Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / USWNT POSTGAME | USA 3 Japan 0 | April 17 2026 USWNT v JAPAN RECAP ANALYSIS

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USWNT POSTGAME | USA 3 Japan 0 | April 17 2026 USWNT v JAPAN RECAP ANALYSIS · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:04
Oh, OK, welcome to into the channel podcast primarily about
0:09
once football. I'm your host, you know, de
0:11
suspicious. And as always, I'm joined by my
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Co host, Mr. Grant Engel. What is up man?
0:17
I'm feeling fantastic, buddy. We've made it to Friday.
0:20
Congratulations to all of us for for getting there.
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And we saw the third and final installment of the 2026 USWNT
0:29
versus Japan matches, and I thought it was pretty
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entertaining, very entertaining. We we got, we got what we were
0:36
looking for along a lot of dimensions, a lot to talk about
0:39
in this one. Big win for the US, but where do
0:42
we get started? First, let's start with me
0:45
heroically fighting through a sneeze.
0:47
There we see football players get injured all the time.
0:49
I can't tell you the tough decided to bring there, but
0:51
let's get started with a beverage.
0:53
I can. I can see it man.
0:56
I was, I was like, oh man, I'm going to sneeze right in the
0:59
intro. Not.
1:01
On my watch exactly. Cheers to you.
1:04
Cheers to you, cheers to the football.
1:06
As Mark Jackson says, sometimes you got to tell your body.
1:09
Not today. That's right, pan down, man
1:13
down. All right, three nil US what
1:17
what was your first take away? I I I think line up stuff.
1:21
That one was the 1st place where I'm like, OK, here's something
1:24
I, I mean, I railed after that second matchup, just the
1:28
hodgepodgey nature of that lineup.
1:30
Then you then you see what happens today.
1:32
You can look up top, Alyssa Thompson, Sophia Wilson, Trinity
1:37
Rodman, and then in the midfield, Lavelle Heaps and
1:40
Hutton. I thought the Hutton over coffee
1:42
was interesting because it looked like we got the full
1:44
A-Team and yeah, Hutton in there, coffee not in there.
1:49
And and then the other obviously, you know, the thing
1:52
that you're going to notice is Dickey over PTJ.
1:56
So I'm I'm not sure if that's Emma Hayes tip in her hand, but
1:58
it sure felt felt a little a teamy.
2:01
I think we've we've seen some comments that a lot of our pals,
2:06
a lot of our great Internet pals believe that Claudia Dickey may
2:09
have the inside track to that number one goalkeeper spot.
2:12
I think this this line up, these line up decisions and then
2:18
having Dickey as the number, as the number one or the starting
2:20
goalkeeper in this match. I don't think it's I don't think
2:23
it's nothing. You know, the mines are are
2:28
largely melded here. That one of the first things I
2:32
put in my notes is at first glance, I looked at it and I
2:35
said this feels like Emma Hayes went with her.
2:40
I really want to win this game lineup.
2:42
And then the light switch went off in my head.
2:44
I said, well, damn, then why isn't Sam coffee in that lineup?
2:48
And the reason is Claire Hutton. Yeah, I mean, it's tough to, you
2:54
know, this isn't this isn't all the Marvel side match, but it is
2:58
a signal for sure, you know, and Hutton, obviously, where's the
3:00
captains are men's second match rocks the the the crossbar in
3:04
this one and played really, really well.
3:07
I thought I thought she was super effective and, you know, a
3:11
lot more balance today. And I think I was also railing,
3:14
railing against, you know, just the lack of identity, you know,
3:18
after that second Japan match up and in this one pretty early, we
3:22
jumped off the screen was EU s s press their their commitment to
3:27
the press. And then I think on offense a
3:31
little bit more responsible, you know, like they were still
3:34
playing direct. You know, they were playing with
3:36
purpose, but it was a lot of short intermediate, a little
3:40
smarter, a little crisper, a little bit like we don't need
3:43
to, you know, get crazy with let's and then let's let's make
3:47
that Japan defense work a little bit.
3:48
You know, let's not make it so easy for them to just kick, kick
3:51
something over the top and and let them regain it without
3:54
having to do a ton of work. So I thought the adjustments
3:57
very smart. I totally agree and it was
4:01
mentioned on the broadcast that you know, USA kind of like
4:07
morphing into a 352 at times. You can do that when you have
4:11
Giselle Thompson and Emily Fox on on the wings as you're as
4:15
you're left and right back each there respectively is the word I
4:21
was searching for Sleepy Boys podcast.
