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Olympic preview: USWNT with Bridie O'Toole · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:03
OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast premiere about women's
0:08
football. Before we hit the pitch.
0:09
If you enjoy the show or love women's football as much as we
0:12
all do, come kick it with us already.
0:14
We're doing this every single week, spaying the wide world of
0:16
women's football. Subscribe, follow YouTube,
0:18
Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you like to watch or
0:21
listen. Links to all of our socials
0:22
available in the show notes of this episode.
0:24
I am your host Dino de Suspides. And as always I am joined by a
0:29
special guest and my Co host Mr. Grant Engel.
0:32
What is that man? Oh, I'm feeling fantastic,
0:34
buddy. And that is in part because I
0:37
have the pleasure of introducing our guest today.
0:39
I'm going to start this a little different from the other intros
0:42
that I've done for our other Olympic preview guests.
0:44
I'm going to start with a bit of an anecdote.
0:46
On February 1st, 2024, an interview with Meg Lenihan of
0:50
The Athletic, Lyon and Team USA midfielder Lindsay Horan said,
0:53
Quote, American soccer fans, most of them aren't smart.
0:57
They don't know the game, they don't understand.
0:59
End Quote. Horan would later go on to say
1:01
kind of walk that back and say it's getting better and better.
1:03
I bring that up to personally thank Lindsay Horan for what she
1:06
did because saying those words to a reporter led to the
1:09
creation of one of the absolute best YouTube channels in the
1:12
game. Today, our guest is the creator
1:14
and host of Busy Watching Women's Soccer, a channel that
1:16
provides incredible tactical insight mostly into the NWSL and
1:20
the US Women's national team. But you would be a fool not to.
1:22
Check out previous videos about Emma Hayes Chelsea side and how
1:26
they were able to beat Barcelona in the first leg of the semi
1:28
final the UFO Women's Champions League.
1:30
So the jokes on the you Lindsay, we found an American who
1:34
absolutely knows Ball, and it is my great honor to welcome to the
1:37
show Bridie O'Toole. That was quite the intro, I'd
1:40
love to hear you do that again. It was great.
1:43
Take two. Oh my gosh.
1:46
Welcome to the show, Brady. We are super duper excited.
1:49
This is going to be loosely our our USA preview for what's going
1:52
to be an awesome, awesome tournament.
1:54
So Grant, I'm going to kick it back to you.
1:56
Where do you want to get started?
1:58
It's been a while, buddy. I'm a little thirsty.
2:00
Brady, I apologize. You know, we, we typically start
2:03
these off with a frosty beverage.
2:06
You know, we don't want you to be left out.
2:08
Is there is there any way that you could procure something to
2:11
kind of get you through this? It's wild.
2:13
I usually work with deer on my desk.
2:15
I'm ready to go somehow. Let's go.
2:19
Let's count Team USA. All right, time for the time for
2:23
the ASMR. Does that help it?
2:29
Helps with all football analysis I believe.
2:33
There we go. Excellent.
2:34
Sounds delightful. Cheers to you.
2:36
Cheers. OK, let's address the first big
2:39
piece of news to come out kind of before the Olympics and after
2:42
the roster was named. Unfortunately, Kat Macario
2:45
struggling with a little bit of a knee issue in her other knee,
2:49
not the ACL knee from her previous injury.
2:51
Can't decide if that's better or worse.
2:53
Well, maybe that's we'll save that for a different podcast.
2:55
But Kat Macario has been dropped from the roster.
2:58
She needs to focus on a rehab get well Kat and that means Lynn
3:00
Williams has now been added to the squad from the reserves.
3:03
She is now part of the 18 and I think that has a big impact
3:06
personally on the structure of how this starting 11 is going to
3:10
look. I think it's going to impact how
3:11
the Subs are going to look, obviously.
3:13
And so, Brady, when that news comes across your desk, where
3:16
does your mind go? Worried a little bit, honestly.
3:21
It's not like Macario has been showing absolutely fantastic on
3:24
tape over the last few games. I think you could see there's a
3:27
little bit of something going on, but she's a kind of player
3:30
where even with, you know, a little bit of discomfort or
3:32
whatever she was playing through, like she still looks
3:35
good. She's just created, you said
3:37
imaginative earlier. I mean, the ball she finds, the
3:40
way she moves people across the pitch, it's, it's definitely a
3:44
loss for sure. And I think it's going to be
3:46
probably noticeable in those those knockout games.
3:49
Sorry, Dino, you and Brian, I forgot to mention Dino and I
3:52
have a very scientific approach of I ask a question and then he
3:55
asks a question. So sometimes if you see us kind
3:58
of look at each other, it's just me and Dino figuring out like,
4:01
wait, who has the last one? When you saw Lynn Williams was
4:08
the replacement for Macario, what was your first thought
4:10
there? It makes sense.
4:12
I don't love it. And we saw some midfield
4:15
problems at the Women's World Cup and I just don't think we've
4:19
made a whole lot of improvement since and that's the struggle.
4:22
So there is no like for like replacement.
4:25
There's not even a 1/2 like for like replacement.
4:27
And then that's the difficulty, yeah.
4:29
I can see that Macario was pretty much supposed to be the
4:32
number 10. I think was the stated goal.
4:35
Maybe not stated goal, but it was the obvious goal from the
4:37
way you saw the team line up as soon as Hayes took over.
4:40
Who plays #10 now? I really think you've only got a
4:43
few options. You've got Shaw, you've got
4:46
Haran, and you've got Corbin Albert and two of those players.
4:51
To me, Horan and Albert need to have really fantastic
4:54
tournaments for this to be a good tournament for the US.
4:56
They're both very good ball distributors.
4:59
They both make the team look better when they play at their
5:01
best. I like Shaw a lot but she seems
5:04
like she's processing a huge amount of information constantly
5:08
as she's playing and I'd love to see her getting back to that.
5:11
Kind of like 3 relaxed Jaden Shaw we saw, but I don't think
5:15
she's ready to do the 10 yet, at least starting.
5:18
I think I've seen that as well watching this.
5:21
So obviously we're coming off this past weekend.
5:24
The USA is maybe slightly underwhelming victory over
5:27
Mexico in a in a warm up. I think there was some
5:29
performances in mismatch specifically that sort of were a
5:33
little bit puzzling. The first one that I drew, I'm
5:35
glad she came up pretty early. Lindsay Horan was like the first
5:38
name that I sort of circled around where I'm like, I know
5:41
it's Lindsay Horan and I know she's an excellent, excellent
5:44
player, but something just feels a little bit like out of sync,
5:48
out of rhythm with maybe, maybe it's her new spot on the field.
5:51
And then I thought it was really interesting that Corbin Albert
5:54
comes and takes her off and then immediately looks a lot more
5:58
dynamic, a lot quicker, a lot faster of decision making.
6:01
Passing was pretty crisp. Obviously that US attack had
6:04
worn down Mexico defense for those 60-70 minutes, which leads
6:09
to the breakthrough late in the match.
6:11
Did you see that brighty as well, like maybe Haran, the form
6:13
that she's in you Obviously they're they're off for the
6:15
summer, you know, in Lyon, so maybe there could be a little
6:18
bit rust there. But what was your take on on
6:20
Haran's performance against Mexico specifically?
6:22
It wasn't a great performance. It's funny because I would
6:24
actually probably be pretty big defender of Haran.
6:27
I see a lot of comments. You know, she's too slow.
6:30
She hasn't got good footwork. When I watch film, I am amazed
6:33
by the amount of times I go back to the origination of the and
6:38
it's her and taking that ball from the defense and really
6:41
starting something. It's wild how much they rely on
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her to do that. I think Albert has the ability
6:48
to start being that person for her and I don't know if it's
6:51
just because she's out of season.
6:53
Sometimes I feel like, especially in the friendly, she
6:56
just doesn't show up. I don't know if she's just that
6:59
good and that motivated that she finds it, you know, a little bit
7:02
difficult when that level of competition isn't there.
7:04
So I'm hoping that's resolved very quickly at the Olympics.
