Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / Mike Watts Previews 2026 NWSL Season w/ Us!

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Mike Watts Previews 2026 NWSL Season w/ Us! · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:04
Oh hey, welcome to Into the Channel podcast premiered by
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Women's Football. I am your host, but today we're
0:12
joined by a special guest. We'll get to that in a second.
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I'm also joined by my Co host. My name is Zeno Desus, but I
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skipped over that part. Mr. Grant Angle, what is up man?
0:21
Buddy, I'm feeling fantastic. And that's because our guest
0:23
today is making his triumphant return to the ITC in what I dare
0:27
say is becoming a bit of a preseason tradition ellipses
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question mark. You may have heard him calling
0:33
USL matches, or perhaps college soccer.
0:35
Maybe you've heard him calling NFL games for the Cincinnati
0:37
Bengals. Or how about you listen closely
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to the public address announcer at the world's most Famous
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Arena, Madison Square Garden? Yep, that's our guy.
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But for the purposes of today's show, he's one of the signature
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voices of the National Women's Soccer League, where his joyful
0:52
and enthusiastic style is a long standing tile within the rich
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mosaic of the NWSL. It is an honor and a privilege
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to welcome back to the program Mike Watts.
1:02
That is more poetic than anything I plan on saying in the
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opening game of the season. This.
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Is piled mosaic the NWSL subculture?
1:13
My gosh. Good start, gentlemen, Great
1:16
start. High praise from you my good
1:18
man. I appreciate I've heard your
1:19
intros though. You're a beast at it.
1:22
Yeah, I hopefully you wrote all that down, didn't do it off the
1:25
Dome because I, you know, me without a without a scratch
1:28
sheet somewhere is not, not the most well oriented English
1:33
speaker. But that's OK, Let's do the
1:35
thing. Let's do it.
1:36
Grant crushed it all downhill from here.
1:38
Let's go. Mike.
1:41
I had an announcer question real quick before we get into it.
1:43
Yeah, I hear a lot about the comics comic.
1:45
Is there like a Woso announcers? Woso Announcer.
1:49
Yeah, I mean, I, I think if you've been in this country
1:52
watching women's soccer for a long time, it's JP Della Camera,
1:57
of course. And like JP obviously relative
2:01
to me, a little drier in terms of like I, I, I want to say I go
2:06
for the slapstick, but like I, I go for a different sort of vein
2:10
of humor and I'm more excitable. I think we can agree than than
2:15
JP is. But like, in terms of like the
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classic OG, everyone knows him. His calls have stood the test of
2:22
time. Like, yeah, I mean, it's it's JP
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is the voice of, of soccer for my childhood and, and me coming
2:30
into the sport. So I'm, I'm sure a lot of people
2:33
that I, I work with would probably join me in that.
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And pretty much everyone I work with at some point has worked
2:38
with JP or call him a friend, which which doesn't hurt in
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terms of his stature amongst us as well, how well he treats
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everybody around him. So yeah, JP is in that mix for
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sure. But I mean, like, you know, we
2:51
all enjoy listening to your Ian Darks and your, you know, yeah.
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I mean, there's a lot of people who've done the US matches over
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the years if they've probably earned that, earned that place.
3:02
Nice and before we get to the football, one more quick one.
3:06
Obviously we you know, everybody was following the league or
3:08
watching your broadcast last year.
3:10
I think at this point you qualify as a new ish father.
3:13
I think it's been a little while.
3:14
How How's life treating you buddy?
3:16
Yeah, it's good. No, my, my wife is incredible.
3:20
He, he's 9 1/2 months now, so he's, he's like 3 feet long and
3:27
full of energy and furniture walking.
3:29
And the toughest part of opening a new season is knowing that the
3:34
offseason's over from I was really home most every day for
3:39
for three months, then going up work and I come home within New
3:42
York, you know, market. But like I, I wouldn't fly
3:45
anywhere, be gone for three days or five days or a week or two
3:48
weeks. And you know, you'll look at
3:50
March and I'm home, I think 5 or 6 days the whole month.
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So she's a queen and he's, he's already a little Prince and he
3:58
knows it. And yeah, it's, we'll, we'll
4:02
see. She wants him to be a vet.
4:04
I, I don't know that. I definitely, I, I don't think I
4:06
want him to be an announcer. So hopefully doesn't follow the
4:10
the family, the family business, but we'll we'll find out.
4:14
We'll have a lot of great tape to crush for sure.
4:18
I know you're you're bouncing around doing a ton of work.
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But this evening and again, thanks so much for joining us,
4:23
Mike. But you're going to be on the
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mic calling Washington Spirit, Portland Thorns.
