Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / UWCL: Previewing Group A and Group B

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UWCL: Previewing Group A and Group B · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:05
OK, welcome to into the channel podcast primarily about women's
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football. Before we hit the pitch.
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If you enjoy the show or love women's football as much as your
0:12
boys do, come kick it with us already.
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Subscribe follow YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast, wherever
0:18
you like to watch or listen. Leave us a review over your
0:20
favorite podcast app links to all of our socials in the show
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notes of this episode. I am your host Dino de Suspides
0:26
and as always I am joined by my Co host Mr. Grant and go.
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What is up man? I'm feeling fantastic, buddy.
0:33
I'm gonna crack the I'm gonna crack the beer early.
0:36
Oh, I like it. Like it.
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I like that one. We have groups, we have match
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days, we have the pivot matches to look forward to.
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That's that sounds fantastic. The UWCL cheers to you.
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Cheers to the UA for Women's Champions League.
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It is a celebration of life. It's very much back.
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I think it's back. Back.
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I mean, we could quibble about whether it's back back today or
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it's back back on the eighth. Yeah, who's to say?
1:03
Who really cares? The football's coming.
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It's almost here. We're going to be ready for it.
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So now that we have our match schedule, we know what the eight
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matches are going to be. We got Tuesday action, we've got
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Wednesday action. I want to get into it.
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I want to kind of loosely breakdown from very, very early,
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early perspective, try to figure out how we're feeling about
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these matches for the most part, just kind, I want to get hyped
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up with you. With that said, where do you
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want to get started? Let's start in alphabetical
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order. You and I.
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We're both men of letters, if you will.
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So let's do this the right way. Let's start with Group A for
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anybody who was viewing this fine program during the last
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Women's Champions League tournament, Dino and I kind of
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assigned ourselves two groups each, and it broke out the same
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way. Dino is going to take A and C,
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I'm going to take B&D. So Dino, please lead the way
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with group. A Let's go.
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And for anybody who was listening last season, apologies
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for the poor audio. We've hopefully fixed that since
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then. So she's bad.
2:01
Shout out to sticking around. I would do also want to make a
2:03
quick note. You know before we get rolling
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here I want to give a little hat tip to the 9 squads that didn't
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make it back but squads that I think we we developed some
2:12
feelings for. SK Braun, Rosengaard, Eintracht
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Frankfurt, Slavia Praha, Ajax, Benfica, BK Hakken, Pari FC and
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last year's semi finalist PSG all out of here, 9 out nine in
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the competition, I think raised up a level.
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Very excited about that. And let's jump right in Group A
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first match up, Tuesday, 12:45 PM Eastern finalist in last
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year's UAFO Men's Champions League tournament, Olympic Leone
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hosting Galatasaray Very excited about this one.
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Great, great, great way to start this group stage.
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I want to kick it to you real quick.
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Anything that you're going to be looking for in this one or I
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don't know, Leon's back. Galatasaray they're they're
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they're a little bit of a newcomer.
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Where's the 1st place that your head goes?
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This one I. Think it's got to be Cascarino
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out Chewinga in? I mean, I'm not exactly breaking
3:00
news here. It's a massive move.
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We talked about it with our great Palace seal to Filey, who
3:05
writes for Forbes. Read all of her work
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immediately, please. You lose Cascarino to San Diego.
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Deoni is going to play naturally on the right.
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Chewinga is more of a natural fit on the left.
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Cascarino, you know, is more of a right wing herself.
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So now what happens? Is this how turnkey is this
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going to be with Du Mornay in the center, Deoni on the right,
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Chewinga on the left? It's almost like they took the
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the PSG format of having chewinga ketoto in Baltimore and
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they just like juiced that up a little bit Lyon style.
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And I just am very excited to see how this is going to look.
3:38
That's a great call. I had the exact same thought
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while watching them. So they're two matches in to
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their D1F season. 12 goals for just too allowed.
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I think that trio chewinga du mornay.
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Well, let's just start with those two.
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Tabular chewinga MLG du mornay. The physicality.
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Like the physicality tools of those two players, absolutely
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overwhelming. Like there's just no real game
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plan. There's no there's nothing you
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do in training to properly prepare for those two players.
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And then you have DNE on the right who you mentioned, ton of
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gravity, ton of craft, couple goals that she scored already.
