Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / 🇩🇪 GERMANY RISES FROM THE ASHES | France Melts Down | WOMEN'S EURO 2025 QUARTERFINAL RECAP | EP 152

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🇩🇪 GERMANY RISES FROM THE ASHES | France Melts Down | WOMEN'S EURO 2025 QUARTERFINAL RECAP | EP 152 · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:05
OK, welcome to into the channel podcast Premier about 1 so far.
0:09
I'm your host Dino de Suspicious and as always, I am joined by my
0:13
Co host Mr. Grant Angle. What is up man?
0:17
I'm feeling all right, buddy. I feel like I watched a crazy
0:21
back and forth, almost like a tennis match, just watching the
0:25
ball go back and forth and just watching.
0:27
Maybe a car careening all across several highway lanes, perhaps
0:32
on the autobahn even. I don't know.
0:34
But that was a wild, wild match today.
0:38
I kind of equated it to, and I'm going to talk about France's
0:42
offense here. You know, in the action movie
0:44
where the the villain is just sending a bunch of goons at like
0:48
the hero and then it's just one at a time.
0:50
They just go, they just go get obliterated one at a time.
0:53
That was like France's offensive attack today.
0:55
It was just right, like Khashoggi's like, I got this.
0:58
He was like, no, I got this. Like Diani's like, no, on my
1:00
turn. It's just like they just kept
1:02
getting like sent, sent away. And, you know, by the end of the
1:05
movie, it's over and you're just like, oh, wow.
1:07
I despite all of our all of the hints along the way, Yeah, it
1:11
went the other way. Yeah, I think that's a that's a
1:14
pretty good analogy, my good man.
1:15
It was. And this one not even like a
1:18
traditional movie. You didn't think the under?
1:21
I had no point. Well, it eventually got to the
1:23
point, but I didn't think the underdog was going to win in
1:26
this situation. And it's weird calling Germany
1:28
an underdog, but once you get that red card in the 13th
1:32
minute, there had to be no way that they were going to win.
1:34
Already down, great defenders, you know, Julia Givens sitting
1:39
there on the sideline. I just it's hard to even wrap
1:41
your head around how they did it.
1:42
I'm not gonna ask you where we're gonna get started.
1:44
We're gonna get started with a little bit of France, Germany
1:45
talk. But how about we also quench the
1:49
palate a little bit? You know, I'm sure much like
1:52
much like myself, he probably worked up a sweat today watching
1:55
these matches, trying to assemble these takes, trying to
1:58
put get a show together, trying to get a semi final preview
2:00
together. We'll talk about that one later.
2:02
So I don't know, let's let's crack a couple beverages just to
2:05
make sure that we stay hydrated. I think that's a good idea, my
2:08
good man. And we might as well also say,
2:12
there we go, that sounds good. And obviously everybody knows
2:17
what we're here to talk about. France won.
2:19
Germany won. Germany advances 65-ON penalties
2:24
in a wild one. Unbelievable.
2:27
Unbelievable. You mentioned the red card
2:30
early. It was crazy because Germany
2:33
gets off to like a really rocky start.
2:34
Obviously the red card is tough, but that wasn't the only moment.
2:38
You know, obviously Katherine Enrich has a total, a total
2:43
mental meltdown there and you know, just grabs a handful of
2:46
hair, has no bearing on the actual play, gets the red card.
2:50
They fall behind. And I think the most interesting
2:53
part for me was what happened in the next 5 minutes.
2:57
So obviously Henrich is off. Galloro puts in the penalty
3:01
kick, then Stry Linder kind of comes up a little lame.
3:04
She's got an injury. Like I don't know who knows the
3:07
severity, but she didn't really look like she wanted to play.
3:10
And then Christian Verk gets a a yellow card and this is all
3:13
within like 20 minutes. And it's like at this point I'm
3:16
like, this is like full Germany meltdown at this point.
3:20
You're down one nil, you're down a player.
3:22
It's 15 minutes in, manager's got a yellow card.
3:26
Another defender. We talked about the German
3:27
defense, kind of like how Swiss cheesy it was.
3:30
They're now done another player and I think the turning point.
