USMNT First Roster Drop of the New Cycle Approaches, DC Power Prepare for Audi Field Clash, Peltola Receives Finland Callup, and More: Thursday Freedom Kicks
Happy 1st USMNT Roster drop for a fresh new cycle! Let me just link that up for you- what’s that, now? It comes out some awkward time midday? Such is life for a Freedom Kick contributor who really likes posting them.
On to the news!
Sources: Union’s Sullivan, 16, set for first USMNT call-up- ESPN
The leaks are flying. It seems we’ll all have to commit Cavan’s name pronunciation to memory at this point. (Apparently it’s like “Kevin” but the first vowel is actually closer to the short “a” sound). We may also start having to train our brains to endure Pulisic vs Poch feud escalation, as reports suggest the AC Milan star is likely to be left off the roster, but we’ll see what happens in a few hours.
The author of this player profile collection might be in luck, as it’s sounding quite possible they have all received an invite, as some reports suggest. Again, we’ll have to see.
You might find this more relevant and exciting news than the USMNT roster drop. And who am I to judge?
Peltola gets a break from DC for a bit to represent Finland, and he’s earned it.
DC Power will play at Audi Field tomorrow, and we wish them the best.
U.S. ousted from U20 Women’s World Cup in shootout loss to Brazil– ESPN
The U.S. fell at the Round of 16 hurdle against Brazil. The exit also highlights the number of teenage talents not available to the program, as the tournament falls outside of a recognized international window.
Messi nets 100th Miami goal en route to Campeones Cup win- ESPN
A rare headed goal by Lionel Messi secured the historic tally.
Unfortunately, it seems that utilizing his head was not in evidence after the match.
I’ll just say, for the above, this open pettiness makes no one involved look particularly good. Messi, Garber, MLS, the tournament, it’s simply embarrassing.
Sigh. Stellar.
I’ll close with this. When Abby Wambach married Glennon Doyle in 2017, she legally adopted Doyle’s three children, one of whom is Amma Melton, seen above scoring her first collegiate goal for Santa Clara with a knifing header. Like mother, like daughter.
That’s all I’ve got! One-up me in the comments, and have a great sporting day!
MLS has released the updated roster profiles. Notes for DC:
Dozzell and Nono are both TAM level players, Gabe Segal IS a senior roster player, Leveille is listed as an off-roster player, and we are down to just over $800k 2026 GAM
Sean Nealis’s contract also continues to expire at the end of 2026. Apparently he wasn’t actually extended.
I’m not really sure where DC would generate more GAM from, unless they sell Peltola or Peglow within the league or something, but I hope that doesn’t stop them from going after a third DP next year. They’ve brought in some good talents this year, who will hopefully all have gelled nicely over the course of this season, and then a real kickass midfielder and a U22 prospect that hits really take them over the top into “good team” territory.
GAM amounts shouldn’t really impact the ability to sign a DP or U22s, since they just hit the cap at specific values. It would more so hurt the ability to sign TAM guys or make intra-league trades (which I guess could have an impact on a DP or U22 if theres an international spot or discovery rights issue to deal with).
I do appreciate though that we all seemingly collectively hallucinated the Nealis extension back in the spring.
The good thing about intra-league stuff is that Levien and Sogut have shown themselves quite willing to use cashfers (Caden Clark, Tai Baribo, Nathan Ordaz, and Ted Ku-DiPietro going the other way). That’s just ownership cash, and not reliant on GAM. But yeah, the issue would be in adding good supporting players versus impact players. Ideally, that’s what we’ve done this season (Kurokawa, Nono, Dozzell, Hefti, Johnson) with some holdovers like Peglow, Peltola, Servania, Bartlett and Rowles. There’s continuity there, and if we can nail impact signings with our two remaining premium roster slots, then that’s a pretty solid starting XI.
That still leaves a thin bench. Hopefully some of our homegrowns can take a step and earn Weiler’s trust, and we can bring in some people that perform better than Jared Stroud and maybe Hosei Kijima.
I really believe ownership and a spending budget is the limiting factor in the roster rebuild. I think there have been failures in the past in identifying good players, but recently its been better and they don’t hang on to the mistakes. Someone posted about the different club spendings and DC has been about the same. That’s why I think there is a budget to do a rebuild. Other clubs are spending more and doing worse and I think that is a possible worry here. Maybe ownership does not trust the soccer people to be good at building a team. This year though, I think I have more faith in management finding good players, but in past years, I know it has not been good.
Roster has officially been released:
https://www.ussoccer.com/stories/2026/09/usmnt/mauricio-pochettino-september-october-roster
Good to bring in a batch of new guys and some leaders.
So, looking at the roster, it would be over-baking to talk about it as a snub for Pulisic. It’s almost more striking to see Dest, Richards, Adams and Tillman in a roster that is otherwise seriously young dudes (Brooklyn Raines? I like him, but is he really ready to make the step to the senior nats?), or lower-ranked veterans who have something to prove and need opportunities to advance to the starting XI (Musah, Reyna, Berhalter, and Pepi). I’m more surprised by leaving off Aidan Morris than I am by leaving off Pulisic.
That said — there are players who have recently moved from MLS teams to Europe, (and a few like Pepi who made the jump a few years ago), along with one player with FC Cincy, goalies from NYCFC, Chicago, and Nashville, plus young dudes from MLS, 1 with Orlando, 2 with NE Revs, 2 with NYRB, and 3 with Philly Union. Not one player in the set-up has ever played a game for DC United at any level.
Of course, we’re not the only academy falling off the map, but it still says something really important. It used to be that all the prospects were coming thru LA Galaxy and FC Dallas (plus a few randos like Reyna and Weah who were associated briefly with NYCFC but were prospects because of their dads and higher-level training). Now, we’ve got prospects in Orlando, New England, and consistently out of New Jersey and Philadelphia. It’s really striking that DC United really can’t produce any — Paredes had a sniff with the national team, and Rooney’s hyping of Jackson Hopkins got him on the USNYT radar, but there’s a chasm between what our academy is doing and what our competitors (and possibly future division opponents) are doing.
There were camps when guys like Ian Harkes and Taylor Kemp were getting called up. Steve Birnbaum scored a goal for the US, and Donovan Pines won a Gold Cup!
(I know some of these guys were draft picks, but the larger point about developing young talent stands.)
If the u-20 team that qualified for the u-20 World Cup is any indication, the floor has been raised well past what Harkes and Kemp were capable of
This coming crop is already looking very promising
I do think Aidan Morris should be there
But his absence I bet has less to do with his chances of playing the coming cycle, and more about making sure Musah gets as clear of a redemption window as possible
He better take it now, cuz he’s got ground to make up that the likes of Berhalter and Morris do not