Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / UWCL MD5 RECAP! 🏆 Barcelona v Benfica | Lyon v Man United | Chelsea v Roma | Arsenal v Twente | PSG v OH Leuven | Atlético Madrid v Bayern München | Real Madrid v Wolfsburg | Vålerenga v Paris FC

Transcript

UWCL MD5 RECAP! 🏆 Barcelona v Benfica | Lyon v Man United | Chelsea v Roma | Arsenal v Twente | PSG v OH Leuven | Atlético Madrid v Bayern München | Real Madrid v Wolfsburg | Vålerenga v Paris FC · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

• 0:02
  OK, welcome to into channel podcast primer about women's
• 0:07
  football. I'm your host Dino de Suspicious
• 0:09
  and as always, I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Engel.
• 0:13
  What is up man? I'm feeling fantastic, buddy.
• 0:16
  Match day five of the UEFA Women's Champions League in the
• 0:19
  books. One match day remaining in this
• 0:22
  league phase, in this new frontier that is a league phase
• 0:25
  and not a group phase. Ready to talk about all the
• 0:27
  machinations. You're the king of knowing how
• 0:30
  the hell the draw works and all this, all these other things
• 0:33
  that are going to happen. I I look forward to you
• 0:34
  explaining it to us. Yep, the old league phase of
• 0:37
  life here we are so like you, like you mentioned match day
• 0:41
  five in the books, some good football, you know, it didn't,
• 0:45
  it didn't start out super good. I'll say, you know, the the the
• 0:48
  first few game, I think there was the first four matches, five
• 0:51
  of the teams were shut out in four matches, which is just a
• 0:54
  funny quirk. Football got cooking.
• 0:57
  I think a little bit on Wednesday.
• 1:00
  I'm I'm very excited to get into it.
• 1:01
  A little bit bummed that we've only got one more match day.
• 1:04
  It's coming up fast and furious here next week.
• 1:06
  But match day 5, a lot of football to cover and a lot of
• 1:10
  you know, results on top of the results.
• 1:13
  We'll say a lot of moving and shaking, some machinations, some
• 1:16
  stakes will cover all of it in short order here.
• 1:20
  But Mr. Grant, angle where you want to get started.
• 1:24
  Let's get started with a beverage.
• 1:25
  I mean, if you're if, if you're going to mix in a little bit of
• 1:28
  melancholy that the league phase is almost over.
• 1:31
  Let's soothe our souls. Cheers.
• 1:38
  Cheers to you. Cheers to the football.
• 1:41
  Oh, that. Seems sweet, soothing.
• 1:44
  There you go. It always helps, I believe.
• 1:49
  I believe it was Homer Simpson who said alcohol the cause of
• 1:56
  and solution to all my problems. What a legend.
• 2:05
  That's a great homerism. Appreciate you sharing that
• 2:09
  machinations. I want to talk about them.
• 2:13
  Nobody's clinched top 4 yet, which is super fun.
• 2:16
  Ten teams of clinched top 12. Also kind of fun.
• 2:20
  Barcelona, Chelsea, Madrid, those are our current top 4.
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  Juventus, Bayern, Willsburg, Arsenal, that's our five through
• 2:26
  8. Manchester United and Paris FC,
• 2:29
  9 and 10. All of those ten teams are in
• 2:32
  the 12. There are three teams fighting
• 2:34
  for the 11 and 12 spots. Atleti, OH, Louvin, Bolarenga.
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  Bolarenga's got a lot of work to do.
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  So for the, I mean, for all intensive purposes, they're
• 2:44
  probably be on the outside looking in.
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  And then we said goodbye to five teams this week, sadly.
• 2:50
  FC Twente, Benfica, PSG Associates, Sune Sportiva de
• 2:54
  Roma and St. Bolton Avios Arrivedeci see you
• 2:59
  next season hopefully. I love all those teams, so
• 3:01
  hopefully they'll be back next year.
• 3:04
  Yeah, I look, it's, it's, it's a hard league phase to get
• 3:08
  through. It would used to be a hard group
• 3:10
  phase to get to. And even though there are teams
• 3:13
  that we like and we like some of the players and obviously we've
• 3:15
  made Internet pals with them, you know, there, there has to be
• 3:18
  some teams that get eliminated before you get to the knockout
• 3:21
  phase. This is the group this year.
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  Some gave it a better, have comported themselves better than
• 3:28
  others. But you know that that's sports.
• 3:30
  That's the way life goes. No doubt What?
• 3:34
  Let's talk. Let's talk about some of the
• 3:35
  football though There was some really good football.
• 3:37
  A lot to chew on. Which Which of the match day
• 3:40
  five matches do you want to get started with?
• 3:46
  You know, I love a chronological order, but you know, I, I like
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  an order of some kind, something that we can look at and be like,
• 3:52
  OK, this makes this makes logical sense.
• 3:54
  What's step one? What is Step 2?
• 3:56
  Let's, let's go through this, you know, as a good plan.
• 4:00
  So let's just jump to the top of the table.
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  I, I do like that you say nobody's really clinched top 4
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  mathematically, you being the math guy on the podcast.
• 4:10
  That is correct, but let's be honest with ourselves.
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  I believe the top three teams have pretty much sealed the deal
• 4:17
  to to clinch top four, at least the first the top two teams.
• 4:21
  So let's start with the team at the top of the table, little
• 4:24
  club known as Barcelona. They played Benfiga or Benfica
• 4:28
  pardon me on on match day five and they got that dub as they
• 4:33
  usually do. They definitely got that dub.
• 4:39
  Didn't look like the Barcelona dubs that we're used to, but I
• 4:43
  think that's OK. There's obviously some time to
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  kind of like get things going, you know, sort of like get the
• 4:49
  get the new person personnel situated.
• 4:52
  But I thought that Barcelona kind of, you know, obviously
• 4:56
  struggled tip of this. Like it's weird because some of
• 4:59
  the stuff worked way worse, but then other stuff like Carolina
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  Graham Hanson, who we haven't really seen, you know, kind of
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  like hit that level. I thought had a really good game
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  in this one, Super active, super creative, super positive,
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  creating a lot for others. I think she logged an assistant
• 5:17
  in this one. Without her, I think it would
• 5:19
  have been tough sledding because wasn't a ton of places to go for
• 5:22
  Barcelona. But you know, like you said,
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  when you're that good, you got that much talent.
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  Three one at home, you get it done against the team that I
• 5:30
  think was was playing back against the wall.
• 5:32
  They needed they needed a win. I'm not sure mentally Benfica
• 5:36
  was probably in the mindset where they're like, hey, we're
• 5:38
  going to go into Barcelona, get a get a win on this day.
• 5:41
  But I don't know what. What was your take on on
• 5:44
  Barcelona? You know, there's been a lot of
• 5:45
  talk about so much shuffling and you know, like the the players
• 5:49
  that are out there, you see the flashes, but you also see the
• 5:53
  difference between kind of like the Barcelona that we've seen at
• 5:56
  the absolute apex and the team that that we saw this week.
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  Yeah, I mean, look, they lost a three time Bolendor winner in
• 6:05
  Aitanabon Mati. They've they've lost Potri,
• 6:07
  who's a metronome in the midfield.
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  They're not going to be as good that I think that's totally
• 6:13
  reasonable. You are right.
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  And it it shows again that we've watched and talked about
• 6:18
  football so much together over the past few years.
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  I was having the same thoughts about Caroline Graham Hanson in
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  this match too, where I was like, it feels like she's been a
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  little quiet, like especially in this tournament, especially
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  coming off the year that she had previously where she was an A
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  Bolland or candidate with a bullet in the last two years
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  really. And I thought she played really
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  well. I don't think she logged an
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  official assist. I do think she had an ITC record
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  book assist. She was like, I think she was
• 6:48
  instrumental in in one of those goals.
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  But also, I mean, look, Pajor gets her goal.
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  It's a goal, scorer's goal. She's out on the wing.
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  She drills it into the side netting.
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  Claudia Pina could have had five goals in this match, It felt
• 7:03
  like. I mean, she was all over the
• 7:05
  place. Like she hits the cross bar
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  twice. She had chances.
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  They just didn't go in. So like, how long is that going
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  to continue? I'm going to guess probably not
• 7:14
  that long. I mean, I agree with you, but
• 7:17
  you know it. It still has to be said that
• 7:21
  this team has to figure out how they're going to you know, this
• 7:25
  is Benfica at home. You know, like, let's let's keep
• 7:30
  it here, right, You know, so and and and you know, we joked match
• 7:34
  day four about that Lubin matchup that Barcelona only won
• 7:38
  three nil. Also, I'm sorry, that was match
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  day three, because by match day 4 was was 11 Chelsea.
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  So it's been a while since we've seen like really like top top
• 7:48
  level Barcelona. Doesn't necessarily mean that
• 7:50
  they won't, they won't reach it, but it will look different.
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  So if Barcelona does lift a trophy, we're going to see a new
• 7:57
  version of Barcelona, which is kind of exciting because I
• 8:00
  think, I mean, they're probably still the betting favorite, but
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  as mentioned, haven't clinched top 4.
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  But for all intents and purposes, I think Barcelona
• 8:09
  would have to lose and UVA would have to win.
• 8:13
  Real Madrid would have to win, Chelsea would have to win, Leon
• 8:15
  would have to win, I believe, and UVA would have to make up a
• 8:18
  nine goal goal differential. So Barcelona would have to get
• 8:20
  smacked. UVA would have to hang another 5
• 8:23
  or 6 nil on Perry Manchester United.
• 8:29
  Very possible. Yeah.
• 8:30
  Barcelona. Barcelona's playing Perry FC.
• 8:32
  Pardon me. Yeah.
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  So mathematically possible, but Barcelona probably into your top
• 8:37
  four. Let's scoot ahead.
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  Who do we have next, Leon and Manchester United?
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  OK, so I hope everybody likes ASMR because you're going to
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  hear a lot of mouse movement, you're gonna hear a lot of
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  you're gonna hear a lot of scrolling in this episode,
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  Clickety. Clacks.
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  Yeah, perhaps some control F get into the notes.
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  You know, that's just, that's just the way this one's gonna
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  have to go. But look.
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  Apologies. I apologize if I hung you out to
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  dry, Leah. Let's see where we're at.
• 9:11
  Buddy, no, you're the Super producer.
• 9:13
  Don't worry about this. That's just me doing a little
• 9:15
  bit of filibustering. When we went into this Lyon,
• 9:18
  Manchester United match, one of the things that your boy pointed
• 9:22
  out not to injure my shoulder, patting myself on the back, was
• 9:26
  get Lyon's score early. And will Manchester United be
• 9:29
  able to live with that? Lyon put the pressure on them
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  very early. They they the attack was
• 9:36
  difficult for United to deal with.
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  And Chewinga gets on the board in the in the in the 12th
• 9:40
  minute, she hits that diving, glancing header, which was also
• 9:45
  the the entire action was started by Tabitha Chewinga.
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  She, you know, drives the ball up field.
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  She takes a tumble after her pass, kind of takes a minute to
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  get up and then finally gets up and then start.
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  It's like it's one of those things that every team should
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  put on social media of just tracking that exact player to
• 10:02
  show like the the whole 36 seconds building up to the goal.
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  And I'll, I'll give credit to United here.
