DC United lose to Messi, DC Power win, and more: Monday Freedom Kicks
Happy Monday, y’all. It was a busy weekend of soccer and soccer moments. Spirit Fest was a lot of fun yesterday and I’m excited for the home openers for DC Power on Thursday (their spring home opener, at least) and the Spirit on Friday! Here’s the rest of what happened over the weekend.
Lionel Messi scores as DC United lose to Inter Miami (DP)
We start in Baltimore, where a M&T Bank Stadium record crowd saw DC United take on Lionel Messi and Inter Miami. Messi got a goal, DC United tried to fight back from down 2-0, but came up just short in a 2-1 defeat.
DC Power FC beats Brooklyn FC on the road in terrific display (DP)
Washington Spirit loanee Sara Wojdelko got the clean sheet in her first start, and DC Power wins again on the road over Brooklyn.
USWNT win SheBelieves Cup with perfect run (SSFC)
The USWNT complete a clean sweep in the SheBelieves Cup, beating Colombia to claim the title.
The USLPA is still in talks with the USL over a collective bargaining agreement for the USL Championship. This weekend, players from all teams started their opening matches by standing still for a minute to call attention to their fight.
The USL responded by directing broadcasts to cut away from the protest and call it a “delay” to try and deflect away from it. Truly nasty work.
What happens if Iran does not play at the World Cup? (The Athletic)
A breakdown of what could happen should Iran decide to pull out of the World Cup this summer because of the war that was brought to its doorstep by the United States and Israel.
Iraq coach Arnold asks FIFA to reschedule its WC playoff (ESPN)
Meanwhile, because of the war, Iraq can’t get its players to Mexico for their inter-confederation playoff match on the 31st. FIFA said “hey, drive 25 hours to Istanbul and catch a flight from there.” That’s just not feasible. So, Iraq’s coach is asking for that match to be postponed until a week or so before the start of the World Cup in the hopes they can get their players free for it.
Foxborough said “FIFA better have our money!” If they don’t, they won’t issue the license necessary to host World Cup matches.
USMNT defender Sergino Dest suffers hamstring injury with PSV (USA Today)
Not again. Sergiño Dest has picked up another hamstring injury. Hopefully it’s not serious and he’s back on the field soon…we’re gonna need him this summer.
Masked fan unplugs VAR monitor in German match (BBC)
At a German match, some of the fans didn’t want the ref to look at VAR for a penalty that was called. So, they yanked the cord out. The ref awarded the penalty since he couldn’t look at VAR. Wow haha.
While Trump monetises war, Iran women’s team deliver great act of sporting heroism (The Guardian)
The Iran women’s national team took a stand and refused to sing the Iranian national anthem in protest of the current regime. It’s a statement that puts them in danger, but their courage is something to admire and amplify.
Enjoy the week, everyone.
I’m less impressed by the USWNT winning another “She Believes” Cup and more about having to play 3 teams who were all pretty physical, in a compressed schedule (ie: similar to a WC or Olympics situation). That’s good prep. Also, not loosing composure when confronted with physical play.
I’ve got questions about the status of a couple of Spirit players. What is happening with Casey Krueger and Ashley Hatch? I assume both are coming back–how soon before they are expected to be able to play? And my assumption about Kingsbury is she’s effectively out for the season.
In the Miami match, in the first half with Pirani being relatively ineffective on the right flank, I’m wondering why bringing in Stroud wasn’t the next option? I really like having Hopkins in the box or shooting from the edge of the box–he makes good things happen.
And yes, that was cheesy with the USL and the broadcast. Reminds me of the Spirit’s previous owner having the National Anthem played while the players were in the “locker room” (not really such a thing at the Sportsplex) so Rapinoe couldn’t take a knee.
Stroud was horrific against Austin. Not even a stop gap offensively anymore, and it didn’t look like he was locking it down defensively, either.
Stroud was not even in the gameday roster, I believe.
From what I can see that is confirmed. He wasn’t in the squad for the game.
Stroud has lost his effectiveness. It does not please me to say this.
I will not miss Dest constantly calculating how he can make himself look skillful rather than locking in on the needs of the team or the in-game realities. The wingback system suits him, but I disagree that he’s needed for success.
I’m kind of heartened by DC’s performance so far. They don’t have a great record, they look kind of anemic offensively, but…
They’ve played a fairly tough schedule so far. Philadelphia and Austin are both nightmare teams for DC, and then having to play Miami. They’ve acquitted themselves well defensively in those games, usually just making a critical error or two. Those get compounded because of how little we score.
But if Munteanu can be starting and provide something, and if Markovic takes over for Servania, and we start playing some more beatable opponents… well, it’s not a stew yet, but there’s something there.
This is where I’m at too. The performance in the Miami game was overall pretty good, except for 1 big mistake and then Messi just doing his thing. In the Asutin game, they played fine other than set pieces. We’re certainly looking a lot better than we did last year. Baribo’s got 2 goals, which is a good start. And Louis looked a lot better in the Miami game than he had previously — I’d expect him to start the next game at this point. Seeing the trust Weiler has in Markovic has been wild, too. Its been quite a while since we’ve seen this much commitment to playing a draft pick this quickly
The set pieces in Austin had fortunate outcomes score-wise. That could have been a total blow out. Still, an improvement is seen through the coaching and implementations.
Herrera? Did I miss something? (seriously)
Herrera’s been listed on the injury report the last two weeks as “OUT” with “Lower Leg” listed as the reason. He, Segal, and Karamoko are all out with the same injury.
I’m not putting any money on him appearing for us again.
I fully expect him to play RM when he’s healthy, at least some.
I just think he wants out
Weiler said in last week’s presser that Herrera isn’t quite healed yet but that he is almost there and plans to integrate him as soon as he’s ready.
I’d love for Herrera to play- if he played RM, maybe Hopkins becomes our best second striker
It’s difficult to generalize with a small sample size. That said, our defense seems much tighter, much better. That alone makes us a significantly better team. It means we’ll be in a lot of games we’re being out-played in–because we won’t trail by 3-4-5 goals. And Baribo seems like the real deal–a true “fox in the box” who finishes. It remains to be seen if we can generate the movement and possession to consistently give him chances. But a lot of the pieces seem to be there. Now we need to see if others develop (ie: Munteanu, etc.) or if we can fill in those gaps.
I would say we’ve regressed defensively on set pieces, or maybe Benteke was covering up that weakness last year?
I just think Austin were strong on them, Stroud and Kijima as starters weren’t a great help for much of it, and Sean Johnson back peddled and fell down twice for balls well out of reach, and the second time removed Rowles with his fall.
I suspect the majority of teams in MLS won’t be as strong there as Austin.
In tangentially related to DCU news, Yaw Yeboah, dude DCU tried to sign 5 years ago only to lose out to the Crew, has been dealt a lifetime ban by MLS for wagering on MLS games. Derrick Jones, too.
Beat me to it. Here’s a link from The Athletic (New York Times Pay Wall) about it: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7102073/2026/03/09/mls-players-banned-life-gambling-derrick-jones-yaw-yeboah/