Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / UWCL LOOKAHEAD! Bayern v United | Chelsea v Arsenal | Barcelona v Real Madrid | Lyonnes v Wolfsburg

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UWCL LOOKAHEAD! Bayern v United | Chelsea v Arsenal | Barcelona v Real Madrid | Lyonnes v Wolfsburg · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:04
OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast premiere about what's so
0:09
far. I'm your host Dino de Suspitas
0:11
and as always I am joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Engel.
0:15
What is up man? I'm feeling fantastic, buddy.
0:18
You know, life circumstances push this recording around.
0:22
We're fighting through just like many people are out there in the
0:25
world, maybe in some more difficult circumstances than us
0:29
when we're talking about a podcast.
0:31
But you know what? We all got our stuff that we're
0:33
that we're battling. That's true.
0:35
I was hurt, dog. Yeah.
0:41
Turns out, you know, four or five hours of a UW CL post, you
0:45
know, strenuous hike was not, not good for the old sciatica.
0:48
And I texted you. I never, I never felt
0:50
simultaneously more like LeBron James.
0:52
Less like LeBron James at the same time.
0:56
You know what great athletes, sometimes they get sciatica.
0:58
What can you do? You LeBron?
1:00
I mean those two great athletes I know.
1:03
I mean, you know, this is this is what happened at winning time
1:05
just by, you know, my body broke down at this at this stage.
1:08
But here we are. We're going to we're going to
1:10
close this loop, talk about some of the Champions League from
1:12
last week. Do a little look ahead to to
1:15
this week's action. Where do we get started?
1:18
Let's get started. Let's do chronological order.
1:21
But before I even interrupt myself, let's get started with a
1:23
beverage. What a sound.
1:30
Cheers to the football. Cheers to you, cheers to the
1:33
football. Cheers to anti inflammatories.
1:36
There you go, those help too. Good job person who created
1:40
that. Let's go getting it done.
1:43
You know medical science. Not so bad if you ask me.
1:46
Pretty big believer in it. All right, so you said
1:50
chronological beers are out of the way.
1:53
Where does that leave us exactly?
1:55
Wednesday morning, April 1st, 2026, it'll be 9:45 AM Pacific
2:01
Time Bayern Munich at home hosting Manchester United.
2:06
While they hold a three to two lead on aggregate, that was a.
2:11
Banger of a matchup. Sure was.
2:14
Back and forth. It was bubbling, it was
2:17
simmering. It was one of those I kind of
2:18
rock them, sock them type matches when the game kind of
2:21
when the game gets blown open that that player man, second
2:25
minute pernil harder. There's just something about big
2:28
match, big moment. She's just going to go full
2:31
Bane, just break you over her knee.
2:34
It's it happened so fast that I put in my notes.
2:38
I was like just a shockingly fast goal.
2:41
And then I kind of thought about I was like, well, it is pernil
2:43
harder and you just find her over the top if you if you have
2:45
it of the pass available and she'll do enough to finish it,
2:49
even pass the goal. A great cool game for like PTJ.
2:51
It was, it was the stuff of like absolute nightmares because
2:55
before that, the first like 60, maybe 75 seconds of the match, I
2:58
don't think Byron even touches the ball.
3:00
So it was like it was like United just knocking around
3:02
feeling good. And it reminded me of like those
3:04
80s movies where, you know, the goon comes out with the
3:06
nunchucks. He does all these like fancy
3:08
moves. It just gets kicked in the face
3:10
of you. Yeah.
3:12
That's kind of what the 1st 2. So like a lot of like fireworks
3:15
and and good vibes and then pretty hard to just kind of, you
3:18
know, obviously changes the the whole complexion of the match.
3:23
And from then on it was, it was a lot of good action back and
3:27
forth and and a real like toss up of a match.
3:31
Yeah, I think so. I mean, possession was it was
3:33
about even United had their chances, but obviously we kind
3:37
of have that, that seesaw effect.
3:39
Leticia gets the penalty, converts the penalty in the 24th
3:44
minute, then Byron goes back up in the 71st, United equalize
3:50
again, and then obviously Bayern gets the winner.
3:52
I think that's pretty indicative of how evenly matched we thought
3:58
these teams would be, how happy you should be as Manchester
4:01
United as a team. You know, who's a debutante in
4:04
this, in this competition going up against Bayern, who, you
4:07
know, hasn't won the thing. And I don't think I've ever got
4:09
past the quarters, but I think that's right.
4:12
Please correct me if I'm wrong in in the chat, but a team
4:15
that's competed in this competition several times
4:17
before. So if you're united, you're
4:18
like, OK, we're we're holding our own against an established
4:21
team here. Yeah, and I think Bayern is kind
4:24
of like stretching things in from Bundesliga, like where they
4:27
were like really squeezing, you know, and and just, I don't
4:31
know, flexing on that entire league and in a much more
4:33
intense way. So it does feel like a different
4:36
Byron team. And I told you like after the
4:38
Wolfsburg Leon result, I'm like, I think it might be a little bit
4:42
higher by, you know, like just from the front Bundesliga effect
4:46
of what we saw. And then I think you can't
4:47
really talk about this match without talking about Momoko
4:50
Tanakawa and the impact, you know, that she had.