• 10:10
  Leon scores that goal. And the one thing that we talked
• 10:12
  about in the preview was sometimes Leon gets that goal,
• 10:16
  Sometimes it's in the 1st 5 minutes, sometimes it's the in
• 10:19
  the 1st 10 or the 1st 15. And then they just start to pour
• 10:22
  them in. Even though even with the score
• 10:25
  line of three nil, that did not happen in this match.
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  I mean, United held on for quite a while after that.
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  They did hold on. I mean, defensively, I thought
• 10:34
  they were pretty stout. Their problem was offensively,
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  you know, there was like pretty much no bite.
• 10:40
  You know, Millar had that first half opportunity.
• 10:43
  That was a real, I mean, you know that I love when they say
• 10:47
  that the goal was gaping because that goal was absolutely gaping.
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  And Millar just kind of skied it, unfortunately.
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  And when you have, you know, obviously an inexperienced team
• 10:56
  playing against the Lyon, you know, obviously, like history
• 10:59
  books, just go the the the pages just go and go with a team like
• 11:03
  Lyon, you know that's going to happen.
• 11:05
  You know, the the announcers were talking about, you know,
• 11:08
  the age disparity too. I think United trotted out a
• 11:10
  younger team. Credit to them.
• 11:12
  They kept it close. But you know, just three shots
• 11:15
  in the day for United, 0 on target.
• 11:18
  This is a team that really missed Elizabeth trolling today.
• 11:21
  Obviously Rachel Williams gets a start.
• 11:23
  Almost no impact there. I mean, they kept it close, but
• 11:27
  also they were pretty far away from actually being, you know, I
• 11:33
  don't want to say competitive, but at the level I'll say.
• 11:37
  They never looked like winning it.
• 11:38
  I think that's fair. I I'm giving them a little bit
• 11:41
  of credit for for that. You know, that switch that
• 11:44
  you're talking about, you know, no Turland you have, you have
• 11:46
  Williams getting the start, 37 year old England international,
• 11:51
  Rachel Williams. Actually, maybe I shouldn't say
• 11:54
  England international. I'm not sure if she ever got
• 11:56
  caps for the Lionesses. Somebody in the comments will
• 11:59
  Fact Check me, I'm sure, and I appreciate it.
• 12:03
  But yeah, I mean, look, they didn't get, they didn't get
• 12:05
  absolutely destroyed. But there's only so much you can
• 12:09
  do in a Melchi du Mornay game because she, the announcer, had
• 12:15
  it exactly right. She looked like the best player
• 12:17
  on the field. She was the best player on the
• 12:19
  field. And there's just, there's just
• 12:21
  very few things when she gets cooking like that.
• 12:23
  Yeah, she didn't score until the last 10 minutes where she was
• 12:26
  able to put in those two, but. Put in those two.
• 12:33
  I'm not sure we could just gloss over those two and just say she
• 12:37
  put in those two. And she rifled in those two.
• 12:41
  I mean, she nearly put a dent in.
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  The ball 2 times put two different dents in the ball.
• 12:45
  She did. She did a lot on those two. 100%
• 12:48
  just smashed both of them. But I am.
• 12:51
  I'm glad you mentioned the molar, miss.
• 12:55
  I think that was at the end of the first half.
• 12:57
  Yeah, because it was their only real chance of the first half.
• 13:00
  Mueller has to just put, she has to at least put that on target,
• 13:04
  at least force a save there. It's their it's their best
• 13:08
  opportunity. You know, for our European pals
• 13:11
  who watch this, you probably heard me say it before I cover
• 13:13
  Seattle Rain FC. They're managed.
• 13:15
  They are managed by Laura Harvey, former Arsenal manager.
• 13:19
  And she always says goals change games.
• 13:21
  And if United gets the equalizer there before the half, then then
• 13:25
  you were probably looking at a different football game.
• 13:27
  But we didn't, and they weren't able to really put anything, put
• 13:31
  anything together there. They're like, if you score that
• 13:34
  goal before the half, maybe there's a level of belief that
• 13:36
  gets built up. But Leon just wasn't going to
• 13:38
  allow that to happen, Especially after, you know, they go into
• 13:42
  the half up one nil pretty much knowing like, OK, we've
• 13:46
  controlled this thing. We're going to keep on doing so.
• 13:50
  Yeah, I think to shift gears to to Leon, obviously, you
• 13:54
  mentioned Du Mornay, who was unbelievable today, Lindsay
• 13:57
  Heaps. I want to give Lindsay Heaps a
• 13:59
  little bit of love because I thought I thought she was very
• 14:00
  effective today, taking the space that was available to her,
• 14:04
  getting the ball up field, quick decisions.
• 14:08
  Leon was just really good today. And I think that was also with a
• 14:11
  somewhat rotated lineup, you know, no DNE in the starting
• 14:13
  lineup, no ketoto. I meant I'm forgetting a few
• 14:16
  others that I had in my Wendy Renar, obviously, but a lot of,
• 14:20
  you know, a lot of firepower not out there for Leon.
• 14:23
  So if you're united probably not feeling great with this
• 14:28
  performance, probably want to go back to the drawing board a
• 14:29
  little bit and there's some stakes.
• 14:31
  Let's see United, who do they have match day 6 because they're
• 14:36
  definitely not done. They go at Juventus.
• 14:39
  So they're a 9th. Not a huge deal.
• 14:42
  Even if they stayed there, they'd take on 7 or 8.
• 14:45
  The way the seedings work, a quick, you know, machinations
• 14:47
  break out. I didn't really know this.
• 14:48
  I kept saying, all right, 538 are seeded.
• 14:51
  You know, 9 through 12 are unseeded.
• 14:54
  So I actually went and looked exactly how this works.
• 14:58
  And apologies if you already knew this, but I want to kind of
• 15:00
  share if anybody doesn't know. No, please.
• 15:02
  So five and six basically go into a draw with 11:00 and
• 15:07
  12:00. So if you're 5, you can only
• 15:09
  play 11 or 12 and then 7-8 go into a draw with 9 or 10.
• 15:13
  So that's essentially how the seating works.
• 15:15
  You have two, two potential opponents and we'll know who
• 15:19
  those two are after match day 6 to play a little game called go
• 15:24
  ahead. Well, it sounds like you and I
• 15:27
  were on the same UEFA Women's Champions League rules booklet
• 15:32
  web page today, looking that up. And that's kind of working at
• 15:36
  the draws. And that's good.
• 15:39
  It's useful because how, why the hell should anybody know this?
• 15:42
  This is why we're nerds and we like to look this stuff up.
• 15:46
  Also, I had a little fun with it because, you know, I played a
• 15:50
  little game with myself that I like to call if the playoffs
• 15:53
  started today or in this case, if the knockout stage started
• 15:56
  today. And that would leave us with
• 16:00
  Juventus or Bayern Munich versus either Atletico Madrid or, OH,
• 16:06
  Luvin. So we would get either Bayern,
• 16:09
  Atleti, the rematch, which is a fucking banger.
• 16:12
  We'll get to that very soon here.
• 16:13
  Juventus, Atleti, Louvin, Bayern, a lot of good options
• 16:17
  there. In the 78910 you have Wolfsburg
• 16:20
  or Arsenal versus United or Pfc Pre FC.
• 16:24
  So you could have Arsenal pre FC rematch 2 years ago Pre FC
• 16:27
  knocked out Arsenal, Arsenal, United, that one's tasty.
• 16:31
  Wolfsburg, United, you know, we can run that one back, you know,
• 16:34
  see if United could, you know, put together a better showing.
• 16:37
  I mean all, all the combinations are great, which is so good,
• 16:40
  makes it so so exciting. I love it.
• 16:44
  I mean, yeah, let's talk about at Letty later down the road.
• 16:49
  I I mean, you just kind of spelling this out out to me has
• 16:52
  you. Let's get to it now.
• 16:53
  Let's get to it now let's get to it now.
• 16:54
  I'm I'm, I'm too hyped up because I think this was the
• 16:56
  match of the match day all. Right, let's do it.
• 17:01
  Let's see here. All right, filibustering
• 17:04
  scrolls. Scrolls.
• 17:05
  There we go. Look, Atlantico Madrid was in
• 17:10
  attack mode earlier and I loved it.
• 17:13
  Gabby Garcia forces a great save from Makmoudovich 5 minutes into
• 17:17
  the match. And to quote my notes,
• 17:19
  LFGGGGGGGGGGGG, because I love the way Atletico Madrid came out
• 17:26
  and and took the fight to by and early.
• 17:28
  Now, did they end up retreating into a little bit more of that
• 17:31
  underdog football that you and I expected?
• 17:33
  Yes. But the fact that they knew
• 17:36
  like, look, we're going to take some of our chances there.
• 17:38
  There have to be multiple minute stretches where we're using our
• 17:43
  passing ability and, and finding channels and, and getting, you
• 17:47
  know, up field. But then we'll, we'll retreat
• 17:50
  back into a defensive shell. I thought they did that
• 17:52
  masterfully throughout the match.
• 17:56
  No doubt and and this was I would say the most even match up
• 18:00
  of the 9. The stats buried out the game
• 18:04
  bored out. I think couple couple different
• 18:06
  lead changes ends in a draw. Both both teams probably kind of
• 18:12
  excited, kind of disappointed, which is always kind of what you
• 18:15
  want to see in a match like this.
• 18:17
  A great Fiamma goal. I mean, just super cool moments.
• 18:21
  And I'm really glad you brought up Chewinga and Leon, because
• 18:28
  that's such a key point to to say it's not just about the the
• 18:32
  moment and look at the moment, right.
• 18:34
  You got to like zoom out and be like, all right, what what what
• 18:36
  got us here. And the reason I brought it up
• 18:39
  is because pernil harder in this match.
• 18:43
  I totally agree with you that athletis started very fast.
• 18:46
  Bayern then very clearly back half of the first half wanted to
• 18:51
  wrestle back control of the match and really say no, no,
• 18:54
  we're the big dogs in this match.
• 18:55
  Like we're in control. We're going to take all the
• 18:57
  shots. We're going to, you know,
• 18:59
  control the tempo. And I thought pernil harder was
• 19:02
  was a key part of that. And when you have a veteran
• 19:05
  player that does that thing where you know, like when a
• 19:10
  center back kicks it back to the goalkeeper, you've got no
• 19:13
  chance, but you know, you chase it down anyway.
• 19:15
  You know, just to say, oh, please put a little pressure in
• 19:18
  the second-half. Pernil Harder was doing that
• 19:19
  three or four times. And I'm like, this is a 32, A
• 19:22
  3233 year old player that doesn't need to do this.
• 19:24
  You know, that is not that knows it's not going to bear any
• 19:27
  fruit, but is literally running herself into the match.
• 19:31
  And what happens within 5/10/15? Now it's two goals and you know,
• 19:37
  I I still have that pretty harder PTSD where I'm just like
• 19:40
  pretty harder on a hat trick in A22 match in the Champions
• 19:44
  League, highest stakes. I would not want to be an
• 19:47
  athletic fan right now looking at that player, just at that
• 19:52
  level of engagement. Yeah, yeah, I think you're 100%
• 19:57
  right. And the Clara Bool to perneal
• 20:00
  harder connection is absolutely lethal.
• 20:03
  Lethal in a in a lot of these settings, especially lethal too.
• 20:06
  I I mean, yeah, sure. Clara Bool is just rocketing up
• 20:13
  my ranks as one of the best left wings in in the world game.
• 20:18
  Is she absolute monster? And yeah, you know, they they
• 20:23
  were able to, they come back, they get the lead it it's off of
• 20:26
  those two harder goals. I think both were assisted by
• 20:30
  Poole. But like in the middle there you
• 20:33
  have a Fiamma free kick out just just outside of the of the 18
• 20:37
  that had a lot of steam on it. But Makhmoudovich had to had to
• 20:40
  make a had to make a good save. Do you know who the Golden Boot
• 20:46
  leader in this wonderful tournament is?
• 20:50
  Is it Fiamma? It's got to be your.
• 20:53
  God damn, your God damn right. Four goals, 3 assists for Fiamma
• 20:59
  and you know, she came into this, she came into this
• 21:02
  tournament on a little bit of a heater and she's she's kept it
• 21:04
  going. I love her physical play.
• 21:06
  She's obviously super clever. She can score from anywhere.
• 21:11
  Just, I mean, anybody, oh you, anybody who saw that, that
• 21:16
  Fiamma equalizer, you're looking to buy some Fiamma stock.
• 21:19
  It's too late. I bought it up weeks ago.
• 21:21
  You haven't been watching the show.
• 21:23
  So look, this is just the way Atletico's going to go.
• 21:27
  There is a path for them to make it into the top 8.
• 21:33
  All they need is a win over Lyon and then they need Arsenal,
• 21:37
  Manchester United and Perry FC to either draw or lose and then
• 21:41
  they're right in their top 8. So let's go.
• 21:44
  Those are all possibilities. All those doors remain open.
• 21:47
  Group of you know, those are possibilities of life.
• 21:52
  You know, I, I, I, I love the, the, the enthusiasm.
• 21:56
  Definitely enjoyed watching them today.
• 22:00
  I'm reminded, I'm reminding myself now of the moment.
• 22:03
  To me it was the moment of this match.
• 22:06
  Did Juliet Vin miss on the penalty kick?
• 22:09
  Weird. I was so startled.
• 22:12
  So I was holding my 3 month old in my arms and I made, God bless
• 22:17
  her, I made her cry because I was just like I, I did a very
• 22:21
  intense inhaled gasp. You know, I didn't quite clutch
• 22:24
  my pearls because I'm holding my daughter, but suffice it to say
• 22:27
  she was made upset by my very reaction to Julie Gavin's Miss
• 22:32
  PK. But as I tried to explain to
• 22:35
  her, listen, Julie Gavin's not a player that misses PK's.
• 22:38
  Did she understand anything I was saying?
• 22:40
  No, she's three months old. But here we are.
• 22:44
  Maybe spiritually she's already a Bayern Munich supporter and
• 22:48
  maybe she's a fan of Julie Gavin.
• 22:51
  You never know. Maybe she maybe she will grow up
• 22:53
  to be one of the best write backs in the world.
• 22:55
  You never know. Absolutely.
• 22:58
  Bizarre. Maybe Gabby Garcia or namesake,
• 23:01
  maybe she was looking at the other side and, you know, who
• 23:04
  knows? I mean this it could be anything
• 23:06
  at this point. Tears of joy.
• 23:08
  Yeah, she's not a big doesn't talk too much right just yet.
• 23:13
  So hard to hard to know what she's thinking.
• 23:15
  It's a real stoic. Of course.
• 23:20
  So, yeah, I mean, look, I I I thought it was a great, you
• 23:24
  know, it's a great comeback. You know, we've talked about her
• 23:28
  a bunch. Obviously the Fiamma equalizer,
• 23:30
  it's a laser. It's all it grazes the crossbar,
• 23:33
  gets over the line. One of my favorite type of
• 23:34
  goals. Pretty good pass by Lewani to
• 23:37
  get the ball to Fiamma in that shooting position.
• 23:43
  And then I just want to point out this one like little micro
• 23:45
  moment of the match, like very into stoppage time.
• 23:48
  I think there's like a little less than a minute left and at
• 23:52
  Lenny finds a way defensively to just force Bayern out of the
• 23:57
  attacking half. They're they're able to get a
• 23:59
  clearance and then force them to play the ball all the way back
• 24:03
  to Makboudovich the keeper. And it's just like these are the
• 24:07
  little things to where they knew they could waste that extra
• 24:10
  10/15/20 seconds. That's just, that's just good
• 24:14
  football that are just things. It's like, OK, can I in the
• 24:18
  margins, can we kind of Peck away at these little things?
• 24:22
  And I just love that they're good at all that stuff.
• 24:26
  That's so true. And I mean like it.
• 24:29
  It's so disorienting because it's only but this is our third
• 24:32
  year covering the Champions League and this just was not the
• 24:37
  feeling, right, Like a year 1 of covering the league Like it.
• 24:40
  It just felt like so many of the matches were big, big score
• 24:43
  lines, big disparities are OK. You know, we're getting like, I
• 24:47
  don't know, Chelsea against a salt Slavia or something.
• 24:49
  And it's like, all right, we got it one more time.
• 24:50
  It felt like 75% of the of the the group stage were were
• 24:55
  matches like that, you know, like real mismatches.
• 24:58
  And this league phase feels like 2-3, four matches out of the out
• 25:04
  of the bunch are just real toss ups.
• 25:06
  And I think as it as we get further and further down the
• 25:09
  line, just be rattling off, you know that, you know, kind of
• 25:13
  tongue in cheek. But if the play offs started
• 25:14
  today, all those matchups are awesome.
• 25:17
  And I'm not, I'm really not sure who I would pick in the grand
• 25:20
  majority of those five through 12, which is super duper
• 25:23
  exciting. So sorry, sorry for that, that,
• 25:28
  that little diatribe there. But I know we went a little out
• 25:31
  of order and we're not chronological.
• 25:34
  So right now we're just floating in space and time aimlessly.
• 25:37
  You know, where, where do we want to go from here?
• 25:41
  Do we do we do, do we do UVA? Let's do Real Madrid Wolfsburg
• 25:46
  because they, you know, if we're going to stick to the the big
• 25:48
  board that is, I think technically the next one on the
• 25:52
  list. Real Madrid 2 Wolfsburg nil In
• 25:56
  what was either our first or second most anticipated match up
• 26:00
  of match Day 5I. Gotta tell ya, Real Madrid was
• 26:06
  able to avoid some danger in multiple different spots in this
• 26:11
  match to get the win. I mean, my L lacrosse, like
• 26:16
  early, early made just a wild decision to play the ball back
• 26:21
  to Mesa. There was no time, there was no
• 26:23
  space. You could see Mesa's reaction.
• 26:25
  Like what did you do that for? I'm just like completely
• 26:29
  confused at why Lecrae did that. And it, you know, Pettimore's
• 26:33
  skies it over the crossbar. I think there are multiple
• 26:35
  moments in this match where where Pettimore's, the Dutch
• 26:38
  international should have probably should have scored and
• 26:41
  didn't. And Real Madrid was able to find
• 26:45
  a way to, you know, take advantage of of some other
• 26:50
  Wolfsburg, like a a Wolfsburg defensive mistake on the set
• 26:53
  piece and just claw over the line.
• 26:56
  And I got to say for your Blancas, that's got to feel
• 26:59
  pretty good because now it's like another thing of like, oh,
• 27:03
  we could win matches this way too.
• 27:06
  It's so funny these two teams have so many similarities, both
• 27:11
  of them kind of like silver medalists in their league, kind
• 27:14
  of looking up to like a real big dog domestically.
• 27:17
  Real aspirations for this tournament just because after
• 27:20
  having watching after after having watched Arsenal kind of
• 27:23
  like lift the trophy last year. But I think you're you're you're
• 27:26
  right on point Willsburg more shots, more shots on target,
• 27:29
  more XG in this one. Two more players than Real
• 27:35
  Madrid when it was all said and done by by the final whistle on
• 27:38
  the pitch. But set piece defense, terrible
• 27:43
  if you're Wolfsburg, just kind of like, you know, and not even
• 27:46
  Swiss cheese, but just like look like, I don't know, feta cheese.
• 27:49
  Just a crumble of nothingness on the pitch.
• 27:53
  Madrid able to kind of take advantage of it a few different
• 27:55
  times, not able to really rack up, you know, those goals.
• 27:58
  And then Madrid has a player named Linda Kaisedo, who, you
• 28:05
  know, the announcer, you know, I, I can't really, you know, get
• 28:08
  on him 'cause he was like, well, you know, Kaisto, you know, you
• 28:11
  know, took the ball half the pitch or I'm sorry.
• 28:14
  He said he, he, he mentioned that her run was, was half the
• 28:16
  pitch. When in reality, you watch the
• 28:18
  replay, it's more like 7578 yards, which he first like drops
• 28:23
  her head and is just like, OK, I'm gone.
• 28:25
  Credit to Caroline Weir, delightful ball up the, up the
• 28:29
  pitch. And then how many times do you
• 28:31
  see a player like Kaisto, Not even a player, like I said, how
• 28:36
  many times do you see a player try to like deke the keeper,
• 28:39
  kind of like get a little too cute with it, go off to the
• 28:41
  right, go off to the left, that other defender kind of slides in
• 28:45
  and had a chance and didn't didn't have it.
• 28:48
  Kaisedo, you know, that is not a it just feels like she could,
• 28:53
  she could keep having defenders sliding in and out.
• 28:56
  She could just keep the ball for another 10 or 15 seconds and
• 28:58
  still score. She's just so hard to get the
• 29:01
  ball from and can just kind of do whatever, whatever she wants.
• 29:05
  And it just continues to break my brain thinking, A, how how
• 29:08
  young she is, and B, how a player like that can come up
• 29:13
  with a moment, you know, of that, of that level of quality
• 29:17
  to slam the door on a team like Wolfsburg and really catapult
• 29:21
  this Madrid team that in this tournament has had its struggles
• 29:25
  both mentally and just from an execution standpoint on the
• 29:28
  pitch. We so we oftentimes, maybe not
• 29:33
  even sometimes, maybe oftentimes reference the and one mixtape
• 29:38
  tour in in amateur basketball, maybe like semi pro basketball,
• 29:42
  I guess in the United States of America years and years ago,
• 29:44
  that well, that's what I was going to say.
• 29:50
  She takes the ball down the pitch and like you're talking
• 29:53
  about how many times do you see? So you have to you have to lose
• 29:56
  the defender and then deke the keeper and get past the keeper.
• 30:00
  She was, she was the professor, she was hot sauce.
• 30:03
  She was skipped to my loo. Just the, the, all the moves
• 30:07
  that she needed to make. And then I just the, the, the
• 30:10
  best part of it, in my view is she then knows that Dykstra is
• 30:16
  going to hit the slide to try to make herself as big as possible
• 30:19
  for the block. So she just goes, OK, I'll just
• 30:21
  go far corner because your momentum and the angle you're at
• 30:26
  is taking you to the near post and she calculates it in a split
• 30:31
  second and executes it perfectly.
• 30:33
  It's just phenomenal stuff. The the crazy.
• 30:38
  Imagine being Dykstra at that point where you're sliding it
• 30:41
  off. You're sliding one way and you
• 30:43
  see the ball sliding the other way.