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Just ridiculous. I mean, she had one that looked
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like a perfect pitching wedge strike from 2021 yards out,
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perfectly placed. And that's just straight craft.
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Like she's just such a great player to pair with them.
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And then Tabitha Chewinga, she got on the score sheet.
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Melchi du Mornay. I think I'll take some
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responsibility here with with Melchi.
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I think I was a little tough on her last year because I think
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she makes her come back in the knockout stage against It's the
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absolute Creme de la Creme competition coming in against
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between Barcelona in the final and we're like, oh, well, what's
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what's up with D morning? It's like, well, you know, tough
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match up, right, Like, you know, so but this season, I mean she's
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already scored three different kind of ways.
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Like one she kind of muscled in. She had a nasty turn in fire off
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a Lindsay Horan assist. Lindsay Horan to want to give
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her a quick shout out of already four goals in the season.
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She's playing super aggressively.
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Her decision making is lightning quick.
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I think she's going to be the player for Leon who maybe
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benefits the most by these new additions because they're so
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fast and they're so creative and like Lindsay mentally can keep
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up the brain power, the processing and power is fast
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enough, is strong enough that I think she's going to be able to
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really cash in. And we're already starting to
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see that. That's a great call.
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I think we could probably expect to see Iran and Van de Dunk
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really kind of capitalize on that, play balls into into the
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area, but then also be hanging around when those 3 forwards are
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really kind of taking it a bunch of attention.
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And you already know what time it is with Van de Dunk again,
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her. And they can hit shots from
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outside the 18 just as well. And I think you know her and she
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cashed in a penalty versus Flurry.
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But maybe it's talked about, I don't know if you've heard it
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her. And it feels like one of the
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calmest and smoothest penalty takers in the world.
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We've seen her do it for USA. But the fact that she is the one
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who takes them for Leon I think is super impressive in itself.
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There's no game that's going to feel too big for her.
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So it's like just start there. I mean, she's incredibly
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skilled, incredibly composed goals.
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We talked about this season already for her and assist.
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We've already talked about this season for her hand and I'm just
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excited to see what Leon's ceiling is this season.
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Obviously another departure that I think worth mentioning.
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Sonia Bon Pastor, of course. See, we'll see what happens
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there. I think defensively Leon hasn't
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looked all the way, you know, locked in.
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Let's say they gave up two to flurry both I think in the first
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minute of the first half, first minute of the second-half to
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Evelina Kamchick. Let's switch gears though.
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Gala Taser I tall order going to Lyon to take on this team, but I
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don't know, man, I think they're gonna I think they're gonna muck
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it up. I think they're gonna make it
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interesting. This is this doesn't feel like
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the same Slavia Prazing Polton kind of match up or it's like,
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alright, this is really just a tune up.
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It might end up being and I might look like an idiot, but I
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don't know something about this Gala Taser I side they just play
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extremely tough. They're just not gonna roll over
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and they can threaten. You know, they're not gonna be
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threatening all 90 minutes, but they will threaten.
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Yeah, I mean, they they're gonna have to come in there and play
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underdog football. I believe they are the first
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Turkish team to make the Women's Champions League, definitely in
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this format. They're the first Turkish squad.
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They're probably the most legendary.
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And please, pals of the show, correct me if I'm wrong, but
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just from what I know about men's football, I think they're
7:12
the most famous Turkish club. I think they won the UEFA Cup in
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like 2000. I think it was in high school
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when they won it. They've had some legendary
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players. Suker was a great striker for
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them on the men's side. I digress.
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But basically what I'm saying is that we talked about it like
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when Real Madrid established their women's team or like
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Bayern Munich and you have these teams that they come in and they
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have a natural pedigree. We talked about a lot with
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Benfica as they're kind of on their journey.
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This is step one for Gala Tazrite.
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Step one in terms of big steps. There have been many, many other
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steps behind the scenes that I don't want to diminish on their
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way here. But they're going to have to
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play underdog football. They're going to have to play a
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low block. They're going to have to try to
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muck up the game and be tough. And from what we saw in the
7:53
qualifying phase, they're definitely going to try to play
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physical. I know they have one of our
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favorite Colombian players, Catalina Usmay.
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She's not going to shy away from playing physical.
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We know that it's going to be very interesting to see how they
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hold up in this first one versus Leon.
