Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / 🚨 SEAN NAHAS OUT | Sentnor's KC Current v Utah Royals | SPIRIT CRUSH THORNS | NWSL WK15 PREVIEW EP 161

Transcript

🚨 SEAN NAHAS OUT | Sentnor's KC Current v Utah Royals | SPIRIT CRUSH THORNS | NWSL WK15 PREVIEW EP 161 · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:03
OK, welcome to you Into the Channel podcast premiere about
0:08
one's football. I'm your host Dean de Suspidis
0:11
and as always, I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Angle.
0:15
What's up, man? I'm feeling fantastic buddy.
0:18
It's been a while. Feels like we haven't talked to
0:21
talked in forever. It's only been a few days but
0:24
after the after the run we were on during the Euros few days
0:28
break seems longer than it used to.
0:31
Yeah, man, I'm, I'm rested, but also feeling a little rusty.
0:35
We're going to see, you know, I don't know, we'll see where,
0:37
where this show lands on the age-old conversation.
0:40
But some, some football, I don't want to say some good football.
0:44
Some football this past weekend was played, some of it good,
0:48
some of it less so. But who cares about that?
0:52
We're on to Week 15 in this NWSL season.
0:54
Week 14 done and dusted. They they shook off some rust
0:58
this past weekend. So I am excited about getting to
1:01
week 15. Had some news break today.
1:04
We'll get into that. So a lot to cover man.
1:06
Where you want to get started. Let's get started with a
1:08
beverage to celebrate the podcast coming back.
1:17
Let's go. My beers have been a little
1:19
splashy lately. I'm just, I don't know what's
1:21
going on over here. I got, you know, try not to get
1:24
beer on the mic. I don't know, trying to make
1:26
things happen. Maybe it maybe it was the rust.
1:28
There you go, splash quick shout out before before you before you
1:33
hit the show. I want to give our guy Justin a
1:35
shout out, one of the members of the ITC community and I want to
1:38
give a shout out for this reason.
1:40
So if you, well, anybody checking this out, if you didn't
1:43
go back and either watch or listen to the Jackie episode,
1:46
definitely go check that out. I had a great time with the
1:49
Legend recounting the EUR final. But the reason I want to shout
1:54
out, Justin as a member got a chance to take a look at that
1:57
video a little bit early, roughly 24 hours before the
2:01
general public got a chance to look at it.
2:03
We're going to keep that tradition up probably with our
2:06
interviews. Those are a little bit more
2:07
Evergreen. So another benefit of being part
2:11
of what we've got going on here. So shout out to Justin.
2:14
Cheers to you if you cracked a little sum, now's as good as
2:17
time and to to take a step. Double cheers to the legend,
2:21
Justin. Thank you for the support pal.
2:23
We always appreciate dropping knowledge in the comments too.
2:26
So, you know, pick your title. I I would say for Justin, you
2:31
know, correct me if I'm wrong. I do.
2:33
I think I like the director of player development, but Justin,
2:38
if you got for into the channel, but Justin, if you have your
2:41
eyes on another position, let us know buddy.
2:43
Cosign All right, let's get to it.
2:46
Week 15. Let's start with the news.
2:48
Shout out to you for sending this my way and for you know,
2:53
another friend of the show, Evan Davis over at the equalizer XO
2:56
of XOG fame. You sent me his link.
2:58
I think unknowingly. That was pretty funny.
3:00
But yeah, we, we, some news broke today.
3:03
Yeah, I was like, wow, this is a good, informative story.
3:06
I should send this to Dino. And yeah, it's done by our pal
3:09
Evan Davis. Yeah, Sean Neos, his contract
3:12
was terminated by North Carolina Courage, according to them.
3:16
I'll just read the statement and then I have some thoughts on the
3:19
statement because why wouldn't I have thoughts on a, on a
3:22
statement? It reads as follows.
3:24
Quote, the North Carolina Courage have terminated the
3:27
contract of head coach Sean Nehas, effective immediately.
3:30
The North Carolina Courage remain focused on the continued
3:32
development of the team and maintaining a professional
3:35
competitive environment for players, staff and supporters.
3:39
And quote, I read that last line a little weird.
3:42
Forgive me for that, but it's because I'm looking at that and
3:46
saying, huh, no, thanks for everything, coach.
3:50
No, we wish you well in your future endeavors, you know, and
3:53
IG the post is just that statement, no caption on blue
3:57
sky. It's just that statement, no
3:59
caption. I don't know, man.
4:02
We cover, we cover a sport and you know, several different
4:05
leagues, but we'll talk about this league in particular where
4:09
sometimes head coaches being removed could mean that
4:13
something deeper is going on. And so just, I don't know, we
4:16
have to ask those questions. And it's it's an unfortunate
4:19
reality we live in, but the reality we live in is pretty
4:23
unfortunate right now in a lot of different ways.
4:25
Yeah, no doubt. I don't want to speculate too
4:27
much on it, but I can, you know, as a communications professional
4:31
myself, you know, I, I do like to look at these.
4:34
You know, growing up, I would see a statement like this and
4:36
sort of like skim it, right, OK, yada, yada.
4:38
You know, a team statement, who cares?
4:40
But as I've gotten older, there's always hints in these.
4:44
And I think when you look at that statement, you read 2
4:46
keywords here. North Carolina Courage remained
4:48
focused on the continued development of the team in
4:52
maintaining A1 professional and two, competitive environment.
4:58
So those, those two words don't need to be in a statement about
5:03
terminating a contract. We want it to be professional
5:07
and we want it to be competitive.
5:09
You look at what North Carolina did against San Diego.
5:12
I mean, I, I, I'm still happy holding my San Diego stock, but
5:16
you know, San Diego really dominated and bullied that game.
5:20
You know, when you think about how North Carolina likes, likes
5:23
to play possession, connecting passes, you know, just kind of
5:27
controlling the real estate part of the of the match.
5:31
None of that happened. San Diego dominated all three of
5:33
those categories in that match. So if your management and you're
5:38
looking at Nahas and Nahas is telling you, hey, we want to
5:40
play this kind of way, we've constructed this team in this
5:43
kind of way. This is everything's building up
5:45
this way. And a team like San Diego comes
5:47
into your house, plays your brand of football and just
5:50
smacks. I mean, it's a no, no draw.
5:51
But I mean, North Carolina, you know, dominated across pretty
5:55
much all of the, the, the major stats.
5:57
And I, I think it, I was 0. Listen, I, I, I wasn't
6:01
necessarily going to come on the show and talk about Shawn Dion's
6:04
job security, but suffice to say 0% surprised when I got your
6:07
message today about the, about the termination.
6:10
I think that's all, I think all that's fair.
6:12
I mean, they had to try to turn the match against San Diego into
6:15
a rock fight. And, you know, yeah, they, they
6:19
limited San Diego's like good chances.
6:22
Like San Diego had way more shots, you know, but they
6:25
weren't really getting anything on target.
6:27
And I thought like, you know, North Carolina just has a lot of
6:30
talent. We've talked about it,
6:32
especially defensive talent, especially talented, kind of
6:34
that can kind of push your dangerous players away from goal
6:38
and force them into taking long range shots.
