Transcript

0:03
OK, welcome to Into the Channel, a podcast primarily about
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women's football. Before we hit the pitch, if you
0:09
enjoy the show or love women's football as much as we do, come
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kick it with us already. Subscribe and follow on YouTube,
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Spotify, Apple Podcasts, wherever you like to watch or
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listen. Leave us a review over at your
0:20
favorite podcast app and there are links to all of our socials
0:22
in the show notes of this episode.
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As many of you have likely already noticed, I am not your
0:27
host. Dino de Cespedes.
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Our guy is out being a good father and upstanding citizen,
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but that's OK because this episode will be carried by two
0:35
Seattleites. I am, however, your Co host
0:37
Grant Angle, and I am feeling fantastic because our guest
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today is an experienced and successful communications
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professional who has been writing about football for more
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than a decade. Whether it was covering the team
0:47
as Seattle Rain FC, then Just Rain FC, then OL Rain back to
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Seattle Rain FC, or watching the team go from Memorial Stadium in
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the shadow of the Space Needle downtown.
0:57
We're about 40 miles South Down at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma or
1:01
back up to Lumenfield in Soto. She's an NWSL Media OG, and on a
1:05
personal note, one of the many writers up here who has been
1:08
uncommonly kind to me when I showed up to cover the team last
1:11
season. You can read her outstanding
1:12
work on Sounder at Heart, the incredible Seattle football news
1:16
site that covers Seattle Rain FC, as well as, as the name
1:19
suggests, the Seattle Sounders of the MLS.
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It is an honor and privilege to welcome to the program Susie
1:25
Rance. Thank you so much hearing you
1:28
read that all. I have been through a lot,
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haven't I? Lot of lot of years I I always
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appreciate you guys telling me the war stories of all the
1:36
different stadiums that you've been through.
1:39
Obviously, Susie, welcome to the show.
1:41
We are here to talk about our home club, Seattle Rain FC.
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So let's get this. Let's just get this out of the
1:48
way. Last year didn't go great. 4th
1:51
fewest goals scored in the league.
1:54
Most goals allowed in the league, which was kind of
1:56
surprising when I went back to look at it and remind myself of
1:58
that. They ended up with the third
2:00
worst goal differential in the league.
2:02
In a nutshell, what happened? Yeah, it's hard to, it's really
2:06
hard to pinpoint it on one thing.
2:08
It was such a frustrating year because it felt like actually
2:12
for the whole year, the team was like close.
2:14
And in fact, most of their games that they lost were they lost by
2:18
one goal. There were only a few where they
2:19
didn't lose by more than one goal.
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I think there were multiple factors.
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One of them I'm sure people have talked about quite a bit, but
2:29
the club was put up for sale in April of 2023 and there was so
2:35
much uncertainty heading into the 2024 season.
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Just first of all, it sounds like if the club was even going
2:41
to stay in Seattle. Second of all, when the new
2:45
ownership would be transitioned and it took until June for that
2:49
sale to be complete. And so when you talk about
2:51
resources in the offseason, when you talk about investing in
2:55
staff to provide those players the best training environment,
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all of those things were really delayed until the middle of the
3:01
season. And it's really hard for an
3:03
ownership group to just jump in in the middle of the season.
3:06
And even if like they worked really hard to protect the
3:08
players from that, it's got to be in the back of your mind, I
3:11
feel like right, Like you're, it's just, it was a tough year
3:15
all round. And then losing Megan Rapinoe,
3:18
losing Roosevelt, losing Emily Sonnet, losing Angelina in free
3:23
agency was like a midfielder was really poised for the future
3:27
with the club. That's obviously really hard to
3:29
replace in an instant, and especially with ownership
3:33
uncertainty, even harder to convince people, I think, to
3:36
come to the club. So certainly that hurt.
3:39
This was still, though, a good team on paper, a team that
3:42
should have been able to compete on paper and like you said, like
3:45
a club that has historically been one of the best offensive
3:48
clubs in the league for its existence essentially.
3:52
And so to see them struggle so bad there was really
3:55
frustrating. Going back and looking at some
3:58
of the stats and looking at the season, they just gave up a lot
4:01
of early goals and they were always chasing games and that is
4:05
so hard to come back from in this league.
4:07
In a league that really tactically smart, really
4:11
athletic players, you go down a goal and it's really hard to
4:14
come from behind. Credit to the team, they fought
4:17
a lot in those games, but that's something they obviously have to
4:20
clean up for this year. I said there wasn't a lot and
4:22
then I just listed a lot. I mean, I couldn't agree more.
4:26
I mean, you nailed it. I mean, we were there for so
4:28
many of the home matches. Obviously we we cover the club
4:31
closely. I think he nailed it as it's
4:33
spot on. You know, losing Rapino,
4:35
Angelina Rose, Lavelle, Emily Sonnet especially you think
4:39
about you mentioned the defense losing Sonnet back there.
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I know she wasn't with the club long, but the combination of
4:45
when they had matches where Sonnet and Quinn was out there
4:48
with the back line, they were so hard to score on.
4:51
Obviously they made it all the way to the final the year prior.
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Yeah, yeah. I was actually really pleasantly
4:58
surprised at how big of an impact Emily Sonnet had with the
5:01
club in 2023, moving to traditionally center back and
5:05
moving to holding midfield. She's so athletic, covers so
5:10
much ground and just like so tenacious defensively that it
5:13
freed up Quinn to do a lot more in the midfield as well.
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So yeah, losing that and not having immediate replacements
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because free agency is still new to this league and players took
5:25
some time to make decisions and the club was still obviously
5:28
trying to keep Rose and Emily, and they didn't really go to
5:32
Gotham until January or just maybe it was December.
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So that's all like just really hard timing I think too.
5:37
For sure. OK, we've done our
5:40
retrospective. There's no need to live in the
5:42
past any. Longer, yes.
5:43
Let's talk about some of these significant acquisitions.
5:46
I think I'd like to start with Madison Curry, somebody who you
5:49
brought up at the first training camp when you were talking to
5:52
Laura Harvey, Madison Curry for Angel City FC.
5:56
I thought she was dynamite. Laura Harvey mentioned it as
5:59
well. I love to look at this stat on
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the great statistics website, FB Ref Football Reference that has
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this scouting report statistic where it compares women's
6:09
players to the top 9 leagues. It's like the Champions League,
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NWSL, Premier League in France, etcetera, etcetera and it goes
6:16
over the last 365 days. When you look at Madison Currys
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scouting report, she is in the 99th percentile of fullbacks
6:25
amongst those leagues in tackles and clearances per 90 minutes.
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She's in the 96th percentile in blocks, 95th percentile in
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interceptions. She had a great year.
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What are you looking forward from her?
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What have you seen in her game? How do you think she's going to
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help this back line? Yeah, she's one of those like
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NWSL hidden gem success stories, 'cause she was like a fourth
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round draft pick in the last year of the draft, the college
6:53
draft from Princeton. So like a little bit of like an
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unknown untapped resource. And like you mentioned, she had
7:01
such a breakout rookie season. She dominated like she LED every
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stat for Angel Cities defensive line that you just listed.
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She's quick, so someone who can get up and down the line really
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quickly like you mentioned, like can get stuck in on tackles.
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Really, really I thought made like really SMART Recovery runs.
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If she made a mistake, she like learned really quickly and you
7:24
saw her adapt in games. And I don't think for Angel City
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she was like a huge crosser. So it's still kind of a question
7:30
mark if she's going to play full back, what her role might be
7:33
there. But in addition to so many
7:36
players on the rain back line, now she's got versatility.
7:39
She kind of played on both sides, right left side and and
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played center back some for Angel City.
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So it's nice to have someone you can plug in based on what the
7:47
team needs and opponent needs. So I'm really excited.
7:51
She's so still so young and has such a long future, but seems
7:54
like someone who could plug in on the starting lineup from day
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one. I think so.
7:58
I got to imagine that's the goal from Laura Harvey and we can't
8:02
talk about the acquisitions without talking about the NWS LS
8:06
all time leading goal scorer, formerly Lynn Williams.