7:07
I can see that with her. I think one player that I, I
7:11
kind of wondered could she fill in that number 10 spot is Rose
7:16
Lavelle and she kind of lined up as center mid at the start of
7:19
this match. Dino and I have given this
7:22
disclaimer all the time when you describe a player as injury
7:25
prone or talk about their health issues, it is not an indictment
7:29
on their character. It just means simply that they
7:31
have some some availability issues.
7:33
Is that kind of part of your concern?
7:35
Like when you name those three of like Haran, Albert and Shaw,
7:38
do you think it's just you cannot rely on Lavelle to fill
7:42
that role for extended minutes, especially when you have games
7:45
in quick succession like this? Yeah, I'm huge on that, saying
7:49
the best ability is availability.
7:51
You know, consistency. Availability is so massive in
7:55
this sport. I think she's really, really
7:57
consistent in how she plays. It's the availability problem
7:59
for her, but can she do it? Yes.
8:02
And I think potentially if you can sub Lavelle out, you know,
8:05
at the 60th minute for someone like Albert, that could be or
8:08
maybe Shaw actually at that point, that could be really,
8:11
really cool. But it's getting there.
8:15
Good ahead. Any other big takeaways from
8:18
last weekend's Mexico match Friday?
8:20
I like seeing the US experimenting.
8:22
I think it's really good to see them trying some new things out.
8:24
The one concern I have right now is they seem like they're really
8:28
only able to play as a cohesive unit in one look, one structure.
8:32
And my concern is especially what we've seen MIA's do in the
8:36
past is these these tiny little like tinkering adjustments that
8:39
really open a game up kind of kind of like I talked about in
8:42
the video where they beat Barcelona.
8:45
I think that's her magic is, is understanding how to move the
8:48
chess pieces. And I think that ability is
8:50
probably being taken away just by how new everything is.
8:53
And that's probably my biggest concern in terms of going far in
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this tournament is just not being able to offer multiple
8:59
looks. Yeah, against Mexico
9:01
specifically, it looked like Swanson Smith, that two player
9:04
game was what they were trying to go to kind of early and
9:07
often, whether it was like grandma or Neiswanger getting
9:10
the ball up field to them and just saying, hey, can we catch
9:13
them asleep a little bit. I think Smith had a good amount
9:16
of really good chances in the first half.
9:18
At the start, I kind of felt like she might have been a
9:20
little old school Sophia Smith, like head down.
9:23
Let me just let it rip, you know, and like maybe not the the
9:26
more of the distributor that we've seen in the end of the
9:28
OSL. So I think we're maybe starting
9:30
to see some initial inklings of what Emma Hayes is trying to put
9:33
together. You know, I think you did a
9:34
great job in your video talking about Nicewanger and Fox and how
9:38
they were tilting the field one way, tilting the field back the
9:41
other way, and sort of playing interchangeably from from an
9:44
attack standpoint. It's like, OK, what?
9:45
We will go up the right, we'll go up the left.
9:47
Doesn't make any difference to the end goal is still the same.
9:49
Yeah, I mean, that's, that's the best case scenario.
9:51
You know, to me, Mexico, when they played the US, it was
9:55
interesting that I felt they were very focused on the right
9:57
side of the pitch, especially less so the left.
10:00
And you know, I don't know how many analysts they have.
10:03
I'm I would guess they've got over 10.
10:04
They've got plenty of time and resources to look at all these
10:07
games. So if they see that they've got
10:08
an opportunity to use Fox on the attack on the right.
10:10
I especially like when she inverts and plays football on
10:13
the ground. I think she does such a good job
10:15
with that. You want to be able to use it on
10:17
on certain opponents for sure. Yeah, and I think from Mexico's
10:21
opinion, Ovaya, every time I watch her play.
10:24
Just what a wonderful player. I would try to work from the
10:27
right side too if I had Lizbeth Ovaya.
10:31
Yeah, it's stunning. Yeah.
10:33
Trying to figure out my way to watch more of these Liga MEC
10:36
keys matches here for T Grace, but OK, let's.
10:40
I will. Can I give you a little pitch on
10:42
Matt Grant? Sorry, please.
10:44
I will say Summer Cup I think is going to be really interesting.
10:47
There's probably going to be some some really cool results
10:49
that people weren't expecting. I think it's all available on
10:52
TV. So definitely going to be worth
10:54
tuning in for that to see more of these these awesome players
10:57
from from Liga MX. Yeah, no doubt.
10:59
I think some of them like overlap with Olympic matches as
11:02
far as I could tell. But yeah, the definitely on the
11:05
DVR. The first thing I think every
11:07
time we watch Mexico play we talked about during the CONCACAF
11:10
W Gold Cup too, is we got to see more of these players.
11:13
And a quick message to the the Mexican Football Federation.
11:16
Dino knows I love to do this from time to time.
11:18
Sorry, Mexico, this is going to be very honest.
11:21
Your men's team stinks. So you need to put as many
11:25
resources as you can into Liga Mecky's Feminil and your
11:30
national team. You're looking real us ish in
11:34
terms of how good your woman's team is and how good your men's
11:36
team is. So that's my little quick pitch.
11:38
Sorry for that diversion. Do you watch the?
11:43
Sure did. I would.
11:44
I would be pouring the resources into the women's side.
11:47
Yeah, I would too. I sure would too.
11:49
Smart money. OK, let's go ahead to the real
11:53
reason we've all come together, which is the 2024 Paris
11:56
Olympics. Now, I'm going to skip the
11:58
question of what do we think the US is, ceiling is or might be.
12:02
I think we all think if things break the right way, gold is
12:05
maybe an option. So I'm going to switch it up a
12:07
little bit. Grant, I'll actually go to you
12:09
first. Who would you take between the
12:11
USA for the gold versus the field?
12:13
Oh, I I would take the field. Spain is too good and you're
12:17
playing in France, you might have to come up against and the
12:20
field is absolutely loaded. And I think to Bridie's earlier
12:24
point, that midfield, that center of the pitch kind of
12:28
area, if you struggle there against Spain, you're finished.
12:33
You have no chance of meeting them.
12:35
Yeah, I mean, they have the coach to do it right.
12:37
There's, I feel like no coach in international football who's
12:40
seen more of them right now, which is fantastic.
12:42
But good players play in the midfield for good reason because
12:47
they make things happen and it's it's just an area where you need
12:50
your best players. It's not, it's not something you
12:51
can compromise on as a team. I did feel a little bit better
12:54
watching Lynn Williams versus Mexico just scoot around and
12:58
like, really just be faster and hungrier and more aggressive.
13:01
And I'm like, Oh my gosh. Well, I think this is a big
13:03
advantage. OK, If we can wear teams down
13:06
like we wore Mexico down defensively, let's say it is a
13:09
Lavelle maybe later in the match or Lynn Williams or commishes to
13:12
Crystal Dunn. Maybe you could throw her in
13:13
there as well. Looked like we had a big
13:15
advantage heading into the last 1520 minutes of that match.
13:18
But I do think that defensively and in the midfield, just kind
13:22
of controlling the ball, it could be really tricky.
13:24
I mean, you look at Ovaye and Sanchez.
13:27
If we do Fast forward, oh, actually, I do want to get to,
13:31
you know, bright of your USA versus the field pick.
13:33
I'm not going to let you off the hook there.
13:34
But just to preempt it, I do want to think about what does it
13:39
look like versus Zambia when it's not Ovaye and Bernal and
13:42
Sanchez and it's Banda and Kuna? All right.
13:45
My pick is going to come of a disclaimer in that, you know, I
13:47
like to put positive energy into the world.
13:50
Of course, all the cases are there for this team to win gold.
13:53
They absolutely can do it if they get on a good streak and
13:56
they've got good chemistry and things are just clicking.
13:58
I don't know about that, you know, all happening.
14:03
So I'm going to say field with my disclaimer.
14:06
And when they line up against that speedy frontline of Zambia
14:12
in the first match, in the kickoff match to get everything
14:14
started, how do you see that playing out?
14:17
Yeah, so watching the Zambia film was really interesting for
14:20
me. I had no background other than
14:22
what I've seen in the NWSL. So my first thought was we see
14:25
really fast, really strong players.
14:27
This is going to be a transitional team that are just
14:29
going to burn you with speed. And I think that was true to
14:32
some extent that the thing that really, really surprised me is
14:35
they have multiple fast players. So when they have that break,
14:39
it's not just one person streaking in.