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Absolutely. And I think what I'm excited
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about this Galtas right side. I guess what excites me the most
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is I'm not going to, you know, put too much stock into just
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this. Obviously this is the toughest
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match in the in the entire group stage, right, going to Lyon and
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I really like the you know, hey, let's think about this as the
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journey of the squad. Even having to get past Slavia
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PRA, a group stage team from last year 22.
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Now you need a result going to Prague like and they got it done
8:33
there. I don't know, it's just
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exciting. I think we're we're starting to
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see a team maybe kind of bubbling up here.
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I'm not sure exactly how they're going to look in this first
8:40
match, but I think they're going to play at least a a few very
8:44
tough Group A matches and really pushed some teams here, so I'm
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very excited about that. Let's shift gears.
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The second Group A match up, another Tasty 1 going down at
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the same time. Tuesday, 12:45 PM Eastern, Roma
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hosting Wolfsburg. And so it begins, the Wolfsburg
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Revenge Tour. I don't want to count out Roma,
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but we've talked about him a lot.
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Wolfsburg, they have the pedigree.
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Two time winners of this tournament, four time runner UPS
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in this tournament. They've won Frown Bundesliga 7
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times. Alexandra, Pop, Lyneth,
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Biernstein, Eula, they dominated Fiorentina.
9:17
Fiorentina was never in either match from the first whistle,
9:21
probably from getting off the bus.
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And no disrespect to Fiorentina who have good players
9:25
themselves. That was an illustration of
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where both of these clubs kind of are in their footballing
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journey as clubs right now. So Fiorentina, I look forward to
9:33
seeing them back, but I think Wolfsburg is here thinking
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anything less than the quarterfinals would probably be
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a failure for them. And they played like it.
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Qualifiers, They're getting back on track in frown Bundesliga.
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I think they're looking awfully tough right now.
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I'm glad you took it there. I'm not sure you saw the result
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today from Frown Bundesliga when they went to Antrack Frankfurt.
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So this one went down this morning.
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I'm track Frankfurt 3 Wolfsburg nil.
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They got worked. So it's really interesting.
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Nicola and Yomi, she put in a strike early, had to keep her
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beaten for sure. Marina Hegering, she's on the
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line, incredible stop from Hegering.
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And then what's interesting is like, I think like 1520 minutes
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later and Yomi gets revenge on Hegering, strikes a ball, hits
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Haggerig in the hand, earns a penalty.
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So Sarah Dor soon knocks that one in to make it 1 nil.
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Frankfurt then fragging to Nyomi for the second, smashed it side
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netting, just nasty. And then a give and go between
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Geraldine Reuteler and Nicole Nyomi to make it 3 nil.
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So and Yomi almost had a hat trick.
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She didn't get to stick the penalty, but she earned it.
10:44
Yeah. So it's kind of we need a name
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for that when you get 2 and then you earn a penalty.
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I don't know if there if there is, please YouTube comments
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here. I know what time we just let us
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know. Yeah, but that result kind of
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had me thinking, because obviously they've been bushed
10:55
Fiorentina like. One close.
10:57
Over before it started. So it's like, is this a let's
11:00
over index on the Champions League and let's kind of like
11:03
maybe slow roll from Bundesliga? I was really sure what to make
11:06
of it. One last note in the match from
11:07
this this morning, Lynette Bernstein drew a bunch of early
11:11
fouls, so I wasn't sure if that was Frankfurt's game plan.
11:15
They're like, hey, let's we don't care if we rack up a
11:16
couple yellows here. Let's make them feel us.
11:19
Let's make it tough on them. Let's make it a nasty, kind of
11:22
gritty type game. Yeah, but shout out to Eintrac.
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Frankfurt smashed them. That's good to know.
11:26
See, I'm too focused on the NWSL over here.
11:29
I totally missed what was what was going down today over in
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frowned Bundesliga. We know what it is with Eintrac
11:35
Frankfurt. They have a lot of good players.
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They're a well organized team, put in a valiant effort in last
11:40
year's Champions League. Now, Frankfurt sitting second in
11:43
the table and Wolfsburg sitting in fifth, three points behind
11:47
Leverkusen and Frankfurt. Looking at those Champions
11:49
League spots now, luckily they've only played four matches
11:51
in the season, so it's very, very young.
11:53
But yeah, they're going to be one of the most interesting
11:56
squads throughout this entire tournament.
