Coffey on the USWNT’s responsibility to speak, 2026 NWSL kits, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
Hello and happy Friday! My apologies for the slightly late Freedom Kicks. I had a long day yesterday, heading straight to the Spirit Kit Reveal Party in Buzzard Point after work.
In addition to getting an in-person look at the new jerseys, attendees at the event heard from players and front office members about it and the upcoming season. The biggest news was kit-related: the team will add a third kit next year, likely in black. (Also another signing may materialize before the roster compliance deadline, but I have absolutely no details on that.)
Loudoun United, meanwhile, are teasing a signing announcement this morning, so keep an eye out:
Washington Spirit introduce ‘Spirit in Bloom’ kit, and it’s what we’ve been waiting for (The District Press)
If you somehow missed it yesterday, Washington has a new cherry blossom kit. I absolutely love it and was surprised to find it’s so controversial.
The good, the bad, and the boring: Ranking the 2026 NWSL jerseys (The District Press)
Donald shares his thoughts on a pretty varied batch of NWSL kits. I, for one, thank him for being brave enough to say that while Orlando’s jersey has a great message behind it, the execution is… fine.
In the last piece of kit content today (I swear!), I enjoyed this visualization of all the kits NWSL teams will use this year. It’s a good way to get a feel for the teams’ current identities. The Spirit’s combo is surprisingly coherent, while Chicago looks like two completely different teams.
International Preview: Power and Spirit Players in the March Window (The District Press)
Matches for the current women’s international window begin tomorrow. Check out PJ’s article for information on all the Spirit and Power players in attendance and game info to plan your weekend television schedule around.
USLPA authorizes strike with season kickoff looming (ESPN)
Things are looking scary as the USL and PA have still failed to reach an agreement, just a week before the Championship season is set to begin.
USWNT midfielder Sam Coffey says team has ‘responsibility’ to speak out about social issues (The Athletic $)
Good for Sam Coffey! The USWNT has been missing a lot of this energy lately, and I hope some of her teammates are persuaded to share her opinion. This team can and should stand for a lot more than soccer excellence.
MLS Opening Weekend Momentum Carries into Viewership and Social (MLS)
MLS set records in viewership last weekend. Seems like the move from behind a secondary paywall was a good thing. (I know I watched for the first time since the AppleTV deal.)
Lionel Messi tackled to ground as field invaders mar Inter Miami game in Puerto Rico (Yahoo! Sports)
No bueno!
Champions League draw: Real Madrid face Manchester City, Arsenal handed dream path, PSG face Chelsea, more (CBS Sports)
The Champions League Round of 16 draw was going on as I wrapped up this newsletter. Find the details here.
For some Friday fun, enjoy the Canada Women’s National Team celebrating Gabby Carle’s successful MCAT. Congratulations to Gabby! I’m sure she will make a wonderful doctor (in many, many years after her career with Washington Spirit is over).
Finally, your local match schedule for this weekend. We still have just one game, and it’s away, but D.C. United is hosting a watch party at Crystal City Sports Pub. I will probably be enjoying the fact that the games are available on regular Apple TV.
| Teams | When | Where | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| D.C. United vs. Austin FC | Sun., Mar. 1 at 2:30 p.m. | Austin, TX | Apple TV |
Sincere congrats to Gabby on her brilliant achievement, passing the MCATs (for those that don’t know, that’s kind of like the SATs for med school.) They are not cupcake at all.
To do that while playing professional soccer both domestically and internationally makes it all the more impressive.
That’s The Spirit, Gabby!!!!
Well said.
The Spirit in Bloom kit is 10000/10 for me! DCU’s subtle cherry blossom kit a few seasons back was okay but this is bold and I like it! I wish it didn’t have the huge patch of green on the back but it’s a FIFA rule so that the player name/number are clearly visible for the ref. That’s my only slight against it (which they couldn’t get around anyways).
I like the concept and generally like the top. I don’t like moving away from the black unis. Also, I have a question–we’re seeing this cherry blossom top up close and personal. How will it look on a TV screen showing the field and maybe 8 players? I honestly don’t know how that will play–spectacularly or perhaps it will just look like a top with a bunch of confetti on it–we’ll have to see.
I suspect it would look “darker” that the opponents jersey. we’ll see. You are right. I like it tons though.
