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⚽️ NWSL WK 13 Recap | 2nd Half Lookahead 🏆 · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:03
Hello. Kate, welcome to into the
0:06
channel podcast permitted by women's football.
0:08
I am your host Dino de Suspicious and as always, I'm
0:11
joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Angle.
0:15
What is that man? I'm feeling all right, buddy.
0:18
I thought that was a great weekend of NWSL football, kind
0:23
of football drunk from the FIFA World Cup, FIFA Club World Cup,
0:27
if you care about men's football at all.
0:29
Just a lot going on and I'm, I'm happy for it.
0:33
Once again, the best distraction in the world right here on the
0:36
pitch. Yeah, much needed for sure.
0:40
And with that said, let's let's crack, crack some some
0:42
beverages. I'm not partaking in anything
0:45
alcoholic. Your boys a little bit under the
0:46
weather so you might see me drinking some of this orange
0:49
concoction here, but I did bring a seltzer just for.
0:54
The There we go. Just, you know, just for the
0:57
ceremony. Cheers I.
1:00
Like it cheers to you, but you powering through also not scared
1:04
to play hurt. You know, don't, don't blow out
1:07
an Achilles on me here, But you know, let's try to, let's try to
1:12
keep it as safe as possible. All right.
1:13
Yeah, No, I hear that. Get get well soon, Tyrese
1:17
Halliburton. Whatever, that was horrible.
1:19
Yeah, I mean, terrible, but I I kind of have an outside.
1:23
I have an outside feeling I'm like he should just be finals
1:26
MVPI know it makes no sense logically, but I just feel like
1:30
we should just do that even retroactively.
1:33
But yeah, Congrats to OKC, Congrats to Indiana Pacers,
1:36
great season. But to the football, the grand
1:39
distraction. Let's go.
1:42
You you called this a good weekend of football.
1:45
I'm not sure I'd agree. There was a little there was
1:48
some slop up and down. You know, there was a 123 Cancun
1:52
vibes. We'll get to those in a few.
1:54
But Mr. Grant and go where do you want to get started?
1:57
You know, let's take it back to the original formula.
1:59
What do you say we go chronological order through the
2:02
weekend? And I got, I got another idea on
2:04
top of this. We're doing this show a day
2:07
later. This is the Sleepy Boys Football
2:09
Network, as everybody knows. We're recording these late at
2:12
night. We got full time jobs.
2:14
We're doing our thing. You got a young son.
2:16
You know, there's a lot going on here, but let's go through
2:20
chronological and we're at the halfway point of the season.
2:24
What do you say? We kind of talk about what we've
2:26
seen in the 1st 50% of the year and what we're looking forward
2:30
to seeing in the 2nd 50%. I love it.
2:32
Let's go a little journey through time.
2:35
Let's get started. Kansas City current one, my
2:39
Angel City nil. I thought Angel City hung tough.
2:43
They just had the 1 little hiccup of not really being able
2:47
to get the ball near the goal in any in any dangerous areas.
2:51
And then KC kind of cruised, but I think also maybe kind of
2:57
really misses Debina. I don't know you.
2:59
You're kind of our resident KC guy.
3:01
What'd you see in this one? I think KC is very obviously
3:06
mastering the lurk where they just they will just allow the
3:11
opponent to just have the ball kick it around in their own half
3:15
like you kind of alluded to. Not really present any too many
3:19
dangerous situations defensively in case from Casey's
3:24
perspective, and then they're just going to have their
3:27
superlative attacking talent in this case be a in most cases
3:31
Tamwa Chewinga in a lot of other cases, Michelle Cooper, the
3:35
eventually one of those players is going to take advantage of an
3:38
opportunity this time. You know, it looked like
3:41
Chewinga was going to score it, but great save.
3:44
Oh darn. The the rebound falls to be A
3:47
and she smashes it all. Devastating moment.
3:50
For Anderson, who who makes a big save and had a good, had a
3:54
good day, you know, considering you, you go to KC, your offense
3:58
can only muster three shots. You're facing you're you're
4:02
staring down the MVP and and you get a great stop on it.
4:06
And the ball just finds its way to BIA.
4:08
And BIA just cracks that one. And I think it was it was doubly
4:12
painful because Anderson actually reaches up, gets a hand
4:16
on it and BIA hit it so hard that the ball then hits the net
4:21
and Anderson is still in the air, like looking back.
4:26
So she knows that the ball has just ripped the back of the net
4:29
and then has to fall all the way down those 3637 inches hits the
4:34
floor. Just knowing that despite their
4:36
best effort, they felt they went down one nil.
4:39
And, and that was probably no way back in this one that late
4:43
in the match and and with Angel City's offense looking that just
4:46
flat today. There's, you know, 20 minutes
4:49
left to play after B escorted and they might as well have been
4:52
down three. They just did.
4:54
They just never look like they're going to score.
4:56
And so I mean, I, I, I mentioned it earlier, you also alluded to
4:59
it. More than 70% of Angel cities
5:02
passes were in their own half of the field.
5:05
They just didn't present any real danger.
5:06
And I think Caseys ability to turn defense into offense and
5:10
the press the hell out of you is just going to get continue to
5:13
give teams a lot of problems. That's why they're the best team
5:15
in the league right now. I don't I think that's pretty
5:18
difficult to to argue. And then when you look at it,
5:23
and this is what I'm very, very excited for in the second-half
5:27
of the season when we return from that break.
5:30
Kansas City current has two away matches, Racing Louisville and
5:35
Utah Royals. The Louisville match should be
5:37
entertaining for sure. And then maybe the the Royals
5:40
match will be entertaining to see how many goals Kansas City
5:43
scores. And then they square up at home
5:48
on Saturday, August 16th against the Orlando Pride.
5:52
And so I just love that they come back from the break.
5:54
They kind of get these two warm up matches.
5:56
No disrespect to Racing Louisville, it's not really a
5:59
warm up match, but it it'll get the juices flowing.
6:01
I just say get your popcorn ready for that third match out
6:04
of the break. Kansas City Current versus
6:05
Orlando Pride ready to see it? Yeah.
6:08
I think that's going to be a banger.
6:09
I think that Louisville matchup is going to be a banger as well.
6:12
We're learning a lot about this KC side.
6:15
I think that the one, the one stat that really stuck out to
6:17
me. So obviously, you know, you, you
6:19
called it out, the possession actually was in favor of Angel
6:22
City as well as the touches. But as you kind of get deeper in
6:25
the deeper what, what the, the touches in the final third look
6:28
like, what the touches in the opposition box look like, it
6:31
just shrinks like to a crazy margin until you get to touches
6:36
in opposition box and it's 28 to 5 in favor of Kansas City.
6:40
But it wasn't just that that they were doing 'cause if you
6:43
look at kind of like the the rough and tumble stats that I
6:47
like to look at, tackles, interceptions and blocks, KC
6:49
dominated all three of those by pretty wide margins.
6:52
So they are, you know, they are doing what needs to be done
6:56
defensively. You know, whether it whether it
6:59
is Cooper or Hutton or Chewinga, like literally everybody's back
7:03
defending. And you know, we talked about,
7:06
you know, Alyssa Thompson and that Angel City side just so
7:09
that that that one goal feel like a three no lead.
7:11
It was kind of devastating when Alyssa Thompson steps up to that
7:14
PK and that one shot from behind where you see Alyssa Thompson
7:19
and you see Lorena and she just looks like a marvel character,
7:23
like she just looks like AI mean.
7:26
I was like, what is this? And then she gets the stop on it
7:31
and enough to to keep to knock it out of play.
7:34
Was was was really wild. Usually that ball ricochets back
7:37
into play or sometimes sneaks into the net, you know, so when
7:41
you think about second-half of the season, you know, obviously
7:43
Angel Cities had had their moments both up and down.
