USMNT lose final group stage game, Pride Match in Seattle, and more: Friday Freedom Kicks
Happy Friday! I continue to very much enjoy how much soccer we’re getting to watch right now, although I have one GRIPE. Why are games starting so late in the day? Why am I asked to wait until late afternoon to start watching and finish late at night? Is this West Coast tyranny?!
World Cup 2026: USMNT stunned by Türkiye in stoppage time, losing perfect group stage run (Yahoo Sports)
I was pretty disappointed that the US couldn’t extend their winning streak, but they got some minutes for bench players and move forward regardless. On to Bosnia and Herzegovina!
Seattle prepares for unlikely matchup as its World Cup Pride celebration: Egypt v Iran (The Guardian)
Seattle is celebrating Pride this weekend and has designated today’s match as a Pride Match, to the chagrin of the teams playing. Both federations complained, with Egypt saying they oppose “any activities promoting LGBTQ during the match,” but FIFA has confirmed that rainbow flags and other displays will be permitted. Happy Pride!
Ivory Coast writing ‘new chapter’ to country’s soccer history at 2026 World Cup (USA Today)
What a success story for the Ivory Coast! They had a great group stage and are on to the Round of 32!
Will Rose Kouassi be attending a watch party? Some of her teammates did this week when the British Embassy hosted a party for Scotland vs. Brazil. I note that Sandy MacIver and Tamara Bolt were NOT seated next to each other.
500,000 euro offer for Mihai Lixandru! Where could the FCSB midfielder end up? (Eurosport)
D.C. United is rumored to have offered 500K Euros for Romanian player Mihai Lixandru. Ok, sure, whatever.
As we continue to celebrate all the visitors to the US, Croatia’s coach had some nice things to say about Alexandria:
Putellas reaches agreement with London City Lionesses – sources (ESPN)
Despite rumors linking her to a few NWSL teams, the Spanish superstar will be joining Michele Kang’s London City Lionesses.
FIFA revokes credentials of World Cup commentator after expletive-laden on-air rant (The Athletic $)
As a broadcaster, you’ve got to be able to separate yourself from your fandom a little better than this: “Vera called Gianni Infantino, the FIFA president, and Ivan Barton, the match referee, “f—ing thieves” during his rant, and also accused them of “killing football”. He also used the term “sons of b—-es” more than 20 times.”
Tara Rudd showed off her soccer skills but also threw the first pitch at yesterday’s Nationals game. I know Croix Bethune’s injury was sort of a freak thing, but these first pitches still make me nervous.
Finally, your schedule of events. Loudoun played mid-week, so it’s just the World Cup schedule for today, but don’t get too used to it. The NWSL is back next week!
| Teams | When | Where | Watch |
|---|---|---|---|
| Norway vs. France | Fri., June 26 at 3 p.m. ET | Boston, MA | Fox, Telemundo |
| Senegal vs. Iraq | Fri., June 26 at 3 p.m. ET | Toronto, CA | FS1, Telemundo |
| Cape Verde vs. Saudi Arabia | Fri., June 26 at 8 p.m. ET | Houston, TX | FS1, Telemundo |
| Uruguay vs. Spain | Fri., June 26 at 8 p.m. ET | Guadalajara, MX | Fox, Telemundo |
| Egypt vs. Iran | Fri., June 26 at 11 p.m. ET | Seattle, WA | FS1, Telemundo |
| New Zealand vs. Belgium | Fri., June 26 at 11 p.m. ET | Vancouver, CA | Fox, Telemundo |
Last night, Ryan Keefer found a DCU transfer rumor. I’m sure to everyone’s surprise, it’s another player out of Romania, Mihan Lixandru. From what I’ve gathered, he seems to be primarily a DM that has also played CB and CM.
https://www.digisport.ro/fotbal/liga-1/500-000-de-euro-pentru-transferul-lui-mihai-lixandru-s-a-aflat-cine-a-pus-banii-pe-masa-4338233
Lixandru has a pretty nice highlight reel. Lots of long diagonals. I might honestly be more excited to get him than Andre Dozzell, but since we already have Dozzell, a move for Lixandru would be kind of puzzling, unless Servania or Peltola are on their way out of town.
There had been some talk in the offseason about DC getting Louis’s Cluj teammate Meriton Korenica, and I’d actually still be interested in that move. He would provide some scoring threat from the wings. I just wouldn’t want it to be a DP move.
Yeah, he seems like a fine enough player, but Dozzel coming in and our lack of international spots did make me scratch my head a bit too. Peltola has consistently been one of the team’s best players this year, surely they’re not trying to shop him.
I’m pretty sure that Peltola is going to be sticking around for awhile. He wasn’t feeling great last year, but he’s demonstrably raised his play this year and seems to be one of the players that Weiler leans on. The only mark against him is that he hasn’t gotten his green card yet.
Servania has also been pretty decent, and having him, Peltola, and Dozzell pushing each other for playing time seems like a fine situation. There’s depth and competition for spots. Adding Lixandru to that mix… it would seem like someone is going to be buried, and should probably be moved on.
Sadly (for us, not for him), it seems that Kevin Paredes has signed with Utrecht. Alas.
The Türkiye loss was mechanically inconsequential.
But the ideas Poch implemented leave me concerned that he doesn’t get some stuff he definitely should at this point.
Resting the starting CBs has some merit, but the backline configuration, I don’t think I could have thought of a worse one. Was just a bad, static back four. Weah on the left and Aaronson on the right was a bad idea that was allowed to linger well into the second half without adjustment. Weah especially has none of the experience or attributes to make his role work, and Aaronson couldn’t do Weah does driving forward.
Finally, the result didn’t matter, but Trusty as backup does. After his freak injury concern, there was no point in gutting it ineffectively on the pitch.
It wasn’t a good night all around, but, if Poch can revert back to function with the 3-4-2-1, get the lineup and mentality right, and play players where they do damage, Bosnia is a bar we should clear.
If Gregg Berhalter were still the coach I’d be very worried about playing players where they can do damage. Thankfully he isn’t.
Well, Poch really didn’t do it this game, despite having real options
If Berhalter was still in charge, we’d probably be sitting on 3 0-0 draws waiting to see if that was enough to get us through as a 3rd place team
Berhalter was subpar for the group, for sure, but I given the opportunity right now, not even thinking about him anymore.
This is Poch’s job. Needs to lock back in after getting it wrong with the replacements, though I’m fine with most of the people he sat.
Summer ruby matches for the US XVs both Men and Women start next week on July 4th. The Women have a test match against South Africa. While the men have round 1 of World Rugby’s Nations Cup competition for tier 2 nations against Portugal. The Portugal match is a chance for revenge for the last gasp drop goal that tied the match at 16-16 and sent Portugal to France 2023 on point differential instead of the US in the 4-team final qualifier round robin tournament.
It looks like the Spirit sacked their GM. Not sure what that means for the team.
https://washingtonspirit.com/blog/2026/06/26/soccer-operations-structure-update/
I honestly had no idea The Spirit employed someone called Nathan Minion
Okay I was watching a YouTube video and saw a Raising Cane’s ad staring Landon Donovan…what the heck…