Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / USWNT wins the 2024 Olympic Gold Medal

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USWNT wins the 2024 Olympic Gold Medal · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:04
OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast primarily about women's
0:08
football before we hit the pitch.
0:09
If you enjoy the show or love women's football as much as your
0:11
boys do, come kick it with us already.
0:14
Subscribe, follow YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast, wherever
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you like to watch or listen. Leave us a review over your
0:18
favorite podcast app. Links to all of our socials in
0:21
the show notes of this episode. I'm your host Dino de Suspatest
0:24
and as always, I am joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Angle.
0:28
What is up man? I'm feeling fantastic, buddy,
0:31
and I'm feeling so fantastic that I screwed up the intro the
0:35
first time we tried to do it. We're taking you behind the
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curtain right away. So the celebratory beers are
0:40
already cracked. But I'm telling you, my
0:42
performance on the intro was so poor that we had to do it again.
0:45
So let me just say I got a celebratory beer.
0:48
I believe Dino has one as well, as do I.
0:51
I saw it. And so we're dedicating these
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beers, obviously to the world champions.
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I think we're also dedicating these beers to the GOAT medalist
1:00
Marta on a great international career.
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Love that. And then thirdly, we're
1:03
dedicating these beers to our pal YouTube viewer Blade Runner
1:07
1473. Who?
1:09
Hell yeah. Also told us in the YouTube
1:11
comments, one of my favorite YouTube comments we've ever got.
1:13
They like to watch the show and crack a cold beer with us out of
1:16
solidarity. Let me tell you, solidarity is
1:19
the name of the game for all folks like us.
1:21
So Blade Runner, appreciate you. Thanks for rocking with us.
1:24
Thanks for staying hydrated with us while you watch the program.
1:26
And with all that said, I think we have some football.
1:29
To discuss. We absolutely have some football
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to discuss. I'm not sure if I need to ask
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you, but I'll do it anyway. Mr. Grant Angle, big day, your
1:37
boys feeling festive. I'm rocking my My USA shirt that
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actually picked up on the day of the 2015 Women's World Cup final
1:45
that's a little tighter than I remember, but still fits.
1:49
We've all been there. With that said, where do you
1:51
want to get started? United States of America won
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Brazil nil. That's right, your Olympic
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champion, gold medalists, US woman's national team.
2:01
Let's go some twists and turns in this one.
2:04
I think the fatigue kind of was a factor early.
2:07
The speed was a factor early. I think maybe the pressure of
2:10
this final was a factor early. I want to start by checking in
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on how you experienced Brazil's like super hot start.
2:18
Yeah, they came out of the gates firing and I thought there was
2:22
reason for some concern for the US.
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We talked about how Brazil was not scared at all of Spain and
2:29
they were carrying that with them into this match.
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Very clearly when you saw the lineups and Rose Lavelle was out
2:35
of there, you're like OK, you have Albert back there.
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It looked like you're going to kind of play two defensive
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midfielders with coffee and Albert with Haran kind of pushed
2:44
up field as a 10. There's a double edged sword
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there of like, yeah, maybe you you give a little extra support
2:49
and defense, but now you might not hold the ball as well and
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Brazil's going to run right at you in full attack mode.
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And that's how they did, especially in the 1st 15
2:57
minutes. Yeah, that was pretty intense.
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I mean, what they were doing. And I think you started to see
3:02
some of the fatigue, especially as it pertained to the US
3:05
defense. I think Garma Davidson, even
3:08
Crystal Dunn, there was just a lot of like, it's always tricky,
3:10
right? Especially coming off playing a
3:12
team like Germany, playing a team like Brazil, totally
3:14
different styles. Yeah, this was mentioned on the
3:17
the telecast couple different times that Brazil had cycled
3:20
through a lot of different line UPS, the US much, much, much
3:23
less. So I think we definitely saw
3:25
that early Brazil firing early. I think that trio of Ludmila,
3:29
Jennifer, Gabby Portillo, they were, they were a step faster.
3:33
Yeah. I think that might have been
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Arthur Elias's strategy, like let's start fast, let's jump
3:39
ahead. They ended up with a 6040
3:41
possession advantage over the course of the game.
3:43
I think out shot the US more shots on target as well.
3:46
If I recall correctly, Lidmila had that one got called back
3:49
from an offsides. I mean it was pretty clear, but
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it seemed like Brazil was probably more likely to score
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And I think that start, even though when you think about it
3:57
tactically makes a ton of sense. Caught me off guard.
4:00
Yeah, and you know, they they mentioned it on the broadcast.
4:02
I think it was Julie Foudy. It might have been later in the
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match that she mentioned it. But we talked about Spain and
4:07
their tired legs. We've talked about it a lot
4:09
during this tournament. Like the fixtures were coming
4:12
fast and furious. You didn't have a ton of time to
4:14
rest. But then you kind of start
4:16
thinking about like, OK, Dunn's a veteran, She's played a lot of
4:19
minutes. Naomi Gurmo, while young, has
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played every single minute of every single match of this
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tournament. This would be a bad time for her
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to look a little slow. And you're right, she's still
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rates. I mean, we're not going
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backwards off of 1/2 a 1/2 a football or whatever.
4:35
Still the best center back in the world, still one of the best
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players in the world. That was first 15 minutes.
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She did look a little slower than Ludmila and some of the
4:43
other strikers there. So that was it was a little
4:48
little nervous hours there at first, but I felt like they kind
4:51
of started to and you could probably even stretch it out to
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the first thirty. I think Brazil looked like they
4:57
had more energy. They were going to be in more of
5:00
an attack mode. You talked about the the
5:01
possession disparity. Just in the first half, they had
5:04
eight shots to the US only having two and three of those
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shots were on target. Now both of US as shots were on
5:10
target, but Brazil had the better chances.
5:12
They had more possession. They had more passes.
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Obviously they were really kind of pushing the pace, but I felt
5:16
like, and I'm curious your thoughts on this.
5:19
It felt like after the hydration break, I don't think USA took
5:23
back all the momentum, but it felt like they were able to like
5:26
scrape back some of it. I'll tell you what, buddy,
5:29
nobody hydrates like the US. That's right.
5:31
Seeing Gurman the spin cycle early, that was scary.
5:34
But I think you're right. I think it was a conflict, a
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couple different things. Brazil wanted to start fast,
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maybe couldn't uphold that level of intensity in the entire first
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half. That was a lot.
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That's a lot to ask. Yeah.
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And then I think even though there are some young players on
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this U.S. team, these are veterans.
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These are like professional footballers, you know, that play
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on some of the biggest teams in the world.
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You knew they were going to catch up to the speed of the
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game. So wasn't surprised about that.
5:57
What I was surprised about was during the first half, kind of
6:00
felt like the US lacked patience, a little bit of
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scramble mode and, you know, trying to push where there
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wasn't really an opportunity. Like there was one moment where
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US earned a free kick probably 10 yards inside the halfway line
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where the way the game's going, you might want to just put that
6:16
one down and let Nair like, like take a whack at it and just kind
6:19
of get it up field. They took it quickly.
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It was like one or two passes and then they gave it away.
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I'm like, what is this? Like, what are we, what are we
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doing here? So I think there was a little
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bit of nerves, a little bit of panic, a little bit of trying to
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like maybe match the speed, the acceleration and the like, the
6:34
velocity of like the way Brazil was playing, which maybe wasn't
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exactly the right call there. But I think the hydration break
6:41
helped. I think the halftime break also
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helped. Yeah, totally.
6:44
I'll say quickly out of that hydration break, it wasn't long
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after that. There's a ball that gets played
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in and Lorena goes, I think she either gets a punch on it or she
6:53
or she pushes it away and Swanson smashes into her and you
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know, she was going for the ball.
7:00
I don't think it was totally dirty, but I don't think it was
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totally on accident either. It felt a little message Cindy
7:08
to me. Yeah, that one was right around
7:09
the 35th minute, and I wrote my notes.
7:13
Lorena takes a shot from Swanson.
7:15
Looked a little tactical. Here we go.
7:17
That's a good way to say yeah. And, yeah, shout out to Lorena,
7:20
man. I think she continues to just,
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or I guess now that the tournament's a wrap.
7:24
I mean, she was a warrior. Oh, yeah, all the way through.
7:27
I mean, she clearly has got something going on in the
7:29
midsection because, like, she almost was bracing for that hit.
7:32
And you can see the grimace kind of like, hit her face almost
7:35
instantly when Swanson makes contact.
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And yeah, she gutted it out, had some big time saves, too.
7:40
Definitely not the reason they lost.
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No great tournament for her. But yeah, I definitely
7:44
appreciated the craftiness of that, that little extra
7:48
aggression. Yeah.
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And so then they come out of halftime and I think you nailed
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it. Earlier you had said you thought
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the halftime break helped them too.
7:55
The 1st 15 minutes out of halftime, I felt like the attack
7:59
looked significantly better. The through balls seem like
8:01
they're a little more dangerous. The movement was a little
8:04
better. People kind of making themselves
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available for passes. And then we get the goal.
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Corbin Albert plays a through ball.
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And honestly, I'm not sure if she played it through to Mallory
8:14
Swanson or Sophie Smith, but she put it in that area, made the
8:18
pass that she needed to make. And then we get our little bit
8:21
of controversy. So I I want us to get to that.
8:24
But you know, basically, we know what happened.
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Swanson runs on to it, Smith stays away.
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And then Swanson just cool as you like, tucks it away, is able
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to draw Lorena a little bit to Lorena's right and then slide it
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past her left broadside of the goal to side netting.
8:41
The question is Dino de Cespedes.
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Should it have counted? I think in the moment felt
8:46
offsides. I was just kind of like, and
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then I think the the way that everybody kind of slowed up a
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little bit and it just felt like it was one of those after the
8:54
whistle type feels to it. Yeah.
8:56
Thought it was a little funky that we didn't really get the,
8:58
the offsides, digital, you know, line thing until maybe like a
9:01
good like 5-10 minutes after that.
9:02
Yeah, I think so. So I thought it was super close.
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What was your take on it? So OK, everybody knows I
9:08
obviously moonlight as a goalkeeping expert and try to
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decide how on Katrinberger should play goalkeeper.
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So now I'm going to be an armchair referee expert.
9:18
OK. So I think the crux of the
9:21
controversy is Albert plays the ball through and it's pretty
9:26
much in between Swanson and Smith.
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Sophie Smith, when the ball is played, is pretty clearly in an
9:31
offside position. Mallory Swanson is not.
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Now they both kind of start to converge on the ball, and then
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Smith peels away and Swanson runs on to it.
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And that's where you see Tarsiani and a lot of the other
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defenders start raising their hand and yelling offside.
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You get that kind of after the whistle feel like you described.
9:49
Now the argument is typically and we we saw this with I think
9:53
it was Chelsea Iax with Lauren James where she's way offside
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and she kind of deeks a little bit at the ball but isn't really
10:01
in the play enough and kind of like freezes a defender.
10:04
And I think it might have been new skin who scored.
10:06
That's kind of the argument here is that Sophie Smith impacted
10:09
the way the defenders would have played the ball, therefore
10:13
making her part of the play ruling the playoff side if
10:16
that's what the ref had ruled. But I think when they show that
10:19
zoomed out view of it, I don't think any of the Brazilian
10:23
defenders are necessarily that close to either Smith, Swanson
10:28
or the ball. And so I don't know how much of
10:30
an impact Sophie Smith really had on the defenders.
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And so I'd like to hear whatever the the the referee or the VAR
10:37
officials or whatever, like I'd like to hear their explanation.
10:40
But if I had to guess why they said it stood as a goal, it's
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probably because they would say Sophie Smith did not impact the
10:49
play because the defenders. They didn't really even have to
10:51
change their route because they were so far away.
10:53
They were still they were making the same route to try to cut off
10:56
Swanson anyway. I mean, I think that's
10:58
ultimately what they ruled, right?
10:59
You know, it's one of those right on the maybe it's not even
11:02
right on the borderline, but if it would have been called
11:04
offsides, I don't know that anybody's raising too much of an
11:07
eyebrow. Yes.
11:08
What did you think? I want to, you know, now that
11:09
we're on ref talk, I want to rewind a little bit.
11:11
What did you think on Oh yeah, Dunn's foul on Adriana like a
11:15
foot or two inside the box early because that one felt hard to
11:19
see how that was in a foul. I've seen less called for a
11:23
penalty kick like I, that was a big holding a breath for me.
11:30
As soon as it happened, I was like, oh boy.
11:32
And you know, I'm guessing they're looking at that as
11:35
incidental or just like two players kind of getting their
11:38
feet tangled up. But like I said, I've seen a lot
11:42
less called as a penalty. Same.
11:44
I mean, I think that one probably was a penalty.
11:47
I, I do kind of feel like when, when the ref is kind of quick to
11:51
like restart play just kind of alright, nothing to see here.
11:54
That usually bodes pretty poorly for for the aggrieved, right.
11:57
So I was just kind of like, this is probably not gonna be good
12:00
for Brazil. I also thought early, like John
12:03
Champion was talking about, oh, Brazil had these chances and
12:05
they needed to cash in on these chances.
12:07
In the moment, it didn't feel like that.
12:09
Yeah. In retrospect, I think they were
12:10
right. I think those chances, they
12:13
probably needed 1-2 would have been amazing.
12:15
They were clearly in kitchen sink territory.
12:17
I don't think the Subs that Elias brought on outside of
12:21
Marta were any kind of effective like a little bit later in the
12:24
match. Yeah, I think he was like, all
12:26
right, we're going to hit him early.
12:27
We're going to kind of have like a big wave of Subs a little bit
12:29
later, then we're going to hit him again.
12:31
That that hit him again part just didn't didn't totally pan
12:34
out. But again, credit to Brazil.
12:35
They put the heat on the USA big time.
12:38
And I wanted to ask you this fatigue notwithstanding, was
12:41
Brazil the toughest team that the USA played in this
12:45
tournament? It's a great question.
12:48
It's got to be between them, Germany and Japan.
12:52
So they played Germany twice, kind of ran out ahead in that
12:56
one. Japan took them to extra time.
12:59
But, you know, Japan barely had the ball.
13:01
Yeah, I I would say if I had to to pick, I think Brazil was
13:04
their toughest opponent in this tournament.
13:06
And I'm glad you you framed the question.
13:08
You really got me thinking. Brazilian supporters should be
13:11
thrilled with that. Hell, yeah.
13:13
I also wrote my notes. I'm like, Brazil is coming.
13:16
Yeah, they remind me so much of like Portugal, Benfica, where
13:21
the skills are there, like the IQ is there physically, I think
13:25
the speed and athleticism is there.
13:27
But I think when it comes to like conditioning and like just
13:30
strength, like outside of Lumila, I think wife, I wrote my
13:33
notes, she wiped out I think Corbin Albert on a collision and
13:37
I'm like, she looked like prime Zeke Elliott guys.
13:40
So I think she's a tank. And there's some really, really
13:43
great athletes. But I think once they get to
13:45
that strength and conditioning level of maturity, this team is
13:48
going to be awesome. Like, they're just going to be
13:50
awesome. I can't remember, I'll have to
13:52
go back and look, but there was a person on Twitter who was kind
13:55
of lamenting it might have been our pal Mad Dog.
13:58
I'll go back and look. Shut up, Mad Dog.
14:00
Yeah, Mad Dog's the best. Somebody was lamenting Marta
14:04
kind of a victim of a circumstance where it's like if
14:07
she was born 15 years or like 20 years later.
14:11
Could you imagine 19 year old Marta coming up with this group
14:14
of players? I mean, who knows, I mean, there
14:18
there are some players on that Brazilian side that you're I'm
14:20
just like, this might be one of those.
14:22
I mean, maybe Marta types is like a little tricky, but there
14:25
are definitely going to be some absolute world class players
14:28
that they've got on their squad. And I think Julia Belastrinodage
14:31
was saying that this generation was like the first generation to
14:35
have like under 19, under 17, just football, like, you know,
14:39
just like being able to like play organized and kind of get
14:41
involved in some of these tournaments.
14:43
So I think it's going to start paying off big time.
14:45
And Julia also talked to us about the expectations for this
14:49
Brazilian side coming to the tournament.
14:51
They weren't silver medal. I'll say that.
14:53
No, I didn't go back and replay that whole episode to read the
14:56
whole transcript. But it wasn't that.
14:57
It was like, hey, let's get out of the group stage, especially
14:59
after what happened last summer World Cup.
15:00
So this has to be an incredible achievement for this great
15:05
footballing nation. I mean, I think hard to see how
15:07
it doesn't just kind of elevate from here.
15:09
Yeah, totally. And you know, I love this game.
15:11
So I mean Jennifer 22, Yaya 22, Sampaio 23, Lauren 21, Tarsiani
15:18
21, Angelina of 24, Priscilla 19.
15:23
That's basically a 23 and under team.
15:25
Yeah. Like this is a youth movement
15:28
that's making a lot of like, I mean, they pushed the United
15:31
States to the break in a final. And this is a team that we've
15:35
seen them kind of meltdown a little bit in the past.
15:39
You know, obviously great footballing nation, but you
15:41
rewind back to the 23 World Cup. This is a completely different
15:45
frequency for this squad. I mean, this is now like this
15:48
feels like it's got to be a top five, top six country in the
15:50
world at this point, maybe perpetually now going forward.
15:53
I don't know. I was incredibly, incredibly
15:56
impressed with this performance and I'm just like, this team is
15:59
at the level. Let me ask you this question.
16:01
Which team played better today? Yeah.
16:07
Oh, wow, you tricky son of a bitch.
16:11
You know, I mean, you know, I like, you know, I like
16:14
possession football. I think on balance, though, I
16:19
think USA did a little better with their chances.
16:23
And I think if let's say, the Swanson goal gets ruled offside
16:28
in like the 57th minute, I think she scored.
16:30
We'll talk more about that later.
16:33
Hell yeah we will. Actually give this.
16:37
Let's run the clip. How about a score prediction?
16:40
I know it's early and it's been a long day.
16:43
I'm gonna do one nil USA. Let's go.
16:47
I think the goal comes between the 60th and the 75th minute.
16:51
And I think it's a Mallory Swanson goal.
16:53
Let's get, let's get that. Let's get that in there.
16:55
So, yeah, not quite between 60 and 75, but you know, I mean,
17:00
you know, your boy says a lot of stuff.
17:02
Sometimes he gets things. What do you do?
17:04
But with that said, if let's say the Swanson goal gets ruled
17:07
offside, I think USA finds a way to score again.
17:10
So I will say I agree with that. I think USA probably on balance
17:14
played a little better, but your point stands not by much at all.
17:18
I hate that I put you in that spot, but that was a question
17:21
that I wrote down in my notes. I'm like, did Brazil play
17:23
better? This, You know, like I I, I
17:25
racked my brain over. So I'm like, yeah, I'm going to
17:27
do it to you the same way I did it to myself.
17:28
So I appreciate you playing along with me.
17:30
Of course. Let's switch over to the USA lot
17:33
to be excited about. If you were to make the argument
17:36
that the USA was a better squad today, obviously they win.
17:38
I think defensively after a little bit rocky start, we see
17:41
we saw Gurman spin cycle turn to Davidson and spin cycle a couple
17:44
times. Crystal Dunn having, you know,
17:46
having her difficulties, this defense really settled down,
17:50
really got up to speed. Alyssa Nair, another monster
17:53
performance. I mean, risk game on 100 strong
17:58
when it gets to winning time. I'm not sure there's a player
18:00
you'd want more, you know, on the pitch in a high leverage
18:04
moment. And I thought about something
18:06
that I I talked about with regard to Naomi Germa.
18:08
I think last episode or maybe the one prior where I'm like,
18:11
Germa is like having a second goalkeeper, right?
18:13
And I think Germa was pulled out into a lot of the action.
18:18
And some of those saves were just Nair against the striker,
18:22
you know? And it's just like, let's see,
18:23
let's see how this goes. The Adriana header, yeah, that
18:26
Nair just gets a pawn. And I was locked into the wrist.
18:29
The wrist did not move. It was just strong.
18:31
I mean, it might, it might as well have just been made out of
18:33
concrete. Just incredible, incredible play
18:35
from Melissa Nair. Yeah.
18:36
I mean, Nair keeps coming up big in these really big spots.
18:41
So now we have just in the span of a few months, like think
18:44
about the the West Gold Cup where Nair makes the stop and
18:49
the penalty shootout versus Canada and then knocks home the
18:51
penalty and is kind of the hero in that situation.
18:53
Her performance against Germany, you know, the performance is
18:56
really throughout this tournament.
18:58
And then today in the gold medal winning match is you know, with
19:01
those like two or three saves in particular that you referenced,
19:04
just a big game player that you need back there.
19:07
And I felt like what we were talking about with Germa and
19:10
Davidson, I thought Albert had some really tricky defensive
19:14
moments, if you want to call him that, early in the match as
19:17
well. They all kind of rebounded,
19:19
though. Like, you know, we talked about
19:20
the hydration break, halftime break.
19:22
They all really tightened up in the second-half.
19:24
Yeah, nobody hydrates like the US woman's national team.
19:27
That's what we do stuff my Chris Berman impression.
19:31
I'm glad you brought up Corbin Albert.
19:33
Was surprised to see her in the lineup.
19:34
Obviously talked about that at the top, I thought.
19:37
Her. And Lindsay Horan were kind of
19:39
totally miscast in where they were playing on the field.
19:42
Lindsay Horan, obviously USW and T legend at this point, you
19:46
know, she captained to squad that wins the gold medal at the
19:49
Olympics. That's forever, you know, I
19:51
mean, and like, you know, she's a Max level competitor.
19:54
Yeah. She's always just doing
19:56
everything that needs to be done.
19:57
She's got her limitations. I think that kind of elevates
20:00
her a little bit. But I thought in this one
20:02
specifically, Corbin Albert having some trouble defensively
20:05
dealing with some of the Brazilian creativity.
20:08
Yeah. And then on the flip side,
20:09
Lindsay Horan playing in an advanced position was like kind
20:13
of like a non threat. Like, there was one play where
20:15
Swanson's on a breakaway and like.
20:18
Swanson maybe she's like, maybe there's something here.
20:21
I'm gonna I'm gonna push it. I'm gonna push it.
20:23
She looks to her right. The only person running with her
20:25
is Lindsay Horan. And she's just kind of like, all
20:26
right, this isn't going. Let's just hold it up.
20:30
You know what? I'm just kind of like, you know,
20:31
I think maybe the future of this team might feature Lindsay Horan
20:35
a little deeper. And then I think Corbin Albert,
20:37
you know, like up, up a little higher.
20:39
She almost chipped Lorena could have put this one out of reach.
20:41
I mean, she wasn't too far off. And I think every time I think
20:44
about Corbin Albert, you know, having a positive impact on the
20:47
game, it's usually offensively, you know, it's like pretty much
20:50
her running, her driving, her striking.
20:52
She struggled a little bit. So I'm going to be interested to
20:54
see how Emma Hayes handles that midfield going forward because
20:58
there were some question marks coming into the tournament.
21:01
I'm not sure we answered a bunch of those questions.
21:04
Sort of doesn't matter, you know, scoreboard gold medal.
21:07
You know, it's in the books, but I think it that's something to
21:09
watch look going forward. Yeah, totally.
21:11
I think that's perfectly said, man.
21:13
Like miscast. I'm glad you used that exact
21:16
word. That's kind of how it felt.
21:18
And the midfield was the weakest part of the squad throughout
21:23
this entire tournament. We're saying this about the team
21:25
that won the gold medal. Obviously, like set the results
21:27
speak for themselves. But I I think you're totally
21:30
right. I don't think a lot of questions
21:32
were answered, but I think one thing that's going to get very,
21:35
very interesting is eventually Cat Macario is going to come
21:38
back and then Croy Bethune is going to, I get more time in the
21:41
NWSL and she's going to gain trust on this national team.
21:45
I would bet. Give me every dollar of stock
21:48
that I could possibly buy in Croy Bethune stock.
21:51
I will take it all. And then we have that teenager
21:54
over in the Netherlands who might make this midfield awfully
21:58
crowded. And I use the word awfully
22:00
crowded, but in a very, very positive.
22:03
Way positively crowded. I like that, totally agree with
22:07
you. I mean, are we?
22:08
Is this like quintuple Espresso 6?
22:11
I mean, how much espresso can can one fan take watching this
22:15
team? I I I definitely agree with you.
22:17
I think it also kind of depends on what style Emma Hayes kind of
22:21
envisions for this team. Yeah.
22:22
You know, because I was actually surprised.
22:25
Almost no Neiswanger. Yeah.
22:27
Or Nishvangar. Nice to quote our guy.
22:31
And that was very noticeable, like in terms of like how we
22:34
were attacking. I think we've seen nice Warner
22:36
push the ball up the left hand side, work those crosses in
22:39
Allah, Abasha or Karshawi, yeah, or Carmona.
22:42
And we just kind of didn't get that.
22:44
And I think that's an excellent player.
22:46
Sort of buried a little bit for Crystal Dunn, ultimately Emma
22:49
Hayes. I mean, like if we're shouting
22:52
out people that deserve a little extra credit, I mean, I think
22:55
she's right at the top of that list.
22:57
She nailed it roster wise, even managing some of the injuries
23:01
like springing up kind of all over the place.
23:02
And she's got to move the pieces pretty much with every match.
23:05
I think even in this match when Davidson comes off for Sonnet,
23:09
there was a play where Porchilio like kind of cooks her, you
23:12
know, on a ball over the top, wins the aerial and Davidson
23:16
works her way back into the play, ends up stuffing the
23:18
chance. I think she gets pulled a couple
23:20
minutes later for Sonnet and then you're just like, damn,
23:23
that's that's a fucking gamer right there to be able to come
23:25
out withstand that early onslaught, settle into the game
23:29
through injury, gold medal match and and really just be at the
23:34
level, you know, defensively as a defensive unit.
23:36
They really figured some stuff out second-half of that match.
23:39
And when she came off, I just an intense level of gratitude for
23:42
me. I mean, she really, really gave
23:44
her all this tournament. But yeah, back to Emma Hayes.
23:45
A lot of moving parts to handle and she's still just what, like
23:48
60 days into the job? Some some ridiculously low
23:52
number crazy and you know, now she's in the history books.
23:55
It was really cool to see how overcome with with joy she was
24:00
in the post match. You know, she talked about how
24:02
she came to America and worked in club football because some of
24:04
those opportunities, you know, didn't yet exist like in the
24:08
WSL. So for her to kind of talk about
24:11
the impact America has had in like the football and culture,
24:14
that all goes back to those 90 Niners and even, you know,
24:17
Michelle Akers in 91 like the the Ogs, like how that set off
24:22
the series of dominoes to now you have Emma Hayes, probably
24:26
the class manager in the women's game and one of the class
24:30
managers in all of world football, regardless of of
24:33
gender. Now she's here.
24:34
Now she's coaching this team with this superlative amount of
24:38
talent and this crazy amount of very young talent.
24:41
And so this is one of those things where you win a title and
24:45
you're ahead of schedule. They're the 15 Warriors right
24:49
now for the NBA. Like where it's like, OK, like
24:52
you, you didn't think you were going to be good enough to get
24:55
this one. Now you got it.
24:56
Now, what else can you rattle off?
24:58
Now, somebody could also make the same argument because
25:01
Spain's program, even though Spain, you know, was such a
25:04
footballing power traditionally, they felt a little ahead of
25:07
schedule and they won the damn World Cup in 2023 and they have
25:10
a lot of young players. So now we have these, these two
25:13
absolute. It looks like they're going to
25:15
be two Titans moving forward. But then you talked about you
25:17
talked about Brazil. We've talked about Colombia,
25:19
we've talked about the young talent that Germany has, we've
25:21
talked about good young players in Canada.
25:23
This is going to be an era that if Emma Hayes and the US women's
25:27
national team is able to kind of define if they are the team of
25:32
the next 10 years, it will be a massive accomplishment because
25:37
there's just so much talent everywhere.
25:38
And you still could probably make an argument that the US
25:40
might have the most. I have.
25:42
I agree with half of that. Alright.
25:44
I think where it kind of breaks down for me, I think back to the
25:48
beginning of this tournament, right?
25:49
And then obviously we're looking at USA, Spain.
25:52
That's kind of my dream matchup. I would love to see that.
25:54
And quick sidebar, what do we do?
25:56
What did we do that was so wrong that we couldn't get USA, Spain
25:59
and Brazil versus Germany? How did we how did we get that
26:01
wrong? I think, you know, the whole
26:03
world, what kind of wanted that? I digress.
26:05
I came into this tournament thinking, OK, USA and Spain are
26:07
the class. France is sort of like they're
26:10
the home country, super talented.
26:12
And there's some couple other interesting squads, Germany,
26:14
Colombia, Brazil, etc, etc. Japan also in there.
26:17
Sure. Now I leave this tournament
26:19
thinking I don't know what to expect at this next global
26:22
tournament because you look at Brazil, who looked awesome
26:26
throughout the knockout stage, just embarrassed the World Cup
26:30
champion. Spain pushed the USA to the
26:32
absolute brink. And then you rewind back like 11
26:35
days and they squeaked by Nigeria one nil.
26:38
You know, it was like a good squad and like they got they got
26:41
beat by Spain and they get beat by Japan.
26:43
And then you look at this U.S. team knockout stage 1 nil, one
26:47
nil, one nil. Not exactly what we're used to,
26:50
you know, watching the the big bad USWNT.
26:53
So I'm of the opinion that it's an incredible feat to have won
26:56
this. But we're entering a period
26:59
where I don't know what would you be shocked if I said, OK, I
27:02
don't know. Colombia won the World Cup in
27:04
27. I don't know.
27:05
There's three years between now and then a lot can happen, you
27:07
know, there. There might be another Linda
27:09
Kaiseto by and Linda Kaiseto, you know, that we don't know
27:11
about. And I think like my Ramires is
27:12
still not yet 25 years old. So let me Fact Check that.
27:16
My bad. Quick Fact Check.
27:17
My Ramires is 25. Turn 25 in March.
27:20
Happy belated Myra. So when you think about where
27:23
the sport is going, I don't think we're going to see this.
27:27
I think it's going to be a little bit akin to the men's
27:28
game where it's like we're going to cycle through great teams and
27:31
great managers and little eras where there's like extended
27:35
periods of success. But I don't know, just watching
27:38
this U.S. team and I think they're also an interesting
27:41
space roster wise because there are a lot of vets, there are a
27:44
lot of players in their like mid 20s in their prime or post prime
27:48
or however you want to think about that.
27:50
And there's a lot of young talent, right?
27:51
So I think that this US roster is going to look very different
27:54
going forward here as well. Yeah, that's a great point.
27:56
I think you're right. And I think when I, when I look
27:59
at it of like, which team is going to kind of like not really
28:02
dominate the era, but like be the first team that you think of
28:07
where it might be. And I'm going to again mix up
28:09
some NBA metaphors and not even just do a team, but like you
28:13
kind of look at the back half of the LeBron years of the NBA.
28:18
They're now firmly the LeBron and Steph years.
28:22
Like they really can't separate them at this point.
28:25
So I that's right. I think the way you articulate
28:28
it makes a lot of sense of like it could be USA, Colombia,
28:32
Canada, Brazil battling it out over on this side of the world.
28:36
And then over in Europe, it's just a knock down drag out
28:39
between England, Spain, Germany, France, You never know if
28:43
Norway's going to bubble up again.
28:46
You already know they got a ton of great talent over there.
28:48
So I think it depends on who wins the World Cup and who wins
28:51
the gold medals, Like who wins the EUR, who wins the Gold Cup?
28:54
Like these are, these are the measurements for these things.
28:57
And I, I think you're probably right, we'll probably see a good
29:00
mix. But if you're able to nick a
29:02
couple of those, let's say, you know, let's say Spain wins the
29:06
next EUR or maybe more more likely, maybe England wins their
29:10
second consecutive Euro. And then there's the World Cup,
29:12
then now England is the team, right?
29:14
Like, you know, you never know how it's going to work.
29:16
Absolutely. And I think I think the main
29:18
thing that I'll take away from this tournament is 2023 now
29:23
feels like an eternity ago. Sure.
29:25
It feels like the whole footballing world is kind of
29:28
completely flipped upside down. You know, you had Germany,
29:31
Brazil, Canada, the United States all kind of flame out
29:34
really early. Then you've got like the Spain
29:37
and England in the final, Colombia really deep.
29:39
You've got France a little bit in turmoil.
29:41
I mean, who knows, France, this could be one of those teams
29:43
where maybe they find their Emma Hayes.
29:46
Sure. So I think there's going to be a
29:47
lot to keep an eye on. I want to kick it back to you,
29:50
though. Were there any other players
29:52
that kind of stood out in this one with regard to maybe going
29:56
up a level, going up half a level, which is really, really
29:59
tough to do this deep into a tournament in this short a
30:02
period of time. And then you add on top of that
30:04
gold medal stakes. You talk about Emma Hayes
30:08
pulling the right levers and making the right substitutions.
30:12
You got have Emily Sonnet on the roster to make those
30:16
substitutions. She's a legend at this point.
30:18
I mean, you know, different degrees of legendary players,
30:22
but Sonnet being a key player. OK, Davidson goes down, I'll
30:27
step right in as a center back or you need me to play defensive
30:30
mid, I'll step right in and do that.
30:32
Davidson starts to kind of come back health wise.
30:35
OK, Tierna, you give us 45 minutes first Germany, boom,
30:39
Emily can take us home the rest of the way.
30:41
I think you you put it really well too.
30:43
Davidson could give you 74 minutes in this one.
30:45
OK, Emily, take us home. Sona had a key moment like
30:48
relatively late in the match where she kind of pokes the ball
30:51
away to get it out of danger. And then it just comes back
30:54
around for the header right before the strong wrist action
30:57
from from there. But that was that was a moment
30:59
where you had a player who was who could have been on and Sona
31:03
just gets there. Perfect timing, like perfect
31:05
positioning, just a constant motor from Sonnet, A level of
31:09
toughness that she provides every time I watch her play.
31:12
I only got her for one season here with the Seattle rain, but
31:15
just so consistent is the is the word.
31:18
I come up with her every single time you put her on the field.
31:21
Yeah, I mean, I'm. I'm definitely falling more and
31:23
more in love with her game and just kind of like what she
31:25
brings to this team. Yeah, a utility player is way,
31:28
way, way underselling this is a great player, Yeah, that just
31:30
happens to be able to play in multiple different spots.
31:33
And I think imagine going from Davidson to on it and just
31:36
there's a relief, you know, you're like, oh, wow, OK, now,
31:39
like, well, all right, Davidson made it and now Soniton to just
31:42
hold it down, kind of like keep that unit together and keep the
31:46
clean sheet. I thought that was incredible.
31:47
Couple more players I want to shout out here.
31:49
I think that right hand side, Emily Fox, I think she was
31:51
awesome. Trinity Rodman awesome.
31:54
I would have loved to see. I actually wrote in my notes, I
31:57
wanted to see more early up that right hand side with those two
32:01
because I think they were a little bit of a match up
32:02
nightmare. Trinity, like whenever she was
32:04
on the ball, I mean, she was a highlight reel pretty, you know,
32:07
and I think Fox was super solid as well, tough to deal with.
32:10
I mean, she's super athletic. She's good on the ball.
32:13
And I think maybe, you know, tough to say because the game
32:17
was a little bit in a blender the 1st 5560 minutes before it
32:21
gets broken open. But I thought Fox was great,
32:24
thought Rodman was great. And yeah, I think that US
32:26
attack, you know, to your point, once they kind of figured out
32:29
right where the opportunities were and Brazil starts to run
32:32
out of steam a little bit, that's like sort of that back
32:34
pocket thing. It's like, right, we still got
32:36
those three out front. Yep.
32:37
You know, and you never know where it's gonna come from.
32:39
It's just so funny that the goal is like, you know, a little bit
32:42
of a Smith offsides dummy to SWAT.
32:43
You know, then the Swanson kind of takes it, runs with it and
32:46
then finishes it. Lorena, no chance on that one.
32:49
I mean, it was just a professional finish that you
32:51
give Swanson that kind of space, that kind of look.
32:53
And it's pretty much a wrap. So, yeah, I think All in all,
32:56
very memorable. And I think both these teams
32:58
earn their medals today. Yeah, 100%.
33:01
I mean, Brazil just has absolutely nothing to be ashamed
33:04
of. I mean the complete opposite.
33:05
They should be super proud. Like you talked about the
33:07
expectations going into this tournament.
33:09
We talked about the adversity that they had to face.
33:11
They beat France, Spain and then went to the wire with the USA.
33:16
So that's that's a pretty good run.
33:18
So you know, they should be absolutely thrilled with that.
33:20
They should be feeling very positive about the future.
33:23
I think one other player I do want to reference, and I
33:26
realized she came out relatively late, but she still got, she had
33:29
to get like 10 plus minutes. I thought Casey Krueger comes on
33:33
to just kind of see the game out and she just had a couple
33:35
moments where she's taken the ball away and then she's
33:38
shepherding the ball down the side.
33:40
She's like on the offensive end in the corner, killing time,
33:44
just using her speed and intelligence.
33:46
Kruger is just another one of those players on the defensive
33:49
side for this USA team that you just put in and you just don't
33:53
have to worry about. You're not like, OK, done is too
33:57
tired. We have to put in Casey Krueger.
33:59
You are excited to put Casey Krueger in the match, and you
34:02
should be. Hell yeah yeah, I think if you
34:04
got the 1st 10 or so minutes of the pod, I let my curls down,
34:06
let my hair down. Championship Saturday in on of
34:09
Casey Krueger beautiful flowing curls on on Casey as well.
34:13
Shout out to you. She's another player like a zero
34:16
worry type sub. You know, I kind of hate to pick
34:19
up like, you know, we'll get to Jeremy Spade a little bit later,
34:23
but they don't have that same freedom over there like you.
34:26
Some of those Subs that come on defensively, a little bit of a
34:29
drop off. So definitely feels great to be
34:32
able to bring on players of that caliber.
34:35
It's going to be really interesting to see what this
34:36
roster looks like. I can see this team going a
34:40
little bit younger and then also going a little bit more
34:43
stylistically aligned with Emma Hayes, how she wants to coach.
34:47
Quick shout out to Emma Hayes too.
34:48
Looked incredible in the sports GOAT gold medal fit today.
34:52
She was on her full Pat Riley shit today like a true.
34:54
Champion. I knew there was a Riley
34:57
reference coming here eventually.
34:59
Oh, I I almost went son at Udonis Haslam, but I I kind of
35:02
decided against it. But now here we are I.
35:04
Got it out of my system. Good.
35:06
No, as it should be. I'm going to put you on the spot
35:09
here for a brief moment. I'm going to ask you to tap into
35:12
the memory banks. I'm going to ask you a question
35:13
about the CONCACAF W Gold Cup. Let's go.
35:16
Do you remember who won the award for best player in that
35:20
tournament? Is it Jaden Shaw?
35:23
It was Jaden Shaw hardly saw time on the pitch in this
35:29
tournament. I mean, obviously I had like
35:31
some injury woes. I don't think she made.
35:33
I don't think she made an appearance in the knockout
35:35
stage. 0 minutes against Japan, zero against Germany, zero
35:38
against Brazil and she's still really good.
35:41
And I'm, I'm holding all the Jaden Shaw stock that we had
35:44
previously purchased. We're hold, hold, hold on that.
35:47
Like I'm not getting rid of that.
35:49
Emma Hayes has a lot of configuring to do with this,
35:53
this massive talent, but you know, it could be worse.
35:56
I totally agree with that. I mean, definitely a good
35:58
problem to have. A lot of good players kind of
35:59
left off this roster too. So yeah, that'll be something
36:02
that we keep an eye on. Tom Cruise.
36:06
What the fuck don't I didn't want to keep an eye on?
36:09
What are we doing with this guy? Why?
36:11
Did we? Why were there so many camera
36:13
shots of him? I don't know.
36:14
And why? Who's he saying hi to?
36:16
He's saying hi to everybody. Like he's just like.
36:19
Yeah, hey, he's. Like, yeah, I I wrote my notes.
36:23
There's got to be a Mission Impossible coming out in a few
36:24
weeks. Other there's there's no other
36:27
explanation for this. Also, was this the only were him
36:29
and Rapinoe the only two famous people with this game?
36:32
I. Guess I thought it was weird too
36:34
and maybe I missed it and Rapino was sitting with Tobin Heath and
36:37
Ali Krieger and I don't know. I don't know if I missed if they
36:40
all three got a mention. I do remember 1 camera shot
36:43
where like half a Tobin Heath was in it and Ali Krieger was
36:46
not in it and I was like well hold on guys, come on now.
36:50
Like they're they're World Cup winners too.
36:52
Like they're great players. Like what are we doing here?
36:54
Like obviously shout out to Rapino, but like, come on the
36:57
camera work less Tom Cruise, just that off the top.
37:01
And if you if you're gonna give me more Rapinoe and make sure
37:04
you're getting Tobin Heath and Allie Krieger in there as well,
37:07
please. Yeah, absolutely.
37:08
And I love the shot too. Now, another we're talking about
37:11
a, you know, producer, camera, cameraman talk.
37:13
I love the shot of the German national team where all of them
37:16
are on their phones at the same time.
37:18
Half of them had to be watching us talking a vice Eve on our
37:22
last episode we saw a nice spike during the 7080 minute mark so
37:26
it must have been that. We got 22 views all at the same
37:29
time. All geographically centered
37:32
around the Paris area for sure. Speaking of this German side,
37:36
shout out to them. I mean amazing.
37:38
They obviously played extremely well.
37:40
Played the USA very tough went into this bronze medal match up
37:44
taking on Spain sort of running on fumes a little bit.
37:47
I want to hit this one really quickly because they got to be
37:50
pumped over there in Germany footballing nation, another
37:53
country with a disappointing World Cup last summer.
37:56
Expectations I don't quite think were bronze, you know, you know,
38:00
medal medals were probably in the mix there.
38:02
You know, once you draw Spain in the bronze medal match, I mean,
38:04
it's it's a look you look at those four teams, it's going to
38:06
be it's going to be a tough draw either way, but they come out on
38:08
top in this bronze medal match, Germany won Spain nil.
38:11
What did you see in this one? Shout out friend of the program.
38:14
I apologize if I'm if I'm butchering your YouTube display
38:18
name, I think it's Musai Tama. I am sorry if I'm butchering
38:22
that, Please hop in the if you don't mind just leaving a little
38:25
comment. Let me know how to refer to you,
38:27
please. But they were in our YouTube
38:29
comments. Hold Montserrat Tomei
38:30
accountable for her lineup choices.
38:32
Let's go Hot seat. Yeah.
38:34
And, and I think Musa Tama was right for doing that.
38:37
We talked about Alexia not getting enough playing time
38:41
versus Brazil. Tome corrected that This time
38:43
they started Alexia, but they still started Abera over Patri,
38:48
which I don't know if Patri has some kind of nagging physical
38:50
thing or not. Tome played Hernandez over Olga
38:54
at left back. You know, I thought those were
38:56
kind of questionable, but overall, I think Spain still did
39:01
a lot of the Spain stuff. They were pretty creative.
39:04
They did those. You nailed it.
39:05
Last time we were chatting about them and you talked about they
39:07
make those kind of like runs and unorthodox directions.
39:11
They're still doing that. They're still playing the one
39:13
twos. There were some good one twos
39:15
with like Boma T and Hermoso and Battier involved.
39:18
It was just they were doing it, but like maybe a step or a step
39:22
and a half slower than they usually do.
39:24
They dominated possession, but they only really seemed to kind
39:28
of ratchet up the attacking part of that possession in the last
39:31
phases of each half. And I wonder how much of that
39:35
was attributed to they looked kind of dead on their feet out
39:38
there. Absolutely.
39:39
I mean, I think they've, it's just such a, it's such a halt to
39:42
kind of get all the way through. It's wild.
39:45
I mean, every single team got hit with injuries or
39:49
substitutions changes I had to make.
39:50
This tournament was brutal on these players.
39:54
They absolutely have to do something next time around.
39:56
We've talked about it at length on this show.
39:58
I was saying I was like, maybe should four teams make the
40:00
knockout stage, but they got to get rid of one of the games.
40:02
Yeah, six games and 1617 days is.
40:05
It's absurd. Yeah.
40:07
I mean, I think you can't go past five games.
40:09
You got to figure out a way to to make that happen.
40:11
You got to expand the rosters. You got to probably limit the
40:14
travel. This is a little silly to have
40:16
these players flying across France and then this could be
40:20
like couple hours on the plane. And I think it showed on the
40:22
field a little bit. This wasn't a Spain that we're
40:24
used to seeing. Zooming in though, to Spain, I
40:27
think they're going to. To figure out something at the
40:29
forward spot, because the thing that we were worried about
40:33
absolutely came to pass. I think that the closest they
40:35
might have gotten outside of the Alexia penalty was Itano strike
40:39
from outside the box, from the midfield that rocks the bar.
40:43
Yeah. I mean, like, that's their best
40:46
chance to score. And then that, that's tough to
40:48
do to be able to just count on those strikes from distance.
40:52
It could also be attributed to teams kind of catching up with
40:55
what they're doing tactically. Those one twos that we're
40:57
talking about, once you've seen, you know, it definitely felt
41:00
like it caught everybody off guard at the World Cup.
41:02
Nobody knew what to do with it. But now it feels they don't feel
41:06
as unbeatable. That's when you think back to
41:08
that, that loss to Chechnya and the qualifiers that ended up,
41:11
you know, we're like, oh, does this mean something?
41:13
Probably doesn't mean anything. Turns out, didn't not mean
41:16
nothing. There we go.
41:19
So I think Spain's going to have a little bit of retooling to do,
41:22
maybe less. So strategically, tactically,
41:24
maybe personnel, they're going to need to figure out how
41:26
they're going to score because the scoring is coming a little
41:30
difficult for as good A-Team as that is.
41:33
Obviously Jenny Hermoso getting up there in age as well, you
41:36
might not expect her to be at the next World Cup.
41:38
Yeah. So this is going to be a team to
41:39
track. And I think the Earl's coming up
41:41
soon. You know, we, we we staked our
41:42
claim in the fact that we're going to be out there next
41:44
summer. So you already know what time it
41:46
is. Let's see what Spain's going to
41:47
have for us when your boys touchdown in Switzerland next
41:50
summer. I'll certainly be excited to see
41:52
it. I, I don't think there's any
41:54
kind of demise heading their way and I don't think you're saying
41:58
that either. No, no, definitely.
41:59
Not I think this will be a good opportunity for them to get some
42:03
rest kind of reset. Think about load management, you
42:08
know, as a so popular in sports now in their league season and
42:12
how to kind of just manage this grueling schedule as women's
42:15
football kind of starts to expand and all the greedy
42:18
corporatists try to force as many fixtures as they possibly
42:21
can. You just have to you have to
42:22
take care of yourself and you have to take care of your number
42:26
one commodity as an athlete and that is your physical condition.
42:29
So I'm going to do a little bit of the thing where I conflate
42:32
Barcelona with the Spanish national team, but Liga F starts
42:36
on September 8th. So hopefully some of these
42:39
players get some time to to rest and obviously have players who
42:42
are not just for Barcelona, you have some on some other Liga F
42:45
teams as well. So hopefully they're able to
42:47
kind of get some rest before camp gets way too heavy.
42:51
I'm sure all the managers over there are going to realize maybe
42:55
give these players some extra time to kind of to rest up.
42:59
But you know, you see, whoa. So Twitter and Twitter is for
43:02
jokes ultimately, even though it's slowly turning into a
43:05
bastion for misinformation and disinformation.
43:07
But that's another podcast slowly.
43:09
There's also Twitter is namely a place for jokes.
43:14
And, you know, I underestimated how annoyed some people were or
43:19
have been with Spain's success and perceived dominance.
43:22
And some of that dominance, by the way, not perceived because
43:25
we've seen them play in there and they're great.
43:27
Totally. But that's just what happens
43:29
when you're the big dog and you get knocked off your pedestal.
43:32
A lot of jokes come flying your way.
43:34
But let me, let me give you this hot take.
43:36
I think Spain's gonna be fine. I agree with that, yeah.
43:39
I was surprised to see all the NWSL Gold Cup faction and EUR
43:44
Champions League faction kind of going at it.
43:46
You know, like talking, you know, like around whether it was
43:49
Gurma or Beaumonti or whoever. I also did a fun thought
43:52
experiment. League F starts September 8th.
43:55
Who would you pick? Let's say these teams play
43:57
September 5th in like a friendly for some stakes.
44:01
Let's say each player's Each player wins $100,000 for winning
44:04
an Orlando Pride, making a push to the playoffs, cooking mid
44:08
season form late season form against a pre season 4IN
44:12
Barcelona. I would pay to watch that match,
44:15
I'll tell you that. Let's get greedy and corporate
44:17
this year. Get.
44:20
Into the jail Derby. Let's make it happen.
44:22
Yeah, don't tell UEFA that I'll pay for that match.
44:24
Don't tell FIFA that I'll pay for that match.
44:26
I'll be like, how much? How much can we extract?
44:30
I mean, you know. You don't have to make a pick,
44:32
just a thought. It was just a thought exercise
44:34
of like this would be interesting.
44:36
It would be extremely interesting and I would want to
44:38
watch it and I think that's why Club World Cups piqued the
44:42
interest of every federation. the Champions League is one
44:46
example. But that being just a UEFA
44:48
thing, you always have and we talked about it with Cam.
44:51
I think the first time camp Hope from the Zone, we talked to him
44:54
about it. I think the first time he came
44:56
on we were like, can we just drop Gotham FC in the Champions
45:00
League? Can we just see what happens?
45:02
That would be incredible. Back to the football at hand,
45:05
Spain, Germany, though. Anything else we need to know
45:07
about this bronze medal matchup? The Katsakoyi foul on Julia
45:11
given bad foul. We've talked a lot about
45:16
Katsakoyi as one of the better goalkeepers in the world.
45:18
I think it's easy to underrate a great goalkeeper or an excellent
45:23
goalkeeper on a great team because sometimes you don't see
45:26
what that goalkeeper brings. I'll say we've talked about it
45:29
quite makes things a little exciting from time to time.
45:32
But that was a bad foul I'm Given and I thought it was.
45:35
It was very cool to see Given be the one who draws the foul and
45:40
then buries the penalty. I thought that was great.
45:42
And then on the other side, you cannot talk about DFB frown
45:47
without talking about on Catherine Berger in this
45:50
tournament. Makes the save on the penalty
45:53
pretty much at the death. You couldn't write it if you
45:56
tried. I mean, talk about couple of
45:58
heavyweights staring each other down on that one.
46:00
Awesome. And and shout out to I don't
46:02
want to skip over to Julia Gavin.
46:04
I mean, tremendous player. Oh yeah.
46:06
She is so good. I mean, I cannot wait.
46:09
I mean, I think between our guy Chris Sharples, Vicey, watching
46:13
this German side kind of getting to know some of these players, I
46:15
think found Bundesliga just got it.
46:17
It just got to be on the docket, you know, come fall, would love
46:20
to see some of those German teams, you know, kind of make a
46:23
little bit more noise this Champions League season.
46:25
So I'm excited for that. Yeah.
46:26
But yeah, on Katrinberger, incredible tournament.
46:30
Like what are you gonna do? Like her form?
46:34
I mean, you you watched kind of like her first handful of games
46:38
in the NWSL. You're like, this isn't this is
46:40
insane. I mean, I think she had like 5
46:42
green sheets that are some some ridiculous number.
46:44
Talk to Vice. Obviously before the tournament.
46:46
Merle Frohms goes out against Iceland, kind of craps the bed
46:50
burger steps in, lights out, another big gamekeeper.
46:54
I mean, I just love her profile athletically.
46:58
Yeah. She just looks and moves and is
47:00
built like an elite goalkeeper. And then she goes out and
47:05
fucking actually does it. Like, incredible.
47:07
Yeah, man. And the smarts, the positioning,
47:10
we talked about her passing ability.
47:12
You know, Vice, he brought up the fact that she had two
47:14
assists. They talked about it a little
47:16
bit on the broadcast. You know, this is a player who
47:18
had to wait her turn for quite a while on the national team.
47:23
And I mean, it just speaks to what that Patience did for her
47:28
and that she stayed ready. And then she comes up absolutely
47:31
huge for the team, for her country, for her teammates, for
47:35
Horst Krubesh, whose name I can pronounce.
47:38
If you watch the episode with Peter Vice, I absolutely
47:42
butchered and then lose all confidence.
47:43
Horse Rubesh. I can say it.
47:46
I know how to say his name, but I I digress.
47:50
Burger comes up huge for everybody and it's a legendary
47:54
moment for it. That moment where you see Alexia
47:57
stepping up and I'm just like, oh shit, this is this is
48:01
trouble. And then the camera cuts to
48:03
Burger's face and I'm just like, Alexia's in trouble.
48:09
You're not really. Expecting it, but stone face and
48:12
then actually like just stones the shot.
48:14
I mean just incredible. I think they deserved it.
48:16
I mean Spains great and shout out to anybody out there who bet
48:20
Spain not to meddle in this tournament, which must have been
48:23
200 million to one like you know, unbelievable that a team
48:29
that loaded with talent was shut out of the podium.
48:32
But I think again, it just speaks to the quality and the
48:35
evolution of the women's game and just a great, I mean fucking
48:39
great time to start a podcast because I think the game is only
48:42
just going to keep exploding from here.
48:44
All right, man, anything else you want to hit before we get
48:46
out of here? Let.
48:46
Me do a couple more shout outs. So we talked about blades guy,
48:49
we talked about Moose Haitama. Shout out to Michael T 6218 in
48:56
the YouTube comments. I had posited the idea is Alyssa
49:00
Nair the greatest goalkeeper in the history of the US women's
49:02
national team. Michael had a really great
49:05
synopsis and I'm paraphrasing here.
49:07
You should go back and check out the US women's National team
49:09
Brazil preview episode if you haven't.
49:12
You could watch us be soothsayers and look at all the
49:14
things we got right. But in there, Michael kind of
49:17
frames Hope Solo as probably the most physically talented keeper,
49:20
Brianna Scurry, the most accomplished and the most
49:23
important keeper in the history of the program.
49:25
And then Nair kind of being a combination of both as as a
49:28
leader, as an athlete. So love that Michael T shout to
49:31
you. Thought that was a really clever
49:34
way you frame that. And then Jim Neal 1520 on
49:37
YouTube asked us before this match if Marta was going to
49:40
start because you know that those young players for Brazil
49:43
were cooking in March's absence. We saw Elias decided to bring
49:47
Marta off the bench. And to your point earlier, it
49:49
did not work really as well as I think he had hoped.
49:52
But it was not the reason they lost, obviously.
49:55
Like, I don't think the match doesn't hinge on Marta starting,
49:58
but I thought that was just a good question and a good thing
50:01
to be kind of pondering. And I think many people were.
50:03
So shout out to you, Jim. Absolutely.
50:05
A couple of those. I want to shout out some of our
50:07
OGS MLS architect boy named Blues, Mad Dog, Philip Sullivan,
50:11
Gretchen Cali Tech skin. Let's go.
50:14
Guys are the best. I mean, everybody just keeps it
50:16
coming. Takes her hot.
50:17
I've got to read them and then kind of sit for a minute with
50:19
them just because I think, you know, they they definitely bed
50:22
my brain and kind of help elevate what we're doing here.
50:25
So please, please, please keep those coming.
50:28
And with that said, I think we did it.
50:31
We we did it did it. We're we're taking home some
50:33
hardware. That's been a bucket.
50:35
It's been a marathon, man. It's been awesome covering the
50:38
tournament with you. You already know I appreciate
50:39
you. There's been another episode of
50:40
into the channel. Sincere thank you to my coast
50:43
and also to everybody who watches, listens, follows, like,
50:46
subscribes and just plain hangs out with your boys.
50:49
Remember to like if you liked and subscribe or follow into the
50:51
channel, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, or wherever you like to
50:53
watch or listen. Leave us a review at your
50:55
favorite podcast app. Links to all of our socials in
50:57
the show notes of this episode. Big thank you to my coast as
51:00
well Mr. Grant Engel for the incredible analysis, incredible
51:03
predictions and prognostications.
51:05
No drone needed. Now all we got to do is find a
51:08
nice spot in our mantle for our nice shiny brand new gold
51:12
medals. You already know what time it
51:14
is. I appreciate you bro.
51:15
Likewise, buddy, this has been awesome.
51:17
Well, it's like covering everything with you.
51:19
So we got through this, we got our medals, now we're back to
51:23
the NWSL, the WSL is coming back.
51:26
Frown, Bundesliga, Liga F and you already know the UEFA
51:30
Women's Champions League. It's coming up sooner than some
51:33
people might think. I believe the qualification
51:36
matches start in early September, so we're like less
51:39
than a month. Let's get champions in return so
51:42
you know your boys will be locked in.
51:44
Thank you everybody. My bad, my bad.
51:45
Real quick. I need to give a shout out to to
51:47
all of our awesome guests in this tournament.
51:49
Oh yeah, geez. Bridie O'Toole, Julia Belliston
51:52
and dodge Miriam Karabi from She Squares bangers Peter Weissy
51:56
with the two Fer Samantha Lewis, Calvin Chikenge from Zambia,
52:00
Philip Rallo from New Zealand. Tremendous appreciation for
52:03
everybody who hopped on with us, helped us preview, helped us
52:06
kind of fill in all these gaps. I mean, couldn't have done the
52:09
show without everybody that came on and hung out with you boys.
52:13
Absolutely. I mean, think about we had, we
52:15
had boots on the ground, Julia Bellaston, Dodge like you
52:18
mentioned from Brazil, she was at the tournament covering it
52:21
CO2 Filey from Forbes covering it on the France contingent.
52:25
Massive respect and gratitude to everybody who joined us.
52:28
They're obviously all invited back a part of the growing into
52:32
the Channel conglomerate worldwide.
52:35
The tentacles. But the most important part of
52:38
the organization, if you will, of course, all of you.
52:42
Thank you for checking out the videos.
52:43
Thank you for commenting and keeping us honest, making sure
52:46
you Fact Check us, dropping some knowledge for us, adding the
52:49
extra context when we need it. We very much appreciate you.
52:53
Let us know what leagues you're interested in.
52:55
We're going to be trying to continue covering the whole
52:57
gamut of leagues around the world.
52:59
So thank you for rocking with us.
53:00
Thank you for standing on the medal stand with us.
53:02
Gold medals for all of you, no doubt, and we will talk to you
53:07
next time.