Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / USWNT's SheBelieves Cup Roster | Barcelona + Bayern Notch Wins | Wolfsburg Bounced From DFB-Pokal

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USWNT's SheBelieves Cup Roster | Barcelona + Bayern Notch Wins | Wolfsburg Bounced From DFB-Pokal · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:03
Oh, OK, Welcome to Into the Channel podcast, primarily about
0:08
women's football. I am your host, Dino de
0:10
Cespedes, and as always, I am joined by my cohost, Mr. Grant
0:14
Ankle. What is up man?
0:15
Feeling all right, buddy, We got some, some big news on the on
0:18
our side of the pond in terms of rosters.
0:20
You and I obviously always love talking rosters.
0:23
We got to watch a little bit of football today trying to like in
0:25
the background to work, have to squeeze in a match after work.
0:29
So you know, the football, it just never, it never ends.
0:32
It's just constantly ongoing. Gives us something, something
0:34
positive to look at in this grimy, grimy world that we're
0:37
currently living in. I agree with you on all fronts.
0:40
Super grimy, but tons of football.
0:42
It definitely softens the blow. It's kind of nice to having like
0:45
Europe happening, NWSL warming up, got some international stuff
0:49
going, and I think we're going to hit on I think all three of
0:52
this episode. So I'm definitely excited to get
0:53
into it. Where do you want to get
0:55
started? Let's start on our side of the
0:56
pond, she believes. Cup, the roster came out, names
1:00
were put on a list. And if there's anything we love
1:04
at the end of the channel podcast, it's football names
1:07
being put on a football list before any any ball is kicked
1:10
and we get to talk about it first.
1:12
Love it. Names on a list Cause for
1:14
celebration. Excellent, I think it is.
1:21
Sounds delicious. Yep, on your side as well.
1:24
Cheers. Cheers to you.
1:26
So I thought the roster, I like the makeup of this roster.
1:30
So I'm just going to start with that.
1:31
Yeah, I think there are a couple names in each position group
1:34
that jumped out. Maybe we'll talk about keepers,
1:37
maybe we won't. Maybe keepers will get mad,
1:40
maybe they won't. Who knows?
1:42
That's the thing about goalkeepers.
1:43
You never know how they're going to react yet to any situation,
1:45
really. And that's why we don't really
1:47
do much analyzing of what they do, because how the hell are we
1:49
supposed to know what a goalkeeper's doing or thinking
1:51
at any given time? But again, I digressed.
1:54
So let's start with some players that I was happy to see.
1:58
I'm going to start in your backyard so I can kick it to you
2:00
pretty quickly here. Emily Sam's, 25 years old, your
2:03
Orlando Pride center back, the best defender on the best
2:06
defense in the NWSL. I just I like the trajectory.
2:10
She was a training player for the send off match before the
2:13
Olympics. She was then named as an
2:15
alternate to the Olympic squad. She gets added to the Olympic
2:18
squad because of the Macario injury.
2:20
And then she was in the squad for I think it was the last
2:23
group stage match and maybe the quarter final match, even though
2:25
she didn't appear. But because she was in those
2:28
squads, she qualifies, gets her gold medal, and she just has to
2:32
be a part of this team moving forward.
2:36
But let me shut up. How happy were you to see Emily
2:39
Sam's on this roster? Very happy and I think Emily
2:42
Sam's definitely the type of player that kind of has the so
2:46
good we can't keep her off the roster or keep her out of the
2:48
lineup kind of vibes to her. I mean, I think we just kind of
2:51
saw what she was able to do in the league this year to find the
2:53
year in the NWSL obviously winning all the trophies.
2:56
No Naomi Gurma on the back line as well for this for this
3:00
roster. So I think with that big chess
3:02
piece, you know, out of the game for she believes, I feel like
3:06
Emily Sam's almost like has a chance to kind of, you know, not
3:10
necessarily step into Gurma shoes, but make a big impact,
3:13
leave a lasting impression, kind of like cement her place on this
3:16
team, perhaps her probably as I could Gurma's running mate.
3:20
So definitely excited to see Sam's on this list.
3:22
Yeah, great point. Yeah, I was, I was thinking
3:24
something similar. You have Tierna Davidson who's
3:27
going to be there. She'll partner with Sam's.
3:29
And obviously we know Davidson was off and Germa's running mate
3:32
in those in those back lines. So now it's just like Sam's
3:36
almost naturally steps into that Germa role.
3:39
I think she'll fit right in. Yeah, 100%.
3:41
I did a little exercise. I saw that the roster came out.
3:44
I didn't look at the roster. So I was like, let me see, let
3:46
me play a little game, jot down some names.
3:48
I wrote down 29 names. OK, so of the 21 field players,
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I had 17 of the 21 on my list, The four that I didn't have
3:56
actually the the first one I want to talk about, Tara McCown
3:59
obviously deserves to be their great season, super versatile
4:03
player. What do you think she could
4:04
bring to this team? I thought she had an awesome
4:06
season. I think this is year two of her
4:09
after the conversion from forward to center back.
4:11
I think it was after the 2022 NWSL season that she converted.
4:15
So Scrappy is an iron Woman out there.
4:18
I can't remember the shortlist. I want to say it might have been
4:20
like seven or eight players in the league who played the 90 in
4:23
every match of the season. I love her passing ability.
4:26
I think, you know, some of those skills that she had as an
4:29
attacking player, they translate to how she plays as a center
4:32
back. And even though she doesn't have
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tremendous size, the toughness is just off the charts.
4:38
She'll be a great addition there.
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And I think if you are looking for toughness quotient her plus
4:44
Emily Sonnet, I think he got that covered.
4:47
I'm so glad you brought up Emily Sonnet because when I think
4:49
about me count, like her versatility, you know, and her
4:53
experience playing different spots on the field.
4:56
And this isn't the same 18 player roster that we had in the
4:59
Olympics. 23 give you a little bit more leeway, but you always
5:02
want to have players that could fill different spots on the
5:04
field. I feel like if you're Emma Hayes
5:06
and you know, we might be doing just some real basic eye test
5:10
stuff, but if I'm Emma Hayes, I think I just have 25 year old
5:14
Tara McKeon. Just follow Emily Sonnet around.
