Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / 2025 NWSL SEASON MEGA PREVIEW | plus NWSL Shield, Playoffs, Championship, Player Award Predictions!

Transcript

2025 NWSL SEASON MEGA PREVIEW | plus NWSL Shield, Playoffs, Championship, Player Award Predictions! · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

• 0:02
  OK. Welcome to Into the Channel
• 0:05
  podcast primarily about women's football.
• 0:07
  I'm your host Dino De Suspicious and as always, I'm joined by my
• 0:10
  Co host Mr. Grant Angle. What is up man?
• 0:13
  I'll I'll venture to say I'm feeling fantastic because we're
• 0:17
  going to preview the proper NWSL season Challenge Cup out of the
• 0:21
  way. We have season matches to be
• 0:24
  played in NWSL Shield to be awarded, and we're going to do
• 0:29
  something no sports podcast hosted by two Bros has ever done
• 0:34
  and that's make some preseason predictions.
• 0:36
  Love that. I'm ready.
• 0:38
  I feel like M&M and Eight Mile, I feel like everything in my
• 0:41
  life has been building up to this moment.
• 0:42
  It's NWSL, the true NWSL preview.
• 0:45
  We've done like 4 mini half sort of NWSL previews, but this one,
• 0:50
  this one's the real deal. So I'm definitely excited to get
• 0:53
  into it with you couple of the mechanics.
• 0:54
  So we're going to walk through all 14 teams.
• 0:56
  We did our NWSL team draft maybe a couple weeks back where, you
• 1:00
  know, I I'm taking the lead on 7, you're taking the lead on 7.
• 1:03
  You know, I love the balance there.
• 1:04
  You know, it's like evidence of a true partnership.
• 1:07
  And what we're going to do is we're going to categorize these
• 1:09
  teams into some some tears going from bottom to top.
• 1:13
  You're either going to be in the bottom 3 on the bubble, a
• 1:16
  playoff team, a top four team or a true contender.
• 1:20
  And I think we'll slide everybody into one of those five
• 1:22
  categories. And then just, you know, talk,
• 1:24
  talk a little bit about each squad.
• 1:25
  Did anything happen in the offseason that caught our
• 1:27
  attention? Anything that we're going to be
• 1:28
  watching for early in the season?
• 1:30
  Just kind of see how did this work out or how's this going to
• 1:33
  work out? How's this new coach going to
• 1:34
  do? So a lot to cover, but we'll try
• 1:36
  to move through pretty quickly so we can hit all 14 teams.
• 1:40
  And then, yeah, make some predictions, hand out some
• 1:42
  season awards. I'm fucking ready, man.
• 1:44
  Where do you want to get started?
• 1:45
  I think there's only one place to get started and that would be
• 1:48
  in your current hometown. The double winners?
• 1:51
  The Orlando bride. Love it.
• 1:53
  Well, disappointing Challenge Cup experience this season, but
• 1:57
  I think the vibe's still pretty positive.
• 1:58
  I think, you know, the team was really happy with the way they
• 2:01
  played, but you look at a couple players, well let's say a few
• 2:05
  players at the Orlando's brought in Prisco Chalufia from Zambia,
• 2:08
  who made three appearances in the Olympics.
• 2:10
  She is coming from Juarez where she made 48 appearances, 14
• 2:14
  goals there. Grace Chanda, another Zambian
• 2:17
  Copper Queen superstar, came over last year from Madrid.
• 2:20
  CFF didn't get a chance to play. I think she got hurt on the
• 2:23
  heels of that one appearance for Zambia in the Olympics and then
• 2:26
  from Spain, from Real Madrid. Oh, Yane Hernandez, 24 year old
• 2:29
  defender. She made six appearances during
• 2:32
  Spain's 2023 World Cup run, 4 appearances in the Olympics.
• 2:35
  Tons of experience, international and club.
• 2:38
  I mentioned Real Madrid obviously playing for Spain,
• 2:40
  still just 24 years old as a defender.
• 2:42
  I think that's kind of like a sneaky interesting signing when
• 2:46
  you think about this defense. You know, Emily, Sam's, Kylie
• 2:49
  Nadanner, Rafael back, Cariabello made the NWF cells
• 2:54
  2nd 11 last season, Corey Dyke, the only ITC Hall of Famer and O
• 2:59
  Pride. There you go.
• 3:01
  And then you add Oyade Hernandez to that mix.
• 3:03
  That's a real defensive room right there.
• 3:05
  It's got to be a pretty intense rotation that Seb Hynes is going
• 3:09
  to try to play. I mean, when you have that much
• 3:12
  talent, you know, players and you know, we've talked about the
• 3:16
  culture there and it seems good and it seems competitive.
• 3:18
  Obviously you don't want to double.
• 3:20
  I would imagine it would be nearly impossible to win a
• 3:22
  double without a great culture. But you got to get these players
• 3:25
  some run because they all should supremely believe in themselves.
• 3:29
  And if you start, if you fall out of the rotation, you might
• 3:32
  be knocking on Haley Carters door saying can I go somewhere
• 3:35
  where they will actually play me?
• 3:37
  And I don't think that is any kind of negative thing to say
• 3:39
  about anybodies character. These are professional athletes
• 3:41
  who want to believe, who want to be on the field because they
• 3:44
  believe in themselves. So I think it's going to be
• 3:46
  interesting to watch how Seb Heinz manages it and if he
• 3:48
  manages it well, which we have no reason to believe that he
• 3:51
  wouldn't, they could just have a dominating defense for the
• 3:55
  second consecutive year. Yeah, man, absolutely.
• 3:57
  And, well, a couple of things. Well, actually I got I.
• 4:00
  Got three things. One, we haven't cracked the
• 4:02
  beers yet and that's usually what are we doing.
• 4:04
  Where you kind? Of see this is the
• 4:06
  accountability. Let's make it happen.
• 4:08
  End of yourself. Preview in honor of in honor of
• 4:15
  Orlando Pride's great culture. That's the accountability we
• 4:17
  need on this program. Thank you for that.
• 4:20
  I love it. Cheers.
• 4:21
  Cheers to the Orlando Pride. Cheers to the double winners,
• 4:24
  the holders. Let's go.
• 4:26
  Love that. I actually, you know, when you
• 4:27
  mentioned, you know, what kind of walk into Haley Carter's
• 4:29
  office, I kind of feel like the personalities on that defense
• 4:32
  are like, no, I want to stay here and I want to win that job
• 4:34
  back. I want to win minutes.
• 4:35
  That's true. You know, so I think that's
• 4:36
  definitely the vibe Quick audible here.
• 4:39
  I want to reintroduce card corner.
• 4:40
  Speaking of Oyane Hernandez, I picked up this bad boy.
• 4:45
  Let's go. This is an O Yani Hernandez
• 4:48
  rookie card, her playing for Spain and it's numbered to five.
• 4:52
  So this green version, there's only five of these babies and
• 4:55
  this is four of five. And much like my Banda rookie
• 4:58
  card that I bought from from the same 2023 World Cup Don Rose
• 5:02
  set, I picked up those cards before these players played for
• 5:05
  the pride. So I I'm into some kind of weird
• 5:07
  rhythm. It's like, you know, a Banda was
• 5:08
  still play playing internationally and I think, you
• 5:13
  know, I grabbed the card and now she's playing here.
• 5:15
  And then like when when Orlando Science Hernandez, I'm like,
• 5:17
  yes, let's go. She's in my collection and I've
• 5:19
  got like a really great card from her.
• 5:21
  That one set me back 24 bucks. But I think well worth it, you
• 5:24
  know, super limited edition and I'm excited with my purchase.
• 5:26
  And that concludes the second ever edition of card quarter.
• 5:29
  Thanks for hanging out. That is fucking fantastic.
• 5:33
  I mean, we got to figure out what is the pipeline from Dino
• 5:36
  purchasing player cards to Haley Carter and the scouting
• 5:40
  department being like, yes, that player over there.
• 5:43
  That's who we want. And what is your?
• 5:46
  What is your cut of the transfer fee?
• 5:48
  That's a good question. Well, I mean, if Haley's
• 5:52
  snooping around my my eBay purchases, then you know chances
• 5:56
  are she's got her eyes on Lauren James.
• 5:57
  Because I've, I've been on quite the LJ kick.
• 6:01
  That's that's outstanding. You know what, as a as AGM, you
• 6:05
  can never leave any stone unturned.
• 6:06
  So who knows how she's a scouting players?
• 6:08
  Yeah, I mean, she, yeah, she's probably listening right now.
• 6:10
  Shout out to Haley. OK, so quick prediction with
• 6:13
  regard to categories. I put Orlando in the true
• 6:16
  contender category for me. So when I think about what their
• 6:19
  ceiling is, best case scenario, nobody scores on them.
• 6:22
  They stay as healthy as they did last year, which was which was a
• 6:26
  a definite factor. Marta continues to freeze time
• 6:29
  or maybe reverse time, I'm not really sure.
• 6:31
  But she's she's doing some some kind of wizardry.
• 6:34
  And I think that they've got a good chance of repeating either
• 6:36
  as the shield winners or as the Champions.
• 6:38
  But if I had to pick one, I think in a knockout style
• 6:41
  tournament, things get tight. You know, we talked about you, I
• 6:44
  mean, you talked about within a final, like kind of how those
• 6:46
  tend to be like in the one nil category.
• 6:48
  You know, that's what we saw last year.
• 6:49
  Yeah. I think that's a scenario where
• 6:51
  Orlando's really, really tough to beat.
• 6:53
  But I think Orlando's going to contend for both trophies.
• 6:55
  And I think they've got a really, really good shot of
• 6:57
  winning one of them. Yeah, totally fair.
• 6:59
  I mean, there's no other way to look at them.
• 7:01
  They will. They will challenge for both
• 7:03
  trophies, no doubt. Agreed.
• 7:05
  OK, let's shift gears. Let's head out your way.
• 7:07
  Seattle Rain FC led by Laura Harvey.
• 7:10
  What do we need to know about the rain?
• 7:11
  Laura Harvey is a legend. Seattle Rain Football Club has
• 7:14
  been one of the best managed and most successful clubs in the
• 7:18
  history of the NWSL. We might be looking at the other
• 7:21
  side of the table from Orlando Pride, not just the other side
• 7:24
  of the country. But that's OK because you can't
• 7:27
  be a true contender every single year.
• 7:28
  So look, they have a lot players with a ton of experience, but
• 7:32
  you're kind of left wondering how they're going to hold up
• 7:34
  throughout the season. You think about Lindby and Dolo,
• 7:37
  Lou Barnes, G so young Jess Fishlock, Hana Maria
• 7:41
  Certigorsevic on the back end of their careers.
• 7:44
  I think it's it's not impolite to to say that.
• 7:47
  But then they also have a lot of young players, which I think is
• 7:49
  really exciting for the club. Emery Adamus, Jordan Bug,
• 7:52
  Ainsley Mccammon, who's going to play defensive midfielder, who I
• 7:55
  think is going to have a lot of responsibility this season, and
• 7:57
  Maddie Dalene, freshly picked up out of college.
• 8:00
  They're teenagers and they're going to have some growing
• 8:04
  pains. Emery Adamus showed some great
• 8:05
  flashes last year, as did Jordan Bug.
• 8:08
  But you know what? This is a, this is a grown
• 8:10
  person's league and it's hard to to play 26 matches and hold up
• 8:16
  against a bunch of professional athletes who are grown adults.
• 8:19
  So I'm going to be watching that very carefully.
• 8:22
  You have the addition of Madison Curry from Angel City FC.
• 8:25
  She's 24. Her first season in the league
• 8:28
  for Angel City was was quite impressive.
• 8:31
  So I think she will bolster the back line.
• 8:33
  It's obviously that sorely missed us Sofia Huerta after her
• 8:37
  loan last year to Leona. But I just think that at the end
• 8:40
  of the day, you have the two big questions are how are the young
• 8:44
  players going to look? And secondly, how's this team
• 8:46
  going to score goals? Because they had a hell of a
• 8:49
  time trying to score goals last year.
• 8:51
  The Biendolo acquisition is obviously meant to help that.
• 8:55
  I'm I'm very eager to see how it plays out over the course of 26
• 8:58
  matches. I mean, I think there's a
• 9:00
  chance. I mean, somebody was in our
• 9:02
  comments back when we were talking about the transfer
• 9:05
  window talking about, OK, well, Biendolo didn't play too many
• 9:08
  minutes for Gotham and and, you know, not really sure what to
• 9:11
  expect, but I think that is true.
• 9:13
  But also Gotham had a ton of just personnel to kind of move
• 9:16
  around and, you know, try to balance and then chemistry wise
• 9:19
  try to figure that out. But I think from watching to be
• 9:21
  Andolo played for the US national team recently, she
• 9:24
  believes she's still, I mean, near at worst, near the top of
• 9:29
  her game. You know, I think sure,
• 9:30
  physically she looks very tough to handle.
