Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / 🏆 SEMIFINAL PREVIEW! | England v Italy | Spain v Germany | WOMEN'S EURO 2025

Transcript

🏆 SEMIFINAL PREVIEW! | England v Italy | Spain v Germany | WOMEN'S EURO 2025 · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:05
OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast partly about women's
0:08
football. I'm your host Dino de Suspensis
0:10
and as always I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Engel.
0:14
What is up man? I'm feeling fantastic buddy.
0:17
We've made it to the semi final, the final four as it were.
0:22
And I would say we have 4 pretty amazing teams.
0:26
One, maybe not a lot of people expected to get this far.
0:30
Another that maybe people did expect to get this far, but not,
0:34
certainly not the way that they've got here.
0:36
So I think we have a lot to discuss.
0:39
I, I, I feel like we did pretty good.
0:41
Well, you know, we'll do a little reflecting on our, on our
0:43
preview picks. So a couple of mine, my, my 2
0:46
finalists still alive, England, Germany, Germany will feel a
0:49
little, little cooler on and them than I am in England.
0:52
But, and you've still got Spain alive.
0:53
Obviously Sweden bounce, but I think we're doing pretty good.
0:57
And then when in terms of drafting, yeah, 2, two and two,
1:01
Italy, England, those are both your, your squads, Spain and
1:04
Germany both selected by me as part of our picks.
1:07
So we'll see what happens. Shout out to us.
1:09
We survived the group stage. We survived the quarterfinals.
1:11
Here we are still standing. I don't know something like, I
1:14
don't know, 20 shows and 25, I don't know some, some crazy
1:17
number of shows and some crazy number of days and your boys are
1:20
still out here. But let's get to it.
1:21
We've got a semi final to talk about.
1:23
We've got 2 semi finals to talk about.
1:24
Mr. Granig or you want to get started?
1:26
I think there's no other choice but to start in chronological
1:29
order. England, the 5th ranked team in
1:33
FIFA rankings versus #13 Italia. Let's go all.
1:38
Right. So Italy, we know how they got
1:40
there. Second in their group.
1:42
They get by Norway in the quarterfinals with A21 win.
1:45
England, you know, they come in second in their group also.
1:49
Yeah, second in the group to France.
1:50
I feel like Italy might be coming into this one with a
1:53
slight edge and momentum. I also heard too, that there's
1:56
some rumblings around England with regard to them feeling like
2:01
maybe like they've got like a special ability to come back in
2:04
these games and like, come from behind and, you know, like,
2:07
really feels a little dangerous to me like that, like that, that
2:11
sort of mindset. But do you feel like there's a
2:13
team of the two that's coming in with more momentum?
2:17
That's a great, that's a great question.
2:20
So I mean, obviously Italy has the with the lowest ranking team
2:25
remaining. We've scratched out some gritty
2:28
victories. Nobody expected us to be here.
2:30
They have all that stuff working for them.
2:32
England gets to come in here and say we're the holders, we know
2:36
how to win. To your earlier point, even if
2:38
we fall behind, we don't ever have to be scared about it.
2:41
And we just beat Sweden, a damn good team that we had to come
2:44
back against and show a lot of grit against.
2:47
So who has the momentum edge? I think it's very close.
2:51
I think you could make a real argument that maybe Italy has a
2:55
momentum edge. I would probably argue, and I
2:58
will argue the fact that England doesn't have to care about that.
3:01
They'd be like, oh cool, your momentum from a match that has
3:04
no real bearing on when R11 take on year 11.
3:08
Yeah, no, that's fair. I think, and I went back the
3:10
last time these two teams played, it looked like it was
3:12
April of last year. A51 win over England.
3:16
I'm sorry, five. One win for England over Italy.
3:18
This Italian's had a lot of change since then and I feel
3:21
like the game a lot of change as well.
3:24
I feel like we had some teams. I, I don't want to say that, you
3:26
know, in some ways I think those impressions from the 2023 World
3:30
Cup, you know, from the Nations League last year, from the
3:32
Olympics last year, some of them got burned a little too
3:35
intensely into my mind, you know, And I think like watching
3:38
this tournament, we know whether it's like a Belgium or a
3:41
Switzerland or a Finland or maybe in Italy, you know, I'm
3:44
just like, those teams aren't really like at the same level.
3:47
But you watch the tournament unfold and you're like, OK,
3:50
well, you know, Italy is sort of in the mix there.
3:53
And I think ultimately there's been a lot of evolution and
3:56
growth in the game to the point where I feel like there's a
3:59
little bit more parity than we were expecting coming into the
4:02
tournament. I think that's totally fair.
4:04
I mean, you know, people continue to talk about how,
4:06
especially with some of these European teams, maybe the
4:09
investment isn't where we as fans and supporters,
4:12
journalists, you know, viewers want it to be just yet.
4:16
But it has been improving. We're on the steady March toward
4:19
it getting better. You know, not to say that
4:22
there's not a lot of fight and, you know, negotiation left to
4:25
go, but Italy should be investing more in their program.
4:31
And when you and I like really start talking about this sport
4:34
together and, and then following it closely and figuring out
4:37
that, hey, we should talk about this on the Internet.
4:40
Like watching Italy in that 2023 World Cup, we're like, they need
4:45
a little more development. And as we started covering the
4:48
Champions League, we started to see like, hey, these Italian
4:51
teams are getting better and that, you know, they're, they're
4:53
making sure they, you know, they lock in good players.
4:57
And then the development seems to be good.
4:58
You see some of their matches on like CBS Sports Network.
5:01
The camera views are nice and the broadcasts are good.
5:04
Like all that stuff is like, those are kind of like
5:07
bellwethers of like, hey, how much investment is being put in
5:10
this sport? How like, what are they doing to
5:12
sell it? Just as a quick side note, Italy
5:14
should be investing a lot of money into their women's
5:17
national team because their men's team stinks.
5:20
That's a sidebar. Let's not worry about that.
5:22
But all that to say, yeah, I don't think Italy is is terribly
5:26
far off. And if you think about them as a
5:28
footballing nation, some of the the downswing aside for their
5:32
men's team, like this team, like we, we know the players on it.
5:36
And the women's team, they're their Champions League level
5:39
players, Champions League caliber players.