• 30:44
  And then if you remember what happens, Dykstra slams into the
• 30:48
  post like in a not a fun way at all like.
• 30:51
  It was I was just like injury to insult.
• 30:54
  That was one of those where it's like I watched the replay once
• 30:56
  and they're like oh, look at this replay.
• 30:57
  I was like, Oh no, I don't want to.
• 30:58
  I don't want to see any of that again.
• 31:00
  I don't want to see that at all. I don't I never want to see that
• 31:02
  again. You know, I want to see the
• 31:03
  Qasido goal and I just want to look away or just pull up my
• 31:06
  phone, do something else. Wolfsburg, though, I mean some
• 31:12
  bright spots, you know, like I thought Camila Coover, a young
• 31:16
  player at centre back looked good, had moments, good shot
• 31:20
  distribution, although, you know, would like we would just
• 31:25
  want to see more, you know, Berenstein not really able to
• 31:28
  get into the game in a big way, but Alexandra Pop, you need to
• 31:33
  make a Ella Pedemars all with three shots.
• 31:36
  Substitute came in later. Korsakai also three shots.
• 31:39
  I think Sakai probably could have brought that player a
• 31:41
  little bit earlier. She's been so good this season
• 31:44
  and looked really good immediately upon coming to the
• 31:46
  match. Just a weird, a weird
• 31:50
  performance from Wolfsburg. And when you look at their their
• 31:54
  run of form in the Champions League, it's win, win, loss,
• 31:58
  win, loss. And I just really cannot, I
• 32:02
  can't make heads or tails as a team.
• 32:03
  Like I could see this team in semifinals.
• 32:05
  I could see this team getting smacked by Louvin in the in the
• 32:09
  quarter of the first phase of the knockout stage.
• 32:12
  I mean, I like really like this is one of the teams with the
• 32:15
  most, you know, just the most possibility of of the most, you
• 32:19
  know, possible outcomes. I totally agree.
• 32:24
  I mean, you mentioned they, they won like in all the stats.
• 32:28
  I don't think they necessarily played terribly.
• 32:31
  I mean, they had opportunities. They just didn't cash in like,
• 32:36
  you know, in, in the first half, they had three shots on target.
• 32:40
  I I think we should, we should probably reference again.
• 32:43
  I, I read, I, I mentioned Misa Rodriguez's good save early.
• 32:48
  This felt a little bit like a Misa Rodriguez game too.
• 32:51
  She was awesome. I thought she made some.
• 32:53
  She has a great ability to make some acrobatics safe.
• 32:57
  She has a good diving radius, if you will, and strong hands to
• 33:02
  always. She seems like she's real good
• 33:04
  at pushing the ball over the bar.
• 33:07
  So, yeah, like I'm 100% with you.
• 33:11
  It's hard to predict what Wolfsburg is going to do it like
• 33:14
  their form seems to kind of dip up and down in this competition,
• 33:18
  even even some in in front Bundesliga from what we've seen.
• 33:22
  So, yeah, like, and that's the beauty of this competition is
• 33:26
  you have the this very good team that can have a little bit of a
• 33:31
  a floor that you might not expect, but also a ceiling that
• 33:35
  they can hit that you're like, Oh well, they'll be, they'll be
• 33:37
  tough for anybody to be. Yeah, I'm excited.
• 33:42
  I'm just I just want to see where their journey ends because
• 33:47
  I feel like they've got one more at least one more really good
• 33:50
  performance in them. And I think they've got at least
• 33:52
  one more really shitty performance in them.
• 33:55
  And I think we'll we'll see what happens when, but my, my, my
• 33:59
  antennas are up checking out this Wolfsburg side.
• 34:02
  Let's shift gears though, to A to a team that I'll say I've got
• 34:06
  a little bit more confidence in. Juventus 5 SCP nil, Juvie goes
• 34:14
  on the road, Rd. gets a big win. Fun quirk here, the XG in this.
• 34:19
  14.9 for UA, 0.2 test for SDP. So 5 nil for real. 4.9 to 0.2.
• 34:26
  From an XG standpoint, UVA dominates across all the key
• 34:30
  categories. What'd you see in this one?
• 34:35
  I mean, Amelie Vongsgard gets the goal in the 1st 5 minutes
• 34:40
  and you knew this one had the potential to get real ugly real
• 34:44
  fast. Vongsgard looks like she was a
• 34:50
  Division One player playing against high school JV players
• 34:57
  out there. I mean, she had a, you know,
• 35:00
  Ollie Vansgaard stands at six feet tall, so she's already a a,
• 35:04
  A player with good size, but she was getting into dangerous
• 35:09
  areas. She could have had another goal
• 35:11
  in the first half that was off the crossbar.
• 35:13
  She was just continuously getting into dangerous areas.
• 35:17
  Juventus did whatever they wanted on the attack.
• 35:21
  St. Poulton was was overmatched,
• 35:25
  which is a bummer. But look who who they puts
• 35:29
  themselves in the in the top 4 here.
• 35:31
  I was not a super believer at a time and they've they've largely
• 35:37
  made a believer out of me. I still I still reserve the
• 35:39
  right to be somewhat skeptical when they when they play the
• 35:42
  better. Teams but.
• 35:44
  They're they're getting back, you know, I mean, they look,
• 35:47
  they've they've they've dominated the Italian league for
• 35:51
  for a while. They had a good stretch and
• 35:52
  they're getting back to that. You know, I mean, we'll we'll
• 35:56
  see when they when they line up against against the very best
• 36:00
  teams. Well, I mean they were ahead of
• 36:01
  Leon three nil. Don't don't ask anybody how that
• 36:04
  match ended, but they got ahead of Leon three nil.
• 36:06
  Yeah, it still took a point off Leo.
• 36:08
  I mean, the only team to do so in the in the field.
• 36:10
  I don't know. We can't balk at that.
• 36:13
  Go on the road. They beat your Atletico Madrid 2
• 36:16
  to one. They beat Benfica close, you
• 36:20
  know, and and they've got to draw to Lyon and a two one loss
• 36:22
  at Bayern. Like these are the very
• 36:25
  respectable outcomes. This one was pretty fun.
• 36:30
  I I really enjoyed watching Christina Giudelli versus Karina
• 36:34
  Schluter. I think 3 or 4 times like that
• 36:36
  matchup was was was very entertaining.
• 36:41
  Crumb Bagel from Bagel Bagel. I think it's Bagel for Juventus
• 36:45
  was incredible in the first half, just an absolute freight
• 36:49
  train. I loved that that she netted a
• 36:52
  goal before before she got out of there because I mean, that
• 36:55
  was super well deserved. Kiara Bakari, young player, like
• 36:59
  kind of stepping into, I don't know, I don't know if she's
• 37:02
  stepping exactly into that Sofia Kentori role, but filling those
• 37:05
  shoes a little bit in term from production standpoint.
• 37:08
  And I'm just really glad you mentioned Bangsgard because this
• 37:12
  is a player, obviously we, we kind of first get introduced to
• 37:16
  Vangsuard during our time at PSG play for, for the Danish
• 37:20
  national team. And you know, like you can see
• 37:24
  the tools there, right? And it's like when it when are
• 37:28
  we going to see that run of Vangsuard, kind of like not only
• 37:33
  fighting your form, but being productive and fitting in
• 37:37
  amongst a group. And I think, you know, I think
• 37:39
  this is her second season of Uve now.
• 37:41
  She really looks like she's fit in there.
• 37:43
  And you could see on her face after scoring that goal, like
• 37:46
  the elation, the relief, just like the like the yes, like I'm
• 37:51
  where I'm supposed to be right now as a footballer.
• 37:54
  That moment I I definitely took note of because I really like
• 37:57
  that player and just a really cool moment and kind of set
• 38:00
  them, set them on course for a really big win that they needed.
• 38:06
  Yeah, man, I think they should be going into, you know, match
• 38:09
  day six feeling pretty confident that, you know, we've we like
• 38:15
  St. Polton.
• 38:16
  They live in this weird, interesting space where they
• 38:19
  dominate the Austrian League and then they and then they have to
• 38:22
  switch everything to play underdog football in the
• 38:26
  Champions League. But getting A5 nil victory over
• 38:29
  them, it's not necessary. It's not nothing to sneeze at,
• 38:32
  right? So Juventus was able to to
• 38:34
  capitalize on their chances. They looked dominant.
• 38:37
  And I think they they should look at themselves and say we
• 38:40
  are top four in the Champions League right now.
• 38:44
  We have to go out and take care of business again.
• 38:48
  And you know, we have a whole match versus Manchester United.
• 38:51
  So we don't have, we absolutely don't have to feel like
• 38:55
  underdogs to get that done and seal this top four finish.
• 39:00
  Wow, I mean, you know, I you should take a little credit.
• 39:04
  You know, you, you had them outside your top 12 getting
• 39:06
  eliminated. I'm sure they saw that.
• 39:09
  Put it on the bulletin board. I mean, I know it's a video.
• 39:12
  You can't put a video on the bulletin board.
• 39:14
  But I don't know, maybe it's a transcript, maybe somebody
• 39:16
  printed out translated. That's possible.
• 39:19
  Either way, I fully credit you for you know, just kind of
• 39:21
  lighten that fire under you van and get them to where they need
• 39:24
  to be, which is way way, way up in the mix.
• 39:29
  It's extremely far away from the you know, the elimination zone
• 39:32
  where you had them, but I mean I can't really talk too much.
• 39:34
  I had AI had a lethy outside my top 12 and who else did I have
• 39:40
  pre FC outside my top 12. It looks like those two teams
• 39:42
  are going to get in, but 10 out of 12 ain't bad.
• 39:44
  I think you also had you also had 10 out of 12 or maybe 11.
• 39:48
  We should go back and check We'll go back and check either
• 39:50
  way. Moving on.
• 39:51
  I want to talk a little Arsenal and when I say a little Arsenal,
• 39:56
  I mean a little Arsenal because I mean the don't like that.
• 40:01
  I didn't like I enjoy watching that.
• 40:03
  And no, I didn't like it. I didn't like it.
• 40:06
  I I no, it all it all it all. Obviously, I liked one part and
• 40:09
  I liked one part, which was kind of like the the second-half, you
• 40:14
  know, and it's I I joke that this year has been the year of
• 40:16
  two nil. Get the the one goal early and
• 40:18
  then, you know, hammer until the the door kind of like just tips
• 40:21
  over and you get that second goal and then it's over.
• 40:24
  I was really impressed with how Arsenal pursued that second
• 40:27
  goal. And was able to kind of keep
• 40:29
  Twente at Bay in the second-half.
• 40:31
  I think it was 8 to one shot disadvantage.
• 40:34
  And I'll say I had a much nervier first half than they did
• 40:38
  the second-half because I think Arsenal, they figured out what
• 40:41
  they needed to be doing, which is let's defend in such a way
• 40:46
  that Twente has no chance, which is what they did.
• 40:50
  And let's do that and also take our chances, you know, work the
• 40:55
  ball afield to do things responsibly, see what we can do.
• 40:58
  And I really enjoyed that. I thought Russo had a chance in
• 41:00
  the second-half. I thought the offense looked
• 41:03
  connected. They didn't cash in.