• 9:33
  And I think this time in Seattle could be an opportunity for her
• 9:37
  to kind of feature, you know, as, you know, maybe like a lead
• 9:40
  goal scorer and like, maybe like a a veteran presence up there to
• 9:43
  to really kind of cash in and kind of keep them in games.
• 9:46
  So who knows? I mean, if if you know those
• 9:48
  matches last year where, you know, they're 70 minutes, you
• 9:51
  know, without scoring, if that's A1 or A2 instead, maybe it kind
• 9:54
  of changes the tenor. I think I'm going to surprise
• 9:57
  you with this. So I ranked teams one through 14
• 10:00
  come into it. I had Seattle probably on the
• 10:03
  strength of like Laura Harvey's genius and the seriousness with
• 10:08
  which this team kind of plays and like, you know, you just
• 10:11
  look at some of the shenanigans going across going on like other
• 10:14
  other cities that, you know, across the league.
• 10:16
  And I had Seattle 7th in the playoffs on my board.
• 10:21
  I think we see a couple of young players bubble up Adamus, you
• 10:25
  know, we we've already seen flashes in this league from her.
• 10:28
  Yes, Jordan Bug, obviously, you know, has has the profile of of
• 10:33
  a player that has a great future.
• 10:35
  I mean, if if some of those things can get accelerated, I
• 10:37
  think this this team can can sneak into the playoffs.
• 10:40
  This feels like a professional football team, even though
• 10:42
  they've got a younger profile. OK.
• 10:44
  Wow, I like that. Extremely interesting.
• 10:47
  So anybody from Seattle Rain FC Communications who might be
• 10:52
  watching this podcast, as you heard there into the channel's
• 10:56
  official prediction is that you make, you make the playoffs, you
• 10:59
  make #7 I'm predicting they'll finish in the bottom three.
• 11:03
  That's not important. Dino picked them to finish #7 in
• 11:07
  on the table and in the playoffs.
• 11:08
  I do want to shout out one more quick one and really, Amanda's
• 11:11
  here, Haitian international. I think she's like 26 or 27 off
• 11:14
  the top of my head entering her physical prime in this league.
• 11:19
  She's another she's another player who I'm just like OK now
• 11:22
  full camp, little bit of experience last year after she
• 11:25
  came over mid season. If she hits her ceiling then I
• 11:28
  think your prediction starts to look really good.
• 11:31
  Can't. Wait to see it come to pass.
• 11:33
  All right, let's shift gears. Probably the next team I'm gonna
• 11:36
  be covering, let's say Bay FC playing out in San Francisco.
• 11:41
  I see. So Oshawa quietly led the team
• 11:43
  in goals last season with seven. I think that was a little
• 11:45
  surprised by that because I think a little bit of
• 11:47
  disappointment, you know, kind of floating around, you know,
• 11:49
  the Oshawa Kundanagi pairing. Abby Dalkemper, the vet 30 year
• 11:54
  old defender made a huge difference in that team's
• 11:57
  fortunes when she joins. They won five of the nine
• 12:00
  matches that she appeared in. Hannah B Bar, 23 year old
• 12:02
  midfielder from Duke, real player.
• 12:05
  She also got U-17 and U20 experience for the US national
• 12:08
  team. BFC also brought on Sabrina
• 12:10
  Ionescu as an investor advisor. That's pretty cool.
• 12:13
  And they also signed University of California, Berkeley Ford
• 12:16
  Carly Lima to a three-year deal. Sixteen goals and 21
• 12:19
  appearances. ACC offensive player of the
• 12:21
  year. On the flip side though, you
• 12:23
  know, this team, even though they made the playoffs fourth
• 12:26
  worst 14 losses last year, they only had the one draw.
• 12:29
  So it was either, you know, basically we're going to gut it,
• 12:31
  try to win it, or we'll take the L and then kind of be on our
• 12:35
  way. I'm interested to hear, you
• 12:36
  know, kind of like what what you're going to be looking for
• 12:38
  from this Bay FC side. As has been discussed on this
• 12:41
  podcast, especially toward the end of last season, I believed
• 12:45
  in Bay FC. We even when they were having
• 12:47
  those early season struggles, I was like, you know what, there's
• 12:49
  just there's something there. I know this team can score.
• 12:52
  Obviously you got Oshawa, obviously you have Kunanagi.
• 12:55
  So I'm going to rectify this. I will not be a coward.
• 12:59
  I think Bay FC are going to be very good this year.
• 13:03
  Rachel Kundanagi was number one in expected assists and #2 in
• 13:07
  passes into the penalty in the league last year.
• 13:10
  I'd love to see that kind of distributor or that like instead
• 13:15
  of maybe I have a pretty good shot, but I have a there's a
• 13:18
  better opportunity with a pass here coming up, running up on
• 13:21
  the goalkeeper in the danger area.
• 13:23
  So I want to see that developed from Kundanagi.
• 13:26
  If I could be so bold and make my prediction right now, I think
• 13:30
  I'm going to have Bay FC in the top four.
• 13:32
  Whoa, let's go. No cowardice this year.
• 13:37
  I regret I should have picked him to make the playoffs last
• 13:40
  year. I was disgraceful performance
• 13:42
  from by me that I didn't. I'm not letting it happen again.
• 13:45
  Wow, Bay FC top four. I love that.
• 13:48
  That's a great pick. That's a great bull shake.
• 13:52
  You know, I was like, all right, maybe let's see if he puts Bay
• 13:54
  FC in the playoffs for real this year.
• 13:56
  But top four. I love that.
• 13:58
  Can't wait to hear the the rest of your top four.
• 14:00
  Although I could probably make a guess of what the rest of it
• 14:02
  looks like. But yeah, I love it.
• 14:04
  Great pick. I've got Bay probably a little
• 14:06
  lower. I think I had them like on the
• 14:08
  bubble. Their ceiling is probably like,
• 14:11
  I don't know, maybe 5th or 6th. Maybe 5th is even a stretch,
• 14:13
  probably 6th. I think they could make the
• 14:15
  playoffs, but you've got them at top four.
• 14:17
  That means that maybe you you might expect them to be the
• 14:19
  semifinal and who knows? I mean, you know, once I show
• 14:22
  up, I've been known to kind of bring some good fortune to some
• 14:24
  of these squads, so maybe this can happens at BFC.
• 14:27
  All we need is for you to buy another player card from some
• 14:30
  player in Europe and then they just end up over at BFC and then
• 14:33
  they're a juggernaut. Who knows?
• 14:35
  I love it. Yeah.
• 14:36
  Let's go, LJ. Take her away from Chelsea.
• 14:38
  Let's make that happen. Back over to your turf, the
• 14:42
  Washington Spirit. What do we need to know about
• 14:45
  the 2025 Challenge Cup winners? Well, I think the Challenge Cup
• 14:49
  winners need to get healthy, although they showed they can
• 14:52
  still play a hell of a football match with these injuries.
• 14:55
  But, you know, you'd never know how sustainable that would be.
• 14:58
  They they do have a stacked roster and clearly one of the
• 15:02
  best managers in the world. Lacey Santos looked comfortable.
• 15:06
  She looked dangerous. We talked about it in the and I
• 15:09
  don't want to rehash too much of the the Challenge Cup review
• 15:12
  episode, but Hirschfeld and Narumi look like they're going
• 15:15
  to be a great fit together. Bethune is on our way back,
• 15:19
  Rodman is on her way back. I'm not too sure about Olasar.
• 15:23
  Injury updates can be hard to come by in this league.
• 15:26
  But Ashley Hatch looks great. She's obviously a great fit.
• 15:31
  I thought she was fine in the Challenge Cup, but what's not to
• 15:35
  like about a team where you have at least three players who will
• 15:40
  challenge for the NWSL best 11 and maybe the best coach in the
• 15:44
  league? Yeah, and you might have two
• 15:47
  players challenging for the MVP, so we'll make some MVP picks
• 15:50
  later. You might have at least two.
• 15:54
  And then, yeah, I might, you might, I might surprise you with
• 15:56
  my Midfielder of the Year pick. We'll we'll circle back to that
• 15:59
  one little bit later. Prediction wise, where do you
• 16:01
  have this Washington Spirit side?
• 16:03
  Again, top 4 challenging for the Shield and we'll get to we'll
• 16:07
  get to more in the in the awards and the final predictions.
• 16:11
  Love it. Yeah, I've got them probably
• 16:13
  like 1/2 a tear up in that true contender section.
• 16:17
  I think they can win either. They can.
• 16:19
  They're going to challenge for both.
• 16:20
  So Washington is is, as mentioned prior in our Challenge
• 16:24
  Cup recap, this is going to be a extremely dangerous team.
• 16:28
  On their best day, it can beat any team.
• 16:29
  I do just full stop. 100% sorry I broke the game.
• 16:33
  I I have them true contenders also, yeah, sorry, I for some
• 16:35
  reason I have top 4, but yeah, yeah, true contenders.
• 16:38
  They're they're gonna challenge for trophies.
• 16:40
  Wonderful yeah, we meet some like late late game reworkings
• 16:44
  to the to the tears, but we we keep it pre season pre season
• 16:48
  until Friday. All right, Kansas City current
• 16:53
  back on to my beat led by Flacco and notsky.
• 16:56
  So this team, I, I also have this team, the true contender
• 16:59
  status, so they're still as loaded as ever.
• 17:02
  MVP, Temuchuinga, BIA Debina, Lola Ponta, D Bernardo, Michelle
• 17:06
  Cooper, Claire Hutton, a couple players now that have some
• 17:09
  national team experience under their belt.
• 17:11
  The one thing that I think about is this isn't a young team.
• 17:14
  A few of those players I mentioned are over 30 years old.
• 17:17
  So not just are you contending with potential slowdown, but
• 17:21
  injuries play a factor for players, you know, kind of like,
• 17:24
  you know, at that age. And they're gonna need to stay
• 17:26
  relatively healthy. But they've definitely got the
• 17:28
  talent to really make a ton of noise this season.
• 17:30
  Yeah, no doubt. I mean, I I would agree with
• 17:33
  you. Well, OK, if if true contender
• 17:35
  is 1/2 step above top four. I mean, I don't think there's
• 17:38
  gonna be much separating top four.
• 17:40
  So again, here I am ruining the game.
• 17:42
  I'm gonna say top 4 contender ish.
• 17:46
  I'm making up a, a new one in between.
• 17:48
  They're they're in the mix. They have to be in the mix.
• 17:50
  Like you said, they're absolutely loaded.
• 17:52
  I absolutely love the addition of 27 year old Brazilian
• 17:54
  goalkeeper Lorena, who played every second of the 2024
• 17:57
  Olympics, kept 3 clean sheets, left with a silver medal, six
• 18:01
  matches, 6 clean sheets to win Copa America in 2022.
• 18:04
  And I, I think it's important to point out I, I, it's a great
• 18:07
  point that they have, you know, some of their important players
• 18:10
  are over 30 now. I think La Banta is either she
• 18:14
  just turn 30 or she's going to turn 31.
• 18:15
  D Bernardo is 31 ish somewhere in that in that ballpark.
• 18:19
  But of their 10 field players who played the most minutes for
• 18:23
  them last season, all 10 are back in the squad this season.
• 18:27
  Something to be said for continuity. 100%, yeah.
• 18:30
  And the coach is still there and unfinished business.
• 18:33
  I think they want to win, they want to push really hard.
• 18:35
  And yeah, the way that I kind of discerned true contender from
• 18:39
  top 4 is like, OK, if you got BFC in your top four, if I don't
• 18:42
  know, if you're claiming that BFC, you know, it may be a
• 18:44
  contender for these titles, maybe you are, but I think there
• 18:47
  definitely is a, for me, there's definitely a drop off after
• 18:49
  three. So I've got Orlando, Washington,
• 18:51
  KC in a tier of their own. They can each win a trophy.
• 18:54
  They're each going to push or can push for both.
• 18:57
  And then yeah, top 4 is for I'm going to see who I've got.
• 18:59
  No, OK, I've got, I've got some of my top four that I think
• 19:02
  won't be too much of a surprise. But my 5th place team, I can't
• 19:05
  wait to get to them. Very excited about that.
• 19:07
  OK, let's Fast forward North Carolina Courage led by Sean
• 19:10
  Nahas. What do we need to know about
• 19:12
  the Courage I? Think they got to be one of the
• 19:14
  most intriguing teams in the league this season.
• 19:16
  They add Jayden Shaw. It's obviously a massive
• 19:19
  headline. I think a lot of ball knowers on
• 19:22
  Woso social media talked about exercising the option to make
• 19:26
  Minaka Machucobo's loan permanent in the offseason.