4:53
And it was so fun because we talked about the that USA Japan
4:56
match. And I think off the top of my
4:57
head, I think Tanakawa was like 2 starts, 2 appearances off the
5:02
bench and then two DNPS for a full time starter and comes into
5:07
this match. And that one pass that she had
5:09
that basically just slight the entire United defense in half, I
5:14
mean, was unbelievable. And then who's on the end of it?
5:17
Yeah, easy money. She opens up everything.
5:20
You know, we talked about it from last year's Champions
5:23
League superstar, potential superstar in the making.
5:27
I mean, she just kind of has every every piece through a
5:30
game, dribble, pass, shoot that you want for an attacking player
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like that. You could see her making an
5:36
impact in even higher leverage spots as this tournament
5:41
progresses. There are kind of like star
5:43
making performances and maybe this was it.
5:47
I mean, you could look at it a goal, an assist and like just to
5:53
have that kind of performance, you know, at Old Trafford, you
5:58
know, Champions League knockout stage on the road, like that's,
6:01
that's huge. Yeah, you know, they have they
6:04
have the medal to do it. And so, you know, you mentioned
6:07
that great assist and then she gets the goal.
6:09
Tanakawa kind of like creates the action, gets it over to Cat.
6:12
Cat knows just to get it back to Tanakawa, who just perfect
6:16
patients, kind of let's the ball roll across her body before
6:19
hitting the strike. I mean, you know, this team is
6:23
this team is super, super dangerous.
6:26
And I think, I think it might be prediction time if you want to
6:31
do this second leg or do you want to talk, do you want to
6:35
talk about their matches this weekend before we do that?
6:39
I mean, you know, United in the Derby, it was going to be a
6:44
tough look. I mean, I think from from the
6:45
onset when you see they're 11 and then you scan who's on the
6:49
bench and you're like, OK, well, raffles on the bench, right?
6:52
It's a bunch of other super young, untested players that
6:55
aren't goalkeepers. That was going to be tough, you
6:58
know, So I think they they really got, you know, outraced
7:02
in the Derby. What, what do you see from well,
7:04
what do you see from United? What do you see from City?
7:08
With no Zagati, no Turland, you know they're missing other
7:11
players too. They're playing in Europe, They
7:14
had a lot. There's a lot of context that
7:17
you can apply that I think is totally fair to apply.
7:19
That probably had an impact on that result, but also just, you
7:23
know, as somebody who supports Manchester City Football Club,
7:26
the players got on the field and the blue team kicked the red
7:29
team's ass. It was not close.
7:32
It was not close for pretty much any of the match.
7:36
You know, Bunny Shaw's gravity was a huge factor in the first
7:40
half, even if she didn't put up the any counting stats, you
7:44
know, meet him gets the two goals, the the genius glancing
7:47
header and then another one that was a blown assignment by
7:50
Leticia. But even even with a super great
7:56
city performance, I think that maybe one of the frightening
7:59
parts if you're United, and again, they're missing those
8:01
players and that matters. But I don't even think Man
8:05
United played that terrible and they were still miles off it
8:08
against the city. I mean, you know, they they're
8:12
they're they're kind of missing and I think it's tough to really
8:16
like look at one player, but they are missing that finishing.
8:20
They don't have a light shot, they don't have a pie or like
8:21
that. That's a real hole in there.
8:23
And it it really sticks out when you see a player like Mel B
8:26
Millar, like dancing, dazzling, just gaining yardage, yardage,
8:30
yardage, getting, getting right to the spot.
8:32
And then there's just no great options.
8:35
There's a couple OK options. So I think, you know, this is
8:39
this is just kind of what happens at this stage in the
8:41
tournament. You start to see each team
8:44
shortcomings, especially when they go up against the team.
8:46
It's a little bit better, a little bit more seasoned and I
8:48
think that's kind of where we're at.
8:50
I don't know, I I expect Byron to kind of cruise here just
8:55
because it might be a function of energy and what's left in the
8:59
gas tank. I love it.
9:01
I'm I'm with you there because I'm just like in full agreement
9:06
with that stance. Please do the honors.
9:09
If you want to pick the score first, you can go ahead.
9:12
I'll take, you know, Byron's not the kind of team to to really
9:18
throttle you. I'm I'm kind of of two minds.
9:22
I'm I'm at like 2 nil, three nil.
9:24
OK, I think I'm going to go 3 nil even though that's a mini
9:28
throttle. No, that makes sense.
9:30
I, I'm, I'm right there in the same ballpark as you.
9:33
I'll go 21, but United gets their goal late and it's never
9:37
really in. Doubt I could see that all
9:40
right. And then that would that would
9:43
advance Byron through. And I think they're on bars to
9:46
the side of the bracket, right? If I'm not mistaken, I believe
9:49
that's true either way. Let's go ahead to the other
9:53
Wednesday, April first match up, Chelsea versus Arsenal.
9:59
All right, let me just I'll I'll answer that.