4:28
What's the first thing you're going to be looking for?
4:31
You know, when the ball starts knocking around?
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Is there like, where's your eye going to go first, you think?
4:35
Yeah, I mean, there's just there's some up in this game.
4:38
Like, let's be honest, the coach for Portland arrived 2 days ago.
4:43
Sophia Smith hasn't played the game in, you know, over a year.
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I mean, Trinity Rodman signed the contract and the goalkeepers
4:51
are unknown commodities, all things considered that that are
4:54
going to play in the game. So like, I, I, I don't mean to
4:58
be evasive, but the answer is I'm, I'm going to be looking in
5:01
all directions at all times. I'm going to be on its level.
5:05
Fair enough. I think it's totally fair.
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I mean, we're talking about two teams.
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Obviously Spirit appears in in the final finished his second on
5:12
the table. Thorns off memory what they were
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third on the table. I think they finished last year
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Now, you know, just a different look like spirit adds to Julie
5:22
Elmo, like how's that going to look?
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They move on from Croy Bethune. She's a massive player.
5:26
So I you know, I don't think it's evasive, man.
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I think, I think there are a lot of unknowns, but Dino and I, you
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know, we're not, we're not holding anybody to to
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predictions here. I still got to think Spirit.
5:39
They're contending for the shield though, right?
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Yeah, I look, I think, you know, right off the bat, I think the
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first thing Laurie and I are going to say is, you know, we're
5:48
really excited about the season and Washington is the front
5:52
runner to win the thing this year.
5:53
And that's not a shot at Kansas City.
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You could argue they lost. Hutton added Bethune and change
6:00
coaches and that it sounds like, if I'm reading the reporting
6:04
right, Temwa Schwinger won't come off SEI right off the bat.
6:08
But hopefully soon. It's not to take anything from
6:11
them. Gotham obviously finished on a
6:13
tear. And I said in August this team
6:15
can win a championship as constructed if they're healthy,
6:18
and they did. And that's not Orlando too,
6:21
right? Like if you look at what Orlando
6:24
was in 2024, sans Banda, it was only four games or something.
6:30
They were all draws, right? And we were all going off.
6:33
I mean, if they just had a striker and I felt like that's
6:35
what we said the back half of last year.
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So like, I don't think they backslid as much as as people
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might think because they dropped all the playoff line for a week
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or whatever it ended up being over the course of the year.
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They were competing for the Shield right until Barbara Banda
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got hurt. So, yeah, I mean, amongst those
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four, those those are sort of like top of mind I I look at
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Washington runner up last two years for the Shield and the
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championship, it's championship or bust.
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And they're going to lack a little depth here at the outset.
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But in the long run like this, this team is is ready to win the
7:09
thing right now. I love that, you know, and and I
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think before we get out of here, this is where this is our last
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show before the the season kicks off.
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So we're going to squeeze in some of our big predictions as
7:18
we go here. Orlando.
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It's a great call out because it rocked their world losing band,
7:24
obviously. But then Jackie Ovale comes in
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and then, you know, like you start to see by the time the
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knockout, you know, stage of the playoffs comes around, they're
7:33
pretty dangerous. And if you imagined a world
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where we're going to drop in a super fit Barbara band into
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that, all of a sudden there is live as any team in the mix.
7:42
So I'm very excited to see Oviya and Banda together.
7:45
Can they sort? When will they sort it out?
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I think it's not can they? It's like it's a question of
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when. I'm interested to hear you kind
7:53
of have Washington at that level.
7:55
I think the Kroy Bethune loss, I think they're excited about
7:57
quasi, but that's going to be big.
8:00
And I think I'm wondering if we're overlooking Gotham because
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they're four players in particular.
8:05
Obviously they're coming off on the title, but Jaden Shaw turned
8:08
21 two days before the championship.
8:11
Bruninia obviously involved in the play.
8:14
Lily real absolute superstar, 22 years old.
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Sarah Scherpansky, 22 years old. These I mean, these are players
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that just that young core is incredible.
8:23
And then the vets, everything around them is like, I don't
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know, I don't, I don't really want to overlook them just cuz
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they kind of sputtered in the last season in the, in the
8:30
regular season last year. Yeah, and I think they sputtered
8:34
in the portions where they were missing those players.
8:37
And they also had to deal with CONCACAF and they had to deal it
8:40
like, I don't know that anyone in the women's game in this
8:44
country is quite as aware of the the danger, so to speak, of
8:49
CONCACAF as like your Gothams and your Orlando, who had to go
8:52
through it while they were so banged up.
