Spirit lose wild match, Mexico wins Concacaf U-20s, and more: Monday Freedom Kicks
Happy Monday, y’all. We’re in the middle of hot and humid August, so while I cool off, let’s discuss some of the news from the weekend:
NC Courage thwart Washington Spirit in 3-4 loss (DP)
What a wild match for the Spirit, where they went down 3-0 after about 15 minutes, then clawed their way back to draw level in the 90th minute and then lose it late in stoppage time. Hopefully the Spirit can get back to their winning ways this weekend.
Mexico beats U.S. in Concacaf U20 final after questionable red card (ESPN)
Mexico wins the Concacaf U-20 Championship over the United States after a dubious red card turned the game on its heels. Still, the United States qualified for the 2027 U-20 World Cup and the 2026 Pan-Am Games.
Jorge Messi, father and agent of Argentina great, dies aged 68 (The Guardian)
Lionel Messi’s father passed away over the weekend after a long illness. Messi has been excused from Inter Miami duty while he tends to family obligations back in Argentina and mourns.
African quartet secure Women’s World Cup places (BBC)
The 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations is down to the semifinals. The quarterfinals took place over the weekend, and
NWSL Announces July Best XI of the Month (NWSL)
It was a great month for the Spirit, as Trinity Rodman, Tara Rudd, and Sandy McIver all make the league’s team of the month.
D.C. United Loans Defender Conner Antley to Tampa Bay Rowdies (DCU)
Conner Antley will head back to his former club Tampa Bay on loan for the rest of the season, as it seems Weiler will utilize other options on the back line.
Lionel Messi Was The Target Of Chilling World Cup Death Threats (Yahoo!)
In addition to all the crowds following him wherever he went, apparently Messi was the subject of death threats and thwarted assassination attempts.
LaLiga chief Javier Tebas calls for change at FIFA: ‘Infantino era is over’ (ESPN)
The messenger ain’t the greatest, but add Javier Tebas to the list of people calling for Infantino’s term as FIFA president to end.
This is just a dumb rule by the NWSL, and it’s leading to a lot of chaos with what cleats players can wear on the field.
Former NBA executive Jason Levien set to buy 29% of Maccabi Tel Aviv (Y Net)
In DCU ownership news, it looks like Jason Levien will be adding another team to his sports portfolio. That team is Maccabi Tel Aviv’s basketball team. This could happen if the existing owners don’t exercise their right of first refusal.
That’s it for today.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7499034/2026/08/07/fa-stadium-walls-ban-billy-vigar/
It’ll be at levels 1-6 of the Men’s pyramid, but only levels 3-4 of the Women’s pyramid.
So its steps…apparently steps/levels 1 through 6 covers down to just above county leagues.
Apparently AFC, CONCACAF, and UEFA are in the early stages of planning a tournament outside of FIFA in addition to reaffirming their stance on Infantino.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7503475/2026/08/10/gianni-infantino-fifa-resign-uefa-concacaf/
I watched the u20 final at a sports bar
My general impressions are as follows:
These are both fine squads, and I think if they played this matchup ten times, a 5-5 split would be my bet. This would have been one of the more dismal of those timelines, and turned on some very strange incidents.
For starters, I’ve watched the opening goal for Mexico a number of times, and I didn’t see conclusive evidence that it crossed the line. Maybe the watch went off, but whole ball crossing the line in that scramble wasn’t apparent. If they didn’t have the watch technology, very sus.
Second, the red card. This was an officiating failure. US defender Chris Applewhite went in with gusto, but the contact was barely an obstacle clip, his legs were in front of the Mexican attacker who very nimbly chipped it a little to get contact. So, foul, sure, but not remotely a yellow card. VAR then upgraded it to a red based on a real reach of DOGSO (he was the furthest back, but there was a lot of space to goal and the idea that the other CB wouldn’t have covered, just still photos and no soccer context).
The second goal was just straight up the US keeper letting an easy cross slip through the gap in his hands instead of catching it. Tough mistake to make in that moment, a shame it was here, cuz that’s a learning experience for such a young keeper.
The crowd was also hugely in favor of Mexico, which probably intimated the youngsters.
I’m still really stoked to see these players appear in the u20 World Cup next year. Very high quality prospects.
Chris Applewhite might have been done wrong here, but also doesn’t seem to have the grace and composure in tackles- he looked reckless throughout the tournament moments I saw of him. Hope he figures it out in the future, but I’m not counting down to a full US cap any time soon.
I for one would be interested in learning more about the sports bar that was able and willing to show the U-20 final. Kudos to them!
It was on FS1 or maybe it was FS2. Basic cable stuff.
Saw someone mention something about this and had to go find it for myself, but Pablo appeared on Herculez Gomez’s podcast last week, and dropped an interesting nugget on DC. According to Pablo, “4 or 5 years ago” Levien was in the process of selling a “sizeable chunk” of the team to a Saudi investment group, before MLS shot it down.
I know a lot of fans have wanted the team to be sold, but I think this is a good example of “be careful what you wish for” in that respect, as I don’t think that any of us want to be the next PIF team.
I’m somewhat surprised they rejected the money. Maybe they expected more, or didn’t want to deal with the kind of influence/demands the PIF would entail.
Yeah Pablo didn’t go into any detail (he literally mentioned this for like 5 seconds and then never again), so its hard to say why it was rejected. But I do think people need to remember when they want a new owner what the actual options are at the price the team would go for.
Oh, I think we all know that was something they were trying somehow
We did preseason in Saudi two years in a row, as I recall
It is a side effect of HIGH MLS franchise evaluations and what they were after from the project from the jump that the market for who will cash them out is very, very limited
But, yeah, I went through this thought experiment for my fandom years ago, and decided that that might end up being an outcome, and it would coincide with the permanent end of my fandom and the wearing of a hat sans DCU logo
Yeah I think we would all like “better” owners, but the potential buyers of a team that would cost as much as DC would is a pretty limited group. And that group tends to be filled with some not-so-great people a lot of times. Its certainly a trade-off to consider for anyone that is very vocal about the team being sold.
For sure, and there’s not a ton of billionaires that display the sort of care and dedication you’d associate with the word “good,” most of the more successful owners simply hire people who know what they’re doing and try not to interfere too much at a certain point.
But sportswashing for Saudi takes a plane past my personal line for support and takes off into the distance
Interesting video of Herc Gomez interviewing Pablo Maurer
https://youtu.be/X0TFhgzYbFY?si=hg_HIV8NaTCDOQrj
Another MLS youngster appears to be on the way to England. Chelsea have apparently approached the LA Galaxy to sign 16 year old Vicente Garcia. He would join Chelsea in the summer of 2028 when he turns 18 for reportedly $3 million + add-ons. He’s a US-Mexican dual national and represented Mexico up to the U-15 level then was selected for the June US U-17 camp. But its interesting in light of their transfer ban.
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/7503863/2026/08/10/vicente-garcia-chelsea-la-galaxy-transfer/
There are clubs that you get excited about a teenage prospect moving
Chelsea isn’t one of them
Very prestigious club, atrocious record of doing right by low priced acquisitions, loaning out and neglected until the player has enough and makes a move years later they should have jumped to first