8:09
Now, as you, as you confirmed on media day, when I believe it was
8:13
your question to Lynn, Lynn Bien Dolo, formerly of Gotham FC,
8:19
acquired by Rain FC via trade, I think people have seen her with
8:23
the national team. Obviously, you've seen what
8:25
she's done in the league from, you know, Gotham FC, the Courage
8:28
back to Western New York Flash. I feel like people know what to
8:31
expect. But what did you, what did you
8:32
kind of get from Lynn at media day?
8:35
Or even more broadly, kind of what are you seeing as she comes
8:39
to the squad? I know that this was the first
8:41
thing that Lauren Barnes and Laura Harvey referenced, and
8:46
it's not necessarily represented in her personal stats, but her
8:50
teams win. She has what, 3 NWSL Shields, 4
8:55
NWSL championships? She's won with the US National
8:59
team and there's some, while obviously it's a team effort to
9:04
have someone who has that kind of pedigree and like knows what
9:08
it takes to win and has been a big factor in those wins.
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I think maybe is under underrated part that the stats
9:15
don't show the things that I've heard about Lynn and even just
9:18
like us getting a chance to meet her for the opening of the
9:22
preseason. She just seems like a teammate
9:25
that everyone really respects looks up to.
9:29
She called herself a silent leader, but that's that can be
9:31
like some of the most powerful leading by example in training
9:35
every day. And then like on the field, we
9:37
obviously haven't gotten a chance to see her play with the
9:40
rain, but she's just one of the best defensive pressing forwards
9:44
in the world. And like you mentioned, FB ref.
9:49
If you look at her defensive numbers, they're probably in the
9:52
99th for this percentile for forwards and Laura Harvey.
9:57
This this is one thing that the team got away from a little bit
9:59
last year, but her teams typically are really high
10:02
pressing teams that know how to make it really difficult to
10:06
break down high in transition. And having someone like Lynn
10:10
Williams be able to do that, it's going to be really
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exciting. I feel like I could list a lot
10:14
more, but the one other thing she mentioned that I think she's
10:17
obviously going to bring to this team too is her speed and her
10:21
ability to stretch defenses, which is not something the Rain
10:24
have had for the last couple of years.
10:26
And like she mentioned, even if she's not the option or even if
10:30
the team doesn't find her, she's pulling the defense for her
10:33
teammates and I'm really excited to see how they are able to take
10:36
advantage of that. For sure.
10:38
I think one thing that that just kept sticking out to me is and I
10:42
know the like you mentioned the rain traditionally has have not
10:45
had this for the past few years, but there were just so many
10:48
matches where everything was so compact in the reigns attacking
10:53
third. There was just no space to do
10:55
anything. And then that would always like
10:57
Jess Fishlock is known for as a defensive midfielder or even a
11:00
holding midfielder who can hit those balls over the top to kind
11:04
of unlock a defense. But defenses never really had to
11:07
be that afraid of that option. Now with Lynn Williams back
11:10
there, they absolutely have to respect that.
11:12
Yeah, yeah, I'm super excited. Definitely will be exciting to
11:16
see. All right, next, let's talk
11:18
about Dino and I always raise our hand.
11:20
We try to watch as much football as we possibly can.
11:23
It is it is difficult to track women's collegiate football.
11:27
You know, it's just, you know, it's hard to it's hard to find.
11:30
We all have day jobs. It's kind of hard to track.
11:32
What do you know about the two young players fresh out of
11:35
college, Maddie Dahlian and Emily Mason?
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Yeah, I got to watch Maddie a little bit more intentionally
11:42
because she was part of the Under 20 Women's World Cup last
11:46
year along with Reign players Emery Adamus and Jordan Bugg
11:49
often coming off the bench. And one thing you will probably
11:53
notice really quickly, if you watch any clips of hers or
11:56
highlights, she is really freaking fast.
11:59
Yes, she is one of Minnesota. It's like all time fastest high
12:05
school track athletes. So just to emphasize really
12:09
freaking fast. But she's she's really always
12:12
looking to get in line and can beat defenders a lot.
12:15
But if you watch some of her college clips or any of her U20
12:19
clips, she's also really smart about like where she puts the
12:22
ball in when she's crossing. It's not just a kind of hopeful
12:25
cross cutbacks, lots of cutbacks, smart crosses for
12:28
teammates. So she played a little wing back
12:31
in college. So her stats may not like really
12:34
truly represent a winger, but and really just had a break like
12:37
out year this year. And it sounds like multiple
12:39
teams were really trying to get her.
12:41
So Rayner lucky to have kind of that additional speed and to
12:44
have someone like Lynn Williams to see as a teammate get advice
12:49
from. It seems like they play very
12:51
similar styles. It's going to be really
12:52
exciting. Emily Mason was a defender at
12:56
Rutgers who has experience at center back and fullback,
12:59
similar to all all the back line it seems like now.
13:03
She actually was called up by Laura Harvey in 2020 for the
13:07
Under 20 World Cup when Laura Harvey was the U20 coach.
13:10
And that was when Emily Mason was just in like 17 years old
13:13
and still in high school, played a lot of the CONCACAF
13:17
qualifiers. But then because of COVID, the
13:19
World Cup got cancelled. So he didn't get to see her
13:21
there. But she played in the 2020 Under
13:23
20 World Cup in 2022. She's tall and seems like a
13:27
defender who can use those long legs to tackle, you know, close
13:32
down on a I don't know, I wouldn't say as much about her,
13:36
but I think knowing that she got trading experience with Laura
13:39
Harvey, she's seen her in action, means that I think
13:42
there's a lot of trust there from her.
13:44
I believe it. And like you said, just fits
13:46
that mold perfectly. Where do you want to place me?
13:48
On the back line? OK, I can play there.
13:51
It seems like Laura seems to really value that.
13:53
Yeah. Speaking of Laura Harvey, both
13:56
her and Lou Barnes mentioned Ainsley Mccammon by name in
14:00
their media availability on Monday.
14:02
You also mentioned Emery, Adamus, Jordan Bug.
14:06
We're talking about three teenagers here and I, and I
14:08
don't say that like in a flippant way.
14:10
I mean they are superlative talents.
14:12
That's how they make it into this league, but they're still
14:14
teenagers. How much do you think a team in
14:18
the NWSL can rely on athletes that young to get wins in this
14:24
current season? Or is it more of just a long
14:27
term development play? I think it's a little bit of a
14:29
mixture of both and Laura has been really clear that the team
14:35
only chose to do this when they felt like they had the
14:37
infrastructure to be able to support the development of
14:41
players like this. And then she even mentioned in
14:43
her press conference talking about Maddie, Darlene and her
14:47
the other young players like they see this as a five year
14:51
development plan for them and each one is on a different path.
14:56
So we saw last year Jordan bug get signed and then immediately
15:00
slot in at center back, which is just amazing of any position to
15:04
put a 17 year old center back is and just killed it, right?
15:08
She was so calm, so poised. So I think you can expect her
15:13
opportunities this year to probably be pretty significant
15:16
just based on what we saw from her last year.
15:19
And then saw someone like Emory who sometimes started, sometimes
15:22
came out with a bench, didn't have as many minutes.
15:24
But Laura talked about like, not, you know, they weren't
15:27
winning and not wanting to put up pressure on her in her first
15:30
season in pros and like, focusing on what might be best
15:34
for her and her development. I think she's also obviously
15:37
poised to get more minutes but might not be a starter every
15:39
time. She's still so young and now
15:42
there's a lot, a lot of talent on the frontline.
15:45
And Ainsley to me is like the big question mark because we
15:48
didn't get to see her much last year.
15:49
She kept in the under 17 team in the World Cup and LED them to
15:53
bronze. She just got called up for the
15:55
US Women's National team Futures camp.
15:58
So that's like, I think a huge signal of the talent that
16:01
everyone sees in her. But playing a holding midfield
16:03
position, that's also a lot of pressure to vote on someone
16:06
young. So it'll be really interesting
16:08
to see what her minutes look like.
