Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / Mid-season MVP ballots

Transcript

Mid-season MVP ballots · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:02
OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast primarily about one's
0:09
football, maybe exclusively about one's football depending
0:11
on the show. Before we hit the pitch, if you
0:13
enjoy the show or love one's football as much as your boys
0:15
do, come kick it with us. We do this every single week,
0:19
sometimes twice a week. This is one of those twice a
0:21
week kind of weeks. Subscribe follow YouTube,
0:23
Spotify, Apple Podcast, wherever you like to watch or listen.
0:26
Links to Twitter X Instagram, TikTok threads all available in
0:29
the show notes of this episode. I'm host Dino Desaspos and as
0:33
always I am joined by my Co host, my MVP, you might say, Mr.
0:37
Grant Angle. What is up man?
0:39
I appreciate that, buddy. I could.
0:41
I could never. I mean, we'd at worst, this will
0:44
have to be an Atlanta Hawks. All five players in the lineup
0:47
are the player of the month situation.
0:49
I couldn't possibly take MVP from you, but I appreciate the
0:52
the kind words nonetheless. I'm feeling fantastic.
0:58
Oh, there he is. As am I.
1:00
Let's go. Let's talk about I, I mean, what
1:03
an episode. I talk about MVP of the league
1:07
13 weeks into the season. I mean, you don't get much
1:11
better than that in terms of just sports radio hackery, but
1:15
that's what makes it so fun. 1320 sixth of the way through
1:20
the Send WSL season, which reduces 2 channel.
1:23
My inner men and Blazers here, 1/2 there it is 50% of the way
1:26
through. Perfect, perfect, perfect.
1:28
Time to talk MVP. We asked Leanne Sanderson this
1:32
last week who she had as her MVP.
1:34
I kind of do this thing. I do this the same thing that I
1:36
do at restaurants. I always ask, hey, what's the
1:38
best dish? The server will undoubtedly name
1:41
two or three dishes. I always just pick the first one
1:43
that they said of the two or three, I just tune out the 2nd
1:46
and the 3rd. There is a hierarchy to life.
1:49
There is a hierarchy to how people answer questions.
1:52
Go back and listen to that episode.
1:54
If you want to hear who Leanne had as her MVP In this episode
1:57
though, your boys are going to go 5 to one.
2:00
We're going to do a whole MVP ballot and NWSL powers that be
2:05
you let us know. Get the DMS, get us our ballots.
2:08
This is basically our audition for those ballots, so we hope
2:12
that you like what you see. No, no shenanigans here.
2:16
No, no chicanery, no psych outs. Grant and I, we kind of ironed
2:20
this out beforehand. He's going to go first, no
2:23
problem at all. Kind of double dipping.
2:24
We don't have to have an individual ballot.
2:26
You know, we can have players on both ballots no problem.
2:29
We're going to talk the whole thing out and hopefully by the
2:31
end of it we will have our show's MVP favorite for this
2:35
season. That's like Avino's referring to
2:37
was from our UEFO Women's Champions League favorite
2:40
Elevens draft, where Dino had successfully pulled the wool
2:44
over my eyes and then surprised me by giving me the number one
2:47
overall pick in the draft. I've seen those results on
2:50
people voting for who they think whose team would win.
2:54
And I just want to say it's a miscarriage of justice that I'm
2:58
just getting destroyed in that poll.
3:01
Destroyed fillade. I have.
3:04
I mean, look, I don't want derail the show too much.
3:07
It shouldn't be that lopsided. I have a really good team.
3:10
Respect the creativity of the lineup I put on the field.
3:13
I got a lot of good players who could play in those spots.
3:16
I digress. You know what man, I don't think
3:18
people really listen to the end of the episode where they got to
3:22
hear about your formation talk that really might have, you
3:24
know, just swung the whole thing to the point you're Speaking of
3:27
your boy got it done. 68% of the vote for me, 32% for Grant on
3:33
our UW CL favorite. 11. The psych out, pulling the wool
3:38
over your eyes. Not my finest moment, but
3:41
definitely top five. Yeah, like I said, no chicanery
3:43
this week. You're going to you're going to
3:45
kick us off with your #5 pick on your MVP ballot.
3:49
And we'll just kind of knock through this is this is going to
3:51
be more of a team effort. No competition, no competitive
3:54
vibes here. This is all just one squad, no
3:56
IN team. Let's let's kick it off.
3:59
You did what you had to do to win, buddy.
4:00
I accept the results of the election.
4:03
Everybody listen to me when I say this.
4:04
I accept the results. I don't.
4:06
I'm not going to claim anything was rigged and it is what it is.
4:09
I don't like it, but I accept it.
4:11
All right, moving on #5 on my MVP ballot, BIA, BIA.
4:18
I'm going to start with BIA Zanarato from the Kansas City
4:20
Current. She has five goals.
4:23
That's tied for fifth in the league.
4:24
She has four assists. That's tied for fourth in the
4:26
league. Her nine goals plus assists,
4:29
that's good for tied for fifth. She has 3 1/2 expected assisted
4:33
goals. That's good for fourth in the
4:35
league. Her goals scored minus expected
4:39
goals. So basically how much she's
4:42
actually producing subtracted from the chances that XG is
4:45
calculated, she's at 3.3. That's top of the league.
4:49
Let's. Go.
4:50
She has just a scoring arsenal in her own individual offense
4:55
that she's just able to finish chances.
4:57
She has 25 key passes. That's fourth in the league now.
5:00
She hasn't played a lot of minutes, though.
5:02
You know, she had that. She had some time off.
5:05
I think she's played nine of the 13 available matches.
5:07
One of those appearances, though, she was only 10 minutes.
5:10
I think she has two matches in which she only played for 45
5:13
minutes each of those, so she's at 560 total minutes out of what
5:18
we're probably looking at around like 1011 hundred ish available
5:21
minutes. If you look at her shot creating
5:24
actions per 90, she's at 5.79 per 90, good for second in the
5:31
league. She has seven goal creating
5:33
actions, that's sixth in the league.
5:35
And her goal creating actions per 90 is at 1.13, good for 3rd
5:40
in the league. I know she hasn't played that
5:42
much time, I just think she deserves some recognition as
5:46
just the the clear second gun in the arsenal that Kansas City
5:52
current has in that prolific offense.