14:41
They've got 2-3 players and support in really nice
14:45
structures and they're able to build off that.
14:47
So they can turn really, really quickly.
14:49
I think their issue is they seem to be built from the front back.
14:53
So, you know, the players that seem to be having the biggest
14:56
struggles are unfortunately their defenders, goalkeeper.
15:00
From the film I watched, they were giving up a lot of
15:02
opportunity just off bad touches, passes that weren't
15:05
clean enough, crisp enough. So it's a toss up.
15:08
It's one of those ones where I think if you don't take it
15:09
seriously and you don't do the preparation and you don't get
15:12
the opponent the respect they deserve, you could very easily
15:15
walk out of that game embarrassed.
15:17
I. Think that's a worthy point.
15:18
I mean, you know, Zambia, they, they had that warm up game
15:21
against Germany right before the 2023 World Cup and they're able
15:25
to pull out a couple goals at the end.
15:27
And it was that transitional play that just caught Germany on
15:30
the back foot. We've seen it with Banda in the
15:33
NWSL. We haven't seen it as much from
15:35
Kundanagi yet. But I, I maintain that even if
15:39
the idea of Kundanagi in the NWSL hasn't really come to
15:42
fruition yet, I got to think it's on on the way.
15:45
And then when you Fast forward a little bit to how they qualified
15:47
for this tournament for the Olympics, they had these really
15:50
tough physical home and away matches against Morocco.
15:53
It's exactly what you're saying. They were giving the ball away
15:56
and Morocco was not quite taking advantage of all the
16:00
opportunities that they were being given.
16:02
And Morocco's a good side. They made it to the knockout
16:04
stage of the World Cup. But if you start to give those
16:07
opportunities to Mallory Swanson and Sophia Smith, that sounds
16:12
like a recipe for disaster. 100% but also Zombia's defense, the
16:17
quality is not quite there yet. So they are creating turnovers.
16:20
And it's one of those ones where, yes, it's an opportunity
16:22
if you're able to get on those balls and finish off them.
16:24
But if you're creating 678 turnovers and you're not
16:27
finishing off those, I mean, that to me is equally
16:29
embarrassing. So Sophia Smith is the type of
16:31
player that to me sometimes has it, sometimes doesn't.
16:36
And it's one of those games where you know you really need
16:38
her to turn up and put balls in that because you know they're
16:40
going to be just hanging around for her to pick up.
16:42
I actually went through the thought process of if Zambia is
16:45
going to score against the USI feel like it's going to come
16:48
early. We saw them start really slow in
16:50
the World Cup as well. So I think a slow start against
16:53
the Zambia side could really be a little bit devastating because
16:57
now you might have a Sophie Smith trying to press a little
17:00
bit, you know, and not in a literal way, but just sort of
17:03
like trying to find a goal where there's not one.
17:05
I could see Rodman maybe doing a little bit of the same.
17:08
I'd hate to see it happen, but I could see a scenario where the
17:11
US maybe falls behind early against Zambia and then maybe
17:14
has a little bit of a steeper uphill battle than they might be
17:17
expecting. Yeah, I don't think that's
17:19
that's a crazy thought at all. I'm thinking back to the Japan
17:21
game where they let in a really, really quick one just because of
17:25
a tiny little miscommunication error.
17:27
So those first five 1015 minutes of a game can be really crucial
17:31
to getting settled. And you might be right.
17:33
If it's going to happen, I think earlier is probably more likely.
17:35
And I think that was their, in their win, their lone victory in
17:39
the 2023 World Cup, I think Zambia scored off a corner in
17:43
like the 1st 3 minutes. So yeah, you know, they'll be
17:45
kind of looking for that quick strike themselves.
17:47
Yeah, set pieces for them also really good area of opportunity
17:51
defensively on set pieces they, they certainly look like they
17:54
struggled, but offensively? So how do we feel?
17:58
Do we think we're getting past Zambia?
17:59
What are we finding the draw? Is this is this a 313 nil kind
18:03
of like easy breezy or how are you feeling about this for a
18:05
Zambia matchup? I'm saying 3 nil.
18:08
I think Sophia Smith could come away with like player of the
18:11
game. I think it could be just the
18:12
type of game for her or maybe like a Mallory Swanson type to
18:15
really take advantage. So I'm going to will this one
18:17
into existence. It's a 3.
18:19
It's a 3 nil win. I love it.
18:20
It's a pretty solid goal differential to kick things off.
18:24
Looming though, right after that Zambia match up, just what, 2-3
18:28
days later? We're going to be taking on this
18:30
German side that we also previewed with our guy Peter
18:33
Weiss from Billy News. Go check that one out if you
18:34
haven't seen it already. USA, Germany, Grant, let me know
18:38
how nervous should we be about this one?
18:40
Where's Where's your head at? Well, if you watch Germany play
18:42
Iceland in the Euro qualifiers, you may think I did.
18:46
We don't have to be that worried.
18:49
Three nil. The Iceland on German like
18:51
football. Honestly, they conceded on a set
18:54
piece. They looked confused at the back
18:56
at times. They didn't finish their
18:58
chances. It was a I'm going to give some
19:00
real high level football analysis.
19:02
It was weird watching Germany just play that way.
19:05
I was just like, wait, is this the right jersey here?
19:07
But I do not think, and this is again, Dino and I have joked
19:11
about this before. I fully admit I have a little
19:14
bit of caveman brain where when I look at the roster and I see
19:17
the number of good players, I know the game's not played on
19:20
paper. But when I look at that roster
19:22
sheet for Germany, I cannot be convinced that they are not a
19:25
good side. They have to be good.
19:27
They have too many good players. They're a great side, great
19:30
players, great coaching, and they've also had just like great
19:33
resources and development around their program for a long time.
19:37
So I don't know, I'm like, are we at this turning point where
19:40
we're seeing a giant collapse or is this just like a weird phase?
19:44
That Iceland game painful. And I watched it knowing that
19:48
they'd already qualified for the EUR and it didn't matter for
19:51
them. But then I went and I looked up
19:53
who was playing. It's not like they just threw
19:55
out a bunch of people that have never played together.
19:58
I mean, I think they were trying more people out sort of a
20:00
midfield and up front. The defense was mostly who they
20:03
play. Yep, that's their back line and
20:05
they put in a show favorite, Nicole Ann Yomi from Eintracht
20:08
Frankfurt. They put her up front.
20:09
I know. I think she is a reserve in the
20:12
Olympics, but she's not some debut player out there who does
20:16
like she is a Champions League caliber player.
20:19
So like I I'm with you, Brady. I was confused.
20:23
I just left that match just kind of staring at the screen as at
20:27
the final whistle. Like damn, three nil to Iceland,
20:30
huh? Seems strange.
20:32
Yeah, I watched and I was like, is I'm going to butcher
20:34
mispronunciation. But Gun's daughter, I was like,
20:36
is she the best player ever? I don't know.
20:39
He. Looked like it.
20:42
Well, they have glottis Vegas doter who's number four for
20:46
them, who's like they're just absolute badass center back.
20:50
And there was one play after the first goal.
20:52
I didn't see who she she walks up to one of her teammates and
20:54
basically like just she's a linebacker, just head butts her
20:56
in celebration. I'm just like, holy shit, like,
20:59
this is so hardcore. She's great.
21:01
She plays for Bayern, Yeah. But yeah, I mean, like they had
21:04
maybe not the full 18, but I mean, and Yomi is a real striker
21:07
for sure. And she had some good chances.
21:09
She was creating space early. Sarah Dorr soon had a rough day.
21:12
So she was chasing pretty much all match.
21:16
And I think the speed for ISIS attackers was a real problem.
21:19
I think that's going to be something that Emma Hayes
21:22
absolutely will take note of. Will look to attack for sure.
21:25
Because Germany technically very sound and I think our guy Peter
21:30
came on and talked to us about the two axes, the Volksburg axes
21:33
and the Bayern axes and got me all psyched out a little bit.
21:36
But then watching, watching it on the field that way, it wasn't
21:38
so tough. I think.
21:39
I think we might have, we might have something for Germany.
