Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / INTO THE NWSL ⚽️ KC Wins Shield | Playoff Race On Fire | Orlando in Absolute Freefall | EP 170

Transcript

INTO THE NWSL ⚽️ KC Wins Shield | Playoff Race On Fire | Orlando in Absolute Freefall | EP 170 · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:03
OK, welcome to into the channel podcast Primal about once Bye.
0:09
I'm your host Dino de suspicious and as always, I am joined by my
0:12
Co host, Mr. Grant Engel. What is up man?
0:16
I'm feeling fantastic buddy. It's good for the The Sleepy
0:19
Boys podcast to return. Plenty of NWSL action to
0:24
discuss, plenty of things to look forward to.
0:28
Just excited to get into it with you.
0:30
I already feel myself in a little bit of a sleepy boys
0:32
after dark, you know, tone and and and tambor, just so you
0:36
know, I mean, we're we're creeping up on a Wednesday
0:39
morning here on the on the West Coast, but that's all right.
0:41
Still got some energy. We're midweek and we're we're
0:44
heading down the playoff stretch.
0:45
Man, I think it's so, so many things have been flipped upside
0:49
down. Like I was thinking earlier
0:52
today just about Orlando Seattle, like there was a point
0:55
where as Orlando Seattle followers, we were kind of
0:58
flying high. And now it just seems like every
1:01
team, you know, has sort of been in and maybe on the edge of the
1:04
playoff mix, except for the maybe Washington and and KC.
1:08
Those might be the only two. And on the on the bottom half,
1:10
you have a little bit of the same, but it, it's just been a
1:13
a, a wild, you know, last, you know, second-half of the season.
1:17
And and I don't know if you did this, but looking at everybody's
1:20
schedules, everybody's got five matches left.
1:22
Look at everybody's schedules. I'm just like, that's a tough
1:24
five, you know it. It doesn't matter what 5 is on
1:26
there. It's just like every everybody
1:28
seems like they have a loaded last five to kind of close it
1:32
out. Yes, and there was also there
1:34
would be if you look at that last five for some teams, there
1:37
was a point in the season where you could have looked at that
1:40
last five and be like, OK, you can come away with a good amount
1:44
of points out of that five. So it's just it's just constant
1:46
twists and turns in this league. I.
1:49
Don't know what I'm thinking about.
1:50
I'm like, oh, at Chicago and versus Utah.
1:53
That's that's no, that's no pinky game.
1:56
Well, what are you going to do? All right, man, well, match week
2:00
22. Wow, here we go A lot to cover
2:03
this this weekend. What do you want to get started?
2:06
Let's get started with a beverage, my good man.
2:08
I think we've earned it. It's been a it's been a long
2:12
week. Wait a minute, it's Tuesday
2:13
night. It's still been a long week.
2:17
It's been a Tuesday. Cheers.
2:19
Yes. Cheers to you.
2:21
Cheers to the football. I'm gonna pour it.
2:23
I'm going. I'm going to the glass again.
2:26
Damn I. Feel like I need to go throw a
2:28
tuxedo on. Although I feel pretty sharp for
2:30
my my my into the channel, my little ITC shirt hoodie thing.
2:36
You know? We went a layer, we went a layer
2:37
lighter than we did last week. Little warm here in NSF.
2:41
Little bit of a heat wave. Nice.
2:42
It's finally, finally getting nice and cool here in the
2:47
beautiful Pacific Northwest. It's about time I'm dealing with
2:51
this disgusting 80° high 70° weather for too long.
2:57
Back in the 60s temperature wise.
3:00
Where I like to, where I like to live.
3:02
So you know, I'm Speaking of the ITC merch wearing my premium
3:08
into the channel. Let's go ITC hoodie as well.
3:12
If you want to know what it feels like to be wrapped in the
3:15
arms of 1000 Angels, that's what it feels like to wear this
3:19
hoodie. Wonderful certainly sounds nice
3:22
and cozy, you know, sleepy boys cozy.
3:24
But like we're you know, this is I mean we're I feel theme get
3:28
generated here, but we still got a show to do.
3:30
Let's get into it lot of football the playoff race.
3:34
This is the final stretch. We'll go ahead and congratulate
3:38
the 2025 shield winners Kansas City current.
3:41
We were joking that they might get done September 26th.
3:44
Got it done a week before that A.
3:46
Cool. 43 days before the final match, they get to celebrate and
3:51
raise the shield and they do it with another two nil win.
3:55
You know, I've joked about that. I think when I started my, my
3:58
little 2 nil, you know, diatribe, it was a little bit,
4:02
you know, pejorative. But now I kind of like have
4:06
grown to really, really appreciate the, the dominance of
4:09
the two nil win. You know, they, they kind of
4:12
squeeze you in that first half. They get the goal that you
4:14
couldn't get and now you're chasing and then they just break
4:18
your back in the 70th or the 80th or whatever to get that
4:21
second one. They're 8th two nil win of the
4:24
season. I think kind of fluky, but also
4:26
kind of like indicative, like how they want to play and I
4:29
don't know, kind of kind of a cool quirk.
4:32
Absolutely. And it's a great, it was a great
4:33
call by you. You said it's their 8th 2 nil
4:36
victory of the season. They're it's their 5th 2 nil
4:41
victory of their last six wins. So of their last six wins, they
4:45
have 5 two nil victories. Maybe that's a smarter way to
4:47
say that. Yeah, they just kick everybody's
4:50
ass, like, and the more the more we do this, I really do believe,
4:54
at least when it comes to this league, I'm an objective
4:57
journalist. But for the away matches for
5:01
Seattle Rain, FCI am sitting next to a Seattle Rain FC super
5:05
fan who did not enjoy that match one bit, particularly the first
5:10
half. But they had no chance.
5:13
Seattle Rain had no chance going in there.
5:15
And I don't think that's any disrespect to them.
5:17
They just you're just not beating Kansas City current
5:20
right now. We talked about Orlando Pride in
5:22
this, in this, through this lens last year.
5:26
Kansas City current as it stands on September 23rd, 2025, if they
5:31
were to play Barcelona, if they were to play Chelsea, if they
5:34
were to play Lyon, if they were to play the Champions League
5:37
winner Arsenal, I think they they absolutely have a chance to
5:41
win any of those games. And then they would be super
5:43
competitive. They have the the speed, the
5:45
skill, the strength and everything you need to win those
5:48
games. Yeah, certainly at full
5:49
strength, I think everybody about Arsenal gives them, you
5:52
know, I mean, that's, that's probably what we're looking at
5:54
here. But their their, their string of
5:57
dominance is just it's pretty amazing.
5:59
You look at their XG for the year, 37.5 real G sitting at 40.
6:05
So they're outperforming their XG, which is already like the
6:07
best in the league. And then XG allowed 14.9 real G
6:11
allowed just 10. So a little bit of the the
6:14
defense effect, a little bit of the Lorena effect, and they're
6:18
just absolutely dominant. They're ahead, they're ahead by
6:20
16 points. The largest margin of victory to
6:24
win a shield is 15 in the history of the league.
6:28
They're already up by 16. So if they can maintain that,
6:31
that's that's a record setter, largest goal differential for a
6:35
whole season, 24 + 24. That was in North Carolina
6:37
Courage 2018 led by Limbiendolo, Dominia, Crystal Dunn, Sammy
6:41
Muniz. They're at plus 20.
6:44
So they're just four behind that.
6:46
So again, this is these are sort of unprecedented accomplishments
6:51
that, you know, Fladco on on maybe his revenge tour we talked
6:54
about last year. Maybe that was the start of the
6:56
revenge tour. Now revenge tour in full effect.
6:59
Another stat that I loved defensively, the average shot
7:02
distance versus KC. So not only do you have to beat
7:06
Lorena, but you have to beat her from an average of 19 1/2 yards
7:10
away. That is definitely no fun.
7:12
That's best in the league from a defensive standpoint.
7:15
So, you know, it's not just offensively.
7:17
Defensively, I think that that has become a little bit of their
7:19
backbone. And again, they're they're doing
7:22
more than enough offensively to basically, you know, carve out
7:26
these points and and grab all these wins, 17, two and two on
7:29
the season. Unbelievable.
7:30
Yeah, plus thirty goal differential.
7:32
The next closest team is is Gotham FC with a + 10.
7:36
Yep, Orlando Pride won the double last year when they when
7:40
they ended the season they had a + 26 goal differential, so
7:44
Kansas City's already out of that pace as well.
7:47
Thanks for clarifying that it was their goal differential was
7:49
not 20. They're 20 ahead of the second
7:51
place team and not what? That's what I meant with North
7:53
Carolina too. In 2018, N Carolina was 24 gold,
7:56
you know, goals ahead of the second place team.
7:59
KC has twenty goals ahead I believe of Gotham.