5:17
Just look at her habits, look at the way she trains, the way she
5:20
thinks about football, and then you know, kind of form your own
5:23
path, be your own player, but see what you can pick from
5:26
sonnets game, because I think there are there are some good
5:29
similarities there. Love that.
5:31
A couple of players that were surprises on my list.
5:32
Well, actually before I get to that, did any players stick out
5:36
to you as you're just like, oh, OK, they made the roster, I like
5:39
that, but I wasn't expecting it. Players that maybe I wasn't
5:42
expecting Michelle Cooper I would say from Kansas City
5:46
current. I went back to double check some
5:48
of my game notes from the season.
5:50
You know, I hop into the old Google Drive search Michelle
5:53
Cooper to look in one of my game notes.
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I simply had the note Michelle Cooper will run your ass over
6:01
because that is exactly what she will do on the wing.
6:04
She is not shy about that. She will play physical. 22 years
6:08
old. This is her first call up to the
6:10
national team, but she does have experience for the US youth
6:13
national team. Still, Congrats to her on this
6:15
on this call up. Just absolute toughness.
6:18
Three goals, 3 assists in the 24 NWSL campaign and she basically
6:23
just grabbed that starting eleven spot like right around
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May 18th and started all but one of the remaining 17 matches,
6:30
including their two playoff appearances.
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I like the way she played now. They, there were a couple
6:35
moments kind of looking back in my notes, trying to remember
6:38
some specific things. She had a couple tricky moments
6:41
where she was trying to pass the ball backwards, got herself and
6:44
her team into a little bit of trouble.
6:46
But even in my notes there, I was like, I just don't see her
6:48
doing that that often because she's very clearly a smart
6:51
player too. So I was, I was surprised and
6:53
pleasantly surprised that she was on the team.
6:55
Yeah, same here. I really like her game.
6:58
And I think just her physical profile, not something that the
7:01
US has an attack, like, it's just, I imagine bringing Cooper
7:05
off the bench. You're just like, oh, my God.
7:06
OK, I don't know, Sears comes off and Cooper comes on or vice
7:09
versa. Just like, oh, my God, this is
7:11
like, talk about a change up that you that you really have to
7:14
take a second to figure out how you're going to adjust.
7:16
Yeah. I think from that standpoint,
7:18
Cooper's a great, great addition.
7:20
Her teammate Mike Watts's favorite young player in the
7:23
NWSL? Claire Hutton.
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There we go. Also makes this roster.
7:27
She was on my 17 of 21. Cooper was not.
7:30
Cooper was a surprise for me but was really excited to see Hutton
7:34
on this list. We all saw what she did last
7:36
season. Playing with adults, playing
7:38
like an adult, playing like a seasoned adult.
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This feels like an escalation of let's see how good Claire Hutton
7:45
is. Let's put her on with some some
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world class players. I feel like she's really going
7:48
to get minutes in this tournament just because a she's
7:51
earned it and I think she has a chance to really be productive
7:54
with these. I don't know, like, I think
7:56
there's something, there's something brewing here around
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Claire Hutton heading into this tournament.
8:00
I think that's a great call. 19 years old, again, similar to her
8:04
teammate Cooper for Kansas City. First ever call up to the senior
8:08
national team but played on the youth level for years.
8:11
One of the most impressive rookies in the league.
8:14
Obviously you show up in a class with Cory Bethune and Ali
8:18
Sentinor, it's going to be tough to really stand out and she
8:21
still did. She was.
8:22
She was a productive player for one of the best teams in the
8:25
league. She was sixth in the league in
8:27
tackles one and then she was tied for 10th in goal creating
8:31
actions. The players she was tied with
8:34
are Oli SAR, Mallory Swanson, Ashley Sanchez and Rose Lavelle.
8:39
Not bad company for a 19 year old defensive midfielder.
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It seems not possible. But yeah, I mean, she had such a
8:46
stellar start to the season, and I think when she got back in was
8:50
great as well. I don't know.
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I'm very, very excited about the the Claire Hutton era kicking
8:54
off here. But Hutton not the youngest
8:56
player on the roster. That distinction goes to the
8:59
supernova. Lily Ohanis.
9:02
I mean, I don't know if any show has been following Lily as as
9:04
closely as we have. What do you do you think is
9:07
available? What do you think are the next
9:09
steps for her? What can Lily accomplish in this
9:12
tournament that could represent another step forward in her
9:15
international career? That's an interesting framing of
9:19
the question. So the first thing I wrote was,
9:24
and I, and this is, yeah, follow me on this one because this
9:26
might sound pejorative at first, but I the first thing I wrote
9:29
was remember when we were super excited for Johannes to make the
9:33
roster? But that's not me saying we're
9:35
not excited. Now.
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The way I look at it now is she's a no brainer.
9:40
She has to be on the roster. Yeah.
9:42
So so you're framing it like, what does the next step look
9:45
like? I think it, it looks like she
9:47
comes onto the pitch and hopefully she starts a few of
9:50
these matches and gets like 60-70 plus minutes, as long as
9:52
the legs allow, as long as she felt good, you know, travelling
9:55
over from the Netherlands. But yeah, I think the next step,
9:58
the next step of the progression is she goes in there and she
10:01
makes key passes and she plays good defense and she plays like
10:04
we've seen her play at IAX. And I think she can do that on
10:07
the international level, even at this age.
10:09
That's a great point, because maybe the next step also
10:12
includes the development of some new chemistry.
10:14
Nice. Because when we saw her versus
10:16
Korea, it was like the ball finds me and like, now I'm just
10:20
reading and reacted making the right play.
10:22
I mean, figuring out who Lily can, you know, kind of pair with
10:25
maybe it's a Michelle Cooper or maybe it's, I mean, who knows?
10:28
Like I think there's there's some options there, but I would
10:30
love to see that as well. Obviously impact on the game,
10:32
you know, making key passes. And then obviously we already
10:35
know what she's capable of defensively, But it'd be cool to
10:38
see kind of like a little little back and forth.
