Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / Orlando Pride statement win + NWSL mid-table madness

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Orlando Pride statement win + NWSL mid-table madness · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:05
OK, welcome to into the channel podcast primarily about women's
0:08
football before we hit the pitch.
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notes of this episode. I am your host Dino de Cespedes
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and as always I am joined by my Co host Mr. Grant angle.
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What is up man? I'm feeling.
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Fantastic buddy, I thought that was an excellent week of
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football Week 18 in the NWSL and looks like you saw an eventful
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match yourself down there in Florida.
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Big time event felt like pay-per-view appointment
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viewing. It was one of those where you
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know, and we'll get into it in a minute, but obviously my Orlando
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Pride took care of business. That's probably an
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understatement against Gotham and in one of my favorite types.
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Well, we can say it a statement when of course, right?
0:56
First in the table or just third in the table.
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Some nerves in the building. I think the energy was like
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very, very interesting. And then as soon as the ball
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starts rolling, wasn't that it? Was not, let me just tell you,
1:10
to take fans behind the curtain. Dino de Cespedes, 2 for two in
1:13
statement, wins this weekend, obviously, one for his Orlando
1:17
Pride, one for his Miami footballing Hurricanes.
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So I think I'll crack a beer ski for that, if you're interested
1:25
in that kind of thing. I was interested.
1:31
You were, I think you earned it with both of your squads getting
1:34
dubs like that. Both very impressive from from
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my view over here. I mean, we, we breed champions
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on here. It's true.
1:42
Can't argue with that. All right, man, you already
1:46
teased it a little bit. NWSL Week 18 in the books,
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things are getting interesting. Some arrows pointing up, some
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arrows pointing down. We'll get into those in a little
1:54
bit. With that said, where you want
1:55
to get started? We have to start with, for my
1:58
money, the best team in the league, your Orlando Pride to
2:02
Gotham FC Nil. As you mentioned, it was
2:06
convincing, but I watched it on television.
2:08
You were in the building, You saw it in person.
2:10
Please, my good man, after you. Definitely convincing.
2:13
We're a little bit about this pre show from the first kick of
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the game. I think I wish I kind of went
2:18
back and saw I think it was Tuna Davidson just blast the ball up
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field. The most hopeful of balls.
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You're just like, let's just see if we can kind of like pick up
2:25
some some field position here, right?
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You know, I was taken aback a little bit by that.
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I was just like, OK, this is not not what I was expecting.
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You obviously see those lineups and who's playing.
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I think even maybe last week's show or the week prior I
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mentioned it, I was not shy about saying, hey, I think
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Gotham is more talented. I think maybe Washington's more
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talented as well, but wasn't wasn't how it played out.
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I think I have to start with Adriana.
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Just tremendous game. You know, 0.4 XG for oddity, 2
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point O real G for oddity. We'll just kind of like let that
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let that start 6 minute. Kylie Strom takes on everybody,
3:01
you know, on an area ball in, takes a shot, but, you know, is
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able to head the ball ball back into a dangerous area up in the
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air. Adriana doesn't even let the
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ball hit the ground. Full volley, smashes the ball
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into the back of the net. Whatever balloon of nerves was
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kind of like bouncing around the field.
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That goal just burst that balloon immediately the nerves
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were gone. And it from one second to the
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next became a little bit of a party there.
3:25
Yeah. And a deserved party.
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I think I'm going to stick with my cruddy analysis from last
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week when we talked about Orlando and my whatever I was
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trying to spit out ended up being all your players are just
3:37
really good at a lot of things. But I just want to say like
3:40
Angelina serves in the ball to give Strong the opportunity for
3:44
that Heather that you're talking about.
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And it's a perfect ball. It's placed like right on the
3:48
correct side of the penalty spot, so Berger has to like come
3:52
a little way off her line to even contest it.
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Like you said, Strom is able to like be strong and kind of get
3:58
the ball back into the area. And then Adriana, that volley is
4:03
so difficult and there are a lot of players in the NWSL who can
4:06
make that play. But it just feels like with
4:09
Orlando on this run, they are making that play with so much
4:13
more consistency than any other team in the league.
4:16
Yeah. I mean, if you look at the
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placement of the finish, it's like dead center in the goal,
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like 7 or 8 feet off the ground, like just perfectly placed, like
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video game type finish. Adriana not done, Angelina not
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done 13 minutes later. I mean, this is just how quickly
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it happens. Emily Sam's controls the ball
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regains possession, a simple pass and then a beautiful ball
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over the top. Mahomes esque, if you will, to
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Adriana, who basically is what you know.
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I mean that that ball sets into motion the one V1 Adriana versus
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Jenna Neiswanger, and Adriana clearly mistook Neiswanger for a
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delicious plate of BBQ chicken. And just Adriana is a type of
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player where an early goal is, depending on where you land on
5:04
her as a player, either the best thing or the worst thing.
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You know, I'm, I'm a big Adriana fan.
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I just love when she kind of lets it RIP.
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And in that moment, I'm like, if she gets the edge on Neiswanger,
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this is a wrap just because you can kind of feel, you can just
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kind of see the way she was moving, moving, her level of
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determination. She gets the edge on knife
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stronger, you know, a low fastball.
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And now it's two nil. We're not even 20 minutes into
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the match. It's just superlative skill from
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her and and you just for the muttering, which I absolutely
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understand from whether it's pride, Twitter, Pride Internet
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in general, every fan base, you're going to get that.
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But when you have a player with that kind of talent, I would
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much rather them just continuously try stuff.
5:44
Hell yeah. You see it in every in every
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single sport. When you have a superstar
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player, there are going to be those time where they're totally
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rational confidence, because they're a great player, kind of
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starts to blur into that line of maybe some irrational confidence
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in in some areas. I think she controls her pretty
6:00
well. To your point, she's a great
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player. I want to, I want to put you on
6:03
the spot with this. Is she the second best player on
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the Pride? Is she the third best player on
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the Pride? Damn, that's.