5:41
So they're not going to walk into this match versus England
5:45
with an ounce of fear. They're going to be ready for
5:47
it. Well, I mean they've already
5:50
taken on Spain, you know, and I think they took a one nil lead
5:53
on Spain. They took it to half time one,
5:55
one versus Spain in a match that I don't think anybody had Italy
5:59
in that one either with some stakes.
6:01
I think that, you know, the the group was still up for grabs at
6:03
that point. So Italy's definitely not going
6:06
to be scared of anybody. They came in, they handled
6:08
Norway, they played tough, they defended, they played harder,
6:12
they were more tenacious and they were sharper, you know,
6:15
like when they had chances, I think they they were super
6:18
precise on those on those couple goals.
6:21
And they were really, really, really hungry defensively.
6:24
And I thought a lot was made about the midfield, you know,
6:27
like that formation. I think there were 352 for most
6:29
of the tournament. And they they just like kind of
6:32
pack it in. You know, I think when we think
6:33
about players to watch, I'm going to be watching Ariana
6:37
Caruso because I feel like she's kind of been lingering.
6:41
You know, she's always in a dangerous area.
6:44
She's like one of those players where if Italy's on the defense,
6:47
she's in the right spot. She's kind of back if, if the
6:50
midfield, if, if there's a scram on the midfield, she's there.
6:52
If there's a, if there's a chance on goal or if there's
6:55
like a, some sort of breakaway, even the, the, the slight
6:58
potential of a breakaway, she's in the mix there.
7:00
So if she could kind of have the midfield's head spinning just
7:05
with her unpredictability of positioning and just kind of
7:08
like activity level work rate, I think that could give Italy a
7:11
real shot in the arm. And again, and from there, if
7:14
she's able to move the ball up the pitch or, you know, unleash
7:17
a crack or two of her own, that's just kind of like, icing
7:20
on the cake. But I'm gonna be watching Caruso
7:21
for sure. I think that's a great call out.
7:24
I considered her as one of my as my player to watch here.
7:27
But you, you kind of set me up perfectly.
7:29
I'm gonna I'm gonna pivot to my England player to watch because
7:33
I think, I think Caruso impacts that.
7:36
And I'm going to be looking at Alex Greenwood playing left
7:39
back. You know, she's going to be
7:40
operating on that side where Cantore and Caruso and Oliveiro
7:46
are operating as well. And Greenwood's going to need to
7:49
be able to contend with those three, you know, in different
7:53
waves. She's going to need more than
7:55
just like obviously Alex Greenwood offers a lot of like
7:57
stellar passing and ball control.
8:00
She's going to need to to win the ball.
8:02
She'll need to push, you know, Caruso and Cantore into
8:07
positions because you know, those two, they'll fire from
8:09
anywhere, right? Like they have the ability to
8:11
shoot. She'll need to try to push them
8:13
into positions where those shots are less dangerous.
8:17
Make them a little easier for Hampton to handle, I think.
8:20
Yeah, and I think Greenwood's going to have to get those
8:22
players off the ball like Cantore or Caruso.
8:25
Like in those moments, I think Greenwood has the ability to
8:28
like kind of close down the space and just get the ball away
8:31
from because like that's what it allows to do.
8:33
They just want to wait until they get the the right perfect
8:36
look. And I think if you're Greenwood,
8:38
you just have to run run those players off those spots because
8:42
they're not really going to RIP a bunch of shots.
8:43
But the ones that they do take, they just have the tendency to
8:47
be really dangerous. And they've got those other
8:50
players that are kind of like in those poacherous spots.
8:52
Could be a real issue for England.
8:54
But I do want to switch gears. So obviously this England, I'm
8:57
sorry, this Italy side, five goals for five against over the
9:01
course of four matches. So you know, obviously tough
9:04
competition, you know, you're not you're not expecting, you
9:06
know, a big disparity in those numbers.
9:07
But England is the stronger side.
9:10
They should win this match. I feel like if you look at the
9:13
betting odds at any point, you know, there, there's a big
9:15
spread between these two sides, but there's still something to
9:19
coming off that Sweden performance, watching England
9:22
underwhelm for most of it. You know, you're you're the
9:25
resident England guy. How how concerned are you?
9:27
Or do you feel like form wise, like they're ready?
9:30
Do you feel like it's been a little bit of a shaky
9:33
tournament? But hey, everybody's going to
9:35
look shaky because these teams are all really good and it's a
9:38
lot of football compressed into a small amount of time.
9:40
What what's what's your read on on the England, the England vibe
9:43
right now? I think the optimistic read and
9:46
you know it. It worked out for us.
9:49
Well, for us, yeah. Like I, I had, I had mentioned
9:53
after the the poor performance versus France, one of the first
9:56
things I said was well, Kyra Walsh, it's not going to be bad
10:00
2, two matches in a row. Georgia Stanley won't be bad two
10:03
matches in a row. And that worked.
10:05
I thought the match versus Sweden thought Kyra Walsh was
10:09
black, like, not like didn't really impact the the match in
10:14
ways that we thought she would. I thought Lauren James was fine
10:18
versus Sweden, but you know, we had some some some of our pals
10:21
hop into the YouTube comments and say, hey, remember when you
10:25
you talked about Lauren James as a Balandor contender?
10:27
Like maybe she could have done more versus Sweden in this one?
10:31
And I thought that was a fair comment.
10:33
Like, and now obviously, yeah, and we've talked about a lot on
10:36
these on the show is the difference between the greatest
10:40
players and the very good players is that kind of
10:42
consistency in those moments? I'm obviously go ahead.
10:46
My bad. I I have to, I have to just
10:48
interject real quick. The LJ cross, first of all, the
10:52
dance that she does up the right hand side when she puts the
10:55
cross onto Hemp like that just looked like it was.
10:59
I can't believe how accurate that cross was because Hemp
11:03
doesn't even have to. She doesn't have to divert a
11:05
single degree in her run in. She just continues right on the
11:09
run, elevates and the ball is just right there.
11:12
That cross from Lauren James, absolutely world class.
11:15
And what do you look like? What do you expect her to do?
11:18
Sweden, I think is is incredibly tough defensive team.
11:21
Again, this is EUR like everything's packed in super
11:23
tight. So I I don't I don't take that
11:25
point that L that LJ kind of was dropped the ball.
11:28
You dropped the ball or didn't come through because that that
11:31
cross in and of itself could have been, maybe should have
11:34
been a game changer actually. I think that's totally fair.