• 19:30
  She's a blossoming star. At 20 years old.
• 19:33
  She scored a goal to seal the 2023 Challenge Cup final back
• 19:37
  when it was a tournament and was named MVP of that match.
• 19:41
  She was a trusted sub in all three matches of the She
• 19:43
  Believes Cup. I just think with Sean Nehas,
• 19:46
  with the defensive identity, you know, they, they kind of slow
• 19:49
  you down. They play a little, that
• 19:50
  possessive style of football is a little bit of an outlier in
• 19:55
  our league. And the way they play, they just
• 19:58
  grind you down like Ryan Williams, Kaylee Kurtz back
• 20:02
  there on the defensive back line.
• 20:04
  They just make you work for everything always, whether
• 20:07
  you're chasing the ball or whether they're taking the ball
• 20:10
  from you. They're hard to count out and
• 20:12
  I'm just. Really excited to see how Shaw
• 20:14
  looks at that lineup. Oh my God, 100% yeah.
• 20:16
  I mean, I'm really interested to see if Jaden Shaw can
• 20:19
  essentially become the face of that franchise from every facet.
• 20:24
  Because like, I think like, this is like your traditional.
• 20:26
  It's almost like the the early 2010's Memphis Grizzlies, like a
• 20:29
  bunch of good players, but more importantly, like Adna, like,
• 20:33
  you know, like character traits and like something every slots
• 20:36
  into that team. Never got an injection of a
• 20:38
  young superstar, young budding superstar into it to kind of see
• 20:42
  what where the ceiling was. You know, John Moran comes a
• 20:44
  little bit later. But if Jaden Shaw can really
• 20:46
  kind of like grab that spot, really cement herself as like an
• 20:50
  NWSL first eleven kind of player and MVP candidate type of
• 20:53
  player, which I think probably is her ceiling.
• 20:56
  That really changes the trajectory for this team.
• 20:59
  Because if you look at what they did last year, third fewest
• 21:01
  goals allowed with 28, but they only scored 34, which was good
• 21:05
  for six in the league. If they can kind of hold
• 21:08
  defensively and maybe add five, ten goals to that mix with Jaden
• 21:12
  Shaw contributing, you know, maybe from a goal standpoint and
• 21:14
  an assist standpoint, that could really be a game changer.
• 21:17
  Hand a bed for it. Also add it to the mix to kind
• 21:20
  of see, you know, like how how the chemistry, you know, the
• 21:23
  interplay can happen from there. So they did a good job adding
• 21:26
  attacking talent. Now it's going to be up to Nahas
• 21:29
  to figure out how to best extract, you know, as much as he
• 21:31
  can, as as much productivity as he can from those new signings.
• 21:35
  Yeah, very excited to see it. I will say I think they are.
• 21:40
  I think they're a playoff team. I think they they'll probably,
• 21:43
  you know, they'll probably have to play in a way match, but
• 21:45
  there's no reason to really believe this team don't make the
• 21:48
  playoffs. Yeah, I like that.
• 21:49
  And I think I'm a little bit probably higher on them.
• 21:52
  I think Jaden Shaw, you know, once you shake off that San
• 21:55
  Diego wave funk from off you, you know, kind of joined this
• 21:59
  team, you know, maybe that rejuvenates a player like Shaw.
• 22:03
  I had them fourth in my ranking, so I've got them top four home
• 22:08
  playoff game. I don't think that they're
• 22:10
  necessarily a true contender, but I think I think they'll be
• 22:13
  hanging around and they'll earn. They can, they can definitely
• 22:16
  earn that, that first home playoff match.
• 22:18
  And then from there, we'll be interested to see what happens.
• 22:20
  OK, so we've gone through, we've named your top 4 already and but
• 22:26
  we have not named your top five. No.
• 22:29
  OK, so we've got we've got my top five.
• 22:31
  You've been kind of alluding to where you have your for your
• 22:34
  ranking, so I have. So you have the courage 5.
• 22:36
  You have the courage 5. I have the courage 5.
• 22:38
  Yes, okay, so yeah, so we went through your 5.
• 22:40
  Where did you have KC3? I have KC at 4:00.
• 22:43
  So you have Bay 3. I have Bay FC 3.
• 22:48
  Let's fucking cook. I'm all in.
• 22:50
  I'm all in. And that's how perturbed I was
• 22:53
  by my cowardice last season. Oh, I love it.
• 22:56
  I love it. Awesome.
• 22:57
  Well, well, my first fancy press conference.
• 23:00
  I'll make sure to let them know that.
• 23:02
  Big expectations coming into the year for you guys.
• 23:05
  Damn right. Of your your top three
• 23:07
  prediction. I love it.
• 23:08
  All right, let's shift gears. This is a fun team.
• 23:11
  Not we'll see where we see where we have them placed.
• 23:13
  The Houston Dash led by Fabrice Gautreau or as he's known here
• 23:17
  in Central Florida, Mr. Morgan Gautreau, they bring back Diana
• 23:21
  Ordonez. We're going to see what Gautreau
• 23:24
  is going to be able to do leading this squad.
• 23:26
  But this is an attack that could feature Messiah Bright, Diana
• 23:29
  Ordonez, Yasmine Ryan, you add 34 year old Swiss attacker
• 23:33
  Ramona Bachman to the list who comes over from PSGI.
• 23:36
  Think, you know, attack wise could be interesting.
• 23:38
  And I think we're we're so used to like Houston's the kind of
• 23:41
  team where I don't know what the vibes are like, but I have good
• 23:44
  positive, warm emotions toward Houston.
• 23:47
  And they've just been trudging through the mud for the last
• 23:50
  couple seasons that I think even just like a big step up, you
• 23:54
  know, getting into the top nine, top ten of the league, hanging
• 23:57
  around the outskirts of the playoff, you know, conversation
• 24:01
  I think would represent like a great step up.
• 24:03
  And that's even before you consider, well, what if Yasmine
• 24:06
  Ryan just comes out and explodes?
• 24:08
  You know, it just looks like you know, for long stretches, the
• 24:10
  most dangerous offensive player on the pitch for either side,
• 24:13
  which which can definitely happen.
• 24:15
  So I have this team. Well, let me let me put a pin
• 24:18
  in. I want to hear where you have
• 24:19
  this team. Yeah, I mean, you raise a great
• 24:21
  point. Obviously, the additions are
• 24:23
  important. I like I, I know we said it when
• 24:26
  the move was made. I just want to see Messiah break
• 24:28
  play consistent minutes at #9 let's just see what she has out
• 24:32
  there because I mean, she's had some real flashes for your
• 24:34
  Orlando Pride. I don't think she got nearly
• 24:36
  enough time at Angel City. Obviously tough, tough to play
• 24:39
  her at #9 when you have the legend Sydney LaRue who too
• 24:43
  remains just an A plus player when it comes to like timing her
• 24:47
  runs and and getting into dangerous areas.
• 24:49
  You know they lose Tarsiane to Lyon and I do want to shout out
• 24:54
  a very necessary shout out. 36 year old Japanese forward Yuki
• 24:57
  Nagasato announced her retirement on March 3rd 2025.
• 25:01
  She is second all time in goals for Japan with 58.
• 25:05
  Tell me if this is a pretty good four year run. 2011 World Cup
• 25:08
  winner, 2012 Olympic silver medal. 2014 Asian Cup winner,
• 25:13
  2015 World Cup 2nd place medal. Pretty good four years for Yuki
• 25:17
  Nagasato. Shout out to the legend.
• 25:19
  Happy retirement. Congrats to the legend.
• 25:22
  Absolutely. Prediction wise, where do you
• 25:25
  have this? Team I, I think you're right.
• 25:27
  It's we're going to need to see Yasmine Ryan goals.
• 25:29
  We're going to need to see Messiah bright goals.
• 25:31
  I think pulling themselves up from the seller of the league is
• 25:34
  going to be worth celebrating. I think it's going to be tough
• 25:38
  sledding though because you got a lot of really good teams in
• 25:40
  this league. I think they're going to be in
• 25:42
  that bubble ish type area. I had them at 11 and I don't
• 25:49
  necessarily feel great about it because I think they could move
• 25:53
  up, but that's why that's why I have them as a bubble team.
• 25:55
  I think they call that synergy in the business world.
• 25:57
  I also have them at 11. No way.
• 26:00
  All right. We'll see where they're at.
• 26:01
  I'm firmly in on the bubble with regard to my rankings.
• 26:04
  This feels like a team. Houston's like a big market in
• 26:07
  the US for sure. No state taxes in Texas.
• 26:10
  This feels like a team where they can make a big signing or
• 26:14
  two. You know, you talked about the
• 26:15
  abolition of the draft. You know, now they're going to
• 26:17
  have to sort of like switch gears a little bit.
• 26:19
  This isn't like a small market that's going to struggle to kind
• 26:22
  of like attract players to a big city.
• 26:24
  I think this is a team that could could make a splash, I
• 26:27
  think in an upcoming window and really change their trajectory.
• 26:30
  And maybe if they're close, who knows that that can maybe
• 26:33
  motivate them to try to make a push for one of those playoff
• 26:35
  spots. Yeah, I think it's, I think it's
• 26:37
  a good point. The one thing that I, I do
• 26:39
  wonder if we have to watch out for in a state like Texas, does
• 26:43
  that advantage get kind of Hacked Off at the knees a little
• 26:47
  bit just because of Texas's record of frankly, poor human
• 26:51
  rights record, bodily autonomy, medical freedoms, things like
• 26:54
  that. I think it's something we we
• 26:55
  should watch out for in this league.
• 26:56
  But Houston is cool. It is a nice place to live.
• 27:00
  I I don't think you're off base seeing it as a free agent
• 27:03
  destination. Yeah, great point.
• 27:05
  Definitely something to track. Yeah.
• 27:07
  Funny that we both had them at 11.
• 27:08
  Let's shift gears to the Utah Royals, led by Amy Rodriguez.
• 27:14
  This is your beat. What do we need to?
• 27:15
  I mean, this is an exciting squad, so I'm excited to have
• 27:17
  this conversation. What do we need to know about
• 27:20
  Utah? I know on the calendar it's not,
• 27:23
  but for Utah in 2025, leap year is what we're looking for here.
• 27:29
  I mean, Ali Sentinor showed her explosive talent in the She
• 27:31
  believes Cup. I think we all, I mean she
• 27:33
  showed it multiple times during her rookie season.
• 27:36
  Mina Tanaka came over to the Utah Royals on July 5th last
• 27:40
  year. What's she going to look like
• 27:41
  with a full camp a week later? Last year on July 12th, 34 year
• 27:45
  old Claudia Zaranosia from Real Madrid came over.
• 27:49
  Crafty veteran midfielder. What is she going to get with a
• 27:52
  full camp on this roster? What is that going to look like?
• 27:55
  So I think this team is super exciting.
• 27:59
  You cursed me when I drafted them during our NWSL team draft.
• 28:04
  I, I, I had a feeling that was because you're, you're probably
• 28:07
  fairly optimistic on them as well.
• 28:10
  The attack's going to look good. I think Mandy McGlynn showed
• 28:14
  great promise as a keeper. Obviously Emma Hayes wanted to
• 28:17
  see more of her on the international roster.
• 28:19
  I think this team takes a big jump in the table this year.
• 28:23
  I'm curious where where you're landing on it.
• 28:25
  Well, I've got them jumping all the way up to five, my friend.
• 28:29
  That's a great team. Look at you.
• 28:32
  I just love their attack. So you mentioned Setnora Tanaka,
• 28:35
  Chloe Lacasse lead them in goals last season, 4 goals, nine
• 28:39
  matches played. Paige Monahan, you know, is
• 28:41
  obviously dangerous. Anna Tejada, Anna Maria Guzman,
• 28:44
  the two Anna's in defense. Love, love that pairing.
• 28:47
  And I don't know they're they have like a, you know, it's not
• 28:50
  it's like a flair combined with like a nasty streak.
• 28:53
  You know, when I watch them play like that combination of flair
• 28:56
  and nastiness in this league can carry you very far.
• 29:01
  But the leap year, the potential Sentinel leap year is genius.
• 29:05
  Great call by you. Because if we do see that with
• 29:08
  this team, the way that they played and assume some of the
• 29:11
  maturities or notice, I thought I thought had a really good
• 29:13
  season when she came over last year.
• 29:15
  Tanaka on absolute fire for Japan.
• 29:17
  She believes. I think she'll be able to carry
• 29:19
  some of that momentum in. This is just a dangerous team,
• 29:22
  and I think every year you see a team bubble up, really move up
• 29:25
  the ranks ahead of schedule. I think this year that team is
• 29:27
  Utah. I love it.
