Spirit Signings, Call Ups, and Awards, Messi to Miss All Star Game, World Cup Legacy, and more: Wednesday Freedom Kicks
Happy Wednesday everyone. After the long World Cup break, DC United finally returns to the pitch. I’m curious what impact the long break will have impacted a team that before the break had gone 2-3-1 in their last six games. I’m even more interested in seeing how Louis Muntaenu in particular comes out of the hiatus. He seemed to getting acclimated to his new home and was finding his game. Will the long layoff lead to a regression or will he resume right where he left off? We shall see starting tonight. Now onto the headlines.
Washington Spirit Signs Burkinabé Defender Alimata Bélem (Washington Spirit)
The Spirit continue to bolster their roster. Bélem, who plays for SD Eibar of Liga F, will be loaned back to her SD Eibar until the end of the calendar year. Starting this weekend, she will play with Burkina Faso in WAFCON. Interestingly, Bélem will be the first Burkinabé on a NWSL roster.
The Spirit announced at the time of her signing Ngock would join the team after WAFCON. She and the Indomitable Lionesses will play in a group with Ghana, Mali, and Cape Verde.
In more Spirit, its midweek, which means NWSL awards time. This week its Gift Monday earning Assist of the Week for her pinpoint perfect pass against Boston to set up Trinity Rodman for her game winning goal.
Three Players to Watch: D.C. United (Bayou City Soccer)
Ahead of (what I’m calling) the Ben Olsen Bowl, Bayou City Soccer took a look from the opposition side at players to watch on the Black and Red’s roster. Not to give spoilers, but there is one you would expect, one you might not, and one who would be a surprise. From the introduction, you know I would have included Munteanu because I think his performances whether good or bad will have a significant influence on DCU’s fortunes the rest of this season.
Report: Messi missing MLS All-Star Game for rest after World Cup (Sport Business Journal)
Messi skipping the glorified exhibition makes complete sense given his age, the amount he played in the World Cup, the stakes involved, and Miami’s goals for the rest of the year. I do have to wonder if someone in MLS marketing is starting to regret the “We’ll take it from here.” marketing just a little bit.
The World Cup Final blew away ratings here in the US.
In the US, the 2026 World Cup’s legacy will be an invitation to do it all again (The Guardian)
We’re now far enough removed from the World Cup final that postmortems are starting to come in. Leander Schaerlaeckens asks a great question. We know what the impact of this World Cup on FIFA. They learned all the ways they could further commercialize the game and extract as much money from fans and advertisers pockets. What if anything though will be the lasting legacy here in the US?
WAFCON 2026 Preview: Changes, Teams, and Stakes (Northland Soccer Journal)
After a four month delay, WAFCON 2026 will kick off this weekend. In addition to the Spirit’s five representatives, Temwa Chawinga, Barbara Banda, and some of the biggest names in NWSL will play for their nations and try for continental glory and a spot in next year’s World Cup. It really should be a fun tournament to watch.
Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane defends Thomas Tuchel amid World Cup criticism (Bavarian Soccer Works)
Tuchel has taken criticism for some of his tactical decisions with the Three Lions during the World Cup. England’s captain Harry Kane, however, is having none of it.
Lamine Yamal reveals what Lionel Messi told him after World Cup final (Yahoo Sports)
For many of us, this nice moment between the two was lost in the all the video and discussion of the fracas between Spanish and Argentine players.
Speaking of Yamal, I’ll end with this.
The Spanish MNT wasted no time getting home and meeting the King. I was really amused by the King and Yamal’s handshake.
What did I miss?
Looking forward to watching DCU tonight.
DC will be fine if they can get off a half-dozen SoG against Houston. They could’ve gotten anyone else’s backup keeper and been in a better place at goal than they managed with Bond. Ugh.
But good for us if we do test him.
Do we still have anyone on the roster who played under Ben Olsen?
I’d assume not
Olsen was quite a few coaches ago
There’s probably more than a few who weren’t even pros yet when Bennyball was in effect
We did have Birnbaum up until 2 years ago…but I think he was the last Bennyball player. Though if we had Najar we would, but somehow we let him end up with Nashville.