7:47
What do you think we need to be looking for from them?
7:50
I mean, I think we've said it since the signing, you know,
7:55
Icelandic attackers, Bendis, Jane Jones, daughter.
7:58
Cannot wait to see how she fits in there.
8:00
Riley Tiernan's been really good in the first half.
8:02
Alyssa Thompson, like you mentioned, have mentioned in the
8:05
past has been mounting an MVP campaign, even if Lorena read
8:10
that PK the entire way and and smacked it away.
8:13
Yeah, I'm, I'm excited to to see the attack, how that looks.
8:19
And I think I think the defense is good enough.
8:22
I like vinyola, I like Sarah Gordon.
8:26
I'll be interested to see if there's another move in in the
8:30
transfer window. I kind of agree with you, I
8:32
think. I think defensively they're OK.
8:36
The midfield is where things breakdown, you know, and I think
8:38
you can see where they can't really advance the ball there.
8:41
And like, what they kind of rely on too often is just the wide
8:45
channels, either Giselle or Alyssa or Julie Deforo was
8:48
trying to get into some of that this week, you know.
8:52
So I think the midfield is probably where they need the
8:54
most help. But yeah, Angel City now winless
8:56
and five lost four of their last five, so they definitely going
8:59
to need to turn it around still some time, but we're getting
9:03
getting into some deep waters here.
9:05
But let's keep things moving. Oof.
9:08
Big score line here. You're racing Louisville.
9:11
Who's racing Louisville is this? I think also yours.
9:14
OK, my racing Louisville too. Our orlet.
9:19
This is getting tricky to keep track of who's who's our Orlando
9:22
pride nil. I mean, where do you get?
9:27
So I need to kick this one to you.
9:29
This one was a shocking score line.
9:31
You look at the XG even more shocking 2.5 to 0.9.
9:35
Louisville did their thing in this match.
9:37
I think Orlando made themselves known I think in the first half
9:43
and I think the longer the game went, you know that what
9:47
Louisville was able to do defensively, what Louisville was
9:50
able to do keeping Orlando honest.
9:52
You know, obviously they had Sears, they had Borges up the
9:55
field and they they weren't going to let Orlando just kind
9:58
of like have their their their run of of the day.
10:02
But yeah, shocking scoreline, you know, to keep Orlando
10:06
scoreless and Louisville big win, I think a win that I think
10:10
has been kind of bubbling, right.
10:12
I think so, yeah. I think Louisville's been on
10:14
good form. You've read it the whole way.
10:15
You you were on it before the season.
10:17
You like this squad, you like their make up.
10:19
You know, they have a lot of smarts all over the field.
10:23
The thing that that just jumped out to me and I I can't remember
10:27
how you you just worded it. Yeah.
10:29
I mean, you said that Louisville wasn't going to let Orlando have
10:31
their have their run of things. I think that's right.
10:35
And the Pride has players who can beat you with long range
10:40
shots, but that shouldn't be like what their attack is
10:45
predicated on. They need to be running at you
10:47
in the middle of the field. And it just felt like so many of
10:50
their shots that, you know, maybe like some of it they were
10:54
settling for, but other times Louisville was forcing them into
10:58
were just long range tries from outside of the 18.
11:01
And I don't I don't want so much of that.
11:03
If I'm Orlando Pride, I I want the ball in the box with those
11:08
great players, like on the move, taking shots.
11:11
Yeah, if I'm reading the stats right, ten shots from outside
11:14
the box, just six inside the box.
11:16
Louisville actually had more shots from inside the box than
11:19
Orlando did on this day. The one stat that that really
11:21
tripped me up, it took Orlando 10.2 touches in the final third
11:26
to get into the box to get one box touch 10.2 on the Louisville
11:31
side, it was 5.5 S Louisville much, much more efficient
11:36
getting there doing just doing more with their chances.
11:39
And I think you see it on the score line.
11:41
You see it kind of like in in the shot count, definitely like,
11:45
you know, what they were able to do, you know, just kind of
11:46
putting pressure. The XG also shows it.
11:49
But Louisville's just tough, Like they defend really tough.
11:52
You know, they have players that you have to respect.
11:54
You know, Taylor Flint was awesome.
11:55
You know, she's just everywhere there.
11:57
There was one look where Banda kind of had Marta streaking.
12:02
He needed to really put a perfect ball.
12:04
Just kind of puts it a little bit behind.
12:06
And Flint is able to kind of reach out and and get to it and
12:09
just completely extinguish the play.
12:10
Yeah, Flint was great. And now Louisville, five wins in
12:13
seven. This is just flat out a good
12:16
team. And I think second-half, you
12:18
know, my my focus and attention is going to be on what's what's
12:21
the ceiling for this team? You know, because I think we'll
12:24
get to it with a couple teams, you know, down the docket.
12:27
But some of those teams that looked a little bit like top
12:29
four, top five, top six locks much, much less.
12:32
So now it kind of feels like Louisville, you know, I mean,
12:36
what happens if they they they put a draw on on on KC or
12:39
actually take all three? I mean that like, we got to kind
12:43
of really, really switch gears on this team.
12:44
But maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.
12:46
Where do you want to get started with this one?
12:47
Louisville, Orlando Pride? Where's your head at?
12:50
So I don't think I don't think my expectations are really
12:54
changing that much for Orlando Pride.
12:56
I mean, I though I think they're still going to have a look at
12:59
the at the NWSL championship. Obviously you get them in a
13:03
single game scenarios by I I like them in a lot of spots.
13:07
I liked your reference of the a lot of teams kind of looking
13:10
like that 123 Cancun. I don't know for a team in in
13:14
Florida. Could it just, is it a 123 Turks
13:17
and Caicos or something like is there an easier flight that they
13:20
could do instead of Cancun? I'm not sure, but I don't think
13:23
my expectations are changing too much for Orlando.
13:26
Like you said, they looked a little sluggish out there.
13:28
Maybe they're ready for the break.
13:29
They've played a lot of football over the past, you know, year
13:32
plus. And then for Racing Louisville,
13:34
I think other teams should be concerned about Racing
13:37
Louisville. As you pointed out, Emma Sears
13:40
has six goals. She she appeared in all 13
13:42
matches in the first half of the year.
13:44
And Ari Borgess, she she could have had another goal in this
13:47
match that she kind of like, like duffed and like, yeah,
13:51
like, totally, like, totally missed.
13:52
I thought it was a tap in. And, you know, I'll just I'm
13:55
going to throw this out there. There were smart pundits at the
13:58
beginning of the year who were telling people to look out for
14:00
rookie Sarah Weber out of Ohio State University.
14:03
And, you know, she started the last three matches.
14:06
She was the one who served that ball on a platter for Borges.
14:09
That should have been a goal. And I, you know, these last
14:11
three matches that she started, she's picking up more minutes.
14:14
I like to look a Weber out there, too.
14:16
Another scrappy attacking player for Louisville.
14:18
Yep, also draws the foul that becomes the the the PK down the
14:23
line. So, yeah, Weber, definitely, she
14:25
definitely announced herself. But in this one, she was happy
14:28
to mix it up A, a, a, a player that's kind of fun to watch.
14:32
But let's shift gears. Utah Royals won and that plucky
14:38
team from the Pacific Northwest, Seattle Reign 4 unbelievable.
14:44
An offensive barrage, four goals, one that that no one on
14:49
the show thought that a team like, no, I'm just kidding.
14:52
Take take me through the experience watching this match.
14:54
All right, so you know, a little behind the curtain here, I
14:58
mentioned the the FIFA Club World Cup, Inter Milan
15:02
Internationale. They played the Udawa Red
15:06
Diamonds out of Japan down in Lumen Field, which I think I've
15:09
mentioned on the show roughly 100 times.