10:40
Maybe Macario, maybe I don't know if like there's there's
10:42
definitely some options there. And Speaking of Macario, I don't
10:45
know, is it too early to say that, you know, maybe the
10:48
comeback is fully, you know, cemented and now we're we're
10:51
past the injury phase of Macario's career and now we're
10:54
getting into like repeat cat Macario.
10:57
I don't know if it's too early. It definitely feels like we're
10:59
we're approaching that point. So she has five goals and three
11:03
assists between the Champions League and the WSL this season.
11:07
I know she also has at least one goal in the League Cup.
11:10
But like, those stats are like tricky to find an ad with
11:12
everything. Not all this stuff's in FB ref,
11:14
not all this stuff is in foot mob.
11:16
So we're always kind of trying to piece them together.
11:18
So she started five of her 13 appearances for Chelsea.
11:22
When she played your Gunners on January 26th, she played a
11:25
season high 76 minutes and that was sandwiched in between 60
11:30
minutes versus West Ham on the 19th and 62 minutes against
11:34
Villa on February 2nd. And then she played 70 minutes.
11:37
I want to say that was on like February 9th.
11:39
So she is gradually inching up in the minutes.
11:44
And I tried looking for the quote, I couldn't find it.
11:47
I know Emma Hayes has talked about some of the dangers of
11:50
when you are taking these transcontinental flights and you
11:54
are going back and forth and then you, you know, you hop off
11:57
the plane and you get to training and you start to play.
12:00
And obviously Emma Hayes is not a doctor.
12:02
She mentioned that. But like, could this be a factor
12:05
in some of these ACL injuries? It's hard to say.
12:07
The research is still ongoing, but it definitely feels like
12:11
Bone Pastor and Chelsea's medical team are comfortable
12:15
with her playing more now. We want to see what happens
12:18
after the transcontinental flight.
12:20
Now in the care of Emma Hayes once again.
12:22
How's she going to play her? Yep, definitely excited to see
12:24
that. Looking at the schedule, it
12:26
looks like USA's got Colombia, a few days later it'll be
12:30
Australia, and then three days after that Japan.
12:33
So it's February 20th to 20, 23rd and the 26th.
12:36
Now Australia and Japan have announced their rosters.
12:41
I mean. Pretty good.
12:43
Pretty good, good way to put good way to put it.
12:46
They're they're bringing some big guns.
12:48
Looking at Australia Mary Fowler, Caitlin Ford, Hailey
12:51
Rosso, Kyra Cooney, Cross LA Carpenter, Steph Catley, Claire
12:54
Hunt, Alana Kennedy and 18 year old Daniella Gaelic who we saw
12:57
play for Twente. That's that's a real roster.
13:01
You look at Japan, I mean Australia's 15th in the FIFA
13:04
rankings, Japan is 8th. This Japan size loaded 2
13:07
Yamashita and goal Rico Yuaki been balling for West Ham.
13:11
Mina Tanaka, Micahomano Abu Fujino, Yuhasagawa Hena to
13:15
Miyazawa, Mina MI from Roma, Saki Kumagai who just moved over
13:19
to London City, Lionesses, Noromi Mira, who you've talked a
13:21
lot about on this show and a player who we'll get into very
13:24
soon here, 19 year old Momoko Tanakawa who almost exploded the
13:30
Internet today. Yeah.
13:31
And then Columbia, 21st in the Fever rankings, which I don't
13:34
totally agree with. They're behind teams like
13:36
Belgium, Austria, Austria, China, South Korea, but they've
13:40
got a roster as well. Linda Kaisedo, Maya Ramirez,
13:43
Lisi Santos, Pavi got the ousmane.
13:45
They haven't announced their roster, but we can expect those
13:48
players and perhaps also 19 year old Anna Maria Guzman who plays
13:51
for Utah Royals on loan from Bayern Munich as well, who made
13:55
a little bit of a splash at the 23 World Cup.
13:57
So I'll be excited to see what Guzman could bring to the table
13:59
here. But three legit, legit rosters.
14:03
When you see those three teams and the players that will be
14:06
suiting up, what's your first impression there with regards to
14:08
the comp? We've talked about it ever since
14:10
you and I really started closely following the 23 World Cup, like
14:15
when we started bonding over this sport together.
14:18
Japan is awesome. I love the way they play.
14:20
I love the players, I love the mix of creativity and passing
14:25
the defensive organization. It's funny because like when we
14:28
first started watching, we're like, this seems amazing.
14:30
I didn't know any of the players, you know?
14:31
And now I'm like, right now I know all the players and I'm
14:33
just like, Oh my God, like they're so loaded and they're
14:36
still spread out. You know, obviously we're not,
14:37
we're not covering the Japanese league, but they've got
14:40
excellent players in in all of these various leagues at various
14:43
different stages in their career.
14:45
And it makes for like a really nice makeup of a squad. 100% and
14:48
they and they even though it's a great point that even though
14:50
they are kind of like distributed throughout the
14:53
world, they still play so cohesively.
14:56
And it's because they very clearly have the same
14:59
footballing ethos even on their individual squads and how they
15:03
fit in. Like they don't really have to
15:05
change their individual play when they come together and play
15:08
for Japan. So they're just, I mean, anytime
15:11
they're available to watch, I watch him play.
15:13
It's just one of my favorite teams in the world.
15:15
Am I crazy to say that that Japan kind of reminds you of the
15:17
warriors in the sense that like it's all motion.
15:21
It's just so much motion. It kind of keeps your head
15:23
spinning. Before you know it, somebody's
15:25
cutting behind you. They're wide open.
15:26
And then the the the past that kind of slices to the defenses
15:29
on point and now they they make you pay pretty dearly.
15:32
I don't know, a lot of warriors crossover, a lot of warriors
15:34
DNAI think and and how they attack.
15:37
What about Australia or Columbia?
15:40
You know, Colombia is always going to play tough.
15:42
They're always going to play physical.
15:44
They have the blazing speed of Chi Sato.
