Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / We joined the Shades of Blue podcast to talk MCFC and the UWCL

Transcript

We joined the Shades of Blue podcast to talk MCFC and the UWCL · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:00
O. Hey, hey, what's up?
1:12
What's up, What's up? We're here for some whoa, so
1:18
action. Oh, actually, especially for the
1:23
RIP, even though I'm already going to just like make this
1:26
episode not OK because of copyright.
1:28
But hey, we are here to talk about
1:43
some wall. So action some UW CLI am crunk
1:47
chocolate. I'm here with Tom Bomb.
1:49
We are here with our new good friends, Dino Grant of Into the
1:58
Channel. We are just very thrilled to 1st
2:04
off to connect with you guys 'cause you're doing most of
2:07
things and we really have wanted to try to do as much.
2:13
We're big in collaboration in the 1st place, but we want to
2:16
try to step out and collaborate in new fresh ways and there's
2:21
still so much in the Woso world that we don't do.
2:25
So this is a wonderful step in that direction.
2:30
So truly thank you too. But Shady gang, welcome Grant
2:37
and Dino, everybody listening on the into the Channel side.
2:43
Hi, hello. Thank you for letting us join
2:46
you in your space. Thanks for having us, man.
2:50
I appreciate it. It is always, I mean, I guess
2:53
it's not always. This is the first time.
2:54
It is an honor to be on the Internet's greatest Manchester
2:58
City Football Club cast, so I appreciate you having us.
3:05
Yeah, as the lone Arsenal guy, it's it's alright.
3:10
No, no big, big fans of the show, big fans of collaboration.
3:14
Just kind of excited to, to chop it up with you guys.
3:18
I'm probably more familiar with your Twitter work, you know, but
3:23
obviously checked in on a couple of the pods.
3:25
You guys do a great show for sure.
3:27
And just a heads up, I've got a 2 year old who's a little under
3:30
the weather. So if your boy kind of goes off
3:32
camera and off mic, I'll try to be back ASAP.
3:35
But it's live here. You're, you know, like we do, we
3:38
do our, we're doing our best out here.
3:40
But yeah, we definitely, we definitely appreciate the
3:41
invite. Absolutely excited to kind of
3:43
get into it here. We work with enough dads on the
3:47
show that we know that dad duty supersedes all.
3:49
So shout out to you Dino. We appreciate you, 1000.
3:53
Percent. Thanks.
3:55
Shout out to dads out there too. Yes, OK, well we are going to
4:04
step aside and let Grant and Dino take over and get to it.
4:14
Let's go. Let's go.
4:19
Go ahead, buddy. OK, well, yeah, see, I was going
4:21
to say. So our show typically starts
4:23
where Dino introduces me and then says where do you want to
4:26
get started? So I'm going to turn the tables
4:28
on you, Dino. Where do you want to get
4:30
started? I mean, it's less about where I
4:34
want to get started and maybe where we should get started.
4:37
So the Manchester, the Manchester City Sky Blues drew a
4:42
tough, a toughie of an opponent, Perry FC in Round 2 of this
4:48
morning's draw. It's going to be a bit of a
4:52
knock down drag. I want to start there just to
4:54
kind of respect the pod, you know, let's kick it off there.
5:01
So I'll just say first I'll get the bidding started.
5:05
Not psyched about drawing Perry FC.
5:09
They were tough in last year's Women's Champions League and now
5:13
I know people might look at the results and where they finished
5:17
in their group. That's not indicative of how
5:20
they played. They have, they can score.
5:23
But I think above all else, and I want to try to make this
5:27
claim, I believe myself to be one of the world's foremost fans
5:30
of their goalkeeper, Nigerian goalkeeper Shamaka Inandosi, who
5:35
is absolutely fantastic. Amazing leaping ability, great
5:39
agility and can play with the ball at her feet.
5:42
She has like a lot of Ederson in her game where I swear to God,
5:46
she could be a field player out there.
5:48
And now she also does, she does a lot of the hold the ball, hold
5:52
the ball and then an attacker tries to press her and you're
5:56
like, no, no, no, no, no. But then she gets out of the
5:58
way. So she'll she'll scare you from
6:00
time to time. But I know you know, you did a
6:03
lot of research on Perry FC. But Tom, I know you watched them
6:05
in the in the Champions League last year.
6:09
What were your what were your impressions, Tom, when when we
6:12
drew Perry FC? I'm not thrilled like she and
6:19
Dossier can take over a match and it like that's.
6:25
I think that she probably is the best keeper in D1.
6:29
Arkema, yes, I know that and lair is still playing for Leon,
6:34
but I I still think that she's the best keeper in their league.
6:36
She might very well be the best keeper and all of UEFA if you
6:40
really want to get down to brass tacks and based off of our two
6:46
performances in Perth, yes, I know it's a lot of preseason
6:51
miss but we struggled to score and that could be that could be
6:56
a problem against a goalkeeper that can take over a match or
7:01
two, in this case home and away. Yep.
7:06
I think that's a great point. Yeah, go ahead.
7:09
Oh, no, no. I was just going to say, I think
7:11
it reminds me of the conversation that we had with
7:14
Samantha Lewis when we were talking Australia going into the
7:17
Olympics and Mary Fowler was like one of the big conversation
7:20
points there. It's like young player, really
7:22
dynamic player, kind of really looking for her to take that,
7:28
that next leap, kind of like the that that edge of super stardom
7:31
kind of leap, which I think is on the table.
7:34
We'll say, obviously the Bunny shot injury leaves a massive gap
7:38
there. The good thing about the
7:40
Champions League, though, Well, I guess it's a good thing and
7:41
the bad thing it's if you're if you're in it, you're playing
7:44
until early 2025. But I mean, like these first
7:48
couple rounds are just like we've seen our we've already
7:50
seen good teams go home. So it's going to be a tough
7:53
match up or a touch a tough couple legs here.
7:56
But if they can survive and get some of those players back
7:58
healthy, like a Bunny shot. I'm not sure that her timetable,
8:01
but obviously like that's a huge difference maker player I think
8:04
all of us would love to see in the Champions League.
8:07
And from my perspective, who is someone pretty new?
8:12
I remember last season, Paris FC, was it them who turned
8:21
Arsenal Twitter upside down? And basically they were like we
8:26
need to change the rules. And then?
8:30
Typical Arsenal. Nowadays, I remember that
8:32
happening and that was what my first introduction to Paris
8:36
Pepsi. So I was like, all right, cool.
8:38
They're not they're not that bad if they can get this head loss
8:42
from this arsenal, which honestly, if we're going to be
8:45
honest, sorry, it's not too difficult with the you.
8:49
You have a passionate group of supporters around Judeo, if I
8:53
can put it like that, but I am interested in looking forward to
9:00
watching them. They definitely kept persisting
9:05
through the competition. Every single time I just kept
9:07
waiting for a team to beat them and they just kept doing their
9:10
thing. And I was saying before we went
9:14
live, I just want Citi to just be in this competition.
9:19
I, I, I feel like they, their problem is they don't play
9:24
enough games to get them firing in all cylinders until about the
9:28
end of the season. I I would like to believe that
9:35
if they can last further in other competitions, but UWCL
9:40
included, that could help give them the consistency, especially
9:45
with our problems with like Mary Fowler and Chloe Kelly because
9:49
who do you start in matches? And they looked very similar
9:55
with their success and with their problems.
9:58
Honestly, Gareth has a pretty tough decision with who he goes
10:03
with between Chloe and Mary. So if we can make it through to
10:08
the Champions League, that gives more players chances to play.
10:14
And I think that's going to be very important to yes this
10:17
season. But with such a young team next
10:21
season, for real, because I think that's this is just the
10:24
opportunity to be in the competition, to experience, get
10:27
get there, get that experience points up.
10:30
But if they even made it to the competition, how well do I or
10:34
how far do I expect them to go? I wouldn't say that far, but I
10:40
obviously will. Boldly and blindly root for my
10:45
team. I I think that it's interesting
10:50
as you bring up Garrett Taylor because I think that the
10:52
expectation for most of the fans is that you do advance, like at
10:57
least into the group stage. Like you can't you gave him a
11:01
contract extension with the thought that like, OK, he's
11:04
going to play Champions League football and like, actually like
11:07
there's going to be a, you know, the, the way that the draw is
11:11
set up is going to be a little bit different.
11:12
So he's not going to be so one and done.
11:15
And so the expectation now is that you get to the group stage.
