Latest / Rose City Red Card / October 25, 2026: We're In

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October 25, 2026: We're In · Rose City Red Card

0:14
Alan: Welcome to Rose City Red Card.
0:18
Alan: This is our episode for October 25th, 2026.
0:22
Alan: We are two days after an incredible game.
0:28
Alan: Let's fucking go, Thorns.
0:31
Marissa: Let's fucking go.
0:31
Alan: One nil, Marie Müller from 20 yards.
0:36
Alan: We're in the playoffs.
0:39
Alan: With me here is Marissa.
0:42
Marissa: What's up, chat?
0:43
Marissa: Yo, chat, how are we doing out there?
0:44
Marissa: How are we doing out there, fan?
0:45
Alan: And we were able to go to the game together with some friends of ours.
0:51
Alan: We'll talk a little bit about that coming up.
0:53
Alan: But this was, this was a great weekend.
0:56
Marissa: Yeah, it was a great weekend.
0:58
Marissa: It was a beautiful night, such an Oregon night.
1:02
Marissa: It was amazing.
1:04
Marissa: We had 20,000 people, 2100.
1:08
Alan: 20,000 people.
1:11
Alan: This was, uh, We now are into our 10th straight playoff season, the longest active run in the league.
1:23
Alan: We are, we managed to become the first NWSL team to reach 100 clean sheets.
1:31
Alan: 1-0, our 100th clean sheet.
1:36
Alan: Yeah, it's, it's absolutely incredible.
1:39
Marissa: It was, it was such a good weekend.
1:43
Marissa: I, it was such a good weekend.
1:45
Marissa: We're going to have spend the whole episode talking about it, but you guys know, we played well.
1:50
Marissa: We're in the playoffs.
1:52
Marissa: We can all kind of breathe, like, yeah, let's get into it.
1:57
Marissa: Let's fucking go.
1:57
Alan: Let's fucking go.
1:58
Alan: You know, it's, we needed this.
2:01
Alan: We really did, and we got it, and it was so, so much fun.
2:05
Marissa: We, like, really needed this.
2:07
Marissa: Like, I needed this.
2:09
Alan: Yeah.
2:11
Alan: Well, all right.
2:12
Alan: So let's first go ahead and talk about actually what.
2:15
Alan: What happened to the game, how we managed to get this.
2:19
Alan: Let's talk about what happened.
2:20
Marissa: Okay.
2:27
Marissa: All right.
2:28
Marissa: So, Thorns fans, we beat North Carolina 1 to 0 at Providence Park on Friday night.
2:36
Marissa: It was exhilarating.
2:38
Marissa: I've been in the press box all season and you can't show any motion.
2:43
Marissa: You can't be rooting for your team.
2:45
Marissa: Can't smile.
2:46
Marissa: Can't shake your head.
2:47
Marissa: You kind of got to be pretty neutral in the press box.
2:49
Marissa: And so this is one of my first.
2:50
Marissa: times being in the crowd and it was your first time in the crowd this season our first time being out there together yeah it was the first time Alan and I've actually been in the stands together and yeah we'll sorry we're getting ahead of ourselves but yeah let's just talk about the game um so first half both teams played very ticky tacky nobody wanted to lose they didn't want to give up the ball they were playing very so explain that term to me okay so should ask me that in the before because I don't know. I'm just kidding. Okay, so tiki tacky, like they're playing conservatively. They're playing kind of modestly. Like nobody's going to, oh like, let me push this ball for the attack. It was like, okay, actually let's just maintain possession. Instead of trying to push, they were like, let's maintain possession. There was a lot of passes back and forth
3:37
Alan: just kind of, you know, setting people up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Taking it easy, not wanting to push
3:43
Marissa: boundaries, just kind of trying to maintain possession. So, um, yeah, I mean, it was, it was, was a really good game. We played really, really well. I was actually pretty impressed. It was interesting. Vignola was on
3:55
Alan: the bench. She wasn't injured. Yeah, do we have any idea why she was? I personally think that she's one of
4:01
Marissa: our better, best defenders. Like, um, but I'm not a coach. I'm not an analyst. I sit here and chill with my homie Alan. Yes, there we go. Um, but whatever scheme tactics, Vilahamn was working and cooking on. It worked because we kept Sanchez quiet the entire game. I think she had maybe a handful of runs, but we, yeah, we, we, we played great. Our defense looked good. I feel like our speed. We kept up. We were marking, we were marking in the box. We were tracking players back.
