Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / NWSL WK 12 Recap 📋 KC Current, Gotham FC, Portland, San Diego Wave All Win Big | Pride Beat Bay FC

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NWSL WK 12 Recap 📋 KC Current, Gotham FC, Portland, San Diego Wave All Win Big | Pride Beat Bay FC · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:06
K welcome to Into the Channel podcast, primarily about women's
0:09
football. I am your host dealing with the
0:11
suspicion. As always, I am joined by my
0:13
coast Mr. Grant Angle. What is up man?
0:18
I'm feeling all right, buddy. Busy weekend, busy weekend.
0:20
The football went to an event on Saturday.
0:24
I think a lot of people went to a lot of events on Saturday all
0:28
across this country. That was good to see.
0:30
Aside from that, I went right from my event out here in
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Seattle. If anybody's curious, it's the,
0:35
it was the No Kings protests that happened all over the
0:38
country. Went to the one out here in
0:40
Seattle, then got back in time for the rain match.
0:44
So it was a, it was a busy and fun day.
0:46
And also for anybody in the Seattle area, there's a Whole
0:49
Foods in Capitol Hill that was closing where everything was 50%
0:53
off because the the store was closed.
0:55
And I thought it would be chaos in there.
0:57
But what gave me some hope in America was that everybody was
1:00
in a great mood. And I think it's because
1:02
groceries were actually, actually affordable for that one
1:06
day. I like it.
1:08
Yeah. I mean, nothing beats affordable
1:10
groceries. Speaking of no kings, Utah
1:14
Royals. No, I'm just kidding.
1:16
I appreciate you out there, you know, doing doing that great
1:19
work. You know, I'm.
1:20
I'm definitely with, with everything going on in spirit,
1:23
there's a lot of things that I want to say.
1:27
But yeah, I feel, I feel like a lot of us are feeling a lot of
1:30
the same stuff and, you know, just kind of out here doing what
1:34
we can, I suppose. That's all we can do, my good
1:36
man, but on to the distractions that we like to provide around
1:42
here. I thought it was a good weekend.
1:45
The football in the NWSL. Really fun weekend of football.
1:49
A lot of unexpected results. I mean, I think that's been the
1:52
flavour of of the season. I think I think even more so
1:55
than in previous years. I think we just kind of came in.
1:58
We're like, yeah, we're, you know, we feel like we know
2:00
something. Turns out we didn't really know
2:02
a whole lot. And I think, I don't know the
2:05
surprise results just kind of keep coming.
2:08
I hear that and so I'm ready to I'm ready to talk about these
2:12
matches. I'm ready to enjoy a beverage
2:15
seems east. All right, let's go.
2:18
Cheers to you. Cheers to the fall of fascism.
2:25
That's right. Maybe quick and swift.
2:30
So we're not I, I don't want to start in in chronological order.
2:35
I'm going to I'm going to buck the trend again of second time
2:39
in a couple weeks. Nobody else is tracking that
2:41
other than me. Doesn't matter.
2:43
I I want to go in order of what we thought was interesting and
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you, my good man, were in the building.
2:51
Bay FC nil Orlando Pride won. Sorry your home team lost.
2:58
No, you know, I mean, I'll I'll get to kind of how I was feeling
3:03
later in the match later in this segment.
3:07
But really good football. I I think a good a traditional
3:10
yardstick match, right, for Bay FC.
3:13
The defense is really playing well.
3:14
Offense still trying to work some stuff out.
3:18
First thing you notice Oshawa Kundanagi in the line up
3:20
together I think. Second thing you notice
3:23
Silkowitz out with an illness that was going to be tough,
3:27
replaced by 22 year old Emmy Allen who I thought I thought
3:30
played pretty well but tough test for Orlando.
3:34
I thought Orlando on the other side looked really good thinking
3:38
about there was there. It's not quite a triangle, it's
3:41
not quite a dive. I guess it's a Pentagon, a
3:43
Pentagon of horror. That starts with Sam's the
3:46
Danner, and then there's Marta, Angelina and McCutcheon.
3:50
I think those five are just impossible to deal with and they
3:54
made it really, really tough for Bay FC to kind of put anything
3:57
together offensively. Yeah, man, I just, I walked away
4:01
from this game. You know, I, I think pretty
4:04
highly of Bay FC and we obviously already think highly
4:08
of Orlando Pride. I think BFC is probably a little
4:11
better than their their place on the table would indicate right
4:13
now. And Orlando Pride just knows how
4:17
to win ugly. They can beat you with finesse,
4:20
which, you know, admittedly they haven't done a lot this year so
4:24
far. I mean, their identity is to
4:28
grind you into dust in these matches, and that's exactly what
4:31
they're able to do in this one. And I think like we, I think we
4:36
figured some, I don't want to say we figured something out,
4:38
but there was something about seeing Sam's and Nadanar at
4:41
centre back and then there's been a lot of shifting of the
4:44
back line. You know what it was like Hafia
4:46
Elliott beginning of the season. Then there's the Corey Dyke,
4:49
there's O Yane, there's a bellow on the outside and that like
4:51
that whole cycle. And can Nadanar play somewhere
4:54
else? I I think early in the season
4:56
there was, it was much more of a shuffle, but I think this one
5:00
they just kind of got back to got back to normal defensively.
5:04
And it was really interesting because Kununji, obviously a
5:08
handful can beat any defender one-on-one, But then you see her
5:12
when she does get past and Emily, Sam's the Danner's right
5:15
there. And then you know, Oyani's right
5:17
behind or Corey Dyke's right behind and like it just kind of
5:20
everything's covered. And it really does start from
5:22
those two just being world class and probably being the best
5:26
center back pairing. I still think they're the best
5:28
center back pairing in the world and just watch them live.
5:32
It's just like, but what do you do?
5:33
Like you beat one. The second one's just right
5:36
there and perfectly positioned and and just fresh, you know,
5:40
like high energy, ready, ready, ready to take on.
5:44
You know what? What's leftover of that duel?
5:47
Yeah. I mean, it's it.
5:48
They certainly have an argument for it.
5:50
I mean, what we talked about like Renard Gill at Leon for a
5:54
little while, obviously, but it is Moppy.
5:59
Yeah. And Moppy.
6:00
Yeah. Thank you European season ends
6:03
and I'll give you Bobby Leon as Jesus Christ.
6:06
Thank you for the for the assist there.
6:08
But yeah, I mean, you know, Sam's in the den are are
6:11
absolutely in that conversation. It feels like the the Orlando
6:16
pride and their attack, you know, going from defense to
6:19
attack, they're still they're still making everything super
6:21
hard for you on defense. But then when they switch the
6:24
attack, it it feels like they're not as connected as they were
6:30
last season, but especially as like the season kind of started
6:33
to go on. You somewhere like around this
6:35
point last season is really where they kind of started to
6:39
ratchet up just like destroying teams and you know, Bender
6:43
running crazy. But that's why I think everybody
6:47
in the league should be very concerned because now they're
6:50
starting to get more people back.
6:52
Like Julie Doyle's on her way back, Ali Watt missed some time.
6:54
She's coming back. Like now they're starting to put
6:58
it together a little bit. And that's a that's a gritty win
7:01
going out West in a night game to to win that match.
7:06
Super gritty win and and I'll tell you what I saw Seb Heinz
7:10
wanted Ali Watt to go at Milan son like pretty hard.
7:14
Milan son was up for it. So that that match up didn't
7:17
work. Summer Yates though, I mean
7:20
she's definitely coming as a young player.
7:22
That's just going to be a problem.
7:24
Like I think you can just see that she's able to kind of do
7:27
whatever she wants to do. We talked about it last week
7:29
like you know, how do some of these players that are not
7:32
banded Marta, like how do they fit in?
7:34
Where do they fit in, especially with sort of like all the other
7:38
positions in a little bit of flux?
7:40
I kind of liked the the lineup that that set put forward here
7:43
in this one. I I mentioned that that Pentagon
7:45
of horror in the in the middle of the park made it near
7:48
impossible. But on the Bay FC side, I
7:51
thought, I mean, Taylor Huff's been really, really good all
7:53
season. She was really good to get in
7:55
this match. She just spends much of these
7:58
BFC matches looking like the best player, looking like the
8:00
most dangerous, most creative player.