11:20
And if he does not get to the group stage, short of winning a
11:24
domestic treble, I don't know it it, it looks kind of weird for
11:28
him. Yeah, yeah.
11:32
And I don't want to get too much intake actually.
11:35
Grant, what's your opinion on? So I think in that match that
11:42
cost us the title last year against Arsenal, where Steena
11:45
Blaxtenius comes on and scores two goals at the death, we lose
11:49
to Dino's Arsenal at Joy Stadium.
11:52
Shameless plug, Your boy was there.
11:53
I was there covering the match from the press box.
11:58
They it felt like they got out coached in the second-half.
12:01
I think Hempo scored that goal or sorry, Lauren Hemp.
12:05
Dino knows I love a good nickname, but Hemp scores that
12:08
goal in the 17th minute. And then it was just like, OK,
12:12
let's just kick the ball around and play defense for the next 73
12:16
minutes. And Jonas Ida Ball ends up, I
12:19
think he made, I think he made he definitely made all five of
12:23
his Subs. And I think four of them came
12:25
like within a 20 minute span. I, I want to say I might be
12:28
speaking a little out of school here, but you know, we had Emily
12:31
Fox just beating up him and then took her off at like the 65th or
12:35
something like that and then brought on Black Stenius toward
12:37
the death and just made all these changes.
12:39
And Arsenal just kept pushing, pushing, pushing.
12:41
And then they beat us. We drop those points.
12:44
Chelsea scores a billion goals versus Bristol City.
12:47
Boom, we lost the title right there.
12:50
And so Tom, I think you're right, Like, and I've mentioned
12:52
this on one of Dino and I won our last Champions League
12:55
preview show and I mentioned it. I said it about Jonas Ida Ball
12:59
because I think he's in a similar space.
13:02
If you know what's good for you, I think your team should make it
13:05
to the group stage and you should and you should be very,
13:08
very competitive because you know Arsenal and Manchester
13:12
City, they're not here to not qualify for the Champions
13:15
League. We should be doing that.
13:18
Yeah, I totally agree with that. I think it there's a couple
13:21
different ways you can look at it.
13:22
Obviously Manchester City, you know, not the long pedigree that
13:26
like a Leon has in the Champions League.
13:28
But then you look at last season, this is a team that
13:30
pushed Chelsea to the brink. Now, if you're Chelsea,
13:34
Chelsea's probably expecting to make the semifinals or the final
13:38
or to win the whole thing. And if City's right there neck
13:41
and neck, you know, on the heels of what happened last year,
13:43
obviously injury, a lot of stuff happens, you know, the kind of
13:46
like shake the snow globe. But you probably need to be
13:51
thinking we need to get out of the group stage.
13:54
You know, we we have the roster to be able to do that.
13:59
The WSL is a tough league, obviously very physically demand
14:03
like they're going to be able to go in there and at the very
14:07
least compete with pretty much every team in the competition.
14:14
So yeah, I, I this is such a terrifying, this is totally
14:17
terrifying time. I was sex and grad this morning.
14:20
I was like, please God, do not let Arsenal draw Perry FC again.
14:26
Like, and now it's like, City's got them and I'm like.
14:30
I I. I don't feel good, right,
14:32
because I I want you to go through.
14:33
I want that, you know, I'm rooting for the show.
14:35
I'm rooting for your guys show where we all wanted, you know,
14:37
we always want to get we all want to get to Lisbon if we can,
14:41
but it's just a freaking brutal tournament.
14:43
Like, you know, we one of the one of our darlings last year.
14:50
And for anybody who's watched the show, you know how we were
14:52
like the the premier Lily Ohanis, you know, pod pretty
14:56
much on the Internet hosted by two Bros that have a show
15:01
devoted exclusively to bozo That that aside, we were huge IX fans
15:05
last year, very excited to see them come through here.
15:08
And it was just like they're just gone like the finals in
15:12
May, like and they're already out of the tournament.
15:14
We've got good friends over there as well.
15:16
That just a real bummer. So, and looking at this late,
15:21
these 24 teams, these twelve matches, there's some really,
15:24
really, really good teams are going to go home.
15:28
OK, so let me let me ask you this Dino, what is like from a
15:32
neutral standpoint, what do you think is like the premier match
15:38
up in in in between these twelve matches?
15:42
Should we do a rundown of of what they what the 12 matches
15:47
are first? Yeah, for sure I could.
15:50
I could definitely do that. So we've covered Pre FC,
15:51
Manchester City. I want to get into this one in a
15:54
little bit. Arsenal, BK Hackin, there's some
15:57
really juicy stuff there. But I mean, this is another
15:59
quarterfinal. This is a team that got out of
16:00
the group stage and BK Hack and last season wasn't thrilled with
16:03
our draw when I saw that. And then it's Wolfsburg versus
16:07
Fiorentina, who had a great showing there a couple matches.
16:10
Benfica under one of my team, near, near and dear to my heart.
16:14
They take on Hammer B Real Madrid versus Sporting CP.
16:19
That's that's a really, really good match up.
16:22
A lot of our community kind of tipped us off to Sporting CPA.
16:28
Keep an eye on this team. They're playing really, really
16:29
well and they came up and handled business with a little
16:34
bit more ease than I was expecting.
16:35
So I think they're going to really be be able to push Real
16:37
Madrid here. Zeng Bolton versus Mura Osieck
16:41
versus FC-20 Galatasaray. I never know how to pronounce
16:47
that. Yeah, Galatasaray.
16:50
Galatasaray versus Lavia Praha, that was another group stage
16:52
team last year, Anderlec versus Volaranga, AS Roma versus
16:57
Servat, FCCF. This is going to be a good one.
17:00
Juventus versus PSG and Force club versus Celtic.
17:03
That kind of rounds out the 12 matchups that'll they'll get
17:07
their home and home. And then very soon here we'll
17:10
figure out, you know, what the rest of the group stage looks
17:12
like. I think to me that, I mean, I
17:21
know it's, it's, it's a logo match.
17:24
That stated, I'd really think that Juventus PSG matchup.
17:30
I think that that is the going to be the neutrals go to
17:36
matchup. I, I know that PSG can score you
17:41
When you have the likes of Marie Antoinette, Katoto and Diani on
17:45
your your squad, you're going to score a lot of goals.
17:48
I think PSG's biggest problem of late has just been not
17:52
defending. And I, I think that Juventus can
17:56
probably get into a situation where they, they score a couple
18:02
of goals late at Parc de Prince and make it interesting in the
18:09
second leg 'cause I, I, I have a feeling that they're going to
18:13
try and go for the win at home. But I I really like that match
18:19
up, like a lot, a lot. Yeah, totally agree.
18:23
Big logo matchup like you said. I mean Juventus, OK, so they
18:27
were nineteen wins, 2 draws, 5 losses last season in Syria,
18:31
they finished in second place to Roma.
18:33
Big exodus of talent though out of Juventus.
18:36
So you I think we all know Julia Grosso from Canada now she plays
18:39
for Chicago Red Stars, she was there last year, the absolutely
18:43
brilliant Dutch striker Lenneth Biernstein.
18:45
Now she plays for Wolfsburg. She was at the yoohoo Venice
18:48
last year was their leading goal scorer, I believe and Nigerian
18:52
forward only as a Guinea. She went over to PSG.
18:56
So possible, possible revenge match, revenge matches there.
19:01
And I think I mean Juventus, they're going they're going to
19:03
try to make up for that. They signed Swiss forward Alicia
19:07
Lehman. I think she was at yeah, she was
19:09
at Aston Villa, but she only had fourteen goals and 74
19:12
appearances for Villa. And then they also signed a
19:15
Danish forward, Amelie Vangsgaard, but she scored six
19:21
goals in like 1000 minutes and 19 matches for PSG last year.
19:25
So I think you know, and I I've totally raised my hand on this.
19:30
It's it's hard to keep up with that all these teams over the
19:33
course of the calendar. So I haven't watched a ton of
19:36
Vyube, but I they got to find goals somewhere.
19:41
And I mean, when you Lynneth Biernstein, I think people
19:44
probably remember her from the 23 World Cup.
19:46
She was talking cash shit about the USA when they got knocked
19:49
out. She was like, good, I'm glad
19:50
they're out, but she's a monster.
19:55
I mean, she is an she is one of the best forwards in the world.
19:58
And so when you lose a player like that and you try to
20:00
replace. Place her.
20:02
I think that that's a big hole in in Hubei's attack.