8:01
So it's the goal differential. Differential they're rarely
8:04
seen. GDD we've been doing nice and
8:07
done. We've been doing this show so
8:10
often and so long. I knew what you meant when you
8:13
said it. And so I didn't even issue that
8:15
as a correction. I I don't know for like, yeah,
8:18
no, I knew what I knew 100% what you meant.
8:20
And like, I was like, Oh yeah, now I get to say like what the
8:22
goal differential is like in, in plain terms, they just don't let
8:27
you do anything. Their defense is disruptive in
8:32
All in all kinds of great ways. And I I want to say like one
8:36
thing that I'm really interested in seeing is so they lift the
8:40
shield obviously very early, like you pointed out earlier,
8:44
and now they have quote UN quote nothing to play for for these
8:48
last five matches other than to get ready for the postseason.
8:52
And I think I want to go on record right now and say I think
8:56
they'll do just fine doing that. Like if you look at the make up
8:59
of their team, yes, they have great young players like
9:03
Sentinor, Cooper and Hutton, but think about like their real
9:08
leaders and the vets on the team.
9:10
Lola Bonta's 32, Dibinius 33, Rocky Rodriguez is 31, Bias 31,
9:16
Sharples is 28 and Chewinga 27. I mean, obviously like new into
9:20
our lives is like, you know, relatively the past couple years
9:24
women's football appreciators, but they have a good veteran mix
9:29
who is going to say, hey, look, we're going to I feel like
9:32
they're going to have the ability to let's go out there.
9:35
We're not going to get hurt, but we're going to stay sharp and
9:37
we're going to get ready because we've won the first trophy.
9:41
Now let's try to go lift the second.
9:43
I'm glad you brought this up. We're not going to fully, you
9:46
know, blow the top off of of the full blown rest versus rest
9:50
conversation, but I think we could do a version of it here
9:53
because I had the same, I had a very similar thought, but I
9:57
landed on a different conclusion.
9:58
And the lens I was looking at it through was last year's Orlando
10:01
Pride, who, you know, they lift the shield later, you know, in
10:05
the process, you know, obviously, I think they had like
10:07
3 or 4 matches left. They were closer to the finish
10:10
line. And even then they had a little
10:13
bit of rust. You know, like this Kansas City
10:15
side pushed them in the semi final, Washington pushed them in
10:17
the final. Like it, it was definitely, no,
10:20
it was definitely no walk. But you know, I think it's a
10:23
long time. And it's 43 days until the
10:26
season finale. So it's roughly 50.
10:29
We're talking about 7:00-ish weeks and I think these are
10:31
professionals. They can stay sharp, they can
10:33
stay in top condition. But then you think about these
10:36
other teams, Washington, Gotham, Portland, whoever you want to
10:40
think about, these teams are going to be scratching and
10:42
clawing, you know, for that two seed, two seed means you get 2
10:45
home games, you know, and that'll carry you all the way to
10:48
the final, you know, three seed, four seed, those, these are
10:50
important for for home playoff matches as well.
10:52
So these teams are going to be really chasing it, going for it
10:57
probably until the final weekend, you know, and assuming
11:00
that the health bug doesn't kind of bite some of these other
11:03
teams, it it's going to be a tough task.
11:06
And the eight seed, I don't think it's going to be the same
11:09
Mal Swanson less Chicago stars 8 seed that we saw last year going
11:13
to Orlando with zero chance. I think we're going to get, I
11:15
don't know, a relatively live eight seed and then you get to
11:17
the four seed or the four or five matchup could be tricky.
11:20
I'm I'm going to be really interested to see how they stay
11:22
sharp. Yeah, it's it's a it's a great
11:25
point. I mean, if you think about who's
11:27
in the mix for that eighth seed with five matches left, you have
11:31
Angel City Racing, Louisville, Houston Dash, North Carolina
11:35
Courage, Orlando Pride, Seattle Rain, San Diego Wave.
11:39
If they keep losing, any of those teams could kind of be
11:42
there in the A spot. It would be a little bizarro
11:46
world if the Pride keep not getting points.
11:50
We'll talk about that later is much as I don't think either of
11:53
us want to, how bizarre would be if you end up with the 18 your
11:58
Kansas City in your first match is going to be could potentially
12:02
be against the defending double winners could be very
12:04
interesting. Now it's a totally different
12:05
squad, obviously with no Barbara Benda, but you might get a
12:09
little bit more over a kind of used to playing in the system.
12:13
And it could be one of those situations where it's like, OK,
12:16
we won the league, we got the eighth seed and now here's our
12:19
reward. You end up with playing up
12:21
against some fantastic talent. Yeah, no, I think I, I kind of
12:25
hope that doesn't happen. That would be a long afternoon
12:28
for, for, for my, for our Orlando Pride.
12:31
I want to talk a little bit about the Orlando Pride, Go a
12:33
little bit out of order here. Last weekend, Orlando nil North
12:37
Carolina courage won. So you texted me on game day.
12:41
I I appreciate the nondescript quote.
12:44
You watching the pride? End Quote.
12:46
So that was your text. No spoilers.
12:47
I, I knew I knew that could mean one of three things.
12:52
One, yeah, Orlando's back, baby. Like, are you watching this?
12:56
I'm thinking, OK, that's that's the first place.
12:57
I'm like, maybe something's happening. 2, it's a bloodbath.
13:01
And I I don't want to. I don't want any part of it.
13:03
And three, ultimately, I think what we saw ultimate heartbreak,
13:09
obviously, Shanomi 89th minute, her first goal, a goal that
13:13
really absolutely broke my heart as an, as an Orlando pride fan
13:17
and follower. But then you look at Shonomi
13:18
smiling and celebrating, you know, with the, you know, the
13:21
rest of her team or her BFF, you know, Monaca and you're just
13:24
like, hey, you can't feel so, so bad, you know, watching a moment
13:26
like that. But just a, a, a terrible
13:30
stomach, punchy way to lose a match they really, really needed
13:34
against a team that they're probably going to be, you know,
13:37
clawing against pretty much for whatever's left of this 2025
13:40
season. Yeah, exactly right.
13:42
And to lose that way at home, there was a moment in the first
13:47
half I can't remember who took the shot.
13:50
It might have, yes, it might have been Lemos, I think who
13:53
took the shot. The keeper is out, Marissa
13:57
Jordan is off the line. And I think it was Lemos takes
14:00
the shot and Macy Bell just made a really good defensive play to
14:04
get back on the line and then block it off the line.
14:07
But it was one of those plays where I was just like, so just
14:10
nothing gets to go right for Orlando anymore.
14:13
Like that's got to be a goal. And again, credit to Macy Bell,
14:17
I'm not I'm not acting like this as luck.
14:19
You could see where she purposely gets back when she
14:22
sees the keeper, goes out, go out.
14:24
She then does the right thing as a defender and gets on the line.
14:28
But I was just like, God damn, last year.
14:30
That is a goal for Orlando. It's just, it was, it felt like
14:33
a stomach punch even in the first half.
14:36
At the end of the second-half, too, 90 + 9, a very, very
14:39
similar situation. The summer Yates screamer.
14:42
And like I, I, I think it was like 10 or 15 minutes before
14:45
that North Carolina gets into the match.
14:48
Natalie Jacobs, who they acquired from Houston from, from
14:51
Alea Berkeley. And I thought Jacobs had been
14:53
playing really, really well down the stretch for Houston.
14:56
So that was a slick, you know, kind of under the radar pickup
14:59
and, you know, she gets ejected into the game, Jacobs and then
15:03
she's right there, you know, to just little little Bunny hop to
15:06
kind of like get that get that header.
15:08
And and then even it was so much mustard on that Yates shot that
15:11
it it still almost snuck in, even though Jacobs made like
15:14
really good contact on it. And then you're just at that
15:17
point, you're just like, we can't even we can't even get a
15:19
late equalizer here. And I think just just the image
15:22
of the five Orlando players, you know, you know, when you when
15:25
you give up that Backbreaker goal.
15:27
And then there's just the extended one or two or three
15:30
second beat where everyone's just lying on the ground just
15:32
like I'm not getting up, you know, like this is I'm, I'm
15:35
done. Like I just, I, I can't even get
15:37
up right now. Just a really tough, tough
15:40
moment for Orlando. And I think we'll see, man.
15:43
I, I, do you think Orlando will be favored in any match down the
15:47
stretch based on what you saw? Oh boy, I don't have their.
15:53
Yeah, I should have had their schedule.
15:55
I would put you on the spot. Let's play the schedule game.
15:57
You know I love the schedule game.
15:58
So they're at San Diego Wave on Friday night.
16:03
Favored. Probably not.
16:06
They play Club America in the CONCACAF W Champions Cup on
16:10
Tuesday. Probably will play a rotating
16:12
squad in that one, but let's stick to the NWSL.
16:15
Then they're at Houston. Who's who?
16:18
We've talked about looks pretty solid and then they're home for
16:21
the Thorns on October 10th. Then they're at Washington
16:25
Spirit in the penultimate match of the season.
16:28
I'm going to go out on a limb and say they won't be favored in
16:30
that match unless I mean, maybe Washington has the 2 seeds sewed
16:34
up and they're resting players. And then they're home for
16:36
Seattle Rain FC, which I got to tell you, before the season
16:39
started, I wouldn't have thought that would be much of A toss up.
16:43
But man does that game scream nil nil draw to me right now.
16:49
That that game could also scream, you know, playoff spot
16:52
up for grabs, you know, last weekend season, you know, and
16:55
and it might not just be those two teams, it might be 3 or 4
16:57
teams trying to grab 2 spots. We'll see The North Carolina
17:02
courage, I want to talk about them a little bit.
17:04
So they take they take on your Seattle rain this weekend.
17:08
Defensively, they've been on a pretty nice run here.
17:11
I think post post Sean Neos, they've allowed ten goals over
17:14
their last eight matches. They're shot on target
17:17
percentage, though, best in the league, 31.2%.
17:20
So they're forcing you into bad shots.
17:22
We saw this with Orlando. Orlando was was able to get
17:25
pretty, pretty decent shots. But that North Carolina courage
17:27
defense, I think the way they're able to bully, it's impressive
17:31
and and it's it's definitely a thing.
17:32
It's definitely their DNA. It's definitely how they want to
17:34
play. And I think it is a strategy
17:37
that I think they can ride pretty deep into the into the
17:40
later part of the season. I mean, what's your what's your
17:43
read on on North Carolina? You saw them kind of strangle
17:46
Orlando Orlando's, you know, obviously struggle a little bit.
17:49
I think they're coming on. I mean, I, I had them, I went
17:52
back and I saw I, I had them predicted as fourth in my pre
17:55
season rankings and then I went ice cold on them.
17:58
I'm just like, I hate, I hate this team.
17:59
I hate watching this team. And now I'm just kind of like
18:01
now I kind of get it a little bit more.
18:03
I I kind of get what they're trying to do.
18:05
The goal was obviously a Backbreaker, but I really liked
18:09
that professionalism defensively.
18:11
Like they just are not going to give you anything easy.
18:13
You've got to beat them with something pretty spectacular
18:16
once they kind of shift into that mode.
18:18
Well, you go, you think about my old, the trusty, They have good
18:22
players mantra. You know where you think about.
18:24
You talk about defense and the offense.
18:26
You have Ryan Williams, Kaylee Kurtz, Macy Bell, the
18:29
aforementioned Macy Bell. Monaco's looks great, Tsunami
18:35
scored that first goal. They still have Courtney Vine,
18:37
they have Tyler Lucy like they have.
18:39
They have talent all across the roster and even with this, this
18:45
run of the defense playing well, especially in the last three
18:48
matches, this still is a team that's allowed thirty goals on
18:52
the season, which I think is tied for fifth most in the
18:55
league. So they were really poor really
18:59
early and like confusingly so on defense particularly.
19:03
But I, I'm sorry if, did you mention their two wins, 3 draws,
19:06
2 losses since firing Nejas? I know you said they, I think I
19:10
know you said they've been better since, since they they
19:12
fired naos for a multitude of reasons, but I think I don't
19:18
know. Here we go.
19:20
Here we go with the analysis. What, what the fuck do you even
19:24
make of them versus Seattle Rain FC?
19:26
Man, I don't know like which team, which team on either side
19:31
is going to show up. And I say this as a person who
19:33
watched, who obviously watches every Seattle Rain Football club
19:37
match very closely, either from the press box or on television.
19:41
And I just don't know. I just don't know who's going to
19:43
show up week to week. But I'm starting to, I'm
19:46
starting to fall into a a train of thought where I'm just not
19:51
expecting a lot of goals. That's fair.
19:53
And that's probably, you know, you're playing a good bit of
19:55
emotional defense against Seattle, which which I
19:58
appreciate, you know, just kind of that it makes a ton of sense
20:01
to me. This is really going to be one
20:04
of those matches where it's like what version of these club shows
20:07
up? Seattle's not going to quite
20:09
have their handle, but they're going to have to stay alert, you
20:11
know, pretty much 9090 plus minutes to to make sure they
20:14
don't give this one away. And then on the Seattle side,
20:17
it's kind of like, you know, you mentioned some of those players
20:20
on KC. Some of those veterans, Seattle
20:23
has a little bit of a a different issue.
20:26
I think it's kind of like take another little leap time, you
20:28
know, for some of the young players, Sally Menti, Sam Meza,
20:32
you know, Maddie, Dalene Adames, you know, like there's even you
20:37
know, I'm and I'm not sure the the official injury status, but
20:41
even like a Madison Courage or Naitama.
20:42
These are these are players not yet 25 years old, you know, so
20:46
you can assume there's still some growth there.
20:50
You know, there's still some evolution.
20:51
These aren't these aren't fully formed players yet.
20:53
And this is kind of like that point in time, You know, you
20:56
make the Bindolo signing, you know, some of the the previous
20:59
moves, you know, AMCG. So you know, like some of these
21:02
moves didn't sort of totally take.
21:04
And now not only is it an opportunity, but Seattle's
21:08
probably in need of one or two of those young players kind of
21:12
taking a leap. And, and this is sort of when it
21:14
happens, playoff time down the stretch, a good opportunity for
21:18
that and maybe a good match, a good match up, you know, to kind
21:21
of make that happen. And the stakes, they're, they're
21:23
absolutely there. For sure, I think it the the
21:26
part that could be tricky and early in the season it looked
21:29
like Maddie Dalene might be that attacking young player to kind
21:34
of take that leap. But you got to wonder like a a
21:37
full season wear and tear of playing against professional
21:41
athletes instead of playing against Atlantic Coast
21:44
Conference athletes is just going to be different, right?
21:47
Like, you're just going to, you might have, you know, a little
21:50
tougher time being fully physically fit for, for the end
21:53
of the matches when you're playing all these, all these
21:55
games against, you know, grown adults for the whole season.
21:58
So, you know, the attack, it's just not enjoyable to watch.
22:02
Seattle has media availability the morning after we record
22:08
this. So I'm guessing we'll get a me
22:09
official update at that time. I could just tell you, I mean,
22:13
part of it was felt like this is me guessing here.
22:16
I was actually I had something else a prior engagement.
22:19
So I wasn't able to be on the the zoom for the post match
22:23
press conference, but I watched it.
22:24
And so some of it seemed like Laura Harvey frustration just at
22:28
losing to nil, especially because she was not happy about
22:31
some of the officiating in that match, which is I don't blame
22:34
her. I don't blame anybody at this
22:35
point for not being happy with NWSL officiating.
22:37
It's awful. And in a lot of cases, I
22:40
digress. But Laura Harvey did not seem
22:43
optimistic about me officials injury.
22:46
She said she expected it. She expected it to be more than
22:50
a week. But luckily the shadow executive
22:53
producer of the show showed me like an Instagram Reel of me
22:58
official walking in a park. She was like, maybe she's OK.
23:02
And I was like, I was like, OK, yeah, maybe maybe she's OK
23:04
walking in a park. That's yeah.
23:07
You know, understanding that's different than playing a
23:09
football match. But we'll see.
23:10
But yeah, I don't know, man. Like they've scored two goals in
23:13
their last five matches and Casey Currents defenses is
23:18
suffocating. I will say if, if you want to
23:20
look, I, I don't mean to go wholly negative on this, they
23:24
were much more attacking and playing on the front foot in the
23:28
second-half of that KC current match.
23:30
Like they totally flipped. I think possession was it was
23:33
like 6040 KC's direction in the first half.
23:37
And I don't think KC was just like, OK, park the bus time and
23:41
Seattle was still able to flip the possession 6040 in their
23:45
favor in the in the second-half. It was a good total.
23:47
It was a total switch. And so I thought they they were
23:51
able to find a little bit of joy on the wings.
23:53
Nothing that really ever troubled Casey too much, but at
23:56
least there were some signs there.
23:57
You get the ball to Curry, You get the ball to Quert out on the
24:00
wing, see if they can, you know, kind of find some lanes and see
24:03
what you could do. So I'll be interested to see how
24:06
that works against North Carolina.
24:08
Obviously, Casey's tough. The North Carolina defense, No
24:11
walk in the park either. We'll keep an eye on that.
24:14
And I think it's just going to be like a moment to, I don't
24:17
know, like I think Huerta, Huerta's an interesting player
24:21
because obviously she comes back over.
24:23
You can see the splash pretty immediately.
24:25
You're like, OK, this this player is going to be able to do
24:27
stuff, but is it going to translate to any kind of
24:30
connectivity or any kind of like, I don't know,
24:33
effectiveness? And I think I think there's
24:36
shades of it there. And what's cool is like there's
24:38
just enough time left in the season to kind of leave, to have
24:41
some pivots, to have some like reroutes and, and, you know,
24:45
for, for some drama to kind of unfold here.
24:47
I want to take a really quick break because, you know, I'm
24:49
also just noticing that we're, we're both rocking our ITC gear.
24:53
Quick update, we did launch the merch store publicly.
24:56
We had some people comment on the in the on the video and also
25:01
on the streets out here in the in the Bay.
25:02
So shout out to everybody who who gave me a little head 9A
25:05
little what's up? You know, as I'm out here
25:06
repping the brand, but ITC merch store is live.
25:09
Head over to our link tree. We've got a lot of cool shit.
25:12
Basically everything we're wearing.
25:13
I kind of hit this point, obviously moving from Florida to
25:15
the West Coast. You know, I go from like short
25:17
sleeves and hoop shorts, you know, back to, you know, my, my
25:21
native hoodies and sweatpants. And maybe, you know, the ITC
25:25
merch store was an opportunity to kind of like refresh the old
25:28
wardrobe a little bit with some branded gear.
25:31
So I don't know, I might get in there and, you know, cook some
25:33
stuff up in the lab, you know, mix up some colors.
25:35
So definitely, I mean, just stay posted.
25:37
There's going to be a lot of hot shit, you know, just flowing
25:39
through there. And as you know, we're hitting
25:41
our own playoff stretch. So I don't know, you might see
25:43
some new looks here. We'll keep everybody up to
25:46
speed. But definitely check out our
25:48
link tree, check out the store. You got to grab something.
25:51
Obviously, we'd be immensely appreciative.
25:53
Can I, can I just totally irresponsible just throw
25:57
something out here that like there have been times where I've
26:00
seen merch for shows that I like.
26:02
You'd be like, oh, OK, that's that's pretty good.
26:05
I would like to see something in this color or maybe like in this
26:10
style. What if people just gave us some
26:13
suggestions? You know, you, you could treat
26:15
the YouTube comments as a suggestion box.
26:18
We'll see if we can make it happen on the merge store.
26:20
I mean, you know, it, it seems like pretty flexible in the
26:23
stuff we can design. So if there's something that
26:26
that fits your stees, let us know.
26:29
Maybe we can put it together. Absolutely.
26:31
That's the good part about this show.
26:33
Obviously you guys drop knowledge in the comments.
26:35
You give us some some updates, maybe Fact Check us from time to
26:38
time. We need that.
26:40
Well, I'll also need I can always take any fashion advice I
26:43
could possibly get and you know let's just keep it at Benny
26:47
here. If I'm going to be designing
26:49
something, it's going to be a black piece of clothing.
26:52
So if the people who don't only wear black, just be like, hey,
26:57
what if you mixed in some colours?
26:58
I'll be like, Oh yeah, I forgot colours.
27:00
OK, cool. We can do that.
27:01
Just make sure you tell me what it is because I you can't trust
27:04
me to design it myself. I mean, you know, it's slimming.
27:07
I think we're we're already doing that.
27:08
I'm feeling good about, you know, how we're how we're
27:10
presenting this Eve don't. Don't give my secrets away.
27:14
I just like wearing the colour black.
27:16
Nothing about slimming. It's political saving, right?
27:22
Last week known on Seattle. I think, you know, obviously we
27:24
we talked about Seattle offensively and some of those
27:26
offensive woes defensively. They're still there.
27:29
You know, they're, they're still doing what they do.
27:31
They're still making it, you know, difficult.
27:33
And a player that I kind of wanted to highlight a little
27:36
bit. You still got Claudia Dickey
27:37
back there who Yep, you know, again, the the good part about
27:41
heading down the stretch is you don't need to figure out how to
27:45
beat every conceivable team in every conceivable way.
27:49
Now it's really about embracing fully that identity.
27:54
Here's who we are. Here's what we're about.
27:57
South Seattle, maybe behind Dickey or maybe in front of
28:00
Dickey has the chance to kind of like re re embrace that
28:04
defensive identity. It's felt a little bit
28:06
experimenting a lot of line up fluctuation.
28:08
I'm, I'm curious, I kind of what the, what the conversation has
28:11
been. You know, you know, you're in
28:12
the room and you know, you're hearing some of the grumblings,
28:15
but is there an opportunity kind of for them to shift gears to go
28:20
more defensive and be like, this is this is how what we have to
28:22
do? Or do you sort of feel like
28:24
they're still tinkering with the recipe?
28:26
I I don't think they could go more defensive if they tried.
28:29
I mean, it's really the only way that they've been able to
28:32
scratch out results, especially lately.
28:36
I'm glad you bring up Claudia Dickey.
28:37
So she is now second in the league in saves.
28:40
She's three behind Mandy Mcglinn for Utah Royals with 73 saves to
28:45
Mcglinn's 76. But she is also now she eclipsed
28:50
Aubrey Kingsbury in the very nerd stat, but the very cool
28:55
stat in my view, Post shot XG minus goals allowed.
29:00
So a couple weeks ago after the victory over Racing Louisville
29:05
where they had to get that victory, you know they had to
29:07
play the second-half on a different day.
29:10
I was at the post match press conference after that
29:12
second-half was played and Jess Fishlock and Claudia Dickey were
29:16
available in the post match presser.
29:19
And so I, I gave both of those stats to Dickey.
29:22
Now Dickey was still second in the league in post shot XG minus
29:26
close allowed. And Claudia Dickey, a young
29:29
player, clearly a very humble, mindful young athlete, gave a
29:35
lot of credit to her defense and said, you know, they they forced
29:39
people into a lot of easy shots and I'm just out here doing
29:42
clean up duty. Well, once she she gave me that
29:46
kind of answer and it's a press conference.
29:48
So I didn't have the room to be like, well, actually, the post
29:51
shot XG minus goes aloud means you make some really good saves
29:53
too. Like I didn't have time to get
29:55
into all that with her. So I just kind of like head
29:57
nodded and, you know, thanked her for her answer.
30:00
But Jess Fishlock, the leader, the captain, the legend that she
30:03
is, immediately jumped in and she had this to say.
30:08
And I think, you know, for me, I, you know, I, I start my
30:13
career here with hope and goal. And that's how I felt with hope
30:15
and goal. And I feel exactly the same now
30:20
with Claude and goal. And I think that that is one of
30:24
the biggest compliments you could ever kind of have.
30:26
But that's the confidence that Claudia gives us in knowing that
30:29
we have her in our Nets and not just not just says, but with the
30:33
bullet of feet 2. She's an extra player for us.
30:35
And you know, I can't speak highly of this girl.
30:38
She's been absolutely fantastic for us, so I will speak when
30:42
Claudia can't speak and compliment herself.
30:47
Pretty awesome. Pretty good.
30:49
So I think the part that you can't see there is that I'm
30:53
obviously sitting, you know, sitting behind the camera asking
30:57
the question is that when Jess Fishlock evokes the name of Hope
31:02
Solo, I just have absolutely no poker face and just kind of give
31:06
her one of these because, you know, Hope Solo, arguably the
31:14
best goalkeeper of the last 25 years, like absolutely on the
31:19
list. Like on the short list of one of
31:22
the most dynamic, athletically gifted, smart, good with the
31:27
ball shot stopping goalkeepers that, you know, most people have
31:32
ever seen. And again, like we always say,
31:34
like we don't claim to be historians, but if you just look
31:38
there, you know, plenty of articles from from people who
31:41
are more historians. She's way, way, way up there.
31:44
Not just like, oh, she played for the US women's national team
31:47
and she was good, but she had a great career for Seattle Raid
31:50
and is a legendary goalkeeper. So when I said that, Fishlock
31:54
then kind of said, and I and that's a very high compliment.
31:58
Like she was kind of like she was clearly kind of reacting off
32:01
the look I gave like, Yo, that's super high praise you're giving
32:04
here. And so it's it's interesting to
32:08
say. And I just don't think, I don't
32:09
think Jess Fishlock would just throw that around for no reason.
32:12
I don't think so either. I'm like, I'm like, you know,
32:15
that it doesn't seem like something she would do.
32:16
It doesn't seem like Claudia Dickey was at a moment where she
32:20
needed that necessarily. Yeah, exactly.
32:22
Didn't need that. Like, it didn't need to be set
32:24
at all. So that's kind of what makes me
32:27
think that there's there's something to it.
32:29
And it also makes me think that there's something to Dickey's
32:32
game that we haven't seen. You know, I mentioned those
32:34
players offensively, can they take a leap?