• 41:06
  But again, this is not a spot where you have to cash in.
• 41:09
  You're sitting one nil. You want three points, you're
• 41:11
  going to get it. Tuente not a threat.
• 41:14
  So perfect spot to try to see what you could do, work stuff
• 41:18
  out. I thought Beth Meade had an
• 41:19
  unbelievable game. Great to see, you know, player
• 41:22
  that unfortunately it kind of has been like yanked around a
• 41:25
  little bit from a line of perspective and a minutes
• 41:28
  perspective. Just come in and be the
• 41:30
  consummate professional. She had a chance before she got
• 41:32
  the goal. You know, monster RIP at that
• 41:35
  one didn't didn't work out and then the goal comes a couple
• 41:38
  minutes later. So Mead was huge and I I did if
• 41:43
  I if I could put hang my head on one thing that I liked.
• 41:46
  I liked the way that Arsenal kind of controlled the terms of
• 41:50
  the second-half of this one. Totally agree, I was impressed
• 41:58
  by the defense as well. I mean so crushed Roffensburg
• 42:02
  and Elbarink. Jill Rort didn't really do
• 42:07
  hardly anything. It felt like Jill Rort who who
• 42:11
  we have talked about obviously since her time at at Manchester,
• 42:14
  Manchester City Football Club, she'll she'll get some shots
• 42:18
  off. Now whether or not they're going
• 42:19
  to stay inside the stadium or be directly on target and almost
• 42:24
  break the back of the net, that's a different story.
• 42:26
  That's a different conversation, right?
• 42:28
  We'll talk. We can talk about that whenever.
• 42:30
  Jill O'Rourke didn't register a shot in this match.
• 42:34
  Rothensberg and Jamie Rothensberg and 24 year old
• 42:36
  Dutch international had one shot and she had 27 total touches,
• 42:44
  the fewest of any outfield player to play 90 minutes.
• 42:46
  That status courtesy of our pals is fat mob, of course.
• 42:49
  So I, I I really liked the Arsenal defensive performance
• 42:55
  and another little kind of maybe a periphery type of of nugget
• 43:00
  here is I like that Olivia Smith after Elbarink from Twente
• 43:07
  fouled the shit out of your keeper Borbe that Olivia Smith
• 43:11
  just had a couple moments there where she was like, all right,
• 43:14
  I'm just going to foul whoever has the ball next.
• 43:17
  And she got herself a yellow card.
• 43:19
  But she it was, I don't know if I don't know if it was totally
• 43:22
  on purpose or if it was, you know, the subconscious or
• 43:25
  whatever, but she very clearly had made a decision.
• 43:29
  All right, you it's, it's physical play time now.
• 43:33
  Yeah, I'll show you what's up. Yeah, you need you need, you
• 43:38
  obviously need that. And you couple that response
• 43:42
  from Smith with her placement on the pitch, which was kind of
• 43:46
  like up top on the left. And I don't know, I don't want
• 43:51
  to say that, you know, like we figured out where she should be,
• 43:54
  but she looked really good up there.
• 43:55
  You know, I think it in that in that spot, you know, just kind
• 43:58
  of in space able to run, able to create, able to cut inside.
• 44:03
  So all of a sudden, if you if you combine, maybe carving out,
• 44:09
  you know, a little bit of like, you know, one's identity within
• 44:12
  this team, within this attack with hey, I'm going to be a
• 44:16
  little bit of like the enforcer leader, physical, kind of like,
• 44:20
  you know, put the goon and gooner kind of player.
• 44:22
  Like, I mean, I don't we we might have, we might have you
• 44:26
  might have turned me around. Probably in terms of like where
• 44:28
  my expectations are for this sort of I might be, I don't
• 44:30
  know, I might be feel a little gully.
• 44:33
  Oh, there he is. All right, Why not?
• 44:35
  I think. Look, I mean, you're holding the
• 44:36
  trophy, so you know why? Why shouldn't you be confident
• 44:40
  here? I mean, come on, let everybody
• 44:42
  know. Yeah, I mean, it's just that
• 44:45
  Louvin match match they 6 that's looming that I don't like don't
• 44:48
  like it, don't like it. OK, so Arsenal gets past Twente
• 44:55
  Twente see you later one nil see you next year.
• 44:57
  I love I I love Twente. I'm really bummed that they they
• 45:01
  they didn't make the cut this year, but kind of not their year
• 45:06
  that you really have to. I mean it, it's just so tough.
• 45:09
  Like do you remember year one where it kind of felt like the
• 45:14
  second team in those group stages, whether it was like the
• 45:18
  I axis, I mean Braun was the second team there, Hakkin was
• 45:21
  the second team. I mean, when you think about who
• 45:23
  was in our final eight two years ago, like this is a different
• 45:27
  world right now. Like I loved those teams
• 45:30
  obviously, but you can't really compare where we're at now like
• 45:35
  this. These are, I don't know, the
• 45:37
  game has evolved quite a bit. It's a bit, it's really
• 45:40
  exciting. I don't know what do you, are
• 45:44
  you also seeing that or am I just kind of like losing my mind
• 45:47
  a little bit? No, there's, there's definitely
• 45:50
  some of that. I think it's it's obvious to see
• 45:54
  what we've seen seen you gallop set become you know Eustine
• 45:59
  Jeland makes the move over to to Wolfsburg.
• 46:03
  Merritt Bromberg Lund makes the move over to Benfica Like it's
• 46:06
  it's clear to see like obviously with the.
• 46:09
  Kentucky, Yeah. There's been a bunch of like,
• 46:13
  but no, I mean like, you know, But now I'm remembering.
• 46:16
  I think I can remember all four. I think it's Benfica, Hakken,
• 46:20
  Braun and then who I miss, you see or?
• 46:26
  Did. Oh, IXIX.
• 46:29
  Oh yeah. Wait, did IX make it?
• 46:31
  Yeah, IX make it because they lost Chelsea.
• 46:34
  Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you're right, you're right.
• 46:36
  Yeah. And then PSG and Byron didn't
• 46:38
  make it. So you look at those two, those
• 46:40
  four, IX, Braun, Hakken, Benfica, those were four of our
• 46:46
  final 8. Outside of Braun, I don't think
• 46:51
  any of those other three are, are sniffing.
• 46:55
  Maybe our top 12 this year. I don't know, man.
• 46:59
  I, I, I can't really wrap my head around what what, what
• 47:02
  exactly has happened but doesn't seem like the same brand of
• 47:05
  football. Yeah, that was a that was a good
• 47:08
  IX team with Chastity Grant, Romaine Luchter played on that
• 47:11
  team. I think obviously Lily Johannes
• 47:14
  played on that team. I, I, I absolutely.
• 47:17
  The quality of the football though, overall, IIA 100% get
• 47:21
  where you're where you're coming from on this.
• 47:25
  If I may, if I may try to steer the show in this direction.
• 47:31
  I mean, we've gone this long, we have not talked about Perry's
• 47:35
  Angerman versus your OH Leuven just yet.
• 47:39
  I feel like we should probably get to them.
• 47:44
  Let's do it. OH, Leuven.
• 47:49
  Well, I kind of want to start with Perius Angerman because I
• 47:52
  thought they put together a a pretty, you know, spirited
• 47:56
  performance. But again, like they have a lot
• 47:59
  of good players. So it's like, I'm not sure if
• 48:01
  it's, I don't know, like, I mean, incredibly disappointing,
• 48:08
  but I don't know, do do you did did PSG just kind of like shit
• 48:12
  the bed this tournament or is this Luvin's kind of like
• 48:16
  Cinderella run? Both I think I, I think you
• 48:24
  know, if you look at PSG, they they don't get a point until
• 48:27
  they play Louvin at home. So what?
• 48:33
  So what do we got here? They get Perry of sorry, Perry's
• 48:39
  Angerman. PSG they get smashed by
• 48:42
  Wolfsburg 4 nil. They lose a relatively close one
• 48:45
  to Real Madrid 21. They lose a relatively close one
• 48:49
  to United 21. Never really looks like winning
• 48:51
  that one. They lose to Bayern 31 and now
• 48:54
  they squeak out this draw. It's a disappointing it's a
• 48:57
  disappointing tournament. It can't be anything other than
• 49:01
  that. But I also think if you look at
• 49:03
  its squad, that on its roster, we're talking about, you know,
• 49:08
  our our maiden voyage in the UEFA Women's Champions League.
• 49:13
  We're talking about a team in that tournament that had Mary
• 49:17
  Antoinette Katoto, Tabitha Chewinga and Sandy Baltimore.
• 49:21
  And now all those players play for bigger squads because they
• 49:24
  they decided, OK, yeah, we'll let these bigger squads buy
• 49:27
  their contracts because we don't want to operate like a big, like
• 49:32
  a big name club. And that and that's where they
• 49:34
  are. And now I like some of the
• 49:36
  players that they brought on in this Louvin match.
• 49:38
  I thought they had, you know, some interesting players, you
• 49:42
  know, take the field obviously at your Guinea.
• 49:45
  The 24 year old Nigerian striker, I think she has a lot
• 49:48
  of skill. Kanjinga, you know, 22 year old
• 49:53
  from the Democratic Republic of Congo, she looked good.
• 49:56
  So, you know, I think maybe they got to build it back up.
• 50:00
  But you are PSG, like, what are are you?
• 50:03
  You can't be a feeder club to Lyon and Manchester United and
• 50:08
  Wolfsburg. Like, what are we talking about?
• 50:10
  Like, have some pride in your probe here.
• 50:12
  Like actually develop the good players and keep them.
• 50:16
  Not only that, I mean, they're at real risk of being, you know,
• 50:21
  the second best in the city of Paris.
• 50:24
  You know, I think with the whipper EFC is is playing a more
• 50:28
  kind of professional brand of football.
• 50:29
  PSG obviously has a great players.
• 50:31
  I mean, I don't know, it's tough to say because they're almost
• 50:33
  like the Knicks, like they just signed a bunch of players that
• 50:35
  are famous with no real plan of like how they might play
• 50:38
  together. You know, No, think about it.
• 50:42
  When you think about UBRI and Carmona, Oh, Carmona, obviously
• 50:45
  World Cup hero, one of the 30 or 40 best players in the world,
• 50:51
  let's say, and doesn't look like she's connected to any other
• 50:57
  other players on PSG. You know, we'll take a crack if
• 51:00
  she's got it, but no real chemistry with with anything
• 51:03
  else, with any other players that are that are going on.
• 51:06
  And then you're just like, is this just an All Star team of
• 51:09
  just, you know, a couple young players that are exciting, a
• 51:12
  couple of vets that be that we know Karshawi de Almeida, you
• 51:18
  know, but I think I keep thinking about your point of
• 51:21
  PSG, one of the biggest brands in global football.
• 51:26
  You're just going to get punked by all these other teams.
• 51:29
  You're just going to watch. You know, you mentioned Katoto
• 51:32
  Chewinga and Baltimore. How about Emily Vangsgaard, also
• 51:36
  a player that you're building that is, is is is playing for
• 51:39
  another team, scoring goals and will be in the knockout round of
• 51:44
  this tournament. Just a tough, tough spot.
• 51:47
  And you have to imagine they've got the money, but then, you
• 51:52
  know, they they brought in players, Mary Earp's another
• 51:54
  player that probably cost some money.
