Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / INTO THE NWSL ⚽️ Alyssa Thompson Fallout Angel City → Chelsea | Unstoppable Current | Pride Tumble | Racing Louisville Houston Dash Orlando Pride Gotham Seattle Reign SD Wave Angel City Bay FC Utah

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INTO THE NWSL ⚽️ Alyssa Thompson Fallout Angel City → Chelsea | Unstoppable Current | Pride Tumble | Racing Louisville Houston Dash Orlando Pride Gotham Seattle Reign SD Wave Angel City Bay FC Utah · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:03
Hello, OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast premiere about 1
0:09
soap. I'm your host Dino de Sasplos.
0:10
And as always I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Engel.
0:15
What's up, man? I'm feeling fantastic, buddy, no
0:18
matter how sleepy we are in these late recordings.
0:21
Just trying to just trying to make this work.
0:24
I feel great about it and I'm ready to talk about some
0:26
football with you. Big struggle out here, but we're
0:29
doing our best and we're back potting.
0:32
I mean, what could be better than this?
0:34
There you go all we got to do is know what podcast day is and
0:39
then we just figure out the rest from there.
0:41
And if you are sleepy, there is one way I know to stay awake.
0:46
It's to enjoy a ice cold beverage to help keep you awake.
0:49
It's. Funny, you know, it usually
0:52
sends me the other way. But talk about that one later.
0:54
Cheers. Cheers to you.
0:57
Match Week 18. Goodness gracious.
1:01
I think we're I think we're shaking off some of that that
1:04
July break rust. I think we're we're, we're fully
1:07
now into regular football, some goals, some tactics, some
1:11
strategies, some organization. So I saw some stuff that looked,
1:15
looked aesthetically pleasing this weekend.
1:17
So I feel like, I feel like we got back to it this past
1:20
weekend. What, what, what do you think?
1:21
Where do you want to get started?
1:22
Yeah, I'd say I think the NWSL is shaking off the rust.
1:26
Obviously, no rust from us. I mean, we were active the month
1:30
of July, unbelievable EUR run by us and the Lionesses, if you
1:35
will. But for the NWSL, let's do a
1:40
little something different this episode.
1:42
Let's talk about some storylines, A storyline that
1:45
jumped out to me that I would like to talk about that I, I'm
1:48
going to guess probably most shows are not leading with.
1:51
I just want to talk about the unkillable Chicago Stars FC.
1:56
Let's go, let's go. I I mean, I love starting with
2:01
Chicago. I I, I kind of, I had a feeling
2:05
they would be, they would be live against the spirit.
2:07
I went back and looked to see because I'm like that front 3
2:11
Schlegel Lujmila Jamis Joseph. I think it had been since May,
2:16
since those three had started a match together.
2:20
And I think like watching those three together was, was really,
2:23
really exciting. They're tough to deal with,
2:26
those 3. And you can also see that the
2:28
chemistry hasn't quite taken. I mean, they're just a really
2:31
fun team to watch. And I think that the, the trippy
2:33
part is, I mean, some of the results, you know, obviously
2:36
Chicago gets a result. You see a team like Utah get a
2:40
huge Rd. win in Portland. And it's like, I'm not sure
2:43
what's weirder, these results or the fact that we watch these
2:46
games and it doesn't feel that weird when you're watching it.
2:49
You're just like, OK, Chicago is a good now.
2:52
Then it doesn't feel weird. Like, I don't know, where are
2:54
we? It's totally true is that you
2:56
see these things happen and you know, some some things people
3:00
chalk up to NWSL after dark or weird refereeing decisions.
3:04
But I think you're right, you know, Joseph Schlegel, Lujmila,
3:09
they're just kind of making things happen, especially
3:11
Schlegel and Lujmila right now. I just want to we talk about
3:15
like the week to week. So in week 12, Chicago coughed
3:19
up A2 nil lead to Seattle Rain FC at home.
3:23
They conceded two goals in 2 minutes.
3:24
An 87th minute goal by Biendolo. An 89th minute goal by Bug ends
3:30
in A22 draw. Bitterly disappointing. 2 weeks
3:33
later, Gotham takes a lead on Chicago on the 39th and Schlegel
3:37
equalizes in the 68th. They come back and get that one
3:40
one draw in week 15. The very next week Bay FC scores
3:44
in the 29th minute, then Shea Groom equalizes in the 42nd and
3:48
they scratch out A11 draw there. Week 16 Rain scores three goals
3:53
in the third, the 34th and the 46th and then the Red Stars take
3:56
about 1/2 hour to equalize and Alyssa Nair gets her.
3:59
I think it was her first career NWSL goal. 90 + 9 ends in a
4:03
three three draw. They go down at week 17 O2 to
4:07
the North Carolina Courage which means the scores 2 gets the
4:10
equalizer. They follow behind again and
4:13
then they get the draw 33 and then that once again, week 18,
4:17
Cantore put Spirit ahead in the 57th, Lose me the scores 10
4:22
minutes later, 11 draw. We're scrappy.
4:25
So we're, what are we looking at?
4:26
Like 5 of the last six weeks? They're just kind of, they're
4:30
just kind of clawing back in these.
4:33
I think yes, seven of the last eight they've drawn and I think
4:36
the one that they didn't draw was a was a loss.
4:38
I think if I got that right. But yeah, I'm looking at the the
4:40
timeline here. LMS are named the interim coach
4:43
July 3rd. That was 9 days before they had
4:46
two July friendlies. They lost both of those and then
4:48
they go on the five straight draw streak in the NWSL.
4:53
Who's the guy they have. I think this last match was
4:56
their new interim Swedish fella. But no, I I will say I think the
5:01
the tide certainly turned when Alan Assad grabbed the reins.
5:04
Yeah, no, I I definitely think so.
5:05
And I think some stats I thought stood out.