32:36
You know, maybe maybe Claudia Dickey's the one that says, Hey,
32:39
I'm I'm I'm now that keeper in this league and I'm going to I
32:43
can carry this team. I don't know, to the to a who
32:45
knows. I mean, like, you know, we saw
32:47
on Katrinberger, like do what she did for Germany, you know,
32:51
obviously for Gotham last year. So the keepers can get hot.
32:55
Lorena obviously huge effect, you know, on on Kansas City's
32:59
success defensively. So who knows?
33:01
I mean, it might be fish seeing like some of the tea leaves and
33:05
I don't know, something coming around the corner and, and
33:06
wanting to get out ahead of it. She certainly got the football
33:09
IQ to, you know, to, to be able to make a claim like that.
33:12
And I wouldn't give Jess fish like that face.
33:15
But obviously you've built up a little bit of rapport in there
33:19
And, you know, I, I, I trust you.
33:21
So if you gave her the face, I stand by the face you gave her.
33:24
I was just surprised. It's just like a lot it, you
33:26
know, it's a lot of pressure to kind of put on a young player to
33:30
be like, hey, you know who you remind me of one of the greatest
33:33
goalkeepers most people have ever seen.
33:35
Like that's it. It felt like a lot.
33:37
And I was like, I was really surprised that she did it.
33:40
But like you and I are talking about, I think she she probably
33:43
did it for a reason and did it because she meant.
33:45
It you know, I, I told you that you remind me of a young Michael
33:49
Jordan. You know, that's it.
33:50
I don't know. I don't, I don't think we've
33:51
ever actually been Hoopa. I know we're both hoopers.
33:53
Well, maybe when we get when you get out to the Bay, maybe, I
33:56
don't know. We'll we'll lace them up and get
33:57
out there and, you know, just get some shy ice up.
34:00
Yeah, man, I got good health insurance these days, thank
34:02
thankfully. Yeah, yeah.
34:03
No Achilles though. No, no Achilles injuries.
34:06
Let's be safe. We'll, we'll be smart out here.
34:08
No, it's all stationary. Just get get shots up.
34:11
I love I love that plan. I'm.
34:12
More than any Darius Garland. Not a Michael Jordan, but I, I,
34:15
I appreciate it. I like that.
34:17
Is that Is that your game, Darius Garland?
34:19
A little bit, yeah. Like I could, I can legitimately
34:22
not just a white A yeah yeah for sure.
34:26
I love to practice the floater and not just a white guy who
34:30
says he can shoot 3 pointers. I can shoot him.
34:33
I practice. Him.
34:34
Let's go. I can shoot him and I'll tell
34:36
you a weird thing. This is a very odd sidebar.
34:38
When he came into the league, I was like, oh, I like his shot.
34:41
I feel like that makes sense and I my shot got better from
34:45
watching the way he shoots. I like it, Yeah.
34:48
There's just I'm, I'm more of like a 2000s, early 2000s, kind
34:52
of a big forward that could pass, could shoot.
34:56
I think Mike Miller is probably a good comp for how I played.
35:00
I would say that's the closest comp.
35:01
I'd say slightly better shooter, I think, but we'll talk about
35:05
that one later. Gotham, Portland.
35:08
This is a big one, man. I think, yeah, we had three
35:10
matchups of top eight teams and this one is probably the
35:13
tastiest. 3rd place Gotham. 4th place Portland.
35:16
Opens the weekend Friday night 5:00 PM Pacific.
35:20
Gotham is here. This is a real team.
35:23
They're they will absolutely be heard from Portland.
35:26
I feel like it's cooled off a little bit.
35:28
They've been out ex cheed in six straight matches.
35:31
One win, 3 draws, 2 losses over that stretch -2 goal
35:35
differential over that stretch. They're in the middle of the
35:37
pack defensively. Portland, I think we we think
35:40
about them as like, you know, this hounding, harassing kind of
35:44
physical defensive team, but pretty much across all the major
35:46
metrics, they're right middle of the road, perfectly average,
35:50
maybe smidge above average defensive team.
35:53
And then I think it's just going to come down to offensively,
35:55
what can they do? And now they're heading to the
35:59
northeast to take on Gotham. And it's really one of those
36:03
situations where it's like, I kind of feel like Gotham's going
36:05
to get two goals and I'm not sure Portland's going to get two
36:08
goals. And it's going to be maybe that
36:10
kind of game. And, and I, I'm not sure that
36:14
that's kind of where where, where these teams are at.
36:16
That's I sort of feel like that's where these teams are at.
36:18
At this point of the season. You can count on Gotham to kind
36:22
of like piece together some, some, some offense.
36:25
I love that they're sinking a stair deeper into the midfield,
36:27
getting her more touches, getting her more involved.
36:30
She obviously gets gets, I think her first assist of the season.
36:34
Just another thing to worry about, if you have to defend
36:35
Gotham and some of those players are kind of coming on, the
36:38
chemistry is kind of like picking up and Portland, a team
36:41
that started out really, really rock solid, is kind of left
36:46
maybe having to maybe reintroduce some new quirks,
36:49
some new wrinkles offensively, defensively to kind of like, I
36:52
don't know, catch, catch some of these teams off guard.
36:54
I think maybe the book is a little bit out on Portland, but
36:56
when you look at this match up, obviously super high stakes.
36:59
What are you going to be watching for?
37:01
Game of the week. I think it's the game of the
37:02
week it happens on. I think it happens on Friday.
37:05
Spirit Dash. That should be that should be
37:07
really good. I'm with you, man.
37:10
Gotham continues to impress. I think the I think what
37:14
happened against Bay FC was more of a hiccup than an indicator of
37:19
what we can expect for the rest of the year.
37:22
I mean, that Kundanagi shot was just a worldy.
37:25
So like, yeah, what do you get? You kind of throw your hands up
37:28
that that's going to happen sometimes and especially in this
37:32
league where where weird stuff happens.
37:34
But you know, you and I have talked about it.
37:36
They got the championship DNA all over the squad.
37:40
It feels like they know how they want to play, but they still
37:45
they still have to. And I know you know, Jayden Shaw
37:48
got the goal two weeks ago, but they still get to incorporate
37:52
another great young player in Shaw.
37:54
So last five matches, the only team that has more points and
38:00
more goals than Gotham FC is Kansas City Current.
38:03
They're just on a they're just on a super heater right now.
38:06
They have a + 6 goal differential in the last five,
38:09
842 against an 11 points, three wins, 2 draws, no losses.
38:14
I just think they're peak, they're peaking at the right
38:16
time and I don't think anybody's going to want to see them in the
38:20
play offs. Absolutely not.
38:22
And that was all of this is happening after like, you know,
38:25
it's kind of debilitating 3 game losing streak, you know, that
38:27
they put together before the break.
38:29
And the cool part about Gotham is you mentioned Jaden Shaw, you
38:34
know, and like, you know, the, the lack of having fully
38:36
incorporated Jaden Shaw into Gotham offensively this last
38:40
week. I I think Sarah Shypansky and it
38:42
didn't start. I'm not sure if she if she got
38:43
any minutes. But they're just are all of
38:46
these other pieces too that Amodos hasn't had the chance to
38:50
kind of like put together to put, you know, to get like some
38:52
2-3 player units and get some chemistry kind of going because
38:57
there has been such flux and the line UPS just kind of have been
39:01
kind of have been changing. And I think like, you know, you
39:03
look at Orlando, the line UPS, you know, the line UPS are
39:05
changing there, but it's a little bit out of desperation.
39:09
You look at, you know, Gotham, the line UPS are changing and
39:11
it's a little bit out of like, let's see, let's see what this
39:13
let's see what happens when we put Jace up front and we put
39:16
Ester in support of her and we put, you know, like we figure
39:19
out what to do. And you know, like there's just
39:20
so many moves that they can go to still, you know, and I feel
39:24
like a team like Portland, you kind of know, you kind of know
39:27
who Portland's going to put out there.
39:28
You kind of know what they're going to do.
39:30
I'm not saying they've run out of stuff to go to, but going
39:34
into this one, I wouldn't be shocked if we saw a new Gotham
39:37
wrinkle that kind of flips this match on its head.
39:40
I'd be a little bit more surprised if Portland comes out
39:42
with something that's that's a surprise.
39:44
I think that's that's fair. Yeah.
39:47
Portland might be more in the we know who they are, but they
39:53
might have those moments where we're just like, Oh yeah, that
39:57
is who they are. She's like, I mean, you get you
39:59
get the occasional Moltre fast break where she just like looks
40:04
like she shot out of a cannon to either create or score a goal or
40:07
like just last last match. She has that incredible free
40:10
kick that's off the crossbar and then it's in for a tap in.
40:14
That's an assistant in the ITC personal record book, by the
40:16
way, just. Very, very good call by you.
