Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / The 26 U26 Footballers To Watch In '26 ⚽️

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The 26 U26 Footballers To Watch In '26 ⚽️ · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

• 0:03
  Oh hey, welcome to a 2026 edition of Into the Channel
• 0:10
  podcast primarily about one supply.
• 0:12
  I'm your host, Dino de Suspitas. And as always, I'm joined by my
• 0:16
  Co host Mr. Grant Angle. What is up man?
• 0:20
  I'm feeling fantastic, buddy. I, I, you know, I'm ready to
• 0:23
  take on the new year, Fight the new year with both fists ready
• 0:28
  to attack this year. And, you know, everything's
• 0:31
  going great so far. So, you know, we'll, we'll see
• 0:34
  what what fresh news awaits us in the morning.
• 0:37
  Let's go, let's take this new year and punch it in the face
• 0:40
  and, you know, do what we can't take these hills.
• 0:42
  Punch those hills too. I, I still love your fight on
• 0:46
  hills, not Diane hills, the quote.
• 0:47
  I just, I, I just want to live as many of my days as I can by
• 0:51
  that quote. I sent out the bat signal this
• 0:57
  weekend, said, hey, 2026, here we are.
• 1:01
  You know, I love a draft, you know, I love naming some dudes
• 1:04
  or dudettes. And it just so happened that I
• 1:09
  had I had an idea, I had something I want to run by you.
• 1:13
  Thankfully, I shot it your way, your game.
• 1:15
  But I want to I want to let our community in on what kind of
• 1:19
  show we want to have today. So obviously kicking off 2026,
• 1:22
  let's look at the 26 players that we want to keep a close eye
• 1:27
  on 2026 that are under the age of 26.
• 1:32
  It's an outstanding premise. 26 is an interesting age in the
• 1:35
  professional sports world, in the footballing world.
• 1:39
  Think about like kind of entering your prime, but you all
• 1:42
  if you're going to be a superstar player, you should
• 1:44
  already be very, very good. Like around that kind of 2425
• 1:48
  ish. You probably have several years
• 1:50
  of experience. That was great premise by you.
• 1:53
  And now we're talking about under 26, right?
• 1:56
  So like if you are 26 years old, you're out.
• 1:59
  Can't, can't be in this in this draft.
• 2:02
  You're out if you were born in 19, something like some old
• 2:06
  geezer, yeah, you know. There you go, the 1900s.
• 2:11
  Yeah, in the 19, if you're born in the last century, you've got
• 2:14
  no, no room. Come, come check us out next
• 2:17
  episode. No, I'm just kidding.
• 2:19
  Players wise, though, you got to be born in the year 2000 or
• 2:21
  beyond. And we're just going to I I know
• 2:24
  I said 26, we're probably going to talk about like 86 or 96
• 2:27
  players, but we're going to have an official 26.
• 2:30
  We'll go Bobbsey, you know, alternating order, snake order.
• 2:33
  I want to kick it to you first, Mr. Grinning.
• 2:37
  Lot of names to cover. Lot of football coming up this
• 2:40
  year. Lot of football to get excited
• 2:41
  about. Where do you want to get
• 2:43
  started? Well, let's get started with a
• 2:45
  beverage because what goes with football better than the
• 2:48
  beverage? Now obviously this is not on
• 2:50
  draft. We haven't we haven't reached
• 2:53
  that point of the set up yet. I probably never will.
• 2:58
  I don't really have any interest in maintaining something like
• 3:00
  that. But either way, look at that.
• 3:03
  That looks fantastic by you. I love this new move out of you.
• 3:07
  You know, I don't, I don't partake other than when I'm
• 3:10
  doing the show. So there's no other time to
• 3:12
  really kind of put a dent in this bad boy.
• 3:14
  And unless we're potting so, you know, I would say for the next
• 3:19
  say, maybe 3-4 episodes, you know, I might be pouring myself
• 3:22
  a little whiskey on the rocks, little single mauled action.
• 3:26
  It's outstanding. It's good work out of you.
• 3:28
  I appreciate. Cheers to you, cheers to the
• 3:31
  football. I appreciate you giving me the
• 3:33
  first pick. I think there are a lot of times
• 3:35
  where I'm like, no, never mind, you kick it to me, you go ahead,
• 3:38
  you take the first pick. I think I will.
• 3:40
  I think I will take the first pick.
• 3:42
  You didn't do that this time, you said hey.
• 3:45
  And then you know what? Thanks buddy, I appreciate it.
• 3:48
  I mean you, you throw the alley, I'll take care of the OOP on
• 3:50
  this case. So.
• 3:52
  Just call me D Wade. There it is, number my number
• 3:56
  one pick, 22 years old, plays for Leon Melchi du Mornay.
• 4:02
  Oh man, damn, I'm. Right at the gate.
• 4:07
  This is. This is why I wanted to make the
• 4:09
  pick, you know, probably Leon's best player on form.
• 4:13
  I mean, if we really think about it, for for quite a while now,
• 4:17
  she made an appearance on the only best 11 on the Internet
• 4:20
  that actually means anything, AKA the ITC best 1115 goals, 6
• 4:25
  assists in the Premier League last year, just four goals in
• 4:28
  the UEFA Women's Champions League so far this year.
• 4:30
  I think the only question I have for her in 2026 is how high can
• 4:34
  she really climb in everyone's world's best player rankings?
• 4:38
  And I think it's going to be pretty high.
• 4:41
  I think so. And you know, shout out to
• 4:43
  Sandra Herrera who posted I think on Blue Sky about Melchi
• 4:48
  du Mornay being in the driver's seat for the ball and door and
• 4:52
  got a lot of cosigns from pretty much all, all, all of the, the
• 4:56
  wolf. So who's who's kind of lining up
• 4:59
  behind that take. And I, I was right there with
• 5:02
  everybody else. I think it's a great take.
• 5:03
  A little jealous of it. I think du Mornay is is
• 5:07
  definitely on that track a little bit, maybe ahead of
• 5:10
  schedule, 22 years old, kind of scary to think about.
• 5:12
  She's also second in the Premier League in assists with four so
• 5:16
  far the season. First in the Premier League shot
• 5:19
  creating actions per 90, which is probably my absolute favorite
• 5:21
  stat if you're creating shots, especially on the own for, you
• 5:25
  know, those types of attacking players.
• 5:27
  I mean, like at that level, leading the league that much,
• 5:31
  you know, creation. That's exactly my kind of
• 5:33
  player. And she's just so, I mean, just
• 5:36
  this dynamite like when she has a look and takes a look, it's
• 5:40
  probably one of the most exciting moments that you you'll
• 5:43
  you'll get in Woso. I think it's absolutely true.
• 5:46
  Yeah, Yeah, you're right. Credit to the great Sandy
• 5:48
  Herrera and everybody else who saw our best 11 and then decided
• 5:52
  to cosign that take. Let's go.
• 5:57
  They weren't. They weren't all cosigns.
• 5:59
  I'm going to pick a player with with the second pick here that I
• 6:03
  was surprised to learn is under 26 years old.
• 6:08
  And that is Barbara fucking Banda injured in 2025.
• 6:15
  You know, obviously the, the The Shield and the NW Cell
• 6:19
  Championship wrestled away from my Orlando Pride, our Orlando
• 6:22
  Pride and there's not many players, let's call it 6-7,
• 6:28
  maybe 8 players that you could say on their best day are the
• 6:34
  the best player on the planet. And I think that is been the
• 6:37
  ceiling. Like I think when she's informed
• 6:39
  healthy cooking, the strength and conditioning is there.
• 6:43
  She is just flat out in that this the best player in the
• 6:47
  planet conversation. She's just, she is there.
• 6:50
  And I think Orlando, even without Benda, a very prideful,
• 6:56
  no pun intended showing in the in the in the playoffs, kind of
• 6:59
  like even pushing the eventual champion Gotham, you know, kind
• 7:02
  of to the brink a little bit. So I'm just going to be
• 7:04
  interested to see how Benda comes back, how Orlando comes
• 7:06
  back. And again, still just 25 years
• 7:09
  old. You talked about it, but these
• 7:11
  players are are at latest in their prime, but most of them in
• 7:14
  in their pre prime. And Bend I think for some reason
• 7:16
  still feels like has a little bit more room to grow.
• 7:20
  I think that's probably fair. She's #4 on my big board.
• 7:23
  Great pick by you. Like you mentioned, she's going
• 7:26
  to be returning off injury this year.
• 7:28
  So now we get to see like we saw how the team took off when she
• 7:33
  when she joined the club on the way to Orlando.
• 7:36
  Prides double in 2024. What's it going to look like now
• 7:40
  that she's back? Obviously the greatest of all
• 7:43
  time. Marta is one year older.
• 7:45
  She's in her if, if Barbara Benda is in her pre prime, Marta
• 7:50
  is in her second prime, her third prime, her post prime, but
• 7:54
  that's still pretty much her prime.
• 7:56
  Something like that. And then you're going to see how
• 7:58
  Benda, Marta and Lizbeth Ovaye, you know, look on a team
• 8:03
  together when they're all healthy and ready to go.
• 8:06
  I think it's exciting stuff. Can't wait.
• 8:08
  OK, third pick in the draft. You're up.
• 8:13
  I'm up. Yeah, I'm going to do it.
• 8:15
  Senior gal upset 20 year old Norwegian.
• 8:19
  Now look, look, Phil, I talked about it when we did our our
• 8:25
  best 11 made sure she got the honorable mention.
• 8:28
  Fifteen goals, 14 assists for the mighty SK Bron out of
• 8:31
  Bergen, Norway on the way to winning top Serian.
• 8:34
  But now she's going to Tottenham Hotspur and you know, I think
• 8:38
  it's just going to be must see in the WSL.
• 8:40
  How's her physicality and her smarts going to look?
• 8:44
  I think you know it. It's one of the things I'm I'm
• 8:47
  not usually one to tune into any Tottenham Hotspur matches, but
• 8:51
  I'll be locked in now. I can't play be there.
• 8:57
  I I'm not sure you can reach for galps at three, maybe maybe a
• 9:00
  little higher than I had her on my board.
• 9:03
  But you know when when you got to get the player, you got to
• 9:06
  get the player. So shout out to you do more day
• 9:08
  Galps at off to I mean crazy fast start a lot of muscle on
• 9:14
  that side. So shout out to you.
• 9:15
  So I I like the move. I seen your I see you're seeing
• 9:19
  you gal upset. And with the 4th pick in the
• 9:22
  draft, I raise you a Lillian Isabella, Johannes Strobe, Leon
• 9:30
  and our United States. I can't even say that this is
• 9:34
  the other that other United States of America, you know, but
• 9:38
  shout out to Lily Johannes. I think what makes me excited
• 9:41
  about Lily's 2026, obviously we see, you know, we, we tracked
• 9:45
  her career from early IX, you know, and you know, you see
• 9:49
  flashes, you see the moment you see the passes, you see the
• 9:51
  creator, you're like, OK, there's something here.
