Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / NWSL CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW: Washington Spirit v Gotham FC | RECAPS: Orlando v Gotham Spirit v Thorns

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NWSL CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW: Washington Spirit v Gotham FC | RECAPS: Orlando v Gotham Spirit v Thorns · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:04
OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast primarily about women's
0:10
football. I'm your host Dino de Suspitis
0:12
and as always, I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Angle.
0:17
What's up, man? I'm feeling fantastic buddy.
0:22
See any good football games this weekend?
0:25
Saw a couple. Saw a couple, saw a couple.
0:28
Yeah, I saw some during the week last week.
0:29
It's been a lot of a lot of good football games happening here
0:33
recently, but the two this weekend cannot wait to chop
0:36
these up. Yes, a couple of heaters in the
0:40
NWSL semi finals. Yeah man, they they absolutely
0:47
delivered. Ready to get into it with you?
0:50
Well, if you, if you followed my predictions from last week, you
0:54
went over 2 apologies on that. So I got both of them wrong.
0:58
It's not going to. So anywhere we start, we'll
1:01
start where after one of my my incorrect predictions, I'm going
1:06
to kick it right back to you ticky Tacka style, Mr. Grant
1:09
angle. Where are we going to get
1:10
started? Let's get started with a
1:12
beverage. Let's go to celebrate
1:16
championship beverage. Exactly.
1:20
If I can, if I can work this beverage.
1:22
What's going on here? See, I'm not.
1:25
I got a round into championship form here.
1:27
It's all right. Cheers to you.
1:29
Cheers to football. Cheers to the Washington Spirit
1:35
and Gotham FC. As the league has told us, 2
1:39
bitter rivals, 2 fierce rivals as they were trying to make that
1:43
a thing during champion, during rivalry week when it was Gotham
1:47
and Washington were rivals, Orlando Pride and Racing
1:50
Louisville were rivals because they both were purple.
1:53
It's very blood rivals. Purple versus lavender.
1:59
The stinks don't get any higher than that, but for the purposes
2:02
of this show, let us start with Saturday's match.
2:06
Washington Spirit to Portland Thorns Football Club No.
2:13
Lot of places we can start with this one.
2:14
I want to start in the midfield because obviously we talked a
2:18
ton this year about Portland Thorns midfield, our Midfielder
2:22
of the year, our M4A, Olivia Moultrie, you know, very much
2:27
leading spearheading that midfield in this one.
2:31
That Portland midfield got way out midfielded by that
2:34
Washington midfield, you know, Kroy, Hal Hirschfeld, Lacey
2:39
Santos and what I love too. Everybody was getting involved,
2:43
whether it was like players on the wings, Kowasi Cantore or
2:47
Rebecca Bernal would run up and back and like it.
2:49
Just the middle of the park was such a chaotic, frenetic place
2:54
where Portland just could not get comfortable.
2:57
And it was a little, a little jarring to see, to see, to see
3:01
them kind of get knocked on their heels in that part of the
3:04
park. I mean, it makes me wonder, you
3:08
know, if they're just a really tough match up.
3:12
You know, like, I've, I've mentioned it a bunch of times
3:16
like that August, I think I want to say it was like August 3rd,
3:18
whatever the first match was out of the international break, it
3:21
felt like there was a lot of that in that match.
3:23
Now, the Thorns were able to generate better chances in that
3:26
match than they were this weekend.
3:30
And I don't even think the crazy part about it was, yeah, like
3:33
Moultrie wasn't wasn't super effective.
3:36
Obviously really the Spirit were able to limit her, but I don't
3:42
think they played terrible either.
3:43
Like, Coffee wasn't bad like she was.
3:45
She still did like some of her disruptive defensive stuff.
3:50
You know, Moultrie was able to to move around a little bit, but
3:53
definitely wasn't a match to write home about.
3:56
Jesse Fleming had some moments where, you know, she was getting
3:59
into some dangerous areas, but then there were those others,
4:03
you know, those other like several minutes of time that you
4:06
and I have talked about where it's like, Oh yeah, Fleming's on
4:08
the field. And so I just if you just get
4:11
enough of that across the match and you know, the combination of
4:16
spirits attackers and spirits midfield and and rose quasi just
4:20
running at Portland's defenders, I would say the midfield got out
4:25
midfield it for Portland, but I think Portland's defenders had a
4:29
pretty rough go of it too. I mean, going to get I mean,
4:35
let's talk about Rose Quasi, because now she's been mentioned
4:37
six or seven times already to this point and was just a player
4:41
that was on a different planet in this match up.
4:45
I mean, you know, her chemistry with gift Monday is quickly, I
4:52
don't know it. It's sort of like nudging into
4:54
LeBron wade territory. I I put Montana rice in my
4:57
notes. I mean, I think they just are on
4:59
a wavelength where, you know, we saw Kowasi last week, I'm sorry,
5:04
last season, you know, have a ton of energy, get involved in
5:09
the match in a in a bunch of different ways.
5:11
And I don't want to say not really find the right outlet,
5:14
but for whatever reason, gift Monday is just the perfect
5:17
counterweight to her. You know, she can run with
5:20
Kowasi. They just have a really sharp
5:26
eye for the angles. Like they just know how to like
5:31
cut in or around or behind the defense or through a defense.
5:34
And it just seems like the defenders are always like, I
5:37
don't know, head spinning a little bit.
5:40
And the goal in this one was was awesome.
5:42
And I think we just kind of joked about it last week and
5:45
leading up to to to the semifinal.
5:48
The chemistry that they've been developing has been is really
5:51
something special. Just so so just to see that goal
5:54
happen. I mean, you know, quasi an
5:58
unbelievable play. I mean, I I wrote in my notes
6:01
for for for yet another sports analogy.