20:07
Now they like. The UVA did look, they did win
20:11
their Women's Cup draw in Louisville and they did look
20:16
pretty good in both of those matches.
20:20
But granted, those were warm up matches and I don't think they
20:25
actually played Louisville. I think because Louisville lost
20:28
the first, first round against Palmieris.
20:30
So I think they played Palmieris.
20:33
But I mean, Palmieris is not a is a very good developmental
20:39
squad. Like a lot of big names have
20:42
come through that club that are now like stars for the Brazilian
20:46
national team. So I, I think that they, with a
20:55
forward like Layman, like she's more of a hold up type of
21:00
player. So they might have to slow down
21:02
a little bit as whereas like Beerstein's going to want to run
21:05
him behind and stretch her back line.
21:08
So I, I do think that based off of what I saw in those two
21:12
preseason matches, it seems like they're a little bit already
21:18
starting to kind of change their philosophy on how they they want
21:22
to attack. Now, whether or not PSG is ready
21:25
for that challenge, that that will be interesting because I'm
21:28
not sure which one of those teams wants to have the ball
21:32
more. And that that might be like
21:36
based off of what I just said, you would think it would be Uve
21:40
and then, but do you really want to play a highline against Marie
21:49
Antoinette, Katoto and Diani and let them run in behind?
21:52
Like because I don't know if that's the best recipe for
21:55
success personally. Yeah, I totally agree with
22:00
Katoto. Diani's playing over at Leon
22:02
now. Oh, that's right, she did move.
22:04
I forgot about that. All good a lot, a lot of
22:07
movement these past few years. But but Katoto is you're like
22:14
premier #9 I think in the in D1R camera.
22:18
So I think you're totally right. I think Juventus, if they try
22:22
that Italian got the Nacio defensive style that they, you
22:26
know, it was like pervasive throughout their whole football
22:28
and culture. You could still get cooked by
22:30
Ketoto in those scenarios. Yeah.
22:34
And I think just to add to that real quick, Tom, you mentioned
22:37
the the defense of PSG. So one of the biggest issues, I
22:43
think they they they did a they did pretty big move to kind of
22:46
solve it. And that was a goalkeeper
22:48
bringing in Mary F herbs, who we love on the show, who I think
22:54
would take a little offense to, to, to to talk about all the
22:57
Endodosi talk is, is the best key.
22:59
I mean, I probably have Endodosi adverbs, but I think she's going
23:02
to do a lot to just kind of settle things down as well.
23:06
At least they Almeida, who's one of their defenders to like has
23:11
the tendency to run a little hot.
23:14
I mean, great player, but you know, like a little bit of a
23:17
wild card. I think a player like Herbs is
23:19
going to do a great job kind of settling things down, directing
23:23
traffic a little bit more. And I think maybe turning that
23:26
PSG defense into, I don't want to say more of a professional
23:30
outfit, but I I got to imagine that we're not going to see some
23:32
of the some of the wild Youtubable moments from them
23:38
this season. We'll see.
23:41
I did forget about Mary Herb's The Well.
23:46
So equivalent to Jordan Pickford doesn't I mean.
23:51
What? That's tough.
23:52
That's tough on Earth. I mean, I mean like, like, think
23:56
about it. England starts 2 keepers whose
23:58
wingspan is not as tall as they are.
24:00
I'll just, I'll put that out there.
24:03
I mean, you know, Karen Ramsey is just sitting there.
24:05
I don't know what we're doing out here, but we'll buy one
24:09
later. Both for UWCL and French league.
24:16
Yeah, I know. Hell yeah.
24:20
I like it. I want to, if we can, I want to
24:24
talk a little BK Hack and Arsenal because I'm very excited
24:27
about this. Also very nervous, incredible
24:31
relief just knowing that this is going to be a two leg affair
24:34
because like a, a a single match sample size versus A-Team like
24:39
Hakken is just a nightmare. I think on one hand, Steena
24:44
back, Steena Blaxtenius, who you mentioned, Grant, former BK
24:47
Hakken player, another monster signing this past offseason,
24:50
Rosa Cafagi, the youngster who's who might be Arsenal's toughest
24:56
player. Like right now she's just like
24:58
fearless, all attack all the time, super offensive minded,
25:04
super opportunistic and just I don't know, just a player that
25:08
happy to mix it up. Yeah, you know, whenever the
25:12
moment calls for it. She's a great player.
25:15
I'm happy she's at Arsenal, but knowing that this BK hack inside
25:19
also seen what they did last year.
25:21
They got to the the quarterfinals, They survived the
25:23
group stage, they drew Chelsea, they swept around Madrid.
25:27
They want they went to Paris to be pre FC like this is a
25:31
legitimate, legitimate squad down a little bit of talent, but
25:35
they played a great brand of team ball last season.
25:38
Defensively, they were a fortress.
25:41
This is going to be a really, really tough match up for
25:43
Arsenal. And I think, you know, in a
25:46
little preview that we've been seeing heading into the season,
25:51
we've seen Arsenal play pretty nice ball, but you know that
25:56
that finishing hasn't quite been there.
25:59
And I think the last thing that I'll mention here is from our
26:02
our Champions League journey last season, I think the thing
26:06
that we kind of walked away from the tournament with was like,
26:09
you need to be able to win different ways.
26:12
You know, you can't really just just lock down defensively.
26:14
Sometimes you got to go back and forth.
26:16
Sometimes it's more physical, sometimes it's more technical.
26:19
And I think like Arsenal kind of maybe sort of built for that.
26:23
But this is going to I can definitely see Arsenal getting
26:26
blanked in one of these two matches, like a nil nil.
26:29
I could definitely see or who knows, maybe it's Razor Razor
26:33
like these teams are actually really close together.
26:38
I don't know. I'm a little I'm a little
26:39
nervous. I apologize.
26:41
I know, I know it's a road game for me, but I need to crack a
26:43
beer because I'm just very nervous.
26:45
And this is an ITC, you know, obviously staple.
26:49
I appreciate. It no worries as a as a Arsenal
26:52
fan, does it concern you at all that like they are like BK
26:57
hacking is like well into their league season?
27:01
Like they I mean, they're already like they don't have to
27:04
worry about like, oh, like we have all these new players in
27:08
how are they integrated into the squad?
27:10
And like they're, they're beyond that, like they're into the
27:14
season already. Pretty scary I mean begins the
27:19
season last year played paid big dividends for BK hacking for
27:23
another squad that we love SK Braun like it it it's just a
27:26
real difference maker like the the the fitness levels different
27:31
the sharpness is different. You know, like I, I like, I
27:37
don't think, I mean, Arsenal is still a couple.
27:39
Like there's still a couple weeks away.
27:40
We're still playing. Like we're still coming off the
27:43
a Washington spirit exhibition and a little something here, a
27:45
little something there, like a basically a press tour.
27:48
And now we're getting kind of dropped and like very winnable
27:51
games for Arsenal in their first two, you know, versus Rangers
27:57
and Oh my God, who am I? I'm blanking on who The Who the
28:00
other one was against, apologies, but both very
28:04
winnable. Not not super scary.
28:07
Rosenberg. Rosenberg That's right,
28:09
absolutely. But yeah, one nil, pretty much a
28:12
squeaker against another one of those Norwegian teams that is
28:16
physical that's going to muck it up and make it difficult.
28:18
And I think we saw it play out on the field.
28:21
And to me, hacking is probably a level, A level at least one
28:26
level above the Rosenberg. So we'll see.
28:29
Yeah, I'm sure you guys can hear the nerves.
28:31
But it's OK. I'm going to be all right.
28:33
Still about a week or so before we start playing football.
28:35
I can talk myself into some good stuff here.
28:37
Rosenborg is currently number one in the Swedish league and
28:44
they have not lost in the league this season, so yeah.
28:50
I wanted to mention this tweet. Shout out to Flops, she tweeted.
28:57
Watching the live right now. I think Benfica versus Hammerby
29:01
will be a really good tie matchup.
29:03
Was hoping we could see them both in the groups so a shame
29:08
they're facing each other so early on.
29:11
Think Fiorentina versus Wolfsburg could also be a good
29:15
one. Shout out to Flops for watching
29:18
and. The comment we love you so much
29:22
flops very much. I think Fiordina is a super
29:27
interesting club. They looked really good and
29:30
their two qualifiers, you know, it seems like there's something
29:35
happening in Syria right now. AS Roma looked really good in
29:40
last year's Champions League, missed out on the knockout stage
29:44
in just an absolutely insane final day.