• 9:55
  And now we got some matches under Lily's belt with Lyon and
• 10:00
  I think the early results are exciting.
• 10:02
  She's also alongside du Mornay, 4 assists in the, in the Premier
• 10:05
  League, just at the almost at the very top of that league in
• 10:09
  terms of assists. And then you and then I think
• 10:12
  2025 was a, was a big year U.S. National team for Lily as well.
• 10:17
  Now it's sort of like how much of the potential are we going to
• 10:21
  see cashed in in 2026? You know, I think we've already
• 10:25
  seen so much of it, but you like, there's just so much more.
• 10:29
  You know, you can see the growth there just because you just see,
• 10:32
  you continue to see more flashes.
• 10:34
  Like you'll see a flash and then over the next 12 months you'll
• 10:36
  see almost like the space get filled in and that just become a
• 10:40
  part of her game. And then you'll see new flashes.
• 10:42
  So it's sort of like if Johannes is sort of trending in that
• 10:46
  direction, where also could be knocking on the door of the
• 10:49
  very, very upper upper echelon of of the sport.
• 10:53
  This is going to be a very interesting season, important
• 10:56
  season with a lot of opportunities forthcoming, you
• 11:00
  know, for Lyon in the league but also within the Champions
• 11:04
  League, you know, under extremely bright lights.
• 11:07
  Exactly, it's a great point by you.
• 11:08
  You mentioned the four assists in the Premier League, added
• 11:11
  another two goals in the Premier League in 617 minutes played.
• 11:16
  She's a superstar, young talent playing on a super team,
• 11:20
  developing within that construct and that context under a super
• 11:25
  manager in Jonathan Heraldez. So it's, you know, it's an A
• 11:29
  triple plus pick by you. Great value there.
• 11:33
  All right, draft starts at 5:00. I'm going to take there's.
• 11:43
  So many good players here, but. That's the, that's The thing is
• 11:46
  that I'm looking at the big board and I always say, hey,
• 11:49
  respect the big board and actually, you know, gob set the
• 11:54
  Lynx was #3 on my big board. But I just had thought I was
• 11:58
  like, well, if I took Du Mornay, is he going to spite me and take
• 12:01
  upset? So I needed to I needed to jump
• 12:03
  there. So I'll just, I'll just do the
• 12:05
  thing #2 on my big board. 24 year old Barcelona player
• 12:09
  Claudia Pina. Two on my big board too.
• 12:13
  Nice pick. Does she have another superhuman
• 12:17
  UEFA Women's Champions League run coming up?
• 12:20
  Does Barcelona need her to have that?
• 12:24
  Do they need it? I don't know.
• 12:25
  They got a lot of talent all over the field.
• 12:27
  But we've we've talked about it. You know, if they're going to
• 12:31
  get their mitts back on that Champions League trophy, I think
• 12:36
  she's going to have to come up big for him.
• 12:38
  I think you're right about that and she's certainly trending
• 12:42
  that way. I mean, you know, we we
• 12:45
  mentioned Sandra Herrera's pick for Bondora, Melche du Mornay
• 12:49
  got him. Also mentioned her guy,
• 12:50
  Melissa's pick for Bondora, Claudia Pina.
• 12:53
  I'm jealous of both of those. I'm like, I feel it's going to
• 12:55
  be one of those two players. Pina, her Champions League, her
• 13:01
  impact for Spain last year and especially in big moments was
• 13:08
  really something to behold. It wasn't just placement, you
• 13:14
  know, being able to quiet the pressure, like some of those
• 13:17
  finishes were violent also just kind of sent a shiver through
• 13:22
  the opponent. We're just like, oh, man, I
• 13:24
  thought we were in this and we're not in this.
• 13:27
  So she had she just has a way of just, you know, just forcefully
• 13:32
  taking you out of the match. You know it not just with you
• 13:35
  know the impact of it, but just I don't know, the style points
• 13:38
  and the just the real Thunder to her game.
• 13:40
  I love that pick. I had her two on my board, you
• 13:44
  know, and the big board went awry.
• 13:47
  Did did me a little wrong, But shout out to you, my great pick.
• 13:50
  I love. I love peanut 5 appreciate that.
• 13:54
  OK, now things were making things get a little tricky here.
• 14:00
  I'm going to go a little spicy just because this player has, I
• 14:08
  mean, really made me kind of like a reset where I think her
• 14:13
  ceiling is. And you know, just we we've got
• 14:17
  we've gotten lucky to see this player cloud Bull, you know,
• 14:21
  against some really fun competition.
• 14:24
  Barcelona, you know, some of the top, you know, Champions League,
• 14:28
  you know, competition and just seeing Bull step up has been
• 14:34
  awesome. And I think her what she's able
• 14:36
  to do from a distribution standpoint, really to be able to
• 14:40
  almost pick out anybody from that left hand side from from as
• 14:44
  deep as you want. You know, it really kind of
• 14:46
  doesn't matter. A little sliver of daylight and
• 14:48
  she's putting a ball in like her numbers and Fran Bundesliga,
• 14:53
  she's got 13 assists in the league.
• 14:56
  Second is Georgia Stanley with seven.
• 14:59
  I mean, you know, and I think like I was looking at some
• 15:01
  stats, the shock rating, I don't have it with up up here, but the
• 15:05
  shock rating per 90 in front Bundesliga, the top five was
• 15:11
  like 5 point O 5.15.45.69.5. There we go.
• 15:18
  She's just ahead of like the entire league and she's just
• 15:22
  unstoppable. She's big, she's fast, she's got
• 15:25
  great ball skills. And I told you her distribution
• 15:27
  is like on a wherever you want it, she's putting it there.
• 15:31
  And she has a knack for like big moments in big games.
• 15:35
  And that is kind of like something that Byron, they just
• 15:38
  didn't have that player that would step up in a big moment
• 15:42
  where, you know, where it would get a little dicey.
• 15:43
  And it's like, OK, it's getting late.
• 15:45
  And I think Bull is now become that player.
• 15:49
  And it's sort of like everybody on that team knows she's that
• 15:51
  player. Everybody opposing team knows
• 15:53
  she's that player. And that could line her up for a
• 15:55
  huge 2026. I love it.
• 15:58
  It's fantastic pick by you. You mentioned 13 assists in
• 16:01
  frown Bundesliga and still six goals in Frown Bundesliga.
• 16:05
  Nothing to sneeze at there. She has another six assists in
• 16:08
  the Champions League with another goal.
• 16:10
  Yeah, you're spot on with all of it.
• 16:12
  I won't, I won't belabor it. She's an assist machine the way
• 16:16
  you know she can get down the wing, play the ball into the
• 16:19
  middle. Absolutely fantastic player at
• 16:21
  25 in that pre prime area. 2026 could be a gigantic year for.
• 16:28
  All right, you're up 7 seven pick.
• 16:32
  All right, let's see here. Yeah, I might as well do it.
• 16:38
  I will take 23 year old American Washington Spirit forward winger
• 16:46
  Trinity Rodman. Where's she going to play?
• 16:49
  Is she going to be healthy? Will she remain healthy?
• 16:53
  Does she have something to prove?
• 16:55
  If we're talking about must watch under 26 in 26, I got to
• 17:01
  think that she's pretty high up there.
• 17:04
  Yeah, and I think it's it's, I mean, she's obviously one of the
• 17:07
  best players, but it's also like all an important year like you
• 17:13
  mentioned. I mean, the contract thing is is
• 17:15
  looming, but then it's on the pitch, you know, where is she
• 17:19
  going to play? Like you know that?
• 17:22
  And obviously her place is, I think, pretty safe on that
• 17:25
  Spirit side. But the Spirit do have a lot of
• 17:28
  attacking, you know, just personnel and talent and, you
• 17:32
  know, just questions to answer. And, you know, I was talking to
• 17:35
  you about this after the final. It did kind of feel with how
• 17:39
  Trinity kind of was feeling, you know, like just that level of
• 17:42
  devastation. I was just like, kind of feels
• 17:44
  like she's moving on after this. And, you know, it's totally
• 17:49
  based on, you know, no inside information.
• 17:53
  It just kind of felt that way, you know, and I and I think
• 17:55
  hearing Tom Bomb talk about Vladco post playoff loss and
• 18:00
  kind of like the shape he was in and that being a little bit of a
• 18:02
  precursor kind of it, it just rung the bell.
• 18:04
  It reminded me of that trendy situation.
• 18:06
  So I think for a lot of reasons, a super compelling player, super
• 18:09
  compelling story in 26. Yeah, battled injuries last
• 18:13
  year, you know, five goals, 2 assists.
• 18:15
  That's not a, that's not a Trinity Rodman season.
• 18:17
  So I think it's going to be like, it's a great point by you.
• 18:20
  Yeah, we're watching the contract on the pitch.
• 18:22
  We want to see how she bounces back as well.
• 18:25
  I'm going to go with the 8th pick.
• 18:28
  Give me I'm going to stay in Washington.
• 18:32
  Give me the 2023 Rookie of the Year, Midfielder of the Year,
• 18:37
  Corey Bethune. I think a lot of I don't want to
• 18:43
  say question marks, a lot of curiosity, you know, from my
• 18:46
  standpoint in terms of like what kind of years is Greg Bethune
• 18:49
  going to have, you know, a little older.
• 18:52
  I think she's a year and a half or two years older than Trinity
• 18:55
  Rodman. So, you know, definitely
• 18:58
  approaching that prime and a little bit of a step back, you
• 19:01
  know, in 2024 still makes the NWSL second team all 11, but was
• 19:06
  120th in the league in minutes logged this season.
• 19:11
  So now we're at two straight seasons where, you know,
• 19:15
  injuries kind of derailed things a little bit.
• 19:17
  And I thought, but Bethune was a little bit less effective this
• 19:21
  second season and in the final kind of had a rocky performance.
• 19:25
  Couldn't really find her way into the match.
• 19:29
  And I think I just remember watching, especially in that
• 19:31
  first half, of course, got to get the ball down.
• 19:33
  Like, I think, you know, it can't be that they're not
• 19:36
  getting me the ball. Like I get the ball and get,
• 19:38
  get, get involved in this game. And obviously it's still a young
• 19:42
  player, you know, with a lot of growth.
• 19:45
  And I think that's what I'm be looking for in 2026, especially
• 19:48
  the spirit side. This is now two years in a row
• 19:50
  where it's really it's kind of like a disappointing, real
• 19:52
  disappointing into the season and so much firepower, so much
• 19:58
  such a high ceiling with all those players.