• 29:29
  I love the bold pick with them at 5.
• 29:32
  I have them firmly in the playoffs.
• 29:34
  I had them at 6th in the table. I don't think it's going to be,
• 29:38
  I don't think they're going to be sweating it.
• 29:39
  I think they'll be in the playoffs.
• 29:40
  And here's a bonus prediction. We'll obviously get to some of
• 29:43
  the awards later. I think Ali Sentinor challenges
• 29:46
  for the league MVP. Wow.
• 29:49
  Big. Big prediction I love that we're
• 29:52
  taking. Big swings today, Bubba.
• 29:54
  Let's go, we're on record. I love it.
• 29:57
  OK let's shift gears. Racing Louisville. 7th best goal
• 30:00
  differential last season, better than Bay FC, better than
• 30:03
  Chicago. They Co led the league and draws
• 30:05
  with seven. That's probably what sunk their
• 30:07
  playoff hopes. They were solid at home last
• 30:09
  year, awful on the road. Definitely talent on that squad
• 30:12
  though. Savannah Demelo, Taylor Flint,
• 30:14
  Angela Baron. 21 year old defender from Colombia captain
• 30:17
  Aaron Wright, A 31 year old defender. 1800 plus minutes last
• 30:20
  season for Wright. I like the collection of talent
• 30:23
  on this team. Sort of feels like a team that
• 30:26
  has a lot of players that can hit B + A minus and on the wrong
• 30:31
  day they can beat you. I think that's totally fair.
• 30:34
  And when we did our team draft a week or two ago, I made a
• 30:39
  grievous error in saying that I and just having in general
• 30:43
  racing Louisville as my last team on my big board to draft.
• 30:47
  And you have educated me, my good man.
• 30:49
  I was a fool as as I was doing preparation for this episode, I
• 30:52
  was like, what exactly does Dino see here?
• 30:56
  And I, I think I see what you're seeing is that they're super
• 30:59
  competitive. They're able to score.
• 31:00
  I'm very interested to see what Adi Borgess looks like this
• 31:04
  year. She only played in 14 matches
• 31:06
  and played 826 minutes. Last year.
• 31:09
  She had an injury that required a knee scope.
• 31:11
  If she can play significantly more minutes this year, I think
• 31:14
  that's going to obviously be a huge boost for them.
• 31:18
  And just I got to just apologize to my to my fellow Seattleites
• 31:23
  for me to disrespect Seattle Rain legend Beviana as their
• 31:26
  head coach. Two time shield winner with
• 31:29
  Seattle Rain FC and three time winner overall.
• 31:32
  She won one with Western New York Flash.
• 31:33
  They always appear to be well coached, so I was a damn fool, I
• 31:39
  say, for having them last in my big board and allowing you to
• 31:41
  snatch them up in the draft. Had to do it, was happy to take
• 31:44
  that pick. You know, Emma Sears, who we've
• 31:46
  watched quite a bit kind of blossom.
• 31:48
  For you to go from a social team, I think another player you
• 31:50
  got to keep an eye on who Chenna can, who last year was kind of
• 31:53
  leading the leading in goals. I think for the first, I don't
• 31:55
  know, few weeks of the season, she, you know, absolute tear to
• 31:58
  start the year. I've got this team firmly on the
• 32:02
  bubble. I'd say I've got them 9th on my
• 32:04
  rankings, so just outside the playoffs.
• 32:06
  But another team that you know, like if they get top
• 32:09
  performances and probably like realistically they need to stay
• 32:12
  healthy. If they stay healthy that much
• 32:14
  talent. This is absolutely a top eight
• 32:16
  team in this league. I think you're right.
• 32:17
  I think you talked me into it enough to where I have them 8th
• 32:21
  in the table when I when I sat down and really looked at it.
• 32:23
  And I totally agree, Uchenakanu had that injury.
• 32:27
  I mean, she scored five times in 12 matches.
• 32:29
  She was back to fully training in January.
• 32:32
  I think if if they stay healthy, obviously the the executive, the
• 32:36
  shadow executive producer would scold me if I didn't bring up
• 32:40
  Taylor Flint AKA tall girl bias 2GB.
• 32:44
  She could head in some holes, make sure that the the set
• 32:47
  pieces are dangerous. I got them making the playoffs
• 32:49
  #8 and you know, I don't think the The Shield winner is gonna
• 32:53
  exactly be psyched to play them, although they'll still go in
• 32:57
  confident. I love that.
• 32:58
  I love that you went from, yeah, the 14th bumped them all the way
• 33:01
  up to 8th. Little research, little little
• 33:04
  draft envy. But yeah, that's what the show's
• 33:06
  about, man. Just getting on the same page,
• 33:08
  putting our heads together. And I think every time we do
• 33:11
  that, it works out well in our favor, I'll say.
• 33:13
  So I'm definitely happy that that you got them at 8:00.
• 33:15
  I've got him at 9:00. So we're roughly on the same
• 33:17
  page there. Shifting gears, this team's
• 33:20
  taking some hits, the Portland Thorns led by Mike Norris.
• 33:24
  What do we need to know about Portland?
• 33:26
  All right, let me just make sure that I that I get it right
• 33:29
  because I oscillate on her age. OK, so I do have that correct.
• 33:34
  So Sophie Wilson is 25 years old.
• 33:37
  She is one of the faces of the US Women's national team.
• 33:40
  She is one of the faces of the NWSL.
• 33:42
  She's a two time MVP in the league and she announced her
• 33:46
  pregnancy on social media. So congratulations to her and
• 33:51
  her husband. This is a, you know, obviously,
• 33:55
  no, no, obviously congratulations on the nuptials
• 33:57
  as well, but I've already congratulated her for that.
• 34:00
  So, you know, this is a happy time.
• 34:03
  She I mean, she recently resigned, I think it was last
• 34:05
  year where she she extended her contract with the Thorns.
• 34:08
  You know, she's getting good sponsorship money.
• 34:10
  She's featured in Nike commercials.
• 34:13
  I think this makes sense for her and her family to kind of take
• 34:17
  this step, and we obviously wish her well in that.
• 34:19
  Portland Thorns. You might be in trouble this
• 34:22
  year because she's obviously not going to play for you and I
• 34:26
  don't know where the goals are going to come from.
• 34:28
  I really don't know either. So I I mean, I had this, I had
• 34:32
  Portland, my bottom 3, just full transparency year, I had them at
• 34:36
  12. I don't see the scoring We've
• 34:39
  talked about the vibes. You know, you lose Sinclair, you
• 34:41
  lose Wilson. Still a lot of talented players.
• 34:45
  But yeah, the the goals have to come from somewhere and you
• 34:48
  don't want to be the team that's backsliding even a little bit
• 34:52
  when so many these other teams are adding players or they had a
• 34:56
  young profile and now these these players are maturing.
• 34:58
  You don't want to be the team losing talent going backwards.
• 35:02
  And I think that's exactly where Portland finds themselves.
• 35:04
  Sophie Wilson and Christine Sinclair accounted for 16 goals
• 35:08
  and seven assists in 2024. Now look, they they traded
• 35:13
  Janine Becky and her three goals and two assists for Ryland
• 35:17
  Turner, but that is a swap of a 29 year old Becky for a 21 year
• 35:22
  old Turner. So I think I, I think I get
• 35:24
  that. Like if you think kind of about
• 35:26
  the timeline, they still have Sam coffee, they still have
• 35:29
  Olivia Moultrie, Hina Sujita, Jesse Fleming, Nicole Payne and
• 35:32
  Morgan Weaver. Those are good players.
• 35:34
  But again, who's scoring goals in that lineup?
• 35:38
  I mean, I, I think with Fleming, she can score and create goals
• 35:42
  for you. But we've talked about it.
• 35:44
  Sometimes there are 65 minute stretches in a match where
• 35:47
  you're just like, I know Fleming is better than this.
• 35:49
  I should see her on the ball board.
• 35:52
  And so with Fleming being, you know, a fairly fully developed
• 35:55
  player, 27 years old, you know, pretty much entering in her
• 35:59
  prime, you know, maybe there's still some some ceiling to to
• 36:02
  reach up toward. You know, I think it's going to
• 36:04
  be a rough 1. You have them in 12th.
• 36:07
  I also have them in the bottom 3, but I got them at the bottom
• 36:10
  of the bottom three. I have them finishing 14th in
• 36:13
  the table. And I don't think it's an
• 36:14
  indictment of the players they have.
• 36:16
  I just, I just don't think they're going to be able to
• 36:17
  score enough. Yeah, that makes sense.
• 36:19
  I think they have a price. Still too much talent for me to
• 36:22
  have them that low. But I think, yeah, we both got
• 36:24
  them bottom 3. So more alignment there.
• 36:27
  Let's shift gears though, to another team in my bottom 3,
• 36:30
  Chicago Stars FC, led by Lauren Donaldson.
• 36:34
  So they add Michaela Johnson, US women's Ash team, under 17
• 36:37
  attacker. She joins Chicago on a
• 36:39
  three-year deal through 2027. She just turned 17 in January.
• 36:44
  Extremely OK Chicago was also going to try to work in Maidana
• 36:48
  Lopez, Spanish midfielder who last played for Gotham.
• 36:51
  Prior to that, multiple stops in League of F Couple appearances
• 36:54
  for the Spanish national team as well.
• 36:56
  Outside of that, you know, it's Mel Swanson.
• 36:59
  You know, maybe kind of fingers crossed, Sam Staub.
• 37:02
  How can we put something together here?
• 37:03
  But I don't know if this this team to me feels like a bottom
• 37:06
  three team. I'm interested to hear.
• 37:08
  I know you're a big Lord Donaldson guy where you've got
• 37:10
  the Chicago team. I think Donaldson will be able
• 37:13
  to put together a good defense with duct tape and whatever, you
• 37:16
  know, he needs to not to not to belittle the players performance
• 37:19
  in in their good finish last year.
• 37:22
  I mean, this this thing, how much does it hinge on Mallory
• 37:26
  Swanson's availability at this point?
• 37:28
  You know, I just haven't seen a ton of reporting.
• 37:30
  When you go to the team's website and you see the player
• 37:33
  photos, it's all new photos and then they're using Mal Swanson's
• 37:38
  photo from last year. So you just hope that you just
• 37:41
  hope that everything's OK, you know, on the home front,
• 37:43
  personal wise, health wise. So, you know, you just fingers
• 37:47
  crossed for for good things there.
• 37:49
  I think, you know, Sam Staub, she wasn't at NWSL media day
• 37:53
  strictly to correct the signage there that has still had Chicago
• 37:57
  red Stars and she crossed it out put Chicago Stars FC.
• 38:00
  But she also talked to Jason Anderson, a pro soccer wire who
• 38:03
  reported from media day that Staub said she was quote,
• 38:06
  feeling really good And additional quote, not 100% yet,
• 38:10
  but I'm getting there. End Quote.
• 38:13
  So if Staab is making her way back from that injury, I think
• 38:16
  the defense should look OK. I'm interested in seeing 20 year
• 38:19
  old Japanese midfielder Monaka Hayashi, who signed with the
• 38:22
  club in January. She was the captain of that U20
• 38:25
  Japanese squad that took second place in the 2024 U20 World Cup.
• 38:30
  Again, I think it's going to be tough for them, but I think the
• 38:33
  defensive identity, and I know a lot of this depends on Swanson's
• 38:38
  availability, but I'm going to have them in that bubble range.
• 38:42
  I put them a 10th from the table.
• 38:44
  Interesting. I mean, I love Sam Stop, one of
• 38:46
  my favorite players in the league.
• 38:48
  When she's right, she's really, really good.
• 38:50
  But this is a team that was 31 goals for last year, 38 allowed
• 38:54
  -7 goal differential heading into playoffs.
• 38:57
  Kind of snuck in there but didn't offer very much.
• 39:01
  Obviously they they take her Orlando to open up the
• 39:03
  proceedings. Tough to fault them from there.
• 39:05
  But I think similar vibes to Portland.
• 39:08
  A lot of these teams have gotten better.
• 39:10
  I'm not sure Chicago's gotten better.
• 39:12
  And if you haven't gotten better or if you've gotten slightly
• 39:14
  worse, you're in real danger of kind of getting lapped by the
• 39:18
  field because you've got a lot of talent coming in, a lot of
• 39:21
  talent kind of maturing, a lot of big pieces.
• 39:23
  You know, Jaden Shaw, you has been Ryan kind of moving around,
• 39:26
  sort of shifting the balance. So if you're a team like
• 39:29
  Chicago, not to really make any, you know, huge moves during the
• 39:32
  offseason, I think it kind of puts him in a tough spot.
• 39:34
  And they could be, I don't know. It's weird because there's no
• 39:36
  draft now. So it's like, you know, it's not
• 39:38
  like you're, you know, take it for web mignon or whoever.