4:42
Marissa: Our midfield did a really, really good job. Yeah, um, yes, Brooke. Yeah, we're giving Vilahamn as flowers, you know? Like, a lot of people are kind of bent up on him, but he's new to this, he's new to this team, new to the season, new to the fucking country, new to the league, like, let's
4:58
Alan: give it a second, you know? It's very true. He is new. Um, you know, we've been saying we're not a big fan of him, but, um, you know, that we also haven't been seeing him that long. And, uh, Brooke just gave us the receipts. Uh, you know, playoffs clinched, 10 clean sheets, a club record 23 road goals. And a goal in 13 straight games, and doing all of that with Soph, Weaver, and Moultrie out. Yeah. So, you know,
5:24
Marissa: okay, he's, he's doing, doing all right. Let's not be so bad on the, yeah, we're, let's not to be so harsh. Yeah. I, I, Marissa, you don't be so harsh. All right, but let's get into what happened in the second
5:35
Alan: half. Uh, we started to see a little bit more action as we went into there. Yeah. Um, I think,
5:40
Marissa: I, actually, I think both teams are like, okay, trying to kind of turn it up. And also, you can, So when you're out on the field, I don't know if you've ever seen that, but, like, play, like, a coach can pass, like a player, a note or something like that. It's really weird. It's kind of funny when it happens and they pass it around. But you can't get tactics. Like, you can actually re, revamp after the second half, because your coach can take you in your locker room, has a whiteboard, this, this, actually can...
6:05
Alan: You have some time to talk about it.
6:06
Marissa: You have some time to talk, digest, like, figure out what you guys are going to do in the next half. And I think both teams did that and knew that they, somebody needs, they need to, they need to, they need to, they need to, they need to, they need to, they need to talk about it.
6:15
Marissa: win, especially North Carolina. They're sitting, are they sitting at 8th or right outside the playoff line? But regardless, we need wins. We need to win. They need to win. It kind of showed in the second half. A lot of pressure started happening. And then in the 60th minute, we get a beautiful rocket from Marie Müller. Oh my gosh, it was amazing. So I think what happened was, we had Nina Nijstad took the ball forward.
6:48
Marissa: She's...
6:48
Marissa: Nina Nijstad podcast.
6:50
Marissa: We love you, girl.
6:51
Marissa: Seriously.
6:51
Marissa: Fuck yeah.
6:52
Marissa: But she was dribbling through.
6:53
Marissa: She kind of passed a few players in the midfield.
6:56
Marissa: Pass it up to Reilyn.
6:57
Marissa: Reilyn took it up.
6:58
Marissa: She shot.
6:59
Marissa: It looked like she might have had an open pass to Tordin, but you got to take the fucking shot.
7:06
Marissa: Don't just tiki-tacky garbage bullshit in front of the fucking goal.
7:09
Marissa: Take the shot.
7:10
Marissa: Took the shot.
7:11
Marissa: North Carolina deflected it.
7:13
Marissa: Popped back out.
7:14
Marissa: Marie Müller.
7:15
Marissa: is sprinting from the back.
7:18
Alan: She was running so fast.
7:19
Marissa: Running from the back.
7:20
Marissa: The ball took a bounce.
7:22
Marissa: She volleyed it.
7:23
Marissa: It was a...
7:24
Marissa: Oh my God.
7:25
Marissa: It was a rocket.
7:26
Marissa: It was a rocket.
7:28
Marissa: It was beautiful.
7:30
Marissa: It was beautiful.
7:31
Alan: It was so sudden.
7:32
Alan: Like, she had gotten it, like, lined up just so perfectly.
7:36
Alan: And as soon as she got it, she touched it, and it was it was in.
7:38
Marissa: And, yeah, no second.
7:40
Marissa: It was first touch.
7:40
Marissa: First touch goal, like, Bali, there was a bounce to it.
7:43
Marissa: And I'm sorry, but like, most of the time you see, that people go over.
7:46
Marissa: Like, to be, especially to be running that fast, keep your body with the composure and keep your knee over the ball and keep it low.
7:55
Marissa: God damn! Because, you know, also, uh, um, North Carolina's goalie is, uh, Kailen Sheridan.
8:01
Marissa: Sheridan, let's just call her Sheridan.
8:03
Marissa: She used to play for San Diego.
8:04
Marissa: She's actually, and she's the Canadian goalie also, but she's a really good goalie.
8:08
Marissa: And so you, she isn't actually a really good goalie.
8:11
Marissa: So I feel like you gotta, you gotta, you gotta make those good shots and God, God.
8:15
Marissa: Damn, Marie Müller.
8:17
Marissa: We, fuck yeah.
8:18
Alan: Yeah, we were playing so well.
8:20
Alan: You know, we, we had some great cohesion going on.
8:24
Alan: Yeah.
8:24
Alan: We only had possession for a little over a third of the game.
8:29
Alan: And yet we had over triple the shots on target that they did.
8:33
Alan: Yeah.
8:33
Alan: Seven to two.
8:35
Alan: It's, it's incredible.
8:36
Marissa: Yeah, we had, I'm not sure what the facts are, but we had one of the better attacks of the league this season.
8:42
Marissa: You know what I mean?
8:42
Marissa: We conceded a fuck ton of goals.
8:45
Marissa: but our offense was killing it, you know?
8:46
Alan: And I feel like, well, we've been talking, you know, it's more our back and mid field that we need a little bit more work in.
8:55
Marissa: One of the biggest quotes in all sports is defense wins championships.
9:00
Marissa: Offense wins games.
9:01
Alan: Yep.
9:02
Marissa: And it's kind of true, you know what I mean?
9:05
Marissa: Like, you can score, I mean, if, I don't know, if, I don't know, if it doesn't matter who, like, what happens if they can't score against you, you know, like, it's...
9:16
Alan: Exactly.