15:46
They have the the physicality of Myra Ramirez, the the brilliance
15:49
of Lacey Santos. They have, you know, a wide
15:52
array of ways to slice you open. I love the way their schedule
15:56
works out too, where their first match against the USA is going
15:59
to be in Houston, then their second matches in Glendale, AZ,
16:03
third matches in San Diego. And no matter where you go in
16:07
that general region of the United States, whether it's
16:10
men's or women's football, the Colombian fan base is going to
16:13
show up as going to be a party. Yep, it's always a party when
16:17
Colombia shows up and I think now that now that they've
16:21
elevated the football to like the level of like how hard they
16:24
party in the, in the stadium, I think it, it's kind of like a
16:26
double or triple whammy. Should be really exciting. 4
16:30
good squads. I, I'm really, I just kind of
16:33
want to see what these teams look like.
16:35
We've obviously got the World Cup right around the corner.
16:38
It's interesting to see the age profiles of the US team and
16:41
obviously, you know, Lynn Biendolo's she, you know, she
16:44
makes the squad Crystal Dunn as well.
16:45
But for the most part, a lot of the mid 20s and and under.
16:49
So I think we're starting to see that the a little bit of a
16:51
turning of the corner. Yeah, that is a great point.
16:54
I mean, So what? You have Crystal Dunn, Emily
16:57
Sonnet, then you have Lindsay Heaps, formerly Lindsay Huran.
17:01
Congratulations. Congratulations, of course, on
17:03
the nuptials and then Lynn Biendolo on the front line.
17:06
And then a lot of kids really. I mean, and you know, we talked
17:09
about like, you know, Macario, what, she's 25.
17:13
I think Mickey own is 25, Sam's is 25, but just kind of lacking
17:18
a little bit of that experience. So it's a great call out on the
17:22
age profile. We didn't even mention the
17:24
Thompson sisters coming onto the roster to play.
17:27
They're both young players. They're both exciting players.
17:30
I just think every single match, Hayes is going to put a roster
17:33
out there where you're going to go, OK, here are two or three
17:37
spots. I want to see what that's going
17:39
to look like on the field. How are the one twos going to
17:41
look? What's the chemistry going to
17:42
look like? There's just not going to be a
17:44
dull moment in this tournament. Yeah, it kind of gets to be
17:46
thinking too. Obviously no triple espresso in
17:49
the lineup, no espresso whatsoever.
17:52
It does create like like a scenario where I'm not sure if
17:55
it's either Jaden Shaw or Macario or Yasmine Ryan, Emma
18:00
Sears, Sentinor who we've talked about Alyssa Thompson's who's
18:02
who's looked good. But you know, it's had our
18:04
limitations, you know, especially playing
18:06
internationally. But like we could be heading
18:09
towards a small rattling of the apple cart where it's like, OK,
18:13
we know triple espresso is a thing.
18:15
But this player, whether it's I don't know, maybe it's maybe
18:17
it's Yasmine Ryan, maybe it's Alyss Thompson.
18:19
This player is now making it. I don't know if it's if we go to
18:22
quadruple espresso, I don't know if we might have to check with
18:25
trade marking and licensing and legal to figure out what we do
18:28
there. But I think my main point is
18:30
there might be an opportunity for somebody to kind of say,
18:33
hey, I'm here and I think that I'm now the tip of the spear.
18:37
I think I'm the one that, you know, needs to be the featured
18:40
offensive attacker in this and everything else is going to slot
18:44
in around me. Big talk from my imaginary
18:46
hypothetical, but I think it's possible.
18:48
I think it's possible that somebody kind of really, really
18:50
breaks through, especially with all three on the sideline for
18:53
the tournament. Yes, being Ryan looked awesome
18:56
in those two friendlies versus Iceland last year.
18:59
I mean, you know, whether she becomes the fourth shot of
19:01
espresso or however you want to do you want to look at it?
19:04
I mean, she could absolutely crack the rotation.
19:08
I don't think there's any question about that.
19:09
I know we had talked about two. What does it look like if Alyssa
19:12
Thompson then plays on the left wing?
19:14
Could you possibly slot Mallory Swanson into played the number
19:17
10 role with Sophie Wilson formerly?
19:20
So Sophie Smith, congratulations on the to her as well.
19:24
Now you have Sophie Wilson up top playing #9 Rodman on the
19:28
right, Thompson on the left, Swanson at #10 but then what do
19:31
you do with Kat Macario? These are these are what you
19:34
call those good problems for Emma Hayes to have.
19:37
And I'll throw this last part out as a as a one take on the
19:40
roulette wheel. Let me see some Ali sentinor #9
19:43
minutes. That's what I want to see in
19:44
cheap Beliefs Cup. We got to see.
19:46
It go dying to see that that you know, actually that might be the
19:48
name I might have over. I might have skipped over, but I
19:51
think that was the name that originally got my wheels
19:53
turning. It's like, well, what if Setnor
19:54
comes in and just like scores four goals in three games and
19:57
like big, big goals. I think that's that might get
20:01
get people talking, which I'd I'd be very excited about.
20:03
Sure. I just want to do one more thing
20:05
here real quick. I, because we're a sports show
20:08
and we're on the Internet, I have to inject a little bit of
20:12
negativity, if you can believe it.
20:14
And maybe not that much negativity, just a healthy
20:16
amount, right? A little, you know, the little
20:18
medicine with all the sugar. Hell, Hirschfeld should be on
20:21
the team. I don't know if she's not
20:22
healthy. I don't know if she has
20:25
something going on, whatever. Absent of that, she should be in
20:29
the squad. Maybe not to the degree of Lily
20:32
Johannes in the sense of she has to make every squad from here on
20:35
out, but she's definitely not that far off.
20:37
Hirschfeld should play. You could play her at six or you
20:40
could play her at 8:00. I know we've talked about it.
20:43
I envision the double pivot defensive midfielders with
20:46
Johannes and Hirschfeld. I think that could be absolutely
20:49
dynamite. I know Sam Coffey is on this
20:51
roster as well, but I just need to put out there into the
20:55
universe. If you're playing these kinds of
20:57
tournaments, I think Hirschfeld should be in the squad.
20:59
Yeah, no disagreement there. I'm just checking out the
21:01
midfielder roster pretty. I mean it's a stacked room.