• 39:40
  Like you really have to kind of come out and like really show
• 39:42
  out. So yeah, I've got, I've got,
• 39:46
  unfortunately I've got Chicago in my bottom 3.
• 39:48
  Where did I have them exactly? I had them 13th, 2nd from the
• 39:52
  bottom. I think they're gonna, I think
• 39:54
  it'll be a rough go for the stars.
• 39:55
  And you know, they had that amazing turn around in 2023.
• 39:59
  They were dead fucking last to the table and they were able to
• 40:01
  to crawl up to the playoffs. So it it.
• 40:04
  It could be if your prediction plays out, they could be looking
• 40:07
  like a yo-yo club here. It'll be interesting to watch,
• 40:09
  no doubt. Yep, Yeah, We'll keep an eye on
• 40:11
  that. All right.
• 40:12
  Gotham FC, led by Juan Carlos Amoros.
• 40:15
  What do you got on Gotham? Still a lot of good players.
• 40:18
  I mean, similar kind of the way we're talking about Portland,
• 40:21
  OK, on Katrin Berger, Bruninia, Emily Sonnet, Tina Davidson,
• 40:26
  Mandy Freeman, Jess Carter, Jalen Owl, Roosevelt, Ella
• 40:29
  Stevens, Esther Gonzalez, Gabi Portillo, Jessica Silva, At
• 40:32
  least for now. And Midge Purse, the return of
• 40:35
  Midge. I cannot wait.
• 40:36
  I hope she comes back to play as soon as she is able to.
• 40:39
  I hope she's fully healthy as soon as possible.
• 40:42
  I don't think it's going to be an easy season for them by any
• 40:45
  stretch, but there is. There's just a lot of talent on
• 40:48
  the bats. I think that the midfield, they
• 40:51
  might have to keep a little bit of a tight rotation in these dog
• 40:55
  days of summer. That can always be a little
• 40:58
  difficult here in the United States, but I think they're in
• 41:01
  the playoffs. I think they might have to sweat
• 41:03
  it out a little bit. I think it might look dicey at
• 41:06
  sometimes, but Rose Lavelle had a really healthy season last
• 41:11
  year and I I hope to see her duplicate that.
• 41:15
  And if that happens, I think they're firmly in the playoffs.
• 41:18
  Yeah, I like that. I had them 6th on my predictions
• 41:22
  and sort of the same. You know, I think, I think it's
• 41:24
  some, some weeks are going to look like a top four team.
• 41:27
  Other weeks are going to look like a bubble team or, you know,
• 41:29
  maybe even worse. You know, the talent is
• 41:32
  undeniable. It's obviously there.
• 41:34
  But they lost three of their top 4 field players in terms of
• 41:37
  minutes last season, Yasmine Ryan and Shin Jenna Neiswanger.
• 41:41
  How long is the chemistry going to take to take hold?
• 41:44
  Because that, that, that's a lot of moving pieces to kind of make
• 41:47
  happen. And those were players that
• 41:48
  played a lot of minutes and were very involved in what Gotham was
• 41:50
  doing. I'm I'm curious about their
• 41:52
  depth. I'm curious about maybe their
• 41:54
  ability to stay healthy, maybe with some of those older players
• 41:57
  you mentioned Rose Lavelle, like another great example.
• 41:59
  If Rose is healthy, that's a player that can have a
• 42:02
  tremendous season and really kind of like lead this team.
• 42:05
  If we get the opposite, you know, knock on wood, that could
• 42:08
  kind of like throw a monkey wrench in the in this team and
• 42:10
  you don't make a midfield that's, you know, has some shaky
• 42:13
  potential. You know, maybe get a little
• 42:15
  shakier. You can throw limb biendola in
• 42:17
  the mix with one of the high profile players that moved on.
• 42:20
  I'm still a little curious about the vibes that Gotham finds
• 42:23
  closed doors because that's a lot of talent to just kind of
• 42:26
  like, walk out the door. Yeah.
• 42:27
  And then I do have that sneaky feeling.
• 42:30
  Some of the players you mentioned, Gabby Portillo,
• 42:32
  Jessica Silva. Who else am I missing?
• 42:35
  You know, the players that came in internationally, Jess Carter
• 42:37
  last year. Yeah.
• 42:39
  When you've got to go outside the league and get players, I do
• 42:42
  feel like that could be a signal that the word is maybe out, you
• 42:47
  know, internally within players in the league that hey, this is
• 42:50
  maybe a place that's not super player friendly.
• 42:53
  And then that would require a team to kind of have to go to
• 42:55
  Europe, go to South America and then kind of like grab talent
• 42:59
  from there. Shout out to them.
• 43:00
  They got another incredible roster of talent.
• 43:02
  But yeah, I think, I think I landed on them at 6:00 just
• 43:06
  because I think they'll at some points are gonna look much
• 43:08
  better, at some points are gonna look worse.
• 43:09
  I think that's totally fair. Let me hit you with the with the
• 43:12
  bonus prediction, I am going to predict that Lavelle plays 20 or
• 43:17
  more matches in the regular season.
• 43:20
  Her previous career high was last year with 21 matches played
• 43:24
  in league play and eight goals plus assists.
• 43:28
  My prediction this year, I think they're going to need her to do
• 43:30
  it. I think she'll play more than 20
• 43:32
  matches again and I think she'll get some combination of ten
• 43:36
  goals and assists in league play, whether it's seven goals,
• 43:39
  4 assists, something like that. Actually, I don't think she's
• 43:42
  ever had more than one assist in league play in her career if I
• 43:46
  am conjuring my memory of her FB ref page.
• 43:49
  So maybe let's call it nine goals, 2 assists.
• 43:52
  She sets a record for herself in league play with assists.
• 43:56
  But I mean, you know how I feel about Roosevelt.
• 43:58
  She's one of my absolute favorite players in USA history
• 44:01
  and I'm I'm looking for another big year from her.
• 44:04
  Love it, would love to see that happen.
• 44:05
  All right, where'd you have Gotham?
• 44:07
  I had them 7th OK, my so we haven't I, I don't think I, I
• 44:12
  gave the update on mine, but yeah, I had the courage. 5th the
• 44:15
  Utah Royals. 6th Gotham 7. Courage Utah Gotham that's funny
• 44:19
  yeah I had Utah you know I had courage Utah Gotham 456 and then
• 44:24
  I have I had Ben 10th. That was my big that's where we
• 44:27
  where we differ. Hope they don't hear this kind
• 44:30
  of like a slow down my press get that draw proof.
• 44:33
  All right, let's shift gears. Angel City FC led by this
• 44:40
  manager's situation. Angel City is a trip.
• 44:42
  I'm not sure how much you've been following this.
• 44:44
  December 9th, they part ways with Becky Tweed.
• 44:46
  And then in that announcement, they named Ellery Earnshaw as
• 44:50
  the interim head coach as they search for a new head coach in a
• 44:53
  search that they quote said will commence immediately.
• 44:56
  March 6th. Almost three months later, they
• 45:00
  named Sam Lady the interim, but an interim that was brought in
• 45:04
  from the offseason that was not the old interim.
• 45:07
  Very weird. Jeff Kassoff mentioned that
• 45:11
  Angel City sporting director Mark Parsons says he expects a
• 45:14
  full time head coach to arrive in June.
• 45:16
  Very weird. Timing, bro, Yeah.
• 45:19
  I'm not sure if he realized that the, the, the league starts in
• 45:23
  March. But either way, you know, maybe
• 45:25
  I don't know, he's, he's got a good buddy that's on vacation or
• 45:27
  something or or offline. Just a weird situation.
• 45:31
  Sam lady leading this team Lady last coach in the league,
• 45:34
  leading the Houston Dash 2023 to a 10th place finish.
• 45:37
  Six wins, 8 draws, 10 losses. So I'm not really sure what to
• 45:41
  expect from a player standpoint. The Thompson sisters, they
• 45:43
  extend through 2028. They bring in Julie Defore, who
• 45:46
  played for Perry FC, 13 goals in 31 matches played for them, Also
• 45:49
  has some experience with France's senior national team.
• 45:52
  And they trade for Savvy King from Bay FC, the second pick in
• 45:56
  the 2023 and the BFL draft. Whatever draft Sentinor and
• 46:01
  Bethune was it, we're in So. Last year's draft 25420. 24
• 46:05
  draft. So Savi King obviously dropped
• 46:07
  it second ahead of Corey Bethune.
• 46:09
  So obviously the pedigrees there maybe bought low from AFC for a
• 46:13
  player with real defensive chops.
• 46:15
  I I mean, weirdly, I had Angel City kind of sneaking into the
• 46:19
  playoffs as the eighth seed, you know, and that's really on the
• 46:22
  strength of like the vibes, the Thompson sisters and maybe, you
• 46:25
  know, just kind of putting it together, maybe finding a coach,
• 46:28
  maybe whoever they they were to find in June is really good.
• 46:32
  Keep an eye on that. But I don't know, I, I, I, I'm,
• 46:34
  I'm loosely interested in this Angel City team.
• 46:36
  I think they they've got a shot at kind of sinking into the
• 46:39
  playoffs. Well, there has been a coach
• 46:40
  linked to that job who recently became available, and that would
• 46:45
  be former Manchester City Football Club manager Gareth
• 46:48
  Taylor. And it seems like all the signs
• 46:51
  are pointing toward him taking that job in LA.
• 46:55
  And to that I say have a good time buddy.
• 46:58
  Enjoy yourself. Yeah, Thanks for all the stuff
• 47:02
  that you did. I'm looking forward to the
• 47:04
  future of Manchester City Football Club.
• 47:08
  No shots. That's fine.
• 47:10
  Do you know what does Taylor have something with regard to
• 47:13
  Jude or are those related or does he have a non compete or
• 47:17
  something? I think he had something until
• 47:20
  June and I don't think he any longer has that until June.
• 47:24
  So I would not be surprised if he is named the coach.
• 47:28
  He might even be named manager of Angel City by the time this
• 47:31
  podcast publishes. We will have to see.
• 47:34
  And if that's the case, more power to you.
• 47:36
  Gareth, I'm with you. I think they're, well, I'm not
• 47:40
  with, I didn't put them in the playoffs, but I think they're a
• 47:43
  bubble team. The Thompson sisters are due for
• 47:46
  a jump. I think they have showed it.
• 47:49
  Alyssa Thompson was on fire at the end of last season.
• 47:51
  I love Giselle Thompson's game. We've talked about it in our US
• 47:54
  Women's national team coverage. Love her toughness.
• 47:57
  Julie Defore is a really good pick up.
• 48:00
  I don't even think it's a sneaky good pick up.
• 48:01
  I think she's just a good player who should be a good NWSL
• 48:04
  player. Also, I had them 9th so I do.
• 48:08
  I won't be shocked if they make the playoffs.
• 48:12
  I think they're firmly in that bubble.
• 48:13
  I think they'll compete for it. And we probably have.
• 48:16
  I mean, just judging on her conditioning, I think we
• 48:19
  probably still have two, maybe 3 good Sydney LaRue years left,
• 48:24
  too. And she's going to want to try
• 48:26
  to maximize it. And people are galvanized around
• 48:28
  her. There's that awesome video of
• 48:30
  June Endo running for the first time since her ACL injury.
• 48:34
  So hopefully Endo is able to come back.
• 48:36
  She'll be an instant adrenaline boost in that midfield, so I
• 48:41
  think they'll be a good team. We'll just have to see what the
• 48:44
  management situation looks like and then kind of how they're
• 48:47
  able to put it together. Yeah, some that will definitely
• 48:49
  track. And then going from your former
• 48:52
  WSL manager to my former WSL manager, how about the San Diego
• 48:57
  Wave led by Jonas Adevall? Look, do I like any of the vibes
• 49:02
  coming from this team? I do not.
• 49:04
  But do they still have Caitlin Sheridan, Maria Sanchez and
• 49:07
  Delphine Cascarino? Yes, they do.
• 49:10
  They added Adriana Leon and Kenzo Dolly from Aston Villa
• 49:14
  this offseason. They added Perla Maroney in
• 49:16
  August, the last year she appeared in six matches.
• 49:19
  It'll be interesting to see what she looks like with a full camp.
• 49:23
  I think some of the vets good help with the culture and
• 49:27
  leadership, but also, you know, if you're front off, if there
• 49:30
  are a lot of questions about your front office and about your
• 49:33
  manager and kind of how they handle interpersonal stuff, then
• 49:39
  I think there's really only so much the vets can really drag
• 49:43
  out of the team. And your guy, eight of all, I
• 49:45
  won't even just let me take that back.