10:04
I'll answer that with this. Well, what you know Chelsea
10:07
obviously behind on aggregate. Arsenal 3, Chelsea one from the
10:12
from the first leg here. How are you feeling about this
10:18
as an Arsenal supporter? I mean, I'm feeling really good
10:22
to be honest. I think this weekend's results,
10:24
Chelsea 4, Villa 3, Arsenal 5, Tottenham 2.
10:29
That was Arsenal's probably toughest WSL match remaining of
10:31
the of the year and a total a total beat down.
10:37
Alessia Russo, you the form that she's in and I kind of feel bad
10:42
kind of like sort of Pooh poohing her top three or top 4
10:45
Bond or Finch from last year. And I did it kind of tongue in
10:47
cheek. But to be honest, I didn't think
10:49
she was at that level. But now if she's not there,
10:53
she's right there. You know, in in terms of like
10:56
just a player that is devastating, can be devastating
11:00
and doesn't need a whole lot to to, you know, doesn't need to
11:05
get set up, you know, all that much, you know, to have impact.
11:08
You know, we've talked about her work rate, but now it's also
11:11
like her creativity and her her ability to kind of keep you on
11:14
your heels createspace where there's not really space.
11:17
So she's really able to like create on her own, which is
11:21
like, I think a new a new corner for her career to have turned
11:25
and super exciting. And it kind of makes her, it
11:27
kind of puts her on the level of like anybody that Chelsea can
11:30
put out there in terms of creating danger.
11:33
I think we could live in a world and we might now, you know,
11:36
especially with curb post injury where, you know, we were talking
11:40
about a few weeks ago, Bunny Shaw's, you know, in our, in our
11:43
mind, the best #9 in the world. And I think Barbara Bend is on
11:46
the same tier as her. I don't think there's a huge
11:48
amount of difference between those two.
11:50
But then you think about Astaire and Alessia Russo.
11:57
Pyoria. And Pyor, thank you.
12:01
She's absolutely in that, in that second tier.
12:03
And then the world that we live in is maybe post injury, maybe
12:06
Sam Kerr's on that Tier 2 where, you know, before Sam Kerr was
12:09
like living in her own Galaxy there for a few years.
12:12
In terms of best #9 so yeah, I, I mean, we talked about it when,
12:19
when City played Tottenham last week, Bunny Shaw scored the
12:22
fastest hat trick in WSL history with a 21 minute hat trick.
12:27
Alessia Russo damn near had a 16 minute hat trick in this one.
12:31
And and like, as it was happening, I was like, oh, she's
12:33
going to take the record after one week.
12:36
But you know, it, I think it was saved.
12:38
I think it was, I think they keep got to admit to it.
12:42
But yeah, I mean, there was nothing about Arsenal's
12:47
performance and then Chelsea getting a a win in a in a seven
12:52
goal match. Nothing about that made me feel
12:55
any better than about Chelsea's defense.
12:58
Yeah, no, I, I I would agree with that And shout out to
13:02
YouTube comments are at Panda Panda Quote, Chelsea's defense
13:05
isn't crumbling because carpenters absent.
13:07
They've been defensively poor and cut open for a long time.
13:09
They constantly get run through centrally and are consistently
13:13
stress testing their back line and and Hampton and quote, I
13:17
think that's pretty, pretty succinct.
13:18
And on the money. I mean, I think they're they
13:21
they just always look really vulnerable and to be honest, I
13:26
think Arsenal defensively that they do give up two to
13:27
Tottenham. You know, it's one of those
13:32
things where there's so much familiarity that, you know, and
13:35
a lot of the Sheen has now worn off that I I really, you know,
13:40
if we if want to kind of Fast forward to predictions, I kind
13:43
of do see Chelsea struggling to score more than once, you know,
13:47
So I'm not sure if that's that could be a 11.
13:49
It could be, you know, maybe a, I don't think it's one nil, but
13:53
I, I would, I'll say I'm somewhere between one one and a
13:57
21 Arsenal victory. I think I'm, I think I'm right
14:00
there with you. Yeah, I, I could also see, I
14:04
mean, you know, you could even get a two 2 draw out of it or
14:08
they could lose 3 to 2. Like I, you know, I don't want
14:10
to play the game where I just name a million scores.
14:12
I think there's a, there's a range of outcomes.
14:15
But I you know, and I know it's bizarre to say I don't think
14:20
Chelsea is going to be able to keep up with Arsenal's attack
14:24
and it's from no lack of talent on Chelsea's attack.
14:27
I just think they're going to get exposed.
14:30
And and I'm glad you mentioned pen to pending because when I
14:32
when I saw that, I was like, OK, outstanding comment.
14:35
So many of our pals. So look how many of our Internet
14:39
friends just knowers of ball just so like incredible comments
14:44
and they're just great conversation going in there.
14:46
I just really appreciate you guys because I I just, they were
14:48
so it was such a high percentage of the comments.
14:50
I was like great point, like by so many people.
14:53
It's so funny to because like the the and I want to, I don't
14:57
know if solve is the right word for this, but it's like a
15:01
completely different crowd than the end of yourself crowd.
15:03
It's like, oh, all our old, all our old like Champions League
15:06
friends, you know, pop up. And that I haven't seen in a few
15:08
few weeks, 5-6 weeks. So that's always a lot of fun to
15:11
get to, to see some old new faces chiming in.
