DCU Announce Ordaz, USWNT to Play Spain in Audi, and more: Tuesday Freedom Kicks
Morning DC Footy Folk! I celebrated my birthday over the weekend and my favorite gift was my brand new “Spirit in Bloom” kit with Bernal on the back that my girlfriend gifted me. Can’t wait to wear it to a home game soon! Anyways, on to the news!
The big story of the day is DCU acquiring Salvadoran international, Nathan Ordaz, on a multimillion dollar deal. Donald provides all the details in the article above but I’ll add that as a NOVA native and Salvadoran-American myself, it is really cool to see DCU acquire a player that the community can connect to. Feels like a bit of a throwback signing but with a lot of potential upside!
USWNT to face Spain in pair of October friendlies (SSFC)
Audi Field will host the top two teams in the world on Saturday October 10th! They will also play in Chester, PA on Tuesday October 13th.
Speaking of Audi Field, it looks like there are plan to add a roof to the standing (as was originally intended). It will be a public/private partnership where the city will pay for about half of the estimated $600 million cost.
Washington Spirit owner, Michele Kang, continues to make moves with her team in the WSL. They made waves last week by signing Alexia Putellas and followed that up by signing her Spain and Barcelona teammate, Mapi Leon, yesterday.
MLS aims to ‘Take It From Here’ in post-World Cup push (Sports Business Journal)
MLS will attempt to capitalize on the World Cup hype by running commercials during the last few games. Depending on the commercial, I think this actually could give the MLS a slight attendance boost. Someone fact check me, but I believe MLS typically gets a small attendance boost after every World Cup. Which team will benefit the most from an attendance boost?
France vs Spain: The 2026 World Cup’s Best Attack Meets Its Best Defence (The Analyst)
The first of two epic clashes in the World Cup semifinals. Spain only just conceded their first goal of the tournament. Meanwhile, France’s stacked attack continues to shine with captain and star, Kylian Mbappe, neck and neck with Messi for the
FIFA selling 2026 World Cup final pitch in $450 pieces (ESPN)
Finally, FIFA’s greed knows no bounds!
That’s all from me folks! See you in the comments!
There are 3 additional tiers above that $450 tier. There are only 2,026 pieces available in each tier. I shared an The Athletic article about it in the comments of one last week’s Freedom Kicks.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7434855/2026/07/10/fifa-world-cup-final-pitch-collectibles/
Loudoun United announces that they’ll be playing a friendly against DC on August 5th at Audi Field:
https://www.loudoununitedfc.com/news/2026/07/14/loudoun-united-fc-to-face-d-c-united-in-2026-dmv-derby-at-audi-field/
I shared this in the comments on Donald’s Ordaz article as well, but Jason over at Green Line Soccer has a really good write up and in-depth analysis on Ordaz and how he fits with the team. Its a good read:
https://green-line-soccer.ghost.io/nathan-ordaz-transfer-dc-united-lafc-mls/?ref=green-line-soccer-newsletter
Saudi Arabia just bought the whole field and will repurpose it in four years. Progress!
Earnest question for Dennis or anyone else that would care to answer:
I’ve seen that either Salvadoran or Salvadorean is acceptable as a demonym. Is there one that is preferred, or is it interchangeable?
They are officially interchangable.
My brother-in-law wore a Portugal jersey to a family dinner the other day, and my wife saw it and thought it looked great. She is not much of a soccer fan, but she asked him to get me a USMNT jersey. I guess she also asked him who the best US player was, and so it was a Pulisic jersey. She’s also been working really hard to get me to wear shorts more (I’m a diehard jeans guy), and so she got the matching shorts too.
She surprised me with it on Sunday, and I insisted I wear all of it. I couldn’t bring myself to explain the concept of a “full kit wanker” to her, or tell her about Pulisic’s Trump dance celebration and related beliefs. So thanks, baby. The jersey is nice and the shorts did feel good.
At over 600 million, the roof addition looks to be a major rebuild and not just a putting on a new roof.
McKesson has some conceptual plans they developed for DC United and they use the whole space including the open area in between Audi and the baseball stadium. They also move the stadium field so they can put more seats in the west side of the stadium. it will be a climate-controlled stadium and supposedly the roof will be retractable, and it won’t leak!! Conceptual plans change so take all of the above with a grain of salt.
The main thing I worry about is artificial turf with 100 activities per year.
Prepare for higher ticket prices!
Do you know if there a parking garage as part of the plan?
Plans were all images. Still, I doubt it.
But they did have a big fan zone or plaza in front of the stadium.