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And it's different lineups. And you're playing in El
8:58
Salvador on a Tuesday and turning around and playing in
9:01
Los Angeles on a Friday. Like what, you know, like on the
9:05
men's side, that has been more common because international
9:09
club competition has occurred for a longer period of time.
9:13
But now we're going to a 30 game season and we're going to a
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number of teams qualifying for CONCACAF, Washington included,
9:20
where you kind of have to sit here and go, OK, how do you play
9:24
this out so that you are healthy at the end?
9:26
And in the end, Gotham was and you've got arguably, if if not
9:30
in arguably the best goalkeeper in the league.
9:33
You know, Sonic's as good as you're going to find.
9:35
To your point, Jaden Shaw, she only scored four goals last
9:38
year. Like if you look at what Shaw
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can produce, what we all know she can produce in the right
9:45
place with the right people, we could be having a very different
9:48
discussion about what her stats look like at year end.
9:51
But it's also got the best out Jaylen Howell in a stair miss
9:54
time and Tina Davidson coming back and Rose was out until
9:57
June. And I mean, like Midge didn't
10:01
play her best, didn't have a goal contribution at all last
10:05
year. So I don't even think we've seen
10:07
the best of Gotham yet. And they still won the damn
10:09
thing. So no, I'm not overlooking
10:12
Gotham and I live in market. So I'd, I'd, I'd be doubly
10:15
offensive if I did overlook Gotham.
10:18
But yeah, I mean, it's, it's as good a roster as anybody.
10:22
It's can they stay healthy? And even if you go back to 2024,
10:26
that was when they did the big hall, right?
10:28
The, the, the all the national team free agents that came in.
10:33
And I went and I looked and if you take at the time it was
10:37
Biendolo, it was Midge, it was Tyrna and it was Rose.
10:42
And combined they had played less than 50% of the games over
10:48
the preceding 2 years in the league.
10:50
It's never a talent question, That's not the question.
10:54
And can they all be on the field when it matters?
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That's the only question I've had for Gothman.
10:59
Some of that is it, it can be maternity, it can be unlucky
11:04
injury, it can be. I mean, there's a million
11:06
reasons international duty played into that number.
11:09
Like, I get it. It's it's not a
11:12
one-size-fits-all solution. But for me it was as soon as
11:16
Gotham got going, when we came out of the international break,
11:19
I went and thankfully I said it on air so I can prove it like
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this. This team is.
11:26
Always good to put the predictions on wax, no doubt.
11:28
All right, so this transitions perfectly.
11:31
We wanted to play like a little bit of a game here.
11:33
It sounds like we've already touched on it, so maybe this one
11:35
is just a quick one. When I say who's the SHIELD
11:38
favorite, sounds like you already answered it.
11:40
But when I say SHIELD favorite, who comes to mind?
11:44
Yeah, I'm going to say Washington.
11:47
Is that your pick though? Shield favorite or shield
11:49
winner? Shield prediction I mean are.
11:53
These different things, the favorite versus the winner is
11:56
that. I think the one would be your
11:59
personal your personal prediction.
12:01
Dino loves the prediction. Yeah.
12:03
For. Me, I think, I think this is the
12:07
year Washington wins the shield. Grant you got a field pick.
12:10
Yeah, I'm riding with the spirit.
12:12
MM stole my Thunder there. It's not exactly.
12:16
I mean, for all the reasons he said.
12:18
I don't even like I think Cantori is due for a big year,
12:22
you know, another year in the system when she's like 26.
12:24
I think this is her 26 or age 27 years.
12:27
So she's in her absolute prime. I just think, you know, more
12:30
quasi, I just think that they got a lot of things going for
12:32
them. How about you, Dino?
12:34
My pick, my pick to win the shield is the courage, I think
12:37
and I and I got like a double. I got a double pick too.
12:40
I have Monaca as my MVP pick. I just feel like what she was
12:45
able to do last year as at that age, you know, not really
12:49
speaking the language and you know, I did to get to speak to
12:52
her a little bit at the award show.
12:54
And she just, I mean, just sent, sent a chill, like how locked in
12:58
she is to the question. Thoughtful.
13:00
She I mean, just she just seems ice cold.
13:02
And I think North Carolina is like one of those teams that's
13:04
kind of been knocking on the door a little bit.
13:07
Riley Jackson may be coming into her own, like, you know, the
13:10
some of the DNA and then the keeper like Caitlin Sheridan to
13:13
me is like a championship type keeper.