29:47
Do you know that group? If you could the, it was, we
29:51
were calling it the group of life throughout the tournament.
29:54
So it was Roma, it was Bayern, it was PSG and IX.
30:01
And I think on the last day there was like a 30 minute span
30:05
and the final match day where one of the four teams were going
30:09
to go through and it was just goal, goal, group changing goal,
30:13
group changing goal, group changing goal.
30:15
And so, you know, you just never know how these things are going
30:19
to how these things are going to look.
30:20
And AS Roma just barely missed out, but you can tell, you can
30:24
tell from Fiorentina. And shout out to Fiorentina
30:26
because they did this crazy thing where on their YouTube
30:29
page, they streamed these qualifying matches live.
30:32
Who would have thought that giving people the opportunity to
30:35
actually watch games would help you grow the brand and, and, and
30:40
grow viewership across the world.
30:41
So shout out to them because I don't think enough clubs do
30:43
that. They were the easiest team to
30:46
watch, like from an accessibility point, like at
30:50
least in the United States, that was the easiest team for me to
30:54
follow. And like, yes, I did wake up and
30:58
it was like, oh, was Lily playing?
31:01
Let me, let me check on my American child.
31:03
Notice how I said my American child right there.
31:07
That's my American child. American Child.
31:12
Born in Maryland or wait, Virginia, right?
31:14
Virginia, yeah. There we go.
31:19
Very American, if you ask me. We'll see.
31:22
We'll see. Nothing.
31:24
Nothing's been decided yet. And then, yeah, Fiorentina,
31:28
shout out to their brand team. You know, they're they're doing
31:30
what they can to kind of be out here trying to be America's
31:33
team. I want to talk about being.
31:35
Oh, go ahead. And Grant.
31:36
Can I talk about a a little more about Fiorentina though?
31:39
Probably, if you don't mind. So OK.
31:40
They're led by the Spanish football legend Veronica
31:43
Boquete, known colloquially as Vero.
31:47
She's a trailblazer, she's a leader.
31:48
She's one of the greatest footballers in the history of
31:50
Spain. She's the first Spanish woman to
31:53
ever lift the UEFA Champions Women's Champions League trophy
31:57
back when she played for Frankfurt in 2014.
32:00
She has a ton of other like accolades and accomplishments.
32:04
She was a leader in in Spanish football, like fighting against
32:07
the like rampant abuse that was going on, even going back to
32:11
their previous dirtbag coach Ignacio Guerrez.
32:14
And then they're, you know, last former bullshit coach Jorge
32:19
Bilda, who for anybody who's watched into the channel, who
32:22
I've given the nickname fucking Bozo Jorge Bilda, get him out of
32:26
here immediately. Free Morocco.
32:29
Damn right. Yeah, get that dude all the way
32:32
out of Morocco's program, but I digress.
32:35
Boqueta. She is 36 years old.
32:38
Last season she had nine goals and eight assists and she's
32:41
flanked by Italian midfielder Michaela Katena, who had seven
32:45
goals and three assists. She'll play a lot in the middle
32:48
with Boqueta and then keep an eye out.
32:50
And Tom, I bet you probably, if you were watching these matches,
32:54
Swedish striker Madeline Janogi and Agnese Bonfatini were coming
33:00
up big in those qualifying matches.
33:02
They look real good running up and down the left and right
33:05
flanks. And like, obviously they know
33:11
how to defend. I'm not not saying that they IX
33:16
IX misses their their previous coach a lot and it's showing a
33:19
lot, but I mean, they blanked both of their opponents to
33:25
qualify to the stage. So I, I, I will be interested to
33:30
see if they can, you know, keep that defensive show on the road,
33:34
on the road, especially, I guess A-Team like Wolfsburg or you
33:37
just like you just stated, like when the Beerstein is now
33:40
playing for them. So like that, that's going to be
33:44
an an interesting, juicy match up for real, especially when you
33:47
have the likes of Alexandra Pop and Svendis Young's daughter
33:55
that are you going to be able to stop that?
33:58
That that's going to be that's going to be the biggest thing.
34:04
Going to be very difficult. I mean, I think I'm excited to
34:07
see Wolfsburg back in the mix though, just because it's like
34:10
one of the one of the kind of like the the blue bloods of the
34:13
tournament. And I think they were not not
34:17
super happy to be kind of be left out of the mix last year.
34:21
Speaking of the Prairie FC team that we mentioned Wolfsburg,
34:24
another team that fell victim to that pre FC side last year on
34:27
the way in. And I think you really can't
34:32
discount. This is where I think things get
34:35
a little, I don't want to say dicey, but a little bit
34:37
interesting for both of our clubs, Arsenal and City.
34:41
You really can't discount the Champions League experience.
34:44
You know, I mean, I think, yeah, there's a lot of carryover from
34:46
the men's side. It like it really is a different
34:49
brand of ball like and that the group stage or something about
34:52
playing these teams. And then like we we had a great
34:55
time with the the reverse fixture in the middle because
34:57
you play, you know, team one, team two, team three and then
34:59
team three again. So real bad blood between those
35:02
like those mid group stage matches where you're playing
35:04
that team a second time back-to-back and just kind of
35:07
scratching to to be able to get through great tournament.
35:11
But yeah, I'm, I'm really interested to see if the
35:15
experience teams like hacking teams like pre FC teams like
35:20
Benfica, like if they're able to carry that forward or if it's
35:24
sort of like a fresh start, lot of player movement, new season,
35:28
you know, and you know, like it it kind of gets turned up inside
35:32
out a little bit. We'll see.
35:34
Where do you, where do you guys stand on experience versus, you
35:37
know, maybe more recurrent form? I think that you have to have at
35:46
least one or two players that have some of that experience
35:50
like that and I think that that's going to be that is where
35:54
I'm most scared for city 'cause like we ain't really got it.
35:59
Like I mean other than Viv, we ain't really got it and that's
36:04
about it. Like current form can help.
36:10
Current form can help if you have a very, very young team,
36:12
like like a team that has no veterans sort of thing.
36:15
Like everybody on your squad is under 25 and then y'all just
36:19
don't know any better. Like OK, like, but I, I, there's
36:25
to me there's too much of a mix of age in city squad
36:30
specifically for them to kind of like run with that.
36:34
So that does kind of kind of scare me a little bit.
36:40
I'm with Tom. I do think that addition of
36:46
Huey's national teammates is going to come and really key,
36:53
First off, just helping UE acclimate even more to the club
36:58
just because she's, I feel like the crown jewel, it's sitting
37:03
there in the midfield. So if she's happy, we're happy.
37:06
But you got Mashita coming in, all of the success that she's
37:10
had in her career. I watched the preseason games.
37:16
When she plays, the calm that she has on the pitch, it's just
37:22
really cool. Nothing seems to really kind of
37:26
surprise her. I think a lot of the players
37:29
that they brought to City are just ravenous.
37:34
They're just like so hungry to prove themselves and to show why
37:39
they were brought to City. I do worry about who's going to
37:44
be kind of like the Mama there is Laura Cromes.
37:49
Is that, is that who it is? Because I mean, that's basically
37:53
it. It's Laura.
37:54
And but we have a lot of players on the team who have been
37:59
playing top flight football for a very young long time.
38:04
And even though they're younger, you could really call them
38:08
veterans for how long they've been playing, at least for their
38:11
national clubs and things like that.
38:14
Champions League, agreed. It's a completely different
38:17
animal. But I am hoping at least for
38:21
this, for this is where the the managers, this is this is where
38:26
management is key because I think the players are going to
38:31
come out hot, they're going to they're going to want to run it
38:34
up and score a lot. And.
38:38
If Gareth tries to calm them down instead of just adjusting
38:44
that energy and pointing it towards the right direction, I
38:47
think we could be in trouble. But I I'm hopeful.
38:52
I am trying to stay positive with the manager.
38:58
I have seen progress in the squad.
39:02
He has gotten an an extension, so I'm trying to support him,
39:05
but I really am a big believer that it's just such a talented
39:10
group of players that you know he better be successful.
39:16
He's lost a few people who are I thought were very important to.
39:22
The growth of. Like Bunny with Goater and a few
39:27
other key goalkeeping in just like general Staff, they've
39:34
left. So now what does that mean for
39:36
Gareth? And if he can help straight in
39:39
line and truly do his vision. But I, I am kind of worried
39:43
about that because it, it really is it's family FC because they
39:46
really do seem to love each other and hang out and make tik
39:48
toks and all that stuff. But it is a bunch of kids
39:52
running things now. Yeah, I, I mean the retirement
39:57
of Seth Houghton, you know, that's, that's a gap right
40:01
there. I mean, and even.