11:37
And yeah, I'm I'm glad you you mentioned it because that's kind
11:39
of where I was heading to is like I thought some of those
11:41
comments they were, I understood like, you know, she doesn't get
11:44
it on the score sheet. She doesn't notch that assist.
11:47
But to your point, she still had her moments and you know, she
11:50
had such a great match versus Netherlands where it's like if
11:55
you hold her then to that standard every time, it's
11:57
unrealistic. But I don't think there was a
11:59
giant dip in form for her. So now it's just a matter of is,
12:03
is something going to happen where she has that goal,
12:05
creating action, that great assist or that banger into the
12:09
upper 90? And she's capable of it.
12:11
And I think Italy is going to be is going to have a difficult
12:15
time stopping that from happening.
12:17
Yeah, I I kind of agree with you, but I think I think the
12:20
match up is tough. I mean, you look at the Italy
12:23
defense, you know, Cecilia Salva, 31 years old, plays for
12:27
Juventus. Her center back partner Elena
12:29
Lenari, also 31 years old, plays for Roma.
12:32
You know, you already know what time it is with those two.
12:34
I mean, they're really good and they're really smart.
12:37
And what makes this England match up?
12:40
Not the bat, you know, like, I feel like this Italy side might
12:43
have struggled more with like France's that look a little bit
12:45
more athletic on the wing. You know, that could really run,
12:48
run them ragged a little bit. But I feel like Italy, if all
12:51
they're going to do is get in the passing lanes, get in the
12:54
shooting lanes, pack it in, be opportunistic on offense, I'm
12:59
not sure if England has everything that they need to
13:02
really kind of hurt them. I know England can score for
13:04
sure They and I think they they will score in this one.
13:07
But I think they're going to have to put do a ton of work and
13:10
I think when they if and when they do breakthrough, it'll be a
13:13
ball that's got to pass through a lot of a lot of bodies, a lot
13:16
of feet, a lot of a lot of boots to be able to make it happen.
13:19
Yeah, I think that's probably, that's probably true.
13:22
I'm going to bank on A2. I want to put this player in
13:25
that category of somebody who's probably not going to have two
13:28
met games in a row. Ella Tune or as the Italian
13:32
players will call her, Aya Tune. I think she will.
13:36
I, I, I'm going to put my money on her showing up in a big way
13:40
also. But with that said, like with
13:42
with Tune operating in the midfield, I want to talk about
13:46
my Italian player to watch Giada Greggi.
13:49
We talked about her a little in the last episode.
13:52
I think she's a super sub. She is five feet one inches of
13:57
five feet one inch, pardon me, of just energy and toughness off
14:01
the bench. 25 year old midfielder playing for Roma.
14:05
She started 17 of 19 matches in Syria this past season.
14:09
She only had two goals and four assists in that league season.
14:12
But man, she gives you way more than that on the pitch.
14:15
And I think she's been an impact player in every match that she's
14:18
appeared in so far in these Euros.
14:20
I think it's going to be interesting to kind of see how
14:23
England copes with her energy late in the match.
14:27
You know, she's one that I'm I'm definitely watching for.
14:30
And I want to see what the counters look like, You know,
14:33
when Beth Mead comes on the field, if if Greggie comes on
14:36
the field as one of their first Subs And Beth Mead has been, you
14:39
know, pretty much one of the first Subs off the bench for
14:42
England. Is it going to be Beth Mead is
14:44
the one who unlocks that great center back duo with a with a
14:49
pass, you know, to get to like, you know, whether it's playing
14:51
Alessia Russo in or whatever, or is it going to be Greggy's
14:54
energy that, you know, gets Italy over the line?
14:58
Yeah, I mean, it's a great call, Greggy, Like very creative runs
15:02
and like, you know, just puts a lot of pressure on the defense.
15:04
You know, with her again, the work rate, the angles as she
15:07
takes, you know, like the overlaps.
15:09
And I think her passing too is really fun in the final third.
15:12
She's she's looking to distribute.
15:15
So that could be a player that definitely puts pressure on the
15:17
on the English defense for England.
15:20
For me, I think the player that I'm looking at, I'm going to say
15:23
Chloe Kelly because I, I thought I thought Kelly was a game
15:27
changer. Obviously hasn't really been
15:28
starting, but I wouldn't be shocked if Chloe Kelly started
15:33
just because I think she's able to.
15:35
She's sort of like a triple threat kind of player.
15:37
You know, she can run, pass and shoot, you know, from that
15:39
position. I know Lauren Hemp is out there,
15:42
but who knows, maybe some things move around.
15:43
I think I think Chloe's Chloe Kelly's skill set provides a
15:46
very unique set of problems for that Italian defense, just
15:49
because she's like very precise and she just has that
15:52
versatility. But I think Kelly, a player that
15:55
can make quick decisions and I think her distribution could
16:00
could be real dangerous. She's a player that can kind of
16:02
pick out a player or an opportunity even with, you know,
16:06
some, some high traffic situations in the box.
16:09
So I think give me, give me Chloe Kelly as my player to
16:11
watch for this one. I like it.
16:13
You know, I mean, she operates really well out there in the
16:16
right wing. I mean, she is she's kind of
16:20
creeping up the rankings and I'll have to make the official
16:23
rankings here of my mentality monsters in the world.
16:27
Because you think about kind of what she went through at
16:30
Manchester City toward the end there where she was very clearly
16:33
not happy with the way that she was kind of being looked at and
16:37
the way she was being used. And you know, Gareth Taylor was
16:41
like, now Chloe Kelly, the the woman who scored the winning
16:45
goal in the last year olds. We probably don't need her so
16:47
much. What are we?
16:48
What are we going to put her on the field for it?
16:50
It's not like she's super fast. It makes great decisions.
16:53
Anyway, I digress. And so they send her to Arsenal,
16:55
which is cool for you and other Arsenal fans.
16:59
And look at that. She helps them win the goddamn
17:01
Champions League. And she's been great in this
17:04
tournament too. So I mean, Wiegmann, she doesn't
17:07
like, you know, like one of her calling cards is she doesn't
17:09
like to tinker that much with her line up.
17:11
She made the change after the the France lost.
17:15
So, you know, maybe there's another change.