16:10
I don't. I think the club overall is
16:13
focusing on a development pathway that sets them up for
16:17
long term success, which means they have to play minutes for
16:20
them to see what they look like in a professional environment,
16:23
but also means that they may all be on different trajectories.
16:26
Yeah, I think that's that's perfectly stated.
16:29
I mean, yeah, Jordan Bug I think blew everybody away.
16:32
Being able to handle the physicality at that age, at that
16:35
position. You think it it should be a
16:37
similar hill for Ainsley Mccammon to kind of climb as
16:40
well. Just like you think about, we
16:42
mentioned Quinn earlier, we you just think about how tough Quinn
16:46
is and their ability to, you know, out body and just out
16:49
position players. It's hard to do that in this
16:52
league especially. And I think what you mentioned
16:55
about Emory Adamus, she has just such a clever touch.
16:58
She is one of those footballers that's just like, I'll just nick
17:01
the ball away from you when you come, when you run at me.
17:04
It's going to be really interesting to see.
17:05
I think you're I think you're dead on.
17:07
I think she'll be that kind of super sub.
17:09
Come on, change the speed. You know, whether it's like 65
17:12
minutes in, 70 minutes in. I'm really excited to see your
17:15
kind of take more advantage of that as the season progresses.
17:19
Yeah, and the word came up from Laura Harvey a couple times
17:24
training this week, which was unpredictability and having
17:29
Maddie Dalene, having Emory Adamus like to have them come on
17:34
potentially as Subs or maybe they start some games against
17:36
certain opponents. But to have a variety in the
17:39
attack like you mentioned, there were so many times with teams to
17:42
play a highline against the rain because they knew they could
17:44
which condense the field, which meant they only way they could
17:47
get around you is by combining. And if they couldn't, that was
17:50
really difficult. And so now to have a lot of
17:52
different options, I'm just really excited to see how it
17:55
comes together. Absolutely.
17:58
We talked about the new acquisitions.
18:00
Is there anybody outside who have I, who have I forgot to
18:04
mention outside of Madison Curry or Lynn Williams?
18:07
Or do you have a wild card? Is there, is there a player that
18:09
you're like, OK, we're going into this season?
18:12
I'm really excited to see where they fit in how they play.
18:15
I am really intrigued to see more of Sam Meza was a a player
18:21
that they drafted last year and during the pre season looked
18:25
like kind of defying expectations and look like such
18:28
a dynamic midfielder. And she had apparently had an
18:32
illness that really set her back and other things that the club
18:35
hasn't really dove into, which means like don't ask I think.
18:39
And then she wasn't getting playing time and they loaned her
18:43
to a USL Super League club, Dallas Trinity, and she had such
18:48
a great half season with them. And I saw kind of on one of the
18:52
USL Super Leagues posts that she was one person that one of like
18:57
the commentators nominated for MVP of the first half of the
19:00
season for the league. So what I have loved from the
19:05
small time we've gotten to see Sam is that it's like she's so
19:08
quick on closing down defensively in the midfield, so
19:11
Tenacious is going to run her butt off for you.
19:14
And I think just needed game time.
19:17
And so I think this was hopefully a situation where
19:20
alone works out really positively for a player like her
19:23
and she's really posed poised to have a breakout season with the
19:26
rain. I don't know if that means she's
19:27
starting all the time. I don't know what that looks
19:29
like in terms of appearances, but there's more opportunity is
19:32
in the midfield now with some players departing.
19:35
So really excited to see what she can do.
19:37
Yeah, that's a great shout out. You know, they take her in the
19:40
draft out of UNC. I think people were anxious to
19:42
see her play and then as you mentioned, all those
19:44
circumstances, you really don't get to see her on an NWSL pitch.
19:48
But that actually leads perfectly into the next
19:50
question. So kind of with her returning to
19:52
the squad from loan, as you mentioned, and we talked about
19:55
all these other additions, these young players, in your
19:57
experience, as I mentioned, you've been covering the club
19:59
for a while. Is it fair to say that players
20:03
need a little time to learn Laura Harvey system?
20:06
Do you think they might pick it up fairly quickly?
20:09
Is it a normal amount of time? Am I overthinking this?
20:12
Do I have any idea what I'm talking about?
20:13
What? What do you think when you
20:15
think? OK, a player's dropping into
20:17
Laura Harvey's system. The lead time for them to get it
20:20
is what? Yeah, great question.
20:23
I do think it takes, I think Laura is really a details kind
20:26
of coach and observing the team, it's clear to see like the style
20:31
of play that they like to play. They build out of the back.
20:35
They rely on long balls to get the ball up to their frontline
20:39
and like to combine from there in the midfield and and like to
20:43
cross the ball because they're dangerous crossing the ball.
20:45
So like those components are pretty easy to understand, but
20:48
like what does it mean? How do I how do I know what to
20:51
look for to breakdown opponents? What does our press look like?
20:54
Because Laura does focused a ton on defense from the front to the
20:58
back. And I think those components
21:01
take a lot more time to figure out.
21:04
In fact, Laura mentioned last year with Emory Adamus that she
21:10
would often be so hyper focused on her defensive
21:12
responsibilities that when she was on the wing she'd drop back
21:15
a lot, which meant when they got the ball she had to transition a
21:18
lot further. And training a player to like
21:22
find that sweet spot can take some time.
21:24
Some players do it more instinctively or have more
21:27
professional experience. So I think like having gosh,
21:31
they have like two months of pre season almost.
21:34
I think that's such great time. And the fact that the roster is
21:37
a lot more settled at this point than it was last year, that most
21:40
players will have that a lot of that time with Laura and the
21:44
team, I think is really helpful. I also think in years past,
21:48
aside from last year, you know, they added the Challenge Cup
21:52
coming out of the pandemic and trying that so that they would
21:56
always open the season with this like mini pre season tournament
22:00
that didn't count as regular season.
22:02
That Laura just thrived in that environment because she got to
22:06
play state players under like lower stakes and help them
22:10
figure out what what it meant to kind of play in the system.
22:13
And she doesn't have that this year.
22:14
But they are getting some more preseason games in this year
22:18
than they did last year, and I think that'll be really helpful.
22:20
Yeah, for sure. And you got to think with with
22:22
somebody who's just a known genius like Laura Harvey, the
22:26
more time and then the more on field in competition reps that
22:30
she gets to coach the players up, you got to think that that
22:33
should be somewhat of an advantage for the club.
22:34
Yeah, OK, we're getting to the end here.
22:37
You've been extremely generous with your time.
22:39
Speaking of Laura Harvey, I got a scenario for you.
22:42
There's a match. There's a match tonight.
22:44
Laura, Harvey and the coaching staff are stuck in I5 traffic.
22:48
Laura calls you and says, Susie, I need you to manage the squad
22:52
tonight. The players are already there.
22:54
I need you to set the 11. Pressure's on.
22:57
You get down to the sideline. You've got to fill out the team
23:00
sheet as the roster stands today in mid January.
23:04
You don't have to name me the full 11.
23:06
I think I maybe went a little overboard with this question,
23:09
but if you think about it, who are the players that you
23:12
absolutely have to get in there in the starting lineup?
23:15
OK, this is tough. This is tough because I think
23:19
one thing that this roster has set up well is that they are
23:22
like in most positions, 1 two players deep in every spot,
23:26
which is what you want for building a roster, right?
23:29
So I'm going to stay on the frontline.
23:31
I'm starting shocker Lynn Williams we know Jordan
23:36
Heidema's currently right now the starting center forward.
23:41
I'm going to put Anna Maria Cernegorjevic on the right wing
23:44
because I think she's a really good hold up player.
23:46
She's really good in possession, provides that nice balance.
23:49
I think you can rotate a lot there, but that's how I'm going
23:52
to start with sure, in the midfield I'm going to get a
23:54
little spicy. I I don't know this is what
23:57
Laura Harvey was is going to do, but I'm going to start Jess
24:00
Fishlock as a holding midfielder alongside G and Norelia
24:05
Montessor. Yeah, we didn't get to see her
24:07
as much last year, but in the as she was like, you know, she came
24:10
mid mid season, took some time to get familiar with the club.
