Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / NWSL's Top 5 Teams | MW 23 Preview | KC Current, Washington Spirit, Gotham FC Win BIG | Orlando Pride, Seattle Reign FC, Racing Louisville Back on Track

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NWSL's Top 5 Teams | MW 23 Preview | KC Current, Washington Spirit, Gotham FC Win BIG | Orlando Pride, Seattle Reign FC, Racing Louisville Back on Track · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:06
OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast premiere about one's
0:11
football. I'm your host Dino de Suspitis.
0:14
And as always, I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Angle.
0:18
What's up, man? I'm feeling fantastic buddy. 22
0:22
weeks down, a mere 5 to go. Who got scared of the math
0:29
there? The 23rd, 24th, 25th, 26th, 4 to
0:33
go. Math is scary, math stays scary.
0:40
You almost had it. I mean, there's technical you
0:43
were just counting the quarterfinals.
0:44
So it's just, you know, extension of the regular season.
0:46
So I think it plays. Maybe that's a good bellwether
0:50
for, you know, quenching some thirst around here around these
0:53
parts. Let's have a beverage to
0:56
celebrate me being the Chicago stars of math.
1:04
Cheers. Cheers to you, cheers to the
1:07
football, cheers to a good season thus far.
1:11
Oh yeah, 4, maybe 5 weeks left. Who's counting?
1:16
Some amount of weeks left, games will be played, another trophy
1:21
to be lifted. You know, we got a lot going on
1:24
over. Here, Yeah, man, for sure.
1:25
Well, we're not going to go through the full site because I
1:28
think as we approach the home stretch of the season, things
1:32
start to really kind of squeeze and get truncated.
1:34
So this episode we're actually just going to focus in on the
1:37
current top five, no pun intended, of the end of sale,
1:41
end of sale table, which who makes up that top five?
1:45
The KC, Current, Washington Spirit, Gotham FC, your Seattle
1:50
Rain, our Orlando Pride, and then we'll cut it off there for
1:54
this week because I think there's a lot of juicy stuff
1:57
there. Some some intertwining, some of
1:59
some teams playing each other, some teams maybe potentially
2:02
could be playing each other down the stretch.
2:03
So a lot of fun stuff to get into.
2:05
Mr. Grand Angle, where you want to get started.
2:08
Well, yeah, I mean, we're not going to do numerical order
2:11
today. We're going to, we're going to
2:12
thumb our nose at the typical order that we like.
2:17
And you said it yourself, Seattle Rain FC currently
2:20
sitting in fourth place. Orlando Pride currently sitting
2:23
in 5th. And you know what that means?
2:26
If the playoffs started today, who these teams will be playing
2:30
each other in the first round? Can't believe it take I mean
2:35
take a shot at home, take a drink at home if you take a sip
2:37
at home. If you had Seattle as your 4th
2:40
ranked team coming to the season and Orlando's their 5th ranked
2:42
team coming to the season, Seattle potentially hosting a
2:45
playoff match. But let's not get ahead of
2:47
ourselves. So two big wins, though, for for
2:50
both of these sides, different types of wins.
2:55
I'll say, you know, like not, not, not a lot in common between
2:59
Orlando's Big W and Seattle's Big W But see, that was a home
3:03
game, right? You were there.
3:04
I was certainly there. Tell us about it.
3:08
It looked bleak there for a little while.
3:10
Won't lie to you. I mean, in the first half it was
3:16
just looking real sketchy. North Carolina Courage had
3:18
nearly 70% of the possession Seattle Rain FC credited with
3:23
two shots, neither of which on goal.
3:26
And I just want to say for the record, it does say two shots.
3:29
The second shot was a near midfield attempt from Jet, from
3:33
Jess Fishlock. When the ball got it got cleared
3:36
out there and fell to her feet and she just had a go.
3:39
Now, could the legend, the 2021 NWSLMVP score that sometimes I'm
3:45
certain she could she, but not with consistency.
3:48
I'm guessing in that spot with the ball just kind of coming up
3:51
on you and you're like, whoa, I can have a go here.
3:53
So it was really kind of one shot on goal.
3:56
And even that that first shot that I believe was a fish lock
3:59
redirect didn't really ever have a chance of going in and was not
4:02
on target. So it it didn't look great in
4:05
the first half and Laura Harvey told us in the in the post match
4:09
presser that she gave them a bit of a quote telling off in the
4:14
halftime talk and she said they she liked the way they
4:17
responded. They definitely responded, you
4:19
know, so I mean, I, I really liked it's just seeing well, to
4:23
rewind back for the that's that that save in the first half, the
4:26
Claudia Dickey save on the Monaco point blank header was
4:29
really impressive. Kind of like reminded me
4:31
immediately of just the conversation around Dickie more
4:34
recently. You know, I thought North
4:38
Carolina looked like the better team.
4:39
They looked physically like the more adult team, like it just
4:43
looked like everybody looked taller and stronger.
4:46
But I mean, credit to Seattle, they hung in, you know, they
4:48
didn't really produce much. I think they end end the match
4:51
with .23 XG. You mentioned it.
4:53
Three shots, one on target, a little bit of a Riddle.
4:56
One shot on target, two goals. Pretty incredible.
5:00
Yeah. I mean, you can't get more
5:02
efficient than that. I mean, if you could average two
5:04
goals for every shot on target, you're cooking, I'll tell you
5:06
that. One bright spot, though.
5:08
Ainsley Mccammon, 18 years old, came in and did some stuff.
5:14
You know, her footwork really kind of stands out like on the
5:18
on the on the second goal, Like she just kind of hit like a like
5:21
a fake step in a pivot and then like whipped it around to kind
5:24
of get the ball up field. And I was like, what the what
5:27
was that? That was very, very quick.