4:23
You got to bear with us today. We're going to try to keep it
4:24
tight up. Sorry I had a long day.
4:28
But yeah, you can meld into the 352 and you know, in that first
4:32
half, if you have Tierna Davidson and Naomi Germa on the
4:35
pitch at the same time and then you have Fox over on the right.
4:38
Sure you can. You can go into a 352 no
4:41
problem. I I thought I thought Davidson
4:44
there's something about Davidson and fox that I'm sorry, Davidson
4:48
and Girma the pairing great. Girma looked immediately.
4:51
You know, I wrote my notes more confident posture for in the 4th
4:57
minute on Girma and like it's just Davidson, like, you know,
5:01
like maybe it's just, you know, almost like a comfort and
5:05
comfort center back pairing. Looks like you and I probably
5:08
that's right. But that that ends up, you know,
5:13
bearing more fruit in the second-half when Gurmouth gets
5:15
the goal. But it had me considering I
5:18
don't know. Should Chelsea line up another
5:21
giant bag and try to pull Davidson over?
5:26
That's amazing because I thought we saw the different Naomi
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Gurmouth today. I love that as it take Tina, you
5:31
want to live in London. This is nice.
5:35
I like it. I also tell you you know, I'm I
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just I just need to do this. I put it in my notes and and
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started laughing immediately. I'm not sure why you're even
5:44
friends with me, but. But as I wrote down after the
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Naomi Girma goal. So after all these weeks of Dino
5:53
telling us Naomi Gurma isn't good anymore, he or she comes
5:56
back on the rise. And I realize probably a bit
5:59
unfair to you, I don't think you've been telling us Naomi
6:02
Gurma isn't good anymore. But defend yourself either way.
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I mean, it's fair, it's a, it's a fair moment to ask me to come
6:12
defend myself. But you know, in, in fairness, I
6:15
never said she wasn't good anymore.
6:17
I said, she's not playing good right now.
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You know, what she did most certainly was not.
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And I, I, I really was taken aback kind of how quickly form
6:26
can switch. You know, I, I guess, I think in
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my head, you know, I'm used to like, oh, work your way back.
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You're you're ramping back up and you know, we're talking
6:34
about weeks, maybe months, you know, and it's like, so for some
6:38
players it, it just happens quickly, you know, and I think
6:42
the other player might notes to another player that's been
6:45
batting a lot of like injury stuff.
6:47
And we've seen her not look 100% Trinity Rodman looking 104
6:53
percent, 105%. She looked extremely fast and
6:58
extremely problematic for for that Japan defense.
7:01
And I think Sophia Wilson looked more back back today too.
7:05
So I don't know, something going on maybe physically in in the
7:09
training room, but for whatever reason, a lot of stuff coming
7:12
together had a good time here. IA 100% agree.
7:17
You came to me with an idea before we started recording this
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podcast. I think, you know, our friends
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of the show, we're going to be very familiar that with this.
7:28
But you know, anybody who pays attention to any kind of
7:31
markets, which is not me. I think it's more you than me.
7:34
But you've introduced the idea of arrows pointing up, arrows
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pointing down how much you clue our friends in on a little game
7:44
you wanted to play to appreciate podcast.
7:46
Yeah, I appreciate you bringing back up because right before we
7:49
wanted to show them like, hey, let's talk about TOP and turn
7:52
the mics on and completely that would have straight out the
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window. But what I wanted to do was
7:58
rather than sink all the way into this match, because I think
8:01
this match was for the most part, US dominated the first
8:05
half and well, we'll kind of get more into it.
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And then second-half floodgates open.
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There's stuff to talk about for sure, but I want to zoom out a
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little bit and talk arrows pointing up.
8:16
I don't want to, I don't want to point any arrows down.
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I don't think, I don't think that's fair.
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It's short window, you know, it's a weird time of year, so
8:21
it's understandable if things didn't look awesome.
8:24
But I do want to highlight three players each.
8:29
So you get 3, I get 3 and just talk about him like who, who
8:34
kind of exceeded expectations. I, I, I put together a list of 5
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or 6 here and I want to kick it to you first.
8:40
If I say who really impressed you in this window?
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Who kind of like raise their stock a little bit.
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If there's a, you know, if there's like a a big board or
8:51
power rankings, you know who who jumped up 3 or 4 spots on the
8:54
heels of these three matches. Oh boy, OK, so if if I I'm going
9:00
to like move away from a little bit of that in my in my next two
9:04
picks, because it's I have some other players like in mind who I
9:09
just like the arrows clearly pointing up.