21:05
You do wonder if if there was an injury there, obviously not the
21:08
only player missing when you think about obviously we hit
21:12
triple espresso, no Rose Lavelle, no Naomi Kerma, no
21:15
Casey Krueger. You could think about an Ella
21:17
Stevens or an Ashley Sanchez as a couple more names that maybe
21:20
were right in the periphery. So not not sure what's going on
21:23
there, but would definitely love to see Hirschfeld in the mix
21:26
going forward as as part of like one of the core core pieces in
21:29
the midfield for sure, especially because I think we're
21:31
we're not we're not really there yet from a midfield standpoint.
21:34
A lot of young talent, obviously, like couple
21:36
teenagers, heavily featured a couple players in their early
21:39
20s, whether it's a Jaden Shaw or Corbin Albert.
21:42
Anybody who wants to ask in the comments, feel free.
21:44
I'll just answer it right now. I would take off Albert.
21:46
I know they don't play the same position, but I think you have
21:49
enough attacking players who could bounce between the
21:51
midfield and the forward spot. I would remove Albert and put on
21:54
Hershfelt for anybody who's curious.
21:56
Yeah, I think that's the right call.
21:57
I think Albert, we think about the attacking midfielder
22:00
position. I mean, Lindsay's in there,
22:03
Shaw's in there, Johannes is in there.
22:05
You can play Sentinor there. You could play Macario there.
22:07
Macario for sure. Sentinor.
22:09
I'm dying to see Sentinor way up high, sure.
22:12
Or kind of on the like, as close to the goal as you can get it,
22:15
because you're such a beast, right?
22:17
But Macario for sure. Emma Hayes got a lot of work to
22:20
do. It's a hard job, but also an
22:22
easy job, but also a really hard job.
22:25
One of those. One of those, so I don't know,
22:27
we'll be locked in. You already know.
22:29
We'll have previews, we'll have recaps.
22:31
As soon as she believes gets rolling.
22:33
I want to switch gears though. Let's head to Europe, where some
22:36
teams were in actions. You know, today specifically,
22:39
we're recording this Wednesday evening.
22:41
We had three of the UEFA Women's Champions League
22:43
quarterfinalists in action. I want to start with Barcelona,
22:47
your squad, your beat. We're going to, we're going to
22:49
Mosey on over to your beat, who took on Madrid CFF in La Copa de
22:54
la Reyna quarterfinals. What you see in this one?
22:57
I think Barcelona did what they had to do.
23:01
It was a dominant set piece performance from Barcelona in
23:04
the sixth minute. And I know we always talk about
23:06
what these juggernaut clubs, it seems like they're always
23:09
playing to score within the 1st 10 minutes.
23:12
And sometimes in those in some of those Champions League group
23:14
stage matches, it's almost like Barcelona, Leon and Chelsea are
23:18
racing each other to see you can score in the first 3 minutes,
23:21
but 6th minute of this one CGH from right around the center
23:25
circle, right inside the center circle on the attacking half.
23:28
It's a great pass to Marta Torrion, who then plays it in
23:31
brilliantly to have a Payor boom goal one nil Madrid CFF has to
23:36
chase the game from that point. Never a spot you want to be in.
23:39
But I'll say they held they held really tough.
23:42
They kind of forced to parcel into into some difficult
23:44
decisions. Payor would later miss a sitter
23:47
that like, I feel like she scores probably 85% of the time
23:51
she just jacked it way above the crossbar.
23:54
But then like, not too long after that, Torion made A2 nil
23:57
with a brilliantly placed header of a great pass from Bone Mati,
24:00
which started as a short corner. I think it might have been CGH
24:03
who played the ball to Bone Matisse.
24:05
So they were just completely fooling Madrid on on set pieces.
24:09
And I feel like if they're in this kind of weird spot where
24:13
the last few games people have watched him play, I mean, like
24:16
something's not quite right with their attack.
24:18
The best way to remedy that is to start watching the ball go
24:21
into the net off of your set pieces.
24:23
They're able to do that. Yeah, I think Bone Matisse could
24:27
have had a two, maybe 3 assists. I think she was.
24:29
She was definitely dealing. I don't know, is the footballing
24:33
world getting closer like closing the gap a little bit?
24:35
I think we're we're so used to Barcelona just coming out
24:38
dumping these teams that to see these games and contest so, so
24:42
deep into the match. And this is a Copa de la Reina
24:45
quarterfinals matchup. This is like a kind of like
24:47
winner go home. It's a match that they want to
24:49
win and even not necessarily at full strength.
24:52
Obviously Barcelona's missing players, but obviously still
24:54
super loaded. It just doesn't seem like the
24:56
coherence is totally there. We had a friend of the show MLS
25:00
talk about maybe some of the the fatigue, like maybe like from
25:04
the international terms and just kind of they haven't regained,
25:07
you know, their composure or their rhythm or their chemistry.
25:10
But it it does continue to look like they they they're still
25:13
winning. They're still in control of
25:14
these matches. They're still getting chances.
25:16
But there's just it just doesn't look as clean as it did before.
25:19
It doesn't look like it's coming as easy.
25:21
And then just kind of wonder, was it a system thing?
25:23
Obviously hid out this out the door some player movement, you
25:26
know, some nothing big, but you know, you move one person here,
25:29
one piece here, one piece there and all of a sudden it is a
25:32
different team. And I think this different team
25:34
just kind of has like very firmly a different feel from
25:38
last year's team. Yeah, I think there's definitely
25:40
a different feel this year. I think it's hard to be as
25:43
dominant as they were in previous campaigns.
25:46
I mean, you know, you always kind of see you start to kind of
25:49
inch toward less dominance, if you will.
25:52
I mean, at all. This is out the door.
25:54
You now you have Romeo. Speaking of our guy, MLS seems
25:58
to not have much faith in Romeo at all.
26:00
I think there are a couple Parsa fans who are pals of the show
26:03
who are not exactly fans of Romeo.
26:06
Seems like they're placing some of that blame at their feet.
26:08
At his feet, rather. Pardon me, but I would say even
26:11
if Barcelona is 7%, eight percent, 9% less dominant than
26:17
they were last year, still win the Champions League, who still
26:20
might win a quadruple. No arguments there.