21:42
I love the point he made, though, around drawing from two
21:45
teams, mostly because you can see Emma Hayes doing the same
21:48
thing and she's been pretty direct in interviews.
21:50
But you know, she acknowledges she hasn't got experience here.
21:53
She's trying to do as much as she can and then look for
21:55
opportunities. So I think she's been pretty
21:57
tactful trying to take a lot of Gotham and Spirit players and do
22:00
something similar. I think that makes a lot of
22:02
sense. Any kind of chemistry that you
22:03
can inject like automatically into a national team.
22:06
I think that we usually work to your benefit, assuming that
22:09
those players play for a good team and have had some success
22:13
themselves. I will say I mean the the
22:15
classic football phrase always goes though.
22:17
And again, I maybe I'm going back to caveman brain with just
22:20
the names on the on the team sheet.
22:22
Never write off Germany. That is a football axiom.
22:25
I absolutely subscribe to. They didn't look good.
22:27
I got to think that they have some revenge on their mind.
22:30
It's a great point Brighty that they were already qualified.
22:33
I don't know if that was a little bit of just even with
22:35
those players on the pitch. I don't know if that was a
22:37
little bit of sleepwalking versus Iceland.
22:39
Even still not a good look. But I I reserve the right to not
22:43
be surprised if if Germany plays well in the Olympics.
22:47
I think that's a good way to to, to, to CYA, you know, very, very
22:50
good team. They can.
22:51
They can come out and do some damage.
22:53
I think I heard some people making a similar claim about the
22:57
US versus Mexico, Like, OK, well, you know, it's just to
23:00
warm up. Let's just go break a sweat.
23:02
But then you watch the play and they're out there gunning like,
23:06
you know, from Smith and Swanson, early Sam Coffey, she's
23:09
always a live wired nice warmer was flying up and down the
23:12
field. The Subs come in.
23:13
They look absolutely electric. And even still, you know, not
23:18
really like kind of the breakthrough performance.
23:19
I kind of laughed when, you know, Julie Fawdi was like,
23:21
well, you know, it is hot. I was just like, OK, all right,
23:26
we're going to go to the we're going to go to the heat of the
23:28
weather as to kind of try to back ourselves out from what
23:32
we're maybe really seeing on the pitch.
23:33
So I think more generally, you zoom out the women's game
23:38
globally, it just feels like every three months, six months,
23:41
there's like some sort of like breakthrough and leap forward
23:44
because Iceland look like an absolutely real team.
23:47
And I think we know that there are a lot of teams out there
23:50
more talented. And I think slept walked,
23:52
sleepwalked, whatever the past tense is of that.
23:54
Anybody sleepwalking into the Paris Olympics, I think is going
23:57
to be in for a massive rude awakening.
24:00
Yeah, I mean, for, especially for the European teams, just
24:03
qualifying is a huge, huge accomplishment.
24:07
I mean, I hate to kind of share my second fandom, but I'm also
24:10
an England fan as well and it's super painful to see, you know,
24:13
how do you make it to the World Cup, the final, and then not hit
24:16
the Olympics next year? It's crazy.
24:18
It's because it's hard is the is the only answer really, and only
24:22
a couple teams from from Europe whittles it down even more.
24:26
I will never forgive the organizers for robbing us the
24:30
possibility of seeing Team Great Britain where you could
24:32
basically take the Lionesses but then drop in Aaron Cuthbert from
24:36
Scotland. I don't think I'll ever get over
24:38
that. I just want, I want to see that
24:40
in the next Olympics for sure. Now that you mentioned it, it
24:43
just wouldn't be fair. So I think I'm I'm actually back
24:45
on board with the decision. I like it, yeah.
24:49
ITC Hall of Famer Aaron Cuthbert.
24:51
That's correct. All right, so.
24:54
We've got three points in the group, gold differentials plus 3
24:57
heading into Germany. Let's do some roughly way too
24:59
early predictions. Do we get the win here?
25:01
Do we kind of eke out a draw? Does Germany, like, really lay
25:05
the smack down a little bit and remind everybody I think we're
25:07
ranked one spot higher than the US and we're just as legitimate
25:11
as any team in this tournament? I think this group is just too
25:14
competitive to come out of it without a loss.
25:17
And I think being the Germans motivation to go beat a very,
25:22
very high profile team in the group stages, yeah, I think
25:25
they're going to come out hard. So this will be my loss.
25:28
Let's say 21 Germany. Incredible.
25:32
OK, I love it. Does your idea of what could
25:34
happen in this change depending on what happens in Germany
25:38
versus Australia in their opener?
25:40
For sure there is one really specific thing that concerned me
25:43
with Germany and it was the spacing of their back three.
25:46
There was times where I feel like they were just like not
25:48
even 10 yards covering between the three of them.
25:52
If they keep doing that, I don't see how you don't let in goals
25:55
on the long fastballs. But if they have a completely
25:59
different backfield look against Australia, then yeah, I could
26:03
very happily change that. I think that's one of the
26:05
matches, the more I look at the tournament as a whole, Germany
26:09
versus Australia in their opener, because if you look at
26:13
it from Australia's perspective, if you're Australia and we'll
26:16
get to them next, if we beat Germany in this first match,
26:19
then we get Zambia. And if we can take Zambia, we
26:23
might not even have to get a result against USA in the third
26:26
match. I am really, really fascinating.
26:29
I think they might be playing at the same time, so I'll have to
26:32
DVR and go back and watch. But I think that is right now
26:36
for opening day. I think that might be the match
26:37
I'm I'm looking forward to second most.
26:40
Yeah, it's a it's a great group, great matchups.
26:42
And I think those teams will probably be fairly evenly
26:45
matched in the sense that they're both well coached and
26:47
they both got good players. They look very different, they
26:49
play very different, but I think those are the best games.
26:52
You know, it's it's kind of like a chess match where nobody moves
26:55
when both teams go out in the same look and do the same thing.
26:57
Yep. Yeah, I think I could see
26:59
Australia's speed giving Germany some problems, which might, you
27:05
know, give Germany an opportunity to adjust heading
27:08
into the US match. It's almost like a really good
27:11
warm up for them. I can definitely see this one
27:13
too, too, because I think I agree with you, Brady.
27:15
I think the German defense is absolutely gettable.
27:18
We didn't mention Meryl Frahms, but she definitely made a mess
27:21
of things a couple times against Iceland.
27:23
I don't expect that to continue necessarily, but I'll say she's
27:27
not playing her best ball at the moment.
27:28
Yeah, and that's a really interesting point because Peter
27:31
Weiss, I think, made it pretty clear that he doesn't think
27:34
Berger is going to be starting. But she's played really, really
27:38
well. She was involved in some of your
27:40
qualifying games and she's been in training day in, day out with
27:44
the US players. So I wouldn't be 100% shocked to
27:48
see her play that game. I don't think it's likely, but I
27:51
wouldn't be shocked. That'll be very interesting.
27:54
That'll be something for the tabloids over there in
27:56
Deutschland. I think they will be very
27:58
curious to see who gets those minutes and I'll be interested
28:01
to see too. You know, you talk about the
28:03
speed, you know, of Australia, They're going to try to rely on
28:07
that. When England beat Australia in
28:09
the semis of the World Cup, you know, they held the ball for 58%
28:13
of the match. And so I think if you're
28:15
Germany, you might want to try to look at can we just play keep
28:18
away from Australia and try to get long, long stretches where
28:22
we're holding the ball. We're forcing them to run,
28:25
trying to wear out their defenders, wear out their
28:27
midfield and try to negate that speed in some way.
28:30
You know, judging from the way they played against Iceland, you
28:32
might have your doubts on if they're able to do that, but it
28:35
could be a strategy they try to employ.
28:38
That is V strategy to go with one thing I noticed when
28:40
watching Australia. We know that they've developed
28:43
that fantastic long ball that's designed for Kerr.
28:46
We know they have fast players and they can continue doing it.
28:48
But the one thing I noticed is nobody else just seems to have
28:52
the nose for it that Sam Kerr does.
28:54
So you'll see somebody start running and then just kind of
28:57
have to peel off and come back because the run wasn't timed
29:00
right or somebody didn't see it or whatever the reason was.
