MLS “Sprint” Season, new Fifa coaching requirement for women’s matches, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
Happy Friday! I have a busy day ahead of me (so many work calls), but my reward will be the first Washington Spirit away game of the season! Here’s hoping they’ve made the necessary adjustments to their attack by then…. Regardless of the outcome, I have already made myself some scone plans for the weekend.
2027 MLS Sprint Season to Launch Major League Soccer’s Transition into New Era (D.C. United)
I kind of can’t believe MLS is actually going to transition to a fall-to-spring schedule, but it’s feeling a bit more real now. They’ve announced plans for a shortened season in the beginning of 2027 (a clausura, if you will) to tide fans over before the start of the 2027-28 season.
Filipinas book second straight World Cup appearance with rout of Uzbekistan (ABC-CBN)
After Thursday’s 2-0 win against Uzbekistan, the Philippines Women’s National Team has qualified for its second consecutive (and all-time) World Cup. Special congratulations to DC Power’s Carleigh Frilles and Katrina Guillou, who both started the qualifying match!
FIFA mandates woman coach or assistant for women’s competitions (ESPN)
This is an interesting rule, although I would hope most NWSL teams could already comply without needing any new hires. (The Spirit have two female assistant coaches. DC Power have one.) I do wish this kind of thing wasn’t seen as necessary to improve the pathways for female coaches and wonder how successful it will be at helping women make the jump from assistant to head coach.
DC Power Football Club Sign University of Virginia Defender Kiki Maki (DC Power FC)
Power FC are still in the fight for a playoff spot and apparently looking to shore up their backline.
Today in: Ok, sure.
It got a little late, waiting on a full U.S. Open Cup update to include, but Virginia Dream FC have advanced to the next round!
As their contract dispute continues, the USL Players Association hopped on the “What were you like in the 90s?” video trend to highlight the poor state of conditions today.
NWSL’s Good Behavior Reduction (Spotrac)
I enjoyed following the progress of the good behavior rule — a mechanism by which NWSL players can get a yellow card removed — throughout last season. Spotrac has plenty of stats on how it worked in its first year.
For those making Friday night plans, the Spirit have revealed their 2026 bar network, bars that should be showing the game without being asked if you show up at kick-off.
Finally, here’s your schedule of events for the weekend. All four teams playing, and nicely spaced so you could watch them all!
| Teams | When | Where | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Washington Spirit vs. Racing Louisville | Fri., Mar. 20 at 8 p.m. | Louisville, KY | Victory+ |
| Loudoun United FC vs. Miami FC | Sat., Mar. 21 at 3 p.m. | Leesburg, VA | ESPN+ |
| Spokane Zephyr FC vs. DC Power FC | Sat., Mar. 21 at 5 p.m. | Spokane, WA | Peacock |
| Atlanta United vs. D.C. United | Sat., Mar. 21 at 7:30 p.m. | Atlanta, GA | AppleTV |
On the FIFA female coaching mandate front, it’s going to be a boon for the women to have more of a shot at a career in soccer past their playing days in environments that otherwise wouldn’t make room for them.
And there is so much natural churn and turmoil in head coaching positions that there will be repeated instances of female assistant coaches stepping in because the squad backs them, they become an interim, and kill it. Happens all the time in the men’s game, no reason is wouldn’t happen in the women’s more often.
That said, I try not to underestimate the desire for male power groups to only favor the complicit. Still, don’t see this development making them any more toxic than they were before.
If you’re a DMV soccer fan, you can literally watch DMV teams play from 3 PM until 9:30 PM. Pretty crazy thought that was not possible only a few years ago.
Also those scones look bomb. That with a nice latte will make for a nice weekend morning breakfast.
DC has announced their international call-ups for the upcoming window:
Baribo — Israel
Peltola — Finland
Hopkins — US U21
Avilez — US U16
Cool, so just our offense, then
I think, for once, we actually don’t have a game during the international window. After this weekend’s game, we don’t play again until April 4 against Dallas. So everyone should be back by then (maybe Herrera and Louis will actually be ready to go by then too)