9:16
Marissa: Yeah.
9:17
Alan: Well, should we get into that a little bit more about kind of what's going on with the team and what we need?
9:22
Marissa: Yeah.
9:28
Alan: All right. So, on a previous episode, you were saying, let's put Messner in.
9:33
Marissa: Yeah.
9:33
Alan: How are you feeling about that now?
9:34
Marissa: Well, I had a lot of Haterade that day.
9:37
Marissa: I drink a lot.
9:38
Marissa: I drink a lot of Haterade, Helen.
9:39
Marissa: I don't know if you know that.
9:40
Marissa: I drink a lot of Haterade.
9:41
Alan: Is that what mixed with that with vodka right now?
9:45
Alan: You've been told you should drink something other than, or you should mix something with it.
9:48
Marissa: I know, I know.
9:49
Marissa: You read it's told you.
9:50
Marissa: But I drink a cup of one.
9:51
Marissa: water. For every vodka that I have, I drink a full cup of water.
9:54
Alan: Where's the Haterade come in?
9:57
Marissa: That's infused in my blood.
9:58
Alan: Ah, okay. Just straight injections?
10:01
Marissa: Just straight injections, yeah.
10:02
Alan: All right.
10:03
Marissa: I don't promote use of Haterade, but it's something that gets me going.
10:08
Marissa: Anyways, okay, so we're going in.
10:10
Marissa: So, yeah, so last episode, I was like, fuck it, put Messner in.
10:13
Marissa: She had a great couple games at the beginning of season, and then Mackenzie Arnold gets her eighth clean shit at the year.
10:19
Marissa: Mackenzie's not a bad goalie.
10:21
Marissa: She's a good goalie.
10:22
Marissa: I'm just saying that, like, maybe we could try something different, but also not now.
10:27
Marissa: I will, my Haterade, I injected less Haterade today, so I'm feeling less Haterade-y.
10:34
Marissa: So great game, Mackenzie.
10:36
Marissa: She had two saves.
10:38
Marissa: She had aggressive come off her line.
10:40
Marissa: That moment was really good.
10:42
Marissa: I feel like it really just depends on confidence.
10:44
Marissa: Like, you can tell when she's not confident, and then you can tell when she is confident.
10:48
Marissa: When she's confident, she's, I'm going to run out to that fucking ball and stop.
10:51
Marissa: it, or I'm going to get to, I'm going to get to that ball first.
10:53
Marissa: Or I know, like, you can really tell, like, you know, how aggressively that she plays.
10:58
Marissa: And it's really important.
11:00
Marissa: I still wish that she maybe she would communicate a little bit more with the back line, you know, kind of organized, but God damn, it's a clean sheet.
11:06
Marissa: What can we, what can we take?
11:07
Alan: She had some great saves.
11:09
Alan: You know, we had, the only close one we had was a shot off the crossbar.
11:14
Marissa: Yeah.
11:15
Alan: That she, you know, reached for couldn't quite get, but, you know, it didn't go in.
11:18
Marissa: And those are the, some of those goals, like, you've seen them.
11:21
Marissa: Some of those goals are like, even if the goalie was right in the corner and could jump before the goal was scored, that's, I mean, shot, like, there's some shots that just can't be saved.
11:30
Marissa: But, yeah.
11:31
Alan: It is Arnold's eighth clean sheet.
11:34
Marissa: Oh, this is our 10th clean sheet season.
11:38
Marissa: Wow, that's pretty crazy.
11:41
Alan: Okay.
11:41
Alan: So this is our third year, or a third season, uh, as the Thorns where we've gotten 10 or more clean sheets.
11:49
Alan: Uh, in 2020, or 20, or 20, or 20, 2017, we had 11, and in 2021, we had 13.
11:55
Marissa: Okay.
11:55
Alan: And so now we're at 10.
11:57
Marissa: Okay.
11:58
Marissa: Thank you, Alan.
11:59
Marissa: He's the brains behind this operation.
12:00
Alan: Thank you, Brooke, for giving us the correction.
12:02
Marissa: Yeah. Thanks, girl.
12:03
Marissa: I love you.
12:05
Alan: So the other thing we wanted to talk about is Soph was still missing this game.
12:09
Alan: Yep. Mm-hmm.
12:10
Alan: But, tell me more.
12:13
Alan: Okay, so.
12:14
Alan: I know you have thoughts on this.
12:15
Marissa: I'm going to put my soccer analyst cap on and say, when Soph plays.
12:22
Marissa: I mean, she's one of the best players in the world.
12:24
Marissa: I think that we can all say that Sophia Wilson is literally one of the best players in the world, one of the best number nine's in the league, if not the best number nine in the league.
12:33
Marissa: We know it.
12:35
Marissa: Also, other teams know it.
12:38
Marissa: They are.
12:39
Alan: They know she's our star.
12:40
Marissa: They know she's our star.
12:41
Marissa: She knows what she's capable of above.
12:45
Marissa: People scout.
12:46
Marissa: People go through things in games.
12:48
Marissa: Like, there's like, like, even for us, like, we kept Sanchez.
12:51
Marissa: has quiet. We kept Barbra Banda quiet.