26:22
We'll have to keep track of it. I do want to talk a little bit
26:24
about a little tiny bit of news that made the rounds this week
26:28
having to do with our champions of Europe, Barcelona, Moppy
26:32
Leon. There was a situation the
26:36
cameras caught Moppy kind of gesturing kind of flicking at
26:40
Caracas, you know, nether regions in a in a way that is
26:45
not something that that we want to have allowed, you know, in
26:49
professional sports A whole lot of kind of like back and forth,
26:52
You know, the Internet was a was ablaze a little bit.
26:55
Mappy put out her own statement, Espanol put out their statement
26:58
and I and I want to kind of to read a quick little bit here.
27:01
So from Espanol statement, I pulled this bit that I thought
27:04
was important quote. Although Caracas was unable to
27:08
react the time due to the impact of the situation, later after
27:12
assimilating what had happened, she became aware of the
27:15
seriousness of the gesture but chose not to react angrily in
27:19
order to avoid a disciplinary sanction that would harm the
27:22
team. So when I see that it looks like
27:25
there was an opportunity for Caracas to maybe clear the air,
27:29
confirm Moppy's position, which was basically, hey, I, I smacked
27:32
her in the leg and this is a whole lot of nothing.
27:35
Caracas didn't do that. Espanol didn't do that.
27:37
They seem to be standing firm in the position that, you know,
27:40
Caracas was wronged, Moppy was in the wrong Behavior like this
27:44
doesn't belong in the sport. Where, where do you stand on
27:47
kind of like I, I don't know a ton of information.
27:50
It's tough to know exactly, exactly, you know, like what
27:52
happened, where and where to go from here.
27:55
But I don't know what where where did you land on this or
27:57
where where are you at currently on it?
27:59
I'm glad you highlighted that part of the Espanol quote.
28:03
So I, you know, and I won't speak for you, but I feel like
28:06
we're generally aligned on these things.
28:09
That part of the quote would indicate that they spoke to
28:12
Daniela Caracas and she indicated that's what happened,
28:17
that she was inappropriately touched by Moppy.
28:20
And so when that is reported, it is my inclination to believe the
28:26
person who has reported that has happened.
28:28
And so that's pretty much my stance.
28:30
And so if Caracas says that she was inappropriately touched,
28:33
then I believe her. And if that is the case, then
28:36
the federation has a duty to protect its workforce and
28:41
enforce some kind of match ban. And for me, it's really as
28:44
simple as that until we hear something else from Caracas.
28:48
And at the same time, this thing is so complicated that until we
28:52
hear from Caracas, that's kind of where I stand.
28:55
But I also understand if Caracas never wants to relive that again
28:59
or never wants to talk about it again, that's her absolutely her
29:02
prerogative. So my initial reaction is to
29:05
always believe the person who's reporting because there's just
29:09
data upon data upon data that shows that the vast, vast
29:13
majority of people who report things like this are telling the
29:16
truth. And so I believe her when she
29:17
says it. And I and I hope she's she's
29:20
doing all right and able to recover from it.
29:22
Yeah, 1000% and I think it's going to be interesting to see
29:25
what the league does. Yeah, what the club does,
29:29
because obviously this happens to have taken place in Spain
29:33
with has a not so distant history of of of sort of like
29:37
shenanigans and and just kind of things that just have to get
29:40
cleaned up and out of the game. Yeah, and I don't know, even if,
29:45
you know, Moppie kind of, you know, like did kind of smack her
29:48
into that leg or in her thigh, whatever, just don't do that.
29:51
Like, yeah, just play ball like you're a world class player,
29:53
like on a world class team. It's like, I don't know, why put
29:56
yourself in that position. There's just so many different
29:59
ways to kind of like try to implore some gamesmanship and
30:03
into a match. Just a bad look all the way
30:06
around. Hopefully.
30:07
I do hope it reaches some resolution, though.
30:09
I don't want to see a story like this, just kind of like drift
30:13
off into the, you know, the, the, the, the annals of, of
30:15
Internet history. I do want to see something
30:18
happen from the league, from the club.
30:21
Yeah. And you, you know, there just be
30:24
like a sort of line in the sand where it's like, all right, this
30:26
can't happen. Yes.
30:27
This can't happen at this level if we're trying to build a
30:29
professional league. And it, it's just unbecoming of
30:33
the level of the, of where these players and organizations are at
30:35
today. Like it just can't, it really
30:37
shouldn't be the league. It's kind of like some, some
30:39
YMCA type shit that we just can't get.
30:41
There's some LA Fitness type shit to make it a little bit
30:44
more more of a modern reference. Barcelona back in action on
30:46
Sunday and actually play Madrid CFF one more time, this time as
30:50
part of the League F proceedings, so we'll be locked
30:53
into that one. Sunday, 10:00 AM Eastern, 7:00
30:55
AM Pacific. Couple other UAE Open Champions
30:58
League quarterfinalists in action, though, we'll head to
31:00
Germany. Battle of the heavyweights.
31:01
Bayern Munich, Eintracht Frankfurt.
31:04
Two teams just lounged at the very top of the frown Bunasiga
31:07
table, going at it as part of the DFB Pocal quarterfinals.
31:12
This one was a banger, as mentioned, both teams sitting on
31:15
35 points. Eleven wins, 2 draws, one loss
31:18
for each of them. Gold differential.
31:20
This is, I think, where Iron Track really kind of separates
31:22
from the pack. They are plus 43 to Byron's plus
31:25
26. This one chippy to start goes
31:28
into halftime nil, nil. The Jovana Damyanovich what what
31:32
she did to send this one to add extra time.
31:36
I mean, Byron's down one nil 89th minute headed toward the
31:40
the absolute death of the match. Clara Bull nice put in an
31:45
absolute screamer of a cross. Like you could just you could
31:49
barely see it. Like just just watching like you
31:52
really had to be locked in to kind of see that thing and
31:54
Damyanovich in live action. You couldn't tell what happened,
31:57
you just kind of see the ball just like boom, and now it's in
32:00
the back of the net. You watch the replay,
32:02
Damianovich like kind of sprints into some empty space, get some
32:06
air, employ some vertical leap, rotates, gets a chest on it, and
32:10
just an absolute perfect redirect, like just wizardry
32:14
shit. Total magic 11 ties.