5:29
And then she was also involved in the own goal.
5:33
You know, she gets the ball to Adamus and kind of like nutmegs
5:35
Weatherholt after another kind of like little okey doke move.
5:39
I mean, just kind of some some slick movement from Mccammon and
5:43
kind of like, I don't know, a pretty exciting prospect if you
5:47
have a player that can kind of produce like that.
5:49
And then to have her involved and kind of both of those big
5:51
plays, gotta be huge for her confidence.
5:54
I think so and Laura Harvey in the post match presser again
5:58
spoke, spoke about that a little bit and said that she has told
6:01
Ainsley Mccammon multiple times to, you know, in their kind of
6:07
discussions. So she wasn't shy about saying
6:09
it to us in the press that she thinks Mccammon is going to have
6:13
some ups and downs and has like a runway before she becomes a
6:17
regular player in this league. You know, she's 18 years old.
6:20
She is a good prospect, but she doesn't appear to and this is
6:24
this is me spitballing now that that first part was what Harvey
6:26
said about how she's going to have some ups and downs and has
6:29
a has a long road. Me personally, I view that as
6:32
Mccammon is a good prospect. She's not one of those Claire
6:37
Hutton, Jordan Bug young prospects that you just drop in
6:40
and say, OK, you're in the starting lineup now.
6:42
I don't think Harvey sees that in the cards for but you're
6:44
exactly right. She has those flashes where I
6:48
think in my notes watching that I said, man, she is a stylish
6:53
type of player, that she kind of has those little quirks to her
6:57
game that she can fool defenders, great footwork and
7:00
he's kind of able to move around.
7:01
And and you're totally right. You you said it perfectly.
7:04
That's an interesting prospect for a midfield that could use a
7:08
little bit of style. Yeah, and a little bit of like
7:12
just very kind of create like the stuff that is not obvious in
7:16
that, which I think is really, really interesting.
7:18
It's like we see this with like next generational players.
7:20
I forgot who was commenting on it this weekend.
7:23
It was one of the color commentators, but they were
7:25
talking about the difference between Casey this year in
7:28
Orlando last year and I think the the color commentator was
7:30
making the case. There's like, there's just been
7:32
so much tactical evolution from one season to the next.
7:36
And it's like you see a player like Mccammon, you're like, oh,
7:38
well, those are new things that I've never seen before.
7:40
It's a kind of like, you know, new playground type moves that
7:43
that the rest of the league has to adjust to.
7:45
But yeah, I think I think that makes total sense.
7:47
You definitely see the flashes. You don't see the full all
7:50
around game. And I wasn't watching, you know,
7:51
her that closely, you know, like every single minute, but pretty
7:55
exciting nonetheless and a huge win.
7:58
The other part that I liked about it is like, you know,
8:00
Dalian gets the goal, gets called back for offsides.
8:03
Quick side note, I I wish we would stop doing this thing
8:06
where we're like, oh, actually perhaps maybe appears just a
8:11
step offside when we could clearly see that stuff.
8:13
Like it's like we don't have to like very obviously, yeah, like
8:16
let everybody down. So, so, so sorry to see everyone
8:19
disappoint everyone that that was thought it was a goal and
8:21
now it's on. It's like we, we're everybody's,
8:23
we're big boys and big girls all year or big people out here.
8:26
And we could, we're OK. We don't need to just soften the
8:29
blow. Offside.
8:32
Offside's offside, so Darlene scores, gets the goal call back
8:35
and then Hannah Bedford comes back and just flips the whole
8:38
game 180°. And I mean, for Seattle, you
8:43
know, you, you mentioned what Laura Harvey said happened at at
8:46
halftime, but that happens a lot.
8:48
You know, we're we're coach yells at some players.
8:51
But for Seattle to come back and respond against the team that
8:54
they're like really, you know, up against it in the playoff
8:57
race, I don't know that I've seen that since we've been
9:00
covering the league. There have been moments where A1
9:03
nil deficit felt insurmountable just in these last two seasons,
9:08
Like obviously rain have been one of the more successful clubs
9:11
in in league history. But yeah, these last two
9:14
seasons, I mean it, it's felt that way.
9:15
And and you know, I've complained, I guess you could
9:18
say, or just kind of assessed that the attack has not looked
9:23
very dangerous at times. But my question that I asked
9:26
Harvey directly post match was can you win a playoff game like
9:32
that? You know, I noted to her that,
9:34
you know, Rain had 80 touches in the opposition half.
9:39
North Carolina Courage had 222 touches in the opposition half,
9:43
but Seattle Rain was still able to muster 15 touches in in the
9:47
opposing penalty box, and North Carolina Courage only had 18.
9:52
So that was like, that was still very close in that match.
9:55
So there's some efficiency there.
9:57
And she thought about it for a second and said yes.
9:59
And then I was like, oh, damn, I set Laura Harvey up for a yes or
10:02
no question, so she's only going to say yes to me.
10:04
But then she expounded and basically just said when you
10:09
give up some space, when you allow your opponent to come at
10:14
you and give up that territory, as she described it, they want
10:18
to do that because they want to then get out and run in
10:21
transition. Because you have Curry and
10:23
Huerta and then you have, you know, fish locks passing ability
10:26
deep. And then you have the speed of
10:29
Darlene. You have Heidema who's like a a
10:31
big body in the box who you could center it to.
10:34
She mentioned Coco Mondesir in that mix too.
10:37
So she thinks they can and she's fine with that.
10:40
And she kind of, and she described that counter press
10:44
transitional style to how she felt about the 20, the 23 team
10:50
that I think scored 76% of their goals in transition.