• 19:59
  I think Bethune is a real key. For that side in 2026, could be,
• 20:03
  I don't know, it could be it's not a really a make or break,
• 20:06
  but if you're talking about which players are, are, are
• 20:09
  cracking that top 10 globally top 50, you know, like this is a
• 20:14
  big year for Bethune to be like, Hey, I'm I want to announce
• 20:17
  myself and, and kind of work my way into that conversation.
• 20:20
  I think so. It's a great point by you.
• 20:22
  Five goals, 10 assists in a rookie of the year campaign.
• 20:25
  That midfielder of the year campaign where she tied the all
• 20:28
  time the single season assist record in NWSL to two goals and
• 20:32
  two assists in her second season.
• 20:33
  Now obviously she's coming back from the injury.
• 20:35
  She needs to work her way back in.
• 20:37
  It was a it was a bad injury that she was coming off of.
• 20:40
  But Yep, totally agree. You won't be surprised.
• 20:43
  She was on my big board. I've often referred to myself as
• 20:45
  the world's foremost owner in Cory Bethune stock.
• 20:49
  So Needless to say, I will be watching too.
• 20:52
  And I, and I think you're right, like at this age with with this
• 20:56
  development, you, you really want to see what we saw in that
• 21:01
  rookie season where it's like, OK, this player sees everything
• 21:03
  on the field. And if she once she has that
• 21:06
  back playing with the full confidence, full fitness, I
• 21:09
  think that she can show get get me on all your lists again.
• 21:14
  It it's funny that you bring that up because I had two.
• 21:17
  It's funny. I had AI had like a combo.
• 21:20
  Now that I get down to the bottom of the list, we said
• 21:22
  mention 26 for 26 under 26. My I don't know how long your
• 21:27
  short list is your long list. I had a three different list
• 21:33
  when we got 35 players, one of them got 47 and there's a lot of
• 21:35
  overlap between the two. And then that third one that we
• 21:38
  share has 74. So I think we're definitely over
• 21:42
  100 players that we considered, but I considered a couple other
• 21:46
  players that are both under 26 as a tandem.
• 21:49
  So these are, this is not my official pick, but I kind of
• 21:51
  wanted to mention them here because I think it's it's
• 21:53
  correlated with the core Bethune situation and that's Gift Monday
• 21:56
  and Rose Quasi. And I think Rose quasi what she
• 22:02
  was able to do from a creation standpoint, being able to feed
• 22:05
  Gift Monday, racking up assist, just those two players looking
• 22:09
  like Stockton Malone out there and they don't speak, they don't
• 22:12
  speak the same language. I think we learned that Rose
• 22:14
  doesn't speak English and Gift Monday doesn't speak French.
• 22:17
  So it's all just football talk out there between those two.
• 22:21
  And you just wonder if like Rose's ball dominance and, you
• 22:25
  know, she's so hungry for the ball, you know, and I think you
• 22:28
  kind of see that even like I'm saying, against the run of the
• 22:31
  offense, she just wants to go get the ball.
• 22:34
  You wonder if like that has kind of set Kroy off, not to the side
• 22:37
  a little bit, but maybe sort of a little bit of a monkey wrench
• 22:39
  in her development. So from that standpoint as well,
• 22:44
  I'll be watching. That's that makes Washington
• 22:45
  super compelling. The Rodman thing, the Kroy
• 22:48
  thing, Rose and Gift Monday, Cantor.
• 22:50
  You know, there's there's just so much there.
• 22:53
  And a lot of it happens just just so happens to be under 26.
• 22:56
  It's a great point by you. I think it'll be interesting to
• 22:58
  watch. How does she kind of gel in that
• 23:01
  attacking mix? How do they start to kind of
• 23:03
  work with each other? I mean, the service that she's
• 23:06
  able to provide, you know, you would think she should be, she
• 23:10
  should end up being a really good fit for them, especially
• 23:12
  you see her IQ on the field. And that would just be horrible
• 23:17
  news for everybody in the NWSL because then you still have
• 23:20
  Sofia Kentori running around out there as well.
• 23:23
  You know, obviously we'll see about the return of Trinity
• 23:25
  Rodman. It could just be a bad time for
• 23:29
  all their opponents. All right, this player is on
• 23:35
  some of those lists that we talked about.
• 23:38
  I don't know if you had any plans on picking this player,
• 23:41
  but I'm just going to do it now. We've each made 4 picks.
• 23:44
  Do I have that right? All right, so I'm just going to
• 23:48
  do it. Felicia Schroeder, 18 years old
• 23:51
  out of BK Hacken. How does 30 goals and 11 assists
• 23:56
  sound in a single season? There's a lot of goals and
• 23:59
  Donald Spenskin for for BK Hacking, the 18 year old Swedish
• 24:03
  underbarn, which is Swedish for prodigy because that's exactly
• 24:07
  what she is now. She did not make Sweden's Euro
• 24:10
  squad, but she made sure that she was going to announce
• 24:13
  herself and Donald Spenskin to say I'm not getting left off any
• 24:16
  squad moving forward. She signed with Hacken in the
• 24:20
  summer of 25. She signed with Hacken until
• 24:23
  2029. The reporting that I saw was
• 24:26
  that and well, poor journalism by me.
• 24:30
  I'll come back. I'll swoop back in the comments
• 24:32
  to see where I got the record, the reporting from.
• 24:34
  I want to say it was either one football or maybe Goal.com.
• 24:38
  I'll go back and look. I'll make sure I give you guys
• 24:40
  credit. My apologies there, but she was,
• 24:42
  she was drawing interest from. Tell me if you've heard of these
• 24:45
  teams, Chelsea, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Juventus, Lyon
• 24:50
  and Wolfsburg. We're all interested in her
• 24:52
  services and she stayed in Sweden.
• 24:56
  Yeah, for some reason, I think in Germany, there's something
• 24:59
  about her game that feels, I feel like would which would just
• 25:02
  knife through that that German league.
• 25:05
  She's such an exciting player, great finisher obviously, and
• 25:11
  just way behind beyond you beyond her years.
• 25:13
  Every time I hear how how how old she is, it's it's pretty
• 25:17
  wild and just such a bummer not to have hacking, you know, go
• 25:20
  deep this year in the in the Champions League.
• 25:22
  Hopefully we get we get them back next year, but she's got so
• 25:24
  many more years to come. Excited to see what her 2026
• 25:29
  looks like for sure. No doubt.
• 25:31
  Yeah, I something tells me hacking will be back.
• 25:34
  Let's see, All right, 10th pick. Only one Barcelona player taken
• 25:40
  so far. Give me, I'm going to take the
• 25:45
  Lady Kika of Nazareth. Outstanding. 23 years old, four
• 25:50
  goals, 5 assists so far in League F this season.
• 25:55
  Battled some injuries, 2025, just one goal, though, in five
• 25:59
  Champions League matches so far, 123 minutes in the Champions
• 26:02
  League. So absolutely going to be
• 26:04
  looking for some of that league form to trickle into the
• 26:07
  Champions League, especially as the competition gets tougher.
• 26:11
  But I mean, we had such high hopes for Kika and you already
• 26:17
  know what our skill set is. You know, you know what's
• 26:18
  possible there. But it just seems like from a
• 26:23
  spot on the pitch, you know, scenario or, you know, just kind
• 26:26
  of like a minutes chemistry hasn't totally fully, fully,
• 26:30
  fully taken. Now there's a lot of big high
• 26:34
  stakes champs league football to be played.
• 26:37
  And I'm basically going to be looking for, can that happen,
• 26:40
  especially considering, you know, all those Barcelona
• 26:42
  players either shelved for the season or working their way
• 26:46
  back? It's a great call.
• 26:48
  I, I, we just want to see her play more football.
• 26:50
  I mean, you know, she was injured during the EUR.
• 26:53
  She was not. She was very clearly not 100%,
• 26:55
  still made an impact as much as she could when she got on the
• 26:58
  pitch. She was dynamite in those
• 27:01
  friendlies versus US women's national team over here in the
• 27:04
  States. She signed through 2028 with
• 27:06
  Barcelona. I would love to see her get more
• 27:09
  Champions League time specifically.
• 27:11
  We'll see how the rotations work out.
• 27:13
  I'm totally with you. I'm going to be super locked in.
• 27:17
  Hell yeah. All right, 11th pick, you're up.
• 27:20
  All right, let's see here now just to let people behind the
• 27:24
  curtain. We Dino and I had had talked a
• 27:26
  little bit. Dino was like, you know, I'm,
• 27:28
  I'm going to try to create some balance that.
• 27:33
  Went out the window. Pick some players.
• 27:35
  And then I was just kind of looking at my list.
• 27:36
  I was like, oh, maybe I could try that.
• 27:38
  And I was just like, I got a lot of attacking players.
• 27:39
  You know what I like? I like to watch people score
• 27:41
  goals, you know, sue me, I will take then this could be our
• 27:48
  second Bayern. Bayern Munchen Bayern Munich
• 27:52
  player 20 year old Japanese international Momoka Tanakawa 3
• 27:58
  Three starts in frown Bundesliga last year, 12 starts in 14
• 28:03
  appearances. This season she has six goals in
• 28:05
  one assistant league play, two goals in the UEFA Women's
• 28:07
  Champions League. She has exhilarating skill and
• 28:10
  intelligence at 20 years old and you know, we talked about it
• 28:15
  what she's going to play. Bayern plays the winner of at
• 28:20
  Letty and Manchester United, if I remember correctly.
• 28:24
  So I look forward to that and I look forward to monitoring her
• 28:28
  progress in frown Bundesliga as it goes.
• 28:31
  I, I said it a few weeks ago when we were talking about the
• 28:34
  Champions League. I, I don't know, it's probably
• 28:38
  not that hot of a take. I feel a star turn coming.
• 28:41
  I think it could happen this year.
• 28:44
  Yeah, 'cause it's like we're we're starting to see to
• 28:49
  Tanakawa's game, fill in some of those gaps too.
• 28:52
  It's not just a spectacular, you know, action once every four
• 28:56
  matches. She's she's playing really solid
• 28:58
  week in, week out. She's clocking 0.44 non penalty
• 29:02
  XG per 90, which puts her I think like, yeah, like roughly
• 29:06
  top 20 in front Bundesliga. The equivalent in the end of USL
• 29:10
  would be like Minaka Matkubu, Raylan Turner area, you know,
• 29:14
  which is like, you know, no BS, especially for a 20 year old in
• 29:16
  a tough league and tonic. I was going to have a lot of you
• 29:21
  know, I mentioned with with the Clark, the cloud book
• 29:23
  conversation. Byron's going to play in some
• 29:26
  big matches, I think bigger matches.
• 29:28
  And then we've been used to over the last few years.
• 29:31
  I think they've got they've got a little Champions League, you
• 29:34
  know, runway this season and they've got a they've got a
• 29:38
  roster that's pretty stacked. I think they'd be disappointed
• 29:41
  not to end up in the semifinal. So we'll we'll see if if those
• 29:45
  couple players that we mentioned, you know, can can
• 29:48
  make it happen. Right.