17:16
I I I know you're already thinking that Wiegmann might
17:19
make a change at centre back and and take pull Jess Carter out of
17:23
the lineup. So you know it could be another
17:25
double change for Wiegmann. The we'll see.
17:28
But Chloe Kelly, man, just whatever you need.
17:31
It feels like she comes on the field.
17:32
She plays great and a lot of players would be like and that's
17:36
why you need to start me gaffer. Why the fuck am I starting on
17:40
the bench? Pardon my language, I mean to
17:42
drop multiple F bombs within a within a couple minutes here,
17:45
but Chloe Kelly, she just goes back to the bench for the next
17:48
game and goes, yeah, when do you need me?
17:49
I'll just come on and ball out again.
17:52
No, I mean, incredible player. I think I'm excited to see what
17:56
happens here. Well, do you have a?
17:58
Do you have a prediction? I do.
18:00
I'm going to say 21. England wins it late.
18:03
I like it. I'm going to go with the old
18:05
tried and true 11 England wins in penalty kicks.
18:09
Oh wow. OK.
18:11
I mean, we, we already got England winning in on penalties
18:14
once. England not a nation known for
18:18
winning in penalties or on penalties.
18:20
Pardon me. So I, I like, I like the faith
18:23
you're putting in them. And for anybody who's interested
18:25
in this, you talked about betting favorites on FanDuel.
18:27
England is currently -210 to win the draws plus 340 and Italia
18:34
plus 500. You know the winds are in
18:37
regulation, obviously, so even if England does win on
18:41
penalties, that plus 3:40 is right out there for you for the
18:45
draw. Tasty.
18:47
All right, so we made our picks. We'll be watching.
18:49
One last quick note, Hannah Hampton.
18:50
I think it's got to be a sort of a player to watch for me.
18:53
I want to see if that form continues, especially if it gets
18:56
to added extra time, penalty kicks.
18:59
Anything else? Anything else we need to hit for
19:01
this matchup? I think that's about it.
19:02
I know as me Morgan mentioned in her press conference
19:07
availability, we're recording this on Saturday evening, she
19:11
mentioned under press availability on Saturday that
19:15
she thought Leah Williamson would be available to play.
19:18
I'm not, that's not a direct quote, but I think she said she
19:20
was optimistic about it and the team will be better with her on
19:24
the field. There's ABBC report on that.
19:26
So, you know, obviously keeping an eye out for that.
19:30
Cannot wait and shout out to you for nailing the Esme Morgan
19:35
pronunciation and then also shout out to it's either L beg
19:38
323. Yeah, it's L beg 323 on YouTube
19:41
for helping your boys out with little pronunciation help a
19:44
little phonetics in the YouTube comments.
19:47
So nice. You're appreciate it.
19:49
Any pronunciation help. You know, we're already we're
19:51
always happy to to take that. So don't be shy about it.
19:54
You know, drop in, let us know and we'll we'll make those
19:56
changes accordingly. All right, we made our picks
19:58
Next up, the second semi final match up.
20:01
So we but we both got England in the final and now we're going to
20:04
talk about who the Lionesses might be taking on Wednesday,
20:09
12:00 PM Pacific. Spain versus Germany, a big one,
20:13
Maybe the semi final match up that everybody had in their
20:15
bracket. But to your point earlier,
20:18
nobody had exactly how we got here as the route, but here we
20:22
are. Absolutely bonkers win for
20:24
Germany. Let me just say, I'm getting a
20:26
little thirsty. I'm going to crack another
20:28
beverage here. Oh.
20:30
I like it. You just get that going Saturday
20:33
night. Why not?
20:34
The football's been great. Cheers to you.
20:37
Yeah, I cheers to you, my good man.
20:40
Spain. The the victory over
20:42
Switzerland, probably closer than most people expected.
20:46
What I think I picked, I think I might have picked 4 to 1,
20:50
something like that. So it was, you know, level nil,
20:53
nil at halftime. I thought Switzerland really
20:57
handled themselves extremely well, but it's one of those
21:01
other things that just gave me more faith in Spain.
21:05
Spain didn't play their best match.
21:07
Switzerland had everything going for them.
21:09
They're playing at home. They have these young, energetic
21:11
players. And I think it was Lori Lindsay
21:13
who said something like early on, like we're, I'm talking like
21:16
the first like 5 minutes where like shirt and Libe was trying
21:20
to like press pottery. And she was like, yeah, look for
21:22
that look, look for Shirt and Libe trying to put some pressure
21:25
on pottery to, to kind of hold them back.
21:27
And that lasted, I want to say, and no disrespect to Double L,
21:30
that lasted, I want to say for about 45 seconds because that's
21:33
not you. You can't do that.
21:35
You can't do that against Spain. They're too good.
21:37
And even when Spain doesn't play anywhere near their A game, they
21:41
still have 100 other things that they can do to you.
21:44
Yeah, I mean, Switzerland didn't really have any bite to their
21:46
offense, you know, so no shots on target for the Swiss.
21:49
Four shots total on the day, just six touches in Spain's box.
21:55
For Switzerland, it makes it a little easier when the other
21:58
team can't hurt you. But I still thought that, you
22:01
know, Spain defensively put up a great performance and, you know,
22:06
much like Italy, I thought it starts from the center backs.
22:09
Leo, Alessandri has been awesome.
22:11
Irene Paredes has been really good, you know, and you know,
22:15
kind of had didn't have her best season, but I thought played
22:17
really, really well versus Switzerland.
22:19
You know what, we'll, we'll take the the competition with, with a
22:22
slight grain of salt there. But the Alessandri yellow card
22:25
accumulation situation, that's not nothing.
22:27
You know, I think, yeah, on the German side, they've got
22:30
Shukanooski in the same in the same boat.
22:32
But I thought Alessandri specifically for the Spain
22:35
defense, it's just incredible. Like, you know, really physical,
22:40
really aggressive. I think as good as I've seen her
22:42
play, her passing's been awesome.
22:46
You know, she kind of moves it along and she gets the ball way,
22:48
way up field when she's got a, a chance to.
22:51
And she's got a lot of outlets. But I think they're going to, I
22:53
think they're definitely going to miss her.