24:14
So fun to watch when she was like really thriving at the end
24:17
of the season. So more attacking minded
24:20
midfield, but we're rolling with it because we want to play
24:24
exciting soccer. Exactly.
24:26
And the back line I think is where there's just like a ton of
24:30
wait and see because there is so much flexibility.
24:32
I'm going to put just based on who was maybe starting at last
24:36
year. I'm going to put Madison Cray,
24:38
Phoebe Mclernan, Jordan Bug and I'm going to start with Hannah
24:41
Glass at right back. But we'll see what kind of
24:44
competition she has before Sofia Huerta returns from her alone.
24:48
And then I think Claudia Dickey has the starting role right now
24:52
and goals she has for the last season and a half.
24:55
But it's really exciting to have new goalkeeper Cassie Miller
24:58
from the trade with Gotham, who I think could always push for
25:01
that starting position, has a lot of experience.
25:04
All right, that's what I'm talking about.
25:06
What do you think about my lineup?
25:07
No, absolutely great. Coco Montessor, as you
25:10
mentioned, instantly excited when she came the club from
25:14
Montpellier over in the Premier League in France.
25:16
And you were right, at the end of the season, she had those
25:19
flashes as 26 years old. She's kind of entering her
25:23
physical prime. She just had flashes where I was
25:26
like, oh boy, this player might be dynamite out there.
25:29
The attack. Yeah, and they played with a
25:31
little more of attack minded Enfield toward the end of the
25:34
season, sometimes with mixed results.
25:36
And some of it was just because, you know, the regular season or
25:39
the postseason was out of their grasp, so why not have some fun?
25:43
But yeah, I'm excited to see a full season with her.
25:46
Yeah, absolutely. And yeah, Anna Maria Sooner
25:48
Gorsevich AMC as she is called on on this show sometimes.
25:54
Yeah, totally right. I think she can you know, she
25:56
can drift back in the midfield. She is good on the ball.
25:59
She had a good chemistry with G like right away it felt like
26:02
when when she stepped on into the team mid season.
26:05
So yeah, I can't argue with the 11.
26:07
I feel like maybe Laura would say, hey, how about a little
26:10
more defensive minded. But I think the team that the
26:13
the team was in good hands under you.
26:15
Were stuck in traffic, Laura. Yeah, exactly.
26:17
Hey, you should have left earlier.
26:18
You should. You got to know right now I5 is
26:20
terrible. I do think like historically for
26:23
the last few years, Laura has kind of played a double, double
26:26
pivot holding midfield. There are like two more
26:28
defensive midfielders and a player we haven't really talked
26:31
about, but who I think, you know, if she can stay healthy
26:33
for the whole year cuz has missed some time in the last
26:36
couple of seasons, is Olivia Vander Yacht.
26:40
And I think if she can, she's like one of those like wins
26:43
every dual really like kind of keeps it simple in possession,
26:47
which means you keep the ball, which is keeping the ball in the
26:49
midfield is really valuable. So I could see her starting.
26:54
I just it's, it's been a while since we've been able to see her
26:56
play so. No, it's a that's a great call.
26:59
I I would love to see Olivia Vanderjot and Ryan Brown really
27:03
kind of and it's just bad luck at this point.
27:05
But to see them, to see them stay healthy, you know, I think
27:08
that would be that would be a huge plus for the club this
27:10
season. Yeah, it was such a bummer.
27:12
Ryan Brown's enjoy came right as she was breaking out.
27:15
And she was playing so. Well, so unfair.
27:18
Yeah, yeah. These sports, sometimes the
27:20
sports gods are not kind to us or the more the athletes.
27:23
It's all right. Well, we'll see how it works out
27:26
this season. Like I said, Susie, you've been
27:28
incredibly generous with your time.
27:29
Thank you for for coming on the show.
27:31
Was there anything from Media Day or anything recent that I
27:34
missed that that you would like us to cover?
27:37
I think one thing that just stood out from media day in
27:40
terms of comments and some of it is intangible and hopefully we
27:45
see more of it over this season is just how much Laura Harvey
27:49
emphasized how different this offseason was and how invested
27:52
the new ownership group has been from in terms of just being
27:56
present and listening and setting goals.
27:59
And like being seen by the players.
28:01
Being seen by the staff, making sure that they have like the
28:04
surround sound staff that they need to let the players just
28:09
focus on soccer and focus on performance, which I think they
28:12
weren't really able to do last year.
28:14
And it's hard to explain. It's hard to see because we
28:17
don't. We're not there every day.
28:18
But Lauren Barnes, Leslie Gallmore when I talked, the
28:22
general manager when I talked to her a couple weeks ago, and
28:25
Laura Harvey have just spoken about how quickly and how
28:30
impactful the new ownership group has been.
28:32
I'm excited to see what that looks like over the full season.
28:35
Yeah, that is a great shout because like you said, people
28:38
talk about culture all the time in sports and you don't know.
28:42
And obviously, like we, we saw last year, the team just kept
28:46
like chugging along as they, you know, they endured some losing
28:49
streaks. They weren't playing well at
28:51
times. But they were, like you
28:53
mentioned earlier, they were always in.
28:55
They were in the vast majority of these games that felt like
28:58
the Laura Harvey culture, the insulation of the locker room
29:01
established by Jess Fishlock and Lou Barnes.
29:04
You know, your your vets who were able to hang tough in
29:07
there, but now we get to zoom out and say, OK, well, how much
29:10
does this wider, you know, collective ownership group, how
29:13
does that really play into things?
29:15
So I think that's a really good call.
29:17
We shall see. I'm excited for the season.
29:19
It's getting close. Big thank you again to today's
29:21
guest, Susie Rance of Sounder at Heart for joining the show and
29:25
always being ready to step in for Laura Harvey and put
29:28
together a starting 11 when needed.
29:30
I appreciate you, Susie. Thank you.
29:32
OK, great interview. Really really really enjoyed it.
29:36
Great Intel from Susie Rands from Sounder at Heart.
29:39
Props to you for emceeing the whole affair.
29:44
Sure, had tried. Yes, I appreciate that.
29:47
Anything else we need to know from from Seattle training camp?
29:50
You know, it was, it was cold out there.
29:53
You could tell the players were cold.
29:55
Lynn Biendolo, I gotta, let's all get used to saying that,
29:57
said Lynn Williams. Lynn Biendolo.
30:00
She had referenced how cold it was.
30:01
But, you know, people seem to be in good spirits.
30:04
The facility has like several pitches around it.
30:07
It's called Starfire Sports Complex in beautiful Tukwila,
30:10
WA, just South of Seattle. And there was a youth tournament
30:14
going on in the surrounding fields.
30:16
So there were boys clubs and girls clubs playing on there.
30:20
And so it was only youth Academy players.
30:23
I think some season ticket holders and media were allowed,
30:26
like on the the the training field where the rain were
30:29
playing. But when they left, you could
30:31
see when Lynn Williams left the area, just a swarm of young
30:35
people, boys and girls, ran right up to her, super excited.
30:39
She was absolute class, signing football, signing boots, signing
30:44
shirts, people taking pictures with her.
30:46
Like you could tell some of the parents too, were just like,
30:48
don't, don't crowd her too much. Like you can tell they're just
30:50
like, don't injure. Like, we don't need anything
30:52
happening here. But yeah, it was just it was
30:55
super cool to see. I think a bunch of players ran
30:57
up to Jordan Heidema as well, a bunch of youngsters.
31:00
And they were just absolutely classy and took their time with
31:04
them. It was cool to see on the way
31:05
out. I love that.
31:06
Yeah, no, I think hearing that story, seeing the schedule drop
31:10
this week, listening to your interview with Susie, I also got
31:13
a chance to check out the opening of the Orlando Prides
31:17
training camp this week as well. Just an exciting time.
31:21
I think this is like a cool time of year.