• 29:50
  So now we're sitting at 12. I completely whiffed.
• 29:54
  There's there's two names at the very top of my boards.
• 29:57
  I just, I just kind of got maybe a little bit bored with the top
• 29:59
  of my boards and I started to, you know, scroll and try to find
• 30:02
  some names that I liked the the best remaining player shot Mel
• 30:07
  Kiper, Lauren James. I think what if we're talking
• 30:13
  ceilings and we're talking how, how high does this ceiling
• 30:18
  stretch? I think LJ for me is one of
• 30:21
  those players where you know, her absolute best is maybe
• 30:26
  better than any, you know, like it's in that conversation, you
• 30:29
  know, like if if Chelsea goes out and has an LJ day or if
• 30:33
  England goes out and LJ has an LJ day, you're you're going to
• 30:36
  lose like that. That is a player that can single
• 30:39
  handedly beat you with creativity, with finishing with,
• 30:44
  you know, high leverage tip the game kind of moments.
• 30:48
  And again, still still super young and we've seen her play
• 30:52
  big, play big and big games. We should just need to get a
• 30:55
  little bit healthier. So there's just too many stop
• 30:57
  and starts for LJ. So I'm really hoping for, you
• 31:00
  know, just a steady let let let's let's get a clean season
• 31:04
  from LG and I and I bet she blows the roof off.
• 31:08
  There you go. I want I want to see the same
• 31:10
  thing. So it's thirteen goals in WSL
• 31:12
  play in the 2324 season, only three in the 2425 season.
• 31:17
  Obviously, like you said, battling injury, trying to fight
• 31:20
  through all that. Totally with you.
• 31:22
  This has been a pro Lauren James podcast from the day it started
• 31:27
  when we were watching Chelsea when we kicked off covering UEFA
• 31:31
  Women's Champions League. Great pick by you.
• 31:35
  I got to tell you I was trying to think about this in terms of
• 31:39
  sports siblings. Usually I feel pretty similar
• 31:43
  about each sibling, you know, like the, the, the feelings
• 31:48
  aren't very disparate. The the biggest gulf between my
• 31:53
  feelings about 1 sibling and another between Lauren James and
• 31:56
  Reece James as we're I realized I I came to this realization
• 32:01
  watching Manchester City play Chelsea over the weekend in
• 32:04
  men's football. I realized, man, for somebody
• 32:07
  who really likes Lauren James and likes to watch her play, I
• 32:11
  do not quite have the same feeling about her brother Reese.
• 32:16
  That's a great one. I mean, I don't Julia Roberts,
• 32:22
  Eric Roberts, I don't know is Eric Roberts.
• 32:24
  I it's you got to really, you got to really fan out.
• 32:26
  But I'm. Not familiar with the mind?
• 32:30
  Bender I don't think he's curating as his eye as old
• 32:35
  Julius, but either way I mean the my I can't I can't get
• 32:38
  anywhere to your a good answer for your mind Bender, so props
• 32:41
  to you. That was a great one.
• 32:43
  I appreciate it. I mean, like, you know, like
• 32:44
  Steph Curry and Seth Curry, like you, like, I like watching Steph
• 32:49
  Curry play. I don't have a problem with Seth
• 32:51
  Curry, you know what I mean? I was just like, OK, yeah, cool.
• 32:53
  Seth's out there. Like, you know, you can shoot a
• 32:55
  little bit, you know, you think about like the, you know, the
• 33:00
  Morris twins, like whatever, neutral, totally fine.
• 33:05
  Venus and Serena Williams loved them both actually.
• 33:07
  I mean, I was a big, big tennis fan when I was a kid.
• 33:10
  I loved Venus Williams. She was like one of my favorite
• 33:12
  players. And I was like, and when Serena
• 33:14
  came up, I was like, well, she can't be better than Venus.
• 33:17
  Bad take by me turns out. But you know, like them both.
• 33:21
  So again, nothing against Reese. Personally don't like why
• 33:27
  shouldn't play. Yeah, no, I hear you.
• 33:29
  I mean, I I'm a big Aussie Conseco guy.
• 33:32
  Jose, there it is. OK, 13, you're up.
• 33:40
  All right, we're talking about Barcelona players.
• 33:45
  I thought you were going to select this player, so I might
• 33:47
  as well do it. 22 years old. You can go.
• 33:50
  Ahead. Yeah.
• 33:50
  And they're a lot that you need. They're a lot to choose from.
• 33:52
  You might have thought I was thinking of somebody else.
• 33:54
  I'll take the the 22 year old Spanish international playing
• 33:58
  for Barcelona, Selma Bariuello, who is out of contract with
• 34:02
  Barcelona this summer. So that will be interesting to
• 34:07
  see. Does the club believe she is a
• 34:09
  cornerstone piece? I would think so.
• 34:12
  I mean, I realize she's had like a little bit of a down season
• 34:15
  before the injury, you know, the production was down, but she
• 34:19
  should be coming back I think. So she got hurt in like late
• 34:22
  October, they reported it was like an 8 to 10 week injury.
• 34:26
  So she should be coming back early this year.
• 34:30
  And I, you know, I, I think in those contract years, you, you
• 34:34
  see how players are able to bounce back and able to like
• 34:37
  really lock in and do what they got to do.
• 34:39
  And a locked in Selma better Uelo would be very very helpful
• 34:43
  for Barcelona. No doubt the the contract
• 34:48
  situation is a real pickle because obviously coming off the
• 34:53
  23 World Cup and so almost 23 for Barcelona stock couldn't
• 34:59
  couldn't have been higher at that point.
• 35:00
  And I think, you know, took a little bit of a step back that
• 35:03
  coincided with, you know, Claudia, PETA just going
• 35:06
  supernova. For sure.
• 35:09
  It's going to be interesting to see because I mean, I think do
• 35:14
  you get the feeling that like sometimes there's a future star
• 35:17
  trajectory and then when you hit a point where you're like, OK,
• 35:20
  well, that feature start trajectory, it's not exactly the
• 35:23
  same. We're not going to get exactly
• 35:26
  the same as we were imagining, but we still might get something
• 35:28
  awesome that looks a little different and and maybe it's
• 35:32
  just as good, but it looks different than I think we're
• 35:34
  expecting. And I think that's what makes
• 35:36
  the Barrio season to watch so interesting.
• 35:40
  It's like we don't know what kind of player she's going to
• 35:44
  ultimately settle into because she's got a lot of tools and
• 35:48
  she's still very raw. And it's almost like that team
• 35:53
  has a lot of players that aren't very raw.
• 35:55
  So there is some kind of mismatch And you you see a
• 35:58
  little bit of like, you know, you, you just kind of wish that
• 36:02
  was not like a different situation, but maybe a couple
• 36:06
  other players that could play off by the way, a little bit
• 36:09
  better, that could maybe unlock her a little bit.
• 36:12
  Either way, this this is going to be incredibly compelling when
• 36:15
  she comes back. Can she kind of like carve out
• 36:19
  some space because at that point there will be to some, some new
• 36:23
  kind of norms established even in a small scale, right?
• 36:26
  So it's like there will be players that that will have
• 36:28
  stuff under their belt in that jersey.
• 36:32
  So it's going to be super interesting to see it in the
• 36:34
  contract. That's just another layer of
• 36:36
  intrigue. Exactly.
• 36:38
  And I and I honestly, I would be extremely surprised if Barcelona
• 36:42
  does not financially take care of her.
• 36:45
  Make sure that she's locked in with the club moving forward.
• 36:49
  Now, if they if they don't, and I know Selma watches the
• 36:52
  podcast. Look, Seattle is a really nice
• 36:53
  place to live. You would be the fastest player
• 36:56
  in the NWSL immediately. Well, you'd be in a foot in a
• 36:59
  foot race with Barbara Benda and Tim Munchwink is the fastest
• 37:02
  players in the league. But I believe in you.
• 37:05
  So I think you could be say, and you're marketable.
• 37:08
  You've made these lists before. So whatever the the voodoo of
• 37:12
  the high impact player rule, I'm sure we could work this thing
• 37:16
  out financially. You know, I would, I would
• 37:19
  consider it some, yeah. Definitely high impact potential
• 37:24
  from someone. Parabello.
• 37:25
  This is a player. Zero clue.
• 37:29
  None. No clue how this player lasted
• 37:33
  to 14. Give me from my Blancos one of
• 37:39
  the most exciting cafeterias ever to lace them up.
• 37:43
  Linda Kaiseto. Yeah, no.
• 37:45
  I I can't agree. Yeah, I.
• 37:48
  Every every time I started my list, she was like the second or
• 37:50
  third name I I would jot down and somehow I just kind of kept
• 37:53
  looping around, but I'm glad I landed on Kaiseto potential off
• 37:59
  the charts. You know, you already know we
• 38:00
  that the flashes. Let me ask you this because I,
• 38:04
  you know, I kind of feel like I I hate putting so many players
• 38:06
  in my top five. I hate I hate putting like 13
• 38:09
  players in my top five. But when I say to you, and we'll
• 38:14
  do a little side, a little show within the show here, give me
• 38:17
  your top three names of I've got 12 minutes and I want to watch
• 38:27
  three players, their absolute best highlights from their
• 38:31
  entire professional career in Wasso.
• 38:35
  Who are the three names that you're picking?
• 38:38
  The reason I ask give you a little filibuster.
• 38:41
  I think for Mika, I say those highlights what she's able to do
• 38:45
  with the dribble, with the finish, just the Okie doke leave
• 38:49
  lead defenders on the floor and and it also has a little like
• 38:53
  samba to it. It also like her.
• 38:55
  The footwork is just impeccable and I don't know it.
• 38:58
  It feels like she's not even like messing with the blades of
• 39:02
  grass under her cleats as she's like taking these steps.
• 39:04
  It's almost like, you know, there's like a little, it's a
• 39:07
  little air pocket, you know, she's kind of floating and then
• 39:10
  she's just taking your heart after.
• 39:12
  So I think for me, Kaisena was in that top three of players
• 39:15
  where it's like, I'll gladly burn 5-6 minutes of YouTube
• 39:19
  pilots. I love it.
• 39:22
  No, it's a great, it's a great way to think about players.
• 39:25
  I mean, I think we've already named two.
• 39:26
  You drafted one, I drafted the other.
• 39:28
  I would probably put Lauren James just because of the
• 39:31
  shiftiness, like in her highlights, the being able to
• 39:34
  score from distance, kind of doing that stuff.
• 39:36
  I would probably put her in that class.
• 39:38
  I would think about Trinity Rodman in that, in that class,
• 39:40
  when you think about the physicality, the trend spin,
• 39:43
  like the moves that she's able to have the finishing.