22:56
I think so. And you got to expect, I mean,
22:59
unless I'm unless I'm missing something, I would imagine we'll
23:03
see Maria Mendez start in that other center back position
23:08
probably. I think she's she's what what
23:10
like 2425 years old from Real Madrid and we've like what we
23:16
saw her in Spain's third match, but we either saw we saw Mendez
23:24
play earlier in this tournament might have been against Belgium.
23:27
I want to say she's. She's definitely played, yeah.
23:31
And, you know, obviously she's nothing, nothing to sneeze at.
23:34
It's not like, you know, Mendez isn't a good player.
23:36
But yeah, I think Alejandra has played as well in this
23:40
tournament as I've seen her play in a while and that's, you know,
23:44
somebody who watches Manchester City football games pretty,
23:47
pretty regularly. I thought Alexandre's handled
23:50
herself very well. So yeah, I think that will that
23:53
will make a little bit of a difference.
23:56
But you know, it really what it comes down to with Spain is can
24:03
you handle when they are high pressing you, when they are
24:07
taking away all of your passing lanes, when they're, you know,
24:11
I, I always use the term when they're basically just choking
24:13
you out when you're just trying to get the ball out of your
24:17
defensive 3rd. And I just think, you know,
24:20
Claudia Pina, Mariona Caldente, Aitana Bone Mati, Alexia Pateas
24:26
have have just been suffocating teams in the press.
24:31
You know, I didn't even mention pottery there.
24:33
They've just been making it impossible for you to clear the
24:37
ball. And then when you have to
24:39
withstand so many shots on target, you could be in real
24:44
trouble. And and I think that was the the
24:46
flip side of that real quick. It's hard to to kind of ISO
24:49
here. You know, Spain only had six of
24:52
their 23 shots on were on target.
24:55
Only six of their 23 shots were on target.
24:57
Pardon me. Which is not a great number for
25:00
Spain. They'll need to do better
25:02
against Germany, especially when they have one of the world's
25:05
greatest goalkeepers back there on Kochenberger.
25:07
So we'll have to see how up for the challenge she is.
25:11
But how many times do I? Do you think that, you know,
25:14
Spain's only going to get like 24% of their shots on target?
25:17
Probably not every match. Yeah, I mean it it it's an
25:21
interesting one because again, you know, we we have to do a
25:24
little bit of mental gymnastics to decouple Spain for Barcelona
25:28
as best we can. But you know, this Spain side, I
25:31
think offensively I was thinking about the this one player in
25:35
particular. Actually, let me flip it on you.
25:39
If I told you, you know, all of these players, Spain and
25:42
Germany, we're going to throw all them in a pool and we're
25:45
going to re pick the teams and you know, you're going to pay.
25:49
You'll pick 11, you know, you'll pick 11 and I'll pick 11.
25:52
Who are you taking with your first pick?
25:54
If I give you any player to choose from?
25:56
Spain's roster. Germany's roster.
26:01
I think I've I've probably made it apparent over the last few
26:06
months I would take Alexia. I will.
26:08
I will almost always take Alexia.
26:10
Potayas wrong, so let me tell you.
26:15
How? What would you take first?
26:18
Let me tell you why, and it might not be what you're
26:21
thinking. I think first, I feel like you
26:24
have to take, this is the player we've talked about a lot
26:27
recently, you, I feel like you have to take Claudia Pina
26:30
because she's the only player for me.
26:34
She's the only player that to use a basketball ISM can get her
26:37
own shot at any point and can bury that shot at any point from
26:43
anywhere on the pitch, assuming you're on the right, the right
26:46
side of the halfway line. I mean, she is just devastating
26:50
in the rest of that Spain attack.
26:52
It's all interconnected. I mean, they're an incredible
26:54
team. And it's because and I'll and
26:57
I'll, I'll mention that one at the NEA goal against Switzerland
27:00
as a, as a, as an example here. So the ball goes deep.
27:05
We've talked about it a bunch where the runs go in every
27:07
single direction. And on that one specifically, I
27:11
tonic gets it in the box and she gains possession and sprints
27:17
away from goal, you know, and just like drags defenders,
27:21
defender's like what the fuck? Like what is this?
27:22
Like, why is she going so fast 1st and why is she going in the
27:25
wrong direction 2nd? And it's all just part of like
27:28
the misdirection to kind of get the defense moving the other
27:31
way. I thought it's going one way at
27:33
the Nia's coming the other way, the back heel.
27:35
And it's just, it looks so simple, but it's so incredibly
27:39
complex. It's it's something that you
27:40
just don't see other teams doing.
27:43
But the point that I'm trying to make is like, as beautiful as
27:45
that is, it is there are interdependencies from an
27:50
offensive standpoint. You know, Athania needs Itana to
27:54
be able to do that. Itana needs to be able to do
27:56
those inside out runs to be able to open things up for other
27:59
players for the patiuelos. And you know, and Alexia is a
28:02
great player on on her own, So is Itana.
28:04
Almost all of them are great players on their own.
28:06
But Pina to me is on another level and can just score, can
28:11
just wreck the game. You know, I mean, you just, I, I
28:16
mean, it's Mike Tyson blow to the face.
28:18
Like there's not a better way to to to describe what this is.
28:23
I like it. It's certainly bold.
28:27
You know, I would probably like, if I was just like picking my
28:30
own, I would probably have Pina third.
28:33
But I, you know, I, we've talked about Pina's current form.
28:37
I'm probably doing some historical stuff there.
28:39
In fact, I know I am like, because if I, if I, my first
28:42
three obviously would be Alexia, Eitana, Claudia, Pina.
28:47
But no, I mean, we've talked about Pina being maybe the most
28:50
informed player in the tournament.
28:52
So I think it's, it's a fair argument to make.
28:57
You know, Alexia, I, I think certainly can create her own
29:01
shots as well. But your, your point stands.
29:03
So what that does add up to though, is if I if I'm thinking
29:08
about the first players, I would take the first three.
29:10
I would take all play for Spain. And you know, obviously we've
29:15
talked a lot about you LeBron and and how well she's been
29:21
playing on Katrin Berger has been an absolute monster.
29:25
Obviously, you know, you you think about Clara Boule also has
29:30
been great. So it's going to be, I think it.
29:37
I'm still having a hard time though, man.
29:39
Tell me if I'm wrong. Tell me if I'm do tell me if I'm
29:41
doing a thing here though, because we just got done this
29:45
last week saying Germany's got to be finished.