5:08
Their number one in the league, shot on target percentage,
5:11
40.7%. They're #2 winning aerial duels,
5:16
they're #5 in long passes. You can kind of piece those
5:18
together and kind of see how what kind of ball they're trying
5:21
to play. But I think the story of this
5:22
season, they don't have a goal scorer outside of Blujamila, who
5:26
scored more than two goals. They're also the second highest
5:29
in the NWSL with regard to assist rate.
5:32
They've got 19 goals on the year, 15 assists.
5:35
So they're they're doing a good job connecting stuff and, and
5:38
playing together. But Luzhmila has absolutely been
5:41
the story. 48% of her shots have been on target.
5:44
She she's scoring a goal every 3.2 shots, She's scoring a goal
5:48
every 1.6 shots on target. I mean, just a like just a
5:54
stupid rate. She's so good.
5:56
And this kind of leads me to the match for this upcoming weekend
6:01
that I'm most excited about, the Chicago Stars, this Chicago
6:05
Stars side hosting the reeling, the stumbling, the the, the
6:10
ailing Orlando Pride. I think this is going to be a
6:14
very, very interesting match. This is my match up of the week.
6:18
When you look at these two teams, where, where, Where's the
6:21
1st place your head's going? I guess at this point is
6:24
scratching out a draw versus Chicago stars FCAA terrible
6:28
result. I mean, maybe not if you ask a a
6:30
bunch of other teams in the league right now, but man, that
6:34
last pride match, the two nil loss to Gotham did not exactly
6:40
it did not. It certainly did not bring me
6:41
any joy and it didn't bring me a lot of confidence either.
6:45
It really shown a bright spotlight on kind of some of the
6:48
issues that Orlando's facing this season.
6:51
So you look at of the non Barba Banda division of goal scores,
6:55
Orlando has only scored ten goals this season from a player
7:00
not from not named Barbara Banda.
7:02
And that's from six different players.
7:04
You know, So you've got Marta with three goals.
7:07
Two of those are pounds of kicks, so it's really just one
7:09
goal from open play. Prisca Chulufia has 2, Haley
7:12
Mccutchen has two, and then one each for Ali Watt, Julie Doyle
7:16
and Corey Dyke. So that leaves a big fat 0 for
7:21
the Simones, for Angelina, for summer Eights, for Ali Lemos,
7:25
for a lot a lot of players that you just kind of got to get
7:31
something, especially when a player of Barbara Banda's
7:33
stature kind of goes out for the season.
7:36
Yeah. And you know, obviously we've
7:39
talked about Elizabeth Ovallier coming in as as the cavalry.
7:42
She'll need to be integrated quickly.
7:44
And I will say this is one thing, you know, we talked about
7:47
it last week. It was like, oh, she can't get
7:49
here fast enough. She needs to get into the in the
7:51
lineup. She needs to play.
7:53
But one thing that I I thought about after we recorded that
7:56
episode, what I think is a truth that I try to keep in mind when
8:00
players come back from injury and broadcasters say, OK, she's
8:04
coming back from injury, so she's going to help.
8:06
And I'm always in the back of my head going probably not so much
8:09
at first. Like, and I understand ovale is
8:11
not coming off an coming off an injury, obviously, but she has
8:15
to be integrated into a whole new system and maybe she could,
8:18
maybe she can make a difference. I mean, she's a great player.
8:20
We we've seen her from Mexico, but you know, that's probably
8:25
hard to count on. What drug Just getting dropped
8:28
right into this league. Yeah.
8:30
And just knowing what I know about that organization, kind of
8:32
how they operate, I don't think that they're looking for that.
8:35
They're looking to that, but they are, you know, and I think
8:38
on the broadcast they mentioned that Seb Hines had talked about,
8:41
you know, looking to experiment. And I think we've hit this
8:44
interesting point in the season where it's not like early in the
8:47
year where Orlando's in second, they're in 3rd.
8:50
They're kind of floating around. They're they're kind of, you
8:52
know, sniffing around first. You know, now they're just five
8:55
points ahead of 9th place Angel City, five points clear with
9:00
eight matches to go. So I'm not saying that they're
9:03
at real risk, but to your point, going to Chicago now doesn't
9:07
feel the same as well. This this Orlando bride opened
9:09
the season against Chicago, and just how'd that go?
9:12
Smash. Them 6 nothing and miss the
9:14
extra point, but they they got everything else right.
9:17
And now it's like you won't you you don't really expect Orlando
9:20
to go to Chicago and and get a win.
9:23
I certainly don't expect them to get a win.
9:24
I think a draw would be good if they they certainly can win, but
9:27
Chicago's playing really well. Orlando can't score.
9:31
I feel like defensively the experiment of like kind of
9:35
playing Emily Samms on the outside.
9:37
I understand like conceptually why why we want to do that, You
9:41
know, to get half Aila in there and the Danner is obviously a
9:44
beast, but it's just not really taking.
9:48
And I thought I think Emily Samms has played pretty well up
9:51
the up the pitch more offensively, but she's just so
9:54
good as the center back. You kind of lose that half Aila
9:56
is good too, but I think it just kind of throws a monkey wrench
9:59
in it. And then you still have those
10:00
four players. They have to figure out what
10:02
you're going to do on the outside.
10:04
Corey Dyke, Oyana Hernandez, Carson Pickett, Cariabello.
10:08
And it's like it, you know, and now you're trying to play Sam's
10:11
there and then figure out the rotation and, like, bounce the
10:14
minutes. It just seems to be one or two
10:18
or three monkey wrenches too many.
10:21
Maybe this season for the Orlando Pride.
10:24
I think that's probably fair. And for folks who have been
10:28
watching this league longer than we have, I, you know, I, we, we
10:31
talk about it a lot like what I I, I come waltzing in in the
10:35
late 20 teens, early twenty 20s, especially when it's once I move
10:40
out here to Seattle and there's a team for me to look at that.
10:43
This is somewhat of a, a, a bit of a return to the typical form
10:48
of Orlando Pride and still even better really, because I think
10:52
they were just not a very good team for for so long.
10:55
But like we've mentioned, like Hayley Carter and Seb Hines off
10:58
that like they're, they're no longer like a cellar dwelling
11:02
club anymore. I think that's just, there's too
11:04
much evidence otherwise. I got to tell you, they're still
11:08
favored because you got me. You got me thinking about this.