40:03
When you watch, when we watched the, the Champions League last
40:06
year, and you could probably say this for, for pretty much every
40:08
tournament, there is no scenario where you're not going to take a
40:12
gut punch at some point in that tournament.
40:16
And that's where you kind of need like those vets or a really
40:19
established manager to kind of look around and be like, all
40:22
right, everybody calm down. We, we, we can come back from
40:25
this and we can kind of get it going.
40:26
You know, I mean, even Barcelona had multiple moments, you know,
40:30
they, they obviously win, win the whole thing last year and
40:33
they look unstoppable through stretches.
40:35
They were down one nil to Frankfurt, Eintracht Frankfurt
40:40
during one, one match in the group stage.
40:42
They had to fight a hell of a battle versus Dino mentioned
40:45
earlier, our beloved SK Brown out of Norway.
40:48
They were in a dog fight with them.
40:50
And the thing about some of these matches and we've talked
40:51
about, we've talked about BK Hackin who play up in
40:56
Gothenburg, Sweden, and you're playing them in November.
41:00
It's fucking cold up there. And so like, I almost feel like
41:04
having veterans around to kind of be like, OK, guys, this whole
41:09
environment sucks. It's loud in here.
41:11
There's like a big awning over the over the sands.
41:14
So all the noise is being like projected at you and it's like
41:17
20°F. We got to keep ourselves
41:20
together and still play football.
41:22
So I mean, I, I think this tournament probably like many,
41:26
like I said, but you you got to have some calming veterans.
41:30
I really hope meet him a kind of steps up for City in that role.
41:36
I could, I think, I think things are set up for that to happen.
41:42
Kind of wish she had, you know, she's able to log maybe more
41:46
minutes leading up to this. And I think that's where, I
41:50
mean, I was a little bummed. You know, I was kind of watching
41:52
the WSL table last season, OK, can we get up to second?
41:55
I don't want to kind of mix it up in this round one of the
41:58
Champions League draw. But actually in retrospect, I
42:02
think playing these two extremely high stakes matches
42:06
for Arsenal going into I think next week's action or maybe the
42:09
games are maybe 8 or 9 days from now, I think it's a huge help,
42:13
especially not having participated last season.
42:16
These teams, I mean, you look at some of them that took the
42:21
league path that got the by that advanced straight to round two,
42:26
possibly a little bit of a disadvantage.
42:28
You know, like a Juventus, maybe even like PSG, you know, maybe I
42:32
mean like they're they're so loaded that tough to see that
42:35
happening. But like, like Roma's going to
42:38
have to you know, they're they're not fully, fully in
42:41
league play. They're going to have to kind of
42:42
show up a little bit cold, you know, and try to win a couple
42:47
big matches to kind of make it back to the group stage.
42:49
I think Wolfsburg's in that camp as well.
42:51
So obviously there's a little bit more experience on that
42:53
side, but I'm kind of happy we got these two matches under our
42:56
belt, and I'm going to be interested to see if that has a
42:59
carryover effect as well. You know, were these teams that
43:02
got these two matches proper warm up, proper stakes, you
43:07
know, got the blood pressure elevated a little bit?
43:09
It was that helpful? Was that not helpful?
43:12
I think there's so many interesting dynamics between
43:14
different leagues, different countries, different states, you
43:20
know, and, and seeing what kind of effect that has as the
43:23
tournament rolls out here. I mean, I think we're, we're
43:27
going to see that play out with Korea FC in Man City.
43:30
Like, I mean, they had to, they had to go the, you know, the
43:34
qualifier route to get to the stage.
43:36
So you know they've already had like they've if for all intents
43:41
and purposes, they're lathered up like they they know what two
43:44
matches look like in you know, a short turn around should
43:50
probably already know this, but what determines which first
43:53
clips club automatically make the second round?
43:58
I think it's I think it has to do with the country
44:01
coefficients. So there's certain leagues that
44:04
have like, so Sweden got 2 all the way through.
44:06
They got hammer B and Hakin. They're obviously their, their
44:09
league is ranked at a specific spot ahead of a team.
44:13
Like we, I found it interesting the Dutch league didn't have,
44:16
doesn't have any. So, you know, I think both
44:19
Twente and Ajax Twente I think won the league.
44:21
They both had to kind of go through the Round 1.
44:23
So it does have to do with the coefficient, you know, the
44:26
country, how strong is the league?
44:28
What's the performance been like, you know, in terms of the
44:32
the countries that have sent teams to the Champions League?
44:35
So I think that's all kind of predetermined.
44:36
And I do know that the whole format's kind of getting flipped
44:39
upside down a little bit next season.
44:41
So everything I learned this year goes out the window.
44:44
That's all right. I don't mind.
44:45
I'll start. I'll start over.
44:46
It's OK. If I can once again make this
44:54
about city actually multiple responses from flops.
45:03
Also reason Fiorentina and Wolfsburg intrigues them is
45:09
because Wolfsburg are very mid right now and St. confuses them
45:15
very much as a manager. And then on to the city parts.
45:24
Alex Bunny. Roared.
45:26
Will be the big kind of experienced players for us in
45:29
terms of keeping everyone's heads up in belief.
45:33
Let's not forget when Rod said the team needs to focus on
45:36
winning. Last season they went on a 15
45:39
game-winning streak. So yeah.
45:44
And Rod getting back I'm again. I'm still very new to the whole
45:52
Woso community. Every time I watch Medema from
45:59
the not from the hating perspective because I like,
46:02
yeah, I saw her play, but I didn't see her play.
46:04
But when I would see her play, it was on a team that, you know,
46:08
I'm not going to give her that much credit.
46:10
I'll be like, she's nice. Like, how nice is she really?
46:13
Like, you know, because there's a bunch of thugs and scoundrels.
46:17
So I can't really understand how much it can actually techie.
46:22
Oh my God. I mean, we, we really do have it
46:26
out for Katie McCabe on our show.
46:28
That's just just put it out there.
46:30
Well, she was she was laying some dirty hits against city
46:33
last year too. She there there was, there was
46:35
definitely some some not fair play and Dino and I, we
46:40
discussed that on our on our show.
46:41
Too, when I was when I was making my notes about, you know,
46:45
is Kafaji the toughest player on Arsenal, I thought about McCabe.
46:48
I'm like, ah, McCabe's more of a troll.
46:49
I'm not sure. I kind of like she's just, I
46:53
don't know, she's like, oh, she got some like definite Draymond
46:56
vibes for better or worse. So I think I'm I'm a fan but I I
47:01
can see how she might rub something the wrong way but I
47:04
think. Don't get me wrong.
47:06
Yeah, I, I mean, I obviously I think, I, I think meet Emma
47:10
though, she fits definitely the profile of like professional
47:13
goalscorer, big target. I think she's definitely going
47:16
to get opportunities, but it's just impossible to know how
47:21
these matches are going to unfold.
47:23
Like I think the perfect example, like Grant, you were
47:26
talking about Barcelona and their some of their mixed
47:28
results last season. They obviously lost to Chelsea
47:30
in the semis, but they also had to draw to Benfica in A4 four
47:34
match, you know, where they Barcelona giving up four goals.
47:37
So it's like these games really do unfold in different ways.
47:41
It really just, you know, the, the, the cold weather you were
47:44
mentioning the Bron escape, Bron Lyon match.
47:48
That was a snow game. You know, at the 80th minute.
47:50
It's this, it's just a snowstorm all of a sudden very magical
47:54
sports movie moment to finish out that one.
47:56
But you really just do not know what you're going to expect in
48:00
these. I'm kind of I'm kind of excited
48:02
for I, I, I hope we can kind of pull you into this proper like
48:06
Champions League fever because we absolutely got it last.
48:10
We were just like notes, like we have papers flying everywhere
48:13
trying to like figure out. We were like 100% all in.
48:17
It's a, it's an awesome tournament.
48:19
It's a great tournament. Impossible to predict as well.
48:22
It's I think when best time of year.
48:25
I think one of the things that makes the this tournament so
48:28
unpredictable is the amount of squad rotation that you have to
48:31
do in this in the tournament to like be successful in the
48:36
tournament as well as be successful in the league.
48:39
Which I think is interesting because both City and Arsenal
48:45
play away to a continental opponent and then come back and
48:51
open the season against each other.