6:12
Tough. That's really tough.
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I mean, she's clearly playing off Banda.
6:17
Yes, right. I think Emily, Sam's has to be
6:20
in that conversation. You might be able to make a case
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for Angelina, too. I would say there's a clear 1/2.
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I would say there's a clear 1/2. I would I would say Banda is 1,
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Sam's two, however you want to think about that.
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And then there's just like this collection of players in there
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where you're just like, OK, you know, summer Yates look great.
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Carrie Abella looks great consistently.
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You know, Strom, who's Sam's, you know, center back partner
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there also great. You have the greatest player in
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the history of the game just running on the field like
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fighting the ball finds me. Okay, let's let's make let's
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make a little magic here. Martha.
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Still unbelievable. Like you just cannot, cannot get
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the ball from her. So I would say, I would say that
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he's like top five, top five, top six.
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But you could make an argument I think for three.
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There we go. And wow, we didn't even rehearse
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that. I'm just in total agreement with
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you. All that question was meant to
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do was to just illustrate the point.
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She is somewhere between this team's third and 6th the best
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player and she is awesome. So when you when you have
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Adriana out there and like you, you made a good point as well.
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She's playing off of Benda, your best player who you know has an
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argument for best player in the league.
7:32
You know, Well, say it again. I think they're the best team in
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the NWSLI, think the double is extremely realistic and I think
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them not losing a match in the regular season is very realistic
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as well. Damn you had to bring that up.
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I'm going to say this with a deep ish level of shame.
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So on last week's episode I made the strong proclamation that I
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would hold. A old coach said behind his feet
7:56
to the fire. Of course your boy got the
7:58
opportunity in the press conference didn't come through.
8:01
I think the moment might have been too big for me.
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I asked, it's a very, I, I asked what I thought was a good
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question and Seb's got, he gave me some really good stuff on
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just their approach defensively, which I was like just immensely
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curious about. Yeah.
8:15
So I'm not going to get on myself too, too hard, but I'm
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going to be honest, man, I didn't want to jinx it.
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Oh, there we go. That's the point I was
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wondering. I'm in the building.
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I'm in the building. The vibes are fucking great.
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Like, you know, you could tell. You could tell from all three
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players. Corey Dyke was in the presser,
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Kylie Strom in the presser too, who gets the assist on the first
8:37
out of the on a goal and then sub Heinz kind of closes it out.
8:39
You can tell. I mean, they were still wired to
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the Max. Like, you know, it's not one of
8:44
these wins where it's like, all right, take care of business
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kind of win. So and so came to town, did what
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we need to do 313 now. You know, we're on to next week.
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It was more like, you know, like an exhale like all everything
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was like like the whole press was a big giant organization
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wide exhale. So I just couldn't bring myself
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to be that guy. Just be like, I'm just going to
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suck the air out of this whole press conference here with a
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dorky question. Now, still some games to be
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played, as I like to say. So there'll be some
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opportunities. Maybe as we get closer here to
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that 26th and final match. I don't know, I might, I might
9:18
be able to muster up the gumption to to ask coach about
9:20
that. Friday, September 13th, Orlando
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Pride at home versus Kansas City current they win that one I mean
9:28
come on then then you have dash at home.
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They get the spirit at home. I'm just thinking about home
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games. I'm skipping the away matches
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because just of your opportunities, but you know me
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buddy. I would never peer pressure you
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into asking a question that you don't want to ask.
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So ask it at at your leisure or don't ask it.
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If you appear afraid of the jinx.
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I, I will say because I'm in the tank for this team as well.
9:51
You know, I, I love watching them.
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I love their style of play. The defense is phenomenal.
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I did for a split second like 2 seconds before kickoff.
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I was like, if they lose, I'm going to be bummed.
10:01
But then we could also say that there's an ITC jinx that the
10:04
first match after we posited the idea that they could be
10:07
invincible, that they would lose.
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But obviously that was dashed right away and I was like, OK,
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there's zero chance they're losing this match.
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That was that was the craziest part.
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It was just like, you know, I mean, I was super pumped for
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this game just to kind of see what this would look like, you
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know, first in the standings versus third in the standings,
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defending champions versus, you know, aspiring champions.
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The stats in this one tell an interesting story as well.
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Check this. I mean, this is funny.
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I'm not even going to tell you which team is which, but I want
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to read you out some stats. Possession 50.5 to 49.5 total
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shots 16 to 13 shots from inside the box. 11 to 10 Passes 399 to
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393 Pass accuracy 82.5 to 82.2 In the lower leverage parts of
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the game, pretty even. The one step that I think tells
10:55
the story of the match, though, Orlando forced Gotham into
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terrible shots. They had 16 total, 2 on target.
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I think 1 was nice. Longer from way downtown.
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Six of their shots total came from outside the 18.
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Orlando, on the other hand, 11 of their thirteen shots from
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inside the box. I asked him about this in the
11:15
press conference with regard to like, how were you able to just
11:18
close off entire areas of the pitch, have every outlet covered
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and then also get in passing lanes?
11:25
So like you have a defender that's not really in the play.
11:29
They're like in between, you know, spots and they are just
11:33
positioned perfectly to be in a passing lane to take away
11:36
something 10 or 15 yards over their shoulder.
11:39
So I asked them about that and here's what he said.
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Quote, there's obviously a strategy to it.
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There's players knowing their roles and responsibilities, but
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I think the standout for me is their mentality, their attitude
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and quote. He then went on to list
11:51
everybody who saw action along the back line and then went on
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to say, quote, there's also players who didn't play in the
11:56
back line. They're programmed for those
11:58
moments as well. Taking the last 15 minutes,
12:02
embracing those moments really important because as teams are
12:05
trying to get back into the game, you have to be switched
12:07
on, you have to concentrate and that's solely down to their
12:11
mentality. End Quote.
