Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / Trinity Rodman vs NWSL | Biggest USWNT Questions Heading Into 2026 🏆

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Trinity Rodman vs NWSL | Biggest USWNT Questions Heading Into 2026 🏆 · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:06
OK, welcome to It's a channel podcast for another by UNSOFA.
0:10
I'm your host Dino de Suspiras and as always, I'm joined by my
0:13
Co host Mr. Grant Angle. What's up, man?
0:18
I'm feeling fantastic buddy. Been away for a little while,
0:21
got some time to rest, recharge over the holidays.
0:24
Hope you did the same and I'm eager to talk some football.
0:26
With you Yep yeah, batteries they all the way green on this
0:30
side. So I'm feeling good ready to hit
0:32
the home stretch here we are been end of the end of the year
0:34
already December time to put some lists together.
0:37
I got a little ambitious. I told you I was going to put
0:39
together a top 100. I kind of backed off that.
0:41
So we're probably going to like downshift into a little, you
0:45
know best elevens for the end of the year.
0:47
I think that's probably feasible.
0:49
I think that's more attainable. But I loved your spirit, man.
0:52
I do. You know what we talked about
0:54
the top 100. Could we name 100 players?
0:57
Sure we could. Would they be the best 100?
1:00
I think it would take us a long time to really call that list.
1:02
Want to hear? Here we go.
1:05
Yeah, No, we'll do. We'll do best 11.
1:07
We'll be back to with some Chambersley match day 5 previews
1:11
and recaps here. I know what we do.
1:12
Little bookend action there. Match day six also happening
1:14
before the end of the calendar year.
1:17
But tonight, we're we're going to look back, but we're, we're
1:20
also going to look ahead at our US women's national team, a good
1:24
year along some dimensions, little choppy, got some LS in
1:29
there, some home LS, not, not some that we're used to, but a
1:32
good year for growth. And I don't know an exciting
1:35
time to be looking ahead to 2026.
1:36
So what I want to do actually is, well, first check in on
1:40
where we're at right now and then talk about some of those
1:42
questions that we're going to be thinking about that we're going
1:44
to be looking for when this team reconvenes next year.
1:49
I like it. You know, we all saw what
1:51
happened in 2025 and you know, obviously the greatest football
1:55
fans in the world watch this program.
1:57
We know you guys have great thoughts and opinions.
1:59
You already know what you saw in 2025.
2:01
So we'll spend a little bit of time on that, but credit to
2:03
Dino, the great idea. Let's look ahead.
2:06
We got some big questions looming in 2026.
2:09
Let's go. Well, before we get to those big
2:12
2026 questions, I guess this is also 2026 question.
2:15
Some news this week, Trinity Rodman, some, some contract push
2:20
and pull. The league's involved, Berman's
2:23
involved, Bloomberg's involved. You know what's Bloomberg gets
2:27
involved, You know, you know, there's, there's some, some
2:29
financial rumblings and then things, you know, at play.
2:33
Some real stakes, we'll say. What have you been able to find
2:35
out about the Trinity Rodman situation?
2:39
I'm not so sure in terms of finding out, but let's, let's,
2:42
let's talk it over, right. So we've everybody's seen the
2:44
reports news broke this week that NWSL Commissioner Jessica
2:48
Berman rejected or vetoed. I've seen both terms used a
2:51
potential new contract between Washington Spirit and Trinity
2:54
Rodman. The reporting says that the
2:56
league is basically saying the proposed terms of that contract,
3:00
which reportedly both Rodman and Washington Spirit were agreeing
3:04
to violated, quote, the spirit of the rules, End Quote of the
3:09
league. So, Megan.
3:11
Violated the executive director. Exactly, exactly.
3:16
An interesting turn of phrase. So Megan Burke, the executive
3:20
director of the NWSL Players Association, joined Sam US
3:23
podcast the Women's Game and gave a little insight into that
3:27
veto or that rejection. And she said, quote, if NWSL can
3:32
interfere with the free agency rights of Trinity Rodman, they
3:35
can do it to anyone and we won't stand for that.
3:38
End Quote. Strong words from Burke indeed.
3:43
Yeah, I mean, it's just such a tough, tough situation.
3:46
I mean, if it if it's within the letter of the law, the spirit of
3:51
the law is such a weird phrase to enact here because what are
3:56
we really talking about? Like what's the argument, You
4:00
know, and I I know Berman also has like a law background.
4:03
So I'm not really sure if it's if this is P, if that sounds
4:06
like a code of PR pain on it or if it's a long game situation.
4:10
But to say it's against the spirit of law seems like a
4:13
pretty cut and dry case of OK, so we lost this.
4:17
I tend to agree, buddy. And so, you know, our long time
4:20
pals of this program have heard me reference this before.
4:23
And maybe there are some people who are watching into the
4:24
channel who said, hey, look, OK, we heard from the players
4:27
Association director. We've heard from pro player
4:29
people on social media. I want to get a news
4:31
perspective. Let's check out into the
4:33
channel. I am literally a union
4:35
organizer. So you're not getting a much
4:37
different perspective from me here in terms of maybe what side
4:41
I fall on. But you are dead on when you
4:44
talk about 1/2 of a labor of a labor relationship saying, well,
4:49
you violated the spirit. You either in my, in my view,
4:53
you either violate the terms of a contract or you do not violate
4:58
the written terms of that contract.
4:59
And then so you can talk about the spirit all you want.
5:02
And when when Megan Burke was on Sam Muse's podcast, she
5:06
basically said that, you know, she didn't think that there was
5:11
any real salary cap circumvention.
5:14
And really what this is boiling down to is that the contract was
5:18
back loaded. The total annual salary for
5:21
Trinity Rodman in this proposed deal was going to escalate over
5:25
the years and in 28 in the 28th season and the 29th season it
5:30
would be well over $1,000,000, according to reports from Meg
5:34
Lenihan of The Athletic. And the line of demarcation
5:39
there is that the NWSL media rights deal expires in 2027.