8:02
And then Hannah Bibar I thought was really good as well.
8:05
Just a really smooth player. Young, kind of like the first to
8:09
5050 balls from good positioning, fast twitch.
8:13
Kind of goes for it when she sees an opportunity.
8:14
I thought she was really good. And then I actually got some
8:17
Hannah Bibar sound. Tough match up tonight.
8:20
Marta McCutcheon, Angelina in the midfield, the Danner and
8:23
Sam's in the middle. You're still in your first
8:25
season. I think coming into the match
8:26
you had like 114 touches or so in the season.
8:29
Felt like you had that many tonight and you talked about
8:32
progressing the ball. What was working for you kind of
8:35
as a connector offensively and then what did, what was Orlando
8:39
able to do to make it tough for you offensively or for the
8:42
midfield offensively? I think in the first half,
8:45
something that we had to solve was Marta kind of going wide and
8:49
we talked about that especially with when I was on Kelly or
8:52
being Kelly. We're on the same side is when
8:54
March releases, it kind of just floats in that space who, who
8:57
picks her up and how do we shift?
8:58
So that was a bit difficult, but I feel like we we responded very
9:03
well to that and kind of eliminated that threat.
9:06
But in terms of me trying to progress the ball and just
9:09
trying to be an option for the centre backs and for the outside
9:13
backs and just like provide good angles.
9:16
And I think in the second-half, especially when they backed off
9:18
of us, I was able to find some success getting it and turning
9:21
and facing forward, but just being supported, being an
9:23
option. We talked a lot about, you know,
9:25
movement underneath, just to be that outlet.
9:27
So especially I think when they dropped off us and we had those
9:30
dangerous chances, I was able to get on the wall point and.
9:33
Have success and then 58th minute, obviously Barbara Banda
9:36
gets the goal. You know, that one comes off a
9:38
quick restart. Carson Pickett kind of quick
9:40
thinking there. Didasco, who I think was really
9:42
good, kind of puts the ball back into play by setting it down.
9:46
Pickett just whips it up field to Banda who was on side, knocks
9:50
it off 2 BFC defenders gets it in, just scores the goal, puts
9:54
them up. And that's that's kind of how
9:57
this 1 ended one nil. Even though BFC have had a
10:00
really good defensive performance, I've seen them now
10:01
three times in person, they've only given up a single goal.
10:04
So I think defensively they're they're figuring some stuff out
10:07
offensively still some work to do.
10:09
I think the one thing that would be concerning is from game to
10:12
game, I'm not really seeing a lot of carry over, you know, so
10:16
this one I mentioned Huff and Bibar I thought were really
10:18
good, you know, previous games that you know, might have been
10:22
Hawking and Rachel Hill, you know, like, so I think Montoya's
10:27
job, I think for Bay FC is going to be figuring out how do I, how
10:30
do I carry over from match to match and start building rather
10:33
than just say, OK, we, we had some stuff in this match that
10:35
looked good. What do we do from there?
10:38
Yeah, I think part of that building is just taking care of
10:41
the chances that you get. I mean, Taylor Huff, I'm sure
10:44
she thinks she should have scored that really early chance.
10:47
It's a good stop by by Morehouse.
10:50
But when the ball kind of comes dribbling to her and she's on
10:52
the run, I thought that was a certain goal.
10:54
Again, great reflexes by Morehouse.
10:56
She's standing in the right spot.
10:57
But I think if you ask Taylor Huff, she's going to say I
11:01
should have scored that and she probably should have.
11:03
And it goes back to the same thing that we always talk about
11:06
with Orlando Pride. Your margin for error is very
11:09
slim. And so if you don't, if you
11:11
don't finish those chances, you're, you're putting yourself
11:14
behind the 8 ball. Absolutely.
11:15
Yeah, no last quick on a on a personal note, watching,
11:19
watching the the post game, I did get AI did get a, a a tinge
11:25
of, of regret not being able to cover this team anymore.
11:28
So there was a shot of Carson Pickett and Kylie and dad are
11:31
embracing after the final whistle.
11:33
That was that was for me the Ralph Wiggum heartbreak Simpsons
11:37
moment where I was just like, oh, I miss this team.
11:41
They're so good. And then another quick moment
11:44
back, back of house in in the PayPal park.
11:48
You know, I'm coming downstairs after the final whistle, walking
11:50
over to the to the press room, and then I have to kind of cross
11:54
the player tunnel, you know, so you to get to the press room and
11:59
as I'm crossing it here, woo woo, little hooting and
12:01
hollering. And then I see a player kind of
12:03
on my peripheral. She's like kind of running at me
12:05
and then just Marta running right at me and I'm just, I kind
12:10
of freeze and I'm like, all right, do I go, do I kind of go
12:12
quickly because I'm kind of crossing, I'm the kind of
12:15
jaywalking here. And then I'm just like, you know
12:18
what? I, I play.
12:20
I did the dummy and I just kind of let her go.
12:21
I was just like, alright, I'm gonna let her go through.
12:24
And then it was just a very exhilarating moment.
12:26
And then she was followed very closely by an Orlando Pride
12:29
equipment manager who I then locked eyes with and just said
12:34
that was Marta. Nice.
12:38
Very professional moment for me. Right.
12:40
You know what, though? I mean, at that point it becomes
12:43
a goat crossing. You let the goat walk by and
12:45
then, you know, in case anybody was confused, hey, that's the
12:49
goat. I you know what?
12:50
I don't blame you, buddy. Yep, I almost went with that's
12:52
the GOAT, but I I went with the the proper proper down there and
12:55
that's but anywho, moving on, let's go to KC current 4 racing
13:01
Louisville two. I thought racing Louisville was
13:04
kind of up for it, and I think we learned.
13:07
We learned a few things with this result.
13:10
I want to kick it to you. What'd you see in this one?
13:13
I don't know if this is anything we learned because I think we,
13:15
we already believed it, but I put this one second on our, you
13:20
know, important O meter when we ranked how to do the show's
13:24
rundown because it's too important.
13:28
Exactly because Kansas City current is the best team in the
13:32
league, I think right now. I mean, it's hard to argue.
13:34
Obviously they're top of the table, but Orlando's going to
13:38
have to chase them. Now.
13:40
Just to rewind a little bit why I put Orlando's win near the top
13:44
there, because I thought it was a very impressive win.
13:46
Obviously you were in the building all that plays, but
13:50
while I believe that Kansas City, I think I can hold both
13:54
these thoughts at the same time. Kansas City current is the best
13:56
team in the league and Orlando has to chase them and the second
13:59
thought being Orlando could still catch them.
14:03
So I still think it's I think it's close.
14:05
I cannot wait to see these teams hopefully play in the play offs.
14:09
We'll talk about let's talk about this match, but then I
14:11
want to talk about when they play again next, also in the
14:14
regular season. But Kansas City has everything
14:18
to just rip your heart out. In this case, it was the 1st 19
14:23
minutes of the match. But they could do it in the
14:25
first half of any match against any opponent.
14:28
They just have too much skill to they're too fast.
14:32
They're playing great defense. Lorena is excellent.
14:36
In a 45 minutes of play, they can completely demoralize you.
14:40
But then, like we saw at the end of the game, sometimes there can
14:43
be those little lapses too. So they're not.
14:45
I don't think they're an immovable object right now, but
14:48
they are definitely a a force that is very hard to stop.
14:53
I think there's two ways to think about KC like 1.
14:55
You could look at this team and be like, they didn't even really
14:58
look that good and they won four.
15:00
They just smacked a a really good our our pretty good racing
15:03
Louisville team will say you could also look at this team and
15:06
say, all right, all right, no Debina Rocky Rodriguez get in
15:10
there and you know, replace who Leanne Sanderson had as their
15:14
MVP through the first 5-6 weeks of the season.
15:16
Doesn't doesn't matter either. There's just so many good
15:18
players on the pitch. We're, I think we're seeing the
15:23
ascension of a Michelle Cooper, 22 years old.
15:26
And I think just, I mean, you look at some of the numbers,
15:30
four shots, 3 on target. She actually gets the goal. 69
15:33
minutes completes 19 of 22 passes.
15:36
She kind of reminds me, I was thinking of what, what kind of
15:38
comp I had. I went with like Ladainian
15:41
Tomlinson because you watch Cooper run up the, the right
15:45
hand side and you're just like, look at that.
15:47
I mean, she can fly and like she's dangerous.
15:50
And then you see her put crosses in and you're like, she's just
15:52
like, Oh my God, she's dangerous.
15:54
And then you just see her like cut inside, you know, like, and
15:57
then like, you know, strike with her left foot, you know, and
16:00
you're just like, oh, the more you see, the more tools you see
16:04
her kind of like exemplify. So that I went with Tomlinson as
16:08
my comp. She's still super young, but
16:11
she's she's coming in a huge, huge way.
16:14
I mean, she could end up, it's tough to say because they're so
16:18
loaded, but I could see maybe the maybe let's Fast forward
16:21
maybe to next season, Cooper being the centerpiece of that
16:25
offense, even with all of those standard players.
16:28
That's that's high praise with the reigning MVP right there on
16:31
the roster. But I don't, I don't think
16:33
you're crazy for it. I, I mean it now we're, we're on
16:36
a streak of every time we talk about Michelle Cooper, whether
16:40
it's for the US women's national team or Kansas City current,
16:43
where I have to talk about her, her ability to hit one touch
16:48
crosses into the middle at speed.
16:51
I mean, it's an incredible ability.
16:53
She has to kind of like, you know, to be able to like at the
16:56
running at full speed to turn your body to get your leg kind
17:00
of like swiveled over there. There's like motion you got to
17:02
do with your hips to really hit it in so that it's, it's played
17:05
into the danger area. I mean, she's just fantastic at
17:08
it. And you know, the physicality
17:12
and, and just the, the smarts of knowing when to hit those
17:15
crosses too. Like she'll, she'll take the
17:16
ball right to the end line before playing it in.
17:19
And then other times she'll play in the early ball.
17:21
Like she just has great instincts, great intelligent,
17:23
great intelligence. I don't think you're out of
17:26
bounds here thinking that. I mean, I know you're saying if,
17:29
if she becomes the centrepiece of that attack, then she also
17:32
enters the MVP conversation in my mind.
17:36
Yeah, I think she's got to and you know, you mentioned those
17:40
1st 19 minutes and we talk about that attack.
17:44
It's funny. I was I was writing, I was I was
17:46
mid blue sky post where I was I was putting together a post
17:50
saying, you know, you you know, you're a great team when you
17:53
haven't even played that well and you're up to nothing after
17:56
17 minutes. I quickly had to delete that mid
17:58
typing, change it to three. Nothing through the 1st 18
18:02
minutes. It literally happened as I was
18:04
typing at that third be a goal. And I I just the next note that
18:08
I have here, KC can almost blow you out by accident.
18:12
And that's kind of what it felt like because I thought I thought
18:14
Louisville was good. You know, and you look at some
18:16
of the stats here, possessioned 5149 to KC touches in the final
18:22
third, 1:45 to 137 KC pretty close.
18:27
Then you zoom in, touches an opponent's box 32 to 10.
18:31
You know, I think like then you kind of start to see, OK, this
18:33
is where where KC really kind of tightened the screws on them.
18:37
But I thought I thought Louisville was good.
18:38
I thought they looked dangerous. They obviously put up to two
18:40
goals, Sonas and Uchenakanu. Sonas gets the the assist on the
18:44
second one. And I thought they were
18:46
dangerous. I think, you know, Louisville
18:48
continues to be an interesting team.
18:50
I think they are still tracking towards the playoffs.
18:52
We'll talk about the playoff picture.
18:54
It's a big log jam right in that 8 to 11 area.
18:58
But what What'd you see from Louisville?
19:01
So I'm glad you mentioned Uchenakanu.
19:04
And it goes back to like, if you're Orlando Pride now,
19:06
obviously you have last year to hang your hat on, but now they,
19:11
you know, current beat Pride one nil in Orlando a few weeks back.
19:16
But if you're Orlando, you kind of look at that Uchena Kanu goal
19:20
and you go, OK, set piece. Sarah Webber like drags 1
19:24
defender out like toward toward the corner taker.
19:29
And then Uchena Kanu just bolts right in front of Claire Hutton
19:33
and it's just like easy money to head it in.
19:36
I think if you look at that and think, OK, there are going to be
19:38
some spots where we might be able, you know, to find some
19:42
cracks in the Death Star, as it were.
19:44
Even though, again, I don't think Orlando Pride looks at
19:46
anybody else as the Death Star. But I I think Louisville showed
19:51
that they're a team with good quality.
19:54
And they were, they had some opportunities to pull a couple
19:57
goals back. But can we talk about the dagger
19:59
goal? Can we talk about the the fourth
20:01
goal from Chewinga? When that ball gets played
20:05
forward, I'm going by because the way you know, they have the
20:08
the cuts in the grass, they're usually right around 5 yards
20:12
apiece. Real quick, I think they're 6
20:15
because there's three before you get to the 18.
20:20
So I've always thought there were six.
20:21
So I I could be wrong. I could look like a dummy, but
20:24
it let's just assume that they're that it's 6.
20:27
OK. No, that's great.
20:29
So OK, let's assume that there's six.
20:31
So from my from that angle, then I think Chewinga was about 6
20:37
yards behind Ellie Jean when the ball gets played forward and by
20:41
the time they make it the full 60 yards, Chewinga has blown by
20:46
her and then it's just more physical than her.
20:49
And then it's and scores the goal and get brings the ball
20:52
into the middle and scores the goal.
20:54
She's an absolute freaking nature out there.
20:56
Total freaking nature. I mean, just just a marvel
20:59
offensively and defense. I mean, honestly, all facets of
21:02
the game she could do all she could do 100%.
21:06
And I think the, the part that stuck with me is the what I like
21:11
to call the little goal differential Piggy Bank.
21:13
You know, we, we've seen, we've seen that come into play, you
21:17
know, down the stretch, you know, and what, where are we at?
21:20
So KC is plus 18, Orlando's plus 12.
21:24
So the six goal difference between so one goal.
21:27
It's not nothing, right? You know, and, and I think you
21:30
see, you see championship teams do this also.
21:33
It's like, all right, well, we're up 32, probably got three
21:36
points in the bag. What, what, what else is there
21:37
left to do? Let's get one here.
21:40
Let's kind of like extend that lead.
21:42
We don't, we're not sure when that's going to come into play.
21:44
You do that a few times between here and the end of the season.
21:47
And what they can do is take goal differential off the table,
21:50
which essentially gives them the tiebreaker in addition to that
21:54
one nil away win that you mentioned.
21:56
So I mean, they're they're playing a pretty savvy game.
21:59
And I continue to be impressed by Vladco, you know, be a out to
22:03
being a out, you know, chewing out for some portions and it
22:06
kind of doesn't matter. Like he he just finds a way to
22:10
get the pieces together or have the culture or the offense carry
22:15
through no matter who's playing, you know, in what position.
22:18
So I think you got to give props to that, that whole staff just
22:21
because personnel wise kind of doesn't matter.
22:24
They just kind of go out there and cook.
22:26
Yeah, and I think the vibes look great.
22:28
And you know, there's there's the every every they're just on
22:32
a string out there. I mean, you know, sports cliches
22:35
be damned, They just they play as a team.
22:37
The double. I they have to look at
22:39
themselves in the mirror and say the double is a possibility for
22:42
us because they're just they're just playing that well.
22:45
And you talk about the goal differential, it will help if
22:48
you don't have to see Orlando Pride until the semi final if it
22:52
comes to. That it's good to head to a team
22:55
that that might be in that semi final, and I'm not talking about
22:58
the Chicago stars, the team who I like.
23:01
Oh, there we go the the Seattle reign 22, Chicago two.
23:04
Well, Ludmila 2, Seattle reign 2.
23:07
I'll kick it to you again, the Seattle reign being your beat.
23:10
I I got a couple opinions on this one but but what did you
23:13
see with this one? So there are sometimes in
23:17
football where A22 match can be full of excitement and really
23:22
invigorating and thrilling match.
23:25
And then there are other times where A22 match will give you
23:29
several moments, some might say only four moments, but a few
23:33
moments that really get you out of your seat.
23:37
And the rest of it is kind of played in the muck and the mire,
23:41
if you will. And I don't think Laura Harvey,
23:45
the manager of Seattle Rain FC, necessarily minds that.
23:49
I think she's totally fine with that.
23:51
And, and, and her defence is playing style.
23:53
And that's what it felt like here now, the path that they
23:57
took to get to this 22. Brazilian superstar Lude Mila
24:01
scoring twice in a matter of like 60 seconds.
24:05
Not ideal for Seattle, but they were able to hang in there
24:09
through all that muck that was, you know, for long stretches of
24:13
this game and pull out a draw. And I think it was A to me, it's
24:16
one of those ones where Seattle wins 2 to 2 and Chicago loses 2
24:20
to 2, even if that's not how you would have looked at this going
24:23
into the match. Yeah, totally agree.
24:26
I mean, I think each team could could walk away with some
24:29
positives and sub negatives. I totally agree with you there.
24:32
I mean, if you're Chicago, the Ludmila sequence, it's funny, it
24:35
was like 4 moments, but a total of like 6 or 7 minutes of
24:39
football where if you just watched those periods, you would
24:41
have gotten most, most, if not all of the the the key action.
24:45
But Ludmila, I put in my notes after the first goal that it was
24:51
kind of bone chilling what she did because she kind of put the
24:53
whole defense in the spin cycle and she just goes coast to
24:58
absolute coast just off sheer, you know, physical tools,
25:04
creativity, you know, and like just control of, you know, just
25:10
kind of like it's almost like she couldn't kind of, you know,
25:12
control the the the the tilt of the field.
25:15
And she just kind of had everybody kind of go in the
25:16
wrong way. And in my notes, I'm just like,
25:19
I wrote bone chill because I'm like, if she could do that, she
25:21
could just do it again. No, like, you know, it's going
25:24
to take a minute to adjust to it.
25:25
She just looked that dominant in that first sequence.
25:28
And then, you know, to your point, she does it couple
25:30
seconds later. I was surprised, but also not
25:33
surprised. I don't know.
25:34
She just looked like, I think it was a seal that on our show
25:37
talked about having the juice running through your legs or
25:40
running through your body. And Ludmila was that was the
25:43
first, that was the first thought that I had.
25:44
Like she's got all the juice running through her body right
25:46
now. 100% and so it was a real bummer to see her get taken off
25:51
the field later in the match because of concussion protocols.
25:53
But you got to do it. You got to keep her safe out
25:55
there. Same with all the athletes,
25:57
obviously. But you know, I felt, you know,
26:03
this is pro sports. And so you and I, like we don't,
26:06
it's not like, oh, if you feel bad for somebody out there, but
26:09
Phoebe Mclernan, you just have, no, you just have no chance in
26:12
that scenario. So it's not even like, and I
26:15
don't, I don't mean this like in a mean way, but I don't really
26:18
feel bad for her because it's just like, what are you gonna
26:20
do? Like, I don't blame you for
26:22
that. Like you're, you're running
26:24
trying to keep up with Lude Miller to at least try to get in
26:26
the way. I mean, we saw, you know, to the
26:30
the last Champions League final, CGH had Wendy Renar turning
26:36
around like that. At one point we were just like,
26:38
whoa, what the fuck? We like, you don't ever see
26:40
something like that. So it's going to happen to even,
26:42
you know, the greatest players, some of the greatest players in
26:45
history. So, you know, you just have no
26:48
shot against Ludmila. But then Chicago, I felt like
26:52
they get those two goals from her and then they just started
26:56
to to play the turtle defense and just tuck into the shell,
27:00
play the low block and pray not to lose.
27:03
And I guess congratulations, you didn't lose.
27:06
But the end result couldn't have felt that great.
27:11
Yeah, a bit of a bummer, but you got to give Seattle credit.
27:14
I mean, you know, they they good changes to bring on GI think
27:19
that kind of unlocked some stuff, you know, in the attack.
27:21
I continue to think that Biendolo, you know, this this
27:24
Ave. of like distributor kind of like spending some time in the
27:28
10 area just moving the ball and just kind of being involved in
27:32
stuff. It keeps defenses on their heels
27:34
because it's almost like you have to respect everything she
27:37
could do and she's so comfortable in front of the
27:40
goal. In those spaces.
27:42
Facing the goal back to goal doesn't really matter.
27:44
Like moving laterally, like she's just in her zone there.
27:49
And if she's able to find other players and if other players are
27:52
able to make themselves available, I think that's going
27:53
to be really the key, you know, for for Seattle.
27:56
But I don't know. I think there was some stuff to
27:58
build on. You kind of wish that they got
28:00
going a little sooner. And you kind of also wish that,
28:02
you know, they didn't give up, give up those too early.
28:05
But I think at the end of the day, you know, like it's one of
28:09
those where if you see the result without watching the
28:12
game, you're kind of like, OK, we can live with it.
28:15
But then you watch some of the details of the game, you're just
28:17
like, you know, this one really, really could have gone a
28:20
different way. And then the last quick note to
28:24
the angels in the outfield moment on the Jordan bug shot
28:28
where the ball just takes a turn, you know, just I'm not
28:32
sure hand of God, if something something weird happened, you
28:34
don't really see the ball struck from that angle, have that bend
28:38
on it. So, yeah, again, I'm just going
28:40
to talk. Chalk it up to some some
28:42
supernatural forces willing the Seattle Reign team into
28:45
contention this season. I think that could absolutely be
28:49
a part of it. It was an outside of the outside
28:51
of the right foot shot, you know, with that kind of weirdo
28:55
spin on it. It was very clearly a cross for
28:57
Heidema to get on the end on the end of, but it was just out in
29:01
front of her. In the post match press
29:03
conference, Laura Harvey said that Jordan Bug immediately
29:09
admitted that it was a cross. It was not a shot.
29:12
But like I always say, they all count the same in the record
29:15
book. And the when your agent goes to
29:17
negotiate, it's still a goal. He's not going to be like, well,
29:20
goal should have been across like, no, no, no, that's a goal
29:24
and it's an equalizer and an important spot.
29:26
Yeah. I thought Sam Menti played well
29:28
again. Darlene looked pretty
29:32
comfortable in this new kind of left wing back spot.
29:37
I know there's maybe a little bit of consternation on Seattle
29:40
rain Internet of like maybe play Dalene further up the field.
29:46
But if you're going to have a, a player with great size who is
29:51
fast and has the ability to play offense defense like that, I
29:55
think you could probably bet that Laura Harvey's going to ask
29:57
her to play more offense defense and then maybe skew a little and
30:01
give some of that support on the defensive end.
30:04
I, I like Adamus being out there too.
30:06
So if that's the way you got to get Darlene and Adamus on the
30:09
field at the same time, then I'm, I'm going to go ahead.
30:12
I'm going to go out on a limb here.
30:13
I think I trust that Laura Harvey knows what she's doing.
30:17
So I'm going to, I'm going to back her on that.
30:20
The other thing I want to point out, I'm glad you mentioned Jake
30:22
is also in the post, in the post match press conference over Zoom
30:26
because obviously they're in Chicago.
30:28
But over Zoom, I asked for Harvey, what was part of the
30:31
difference in the second-half? And she immediately pointed to G
30:35
coming onto the field and kind of creating some more space in
30:37
the middle, giving the defense a little more to think about.
30:41
And that's kind of what what ended up leading to leading to
30:44
the Biento logo. Love it.
30:46
Yeah. I think I'm just checking my
30:48
notes here. OK, Yeah, we'll get to it in a
30:50
little bit. Now.
30:51
I appreciate you hopping on the Zooms and virtually, you know,
30:55
the, the the fire that you hold Laura Harvey's feet to isn't as
30:58
warm when it's virtual, but, you know, nonetheless, you're there.
31:03
You're just, you're just letting you know, reminding her that
31:06
you're there, letting them know that you're hold everybody
31:09
accountable. I appreciate that.
31:10
Yeah, I well thank you buddy. It was my first time getting on
31:13
like an away game Zoom. And I was like, Oh yeah, I do, I
31:17
have access to this. And like, you know, sometimes
31:19
I'm like running around taking notes myself.
31:21
Then after that match ended, I was like, yeah, don't be stupid.
31:24
Like join, join the zoom and ask some questions.
31:27
And so I, I talked to Madison Curie and Shay Holmes as well.
31:30
And what they said about the Jordan bug shot was they weren't
31:35
surprised that she scored because they, they want her to
31:37
be in that position around the box, especially around set
31:40
pieces, because in it was Madison Curie's phrasing.
31:45
She said something to the something very close to we
31:48
wonder there because we expect her to score.
31:52
So I mean, you know, which I think at this point she's
31:55
probably showed enough that it's, it's not a, it's not an
31:58
unreasonable expectation. Won't be the last Jordan bug
32:02
goal I we see. I don't think by by the
32:05
slightest. Let's go to head though.
32:07
Interesting one. This one went down today.
32:09
Portland thords to Washington spirit Nil.
32:15
I got some thoughts here. I mean, I think the first, the
32:18
first place my mind went, you know, was last week watching
32:22
this Portland side and commenting on the midfield of
32:27
Sugita Coffee and Moultry calling that a torture chamber.
32:32
And then this week, just how about a little Jesse Fleming
32:35
injected into that, who all of a sudden looked into a whole other
32:40
set of problems for defenses to deal with and definitely made
32:44
her presence felt in this one. I had a feeling that you and I
32:48
would be aligned on this. And it's what we've, we've
32:50
talked about Jesse Fleming since she, I mean, you know what, we
32:53
covered the Champions League for the first time, our maiden
32:56
voyage doing that. She was just moving from Chelsea
32:59
over to over to Portland. And the thing about Jesse
33:01
Fleming is if it's a Jesse Fleming game and the other
33:05
players are playing up to their standards, you might be in real
33:09
trouble as an opponent. Because when she gets really
33:12
cooking like that and she just starts kind of dictating where
33:15
the ball is going and how the offense is moving, then it just
33:19
creates, like you said, I it's, it's perfectly stated by you.
33:22
It creates a new a brand new set of problems for the opponent
33:25
where they're like, OK, well, we've been trying to account for
33:28
Moultrie and coffee and, and obviously Sugita and Ryland
33:32
Turner is looking looking more and more like a world beater
33:35
every match. It feels like now you got to
33:38
deal with the 24 or pardon me, with the the Canadian
33:42
midfielder. I want to say she's she's 24 or
33:44
she's somewhere in that ballpark, right?
33:46
27, pardon me. But yeah, I mean, she was just
33:49
there to to make life miserable for the spirit.
33:52
And the the the last thing like my jumping off point here is
33:58
I've been hesitant over this first like 40 ish percent of the
34:02
season to change my mind on on some things changing my mind on
34:06
Portland. Like at first I was like, wait
34:08
and see. I don't know, this thing could
34:10
eventually fall apart. This thing is I don't think it's
34:12
falling apart. I'm just going to go ahead.
34:15
I'm raising my hand loud wrong before the season.
34:18
This thing's not falling apart. They're really, really good.
34:21
They're they are really good. And I think your your point on
34:24
Fleming getting cooking is such a great one because Fleming is
34:28
the kind of player where her moves get more elaborate and
34:34
trickier as the magic goes on. You know that you know that that
34:38
Raylan Turner goal it it, it was almost like watching somebody do
34:44
a like the when Fleming kind of like scoots the ball over to
34:47
Turner. It's almost like somebody doing
34:49
a wicked crossover, but then not catching it with the other hand
34:52
and then just somebody else catching it and then dunking it.
34:55
And you're just like, I've never seen that before because it
34:57
looked like she was sliding the ball across, but it was a pass
35:01
just like, OK, that totally fooled me.
35:04
What a tremendous and and there was a nutmeg against, you know,
35:07
like a the mechanics of that play were were unreal.
35:10
I would love to see, you know, some of those AWS calculators
35:13
doing some numbers on on just how ludicrous that play was.
35:17
But yeah, Portland absolutely tough.
35:20
They just create a ton of shots. They create a ton of chances.
35:23
The midfield is devastating. You know, Washington not being
35:27
able to figure out what they want to do in the midfield where
35:30
they wanted to go. And just like that little bit of
35:34
hesitation. I mean, Portland was just kind
35:36
of all over it. And I mean, just took full
35:38
advantage today and and really just overwhelmed the team that I
35:41
think come into this. I think all of us expected a
35:44
Washington. This is a better team.
35:45
This is a better roster, but I think completely got overwhelmed
35:48
today. Yeah, and I, you know, it's
35:51
important to point out, and I think they had said it on the
35:54
broadcast. I might butcher this a little
35:56
bit, but I know it's at least close.
35:58
So Croy Bethune's first full 90 that she played was last week.
36:03
I want to say, Yep, it was last week against the courage.
36:07
And I think how Hirsch felt, if it wasn't today, maybe it was
36:12
last week. I don't even think it could have
36:13
been last week. I'm doing the quick Fact Check
36:16
alive as we record. But yeah, yeah, yeah.
36:19
Her first full 90 was against the courage as well.
36:22
So you got to give like, you know, the superlative parts of
36:27
that, of that spirit midfield some time to to continue
36:32
gelling. But you don't have that time
36:34
when you play Portland right now.
36:36
So I think that's that's why they didn't look that effective.
36:41
Aubrey Kingsbury really, really had to work.
36:44
I felt like she held up the best she could.
36:46
There wasn't a lot she was going to be able to do on either goal.
36:50
And so, you know, it was convincing from Portland, who I
36:55
think are undefeated at home. Washington Spirit has been Rd.
36:59
Warriors all year, but they just they just walked into a bad
37:05
situation here. Portland is is really cooking
37:09
and there's like, things are in a little bit of flux right now
37:13
in Washington. So you know, what's it going to
37:15
mean for the end of the season? We'll see.
37:19
But you know, you get you get Rodman back, you get SAR back,
37:23
things are things are going to change.
37:25
But you know, I'm just keeping it in the back of my mind to
37:29
just see what what Portland could look like in the playoffs.
37:32
I mean, I think they're going to be dangerous.
37:34
You know, when you have like that much, they're they're just
37:38
built a little differently that I think that we're used to and I
37:40
don't think we can really call them a contender.
37:42
But you know, they're they're now 4th best goal differential
37:46
in the league, 5th on points, three points behind the
37:51
Washington spirit side that they just handled pretty easily.
37:54
But they're four goals ahead in goal differential.
37:57
So this is somewhere between the 4th, 5th, 6th best team in the
37:59
league so far through 12 matches and it doesn't look any kind of
38:04
fraudulent. This team was super tough.
38:06
The spirit on the other side, I thought they looked a little off
38:09
kilter, like a Little Miss QE early on the Turner goal.
38:13
They're completely flat footed. I don't think it's an issue of
38:17
personnel or talent OR any this team's missing player.
38:20
They're just they're not really playing connected ball right
38:24
now. Like they're just not really
38:25
able to kind of put put things together.
38:27
They've got good players out there.
38:28
You can't really be like, you know, fix the player's situation
38:33
like they've got players. They they do have super headed
38:35
players that are not playing, but doesn't mean that the
38:37
players that are getting minutes are aren't up to up to the task.
38:40
You can definitely make the case that talent wise this this might
38:44
have been a push, but spirit definitely got to figure some
38:48
stuff out. Figure out what that new
38:50
identity's going to be, figure out offensively what they're
38:52
going to look like post Geraldo's.
38:55
And I think defensively, too, they probably got to make make
38:58
some adjustments to kind of firm things up because they've given
39:01
up some goals this season as well. 19 allowed in 12 matches
39:05
that that's not really fitting the profile of the top five or
39:07
16. That's a great call.
39:10
Yeah. I mean, we knew that I was real
39:13
high on the Narumi pick up as a defensive midfielder.
39:15
I think she has played well for them really good.
39:19
And you know, you got to cycle Bernal in there as often as you
39:23
can. But yeah, there's just they they
39:27
haven't quite gelled. And so it'll be interesting to
39:30
see what happens coming out of the international break, I think
39:34
because you know, they're going to have players who are going to
39:36
get distributed around the world on that international break too.
39:40
So, you know, we're going to see, we're going to end up
39:42
seeing how that looks. Obviously not going to not going
39:45
to count them out at all. But like you said, it's just
39:51
something to note something to to kind of keep in in the in the
39:54
dossier moving forward. Like, OK, this team, this team
39:57
can be had. Absolutely.
40:00
Yeah, definitely keep in the dossier.
40:02
I'll just keep my dossier next to my ITC personal record book
40:04
here on my bookshelf. All right, let's go to add
40:07
Houston to my San Diego wave three.
40:10
There we go. What a barn burner.
40:12
I mean, this is this is some really good football.
40:14
This this one had shades of of our previous match as well.
40:18
Possession 5050 passes attempted.
40:20
This one's fun, 470 to 470. Houston actually completes 8
40:25
more passes in San Diego, but then you zoom in again.
40:28
Passes into the final third, 111 to 665 for the Wave.
40:33
They were also more accurate there, 78% to 73%.
40:37
Touches inside the opposition of box, 40 to 13 for the Wave.
40:41
Shots 18 to 11. Shots on target 2:50 So really
40:45
where it counted, you know, the wave were pretty dominant. 8
40:49
different players logged a shot in this one.
40:50
And I think the main take away watching this wave side, they
40:54
just have I mean you can count Sheridan in this.
40:58
They have 11 players that that are one pass away of from
41:03
getting the ball into the pedal, you know, the the opponent
41:05
penalty area. And it's like whether it's a
41:07
pass or a drive or a run or a or 1/2, like they're just that
41:12
close. Every single player understands
41:15
the geometry of how to get the ball up the field so that we're
41:20
one or two passed away from actually scoring and watching
41:23
that whole team work together. Even Lundquist in the back,
41:26
Baroni in the back, These are all super offensive, offensively
41:30
smart players. And I think we see it week in,
41:33
week out from this wave side. Yeah, man, they just have a lot
41:37
of different ways to hurt you. I'm there.
41:40
There is something that made me raise my eyebrow, though.
41:43
I mean, obviously Maria Sanchez scores a goal in this match.
41:47
She scores the third goal. The reporting right now from
41:52
ESPN, Cesar Hernandez is that San Diego Wave is in serious
41:56
talks to return Maria Sanchez to T Grace in Mexico.
42:01
Now, I'm guessing they won't do that for free.
42:06
So I'll be interested to see what the piece of business
42:08
they'll try to, you know, follow that up with.
42:12
But I was a little surprised by that, to be honest.
42:14
Like you would think that, you know, Sanchez might think like,
42:17
OK, we got a we got a new manager in here.
42:20
People have their opinions on eight of all.
42:22
But you know, he it's not like this guy came out of nowhere.
42:25
Like he's he coached Arsenoli and you know, he had he's
42:28
coached the elite players. You have Cascarino Dali
42:31
Mccaskill's playing better than she then then we've ever seen
42:35
her play, certainly. So it makes me kind of wonder
42:38
like, why do you want to get out of there?
42:42
But while I changed my I've firmly changed my mind on
42:46
Portland, I think I still need some convincing on San Diego
42:52
wave. I don't think I I'm holding out,
42:54
man. I don't.
42:55
Know you've got just the guy to do it, let me tell you.
42:58
There we go. Because I know you're I know
43:00
you're you're weigh in on this team conceding too late now.
43:05
They were great plays. Obviously the Yasmine Ryan play,
43:08
get the fuck out of here with that.
43:09
That's unbelief. That was a big Marshawn Lynch
43:13
beast mode type of type of moment of just like I'm taking
43:17
this all the way down there and getting the finish in.
43:20
A big spot, too. In a big spot and so, you know,
43:24
to to really make him super live to to walk away with a draw.
43:28
And so there was just a little bit of that that I think with
43:33
the wave. I'm like, OK, some of my
43:35
skepticism is is warranted. Now, obviously they're not
43:39
nearly as as they're they're nowhere near where I thought
43:42
they would be in the table at this point of the season, but
43:45
I'm still I got my eye on them. I don't know if I trust them
43:48
yet. Interesting.
43:50
I did take note of that. It's funny because right around
43:54
the 60th minute, I wrote down San Diego offense looking either
43:58
a little stagnant or a little bored because they just looked
44:01
flat. And then it was a couple minutes
44:03
later. I'm like, they're tired.
44:06
They zoomed it to handle on Quest.
44:08
You know, she's from the from the skin, the skin, the naming
44:11
part of the world. I think she's Swedish.
44:12
And she just, she had that flush, you know, just like it's
44:15
hot out here and I'm tired kind of, you know, look to her skin.
44:20
And I think on the Sanchez note, I mean, Sandy was loaded.
44:25
You know, you mentioned those 3 connectors, Cascarino, Dolly and
44:29
McCaskill. They're just absolutely bawling.
44:32
And then they've got the young players, you know, they've got,
44:35
I mean, you could, you could throw Gia Corley in there, who's
44:37
awesome. But you've got Kimmy Oscano,
44:39
Oscano, Melanie Barsenas, you know, Adriana Lyon, I think one
44:44
of one of the show favorites for sure.
44:46
She's now definitely in rhythm with regards to the San Diego
44:50
waveside. And then I wrote down the second
44:53
goal because the, the, the connectivity of this team is
44:57
just insane. So check this out.
44:59
So Sheridan's got the ball, waits and waits, gets it to
45:02
McNabb, to McCaskill, to Dolly, to Cascarino, to Leon, who
45:07
miscues. She turns it over and then
45:09
Cascarino almost immediately forces a bad pass.
45:12
That's when it gets to Lundquist, who dinks it back
45:16
into Leon, who seals a defender on her back and then smacks in
45:19
for the second. But you've got 7 players
45:21
touching the ball in the lead up, you know, and all of them
45:23
playing an important role to kind of get it there and then
45:26
Leon finishing, which is kind of what we've been waiting for
45:29
since that signing. So maybe a little bit of a
45:32
talent, you know, overflow, you know, and they feel like they
45:36
can kind of make a move there. I think obviously Sanchez has
45:39
been good. This is her first headed goal.
45:41
I mean that was like a a thing of beauty.
45:43
But again, it's Dolly and Cascarino playing 1/2 on the
45:47
right hand side. And then when they get bored of
45:49
doing that, Cascarino's like I was just not going into
45:51
Sanchez's head and and just notch another goal here just to
45:56
kind of switch it up. I mean they they're super duper
45:59
talented. I I wouldn't take too much from
46:02
conceding to but I think worth worth noting for sure.
46:07
Yeah. And, you know, we get to see
46:09
this is one of my favorite parts about football is Washington
46:13
Spirit coming off a disappointing result and San
46:18
Diego Wave coming off a what looked like it was going to end
46:21
up being a dominating victory. And then, you know, they their
46:24
opponent kind of gets back into it and they got to see it out.
46:27
Now they're on a collision course.
46:28
Last match before the international break.
46:32
I mean, let's go. That should be that should be a
46:33
good football game. Love a collision course.
46:36
Let's go. Cannot wait.
46:38
Let's go ahead though. Angel City won North Carolina
46:41
Courage to some compelling stuff here.
46:45
Some fun stuff here. A good football match.
46:47
Where do you want to get started?
46:49
Yeah, this was a football game. Now.
46:51
I I enjoyed the hell out of this one.
46:53
Courtney Vine scores in the first minute on a great pass
46:57
from a NACA. I think that's kind of what you
47:01
were hoping to see. You know, when you make the
47:04
Courtney Vine signing of like I I want to see her run past
47:09
offenders and get in behind offenders and then Monaco with
47:12
like that perfect like swirling pass again, going back to me
47:18
being being maybe a little stubborn and not wanting to
47:21
change my mind. The this is kind of the
47:24
beginning of what I want to see from North Carolina courage.
47:28
Like, you know, we've talked about their kind of slow
47:31
plotting style, that European style and their their possessive
47:36
style under Shawn Nahas in this match, they lost the possession
47:41
battle 5446, which I don't think happens a lot.
47:46
Now. I'm sure our pals will will
47:48
correct me if I'm wrong here. Maybe it's happened a little
47:51
more often this season, but you know, that's that's really kind
47:54
of not. I didn't, I didn't super expect
47:57
that. I'll say I don't.
47:58
I don't know if it's totally uncharacteristic for Angel City,
48:02
but I think North Carolina is starting to figure out different
48:06
ways to win matches with this new personnel.
48:12
It ended up being a dogfight out there because Riley Tiernan and
48:15
she smashes home that header. It was a perfect pass from
48:17
Giselle Thompson getting down the getting down the right wing.
48:21
The Thompson sisters continue to to show flashes where they I
48:26
mean, Alyssa Thompson is very clearly a superstar, but Giselle
48:28
Thompson keeps showing showing things where I'm like, OK, so
48:31
she's a star. Like who's maybe who's maybe Max
48:35
upside could be a a superstar, borderline superstar herself.
48:39
So Angel City, Angel City put in a great fight.
48:43
Obviously the Brianna Pinto goal doesn't come till the death, but
48:47
I think let me just I'll go ahead and do it.
48:51
Here comes the North Carolina courage.
48:54
Hey, let's go. I like it.
48:57
I mean that they they got shots up today 24 to 13, looking like
49:01
Nick, Nick Young out there, nine to two shots on target.
49:06
They had that advantage. The the Courtney Vine goal
49:08
happens before before I was able to even to get get the match.
49:12
I wasn't able to have my dock open, you know, but it's already
49:15
1 nil And then that Tiernan goal, great professional headed
49:20
goal. Just kind of like impossible to
49:22
you just love to see the placement on.
49:24
It's like you're not going to get anywhere near this.
49:26
Had time finish it super clean back in into scoring form for
49:31
Tiernan in the midfield, though, it doesn't feel like they are
49:35
able to do anything, you know, moving the ball, advancing the
49:37
ball, you know, like up the pitch.
49:39
If it's not that one of the Thompsons kind of like beating a
49:42
defender wide, they they don't have a ton to go to, but they're
49:48
still kind of finding a way to get shots up.
49:51
The shots aren't of the highest quality.
49:53
So that you didn't we're not really, you know, we can't
49:56
really kind of hold that against them.
49:57
But I do wish that we saw more from Alexander Strauss so far.
50:03
I don't want to say I don't want to go as far as to say the team
50:06
is kind of like backsliding, but they they they got off to a nice
50:10
start. They haven't improved since
50:13
Strauss has come on board. You know, a couple down results
50:16
doesn't necessarily mean that they're headed in the right
50:18
direction, but it's clear that they haven't sort of figured out
50:20
their their new brand of football.
50:22
And you just kind of hope that something like that happens
50:25
before kind of gets too late in the season.
50:27
We're, we're sneaky getting close to, to a point where you
50:31
know, you might want to have some of these results back.
50:34
Yeah, that's understandable. I think, you know, obviously we
50:38
talked about Svendis, Jane Jones, Jones Doe tier, the
50:42
cavalry's coming. I think she's I think she's
50:44
going to fit in in kind of a in a very direct play, direct
50:49
attack kind of way. I mean, we've already seen her
50:52
size, skill, speed. You know, you add her to Alyssa
50:56
Thompson running at you with Riley Tiernan's ascent here in
51:00
this in this season. What I think that was like her
51:03
seventh goal I think this year. So I mean, that's, you know,
51:09
nothing to be ashamed of there. And they're they're in the log
51:12
jam that you talked about. They're sitting on 15 points.
51:14
So, you know, it's not it's not panic time for them.
51:17
It's time, you know, for them to kind of figure out what they got
51:20
to do moving forward to get some goals.
51:22
And we got, I think we're contractually obligated.
51:26
We got to have faith in Strauss. He's from Bergen, Norway.
51:30
He's our guy. We got to give him some time and
51:32
then let him do what he do, what he does.
51:36
Yeah, 100% yeah. I'd love to see like a whole
51:38
transfer window happen as well to kind of see how creative they
51:42
can get there. But yeah, you mentioned that
51:44
logjam, four teams on 15 points from 8:00 to 11:00, Gotham FC,
51:49
their plus four goal differential AF CS -2 Angel City
51:54
-3 N Carolina courage -3 so big result for the Courage here.
51:59
They pull even with Angel City on points and on goal
52:02
differential. But 8 to 11, man, three of those
52:05
teams, maybe all four of the maybe all four of those teams,
52:08
who knows, might be outside looking in come playoff time.
52:12
I don't know. Some good teams are going to be
52:13
outside looking in this season. Yeah, I mean, I you say racing
52:19
is solid. I think I agree with that.
52:21
It's, it's one of those weird anomalies though where racing
52:23
has a -, 5 goldage differential, you know, worse than all those
52:28
other teams, even though they're sitting at on 17 points ahead of
52:33
ahead of all those teams on 15. So I'm, I'm sticking with North
52:38
Carolina Courage. I think, I think the ascent
52:40
starts now and they're in luck because even though I think
52:45
Houston Dash is obviously much improved from last year, they
52:49
kind of get a little bit of a reeling Houston Dash have lost
52:54
three of their last four and they get them coming to Cary,
52:57
NC. So that should bode well for the
53:00
North Carolina Courage. But oh wait, we're talking about
53:02
the NWSL. So what the hell do I know?
53:05
What what what is actually going to happen?
53:07
Yeah, I'm looking at, I'm looking at yeah, to your point,
53:10
the the XG differential courage sit in 6th in that category plus
53:16
2.8 on the season Racing Louisville sit in fourth plus
53:19
3.2. And to your wave skepticism,
53:22
they are in looks like they're in 7th or 8th at -0.7 XG.
53:29
So, you know, some anomalous stuff maybe potentially there to
53:32
keep an eye on. I'm not your reign, I'm not
53:34
going to mention where they're at, but just just to ignore that
53:37
step. Well, we'll talk about that
53:38
later. Let's go.
53:39
Ahead. Well, yeah, you know that.
53:41
That's totally fine. I think there is something to
53:43
that, though. I think if you're way like, you
53:45
know, we don't pray at the altar of XG necessarily, but if you're
53:49
like way outperforming your XG early in the season, it feels
53:54
like that catches up to you. Yeah, I mean, you know, Mike
53:58
Watts had something about that and it's such a cloudy stat
54:03
because, you know, if you're consistently out kicking the XG,
54:07
that's good. I mean, it's a data point to
54:09
look at and does have some interesting stuff to say with
54:14
regard to XG differential and what role that could play, you
54:18
know, as the kind of as the playoffs take shape.
54:19
I I feel kind of silly to talk about the playoffs, but you got
54:22
to do it. We're 12 matches in, we're near
54:24
the halfway point. And I think ultimately these
54:26
results, some of them are starting to matter.
54:29
You know, and and I think you can look at Utah and you could
54:33
look at Chicago. They're way, way, way behind.
54:35
I think Houston still sort of alive like in 12th.
54:40
But you've got 12 teams that are relatively still, you know, you
54:44
can talk themselves into really, really being in the playoff mix.
54:48
So as we go down the stretch, you know, you're going to have
54:52
eight play 10 and 9 play 12 and like, you know, like these are
54:55
going to get really, really, you know, edgy, you know, as, as as
55:00
the stakes kind of get ratcheted up here.
55:02
So that's definitely not what we're going to be watching.
55:04
You know, for sure when when NWSL returns after the July
55:08
break. One more game to hit, though.
55:11
Utah Royals nil, Gotham FC. Three things continue to to wilt
55:18
in the land of the Royals. The Royals just trending way
55:21
down no matter the dimension. That's right.
55:24
And and Gotham, the Bats find a way to get a really, really much
55:29
needed three points and then do it in a little bit of style.
55:32
Yeah, man, Utah's bat they it's it looks so easy.
55:38
And I know Gotham FC has has good players.
55:41
I mean, Astaire is, you know, leading the Golden Boot race,
55:45
but it looks way too easy for attacking players to be running
55:50
in behind Utah's defense. Like it's it's too commonplace
55:55
to like there are times where you're just like, man, really
55:58
well timed to run there, good execution.
56:01
And then other times it's just like, OK, we're we're doing this
56:04
all game then, huh? Like we're the like attacking
56:07
players are just running by your defenders for the majority of
56:11
the match. And so they're just too easy to
56:13
beat right now. I know it's like that's another
56:16
silly football cliche, but like they just don't put up a lot of
56:20
resistance for like long stretches of the match.