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So I'm talking about, OK, I love it.
12:15
I mean, it's it's the full admission.
12:17
You know, we already mentioned one of your other sporting loves
12:21
the Miami Hurricanes. Let's let's mention the other
12:23
one, the Miami Heat. It's good.
12:24
People ask him how they play that like active zone defense
12:28
that they employ. And Spoelstra says, because we
12:30
run their asses off during preseason and you have to commit
12:35
to playing that kind of defense. And it feels like very relative
12:40
to what the pride do where playing that kind of defense,
12:43
that swarming defense. And and it's interesting what
12:45
you said about them being in the opposing teams passing lanes
12:48
because they seem to be able to transition right from that part
12:52
of their defense of playing the passing lanes.
12:54
But then all of a sudden their teammates, once you guys steal
12:57
the ball back, now you are already have options for passing
13:01
lanes for your offense. It has to be an incredibly
13:04
demanding and tiring both physically and mentally for them
13:08
as as players. But it is a system that I don't
13:12
think I've seen a single team, at least in the matches that
13:14
I've watched, Maybe the maybe the Courage match that you guys
13:18
drew them in North Carolina, but teams are just having a hell of
13:22
a time even figuring it out. It's tough because Benda could
13:25
go one against anybody and you just cannot stop her. 11V1 If
13:30
you take away the left, she'll she'll just run around you.
13:33
She's fast enough to run around you and still cross back over
13:35
you to kind of reach the ball. You also have to give tremendous
13:38
credit to both Kayla Mccutchen and Angelina, who we mentioned,
13:42
who are both excellent in defense and they are immediate
13:47
flipping the switch between defense and offense.
13:50
And once the balls won back, you've got Ariana who makes that
13:54
run. You know, nice longer loves to
13:55
like kind of like creep up in the middle of.
13:57
I think she was technically on the lineup card.
13:59
She was listed as a midfielder, but she was playing sort of in
14:02
her normal being a deep ish kind of role as well.
14:05
But you have Angelina, you have Mccutchen, who offensively
14:10
they're great high IQ players as well.
14:12
They're looking to get the ball up field.
14:15
They're looking to run when that's the opportunity.
14:17
And then you have like, like I said, Marta, Summer Yates, who I
14:20
also have mentioned as well. So it's like you also have
14:22
different players with different skill sets, different styles of
14:24
attack that can go to different things in different spots.
14:27
It's like, I'm not sure what you're really supposed to do as
14:30
a team trying to contend with this.
14:32
What were your biggest takeaways?
14:33
I think watching this Pride team against this tough competition.
14:36
I mean, you nailed it right away with like the long ball from
14:39
Davidson to start the match, but there was really no point during
14:42
that match where Gotham was like playing their game.
14:46
You know, two time guest on our show, Bridie O'Toole on her
14:50
great YouTube channel busy watching women's soccer has
14:52
talked about Gotham FC and how they kind of play like almost in
14:56
a circular pattern, like around the the outside of the pitch,
15:00
your defense, just they just shut off the water of like
15:03
whatever it is like any team that comes up against them.
15:06
So like if you like to play in the middle, like Kansas City
15:08
likes to play in the middle. You guys worked them a couple
15:11
weeks back, like right before the Olympic break.
15:13
Gotham likes to play around the edges.
15:15
You guys just take it away. I'm glad that we we spent enough
15:18
time. I think that we are not guilty
15:20
of this. But you know, sometimes in
15:21
football you have the prolific scorer up top and people really
15:25
focus on that player. I think that you and I and then
15:29
the other knowers of ball in our community rightly point out you
15:33
guys have an unbelievably stout defense.
15:37
You have midfielders, like you said, who are willing to kind of
15:39
track back and play that defense.
15:41
Benda mixes it up back there on defense a lot.
15:44
She had a play where she just, I think, completely ripped the
15:46
ball off of Ellis Stevens and the announcer.
15:49
I guess that this is one thing I caught on television.
15:51
I can't remember exactly what the announcer said, but just it
15:54
was something to the effect of strong.
15:56
Just as Benda just rips the ball off Stevens and then just starts
15:59
pushing it up field. And then you have Anna Morehouse
16:02
back there. So like, not only are you a
16:04
complete nightmare who throws every attacking principal of
16:08
your opponent, you throw all those things into disarray.
16:11
Then you have Benda and Adriana and Marta up there.
16:14
And then Julie Doyle came on late in this one and scored a
16:17
banger. But I think, I think there there
16:19
were no good angles on the broadcast.
16:21
It looked like Doyle may have been a hair offside.
16:24
It was. It looked really, really close.
16:26
I don't know if you got a good glimpse of it from the box or
16:29
the replay or anything, but it looked very, very close.
16:32
Yeah, very close. Was on the far side of the
16:34
field. The finish though.
16:36
Fantastic, I mean. That that's another one of those
16:40
embarrassment of riches kind of moments.
16:42
Benda 2 You know, didn't get on the score sheet today.
16:45
No assists. Drew 3 yellow cards just because
16:49
she's better than you and there's nothing you could do
16:52
except resort to a legal means to try to slow her down.
16:55
That's it Orlando Pride obviously sitting pretty, 6
16:58
points clear, top of the table, not a single game in hand for
17:02
any of the other teams out there.
17:04
Just eight matches left on the fixture list.
17:07
So we're going to see kind of what happens here, but Orlando
17:10
very, very much in the driver's seat.
17:12
I mentioned on our last show, it's kind of nice when you can't
17:15
give up the lead in one weekend. Now it's kind of tough to give
17:18
up the leading 2 weekends. This team that's that's given up
17:21
just twelve goals this season and 18 matches, I say it's even.
