Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / INTO THE NWSL ⚽️ Montoya OUT | KC Current v Washington Spirit PREVIEW | Laura Harvey Frustrated

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INTO THE NWSL ⚽️ Montoya OUT | KC Current v Washington Spirit PREVIEW | Laura Harvey Frustrated · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:05
OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast primarily about women's
0:08
football. I'm your host Dino de Suspitas,
0:10
and as always, I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Engel.
0:14
What's up, man? I'm feeling fantastic, buddy.
0:17
There's some less than fantastic results that we're going to
0:22
discuss. We're going to try to make this
0:24
not the bummer show of the week, but you know, I mean, ups and
0:30
downs, wins and losses, that's life.
0:32
Yeah, let's make it a fantastic show.
0:34
We can do that. There's something stopping us
0:35
from doing that, I think. Sure.
0:37
It's well within our purview. We're going to get started.
0:41
Let's get started with Orlando getting the shit kicked out of
0:44
them and it that being extremely unenjoyable.
0:47
Yeah, that's that felt extremely not fantastic.
0:49
It wasn't. You know, as you as you know, as
0:53
has been covered on this show, you know, your boys helping,
0:57
helping to, you know, raise a newborn around around these
1:00
parts. So things are a little tricky.
1:02
Boys got to catch up on some of these matches after the fact.
1:06
Unfortunately had this one ruin for me.
1:08
But you know, I saw the score came through maybe in a blue sky
1:11
or threads and I was like, first of all, I was like, Oh my God, I
1:14
cannot believe this fucking score line.
1:16
And then second of all, I was like, Oh my God, that plus 375.
1:19
Hopefully somebody out there took it, tried to tell them, you
1:22
know, you know what I was trying to tell them that was live.
1:26
And then it just took me two days to kind of circle back and
1:29
be like, all right, I'm going to sit down and watch this tape.
1:32
I'm just going to swallow it and and see what we see.
1:35
And I think like the encapsulation for me is a couple
1:39
weeks ago I was watching an Orlando Pride match and the
1:41
commentators mentioned Seb Heinz using a word that sent a chill
1:45
down my spine, which was experimentation.
1:48
And I think safe to say that that experimentation has gone
1:52
awry. My Orlando Pride, our Orlando
1:54
Pride winless and seven outscored 12 goals to four over
1:59
that stretch. Your boys been known to, you
2:02
know, have the occasional double take checking out what's going
2:05
on in San Diego or, you know, sending the wayward late night
2:07
DM to Racing Louisville. But in my heart of hearts, I'm
2:11
an Orlando Pride fan and this one really, really was a tough
2:15
one. What did you think when you saw
2:17
that scoreline? Pretty much the exact same thing
2:20
happened to me buddy. I was, I was out.
2:22
I had something that I needed to take care of and I accidentally
2:26
had it spoiled for me and I've been dreading even even talking
2:30
about it. It's just, it was all good just
2:33
a few months ago and now it just feels like, it feels like we're
2:39
really struggling to keep the wheels on this thing.
2:42
Oh my gosh, yeah. I mean it.
2:44
Orlando just can't really score. They they're not really making,
2:48
you know, they're just not really putting a lot of pressure
2:50
offensively. And I think this match was the
2:54
match where defensively kind of like the dam broke a little bit.
2:57
And you know, we talked about, you know, Sam's, you know, as an
3:00
as an outside back. This this match was like we had
3:03
Sam's on the outside, Corey Dyke inside with Raffaele, you know,
3:08
as a center back partner. The defense did pretty well
3:11
early, you know, against that Chicago attack.
3:14
I think they did really well neutralizing like Ali Schlegel,
3:16
I think who had the the least impact.
3:18
But Lou Jamila was an absolute problem.
3:20
Jamice Joseph was an absolute problem too.
3:22
And I think the physicality of how Chicago played just really
3:26
bullied that Orlando defense. Not really used to seeing that.
3:30
Obviously no Barbara Banda, that goes without saying, but no
3:32
Kylie Nadanar as well, who I think is in a lot of ways like
3:36
the heartbeat of that defense. And I just wanted to like point
3:39
to what I thought was, well, I think the 4th and 5th goal
3:43
really tell the story. The fourth goal, Julia Grosso is
3:46
like making a run and the and Lujemila's just kind of in a
3:49
trail position like I'm just going to like, I'm here, I'm
3:52
here, I'm here. Nobody steps steps out to Grosso
3:56
and she's just able to walk in and just kind of bang one in.
3:59
And then Lujemila comes back on the fifth goal, you know, and
4:02
just put the the final nail in the coffin.
4:05
I think the the most heartbreaking moment was after
4:07
Lujemila scores Hafa Eli, who had been in a real battle.
4:10
They went back and forth all day, have the the balls in the
4:13
back of that and Hafa Eli does this half hearted offsides like
4:18
that wasn't offsides, you know, it was just so, so deflating.
4:23
And I think Lisa Carlin, who was on the call with Merritt
4:27
Mathias, in a very weird moment, asked Merritt what it would take
4:31
for the pride to repeat as double winners, which at that
4:34
point, I think I almost fell out of my chair.
4:36
I'm like, it might like what? What planet do I live on?
4:40
Like this is like a sheer impossibility.
4:43
We might need to have to start having the conversation about
4:45
Orlando potentially missing the play offs or or maybe having a
4:49
battle to kind of keep their. Spot certainly feels that way.
4:52
I mean, you know, they're one point ahead of Gotham FC and
4:57
Seattle Rain FC. There are four goals behind the
5:00
bats and goal differential and only two ahead of Seattle Rain
5:03
FC, which might seem like a pretty steep mountain for
5:06
Seattle to climb the way they're attacking in their own right.
5:11
We'll talk about them later. But yeah, I mean, it's it's
5:13
live, man. Like you talked about it last
5:16
week, the way Houston Dashes looked recently.
5:18
They're sitting on 23 points. So they're five behind Orlando,
5:22
three behind Racing Louisville, four behind the bats and, and,
5:26
and the rain. Do you mean to tell me that
5:29
Houston Dash hasn't looked significantly better than both
5:34
Orlando and Seattle? Way better.
5:38
I, I think so. I mean, Houston's, I mean,
5:40
they're, they're, they're really coming on quicker.
5:43
Like it's funny, like we just kind of like we're sort of
5:45
adjacent to the roller coaster. And I think we both kind of
5:47
hopped on right at the the right moment.
5:50
And now this seems really, really cooking.
5:51
I think I think ultimately there's going to be a five team
5:54
battle for those last three spots because Houston
5:57
specifically, they have a really tough final five matches.
6:00
So get ready for this at Washington, host Orlando Pride
6:04
at Angel City, host the Kansas City current and then they have
6:08
to go to Portland to play the Thorns.
6:10
So that's a little bit of a gauntlet for them for Houston.
6:13
So we're we're going to see what Houston's made of.
6:15
I think as we as we kind of hit the the the final stretch.
6:18
But ultimately I think it's five teams for three spots.
6:21
You've got Seattle, you mentioned racing Louisville, the
6:24
Orlando Pride, Houston Dash and Angel City, So there's three
6:28
spots for those five. And I think I can see, honestly,
6:32
I can say it's early enough that I can see kind of any
6:35
combination of those 3 getting in there.
6:37
And I think my last point in Orlando, you know, I made my
6:40
pick, my MVP pick last year, which was Barbara Banda.
6:44
And I think I might have been the only one, not the only one,
6:47
but I might have been one of a few people that had Band over
6:49
Chewinga for MVPI feel super validated at this point because
6:54
this team without Banda looks like they could be a bottom two
6:59
team, a bottom three, you know, like week in, week out.
7:02
Her impact is just that massive. So, you know, just kind of want
7:06
to circle back to that and give myself a little bit of a pass
7:10
because, you know, it was a little lonely out there, but I,
7:12
I feel like a little bit of validation on that pick.