11:11
Like do we expect them to win Orlando pride -170 on the road
11:17
according to our our pals at FanDuel?
11:19
I have a feeling I know what your next question is, so let me
11:22
just answer. The draw is plus 310.
11:27
You know, I love, loves pizza. Let's go.
11:28
That's that's above the bed. The Mendoza Line of where we
11:31
need it. And Chicago Red Stars to
11:34
outright win plus 370 so. That is, there's some there's
11:40
some taste, there's some taste on the left side of both of
11:44
those. I, I, I'll say that like you got
11:48
to be really careful and, and I want to, you know, I'll kind of
11:51
get a little bit ahead of myself, but, you know, I, I went
11:53
on Reddit and kind of shared my take of Louisville's the the
11:57
third best team in the league. Reddit got in my ass a little
12:01
bit. I'll, you know, you know,
12:03
including, you know, Mr. GOOG. Yeah, he came back for seconds
12:07
and thirds with some with some with some extra takes on top of
12:10
my take. But you know, I, I, I didn't
12:13
have any problem kind of defending my position.
12:14
But I think one of the things I, I took some issue with was
12:18
people were like, oh, racing Louisville, how can you put a
12:21
team with a -, 4 goal differential up that high?
12:23
We need to just throw all that shit out the window right now.
12:27
I mean, you cannot take, I mean, Orlando plus six goal
12:31
differential after one week. Like, does that mean anything at
12:34
this point? It, it might as well have been
12:35
five years ago that, that match. So I think we're at a point now
12:39
where we need to start thinking current form, last three, last
12:44
four, last five. Chicago's not blowing the doors
12:46
off, but you know, they are out here looking for their next.
12:49
It's not quite a victim, but they're they're out here looking
12:51
for their next team that they're going to equalize with and share
12:54
the points with in in a very harmonious, you know, afternoon.
12:57
So we need to recalibrate I guess is what I'm saying.
13:01
I think that's totally fair. And Speaking of recalibrating,
13:05
my good man, let's think about what Angel City Football Club is
13:11
going to have to do as they recalibrate.
13:14
I'm sure if you're watching this program, listening to this
13:16
program, probably aware of all the reporting around US Women's
13:21
national team striker and Angel City FC left winger Alyssa
13:26
Thompson rumored to be going to Chelsea Football Club in the
13:31
WSL. That would be not great for
13:36
Angel City on the field, but that's that's my kind of broad
13:43
estimation there. But I will say I mentioned this
13:48
about them a couple weeks ago where I'm going to be interested
13:50
in watching every match they play from from here until the
13:54
end of the season. I think that still remains
13:58
because this match versus Bay FC, you know, great individual
14:01
effort from Riley Tiernan Young's daughter could have had
14:05
could have probably had a hat trick on some on some near
14:08
misses. And it just seems like that
14:11
front three that they played, which was vinyola, Tiernan
14:15
Yonstader. Obviously it doesn't pack the
14:17
punch of Alyssa Thompson and her six goals that she has a season.
14:22
I think they're still interesting and I think they're
14:24
starting to pick up what Alexander Strauss is
14:27
implementing in terms of their tactics.
14:30
I, I want to kind of zoom out a little bit.
14:32
I think I, I totally agree with that.
14:34
We're we're starting to see a new look Angel City and a player
14:38
like vanilla up top. I think it was is is a good, you
14:41
know, kind of bellwether for that.
14:43
It made me think a lot about what did Bayern's attack look
14:46
like the last couple years and then what were they trying to
14:49
put together? And I think when I think about
14:52
Bayern, I think about the ultimate lack of heliocentricity
14:56
as a team. You know, it's like it could
14:58
come from anywhere. It's Leia Schuler, it's pretty
15:00
harder. It's Tom Yanovich, like
15:02
different angles and at different tempos.
15:04
And I think, I'm not sure if that's exactly what Strauss is
15:07
trying to do. But the thing that kind of got
15:10
me the most interested Alyssa Thompson, a number one overall
15:14
pick, 2023 NWSL draft, one of I don't know, I, I'm, I'm curious
15:19
to see here where you have Alyssa Thompson in your rankings
15:22
of NWSL players, but she's somewhere between 10 and 25,
15:25
let's say of the the best players.
15:27
In the league out. Where I would get her, but even
15:31
still a player with a lot of untapped NWSL potential, you
15:36
know, I kind of always think about, you know, Sam, you as
15:38
talking about going to Manchester City a little bit
15:40
later in career, her in her career and kind of picking up
15:42
some of that experience. But that was a little bit later.
15:45
This is a player Elissa Thompson, who has kind of like
15:48
an MVP ceiling, who has NWSL championship ceiling, you know,
15:53
as either like A1A or A1B leading A-Team again, a number
15:57
former number one overall pick who's leaving the league with a
16:01
lot of kind of unfinished business.
16:03
And it and I can't help but think that if there was a sort
16:08
of like power struggle, kind of whose team is this?
16:10
You know, Alyssa Thompson, who maybe could have a claim as like
16:14
maybe a player with a little bit of face of the league potential
16:17
as well versus an Alexander Strauss.
16:19
I think the team ultimately kind of decided to go the Strauss
16:23
route because now Thompson's kind of out the door and you're
16:27
you're kind of married to this, this new direction.
16:30
Maybe a little bit risky, you know, for, for the, for the, for
16:33
the folks in charge of that, of that franchise.
16:36
Yeah. It's definitely an interesting
16:37
question. I mean, I also do wonder and you
16:40
know, obviously we're not a business of football podcast.
16:44
I do just wonder how much money Chelsea FC is is waving in front
16:48
of the Angel City owners. One of the first rumors that I
16:52
saw was that the transfer fee could potentially be around 2
16:56
million, which I think, you know, some of the larger
16:58
transfer fees have been around 1-1 something million.