40:19
Of course it is. It should be, yeah.
40:23
It's one of those things where Portland will do some stuff and
40:25
we'll be like, OK, yeah, like that's kind of what they do.
40:28
And then Gotham might have this other gear where we're just kind
40:32
of sitting back going, oh, they can do that too now.
40:36
Yeah, I'm super excited. I think I'm totally with you.
40:38
That's the game of the week for me.
40:40
Cannot. I mean, yeah, we're getting
40:42
close. Friday night.
40:42
That one's going to like I said, that one's going to open the
40:44
weekend. You mentioned this other match,
40:46
very intriguing. Not quite a matchup of two top
40:49
eight teams, but almost a matchup of two top eight teams.
40:52
Second ranked Washington Spirit will host the 9th ranked just
40:56
outside the play playoff picks. Houston dash could be a huge I
41:01
don't know this this could be a playoff preview.
41:02
I could see Houston sliding up into the seven seed and then
41:06
maybe these teams kind of circling back in a month, a
41:09
month and a half. But Spirit, you mentioned it
41:13
last week. You know, when I kind of, you
41:15
know, proclaimed Spirit as maybe the team that I'd pick if they
41:17
if they played the current in the championship tomorrow.
41:20
I think you were right in saying that this team is not there yet.
41:24
I think we saw that in that draw versus Angel City, a good team,
41:28
A-Team that is loaded with talent, overflowing with talent,
41:32
not totally able to kind of like piece it together.
41:34
But again, like I think you're, I think your read was right.
41:37
This team could get there, could absolutely get to the absolute
41:40
apex, but they're not there just yet.
41:43
So I maybe jump the gun a little bit.
41:45
I think I'm with you. And then Houston on the other
41:47
side. This is a team that I feel
41:50
pretty confident will make the playoffs.
41:52
I love it. I mean, and you were you were on
41:54
it early, though. Well, you like a couple weeks
41:57
ago, you were already telling all of us.
42:00
You were evangelizing, telling everybody, hey, look out for
42:03
Houston. They're they're creeping up in
42:05
here. I mean, I know, I know we talked
42:07
about her a lot, but Yasmine Ryan in their last match, she's
42:13
just out there calibrating, calibrating, trying to figure
42:17
out how she's going to score. And then what do you know?
42:20
She figures out a way to score. And that one nil victory over
42:23
Chicago stars. She did have a PK saved late in
42:28
that match against Chicago, but I mean, the PK monster, Alyssa
42:33
Nair, just you, I guess no matter what uniform she's
42:36
wearing that she can just stop any PK.
42:38
So the the USWNT legend still has that.
42:41
But yeah, a lot of things to like, if you kind of look at the
42:45
recipe and you have a reliable goalkeeper in Jane Campbell, who
42:51
has been a little up and down this season, I think is probably
42:54
fair to say. But then you have a superstar in
42:59
Avery Patterson and a superstar in Yasmine Ryan, kind of as your
43:04
bookends on like both ends of the field.
43:06
Do you usually have a pretty good chance?
43:08
Yeah, I think, I think Yasmine Ryan has been incredible like
43:12
this this year. I think, you know, she's sort of
43:15
like not not quite superstar status, but she's certainly to
43:20
quote Leanne, got some superstar status potential in her locker.
43:24
You know, I mean, I think it's just a matter of like, you know,
43:27
the pacing of getting there, you know, but I think she has all
43:30
the tools and she's such a great player.
43:33
Delaney Sheehan, really good player as well, having a really
43:35
good season. I thought Michelle Lozier in
43:38
this one at right back opposite Avery Patterson created a lot of
43:42
problems, you know, for for for the defense.
43:45
You know, her work rate was awesome.
43:47
She was up and down, you know, like up and back like pretty
43:49
much non-stop and really embracing that role, which I
43:52
thought was really great to see. Houston has lost Maggie Graham
43:56
and Sophie Schmidt to season any injury.
43:58
We talked about the now Jacobs trade.
44:00
That one hurt. I agree with you on Jane
44:01
Campbell, little Rocky, but has made some spectacular saves this
44:06
season, like some real highlight saves.
44:08
And again, like, you know, now it's just about right now.
44:10
These are the championship rounds, last four or five
44:12
matches. Can we get in the play offs?
44:14
Can we how long can we survive in the play offs?
44:16
There's a maximum 55 matches. There's only a maximum of eight
44:19
matches left in the season. So whoever wins the title is
44:23
going to go through these five, win the, you know, win the next
44:25
three and then that's it. So you don't need a ton down the
44:28
stretch. And I think I think Houston's
44:31
the kind of team that you look at what they've done since the
44:34
summer break. Four wins, 3 draws, one loss.
44:38
That's not the make up of like a cellar, A cellar dwelling team
44:43
that I think Houston knew. We've looked at Houston and kind
44:45
of seen them right in in that in that vein the last year and a
44:49
half, we'll say. But 4-3 and one since the break
44:52
and they're four wins. They beat the North Carolina
44:55
Courage, they went to Gotham, beat them, they went to San
44:58
Diego and beat them. And then they beat the Chicago
45:01
Luge Milos that were on absolute fire, you know, at home, but got
45:06
that done as well. You know, and, and it's tough to
45:08
win matches in this league. And you look at the side like
45:10
Houston, I don't think anybody would have predicted this team's
45:12
going to win four matches of eight after the summer break.
45:16
Like this is, this is a real run for a team.
45:18
And now it's gotten it's, it's less of a cute story.
45:22
And now we've, we've shifted into this team's going to make
45:25
the playoffs and this team's going to like maybe ruin some,
45:29
some team's chances down the stretch by stealing a result
45:32
that I, I don't think anybody would have expected when you
45:35
look at that on the schedule maybe a month or two ago.
45:37
Yeah, I think it's definitely, it's definitely on the board.
45:40
You mentioned she and you know, Colaprico has good experience.
45:44
Clarissa Larissi always, always got to be careful around that
45:49
name. Clarissa Larissi.
45:51
I always feel like I'm going to, I'm going to, I'm going to
45:53
butcher it. Obviously BK Hacking Legend.
45:56
I don't know if she reached the legendary status at BK Hacking
45:58
but I I always enjoy. Working on legendary status in
46:03
Houston. I mean, this is this is some way
46:05
to start your WSO career. Let's go.
46:07
That's what I'm talking about. So yeah, I always get a kick out
46:09
of like, you know, when we covered the UEFA Women's
46:11
Champions League with our maiden voyage back in 23, you know,
46:16
it's funny to now see her playing for the Houston Dash
46:19
going from BK hacking. So yeah, you know, they got the
46:22
experience. They have smarts now it's, you
46:25
know, what kind of spoiler can they play and how and how high
46:29
can they? Can they climb on the table?
46:31
Could they get, you know, can you get to the sixth seed?
46:35
Is that is that available to them?
46:37
So what, they're sitting on 26 points.
46:40
Seattle rain's sitting on 30. You want to tell me in five
46:43
matches they can't catch them? Orlando and North Carolina, I
46:47
think they could like you. You look at their schedule,
46:50
they've they've got so they they've got to go to Washington.
46:53
It's gonna be that's gonna be tough.
46:55
Then they host Orlando, right? That's a six pointer and and
46:58
they're playing that Houston heat.
47:00
They go to LA, they take on Angel City.
47:03
We'll see what happens there. That's there.
47:05
There could be some points on the table.
47:06
Kansas City current at home. Not a ton to play for.
47:10
You know, it's not, you know, like, I mean, I don't know, no,
47:14
I love the schedule game. Then you got to go to Portland,
47:17
you know, close the season. That that one could be tricky.
47:19
But who knows? Maybe at that point Houston's
47:21
got the 60 and sewn up and then they can't move up nor down and,
47:24
and you know, that one doesn't totally matter, but we'll see.
47:27
I, I don't know, count me as a Houston enthusiast.
47:31
There you go, sitting sideways. Listen, Houston Dash, Houston
47:39
bash, I mean come on, man, it's a great city.
47:41
I the reason I love the schedule game so much is that we can go
47:45
through and be like Kansas City current won't have anything to
47:47
play for so far and away the best team in the league, but
47:51
it's still a fun game to play and be like maybe they'll be
47:54
resting everybody fully rotated squad.
47:56
Yeah, October 18th and then going to Portland, one of the,
48:00
you know, historically great franchises in the league.
48:04
I don't know we'll see. We'll see where they're at, but
48:06
I think, you know, looking at that last five, the fact that
48:10
they have spirit Kansas City and Portland and three of the five
48:14
not great. And I don't like saying that the
48:17
two softest matches, yeah, on their schedule remaining our
48:21
home home versus Orlando and then at La or Angel City.
48:26
Pardon me, but it it's going to be interesting no matter what.
