DCU waives Herrera, Richards Readiness, FIFA’s Variable Politics Definition, Why’d It Have to Be Snakes, and more: Thursday Freedom Kicks
Happy Thursday everyone. For better or worse, the moment is finally here. The Men’s World Cup, the first with games on US soil in three decades kicks off today. I don’t remember the 1994 World Cup that well, but definitely felt its impact. For many years I had a poster of the ’94 team on my wall. The interest in Soccer that tournament created for me survived the USMNT’s ignominious 1998 tournament run. I am hopeful, but not confident, that this tournament will be without further incident and controversy and leads to similar interest for fans here in the US as ’94 did for me. Now on to the news.
D.C. United Waives Defender Aaron Herrera (DC United)
Herrera’s departure doesn’t come as a surprise. Head coach René Weiler made it clear Herrera wanted to leave the club and his continued absence made it clear the club planned to acquiesce to his request. What does come as a surprise is the team waived him instead of finding a way to get some token value back in return. Its entirely possible the recent news out of Salt Lake cratered any value Herrera had with other teams and it was just better for all parties to part way now.
USMNT defender Chris Richards says he’s ‘ready’ for World Cup opener (The Athletic)
Good news for the USMNT as Richards, a key player the US will need if it hopes to make any waves in the tournament, declared he is ready to play. How much time will he see in the opener? We shall see tomorrow.
USA vs. Paraguay, 2026 World Cup: Scouting Paraguay (SSFC)
The US defeated Paraguay 2-1 in Chester back in the November international window behind goals from Gio Reyna and Folarin Balogun. That was friendly though. Now the results matter. Check out SSFC’s scouting report on La Albirroja.
Mexico’s Mora is poised to be World Cup’s breakout star: ‘This guy is different’ (ESPN)
Its insane to think, but Mora is only 17 and will face off against the world’s best in the World Cup. Remembering back to how I was at 17, I can only marvel at what he is doing for club and country.
Haiti forced to change World Cup jerseys after Fifa rejects ‘political’ elements (The Guardian)
All three of Haiti’s kits featured imagery on the right hip that included “silhouettes inspired by the Battle of Vertières and the Haitian revolution”. During the Haitian revolution, future emperor Jean-Jacques Dessalines created the first flag for the nation by tearing the white band off of a French flag. Jersey designer Saeta included this flag in its hip element. There is so much to this that needs to be questioned. How does a jersey get this far through all the processes, to include being worn in the warm up friendlies before it becomes an issue? Who complained? Where is the line for FIFA on being too political?
Props to Saeta and Haiti for getting a new jersey turned around so quick. If US Soccer had to make a similar tweak, they would probably run out of time to make the change focus grouping some innocuous detail to death.
FIFA pushes for release of jailed French journalist Christophe Gleizes (USA Today)
Speaking of FIFA and politics…. Gleizes, who is accredited to cover this World Cup by FIFA, is in an Algerian prison after being convicted of “glorifying terrorism”. He covers the Algerian club JS Kabylie which plays in an area where the Movement for the Self-Determination of Kabylie separatist group operates. Gleizes was convicted in part for associating with members of the group. This is an interesting hill for FIFA to plant its flag, particularly in juxtaposition to the Haiti jersey story.
‘Privileged’ Aguirre embraces pressure of Mexico’s World Cup opener (ESPN)
El Tri opens up the tournament this afternoon from the Azteca. Their coach talks about the pressure on the co-host ahead of their match against South Africa.
Lionel Messi’s passport details leaked in security blunder at pre-World Cup friendly (Yahoo Sports)
This one is really confounding. Why, particularly in this day and age, would a federation make PII like that available for any reason? Add in the insanity that surrounds Messi wherever he goes and the decision is even more questionable.
Welcome Back: Five nations making overdue World Cup returns (Yahoo Sports)
Looking for an underdog or great story to root for over the next few weeks? Austria, Haiti, Iraq, Norway, and Scotland are all making their return to center stage after extended absences and could serve as that story.