• 51:56
  So it's not like they're not spending.
• 51:58
  And maybe it's just that they're just doing it poorly and doing
• 52:02
  it more poorly than any other big name club that we have in
• 52:07
  the women's game. That's possible.
• 52:10
  I think definitely is. I I mean, I mentioned Rome
• 52:12
  Luchter and her time at Ajax. I hope I didn't butcher that.
• 52:17
  No, no. Yeah, yeah, she was at IX and.
• 52:18
  That yeah, she was there, 20. 324 Champions League.
• 52:22
  But also again, I'll say I think Rome Luchter is a an excellent
• 52:28
  player, but if you're gonna go from Mary Antoinette Katoto to
• 52:33
  Rome Luchter, there is there is a drop off there.
• 52:36
  There's just no way. And it's not a it's not
• 52:38
  disrespectful to Rome Luchter. If anything, it's a compliment
• 52:41
  to Marie Antoinette Katoto. So, yeah, I just think, you
• 52:44
  know, we're talking about a club who won the UMCL, the UEFA Men's
• 52:49
  Champions League this last year. And we're we're talking about a
• 52:52
  big name club here. I just, I just hope they do
• 52:56
  better. And I do want to point out you
• 52:58
  you talk about Karshawi, you talk about them bringing in Olga
• 53:01
  Carmona. There was a moment watching this
• 53:03
  Louvin match where I just wrote in my notes, I like to imagine
• 53:07
  that Karshawi and Carmona are good pals.
• 53:10
  They're, they're like, I just love the way that both of them
• 53:14
  play. I, I think of them both as kind
• 53:15
  of patron Saints of the Into the Channel podcast.
• 53:18
  So it's just like players who we like and respect and just love
• 53:21
  the way they play. So in my head, I just like to
• 53:25
  imagine like they go to a Cafe, they get coffee, maybe they go
• 53:28
  see a movie. They just, you know, they're
• 53:29
  just like friends. They, you know, they play skee
• 53:31
  ball on on the pier or whatever. You know, they're doing
• 53:34
  whatever. Antiquing.
• 53:36
  They're getting into all kinds of fun.
• 53:39
  They can do all that stuff, but unfortunately they're not
• 53:42
  winning any Champions League matches together.
• 53:45
  No, no, not this year. I love.
• 53:48
  I made a note, last quick note on PSGI don't know.
• 53:51
  I, I don't think we ever talked about this because first of all,
• 53:54
  why would we have talked about this?
• 53:55
  But I, when I played high school football, I converted from my
• 53:59
  junior year to my senior year from offensive line to tight
• 54:02
  end. So my offensive line season, my
• 54:06
  number was 77. I've never really had a good 77
• 54:10
  to go to when I when I played tight end as a senior, I I
• 54:12
  switched to 84. So I was like, all right, all
• 54:14
  right, Shannon and Sharp, my guy.
• 54:15
  Well, we'll talk about that later.
• 54:16
  Didn't age that well, but yeah, he was the guy back back then.
• 54:19
  I was playing football, but 77, never really had a good 77
• 54:25
  until. Well, I'm going to put you on
• 54:27
  the spot. Can you name a famous 77 doing
• 54:29
  it right now? I'm sure you can.
• 54:32
  Well, I mean Luca, didn't Luca Doncic wear 77?
• 54:36
  Yeah, so Luca, but he's got he's he's in the Lakers now.
• 54:40
  So I can't really, I can't really do the the Lakers 77.
• 54:43
  I think he was no go. So I think the Olga, the Olga 77
• 54:48
  with the Olga on the back, those black PSG kits, the Olga 70.
• 54:52
  That might be that might be what your boy asked, you know, Santa
• 54:56
  Claus for this this year. I just had 77 that I could
• 54:59
  really, really, truly embrace and rock with.
• 55:01
  And I think, I think I finally got one.
• 55:04
  There you go. World Cup hero.
• 55:06
  You could I I mean, yeah, I I love it as a pig.
• 55:10
  I mean, you know, she's one of my favorite players.
• 55:11
  We've been we've been singing her praises for years at at this
• 55:15
  point. And the Perry's Azaman jersey is
• 55:17
  is excellent. It's a good looking kit, no
• 55:21
  doubt. We haven't really talked about
• 55:22
  Louvin that much. Should we should we do that?
• 55:24
  I mean, this is your squad. I I got to give you your props.
• 55:27
  I mean you after their first match, there are a lot of
• 55:30
  parallels with me and you watching SK Braun in in 2023 and
• 55:34
  being like, wait a minute, hold on.
• 55:36
  This team is good actually. And you know, the Debbie
• 55:39
  Thompson team with like the low what what what was it called?
• 55:42
  It was like the lowest. It was some like match.
• 55:45
  Coefficient. Coefficient, the lowest
• 55:48
  coefficient in the tournament where you're like don't give a
• 55:50
  shit about any of that. This team can actually play
• 55:52
  football. I feel like Louvin spiritually
• 55:57
  has a lot of those same, you know, attributes.
• 56:00
  Hell yeah. No, I love it.
• 56:02
  Only only one team has beaten them in 55 champion matches and
• 56:07
  and that team Barcelona, the only team that beat.
• 56:12
  Louis. I had five Unbelievable.
• 56:15
  You know, I, you know, I don't mind pulling the shoulder
• 56:20
  muscle, patting myself on the back, but you, you point me to
• 56:23
  another show that had Louvin in their top 12.
• 56:26
  You, I mean, I'll wait. I'll wait.
• 56:28
  I've got the free time. I don't actually have the free
• 56:30
  time, but I'll wait nonetheless. No, you don't because I know
• 56:33
  that no other show Louvin in their top 12 outside of the
• 56:36
  country of Belgium. So shout out to me.
• 56:39
  I did it. I did some of it. 100% shout out
• 56:44
  to you. I think I, I, I haven't gone
• 56:48
  back and seen how, how good we did, but I think we, I think
• 56:51
  amongst the both of us, we could, we had, we must had all
• 56:52
  12 teams one more match. Just just for posterity's sake,
• 56:57
  I want to hit it for you out of here.
• 57:00
  Pari FC, Valarenga now Valarenga's still alive.
• 57:07
  Pari FC still very much alive, actually clinched so that we're
• 57:12
  we're going to be seeing them in the knockout stage.
• 57:17
  What do you remember from this one?
• 57:18
  Apologies, I remember very little, very little from this
• 57:21
  one other than and I'm going to look this up while while you you
• 57:23
  let me know what you remember from this one, because I got to
• 57:25
  give a shout out to to one of the great friends of the show.
• 57:29
  Well, yeah, and let me while you do this, let me give another
• 57:32
  shout out to a great friend of the show, a boy named Blue who
• 57:35
  just dawned on me looking at one of his comments.
• 57:39
  Blue, can you let us know? Are you, are you named a boy
• 57:43
  named Blue on YouTube because you're a Chelsea supporter?
• 57:48
  And so I wanna I like that I just connected those dots in my
• 57:52
  head. And maybe that is the case.
• 57:54
  But also let me tell you when you say we have one more match
• 57:57
  left, Balleringa and Parry FC, we have not talked about Chelsea
• 58:00
  Roma yet. And this is the second time
• 58:02
  through the course, a lot of this season where we have
• 58:06
  forgotten to talk about. Chelsea Football Club.
• 58:10
  Oh my God. Hey, real quick, Apologies.
• 58:12
  Who do we got? Carlo Abdul All our We got a lot
• 58:16
  of Chelsea guys. Dan.
• 58:18
  Dan's a Chelsea. Dan's a Claw's a Chelsea guy.
• 58:21
  We got a lot. We got a lot of Chelsea Chelsea
• 58:23
  people. I'm missing one.
• 58:24
  I'm not. I'm not sure if Dave's a Chelsea
• 58:26
  guy. I'm definitely missing 1.
• 58:27
  Apologies for whatever reason. Chelsea people.
• 58:32
  Like this show? It's not MOS and.
• 58:34
  It's not it. It was not a purpose.
• 58:36
  This is a oh, this is so bad. OK, anyway, continue.
• 58:41
  As he wears the Arsenal beanie. It's fine.
• 58:43
  No, nobody worry about that. We're totally good.
• 58:46
  It's cold in here. We'll talk.
• 58:49
  We'll talk about Volaringa Perry FC first.
• 58:54
  You know, look, Volaringa is alive.
• 58:59
  All they need to do is beat Bayern Munich in Germany and
• 59:04
  then they need an OH, Louvin to, they need an OH Louvin loss or
• 59:10
  draw at home versus Arsenal, which, yeah, I think that that
• 59:15
  part is live. It's that definitely live.
• 59:17
  It's that very, it's that very tricky part of being beating
• 59:22
  Bayern Munich. Away yeah the and that there's
• 59:26
  something about that Bayern stadium and I don't know if it's
• 59:30
  the camera angle or the lighting.
• 59:33
  It just doesn't look like a place I want to play I never
• 59:36
  want to play there. I don't want to go there.
• 59:37
  I just don't want to be a part of it.
• 59:39
  It just looks so intimidating and like cold and I don't know,
• 59:44
  like like you'd fall on the turf and you'd really hurt.
• 59:47
  Like, I don't know, I, I, I, I, I don't envy Valerina in the
• 59:52
  slightest. I don't think that they're going
• 59:55
  to get it done, but shout out to you.
• 59:57
  I I think you nailed the key point, which is.
• 1:00:01
  OH, Luvin, you know, all jokes aside, are going to have a tough
• 1:00:04
  time even though they're hosting Arsenal, you know, getting a
• 1:00:08
  result there and they need a win because Volrenka needs a win
• 1:00:13
  regardless if a draw and they're done.
• 1:00:15
  So Volrenka, let's assume they get the win.
• 1:00:18
  If they get the win and Luvin draws Arsenal, Volrenka goes
• 1:00:21
  through because right now they're sitting on the they,
• 1:00:24
  they have the same goal differential of -2.
• 1:00:27
  So Louvin, if they drew, they'd be, they would still be at -2
• 1:00:30
  Volarenga with the win, obviously would be better than
• 1:00:32
  -2. So assuming that Arsenal is able
• 1:00:37
  to get it done and not lose to Louvin, Volarenga will be
• 1:00:41
  playing for a spot in the top 12, which is super cool, despite
• 1:00:45
  the fact that obviously it's a tall task having to go into
• 1:00:47
  Munich and and beat that Byron side.
• 1:00:51
  Super tall task and and Bayern has stakes too.
• 1:00:55
  I mean, they're sitting on 10 points now.
• 1:00:58
  You know, they're way behind all the other competitors in terms
• 1:01:03
  of goal differential. But if you're if you're Bayern,
• 1:01:06
  you have to go into this match and say, you know, let's win by
• 1:01:10
  two goals and just see where the chips fall and see if if there's
• 1:01:14
  a strange result in the Juventus, Manchester United
• 1:01:18
  match. That's live, right?
• 1:01:20
  Like United could United could draw Juventus, United could beat
• 1:01:24
  you Juventus, right. Like, so you know, Twente could
• 1:01:27
  give Real Madrid a match. I've been waiting all show to
• 1:01:31
  say this. Real Madrid is going to play in
• 1:01:35
  the Netherlands against Twente. And if you're Bayern Munich,
• 1:01:38
  you're going to look at previous results from last year's UEFA
• 1:01:41
  Women's Champions League tournament and you're going to
• 1:01:43
  go listen, Twente only lost three to two to Real Madrid in
• 1:01:48
  that group state in their second group stage match.