6:40
But I'm with you. I don't want to speculate too
6:43
much. I'll say the statement made me
6:45
raise an eyebrow for sure. And you know, I don't know the
6:49
guy from Adam, right? But I'll I'll say I do hope they
6:52
canned him for falling well short of expectations and not
6:55
something that was like dangerous or harmful to players.
6:58
I think we just we just live in a time where we have to to worry
7:01
about that. And then you think about their
7:03
next match as we kind of transition out of this is, you
7:06
know, they're taking it there in Houston on Friday night.
7:10
Will they get the new manager bounce?
7:12
Well, they could certainly use one.
7:14
Could certainly use one. I wouldn't bet on it though.
7:16
Houston feisty. You know, we talked, we talked
7:20
about this with XOG guys. Houston's feisty, you know,
7:23
they, they've got good players. You know, they, they don't want
7:25
to show up and get rolled. They go to Bay FC and, you know,
7:28
cloud a draw and come back from a goal down twice, which is
7:33
always, you know, it's usually the hallmark of two things.
7:35
One team that really wants to play, really wants to compete.
7:38
And then on the other side, it's a team that maybe a little
7:40
sloppier than than you'd like. But I mean, Houston, they're not
7:44
going to be any kind of pushover for this North Carolina side.
7:47
You know, it's going to be coming in in a little bit of,
7:51
you know, disarray. Yeah, I think that's totally
7:53
fair. I think, you know, on the
7:54
Houston side of things, I'm with you.
7:56
They're feisty. Avery Patterson continues to be
7:59
great. Oh my God, I thought Delaney
8:01
Sheens corner was well, was well taken.
8:05
I you know, I have some questions about BFC set piece
8:08
defense on that goal. I also think Houston could have
8:12
lost three to two just to Rachel Kundanaji, who is just creating
8:17
a a bunch of havoc there. So Houston's defense kind of
8:19
also had had its moments. But this is a classic as you and
8:24
I like to talk about betting sometimes this is a classic.
8:27
Stay away from me because I have no idea what's going to happen
8:31
in this match. I mean, maybe that's not stay
8:34
away in terms of watching, but if you want to try to make money
8:36
gambling, you don't know what's going to happen in this match.
8:39
No, I don't know, go buy some crypto or something, go do
8:42
something else. All right, let's go ahead.
8:46
Some other fun news. Well, this is more some ITCITC
8:48
related news. I'm sorry, I might, I might, but
8:51
this is the Cascadia rivalry. Is that the official
8:54
terminology? Cascadia I I believe that's the
8:56
official terminology. I've heard it referred to as the
8:59
Cascadia Darby in the past, but I think that I think the teams
9:02
refer to it as the Cascadia rivalry.
9:06
Either way, our guy is going to be in the building confirmed.
9:11
I don't know what are you going to be looking for?
9:13
This is this is all of a sudden this this match up that I think
9:17
early in the season, pre season, you know, you look at that week
9:20
50 in Portland versus Seattle on the calendar and not not quite
9:25
of one of those matches that you're necessarily going to
9:27
circle at a big fat red sharpie. But all of a sudden two teams.
9:31
What are we top top 6? Is that possible?
9:34
Two top six teams, top 2, top six seams link up in Portland
9:38
and our guy will be in the building covering it, holding
9:41
feet to the fire. What do we need to be looking
9:43
out for in this match? I'll be taking the Amtrak down
9:47
there. Enjoying that.
9:48
Love a good train ride. That's the East Coaster still in
9:51
me. What am I looking forward to?
9:54
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it is.
9:55
It is beautiful to. I've.
9:56
I've taken the train to Portland a couple times for for bike day
9:59
job stuff. What am I looking for in this
10:02
match? I think if you are Seattle Rain
10:06
FC, I think you think you can win this match.
10:09
Like obviously you you already have a victory over Portland
10:13
earlier in the year in Seattle, but they should be encouraged by
10:20
Sofia Huerta coming in there and almost like you're playing is
10:24
like part of the midfield. I thought that was really
10:26
interesting verse Angel City where it was just either her or
10:30
Curry just kind of in you know, you see this a lot in football,
10:33
but when they trot out there, it looks like it was like a 523.
10:37
But then for most of the match it looks like more of just a
10:40
433. And, you know, I I thought they
10:43
were able to get into some dangerous spots, especially once
10:47
Jess Fishlock came in, in the second-half.
10:50
It, it completely changed everything.
10:52
Going from G to Fishlock really opened up the attack.
10:55
And I think, you know, if if Laura Harvey can add that
10:59
element to the defensive, you know, struggle ball that people
11:03
describe sometimes, which she probably says, hey, it's more of
11:07
a defensive style. There's no struggle ball to it.
11:09
Maybe the other team's offense is struggling.
11:12
But yeah, I think, I think they they could be on to something
11:14
there. Yeah, I mean Fishlock obviously
11:17
carrying over some of that positive momentum, you know,
11:20
from the EUR and Seattle all of a sudden now a team Laura
11:24
Harvey, all of a sudden a manager that has some decisions
11:26
to make, putting an attack together, figuring out not only
11:30
the the formation to your point, but who goes where, who's
11:34
linking up with who you know, who's combining with who because
11:37
I think you know me official another player made of Seattle
11:40
rain debut. Very curious to hear, you know
11:43
what what that experience was like for you.
11:45
But all things pretty positive. You look at the the table,
11:48
Seattle's won seven of their fourteen matches this year.
11:53
That's awesome. That's awesome for a team that
11:57
I'm not sure where we I think I had the bottom of the playoff
12:01
picture and you were not not far behind.
12:03
But I mean they they've really impressed this season.
12:06
Portland on the other side, you know, had a tough time versus
12:10
Washington, but not a terrible showing against a really, really
12:14
tough team. This is going to be maybe the
12:17
match of the weekend. It certainly has the potential.
12:20
I do think it's worth pointing out that last season, Seattle
12:23
rain finished near the bottom of the table, sitting on 23 points.
12:27
They eclipsed 24 points with that victory over Angel City.
12:30
So they already have more points than they than they had last
12:32
season. Yeah, I think it has.
12:34
It has big Match of the Weekend vibes.
12:37
I thought Portland put up a pretty good fight against
12:40
Washington Spirit, but they ran into a damn buzz saw.
12:45
We'll talk, we'll talk more about spirit because I, I would
12:47
very much like to talk a lot more about the Washington
12:50
spirit. I just think, well, real quick,
12:55
I'm not selling any Portland stock.
12:56
As long as we're, we're talking about not selling stock in
12:59
teams. I, I still think Portland is
13:01
good. They were just under way too
13:03
much pressure for way too long against Washington so that, you
13:07
know, they weren't able to to hold on to it, which, you know,
13:10
I think is going to add to the potential Match of the week
13:13
vibes because I think Portland has to look up and say, OK, if
13:16
we want to stay in this thing, if we don't want to, like we
13:18
can't, we can't drop all three two weeks in a row.
13:21
So I think they're going to come out, you know, gunning for an
13:24
early goal. That's such a good point
13:26
because, you know, we talked about Portland's, you know, kind
13:29
of DNA that goes much further back than our show and, you
13:32
know, kind of like our our following of the sport.
