Friday Freedom Kicks: DCU loses Perez to injury, Spirit at Olympics, and more

Bad news for DCU, but good news from the NWSLPA

Well folks, I dozed off last night instead of doing Freedom Kicks, and now it’s now, so rather than delaying things any further, here’s the soccer stuff:

D.C. United starter Adrien Perez out after foot surgery, will miss significant time | Washington Post
Until last night, Adrien Perez was the only D.C. United player to appear in every game this season. Now, thanks to a tackle that went unpunished and the compressed schedule to come, he’s going to probably miss around half of United’s regular season games this year.

I don’t know about you, but I’m hopping mad about the Philadelphia Union’s approach from the weekend, which I think is fair to call violent. It’s not even the result on the scoreboard, but rather the intent to kick and hack United out of the game is costing players in a bigger way than simply one loss in the standings.

Here’s something I am not mad about:

NWSL Announces Time Change for July 25 Match Between Racing Louisville FC and Washington Spirit | WashingtonSpirit.com
Good choice here, as Louisville was likely going to be hot and muggy at the scheduled 3pm kickoff time. Afternoon kickoffs during the American summer remain a demonstrably bad idea for player safety.

Just a heads up: This does mean we’ll have a Spirit and United conflict on Sunday, as the 7:30pm kickoff for the Spirit overlaps with the 8pm start time at Audi Field.

You know him from this very site, but now you can also see André Carlisle on Gal Pal Sports’ new show The Morning After talking about woso at the Olympics:

Washington Spirit at the Olympics: Kelley O’Hara and Julia Roddar both feature in USWNT vs. Sweden | Black and Red United
We checked in on the Washington Spirit’s Olympians, because it’s tough to watch these games. That dozing off before finishing this post? Yeah, I’m in sleep schedule chaos right now.

Would you like to see a goal? Here’s a goal:

The Sounders fielded a bunch of high schoolers signed to temporary contracts due to injuries, went on the road mid-week, and won 1-0. They’re good.

MLS notebook: Portland Timbers working to acquire Colombian attacker, USMNT planning for expanded WCQ call-ups and more | The Athletic
The USMNT roster during qualifying might be very large, which may have an impact on the Black-and-Red’s various prospects for those call-ups. Also, I’m not encouraged about the MLS developmental league news in here.

Critical Roster Building Mistakes Continue to Haunt Atlanta United | Dirty South Soccer
Great breakdown in here, from a cap perspective, about how Atlanta United’s problems are not just related to coaching.

Trade: KC NWSL send Rodriguez to North Carolina in exchange for three players | The Blue Testament
In a fairly surprising trade, KC NWSL has sent their captain Amy Rodriguez and $60,000 in allocation money to the North Carolina Courage for Kristen Hamilton, Hailie Mace, and Katelyn Rowland.

NC and KC also play each other tonight, and given KC’s injury report, there’s a good chance that the new acquisitions all play immediately.

In news that was potentially local soccer news, but is now not going to be local soccer news:

How we’re introducing women’s football into Football Manager | FootballManager.com
I’m very glad Sports Interactive has finally, finally decided to have women’s soccer in FM.

Let’s finish up with a belated happy birthday to the icon George Clinton, who turned 80 years old yesterday. I’ll leave you with some music: