DC United Falls, Gotham’s Escape to New York, NWSL Changes HIP Rule, a Forgotten Friendly, and more: Thursday Freedom Kicks
Happy Thursday everyone! I had a work thing pop up last week, and Dennis was nice enough to cover for me. It’s good to be back. Let’s get straight to the headlines.
DC United unbeaten streak ends with loss to Chicago Fire (DP)
It was a tale of two halves for DC United. They looked good to start, but weren’t able to hang on. Check out Donald’s recap here.
NWSL is now just operating under Calvinball rules. The only rules are there are no rules. Teams can never sign star players under the same mechanism twice.
Gotham FC in Advanced Talks to Move to NYCFC’s New Queens Stadium (Sportico)
Ever since the “Queens Classic” was announced, I was wondering it was a prelude to Gotham pulling a Nets and decamping across the river. Seems so. I get why Gotham may think a move to Queens would be beneficial. That being said, man, that is a slap in the face of their New Jersey-based fans. When I was in NJ a few weeks ago, I went with a buddy to the Gotham/Bay game. It was cold and rainy and there were still a bunch of fans tailgating. I asked my buddy his thoughts on this and the word he used was betrayed.
Chicago Fire’s new stadium to be called McDonald’s Park (The Athletic $)
I look forward to all the creative nicknames MLS fans will come up with for the Fire’s new home.
It seems the US is attempting to mitigate some of the issues causing lackluster sales for the World Cup, less than 30 days out from kickoff. Fans from Algeria, Cabo Verde, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal and Tunisia will be exempt from the policy requiring a bond to enter the US in an attempt to prevent overstays. I hope fans from Cabo Verde are able to use this to actually see their team play in the World Cup for the first time.
Committee adopts 2-semester playing season for DI men’s soccer (NCAA)
MLS isn’t the only soccer organization looking to change up their schedule. The NCAA is aiming to split its DI schedule as well. Under the proposal, teams will play the same number of games, but they will be split between August and Thanksgiving and then break until February. The change is not officially a done deal as it needs approval by the Division I Council in June.
29 days to the World Cup: Who designs the kits for the teams in the tournament? (Yahoo Sports)
I’m always here for a discussion of jersey’s and who’s designing them. I look forward to seeing some of the designs by the smaller brands on the field.
Iran soccer’s only U.S. visit: death threats, diplomacy, jarring security and joy (The Athletic)
Iran’s appearance in the US at next month’s World Cup (assuming it happens), will be historic, but not without precedent. The Athletic details a mostly forgotten friendly from 26 years ago that is well worth the read. I think this one is even outside The Athletic’s paywall.
I’ll end with this…
This 2026 World Cup host city is handing out soccer-themed condoms (USA Today)
Apparently there will be six different variations for those trying to collect them all.
What did I miss?
As Donald noted in the post-match thread, Weiler was asked in the post-game press conference about the choice to put Markovic in as right back instead of Herrera or Antley. He said that Herrera has informed the team that he wants to leave, and that Markovic is a player for the future, so he wanted to give Markovic the chance.
Can’t say I’m shocked that Herrera wants to leave, given what Hefti has been able to do so far. Hopefully we can either move him before the end of the year when his contract expires, or he’s still involved until he leaves, unlike Pirani. He makes far too much to just get banished and still get paid
I think moving him to right mid might be uncomfortable for him. Or maybe not. I don’t really know. Whatever the reason, it might also explain why Stroud is starting there now. This seems to be a Croix Bethune situation. If they do a good job, they might be able to get someone of value to help the team when they move on from Pirani and Herrera. In the post game, Renee reminded everyone that winning some games does not make the team a play off contender. There is still rebuilding to do. I have to remember we are the wooden spoon winner from last season, which was not that long ago. Coach is a brutally honest person.
Really sucks because Herrera was a bright spot last season. That being said, Hefti has shown he is more than capable. Hopefully by moving on from Pirani and Herrera, we can invest in some quality players who actually want to play here. Weiler seems to be pulling no punches and I respect that.
Herrera wanting to leave is no surprise. He felt kind of checked out last year, particularly in getting a red card in the second to last game. He’s still a pretty good player, but it’s been awhile since I’ve felt like his service in from the wing has been dangerous.
All that said, Markovic definitely has a lot of potential and I’m happy to see him getting playing time. But is his future at right back? I’m more skeptical of that. I think Antley would be a pretty fine back up to Hefti, although Weiler doesn’t seem to have much use for him this year. (He’s also the nominal backup to Kurokawa, but Weiler seems to believe that Kurokawa can play literally every single minute.)
So, thanks for the memories Aaron, and hopefully some of the ongoing rebuilding will be getting some actual fullbacks for depth.
As I posted about his star-struck (‘injured”) gathering in C4 for last year, move on Herrera. Quickly. (See game recap post, if you care)
Weiler doesn’t suffer fools. A good thing.
I’m certain there’s a team that thinks he’s an upgrade over their current RB and will take on some of his salary. We probably don’t get a like-for-like replacement though, maybe just someone to compete with Antley. Which is fine, Hefti has been really good as our form has improved and is still in his prime.
A really cool new tool from DynaStats came out yesterday that does an absolutely great job at breaking down all of the MLS rosters. It projects cap space, the cap hit for each player, estimates GAM, and more. Here is DC’s page for it:
https://mlsrosterview.com/team/d-c-united
Very cool!
Good find! It looks like they have used up their international slots. They are going to have to find domestic players for upgrades or find some international slots by other means.
I would like to think that Peltola has to be close to a Green Card at this point. He’s been here for over 2 years now, maybe he can head back to Finland during the WC break to get that sorted. I can also see a world in which Rowles or maybe Peglow could be close to getting one, but they’ve also only been here a year and a half.
Green cards are strange things. Christian Benteke never got one, but Pirani and Schnegg were able to get theirs fairly quickly. Peltola would seem to be well in line to get one, which would make his improvement this season all the better.
I have no idea how accurate this is, but it has Andre Dozzell on a $300,000 salary. Maybe that’s pro-rated for half a season, but even $600,000 on a free transfer sounds like fairly decent business, assuming the guy will be an upgrade from Servania.
Yeah, admittedly that shocked me too. Can’t say I have any idea where that number is coming from. But, if we managed to get him below TAM level, that would really help
I’m a little late to the conversation and I haven’t looked at any of the other teams to assess — but does DCU even havr\e cap space to make moves in the summer? The site projects them at $10.4M salary cap budget. Generally, it seems that teams would have a $9.7M cap to work with. Though DCU may have additional GAM to take them above that, how much more?
If they let go of Pirani that would free up $200k for his U22 slot, and Herrera could free up $803k. If they could get another U22 player to replace Pirani that would allow them to be a little more creative with the dollars, but even still, they’re looking at one DP, or maybe 2 players — assuming they find takers for Pirani and Herrera (at his high wage).
I wonder if there’s an AI hack for Inter Miami…….
If you want to see a “1970’s Dallas Cowboys must win” call. Look up the atrocious Celtic v Motherwell call in the 96th minute. Hearts would champs if the PK wasn’t awarded.
Hearts go to Celtic Park to play for it all Saturday 7:30 AM. It should have been a forgone friendly.