• 39:47
  I I think, you know, I think CGH is in that mix of a player who
• 39:52
  you just kind of see come off the wing and just be able to do
• 39:55
  stuff. But Kai Sato is a is a great
• 39:58
  call there because the the combination of speed and skill
• 40:02
  and she and she has good highlights that we've talked
• 40:05
  about for Real Madrid where she'll take the ball down the
• 40:07
  left wing and she will serve in like just a bullet pass for a
• 40:11
  tapping that I think creates some really great highlights
• 40:15
  too. Yeah, no doubt.
• 40:17
  I think, and we've talked about that Real Madrid season, you
• 40:21
  know, this is like a a big year for them.
• 40:24
  And we'd be like kind of knocking on the door.
• 40:26
  This year feels like the knock is getting a little bit more
• 40:28
  pronounced. And you could kind of see a
• 40:31
  track where a team like that could find themselves in the
• 40:34
  semifinals in Champions League, maybe deeper.
• 40:37
  We'll see when they're when they're really cooking, they
• 40:39
  look really good. But they still have those
• 40:42
  outings where they look flat and they look very, very beatable.
• 40:46
  So we'll see what kind of team shows up.
• 40:48
  And either way, I mean, I'm not that it's season, it's league
• 40:51
  pass, season pass. I want to think about that for
• 40:52
  Crusader, for your boy. We're 14 picks in 12 to go.
• 40:58
  Let's round out. Let's ran out there.
• 40:59
  We're not even round out these rosters.
• 41:01
  We picked a bunch of we picked 14.
• 41:03
  Just go a bit like absolute goal scorer creator players pretty
• 41:08
  much. But I don't know, we'll see.
• 41:10
  We'll see how we ran out the rest of roster. 1212 picks to
• 41:12
  go. You're up 15th pick in the
• 41:14
  draft. Yeah, I'm going to do it.
• 41:18
  I'm going to pick another goal scorer.
• 41:19
  I think it's a massive season for 25 year old US Women's
• 41:23
  National Team staple 2 time NWSL MVP2 time Golden Boot winner for
• 41:29
  the Portland Thorns, Sophie Wilson.
• 41:33
  She exercised her option with Portland Thorns Football Club
• 41:36
  and for the 2026 season and as it is well documented she is
• 41:41
  coming off of maternity leave. How big of a season will she
• 41:44
  have? What kind of an impact will she
• 41:46
  have for an already good Portland Thorns club that was
• 41:51
  great without her and with her on a one year deal?
• 41:56
  Again, I don't mean to do too much contract talk here, but
• 41:59
  what's that going to look like? And what does it look like when
• 42:02
  she goes to to ownership and I guess ownership inevitably goes
• 42:05
  to the league, I guess to say, hey, are we allowed to sign this
• 42:08
  great face of the league player for a good for a good deal?
• 42:12
  What's all that going to be look like?
• 42:13
  And Needless to say, in the Pacific Northwest, I will be
• 42:16
  locked in. Could be 1 to watch.
• 42:20
  I mean they don't get more high impact then Sophia.
• 42:27
  I want to stay in Portland. Obviously, you know Wilson's a
• 42:31
  player that we're going to be locked in for sure, especially
• 42:35
  considering the year that Portland had and I think just
• 42:38
  the setup for last season. I know Wilson no Sinclair,
• 42:40
  whether they do how they going to score they and they finished
• 42:42
  the year in 3rd. And I know, I know this is not
• 42:46
  how sports works. Football works.
• 42:48
  You don't just plug a player in and you know, all things remain
• 42:51
  the same. But it is going to be
• 42:52
  interesting to see, you know what it looks like with Wilson,
• 42:56
  you know, at the tip of the spear potentially or or up on
• 42:58
  the left. And that leads me to to my pick,
• 43:01
  the 16th pick in the draft, our midfielder of the year, first
• 43:06
  team, all 11. And to be a seller last season,
• 43:09
  Olivia Moultrie, who will be probably involved in some
• 43:13
  interplay with Sophia Wilson. And a player that was excellent,
• 43:19
  had a fantastic season last year and could probably have really
• 43:23
  used one other player to kind of get it to you and really take
• 43:27
  some of the pressure off. You know, you saw that Portland
• 43:30
  side, you know, kind of have to manufacture goals, get a little
• 43:32
  creative. Sam Coffee have to leak way,
• 43:34
  way, way up, up the pitch to the kind of get involved in the
• 43:38
  attack there. It's going to be interesting to
• 43:40
  see, you know, these players are going to figure it out.
• 43:43
  These are two extremely high IQ players.
• 43:47
  But I don't think Sophia Wilson has seen this version of Olivia
• 43:52
  Moultrie. And if they can work it out, you
• 43:55
  know, in the offseason and kind of show up, you know, already
• 43:58
  for, you know, not quite on third base, but maybe like
• 44:01
  rounding first, you know, and they're I think that could
• 44:05
  really be it could put the league on notice a little bit,
• 44:07
  could put the league on on on its back foot a little bit
• 44:11
  because that that is going to give defenses headaches trying
• 44:14
  to stop those two, especially with Sam Coffey, you know, in
• 44:17
  the mix, you know, providing service, you know, kind of
• 44:19
  getting the whole thing started from the back.
• 44:23
  I love it. Yeah, I'll be.
• 44:26
  I'll be very interested to see it.
• 44:29
  And like I said, you know, planning a contract year.
• 44:32
  Look, Sophie, you already live in the Pacific Northwest.
• 44:35
  If things don't work out with Portland Thorns, look, it's a
• 44:38
  couple hour train ride. You could get everything up here
• 44:40
  pretty easily. You just come play for Seattle
• 44:43
  Rain Football Club, Everything will be fine.
• 44:45
  Sophie, you want to play with Sama buddy?
• 44:50
  Exactly. Come on.
• 44:51
  Like we're, we're building something here.
• 44:52
  I love it. All right, all right, let's get
• 44:57
  back to us building something. 17th pick in the draft.
• 44:59
  Who do you like? Oh wait, didn't I take Sophie
• 45:04
  Wilson? I took Moultrie.
• 45:06
  I confused. Oh, yeah.
• 45:08
  And then you took Moultrie. Yeah, Yeah.
• 45:09
  What am I doing? Sorry, I got, I got weight loss
• 45:11
  there. I I don't know why.
• 45:12
  I then just decided to just do my Sophie Wilson bit after that.
• 45:15
  Sorry buddy. We were talking Portland.
• 45:18
  I know you. Always.
• 45:23
  OK, so let's see here we've each made 8 picks.
• 45:26
  We're picking 13 each. All right, so I, I got, I got
• 45:30
  plenty of time here. So I am going to select let's
• 45:37
  let's take it back to Spain. 21 year old Spanish international
• 45:42
  for Atletico Madrid, Fiamma six goals 2 assists in in Liga F
• 45:49
  Smart and physical skilled. How far can she push at Letty
• 45:54
  versus Manchester United? How far can she continue to push
• 45:58
  at Letty up the Liga F table? I will be watching.
• 46:03
  Cannot wait. I I I'm not going to take this
• 46:07
  player, but I want to give her a shot. 22 year old Luani fraud
• 46:11
  Letty, I think you're leading Liga F and assists with 7 five
• 46:18
  goals. That gives her twelve goal
• 46:20
  contributions. She's the only player in the top
• 46:23
  6 of league F and goal contributions that doesn't pay
• 46:26
  for Barcelona. So shout out to Lulani, teammate
• 46:31
  of Fiona and a tandem that I think could really I'm not sure
• 46:36
  they can make a little noise, but maybe within a match they
• 46:40
  could make some noise. We'll we'll be locked in either
• 46:42
  way. I think it's going to be a big
• 46:43
  year for both of those players and I'd let the cannot wait to
• 46:46
  see. I mean, Fiona, I mean, that's
• 46:49
  that's an exciting, I mean, that's our like an exciting
• 46:51
  rock'n'roll player if I've ever seen one.
• 46:53
  I love, love, love her game. Somebody will be watching for
• 46:57
  sure. Fiama off the board, 18th pick
• 47:00
  in the draft. Let's see, I'm a little light on
• 47:03
  attackers. So who do I want to look at here
• 47:08
  for some firepower Now give me. Yeah, I'm going to take Minaka
• 47:17
  Matekubo. For some reason, NWSL has been
• 47:21
  fields of the year, but for a very good reason.
• 47:27
  First team, all 11 in the NWSL last season still I believe.
• 47:30
  Just 21 years old and fantastic player, thoughtful player,
• 47:36
  player. I got to talk to you after the
• 47:37
  NWSL awards. Like I said, just, you know,
• 47:41
  kind of like speaks and thinks, answers and kind of like what
• 47:45
  she was going to say and kind of like you could see that the
• 47:47
  cerebral nature of kind of how she lives her life.
• 47:50
  Kind of some Jonah Geraldo's vibes talking to Monica.
• 47:55
  But I think still very much a scratch in the surface.
• 47:59
  I think a lot of people were excited about what she was going
• 48:01
  to be able to do this season. I think she kind of exceeded
• 48:04
  expectations. And that was a little bit up
• 48:07
  against the 8 ball in North Carolina.
• 48:10
  A lot of tumult and an offense that just kind of, you know,
• 48:15
  took a long, took a long time to get warmed up in the old
• 48:18
  driveway in the old driveway. So everything she was able to do
• 48:21
  kind of had to do it the hard way.
• 48:23
  So we'll see if, if this season the courage kind of like start
• 48:27
  to structure the offense maybe a little bit more around
• 48:30
  Matsukubo. And I think that that could only
• 48:32
  do them, you know, the like positive basically, if, if, if
• 48:37
  that's the route they want to take.
• 48:38
  Cuz she's just such a fantastic, productive player.
• 48:42
  Has to be considered the cornerstone of their club right
• 48:45
  now, right? Like, you know, North Carolina
• 48:47
  Courage obviously has great history, one of the better clubs
• 48:51
  in the history of the league. So yeah, I think it's it's a
• 48:54
  great call by you. She's a dynamite player.
• 48:58
  I know our our pal Tombaum and the Kansas City current episode
• 49:01
  made made a little fun of Matsukubo being named midfielder
• 49:06
  of the year, which he was in such an attacking position
• 49:08
  throughout the season. But hey, you know, she, she
• 49:11
  collected a nice, a nice trophy for herself.
• 49:14
  I look forward to to seeing her build on it for sure.
• 49:19
  No doubt 19. I can't imagine, you know, this,
• 49:25
  this player probably probably on your big board somewhere.
• 49:29
  We've talked about the the size and and depth of this big board,
• 49:32
  but I'm just going to I'm going to take her here.