10:53
And she said she's glad to kind of see that element back in the
10:56
attack. I love that.
10:58
Yeah, that makes a ton of sense. And as you come down the
11:00
stretch, I think teams are going to need, you know, to kind of
11:03
like, really, really craft that identity, be like, this is, this
11:07
is what we know we want to do. We want to come in here and do
11:09
this. If we can do it, we've got a
11:11
shot. If we can't, we'll see you next
11:14
year. I think I think that's kind of
11:15
like the the mindset for forever.
11:17
A lot of teams except maybe 2, right.
11:20
But I want to scoot ahead. You kind of tease that potential
11:22
four or five match up. That would be a super fun match
11:24
up. Either way, we're going to get
11:25
this match up. Orlando versus Seattle to close
11:28
the season match week 26. So that'll be fine.
11:30
Hopefully there's some some stakes tied to that as well.
11:34
But Orlando also gets a big two to one victory this weekend on
11:39
the road. They go to San Diego.
11:43
In my notes, I wrote Orlando's Last Stand basically.
11:46
And there was a point, there was a point in the match where that
11:48
really, really became what we were watching.
11:51
And I think the thing that I walked away with was this was a
11:54
total team performance. Both of the goals, tons of
11:58
touches, tons of movement, tons of collaboration and, and
12:02
cohesion to make each of them happen.
12:04
And I think this team came out and responded in a, in a really,
12:07
really big way. Yeah, I mean, and the the goal
12:11
by Dudina from from San Diego, it's a howler from Morehouse and
12:16
it's and you give it up right after Ovalle's first goal for
12:20
the Indian WSL, first goal for the club and it's just like, oh
12:24
God, it's a momentum killer. It felt like a momentum killer
12:28
right away. And it was another one of those
12:30
things I know we talked about the last match they played where
12:33
there were some moments where I was like this team, we just
12:35
cannot get a break right now. Like we don't get any breaks
12:38
anymore. And then the the Dugenia goal
12:41
and I was like, Oh my God, this is never going to end.
12:43
But they hung tough, man. I think it's a good, it's a good
12:46
lesson. Like you said, they were playing
12:47
team ball. You know, you you got to do
12:49
something upfront. I liked the combination.
12:53
It was Doyle Watt and Lemos and I like that combo up there.
12:59
You know, Angelina's in the mix up there as well.
13:01
So they were definitely scrappy. A lot more questions than
13:05
answers for San Diego. But we don't we're talking about
13:08
the top five teams. So we don't have to bother
13:09
talking much about San Diego. But a win is a win is a win at
13:13
this point for for Orlando. Huge win, huge win.
13:17
And you talked about that ovale goal.
13:19
The the bummer about the Anna Morehouse situation was she
13:22
started the action that that unlocked the the ovalego.
13:25
So it was a very simple action. It was Morehouse to Emily.
13:28
Sam's like a quick little inside out move.
13:31
She gets it out to Oyane, who basically is the connector to
13:35
the past of the final third, gets it up to Ali Watt and very
13:38
smartly gives Ali Watt a ton of of real estate to run onto.
13:44
You know, to kind of like basically say, OK, you know,
13:46
Kennedy Wesley wasn't in a terrible position.
13:49
But as soon as you give Ali Watt that space now it's like Ali
13:51
Watt, she's going to stretch, you know, that she's going to
13:54
pick up a step or step in half on Wesley and, you know,
13:57
basically creates the look to get the ball back, you know,
14:00
across to Avaye. So really cool team goal there.
14:03
But yeah, I mean, a kind of a Backbreaker to have Morehouse
14:06
give it away. And it what was crazy was on the
14:09
goal, she kicks it to Sam's, that starts it.
14:12
And then when she on the howler, Sam's is right in the Sam Swan.
14:16
She looks at her, looks her off and then kicks it to nobody.
14:19
Just it's a total wrong area either way.
14:22
Dudina, you know, evens it. And then credit to Orlando.
14:25
They they basically got that second one, like a just a much
14:28
needed second one. And I talked about the team
14:31
performance nature of this one. So I jotted it down in my notes.
14:35
And Emily, Sam's interception, she gets it to Angelina, to
14:39
limos, to Ovaya, to Angelina, back to Oyane.
14:44
And then you can hear oh, Yani is now running up the right hand
14:46
side. She doesn't she doesn't have the
14:48
ball yet. She's kind of like running on to
14:50
the ball. Oh Yani is.
14:51
And you could hear Seb Hines Ally, Ally, Ally, Ally, ally.
14:56
And oh, Yani, sight unseen, whips the ball up up field and
15:00
she out kicks Ally Watt, but it curls back around, finds his way
15:03
to Carson Pickett. And that's the goal.
15:05
So you even have Seb Heinz involved in this second goal.
15:08
It's like literally every resource that we have to get a
15:11
goal, including Seb Heinz just screaming, affecting the play in
15:14
real time. And your boy was pumped.
15:17
I watched the replay today and I pumped my fist almost as
15:21
vigorously as I did in real time watching the goal.
15:24
It's outstanding. I didn't hear Seb on the
15:26
broadcast and I felt like it was a beautiful pass to pick it.
15:30
So it's it's fortuitous and, you know, Speaking of getting some
15:33
breaks, maybe this could be a breaking point where they snap
15:38
out of the fever of all this bad luck and just like rough outings
15:42
and all that and just kind of get going.
15:45
I mean, we talk about it. We love joking about like sports
15:48
cliches and stuff. The bones of the team still have
15:53
that championship DNA. I know I don't think DNA and
15:56
bones. I don't know anything.
