Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / ENGLAND V SPAIN PREVIEW 🏆 UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2025 FINAL | EP 156

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ENGLAND V SPAIN PREVIEW 🏆 UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2025 FINAL | EP 156 · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:05
Kate, welcome to Into the Channel podcast for mail about
0:08
women's football. I'm your host Dino de Suspidis
0:10
and as always I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Engel.
0:15
What is up man? I'm feeling fantastic, buddy.
0:18
I know we've said it a couple times already when we recapped
0:22
Spain's victory over Germany, but we're here, man.
0:24
We made it to the final 2025 women's your own.
0:28
I mean, it's been a great tournament so far, and the crown
0:31
jewel is still up for grabs. That's right, the world's
0:35
greatest women's football pocket.
0:37
No, the the European Championship, UEFA 2025.
0:42
Let's get to it. England and Spain.
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Big congratulations. In terms of like predictions,
0:49
you had Spain in your final. I had England in my final.
0:52
We'll eventually get to some picks, We'll talk about some
0:54
players to watch. I want to get into some some
0:57
match ups to watch. Kind of identified a few that I
1:00
I think are fun. I want to get into so much to
1:02
cover the final coming up Sunday, 9:00 AM Pacific.
1:06
Mr. Grant Angle, where do you want to get started?
1:09
Well, I think we should get started by just talking about
1:12
how we got here. And let's do that with a
1:15
beverage with a refreshment. Let's go.
1:19
Can I call this the third? Sounds great.
1:22
Can I call this the third to last or the what?
1:26
What would you call it as well? I mean, penultimate is second to
1:28
last. I'm not sure what what 3rd to
1:30
last is, but we have a beer for this show, obviously a beer for
1:33
the final. And then maybe like some will do
1:36
some kind of retrospective and I think that would conclude a
1:39
several beer series. Yep, it's the trend.
1:43
Ultimate beer. Cheers.
1:44
Cheers to you. Cheers to the football.
1:47
Cheers to the word trend ultimate.
1:48
That may or may not actually be a word, I'm not sure.
1:52
Hopefully it's not a terribly offensive word that that's like
1:55
awful connotations. But real quick, I, I, I want to
2:00
shout out some of our friends before we get to it.
2:01
I know I asked you where you want to get started.
2:03
So I'm going to pre empt that or, or I'm going to just side
2:06
swipe it a little bit and just mention some of our friends that
2:08
I want to kind of call out. We made a bunch of new friends
2:11
during this heroes, as as mentioned, we expanded the
2:14
tentacles. We produced a bunch of shows.
2:17
We got extra sleepy on the Sleepy Boys podcast.
2:19
It was it was a sleepy summer, but I think we we survived.
2:22
We're still awake. Stay posted to see if you know
2:25
how long that lasts, but L beg 323 Meg MO my guy Mark Gibbs, my
2:30
card corner brother Mark Gibbs. I appreciate you bro Summer
2:33
cook. How about John Rollins, loud and
2:36
proud Orlando straight while in our comments section just giving
2:40
it to the England detractors. Just let them know you do not
2:44
come to the ITC comment section and talk down about the
2:49
Lionesses. Carlo, you already know claw
2:51
hammer and I had one more Justin Williams.
2:54
You already know what time it is.
2:55
We love you, love you Justin, but our guy MLSI don't know
2:59
definitely ITC community member, Hall of Famer, an eloquent chap.
3:03
I think we could say that right? Of course, but MLS got into it.
3:07
In our comments section. I'm not going to mention the the
3:09
user that started the conversation, but anonymous user
3:13
says sorry, but what do football coaches tell their goalkeepers?
3:17
Quote Guard your near post End Quote.
3:19
Honestly that was a poor goal to give away by Germany in extra
3:23
time and our guy MLS responds. Spain won Germany nil.
3:28
Stuck on that. Coulda woulda shoulda.
3:34
All right, Yeah, sure. Yeah, that I mean that
3:36
translates in any in any language.
3:38
MLSI guess that that's, you know, fair game A.
3:42
Little off. Brand for a guy?
3:44
Yeah, seriously, that would caught me off guard this
3:47
morning, but got a good chuckle out of it and I just really
3:50
appreciate it. Everybody you know opening up,
3:53
sharing their thoughts, sharing their emotions, sharing their
3:55
experience of watching the tournament with us and with
3:58
others. Oh yeah, no doubt.
4:00
I mean, just consistently dropping knowledge.
4:02
I mean Blau ground of blood another another new friend we've
4:05
made during these EUR shortly before the EUR.
4:09
Like look for Blau ground of bloods social media, you know,
4:12
Barcelona focus coverage, obviously talking about Spain as
4:15
well, you know, super informative researched stuff.
4:19
I think you mentioned Carlo P3 Speaking of the Spanish
4:22
contingent, Hizzy young always rocking with us.
4:25
Appreciate you Hizzy key KLC always hanging out too.
4:29
Just, I mean, just knowers of ball, friendly people, maybe the
4:34
occasional outburst, but that's OK.
4:36
We're talking football. It is.
4:38
We're talking sports. It's, it's all right.
4:40
We can. We can keep it friendly for the
4:42
most part. Hell yeah.
4:44
This is a friendly space. It's a learning space.
4:46
But I, I want to talk to football.
4:48
And the more, the more I kind of dug into this final, you know,
4:51
there's just so many juicy ways to look at it, some storylines,
4:55
some angles. You know, there's the revenge
4:58
angle, there's the like kind of who wears the crown angle.
5:01
You've got the European champions, you got the World Cup
5:03
champions. But where do you want to get
5:05
started talking about the match? Let's talk about the challengers
5:10
for this trophy. Anyway, let's talk about Spain.
5:14
Young, up and comers. Oh yes, of course.
5:17
Obviously the plucky underdogs from Spain. 17 goals for, three
5:22
goals against. If you combine the group stage
5:24
and the knockout stage. LED in minutes by 31 year old
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Alexia Patea's two time Bolland Door winner of course, and Patri
5:32
Gujaro, a 27 year old with 479 and 476 minutes respectively.
5:39
They've been objectively pretty great.
5:41
I would say Alexia, you know, not a not a huge match against
5:44
Germany, but that's a luxury that they have where their two
5:47
time Balandor winner doesn't play that great.
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But Oh yeah, the other two time Balandor winner scores the
5:52
scores of the winner, Spain's margin of victory.
5:54
I thought this was a fun little set.
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It's kind of been dwindling as the tournament has gone on.
5:59
They won the first match by 5, second match by 4, then two and
6:03
two and then one against Germany.
6:06
So that margin of victory is just kind of climbing down.
6:08
But the, you know, the trending's got more trending in
6:11
a, in a, in a good direction if you're an England supporter.
6:13
But you know, the, the tournament's also got more
6:16
difficult. They got more minutes under your
6:18
belt. The, the, the games have, you
6:20
know, are higher leverage. So Spain is incredible.
6:24
They're ranked #2 in the FIFA rankings for a reason, the the
6:28
reigning World Cup champions. But this tournament was not
6:31
totally a walk for them. And I think that that probably
6:35
surprised at least one or two people.
6:37
Yeah, I would say so. I mean Jeremy matchup was also
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it was a tough matchup. They were tested for sure, but a
6:44
couple players that you mentioned, obviously Alexia,
6:46
three goals, 4 assists, incredibly productive, maybe
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cool. You know, I, I wonder if her
6:54
lighter weight game versus Germany had anything to do with
6:57
Alessandra being out and just kind of like the distribution a
7:00
little bit differently, like the just the ball just was going in
7:03
different directions. But to your point, great luxury
7:07
to have to have a player like that just eating up defensive
7:10
attention, you know, in the middle of the park.
7:12
But I wanted to talk about Batti, who's just been awesome.
7:15
So over the course of the EUR, Batti's leading Spain in
7:19
touches, tackles, interceptions, blocks and completed passes.
7:24
She's got 48 more completed passes than the second highest
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in the entire tournament, which would be her team mate, Irene
7:32
Perez, who is also ball. And I, I think that that that
7:35
pairing, that center back pairing Perez and Alessandri, to
7:39
me, that's the first key of the game for me.
7:42
You know, can England do anything with those two players?
7:44
I mean, I think those two specifically super stout
7:48
defensively, but then the distribution, they get the ball,
7:51
they move it along and now all of a sudden you had an
7:54
opportunity in a dangerous area. You're sort of in the final
7:57
third or in and around or maybe sneaking in and all of a sudden
8:00
the ball is going the other way and now you're in your defensive
8:03
3rd. So I think what I'm thinking
8:05
about the keys, those two players, that's like the first
8:08
place that I'm thinking about. Yeah, I think that makes a lot
8:10
of sense. I mean, you know, we talk about
8:12
it. You can you can give a lot of
8:14
publicity to Spain's incredible scores that, you know, the magic
8:18
that Bone Mati can create on the field.
8:22
Claudia Pina, you know, one of the most in form strikers in the
8:25
world. As we've talked about many
8:26
times, the defense sets the tone, man.
8:29
Like it's their press. And you know, those attacking
8:32
players, they are terrorizing the the opponent in that press.
8:37
And then if by some luck or grace or like great skill,
8:40
you're able to get past that press, now you're contending
8:43
with the with those great defenders as well.
8:45
So yeah, I think that's going to be a key.
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I'll go with the key to the match on England's side.
8:50
Then I think it's going to have to be beating that press to your
8:54
point and getting even being able to challenge those
8:57
defenders to make those center backs have to work.
9:01
You have to be able to get past that.
9:03
And you know, that's going to be honestly, that's going to be on
9:06
Alex Greenwood, that's going to be on Kyra Walsh, Georgia
9:09
Stanway. And they had some moments.
9:11
You know, I was kind of looking back through the tournament.
9:13
England had some really positive results.
9:15
What about that France match up, though?
9:17
You know, they get, they were getting cooked in in some of
9:20
those and some of those spaces in the middle of the field.
9:23
And it was because Stanway and Walsh were giving the ball away
9:27
and France punished them. You give the ball away against
9:30
Spain, you're definitely going to get punished by them as well.
9:33
You know, I'm, I'm really curious to see what Wiegmann
9:36
does defensively, You know, because when you rewind back, I
9:39
went back and checked the 2023 World Cup and it looked like
9:43
Wiegmann was either at a back according to the Internet
9:46
sources of back three. But it looked like a back 5 just
9:48
because they had bronze on the outside on the outside of one
9:51
end and I'm blanking who they had on the other side.
9:53
But I'd be curious to see how Wiegmann sets up defensively.
9:57
If you're thinking it's either Jess Carter or Esme Morgan at
10:01
center back, potentially against the Spain side, you know, that
10:05
could, you know, pose some problems for sure.
10:08
If, if you're in that traditional back four, do you,
10:11
are you expecting any kind of changes from Wiegmann?
10:13
Because I think there was one that I'm, I'm, I'm also curious
10:16
about upfront. What?
10:17
What kind of line ups are you expecting?
10:19
Real quick in 2023, Rachel Daly was on that squad, so she was
10:22
playing a lot of like that kind of like left left wing back
10:25
type. I'm a huge Rachel Daly guy, big
10:27
fan of her. Like, I mean, a great striker in
10:29
the WSL had, you know, had the commitment and the toughness to
10:33
play like wing back for for the Lionesses in the EUR and that
10:37
World Cup. I think, I think we're going to
10:40
see more of the same. I actually took a screenshot of
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it to make sure I didn't screw it up.
10:45
But if I had to guess, I think England lines up obviously
10:49
Hampton and goal bronze, Williamson, Morgan, Greenwood,
10:53
Walsh, Stanway, James, Toon, Hemp and Russo up front would be
10:58
would be the 11 that I think she's going to have to put out
11:00
there. But I have changes.
11:03
Yeah, no changes. And I think with one caveat,
11:07
obviously, Lauren, Lauren James's health is, you know, the
11:10
concern there, but you know, the fact that she went out at after
11:13
the half, hopefully she's had some time to rest and heal.
11:16
The one caveat there, I would say to Wiegmann style, is when I
11:20
talk about beating that press, you're going to need to have
11:22
constant movement off the ball. You're going to have to be
11:25
constantly looking for space. I think Wiegmann might have to
11:28
go to the bench a little earlier than she then we've seen her do
11:32
in the past. I could definitely see that My
11:35
my question and it's tough because there's a lot of really
11:38
good players, but I'm not sure how you keep Chloe Kelly out of
11:43
the starting line up, assuming she's healthy, because it's it's
11:48
a little bit past the Oh, she's playing really well and like, oh
11:52
super sub like this, a real injection of like, you know,
11:56
she's been a tournament saver, you know, like she's got to
11:58
like, I don't know, but keeping England in the tournament for
12:01
sure. So it's a dangerous game.
12:04
We talked about how late Wiegmann made some of those
12:07
changes. I'm not sure how comfortable I
12:09
would feel. You know, you look at LJI, love
12:11
LJ. I'm probably like the world's
12:13
biggest LJ fan. I would say my favorite player.
12:17
Five shots, two goals versus the Netherlands in a back against
12:21
the wall match up in a huge spot in the other 4 appearances.
12:25
Nine shots, 2 on target, zero goals.
12:28
So there was something about that Netherlands match, you
12:31
know, maybe it was health or fitness or maybe it was just the
12:34
moment. But I think there is an
12:35
opportunity here. There's an opportunity here for
12:38
a few different players. I think there's an opportunity
12:40
for a Chloe Kelly to kind of like now move into legendary.
12:45
You know, now I've, I'm just this player, I'm like just this
12:50
like the clutch player of a generation.
12:53
Maybe like that's that's maybe possible depending on what
12:55
happens in this in this final. I think LJ has a chance to kind
12:59
of like move into that upper echelon Bollindor type
13:03
conversation with a huge performance here.
13:05
Russo maybe has some potential there.
13:08
Hannah Hampton I think has some potential.
13:09
Like these are players that I think, you know, legacy wise, I
13:13
mean, massive, massive stakes. You think about the game, but
13:15
then like there's so much history woven into what's going
13:18
to happen in this match and what we'll remember for for so many
13:21
years on to the future makes it a really compelling proposition.
13:25
Yeah, no doubt. I mean, I think it's, we're
13:27
going to have to have a Hannah Hampton game.
13:29
I think, I mean, in the last two matches, you know, when Spain
13:33
beat Switzerland, they were, I think it will, I'm going to do
13:37
some of this off the top of my head.
13:38
It was they were six shots on target out of 23 total shots and
13:42
that's 26%. And then in this match against
13:45
Germany, they were four shots on target out of 15, which I think
13:50
roughly also equates to like 26%.
13:53
I'll take more of that, please. As an England supporter, like, I
13:56
like them, you know, getting less than 30% of their shots on
14:00
target. And I feel good about Hannah
14:02
Hampton in that proposition. The only thing is some of those
14:05
shots on target might be Claudia Pina wonder strikes or just a
14:10
missile from, you know, Bone Mati or, you know, Patri might
14:13
let one loose or, you know, Battier might get a rebound and
14:17
fire 1 into the corner or something like that.
14:19
Or, And as much as I admire her, and I was thinking about this
14:22
more and more as we are kind of doing this, like the Olga
14:26
Carmona goal in the World Cup final is like I, I think part of
14:31
the reason why I enjoy watching her play so much.
14:34
I know that sounds weird as a guy who like supports England,
14:37
but like she's just that kind of player.
14:40
And like when she kind of stepped up, she's like on the
14:42
left wing. I can still see it happening for
14:44
what we had to. I had to watch that game at like
14:46
5:00 AM or whatever on the here in Seattle, and she just steps
14:51
up from the wing and just blasted into the corner to beat
14:54
Herbs. And I was like, well, shit, I
14:56
didn't. I didn't see that coming that
14:58
much. Like, like I, you know, you
15:00
know, she had it in her game, but anybody from Spain can
15:03
score. But I also have pretty good
15:05
faith that Hampton can stop any shot.
15:08
Yeah, no doubt. I think the that Carmona go, I
15:11
watched it today too, just before they brought it up.
15:14
Definitely shades of the I tonic goal of totally different angle.
15:17
The I tonic goal to beat the burger to to make it to the
15:19
final. I'm glad you brought up Olga
15:22
Carmona, because she'll be on that same side versus Lucy big
15:26
game bronze. We might get Lucy big game
15:28
bronze versus Olga game just as big Carmona who scores in the in
15:33
the World Cup. You know, like just is that that
15:35
same love was like, all right, let's see who's got the bigger
15:37
game here. That's going to be a fun battle.
15:39
You know, we mentioned Hannah Hampton, who I thought has been
15:42
had some really big moments. Katakoya, I think has been
15:46
massive as well. And I I mentioned it on our last
15:48
show. I thought was the reason, not
15:50
the reason, but without her, I'm not sure that Spain gets past
15:53
Germany. And you could look at Nan
15:55
Gladys, who started the first three matches for Spain.
15:58
Well, let's look at that last two matches.
16:00
Four shots on target against 4 saves, zero goals allowed.
16:05
Again, this is a knockout football against Switzerland,
16:08
the home country against Germany, you know, for for
16:11
pretty much all the stakes. And then you look at Nan Gladys
16:14
in the knockout stage, I'm sorry, in the group stage 3
16:16
matches, six shots on target against three saves, three goals
16:21
allowed. So big difference between non
16:24
Gladys performance. I got that going.
16:25
I think I got that going is just, you know, it's tough to
16:28
grade her. As mentioned, you know, she just
16:29
doesn't she's not as tested as some of these other keepers, but
16:32
she is, you know, the the 1A for the best club team in the world
16:37
and the 1A for either the first or second best, you know,
16:40
international team in the world. So that's that stuff.
16:43
You got to account for something.
16:45
Hannah Hampton on the other side will get tested as mentioned.
16:49
But I think, you know, she's she's stepped up I think really
16:52
big in this tournament. She's she's had a lot more work
16:54
to do, 19 shots on target, faced 13 saves, six goals allowed.
16:59
But obviously England has faced a bunch of flux defensively.
17:03
And I think probably I would say absolutely has faced A tougher,
17:06
tougher competition. You look at France, you look at
17:08
Netherlands, you look at Sweden, I think Italy also, I mean
17:13
Italy. Both sides had to face Italy.
17:15
But England for sure the tougher Rd.
17:17
But I think the goalkeeping edge I think probably has to go to
17:22
Spain and got the goy. Yeah, that's, that's probably
17:27
fair. It's close, man.
17:28
I was thinking about like this tournament.
17:30
I mean, I know we talk about like in NWSL you have on Katrin
17:34
Berger and Caitlin Sheridan and Lorena, you know, end goal.
17:40
And then I was thinking about this tournament, you have Coy
17:43
Hampton, Falk Burger again now in this tournament, obviously.
17:48
Yeah, Anna Morehouse. And there's Anna Morehouse,
17:52
obviously. I thought Giuliani for Italy was
17:55
good too. Yeah.
17:56
No, that's totally fair. Yeah.
17:57
I mean, just like a ton of like great goalkeepers, like all
18:01
over, all over the world. But I was thinking about what a
18:03
good goalkeeping tournament this has been, some really, you know,
18:07
acrobatic, amazing saves, great instincts, things like that.
18:11
But yeah, I mean, you'll just have to see, like, I'm going to
18:13
go back to the 2023 World Cup final.
18:16
I want to say somewhere in maybe the 15th minute, somewhere
18:20
around there, I think another moment that that kind of lives
18:24
rent free in my head. Lauren HAMP hits the crossbar
18:26
and it's just like man, getting the opener would have been real
18:30
nice in that scenario. Now, you know, Spain probably
18:33
could have had two in that first half.
18:35
They got the one from Carmona as previously mentioned, but you
18:39
know, herbs was herbs was showing up huge.
18:41
So it's it's hard to say like should they could they have got
18:44
2? I don't know man.
18:46
I you know it it. I think it's an edge to Koi, but
18:49
I only think it's a slight edge. Yeah, I agree with that.
18:53
I'm not sure it's going to come down to the goalkeeping, but I
18:55
think it's definitely worth the conversation.
18:57
No doubt. Managers was the next one I
18:59
wanted to think about. Obviously, Serena Vigman's got
19:02
the experience, championship experience, you know, dating
19:05
back a long time. But Monta Tomei, I think after
19:09
somewhat of a rocky start, taking over for Vilda, caught
19:12
her stride really, really well. Has seems to have a good handle
19:16
on what's going on, a good handle on the rotation, because
19:19
it just felt like there's been a lot of, you know, good
19:22
rotations, a lot of good, you know, it feels like everybody's
19:25
got minutes. Yeah, no doubt.
19:27
I mean, you know, if you think about who's leading England in
19:32
minutes, you have Alex Greenwood.
19:33
She's over 500 minutes. What?
19:37
I, I think I said, yeah, I 400 is 479 and 476.
19:41
So Greenwood's over 500. And then Lucy Bronze, Kyra Walsh
19:44
and Leah Williamson are all over 450 minutes apiece.
19:48
So I mean, you know, when matches go into extra time,
19:51
you're going to need, you know, players who are on the pitch for
19:54
a long time. I'll be interested to see how
19:56
that plays out. But no, I think this is the
19:59
second time I mentioned Alex Screen what I said she's going
20:01
to have to be key in beating the press.
20:05
Greenwood is leading England in touches.