15:11
Lumen Field is like 15 minutes from where I live.
15:14
That match was at noon and then the rain match was at 2, so zip
15:20
down there taking the match vibes were incredible.
15:23
It was a great match. Heartbreaking loss for the red
15:25
diamonds. I had a great time watching that
15:28
match. Immediately hop on the bike
15:30
share, zip back up to to my neighborhood.
15:35
Got here like got home with like a few minutes into the match,
15:39
but was able to like, you know, start the match from the
15:41
beginning and then catch up during halftime.
15:44
So now that everybody knows how I watched the match, which is
15:48
obviously very important context.
15:50
Not, not quite, not quite my question of how did you
15:53
experience? That right?
15:55
Well, I mean it. It was how I experienced it.
15:59
Poorly worded question by me. The the thing in my in my rush,
16:04
as I'm like, you know, getting settled, the first thing that
16:08
jumped out to me. Look at those those players up
16:11
front, Adamas, Biendolo, G Maddie Dalene, Sam as a Sally
16:16
Menti, And then you also have Madison Curry in support kind of
16:21
out there on the wing. Harvey employed the 343.
16:24
I thought it was an it was a really interesting look.
16:26
And that makes me wonder, could this be?
16:29
And I understand they're playing Utah Royals and we have a lot to
16:31
say about their defense. I wonder if this is going to be
16:35
Laura Harvey's most effective attacking line up.
16:38
I believe it. You know, I think we've talked
16:41
to I mean, Dalian looked great with GI think kind of getting
16:45
work back in. I think the the telecast did a
16:47
great job giving some background on, you know, G's kind of for
16:51
rate for rate in and in into the line up, out of the line up back
16:54
into the line up. And watching the Seattle side
16:57
kind of made me think about a few things.
16:59
So, you know, when when did Seattle bring in Anna Maria
17:02
Sternagorsovich was that last season?
17:05
Yes, summer last season. So I think we got through like
17:08
the early spring part of the season.
17:10
I think she came in the summer. And then GI think was before
17:13
last season. So you know, obviously we've
17:15
been talking about the rain since last season for you to
17:18
pretty consistently. And I think each of those three
17:20
moves for those veterans, G So Yan Anna Maria Cerno Gorsovich,
17:24
Len Biendolo in a vacuum, you look at those and you're just
17:28
like, is that really like what we need here?
17:31
Like we can't we can't score a goal.
17:32
Like, you know, is that going to solve it?
17:35
But I think what what happened was those veteran players, Laura
17:40
Harvey kind of like this is a real, you know, masterstroke,
17:43
you know, understanding. OK, I have a Maddie Dalene.
17:46
I have a Sam as a Adamez, you know, Jordan bug, like, like,
17:50
how do we how do we elevate the whole thing?
17:54
And those players, even though in the moment didn't seem like,
17:57
OK, these are going to these players are going to solve our
17:58
goal scoring problems. Turns out wasn't necessarily a
18:02
goal scoring problem. It was like a more of like a
18:03
team A-Team makeup problem. And I think bringing on those
18:07
vets, Laura Harvey, to your point, moving those pieces
18:09
around, figuring out what's the attacking unit that we can put
18:12
together. She seems to have kind of
18:14
unlocked that you don't want to put too much into, you know,
18:17
Utah Royals, you know, kind of blow out.
18:19
I think coming into the season, I think no, no rain player had
18:22
more than two goals. I'm sorry coming into this
18:24
match, but I, I, I definitely like, I like the make up.
18:28
I like the balance of like vets and young players, mid career
18:32
players and it it just keeps it as a defense, keeps you on your
18:35
heels. Yeah, I, I think that's right.
18:37
And you know, Laura Harvey told me last week that she had a
18:41
conversation with GE and you know, I was AI was a little
18:45
surprised, but not that surprised that she had said it
18:47
at the at the press conference, but said that she told GE, I
18:51
need more from you in these matches.
18:54
And you know, anybody who knows anything about G and her
18:57
pedigree from from Chelsea Football Club, she's up for it.
19:01
I've I've had to talk to G after a loss last season and she
19:05
doesn't take losing very well. So I'm guessing that she
19:08
probably takes coaching pretty well and says, OK, OK, coach,
19:11
you want me to be, you want me to be better, I'll show you what
19:13
I got. And it it looks like she's kind
19:15
of unleashed that in the last two matches.
19:17
Yeah, absolutely. And I think Seattle a team six
19:20
wins last season, they've already notched six wins this
19:23
season. And half the time looking,
19:26
looking ahead, I mean, a lot like racing Louisville, I don't
19:29
think they have to see was made-up in the same way.
19:31
But I'm really curious, you know, as these matches, these
19:34
tough matches start to kind of hit the calendar, how good is
19:39
the Seattle team? Are they like sort of like a
19:40
second four team, like a 538 kind of playoff team?
19:43
Are they a fringe playoff team? Are they knocking on the door of
19:46
the top four? Probably need, you know, some
19:49
more evolution. But that's the beauty of this
19:51
break. I really think, and I think this
19:53
is another another key thing that I was thinking about a
19:55
couple, couple quick points here.
19:57
And I was thinking about this when I was watching the dash.
20:00
I'm like the dash look better than last year.
20:02
But Yep, they're still at the bottom of the table.
20:05
Like so it's like it's not enough to just be better than
20:08
last year. Like you have to improve at a
20:11
faster rate than the other 13 teams in the league.
20:14
And I think Seattle is is kind of like doing that, racing
20:18
Louisville's kind of doing that. Key point though, they're doing
20:21
it at that beginning of the season now.
20:23
I think we're really going to learn OK, this this 5:00-ish
20:26
week stretch, which coaching Staffs really have a, a handle
20:30
for what they have and how to maximize it and who's, you know,
20:33
I kind of feel like, dude, we're going to see four or five teams
20:35
come out and really just lose ground week in, week out and
20:40
another 8 or 9 like really kind of like extend themselves.
20:43
I'm not sure who's who's going to be in what bucket, but I
20:46
think those are the two key things that I'm I'm really
20:48
excited about. Yeah, I think that's a great way
20:50
to look at it. And I mean, they're going to be
20:52
so rain comes out of the break, they have a home match versus
20:55
Angel City and then they go down to Portland and we'll talk about
20:59
them later. But it looks like there's going
21:01
to be a Pacific Northwest fight for maybe that lasts home, get a
21:06
home match, playoff spot, the number four seat.
21:09
Like you're saying, how are these teams going to jostle for
21:13
position and who's going to show like, OK, yeah, our growth from
21:18
last year is accelerated over these other teams and we can
21:22
sustain it. That's the big question.
21:24
Absolutely. And I think you know from the
21:27
vets you need health from the young players you need, you
21:30
know, growth and then you need chemistry kind of across the
21:33
board. And you know, the the other
21:35
thing, all all 14 coaching coaches and coaching Staffs are
21:39
watching tape, you know, so that you know, these doors are
21:42
closing. And I and I also got this
21:43
feeling watching Orlando. I'm like this team not much
21:46
worse at if at all worse than last year.
21:49
You know, like it's interesting, but the whole league is like,
21:52
damn, like leaps and bounds. I mean, and this is what happens
21:55
in a young sport. Just it happens quickly.
21:58
Like, you know, but super cool to watch.
22:00
Just glad to hear that we're on this side of things and we don't
22:02
have to chase these superlative athletes around the pitch
22:05
ourselves physically. So that's good.
22:07
That's a good thing. Let's go ahead though.
22:09
Gotham FC2, my BFC Gotham. Nobody's got Gotham right.
22:14
Nobody's Gotham FC2, my BFC One, No.
22:18
The Bats. The Bats beat.