31:22
We, I don't think we got this last year because I think we
31:24
were heavy Champions League. I don't think the timing was
31:27
exactly the same, but we're getting a proper warm up,
31:30
getting us pumped up, you know, for this regular season at the
31:34
Pride training camp. I did get a chance to hear from
31:36
sub Heinz and then I also got a chance to catch up briefly with
31:39
Kylie Strom. Let's go to that audio here.
31:41
Kylie, can you talk a little bit about the difference between
31:44
pursuing the actual, the total apex, the sport, winning
31:47
everything to now coming back and having to defend just the
31:51
different differences in approach between those two?
31:53
Yeah, I think last year we had this underdog mentality.
31:57
I don't know if anybody expected us to do what we did.
32:01
So I think this year coming in, it's it's a much different
32:03
mentality. We are no longer the underdogs,
32:06
but we want to still play like it.
32:08
I think we'll have a big target on our back.
32:11
So it's just a new challenge for us that we have to overcome.
32:14
You know, we talked about it already in our our meetings, You
32:17
know, we want to prove that last year wasn't luck.
32:19
You know, I think some people, you know, everybody has their
32:21
opinions and stuff. So this year we want to stick to
32:24
our standards, stick to our principles and and prove that we
32:26
have something special here. It's not a one off season.
32:30
We we want to do it again. Competition is high in this team
32:34
and that that's a great team. That's a sign of a great team.
32:36
That's a sign of a championship team.
32:38
It's not going to be easy to earn your spot.
32:41
That's why you have to show up every single day and and train
32:43
to the best of your ability. So you're we're challenged in
32:46
training every day and it's going to be fun.
32:50
Kind of personal goals, do you have any kind of new personal
32:52
goals this year versus last year?
32:56
Yeah, I it's a good question. I feel like that's something I
32:59
have to think about. I haven't got that far.
33:02
Yeah, it's a good question. I'm going to think about it.
33:04
Yeah, I just want, I think last year a big thing for me was just
33:07
consistency. I was playing a new position, so
33:12
yeah, I'm just going to have to keep keep learning, keep growing
33:16
and and do whatever I can to help the team.
33:18
All right, you know what, buddy? I am pretty thirsty after that
33:22
interview with Susie, you had to work up some thirst handling
33:25
Pride training camp. We might as well get to it, I
33:28
think. Yeah, there it is.
33:32
Sounds like hard work. Just a couple of journalists out
33:35
here. Cheers to you.
33:37
So in the old blood and sweat. Spilling ink, as you, as it
33:43
were. As proper journalists we are.
33:45
I gotta say. Look, I mean, obviously I heard
33:47
the audio. I haven't seen the video.
33:50
Am I crazy? It sounded like Kylie Strom was
33:53
pretty jovial. It sounded like she was like
33:56
just happy to be there. That's exactly what I picked up
33:59
on in the building like and I'm not sure what to, I'm not sure
34:04
what to make from it. You know, it's a little sliver.
34:06
It's a couple slivers of moments that you kind of pick up on, but
34:10
not the same level of intensity, we'll say as the post game
34:14
pressers from last season that were just ice cold and they had
34:17
the feel of like, I don't know, like a very hardcore deposition
34:21
and almost were, you know, like it was very, very intense.
34:24
And the vibes in Orlando this week, like you said, they were
34:28
super jolly. And to me, I had two takeaways.
34:32
Either it's we're really good and we know something that the
34:35
rest of the league doesn't and we're just going to come out and
34:38
do all of this again. Or it's a little bit potentially
34:41
of like, you know, not quite happy to be here, but like sort
34:45
of like sitting happy with it. And like, you know, we're going
34:47
to have some time to maybe crank up the intensity.
34:50
First day of training camp. Obviously, you don't really
34:51
expect everybody to be, you know, to the Max level.
34:55
But I did take a minor note of it.
34:57
And I think I'm going to, I'm going to be interested to see
35:00
Challenge Cup season kicking off these pre season matchups.
35:03
What what, what, what the team looks like.
35:05
I think if they look a little bit like a good team, you know,
35:09
that's going to set up a couple of alarm bells.
35:11
If they just fall right back into, you know, the rhythm, any
35:15
intensity, obviously, then it was a whole lot of nothing.
35:18
But I did. I did take note of it.
35:19
Yeah, I think it's, it's interesting to think about.
35:22
So the franchise itself, the club hasn't had a hasn't had
35:26
much historic success at all. Now they they come in here, they
35:30
have this juggernaut season, they're invincible for a large
35:33
majority of the season. Then they win the double.
35:35
So yeah, it probably feels good to be back in the building now.
35:39
It's just you see how much of that carries over or how much
35:42
it's they have the the attitude of let's do it again.
35:46
Yeah, And I think I didn't get a chance to ask said this.
35:48
But I'm really curious. Next time I get the opportunity,
35:51
I'm really curious about the different approach to the
35:54
season. You know, you can't really come
35:56
out and be like, hey, we're underdogs, it's our time.
35:58
You know, like you can't really come out with the same stuff.
36:00
You've got to come out with like, hey, all right, we now
36:02
we've got to defend this and everybody's coming for us.
36:05
Really interested to see how they position themselves, I
36:09
think internally and how they start talking about the mission
36:11
for this this season. Speaking of this season, a
36:15
little look ahead. So we've got some upcoming
36:16
shows. Friday, February 7th, we will be
36:19
live 11:00 AM Eastern, 8:00 AM Pacific on YouTube to breakdown
36:23
all four UEFA Women's Champions League quarterfinal matchups.
36:26
That's Barsa Leon, Chelsea, Byron, Arsenal, City, Wolfsburg,
36:30
Real Madrid. We're going to get four matches
36:32
that shuffle up those eight teams and I don't think there's
36:36
a bad match up in the bunch. Very excited for that.
36:38
We'll also be back next week to continue talking about European
36:42
football. Got some big WSL match ups this
36:44
weekend that we'll be back to recap and, you know, kind of
36:48
continue to keep our finger on the pulse there.
36:49
And then Liga, F Fran, Bundesliga, they kick back off
36:53
here in the coming weeks. So yeah, it'll be a little
36:56
European heavy until we get to the quarterfinals draw.
36:59
So definitely stick with us if that's your flavor.
37:01
And then obviously, NWSL, you already know it's revving up
37:03
very exciting time in the football calendar.
37:05
It's fucking go. Anything I missed?
37:08
No, I think that about covers it.
37:09
I'm, you know, equally excited. We're just pulled in two
37:12
directions, but they're two nice directions to be pulled in.
37:14
The European footballs. Great.
37:16
The NWSL is great. What's not to like?
37:18
Let's go. Well, some good news for you and
37:22
your, your brethren. And what's, what's a, is it
37:24
cistern? I don't know.
37:26
I'm not sure. Anyways, nobody knows all, all
37:28
you city folk got some good news this week. 2023 NWSLVP Catalin
37:34
signs a long term deal with the Sky Blues.
37:38
I was happy to break this news to you.
37:41
Take me, take me through the the, the gamut of emotions that
37:45
you experienced when you when you heard the news.
37:47
I'm literally walking into a meeting, an important meeting
37:51
that's I mean, not like life or death stuff, but you know, one
37:55
that I that I need to take very seriously.
37:57
I'm kind of like getting in the zone.
37:59
I go to do the check. You know, I feel like the
38:01
standard move is look at the iPhone, throw on the do not
38:05
disturb. Are there any little alerts on
38:07
the text on the messages app? Open it up.
38:10
Text from Dino de Cespedes Ketaline to Manchester City.
38:14
I simply reply to you, get the fuck out of here and then enter
38:18
my meeting. I'm like, OK, I was like refocus
38:22
for this meeting, but that is very good news.
38:24
That's something I I didn't expect it, but that is something
38:27
I was very happy to hear. Let's go I'm excited for you,
38:31
excited to see that you know, Ketaline also also take this
38:34
next step. A huge talent at Oh yeah, a
38:37
great time for City considering all the injuries.