7:15
Yeah, I think that I think that's fine.
7:16
I mean, obviously, you know, we talked about some of the other
7:19
losses that Orlando Pride is, as you know, seen as well.
7:24
Obviously Adriana goes to to the Saudi League and there have been
7:27
some injuries and stuff. But Barbara Bend is the the
7:29
straw that stirs the drink. Even before that, though, man, I
7:33
mean, Wolf there they were kind of they were kind of starting to
7:36
hit the swoon before before she was out.
7:38
And to your point, though, I, I, I'm not disputing what you're
7:41
saying, it's real scary hours without her out there.
7:45
I mean. There's just not they tried
7:46
something, you know, interesting, you know, this week
7:49
where they just were lasering in crosses from kind of every
7:52
angle. Marta was involved there, I
7:55
think to some success. You know, I think they had 26
7:58
come through and a lot of them in dangerous areas.
8:01
But you know, again, this like the experimentation thing is
8:05
really tough. Like it's tough to just be like
8:07
right now, now we're going to start throwing change UPS
8:09
instead of fastballs. It's like, well, we should have
8:11
worked on that. You know, I think like, you
8:13
know, it, it, it just is a weird, you know, it's a weird
8:17
quirk of the season. It could just be a string of bad
8:19
luck to kind of have gotten us here.
8:21
But either way, Orlando's going to have to scrap very, very hard
8:25
to kind of stay alive in this mix.
8:27
I. Like it?
8:27
Yeah, I I always think it too. You see a like an NBA team right
8:31
before the playoffs, they're just like, OK, pick and roll
8:34
defense. We switch everything.
8:35
Now it's like, OK, well that's a great sign.
8:39
Yeah, no, I think there's there's a little bit of that
8:41
this team has just never really kind of caught their rhythm.
8:45
You know, it's it's a little bit of a bummer to see, but you
8:48
know, still some some time left on the clock and we'll see how
8:52
they're able to finish. But let's scoot ahead.
8:54
I want to talk a little bit about your team, Seattle Reign
8:57
FC. Oh, sure, let's let's brighten
8:59
up the mood a little bit. I'm here.
9:02
Let's let's get a beverage in here.
9:05
Thought you'd never ask? Smells delicious.
9:10
You know what? I've been on a kick.
9:13
Cheers to you, Sarah. I've been on a kick lately of
9:17
pouring my beer into a glass. Oh.
9:19
Let's go, you know. That's fancy.
9:21
A little bit of a little bit of the carbonation out, maybe class
9:24
this joint up a little bit, who knows, I like that.
9:27
Tilt, look at that. Who's the guy?
9:30
The guy who you would go into people's bars and restaurants
9:33
and like scream at everybody. John, I believe the Bar Rescue
9:37
guy, right? I saw on his television program
9:41
maybe a decade plus ago that if you if you pour your beer and
9:45
you get some good foam on the top, it lets all that kind of
9:50
that carbonation out into the universe and it doesn't go into
9:54
your belly. So I don't know what the it's
9:56
like. It just fee it's a better
9:58
drinking experience. So I don't know if that's true,
10:00
but if Jon Taffer said it, surely it's true.
10:04
I mean, he's putting putting good vibes into the universe,
10:08
you know, putting, putting some bronze positive juju into the
10:10
universe and also some carbonation.
10:12
Shout out to us. That's what we do.
10:15
Let's talk about Seattle Ring Football Club.
10:17
Speaking of teams that are having a hard time scoring and
10:21
not winning football matches lately.
10:24
So rain hasn't They haven't won in their last five matches.
10:28
They've notched 3 points in that span.
10:30
That's as many points as the North Carolina Courage, and only
10:34
more than, unfortunately, Orlando Pride and Bay FC in that
10:39
five match span. You remember that time when I
10:43
said that I was a good luck charm because the BFC won the
10:46
first game that I covered of theirs in person?
10:49
And then obviously Orlando last year.
10:51
Yeah, I think it's safe to say Lux ran out.
10:54
Feels that way, but that's OK, buddy.
10:55
We can always turn it around. You know, we got we got other
10:58
things going for us in our lives.
11:00
I want to say Speaking of like luck and just kind of the way
11:05
things are shaking out. I want to say this on the front
11:08
end before we we take a look at it at a quick clip.
11:12
Is that so obviously I've been covering Seattle Rain FC since
11:16
last year. So I'm not, I'm the long term
11:18
veteran journalist. I don't know Laura Harvey
11:20
particularly well, but she is a great sport, always answers my
11:25
questions, you know, treats me with respect.
11:27
I, I, I like to think I reciprocate that.
11:30
It's a professional environment, of course, and she has been
11:33
accountable as long as I've been covering the team.
11:36
And obviously last year didn't go great for Seattle Rain
11:40
either. But she was always there in
11:42
those press conferences to say I needed to get the team a little
11:45
better prepared. I could I could have done things
11:47
differently. We've talked on this show about
11:49
how she's, you know, said I think I made my Subs too early
11:53
this time, or maybe I made my Subs too late.
11:55
Always accountable to her team. This is why I thought it was
11:59
extremely interesting when she made some comments in the post
12:04
match presser. This clip she is responding to
12:08
Jada Evans, great reporter from Seattle Times, talking about
12:12
adjustments made from the first half to the second-half we're.
12:16
A team that when we set ourselves up and the game looks
12:19
the way we think it's going to look, we do really well.
12:22
Like we're pretty good at seeing what's happening and, and being
12:25
able to do well if if it looks like how we've prepared, if a
12:29
team changes, we don't see it in the second-half.
12:32
When Kroy came on, it changed the way we needed to build and,
12:35
and it takes us 15 minutes to see it.
12:38
We just keep doing the same things and giving the ball back.
12:41
And I think that's my point around going back to the
12:43
fundamentals. I think we have to go back to
12:44
the fundamentals of football and what makes us successful and not
12:48
overcomplicated. So.
12:49
I just thought it was interesting to talk about like
12:53
doing better with fundamentals and kind of taking too long to
12:59
adjust, you know, and giving the ball away, not really kind of
13:03
executing the plant. Now.
13:05
One of the bright spots I thought in that match, and I
13:09
haven't even mentioned it yet. This is this is following
13:12
obviously the two nil loss to Washington Spirit in DC.
13:17
One of the bright spots of that match that I thought I was
13:19
watching was was Jordan Bugg. I felt like she had played
13:22
better than she had in in in recent weeks.
13:26
I thought last week she she made a pretty good appearance too and
13:29
she seems to be getting back to her form now.
13:32
Here's me asking Laura Harvey about Jordan Bugg playing
13:37
better. So Laura, I asked for Jordan's
13:40
assessment on it. I'll ask you the same question.
13:43
I felt like Jordan Bug did a really nice job on Sofia
13:47
Cantore, who's a physical player, a crafty player.
13:50
How did you see Bug's performance against Cantore
13:52
today? I thought that tonight, today
13:55
was Jordan Bug's best performance in a long time.
13:59
Yeah, overall I thought she was. She did really well.
14:04
Can I ask what? Can I ask what specifically you
14:06
liked about her performance? I think just fundamental stuff
14:10
she did well, You know, she defended in the ways that we
14:12
needed her to defend. When she got the ball, she tried
14:15
to look for the passes that we'd spoken about, we thought we'd be
14:17
on. So she she tried to do the
14:21
things that we'd asked her to do, and I thought she executed
14:23
them pretty well. So the interesting there are two
14:27
interesting things that I that I found.
14:28
There is one she gave Laura gives me the short answer at
14:33
first to just say she played well.
14:36
And then what you can't see on there because the zoom camera
14:39
flips back to me is she gives me like a little smirk as as though
14:44
to say I'm not fully answering this question.
14:46
And of course because I'm me, I go, well, hold on.