• 49:47
  I know he's not your guy buddy. I wouldn't disrespect you like
• 49:49
  that. But eight of all didn't exactly
• 49:51
  bathe himself in glory on his way out of Arsenal.
• 49:56
  So I'm interested to see what what he'll do with this
• 49:58
  opportunity. But I don't have high hopes.
• 50:02
  I think they're in the bottom 3. Yeah, I had them.
• 50:05
  Yeah, in the cellar. I had them at fourteen.
• 50:08
  There we go. So this is a team that finished
• 50:10
  10th last season, 7 points outside the playoff mix that
• 50:15
  lost two. Well, one generational talent
• 50:17
  and Naomi Garma and one player with generational potential and
• 50:20
  Jaden Shaw. Tough to replace that much
• 50:23
  talent, even with the additions. I mean, I think it it really, I
• 50:27
  don't know. I'm I'm I'm a I'm a super vibes
• 50:29
  person and usually like definitely where there's smoke,
• 50:31
  there's fire. Yunus ID of all, not the the
• 50:34
  person that yeah, the the culture center that I would I
• 50:38
  would want to kind of like really kind of set things right.
• 50:41
  I just think that the the odds are are stacked way against the
• 50:44
  San Diego side, even with their talented players, just too much
• 50:47
  of a hodgepodge. And I think major red flags when
• 50:51
  you think about those Uber talented players that that just
• 50:53
  kind of decided that it was time for them to move on.
• 50:56
  Yeah, I, I mean, I love it. I was so curious when you said a
• 50:59
  generational player. I was like, OK, he's talking
• 51:01
  about Germa and I wanted to know where you were going to go with
• 51:04
  it. And then you talked about the
• 51:05
  the generational player potential of Jaden Shaw.
• 51:10
  They lost Alex Morgan, who is one of the most accomplished and
• 51:13
  famous players in the history of the sport in this country.
• 51:16
  And people have said a lot about how she looked on the on the
• 51:19
  down slope of her career. But as far as a person who
• 51:23
  people looked toward in that dressing room, you have to think
• 51:27
  that she was the player that people that people look toward.
• 51:30
  So all your points about the culture, whether eight of all is
• 51:34
  the guy, I think all those questions loom large.
• 51:37
  And yeah, I had them 13th. We had them 14th.
• 51:41
  We're we're back on on the corporate synergy train.
• 51:44
  I think we we have similar thoughts on this.
• 51:46
  I'll give you a bonus prediction.
• 51:48
  Delphine Cascarino asks to leave the club in the summer window.
• 51:53
  Is is my prediction. I can definitely see that.
• 51:57
  Why would you say go though? I mean, you know, it's not a
• 52:01
  long flight up to Seattle, WA. She used to play for Leone
• 52:06
  Leone, you know, Olympic Leone, you used to own Seattle St. you
• 52:11
  know what I mean? So like, come on now, you know,
• 52:14
  we, we haven't had a great winger for for two years since
• 52:18
  we had Megan Rapinoe. I I feel like Delphine will fit
• 52:20
  right in up here. I love that.
• 52:22
  I Yeah. Let's make that happen.
• 52:24
  Come on. Come on, Delphine.
• 52:25
  I mean, you know, don't don't judge a country by its cover.
• 52:28
  Seattle is a great place to live.
• 52:29
  West Coast. You know, you don't.
• 52:31
  You stay in the same time zone. Love the prediction.
• 52:34
  All right, so we've got San Diego locked in bottom of the
• 52:36
  table. Let's make some predictions for
• 52:38
  some postseason awards. And then I want to do a little
• 52:40
  bracketology, just the final four, how you see it.
• 52:43
  But let's let's start with the end of season awards here.
• 52:46
  How do you want to do this? You want to go top to bottom,
• 52:48
  bottom to top. So I feel like most people, the
• 52:50
  first thing I'm going to do is I'm going to move this window
• 52:52
  from my side monitor to the main monitor.
• 52:54
  And I feel like most people just listen to this program anyway,
• 52:57
  even if they're quote, UN quote viewing on YouTube.
• 53:00
  I don't know if I look like a goofy asshole when I'm looking
• 53:02
  to my side monitor. So, so you know, you chime in in
• 53:04
  the comments, you won't hurt my feelings if I do in fact look
• 53:07
  ridiculous when I'm looking at the side monitor.
• 53:09
  But I digress. Let's go top to bottom.
• 53:11
  Let's do that. Let's do the headlines.
• 53:13
  Let's go. I can't remember if we if we
• 53:16
  covered it or did you reveal who is your NWSL Shield winner?
• 53:22
  OK, so you want to start with the OK, the shield.
• 53:24
  I've got the Spirit, the. Spirit winner, you son of a
• 53:27
  bitch, look at you that 2 for two.
• 53:29
  I think the Washington Spirit are going to win the shield.
• 53:31
  I think they're on a mission this this regular season for
• 53:33
  sure. Yeah, so they're my shield
• 53:35
  winners. And then let's go.
• 53:37
  Yeah. Speaking of the Spirit MVP, my
• 53:39
  2025 and Debus MVP, I've got Curry Bethune.
• 53:42
  Wow, look at you. Okay?
• 53:47
  I mean, all right, look, we haven't done it in a while.
• 53:49
  We haven't done a show long enough to do this in a while.
• 53:53
  Wait time out. I got a giant I'm gonna I'm
• 53:55
  gonna take part in this because this is there's some some fun
• 53:58
  happenings here Perfect quick 22nd timeout and we're back.
• 54:02
  I'm ready. I didn't know we're sometimes
• 54:07
  you got to call it quick 20 and run to the fridge.
• 54:09
  Fridge. Outstanding.
• 54:10
  Good work for you as you work. All right, so it hasn't happened
• 54:14
  in months it feels like, but it is absolutely an occasion for A2
• 54:18
  beer show. Sounds like a four beer ski show
• 54:25
  if you for accumulating going cumulative with the stuff.
• 54:28
  That is true and I'm cheers. Cheers to you and I'm glad you
• 54:31
  mentioned it because when you're and anybody who hasn't seen, we
• 54:34
  have an additional bonus episode where Dino interviewed 4 members
• 54:38
  from the double winner Orlando Pride.
• 54:40
  I meant to mention that because you did that with four double
• 54:44
  winners. I think that's an octuple
• 54:46
  winning podcast episode that you did.
• 54:49
  I mean, yeah, I mean, I'm going to run out of room for all these
• 54:51
  trophies. My MVP, as mentioned, Croy
• 54:55
  Bethune, look at you. Very curious to see who you've
• 54:58
  got as your MVP. I mean, well, first of all, let
• 55:00
  me just say I love the Croy Bethune pick so much.
• 55:03
  I mean, what, she won rookie of the year in like 56 or like what
• 55:09
  maybe like 65% of the season played or whatever landed at.
• 55:13
  So yeah, even if she misses the first couple matches of this
• 55:16
  season, she could still win the MVP.
• 55:17
  Absolutely love that. So last year, the NWSLMVP trophy
• 55:23
  made its way to Malawi with Tim Wachuenka much deserved.
• 55:26
  I know we had talked about some other some other candidates for
• 55:30
  the award, but I think this is the year that the NWSLMVP trophy
• 55:35
  makes its way to Zambia. And that is because Rachel
• 55:39
  Kundanagi from Bay FC is going to win NWSLMVP as she leads Bay
• 55:45
  FC to 3rd in the table against many people's expectations.
• 55:50
  But not this guy's. Oh my God, let's go, let's go.
• 55:56
  What a choice. Oh my God, I love that.
• 55:59
  Can I tell you, I've been sitting on this when we talked
• 56:02
  to our guy Mike Watts on our way too early NWSL preview and I
• 56:05
  named several of the elite players, I named Kundanagi in
• 56:10
  that bunch. When I talked about Benda
• 56:12
  Chiwinga and you know, Watts was just like, yeah, I don't know if
• 56:16
  I put Kundanagi in that class, but etcetera, etcetera, and kind
• 56:19
  of made his point. There was a piece of my mind
• 56:21
  that was like, don't, don't give away my Kundanagi is going to
• 56:24
  challenge for the MVP right here.
• 56:26
  I've been sitting on this. I loved her aggressiveness at
• 56:29
  the end of last season. I we talked about it toward the
• 56:32
  end of the year. She was like willing to take on
• 56:34
  every defender in the league. At the same time, she did not
• 56:37
  give a shit. She her confidence looks
• 56:39
  phenomenal. I want to see her unlock, you
• 56:41
  know, some of that passing. Like I mentioned earlier, I
• 56:44
  think she's going to do it. Unbelievable.
• 56:46
  What a pick. I mean, thank you.
• 56:48
  You're swinging way all the way. Back in the direction.
• 56:50
  Nazi, which I love, you know, as a as a future, you know, BFC
• 56:53
  beat reporter. Let's fuck it go.
• 56:55
  I love it. Great pick.
• 56:57
  I'm a little bit jealous. Buffoon is a phenomenon.
• 56:59
  Let's go to Golden Boot. Why don't you go first Here?
• 57:02
  We'll go Snakedroft. OK, we'll keep it with the
• 57:04
  Copper Queens. I'm not going to get too crazy
• 57:06
  here. I think Kunanagi is going to win
• 57:07
  the MVP, but I think it's. Your your your copper Queens,
• 57:12
  your Zambia redirect. I was not expecting, could not
• 57:15
  like I thought you tremendous perfectly done by you.
• 57:18
  I thought you would enjoy it. I was hoping you would enjoy
• 57:21
  that. But you know, I mean, obviously
• 57:23
  you and I watching the 2023 bonding over the 2023 World Cup
• 57:27
  together. You put me on the copper Queens.
• 57:29
  You are you knew what time it was.
• 57:31
  It was very prescient by you. But I I will say I think it's
• 57:34
  going to be one of those cases where Benda wins the Golden Boot
• 57:38
  for your Orlando Pride. But because of like the kind of
• 57:41
  surprising nature of what I think Bay FC is going to do this
• 57:44
  year, that's that's why I think Kudanaji will take the MVP and
• 57:46
  her team mate Banda will win that Golden Boot.
• 57:49
  What a moment potentially for Zambia if that's how it shakes
• 57:53
  out. Love the pick.
• 57:55
  Obviously Banda, one of my favorite players in the league,
• 57:57
  could absolutely see her going on a tear.
• 58:00
  I mean, in the Challenge Cup though, they definitely made it
• 58:02
  difficult on Banda, you know, kind of shading more defends her
• 58:06
  way. So I think there's definitely
• 58:08
  going to be an adjustment for a step behinds to make to try to
• 58:11
  rebalance the field and and give Ben a little bit more space on
• 58:14
  her own when you know, defenses are a little bit more prepared
• 58:17
  for what she's able to do. My Golden Boot winner was was
• 58:21
  one of the the players that you mentioned that will be knocking
• 58:23
  on the door for MVP. Give me Ali, let's.
• 58:25
  Go. I think she's going to get a ton
• 58:27
  of opportunities in Utah. I think she's going to let him
• 58:29
  RIP. We saw her do it for the
• 58:31
  national team. We saw her do it last year also.
• 58:33
  And shout out to Oh my God. I'm blanking on who dropped this
• 58:36
  comment in the Youtubes, but it's definitely one of the great
• 58:39
  friends of the show Who talked about Ali's willingness to kind
• 58:42
  of defend. And I think that level of hunger
• 58:45
  you really bodes well for a player that's going to kind of
• 58:47
  like try to put goals on the board for that team.
• 58:50
  They've obviously got me to Tanaka, but Tanaka's a great
• 58:53
  facilitator as well and I think I can see a big a big, big Ali
• 58:57
  set in our goal season. I love it.
• 58:59
  No, I was right there with you. She was on my short list of who
• 59:02
  I might be able to take to kind of surprise you, but also just
• 59:05
  kind of have some fun with this. Because I will say during this
• 59:08
  whole exercise, picking one through 14, picking these award
• 59:12
  winners, I was just like, I don't know, man, there are so
• 59:14
  many great options. Why not have some have some fun
• 59:17
  with this too. And it's not a cop out.
• 59:18
  I stand by these takes. But if I'm wrong, I'm I'm not
• 59:21
  exactly going to be ashamed of myself.
• 59:23
  Yeah, no, for sure. These, these are definitely my
• 59:24
  picks. Picks, yeah, even though, well,
• 59:27
  I mean, I like to kind of go a little bit outside.
• 59:29
  I hate when people, even though I did this for one one of my
• 59:32
  predictions, I hate when people just sort of like run it back
• 59:35
  from last year. It's like, oh, OK, yeah, I can
• 59:36
  see Celtics maps again in the fight.
• 59:38
  You know, it's just like so lame when when that happens, right.