17:01
I think it may have seen 2.5 million out there floating
17:04
around. I don't know if that people
17:05
backtracked off that. But yeah, I mean, I, I think
17:09
bringing, bringing up Byron is a good point.
17:11
Like you think about like Pernil Arter playing #9 you think about
17:14
the way Riley Tiernan plays. You think about John's daughter
17:17
out there on the wing. I just think, you know, if
17:20
you're, if you're going to get a, a massive transfer fee and
17:25
you think you still have enough and you can still attract
17:28
players from different leagues, You know, it's, we live in a
17:33
weird timeline, especially, you know, growing up watching men's
17:37
football where Young's daughter comes over to the NWSL in, in no
17:43
world was a player from Bayern Munich ever or, or you know,
17:49
Wolfsburg or a giant team over in Germany ever coming over to
17:55
play football in the United States of America.
17:58
And so I know there's been some like panic of like, oh, OK,
18:01
well, first it's Naomi Garma and now it's Alyssa Thompson.
18:04
Well, now there's going to be this weird domino effect of who
18:07
are the best players playing in Sweden?
18:09
Who are the best players playing in Germany or in Norway?
18:12
And are they going to start to filter over to the NWSL and then
18:15
maybe some NSL players maybe filter over to the WSL, maybe
18:20
League F or I don't know. We'll have to see.
18:22
I mean, Sofia Cantori just came over as the first Italian
18:25
player. So there's going to be all this
18:26
shuffling from all the leagues. And I think my couple like
18:32
overarching thoughts are, yeah, it's a bummer if Alyssa Thompson
18:35
leaves our league and goes plays for Chelsea, especially if if
18:39
they're going to do something where they split time between
18:42
Baltimore and Thompson on the left wing, where I'm just like,
18:45
they're both good enough to be like major contributors.
18:48
And I don't want to see Sandy Baltimore relegated to left wing
18:52
back and and have to play defense for like the rest of her
18:54
time at Chelsea. I digress.
18:56
This is the NWSL episode, but I I also think seeing what Strauss
19:02
implements at Angel City is going to be interesting.
19:05
To your earlier, earlier point, are they going to play like
19:08
Bayern Munich? Are they going to have a very
19:10
distinct style out there in LA? And then what are they going to
19:13
do with the big bucks that they get from Thompson?
19:15
Who are they going to sign that that we're going to see from
19:18
maybe another Champions League match or another league that
19:20
were like, OK, great player that you're bringing in or maybe 2
19:23
great players? I mean, I think it's it's kind
19:25
of buyer beware kind of going down that route.
19:27
But I just feel like a player that young with that kind of
19:31
ceiling, you know, like you mentioned, a player like Cantore
19:34
is like, all right, Cantore is a great player and a great
19:37
addition to the NWSL for sure, and is cooking.
19:40
We'll get to her later. But that's a player that's in a
19:43
prime, you know, And it's like, you know, there's no telling
19:47
where Alyssa Thompson's ceiling ends, you know, and does she
19:50
blow right past that cantore roadblock or, you know, like,
19:53
what are we talking about here? Because this is a player that
19:56
can absolutely reach the the apex of of what's possible in
20:00
the sport and is still young enough to to kind of really
20:04
maybe make Angel City pay, You know, if she's able to kind of
20:08
go to Chelsea and and really kind of let loose.
20:10
There's something about her game.
20:12
I think maybe it's more her physical.
20:14
Her speed, her pace, you know, her kind of like twitchiness
20:18
that I feel like is going to make her maybe more impactful in
20:22
the in the in the WSL for Chelsea than even like a Naomi
20:26
Gurma or like an Emily Fox at Arsenal.
20:28
I just feel like there's something about her game, you
20:31
know, even when you close your eyes And I agree, Sunny
20:33
Baltimore, I'm not sure where she fits.
20:35
Maybe BFCI don't know. This was there we go plenty of
20:38
time here available. Let's get that started.
20:41
But I feel like, you know, you think about whether there was
20:43
Edgar Wrighton out there or Baltimore or exactly what they
20:46
were doing then left Alyssa Thompson.
20:47
There is just going to be an absolute live wire.
20:50
She'll be able to link up with Bacario.
20:52
There's there's some definitely some fun stuff there, but I I, I
20:56
will never not feel like she left a little NWSL unfinished
21:01
business. You know, like as a number one
21:03
pick, you know, you kind of want to see what's you know, that you
21:05
just you write the story of a person's career, what's
21:08
possible, what the what the ceiling is.
21:10
We've had some fun with with that on the show as well, with
21:12
regard to Alyssa Thompson. And I feel like we we kind of
21:15
got robbed of that a little bit. And now if we see her at Chelsea
21:17
just kind of running around without a ton of pressure, you
21:20
know, playing like a lot of low stakes games and minutes and
21:23
scoring and doing and having a lot of fun.
21:24
You know, it's like what, you know, did we learn a whole lot
21:28
or do we have to wait till like Champions League deeps waters to
21:31
figure out, you know, is is this move really going to pay off for
21:33
her? That's that's a great point.
21:35
And I think, you know, we'll see how the London City Lionesses
21:39
push Chelsea. Like you got to think that their
21:42
entrance into the league, it should push Chelsea, Arsenal,
21:46
Manchester City and to a lesser extent Manchester United.
21:51
So I think, you know, that'll, that'll certainly be interesting
21:54
to see. And watching Alyssa Thompson
21:56
play Champions League football. There are worse things in the
21:59
world that could happen that that's for sure.
22:02
Yeah, no doubt. And yeah, London City Lioness is
22:04
quietly putting together a couple, but yeah, I mean a
22:06
couple that you mentioned. Lana Kennedy, K Zelam.
22:08
Yeah. Who else?
22:09
Kosovari Aslani, Who? Who shined pretty bright in the
22:13
EUR. Elena Lenari, my daughter's
22:16
name. Zake.
22:17
Also another beast. There you go, making waves in
22:20
London City. Let's fucking go.
22:22
But yeah, no, no, no ink dry on that contract as of yet.
22:25
So we'll we'll we'll keep track of it, but let's scoot ahead.
