Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / 🇪🇸 Spain Cruises vs Belgium | 🇮🇹 Italy 🇵🇹 Portugal Draw 1-1 | UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2025 Group B 🏆 DAY 6

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🇪🇸 Spain Cruises vs Belgium | 🇮🇹 Italy 🇵🇹 Portugal Draw 1-1 | UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2025 Group B 🏆 DAY 6 · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:05
OK, welcome to into the channel podcast primarily about one's
0:08
football. I'm your host Dino de Suspicious
0:10
and as always, I am joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Angle.
0:15
What is up man? I'm feeling fantastic buddy.
0:18
Day 6th of the UEFA Women's 0. The show rolls on, the
0:23
tournament rolls on, and I think we had a great day at football
0:26
today. Massive day of football, big
0:28
score line, big drama down the stretch.
0:31
I love I love the two different styles of games.
0:34
We got like a like a showcase style game and then just like a
0:38
knock down drag out maximum drama for for the for the late
0:43
match. But I mean, I think legitimately
0:46
two different places we get started.
0:47
So I want to kick it to you in true, you know, share sharing of
0:51
the ball fashion, Mr. Grant Engel.
0:53
Where should we get started? I think, you know, Spain has to
0:56
be the headliners and as a bonus, it is chronological
1:00
order. So let's start there.
1:02
Spain, the world champions 6, Belgium two in a match where I
1:08
think you could make an argument it was maybe a little closer
1:11
than six to two for a long stretch, but also still kind of
1:15
an ass kicking. I don't know, It's hard to
1:17
decide what this match was. What did you make of it?
1:20
Well, let me make sure I'm fully hydrated, just because, you
1:24
know, I want to make sure that the brain power's really cooking
1:28
here. It's a big day of football.
1:29
A lot, a lot of takes ruminating in my mind.
1:32
Cheers. Cheers to you.
1:34
Cheers to the football. I think that's totally fair.
1:36
We've been, we've been cracking the the beverages later and
1:39
later into these shows. So I appreciate you getting us
1:41
there early. Yeah, no, we got to make it
1:42
happen, especially if we're going to talk some football,
1:44
some some Spain football, some Spain, Belgium football.
1:47
Let's go. I agree with you.
1:49
I think score wise it was close on the pitch.
1:52
If you're actually like kind of watching what's happening and
1:55
who's actually getting the chances and where the ball's
1:56
going and where the ball's hanging out, not so close.
2:00
It was it was a pretty thorough controlling of of for sure.
2:05
The early part of the match by Spain took him, took him a
2:08
minute to kind of get rolling. But yeah, Alexia opens the
2:11
proceedings with a great team goal.
2:13
I kind of jotted it down here real quick, the whole sequence.
2:16
But yeah, it goes on a battier to Mariona to Patri to Vicki to
2:21
Alexia, like in just a beautiful bom bom bom bom bom, just kind
2:25
of all everything clearing up space.
2:27
And I think the one thing I noticed watching Spain in this
2:29
match and I I I was talking to you about this pre show.
2:32
I keep, I keep having to remind myself this isn't Barcelona.
2:35
So things are a little bit different in terms of like how
2:37
they play. But just watching them, it's
2:40
really interesting seeing on any given sequence, they always have
2:44
runners at different levels. So you know, like a like a, like
2:47
a player's got the ball. She's looking forward to say
2:49
it's Alexia, she's got somebody 10 yards, she's got somebody 18
2:52
yards, she's got somebody like 28 yards.
2:55
And these players when they receive the ball, they, the way
2:58
they kind of open up, they're always kind of opening up to
3:00
like 4 players over here. So it's not really a triangle
3:04
that they have. It's kind of like a weird
3:06
Pentagon. And it's not like it's like more
3:08
like vectors, like they have just different ways that they
3:10
can go. And the runners don't just go up
3:13
field, you know, they, they come across, they come back, you
3:17
know, and I think it's always like always a ton of motion kind
3:20
of keeps everybody on their heels.
3:21
And I think a goal like that to open things up where there's a
3:24
lot of motion and a lot of passing and a lot of like, you
3:28
know, movement, a lot of just just rhythm and beauty.
3:31
I mean, great way to kick off the match.
3:33
That's such a good way to describe it, man.