48:29
I'll be locked in, man, because Houston is.
48:31
They have really surprised this season and it's been, it's been
48:35
a real pleasant surprise. Hey man, So what do you think of
48:37
1012 points down the stretch for the dash?
48:39
There we go, 12. Let's go.
48:41
Let's go all right, we'll, we'll we'll keep it locked.
48:44
Well, either way Washington, Houston this weekend Sunday
48:46
morning oh Sunday morning that's we got we got a little brunch
48:49
match up 10:00 AM Pacific. We get to watch spirit dash.
48:53
Well, I get close to playing a little bow on the weekend.
48:55
Seattle on the Courage officially closes out 5:00 PM.
48:58
Pacific on Sunday. And then there's a, there's a
49:02
little, I coined Saturday's action elimination Saturday
49:06
because we've got 10th place racing Louisville hosting 11th
49:09
place Angel City. That one kind of feels like if
49:12
one of the teams wins that one, if they split the points, that's
49:15
something different. But if either Louisville or
49:17
Angel City wins that one, that's going to make a big difference.
49:20
And then just for shits and gigs, 12th place Bay FC versus
49:23
13th place Utah Royals. So those two matches going down
49:28
on what we've coined elimination Saturday.
49:31
Bay of Seavers Utah Royals, who is more hell bent on ruining the
49:36
other team's day, just just ruining their weekend.
49:39
It's it's you know, I love to draw the parallels between
49:43
college American football and women's football and I just
49:47
they're just football in general.
49:49
And I just think sometimes you have these matches that are just
49:52
absolute rock fights and where I think like when you're 3/4 of
49:56
the way through a game where it's just like these teams who
50:01
don't really have any kind of real rivalry.
50:03
They just hate each other right now.
50:05
And they just want to punish the everybody who's wearing the
50:09
different colour shirt than they are.
50:10
And that may that's usually a good watch it.
50:13
Could have the makings You mentioned Kunanagi's goal last
50:15
week. Definitely worth a shout.
50:18
Mina Tanaka's goal last week? Come on.
50:20
I mean, let's go. Anybody that didn't see we
50:23
didn't see that maybe one of the goals of the season, just an
50:26
incredible display of skill. I mean, that goal was pretty
50:30
much why I watched the sport. I mean, it's an unbelievable
50:33
display. And I mean, side note, I love, I
50:36
love the name Meena Tanaka. The the flip flopping of the
50:40
consonant and the vowel, you know, just kind of all the way
50:43
through. That's such a ring to it and
50:45
just such a fantastic player. So I don't know, we could be in
50:48
for a 5 to 4 two red cards, you know, just been crazy.
50:52
You know, nobody wants to play defense.
50:54
Let's put some some highlights on tape kind of matchup.
50:57
Nothing really to play like I don't know why can't we do that?
50:59
I don't know, let's decide that. We're just going to open it up
51:02
from jump and we're just going to have some target practice out
51:06
there. After dark match on Saturday.
51:09
It'll I'm get I'm going to take a guess here that well, I think
51:12
yeah, it's going to be on ION Saturday Night Football.
51:15
Ion NWSL After Dark has all the makings for just a a bonkers
51:21
game. Yeah, let's get crazy.
51:24
All right, last quick thing, I want to hit the Boundor.
51:27
First of all, congratulations. I had to see all the Famer and
51:31
now three time Boundor winner Aitana Beaumati.
51:35
I want to stop there. What was your take when you when
51:37
you saw that Aitana take takes up the award?
51:40
So she joins Lionel Messi and Michael Platini, French
51:43
midfielder in the 80s as the only players to ever win the
51:47
bond or three consecutive times. Lionel Messi won at 4
51:51
consecutive times between 2009 and 2012.
51:55
I got to tell you, a pretty good company to keep for Aitana Bone
51:59
Mati. I did see some hand wringing on
52:02
the Internet, if you can believe it's hand wringing on the
52:05
Internet. But I I'll say like it's one of
52:10
those ones. Where could you make an argument
52:13
that maybe another Spanish player who plays for Arsenal
52:18
Football Club had a better overall season than I Tanabono
52:22
T-shirt? I think you can.
52:24
But when people when when the ovary action machine starts
52:28
going and people call it like it's a disgraceful decision and
52:31
blah blah, it's not. She's like pound for pound,
52:36
still probably the best footballer in the world.
52:39
Could you make an argument that somebody may have had a better
52:41
season or a better year than her?
52:43
Sure. But, you know, sometimes you got
52:47
to think about like, OK, are we talk?
52:48
It's the it's the classic MVP argument.
52:50
Are we talking about who had the best year?
52:52
Who's the best player that year? It's kind of, you know, however
52:56
you might feel about it. So like you said,
52:59
congratulations to her. She's a historic player who
53:01
deserves A historic accomplishment.
53:03
And now go ahead and chill for Mariana Caldente, please.
53:07
I'm actually not going to show for Mariona like I obviously a
53:11
player that I that I love. Yeah.
53:12
I am going to show for a different player though, because
53:15
what? Yes, hear me out here.
53:18
I'm going to take you a little journey.
53:20
Obviously unassailable. I tell him about my tea.
53:23
Unassailable. Mariona Caldon tea comes over to
53:26
Arsenal from Barcelona, just brings the Champions League
53:28
trophy with her. I'm not I'm not giving himself.
53:31
I don't care where I'm playing. Wherever she plays, she could
53:33
she could come play for Houston Dash and they probably won the
53:36
Champions League. But this year, 2025, you know,
53:42
obviously I welcome to daughter to the world.
53:45
I'm not sure I'm just going to be bouncing my daughter on my
53:47
knee 10 years from now and talking to her about I thought
53:49
about my tea's 2025 season, but sure, whose season I will be
53:53
talking to her about Chloe Kelly.
53:57
And I know it's weird. I know it's I mean, Chloe Kelly
54:00
finished his fifth in the voting, right?
54:02
And I thought about this very deeply because one of the big
54:06
knocks on Chloe because, oh, she's a sub.
54:08
I'm not starting. Oh, like it's he she did all of
54:11
that, produced all of that in a fraction of the minutes.
54:15
That's that's fair. She had she you think about
54:18
these moments for Arsenal down the stretch, for England down
54:21
the stretch, the the flash bowl moments of like the the penalty
54:25
kicks and like, you know, just the celebrations.
54:28
This was and and it's I don't care if it if it if it runs
54:33
counter to what we do and how we think about this award.
54:37
This season was Chloe Kelly's season.
54:40
When the Wikipedia page of the 2025 Waso, you know, season gets
54:44
published, Aitanabomati will appear on that page below Chloe
54:50
Kelly. And I think for me, I, I used
54:52
the Max Kellerman, who would I have rather been in that boxing
54:56
match round, you know, to score, you know, that's a kind of how
54:59
he famously scores. Who would I have rather been
55:01
this season, 2025? I mean, it's not even an
55:04
argument. Like the moments out of this
55:06
world, the trophies out of this world.
55:09
You do this as a sub, like it, it's just fucking insane.
55:12
Like, so I, I don't know, I, I would have probably been a
55:15
weirdo and then, you know, been maybe the only one to give Kelly
55:18
a first place vote, but that would have been my vote.
55:20
I think that I think she was the player of this year.
55:24
I love it. I mean, I didn't expect to
55:27
comment from you. I expected the full court press
55:30
on Cal Dente and you know, like you said, kind of unassailable.
55:34
I think she had a real, she had a real argument.
55:36
Am I looking at the right results here?
55:39
Sorry. Now I'm like I'm in full on
55:40
panic mode. Alessia Russo finished third.
55:43
Yeah. OK, so that is OK.
55:47
I just want to make sure I was looking at that.
55:49
Yeah. So like, you got to have Kelly
55:51
above Russo and you know, again, if we're talking about like,
55:55
who's the best player, you know how, I mean, it's I'm not
55:59
exactly breaking new ground here, but you know how I feel
56:01
about Alexia, too, in terms of just raw talent and what she
56:04
like the way she's able to just, like, drive everything.
56:07
But you kind of, you kind of sold me, you kind of sold me a
56:11
little bit on, on Kelly. I, I think, I think that if if
56:15
there is, if we're going to have a 123, it should be some order
56:19
of Bone, Mati Caldente and Kelly.
56:21
I think that's, I think that would have been the right mix
56:24
and you couldn't go wrong with with any of the three.
56:27
Kelly one bone Mati Caldente you know, 2A2 BI think that what are
56:31
we what are we talking about? And I think, you know, for
56:33
anybody up in arms about the bound door voting right?
56:37
So this is obviously it's weird. You know, you have you've got
56:39
Marta 2 spots out of Barbara Benda.
56:42
That's weird. You know, NW saw MVP Tema
56:44
Chowinga, you know, clocks in at where was she 17th?