32:18
The game sends us all in the path to add an extra time in
32:22
just the most exciting of fashions.
32:24
What do you think when you saw that goal?
32:25
I'm glad you talked about the absolute bullet of a cross and
32:29
then describe it as a redirect. Redirect is also a football
32:33
term. I'm going to make a very
32:35
probably niche old man reference.
32:38
When we were children, there was a time where Fox in the United
32:42
States of America had hockey games and they decided to create
32:47
this like this trailer, like whatever it will like.
32:51
It was like a red glowing line to to show the puck.
32:55
It might have been blue. It might have been like a a blue
32:58
trail when somebody would like RIP a slap shot to help stupid
33:01
American hockey fans follow where the puck was.
33:05
In that instance, the ball could have used that little trailing
33:08
technology that seemed like it was amazing in 1998 to show how
33:13
quickly to show where the ball was when that cross came in and
33:16
the way Johnovich was able to chest it and redirect it into
33:20
the net. I mean, it was an incredible
33:22
play on both ends. Just the presence of mind to be
33:24
like, oh, it's already on me. This is my only option is to
33:27
chest it in. And she did it perfectly.
33:29
Yeah, unbelievable. Yeah, it was missing that the
33:31
cartoonish sound effect of the bullet just kind of bounce
33:35
through the room. And then in added extra time,
33:38
Bayern goes bananas. So it starts with Bayern
33:41
introducing Momoko Tanakawa into the line up, 19 years old.
33:46
We I mean, you talked about her and her exploits at Rosengard
33:49
just kind of scoring all the goals and just kind of
33:51
dominating. Now she's a Bayern didn't take
33:53
it very long at all. So I mean she gets a nasty I
33:58
don't know and one mixtape kind of shit Kyrie like however you
34:02
want to think about she crosses over like 3 or 4 defenders finds
34:05
a little bit of space near the end line puts across into
34:07
glottis Perla Vegas dotier, who puts Byron ahead 21 Tanakawa
34:12
comes back couple minutes later buries a fucking laser yeah, I
34:17
mean my favorite type of goal just the the the the kiss on the
34:20
bottom of the crossbar to bounce straight down.
34:24
Mariana had some bad luck last weekend on one of those Tanakawa
34:27
buries. It basically ends the match 3 to
34:29
one Damianovich gets her brace 5-6 minutes after that to make
34:33
it 4 to one a lot uglier scoreline than the game Then
34:38
really what the game was about. I think the game was really
34:40
heavily in contest and Frankfurt was up one nil yeah, Frankfurt
34:43
was up one nil with two minutes left in the match.
34:46
So I, I mean, and it was, it was definitely much closer than 4 to
34:49
one, but to see Byron turn it on like that, especially without
34:52
Georgia Stanway and, you know, some, some new injections into
34:56
the line up. I, I thought that was pretty
34:58
encouraging. I'm not sure if that necessarily
35:00
means that hey, in the Champions League they could give a team
35:03
like Lyon problems. But now I I I don't feel like
35:06
it's as easy of a cakewalk as I did after the draw.
35:11
I think that's fair. I think, you know, if Tonic I
35:14
was going to play like that, then you know, it's not going to
35:17
be easy for anybody playing them.
35:19
I mean, we talked about Leon's defense, absolutely incredible.
35:22
You know what time it is with all their skill players.
35:24
But you know, we're talking about Bayern Munich here.
35:26
They have players all over the field that are absolutely
35:29
fantastic. It'll still take a Herculean
35:31
effort for them to get past Leon, but you know it's not
35:36
going to be from lack of trying or lack of skill.
35:38
Yeah, and I've I'm now in the camp of, you know, the two seed
35:43
gets the opener at home. There is a chance that Bayern
35:46
can go back to Lyon either level or within one or maybe if
35:51
everything breaks right, maybe up.
35:53
Like, you know, I mean, if they maybe they can squeeze out of
35:56
one nil or something. I mean, it's interesting.
35:58
Like I feel like offensively they're almost too much of A
36:02
perfectionist early in the match and in added extra time when
36:06
things were a little looser and now the ball is kind of like
36:09
pinging around and it's kind of going like left to right and
36:11
switching and there's just more movement and less structure.
36:15
I feel like Bayern looked a lot better.
36:17
I'm not sure if that means if they're going to be able to
36:18
unlock something, but now I definitely feel like on their
36:22
best day they could beat A-Team like Lyon or draw a team like
36:26
Lyon if they're playing at home. Yeah, I mean, it's it's not
36:28
crazy. I think it's it's absolutely on
36:31
the board that they could walk away from that match with a
36:33
draw. But then you got to go to Lyon
36:35
and play. So I don't mean to, I don't mean
36:37
to downplay him after an exciting 41 victory over their
36:40
rival Frankfurt, who they're, you know, fighting for the
36:43
league with. But you know, you got to keep on
36:45
building if you want to play, if you want to beat Lyon.
36:48
But that doesn't take anything away from today's win.
36:51
And Tonica was sixteen goals and 20 appearances in the Donals.
36:54
Fenskin Golden Boot winner in that league and just says, OK,
36:57
my summer football's over now time to get back on the proper
37:00
European calendar. Let's score some goals for
37:03
Bayern Munich. I mean, she is she's a
37:05
superstar, dude, 19 years old. She is.
37:08
Can't miss. Cannot miss.
37:10
We might be able to get some tanakawa minutes and she
37:13
believes so that'll be something to look forward to as well.
37:16
Wolfsburg also in action as part of the DFP poke call, they made
37:20
the trip to Hoffenheim to take on 6th place Hoffenheim in the
37:24
front Boudasiga. They I mean they look like the
37:29
better team today. The results that the results
37:32
kind of aligned with that, but I don't know what Wolfsburg know
37:35
Lynette berenstain in this one, you know, not a ton of bite to
37:38
their offense. I think they they they got some
37:40
chances, but I don't know you, you kind of expect a team like
37:43
this to be able to string together more opportunities,
37:46
more possession, more control of the match.