5:44
So if I had to, if you put all this reporting together, I
5:48
would. It certainly sounds like and I
5:50
think this is pretty much been indicated in the reporting that
5:54
you back load the deal and then with the with the higher salary
5:59
for Rodman coming with the expectation that the league is
6:02
going to sign a larger meteor rights deal in 2027, therefore
6:07
increasing the revenue, therefore increasing the salary
6:11
cap for each team. So is the situation that a four
6:15
year deal has to fall within the two years or or do do we know if
6:19
they're missing like those projections for year three-year
6:22
4? And that's the situation because
6:25
it just seems so weird to to use the phrase spirit of the law
6:28
because that to me makes me think that maybe year three-year
6:32
4 are not yet defined. On one hand, you know, I always
6:36
like to take the position of, hey, this is a young league
6:41
figuring stuff out. In this instance, it's a little
6:44
tougher to do that because again, that that phrase is just
6:48
the wrong phrase to use in that instance because it, it just,
6:51
it's basically an admission that it is fair play by the letter of
6:56
the law. That's basically implicitly what
6:58
we're saying by that. But where I mean, what are the
7:02
next steps here? Where, where do you think this
7:03
lands? Because I, I do think I do want
7:06
to also inject a little bit of reporting that you and I did the
7:08
final in the mix zone. We talked to Trinity Rodman.
7:12
The vibe did kind of feel a little bit like maybe the end of
7:17
that Washington Spirit chapter, just minus the contract
7:24
discussions. Just in that moment, rewinding
7:26
back to the moment, it did feel maybe like it could have been
7:30
the end of something for for Trinity and the Spirit.
7:33
It definitely could have, and I, and I wonder how much of that
7:37
could have been just the crushing finality of losing a
7:40
final, a final Rodman couldn't play the full 90 in.
7:43
And you know, there are probably a lot of things weighing Hunter
7:47
in that moment, but to your, to your original question of like
7:52
how speculative is the salary cap in 28 and 29?
7:56
And the answer is super speculative because again, you
7:59
know, with the media rights deal, you're going to sign a new
8:02
deal in 2020 after 2027. So there's revenue there.
8:06
And here we go in Section 8.16 of the collective bargaining
8:11
agreement. It covers the salary cap rules.
8:13
And it's, I'll tell you as a labor organizer, I think it's a
8:16
very well written CBA. It's very clear.
8:18
I think any layperson could could look at it and get a
8:20
pretty good understanding of it. But it gives you the exact
8:23
number, the base of the salary cap, and then the total amount
8:27
every team can spend is that base of the salary cap plus the
8:33
revenue share from the previous season.
8:37
So, you know, you get ad dollars, all that stuff that
8:39
kind of factors in and that makes up a team's whole salary
8:42
cap. So, yeah, like clearly, I think
8:45
from this reporting and from the way Burke laid it out, the
8:48
Washington spirit is making a bet of, yeah, even if the salary
8:51
cap is let's say like 4.5 million and we're paying one
8:56
right winger, Trinity Rodman, 1.8 million, I'm picking that
9:00
number out of this guy. I have no reporting on that.
9:03
Yeah, we can afford that like, and you know, we can move the
9:06
roster around the way we need. And this is where we get to that
9:10
dangerous territory of like the spirit of the rule or the speed
9:13
of the, the spirit of the rules as as the, as the league said,
9:17
why would you get to tell an organization, hey, you're
9:20
spending too much of your salary cap on one player?
9:23
I think you get into a very dangerous game if the league
9:27
starts trying to legislate that with, with no, there's no Max
9:30
contract in this league. I do want to state that.
9:32
From your downloading, was it an issue of a Max contract number
9:36
or was it like a team salary cap number?
9:38
When Burke talked about because, Burke said, Burke was quick to
9:42
point out there is no there is no Max salary for any player.
9:46
And it seemed like the league was concerned that perhaps
9:51
Washington Spirit was like overestimating what the salary
9:55
cap could rise to in 2028 and that the contract they would be
9:59
signing Rodman to would maybe be too much of of what the salary
10:04
cap might end up being. You know what I mean?
10:06
Like, they might be overestimating it, which again,
10:08
is why. And you know, I don't mean to
10:10
put words in Megan Birch's mouth, but I think that's what
10:12
she was intimating in her in her interview and in the comments
10:16
she gave The Athletic as well. I'm, I'm not a, a, an expert on
10:19
the NBA salary cap situation and you know, but I do know that
10:24
they, they have projections to account for some of these longer
10:28
deals. So right off the bat, if you, if
10:32
you don't have a a year three-year 4 projection that's
10:35
that's kind of accurate or something that's published that
10:38
can say, hey, here's what we think it's going to go to.
10:40
It's going to go from 3 to 4.8 or whatever in year 4 and then
10:44
5.2 in Year 5 or whatever. That that should, that should
10:47
exist. Everybody should be working off
10:49
projections that go out many years because in theory you
10:53
could sign a player for many years, in this instance, Trinity
10:57
Rodman for four years. So we should at least have four
10:59
years visibility with the understanding that it's a
11:03
projection. Now, devil's advocate, you know,
11:08
what if the league takes a set back, you know, and and a team
11:10
has to walk back a four year contract, It's not something
11:13
that there's not a precedent you want to set.
11:14
Maybe Washington's not in a position that that they're
11:17
they're at risk for that, but other teams are.
11:19
So I mean, it, it is a tricky situation, but there has to be
11:23
clear visibility to these teams on what the projected salary cap
11:29
is, what teams are able to spend.
11:32
And if that doesn't exist as a league, I don't think you can
11:37
step in and say Washington spirit.
11:39
You cannot sign Trinity Rodman, a player that you cultivated and
11:44
developed because things move quickly.
11:46
You know, a Barcelona, Kazubin, Chelsea, City and Arsenal, a
11:51
Leon, like, you know, a lot of teams could kind of come in and
11:55
try to make a move here and for the league to put forward half a
11:59
statement, you know that that clearly doesn't have everything.