13:35
And usually what that DNA dictates is to your point,
13:39
A-Team not losing two in a row like this, especially coming
13:41
back home, you know, against an opponent that's sort of of equal
13:47
quality. So I really, really expect a
13:49
super competitive match in this one.
13:51
But I want to scoot ahead. A team that you alluded to just
13:55
a couple minutes ago, this Washington Spirit side, Oh my
13:58
goodness, they looked absolutely overwhelming versus Portland.
14:03
And Saturday, 9:00 AM Pacific, they take on probably a team
14:07
with the Arrow pointing the opposite direction.
14:10
Gotham, I think I feel comfortable saying that.
14:12
Yeah, I mean, at best it's pointing sideways, right?
14:14
Like we talked about like before the break, the bats got those
14:18
two wins and you know, Omarosa, like showing a ton of emotion
14:22
will like when they squeaked out that win over Bay because they
14:25
felt like they really needed it. They're running into a buzz saw
14:29
this week. Washington Spirit against
14:32
Portland, who we know is good. Like even, you know, with the
14:35
losses that we've talked about ad nauseam, Washington Spirit
14:39
looks like they flew over from Catalonia to play that match.
14:44
They dominated possession. Like you could have put them in
14:47
the all whites of Real Madrid and been like, yeah, OK, that's
14:50
Real Madrid out there. Their press was vicious, like as
14:55
soon as they would lose the ball, they would immediately
14:57
close down the opponent. They have unbelievable skill in
15:01
the central midfield from Croy Bethune, who started off the
15:05
match and just hit a laser off the crossbar right from the jump
15:08
just to immediately set the tone on everything of what was going
15:12
to happen. You're going to get crunching
15:14
tackles from Hirschfeld, from Bernal.
15:18
Casey Krueger didn't even appear in the match.
15:21
Like, yeah, like they have everything.
15:24
And then on top of all of that, they get Trinity Rodman back.
15:28
She's absolutely smokes a goal. And there was a moment, I just
15:32
want to point out, where the ball goes into space, into the
15:36
attacking 18, and both Kawasi and Gift Monday outrun the
15:42
defender who was trying to get to.
15:44
I can't remember which Portland defender it was, but both of
15:47
them beat the defender to the ball and one has to back off so
15:51
the other can play the ball. And the team just has
15:55
everything. And if I didn't believe in Take
15:57
integrity so firmly, if I could change my pick for who could win
16:03
the title, I might. I mean, you know, we're in we're
16:09
in a mid season checkpoint. If you want to make a move
16:11
there. You know, I always like to
16:12
dangle the you know, the take it to you know, well, let's see see
16:15
how serious you are about it. I mean, to rewind all the way
16:17
back, I I did have Washington as my as my shield winners.
16:20
There you go, You know, and and Jonah Geraldo as my coach of the
16:24
year. One for 2 is not terrible.
16:27
But I totally, totally agree with you.
16:29
I don't think question is going to win the shield either way.
16:31
I think it's Casey's to lose, but totally agree with you.
16:35
You brought up a couple great points.
16:37
The press being vicious, 100% and what we're used to seeing
16:40
Portland do with that midfield torture chamber, Sugita,
16:45
Fleming, Coffee, Moultrie, Washington did that.
16:50
From a whole team perspective to Portland, it's like, Oh yeah,
16:52
you're usually your midfield is better than the other midfielder
16:54
and that's kind of where you dominate.
16:56
But pretty much at every point in the field, you know, our
16:59
skill level is just such where we can really make it hard.
17:03
And I think 1V1 pretty much at every point in the field,
17:07
Washington was was at a different level and they were
17:11
looking super connected. I thought that was really great.
17:14
I mean, the ball was zipping up field really, really quickly.
17:18
If you check out the passes into the final third, Esme Morgan
17:24
with 12, Tara McKeon with eight, Gabby Carl with seven.
17:28
These are all deeper defensive players that are winning balls
17:31
and just boom, shuttling up field because your point, you
17:34
have rose quasi up there, you have Giffmundi up there, you
17:38
have Corey Bethune halfway between here and up there.
17:41
You know, Trinity Rodman comes in the game and it's just like
17:43
there's no there's no going wrong.
17:44
And then like some of the other players, whether it's Narimi,
17:49
Mira, Rebecca Bernal, all of these players could just get the
17:52
ball and run up the they could just run with it.
17:54
You know, like they're all skilled enough where they don't
17:56
have to find an outlet and keep it moving, you know, like they
18:00
can run with it or they can nail a pass short, medium long.
18:04
And I think they're, they're just so super dangerous.
18:06
I I totally agree with you. They're they're if the play offs
18:08
were today, I mean, it'd be tough to not be like, who's
18:13
beating this team? Yeah, I'm, I'm totally with you,
18:16
man. And you know, Esme, I thought
18:19
Esme Morgan played really well. I mean, she's got to be brimming
18:23
with confidence coming off the EUR victory.
18:26
Did you see that she is a Jacksonville Jaguars like super
18:31
fan? Yeah, Did you see this?
18:34
You have the Trevor Lawrence shot out.
18:35
I was like. Yeah, so she he's like super
18:38
psyched to get a shout out from Trevor Lawrence, who I still
18:41
believe in, by the way, just a sidebar.
18:42
I know he hasn't. Oh, no, really, It is great.
18:45
No, I still, I still, I'm still a believer in Trevor Lawrence.
18:48
He's too good in college. I think he can still be good.
18:51
But. The reason, man, it's been so
18:53
long like this is like, you know, it's like pre COVID where
18:56
he was, it's been it's been a long time.
18:58
So he's agreed to Trevor Lawrence.
19:00
Did you This is a total sidebar. Did you ever watch The Good
19:02
Place? I did not.
19:05
I've heard it. I've heard it's great though.
19:07
Well, to the to the couple people that have seen the Good
19:10
Place, yeah, Esme Morgan, the second most famous Jacksonville
19:14
Jaguars fan of the world, now in in the ITC personal record book.
19:18
I'll, I'll let that sit, but we'll keep it.
19:20
We'll keep it moving. Well, I mean, it's appropriate.
19:23
I'm glad you mentioned that, because I got to say, if Esme
19:26
Morgan is a gigantic Jacksonville Jaguars fan, that's
19:29
the greatest championship in the history of Jacksonville, FL.
19:32
Is Esme Morgan winning the Euros?
19:36
It's got to be. And even with my belief in my
19:39
guy Trevor Lawrence, it might be the greatest win in Jacksonville
19:43
history for a long time. Yeah, it's going to be tough to
19:47
top that. Yeah.
19:50
And I don't think they're going to do it on the football field.
19:52
I know we'll talk about that one later.
19:54
Should we talk about Gotham before we go to the next game?
19:58
I, I don't know man, Gotham is I, I feel like a crazy person.
20:03
Because I keep being like, this team sucks, you know, and people
20:06
pick up and be like, whoa, Gotham, you know, like, wait,
20:09
wait a minute. And it's but they suck.
20:11
Like they, they're just not good.
20:13
Like they have good players. They have great players, but
20:18
they can't get it together. They can't connect anything.
20:22
The ball just doesn't go from, you know, some defensive take
20:26
away to somebody in the midfield to somebody upfield to some
20:30
dangerous opportunity happening thereafter.