29:49
They're not going to be able to withstand with their, with the
29:52
red cards, with the injuries, they're not going to be able to
29:55
withstand France. And they did it and they put in
29:58
a hell of a great performance. But now they have to play
30:01
against Spain. I kind of want to say the same
30:04
thing. How were they going to be able
30:05
to cope with Spain? I think the one silver lining is
30:15
Spain is going to wait for you to beat yourself, you know,
30:19
which is what they did. You know, like, you know, versus
30:22
versus Switzerland. It was, it was funny because
30:24
Switzerland plays 65 minutes of very clean football, not perfect
30:30
football, can't really, you know, muster too much offense.
30:32
But they played really clean. They didn't give anything away,
30:36
you know, to Pina or to Alexia or to anybody else.
30:39
And then the Itana to Atenia goal happens like at 65, right?
30:44
Or let me see, 66. So that is the first instance
30:49
of, OK, we didn't let Spain beat us, but they beat us, right?
30:54
We made them earn that first goal, right.
30:57
So that's that's kind of and then 5 minutes later, what does
31:00
Spain do? You know, Vaulti gets
31:03
dispossessed. She knows what she knows what's
31:05
happening. If you watch the replay, even
31:06
like the Jackie Lee made a whole huge fuss of it, like, oh, you
31:09
know, they're screaming for a foul, you know, but in reality,
31:13
Vaulti gets dispossessed. She sees Pina's got it.
31:16
She sees Pina's winding up and then she turns to the ref is
31:19
like, hey, like, what's your what's the writings on the wall
31:22
of where the play is going? But to, you know, to to that
31:25
point, that was a giveaway, that was Vaulti on the ball a little
31:30
bit too long, gets dispossessed in a bad area and then one tap
31:34
later and it's the balls in the back of the net.
31:36
So Spain's the kind of team where if you beat yourself or if
31:41
you or if you give them something, they're going to
31:43
take, they're going to take it 100 times out of 100.
31:46
And then even if you don't give them something, they're still
31:49
probably going to score a goal or two just because that's how
31:51
good they are. Now the key for Germany is how
31:55
clean a game can they play? Can they play, you know, rather
31:59
than 65 minutes of relatively mistake free football for
32:01
Switzerland, can they play 90 plus minutes of big mistake free
32:05
football? And then can they can they steal
32:08
something on the other end? I thought, I thought what
32:10
Germany did versus France was interesting.
32:13
It wasn't just brand on one side and bull on the other.
32:16
You know, Nu skin was busy in the middle.
32:18
Sends was a little bit more active offensively.
32:22
I thought they, you know, a little bit different approach.
32:24
It wasn't it wasn't so Germany vanilla, you know, up the left
32:27
and right hand sides. They're going to need more of
32:30
that. But you're missing Shukanooskin,
32:33
who was a big impact player today, you know, versus France.
32:37
And the question is going to be how do you replace her?
32:40
You know, Linda Dahlman's there, maybe Laura Fragang's there.
32:43
Maybe, you know, we'll see what they do, but it is going to be
32:47
tough to think about how do you replace that player and then
32:51
keep some of that defensive midfield intensity?
32:54
I'm not, I'm not sure they have, they definitely don't have the
32:56
perfect player to just kind of drop right in and replace her.
32:59
So it's going to take, it's going to take a little look to
33:01
figure out what to do here. Nicely done.
33:05
Yeah, I think, you know, they'll have to play physical and, you
33:10
know, going back to the vaulting thing, I know I I kind of like
33:13
gave the aside there of a veteran move when she kind of
33:16
turned. It's a veteran move to sort of
33:19
try that. And maybe it's more of a veteran
33:21
move if it works. But it's also a scourge on our
33:24
sport. Like don't just stop and stand.
33:27
You know, just I hate it when when defenders do it when
33:30
they're, you know, calling for offside too.
33:33
Don't stop playing and put your hands in the air while your
33:37
opponent is running with the ball.
33:39
I guess this might be my this might be one of my most old man
33:42
takes, but will you just play through the whistle, please?
33:46
Like you, because you, you, you're actually putting yourself
33:49
at a massive disadvantage in those spots.
33:52
And of all the teams to do that against Spain.
33:55
And you know, it's not like Levolti needs me to lecture her.
33:57
She's a the Champions League winner.
33:59
But like, come on, man. Like you're putting yourself in
34:02
a real rough spot when you do that.
34:05
Yeah, no doubt. I mean, the the other one that
34:08
gets me is when somebody's on the floor and the player that
34:11
gets knocked to the floor and they just grab the ball with
34:12
their hands, like to just force, force the official into making a
34:16
call. You know what are you going to?
34:20
Do I can't remember who it was. Somebody got called for a
34:22
handball for doing that recently.
34:24
And I, I, I stood up off my couch and applauded it.
34:28
I was just like, good for you. And again, I, now I'm put in the
34:31
uncomfortable position where I'm defending the refs, who I always
34:34
view as cops. And I don't want to, I never
34:36
want to defend cops or referees. But in in that case, I I knew it
34:40
was a dive and the player grabbed the ball and they called
34:43
for the handball and I was like, OK, good.
34:45
Justice was served, at least this one time.
34:48
What a narc. All right, let's get back to it.
34:51
Terrible, embarrassing. Does Germany, Does Germany have
34:57
any? Like let's play the game.
35:00
We we've already I already discounted Germany to to no end.
35:03
I've said they've got no shot. You know, the the the injuries
35:06
keep mounting. The nu skin yellow card
35:08
accumulation makes it even worse.
35:10
Spain on the other hand, I mean, they look as clean as a whistle.
35:13
I'm not sure if I'm having trouble figuring out apologies
35:17
if somebody did get very, you know, seriously injured and I
35:22
just got it blanked out. But I feel like they've been
35:24
flying real high. It's been very clean.
35:28
I'd be interested to see if this game gets mucked up a little
35:31
bit. You know, Spain kind of breezed
35:35
through the group. Toughest match up maybe was that
35:37
Italy match up where they do fall behind.
35:40
They go in halftime even, but they pull it out three to 1.
35:44
Switzerland 2 nil. Obviously it's the home country.
35:49
You miss a couple PKS, you miss a couple other really good
35:51
looks. Could have been way worse.
35:53
I think the XG was close to 4 for Spain, but again, much like
35:57
with England, I haven't really been, they haven't really dunked
36:02
on me yet in terms of like the expectation they get.
