Transcript

0:04
OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast premiere about 1
0:09
football. I'm your host Dino de Suspidas
0:12
and as always I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Angle.
0:17
What's up, man? On the road again, buddy, I'm
0:21
feeling fantastic. It's another away match for your
0:23
boy. But you know what?
0:26
Pack the podcast mic surely to the judging eyes of TSA agents,
0:31
which is fine by me. Surely see it go through and go
0:33
through if this dude's probably a podcast or great.
0:36
Sure, his opinions are very important, and maybe they are,
0:39
but also maybe they aren't. Who cares?
0:41
Either way, I'm excited to talk about an incredible match day
0:44
three of the UEFA Women's Champions League with you.
0:47
But maybe they are. That's right.
0:50
I'm with that good football. Lot of football, you know, the
0:55
nine matches packed into two days after we had four NWSL
1:00
quarter final matches. That's that's really like 13 if
1:03
a math is right in roughly four or five days.
1:05
It's been all for your boy getting ready to hit the the old
1:11
finish line, the old checkered flag for this NWSL season.
1:14
Champions League, though, still just getting warmed up.
1:17
But I'm, I'm loving it. I'm loving the the league phase,
1:20
the the overabundance of football surprises, the good
1:25
performances, the mediocre ish performances, the disappointing
1:29
performances for fans of some team wearing some black hoodie
1:33
that we'll talk about in just a few minutes here.
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With all that said, Mr. Ran Angle, where should we get
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started? Let's get started with a
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beverage, my good man, because we, as we always say, the UEFA
1:46
Women's Champions League is a celebration of life.
1:50
Cheers to that. Cheers to that.
1:53
Cheers to you. Cheers to the football.
1:54
I am drinking. I'm not going to disclose my
1:56
location, but I will say this. I'm drinking a beer called 394
2:02
Pale Ale from the Ale Smith Brewing Company.
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It's a collaboration with Hall of Famer Anthony Keith Gwynn
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Senior, the absolute legend, Tony Gwynn.
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Mr. Padre, rest in peace to the legend.
2:15
One of the greatest players whoever played.
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And I just, I just must say it's named 394 because he hit 394 in
2:22
the strike shortened season of 1994.
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A herculean effort, but he is also the owner of one of my
2:29
favorite statistics in all sports, Tony Gwynn faced Greg
2:33
Maddox, Tom Glavin, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz.
2:38
He faced those 4 Hall of Farmers more than 300 times.
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Those 4 pitchers in their careers struck out more than
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12,000 batters combined. They combined a strikeout Tony
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Gwynn three times. Oh my God, what a legend.
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Greg Maddox and Pedro Martinez never recorded a strikeout
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versus Tony Gwynn. That's, that seems unreal.
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I mean, he's, he's one of he's one of my goats.
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He was one of my goats growing up.
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I mean, that was my guy, my, my actual number one guy.
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You might recognize him here. That's all.
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Ricky Henderson and the Yankees. Let's get Jersey.
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That's the old Tony lineup. Ricky was my number one guy.
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Tony Gwynn, a Mount a Mount Rushmore guy for me for sure.
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What a legend. Great, great beer choice by you.
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Well, well done. You know, I was trying to get
3:28
the get the local when I'm when I'm out and about.
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But the question was, where do we want to get started?
3:35
I'm getting we're getting started with a beverage.
3:37
We're getting started with some random baseball facts.
3:39
You use the term checkered flag earlier.
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So now we're look, look at that. I mean, we're spanning all the
3:44
sports here, but how about we get to the football and let's
3:47
start with the perennial contenders.
3:50
Barcelona 3 OH Louvin nil. This one, this one was
3:56
interesting. Almost snuck into half time nil
3:59
nil. I don't want to say it was it
4:01
was ahead of the curve or we were ahead of the curve, but
4:04
turns out Lubin not really a bullshit team.
4:07
I mean, I think we've seen Barcelona, you know, not really
4:10
blow the doors off of every team, but Barcelona was clearly
4:13
frustrated. I mean, you look at some of the
4:15
stats though, like the the shot numbers, the the touches in the
4:18
box numbers, they're astronomical.
4:20
I don't think Lubin recorded. Let me see if I get this right.
4:25
They they recorded 0.0 XG no shots, obviously no shots on
4:30
target, no touches in the opposition box touch tough to
4:33
tough to beat Barcelona when you can't not just single touch in
4:36
the opposition box, but credit to Louvin.
4:39
They were in passing lanes, they were in shooting lanes regular
4:43
block party out there. They were just kind of making it
4:45
difficult for for the ball to actually get all the way through
4:49
to get to the keeper by I mean kind of, I mean maybe an
4:55
encouraging performance for Lubin.
4:56
I mean, before we get to start talking to talking to Barcelona,
4:59
But I don't know. They got to be pretty, pretty
5:01
excited with with, I mean a a pretty surprising scoreline.
5:07
I think it is surprising, I mean because we know Barcelona is
5:10
known. I mean they racked up a couple
5:12
with that last year. They beat Hammerby like 9 to
5:15
nothing or something insane like that.
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And Hammerby is a good team. Like there is parking the bus
5:23
and then there is parking the bus, removing the wheels,
5:28
removing the steering wheel, removing the engine block.
5:32
And I, I, you use the right term, it was a block party out
5:35
there. They were, they were just going
5:36
to pack it and, and see what happens.
5:40
You know, they, they get the first goal.
5:43
I think it was CGH created the own goal, which I think was the
5:48
second goal. Oh yeah.
5:49
Because the first goal was the penalty, which, you know, if
5:52
Barcelona, yeah. And if if Barcelona's just
5:56
living in your 18, your defensive 18, then they're
5:59
eventually probably going to create a penalty.
6:01
But we said before that match that if Louvin could just keep
6:06
it to like a three nil or 4 nil loss.
6:08
I know that sounds wild, but that's a good position for them.
6:12
It doesn't it doesn't destroy their goal differential.
6:14
And I'll give you the credit because you were the earliest on
6:18
it and I hopped right on board. But they're, I mean, that
6:23
happening gives them a better path to to make it out of this
6:27
league phase. No doubt.
6:29
And I mean, you know, I joked about it, but this one almost
6:33
did go in halftime. Nil, nil.
6:34
You know, the Alexia's penalty kick goes in at 45 + 1.
6:39
Khadiyah de Koister, 16 year old from I think Belgium.
6:44
Belgium, I believe so put put a ball in the back of that pass
6:48
got that going got gets called back for offsides on a pretty
6:51
close not so close call. It was off by a good yard, but
6:55
the the offsides take I I love when it takes place right around
6:58
the halfway line and there's like plenty of room to still run
7:01
and you know plenty of work to do to to have a finish.
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I mean, I don't know if I'm if I'm moving, I'm I'm really it's
7:07
almost like taking points from Barcelona, a three no loss in
7:10
their house where where you kind of take it to the to to the
7:13
limit. And then you mentioned the CGH.
7:17
The second one was an own goal. You know, obviously like an
7:20
incredibly dangerous ball. And then obviously, you know,
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Perez beats you for the third one just back door.
7:27
I mean a great, great finish from Perez, wonderful ball and
7:31
from Opileon at the end of it. Barcelona gets it done.
7:34
But you know, the thing that we talked about in the tears
7:36
episode would some of these injuries and evapire makes it
7:40
back into the mix today, which was really, really great to see.
7:44
She replaces Claudia Pina in the second-half.
7:48
But you know, Patzi's still out some up at uela's still out.
7:53
Some players having moved on from last season, not totally
7:55
replaced by household names. I mean, we we could still be
8:00
looking at a Barcelona that they might get there.
8:03
They might get to the absolute mountain top by the time we get
8:05
to May in the final. But, you know, if if the wind
8:08
kind of blows the other way and you know, so the football gods
8:12
continue to, you know, sort of like extend their wrath a little
8:16
bit. I don't know, Barcelona could
8:18
could be in for a rocky rest of the tournament because they, you
8:21
know, to your point, they don't look like the team that's just
8:24
simply dominating everybody else.
8:27
I think the term Rocky is probably pretty relative here.
8:32
I do think I am very interested to see kind of like how they
8:35
grow into the tournament. I think it was a, it was a
8:39
performance by Louvin of, you know, we're not like you said,
8:42
zero shots, you know, 0 touches in the opposing, the attacking
8:49
A-Team. Louvin wasn't exactly like
8:52
playing to win. They're playing to not get
8:54
destroyed. I think, I think Barcelona, I
8:59
think it's going to be interesting to watch them have
9:01
the role of let's kind of let's get our, get our tax tactics
9:06
together, let's get our chemistry together, Let's grow
9:08
as this tournament progresses. And, you know, I have full faith
9:13
that they, that they will get to that mountaintop, that they will
9:16
reach an apex where they're going to be extremely dangerous
9:20
to win the entire tournament. I, I, you know, I, I say this
9:23
about Barcelona every year. It's not exactly a, a
9:25
groundbreaking take, but I'm, I'm really interested to see it
9:30
and I, I, you know, I think they'll get there.
9:35
Let's talk about the team that Barcelona's playing match day
9:38
for a team that they could be playing again down the road once
9:42
we get to the knockout stage of the tournament.
9:44
Chelsea. So Chelsea get a big six nil win
9:47
over Zeng Bolton on the road away scoreline felt a little bit
9:53
cruel because you know, a little bit like the Lubin match.
9:55
I thought, well at least the first half was Zeng Bolton's I
9:59
think their best half of the tournament so far.
10:03
I think that's I think that's right.
10:05
I think, can you say that? I think we can.
10:09
I think you and I can comfortably say this.
10:10
I think we're in a in a good enough position in the football
10:13
podcasting world to say they deserved better than six nil.
10:17
Maybe they deserved A3 nil loss, similar to what Levin was able
10:21
to get. You know, they're clearly
10:24
outclassed by Chelsea and you know, you're just going to get
10:28
these gigantic performances from Karina Schluter and we we've
10:32
seen it again. You know, we've seen them get
10:33
smashed by Lyon in in previous tournaments over the last couple
10:36
years and we still walk away from those matches going, man,
10:39
Schluter's awesome. She's so good.
10:43
I'm just trying to pull up real quick.
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I just want to see how many saves she had. 14 keeper saves
10:48
versus Chelsea. There we go.
10:49
Come on. That's that's big time.