22:21
Obviously I'm an objective journalist, but the Bats beat
22:24
Seattle Rain in the championship in 2023, and in a similarly
22:29
tragic way of what happened to Tyrese Halliburton.
22:32
Where Rapino pops her Achilles 6 minutes into the match.
22:36
And that was the first thing the shadow executive producer of
22:40
this show looked at me and said was like, whoa, that's very
22:44
eerily similar to what happened to Rapinoe is just, you know,
22:47
terrible look. Wow, Yeah, that's a bummer.
22:53
Yeah, just. Sorry, total non sequitur also.
22:56
No, sports. That's a weird way of just kind
22:57
of like, you know, there's only so many stories in sports,
23:01
right? So it's like weird to kind of
23:02
see them like it's such such mirror images across sports and
23:06
across time. But looking at this this Bay of
23:08
Seaside, it's weird that this was the biggest disparity.
23:11
So obviously they lose 21 the XG in this 12.9 for Bay FC, 0.7 for
23:17
Gotham. I don't know if the the
23:19
disparity between these two was was that wide, but I thought Bay
23:23
was way the better team. And then you look at the two
23:26
scoring opportunities, you know, it's like Bay is a young team.
23:28
I think, I think Montoya specifically, that's one of the
23:30
teams that they've got to do some work strategically and just
23:35
kind of figuring out because they have a lot of pieces and
23:37
they have like a lot of good comparable young player, You
23:40
know, like it's not an easy job what what they're going to have
23:43
to figure out how to do. But I thought Bay was was way
23:46
the better team. Bay goes up one and then Ester
23:49
gets that goal in the 30th where Alyssa Milanson's kind of, you
23:55
know, not not not super duper locked in playing 1/2 with Emmy
23:59
Allen and then she Pansky just kind of like swipes it.
24:02
And then Astaire. It reminded me of the movie
24:05
Casino when he catches the, the the two, you know, like
24:10
scammers. And then he like, and he's like,
24:13
tell your friends we don't fuck around this place.
24:15
That's what I thought. When Schupansky steals the ball
24:17
and Ester just punches it in, I could just just be like, yeah,
24:21
you don't fuck around this place with me just lingering around
24:24
here, OK? That's fair.
24:26
Yeah, I can see that. Yeah.
24:29
I mean, that's that's a rough giveaway.
24:31
I I think to your larger point, like BAE looks like they should
24:36
have won it. They just need more consistent
24:40
quality. And you, I mean, you could even
24:42
say kind of mention it and, and you know, we like Melanson as a
24:45
player and she'll get another look at the national team.
24:48
But you you have to have a consistent level of quality all
24:52
across the field if you're going to play, you know, what a good
24:56
side like Gotham or really any team in this league.
24:59
You know, Hawking got the first goal.
25:01
She she looked like she could probably should have finished
25:04
one more and could have finished another two more.
25:07
And they, you know, Kundanagi had a had a great look on goal
25:11
that she could have finished. It's hard to win in any league
25:15
but but particularly this league if you're just going to miss
25:19
chances like that against a team that has a stair on it.
25:23
A-Team that's not going to miss chances like that, you know,
25:26
because this team is not really able to generate that many
25:29
chances, but where they've invested is in like, right.
25:32
If we do get something, we've got the players that can kind of
25:34
finish that one. Jace finish.
25:37
What was that later? Definitely later in the match,
25:39
55th minute, those two touches. I mean, that's the Marvel
25:43
character, that's a Brazilian, that's some UFC.
25:48
The dexterity, the creativity, just off the charts.
25:51
That's the reason why I I love Jace as a player.
25:55
I'm so bummed that she's she's a Gotham.
25:58
Like I just really don't like watching Gotham.
26:00
And then the last week note, I thought Amoros, his celebration
26:05
at the end said it all. Super emphatic, super over the
26:08
top, You know, not really what you would expect to see after
26:12
A21 win, you know, at home over a team that's a couple spots
26:16
behind you on the table. But I think he knew and I think
26:18
they knew they kind of, they kind of stole one here.
26:22
I think that's a huge part of it.
26:24
I think you know, we also talked about a a couple weeks ago that
26:28
they needed to right the ship. So they lost three in a row from
26:33
May 9th to June 6th. They had a one nil loss at
26:37
Racing Louisville, A1 NIL loss at home versus San Diego and
26:40
then a two one loss at home to the current.
26:44
And we were talking about things maybe getting away from them,
26:48
but now it feels like, you know, they, they write the ship, they
26:50
get a A3 no away win at Utah and then get this win at home versus
26:54
Bay. And now they're kind of back in,
26:56
in the mix after the break. Their first match, they go to
27:01
Chicago on August 1st. That's a winnable match.
27:04
And so they're they're right back in it.
27:07
Yeah. And I think if the other thing
27:09
about Gotham is you mentioned away at Chicago, their next
27:13
three after that home against the Spirit, that's a tough one.
27:16
And then they've got two more at home.
27:19
They've got the Dash and the Royals.
27:22
So you know. Chicago, the dash and the Royals
27:24
three of the next 4 for Gotham. So if there's any there's ever a
27:28
time to kind of like sweep up and grab some points, it's
27:31
definitely here coming back after the break.
27:34
But I'm not so sure that Gotham's right of the ship.
27:37
I think I think their offense looks a little flat.
27:40
I don't know that, you know, I think they need they need things
27:42
to happen. You know, they need kind of
27:44
someone forced to have errors and they need some some
27:47
brilliant players to to do brilliant things.
27:50
That's maybe not a recipe that you could really count on week
27:53
in, week out down the stretch. So I think Gotham's got probably
27:58
some some bigger problems. I think they got to, they got to
28:02
be able to get to a point where they can control possession and
28:06
the ball and the and the chances at home against a team like Bay,
28:09
if they have like any kind of like real aspirations for the
28:12
season. I think that's probably fair,
28:15
Yeah, maybe riding the ship is strong.
28:17
They needed to get results in these last two.
28:20
After that, after that three match losing streak, I think, I
28:23
think you're probably right on that.
28:24
All right, well, let's go to something that you were right
28:28
about. The North Carolina Courage and
28:31
their ascension put up two goals against the aforementioned
28:36
Houston Dash. Houston Dash did a good bit of
28:40
angering the football gods in this one, and I think they paid
28:43
for it dearly. Avery Patterson, you know,
28:46
starts the proceedings. What, what a fantastic player.
28:49
Just just a bully. Like that first sequence, she's
28:52
just like, I'm going to try it gets blocked.
28:54
I'm going to try it again, this time even harder.
28:57
Just like, just like this is how we're going to start this match.
29:00
The dash, like as as I mentioned a little bit earlier, they're
29:04
better, but they're they're they're almost like no closer to
29:07
results. It's like a weird a weird
29:09
paradox. Yeah, losses and for their last
29:12
five I mean Patterson has I mean her ceiling is easily superstar.
29:21
I think she's like I like she's AI think it's more than likely
29:26
she's a star player in the league.
29:28
Like she you could already argue that she's like she's probably
29:31
in about star level right now, but I think like her baseline is
29:35
that she's going to be a star player no matter where she is.
29:37
That but I I think you know, another extra gear.
29:41
She's consistently will play at a superstar level.
29:44
I I, I love the smarts, the the athletic character do get up and
29:49
down the field relentlessly if you need her to, you know, she
29:52
showed a propensity to an ability to play at the back or
29:58
on the wing in an attacking position, like you pointed out.
30:01
I mean, she has great physical strength for a young player.
30:04
You just can't say enough about her.