48:54
So Dino, what kind of squad rotation are you looking for
49:02
from Jonas? From the first match in
49:07
Gothenburg to that match, That first league match against City?
49:16
I I took a note here about what I'm expecting.
49:19
I'm expecting the no fucking around roster.
49:22
Like we just need to have like as much as we can put forward
49:28
that hack inside really scary defensively.
49:30
They play absolutely on a string.
49:33
Like we saw the best of the best offenses last group stage.
49:37
Just not be able to score on them.
49:39
Chelsea in Stanford Bridge couldn't score against Hakken in
49:43
a champions group stage in a match they needed.
49:45
So I mean, there really is no, it's got to be the best.
49:52
Like I would kind of I hate to say this, but I would definitely
49:57
take obviously, I mean, I would definitely take getting past
50:00
hack and over, maybe being fully prepped, fully ready for that
50:03
opener again. City, you know, I think I want
50:06
the Champions League experience. We saw these teams kind of grow
50:10
up. Benfico, who I also want to kind
50:12
of what we maybe can get into that a little bit, but that's a
50:14
team that you can rewind all the way back to the 23 World Cup.
50:19
Portugal, you can kind of see they're young, kind of joked,
50:22
right? They got skills.
50:23
But I think I don't know, could they do more in the strength and
50:27
conditioning side? Can they hit the way, you know,
50:28
like they look a little slight, you know, in terms of like the
50:31
upper upper echelons of world football.
50:33
That also showed in the Champions League as well, but
50:37
you also saw the seeds of a a team in an organization that's
50:40
like, no, we're going to this is building.
50:42
We're just going to be building, building, building.
50:44
And I think there's nothing like this Champions League format,
50:48
this level of competition to just kind of add, you know,
50:51
extra, you know, like those battle scars and like the, you
50:55
know, that experience that you talked about.
50:56
It's like you want experienced players.
50:57
I can kind of come out here, get everybody mentally prepped at
51:01
the level. So for me it's got to be the the
51:07
A1A1A1 kind of line up from out of all here against Hakkin.
51:12
Do you think that Leah Williams is is fit enough to start both
51:17
matches because knowing that she'll have to start that third
51:20
one on the home leg? I mean, I you, you kind of need,
51:29
you kind of need her skill set and just her her brain kind of
51:34
like on the pitch. I mean, if, if she gets a if she
51:38
ends up on a bit of a minutes restriction just to kind of
51:41
balance things out. I think that's reasonable.
51:45
But to your earlier question, this is like the chess match of
51:49
it. And I think as the, the
51:51
Chambersy kind of like progresses, these coaches have
51:54
to make really tough decisions. You know, there's there's cup
51:56
competition, you know, WSL, we saw what that race came down to
52:00
at the end of the year. You think about a Leon PSG
52:04
playing mid season, then they get matched up, you know, in the
52:08
semifinals, you know, like, so it's it's a tough job to be able
52:12
to kind of balance all this. But to me, a team like Arsenal,
52:17
a manager like idle, I feel like he's got to be prioritizing the
52:20
Champions League. It's just a different level of
52:23
brand awareness, just growth. You know, you really cannot.
52:28
I guess you can go out and buy that experience, but ideally you
52:31
earn that experience on the pitch in a tournament like this.
52:36
I think it's, you know, when you saw Arsenal, they added Cafagi a
52:39
a young player who played absolutely great.
52:42
I think Hack and we talked, we talked a lot about their defense
52:45
in last year's Champions League. I think they scored seven goals
52:50
in in the Champions League last year.
52:53
Cafagi scored four of them. Teammates combined for the other
52:56
3. She can.
52:58
She just got a motor too, so that's somebody you can put out
53:02
there all the time. And then they add Mariona
53:04
Caldente to add that little bit of depth.
53:07
It felt like that's what a lot of cities moves were too, where
53:11
it's like, OK, if we're going to play these in this major cup,
53:14
we're going to go for the Champions League and we're going
53:16
to try to compete for the WSL, try to win the FA Cup.
53:19
Of course, you just need to start adding depth because if
53:23
you look at the four best clubs in the world, Barcelona, Leon,
53:27
Chelsea. And I and the Orlando Pride.
53:30
Obviously, and then then you make a case for the Orlando
53:32
pride. Thank you very much for that.
53:36
Look how deep they are. They can they can rotate the
53:39
hell out of their squats and still have a lot of talent out
53:42
there. So I, I think it, it's a it's a
53:44
great observation, Tom, because you're going to have to that
53:47
first match, you know, between Arsenal and City that could go,
53:52
that could have a play in, in what decides the league.
53:55
So you might also have to just look at your players and
53:58
whatever the old Bill Parcells football, what what Bill
54:02
Parcells quote was like, that's why you lift all them weights.
54:04
Is that you you got to come out there and sometimes you got to
54:07
play a little, a little longer than maybe expected.
54:11
If I can like talk about City again, what I love about the
54:17
club and particularly what Garrett did during the
54:22
preseason, everybody who was there played, even the Academy
54:27
players. Yes, they won't get big minutes
54:31
in games like this, but like Aeola Fujino played huge
54:35
minutes. I think she started in the
54:39
closed door match against Liverpool.
54:43
I know Medina's on a a minute restriction, but like Laura
54:48
Blinghilde Brown, she got a good start and she's going to be the
54:52
backup behind Huey basically, which being able to give Huey a
54:57
break, that's that's a that's a joy because yeah, she's key.
55:04
She's amazing. But everybody needs a break.
55:07
But yeah, Poppy, I just, I think these are the chances to some of
55:13
these younger players are going to especially a lot of there
55:17
have been a lot of signings over the summer and I have no idea
55:21
what any of them mean, but they're talked about like
55:25
they're going to be he to the club, which is exciting and
55:30
terrifying. All right, Frank, you've
55:32
inspired me. I'm going to crack my beer.
55:34
I just happened to have one sitting here because you gave
55:37
the Alba Fujino the Alba Fujino reference.
55:41
Oh I love. We got to be, we got to be
55:44
excited for her, man. She is dynamic.
55:46
She is not scared at all to take on defenders.
55:49
I love, love, love her game. I think she's going to be
55:52
fantastic for us. Because.
55:54
She's she's, she's one of those young enough that I don't know
55:57
no better that I'm not. I don't know that I'm not
55:59
supposed to be this good. And she's had in the in her, the
56:03
league that she played in before she's experienced success.
56:07
She was the MVP two years in a row when she was like 17 and 18
56:10
or 18 and 19, something like that.
56:12
So it's like for you to have that sort of success that young
56:17
why? She legitimately thinks the
56:20
world is hers. And who's to say it's not?
56:23
And she comes on the pitch and you see her play just like that,
56:29
like she's fearless and she's brand new on the team.
56:32
And it it all the players that they brought in the way that it
56:37
just fits the system so well, like a but I thought you would
56:43
think that she had been practicing with the team for
56:45
months. The way that she hopped in in
56:46
the pre season was just like 1 toing it up around the pitch
56:50
with the players. Yes, they struggled to score,
56:54
but the important thing is getting the ball in the box and
56:58
they had no problem doing that. So I just think with sharpening
57:03
things up, figuring a little, a little bit of tinkering.
57:06
I I'm a big fan of a City scoring six goals.
57:11
City women did a great job at that last season, but I'm hoping
57:15
I can experience that joy many more this season.
57:20
The way I look at it, and you saw Fujino do it as a very young
57:24
player, like you said, in her league over in Japan.
57:27
You saw her do it at the 2023 World Cup.
57:29
She did it again at the Olympics.
57:30
I just like the idea too, of when she doesn't put one in,
57:33
when she hit, when she's just launching those missiles from
57:36
outside the 18. I like the idea of one of them
57:39
bouncing off the crossbar and then Bunny's there because now
57:42
it's still a goal. So like I I think that she can
57:45
just add a ton to the squat. One of my absolute favorite
57:48
players from the from the 23 World Cup.
57:50
I felt like in Japan's good run, Fujino and June Endo over from
57:56
Angel City FC really sucked about Endo's ACL injury, but I
58:02
thought Endo and Fujino were like probably the two nicest
58:05
young players for Japan. Angel City baby.
58:08
Oh, there we go. There we go.
58:09
OK. Can can we free her from her
58:13
boyfriend who is making her do exercises three weeks after she
58:17
got surgery please? Thank you.