15:57
I'm this this is a YouTube show of some amateur scientists at
16:00
this point. But like they like the team
16:03
still the the structure of it. The players know how to win.
16:07
They know what it feels like. So hopefully this is a good omen
16:10
for the rest of the season. They know how to win and they
16:13
really don't want to lose, you know, and they think to beat
16:16
them, you're going to have to beat them.
16:17
You know, like they just you get the taste of it and like, I
16:21
don't know, this team's not going to roll over.
16:23
And I think that was evidence in the 75th minute when I, you
16:27
know, I kind of joked about Orlando's last stand, but this
16:28
was literally a last stand. I think you've got Oscanio up
16:33
there. You've got like, you know, the
16:34
the ball and it's crazy dangerous area.
16:37
The sequence goes and and a Morehouse save.
16:40
Then Zara Shivoshi, who was really good 22 year old from
16:43
Canada, really good in the match, really good in the
16:46
sequence. First kind of like gets a little
16:49
knock on it to kind of like clear it out of some space, then
16:51
gets a huge block, then gets a second huge block.
16:55
The ball kind of squirts back out again.
16:56
And then you get a a diving and a morehouse save.
16:59
I think it was Kenzo Dali maybe who struck it.
17:01
And that's in the 75th minute clinging to A21 lead.
17:05
And those are 4. I'm not going to say they're
17:07
great looks, but four real looks.
17:09
The last one was a really good look.
17:10
You you need the the full and morehouse stretch to stop it.
17:13
And that just kind of felt like Orlando being like we're not
17:18
we're not just going to kind of like get ready.
17:20
We're not going to not make the playoffs and we're not going to
17:22
just basically show up to get rolled.
17:24
Let's give this like an honest go getting Oviye and it's in
17:28
there to score, you know, maybe softens the Barbabando blow,
17:31
like maybe kind of like instills a little bit more belief then
17:35
was there after the band injury. And I think this team, you know,
17:40
it's they're not going to make it easy.
17:42
You know, they'll be extremely competitive if they make the
17:45
play offs, no matter who they they go up against.
17:48
And either way, they just needed this.
17:49
They needed this result and they went out and got it.
17:52
Yeah, for sure. And like, we don't talk much
17:55
about the CONCACAF W Champions Cup in the on this podcast
18:00
because there's enough football going around.
18:02
But they had a 2 nil loss to Club America today, but
18:07
obviously fairly rotated squad. I mean, Wahane is out there,
18:11
Sam's is out there, Shivoshi, Pickett, Doyle, Yates, Chando
18:15
was playing. But I mean, really, I think they
18:18
got to be they got to be locked in to the league season at this
18:23
point. Like, you know, they have a very
18:25
clear look at a home playoff match and so they have to have
18:30
to have to push for them. And so, I mean, especially
18:33
they're playing at Houston this week, which, you know, we've
18:36
discussed, there's no easy task. But the Houston Dash coming off
18:39
a pretty bad loss and the team right above them, as we
18:43
mentioned, Seattle Rain FC, they're going to Jersey to play
18:46
those bats. So this is an opportunity where
18:49
Orlando could kind of grab that four spot.
18:52
I mean, who knows? Orlando's just two points behind
18:55
Gotham. So I mean, there's still four
18:56
matches. That's an eternity to just make
18:59
up two points. Gotham's a pretty healthy goal
19:02
differential advantage, so Orlando's not going to catch
19:05
them along that dimension. But I agree with you.
19:08
I think there's the jockeying definitely matters.
19:10
You know, you want to have that home playoff match 2/3, two
19:14
seed, three seed matters for sure.
19:16
If you get the three seed instead of the four seed, you
19:18
get to avoid Kansas City until the absolute final.
19:20
So there's there's a lot of machinations definitely at play.
19:24
But I do want to scoot ahead here.
19:26
You mentioned it, Rain FC heading to our our old stomping
19:30
grounds in the Northeast to take on Gotham #3 versus #4 big
19:35
showdown. I feel these these both of these
19:40
teams won this past weekend in very, very different ways.
19:43
We talked a lot about Seattle. What did you see from Gotham?
19:47
We're starting to get into bulldozer territory.
19:50
They look really good. They look like they're peaking
19:55
at a very fortuitous time and they look good all over the
19:59
field. I mean, they battered Portland.
20:03
Didn't have a shot in that game. And you know, we've we talked
20:07
about the Thorns. We like the Thorns.
20:08
I mean, they haven't been exactly great lately.
20:13
Let me just take a look at this last five matches.
20:16
Portland Thorns have five points.
20:17
They got that that road win versus Racing Louisville and
20:22
then they have the draw versus Chicago on the draw versus San
20:24
Diego and then they have the three nil loss to Gotham and the
20:28
loss to Utah Royals and they just haven't looked great.
20:31
On the absolute flip side, if you do the last five match
20:34
table, Gotham FC sitting at the very top because they've scored
20:39
eleven goals in the last five and Kansas City current has
20:43
scored a mere 10 goals in the last five.
20:47
I just think the bats look super dangerous right now.
20:49
They do look very dangerous. The attacking players are
20:53
starting to definitely develop some chemistry.
20:56
I I really loved, you know, I want to talk a little bit about
20:58
the Roosevelt goal and then I, I will she'll go to reverse.
21:01
But the, the Roosevelt goal were, were Jaden Shaw.
21:05
I mean, I think I watched that 50 times.
21:07
I couldn't quite figure out how Shaw was able to get the ball to
21:09
Rose. But the, the cool part was that
21:12
so you have Jaden Shaw, like a player with great vision and the
21:15
accuracy to be able to put it anywhere.
21:17
She's got 3 great players to go to.