10:52
Just big, big plays, big saves. On the Chelsea side, though, we
10:57
talked a lot about catamarine near Macario for the US women's
11:00
national team. Kind of like needing to turn
11:02
that goal, scoring corner. You know, we know what she could
11:06
do. Holding the ball up, creating,
11:09
you know, just getting the ball, keeping things moving in a
11:12
dangerous area. And we know she can score goals.
11:14
But it had been a minute and now it just kind of seems like
11:19
that's starting to really, you know, come in a big way.
11:23
I think for Macario, you couple that with Sam Kerr getting two
11:28
goals in this one and not even playing that well, you know, a
11:32
couple Sam Kerr moments early that that, you know, just
11:35
didn't. That looked very
11:36
uncharacteristic, which you would expect after such a long
11:39
way off. But what we had been talking
11:41
about with Chelsea not cashing in some of these chances,
11:44
obviously Mario Ramirez out of the line up, Aggie Beaver,
11:47
Jones, you know, can be great. But a tough player to kind of
11:52
carry the entire scoring load. Macario and Kerr all of a sudden
11:57
could make things really, really interesting for that Chelsea
11:59
attack that kind of needed a shot in the arm.
12:03
I think so, and the announcer pointed it out.
12:05
And my apologies, I don't have the announcer's name off the top
12:07
of my head, but the announcer pointed out a couple times that
12:10
Macario was going to play in a deeper role.
12:12
She's going to play in that kind of like attacking midfield #10
12:15
ish role that I personally favor her in that I think that she is
12:20
really suited for because of her passing ability.
12:23
But like you pointed out, she she still has that scoring
12:26
element to her game. And you know, she was a
12:29
supernova in the in this match. You know, like we respect St.
12:35
Polton. You know, we were hoping we, we
12:38
kind of had some hopes that they would look a little better in
12:41
this tournament. But she was dominant in there.
12:43
I and it's not, you know, it's not like you're just going to go
12:47
totally walk, walk over the Austrian champions.
12:50
So I thought Macario looked incredibly encouraging.
12:54
That was Sam Kerr's first start in 23 months.
12:58
So of course she she finds a way to get a brace like you said,
13:01
like still like very clearly rusty, not apex Sam Kerr, not
13:05
even close to apex Sam Kerr. And she walks away with two
13:08
goals. So I the the other part I want
13:11
to point out about this is Ellie Carpenter looks as comfortable
13:15
as she could possibly look. That opening goal where Macario
13:21
plays Carpenter through and then Carpenter whips it into captain
13:25
right on the forehead. Easy finish.
13:29
I mean, they were they were cooking on all cylinders.
13:33
And the last piece I want to talk about, I don't know if I
13:35
can get this off the ground. I don't know if it's already off
13:37
the ground or if people have already said it and I'm just
13:39
doofus not paying attention. I want to call the I want to
13:42
call the trio the Chelsea Americans.
13:45
The Chelsea Americans do what? Chelsea ends with an A and
13:49
Americans starts with an A. That's what I'm trying to do
13:52
here. Kat Macario, Naomi Gurma, Alyssa
13:55
Thompson. Obviously, Macario looked
13:57
fantastic. Thompson drew the penalty.
14:00
I think it was closer like around the hour mark near the
14:02
end of the match, Ish and Gurma looked solid.
14:04
She had a goal called back, but she was solid in defense.
14:08
I think those 3, when they get really cooking, I think
14:11
Chelsea's going to be, you know, even more dangerous than we
14:14
already know they are. Yeah, no doubt.
14:17
Great to see Gurma out there. And I thought Gurma looked good.
14:20
Her passing was sharp. You already know, like her, like
14:23
she, she looked not like a player that was super rusty.
14:26
So that was great to see and I'm glad you mentioned it.
14:29
Alyssa Thompson draws the foul. That's good for an assistant in
14:32
the ITC personal record book, as was Mercario's initial ball,
14:37
Tele Carpenter, which you also mentioned.
14:38
Beautiful ball which looked like it was going to JRK but then
14:42
ends up going to Carpenter and it was just like like, even as a
14:45
viewer I was confused. I couldn't imagine being a
14:47
defender for Saint Paul and trying to match up with that.
14:50
But match day 4. Chelsea will host Barcelona
14:57
Thursday, 12K Pacific in the late spot.
15:01
What do we expect from this one? Obviously two teams working it
15:07
out, right? Chelsea, I mean, I think we're
15:09
we're learning a good bit about them.
15:11
You know, everything had been going pretty well, I would say,
15:16
except for the scoring. Looks like the scoring could be
15:18
starting to come. We'll see.
15:20
Barcelona, I think trying to adjust.
15:23
I mean, Patri and Sama Patiola, 2 huge, huge pieces, like just
15:29
almost larger than life kind of players.
15:32
And they have the talent to kind of like fill those gaps.
15:35
But some moves, things have to get moved around.
15:37
I think what we saw even against Lubin, not the same crisp, you
15:41
know, unstoppable, inevitable offensive attack from Barcelona.
15:45
So against Chelsea on the road, it's going to be an interesting
15:49
spot for Barcelona to try to get right here.
15:51
And, you know, also playing I think for for some top 4
15:55
machinations at least Chelsea is on 7 points, Barcelona's on 9.
15:59
They're probably clear, but Chelsea probably wants to walk
16:02
away definitely with a win, but it at least some points here to
16:06
kind of stay right in the top 4 periphery.
16:10
Yeah, this match is just a podcaster or a pundit's dream,
16:14
because in almost any scenario we get to use the term a
16:18
statement game. Because if Barcelona is able to,
16:21
you know what in this condition, Pyor coming off an injury,
16:25
missing Padre, missing Pediuello, you know, bringing,
16:29
you know, youngsters like Vicki Lopez online and if they're able
16:33
to notch a victory, we just say it's a it's a crushing blow for
16:36
Chelsea. It's disappointing to lose at
16:38
home, you know, to who is now a who has been a Champions League
16:43
rival. But if Chelsea wins, then you
16:46
get then people get to say is this the Barcelona wobble?
16:49
Are they going to be able to come back from these injuries?
16:51
Just a lot of intrigue no matter what.
16:53
Now we if we get a nil nil draw, maybe there's less commentary to
16:57
be had. I doubt that's going to happen.
17:00
I you know, I'll throw out the early prediction.
17:04
I think it could be a one nil Barcelona win because I'm just
17:07
not never going to be in the business of betting against
17:09
Barcelona and I think they find a way.
17:12
But I, you know, that would also be a we don't call we don't call
17:18
for managers jobs on this show. But it would be a harmful result
17:22
for Sonia Bon Pastor. And I think it would raise a lot
17:25
of eyebrows. I think it would get some some
17:27
scuttlebutt going, to use an American term.
17:31
Oh the the yeah, the the the butt will be scuttling for sure.
17:36
I don't. Think that's the origin of it,
17:38
but all right. Moving on, I think I I love the
17:44
I love the point that a Barcelona win over Chelsea does
17:49
much more damage to Chelsea than the inverse.
17:52
I think that's true mentally, you know Chelsea does have a
17:57
block when it comes to the Barcelona.
17:59
Maybe Sonia Bompastor does have a separate block, but either
18:03
way, there's some baggage that kind of needs to get dropped off
18:06
and unloaded for Chelsea here. But it might just be too early.
18:11
It might just, you know, like I, if I'm Chelsea, I probably would
18:14
have wanted to catch Barcelona match day five, maybe match day
18:17
six once I'm a little bit more calibrated.
18:20
Chelsea's starting to turn the corner a little bit.
18:22
The WSL is not going to be a walk the way it has been in
18:25
recent years. I think that's it feels like
18:29
that's pretty much over. It feels like the parody at the
18:31
top of the WSL, starting to look a little bit like the Men's
18:36
Premier League side, which is really cool to see for the first
18:40
time. It really just doesn't feel like
18:41
it's up in the air and I don't know, a Barcelona win here could
18:45
be really interesting. This is easily the match of
18:48
match day 4. I'm so so pumped for this one.
18:51
Yeah, got to be two heavyweights.
18:54
Must see TV. Can't wait to watch it.
18:56
Yeah, no doubt. Let's shift gears.
19:00
Let's talk about another couple. Let's call them light
19:02
heavyweights. Bayern Munich 3.
19:06
Arsenal 2 Am I reading that right?
19:08
Is that possible? Did that actually happen?
19:11
What a whoa. I turned it off Arsenal.
19:14
Arsenal was winning 2. Nothing that was sure.
19:16
Surely we have the score incorrect there.
19:19
You know what's worse? I, I've, I've had to watch
19:22
these, you know, most of them on a replay.
19:25
I watched the 1st 45 minutes of this one and then had to take a
19:28
break, go do, do something else. Came back, you know, a few hours
19:31
later and I'm just kind of riding high and I think I might
19:34
have seen something on social or maybe it was on YouTube was
19:39
like, oh, it was some Arsenal player talking about the loss.
19:44
And it was a player that was like a lot more prominent in re
19:47
like pre like previously it might have been whooping more.
19:49
So it was somebody that and I was like, oh, that that couldn't
19:52
have been against Bayern. It was Oh no, it was very bad.
19:59
That's amazing. They looked great in the first
20:01
half. Can we say that?
20:03
They looked they looked super tough and you know, you guys,
20:06
you also you can't be light heavyweights.
20:08
Yeah, Arsenal cannot be light heavyweights.
20:10
You're 2 times winner of the of the tournament and you are the
20:13
current title holders. I know, I know, but you know,
20:19
Lester won the Premier League also.
20:20
I mean that we're not quite there, but it it just feels, it
20:24
feels a little different. I mean, there was a couple
20:26
things that really, really sent me for a loop in this one.
20:29
So let's let's start with the positives.
20:31
Emily Fox 5th minute, I've been dying.
20:34
I've been waiting feels like two or three years to say this.
20:37
A fox in the box situation even has a little fox out to kind of
20:40
like head it in the goal after me deflects it back.
20:46
Marion also bangs went in about 20 minutes later to put to put
20:49
Arsenal up two nil. The first moment that gave me a
20:53
little pause the 59th minute. Renee Slagers makes a couple
20:58
offensive Subs at that point and I'm like, all right, we're up to
21:02
nil, we're cooking. But I don't know.
21:06
Chloe Kelly and Freda Manam for Caitlin Ford's Tina Baxtenius as
21:11
the two at 59 up two nil. I'm not sure if that's the the
21:15
move I would have made. You know, you look at who
21:17
Arsenal had on the bench, not, not a lot of defensive muscle
21:20
there. But I thought immediately after
21:24
that move, Arsenal started to look a little bit less sure of
21:30
what they were doing, where they were going, and just a really
21:32
bad part, a really bad time in the game to kind of take half a
21:36
step back because Byron was all over it.