20:33
It's just a lot of like meandering and a lot of like
20:35
trying stuff and, you know, to to to what was this on the I
20:40
mean, you're on the road going to Chicago and you're in the
20:44
playoff picture. That's got to be 3 points.
20:48
Gotham, you know, basically edges out the XG battle, but
20:52
they get out shot versus Chicago 14 to 6.
20:56
Ali Schlegel everywhere, just leading the leading the game in
21:00
shots. Just there was nothing that they
21:01
could do. And it's like, I mean, at some
21:03
point you're a serious team. I mean, you can't.
21:06
That's a bad result, man, to go to Chicago.
21:08
Chicago. Just lay an egg there.
21:11
It's definitely, definitely a a disappointing result.
21:14
I, I, I agree with you there. I mean Roosevelt looked like
21:18
scoring a couple of different a couple of different times.
21:21
She got one called back for offside where the ball was
21:24
literally in the net and she gets called back.
21:26
Also shout out to the announcer. I I I missed the guy's name but
21:29
he does some matches on NWSL Plus and I think I may have
21:33
heard him on ION before. Apologies if I have that wrong,
21:36
but he pointed out that was the first match that Midge person
21:40
Rose Lavelle had made played together for Gotham FC.
21:46
So that's pretty wild in itself. Obviously first coming off a
21:48
devastating injury. Roosevelt's been in and out with
21:51
injuries. So I think that's going to be
21:53
interesting. But I I'm with you.
21:56
I don't I don't think they're they're particularly dangerous.
22:00
Something might have to really change to, you know, before that
22:04
happens. I do.
22:05
I got a shout out though, Kaya Harper, she had the opening goal
22:09
for the bats. Hard nosed gritty earned not
22:13
given goal. And do you know why that is my
22:16
good man? Because she's a because she's a
22:19
Minnesota Gopher. Big 10 football in the House,
22:23
2024 Big 10 forward of the year, first team all conference.
22:27
You know, I got to shout out Big 10 football anytime I can.
22:29
But in this match versus Washington Spirit, I don't love
22:33
their chances. I'm going to make my second.
22:35
I'm going to make my second and probably final gambling
22:38
reference of this podcast. FanDuel has this match because
22:43
it's Gotham at home versus Washington Spirit.
22:45
They have Gotham -145 to win. Don't bet that nobody bet that
22:52
they have. They have Washington Spirit plus
22:57
390 to win. Everyone bet that.
23:00
That's like, that sounds like free money.
23:04
Yeah. Now with the one caveat is we're
23:08
terrible at this, so don't take any gambling.
23:10
Advice. It's also true.
23:12
Also worth considering. You know, your boy might add a
23:15
prediction every now and again, but, you know, All in all, you
23:18
know, top to bottom, Yeah. You don't want to follow us too,
23:21
too closely. But that Washington number, I
23:25
mean, that's, that's pretty dazzling.
23:28
That's it feels too good to pass up.
23:31
And, you know, the casino's not far from your boy's house here
23:33
in in Washington state, in beautiful Seattle.
23:35
So he might just put a little down on that.
23:39
Yeah. And you know, they love giving
23:40
away money. They just can't wait to do that.
23:42
That's right. That's good at little, little
23:46
little revenge Game Match up here.
23:47
How about Utah Royals KC current Friday night, 7:00 PM Pacific.
23:56
You know, this is one of those instances, you know, late, late
23:59
Friday, you know, you, you, you, you go out, you know, to one of
24:03
the local establishments and you run into an old flame and
24:06
there's a lot of mixed feelings and, and then who knows where
24:09
the night goes from there? And that that's, I think we're
24:10
all going to be Friday night. We'll be in that awkward moment
24:13
where people are looking at each other.
24:15
The the jersey looks weird. We're all trying to adjust.
24:18
And then we have to then adjust to the new reality that the
24:22
Kansas City current just has a lot of really good players.
24:25
And I think if you're not a fan of them or the Washington
24:28
spirit, you know, time times, your little little little shaky,
24:33
little rocky, you know, trying to compete with these two
24:36
high-powered offenses. But I think this game will be
24:39
interesting, but it also does have the potential to get a
24:42
little bit out of hand. Oh, yeah, yeah.
24:46
I mean, we talked about again, we'll make another basketball
24:50
reference here. When the Luka Doncic trade
24:52
happened, we were trying to look for comps and I was like, well,
24:57
you know, if you were the GM of the Portland Thorns and somebody
25:01
called and said I would like to acquire Sophie Wilson.
25:04
She's 25 ish similar to Luca now.
25:07
She obviously has like real hardware and real like, you
25:10
know, say real accomplishments to totally diminish Luca, but
25:14
you know, I like kind of diminishing Luca from time to
25:16
time. Unnecessary.
25:19
She's a she's a, you know, she's a multiple time MVP, Golden Boot
25:23
winner, all those things. What are you doing?
25:28
If you're Utah, what are you doing?
25:30
I don't get 600 grand. It's, it's the, it's the, the
25:33
league record for interleague transfer funds.
25:36
Not worth it, not worth it to do that.
25:40
I, I mean, I guess maybe there will be reporting that will come
25:42
out and say she demanded a trade and our guy, you know, Evan
25:47
Davis from expected on goals literally said to us, she needs
25:51
to get the F out of Utah. I believe his exact quote was.
25:56
Well, but that that wasn't as good as my quote, which followed
25:59
a couple seconds later, which was like they're they would
26:01
never let set nor out the door. It's no fucking way.
26:04
Why would you do it? Why would you do that?
26:07
She's a great young player. So I like, I don't totally
26:11
understand it. You know, Casey, obviously, like
26:15
you said, the shield is theirs to lose and we could be in for,
26:19
you know, eventually the teams are was a combination of the
26:23
teams are going to run into each other between Kansas City,
26:26
Washington Spirit and our Orlando Pride.
26:31
And I can't wait to see it because they're going to be
26:32
absolute heavyweight battles. But Centnor out there, when you
26:36
have Chewinga and Cooper already, I mean, we're talking
26:42
about real scary hours. Yeah.
26:45
No, that's going to be. And I think that the scariest
26:47
part is that they'll be able to mix and match based on, on, on
26:52
who they're facing. And I've, I've heard rumblings
26:54
too, that it could, that BIA might, might be potentially
26:57
moving on or that's, that's kind of been rumoured.
27:01
So we'll keep an eye on that. That would definitely change
27:03
things. But I don't know if you're BIA,
27:04
I don't know why you want to get out of here right now.
27:07
Things are really starting to heat up for that KC current
27:10
side. But you mentioned Orlando Pride
27:12
amongst that, you know, sort of top triumvirate of, of teams,
27:15
you know, in that top three. I looked at Orlando Pride's
27:20
first fourteen matches last season.
27:21
I want to get a little temperature check on, right this
27:23
KC side. Where are we at?
27:26
You know, obviously we know that they've had a super hot start.
27:28
Twelve wins of 14. The two that they didn't win
27:32
were both losses. Orlando last year, nine wins, 5
27:38
draws, no losses. So KC currently 4 points ahead
27:43
after 14 of Orlando's A pace last year that's already pretty
27:48
impressive because Orlando pretty much, you know, ran away
27:52
with it. The one that really kind of
27:55
messed me up was, you know, what was the signature last year for
27:59
Orlando? It was the defense.