5:54
I agree with that. I know you said we're going to
5:56
do top five, but I listed all the way out to 7910.
6:01
I had, I had 11 on my, on my not so short short list, I'd be a
6:06
7th on mine. Incredible offensive player on
6:09
what is very clearly the league's best offense.
6:12
Yep, knocked her down a little bit just with regards to the
6:16
minutes played. And I think one of the caveats
6:19
for this exercise was if we're if we're casting our ballots
6:22
today, where we at had the minutes, you know, kind of
6:25
ticked up a little bit or the matches played ticked up a
6:27
little bit, she would definitely be right there.
6:30
Incredible, incredible player. And like I said that, you know,
6:32
she's a key, key part of that offense.
6:35
She was in my top seven. You've got her at 5 fifth on my
6:38
MVP ballot. I really struggled with this
6:40
one. And it's so funny that these two
6:42
players basically went head to head, you know, and I think like
6:46
over the course of this match, I kind of was flip flopping 5:00
6:49
and 6:00. I've got Corey Bethune 5 and
6:52
I've got Naomi Gurma six. OK, now obviously the koi
6:56
Bethune again, flair for the dramatic gets it done right at
7:00
the death. Like just as she do on Girma,
7:04
sort of that kind of leapfrogged her.
7:07
Naomi Girma's been tremendous leading the league in past
7:10
completion. She's basically automatic.
7:13
You know, she knows how to kick start things offensively,
7:15
defensively, she's a monster. Just so, so, so difficult to get
7:20
past. I think her initiating of things
7:23
offensively once the balls went back is so, so sorely needed her
7:28
to McCaskill. I think Mccaskill's also been
7:30
really, really good for San Diego.
7:33
Gurma definitely deserves a shout.
7:35
She was like 5A5B. But Croy Bethune, man, I mean,
7:38
the great Santana Moss once said big time players step up in big
7:43
games. Carroll City's own Miami Garden
7:45
zone. Let's go Miami Hurricane.
7:50
I once, you know, gave him that work on the basketball court,
7:53
but he's a football player. What are you going to do?
7:56
But he's he's absolutely right. And I think Cory Bethune is that
7:59
to a tee. Big games, big moments.
8:02
She steps up massive. We talked about her a ton on our
8:05
last episode with regard to what she's doing in San Diego.
8:08
She's just a beast. I mean, she's clearly the most
8:11
clutch player in the league. Like, I think full stop, like
8:15
last five minutes, last 10 minutes, there's nobody else you
8:19
want with the ball at her feet. She's second in goals created,
8:23
second not amongst rookies, amongst everybody.
8:27
And she leads the entire NWSL with seven assists.
8:31
Again, this is a rookie in her first season.
8:34
Cory Bethune absolutely on my MVP ballot as my #5.
8:39
Well, buddy, you better get ready to go again because we
8:42
have our first overlap because I have Cory Bethune in number
8:45
four. I think she's been that great.
8:47
She has 20 passes into the penalty area.
8:49
That's tied for first in the league.
8:50
Like you mentioned, five goals, 7 assists.
8:53
She's number one in through balls.
8:55
She's #4 in expected assists. She has 51 shot creating actions
9:00
second. And Oh my God, she's she's drawn
9:04
20 fouls. That's tied for seventh in the
9:07
league. We're talking an offensive hub
9:10
in her rookie season. Halfway through her rookie
9:14
season, she's one of the best players in the league
9:16
immediately. 100%, I mean, there was some talk this season about
9:20
when she reaches her prime, she might be the Spirit's best
9:22
player. And we're almost there or we're
9:26
there. We'll see.
9:27
Who'd have thunk it? Who would have thunk it?
9:30
I love that we got our first overlap nice and early in the
9:33
proceedings. How about that?
9:35
Love when the the ITC squad's on the same page here.
9:38
Number four on my ballot. Mallory Swanson.
9:41
OK, now, you know, does she have the big gaudy numbers?
9:44
She doesn't. We talked on our last episode
9:47
about Chicago's kind of like, you know, the thinness of that
9:51
roster. You know, you have Staub, you
9:53
have Nair, you have Swanson, you have your cornerstones.
9:56
It would be great if this team was deeper.
9:58
It would be great if this team had more moves to go to over the
10:01
course of a match. But even with that said, right
10:04
in the mix, where are they? 6th on the table, firmly, firmly
10:07
in playoff contention. Not too far off from some of the
10:11
big dogs. Four goals, 3 assists, and 12
10:13
matches. Now this is my favorite.
10:15
In the match that matter, Swanson didn't appear.
10:17
A1 NIL loss at home to lowly Angel City.
10:21
The Red Stars lost the possession battle the past
10:24
accuracy match up and only managed a single shot on target.
10:28
Then you see what Swanson did standing up to the KC team.
10:31
Awesome player on more than one occasion asked myself, is
10:34
Mallory Swanson better at attacking than anybody else is
10:38
at anything else in the league? Because I mean, I think when
10:41
she's on and she I mean like that goal that she had this
10:44
weekend against KC just like out of nothing, like literally out
10:48
of nothing. And that's that's what you get
10:50
with Swanson. I mean, she's what we, when we
10:52
talk about what is the MVP, you look at this Red Stars team with
10:56
Swanson, without Swanson, you could make the case it's the
10:59
biggest delta if you just pull one player out of the mix, run
11:03
the simulation and see what happens.
11:04
You know, in both of those scenarios, I think she's just
11:07
that important to the Chicago team.
11:09
That's a great point. And that gets to the age-old
11:12
sports radio sports writer talk. Question of what are your
11:17
criteria for MVP? Is it Well, they have to be on a
11:22
winner. They have to be the best player
11:25
league. I'm just going the best player
11:27
in this season and that's it. And that's all I'm considering.
11:29
Or pound for pound, best player, whatever, however you want to
11:32
frame it. Or is it, I'm looking at the
11:35
word literally most valuable and I'm, I'm judging if I take that
11:39
player from that team, are they one of the four worst teams in
11:42
the league? Maybe in my view, when I look at
11:45
it, I try to, I try to consider all those things.
11:48
I try to make it kind of a bit of a mosaic of, of all those
11:52
pieces of kind of like what's important.