San Diego Wave star Dudinha announces ACL/meniscus injury (All for XI)
Unfortunate news out of Brazil following the fracas between the US and Brazil, Dudinha could miss extended time with ACL and meniscus injuries.
Swiss World Cup training camp infested with rattlesnake (swissinfo.ch)
Over the last few days, visitors for the World Cup have gone viral for experiencing various parts of American culture they’re not normally exposed to at home. They’ve posted about Waffle House, Bucc-ee’s, and Ranch dressing. This is not one of those semi-charming stories/ Props to the Swiss team for sticking it out. If it were me, I would have channeled my inner Indiana Jones and been gone so quick all you would have seen were cartoon levels of dust kicked up in my wake.
I’ll end with this..
Though not confirmed, the USWNT vs the reigning World Cup champions, Spain, at Rowdy Audi would be the biggest and best heavyweight fight the District would see all year.
Happy viewing! What did I miss?
| Teams | When | Where | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mexico vs South Africa | 3 PM | Mexico City, Mexico | Fox |
| South Korea vs Czechia | 10 PM | Guadalajara, Mexico | FS1 |
Jordan Farr started in goal for Loudoun last night, and had to be subbed out before halftime with an injury. I did not see the game/play, but Ryan Keefer seemed to indicate he made a save and may have injured his arm in the process
Here is the replay:
https://x.com/USL_Cup/status/2064860346171510942
Turns out he didn’t actually make the save, and it looks like his arm hit the leg of the attacker, and he knew he was hurt immediately.
When a player is waived, what does it mean for the roster and salary cap?
A few things:
It opens up his roster spot, so DC will be getting back a senior roster spot to use.
DC is still responsible for 100% of his salary at this time, and it DOES impact the salary cap. If he is claimed off of waivers by another MLS team, they will assume some percentage of his salary (this could range from senior roster minimum, to covering his full contract, I believe). If he ends up moving outside the league, I’m not 100% sure what actually happens with his salary as it pertains to DC.
DC could, in theory, use a buy-out on his contract to avoid having him hit the cap at all. BUT, that is contingent on them having one of their 2 yearly buyouts available to use. Given that they waived Badji and Schnegg at the beginning of the season, they may or may not have that buyout depending on if they were used on either or both of those 2. To my knowledge, Badji is not playing in the league, so he presumably got bought out. Schnegg is with Charlotte, and they are covering at least some of his salary. But how much they are covering, and if DC bought out the rest, is not known (this is one of those times that we really needed Goff to figure out what happened here exactly)
The Haitian jersey debacle is such a shame. Smells like some snowflakes who can’t handle history were behind this decision…
I looked at the action photo, and I couldn’t make out anything weird. Fortunately, they got a decent looking kit pronto.
I feel the Swiss may be… overreacting a bit. Therer are no snakes on the training grounds; they just need to avoid hiking through the woods.
In other news, Happy World Cup everyone!!
Now realizing I may be biased because I think snakes are kind of cute.
I spent many formative years in Appalachia
Copperheads were a thing
They mostly remained hidden and secluded in places most locals would know not to delve into or mess with, but nobody takes their chances with those sorts of venomous snakes.
By comparison, rattlesnakes are the Mad Max: Fury Road zealots of the American venomous snake pantheon.
Nothing wrong about admiring snakes, but a level of caution and animosity toward them is justified
I spent my summers on the Blue Ridge, copperheads were indeed a thing. Fortunately, they tended to not be aggressive, if you left them alone.
Growing up in Southern Maryland, I ended up finding a copperhead in our basement on two different occasions when I was a kid. One of our greyhounds also got bit by a copperhead two different times. Those things can be everywhere at times. Never knew when you were gonna run into one of those when you live in the woods
Pretty sure my favorite dog died of a venomous snake bite.
She was often in the woods, came home, lay there calmly but a bit uncharacteristically for an hour or two. We didn’t even realize she had passed when she closed her eyes.
The only reason we caught it was that his snout looked swollen/puffy. He was acting fine otherwise (he was VERY accident prone, so I guess he was used to it). Vet said that it was probably either a bite from a juvenile or one that had recently bit something else, so they were able to deal with it. Not sure how he managed to get that lucky twice, though.