56:48
I mean, I'm I'm an Arsenal fan. Steph Catley at 29th is, you
56:52
know, what are you going to do about that?
56:54
That's a choice is a choice. What I would say anybody at
56:59
home, don't look at the bottom of the list.
57:01
The bottom of the list is a total absolute, should show
57:03
there's so many great players that are just making zero.
57:05
Like, I don't know what we're doing.
57:07
But if you look at that top five, top 6, I think that's a
57:11
good representation of what's happening in Europe, not I don't
57:15
think globally. Yeah.
57:17
And then you get to like Leah Williamson, Papaya or Lucy
57:20
Bronze. Now you're just like, OK, now
57:21
we're going a little bit off name recognition once you get to
57:23
that point, but I think I think top five, top 6 if you if you
57:27
look at through the European lens, I think they got it pretty
57:30
close. My only quib, obviously, I would
57:32
have had Chloe Kelly at the absolute top just just for the
57:34
season. You remember back in the day
57:36
when a team would win a championship and like
57:39
immediately after Sports Illustrated would run that
57:41
commercial of like, hey, get this special Sports Illustrated
57:44
cover with like, I don't know. Well, you know, the Los Angeles
57:47
Dodgers celebrating and then you get the this VHS or whatever.
57:51
Absolutely. But on both that on both that
57:54
bounded book and that VHS or DVD or Blu-ray or have everyone
57:57
think about that. The cover is Chloe Gelly.
58:00
However you want to think about that, that's the person that
58:03
you're putting there. You're not putting the legend,
58:06
you know, ITC Hall of Famer, another unassailable player, one
58:09
of the all time greats, Mount Rushmore, a town Beaumont T.
58:12
That's not who's on the cover of the 2025, you know, recap and
58:17
I'll just kind of like leave it there.
58:18
Those are my very short but also sort of long Bondor thoughts,
58:22
Bondor thoughts. So I appreciate you bearing with
58:24
me. No, I love it.
58:26
I think it's I think you're spot on.
58:28
I will say though, like Eva Payor, I do, I do just want to
58:33
state that she had 43 goals in the 2425 season.
58:38
I just want to just be, I mean, she had a lot of fucking goals.
58:42
Like she's awesome. But yeah, I, you know, they're
58:46
like Barcelona has a lot, has a lot going for them.
58:48
But two year, 2 year Sports Illustrated magazine special
58:52
champion box set, Chloe Kelly is on the cover of that because she
58:56
both helped win the Champions League and win the EUR.
59:00
So Aytanabo and Mati didn't lift either of those trophies.
59:03
So it would be hard for it would be hard for anybody to put her
59:07
on on those championship covers. So it's a great point by you
59:10
came out of left field, man. I I absolutely 100% expected you
59:15
to Cape up for for Cal dente on that spot.
59:18
So you you've done it again, my good man, you all you always to
59:21
use the boxing analogy that left hook completely cold cocked me.
59:26
I'm I'm out, I'm out cold here you.
59:29
Know what? I would never do that in real
59:30
life to you. I appreciate it figuratively on
59:33
the show. I like to kind of like, you
59:34
know, little smoke of mirrors, pull one over on you.
59:37
There it is. Quick, quick episode calendar.
59:41
We're going to be back next week to go into the end episode
59:43
again, but more importantly, but try it again.
59:49
Sleepy boys getting sleepy. You know, Of course we've got a
59:53
UEFA Women's Champions League mega preview coming your way a
59:58
little. Your boys are a little
59:59
heartbroken. SK Braun.
1:00:02
You know, we didn't get the tournament that I think we hoped
1:00:05
for, but it does have the effect of kind of untethering us a
1:00:09
little bit. You know, I mean, I'm an Arsenal
1:00:11
fan. I'm I'm sort of going in, You
1:00:13
know, now we're we're looking at what's happening.
1:00:16
You know, we'll have an an eye on Leon, what's happening there.
1:00:19
But to any, you know, NWSL fans that that are are sort of like
1:00:23
maybe ready for that maiden UEFA Women's Champions League voyage.
1:00:27
Maybe I can interest you in a little Barcelona, Chelsea, Lyon,
1:00:31
Bayern Munich, Arsenal. How about Lindsay Heaps, Lily
1:00:34
Johannes playing over at Lyon? Chelsea is going to be sporting
1:00:38
some Katarina Macario, Naomi Girma, Alyssa Thompson for UNWSL
1:00:42
heads. We got a little PTJ, Fallon
1:00:44
tells Joyce. Manchester United is still
1:00:46
bummed that they got through, but here we are.
1:00:49
And then my Arsenal, little Emily Fox, Jenna Neiswarner,
1:00:52
what have you done for me lately?
1:00:53
Are you still playing? Are you still active?
1:00:55
Is there is there any room for a for a Neiswarner to make a
1:00:59
reappearance here? But in short, a lot of American
1:01:02
players, a lot of recognizable faces, a lot of NWSL stars that
1:01:05
have kind of gone back and forth and just the absolute upper
1:01:08
echelon of European women's football.
1:01:10
So the best time of year, the best, you've said it time and
1:01:14
time again, the best tournament, the best competition and we're
1:01:17
ready to kick off I think group stage for what, 2 weeks away?
1:01:20
October 7th, I'm not sure. Around the 8th, 7th, 8th and
1:01:23
9th, somewhere around there, group stage kicks off.
1:01:26
We'll be back with a preview and look at all 18 teams duking it
1:01:30
out in the group stage. The new format, all the new
1:01:33
machinations, we'll have all of it for you.
1:01:34
So make sure you're subscribed and you just get ready, get
1:01:39
ready, get ready to buckle up because it's going to be another
1:01:42
great Champions League ride. It always is, my good man.
1:01:45
The UEFA Women's Champions League is a celebration of life,
1:01:48
but women's football in Europe is entering a new era with the
1:01:53
UEFA Women's Europa Cup. And let me just tell you, I'm
1:01:57
going to just make the pitch right now that perhaps we should
1:02:01
become the internet's greatest UEFA Women's Europa Cup podcast
1:02:07
because in the qualifier there, Hammerby Verse, Braun, we're
1:02:13
going to have to check that out. We're going to have to lock in.
1:02:15
Hopefully it's going to be available to watch somewhere.
1:02:19
I'm just going to make the petition now.
1:02:20
I feel like we should carve out some time for that tournament as
1:02:22
well. Done and done.
1:02:24
Totally agree, No reason not to. You already know there's going
1:02:27
to be some good, good, good, good clubs in that mix as well.
1:02:31
Very excited to dip a little toe in there and you know, an
1:02:35
abundance of, of great football. What, what more could we ask
1:02:37
for? But with that said, anything
1:02:39
else before we get out of here? I think that's it.
1:02:41
I mean, if I could just, you know, very, very quickly IAX is
1:02:46
going to play in the Europa Cup, Rosengard, Sporting CP,
1:02:50
Eintracht Frankfurt. I mean, we got, we got a lot of
1:02:54
good teams in there, Glasgow City and then obviously the
1:02:57
glorious SK Bronze. So, you know, look, you got
1:03:00
sometimes there are different paths to get to the Champions
1:03:02
League. So the path for bronze to get to
1:03:04
next year's Champions League, at least to the third round
1:03:07
qualifying phase, is to just win the Europa Cup this year.
1:03:10
So that's what SK Bron has decided to do.
1:03:13
That's totally fine. We'll be there along the way.
1:03:16
Hell yeah. And the path for you to be in
1:03:18
the Champions League with us, Just hit that, Subscribe, just
1:03:20
rock with us. We're going to be pretty much
1:03:22
covering every minute of Champions League action that
1:03:26
happens from here on out. So you don't know what time it
1:03:28
is. And with that said, there's been
1:03:30
another episode of into the channel.
1:03:32
Thank you, thank you, thank you for watching, listening, hanging
1:03:34
out. If you enjoyed the show or love
1:03:35
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1:03:38
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1:03:39
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1:03:44
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1:03:47
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1:03:56
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1:04:05
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1:04:12
And a big thank you to my coach as well, Mr. Grant Angle for I
1:04:15
saw a video of you walking through the park.
1:04:17
No limp, you know, just looking to physically 100% ready and you
1:04:22
know that that bore true. You showed up to the for
1:04:25
tonight's episode 110% ready and I think we absolutely crushed
1:04:29
it. I appreciate you bro.
1:04:31
Likewise, buddy, you know what, you don't got to get ready if
1:04:33
you stay ready. I think that's one of the mottos
1:04:36
of this program and that's what we appreciate about all of you.
1:04:39
Thank you for continuing to rock with us, always dropping
1:04:41
knowledge in the comments, making sure that we stay sharp
1:04:45
and stay smart and we will see you all next time.
1:04:49
Stay sleepy.