• 1:01:52
  So Twente is live to maybe get a scratch out or draw versus
• 1:01:55
  Madrid. And I, and to also point out in
• 1:01:58
  their first match in the group stage, Real Madrid beat Twente 7
• 1:02:03
  nil. But I promise you, buddy, if you
• 1:02:05
  remember it was a close seven nil, I will.
• 1:02:09
  I'll take that to my grave. Twente played really well in
• 1:02:14
  that first half and then things got a little squarely after
• 1:02:17
  that. But I think if you're Bayern
• 1:02:19
  Munich, you have to go in there. And so if you're buying Munich,
• 1:02:22
  you have to go in and play Valarenga really tough and make
• 1:02:25
  sure you you scratch out the win.
• 1:02:26
  So to say it's a tall task for Valarenga.
• 1:02:29
  I think, you know, you nailed it.
• 1:02:31
  But you know, it'll be interesting to see both teams
• 1:02:35
  mindset kind of going into that one.
• 1:02:38
  You mentioned at the top three teams kind of separated
• 1:02:41
  themselves. I think that's mostly true.
• 1:02:44
  Barcelona, Leone on 13 points, Chelsea who's in 3rd.
• 1:02:48
  Shout out to them and shout out to our guys.
• 1:02:50
  Abdul Blue. We're just we're just making
• 1:02:53
  Blue a Chelsea fan at this point.
• 1:02:56
  Carlos, you already know what time it is.
• 1:03:00
  There's seven teams between 9 points and 11 points.
• 1:03:04
  Bayern smack in the middle of that.
• 1:03:06
  One of the worst goal differentials of the 7 -, 2 on
• 1:03:11
  the count of that Barcelona result.
• 1:03:12
  But I think any of those seven teams, Chelsea, Madrid,
• 1:03:16
  Juventus, Bayern, Wolfsburg, Arsenal, United have real reason
• 1:03:22
  to try to get 3 points and just see what happens above them and
• 1:03:26
  see if you can sneak into the top 4.
• 1:03:28
  Because outside of Barcelona, Leone, like who?
• 1:03:31
  Neither of them have clinched either.
• 1:03:33
  Like Leon doesn't have an overwhelming goal differential.
• 1:03:37
  They're at +9. So they could get caught by
• 1:03:39
  Real, Real Madrid who's at +6 or Juventus is at +6.
• 1:03:44
  Chelsea, the best goal differential of the tournament
• 1:03:48
  plus 16, shout out to them. The best goals allowed of the
• 1:03:51
  tournament, only two shout out to them.
• 1:03:56
  Sitting in 3rd as mentioned, all these superlatives for Chelsea.
• 1:04:01
  Why does it still feel like this team has a little bit of like,
• 1:04:07
  you know, trick or treat to it? Because a wise man once
• 1:04:14
  described to me the old goal differential Piggy Bank.
• 1:04:19
  And what Chelsea, what Chelsea figured out was, hey, how about
• 1:04:25
  we beat Perry FCA, team that we have clearly outmatched in
• 1:04:30
  talent. Let's beat them four nil.
• 1:04:33
  And then in our next match when we take on the Champions of
• 1:04:36
  Austria, let's beat them. Let's beat St.
• 1:04:40
  Poulton STP, if you will, 6 nil. And that's what Chelsea figured
• 1:04:46
  out is, you know, we're not just going to beat those teams.
• 1:04:49
  And you know, obviously they we'll talk about it next.
• 1:04:52
  But then they ratcheted it up again against the team that they
• 1:04:55
  clearly had outgunned in a S Roma.
• 1:04:58
  And so they stacked they, as you said, clink, clink, clink,
• 1:05:01
  clink, clink. They sprinkled all their loose
• 1:05:04
  change into that goal differential Piggy Bank and it
• 1:05:07
  helps them stay live to to live in that top four.
• 1:05:12
  They just got to take care of business versus Wolfsburg.
• 1:05:15
  Yeah, no doubt. So if they beat Wolfsburg at
• 1:05:18
  Wolfsburg, tough, you know, tough, tough match.
• 1:05:20
  And again, if you're Byron you you're looking at Chelsea at
• 1:05:23
  Wolfsburg and be like that, that could that could go awry.
• 1:05:26
  Let's make sure we hit this win versus Boleranga.
• 1:05:28
  But yeah, Chelsea versus Roma, this one was tough to watch.
• 1:05:33
  I'm going to you know, I'm going to be honest.
• 1:05:34
  I mean, I think, you know, I hate to see Roma kind of like in
• 1:05:38
  this state, especially coming off that one one draw versus
• 1:05:41
  Juventus and you know, kind of like they're they seem to be
• 1:05:44
  pushing their chips into the the the the Syria, you know, stack.
• 1:05:49
  But again, still tough to see. Nonetheless, to see them kind of
• 1:05:53
  like get worked by the by the Chelsea side that didn't, you
• 1:05:56
  know, really play all that well. You know, you mentioned, you
• 1:05:59
  know, some players that they could have could have gotten
• 1:06:00
  some more goals. 6th know, I thought was generous.
• 1:06:02
  I thought there was some real chances that Chelsea left on the
• 1:06:06
  table. Sam Kerr had maybe one or two.
• 1:06:09
  I'm sure there's a bunch that I'm missing.
• 1:06:10
  Could have could, could have gotten really bad.
• 1:06:14
  But I don't know is is Chelsea like it's tough because you
• 1:06:18
  know, like you look at Chelsea, they're they're coming off Sonia
• 1:06:21
  Bompa stores first loss in the WSL last weekend as well.
• 1:06:25
  So not really sure what to make of it.
• 1:06:28
  Maybe maybe we don't really have to make any of anything of it at
• 1:06:31
  all and just say, hey, this is match day 5.
• 1:06:33
  There's still so much football left to be played.
• 1:06:35
  Chelsea is maybe where they want to be, where they, you know, top
• 1:06:38
  4. There's no real benefit to being
• 1:06:41
  one or two other than, you know, if you're 2, you get to avoid
• 1:06:45
  one until the final or and you know, etcetera.
• 1:06:48
  But I don't know, maybe they're feeling, maybe they're feeling
• 1:06:50
  pretty good about where they're at.
• 1:06:55
  I yeah, maybe, I mean, if if they are internally talking
• 1:06:59
  about, hey, look, we're working in Sam Kerr, who is at absolute
• 1:07:03
  worst when she's in her, like when she is at her peak physical
• 1:07:07
  condition, at worst, she is one of the three best number nines
• 1:07:11
  in the world and arguably the best #9 in the world when she is
• 1:07:15
  at, you know, peak condition. Now, obviously you think about,
• 1:07:20
  you know, her age and coming off the injury, she's 32 years old.
• 1:07:25
  But like, you know what it is with her.
• 1:07:27
  She's one of the greatest players who ever lived.
• 1:07:28
  I thought. I feel pretty comfortable saying
• 1:07:30
  that. There was a pass.
• 1:07:34
  I think it was around like the half hour mark where Kat Macario
• 1:07:38
  plays the ball in. They were already up to nil and
• 1:07:41
  Kerr hits the header and I think it goes over the crossbar and
• 1:07:45
  you could see the look on Sam Kerr's face.
• 1:07:47
  You could hear it in the announcer's voice.
• 1:07:49
  Gary Tap House on the call, By the way, Gary Tap House quickly
• 1:07:54
  ascending in my commentator rankings, largely one, because
• 1:07:59
  he's a great announcer. I, I loved, I loved the call he
• 1:08:02
  had at the game. But also when I looked at his
• 1:08:03
  name, I was like, does that say trap house?
• 1:08:06
  And I was so excited to be like, this is the greatest announcer,
• 1:08:11
  whoever lived. Trap House not I mean, it's no,
• 1:08:15
  you know, it's no consolation price.
• 1:08:16
  That's solid too. But trap house?
• 1:08:18
  Oh my God, that would have been unbelievable.
• 1:08:19
  I dude, I mean, Gary, come on the show.
• 1:08:23
  If, if this comes across your radar, please, we need, we need
• 1:08:26
  you to come on the show as an Englishman, or my apologies, you
• 1:08:31
  sound like an Englishman. We got to get you on the show.
• 1:08:33
  We got to ask you if you know what a trap house is.
• 1:08:36
  Different discussion for a different time.
• 1:08:39
  But what I what I'm getting at here after that digression is
• 1:08:43
  that if the Cat Macario to Sam Kerr connection really starts
• 1:08:48
  working, everybody could be in huge trouble.
• 1:08:51
  So we'll see. Like, I don't think Chelsea
• 1:08:53
  should feel too badly about themselves.
• 1:08:56
  We're what I love about what you just said is obviously Sam Kerr
• 1:09:00
  has been, you know, in the vicinity for a for a little bit
• 1:09:05
  here. So in a few weeks, maybe a
• 1:09:07
  little bit longer that, you know, she's been making
• 1:09:09
  appearances and in this match she got like real chances, you
• 1:09:15
  know, which we kind of haven't, you know, like, you know, I'm
• 1:09:18
  not saying she's been out of position, but you know, when
• 1:09:20
  you're not really in rhythm, like it's tough to, you know,
• 1:09:22
  kind of like, you know, be fully connected and and and get all of
• 1:09:26
  those same opportunities that you're used to per minute,
• 1:09:30
  right, because we're used to seeing her be super productive,
• 1:09:32
  But now she's starting to get they're starting to get the ball
• 1:09:35
  to her. You know that I think that one,
• 1:09:36
  I think if we're thinking about the same one, that one to
• 1:09:39
  Macario Sam Kerr got up off the ground in a way that looked
• 1:09:44
  pretty good. Like I was just like, OK,
• 1:09:46
  verticals working its way back, you know, good, good contact on
• 1:09:49
  the header, Just a little bit off point.
• 1:09:52
  But I agree with you, man. I mean, if if Kerr is able to
• 1:09:56
  round into shape here. And I mean, we're still 5 plus
• 1:10:00
  months from the final. She could be a player, she could
• 1:10:05
  be the player of the last two matches of the tournament, of
• 1:10:10
  the semi final plus the final. She has that in her bag.
• 1:10:12
  Absolutely. And for whatever reason at
• 1:10:16
  Chelsea, you know, ABJ, you know, kind of hasn't fully,
• 1:10:21
  fully, fully hit the stride, stride at Chelsea this year.
• 1:10:24
  Maya Ramirez, the injury, Kat Macario, we've seen what she's
• 1:10:27
  done on US women's international team in this one was playing a
• 1:10:30
  little bit deeper, more of a midfield vibe.
• 1:10:33
  So I don't know, maybe the the the stars are aligning a little
• 1:10:36
  bit for Sam Kerr, you know, come back and for a team like Chelsea
• 1:10:42
  that's been knocking on the door, that's been dying, you
• 1:10:45
  know, for to, to be able to lift this Champions League trophy.