Had she been an indoor dog, we might have noticed something physical, but she frankly loved the woods too much. We were puzzled, but she just kinda hung out near her outdoor shelter space.
That Haiti thing sounds a bit bizarre. (Maybe the French complained? Enraged by the revolution?).
Herrera clearly wanted out. I could tell that when he was in the stands last season.
Go USA!
Go Scotland!
I doubt France as a government or footballing federation gave a shit, but FIFA has a lot of officials from various places that would be more galled by something like this than those entities, and would use their oversight powers to be petty.
Agreed. I was joking about France. Reminds me of the Ukrainian bobsledder issue at the Olympics.
Oddly Haiti ran into the same issue at the Olympics.
If they are complaining about our venomous snakes, then they shouldn’t go to Australia. Just look up the Eastern Brown Snake. Its the second most venomous snake species in the world, incredibly aggressive, and they get everywhere. The Aussies also have the Inland Taipan which is the most venomous snake in the world as well as the Coastal Taipan the 3rd most venomous snake in the world.
Australia have a colloquial phrase, “we’re not here to fuck spiders,” basically “lets get to it, enough distractions/nonsense,” but it does make the mind recoil in horror that they could see that as even a conceivable option. Australia, what the heck are your spiders?!?
Quick update on DC’s roster with the Herrera move now announced, along with the other recent loans:
The roster sits at 25 out of 30 spots filled. 18/20 senior spots, and 7/10 supplemental (assuming Dozzel is senior, which he should be)
We have 2 DPs and 3 U22s. I’d expect Pirani to get moved soon, which would open up another senior roster spot and a U22 spot.
All 8 of our current international spots are accounted for, with Peltola most likely the closest to maybe getting a Green Card.
Without any other outbound moves beyond Pirani, in the summer window it looks like we’ll have 3 senior spots to fill, with the potential of adding either 1 DP and 1 U22, or 2 U22s. Any incoming players would need to be domestic, unless we trade for an international spot or get someone a green card.
Thanks for the update.
Seems like they have been filling the roster with international players. They need to start scouting in the US.
I think they’ve been decent about scouting in the US. Their first big signing was Tai Baribo who, although not American, was playing in MLS and has a green card. They also signed Caden Clark last year, and then folks like Sean Johnson, Alex Bono, Gabe Segal, and Richie Aman.
It’s not that hard to procure an international slot, although they’ve certainly gone up in price over the years. I do wonder if they might take swings at Americans playing abroad, like Yunus Musah for instance. But I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if they try to go shopping within MLS again for another DP, or at least TAM player.
I would be pretty surprised if Pirani is the only other player moved out, even though that would make five players moved on during this break (along with Joon, Farr, Karamoko, and Herrera). Weiler had mentioned that they would likely be looking to make moves for players on the roster that weren’t seeing much time, which makes me think that Caden Clark, Hosei Kijima, and Jacob Murrell could potentially be on the block as well.
Weiler’s complete dismissal of Kojima is frustrating.
Selfishly, I’d like to see his midfield abilities incorporated, but he deserves to play somewhere, and will be a bang for your buck buildup cog for a successful team in the near future.
Farr is at least just on loan, so he could come back if needed (assuming his injury isnt too bad).
Perhaps on a worrying note for Murrell, Segal looked like he might have been involved in training today based on the pictures the team posted. Not sure where those two stack up against each other in the depth chart.
Cool video by the son of former Costa Rican world cup player Juan Cayasso and his dad on technology at the World Cup. Admittedly its an opinion piece on if tech will ruin the World Cup or not, but still a cool watch.
In what I’m sure is a total shock to everyone, the hydration break in the Mexico/South Africa game was used as a full commercial break
How dare you insult the hydration break (BRAND) generously brought you!
Part of me is surprised that we actually cut away for commercials and it wasn’t just “The Coca-Cola Hydration Break” where we make all players chug a coke before resuming play, or something similar
Quaffing a pint would bring back a Sunday League feel to the World Cup…