30:07
And then on top of that, they have Yasmine Ryan, who is at at
30:11
least a star herself. And so, you know, you got to
30:14
kind of build around those players, like you said, like
30:17
they haven't been able to to get results or like grow at A at a
30:20
rate rate that's fast enough. But I think if you're a Houston
30:24
Dash supporter like our pal GOOG, Big X, the Hug on Blue
30:28
Sky, the world's greatest Houston Dash supporter, some
30:31
people say, I think you have some things to be encouraged
30:35
about, even though you're looking at another pretty
30:37
frustrating season. Frustrating.
30:39
And I think like the good part about it is like the league
30:42
there, there are eight playoff spots, right?
30:43
So where I mean, Houston's good bit behind.
30:47
So they're seven points out behind Gotham and obviously a
30:51
bunch of teams in between the two.
30:54
I'm not sure the playoffs are are really, you know, it'd be
30:57
tough on the table necessarily, but I still do like watching
31:01
Houston. But the the key turning point, I
31:03
think for me in this one, the the Puntagam, like I think the
31:07
the red card, I think it was a second yellow.
31:09
And then just the a bad foul on a player that you know, is
31:18
having a tough, you know, it's like, you know, this is like
31:21
it's just American players having a tough time.
31:23
It's like, you know, I don't know the, the football to me,
31:26
the football gods were like, this is not it.
31:29
And then Carolina gets an immediate chance very soon
31:33
thereafter. And then Jane Shaw just kind of
31:36
cashes in, just punches Houston right in the mouth with an
31:39
equalizer and her first goal for the for the club.
31:43
And it deaf it deaf. It just felt karma Y in that
31:47
moment, you know, the whole the whole sequence, all the all the
31:49
components and then that end product.
31:53
Yeah, it got things started for sure.
31:55
I love this take. I'm I'm jealous that that you
31:57
thought of this. And I did not know they did
31:59
anchor the football gods and like, of all the things like you
32:02
talk about, like putting a player in the position to get
32:05
off the schneid, if you will, like just angering not only the
32:10
football gods, but Jaden Shaw. And like, you could almost see
32:15
the weight lifted off of Shaw's shoulders.
32:18
Not even, but after she scored it when the ball falls to her.
32:22
I thought the commentators did a good job of pointing this out,
32:24
too. She had really great poise when
32:27
the ball was falling to her. She was like, you could like
32:29
almost see your compute. I have time.
32:32
I'm going to settle this and I'm going to do what I do.
32:34
And she fucking knocks it home. And like, I felt relief for this
32:40
young player as well. It's just like, OK, we all know
32:43
you're good. You have to start playing well.
32:45
Like, you know, everybody's accountable in this in this
32:48
sport. But that is, that was really
32:50
nice to see. Absolutely.
32:52
And I think it it just circled, but it like it, it closed the
32:56
loop really nicely on your take about North Carolina and like
33:00
their their momentum basically coming into the break.
33:03
And it's like it wasn't a piece that we necessarily talked
33:06
about, but what a piece. If you're able to, you know, if
33:10
Jaden Shaw is able to end the season with, I don't know, five
33:13
or six goals and, you know, four or five assists, Like that's
33:15
just massive for the courage because you've got those other
33:19
players like Monaca, you know, Shanomi and just kind of like
33:23
things happening offensively that are that are super
33:25
interesting. Betford obviously comes in, gets
33:29
gets the winner. And then just the that's the
33:31
final, you know, the the football God gavel just crashing
33:35
down on whatever whatever Houston was was hoping to take
33:38
from this match. But yeah, I think they, I think
33:41
they're they're definitely coming on.
33:43
I think they're we're witnessing a little bit of a change in
33:46
identity on the fly in North Carolina, which is interesting.
33:50
Yeah, I think that's that spot on.
33:52
Ryan Williams continues to look consistently great.
33:57
I thought she looked like one of the best players on the field in
33:58
this one. Yeah.
34:00
And you just think about the talent all over the pitch, even
34:03
if let's exclude Shaw from this list because she hasn't been
34:06
playing well. But we know what her ceiling is.
34:08
Monaca, Williams, Sanchez, Vine, Shonomi, O'Sullivan.
34:14
A lot of good players on the field at one time.
34:16
And you don't have a lot of overlap.
34:18
So I mean, you you can rotate some of them in.
34:20
I think actually, Sanchez didn't even.
34:22
Yeah, she didn't even come in until the 66th with Sean
34:25
Bedford. I didn't even mention Felly
34:28
Roush. Brianna Pinto scored a goal last
34:30
week. Like this is a good team.
34:33
I think they're on their way. I'm extremely interested to see
34:36
how they look in the second-half.
34:38
Yeah, you know, I had them in the top 4 covers this season.
34:40
Never really a doubt from a nailed it guy, except for pretty
34:44
much every week up until this one.
34:47
But yeah, here we go. North Carolina.
34:48
They're they're on their way and and Houston, Houston's
34:51
themselves right to the lost column.
34:53
So we keep it moving. Not yet my Portland Thorns, but
34:59
dangerously close. I mean, this is this is getting
35:03
getting real touchy here. Portland Thorns won Chicago
35:06
Stars FC nil. This one wasn't such such a such
35:11
an overrun. I I thought it would have been
35:13
an overrun with the midfield they put out.
35:15
We've talked we've talked about the midfield for a couple weeks
35:18
and then they just went full midfield just like give me all
35:20
four Sugita Moultry coffee Fleming real bummer.
35:24
Portland loses Kya Hanks to you know the the injury that will
35:29
not be spoken the the candy man of injuries unfortunately get
35:32
better get well soon. Kya Hanks having a great start
35:35
to her career. But in this one Portland did
35:38
their thing. But I thought Chicago kind of
35:40
hung tough was was pretty live. I think post Lauren Donaldson.
35:44
I think we we had low, low hopes for this team, but they they put
35:48
out solid ish performances. They're not getting completely
35:52
run over. But you know, no, was not in the
35:54
no results to show for it. But I think they're they're
35:57
they're presenting well in these matches what you see in this
36:00
one. Yeah, I, I think one thing that
36:04
anybody who doesn't necessarily root for the success of Portland
36:09
Thorns should be a little concerned about.
36:13
And I, you know, I'll just be honest here.
36:15
I live in the vicinity of those types of folks up here in
36:18
beautiful Seattle, WA, and they, they tend to not root for
36:21
Portland so much. Portland's win not too far off
36:26
from Kansas City. Currents win where it's just
36:30
like, OK, you want to have the ball some.
36:32
Interesting. And you go ahead and do that, we
36:35
know we're better. We know we have better attacking
36:37
talent. You know, possession in this one
36:39
was 5050 and Portland was fine with it because they knew when
36:43
they would have the ball, they would use their great midfield
36:47
to eventually breakdown Chicago stars in some way.
36:51
And they showed it on that goal, which was just a fantastic team
36:55
goal to lead to, you know, a, a great shot, not a tap in by any
36:59
means, but an open look on goal that, you know, you just had to
37:04
feel comfortable that Tordj was going to finish it.
37:06
Yeah, great team goal. You know, obviously things
37:08
things really get moving with Reyna Reyes, who I thought it's
37:10
been really good this season. Oh yeah.
37:13
Watching Reyes live, I was like, OK, that's that's a real player.
37:16
But they go Reyes Sugita coffee toward it for the goal.
37:20
So there you go. And then maybe 1520 minutes
37:23
later they come back and then it's Sugita Fleming to Linehan.
37:26
That one almost cashes the final finals.
37:29
Hutch hits the crossbar. I mean, the, the, the thing that
37:32
I'm, I'm, I took away from this is like, if this team had Sophia
37:36
Wilson and this midfield, a couple of those defenders, how
37:42
good would would this team? Because it, it, it, it's, it's
37:45
kind of tantalizing. You know, we, we're just coming
37:47
off the finals and talking about what happened there.