12:03
XS and OS all the IS dotted and TS crossed it.
12:07
It puts the spirit in a tough situation because now if you're
12:10
Trinity Rodman, maybe maybe a day or two is all you need to
12:14
kind of like change the tenor of how you're thinking and it and
12:17
it could change the future of an entire franchise.
12:19
This is like what makes it really tricky.
12:22
Buddy, once again, I think you're spot on here.
12:25
And so I'm going to put on some of my speculation hat here and
12:29
I'm going to and you know, I might sound cynical when I'm
12:32
talking about this kind of stuff, but you know, I, I do
12:36
like I said, I do, I do this for a living.
12:38
And again, I'm going to stress I am not an expert in the NWS LS
12:41
collective bargaining agreement. I have not read the whole thing
12:44
all the way through. I will say to your point about
12:47
the projections and what happens if you might feel like you have
12:51
to walk back a contract in that interview on the women's game,
12:55
which everybody should watch, Samuel is a legend.
12:56
She does a great show. It was a great interview with
12:58
with Megan Burke. There is a mechanism in the
13:02
league rules similar to the amnesty clause that the NBA had
13:06
that one season where you can essentially buy out a player and
13:11
it won't count against your salary cap.
13:13
I think Megan Burke, like referred to it as like a release
13:18
valve sort of clause. So even if something, even if
13:21
disaster did strike and like the the league starts to tank a
13:24
little bit, they a a franchise would still be protected from
13:28
that. But this is the part where I'm
13:29
going to sound a little cynical. Is your your piece about what if
13:34
something changes? What if now this delay causes
13:38
like, what if Juventus just came in and was like, do you want to
13:41
live in Italy, Trinity? What if Roma shows up and says,
13:45
how does Rome, Italy sound? Would you like to live there?
13:47
Or you know, you know, Paris, France or Madrid, Barcelona,
13:51
like you said, any of these wonderful cities across the
13:53
world. I don't think it's off the board
13:57
that league owners wouldn't mind if Trinity Rodman had her head
14:02
turned by another team in another league that paid her
14:06
that money before this contract gets settled.
14:08
And you say, Grant, that's stupid.
14:11
Why would the other owners want to lose the potential face of
14:15
the league or in in, in many people's eyes, the face of the
14:17
league? And now let me ask you this.
14:20
If Michelle Kang was reportedly prepared to pay Trinity Rodman,
14:23
quote, well over $1 million and quote an annual salary in 2028,
14:28
what do you think Temwa Chuinga's agent is thinking
14:32
about right now? And Temwa Chuinga, for that
14:34
matter, or Barbara Banda and her agent?
14:37
Because I'll tell you, if I was Temwa Chuinga's agent, I would
14:40
look at the past two seasons and I understand some matches have
14:43
been missed due to health concerns.
14:45
I would say, well, Temwa has 35 goals in 48 matches played in
14:50
the last two seasons. Trinity Rodman has thirteen
14:54
goals in 38 matches. So yes, it is 10 fewer matches
14:59
for Rodman, but it is 22 fewer goals for Rodman.
15:04
So if I'm Chewinga and her agent, I would say if she's
15:08
worth well over a million, what is my client worth?
15:11
And I think the owners might be afraid of that.
15:14
I mean, I, I, I, I think we're, we're at a period where the
15:17
values and the contracts are going to start to accelerate
15:20
very, very quickly. And I think that that that makes
15:24
it tricky because, you know, if you're Berman, you end up so you
15:27
want to keep pace, but you don't want to overshoot and then you
15:31
don't want to undershoot because I don't know, Michelle King's
15:35
pretty scary, you know, like she's got a lot of money And,
15:40
and, and if she loses Trinity Rodman to a team that she
15:43
doesn't own, I don't know, there could be a lawsuit.
15:46
There could be, I mean, I don't know that that seems reasonable.
15:49
You know, like to, to, to look at a, a franchise and say, OK,
15:53
well, this franchise was worth, I don't, I'm just going to be
15:56
silly here. I don't know, 200 million, you
15:58
know, with Trinity Rodman and 170 million without Rodman.
16:01
I don't know. So that that's a that's a
16:04
difference. It's certainly not worth the
16:05
same. You know, if one of the most
16:06
famous players on the planet, one of the most famous players
16:09
that plays for US women's actual team is not on the team anymore,
16:12
that that's tangible, right, That that that can be
16:15
quantified. So puts us it definitely puts us
16:19
in a tricky situation. We're going to keep tracking it
16:22
for sure. And shout out to you, you know,
16:26
pseudo pseudo friend of the pod, Hayley Carter on the the job
16:32
switch switcheroo stepping into a tough situation right off the
16:35
bat. Step against the watch and
16:38
spirits. New president of soccer
16:39
operations. Yeah, enjoy the first week
16:41
there. Haley, shout out, shout out to
16:43
Haley Carter. Congratulations on the new job.
16:45
And and I'm sure, I'm sure if anybody is going to be able to
16:47
get it sorted, you know, in, in in short order.
16:50
I mean, is, is there a better player person than Haley Carter
16:54
to kind of sort this this kind of thing out?
16:57
I don't know if you could find one.
16:58
I mean, we've said it on this show.
17:00
She's a military veteran. I'd follow her into battle.
17:03
I know Haley Carter knows exactly what she's doing.
17:05
So she doesn't strike me as a person who's going to run away
17:09
from a challenge. I I get the feeling she's going
17:11
to meet this one head on. Let's go.
17:13
All right, let's talk about the US financial team.
17:18
And this will be obviously after we drink a beer.
17:20
Of course, that's been sitting here just staring at me.
17:22
So after we drink a beer, let's talk about the US financial team
17:26
and the biggest questions going into 2026.
17:29
So, Mr. Grey, angle where you want to get started.