13:15
It's like you need a keeper like that to, to kind of, you know,
13:19
to get to that level. And I don't know, I just feel
13:21
like for, for whatever reason, I think things slot into place
13:24
today, this year for Carolina. 11 quick stat I'm going to give
13:29
you that I'm using tonight is Adrian has been the head coach
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for Washington for 28 games. So not quite a full now season,
13:41
1.86 points per game as the interim that would have won you
13:45
the shield three of the last five years.
13:48
Now the the two years were the 2 record setting years that just
13:52
occurred in Orlando and Kansas City.
13:55
Like I'm just saying in terms of like how the league usually
13:58
stacks up with 8th, what Audrey Gonzalez has done is shield
14:03
worthy work. It just hasn't been rewarded as
14:05
such. Do you feel like, how do you how
14:09
would you rate Mike the parody, you know, last couple, you know,
14:12
because you mentioned the two years of like those teams
14:15
running away with it for whatever reason.
14:17
I'm not sure if we're, I'm just kind of so deep into the
14:19
research. It feels like things may have
14:21
flattened out a little bit at the top.
14:23
Even the teams at the bottom there's they've done some things
14:25
that I like. Do you feel like I don't know
14:27
where do you think you're the parity meter is right now?
14:30
Yeah. I mean, no matter what, I think
14:32
there's going to be parity within the table.
14:34
I just don't know that it's always going to be at the top of
14:37
the table and and that's that's OK.
14:39
It's the the fact that we had two epic runaways back-to-back
14:44
where it was done with like 5 weeks left to win the shield.
14:47
I don't think that's going to be the new norm.
14:49
I'd I'd be surprised if that were the case.
14:52
But we're always going to have this crazy ass log jam the week
14:56
before the playoffs begin or two weeks before the playoffs begin
14:59
where it's like this team will play at home for the 1st 2
15:02
rounds or will, you know, be the last team in the playoff field
15:07
and upset the number one seed. Like, you know, like that.
15:11
That's still very much NWSLII don't think the parody is like
15:15
so extraordinarily extreme. I do think thankfully teams like
15:20
Chicago and Bay are I, I think significantly improved.
15:24
I think the bottom of the table has come up, which I, I think
15:27
should make us all feel better. I view the shield races
15:32
genuinely like four or five teams, not one.
15:34
But we could sit here in June and, and laugh at that and say,
15:38
well, this team started nine and oh duh, of course they're going
15:41
to win this. Yep.
15:43
There you go. And I think, you know, you
15:45
mentioned some of those teams like Bay FC Chicago making some
15:47
moves trying to move up. Perfect segue into the other.
15:51
The other question I want to want to ask when I use the
15:53
phrase most likely to outperform expectations, what club comes to
15:59
mind? Utah, love it.
16:03
I'm going to go Utah. Jimmy, I spoke to Jimmy Konerutz
16:10
about this at the end of last season, maybe September.
16:13
And I'm like, dude, I'm looking at this and after the break and,
16:17
and I've updated this that since the last two years.
16:20
So the Olympic break, the the summer breaks, whatever.
16:24
The last two years, ten wins, 7 losses, 6 draws.
16:28
That's like basically right around hosting a playoff game.
16:32
It's just they've been so epically bad in the lead up to
16:36
those breaks. They have three wins total
16:40
before the break over the last two years.
16:44
So how do you make how you finish the season carry over to
16:49
how you start next season? And he has labored on that for
16:54
quite some time. So it's you got to stay a little
16:57
bit healthier, right? Like you bring in Tatum Alazo
17:00
injured, OK. I mean, you make moves thinking,
17:04
OK, we're going to be able to build around that.
17:07
Like Kaylee, real calf injuries the last few years.
17:10
Paige Monahan, now Paige Cronin was out for an extended period
17:14
of time when they brought in Prashnikar.
17:15
It wasn't for last year really. It was for this year.
17:19
So is she the player who scored a ton in lesser known European
17:24
leagues or is she a player they can come in here and bag 10 or
17:28
12 goals? Like those are questions that
17:30
exist. Even like Chloe Lacoste when she
17:33
came back was a house on fire. So like Utah, I think is moving
17:38
out of the transitional stage of we brought in a 38 year old
17:42
retiree and we brought in players that like, you know,
17:46
maybe didn't necessarily want to be here.
17:48
And like they, they know the project.
17:50
It's his job to get it moved forward.
17:52
And I I think that they will. I kind of agree with you there.
17:56
I love the the Nurmi Mira pickup.
17:58
Just somebody to connect things centrally and turn more of that
18:01
position into opportunities. So excited to see Utah.
18:04
You mentioned Bay FC really quick.