11:54
I think you're spot on with Swanson.
11:56
If you take her off and you put a replacement level forward on
12:02
the squad, they're probably not where they are right now on the
12:06
table. To your earlier point, Swanson,
12:09
she just has the ability to carry the ball 40 yards, 50
12:14
yards and score at the end of it.
12:16
Like she doesn't run herself into trouble a lot.
12:19
Like she, she runs with the ball and then knows when to dish or
12:22
knows when to fire. I mean, she is, she's an
12:25
incredible player. She was a she was a difficult
12:27
one. She did not make my 5:00, but
12:29
she was right on the periphery. We've hit on your five and your
12:34
four. Why don't we go to your #3?
12:37
So I think I'm going to throw you a little bit of a curveball
12:40
here, considering how I often talk about this player.
12:43
But I think some of the factors that you had mentioned about BIA
12:46
are going to have played a role in kind of what I'm looking at
12:50
here. Let's discuss the Queen of the
12:53
Copper Queens herself. I have Barbara Banda, third on
12:57
my MVP list if the season ended today.
13:01
Now, let me make a case. She's played 559 minutes out of
13:05
a possible, We're talking like 1100 plus minutes, I believe.
13:09
And so, yeah, I have BIA and her 560 minutes played almost,
13:14
almost identical to Banda. I have BIA at 5:00, Bethune at
13:18
4. Bethune has played 982 minutes
13:20
and has those gaudy numbers that we talked about.
13:22
I just think if the season ended today and as many times I am on
13:27
the record on this podcast, I've spoken the words into a
13:30
microphone multiple times. Banda is the best player in the
13:33
league. When we talk about that mosaic
13:35
of factors that I have to consider when naming the MVP, I
13:40
just don't think 600 minutes is enough minutes to be the MVP.
13:45
Again, if the season ended today, do I think she could make
13:48
up that golf and then some through the final thirteen
13:50
matches of the year? Of course I do.
13:53
Let me pass it to you for initial reaction before I get
13:55
into all the numbers to discuss why.
13:58
Well buddy, I also bond 1/3. Look at us.
14:02
Yeah, I mean, I, I this is funny, but I think we're on the
14:06
same page here. OK, I want to throw some fun
14:09
numbers here at you. Let's go.
14:11
Obviously we know the top line numbers, Eight goals, 3 assists
14:14
and nine matches played. How about this?
14:16
In those nine matches, seven wins and two draws.
14:21
That's taking 23 of a possible 27 points from those nine
14:26
matches. 23 points just from the nine matches that Bondas played
14:31
in would be good for fifth in the league.
14:34
That's great. That's great.
14:37
You got to give her a props. She's super productive.
14:39
I think she's cooled off a little bit.
14:41
You know, we talked a little bit earlier this week about maybe
14:44
Orlando needing more consistency, not necessarily
14:47
from one player, but from whoever the number two is in
14:51
that match up. You know, just to kind of like
14:53
take a little bit of the pressure off Bonda.
14:55
Obviously she's completely unguardable.
14:58
The numbers show it, but I think we're starting to see defenses
15:02
shade some things her way, make it a little bit tougher.
15:05
But you can't argue with the impact.
15:07
She's been unbelievable. The the way she came into the
15:10
league on an absolute tear is going to be something that like
15:13
we're going to, we're going to remember for a very, very long
15:15
time. But I think 3 is the right place
15:17
to have her on the ballot. Excellent.
15:19
OK, good. Good to see that we're aligned.
15:21
I mean, so like I mentioned with with BIA, because I wanted to
15:26
contextualize some of her numbers a little bit.
15:28
I know you always do this kind of stuff too.
15:30
She has 1.29 goals per 90, that's first in the league by a
15:35
lot. She has 5.2 XG created, that's
15:40
fourth in the league. Her XG per 90 is .84, that's
15:45
first in the league. She has 33 shots, that's fourth
15:48
in the league. Shots on target percentage is
15:50
63.3. That's good for 7th in the
15:52
league. Crazy.
15:54
Her goals minus XG is she's plus 2.8 that's second 3rd in in goal
16:01
creating actions. She's first in goal creating
16:04
actions per 90. She has 33 progressive carries
16:07
that's good for 8th in the league.
16:09
And she has 31 carries into the penalty area.
16:12
That's third in the league. And that number that 31 carries
16:14
into the penalty area, that's a raw number.
16:16
That's not that's not any kind of by 90 and she has that that
16:20
few of minutes and she's third in the league at taking the ball
16:23
into the penalty area. I mean, she's just, I sometimes
16:27
like get a little hesitant because some of our pals over in
16:30
England, they refer to a player and Leanne used the term before.
16:35
They refer to a player who can't be guarded as unplayable, which
16:38
I think in American parlance, it's just like, wait, hold on a
16:40
minute. That's actually an insult to the
16:42
way Americans talk about sports. But to you, to borrow that
16:45
terminology, she's unplayable. Like defenders, you can't, you
16:49
can't hold her. She's too fast, she's too
16:50
strong, she's too smart, she's too skilled.
16:52
Yeah, just got to hope she misses what we've seen and like
16:57
all of those raw stats that you rattled off again in just nine
17:01
matches played. In that first match, I think she
17:03
played like 15 minutes or something.
17:05
Yeah, barely, barely, barely saw the field.
17:07
Just enough to kind of break a little bit of a sweat.
17:10
So it's really like 8 plus appearances we're talking about
17:13
here to rack up that massive resume.
17:18
I'm going to go to my number two pick on my MVP ballot.
17:23
I have a sinking feeling, sinking fear that we've got the
17:25
same 1-2 second on my ballot. Temo Chiwinga.
17:29
Nice. Got to do it.
17:30
She's sitting at 13 matches played, undefeated on the
17:33
season, eight wins, 5 draws for both of those sides, the Orlando
17:36
Pride and the Kansas City current.
17:39
Got to give her credit for that. And she just opens things up
17:42
with her speed and quickness. Chiwinga does, and just her
17:45
overall offensive bag, I mean, in this last match against San
17:49
Diego, on a play that she scores on, she creates extra space with
17:54
a Juke that's essentially faking a pass.