15:16
Do you have a prediction oh your interest somewhere in that same
15:20
neighborhood? I think somewhere, somewhere in
15:22
that neighborhood. But let me, I'll lock it in.
15:24
I'll go to 1 Arsenal, all right? Some synergy there.
15:28
I love that. There we go.
15:29
All right, let's go to head Thursday, April 2nd, Barcelona
15:35
with a six two advantage over Real Madrid.
15:38
Shout out to Gretchen Little who suggests that we start calling
15:42
this one La Classica. That was pretty nice.
15:45
Yeah, Gretchen doesn't miss. Thanks for supporting the show,
15:48
Gretchen. And yeah, I think that I think
15:50
that makes total sense. You know, we talked about
15:54
Manchester United having a rough go, having to play, you know, a
15:57
European power like Byron and then having to play a Derby
16:01
match against their biggest rival who's absolutely flying
16:03
right now and then go play Bayern again.
16:07
I think the only way that situation could be worse is what
16:11
if your Derby match is against the best team in the world and
16:17
you just have to play them three straight times?
16:21
That it it. That must be awful.
16:25
It really just must be awful because you know, in this one
16:30
they beat. They beat, I mean, they beat
16:32
Real Madrid in every kind of way and I'm going to go through a
16:35
few of the ways that they beat them.
16:38
So how, how about this, how about seven shots on target, six
16:43
goals? We'll start there.
16:46
That's pretty insane. 5 different players with a goal, 5
16:49
different players with an assist, and eight different
16:52
players total with a goal contribution.
16:57
We call them the Death Star. But in reality, no, no team is
17:01
going to beat this team. Like even this team at B Plus, I
17:05
hate to be the spoiler alert, you know, finals prediction be
17:09
damned. No team is beating Barcelona,
17:12
and I've been out here letting you know that, hey, they're
17:15
vulnerable. Oh, look out for this.
17:17
Look out for that. I think that's over.
17:19
This team is so freaking good, Bad.
17:22
They're so good. I mean, yeah, they're, they're
17:25
unbelievably loaded. They come out in the Champions
17:30
League and and, you know, they're just, they're just
17:32
immediately firing. I want to point something out
17:36
here. I I went back and looked at
17:38
this. So yeah, on March 23rd, 2025
17:44
match, week 23 at Liga F, Real Madrid got that three one
17:49
victory over Barcelona. They conceded the one goal to
17:53
Carolina, Graham Hanson in the 67th minute.
17:56
We've talked about having to try to chase Barcelona at any point
18:02
and it's never good, but these are the next five matches that
18:06
Real Madrid played against Barcelona.
18:07
So in match week 11 of the 2526 season, they they lose 4 nil.
18:12
They conceded to Pyor in the 15th minute.
18:15
In the Super Cup, they conceded to Bruks in the 28th minute,
18:19
lost two nil. In Copa de la Reyna, they
18:21
conceded to Alexia in the 21st minute.
18:24
They lost 5. Nothing.
18:25
And then just March 25th of this year in the Champions League,
18:29
they concede Depaio in the 6th minute, lose 6:00 to 2:00.
18:31
And then in this match over the weekend in Liga F, they concede
18:35
Debatier in the 18th minute and lose 3.
18:38
Now that's five matches in a row where you're playing against
18:40
Barcelona and you can see it in the first half hour, 4 out of
18:44
the five, you can see it in the first 21 minutes.
18:47
You, you just, you cannot beat Barcelona like that.
18:51
Yeah, I mean, you, you cannot. It's tough.
18:54
And it's impossible to come from behind on them.
18:56
And, you know, the the way that they can hurt you is, is just,
19:00
you know, devastating. I I got in my notes in the
19:02
second minute, you know, namely Feather, who's been good
19:05
throughout the tournament. There was a moment where she had
19:07
space and Esme Bruce just like completely vaporizes it in like
19:12
a second. I'm like, is that Darrell Reeves
19:13
out of here? What are we watching?
19:15
Yeah. And then and then that goal, the
19:17
first one, Alexia Topayor hoop Ayor at that point, he's got the
19:22
ball like 10 yards from goal. Like she can, she's well within
19:26
her right to kind of take a riff from there, be like, no, let me
19:28
recycle it. Start back around very Steph
19:29
Curry, like back to Alexia. Ask me, Brooks Battery puts that
19:33
beautiful ball over the top. Alexia Payor 1 nothing.
19:38
And then it's like, what do you do?
19:39
There's, there's literally no defense for that.
19:43
Yeah, and they're and they play so connected.
19:47
And so you go from that where it's just, it's got to be super
19:50
demoralizing. I do think it's worth pointing
19:51
out that Siri already had a couple great passes, had some
19:56
like really good moments in that Champions League match.
19:59
And so I'm going to try not to let these two, these two matches
20:03
totally blend together. But today's match, which I
20:08
enjoyed watching, I don't know if I'm screwing something up,
20:11
but on the zone. I can only watch League F
20:15
matches in Spanish now there I I don't I don't know if there's
20:18
just no English commentary on on his own now, but that's where
20:23
I'm living. So you know, if there's
20:25
something said on the broadcast, I didn't catch it.