9:12
But in that in in that prompt, which I I do think makes sense
9:18
who moved up notches, but perhaps several notches in my
9:23
book. Giselle Thompson, she appears to
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have an inside track at the starting left back position for
9:32
this team that's going to challenge to win the World Cup
9:35
in 2027. And I think her speed or
9:37
decision making or intelligence or passing or creativity and,
9:43
and some doggedness on defense. And obviously she's a left back.
9:47
You expect her to play defense. But you know, in the in modern
9:50
football, you sometimes you could have a left back or a
9:52
right back who is like attacking first and then can hold their
9:56
own on defense. It feels like she can do a lot
9:58
of both at a pretty high level. And I thought these three
10:01
matches versus Japan, when was she, you know, she had the weird
10:05
moment where she kept Ueki on side for that goal, the winning
10:10
goal in the second match. But when else was she on the
10:13
pitch where you didn't like what she was doing?
10:16
Yeah, no. And I think she played well in
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the second match. You also get the the extra bonus
10:20
of, you know, international, you know, football is tough
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chemistry wise and you know, and I think you get the added bonus
10:29
of her and Alyssa Thompson, you know, just, you know, one moves
10:32
the other one. It's it's almost like yin and
10:35
Yang, like they they know instantly like where to go when
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the other ones going the other way.
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And it it it's almost like a a pairing.
10:42
You know, you could stick any third player there and it's an
10:45
effective triangle and like, you know, I had a fourth player and
10:48
now like the the defenses had it is spinning a little bit.
10:51
So I love it on I cheated a little bit.
10:54
Obviously they were on my list, but I wrote down the Thompsons
10:56
because I think there you go. You know, Alyssa Thompson is is
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also elevated for sure. You know, I kept I mentioned a
11:03
couple shows ago, but you know, it wasn't that long ago we were
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like, oh, Alyssa felt like she was on the bubble because it was
11:10
like, you know, the 2023 hangover.
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And now that feels so, so, so long ago.
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And then, you know, that's a player that went to Chelsea and
11:19
outperformed, you know, despite the the big expectations and the
11:23
big price tag. So definitely had the Thompson
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of my list. Great pick by you.
11:28
I'm going to, I'm going to throw one in here, another player
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that, you know, we've talked about 2027 a lot, you know, and
11:36
it, it, it's come it, it's gotten here so quickly that I,
11:39
it, it's remind me of those like 2023-2024 conversations where
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you're like, well, you know, this player is to be.
11:44
So you know this at this advanced stage of 31 or 32
11:49
Roosevelt, I mean, good pick. How, how high up the the like,
11:56
how high up the, the, the blank sheet of paper.
11:59
You know, it is her name. You know, if if we're started
12:01
with a complete blank slate, because this is a player that I
12:05
think now has to be there. I mean, super additive that the
12:08
goal today, unbelievable. She's the kind of player that if
12:13
you're playing basketball and you cross your opponent over and
12:16
they fall over and then you Kick It Out to Roosevelt and the
12:19
crowd is ooing and awning. She's knocking down the 3:00
12:22
every single time. Put the capper on the on the
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highlight ball on the highlight play.
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She just is that kind of player and I'll play with you
12:29
absolutely need in a tournament like that.
12:32
And I just remember being like Roosevelt should be 30, whatever
12:34
years old. I don't know if she's doing her
12:36
health XYZ, whatever out the window.
12:39
This is a player that is just like, I mean, I don't know,
12:42
maybe the first or second pick if if you're giving me a blank
12:45
slate. I think we talked about it.
12:47
We did a like, you know, a way too early potential 2027 World
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Cup roster show. And I think I think Lavelle made
12:56
it. But like we talked about her
12:57
being like on the bubble ish. And we we shouted out our Pell
13:03
Flanga slammer YouTube commenter, who I think is Mr.
13:07
Google on blue sky. I don't know if we've ever
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confirmed that, but I thought. You were going to start
13:13
pronounce that differently. I'm going to go with Phalangy
13:15
Slammer. OK, sure.
13:17
I like that. Why not you?
13:20
Never got confirmations though. Yeah, he'll, yeah, he'll let us
13:24
know in the in the comments. Please or not?
13:27
Yeah, also, you know, keep us guessing.
13:29
You never, never let anybody know your next move.
13:31
Take telling me that's it. But they were.
13:35
But they were like even during that episode and then Flang
13:39
Islam or Phalange Slammer, whatever we want to say, it was
13:43
like, who is a certified ball? Know her was just like,
13:47
Lavelle's going to be on the team no matter what.
