D.C. United win, Spirit lose, Loudoun draw, Messi leaves & more: Freedom Kicks for 8/9/21

Sunday games stink, but when you actually go to one of those things, it stinks even more, but at least it was fun!

Recaps of D.C. United’s 2-1 win over the Montreal Impact CF FC by us, WaPo and MLS (with more from them here).

D.C. United goalkeeper Bill Hamid to miss 5-6 weeks with a hamstring injury (WaPo): I don’t know who needs to hear this (if anyone), but this likely means that Bill will have played 20 games more than once in the last five years. Granted, there are some extenuating circumstances, but still.

Recaps of the Washington Spirit’s 1-0 loss to the Portland Thorns by us and WaPo. Stumptown Footy has the other end of it.

Lionel Messi says tearful goodbye to Barcelona (Barca Blaugranes): Expect him to sign with PSG shortly, as soon as today maybe? Bummer, this.

While the Spirit started August on a disconcerting note, they had a decent month in July:

Washington Spirit at the Olympics: O’Hara and Sonnett take bronze with USWNT, Roddar gets silver (us): Jason’s last look at how the Spirit roster fared.

Recap: Loudoun draw 0-0 with Charlotte (us): Loudoun looked...better? And Jackson Hopkins may be worth keeping an eye on.

Speaking of Loudoun, a former Loudoun player (Alioune Ndour) scored a cheap goal for Portugal side Belenenses in a friendly with Roma:

I just wanted the excuse to write ‘former Loudoun United player scored against Roma’ one time in my life.

Finally, I think this trailer for a new Rick James documentary looks interesting?