6:03
I'm like shades of Bo Jackson on that one.
6:05
I'm really having trouble putting that moment into words.
6:09
I mean, Hirschfeld a nothing clearance on a corner that comes
6:13
in and that nothing clearance because Rose Grossi, Rose Grossi
6:17
going 850 yards roughly up the right hand side and and
6:21
basically separating themselves from Portland in this match,
6:26
this the single. Touch to like really get the
6:28
breakaway going of like, oh, I got to keep it in play and I
6:32
just got to knock it forward and then it's a foot race.
6:35
And Gee, I wonder who's going to win that foot race.
6:39
Yeah, I mean, she's she's absolutely incredible.
6:41
The move to you know, right wing back is a is a stroke of genius
6:46
by Gonzales. I think there were a lot of a
6:49
lot of matches last year where you would have Monday and Kawasi
6:53
as your, you know, right and left wingers when when Trinity
6:58
Rodman was battling injury, obviously, or maybe Monday was
7:02
played in the middle more. Again, off the top of my head
7:05
from last year, not that important, but Kawasi clearly
7:09
taking a big step in the right direction.
7:14
Off the top of your head and sorry to make you take a quiz
7:17
here or ask you to take a quiz here.
7:19
How old do you? How old do you think Rose Quasi
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is? I mean, she plays like a 2526
7:27
year old player. This is a good one because I
7:29
don't know. I don't know the answer. 23
7:31
Let's go. So you're not, So you're not far
7:34
off, but she still really kind of has a bit of a walk to get
7:39
into her absolute prime. And she's already looking this
7:42
good, having switched positions, kind of moving around on the
7:45
field. You know, they're, they
7:48
basically just found a new spot for her and to your point, found
7:53
a new spot for her where she's excelling in her chemistry with
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another excellent player. Yeah, I mean, there's pretty
8:02
much nothing she can't pursue, you know, which is great.
8:06
Like she could run after everything she could.
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And, you know, she loves to kind of like try those, you know,
8:11
they're not really risky balls, but they're, they're a little
8:14
bit audacious, you know, of passes.
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And she just like, I'm going to, I'm going to slam that one
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through this little lane here and see what we can get.
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But she's just playing really, really great as a distributor.
8:26
The, the, the move to wingback that you called out is just,
8:31
it's so it's such a great call because one of the things that
8:34
we were talking about the last few weeks is like so many
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players, we rattle off 8 or 9 players like right, well, you
8:39
can only fit 5 or 6, you know, in, in those attacking spots.
8:43
What do you do exactly? And credit to Gonzalez, I think
8:46
he figured it out, you know, with flying colours.
8:49
Wanted to give Monday another shout out as well on on that
8:54
goal. It's funny because Monday
8:59
recognizes that Quasi is on, right?
9:02
She's got a break. She's like, OK, there's
9:03
something here GIF Monday hits it and she's just flying up the
9:08
field, catches up to Quasi and I'm like, look, I mean Monday's
9:12
got some wheels and then she hits 5th gear.
9:15
Then then there's another gear. You know, once when she realized
9:18
that the ball is coming across, I'm like, Oh my God, just ran so
9:23
fast that like almost outran the ball and then the the ball ends
9:27
up being a little bit behind her because she like kind of outruns
9:30
it. Even though when it was played,
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it was played perfectly. Just a, a, a, a tremendous, A
9:36
tremendous display of like athleticism and just opportunism
9:40
at the right moment. And then and then at that
9:42
moment, kind of felt like it was going to be an uphill batter for
9:46
Portland getting back into it. Yeah, surely.
9:49
I mean, you know, they're having a hard time, you know, kind of
9:52
generating any really good chances, any chances that I felt
9:56
like we're we're going to really, really test Aubrey
9:59
Kingsbury. I'm glad you use the term like
10:02
opportunism and that that general idea of gift money being
10:06
opportunistic in that moment. Criticy of our pals at Fat Mob.
10:10
She had the fewest touches 31 of any outfield player who played
10:16
90 minutes with 31 touches. And let me tell you, one of
10:21
those touches, to your point, was the decisive 1.
10:25
So she didn't need that many, you know, I, I just think this
10:31
team is, is really, they look like they're cresting at the, at
10:34
the exact right moment. And I understand like in sports,
10:37
you, you have a cup or you have a playoffs type situation and
10:42
the teams that make the final, it's, it's usually easy to say,
10:46
Oh, well, they're peaking at the right time because they just won
10:48
a couple games to get to the final.
10:50
But their form just looks different right now.
10:54
It's it's been ascending, you know, there's always, you have
10:57
the peaks and valleys or whatever.
10:58
But I think they're doing the thing that you and I talked
11:01
about months ago where they're really kind of getting it
11:04
together at the exact right time.
11:07
I had the same thought. I'm glad you brought this up.
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And I don't think it's confirmation bias because 4 NWSL
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teams played ball this weekend and only one of them feels like
11:17
they're peaking at the right time from what we saw.
11:20
And that's the spirit. And what makes it even more
11:24
valid is we spend a lot of time this season talking about all
11:28
right, well, the spirit, what's wrong with them?
11:30
Like, why why don't they look awesome?
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Why aren't they awesome? You know, like, why are they
11:35
losing this weird Rd. match? Or, you know, why are they
11:37
struggling against, you know, whoever Utah or Chicago or
11:40
whatever, and then you watch them in this match, they look
11:45
unbelievable, like they look fast.
11:48
They look instinctive. When they wanted the ball back,
11:52
they got the ball back It it just looks completely night and
11:56
day. And you know, I'll I'll give
11:58
Gonzalez another shout too, because obviously Cantore's
12:01
looked, you know, really good since coming over.