28:01
You know, we're like, Oh my God, They just didn't didn't give
28:03
away goals. They gave up eleven goals
28:05
through the 1st 14 KC through the 1st 1410 goals allowed, so 1
28:12
fewer. And then offense, you know, you
28:15
know, Orlando through 1427 goals last year.
28:19
Casey is sitting at 31. So they've scored four more.
28:23
They've allowed one fewer. They've got four more points
28:26
than the double winners of last year had through the same point
28:30
in the season. And all of those Orlando numbers
28:34
last quick point here were buoyed by their 14th match last
28:38
season, which was a six NIL win over Utah.
28:41
So wow, you take that out of the mix and the gulf is pretty wide.
28:47
It could be, you know, it's like 31 goals versus 21 if you if you
28:50
drop that 6. But we we wouldn't we we don't
28:52
do that. Case in point, KC and a little
28:54
bit better clip than Orlando was last season.
28:58
I think that's all, you know, I mean, they're all facts.
29:02
So it's obviously all super valid.
29:03
I, I think if you just look at the way they're playing those
29:09
Michelle Cooper crossing the ball into the middle at speed
29:15
with Chewinga with BA in there, soon to be with Ali Sentinor in
29:19
there, it's just devastating. It's just it, you are in big
29:23
trouble when, when Michelle Cooper has that cooking on the,
29:27
on the right wing. You know, Chewinga, she, she
29:30
scores in this one, in this, in this past week, she's not
29:34
sitting on 9 goals. I believe that puts her one
29:36
behind a stair for the Golden Boot race.
29:38
She's going to challenge for the Most Valuable Player in the
29:41
league again. And just in case, like anybody
29:44
had any crazy ideas? You know, obviously Lorena
29:48
competing in Copa America, pretty decent match.
29:51
That was in the final. So they had to put Laurel Ivory
29:55
back there and she had a good showing.
29:57
So I mean, Ivory is a hell of a backup keeper.
30:00
I say this is somebody who who watched her play pretty closely
30:02
last year for Seattle Reign, where she was kind of stuck
30:05
behind Claudia Dickey. Well, now she's stuck behind
30:08
Lorena, who is, as we've said, arguably one of the at least one
30:12
of the best keepers in the league.
30:14
If not, she's in the argument with Katrinberger and Sheridan.
30:18
But I they just, they have everything.
30:21
And then they got Ali Sednor for a bag of money.
30:25
And it's just like, OK, like if you're Utah, you got to get
30:28
something And not not to like bag on them too much, but like
30:32
the bag of money is not going to score any goals for you unless
30:34
you like you have to go out and buy a player and actually get it
30:37
right and put them in the system.
30:39
Now Centinor is going to go achieve for Kansas City.
30:43
Yeah, also the bag of money and I know it's like interleague or,
30:46
but it's like that's less than Bay FC paid for Kudanagi, right?
30:51
Like so it's like. Yeah.
30:53
What are we really? It's not franchise changing
30:57
money, but losing that player is definitely franchise changing.
31:00
So it's like not the best bit of business.
31:03
So who knows? We'll we'll keep an eye on it
31:05
and and total cosign on your Claudia Dickey point.
31:07
I don't know enough about goalkeeping to kind of make
31:09
this, you know, statement, but I watched Dickey.
31:12
I'm like, oh, that's the best backup goalkeeper in the league.
31:15
I'm sorry, Laura. Laura Ivory.
31:17
My bad. That's that Seattle rain mixed
31:19
up. But yeah, Laurel Ivory watching
31:21
Ivory. I'm just like, oh, that might be
31:22
the the best backup in the league, you know?
31:24
She's good, man. Singer yeah, I'm like total
31:26
confidence watching that player in between the posts when
31:30
there's no Lorena. But then Lorena comes back and
31:32
it just gets worse for everybody else.
31:34
I'll talk. Keep it moving.
31:37
Our Orlando Pride Saturday, 4:30 PM Pacific, taking on my racing
31:42
Louisville. How about that?
31:45
How about that? How about that?
31:48
This one should be fun. I thought Orlando unlocked.
31:51
I mean real disappointment versus Utah 11 draw at home.
31:55
Got to get that one. No set nor in the mix.
31:58
Tanaka, you know, kind of hey, it catches Morehouse and that
32:02
midfield a little bit of sleep at the wheel.
32:05
You know, Tanaka chips everybody and gets the gets the goal.
32:10
That was the only possible way Utah was going to get anywhere
32:14
near a result in this one. And credit, credit to them.
32:18
They make it happen. Orlando, you know, it's been a
32:22
frustrating season, but I think I left this one with a great bit
32:28
of optimism, even though the result sucked.
32:31
Because you know, you look at the starting line up and I'll
32:34
just go through the midfield, which I you know, I feel like
32:36
we've seen some version of this midfield, you know, forever.
32:40
You know, it's McCutcheon, it's Gotra Ali Lemos and some are
32:45
Yates and some it's like sort of musical.
32:47
We've seen that version. And I thought by the end of the
32:50
match, who Orlando close with, I thought was really interesting.
32:54
So you look at the Subs, Hafaela comes in, you've got Viviana
33:00
Villa Corta 2021 first round pick three matches played last
33:03
season. So a new a player kind of
33:05
getting worked back into the mix.
33:07
Prisca Chulufia scores the goal. Obviously this is our first year
33:10
with the with the team. I think our second goal of the
33:12
season. Simone Jackson, 22 year old out
33:15
of USC got some US youth national team experiences eight
33:19
goals and 11 appearances for EU 20s.
33:22
And then Simone, C30 year old hasn't played since 2023 for
33:26
Angel City, but a real mix up of like, you know, players and when
33:32
we were talking to the XOG guys, we were talking about Grace
33:34
Chanda, not, you know, not having that player to go to at
33:36
the 10. But I, I, I thought the the Subs
33:40
and, you know, sort of like the the shuffling was pretty
33:43
inspired because I think we've seen the first half of the
33:47
season a little bit of a ceiling on that offense.
33:50
And it's going to take it's going to take some some
33:52
movement, some players, some new stuff, some new combinations to
33:56
really turn this offense into one that could really go deep in
33:59
the play offs. I think defensively we know what
34:00
they're about. But that offense we're they're
34:03
just going to need more. No Marta, no Angelina in this
34:05
one. That was going to always make it
34:06
tricky. But it's just going to need to
34:10
be more expansive than I think what we've seen.
34:14
Yeah, I think that's totally fair.
34:16
And you know, who else are we going to trust to make those
34:19
kind of adjustments other than Sebines?
34:21
Like he's he'll be him and his staff will be the people to do
34:25
it. I love the Simone Jackson
34:27
minutes. I thought she played real well.
34:29
Like to your point, like those Subs, obviously she connects
34:32
with Chalufia on the goal. There's a perfectly placed
34:35
cross, great tap in from from Chalufia.
34:39
I thought for sure they were going to win it in the last.
34:41
Like they get the equalizer, you know, in like the 72nd.
34:45
I thought they were going to definitely win it.
