RFK Refugees Podcast

Why do former DC United players start scoring the moment they leave? Jon compares the club to a car whose designer changes every 20 minutes: one wants triangle wheels, the next wants a tank, and at the end everyone blames the parts. Jon and Ted break down a 2-1 win over the New York Red Bulls in what may be the last Atlantic Cup, then a 4-1 loss at Orlando City without the suspended Lucas Bartlett. In this episode: - The final Atlantic Cup and that Red Bulls and DC United social media collab - Oscar Avilez's first start, a week after the hosts asked for the kids - Why former DC United players thrive at their next clubs - Sean Johnson's case for a raise, and Ted's referee take on Bartlett's second yellow - Orlando's summer signings and DC United's thin roster - The playoff slap fest, how to measure progress, and what the hosts want to hear from René Weiler and ownership Next match: DC United at FC Cincinnati, Wednesday, October 21, then the return match at Audi Field on Saturday, October 24. Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvL286ATy64 Patreon members get the bonus segment on disappearing players, eight goals in two games, and your questions. Join at patreon.com/RFKRefugees and find everything else at https://rfkrefugees.com

Inter Miami 4, DC United 0. The game plan was gone by the second minute, and Jon and Ted are left asking a bigger question: who is actually running this club? Jon borrows an old SNL bit about a band where everyone wants to play bass. Ted says nobody is conducting the orchestra. In this episode: - What went wrong in Miami, from the second-minute goal to the back-post breakdowns - Why Wednesday against the New York Red Bulls is a must-win - Louis Munteanu's injury and Tai Baribo's cold streak - Listener question: does ownership care, or is this just chaos from the top? - Why the next Designated Player has to be the club's biggest signing yet - Jon's free advice for the front office, and Ted's case for stability over another rebuild Next match: DC United vs. New York Red Bulls at Audi Field, Wednesday, October 14. Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKK314-J_mo Patreon members get the bonus segment on the new Audi Field renderings. Join at the $5 tier and find everything else at https://rfkrefugees.com

No DPs, a 10:30 p.m. kickoff, and the best team in the West on the other side. D.C. United still left BC Place with a 3-3 draw, and Kimito Nono scored his first two MLS goals to get them there. Ted says he's the club's best summer signing since Wayne Rooney. Jon and Ted break it all down. In this episode: - Nono's brace, Lucas Bartlett's third goal of the season, and the Rooney comparison - Silvan Hefti, Nono, and who starts at right back - Andre Dozzell, Jackson Hopkins and Brandon Servania in midfield without Matti Peltola - Nikola Markovic: center back, midfielder or striker? - Has this performance earned René Weiler more time and more players? - Patreon and Discord questions on the DPs, Bartlett's celebration and the playoff race - The SC Paderborn friendly, the new MLS format and what's missing from Apple TV's coverage Next match: D.C. United at Inter Miami, Saturday, October 10. Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMQU9XbyzWk Support the show on Patreon and find everything else at https://rfkrefugees.com

Thirty-one shots. Three and a half expected goals. A 2-1 loss at home. D.C. United were comprehensively the better side against Charlotte and lost anyway, in a game that took a real bite out of what was left of the playoff picture. Jon and Ted give it a few days, look at the table, and work out how bad it actually is. Louis Munteanu had the best game he has played in a D.C. shirt — ten shots on his own, three chances created, lively and dangerous on the left, and for the first time this season a player who made the people around him better. Not everyone agreed; two on target out of ten will do that. Jon's question for the frustrated: who else on this roster was taking those shots, and would they have finished them? One of the ten came off the underside of the bar and probably crossed the line. Probably. There is no truly definitive angle, because every camera in this league is off to the side or behind, and Ted — who referees — explains exactly how confidently an angle will lie to you. Put a neutral in the VAR chair with those images and they can't tell you either. Which puts the blame on MLS: buy goal-line technology, or at minimum point a camera at the goal line. The detail that stings is that the national missed-calls show didn't even bring it up. "We don't matter at all." D.C.'s goal was a Keisuke Kurokawa cross headed in by Lucas Bartlett, the club's third-leading scorer, which tells you where the goals come from. Charlotte's winner was Allan Saint-Maximin's first in MLS, and the guys walk through the three players who let it happen — Kimito Nono forced into a choice, Brandon Servania caught in no man's land, and Nathan Ordaz, a fresh sixty-fifth-minute substitute, jogging back while his team defended an odd-man rush. Then René Weiler. After a season of pointing inward — at his players, at what the club spends — he pointed outward for the first time, at the replay, with enough heat that Jon figures he'd have brought a printout to the podium if Audi Field had a photo printer nearby. He also declined, pointedly, to talk about the playoffs. Jon liked seeing him defend his players. Ted read a facade starting to crack. Plus the listener questions, which this week were all variations on the same one. Jason 1551 asks if D.C. are officially toast — not officially, but the bread is getting crispy. Luigi DeGuzman asks what's left to play for. And Brandon Zebron asks for a keep-or-replace on the entire matchday squad, which turns into the longest segment of the show: who's under contract, who's gone in December, why almost the whole bench turns over, and why Matti Peltola is probably sold in January whether anyone likes it or not. Underneath all of it is the tiebreaker. Six wins. All those draws keep you breathing right up until they don't. Vancouver away next, without both designated players. IN THIS EPISODEThe Richmond Kickers sell their head coach mid-season — and Jon's copper wires DC United 1-2 Charlotte: thirty-one shots, 3.4 xG, and a home loss Louis Munteanu's ten shots and his best game in a DC shirt The people who still weren't happy, and Jon's answer to them Why this roster can't play like that every week Kurokawa to Bartlett, and a team that lives on set pieces Allan Saint-Maximin's first MLS goal, and the three players who let it happen Nathan Ordaz jogging back, and a contract that runs through 2029 René Weiler points the finger outward for the first time all season "I don't want to talk about the playoffs" The goal that wasn't: bad angles, no goal-line technology, and a missed-calls show that skipped it Luigi DeGuzman: what's left in the rest of the season? Brandon Zebron: keep or replace, the starting eleven and the bench Kye Rowles, a green card, and a raise that costs less against the cap