12:53
Marissa: Like, those are stars. Those are who is going to score no matter what.
12:57
Marissa: And I think teams know that about Soph.
12:59
Marissa: And I think with this game, we had to change our tactics.
13:04
Marissa: We had to change the scheme.
13:05
Marissa: Instead of just feeding to Soph, which is what you do.
13:08
Marissa: It's your number nine.
13:09
Marissa: That's literally what you do.
13:11
Marissa: So you feed the ball to your number nine to score.
13:13
Alan: Yep.
13:13
Marissa: I think we had to come up with something different.
13:16
Marissa: And it showed.
13:17
Marissa: So we have amazing players.
13:20
Marissa: Like, I mean, think of like, our attack, uh, Hanks, Turner, Tordin.
13:25
Marissa: Like, we have a really, really good solid attack.
13:29
Marissa: We have people that can score.
13:30
Marissa: Then Flem, Nijstad, like, we have it.
13:34
Marissa: And I think the tactic of actually anybody can fucking score is good.
13:40
Marissa: You know what I mean?
13:41
Marissa: So I think that it changed our mindset and it changed, it changed how we actually kind of looked.
13:46
Marissa: You know, I mean, I don't.
13:48
Alan: You were talking about the ticky tacky game earlier.
13:50
Alan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:51
Alan: Like keeping the ball moving, uh, and keeping the, you know, not, not a lot going on.
13:55
Alan: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:56
Alan: But like, it also means that, you know, we were moving the ball around.
13:59
Alan: And so we saw some, you know, our one goal, uh, it was off of a deflection.
14:05
Marissa: And a follow through from like a defender.
14:07
Alan: It was.
14:08
Alan: And it was, uh, you know, it was a team effort.
14:10
Alan: It was such a team effort.
14:11
Alan: And it was so good to see, you know, it's weird to say that a goal with no official, uh, it was a team effort, but it really absolutely was.
14:20
Marissa: No, but it was like that.
14:21
Marissa: follow through. That's like you're hungry. And also, so I'd watch this clip of Becky Sauerbrunn, uh, she was asked like, how are the Thorns feeling like after that game?
14:29
Marissa: And she was like, they're fucking hungry. They're hungry. We're at Providence. Like, they're hungry. And I, we did. We played like we were hungry. We played a really, really great game.
14:41
Marissa: And I don't know if it's, yeah, I don't know. We played really great. I think obviously who we, I would want every player to be Soph Wilson on the field. But I think that we did really well without her.
14:55
Alan: Like, that was, yeah, how much the rest of our team is incredible. We showed some fucking grit. We showed some
15:00
Marissa: grit, you know, and yeah, it was great. It was great. God, hallelujah. It was great. It was great. Yes.
15:08
Alan: We do have Soph back next week. Um, do you think that we're going to be able to keep this, this energy up?
15:14
Marissa: I think so. Yeah. I think that something, I don't know, I hope something clicked. Like, Something, some fire happened. Some buttons got pushed because we played with a lot of grit that a couple days ago. And I think that'll, I think, let's play some fucking Thorns soccer. We're fucking champions. There's a reason why we're the only team with 10 consecutive playoff, um, playoff, making, making it into the playoffs. There's a reason why we are the only team with three stars above our badge. We're fucking winners. Like the city is behind them. Like the fucking, God, Providence Park. God was in that fucking building.
15:50
Marissa: this weekend. As somebody does believe in God, but he's, if you guys do, that's great. But he, he was in that building. God was in Providence Park. Whatever you were feeling, it was there. Whatever you're feeling, it was there. It was amazing. I even shouted God is in this building tonight a few times. And it was, it was just electric. Yeah, we played really great.
16:10
Marissa: Defense, midfield. Everybody played well. Our, our defense looks good. We really did. We looked really good.
16:18
Alan: Again, clean sheet. You know, we.
16:20
Alan: We managed to keep him away.
16:21
Marissa: With a third possession, you know, like, we played great.
16:25
Alan: It was fantastic.
16:26
Marissa: Good job, ladies. Good job.
16:27
Alan: Well, speaking of Providence Park, let's get into the really fun parts of the night.
16:39
Alan: All right. So, like we said, we were able to bring a couple of friends.
16:43
Alan: We had three of us, or three of our friends, so five of us total, all wearing Rose City Red Card T-shirts.
16:52
Alan: We did make a promise that anybody who used the secret passphrase from, last week and saw us.
16:59
Alan: We buy them a pub beer.
17:01
Alan: Unfortunately, all I could find was pub beer light.
17:05
Alan: But we did manage to give that offer out to two people. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So tell us a little bit about who are the two people who took us up
17:13
Marissa: on that offer? So they're actually my good friends or Kevin and Elliot.
17:17
Marissa: So shout out Kevin. He's literally one of the biggest reasons why I got into Thorns soccer. Like, he and his family have had season tickets for years. They go, like, he actually texted me last night.
17:28
Marissa: He was just like, guess who's back at Providence Park?
17:31
Marissa: Because they were watching the Timbers last night.
17:33
Marissa: And so he is like, so literally Kevin, I know you listen.
17:37
Marissa: Shout out to that.