17:58
So now as a you're afraid of Chiwinga's passing and her
18:03
distributing, and you're talking about one of the most dangerous
18:05
goal scorers in the entire league.
18:07
Once she's got you in that kind of headspace, you're just
18:10
absolutely cooked. I mean, she's so dangerous, so
18:13
willing to distribute the ball, such a lethal striker.
18:17
I just continue to be befuddled when you see her in the penalty
18:21
area with a shit ton of space, just like, how does she do that?
18:25
Like where she's just in a dangerous spot and there's just
18:29
like a bubble of five yards where where just nobody's on
18:32
her. It's through creativity, it's
18:34
through her movement, it's through her IQ.
18:36
And then when the ball's at her feet, it's a wrap.
18:39
And all those reasons, my good man, is why, if the season ended
18:43
today, she would be my MVP. I have a feeling we're probably
18:49
inverted here. Eight goals, tied for second
18:52
league. 4 assists, tied for fourth.
18:54
She's #2 obviously goals plus assists. 9.0 XG.
18:58
That's good for first in the league.
19:01
To your point about her having the ball in dangerous areas, she
19:05
has 58 progressive carries. That's first in the league.
19:08
She has 40 carries into the penalty area, that's first in
19:12
the league. She has 116 progressive passes
19:16
received. That's number one in the league.
19:18
Also, by the way #2 in the league has 23 fewer than
19:26
Chiwenga has. So I know you love a big gulf
19:29
between 1:00 and 2:00. That's where she is.
19:31
And for what it's worth, Chiwenga number six in minutes.
19:35
As of the time this was recorded, I'm not sure if FB ref
19:39
was was counting this past match.
19:41
I'm not sure how quickly it updates, but she was already at
19:44
1083 minutes. Amazing.
19:47
So top ten in the league and also, not for nothing, 24
19:51
blocks. That's good.
19:53
I love to talk about Rodman's Trinity, Rodman's ability to get
19:56
back and and contribute on the defensive end. 24 blocks is tied
20:00
for third in the NWSL and we're talking about the most, one of
20:04
the most dangerous scoring threats in the league.
20:06
I mean, what's not to love? About 10 Wat Chewinga, the
20:09
motor, the skill, the smarts. Like you're saying people have
20:12
to be afraid of her passing and she just so happens to be one of
20:15
the most devastating scorers in the league if the league if they
20:18
said no more matches after the 13th.
20:20
My first reaction, I'm very sad. My second reaction, give
20:24
Chewinga the MVP. Wow.
20:26
I love that that I mean, defensively, I'm not sure I
20:29
totally considered some of those stats that you rattled off
20:32
defensively, but when you play it back, that's that is how she
20:36
plays. She's so fast, much like Rodman,
20:39
she could mix it up defensively, should try to win balls back and
20:43
you know, she can make up all that space and get all the way
20:46
out to the to the cusp of being offsides once once the
20:50
possession flips back the other way.
20:52
She's just incredible, incredible to watch.
20:54
We talked about when you were talking about be a an incredible
20:58
offensive player on the best offense.
20:59
Temochuenga is the best offensive player on the best
21:02
offense. It's not really just what she
21:04
does on the ball, right? It's the gravity.
21:06
It's the space. It's the pressure she puts on
21:09
you. Yeah.
21:09
She's creating space for BIA fora de Bernardo, fora debina,
21:14
for Cooper. Like, she's just manipulating
21:17
all the chess pieces. It's interesting to see these
21:20
new players coming to the league.
21:21
They spike violently. Like, they're just like,
21:24
incredible. Then there's a little bit of a
21:25
lull as like, the game plans start to adjust and then these
21:29
truly elite players then spike again when they make an
21:33
adjustment to the adjustment. And I think we're just, we're
21:35
not going to be done seeing Chiwinga change and evolve in
21:39
this league. And to your point, she may very
21:41
well be raising the MVP trophy by the end of the season if she
21:45
keeps this up. I think she's got a ton more in
21:47
her bag that we haven't seen yet.
21:49
Yeah. And this Casey side, you kind of
21:51
can count on them to continue to, like, tinker offensively and
21:55
like, really find different spaces, find different areas and
21:58
continue to keep pressure on defenses.
22:00
And I think things things could be lining up for a Temo Chiwinga
22:03
MVP, for sure. She was second on my list.
22:06
I'm guessing second on your list.
22:09
Well, let's go to your second on your list.
22:10
Who did you have in the number two spot?
22:12
All right, I'll do the intro for it.
22:14
Yeah, I gotta think that we have it inverted.
22:17
I have Sophia Smith #2 on my ballot.
22:19
Yep, 968 minutes played. She has nine goals, that's first
22:24
in the league. She has six assists, that's
22:25
second in the league. She has seven XG.
22:28
It's second in the league behind Chewinga.
22:30
She's third in non penalty XG and non penalty goals despite
22:36
having two penalty kick goals herself because she's the pen
22:40
taker for the Thorns. She has 52 shots, that's second
22:43
in the league. She has 22 shots on target,
22:46
that's second in the league. 22 key passes, that's ninth in the
22:49
league. Fifty shot creating actions,
22:52
that's third in the league. Eleven goal creating actions,
22:55
that's second in the league. She is a two time MVP for a
22:59
reason. She's one of the best strikers
23:01
in the world. She has 20 fouls drawn, that's
23:04
ninth in the league. She is second to Chiwenga.
23:07
She has those 93 progressive passes received, obviously 23
23:12
behind the 116 that Chiwenga has.
23:14
But still, everything that Sophia Smith has been doing
23:17
lately, which you hint, you talked about it when we were
23:20
doing a different show during the World Cup and you talked
23:23
about it when we started covering the NWSL this year, is
23:26
that Sophia Smith has unlocked her passing ability, which
23:30
shouldn't be a surprise to anybody.
23:32
I I always think about there was like 1/2 of a season or
23:36
something like that where Kobe Bryant was like passing the ball
23:38
more and everybody was like, oh, he can pass too.
23:41
And I was like, yeah, I mean, I'm not really that surprised.
23:46
Like he's a genius. He's one of the best players who
23:48
ever lived. Like, of course he can pass.
