Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / Rachael Kundananji Interview | Bay FC, Zambia, Copper Queens Superstar ✨

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Rachael Kundananji Interview | Bay FC, Zambia, Copper Queens Superstar ✨ · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:05
Okay, welcome to Into the Channel podcast, primarily about
0:09
1 football. I'm your host Dino Desespres and
0:12
as always I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Angle as well as
0:17
a very special guest. Buddy, I'm feeling fantastic and
0:20
that's because we are joined by one of the most exciting
0:23
attacking players in world football today.
0:25
Her incredible journey includes the Konkola Queens, the Andeni
0:29
Roses, Ibar Beak, Madrid CFF and now Bay FC where the club set
0:34
the standard in 2024 with what was at the time the largest
0:38
transfer fee ever. For her services, she's helped
0:41
lead the Copper Queens of Zambia and the Africa Cup of Nations,
0:44
the Olympics, and the 2023 World Cup where she notched notched a
0:48
goal versus Costa Rica and announced herself to a truly
0:51
global audience. She plays with style, she plays
0:55
with flair, she plays with grace, and we're just going to
0:57
try to keep up with her in this interview.
0:59
It is truly an honor and a privilege to welcome to the
1:02
program Rachel Kundananji. Thank you.
1:04
Thank you so much of. Course it's like to have you.
1:07
Thanks for joining us, Rachel. I know in the building,
1:10
everybody, I've never heard anybody refer to you as Rachel.
1:12
Everybody calls you Rudy. Is it, is it OK?
1:14
Are we on a nickname basis? Can we call you Rudy as well?
1:17
Yeah, sure, no problem. OK, wonderful.
1:20
Grant alluded to it. I know it's a little bit tough
1:23
to tell by looking at us, but if you cut U.S.
1:26
Open, we are 100% copper Queens on the inside.
1:30
Can you talk to us about what it's been like?
1:32
You know, obviously you and Barbara Benda and Grace Chanda,
1:35
some other players sort of like lifting that nation, you know
1:39
that the footballing country that is them.
1:40
But can you talk about what that experience has been like?
1:43
You know, it has been an awesome journey, you know, being part of
1:49
this elite generation and trying to pull out, you know, and you
1:54
know, there's so much ups and downs, but I just love the idea
1:58
that we always find a way and always work together.
2:02
And you know, that give me joy seeing what we are achieving as
2:06
a team. As you know, even as a nation,
2:08
you know, Zambia has been like a small country for in, in terms
2:15
of soccer. And as you can see, we have been
2:19
to different major tournaments together as the same team from
2:23
2017 until now. We are still going.
2:25
Only God knows where we are going to reach.
2:28
I definitely agree. I mean, it seems like the
2:30
ceiling is high. You, you and your colleagues,
2:32
you know, superstar players. I know this was a friendly match
2:36
that I'm going to ask you about. And it's a couple years removed.
2:39
And so sometimes people might forget friendlies.
2:42
I'm talking about July 7th, 2023, Zambia versus Germany, one
2:47
of the most insane football matches I've ever seen in my
2:50
life. You know, when I watched it on
2:52
YouTube after, you know, going up into the World Cup and we
2:55
were like, whoa, who is this country?
2:57
Who are these players? Now that you have a few years
3:00
looking back on it, what do you remember most from that match?
3:04
I think it's just the way we prepared for that game, you
3:07
know, waking up, you know, we like music, we like singing, we
3:11
like dancing, you know, making jokes.
3:13
That's part of me. I like doing that.
3:16
And just the encouragement we were giving one another, saying
3:19
we have to beat German tonight, We have to write history.
3:23
And it wasn't easy. Yeah.
3:25
But, you know, we saw how we can do it.
3:28
We worked together, you know, we planned and everything just went
3:33
well. You know, I really, really
3:34
enjoyed that game because it wasn't so easy, but it was so
3:38
tough. And I, I know we gave Germany
3:41
what to talk about. Not just Germany, but the entire
3:43
world. Definitely put him on notice and
3:46
obviously you, you, you guys springboard that success to the,
3:50
you know, obviously the World Cup and then Fast forward to
3:53
your entry into the NWSL, Grant mentioned.
3:56
You know, that big transfer fee, you know, obviously coming into
3:59
the league, you know, new league, new environment, you
4:01
know, new country. How much did you feel any kind
4:04
of pressure that first season or, or was it a little bit of a
4:07
roller coaster? Did it kind of go up and down?