21:40
Yeah, I it's an interesting point.
21:43
And I mean, yeah, I guess, I guess Arsenal's defensive depth
21:47
isn't, you know, isn't great. I mean, you got Leia Codina on
21:52
the bench there in this match and I I don't know if Slager's
21:58
was like looking to land a knockout blow.
22:00
I didn't get a chance to see her post match presser if she had to
22:05
answer any questions about that. I also just think that Bayern
22:09
and you know, this can often be aided by, you know, one team
22:14
getting a little tired or maybe focusing too much on the attack.
22:17
But it just felt like Bayern was able to kind of discover a few
22:21
things like playing like playing more direct and just kind of
22:25
going right at Arsenal. I mean, that that first match or
22:30
that first goal, pardon me, right around the 67th minute, it
22:34
looked like Clara Boole and Alara were just having a team
22:38
meeting behind the defenders as they're sprinting at at the goal
22:43
for Byron's opener. And you know, when I, I'm
22:48
curious like you. So you you had your doubts when
22:52
the Subs came in, when that first one goes in, you're still
22:56
up to 1 and there's 20 minutes left.
23:00
But I have some inside information that maybe it
23:03
started to feel a bit like scary hours out there in San
23:06
Francisco. Yeah, got got a little got a
23:10
little spooky here even in November.
23:13
It's funny. I love the the the picture you
23:16
paint with Bull and Alara just sprinting out ahead.
23:19
It kind of reminds me of you know, when like you see a couple
23:22
like like like a group of cross fitters, like just running up
23:25
the sidewalk and there's two that are out ahead and there's a
23:28
bunch of three or four that are a little a little worse for wear
23:32
chasing that those two. That's what it kind of looked
23:34
like in that moment. But when I saw Laura just kind
23:38
of breakthrough and you know, Clara Bull is just an absolute
23:41
beast and and an engine in and of herself.
23:43
But but when I saw that moment, I was like, why can't Byron just
23:48
do this over and over? Like we clearly can't run with
23:52
them if they're super engaged and they're cutting and they're
23:56
they're giving us a ton of angles to have to work with.
23:58
It's going to it's going to be a long day for that Arsenal
24:01
defense, even though it's there was only 20 minutes left in the
24:03
match. And that proved correct the the
24:06
the defensive point. I just want to mention it
24:08
because you you briefly touched on it.
24:11
So Arsenal brings on Taylor Hines 75th at full back, the
24:17
only two other options left on the bench at that .25 year old
24:20
Leia Codina who you mentioned and then 17 year old Sophie
24:23
Harwood. So not a not a lot of moves to
24:27
go to and not a lot of like, you know, defensive midfield muscle
24:31
either. So Slager's a little bit
24:33
hamstrung in that moment. But again, I don't think those
24:36
Subs worked. And ultimately, you know, you
24:39
have a 2 nil lead at Firen. I think this is going to be
24:43
absolutely a learning moment for Slagers.
24:45
You, you have to kind of, I don't know, you, you, you've got
24:49
to the three points are so paramount in that moment that
24:54
another goal or another, you know, you got to realize that
24:57
this, these are prime, prime points and the goal
25:02
differential, you know, it isn't, it's not nothing, but to
25:05
lose all the points up to nil in the 60s, tough, tough spot.
25:12
It's a rough one, yeah. They'll need, they'll need to
25:14
bounce back for sure. And you know, on the opposite
25:18
side, you know, Byron brings on Alara was a sub, she scored 5
25:23
minutes after she came on. And for Neil Harder was was a
25:27
sub relatively early 56 minute in the in the second-half.
25:32
And you know, that that goal that she scored, the controlling
25:36
touch that she took, and then she had to hit that little
25:39
stutter step before she blasted the shot.
25:42
I mean, that was that's real hoops right there.
25:45
I mean, I'm sorry that it came against your squad.
25:48
But I mean, obviously, there's no secret about perennial
25:51
harder. She's 33 years old.
25:52
But the Danish striker strikes again.
25:57
Yeah, no doubt. I mean a soup.
26:00
I mean a superstar player that plays like a superstar every
26:04
time Arsenal's on the other side.
26:06
I was just going to say, did she have the Hattie last year?
26:09
Yeah, yeah, she did in like 12 minutes or something ridiculous.
26:13
And it was also at Byron, too, so it was like the same.
26:16
We're returning to the scene of the crime.
26:18
I was reading up on Bernie Hardy.
26:19
You mentioned. She's 33 years old.
26:22
She's won her domestic league 10 years in a row, so she had a
26:26
couple years at Wolfsburg, then Chelsea, then Bayern basically
26:29
to her team wins the domestic league pretty much wherever she
26:33
goes. She's got her MBA.
26:36
She's also involved, I think. I think she either has the
26:38
founder or on the board of a pretty cool nonprofit that
26:45
supports women athletes. I mean, All in all, a very, very
26:49
impressive person and player. With all that said, I do not
26:53
like Purnio harder. I do not like this person.
26:56
I want this person out of my life.
26:57
I want this person kind of the third of it.
27:00
Every time I see her, she makes me pay dearly.
27:03
I mean, it's, it's pretty much just and, and again, it seems to
27:06
be just against Arsenal. But in all seriousness, a great
27:09
player, another big performer. What a finish too.
27:13
I mean that, that that finish fooled everybody.
27:17
And another I don't know what, what, what can you do other than
27:20
say, I want this player out of my life and I, I, I don't like
27:23
watching that player play anymore.
27:26
You know what, I don't blame you, buddy.
27:28
But luckily in this new format, in the league phase, there will
27:32
not be a return fixture. So, you know, unless once you
27:36
get through, 'cause Arsenal's still going to make it through.
27:39
I know, I know sometimes you can get a little down in the dumps
27:43
about your gun. They're they're going to make it
27:47
out of the league phase. Maybe Byron will as well.
27:49
So maybe you'll see them again, but hopefully for your sake you
27:53
won't. Yep, All right, who does Arsenal
27:57
have match day four? No, no, no, then Las Blancas
28:00
Real Madrid won per EFC won. Surprising scoreline, I would
28:06
say. I mean, especially considering
28:09
what what Real Madrid looked like coming out.
28:12
Chi Sado looked like an absolute handful Redondo had a shot from
28:19
felt like inches away that you just do not usually see or miss.
28:24
It felt like Madrid was going to hang at least three or four on
28:27
pre FC, but credit to pre FCI. Think that match up with Lyon in
28:33
the Premier League definitely kind of hardened them and got
28:38
them kind of up to speed. Really, really ready to to
28:42
combat that Real Madrid attack. I think that's fair.
28:46
I think, you know that it's one of those, you know, two things
28:49
can be true at once. Where I it was not close to Real
28:53
Madrid's best match, but Perry FC stood up for that one.
28:56
And yeah, they what they had a close match against Leon like
28:59
what, like 2 weeks ago or it was two couple matches ago, I think
29:03
it was. And yeah, they they looked way
29:07
better than I expected, you know, and and in this
29:10
tournament, I've been a little down on the non Leon of French
29:15
teams. We'll talk about PSG later.
29:18
But I thought Perry FC was able to do some things to frustrate
29:24
Real Madrid's attack. But I mean, you, you you said it
29:29
correctly. I literally gasped when Redondo
29:33
didn't score that. And like, it was right around
29:36
like the half hour mark, I think somewhere in that ballpark where
29:39
like, you know, we we call Albert Redondo the professional
29:43
goal scorer. Like she nods that in it feels
29:45
like 9 times out of 10, maybe 19 times out of 20.
29:49
And so I was very surprised by that late in the match when they
29:54
were still looking for the equalizer.
29:56
Linda Kai Sado. I I guess she didn't like her
30:00
angle, but it looked like she was in on goal, like one-on-one
30:04
with the keeper and she decides to play it across and the pass
30:07
gets broken up. And I was just like, I'm gonna
30:09
need you to shoot. That Linda, Yep, yeah, that one
30:13
was very painful. We talk about it, you know,
30:19
like, it's funny because like we're, we're down the stretch
30:22
too with NWSL and and now, now we get to the point where, you
30:28
know, I don't want to say XG goes out the window, but
30:30
actually pretty much goes out the window.
30:32
And, and it's for that specific reason.
30:34
That is Linda Casito generating a pretty very high XG chance for
30:38
herself and doing nothing with it in a total brain fart moment
30:42
from a superstar player that has made plays for years and years
30:49
despite her super young age. So we're just at that point in
30:52
time of the season where mentally we're going to start to
30:56
see some of these breakdowns and and and on the flip side, some
31:01
of these moments where some of these veteran players, you know,
31:05
kind of feels like they're turning back the clock, but in
31:06
reality, they're just calm, locked in.
31:09
They've been there 100 times before, whether it's, I don't
31:13
know, Frieda, Linda Ralpho, who we'll get to Ada Hegerberg, who
31:16
we'll get to like these players just take these opportunities.
31:20
I mean, cool as you like, you know, and just get it done, you
31:25
know, and I think like a player, like I said, oh, will get there.
31:29
And this was a very, very tough match with Pre FC Madrid
31:34
outshoots them 23 to 7. But the shot on target advantage
31:36
was only 5 to 2, you know, So Pre FC definitely held up really
31:42
well, was very physical. Sheikh Scott who Sheikh Scott,
31:47
who drew the foul was a menace pretty much all day.
31:52
And Rob Madrou was kind of looking for somebody to kind of
31:56
make it happen. You know, ultimately, like,
31:58
Caroline Weir had six shots, Casito had six shots.
32:01
Redondo, We talked about the ball kind of knocked around a
32:03
little bit and then it took until the 90, what was it, 90 +
32:07
90 plus? 8 and 90 + 8 Yeah, that is for.
32:10
Caroline Weir at the death to to kind of knock it.
32:12
I think it was the last kick and and it was a ball just kind of
32:15
knocking around. Ria Mendez just I think side
32:18
foot or outside of the foot just moves it along to Caroline.
32:21
We're a few yards away to to kind of knock it in.
32:23
But I think encouraging for Pre FC and to your earlier point, I
32:28
agree, a little bit of an off day for Real Madrid.
32:30
I don't know if it's ringing the alarm time just yet.
32:32
They're still in a really strong position.