• 49:34
  Julie Blackstead, 24 year old Norwegian out of Hammerby as it
• 49:41
  stands right now. She had fifteen goals and six
• 49:44
  assists and 26 starts. She played in every league match
• 49:46
  in Domel Svenskin. She didn't play much at all in
• 49:49
  her stint with Manchester City Football Club before she signed
• 49:52
  with Hammerby, but recent reports have linked the young
• 49:57
  goalscorer with Tottenham Hotspur.
• 49:59
  That's right, to join the Martin Hoes squad and fellow Norwegian
• 50:04
  senior Gaupset. What are you building over
• 50:06
  there, Martin? What are you trying to do with
• 50:07
  Tottenham Hotspur? Are you trying to make Tottenham
• 50:09
  Hotspur into a winner? What are you, what are you
• 50:11
  doing? I'm I'm.
• 50:14
  I'm. Curious what's going on?
• 50:15
  On your end with with Tottenham, are you kind of like are you
• 50:18
  second screening this? What's, I mean, is there a
• 50:22
  budding, Is there something I got to be locked in, you know?
• 50:25
  Blossoming here. I mean, I know we're.
• 50:27
  Getting ready for 26, but got it.
• 50:29
  You got to shout out those moves, these.
• 50:31
  Are some serious Look, I mean it.
• 50:32
  Love blacks that it wasn't on my list but.
• 50:34
  Great pick by. You I appreciate it.
• 50:36
  Yeah. And then look if Martin.
• 50:37
  If Martin Hoe's our guy and if he's going to he, he brings the
• 50:41
  links from Bron, he's bringing more Norwegian players to
• 50:45
  Tottenham, you know, I got no choice but to watch.
• 50:48
  I like it. I like it.
• 50:51
  I don't like that it's Tottenham, but two players,
• 50:55
  whoever had the over 1 1/2 done that one cashed.
• 50:58
  All right, I've got, I've got 4. More picks.
• 51:01
  She's only. Linked so far.
• 51:06
  And we? Seem very very.
• 51:07
  Excited about this. I've got 4 picks and I want to
• 51:09
  you know, you, you mentioned that you had time, which kind of
• 51:13
  makes me think that you've got some, some, some pet.
• 51:16
  Pics that you're looking at. But I'm, I'm still looking at so
• 51:20
  many names that I don't know, really know what I'm about to do
• 51:22
  who, who do I really am? I very compelled by watching
• 51:26
  this year. You know who I'm going to pick.
• 51:31
  I can't do that, can't pick her over that player I got.
• 51:37
  I got to do it. As the internet's premier
• 51:43
  purveyor of Boschia ball, you started to try this draft with
• 51:48
  the player from Lyon, Melchi Duornay.
• 51:52
  I'm going to throw Dumar. Dumar is my favorite, favorite
• 51:56
  player. Watch maybe the on the planet
• 51:57
  right now. But I think Basha right there
• 52:01
  from a Leon standpoint, when Basha ball is really cooking and
• 52:05
  have balls bending in and it just looks like, I don't know,
• 52:09
  it looks like that that golf ball, that CBS golf ball
• 52:11
  tracking. He was just like the beautiful,
• 52:13
  you know, flight of it. You see the, the, the background
• 52:16
  parallax view, everything looks great.
• 52:18
  And then somebody gets their head on it at Chowinga or
• 52:20
  Adiani. There's just nothing more
• 52:23
  beautiful in in the women's game than Vasha ball to me.
• 52:26
  So I, I think I have to have to have to have to I cannot let
• 52:30
  some of Vasha slip any further than the 20th pick in the draft
• 52:34
  Already way, way, way too late. It's great pick by you.
• 52:37
  I mean she. She adds so much to a team full
• 52:41
  of superstars. We talked about it when we
• 52:43
  talked about Lily Johannes being a a budding superstar and a team
• 52:46
  of superstar. Basha fits right into that mold.
• 52:50
  The passing, the intelligence, the the toughness.
• 52:54
  Great pick by you you. You have single handedly turned
• 52:58
  this into the official Basha Ball Podcast on the Internet.
• 53:03
  So it's a great pick by you and a fitting pick, I would say.
• 53:08
  Appreciate that, man. All right.
• 53:10
  We're getting stretched. Right.
• 53:12
  No, we cannot waste picks here. We can't we.
• 53:14
  Absolutely cannot waste picks here.
• 53:16
  I have like 80 more names. We've got 6 spots.
• 53:22
  I don't no pressure Speaking of like.
• 53:25
  Not. Yeah, like we.
• 53:28
  You know there's no wasting. Of any picks, I mean this is
• 53:31
  this is the greatest, best 26 under. 26 in. 26 list on the
• 53:39
  Internet. So there I don't think we're
• 53:40
  we're going to waste any picks. But you you mentioned yours.
• 53:43
  You were surprised some of basha lasted this long.
• 53:46
  I might as well do it here because I I've also sort of
• 53:50
  abandoned the big board in this players way up 21 year old
• 53:54
  American International playing for Chelsea Football Club.
• 53:57
  That would be Alyssa Thompson. I think we should be very
• 54:00
  interested in how she plays football this season.
• 54:03
  Made the move from Angel City Football Club to Chelsea and
• 54:06
  she's playing well, looking strong, looking fast.
• 54:10
  And what does that mean for her development?
• 54:13
  I think it's going to be very much worth watching.
• 54:17
  I think she's. Already looked?
• 54:19
  Really. Good so far at Chelsea, you
• 54:22
  know, and that's not always the case, you know, with the
• 54:26
  American players, but I think she's kind of dropped in and for
• 54:29
  whatever reason, it's been a really good mix of her skills
• 54:33
  and kind of what Chelsea needed, especially on the left hand
• 54:35
  side. She looks so fast her in
• 54:38
  Baltimore. I think it's a kind of a nice
• 54:40
  pairing in terms of like being able to run and take different
• 54:44
  angles and just take different parts of the pitch and work off
• 54:47
  each other really good. I I mean Alyssa Thompson, I
• 54:50
  cannot believe another player. I can't believe we're at 21 and
• 54:54
  we're just getting to Alyssa Thompson a a real testament.
• 54:57
  And again, this is just 2025 and under essentially under 26 and
• 55:02
  this is how much talent there isn't a sport.
• 55:05
  It really is like overflowing an exciting time again, exciting
• 55:09
  year to kind of like be heads down into the sport.
• 55:12
  I'm going to take now with the 22nd pick a player that that we
• 55:19
  also spoke to after the end of his Cell championship still.
• 55:24
  Just 22 years old. Bruninia I mean, you think about
• 55:30
  a player that gets dropped into the end of BSL and just
• 55:34
  immediately looks the part is playing what I don't want to say
• 55:38
  immediately because you know, there there was some some rocky
• 55:40
  moments there. And I know there's some folks on
• 55:43
  the Internet that will check me on that.
• 55:45
  But when it when it came down to winning time, I mean, she played
• 55:49
  really, really great down the stretch.
• 55:51
  Did not look like a player, you know, that young just look like
• 55:57
  a championship player. You know, and we were lucky
• 55:59
  enough to to talk to me after the match and you know, was it I
• 56:01
  was OK Where's where's that moment rank, You know, that
• 56:04
  assist that you put into to Roosevelt.
• 56:06
  She's thought about it for a second.
• 56:07
  She says, number one, that that's the number one moment of
• 56:10
  my career. And I kind of get the feeling
• 56:13
  that when it's all said and done, might not that might not
• 56:16
  end up being the the the the career number one.
• 56:18
  There might be a moment or two that that kind of is even able
• 56:21
  to surpass. I think she's that special a
• 56:23
  player. Yeah, I.
• 56:26
  The moment in the championship match was absolutely phenomenal.
• 56:29
  I mean, she's been, she's been at Gotham for a little while.
• 56:33
  I might need to I might need to Fact Check myself here a little
• 56:39
  bit. I believe she played for Santos
• 56:40
  in in Brazil before she went to went to Gotham.
• 56:45
  But it's a great beat by you. Sneaky, sneaky young player. 23.
• 56:51
  Years old. I mean, it's a.
• 56:53
  It's a great call. Great call by you is that, you
• 56:57
  know, she plays so beyond her years that I think she's just
• 57:02
  one of those players where I'm like, Oh yeah, she you know,
• 57:04
  she's got to be like mid 20s at this point and she's not even
• 57:07
  there yet. So pre prime Bruninia is what
• 57:10
  we're watching for the bats right now.
• 57:12
  That should that's a scary proposition for everybody in the
• 57:14
  league. Yep.
• 57:17
  Excellent. Player right, You got two more
• 57:19
  picks. To go I'm not going to tell you
• 57:23
  to make them count I'm. Not I'm gonna stop trying to get
• 57:25
  in. Your head with these last year
• 57:27
  well I mean I hated that I. With one of my picks.
• 57:30
  I was like, oh, I got plenty of time and now I got 2 picks left.
• 57:32
  I'm like, well, I want to pick seven different players.
• 57:34
  So that's not that's not great. You kind of maybe, you know, I
• 57:40
  was thinking it back a little. Bit you said that was like, I
• 57:43
  was like flipping. I'm like, am I what?
• 57:45
  I was a little sorry 'cause I think there's so many good
• 57:48
  players. Yeah, it was an it was just me
• 57:51
  being. Insane is why I said that.
• 57:54
  And I just said no awareness of where I was.
• 57:57
  All right, So I will take Yeah, I might as well.
• 58:09
  I might as well do a 21. Year old Japanese.
• 58:12
  International for Manchester City Football Club Albufugino. 4
• 58:16
  goals, 2 assists and 9 starts this season for my Sky Blues.
• 58:22
  Plays with unbelievable skill and style.
• 58:25
  I think she's only barely scratched the surface of her
• 58:27
  potential. She picked up a small issue
• 58:31
  according to the club in December.
• 58:34
  I haven't seen much reporting after that, but in order for
• 58:38
  City to kind of keep up this pace and and and hopefully win
• 58:43
  the league, I think she'll have to play a big part.
• 58:46
  Yeah, no doubt. And I think.
• 58:48
  Super high ceiling. Another player.
• 58:51
  Fujina is one of those players that I think is still in the
• 58:55
  spectacular flashes. Stage.
• 58:57
  You know where it's like, Yep, you know, can can you graduate
• 59:00
  from spectacular flashes to spectacular flashes plus
• 59:04
  consistent week in, week out contributor?
• 59:07
  You know, I think like she's kind of like at that yeah, that,
• 59:10
  you know, crossroads of her career for sure, but super fun
• 59:13
  for her to watch. I'm so bummed that I only have
• 59:16
  two picks here. I'm going to cheat a little.
• 59:20
  Bit kind of smuggle in one player.
