DC United “Cupset”, Columbus punts Richmond, Record Crowds in Seattle, a “Messi” lawsuit, and more: Thursday Freedom Kicks
Happy Thursday. I’m still kind of in a mood about last night’s crashout in the USOC. That being said, I do still (most of the time) enjoy the USOC and how weird things can happen. Just not right now though. On to the headlines.
DC United Cupset on penalties by One Knoxville SC (DP)
The Black and Red fell to One Nashville of League One. Donald provides a detailed summary of a night DC United and their fans will want to forget, but will not hear the end of for a while.
Columbus Crew record first U.S. Open Cup win since 2023: Replay (USA Today)
In general, it was not a good night for local teams in the USOC. Columbus cruised to a 3-0 victory over the Richmond Kickers. The Crew will now host One Knoxville.
NWSL Moves to Restrict Which Brands Players Can Wear on the Field (Front Office Sports)
This whole pay-to-play deal is anti-competitive and a whole lot of effort for a really low payday for the league. Its going to allow Nike and Adidas to consolidate the market. For the players, its going to hurt their earning ability. I am shocked the NWSLPA signed off on it.
World Cup Transit Is Broken Before It Has Begun (Defector)
Getting to and from World Cup matches seems like it is going to be a mess.
USWNT and Japan set record for largest crowd in Seattle women’s sports history (All for XI)
The records keep falling everywhere. Imagine if US Soccer priced tickets more reasonably and scheduled matches in markets that haven’t hosted the USWNT in 9 years on weekends instead of school nights just how packed it could have been.
NWSL has built an audience that fills NFL stadiums. Is it time to dream big on the final venue?
While it could be an interesting future option, I don’t know of the league is there yet. From a practical standpoint, NWSL average attendance was just under 11,000 fans per game. On top of that, there are a lot of logistical issues that complicate this idea.
A long-term plan with mixed results: how Matt Crocker’s US Soccer tenure stacked up (The Guardian)
Arguably, we won’t know the extent of how successful Crocker’s tenure was until fall 2028, after both World Cups and the Olympic tournaments. Hiring Emma Hayes was a slam dunk if I may mix sports metaphors. It was also probably the easiest decision he had to make. The rest we will just have to wait and see.
Southwest Area Commission opposes McCoy Park giveaway in NWSL deal (Yahoo News)
Jessica Berman announced we would know the newest NWSL franchise this year. The Haslam family and Columbus seem to be pushing hard to be that franchise. They already have a stadium to play in. The big holdup seems to be a training facility, which appears to have hit a speed bump. I will admit I am a little torn on this. Columbus has the fan base to support a team, but so do the Twin Cities and Philly. Ultimately my concern revolve around the ownership group.
MLS Star Lionel Messi Hit With Seven-Figure Lawsuit (Yahoo Sports)
Messi and the Argentine Federation are being sued by a promoter for a pair of friendlies from last October. Messi didn’t play in the first match, which the litigants claim he was contractually obligated to do. The second match was moved from Chicago due to “civil disturbances”. I am neither a lawyer, nor did I stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night so I can’t comment on the merits. Common sense does cast some doubt on the Chicago part of the lawsuit.
Matarazzo reaching new heights for U.S. coaches in Europe at Real Sociedad (ESPN)
Matarazzo has had quite an impact at Real Sociedad. The team has gone from near the relegation zone to near a Champion’s League spot. This weekend they will play for the Copa del Rey where Matarazzo could become the first American coach to win a major European trophy. I don’t suppose he’d be interested in resuscitating another down on their luck club, much closer to home, right?
Yeah, didn’t think so.
“Do it right instead of rushed” – WPSL PRO to launch in 2028 (Northland Soccer Journal)
Divisions in the US are a little convoluted. You have NWSL and the Gainbridge Super League the top of the pyramid and then the short season amateurs, with a huge gap in between. WPSL PRO will look to bridge that gap when it rolls out in 2028. WPSL Director Gina Prodan Kelly talks about their plans.
Liverpool forward Hugo Ekitike to miss the World Cup for France with leg injury (AP)
Heratbreaking for Ekitike.
I’ll end with this.