20:30
Let's just let's just go go there.
20:33
But so they went again, three nil.
20:36
And like I mentioned, Bhatia gets the goal in the 18th
20:39
minute, but they're just able to do so many things.
20:42
And I'll tell you what's a recipe for disaster.
20:44
And then I'll and then I'll shut up.
20:46
Is there is just a play on Alexia's goal where CGH is just
20:52
running across the end line, like up the end line toward the
20:56
goal. And she just has several
20:58
teammates to decide who to pass to in the middle.
21:02
That's a big disadvantage for your, for your defense and your.
21:05
Yeah, you said CGH or Alexia. Yeah, it was CGH and she's like
21:10
running up the end line with the ball and then she picks out
21:12
Alexia. Oh, was that in the the
21:16
Champions League or that was this weekend?
21:18
That was today, yeah, Yeah. In the 50s, because in the 64th
21:22
I have in my notes for the Champs League match, there was a
21:24
moment where Vicki Lopez wins a ball in the midfield, Pyor then
21:28
to CGH and then it's the same thing, CGH running up the right
21:32
hand side and she's got four players to choose from, Pyor,
21:35
Vicki Lopez, Pina and Alexia. How about those four options?
21:38
You find Vicki Lopez who scores. I think that's that was either
21:41
the 3rd or the 4th. But I want to talk a little in
21:44
the Caseeta too, because talk about star making.
21:48
I mean, you know, you wish. It's so funny because like, you
21:53
know, Caseeta was playing a little bit on an island or maybe
21:57
a lot on an island, you know, and then you look at United.
21:59
It's like you imagine if like you got to mess those two.
22:02
Like, you know, the United got that well-rounded missing that
22:04
that kind of tip of the spear and Caseeta was a tip of the
22:07
spear. Oh my God, like no no, no other
22:10
player that can really do do that.
22:12
Exactly. I think that's, yeah, that's
22:16
fair. I mean, she's certainly in that
22:17
class. I mean, do you know, she gets
22:19
the first goal, you know, just outruns the defender, and then
22:24
the second goal, she scores, you know, she gets it in on her
22:26
right hand, on her right foot and just hits the absolute
22:29
laser. She's yeah, she's a she's
22:32
already a minted superstar. And there are good players
22:37
around here. It's just you are unfortunately
22:40
like you're running up against the Bill Russell Celtics in in
22:43
this case, where it's just like you just don't have enough
22:46
players. And it it would be kind of
22:48
unrealistic for anybody to expect you to have those
22:51
players. But they are building the
22:53
program. And so it's like, I know it
22:54
sucks to get like, I'm to have a bunch of demoralizing losses,
22:59
but you can't go from where you were to Barcelona's level in
23:03
three seasons. You can't get there in Four
23:05
Seasons. Like it's just going to take a
23:07
long time. Yeah, and, and Barcelona is just
23:10
so ruthless. I mean, yeah, I told you they
23:12
won every single kind of way after that Kaiseto goal at the
23:16
in the 30th minute, 132 seconds later.
23:20
But but before Claudia Pina puts that ball on Peretta's forehead
23:24
and then it's just like, damn for the go from 2:00 to 1:00 to
23:27
3:00 to 1:00 after that ecstatic moment from Chiseta was just so
23:30
devastating. And then can they kind of do it
23:33
again? Like Chiseta another we talked
23:35
about that brilliant goal in the 66th to make it 5 two and like
23:40
Barcelona just won't let you get the last Like they're just like
23:43
now CGH draws a penalty the 89. But now we'll, we'll, we want to
23:47
like leave with a, we got to leave on a high 62, you know,
23:51
penalty just to just for a good measure and that, I don't know,
23:56
real Death Star vibes. Yeah, I mean, they they look
23:59
like they're going to win it. They look like they should win
24:02
it. I think the, you know, one of
24:05
the few teams in the world that could knock them off right now
24:11
as we stand today on form is probably Manchester City
24:14
Football Club. But here's like, here's the
24:16
tricky part though. Turns out it's impossible to win
24:20
the UEFA Women's Champions League if you don't qualify for
24:23
the UEFA Women's Champions League.
24:25
So City's going to take take care of that.
24:27
So I won't, I won't belabor that much.
24:29
And I'm not saying like it's a guarantee City would beat them.
24:31
But I think if they played 10 * 5 at home, 5 away, you know, you
24:36
could be looking at the three draw, three wins, 4 draws, 3
24:40
losses for either side or, you know, some, some combination of
24:43
that. Yeah, maybe you like I don't
24:47
know, can we put together like a FIFA UEFA super Copa cope.
24:50
We're just we're just make it so that these two can play at some
24:54
point maybe mid June. I'm just for wrap it rack up
24:57
some pay-per-view numbers. I think I'd.
25:00
Like to see it? We've got one more match to hit.
25:04
Leon at noon. Pacific will be hosting Wilsberg
25:08
with the with some ground to make up.
25:12
Yeah, I mean, you know, Wolfsburg head on aggregate one
25:16
nil right now heading to France, eventful league matches for both
25:25
of these teams coming off the weekend.