• 1:10:48
  I don't know there, there could be some synchronicity to like
• 1:10:51
  kind of what we're seeing here. And that would just be
• 1:10:53
  incredible. You know, like you think about
• 1:10:55
  Sam Kerr being disappointed at the World Cup in Australia, just
• 1:11:00
  kind of fighting back from just barely, barely having gotten
• 1:11:02
  back from injury and not really being able to do everything she
• 1:11:04
  wanted to do this turn would be a really cool platform to see
• 1:11:09
  Sam Kerr kind of like really ascend back up to the to the
• 1:11:12
  absolute apex. I mean, if she, if she's able to
• 1:11:17
  ascend to the absolute apex, then it's an all time story.
• 1:11:22
  Could you could you imagine the year after Arsenal wins the
• 1:11:25
  Champions League if she if she rounds into peak form and then
• 1:11:30
  Chelsea finally gets their mitts on that trophy that they have
• 1:11:33
  been so desperately wanting that they feel like they have
• 1:11:36
  deserved? It would be it would be a 2016
• 1:11:40
  LeBron James type moment of like the the the club did it, the
• 1:11:46
  player did it. It's for the, you know, it's for
• 1:11:49
  that part of the city. I suppose you would say like it.
• 1:11:53
  It would be an all timer on several different levels.
• 1:11:56
  Now, can they do it? I mean, definitely remains to be
• 1:11:59
  seen, but like, like we said though, like she's one of the,
• 1:12:02
  she's absolutely one of the best players in the world when she is
• 1:12:05
  in peak form. Can she get to that level at 32
• 1:12:08
  years old post injury? It's going to be hard to say.
• 1:12:12
  I I love that you mentioned that you like the club did it.
• 1:12:14
  The player did it because like this one would be very special
• 1:12:17
  because it would be like the club did it and probably and
• 1:12:21
  couldn't have done it without the player getting back to where
• 1:12:24
  we expect the player to be, which was just makes it a
• 1:12:28
  special kind of like, you know, just kind of storybook ending
• 1:12:31
  potentially, but we're not there.
• 1:12:33
  Tons of football to be played. Let's talk a little bit about
• 1:12:35
  match, say six couple matches that we don't have to watch.
• 1:12:38
  We watch a ton of football. So we're going to give ourselves
• 1:12:41
  a little break. We'll we'll watch this one on a
• 1:12:43
  little bit of tape delay. PSG at Benfica.
• 1:12:46
  I'm sure you guys are going to give it your all.
• 1:12:47
  We'll check it out on the replay STP at AS Roma.
• 1:12:51
  We'll do the same. So that leaves seven matchups
• 1:12:55
  that we need to check in with next week.
• 1:12:57
  Barcelona at Pre FC Lyon hosting Atletico Madrid, Chelsea at
• 1:13:02
  Wolfsburg, Real Madrid at FC Twente, Juventus hosting
• 1:13:06
  Manchester United, Bayern Munich hosting Valeranga and Arsenal
• 1:13:11
  heading to Belgium to take on OH Lubin.
• 1:13:14
  That is a slate. All all at the same time.
• 1:13:20
  All at noon on Wednesday, December 17th in the Pacific
• 1:13:25
  Standard Time Zone. Yeah, I'll have to be.
• 1:13:29
  I'll have to watch. I'll be in no spoilers mode.
• 1:13:31
  I got a big work thing I got to do on Wednesday.
• 1:13:34
  Poor, poor planning by me. But yeah, man, I mean, look,
• 1:13:39
  there's going to be some jockeying at the table.
• 1:13:41
  You get to see the live table movement.
• 1:13:44
  That's one of the the most fun parts about final day of, you
• 1:13:48
  know, before the knockout phase. And, you know, I mean the the
• 1:13:53
  live table. It is a crime that more American
• 1:13:58
  sports have not adopted the live table like the NFL.
• 1:14:03
  It like there are many reasons why I think the people who
• 1:14:07
  manage the NFL are are stupid and terrible.
• 1:14:10
  But the fact that they do not have live standings is just
• 1:14:14
  mystifying to me because people would eat that up.
• 1:14:19
  Yeah, it's gotta grab the paper, open it up tomorrow.
• 1:14:22
  You'll get caught up. You'll get you gotta get up to
• 1:14:25
  speed. All right, Match day six, that's
• 1:14:28
  happening Wednesday, December 17th, little episode calendar.
• 1:14:32
  Obviously we hit our match day 5 recap.
• 1:14:34
  Check. We'll have a match day six recap
• 1:14:38
  next weekend, next week after the action.
• 1:14:41
  So as mentioned, so here all, everything's happening on
• 1:14:44
  Wednesday, right? Right, so here's the question.
• 1:14:50
  All right, all the matches, every single nine matches
• 1:14:53
  happening at noon on Wednesday, December 17th.
• 1:14:55
  You are a father of two children.
• 1:14:58
  You have a job. I have AI have a full time job
• 1:15:02
  that that also requires a lot of attention.
• 1:15:06
  We need to figure out when we can recap this.
• 1:15:08
  I think we I mean, we obviously need to recap it.
• 1:15:11
  Could our could our Internet pals do us a favor if we recap
• 1:15:14
  this thing on Friday night? Would you just give it a watch
• 1:15:17
  or listen over the weekend and be like, OK, yeah, we digested
• 1:15:21
  the match. We have our thoughts.
• 1:15:23
  Let's see what these two Bros in America think about it.
• 1:15:25
  I mean, I, I, I hope you guys would give us that grace.
• 1:15:28
  Yeah, love that. All right, so for the two people
• 1:15:30
  still listening at the hour 15 mark, let us know in the
• 1:15:33
  comments section if you'd be down, you know, for for what my
• 1:15:37
  guy Grant proposed Either way, Thursday, Friday doesn't matter.
• 1:15:40
  We'll be back with a with a recap for match day 6:00 just
• 1:15:43
  because we need to, we need to talk about it.
• 1:15:44
  We need to, you know, break it down.
• 1:15:46
  I I need a place to vent. You know, I mean that there's a
• 1:15:49
  lot of things that I just need to kind of get off my chest.
• 1:15:51
  Football related and non football related.
• 1:15:53
  That Rosalie album as an example.
• 1:15:54
  Just whoa, my God, what a banger.
• 1:15:55
  Kids, stop listening to it. Either way, episode calendar to
• 1:15:59
  round it out before the before we get out of here 2025, I
• 1:16:04
  propose we do a best 11 globally.
• 1:16:06
  You know, everybody's got their, you know, league domestic.
• 1:16:09
  I I think we're in a unique situation to be able to say
• 1:16:14
  these are the best 11 players in the world at position.
• 1:16:17
  Maybe we can talk it out. Maybe we can do a draft.
• 1:16:18
  Maybe we can do a little Twitter poll.
• 1:16:20
  Maybe we can we'll have some fun with it.
• 1:16:22
  We got time to sort it out. And then I mentioned this to you
• 1:16:25
  earlier in the day. I went to a little best of.
• 1:16:27
  I think this has been a banner year for your boys 2025 crazy
• 1:16:31
  guests, crazy coverage. Just you think about what we did
• 1:16:35
  for the EUR. I mean, the marathon that that
• 1:16:37
  that was July 2025. I want to recap, you know, some
• 1:16:42
  of our best moments as a show of of 2025.
• 1:16:45
  Give our friends, I don't know, some a little something to chew
• 1:16:49
  on over the holidays. So let's let's put something
• 1:16:51
  like that together as well. And then I think that will be
• 1:16:54
  just enough to call it a year. I think that makes sense.
• 1:17:00
  You know what, we've had other times on their show where we've
• 1:17:04
  said things that we're going to do and I'd be like, OK, well, we
• 1:17:07
  said it on the show, so we got to do it.
• 1:17:09
  And then we just end up not doing it because life happens.
• 1:17:12
  And you know, this is our side gig and and we have other jobs,
• 1:17:16
  but I'd like the idea of a best of and just another little
• 1:17:20
  Easter egg. I just want to you, you mention
• 1:17:22
  how deep we are into the show, an hour 17 into the show, Just
• 1:17:26
  an Easter egg for anybody who's still this thing.
• 1:17:28
  If anybody still cares. I'm not sure why you would Your
• 1:17:32
  boy got his tickets to Oslo, Norway.
• 1:17:35
  I will be in attendance whether whether I get the the the media
• 1:17:40
  credential or I have to buy a ticket.
• 1:17:43
  I am showing up to the UEFA Women's Champions League final
• 1:17:48
  in Norway. It's good.
• 1:17:49
  It's going to be either May 22nd or May 23rd.
• 1:17:53
  I, I got to guess it's a little likely be on May 23rd, which is
• 1:17:56
  a Saturday. So I'll be there if anybody
• 1:18:00
  wants to have a beer in beautiful Norway, which I've
• 1:18:03
  only been to the big airport there.
• 1:18:05
  I've never actually been in the country.
• 1:18:08
  I, I, I stopped in the airport on my way to to Sweden when I
• 1:18:12
  worked for a company based out of there.
• 1:18:13
  But I'm looking forward to it. If you want to, if, if you want
• 1:18:17
  to get a beer there, just show me around, help me out.
• 1:18:20
  More than happy with that, you know.
• 1:18:23
  So, so let's enjoy the football together.
• 1:18:26
  We're making our way toward the final together.
• 1:18:30
  Let's go fucking love that. We're not we're we're not sure
• 1:18:33
  who's going to be playing in the final, but all I can say is the
• 1:18:39
  intent Channel podcast has reached the UA for Women's
• 1:18:42
  champs league final for the first time as a show.
• 1:18:44
  Shout out to you. Incredible commitment to the to
• 1:18:48
  to the brand, to the enterprise. I appreciate you, But well, I
• 1:18:52
  appreciate. I'll appreciate you a little bit
• 1:18:53
  later too, after we get to the outro.
• 1:18:55
  This has been another episode of into the channel.
• 1:18:57
  Thank you, thank you, thank you for watching, listening, hanging
• 1:19:00
  out. If you enjoyed the show.
• 1:19:02
  We do this every single week, sometimes twice a week.
• 1:19:04
  YouTube, Spotify, I have a podcast wherever you like to
• 1:19:06
  watch or listen. Make sure you like, subscribe,
• 1:19:08
  follow, comment, leave us a review. patreon.com/into the
• 1:19:12
  channel, great way to support the show.
• 1:19:13
  Into the channel merch like your boys wearing at the moment.
• 1:19:17
  Even greater way of support. The show links all the above and
• 1:19:20
  much, much more in the description of this episode.
• 1:19:22
  And a big thing in my coasts as well, Mr. Grant and before I've
• 1:19:25
  said it once and now I've said it twice.
• 1:19:28
  I appreciate you bro. Likewise, buddy, you know I
• 1:19:32
  appreciate you. Nobody.
• 1:19:33
  I'd rather do it with and. Look.
• 1:19:36
  The we've said it many times, the UEFA Women's Champions
• 1:19:40
  League is a celebration of life. Do we live in a dark timeline?
• 1:19:44
  Of course we do. Everything seems terrible around
• 1:19:47
  the world, but we're trying to find joy wherever we can.
• 1:19:50
  And you guys help bring that joy with the knowledge, with the
• 1:19:54
  context, talking to us about the football, trying to find some
• 1:19:58
  kind of level of happiness. In this silly game that we call
• 1:20:03
  football and we very much appreciate all of you.
• 1:20:06
  So thank you for watching and we will see you all next time.