3:33
I'd be interested to hear if you kind of picked them on any first
3:36
half turning points. But for me, there was a turning
3:38
point when another debutante, Giovanna Hoffman, it just makes
3:43
a run one on everybody. And then like, you know, I think
3:46
I think she got a corner out of it, if I'm not mistaken.
3:49
And that actually might have been the corner that ends up
3:51
being the new sing goal. But I think I think that, yeah,
3:54
I'm I'm pretty sure that's right.
3:55
It was a Hoffman run that leads to the the corner that becomes a
3:58
new sing goal. But I thought that run went
4:01
against everything that was happening momentum wise for
4:04
Germany up to that point and then obviously leads to the
4:07
corner. Here are my notes.
4:09
I want to talk about Giovanna Hoffman.
4:11
Here are my notes from when the line when the lineups are
4:14
announced. And you know, I'm sitting there,
4:15
I, I see, I take a look, I see no Leia Schuler and I see
4:19
Hoffman there at the number 9. And in my notes I write Giovanna
4:24
Hoffman is the #9 for Germany 25 year old who scored eleven goals
4:28
and had five assists for Leipzig last season and found
4:31
Bundesliga. And then, you know, you hear in
4:33
the pregame this will be her first competitive start for
4:37
Germany. And I was like, OK, Mr. Verk,
4:41
that's a bold decision, but I think you're totally right.
4:45
Like after the penalty and just the, you know, the lender
4:48
injury, she makes that run and she had to muscle to get the
4:52
ball downfield like that. And I was like, OK.
4:54
And I think one thing about our show, we don't pretend like
4:57
we're going to be experts in every single league.
4:59
I'm not familiar with Hoffman's game at this point.
5:02
Believe it or not, it wasn't locked into Leipzig last season.
5:06
Like we didn't see, you know, we'll, we'll watch like, you
5:09
know, some of the Wolfsburg games of the Frankfurt games.
5:11
Obviously Byron through the course of this is a Champions
5:14
League show for anybody who's kind of joined us, like the
5:16
genesis of of our program. So I didn't watch a lot of
5:19
Leipzig. So I don't know.
5:20
I don't really know anything at all about about Hoffman, and I
5:24
thought she was impressive not just in that spot but in other
5:27
spots throughout the match. Yep, didn't know about her
5:30
coming in, know about her now. Killer work rate.
5:33
You know, I thought it wasn't just her, but I thought that
5:36
moment, that moment, you know, based on where the vibes were
5:39
heading, I thought really, really changed the game.
5:41
And then, you know, I was really excited to see Chicaduska and
5:45
the the player that I I mentioned as a player to watch
5:47
kind of get that header. And then I also have to call out
5:51
she had this is so stupid, but she had the one like warrior
5:54
braid, like that one Game of Thrones wildling braid in her
5:57
hair that just looked like, I don't know it it it turns a
6:01
regular looking person into somewhat of a wild card,
6:04
especially in a match like this. And I don't know, she just
6:07
looked like such a badass with that one single warrior braid.
6:09
I was I was I was kind of way, way behind that look.
6:12
But new skin obviously gets the header.
6:14
I mean, the precision on that was amazing.
6:17
And then to rewind a little bit and Ketchenberger had herself an
6:20
unbelievable game. And for me, it actually started
6:23
on the Gayoro penalty kick, the first goal of the match, where
6:27
if you go back and rewatch it, actually go back and rewatch it
6:30
and look how fast and Ketchenberger's hand goes up
6:34
right to the spot where the ball's going to go.
6:36
She's like right after it's hit, her hand goes here and then she
6:39
dives and then like the ball just meets her hand.
6:42
But I'm like, how is it like the response time?
6:45
Out of This World had an unbelievable match and and it
6:48
started early for Berger. I mean, she's big game on Katrin
6:52
Berger at this point. You know, you think about her
6:54
performances in the Olympics in 2024.
6:57
She is stamped certified on the very shortest of short lists of
7:03
best big game keepers in the world right now.
7:06
And that there's just no argument against it.
7:08
Her instincts there was the the shot late in extra time.
7:13
Oh yeah, that was from Millard. And Millard's long range shot is
7:17
off the crossbar. But Burger's instincts are so
7:20
great that even in that high pressure moment, she knows she
7:24
has it covered and she knows exactly where the bar is.