25:28
And now, like, you know, we've talked about it, you get bad
25:32
Wolfsburg, then you get good Wolfsburg, then you get bad
25:35
Wolfsburg. Has Wolfsburg figured out the
25:37
trick of have the two kind of meh league matches and then try
25:43
to save the good matches for the Champions League?
25:46
I guess we're going to find out on Thursday.
25:48
It's interesting because, you know, they have to have smelled
25:52
a little bit of blood in the water, you know, and then you
25:55
look at that Leon result, it's like this is the this is the
25:58
year to catch Leon in the quarterfinals for sure.
26:01
And they're sort of halfway home.
26:03
They're up, you know, Leon just having trouble turning shots on
26:09
target into goals for some reason.
26:11
You know, like these are great players, but that's a weird one
26:13
I can't really wrap my head around.
26:15
I think that the chances are OK, the penetration is good.
26:20
I mean, I think actually against Wolfsburg, they they they
26:23
struggled a little bit. They spent a lot of time in
26:24
Wolfsburg's half, weren't super successful getting all the way
26:28
to the final third, but they did rack up shots on target but
26:32
couldn't couldn't really breakthrough.
26:35
I mean, it just feels like they're a half second off, a
26:40
second off a couple steps off, like a, you know, if you would
26:44
have led me with that pass instead of me needed to kind of
26:46
like turn and and and and pivot, like it could maybe could have
26:50
been a more dangerous action. It just feels like they're just
26:52
not quite as connected yet. Probably.
26:56
I mean certainly not from everything we've heard about
26:59
Gerald as him being a perfectionist in a serial
27:01
winner. Definitely not to his standard,
27:04
not to the standard of a lot of the great players who are on the
27:07
squad. But then they also have these
27:08
young players who are kind of developing, who are kind of
27:11
coming in into things. They're Tarsiana, Johannes
27:15
Schrader, LeBron is still getting acclimated.
27:18
Obviously, like you have they they all kind of got to get used
27:22
to each other and now they're looking at each other, you know,
27:26
down one in the Champions League quarter finals saying OK, that
27:30
it has to it has to click in now.
27:32
I think it still has a good chance to do that, though.
27:34
It's. Going to be interesting to see
27:37
what kind of line up they go to because we talked about that
27:40
like, you know, it wasn't really like the A1 lineup, but like the
27:44
experience lineup. You know, like the big name
27:46
experience lineup. They went against Willisburg and
27:48
then a completely cycled out lineup against Strasbourg.
27:53
And I got to imagine that the answer is probably somewhere in
27:57
the middle. You know, it looked like, you
27:59
know, Swava had a good game today.
28:01
We talked about Betcho Lily, obviously we talked about you,
28:04
LeBron, you mentioned last week. So it's like where is the
28:09
solution? Because I don't know that we
28:11
want to do this if you're human and and Leon, you want to do the
28:14
same thing that that kind of just didn't didn't bear a ton of
28:17
results. I want to kind of just shout out
28:20
friend of the show, maybe friend of me, the show at Flongus
28:23
Lammer, and I don't know if I'm pronounced that right, but he
28:26
had a funny, funny mentioned where he said tough look for the
28:31
year. Heaps as so proclaimed on this
28:33
channel. LMFAO quote.
28:37
It wasn't he what he cited. He cited A stat where she gave
28:40
the ball like away like 11 times or like a shocking amount of
28:44
times. Obviously she had a bad.
28:45
Giveaway 13 times in 59 minutes. There you go.
28:48
And including the bad giveaway, which we spent time talking
28:52
about because it was a bad giveaway that led to the only,
28:54
you know, to the deciding goal in the match.
28:56
But yeah, tough match for her. Didn't crack the starting line
29:00
up in this one against Strasbourg came in in the 67th,
29:05
you know, right, right when they or you know 13 minutes before
29:11
they ended up getting getting the equalizer.
29:13
But I think the bottom line there is they needed to equalize
29:17
versus Strasbourg in the 81st minute.
29:19
And you know it was a it was a great attempt by Johannes I mean
29:23
to put like to get some real power on it takes a deflection
29:27
off the defender gets past the keyboard.
29:29
It looks like it was going to be on target anyway.
29:31
But you know, a weird match like I just think in this part of the
29:35
calendar like shit just gets weird man.
29:39
Like the the players are tired. But this weird this.
29:43
This is weird. This is.
29:44
Weird. Yeah.
29:45
Yeah. I don't know the Yeah.
29:46
I don't know if I don't want to blame the calendar for all this,
29:48
you know, especially because it hasn't really.
29:51
I mean, how long ago does that three one win at Arsenal look
29:54
for Leon? It feels like 2 years ago.
29:58
We had some of this in the last year, you know, when it was the
30:00
last season of, of group stage play and what they were like 18
30:05
goals for and none against or one against or something like
30:08
that in the group stage. And then we, you get to the
30:12
knockout round and, you know, we, we saw some struggles there.
30:17
Yeah, I, I just think it's, I think it's, it's fair to wonder
30:22
how far they can make it. But I also thinking they they
30:28
got the ingredients, you just got to shake it the right way.
30:34
So should we make some predictions?
30:39
Oh yeah, absolutely. What are we?