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Absolutely. I mean, I penciled them into the
12:02
knockout stage already and now I'm just kind of like, oh, maybe
12:04
could they be vulnerable here? They got Roma, they got to go to
12:07
Roma and open things up. Speaking of associate Sione
12:11
Sportiva de Roma, they open the group stage at home against the
12:16
aforementioned Wolfsburg side. Another big win today for Roma,
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3 to one over Napoli. That gives them four straight
12:21
wins, 16 goals in those four after opening the season with
12:24
two draws. So I think they're they're
12:26
starting to get it cooking and leaning heavy, heavy, heavy on
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their big 3. Evelyn Vien, Manuela Giuliano
12:32
and Valentina Giacinti today, Giuliano gets 2, Evelyn Vien
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Terminator, she gets 1. So I mean, this team, this from
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the team, they know who they are from an attacking standpoint.
12:41
I think their confidence is only growing with each match.
12:44
I think last season, obviously they won Siri off Emineo and the
12:47
Champions League. They were kind of spunky.
12:48
They were dangerous, got some results where we weren't
12:50
necessarily expecting them. I think this season they'll be a
12:52
little bit of a different flavor.
12:53
I think they're coming in feeling like you are three.
12:56
We feel pretty good about, you know, lining up with pretty much
12:58
any 3 barring maybe a couple of those very top, top top teams.
13:02
So Roma's not going to feel like they're out of any game and
13:05
they're going to get a great test against Wolfsburg.
13:07
I don't think Roma's extremely tough at home necessarily.
13:10
Not the not the scariest place to play.
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I know that they've they've dropped some results at home,
13:14
but I don't know, Wolfsburg coming off a legit thumping
13:17
going to Roma. I don't know, I'm kind of I'm
13:18
excited for this one matchup wise.
13:21
Anything you're going to be looking for specifically?
13:23
So Giuliano and VN each have three goals apiece in this young
13:28
Syria femoneal season. I'm going to be real interested
13:31
to see you got the veteran, you got one of the smartest players
13:34
on the field at all times, Saki Kuma guy for Roma, her center
13:37
back partner Minami. They're gonna have a hell of a
13:40
time trying to play physical with Lyneth Berenstein.
13:43
And then you still have Alexandra Poppin and you LeBron
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floating around out there. I think the key to these two
13:49
matches is going to be can Roma absorb that pressure and then
13:54
try to get it out to the trio of Giuliano VN and Gia Chinti and
13:59
try to really make the most out of their chances in those
14:02
counter situations. Absolutely, and I think a couple
14:04
of their players for Roma have stood out for sure already early
14:07
in the season. I know Julia Dragoni, she put a
14:11
nasty strike on the bar that was just inches from from hitting.
14:14
I think Kumagai and Mina me have both scored this season.
14:17
You kind of check me on that. So I think it's more than just
14:19
the three headed monster. I think this team is playing a
14:21
more cohesive brand of attacking football.
14:23
I can see this one kind of going going either way.
14:25
And then the result from this morning kind of scared me a bit.
14:28
If I had to make a pick here, which I don't, but I kind of, I
14:31
kind of would lean slight lean to Roma in this one, which show.
14:35
Wow. Surprised me, you know, based on
14:38
kind of where I was at. I don't know.
14:39
We'll see. I could be wrong.
14:41
All right, hey, you know what, buddy?
14:43
The possibility of being wrong has never stopped me from making
14:46
all kinds of predictions on this podcast.
14:48
So you know, I don't. I like where your head's at.
14:50
I think I am stationed firmly on the Wolfsburg bandwagon.
14:55
I think when these European fixtures happen, I think they
14:58
are going to be as locked in as any other team in the
15:02
competition. I think they're going to lean on
15:04
that history. They're going to lean on that
15:05
pedigree and I'll go one more. I'm going to go, I'm going to go
15:08
completely opposite of you. For anybody who accuses us of
15:11
agreeing too much in this podcast, I think they'll push
15:14
Leon and possibly win this group.
15:17
Ooh I like it. Leon just looks so good though.
15:20
I mean. They are great.
15:22
It's so tricky because we're so early in the season that, you
15:25
know, we kind of joked about this was across sports.
15:27
I think we all fall into this trap.
15:28
We're just like, I don't know, looked unbeatable and then like
15:31
a bad result. You're like, something's off
15:33
here. Right.
15:35
So, well, if that keeps happening.