21:20
Like a stair deepest misburst level arose ahead and like the
21:23
the past arose. There was only one other player
21:27
in the, in the building that knew that that was possible and
21:29
it was Roosevelt. They were like that.
21:31
That connectivity between those two, you don't usually see that
21:35
that play was really incredible and really emblematic of like
21:38
all of the things that Gotham is going to be able to do once they
21:42
figure it out. They're just absolutely loaded
21:44
from an offensive standpoint. A. 100% yeah.
21:46
It was a it was a beautiful one touch.
21:48
Mandy Freeman had a great pass that was right on the midge
21:52
purses, forehead in between two defenders for the opener.
21:55
I mean, this team, they do all the stuff they defend.
22:00
They can play physical, they have great goalkeeping and they
22:04
can dribble, pass and shoot. And it's just like it stars all
22:07
over the place. And then they they had this look
22:10
about them, you know, they were really feeling themselves like
22:14
at at a couple points in the match, through most of the
22:17
match, Jalen Howell hit just an absolute laser off the crossbar
22:22
from like 30 yards out. Midge had A at another had a
22:26
great curling shot that just hit the left post.
22:29
Like they were like that was toward the end of the match.
22:31
They're just firing on all cylinders.
22:34
We've talked about it before. This is another team that just
22:37
has winning DNA, even if, you know, they don't have a ton of
22:40
players leftover from the championship.
22:43
Obviously, they still have a stare and Mitch Purse, who was
22:46
the MVP of that match, that championship match a few years
22:49
ago. But, you know, they have a ton
22:52
of international winners. They have a ton of leaders.
22:56
And Jaden Shaw, I don't know. Is she used to playing with a
22:59
bunch of winners and a bunch of leaders?
23:01
Yeah, she is. I mean, you know, she played for
23:03
that. She was young, but she played
23:05
for that Shield winning San Diego Wave team and her time
23:09
winning the the Women's Gold Cup for for USA.
23:13
Like she knows how to fit into the team and she it looks like
23:17
she has her confidence back. If I if I could throw out
23:19
another sports cliche. I mean, the fit is just off the
23:22
charts. You know, they were talking
23:23
about the telecast, too. Like her ability to see and
23:27
deliver is is awesome. And I think they talked about
23:30
how much pressure there was offensively, you know, and we we
23:32
did the same thing. So, Oh my, she's going to go to
23:34
North Carolina and like she'll be featured and everything's
23:37
going to kind of go through her. And like now she is she going to
23:39
be at the 10, she's going to be scoring.
23:40
You know, like we did that too. And it didn't the the complete
23:44
opposite happened. Nothing good happened.
23:46
I'm glad you brought up Mitch Purse because she obviously she
23:49
gets the big goal 10 minutes into the match.
23:51
The first thing I think about is great friend of the pod at
23:55
Gretchen Little 6817 who says who said actually as a comment
24:00
on our last video and I quote I don't make many predictions, but
24:05
a sneaking suspicion tells me this weekend.
24:08
Maybe Midge purse's post injury breakout game and motherfucking
24:14
quote. Let's go.
24:15
Great, let's let's take a take a step to Gretchen.
24:18
Cheers to you of. Course, what a progression.
24:20
Amazing prediction. What an absolute legend Gretchen
24:23
is. Always thank you for dropping
24:24
knowledge. And she was.
24:26
She totally nailed it. This did feel like Purse looked
24:30
way more like herself than she has since that catastrophic
24:34
injury, which I mean, just off the top of my head, feels like
24:38
it may have been 18 months ago. It's been a while.
24:41
No, it, it's, it's been a good while and I think I, I responded
24:45
to gracious comments. I was like, yeah, I think, I
24:47
think it's coming too. I, I, I totally agree, you know,
24:49
well, let's see if we see something in the next few weeks
24:51
here. No, but she had it right on the
24:54
money. That was the the the breakout
24:56
game. And now two players, Mitch
24:58
person, Roosevelt are players that you know, you know how
25:01
great they are. You know what they're capable
25:03
of, but you also know that they're for different reasons,
25:07
kind of like trying to sort out their role on the team, you
25:11
know, either through health or just moving parts.
25:13
And to see both of them. I think they said that this was
25:16
Roosevelt's first match in the NWSL where she had a goal and an
25:20
assist. I mean, that's incredible.
25:22
And I think she just what was the player of the match for
25:24
sure. And and and probably just edged
25:28
up Midge burst. Both of those players were
25:29
absolutely fantastic and not players that were playing
25:32
anywhere near this ballpark the beginning of the season, the
25:35
first third of the season. So now if like this is what
25:39
we're going to get from Gotham, I mean, this this team, you
25:42
know, can, can, can absolutely compete with any team, you know,
25:45
in the league, you know, down the stretch, you know, I'm not
25:48
sure I think they'd be favored against anybody except those top
25:51
2. So in the play offs, I think you
25:53
you've got to give Gotham the edge against any other team that
25:55
that they'd be facing, you know, again if the play offs started
25:59
today. I think so.
26:00
I think that's totally fair. Let's let's do a little bit of
26:05
tears talk as we get down to the other teams in the top five,
26:09
because I I think there's a little, there's a little meat on
26:12
that bone. Let me just tell you vindication
26:16
Speaking of of comeback stories, when we mentioned the rain,
26:20
Mitch Purse injured her ACL in March of 2024 and I said I
26:25
thought it may have been 18 months.
26:28
So if you go March 2024 to September of 2025, we're back
26:34
baby. I can do math that is roughly 18
26:37
months almost as triumphant as Mitch Purse coming back from a
26:41
catastrophic injury and and playing great like that.
