DC United win, Spirit lose, and more: Monday Freedom Kicks
Happy Monday, everyone. There is going to be some crazy weather today, so everyone please stay safe. Let’s chat over what happened this weekend in soccer:
Late Baribo penalty helps DC United beat Chicago Fire (DP)
DC United went on the road to Chicago and they come home with 3 points after a 2-1 win that was marred by Tai Baribo being the recipient of an alleged discriminatory slur.
Washington Spirit can’t find goals in home opener loss to Portland Thorns (DP)
It was honestly a fun night at Rowdy Audi on Friday night, another sellout crowd for the Washington Spirit. Unfortunately, they open up the season with a 1-0 loss.
DC Power looks to be adding another defender to the mix:
DC United loans Garrison Tubbs to Orange County SC (DP)
Meanwhile, Garrison Tubbs heads west in search of playing time. He’ll be on loan with Orange County SC this season.
Introducing Anthony Limbrick: New Manager at Loudoun United (DP)
Ryan sits down with the new Loudoun United coach for an in depth interview. Loudoun opened up the season with a 3-2 loss to the defending champions Pittsburgh Riverhounds at home.
U.S. Soccer officially releases 2026 jerseys (SSFC)
The new U.S. jerseys are out! I have the details on the home and away look for the USMNT and USWNT. Now that they’re officially released, what do you think? Y’all know my thoughts on the Stripes jersey…WIN.
On the USA Soccercast, I got a chance to speak with Maribeth Towers of U.S. Soccer, who gave some great insight into the design process. Have a listen on this Monday!
Spain v Argentina ‘Finalissima’ match in Qatar cancelled due to Middle East war (The Guardian)
The Finalissima will be canceled due to the war in the Middle East. Argentina and Spain couldn’t agree on a new date and location for the match, so it will be scrapped entirely.
Arsenal phenom Max Dowman becomes youngest Premier League scorer ever (USA Today)
At 16 years old, I was barely driving and starting to think about colleges. Max Dowman scored in the Premier League. I still think the comparison is 1 and 1A, but this is still really cool.
Joan Laporta re-elected Barcelona president in landslide (ESPN)
Joan Laporta has been voted to another term as Barcelona’s president after resigning so he could trigger new elections and be eligible to run. He won overwhelmingly.
FIFA cuts World Cup 2026 operating budget by over $100m (The Athletic)
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(Editor’s note: This is not fine.)
U.S. Hotel Industry Starting To Worry About The World Cup (Forbes)
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(Editor’s note: This is also really not fine.)
Former DCU Homegrown Griffin Yow gets his first goal with the New England Revolution in a rout.
Stay safe with the weather today, y’all.
Richie Aman got a pretty nice assist for Loudoun in a substitute appearance.
For instance, I tried to upvote Brendan’s post about Richie Aman twice and each time was told I can’t vote for my own post.
Same issue here
Glad to see Yow get a goal. I always liked him as a player.
And I like the USMNT WC uniforms. I’ll be going to Chicago for the USA-Germany pre-WC match so I may just have to buy one of these suckers (since my other USMNT jerseys don’t come close to either).
Last of all–there is a site bug. Many times when I go to upvote someone else’s post, I get a message that I can’t upvote my own post.
Same happened to me.
It’s sorta crazy that Weiler has gotten this squad to function well enough to win two games, and Gonzalez for the Spirit didn’t seem to fathom that Croix’s departure needed to be solved till 70 minutes had already gone, they’d produced effectively no clear chances, and they were down a goal in their home opener.
Gonzalez threw on Cantore, Martinez, and Bolt to find some way to get things going, but they clearly had no defined roles or understanding of how they were supposed to make this 4-2-4 work at that point. Still, it generated more than they had the entire first half.
Leicy Santos did well when Croix was also on the field, but this should put the “she can be our 10” discussion to rest. Creativity and passing range do not make a 10 by themselves. She couldn’t carry the ball, her first touch did not allow her to beat pressure receiving the ball, and she had no pace to press the backline aggressively. Bernal was basically anchoring nothing, because there was nothing going forward centrally. Trin and Rose were locked down on the wings, cuz they knew no one else would disrupt.