15:37
Yeah, exactly. The old pendulum is swinging
15:39
pretty wildly this early, but luckily we get to just watch it,
15:43
break it down, have fun, enjoy it, take it all in.
15:45
And Speaking of all of this tremendous football, this right
15:49
around the corner. Let's shift gears.
15:50
Group B Tuesday 3 yeah. So once you get your Group A out
15:54
of the way, get your couple matches got your two screens.
15:57
You asked me about this a couple weeks ago actually was 3
15:59
screening at one point Nice had my TV, had my laptop and then
16:03
the little picture in picture in laptop watching my little 2 1/2
16:05
year old son on the old baby monitor.
16:07
You know, not in the day nappy, So you already know what time it
16:10
is. So I, I, I, I backed off my very
16:14
firm one screen stance and I found myself A3 screening at
16:17
last week. Just taking care of business on
16:19
all fronts. Dad of the year I respect that
16:21
always let's talk about group BI want to kind of I want to run
16:25
through this a little bit not to not to take anything away from
16:28
these squads, but just in the interest of time I want to I
16:31
want to do a little a little zip through here first match couple
16:35
of little underdog clubs. Nobody really thinks that highly
16:38
of Chelsea Football Club and Real Madrid.
16:42
Oh wait a minute. That's actually pretty important
16:44
Chelsea they were semi finalists last year.
16:46
They lost a 2 to one to Barcelona on aggregate after one
16:49
of the most impressive performances of the year, pretty
16:51
much from any club team when they defeated Barcelona in the
16:54
first leg. One nil or Myra Ramirez was just
16:57
an absolute bulldozer in that first match.
16:59
Chelsea, their perennial challenger for this trophy.
17:03
And while we're throwing around the takes, I don't think
17:06
Chelsea's window is like closing super fast.
17:09
They're great team. Their women's side has a great
17:11
infrastructure and people who make great decisions.
17:14
We won't discuss the men's side. That's not important.
17:16
It's always worth a good laugh, but we'll leave that.
17:18
That's another podcast. Two other Bros can do that
17:20
podcast, but I did just want to point out.
17:23
So yes, they added Lucy bronze champion, great pedigree leader
17:27
is still a great player. She's 32 years old.
17:30
They have Millie bright. She's 31 girl right in this 30
17:32
Eve Paris A is 29. Ashley Lawrence is 29.
17:35
Khadija Buchanan is 28. Johanna written Kanaru.
17:38
She's 27. So I'll still say written Kanaru
17:41
still in her prime. But you know, Millie Bright girl
17:43
right in Lucy bronze Paris A in Lawrence, very important
17:47
players. And again, they're not over the
17:50
hill. Millie Bright has kind of been
17:52
battling some nagging injuries over the last like couple years.
17:55
Like when you bring in Sonja Bone Pastor, the only person in
17:59
the world who has won the UEFA Women's Champions League as a
18:03
player and a manager and twice as a captain in 11 and 12 and
18:06
once as a manager in 2021, that is a signal that we are really
18:11
trying to win this thing. It's the only trophy that's
18:13
missing from the case. And so I just I just want to say
18:16
I think there's going to be a sense of urgency with this
18:18
Chelsea side. It's not like they lack that
18:21
with Emma Hayes. But you can see the window.
18:24
Maybe it's not closing fast. It's starting to inch close
18:27
maybe, possibly if that's a take.
18:31
I mean, it's a take. It's definitely a take I think
18:35
I'm trying to put get myself into the into the same
18:37
headspace. I'm glad you mentioned Canada,
18:39
but like when you think about the LJS, the Maya Ramirez's, you
18:43
know, Sam Kerr is probably she's on a timetable of some sort.
18:47
I do want to make a case though for the WSL and the not the
18:52
emergence, but like the elevation of that league and the
18:54
competition there. Yeah, obviously we'll get to
18:56
Barcelona a little bit here, but they win a game. 12:50 That's
18:59
just not really a score line that you would see in the modern
19:01
WSLI Think occasionally, but I think it's probably more of like
19:04
a league FD 1F type score line. So I think there might be a case
19:09
to be made where, OK, these players are not they're not post
19:12
prime, right? That's probably like on the back
19:13
half of their prime. You know, these aren't, you
19:15
know, mid 30s, late 30s players coming over to the MLS for the
19:19
last couple paychecks. These are great, great, great
19:22
players. And they've got a great manager
19:24
coming in, you know, who knows what it takes, who's seen
19:27
everything first hand, like literally first hand.