36:05
They, they got the big win versus Portugal.
36:07
That was impressive. Portugal went on to disappoint,
36:09
I think for the rest of the, the, the tournament.
36:11
But I, I am I am I crazy to think Germany's got a weird
36:17
outside shot to kind of like, you know, bruise this game up a
36:23
bit and then all of a sudden we're we're late and it could be
36:26
Germany up a goal maybe. And we're just look again,
36:29
looking around be like, how the fuck, where are we?
36:32
What is this? No, yeah, no, of course you're
36:35
not crazy. I mean, especially after what we
36:37
just saw, like, I think it's, you know, the time for counting
36:41
out Germany has ended. Now, if I had to to bet my very
36:46
hard earned money on it, I would.
36:48
I would bet on Spain, who, by the way, are -220 to win the
36:52
game in regulation. Germany's +500.
36:55
The draw in regulation is plus 360 for those who are interested
36:59
in that kind of thing. You love a draw, You love a draw
37:05
bet. Nothing takes you.
37:10
Yeah. No, no.
37:10
I don't think it's crazy at all to count like.
37:13
What a hit today. What a hit today.
37:16
That's true, yeah. So I don't, I don't think it's
37:19
silly at all to to say that Germany has a chance.
37:21
After all, we're playing football and Germany always has
37:24
a chance. But I think, you know, Spain has
37:31
so much, it's not exactly earth shattering analysis here.
37:36
Here's what I'm I'm going to give you here.
37:38
Esther Gonzalez didn't really find any joy versus the Swiss.
37:43
And it kind of goes back to what you were saying where, you know,
37:46
she does, she requires like some bit of service.
37:49
She makes things happen on her own.
37:50
She's you know, she's a good hold up player.
37:52
She's a genius, you know, kind of the way she sees the field
37:55
and the way she runs in the dangerous areas.
37:58
But I'm going to I'm going to go with she's sitting on four goals
38:01
in the tournament. She didn't do much against the
38:04
Swiss with Germany's defense. Now you kind of have to make
38:08
another adjustment with Hendrick out, Vomser's coming back in, so
38:13
that kind of helps. But I I'm going to place one
38:17
take chip on Ester finding some space and getting another one
38:22
into the back of the net in this match.
38:25
I like it. We definitely see that.
38:27
I thought Esther, Esther just definitely needed more touches
38:30
in the Switzerland match for sure.
38:31
I think they kind of tried to get her going in the second-half
38:36
could be interesting. I think I think it's going to be
38:38
I'm I'm interested to see how the game unfolds, to be honest.
38:42
Is this going to be another game where because in in versus
38:46
France, obviously down a player, Germany was dominated from a
38:51
possession standpoint, from a passing standpoint, just from a
38:54
field, from most of the the high level stats, you know, like they
38:59
they just conceded, you know, except for where it counted.
39:04
I'll be interested to see at full strength what kind of game
39:07
Germany plays. Like do they try to hold the
39:10
ball a little bit? Do they try to kind of like chip
39:13
away at that Spain, Spain defense?
39:15
Or do they just try to go over the top and, you know, see if
39:17
they can steal one? I, I feel like that would be a
39:21
little bit selling themselves short if they don't try to
39:22
possess a little bit, make Spain defend and, and see if they can,
39:26
you know, kind of like, again, just systematically break them
39:30
down rather than being a little bit impatient.
39:33
Because I think that that has the, that has a chance to run
39:35
them a little bit ragged. If you know, Germany's just
39:37
defending for 80 plus minutes with not a lot of respite.
39:42
Totally agree. I mean, that's one thing that
39:44
just has a real, you have a real difficult time with that working
39:49
against Spain. I thought, you know, there were
39:50
moments against France where Germany would kind of pick their
39:54
spots, especially when they're down to 10 and they're like, OK,
39:57
we got to be efficient with these counter attacks.
40:00
And see if we can get one over. But Spain, you know, once they
40:04
start stringing together 10/15/20 passes in a possession
40:10
and you're kind of dancing all over the place.
40:12
You know, you could put yourself in in a real difficult position.
40:18
Let me let me ask you, did you have a German player to watch on
40:24
your mind or do you want me to go first?
40:27
Yeah, go 1st and then I'll, I'll, I'll let my takes marinate
40:30
here. So with that in mind, I think
40:35
I'm going to put the spot line the spotlight on Yuninga Minga
40:39
26 year old from Wolfsburg. Obviously plays could play in
40:44
that central and that center back role could play central
40:47
midfielder, defensive midfielder.
40:50
She was top ten in frown Bundesliga in the following
40:55
categories passes into the final third progressive passes touches
41:00
progressive carrying distance Ariel's won and percentage of
41:03
Ariel's won. You know, I mean, I thought she
41:07
had an excellent match against France.
41:10
I think she has been consistently good throughout
41:13
this tournament. They're going to desperately
41:15
need her to continue to act as a stabilizing force in that
41:20
defense. She's needed to from pretty much
41:22
the first match when Julia Given got injured.
41:25
So, you know, if if they're going to if they're going to
41:28
pull some kind of upset. And again, it always sounds
41:31
silly to me saying that Germany winning a football match would
41:34
be an upset. But it would in this case.
41:37
If they want a chance of doing that, I think Minga will need to
41:39
to show up big time in this one. Yeah, I totally agree with you.
41:46
I think she was, I mean, she was huge today for sure in a in a
41:50
much needed spot. I mean, she was definitely part
41:53
of that. Hey, let's flip our mentality
41:55
and let's just let's not go out like this.
41:57
And her play today was like very emblematic of that for sure.
42:01
I'm going to kind of cheat and say I've got two players.
42:04
You know, you mentioned, I think you've already mentioned both of
42:06
them. Carlotta Bamsar returning, I
42:09
thought had a really good tournament.
42:11
You know, a little bit of a brain fart with like the the the
42:13
big time save there and the red card.
42:15
But that's a kind of player that at that age and what we saw so
42:20
far in the tournament. I'm going to be excited to see,
42:23
you know, if, if Bamsar gets a start, what she brings to the
42:26
table versus Spain, you know, and, and if and if she's able to
42:30
kind of be like, I'm, I'm I'm here and I'm going to be up for
42:34
it because we've seen we've seen players, we've seen young
42:36
players face that Spain side and kind of wilt a little bit, kind
42:40
of like, you know, fade into the background a little bit.