I think Hopkins is our most senior player at the moment, and he signed in 2021. So, he would not have overlapped with Ben professionally, but I would still imagine that he had some amount of interaction with Ben before signing his contract
2021 was *checks notes* FIVE YEARS AGO?! Man that team Benny led when Audi first opened was so good. But even that was close to a decade ago…
Apparently Philly has resigned Kai Wagner from Birmingham City just over seven months after agreeing to a transfer fee for him. They had to pay SKC $100K in GAM and an international spot in order to get the top spot in the waiver order and claim him off waivers.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/news/philadelphia-union-acquire-kai-wagner-from-birmingham-city
DC availability report for tonight:
Segal, Farr, and Antley are all listed as Out.
Tai Baribo appears to have a cast on his left wrist, but seems good to play.
Bartlett and Peglow are both one yellow card away from a suspension/fine according to the MLS Disciplinary Report.
https://www.mlssoccer.com/league-reports/disciplinary-summary/
Good time for Sean Nealis to be back and available, although I would prefer to see Nikola Markovic slot in for Bartlett if he gets suspended.
Adding fines on for players accruing yellows over such a long stretch of games in such a physical league-
MLS does not pay these guys enough to justify retracting cash for this
I appreciated Bayou City Soccer writing up a preview for the match. Always fun to see the opponent’s take on us. I reached out to them to let them know that, per Weiler’s comments, Nathan Ordaz wasn’t likely to see too much playing time. I suggested that another player Dynamo fans might be interested in watching was Keisuke Kurokawa. He’s played nearly every minute for United, and has become a pretty solid threat on delivering corner kicks.
Not soccer related but ouch….Oakland A’s rookie Joshua Kuroda-Grauer fouled a ball directly into his nether regions and wasn’t wearing a cup. He’s had emergency surgery for a ruptured testicle. The thing that stands out to me is the dude finished the at-bat by singling and then still played another half-inning of defense at third base.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7462089/2026/07/21/athletics-diamondbacks-joshua-kuroda-grauer-surgery/
Miami has officially signed Casemiro. However, MLS has said that they are actively opening a investigation on tempering charges during the process. The Galaxy have apparently been compensated for the discovery rights, but that wont get announced until the investigation is over. I am also not sure how Miami is even signing him given their current roster breakdown
Either the same trick they’ve done before (non-DP 1st year followed by tons of money later), or the other same trick they’ve done before (cash under the table). Or, the *other* trick they’ve done before (getting an official backroom under the table sponsorship to pay his salary). The latter seems like the least likely.
DCU might be getting a Japanese international player and we don’t have an international slot. Are we using Miami mind tricks?
There’s no way we’d be allowed to do that lol
Probably someone’s up for a green card or we hand over some GAM for the slot if we need it. I’m completely uninformed though.
Its Inter Messi and MLS is like FIFA and lets Messi and Co get away with a crap ton of stuff. See the Messi foul that should’ve been a red in the World Cup group stage and the brawl after the World cup Final.
FIFA lets most of the star players get away with crap, especially if those players are from the top teams. Like Bellingham not getting a red for the same covering of the mouth as Miggy. Messi should have gotten a yellow and Balogun should have gotten a yellow. Neither player put any sort of malice or force into the movement. And what’s more, there were other players who also got away with the same foul later on in the tournament. I mean FIFA rescinded a red card that by the rules was not supposed to be contested, just so that a meddling President could be appease. FIFA allows many, many, many things that they shouldn’t, it isn’t about a single player or team.
Imagine that.
The Athletic is repoting that at least initially Casemiro will be on a non-DP deal. Initial period is through next summer with the option to extend to 2029.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7463842/2026/07/22/inter-miami-casemiro-signing-mls-tampering-investigation-la-galaxy/
Reports coming out of Argentina that DC is interested in signing Ian Subiabre from River Plate. Appears to be a winger (primarily right, can play both), and he’s 19. I’d imagine this would be a U22 signing if it does happen. Still issues with international spots though