30:42
What are we thinking? I'm going to say it's a 2 nil
30:44
victory for Leon and they advance.
30:47
Two nil. I'm going to go one nil to
30:51
Wolfsburg. The shocker.
30:53
There it is. Well, you know, can't you know,
30:56
I'm a very anti chalk kind of fella, you know, and I think
31:00
when they kind of put my finger to the air kind of where's that
31:04
wind blowing exactly? I think things that Leonor, I
31:10
don't know, I think a little tenuous, tenuous.
31:12
It seems like they just can't haven't haven't really been able
31:16
to put it together in this tournament in a good while.
31:19
You know, we can look back at that 33D Juventus.
31:22
There's been a lot of stops along the way where you're like
31:25
interesting, like and and what they start to rack up, you know,
31:29
like you got to take it at face value at some point, see these
31:33
results mean something. So for me, I think could be the
31:37
end of the line for for Leone. I can see a very heroic goal.
31:40
I love Berenstain goal just to kind of add that one to the
31:44
resume and get that, get that at that celebration moment.
31:48
But yeah, give me Wolfsburg one nil pulling the upset advancing
31:53
pass Neon. It's outstanding.
31:56
It's a great pick by you. I expect nothing less.
31:58
I mean, and I I think we like glossed over it a little bit or
32:01
I think we just only lightly referenced it.
32:03
Wolfsburg 3 three versus Union Berlin this weekend and we're
32:08
down 31 to Union Berlin and needed to come, you know,
32:11
screaming back to, you know, to to get the draw there.
32:16
So it's just like that's kind of what you know, part of my like,
32:21
it's just weird right now, you know, and you know, Wolfsburg
32:25
gets the the equalizer at like 90 + 5.
32:30
Coover had an own goal to put Wolfsburg down to two one but
32:35
then cut the lead to 3/2 when she got her redemption off a
32:39
corner kick. So it was just like, as I was
32:42
watching these teams play, I know it's not everything, but I
32:45
was like tired out here boss. Like a lot of these players,
32:48
man. Like they're playing a lot of
32:50
football and a lot of intense football.
32:54
And do I have this right? Steenie Johannes red card 80 at
32:57
87 And I think you you need to Ming that to take her place.
33:02
That is so fucking cool. Did you?
33:04
So yeah, she gets a goal. Minga's goal to to draw things
33:08
level because Berlin scored, scored first.
33:11
Minga's goal is an absolute screamer off a volley and then
33:16
has to go into goal. Johannes earned that red card.
33:21
She goes up like, you know, well outside of the outside of the
33:26
box, goes up to to get a touch and just mashes into mashed into
33:35
the attacking player. So she earned it.
33:38
But you know, you mentioned the great Ed Reed saying I'm her
33:41
dog. That was it was an Ed Reed like
33:43
hit that Johannes delivered. Oh my goodness, Brett's hope.
33:49
You know what? Let me change my pick.
33:52
Oh wow. I'm not going to change the
33:55
pick, I'm going to change the. Goal scorer.
33:56
OK, give me. Give me a Nina Minga to score a
33:58
goal. I know it's weird.
33:59
It's not really a player that is doing it like that.
34:01
But you know, I think she is their penalty taker.
34:03
So maybe, maybe it happens that way.
34:05
But a big time player, like I always want that player in.
34:09
And I'm starting to really, really appreciate that backline
34:12
be Alda, Dykstra, Minga, and I'm forgetting who forget on the
34:19
other side. Who's?
34:21
Venue, who else? Venue, I think plays a little a
34:23
little higher. I think they kind of move, oh,
34:25
Camila Cooper, obviously, who is like.
34:28
I think. Secretly one of the the bigger
34:30
signings for them that kind of changed their trajectory, kind
34:34
of made their I don't she's such a like for like physical
34:38
presence back there. Loves to mix it up that she kind
34:41
of spaced out everybody else. You know, like sometimes you
34:44
ever feel like we're a back line or or center back paying
34:47
specifically is smaller on the smaller size, like I think and
34:50
kind of get bullied, but you have to coover there.
34:53
It's like you you kind of move everybody out out one level and
34:56
all of a sudden they're they look they just look very
34:59
formidable and they play formidable.
35:01
So I think everything is kind of on the heels of that back line
35:04
and firming things up back there for for Wolfsburg.
35:09
Yeah, you're totally right. And you're right about who's
35:11
playing a little more forward. She has the, you know, she has
35:14
the ability to get back there, which I think Wolfsburg does a
35:17
good job and particularly did a good job against Leon of OK,
35:21
sometimes. Well, we know we have to pack it
35:23
in and then work our way toward breaking forward.
35:26
They have they have the ability to do that too.
35:28
So you know, who's who's going to break the cycle here of your
35:33
good match, man match, good match, man match.
35:37
You know, we'll, we'll, we'll see how the pattern holds for
35:40
either side. Yeah, can't wait, cannot wait.
35:43
All right man, 4 big matches this weekend.
35:45
We'll know who are semi finalists are, you know, so
35:48
we'll be able to start doing some prep, doing some homework
35:50
along those fronts. We could be heading toward
35:52
another Arsenal Barcelona final. That would be pretty exciting
35:56
for your boy at least. Anything else you want to hit
35:59
before we get out here? I think we should.