4:08
What what was that experience like?
4:10
I. Would say a little bit I was a
4:13
little bit nervous, but you know, and also the Laura coaster
4:17
also was involved well by ups and downs and trying to figure
4:20
it out how to you know, but as you know, we are from Zambia and
4:24
we always find a way. So like it wasn't easy.
4:28
I tried, you know, coming to a new team, not just a new team,
4:32
but like everybody, we are new to each other and try to make
4:36
one team is very difficult. And this was my first time which
4:39
I, you know, I had to gamble to say I'll take this chance and
4:42
try to see where it takes me. But you know, we learn every day
4:45
and I learned a lot by knowing how the team starts and
4:49
everything and understanding what is needed, how we work
4:53
around and how we can deal with challenges and everything.
4:58
You know, it has been awesome since I came here and I've been
5:01
having a great time. I'm glad you, you, you know,
5:04
reference like you and your Zambian teammates kind of having
5:07
this culture and having a great time.
5:09
So Dino's down there in San Francisco where you are.
5:12
I'm based up in Seattle. And every time either you or
5:16
Barbara Benda and the Orlando Pride come and play, you know, I
5:19
can see like in the corner there are people waving Zambian flags.
5:23
They're having a party down there.
5:24
Your, your, your, your countrymen, your countrymen and
5:27
women out there coming to to celebrate as you travel around
5:31
our gigantic country here in the United States.
5:33
What are the cities where you where?
5:35
Maybe you've been a little bit surprised by some Zambian
5:38
support? I think here, I think we had so
5:43
many Zambians who traveled around the US.
5:48
They traveled all the way from New York, from different States
5:53
and just to come and watch our game.
5:55
The first game we played against Orlando, like there was a
5:58
massive, massive Zambian supporters.
6:00
And after that we had to mingle and like have some time
6:04
together. We had dinner together and you
6:07
know, play some Zambian music. We had fun, you know, I would
6:10
say it was a little party for, for us.
6:12
They they just posted that for us, just to make us stand
6:16
together and just enjoy the moment.
6:18
That's beautiful. I was at I was at one of those
6:20
matches in Orlando, 2024. Super exciting.
6:23
And Speaking of that, that season, I love to ask players
6:26
this, did you have a welcome to the NWSL moment?
6:30
Maybe in practice or in a match where somebody did something,
6:32
you're like, Oh my God, what was that?
6:34
I have like just you left your head spinning.
6:37
No, I think it's just the games, you know, it was a little
6:40
different from, you know, from where I came from, but like, you
6:45
know, it's nothing I've never seen before.
6:47
But like, you know, I that's why it's very easy for me just to
6:50
adapt and, and also be in the league and look like I've been
6:54
here for a long. Time, I think a lot of the
6:56
expectations really when you came into the league was like,
6:58
OK, it's going to be a goal scorer.
7:00
You know, like we're going to see all the goals, but actually
7:02
like you've been pretty consistent as a creator to, you
7:06
know, assists all throughout. How important is like creating
7:10
chances for others And, you know, sort of like adding that
7:13
to, you know, the goal score? Like, is that something like,
7:15
how do you think about yourself as an like a well-rounded
7:18
attacker? I think, you know, at first, you
7:21
know, yeah, in Spain I was scoring goes in at any angle and
7:25
everything. You know, it's just the
7:27
difference of the position I was playing there and the position
7:29
I'm playing here, you know, there was a number 9 and it was
7:34
very easy for me to make good lands and, and being around the
7:37
team who knew how to to play around me and how to make me
7:41
become a better player. And here when I came, I'm a
7:44
winger whereby I have to defend, attack and also try to make
7:48
everything, you know, try to create as a winger, you need to
7:51
create and also score goals, you know, So like I had to speak to
7:55
myself and say, you know what, I was scoring goals because there
7:58
were other players were creating for me.
8:00
Why can't I become the player which and it has helped me to
8:04
become a team's player because I'm not just me.
8:07
I'm not just with the energy. This is just a game of, of
8:10
football whereby we have a lot of players involved and it's a
8:14
teamwork. So that's why I was like, I'll
8:17
try to create more chances as I can try to do.