32:34
But you know, not not really the performance you wanted when you
32:38
see Pre FC at home on the schedule going into a match
32:43
against Arsenal. It got it just got me thinking
32:46
about the nature of this tournament and the the nature of
32:49
the league phase, frankly, where the favorites just aren't going
32:53
to win every single time. Like Real Madrid has decidedly
32:57
more talent than Perry FC, But that's just not the way sports
33:00
work. And that's not the way, you
33:01
know, football and and a league style play works.
33:04
And I think sometimes I get I get just too caught up in that
33:09
because because I thought I thought Real Madrid was going to
33:12
bury Perry FC and I thought Manchester United was going to
33:16
smash Perry's Angerman and I was wrong on both of those.
33:19
We'll we'll obviously talk about United, PSG here in a moment.
33:23
But you know, that's like in league, in a league play style.
33:28
And like you all, and we've mentioned many times, all these
33:31
teams are good enough to make it into this into this tournament,
33:35
that we're just going to get these surprises.
33:37
And that's and that's part of the joy of the tournament.
33:40
And and I will say, when you talk about like Linda Kaiseda
33:42
working her way up and she still has room to grow, which should
33:45
be scary for for her opponents. Caroline Weir is going to take
33:50
those chances. And she took that chance in the
33:53
big moment to get it on frame and score it.
33:55
And I would be remiss because it's just been in my head.
33:59
But obviously the greatest rap group of all time, or certainly
34:03
the greatest hip hop duo of all time, Outcast, recently elected
34:07
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
34:09
When Caroline Weir scores that goal, all I could think about is
34:13
that if the Outcast song Roses was made today, Andre 3000 would
34:18
be yelling Caroline and he'd be referencing Caroline Weir 'cause
34:22
she's an absolute baller. Absolutely, yeah.
34:25
I was. I wasn't sure where you're going
34:26
to go there. I'm like, I was there a few
34:29
clips, but it's got to be outcast.
34:30
It's got to be outcast. One can't be prisoners of the
34:33
prisoners of the moment here, Arsenal, Real Madrid.
34:39
This one is taking place in North London.
34:42
Should be a banger. I mean, you look at where the
34:46
standings are. Real Madrid, they're in 5th. 7
34:50
points, +5, probably feeling good.
34:53
Arsenal's got an even goal differential all the way down to
34:56
11th. Only on three points.
34:58
One win, 2 losses. Does Arsenal need to win this
35:04
game against Real Madrid? I mean, four points if they're
35:07
on four points after four matches and looking firmly
35:14
outside the top four and maybe in that nine through 12 band,
35:19
that's a little that's a little concerning.
35:21
And I actually, I actually ran myself through the thought
35:23
exercise of like, how bad would this league phase have to be for
35:28
2025 to ruin what happened in 2024, Arsenal And I and I, I
35:33
laid it on not, not not making the top 12, not not making the
35:37
top 12 would would really hurt how I feel about 2024.
35:41
But let me get all that out of my head.
35:43
Arsenal, Real Madrid Does Arsenal need a a big three
35:46
points here? Oh, you know I love a must win.
35:49
I mean come on now we're getting into all the sports cliches
35:52
here. I mean, I, I mean, we're still,
35:59
yeah. I mean, it's hard to say that
36:01
it's it's not, it's not early anymore.
36:05
You know, if they if they get a draw versus Real Madrid, they'll
36:08
need a Louvin loss to be level on points with Louvin, which,
36:14
you know, I'm going to guess that Renee Slager's and company
36:17
was not expecting that would not be expecting that four matches
36:21
into this league phase. I don't know, buddy, I think you
36:25
may you might be convincing me. It's it might be a must win, but
36:29
that's a rough spot against Las Blancas who are going to look
36:32
out, who are going to come out looking to kind of avenge A
36:35
disappointing result for them. So we got 2 heavyweights coming
36:40
off a disappointing results doing battle in North London.
36:44
I think that this is going to this is going to rival Barcelona
36:49
versus Chelsea as one of the matches of of match day 4.
36:53
I can absolutely see it. Real Madrid also will be looking
36:57
for some revenge having been eliminated by Arsenal last year.
37:00
Knockout stage. But let's keep it moving.
37:04
Manchester United, they took on PSG.
37:07
You mentioned that a couple times briefly in passing.
37:10
Big win for Manchester United 2 to one over the Parisians.
37:16
My biggest take away from this one.
37:19
I think we have to start thinking about Manchester United
37:23
as like a real contender. And I'm basing that on one
37:27
thing. Usually, you know, a team's good
37:32
when they could have kind of a blah performance and still keep
37:37
control of the match, take the three points and basically grab
37:43
a win against an an opponent that's really decent in a tough
37:47
competition. I think that's totally fair.
37:51
And I think, you know, I mentioned this, anybody who
37:55
wants to watch our Manchester Darby preview with the great
38:00
Crunk chocolate, the producer of the Shades of Blue network,
38:03
friend of the show. Obviously when we talked about
38:06
Manchester United, I mentioned to him when that when I saw that
38:10
lineup and I was like, OK, so I guess you don't feel like you
38:13
need to start Ella Tune, one of the best players in the WSL, one
38:18
of the better midfielders in world football today.
38:21
You're like, Nah, don't need her against Perry's Angerman.
38:24
I was like, Kai feels a little disrespectful to that French
38:28
side, but like you said, they they gutted it out.
38:32
Jennifer Etcha Guinea, the Nigerian winger, hit a laser off
38:39
the post way early in the proceedings.
38:42
And I was like, huh, OK, well, I've already seen, I've already
38:47
kind of started to question when PSG had that close result versus
38:51
Real Madrid. Was I get, was I way too low on
38:54
PSG? But even then, to your point,
39:00
Man United still didn't really ever look like losing this
39:03
match. Melvin Millar is just a
39:07
supernova right now. She's an absolute beast.
39:11
I thought the announcer did a great job.
39:13
What he mentioned when she scored her goal, the opener,
39:16
that she had a lot to do after she got the pass from Riviera
39:20
and she did everything with it. It was one of those things where
39:23
you always see like sometimes a winger or a forward, they need
39:25
to do that move where they like need to like swim move and get
39:28
past the defender, but then it doesn't work out and the
39:30
defender just kind of clears it out.
39:32
Nope, She executed the swim move perfectly.
39:35
Miller gets on the other side of Griegenbach and then hits the
39:38
finish pass Mary Earps, kind of spoiling her return to Old
39:42
Trafford, her return to Manchester.
39:45
And yeah, I, I think you're right, man.
39:48
Like we we got to look at those Reds as certainly A-Team that's
39:54
going to challenge for the top 4.
39:57
I think so for sure. So they're they're nestled into
40:00
third right now, 9 points after three matchups and.
40:04
They just look rock solid. They look they look really solid
40:06
at at every position and and even in some of those spots
40:09
like, you know, you look at like a Jade Riviera where you're
40:11
like, all right, well, let's see what what's going to happen
40:14
there. You know, she was matched up
40:17
with Gilbert most of the second-half and they went heads
40:20
up for for a lot of it. Very entertaining stuff.
40:24
I mentioned Frido, Lena, Rafa, who gets one of the goals, a
40:28
perfect example of a player who a different player in that spot
40:32
might be able to do more throughout the course of a
40:34
match, let's say. But when you really need it,
40:38
it's like, I mean, I'm, I'm I'd be ecstatic if we're all for
40:42
those. The the player that's sitting
40:43
there with that one look, you know, at the one moment in the
40:47
in the match where where it could really kind of flip.
40:49
And that's kind of what happened here.
40:52
I mean, United just they, they, they seem to have all of the
40:56
pieces. Doesn't mean they're going to
40:58
put it all together, but all of the pieces are there.
41:01
You know, you can kind of like open the box be like, all right,
41:03
this there is something here. Maybe not to win the whole
41:05
thing, but certainly to finish top four, certainly to win, you
41:13
know, a knockout stage match and then maybe find themselves in
41:15
the semifinals. And then obviously WSLI think
41:18
that that's a that's an open open field as well.
41:22
Good time to be a United fan. PSG on the other hand, I thought
41:26
again, a lot like pre FC, a good performance, something you can
41:30
kind of build on. I want to say I want to feel
41:33
like their tournament's not over.
41:35
I, I, I, I don't know, I'm, I'm still in that space.
41:39
Wow, Maybe I'm a a little bit too hopeful, but the, the Olga
41:43
Carmona, we got a Carmona banger in this one.
41:45
And I don't know, they just put up they, they put up a fight
41:48
that I really liked. It's going to be tricky.
41:56
OK, so who do they who do they have coming up?
41:58
So they got to play Bayern now they'll be home for that match.
42:02
Is is Perry Sargeman just going to be the team that as they're
42:07
playing these good teams, they just keep losing close.
42:12
And we're like good effort. Like, you know, sometimes you
42:15
just kind of get those those teams that are, you know, and
42:18
I've joked about it where I've said like, oh, they ain't played
42:21
nobody. You know, I talked about they
42:24
beat Strasburg, they beat La Havre, they beat Flurry 4 nil.
42:27
Then they lose to Manchester United, they lose to Real
42:29
Madrid, they get smacked by Wolfsburg 4 nil.
42:32
They beat Dijon, they lost to Lyon and Lee play 6 to 1.
42:36
Like, you know, they could just be like an 80th percentile team
42:44
where they're able to kind of, you know, beat these lesser
42:46
opponents. And then when the rubber meets
42:48
the road against against the world's elite, they're just not
42:51
able to get off the hump, get over the hump.
42:53
But they do pass my my very sophisticated test of when I
43:00
look at their roster, I go, well, they got a lot of good
43:02
players, but it's just I I still I don't have I don't have a ton
43:07
of faith, But you are absolutely right.
43:09
You know, I like to think I've been one of the one of the older
43:13
Carmona staunch, one of Olga Carmona's staunchest believers
43:19
over the last few years. And when she scored that banger
43:22
before the half, I was like, OK, well, we'll see what happens.
43:26
And even then in the second-half, United was like,
43:28
OK, you can have the ball. We'll still find a way to win.
43:32
Yeah, yeah. And that they did.
43:35
Yeah. I mean, Carmona gets a goal,
43:36
Millar gets a goal. All your favorite players are
43:39
racking them up. That's right, PSG home match
43:43
versus Bayern match day four, they got to be looking at that.
43:47
They're all sitting on 0 points, but who is who's on 12?
