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Good morning! I am extremely hungry, so I’m gonna try to move quickly through today’s round of Freedom Kicks...which means I’ll get bogged down talking about something from 1997. Anyway we’re one day away from D.C. United returning to action, there’s NWSL expansion news, and the Washington Spirit made an addition to their roster, so there’s plenty of current events to talk about as well.
It’s Friday, United is playing Saturday, and that means we have a thread of notes from Thursday’s pre-game press conference:
#DCU pre-game presser underway. Sounds like Arriola & Hamid have joined training to some degree, but those two, Robertha, & Canouse all appear to be out for Saturday.
— Jason Anderson (@JasonDCsoccer) May 6, 2021
You’ll notice that I couched this with “appear,” because Hernán Losada’s answer could be taken to just mean Paul Arriola and Bill Hamid, or it could be taken to mean all four players mentioned above. Hoping it’s the former, but expecting the latter.
The latest Filibuster is out, where we talked about some performances (good and bad) last week, and then focused on tomorrow afternoon’s trip to Columbus for one last dance at Historic Crew Stadium:
This week on Filibuster: Breaking down the goals & some individual performances in #DCU's loss last weekend, then looking ahead to the Crew with @_Pat_Murphy of @MassiveReporthttps://t.co/CXvzDerfMI
— Filibuster Podcast (@FilibusterDCU) May 6, 2021
D.C. United is in ‘survival of the fittest’ mode. For some, that’s been a struggle. | Washington Post
More on the injury situation from Steven Goff, including the prospect of Ola Kamara possibly being in uniform tomorrow.
We also have coffee shop news:
Some nice, obscure #DCU news I brewed up for you:
— Pablo Iglesias Maurer (@MLSist) May 6, 2021
The Mesut-Ozil-owned coffee shop which was slated to go in a ground-floor retail space at Audi Field is.... not going to happen anymore.
I first reported on that in 2019: https://t.co/ChTuFl3vhb
Congratulations to the Starbucks in the Safeway down here, and to the Philz Coffee on Tingey St. I guess, because these are the places that were most likely to lose some of my business (just due to convenience) if there were a coffee shop at Audi Field.
Washington Spirit sign defender Camryn Biegalski | Black and Red United
The Spirit had ten players who have NWSL experience as defenders on their roster, but with the Olympics potentially taking four or five of them away for a big portion of the year, it’s a good thing Camryn Biegalski showed well in training while on a temporary National Team Replacement contract.
Trinity Rodman: Can NBA icon’s record-breaking daughter become a USWNT star? | Goal.com
Spoiler: if those of us in the NWSL Media Association were having to vote for a Challenge Cup Best XI (I think it might be more limited than that), Trinity Rodman would be on my ballot without even having to sweat it much.
Alright, let’s move on to cool kits for a good cause:
In collaboration with @olive_york and designer @TFConcepts_ , the @RCRedArmy (SG for @RichmondKickers ), will be doing a jersey fundraiser with 100% of the profits going to support those affected by the volcanic eruptions on St. Vincent. Pre-Orders will start May 8th at $30 pic.twitter.com/Bjvuj8IFzT
— WE MATTER ✊ ✊ ✊ ❤️ (@rivercity93) May 6, 2021
Cool, eye-catching shirt to help the people of St. Vincent and the Grenadines...what’s not to like?
NWSL expected to approve Sacramento expansion group move to San Diego: Sources | The Athletic
Sounds like the NWSL is going to let Ron Burkle, who previously made news for not meeting any obligations about his expansion bid in Sacramento, to relocate said bid to San Diego and play at a small and old stadium without a clear commitment to building or moving to a better facility. I get the idea of interest in San Diego, but the devil is in the details with expansion teams.
And with that, it’s breakfast time. Enjoy your Friday!