17:24
It's a head scratcher just to be able to say that out loud.
17:26
We'll see if they're able to keep that going.
17:28
One last note on the press conference, I asked 23 year old
17:31
Corey Dyke, rookie out of Penn State, just her third start in
17:34
the league, and what that meant for the progression of her
17:38
career. And here's what she had to say.
17:41
Quote, I'm always ready to give what the team needs.
17:43
And today that was a 90 minute game.
17:45
So I'm grateful for that. Corey takes a pause, then goes
17:48
on to say, quote, my grandpa passed away this week.
17:51
Going into this game, I just kind of want to dedicate it to
17:54
him. And I think it was really,
17:56
really special to be able to have today be my first full 90
17:59
in the regular season and feel good about that performance.
18:02
So I know he's proud of that. Wow.
18:04
And it was definitely a moment at the presser.
18:08
I mean, like it really kind of puts things into perspective.
18:11
And all I could think was grandpa's probably really proud
18:15
of the ass kicking that you laid on Kantha tonight.
18:19
But really cool moment for for for the young Corey Dyke, who
18:22
played really well and had a tough task you can kind of see
18:26
on the field. 1st 1520 minutes. Corey's doing a lot to kind of
18:30
get up to the speed of the game, but then really, really settled
18:33
into the game nicely. He was anticipating really well
18:35
and just kind of like morphed right into that Orlando Pride
18:39
defense, mind milled hive mind mentality and was just kind of
18:43
like right in lockstep with the rest of the defense.
18:46
So shout out to Corey, shout out to Corey's family.
18:48
Really, really cool moment. Really big win and hopefully
18:51
just the beginning of what's going to be a great career here.
18:54
Yeah, man, condolences to Corey and her family.
18:56
Like you said, it just shows the the mental toughness that these
19:00
athletes, you know, just have to have to reach an elite level
19:03
league like this to be able to kind of summon something after
19:08
you. You got to get shaken up like
19:09
that. So, yeah, incredible
19:11
performance. And she is just yet another key
19:14
cog in that machine that Seb Heinz is kind of producing
19:17
there. And while I always we all we
19:19
give a lot of credit to the managers and you know, Seb Heinz
19:23
deserves a ton of credit. He has the players to implement
19:26
that kind of system. And they're they're the ones
19:28
that make it go. So every every single match from
19:31
here on out is must watch TV. Absolutely.
19:34
I mean, they they look like the best team in the world for sure.
19:36
Like I didn't quite get there until last night.
19:39
Yeah, where I'm just like, this team is, if not the best, all
19:42
you're going to be able to do is tell me there that there are
19:44
teams as good as them because it's hard to match the team
19:47
better than than what they're doing.
19:49
I mean, it's like 12 goals in 18 matches in this league is it's
19:53
absurd. Like it's an absurd stat.
19:56
They've given up one goal in six league matches.
20:01
OK. Yeah, that's.
20:01
They've played 500, forty, 540 plus minutes.
20:04
They gave up one goal and that was to tell what you and got.
20:07
Yo, there you go. All right.
20:08
So even then there's like an asterisk on that where it's
20:10
like, well, you know, we had to give up that one, obviously
20:13
that. Scores, scores, scores on
20:14
everybody. That's incredible.
20:15
Yeah. And I mean, you know, they put
20:17
up two in fairly. I mean, we talked about the
20:20
great skill, but they put up two in fairly ho hum fashion.
20:23
You know, the team that's given up the second fewest goals is
20:26
Gotham FC, and now they've given up 15.
20:29
That's after Orlando put in two on them.
20:31
So I mean, they're just unbelievably impressive.
20:34
I like you raising the stakes, calling them the best team in
20:36
the world. I love it.
20:38
I think, you know, at worst there's an argument for it at
20:42
absolutely you. You could make a very, very
20:44
credible case for it. I don't think there's any
20:46
question for that. You know what kind of tipped me
20:48
on this? And and I know this is a great
20:51
player, a player that I really like, Jess Carter, and she's
20:54
coming off a grueling season. You know, tell she's just like,
20:57
right, let's run it back. Yeah.
20:59
Just absolute warrior. But I'll say you didn't totally
21:02
stand out like on that pitch, you know, you could kind of see
21:05
her skills. You can see the accuracy, you
21:07
can see her IQ. The last thing I'll say about
21:10
Orlando, I took, I feel totally comfortable kind of putting them
21:12
in that best team in the world conversation because to my eye,
21:16
there are no weaknesses, right? Like there's no spot on the
21:20
field. There's no player.
21:21
There's a little shaky like, you know, oh, they survived that,
21:24
you know, like there's none of that.
21:25
It's just a straight dominance. It's smothering, it's
21:29
suffocating. I want to scoot ahead though.
21:30
I want to talk a little bit more playoff picture.
21:32
This is a conversation that we got rolling last week.
21:35
I think when you look at the top 6 and WSL, you've got Orlando,
21:38
Washington, Gotham, the KC Curran in fourth, North Carolina
21:42
Courage in 5th, Portland Thorns in 6th.
21:44
They drop a tough one at home Debate FC.
21:46
We'll talk about that one in a little bit.
21:47
But those six points wise, probably feeling pretty
21:50
comfortable about scooting into the playoffs.
21:53
After six, though, things get a little interesting.
21:55
Chicago's at 7, and I know you got some stuff for that gigantic
22:00
clump of teams from 8:00 to 11:00 or 8:00 to 13 or 14,
22:04
wherever you want to kind of set the cut off.
22:06
What do we need to know about this last stretch run of this
22:09
NWSL season? Well.
22:11
When it comes to that group of teams, one of the things that I
22:13
thought about, especially after all the matches were settled,
22:16
was man, the NWSL script writers are on one in this mid season
22:22
plot twist fest that we had in week 18.
