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NWSL Playoff Preview | Decision Day Recap | Quarterfinal Matchups Set · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:05
OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast Primel about women's
0:10
football. I'm your host Dino de Suspiras
0:12
and as always I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Engel.
0:16
What is up man? I'm feeling fantastic, buddy.
0:19
Decisions were made today, final decisions and at least in terms
0:25
of the regular season. No doubt on this day, decisions
0:29
were made for sure. I guess we're stuck with that
0:31
name. We'll live with it for another
0:33
year. Anyhow, the machinations kind of
0:37
fell into place. We learned some stuff and I
0:40
don't think anything was too surprising.
0:41
But I think one thing that was a pleasant surprise.
0:44
I think today was a little bit more exciting, a little bit more
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drama filled. At least heading into the that
0:50
late slate of matches. I think I was definitely feeling
0:53
some of the jitters, just kind of, you know, not not sure
0:56
exactly how things would shake out.
0:57
I don't know what. What was your take on Decision
0:59
Day? Yeah, I think what there was
1:02
that last like 35 ish minute stretch, I think of of the sixth
1:08
match window where there were just some goals being scored,
1:12
lead changes and you could see the shifting in the table.
1:16
And you know, that's what decision day or Survival Sunday
1:20
or Championship Sunday, whatever you want to call it, that's what
1:23
it's all about. That's right.
1:26
Well, we got our, we got our final table.
1:29
So Congrats to the eight playoff teams that made it through.
1:31
Congrats to everybody that kind of got through this this rugged
1:35
season. But we've got our playoff teams,
1:37
we've got our playoff schedule. That's pretty exciting.
1:40
And yeah, I just kind of want to talk a little bit about what we
1:42
saw today, but really more kind of lean into these 4
1:46
quarterfinal matchups. I think they're all pretty
1:48
intriguing for different reasons, so I'll kick it to you,
1:52
Mr. Grant. I go.
1:53
Where do I get started? Let's get started with a
1:55
beverage after love it. After that much football in one
1:58
day, I know I'm parched. Got a little thirsty around
2:04
these parts. Cheers to you.
2:06
Cheers to you, cheers to the football.
2:08
Like you said, cheers to everybody for making it through
2:12
a 26 match, a very physical, intense season.
2:17
No small accomplishment for anybody to participate through
2:20
all that. But now we're left with 8.
2:24
And so let us get started with Round 4.
2:28
This will be round 3. This will be, this season
2:32
anyway, of the spiritual Into the Channel Derby Orlando Pride
2:38
versus Seattle Rain Football Club this Friday, 5:00 PM
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Pacific Time, the Lord's time zone.
2:44
It's going to be a banger. We'll get we'll, we'll get that.
2:47
We'll run this one back. Obviously, today's match
2:49
finishes it with a draw. And I kind of wrongly, you know,
2:54
boastfully proclaim that Seattle didn't have a chance going into
2:57
this one. I think I think that was proven
2:58
a bit wrong. I think I think I broke a couple
3:01
sweats, especially in that second-half even.
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I mean, right before Carson Pickett's goal, Seattle had a
3:07
really good look and just kind of the ball knocking around.
3:09
I think the second-half, they really got swung into gear and I
3:14
think what we learned with with with today's results and just
3:18
kind of watching the matches as currently constituted these
3:20
teams pretty even. I think that's fair to say in in
3:26
Orlando Pride's current state. Yeah, I'd say they're they're
3:29
pretty even. I had some shades of last year
3:34
when Laura Harvey was often very frustrated and and talked about
3:38
a lack of quality in the final third.
3:41
A couple of those chances that you talked about, there was a
3:43
pass on a set piece from Huerta into Haidema that if Haidema
3:48
would have controlled that, she would have been standing in
3:50
front of, you know, she would have been basically been
3:52
standing at the penalty spot with a free shot on goal, but
3:55
she wasn't able to corral it and it got kicked away from her new
3:59
really a Montesir, Coco Montesir had a had a great run in, was
4:04
played in and was in the penalty area and just the ball gets like
4:07
totally caught up between her feet.
4:09
That chance was snuffed out. Now there was another height of
4:12
my chance at at one point where Emily Sam's just ran up to her
4:16
and took the ball. So, you know, Seattle's always
4:21
going to have, I don't want to sound too pessimistic here.