26:44
So I'm glad I can feel what it feels like to come back from
26:49
from a devastating loss like. From A1 node from A1 node
26:51
deficit to win 21 exactly yes. My bad math earlier was the
26:55
equivalent of me injuring my ACL well.
26:58
What do you want to do? Do you want us to do some tears?
27:01
Because I've got. Well, who else do we got?
27:03
We got. We should probably talk about
27:04
that team sitting at the top of the table.
27:07
Yeah, I want to talk about the last two teams.
27:09
The last two teams like Bay in Chicago OR oh, the final two
27:13
teams in the top. Five that we have that covered.
27:16
OK, quick tears talk. I don't think these teams are in
27:18
the same tier. I think the Kansas City Current
27:21
are absolutely in their own tier.
27:24
Yes, I agree. So obviously Kansas City, they
27:28
get the 41V over Chicago and in a game that they didn't need it
27:32
in any way, shape or form and represented Chicago's, you know,
27:36
final final throws of this season as they get eliminated.
27:40
That makes it 15 straight unbeaten for Casey.
27:43
Thirteen wins over that stretch. I mean the goals, the goals in
27:49
this one, like, you know, the the be a goal specifically, I
27:55
mean the be yeah, just starts it off the 1st 10 minutes like all
27:58
right, well, let me just let's just let's just get out ahead
28:01
and let him know what time it is with this one, which I love.
28:03
I mean, just the message sent there was incredible.
28:06
But Chewinga to do that in the middle of the park, you know,
28:10
the two touches a little kind of like pirouette the the stinging
28:15
ball to be a you know, not the one to get it to her, the one
28:18
that to to open her up and like give her that space.
28:21
And then the sliding finish from be A to tuck it into the far,
28:26
far corner of the net. Like with yeah, the the shot
28:30
went faster than the camera. Like that's how you know, like
28:32
the ball was struck with some ferocity was like when the main
28:35
shot doesn't keep up. Like, you know, you have to see
28:37
that with the replay to see actually what happened.
28:39
Unbelievable from via. And I think like the power of
28:43
the precision, the stretch, like the audacity there, you know,
28:46
and then like just the the diversity in attack.
28:50
It's the Bina. It's chewing a feeding be in the
28:52
center of the park. And you know, like Cooper had an
28:55
off game. It's just like it doesn't matter
28:57
what happens, this team really can just hurt you like without
29:01
the ball, without controlling the match, without any kind of
29:03
like rhythm, like they just really can just flip it and and
29:07
really kind of like break whatever it is that you were
29:09
trying to do a. 100% And this is the last time I'll mention the
29:13
Laura Harvey press conference, but when she was talking about a
29:15
transitional style, she had said look at, look at Kansas City,
29:19
they don't even want to have the ball.
29:21
They want you to have the ball and run at them and then they'll
29:23
take it from you and then kill you on the press.
29:27
And Speaking of their press though, they can high press you
29:30
like you said it in a diversity of attack.
29:31
That's what led to that to being a goal in the 1st 7 minutes.
29:34
And when they score in the 1st 7 minutes, you know, obviously if
29:37
they're playing like Spirit or Gotham, you know, one of the
29:40
better teams in the league, it's not over.
29:43
But when they're playing one of those bottom half of the table
29:46
or even mid table teams, if Kansas City scores in the 10 in
29:50
the 1st 10 minutes, you're probably already dead.
29:53
Like it's just impossible. It looks impossible to come back
29:58
against this team that has tightened up its defense in such
30:01
a way that has Lorena, who has the shot stopping ability to
30:04
make great saves. They can just create chaos when
30:07
they press you and then they're off to the races.
30:10
And like you mentioned, all the skill that they have.
30:13
They're the the speed and the smarts of Chewinga, the
30:17
classiness and the style of of BIA and Dabena.
30:21
And then you have Michelle Cooper either out muscling you
30:24
or just getting to the unlined and firing in crosses or ripping
30:27
shots herself. They just look pretty much
30:31
unbeatable. And so I'm, I'm, I'm with you.
30:34
They are in a tear by themselves in this league right now.
30:37
It's their double to win. Absolutely.
30:40
And I think like, you know, I, I made AI made a comment last year
30:45
about thinking Orlando was like probably like the best team in
30:47
the world, which I, I definitely stand by.
30:48
I think they, they were playing a brand of ball that would have
30:51
been tough for anybody to compete with.
30:53
I think this Kansas City current side is on another level.
30:56
I think if they play at their peak, there is no team on the
31:01
planet that can compete with this team.
31:03
Like cannot compete with this team.
31:06
They're bigger, cannot compete, they're bigger.
31:10
They're physical. This is that this is if they're
31:13
at their best. This team is 18 two and two in
31:17
the NWSL. It's pretty like if I told you
31:19
Barcelona was 1818 two and two in the league.
31:21
I feedback, OK, like, you know, well, who got them those two
31:24
times like, you know, like, but it's it's not inconceivable this
31:28
team is 18 and two and two in the NWSL.
31:30
Like it's unfathomable what they're doing.
31:33
And I think I'll make one other, you know, proclamation.
31:37
I feel like I should have went harder at Tamwa Chewinga for
31:42
being, you know, ranked 17th in the bound door because if
31:46
Chewinga sweeps the MVP, the Golden Boot and they win the
31:51
double and she doesn't win the bound door next season, I mean,
31:55
that it's sort of pushes it into absolute forest territory.
31:59
Because I think I was talking, I can't remember what I was
32:01
talking to in the comments by Edmond Phillip, but I was like,
32:04
how many players above Chewinga on that list?
32:08
You think Kansas City is saying, Hey, I'll treat you 10 more
32:11
Chewinga for Leah Williamson or Lindsay Heaps or you know, like,
32:17
I mean, no knock on these players.