12:03
She hits the post in this one like a perfectly, you know, a
12:09
perfect setup up top. If Gonzalez wants to move Rodman
12:12
in and Cantore out, it's pretty much like that's the only move
12:16
that you can get away with that move and leave everything else
12:19
untouched because they can. Like, I think he kind of figured
12:22
out where the pieces go. And this spirit side simply has
12:27
not looked. I don't know.
12:29
For me, I didn't I haven't watched every.
12:31
I watched most spirit minutes, I'll say this season, but I
12:33
haven't watched, but I haven't seen them get anywhere near this
12:39
level of, you know, defensive intensity, win the ball back.
12:44
The passes were crisp. They were thoughtful.
12:49
You know, they, you know, like the way the, the, the, the way
12:52
the players were moving. I, I jotted down Rebecca Bernal
12:55
specifically because you see her movement where she gets
13:01
involved, how quickly she can wheel back to her spot on the
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back line and how the rotations fill the space behind her that
13:09
allow Bernal to move up or Tara McKeon to go up field.
13:13
Did you hear? Did you know Tara McKeon was a
13:14
striker at some point? I don't know if you heard that,
13:16
but. I've never heard it.
13:18
Yeah, but I mean, shout out to that Washington back line,
13:22
Wiesner, Esme Mori on the other side, because the rotation just
13:25
made it so that it didn't matter.
13:28
Anybody can go anywhere. And everybody else just filled,
13:31
you know, like the the like, whatever gap was there for a
13:33
second just completely shut. And it was just beautiful to
13:37
watch. The movement was awesome. 100%
13:40
I'm glad you bring up Rebecca Bernal When Washington Spirit
13:44
played at Lumen Field in lovely Seattle, WA against Seattle Rain
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Football Club when I was talking to Laura Harvey post match, it
13:54
was a Washington Spirit victory if I recall correctly.
13:58
And I thought Rebecca Bernal was looked like the best player on
14:04
the field. And before I got the opportunity
14:06
to ask a question to Laura Harvey, she was asking and she
14:09
was answering another question and said Bernal was the best
14:13
player on the field in the first half.
14:14
And I was like, OK, but I my eyes were not deceiving me.
14:18
Again, courtesy of our pals over at Fat Mob.
14:21
She completed 97% of her passes in this match, 32 for 33.
14:26
She's a, she's a genius. And then you, you, you put her
14:30
on the back line with, with Mickey Own and Esme Morgan, you
14:36
know, it's a combination of toughness, smarts and skill that
14:41
just makes them super hard to beat.
14:42
Oh, and if if you get past them, all you got to do is beat Aubrey
14:46
Kingsbury, the 2021 NWSL Championship MVP.
14:53
Another word that I would use to describe those three defenders,
14:56
Bernal McKeon and Esme Morgan, just there's straight up
15:01
electricity running through all three of those players.
15:03
Like all three of them just look like they're I mean like just
15:08
supercharged. I mean it it great to watch
15:12
super athletic super athletes and the connectivity is awesome.
15:17
Last week. No, on this one, Cory Bethune,
15:20
who I thought, you know, didn't have a great game, you know,
15:23
against Louisville. And then I I also caught myself
15:26
thinking about that Emma Sears strike against Louisville, like
15:29
how close, I mean, Washington might end up lifting the trophy
15:33
and they might have also ended up being 6 inches away from
15:36
being eliminated after, you know, one playoff match up.
15:39
I mean, who knows? It's the sport's just
15:41
unbelievable. But Corey Bethune, who I thought
15:44
kind of took a back seat in the Louisville match, the complete
15:47
opposite in this one, leads the match in shots, leads the match
15:51
in chances created, you know, gets that big take away.
15:56
And it was just kind of like a, you know, I mean, I always like
15:59
bring basketball parlance to it, but it it's a kind of like when
16:03
when there's a steal happens and you very quickly turn around and
16:06
just throw it out of the loop, you know, because somebody's
16:08
like streaking to the rim, you know, and it's like an immediate
16:11
like go up and get it kind of play.
16:13
That was like a real go up and get it kind of moment from Corey
16:15
Bethune after last week. I thought I thought was great.
16:19
And you could see her super active from early.
16:21
She took a shot, got close, you know, gestures to the crowd is
16:26
like we she was just very, very, very locked into this one and
16:29
was like kind of like the fuel for, you know, that midfield
16:32
takeover that I was talking about at the very top.
16:35
Yeah, and that's that's terrifying.
16:37
That should be terrifying for opponents because just because
16:40
of her intelligence and then her ability to place passes in front
16:46
of her running mates that are just perfectly weighted, that
16:50
are extremely clever, and then she can do, you know, she can
16:54
score too. You got a feel for Sam Hiatt in
16:59
that moment? It's a horrendous giveaway.
17:03
And the the sub I think, was already planned.
17:07
So if you're Sam Hiatt, you have the terrible giveaway.
17:12
Bethune makes the right touch to get around Arnold and basically
17:16
secure the match. Then you get subbed off and your
17:19
season is over. So super, super bummer for Sam
17:23
Hiatt. You hate to see that happen to
17:24
any athlete. Obviously she's a good player
17:26
though. She'll she'll be back.
17:28
But the Washington Spirit marches on, and they March on to
17:32
the NWSL Championship. I can't believe it.
17:38
I got to go back and listen to see who I picked to to show up
17:41
in the final. Not sure if it was Washington,
17:42
but I had Orlando win the whole thing and had Washington winning
17:45
the shield. But let's talk about that of the
17:47
match up. A big surprise.
17:50
I I would say in terms of the final score line.
17:54
I mean, I, I don't know that Orlando was much better than
17:58
Gotham today, but I think they were better.