22:25
So AFC hops up up to 8th place after their big Friday night win
22:32
over Portland. And so from 8:00 to 11:00 we
22:35
have Bay FC sitting on 21 points, Angel City FC and 9th
22:39
also on 21 points. But they are behind because they
22:44
have one fewer win. Racing Louisville and 10th on 19
22:48
points and Seattle rain in 11th on 17 points.
22:52
So 4 points separating 8 through 11.
22:56
And what a coincidence, everybody in Week 19, Bay FC
23:01
plays Racing Louisville in San Francisco and Angel City FC
23:05
plays Seattle Rain in Los Angeles.
23:08
And so we have a potential for even more movement after next
23:12
week. Pretty incredible.
23:13
Definitely some NBA playoff play, end game type vibes with
23:18
these four wrestling for two spots.
23:19
I think it's also interesting. I mean, I think Chicago at 7,
23:23
things have started to creak a little bit there as well.
23:26
Obviously they lose a tough one at Angel City 21, give up the
23:29
late 1 to Sydney the road. We're going to get into some
23:32
predictions here because I really want to hear who you
23:34
think is going to grab those last two spots, especially if
23:37
you agree with me that that top six sort of locked somewhat into
23:41
place there. I think Portland at six, they
23:45
feel kind of locked, like it might be one of those very thin
23:50
like master Locks where like just a real nice pair of ball
23:54
cutters. You could just easily clip that
23:55
thing off. Not that I know anything about
23:57
those kind of things, but you know, they're sitting on 27
24:00
points. They've lost two in a row.
24:02
It wasn't particularly close when they lost to Gotham two
24:05
weeks ago. It wasn't particularly close
24:07
when they lost to Bay FC 3:00 to 1:00 on Friday night.
24:10
But 27 points plus 3 gold differential.
24:14
And we've seen, like Portland, they started the season slow and
24:17
then they went on a great run and now it seems like they're
24:19
kind of hitting another dip. So I don't know if Portland is
24:21
our roller coaster club this season or what, but they're
24:24
going to want to turn around this downswing as soon as
24:27
possible to make sure that Chicago doesn't kind of creep up
24:30
and start and start giving them some trouble.
24:32
So I'll agree with you. We'll keep those top six and we
24:36
can kind of focus on 7 to 11. And so when it comes to those
24:39
last two playoff spots, I think I'm going to say this.
24:42
I mean, I realize they're sitting in 10th place right now.
24:45
I think I'm gonna place a take chip on Racing Louisville,
24:49
figuring it out a little more. You know, they have four wins on
24:53
the season, but they have 7 draws, 7 losses.
24:55
They have a zero goal differential.
24:57
We talked about him last week. Bad loss to the rain.
25:00
I think kind of some weird things happen.
25:03
So Seattle gets a penalty. G so young scores a banger of a
25:07
free kick and then G gets there, it gets on the end of a corner
25:11
kick from Sofia Huerta and it Nicks off one of their defenders
25:15
and they get an own goal. And so the reigns three goals
25:18
are a penalty, a free kick and an own goal.
25:21
And it's like, OK, that's probably not the most
25:23
sustainable thing for Seattle, even though I think they played
25:27
better than they have in past weeks.
25:29
But I would also say it seemed a bit unlucky for Louisville.
25:32
So I don't know if they're going to finish 7th or 8th, but I'm
25:35
going to put Louisville in the playoffs.
25:37
Am I crazy? I don't think so.
25:39
I mean, we talked about the talent that they've got on that
25:41
team, their level of toughness. I'd like the roster and I like
25:44
the way they play. And it was a totally funky kind
25:47
of outcome. Yeah.
25:49
This is a match that they let in two to one.
25:51
Usually you expect points, usually expect the win,
25:54
especially when you're playing at home.
25:55
Oh yeah, against the non playoff team.
25:58
But I think there's probably something to be said about the
26:00
rain side as well. I mean, I'm kind of like trying
26:02
to figure out who I'm going to put in my last two playoff
26:06
spots. The the rain is so somewhat in
26:08
contention. I think for me mentally, just
26:10
because I think they're starting to like put some stuff together,
26:14
some of the personnel moves that they made, you know, Gee,
26:16
obviously having, I mean, a match winning kind of kind of
26:21
last 2025 minutes. Yeah, Textbook definition
26:24
difference maker, Gee Soyoun in this match.
26:26
And we had talked about at multiple points in the season,
26:29
like where is the Reigns comeback win?
26:32
Where is the Reigns, you know, turn a loss into a win, turn a
26:35
loss into a draw. You know, I think this is
26:36
something we've mentioned a few Times Now.
26:38
We might be starting to see it and they're not that far behind
26:41
now. Like now they're playing really
26:43
well. This is the time of year where
26:44
you really want to be playing well.
26:45
And I think we're starting to see the organizational kind of
26:48
like level of excellence start to, you know, like leak onto the
26:52
field and really start to inspire some of these players.
26:54
But but you're the Seattle rain guy.
26:55
Am I am I crazy now for kind of like considering that this team
26:59
might be able to sneak in here I'm.
27:01
I was concerned that maybe I was being a bit of a Homer and I
27:05
even last week after they got that, you know, awesome win on
27:09
Megan Rapino's jersey retirement, you know, Emery
27:12
Adama scores the last minute goal with some help from the
27:15
Cosmos to get it past Casey Murphy.
27:17
But no, I think what you're seeing, and I agree with you on
27:21
it, is like from my notes from watching that match against
27:24
Louisville, Anna Maria Serna Gorsevich is just better than
27:28
what we used to have on the field and and some of those
27:30
positions for long stretches. She just made things happen.