13:49
Like Hayes loves her. She should love her.
13:51
She fits in perfectly with pretty much a lot of different a
13:55
lot of different lineups. And you're 100% right when she
14:00
gets going, and we talked about it too, like when she gets going
14:03
downhill, she's unstoppable. There was no doubt in my mind
14:08
when Rodman played her clear through.
14:11
Immediately as I saw her go through, I was like, that's a
14:14
goal. Easy goal.
14:15
Yeah, like she always finishes that.
14:18
And think about what that think about what that says about a
14:22
player. Like exactly.
14:23
There's there's just not that many players there.
14:25
You're just like, yeah, that player always finishes that.
14:27
Like it's I can't think of too many.
14:30
Yeah. Men's or women's game.
14:33
Shout out to Roosevelt for sure. Do you want to do you want to go
14:35
to the next pick here or do you want to hit some something else
14:37
from the match? You know when, when Japan forced
14:42
the corner early in in the 1st 5 minutes, you know Tanakawa takes
14:47
it. It's a dangerous corner.
14:48
It falls just outside the six yard box.
14:51
You know, Koga is, you know, you know, no offense to to Koga, but
14:56
that's not the player that Japan would have wanted that chance to
14:59
fall to like usually like depend on who it is.
15:01
You don't want it to fall to your to your center back and she
15:04
doesn't get hardly anything on it.
15:06
It's an easy save for Dickie Rodman gets up, she looks a
15:10
little shaken up, but like you can tell she's going to run it
15:12
off or whatever. But, you know, in the in those
15:15
opening moments and then in those first 5 minutes, I was
15:17
like, I don't know, let's see how this one goes.
15:19
And USA was just able to kind of grab the game by the scruff of
15:24
the neck, if I can use that cliche.
15:27
And I really liked that they were they were kind of looking
15:32
at it, at least from my view as like, OK, Japan, you want to
15:35
continue like you're going to play us multiple games in a row
15:38
of letting us have the ball and you circling around 30%
15:42
possession. We can we can make you pay in
15:45
these scenarios even if we did it in the last match.
15:49
Emma, he has talked about that after the match.
15:53
I think she referenced maybe it was the Olympics match with
15:58
Japan. She was like, I think at that
15:59
match we had 77% possession. It's not really just about
16:02
possession, you know, it's about we've got to, we've got to do
16:04
something with it. And I thought today it was
16:07
really good in the second goal that we're talking about.
16:10
A perfect illustration of that. Wesley wins it back, gets it to
16:14
Heaps. Who?
16:17
I don't know. You're the Heaps I mean.
16:20
It's. It's it's it's on medium heat.
16:23
It's you know, it's not it's not quite you know, it's not
16:26
simmering, it's not boiling, but it's warming.
16:29
You know, I mean, you don't. We don't want to make direct
16:31
contact with it. But that second goal, Wesley to
16:35
heaps heaps makes a great quick decision.
16:39
Sharp pass gets it to Rodman and then Rodman, the wicked, wicked
16:43
bowl, who did not make the defender of I don't know who
16:46
that was in that one, but great ball up to Lavelle and the
16:52
finish was awesome. But the point that I wanted to
16:56
make there was and Julie Fatty mentioned on on the telecast
16:58
where it's like Japan's playing a highline, but you don't just
17:02
have to kick it over the top to be the highline.
17:04
You know, you you can systematically like chop, chop,
17:07
chop to the center of the park, which is what they did to beat
17:10
to beat that same highline using skill, using the clinicality,
17:14
using the IQ and get, you know, hitting them with something that
17:19
obviously they didn't see coming and a great, you know, kind of
17:23
like counter move. You know, and I think we're the
17:26
one thing about identity. That's kind of what I was was
17:29
hoping to see. It's like, because that could be
17:31
something, you know, it's like a combination of like speed, fast
17:36
twitch power and then accuracy within a specific range.
17:41
And this is how we want to play, you know, And that that that all
17:43
of a sudden is an interesting recipe.
17:46
Totally agree. And I think Rodman's ability to
17:49
hit that pass, to see that pass, you know, you think about
17:53
Trinity Rodman, you know, speed out on the wing, the trend spin,
17:58
the great moves, the ability to track back on defense.
18:02
You know, the athletic character, the athletic
18:04
conditioning to go up and down the field.
18:08
Then in in that moment, she's more on the inside.