19:30
So I'm excited for this Chelsea side.
19:31
They are taking on Real Madrid, another one of the teams that I
19:35
don't know. I learned something about myself
19:37
recently that apparently I have a soft spot for Las Blancas
19:40
here. Just one goal allowed, four
19:42
matches in League F, no draws, no losses, four wins, tied for
19:47
first on points, some goal differential, moving and shaking
19:50
up at the top of the league there.
19:51
I I just really like that the additions that they made and I
19:54
think a great encapsulator of those additions was Alba
19:57
Redondo's punctuator to give Real Madrid their fifth goal in
20:02
their tie against Sporting CP. That was just.
20:04
An absolute rocket and also a little bit of a I'm here right
20:08
now like, yeah, I'm in the mix. Like there better be a game plan
20:11
for me. There better be minutes for me.
20:13
I'm a professional goal scorer. Get me the ball, get me chances.
20:17
And you already know I'm a deliver.
20:18
Like that goal kind of had that, that kind of vibe to it.
20:21
Yeah, professional goal scorer is the way to describe Redondo.
20:25
I mean, you know, in the past three years for Levante, she has
20:30
3050 damn near 60 goals, somewhere in that ballpark.
20:34
Well, you know, she was, she had 28 in the 2223 season, in 18
20:38
last year. You get her in a good position
20:40
where Olga Carmona is able to kind of feed her the ball.
20:43
And I just want to bring up Caroline Weir.
20:45
I know we've talked about her a little bit.
20:46
Her return. She had nineteen goals and 12
20:49
assists in their last full season in League F.
20:53
That was the 2223 season. She already has two goals and
20:56
one assist this year. She looks like she's poised to
20:59
be mostly back. She's in her age 29 season.
21:02
She's coming off that ruptured ACL in September of 2023.
21:06
I'm with you. I like Real Madrid's additions.
21:09
I don't mean to undersell Chelsea.
21:11
And I'm glad you brought up Sam Kerr too.
21:13
I think we will see her. I mean, she tore her ACL like in
21:16
November. So she's probably on some kind
21:18
of timetable. She might, you know, maybe she
21:20
might appear at the end of this group stage or she might be
21:23
ready for the knockout. So that'll be interesting to
21:25
see. Girl rightness looks great for
21:27
Chelsea. I just want to kind of circle
21:29
back and you mentioned the big wins.
21:31
I think you're right that it probably is more rare in the
21:34
WSL. I don't think they're blowing
21:36
through teams the way Barcelona was, especially last year.
21:39
But Chelsea did defeat Crystal Palace 7 nil on Friday.
21:43
Eggy Beaver Jones got a goal. Lucy Bronze got in the mix.
21:46
LJ was there girl right and scored a brace and then
21:49
Capicario scored one late. I think you're the way you could
21:53
kind of talked about this has me thinking.
21:55
I don't know if the windows closing.
21:56
I I don't know how to describe it, though.
21:58
It's just like you got to get one if you're Chelsea, like you
22:02
just have to be looking at like, man, we are so close.
22:04
We had Emma Hayes. We thought we were going to get
22:06
it done. You don't take a step back at
22:09
all by poaching Sonia bone pastor from Lyon.
22:12
No, like it's got to happen in when one of these next few years
22:16
or then the demons start to crawl in and people start
22:19
thinking will it ever happen? I think it really comes down to
22:23
the mentality of the players in the locker room and how they
22:27
feel about Barcelona. Last season we kind of talked
22:30
circles around that match. Obviously they they go to
22:32
Barcelona, take that first one, one nil.
22:35
That match single handedly puts Aaron Cuthbert into the ITC Hall
22:37
of Fame, so Congrats on that. Maya Ramirez obviously was the
22:41
story of that match as well. Doesn't appear in the second
22:43
fixture at Chelsea and Barcelona gets 2.
22:47
They advance and I think it's fair to say Chelsea looked more
22:51
dangerous interest, more threatening than Leon did in the
22:53
final. And obviously you're you're
22:55
without Ramirez the second match up and then you're out without
22:58
Sam Kerr, right, who's maybe the first or second or third best
23:01
player in the world at full health.