4:24
Seattle tends to have difficulties finding the back of
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the net. But you know, they finished
4:31
fifth in the table to many people's surprise, including
4:34
mine. And so they, they managed to
4:36
find the net enough times to get that and they and they found the
4:39
equalizer today on decision day to keep that fifth spot.
4:43
Yeah, no doubt. I I had seen those 6 coming to
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the season so it was a little bit off, but you know, Chloe
4:48
can't win them all a. Pretty good prediction I would
4:51
say. Yeah, I think, I mean Seattle
4:54
obviously their their bread and butter defensively, I think they
4:57
they kind of held up pretty strong.
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Orlando got some momentum, especially early in that first
5:02
half, kind of wanted to come out and grab the lead.
5:07
Took a little bit longer than expected.
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But you know, again, they gave they gave it right back a few
5:11
minutes later when Jordan Bug is able to kind of be a little bit
5:15
opportunistic. And I and I, we talked a lot
5:17
about Jordan Bug, obviously in that US women's action team
5:19
window. But she really was kind of like
5:23
creeping around, you know, on these set pieces and, and you
5:26
could just kind of see she had a hunger to kind of get on the end
5:30
of something. And you know, that that was her
5:32
chance and credit to her slotted at home very, very
5:36
professionally, you know, not not very center backy, but a
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great moment for Jordan Bug and and a super result to kind of
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cap off a really, really good season for Seattle.
5:47
If I were better at this, I would tell you the exact player
5:49
who said it to me. I want to say possibly Madison
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Curry had mentioned it. Bug had scored on a set piece
6:00
earlier in the year. And you're 100% right.
6:03
She is always floating around the outside of any set piece,
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whether it's a corner or a free kick.
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And they want that second ball, that ball that might like
6:12
trickle out or even a pass that's played to her.
6:15
They want her right there. And if I remember correctly, I
6:18
want to say it was Madison Curie.
6:20
I think she had said something to the effect of that's where we
6:24
want her because we know she can score from there.
6:26
So it is like a part of their set piece strategy.
6:29
Yep, no, and then we're we're to a tee today.
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Orlando offensively couldn't couldn't really, you know,
6:37
obviously the injury situation gets worse.
6:39
Ali Watt injured in in the in the pregame, unable to kind of
6:43
like participate and you know, it's it's just Slim Piggins for
6:48
Orlando. They really going to have to
6:49
piece together some offense to be able to stay in these games.
6:53
I think Carson Pickett's been really good this season in
6:57
spots, making big plays that finish the extra beat that she
7:02
takes where you see so many young players just, you know,
7:07
reach back and let her, you know, let her RIP.
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You know, you can see Pickett take like 1/3 of a beat just to
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be like, let me just just wait till the ball's a little bit
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lower, a little bit more in the zone and just flushes it
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cleanly. And and again, a player that's
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2324 years old, 22 years old in that spot puts it into the 5th
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row if we're lucky, you know, But but a player as experienced
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as Carson Pickett, just a great player to have in that spot to,
7:36
to be able to make it happen and really give Orlando a result
7:40
that they really needed. Because I mean, that game very
7:42
much in the balance once Orlando couldn't overwhelm Seattle to
7:46
get that first goal. So I kind of feel like, you
7:49
know, we always joke it's a fair result.
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I think both teams maybe feel like they left something on the
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table, but also are walking away like, OK, we're going to, we're
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going to, we'll run it back next week.
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I think there's probably going to be some good feelings around
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that. Yeah, I think so.
8:05
I mean, Orlando should feel pretty good about the first half
8:08
or maybe the first hour that they put together that first
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like 50 minutes and then it felt like Seattle was able to wrestle
8:14
back control. They they certainly wrestled
8:15
back some possession in the second-half.
8:18
They had 55 for Seattle Rain FC at 55% of the ball in the
8:22
second-half, only 40% in the first half.
8:26
And you know, we know with, like you said, rain's bread and
8:30
butter is that defensive style, that counter attacking style.
8:33
But they needed in. In that case, though, they just
8:36
needed to get a little bit more on the ball in the second-half.