18:11
Like, you know, she's more at like center of the park when she
18:13
delivers that pass. And like, you know, if if you're
18:17
going to play Thompson, Wilson, Rodman up top, then you know,
18:25
Rodman's going to have to play like in this in the center
18:29
channel, if you will, into the into the center channel, if you
18:32
will, and probably more often. And she can do it.
18:37
And so like, I thought that was a great illustration of her
18:40
ability to read the past, have the sense of how to do it.
18:44
And then just the weight of the past is absolutely delightful.
18:48
I think Emma has referenced that when she was in the post match
18:51
interview, sitting at the desk with a great team over at TNT,
18:55
that just the weight of the past was absolutely beautiful.
18:59
Yeah, yeah. And I think I just love the
19:02
variety of it because at halftime I wrote the I wrote in
19:04
my notes, you know, it's no, no. And 1/2 time, I think the US had
19:07
a nine one shot advantage at that point, but no goals.
19:14
They look pretty close, but not, you know, it didn't feel
19:17
inevitable. And in my notes, I'm like, you
19:19
know, it's clear we can't steamroll Japan and just kind of
19:23
just get a get a goal, however, whenever we want.
19:25
So what's it going to look like? So I thought it was it was
19:28
really interesting very early, another early goal in the
19:31
second-half, the Wesley corner to grandma that that the second
19:34
one that we're talking about with to to Lavelle and then the
19:37
third one, a Jaden shock corner to to Kennedy was again.
19:41
So I like that it got scrappy a little bit.
19:45
And then in retrospect, we we did kind of end up steamrolling,
19:48
you know, maybe a little laggy Japan in the second-half with
19:52
with with different approaches. I don't usually look at this.
19:56
I think the corners finished 72 but very telling this one goes.
20:01
The US scores off, you know what, 2 of their goals come off
20:04
two of those seven corners. Yeah, fat mob has the corners as
20:09
six to two, but your point stands.
20:13
You know, and I and I think Japan was a little leggy, but
20:17
it's not it's not a huge excuse and they're not going to make
20:19
any excuses. They never want to lose any
20:21
match three nil. But yeah, they USA beasted them
20:26
on on corners. They there were a couple moments
20:29
there where it was just like everybody on USA is jumping
20:33
higher, everybody on USA looks stronger and they made that
20:37
known on those corner kick chances.
20:39
So I will, I will then take this opportunity to make my other
20:45
pick of the arrow pointing up and it will be the
20:48
aforementioned Naomi Girma who scored that goal.
20:52
And look, like I told you, I'm getting away from the like, did
20:56
this player like raise the like two or three notches in my book?
20:59
Like, no, that's not going to, that's not really what happened.
21:02
I, I, you know, both of us obviously already hold her in
21:05
very high regard. She's just getting healthier,
21:09
man. Like she's just looked, she
21:11
looks better. And you know, I, I, I feel like
21:15
this was this was going to happen.
21:17
So I wouldn't be surprised if by the time the 2027 World Cup
21:22
rolls around, she is right back in the mix as the best center
21:26
back in the world. I believe it and you know, she's
21:31
always had that kind of like opportunistic, you know, poacher
21:35
type approach, you know, offset plays and and now it kind of
21:38
feels like it's less of a fluke. And now it kind of feels like
21:41
it's sort of part of her game now and kind of thing that he's
21:44
kind of ramping up with into, which is which is great if she's
21:47
like, no, no, this is like, you know, Vanessa Giel, perfect
21:49
example, you know, or Vegas Doty or like these are terrifying
21:55
threats in the box, you know, and you know, I'm not sure if
21:59
that's completely in Germa's future, but it's clear that
22:03
she's got a nose for it, you know, and and and you know, she
22:06
she does put, you know, put goals up on occasion.
22:10
So I I love the the pic of Neo Mcgorma and I thought too on the
22:15
header, you know, she she in my in my notes up like she looks
22:19
like a UFC fighter, you know, kind of shooting an opponent,
22:21
like looking for an opportunity because she she really charged
22:24
it and you know, and like really took advantage of it.
22:27
Love that pic. All right, so you take, you're
22:29
taking care of my. I'm going to take Claudia
22:32
Dickey. Wow.
22:35
I thought Dickie had a good window for sure.
22:40
And I mentioned, you know, the, the, the one that PTJ left, you
22:43
know, left through where I was like, I think, well, I Dick had
22:45
two hands that one and she 2 handed 1 today looked a little
22:49
like easy Ed McCaffrey out there talking Denver, you know, to the
22:53
mid 90s Denver Broncos. But Luke Wildman, it kind of
22:57
caught him off guard. He was like, whoa, Dickie, you
22:59
know, just kind of snag that, you know, like he was just
23:02
delighted by it. I'm just like, I think, I think
23:04
that's my goalkeeper. I like it.
