LAFC Expansion Draft, Real Madrid in Club World Cup, and more: Freedom Kicks for December 13, 2017

A busy day for MLS.

Welcome to Wednesday folks. The MLS waiver draft is today, but don’t expect much action there. All eyes mostly point toward Stage 1 of the Re-Entry Draft that will take place Friday. Ok, let’s get to the news:

LAFC select Tico striker, young prospects in 2017 MLS Expansion Draft | MLS
Tyler Miller, Latif Blessing, Marco Urena, Jukka Raitala, and Raheem Edwards were the Los Angeles Football Club Expansion Draft picks. Raitala and Edwards were then shipped off to the Montreal Impact in a trade for Laurent Ciman. D.C. United did not have any players selected.

Club World Cup: Al-Jazira vs. Real Madrid 2017: Team News, Match Preview | Managing Madrid
The FIFA Club World Cup semifinals are today, with Real Madrid taking on United Arab Emirates champion Al-Jazira. They will take on Brazil’s Grêmio, who defeated Mexico’s Pachuca 1-0 after extra time.

Maryland’s Eryk Williamson turns pro, but will he sign with D.C. United? | Washington Post
Eryk Williamson leaves the Maryland Terrapins to become a professional, but while the Black-and-Red want him as a Homegrown Player, he’s considering going to Europe. Which path will the United States U-20 star take?

U.S. Soccer is headed in the wrong direction | SB Nation
An in-depth look at what is wrong with the USMNT and USWNT and what U.S. Soccer needs to do to get things back on track.

Inside the Secret World of Football in North Korea | Bleacher Report
This is an incredible story that focuses not just on North Korea and their national team, but also the Lebanon national team as they travel to play there in an Asian Cup qualifier. Soony Saad, a native of Dearborn, Michigan and a Sporting Kansas City player, is featured in the article.

Portland Timbers reportedly set to name Giovanni Savarese as head coach | The Oregonian
The former New York Cosmos coach is apparently headed to the Portland Timbers.

Source: Sacha Kljestan likely to be traded to Los Angeles Football Club | Metro
Take it with a grain of salt, but it sounds like New York Red Bulls captain Sacha Kljestan may be headed to LAFC.

Williams eager to lead USMNT rebuild | NBC Sports
Huddersfield Town midfielder Danny Williams speaks out and says that he could help the USMNT get back on track. Bruce Arena, however, showed some concern on Williams’ stance that players from the English Championship were not being called up to the USMNT for various reasons.

That’s what I got. Have a great one and hit the comments with the news that we missed!