7:27
And she lets it bounce off the bar and go out for a goal kick
7:31
instead of conceding a corner. She was just as locked in as a
7:35
goalkeeper could possibly be. Insane.
7:37
Yeah. I mean add to that, it just
7:40
comes with stats here. 9 saves on the day?
7:43
How about 1.58 XG prevented like a goal and a half?
7:47
Just straight up prevented by Katzenberger's play.
7:51
She leads Germany and passes into the final third with 15.
7:57
That's amazing she connected. On 17 and 51 long passes, she
8:01
has the save of the tournament on the Mingo own goal.
8:04
I mean, I was talking to you about this pre show.
8:06
I think that's the best save I've seen since we've been
8:09
covering this sport since 2023 that I could remember.
8:12
Maybe it could be an endosy win there at some point Maybe, but I
8:16
I can't remember a goal in that spot that again, you mentioned
8:20
it when we were talking about pre show.
8:21
It's for their tournament life and she just has the save of the
8:24
tournament a like multiple epic celebrations during the penalty
8:29
kick. So you know, a couple after
8:31
getting stops, one after hers was just a little skippy dance.
8:35
And not to mention she buries a penalty kick in a very high
8:38
pressure moment and then she stops the penalty key that ends
8:41
the match, ends France's run. A a big gamekeeper that I think
8:46
has had moments like this before.
8:48
This is not like, Oh my God, like, you know, this is a player
8:51
that we've seen. Berger had these moments, but to
8:54
string them all together in a match like this where Jeremy's
8:57
got to play 100 plus minutes down a player, I mean, unreal.
9:02
Yeah. I mean, you think about the
9:03
performance she put in against Spain, which, you know, might be
9:07
in the back of her head right now, in that when they
9:11
eliminated Spain in the Olympics, I think she made AI
9:13
think she, I know for sure she stopped a penalty in that match.
9:18
I can't remember. There was another match where
9:19
she made a penalty as well. I mean, so it's pretty much her
9:23
and Alyssa Nair as the keepers who will knock your penalties
9:26
away, swat them away like flies and then score themselves.
9:30
I mean, she's living in an extremely rarefied air right
9:33
now. Yeah, out of this world.
9:35
Couple more moments I wanted to mention.
9:37
I mean, Germany's defensive discipline I thought was great.
9:41
You know, 20 year old Francisca KET who he mentioned another
9:44
player not quite making their debut, but close played super,
9:49
super well. You know, young player from
9:51
Bayern that obviously has a massive future.
9:53
It was great to see, you know, her just play really well on
9:55
this day. And then the other player I want
9:56
to mention you, LeBron, who was going at Selma Basha like the
10:02
entire day. And it it was so cool because
10:04
like, I mean, Jeremy's intensity was off the charts the entire
10:08
match. I mean, I think post post that
10:10
Hoffman moment when the whole thing turned like you could see
10:13
them like really be like, no, we like we're OK.
10:16
Like until we're not OK, we're OK.
10:18
Like we're in this match. We're going to stay in this
10:20
match. But I thought you LeBron, who
10:23
was extremely chippy when she was on defense and extremely
10:27
chippy with Bosha, did such a smart thing like right around
10:30
the 58th minute where she looks like she's going to get into it
10:33
with Bosha in the box and then just hits the brakes.
10:36
And then Bosha runs right into her because I think she's
10:38
expecting a collision or some like entanglement and Basha runs
10:43
her over and she gets the penalty.
10:44
You know, a new skin that goes on to miss it.
10:46
But that moment from Braun, you know, really illuminated like
10:50
what kind of game Germany was playing.
10:53
And it was very thoughtful. It was very strategic.
10:56
Like, I think they knew what they wanted to do.
10:58
And I, you know, I, I gave, you know, my guy Christian book a
11:02
lot of shit on the show, you know, and I thought again, I
11:05
thought he dropped the ball big time versus Sweden with that
11:08
line up. But I thought today you
11:09
mentioned it putting Leia Schuler on the bench for
11:11
Hoffman. I thought the line up changes
11:13
that Verk made worked out really well.
11:17
And I thought they employed the right game, the right game plan,
11:20
and for sure the right game plan after the red card.
11:22
Yeah, I I would say the line up absolutely worked and terrible,
11:27
terrible low hanging fruit there.