18:00
You know, you look at the XG differential 1.15 to 0.17, so
18:05
roughly a one XG, you know, separates the two, one real G
18:11
separates the two only it's not in the same direction.
18:15
So a little bit unfortunate if you're Orlando from that
18:17
standpoint. Orlando, you know, outshoots,
18:19
you know, Gotham in this one. Gotham slight edge in
18:21
possession, little bit crisper with their passing.
18:25
Just a pretty cagey match. I mean, I think like, you know,
18:28
Gotham got off to a really good start.
18:30
I think Orlando wrestled the way control for most of the rest of
18:34
the first half. Gotham gets cooking again in the
18:37
second-half. You know, as it starts to take
18:40
down, they start to crank up the pressure a little bit.
18:42
I thought Mandy Freeman coming into the game provided Gotham
18:45
with like a really nice jolt. But what what was your read on
18:49
the, you know, pre goal? Obviously, you know, this one
18:51
gets decided super late, but prior to that the match proper.
18:57
What was your read on on these two teams battling it out?
19:01
I liked, I like the physicality from both teams.
19:05
They were, they both clearly kind of have that in their DNA
19:09
of like, OK, we're you're going to feel us while we're out
19:12
there. We're going to make things
19:14
difficult on you. I was really surprised.
19:17
And I thought our friend of the show, Leanne Sanderson was also
19:22
rightfully like wondering, you know, it's not like we're always
19:24
out here calling for yellow cards or whatever.
19:27
But that Raffaele fowl on on Katrin Burger, like around the
19:31
20 minute mark, cross comes in, Burger catches it and Raffaele
19:36
fowls her, like clearly fowls her.
19:39
And usually that's a yellow card when you do that on the keeper
19:41
doesn't get called. Ref keeps it in his pocket.
19:45
And, you know, I, I think, I think the ref did a good job of,
19:53
of making sure and, and pardon me, I, I think I said the ref
19:55
keeps it in his pocket. Referee in this match was Alyssa
19:58
Pennington, who I thought called a, a pretty good match down down
20:01
the middle. I, I like that she let him play
20:05
a little bit. These two teams are going to be
20:08
physical with each other. And you know, we, we talked
20:11
about, I had to, I had to break out the Rudy Tom Johnovich quote
20:15
last time. Never underestimate the heart of
20:17
a champion. The Bats just wanted to make
20:20
sure in this in this one, they kind of raised their hand and be
20:22
like, hey buddy, remember 2023 we got some champions on this
20:26
team as well. Yeah, I mean, I think and it's
20:31
not just 2023, you know, you look at some of those US and
20:34
national team players, you look at some of those Brazilian
20:37
players, you look at those some of those Spanish players.
20:40
I mean there's there's champions up and down.
20:42
I mean the the entire pitch was probably littered with players
20:45
with like recent 12/18/24 months championship experience.
20:51
Jess Carter, European champion. Unbelievable.
20:54
Yeah, I mean, on Kutchenberger, you could think about what she
20:56
does in the EUR, like right there, you know, didn't win,
21:00
didn't win any hardware, but like right at that level, tons
21:03
of championship football. This this one was I, I don't
21:08
want to say a great match, but there was so many close calls,
21:12
like watching Marta trying to work out that Gotham defense,
21:16
trying to find angles. You know, I, I felt really bad
21:20
for Jackie Ovaia in this one who got close like, you know,
21:26
painfully close a couple times. And you know, nobody's going to
21:30
feel worse about it than Ovaia because you can just see what
21:33
kind of player she is and you can see where she was at and she
21:36
fought all the way through the match.
21:37
You know, even I think she was one that drew that foul at the
21:40
very end of the match. It also be that almost be an
21:43
equalizer but super hard fought, you know, match.
21:48
And and I just kind of had the feeling that it was going to
21:52
come down to a singular special play.
21:55
And even though I thought coming into it, Orlando was primed to
21:59
kind of have the advantage if it was going to be a special play
22:05
very late kind of moment that was going to decide this one.
22:08
You've got Marta on one side and then you've got 234 really good
22:13
options maybe for a finish like that on the Gotham side.
22:17
And that's kind of end up where we had.
22:18
That's where we ended up. Yeah.
22:21
And I think, I mean, to your point, like if you needed a
22:23
special moment from Orlando, like obviously the number one
22:29
most likely option for that would be Marta.
22:32
But to your point, though, Ovaya is a spectacular player.
22:35
Like she could provide that. Hayley Mccutchen, AKA Hayley
22:39
Mcclutchen has done it in the in the playoffs before.
22:44
And you know, and we know Angelina's capable of those
22:47
things like, so there are options on on both sides.
22:50
I think it when we did our prediction, I predicted extra
22:54
time, Marta winning it in extra time, Orlando winning one NIL,
23:00
obviously. So this it's my it's my turn to
23:02
say I got a prediction wrong. But yeah, I mean, they're just
23:07
there wasn't a lot between these two squads.
23:11
And I think we kind of knew that coming in.
23:12
I know we both picked Orlando. You know, we thought it would
23:17
help that they were at home. But you know, they just like
23:22
Rose Lavelle had her, had her moments in there, obviously
23:25
didn't didn't lead to a goal. But when it when it comes down
23:30
to it, like you just have like these these singular moments
23:33
like Jaden Shaw puts in a brilliant, a brilliant set piece
23:38
free kick. And Morehouse just she has to
23:41
freeze because it looks like the ball's going to get tapped, you
23:45
know, kind of going to Morehouse's right.
23:47
And she just has to she has to stay there.
23:49
And I think it was it I I think it was purse.
23:52
Purse doesn't get make contact with it.
23:55
Yeah, or. It was.