14:51
Can we specifically, can you just tell me what Jordan Bug did
14:54
better? And she goes back to she
14:57
executed the game plan. She made the passes that we
15:00
talked about our players making when they're trying to build out
15:02
of the back from the press. That's obviously not a direct
15:05
quote, but that's kind of the idea that she's talking about.
15:08
And so I think you just got to ask yourself, you know, Laura
15:11
Harvey, who is constantly accountable, constantly saying
15:14
this is on me. I got to prepare our team better
15:16
when she is openly saying, you know, we, we didn't play to the
15:21
game plan. I got to think, and this is, you
15:24
know, this is me surmising these things.
15:27
It got it feels like she's really frustrated with the way
15:30
her team is absorbing and executing the game plan out
15:33
there. Real quick on Jordan Bugg, I
15:34
think in my notes, I, I, I fully agree in it.
15:37
And I was so pumped to, to hear you ask Harvey about that
15:41
because I, I think the one note that I had was like, wow, Jordan
15:44
Bugg just never runs after a ball that she can't reach.
15:47
You know what you see defenders do all the time?
15:49
You know, they take a two couple steps.
15:51
Oh, turns out I shouldn't have done that because I wasn't going
15:54
to reach that ball. That just never happens to bug.
15:57
She's just like, she'll see it. She's like, no, I'm not going to
15:59
go after that. Even though.
16:00
And it's like, I feel like 7 out of 10 defenders will take a
16:03
step. Some will take two or three to
16:05
kind of like get themselves into trouble.
16:07
And she's already so smart from AIIQ standpoint and and being
16:11
able to just step intelligently in her passing, which Laura
16:14
Harvey mentioned on point as well.
16:16
She's she's going to be really, really good.
16:18
But offensively, I mean, I think what are we looking at like XG
16:22
wise, Seattle 0.4911 touches in the opposition box.
16:29
That was the lowest number for any team this weekend.
16:34
The second lowest was the North Carolina courage with 18 box
16:37
touches. So if you're sitting at 11, that
16:40
makes it nearly impossible. Shots.
16:43
Jordan Haitima with two, Maddie Dalene with two.
16:46
The team as a whole just managed six shots, 2 on target.
16:50
So you just really can't. You've got to be able to
16:54
penetrate a little deeper. And on this day, Washington was
16:58
really sharp. I think Lacey Santos, you know,
17:01
Seattle had nothing. No answers for Santos, no
17:04
answers for Bethune when she came on either.
17:07
Trinity Rodman just dunking all over me for for talking shit
17:12
about her crying to the refs. You know, had the highest rated
17:15
player this weekend according to fat mob and just two
17:19
unbelievable finishes. I think the first finish, what
17:21
was so incredible, not like that that that she was able to kind
17:25
of like react so quickly with the volley, but she also placed
17:29
it perfectly with power. You know, and it's like we talk
17:34
about you, you, you often see players Shank that more often
17:38
than not. And not only did she stick it,
17:40
but she stuck it with authority. And that's why she's awesome.
17:44
Yeah, well, I mean clearly one of the best players in the
17:47
world. And Laura Harvey in the post
17:50
game presser, she talked about that too and said that second
17:53
goal that Rodman scored was just a lot of heart was that if you
17:58
look at at the run she makes to get in position to score that
18:01
goal, Harvey was quick to point out ran by three Reign defenders
18:06
to get into that position. So I would say like, even in
18:11
some of the really frustrating moments last year where rain
18:15
were just, I mean, you know, indisputably awful.
18:18
I've I've rarely seen her that frustrated with the team's
18:21
execution, I think. She knows that like the the, the
18:24
talents there, the skills there, the opportunities there to make
18:28
a run here, like, you know, it's like Casey's running away with
18:30
it. Everybody knows that.
18:32
But there's just such a hodgepodge, like with everybody
18:35
else that, you know, you could, I'm not sure the a home playoff
18:38
match is in the cards for Seattle, but they could win a
18:40
playoff match. I don't think that's out of the
18:42
realm of possibility. I think considering where they
18:45
were at last year, I think that's a huge, huge step up for
18:48
them. And I think there's still
18:50
players that we haven't seen get incorporated fully.
18:53
A me official, you know, Alendola, I know she's dealing
18:55
with that injury, but there's still some some things to
18:58
happen. And I think credit to Laura
19:00
Harvey for not, you know, sort of leaning into that and really
19:04
just sticking to like, Hey, this is what's happening on the
19:06
field. You know, we're just going to
19:07
focus on these players and and fixing what's here.
19:11
And if we can add, you know, personality and reincorporate
19:14
that into our rotation, that's great.
19:17
But we we've got to sort of focus on what's in front of us
19:19
for. Sure.
19:20
And I think just one, one more quick thing on the Washington
19:22
spirit in terms of, well, I mean, compared to Seattle rain,
19:27
in terms of a measuring stick, you know, yes, this is a massive
19:31
improvement from last year for Seattle, Just not in the class
19:35
of Washington spirit, nor should they be.
19:38
You know, I mean, you talk about Lacey Santos, you, you, you
19:40
think about, you know, they bring on Croy Bethune late in
19:43
that clip, Laura Harvey talked about it.
19:44
You bring out Bethune. It's a completely different
19:46
look. She's one of the best players in
19:47
the world, even at her at her young age.
19:50
You know, Sofia Cantore, even though I did think bug, you
19:54
know, held her down for 65 minutes.
19:55
That's 65 minutes that your best center back has to be
20:00
preoccupied with Sofia Cantore. And it's just you're just going
20:03
to get run down by that. And so I think the the evidence
20:06
was certainly there. Massive improvement for Seattle
20:09
rain this season. Still a long way to go before
20:12
they're competing with with a team of that caliber.
20:14
Yeah. No doubt I want to talk.
20:17
I know a little bit out of order, but Washington spirit
20:20
monster match up this weekend versus the KC current.
20:24
I mean, that's that's a lot of points going up going head to
20:27
head in in a in a very tasty week 20 match up.
20:31
This one going down in Kansas City.
20:33
I don't want to get robbed of like like a full both sides kind
20:37
of like really going for it because like the the the lead is
20:41
such that Kansas City shouldn't really be feeling too much
20:44
pressure. But on the same token, this
20:46
might be the team that you run into in the playoffs in the
20:49
second round or possibly in the final in in San Jose.
20:52
So do you want to come on like kind of show up and get rolled
20:54
in your house? Probably not.
20:56
So this this might be one of those maybe one of the last two
21:01
or three matches down the stretch where Vladko really kind
21:03
of like unleashes and and and wants to like really make sure
21:07
that they walk away with the three.
21:09
If Casey wins this one, they'll they'll be just two wins away
21:12
from the shield again. We we talked about last show,
21:15
September 26 is a key date. If they're able to kind of run
21:18
the table over their next three matches, Casey just basically
21:21
wraps it up, which would be massive.
21:22
So I think big stakes in this one.
21:25
Even with that large lead. What are you going to be looking
21:27
for? I'm going.
21:28
To be looking for Casey's defense to continue to try to
21:31
smother every team they encounter.
21:34
They have a extremely long clean sheet streak.
21:38
The last goal they allowed was Uchena Khanu's 88th minute goal
21:44
on June 14th. Now I do think it's important to
21:49
mention that there was a one month break there where there
21:51
were no matches while the while the EUR were going on.
21:54
Still, that would be 7 full matchups since then in which
22:00
they have not allowed a goal. Lorena, they're they're great
22:04
Brazilian goalkeeper ended up on the injury report with a knee
22:07
injury late last week. But we've talked about Laurel
22:11
Ivory before, who is probably for my money, one of the one of
22:15
the absolute best backup goalkeepers in the league.
22:19
But here's here's the interesting or here's the
22:21
helpful part for Laurel Ivory as well.
22:24
She only had to make one save last week against Bay FC to keep
22:28
that clean sheet. So if you don't have to make
22:31
that many saves and you have a good goalkeeper back there, I
22:34
think the the the defense is in pretty good shape.