23:02
So if you're Chelsea, it's a kind of like how do you feel
23:04
about that? Do you feel like you kind of
23:06
overachieve, get into the semi final pushing Barcelona, or do
23:09
you feel like, fuck, we we let that one get away in MAS last
23:12
season? I would probably feel like it's
23:15
more like the latter because they bullied that first match
23:19
against Barcelay. They were really on the level.
23:21
And then there was also the Khadija beginning red card
23:24
against Barcelona fucked up the whole match.
23:25
So there's a lot of what ifs that you could tie to that.
23:27
Now it's funny because these two teams, Chelsea were Real Madrid.
23:30
They were matched up last season, the same group stage.
23:33
And you talked about revenge tour with Willsburg.
23:35
I think this is another revenge tour team, potentially Real
23:37
Madrid looking at Hey, we, we, we we put up an over last group
23:42
stage match, didn't win a single match.
23:44
I think they scraped out a drawer to over the six.
23:46
I do not think that's going to happen again this season.
23:48
I think they're going to really push teams.
23:50
They're just playing every kind of minute like it's stoppage
23:54
time play, you know, and they're down a goal like like the
23:57
intensity definitely, definitely ratcheted up.
23:59
I don't I know that they're going to show up these group
24:01
stage matches and not let the 1st 1015 minutes, 20 minutes go
24:04
by feeling like they're working themselves into the game.
24:07
I feel like we're going to see Real Madrid like really gunning
24:10
early. I'm super excited to see this
24:12
matchup. What a tasty pair of thieves
24:14
going at each other. Chelsea should have the
24:16
advantage there at home, but well, this one, they opened the
24:19
season last year, I think the same two teams.
24:22
They sure did. It was a 22 draw.
24:24
So yeah, there you go. 2, two, draw.
24:25
Madrid's gonna be coming in feeling like we can get a result
24:27
out of this match. I do want to skip ahead, though.
24:29
One more matchup. This is a fun one.
24:32
Celtic FC-20, Tuesday, 3:00 PM. The other Group B matchup, this
24:37
one going down in Glasgow. What do we need to know about
24:40
this one? Yes.
24:41
So the Hoops, as they are nicknamed because of their
24:44
circular Crest, already endearing themselves to us for
24:48
our love of basketball. The Hoops are six wins, one
24:52
draw, 0 losses. Right now in the Scottish
24:53
Women's Premier League, they're letting goals by 24 year old
24:57
Irish attacking midfielder Saoirse Noonan.
25:00
She has six goals already on the young season.
25:02
Noonan also added a hat trick in the first match of qualifiers,
25:05
her fellow midfielder Maria McInerney, a 20 year old Scotty.
25:10
She's second on the team with four goals in five matches so
25:13
far. Far that she's played in the
25:14
league. They are paired with 25 year old
25:17
Scottish midfielder Shannon McGregor, who they signed this
25:19
summer. She's added two goals during
25:21
qualifiers. I am really excited to see them
25:24
line up against 20 and just get into an old fashioned wrestling
25:28
match of a football game, try to play physical, try to control
25:32
the ball in the midfield. I just think that this has the
25:35
potential to be like 2 teams that we frankly just don't know
25:38
a ton about. It's hard to watch the Scottish
25:40
Women's Premier League in America, it's hard to watch full
25:42
matches of air the busy Brown in the Netherlands.
25:46
So I want to see these two teams line up.
25:48
I'm going to tune in on the zone because they actually do a good
25:51
job of showing all these matches to us and I want to see all 90
25:55
minutes of this so I can start making some real opinions about
25:57
these teams. I love it.
25:58
Shout out to the Zone. Hell yeah.
26:00
Getting excited to have them back in the mix.
26:02
And yeah, it is tough finding some info.
26:05
Like I had to search far and wide to find out what Celtic did
26:08
this morning against Montrose Ladies in the second round of
26:12
the SWPL Cup. Turns out gave him a smack in
26:14
seven nil in the second round of that competition.
26:18
FC 20. This is a team veteran team team
26:21
with a lot of poise team a lot of toughness a team that won the
26:25
Eddie divisi round last season. You know they've got that
26:28
championship DNA that's a tough league.
26:29
We already know they opened the season this morning with a three
26:32
one win over Fortuna sitard. So they're kind of back to their
26:35
winning ways and then obviously qualifying.
26:37
They ran through the field there as well, outscoring their 4th
26:41
their their four opponents 20 to one.