18:06
I kind of deliberate a little bit.
18:08
I, I, I mentioned my Montecubo MVP pick.
18:10
I, I kind of went between Montecubo and Claire Hutton just
18:13
because I think I think Bay FC takes a real leap this year.
18:18
What Claire Hutton should be able to do from that spot on the
18:21
pitch to just utilize the central channel, you know, just
18:24
don't just kick it up, up the pitch and pray that Kundunaji
18:27
can get on the end of it. I think we're going to see a
18:29
real leap from Bay FC. Emma Coates has been in
18:33
extremely impressive just bringing like a calmness, a
18:36
command. Everybody seems like more chill
18:39
and also like they know a secret, like they know a secret
18:41
that nobody else knows. So I'm very curious to see what
18:44
they look like this weekend. But what's your read on Bay FC,
18:47
the Claire Hutton acquisition and like, you know, do you think
18:50
that they could crack that top four, top five, you know, upper
18:54
crust? I think it sort of comes down to
18:58
to your earlier point, like it for one Hutton will make them
19:02
better in midfield even at a young age.
19:04
Like it was second hand that I heard this, but a a current
19:09
player told me that Debenia looked at Claire Hutton and
19:13
said, I see Sam Lewis in you. That's that's the kind of thing
19:18
where you go like, OK, and she's not around.
19:21
She's she's going to be it. It doesn't mean that it's going
19:26
to be right off the bat with a team coming off the bottom of
19:28
the table necessarily, but they'll be defensively sturdier.
19:33
I think Taylor Huffle really a lot of value from how much she
19:38
played as a rookie and and carry that into this year.
19:41
But like you need to score goals.
19:43
And so really it's like and the Nanji take the next step.
19:47
Can you get Carly Lima healthy and have her impact the game?
19:50
Like you've you've made some some moves to bolster your
19:54
midfield, but you still need to still need to consistently
19:57
score. And even their expected goals
20:00
were better than the goals by by a fairly wide margin last year.
20:04
And that either comes down to individuals who typically are
20:08
not clinical or? The combination of bad luck or
20:11
goalkeeper standing on their head.
20:13
And usually it's a combination of the three.
20:16
But like, yeah, you, you need players that you brought there
20:19
to score to score goals. And then I think they're going
20:21
to be competitive for the playoffs.
20:22
Am I going to say home game? I'm not quite there yet.
20:26
I think that makes sense. So you last one for you.
20:29
This this kind of like I I lobbed something up to you.
20:32
You mentioned some young players in there when I use the phrase
20:36
player who makes the superstar leap this season.
20:40
Who are you thinking of? I am going to need you to define
20:44
that. The player who makes this, oh,
20:46
the player who like goes into that superstar tier, That's it.
20:50
Oh, there it is. I just needed a second to really
20:52
wrap my head around that. Look, I think Claire Hutton very
20:56
well, if she isn't already, is. I think like I've got Raylan
21:01
Turner later tonight, like I want to see how she interacts
21:04
with Sophia now. Wilson, they played like 104
21:08
minutes together and then she basically got thrown out there
21:12
with no no Smith at the time or Weaver, you know, and they still
21:16
ended up. I know how many penalties
21:18
Portland got, but they were still top three and expected
21:22
goals produced. So still young, obviously got
21:26
into the national team for the first time in in January.
21:29
Like, OK, let's see how you are when you are paired with the
21:32
best striker on the planet and playing in different positions
21:36
within that group. You can play on the side.
21:38
You can split time with Sophie as she gets up to speed at the
21:41
9:00. There are options there.
21:43
Jordan Bog it I think it's Seattle is there?
21:48
Yep. I mean, I'm just sort of like
21:51
mentally cycling through. Yeah, it's it's an exercise of
21:55
just who jumps out. I think that makes sense.
21:57
Yeah, like have you, have you made a, have you made an MVP
22:00
pick yet? And Grant, I'll get, I'll get
22:02
your. No, and I'm not planning to.
22:05
Fair enough. All right.
22:06
Great. Yeah.
22:07
MVP. You got me on way more more on
22:10
the record picks and I'm going to hear about it from somebody,
22:13
I'm sure, but. It's just us talking, man.
22:16
Nobody's going to watch this. It's all good.
22:18
There are dozens of us, dozens of these people.
22:21
That's right. I, I already gave mine away.
22:24
I, I'm just like buy so much stock in Sofia Cantore.
22:29
I think people are going to try to focus.
22:31
I think people are going to focus on Rodman when she's out
22:33
there. Obviously, you know, everybody's
22:35
hoping for a fully healthy Rodman season.