22:38
Yeah, I, I feel like this, this weekend's going to be a little
22:40
trickier if Laura ever is got to, you know, take the reins.
22:44
But I mean, she's got the skill set.
22:46
I mean, I think I think she has the best backup keeper in the
22:49
league. That would be my first pick, but
22:51
Casey's defense, I mean, you mention it like they're they're
22:54
just so smothering they're intense they want the ball back.
22:58
They just don't let you do too much.
23:00
I mean you look at what Bay was able to do against KC7 shots
23:04
total 0.24 XG for the game for Bay FC.
23:09
So I mean just nothing doing KC dominant another two nil win for
23:13
KC pretty much their flavor of the season.
23:17
And and I I love that they're playing that way.
23:19
You know, because we saw it last year.
23:21
If you have a dominant defense, you're absolutely in every
23:24
match, especially in this league, especially down the
23:26
stretch, you know, when when you know fatigue and injury and all
23:30
that kind of stuff happens and just the windows get tighter.
23:33
So I'm really, really excited to see what Casey brings to this
23:37
match up and the spirit. I feel like that that
23:40
performance against Seattle was, you know, aside from you, you
23:44
know, your, your, your covering of that team.
23:46
That was a performance from, from the spirits that I feel
23:48
like we've been waiting to see, you know, just kind of go out
23:50
there, keep control of the match the entire way through, dictate
23:54
everything, the tempo, the field position, you know, just wire to
23:59
wire. You know, we, we just haven't
24:00
seen that from Washington. So a perfect, you know, kind of
24:04
table setter for a massive match up this weekend.
24:07
Yeah. No doubt, I think.
24:08
I mean, if you think about the spirits two best matches at
24:11
least recently, they must have something against the Pacific
24:14
Northwest because they had that dominating win coming out of the
24:17
international break versus Portland thorns and then did it
24:20
again against Seattle rain. And I actually mentioned it
24:24
probably could have grabbed this clip too, but we we probably
24:27
don't need that many clips. But I asked Sam Meza.
24:31
It was Meza and bug in the in the post game presser.
24:35
You know, when a team presses you like this, and I think I
24:38
had, I had referred to because, you know, I always got to get my
24:40
jokes off that I said we when you watch Washington Spirit
24:43
play, it looks like they flew over from Barcelona and they
24:47
play like a Spanish side. And for what it's worth, Jordan
24:49
Bug chuckled at my at my joke. And, you know, I I just asked
24:53
Mezzo, like, how do you even play against a team that's
24:56
trying to press you into oblivion like that, especially
24:58
as a defensive midfielder when you're when you're pinned back?
25:02
And she just just kind of shrugged.
25:03
It was like, it's really hard. Like you have to have your head
25:07
on a swivel and be looking around for that pass.
25:09
Like what you and I like always talk about when teams do play
25:12
Barcelona. It's like you have to be
25:14
thinking about that second pass, the third pass just to escape
25:18
the press. Yeah.
25:19
And as I'd mentioned, like she didn't think they did a terrible
25:23
job at it. And I agree with her.
25:24
I don't, I don't think, I don't think Seattle was.
25:26
They didn't look like totally overmatched, but they looked
25:29
like they were in trouble the whole time.
25:32
Yeah, yeah, they they were definitely in trouble the the
25:34
whole time. And I think what what kept
25:36
happening was exactly what you said.
25:39
You know, Washington was taking away the first second, sometimes
25:41
the third outlet and then that Wood Forest, one of the
25:44
midfielders or one of the backliners to have to kick a 25
25:47
yard pass. And I think they're not used to
25:49
that pitch, you know, so the ball would just die and all of a
25:53
sudden, like, it's like Lacey Sanchez is now running the other
25:55
way with it or Hirschfeld or I mean, like it was, it just kind
25:59
of kept happening. And it, it reminds me of what
26:02
Laura Harvey was meant to. It was like, oh, it would just
26:03
take us 15 minutes to figure out that we're doing something
26:06
wrong. We need to change it.
26:07
It was just a tough day, a long day for for, for Seattle all the
26:10
way around, I'd say. Create, created by Washington
26:13
Spirit, which is why we get to, when we get to see Kansas City
26:17
Current versus Washington Spirit go up against each other, it's
26:20
going to be a hell of a football match.
26:21
You know, we'll be locked in. Yeah, no doubt.
26:24
Kansas City, I want to talk about what they did last
26:26
weekend, Week 19. We talked about a little bit, 2
26:29
dominant, 2 nil win over Bay FC. They outshoot Bay 22 to 7.
26:33
They get more shots inside the box, 16 to 4.
26:37
But but, but, but shots, you look at shots on target,
26:41
actually no 12:50 for KC. They dominated there as well.
26:45
On the heels of that loss, the team announced that head coach
26:49
Albertine Montoya will be stepping down at the end of the
26:52
season. I got a chance to ask Albertine
26:55
question. Coach, I just wanted to ask real
26:57
quick, Turning a corner, like not having been able to do that
27:01
thus far this season, what, what's the corner tactically or
27:04
strategically that this team has to turn to to get to that big
27:09
goal, reach that playoffs? What are you looking at down the
27:12
stretch that you haven't really been able to crack so far?
27:16
That's a great question. That's what we're asking
27:17
ourselves. I've highlighted this for quite
27:21
some time outside of the Kansas City game.
27:23
Obviously you know, they're first place team, best team in
27:26
the league and they're running away with it.
27:28
But leading up to that, eight out of our last nine games, we
27:32
let the teams and X GS corner kicks, shots, shots on goal and
27:35
we're just so unfortunate. Every goal game has been a one
27:38
goal difference or a tie and it just hasn't gone our way.
27:42
And look, as a sports team, all you have to do is continue
27:46
staying with it and plugging away.
27:48
And we feel confident. We can feel it in the locker
27:50
room. We can feel it in training.
27:51
We're so close. We just need this one win.
27:54
And I think once we get this, just a little extra energy from
27:58
three points, it's going to change things around.
28:02
And that's all we've been concentrating.
28:04
And the players feel like they're that's actually one of
28:06
the things they're looking forward to.
28:07
They know we're so close and it's just a matter of executing
28:10
and getting 3 points. What was your read on on
28:13
Montoya's answer there? I don't hate it.
28:16
I think you I've heard plenty of managers say it like, hey, we're
28:19
creating some chances and the ball's not getting past the
28:22
keeper. I don't think he's I don't think
28:24
he's totally wrong about that either.
28:27
I don't think he's just he's not blaming the luck monster.
28:30
I think, yeah, I think Bay FC has been able to to take some
28:34
chances. I I do think too, he was honest
28:36
that hey, not so much against Kansas City Current.
28:39
It was mostly that, it was mostly one way traffic in that
28:42
one. But he had talked about the, you
28:43
know, those previous matches. So yeah, I, I think there's,
28:46
there's some of that the the problems are greater than that.
28:50
But I, I think he raises a good point that there have been
28:53
sometimes where you and I have just watched him, like how many
28:55
times is Rachel Kununaji going to hit the post?
28:58
And we know she's good enough to score those opportunities.
29:01
Yeah, absolutely. But you know, I fully agree with
29:04
you. I think the Kunaji's situation
29:08
is sort of like a double edged sword because she's so good and
29:12
she gets so close on her own that it can kind of fool you
29:16
into thinking, oh, we were close, you know, or, or oh, the
29:19
XG like Montoya's, oh, the XG is like we're in the, we're in the
29:21
neighborhood. Either way, I think my big issue
29:24
and I, and I've asked Montoya about this a few different
29:26
times, especially as the team start to backslide.
29:29
What's different? And I think pretty consistently,
29:33
you know, to his credit or to his detriment, it's been nothing
29:36
like we just need to kind of stick to what we're doing.
29:39
We need, you know, like the things, the, the balls kind of
29:42
bounce our way. And if it's me, you know,
29:44
obviously like, you know, I put my GM hat on.