23:50
I feel like Smith is doing some of that now where it's I'm
23:54
seeing the passes, I'm trusting my teammates, I'm doing that and
23:57
then I'm using my amazing skill to score.
23:59
I could see why she would be anybody's MVP.
24:03
It's really kind of how how you want to slice it.
24:06
I'm I'm eager to hear why you landed on her at #1.
24:10
Yes #1 for me, Emily Sam's from the Orlando, No, I'm just
24:13
kidding. Sophie Smith.
24:15
Sophie Smith is my number one MVP candidate, top of my ballot.
24:20
I think it's the goal creation, man.
24:21
I think you look at her six assists good for second.
24:25
I mean, like, in what world coming into the season, let's
24:29
rewind back to the World Cup. In what world coming off the
24:32
World Cup coming into the season, would you say Sophie
24:34
Smith is going to be top two in the league in assists?
24:38
That would have been unfathomable to me.
24:40
I did this analysis last week. Over three years, 9 assists this
24:46
year already she's got 6 assists in half a season.
24:50
She had nine. This is career total in three
24:53
years. And you talk about those couple
24:54
MVP's, it wasn't for distributing.
24:56
And this year she's just cooking.
24:58
We talked about her eye level way raised her vision way
25:01
utilized 1.39 goal creations per 90.
25:06
I mean that's I mean that's a goal and a half.
25:08
Just you lace up your boots. It's a goal and a half.
25:12
All attributed to Sophie Smith. So to me, she's my MVP.
25:15
I would like kind of to see her be able to like carry this
25:20
Portland side to like maybe a little bit more success.
25:23
But again, we're still early. But I think just what she's been
25:26
able to do on the field and obviously she's out of the line
25:28
up against Seattle. They don't get on the board.
25:32
I kind of made the same similar argument now Swanson's way.
25:35
She misses a match and they look like a completely different
25:38
team. We got to see a little bit of
25:39
that. Well, you got to see it up close
25:41
covering the rain this past weekend.
25:43
That no Sophie Smith definitely changes changes the geometry a
25:46
little bit. She is, and I appreciate, you
25:49
know what, you jogged my memory. The Women's Game podcast was Sam
25:52
Ewis and then she sometimes has Lynn Williams.
25:54
She sometimes has Becky Sarbrun. I think it was Sam Ewis.
25:58
And Becky Sarbrun said that Sophie Smith does not like being
26:01
called Sophia, which I feel like broadcast should have corrected
26:05
by now. I don't know if that's just
26:07
inside information. Maybe they're maybe Mullis and
26:10
Sarburn were talking about by her friends.
26:12
We are by no means friends of Sophie Smith, but I do want to
26:15
call her yet the name that she prefers.
26:17
So I think I always see Sophia and go to that.
26:21
But yeah, I'm going to stick to that.
26:22
We'll go Sophie Smith. And so I'm glad you mentioned it
26:25
because obviously I was at the Cascadia Derby this weekend and
26:30
this recording was was top of mind that, you know, we're going
26:33
to be talking about our MVP ballots.
26:35
And I was very curious talking about, again, I'm going to go
26:38
back to that mosaic of how you choose who the Most Valuable
26:41
Player in the league is. You know, Christine Sinclair is
26:44
a legend. She's also 41 years old.
26:47
And you know she's flanked by Janine Becky.
26:52
There's something worth saying that Sam Coffey and Olivia
26:54
Moultrie weren't in the lineup, but when you were trying to pass
26:57
forward to a 41 year old forward instead of Sophia Smith.
27:03
Even with Sinclair being the all time leading scorer in the
27:05
history of the sport of the national team level, it's not
27:09
the same because Sophia Smith is arguably the best striker in the
27:13
game. And so to your point of like,
27:15
well what happens if you take this player off the squad?
27:18
How valuable are they? There was a clear difference in
27:23
the value of of what Sophie Smith brings to the Thorns.
27:28
They were not nearly as dangerous of an attack and
27:30
that's why a team that they probably still felt OK about
27:34
being able to beat with with not as many of their good players
27:37
in. That's why they're only able
27:38
kind of able to scratch out a draw is because some of those
27:42
giveaways that the that the Reign were making in their half,
27:46
they're 100% goals if they fall to Sophie Smith's right foot.
27:51
I definitely believe that she's top of my ballot.
27:54
Like we mentioned, NWSL powers that be, We'll keep an eye out
27:57
for our mailboxes, both physical and digital.
27:59
Do you just let us know? We watch the games, give us our
28:02
deadlines. We watch the games, bro.
28:04
Check the tapes. You already know what time it is
28:07
now we hit our five through 1 to skip ahead to a little bit of
28:11
extra time and hit the portion of the show that we like to
28:14
call. Let's name some players.
28:17
Who was an honourable mention, the most honourable of
28:20
honourable mentions on your MVP ballot?
28:21
Who did you have a hard time leaving off?
28:24
Who? Who needs to get a little shot
28:25
out here? Trinity Rodman was a tough one
28:29
for me. I thought about OK, can I have
28:32
Rodman 5th, Bethune 4th? And then I was kind of thinking
28:36
about I was like, well B is so great and KC is pretty much top
28:40
of the table. I understand the spirit is right
28:42
there with them, but I was like maybe it makes sense to have BA5
28:46
and chewing A1. Trinity Rodman three goals, 4
28:49
assists, 5.2 expected assisted goals.
28:53
That's first in the league. She's #2 in expected assists.
28:57
She has fifteen shots on target, that's tied for fifth.
29:00
She has 24 key passes. That's tied for fifth.
29:02
She's tied for fifth and crosses into the penalty area.
29:06
She's number six in shot creating actions.
29:09
She's tied for fourth in goal creating actions.
29:12
She's won 20 tackles. That's top ten.
29:15
She has 22 blocks. That's tied for fifth.
29:18
She has 30 take ONS. That's the best in the league.
29:21
She's #5 in progressive carrying distance.
29:23
She's #2 in progressive carry. She's #4 and progressive carries
29:27
Received and real quick. Trinity Rodman 77.3% Aerial
29:32
challenges, one good for fifth in the league, and she has 27
29:37
fouls drawn. That's good for second in the
29:39
league. This has been the week if you
29:43
check out our other episode. This has been a week of
29:46
respecting and recognizing the game that Trinity Rodman has as
29:50
a superstar player in this league.