20:08
She's leading them in interceptions with 12.
20:10
She's leading them in crosses with 32 and she's tied for first
20:14
in recoveries with Williamson. And you know, she's going to
20:18
have to be huge. You know 3131 year old defender
20:21
from. From Manchester City Football
20:24
Club. You know, she's had good
20:26
moments. She's she's come up big in this
20:29
tournament. I'm just a little, I just tell
20:31
you, man, I'm an England supporter.
20:34
I'm a wee bit worried. What weak points are you
20:38
thinking about? I'm concerned that Williamson
20:42
Morgan and and Greenwood, frankly, I think they might have
20:46
a real hard time with the press when it when it's coming from
20:50
Cal Dente, who is one of the smartest players in the world,
20:53
especially the way she presses. And you have Cal Dente, Esther
20:58
Gonzalez and Claudia Pina pressing you and then the second
21:01
wave of players pressing you are Patri and Bone Mati and Alexia.
21:06
You could be in big trouble here.
21:09
And I I think there's that that leads me to another point when
21:12
we think about, you know, trying to get the ball forward and
21:14
trying to get the ball in, not not just in, you know, the
21:17
attacking half, but the attacking 3rd for England, who
21:20
is leading England with the most touches in the attacking third.
21:24
You have Lauren Hemp at 1:44. You have Lauren James.
21:28
She's third with 122 and sandwiched in between with 136
21:35
touches in the attacking third. Lucy Big game Bronze.
21:39
I knew it. Now, how often, how many
21:42
opportunities is Lucy Bronze going to have with the ball in
21:47
the attacking third while Spain is just running down your neck
21:51
on the other side? Yeah, it won't be too many
21:54
because it'll be Olga on that side.
21:56
It's Olga and Pina on that side. Yeah, that's, that's painful.
22:01
It's tough. And this is where I thought the
22:04
France matchup that you called out early in the show pretty
22:07
prescient because what did we see in that France match?
22:10
We saw France controlling, you know, like the real estate and
22:14
in England having to defend, having to like win the ball back
22:18
and scrap. And then you're, you know,
22:20
you're seeing these like big players that are primarily
22:23
creators, you know, like the LJS and the Hemps.
22:26
And, you know, I don't think all the tune was playing in that
22:28
game, but you just didn't see the same level of team defending
22:32
as you saw from like some of those teams that adopted defense
22:36
as their DNA, like the Italies and the Sweden's.
22:38
And you know, like it just was not at the same level.
22:41
And now England won't be playing this match on the front foot
22:45
like they had played, you know, the the the the following four
22:49
matches after the France loss. Now it'll it's going to go back
22:52
a little bit too, I think even more so it's going to go back to
22:55
can you defend? Can you stay disciplined, be in
22:58
those passing lanes, think a little bit more
23:00
opportunistically? And then can you find success
23:06
offensively through the center of the park, you know, through
23:09
Kira Walsh, through Stanway, you know, like, or are you just
23:14
kicking Hail Marys, you know, over the top or, you know, up
23:18
the sidelines and, and hoping that you can, hoping that
23:21
somebody could beat somebody else one-on-one.
23:23
Because if that, if that becomes the game plan early, which I
23:26
don't, I don't expect it to, but if it does, I think that's a
23:28
bad, a bad sign for for England. It certainly will be.
23:32
And you have to look at like, where's Alessia Russo getting
23:35
the ball? If she's 5 yards on the
23:37
defensive side of the center circle, then you're in real
23:41
trouble because now think of how many more passes you have to get
23:45
before you're even really putting any stress on Spain's
23:49
defense. So, you know, I I think those
23:51
are all very concerning. And I think it's worth noting
23:54
that, you know, England still had 57% of the ball in that
23:58
match against France. They were just getting fried in
24:01
a lot of those situations where France would be running the ball
24:04
back up. And we know that, you know, we
24:05
know France has a a want and indefinitely an ability to play
24:11
that kind of counter attack, kill you kind of football on the
24:15
rush. So, yeah, I mean, the the tricky
24:18
part when any team is going up against Spain is they can do all
24:23
of it now like they they tend to, you know, dominate
24:27
possession. You know, it's Spanish football
24:28
in general. But then, you know, there could
24:30
be those opportunities where Lauren James gets the
24:33
opportunity. She gets down on the wing, she
24:36
plays the ball across it, doesn't hit the target.
24:39
And then now Perez is running and like you talked about
24:42
earlier, getting the ball forward using great
24:45
distribution, couple touches and now Pina or Mariona are are
24:51
flying down the wing with, with runners in the middle of the
24:54
field. I mean, you, you have to prepare
24:57
for everything against Spain. And that's just going to leave
25:00
your, it's going to leave your team stretched in a lot of
25:03
different situations. I think you've nailed a couple
25:05
different. I mean, this is England, so it's
25:07
your team. You know them, you know more
25:09
intimately than I do. But I'm in full agreement with
25:11
you that I think you nailed the two areas where England's going
25:15
to be the most vulnerable. 1 is when they're backed up into
25:18
their own third and they just get the ball nicked away and you
25:22
could just see, you know, getting getting swiped by
25:24
Mariona or Pina or or Alexia in a spot like that.
25:28
I think that's a real point of of danger.
25:30
The second one is transition like you mentioned.