32:19
These are good players. But like, you know, and I think
32:22
I made the case. I don't think Kansas City is
32:24
trading Timochuinga for any of those players because of how
32:27
special she is to that team, what she's able to do and like
32:31
how much of the off, like just basically everything that she
32:34
unlocks. She's an incredible player and I
32:36
think she's on track now for maybe an MVP, maybe a Golden
32:40
Boot, maybe a double. Like what do we do at that
32:42
point? Yeah, it's all it's all fair.
32:46
I mean, and if you think about the Styles Clash, because now
32:48
you already got me, you got me thinking about it here.
32:51
Now, obviously Kansas City would never agree to it because it
32:54
wouldn't behoove them in the in the scope of, you know, chasing
32:58
the playoffs. But if you were going to do it,
33:01
you would want to do it. It's like sometime in October
33:03
where Barcelona has a few matches under their belt and
33:07
they're like kind of, you know, they're working themselves into
33:09
the season and an NWSL team is in their peak form too.
33:15
When you would want these two teams to clash, that would be,
33:17
it would be unbelievable. You think about Barcelona's
33:19
possessive style versus Casey's transitional style.
33:22
Put it on the zone and just watch the ratings flow in.
33:27
Put Leanne on the on the broadcast too, obviously.
33:30
Let's go. Yeah, yeah.
33:31
Well, we'll, we'll I'll do some pre pregame if we need to.
33:34
We'll do the the pregame show. Yeah, we'll do a.
33:36
Show. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
33:37
Hit us up. Pregame post game, yeah, we'll
33:39
make it work. Andy who Washington Spirit, the
33:43
second tier, the last team of our big our big 5 that we
33:46
haven't hit. They get they also get a big win
33:49
this weekend over the aforementioned Houston Dash 4
33:54
nil in a match that I think Houston didn't roll over in this
33:58
one. They they kind of were trying
34:00
for for big chunks of it. They just kind of weren't
34:02
weren't able to get get a ton done.
34:04
And that other side, you know, they had a player by the name of
34:07
GIF Monday that, you know, just was an absolute terror.
34:11
Yeah, slicing and dicing and getting the ball passed to her
34:14
in in perfect areas and then she knew what to do with it every
34:17
single time. The reason I wanted to talk
34:21
tears is I think because of the way Gotham is coming on.
34:25
And you know how I've been talking about Washington Spirit
34:28
for a while and I say they, you know, I've compared them to
34:31
Barcelona in the sense of like, they play like a, like a Spanish
34:34
side. I think I might put the Spirit
34:38
and the Bats on the same tier. I think I would have Casey on
34:43
Tier 1 and I think the two teams who I would not be surprised
34:51
could get them in A1 game sample.
34:54
I think it would be either of these two teams because of the
34:57
way like, you know, like I was just talking about with
34:59
Barcelona playing a possessive style.
35:01
I think you know, if you can if you can avoid absolute disaster
35:06
and you have a goalkeeper who could stand up to some pressure.
35:12
Obviously the spirit have Kingsbury, the bats have on
35:15
Contran Berger. I think you could beat KC in A1
35:20
game sample. But this, this domination over
35:23
Houston Dash. I'm so glad you pointed it out.
35:26
I thought Dash were fine. You're just completely
35:29
outclassed and they're 31 year old veteran American goalkeeper
35:33
Abby Smith. I don't think she played poorly
35:35
either and you still lost four nil.
35:38
She was good. I was like, all right, she was
35:40
bad. She made plays, no doubt.
35:42
I mean, I think like Washington's attack.
35:45
I mean, it's just an embarrassment of riches.
35:47
Like I I put in my notes. You imagine having a game plan.
35:51
This is these are are they're attacking options gift Monday
35:56
Trinity Rodman, Craig Bethune, rose quasi, Sofia Cantore, Lacey
36:00
Santos. That's not to mention, you know,
36:03
you're holding midfielders maybe as of Hal Hirschfelder or Nurumi
36:06
Mira behind her. So it's like right there.
36:09
You have like 8 or, you know, really good options.
36:11
I'm sure I'm I'm missing another one or two that could could
36:14
squeeze in if need be. But I loved in this match
36:18
Trinity Rodman, who missed Lacey Santos on the edge of the box
36:21
right in like that, that dangerous Lacey spot like 5
36:24
minutes into the match, you know, totally whiffed, you know,
36:27
on the pass to her and kind of like was was kind of down on
36:29
herself. Just a few minutes later comes
36:31
back and hits gift Monday with a perfect, you know, ball.
36:35
I think they play like 1-2, kind of like from 60 yards away, 70
36:40
yards away. Like they just are having fun
36:42
the two of them and an absolute, you know, perfect exquisite ball
36:48
to Monday, you know, and then a a ridiculously acute angle to
36:51
kind of make the finish comically like running in the
36:54
either they're going to keep her into like the last offender.
36:57
I think it was Millia Berkley for for Monday to get the
36:59
finish. But you know, just love seeing
37:02
Rodman come back, you know, and like really hit that precision,
37:07
you know, after kind of like missing early and then and then
37:10
she just kind of was shot out of a cannon from there.
37:12
Just that that really unlocked her whole game.
37:14
Yeah, man. And how many cellies does each
37:18
of those attacking players that you mentioned, they all just
37:22
have to have like a Rolodex of celebrations on tap because you
37:28
just never know which one of them might end up with a brace
37:30
or be, you know, a threat for a hat trick, the way they pass the
37:34
ball around. And you know, I I thought Monday
37:38
did not disappoint with any of the Sally's and like had like
37:41
the different handshakes, like the LeBron level handshakes with
37:44
like different players. But I mean, obviously incredible
37:50
match for Monday. I think it was.