8:20
And I'm just proud of my I'm trying to, to, to find myself in
8:26
that angle also. And I, I feel like we're, we're
8:29
seeing that in especially like, you know, in this last match,
8:32
first Boston, I, I was talking to Dino in, in our recap
8:36
episode. I'd like the chemistry you have
8:38
with Carly Lima and Claire Hutton, Dorian Bailey.
8:41
It seems like you guys have some connectivity.
8:44
And so that kind of leads me to my question.
8:45
This is obviously your first year working with manager Emma
8:48
Coates. How has she kind of helped
8:51
instill that togetherness that it looks like your attack has?
8:56
I think it's just a matter of understanding the game and, you
8:59
know, knowing what you want to achieve and learning more about
9:03
your players. I feel like even before she came
9:06
here, she was studying each and everyone of us.
9:08
And so when she came here, it was very easy for her to, you
9:12
know, come up with ideas and try to make A to create a very good
9:17
team. And what I believe in is that we
9:21
have a very good team and we can even compete for the league
9:25
title because this team is is massive.
9:28
Yeah. People would say, oh, no, BFC
9:30
that and that. But like, as you can see, these
9:32
past games that we have played this, we are we are growing in
9:35
in each game. And you know, our style she
9:38
brought in the team is is perfect.
9:40
And for me, it's kind of my style.
9:42
So it's very easy. Rudy, I wanted to ask about the
9:44
your first goal of this season a couple weeks ago now, 5th minute
9:49
Taylor Hough plays that ball to you just like a sizzling ball up
9:53
the pitch and you make you make a great run to to get onto it.
9:57
What, what is that moment like when you see Taylor make contact
10:01
with the ball and then you see, like, I can get to that and I
10:04
can put it like, what's going through your head in that
10:06
moment? Is it quiet or is it like
10:07
really? Like, is the music loud up
10:09
there? You know, sometimes it's just
10:12
like taking a chance when you see such you just like, you
10:17
know, I feel like I can't make it that, but like let me just
10:20
try. But like when you're going
10:22
there, just, you know, being calm and understanding that
10:27
anything can happen. You know, like sometimes I
10:29
always say like me trying to place this doesn't mean that I
10:33
want to win that, but what I mean is just to disturb in order
10:37
for my teammates to get the ball and also in goal scoring
10:40
opportunities that would happen is just for me to go try my luck
10:43
and you know, just keep on pushing as you saw like the
10:48
defenders were behind and I ended up scoring the goal.
10:52
If I gave up so easily, I couldn't have gotten the goal,
10:55
but like I had to run and everybody was just, you know,
10:58
they believed in me. They were like, today you're
11:00
scoring. And Taylor told me before the
11:02
game, I think was training before game day.
11:05
She was like, you owe me a go, you owe me a go.
11:08
And I was like, OK, yeah, no problem.
11:09
Moscow, I promised you. And it was just like so lucky
11:13
that she was the one who assisted the go.
11:15
And I was like, yeah, you see, you assisted.
11:18
I owe you a go. You assisted, I scored.
11:20
So you know, it was so fun. That is a great story.
11:24
I love that. And I, I feel like, you know,
11:27
when I look at a player like Claire Hutton, a young, exciting
11:30
player, and then obviously I know she's dealing with an
11:33
injury right now. But Alex Pfeiffer, who I think
11:35
plays with a lot of style. I feel like you, you know, I
11:38
mentioned it in the intro. I feel like you've played with
11:40
his style and flair and you have teammates who kind of seem to
11:44
match that energy. When I mentioned we'll start,
11:47
let's start with Claire Hutton. When I mentioned Claire Hutton,
11:50
the footballer, what are the first couple things that come to
11:52
your? Her skills, you know, she has
11:55
crazy skills and you know, she always have fun when when she
12:00
was around the bow, you know, and like she, she can do
12:03
anything with the bow, which it doesn't matter how much pressure
12:06
she has, she always knows how to solve it.
12:09
So it just gives me the opportunity to say, you know, I
12:13
think being around, I feel like this season will be the best
12:16
season ever in the end of the year so that I've ever had, you
12:19
know, having players, like you said, Alex is a good player.