25:33
You know, you could imagine a Lucy Bronze getting pulled up
25:37
field or and Alex Greenwood now wants to be at the edge of the
25:40
box. And yeah, I'm not sure what's
25:41
going to be if it's going to be Carter or Morgan, it's probably
25:43
Morgan. But you know, I've seen as an
25:46
Arsenal fan, I've seen Williamson in transition kind of
25:49
struggle a little bit when she's got to rotate her hips and kind
25:52
of get around and go from backpedaling to rotate full.
25:56
You know, that's, that's a tough kind of motion for her for
25:58
whatever reason. And I think England in
26:00
transition is just, it's just not the right look.
26:03
And then it leads me then to a player that I've thought a lot
26:07
about for Spain, which is Sama Bariuello player that we haven't
26:10
talked about too much, who got chances against Germany, got in
26:14
good positions, guide to dangerous spots.
26:18
I think we could see some bodyolo magic laid in this one,
26:23
especially if something like that that we're talking about
26:25
like a transition opportunity the other way.
26:27
I think bodyolo is like the perfect counter punch to that
26:30
type of situation. So, you know, who knows a game
26:34
within a goal or maybe even even down the stretch.
26:37
I think a bodyolo on the counter is another another risky thing I
26:42
think that Eng is going to have to look out for.
26:44
I think she's appeared in every match.
26:46
I and I'm not, I think she's only started a couple.
26:50
But yeah, I mean, she is a clear weapon off the bench, you know,
26:55
just an injection of speed and spirit and smarts who's gonna
27:01
come on there and put pressure on your defense.
27:03
So yeah, I think it's a, it's the right call out by you and
27:06
it's just, it's no relief. So like, who comes off for is it
27:10
Ester? Is it, you know, is it Claudia
27:12
Pina? And then you're like, oh, OK,
27:14
thank goodness one of those extremely dangerous players are
27:16
coming off and you look on the sideline, here comes beta Ualo
27:19
to come, you know, smoke you on the run.
27:21
So like, I don't mean to, I don't mean to like totally sound
27:26
like England has no chance. I mean, they have, like I said,
27:29
they have great players. They have the skill to do these
27:31
things. And do I expect Kiera Walsh and
27:35
Georgia Stanway to both have a bad game?
27:39
Like I don't like I, you know, they're, they're great players
27:41
who know these Spanish players, by the way, played against them,
27:45
played with them. But it's just, you know, it's
27:48
always an uphill battle for Spain.
27:50
No, it's going to be, it's going to be really tough.
27:53
I think the best I can hope for. And it's weird man, because like
27:56
that Germany game plan, you know, and like, you know, it's
28:00
funny that I, I went through the whole German roller coaster this
28:02
year, you know, like picked up the window, the whole thing,
28:05
just trash them. They, they kind of like broke my
28:07
heart and stepped on my pinky toe.
28:10
And then I, I come back and I just was like really happy with
28:12
the, their performance against Spain and, and was, you know,
28:15
just very celebratory for how they played.
28:18
No knock on England. I like England, I like the
28:20
players. I don't think that they could do
28:22
that same thing that we saw Germany do, which was just sell
28:26
out physically, just be everywhere.
28:29
And just, I mean, give all of it to the cause.
28:32
And the cause being let's take this, let's take this to BKS and
28:36
see if Clara Boo or you LeBron could like steal one at some
28:39
point. The right game plan.
28:41
I, I don't think that England can do that.
28:43
And I feel like England might find itself against a team that
28:48
kind of wants to play the same way, but maybe is better suited
28:51
from a personal standpoint to do so.
28:53
I think you're 100% right. And the the caveat I would throw
28:57
on that is they won't be able to do that.
29:00
They won't be able to utilize that kind of game plan for 75
29:04
minutes of the match. What I think England has to do
29:08
is maybe they can do that for 60 minutes of the match, but they
29:13
have to have what, however it's sprinkled in.
29:16
If it's 15 minutes in the first half, 15 minutes of the
29:18
second-half, they have to have 30 good minutes across these 90
29:23
where they are dictating some of the pace of the match.
29:26
And they're not. They're not completely flustered
29:29
by the press where they can get into their stuff and do some of
29:32
their English football control, some of the pace of the game it
29:36
around, move it from side to side and try to create a shot,
29:41
try to create a run for Alessia Russo.
29:43
Get Lauren Hemp out there playing physical wing play,
29:47
getting whipping crosses in. You know your point about Chloe
29:51
Kelly. I don't know if I don't think
29:53
I'm, like overly superstitious. But yeah, I think it would be AI
29:57
think it would be a gigantic swing to be like, OK, Chloe, now
30:00
you're starting like, do I think she's capable?
30:03
Yes, but like, she's been awesome.
30:05
Now I think again, you know, I'm probably just feeding into my
30:09
own thought process here, but maybe you bring her on at 65,
30:13
you know, like maybe maybe you bring her on at 60, depending
30:16
on, you know, how things look. I think in that World Cup final,
30:21
you know, Wiegmann took Alessia Russo off at halftime and put on
30:25
Chloe Kelly. Who else did she take off?
30:27
She took off. She took off Rachel Daly and put
30:29
on Lauren James at halftime in that final.
30:32
We'll see how she how she adjusts in this one.
30:35
But if you're England, it's unrealistic.
30:39
And yeah, this is just who Spain is.
30:41
Again, we're based in the USA. You know, we have our biases.
30:44
Whatever any team playing against Spain, you're not
30:49
winning the possession battle. I don't care who you are.
30:51
Like, you know, we like the USA. They have a lot of great
30:53
players. You're not beating Spain in the
30:55
possession battle. No chance.