Zero shots on goal. Four days after beating Columbus 2-1, D.C. United went to work against an Atlanta side sitting below them in the table and produced nothing. Sloppy, disjointed, no cohesive attack. Nathan Ordaz's effort from wide was the closest thing to a chance the Black-and-Red created all night. Sean Johnson's saves and a Miguel Almirón miss from close range are the only reasons this finished 0-0 instead of as a loss. Jon and Ted dig into why this keeps happening. João Peglow was suspended on yellow-card accumulation, leaving a midfield of Andre Dozzell, Ordaz, Kimito Nono and Brandon Servania that broke up play competently and created absolutely nothing going forward. Tai Baribo and Louis Munteanu score goals — they don't make them. Nobody on this roster makes them. That's not a bad night, that's the shape of the squad. This was a must-win against a team below them, and everyone below D.C. gained ground. It's mid-September. Table watch officially begins. René Weiler admitted the performance was poor, then returned — by the guys' count, roughly the fifth time — to comments about what the club spends. Jon has run out of patience with that line, given Weiler helped pick this squad. A question from Bluesky asks whether Weiler keeps his job if D.C. miss the playoffs. Both hosts say yes, and probably should: the last five D.C. head coaches have landed at roughly a 43% win rate regardless of who was in the chair. Weiler's contract runs through December 2027 and he's the highest-paid coach in club history. The real pressure arrives in the winter window, not in October. Plus the Matti Peltola question. Benched against Atlanta, on in the second half, and the broadcast's man of the match against Columbus four days earlier. Ted's read: he doesn't fit Weiler's 4-3-3 and he's gone in January. Jon's objection: if he isn't a fit, you sell while the value is high — not after half a season rotting on the bench. Roster movement: Conner Antley has been recalled from his loan at Tampa Bay after four starts, with no announced injury behind it. Caden Clark has been loaned out to Tacoma Defiance. Then the story that put D.C. United on TechCrunch. The club is reported to be in talks to sell a stake in both the team and Audi Field to Collaborative Fund, the venture firm led by Craig Shapiro. MLS has not approved anything, and the league is still working out how large a private equity position it will even allow. Floated in the reporting: in-stadium placements for the firm's portfolio companies, and AI-managed fan entry times. Jon's skepticism is straightforward — an equity sale puts money in the current owner's pocket. It does not put a player on the field. On the Spirit side: a loss to Boston Legacy FC at Audi Field, conceding twice in the final four minutes while pushing for an equalizer. Washington are still second overall. Jon's theory is a cohesion problem — a roster of stars and no club servants, which is a hard job for any coach when ownership signs everyone available. And there's a goalkeeper question waiting when Aubrey Kingsbury comes back. Up top, Jon played inline hockey for the first time in 25 years, won, scored, then had his flight cancelled and Ubered home — turning 41 and picking hard sports on purpose. Ted refereed all weekend and is still proud of playing an advantage and then coming back for the yellow. And the closing question: any buyer's remorse on the season tickets after a night like that? No. Now he can really yell at people.