37:50
And it's just like, damn, if they had that midfield and
37:53
Wilson on the left and they could just kind of like either
37:56
just bang down the door up up the center of the park or on the
37:59
right hand side or just kick it to Wilson and she just will
38:01
dazzle. That's a little scary.
38:04
And, and I think it Wilson's back next season and, and
38:07
they're able to keep the score. This is a really this is a team
38:10
not far away. And it's one of those weird
38:12
things too, where like, does Turner look as good as she has
38:18
this year if Wilson is there to get the majority of the touches
38:22
of the attacking 3rd? So now it's, you know, obviously
38:27
it's an interesting thing in this sport is that you don't
38:30
have to like do the dance of like, well, it's not good that
38:33
they're injured. Well, Sophie Wilson isn't
38:34
injured. She's expecting a wonderful life
38:36
changing thing with her pregnancy.
38:39
So that that's great. And so now she gets to go and do
38:41
that and Raylan Turner is going to develop.
38:44
But now you get to have them both on the field next year,
38:47
assuming that, you know, Turner is back.
38:49
I'm not sure contract status. I won't pretend like I like I
38:52
know, but you know, I I think it's an interesting it's an
38:55
interesting thought exercise. And then we'll see when Kaya
38:58
Hanks comes back, hopefully in the middle of the season next
39:03
year. You know, an ACL, typically a,
39:05
you know, one year injury, but she looked great.
39:09
So now like what? Like how much attacking talent
39:12
is really going to be rejoining the club next season?
39:15
And I, you know, we just live in the world where doubting the
39:19
Portland Thorns is a fool's errand.
39:22
I should have never done it. I apologize that I did it before
39:25
the season. I think it was Jordan Angeli who
39:27
said on the broadcast, though, to at least give me a little bit
39:31
of cover that she expected them to be like a bottom 4, bottom
39:34
five team in the league, too. So at least other knowers of
39:38
ball were were skeptical as well.
39:41
But they're just, they're just chugging along and they're just
39:44
doing whatever they whatever they want in the midfield.
39:47
That led me to a second question, which is obviously
39:51
this team's got no shot at the Shield.
39:53
You know they're in 5th, 11 points back.
39:56
But in the playoffs. I saw this Portland side live a
40:01
few weeks back when they came to the Bay.
40:04
This team's going to be tough in the playoffs.
40:06
Like, yeah, no doubt how rugged they are and how they play and
40:10
that, you know, you got a whole bunch of 1 Nils and one ones and
40:12
you're not going to blow this team out.
40:14
So that's forget that, you know, you know, it doesn't matter who
40:17
you are. Like you're going to leave a
40:19
little bit bruised from this one.
40:21
And if they can just kind of get better and better at like when
40:25
when the moments there and kind of like, you know, the like the
40:28
door is just a little bit open And let's be precise in this
40:31
moment, kind of like the way they were in this match.
40:33
You know, in those in those couple occasions, this team, I
40:37
could see this team getting to the final like just elbowing and
40:43
knees and, you know, like shins and, you know, just however they
40:47
do it, like I just have a feeling that they can grapple.
40:50
They were their way there this year.
40:52
Yeah, I, I, I definitely can't put it past him.
40:55
I thought it was two things that kind of speak to that.
40:58
And in those, in those one game samples, it's very clear that
41:00
Rob Gale wants the team to sign another winger.
41:04
If if I had to guess after the Hank's injury, he said multiple
41:07
times, I think he was just during his halftime interview
41:09
alone. We're thin at winger.
41:11
He just kind of like throwing that out there.
41:13
And I was like, OK, Rob, are you telling us to give you a little
41:16
bit of grace because you don't know how this match is going to
41:18
end? Or are you telling ownership,
41:19
hey, help me sign a winger during the window?
41:23
And I think Peyton Linehan threw her hat in the ring because she
41:25
came out firing. She took her season high four
41:29
shots. One was on target.
41:30
But she was clearly trying to use like her 25 minutes of play
41:34
to show Gayle like, hey, maybe I'm that winger you might want
41:36
to consider. But then the second thing when
41:39
you talk about the playoffs, Olivia Moultrie leads the league
41:42
in passes into the penalty. Sam Coffee is tied for ninth.
41:46
Moultrie leads the league in key passes.
41:48
Coffee is #4 in the league. And Coffee is number 2 in the
41:51
league in progressive passes. They're just going to move the
41:54
ball through the midfield and they have two players who can do
41:57
it. And in one game, sample sizes,
42:00
one key pass, one shot creating action could lead to a goal
42:04
creating action. And that's how you that's how
42:07
they could snipe teams that may be higher than them in the semi
42:11
final or even the final. And that's the beauty of the
42:13
midfield. It's like you have a midfield
42:16
that can string together three key passes like they can just do
42:21
it like Sugita Coffee, Moultrie. I'll I'll bet on all in in a
42:25
high leverage moment with, with the finisher at the at the end
42:28
of it. Over the course of 90 minutes,
42:30
they're going to put it together at least once or twice.
42:32
It doesn't really matter what you do on defense.
42:35
The the the finishing is is where I think what's going to
42:37
make or break them. But I'm going to be really
42:39
excited to see how far they go. And I think coming into the
42:42
season, I couldn't have been less enthusiastic about both of
42:47
those players. Moultrie or I love Sugita.
42:50
I'm I'm a Fleming guy for sure, but for whatever reason, coffee
42:53
Moultrie, they just didn't, didn't I?
42:55
I wasn't on that same vibe and I'm complete 180 now.
42:59
I, I, I feel like I fully have wrapped my head around what
43:01
they're able to do and how they're playing ball and I just,
43:03
I'm into it. I think it's also because in
43:05
the, in the very limited football that I played, I played
43:09
very physical. I just bounced around.
43:12
It wasn't really, you know, I was, I was fast and big and
43:15
strong and not very skilled. So I was just like, right, I'm
43:19
just going to do fast, big, strong things.
43:22
So it's like this, this Portland midfield, I'm just like, let's
43:24
fucking go. I want all of it.
43:26
I want like the whole like, you know, the all 20 tube tape.
43:29
Give me all of it. No, I hear that.
43:30
That makes a lot of sense. And they can wear teams down
43:33
through over the course of a match like an individual match
43:36
doing that. So I think it it speaks to your
43:38
point of, of why they'll be dangerous in those one match
43:42
samples. I just want to say for Chicago,
43:45
I know it's been an outright disaster.
43:47
I know you and I were rough on the club for their firing of, of
43:50
Lauren Donaldson. I, I remain a Lauren Donaldson
43:53
supporter. Personally, I like the instincts
43:57
of Hayley Macovic in goal. I think she has some skill.
44:02
You know, obviously, I, this is Alyssa Nair's final season.
44:06
Looks like they might have a, you know, a session plan after
44:11
that. And I just want to shout out
44:13
real quick, 28 year old Portuguese winger Nadia Gomesh.
44:16
She's played well this season, at least in the matches that
44:19
I've seen her. She was the USLW player of the
44:22
year in the Norcal Division for the San Francisco Glenn's soccer
44:26
club last year. And I just think it's cool to
44:28
see a 28 year old player kind of get this look in the NWSL and
44:32
make good on it after a good campaign.
44:34
I think she had something wild like like 16 goals and seven
44:38
assists maybe in the USL last year.
44:40
So it's just cool like when you see a 28 year old kind of get a
44:45
look and you know, long may it continue.
44:48
I want to see her play more in the NWSL.
44:50
Yeah, no doubt. I mean, it's you just don't know
44:53
where it's going to come from. Like I think we'll we'll get to
44:55
a player like Kenzi Dali here. We could talk about San Diego,
44:57
but that wasn't that wasn't a player that I'm just like, oh,
45:00
wow, what's Kenta Dali going to look like when she gets to San
45:03
Diego? I was just like, OK, all right,
45:05
that's a that's a professional footballer.