17:38
Marissa: And the second one was his daughter.
17:40
Marissa: And it was funny because I had said hey to Kevin and I was walking away.
17:43
Marissa: And it was like, oh, you drunk.
17:44
Marissa: And I was like, oh, yeah.
17:45
Marissa: And I was like, oh, no, the code.
17:47
Marissa: Yeah.
17:48
Marissa: I was like, yeah, am I like wobbling?
17:50
Marissa: It was so awesome.
17:53
Marissa: And like, also, another huge shout out to Mary Ellen.
17:56
Marissa: Uh, she is friends with one of my best friends, Alex, down in Southern Oregon, but Mary Ellen lives up here.
18:04
Marissa: She was at the game and she's a huge fan of the podcast.
18:06
Marissa: So like, thanks Mary Ellen for listening.
18:09
Alan: Thank you for listening.
18:10
Alan: Yeah, dude.
18:10
Marissa: It's, I, it's really great.
18:13
Marissa: And I, we heard that you love the podcast and you think we're hilarious.
18:16
Marissa: So girl, find us.
18:19
Marissa: Come back, come on the, come on the pod.
18:21
Marissa: Like, it would be so fun to have like a fan, another, like somebody else.
18:24
Marissa: We have a third mic for a fucking reason.
18:26
Marissa: So, but yeah, just shout out because I'm just like full of love.
18:30
Marissa: This has been like a great weekend and we like, sorry, Alan was saying before, we literally got to bring our friends to the game that could give fuck all about women sports or women soccer and.
18:41
Alan: But they cared that night.
18:42
Marissa: But they fucking cared that night.
18:43
Alan: They were there yelling, uh, chanting along with us.
18:47
Marissa: Yeah, we're dancing.
18:49
Marissa: We were just having a fucking ball.
18:50
Marissa: It was electric and like, like, they were even saying they're like, whoa.
18:54
Marissa: And I was like, yeah.
18:55
Marissa: Like this is.
18:56
Marissa: it's interactive. The Thorns games are interactive, especially when you're sitting in that supporter section in my GA. Like, it is, you're moving. We were up high. We were up pretty high and we were still doing the dance, you know. We were chanting, like, build a bonfire. Like, it was, it was incredible. It was so incredible. And yeah, I was, my terrible story is that I then watched my daughter's game the next day. And so we were all, previously singing, build a bonfire, put the Courage in the
19:26
Alan: middle. You guys know the chant.
19:28
Alan: Yeah. And my daughter's team that she was playing against were called the Kittens.
19:35
Alan: And just in my head was running, put the Kittens in the middle. And it just, it just, something, something feels a little strange about that. So I didn't sing it out loud. Just saying, uh, at the stadium the night before.
19:50
Marissa: But I also told Alan that if he would have, like, started singing that, I bet you some parents would have been like, that's pretty funny.
19:59
Alan: Well, and another shout out to Randi.
20:02
Alan: Our guest from episode one way back then, when she said she had no idea what was going on in soccer.
20:08
Alan: She said she spent the whole week reading the rules in preparation for this.
20:11
Alan: So, good job.
20:13
Marissa: Yeah, seriously.
20:14
Marissa: And she was asking good questions.
20:16
Marissa: Like, she, like, we were sitting next to each other and she was asking me questions that she, you could tell that she had already done the research to, but she was like, okay, but wait, why is that like that? And I'm like, oh, she was getting into the details. And she was like, I'm sorry. I'm annoying. I was like, no, this is what we, this is ask me questions. Like, I can still watch the game and answer your questions, but, uh, it was, it was so electric. It was so
20:40
Alan: an incredible night. Yeah. So much fun with friends. Yeah. So much fun being in Providence Park. Yeah. It was, getting the win. Getting the win.
20:49
Alan: Such an incredible night. Uh, we were lucky we didn't even run into the assholes who were trying to ruin some people's nights. Yeah.
20:55
Alan: We just had a fun, great time, and it was so good.
21:00
Marissa: Yeah, it was electric.
21:01
Alan: I can't wait till we can do it again.
21:02
Marissa: I know.
21:02
Marissa: I know.
21:04
Alan: Well, that gets us into everybody's favorite segment.
21:12
Marissa: And now.
21:14
Marissa: For the big one.
21:21
Marissa: Marissa's match week roundup.
21:24
Marissa: Week 26.
21:26
Marissa: Holy shit.
21:27
Marissa: I cannot believe we have had 26 weeks of NWL sock.
21:32
Marissa: NWSL soccer this summer.
21:33
Alan: Week 27 is Decision Day.
21:37
Alan: So close.
21:38
Alan: Damn, damn, damn.
21:39
Marissa: Time flies when you're having fun with your friends.
21:42
Alan: Absolutely.
21:43
Marissa: All right.
21:43
Alan: So tell us what happened during this week.
21:45
Marissa: All right.
21:45
Marissa: Let's get into it.
21:46
Marissa: So we had three games on Friday.
21:49
Marissa: We did miss both games, but I will still put my two cents in because that's what I do.
21:55
Marissa: So the first game was Chicago versus Houston.
21:57
Marissa: Houston ends up winning 3-1.