8:39
It felt like the first half was completely played on Orlando's
8:42
terms, completely played in Seattle's defensive 3rd.
8:46
So yeah, these teams are relatively evenly matched.
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I mean, I don't know how great Rain rain supporters should
8:53
feel, though, about a playoff match in Orlando.
8:57
I guess instead of the winner, go home, it's the draw and you
9:02
still don't go home for Seattle Raid.
9:05
They're just going to stay in Orlando.
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If I understood on the broadcast correctly, I think they just
9:09
packed everything preparing for that possibility.
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So they're chilling in your old neck of the woods for the next
9:15
week. Yeah, shout out, shout out to
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them. Hopefully they, they, they threw
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the boots on the plane, that extra pair of boots for next
9:22
Friday's match. I, I mean, I, it's kind of nice
9:28
that neither team will get burned by the short turn around.
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So these teams lock up Friday, 5:00 PM Pacific.
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So there won't be any rest advantage or disadvantage for
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either. I think it's going to be a good
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match up. Great way to kind of kick off
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the quarterfinals and the 2025 playoffs.
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But let's keep it moving. Let's go to the 2 seven match up
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one that's, you know, sometimes a little a little tricky in the
9:50
second round of the NCAA tournament at 27.
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You know, like some every so often we get a Arizona State
9:56
kind of moving on. But Washington Spirit hosting
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racing Louisville, the newly minted playoff racing
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Louisville. How about that Saturday, 9:00 AM
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Pacific. We're going to get a little
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Saturday, Saturday morning action, NWSL playoff action.
10:10
Very excited about this one. Where's the 1st place your head
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goes when you see these two teams?
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I think the bracket looks awfully nice for Washington
10:19
Spirit, a team that we've talked about being able to challenge
10:23
for the NWSL championship. Obviously the the Shield went
10:27
out the window long ago with the with the rate that Kansas City
10:32
current was on. But you know, we like
10:36
Louisville. They're a good team.
10:38
It's it's very cool that they made their first playoffs.
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I don't know, they might be they might be walking into a buzz saw
10:46
with this Washington spirit, though.
10:48
I mean, I I really kind of left today looking at that and then
10:52
seeing that they'll play the winner between thorns and wave.
10:56
And I was like, this feels like a nice little stroll to the
10:59
final And it, you know, like I may I might be proven wrong.
11:02
You know, it's sports. That's how it goes.
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Either one game samples knockout style football.
11:07
But man, I think Washington spirit supporters should be
11:10
feeling great. I mean, very fortuitous draw for
11:15
sure. Racing Louisville kind of has
11:18
that vibe of like, you know, they they won their very small,
11:23
you know, automatic bid tournament to kind of get in,
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had the huge celebration. And then now it's on to, you
11:29
know, face, you know, the the doom and gloom of the actual
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playoff teams that await you once you get to this point.
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You don't usually see a team like Racing Louisville advance,
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but you know, it does end up yourself crazy, crazy things
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happen. The Spirit should be able to
11:44
take care of business here. But you know, they they have put
11:49
forth some weird performances. I will say that I feel like I
11:54
wouldn't be shocked if the Spirit take this one 4:00 to
11:56
1:00 and just really handle the match end to end.
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But I also wouldn't be surprised if it's a little bit of a
12:03
slugfest. You know, you've got big time
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players, you know, whether it's an Ms. Sears or Taylor Flint,
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you know, like that that can can can be problematic can can come
12:16
up with big plays, especially in these types of spots.
12:19
And you know that Louisville can defend.
12:22
You know, I like bloomer and goal.
12:24
She'll be be tested for sure, but she's come up pretty big
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this season thus far. So I wouldn't say it's going to
12:30
be a walk necessarily. Spirit probably have an
12:33
advantage at most positions. So they're probably feeling good
12:36
to your point and again, got got a good draw, but you still have
12:39
to go out there and and get the result.
12:42
You still have to, you know, go out there and eliminate a
12:44
playoff team and they're going to have to do that on Saturday.
12:47
Totally fair. And you know, we'll obviously
12:49
see where Trinity Rodman is with, with her injury status.
