We’re back. After a hiatus — and a Riverside studio that decided to reinvent itself the moment we hit record — Jon and Ted return to a weekend with no DC United or Washington Spirit match on the calendar. The World Cup and the international break wiped it clean.
So we did the only sensible thing: a full World Cup roundup, a love letter to the Washington Spirit, and the biggest piece of DC United business of the offseason so far — Aaron Herrera is gone.
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A Man of No Conviction
Jon went into this World Cup determined to hate it. Hate FIFA, hate the spectacle, root for the US to crash out of the group. And then the United States scored four goals — the most they’ve ever managed in a World Cup game — and his carefully padlocked sports patriotism started seeping out of the walls.
That’s the whole tournament in a sentence. If you love soccer, they’ve got you. They’ve taken every other competition away for a month and handed you games every day, and you are going to watch.
A few things we got into:
- Folarin Balogun is now fourth all-time in US men’s World Cup scoring. (Always qualify the stat — the men’s numbers run a lot lower than the women’s.)
- Christian Pulisic looked incredible for 45 minutes before a calf scare sent every Chelsea fan straight to doomerism. Here’s hoping it’s nothing.
- Gio Reyna scored an absolute worldie against Paraguay — right after Tyler Adams had to pull him out of an opponent’s face to keep him from getting sent off. The “everything’s behind me now” celebration that followed told on him a little. The duality of the guy.
- The 48-team field is doing exactly what it should: Cape Verde, Curaçao and Haiti are the best stories in the tournament, and we’d take a Cape Verde over an Italy — who missed out for a third straight time — every day of the week.
- Japan’s comeback draw with the Netherlands was a genuine highlight (and a study in height). Along with Scotland, they’re our early dark-horse darlings.
- Fox’s coverage, meanwhile, continues to play to the lowest common denominator — including bypassing the Shakira opening ceremony that half the country actually wanted to see.
The Washington Spirit Are On a Rocket Ship
Jon got to a recent Spirit home game and is still, weeks later, blown away by the gap between the two clubs that share a building. The in-stadium production, the player rollout videos, the fan base’s optimism and attentiveness — all of it is operating on a different level. The Spirit have built a genuinely great direct-to-consumer brand and then spent the money on a roster other teams would love to raid.
They’re fourth in the standings with games in hand on most of the table, and they are not staying fourth. Gift Monday led the team in scoring last year and is now an impact player off the bench — that’s the kind of depth they’re working with.
The message to DC United fans who’ve trained themselves to look away: stop. As Jon put it, ignoring the Spirit is like skipping the Smithsonian. It’s right there. It’s one of the best teams in the world. It’s in the same stadium you already go to.
Aaron Herrera Waived
The headline DC United news: Aaron Herrera asked to leave, and the club chose to waive him rather than chase a trade.
Jon and Ted walk through why a trade was always going to be hard — Herrera’s contract was sizable, and a deal would have meant finding a partner willing to absorb most of it. From there it’s a primer on how MLS waivers actually work: clubs bid by how much salary they’re willing to take on, ties break by waiver order, and the original team can buy out the remainder to clear the books. DC pulled exactly that lever last year with the Randall Leal situation.
If DC used a buyout here, it could free up close to a million dollars in salary space — and potentially a DP slot. Wherever Herrera lands, expect him to play well; he’s still a good player in the right system. We’ll be tracking it.
So Who Comes In?
With the window open and DC desperate for chance creation, the guys floated a few World Cup names worth a flier — and noted that Kevin Paredes is suddenly a free man. Deniz Undav remains the dream nine we’ll never get. A man can hope.
🎙️ There’s a whole stack of additional DC United news we get into for the sickos — the full extended breakdown lives at the $5 Patreon tier: patreon.com/rfkrefugees
Vamos. 🔴⚫