• 59:24
  Because these players kind of. Kind of kind of match the same
• 59:29
  sort of profile of US young center back defender type and
• 59:37
  that is like in the 1/8 slide. I think it's got to be Jordan
• 59:40
  Buck, you know, like just sealing unlimited from a
• 59:44
  defensive standpoint can do anything athletically can do
• 59:48
  anything. So it's like how high, how high
• 59:50
  is the ceiling for this player? And then I think for me, San
• 59:54
  Diego wave, Trinity Armstrong, another player had a 2007 next
• 59:59
  to her name and FB ref thought you'd enjoy that.
• 1:00:02
  Probably a couple years before we we we met, but Trinity.
• 1:00:07
  I'm sorry, I think. Has that same ceiling from a
• 1:00:10
  kind of defender standpoint, a little bit, a little bit like
• 1:00:15
  tracking a little bit. Behind Jordan bug.
• 1:00:17
  But I think those two players could be, you know, they they're
• 1:00:21
  they both have they're both first of all, far from their
• 1:00:24
  ceiling. And you could see the ceiling
• 1:00:26
  and you could already see, you know, how effective each of
• 1:00:29
  those players. I was shocked kind of how San
• 1:00:31
  Diego was able to say, all right, we're going to go to a
• 1:00:32
  back three and put like a 17 year old Trinity Armstrong in
• 1:00:35
  the middle and we'll survive. And you know, to Armstrong
• 1:00:39
  creator was able to hold up. And I think even still, bug is
• 1:00:43
  probably half a notch higher. So I think I had those two
• 1:00:45
  players in in in sort of like lumped in the same kind of
• 1:00:49
  category of like, how good can these players get?
• 1:00:52
  But I'm going to be, I'm going to be for sure locked in to to
• 1:00:56
  those young defensive superstars.
• 1:01:00
  Yeah, 22 great picks so. You're Is there an official
• 1:01:05
  pick? Here, Jordan Boggs.
• 1:01:06
  Official one or you just, I mean, OK, all right, that's
• 1:01:10
  fair. No, I like it.
• 1:01:11
  I like where your. Head's at it's is it?
• 1:01:13
  No, it's a it's a clever move by you.
• 1:01:16
  Yeah. I mean, I'll have a front row
• 1:01:18
  seat. I'll be I'll be covering the
• 1:01:19
  club again this year. So I'll be interested to see I
• 1:01:23
  you know, she's she's a genius. She's a Co centerpiece of, you
• 1:01:27
  know, the US women's national team center back pairing.
• 1:01:30
  I think in the future, I mean, obviously we have to see, you
• 1:01:33
  know, Tina Davis's return with Naomi Kerma.
• 1:01:37
  And I think the big thing with Jordan Bug is you had a great
• 1:01:41
  campaign in the NWSL. Can you do it again?
• 1:01:46
  And I think it's a question you have to ask of rookies.
• 1:01:48
  And I, I got to tell you, I, I would be shocked if you asked
• 1:01:52
  people throughout the league, do you think Jordan Bug can do that
• 1:01:56
  again? I would be shocked if hardly
• 1:01:59
  anybody had any. Other answer other than.
• 1:02:01
  Well, yeah, of course we we think she'll do it again.
• 1:02:04
  Like I, I think it's almost like a foregone conclusion that she's
• 1:02:09
  just going to be very good, too great for the remainder of her
• 1:02:13
  career. She kind of strikes me.
• 1:02:16
  As one of those players where? It's not that the game comes
• 1:02:20
  easy for her, but like it's almost like the muscle memory
• 1:02:23
  takes very quickly and it's like you and I'd be curious to see if
• 1:02:26
  you if you saw her a pride and you don't see it make make the
• 1:02:30
  same mistake twice probably. And I think like she just looks
• 1:02:33
  like one of those players where it's like once once it it's
• 1:02:36
  committed to muscle memory, it's just oh, right now we solved it
• 1:02:38
  and then that'll never happen again.
• 1:02:41
  It's such a good point by. You there's like.
• 1:02:43
  Some Tim Duncan vibes to it where it's just like, wait, this
• 1:02:46
  is a young player, but they're so calm with the ball, with and
• 1:02:51
  without that they're so calm in defense and then they're calm
• 1:02:55
  when they're controlling, you know, the pace of what's
• 1:02:57
  happening. So I think it's a great call by
• 1:03:00
  you not making the same mistake twice.
• 1:03:02
  I think those are all kind of similar, similar attributes.
• 1:03:07
  Are we, I mean, gentleman's agreement here.
• 1:03:10
  Are we taking goalkeepers? Are we scrapping?
• 1:03:14
  That, or do we just do? Goalkeepers on.
• 1:03:16
  Herbal mention. Yeah, let's do him in the
• 1:03:19
  Menchies. OK, so then.
• 1:03:22
  Then I then I have to because I would just, it would be, it
• 1:03:27
  would be criminal. And I'm not.
• 1:03:29
  And I, you know. I'm not sure if.
• 1:03:31
  This is the players year to make the jump or what?
• 1:03:34
  But I will take 18 year old Swiss international playing for
• 1:03:37
  Barcelona Football club Sydney Shurton live.
• 1:03:41
  She has world class skill, world class intangibles, world class
• 1:03:47
  physical ability. Will she get the playing time?
• 1:03:52
  Is this the year that she starts to make that jump?
• 1:03:55
  Or is Barcelona just kind of slow playing a little bit and
• 1:03:59
  saying, look, you're going to get your time, keep developing
• 1:04:01
  with the club, keep learning the principles of the type of
• 1:04:03
  football we play. You know, she's she's
• 1:04:07
  pay-per-view every time she steps on the pitch.
• 1:04:09
  I, I, I want to see her play. So hopefully she gets that time.
• 1:04:13
  But I would also understand if if I'm maybe a year early on
• 1:04:16
  this, but you know, when she's on the field, she's just
• 1:04:19
  electric. Yeah.
• 1:04:21
  And I think it's going to. Be interesting to see, I mean
• 1:04:26
  like are the Barcelona friends that we have in our community.
• 1:04:31
  I'm not sure if anybody is is nodded in this direction, maybe
• 1:04:36
  maybe MLSS, but we we might be. In a.
• 1:04:41
  Actually, I know he has because he mentioned a lot of those
• 1:04:44
  players having moved out the door.
• 1:04:45
  Mariana, Ingen, Rolfo. I mentioned I'm missing a few
• 1:04:50
  others, but we could be in a place where like not quite a
• 1:04:54
  changing of the guard. But I don't know, man, what
• 1:04:57
  happens if, if Vicky explodes and you know, Sydney shirt live
• 1:05:03
  and like Kika and like now all of a sudden, you know, it could,
• 1:05:07
  it could look very, very different.
• 1:05:09
  Not say that those those other players can't, can't take their
• 1:05:11
  place back. But we talked about it with Tom
• 1:05:13
  Bomb. There's a lot of innovation in
• 1:05:15
  the sport too. So I, I don't know how much you
• 1:05:18
  could just be like, Oh, well, well, we get everybody back.
• 1:05:20
  We'll get back to the, the, the football we were playing two
• 1:05:22
  years ago. I think it's still, you know,
• 1:05:26
  some, some stuff is timeless. But to your point, if I'm
• 1:05:31
  Barcelona? I'm probably thinking about the
• 1:05:33
  future. A little bit in terms of start
• 1:05:35
  to develop some of that some of those other styles or some of
• 1:05:39
  those other, you know, tactics that that take take better.
• 1:05:44
  Advantage of of the talent that's in the building.
• 1:05:46
  You know, so I think that's that's for sure some that I
• 1:05:49
  think they're going to be looking at.
• 1:05:51
  I've got one last pick and about 20 names I want to go to.
• 1:05:58
  Damn I. Cannot believe this but.
• 1:06:02
  I'm going to go my whole. Draft without taking.
• 1:06:04
  An Arsenal player and I got to live with that.
• 1:06:08
  That's OK. Wow, with my last pick I'm going
• 1:06:12
  to take I'm. Going to take another player
• 1:06:18
  that. We came into contact with at the
• 1:06:19
  end of the Championship and I remember telling you of all the
• 1:06:24
  players I spoke to you during those two weeks, that player is
• 1:06:28
  a superstar. That player is different from
• 1:06:32
  the other players. You know, we and we talked to
• 1:06:34
  pretty much everybody. I was there a couple days, I got
• 1:06:39
  a little head start on you and that we can San Jose.
• 1:06:41
  So I think I talked to a few more players, but there was one
• 1:06:43
  player that was just like, this is a different player.
• 1:06:46
  And for me that was Jaden Shaw. You know, even after win the
• 1:06:49
  championship, it was just like, I think you mentioned she was
• 1:06:52
  like, I think you're like, did she just give us an answer as if
• 1:06:56
  she was coming? Like we got to get ready for
• 1:06:58
  next week, You know, we got to get ready, ready for next week
• 1:07:00
  kind of answer. She really.
• 1:07:02
  Yeah, she started like I think she.
• 1:07:05
  Did. But it also wasn't.
• 1:07:06
  It also didn't feel like rehearsed PR bullshit.
• 1:07:09
  It kind of felt like I'm a robot and I need to get I need to
• 1:07:15
  prepare myself to be a better football player tomorrow than I
• 1:07:17
  was today, even though I won the championship.
• 1:07:19
  And I don't know, there's just something special about how she
• 1:07:24
  plays, how she thinks the game, how she talks the game.
• 1:07:27
  And I said another one. I can't believe we've got to the
• 1:07:29
  very bottom of the draft before he got to Jaden Shaw.
• 1:07:32
  I think Shaw absolute. We talked about with Moultrie
• 1:07:36
  MVP ceiling, Shaw MVP ceiling for sure in the end of yourself
• 1:07:41
  and we could be there next season.
• 1:07:44
  I think she's she's that good. And you know, could could
• 1:07:50
  finally have found a football home, you know, and I think
• 1:07:54
  could. And then at that point, do we
• 1:07:56
  get some of the pent up, you know, Jaden Shaw special
• 1:07:59
  football that we didn't get for the last 1516 eighteen months,
• 1:08:03
  you know, kind of like just exploding out of a player like
• 1:08:05
  that. Incredibly compelling.
• 1:08:07
  Cannot wait to see Jaden Shaw's 2026.
• 1:08:10
  It's great pick by you the mentality.
• 1:08:12
  Was there I'm glad you mentioned it that we saw it during the the
• 1:08:15
  you know in the build up to the championship match after the
• 1:08:18
  championship match. It's interesting when you have a
• 1:08:22
  young great player like that who has a lot of fanfare from her
• 1:08:26
  time with US women's national team and playing with San Diego
• 1:08:29
  Wave and then has like a weird spell with North Carolina
• 1:08:32
  courage that could really derail a lot of players and get them in
• 1:08:35
  their feelings or get them kind of second guessing some things.
• 1:08:38
  But she steps right into Gotham FC fits in.
• 1:08:41
  There is a plan for credit to Juan Carlos Amaros in the entire
• 1:08:45
  club there. And it worked.