12:22
Also being in the other wing. I mean, the other wing and the
12:26
other players talking of Baz, talking of Christina, talking of
12:31
these are the players who have Taylor half who are, you know,
12:35
they're all skillful players and young and they have like big
12:41
ahead of them, big career ahead of them, and they can do wonders
12:45
as they are going. You know, so it's just something
12:48
which is making me happy and enjoying the game and, you know,
12:52
hoping to, you know, to to also respond to what they are giving
12:57
me. And you know, they're also
12:58
giving me pleasure to work hard. It's not that they are doing it
13:01
for themselves. They are helping me also to work
13:04
hard. You know, if I see them doing
13:06
what they're doing, I have too much, you know, I have too much.
13:09
And even I'm that kind of a person, even if I'm trying to
13:11
too much, I have to do extra in order to because I'm known for
13:14
that, you know, So I just need to do that.
13:17
You know, every player has their own strength.
13:20
And as talking of, of, of crush, our strength is dribbling and
13:27
having the ball and creating chances.
13:29
You know, all those chances, she, she, she, she created in
13:34
the Boston game. Unfortunately, we didn't score
13:37
them. We didn't utilize them so
13:39
hopefully next game we need to use those chances and I, you
13:43
know, I believe in in our team, we are going to do that.
13:47
Next game, perfect segue coming up Wednesday at Portland.
13:51
That's a tough one. You know, that's a tough place
13:53
to kind of get the the offense back on track.
13:56
You know, obviously the goal, you know, the goals feel pretty
13:58
close. You know, like they're, you
14:00
know, we're getting closer to kind of like a big breakthrough
14:03
in your mind, you know, is there something missing or is it just,
14:07
you know, a little bit of luck or is it, you know, tactical or
14:10
a little bit of chemistry? Like how does how does this bait
14:12
attack turn the corner? I think we are doing everything
14:18
correct. You know, it's just a matter of
14:20
clinical finishing, you know, like that has nothing to do with
14:25
the entire team is just like as individually we need to man up
14:30
and say, you know, we need to use these chances because as a
14:33
team we are doing everything and we are creating chances.
14:36
So it's up to us strikers, you know, to challenge one another.
14:39
And that's begins on training is not just on game days.
14:43
We have to continue challenging one another.
14:46
Sometimes I believe in just competing on, on, on, on
14:49
training sessions whereby you score you, you know, you're
14:52
like, I'm scoring or you score 5 goes, you're like, I'm today.
14:55
You know, I like all those things to everybody to seem like
14:58
it's just for fun. But for me it's something which
15:00
is making me to work hard to say, oh, she scored three goals.
15:03
Let me try to score five goals and the other one will be like,
15:06
OK, let me try to score six goals.
15:07
As we are doing that on game day, it will be very easy.
15:10
You let's say you have one opportunity in on game day, you
15:13
score that one and then the game ends 10 just like what happened
15:17
in San Diego. You know, it was just the first
15:20
chance and it went in and that goal decided the entire game.
15:25
Yep, incredible. And I think, you know, you talk
15:27
about, you know, your competitiveness, which you can
15:30
definitely see it. And you know, obviously you're,
15:33
you seem like a nice person, a charming, delightful person to
15:36
speak. To for sure.
15:38
But on the pitch sometimes, are you trying to embarrass some of
15:42
these defenders? You know, when you're out there
15:44
on the on the edge of the box, you're just kind of like you're
15:46
looking at and you're like, am I gonna like, are you just like,
15:49
I'm gonna put a cookie right now or what?
15:51
Is this just something fun? You know, I have to enjoy what I
15:54
do, you know, enjoy. If you are not enjoying the
15:58
game, then what are you doing? You have to stop If you are not
16:01
enjoying, find something you you're going to enjoy.
16:03
So that's part of enjoyment, me doing what I love, enjoying the
16:06
game, you know, seizing the moment and, you know, creating
16:11
memories. When I sit down one time, I'll
16:13
be talking about that. People be talking about that.
16:16
Other kids will be inspired of that.
16:18
Whenever they are playing, they'll be like, Oh my God, I
16:21
want to do that style. Rachel Dido I Oh my God, I want
16:23
to do what this player did. You know, it's just creating
16:26
something because every time soccer is changing, it's
16:30
changing every day. They are becoming new generation
16:33
and everything is changing. And they'll come new styles.
16:37
But like one time somebody would just say, oh, let me do this.
16:40
And they'll be like, oh, I remember this.
16:42
Rachel did this in this and this and this game, you know, all
16:45
those things. That's a great point.