12:55
And you know, like you said, you can't really take anything for
12:58
granted. But I don't know if if I'm, if
13:02
I'm the manager of of Washington Spirit, do I say, hey, Trin,
13:07
maybe, maybe start this one on the bench.
13:10
And if we need you for the last 30, come on.
13:12
And if you have a nice little, what if you're up two nil at the
13:16
hour mark and you're like, OK, trend, stay on the bench.
13:19
Don't don't get don't get this 30.
13:21
Get your rest. Or maybe you just give her 10
13:23
minutes as like a little ramp up or something like that.
13:25
I don't know. I think they I think there's a
13:27
lot of good that can come from this, But you never know.
13:30
Big Perp racing Louisville might come through and you know, make
13:35
me look, make me sound foolish for all this, but I doubt it.
13:41
I mean, it's funny that you mentioned the Trinity Rodman
13:44
lineup curveball potentially, because I feel like we've talked
13:49
a lot about the spirit. I mean, obviously what's the
13:51
story? The story is they're loaded, got
13:52
a ton of talent, especially on the attacking front.
13:55
But we haven't really seen, you know, I'll say like, I haven't
14:01
really seen the chemistry pop off the screen watching this
14:04
club because there's been so much, you know, quasi Gifmundi
14:08
Cantore Santos, Rodman. You know, it's just, you know,
14:12
Mira, Corey, Bethune. It's like it's a constant, you
14:16
know, rotating door of great players.
14:19
But like, you know, to your point of like Rodman, maybe she
14:21
starts, maybe she comes in at 60, maybe she doesn't play at
14:23
all. It's like at some point you want
14:26
to have your continuity, you want to have your rhythm.
14:29
You want to have like your plan A, your Plan B and your plan C
14:33
kind of tucked in your back pocket.
14:34
It still kind of feels like this team.
14:37
You know, it's I close my eyes and I have a hard time
14:40
envisioning what a good performance, like what
14:43
specifically a good performance looks like.
14:45
Who is it who's creating? Because it feels like it could
14:47
be any combination of players and maybe that's a good thing.
14:50
But maybe that's something that could be be a little tricky for
14:52
Washington to try to figure out. All right, what?
14:53
What is our go to in a match like this?
14:56
No, it's totally fair. I think Adrian Gonzalez, you
15:02
know, he's obviously done well kind of taking over the team in
15:05
like really weird circumstances. Seemed like the players were
15:08
thrilled when he did accept the job and and, you know, it was
15:12
elevated to the manager. So I I think it's a great point
15:17
by you. It'll be interesting to see how
15:20
they like they have to reach a final form now in three matches.
15:24
So you know, how how is that going to look, especially if
15:28
they try to like move around the line UPS or, or whatever I do.
15:31
I think their identity is play the high press, put your put
15:37
your opponent under pressure and then use one of those lethal
15:40
talents to to expose them. But you know, I mean, everybody
15:44
has a plan until they get punched in the face.
15:48
Yeah, we'll see. Louisville has done some
15:50
punching this this season. So I'm I'm going to be excited
15:52
to see this one for sure. I'm not sure that I won't be
15:55
rooting for a little. You know that they've been a
15:57
little bit of a team of the heart this season.
15:59
So that could be that could be I don't know I I could break out
16:03
of a a purple shirt of a different hue Saturday morning.
16:06
We'll see two matches on Sunday. Pretty killer double header.
16:11
Another morning was a more Sunday.
16:13
Sunday morning actually very excited about this 9:00 AM
16:16
Pacific the Champions, the Shield winners Kansas City
16:20
current hosting Gotham FC in. I don't know how.
16:26
Do you think Casey's feeling about the drawing Gotham in this
16:29
one eight match up? I wouldn't love it.
16:33
Like I mean, we we've talked about teams before where, you
16:36
know, these are professional athletes.
16:38
They don't fear anybody. Like they've they've made their
16:41
living, you know, going head up against somebody and and trying
16:45
to win their match up like that. Nobody's afraid.
16:48
But I feel like if there were some truth serum here, it'd be
16:52
like, OK, I we got Gotham. Like that's our that's our
16:56
reward for 65 points, the most points ever in a league season,
17:01
kicking everybody's ass, like you have said multiple times,
17:04
beat seemingly beating everyone 2 to nothing at some point in
17:07
the season. And what's your reward?