17:33
I would like to get started with that beverage because you know,
17:36
I like I mentioned, I do this as a day job.
17:38
I got to take a break from talking about collective
17:41
bargaining agreements all day at work to talk about collective
17:44
bargaining to talk about a collective bargaining agreement
17:46
tonight, and that always works up some serious thirst for your
17:51
boys. Cheers to that.
17:54
Cheers to that. Cheers to the football on the
17:57
field, cheers to you, but also cheers to every player getting
18:01
paid what they're worth, man. I mean, I, I know we've said it
18:03
a million times on this podcast. Every podcaster too.
18:07
Workers rights are human rights. What's that?
18:11
Every podcaster too. Sure.
18:15
Yeah, yeah, all all working, all working, folks.
18:19
We should all, we should all be getting paid what we're worth,
18:21
no doubt. So like I mentioned at the top
18:25
of the show, Dino de Cespedes, super producer extraordinaire,
18:29
podcaster extraordinaire Newsmen, had a great idea to
18:33
talk about some big questions going into 2026.
18:38
I'll pass it right back to you, buddy.
18:40
What's your biggest, what's your first question?
18:43
What should we, what should we be thinking about most when you
18:45
think about the US Women's National team heading into 2026?
18:51
So I put together the little docky dock that we share little
18:53
Google doc. I'm going to go with my third
18:56
the the the one that I had in the number three slot in the
18:58
dock. Wow.
18:59
Did the US women's actual team find a solution at #9 And this
19:04
is coming off the heels of Kat Macario just cooking.
19:08
Just, you know, like taking my commentary about, you know, her
19:12
not being able to, you know, finish and can you, can you put
19:15
a couple of those in the back of the net?
19:16
She's just doing it for fun, you know, just sticking her tongue
19:19
out at me. You know what, as a camera pan
19:21
story, just making a, making a fool out of your boy.
19:24
Any who I think the United States, the reason I I pose the
19:28
question that way, did they find the solution at #9 is because
19:32
Macario, if she can score goals at this pace, which she can,
19:38
we're seeing it in real time. Her ability to do that plus
19:44
float and be active in the midfield, be active out on the
19:48
wings, be able to switch, switch places, overlap under lap, like
19:53
just keep defenses in a state of just straight peril, I think is
20:01
a really interesting curveball for the USMS actual team.
20:05
We're coming off like triple espresso, you know, like like
20:08
like like the three head, that three headed monster.
20:10
You can kind of close your eyes to see where everybody's
20:11
standing, see the positioning. This US attack feels a little
20:15
different, feels a little bit more.
20:17
There's a lot more flow to it. Things are people are running in
20:20
different directions. The ball is going in different
20:23
directions, going in and out, left and right.
20:25
It kind of is reminded me of like every time Emma Hayes had
20:28
talked about utilizing and leveraging the wide channels.
20:33
I think I finally kind of figured out what what that
20:35
meant, you know, or, or I think I figured out what that meant,
20:38
which is basically we have the the bodies that we can connect
20:42
the passes. Let's stretch everybody out to
20:45
the absolute Max, you know, and then when you think about
20:48
Macario being able to like just be anywhere and everywhere be be
20:51
effective that that all of a sudden creates like a really
20:55
tantalizing approach for, hey, how are we going to take on some
20:59
of these absolute top, top, top teams in 2027?
21:05
I think it's it's a great question.
21:09
Obviously you have to love the way Macario played this year for
21:13
US women's national team. I believe she had seven goals in
21:16
the calendar year for the Stars and Stripes.
21:19
She looks she's looked fantastic.
21:21
It feels like every time she steps on the field these last
21:23
couple times she's played, she's scoring A brace or notching an
21:27
assist or having some key passes.
21:29
Her hold up play is incredible. But you mentioned triple
21:32
espresso and so I don't want to be a wet blanket here.
21:37
And maybe it's not a wet blanket.
21:38
But like if the question is, did they did they solve or did they
21:42
find the solution at #9 I think that the solution for the number
21:46
9 already exists. And she will be returning in
21:49
2026. And her name is Sophie Wilson,
21:52
two time NWSLMVP. She is a special player,
21:57
especially in that number 9 position.
21:58
I think if you have her and Kat Macario with Kat Macario
22:02
starting in the 10 and Wilson at the nine, they can do some of
22:05
that overlapping stuff well. Wilson has good touch on her
22:08
passes as well. You know, I mentioned obviously
22:15
Wilson is a two time NWSLMVPI believe she has a Golden Boot in
22:19
there with the league. She has 44 goals and 5594
22:25
minutes in NWSL. That's a goal about every 130
22:28
minutes. She just, they never unlocked
22:31
her in the 23 World Cup. And it's because they had her
22:34
playing, you know, underneath Alex Morgan and yeah, and
22:38
sometimes out on the left and it just didn't jive.
22:40
But we saw with triple espresso, if you have Sophie Wilson as the
22:44
as the tip of the spear, she's one of the best number nines in
22:47
the world in my opinion. Yeah.
22:50
I mean, I think it's just going to be, it's going to be
22:52
interesting because, you know, it's it.
22:57
I'm really kind of probably projecting out to a few
23:01
different matchups. And I know what we're probably
23:03
not going to see these matchups in 26, but we're going to see a
23:05
few of them in 2027. You think about the Germanys,
23:08
the Spains, the Englands, you got to have different things to
23:14
go to, I guess, you know, and I think like Smith is obviously
23:20
great and you know, when she's on, she's on.
23:22
But in 23 we saw we kind of we've seen her get neutralized,
23:26
you know, like I think in in some spots and and it's not
23:28
really on her. I actually think that could be
23:33
compelling to see her like out on the left again or just maybe
23:36
have, you know, and and Macario, if, if she was in that spot, it
23:39
would, it would definitely be a false night was you leave a lot
23:41
of space for, you know, Rodman and Smith or whoever, Cooper
23:45
Sears, whoever you have up there to kind of go up and get busy.