26:43
They're take no shit mode for sure.
26:45
I think defensively it's going to come down to can Celtic kind
26:48
of breakthrough against 20. I think it's going to be
26:51
physical. Is Celtic going to be able to
26:53
find anything against against that unit?
26:55
I wonder. What level of confidence 20 is
26:57
going to have? I mean, obviously we're always
26:59
talking about professional athletes here, though, but if
27:01
you're 20, you might think like, OK, let's look at the other
27:05
leagues that we're talking about in our group.
27:07
So obviously you have Chelsea, they're one of the favorites
27:09
every time we walk into this competition.
27:11
You have Real Madrid, they play in League F.
27:13
We got to get fat off these wins against Celtic, like we have to
27:18
try to boost the goal differential.
27:19
We got to try to pick up three points.
27:21
I don't think for a single 2nd 20 is going to be afraid when
27:25
they go play Real Madrid, they're probably going to think
27:27
we're the Champions of our league.
27:28
We can come in on level terms, but I think that's going to kind
27:32
of play a role here. And if you're Celtic, your point
27:34
is well taken. Like if you're Celtic, do you
27:37
try to absorb that pressure and then try to attack Tuente's
27:39
defense? And if Tuente's defense can hold
27:41
up to that kind of play, they should probably have some
27:44
success. I want to shout out, you know, I
27:46
talked about the midfielders for Celtic.
27:48
I, I look at Tuente in a similar way, Midfielder Kaylee Van
27:51
Doren. She only played in five matches
27:53
in narrative of the round last season.
27:55
She played in all four qualifiers for the Champions
27:58
League here, scored four goals, including an early brace in that
28:01
one of those first matches against Cardiff City.
28:03
They also have 23 year old versatile player.
28:06
She's a winger, she's a defender.
28:08
Alika Towin. Please sound off in the
28:11
comments. I think it's Towin, but it's
28:13
spelled TUIN, but it's Dutch. I was looking for good
28:15
pronunciations. Having a hard time finding him
28:17
on the Internet. Please help your boy out.
28:19
She had a good set of matches versus OCIC.
28:21
She scored in the first leg on what looked kind of like a shot
28:24
slash pass, a good old fashioned chass.
28:27
But then she scored in the second leg on a great free kick.
28:30
So again, like, I don't want to beat a dead horse.
28:33
I'm looking forward to learning more about these two teams, but
28:36
that's going to come from us obviously watching these
28:38
matches. But let us know.
28:40
We know we got pals in the Netherlands and we're we're
28:43
trying to make new friends in beautiful Scotland.
28:46
So please let us know who should we be looking out for?
28:49
What are some kind of like historical benchmarks, you know,
28:52
history of managers, history of players, Just help educate us.
28:56
This is a learning podcast like we always like we always say,
28:59
and we're we're always open for business.
29:00
We're looking for new teams to fall in love with and root for.
29:03
As well absolutely got some good news.
29:06
It's going to be another two parter from your boys nice.
29:10
We're going to we're going to call it an episode here groups
29:13
A&B in the books Tuesday action cannot wait get us there already
29:17
we're ready. I'll just ask you just because I
29:19
do it every every show. Anything else you want to hit
29:21
before we get out of here? I think that's it.
29:23
We covered A&B as well as we could with the information that
29:27
we have right now. Just looking forward to October
29:29
8th. Let's go shout out to the zone
29:32
one more time. Quick programming reminder, we
29:34
will be back with Part 2 very, very soon.
29:36
Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, depending on when you're
29:38
listening to it. I mean, Part 2 might already be
29:40
there, who knows? Give it a little look, see, see
29:42
what you can find. We're also going to be back
29:43
later this week with an NWSL Match Week 23 weekend preview.
29:47
Just 4 remaining in the regular season.
29:49
Huge matchups in the NWSL Orlando Pride 22 straight
29:52
unbeaten, they take on the Washington Spirit.
29:54
Bunch of other great games to round out Match Week 23.
29:57
And as mentioned, we'll be back in just a few with Part 2 Group
30:01
C&D, so stick around for that. All right.
30:04
I'm going to say it this time. I think we did it.
30:07
So that's the joke. So, so come back, we're going to
30:11
talk about groups, C&D, stick around.
30:13
We got plenty more to talk about.
30:14
We will see you guys soon.