D.C. United US Open Cup draw, USWNT vs. Uzbekistan, and more: Freedom Kicks for 4/8/2022

Good morning! We have some news that concerns D.C. United, a bunch of Washington Spirit players are at USWNT camp ahead of tomorrow’s game against Uzbekistan, and there’s a banger at the end, I promise.

For United, the big news is coming in a few hours, with the draw for the Third Round of the US Open Cup revealing who the Black-and-Red will match up against starting at noon today on US Soccer’s Youtube page. Late last night, US Soccer announced pods of four and six teams to sort the 48 teams involved in this round geographically, and United got one that...well, I was hoping we’d get the first United-Kickers game since 2013. Instead, we’re stuck with the tri-state area:

New rules this year mean the 3rd round match won’t involve the Red Bulls. Instead, it’ll be either FC Motown from NPSL, Flower City Union (who just fell 6-1 to the Maryland Bobcats in NISA league play), Loudoun United’s frequent USL foe Hartford Athletic, and Rochester NY FC of MLS Next Pro, a team owned in part by Jamie Vardy.

Elsewhere, DCU homegrown Jeremy Garay is on the El Salvador under-20 roster for the upcoming Dallas Cup:

Q&A with Sami Guediri | LoudounUnitedFC.com
Sami Guediri has been one of the top players in the USL Championship thus far this season, and the team had a chat with him ahead of Sunday’s game against Louisville.

USWNT looks to build depth and cohesion in friendlies vs. Uzbekistan | The Athletic
Will the U.S. be facing a wildly overmatched opponent tomorrow when they play Uzbekistan in Columbus? Yes. But that’s not to say the games are pointless, especially for players battling to be included on the final roster for qualifying this summer.

Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ shirt going to auction as family claims it’s not the right one | The Athletic
In what is pretty much an “only Maradona” kind of story, people might be bidding on the shirt he wore to score probably the two most famous goals in World Cup history...or a shirt he wore about half hour before those goals.

OK I promised you a banger, and here it is. No Monster Mash switcheroo, I promise:

Enjoy your weekend!