29:46
If it's me, I'm like, either he's playing coy, he's not going
29:48
to tell me or here's what we're doing that's new or there's not
29:52
that many new ideas. And I think you watch this team
29:55
week in and week out and you're just like, there are, there
29:59
aren't any new ideas. This is the same thing that we
30:02
this is getting worse because it's the same version and now
30:05
you're playing teams that have a bunch of tape on you and you're
30:07
not bringing anything new to the table to the same, you know,
30:10
Kudanagi thing the same. All right, what can we do?
30:13
You know, Didasco's been, you know, problematic, like running
30:16
so much of the offense, you know, through her as a starting
30:19
point like that. And I understand the move for
30:22
sure. You know, and I and I like the
30:23
guy and he's got a good positive attitude.
30:25
He definitely brings a lot to the table.
30:27
But pretty much we can we got to been underwhelmed by, you know,
30:30
the lack of adjustments. You know, we we want to see
30:33
adjustments in game, but we're not even seeing adjustments week
30:36
to week. So I think that the move
30:38
probably warranted, you know, but wish wish the guy the best
30:41
of luck, but I think a move that had to happen.
30:43
I. Mean, you know, it's a it's a
30:45
results driven business with football.
30:47
I mean, what, what can you do? It's not funny that the that
30:51
Albertine Montoya is is taking another job.
30:53
I mean, that sucks for any any competitor, you know, coach or
30:57
player when you kind of have to move on.
31:00
But the statement was very like kind of startuppy where it was
31:03
just like we're moving into like a new phase and like all these
31:06
things. I was like, wow, we're really
31:07
leaning into the Bay Silicon Valley kind of lingo in there,
31:12
huh? Yeah, we're all failing fast out
31:14
here, like. I you know.
31:18
I'm not gonna like, what are you gonna do?
31:21
I mean, the my, my antenna went up, I would say like this would
31:27
have been before the break. So maybe a couple months ago.
31:29
I think Montoya let it slip and and a pressure he was like,
31:31
well, you know, well, for as long as I'm here, you know, and
31:33
I was like, you called. That you called that early?
31:36
Yeah, Yeah, I was. Like, all right, so I think, you
31:39
know, that means that there's bring me been some, you know,
31:42
some expectation set and you know, some ramifications tied to
31:46
those. But I think I don't know, we we
31:49
all kind of knew where, where things were headed.
31:50
I'm interested to see a how Bay finishes, what they do from a
31:54
personal standpoint, who they bring into kind of like sit in
31:56
that seat, because I do think franchise got a lot, a lot going
32:00
for it. Like the, the place rocks.
32:02
I mean, it's it's a really great set up, you know, very
32:05
professional franchise in terms of how they do business.
32:09
So I think they're going to make the right move.
32:11
And I don't think that, you know, Montoya was a wrong move.
32:13
It's just this is this is kind of like the nature of sports and
32:16
the evolution of the growth of a franchise.
32:18
You know, you making the play offs in your first year is a
32:20
nice a nice piece to build on. But yeah, I think we'll we'll
32:24
see what happens from here. And again, still some football
32:26
we played for Bay and for a lot of these other teams that are
32:30
fighting for a play off spot. And you know, we talked about
32:32
it's a results based business. If Asisa Oshwala scores 12 goals
32:37
last year and scores 12 goals this year, it's a different
32:41
story. Every, everything's different.
32:42
So like you know that is not going to help I.
32:46
Mean you I, you. I have to throw a Kundanagi in
32:49
there as well. And you I will never I, I don't
32:53
think I've. I've never seen her play a bad
32:55
game in the NWSL. Maybe if I have, maybe I
32:57
haven't. If I did, I forgot it because
32:59
every time she plays, she is great.
33:03
It just is not really translating into goals.
33:05
And I think maybe too much was hitched on that.
33:08
But there's not enough players out to take before Kundanagi.
33:10
If we're drafting, you know, mad, you know, Madden franchise
33:14
style, we're kind of resetting the deck.
33:16
I think she's so, so, so good. So I hope they do, you know,
33:20
just basically, you know, re re rework it and then, you know,
33:23
rebuild around Kundanagi. Yeah.
33:27
That's a great point. You know, you'd like to see some
33:30
more from her as well, but it's like she's not the problem, but
33:34
she is paid to kind of be the solution and she hasn't quite
33:39
been that just yet. Yeah, perfectly.
33:41
Put all right, well, we're talking about some teams
33:43
fighting for some playoff spots. This team Gotham FCI think we we
33:48
got in our mind that, you know, maybe they've been up and down
33:52
and maybe back up again. I think Arrow maybe pointing
33:55
firmly up. I have been one of the
33:58
internet's biggest Gotham FC detractors.
34:00
But I mean I got to say it. They look good, but I want to
34:04
positive a theory or a hypothesis to you.
34:06
I kind of feel like Gotham coming off the championship
34:10
making all those big splashy personnel moves.
34:13
We've seen this in other sports. Sometimes it's just too much.
34:16
You know, it's like whose team is this who's who's who gets the
34:19
ball? What what are we do?
34:20
You know, and I I feel like it's taken until now to kind of like
34:26
re re Orient re sort of like find everybody's place, find
34:32
some rhythm, find some connectivity.
34:34
And you know, it's not as star-studded, you know, a line
34:37
up as maybe like some people were fantasizing about, but it's
34:41
rock solid. It's tough.
34:43
They play really hard and they found a way, you know, to
34:46
basically make Ester the focal point and maximize the amount of
34:50
chances that she's getting and and they're turning that into
34:52
results They. Keep doing this thing where they
34:58
drop points and then it's like, oh, they better do something to
35:01
pull themselves out of this and then they pull themselves out of
35:05
it. So I, I want to say this is one
35:07
of those things where I think my football caveman brain kind of
35:13
helped me a little bit because yes, you know, I'm not going to,
35:16
I'm not going to get on you too much.
35:18
But you are one of the internet's foremost Gotham FC
35:22
haters and and I respected you for it.
35:26
I mean, you were just you were coming out and be like, not a
35:28
good team, not playing well, don't like him.
35:31
And I was like, all right, he he there, we there we go.
35:34
That that's not playing well, though.
35:36
They were not they were not playing well.
35:37
You were correct. You were correct about those
35:39
things. But my caveman brain where I
35:42
would just keep on being where I would just keep saying I got a
35:45
lot of good players, though, which you you have watched, yes,
35:51
and you've watched that lead me astray several times.
35:56
And and you've told me you'd be like, hey, man, I think that
35:58
might be leading you down the the wrong path.
36:00
I'm like, I don't know, I'm looking at the the paper looks
36:04
good. Now.
36:05
In this case, though, I think it it feels like they're going to
36:09
have enough to hang on. And I, I want to, I just want to
36:12
cite this example. So, you know, they're down one
36:15
nil to Angel City this past week and they bring on 2 second-half
36:20
Subs to start the second-half. And that would be Midge purse
36:24
and Rose Lavelle. Pretty good substitution window
36:26
if you ask me. And within like the first like
36:29
minute it felt like, I think it was, I think it was the 47th
36:32
minute or whatever They come on there.
36:34
It's a little, it's a little give and go between Midge and
36:37
and Jace purse gets to the end line.
36:40
She dishes it inside, Gabby Portillo scores.
36:44
And then during the celebration, little samba dance near near the
36:47
corner flag, you see five players coming to the camera
36:51
shop and it's Midge Portillo, Jace Astaire and Bruninia.
36:57
And I'm just and I kind of stopped in that moment.
36:59
I was like, that's a lot of good players on the field at one
37:02
time. And they don't even have Rose
37:04
Lavelle on the frame yet. And I don't know, man, Like, I,
37:07
I think it's going to be interesting and we haven't
37:10
mentioned it just yet, but it's not exactly breaking news, a
37:14
broken news, if you will. Jaden Shaw is going to join
37:19
Gotham FC. And so Amoros is is going to
37:23
have to find a way to play all those players.