22:38
You know, we haven't had one of those recently.
22:40
So I think Cantore is going to have to be the the focal point.
22:43
I think, you know, Santos is going to be able to feed her the
22:47
ball. I think, you know, there was
22:49
some chemistry there. We kind of want to see that
22:52
build. So give me the Italian Sofia
22:54
Cantore for league MVP. All right, here, we're out here.
22:58
All right, So no MVP for pick from Mike.
22:59
That's all right. We keep it moving, Mike.
23:02
These two expansion teams, Boston, Denver, you know, I
23:05
don't, I don't need to pick between the two.
23:07
I would probably slightly lean Denver, but I don't know.
23:09
What are your expectations? Have they done anything
23:11
exciting? How are you thinking about them?
23:13
Off the bat, like I think they're they're pretty
23:15
interesting approaches to to building rosters.
23:19
I think Boston probably tried to make the splash a little bit
23:23
more with names from overseas. And maybe that makes sense with
23:27
Felipe Patau taking over the team, obviously coming from
23:31
Europe, but a handful of players from the league and that'll help
23:37
them. But like Gutierrez is obviously
23:40
an enormous signing. I mean, you can go through,
23:44
through the roster and find 5-6 players that were their clubs,
23:49
player of the year, best 11 within their, their domestic
23:52
league overseas where like it's just the end of ESL is
23:56
different, the travels harder. And it, I mean, there's a lot
23:59
of, it's a really steep learning curve.
24:01
And I hear from players that come in from overseas all, all
24:06
the time. I will say I love Nick Cushing
24:09
as a coach, but what he did at NYCFC and what he did it at
24:12
Manchester City and it's his first time really getting out of
24:17
that ecosystem. He was in that umbrella, the
24:20
City Football Group umbrella for like 2 decades.
24:24
So let let's see what this looks like now for him.
24:27
I will say I'm frustrated how chronically people underrate
24:32
Lindsay Haran at this point. It it feels like on social
24:37
everyone goes it, whether it's playing backwards or it's not
24:41
being nearly aggressive enough getting forwards, or it's when
24:46
you talk to players about their experience going into the
24:49
national team for the first time.
24:52
There is no player that I hear more was impactful on a young
24:56
player in their leadership, how they welcomed them into the
24:59
team, how they taught them the culture of the team.
25:02
Then Lindsay Heaps, period. It's like asking who you know
25:07
who you most excited to play against in the league.
25:09
I, I almost always, if it's a list of three Marta's, either
25:13
1-2 or three, if I asked about how it was in the national team
25:18
and who impacted you, it's going to be Lindsay to bring that in
25:22
whenever she does arrive in Denver should tell you exactly
25:26
what they're getting in bringing her here.
25:29
And so, you know, like flashy player, maybe not all the time,
25:33
but like you have to understand her role within the room is
25:37
going to be really significant. And then, you know, in terms of
25:40
the the back line has a bunch of NWSL experience.
25:44
However they decide to go in goal, if it's Abby who gets a a
25:47
shot to run with it again, I'm excited for her to get that
25:50
opportunity. Players like Ike coming out of
25:53
college obviously had really good careers and Olivia Thomas
25:56
and we've seen them compete at at the highest level in the
25:59
collegiate ranks and then they make the move over.
26:02
We're going to find out. But between Nick Cushing and
26:06
Lindsay Heaps, you know, from what I know and for me, Boston
26:10
is more unknown than Denver. Makes me really optimistic about
26:14
where Denver's headed this year. I.
26:16
Think I'm in the same boat there.
26:18
I mean Kurtz, Sonas, Pickett, Catino, you mentioned Heaps, Ali
26:24
Brazier. I'm glad you mentioned Jasmine
26:26
Ike. She's the she's the Herman
26:27
Trophy winner. Anybody uninitiated?
26:30
That's essentially the Heisman Trophy in women's college
26:32
football. What do you know about her?
26:34
Because I like, I've seen the highlights.
26:36
Obviously some like superstar plays.
26:38
What? What jumps out to you about her?
26:41
Yeah, can play anywhere. Like I spoke to Paul the coach
26:46
at at Stanford at College Cup back in December and was like,
26:52
Yep. And Paul Ratcliffe was like,
26:54
yeah, played center back as a junior because that's what we
26:58
needed. And you're like, oh, okay, But
27:01
just spoke about just incredible talent, can score and create and
27:06
absolutely capable of doing exactly that at the highest
27:09
level. And sometimes you sort of sit
27:10
there and go, okay, why, why did you make that move to move her
27:14
back? It's like because she has enough
27:16
talent that she was capable of doing so in terms of her
27:19
competitiveness is something that stood out to her teammates
27:22
when they spoke about her. Yeah, she's, I think she's going
27:26
to fit into the NWSL really well.
