Spain wins World Cup, Spirit win in Rhode Island, and more: Monday Freedom Kicks
Happy Monday, everyone. The World Cup is over, and it was a memorable tournament in more ways hta one. We start there as we crowned a champion.
Spain wins second World Cup title after extra win over Argentina (SSFC)
Ferran Torres’ goal in the 106th minute was the difference as Spain claims its second World Cup title over Argentina.
Washington Spirit win historic first match against Boston Legacy, 2-1 (DP)
The Spirit rebound against expansion Boston Legacy, winning 2-1 on the road to move back atop the NWSL table.
England hold off France in instant World Cup classic to win third-place playoff (ESPN)
This was the best 3rd place match ever. England beats France 6-4 in a match where England took a 4-0 lead to halftime and almost bottled it as France tried to mount an epic comeback.
DC Power continue to bolster their roster, adding Sam Angel in a loan move from the Chicago Stars.
The Chicago Fire have made an interesting transfer, sending the current MLS Golden Boot leader Hugo Cuypers to CF Monterrey. They lost some money on what they paid to get him to Chicago, but with Robert Lewandowski in the mix, Chicago felt the move was necessary.
Infantino’s Faustian bargain with Trump has stained football’s biggest stage (The Guardian)
Nathán Goldberg Crenier is the elected vice president of U.S. Soccer, and he doesn’t hold any punches in his call for FIFA leaders to step up and reform the organization from within, starting with taking power away from Gianni Infantino.
FIFA World Cup awards: Who should have won? (SSFC)
We discuss who won the various World Cup awards versus who should have won each one.
Enjoy the day, everyone.
It’s interesting to me how leagues that are supposedly in competition with each other loan players back and forth.
As for FIFA, my take is: Infantino is corrupt. But so is FIFA. Reducing his power (absent real reforms) just shifts the corruption.
The FAs, especially in Europe, will do everything in their power not to divest from FIFA, I’m convinced at this point.
It’s a bad mix of top figures being part of the personal grift (FIFA loves screwing populations with a cheap date), the ability to just say “FIFA bad” rather being accountable for what happens, and the admittedly enormous lift and coordination it would take and would be to make a new umbrella.
It’s clear Infantino is getting kicked to the curb. Think every FIFA president after him will know it’s all about the size of the haul when you get booted, so I don’t expect any slowing down of corruption anytime soon.
The FAs should be disgusted with themselves.
Here Here!
It is so danged corrupt, we all know this.
Re: the loans: I think this shows that both leagues do consider GSL to be a lower division, developmental league, even though it’s nominally D1.
Was I the only clueless person to find out later that there was a fight after the World Cup final?
Paredes was on a yellow pretty early, and the ref excused several yellow card worthy hacks and incidents from him.
A shame such a shitheel was even there after the whistle- should have just been trotted out for his medal.
All in all a pretty shameful display during and after the game for the Argentines. Obviously very strong competitors, but didn’t rise to the occasion so much as try to pull it down into a mud pit.
They had risen to the occasion as much as they could for the entire tournament, they couldn’t unlock Spain’s midfield and got incredibly frustrated. Most of the world acts like South American teams are the only ones who resort to these types of displays when frustrated. At least you didn’t call them animals like the English once did or what did Mbappe said about the Paraguayans? Yeah, at least now the world will move away from “Infantino rigged everything to ensure Messi wins another world cup” and move on with their lives.
Cope.
I am, I didn’t mind Spain winning, they deserved to win the game. I didn’t want France to win so I’m good on that front. What I’m really tired of is Europeans and others thinking is ok to use such derogatory language against us South Americans and think is ok. Not ok.
At some point, behavior is behavior.
Avoiding pointing it out is not virtuous.
I was confining my comments above to fouls on the field and violence after,
But I don’t think Argentina is gonna have much fun throwing stones about derogatory language if what’s good for goose is good for the gander.
Cuz this exists.
https://youtube.com/shorts/ODWF_n_xuZ0?is=bOeFALGMgZJ1MZYw
There’s a ton of prejudicial thinking everywhere, it’s not really confined.
In an age when there’s less acceptance of it, it doesn’t actually help to hold your fire for when someone else directs it at you.
