USMNT win, Messi breaks men’s World Cup record, and more: Monday Freedom Kicks
Happy Monday, everyone. This is getting out SUPER late, and my apologies for that. I went to Vancouver yesterday for the Egypt-New Zealand match and didn’t get back until nearly 2am. Because of that, my body said I needed to sleep in for once, so I did that. I hope all the dads in our community had a terrific Father’s Day, I know I had a wonderful Juneteenth, and yesterday was the first official day of summer! So, as the World Cup games go on today, here’s a very short Kicks:
USA Outlasts Socceroos to win 2-0 (SSFC)
A glorious match in Seattle on Juneteenth as the USMNT win the match over Australia to book their trip to the Round of 32. Later on, they found out that they won the group, so they will face a 3rd place team in the Round of 32 in Santa Clara on July 1st.
Lionel Messi breaks record for most World Cup goals after Austria strike (ESPN)
In the match currently on my TV now, Lionel Messi set the record for most goals by a male player at a World Cup when he notched his 17th to give Argentina a 1-0 lead against Austria. He is level with Marta for the most goals by any player at a World Cup.
The GOAT Jason writes on the opportunity facing the Washington Spirit in hosting the 2026 NWSL Championship.
Finally, introducing a new pod that I’m on with my friend Ashley Anderson, and it’s called The Extra Kick! Episode 1 and our 2 Minutes of Stoppage Time segment are also out, but we released a new episode a couple of days ago. Check it out!
Alright, back to the soccer grind I go. Enjoy your Monday!
Based on posts from DCU’s Instagram over the weekend, it seems as though Russ Canouse might have shown up for the watch party that the team held. Cool to see him still around and in a good relationship with the team
I can’t believe that they moved on from Canouse for Enow.
Messi is definitely the GOAT.
With the MLS transfer window approaching they have waived Herrea and are trying to get rid of Pirani. Dozzell is on his way. I think they should be looking for a right wing, left wing, and attacking mid. What do people think?
Part of the Canouse/Enow thing was Russ’s health. Though I fully agree that Enow was one of the biggest wastes of a player that the team has ever had.
I agree that attacking players should really be the focus of this window. I’ve long wanted the team to go out and get Alex Zendejas, as I think he fits what we need almost exactly. Not sure if they’ll be able to do that or not, but it would be nice. The biggest limiting factor for the team is going to be international spots. So, any domestic (or green-card) players would surely seem more likely.
Zendejas could be an A-mid or a winger or a second forward with this team. I highly approve this recommendation.
We definitely could use additions at those locations, although I suspect that left wing is the lowest on the priority list, and they’re content to roll with Peglow there through the end of the year. Weiler has also seemingly come back around on Stroud, but the right is clearly an area to improve.
I’ve been trying to think what kind of big splash United could make, and Zendejas would be a great player to pursue. I’ve also thought they could go after Yunus Musah or maybe even Tim Weah. I entertained the idea of Julian Green, but he seems pretty ensconced at Greuther Furth.
Emam Ashour of Al Ahly in Egypt had been floated as a target during the offseason, and he just scored a really nice goal in the World Cup.
I just find myself facing some dread that the club isn’t going to max out its DPs and U22s, even after the owners said we would. Of course, they also said an announcement about MLS Next Pro was coming in November or December, and here we are.
I’d certainly like to see another DP addition, but I don’t think I’d be that upset if they don’t focus too heavily on the U22s for now. Given the international spot situation, any new U22s would probably have to be another team’s homegrown player that we pluck from them and promote to a U22. And the last one of those we got (Clark) we don’t even use. I honestly think that IS the better use of a U22 spot though, rather than trying to develop talent from other parts of the world (unless you’re Miami and you unlock the secret third option of just being able to sign 20 year old phenoms)
I took my son down to the watch party on Friday. We walked around a bit, saw Racing Abe Lincoln from the Nats, got a bunch of free books (they were letting you take up to 8!), and had some ice cream. Then, right before kickoff, he announced that he wanted to go home. I don’t think he quite understood that it was going to be on a screen rather than a live match, but he said that he had a really good time anyway, which was the important thing. We didn’t get back home until the second half hydration break, so thank goodness for highlights.
We didn’t see Russ or any other players (I thought maybe Kye might be there), but it seemed like he was over in a portion that we didn’t make it too. I was astonished how a line to visit the DCU tent went right past the Spirit tent, and nobody was interested in the latter.
And Messi now has the full World Cup record with the late goal he just scored.
Unless Mbappe’s club team is in the Champions League final, my prediction is he plays effort possum before the next World Cup in order to run through the fucking tape on whatever gap exists between him and Messi going into it