37:26
He's going to have to to figure out that midfield.
37:29
But that's not a bad problem to have, yeah.
37:32
And I think Amoros is probably, you know, as mentioned, you
37:35
know, you the two players you mentioned, Mitch Purse and Rose
37:37
Lavelle second-half Subs. That's a perfect example.
37:41
Because I think you rewind back a year and a half and you're
37:43
just like Mitch purse sharpie Roosevelt Sharpie.
37:45
You know, it's like all, you know, Crystal Dunn sharpie, you
37:48
know, it's like every every big American name that you know, you
37:50
just sharpie, sharpie, sharpie Jenner nice.
37:52
Like, you know, you just kind of go on and on.
37:55
So like, I think the fact that things have kind of settled a
37:59
little bit. Those those players can come off
38:02
the bench. Those players can start.
38:04
It's not this sort of like heavy burden of like, all right, how
38:07
do we, you know, like how do I break?
38:09
You know, it just feels a lot more outside of a stare.
38:12
I'm not sure. I'm not sure anybody's like
38:14
super duper locked in just because the the the the squad is
38:18
so talented. Jill and Howie probably have to,
38:20
you know, say this is a player, that good player.
38:23
Yeah. Let's let's get the break the
38:24
Sharpie out for John Howell. But, and I'm, I'm sure I'm, I'm
38:27
mentioning I'm, I'm missing a few, but case in point, I feel
38:31
like that team has kind of bought in to Amoros and like
38:35
maybe the the the rotations and the lineups and like understand
38:38
that it's bigger than, you know, we're an All Star team because I
38:42
think they got maybe humbled a little bit last season.
38:44
And there's, there's still a long ways from the very, very
38:48
tip top of the league. But with that said, you know,
38:50
they they do, they do have a playoffs, you know, so and a
38:54
team like Gotham can get hot to a player like a stair, you know,
38:58
all the way, you know, the midfield.
39:00
Jaden Shaw, we'll see what she brings.
39:02
Brunina, who you mentioned, you know, what did she have 14
39:05
passes into the final third? I mean, she's just a little bit
39:08
of a menace, like up and down, you know, the sideline.
39:11
I think they they've got such interesting pieces and
39:14
everybody's playing a little bit.
39:16
Everybody's trying to not do too much.
39:18
I'd say everybody's like doing the right amount of deferring,
39:23
recognizing that there's talent all over the place, there's good
39:25
options all over the place. I don't have to do too much.
39:28
I don't have to kind of overextend myself.
39:30
And I think they've, there's something about it that's
39:33
working. They got winners man non Katrin
39:36
Berger, Jess Carter, European champion 2 times in case anybody
39:40
else will remember that. Power a couple 2 fucking go.
39:44
Yeah, absolutely. Rose Lavelle Esterre and you
39:49
know, I think it I, you know, we've, I think we've talked
39:51
about her a little bit, but not nearly enough on this podcast
39:55
just yet. Sarah Schupansky, which first of
39:57
all, let me just say as somebody who went to College in the
40:00
Midwest and is, was originally born in the Midwest before I
40:04
started to move to much nicer places in the country.
40:07
Sarah Schupansky That's a Pittsburgh name if I ever heard
40:10
it. And she born born in Pittsburgh,
40:13
played for the Pitt Panthers. A little ACC football, 32 goals
40:18
for the Panthers in her career. This is her rookie year.
40:20
She's leading the bats and assists with five with more than
40:24
1200 minutes played up and down that right wing.
40:28
I think it could be very interesting if you're going to
40:30
spell Rose Lavelle at times with Jaden Shaw.
40:34
Wouldn't mind seeing Shubansky serve some serve some passes in
40:38
the middle there. Let Shaw use her smarts and her
40:41
her speed and her physical skills to kind of get on the end
40:45
of some of those. So let's see where it's going.
40:47
I think the midfield is going to be interesting with Lavelle
40:51
Howell, Shoe Pansky and and now Shaw.
40:54
But you know, Omarosa is going to have to figure it out.
40:57
And, you know, not only can he, but I think he, he might be able
41:03
to throw some combinations out there that even if they don't
41:06
work at first, they might just accidentally work, I think.
41:09
I think that's a great point. And I think the profile that
41:12
Gotham seems to be going for is give me somebody that could be
41:17
effective basically just past the halfway line all the way
41:21
into the box. And I think you look at
41:23
Schupansky, she can pass and shoot.
41:25
You look at Jaden Shaw, she's effective everywhere.
41:28
Jace A menace offensively. Like I think let's go when the
41:32
refs aren't fucking with her. Like she's just, she's effective
41:35
at so many different parts of the pitch and then a stair is
41:37
just up there. So like, if you're a defense,
41:40
you have to shade towards a stair, but you also have to
41:42
respect these other players. You have to respect Jane Shaw
41:46
Roosevelt from distance. You know, Jace has mentioned
41:49
Gabby Porchito like Shupansky can can hit from deep.
41:52
I think she she she busted into the league with a with a with a
41:55
goal that rippled the net from from from a pretty good
41:58
distance. I think cooled off after that,
42:00
but they'll figure it out and I think they've got enough
42:03
attacking players. Mitch purse as well, who can be
42:06
effective in the midfield win balls, you know, like pester and
42:09
then just take it to the house and like dish and pass and drive
42:13
and like kind of do it all. So if they can unlock it and and
42:16
and continue to kind of crank up the amount of chemistry, I think
42:20
they could be really dangerous. I want to Fast forward here
42:22
though, because there's a big match up on the docket.
42:25
Second big match, the second biggest match up of the week.
42:27
We'll call it the San Diego Wave, hosting the aforementioned
42:31
Gotham FC. This is going to be a massive 1.
42:34
What are you going to be looking for here?
42:36
It's going to, it's going to be tricky.
42:37
Your guy Amoros versus your guy Idaho.
42:41
I know you're going to be torn trying to decide.
42:46
Obviously unbelievable. I'm not sure which one is.
42:50
I don't I've never said anything positive or think about Amoros.
42:53
My my issue has never been with Amoros.
42:55
I think he does a good job, but Gotham, it's just the vibe was
42:57
not what what I was in. I think if people are two, I
43:01
don't know a lot of stuff, a lot of stuff, a lot of star effing
43:04
on the following Gotham I'll. Just be, I'll be completely
43:08
honest, not why. Not sure why I turned him into
43:11
your guy, but I thought it would be a funny juxtaposition with
43:15
Idavol also being your guy even though begrudgingly.
43:19
You don't want him to be your guy, but he's still kind of your
43:21
guy, no? Neither of them are my guys.
43:24
We'll talk about it later. Let's go ahead just to just to
43:28
be clear. Look, man, San Diego Wave, it's
43:31
getting real interesting over there.
43:34
You know, get just housed, just worked by Houston Dash.
43:39
Not a positive result at home for Alex Morgan's jersey
43:44
retirement ceremony. Probably not the way the legend
43:47
wanted to celebrate that. And now, you know, they get to
43:51
be home for Gotham FC. But I don't know.
43:55
I mean, after you see what the what happened against against
43:57
Houston, well, how much does that really mean for them?
44:00
You know, Houston definitely came in and gave them that work
44:05
in that match. San Diego more than twice the
44:09
amount of touches, more than twice the amount of shots, 19 to
44:12
9 advantage, 68% possession. They connect 86% of their
44:16
passes. The San Diego Wave, they notch
44:19
49 touches in the opposition box 49.
44:24
I mean, where, where, where, where was Seattle?
44:26
Seattle was at 11, like 4 1/2 like that 49 box touches, only
44:33
able to convert that into five shots on target.
44:36
Jane Campbell was a beast in this one.
44:39
And San Diego Wave just couldn't, couldn't generate
44:42
anything more than just those five shots on target.