22:29
Everybody's talking about it, but I don't want to say
22:30
everybody's talking about it, but everybody has talked about
22:32
the KC current this year. You know, we've seen them kind
22:35
of come out of the gate. But I think to the to the degree
22:39
that this team is shredding through the league and shredding
22:42
through the regular season, it's just worth taking a quick break.
22:46
We're at the 25 minute mark of our match week 18 episode.
22:50
I want to take a quick break and reflect on exactly what this
22:53
team is doing. So right now, 18 matches in,
22:56
they sit at 46 points. The Orlando Pride, last year's
23:01
double winners, lifted the Shield, undefeated at this point
23:04
in the season last year, 44 points.
23:06
So Casey Kearns 2 points ahead of that.
23:10
And what's interesting is they only have two big wins on the
23:14
season, 4 one over Bay, 3 NIL over Utah.
23:18
Everything else is like this, this very impressive brand of
23:22
suffocating, smothering, squeezing, pressing, harassing,
23:27
Like, it's really, really impressive.
23:29
They're, they're just like, like muscling teams week in, week
23:34
out. And the last thing that I, that
23:36
I saw that was pretty comical. KC has scored 36 goals this
23:42
season. Now the worst defense in the
23:44
league, Chicago Stars has allowed 36 goals.
23:48
So basically, KC's offense turns every single defense into the
23:52
worst defense in the NWSL. And you could look at the
23:55
inverse. The league worst offense is the
23:59
Utah Royals, who have scored fourteen goals and Kansas City
24:03
has allowed 10. So they turn, they turn your
24:06
offense into like even worse than the worst offense in the
24:09
NWS. Like they're they're just the
24:12
goal differential plus 26. I'm going to read you the next
24:14
four teams, KCS plus 26. Here's the next 4.
24:19
San Diego plus 9, Orlando +7, Gotham plus 6, Portland +5, and
24:24
then if you missed it, it's KC plus 26 just slapping.
24:27
Everybody just destroying everybody.
24:30
And you're right, it's it's a mix like the the defense is so
24:34
much better than it was last season.
24:37
They're just quite physical. They look tougher out there.
24:40
They're they're organized and then they have, you know, the
24:44
nuclear weapon of Temua Chewinga up top, flanked by these other
24:49
genius players of of BIA and Tabina now Ali Sentinor in the
24:54
mix. Michelle Cooper, you know, is
24:56
there like challenging like Michelle, Michelle Cooper
24:59
challenges all those other players of hey, I'm actually the
25:02
second best player on this team and she's out there with a bunch
25:07
of world beaters. So I mean, you know, we talked
25:10
about it. It's a done deal.
25:11
The shield is a wrap and now they just they got to finish the
25:14
job because because our Orlando Pride by winning that double.
25:19
I think what the first thing to win the double since North
25:21
Carolina Courage. I want to say somewhere in
25:24
there, it's going to be this weird thing where they're going
25:27
to coast to the shield and then the pressure ratchets, ratchets
25:32
right back up was like, OK, well are you going to do the thing or
25:34
are you going to actually win the double?
25:38
I, I, you know, they're going to be in a little bit of a
25:40
different position from Orlando last year.
25:42
And I, and I'm, I'm, I'm positive that they're looking to
25:45
look at this Orlando post title season hangover and try to take
25:49
some notes off of that. But it's even more drastic than
25:52
you can imagine. So like this Kansas City
25:54
currents had already clinched the playoff spot.
25:56
But if you look at if you look at their schedule, they go to
25:59
Bay FC this weekend, then they play the second place Washington
26:04
Spirit. If they win both of those two
26:06
games, they'll be two wins away from clinching the shield.
26:09
They can clinch the shield on September 26th, like 444 weeks
26:16
from now. They'll need to beat Washington
26:19
and obviously run the table. But if they go 4 and over the
26:21
next 4 at Bay versus the Spirit versus Chicago at home, and then
26:26
they host Seattle as well, 4 winnable matches for sure.
26:30
They they could have the shield wrapped up.
26:32
But I think that what makes that interesting is then what happens
26:36
because you're playing 6-7 weeks of low stakes, no stakes, you
26:41
know, let nobody get hurt out there.
26:43
Let's eat our orange slices at halftime kind of football.
26:46
And then are you going to be able to ratchet up come playoff
26:49
time? And you start to look at some of
26:50
these teams that are clawing for that set that, you know, that
26:53
eight spot, you can look at that four or five.
26:55
Who's going to be in there? Casey's going to want to have a
26:59
good mix of being healthy but also, you know, staying, staying
27:02
sharp. It's a great point and it's like
27:06
if you look at so you, you mentioned that 4 match run.
27:10
So let's say they get it done because it's obviously not
27:12
outside the realm of possibility that they went for consecutive
27:15
matches considering all the matches they've won this season.
27:18
Then they would play at Angel City, home for Gotham at
27:23
Houston, and then they close the season at home versus San Diego
27:28
Wave. Now, you know, maybe the Wave
27:32
have something to play for near the end of the season.
27:34
I get we haven't counted out Houston and Gotham, so they'll
27:38
be kind of playing for something.
27:41
Can you as Vlatko Andonovsky, you know, obviously we're
27:44
talking about a a lot of great professionals.
27:47
You talk about Lola Bonta as like the the kind of leader of
27:50
the squad. Can you almost trick yourselves
27:53
into thinking like, OK, some of these matches are high stakes
27:56
for our opponents and we need to go in there and we need, we do
27:59
need to stay sharp for these, you know, an elimination
28:02
tournament. If you want to look at the play
28:04
offs that way, I think it's going to be interesting to see.
28:07
I mean that's that's a pretty boring answer, but they're going
28:10
to be fighting that as they enter the play offs.
28:14
Yeah. I mean, I've, you know, watched
28:15
a ton of sports in my life. You know, can a team, you know,
28:18
kind of like, crank it up and trick themselves into, you know,
28:21
reaching that level of intensity?
28:23
No, they can't. It's impossible.
