Football Regional Heads Signal For New Leadership, Former DCU Homegrown Product On The Move, and more: Tuesday Freedom Kicks
Good morning DC Footy Folk!
I’ve got some quick hits for you this morning!
Look like former DCU academy product and DMV natibe, Matai Akinmboni, could be moving on loan to Scotland from Bournemouth.
Consortium advances talks for stake in Liverpool (BBC)
Bezos might be eyeing a move into sports ownership. Led by a group that includes Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin, they would look to purchase a 30% stake in the club from Fenway Sports Group.
AFC, Concacaf and UEFA: An Open Letter to the Football Family (CONCACAF)
A pretty damning indictment of Infantino with three of the top regional heads calling for “leadership that serves football, not seeks to command it”.
What went wrong for Nigeria at WAFCON, and what is their next step towards the World Cup? (ESPN)
Considering they are the record setting title holders, this should very much be assessed. Hoping Deb and Gift can pull through during the grueling qualification process and take Nigeria to the World Cup next year.
Sanchez is leaving Europe after 20(!!!) years. Will we see him against DCU on Saturday?
USMNT midweek viewing guide: Ramping up (SSFC)
I am particularly interested in seeing if Tanner Tessman and Lyon can overcome a 1-2 result from last week against Sparta Praha to qualify for the Champions League playoffs. Game is today at 3 PM.
NWSL attendance is on pace for another milestone season (USA Today)
Some good news for the NWSL. Some interesting stats I pulled from the article; 9 out of 16 teams are averaging over 10,000 fans including the Washing Spirit (average of 15,527). Also, each season in a Womens World Cup year gets an attendance boost of about 25%.
New ‘Ted Lasso’ season features NWSL’s Kansas City Current as plot point (ESPN)
Speaking of the NWSL, the league featured heavily in the season premier of Ted Lasso last week (especially Kansas City Current). I know Ted Lasso can be a love it or hate it type of show (personally I love it) but I am excited for the new episode tonight! They usually drop on Apple TV around 9 PM EST.
Finally, Leicy Santos’ foundation is working to provide aid to those affected by the earthquake in Colombia.
That’s all from me folks! See you in the comments!
I didn’t click through, but if it’s Dundee United that’s interesting in Akinmboni, that’s also where Ian Harkes went and had a pretty great stretch. So they’d be familiar with DC homegrowns.
If it’s the other Dundee, then disregard.
The stadiums are pretty much across the street from each other. Close enough.
Ended up being in a meeting yesterday with someone with the last name DiPietro. Given my work is based in the DC area, I wonder if he had any relation to Teddy KDP’s family
I have friends in Germantown who are DiPietros. Pretty sure there’s no relation, or it would have come up before
So, let’s review… In this window…
Charlotte: Allan Saint-Maximin; Houston: Marcelo Saracchi & Duncan McGuire; Nashville: Elias Saad; NE Revs: Jack Harrison
Phila Union: Kai Wagner; Portland Timbers: Vincent Janssen;
San Diego: Elias Achouri; Toronto: Niklas Dorsch
All of these guys (except McGuire) have played first team football in top Euro leagues.
Then, there’s this:
Inter Miami: Casemiro; LA Galaxy: Chucky Lozano and Sergi Roberto:
Chicago Fire: Robert Lewandoski; Montreal: Alexis Sanchez;
DC United: A 3rd division midfielder from England, a 2nd division wingback from Japan, a back-up homegrown from LA, and 2 DC homegrowns.
Not how you close the gap.
Not to say we shouldn’t be signing better players, but Nono came from Kashima Antlers, who won the J1 League last year. Quite far from second division (and I’d argue a better pedigree than guys like Saad, who played in Denmark). A lot of the guys you mentioned are also well over 30. Not saying that’s necessarily bad, but they’re not guys you can build a team around for years.
The DC owners have also spent well over $15M (possibly closer to $17M) on player acquisitions since Weiler showed up last August. They’re clearly investing and trying to improve the team. They’ve done well to get rid of guys that we weren’t playing (Herrera and Pirani) and have brought in some good pieces. We were never going to be in a “win now” position this season. Making sure the foundation is stable is a much higher priority, and they’ve done fairly well to address that.