34:47
And probably last year's Orlando Pride probably does win that
34:50
match. I mean, it's, it's a great point
34:52
by you. Like obviously Marta and
34:53
Angelina had other business to attend to over the weekend.
34:58
So they probably, they probably get the win if they have those
35:01
too. But yeah, I, I, I'm glad that
35:05
you left encouraged because I was pretty bummed by the result,
35:09
But I, I, I had to kind of reset and be like, OK, this team is
35:13
going to have it. It's not going to be last year.
35:17
Like we just know that now, but the defense is still good.
35:21
I mean, they've allowed eleven goals this season too.
35:25
So like this, this is all there. I think the only the only
35:28
questionable part is it's funny you talk about they had that six
35:31
NIL win over Utah last year. What did they open the season
35:36
with? Was that a six NIL win over
35:38
Chicago in the first match of the season?
35:40
So like, if you think about that, they're sitting on 21
35:43
goals, 11. 11. Yeah.
35:48
So I mean, you know, they, you know, even if they just beat
35:53
Chicago 3 to nothing in that match, you know, they'd be
35:55
looking at 18 and 11 and you'd be kind of looking at them a
35:58
little, maybe a little differently.
36:01
But as a wise man once said, it's always good to store away
36:05
some of those in the old gold differential Piggy Bank.
36:09
So I think it was, it was good. It was good that they got those
36:12
because they're plus seven over Washington Spear right now.
36:15
So that should help them in the long run.
36:17
Yeah, that's going to make a a real difference for sure.
36:21
And yeah, I guess looking at those gold numbers, they're not
36:23
as, you know, thin as as maybe they were.
36:26
They are in my head, but I'm probably just maybe unfairly
36:29
comparing them to the KCS and the Washington's of the world.
36:33
And then maybe this team as well.
36:35
The San Diego wave, they take on Angel City Saturday, 7 PMI mean,
36:41
you know, I'm just going to say it, man.
36:43
I don't care. XOG you guys, they could laugh
36:45
at me, you my Co host, my trusted Co host, you could laugh
36:48
at me too. The San Diego wave.
36:50
They're a good football team, man.
36:51
I'm I'm I'm tired of arguing with people about this.
36:53
I think they just they just rough you up, man, Like I think
36:58
like, you know, and you know, shout out to Eric, who who
37:02
commented on their defense being a little bit smothering and I
37:05
think he posed the question. It's like, all right, well, what
37:07
if in the play offs they they kind of turn it up defensively
37:09
in this one. Obviously North Carolina, you
37:11
know, you know, not competitive, you know, not professional,
37:14
whatever the the terminology was used in in their official
37:17
statement, but they could they they got nothing going and San
37:22
Diego they they couldn't score, but they controlled, they
37:26
definitely controlled the field position.
37:27
You know, the whole game was played where exactly where they
37:30
wanted to be played. You know, and to my earlier
37:32
point, they were better at passing than North Carolina.
37:35
And this is all on the road against the team that you know
37:39
has firepower and they just were completely extinguished, not
37:43
threatening at all. And San Diego probably pretty
37:48
disappointed actually to leave that one nil nil with nothing
37:52
based on how they played. Yeah, I three of their eighteen
37:57
shots were on target. They had plenty of the ball.
37:59
They had possession in the attacking half.
38:02
They just didn't really produce many things that were that were
38:05
dangerous. I think the good news for them
38:08
is they get to play at home versus a reeling Angel City
38:12
football club. But the bad news is Angel City
38:16
needs these points desperately and a desperate underdog rival
38:21
can make for an interesting match in a lot of situations.
38:24
So I think this one, I'm going to be very, very interested in
38:29
watching how this one goes and to see if that San Diego wave
38:33
defense what they have for the speed of Svendis Jane Jones
38:38
daughter. I think that's going to be, I
38:43
mean, I mean, they're just so they're really good Mantego.
38:47
And I think like, see, I'm not sure if it's Lundquist on that
38:50
side or if she's on the other side, but their team defending
38:54
is they just want the ball back so badly because I think all of
38:59
them can handle the ball. So it's almost like they all
39:03
want, I'm sure you've played in these kind of like basketball
39:05
games where it's like you're playing as a demon.
39:07
It's like your 5 is better than their five.
39:08
It's just like whenever you get the ball, whoever's getting it,
39:10
just running and getting the layup or doing whatever they
39:12
want, you know, So it's like it has that kind of vibe to it to
39:15
where their defense is hungry, like they just want to harass
39:19
and get the ball back quickly as possible and make things happen.
39:23
But that Angel City side, I thought Spanish Jane was pretty
39:27
encouraging. I thought June Endo maybe it I
39:32
know it's been a long time since the injury, but looked like I
39:36
think tracking towards closer to like turning back the clock.
39:41
Junendo, I thought she was pretty effective in the midfield
39:45
and I think it had more firepower could have made that
39:48
one pretty interesting. But I think against San Diego
39:50
they're they're they're going to be overmatched in this one and
39:54
the waiver just not really giving anything away.
39:57
And if you're Angel City, you you kind of need to be playing
39:59
one of these teams that's. You kind of need to be playing
40:02
like a Gotham or, you know, one of these seems it's not really
40:04
fully locked in. That's going to give you an
40:07
opportunity or two to kind of like really flip it your way.
40:10
Yeah, I think that's totally fair.
40:12
I think if you're Angel City, what you need is Endo or Miyabi
40:17
or Fuller to just provide some service to Jones daughter
40:22
Thompson and Tiernan like you just you got to get the ball to
40:25
them in some dangerous spots. I know we've seen Alyssa
40:29
Thompson be careful or be capable, pardon me, of like the
40:33
50 yard carry into the danger area and then RIP a shot or lay
40:38
off a perfect pass. But you know, that's you can't
40:42
rely on that as your offense and as fast as Jones, Doter and and
40:46
Thompson are, you got to get them the ball in some spots
40:49
where they can. They don't have to expend a ton
40:52
of energy just to get into the good spot.
40:55
You want to get them the ball where they can kind of make
40:57
things happen down there. So I, you know, it'll be tough
41:00
for Angel City, but I think they're going to be again, I you
41:03
know, I know this is kind of like a hacky sports radio thing,
41:06
but that's what we're doing here.
41:08
I think they're going to be real desperate, man.
41:10
I think I think this could be a really a really good match up as
41:13
well. NWSL After dark as well.
41:17
She could get weird. I like it.
41:20
I can feel the spookiness just starting to starting to bubble.
41:24
So I I like it. I like, I like the the set up
41:27
there I'll be I'll be locked into that one.
41:29
Let's see, assuming that, you know, we don't go into labour
41:32
and you know, my daughter's, you know, enters the world right at
41:35
that time. We'll see 11 more match to hit
41:39
on the docket Chicago Stars Bay FC Sunday morning as we're
41:46
rubbing the sleep out of our eye from NWSL after dark Saturday
41:48
night, we get to wake up to a little Chicago Bay.
41:54
Where do we? Where do we start with this one?
41:56
I don't know. Where do you want to get
41:57
started? With this one, I thought Bay FC
42:01
should have won against Houston. I thought Rachel Kundanagi
42:04
looked great. I think she's in large
42:06
stretches. She looked like the player that
42:08
I thought she was going to look like all season.