16:47
And you, you mentioned Cristiana Jarelli earlier, you know,
16:51
obviously she joins the club from Juventus.
16:53
She had a good Champions League, she was good in the EUR talking
16:57
about players who express themselves on the pitch and Evan
17:00
knows for goal and you know, play with with a fun style.
17:03
How have you enjoyed your time playing with Jarelli so far?
17:08
You know, since she came here, she wasn't playing her face.
17:13
And then when she started playing, I got injured and the
17:16
time I got back she was like, oh, now I'm glad that we are
17:20
going to play together now and then.
17:21
And that was the last game when she came in as a substitute, you
17:24
know. So it was her face.
17:25
But like me watching from the stands and everything, looking a
17:29
vast out of play and knowing she's #9 and she's good at what
17:34
she does. And, you know, it's just a
17:36
matter of us now as wingers, as midfielders, also like, you
17:40
know, to work with her around. And I, I know we are going to,
17:44
to, to, to, to, to have a good combination together.
17:46
Because she always like talk to me and tell me what to do at
17:50
some point to, to, to help me to say, oh, you know this and that.
17:53
You know, and I love that. I love when my fellow player
17:56
comes to me to tell me, you know what, Rachel, if you were to do
17:59
this, you're doing this right. Try to do this again to do that.
18:03
And then like try to encourage me also to, you know, that helps
18:07
me. That's what's making good player
18:09
like, he's not just about playing.
18:11
Also mentoring others because she's mentoring me without
18:14
noticing that. That's so cool.
18:17
And I think, you know, obviously brings so much experience
18:20
international chambers, like it's just an exciting addition
18:24
to the team. Rudy, is there somebody on the
18:28
club that you get to see in practice that you feel like
18:32
people aren't talking about, that people more people should
18:34
know about? I will say like, you know,
18:36
Maddie, Maddie, she, she, you know, two years, she never
18:41
played like a full 90 or maybe even play games.
18:45
But this year the way she has come out, you know, she, she's
18:48
just making me to feel like, you know, everything is possible.
18:51
She's working hard. And, you know, the beginning of
18:54
the, the season, she, she was starting all the games and I'm
18:57
sure she'll come back again. And like whenever she comes, you
19:01
know, so she's just bringing that energy.
19:04
Even during training, she's giving me that challenge whereby
19:07
she's trying to tackle me everywhere.
19:08
She's just trying to, to give me, you know, the training
19:12
session that I want. And you know, I'm just like
19:17
Elisa, she got Indian and she was part of the people who are
19:21
giving me a competition, you know, and giving me tough time.
19:26
And she, she was the she's a good player, like, and Maddie
19:31
has repressed her now coming so strong and, you know, giving
19:35
that vibe and always trying to be a giant in the game, you
19:39
know, and I, I, I love how she's coming out.
19:42
That's a great shout for sure. Can you and and you talked about
19:46
like the energy and like the vibes.
19:48
What what's what has been the biggest difference between last
19:51
year Bay FC, this year Bay FC? And then there's the mentality.
19:56
You know, we've had this mentality of building.
20:00
The team, you know, and now I like that the mentality now is
20:04
to win games and also, you know, the mentality of winning.
20:08
Yeah, we are building the team as we are winning also, which is
20:12
there's a lot of changes even like the way we are playing
20:15
games, the way we are always coming together.
20:18
When we are being scored on, we are not giving up to say Oh no,
20:22
this and that. We are just like coming out like
20:25
we want to win. We want to come out and win this
20:28
game or even if it's a draw, we have to fight.
20:31
We awake, we've been working together, yes, but now everybody
20:34
is manning up, everybody is fighting, everybody's working so
20:38
hard in order. It's not easy now to be in the
20:41
1st 11. You know, every time you are
20:42
training you're like I don't know if I'm going to be in the
20:45
1st 11, but you know you are like doubting yourself.
20:49
It's not easy because everybody wants to be in the 1st 11 and
20:52
wants to play it again. And even if you are not in the
20:55
1st 11, the people on the bench are also, you know when they
20:58
come in, it won't show that they just came in to show that
21:03
they've been playing from the beginning because they'll bring
21:05
that energy. They will just show even if it's
21:08
5 minutes they have, they are always using that opportunity.
21:12
Yeah, I think that's interesting.
21:13
It feels like the best teams that I see have players who are
21:16
not shy about, you know, coming off the bench and contributing
21:20
and and players kind of understand, of course, like you
21:22
said, everybody wants to be in the starting 11.