23:57
Yeah, and, and, and the ball goes and the ball goes in like
24:00
side net right around there. So, you know, those are like the
24:04
fine margins that we are going to deal with with these two
24:07
sides. And you know, I I mean, in our
24:10
hearts did the right team win? I don't, I don't think so.
24:14
I think we probably agree on that.
24:16
You pointed out some of the stats as well.
24:18
I feel terrible for our pals like Ad Astra and everything.
24:20
Everybody who, you know, is rooting for the pride over
24:23
there, but they'll be back. So, you know, though I hear
24:27
they're going to get a player named Barbara Banda back next
24:30
season. So they'll have a lot more to
24:32
say in 2026. Yeah.
24:35
She's pretty good, I think. So I had a terrible thought.
24:40
I mean, it depends, depends on what side of your what side you
24:44
look at it from. Because if you're looking at my
24:48
performance today from a how was his, how, how are his objective
24:53
journalism skills? Maybe I score highly there, but
24:56
as I was watching this one nil, nil down the stretch, it's like
25:01
70th minute, 75th minute. And you know, I love Orlando.
25:04
I love the Orlando Pride and I was I was really, really looking
25:07
forward to seeing some of the old gang this this week in San
25:11
Jose. But right around the 70th minute
25:15
I looked at that Gotham roster. I was like, damn it, I'd be
25:18
interested to go talk to those players next week and see them
25:22
in the final. You know, a, a handful of US
25:26
possession team players on one side, a handful on the other.
25:29
And then just see kind of like a, a star-studded, you know,
25:32
kind of like final. And then I was just shook it
25:35
off. I'm like, no, no, no, we, we got
25:37
to we got to win this. We got to, you know, defend our
25:40
title. But yeah, a very conflicting
25:42
moment for your boy. I I just want to, I'll shout our
25:47
pal out again at Astra. I never had those doubts.
25:49
I wanted to see Orlando Pride win the entire time, but you
25:55
know, but the Gotham FC, they do have a lot of players.
25:58
They passed my test of looking at the roster and going.
26:01
They got a lot of they got a lot of good players.
26:03
So I'm I'm still excited for the final for a lot of our Internet
26:08
pals who were like, you know, asking us, did you get your
26:11
credential yet? Hope telling us they hope we get
26:14
our credential. The NWSL came through.
26:17
Do you know de Cespedes and Grant Angle are going to be live
26:20
and in person in lovely San Jose, CA for the NWSL
26:26
Championship, which we interchange and call the final
26:29
because it is a final, but it's also, but, you know, respect to
26:32
the league. It is called the NWSL
26:33
Championship. Yeah, well.
26:35
That's next weekend. Let's let's let's keep talking
26:37
about this weekend where the semi championships went down and
26:41
got no, I want to talk about when you talk about those those
26:45
star, that's the star-studded Gotham players.
26:48
One in particular that I want to zoom in on a little bit a little
26:52
bit further. Who plays in goal on
26:55
Kocherberger? Come on, who?
26:59
I mean, you talk about moments, talk about moments.
27:02
You know, you get the goal at 90 plus.
27:04
What is it 5 or 6 for Jaden Shaw?
27:06
I think 90 plus. Five.
27:07
Yeah. 90 + 7. Sorry, 90 + 7.
27:10
Jeez. 90 + 7 and then I think this one happens 90 + 9 maybe.
27:17
And you could just see, I think Ovaya draws the foul.
27:21
This one's way, way deeper than where Shaw was taking hers from.
27:25
But you can see Marta completely locked in.
27:27
I think she's yelling at Angelina at one point.
27:29
Then she's yelling at the refs and then the refs are yelling at
27:31
Roosevelt and I think Lily reel to back up or I don't know.
27:34
It was it was a it was a really wild scene that you see Marta
27:36
take a deep breath. You know, shit.
27:39
And I'm and at that point I'm like, oh shit, this is going to
27:41
be the greatest ball I think I've ever go into the area.
27:45
And fuck if it wasn't an amazing ball into the area that gets
27:50
headed by O Yani. And like all of the energy that
27:55
Marta put on the ball just bounces right off O Yani and
27:59
just continues on into the back corner, you know, of the net.
28:03
And, you know, we we always joke about, you know, you and I about
28:08
having the eye. Oh, I I could see.
28:10
I could see that that one was, you know, a little bit off.
28:13
I could see that that one was going in.
28:14
I thought that was going in. I was like, I mean.
28:17
And then, yeah. And then?
28:19
You know, just from the angle too, it's like, you know, it's
28:21
like right halfway line, you're looking right at the ball.
28:24
And then you could just see burgers spring, you know, out to
28:28
her right through the air and just, you know, dispense of it
28:34
and it's over, you know, and then you see her kind of grab
28:36
her knee and like, I'm just like, what the whole that might
28:40
have been everything she had. You know, like, you know, she's
28:42
like, but this is what she does. She just makes these
28:45
championship saves in these massive, massive, massive
28:49
moments. And I don't want to get ahead of
28:51
myself. We'll talk about the final here
28:52
in a couple minutes, but it's hard not to think about the
28:55
final be like, damn, is somebody going to beat her in that final?
28:58
Like, can somebody beat her in that final?
29:00
Because I mean, she's, she's just on a different level right
29:03
now. I mean, it was it was a double
29:07
yell moment. I'm total, I'm 100% with you.
29:10
You know, Yanni plays the header.
29:13
I I like, I perk up and go oh, and then Burger makes the sale
29:19
like Oh my God, like it's like it and it happens in such quick
29:23
succession. I mean, she's falling backwards.
29:26
She basically has to hit it up as she's diving like to get
29:31
enough on the ball. Like how many times do you see a
29:34
keeper in that spot? They get their MIT on it, but
29:38
they're just all they're doing is the the momentum takes it and
29:41
all they're doing is basically just popping it into the top of
29:43
the goal and it still crosses the line.