23:48
But Macario, the other I, I also, if I can rewind a little
23:53
bit, watching Cat Macario versus Italy, spend a lot of minutes
23:58
just being like, oh, wow, Macario's just maybe the best
24:01
player here. Like, you know, like there is
24:03
just no, there's no future that has a healthy cat Macario not
24:08
heavily featured, you know, and I think we've seen it this year
24:11
from MAS. She gets minutes, she gets to
24:14
start like she's like she's a Sharpie maybe as as we had this
24:17
year with Sam Coffey because it's kind of in that
24:19
conversation too for 25. But Emma Hayes loves her, you
24:23
know, and I think like she's so effective in the middle of the
24:27
park and she's effective pushed all the way up and then also
24:30
dropped way deeper. So I'm not sure what that means.
24:33
You know, I'm not sure if that changes like a Mal Swanson
24:36
situation or if it pushes Smith out or if it drops Makario
24:40
deeper. But then you're thinking about.
24:42
And this actually leads me to my second big question.
24:46
You remember that time when we used to talk about the, the USA
24:49
midfield as maybe a question mark?
24:52
I I think it's safe to say we're we're probably past that because
24:56
you look at some of these names in the midfield, Olivia
24:59
Moultrie, Sam Coffey, Lily Johannes, Claire Hutton, Lindsay
25:01
heaps, Roosevelt, Jaden Shaw, Corey Bethune, Hal Hirschfeld,
25:05
Corbin trader, a couple players that got that menace this year,
25:08
Lola Banta, Sam Meza, Jalen Howell, who made a who who who
25:12
re entered the fray like considerly and one of my NWSL
25:17
best elevens that you're going to give a shot to Taylor Flint.
25:19
I think we should be, you know, kind of like on the periphery
25:22
not going to be any. I don't think it's going to be
25:24
in the 2026 mix just because I named like 30 players that all
25:27
kind of could be in that midfield mix.
25:30
What do you make of this situation?
25:32
Is it an embarrassment of riches?
25:34
Is it a situation where we got to figure out our identity?
25:37
Do you, do you see something here where you're like, I think
25:40
actually the combination might lie within these two or three
25:43
players? Well, you need 14 players there,
25:48
right? And so like when we think about
25:50
like a 23 player roster for for 2027, what you're usually doing
25:55
like the seven defenders, you know, 7 midfielders, 6
26:00
attackers, 3 keepers type of model, right?
26:05
So yeah, I mean, it is absolutely an embarrassment of
26:08
riches. You need to think about those
26:11
combinations that you're talking about.
26:12
You need to think about balancing some experience
26:16
players who were in there are in might be at their apex prime
26:19
between the ages of like 26 and 29.
26:22
Some players with younger fresher legs between the ages
26:26
of, you know, 21 and 25. And then your players who like,
26:30
how can I, how could I legitimately feel the team
26:33
that's going to the World Cup without a legendary presence?
26:37
You think about like a Rose Lavelle in the midfield.
26:40
Obviously it's going to be, you know, past 30.
26:42
I think when we when we hit this World Cup, Emily Sonnet in
26:46
defense, you know, but we're talking about the midfield here.
26:49
So I think, you know, Emma Hayes is going to have to think about
26:54
this in the scope of like what you talked about, what are the
26:57
combinations I'm going to need to beat some of the the world's
27:00
elite teams. Spain, England, Germany, Japan,
27:05
I would say Brazil are in that mix.
27:09
France, you know, I didn't mention them.
27:10
They're, I think, you know, they're kind of they got the
27:13
players, but we never know what the hell happens to them in all
27:16
these major tournaments. They might have to compete with
27:18
Norway. You don't know what that's going
27:19
to look like in in 2027. So.
27:22
What's the waiting for that? I, I, you knew, you knew I was
27:25
going to shout them out. It was, it was never not going
27:27
to happen. So I would say though, like if
27:30
we're talking about the absolute like Sharpie players, you know,
27:34
this is tough. I mean, we've talked about go
27:37
for it. It's like it's it's it's hard to
27:39
do like the absolute sharpies. But like you talked about Sam
27:43
coffee, She got a ton of minutes.
27:45
She is an absolute bulldog out there.
27:48
She just, she just gets things done on the field and we've
27:52
we've like Lily Johannes. I think she absolutely has to be
27:56
out there. Who knows how good she could
27:58
potentially be in two years. She might be the second or third
28:01
best player in the pool in two in two years.
28:05
She's already she's already hitting passes that other nobody
28:08
else can hit. You know, like right now.
28:10
It's not even like, oh, project forward like she's she's doing
28:13
it right now. And I think you mentioned the
28:15
Sharpie and I'm, I'm glad you mentioned the seven, you know,
28:18
just for, for the purpose of exercises like this, I always go
28:21
777, you know, with the understanding that it's got to
28:24
be like 776 once you get to it. But even 7, it's like coffee.
28:29
Moultrie, Johannes Hutton, Lavelle Shaw, that's six.
28:36
And we're still looking at heaps.
28:37
Kroy Hirschfeld, Trader, La Monta, Meza, Howell Flint.
28:40
And I'm sure I'm, I'm forgetting one or two more.
28:42
So it's going to be very, very tricky.
28:46
Is there any player here? Because I, I've got my knee,
28:50
I've got my eye on somebody that I think it would be surprising,
28:54
but I think could struggle actually to break in and stay
28:59
in, you know, to that inner, inner core.
29:03
And we can also just be in a situation where there's sixty
29:05
players cycling and it's just like, all right, we'll get to 27
29:07
or who's healthy, who's cooking and we'll, we'll, we'll pick 23
29:11
from the 60. So it might be a little bit
29:13
moot, but a player like Corey Bethune, I'm going to be
29:17
interested to see what kind of 2026 she has with the US
29:20
financial team. Didn't log a ton of starts or
29:23
minutes. You know her skill set, you know
29:28
what she's capable of. But the US jersey does a weird
29:34
thing. You know where you see some
29:36
players put it on and they're good.