23:07
No, that's a that's a great take by you.
23:11
Yeah. I mean, she gets herself in
23:12
great positions. She's strong on the catch man
23:17
take, you know, Flanga Slammer, Phalangi Slammer, getting it,
23:21
getting another reference on the podcast.
23:24
But like, I know they had, they had, you know, mentioned they
23:30
didn't exactly love like the confidence of either PTJ or
23:33
Dicky on some set pieces and like kind of going out there and
23:36
protecting, protecting their area and getting balls out of
23:39
there. So that I think that is
23:42
something I'm going to keep an eye on moving forward.
23:45
But yeah, that big catch on the Tonkawa shot or No, no, no, that
23:51
was a, that was a Matsu Kubo shot in the second-half where
23:55
Matsu Kubo really put her foot through it.
23:58
No, but it was, it was just too close to Diggy.
24:00
I mean, that's The thing is that like she if, if it's that close,
24:04
then she she's strong enough to catch it.
24:07
Yeah. No, I, I love that.
24:09
I mean, I mean, I'm a tight end by nature, so.
24:12
There it is. Right.
24:13
Right in my wheelhouse. And a basketball player like
24:16
Claudia Dickey, in case anybody hasn't hurt.
24:18
And definitely, definitely not a soccer player afraid to be
24:22
curious. Alright, man.
24:27
Well, I we each have two more. I'm sorry, we each have one more
24:30
pick, right? That's right.
24:31
Let's hit that one for you out here.
24:35
All right. You want me to make my pick?
24:38
Yeah. I've got a short list.
24:40
I got a list too, and it's making me mad because I mean,
24:43
there's another one. There's another.
24:44
Like there are two other obvious ones I want to take, but I'm
24:46
just going to do a thing because I love doing a thing.
24:49
Arrow pointing up Momoko Tanakawa Duh, of course your
24:53
arrow's pointing up. She she turns 21 years old on
24:56
May 7th. She's a superstar.
24:58
She looks great. When she took that corner early
25:00
in the match, I was like, oh, let's see what happens here.
25:03
I mean, USA could be down pretty early.
25:05
She has eight goals and two assists in frown Bundesliga.
25:08
She has three goals and one assist in the UEFA Women's
25:10
Champions League. Ever heard of that tournament?
25:12
That's pretty important. She's going to play more great
25:15
competitions. She's going to play more
25:17
important minutes. She's going to be a part of the
25:19
national team moving forward. Arrow firmly up in the right
25:23
direction. She continues to build towards
25:26
super stardom in my opinion. That's excellent.
25:29
So all right, so the moko tonic I will be playing in the
25:33
Champions League and who are they playing?
25:34
Semi fine, you said. Bayern Munich is going to play
25:39
Barcelona. So it's going to be tough and
25:41
work. Where can the folks, you know,
25:43
learn more about this? This Champions League tournament
25:46
sounds sounds like an exciting undertaking.
25:47
What a great question when when you watch the UEFA Women's
25:51
Champions League, you can watch the single greatest UEFA Women's
25:54
Champions League podcast in the history of the Internet.
25:57
And that would be the Into the Channel podcast right here on
26:00
YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast. We're on like every platform.
26:03
I could name them all, but we'd be here all night.
26:06
I'm not going to bother that doing that.
26:08
Just watch us wherever you like. Well done.
26:11
All right. I've got one more pick.
26:13
This is an individual didn't quite put on the hop seat, but
26:17
it was curious. And antennas were were, were
26:20
raised. They were, they were, they were
26:22
locked in. They were, they were locked into
26:24
the right frequency. In all seriousness, I want to
26:27
see what MAS would do. I think she answered some
26:29
questions early with the lineup, but I think that the game plan
26:34
too was was pretty sharp. You know, like outside of that
26:37
early chance that wasn't, you know, it wasn't much of a
26:40
chance. I thought the pressure on Japan
26:43
really knocked them on their heels early, you know, and and,
26:46
and you can tell they were just like, oh wow, we're we're not
26:49
going to get the ball back, You know, like we're having to wait
26:52
a lot longer to get the ball back.
26:54
This is like a lot less fun. We're just used to you guys are
26:56
doing something a little bit of brash and then we get the ball
27:00
back quick and then we could do some fun stuff.
27:02
And Hayes in the US just took that completely off the table
27:06
completely control the first half.
27:08
No, And and I thought it was awesome.