27:27
It doesn't mean she's going to end up with Riley Tiernan number
27:31
of goals or, oh gosh, Messiah Bright scoring with Orlando a
27:37
couple years ago coming right off the bat.
27:40
I don't know, but that's OK. It it's I, I don't, I don't know
27:44
that I'm expecting eight goals or whatever to say.
27:46
It was all great rookie season, but she'll be impactful right
27:49
off the bat. Mike, is there any is there any
27:51
team that we haven't hit that you kind of want to touch on?
27:54
I think the the the only one on my list that I thought was
27:56
interesting kind of flown a little bit under the radar.
27:58
Angel City as he picks up Emily Sam's and Priska Choluvia from
28:02
Orlando, Kina Sugita during the season last year.
28:05
Savvy King also set to return, you know, so I think, you know,
28:09
another another season of kind of settling down under that that
28:12
coach Strauss, I think could be interesting.
28:14
But are there any other teams that we didn't hit any players
28:17
that you want to kind of drop some final notes on before you
28:21
get get prepped for for for your big evening?
28:23
Yeah, no, I Angel City is interesting to me because when
28:26
you get the King's ransom that you get from moving Alyssa
28:30
Thompson on and spread that out into the plays, Emily Sam's, Ari
28:35
Borges is a player who's going to come in and be really
28:38
impactful in that team. Like Taylor Suarez was good at
28:44
at Florida State and Brian Penske speaks really highly
28:48
about her. That's a completely remade team
28:51
in very short order. And I'm not going to go as far
28:54
as to say they were in cap hell, but I don't know that they were
28:56
that far off of it. And they've maneuvered this
28:59
really, really well in a really short amount of time from, from,
29:03
from my read of the situation. So yeah, I think they'll be
29:07
improved. I think Houston and Louisville,
29:10
it's, it's like I believe in what they're trying to do that I
29:13
know literally the most disparate 2 styles for me to put
29:18
in the same sentence, right? Like Fabrice wants 500 passes
29:21
and Louisville wants 500 presses.
29:23
But yeah, I like, I think Houston similarly is retold on
29:28
the go fairly effectively. And I don't know what
29:33
Louisville's ceiling is for a Shield race.
29:37
I don't know that it's sustainable for 30 games to win
29:39
the Shield the way they want to play necessarily.
29:43
But I do think they'll be able to beat anybody on any given
29:46
day. And I don't think them making
29:48
the playoffs is a fluke. And I do think, like, Macy Hodge
29:52
is a way better fit in Louisville than she was at Angel
29:56
City. Can you get the mellow back on
29:58
the field healthy for 30 games? Emma Sears is a bona fide
30:02
national teamer now. McKenna Morris, I thought is is
30:06
going to have a a really impactful place where she didn't
30:09
with DC at the end of her time there.
30:11
I Jordan Bloomer was excellent at the end of last season.
30:17
So I, I really and, and like Taylor Flynn is, is a wildly
30:22
underrated like the the center of the universe for how
30:27
Louisville wants to play in terms of handling long balls
30:30
that come out of the pressure. Like that's, that's a, she
30:33
remains a cheat code. So like, I don't think
30:36
Louisville's a fluke. I don't think they'll
30:38
necessarily compete for the Shield this year, but I I fully
30:41
anticipate that no team has any interest in playing them at all.
30:47
I totally agree with that, man. I was, I was thinking about Emma
30:49
Sears as like the player that I would say like making the
30:52
superstar leap. But you know when you have, when
30:54
you have 10 goals in the previous season, I was like, I
30:56
don't know if that's even really like she's pretty much she's
30:59
already hopped her way into super stardom already when she
31:02
scored 10. I think she, she is the highest
31:04
scoring American player, right? Last year.
31:07
I'm doing math. I mean, that's, I mean, you
31:11
know, yeah, Look, I've done more Louisville City games than
31:16
anyone ever, and I'm probably not that far off on racing
31:19
games. So when I say this, it's not
31:21
negative. It's just like 10 goals from an
31:23
American in a flashy market. Maybe we're having a a different
31:26
conversation about the superstar leap because it already would
31:30
have happened. But like, Louisville is so team
31:33
centric. Sears is is team first like
31:36
that. They're just going to go out and
31:38
put in yeoman's work. They're just going to go do the
31:40
job. Yeah, I cannot wait.