Everyone’s gotta clean house and call it out locally. Cuz giving it a tacit pass is not working.
It is everywhere, unfortunately.
Completely agree. But of course, as you can understand, when we hear commentary like this coming from a population whose president is well you know the guy who called all Mexicans rapist/killers (we know he meant us, he just probably thinks all of LA is basically reduced to Mexico) and stated that folks from Haiti were eating people’s pets and is fine hosting all sorts of WS sympathizers in the WH, then yes, throwing stones and all. Every country has its racists, aholes and bullies, some on the pitch, some leading them.
Racism really loves a victim mentality. Gives it a veneer of national righteousness, makes it easy to forgive the thing you hold up as such.
The referee was pretty bad in this one. He let things go early and ended up with a mess of his own making.
There is this pressure (Wilkinson from England in the Netherlands-Spain final is the best example) to avoid giving out reds in the final–to “spoil” it. Or even early yellows.
I remember the Dutch boot to the chest. Incredible.
I think there’s a critical point to make about the third place match. Yes, France’s defending was shambolic in the first half. But here’s what was NOT happening that game: you didn’t see someone shoved to the ground immediately after passing the ball (Argentina is the best but not the only example of this) so passing rhythm is off. Some grabbing but not as bad as we usually see in matches. As a result, longer balls were more accurate, attackers were able to get return passes more often. The offensive talent got a chance to truly go on the attack–for both sides.
Kashima Antlers released a club statement last night that Kimito Nono would be departing the team to prepare for making a transfer to “an overseas team.” No mention of the team he’s going to, but given reports from last week, it would seem that he might be on his way to DC and could be here soon.
Isn’t it interesting how coaches bring players from their past teams? Rooney brought English players, Lesene brought USL players, and now Weiler is bringing players from everywhere? Our next coach needs to be an MLS coach. 🙂
Maybe, but the Sogut-Weiler combo has done pretty well with bringing in MLS players. Sean Johnson, Alex Bono, Tai Baribo, Nathan Ordaz. Sean Nealis and Gabe Segal are there too.
Mostly, we just need to max out our DP/U22 slots.
I also checked the Wikipedia page of Mihai Lixandru, who had been a rumored target for DC (although it seemed odd with the addition of Andre Dozzell). Looks like he’s signed in Saudi Arabia, so that’s off the table.
I’m also feeling kind of nervous about whether Dozzell is truly an upgrade over Brandon Servania. I guess we’ll see!
Personally have little doubt that Dozzell will improve upon Servania- the only other player to get a shot at that spot has been Markovic, so no real comparison to be had this season with Peltola being so imperious.
A championship team and manager hated he went for free, which means he was playing well enough for them that cashing out in the last two windows didn’t happen. That he didn’t extend for Portsmouth is not a knock against his potential impact.
If he’s even a little bit better of a passer, it’ll be a marked improvement for the team overall. It’s not like Servania is ruining the team, he’s adequate and fairly tidy with the ball, but the team does need more from the midfielders beyond breaking passes up and recycling possession.
We’re not going to go out and sign someone who starts for a WC quarterfinalist or better–that kind of money isn’t happening. So instead, we need to find ways to get a little bit better at any position we can. If Dozzell is a 10% upgrade over Servania, I’ll take it.
If anyone is interested, TransferMarkt has Nono valued at 1.20 million euros or $1,369,998.00 at current conversion rate. That’s their estimate as of June 3, 2026 and his current contract with Kashima Antlers expires on June 30, 2028. He’s been there since Feb 1, 2024.
https://www.transfermarkt.com/kimito-nono/profil/spieler/1145045
That surely looks like it’ll have to be at least a TAM deal. Would imagine he’d be on a pretty long contract to try to spread that fee out
Charlotte FC’s owners, Tepper Sports & Entertainment, have been hit with a wrongful termination lawsuit under Title VII of the Civil rights Act and NC state law. Really not enough detail in the article to come down on one side or the other, but its not a good look for Charlotte FC.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7453323/2026/07/18/charlotte-fc-carolina-panthers-tepper-male-discrimination-lawsuit/