africa. We’ll see if the US experiences a “bump.” Sadly, I think there is so much that is a wild card at this point: does the US start a war with Iran? What does Trump do that potentially alienates the rest of the world? How active is ICE with traveling fans and people at the games? I’m not trying to make this political, I’m just saying–the WC could be a beautiful experience or we could make it a very ugly experience for a lot of people (completely separate from the experience of the games). And that’s sad.
Haji Wright with a hat trick for Coventry City against Middelsbrough last Monday.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7051114/2026/02/16/haji-wright-hat-trick-video-coventry-usmnt-world-cup/
I’m hoping Pepi gets back in time to have a few games and train up, but Balogun and Wright are on a real tear, and giving Poch some wiggle room.
Could well be all 3 find themselves at more prominent clubs on sizable transfers after the tournament ends, and the window gets going.
Steven Goff is breaking the news that DC is in the process of finalizing a contract for Grant Leveille, the academy goalkeeper that has been with the team in preseason.
Always great to see homegrown kids getting first team deals, but this would really make a lot more sense IF WE HAD AN MLS NEXT PRO TEAM!
Next Pro team is entirely necessary
However,
Having an academy gk train with professionals and be the nominal #3 is fine experience for him. He doesn’t actually need to play any competitive games this season. By next, it’s probably important, but, for now, he’s gonna have his eyes opened to what it means to be a pro soccer player, and to train as a professional goalie. That’s enough of an adjustment that a season focusing on that absorption is fully fine for a teenager.
Well, we already have three goalkeepers. Sean Johnson and Alex Bono are both signed through the 2027 mini-season, and Jordan Farr is signed through this season. I was figuring that Leveille would get an offer when Farr’s contract ended and start being our #3 then. Becoming a pro is a good thing for a young goalie, but his best bet at the moment is to get loaned out to a USL team, or another MLS Next Pro team.
And our own team would be looking fairly intriguing with Leveille, Turner, Avilez, Karamoko, maybe Markovic and Aman, and maybe our other draft picks, plus whatever other academy players are looking close-ish to the pros.
Gah. The whole thing always makes me so upset.
Turner for sure.
Markovic is probably already ahead of Tubbs, and may be a real threat to Bartlett or Rowles if they lose form.