56:23
And I know that they've been able to pull goals back and have
56:26
showed some fight in some other spots.
56:28
But you give up the goal, the one goal in the 1st 10 minutes
56:31
and then you give up that howl goal right before you get into
56:35
the half, into the halftime, into halftime.
56:38
Pardon me, You just you're just barely giving yourself a chance.
56:42
You know it, No shots from Sentinor, no shots from Monahan,
56:46
like attempted, not even on target, you know, so that's 90
56:50
plus minutes. Monahan replaces Sentinor, no
56:53
shots from that spot on the field, 90 minutes.
56:56
That's that's got to be devastating.
56:58
They only managed six shots in the match, 3 on target.
57:01
And you know, you look at where else I still have that, that the
57:05
XG differential stat up on my computer XG allowed for Utah.
57:09
How about 25.9? Way worse than the league.
57:14
The second worst is 18.2. Jesus, come on man.
57:18
There's 7.7 goals between the worst and the second worst XG
57:24
differential. Utah's -16 second worst in that
57:27
category. Chicago at -7.6.
57:31
Utah's more than double as bad as SO however bad Chicago is,
57:35
Utah's twice as bad. They're really playing poorly,
57:41
you know, just kind of not able to and and and it's weird that
57:43
like there's some interesting players, some players
57:47
offensively that can do some stuff, but just not not able to
57:51
put anything together on either side of the pitch or in the
57:54
midfield. Things look really, really dire
57:58
in Utah. Probably in need of like, you
58:00
know, a little bit of culture reset some a little bit of
58:02
personnel reset as well. Who knows?
58:05
I'm not going to go to the the coach joke, but yeah, Utah in in
58:10
a bit of a rut. Yeah, I yeah, I would say that's
58:13
a polite way to put it. I I think, yeah, things are
58:15
going to have to change over there.
58:18
You know, Jimmy Cooner at CC signs the deal before the season
58:22
starts. Is he going to survive this
58:25
season is a real question. Like, you just have to ask it at
58:28
this point because they're just, they're just a total disaster
58:32
right now. And they and they should.
58:34
I just don't think they should be this bad.
58:37
But you know, they're going to have to, they're going to have
58:39
to do something in the transfer window.
58:41
You know, Mandy McGlynn, we're talking about a keeper that Emma
58:46
Hayes is looking at for the national team and she's just
58:50
getting put in no win situations pretty often.
58:54
So I don't know. They're going to have to,
58:56
they're going to have to figure something out over there.
58:59
But you know, if if you're Gotham FC, you just kind of look
59:02
at this and say we're the better team, we're going to get this
59:05
done and then we'll see it out with, with eight field players
59:10
if we have to. So I thought that was that was
59:13
something to behold as well. You often don't see 2 red cards
59:17
for one team in the same match. The Jess Carter red card I
59:21
thought was obvious. It was a clear denial of a goal
59:23
scoring opportunity of an obvious goal scoring opportunity
59:27
dog. So my favorite, one of my
59:29
favorite acronyms. And then Howells, yeah, it was a
59:33
stamp on the foot and she was already on a yellow, so I could
59:37
see it. I mean, I did.
59:38
I didn't love it that there might be some just Jalen Howell
59:41
bias in that 'cause I like Howell as a player a lot.
59:43
But you know, if, if you're Gotham FC, you're just like,
59:46
sure, Well, you know, it sucks that we'll we'll lose players to
59:49
the red card suspension. But they just took the Royals
59:53
out. They took them out of it early
59:56
and they never looked like losing it in any way.
59:58
Yeah, I think probably, I think usual look worse than they are,
1:00:03
even though I read off those stats and Gotham probably looked
1:00:06
a little bit better than they are, but they played the match.
1:00:09
Those are the results. 33 much, much needed points for Gotham.
1:00:13
Utah still in the cellar. We'll see what happens from
1:00:15
here. All right, man, as you
1:00:17
mentioned, good slate of football.
1:00:19
NWSL Week 12 in the books. Anything else you want to hit
1:00:22
before we get out of? Here, I think that's it hour,
1:00:25
hour five, hour 4 that we that we got this done.
1:00:29
Still trying to fine tune it, figure it out, but everything
1:00:33
that was said on this podcast absolutely needed to be said.
1:00:36
I just. I just can't see it any other
1:00:38
way. One more quick thing that needs
1:00:40
to be said. Shout out to Jill Lloydon who
1:00:41
commented on the short corner. I didn't get a chance to ask
1:00:45
Montoya about that, but in the 43rd minute of wave dash, a
1:00:51
short corner was taken and Jill Lloyd and I've got the quote
1:00:54
here, she says it's a 3V2. That's what you try to generate
1:00:58
in the run of play. End Quote.
1:00:59
Because she was just like, hey, this short corner is working.
1:01:02
The three V the three in that in that scenario, also Dolly,
1:01:06
McCaskill and Cascarino. That's tricky for the.
1:01:09
Opponent. Yeah, that helps.
1:01:11
Well, you got that much talent, but yeah, that was the last one
1:01:13
kind of quick thing I wanted to hit.
1:01:14
So I appreciate Jill Lloyd for, you know, just putting putting a
1:01:17
hand up for the short corner along with the boys.
1:01:22
All right, man, episode calendar.
1:01:23
Real quick, one more NW Cell weekend before the EUR kick off
1:01:26
July 2nd. We'll be kicking off our UEFA
1:01:29
Women's EUR 2025 coverage with a mega preview of our own.
1:01:33
Look out for that in the lead up to the tournament.
1:01:35
Or maybe you can just hit that little subscribe you subscribe
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Make sure you're a little, little dingy bell subscribed as
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well. We look forward to rock with you
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for sure. And we also launched our NWSL
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It is in the show notes of this episode.
1:02:11
All right, man, I'll ask you again.
1:02:13
Anything else you want to hit for you out of here?
1:02:14
Shout out to the dads. Shout out to the grandpas.
1:02:17
According to our YouTube analytics stats, we've got a
1:02:19
couple of grandpas in the audience, so shout out to them
1:02:21
on this Father's Day. Some some dads, no dad as well,
1:02:26
but as a formality now for real, for real.
1:02:29
Anything else you want to hit for you out of here?
1:02:31
No, I think that's it. I mean, you know, you cover how
1:02:35
the subscribe button works, how the alert button works.
1:02:38
What else could you want other than, oh look, 2 dudes talking
1:02:42
about women's football? This is what, this is the show
1:02:45
I've been looking for. Just coming right to your phone,
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just just delivered right there. And as you said, also for free.
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So you know what, what could be, what could possibly be better
1:02:55
than that? I'm glad, glad you explained
1:02:58
that to our pals. And you know, thank you to
1:02:59
everybody who locks in with us in that way.
1:03:01
We we do seriously appreciate. It absolutely all right, man,
1:03:04
there's been another episode into the channel.
1:03:06
Thank you, thank you, thank you for hanging out with us.
1:03:08
If you enjoyed the show or love one so far as much as your boys,
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you make sure you're kicking in with us each and every single
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We love hearing from you links all of our socials and shows of
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this episode. And a big thank you to my host
1:03:24
as well, Mr. Grant Angle, one of the one of my one of the
1:03:29
favorite dads in my life. You know, I mean, we're dad in
1:03:33
the different parts of the country, but you know, he's a
1:03:36
special guy and a special dad. I'm sure I've seen you.
1:03:38
I've seen you in dad action in very brief, brief stints.
1:03:41
And you know, I was impressed, man.
1:03:43
What can I say? I appreciate you bro.
1:03:47
Well, thank you for the kind words, my good man.
1:03:50
And as I always, I said, the couple times I joined our pals
1:03:54
over at Shades of Blue on the lit stream, because of the
1:03:56
timing of that, I always tell them I have to join that show.
1:04:00
Because you're busy out here being the dad of the year,
1:04:02
taking your responsibilities seriously, doing what you got to
1:04:05
do for the young champion over there in your life.
1:04:08
So, yeah, shout out to all the dads.
1:04:10
Yeah. It's about time men got some
1:04:12
credit for something in this world.
1:04:14
That's that's what Father's Day is about, right?
1:04:18
But. But no seriously, thank you guys
1:04:21
for watching, we appreciate it and we will see you all next
1:04:24
time.