21:24
But, you know, having that that common goal or that that that
21:29
feeling of working toward a common goal seems to seems to be
21:32
a like a binding piece for a team.
21:35
So with that in mind, as the season goes on, how do you
21:39
envision Bay FC reaching the goals that you want to reach?
21:42
What has to happen in these next 21 matches?
21:47
I think talking wise as strike as we need to man up and always
21:52
finish like always score like we need to score goals.
21:57
We create opportunities, we finish the opportunity we we, we
22:01
buried right there. And then I feel like defensive
22:04
wise we are doing great and also attacking wise we are doing
22:07
great yes, but like we are missing couple of chances.
22:09
So I feel like we should manner because we should challenge
22:13
ourselves and score goals because winning the game is
22:17
goals and we are defending well, yes, but we need to win, we need
22:21
to score goals. And yeah, we need to do that.
22:25
It's a good strategy. We'll be locked in to watch.
22:29
Hopefully those goals start to roll in.
22:31
I think the season, the season is off to a really good start.
22:33
The Emma Coats era off to a good start as well.
22:35
So very, very exciting stuff. Rudy, you've been incredibly
22:38
gracious with your time and your insights and your energy.
22:41
So, I mean, we already knew what your energy was gonna be so in
22:45
that, but very much appreciate you joining us.
22:47
Thank you. Thank you so much for the time.
22:49
Thank you so much for having me guys.
22:51
Of course. Can I, can I throw one bonus
22:54
question at you if you don't mind, Rudy?
22:55
Oh yeah, sure, no problem. You wait for Women's Champions
22:58
League final taking place in Oslo, Norway this Saturday.
23:02
Barcelona verse Lyon. I know you have Champions League
23:05
appearances with Beak. If you had to pick, who do you
23:09
think's going to win on Saturday?
23:13
Oh my God, that's a tough decision because you know,
23:17
Barcelona is a good team, you know, but I'm supporting Leon,
23:21
my sister is there. There we go.
23:25
Daddy is there. I would love her to win a
23:27
Champions League, you know? At least we have another African
23:31
winning a Champions League, you know, I'll be proud of them.
23:35
You know, I'm proud of of what she's doing.
23:38
And I feel like if they win this Champions League, you know,
23:42
that'll make me happy. That's the win for us.
23:45
Oh, you know. Love it.
23:46
Love it. All right.
23:47
There we go. Rudy.
23:48
You're also. You're my son's favorite player.
23:51
He's four years old. I think it has something to do
23:53
with your very distinct look on the screen.
23:55
But he's always excited when he sees you.
23:57
I asked him to see. I asked him.
23:58
I'm like, you want me to ask Rudy anything?
24:00
He was like, no, but show her one of my monster trucks, which
24:03
is just oh. Yeah, he's like he's.
24:05
Not gonna know the name of the monster truck, so tell her the
24:07
name. So the name is is Rhino Mite.
24:09
He wanted me to tell, to tell you that.
24:11
You should say hi. Thank you so much.
24:14
I'm so glad to hear that. We'll see.
24:16
We'll see you at the next the next home match.
24:19
All right, Yeah, I'll see you if he's coming.
24:21
I would say I would hang out and hang around and say hi to him.
24:26
I appreciate it. Appreciate it.
24:27
Thank you so much, Rudy. Thank you so much for having me,
24:30
have a great time. You too, Shalapo.
24:32
All right, bye. OK, that was fun.
24:37
That was super fun. She's really cool, man.
24:40
It's wild because I've been, you know, covering the team last
24:42
year, this year, that was my first interaction with Rudy and
24:46
I feel like I've almost talked to every player but but her or
24:49
close to it and did not disappoint whatsoever.
24:52
Great stories, great energy. Yeah, man, that it's really,
24:56
it's just nice when professional athletes like have a joy and
25:00
enthusiasm about the way they play.
25:02
And then the way she answered when you I, it was a great
25:05
question by you. Like, are you out there trying
25:07
to embarrass defenders? And she's just like, I'm just
25:10
being me essentially. And like, I love that because
25:13
that's how her style of play jumps off the television screen.
25:17
Yeah, yeah, and she's definitely out there trying to embarrass
25:20
them. See.