11:29
But yeah, I mean, even, you know, he he moved Linder over to
11:33
over to right back. And we had talked about that in
11:35
the preview after Vomser went out with the red card in the
11:38
last match. You know, Linder obviously gets
11:40
hurt, but he was moving the chess pieces.
11:42
He wasn't afraid to put Klein Hernan, who we had talked about
11:45
also as like an option there. So, yeah, I mean, the
11:48
adjustments were great. And France, you know, even with
11:52
all that stuff, like to be fair to France, they still had their
11:55
chances. They had two goals ruled off for
11:57
offside, which both were correct calls.
12:00
It felt like the real punch in the solar plexus, though, was
12:03
that one that the one that got ruled out after halftime was
12:07
like right around like the 55th or 56th where lacrosse is the
12:12
guilty party being offside because she like she forced
12:15
Berger to make a move on the rebound.
12:17
And like, because she was in an offside position and she
12:20
impacted the play. Like even though she wasn't the
12:22
one who tapped it in, like it had to be ruled offside.
12:26
And I found myself in the regrettable position of saying,
12:30
good job referees, good job VAR, which I don't want to be in.
12:33
But you know what? At least they got they got it
12:35
right. But it just seemed like as those
12:37
things continued to happen and to your point, as Germany
12:41
continued to just stand up and players like you, LeBron, were
12:44
making those like aggressive moves, challenging for the ball,
12:48
you know, mixing it up that you could feel the energy zapping
12:52
from France as the match went on.
12:54
And even as they they still tried to rely on some of that
12:57
great talent, you know, some of that great talent, they just
13:00
didn't. They just didn't impact the
13:01
match in any real way, especially down the stretch.
13:04
Yeah, I totally agree. I think I didn't like France not
13:08
starting Sunday, Baltimore in this one.
13:10
And you know the if I have to hear another, well, I guess we
13:14
don't have to hear it now because they've been eliminated.
13:16
But I've had enough of the storyline of like, oh, well, OK,
13:19
we didn't invite Wendy Renar or, you know, Eugenie, Les Mayer or
13:23
some of the older, the older 4 McKenzie Dali.
13:26
We could, we could have used maybe some Dali energy today
13:28
because we want to try something new.
13:30
You know, things haven't worked and you know, we want to switch
13:33
it up and make a change, maybe use the make a change strategy
13:37
in the match as a as a as a as a tactic going forward, because
13:42
they didn't do a single thing. They didn't really other than
13:45
swap out players. Like and when they swap out
13:47
players, it was the same approach.
13:49
It was like, OK, you know, DN ES not there.
13:51
Now Baltimore is just going to do the same thing.
13:53
The kind of DN ES was doing. Just poke and prod the defense,
13:56
see what you can get. I thought they really dropped
13:58
the ball not making Germany work more.
14:02
You know, I mean, I think like Germany was tenacious for sure
14:05
defensively, but everything was like one or two passes.
14:08
Let's let's get let's try to get a shot.
14:10
Let's try to let's try to be slick with something.
14:11
Let's try to get somebody back door and like put this game away
14:14
early. But then at at some point when
14:16
that doesn't work, we got to go, you know, and they had the
14:19
halftime break. They had the break after the 90.
14:21
They had to break in between, you know, but it just seemed
14:23
that the game was slipping further, further away.
14:26
They didn't have any answers. And then once you see it,
14:28
there's no adjustments to go to. I mean, my, my prospects for
14:32
France actually advancing at that point very, very low.
14:36
Yeah, I I think judging by the notes that we have in our in our
14:40
episode doc here, it seems like you you picked up on it earlier
14:44
than I did. There was that moment in extra
14:46
time in the first extra time period where Karshawi has a back
14:51
heel, right? Like meant for to go into the
14:55
path of Claire Mateo, but she just had like a little too much
14:59
on it. And I was like, OK, France could
15:02
still because they just have like this is the the hypnosis
15:06
that they get dopes like me under where I'm just like they
15:09
still got a lot of style in them.
15:10
They got a lot of class in these players.
15:13
They could still pull it out. But all the other, all the other
15:17
evidence looked like Germany was kind of grabbing a stranglehold
15:22
on the game. And you know, they still they
15:23
had to win in penalties 6 to 5. So, you know, it's not like they
15:26
got it's not like they got crushed.