• 1:08:47
  And now we get to see what how she follows it up and and I'm
• 1:08:51
  with you judging by her answers and the way she carries herself,
• 1:08:55
  I think you would be foolish to bet against her.
• 1:08:57
  I don't know. She just.
• 1:09:00
  Kind of stuff. To chill answering those
• 1:09:03
  questions after the final, I was like holy shit.
• 1:09:06
  Like I kind of wish that she was in Orlando.
• 1:09:09
  Anywho, let's recap the draft a little bit.
• 1:09:12
  I want it. Props to you.
• 1:09:13
  I think you crushed it. I'm going to go top to bottom on
• 1:09:16
  yours. Melchi du Mornay.
• 1:09:18
  See, you got upset. Claudia Pina, Trinity Rodman,
• 1:09:22
  Felicia Schrader, Momoco Tadacabo, Sama Patiuello, Sophia
• 1:09:26
  Wilson, Fiama, Julia Blackstead, Alice Thompson, AB of Gina
• 1:09:31
  Sydney Sherman Lab. Pretty good.
• 1:09:34
  I'm I'm happy with that. That's a roster on my.
• 1:09:37
  Side Barbara Benda, Lily Honest Khabood, Croy Bethune Kiko of
• 1:09:44
  Nazareth Lauren James. That's my Jackie, Ollie, Lauren
• 1:09:49
  James. I also do a really good Chris
• 1:09:52
  Sharples. That's really good.
• 1:09:54
  Have I have you? Heard my Chris Sharples talk
• 1:09:56
  about. Lucy Potayus No.
• 1:10:02
  The Queen. Oh man, that is.
• 1:10:05
  Good, wow, you get you get the bass on that one.
• 1:10:09
  I've been working to you so Lauren James Lennick, I said
• 1:10:12
  Olivia military. Minaka Montaku, Bosha Bruninia,
• 1:10:17
  Jordan Bug and NFL champion James Shaw.
• 1:10:23
  What a draft. That's outstanding.
• 1:10:25
  Work by you. That's a.
• 1:10:26
  That's a. Really great 13 by you as well.
• 1:10:29
  I mean, look, we didn't expect anything different.
• 1:10:32
  The the 26 we named are the definitive 26 under 26 to watch
• 1:10:38
  in 26. Nobody could possibly question
• 1:10:40
  it, but I guess if you guys do, you could always leave it in the
• 1:10:43
  comments. Who who we forgot?
• 1:10:44
  I'm sure no one's going to question anything in.
• 1:10:49
  Nothing they are in this episode.
• 1:10:52
  You want to name some players I got?
• 1:10:53
  So. Many.
• 1:10:54
  To name let me just knock through a couple.
• 1:10:58
  Vicky Lopez got a quick mention. Ally said please we we we did
• 1:11:01
  for good 5-6 minutes on, Ally said.
• 1:11:02
  I cannot wait to the Ally, said nine KC couple of Arsenal
• 1:11:07
  players. Olivia Smith 20 year is our 20
• 1:11:10
  year old season after scoring 7 years seven goals for Liverpool
• 1:11:13
  last year and kind of getting into a little bit of a groove at
• 1:11:16
  Arsenal. Daphne von Domslar another name
• 1:11:18
  for Arsenal. I want to see what the post
• 1:11:21
  Championship season looks like for Von Domslar.
• 1:11:25
  Vika Kaptine from Chelsea got ACV captain couple all 11 NW
• 1:11:30
  sellers of first team are Claire Hutton, Claudia Dickey, a second
• 1:11:33
  teamer. I mean, a couple players under
• 1:11:35
  25 that I think are training way, way, way, way up and then
• 1:11:41
  two other players. I mean, I have so many.
• 1:11:44
  I'm just I'll I'll just dismount on these last two couple of
• 1:11:48
  names from Manchester United. I'll throw Melvine Millar in
• 1:11:52
  there because she's she's under 26.
• 1:11:53
  But male. The TCA I think is on on that
• 1:11:56
  track. And then sneaky signing for
• 1:11:59
  Manchester United. United Hannah Lunkest from the
• 1:12:02
  San Diego Wave, who I thought for a lot of stretches was.
• 1:12:08
  Was. You know, they knocked it around
• 1:12:12
  a lot in San Diego and they played a lot of good, good
• 1:12:16
  looking football. But Lucas played a lot of
• 1:12:19
  additive football. Like, you know, like what when,
• 1:12:21
  when the the ball was really moving in the right direction.
• 1:12:23
  She was involved in so much of that.
• 1:12:25
  And that's a really cool pick up for Manchester United.
• 1:12:28
  A young player, I think still just 2223, coming off a really
• 1:12:31
  good season in a really tough league.
• 1:12:33
  I think she's really going to shine for United, which makes me
• 1:12:36
  feel kind of way, but happy for the player nonetheless.
• 1:12:41
  There you. Go, Yeah, great call there,
• 1:12:43
  I'll. I'll add an additional
• 1:12:45
  Manchester United Football Club player, 24 year old English
• 1:12:48
  international Jess Park. Four goals, 2 assists this
• 1:12:51
  season. She added a goal in the
• 1:12:53
  Champions League. You know, can she can she break
• 1:12:56
  into that? Extremely talented Lionesses
• 1:13:01
  midfield and get some more consistent playing time there.
• 1:13:04
  I think you know, we'll we'll be interested to see it a couple
• 1:13:07
  other players. Speaking of midfield, Sam Meza
• 1:13:11
  24 year old for Seattle Rain Football Club.
• 1:13:13
  She had an excellent season as a defensive midfielder was really
• 1:13:17
  disruptive. Laura Harvey often called her
• 1:13:19
  the team's best player. She's going to have like, you
• 1:13:23
  know, that was really her first season in the NWSL.
• 1:13:26
  We'll see if she's able to repeat it.
• 1:13:28
  I I named Julie Blackstad from from Hammerby also 20 or
• 1:13:33
  Blackstad's 24. Ellen Vongerheim, 21 year old
• 1:13:36
  for Hammerby. How does 17 goals and 9 assists
• 1:13:39
  in 25 matches played some that's pretty good.
• 1:13:44
  I also had I when when I asked are we naming keepers, I didn't
• 1:13:51
  know if we were going to take a keeper with our last pick.
• 1:13:54
  My my pick was going to be I want this on the record 25 year
• 1:13:58
  old from Bay FC, Jordan Silkowitz.
• 1:14:01
  Let's fuck with go. Her post shot XG per shot on
• 1:14:05
  target was in the 82nd percentile in the world.
• 1:14:09
  And after our conversation with her in in 2025, I want to see
• 1:14:14
  how much better she can get because I I believe that she's
• 1:14:17
  going to work her way into the one of the absolute best keepers
• 1:14:21
  in the league. One last name I want to hit,
• 1:14:24
  obviously. You know, tough, near impossible
• 1:14:28
  2025, but a player foot for sure under that under that U26
• 1:14:34
  category, savvy King, you know, only good wishes, good vibes
• 1:14:38
  send savvy King's way. You know, I'm not sure the the
• 1:14:41
  update on, you know, the the health situation and would love
• 1:14:44
  to see that player, you know, kind of like back in the mix.
• 1:14:46
  But just want to let that player know that, you know, we didn't
• 1:14:49
  forget about, you know, the the potential and like the
• 1:14:54
  commitment to the game and like you're just a player that
• 1:14:56
  obviously a rough year and just wanted to set good vibes to to
• 1:15:00
  to a good person. Good player, great shot by you.
• 1:15:04
  Yeah, I look, I look forward to seeing her back on the pitch if
• 1:15:06
  that's what's right for her medically and what's what's
• 1:15:09
  right for her personally. So yeah, I always like to see
• 1:15:13
  talented young players on the field, no doubt.
• 1:15:16
  All right, man. We drafted some players, we got
• 1:15:20
  excited, we got prepped for 2026.
• 1:15:22
  Anything else you want to hit before we get out of here?
• 1:15:24
  I think. I mean, I think we.
• 1:15:26
  We've done it. I mean, we could name a million
• 1:15:29
  other players. I want to say Nicole and Yeomi.
• 1:15:32
  German international 25I track Frankfurt.
• 1:15:34
  Fourteen goals, 6 assists in the 2425 season.
• 1:15:37
  Come on, let's go. She has eight goals and two
• 1:15:39
  assists this season, 2 behind the league leader.
• 1:15:42
  You know, there's some reporting, German football news
• 1:15:45
  site Sport to build reports that Bayern Munich is interested in
• 1:15:49
  Nyomi. That could be interesting.
• 1:15:51
  Like they need more goal scoring there.
• 1:15:53
  But I'll tell you, Nicole, Seattle's beautiful this time of
• 1:15:57
  year. You might like it playing for
• 1:15:58
  Seattle Rain FC. Nicole, do you want to play with
• 1:16:01
  Salomon Bariolo? And who's the other we signed
• 1:16:04
  for? Seattle.
• 1:16:08
  That's right, we're building something.
• 1:16:10
  Anyway, all right man, this is. Another episode of the two
• 1:16:13
  channel Thank you thank you, thank you for watching,
• 1:16:14
  listening, hanging out, drafting with us getting excited about
• 1:16:17
  2026 with us. If you enjoyed the show, we do
• 1:16:20
  this every single week, sometimes twice a week, YouTube,
• 1:16:22
  Spotify, Apple podcast where we like to watch or listen.
• 1:16:24
  Make sure you like subscribe, follow, comment, leave us a
• 1:16:26
  review patreon.com session to the channel great way to support
• 1:16:29
  the show into the channel merch even greater way to support the
• 1:16:32
  show. Links to all the above much much
• 1:16:34
  more the description of this episode and a big thing in my
• 1:16:37
  coast as well. Mr. Grant angle for he's way on
• 1:16:41
  the wrong side of 25. Doesn't matter then my number
• 1:16:45
  one pick. You already know what time it
• 1:16:46
  is. I appreciate you bro.
• 1:16:49
  Likewise buddy. I'll be turning 25.
• 1:16:51
  For the second time in about 10 years, I look, I look forward to
• 1:16:55
  that. But yeah, nobody I'd rather
• 1:16:59
  rather do this exercise with. Appreciate you for coming up
• 1:17:02
  with the idea. It's like, unsurprisingly a
• 1:17:04
  great idea by you. And yeah, let us know Like, we
• 1:17:07
  got other players, like you could yell at us about Hannah
• 1:17:09
  Hampton or Olivia Peng or, you know, several other players out
• 1:17:14
  there in the world. Do we talk about Claire Hutton,
• 1:17:18
  Michelle Cooper, a million other players you can yell at us
• 1:17:21
  about? Let us know in the comments who
• 1:17:23
  we forgot. You guys always make the show
• 1:17:25
  better. We appreciate you.
• 1:17:26
  Thanks for rocking with us and we will see you all next time.