43:52
I think Valarenga's, Valarenga's 12 on three points.
43:56
There's there's three points behind Valarenga.
43:58
Now this matchup versus Bayern where they're hosting Byron,
44:03
obviously a tricky one, but you look at 5 match day five and
44:06
six, it's versus Luvin and at Benfica.
44:10
If you're PSG or you're looking at both 5 and 6 and being like
44:13
we can win those games, we're going to show up.
44:15
We're going to unpack our bags and we're going to try to win
44:18
those games because we think we can.
44:20
Which means that the match day 4 match up with Bayern at home is
44:25
a real pivot point. You know, like if you get beat
44:29
there, you know you're already on -6 that's going to really
44:34
just pretty much I think end it. You would need 2 massive wins
44:40
and even then six points you'd probably be behind A-Team with a
44:44
better goal differential. So they really need a result
44:48
versus Byron, which kind of makes that one a must watch.
44:51
I think maybe not at the at the level, but maybe, maybe at the
44:54
level. We'll see.
44:54
It could be an absolute banger. Tons of talent in that one as
44:57
well. It's a must watch in the terms
45:01
of like, I love desperate teams, you know, playing each other and
45:05
and like if you're Bayern, you're also in a spot where
45:09
you're on 6 points. But because you got absolutely
45:12
decimated by Barcelona on match day one, they still have a -, 4
45:16
goal differential. So they're not win, they're not
45:19
winning any tiebreakers like with other teams that are going
45:23
to be level on points with them. And Valarengo, you mentioned
45:26
who's on three points hanging on to that 12th spot.
45:30
They play Saint Polton next, so you know they're going to go in
45:34
there like gunning to get a win. So I mean, the intrigue is the
45:40
script crazy the the script writers.
45:43
You crazy for this one. You're, you're, you're, you're
45:45
doing it so far in this league phase.
45:48
I love that. Let's keep it moving though.
45:52
Another team that shares the league with PSG, Leon 3,
45:57
Wolfsburg one. I was really excited for this
46:01
one. You know, dare I say the match
46:05
up I was most excited about heading into the match day three
46:08
and this one didn't deliver, you know, like Barcelona outshot
46:13
Lewin 43 to nothing and I felt like that match was closer than
46:17
Leon Wolfsburg so. It was an ass kicking from the
46:23
opening whistle man. I didn't expect it either.
46:26
Like if you're Wolfsburg and look, I'm look, I'm a guy you
46:30
know, at, at a going to a conference tomorrow, sitting in
46:34
a hotel room drinking a brewski with my buddy, talking about
46:37
football. You can't allow Leo to have 70%
46:42
possession. If you're Wolfsburg, you have
46:44
too many good players. You cannot get like run over
46:48
like that. You also can't get held to two
46:53
shots. You're right. 22 touches in the
46:58
opposition box. Both of those shots attempted by
47:02
Lynette Bjernstein. Both Both of those box touches
47:05
executed by Lynette Bjernstein. Apparently nobody else wanted to
47:08
do anything in this one. A really, really poor showing
47:12
what and what compounds it. What makes it way worse is one
47:17
of the two breakaways that Bjornstein gets.
47:20
She carves through the whole defense and scores a goal right
47:23
like. Great pass by Pettimores on
47:25
that. I mean, yeah, I mean Pedimore is
47:27
one of quickly because one of my favorite Wolfsburg players for
47:30
sure. Yeah, we really can't muster
47:33
anything. So beers, they could do this in
47:36
a flash against Lyon, against all those defenders, just
47:39
carves. I think it was Engen and and
47:41
Renard in the middle of Tarsiane out and right doing God knows
47:44
what, but you're really capable of that and it's really that's
47:49
it. It's just one and done XG 4.0 to
47:53
0.7 shots, 21 to 2 shots in the box, 16 to 2 touches in the
47:59
opposition box 45 to 2. And this is Wolfsburg.
48:03
What? Are we talking about it's crazy
48:06
you LeBron, We're we're you LeBron supporters here.
48:10
She's a great she's a great young player.
48:12
She had an all right match right.
48:15
Like is that fair to say? Like nothing amazing.
48:17
She did her thing sometime like out on the wing a couple like a
48:20
couple times. I it it wasn't a bronze, you
48:24
know, leaping off the screen match like we've seen.
48:28
She created by herself three chances, one more than the
48:33
entire Wolfsburg team and she didn't play that well.
48:36
So I like I just did not expect an absolute demolition like
48:41
this. But I guess if you're, if you're
48:43
Wolfsburg supporters and please, you know, we, we have pals over
48:46
in Germany chime in if, if we're off base on this.
48:49
But like, if you're Wolfsburg, maybe you're looking back at us
48:54
and going, hey, man, you tried defending Melchi du Mornay while
48:58
she's playing like that because she was a nightmare out there.
49:04
I mean, I I keep, I keep saying that I have a list of my
49:09
favorite players to watch. Yes, you know, and Du Mornay and
49:15
you could kind of tell by I mean if you listed by NWS episodes
49:18
where I kind of ping pong between Olivia Moultrie and Rose
49:22
Quasi as my favorites, Melchi Du Mornay cut from that same cloth
49:29
and maybe. A combination of those two.
49:32
Maybe more skill, you know, like, I don't know, it's hard to
49:35
say because Moultrie is so good, Quasi is so good, but du Mornay
49:38
could just do everything. She looks like a freaking
49:41
Ferrari out there. Just running, turning, bending
49:46
corners, doing whatever she wants with the ball
49:48
distribution's crazy, her decision making crazy.
49:54
And I mean, she can also crank one at any point, you know, she
49:58
can get around any defender. She can do everything.
50:00
So it's like anything that she doesn't do it just almost like
50:03
she's because she doesn't feel like doing it.
50:06
And that takes me to like my final Leon point.
50:09
Leon was treating this one like an absolute sparring session.
50:12
It's like, oh, let's just let's try some stuff, right?
50:14
So deep balls in for Basha. Let's try that.
50:16
All right, over the balls, over the top from heaps.
50:19
All right, we'll try that Chewinga, let's get Chewinga
50:21
going. Try that.
50:23
Different runs. Like they really were just
50:25
working stuff out out there. It was pretty cool to watch.
50:27
It was almost like watching like a training session.
50:30
But then you look at Wolfsburg and being like, what the fuck?
50:32
You guys going to play like you guys want to try to do something
50:35
or it was a real disappointment, but you got to give Leon credit.
50:39
Total domination on their part of of a good team.
50:44
I mean, yeah, there's there's you got to look at it.
50:47
That's at least part of it, right?
50:48
Like we could be disappointed in Wolfsburg's performance, but
50:53
turns out this let me Yonatan Geraldes pretty good football
50:58
manager, it would appear. So I think that's that could
51:02
work out nicely for Leone, the Leone super weapon it is
51:07
charging right now. Yeah, I, I the last note I had
51:13
on Leon is if they do meet up with Barcelona at the knockout
51:17
stage, I'm putting half a take chip on this won't be Leon.
51:25
No showing getting rolled against Barcelona again, No
51:28
chance. I think, I think if this team
51:29
shows up, they're going to show up a completely different
51:33
mentality. Maybe it has to do with it
51:35
Altos, maybe it doesn't, but you could just kind of see this team
51:39
is thinking differently, moving a little differently.
51:42
Very, very, very cool to watch. I wanted to jump into one.
51:46
We talked a little bit about Wolfsburg.
51:47
I want to hit a quick Wolfsburg Manchester United preview
51:51
because this one is in the Wednesday morning slot, 9:45 AM
51:56
Pacific. I mean, this one kicks off match
51:59
day four very excited. Two teams may be heading
52:03
different directions. Wolfsburg arrow slumping down,
52:06
say be currently Manchester United arrow firmly up.
52:12
I would say like I think, you know, it's safe to say what do
52:15
we expect from this match up? Can Wolfsburg kind of turn the
52:19
table and then against you? We talked about the run of form
52:23
over the course of a match. Can they flip their run of form?
52:25
And then conversely, can they, can they throw something in
52:29
Manchester United that that they're not ready for?
52:33
I think I'm, I'm going to I'm not going to be prisoner of the
52:37
moment here. I talked about it earlier where
52:39
like these teams, you, they catch each other at different
52:42
times. Like, you know, Wolfsburg is a
52:44
is a proud club with a ton of great players.
52:47
It's going to be in Germany. The match is going to start in
52:51
Wolfsburg's arena. It's going to do like the it's
52:54
the lights are going to flash black and that and black and
52:57
green howling green. The the howling is going to be
53:00
going over the loud speakers. That goofy mascot with the giant
53:02
wolf head is going to walk out for when they, you know, when,
53:06
when the players and the referees meet in the in the
53:08
center of the pitch. So I dude, I mean this line up
53:14
for match day four. It's just outstanding.
53:16
I this is another one where it's just like, how could you not be
53:20
locked in for this? Like this is like, and, and now
53:24
you're going to get, it's not like desperate Wolfsburg, right,
53:27
because they still have a decent amount of points.
53:29
Where, where are they sitting on the table right now?
53:31
Sorry, quick reference. They are 6th, sitting on 6
53:37
points still with a + 3 goal differential.
53:39
So they're not desperate, but they got to like, like we've
53:43
talked about, they're not used to just getting ran over like
53:46
that. They got to get that taste out
53:48
of their mouths in this competition.
53:51
Yeah, and it's interesting because Wolfsburg, you know, as
53:54
a as an outfit is like the more experienced, you know, like
53:58
Champions League side, Manchester United.
54:03
I, I, I'm not sure if they're debutante or maybe in the league
54:06
phase, they're debutante or this stage of this competition,
54:10
either way, much less experienced.
54:12
But it does feel like, I don't know that there's some good
54:15
experience on, on those on that Man United side from a player's
54:19
standpoint, Wolfsburg after you, after you get past.
54:23
I mean, they've got experienced players too, but a lot of young
54:25
players as well. And they don't for whatever
54:27
reason, they don't play like an experienced side.
54:29
They play like they, you know, they, they have a little PSG to
54:33
their game where it's like, I'm not sure if it's, you know,
54:37
imposter syndrome being like, you know, that not the champion
54:40
from that league, but they, they they have the tendency to kind
54:43
of turtle. They're going to be at home And
54:46
Manchester United, a side that I think is beatable.
54:50
You know, if you're Wolfsburg, you're not looking at that side.
54:52
Be like, we cannot beat this team the same way that you
54:55
probably looked at Leon are. You clearly looked at Leon.