31:41
I mean, there's so many storylines, so much, so much to
31:44
watch. Mike, we want to get you out of
31:46
here on time. Last quick note, last week when
31:49
we announce we'd be having a special guest on apologies to at
31:54
Delta 757-3 who commented. I hope the guest is Leanne.
31:59
Sorry Delta, I hope you were disappointed.
32:02
Our guy came and he brought it. I wish it was Leanne too, and
32:08
I'll say this, we can get to see her at the broadcast seminar.
32:10
I think she was. I think she was commentating
32:15
Champions League that day, but I can't wait for her to come back
32:20
on the road with us because my favorite booth to work in in
32:23
NWSL is probably some combination of the Lori Leanne
32:28
booth and the Lori Jill Lloyd booth.
32:32
Like it did have that collection of voices like shut up.
32:37
I have to say nothing. Like.
32:39
I want to hear what they have to say.
32:41
And for everyone, that's a win. So Leanne, come into the channel
32:45
please, So that Delta person is happy and I'm spared my blushes
32:53
and I get to see what you think. There you go, Leanne.
32:56
All the fun stat Leanne all time leader in appearances on Into
33:00
the Channel. She has been uncommonly kind to
33:03
us. So I'm sure she'll, I'm sure
33:04
she'll be back. Do you guys have like a 5 timers
33:07
jacket or something? We got to get one some kind of
33:09
I'm on. 2 So you don't need to get me my size this time, but.
33:13
We're working on, Yeah, yeah. You know what in the works?
33:15
Yeah. We'll add it to the merch store.
33:17
And, you know, obviously it's complementary to the guest.
33:20
Yeah, we got. We need to carve out a new
33:21
color. Can't go green?
33:22
We can get it. Understood.
33:23
With something special. But you're on, you're on, you're
33:25
on track, Mike. We'll get you there before 2029.
33:28
Yeah, if we just do the preseason one, yeah, we're going
33:30
to get there. So, so Speaking of this
33:34
tradition, I got to, you know, I, I got to get this in here.
33:38
Now, last year I asked you about something and that was passes
33:44
being played into the channel. And hey, could you, could you
33:48
give us a shout out? And you very graciously said,
33:51
yeah, just give me a reminder e-mail.
33:54
And, you know, I'll, I'll, I'll work it into a broadcast.
33:56
And now we, we believe in accountability on this show.
33:59
I was a coward. And I was like, Mike's too busy
34:01
for that. I can't e-mail this dude before
34:03
a broadcast and and ask him to plug our show.
34:07
But you know what? I, I think we've built up some
34:10
credibility. Feels like we're pretty friendly
34:12
at this point. I know you.
34:13
You know, I've mentioned in the last time you're the pride of
34:15
Saint Ignatius High School in beautiful Cleveland.
34:17
OH, you know, I'm hoping, you know, this time.
34:21
I think I've worked up the courage.
34:24
I'm not. I wouldn't dare ask you to do it
34:26
on opening night, but maybe later in the season I I could
34:30
reach out if that offer still stands.
34:32
So here, here's what I'm going to suggest.
34:34
What you should do is just do like a, a scheduled e-mail, do
34:38
it right now, a game day Friday. And just like it'll send it like
34:42
7 things like 725 for being, if we're being honest, that's,
34:48
that's like that's the sweet spot.
34:50
I love it and just see see what happens.
34:54
Like maybe you get screwed and and maybe I, I forget, you know,
34:58
but I feel optimistic. I'm confident at some point I
35:03
said it was in the channel, but I'm not sure I ever said it was
35:06
into the channel and that's my fault.
35:08
Fair enough. We understand.
35:10
That's poor. Yeah.
35:11
All right, Grant, we'll look up Boston, Utah, whenever that's on
35:14
prime and scheduled for for that.
35:16
I'm sure there'll be some dead spots there.
35:19
Stop. That's my the highest likelihood
35:23
to make the jump. What are we talking about?
35:26
All right, Yeah, that's your pick.
35:27
Yeah. You know it's not my pick.
35:29
True enough, there we. Go.
35:31
All right, Mike, this has been the channel.
35:33
We really, really appreciate you hanging out.
35:35
Thank you for watching. Listen, if you enjoyed the show,
35:37
we do this every single week. Big thank you to our guest, Mr.
35:40
Mike Watts. Best of luck to you this season.
35:43
I appreciate you guys. Thank you.
35:45
And a big shout out to my ghost as well, Mr. Grant Angle for,
35:48
you know, getting up early on a Friday.
35:49
I appreciate you too bro. Likewise, buddy, thanks
35:52
everybody for watching and we will see you all next time.