Spirit/Power International Weekend Recap, New Spirit Player Interview, and more: Tuesday Freedom Kicks
Morning DC Footy Folks!
We are 100 days away from the start of the 2026 World Cup (and I get to attend my first ever World Cup game)! More on the World Cup further down, but let’s jump into some local footy news first.
PJ did the heavy lifting and put together a great article recapping all of the womens soccer action from over the weekend that involved both Spirit and Power players.
I am excited about the new CB depth on the Spirit and glad that the Hey Spirits crew gave us a better insight into Tse’s life.
Trinity Rodman appears to suffer back injury recurrence in USWNT win vs. Argentina (USA Today)
As of posting, there’s no real updates on Rodman. I just hope that she’s fit for the season opener that’s only about 10 days away.
Lionel Messi, Inter Miami to visit Trump’s White House to celebrate MLS title (USA Today)
This has not been formally announced yet but Messi and co would visit the White House on March 5th; two days before the match against DCU in Baltimore.
USMNT World Cup roster watch: How many MLS players are pushing for spots? (Yahoo! Sports)
Likely the entire goalkeeping corps will be from the MLS. Diego Luna, Seb Berhalter, Tim Ream, and Cristian Roldan will also likely be on the roster. Any other Americans plying their trade domestically that you think belong on the final World Cup roster? Sound off in the comments!
The curious case of McKennie. I am glad his future is sorted out at least for the next few seasons. Maybe this new sense of stability can propel him to even greater heights.
Iran’s situation at the 2026 World Cup: Will they play? What happens if they don’t? (ESPN)
I mused about this a bit in the comments yesterday. It seems like there is no real precedent to this. However, most speculate that it would be another Asian team that would be invited to play, likely Iraq. Which brings us to…
The World Cup is supposed to inspire hope and unity. This one feels different ($NYT)
This World Cup is only four months away, but it feels like it has barely entered the main stream zeitgeist for reasons varying from safety in Mexico to the US launching an attack on another World Cup participant to insanely high costs of tickets…
The truth about World Cup ticket demand and why USA’s opener has struggled to sell out ($NYT)
TL;DR: There is a massive demand for World Cup tickets. However, that demand is not even and there are still some matches (ex. Uruguay vs Cape Verde) that are not sold out. Primarily it is the more expensive Category 1 tickets that are proving harder to move. The World Cup will most likely be a sell out, but it’ll be interesting to see how FIFA goes about doing it.
I am curious how this new deal with Victory+ will end up looking. What I am really excited for though is womens sports influencer, Coach Jackie, getting her shot at the big time and becoming an official-ish partner of the NWSL.
The Spirit have been pushing the opener as “come see Trinity Rodman” so that may have been a bit premature.
I was so looking forward to going to the WC when it was first awarded to the USA. I didn’t go in 1994 because my wife had literally just given birth. Even though there were tickets to the Saudi match at RFK (can’t remember who else they were playing), I just thought it was bad form for me to say “hey honey, I know you just had a ‘C section’ and all but I’m disappearing for the day, Then we made a deal with my son (who was in HS by this time) that if he got all A’s on his report card we’d do a Father-Son trip to the wC in Germany. He didn’t get all A’s and I thought it would be rubbing his nose in it if I went solo. So I figured “El Mundial is coming to the States, we’ll score tickets–my son, my brothers, and me.” And then I saw the prices. And the convoluted process. Ugh.
After we were awarded hosting rights, but before venues were chosen, I was hoping that there would be some lower-profile random matchup hosted in/around DC. Something like Cabo Verde vs Uzbekistan that wouldn’t have a lot of demand, just so I could say I went to a World Cup game. But after the debacle with the tickets and the prices, I’m honestly glad DC isn’t even hosting anything. Takes away the temptation and also keeps the chaos that the event is currently generating away. Its amazing how quickly this has gone from “Oh cool we get to host it!” to “are we sure this shouldn’t have been somewhere else?”
There’s no precedence for a World Cup host nation launching a (insert whatever word you feel appropriate for this, but it’s essentially a one sided war involving hundreds of bombed targets and the deaths of a nation’s leader as well as his likeliest replacements). Further than that, there’s definitely no precedence for one of the teams to duly qualify for that tournament being the country attacked by the host, especially a handful of months before the tournament. It’s pretty clear that this consideration is not remotely a deterrent for those who attacked, but it is an incredible sticking point in a forum that the world cares about and understands, even if there’s general indifference to bombings in remote places.
The Iranian national team will have sympathy and support, even amongst a wide swath of the American people. They’ve earned their place in the number of the competitors, and are dominant in their qualifying region. Strong program, worthy players, by all rights should be able to compete proudly and comfortably in a normal US.
This is not a normal US. The only thing that would be more sinister than the US government telling them they’re not welcome would be to invite them in. If the latter happens, Iran should decline in protest, and for their own safety and security.
That’s the reality as I see if for this tournament. We shouldn’t pretend it is otherwise, but instead dedicate ourselves to making sure this shameful chapter is not a volume.
I agree that they have a proud and respected program. We should never block them from coming. They are not the Iranian Islamic Republic Regime.
I sincerely hope they come, unless the players do not want to do so. That would be their call.
I know this is a soccer thread, and I have a responsibility to stay in certain parameters as a blog contributor.
That said, just this once, I think it’s worth saying that US intervention and influence in these places isn’t the pathway to people’s voices being heard. It’s time and again the reason they are not, and there are few clearer examples than our history with Iran.
See here for what I mean.
https://www.npr.org/2026/03/02/nx-s1-5731590/us-iran-relations-history-coup-revolution-nuclear
Self determination isn’t built on these actions, and it is never the true purpose of them.