38:40
And like, really like the, the turning point nature of the
38:44
season based on where we're at, you know, the, the, the BSL
38:47
starting to slip away. City now down to 4th after the
38:51
Manchester Derby loss, only halfway through the season.
38:54
But you know, those Champions League spots are, I mean,
38:57
invaluable. And I don't know, a player like
39:00
Cataline so dynamic. What kind of impact do you think
39:02
she's going to make on the pitch?
39:04
Or how do you see that? Maybe some of the pieces moving
39:05
around once she, you know, gets fully revved up.
39:08
Yeah, I think it's it's a good point that I mean, that's three
39:11
losses in the league. Now, I realize this is going to
39:14
sound like doomsday or like hyperbolic maybe, but I guess
39:18
for for people who've been paying attention over the past
39:20
few years, winning the league off the table, no shot.
39:23
You're chasing Chelsea. You're too far behind at this
39:25
point. They're too much of A
39:26
juggernaut. But like you said, those
39:27
Champions League places, I think it's going to be a dogfight for
39:30
those. But Ketaline is obviously going
39:33
to help. It's no secret on this program
39:35
that I am a huge Alba Fujino supporter.
39:38
The 20 year old wonder kid from Japan.
39:40
I think she's looked really good in some spots and I think in
39:42
other spots she's looked like a 20 year old player playing in
39:45
the WSL for the first time. Ketaline in her prime, pretty
39:49
much 25 years old. You mentioned she's the 2023
39:51
NWSL MVP. She has good size, she's fast,
39:55
she has great instincts on the ball.
39:57
She has a terror on the right wing.
39:59
Even though in that in that league Derby match versus
40:03
Manchester United, the defense was disorganized.
40:05
Keira Keating made some uncharacteristic mistakes.
40:08
So I think the defense kind of needs to sort that out.
40:11
I don't expect Keating to keep making those exact types of
40:13
mistakes. Players talented with the ball
40:15
at her feet as she is. But I think when you drop
40:18
Ketaline in there, you should be able to stretch the opponents,
40:21
stretch their defense. They have to be they have to
40:23
respect Ketaline getting in behind them.
40:26
Bunny Shaw looks like she's coming back here pretty soon.
40:29
Vimidima is is already getting playing time.
40:32
She's kind of ramping up to be on the ascent.
40:35
I think it's just going to put much more pressure on opponents
40:39
on their back line. And that should hopefully give
40:42
Rebecca knock and and kind of that new look defence a little
40:46
more hopefully a little more time and a little more
40:49
confidence I think moving forward.
40:50
Yeah, I love that, that little wrinkle, because now, especially
40:54
when you think about Champions League warming up, the
40:57
competition's going to get extremely stiff for City.
41:00
And you have to imagine City playing a little bit more
41:02
defense and to be able to quickly turn defense into
41:05
offense with a player like Ketaline.
41:07
Like her acceleration is so good.
41:10
Like so often you see her running alongside somebody and
41:13
then just blowing right past the defender, even though defenders
41:16
are usually in good position there.
41:18
She's also stronger than she looks.
41:20
A little bit of a slight frame, but you just can't get her off
41:24
her spot. Like, I mean, she packs a lot of
41:26
muscle into that frame. She's a bold chance taker.
41:30
She finishes with precision. I think she's going to fit in
41:32
really, really nicely with City. Very excited to see what happens
41:36
from here. Yeah, and I like her mindset.
41:38
I want to give one more thing real quick.
41:42
So she had some quotes and obviously you get your standard
41:44
welcome to the club quotes, introductory quotes, but I like
41:48
what she had to say here, She said quote.
41:50
I'm so excited to be here. I think there were a lot of
41:52
reasons why I chose City and one of those was to play in the
41:56
Champions League, She went on to say.
41:59
I think the players, Speaking of the WSL are really technical and
42:04
the team is compact. I want to be better, to learn
42:07
different things, to come here, to be challenged and also play
42:10
against the defenders who will play in the next World Cup in
42:13
Brazil in 2027. And quote, expertly done by her
42:17
to get in a promo for the 2027 World Cup in her home country of
42:20
Brazil. I respect that.
42:21
But I just like the idea of her. And I know sometimes with
42:25
American, you know, NWSL fans, just American football fans in
42:28
general, sometimes we talk about the technical differences in, in
42:31
player quality in Europe compared to in leagues in
42:35
America. They can take offense to that.
42:37
I, I think it's just a different, different styles of
42:40
play, different ethos as you, as you kind of compare the two
42:43
sides of the pond. So I was just really encouraged
42:47
by her saying like, I'm going to have to learn some new stuff
42:49
when I come over here. I have no doubt that she'll be
42:51
able to do that. 100% and and Speaking of one of those
42:55
defenders get a lead might run into at the 27 World Cup.
43:00
Naomi Germa. Yeah.
43:02
What do you say? Another former San Diego Wave
43:05
superstar player out the door. Huge boon for Chelsea.
43:10
We talked quite a bit on this show about how thin things were
43:13
for them on the defensive side of the ball.
43:15
Buchanan injury, Millie Bright, what kind of workload you want
43:18
to put on a player like that at her stage in her career?
43:21
Obviously still at the very top, but you know, you just want to
43:24
have a little bit more depth right than just four or five
43:26
players that that have legit Champions League deepwater WSL
43:31
experience. Naomi Kerma, is that the new
43:34
world record holder for transfers in the women's game?
43:37
Very exciting. What are you going to be looking
43:40
for? Because I think when I think
43:41
about Germa going to Chelsea, 24 years old, inner prime, pre
43:45
prime, however you want to think about that, I kind of see this
43:48
going one of two ways. Either she shows up at Chelsea,
43:51
looks like a world beater. You know, she is the Moat, you
43:55
know, that defends the castle and there's just now there's
43:57
just no breaking through. Or I think we could see a little
44:01
bit of a learning curve potentially.
44:04
You know, you're going to think about players like Carolina
44:06
Graham Hansen or you know, the Alessia Russo's or you know, you
44:10
think about Lyon. You know Chelsea draw Leon in
44:14
the semi finals. You've got the Chiwingas, you've
44:16
got du Mornay, you've got Diani. I mean, and it's almost like
44:20
there's three different types of ball.
44:22
There's like national team ball, there's the NWSL style of ball
44:25
and now there's the WSL, more general European style of ball.
44:29
How do you see Germa kind of like entering the league?
44:32
What do you think this first season's going to be like for
44:34
her? I think I'm bullish on it and
44:36
I'm going to rely on the evidence from the 2024 Olympics.
44:41
Now, I realize this is limited time that she had working with
44:45
Emma Hayes, and I think triple espresso, rightfully so,
44:51
garnered a lot of the headlines from that Olympic tournament.
44:54
They were unstoppable. The anchor to that team, and we
44:58
talked about it live in the tournament as we were covering
45:00
it, was Naomi Kerma. She got the attack started.
45:03
You talk about it all the time, how she kind of pulls the levers
45:07
and is like the metronome back there and she can recover if
45:10
she's out of position, which happens sometimes.
45:13
I I felt like it happened more for San Diego wave than it ever
45:16
happened for the US women's national team.
45:18
But I think that just that little that, and maybe, you
45:22
know, you could tell me, I'm taking from a small sample size.
45:24
I think I would, I would cop to that.
45:26
But just that little bit of time so far with Emma Hayes, some of
45:30
that has to translate to how she's going to play for Chelsea
45:34
Football Club for obvious reasons.
45:35
Obviously Emma Hayes there for several years, but I don't think
45:38
Sonia Bonebastore, she's she's put her she's put her own spin
45:41
on the way Chelsea is doing things.
45:43
It hasn't felt like a complete overhaul though.
45:46
So I think I'm going to go on the record and say I'm bullish.
45:49
I'm looking forward to the partnership.
45:51
If they're going to play four in the back and you have her and
45:53
Millie back there, her kind of field general style will allow
45:58
Millie to kind of hang back a little bit, take care of crosses
46:01
in the box, play a little more physical style back there, and
46:04
let Naomi start to maneuver some of the chess pieces.