45:07
But you know, I mean the player like that's kind of nudging your
45:12
way into the all 11 conversation for sure.
45:15
But let's get to it. The match that closed out the
45:18
weekend San Diego wave nil Washington spirit nil the XG
45:23
battle not much more to say they're 0.8 to 0.7.
45:27
This one had its moments. I, I feel like San Diego, you
45:30
know, controlled a lot of it, did a lot of San Diego things,
45:34
but ultimately Washington on the other side, you know, those
45:36
toughness stats, like they, they were there for it, pretty well
45:40
positioned defensively. You can kind of see that either
45:43
that was the game plan or San Diego made that the game plan
45:47
for them. It's like you better if you
45:48
better be back here or we're going to just pelt you for 90
45:51
minutes. And that's basically what
45:53
happened. Washington protected it and San
45:56
Diego wasn't able to breakthrough.
45:58
Yeah, goalkeeper match for sure. Kings Kingsbury was great.
46:03
Sheridan had some great moments too.
46:05
Two of the better keepers in the league.
46:07
You know, they're they're third and 4th on the table.
46:11
I've seen better nil nil draws in my life.
46:16
But like you said, this one was just going to be a kind of a
46:20
grimy in the words of of, you know, friend of the show now,
46:25
Hal Hirschfeld, a thug it out kind of match that two teams
46:28
were just going to kind of go at each other.
46:31
You know, Spirit needs to get healthy over this break.
46:34
They need their players who are playing over the international
46:37
break to get healthy. And it felt like this one was
46:40
just kind of like last match, last match before the break.
46:43
Let's just get this thing over the finish line.
46:46
Yeah, I mean, some, some encouragement for on the San
46:50
Diego side. So they, they, they obviously
46:52
controlled, they, they got the ball deep into Washington
46:55
territory. 7 different players who attempted multiple shots in
46:59
this game. So that's a high-powered offense
47:02
right there. But you know, talked about the
47:03
XG. You look at a player like Kimmy
47:06
Escanio, 17 years old, only able to generate 0.2 XG in the match.
47:11
But the problem is she led the team and makes it with 0.2.
47:16
Like pretty sad day. Offensively.
47:19
No one on Washington had more than two shot creating actions.
47:22
The Wave had 28 on their side. But yeah, like I mentioned,
47:26
Washington was tough. They lead in tackles 19 to 10.
47:29
Carl had six tackles. Bernal had four tackles.
47:31
They were physical, lots of blocks, lots of getting in the
47:35
passing lane and then lots of just sitting in defensively
47:40
trying to go over the top to Monday later, later to quasi,
47:43
you know, not to not to too much success, although they had a
47:47
couple chances. But yeah, I think ultimately
47:50
nil, nil kind of felt right. I think maybe San Diego slightly
47:53
the better team, but ultimately I think this is a great, this
47:55
was a great, let's close out the first half of the season match
47:58
up. Let's get everybody home in one
47:59
piece. There you go, everybody go home
48:01
in one piece that you know, wave maintain third in the table
48:05
spirit maintain 4th in the table.
48:09
You know, with the the Rodman injury with quasi kind of
48:13
working your way back in. I like gift Monday, you know and
48:16
they have her playing up top some they could use another
48:20
winger. Oh what do you know Sofia
48:23
cantore coming to the Washington spirit, she's pretty good.
48:26
She played for Champions League side Juventus, who also won
48:31
Syria femenille. She was tied for fifth in goals
48:35
and tied for fourth in assists in that league last season.
48:39
She was also top ten in goal creating actions, shot creating
48:43
actions, passes into the penalty, successful take ONS,
48:45
progressive carries, carries into the penalty area and
48:48
progressive passes received. She's a hell of a player and I'm
48:51
very interested to see kind of who gets bumped from that
48:56
starting 11 or like who gets moved around in that rotation.
49:00
And then what happens when Rodman comes back and you have
49:03
some kind of combination of Hatch, Rodman, Ghantore, Kowasi
49:12
and then Monday, Monday, Monday becomes like your 5th forward at
49:16
that point and that's pretty good.
49:20
Yeah, I'm not sure. Yeah.
49:20
Also, I'm not sure if you mentioned SAR, but I think
49:22
still. Oh, Jesus.
49:24
Sort of in the mix, but yeah, I think Katori, 25 years old,
49:28
headed to the Spirit. I mean enterprise.
49:31
You know, we, we, we talked about, you know, second-half of
49:34
the season what we're looking for.
49:35
I think you said it in a much gentler, gentler way than I'm
49:39
going to say it. I'm interested to see how they
49:42
put these pieces together and if they're able to put these pieces
49:45
together because this is a team. I don't think that has figured
49:49
out much of anything offensively.
49:51
And they've had a couple nice performances.
49:53
But for all of those good attacking players, like in this
49:56
match, there was a there was a moment where Casey Krueger up
49:59
the left hand side is like initiating offense for just a
50:03
period of the match. I'm just like, OK, like, and and
50:06
she could do it, but it just feels like the offense is, you
50:11
know, kind of like just meandering around the happy hour
50:14
looking for somebody to talk to, trying to figure out right, what
50:16
we like, what's the plan here? Like so second-half of the
50:21
season, the the talent's not a question.
50:23
The players are not in question. It's going to be about can this
50:27
look like a team? I don't know, it's been a it's
50:30
been a minute since this has look like, you know, like a team
50:34
like really in rhythm. And I think we, you know, we, we
50:36
talked about like that Portland goal.
50:38
We talked about, you know, Louisville, what they're able to
50:40
do on the counter, the KC, how they play like.
50:43
So it's like you, you, you, you get a feel for these teams.
50:46
I, I definitely do not have a feel for this Washington offense
50:50
defensively, They've had their troubles too.
50:53
A good showing in this one, being able to hold San Diego
50:55
scoreless. But I'm a little bit more tepid
50:59
than you. I think of Washington's
51:00
second-half. I I want, I want to actually see
51:02
them put some some some matches together, put some performances
51:05
together offensively. Well, they're certainly going to
51:08
have their opportunity. Let me just make sure I have
51:10
this right. Their first match out of the
51:12
break at home against your Portland Thorns.
51:16
So that should be a real barn burner.
51:19
And then I don't know. You know, we we love our pals
51:22
who do announcing. But I think the last time spirit
51:24
played Gotham, they were really trying to tell us what a rivalry
51:27
it was between Gotham FC and Washington Spirit.
51:31
I felt like people on Woso blue sky were like, Oh yeah, is it, I
51:36
guess sure. Like there's like DC, New York,
51:39
I guess they're like close or whatever.
51:41
So you know, they'll have two, they'll have two big ones.
51:43
They're at home for the thorns and then at Gotham for the
51:46
second match out of the break. I think it'll be interesting.
51:49
I want to counter your, your more tepid on Washington than I
51:54
am to just say San Diego wave. I got my eye on you.
52:00
I'm still not sure. I'm still not sure.
52:03
I totally believe. I don't know.
52:06
There's something about it. I don't know what it is.
52:08
I know I, I've been lukewarm on them.
52:10
I was down on them at the beginning of the season, you
52:13
know, and I've like begrudgingly accepted, like, OK, they're
52:17
third in the table. What, you know, what am I going
52:19
to say here? I'm not so sure.
52:21
I I still don't, I just still don't super trust them.
52:23
I don't know what it is. That's so, yeah, that's so
52:27
weird. I mean, I don't know man, like
52:29
to me, they're this match, you know, you got to give it to
52:34
Kingsbury, 6 big saves, probably the player of the match.
52:37
You know, it was super busy. Big, big time saves as well.