42:10
She was playing with enormous confidence that that play early
42:14
in the match where she turns the defender, she goes to the end
42:17
line, completely gets the defender turned and then rips a
42:20
shot off the inside of the post. She's like that had like it.
42:25
That's to me, that's unlucky. Like she should have scored that
42:29
she had, she had other opportunities to where she
42:32
should have scored. She had a she had the
42:33
opportunity late where she hits it off the other off the other
42:36
post and then does a somersault out of frustration, which I
42:39
thought was a just a a funny way to just like get your yeah, to
42:43
just get your energy out of be like God.
42:46
And she had to yeah, I think, you know, she covers her mouth,
42:49
but I think she says fuck right before she does it.
42:51
So like she was clearly frustrated, but you know, their
42:56
defense again, it just, it looked way exposed on Avery
43:00
Patterson's cross to Van Zanden. And then, you know, on that
43:04
late, late equalizer, they're just times where it's like, are
43:08
you guys interested in marking people in the danger area or
43:11
not? I'd say probably not, but I no
43:19
no not at all. Rachel Gudanagi is just a
43:22
fascinating player. So looking at our stats of the
43:25
season, 50 shots attempted, 15 on target, one goal.
43:32
I. Don't like it doesn't seem
43:33
doesn't seem possible like those numbers.
43:38
And obviously we know the huge transfer fee to get Kunagi onto
43:41
his team and we know, you know, the ineffectiveness and
43:45
basically turning these chances into goals.
43:48
With all that said, she's still fucking awesome.
43:51
True. She's so fun to watch, like what
43:54
she's able to do, Like just to your point, running around
43:57
people like in and out, like just she'll run like 3 yards out
44:00
of bounds, run back in and like, you know, that's the way she's,
44:03
you know, going to make make it happen.
44:05
I totally agree with you. It's only a matter of a matter
44:07
of time. She's so good.
44:09
And I agree. I, I think, I, I think I now
44:11
believe in luck and unluck, you know, I, I can't believe we're
44:14
here, but I, I have to accept it because this is a player that I
44:22
don't think there's been a, there's, I don't think there's
44:24
been a player that's missed 49 shots closer than Kunanagi like
44:28
I feel. Like.
44:30
It's crazy, her AG, her almost goals, she is like 25.9.
44:34
You know, she's just like so like she's so close to scoria.
44:38
I think, you know, she's so good.
44:39
You can see the skill obviously in in the chance creation, but
44:43
then even the placement, the placement is like they're so
44:46
close, hits the woodwork twice. To your point, I totally agree
44:50
with you. It's only a matter of time.
44:51
But either way, goals are no goals.
44:53
I I mean, she's to me must watch.
44:55
She's so good. No doubt 25 years old.
44:59
So we there's a lot of the story still to be written.
45:03
You know, I I look forward to watching her play hopefully a
45:06
long time in in our league here in the United States.
45:11
I do want to talk a little bit about Chicago before we get out
45:14
of here like obviously they have the draw first Gotham FCI
45:18
thought it was a solid showing from them talking about Ali
45:21
Schlagel. She had the great header to
45:23
equalize. I do also, I, I want to shout
45:26
out Leslie Ryder of, of Gal Pal Sports for the very necessary
45:35
correction that I just had no idea about, but she from the Gal
45:39
Pal Sports Blue sky account. Blue Sky account, Pardon me,
45:43
posted a video of Lugemila. Lugemila, pardon me pronouncing
45:49
her name. And so we've been calling her,
45:51
yeah, we've been calling her Lewdmila for, you know, more
45:55
than a year at this point. So shout out to Leslie for, for
45:59
getting that out there into the public, public sphere.
46:03
You know, I think it's, it's a terrible season for Chicago.
46:10
They could wrestle at home. They could wrestle away a point
46:13
from Bay here. They could try to get some, some
46:16
positive momentum. I mean, I don't, I'm not
46:19
necessarily rooting for that because I I am a Bay FC
46:21
appreciator. Obviously you're down there as
46:23
well, but I'm interested to see how it looks.
46:27
And I I do also want to point out Ella Massar, who is now the,
46:34
the manager or the, I believe the interim manager for Chicago
46:37
Stars FC. She played in the in the course
46:41
of her career. Well, first of all, worth
46:43
mentioning, she played for the Illinois Fighting Illini in
46:48
college. More Big 10 football for you and
46:51
then her career span. She played in the NWSL, she
46:54
played in top Serian in Norway, she played in Donald Svenskin in
46:57
Sweden. She played in frown Bundesliga
46:59
for Wolfsburg. Ever heard of them?
47:01
She played in the Premier League when it was Divisia noon
47:04
feminine I believe for Perry Zan German.
47:06
Pretty decent club there too. And so shout out to Alamassar,
47:10
who I think as of right now will be, and I just want to Fact
47:16
Check myself here. Yeah, she will be the third.
47:22
She will be one of three women managers in the league right
47:27
now, obviously next to Laura Harvey of Seattle Rain FC and
47:31
Seattle Rain FC legend Bevianes from Racing Louisville.
47:35
Now our old pal Philippa Petao, formerly of Benfica, she's going
47:41
to take over Boston Legacy FC next season.
47:44
So she's in coming into the league.
47:48
But I just, I mean, you know, I'm going to do a quick soapbox
47:52
here. You look at Ella Massar's
47:54
experience, like I mentioned all these different leagues there,
47:58
there just has to be a ton of coaching prospects who played
48:02
high level women's football. Like you think about like NBA
48:05
players or Major League Baseball players who like bounce around
48:09
and like have kind of like those journeyman careers, like those
48:13
players end up going into coaching ranks.
48:16
And so for for the National Women's Soccer League to have
48:20
three women managers just seems weird to me.
48:25
So, you know, I everybody, you know, we're always get people
48:28
are always going to lean on the you hire the best candidate for
48:30
the job, etcetera, etcetera. Sure, I get it.
48:33
I just want to say we're talking about the National Women's
48:36
Soccer League, and it's a little surprising that three of the 14
48:41
teams have women managers. That's an excellent point
48:45
because it's not just a league has former players that bounce
48:52
around that could make for good coaches.
48:54
The NWSL is a very unique league.
48:57
It's it's unique amongst other football leagues.
49:00
It's unique amongst other women's football leagues.
49:02
It's unique amongst leagues within the United States of
49:06
America. Like it, it is, it has its own,
49:09
you know, unique personality. So I think, you know, we we
49:12
could definitely, you know, start there thinking about
49:17
thinking about the match, though.
49:19
I totally agree with you about Chicago, like being able to not
49:25
just get a result from this one. But I think Bay is a kind of
49:28
team that you look at this, you're like, we can win this
49:31
game. And I think based on how Chicago
49:33
look last week, based on how Bay look last week, I mentioned up
49:36
top, you know, you, you, you drop points twice in the same
49:40
game when you're home and, and you're taking on a team that
49:44
that you should be able to handle pretty easily.
49:47
I think going to Chicago, you know, would love to keep it
49:53
objective here, but I, I could absolutely see Chicago winning
49:57
this one, you know, keeping the draw.
50:00
I think Bay is going to have a little bit of an uphill battle
50:02
defensively. You know, they, they've got a
50:04
lot of stuff to figure out. You know, offensively it'll be
50:07
about finishing and figuring out how to connect those pieces.