29:40
Lily Reel. Avery Patterson, Emma Sears.
29:44
And they just throw it on and it's like they, they, they look
29:46
the part they're. Just fucking ready.
29:49
And then there's other players that it just takes a little bit
29:52
of time, like Olivia Moultrie, I think is on her second go round
29:55
with the US masacial team. You know, Emily, Sam's taking
29:58
some time to kind of, you know, get fully, fully up to speed.
30:01
And you can just see the delta between the US performance and
30:04
like the performance in the league.
30:05
Corey Bethune, I think is in that same situation where we're
30:09
going to need to see a couple moments, maybe a maybe a
30:12
breakout performance or something this calendar year to
30:16
kind of get her into that midfield mix.
30:18
Like in a way where she's there and she's staying because like,
30:22
I think right now she's sort of like one of the bubble names,
30:25
which is which is weird to say. Probably if you think about like
30:30
that kind of attacking minded central midfielder that puts her
30:36
in the same mix with Jaden Shaw, Rose Lavelle and Olivia
30:40
Moultrie, that's that's tough competition.
30:43
So that's 4 right there. Now if you do, if you took those
30:47
four plus coffee, Johannes Hutton, that's a good seven in
30:52
my view. I think you could you might feel
30:56
a little light on the defensive if you had kind of like four
31:00
more attacking focused midfielders and three kind of
31:03
defensive minded midfielders in that in that set up.
31:08
I think I'm going to go with the other Washington Spirit
31:12
midfielder who we have a lot of stock in who we admire and have
31:16
appreciated her game. Same draft class as Corey
31:18
Bethune. I think it's going to be tricky
31:20
for Hal Hirschfeld because you know what?
31:22
Who does Emma Hayes? What does she want the make up
31:25
of that midfield to look like? Should like?
31:28
Is Hirschfeld with coffee, Johannes and Hutton?
31:32
Is that too too much like defensive minded midfield
31:37
presence? I think it's gonna be an
31:38
interesting question. It's, it's all so interconnected
31:42
because you know, if you, if you take a player like Hirschfeld,
31:45
who we love, you have to make some concessions.
31:48
You have to make up for it some in, in some other spots, you
31:50
know, maybe the forward spot or maybe in defence, you kind of
31:54
like do a little something or maybe like a carryabella or
31:56
something that can attack too, You know, from the outside, you
31:59
know, kind of like Patterson, you, you just start to elevate.
32:02
But the midfield, I'm just going to put a pin in that for now and
32:07
say 2026 in a good way. I'm excited to see what they've
32:11
got up their sleeve. I've got one more.
32:15
Do you have do you have any kind of itching questions 2026 for
32:19
this team that that you're going to be thinking about looking for
32:22
you know, when they when they take the field again?
32:25
I know I've mentioned it before, so I don't mean to put us into
32:27
reruns, but when I saw that Jordan Bug and Naomi Girma,
32:31
we're going to play together in that that match first Italy.
32:35
I mean, let's go, man. Like I know Emily Sonnet is
32:38
still an excellent center back, but you have the potential to
32:42
have two big, strong, smart, calm like passing minded, can
32:50
get up and attack type of center backs on your team at the same
32:55
time. And they could be flanked by
32:57
Emily Fox and Lily Reel like we're we're knocking over
33:02
opponents all match with that back 4.
33:06
Emily Fox. I mean, I know she's good and
33:09
she's fast. She's been great, man.
33:11
Looked extra good, extra fast. She's so good.
33:15
I mean, like she's, she's an irreplaceable player.
33:19
You think about like going against like the top teams and
33:22
you, you, you, you also see around the world what these top
33:26
teams are doing from the full back position.
33:29
Sandy Baltimore, Ellie Carpenter, you know, Battier
33:33
like it. It's like Esme Brooks, you know,
33:35
like now now it's like teams and countries are are putting real
33:39
firepower in those outside spots and utilizing them in ways that
33:44
are are super innovative. And to have a player like Emily
33:48
Fox on the right and then to kind of go into this window,
33:52
maybe not go into this window, but maybe go into Q4 with some
33:55
questions that left back and then have a player like Lily
33:58
reel just be like, shit, I can do that.
34:02
And then that that like kind of be the case.
34:04
That's also pretty exciting because now it's like now it's
34:07
from both directions that there's no, I mean, you know,
34:10
you, you were saying, Oh well, like when you were talking about
34:13
the midfield, you're like, oh, I don't think the seven, you know,
34:14
I don't think that there's anything wrong with the seven.
34:16
It's like, I don't think there's anything wrong with any 7 you
34:19
could make from, from the names that that we, we put forward.
34:21
Like it's, it's tough to kind of put forward a bad 7.
34:23
There's so loaded, but I I, I just really like that in some
34:30
ways this U.S. team is also innovating.
34:34
You know, and I think we, we kind of like, you know, there's
34:37
so much PTSD from 2023 just being like, oh, it's shit 'cause
34:40
like I think in in a lot of these, we can kind of see it
34:42
coming like we're watching we're like, oh man, like this is this
34:46
is weird, right, This is weird. Am I right?
34:48
This is not supposed to be happy.
34:49
We're looking around like and then we're out the tournament.
34:52
So now, now it kind of feels like there's, I don't know,
34:55
some, some some stuff happening in the lab.
34:58
I'm sure the whiteboards are all dirty, a bunch of dry erase all
35:01
over them, you know, diagrams and a bunch of cool stuff if you
35:04
if you get to go into those back rooms.
35:05
But it should be a great year, man.
35:10
I think so. And I think that brings us to
35:14
our third burning question for 2026.
35:19
It's got to be a battle goalkeepers and I think the
35:22
major question is right now at the beginning of 2026 I I have
35:26
something for potentially the end of 2026.
35:29
But in the beginning of 2026, it certainly feels like we have a 2
35:34
keeper race between Seattle Rain Football Club's Claudia Dickey
35:39
and Manchester United Football Club's Fallon Teller's Choice.