22:00
Marissa: I think every one.
22:01
Marissa: Everybody kind of knew that's kind of the way that the game was going to go.
22:06
Marissa: Sorry, Chicago.
22:08
Marissa: I don't know.
22:09
Marissa: I don't know.
22:09
Marissa: I don't know.
22:10
Alan: Well, we're playing Houston next week.
22:12
Marissa: Yeah, we're playing Houston next week, and we did just tie Chicago recently.
22:15
Marissa: So, but, so Houston wins three to one.
22:18
Marissa: The next game on Friday was Utah versus Seattle ends in a zero-zero-zero tie.
22:23
Marissa: We love that.
22:25
Marissa: We love that.
22:25
Marissa: We love a zero-zero tie.
22:27
Marissa: We love no goals.
22:28
Marissa: We love only each team getting one point.
22:31
Marissa: Fuck.
22:31
Marissa: Seattle loved us for the state.
22:33
Marissa: Love that for us in the standings because we are still tied with Utah at 47 points.
22:40
Marissa: So last game, I don't know if you guys knew, but the Portland Thorns beat North Carolina Courage, one to zero at Providence Park.
22:49
Alan: Woo!
22:50
Marissa: Also set in motion for like, I think two or three teams made the playoffs literally because we won.
22:57
Alan: That one game made so many.
22:59
Alan: Yeah, I watched a clip.
23:00
Alan: A lot of spots.
23:00
Marissa: I watched a clip of all the Utah players.
23:04
Marissa: watching, because it was after their game, and they were sitting there watching the end of our game, and they all cheered after we won.
23:10
Marissa: And I was like, no matter, no matter who you're watching, as long as you get to go on.
23:15
Marissa: So, yeah, so you're welcome and the rest of the fucking league for fucking winning.
23:20
Marissa: You fucks.
23:21
Alan: So bring us to Saturday.
23:22
Marissa: Yeah, bring us to Saturday.
23:24
Marissa: All right.
23:24
Marissa: First game of the day was Denver versus racing.
23:26
Marissa: Denver wins six to one.
23:28
Marissa: It was...
23:30
Alan: Wait, did you say six to one?
23:32
Alan: Six to one, like six, six, six, six to one.
23:41
Marissa: Denver racing, I don't know what's going on with racing.
23:46
Marissa: I don't know, their coach, Bev Yanez, one coach of the year last year.
23:53
Marissa: They squeaked themselves in the playoffs.
23:56
Marissa: They were supposed to be good or decent.
23:59
Marissa: I don't know.
24:01
Marissa: I don't know what's going on with racing.
24:02
Marissa: I don't know if they're going to.
24:02
Marissa: be a team for a while.
24:04
Marissa: Like, Emma Sears asked for a trade months ago.
24:07
Marissa: It's still on the team.
24:08
Marissa: I don't know what's going on in racing, but hopefully they figure it out because, like I said, the only team that I actually want to do really poorly is Seattle.
24:15
Marissa: I just want other teams to do well.
24:18
Marissa: Sorry.
24:19
Marissa: Second game of the day on Saturday was Angel City versus Bay FC.
24:25
Marissa: Angel City wins two zero.
24:27
Marissa: They look good.
24:28
Marissa: I've been saying this for a couple weeks.
24:30
Marissa: They got their defenders back, and they are.
24:32
Marissa: looking spiky.
24:35
Marissa: Also, I got to give a shout out to Jónsdóttir because she plays on Angel City and she has this throw-in.
24:41
Marissa: She can drop the ball damn near in the six-yard box.
24:45
Marissa: Like, it is fucking, it's the craziest throwing you've ever seen.
24:50
Marissa: She launches that shit in.
24:53
Marissa: It is, and like that changes like a throw-in to like something very scary.
24:57
Marissa: You know what I mean?
24:58
Alan: It's almost like a corner kick.
24:59
Marissa: It literally is almost like a corner kick.
25:01
Marissa: Yeah.
25:02
Marissa: Also, but also, Bay didn't give up.
25:04
Marissa: They did keep fighting, and Bay is also still without Claire Heading.
25:07
Marissa: But Bay, I feel like, is going to be a different team next year because Paul Green, like, I think they're building on something.
25:14
Marissa: So, yeah, that's, yeah.
25:16
Marissa: And that was kind of it.
25:17
Marissa: That was only the, those are the only two games on Saturday.
25:20
Marissa: On Sunday, we have, so KC Current versus the Spirit at 2 p.m. Eastern.
25:28
Marissa: Nope, you aren't on the East.
25:31
Marissa: So on Sunday.
25:32
Marissa: day, we have KC Current versus the Spirit.
25:35
Marissa: Game starts at 2 p.m. Pacific time.
25:37
Marissa: We need the Spirit to win.
25:38
Marissa: We do not want KC Current, who is currently tied with us at 47 points, to get any points.
25:44
Marissa: We need them to stay with us in the great ether of the world.
25:49
Marissa: The next game, the last game, actually, today, is Boston versus San Diego.
25:55
Marissa: We also are going to, I mean, I'm not going to miss.
25:57
Marissa: I'll be watching that game, but we will not be talking about it on a podcast.