National Museum of American History Announces New Acquisitions (Smithsonian Institute)
This is pretty cool. Former Spirit and USWNT goalkeer and current Spirit assistant goalkeeping coach and set piece specialist Nicole Barnhart donated goalkeeping gloves, and NWSL union shirts to the Smithsonian. The museum acquired her items along with Ilona Maher rugby jerseys, ice dancing costumes belonging to Madison Chock and Evan Bates, and other historic items. I am somewhat questioning including art from Superman IV: The Quest for Peace.
What did I miss?
So if (when) we end up losing 6-0 or 7-0 to the worst team in the league this weekend, do we think Weiler ends up being let go already? Or does he still have a bit of a longer leash at this point?
You can’t rule out anything with this organization. I can guarantee we’ll lose more games by 6 or 7 goals if they really do something that stupid. The players know their jobs are on the line, and he seems to have the support of the guys who have shown both the skill and mentality to compete (Peltola especially often echoes Weiler’s points of emphasis).
At the end of the day, despite strengthening defensively (?) from last year, we’re still not better offensively. That’s a lack of talent on the roster. We can’t even bunker properly without a target forward, so BennyBall 1.0 isn’t an option.
Yeah, I think its safe to say that the defense has improved largely from last year. Peltola and Baribo are also good. Its just the issue of the space between Peltola and Baribo. Hopkins has shown a lot of promise under Weiler, but has been really streaky and Weiler noted as much in the press conference last night.
Worth remembering that our midfield was pretty much the weakest part of our team last year, and the only improvements that Sogut made to it were signing 15 year old Oscar Avilez at the end of last year, and drafting Richie Aman. And then they sent Aman on loan to Loudoun.
I guess if you’re looking at last year to include Avilez, then you can also include Caden Clark. But despite the story that Weiler saw Clark at Montreal and wanted to go get him, he has never given Clark much playing time. He has yet to crack 200 minutes for the club, and I think he only has one start. So I do kind of wonder just how much Weiler was involved in getting Clark, and while he seemed more active in bringing in Munteanu, there’s been a similar treatment there.
Anyway, the point is that the midfield was weak last year, and basically nothing done to strengthen it in the winter window. We might have hoped that Pirani and Hopkins could continue their growth, and that Jared Stroud might not be as woeful as he was in 2025, but… shrug.
I will likely never rue the day that I bailed after 30 years on my season tickets. This franchise is really bad. Knoxville….
Think it’s actually worse than that, cuz I suspect that Weiler’s gonna have a hard time locking in mentally due to a dark cloud that seems to be fully overhead and ready to open a monsoon.
Louis Munteanu wasn’t a scouting error. There’s nothing he showed last night to indicate that they saw something either in the data or in his potential to warrant triggering a 7 million dollar transfer and locking in a DP designation, which is a vital MLS franchise resource.
It also seems highly unlikely that the owners knew what they were signing off on and paying for.
There’s basically no one in the FO but Sogut and Weiler- Kasper likely didn’t even touch this.
Logically, the owners have no incentive to engage in some short of shady deal involving a player transfer- they’re finance guys, you wanna bribe someone, there are much less public ways to do it, and they wanted this season to have an uptick. They have every reason to be breathing down the necks of whoever coordinated this, and asking where the money went to and who benefited. Cuz it sure as hell wasn’t the squad getting the boost on the field. More likely it’s some Romanian in the soccer sphere there laughing it up as they size up their next grift.
In something like this, the parties who allowed it are going to be guilty till proven innocent in terms of professional repercussions from the owners.
Something is going down, and focusing on an away game isn’t likely to be the primary thing taking up oxygen. A DP scores a brace in this game. He didn’t even look like a pro, and that’s relative to any of the standouts for Knoxville, let alone DC.
Wait accountability in DCU? Is that even possible?
Only for doing something incredibly shady with their cash and not having a player at the end of it
Also, them being mad would not necessarily mean them turning transparent. Past experience suggests Levien and Kaplan don’t want anyone looking in the cupboard even in cases where they need to fumigate it
It is almost comical. Steve Goff describes DC United as the “MLS’s forgotten franchise”
Congratulations to Knoxville, btw. I have been once near the end of an unplanned road trip and had a pleasant time. Columbus no doubt has more firepower than we do, but their defense can go soft from time to time…