58:19
Oh, I didn't know this. Yeah, no, he, he's, he's like a
58:23
trainer or something. Not with the club, but like a
58:27
yeah, no, yeah, yeah, no, I, I I need her free from that.
58:35
Not close on that. Was there anything else?
58:39
I feel like you said there was another match, Dino, that you
58:42
wanted to talk about before we got out of here.
58:44
Yes, Benfica Hammerbee. Yes.
58:47
Team near and dear to my heart, Freddy Benfica fans, obviously
58:51
they finished first in the Campionato Nacional Feminino
58:54
last year. No Kika Nazareth this season,
58:57
she's off to Barcelona. No Jessica Silva, she's off to
59:00
Gotham FC and we talked on our show about the 31 year old
59:04
striker from Sevilla that they brought in, Cristina Martin
59:08
Prieto, who notched two goals like it was pretty much nothing.
59:13
One of them was an absolute banger.
59:15
The other one was a corner. The other one was a header off a
59:17
corner from Marie Lunde, formerly of SK Brown.
59:22
And in the middle there, of their three no win, Nicole
59:26
Riceless scored, who has pretty much the hardest neck tattoo in
59:30
all of women's sports. Go Google that for anybody who's
59:33
unfamiliar. And then in Benfica's other
59:36
match up, they beat SFK 2000. Pretty awesome name for a
59:39
football team, if you ask me, who shares the distinction with
59:43
two other teams. The most Women's Champions
59:46
League appearances ever with 20. So they've been around the block
59:50
a time or two. So with regard to Benfica,
59:53
obviously no Kika, no Jessica Silva.
59:55
They still got Marie Ali do, who I think scored nine goals in the
59:58
Champions League last season, Nicole Rice, who I mentioned,
1:00:01
Martine Prieto, Christy Ushabi and Accent.
1:00:05
Jody Brown. Hell yeah, Lena Powell's and
1:00:08
goal. This is a team Yeah, in my notes
1:00:12
I've got not IX cause IX lost two forwards, didn't replace
1:00:17
them, paid a dear, dear price Benfica made a couple moves to
1:00:22
kind of make up for the shortfalls and now they find
1:00:25
themselves in. I think what's going to be a
1:00:28
really, really tough battle against Hammer B Grant, I know
1:00:31
you're checking into what's going on with Hammer BI Don't
1:00:34
know if you have anything on them, but I'm sweating this.
1:00:37
I'm sweating this match up too. I don't like I don't like any of
1:00:39
these for the teams that I like. I think that it it's just a
1:00:42
function of how good these teams are to be able to get to this
1:00:45
level. I mean, you win, you get you get
1:00:47
past your round two match up and you're basically in the 16.
1:00:50
You're in the group stage. So that I guess is to be
1:00:53
expected, but excited for Benfica.
1:00:56
Yeah, Tom, you mentioned it. Hammerby sitting at the top of
1:00:59
Donald Spenskin over there in in Sweden.
1:01:03
Eighteen wins, 5 draws, 3 losses last year.
1:01:07
They're currently fourteen wins, 0 draws, 4 losses this year.
1:01:12
They did. They lost some talent.
1:01:13
I mentioned Madeline Janogi for Fiorentina.
1:01:16
She was their top scorer last year also.
1:01:19
I think after their season last year that's when Kyra Cooney
1:01:23
crossed. The Australian midfielder went
1:01:25
from Hammerby over to North London to Dinos Arsenal.
1:01:29
But their leading scorer this year?
1:01:30
20 year old Swede Ellen Wongerheim, she has ten goals
1:01:35
and two assists. She's supported by a bunch of
1:01:38
Norwegians on the squad, notably Vilda Hassund, Julie Blackstead,
1:01:42
who each have 5 and or six and five goals respectively.
1:01:46
And Blackstead's also added six assists.
1:01:49
So they're going to kind of they're going to play in the
1:01:50
middle of the field. And I just think when you look
1:01:53
at these Swedish teams, they're just tough and they're big and
1:01:57
they're physical and they and they play knock you over ball.
1:02:01
And I know Crunk, you were talking about it before we
1:02:03
before we got on. There is a level of physicality
1:02:07
that referees allow in this tournament and just in women's
1:02:10
football in general, where that is a real advantage for these
1:02:14
teams that have your kind of big, what's the just, I mean,
1:02:20
frankly, bigger Nordic players out there to kind of employ that
1:02:24
strategy. Yeah, ask that 20/21/22
1:02:32
Barcelona squad about getting pushed around because Leon Leon
1:02:38
and and Amadine Amri scored a World Team.
1:02:42
That's right. Yeah, even in the last time I
1:02:44
final, Chelsea roughed them up as well.
1:02:46
I mean, Myra Ramirez was a nightmare for that.
1:02:49
She was like to look like Derrick Henry out there trying
1:02:53
to like get her and then obviously Byron misses the the
1:02:58
second leg and and person was able to survive and then kind of
1:03:01
win. Yeah, the the physicality is
1:03:05
definitely, definitely going to be important.
1:03:09
Did you guys any other matchups? Kind of want to open it up here?
1:03:13
Any other matchups that you guys find interesting or any teams
1:03:17
that you're kind of intrigued? I kind of interested in what
1:03:19
what they've got going over there.
1:03:22
I'll hit one more real quick. I think Real Madrid we mentioned
1:03:26
swept by BK Hakken, like pretty much embarrassed out of the
1:03:33
Champions League. Like really like by the end of
1:03:35
it they were in full. We've given up kind of mode and
1:03:39
they've got definitely a new swagger about them.
1:03:41
I think this season, you know, in the round one matchups, even
1:03:46
in their, I'm sorry, not in the round one matchups, but in the
1:03:48
League F opener against Espanol, they win that 15 nil.
1:03:52
They've got Caroline, we're back.
1:03:54
Athania looks good and they just added a bunch of like legitimate
1:03:59
professional footballers that I think fill a bunch of gaps.
1:04:03
Melanie Leopold's we mentioned Albert Redondo lethal score from
1:04:07
League F Eva Navarro Lacrar, the defender from Montpellier who's
1:04:12
going to be basically their, I think, who started center back
1:04:15
for them and then Felipe Angel doll as well.
1:04:17
So just a, a, a bunch of great moves across the board.
1:04:21
I think they're going to be they want to be really competitive
1:04:25
and I I don't think they enjoy, you know, being still deep so
1:04:30
far down Barcelona's shadow that they're a little bit of an
1:04:33
afterthought probably in their own in their own league as well.
1:04:37
But but definitely I think within the field of this
1:04:39
tournament. So I've definitely also got my
1:04:41
own Real Madrid to see if this is like for Real, if they're
1:04:44
ready to kind of make a big time leap.
1:04:45
But obviously sporting CP, like that's that's a side that that's
1:04:49
also coming in on a little bit of a tear.
1:04:52
But yeah, really just to see if any any of the matchups that
1:04:55
anybody else excited about and see if we can chop those up a
1:04:58
little bit. That was the one that I was most
1:05:01
excited about, honestly, I think just mainly just because we all
1:05:09
have so much to prove. Like, I mean, I I think that you
1:05:12
know, with about getting bounced by hacking the gap between them
1:05:16
and bar so was so large last season in league F you they lost
1:05:24
to Atleti at home. Like that's like they just had a
1:05:32
very down season for what the expectations are for Real
1:05:36
Madrid, regardless if you play for the men or the women.
1:05:40
So I think that that's this is a good against a a fun sport.
1:05:46
Like I think all of the Portuguese teams play a fun
1:05:51
style of football. And I think that this is a good
1:05:57
test for them, not just to see how far that they can get into
1:06:02
the in this tournament, but like, are they ready to like
1:06:07
take that next leap and maybe, you know, steal a trophy from
1:06:15
from Barsa, whether that be, you know, Coba de la Reyna or or
1:06:18
what have you just steal a trophy.
1:06:23
And I think that that's this is going to be a good prep for
1:06:27
that. Totally.
1:06:29
I mean, Real Madrid is not here to be the plucky underdog in any
1:06:34
situation at any point in any in any sport, football, men's
1:06:39
football, women's football, basketball, Real Madrid is
1:06:41
coming out there to win trophies.
1:06:43
So I I couldn't agree more. I mean, they they were so active
1:06:46
in the transfer window. I think Felipe angle doll,
1:06:48
obviously a player we are familiar with from Manchester
1:06:50
City. I think she'll be an interesting
1:06:53
an interesting addition. Losing Ivana Andres, I'm in the
1:06:58
tank for her. I think she's a great defender.