50:10
But I don't know, I think Bay Bay Bay's got to get to sort
50:14
some stuff out from a strategic standpoint and from a chemistry
50:18
standpoint and then get a little luckier along the Kundanagi
50:22
scale and then maybe try to figure out how to slow down
50:25
Chicago, you know, and the Sculpe Lugemila.
50:29
But I mean, I thought Lugemila was very effective as well, you
50:32
know, in, in, in those minutes, you know, so that that could be
50:36
a a very hands full kind of situation for for Bay
50:39
defensively. Yeah, yeah.
50:41
I think it's going to be interesting to see.
50:43
Now, obviously we're talking about the 10th and 13th teams on
50:47
the table, Bay FC, their playoff chances kind of on life support,
50:52
but I mean, not totally out of it.
50:54
Like they're three points behind Gotham.
50:57
So if, you know, if Bay FC does get a get an away win here, you
51:01
know, they're kind of in that mix.
51:04
But I yeah, even even with teams at the bottom of the table, I
51:06
think it's very fascinating. I think, I think that 7 through
51:10
14 is super live racing. Louisville's not not through 14.
51:15
Scratch that. I'll give Houston some great
51:17
here, 7 through 12. So the, the, the, the points
51:20
band is 20 points for racing in 7th, 12 points for Houston in
51:25
12. So eight points difference.
51:27
That's a lot of points. But I think if you're any team
51:30
in that mix you're looking at, you're not, you're not looking
51:33
at racing being like, we can't catch that.
51:35
You know, I think that's probably as as high up as you
51:38
can aspire to. Above them is the Portland,
51:40
Seattle's San Diego, Washington, Orlando, KC, you know, to to
51:45
round it out. So I think, yeah, do do your .7
51:48
through 12. I mean, I think we're going to,
51:51
I think we're going to get a fun playoff race down the stretch.
51:55
Yeah, I think that that's a good way to look at it.
51:57
And you know, like, if you're those players, you and in this
52:01
league, again, we talk about the the kind of unique qualities of
52:05
this league where I think that, you know, our good pal Seal
52:11
Tufile, who talked about us about the EUR and France's EUR
52:15
talked about Delphine Cascarino talking exactly about that is
52:19
that any team in this league can beat any other team.
52:22
So if you're Houston Dash sitting on 12 points, you think,
52:25
I don't know, we got a draw last week.
52:26
What if we get two wins in a row?
52:28
We're right back in the playoff race.
52:30
So it's it's one of the great parts of this league.
52:34
Yeah, no doubt. All right, man, I want to hit
52:38
the episode calendar. Well, anything else you want?
52:39
Any hips before we wrap? Close the book on the Week 15
52:43
preview. I think we've done it.
52:45
There's there was one team that I don't think we, we didn't talk
52:48
much about racing, but you know, they had, they had kind of a
52:55
blah performance and you know, what are you going to do against
53:00
against Kansas City? So yeah, yeah, Emma Sears wasn't
53:04
at her best. She had a she had a good cross
53:06
in there, but I'm not. I would imagine you're probably
53:09
not selling any racing stock just because they lost to Kansas
53:12
City Current. No, no, definitely not.
53:14
No, I'm, I'm, I'm actually calling the broker for, for a
53:17
couple more Taylor Flint options, you know, because I
53:20
thought she she was an absolute, you know, like she, she just
53:23
looked like a giant squid in the center of the park.
53:24
Just arms and legs, just reaching in every direction,
53:28
just grabbing everything you know.
53:31
She was their best player for sure.
53:33
Unstoppable. I'd be like, she's so she's so
53:35
good. So yeah, we'll see what what
53:38
Flint's got for this weekend, but yeah, week 15 gets rolling
53:41
here in a couple days. Quick episode calendar None,
53:45
none of it really matters. There's just one date on the
53:47
calendar that matters, and that's August 27th, when our
53:50
beloved SK Braun takes on Internazio Nale in UEFA Wales,
53:56
shamelessly qualifying. Let's fuck it, go.
53:58
August 27th's a fun day. A lot of good teams in action
54:01
that day. Hammerby, Roma, Twente, I can't
54:04
remember all of them. Valarenga, A lot of fun, a lot
54:06
of fun teams kind of, you know, shake off some cobwebs.
54:09
So let's mark down the calendar. We'll do a couple of NWSL shows
54:12
between now and then, and then maybe invite a a guest on or two
54:16
as well. And that's assuming that I don't
54:18
become a dad here for the second time, because if that happens,
54:21
who knows when you might not see me for a while, but we'll, we'll
54:25
keep you posted. But that's that's the the very,
54:29
you know, one of one episode calendar for this episode.
54:33
I like it and you know, we'll we'll kind of see how it goes.
54:36
I mean, you know, please feel free to suggest some, some
54:40
guests as we're we're as Dino mentioned, we're coming down to
54:43
to crunch time. I might have to, to do this
54:46
thing on my own for a couple times for the for the best, the
54:49
best reason possible. So I look forward to, to, to
54:53
figuring it out as we go. But yeah, man, I I feel like
54:57
we've done it for this episode at least.
54:59
We'll get it sorted. We'll get it sorted.
55:01
Quick shout outs here. I wanted to say hello to some
55:03
friends. Jess 82384 here.
55:05
I know what time it is. Crow Man 0 from Albion up on a
55:09
mountain somewhere. Our guy.
55:10
You already know what time it is.
55:11
We appreciate you. Boy named Blue K Klav, Justin.
55:16
We already mentioned up top. Frederick MLS just a fun, fun a
55:22
fun time in the YouTube comments this week.
55:25
So we appreciate everybody hanging out and sharing some
55:27
takes and, you know, helping us learn, helping us elevate our
55:31
games, learning podcasts. We always like to say that and I
55:35
think we like to live what we say.
55:37
So with that said, there's been another episode of into the
55:39
channel. Thank you, thank you, thank you
55:41
for watching, listening, hanging out.
55:42
If you enjoyed the show or level 1.
55:44
So fall as much as your boys do, make sure you're kicking them
55:46
with us each and every single week.
55:47
Like subscribe, follow YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast, wherever
55:50
you like to watch or listen. Leave us a review over your
55:53
favorite podcast app links to all of our socials except one
55:56
and a big thank you Michaels as well.
55:58
Mr. Grand Angle for slumming it with me in NWSL town.
56:02
I appreciate you, bro. You know, it's not, it's not
56:04
the, the, the hoity toity European game, but you know, it
56:07
is fun. It is physical, it is American,
56:10
and I appreciate you rocking with me.
56:13
Yeah, likewise, buddy. It's it's our league, you know,
56:16
it's and that and that, that says something right there.
56:19
But yeah, I mean, obviously the most competitive league in the
56:22
world, we could have that discussion with MLS again, if
56:25
that makes necessarily makes it the best league in the world.
56:27
Think there's some good conversations to be had there,
56:30
but those will be for another day and we'll look forward to
56:32
having those with you all in the YouTube comments.
56:34
Like Dino said, thank you for rocking with us.
56:36
Always drop your knowledge, always supporting the show.
56:38
We greatly appreciate you all and we will see you next time.