37:52
I think it's the fastest hat trick in the history of the
37:54
NWSLI. Think the the announcers were
37:56
saying slightly, it was like a minute or two faster than
38:00
Benda's hat trick last year. It's a great game for her.
38:04
She's the player of the match, has to be play.
38:06
It should be player of the week in the NWSL.
38:09
Whatever it is, give her all the accolades.
38:11
The audacity of Sophia Cantore to score that, to score that
38:16
back heel for the dagger, the absolute day and maybe the
38:20
second or third dagger, whatever we want to call it.
38:23
They're just styling on the dash at that point.
38:26
Yeah, no, I mean, it was. And you know, Cantore was hungry
38:29
like when she came in. She was, she was running real
38:32
fast, put her hand up real high, waving it real hard, trying to
38:36
get on the score sheet. And yeah, it ended up being like
38:39
a simple, you know, simple movement and confused the the
38:43
announcing team. That was pretty fun.
38:46
Well, the one thing I will say, I thought Washington, you know,
38:50
we mentioned Houston looked a little, looked a little lively.
38:53
You know, I think Washington defensively, they do leave a
38:56
little to to be considered. There are lanes back there that
39:00
that should be taken advantage of.
39:02
And I think, you know, in a head to
39:25
And I think Gotham probably a better 2A team at this point.
39:29
So I totally agree with you. Lumping those two teams in the
39:32
same tier for for different reasons makes a ton of sense.
39:35
I think so let's let's talk about clean sheet percentage.
39:39
Now obviously, you know, there's there's a lot that goes into
39:41
this. I'm glad you mentioned the
39:42
defense. You tee this up perfectly.
39:44
So we'll talk about the top 4. There's a tie for fourth between
39:49
coincidentally, Orlando Pride and Seattle Rain FC.
39:52
Their clean sheet percentage this season is 27.3%.
39:57
Washington Spirit is third, they're at 36.4%.
40:02
So pretty good, pretty sizable jump there.
40:05
The Bats, Gotham FC, 45.5%, sitting in second place.
40:11
So again, another, you know, pretty good gap there and #1
40:16
Kansas City current. 63.6% of the matches played this year is
40:23
a clean sheet. I believe that is 14 clean
40:26
sheets. Lorena has 12 of them.
40:28
Laurel Ivory has two of them. It's just a suffocating defense
40:32
and I just don't think it's a coincidence that the top three
40:36
teams in the league have those top three clean sheet
40:39
percentages. We we had talked about that.
40:41
That's like, you know, defensively, this is the way
40:46
that teams have to be able to compete.
40:48
You know, if you if you can't defend, you know, in this league
40:52
in 2025, like it's you're really just kind of DOA.
40:56
And I think just going to this Kansas City 23456789 straight
41:02
clean sheets is unbelievable. Nine straight and Nadia Gomes,
41:08
you know, scores in this one to kind of break the streak.
41:10
And if I'm not a gum should I And I scored the 11th goal
41:13
against this Casey current side that's been ever scored this
41:16
season. I'm pretty pumped.
41:18
Like I'm not usually one to be like, yeah, you score one and a
41:21
four one loss. You know, we kind of you know,
41:22
but but I'd be ecstatic if if I kind of made that happen.
41:26
The last quick low Tibet on on a Casey current.
41:29
They've beaten every other team this season in the league
41:32
already. Nice.
41:33
You know, when they beat Seattle that that kind of clinched it,
41:36
you know, because they they kind of like avenged that that that
41:39
dropping of points around the season, but they have a win
41:41
against every other team in the league.
41:43
I just thought that was like really, really impressive just
41:47
for the sole purpose. I mean it's it's a competitive
41:49
league. So like, just just that feat was
41:51
like really something, but you take it an extra step forward
41:54
and say now they're going to go to the playoffs and it doesn't
41:58
matter who they lined up against, they've already beaten
42:00
that team. Like that.
42:01
That does a ton for you from a confidence standpoint.
42:04
That's a great call. And just, I mean, even getting
42:08
thirteen wins in this league, let alone, yeah, let alone
42:12
against all 13 of your other competitors, that's that's
42:15
pretty incredible in itself. Yeah, they got 13 and plus five
42:18
more, so they probably swept, I guess.
42:21
I guess it's up to at least four or five teams at Anyhoo, I think
42:26
we did it been anything else one hit for you out here?
42:28
No, that's it. It's I think this was nice.
42:30
It was it was top five, you know, top five episode.
42:34
Who were the 5 greatest teams in the NWSL?
42:38
Dylon down there, you know the whole thing.
42:41
But yeah, I think that was I I think we've done it, my Goodman.
42:45
Love it. Alright man, there's been
42:46
another episode of Into the channel.
42:47
Thank you, thank you, thank you for watching, listening, hanging
42:50
out. If you enjoyed the show or love
42:52
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And a big thank you to my coach as well, Mr. Grand Angle for no
43:26
top five year. There's just a single tier at
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of that tier sits my guy. I appreciate you bro.
43:37
Likewise, buddy. I mean, you know, that's the
43:39
good thing about Tier Tears. You don't have to have like, you
43:42
know, one and two, we're sitting at the top of it.
43:45
I mean, if you're talking about women's football podcasts hosted
43:49
by two dudes, I got to think that we are in the top tier.
43:53
Maybe, maybe even standing alone, who knows?
43:56
Some people, many people are saying, but it is mostly because
44:00
of you guys. Thank you for hanging out with
44:01
us. Thank you for always trapping
44:02
knowledge in the comments. We always appreciate it and we
44:05
will see you all next time.