54:58
That makes for a very, very spicy match.
55:01
I'm very excited for this one. Yeah, I think, I think it has
55:04
the potential to end up being a heater.
55:07
And if it is not, if it is a comfortable Manchester United
55:11
victory, then I think Wolfsburg has to look at themselves in the
55:14
mirror and be like, what what is going on here?
55:16
What, what do we need to do to change this?
55:20
So I, I mean, another one. You just got to be locked into
55:24
it. Yeah, no doubt.
55:26
And if it is a comfortable Manchester United victory, shout
55:29
out to our guy Reaper. Reaper's going to be pumped.
55:32
You got got in our comments section.
55:34
You got a little bit ahead of the curve.
55:36
You know, there's nine matches to watch.
55:37
OK, it takes your boys couple minutes.
55:40
You know, whenever one of the Co hosts Co hosts is on the road
55:43
today. So give us a little grace.
55:45
And also goes to to our other friend of the show Teacher for
55:48
Life, who chimed in in the comment section of the Krunk
55:53
episode with with something along the lines of where's the
55:56
Champions League episode? I'm paraphrasing.
55:59
I I thought that was awesome. Why would I check those this
56:02
morning? I was like, all right, I was
56:04
like 1, you know, please watch the Krunk episode.
56:06
Krunk is the man. Like, you know, we're talking to
56:08
Darby, but I was I was made. I made sure to quickly respond
56:11
to those two and be like, yes, we're recording tonight.
56:14
It'll be ready for the weekend. Always appreciate those two for
56:17
staying locked in. They're the best.
56:20
Yeah, and I appreciate you responding.
56:22
I think I responded to Reaper. I was like, all right, chill.
56:25
I got to watch nine matches and I know you're not watching nine
56:27
matches. Something along those I don't
56:29
care. Shout out to Reaper.
56:30
That's awesome. Let's move it on.
56:33
This one might have been tough for you to to kind of swallow.
56:36
Athletico Madrid 1, Juventus 2. Big come from behind win for the
56:43
Champions of Italy. I'll kick it to you, my good
56:46
man. Where do you want to get started
56:48
with this one? I I really respect Juventus for
56:51
hanging tough because Athleti looked like they might unleash
56:59
something in in the first half. I really liked you know, Athleti
57:03
did all the stuff that I like that they that they're able to
57:06
do that they could run up and down the wings, they could pass
57:09
the ball throughout through the middle of the pitch. 34 year old
57:14
Swedish defender Emma Kohlberg nearly had that handball in like
57:18
the first like 180 seconds of the match.
57:23
You know, and I don't have anything against you.
57:24
Juventus, obviously the, our, our good pal, the legend Leon
57:28
Sanderson played there, won a Scudetto there.
57:31
But like, you know, I, I, I have a soft spot for Adeletti right
57:34
now And and, and I, I kind of just like instinctively root for
57:38
them. But even then, I thought it was
57:40
a good overturn by VAR because Kohlberg the, the ball ends up
57:45
going off her left arm that's tucked into her body.
57:50
And on 1st watch, I thought it'd hit her right arm that was
57:53
extended out. And I was like, OK, good call,
57:56
let's get this penalty going. But once I saw it kind of hit
57:58
that left arm, I thought it I thought it was fair play to
58:01
overturn it. And I and I was glad that the
58:04
opener wasn't scored, like kind of dubiously, if you will.
58:10
Yeah, I'm, I'm with you on that. I, I think that it was a it was
58:13
a right call. I also agree that I'd let it
58:15
came out kind of shut out of a cannon.
58:18
You know, it reminds me of like sometimes in those fight sports
58:22
where there's a young up and Comer and they come out and they
58:23
just start they're out swinging and they're they're jumping and
58:26
they're shuffling their feet and they're they're doing all the
58:28
moves, you know, like to kind of show show that they're ready.
58:33
And to their point, you know, they jump out, they jump out to
58:36
A1 nil lead when Amayud Sahayegi, that's a tough one for
58:40
your boy. I can't imagine how hard it is
58:42
for you. 39th minute, put that Levy up one nil and then UVA
58:48
fights back, man, like Emma stolen Goto that free kick.
58:52
Fucking probably the the goal of I think the match day would say
58:55
the absolute rocket and then Barbara Bonancia with a a
59:00
header, you know, come, come and be like back where he came from.
59:04
And on a day where UVA kind of outdone on a lot of the key
59:11
stats, you know, I'd let the 69% possession, I'd let the an 88 to
59:17
75 pass completion advantage touches in the box, 30 to 15
59:22
shots, 13 to 10 shots in the box, 12 to four.
59:25
With all those advantages, the one number has stuck out to me,
59:29
Shots on target, six to two to Juventus.
59:34
So all of that, you know, pomp and circumstance and dogs and
59:40
ponies and histrionics and you get 2 shots on target.
59:43
You know, you got to kind of try to, you know, you just have to
59:48
be a little bit more efficient than that.
59:50
You know, you got to be able to convert a little bit better than
59:52
that. The last quick set I'll hit, I
59:57
mentioned the the past completion disparity.
1:00:01
The possession disparity, but even with all of that, Juventus
1:00:05
enjoyed more possession in athletes half than they did in
1:00:09
their own half. So they were just able to get
1:00:12
the ball back, get it back forward, get it back.
1:00:15
You know progressing, you know moving in the right direction
1:00:19
and again super clinical. You know 15 touches in the box.
1:00:23
They turn that into ten shots and six on target and two goals.
1:00:26
You know that that's that shouldn't be, you know, like
1:00:29
that, that's incredibly efficient.
1:00:32
And you know, on a day like today, Juventus looks like the
1:00:36
experienced. They don't look like the old
1:00:37
slow team. They look like the experienced
1:00:39
team. And a team like Juventus that
1:00:41
will just look like one versus the other depending on on the
1:00:44
day and and who the opponent is. Yeah, that, that stolen Godo
1:00:51
goal at near the death of the first half, that just felt like
1:00:56
it changed everything. And you know, I, I want to say
1:01:02
like, you know, that feeling, I feel like all sports fans know
1:01:05
it when they, when they say something and then like 3
1:01:08
seconds later or five seconds later, the announcer says it and
1:01:11
you're like, huh, right. Am I right?
1:01:14
And so I, I felt like that goal kind of changed the match.
1:01:18
And you know, I, I cover Seattle Rain Football Club in Seattle
1:01:20
and their manager, Laura Harvey always says goals change games.
1:01:24
And I, I think it's a it's a, it's a truism.
1:01:29
But after the match, Atletico Madrid manager Victor Martin,
1:01:32
who to me sidebar, looks like a very intense professional poker
1:01:37
player. I don't know why, like I, I
1:01:38
think that, but I just for some reason, I could like see him
1:01:41
sitting at the table like shuffling his chips.
1:01:43
I digress. But Victor Martin said, quote,
1:01:46
the team performed well, but Juventus's goal changed the
1:01:49
feeling at halftime after a very strong first half from us, we
1:01:52
created good attacks, but we lacked the finishing.
1:01:55
End Quote. And so I mean, you you pointed
1:01:58
it out that it was just, you know, a lot of possession, a lot
1:02:02
of moving the ball, taking some shots, but not getting a lot of
1:02:05
shots on target and just kind of the quality wasn't there.
1:02:08
And it and this match kind of got me thinking about you saying
1:02:11
either last week or or yeah, when we did the tears you had
1:02:15
said maybe at Letty is not quite at the level of making it
1:02:19
through this league phase just yet where I was like, I don't
1:02:24
know, they could finish top 8 and there's still some time to
1:02:27
see it. You know, they're not they're
1:02:29
not painfully, they're not painfully behind on the table
1:02:34
right now. They are sitting at 10.
1:02:37
They're in the mix, yeah. On the strength of that win and
1:02:40
they have that plus four goal differential, even though
1:02:42
they've lost the last two matches because they had that
1:02:44
big win, big opening win versus Saint Bolton.
1:02:47
So I'm not giving up on them. Atletico Madrid, I still believe
1:02:51
in you. We're going to need to, we're
1:02:53
going to need to turn it around in this league phase here
1:02:57
relatively quickly and you know they are going to have to do it
1:03:02
against Twente. I got to tell you, Twente's
1:03:05
tough, and I think that's going to be another banger on Match
1:03:07
Day 4. Absolutely cannot wait to watch
1:03:11
that one either Another another one that it's got me fired up.
1:03:15
I'd let you know they they could get through on the strength of
1:03:17
their defense. You know, outside of the top 4,
1:03:22
Barcelona's allowed one, United 1, Chelsea 1, Lyon 2.
1:03:26
So outside of those four, it's pretty much Wolfsburg that's
1:03:29
allowed three and Athleti is that's allowed three.
1:03:32
Everybody else is 4. I'm sorry, Valarenga.
1:03:35
Look at Valarenga. Yeah, it's Valarenga and
1:03:39
Athleti, not Wolfsburg. Wolfsburg's allowed four.
1:03:43
So on the strength of that defense that that could really
1:03:46
be something. And and again in this one, for a
1:03:48
bunch of the match, I'd like they looked at least like a team
1:03:52
as good and you know, for no doubt for for not an
1:03:57
insignificant amount, they look like the better team.
1:03:59
So they're they're going to be competitive in all of these
1:04:02
matchups. I expect them to finish top 12.
1:04:04
I think they expect to finish top 12.
1:04:06
They've got the fire powder to do it.
1:04:09
We'll just kind of keep an eye on on what happens from here.
1:04:11
A tough, tough result. But you know, I think I think
1:04:14
they can take some stuff from this one as well.
1:04:16
And and to your point, some winnable matches down the
1:04:20
stretch. A quick programming note.
1:04:24
So UVA, we talked about, they host Lyon also in that
1:04:28
Wednesday, 9:45 AM Pacific early slot.
1:04:31
That's going to be I, I want to say that's going to be a little
1:04:36
bit of a measuring stick match for Juventus, because Juventus
1:04:41
has earned results. But it's, you know, now when you
1:04:46
play Leon, it's kind of like, all right, well, did you
1:04:49
bullshit your way to those results or, you know, are you
1:04:53
like a, a team that could, you know, like play Leon even into
1:04:57
the 70s into the, you know, like have points on the table for the
1:05:01
last quarter of the match? You know, because if you if
1:05:05
it's, if you Vince, this is legit like that, then this one
1:05:08
will be close. If it's a 3141, you know,
1:05:11
another Leon Wilsberg kind of situation, then, well, you know,
1:05:14
we, we, we know what to take from that.