28:25
Usually not, you can't, you can't lie to yourself in that
28:29
instance. If a team really wants it and
28:31
you don't really need it, those matches usually go some kind of
28:35
way. But Vlasco's going to have to
28:37
figure out how to again, again, you know, thread that needle and
28:41
make sure this team's ready for the play offs.
28:42
Because I, I think I agree with you.
28:43
This, this Shield's a wrap. I don't know if four weeks is
28:46
going to be enough time to get it done, but five weeks, six
28:48
weeks, I think either way, it's just a matter of time.
28:51
They're just so far ahead. And I think the other thing is
28:54
there's no #2 team kind of breathing down their neck or,
28:57
or, or or really ready or willing to kind of push them to
29:01
the brink. I think everybody has sort of
29:03
been like, all right, well, let's let's get ready for the
29:05
playoffs, make sure we're all set there.
29:08
But obviously still some some jockeying to be done down the
29:10
stretch. But let's shift gears here.
29:14
What is your I hit my most intriguing match up of the week,
29:19
Chicago hosting the Orlando Pride.
29:21
What did you have as your your top match up for this weekend?
29:24
Well. What a coincidence it would be
29:26
the number two team on the table, the Washington Spirit at
29:29
home versus Seattle Reign. FCA Battle of Washington's, if
29:34
you will. Spirit or two wins, 3 draws, 0
29:38
losses in their last five. Seattle Reign is one win, 3
29:42
draw, 3 draws. Pardon me, one loss in their
29:45
last five in the last match. Appreciate.
29:48
You upholding the win draw loss format I.
29:50
Always will I I won't change. I will not change for any
29:54
league. That's the way football should
29:56
be described in in terms of the win, draw, loss, record.
30:01
Let me do this real quick. Sorry to do this live on the
30:04
show. I'm going to text you a video,
30:08
my good man, and we'll throw it in.
30:10
We'll we'll throw it in and post.
30:12
But what I want to talk about here, Sam Meza and Jordan Bug
30:16
have seemingly returned to form. They, I think they're bouncing
30:20
back a little bit from a couple, couple matches where they were
30:24
kind of reached a performance valley.
30:26
But there was a player I was specifically interested in and I
30:32
thought manager Laura Harvey had something very interesting to
30:37
say about her. So I'd like to kick it to that
30:40
video now, please. We've talked a lot this year
30:43
about Sam as a maybe being the best player on the squad.
30:46
I feel like the more performances I see Madison Curry
30:50
stack up, it feels like she's making a run at that title
30:53
herself. What did you what did you see
30:54
from her tonight? She's very good.
31:01
I think I said it last week and I haven't done it yet, but I
31:05
will do it. I think she needs a look at the
31:07
national team. That's my opinion.
31:09
I'm not Emma, it's not my job. But how consistent she's been,
31:13
how adaptable she is. She can be on both sides, how
31:18
athletic she is. We, we literally brought her off
31:21
tonight because she was starting to cramp and I was petrified
31:24
because, you know, when we brought her off against Chicago,
31:27
things didn't go right. Great, but yeah, she's AI think
31:30
her and Sam I would agree with you consistently have been the
31:35
you know top for us let's. Go.
31:38
That's awesome there. We go.
31:40
So I felt pretty good about the Madison Curry minutes for weeks
31:44
now. She was the best player for Rain
31:47
in that disappointing loss versus Portland Thorns.
31:50
But I like it that Laura Harvey was ready to to put her name on
31:54
it, throw the alley oop to her pal Emma Hayes and be like, hey,
31:58
might want to consider her for the national team.
32:01
We've talked about that left back spot for the US women's
32:05
national team. Kind of a little bit of a
32:07
revolving door. We weren't sure if Nicewanger is
32:10
really going to stick there. Doesn't seem like Emma Hayes.
32:13
I mean, Emma Hayes was obviously looking for other options to
32:17
kind of assess alongside Jenna Nicewanger.
32:20
On the right side you have Fox and Avery Patterson.
32:24
We, we saw some Cariabello mixed in there, you know, a few months
32:28
back. So I just thought that was quite
32:31
interesting. By Laura Harvey, who I'm just
32:33
going to go out on a limb doesn't say anything without
32:37
putting a lot of thought into it beforehand.
32:40
Yep. And I I mean tremendous Okie
32:43
doke by you just kind of taking her one way and we'll bring it
32:46
back the other way. That was very I mean that was
32:50
the AI level crossover by you. So well, well done by you.
32:53
Thank you and great and great answer by by by the legend Laura
32:57
Harvey. I talked about last week like
33:02
Seattle versus the wave. I was like, all right, well,
33:04
first goal wins and where we're at like 6 days later, still
33:08
waiting on that first goal. Nothing to do it, nothing to do
33:11
it in that one. But Seattle, I think good season
33:14
so far, seven wins so far on the year 6, just six last year.
33:18
They've beaten Utah, they beat Angel City, they beat North
33:21
Carolina, Portland, San Diego, Wave, the Kansas City Current
33:27
and the Mighty racing Louisville just to kind of like a little
33:29
icy on the cake. And Washington on the other
33:32
hand, they've lost 4 * 3 at home.
33:35
Six straight Unbeaten though, is a little deceptive. 4 draws over
33:39
that six and they're only +2, so not not quite cooking.
33:43
They've only got eight goals over their last seven matches.
33:46
They scored 21 goals through their first 11.
33:48
So they've gone pretty cold, even though Cantore has come on
33:52
and really kind of blown the doors off a little bit and been
33:56
like, I think even exceeded expectations.
33:58
Even though she was cooking over the summer in the EUR.
34:01
I think she's come on and looked really, really great.
34:04
I mean, that's that's the hallmark of a great player.
34:06
They can just kind of get dropped in and fit with pretty
34:09
much whoever is on the pitch there.
34:11
And then obviously Trinity Rodman last weekend had that
34:14
amazing. I I don't think there's another
34:16
player in the league that can do that, reach a ball either as it
34:20
reaches the end line or as it just kind of, you know, dips
34:22
past the end line just by centimeters and then just puts
34:26
the ball back in and, and kind of changes, changes the game.