15:28
But I can absolutely see your your point of view where it's
15:32
like you, you didn't see a way for France to get through kind
15:36
of with the energy that they had.
15:38
I mean, if you can't, if if you're up one nil after 15 and
15:42
you're going 11 V 10 and you can't win in regulation, you're
15:46
not going to win it down the stretch.
15:47
I mean, mentally it, it's a weird thing.
15:51
You go from having like the absolute upper hand mentally
15:54
just being like, we got them to being like they've got us, you
15:58
know? And then you, you hear the the
15:59
telecast be like, France has never beaten Germany in a
16:04
competitive term. I was like, how is that
16:06
possible? But yeah, that's the guy.
16:08
I guess, that we could see how it's possible because France
16:10
just, there's a thing about those German kits that kind of
16:13
get in their head, apparently. Yeah, that's it.
16:15
That's that's a tough one. Can we?
16:18
Do you have a favorite penalty from the 11 that were taken or
16:26
how many? Were taken to I do 6011 were
16:29
made. There were 14 penalties taken I.
16:33
Definitely have a favorite, and it sounds like you have a
16:36
favorite, you have a. Favorite I do.
16:37
Do you want to go? 1st I'll go first, my favorite
16:41
Linda Dahlman. OK.
16:43
Great comes in I think one well 100 and 1700 and I don't have it
16:48
off. She might have came in at 120.
16:50
Dude she came in way late. It it it was her endowments that
16:54
came on like super late. Comes in, I think she takes the
16:57
second one and yes, rocket just a it it goes from her foot to
17:03
the top right corner and just it just looked like it was
17:06
instantaneous. I mean, unbelievable to be able
17:09
to paint it that beautifully, just straight off the bench,
17:13
just, you know, but, you know, barely, barely broke into sweat.
17:15
I love it No, it's a great pick and it's it was it went in in a
17:20
similar way to the one that I thought was my favorite.
17:22
Clara Bool also upper 90 top right absolute smash.
17:28
I can't even remember if PE Ruben guessed right, but she
17:32
didn't have a chance at it anyway.
17:34
And I also had the thought too, because Bull went sixth.
17:38
She went after Burger and when she because I was waiting for
17:42
her and, you know, Rebecca Kanak takes the 3rd and I'm like, all
17:46
right, I I obviously like. So yeah, and and and clearly
17:50
sent Barrow Manion the wrong way.
17:53
And you know, I'm just like waiting for for Bull.
17:56
And I was like, OK, she's going to go 6th.
17:58
Like, you know, you got some penalty takers when she comes in
18:00
and she absolutely hammered it up her 90.
18:03
I do want to go honorable mention Sandy Baltimore looked
18:07
like she had had burger super fooled on it and and went to the
18:12
left. So honorable mention to to Sandy
18:15
Baltimore. Yeah, light lightning run up
18:17
from Baltimore. That 1 was great.
18:20
Kanak smacked it. That 1 was great.
18:21
And how about, you know, talk about German penalties, Acres,
18:23
Shuka, Nuskin. I think what 8th just crushed it
18:27
and clinched it. That was that was really
18:29
incredible. But it's got to be very
18:31
disappointing for for France and a lot of those French players
18:34
that we we root for and appreciate for sure.
18:38
But you know, Germany mentally, they had it today.
18:41
It was their day. And despite pretty much where,
18:44
where all the winds were blowing, I mean, I cannot I
18:46
still can't believe that they got it done.
18:48
Anything else you want to hit before we get out of here about
18:50
this one? I think that's it.
18:52
I do want to offer my condolences.
18:53
I mean, you obviously know and we agree on this.
18:56
This is a very much a pro Amel Madhuri program.
19:01
The penalty that she took when she stepped up first, I was
19:04
like, yes, of course it's Madhuri.
19:06
She's going to take the first one.
19:07
Her run up the way she was trying to set the ball on the
19:11
spot. Everything had me very confused
19:14
and I was just like, Amel, what are we doing here?
19:16
Why, Why are we acting like this?
19:18
And then like she goes like way from the right and burger just
19:21
stones it had it read the whole way. 0 out of 10 did not enjoy
19:26
that, especially for Majri, one of my favorite players to watch.
