Spirit Battle Gotham Midweek, DC Gov Mulls Audi Field Expansion Millions, USWNT to Play Spain Friendly in DC, and More: Wednesday Freedom Kicks
Heya, readers. Hope this hump day is treating you right. With the World Cup winding down, and local soccer getting back into the swing of things, let’s all remember: Trinity Rodman rocks.
On to the news!
The Spirit journey to Gotham’s home turf for a nationally televised grudge match. The 2025 NWSL Finalists do not love each other, and, as ESPN implies in their most recent power rankings, Gotham’s offense is reaching a concerning gear. Trin and Leicy will hope to continue their impressive form to counter their rival’s newfound dominance.
LAFC Acquires $2.375 Million in Cash from D.C. United in Exchange for Forward Nathan Ordaz– LAFC
This has been pretty thoroughly covered by the blog from a DC United perspective, and it’s worth perusing this excellent Green Line Soccer post on the signing by Jason Anderson, but the above link provides an extended statement on the move from the LAFC front office.
DC Council chair proposes $620 million expansion, including new roof, for Audi Field– WUSA9
Yesterday’s Freedom Kicks did provide an early post about this development, but it’s gotten to the point in the timeline where local media outlets are starting to churn out coverage.
DC considering building a roof on Audi field, but can the District afford it?– WUSA9
Gotta say, that is a LOT of money for the city to allocate, wherever you stand on the merits. Given the level of expense municipal projects in DC usually demand and the well known restrictions on budgetary spending, it will be quite a ride to see how this goes.
Also in DCU news, yeah, this idea happened. My only real thought is the ceiling for this event would be a pleasant, forgettable weekday game at Audi Field. Loudoun are not in tremendous form of late, we’ll see what sort of personnel Weiler wants to field for this one. It is a chance for local fans to see what Loudoun can do at Audi, so, there’s that.
U.S. Women’s National Team Will Face World No. 1 Spain in Two October Matches– US Soccer
Big news: The first of the October USWNT Friendlies against world juggernaut, Spain will be hosted at Audi Field! That match will take place Saturday, October 10th with a 2:30 PM kickoff time. For those looking to buy tickets, be prepared, do your crying on the keyboard, and remember how awesome that atmosphere will be when/if you click to confirm. That game will also be televised on TBS and stream on HBO Max, Peacock, Universo, and Telemundo.
‘Outside Noise’—Folarin Balogun Reveals How Red Card Chaos Impacted USMNT– Sports Illustrated
If anything, I think Balogun is heavily understating what happened to the team, which is wise, but the star certainly addresses the impact of the backlash.
The recipient of one of the roughest World Cup roster exclusions in USMNT history speaks to the press post tournament. I do hope the next cycle is a big one for him.
World Cup favorites France unravel as Spain book spot in final with ease– ESPN
In a massive surprise to many, Spain managed to dispatch France with a sterling effort and curiously little drama. Although, I must note, Deschamps and France’s tactical stance against the side from the opening whistle was, in my opinion, abysmally dumb.
England’s biggest match since 1966 as Three Lions close in on immortality– BBC
Oh, wow, I wonder if England and Argentina fans know this is happening today?
The titanic matchup for the national pride of both nations kicks off 3 PM Eastern today on FOX.
The World Cup of Calvinball: Fifa’s hasty changes turn refereeing into a free-for-all– The Guardian
Prior to the World Cup, FIFA clearly did not focus too much on refereeing protocols surrounding the new technological developments in VAR, and they were not thoughtful nor transparent about addressing them when issues arose.
Whitecaps make bid to run B.C. Place: source– The Province
The Vancouver Whitecaps are reportedly making a fateful bid to acquire B.C. Place, the venue they’ve been leasing. The DC United/RFK Stadium parallels are certainly there- an MLS franchise playing at a venue that suits the fans but bleeds the organization dry financially. Needless to say, owning the actual stadium would be huge for the organization.
A parent company wants to do something. Not sure who would like this thing.
Finally, it’s worth checking out this Jose account on Instagram. It’s pure coyote decoy gold.
That’s all I’ve got! One-up me in the comments, and have a great sporting day!
Best of luck to the Whitecaps.
Ryan Keefer found a report out of Japan that DC has put in an offer for a Japanese attacking full back:
https://x.com/Albelt_Shimano/status/2077408236014346245
Ryan also shared a screenshot of a LinkedIn post from Sogut that he was apparently in Japan a week ago, so this might have some legs
The translation on this post is a bit weird, but it appears that the player is Kimito Nono. Appears to be a right-back that can also play right-mid or right-wing (at least according to Transfermarkt)
I believe he also plays for the club that Weiler used to coach for.
Working on improving the right half of the field.
Bit of a housekeeping update from Jason Anderson. Apparently, there’s some discrepancy in whether Gabe Segal’s contract counts for the senior roster or supplemental roster. If he counts as a senior player, we only have 1 more slot open. He’s making the same salary as other supplemental players, so its a bit hard to say for sure