25:21
See it on her face so quick episode calendar and shout out
25:24
to to Rudy, Rachel Gulunagi and the team of AFC for helping get
25:28
it together. You know, hit some stumbles but
25:31
ultimately got it done hit the finish line but quick episode
25:34
calendar before we get out of here, we're going to be back
25:37
with our Champions League final preview this week.
25:40
We're going to figure out the time zones we're going to make
25:42
it happen. We're going to we're going to
25:44
send some some data across fiber across the, the oceans to, to,
25:48
to put the preview together. And we're not going to watch the
25:51
clock. We're just going to say
25:53
everything, every possible thing we can think about the final.
25:55
So prepare for a marathon. It's going to be midweek.
25:58
You have a few days to knock through the few hours that we
26:00
put together. I want to do a best 11 for
26:04
Champions League. I think we, we, you know, the
26:05
tournament definitely deserves that.
26:07
And you know, end of yourself coverage continues.
26:09
Not only does it continue, but starts to heat up until it cools
26:12
down during the men's World Cup and then it heats back up again.
26:15
You know, you were going to be here for all of it.
26:17
And we're going to try to do our best to, to fill the calendar,
26:20
maybe with some fun interviews and some fun stuff to kind of,
26:23
you know, help help get us through the, the dry season.
26:27
I think that's the best way to handle it.
26:28
Yeah. We'll, I'll be transmitting live
26:31
from Oslo, Norway, to preview the final and then to talk about
26:36
the final after it. I mentioned on our last show
26:38
we're going to have an extremely special guest.
26:40
I think we can announce that the calendar invitation's been
26:43
accepted. The the e-mail correspondence
26:47
has gone through in a positive way.
26:50
Well, we will be joined by Chris Whittingham, esteemed announcer,
26:55
one of the best football announcers in the world today,
26:58
who will be calling the UEFA Women's Champions League final
27:01
on Paramount Plus. So this will be our third year
27:04
in the row where we interview the person who was a play by
27:08
play announcer for the UEFA Women's Champions League final.
27:10
Plus we interviewed Jackie Olli after she called a bunch of the
27:13
matches in the EUR but also called the Euro final.
27:16
Your boys on a hot streak. Yeah, you know, I mean this,
27:20
this is the place to hear the voices, to talk to the other
27:22
voices, to talk about the football stuff, in case anybody,
27:26
you know, had that confused. Anyway, anything else you want
27:29
to cover for you guys here? I think we've done it, my good
27:32
man. Let me know.
27:34
Let us know in the comments. How was me saying Shalapo, which
27:40
is Bemba native, one of the native languages in Zambia, It
27:44
means goodbye. Thought Rachel would get a kick
27:46
out of that. She seemed to chuckle as we were
27:47
ending the show. So I'll take that as a victory.
27:50
But let me know. Mock me if you, if you must.
27:53
Give me constructive criticism, if you may.
27:57
Yeah, I think you know, our friends are always good for a
27:58
little bit of that. And with that said, this has
28:01
been another episode into the channel.
28:02
Thank you. Thank you for watching,
28:03
listening, hanging out. If you enjoyed the show, leave
28:05
us a review or like comment, subscribe, follow YouTube,
28:08
Spotify podcast for everything to watch or listen.
28:10
If you want to support the show, patreon.com/into the channel or
28:14
become a YouTube member using that join button or you can grab
28:18
a piece of official into the channel merch links to all the
28:21
above much, much more in the description of this episode.
28:24
And a big thank you to my coast as well, Mr. Grand Angle for
28:28
always creating chances for me and for that I appreciate you
28:31
bro. Likewise, buddy.
28:33
I mean, the 1/2 has been working for quite a while.
28:36
We talked about the esteemed guest.
28:38
We're putting together a Grade 11.
28:40
I still got to work on this. So you think about this, you
28:43
know, Lebanese, former Lebanese international SEAL 2 file.
28:46
He's our ten. We got Leanne Sanderson as our
28:48
number 9 now we have Rachel Kunanagi on the left wing.
28:52
We got Jordan Silkowitz in goal, buddy, we got Corey Dyke.
28:56
We can either play her at center back or you know, one of the
28:59
wing backs. We got options out here.
29:01
We continue to build the 11. We couldn't do it without all of
29:04
you. Thank you so much for the
29:05
support always dropping knowledge in the comments.
29:08
Thank you again for watching and we will see you all next time.