35:44
We'll, we'll get into this one when we talk Champions League,
35:48
but United really missed Valentine's choice against
35:51
Wolfsburg. That one, that one, that absence
35:56
made a big difference. But in all seriousness, shifting
35:59
gears to Claudia Dickey, I think, you know, obviously
36:02
you've seen Dickey up close a bunch, tracked her evolution,
36:07
kind of like the growth in her career, watching her against
36:12
Italy. She just has such command back
36:15
there, you know, and and I think we were talking about like, you
36:17
know, like the the weight of the shirt and, you know, I think PTJ
36:24
found tells Joyce has a little bit of of of that that that
36:28
other look to her where still kind of getting her bearings,
36:32
you know, like head a little bit still on a swivel as part of
36:36
this team. You know, she doesn't play in
36:37
the NWSL. So she's you know, like, I mean,
36:40
not currently, but obviously has that, you know, in her
36:42
background, but Dickie just looks like she has a little bit
36:46
more command, a little bit more chemistry with the defenders,
36:51
looks a little bit more comfortable back there and
36:55
obviously is an excellent keeper coming off a monster season in
36:59
the end of the OSL. So probably, you know, obviously
37:02
this is going to be definitely something that we're going to
37:03
we're going to be watching in a huge way, But I think Dickie's
37:07
got the edge. And then the last quick note
37:09
that I'll say you look at the competition 2025, some big names
37:15
on there, Colombia, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Canada, but
37:21
not quite a murderer's row, right?
37:25
You know, there's, there's, you know, Jamaica, Ireland,
37:28
Portugal, New Zealand, couple of against Portugal, Italy.
37:31
I'm going to be interested to see against whatever the biggest
37:36
matches that we were able to line up next year, what the
37:40
goalkeeper situation looks like if Dicky does get like that
37:44
first, you know, gets that first team treatment, you know, so the
37:47
bulk of the starts and then how Dicky holds up in the
37:51
international game against some of those more higher powered
37:54
offenses. I have full confidence in her,
37:57
but I would love to see it. And then obviously, PTJ, I'm
37:59
sure we'll get a look and then I think we're just going to learn
38:01
a little bit more about, you know, who, who's got the edge.
38:07
I think that's right. And and for anybody who's
38:09
watching this, this program and didn't watch like us through the
38:13
NWSL season. So I live up in Seattle.
38:17
I cover Seattle Ring Football Club and Welsh legend Jess
38:22
Fishlock, the 2021 NWSLMVP when talking about Claudia Dickey.
38:27
And and I'd asked her about Dickey's play, looked me in the
38:31
eye and said something to the effect of.
38:33
I haven't felt this confident in a goalkeeper since I played in
38:36
front of Hope Solo. And so that is a heavy
38:40
comparison to make. And I don't think Jess Fishlock
38:42
did it lightly. And so that is to call it a
38:46
glowing endorsement might be underselling it.
38:49
And so I, the thing about Claudia Dickey and you know, I
38:53
don't claim to be any kind of goalkeeping expert, but I am
38:57
pals with, with Van Crisp, who is the Co host of the great
39:00
cooler Guild podcast, which you should immediately listen to.
39:03
It's a podcast about Seattle rain.
39:05
Van Crisp was a a a goalkeeper when she played and she
39:10
basically talked to me about what look how easy it is for
39:14
Dickie to make saves based on where she's standing before
39:18
shots are even take taken. Like, and you had kind of talked
39:22
about like her, like her ability to like be in the spot and like
39:26
she just has great instincts alongside her, her great size
39:31
and her diving ability, her hand strength to push the ball away
39:34
to keep, you know, push balls over the bar, things like that.
39:37
So she has all that going for her and she's she's comfortable
39:41
with the ball at her feet. And then Fallon tell us Joyce is
39:45
an UN has unbelievable ball skills, is, you know, incredibly
39:50
smart with her positioning as well has great leaping ability,
39:54
diving ability. I think it's I think it's going
39:58
to be a great race. But as I mentioned at the
40:00
beginning of this, I did mention, you know, at the end of
40:05
2026 what happens. If another goalkeeper emerges
40:10
who perhaps has a great 2026 and WSL season.
40:15
And my friend where you live in the Bay Area Bay FC zone, Jordan
40:20
Silkowitz, great friend of the show, Jordan Silkowitz.
40:24
Let's just keep an eye out for her.
40:26
And I just want to say it now in the beginning of December of
40:28
2025, Jordan Silkowitz for USWNTE.
40:32
Let's go get her on the roster. I'm, I'm with that.
40:35
I'm with that. I can't believe that.
40:37
I can't believe whatever coaches called her Swiss cheese as a
40:39
young child. Just unbelievable.
40:43
Where's that guy now? That was still birds or girl,
40:46
get her out of here. You know, I mean, I don't know.
40:48
Hopefully, hopefully they're out of a job.
40:49
Whoever it was, get them out of here.
40:51
I don't I don't actually mean that they're probably probably
40:53
really nice person, but super cosigned on the on the on the
40:56
silky, you know, in 2026. Let's just get let's get silky
41:01
some minutes, get up between the pipes, see, see what see what
41:04
kind of you know, see what kind of you know, her game's going to
41:07
elevate you. You know that we're going to see
41:10
a a next level of Jordan's game. So I I love that call out.
41:13
We will be watching the goalkeeper situation for this
41:16
Rios from the national team. All right, my good man.
41:19
I think we did it. I think we proper properly
41:21
looked ahead. We properly talked little
41:23
Trinity Rodman and the whole contract fiasco situation.
41:26
Is there anything else you want to hit?
41:28
Actually, let me let me do a little quick episode calendar.
41:30
I mentioned at the top Champions League match day five.
41:33
We're going to have a preview coming up here very, very soon.
41:35
Match day 5 recap shortly thereafter.
41:38
All these games are happening December 9th, December 10th.