27:33
She's the one who played Jess Fishlock through to force the
27:36
penalty. Jalen Howell is such a pro, you
27:40
know, she's going to be useful either as a sub for Fishlock or
27:45
Quinn like in certain spots. But yesterday they played all
27:48
three of them together. She was still able to to make
27:52
some plays and have good chemistry with them.
27:54
Neurillia Mondesir, who we talked about Haitian forward who
27:57
was acquired a few weeks ago. Neurillia prefers to go buy
28:01
cocoa. So for just for everybody go
28:03
going forward, I'll refer to her that way.
28:05
She came in and showed her skill again.
28:07
You know, she didn't do a ton in terms of like creating like a
28:11
lot of pressure, but she just has moments like there was one
28:14
where she settled the ball and then made like 3 moves on the
28:17
defender just to get herself some space.
28:19
And it's like, OK, that the skill is very clearly here.
28:23
And so when you kind of talk about the general quality of the
28:26
Reign improving, I think they did that in the transfer window
28:30
and now there needs to be some more gelling.
28:32
Emory Adamus is a young player, she's at the U20 World Cup.
28:35
Jordan Bug is a good player. She's at the U20 World Cup.
28:38
They're they're going to come back, back to the squad here and
28:42
a few weeks, I would imagine. So no, I don't think it's
28:44
totally crazy. And this is kind of what they
28:47
did last year where they did not do themselves any favors earlier
28:50
in the season. But Laura Harvey and her team,
28:53
they have good plans out there for every match that they go.
28:56
So you know, the players are going to be in some positions.
28:58
They just need that little bit of quality to kind of catch up.
29:01
It's not going to be easy. I don't think it's crazy to
29:04
think that they could make the playoffs.
29:06
I don't know if I would place the bet on it though.
29:08
That's fair. So obviously this week, this
29:11
weekend, we've got Seattle back in action against Angel City,
29:16
who gets that big late winner to beat Chicago and kind of like
29:20
throw their hat in the mix as a playoff team.
29:23
I think the case for them, it might be something around like
29:27
an Alyssa Thompson. She's starting to look like a
29:30
real, real, real player, like capital P player in this league,
29:34
especially after going the first sixteen matches scoreless.
29:37
And now she's got three goals in two matches.
29:40
So we'll see if that is able to continue.
29:42
And then I think when you think about maybe making the case for
29:44
Bay FC as well, you could probably say to yourself, OK, a
29:48
Seaside Oshawa, three goals on the season, just a single
29:51
assist. I think Kundanagi is also on
29:53
three goals. I think she's got two assists.
29:56
You could make the case that Bay FC and 8th and you've only got
29:59
six goals from those two. Those two rock stars might be
30:04
getting into the stretch run of the season.
30:05
I think those are two players that you could see maybe
30:08
outdoing their early season productivity here during the
30:11
stretch run. Real tired.
30:12
There's some injuries and obviously we saw Kundanagi have
30:16
a big, big, big impact in that one against Portland.
30:18
So that would be the one like those would be the two cases
30:21
that you could make Bay FC could maybe expect something from
30:24
those two superstars. And then Alyssa Thompson.
30:27
This just might be, I mean, this is a player still 19 years old.
30:29
Yep. Like, you know, we got to keep
30:31
that in mind. She just looks incredibly fast
30:34
and super duper twitchy and very hungry for goal, like something
30:38
Son was working for. Great positioning on her goal
30:41
where Nair is able to push it away.
30:43
Quality safe from Nair, but Thompson's standing in the exact
30:47
right spot. Cool as you like.
30:48
Tap and goal, Yeah. Good to see her coming on in
30:51
that way. I think also for Bay FC, I'm
30:54
going to switch it back to Bay FC real quick adding Abby doll
30:57
camper good idea to help kind of shore up the defense.
31:00
Quality player gets on the score sheet, scores their first goal
31:04
against Portland with a header. But as the match carried on, I'm
31:08
glad you bring up Kundanagi here and R Pal the great the one and
31:12
only. Leanne Sanderson on the call on
31:14
the Amazon Prime game talked about Kuna Naji and that she has
31:17
had frankly a pretty disappointing season up to this
31:21
point. But in that match versus
31:23
Portland, she was the best player on the field.
31:26
She was absolutely causing havoc in their defense.
31:29
When she got free on the goal that she assisted, she just
31:33
turned on The Jets and just gets in between like 2 defenders to
31:36
get herself into that space and then hits an absolute Peach of a
31:40
cross at full speed directly into the path of Rachel Hill who
31:46
just is able to just slot it into the goal.
31:48
Once they went up. I think at that point that put
31:51
him ahead to nil. Sophie Smith was able to pull
31:54
one back in the 32nd minute, but that was often absolute howler
31:58
from Caitlin Rowland, Bay FC's keeper who tried to one touch a
32:02
pass back to her defender. But you could, you could tell in
32:05
the replay that it just hit her cleats on the bottom of her
32:09
boot. And so it just like dribbled
32:11
like 3 yards right into Sophie Smith's path.
32:13
And there's only one way that was going to end after that.
32:17
But I mean, you know, Bay FC, they were just able to kind of
32:19
put that pressure on. A lot of it is just Oshwala and
32:23
Kunanagi are so fast and so smart.
32:26
They get into tricky spaces for defenses.
32:30
And I've, I'll just, I've been a big old coward with Bay FC when
32:33
we were on Loud and Proud in Orlando, which people should
32:36
subscribe, Great podcast, great YouTube channel.
32:39
I said Bay FC could be my team that I thought could sneak up
32:42
and sneak back into the playoffs.
32:44
That was weeks ago now. Last week I had even said again,
32:47
I was like, I think BFC could probably see in the playoffs.
32:49
And then you and I started talking about their defense.
32:51
I was like, let me walk it back a little bit.