1:07:00
I thought she was a really great partner with Olga Carmona in a
1:07:02
lot of spots. But you know, I, I think you
1:07:05
guys nailed it. Real Madrid, they, they are
1:07:09
just, they cannot be satisfied with second place.
1:07:11
So I, I think they're going to come out here ready to go.
1:07:18
I'm just excited to get to know like this whole new set of teams
1:07:26
and history, 'cause you know, with the men side, if you look
1:07:31
at a certain league, you could be like, Nope, you don't need to
1:07:34
worry about them. But here, you know, I've never I
1:07:38
would have never guessed that you'd be so worried about a team
1:07:41
named hacking like like what, like what is happening, like
1:07:44
respectfully. So I'm I'm just so excited to
1:07:49
dive into this and find out the differences and tweaks.
1:07:54
And so I'm locked in. Feel free to keep me in this,
1:08:01
whether city women are continuing the competition or
1:08:05
not. Grant Dino.
1:08:07
I'm I'm in. Maybe I'm locked in.
1:08:10
Let's go. Absolutely.
1:08:12
Well, here's where I do the quick plug.
1:08:14
You already know the ITC, the Into the Channel boys are going
1:08:18
to be covering this tournament. We couldn't wait to get back
1:08:22
into the tournament. I think we're going to have
1:08:24
another show probably before round two kicks off, going to
1:08:28
kind of dive a little deep, maybe make a couple predictions
1:08:31
or two. And then once group stage gets
1:08:33
cooking, you already know what time it is, where taking time
1:08:36
off work and, you know, putting in that PTO and do what we can
1:08:41
to make sure we can catch as much of what what who said that?
1:08:44
Grand Space was like, I don't know about that.
1:08:46
I don't know about that one. I don't know about that one.
1:08:49
I got I got a lot going on, but I also when I take my PTO, it's
1:08:52
for very important things, not just football.
1:08:54
Disclaimer. Right when you just.
1:08:56
Like yeah, not football. I will be taking PTO for very
1:09:00
real things. Don't worry, man, it's not live.
1:09:03
No, no worries. No, but yeah, if anybody wants
1:09:08
to check us out, we're going to we're we're anybody who doesn't
1:09:11
know we're an exclusively women's football show.
1:09:14
We might sprinkle in the occasional, you know, Kyrie comp
1:09:18
trying to compare players or I I can't remember.
1:09:21
So some of our our better NBA. I think Maya Ramirez, Derrick
1:09:25
Kennedy, I feel pretty good about that one.
1:09:27
Just off the top, first time I've used that one, but I
1:09:32
digress. We're going to be covering this
1:09:33
tournament pretty much from every single angle from here to
1:09:36
may. We've set ourselves a stretch
1:09:38
goal to actually get the show out to Lisbon for the final.
1:09:41
So we'll have more on that coming up.
1:09:43
But it's going to be a great tournament and if you want to
1:09:45
watch it, you already know at ITC under score pod on Twitter
1:09:50
into the channel YouTube. We would love to have you.
1:09:52
We've got a great vibrant community of commenters and
1:09:56
people that teach us a lot to we always joke that ITC is a
1:09:59
learning podcast. We learn a ton from the people
1:10:02
that rock with the son of the show.
1:10:03
We're insanely appreciated and just happy to kind of like
1:10:08
collaborate. Like you mentioned, it's very
1:10:09
cool to to kind of share notes and and the last thing crook I I
1:10:13
learned I think from you maybe the previous episode of the one
1:10:16
before that album of Gina was a two time MVP.
1:10:20
So I appreciate you dropping that knowledge on me.
1:10:22
Definitely took that into my notes.
1:10:24
So yeah, just kind of happy I want to keep the collaboration
1:10:28
going. I hope City goes far.
1:10:30
Just so we, you know, we could do a little home and home,
1:10:31
invite you guys onto our show and just hopefully revel in the
1:10:35
good times. Yes yes would love to go on
1:10:40
yours and work as much together in the future.
1:10:43
We we have we bring people on over and over as long as they
1:10:49
are willing to join us. We we're a family.
1:10:51
We really do we're big. We call people who support us
1:10:56
who've been on our shows we've been on their shows, any of it
1:10:59
it's all shady gang. So you all are officially a part
1:11:03
of shady gang with us and once you're you're in shady gang you
1:11:07
you got to go you got to go crazy to get out of shady gang.
1:11:10
So like you're in this family, whether you.
1:11:14
And you know, if you if you need somebody to to give you a too
1:11:17
much, Chiwinga is a better post pattern runner than Tyreek Hill
1:11:24
on his show. Just just let me know.
1:11:26
I got. You that footwork, that
1:11:29
footwork. I've been waiting, I've been
1:11:32
waiting to say this, Tom. I mean, we just, I, I don't know
1:11:35
if it's been mentioned on the show before.
1:11:37
Tom Bomb, without a doubt the best dressed NWSL reporter in
1:11:43
the game. I just got to say like, I, I, I
1:11:47
show up to these Seattle rain matches, I'm just like, yeah,
1:11:50
just looking 5% as good as Tom. So I mean, I'm trying to keep up
1:11:54
with you, buddy. I mean, look, I mean, look at
1:11:56
me. Come on.
1:11:56
I'm not. I, there's no, I can't show up
1:11:58
in a fedora and a tie in a vest, man.
1:12:00
I'll look ridiculous. I'm glad you're doing it.
1:12:03
So I because I cannot. I'm, I mean, I'm not going to
1:12:06
lie to you, get huge fell. It's like the first time I did
1:12:09
it, I just did it because I was nervous as hell.
1:12:11
Like it's like, OK, so if you look good, if you look good,
1:12:14
you'll feel good and you'll work good.
1:12:17
And then it's just like, oh, well, the Internet keeps on
1:12:21
clowning me for this. So I guess I got to keep the
1:12:23
keep the party going. I mean, anybody who's clowning
1:12:27
you, they, they don't know what's going on.
1:12:28
I mean, I, I mean, I guess I'm not exactly a fashion expert.
1:12:31
I think it's inspiring what you're doing.
1:12:33
So I appreciate it. Appreciate you so much.
1:12:36
Yeah. Anybody clown on go list to the
1:12:38
other show? We are trust.
1:12:40
We are very, very proud of Tom Bomb for what he's doing over
1:12:45
here. It's yeah, there's there's one
1:12:49
thing about me. You were going to get these
1:12:52
positive affirmations and just love.
1:12:57
I will. I will keep it at you if I can.
1:13:00
So, yeah, everybody like the video, thumbs up.
1:13:03
If you're listening in the audio rates review, all of those
1:13:07
things share to other people being like, look at this
1:13:12
wonderful show that you probably missed out on, but now it's
1:13:17
available to you. Listen to over and over again.
1:13:19
Just run it, run it up, run it up.
1:13:22
I want to say thank you again to Jack Gone Northern reporter for
1:13:28
the Daily Mail for chatting with me.
1:13:30
That episode came out today. The audio episode should be
1:13:36
releasing shortly. If you've had a chance to watch
1:13:39
or listen to that, thank you. We have a Breaking Bread, a
1:13:44
match preview show for Man City men against Brentford.
1:13:49
That is tomorrow. Then we have our lit stream.
1:13:52
Thursday nights we have our kickoff show pre match for
1:13:55
Brentford an hour before. We got plenty of things going on
1:14:00
Saturday after Brentford, actually, we are teaming up with
1:14:03
All for United, Women's, their channel and we're going to do
1:14:09
almost like a Man City, Manchester United season preview
1:14:14
for the WSL. We're going to talk about,
1:14:16
they're going to talk about United, we're going to talk
1:14:18
about City. We're going to look into the
1:14:19
season and just overall tons more well, so content coming
1:14:27
from us, so stay tuned. We're step we're turning things
1:14:32
up the wave it's getting bigger and bigger.
1:14:34
This is the third season, so you know, we got to do a big.
1:14:39
I love it. And you know, thank you again
1:14:42
for having us guys. I very much appreciate it.
1:14:44
And yeah, we got to figure out the reverse fixture, get you
1:14:47
guys over onto the ITC whenever you're ready to do it.
1:14:50
Yes, definitely. Just give us a date.
1:14:54
We'll we'll figure it out. We'll.
1:14:57
Figure it out. All right everybody, we will see
1:15:00
you soon. You know the vibes.
1:15:02
Shady gang, shady gang. Shady Gang.
1:15:07
So you guys?