29:46
So I mean, it's a it's, she still gets a strong enough hand
29:49
on it to bat it away. I mean, she's just unbelievable.
29:53
I mean, we, we remember the performances in the 2024
29:56
Olympics that we're talking about the hardware that she's
29:58
been able to pull down when she's a bronze medalist in the,
30:01
in the Olympics, you know, I mean, she's going to be gunning
30:06
for that trophy. And how many other times have we
30:09
talked about it? Sometimes you just get a keeper
30:11
game and if you know if if the if the keeper looks unstoppable
30:18
it for 90 plus minutes, then you could lose in these kind of
30:22
single game scenarios. And who's more likely to look
30:26
unbeatable for 90 plus minutes? The non Catron burger in this
30:29
league I'm not sure. Anybody, man.
30:32
And I think like just the the poetry of that moment where it's
30:36
like on one end of the ball is Marta and on the end and you
30:40
know, Marta's not the same. You know, it's not the same.
30:43
It's not peak Marta, but in the playoffs, when it's just a
30:47
single moment, I mean, there's no difference between Marta
30:51
today and absolute peak Marta. She could do any possible any
30:54
any conceivable thing that could happen.
30:57
She's she's capable of doing and seeing those two players
31:01
one-on-one end of the ball and then the other on the other.
31:03
And it's like you look at the clock and you're like, what the
31:05
holy shit, this is actually happening.
31:08
I mean, what a moment. And you know, Berger just shout
31:11
out to her like gets it done. I mean, I I I just loved that
31:14
moment. And on a day when Gotham manages
31:17
five shots, one on target, obviously the one, you know,
31:21
Jaden Shaw, one shot, one shot on target, one goal like.
31:26
And and they. They they get out of there with
31:28
a win, you know, like, because even if that one goes an extra
31:32
30, you have to favor Orlando in that extra period, right?
31:38
With the, you know, the rest disadvantage, you know, the
31:42
extra, the extra time last week. And like, you know, I mean, the
31:45
longer it goes, I mean, the, the harder it's going to be for
31:48
Gotham to kind of like, you know, pull one out.
31:51
And I think that that that was a precise moment where the last
31:56
funny moment. I'd like to kind of like, you
31:57
know, break out the dumbbells every now and again when I'm
31:59
watching a match just because I got a little extra energy.
32:02
So, you know, it's hard for me to sit down.
32:05
So, yeah, let me get a little workout in here.
32:07
And right around 90, right around the in the 90s, I'm like,
32:11
all right, this thing's going extra time, you know, and not a
32:13
lot of shots happening. And when the foul gets called,
32:17
you know, and I think, you know, Jen and Leanne were on it,
32:20
they're like, oh, this is bad, this is a bad spot.
32:22
And I was like, you're right, this is a bad spot.
32:25
Like, you know, usually I'm like, right, well, but this one
32:28
I was like way, way. And I was like, oh, this is a
32:31
real, you know, and it, it kind of ruined my work.
32:34
I had to work out through, through the post game.
32:37
Not, not as not as lit here. Yeah, hard to hard to get.
32:41
Yeah, hard to get jacked up for the for during the post match.
32:46
You know, sometimes it's, you know, you got to kick on some,
32:50
you know, I I don't know. I'm not sure.
32:52
I'm not sure. What kind of lifting music are
32:54
you, are you a rap guy when you lift or is it are you turning on
32:57
Deftones or what are you doing here?
32:59
I'm a rap guy. Yeah, yeah.
33:01
Trap. Understand.
33:02
Dirty trap shit, you know, just let's get grimy.
33:06
There we go. I respect it.
33:08
I like, yeah, I I mean I I go, I go back and forth there.
33:11
There are a lot of good clip songs to lift to, but if you
33:14
want to give me some like early 90s Soundgarden, like the really
33:17
like super hard stuff, I can lift like 1.25 my Max if like
33:21
somebody is just like screaming and raging on a guitar at the
33:24
same time. But we digress.
33:26
Speaking of raging. Like a little little rage.
33:28
If we go back to the 90s, I mean, that's, that's a haunting,
33:32
yes. Yes, yeah, yeah, no doubt.
33:35
Put on Rage Against Machine, you might do 1.45 year Max.
33:39
Yeah, no doubt. I'm not so into no doubt harder
33:43
to. Lift to very sunny Orange
33:45
County. Like punk ska music?
33:48
Yes, I will say I could jump up to it.
33:53
There you go, a little double Dutch who was out there double
33:58
Dutching on the field. Wahane looks great coming on at
34:02
halftime. I thought she changed.
34:04
I felt like she kind of changed the complexion for the better.
34:08
It's not like Orlando probably played terrible in the first
34:10
half, but she she was. She was good.
34:13
Corey Dyke was good. She was totally.
34:15
But Oyane. Those crosses, I mean,
34:18
offensively she's she's a very gifted player offensively.
34:21
And I think when she came over, you know, physically I, I don't
34:25
think she was kind of like, I don't know if she was in the
34:27
shape or wasn't, you know, she wasn't in Orlando Pride or end
34:29
to BSL shape probably wouldn't think about everybody talks
34:32
about coming to end to BSL. I was like, oh, like the
34:34
strength conditioning was like a different level.
34:36
So she looked a little bit like that when she came over.
34:38
And now she looks physically like everybody else and her
34:42
crosses are like really dangerous and much needed for
34:48
this Orlando side. She put a couple really, really
34:50
nice ones in there and, you know, it's just tough like down
34:54
the stretch, little, little under personneled.
34:57
But everybody's dealing with that this time of year.
35:02
Can't really take anything away from Gotham.