26:01
Marissa: The game is probably.
26:02
Marissa: going to go the way you think it's going to go.
26:05
Marissa: San Diego's probably going to beat Boston.
26:07
Marissa: And then, currently the game that we're watching is at the 61st minute is Orlando versus Gotham.
26:14
Marissa: And Gotham is up 1.0 right now.
26:17
Marissa: Ooh, Ritin's about to take a corner kick.
26:23
Marissa: Oh, my God.
26:23
Marissa: We just caught a goal.
26:24
Alan: That's a goal live on.
26:27
Marissa: Oh, my God.
26:27
Alan: Rose City Red Card.
26:29
Marissa: Holy crap.
26:30
Alan: Gotham just scored 2-0 on that.
26:34
Marissa: Holy shit.
26:35
Marissa: Did Tierna, was that Tierna's goal?
26:39
Marissa: Oh, my God, fuck yeah.
26:40
Marissa: Good for, I can't believe we just caught that.
26:43
Alan: That is so good.
26:44
Marissa: That's insane.
26:45
Marissa: Okay, well, so far in the 62nd minute, Gotham is ahead 2, 0 with a Tierna Davidson kit back.
26:55
Marissa: It bounced it, bounced in, bounced back out, and she got it in.
26:59
Marissa: Damn, okay.
27:01
Marissa: Well, shit.
27:02
Marissa: Well, this is, this is.
27:05
Marissa: All right, so Gotham is now ahead, 2-0.
27:09
Marissa: But also, so this kind of turns us into something we also kind of want to talk about.
27:12
Marissa: So, crazy happening, but so Orlando is also without Barbra Banda right now.
27:18
Marissa: Barbra Banda and actually two other NWSL players are currently unable to return to the states due to the government 21-day health re-entry protocols following the Ebola break in Uganda.
27:33
Marissa: Our players are not sick.
27:35
Marissa: They are fine. They are healthy.
27:37
Marissa: This is just a protocol that you've got to do to kind of keep.
27:42
Marissa: Yeah, there's just a protocol.
27:43
Alan: You've got some issues.
27:44
Alan: And, you know, we're getting better about preventing the spread of illnesses.
27:50
Alan: And it's, you know, it's a little bit unfortunate for the teams that they're down a couple of players, you know, maybe they're best players.
27:58
Alan: But it's good for everybody as a whole.
28:00
Alan: And it looks like they will be back at the next games.
28:03
Marissa: Yeah.
28:04
Marissa: Hopefully. I mean, yeah.
28:05
Marissa: So, but yeah, so the three players we have out are Barbra Banda with Orlando.
28:10
Marissa: So also all three of these players play for Zambia because they were overplaying in Uganda.
28:14
Marissa: So, yeah.
28:16
Marissa: So Barbra Banda with Orlando.
28:18
Marissa: Racheal Kundananji for Chicago.
28:20
Marissa: She actually just got traded from Bay to Chicago, and she has not played a game at Chicago yet because, you know, the window.
28:26
Marissa: And then the last one is Prisca Chilufya with Angel City.
28:31
Marissa: So this does, you know, it affects us a little bit.
28:35
Marissa: But for the most part, our girls are safe.
28:38
Marissa: Our girls are healthy.
28:39
Marissa: Our girls are probably on their way back sometime soon.
28:42
Marissa: But it's just, we just got to talk about it because it's such a crazy.
28:45
Alan: That's a crazy little story.
28:46
Marissa: It's a crazy little story, you know.
28:48
Alan: But, you know, it's part of international travel.
28:50
Alan: And, you know, that's one of the things we love about this league is these women play for so many different countries.
28:57
Alan: And with the World Cup coming up, it's so exciting.
29:00
Alan: We're going to be able to see so many players that we recognize playing for.
29:05
Alan: teams from around the world.
29:06
Alan: Yeah, exactly.
29:07
Alan: You know, I love to see it.
29:09
Marissa: Yeah. Like, even just, sorry to kind of bring this up, but just even in the last, like, window, I was like, we were watching, I was watching Germany, Marie Müller, and I saw Colsler, and she, Kössler, and she plays for Denver.
29:23
Marissa: I was like, oh, I know that player.
29:25
Marissa: I know that last name.
29:26
Marissa: And because she plays, she plays for Denver still plays for Germany.
29:29
Marissa: So it's really cool.
29:30
Alan: Starting to recognize those.
29:30
Alan: The world gets a little bit smaller.
29:32
Marissa: I feel like the more you force yourself to watch every single single.
29:35
Marissa: soccer game you can. The world becomes a lot smaller, Alan.
29:38
Alan: You know, it's a lot of fun, although, uh, sometimes you get to balance sleep versus watching
29:43
Marissa: early morning soccer games. He's giving me shit because I woke up at 5.30 a.m. this morning to watch Chelsea. Shout out to Chelsea. London is blue. I'm not a Chelsea fan. I'm definitely a man-city fan, but I don't, I do like when our American girls do well over there across the pond.
29:59
Marissa: So shout to Alyssa Thompson. Shout to WSL. Shout to us fucking Thorns.
30:05
Alan: That's right. Well, that brings us to, as we said, there is only one more week.
