Spirit and United win, DC Power draw, and more: Monday Freedom Kicks
Happy Monday, y’all. I had a great time out in Louisville, as I was here for the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby. What a race we had in the Derby! Before I drive to the airport, here’s the soccer news from the weekend.
Washington Spirit keep winning streak alive against Orlando Pride, 4-2
Another big win by the Spirit! Sofia Cantore had the fastest brace in NWSL history, while The Child and Trin also score. The power of José compels you!
Munteanu brace keys D.C. United in win at NYCFC: Match report (Green Line Soccer)
Louis got his own brace for the Black-and-Red as they blank NYCFC in Queens.
DC Power Draw Dallas Trinity Ceding Control of Playoff Destiny (DP)
DC Power and Dallas Trinity battle to a draw, but unfortunately that means that DC Power do not control their own playoff destiny with two matches to go.
Ryan Reynolds ‘completely gutted’ as Wrexham miss playoffs (ESPN)
Wrexham will spend another year in the Championship as they stumbled to finish in 7th and out of the Championship Playoffs.
Inter cruise past Parma to clinch 21st Serie A title (BBC)
Congrats to Inter Milan, who clinched the Serie A title over the weekend.
MLS Next Pro nets investment firm backing as part of strategy shift (The Athletic)
Investment firm KKR will put money into MLS Next Pro to try and move the MLS2 teams to new cities as part of a large restructuring of the league. This is something me and my friends called 3 years ago, and I’m saying that MLS should have hired us.
Enjoy the day, everyone.
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Pirani is definately out of favor. Hate him or like him, the coach is brutally honest about his assessments. To be honest, I agree with what he says a lot of times. I think we as fans have seen some of the things he calls out but have accepted for a while now.
Also, am I going to eat crow about Louis? Not playing in a lot of early games made me wonder what is going on.
And the Spirit are on a run right now. Their confidence must be high.
Weiler’s probably just saying what Troy already knew last year. And, probably what a lot of his teammates have thought in the last three years. Getting a nice run of very good results after going nuclear on him publicly only validates his decision.
And as much as Bogert and Doyle seem to hate Weiler, Doyle was the one who pointed out how poor a passer/chance creator Pirani has been. It’s just one of the many indications that he wasn’t on the same page as his teammates, whether it’s because he’s selfish or because he thinks he’s skilled enough to undermine the team’s structure.
Beat me to it (the Pirani, “no pass” deal). I originally just thought “oh, he doesn’t have good vision on the pitch.” He’ll get better with more experience. But Weiler is effectively saying “he’s a selfish pig who won’t pass the ball.”
I think going for a young Brasilian from their Olympic team is always worth taking a flyer. But this one didn’t work out. Oh well. And interesting how Peglow is effectively the opposite–very unselfish, tracks back, works hard.
Fun fact! Louis Munteanu is currently averaging a goal every 96 minutes in league play for DC. Tai Baribo is averaging a goal every 116 minutes for DC.
Additional fun facts! DC has beaten NYCFC on the road three times now. Each one has been at a different stadium (Red Bull Arena, Yankee Stadium, Citi Field). I’m not sure how many other visitors have won at each of those three venues, but I’m looking forward to us winning at the new stadium next year.
Sean Johnson now has 4 shutouts in 11 matches. That total ties him with Joe Willis, Travis Worra, and Luis Barraza for 11th place on the DC United career clean sheet list. Johnson needs three more to catch teammate Alex Bono.
Sean Johnson is a big improvement at goalie and he has kept DCU in games this season.
Johnson does some rebound fumbling, but it gets balanced out with strong parries like the fk save that everyone found impressive.
He’s experienced that we aren’t going to crumble due to him flailing a ton, and that’s an improvement.
Final additional fun fact! Jared Stroud has now played more minutes for DC United than Wayne Rooney.
Louis has changed the temperature on my thermometer. Sometimes its great to be an idiot.
For DP money, I am hoping for more, starting with playing full minutes in games. Then keep scoring goals.
I’m not willing to “eat crow” on Louis just yet.
He’s scored 3 goals in 2 games to end his drought, and I’m glad he did. This should boost his confidence, and if he’s going to be a real contributor to DC this season, or even a DP level star, it will be better than the alternative.
That said, can’t say that his play outside the goals is indicative of DP talent, and none of the goals were indicative of a breakout star. This may give him the confidence to get there, but let’s review the 3.
Goal against Orlando, a massive deflection that you’d have to know very little about soccer not to give 97% of the credit for the goal. Not only did it go in a direction Louis’ body shape certainly didn’t line up with, but whatever mustard was put on it made it practically cork screw into the bottom corner. Glad it happened, not at all a technique by the striker.
First goal against NYCFC- he did well to make an anticipatory run into the box, but I don’t think anyone in the stadium could believe how loyally the ball seemed to bounce and travel for the finish, including the NY defenders. He couldn’t have known that was going to be the ball’s path on a deflection, he was hopeful, and it happened for a very easy finish past Freese.
And he can take a PK. Professionals have an 80% conversion rate, his made the cut. It was taken well, hard to know if Freese guessing right would have changed that perception.
In terms of build up, he’s still not shown what we’d want from a second striker, though truly bad decisions aren’t constant (he was feeling himself at one point, and raked a ball across the midfield to no one that led to a NY siege, but live and learn). And in terms of superior technique, I think he’s have had a hattrick carrying the gift past Freese on that weirdly lame rebound off the gk outside the box. And largely, we haven’t seen DP level press resistance by any stretch.
Overall, I think we’re still looking at a player that is neither physically imposing nor technically lethal, but will be able to score goals under the right conditions.
I’m still not holding my breath for a 7 million dollar level return.
I actually don’t even think he’s particularly good at PKs. In his Cluj highlights, he has at least two PKs saved (he then scores on the rebounds). But that’s not super great. I don’t think Baribo has taken many pens in his MLS career either. I’m glad both of them have scored on their efforts so far, but penalties could be a weakness for this club.
Also, it’s just unquestionably a good thing for Munteanu to be scoring. He still needs to show a lot, and he’s still under contract for a loooong time. But if we get a DP chance creator (winger or 10), that should just help everyone. And Louis sure likes to take long shots, but if he can share some playing time with Baribo, there’s no one better able to take advantage of any of those shots that are spilled than Tai.
All of which is to say, things could still turn out fine, but improvements (both individual and team level) are still needed.
Sure. I’m not going to say no to competence from anyone on the roster.
If what we’ve seen is going to ground him and unlock another tier, fantastic.
I suspect the level of goal contributions is basically the ceiling, and I don’t think the general in possession play will improve very much. That said, you want players to give you wins, two back to back are great. We’ll see what happens going forward.
With wins by DCU and the Spirit, it’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood.
Both on a streak!