35:04
But Orlando, I still, I still feel, feel really, you know,
35:08
prideful, no pun intended, about how they played down the
35:11
stretch, too, just because, yeah, you know, they looked, you
35:15
know, the last time they played Gotham, I think.
35:16
Flongus Lammer was in the YouTube comments talking about
35:20
it was like, oh, well, you know, they they smacked them last
35:22
time. And it's like, well, I didn't
35:23
get the chance to respond, but I'll respond here that this was
35:25
a few days after the band injury and they were just an absolute
35:30
mental emotional shell of themselves.
35:32
And like now this team looks completely different.
35:35
This team looked like a team to your point last week that could
35:38
have raised the trophy, could have easily got past Gotham and
35:42
this one just didn't break their way.
35:43
But I want to talk a little bit about the final, you know, so
35:47
Washington, Gotham, not a lot to go on from, from priors from
35:54
this season. Some.
35:57
Similarities I think you know, like little top heavy talent
36:01
wise, you know, got the Spanish coach, you know, got that Acella
36:04
corridor, you know, action you sell it goes to DC right.
36:08
I think it does anyway. Oh yeah, totally.
36:10
What are you? What are you going to?
36:12
Be looking like what sticks out to you this fine.
36:15
Obviously we'll be in the building, so I get to ask you
36:18
this, what's the first thing you're going to be looking for
36:20
when these two teams lock up? I think it's going to be more
36:24
midfield play, my good man. I mean, it's it's my peak
36:28
fascination with Washington spirit.
36:30
And then they're going to be, you know, they're going to go
36:33
against some of the physicality of of Jaylen Howe.
36:38
You know, Jaden Shaw is going to be you know, in there that
36:40
obviously we know she's like an attacking style player.
36:45
Is it is it just is it going to be a track meet?
36:48
Like are you going to have Lavelle and Shaw just trying to
36:52
run by, you know, spirits midfield?
36:56
Are is is you know, Lacey Santos?
36:59
Is she is she going to bring the physicality?
37:01
Will Hal Hirschfeld? I think we could say probably
37:05
more than likely, yes, they will.
37:06
They probably will feel like they'll they'll need to, you
37:10
know, and, and it's what's going to be I think sometimes when you
37:16
have a final or a championship match like this, you can ask
37:20
yourself, OK, who are our players who are going to have
37:23
some, some big question marks who have never kind of played in
37:27
this spot? Well, this Washington Spirit
37:30
team now, obviously Cory Bethune was injured, so she did not
37:33
appear in last year's final, But the rest of the, the majority of
37:37
the rest of the team for Washington Spirit have played in
37:41
a final and played in gigantic matches.
37:44
And then like you said about Gotham FC, you think, you think
37:47
Emily Sonnet is going to be super nervous before the final?
37:51
I think she'll be the right amount of nervous because she's,
37:54
she's lifted the World Cup before.
37:56
She's, she's won a gold medal. They, you know, she's, she
38:00
played in that 2023 final, just not for the bats.
38:02
She played for the losing team. I can't remember who that was.
38:05
It's not important. But the I, you know, I think
38:09
what I'm, what I'm looking for here is I, I think the first
38:14
half hour is going to be awesome.
38:16
I don't think it'll be super cagey.
38:18
I think it's going to be we're ready to go.
38:21
Like each side is going to kind of walk in there and be like,
38:23
we're ready to go win this thing.
38:25
And then the other team's going to be looking at them saying,
38:27
well, we're ready to go win this thing.
38:29
Yeah. I love that and Gotham today,
38:32
got off to a fast start, had some chances early.
38:35
It makes me think about Mitch Perce because it makes me think
38:40
about the early part of the game, but then also like the
38:41
last 15 minutes of the game where Gotham was a little bit
38:48
more patient, I'd say, and a little bit more, you know, I
38:52
think I think that probably like they they developed the proper
38:56
level of respect for that. Orlando defense was like, we're
38:59
not going to zip, you know, zip, zip past his defense.
39:02
Like we're going to have to actually like craft and kind of
39:04
break them down and they start to kind of really focus on that.
39:07
The the attacks got a little bit more intricate, a little longer,
39:10
a little bit more strung out down the stretch.
39:12
It's going to be interesting to see if a player like Mitch
39:16
Purse, you know, can breakthrough, you know, like
39:21
Shaw and Lavelle are are so talented.
39:25
Astaire couldn't really get going today in this one.
39:29
But I mean, even on her worst day, it's going to attract so
39:32
much attention that there's such a tremendous value in that.
39:37
The one thing I'm going to look at, though, is, is Gotham going
39:41
to be able to get shots off today against Orlando?
39:45
A good defense, five shots attempted, Roosevelt with two,
39:51
and you have three other players with a single shot.
39:54
You know, five shots is the number you'll see where where
39:56
when a team is like really painfully overmatched.
39:59
You don't really usually see that in a 5050 kind of coin foot
40:02
match. So we're going to have to see if
40:04
like Gotham can turn possession some of those passes that
40:09
they're able to connect into like legit chances.
40:13
And I mean, that Washington background to be tricky.
40:16
Kingsbury's, you know, she could be aggressive.
40:19
It's not going to be easy. But on the flip side, you know,
40:23
that Gotham back line, you know, Jess Carter, Sonnet
40:27
Kochenberger, we talked about it's not going to be easy that
40:31
way either. So it's it's almost like I'm
40:34
going to be the first thing we'll be looking for is like who
40:36
who's winning the tempo game? Who's winning the field position
40:40
battle? Who's slowly like chipping away
40:44
at like we're starting to like gain.
40:47
You know, we're trying to, we're starting to get deeper and
40:49
deeper, penetrate further and further with this possession,
40:52
with these attacks, because I think that's how the goal is
40:55
going to come. I think it's going to be a
40:57
culmination of good, good offense.