44:44
Nothing, nothing crazy threatening.
44:47
And then San Diego also didn't have Clarissa.
44:50
Larissa. We, we used to call Clarissa or
44:52
Larissa, which is a lot more fun to say, but Larissa, I'm
44:55
following Jen Hildrus Lee there, who's apparently the OG in terms
44:58
of pronunciations. So we'll go with that.
45:00
Clarissa notches a goal and an assist in 53 minutes.
45:04
She looks like she's ready to she looks like she's ready to,
45:07
to, to make an impact in this league for sure.
45:10
It looks so, so good. But San Diego, their last goal
45:14
versus Bay FC on August the 16th, where we're coming up on a
45:18
month since they've scored August 16th, obviously the birth
45:21
date of my young Princess as well as the legend Young Thug
45:25
thug, a thug of what to do. You already know what time it
45:27
was August 16th, a great day. Also the last time that you
45:30
know, the San Diego has scored a goal.
45:32
And we'll see. I'm not sure it's going to get
45:34
any easier against Gotham. Do you think this is a bad, bad
45:37
time of the year to to try to get off the schneid?
45:40
But do you think San Diego's going to have anything for
45:41
Gotham or do you? I mean, at some point they've
45:43
got to figure something out. That's the thing and it's a
45:46
weird league, man. So I mean, this could be it's
45:49
going to be an NWSL after dark. What is what is the 12th?
45:53
Is that is that a Thursday night match?
45:57
Is this this could be the first match of the week.
45:59
That's a Friday. Sorry, don't know Monday had to
46:02
get that figured out. So it's going to be a seven
46:04
o'clock 7:00 Pacific match on Friday night.
46:09
Look, this is the the analysis, the kind of analysis you're only
46:12
going to get on the end to the channel podcast.
46:15
It could just be a weird game. Like like how many times do you
46:18
see that on a Friday night where it's a little bit of a short
46:21
week for both teams? One team, you're looking at
46:25
them, you're like, don't like their form, don't like the way
46:27
they look, don't like the way their attacks looked.
46:30
They're going up against another team.
46:31
You know, they're going to, they're, I'm going to guess they
46:34
might be home underdogs. They're going up against a team
46:37
whose form looks great and then the complete opposite happens of
46:41
what everybody expects. So I think that's reason like if
46:45
you didn't have enough reasons to watch already, I think that
46:47
could be one more. Hopefully it put people over the
46:51
edge to watch this football match.
46:52
It's going to be a good one. And I think, you know, San
46:55
Diego's not, it's not like they're stalling out and just
46:58
failing at football. They're just not able to be as
47:03
effective as they were. And it's funny like, you know,
47:04
the XOG guys came out and, and like kind of gave me shit about
47:08
the, that difference between their number of goals and the XG
47:11
that they were generating, which was vast, that that has
47:15
completely shrunken like the delta between those two.
47:18
And I think they're the real goals much, much closer to
47:20
their, their XG. And it's funny because their
47:22
last three matches, obviously they got clean sheeted on three
47:26
times in a row, but 4.7 XG over those 3.
47:31
So they're not really getting, you know, they're not really
47:33
getting shut completely shut all the way down.
47:35
They're just not able to score. But I do want to send something
47:39
funnier away because even with all of those, you know, stats
47:43
that that kind of showed offensively that they they did
47:45
everything but score. And I know that we take, you
47:49
know, the fat mob numbers with a little bit of a grain of salt,
47:52
but I wanted to show this to you really quick and key in on the
47:56
fat mob rating, which is the leftmost, you know, rating here.
48:01
You've got to go down 123456789101112 Houston Dash
48:07
players before we get to Delphine Gascarina, who notched
48:11
A7 point O on fat mob 12 players.
48:14
Really interesting because I'm I'm no rules expert but the last
48:18
time I checked you could only play 11 players.
48:21
That's true. Yeah.
48:22
That's that's a tricky one That would that's I think you call
48:25
that getting outplayed. It seems like our pals, you
48:29
know, we we did a little preview show talking about our our
48:33
beloved SK Braun, our pals at at fat mob over there in beautiful
48:38
Bergen, Norway. Seems like they were convinced
48:41
that Houston Dash thoroughly outplayed San Diego wave.
48:45
But you know, I'll go back to it.
48:47
What does it mean for the purposes of this match that's
48:49
going to be played on Friday night?
48:51
I don't know, probably not a lot.
48:53
And I think Vegas appears to think the same way.
48:56
San Diego Wave to win plus 135, Gotham FC to win plus 190 and
49:04
the draw sight unseen. Sight unseen.
49:07
Give me the draw. I don't care what the plus.
49:09
It's only plus 210, which I think the fact that it's only
49:13
plus 210 and you, you know, San Diego wave at home plus 135,
49:19
Gotham on the road plus 190 and the Draw plus 210.
49:22
You know what? No disrespect to the people who
49:25
work at FanDuel. You're cowards.
49:26
Because all that is is just you shrugging, going, I don't know.
49:30
Yeah, 1/3. One third, one third, whatever,
49:32
move it, keep moving. Yeah, I mean, yeah, that's a
49:38
stay away for me. You know, I'm always happy.
49:40
I was hoping I'm like, I'm like 27280 a little bit below, but I
49:45
think the draw is kind of tasty there. 210 that's a little bit
49:47
tight. Jaden Shaw revenge match if
49:51
she's able to dress. How about that heading back to
49:53
San Diego field stomping grounds.
49:55
Just I mean, I'd love to see Jaden Shaw send a message here
49:58
and and she scores Shaw scored against Utah so and had a decent
50:02
game. So I think we we could we could
50:04
be seeing something if she's going to be ready.
50:07
But the other the other fun quirk about this one, Gotham,
50:10
obviously there's six in the table, 27 points, but they've
50:13
got a chance because they've got a better goal differential than
50:17
the San Diego wave and they're currently three points behind
50:20
the San Diego wave. They could jump all the way up
50:23
into third if things break their way and they're able to go on
50:26
the road and get a big win versus the wave.
50:28
That would be an absolute shocker considering the
50:32
conversations that we were having earlier this year, at
50:35
least for your boy, because I I thought they'd be on that bottom
50:38
half of the of the playoff picks.
50:39
And again, a lot of football would be played.
50:40
But to see them have a one match away from, you know, climbing up
50:44
potentially up into third, very, very impressive.
50:47
Especially considering that I think 2 through 12 is going to
50:51
be maybe not 12/2 through 10 is going to be very, very
50:54
interesting, I think as we as the playoff race kind of shakes
50:57
out, yeah. Man, I mean, it's, it's so
50:59
close, Like so many of these matches are going to be really
51:02
intriguing. I mean, you even look at like
51:04
Angel City is playing North Carolina Courage.
51:08
They're 10 and 11 on the table. Angel City sitting on 23 points,
51:12
North Carolina Courage sitting on 22.
51:15
So I mean, that's going to have real, you know, if Angel City
51:17
gets that win, you know, they could be level on points with
51:21
racing Louisville if they somehow lose to Seattle rain.
51:25
But you know, Louisville has to go to Seattle.
51:27
So this is another one where it's just like Louisville looks
51:30
good. Seattle rain does not right now,
51:33
but you got to travel up to the Pacific Northwest and play that
51:37
match. This league is just a constant
51:40
carousel of weird results that are hard to predict.
51:45
Yeah, I mean, you mentioned Louisville.
51:47
I wouldn't be. I mean, I wouldn't be shocked if
51:48
if that game went either way, 2 nil in either direction.
51:53
But Louisville loses at home to Portland 2 to one on a Jesse
51:57
Fleming. I'm not a Jesse Fleming.
51:58
It was a, a an LE genome own goal created by Jesse Fleming in
52:01
the 90th. But racing Louisville 2.61 XG to
52:05
Portland's 1.78 Louisville, not just 25 shots, 17 from inside
52:10
the box, just couldn't score more than once.