30:57
So you have to be able to figure out where are our spots, when
31:01
can we kind of start to dictate the run of play for a little
31:04
while? And then how do we get back into
31:06
a defensive shell and counter all these all these great
31:10
players from Spain. And I think that's going to be
31:11
the the combination to give England a real chance to win.
31:14
Yeah, I think, I think the defensive shell is definitely
31:17
key. You know, it it's, it's
31:19
reminding me of a couple data points versus Germany where
31:22
Spain had like some like 380 or 390 touches in Germany's half,
31:27
but only like less than 40 in inside Germany's box.
31:33
So that kind of told me that Germany was like just
31:36
controlling that little chunk of field between the halfway line
31:41
and the 18 and just saying, OK, you could knock it around here,
31:44
but this is where we draw the line.
31:46
You know, kind of defensively, I think England's going to have to
31:49
do the same. And you know, to your point on
31:52
who they have out there, you're going to have to counter, you
31:56
know, so it's probably going to have to be a lot of Lauren Hemp,
31:59
you know, and you know, like then what is what is Alessia
32:03
Russo's role? Is it kind of like get down
32:05
there and let's hold it up and let's try to get the body
32:08
between the, you know, the ball and the defender and then let's
32:10
send in the Calvary. To your point, LJ, maybe Ella 2
32:13
and Hemp. I'm sure we'll beat everybody
32:15
there. She'll be, she'll already be
32:16
there. Just check at her watch and, you
32:19
know, probably guzzling a protein shake, you know, so
32:22
she'll be ready. And I think I'm going to be
32:25
interested to see the offensive approach that Beigman employs,
32:30
as well as the first 10-12 minutes because I feel like if
32:33
you're going to get Spain and you need a goal, you know, you
32:36
mentioned that hemp chance in the World Cup.
32:39
That was a, that was a heartbreaker.
32:40
Very close. But if I recall correctly, I
32:43
feel like hemp had some space on that one and was in a pretty
32:48
decent area. And Spain will do that.
32:51
They'll kind of they'll kind of work their themselves into the
32:55
match in that way. You know, they're not going to
32:57
come out from the first whistle and just be all in your shorts
33:00
like they're you know, they'll kind of work, work up a sweat
33:03
and take a little time to do so. So I think that first eight 1012
33:07
minutes for England could also be really clutch if they can
33:09
score there. To your point, I think that that
33:11
really changes things in a huge way.
33:13
That's a great point. I mean, now I've also, you know,
33:16
had the had the thought process that sometimes scoring early
33:21
just pisses off Spain and then they they come back, you know,
33:24
with the hammer after that. But yeah, I mean, you know, I
33:28
think the key for England is, is trying to get one in the first
33:30
half. Again, you know, this is my
33:32
incredible analysis of score goals, but you're going to need
33:36
them. And it's an absolutely
33:39
fascinating match up from what you said between the duel
33:42
between Tomei and Wiegmann and then all the players on the
33:46
pitch obviously is what we're tuning in for.
33:49
I think it's, I think we're in for just a barn burner, to use
33:53
an American phrase, a real slobber knocker, if you will,
33:59
for all, for all of our new, you know, we've already had a lot of
34:02
European pals, but all for, for all the new European pals.
34:06
I'll, I'll hit you with more American, American slang here as
34:09
we move forward. But I think it's going to be a
34:11
good game, is what I'm trying to say here.
34:13
Love it. All right, I think it's I think
34:15
it's about time to make some predictions and you want to go
34:18
first. You want me to go first?
34:20
You go ahead. I kind of got, I got let off the
34:23
hook a little bit because as mentioned up top, I had a
34:26
England, I'm sorry, I had Germany to beat England in the
34:28
final. So I thought long and hard about
34:31
what would happen here. And my thought process, I think
34:34
coming into the tournament, one of the first key things, you
34:38
know, that I was just like, I'm not sure I can get past this.
34:42
This notion was it's really fucking hard to win two of these
34:46
things in a row. Like just it's a, there's a
34:49
reason that, you know, we don't get a lot of repeat World Cups
34:53
or repeat EUR, repeat Olympics. It's just, it's just a thing.
34:57
It's just really, really hard. And I think I came into this
35:00
tournament thinking it would be tough on England to, to get that
35:04
done, you know, and, and obviously Spain's looked really
35:06
good. They look like the best team.
35:08
I think England's cut it really close.
35:10
I think they, they, they easily could have lost either of those
35:13
knockout stage matches. They did lose to France.
35:16
So they're here because they're champions and they've got that
35:19
championship DNA. They know how to win.
35:21
They know how to not lose. So I do think this one will be
35:25
crazy competitive. I've, I think penalty kicks have
35:28
been the, the, the flavor of the tournament.
35:31
I don't think it's going to go to penalty kicks, but I do think
35:33
it's going to go to added extra time.
35:36
And I think my little curveball that I'm going to throw is I
35:39
think it's 11 when we go to added extra time.
35:42
And I think Spain hanged 2 on England and they went three to
35:46
one in 120 minutes. And a little icing on the cake,
35:50
I think Baddiello gets one of those last two goals against a
35:55
tired England defense to kind of ice it.
35:58
And then we set the stage for 2027.
36:03
At that point, you'd have Spain, you know, a couple different
36:05
banners hanging and then USA, obviously the rating #1 the
36:09
reigning Olympic champion, that long resume and, you know, the
36:12
potential for just a massive pay-per-view style, you know,
36:16
match up in 27. Yeah, that makes sense.