17:10
Astaire Gonzalez, Lily Real Emily Sonnet on Katrin Berger.
17:16
It's not it's not ideal. Like, obviously I'm not like,
17:19
you know, I'm not sweating for Kansas City current and and they
17:22
probably shouldn't either. But you got to be got to banged
17:26
up Tim Watchwinga, who might not be 100%, and you got to face the
17:31
team that lifted the championship trophy two seasons
17:33
ago. It's it's going to be
17:37
interesting. I think the one thing that if
17:41
you're Casey Current, you can hang your hat on is defensively
17:46
you've been effectively A juggernaut.
17:48
You know, and I think when, when the games have mattered, just
17:50
teams have not been able to score.
17:53
And the 2 nothing score line is, is is funny because once KC
17:58
breaks you on that first one, whether it's to being early or
18:01
BA or, and you know, BA is another player injury wise, we
18:04
got to kind of get an update on on her status.
18:07
But you know, KC has really earned their stripes this season
18:12
by suffocating teams. You know, and part of it is they
18:16
play a really aggressive style of defense, but the other part
18:19
is offensively they're so dangerous that you just cannot
18:24
you can't overcommit because you're you're basically giving
18:27
them a goal if you stretch yourself too far, you know, So
18:31
I'm not sure Gotham is going to necessarily have the firepower.
18:35
But a lot like the racing Louisville spirit matchup, you
18:38
know, you, you think about a Rose Lavelle, maybe, you know,
18:41
or a Jace or I mean, there's a lot of Gabby Porchilio that
18:46
there's a lot of players that could come in and, you know, I
18:49
don't know, just flip the game a little bit.
18:53
And I think as we get to the playoffs, this is this is what
18:55
we're talking about. You know, it's not like, OK,
18:57
these plays, there's No 7 game series.
19:00
Like if this goes one nil to Gotham early or something else
19:04
crazy happens or an early, you know, unfortunate red car.
19:08
You know that there's there's a lot of ways that things can go
19:10
awry and when you playing a team like Gotham with so much
19:14
firepower, even if they're not totally in form, it's you still
19:18
got to really kind of like be weary of that. 100% if I and if
19:23
I may throw out a name you mentioned, this player is
19:26
somewhere on the periphery in terms of the US women's national
19:30
team and and maybe getting a look at some point.
19:34
I believe the overarching narrative here was that Racing
19:36
Louisville has never made the playoffs, right?
19:40
Never made the NWSL playoffs. So that's where one Jalen Howell
19:44
spent the 1st 63 matches of her career.
19:47
Then she moved over to Seattle Rain Football Club last year in
19:50
one of the rare seasons where they did not make the playoffs.
19:53
So if my math is mathing here or by deductive reasoning, I would
19:57
say this will be Jalen Howell's first appearance in the
20:00
playoffs. And I don't know, I just got, I
20:03
got my eye on her, man, because what if, what if she's one of
20:06
those players that you're talking about?
20:07
That, you know, we've seen her hit some good strikes.
20:10
She maybe she makes a play, forces a turnover, hits a plays
20:14
a ball forward into a stare. I don't know.
20:16
She she could flip a game and I think the the number one thing
20:20
and I, you know, I, I don't talk about this much on the show.
20:23
I think I've referenced it a few times, like over the past like 9
20:26
years, I've been starting to like hockey more and more in
20:28
like every playoffs. I pay more attention.
20:31
What if on Katrin Berger just has a hot goaltender game?
20:35
Like it's absolutely in knockout football, it's possible.
20:39
So if she is super on Katrin Berger goalkeeper, then in your
20:46
Kansas City you might be actually be in huge trouble.
20:49
Yeah. And we you know, we talked about
20:52
the matchups, right, the one V1 matchups, and I think you look
20:57
across the board and you're not looking at the Casey Cran line
21:00
up and being like, oh, at every position.
21:03
They're you know, this is Barcelona.
21:05
You're just not like they play out of their minds.
21:07
They play super connected. And like I said, defensively,
21:10
like they've they've set the tone and offensively already
21:12
know what time it is that the breakaway.