52:13
Like that's another team that can kind of go either way, you
52:15
know, with a great performance. But, you know, even even against
52:18
Portland, I thought they had a really good performance and they
52:20
still lose at home, you know, to a good team.
52:22
So I mean, to your point, you could still play great and and
52:25
not get the result you're looking for.
52:28
And I love that the Rain and Louisville are two of the five
52:30
teams that I mentioned are probably going to be battling it
52:32
out for those final three spots. No doubt.
52:35
And so now you've just got me looking at FanDuel.
52:38
We can write. We can wrap up the show here.
52:41
Let me just tell you something. OK, I got I got 2 for you.
52:44
So all right, Seattle rain. They're plus 150 at home to win
52:49
racing. Louisville is plus 150 on the
52:52
road to win. The draw is plus 2:30.
52:56
So just another big old shrug from FanDuel.
52:59
I don't know your guess is as good as mine, but as I look at
53:03
that, because that's this, you know that magic is going to be
53:06
played Sunday, 5:00 PM my time. I think I don't know I'm going
53:09
to be there. So I look forward to that.
53:13
Let. Me.
53:13
Ask you for what number? What's Angel City at North
53:16
Carolina, sight unseen? I would take that.
53:19
Angel City is plus 190. I need to.
53:23
Stop saying sight unseen. I'm over to Carolina.
53:29
North Carolina's favored at home plus 1/30.
53:32
And the draw is 190 for Angel City and.
53:34
The and the draw is plus 220. I think I'd get a loan I'd.
53:38
I, I think I'd split the baby on that and, and take Angel City
53:42
and take the draw and feel like I'm going to hit one of those
53:45
two. I, I think the courage, they're
53:47
so bad. I don't, I don't think they
53:49
could win the game. And now you look at kind of like
53:52
no Jaden Shaw. Now they're even, they're even
53:54
less potent offensively. It's going to be a long, it's
53:57
going to be a long day. And I think Angel City on the
53:59
other side, there was some juice in that performance.
54:01
Obviously they lose to Gotham on the road, but I thought Joan
54:04
Stotier had a one on zero that could have like really put him
54:08
up Key MIL. She didn't.
54:09
Score it. I mean, I cannot believe she did
54:11
not score that. She kind of turtled a little
54:14
bit. You know, she's like, she was so
54:15
open. It's like catching burger.
54:17
And I mean, she, I mean, it was way off.
54:19
Like what What she ended up putting forth, but what in?
54:21
Close. Yeah, I feel like.
54:22
They're they're going to be heard from down the stretch.
54:25
I'm not sure they're going to make the playoffs, but I think
54:27
they're going to be one of the teams making making a push.
54:30
And conversely, I think North Carolina Courage are going to be
54:33
one of the teams not making a push.
54:35
So maybe the battle of these two teams is a perfect opportunity
54:38
to kind of jump on one side and ride with your boy.
54:41
Yeah, what is the what is the opposite of making a push, you
54:46
know, pulling themselves down? Perhaps is is what's happening
54:50
in Cary NC Yeah, I think it you know I I remain intrigued by
54:55
Angel City. I like the acquisition of Neely
54:57
Martin. We talked about that crowded
54:58
midfield in Gotham. Obviously Martin makes is traded
55:02
over to Angel City. I think that'll be interesting.
55:05
Let me give you one more one more gambling line here.
55:08
Tell me if this is not criminally insane.
55:10
Utah Royals favored at home minus one O 5 versus the Houston
55:18
Dash Rd. Dogs Houston Dash plus 260 Big
55:26
underdogs with the draw sitting at plus 230.
55:30
Yeah, I. Would I would do I would do both
55:31
of those two the draw and the win for the dash.
55:35
This is this is sort of like we we laughed about this like when
55:38
people are making fun of me for over like, oh, wow, OK,
55:40
Orlando's Louisville's better than Orlando now.
55:42
It's like, all right, Louisville's kind of falling
55:44
back, falling off a little bit, but it it's the same idea.
55:48
It's like we don't need to look at like these, you know, results
55:51
from April or May like they're they're completely and wholly
55:55
irrelevant. And I think Utah playing a
55:58
little bit better, the dash playing a lot, lot better.
56:01
And I think the dash have a lot, lot, lot more to play for, you
56:04
know, and I think Utah not not quite the cauldron after coming
56:08
in there on the road, you know, I think teams can kind of go in
56:10
there and get results. I love, I love Houston.
56:13
I mean, I would definitely I would definitely jump Houston
56:15
Angel City. I would take long hard looks at
56:18
at both of those Rd. teams. I think I wish Angel City number
56:21
was better, but that Houston number is is is quite tasty.
56:25
I. Mean, you know, Utah Royals one
56:27
win, 3 draws, one loss in their last five.
56:30
I mean, they're they're looking up a little bit.
56:32
We've, you know, tongue in cheek asked the question better
56:34
without Ali Sentinor. I'm going to go long term.
56:38
Long term. I think I'm selling that.
56:40
I don't think that's like likely not true.
56:44
Yeah, I don't know, Maybe one day we'll turn this into a
56:48
gambling podcast. Don't hold.
56:49
Don't hold your breath. This is a women's football
56:51
podcast, an SK Braun podcast, a Lily Johannes podcast, if you
56:56
will, Who you know, just quick aside, the young American
57:00
knocking home a goal, looking like she fits in the Lyon
57:03
system, to say the least. I.
57:06
Would say so. I mean, I think and Lyon remind
57:10
me they're they're they'll be in the Champions League this
57:12
season, right. You know, we're I mean we're you
57:15
mentioned that we're a Champions League podcast.
57:16
Yes, we're we're also seeing you Gobsick podcast.
57:18
Go back and check out a little mini episode.
57:20
You you may have missed quick episode calendar.
57:23
We will be back again next week to go into the NWSL.
57:27
We'll be one week closer to the finish line.
57:29
Cannot wait. And we'll be back again to talk
57:32
a little European football. UEFA Women's Champions League
57:35
kicks off with some more qualifying this week and next
57:37
week WSLS back in action League F D1 Arkema.
57:41
Like I think things are really, really starting to warm up in
57:44
Europe. And you know what that means
57:46
Time to snap those passports, fire up some some some shady
57:50
VPNs, listen to some very sad Italian announcers on on grainy
57:54
YouTube streams. So that's that's kind of what,
57:57
what what time of year this is. I'm very excited, happy to be
58:01
doing this with you, but anything else you want to hit
58:03
before we get out of here? I.
58:04
Think we've done it. I think we've covered enough
58:06
NWSL gambling lines. I think we're in for another
58:10
good week, man. Like you said, there are some
58:11
big matches and then there are just even teams those mid table
58:15
teams do in battle. Absolutely intriguing matches
58:18
should be exciting. Yeah, no doubt.
58:20
Gambling podcast, huh, interesting.
58:22
All right, there's been another episode into the channel.
58:23
Thank you, thank you, thank you for watching, listening, hanging
58:26
out with your boys. If you enjoyed the show or love
58:28
them in football as much as we do, make sure you're kicking in
58:30
with us each and every single week.
58:31
Like subscribe, follow YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast where
58:34
everything is to watch or listen.
58:36
Leave us a review over your favorite podcast app.
58:38
Thanks to all of our socials except one and shown us of this
58:40
episode. And a big thank you to my coast
58:42
as well, Mr. Grand Engel 4, always allowing me some grace as
58:46
I stumble through the outro. I appreciate you bro.
58:49
Buddy, likewise, I mean, if we're talking about stumbling
58:52
through the outro, I mean I have had some absolute howlers trying
58:57
to trying to nail the dismount to this show.
58:59
I'll just keep it brief for this one.
59:00
Thank you everybody for rocking with us.
59:02
We always appreciate you dropping knowledge in the
59:04
comments and we will see you all next time.