29:53
It hurt to leave her off my MVP ballot.
29:55
I agree with that. I mean let me see, I had 7-8.
29:59
She came in 9th on my ballot. Oh, OK.
30:02
I mentioned it. I mean, explosive, nasty
30:05
competitor pretty much anywhere on the field.
30:08
She's ready to take anybody on anytime.
30:10
She's an elite athlete. Her striking is right there.
30:14
You know, we talk about like top 10:00-ish in the league.
30:16
I would say, you know, she sets the tone.
30:19
She's just somebody that you have to game plan for and that
30:22
spirit team is cooking. I mean, we talked about it this
30:25
past weekend in neutral field. Kind of any given day, I think
30:28
this team could give pretty much any team major, major problems
30:33
and kind of starts with Trinity Rodman.
30:36
I mean, I think one of the first places that you have to be like,
30:38
okay, Rodman can really hurt us. So it's like, what are we doing?
30:42
What are we doing there defensively?
30:44
Kind of everything else sort of slots in after that.
30:47
She's just an incredible player now.
30:49
I've gone through one through 7:00 and 9:00.
30:52
So in my eighth spot. Leanne Sanderson brought her up
30:55
on our most recent MVP conversation.
30:57
Vanessa D Bernardo yes, we've talked about this Casey current
31:00
team. She threatens from pretty much
31:02
anywhere on the pitch. I mean, she's effective box to
31:05
box, super smart, super crafty, great playmaker.
31:09
You know, she's just involved in a lot of stuff that Casey does,
31:13
you know, like she just is. She's just so great at the
31:16
simple skill of moving the ball along to where it's supposed to
31:19
go. She's just really, really great
31:21
at that. She's also scoring.
31:24
Incredibly productive player. Definitely deserved a shot out
31:26
shot out Vanessa Di Bernardo. I'm right there with you.
31:29
I had her, I had her 8th. She's tied for 8th in shot
31:33
creating actions. She's tied for seventh in goal
31:35
creating actions. Four goals, tied for 8th 5
31:38
assists. That's third in the league. 26
31:40
key passes. That's number three in the
31:42
league. Love a key pass?
31:44
Love a good key pass. You need them.
31:46
I feel like she is almost and not like she's overlooked, but I
31:51
don't know. I mean, maybe she's shading
31:53
toward overlooked. I think she might be a little
31:55
bit of a football hipster pick in this kind of like gaudy
31:59
Kansas City current offense. So I'm going to lean into the we
32:03
watch the games, bro. You know, watching from the
32:06
press box, you know, D Bernardo, she starts off and she's on the
32:09
left wing playing left midfield. And then like after a few
32:13
minutes, all of a sudden here she is way up high on the on the
32:17
right wing. And then couple minutes later,
32:20
she's serving in, serving in passes, playing them out wide
32:24
because now she's in the middle. And after that match, I had
32:28
asked Sofia Huerta about like, what do you do when you have a
32:33
lethal player like that? And she's just not staying on
32:37
one side of the field. And she was just like, we had to
32:40
have a plan. You just pass her off like in
32:42
basketball, like, hey, she's going over there.
32:44
She's going over there. Like, you just have to know
32:46
where she is. And I, I feel like we've, I know
32:50
I have seen some people on, you know, the women's football
32:53
Twitter, the Woso Twitter that that we are involved in is that
32:56
I think a lot of people probably think that she deserves a lot
32:59
more credit for making that whole engine run on the league's
33:03
most elite offense. When you have an offense kind of
33:06
like the tumming like that, generally it's because you have
33:09
great players making the right decisions quickly.
33:13
Yeah, deep Bernardo's fast decision making, ability to
33:16
execute, ability to kind of keep the ball moving.
33:19
And then you have via, you have 10 watching a Cooper to a lesser
33:23
extent. You want to keep the ball
33:26
moving, you want to keep the defenders chasing.
33:28
And she's so, so good at that. And she's so crisp in her
33:32
passing and her decision. Everything is just exactly what
33:36
you would want from a player in that position.
33:39
And then to your point, she kind of has no position.
33:41
She's just right wherever, wherever she needs to, wherever
33:44
the play requires her to go, she's happy to kind of take that
33:47
space on the field and just kind of keep that that engine
33:50
humming. If you want to mentally prepare
33:51
yourself for a bit of an old man NFL reference, I know you'll
33:56
appreciate always. There have been several great
33:59
offenses since then, but like the Greatest Show on Turf, Saint
34:04
Louis Rams where everybody was like, wow, Kurt Warner's really
34:07
great. Marshall Faulk, he's definitely
34:08
going to Hall of Fame. Isaac Bruce is awesome.
34:11
Oh, by the way, there's this younger guy named Tori Holt.
34:13
He's super good. And Azahir Hakim is is really
34:16
fast. And like does this thing.
34:19
Let's name some guys. It's just like, I don't know
34:23
where D Bernardo is in there 'cause I don't want to
34:25
disrespect her. But if Chiwenga is Marshall
34:28
Faulk, then I don't know is is BIA Isaac Bruce is deep and is D
34:33
Bernardo Kurt Warner, who's still a Hall of Famer.
34:35
But it to your point is keeping the ball moving and being like,
34:38
I know I got players out here. I'm going to do exactly what I
34:42
got to do and distribute. I feel like Holt was on that
34:45
team. I've I've screwed up NFL
34:47
references. No, no, he's in.
34:48
This podcast, he was on that team.
34:49
Real quick shout out to great friend of the pod.
34:52
Great Twitter friend of the pod for sure at Iron Gazi Stan who
34:57
stepped in to correct your Jadevi and Clowney with his own
35:01
Mario Williams correction. These are our our watchers and
35:04
our listeners, and we appreciate them.
35:05
I appreciate the correction Iron Ghazi saying I I had to
35:08
sheepishly chime in on Twitter back and be like, oh boy, I'm
35:12
starting to do the thing where I'm mixing up draft years.
35:15
Clowney and Williams are drafted damn near 10 years apart.
35:18
But I just want to say I do blame.
35:20
I'm not taking accountability. I blame the Texans for being so
35:23
shitty that they all they had so many number one overall picks
35:27
and just kept taking D lineman hoping to eventually get good.