21:14
It's like it's an it's an absolute fire alarm fire when
21:17
that when that's happening. But position for position,
21:23
again, there's going to be one V1 match ups that Gotham has the
21:28
advantage in and probably will win, you know, on Sunday.
21:32
It doesn't mean they're going to win the match, but they'll have
21:34
spots where they're like, oh, we can go to this, We can try to go
21:36
to this. And then it'll be up to the
21:38
managers to kind of try to adjust and, you know, the
21:40
captains figure out what they do on the pitch.
21:42
But this one, I feel like because of the injuries, because
21:45
of the experience, because of the talent on the other side
21:48
could be the the intriguing match up of the weekend, which
21:53
is not probably something that we would have expected.
21:55
Thinking about the table and how far ahead the current were and
21:58
thinking about that one eighth match up.
21:59
Think about the one eighth match up.
22:00
Lastly, you know this is this is going to be somewhat of a treat
22:04
Sunday morning. No doubt.
22:06
And I think that's another reason why if you're AKC current
22:09
supporter, you just kind of roll your eyes.
22:12
You're like, OK, great, Like you don't want this to be an
22:15
interesting match. You want this to be Orlando
22:17
Pride versus Chicago at at that time Red stars last year where
22:21
it was going to be an ass kicking from jump street.
22:24
I just don't I don't think that's in the cards for Kansas
22:27
City Current. But you know, maybe we're the
22:30
ones talk, you know, talking crazy here because Kansas City
22:34
current has largely been kicking the shit out of good teams all
22:37
season. So you know, another really
22:40
fascinating 1 here. Yep, quite possible.
22:44
It wouldn't be the first time we were wrong.
22:46
Let's talk about this fourth match up that, you know, I don't
22:51
want to say we're we're closing the playoff weekend with a
22:53
little bit of a dud. But I mean, when you talk about
22:56
an arrow pointing up, arrow pointing down kind of situation.
22:59
The Portland Thor is hosting San Diego Wave Sunday, 12:00 PM
23:04
Pacific on ABC. I don't do the Wave have any
23:08
shot here. Like, I mean, I feel like this
23:11
one's going to be intriguing, but then I also feel like
23:13
Portland is just going to bully the shit out of the Wave and
23:16
it'll be somewhat of a snoozer. And we'll all be looking ahead
23:18
to to semifinal weekend by about half time of this one.
23:23
Man, the the San Diego Wave, pardon me, San Diego Wave
23:28
Football Club fell out of your favor precipitously that way.
23:34
Steep, steep drop. I don't, I don't mean to flip
23:39
the question immediately. I don't mean to flip the
23:42
question immediately back to you, but what, what are the
23:49
like? What are the couple things that
23:50
you think of like 'cause you were high on them?
23:54
And then it just feels like these last few weeks and
23:56
obviously the performances are what they are, but like, what
23:58
don't you like now? What it what it has you has you
24:01
so out on them. I think it's I think it's the
24:05
finishing, you know, the the inability for somebody to get on
24:09
on the end of it. I mean, Dudenia obviously is an
24:12
exciting player, but not I mean, dropped into the season, midish
24:18
season, young player, not from this country.
24:21
It's going to take a minute, you know, to to build an offense, to
24:25
build an attack, you know, and and obviously like the way, way,
24:28
way too much to put on a player like that show.
24:30
It's like that's Dudenia is not the issue, but the finishing to
24:33
me is the issue. I think, you know, you have the
24:37
midfield, you know, still productive and like being able
24:41
to move the ball up the field and the possessions there, the
24:43
passings there, but somebody's going to get on the end of it.
24:45
And I think in the early part of the season, you know, Dali
24:49
Cascarino, you know, they were catching, you know, Gia Corley,
24:53
they're they're kind of catching defenses off, off guard a little
24:56
bit and you still have the ball. You can still move it around,
25:01
but there's just no, there's no tip of the spear to get it to.
25:05
And I think Savannah McCaskill, I think took an injury mid
25:08
season, kind of got derailed there.
25:10
And I think, you know, I don't want to say that that didn't
25:13
really throw a full wrench in it, but there just wasn't a
25:18
second move to go to. And I think ultimately we've
25:20
talked about, you know, seasons taking on a life of their own
25:25
where you have like a first generation, a second and a
25:27
third, you know, you have different iterations within the
25:30
course of the season, you know, where the team evolves and looks
25:33
differently. This team has just not really
25:35
gone to 1/3, maybe not even a second gear.
