Minutes from the Committee Meeting
August 15, 2025 — Committee Meeting # 3
Review of the Previous Week’s Group Chat:
David Gass has the inside scoop on Matt Doyle's audience acquisition strategy!
Agenda Items:
The news in NWSL is still the surprise firing of North Carolina Courage head coach Sean Nahas. While the Courage sit outside the playoff line, the firing happened right after the first match following a lengthy international break, and the Courage had finished third and fifth respectively in previous campaigns. Jordan Angeli and David Gass broke down the drama around a cryptic announcement following the Paul Riley scandal, and the future of an accomplished club featuring young talents like Riley Jackson and Jaedyn Shaw.
Holy s*** the Seattle Sounders are on fire. One of the deepest teams in MLS history absolutely embarrassed Liga MX heavyweights Cruz Azu 7-0 en route to an undefeated Leagues Cup group stage. Meanwhile, they’re putting up unreal goalscoring numbers in MLS thanks to relative unknowns like Danny Musovski and Paul Rothrock. Could they be the team to beat in MLS Cup? Our friends, Lobbing Scorchers, talked more about their hometown club with us on Soccerwise.
The discourse is the focus of the discourse once again, as the conclusion of the “Pulisic” documentary on Paramount+ featured Pulisic and Timothy Weah referring to the ex-USMNTer chorus of critics as “evil.” While that may be an overly charged phrase, we tend to agree with our recent Kickback Committee guest, U.S. legend Marcelo Balboa, who stated that “I don’t need to blow out your candle to make my candle look brighter.”
To paraphrase another quote from Marcelo, the easy and lazy thing to do is to punch down. We can do better than that as a community.
Approvals:
Best Bluesky Post: Ok we’re totally cheating here…we just want an excuse to post Rapid Man (iykyk):
Matches To Watch This Weekend:
KC Current vs. Orlando Pride, NWSL (August 16th, 4:00 pm ET, CBS): First place KC Current! Second place Orlando Pride! Big CBS! NWSL 2024 semifinal rematch! WATCH!!
New York Red Bulls vs. Philadelphia Union, MLS (August 16th, 7:30 pm ET, AppleTV+): A few short days after blowing two consecutive leads to rival Philadelphia Union in a devastating U.S. Open Cup quarterfinal loss, the Red Bulls will look to get their first win over the league leading Union in 17 matches.
Chelsea vs. Crystal Palace, Premier League (August 17th, 9:00 am ET, USA): USMNT star Chris Richards and Crystal Palace look to maintain their Community Shield winning momentum against Club World Cup champions and potential Premier League challengers Chelsea.
Hartford Athletic vs. FC Tulsa, USL Championship (August 16th, 7:00 pm ET, ESPN+): Hartford and FC Tulsa are both winners of three-in-a-row, and eager to keep the good times going.
One Knoxville SC vs. Union Omaha, USL League 1 (August 16th, 7:00 pm ET, ESPN+): 1. We have Susannah Fuller, and you don’t, Omaha. 2. The Soccerwise Owl is the REAL Soccer Owl. One Knox by five, book it.
Level Up:
Each week the Committee approves the leveling up of a player who simply has taken that leap with their game. This week, it’s the Seattle Sounders’ Pedro de la Vega.
For a year and a half, the biggest transfer in Sounders history was a dud. Pedro de la Vega struggled to impact matches from the right wing, and the Sounders were left without a game breaker. So Pedro de la Vega, not even starting quality, was benched.
Then, Brian Schmetzer put de la Vega on the left wing. Now, he has six goal contributions in less than a month, and a Puskas Award level golazo. He may very well be the best Argentine soccer player in the world.
Allocate your points wisely, Pedro.
Action Items:
Soccerwise:Soccerwise co-host was all over her home state of Colorado for our 50 States of Soccer series, while David Gass interviewed league leader’s Philadelphia Union’s head coach, Bradley Carnell.
Kickback Committee: Canadian international and San Jose Earthquakes midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye made his Committee debut, as we talked the best (and worst) manager fits, the USMNT discourse drama, and (C)anks Abroad.
Happy Hour: It’s Colorado week on the Kickback Happy Hour, but we’re also talking soccer woe and making some pretty degenerate parlays (it’s a dive bar Happy Hour). Pull up to the Kickback bar and join our Happy Hour.
A fan of Kickback Soccer Media? Share Kickback Minutes with a soccer-loving friend, family member, or perhaps even a frenemy.
When you’ve done that, remind your local coach and chief sporting officer to please, Play the Kids.