36:19
I like it. I like the specificity.
36:23
Look, I picked Spain to win this tournament before a ball was
36:28
even kicked. I do not think they're nearly as
36:32
tired as they were before that Olympic tournament.
36:35
And also I've I've just heard like, you know, you see
36:38
sometimes on like woso Reddit or like some other social media.
36:41
And you know, I know we talk about like woso social media
36:43
sometimes. And you know, it is a better
36:46
version of social media than most other sports social media.
36:49
So I'm going to give it a little more gravitas than others, but
36:53
you'll see the occasional take of like at the Olympics.
36:56
It's like not a real football tournament.
36:59
And I just got to say I completely dismissed that.
37:02
Like usually I'll listen to people's ideas, but like people
37:06
have have tried to like lessen the, you know, US as win in the
37:11
Olympics. I'm sorry.
37:12
We're all the best teams except for team Great Britain there did
37:16
all the best teams have pretty much their full complement of
37:19
players? Yes, they did.
37:21
But in that case, you could see the exhaustion in Spain's side.
37:27
I don't think that exists in this tournament.
37:29
I don't think there's any evidence that that has existed
37:31
in this tournament. So to my pals Meg, Mark and
37:35
John, obviously I'm sorry. I picked Spain to win this
37:40
tournament before a ball was kicked.
37:42
I know I support England. I know I've rooted for them
37:44
since I was 12 years old playing FIFA.
37:47
But I picked Spain to win, sorry.
37:49
And I think they're gonna. Yeah.
37:50
Blade as well. Yeah, yeah, Now I doubly
37:53
disappointed Blade by not mentioning him in the mix.
37:56
Sorry, pal. I think it's going to be, I
37:59
think it's going to be two to one Spain.
38:01
And I think, I don't think it's going to get to extra time.
38:04
And I think Alexia Putais is going to score a goal somewhere
38:07
between the 80th and the 90th minute.
38:09
And I think she's going to lift the trophy.
38:12
And I think her team mates will celebrate her as one of the
38:15
greatest players who ever lived, as they should.
38:18
All right, I like it. All right, so you heard it here.
38:21
It's either going to be Spain 21 or Spain 31.
38:24
You know, just head down to your, you know, I'm just
38:26
kidding. Don't do that.
38:28
Just go watch. That head down, head down to
38:30
your local sports book. Enjoy it.
38:32
I believe Spain is -135 in, in. I don't even, I don't know why
38:37
I'm saying. I believe it's saying from your
38:40
boy. I'm aware Spain is -135 yeah.
38:45
You know what my sources are telling me?
38:48
It's Spain -135 and I think now this one, It's a shameful.
38:53
Look at that. Shameful that I don't even have
38:55
it off the top of my head. Yeah, Spain -135 to win in
38:59
regulation. England plus 3:50 to win in
39:02
regulation. The draw, say 80 + + 260.
39:06
Pretty good guess. 60 OK. Anytime goal scorers better.
39:10
UA Low is a + 160 if you're interested in that.
39:15
Don't bet that nobody bet that. Do not bet that people out
39:20
there. We got to ask some questions of
39:24
the people making these lines. Plus 155 anytime Goal scorer
39:30
Elba Redondo. She has not played one minute in
39:35
this tournament. Don't bet that either.
39:37
Could you imagine if if that hits though?
39:39
This will be a great clip afterward, but I don't she
39:43
hasn't played. If that hits, I mean, still, I
39:46
would be pissed that you bet that that number is a terrible
39:49
number. That number should be 10 times
39:51
that, maybe more. All right, so we got it.
39:54
We got our picks. We beat our picks.
39:55
Anything else you want to hit before we get out?
39:56
Of here Lauren Hemp plus 340 I don't hate it.
39:59
I don't hate. It what?
40:00
Wait, wait, was it plus 340? Plus 340.
40:04
I don't hate it. But anyway, all right, we'll
40:07
see. We'll take it offline.
40:11
Take it offline. Yeah, yeah, sign up for our
40:14
Patreon for all our gambling dot coms.
40:18
There you go. Just just look at whatever
40:21
Carlo's prediction is in the in the comments of this video.
40:26
Just bet that. Yeah, go find Carlo.
40:28
All right, man, I think we did it this for another episode into
40:31
the channel. Thank you, thank you, thank you
40:32
for hanging out. If you enjoyed the show or love
40:34
of some of all as much as your boys do, make sure you kick in
40:36
with us each and every single week.
40:38
Like subscribe, follow YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast, wherever
40:42
you like to watch or listen. Leave us a review over your
40:44
favorite podcast app links all of our socials except one in the
40:47
show notes of this episode. And a big thank you to my coast
40:50
as well, Mr. Grant Angle, for being the only coast that I
40:55
would lift the trophy with. At the same time, you know,
40:57
along with that, I appreciate you, bro.
41:01
Likewise, buddy, the feeling is mutual, of course.
41:03
And you know what? Again, all of you, for all of
41:07
our new pals, all of the old pals, the Ogs who've been
41:10
hanging out with us this entire time, this has been incredible.
41:12
Thank you guys for supporting the show, the kicking knowledge
41:15
in the comments. And you know what?
41:16
One thing that is a sure bet the Into the Channel community are
41:21
the nicest damn people on the Internet.
41:23
A bunch of people who know Paul. Thank you again for rocking with
41:26
us and we will see you all after the final.