19:28
So it's a bummer for her, but you know, she'll she'll come
19:31
back and and be great for Lyon. Again, no, Absolutely.
19:34
Yeah, I love him and Majri. Yeah, weird penalty geek.
19:37
But I will say, if you know, General Wosso, General Wosso
19:41
folks, if your analysis about the EUR starts and ends with the
19:45
penalty kicks, that's just lame. That's lame.
19:49
Like, that's really lame to me. Like, you know, when you were
19:51
taking, when you were talking about penalty kicks, you're
19:53
like, oh, they won 65. It was close for me.
19:55
Penalty kicks. It might as well just be playing
19:58
darts or guessing how many marbles are in a fishbowl.
20:00
And like, that's how we decide to meet.
20:01
It doesn't really matter. It's just the game has
20:03
ultimately gone to a coin flip. You know, to me, they're like
20:07
free throws in basketball. You miss a free throw, you don't
20:09
like, lose our minds. When people miss free throw,
20:10
they miss free throws, you know. So I think to me it really does
20:14
discount the level of football we've seen.
20:18
The level of skill that we've seen, the competition that we've
20:20
seen, you know, like what we saw today, Germany back against
20:23
their wall, you know, back against the wall, I thought zero
20:25
chance. I thought they had zero chance,
20:27
especially against this France side that handled England, You
20:30
know, so I was like, if that if that side shows up, it's over,
20:33
then they go to 10. And I mean, but just, it just
20:35
goes to show you that this sport has so much to it, so much
20:38
depth, so many surprises. So, so to me to just to reduce
20:42
it to all these players missed penalties and look how silly
20:44
that's, that's super lame to me. I totally agree.
20:47
I mean, you know, obviously, yeah, the the terrible
20:50
performance between England and Sweden and penalty kicks.
20:53
How about the rest of the game? It was super compelling and
20:56
interesting and England marched back, you know, and had a great
20:59
comeback. And then each team scored two
21:01
goals. So yeah, I think just focusing
21:03
on the penalty kicks is probably a little a little myopic.
21:08
But how German is it that they're the team?
21:12
It's like, Nope, we very clearly do practice our penalty kicks
21:15
and we execute them extremely well.
21:17
So, you know, I always use the old saying, I think it's Gary
21:20
Lineker who said it. Football is a simple game. 22
21:24
players chase a ball around a field for 90 minutes and in the
21:27
end, Germany wins. Yep, well said.
21:29
Yeah, today was 120 plus something minutes, but same
21:33
result. What are you going to do?
21:35
And yeah and apologies, you know to to everyone rocking with us.
21:39
We weren't able to drop into the feeds with some post Spain post
21:43
Switzerland feedback, but you know, Spain gets it done to know
21:47
when they'll take on this perhaps team of destiny, this
21:51
German side. We'll see.
21:53
But not to worry keep rocking with us.
21:56
We've got a semi final preview coming your way right after this
21:59
video might take a little little minute to hit your feed, but
22:02
definitely hang out with us. We'll have a ton of Spain takes
22:04
as well as our thoughts on the other semi final match up, Italy
22:08
versus England. It looks like Dino might nail
22:11
another prediction. What a shocker.
22:13
Who? Who had that one all?
22:15
Right man, You in fact. Had that one too.
22:18
All right, man, this has been another episode to the channel.
22:20
Thank you, thank you, thank you for hanging out.
22:22
If you enjoyed the show or love women's football as much as your
22:25
boys do, make sure you're kicking with us each and every
22:26
single week. Like subscribe, follow YouTube,
22:29
Spotify, up a podcast wherever you like to watch or listen.
22:31
Leave us a review over your favorite podcast app links all
22:34
of our socials except one in the show notes of this episode.
22:36
And a big thank you to my coast as well, Mr. Grant Angle for
22:39
being the Co host that I never give up on when our backs are
22:43
against the wall. This is something that I can
22:44
count on. You already know what time it
22:46
is. I appreciate you bro.
22:47
Likewise, buddy, nobody I'd rather do it with.
22:49
And thank you to everybody who's dropping knowledge in the
22:52
comments, per usual. Had some spicy takes about
22:56
England, about Sweden, about that last match.
22:58
We always appreciate the passion from everybody all across the
23:01
globe. It's been cool to to meet and
23:02
interact with all of you and we will see you all next time.