Friday Freedom Kicks: Washington Spirit players to USWNT, NWSL draft trades, and more

Got a late one for you today! It’s been a crazy week.

US Soccer revealed the USWNT roster for the upcoming January camp and series of two friendlies in New Zealand. Washington Spirit is once again the most-represented team on the roster with 5 players called-up, including the return from injury of Emily Sonnett.

The camp was planned to get the team some time playing in conditions similar to this year’s World Cup, which will be co-hosted by New Zealand, but the competition may not be as stiff as they hoped: several Ferns players are unavailable due to the matches taking place outside of an official international window.

D.C. United had an international call-up of their own, with homegrown player Kristian Fletcher selected for the U-19 US Men’s Youth National Team January Camp. The team is preparing for the Concacaf U-17 Championship in February.

NWSL draft madness is in full swing, with a four-way trade yesterday, between Angel City FC, Portland Thorns, NJ/NY Gotham FC, and Orlando Pride. Angel City traded the Portland Thorns for midfielder Yazmeen Ryan, then turned around and traded her to Gotham in exchange for the number one pick of the draft. Gotham then sent $350,000 in allocation money to the Pride in exchange for the number two pick. Angel City are expected to select 18-year-old Alyssa Thompson with the first pick, so the real mystery here is: what does Orlando have planned for all that allocation money?

Finally, for those of you who like bangers, here’s our own André Carlisle sharing his top 5 women’s soccer goals of 2022 with Eugene Rupiński for the WoSo Collective: