Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / NWSL Final preview: Orlando Pride vs. Washington Spirit

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NWSL Final preview: Orlando Pride vs. Washington Spirit · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

• 0:05
  OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast primarily about women's
• 0:08
  football. Before we hit the pitch.
• 0:09
  If you enjoy the show or love women's football as much as your
• 0:12
  boys do, come kick it with us already.
• 0:15
  Subscribe, follow YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast, wherever
• 0:18
  you like to watch or listen. Leave us a review over your
• 0:20
  favorite podcast app. Links to all of our socials in
• 0:22
  the show notes of this episode. I am your host, Dino de
• 0:25
  Suspetas. And as always, I am joined by my
• 0:28
  coast, Mr. Grant Angle. What is up man?
• 0:32
  I'm feeling all right, buddy. It is good to be back.
• 0:34
  It's been a little while to work things.
• 0:37
  Unexpected illnesses kept us off the pitch for a while, but I
• 0:41
  think I'm ready for a celebratory beverage to the ITC
• 0:45
  being back. Where are you like that?
• 0:48
  You know, I was almost ADMP do not pod, but I'm feeling good.
• 0:54
  I think the the stomach bug issues are behind us, so I'm
• 0:59
  ready to crack what I mean, incredible recent few days
• 1:02
  behind us, incredible couple days ahead of us.
• 1:04
  A lot to talk about, a lot to celebrate so I can go.
• 1:08
  All right, sounds like I remember it.
• 1:14
  Cheers. Cheers to you.
• 1:17
  Yeah, I would say some pretty entertaining football games
• 1:20
  played this weekend on our side of the pond.
• 1:24
  Let's start there. Huge weekend for your boy.
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  I was in the building at one of these NWSL semifinal matchups.
• 1:31
  Love to get into that one with you.
• 1:33
  But as is customary, Mr. Grant Angle, where do you want to get
• 1:36
  started? I mean there's no other place to
• 1:38
  get started other than beautiful Orlando, FL Let's go.
• 1:42
  Your home base. 1/2 of the home base of this very podcast.
• 1:47
  As you said, you were in the building.
• 1:48
  Please, please tell us about Orlando Pride 3.
• 1:52
  Kansas City Current 2. I mean, one for the ages.
• 1:55
  I think I kind of want to like just kind of get right into it.
• 1:59
  So coming into this one, I did feel like this one was for the
• 2:04
  championship. I thought these were the two
• 2:05
  best teams. I thought whoever wins this one
• 2:08
  is going to basically hoist trophy this coming Saturday.
• 2:11
  Got off to kind of like an interesting start.
• 2:14
  The match definitely got chippier as it went.
• 2:16
  Casey gets on the board first. Cooper genius cross finds
• 2:20
  Debina, who had a lot, a lot to do on the finish, but picture
• 2:24
  perfect finish. Cross scoots just under Emily
• 2:27
  Sam's outstretched leg. And that's pretty much the only
• 2:29
  way you're going to be Orlando. One NIL.
• 2:31
  But the equalizer wasn't far behind.
• 2:34
  So this season, Haley Mccutchen hadn't scored in the regular
• 2:39
  season. 22 matches. She gets her second in two
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  weeks. All she does is score in the
• 2:43
  playoffs. And then Ali Watt served her the
• 2:46
  assist. And if my research skills are
• 2:48
  right, I think Ali Watt only had two assists her entire NWS, a
• 2:52
  regular season career that spanned Four Seasons.
• 2:55
  She's now got 3 assists in the last two playoff matches as
• 2:58
  well. I asked Seb Hines about this,
• 3:01
  specifically about Ali Watt. So I'm like, OK, you turned Ali
• 3:04
  Watt basically into an assist machine.
• 3:06
  Tell me about that. Nice.
• 3:09
  So so said on unlocking Ali Watt says I quote just simplifying
• 3:14
  her game, going at players, slowing down to then using her
• 3:17
  speed. And then it's that last final
• 3:19
  part, that execution of the cross.
• 3:21
  You can see her game grow, especially this back end of the
• 3:24
  season. She's been phenomenal and she
• 3:26
  knows there's a lot of quality just behind her as well.
• 3:30
  And so it keeps everyone on their toes.
• 3:32
  They know that they need to perform when they get that
• 3:34
  opportunity. So you've seen that with Ali's
• 3:36
  game. I thought that was awesome.
• 3:38
  It's perfect. I mean, that is a it's such a
• 3:40
  microcosm of a team that has an identity, a team that plays for
• 3:46
  each other where you have these moments.
• 3:48
  So like you talk about like Haley McCutcheon not known to
• 3:51
  score goals 2IN in two weeks, Ali Watt not known as as kind of
• 3:56
  the assist maker. She does so many other things on
• 3:58
  the field now she's serving in passes to create goals.
• 4:02
  So as an opponent, you come into the game with an idea of what
• 4:05
  Orlando Pride is going to do. And now here's this new list of
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  things that they're actually capable of doing that you
• 4:12
  haven't even prepared for. Yeah, and it's such a great
• 4:15
  creative use of Ali Watt as a player because you see her, I
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  mean, like, definitely had stretches of season where wasn't
• 4:22
  seeing the field as much. And now you see you're kind of
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  like in this role where it's like, I got the ball, I'm
• 4:28
  attacking and I'm looking across and I'm going to use my speed
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  and I'm going to use my quickness and I'm going to make
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  it really, really hard on you. And at that, she's just out of
• 4:35
  this world. It's really, really incredible.
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  I asked Seb about Haley Mccutchen as well, and here's
• 4:40
  what he had to say. Quote Haley's grown in that
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  midfield role and she's starting to get higher up the field,
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  especially when Marty's dropping down and you know she's very
• 4:48
  committed and when Ali gets that ball, Haley commits to a run and
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  she gets her reward by putting in the back of the net and
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  they're just two examples of this team's wanting to continue
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  to grow. Seb talked about Haley coming on
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  as a defender, as a fullback and kind of finding her spot in the
• 5:03
  midfield. And it was so cool on the goal
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  because you see Banda occupy one of the center backs, Aliana
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  occupies the other. Haley just kind of like slides
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  right in pitch and catch, you know, kind of like an easy kind
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  of tap in, but also extremely creative and something that I
• 5:17
  don't think Kansas City saw coming.
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  And now it's 11 when? Stuff like that happens.
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  Obviously the lion share of the credit goes to the players.
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  Aliwad, Haley Mccutchen in this in this instance.
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  And then they deserve credit for kind of growing into these
• 5:31
  roles. But it's worth pointing out
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  that's your manager of the year right there because you have to
• 5:37
  see it from the organizational standpoint to be like, well,
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  maybe, maybe McCutcheon could do a little more.
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  Maybe maybe we move her up the field a little bit.
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  Or maybe you have this new idea for Ali Wattis as you kind of
• 5:47
  see different aspects of her game.
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  You guys were nearly invincible this season.
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  You lift the shield. Now you're sitting there looking
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  at a final. Yeah, and I think the equalizer
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  did so much. Actually, let me rewind a little
• 6:00
  bit, because when Orlando goes down one nil, I actually went
• 6:03
  back and checked this. This was the first time Orlando
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  had trailed in a match of consequence since March.
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  Amazing. You know, I was really
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  interested to see, OK, they're down one nil, one match away
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  from the final. And and watching from the press
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  box, you can see Cooper, Debina, Chewanga, they're celebrating,
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  they're ecstatic. They're up one nil, you know, at
• 6:24
  Orlando, like this is like the start, not really the start, but
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  like, you know, this is the first half they were looking
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  for, I think. And then I look over and the
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  pride players are in the tightest players only meeting
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  huddle I think I've ever seen. And it looked like it was
• 6:36
  instantaneous, like the balls in the back of the end felt like
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  all 11 players were just in a huddle, like arm in arm trying
• 6:42
  to sort out what's going to happen there.
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  I asked Emily Stams about this in the presser.
• 6:46
  Here's what she had to say. I was like, hey, what were the
• 6:47
  vibes? Would you guys talk about there
• 6:49
  immediately after the goal? And she says, and I quote, just
• 6:52
  to stay calm. We knew we were better, better
• 6:54
  than them, which I love, jeez, and that we could score on them.
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  It was unfortunate that we had to go down, but we just had to
• 7:00
  keep our composure and we stuck together as a team and knew that
• 7:04
  we would be able to break them down at some point and quote.
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  I love it. What evidence does she have from
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  the remainder of this season that would be contrary to that?
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  I love that kind of belief. That's that's big talk right
• 7:15
  there. I mean, who's telling Lee Sam's
• 7:16
  that they weren't better? Not this guy, no.
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  And she was right. Because a little bit after
• 7:23
  halftime, Kylie Strom grabs hold of a ball, breaks out the
• 7:27
  pitching wedge, taps one right over the top, right into Banda.
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  Banda spins Allah Shaq against the Kings catching that alley
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  and basically chooses violence just explodes through the ball.
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  Alma Schultz doesn't even move, like doesn't even move a muscle.
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  Totally dead in the water. I mean, the ferocity of that
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  finish, it sent a shockwave through through, I mean, through
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  the entire stadium. Hard not to feel like this match
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  was only going to end one way after that.
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  I mean, I know it's easy to say after the fact, but when you use
• 8:01
  the word ferocity, I think that's the best way to describe
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  it. I could not believe how hard she
• 8:07
  struck that ball, and not because I didn't think Barbara
• 8:10
  Benda is capable of that. It was just the quickness of the
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  turn. I didn't think a human being
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  would be able to strike a ball in that compact of a movement
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  with that velocity. And I mean, she just hammered
• 8:21
  that thing into the back of the net.
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  Yeah, I mean, I feel like everybody froze and just as soon
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  as the turn happens, it's over. Sharples doesn't doesn't make
• 8:29
  contact with the ball and Banda last week in the presser
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  mentioned something along, I'm paraphrasing here, but mentioned
• 8:35
  something along along the lines of I know I get into defenders
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  heads. I know defenders are afraid of
• 8:40
  me. You know, when they see me
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  coming and I love that feeling and I'm just like, come on, man,
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  That's something happening. So, so great.
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  And then you texted me about the third goal.
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  I want to get your perspective and then I'll tell you kind of
• 8:53
  like what it was like in the building.
• 8:55
  Marta, an all time moment in. I mean, the stakes don't get too
• 8:59
  much higher. You know, technically, I guess
• 9:01
  you could say they get a little higher, but the goat with a goat
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  moment. I mean, what, what was your
• 9:06
  reaction watching that? So I mean, it's obviously
• 9:09
  immediate edge of your seat when Benda dispossesses and then gets
• 9:13
  it forward to Marta. And then of course it's just
• 9:16
  like, OK, this should be it. And even then thinking it's
• 9:20
  like, OK, Martha's on on with the keeper.
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  She has defenders running after her, but when she sits down the
• 9:27
  two defenders, your brain can't even my brain couldn't even
• 9:30
  really process it where I was just like, oh, that's good.
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  And and then she deeks the keeper and it's in the and it's
• 9:37
  in the net and she just explodes.
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  And then like it took, it took another second or two for me to
• 9:42
  be like, whoa, that was like really amazing.
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  Like, like I watch should happen.
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  I'm like, OK, goal 31, they're going to the final like this.
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  And I was like, whoa, hold on a second.
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  That was incredible. It was on the press box side
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  too, so we could all see it from up top and you could hear the
• 10:04
  and like when the goal happens, it was like an extended like
• 10:08
  hooting and hollering just in an uncontrollable, you know, you've
• 10:11
  got people covering the game and just the press box went bananas.
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  That's the first time I've ever experienced something like that.
• 10:18
  It was it was an it was an amazing moment.
• 10:20
  That goal. I think pretty, I mean,
• 10:22
  effectively kind of ended the match.
• 10:24
  I mean, to Emily Sam's point, even though the pride went down,
• 10:27
  they felt in control of that match.
• 10:29
  They were getting, you know, kind of the better chances.
• 10:32
  The current stats wise, I think, you know, had had the edge in
• 10:34
  possession. I think outshot the pride too,
• 10:37
  but never felt like they were kind of in control of the match.
• 10:40
  That Orlando backline had a ton of big time blocks.
• 10:43
  They were super active. Chewinga a little bit
• 10:46
  frustrated, just a master class performance from Orlando.
• 10:50
  You get the handball late that makes it 3-2 and then you get
• 10:53
  that one moment late as well where Morehouse is caught way
• 10:56
  out. There was some sweating in the
• 10:58
  press box as well too, because Chewinga gets that chip and I
• 11:01
  think again, Kayla Sharples gets a look at it.
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  Tough spot, high pressure moment, you know, not the best
• 11:06
  circumstances, but had an had an opportunity.
• 11:09
  I think it's fair to say there. But this one ends 32 Orlando
• 11:12
  Advances. What's your feel for this team
• 11:14
  kind of heading into next week? I'm happy that I've been saying
• 11:18
  it feels like we might be going on 10 plus weeks.
• 11:22
  I think of me saying it the double remains on.
• 11:25
  I think it is. I mean, obviously it's as live
• 11:28
  as it could possibly get. I think going back to something
• 11:31
  you had said earlier, I think we're in a little bit of
• 11:34
  disagreement here where you said you think you believed Orlando
• 11:36
  versus Kansas City were the two best teams.
• 11:39
  I think you guys are playing the second best team in the final
• 11:42
  and I think there are some coaching advantages that
• 11:46
  Washington Spirit has that maybe Kansas City Current does not
• 11:49
  have. But you're in the final with
• 11:51
  Barbara Benda and Marta. So I would suggest, I know, I
• 11:54
  know, it's always easy for a neutral to say.
• 11:56
  I think you should be feeling pretty good.
• 11:58
  Let's talk about that Washington spirit side.
• 12:01
  So they finish one. One against Gotham goes to PK's.
• 12:04
  What were your takeaways from this one?
• 12:06
  Good match, didn't know it at the time.
• 12:07
  It was it was really the first of of two.
• 12:09
  Pretty incredible matches, which is always wonderful to have,
• 12:13
  especially when you have your semi finals.
• 12:15
  Both kind of live up to the hype.
• 12:17
  Gotham looked really threatening in the 1st 10.
• 12:20
  You didn't know how I was going to go.
• 12:21
  They they were very clearly heart of a champion, not scared
• 12:25
  of playing on the road in a big semi final like this.
• 12:28
  But then spirits started to kind of take back more control after
• 12:31
  that 10th minute. Kind of started to get a little
• 12:33
  more on the ball. Lacey Santos had a strike from a
• 12:36
  Rodman cross. That was an absolute bullet that
• 12:40
  Ankak Burger was able to save. I think on most days, Santos
• 12:44
  when she strikes the ball, that purely is probably going to
• 12:48
  score that. But when you have Burger back
• 12:50
  there, you know she's able to kind of stop those.
• 12:52
  It felt like Washington probably had the better of things for
• 12:55
  long stretches. But those bats, you just can't
• 12:59
  settle with them. They're always lurking.
• 13:01
  Yeah, I thought Astaire was great.
• 13:05
  I thought was great. Ellis Stevens was great, Yasmine
• 13:08
  Ryan super solid. I mean, they're they're just
• 13:10
  Carter had a good game. You could just kind of go up and
• 13:13
  down the lineup, 2 really professional teams kind of
• 13:15
  battling it out. And I thought the spirit on the
• 13:18
  other side was really good too. Rodman Quasi Santos, who you
• 13:21
  mentioned Hirschfeld in my notes, I, I wrote whatever wind
• 13:25
  probability algorithm that's trying to figure out who's ahead
• 13:28
  in this one and where this one is going to land is probably
• 13:30
  sweating right now. It's just so smoke coming out of
• 13:33
  that that machine because I had no no clue.
• 13:36
  I think this one could have went either way.
• 13:38
  Pretty fitting that it goes to penalty kicks.
• 13:40
  But before that, you know, obviously really good football
• 13:43
  being played. Where were you focusing?
• 13:45
  You know, kind of like during that match?
• 13:46
  I'm glad you kind of led things off when when the first player
• 13:49
  you named was Astaire scored the winner in last year's final and
• 13:53
  is just a big player in big moments.
• 13:55
  I think that is set in stone at this point, that header, you
• 13:59
  know, with the keeper going the other way and she needs to kind
• 14:02
  of send it back where it came from to and just like, yeah,
• 14:05
  right near, right near the post. I mean, it's probably boring
• 14:09
  analysis, but what else do you expect from a stare?
• 14:12
  That's like, seriously, that's who she is.
• 14:14
  She is a great player in big moments like that.
• 14:16
  It's a joy to watch her play. Yeah, I mean, she's so slippery.
• 14:20
  She's so shifty. She's super creative in my
• 14:23
  notes. I also wrote that she won a
• 14:25
  basically a 2080 ball, like early to get to turn that into a
• 14:29
  chance. She's just relentless.
• 14:31
  Yeah. And I think, you know, as a
• 14:32
  Pride fan, I was kind of a little encouraged seeing how
• 14:35
  much success she was having. It showed maybe a little little
• 14:39
  bit of vulnerability from that Washington defense.
• 14:41
  So it's something that I think we're going to keep an eye on.
• 14:43
  But switching over to Washington, what did you see
• 14:45
  from from their side? I think they showed a great
• 14:48
  amount of grit. I don't think it was the best
• 14:50
  match from Trinity Rodman. I don't think it was the best
• 14:53
  match you're going to get from Ashley Hatch.
• 14:55
  I thought they kind of gutted it out to kind of keep themselves
• 14:58
  in the game. You think about Jonathan
• 15:00
  Heraldez and he brings on McKenna Morris right around the
• 15:03
  70th minute. I think the 67th minute she ends
• 15:06
  up with the assist. What they identified when Morris
• 15:09
  comes on to the pitch is basically McKenna Morris to
• 15:13
  hell. Hirschfeld is the new Joe
• 15:15
  Theismann to Art Monk at some point because she just starts
• 15:19
  playing the ball and and everything looks dangerous,
• 15:22
  including the equalizer right before the death to send this
• 15:27
  thing into into extra time and turn it into a classic.
• 15:30
  Yeah. And then how about this is this
• 15:32
  is funny? Trinity Rodman 22, Rosamund
• 15:35
  Gwasi 22, McKenna Morris 22, to Hal Herschel, also 22.
• 15:39
  So. Pretty soft.
• 15:40
  Future, I think it's looking pretty bright and I think their
• 15:42
  head coach too. Is is a good, I don't know,
• 15:45
  decade or so, maybe younger than me.
• 15:46
  So there you go. So this one goes to added extra
• 15:50
  time. We get the extra 30 minutes and
• 15:52
  mini rant alert here. I'm just done with this extra 30
• 15:55
  minutes. I'm not sure what we didn't sort
• 15:58
  out in the 1st 90 minutes or maybe 100 minutes considering
• 16:01
  this is NWS or maybe 110 minutes with all the extra stoppage
• 16:04
  time. I'm not sure why we need an
• 16:06
  extra 30. I mean, I'd love to just get
• 16:08
  right to it. Like let's go.
• 16:10
  We we already sorted out the teams, Drew, let's get to the
• 16:13
  PKS. But turns out, yeah, a lot
• 16:15
  happened in that extra 30. Yeah, pretty, pretty back and
• 16:19
  forth. There are chances to be had on
• 16:21
  both sides. You've been on this crusade, I
• 16:23
  think, since She Believes. When those matches were going
• 16:26
  straight to PKS after 90 minutes and you were telling me you
• 16:29
  preferred that. I like, I like this take from
• 16:32
  you. I am on the opposite side.
• 16:34
  I like the extra 30 minutes because I want to see more, more
• 16:37
  football. But I see, I see the merits in
• 16:40
  your argument here. Can you share with our pals who
• 16:43
  maybe didn't catch that episode back in the She Believes Cup?
• 16:45
  Because I don't know if anybody else notices these kind of
• 16:47
  things. We picked up quite a few more
• 16:49
  new pals since we helped break that Lily Johannes to the squad,
• 16:53
  to the US women's national team. What is it about the 30 minutes
• 16:56
  that you don't quite like? Yeah, I just feel like fatigue
• 16:59
  setting in, you know, a little bit of jogging, there's some
• 17:03
  extra injury risk, which I don't like.
• 17:05
  You know, I want to see the mad scramble.
• 17:07
  The last few minutes somebody tried to get a late winner.
• 17:10
  I want to see that when players are relatively fresh.
• 17:13
  So I'm I might be on an island, but that's, that's a change I'd
• 17:16
  love to see. I like, I mean, I, I always
• 17:19
  think with, with a penalty kick shootout, there is a part of me
• 17:22
  that's just like, I don't know, you don't, you don't settle a
• 17:25
  baseball game with a Home Run Derby if it's tied after 9 or
• 17:29
  you know what I mean? Like, yeah, sometimes I wonder.
• 17:31
  And you know, I could be just like, maybe I'm over the top
• 17:35
  with whatever, kind of like football snobbery or whatever.
• 17:37
  But because penalty kicks yield historic career changing
• 17:42
  moments, that's fair. I don't want to totally discount
• 17:45
  PK's, but I always kind of look at it as like, I'm here to watch
• 17:49
  the the run of play in the football.
• 17:51
  So that's kind of what what I'm here for.
• 17:52
  But we'll toss it to you guys. Let us know.
• 17:55
  New pals of the show, old pals of the show.
• 17:57
  Where do you land on this? I like that.
• 17:59
  I like that. Yeah, man, we're going to pull
• 18:01
  up. All right, so let's Fast forward
• 18:02
  to the final. I'm going to get your quick
• 18:03
  first impressions. I think we cover a little bit of
• 18:05
  it. Washington Spirit, Orlando Pride
• 18:07
  for the championship. Who on earth could have
• 18:10
  predicted those two teams go would end up in the
• 18:13
  championship? Maybe let's run a little clip
• 18:15
  here. I'm going to go a little off the
• 18:17
  board here. Give me Jonathan Hidalados's
• 18:21
  Washington spirit. OK. 2024 NWSL champions as they
• 18:27
  squeak by fellow finalists my Orlando bride.
• 18:32
  Wow, yes, that's. That's my final that I'm
• 18:35
  predicting. Oh, Nelly, look at our guy.
• 18:38
  The soothsayer himself, the man with the crystal ball down in
• 18:42
  Orlando, FL Nicely done my good man.
• 18:46
  Thank you, I appreciate it. Sadly though, I did pick the
• 18:48
  spirit to win. I'll talk about that one later.
• 18:50
  Yeah, How you feel about that? Suffice it to say, I'm changing
• 18:53
  my pic. Okay, fair enough.
• 18:56
  I don't think, and this might be complete fan freak out nature
• 19:00
  from your boy, but I don't think this one is relatively close.
• 19:05
  I think OK. I think Orlando watching what a
• 19:09
  stair did against that defense, watching what Ellis Stevens was
• 19:13
  able to do and like just the space and and freedom to move
• 19:19
  that Washington allowed, I think is going to be an absolute
• 19:22
  nightmare. And Washington struggled to
• 19:24
  score against the defense. I think I thought Aunt
• 19:27
  Katraburger was was really good and the Gotham defense was
• 19:30
  solid, but this Orlando defenses otherworldly.
• 19:34
  If I had to make a prediction, I think it's at least two nil in
• 19:37
  the final and I don't think it's particularly close.
• 19:40
  I think we actually saw the final.
• 19:41
  I mentioned this earlier. Yeah, this past Sunday, Orlando,
• 19:43
  KC I thought those were the two best teams.
• 19:45
  OK, bold. I like it.
• 19:48
  And just because we're a journalism podcast, I always
• 19:50
  appreciate you holding me accountable.
• 19:52
  Let's not forget that Dino also said maybe the Kansas City
• 19:56
  current would win the final a few weeks ago.
• 19:58
  That's OK, we can take we. Can take multiple picks, that's
• 20:03
  fine. I'm the dope who said the
• 20:05
  Portland Thorns would win the final.
• 20:06
  If we can not, we can not run that clip from the first show of
• 20:10
  the NWSL season if you don't. Mind save me save me some
• 20:13
  editing work. There we go.
• 20:15
  OK, I see where you're coming from on this and we got it.
• 20:18
  We have to shout her out. I know you mentioned her briefly
• 20:21
  earlier and she is now an ITC Hall of Famer and like locked in
• 20:26
  Friend of the Show Corey Dyke played really well against Tim
• 20:30
  Wachuenga on that side of the pitch in multiple spots, pushing
• 20:33
  her into areas where she just limited the danger that she was
• 20:37
  able to create. So obviously Rosemont Quasi, we
• 20:40
  like her as a player, good young player.
• 20:43
  If Corey Dyke was able to kind of do that against Tim
• 20:45
  Wachowenga, she might turn quasi into almost a non factor in this
• 20:50
  match. It's only one side of the field.
• 20:52
  Even if even if Washington and her all does, you know, they're
• 20:54
  going to try to switch things up with people around kind of see
• 20:57
  what that looks like. I am going to pick as I have
• 21:02
  continued to say the double is on.
• 21:04
  I think it's going to be a nail biter.
• 21:05
  I definitely I don't think I don't think the pride walk away
• 21:09
  from it, but I think the defense shows up.
• 21:11
  I think there are going to be some moments, but give me
• 21:14
  Orlando pride one nil in the final and they win the double.
• 21:18
  Marta absolutely cemented the greatest player.
• 21:21
  Whoever lived. If it wasn't already as cemented
• 21:24
  as it could be, put that baby in bronze after that.
• 21:27
  Love that. The other thing too.
• 21:29
  I mean, not now that we're talking pics.
• 21:31
  I kind of felt a little vindicated with my Banda MVP
• 21:34
  pick. I, you know, your boy was out on
• 21:36
  an island, you know, obviously I know she didn't have the most
• 21:39
  productive season, but you know, we can parse what the V and most
• 21:42
  valuable means. That's an age-old conversation I
• 21:45
  don't think we quite have time for.
• 21:46
  But watching it on the field, Banda is just a force.
• 21:51
  Chewinga is at that level too. Had a better season.
• 21:54
  I think there's there's no doubt about that.
• 21:56
  But, you know, when it came down to it, I had to pick Barba Banda
• 21:59
  and I think on the field felt pretty vindicated watching them
• 22:01
  go head to head, even though they weren't, you know, locked
• 22:04
  up against each other. But Banda just had it just felt
• 22:06
  like she had more impact. I do want to shift gears though.
• 22:09
  Got some news today? US Women's National team
• 22:12
  announced their roster for the upcoming European friendlies.
• 22:15
  Anything stick out to you there? Oh, I don't know.
• 22:18
  I mean, Lily Johannes is going to play in those European
• 22:22
  friendlies, so that's pretty cool.
• 22:24
  I think that'll be interesting to see.
• 22:26
  Those families are against England, the Lionesses.
• 22:29
  For people who might be interested in that match at
• 22:32
  Wembley, I think that should be a pretty big stage.
• 22:35
  And the next match against the Netherlands at The Hague.
• 22:38
  So those are going to be, I think they're going to be quite
• 22:41
  a few eyeballs on both of those. And with good reason.
• 22:44
  I mean, I'm not sure totally what to make of the roster
• 22:48
  makeup because you look at it no triple espresso at all.
• 22:51
  So I think we're just limited to Chai lattes or something.
• 22:54
  We'll see. And a good mix of young players
• 22:58
  and vets, you know, on the right side, You know, you do have
• 23:00
  Roosevelt. You do have Lindsay Ran, Lynn
• 23:02
  Williams, Alyssa Nair is back, Casey Krueger and a couple new
• 23:06
  faces. You know, you mentioned Lily
• 23:08
  Johannes. Not quite a new face.
• 23:09
  Ali Sentinar is going to make her debut.
• 23:12
  Yasmine Ryan's going to get another shot.
• 23:14
  Emma Sears as well. Do you think there's any kind of
• 23:16
  like moving and shaking here going on or is Emma Hayes
• 23:20
  looking at like availability and like or like what do you think
• 23:22
  Emma Hayes is trying to take away from these two matches with
• 23:26
  this roster makeup? It's a great question.
• 23:28
  I saw there was a little bit of teeth gnashing about.
• 23:32
  No triple espresso. Let's give them a break.
• 23:35
  Let's give them some time to rest and recover.
• 23:39
  I think Sophie Smith, Mal Swanson and Trinity Rodman,
• 23:42
  who's going to be on the heels win or lose of a final.
• 23:46
  Let's maybe let them start to enjoy their offseason.
• 23:49
  I think that's that's one thing. Now, obviously you're going to
• 23:52
  have Emily Sam's from the Orlando Pride who also win or
• 23:54
  lose Casey Kruger. We talked about how Hirsch felt
• 23:58
  they'll be on this roster, those players.
• 24:00
  I think Kruger is kind of at the part of of her career where it's
• 24:03
  like, let's get you some more of these international caps before
• 24:07
  it's time to to hang them up. No offense to Casey Kruger, but
• 24:11
  like, you know, the ages is what it is.
• 24:13
  And then with Emily Sam's and Hal Hirsch felt start to get you
• 24:16
  more integrated in the squad. This feels like when you talk
• 24:19
  about kind of that mix of the younger players with very, very
• 24:22
  few previous caps and the mix of some of the older of the older
• 24:26
  vets. This feels like the beginning of
• 24:29
  the mesh, the beginning of the transition phase where it's
• 24:33
  let's start to work in. How does Ms. Sears fit into
• 24:36
  this? How does Yasmine Ryan fit in
• 24:38
  this? Alyssa Thompson is back, which
• 24:40
  is like a funny one because, you know, she was in the 2023 World
• 24:44
  Cup and then from that showing no fault of her own, really
• 24:48
  didn't seem to be quite ready for that stage yet.
• 24:51
  But as we saw her form back half of this season in the NWSL, I
• 24:56
  think it's pretty clear that she is, if not ready today, very
• 25:00
  much approaching being ready for like the large international
• 25:03
  stages. Absolutely, yeah.
• 25:05
  I'm dying to see what that forward setup looks like, what
• 25:09
  that midfield looks like, who's paired with who defensively.
• 25:12
  I think we're probably going to get some Sam's Kerma minutes
• 25:16
  just to see what that looks like.
• 25:17
  That's going to be pretty epic. All right, man.
• 25:19
  Big week domestically here. Anything else you want to hit
• 25:21
  before we get out of? Here I think we largely covered
• 25:23
  it. I do want to say lastly, that
• 25:25
  Mandy Hot, goalkeeper for the Utah Royals, I thought she
• 25:28
  really handled herself well through some really difficult
• 25:31
  circumstances throughout the season.
• 25:32
  So awesome to see Emma Hayes reward that.
• 25:34
  I know I say it every time we talk international football, but
• 25:37
  I just I feel compelled to say because sometimes maybe some of
• 25:40
  the teams I watch annoy me with this club form has to matter
• 25:45
  when you select your national team and see who's who might
• 25:49
  earn a spot on there. So shout out to Mandy Hod
• 25:51
  because that's really impressive.
• 25:52
  And Fallon tell us Joyce from Manchester United, hopefully she
• 25:55
  might get her first cap under these stars and stripes.
• 25:58
  So could be cool to see what the goalkeeper spot looks like.
• 26:01
  Definitely excited for that. Another couple quick programming
• 26:03
  reminders later this week we'll have a Champions League match.
• 26:06
  Day 4 recap after Wednesday Thursday action.
• 26:09
  So be sure to stick around. And with that said, I think we
• 26:12
  did it. There's been another episode of
• 26:14
  into the channel. Sincere thank you, thank you,
• 26:15
  thank you for watching, listening, following, liking,
• 26:17
  subscribing, just plain hanging out with your boys.
• 26:20
  Remember to like if you liked and subscribe or follow into the
• 26:22
  channel, YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast or wherever you like to
• 26:25
  watch or listen. Leave us a review over your
• 26:27
  favorite podcast app. Links to all of our socials in
• 26:30
  the show notes of this episode. And a big thank you to my coast
• 26:33
  as well, Mr. Grant angle for bearing with me while your boy
• 26:37
  was in DNP status. I appreciate you, bro.
• 26:39
  The bat signal goes up and we are back like we didn't miss a
• 26:42
  beat and I appreciate you for that.
• 26:44
  Your toughness rating in FIFA would be 99.
• 26:47
  My good man. I'm glad you made it through,
• 26:49
  glad you're back, glad to be on the pitch, on the podcasting
• 26:52
  pitch with you again, same with everybody else.
• 26:54
  Thanks for checking us out and we will see you all next time.