34:29
So I think Trinity Rodman, hopefully that's a continuation
34:34
of of her getting back into the mix for Washington.
34:38
And then Seattle, I think you mentioned it defensively.
34:41
You know, they had those two games that were anomalies, seven
34:43
goals in two matches. But you look at their other 16
34:46
matches played, just fourteen goals allowed in those 16.
34:50
So I think their DNA still remains, you know, that being
34:53
that defensive stopper of a team and, you know, to your point,
34:57
maybe those couple players getting introduced back into the
35:00
mix is the right recipe to make it happen.
35:03
Yeah, I mean, they had their difficulties marking Washington
35:07
at at the the reverse fixture. When was that?
35:11
That was a little while ago, May 23rd.
35:14
You know, they lost that match 2 to one.
35:16
They were having a a hell of a time keeping up with Gift Monday
35:20
and Rosemont Quasi, especially out there on the wings.
35:24
But you know, I, I think if they're able to scratch out
35:27
another point, which would be what, their 4th consecutive draw
35:31
and if they were especially able to get that out on the road.
35:35
If you look across 2 fixtures against Washington Spirit from
35:39
where Seattle Rain FC is kind of in their, in their journey as
35:43
they kind of make it back with these young players, I think
35:45
you're OK with that. So I think that's they're,
35:47
they're going to have to put in a good performance.
35:50
And I, I'm looking at this as when we talk about how bunched
35:54
up these teams are in the table, Spirit, Spirit and San Diego,
36:01
they're kind of becoming and maybe racing Louisville's part
36:04
of this too. They're kind of becoming the de
36:06
facto measuring stick. Because if you are trying to
36:10
measure yourself up against Kansas City current right now,
36:13
as we see, as the table would show, nobody's measuring up to
36:16
them. It's kind of like, well, you
36:18
know, when when Orlando was invincible for so much of last
36:21
year's season. It's like, OK, well, nobody's
36:23
that close to them. How close is everybody else?
36:26
So I think it's going to be now obviously I live in Seattle and
36:29
I and I cover the team pretty closely.
36:31
I am out here asking Laura Harvey questions, but I think
36:34
it's a fascinating match up nonetheless.
36:36
Can't wait to see that one. And you know, we talked a lot
36:40
about Casey Curran didn't mention Lorena, who I think it's
36:43
like just I don't know, one of these signings of the offseason
36:47
and down the stretch he knows may end up being the signing of
36:50
this of this year, depending on how the the the postseason
36:55
shakes out. But I do want to talk about one
36:58
more match up from this past weekend.
37:00
This was probably the the most fun I had watching a match for a
37:05
lot of different reasons. Racing Louisville, Houston dash
37:08
in what I'm calling a tale of two playoff teams.
37:12
Oh, wow, let's go. So I mean, obviously I, I, I've
37:17
overcooked myself with my, with my racing Louisville take, but I
37:20
still think that they're really good.
37:21
They're so good. You know, they they put
37:23
pressure, they create chances. They've got good offensive
37:26
players, good dangerous offensive players that are all
37:28
really, really hungry. I think when you look at some
37:32
other teams, I don't know, well, maybe you can see that they're
37:34
they don't really kind of have that DNA.
37:36
But I love watching Louisville play and Houston is another team
37:39
that you know, the seasons within the season we're at we're
37:43
we're in that season within a season where Houston is just
37:46
good. They're they're hard to beat.
37:48
You know, you look at Yasmine Ryan, you look at Delaney
37:51
Sheehan Messiah Bright actually came in and then was effective
37:54
in this one. Evelina Dulian comes in and and
37:58
has an impact later in this one. Avery Patterson, not quite an
38:02
Avery Patterson game, but you look at the spots where
38:05
Patterson gets the ball and makes plays and makes things
38:08
happen and it's all over the pitch.
38:10
You're just like, how do you, it must be a nightmare having a
38:13
game plan against this person because you could just be
38:16
effective from so many different parts of the pitch.
38:19
And I mean, this was just a great, great battle.
38:21
Talked about Louisville's easy remaining schedule.
38:25
Houston's got a little bit tougher, but again, I I still
38:28
think they're sitting in 11th and they are currently 4 points
38:32
behind Gotham for that 8th and final playoff spot.
38:35
And you know, Gotham's got the CONCACAF Champions Cup, Angel
38:38
City, there's that Alyssa Thompson breakup, the North
38:42
Carolina courage. That's a team that, you know,
38:44
does is not playing with that offensive intensity that I
38:47
talked about about Reece Louisville, you know, sports
38:49
week in and week out. Bay FC, you know, you already
38:52
know that's that's a that's a team that is not going to strike
38:54
a ton of fear in other teams. So Houston, I think outside shot
38:58
of maybe sneaking in if they could kind of like run Gotham
39:01
down here. And Louisville I think is is a
39:03
shoe and based on on who else they've got on the schedule you.
39:05
Know sneaky contender there. Contender to fall out.
39:10
I mean, Portland Thorns one win, one draw, 3 losses in their last
39:15
five, including two losses on the spinning.
39:18
We'll, we'll have to see, see what happens there.
39:21
But also, you know, I won't, I won't just hate on Seattle rain
39:25
FCS rival. You know, it's not like Seattle
39:27
rain is exactly blowing up the world either.
39:30
So maybe, maybe they go up against the measuring sick of
39:33
Washington spirit and and show again that they that they don't
39:36
measure up. And that's another team that
39:38
Houston dash could, could potentially catch.
39:40
I, I think I'm with you. I think they're just good at
39:43
this point. And and you know, the early, the
39:45
early results, we're not completely indicative of the
39:49
talent that they had. And it was one of those cases
39:52
that I was talking about earlier where maybe they just needed a
39:55
little bit of time to get together.