29:04
But they're gonna get tired. Because I was just watching him
29:07
go again and again and again. And it's really demotivating as
29:10
a player making those runs and not getting the ball because,
29:13
you know, mentally you just have to continue to show the run.
29:16
And it's, it's a difficult situation.
29:18
So yeah, I think that is absolutely the way to tire him
29:20
out. So, yeah, that's a great point.
29:22
And you mentioned so now Australia, let's get to the
29:24
final match. USA versus Australia, They have
29:27
to do it without Sam Kerr. You know, obviously you're
29:30
losing one of the four best players in the world, probably
29:33
at worst. What does it do to your side
29:34
when you lose that player? I mean, that sort of
29:37
disappointment and sort of like that.
29:40
Maybe your faith drops a little bit and that can be difficult,
29:42
but there's always, always that opportunity for you as a player
29:46
to say this is my time to shine. This is my time to prove that I
29:50
can be a starter. You know, it's an opportunity.
29:53
It is when you make it so they have a lot of really, really
29:56
great players on that squad. I'm a huge fan of Rosso.
30:00
I'm a huge fan of Vine and WSL fans are going to be so excited
30:03
watching this Olympics and realizing they're about to get
30:06
Vine and healthcare lean back. That is very exciting for
30:10
Courage fans. Do you think there's something
30:13
to, I know we, we're sort of jumping around here a little
30:15
bit, but we talked a little bit about Merle France and on
30:18
Katrinberger. We open the show, talk about
30:20
Lindsay Horan as well. Do you think there's something
30:22
to maybe the NWSL crowd being a little sharper, a little bit
30:26
more in rhythm, maybe the fitness being a little higher
30:29
than the players coming out the end of the Champions League
30:31
season and the the the European season more generally?
30:34
100% because I think as this game has gotten more
30:37
professional, the differentiator between being in season and out
30:41
of season has become a lot more clear.
30:43
I'm guessing you guys have been watching a while, like back to
30:46
the Sweden days when everybody would overwork themselves
30:49
playing in multiple leagues. So, you know, having a true
30:52
offseason now is a great thing and you're focused on strength
30:55
and conditioning, putting on the muscle that you're going to lose
30:57
in season. So, yeah, I mean, for sure, I
31:00
think being on form, just kind of having recent success under
31:04
your belt, I do think that is going to hopefully help out the
31:07
NWSL players a little. Bit I'll say you give us a
31:09
little bit too much credit on that.
31:11
I think those were. I think I remember the tail end
31:14
of I think Emily's sonnet. I feel like I remember her kind
31:16
of doing double duty in the USA in Spain.
31:19
Might have that wrong. But even Sam Kurt, she played
31:22
like an A league season and then came and played for either
31:25
Chicago or Western New York or something like that.
31:27
That predates us a little bit. But yeah, there always is
31:30
something Dino knows. I love a good sports radio
31:33
topic. Rest versus rust, man, that's
31:36
one of my all time favorites. You can go to that well any day
31:38
of the week. Where do you land on that then?
31:41
I like rest. I think rest is good.
31:44
I think when you have a good team and a good plan, I think
31:47
you want rest. You know, we're big NBA fans as
31:49
well. And it's like, oh, well, this
31:50
team, they swept their opponent and now they have seven days
31:54
before the final starts. I'm like, OK, I think they'll be
31:56
fine. And frankly, it's why England
31:59
lost the men's zeros. It's because Spain had one extra
32:01
day. They have rest.
32:02
So I mean, we can just, that's a known fact because otherwise we
32:06
would have won. But I I digress.
32:09
Hold on, I'm jotting that down. The ITC personal record book
32:11
Spain extra day off. OK, noted.
32:16
I actually fell on the rust side of it.
32:18
Nice with this specifically apologies.
32:20
I had a big vanilla ice cream before I come in a show.
32:22
That's that's. That can't blame me.
32:26
I mean, they're just so tasty. I actually fall on the rough
32:30
side of this specifically because you're already dealing
32:33
with going from club to international.
32:35
You're playing unfamiliar teams, you're playing with unfamiliar
32:38
teammates. I think the rhythm really
32:40
matters. I think the reps really matter
32:42
and I think the rest is fine unless you have a bad result or
32:47
two early in the group stage and you have to find yourself
32:50
clawing your way back, maybe against in Australia.
32:52
So you really have to sustain super high level of play all the
32:55
way through the group stage. You have to be just super sharp
32:57
and I think we're going to see one or two really good teams not
33:01
get out of the group stage. I feel 100% confident about that
33:04
and I think the USA is definitely that makes Spain as
33:08
surprising as it might be. It's possible.
33:10
I mean, I think the group is tricky.
33:11
You miss a chance or two and it's only three matches.
33:14
It just, it's going to happen so quickly and then such a short
33:18
turn around from match to match. I think teams are going to have
33:20
to come in really, really sharp. I'm with you on that.
33:22
I think the rust and then eliminating that rust as much as
33:26
you can is essential for this tournament.
33:28
The, the worst part of the tournament is it's it's here and
33:30
gone really fast, but that's also the best part of the
33:33
tournament because if you can just get that momentum going and
33:36
just build on it, you know, you could be leaving with hardware
33:38
in in two weeks, which is nice. It's not this long drawn out
33:42
process where Yep, you know, you're working for weeks and
33:44
weeks trying to tinker and change things.
33:46
You just want to get something that's kind of, you know, 90%
33:48
working for you and roll with it.
33:50
That makes a lot of sense. I definitely see see the merits
33:53
of that. OK, now brighter you've you've
33:55
earned more appearances. Not, I mean, not that you really
33:58
care, but any kind of crappy sports radio topic that we have,
34:02
we will absolutely call you in. Because if you're going to
34:04
engage in a rest versus Rust debate, wait till we start
34:07
talking about must wins and any kind of stupid conceit possible.
34:11
So I appreciate you playing along there.
34:13
I love it. I'm good for hockey, American
34:15
football. Don't ask me about basketball.
34:17
I like it, but I don't know how it works.
34:19
OK, good to know. So getting back to to Australia,
34:23
you know, I, I know they've had a few relatively recent matches,
34:26
or at least in the in the matches that the national team
34:28
came back to play for. What have you seen in
34:31
Australia's side in the last few times that they've been able to
34:34
kind of come together and play? I think there's a lot of
34:37
individual magic on that squad. They just have some insanely
34:41
talented players that are really, really fun to watch.
34:45
But I did see two things that were very concerning to me.
34:48
One is they're really working on building out of the back, which
34:51
is great, but a lot of the time they're pushing themselves wide
34:54
and they're really struggling to get out of those areas.
34:57
So that's definitely something that could be exploited.
35:00
The other thing I saw was that in transition they were having
35:03
quite a bit of structural collapse, so you would you'd see
35:07
the shape just kind of disappear and a lot of players start going
35:10
towards the same ball or kind of moving to the same area.
35:13
So I think maintaining that structure is going to be
35:16
critical for them. Makes a ton of sense.
35:19
How big of a threat is Australia to the USA in this third
35:22
matchup? I don't feel as worried as I do
35:25
about Germany, but again, it's the individual player magic that
35:30
could really hurt them. If somebody like Fowler decides
35:34
to just have the game of her life, how much you're going to
35:37
do about it? Yeah, Fowler is a great call
35:39
out. That's the player I have my eyes
35:41
on. I think fans of the program
35:43
probably won't be too surprised considering she's a Manchester
35:45
City player. That's not why I'm only watching
35:48
for Mary Fowler and she's a great player at we spoke to the
35:51
great Samantha Lewis of ABC Australia and she had kind of
35:55
talked about Fowler being one of those players where.
35:58
And I saw it in multiple city matches where sometimes she
36:01
comes out and she has those performances where she just
36:04
bosses the game and she's ripping shots on goal and she's
36:06
playing players through. And then she has those other
36:09
matches where it's kind of like, wait, Mary's out there, She's
36:13
been out there for 60 minutes. And so, you know, kind of
36:16
depends on on what you're going to get.
36:17
But if if there was ever a time to have that breakout and to
36:21
make yourself known on the international stage, I would say
36:24
this Olympic tournament might be the time where a Fowler wants to
36:27
turn up and do that. Yeah, I could see it,
36:30
unfortunately. She's got the skill.