30:12
Alan: This next week is Decision Day. So let's talk about it.
30:23
Alan: So the Thorns are sitting in seventh place at 47 points after Angel City won on Saturday.
30:30
Alan: We're tied up in points with Kansas City and Utah.
30:34
Marissa: As of now.
30:35
Alan: As of now. So seven of the eight are in.
30:39
Alan: Utah for the first.
30:41
Alan: Time ever, which is fantastic.
30:44
Alan: So coming in for that last place, we're going to have either Seattle, North Carolina, or Denver.
30:51
Alan: We're going to have to see what happens this next week.
30:54
Alan: We're going to be watching the Thorns game on the TV, watching it at one of our new new recording locations over at Dingo's.
31:04
Alan: I love to see the Thorns fans there every time, and so it's going to be a blast.
31:10
Marissa: It is cool watching, like, it's one thing to be at Providence Park with everybody, but it's one thing to be at a bar specifically to watch the Thorns, especially when other people are there to try to watch another game.
31:20
Marissa: And you're like, no, no, no, no, we're trying to watch this game.
31:23
Marissa: It's, it's really cool.
31:24
Marissa: It's special.
31:25
Marissa: It's special.
31:25
Alan: It is.
31:26
Alan: And I love to just, everybody there is so supportive of the Thorns.
31:31
Alan: And so it's so good to see, you know, all the TV is starting to switch over to it.
31:35
Alan: We're going to have Sophia Wilson back next week.
31:39
Marissa: Yeah.
31:40
Alan: So.
31:40
Alan: So, you know, that's looking great.
31:43
Alan: If we get one more point.
31:44
Alan: So if we tie or win, we break the club points record.
31:49
Marissa: Oh!
31:50
Alan: As we were talking about a little bit before we got on mic, there are more games now because we have some expansion teams.
31:59
Marissa: Boston and Denver this year, yeah.
32:02
Alan: So it makes the season a little bit longer.
32:04
Alan: But that's still fantastic.
32:06
Marissa: Still a record.
32:07
Marissa: Still on the Wikipedia, baby.
32:09
Alan: Absolutely.
32:10
Alan: And then, you know, throughout November is going to be the playoffs.
32:15
Alan: So this is going to be really exciting.
32:18
Alan: As you've said, it's the playoffs.
32:19
Alan: Anything can happen.
32:21
Alan: What if we win?
32:23
Alan: And then what if we win again?
32:26
Marissa: I know.
32:28
Marissa: I know.
32:29
Alan: I know.
32:30
Alan: Single elimination is a whole different game.
32:33
Marissa: Another thing, like, super chirped up about the playoffs, but also in November is happening is the USA World Cup qualifying game.
32:41
Marissa: So we were also be talking about that and bugging you guys about that, too.
32:45
Marissa: So we'll be, we out here.
32:47
Marissa: We out here on the streets, y'all.
32:48
Marissa: We ready.
32:49
Alan: Absolutely.
32:51
Alan: Well, I think that brings us to the end of our podcast.
32:55
Marissa: And so, this is Marissa, chat.
32:57
Marissa: I don't know if you guys could recognize my voice versus Alan's.
33:00
Marissa: But before I do my regular sign-off, this is a queer podcast.
33:06
Marissa: This is inclusive for everybody.
33:11
Marissa: We support our trans family members.
33:15
Marissa: We support our, that's our family.
33:18
Marissa: I didn't just mean family members.
33:19
Marissa: Like, we're together.
33:21
Marissa: We're a group.
33:22
Marissa: That's our family.
33:23
Marissa: We support trans rights.
33:25
Marissa: We support trans wrongs.
33:27
Marissa: I don't know if that's okay to say.
33:29
Marissa: But those are our brothers and sisters.
33:35
Marissa: This is, we love you guys.
33:38
Alan: We love everyone out there.
33:40
Alan: Love all the Thorns family.
33:42
Marissa: Literally, like, this is, this is, this is, this is, everybody that goes to Providence Park knows that this is a safe space for everybody to be there.
33:51
Marissa: Any, any, any, any way that you are, you are safe and you are included at Providence Park.
33:57
Marissa: So I, I just want to, just want to take a break and say that.
34:00
Marissa: I love all of you guys.
34:03
Marissa: Yeah, I just, I don't know.
34:06
Marissa: It was, we didn't, we didn't want to give any credence to the bullshit that happened at the game, but, um, yeah, like, this is a queer podcast, this is, this is, we're here for everybody.
34:16
Marissa: We're here, we're here for everybody.
34:17
Marissa: We love you, everybody.
34:18
Marissa: We love you guys.
34:19
Marissa: And, yeah.
34:21
Marissa: Oh, and then my sign off.
34:23
Marissa: So, no injuries, all smiles.
34:29
Marissa: Fuck Seattle.
34:30
Marissa: Let's go, Thorns.
34:32
Marissa: We're in the fucking playoffs.
34:34
Marissa: We're in the fucking playoffs.
34:37
Marissa: Let's go, Thorns, go.
34:38
Marissa: Yes.
34:40
Marissa: Bing, Bing, Bing, Bing.