40:59
I don't know that we're going to see somebody just give away a
41:03
goal. Yeah, I think that's fair.
41:06
I think that's certainly possible.
41:08
And then, you know, in in the range of outcomes, we also have
41:13
what if Trinity Rodman produces a a singular moment of magic?
41:18
What if Astaire produces like that, that header that she hit
41:22
in the, I think it was against Portugal in the in the EUR.
41:27
I can't remember if it was a header of it, but it was like
41:29
some kind of like wild spinning touch to open up the scoring for
41:33
Spain. So yeah, I mean, we just get, we
41:37
just get all kinds of possibilities here.
41:40
Can I, can I do some live producing if I may?
41:45
We are going to like we mentioned, we're going to be
41:47
there. We're going to record a.
41:50
Show on Friday and immediately publish it.
41:53
Obviously the final is going to be on Saturday.
41:54
Everybody should listen to that. It'll be all the information you
41:57
could possibly ever hope for. We're going to be at media day,
41:59
we're going to talk to some players, talk to the managers,
42:02
you know, make sure that we're in giving you the most informed
42:05
coverage on this here Internet for this NWSL Championship can.
42:12
How about we wait until we talk to the players, talk to the
42:16
managers and make our predictions on that show so we
42:19
have the full dossier of information?
42:24
See that that's some responsible not only journalism, that's what
42:29
some responsible production from you.
42:33
So that's that's why I appreciate you excellent call.
42:36
We're going to do that. We're going to put put a pin in
42:38
the old prediction, you know, probably good for me.
42:41
Gives me a chance to kind of lick my wounds.
42:43
I'm I'm on, I'm on a icy cold, terribly frigid streak of
42:48
predictions. That's OK.
42:50
We've got, well, you know, like you, everybody knows that the
42:52
the championship slash final counts for I'm going to go Chris
42:56
Bourbon here counts for 30 picks.
42:59
There you go. I like that.
43:01
That that makes sense. Yeah.
43:04
I mean, what? No, what?
43:06
I mean, it's the biggest match. I mean, can we can we can we
43:09
argue that and then you know, what am I gonna like?
43:12
I went one for 2 so I got one more prediction correct And what
43:17
I think I said, I think I said spirit 2 thorns 1 and it was 2
43:22
Nils not not terrible, But yeah, I mean, you know, we're we're
43:30
not here to we're here for the for the great takes, like the
43:33
the predictions, you know, less important.
43:36
I think I cosign that. All right, man.
43:40
Quick episode calendar. As mentioned, the NW Cell
43:44
Championship going on Saturday night.
43:46
Your boys will be in San Jose this week on the ground
43:49
reporting live Champions League. Turns out they're still playing
43:53
that next week your boys are going to be doubly busy.
43:58
Another 9 matchups return for match day four.
44:02
Wednesday and Thursday. We'll be back at some point to
44:05
recap match day 4, so make sure you're subscribed.
44:08
Follow us on socials. As mentioned, end of yourself
44:11
final will be pretty much everywhere there.
44:14
There are things happening this week in San Jose, so there'll be
44:16
a lot happening both on the channel and on our socials.
44:19
So as mentioned, make sure you're locked into those.
44:21
All right, man, massive week of football.
44:24
I think we've properly done it. Is there anything else you want
44:27
to hit before we get out of here?
44:29
No, I think that's it, man, I can't even remember the last
44:33
time we saw each other in person.
44:34
So that's going to be cool. Looking forward to that.
44:38
Obviously first time the ITC has covered a football match in the
44:42
same building together. Looking forward to that as well.
44:45
And then, you know, I mean, if you if you look at like
44:48
star-studded rosters and obviously the the bitter long
44:54
held rivalry between these two clubs, I think we've got
44:57
ourselves in a plus NWSL championship on deck.
45:02
Very excited for it. Yeah, like I said, it's going to
45:05
be star-studded. It's going to be awesome.
45:08
There's going to be moments. I cannot wait.
45:11
Yeah, we'll be in the press box. Should be a ton of fun.
45:14
And yeah, we're just a few days away now, so I'm excited there's
45:17
been another episode of Into the channel.
45:19
Thank you, thank you, thank you for watching, listening, hanging
45:21
out to our end of yourself semi championship weekend episode.
45:25
If you enjoyed the show or love them as well as much as your
45:27
boys do, make sure you kick in with us each and every single
45:29
week. Like subscribe, follow or leave
45:32
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45:34
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45:37
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45:40
greater way support the show. Links to all the above much,
45:42
much more in the description of this episode and a big thing in
45:45
my coast as well. Mr. Grand Angle for now.
45:49
Now we did it for real, man. We we made it to the final.
45:51
We literally made it to the championship.
45:54
We will be there in a few days and nobody I'd rather do it with
45:58
than my guy. You know, I appreciate you row.
46:02
Likewise, buddy, and we couldn't do it without all you watching
46:05
dropping knowledge in the comments.
46:08
We we always appreciate that. Let us know.
46:10
I mean, do people have food recommendations for San Jose?
46:14
I know like I know it's not far from from your neck of the
46:17
woods. I know you're going to have the
46:18
wrecks. Maybe somebody might have like a
46:19
secret spot they could put us on game four.
46:22
Like, if people are going to be around, you know, let us know
46:25
what's you know, who's hanging out, what's happening.
46:29
You know, I'm not the most like, social guy out there.
46:32
So I don't know if I'll be there.
46:33
But if you want to tell us, if you want to invite us somewhere,
46:35
like, you know, we'll see what's going on.
46:36
We'll see what the schedule looks like.
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I don't know. But really the important part is
46:40
the football. I'm looking forward to it and
46:43
I'm looking forward to talking about it with all of you.
46:45
And we will see you all next time.