36:32
Speaking of breakout players, probably, I'd be very curious
36:36
your opinion on this. A lot of these players, even the
36:38
younger players on the US international team, sort of
36:41
household names for people that are sort of like in and around
36:44
the sport. Is there anybody on your radar?
36:46
Doesn't have to be a young player because this is sort of a
36:49
transitionary period too, with Emma Hayes.
36:51
Is there anybody that you think is primed for a big time
36:54
breakout this tournament? I wouldn't say it's like fair to
36:57
say breakout because I mean everybody knows she's fantastic,
37:00
but Mallory Swanson, I really think when she got injured, I
37:05
was at games watching her play in person and I don't think she
37:08
was getting the respect for the level that she was at.
37:11
I think we're talking like maybe top five player in the world at
37:14
that moment. She just looked so I mean, not a
37:17
complete player, but like her thing and what she does, she had
37:20
it just dialed in so good. And I I know she looks great
37:24
right now. I just don't think she's white
37:26
there yet, because I think we're kind of underestimating
37:28
collectively just quite how good she was.
37:30
And that would be a frightening proposition because she has had
37:33
multiple moments in the NWSL this season.
37:36
She had a moment against Seattle where I watched from the press
37:39
box where she goes from the top of the 18 in her defensive 3rd
37:43
and then drives the ball all the way down the field resulting in
37:46
a goal. She's a one person offense. 100%
37:49
and it's wild that she seems to do it so instinctively.
37:53
Like the comfort to just say, OK, I know I'm back, good.
37:56
I know I can go do this. Like, wow.
37:58
Spectacular player and and to see her on the left and Dino,
38:01
you talked about it toward the beginning of the show.
38:04
Is that now that interchange, that interplay between her and
38:07
Smith, that's got to be a little frightening for for some of the
38:11
opponents, I think. Absolutely.
38:13
I think if I think Swanson's got to stay on that left side, she
38:16
looks so good there and it's the not knowing.
38:19
Is she going to set Smith up? Is she going to set herself up?
38:21
It's just become so seamless when you have all these options.
38:25
I actually think Smith might be a really good candidate.
38:28
Obviously, you know, not quite the breakout.
38:30
She's a, you know, former MVP, but we've talked a lot about her
38:35
sort of uncovering a little bit more of her play making and
38:37
passing on the show. Didn't see a ton of that early
38:40
against Mexico. Some of it start to seep out a
38:42
little bit later. But I think especially with
38:45
Macario out, you know, Lynn Williams coming in, I think
38:48
there will be an opportunity for Sophie Smith maybe to notch a
38:51
few assists, obviously get on the score sheet as well.
38:54
Carry this team, you know, be a little bit of a hub just because
38:57
I think she can do it even though she's not always doing
38:59
it. And then obviously that sort of
39:01
cranks up maybe the effectiveness of a Rodman, of a
39:05
Swanson. Even have a like, you know, you
39:07
could sort of mix a lot of things up from there.
39:09
So I was mentioned in a grant earlier after the Macario
39:12
injury, I was like, this could be Sophie Smith's.
39:15
I'm trending towards Mount Rushmore of like US women's
39:17
national team players. Yeah, I mean, I think you're
39:20
right. Like all the ingredients are
39:21
there. She's got the right kind of
39:23
support. And I think you hit it on the
39:25
head like her game is changing. You can literally watch it
39:27
change before your eyes. And there's no better coach to
39:30
to guide someone through that process.
39:33
Yeah, that's a good call. So tactically speaking, you
39:35
know, now that I know there's a fellow England supporter on this
39:39
on this show, So if we're thinking about Smith, it's not
39:43
quite like false 9:00-ish, but get a little more involved in
39:46
the build up work those passing lanes.
39:49
I have my thoughts and feelings on how Harry Kane performed in
39:52
the in the men's zeros. But you know, like Kane's
39:55
ability to kind of come back, go to the ball, be more involved in
39:58
the build up. Is that a recipe?
40:00
Is that, does that make up for the lack of A10, kind of like
40:03
piggybacking on Dino's question? I think so.
40:05
I, you know, personally, I've never felt like the 10 is that
40:09
important. You know, a lot of teams when
40:12
you don't have the best team, that might be where you slot
40:14
your worst player. Oh, sorry, the nine.
40:17
I was gonna say the nine to me. Let me restart.
40:21
OK, I was, I was about to be like, yo, that's spicy.
40:28
OK. So OK, that makes sense.
40:33
All right, so we've got Sophia Smith playing benign right now.
40:38
I've personally never felt like that's really the most important
40:42
role on a pitch. I kind of think you can stuff
40:45
one of your less good players there and get away with it.
40:48
So having her play more of that false nine act like A10 and
40:51
attacking midfielder, she's got the skills to do it and I think
40:55
it would be a really smart, creative way to to show a
40:58
different look. Yeah, I think it's going to be
41:00
interesting to see. And it it might be a matter of
41:04
necessity now with Macario out there.
41:06
And do you know you brought up if if you have Swanson and
41:10
Rodman out on the wings now, you have that kind of speed out
41:14
there and the technical skill, the crossing ability.
41:17
And you could see some of it in the Mexico match where Smith
41:21
might. Or sometimes you even saw like
41:23
Swanson played the ball up to Smith on one run and then Smith
41:27
is just giving it back into Swanson's path.
41:29
You shake the snow globe a little bit on the pitch and
41:33
they're kind of passing back and forth, and then you have this
41:35
elite, super elite athlete like Rodman who also happens to be a
41:39
genius who can pick out passes at speed coming up the right.
41:43
You could create some really really interesting looks.
41:46
It's really interesting because I know I was talking earlier
41:49
about, you know, the US has only been showing one look.
41:52
But something I wouldn't be surprised with with Hayes at all
41:54
is to just, you know, Rodman's got those pinpoint crosses.
41:58
Maybe she does just start throwing them in and then
42:00
nobody's prepared for that. So the fact that the front three
42:04
can be used in such different ways is is going to be awesome.
42:08
Yeah, I love that point. I want to give the work you did
42:11
also earlier the week, the USA Mexico breakdown.
42:15
Anybody that hasn't watched it, definitely go to brightest page
42:17
and check it out. Super informative.
42:19
The one point that I keep thinking about is the movement
42:24
or lack thereof from the US attacking players.
42:27
Do you think that's something and I think you also talked a
42:30
little bit about maybe this team falling into some old habits
42:33
offensively. Do you think that movement or
42:36
lack thereof to kind of give these different looks to be
42:39
creative? Because when you think about a
42:40
Spain, you think about a Japan, you just watch them.
42:42
They're they're always in motion.
42:44
You don't know where things are coming from, You know where
42:46
things are going. It's got to be head on a swivel,
42:49
pretty much the entire 90 plus. Do you think cranking up some of
42:53
that movement, sort of utilizing the intelligence of our
42:56
attacking players to maybe move up, move back, move in, move
43:00
out, move across? Is that something that can be
43:02
remedied in this short period of time?
43:05
No, I've got two things. I've got two things that I
43:10
believe are really, really hard to fix once you start like aging
43:14
essentially, and it's it's getting your head up and it's
43:16
it's fixing flat footedness. Those things are really, really
43:19
hard to coach out of players. I think the best thing that they
43:22
can work on for if you're fixing that movement inside the box is,
43:25
you know, like situational drills, small sided drills, and
43:29
I'm I'm sure they're going through a ton of those right
43:31
now. But it's one of those things
43:33
where if it doesn't come to you instinctively, it can be a
43:35
little bit difficult to build on.
43:37
And I think that's why we saw Corbin Albert come in and look
43:40
so good at that instantly. Not like Koran doesn't know what
43:42
she's doing, but you know that Champions League experience of
43:45
of breaking down a low block and having to be creative and move a
43:47
lot like it works. That's a great point.
43:50
And you know, there's just not a ton of time.
43:53
So I want to get to a bonus question.
43:56
We've talked a lot about number 10s.
43:58
We've talked a lot about kind of like what that passing is going
44:01
to look like. What is the distribution going
44:03
to look like? You brought up in our in our
44:06
show notes during our preparation from this, you
44:08
brought up a player who you thought you might want to see in
44:12
the center endoff match. Now for everybody listening,
44:15
this is recorded before the Costa Rica match.