32:53
Maybe BFC couldn't get back in the playoffs.
32:55
So I was just being a big old flip flopper coward.
32:58
I don't know if I'm still allowed to claim Bay FC at this
33:01
point. I still do have questions about
33:03
the defense, but I think you're spot on.
33:05
If those two superstars, like, really find their rhythm,
33:09
they're really, really hard to stop.
33:12
Yeah, you might be talking me into Bay FC as a playoff pick
33:15
here. Their records just so funny too.
33:17
I don't even know what to do with it.
33:18
Like they still have or have yet to draw a match.
33:22
It's either win or lose. There's seven wins, 11 losses,
33:24
so they're four games under 500. They're still not a very good
33:27
team, but they've won seven times in the end of yourself.
33:30
No small feat. Just for posterity's sake.
33:33
Three teams that we didn't mention the bottom of the table,
33:34
San Diego Wave. I don't think we could take this
33:36
team seriously. 18 matches played, just three wins total
33:39
mess. Just think about what's going on
33:42
there. They get a nice draw at home
33:43
against the Spirit. Utah Royals might be coming on,
33:47
I don't know. Yeah.
33:48
Four wins, 3 draws, 11 losses. Counting the two NWSL Summer Cup
33:53
wins, they've now put together four straight Dubs in Utah.
33:57
So look out. And then the Houston Dash.
34:00
Bottom of the table. Three wins, 5 draws, 10 losses,
34:03
just 14 points. They're the only team left in
34:05
the bottom eight that has five Rd. games left of their eight.
34:10
And this is just a hilarious depending on what side of the
34:13
fence you set on the Houston Dash.
34:15
Need to go to Gotham, to Washington to take on the
34:18
Spirit, to Orlando to take on the Pride.
34:22
They've got the wave and the rain to close things out.
34:25
So Houston probably a cross off at this point.
34:27
I think we hit the finish line here.
34:29
I'm going to put you on the spot.
34:30
Your final two playoff teams, Mr. Grant Angle, who are you
34:34
taking? Who makes the big dance?
34:38
The Sam Stop injury is so he is so unfortunate because I'm with
34:42
you on that. She's perfect in Lauren
34:45
Donaldson's system and what we saw early in the season.
34:49
Chicago sitting on 23 points. Am I gonna bet against Mallory
34:53
Swanson's team though? That's the thing that like I, it
34:56
is so hard to get past that. I'm going to say the Chicago Red
35:03
Stars and Racing Louisville occupy the last two playoffs
35:08
tough spots. Wow, I like it.
35:11
I hate that the Red Stars have a -, 2 goal differential though.
35:15
I hate that because they're a defensive first team and so to
35:17
see that, it's like, that's tricky.
35:21
You can also look at their remaining schedule.
35:23
They do have 5 home games, but they've got Orlando, Tuffy, San
35:27
Diego. That's the definitely winnable.
35:29
Then they've got three straight top six teams.
35:31
They've got the Courage, Gotham and Casey Current.
35:34
Those are their remaining home games.
35:36
They have to go away to Portland, take on the Thorns who
35:39
are going to be locked in a playoff battle, I'm sure
35:41
jockeying for position late in the season.
35:43
Then they go to Houston, take on the dash and then their final
35:46
Rd. match is against the Washington Spirit.
35:49
So I think that's enough for your boy to maybe call it a
35:53
night. With regard to maybe Chicago
35:55
being in this. I know they've got Mallory
35:56
Swanson, but you mentioned the stop injury.
35:59
Listen, they are not quite, you know, USW and T listen, they
36:02
are. But I mean, there's there's a
36:04
lot of issues kind of all over the park.
36:06
I think for Chicago, I am excited about them longer term.
36:10
Obviously Lewd Mila could come in and make a splash here as
36:13
well, kind of change things up. But I think it's going to be an
36:16
absolute dogfight. So I'm with you on racing
36:19
Louisville. I want to give the Seattle rain
36:21
a special hat tip. But maybe the rain are last
36:24
season's Orlando Pride finish real strong, just a smidge
36:28
outside of the playoffs. I'm going to put Bay FC in
36:30
there. And this is a pic based on
36:33
Rachel Kundanagi, based on a seaside Oshawa, based on Abby
36:38
Dahl camper. Like let's I like, I like what
36:40
they're doing. And I think they survived a
36:43
really, really rough stretch. You know, not only team wise,
36:46
they survived a bunch of injuries, 11 losses.
36:49
There's some there's some else still in a playoff spot.
36:53
And I kind of like that team to maybe start to continue to
36:56
develop a little bit more rhythm.
36:58
I want to put a little take chip on them making a little bit of
37:00
noise heading into the playoffs here.
37:02
I love it good for you for having more conviction than me.
37:06
I see I totally I kneecapped myself.
37:09
I can't even take credit. So if our you know if John and
37:13
Luis from loud and proud of or land or like grandson on our
37:15
show months ago that Baywood could make the playoffs, I can't
37:18
even really take a full victory lap for it.
37:21
Shame on me. You know, we opened the door for
37:23
a year, buddy, to kind of like double down on it and you know,
37:26
you just, you grabbed your chips back and you pulled them back
37:29
into the into the pile. It's just 3031 goals allowed in
37:33
18 matches. Is is tricky?
37:35
That's ancient history bro. Why are you talking about old
37:39
shit now? That's fair.
37:40
That's fine. All right, so we will see.
37:43
We both like Louisville to make the playoffs.
37:45
Grant, you've got Chicago in one of those final six spots.
37:48
I've got Bay FC lot of football to be played.
37:50
We're going to keep tracking this.
37:51
No Twitter poll necessary. We're just going to let the the
37:53
final standings kind of see see where we're at.