36:01
Now, I realize it's going to feel, I mean, the football's
36:04
going to be on, so it's going to feel like a weekend.
36:06
But these matches are Wednesday, Thursday.
36:10
So that's going to be pretty exciting.
36:11
Middle of the week. We'll have to figure out no
36:13
spoilers. We'll have to figure out the the
36:15
way the calendar's going to look recording wise, looking forward
36:20
to doing all that. But in terms of anything else
36:22
that I need to hit the top Syrian update for anybody who's
36:27
interested. Braun top of the table sitting
36:31
on 4 points had a one one drivers Rosenborg on on
36:34
Saturday, but are still top of the table on the strength of
36:39
their match. Week 15 nil victory over Molda.
36:43
So you know the battalion, the battalion is out in force, the
36:47
fire is looking to get it done and take another look at this
36:50
next Champions League. I love it I love I love the the
36:54
brown update a little update from my neck of the woods.
36:58
How about 6th place Bay FC with a game in hand?
37:01
I. Love that.
37:04
Six points off 3 matches, they get a big 331 win on the road
37:09
over the North Carolina Courage. I got a chance to get a couple
37:12
questions into head coach Emma Coats.
37:15
Who, you know, kind of was ready to, you know, because like I, I
37:19
asked her some, Hey, what happened to the game plan when
37:21
they lost last week? So when I was like, Hey, you
37:24
know, I, I, I'm, I, I'm an equal time kind of guy.
37:27
So I'm like, hey, what, what went right with the game plan
37:29
this week? She was kind of like she was
37:30
ready for that one. And then you got a chance to
37:33
talk to Alex Pfeiffer, the, the up and coming absolute
37:37
superstar. And then for our Champs League
37:39
friends, because Christiana dearly for the first time got a
37:42
chance to get a question into the legend and just asked her a
37:45
little bit about, you know, how we know how she sees her role on
37:49
this team. So if you want to learn more
37:51
about that, then go scoot over to her.
37:53
Our sister channel Way Into Bay, where we're breaking down
37:56
everything happening with BFC this season.
37:59
Highly recommend. Dino's doing great work way into
38:02
Bay covering the team specifically.
38:05
You know they have an international flair to them with
38:08
Rachel Kununaji with Christina Jarelli.
38:12
So yeah, must watch. I'm a subscriber.
38:15
I feel like you if you're watching this, you should trust
38:18
my judgement at least a little bit.
38:21
Let's go. I appreciate it, bro.
38:23
All right, quick football calendar, you mentioned it,
38:25
Champs League this week and the Bissell also in action this
38:28
week. And then we've got some big, big
38:30
US women's national team dates, first Japan strewn throughout
38:34
April. So make sure you subscribe,
38:36
follow your boys on all the socials, All right, man, I think
38:39
we did it. Is there anything else else you
38:41
want to before you get out of here?
38:42
That's it buddy, a great weekend following up the Champions
38:47
League. I'm glad you're on the mend.
38:48
I'm glad you're feeling better. You know, I'm I'm ready to to
38:53
keep this journey going, but also being mindful of your
38:56
health. Make sure you're taking care of
38:57
yourself. I appreciate that, bro.
38:59
You know, I'm just doing a little load management, so I
39:01
appreciate you working with me on the schedule.
39:03
I tell you we're going to sort it out and this is a big week.
39:06
And you know, your boys kind of got to stay sharp.
39:09
This has been in their presentation channel.
39:11
Thank you, thank you, Thank you for watching, listening, hanging
39:12
out. If you enjoyed the show, leave
39:14
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Also be sure to like, follow, subscribe, comment, tell a
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39:27
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maybe one level below maybe 2, you know, if you're so inclined,
39:33
Patreon in the comments, sessions, the channel, great way
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to support the show. Into the channel.
39:37
Merch like your boys wearing right now.
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Equally great way to support the show.
39:41
Links to all of the above. Much, much more in the
39:44
description of this episode. And a big thing in my class as
39:46
well, Mr. Grant Angle 4. I don't know, apparently, you
39:50
know, having, you know, his sciatica and hip muscles in
39:53
order leg muscle. He's got a good stretch routine.
39:56
You know, he keeps himself ready.
39:57
And for that I'm appreciative, bro.
39:59
Likewise buddy you know I had driving the truck.
40:03
For those few years that I did before I, I moved into organized
40:06
labor, the tricky on the back, you know, hauling construction
40:09
equipment, you know, in and out of the truck, you know, doing
40:12
that kind of stuff sitting for long hours of time.
40:15
So I'm, no, I'm no stranger to the back issue and how it can
40:18
kind of like move its way around.
40:20
So, you know, never, never be shy.
40:24
If you need some time for a show, I'll be ready.
40:27
I know all our pals will got your back as well.
40:30
No pun intended. And we thank all of you for
40:33
having our backs, for checking out the show and again, just
40:35
dropping crazy knowledge in the comments like every like you
40:38
guys are making amazing points. Thank you for your eyes.
40:41
Thank you for your football smarts.
40:42
We always appreciate it and we will see you all next time.
40:46
Shout out my love too. Always.