Christian Eriksen update, D.C. United GM Lucy Rushton on Filibuster, and more: Freedom Kicks for 6/15/2021

It’s still slow in the world of D.C. United and the Washington Spirit, as both teams are coming off of a bye week, but that’s about to change. As we round into the rare “all three B&RU teams play at literally the same time” FOMO nightmare that will haunt me this coming Saturday, there’s not a ton of news out there, but we’ve got plenty of audio, some wondergoals, and of course I have once again made sure to bring up Kazuyoshi Miura.

D.C. United General Manager Lucy Rushton talks analytics and her role with the club | Black and Red United
Really pleased with how this episode of Filibuster turned out, as Lucy Rushton gave us more of a view on how she’s going about the GM job, the club’s infrastructure, and she didn’t close the door on United making big moves either.

Listen: Washington Spirit Fans Return To Audi Field To Watch And Cheer Together | WAMU
A quick audio hit from the Spirit’s last home game, the first regular season match in front of fans since September 2019.

Speaking of the Spirit, Jordan DiBiasi arranged this clinic with kids from Cornerstone, and ended up bringing several teammates along:

One recurring theme with the new owners has been doing work in the community, and it’s nice to see players taking the lead on things like this.

Jozy Altidore, Toronto FC’s fractured relationship has multiple imperfect paths to resolution | The Athletic
Jozy Altidore to Cruz Azul? It’s one of many options at this point.

Also, every Chris Armas story, after the months-long coaching search we went through around here, hits different for me. This could have been us!

OK, snark aside, here’s some unadulterated good news:

Christian Eriksen posted a message from the hospital and is doing well enough to declare himself “fine - under the circumstances.” A huge relief, to say the least.

Moving on, here are the promised great goals:

That Leo Messi sure can kick that dang ball, I tell you what.

But hey, let’s try one from further out:

Patrick Schick scored this goal in Glasgow, despite being in Edinburgh when he took this shot.

Reminder that tomorrow at 5am Eastern is a big King Kazu moment, as Yokohama FC hosts Vanraure Hachinohe in the Emperor’s Cup. The world needs a 54-year-old Kazu Miura goal, and this feels like the most likely opening of the year.

OK, that’s about it for me. I’ve got a USWNT presser this afternoon, Filibuster tonight, Plex Weather tomorrow...break time is over.