44:17
So we're going to see how that looks.
44:19
But I thought it was really interesting.
44:21
Brady, can you get into a player that you're looking to see?
44:24
Yeah, how Hersh felt for me is a huge one.
44:27
She needs to get minutes before they go to the Olympics because
44:30
absolute worst case scenario is she has to replace someone and
44:34
her first international game is in a semi final or a finalist.
44:37
Just not a fair situation to put a player into.
44:41
That would be tough. That gives serious vibes on the
44:44
Savannah D'mello getting her first USA cap.
44:47
I think that was in the send off match and then her second cap
44:50
for Team USA being against Vietnam in the opening match of
44:54
the World Cup. Not a great situation.
44:55
No, it's it, Yeah. I I can't even explain how
45:00
significant that step from club to international is.
45:03
And I'm sure Hayes knows. So I'm I'm expecting to see her
45:07
prepare her players. I want to ask another bonus
45:09
question if I may, You bring up Hal Hirschfeldt, as long as
45:12
we're talking about your the previous videos, which everybody
45:14
should go check out on busy watching women's soccer on
45:17
YouTube. He did a great video with great
45:20
levity. I thought kind of poking a
45:21
little fun at yourself on players who you did not expect
45:24
to get named to the roster, but who did get named to the roster
45:27
and you apologize to them. I'm sure they would accept your
45:29
apology. One of those players is show
45:32
favorite Kroy Bethune, who when I think about a number 10,
45:36
that's what I think a number 10 should look and play like.
45:40
You spoke glowingly about her on your show.
45:44
She got a few minutes against Mexico.
45:46
I thought she looked pretty good out there.
45:48
Are we missing the forest through the trees or however
45:51
that expression goes? Like, should this be as simple
45:54
as when Macario went down? Should they have replaced her
45:57
with Kroy Bethune? If I'm just looking at film and
46:01
I'm just doing it off like, hey, the last five games everyone has
46:04
played, I think so. There's so much more going on
46:08
behind the scenes. There's so much more in terms of
46:11
like, you know, your understanding of the game, your
46:12
comfort being put in new situations.
46:15
But from what I see on film at the club level, she looks super
46:18
complete as a 10. Absolutely.
46:21
Yeah, I was. I was definitely excited to see
46:22
her this past weekend again to Mexico.
46:25
I hate to go back to the same well, but didn't quite have the
46:28
same pop is maybe a little Johannes against South Korea,
46:31
but I'll just we'll talk about that later.
46:34
But Brady is a Johannes appreciator as well.
46:39
I believe you have a you have a video talking about her after
46:41
her debut. Yeah, I'm a big old fan.
46:44
So I was kind of expecting like this to be a bit like college
46:46
recruitment and that they'd reach out and say, hey, do you
46:49
want the alternate spot? And you guys did some good
46:51
reporting here. But the one thing I did not
46:53
consider is maybe not a great situation for her to go as an
46:57
alternate and then, you know, potentially not have a say in
47:00
getting activated. So, you know, maybe they should
47:03
have just been a bit more daring and put her on the squad.
47:05
How many times have we watched good men's tournaments where you
47:07
have a 17 year old come in and they just light it up and you're
47:10
like, wow, you know, yeah, I. Think we just saw it.
47:15
Sorry. Yes, yeah, I think I think
47:19
that's totally right. And Dina was was on it pretty
47:22
much from the beginning too. It's not even it's not even just
47:25
the recruitment that's a big part of it.
47:27
She fits a huge need also. Like she's just like the
47:31
physicality, the smarts and the skills, you know, it's it's hard
47:34
to bang on too much on the the roster construction we've all
47:38
talked about, but they have a lot of good players.
47:40
But man, Bethune and Johannes, those feel like two players who
47:44
you could really play together too.
47:46
That would be wild to see them starting the US at the next
47:49
World Cup. I mean, I can see it.
47:51
My question with Johannes is, does she want to be the
47:55
centerpiece of a Dutch team or would she be the centerpiece of
47:58
the US team? If she is here, that's just
48:00
tough for her right now. It must be a good position to be
48:02
in. Yeah, we're spots to be for
48:04
sure. I think we'll we'll definitely
48:06
keep an eye on that. I have a take and I want to
48:10
gauge just exactly how spicy this take is.
48:13
Watching the Mexico match this past weekend, USA, the field,
48:17
I'm still kind of 5050, you know, I'm going to reserve the
48:19
right to make my official show pick.
48:21
I think if I had to pick today, I kind of think I would take USA
48:24
very begrudgingly just because I think the ceiling is there, even
48:28
though they're nowhere near the ceiling at this point.
48:31
But as I was watching the Mexico match and fast forwarding, OK,
48:34
maybe we get five, maybe we get six matches.
48:36
You know, before this tournament's all said and done,
48:39
I did have the notion that I don't think Lindsay Horan starts
48:43
all six matches or all five matches.
48:45
I think at some point I think she gets bumped and not for any
48:49
kind of health reasons. I think we're going to start to
48:51
see maybe some match up, you know, machinations and I think
48:55
we might see her give up her starting spot.
48:58
Let me know the relative spiciness of of that taken and
49:01
what you guys think I'm. Going to say moderate, spicy.
49:04
Like I don't think it's crazy based on what we saw from
49:08
Mexico, you can't repeat that performance and expect to start
49:11
every game of the Olympics. So that would be nuts.
49:13
But the Champions League experience gets me.
49:16
There's one player on that pitch, the Plato and Champions
49:18
League final through US if we're going to need that.
49:21
Yeah, I'll say it feels like a like a medium wing, right?
49:25
Like not as weak as mild, not quite your, your hot, but yeah,
49:30
it feels, it feels medium spicy because I think brighty you're
49:32
totally right. Like if she plays like that
49:34
against Zambia, then I think Emma Hayes has to start asking
49:38
some real questions of like, OK, well what kind of options do I
49:40
have? Do my two holding midfielders?
49:43
Does it end up being Sonnet and Albert or something like that?
49:47
Then you turn the pivot point from the old guard, the
49:51
established the world champion caliber players into the new
49:55
guard of the team. That now falls on Crystal Dunn
49:59
and Rose LaBelle at that point. I think that's pushing the
50:02
transition into the new era even further along, which I don't
50:06
know if you consider that as you're in the tournament, you're
50:09
just trying to win football matches.
50:10
It would definitely be a compelling narrative and one
50:13
that I have to imagine a lot of media outlets would pick up on.
50:16
And I don't know if that plays into the calculus before you
50:19
even make that decision. Yeah, I can't.
50:21
I can't say I've watched a ton of Chelsea games, but from what
50:24
I've watched, Hayes seems very comfortable changing her lineup
50:27
based on the matchups that she's looking for and I would assume
50:31
player performance. I have a feeling, yeah, they
50:33
have a result they don't like about Zombie with Zambia.
50:36
She's not going to be shy. You know, she's already looking
50:39
ahead to the World Cup. If somebody's not going to offer
50:41
her what she needs here, you can't play people that aren't
50:43
helping you right now. It's.
50:45
A great point. Yeah, I totally agree.
50:46
I think even when you think about the matchups, I think
50:49
Zambia could be tough for Haran. Germany maybe a little bit less
50:53
so because I think it's more like the European style, a
50:55
little bit, a little bit slower paced.
50:57
I think it fits Haran's game a little bit better and then
51:00
coming back against Australia or if you Fast forward to I think
51:03
we we did the math and Japan might be looming in that first
51:06
quarterfinal matchup. It could get really, I don't
51:10
know, it's going to be tough for Emma Hayes here to kind of, you
51:13
know, build this plane while it's in the air and figure out
51:15
exactly what to do. I think you're you're right on
51:17
the money with her tendency to switch up the lineups,
51:20
definitely depending on matchups and switch up a little bit of
51:22
the game plan. I think, you know, the first
51:24
Barcelona matchup was totally that.
51:26
It was a lot of Ashley Lawrence, you know, Myra Ramirez just
51:30
picking at, you know, one side of the field until that, you
51:32
know, they were able to breakthrough.