37:48
I know they were on the road, but I don't know they they
37:50
didn't have any grasp on this match whatsoever.
37:52
They were, they were really kind of hanging on.
37:54
It took on the feel of a coin flip type match.
37:57
I think they would have been really excited if they were able
37:59
to get through. Yeah.
38:00
But yeah, their string of 10 straight DF people call
38:03
championships, that string comes to an end.
38:05
But I think more importantly, Wolfsburg, I'm not quite ready
38:09
to call it a wobble, but I don't know they're, they're, they're
38:11
not necessarily firing on all cylinders out there.
38:14
No, I think he nailed it by saying Oppenheim looked like the
38:17
better team. They started pressuring
38:19
Wolfsburg early like they they had to kind of scramble back
38:22
there on defense multiple times. And the, you know, the strike
38:26
from Ereletta Mimeti was right on point.
38:30
Perfect. And the pass from Grabowska was
38:33
absolutely fantastic. To turn and fire it in there up
38:36
to Mimeti was absolutely great. They took advantage of of the
38:40
big this moment of the match. They could have scored, they
38:41
probably could have scored two or three in this one.
38:43
But Wolfsburg was barely kind of hanging on by a thread.
38:46
So, yeah, you got to try to get into some kind of rhythm.
38:49
Your next matches in the Champions League are against
38:53
Barcelona. So I'm sorry, Wolfsburg, I just
38:56
don't, I just don't see how that's going to work out for
38:59
you. I I mean, looking at their their
39:01
Subs, you know, you mentioned Berenstein didn't play to start.
39:05
They bring her on in the 66th along with Pettimores.
39:08
They ended up bringing on Blumquist, they brought on
39:11
Endemann, they ended up bringing in Heggering.
39:14
They tried to throw everything they could at the end of this
39:17
match. They just didn't have enough.
39:18
And to see that ten straight DFB Pocals streak, and that's
39:23
obviously an incredible run in a cup competition.
39:27
To win that many in a row, it's absolutely insane. 52 wins in a
39:31
row in that competition comes to a screeching halt.
39:34
Massive win for Hoffenheim should boost them, should buoy
39:37
them for the rest of the rest of the season.
39:39
I'm interested to see we can watch it because of our pals on
39:43
the zone. I'm interested to see how the
39:44
rest of the tournament shakes out.
39:46
Absolutely, Yeah. I think Byron probably in the
39:49
driver's seat. I think it's safe to say that
39:51
from Bundesiga, though, we've got some, we've got another
39:54
tasty matchup coming up this weekend.
39:56
How about Wolfsburg coming off this loss versus Eintrac
39:59
Frankfurt coming off their loss. These two teams lock up 10:45 AM
40:04
E. Eastern Sunday, 7:45 AM Pacific.
40:07
Wolfsburg can't pull even on points with a win here.
40:10
There's still a good bit behind with regard to goal
40:13
differential, but it's going to be interesting to see which of
40:16
these teams bounces back with with more vigor this weekend
40:19
because I think that that's a big time for output to take a
40:22
match up coming up on Sunday. Yeah, got to be locked in.
40:25
Luckily it's available on the zone, so yeah, that's a must
40:28
watch. And if you're Wolfsburg, if they
40:30
go out there and just get cracked in this one, then I
40:33
think we might be able to look at it.
40:34
It's a full on wobble. That's the last thing you need
40:37
going into play Barcelona in the Champions League.
40:39
Yeah, The very last thing this weekend coming up though, in
40:44
addition to the match that we mentioned, the other five
40:46
quarterfinals are in action this weekend as well.
40:48
Lyon versus Gang Gong on Saturday, Sunday loaded slate,
40:52
Arsenal versus Tottenham, City versus Liverpool, Chelsea versus
40:56
Everton, and my Blancos take on Levante Barcelona.
41:00
I don't know if Barcelona is Levante, Las Planos or Levant.
41:04
I gotta figure out my Levantes, but they take on Levante
41:07
Battalona. I googled it, I couldn't get to
41:10
the bottom of it. That one should be good.
41:13
Excited to see my Blancos back in action. 12:00 PM Eastern and
41:15
9:00 AM Pacific on Sunday. All right, man, I think we did
41:19
it and you just want to hit before we get out of here.
41:21
I think we covered a lot of ground in this episode, a lot of
41:25
things to discuss. Like we said at the top, we
41:28
appreciate all you guys rocking with us, of course.
41:30
Let's go. Yep, absolutely stacked weekend
41:32
in football in Europe. As mentioned, she believes
41:34
kicking off next week, we're going to be back with previews
41:37
and recaps. We're also working on locking
41:39
down comes some interesting guests to be joining the ITC.
41:42
Very excited about that as we approach the kickoff of the NWSL
41:46
season. Challenge Cup right around the
41:48
corner, March 7th, Orlando Pride versus Washington Spirit March
41:51
18th March 19th UAF Women's Champions League returns to
41:54
action with the start of the quarterfinals.
41:56
Can't wait for that. All right man, I think we did
41:59
it. There's been another sub into
42:00
the channel. Thank you, thank you, thank you
42:01
for hanging out with us. If you enjoyed the show or love
42:03
1 football as much as your boys do, like if you liked and make
42:06
sure you are kicking it with us. Subscribe, follow YouTube,
42:08
Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you like to watch or
42:11
listen. Leave us a review over your
42:13
favorite podcast appletes all of our socials in the show to this
42:15
episode. We want to hear from you.
42:17
We love hearing from you and a big thank you my coast as well.
42:20
Mr. Grant angle for being my Yui Hasegawa to.
42:25
So I would be the Yui Hasegawa to your yeah.
42:28
And a big thank you to my coast as well, Mr. Grant Angle, for
42:31
being what is it? The Yui Hasegawa to my I.
42:40
Got it. And a big thinking of my coach
42:42
as well Mr. Granico for being the UE Hasegawa to my Momoko
42:46
Tanakawa. I appreciate you bro.
42:48
Likewise, buddy, I'll try to live up to that moniker.
42:51
Appreciate everybody for rocking with us.
42:53
We will see you all next time. Go birds.