1:05:17
I'm trying to stay hydrated here and I I know we're almost done
1:05:20
with this episode. We've been going a little while.
1:05:22
We just crack this because I got I got something important to say
1:05:26
about this match. Juventus versus Lyon.
1:05:30
I know it's going to be in Italy, but let me just tell you
1:05:32
something, buddy. Bad news for Juventus.
1:05:35
I think like that's I don't know.
1:05:38
I don't think this one, yeah, maybe it is a measuring stick
1:05:42
and it might be one of those that if you lose 3 to one,
1:05:45
you're like, hey, I feel good about where we where we landed
1:05:48
on that measuring stick. And there's a lot of different
1:05:52
types of three to ones, as Leon and Wolfsburg will tell you.
1:05:56
You know, we'll, we'll, we'll see what, what it, what it looks
1:05:58
like. I want to scoot ahead, though.
1:06:01
A fun one from match day three. A sneaky fun one.
1:06:05
Benfica won FC-21, the stats on this one pretty even.
1:06:11
I think if you had to kind of give a nod one way or the other,
1:06:14
I think Twente kind of edged out on most of those key stats,
1:06:18
edged up Benfica. But Benfica super live, super
1:06:23
locked in. We, I, I continue to marvel at
1:06:28
how different this team looks physically.
1:06:30
You know, they look, and now they look chippy.
1:06:32
You know, like 2 years ago when we started covering this
1:06:34
tournament, every, people could not wait to start bullying the,
1:06:38
that Benfica side around, just pushing them around.
1:06:40
And now it's like they want all of it, you know, like, it
1:06:43
doesn't matter. FC-20, who in my mind is a big
1:06:46
physical tough maturity and Benfica's like, fuck yeah, like,
1:06:50
let's, let's throw some bows in here and like, let's see who's
1:06:52
still standing after that. So that was cool to see.
1:06:56
But on the pitch, football wise, Benfica also really solid, you
1:07:00
know, well deserved draw. I thought both teams played
1:07:03
really, really well. A fair result because I think
1:07:07
both teams will be a little disappointed that they didn't
1:07:09
walk away with the win. I think that's, that's right
1:07:12
And, but and I, but I do think splitting the points, I think
1:07:16
was the right result. I I honestly think if one, if
1:07:22
one either side would have scored in the last 15 minutes,
1:07:27
the other side probably would have scored another equalizer to
1:07:31
and they just would have finished 22 because there wasn't
1:07:34
a lot between these two teams that you're you're totally right
1:07:37
on the physicality of the battle.
1:07:39
Lucia Alves will fight you. She is so scrappy.
1:07:45
I love watching her play. She plays with attitude.
1:07:48
Yeah. Very good player.
1:07:50
Player of the match on Fat Mob looked like she had an early
1:07:54
goal, you know, 24 seconds in, but Martin Prieto's called
1:07:59
offside and I thought the announcer was right.
1:08:02
It was close because there was a the the wing back way out.
1:08:07
Well, I mean, depending on where the the left back looked like
1:08:10
she may have been keeping Martin Prieto on.
1:08:13
But you know, it was kind of that weird angle where it's like
1:08:16
above but from the side. So I guess it was it was hard to
1:08:19
tell from the broadcast. Shout out to the announcer, Matt
1:08:21
Davies Adams, who who I thought did a great job in this match.
1:08:26
Sneaky contender for one of my for maybe my favorite
1:08:29
commentator of the of the competition so far.
1:08:34
But yeah, man, I mean, this was a football game, dude.
1:08:37
Like I I loved every minute of this.
1:08:41
All one ones are not created equal.
1:08:44
This felt like a like a like a top tier 11.
1:08:48
Yeah, yeah, It was like A11 slugfest.
1:08:51
And again, I mentioned you look at the stats, pretty, you know,
1:08:54
20th slight nod, but like pretty even almost every number that
1:08:57
you look at, great to see. I mean, you Benfica had been
1:09:05
kind of waiting for this performance.
1:09:06
But if you get kind of like, you know, not not really shown all
1:09:10
the way up 20 on the other side, you know, good showings for
1:09:14
sure. We knew this was going to be a
1:09:15
tough one, probably. I mean, like, we should have
1:09:18
been able to predict a draw, a draw here because it was like
1:09:21
the total logical outcome. But fun players on both sides,
1:09:27
you know, Joe Royd, I mentioned Sophie Proust, Alika Tuen on
1:09:31
Twente. Like, they're just like, I very
1:09:33
much enjoy watching these players.
1:09:37
Lucy Alvis, I think she'll fight you.
1:09:39
Yeah. But she's also an excellent,
1:09:40
excellent football player. And I think, I think both of
1:09:44
these teams, I don't know, man. I'm, I'm not going to, I'm not
1:09:46
going to Tuente, obviously not. I think they let me see where,
1:09:50
where they're at. Tuente is sitting at.
1:09:52
Just outside looking in, I believe they are. 13th yeah.
1:09:56
Benfico's 15th. I'm not going to close the door
1:09:58
on either of these teams. I think a win is is on the table
1:10:04
for each. And now if you stack a win in a
1:10:07
draw, all of a sudden you're you're heavily, heavily in the
1:10:09
mix. And I think both of these teams
1:10:12
capable of results like that. I think that's fair.
1:10:17
I mean, every time I watch Twente, I, I come away
1:10:21
impressed. And then another quick shout out
1:10:23
to Matt Davies Adams, who, who had to point out and, and now
1:10:28
I've heard a couple different pronunciations of her name.
1:10:31
I think I'm going to stick with Sophie Prusht.
1:10:32
I, I think that's what I had heard like I had done.
1:10:35
So I had tried to watch some broadcasts like from the
1:10:38
Netherlands. Please, if we have any, any
1:10:40
Dutch pals dropping like in the comments, please correct me if
1:10:43
I'm wrong because I've heard of Proust.
1:10:44
I think I've heard Proston, I think I've heard crushed.
1:10:48
So you know, put us on game please.
1:10:50
But the announcer, Matt Davies, Adams had had, she was on the
1:10:53
ball. She just had a delightful turn,
1:10:57
just like a spinning turn, like in space to create a little more
1:11:01
room for herself. And at one point, Davies Adams
1:11:04
just says Tuente should just get her on the ball as often as
1:11:08
possible. I was like, Yep, because she is
1:11:12
such a baller. I, I mentioned last time,
1:11:15
anybody who was looking to buy Sophie Brush stock.
1:11:18
Too late. I bought it all.
1:11:20
She what, she's 19? She's just an absolute menace
1:11:24
out there. She plays with such style.
1:11:26
I cannot. I, I, I want to watch her play
1:11:29
every time Tuente takes the field.
1:11:34
Yeah, no doubt. And I think the the highlight
1:11:37
please just jump off the screen and I think you know, her age
1:11:40
makes super duper exciting. Quick mention on the schedule,
1:11:45
FC-20, they host your squad Atletico Madrid in the early let
1:11:51
in the low and early spot Thursday morning, 9:45 AM
1:11:54
Pacific. What are you going to be looking
1:11:57
for from those two teams? I think it's going to be a
1:12:01
little bit of a of a, a little bit of a styles clash.
1:12:06
I think at let it go can play some, you know, physical
1:12:10
football. I'm trying to think like now
1:12:14
obviously I, I think Twente is better then I hope.
1:12:19
I hope I'm not mixing all this up.
1:12:21
But remember when Real Madrid played Celtic in last year's
1:12:26
competition and Celtic hung like super tough and tried to muck up
1:12:30
the game? They ended up kind of conceding
1:12:33
a few extra goals late. And like, obviously Atletico's
1:12:36
not quite where Real Madrid is and Celtic is not quite where
1:12:41
Twente is. But I think there's going to be
1:12:43
a little bit of that in the mix where it's like we're going to
1:12:46
come out looking to you down with physicality and Athletico
1:12:51
is going to say we're going to try to run around you and in all
1:12:54
the spots that we can. And I think, you know, it's one
1:12:57
of the beautiful parts of football and and one of the
1:13:01
staples of the Champions League in general.
1:13:04
Yeah, I think it's going to be interesting because Benfica has
1:13:08
a lot of that to their game, but I kind of would give the slight
1:13:13
edge to Adlitis skilled position players kind of on the outside.
1:13:18
So it's interesting to and Twente as a team that's kind of
1:13:21
they've seen so much already. You know, they're they're so
1:13:23
experienced. It's going to be a really fun
1:13:26
match to see if I'd like they can kind of a punch up like
1:13:30
maybe one division and hang with Twente, go on the road and then
1:13:34
come away with something. Very excited to see that quick
1:13:37
mention Paris FC. They're going to be hosting
1:13:41
Benfica Wednesday, 12:00 PM. So we'll be locked into that
1:13:44
one. That's that's a fun matchup.
1:13:46
That one's kind of like both both those times really, both
1:13:50
those really need the three points.
1:13:53
You know, I think a loss for either side kind of sends them
1:13:55
home and even a draw. Probably bad news for for both
1:13:59
of those sides. One more match though match day
1:14:03
three to kind of hit a little bit of a disappointment as well.
1:14:06
Roman Nil Valeranga one What what do you remember from this
1:14:11
one? What do you remember?
1:14:12
This one felt like it was a year ago.
1:14:16
You know time, time flies when you're having fun, buddy.
1:14:21
Look, Volringa, they are, you know, he's mentioned they needed
1:14:27
to win. They've been playing these close
1:14:29
matches. Seems like Volringa is not going
1:14:31
to do anything but play close matches.
1:14:35
They end up let me just make sure I'm not totally butchering
1:14:39
this. Yeah, it was.
1:14:40
I keep in my mind, I keep looking at them saying they only
1:14:42
have three points. Didn't they draw Wolfsburg?
1:14:44
They have the absolute gut wrenching loss to Wolfsburg at
1:14:48
the death last match week, but they're able to kind of get, you
1:14:55
know, pick up the three points here, you know, gutsy
1:14:59
performance from them. They were, they were in the
1:15:02
Champions League last year and they really kind of, you know,
1:15:07
it was your classic. They, they needed something
1:15:10
here. And it's terrible news for Roma,
1:15:14
who seems to be in dire straits at the moment.
1:15:19
Yeah, Roma. I mean, I wrote that in my
1:15:21
notes. Roma not ready yet.