3:35
You think about like the ethos of like Barcelona football and
3:37
the way they play. And I'll be, I'll be interested
3:40
if our pals like MLS or P3 will will chime in on this and kind
3:43
of like the entire Barcelona like footballing way of life.
3:48
But on that first goal, one of the things I know is you talk
3:50
about the runners at the different levels.
3:52
You're spot on there. But Alexia, she makes a run and
3:56
she doesn't get the first pass and then she like at the end of
3:59
that run, she's offside. But the thing that I I jotted
4:01
down in my notes is she runs offside.
4:04
The run, you know, the ball doesn't come to her, but she
4:07
just so patiently just waits, just kind of like takes a couple
4:10
steps back, allows the defense to drift back to get her on side
4:14
and boom, there's the ball at her feet.
4:16
And the two time Balandor winner, the queen, as Chris
4:19
Sharples always reminds us, makes the finish to go ahead one
4:22
nil. And from there I thought it was
4:24
going to be super smooth sailing for the world champs.
4:26
But Belgium had a little bit to say they.
4:29
Definitely had a little bit to say.
4:30
I think, you know, Belgium's been playing, you know, tough,
4:33
kind of like professionals, you know, tight ball this, this this
4:36
whole tournament, all all two matches of it.
4:39
So I wasn't really surprised to see them, you know, kind of like
4:42
sink into the match and really, you know, try.
4:44
I mean, they're playing for their tournament lives.
4:46
Like this is a tournament that, you know, doesn't roll around
4:48
very often. They're playing, you know,
4:49
they're playing the the World Cup champions.
4:52
The expectations are are all on the side of Spain, you know, so
4:56
not quite play with house money, but you know, they they want to
4:58
come out and be competitive and they have players.
5:01
The the player who gets the assist on on the goal to
5:03
equalize. Tessa Wuhlert has been probably
5:07
either their best player or their best player for a bunch of
5:10
a bunch of stretches. She puts in a great ball to
5:13
Justine Van Havermat and the duel between Van Havermat and
5:18
Patri was really something. It was real kind of clash of the
5:22
titansy. Just two big stature, strong,
5:25
strong players going at it and credits of Van Havermat and her
5:29
strength, she just kind of dispatched battery and smashes
5:32
in the header and now kind of game on at that point.
5:35
The shadow executive producer of this program, Yeah, she was
5:38
thrilled with with tall girls doing tall girl things.
5:42
So score one for for the Shadow EP.
5:45
Yeah, Von Havermat just physically dominating and just
5:48
kind of had to nod the header home.
5:50
And you know, if you're going to have even a shot, you probably
5:55
need to get one off the set pieces.
5:57
You'll probably need to get a scrappy goal.
5:59
And that's just kind of like how Belgium hung around this thing,
6:03
at least especially in the first hour of the match.
6:06
Absolutely. Yeah.
6:07
And, you know, tall girls not done getting busy in this one.
6:11
Irene Peretas gets the next goal in this one off another header
6:15
from Claudia Pina. I had mentioned in my notes
6:17
right before this one, I'm like, Barcelos is starting to play,
6:20
you know, some Pina ball here. And I think what makes it so
6:23
dangerous, She's surprised. OK, Yeah, right.
6:27
Portland, my bad. Portland's playing.
6:29
That's right. No, Spain starting to play some
6:34
peanut ball and just kind of when they get her the ball, it's
6:37
funny because she's so dangerous, you know, like with
6:40
with her strikes that I think the defenses are really starting
6:44
to to back up a little bit and it's really creating a lot of
6:46
space for her. But on this one, she puts in the
6:49
corner, finds better this who is kind of fading away but gets
6:53
such a good header on it. I mean, crazy velocity.
6:58
So not just second one for the tall girls.
7:01
And and what a like what a hit from Pina to to get it over
7:05
there. Claudia Pina, as as you have
7:07
correctly pointed out, is in the form of maybe the best player in
7:11
the world right now was on an absolute heater in this one,
7:15
just making good decisions, hitting great passes.
7:18
She gets the goal later on that I'm sure we'll talk about.
7:21
I mean, that that header, I'm glad you talked about it the way
7:24
you did, because that's another instance of it's, it wasn't just
7:29
a player jumping up and and heading the ball in.
7:31
It was another piece of great skill.