I think Americans need to grapple with the consequences of what we do elsewhere, because we’re fighting the products of our own influence, not curing them.
I don’t think you did anything “wrong” as a blog contributor here. You always have interesting opinions.
I just want to advocate for the participation of the Iranian team in the World Cup. They earned it, and I don’t think politics should take it away. It should be their choice to make.
Fair enough.
I have very real concerns for their safety and the international incident that would result from them not being safe if they did come.
We’ll see how this plays out, but best case scenario for them is being able to play somewhere safely by the time the World Cup is over.
Your concerns have merit. I bet we could shot gun a list of them. Sigh.
I guess we are stuck with what happens. I don’t have a crystal ball on this one.
That article traffics in what’s been a pervasive, and somewhat misguided, very simplified narrative about Mosaddegh, one that I’ve always assumed is the ‘truth,’ until I read a post about it that offered more detail. Mossadegh was a PM, appointed by the Shah — one in a long line just in the 8 years following the end of WWII. He may have had more of a power base than the others. At one point, the Shah had dismissed him but Mossadegh forced a reversal.
He wanted his power base, and without any authority organized a referendum to dissolve the parliament and give him power to rule on his own. Allegedly got 99% — no one believes that wasn’t rigged. There was no secret ballot, — Yes and No voters went into different tents to vote — and the no votes were in the single digits, except in Tehran where there were 67 no votes. The Shah declared it fraud.
There were multiple attempts at a coup — the first, organized by CIA, failed, because Mossadegh had warning. The CIA and UK continued to foment street protest. Eventually a general organized a successful coup.The Shah, who had waited this drama out in Rome, returned, with new powers passed by the newly reinstalled Parliament. Mossadegh did have some claim to popular support and even electoral support, but his tenure was complicated, Not democratic. Ironically he lost the support of the top Ayatollah who wanted an Islamist gov’t, which Mossadegh opposed. And yet, 26 years later, it was a different Ayatollah who brought down the Shah.
To the extent that the UK, CIA and Eisenhower sought to remove Mossadegh and bore responsibility for it, then it really backfired — but many historians think CIA itself, and Kermit Roosevelt — misrepresented, overstated their actual role in bringing about the coup.
Can’t argue with anything in your post, but we finally have a sensible rationale for the Iran war — this might be the thing that most unites Iraqis in patriotism, more than anything else the US has done.
Also, do we really need to go through this Captcha foolishness just to post a comment here?
You might be playing tongue in cheek, but no one in the region feels more secure knowing that the US has already forgotten the lessons most aren’t old enough to forget. And none of them believe Iran would be it.
MLS Power Rankings have DC dropping from 20th to 22nd. Still higher than I think most people would have anticipated. And we’re above Philly, which is just hilarious to see.
ESPN’s power rankings dropped us from 20th to 23rd. They have Philly in 18th. Below us are Colorado, Orlando, Toronto, Atlanta, SKC, Revs, and Montreal.
Not soccer related, but just so darn adorable. Former Washington National Max Scherzer’s daughter wrote a letter to the Toronto Blue Jays asking them to resign her dad as a free agent.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7083764/2026/03/03/blue-jays-pitcher-max-scherzer-contract-daughter-letter/
To be honest, I don’t know why this hasn’t happened. Maybe he’s asking for too much money.
He just resigned with Toronto a couple days ago. 1 year deal, $3mil + $10 mil in performance incentives.
MLS and the Vancouver Whitecaps have to pay up for using Messi in the marketing of the 2024 Miami at Vancouver game, but Messi didn’t play. So rules the British Columbia Supreme Court to the tune of CAN $475,000 (US $347,000) in the class action lawsuit.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7082743/2026/03/03/vancouver-mls-lionel-messi-2024/
Something tells me this isn’t a great sign in all of those “Whitecaps might leave Vancouver” rumors
But where would they move the franchise? If they leave Vancouver they’d also leave behind the Whitecaps name one would assume.
MLS would gladly gobble up an expansion fee from (large metropolitan area), and then turn around and gobble up another large expansion fee from whoever would buy Vancouver. If it gets to that, which I hope it doesn’t.
I would imagine the Whitecaps name would stay in Vancouver, especially since its been there longer than the league. And it could be used if they ever put another team there again (similar to the Earthquakes). But if they moved to a coastal area, Whtiecaps could easily mean wave crests, so I could actually see it working elsewhere (though most of the places mentioned that they could move are not coastal)
Not if they moved to a city on the beach with big waves (ie: “white caps”).
Makes total sense to me that Inter Miami are showing up days before the match with DC United. Have to get acclimated tot he altitude in Baltimore.
Please — I am begging you to remove the Captcha screen.
I just tried making a comment, and I am not seeing a Captcha screen. Are other people having this issue?
If you aren’t signed in via Jetpack you get a captcha. I think its just a inherent property of being on WordPress, but I could be wrong. I see it when I’m at work since I don’t sign into my Google account on my work computer. I’m fine when I’m at home on my personal comptuers.
I’ve had to do a Captcha for every comment I’ve ever made on this site. I figure it’s just the way things are. I don’t mind that as much as having to reload to get new comments to show up, and then those new comments not being marked as such.
Well, Brendan, it’s just you! ; )
Annie, it’s inconsistent. About 60% of time, no Captcha screen. But then it rears its ugly head….
The US doesn’t crack ESPN’s top 15 World Cup power rankings 100 days out:
https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/id/48081388/fifa-world-cup-power-rankings-spain-brazil-germany-england-argentina