52:41
But I don't know, you have Dolly, you have McCaskill, you
52:44
have Cascarino. Those three are a nightmare, you
52:47
know, like, you know Maroney, she's a nightmare.
52:50
You know, you've got the kids, Barzanes, Oscano, like, I don't
52:53
know, I just feel like they, they string together a bunch of
52:57
stuff. They get the ball into way, way,
52:59
way deep territories. You look at this one touches in
53:03
the final third. This is against the Spirit.
53:06
It's not a bullshit team 214 to 61 like it's a it's like 3 1/2
53:12
times more. It touches in the opposition box
53:17
almost exactly 3 1/2 times more 37 to 10 against the Spirit.
53:21
Like they, they really controlled all of the real
53:24
estate. They controlled the ball 65%
53:27
possession. They just couldn't kind of cash
53:28
in. And I think they're, they're
53:30
just tough. Like they, they, they've got
53:31
good players up and down the pitch.
53:34
I I, I heard Yoda's side of all in the the telecast just giving
53:38
the, the referee a ton of shit because he kind of felt like
53:41
the, the the spirit were milking a delay and Egypt was a damn
53:47
near losing his mind. So you kind of get a we're
53:49
getting a nice look into how San San Diego's playing and maybe
53:53
what the vibes are there. They're probably just super
53:55
high, high strung, very tense, like very like let's get it
53:58
done. I'm not I I don't know that they
54:01
quite have the make up. I don't know that they have the
54:04
killer, You know, to be able to like notch these goals late.
54:08
You know, I was listening back to our pre season episode, you
54:11
know, in between shows and you you had you had made a
54:14
prediction about the current and chewing getting a brace in the
54:19
final. I think that was your
54:20
prediction, which now looks unbelievable.
54:22
So props to you just I mean that's that's tracking.
54:25
It couldn't be tracking any harder, but the the part that
54:28
you're right on about is like in a match like that, you need that
54:32
player. You need a Temuchowinga, you
54:34
need an Olga Carmona. You need, you know, an Itano
54:37
boma T to like elevate above you.
54:40
You already got the best of the best of you need somebody to
54:41
elevate even higher than that. And I think where San Diego's
54:44
strong, you need one more piece. You need the person that's going
54:48
to just basically slam it home each and every time a la
54:52
Temuchowinga. I don't.
54:53
I'm sure they have that. But what they do have is, is
54:56
working at a very, very high level.
54:57
We'll just kind of see how how much legs it has down the
55:00
stretch. I think that's a good way to put
55:02
it. And I was getting, I was going
55:04
to get to this last show. The one thing that I'll hang my
55:08
hat on for some of my skepticism and you know this is obviously
55:12
we're largely a real G over XG show, but not when it fits my
55:18
agenda. Oh that's that.
55:21
San Diego wave is way outperforming their XG their
55:27
their non penalty goals minus expected goals is plus 10.7
55:33
which is way the best in the league.
55:36
Next highest is Angel City at plus 4.4.
55:40
So I just, you know, like Cascarino, she can score out of
55:43
nowhere. Like you already know what time
55:44
it is there. I just don't know if they're in
55:49
the big spots. And it probably speaks to what
55:51
you're saying. Like, you know what it is with
55:53
Cascarino and Dolly, but in the big spots, are they going to be
55:57
able to create in the middle of the field the way they might
56:00
have to when a defense is really compressing you and forcing you
56:05
to do those things? It might be Cascarito actually.
56:08
You know, you talk, you talk, you talked about.
56:10
We've seen her do it at Lyon, obviously.
56:14
And and we'll see, we'll see who it it ends up being.
56:17
But I think, I think they'll be pretty live.
56:20
But I do I definitely still want to see some evolution.
56:22
I think they're going to have to figure out some of the scoring.
56:25
And apparently, yeah, 10.7 real G not enough for my guy over
56:29
here. He wants to see a little bit a
56:31
little bit more if if if possible got a high standard.
56:35
You know, I I don't know what it is.
56:37
I don't like and nothing against eight of all, but I don't know.
56:41
I just want to see like how how the team continues to gel in the
56:46
second-half. Maybe it's, and I mean,
56:49
obviously you're closer to it than I was, but like the way he
56:52
left Arsenal was just I, I got questions.
56:55
Yeah, no, that's fair. That's fair.
56:56
And, and I, I, I tell you, your San Diego wave is my North
57:00
Carolina courage. So you don't have to explain the
57:02
feeling to me. I think like I, I'm still, I, I
57:07
see it and I see, I see the results come in and, and I still
57:10
kind of have that, that skepticism.
57:14
So I, I definitely understand it.
57:16
It's funny that we have we're, we're kind of like crossing the
57:18
streams in those two directions. Like it?
57:22
All right, quick episode calendar before we get out of
57:25
here. So NWSL, that's it. 13 weeks in
57:28
the books. Not to worry though, while NWSL
57:30
is all fine, your boys will be busy.
57:33
Mega preview kicking off our UEFA Women's EUR 2025 coverage
57:36
coming your way next week. US Women's national team
57:39
coverage also coming your way after each and every match up
57:41
for the Stars and Stripes. Subscribe, sign up for those
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alerts. Hit that little bell thingy.
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You already know what time it is.
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We covered this last week. Plus our NWSL collection is also
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live. Tons of awesome, great gear
57:53
there. The only place I buy my Wilson
57:55
attire. You already know link in the
57:56
show notes of this episode. All right man, I think we did
57:59
it. This has been an episode of Into
58:01
the Channel. Anything else you want to hit
58:02
before I get out of here? Before I get.
58:04
To my outro, no, I think, I think we've done it, you know,
58:07
covered every match, chronological order, back to the
58:09
tradition that felt, that felt nice.
58:11
I think I think that was the right way to do things for this
58:13
week. Yep, journey through time.
58:17
All right now this, this has been another episode of into the
58:20
channel. Thank you, thank you, thank you
58:21
for watching, hanging out. If you enjoyed the show or love
58:25
with so Paul as much as your boys do make sure you're kicking
58:27
with us each and every single week, twice a week, 3 * a week.
58:29
We'll see. It's getting it's getting to the
58:31
busy hours. Your boys.
58:33
I mean, I, I was hitting some weights this week.
58:35
I was getting some cardio. I got to get ready for for this
58:38
stretch run here, not to mention where we're expecting, you know,
58:42
maybe a future midfielder or future center back.
58:45
I think due August 22nd. I'm excited about that.
58:48
So we got to get everything lined up, but that that's for
58:52
another show. Leave us a review over your
58:53
favorite podcast that we want to hear from you.
58:55
We love hearing from you links all of our socials except one in
58:58
the show notes of this episode. A big thank you to my coach as
58:59
well. Mr. Grand Angle for 13 weeks of
59:02
NWSLI mean here for all of it. And I think as we as we kind of
59:07
like, you know, as we we reroute the jet cross the pond over to
59:11
the that that football taking place in Europe, I already know
59:15
my guys going to be ready for it.
59:16
And I'm excited to kind of keep keep the journey going.
59:19
Man. There's going to be a lot of
59:20
football, a lot of excitement. And yeah, pretty much know what
59:24
the Co host said that I could do this with, I don't think.
59:26
Likewise, buddy, I'm excited. I mean you know and it's just
59:30
neatly wraps up. They did it.
59:31
So the percentages would work out favorably for us.
59:34
So we just know 50% of EUR break, then we do the other 50%.
59:39
What else could we could we ask for?
59:42
Same goes to all of our pals on the Internet, always dropping
59:45
knowledge in the comments, letting us know what we're
59:48
missing, putting us on game and in several other ways.
59:50
Couldn't ask for more from there as well.
59:53
Thank you everybody for rocking with us and we will see you all
59:56
next time.