25:39
It's been that same first gear. Keep trying it.
25:42
And like the, the, the league is like kind of fully, fully, fully
25:45
caught up to it. And outside of Dudina, not, not
25:48
a whole lot to go to. And I think maybe not getting
25:52
Oscanio Barcena, some of those young players that they thought,
25:54
hey, maybe this player could take a leap.
25:57
It's it's step into that role hasn't fully happened.
26:01
So just not really, you know, not really happening.
26:03
But to be fair, the expectations were super low heading into the
26:08
season for the waveside considering how tumultuous
26:11
things were. So maybe, you know, maybe a a
26:14
six seed and a playoff match and you know, a winning season and a
26:19
some somewhat successful season maybe maybe not so bad.
26:23
Yeah, I think not so bad. Is is totally fair.
26:25
I know. I expected them to finish near
26:28
the bottom of the table. So they they they far surpassed
26:32
that. It's I think it's a great call
26:34
out by you with like Kimmy Oscano not making that leap.
26:38
But this it's also she's 17 years old.
26:41
So like, you know, it's hard to depend on those kind of players
26:45
unless they end up being like these like really supernova
26:48
talents. And even if some of them end up
26:50
being supernova talents, it just it might take a few years to get
26:54
there. So Oscano had four, had four
26:57
goals on the season. Her last one scored in mid
27:01
August. And so you know that there was
27:05
just going to be a little bit of a drop off there.
27:07
I can't remember which announcer was working the wave match, the
27:13
wave current match today. But when Cascarino came off
27:17
right around like the 80 minute mark, I want to say somewhere in
27:20
that in that range, he just said just wasn't in the game nearly
27:25
as much as you want or two. And so I'm with you.
27:27
Like I think that finishing touch has been off with San
27:30
Diego. We've seen that in their lack of
27:31
goals, but also sometimes just even getting the ball in good
27:35
spots for Dolly and Cass Carino has seemed like a real
27:39
challenge. And I know McCaskill was playing
27:41
a big part in that when she was playing more of like a defensive
27:43
midfielder role and helping kind of build up some of the attack.
27:47
But that even started to drop off a little bit before her
27:49
injuries. So I think, you know, I, I was
27:53
super low on the wave and then I was skeptical of the wave and
27:56
then the wave were making me look foolish.
27:58
And now it seems like we're all the way back around.
28:01
But I, I do think you're overarching thought of a good
28:05
year for them that they should be pretty happy with considering
28:08
where the club was before the league, before the league season
28:11
started. I think they should be pretty
28:14
happy with that. But with that said, I think you
28:17
and I might be on you and I might be on the same page, man.
28:21
They got a small chance against Portland.
28:24
Like you want to go up against Portland at home in the
28:27
playoffs? I don't think so.
28:31
I mean, they're just going to be, I don't know, out willed,
28:36
out worked, you know, out muscled.
28:39
I mean, I don't I don't see really any way around that.
28:43
It just kind of it's going to look like a game of of bumper
28:46
cars, you know, where one car, one side just has the bigger
28:49
cars and say the ego was just kind of trying to knock around.
28:52
I I just don't see a pathway for the wave being able to kind of
28:55
breakthrough. I mean, and and today, like I
28:57
we'll, we'll talk about this one, you know, in our next
29:00
episode when we get to the awards.
29:01
But I got to give a shout out to Portland for claiming the three
29:06
seed and getting past Houston with A2 nil win, which was
29:11
enough to give them the three seed, not the four seed because
29:15
they were able to leapfrog Orlando from a goal differential
29:18
standpoint. They they they started the day
29:20
one behind, finished the day one ahead.
29:23
And that's what gets them the three.
29:25
And I mean, talk about another team with expectations that were
29:30
somewhere in the trash can, you know, heading into the year.
29:32
And this is this is our three seed, you know, I mean, an
29:35
incredible, you know, display of just, you know, fortitude and
29:41
perseverance and just mental toughness and, you know,
29:44
physical toughness and just what a way to get it done.
29:47
If you're Portland, what a way to finish the season.