37:56
I mean, it's a kind of rewind all the way back to our tasty
37:58
bets pod days. It could be that none of the
38:01
three or four teams that we mentioned make the playoffs at
38:03
all and it ends up being Seattle and I don't know, Angel City,
38:06
maybe that'd be that'd be pretty fitting.
38:08
That'd be very tasty. Bets pod of us.
38:10
I wouldn't be totally surprised by that.
38:12
But you know what? I think our predictions in this
38:15
podcast work out a hell of a lot better than than our foray into
38:18
gambling. I would agree with that.
38:21
All right, quick programming reminder, we will be back next
38:24
week after the Champions League draw.
38:26
So I think we're going to know who the 24 teams are that are
38:29
going to get whittled down to 12 that will join those four big
38:32
dogs in the group stage of the Champions League.
38:34
Shit is really warming up. Shout out to Friend of the Pod
38:38
at Blossom 996 on YouTube who requested that we do a live
38:41
stream when the draws are made. Appreciate you, Blossom.
38:44
We both got day jobs. That might be a little bit of a
38:46
stretch, but we'll be back very, very soon thereafter with the
38:49
show. I don't know, Who knows, maybe
38:51
because he Grant. Yeah, wheels, wheels are turning
38:53
on your face. Maybe we'll see if we can make
38:54
that happen. But no worries.
38:56
We'll be back very, very, very soon after the draw.
38:58
Talk about those 12 matches and pretty much just get you fired
39:02
up. So obviously you already know
39:03
the ITC will be your home for the UFO Women's Champions League
39:08
for the rest of this NWSL season and for pretty much anything
39:11
that might happen with the US Women's National Team or Lily
39:13
Johannes or all the things that we like to talk about.
39:16
This is a podcast that is a lot of different podcasts.
39:19
So you might ask yourself, is this a learning podcast?
39:22
Yes, it is. Is this an SK Braun podcast?
39:25
Yes, it is. Is it a Croix Bethune podcast?
39:28
Yes, it. Is absolutely.
39:29
Is it a Lily Johannes podcast? Of course it is.
39:31
So yeah, depending on where we are week to week, we can be your
39:35
new source on various very niche items, but we'll come through
39:39
for you in those occasions. 1000% we will absolutely be here
39:43
and obviously shout out to Blossom and we had a, a bunch of
39:46
people chiming in this week, YouTube, Twitter.
39:48
I mean, the community was very, very, very active.
39:52
Anybody that you want to shout out in particular?
39:53
The old gang was getting back together now that we're going
39:56
back into the into the UA for Women's Champions League.
39:58
Very exciting. Vespa Benfica super supporter.
40:02
Great to see you again. Thanks for coming back MLS
40:06
architect. You already know what time it
40:07
is. Dropping knowledge in the
40:08
YouTube comments. Our senior Spain correspondent,
40:12
MLS architect Iron Ghazi Stan always holding us down on
40:15
Twitter, gave me the heads up on Jordan Bugs talent weeks ago
40:19
when she signed with the club. So Iron Ghazi, Stan, I would say
40:23
one of the foremost knowers of ball.
40:25
I would shout out Carlo Wilson on YouTube.
40:28
Thank you for rocking with us, Carlos, hanging out with us all
40:31
the way from Latrobe, PA. So Carlo, you are always
40:35
welcome. Please tip and Arnold Palmer tip
40:38
a rolling rock with us anytime. You're always welcome here.
40:41
Thanks for checking us out and I got to say, especially excited
40:45
to welcome back the Brown Battalion board.
40:48
Morton, Simon, thanks for checking in with us again, pals.
40:52
Hope you're all doing well and I'm very excited that we get to
40:55
talk about a little UEFA Women's Champions League with you again.
40:58
Absolutely. I mean, full force this past
41:00
week. Very, very heartwarming to see
41:02
and it's great. I mean, stretch run into BSL
41:05
Champions League, just getting, I mean, like we've got months of
41:07
Champions League out of us. Like, I mean, I'm still pretty
41:09
giddy about it. Awesome.
41:11
All right, man, NWSL match week 18.
41:14
I think we did it. Anything else you want to hit
41:16
before we get out? Of here, I think that's largely
41:18
it. I mean, I think you made one
41:20
quick reference to it in terms of which direction the arrow is
41:24
pointing for the Kansas City Current.
41:26
I think that might be a topic for another show.
41:28
But other than that, I think we covered everything.
41:30
I love it. Yeah.
41:31
I mean, if we want to get to some quick Arrow talk, Casey
41:34
Current, maybe arrow facing down.
41:36
They take on the Utah Royals, whose arrow very much facing
41:40
upward. That's going to be a banger.
41:41
The match week 19. So stick around, hang out with
41:44
us for that as well. All right, man, I think we did
41:46
it. There's been another episode of
41:47
the Into the Channel podcast. A sincere thank you.
41:49
Thank you. Thank you for watching,
41:50
listening, following, liking, subscribing, dusting off your
41:53
keyboard to rejoin us Brom Battalion Champions League
41:57
crowd. You already know what time it
41:58
is. Remember to like if you liked
41:59
and subscribe or follow it into the channel, YouTube, Spotify,
42:02
Apple podcast, wherever you like to watch or listen.
42:04
Leave us a review over your favorite podcast app, links to
42:06
all of our socials in the show notes of this episode.
42:09
And a big thank you to my coast as well, Mr. Grant Angle for
42:12
being the Rachel Kudanagi to Maya Seesaw Oshawala.
42:16
I appreciate you bro. Likewise, buddy, you know what,
42:19
even when we do start slow, whether if it's just in one show
42:22
or maybe people could argue, maybe the first couple shows
42:25
when we we first got this thing started, maybe we started slow.
42:28
You already knew we were going to get things on track.
42:30
We couldn't do it without everybody always rocking with
42:33
us. So thank you for watching and we
42:35
will talk to you next time.