1:15:23
Valarenga not done yet. I think that's kind of
1:15:25
encapsulated this one. Romo's close, some interesting
1:15:30
play, interesting players. Manual Giuliano looks like she's
1:15:34
one of the varsity players kind of slumming a little bit with
1:15:37
the JV. Unfortunately, players I like
1:15:40
you know, like on Rome I like individually exciting players,
1:15:44
but I mean not really able to collectively put it together and
1:15:48
turn it into actually chemistry in this one Emilia Amelia hobby
1:15:53
goes down with an injury seemingly non contact.
1:15:56
So I hate to see that Julia Dragoni comes on in her stead.
1:16:00
And then yeah, Valarenga gets gets the the goal right around
1:16:05
the 30s comes comes from Steena Brecon, a banger.
1:16:13
Like I liked that Valarenga was getting Ola Tvetan a little bit
1:16:19
more into the midfield a little deeper, getting her touches a
1:16:22
little bit earlier in the possession.
1:16:24
I think she was involved in the build up there.
1:16:27
I Valarenga is a little bit like Tuente, not as far along, but A
1:16:35
championship side, mature, experienced players that are not
1:16:40
going to give away a match. You know, the the, the way a
1:16:45
team like Roma that's got some younger inexperienced players,
1:16:47
you know, knew a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of changes at one
1:16:51
time. Teams like that love to give
1:16:53
away matches. You know, PSG, another one good,
1:16:56
you know, like skilled, talented, doesn't know how to
1:17:00
win yet. And I think the Roma is firmly
1:17:02
in that category and Valarenga firmly not in that category.
1:17:05
I think that's the team that knows how to win.
1:17:07
They're often outmatched in the Champions League but on a day
1:17:10
like today they're they're they're going to go to Roma and
1:17:14
walk away with three points. Yeah, I, you know, these teams,
1:17:19
they're there, there is quite a bit of building to do.
1:17:22
Like we we've obviously liked Roma in years past, a little bit
1:17:27
of turnover on that side. I mean obviously you have a
1:17:31
Valentina Giacinti sized hole in that attack at now that she
1:17:35
plays a Galatasaray in Turkey. And in my heart.
1:17:38
One of one of the. Yeah, one of one of the ITC
1:17:41
faves. We miss you, Valentina.
1:17:44
So, you know, I it's it's not Roma's year.
1:17:48
There's some building that needs to happen.
1:17:50
There's some chemistry building. You know, you got to hope.
1:17:52
Like, can you hold on to Giuliano and build around her?
1:17:57
I think that's got to be, you know, what they're what they're
1:17:59
looking to do. But you know, there's there's
1:18:03
still things to happen here. You know, they got to go before
1:18:08
looking at the schedule. Roma would have been like, OK,
1:18:11
we're going to play Louvin in Belgium, but we're a bigger
1:18:14
club. You know, we've have more
1:18:16
experience. Louvin's the debutantes now.
1:18:18
They got to be looking at that fixture going oh boy, we need a
1:18:21
win in this spot. Yeah, Lubin's looking at that
1:18:25
picture being like Roma, we got this one, we got to get this
1:18:29
win. And they kind of do got to get
1:18:32
this win because match day five and six, they go to PSG,
1:18:36
Speaking of Lubin here, and then they host Arsenal.
1:18:39
So they are looking good. They're on four points.
1:18:43
They got this Roma match looming.
1:18:46
But you don't want to get blanked here.
1:18:48
You don't want to lose the momentum, start to backslide and
1:18:51
then find yourself in a position where you need a result at PSG
1:18:55
or versus Arsenal. But stick in aroma.
1:18:58
I don't think I think Roma's tournaments just about done at
1:19:00
this point. They haven't really, but you
1:19:04
know, the the the matches that were winnable that they needed
1:19:08
not able to get it done. Even this even this Lewin match,
1:19:10
I think is going to be really tough on the road for sure,
1:19:13
despite how they felt about it before you know, or when the the
1:19:16
initial schedules got dropped. But I'm not, I'm not expecting
1:19:20
too much from Roma, unfortunately.
1:19:22
This might just be like an off year.
1:19:24
We might see them back next year, a little bit of a reset
1:19:27
and I could see them kind of switching gears and then
1:19:29
focusing in domestically. And then on the flip side,
1:19:32
Lubin, I don't know, this might be potential coming out party.
1:19:35
You know, this might be the point where they turn the
1:19:38
corner. A win here would would have that
1:19:41
place absolutely rocking and would pretty much all but so up
1:19:46
a top 12 finish for them. That'd be incredibly exciting.
1:19:50
It'd be gigantic, you know, in their in their debut in the
1:19:53
tournament, A-Team from Belgium, like, kind of like making their
1:19:57
way, you know, through like European women's football.
1:20:02
It would be, it would be massive.
1:20:03
I mean, this is This is why the UEFA Women's Champions League is
1:20:07
a celebration of life, because we get these, these upstarts, We
1:20:10
have the juggernauts, we have the mid tiers who are fighting
1:20:13
to become juggernauts. We have, you know, the the big
1:20:16
name clubs who are trying to fight off obscure.
1:20:19
Security or falling down from being juggernauts.
1:20:21
I mean, we got everything you could possibly hope for in this
1:20:23
tournament. Yeah, can't wait.
1:20:26
We're only halfway through the the league phase.
1:20:28
Just super pumped. I cannot wait to see this all
1:20:32
the way through, but I want to hit a quick episode count.
1:20:35
Well, actually before I do that, just for posterity's sake,
1:20:39
Valarenga Zingpolton. That takes place Wednesday,
1:20:43
12:00 PM Pacific in the late slot.
1:20:46
We've successfully done it. We covered all nine match day
1:20:49
three matchups. We mentioned all nine match day
1:20:52
4 fixtures looking ahead. So let me let's get into it real
1:20:56
quick. Episode calendar, just to catch
1:20:59
everybody up into the NWSL. We'll be back after this
1:21:02
weekend's semifinal action. Oh boy.
1:21:05
And then we head to the NWSL final, where your boys found out
1:21:09
this week. We'll be in the building
1:21:11
covering all the festivities, all the pomp, all the
1:21:14
circumstances, all the dogs, all the ponies into the Champions
1:21:18
League returns next week well after match day three before
1:21:21
match day four, we will be back. I'm sorry, that's where we're at
1:21:24
right now. We'll be back after match day
1:21:26
four to talk about the match day 4 action.
1:21:30
Look at it to match day 5. Make sure you're subscribed and
1:21:33
following YouTube, Spotify have a podcast where you like to
1:21:35
watch or listen if you want to support the show.
1:21:38
If you want to support the show, tap the join button on YouTube
1:21:40
like new friend of the show Kayla did.
1:21:43
Shout out to Kayla. Let's fucking go.
1:21:45
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1:21:49
You can also browse some sick into the Channel merchandise.
1:21:52
All that and more available via the link in the description of
1:21:56
this episode. And with that said, I think we
1:22:00
did it. Is there anything else you want
1:22:02
to hit before we get out of here?
1:22:04
Shout out to Kayla, who is a friend of the Shades of Blue
1:22:07
community supporting our, our little pirate ship as well.
1:22:12
So we, we greatly appreciate that.
1:22:15
I, I think that's it, man. I think we, we have covered
1:22:20
everything we could possibly go. I don't think there's anything
1:22:23
left unsaid. I don't think anybody could
1:22:25
possibly teach us anything this no, that's not true.
1:22:28
You guys can always, you know, drop some knowledge.
1:22:31
What did we miss? What players should we have
1:22:32
talked about? Please educate us.
1:22:34
Let us know what's going on. Absolutely, yeah.
1:22:38
And shout out to the friends of the show.
1:22:40
We probably don't mention them enough, but Mac daily MLS, you
1:22:44
know what I thought about recently.
1:22:46
How about Vespa? I'm like, I hope, I hope our guy
1:22:48
Vespa is doing well. When I was I was watching Bent
1:22:52
FICA. So shout out to Vespa wherever
1:22:54
you are. Good vibes headed your way for
1:22:57
sure. Carlo.
1:22:59
You don't know what time it is. Gretchen.
1:23:00
So many friends of the show that that that chime in week out, the
1:23:03
week in, week out. Really appreciate you, Justin.
1:23:05
You don't know what time it is. Just want to echo Grant's point.
1:23:09
We definitely, definitely appreciate the entire budding
1:23:13
community around the show and we're just thankful.
1:23:15
So thanks. This has been an episode of this
1:23:19
channel. Thank you, thank you, thank you
1:23:20
for watching, listening and hanging out.
1:23:22
If you enjoy the show or love with so far as much as your boys
1:23:24
do, make sure you get with us each and every single week.
1:23:26
Like subscribe, follow, leave us up a glowing positive ecstatic
1:23:33
review wherever you like to watch or listen.
1:23:36
And a huge thinking to my coach as well, Mr. Grant Engel for
1:23:39
being my champion of champions, the only Champions League
1:23:43
champion Co host that I would champion with.
1:23:45
I appreciate you bro. Likewise, buddy couldn't do it
1:23:50
without you. Let me let me just let me just
1:23:53
get these in here real quick because I because I meant to
1:23:56
mention so I mentioned Matt Davies Adams, what a sneaky
1:24:00
contender for my favorite announcer of the of the
1:24:02
tournament. Let me just mention two others
1:24:06
in the Barcelona Louvin match, Ellen Ellard, who mentioned on
1:24:10
that offside call for Dequoister, just a yard or two
1:24:14
offside, a kind of tongue in. Cheek.
1:24:18
I thought that was great. Ellen Ellard, sneaky, sneaky
1:24:21
contender for my favorite announcer of the tournament.
1:24:24
And also Emily Herbert, who called that Atletico Juventus
1:24:27
match, thought she had a great call as well.
1:24:30
Dare I say sneaky contender for my favorite announcer of the
1:24:34
tournament so far. So, but you guys, everybody who
1:24:39
supports the show, not sneaky at all.
1:24:41
Absolutely my favorite people on the Internet.
1:24:43
I know I've said this many times, but we have managed to
1:24:46
find the only what I believe is the only friendly corner of the
1:24:50
Internet. We appreciate you guys so much.
1:24:53
Again, like I said, let us know what we missed.
1:24:55
Tell us what teams we should be looking for.
1:24:56
What tactics did we overlook here?
1:24:58
We always appreciate you dropping knowledge in the
1:25:00
comments. Thank you for rocking with us
1:25:02
and we will see you all next time.