35:31
And all it had to take was them taking an Ohio State quarterback
35:34
for them to finally have some hope.
35:35
But that's another that's another podcast, I think.
35:39
And if I, if I may, because I have to shout out Ohio State one
35:42
more time. Greatest show on turf anchored
35:43
by Orlando Pace, one of the greatest offensive lineman of
35:46
all time. Never for.
35:47
There you go. And maybe that's a deep Bernardo
35:49
Orlando Pace Hall of Famer. Oh yeah.
35:53
So I had Di Bernardo on my short list in the eighth spot.
35:56
Anybody else you had kind of lingering?
35:58
I had a few players lingering. I think you're going to mention
36:01
one. I'm going to go.
36:02
I'm going to go slightly further down my list.
36:04
I got two more. OK.
36:06
I think you're going to mention the other one I have and you
36:09
already mentioned Swanson. Let me just mention Ann Katrin
36:12
Berger. One of my two.
36:14
Oh, really? OK, wow.
36:16
All right. She's not going to win the MVP
36:18
unless something really weird happens.
36:21
But four clean sheets. Her clean sheet percentage is
36:24
first in the league. She has an 87.5 save percentage.
36:29
She has about half a goal against per 90.
36:32
That's best in the league This stat which I was thrilled to
36:37
look at and read about. So she is a + 5.3 in what is
36:43
called post shot XG minus goals allowed.
36:47
So on the quality of the shot the and the way the expected
36:50
goals metric works. Like is this thing going to be
36:53
goal minus her actual goals allowed?
36:56
She's plus 5.3 so she is saving shots that should probably be
37:02
goals. That is number one in the league
37:05
as well. That metric is created by Opta
37:09
stats but it is housed on football FB ref football
37:13
reference. The the obviously the stats like
37:15
Dino and I use so so much. I just want to also point this
37:19
out and I understand football is an 11 player game.
37:22
You have a lot of players on the pitch at one time.
37:25
Going back to the NFL, I am somewhat against the quarterback
37:29
wins stat. I think it is a little silly
37:32
when you have that many players on the field.
37:34
In this case you have 11 players on the pitch.
37:36
I do just want to point out that since Burger joined the squad
37:40
they are six wins, 2 draws, and 0 losses.
37:45
They had two wins, one draw and two losses when they started the
37:49
season without her and I don't even think they had necessarily
37:52
bad goalkeeping play during that early stretch.
37:54
I think they were just kind of struggling to score.
37:56
But on Katrin, Berger has just been fantastic and this is
38:01
really just a wonderful second act to her career after being a
38:05
legend at Chelsea Football Club. Totally.
38:08
I mean these are video game numbers for sure.
38:11
Half a goal per 90 is insane, and I mentioned it over the
38:16
weekend in the matches where she's not clean sheeting you.
38:20
It's one goal. It's one goal, one goal, one
38:22
goal. Yeah.
38:23
Four goals in eight matches, six wins in those eight matches, two
38:27
draws. I mean, imagine what it's like
38:29
having Burger back there just knowing, oh, OK, we can, we can
38:33
be a little bit aggressive. And then defensively, that whole
38:37
Gotham back line is filled with players that are happy to move
38:41
the ball forward, highlighted by another player that made my my
38:45
roughly my top ten, top 11. Jenna, nice longer.
38:48
Let's fucking go. Oh, before I before I jump to
38:51
conclusions, is that who we're talking about here?
38:53
Yeah, that's who I expected you to have on this list.
38:56
Let's go. So obviously she plays at that
38:59
left back spot. I mean, defensively, you know,
39:02
she's not a world beater, but she is very, very active, very
39:05
pesky. You know, she's she's kind of in
39:07
the mix. She knows where to be.
39:09
And then offensively, she's essentially from that Basha
39:13
school of like crossing, picking out players, driving the ball
39:18
forward from her position and just being an absolute menace.
39:23
The perfect type of player for that talented roster that Gotham
39:27
has to just kind of be a distributor up that left hand
39:30
side and be a creator defensive to offense.
39:33
And they're winning and they're handling teams.
39:36
And she's just one of those players that's like involved in
39:38
everything. It's just impossible not to
39:40
notice when she's on the pitch. A. 100% agree, couldn't cosign
39:43
it harder. I mean she is.
39:47
Let's take a look here. 15 passes into the penalty area,
39:50
that's tied for seventh. She has 10 crosses into the
39:53
penalty area. That's first in the league.
39:55
She has 57 crosses in total. That's tied for 6th.
39:58
She has 32 tackles, which is tied for 8th. 21 tackles, one
40:02
that's tied for 6th. Even aside from the numbers, do
40:06
you know Ball? She's great.
40:08
She's an offensive. Hub.
40:10
Like you talk about the Basha school, you're spot on with
40:14
that. She's got some Olga in her game.
40:17
Like that Carmona style of like, I will be the offensive hub and
40:20
yeah, I'll play those crosses in.
40:22
I could play through the middle if I feel like it, if the
40:26
situation dictates it. She is a genius passer.
40:30
We talked about it in the US women's national team shows that
40:33
we've done. I think there is a world that
40:35
exists where you look at that back line and you say Germa
40:39
Sharpie, no doubt that's a done deal that's sealed.
40:43
I think in a lot of situations and I you were really astute
40:47
with this is that there might be some situations where you say,
40:50
OK, we we might need a little more physical defense back
40:53
there. But I think nice longer is
40:55
coming very close to being like maybe it doesn't doesn't matter
40:58
what the matchup is, because we want to have that look of
41:02
somebody who can create offense from defense.
41:04
And like you said, she's pesky. She can tackle.
41:07
She's not a fouling machine, she's not a yellow card machine.
41:11
She does. She keeps her head about her.
41:12
She keeps her wits about her. I think there's a world that
41:15
exists where you look and say, is she the 5th most important
41:19
player on the US women's national team on, you know, one
41:22
of the three or four best teams in the world?
41:24
And is she the second or third most important player on a team
41:29
that's going to challenge to win the Shield or win the NWSL Cup?
41:32
I think I agree with both of those points.
41:35
When you look at this US women's national team as well, I think
41:39
bringing in, you know, obviously sonnets firmly in the mix there.