27:09
There was like no goals, but complete dominance.
27:13
Like Japan couldn't get much of anything going.
27:16
And then as often happens, you know, the the damn kind of
27:20
breaks in the second-half. So I thought it was a really,
27:23
really great game plan lineup top to bottom.
27:26
And then when you zoom out, we were talking about this pre show
27:30
kind of reframes that that second match up, you know, where
27:33
with all the youngins and the weird approach and lineup and
27:36
tactics, because it gives you the opportunity to kind of, you
27:40
know, have that dip, then come back and kind of, you know, get
27:44
a little bit of redemption. I like it.
27:47
And you know what? I, I, I like it.
27:49
Doubly so because the weird line up happens in Seattle with kind
27:54
of the with the rainy match. And I know like the shadow
27:58
executive producer was fielding a couple texts from some of her
28:02
pals who were like, who were also US women's national team
28:05
super fans that were like, sorry, they didn't do this when
28:10
you were there sitting in the front row.
28:11
Like, well, you know what they they were, they were questioning
28:16
why, why this couldn't happen to the good folks of Seattle.
28:19
But you know what, Seattle's a weird place.
28:20
A bunch of weird people live here.
28:22
I mean, I live here. Let's see, you know, take that
28:24
for what it is. And so I like that we got the
28:26
weird line up. I like that we got the weird
28:28
match. And it felt like to your point,
28:32
and we've said multiple times, it's very obvious Emma Hayes
28:35
watches this podcast closely to make sure that she can pick up
28:39
on our very astute analysis. Not, not that she she doesn't
28:42
need it, but she's just like, let me get a little extra
28:45
background. Sometimes you need some extra
28:46
voices in the room. What's up coach?
28:48
Thanks for watching. Yeah, I appreciate you, Emma.
28:50
Good job. Great hat, by the way.
28:51
The hell of Kitty hat. Absolutely fant.
28:53
I mean the have you ever seen a manager pull something off like
28:57
that? I mean, if I if I had to rank my
29:02
my 10 drippiest manager fits, she's got to have at least six
29:05
of them. I do 7.
29:06
Yeah, outstanding. Her and Ryles.
29:09
It's her and Ryles. Ryan there.
29:11
Yeah, there's not, not a hole. I mean yeah I mean Ryles have
29:16
might have the other 3 or 4 spots.
29:18
There it is. I get I mean what she had the
29:20
Letterman jacket the one time with like the patches on it and
29:23
then the Hello Kitty hat today we we digress and I expect, you
29:27
know, don't take any advice from me.
29:28
Dino knows much is much more fashionable than I am.
29:32
But yeah, I, you know, I love, I love the the hat choice.
29:38
But the the the point of this is the very real and serious point
29:44
I'm making is that she obviously listened to you when talking
29:48
about putting a good line up out here for the third and final
29:52
match, kind of ensuring that win.
29:55
It's also it goes back to that quote that she had had after
29:59
losing the second match of, you know, you play a match, you win
30:04
the the other team comes back and they're absolutely on fire
30:08
and they try to find out they do anything they can to win.
30:11
Now USA kind of gets that bounce back.
30:14
She helps it out. She kind of presses the
30:16
accelerator by by putting all the good players in.
30:19
Great move, coach. And, you know, you get to leave
30:23
kind of kind of floating on air and saying, all right, look,
30:26
that that's a great Japan team. We just beat 3 to nothing.
30:30
Yeah. Great punctuator too.
30:32
I mean, you know, because that she believes from a year plus
30:36
ago that that's still lingered for sure, you know, and it had
30:39
this one gone awry, you know, it could have carried into the
30:43
World Cup for sure. Because I don't know that we're
30:44
going to see Japan between now and then.
30:46
Probably not, but I think I don't know.
30:49
Pretty good show. Is there anything else you want
30:51
to hit before we get out of here?
30:54
Oh, I think if I'll just, I mean, I'll just rattle them off
30:57
real quick. The honorable mentions or the
30:59
other people that I had on my big board.
31:01
If we want to talk about arrows pointing up, talking like
31:04
extremely obvious Sophie Wilson, she's good, huh.
31:08
She she looked pretty. She looked pretty great and
31:11
pretty back. We've seen in the in these three
31:13
matches when she drifts over to that right side and then Rodman
31:17
cuts into the middle and it's just a nightmare for defenders.
31:20
Nobody wants any part of that. She was so good today, like
31:24
affecting the game in other ways with her runs, defensive
31:28
pressure, her play making, you know, she she was just like, let
31:32
me get let me get a bunch of Duchess.