MLS has released official roster breakdowns for all teams as of today. Notes for DC:
We’re noted as using the 2/4/2 DP/U22 model
Kurokawa and Johnson are on TAM contracts
Hefti is NOT on a TAM contract
Hopkins got moved to the senior roster
We still have 11/10 supplemental spots filled
Kim is also listed as still occupying both a U22 spot AND an international spot. I guess if the Korean team didn’t take on enough of his salary he might still need to occupy the U22 spot, but I don’t really understand him still taking up an international spot
Our use of those U22 slots seems rather wasteful, even putting aside Kim’s status with the team. Pirani is ok (someone mentioned one that he’s actually as productive as you can expect for his roster designation), Kim was a swing and a miss (for our needs, at least), but Clark and {empty}? Clark has to show something, more for his own sake than us at this point. He’s supposed to be an attacker and has so little to show for several teams over the last several years.
Yeah after doing some more digging on this, Charlotte, Miami, and Orlando all have more U22s than they have space for, and each of them has 1 U22 out on loan. So the way the MLS Roster seems to handle that is to just leave them on the roster, but the spot is still actually available for us. So that Kim spot should be open if we want to use it (though that could become an issue if he returns from his loan and we want to keep him)
But in general, there’s sort of 2 approaches to U22 spots. One is promoting young guys on the roster who have performed well, like we did with KDP before trading him. The other is to take a flyer on a young guy that requires a decent amount of transfer fee be paid, and hope that you can develop him into something good. So as far as the second approach goes, Pirani has actually been decent. Some teams (cough Miami cough) have a secret third option of just getting already proven young guys that no one else can get because of that one guy that plays for their team. But I don’t really count them when considering how the rest of the league operates.
Once Clark’s transfer fee is paid off (salary cap-wise), he’ll end up just being a regular player. He only makes ~$400k, so he won’t even be a TAM player when his contract comes up for renewal. But because of his designation as a U22, he currently only hits the roster at like $250k instead of $400k + transfer fee hit.
Some people have speculated that Jackson Hopkins might be signing a U-22 deal soon. Maybe so, and that would definitely be along the lines of Ted KDP. I also kind of wonder if Caden Clark even gets another year with us. Sure, Weiler played Montreal and then immediately convinced ownership to pay a boatload to get clark. But he’s only played 139 minutes over four games so far for the club, and was an unused sub in the opener this year. Weiler has never prioritized using him, even when he’s available. We’ll see how the rest of this year goes.
I hadn’t seen any speculation, but I also had the thought that with him going to the senior roster that they might be signing him to a U22 deal (especially with his contract up after this year, though with an option for 27). He’s really come into his own, so I think that makes some sense to do. And surely, committing a U22 spot to both KDP and Hopkins helps to show the other academy kids that they are valued
An international takes up an international slot. DP, U22, Gen Adidas, or Homegrown. If you don’t have domestic status, you require an international slot.
Well yes, but he’s on loan is my point. He’s not actually here.
Does all this mean they can’t use a 3rd DP unless they to some juggling of the roster.
They can 100% change to the 3 DP rule mid-season if they want to, they would just forego getting the $1 GAM that would come from the 4 U22 model in the second half of the season (they would retain the $1M GAM from the first half of the season). Now, the primary transfer window is still open for a bit longer (I think a couple weeks, but not 100% sure on that). If they find someone DP caliber that they want to sign between now and then, can they? I’m not 100% sure. Given the roster freeze hasn’t happened yet, I would imagine they could do it, but they might have to return any 4 U22 model GAM they’ve already received. Might take some hand waiving to do, but I think its possible. But regardless, going with the 2/4/2 model now does not completely lock us out of a 3rd DP later this season.
I would have preferred us to be using the 3 DP model, but that’s mostly because of what the owners themselves said they were going to do, and because of the big hole in our midfield. But signing three DPs in one window is pretty tricky. Now, players like Hopkins, Peltola, Peglow, and even Pirani and Servania performed pretty well against Philly, and we’re not realistically competing for trophies this year. So the fact that we can use at least $1 million of discretionary GAM in this first part of the season, leaving our regular GAM untouched until that million is gone through, and thus able to be rolled over and accumulate to next year’s GAM strikes me as a pretty good idea. Baribo and Louis are locked down for several years. Our young(ish) players are getting good experience and working towards their prime. We can sign a good third DP when we’re ready, and have more stockpiled GAM ready to fill out our roster. It’s a fine approach.
It’s the approach we should have had last year, but we kept a 3 DP roster style in the hopes of signing Pogba, and then again in the summer window when we didn’t sign anybody. Thus we missed out on the discretionary GAM that could have allowed us to roll over more regular GAM to this year. That was complete roster construction malfeasance, and I guess I’m just glad that Jason Levien isn’t repeating the mistake.
I have an update on my kit coherence opinion, which is that Louisville also looks like three separate teams.
Third jerseys are almost always a very different canvas, but I see your point and raise you. Seattle Reign.