41:43
We talked about Gurma, we talked about Davidson, Sam Staubb.
41:47
I think it's kind of like sneakily the perfect player that
41:51
kind of balances things out. And I think we saw it in those
41:54
two Korea matches where nice Wong was just way, you know, to
41:57
your point, when the situation calls for it, she's going to
42:00
take that space 100%. And I think I agree with you.
42:03
I think her spot firmly cemented.
42:06
There's no world where she's not on the 18.
42:08
Can't be hard to hard to imagine a world where she's not starting
42:12
most of these Olympic matches. Yes, I think the last person I I
42:16
want to name is Ule Montesar. We've alluded to her and
42:20
basically the big three that they have over in Washington DC.
42:25
SAR has six goals, that's good for fourth in the league. 2
42:27
assists. She has a 6.9 XG created.
42:31
That's number three in the league. 15 shots on target,
42:34
that's tied for fifth and she's tied for seventh in a goal
42:37
creating actions. She's a pure striker, just a
42:42
goal scoring threat from pretty much anywhere on the field.
42:45
Good size, good speed is always it feels like, and this is a
42:51
huge win when you have a person who's able to serve in crosses
42:54
like Trinity Rodman and then what appears to be a good
42:58
football decision making computer in Kroy Bethune.
43:01
But SAR always seems to be intelligently placed on the
43:04
field. She like knows where to be to
43:07
then get to her spots to rip shots on goal.
43:11
And so I think I would be remiss if I didn't mention Luli Monta
43:14
SAR at least in the MVP combo. Absolutely.
43:17
I mean, she's very productive, cooled off a little bit after
43:21
like a crazy hot start. But you know, midway through the
43:24
NWSL season, I think we've seen defences adjust.
43:27
And I think now if more of the resources are more moving
43:30
towards Bethune, moving towards Rodman, I think that could open
43:34
things up big time for Uleisar. And she's just that kind of
43:37
player. She was like on my original
43:39
longer short list earlier in the week, productivity wise, scoring
43:44
wise. I mean, she's she's right there
43:47
and she's not that far off of sort of playing her way into top
43:54
three, top four, top five between now and the end of the
43:56
season again into BSL powers that be.
43:59
You already know what time it is.
44:00
DMS are open, let us know. Oh yeah, All right, man.
44:03
We covered a lot of players. We went went through five, we
44:06
named some players, hit some honorable menchies.
44:08
Anything else you want to hit before we get out of here?
44:10
I think that's it. I mean, Kaitlyn Sheridan is way
44:13
up there with a lot of clean sheets, no clean sheet
44:16
percentage. I, I think she is one of those
44:19
players that you might be able to look at.
44:20
I think we often just kind of casually say Caitlin Chariton is
44:23
the best keeper in the league on Katrin Berger is, is giving her
44:26
a run for money. But she is an interesting case
44:29
study in where would the wave be if you had a replacement level
44:34
keeper instead of the best keeper in the league?
44:36
And I think it would, it would be a dicey proposition for the
44:39
wave. So she'll, she'll be my last
44:41
last. But other than that I I think we
44:43
covered. Love it.
44:44
All right man, I think we did it.
44:45
Shout out to Caitlin Sheridan for sure.
44:48
Big game player as well. This has been another episode of
44:50
Into the Channel. Thank you for watching,
44:52
listening, liking, subscribing, following.
44:54
Without you, there really is no show, no channel to go into.
44:57
So thank you for rocking with us and let us know how you think we
45:00
did. Who do we miss?
45:01
Who do we forget in our in our ballot?
45:03
Who did we totally miss rank You let us know.
45:06
We always appreciate all of you chiming in and if you're an OG,
45:10
thank you for continuing to rock with us.
45:12
Very much appreciate it. And remember, like if you liked
45:14
and subscribe or follow into the channel, YouTube, Spotify, Apple
45:17
podcast, wherever you like to watch or listen links to all of
45:20
our socials, every single one in our show notes.
45:23
Be sure to check those out. And a big thank you to my Co
45:26
host. Not just in the first spot, not
45:28
in the second spot. He's the dial on.
45:31
He's the MVP of the show. I'm not going to hear anything
45:34
else on this matter. Mr. Grant Angle, thank you for
45:37
being my Co host and you know, just always being down to names
45:40
of players, create some lists. I appreciate you man.
45:44
Likewise, buddy, you know, I I do feel like this is a
45:47
situation. Let's name some guys, you know,
45:50
maybe not in in the media space or maybe not in just general.
45:54
Are we a Thunder and lightning Tiki Barber and Ron Dane
45:57
situation? Like, I don't know, like maybe
45:59
there's a better Thunder and lightning.
46:01
Maybe maybe we're Braun and Wade throwing up the the no look
46:05
alley oop and just having an iconic moment.
46:08
Who knows, wouldn't want to host the show with anybody else.
46:10
Appreciate you always set me up. And yeah, to everybody who's
46:14
who's watching the show and appreciating us showing love in
46:17
the comments, thank you, thank you, thank you.
46:19
Go easy on our on our top five MVP ballots.
46:22
Let me just say this past week, a woman who has a third place
46:26
medal in the World Cup said she watches our show.
46:30
A woman who scored a hundred goals in two fucking seasons
46:33
said she watches our show because we see football in a
46:36
similar way. You really can't tell us
46:38
anything at this point, but we still welcome, we still welcome
46:42
the comments. And I'm a serious though, yeah,
46:45
thank you guys for always keeping it real with us and and
46:47
always like, you know, holding us accountable, correcting us
46:50
when we make silly mistakes like I am want to do.
46:53
And yes, we will see you after more NWSL matches and we will
46:57
talk to you guys, Mary Sue. I hate to come over the top
47:00
after the salute that that usually closes the show.
47:03
But when you said Braun and Wade, I actually heard SK Braun.
47:06
So I was like, oh, maybe, you know, we're seeing you guys,
47:09
said Justine Jelly. Now here, let's go like double
47:13
it up here. So again, apologies for stepping
47:15
on the salute. Never.
47:17
One last salute to kind of get us out of here.
47:19
Whatever the 1-2 combination is, it only happens because you guys
47:24
are rocking with us. So thank you for tuning in and
47:27
we'll talk to you next time.