29:49
And, you know, maybe they're looking at that, that part of
29:52
the bracket and saying like, OK, San Diego and then we're not
29:56
afraid of Washington. You know, I think I think we we
29:58
we'll be up for that matchup. Maybe they're feeling pretty
30:01
good about the bracket as well. Yeah, I think that would be now
30:08
I have it stuck in my head because this was one of my
30:10
favorite matches to watch coming out of the international break
30:14
where Washington Spirit just beat the brakes off of Portland
30:18
Thorns. And I think I you know, I was
30:20
saying they looked like damn Barcelona out there and and
30:24
stretches where they were just controlling the pace of the
30:26
game, pressing the Thorns into oblivion and just really just
30:30
taking it to him in in all aspects.
30:34
But yeah, I think I mean, if you're Portland though, and and
30:36
we've talked about it and I've already I've already tried to
30:40
pay my respects here and just say, hey, my bad.
30:44
You like you're you're you know, you're you're one of the elite
30:48
teams in the history of the league.
30:50
You're basically the Miami Heat. You're finding a way to make the
30:52
playoffs. You lose the two time MVP,
30:55
Golden Boot winner, one of the best number nines in the world,
30:58
Sophie Wilson. No problem.
31:00
Let's just bring Pietro Torden in here, you know, put put
31:04
together like some other some other looks to score goals.
31:08
Olivia Moultrie takes a step. You know what it is with Sam
31:11
Coffey, You know, I, I just think they should be feeling
31:17
very good about themselves and then I think you're right.
31:20
They should probably feel just fine about a match up with with
31:26
Washington spirit. I don't I don't think I share
31:28
those those opinions because I think the spirit is looking
31:31
great. But you know, we'll see.
31:32
And I should mention too, I was stumbling there, but Raylyn
31:35
Turner also to kind of fill in the goals after the loss of
31:39
Sophie Wilson and by the way, Christine Sinclair.
31:42
So like we're talking like 20 goals, more than 10 assists
31:45
between those two. But here they are again in the
31:49
three seat. The three seat after losing
31:52
crazy. Yeah, insane.
31:54
Can't believe we're here. But yeah, credit.
31:57
You know, I don't even think we spent.
32:00
I mean, we, we probably spent 30 seconds talking about Portland
32:02
maybe being able to reach up into three seed in our
32:05
machinations episode. So again, shout out to them for
32:07
getting it done. All right, man, we are now we're
32:10
just well, play offs are back on Friday, so we're roughly four or
32:13
five days from play offs kicking back off.
32:15
Very excited about that. Is there anything else you want
32:18
to hit before we get out of here?
32:21
Nope, I think that's it. Like I said, the decisions have
32:24
been made on this day. And what a day it was.
32:29
Absolutely. All right, man, this has been
32:31
another episode of Into the Channel.
32:32
Thank you, thank you, thank you for watching, listening, hanging
32:34
out. If you enjoyed the show or love
32:36
and so fall as much as your boys do, make sure you kick it with
32:38
us each and every single week. Like subscribe, follow or leave
32:41
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32:43
watch or listen. If you want to support the show
32:45
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32:48
Channel merch as your boys are rocking.
32:51
Even a better way to do that. Links to all of the above, much,
32:54
much more in the description of this episode and a big thing in
32:57
my coast as well. Mr. Grant angle for never being
33:00
in question. I mean, he's in playoff mode.
33:03
I'm in playoff mode. You already know what time it
33:04
is. I think we're ready.
33:06
You know, three more matches, three more weekends on the
33:08
docket and you know you're in with you know, we're going to be
33:11
there and I already know that that my guy is going to be up on
33:14
the mounds top with me. I appreciate you bro.
33:17
Likewise, buddy, as Bill Parcell, that as Bill Parcells
33:20
once said, This is why you lift all those weights.
33:23
You, you, you do that to get to the end of the game, to get to
33:25
the end of the season. So, yeah, you know, we
33:28
appreciate all of you doing the heavy lifting with us.
33:33
Rocking through 26 match weeks so far.
33:35
Like Dino said, three more to go.
33:37
Three more exciting weeks to go. Can't wait to chat about all you
33:40
with it. And we will see you all next
33:43
time.