46:07
And oh, by the way, those chess pieces that she'll be working
46:09
with are going to be Kat Macario, Lauren James, and
46:12
Johanna Ritz in Canner. Rude.
46:14
Let's fucking go. And by the way, maybe Aaron
46:17
Cuthbert will show her how to smash a beer can over her head.
46:19
You never know. Let's go, let's go.
46:22
How about a little Sandy Baltimore at left back too as an
46:24
outlet for Kerma? No, that's great.
46:26
I. Mean.
46:26
Yeah, embarrassment of riches. I mean that's a part of Germa's
46:30
game that I don't get. I don't think it's talked about
46:32
enough like her her metronome ability, you know, to just
46:36
distribute the ball. You look at her pass completion
46:39
percentage in the end of BSLI mean I think she completed like
46:41
some like 1500 passes over the season, third in the league,
46:44
just percentage points behind the top spot 91.3%.
46:48
She was also top three for non goalkeepers and short and medium
46:52
range passes. So I mean, her distribution is
46:54
awesome and I love the Millie bright pairing because because
46:58
you know, Millie plays her game, but Germa is a little bit of a
47:01
game wrecker. I think does cover up for a lot
47:04
when the ball is just knocking around the box and it's a little
47:07
bit scramble mode. She does have that short field
47:11
burst ability to kind of like make up ground somebody's 3-4
47:14
yards away and she's just there in a flash, almost meeting the
47:17
ball when it gets there. I think that's something that
47:20
Chelsea not doesn't necessarily have right now in the roster.
47:23
So if she can get to that point by the time the Champions League
47:26
gets prime time, I think that that makes Chelsea, I mean, more
47:30
than a contender, like maybe, maybe on even footing with those
47:34
other two big dogs, Barcelona and Leone.
47:36
The Dino assessment is Barcelona disrespect continues.
47:40
I just I wanna keep beating that drug when you you never
47:43
disrespect. Terrible.
47:44
What do you do this to me? Like man, he says pride would
47:48
smash him and now Chelsea is going to beat him.
47:50
Oh my God, no, no, our guy shout out to our guy Omar, who always
47:55
checks in, who's always checking me at the door whenever I look
47:58
at Chelsea any I'm sorry whenever I look at Barcelona,
48:00
any kind of sideways shout out to you are Omar.
48:02
I could always count on you to keep me in check one time.
48:06
A quick sidebar, WSL versus NWSL, You know, the battle of
48:12
the leagues, the battle of the economic models.
48:15
Just this week we saw the 2023 NWSLMVP out the door leaving the
48:20
NWSL head over to United Kingdom and Mike Watts is best player in
48:24
the NWSL is now no more Naomi Gerba now at Chelsea.
48:29
But we also can't overlook the the the fact that both Chelsea
48:32
and Arsenal are monitoring the Trinity Rodman situation, as is
48:36
every other, you know, probably 250 other clubs in the world.
48:39
Do you think that this is maybe a signal for, I don't know,
48:43
some, some shifting tides or what do you think?
48:46
What do you think's happening WSL and WSL wise?
48:49
Aston Villa is monitoring the Trinity Rodman situation.
48:52
No, no disrespect to Villa, but yeah, I, I, I'm glad you put the
48:56
air quotes around that. Got to it's a great discussion
49:00
piece. It's it's fun to talk about.
49:03
Yeah, it's a coup to bring over get a lean and then Naomi
49:07
Guerma, you know, two players like you talk about Guerma pre
49:10
prime, entering your prime, get a lean 25 years old.
49:14
I don't think we're ever going to really know the answer.
49:16
Like, like the teams are never going to play each other when
49:20
they're fully informed like the European Football League season
49:23
and the, you know, the USA summer season.
49:26
It's hard to compare. Like I guess there is a little
49:29
bit. I know I think we had joked
49:31
about it with our guy Cam Pope. Shout out to Cam from the Zone.
49:34
Also does work for Manchester United, where he had kind of
49:37
jokingly referred to allowing a USA team, an NWSL team in the
49:41
Champions League, as he put it, a wild card, which I, I think
49:45
Cam just thought was funny because he's English and just
49:48
thinks the term wild card is funny.
49:51
But yeah, I mean, look, I think players are going to go back and
49:54
forth and this is where I'm just going to put my Labour hat on.
49:57
I might sound a little obnoxious with this.
49:59
Abolish the salary cap, abolish financial fair play rules.
50:03
If you got money, billionaires and millionaires who own these
50:06
teams, put your money up. Don't be scared.
50:08
Pay for the players. Because if if these European
50:11
teams, especially in the WSL, if they start to really kind of
50:14
take off and they start bringing in cash and they are able to
50:17
sign your players away from the NWSL.
50:19
Don't act like a bunch of brokies out here.
50:21
You have to. If you have to pay to keep the
50:24
players, then pay to keep the players.
50:26
That's a great point because it could be 1 transfer window or
50:30
two transfer windows. Like let's say the Champions
50:33
League. I mean, we love to zone, shout
50:35
out to the zone. But let's say somebody steps up
50:37
out of the let's say Netflix steps up.
50:38
So we won the Champions League. They already put money up for
50:41
the World Cup. Sure.
50:42
And it's not outside the realm of possibility if you're an NWSL
50:45
owner, we've got to revisit the CBA.
50:48
Otherwise we're at real risk of, you know, I mean, what if it's
50:52
take any of the top three or four players, think another
50:55
three or four of the top ten players and say, OK, what, what
50:57
does it look like if they go out the door and then maybe they all
51:00
end up in the WSL or couple at Barcelona, couple Lyon.
51:03
Economically there is a risk when a salary cap sport is
51:07
essentially in competition with these non salary capped clubs in
51:11
Europe. I might butcher the story.
51:14
Feel free anybody who who knows this better to Fact Check me.
51:17
So I think it was Randy Lerner who used to who his dad owned
51:23
the Cleveland Browns. And so in typical oligarch
51:26
fashion, he eventually owned the Cleveland Browns and he bought
51:29
Aston Villa years and years ago. And if you could believe it, a
51:33
guy who was running the Cleveland Browns bought a
51:36
European football club and they immediately, almost immediately
51:38
got relegated. It was like Aston Villa's, like
51:41
worst time period. I'm talking about men's football
51:42
here. And I'm almost certain I read a
51:45
story that Randy Lerner was like going around and talking to
51:49
Premier League teams about like, hey, it would be a good idea if
51:52
we institute a salary cap. And owners in Syria were like,
51:57
God, we hope you guys institute a salary cap.
51:59
That would just be great for us. So like, I, I just think, and we
52:04
talked about it with Leanne when we were on her show, the women's
52:08
football show, which you should obviously subscribe to
52:10
immediately, that the salary gap and these kind of rules, they
52:13
often are just made to protect team owners in general.
52:17
And they they're not really there to help players or fans in
52:19
any real way. So again, sorry to get on my on
52:22
my soapbox for this. You got to spend.
52:25
I would hope that Michelle Kang, I can see her kind of
52:28
spearheading this as the owner of the Washington Spirit now
52:31
also, she's the owner of Lyon and she is the owner of London
52:34
City Lionesses, who will likely probably come up to the WSL here
52:38
soon. But I would hope that Michelle
52:40
Kang stands on business and goes, we have to figure this out
52:43
so people don't just start poaching our players from the
52:45
NWSL because there's still great growth potential for them for me
52:49
to sound like some kind of ghoulish capitalist.
52:51
But you got you got to pay to keep the talent OR else they're
52:55
going to go where the money is. Yeah, 100%.
52:58
And yeah, shout out Saki Kumagai to the the the latest London
53:02
City lioness as of the last day or so.
53:04
But I'm glad you brought up the CBA.
53:07
And by design, it existing to protect owners.
53:11
And that's usually when there's no big competing leagues with
53:15
you, You're protecting the owners from making dumb signings
53:18
and just blowing a lot of money because they're pissed off
53:22
because they finished the last place.
53:23
In this instance, it would be protecting the value of the
53:27
franchise for the owners. Yeah.
