Power FC and Loudoun Lose, More Spirit Call Ups, WCL Results, Italian Fallout, and more: Thursday Freedom Kicks
The less said about last night’s DC Power and Loudoun United matches the better, probably. Instead, I’d rather talk about the moon. Yesterday was a huge day, Artemis II, the mission that will take humanity back to lunar orbit for the first time in 50 years launched. For me the news kind of snuck up on me with everything else going on. That’s a shame. Space and space travel are fascinating. There should have been attention building up to this moment akin (maybe not quite as much) as the Apollo missions. Alas it wasn’t to be. Now on to the headlines because that is why we’re all here.
DC Power drops another crucial match to Lexington SC (DP)
Tough night for DC Power FC and their fans. First the match began 79 minutes late due to a weather delay. Then Lexington proceeded to blank the home team and put a dent in their playoff aspirations. Check out Donald’s recap here.
It was also a rough night for Loudoun as their US Open Cup tie against Richmond went deep into stoppage time before Richmond’s Lucca Dourada found a winner eliminating Loudoun from the tournament.
The Spirit’s Italian dynamic duo received call ups for Le Azzurre’s pair of World Cup qualifying matches against Serbia and Denmark.
In a bit of a surprise, Rodman receives the only Spirit USWNT call up for the trio of matches against AFC Women’s Asian Cup champions Japan.
Sophia Wilson, Tierna Davidson return as USWNT roster named (SSFC)
Donald breaks down the rest of the USWNT roster for the friendlies. We’re slowly working our way back to Triple Espresso time!
Huge news for Japan, they will be lead by an interim coach for the three friendlies with the USWNT.
It looks like part of the reason Japan is moving from Nielsen is they think they can be a better team under a different coach. Considering Nadeshiko just rampaged through the AFC WAC and won the SheBelieves Cup last year, that is a bit scary.
The logic behind this makes sense given the regional sports network industry is a mess. Major League Baseball still uses this model and the league has taken over production and distribution rights for nearly half the league for 2026. However, can MLS position itself to get a more lucrative and better deal than the one they have now? How do they do that in a post-World Cup, probably post-Messi environment.
Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 Draw (US Soccer)
MLS enters the US Open Cup fray in the Round of 32 Draw. DC United is among the MLS teams identified as a home team for this round. Check out everything you need to know before this morning’s draw.
FCB Frauen have been on an absolute tear this season. Across all competitions, they are 29-2-1. Their only loss of the season was to Barcelona in WCL league play. Bayern awaits the winner of the Barcelona/Real Madrid pairing.
Chelsea boss Bompastor slams ref, VAR after Arsenal hair pull (ESPN)
Chelsea won the match, but Arsenal advanced on aggregate. Instead of the result the story at the end of the match was Katie McCabe’s injury time hair pull on Alyssa Thompson. McCabe avoided any sanction, but Chelsea coach Sonia Bompastor was not as lucky. Referee Frida Klarlund issued Bompastor two yellows in quick succession. Check out the incident below:
McCabe later commented on the incident.
Arsenal will face the winner of Wolfsburg/OL Lyonnes.
Italy’s loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina is going over about as well as one would expect.
Canada inch toward “tough choices” after March window (MLS)
Bosnia and Herzegovina will play in Canada’s group. Canada still has significant roster decisions to make before then.
Spain could face sanction for Islamophobic chants during Egypt friendly (Yahoo Sports)
It’s insane we keep having incidents like these. There is no place for them anywhere. I hope we make it through this summer without any similar incidents here.
I’ll end with this…..
As much as its kind of a disappointment to have a team like Italy not in the World Cup, I saw this clip of the reaction and Sarajevo and was happy. It’s a bit easy to forget how meaningful these first time appearances in the World Cup will be for Cabo Verde, Curaçao, Jordan, and Uzbekistan, as well as teams like Bosnia and Herzegovina which don’t qualify frequently.
The joy here made my day a little better.
What did I miss?
DC now has its Open Cup Round of 32 opponent: One Knoxville SC, game to be played at Audi Field. A bit surprised we didnt end up with Richmond