41:40
They'll be here shortly. Our 2025 best 11 that is right
41:44
around the corner. Make sure you're subscribed
41:45
following your boys on all the socials.
41:48
All right, now I can do it. Is there anything else you want
41:50
to hit before you got here? I think that's it, buddy, maybe
41:54
maybe got, I got some good rest over the holiday.
41:59
Maybe had to shake off a little rust to do this episode.
42:02
So I appreciate everybody for being with us.
42:05
Absolutely. Can I share some Spotify Wrapped
42:08
results with you that we got today?
42:11
Sure. We're on Spotify in case
42:13
anybody's interested in that kind of thing.
42:14
Let's fucking go. All right, How about 152,000
42:17
minutes of listening Last year or this year?
42:20
That's exciting. Love to see it.
42:23
This is people listening to our program.
42:25
Yeah, On Spotify. Yeah, not Yeah, not just
42:27
listening to Spotify. That'd be funny.
42:30
Our show was in the top 10% of videos on Spotify as a as a as
42:35
an outfit. That's exciting.
42:37
Top 10% of videos we're a top 10 show for 200 plus fans.
42:42
Shout out to you. We appreciate you and we are the
42:45
number one show for 19 of you on Spotify.
42:49
So it's like a good week. All right what can we say Damn
42:52
that's pretty good yeah and I got to tell you at least at
42:59
least one of those people is not me.
43:01
I got I looked at my personal Spotify rapt and into the
43:04
channel is not my number one listen to podcast.
43:07
So OK it and I don't know if ITC was your #1II.
43:12
Actually saved mine a little bit my wrapped.
43:14
So I haven't seen my personal wrapped.
43:16
I'm going to check it out and I'll I'll report back before we
43:18
before we recording it. I'll I'll I'll be up to speed
43:20
and we could share some notes there.
43:23
OK, if you're on Spotify, if you're listening on Spotify,
43:27
leave us some comments. That's the thing that happens on
43:30
Spotify right now. We've only got 1 best friend on
43:33
Spotify. You already know what time it is
43:34
Mac Daley, you already know. We appreciate you.
43:38
Most of our friends, a lot of people that we shout out are
43:41
mostly YouTube friends. I guess it'll be easier to
43:43
comment and YouTube also pop in at the end of the year.
43:48
So I want to shout out some friends as we hit the end of
43:51
2025. Knocked through a couple names
43:53
just 'cause I mean, these people mean a lot to me.
43:56
So I want to give a quick shout out.
43:57
Gretchen, you already know, for Corey's sake, one of the best
44:00
names in our comment section, Flonga Slammer, Dave Palms,
44:03
Rumble Wagon, Blade Runner. Panda Panda Panda, Panda Panda
44:07
Panda Boy named Blue Justin Michelle.
44:09
Contactful who I mistakenly called Contentful.
44:12
My bad. Contactful you don't know what
44:13
time it is. Mack Daly second mentioned MLS,
44:16
Kobe, Rachel Adastra. I'm sure I'm forgetting a bunch
44:20
of great, great friends from the oh, a couple of them that I
44:23
wanted to mention. Friend of the show Owen Spangler
44:29
was talking about our our jump rope conversation and he said
44:32
next time y'all are making wagers on picking a match I
44:34
think the loser has to post a short of themselves jumping rope
44:37
to a no doubt song. I think hella good.
44:39
Makes for a great soundtrack. I kind of cosigned that.
44:42
Owen Spangler shout out to you and then the last YouTube
44:45
commenter that I wanted to mention who left this little
44:48
gem. Below our Gotham FC post game
44:52
interview video. Shout out to at Jose David
44:55
Puentes Guerrero 1968 who chimed in with the comment.
45:00
I love you, Sarah. I believe let's talk about Sarah
45:04
Shimansky. So shout out to you, Jose.
45:06
David Pontesquerado, 1968. Very efficient.
45:10
Nice. All right.
45:12
I'm sure, Sarah, you know, the feeling is, I'm sure the feeling
45:16
is mutual. Jean Cher.
45:17
I'm sure she appreciates the support just as we appreciate
45:21
the support. Just a what?
45:22
A what? A list of legends that you ran
45:25
through there. Yeah.
45:26
Thank you all for always supporting the show and just
45:28
being, as I've, as I've said before, the nicest people on the
45:31
Internet. We we greatly appreciate it.
45:33
Yep, there's been another episode of Interest Channel.
45:35
Thank you. Thank you for watching,
45:36
listening, hanging out if you enjoyed the show.
45:38
We do this every single week, sometimes twice a week.
45:40
Next week could be twice a week. We'll see.
45:43
If you enjoyed the show, make sure you're checking this out.
45:46
YouTube, Spotify, have a podcast wherever you like to watch or
45:48
listen. Like, subscribe, follow,
45:50
comment, leave us a review. As mentioned prior, patreon.com
45:53
session to the channel. Great way to support the show
45:55
into the channel merch. Yeah.
45:58
Maybe even the greater way to support the show, probably
46:01
greater. It's at least as great links all
46:03
of the above and much, much more in the description of this
46:05
episode. And a big thank you to my coast
46:07
as well. Mr. Grant and go for being a key
46:11
part of my 2026 plans, right? Right in the centerpiece.
46:14
Big ass sharpie. I know what time it is.
46:15
I appreciate you bro. Likewise, buddy, nobody I'd
46:19
rather do it with. And again, thank you to
46:21
everybody. We got the Champions League
46:22
coming up. You know, if, if, if you're a US
46:25
women's national team fan or maybe an NWSL fan and you click
46:29
on this video, the UEFA Women's Champions League is a
46:31
celebration of life. It's one of the greatest
46:33
tournaments in any sport anywhere in the world.
46:35
Lock in with us. It's it's unbelievably enjoyable
46:38
to watch. We were will welcome anybody
46:40
onto the bandwagon. So thank you again for
46:42
supporting the show and we will see you all next time.