• 59:42
  So let's go to midfielder of the year, where I'm going to take
• 59:46
  the only player who in an interview with one of the
• 59:49
  members from into the Channel podcast has said the key to
• 59:54
  victory is just going out there and thugging it out.
• 59:59
  Give me how Hirschfeld. I think, you know, obviously
• 1:00:02
  Corey Bethune sort of in that mix, but I think Bethune might
• 1:00:04
  be pushed up a little bit, won't necessarily play all the minutes
• 1:00:08
  as a traditional midfielder. And I think Hirschfeld has the
• 1:00:11
  ability to kind of like be a more prototypical midfielder,
• 1:00:14
  have like a elite midfielder season.
• 1:00:16
  So that is my midfielder of the year, future ITC Hall of Famer.
• 1:00:19
  How Hirschfeld? No doubt.
• 1:00:22
  I mean, the synergy is synergy ING right now.
• 1:00:25
  I mean, I I had said it, I said it before when they named the
• 1:00:28
  she believes Cup roster that I didn't like that Hirschfeld was
• 1:00:32
  not on the roster and she should have been on the roster.
• 1:00:34
  I think that she's going to play a big part in spirit winning the
• 1:00:38
  shield and I think like her defensive presence is going to
• 1:00:42
  make a real impact and I think people's eyes are going to be
• 1:00:44
  open to that. I had Hal Hirschfeld as my
• 1:00:47
  midfielder of the year as well and you know what?
• 1:00:50
  I would be lying if the thug it out comment to you did not play
• 1:00:55
  a significant role in that. I mean, how do you not love
• 1:00:58
  that? Midfielder of the Decade after.
• 1:00:59
  That Yeah, come on, let's. Go love that.
• 1:01:02
  Wow. Unbelievable how how Hirsch
• 1:01:04
  felt. The unanimous breezes had been
• 1:01:05
  through the year. According to the Internet into
• 1:01:07
  the channel podcast quote that to quote the great term we count
• 1:01:13
  all right, Snake draft defender of the year, who you got?
• 1:01:15
  Give me Ryan Williams from the North Carolina Courage.
• 1:01:18
  Now I had mentioned to her earlier I know Kaylee Kurtz was
• 1:01:21
  a was a finalist for the award. Obviously Emily Sam's, Kylie
• 1:01:26
  Nadanner were also finalists last year.
• 1:01:29
  I just want to reiterate last year Ryan Williams, 55 tackles
• 1:01:32
  won, first in the league, 54 interceptions, second in the
• 1:01:35
  league, 4th in dribblers tackle, first in the league in touches
• 1:01:39
  with 2463, fourth in the league in progressive carrying
• 1:01:43
  distance, 7th in the league and crosses into the penalty area.
• 1:01:46
  She was doing a lot of shit last year and she is an excellent
• 1:01:49
  player, key to that defense. I hope she gets the credit she
• 1:01:52
  deserves. So I'm picking her for defender
• 1:01:53
  of the year. Love it.
• 1:01:55
  Yeah, no argument there. Excellent player, excellent
• 1:01:57
  defender for my Defender of the Year.
• 1:02:00
  You know, I'm going to do what I what I lamented just a couple
• 1:02:02
  minutes ago. I'm going to go back-to-back.
• 1:02:04
  That's good. Emily Sam's.
• 1:02:06
  You know, obviously I had, I had a chance to talk to Emily
• 1:02:08
  earlier this week. As you mentioned, go check out
• 1:02:10
  that Orlando pride mini episode. I just feel like she's just, you
• 1:02:14
  know, always a great backstop. You know, when there's an attack
• 1:02:17
  that's dangerous, she's always in the right place.
• 1:02:20
  She loves to mix it up, super smart in her prime.
• 1:02:23
  I, I don't think that there's any reason why we would see a
• 1:02:26
  drop off. And I think there's a a a
• 1:02:29
  definite non zero chance that we see an even better Emily Sam's
• 1:02:33
  this season. Yeah, I mean, hard to argue with
• 1:02:35
  that pick. I think Naomi Germa before Sam's
• 1:02:37
  won it last year. I want to say Germa won the last
• 1:02:40
  two before. So we've seen players go
• 1:02:43
  back-to-back in the past. You can't argue with it.
• 1:02:47
  You made the point early last year you were way ahead of other
• 1:02:50
  pundits. Best defender on the best
• 1:02:52
  defense. Super live that that just
• 1:02:55
  happens again this year. Yeah, no doubt.
• 1:02:57
  And then staying in Orlando, goalkeeper of the year, I think
• 1:03:00
  it's Andy Morehouse. I mean, I think I took a long
• 1:03:03
  look at Mandy McGlynn in Utah. But I think the what what gave
• 1:03:06
  Morehouse the nod is I think defensively in Orlando, there's
• 1:03:10
  just going to be a lot of clean sheets are going to be super
• 1:03:12
  live in Orlando all season. They just are nasty from a
• 1:03:16
  defensive standpoint. Obviously it's Spirit scores,
• 1:03:19
  you know, off that kind of like the flimsy foul and marvelous
• 1:03:22
  free kick from Lacey Santos. And that's how they got on the
• 1:03:25
  board in that one and then were able to coast to the PKS.
• 1:03:28
  But I think there's definitely a world where the Spirit gets shut
• 1:03:31
  out in that Challenge Cup match. They didn't look particularly
• 1:03:33
  dangerous. Less shots in that one, the
• 1:03:35
  shots on target, less XG and I think Morehouse is going to, you
• 1:03:39
  know, independent of being a really good keeper and a really
• 1:03:42
  smart player with a lot of range and good shot stopping ability,
• 1:03:45
  I think she's going to benefit big time from how just how nasty
• 1:03:48
  that Orlando defenses. Yeah, great call.
• 1:03:51
  I mean it, it's obviously super live on the board.
• 1:03:54
  I don't know if they're Vegas odds on this.
• 1:03:56
  I wouldn't be surprised if she is the favorite.
• 1:03:58
  I will also pick a goalkeeper from that NWSL Challenge Cup
• 1:04:03
  match, but give me Aubrey Kingsbury from the Washington
• 1:04:06
  Spirit now. The 33 year old out of
• 1:04:09
  Cincinnati, OH has won this award twice in the past, once in
• 1:04:14
  2019, once in 20/21. She also won MVP of the 2021 NFL
• 1:04:18
  Championship match. Now, am I a prisoner of the
• 1:04:22
  moment from just watching her play and thinking that she
• 1:04:24
  played absolutely great? Sure I am.
• 1:04:26
  That's fine. But I think if the Spirit win
• 1:04:28
  the shield, yes, They have a ton of great field players.
• 1:04:31
  And we've talked about, like with Kata Koi or other players,
• 1:04:34
  other goalkeepers who might get lost.
• 1:04:36
  When you play on a great team like that, Kingsbury has the
• 1:04:39
  ability to make great saves, great athletic saves, even if 33
• 1:04:44
  years old. And I I'm going to place my take
• 1:04:46
  chip on her doing it again, getting her third goalkeeper of
• 1:04:51
  the year in historic fashion. I like that because I mean the
• 1:04:54
  spirit and the pride are different teams with different
• 1:04:57
  vibes for sure. The pride are, you know, like
• 1:05:00
  just lockdown physical, you know, they're just going to make
• 1:05:03
  it impossible to score. I think on the flip side, the
• 1:05:06
  spirit are going to score quite often and I think that's going
• 1:05:09
  to give Kingsbury a different type of comfort level, you know,
• 1:05:13
  between the post where she'll be able to kind of like play just
• 1:05:17
  more instinctive and not, you know, not super, You know, like
• 1:05:20
  when you think about maybe like an Alyssa Nair in Chicago, you
• 1:05:22
  know, you obviously know Nair's pedigree, but Chicago's always
• 1:05:25
  playing behind the 8 ball. And I don't want to say you you
• 1:05:27
  see the pressure kind of like build on Nair, but Nair does
• 1:05:31
  feel like a little bit tight and like she has to kind of save
• 1:05:34
  every opportunity then this match or otherwise, you know,
• 1:05:36
  we're totally fucked. You know, I think Kingsburg's be
• 1:05:39
  able to play a little bit more free and a little bit more
• 1:05:42
  instinctive and I think it's a great formula for for taking
• 1:05:44
  home that kind of award. I love it.
• 1:05:46
  Yeah. I think, I mean, I would be very
• 1:05:48
  surprised if, you know, at absolute worst, Morehouse and
• 1:05:52
  Kingsbury are not finalists for the award.
• 1:05:54
  I think it would. I think it would be shocking if
• 1:05:55
  they if they weren't. Yeah, no arguments there.
• 1:05:58
  I could definitely see that happening.
• 1:05:59
  I did not have a rookie of the Year, didn't get a chance to
• 1:06:02
  talk to our guy Chris, who usually preps us on this kind of
• 1:06:05
  stuff. Shout out to Chris.
• 1:06:07
  But I think you might have somebody in this category, you
• 1:06:09
  might have something to go to. It was a we'll hit rookie, we'll
• 1:06:11
  hit your rookie of the year potentially, and then we'll go
• 1:06:13
  coach of the year and then predict some playoff seeding
• 1:06:17
  scenarios. I, I describe you as in multiple
• 1:06:20
  ways, but my guy, my Co host, my pal and influencer, a marketing
• 1:06:26
  genius, a wise man, an evangelizer and one of the
• 1:06:32
  things that you have evangelized to me, as noted previously on
• 1:06:35
  this podcast, Racing Louisville. So let me just throw it out
• 1:06:39
  there, NWSL Rookie of the year Sarah Weber for Racing
• 1:06:43
  Louisville. Louisville signed the 21 year
• 1:06:46
  old forward Sarah Weber out of the University of Nebraska.
• 1:06:49
  That's Big 10 country if you haven't.
• 1:06:51
  I've been keeping up with that kind of thing. 43 goals and 16
• 1:06:55
  assists in 78 matches for the old Cornhuskers.
• 1:06:59
  And let me just say as a little bonus, Emma Sears and Kayla
• 1:07:03
  Fisher for racing Louisville, The Ohio State University
• 1:07:06
  graduates. Is Louisville now Big 10
• 1:07:09
  country? Sources say Possibly.
• 1:07:12
  Interesting. I think, yeah, it's definitely
• 1:07:14
  on brand for that, that part of the country, I think.
• 1:07:16
  I think it definitely checks out there.
• 1:07:19
  It's funny to hear you mentioned Big 10 when I was checking out.
• 1:07:22
  Was it your Cal Berkeley thing? Yes, it was good.
• 1:07:25
  Comment that when you said it. I love that.
• 1:07:28
  Carly. Carly Lena, who signed with BFC,
• 1:07:32
  who was the ACC Offensive Player of the Year for Cal Berkeley.
• 1:07:36
  Sure. So I know it was a real shocker
• 1:07:38
  for your boy. Uh huh.
• 1:07:40
  And, you know, good old Atlantic Coast Conference team, Cal
• 1:07:44
  Berkeley, that's how that works. Let's shift gears, Coach of the
• 1:07:47
  year. One more to go.
• 1:07:48
  I'll jump in here. I mean, this is the guy that
• 1:07:50
  kind of blew me away with, you know, his intellect, his locked
• 1:07:54
  in nature. And this is a team that I have,
• 1:07:56
  you know, finishing at the top of the rankings, taking home the
• 1:07:59
  shield ton of awards for a bunch of their players.
• 1:08:02
  Jimmy Yona, Geraldo's head coach of the Washington Spirit, as my
• 1:08:06
  Coach of the year. I think that's fair.
• 1:08:08
  We expect them to win the shield.
• 1:08:09
  They'll compete for the double. I think that is only fair that
• 1:08:14
  he will be probably, he's probably the front runner for
• 1:08:17
  the award. Ought to be.
• 1:08:19
  Yeah, I think that. I think that's a great call.
• 1:08:21
  I'm gonna, I'm gonna zag. It's either him or Gareth
• 1:08:24
  Taylor. Sure.
• 1:08:25
  Right. Yeah, It'll just come right in
• 1:08:27
  the league. I mean, you know, maybe he's got
• 1:08:29
  that Charlie Weiss as we as we refer to college football and
• 1:08:34
  where he'll come in and say he has a what is that decided
• 1:08:37
  schematic advantage because he was such a snob about coaching
• 1:08:40
  under Bill Belichick. He thought he was just going to
• 1:08:42
  run college football. I don't know if Gareth Taylor is
• 1:08:45
  that much of an arrogant guy, but I don't know.
• 1:08:49
  You know, you hear different things following a club, but I
• 1:08:53
  think Gerald has definitely, definitely the front runner.
• 1:08:57
  I would say I'm going to zag a little bit and I don't know how
• 1:08:59
  much of A zag it is considering how we feel about this team.