39:57
And, and like we talked about Houston maybe at the beginning
40:01
of the season, we talked about them improving and then like how
40:04
much do they improve versus how much the other teams in the
40:07
league are improving? And it looks like they're kind
40:09
of starting to catch up a little bit and it looks like their rate
40:12
of improvement. Might be accelerated to a little
40:15
quicker than some of the other other clubs in the league.
40:18
So I'm here for it because I, I, I love, I like, I like their
40:21
style. Yasmine Ryan and Avery Patterson
40:24
are obviously two of my favorite players to watch.
40:27
See Houston. 'S got this weekend.
40:28
They've got they're going. They play Port San Diego.
40:31
Oh, wait, wait. Louisville plays Portland.
40:33
Yeah, yeah. Houston play Houston goes to San
40:36
Diego. Those are a couple of fun
40:39
matches, a couple of players I want to this is a player that
40:42
took my time couldn't quite piece the whole offensive attack
40:44
together for Houston, but Kiki Vanzen, I think has to get a
40:47
mention. What a player a threat pretty
40:51
much every time she she hits 5th gear like it's just like, oh
40:54
shit, we're we we don't have the the personnel to be able to
40:58
contend with this player at this moment.
41:01
So I think she's she's come out in a big way.
41:02
And then defensively, Natalie Jacobs, Paige Nielsen, I think
41:05
have been both really, really good, really aggressive, really
41:08
tenacious. And I think it's it's kind of
41:12
like just spreading through the club.
41:14
And I think you you see them score goals, you see them make
41:17
big plays and you see how they react as a unit.
41:19
And then you can kind of see some cohesion there.
41:21
It's pretty exciting. I want to quickly round out the
41:25
remaining mash ups from this weekend just to kind of like put
41:27
a bow on it. Friday Racing Louisville host
41:30
the Portland Thorns, the maybe all of all of a sudden in danger
41:33
of Portland Thorns. Shout out to you.
41:34
And by the way, told you to avoid that Portland thorns -1
41:38
1/2 -, 2 1/2 bet against Utah. I told you Utah was was pesky
41:42
and you know, here we go. It should have gone a little
41:44
further and asked you for that Utah straight up number, but you
41:50
know, jeez. Better without that Nora topic
41:53
for another show. Yeah, Ewing Theory.
41:55
Let's go shout out to the the pod father, right?
41:57
Saturday, North Carolina Courage host Utah Royals Bay FC host
42:00
Kansas City Current and then Sunday, a quadruple header from
42:04
the NWS. Hell, it's fucking go.
42:05
Chicago Stars host Orlando Pride, Washington Spirit host
42:08
your Seattle rain Goth FC host Angel City and Houston Dash head
42:13
to San Diego take on the wave. Gonna be a good, possibly a
42:17
great match. Week 19 to football.
42:19
Cannot wait to get into it. Mr. Grand Angle, anything else
42:21
you want to hit before we get out of here?
42:23
I. Do I want to shout out one of
42:24
our pals on YouTube, Richard Albertson, who pointed out that
42:29
Lindby Andolo had said on her Good Vibes podcast with Sam
42:33
Lewis that she was dealing with a knee issue that was limiting
42:36
her minutes? I did not see that episode
42:39
before we recorded the Week 17 recap where I had said like,
42:43
hey, I don't want to accuse Seattle Rain FC of lying to me
42:47
or lying to us as a general public, but why isn't she
42:51
playing? Now?
42:52
I will say that Lindbiandola revealing that last week, I had
42:57
been wondering for weeks why she wasn't playing.
42:59
And Laura Harvey did say like, hey, she's got a little bit of a
43:02
a knee thing and we don't want to play her on turf.
43:05
I'll say thank you. Thank you, Richard, for keeping
43:08
me honest on that. I think that's that's totally a
43:10
fair comment. And it doesn't seem like they're
43:13
they're not keeping it totally secret.
43:15
I do wonder if it's worse than they're letting on.
43:19
But now that she's being shut down for a few weeks, I think it
43:22
all kind of adds up and makes sense of you don't sign Lynn
43:26
Biendolo and then just not play her.
43:29
So I just want to shout out Richard though, because I didn't
43:31
see that on good vibes. And then I didn't really hear
43:34
anything until Laura Harvey mentioned it on the pre match
43:37
presser before the San Diego wave match.
43:39
So shout out to you, Richard. Journalistic integrity is
43:42
important to us. We we, we appreciate the help.
43:45
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, Community driven
43:46
enterprise for sure. Shout out to Mac Daily, friend
43:49
of the show on Spotify, who also pointed out that piece of news
43:54
for us. So appreciate the community as
43:57
always. All right, man, I think we did
43:59
hit this with another episode of into the channel.
44:00
Thank you, thank you, thank you for watching, listening, hanging
44:03
out. If you enjoyed the show or love
44:04
them so far as much as your boys do, make sure you're keeping
44:06
with us each and every single week.
44:08
Like if you liked, subscribe, follow YouTube, Spotify, Apple
44:10
podcast, wherever you like to watch or listen.
44:12
Leave us a review over your favorite podcast app.
44:14
Thanks to all of our socials except one in the showrooms of
44:17
this episode and a big thing in my coast as well, Mr. Grant
44:21
Angle for always being upfront about his injury status and and
44:24
his availability. And I mean, to be honest, he's
44:27
my guy's always available. It's I mean, there's no
44:29
probables, no doubtfuls. He's always in the lineup,
44:32
always sharp beat in, you know, my my running mate up top.
44:36
You already know what time is. I appreciate you bro.
44:38
Likewise, buddy, I wouldn't, I wouldn't do it with anybody
44:40
else. And you know, even when we we
44:43
sit here and we have to look each other in the eye and say
44:45
I'm hurt, dog, but I'm putting my heart into this shit.
44:48
That's just how it goes. You know, we'll fight through it
44:51
when necessary, but it's always good to understand if you are
44:53
too, if you're injured, not just hurt, it's it's understandable
44:57
sit out every once in a while. But we appreciate you guys for
45:00
not sitting out. Like I mentioned earlier, thank
45:02
you for dropping knowledge of the comments.
45:03
We always appreciate that and we will see you all next time.