31:33
Let me get it. Let me get into the into the
31:35
action and it it definitely helped her with a couple chances
31:39
that that she took so great pick by you, Kennedy Wesley Gold is
31:43
this, you know, a name that I mean, I don't have a problem
31:48
saying that you know what you know what when you see Wesley's
31:51
name on the roster heading into this window, like, OK, all
31:54
right, let's see right, What was he's getting a shot here.
31:56
You know, it's not the same as some of the other names, right,
31:58
like the some of the staples, but came in looked really,
32:03
really effective. And I said the same thing about
32:05
demise. Joseph looks like AUS women's
32:08
national team player 100% moves, plays confident is clearly on
32:13
the same on the same page on the same wavelength.
32:16
Like, you know, it does not stick out.
32:18
You know, and sometimes that that this happens to players,
32:19
especially as they're working their way in, but just boom,
32:22
dropped right in and got really busy and that goal and say, you
32:26
know, it's a great, super memorable day for for Kennedy.
32:29
So, so shout out to Kennedy. Absolutely fantastic.
32:32
I thought competed really well every minute she was on the
32:37
pitch. Yeah, like you said, goal and an
32:39
assist. Huge, you know, huge moment for
32:42
her and her career. Couldn't agree more that she
32:45
looks like a player. The vibes were great, like when
32:48
she scores the goal, I think it was Avery Patterson ran up to
32:51
her and said something. They had a big laugh and there
32:53
were just other players just like grabbing her shoulder like
32:55
yo this is great. Like, like you could tell she
32:58
passes the vibe check as well. I'll throw out here too.
33:03
Again, not not going to be super surprising, especially to you
33:07
out there in the Bay Area. Claire Hutton, arrow pointing
33:11
way youngest player to ever get the the captain's armband in the
33:16
history of the US women's national team.
33:18
And for anybody who's not aware, US women's national team pretty
33:22
good history, yeah. Yeah, and I think secretly a
33:27
nice kind of, I don't want to call it a bounce back
33:30
performance, but a better performance in that second
33:33
matchup. And not a knock on Hutton, but
33:35
you know that the lineup in the midfield was so clogged up and
33:40
disoriented that it was going to be tough for anybody to look
33:43
good. But I thought today, with a much
33:45
more coherent lineup game plan, I thought you looked really
33:48
awesome. Almost gets the goal and again,
33:51
stepping into a big spot. So shout out to Claire Hutton
33:53
for sure. Speaking of Claire Hutton, love
33:56
more Claire Hutton coverage on our sister channel, Way into
34:00
Bay. If you're not following that.
34:02
So go scoot over there and then and give us a subscribe if you
34:05
can. All right, man, I think we've
34:08
we've gone and done it. This has been another
34:10
representative channel. Thank you, thank you, thank you
34:12
for watching, listening and hanging out.
34:15
If you enjoyed the show, leave us a review.
34:17
YouTube, Spotify, have a podcast where we like to watch or
34:19
listen. Also, be sure to like, comment,
34:21
subscribe and follow patreon.com/into the channel.
34:24
Great way to support the show into the channel merch.
34:27
Another great way to support the show.
34:28
Links all the above Much much more in the description of this
34:31
episode. And a big thank in my coast as
34:34
well Mr. Grant Angle for keeping the arrow always pointed up.
34:39
I appreciate you bro. Likewise, buddy.
34:42
And so for everybody who's going to watch this while we're
34:44
recording this late Friday night, it'll be available.
34:47
Maybe you want to watch a little discussion about US women's
34:50
national team versus Japan before you watch either Sweden
34:54
versus Serbia or Spain versus Ukraine.
34:57
Before you watch Slovenia get blasted by Norway.
35:00
Maybe you'll watch Austria play Germany, or maybe you'll watch
35:05
Iceland play England. That's a football game right
35:07
there. How about France versus
35:09
Netherlands? Once again, I think that should
35:12
be pretty good. I think that one's going to be
35:14
on Paramount Plus too, so. That rematch.
35:17
Nice little rematch, nice little football Saturday.
35:21
Keep keep the juices flowing and you know, thank you to all of
35:25
you for keeping this show going. We always appreciate continue
35:29
dropping knowledge in the comments.
35:31
Thank you so much. Let us know who is the number
35:33
one goalkeeper who's got the spot, who who has the arrows
35:36
pointing up in your opinion? Let us know put us on game.
35:40
We're always grateful for you. Thank you so much for watching
35:42
and we will see you all next time.