51:33
So I think we'll see a little bit of that.
51:35
And yeah, it could be, you know, a heavy transitionary period.
51:39
I think we we might get laid into this tournament and that
51:42
starting 11 might look a good deal different than than how we,
51:45
you know, came into this tournament.
51:47
And that might be honestly best case scenario really, you know,
51:50
I think if they want to go far of it, they're going to have to
51:53
make adjustments from team to team.
51:55
Definitely be interested. I mean it, it feels like the
51:58
rotation of the pieces. I got to think in the front of
52:02
the pitch or you know, looking at the forwards and then looking
52:05
at your back line. I like those a lot.
52:08
Swanson, Smith, Rodman, that appears to work very well.
52:12
And then that back line of nice Wanger, Germa, Davidson, Fox,
52:17
that feels really good. And then a listen there.
52:20
You already know what time it is written in Sharpie, but do you
52:24
think there could be matches where you don't play nice
52:27
longer? Or maybe you look at like a back
52:29
three and you try to and you try to build the midfield a little
52:32
bit? Or could you play nice longer at
52:34
like an 8 or like a six if you want to try?
52:37
Or do you just play her at like a wingback?
52:39
Like how? How weird is Emma Hayes going to
52:42
get in this tournament? I'm not sure I can put 52 nice
52:48
longer as an 8, but I would love to see her as a wing back in a
52:51
in like a three back. I think that would be super
52:54
effective for them. I don't know.
52:56
I can't tell with these players yet how quickly you can switch
53:00
up what they're doing because the feel I'm getting right now
53:03
is they want some of the same 75% of the same elements game to
53:07
game to kind of feel comfortable and then switch off and do their
53:10
thing. Yeah.
53:10
Yeah, I think I think that's a great point.
53:12
It's sort of like, you know, you see this with international
53:15
tournaments where it's like, OK, we can't do everything in
53:17
theory. There's a lot of things that are
53:19
possible with these players. We really have to kind of commit
53:23
to a little bit of a philosophy. You saw this, I think a little
53:26
bit against Mexico as well. All the Subs were pretty much
53:29
like for like it was like, we're not going to mix anything up.
53:31
We're just going one for one boom, boom, boom and let's swap
53:34
out the pieces and run the playbook.
53:36
I think we're definitely going to see some lineup variants.
53:39
I'll be really interested to see how much strategic or tactical
53:42
variants we see as a tournament reaches.
53:44
You know, it's a it's finale there.
53:46
Yeah. And that's that's what I'm
53:47
really curious about tactically, how much change and how capable
53:53
are they of managing that change?
53:55
Brady, really appreciate you joining the show.
53:56
I want to get you out here on this question.
53:58
I want to see if you have a gold medal prediction.
54:01
Obviously, we know a lot can happen with the brackets.
54:03
I think what makes it tricky is like first and second kind of
54:06
puts you on one side of the bracket or the other.
54:08
Who knows what can happen so we won't hold you to it, but if you
54:12
are taking the field, which team would you pick walking away with
54:16
that gold medal? Might have to hide my face while
54:19
I say it because I know it's the obvious answer.
54:21
But Spain, I think even if they're tired, even if the
54:24
pieces aren't all still connecting, the creativity is
54:28
immense. And what really gets me is when,
54:30
when teams are able to play in three dimensions, when you stop
54:33
looking at the pitch as a series of, you know, diagonal or
54:36
straight lines, and you start seeing the opportunities for
54:39
curls and the curve and all the little intricacies that make
54:43
that game so beautiful. If they just have such a handle
54:46
on it. And there's just games where
54:47
they just, they just look like they're kids playing and having
54:50
fun. And it's it's so hard to fight
54:52
that. So do you think in a head to
54:54
head you think Spain's got what it takes to get past USA?
54:57
It could be either team, but if I'm just basing it based on, you
55:00
know, like film historical performance, where do I think
55:03
we're at right now? Where do I think they're at
55:04
right now? I think Spain is certainly the
55:07
better, more complete team. Let me do the sports radio guy
55:12
thing here and I'll try to crank up the spice of it a little bit.
55:16
I don't know how close it is, man.
55:18
I think Spain heads up versus USAI.
55:21
Don't think it's particularly close right now as things stand
55:25
today, with no Bethune, with no Johannes, to Brady's point, they
55:29
start playing, they look like Barcelona.
55:32
And now, like we've talked about the benefit of having that many
55:36
club players who play in the same club, just imagine you put
55:40
Olga Carmona on Barcelona and she still plays with that team
55:45
with that level of chemistry. You cannot account for that,
55:49
especially when we're talking about in these small windows for
55:52
the national teams to get together.
55:54
They have such a defined identity with the way they play.
55:58
And I really, I don't think I've ever heard it in those terms,
56:01
Brady, of you talking about playing it even in three
56:03
dimensions where it's not just a series of diagonal passes.
56:07
They play over top of you, they play around you, they curl the
56:10
ball into into interesting spaces.
56:12
They just have a way of playing that you then start to take off
56:17
players and it's not just I'm taking off good players and
56:20
putting on more good players. I'm putting on more good players
56:23
who also play the exact same way.
56:26
The last point I want to make in this rambling answer is I
56:29
thought there was some really good commentary on again, I'll
56:32
do a quick diversion to the men's game in the Spain England
56:35
match where England was looking to put on Subs.
56:38
Who would change the game for England and Spain?
56:41
Put on Subs to play the exact same way that they like to play
56:45
and they all know how to play that way.
56:48
The world champions as we sit right now, they have that exact
56:51
way of playing. I think if they went heads up
56:53
against the USA, I think we might be looking at A31 or A2
56:57
nil or something like that because if you can't get the
56:59
ball then you can't score. Yeah, when you simplify it like
57:02
that, there's not much more to it.
57:04
You do need the ball. Is ironclad that they stand by
57:07
that. That's, well, I don't know where
57:09
that falls on the spicy meter, but you can't score without the
57:11
ball. Yeah, I think I agree with that.
57:13
That's Spain back four man like Carmona Battier, Paredes got
57:17
that going on goal. Like she's just a big game
57:20
goalie. She's just tough to beat.
57:21
Like she's just not going to. They're not going to give it to
57:23
you. They might give away one goal
57:25
this entire tournament. You're going to have to just
57:27
beat them flat out. I'm ready now.
57:30
I'm ready, maybe ready to walk back my USAUSA pick.
57:34
But we'll see. There's there's a lot of time
57:35
between now in the tournament. All right, Team, anything else
57:38
we want to hit before we get out of here?
57:39
Can't wait, I can't wait. Just give me an absolute banger,
57:42
man. I mean, just every single match
57:44
I look at, I've talked myself into Australia, Germany.
57:47
I may have been a total fraud when I said Australia, Germany
57:50
is my second most opening game that I'm looking forward to.
57:53
Like I want to see USA, Zambia, but Australia, Germany, there's
57:56
a lot on the line. You want to talk about cruddy
57:59
sports radio narratives, must win for Germany.
58:02
If you you got it, they're going to be a lot of questions asked
58:06
after that match and you can just go down the line.
58:09
All these teams, all these match ups, you're just going to get
58:12
banger after banger. Yeah, that's what we love.
58:15
Absolutely. All right, team, I think we did
58:17
it. There's been another episode of
58:18
Into the channel. Thank you for watching,
58:20
listening, liking, subscribing, just plain hanging out.
58:23
And remember to like if you liked, subscribe or follow into
58:25
the channel, YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast, or wherever you
58:27
like to watch or listen links to socials in the show notes.
58:31
And a big thank you to my host, Mr. Grant Angle.
58:34
He took the field much like our esteemed guest Bridey did.
58:37
We're not going to hold that against them.
58:38
I appreciate you, man. I appreciate you Bridey, as well
58:40
for joining us. Yeah, thank you for having me.
58:43
Likewise, buddy, always good talking to you.
58:45
Thank you again to our esteemed guest Brighty O'Toole.
58:48
And you know what, Even though we took the field in this
58:51
podcast, we're always one team. We have heart and guts like
58:56
every sports radio cliche that you could ever have.
58:59
And so we will be busy watching women's soccer and so we will
59:04
talk to you guys very soon.