So, Weiler is getting Baribo chances, and has found a way to make Peltola an
All star. Gonzalez’ turn.
I think Peltola had all the promise but just needed a coach to show him some confidence. Lesesne was jerking him in and out of the lineup and Peltola didn’t seem able to please him.
Weiler has started him every game from day 1 and giving him some freedom to move around. I ams sure he also is helping him in various ways in practice. Weiler seems to be a developmental coach.
Now the next big project is Hopkins because the wheels seem to be falling off. He has potential but really has a long way to go.
Hopkins had an off game. He’s going to be fine. He needs to calm down, that’s for sure. Right now he’s filling a need for the team and not necessarily being put in his best spot.
Think he’s just been hit a lot due to his ball carrying and relevance to the attack these games, had a knock after the opener, and needed to have an earlier sub against Chicago.
Attacking depth is the next step, but we definitely don’t have it right now. On the wings, it’s Hopkins and Peglow, and the a cliff unless Clark and Turner step up.
Hopkins very much came online in the opener, his play since that late knock on the night I don’t think is a reflection of his progress, and definitely not a sign of regression.
Went to the Spirit opener and I have to say, the vibe is so different than a DCU game in a good way.
Surprise result for me in the DCU win. I think the PK’s evened out and the result was fair.
Or strikers per the DCU website are:
Baribo
Karamoko
Munteneau
Murrell
Peglow
Segal
Turner
Baribo is the only proven MLS scorer other than Benteke, oh wait.
But the list doesn’t matter. We know Pirani is being put up front with Baribo.
Peglow and Turner aren’t strikers, Karamoko, Munteanu, and Segal are on the injured list, and Murrell has gotten scant minutes. Thankfully, Baribo is enjoying a hot spell!
That is the problem. Who will step up to score besides Baribo? This is like having a Benteke offense again.
Baribo is responsible for 75% of our goals. Small sample size, but that’s even higher than Benteke. The hope was that Louis would share the load, but it sounds like his injury is kind of severe.
Peltola makes the bench in this week’s Team of the Week (or “Match Day” as MLS likes to say now)
I like that the team did a little group celebration following Baribo’s PK. To me, it shows good esprit de corps. One of the notable things in watching old highlights of the 90s teams is when they would score, a bunch of players would come together and go around in a circle while putting their hands in the middle. It was sort of a signature celebration, regardless of who scored.
I’m not saying we need to see that every time, but it was cool to have it then.
Over the weekend, the US Women’s Eagle 7s finished 3rd in the home and final stop of the HSBC SVNS Series in NYC.
Saturday’s pool play:
USA 24 – Canada 0
USA 47 – Japan 0
USA 19 – Australia 26
Sunday’s Playoff Round
Semi-final
USA 14 – New Zealand 26
3rd Place match
USA 26 – Fiji 17
https://eagles.rugby/news/usa-womens-sevens-level-up-to-take-3rd-place-at-home-at-nyc-svns-2026315
Next up is the HSBC SVNS World Championship which begins in April after the final 2 rounds of HSBC SVNS Two Series
This weekend, the US Men’s Eagle 7s return to action with the 2nd stop of the HSBC SVNS Two Series in Montevideo, Uruguay. The games will be streamed on Paramount+.
Saturday’s matches:
USA vs Kenya – 11:32 AM ET
USA vs Uruguay – 1:57 PM ET
USA vs Canada – 4:45 PM ET
Sunday’s matches:
USA vs Belgium – 2:09 PM ET
USA vs Germany – 5:25 PM ET
Headed into this stop, the US sit 2nd in the SVNS 2 Series. After all 3 stops the top 4 men’s teams and the top 4 women’s teams will join the teams from the HSBC SVNS series for the HSBC World Championship Series.
https://eagles.rugby/news/usa-mens-eagles-sevens-head-south-for-final-svns-2-stops-2026316