42:43
For some reason. I don't think Vomser strikes me
42:45
as that kind of player. I I feel like if she doesn't get
42:47
the start, we could see some real fireworks from Vomser and
42:51
then on that same side cloud Abu up top.
42:55
You know, I just feel like, I feel like there's a moment.
42:59
I feel like there's a moment in the chamber for bull.
43:02
You know, we talked about the PK, her going like 6th or 7th in
43:06
the in the order and just smashing it and us kind of
43:10
scratching her heads, but also being like, wow, that was an
43:12
awesome PK, but still also why is she going to scissor 7th?
43:15
I I feel like there's, I feel like there's a bull moment and
43:19
that's a big time player too that comes through in big spots,
43:23
you know, like this isn't a player that you know, shows out
43:26
against the worst competition, big, big plays and big games.
43:30
I can see, you know what, I'm going to do it.
43:32
I'm going to put a take ship. I'm going to put a take ship on
43:35
a cloud bull goal. Absolutely.
43:39
Love it. I think I think you're spot on
43:42
and I think that leads us perfectly as we round the finish
43:46
line, as we get into like the 88th minute, not literally, but
43:50
the 88th minute of this podcast, figuratively from a football
43:53
sense. I think that leads us to the
43:55
predictions. I think I might join you on that
43:58
Clara Bull goal. But I do think I think the world
44:03
champions pull it out. Let's give it to Spain. 2 to one
44:08
in my book. Nice. 2 to one.
44:11
Yeah, I've got it three to two. I'm probably expecting a little
44:16
bit more, a couple more fireworks, but give me 3 to 2
44:21
and then give me that third goal.
44:22
Give me that third goal and added extra time.
44:26
Wow, let's go. Yep, third goal and added extra
44:29
time from Clara Bull. Give me Germany, give me the
44:35
take integrity. Give me Germany.
44:38
Three to two. OK, the most unreal, unexpected,
44:44
the biggest turn around ever since we've been covering
44:48
women's football. Germany 3 to 2 and I get my
44:54
Germany England final. David Holy.
44:57
Schnikeys, you know I somehow surprised you when I picked
45:02
Sweden to beat England incorrectly by the way in, in
45:05
the name of Take Integrity, and somehow I still got fooled.
45:11
You're the Roadrunner who painted the picture of the
45:14
highway and I'm just wily Coyote just smashing into the wall.
45:18
Not sure how it happened, but I, I commend you, my good man.
45:22
See, take integrity. It's important.
45:24
That's why you guys obviously watch the show.
45:27
It's not because we're, I mean, we make great points and we get
45:30
a lot of predictions right all the time and we're obviously
45:33
very funny. All those things.
45:35
It's, it's because of the take integrity.
45:36
It's because when we make a pick, we stick with it.
45:39
Yep, for the most part. Anywho.
45:42
Yeah, usually. I've been, I've been known to
45:45
flip a, flip a little, flop a little.
45:47
That's all right. Who's counting really?
45:51
All right, man, 2 huge matchups, cannot wait.
45:55
Tuesday, Wednesday, we'll be back for both of them with
45:59
proper post game breakdowns. And I guess after that second
46:03
one, we'll do a little, you know, impromptu final preview
46:07
before our official official final final preview.
46:10
But yeah, man, the tournament rolls on.
46:12
We're now roughly, well, now it's Sunday here in California,
46:17
but we're roughly a week away from the final.
46:21
And I think it's now it's a winning time.
46:23
Now it's winning time for us. It's these are the championship
46:25
minutes, the championship rounds time to just kind of like, you
46:29
know, pull up these compression socks and get out, get out there
46:33
and just try really hard, finish up the tournament strong.
46:36
Anything else you want to hit before we get out of here?
46:38
I think we've done it. I don't, you know, I don't know
46:41
if we're quite compression sock age just yet, but I don't know.
46:45
I haven't tried them. I I shouldn't knock them yet.
46:47
Maybe, you know, maybe they would help.
46:50
But no, I think we I think we've done it.
46:52
I think we've thoroughly covered the semi final matches.
46:55
I just can't wait, can't wait to watch them.
46:57
I'm probably going to have to be no spoilers for both of them.
47:01
Maybe sit back and and watch them as the evening rolls on.
47:05
I might treat them both as like, you know, 7:00 PM Pacific Time
47:09
prime time matches. Either way, I could not be more
47:13
excited to watch this. I think we have 4 awesome teams,
47:16
interesting storylines. It should be absolutely
47:19
fantastic. Hell yeah.
47:20
Let's do it. All right, man.
47:21
Quick episode calendar, as mentioned, Tuesday, England,
47:24
Italy, Wednesday, Spain, Germany.
47:26
Cannot wait. I think we did it, man.
47:29
There's been another episode of it to the channel.
47:31
Thank you. Thank you.
47:32
Thank you for watching, listening, hanging out, chiming
47:35
in. If you're in no spoilers mode,
47:38
definitely stay off the YouTube comments because shout out to
47:40
all of our friends on these Internet streets.
47:44
They flood in real quickly when the match is over, when we got
47:48
something right and even quicker when we got something wrong.
47:50
So avoid the YouTube if you're in no spoilers mode, like
47:53
subscribe, follow YouTube, Spotify, have a podcast wherever
47:55
you like to watch or listen. Leave us a review over your
47:58
favorite podcast app links to all of our socials except one in
48:01
the show notes of this episode and a big thing in my coast as
48:03
well. Mr. Grant angle for all right,
48:06
man, let's pull up the compression socks.
48:09
You know, let's let's sign that reverse mortgage paperwork,
48:12
whatever we got to do to kind of like stay young.
48:15
What can I say? I mean, the Sakina Karshawi to
48:18
my Selma Bashaw. I appreciate you bro.
48:22
Likewise, buddy, you know, podcast Co hosts partners and
48:26
and expert pronunciation for European player names.
48:31
I mean, you know, we're obviously out here working as a
48:33
team. Wouldn't do it with anybody
48:35
else. I appreciate you.
48:36
Thank everybody for rocking with the show.
48:37
Like Dino said, you know, thank you for dropping the knowledge.
48:39
Please keep the comments coming and we will see you all next
48:43
time.