53:28
So it's almost like a catch 22 a little bit.
53:31
You, you, you want to protect owners for sure.
53:34
But I mean, what good is it if the value of these franchise,
53:37
the value of the league starts to fall a little bit, starts to
53:40
slip a little bit because the talent's heading out the door.
53:42
It's, you know, you got to kind of balance those two.
53:44
So definitely something to keep an eye on for sure.
53:46
Absolutely. Enough, enough, enough.
53:48
Money talk, man. We got to talk some football
53:50
again. Let's go 3 Champions League
53:53
teams in action this weekend, a big one in London W London.
53:58
Chelsea hosting my Arsenal. I'm not sure you know the league
54:02
is necessarily up for grabs. I think I'm with you.
54:04
And then in the fact that the WSL maybe is a little bit of a
54:07
wrap at this point. Tough to say.
54:09
Only halfway through 11 matches still to be played.
54:11
Arsenal 2nd place, seven points behind Chelsea and now heading
54:16
to West London to take on the Champs.
54:18
Maybe the biggest match of the Slagers era, definitely the
54:21
biggest match of the Renee Slagers permanent manager era.
54:24
But you could probably make the case that that that the Bayern
54:27
the second Bayern match maybe was was maybe at the same level.
54:31
So much work to do to if Arsenal still wants to try to catch
54:34
Chelsea. But both these teams, I think in
54:36
really good form. They each won their last WSL
54:40
match 5 nil and each took home a League Cup win earlier this
54:44
week. So pretty good measuring stick
54:47
game. I would say Chelsea versus
54:48
Arsenal. Anything going to be looking for
54:50
in this one? I'm looking for more of the same
54:52
and it's going to sound like a weird answer, but you were on it
54:54
pretty early that it seemed like something changed when Renee
54:57
Slagers took over. You know, whether it's all Yonis
55:00
8 of all leaving or Renee Slagers kind of adding something
55:03
to the club. But in that five nil win over
55:06
Palace, your five goal scorers in that match, Leah Williamson,
55:10
Alessia Russo, Beth Mead, Mariona Caldente, one of those
55:14
on a penalty, That's the good stuff.
55:16
Those are your great players, your leaders who need to be
55:19
scoring in these matches. They're going to have to come up
55:21
big against Chelsea. There's seven points behind them
55:24
in the table, 10 behind in goal differential.
55:27
If you're going to have any hope, like you said, of making
55:30
this a real challenge to win the league you got to, you got to
55:35
hope for some weird Chelsea results, but you absolutely,
55:39
unequivocally have to find a way to squeak out a win in this one.
55:43
Yeah, totally. And and I think, you know, even
55:46
squeaking out a win maybe doesn't feel like enough, you
55:49
know, like you, you almost need to kind of like rough the game.
55:53
You know. I mean, we'll, we'll see.
55:54
Because I think Arsenal's at a slight disadvantage at pretty
55:57
much every spot in the field. They hate to say it, but Chelsea
56:00
is just so loaded and they're they're humming at a high, high
56:03
level right now, but that's why they play the games.
56:06
This ones going down. Sunday, 7:30 AM Eastern,
56:08
Saturday, 12:30 PM Eastern. So not too much of A hall for
56:13
you to get up and catch this one.
56:16
The aforementioned Aston Villa will be hosting your Manchester
56:19
City Sky Blues. What do we need to know about
56:21
this one? All right, so in league play,
56:23
the Manchester Derby, we mentioned it earlier, not
56:26
enjoyable for your boy. They did get revenge in the
56:29
League Cup, a win over Manchester United there.
56:32
Got to get back off the schneid really.
56:35
You know, if you think about the the Barcelona loss, I think
56:38
they've they've actually lost three of their last five.
56:41
Now, Speaking of dates, they're kind of like stretched out
56:44
between like the Champions League and have the holiday
56:46
break and all that stuff. But still you got a notch.
56:50
You got a notch. An important win here.
56:51
Kenneline's not going to be available for this one.
56:53
Gareth Taylor just spoke to that.
56:55
I think it might have even been today that they were recording.
56:58
But he did mention Bunny Shaw, Viv Mitamo, who's already
57:01
working her way back and Naomi Lazelle should get some playing
57:05
time versus Villa. So I'm very excited to see what
57:08
Bunny looks like, especially Naomi Lazell is not going to
57:12
hurt either. And that defense that I talked
57:13
about that was having problems in the Manchester Derby in the
57:16
league match where the the defensive strategy and just a
57:19
tip for Gareth Taylor. So we tried the give Ella tune a
57:24
bunch of space, like 8 meters of space around her strategy.
57:28
OK, let's put in the book that strategy doesn't work.
57:32
So let's try to clean that up in the defense going into to Villa.
57:36
But I expect a win, and I expect something relatively convincing.
57:40
Yeah, for sure, yeah. And think it back to that, that
57:42
match, Keira Keating. Not all Keira Keating's fault
57:45
for sure, that I think her her defense put her in a couple bad
57:48
spots in the rematch, though. Lily Murphy, I mean, showed up
57:53
in a big way, goal and an assist and looked, I mean, pretty
57:57
dynamic in that one. So we're glad to see them kind
58:00
of dust themselves off and get a nice win there and we'll see
58:03
what they've got this weekend for Villa.
58:05
Anything else you want to hit before you got here?
58:07
I think that's it, man. I feel like that's a
58:08
comprehensive coverage of what the WSL has to offer coming up.
58:13
I'm looking forward to watching the matches and then reconvening
58:16
after that. Let's go.
58:17
All right, man, I think we did it.
58:18
There's been another episode of Into the channel.
58:20
Thank you. Thank you for watching,
58:21
listening, following, liking, subscribing, commenting, just
58:23
plain hanging out with your boys.
58:24
And remember to like. If you liked, subscribe or
58:26
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58:29
or wherever you like to watch or listen.
58:31
Leave us a review over your favorite podcast app links All
58:34
of our socials in the show notes of this episode.
58:36
And I do mean all of our socials except for one.
58:38
What are we doing about X slash Twitter?
58:41
I mean, I think, I think it's got to be a wrap at this.
58:44
Point I think you're probably right.
58:45
I know we have a lot of pals over there.
58:47
We made a lot of pals in the in the brown battalion on Twitter.
58:52
If you folks are on threads or if you prefer blue sky or if
58:56
they're somewhere else, please let us know in the comments.
58:59
Obviously we're not going to lose touch with you.
59:01
We can't lose touch with you. Bron is going to be in Champions
59:04
League qualifying next year, so we we got to make sure we
59:06
reconvene to root on the battalion.
59:08
So let us know. I think I, I think we're going
59:11
to, I think we're going to walk away from XI think we're going
59:13
to demand a, a transfer. I don't even know why I called
59:16
it XI. Haven't I hate calling it X
59:17
Twitter. I think we're going to walk away
59:19
from Twitter. We'll demand a transfer.
59:21
We'll leave that part of the Internet and and keep it tight
59:25
with our community where we can keep sharing our own joy and
59:29
hope for a better world and work toward that better.
59:31
World 100%, yeah. And and I'm and I'm way out on
59:34
calling it X. The only X that I recognize is
59:36
the late, great Earl Simmons. That's that's X in my heart.
59:40
Anyhow, your boys are out here so connect with us on the other
59:44
platforms. We want to hear from you.
59:45
We love hearing from you. And a big thank you to my close
59:47
as well, Mr. Grant Engel for stepping in for me at the top of
59:51
the show. Crushed it throwing fastballs
59:56
and and change UPS at the same time.
59:58
I appreciate you bro. Likewise buddy, thank you for
1:00:00
the kind words. Yeah, I, I rehearsed the intro
1:00:04
several times, tried to do what I needed to do.
1:00:07
Let us know in the comments how how shocking it was to hear my
1:00:11
my gravelly voice to be like, what the hell is going on here?
1:00:14
So I appreciate anybody who decided to still stick with the
1:00:17
show even though they heard those first few words coming
1:00:20
from me. And we will see you all next
1:00:22
time.