MLS, D.C. United, and Washington Spirit reveal Juneteenth plans, and more: Freedom Kicks for 6/18/2021

Good morning! We’ve got some very cool D.C. United and Washington Spirit plans that are in conjunction with their games tomorrow on Juneteenth. In personal news, I am not 100% sure whether I swallowed a cherry pit or just too much cherry at once, and I’m just gonna push on in hopes that this is not the beginning of the end for me.

D.C. United Announce Activities and Initiatives for Juneteenth Match Against Inter Miami CF | DCUnited.com
Among United’s plans for tomorrow’s game, which falls on Juneteenth: Go-go music in the stadium, Black-owned businesses outside the stadium, and a performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” before the game.

Additionally, teams around the league will be playing in the Juneteenth number set you can see as the photo at the top of this piece. Those jerseys will be auctioned off at MLSauctions.com, along with commemorative boxes, over the next month, with the proceeds going towards helping Black communities in MLS markets.

Speaking of jerseys...

I’ve never been super pumped about the defense contractor sponsorship, but the logo has at least been more or less unobtrusive? Let’s hope the next deal is more lucrative without being some comical product or some company of terrible ghouls.

On the field, we’ve got an injury update for Inter Miami:

Colombia held to goalless draw by Venezuela in Copa America clash | ESPN
Junior Moreno played the full 90 as Venezuela (who had so many players forced out of the Copa America last minute due to positive Covid-19 tests) managed to perform a borderline miracle in holding off Colombia over 90 minutes.

USWNT Olympic roster bubble watch: Who has strengthened their case and who could be the tough exclusions | The Athletic
Friend of the site Steph Yang looks over the USWNT roster as we approach Vlatko Andonovski’s roster announcement, and she expects a mixed bag for the Spirit’s three candidates to make the squad.

Arriving from Chicago, Camryn Biegalski is another piece of the Spirit’s talented, young core | Beautiful Game Network
Here’s a quick profile on Camryn Biegalski, who will probably see some time during the Olympics thanks to Kelley O’Hara and Emily Sonnett seeming to be likely to end up in Japan for a while.

MLS and Black Players for Change collaborate on Juneteenth efforts | The Undefeated
D.C. native Clinton Yates had the big read of the day from yesterday, exploring the thought process behind what the Black Players for Change and MLS are doing for Juneteenth. Can’t recommend this one enough.

Sometime today, the Spirit and the Chicago Red Stars will have a Juneteenth discussion featuring Tegan McGrady and Chicago defender Sarah Gorden:

Closer to home, Audi Field will be hosting Howard University’s football team sometime this fall:

Atlanta United unveils The Unity Kit | Dirty South Soccer
The corporate titans at Adidas granted Atlanta United the privilege of a third kit, and it’s...fine. But also screw the other teams, give us a third kit.

Finally, let’s wrap up with big woso transfer news that is also confirmation that the Spirit won’t be getting a dream signing for at least a little while:

Bunny Shaw lead the French league in scoring despite not playing for either of their NWSL-caliber teams, and she’s probably going to demolish the Women’s Super League next season.

Alright folks, that’s it! Hopefully this cherry pit situation is just paranoia, and hopefully you have a good one.