• 1:09:03
  Amy Rodriguez for the Utah Royals, they finished 11th in
• 1:09:08
  the table last year. And I think both, both you and
• 1:09:11
  I, you got them finishing fifth. I got them finishing sixth.
• 1:09:15
  I think a lot of times when that happens, when you make that big
• 1:09:18
  jump, there's a possibility. I mean, you saw with your guy
• 1:09:21
  Seb. Now, obviously they won the
• 1:09:22
  double and we're fucking invincible for the vast majority
• 1:09:25
  of the year. But you make a big jump in the
• 1:09:27
  table like that, you put yourself in a position to win
• 1:09:30
  that award. Yeah, I that's a great call.
• 1:09:32
  I mean, if this was the TBP, I think we'd be looking at those
• 1:09:36
  those odds, those Amy Rodri, if those a rod odds and being like,
• 1:09:39
  all right, plus 1450, I'll partake a little 10th of a unit
• 1:09:43
  on the. Sprinkle.
• 1:09:44
  Sure. Sprinkle.
• 1:09:44
  Sprinkle Yeah, that's how it goes, you know.
• 1:09:47
  I love that pick. So is that, is that your
• 1:09:49
  official pick? Are you going Yoda or no?
• 1:09:50
  100%, I'm picking Amy Rodriguez. I think they're gonna jump on
• 1:09:53
  the table and I think people are going are gonna reward her for
• 1:09:55
  that. Excellent pick.
• 1:09:57
  Jealous of that one too. Well done by you.
• 1:09:59
  Appreciate it all. Right, let's go to the bracket.
• 1:10:01
  Let's just do semifinals and finals.
• 1:10:05
  I'll go first. I've got, and I, and I
• 1:10:07
  referenced this little bit earlier, I've got Washington win
• 1:10:09
  the shield and I've got Orlando beating them in the
• 1:10:13
  championship. I think there's something about
• 1:10:16
  Orlando, they can dig their heels in and then just make it
• 1:10:20
  impossible to score. In my conversations with people
• 1:10:22
  with the team, it's very clear that they understand the length
• 1:10:25
  of the season. They just went through the
• 1:10:27
  entire thing, tons of comments about how short the offseason
• 1:10:30
  was. So I feel like they are playing
• 1:10:33
  the long game, you know, and I think as part of that, we saw a
• 1:10:35
  little bit of this last year. They had a chance to finish the
• 1:10:38
  season undefeated and they kind of parked that put that off the
• 1:10:41
  side, said no, we want to we want to win the trophies this
• 1:10:43
  season. We don't want to kind of like,
• 1:10:45
  you know, risk something for ultimately like a little bit of
• 1:10:48
  a vanity award. Like, OK, yeah, we went
• 1:10:50
  undefeated. It'll be pretty historic.
• 1:10:52
  But they wanted those trophies bad.
• 1:10:54
  So I think they're going to know what it takes.
• 1:10:56
  I think they're going to play the long game.
• 1:10:58
  And I think ultimately they're going to outlast the Washington
• 1:11:01
  spirit in the final, in a final rematch.
• 1:11:03
  You know, I lamented that, too. But in the semifinals, I think
• 1:11:06
  KC is also in the semifinals. And I think the Utah Royals are
• 1:11:10
  also one of those Final four teams vying for the NWSL
• 1:11:14
  championship. So those are my Final four and
• 1:11:16
  I've got Orlando repeating as champions.
• 1:11:19
  Let's go. I love it.
• 1:11:20
  It's a great pick. Who's going to bet against
• 1:11:22
  Barbara Benda, Marta Seb Hines, Ali Watt, Angelina, Emily Sam's,
• 1:11:29
  Nadonar, Corey Dyke? Defense, The entire defense.
• 1:11:32
  Morehouse. No, it's a great pick.
• 1:11:35
  OK this is going to sound ridiculous but as I was taking a
• 1:11:39
  million a million notes trying to figure this out, I use these
• 1:11:43
  little stickies sometimes the sticky notes.
• 1:11:46
  I thought, I thought you were serving me a yellow card.
• 1:11:49
  It looks like it and maybe I'll get a yellow card myself.
• 1:11:52
  Let me know in the comments if it's a yellow card or just a
• 1:11:55
  straight red for what I'm going to do here.
• 1:11:57
  But I'm going to do a little bit of a thing.
• 1:11:59
  So I have my top 4 Washington Spirit winning the shield,
• 1:12:02
  Orlando Pride to Bay FC 3, Kansas City Current 4.
• 1:12:06
  So I think that would mean, and I have chalk making it through
• 1:12:10
  the first, the first round of the playoffs because I think, I
• 1:12:12
  think we got chalk last year. If I remember correctly, I think
• 1:12:15
  it was the top four season 1. So I think that's going to
• 1:12:17
  happen again. And at that point, the Spirit
• 1:12:20
  will play the current and the Pride will play Bay FC.
• 1:12:23
  It'll be 1/4 verse 2-3. I have your Orlando Pride
• 1:12:27
  advancing to the NWSL championship once again and I'm
• 1:12:31
  going to do a thing. So when I was, I had, I had
• 1:12:34
  multiple sticky notes and I was kind of jotting down like, OK,
• 1:12:37
  what does my 14 look like? And I had like multiple ones and
• 1:12:40
  there was one that I was throwing away.
• 1:12:42
  And I do this like weird. I have this weird tick where
• 1:12:44
  I'll like fold it up like a, I'll fold up the sticky like a
• 1:12:47
  bunch of times. Like I, I fold it up neatly to
• 1:12:50
  like where the, the bottom edge lines up perfectly with the
• 1:12:53
  sticky edge and I'm not even looking at it and I'm folding it
• 1:12:56
  up. And I was just like, man, I just
• 1:12:58
  got a weird feeling about one of these teams and I'm just not
• 1:13:01
  sure how this is going to look. And I'm not looking at it.
• 1:13:03
  And I fold it up and I set it down and what would be the only
• 1:13:07
  team revealed on the fold other than the Kansas City Current?
• 1:13:13
  And I just looked at it and I said, is this a sign now this is
• 1:13:18
  going? Of course not.
• 1:13:20
  Of course not. It's ridiculous.
• 1:13:21
  It's complete. I'm an asshole, but you know
• 1:13:24
  what? We're making predictions here
• 1:13:25
  and they have a lot of good players.
• 1:13:27
  This is gonna fly in the face, and maybe I'll regret it.
• 1:13:29
  This is gonna fly in the face of some of my beliefs.
• 1:13:32
  Like, am I really gonna pick a team?
• 1:13:34
  And no disrespect, but like, am I really gonna pick a team
• 1:13:37
  managed by VLAC Go and Anowski over a team managed by Jonatan
• 1:13:41
  Heraldez? Sometimes football is unfair.
• 1:13:44
  And am I going to pick a team coached by by Vlacco Ananovsky
• 1:13:48
  over Seb Heinz? Sometimes football is really
• 1:13:51
  fucking weird. So yes, I am.
• 1:13:53
  I am going to take the Kansas City current to win the NWSL
• 1:13:58
  championship and I think Tim Wachowinga scores a brace in the
• 1:14:01
  final and she lifts the NWSL Championship MVP trophy and she
• 1:14:05
  takes all the trophies, those two trophies.
• 1:14:08
  Anyway, back to Malawi. Tremendous.
• 1:14:10
  I love the pick just because we talked about the age profile for
• 1:14:14
  KC so. Got into it.
• 1:14:16
  It's not like the window's closing, but what they did last
• 1:14:20
  year and probably the the what, what mindset must they have been
• 1:14:23
  in last year when they're just mowing down everybody, They're
• 1:14:25
  scoring on everybody. They're just lapping everybody.
• 1:14:29
  Coming into this season, probably a little smarter, You
• 1:14:31
  know, you, you, you gained some of that wisdom.
• 1:14:34
  Vladko another another year under his belt.
• 1:14:36
  I could absolutely see that. And then the last note that I'm
• 1:14:39
  going to make, I think there's some paper, rock, scissors
• 1:14:41
  potential between those 3. Orlando, Washington, KC, where I
• 1:14:46
  think KC is a tough match up for Washington because KC can score
• 1:14:50
  with anybody and you know, the game can get out of reach pretty
• 1:14:54
  quickly. So I think KC to win the whole
• 1:14:56
  thing super live. I love that pick.
• 1:14:59
  I appreciate it buddy, and you know what I mean?
• 1:15:01
  I feel like, I feel like we've nailed this.
• 1:15:04
  We, we made the fun picks. We made the we made, you know,
• 1:15:07
  picks based on research. What else do you want from from
• 1:15:10
  2 Bros? Just making really what comes
• 1:15:13
  down to just educated guesses. The picks are laid to bear.
• 1:15:17
  Mock us in the comments if you want, but if you're going to do
• 1:15:20
  that, at least tell us what your pick is.
• 1:15:22
  Definitely, yeah. We want you on record, too.
• 1:15:24
  I'm just coming here and talking.
• 1:15:25
  Yeah. All right, man.
• 1:15:28
  Quick look at NW Cell football returns this weekend, which
• 1:15:31
  means we'll be back next week to breakdown everything we saw this
• 1:15:33
  weekend. Cannot wait for that to get
• 1:15:35
  going. Our 8 Champions League quarter
• 1:15:37
  finalists also hit the pitch this weekend.
• 1:15:39
  How about little buy in versus Willisburg from Bundesliga on
• 1:15:41
  Friday? Pumped for that.
• 1:15:43
  Lyon takes on ROMs, Everton hosts Arsenal, Chelsea versus
• 1:15:46
  City for the League Cup, Real Madrid versus Deportivo La
• 1:15:49
  Coruna, Barcelona had citanity fair, both of those League F
• 1:15:52
  matches going on Saturday. And then to cap it all off a
• 1:15:55
  little, PSG versus Paris FC. Can't wait for that.
• 1:16:00
  All of that leads really nicely into the UEFA Women's FC quarter
• 1:16:03
  final, which kicks off Tuesday, March 18th.
• 1:16:06
  You already know we'll be back. Now we're back on double duty
• 1:16:09
  champion, quarterfinals, NWSL, everything between, you know,
• 1:16:12
  it's going to be a busy season, but I don't know.
• 1:16:14
  We're, we're, I think we're stocked up on our, on our frosty
• 1:16:16
  beverages to the point where I think we're get through it just
• 1:16:19
  fine. With that said, anything else
• 1:16:21
  you want hit before we get out of here?
• 1:16:22
  I think that's it, man. I'm glad you mentioned PSG
• 1:16:25
  versus Perry FC. Even though those two clubs are
• 1:16:27
  not in the Champions League still, we still hold a place in
• 1:16:30
  our hearts for them. Great weekend to international
• 1:16:32
  football. No spoilers please.
• 1:16:34
  On Byron Wolfsburg on Friday, I got a busy work day.
• 1:16:36
  I'm probably going to save that for either late Friday night or
• 1:16:39
  Saturday morning something, or maybe Saturday afternoon based
• 1:16:42
  on the other football that's going to be played.
• 1:16:43
  But I cannot wait to watch that Byron Wolfsburg match.
• 1:16:47
  That is going to be a banger. Yep, big sticks in that one for
• 1:16:51
  sure. All right, man, I think we did
• 1:16:53
  it. There's been an episode into the
• 1:16:54
  channel. Thank you.
• 1:16:55
  Thank you for hanging out. If you enjoyed the show or love
• 1:16:57
  on football as much as your boys do, make sure you're kicking it
• 1:16:59
  with us each and every single week.
• 1:17:01
  Like if you liked, subscribe, follow YouTube, Spotify, Apple
• 1:17:03
  podcast, wherever you like to watch or listen.
• 1:17:05
  Leave us a review over your favorite podcast app.
• 1:17:07
  We want to hear from you. We love hearing from you.
• 1:17:09
  Links all of our socials except one and the show notes of this
• 1:17:12
  episode and a big thinking to my close as well, Mr. Grant and go
• 1:17:15
  for you know when we're talking synergy.
• 1:17:17
  You might be the only guy that that I'd want behind me in a
• 1:17:19
  trust fall, my guy. I appreciate you bro.
• 1:17:21
  Likewise, buddy, and you know what, maybe, maybe I'm the
• 1:17:24
  second choice because I would be remiss if I did not mention from
• 1:17:28
  our NWSL team draft episode our pal Michael Cocaine, who made
• 1:17:32
  sure to let us know to watch out for Kennedy Fuller from Angel
• 1:17:36
  City FC. Good call, Michael.
• 1:17:38
  Sorry we didn't mention her on the episode, but you're our guy
• 1:17:41
  just like everybody else who always rocks with us.
• 1:17:43
  We appreciate the kind words, the knowledge you drop in the
• 1:17:46
  comments. Thank you so much for all of
• 1:17:48
  that and we will see you all next time.