7:34
And it's just when you're you're going up against Spain or
7:38
Barcelona or the Portland Thorns, you just have a lot of
7:40
players on the field at any time who had who possess a ton of
7:45
quality and they're just able to produce those moments when they
7:49
need them. We talked about Alexia, you, you
7:52
kind of wouldn't, I mean you, you would know it, but he kind
7:54
of wouldn't know it just because there were so many great moments
7:57
from, from Spain today. But Alexia two goals, 2 assists,
8:01
Claudia Pina, a goal and an assist, Paredes Ester, Mariona
8:04
Caldente all got goals. Vicki Lopez and Patty got got
8:08
assists. So I think like you, you see the
8:11
spread it, it's unreal, like how much, how much kind of talent
8:14
there is. And, and I wanted to kind of
8:15
zoom, zoom back into really to Patty real quick.
8:19
So she had 142 touches good for first in the match at just a
8:23
month. I mean, like it's only 90
8:24
minutes in the match, 142 touches and then she's got 7 in
8:29
the opposition box. So imagine how advanced that bar
8:34
that Spain attack is. That Spain attack is if you've
8:37
got bots that you get in touches in the opposition box.
8:40
Like imagine how much more talent, how much more danger
8:42
there is in the box. If that's the instance, she she
8:46
connects on 88% of her passes, three chances created, 22, zero
8:51
passes into the final third. There we go.
8:54
We couldn't say it and imagine who she's passing to.
8:57
Just I think definitely deserved a spotlight today, you know,
9:03
with her play. But yeah, I mean, you could
9:05
really spotlight almost any player on the Spain side and,
9:08
and and be kind of blown away by by the productivity.
9:11
Absolutely. And I think, you know, it
9:13
obviously speaks to Spain's quality all all around the
9:17
pitch. I think in this specific match,
9:20
I think Belgium should walk away.
9:22
You know, it's not often that you walk away from a six two
9:25
loss feeling OK about yourself. I think they should feel pretty
9:28
good. I think there are spots, you
9:30
know, they didn't have a lot of the ball or they barely had any
9:34
of the ball. Maybe there's a probably a more
9:35
accurate way to say it 808020 Espana's way.
9:39
But the thing that we talk about too is when you play Spain, you
9:45
have to be very efficient and you have to take advantage of
9:47
the few chances that you might get.
9:50
And Belgium did that. It just so happened it came at
9:52
the expense of Spain having way too many chances on the other
9:57
side. These, these two nations,
9:59
completely different places in their, in their footballing
10:03
journey and just kind of where they are as footballing
10:06
countries in the women's game. But I, I just think if you're
10:09
Belgium, I don't think you should be, you're disappointed
10:13
that your euro is over, but I don't think you have anything to
10:17
be ashamed of. I think they should be happy
10:19
with this result and and use it as a stepping stone for the
10:23
future of their federation. I agree with you and I thought
10:26
they did play pretty well even independent of the goals, like,
10:30
you know, you could score two goals and like really, you know,
10:33
play like shit. But like they, they played
10:34
pretty well and also scored two goals, had a third one called
10:37
back late. But a couple, couple other
10:40
players, I want to kind of highlight Mariona Caldente.
10:43
So she obviously gets the goal in the 61st minute.
10:46
This is when there's like that scramble in front of goal.
10:48
Maybe there's a handball. You know, the Spain players are
10:50
looking for the ref and the Belgian players are looking at
10:53
the Spain players. And Mariona Caldente is like
10:55
smacking into the back of the net, you know, while
10:57
everybody's, you know, just kind of in a general state of
10:58
confusion. Long story short, I think we
11:01
really need to start talking about Mariona's case for
11:04
Bollendor. So you look at WSL, nine goals,
11:09
5 assists in her first, you know, dipping the toe into the
11:13
WSL, you know, and, and Arsenal finishes, you know, near the top
11:15
of the league, Champions League, you already know.
11:18
I, I mentioned it to Chris Sharples, our guy Mariona, a
11:21
dynasty unto herself. Just all she does is win the
11:24
Champions League. Eight goals, 2 assists in 15
11:28
appearances for Arsenal and now for Spain.
11:31
Three goals, 3 assists in seven matches for Spain, a goal, 2
11:35
assists in just the EUR. And if Spain goes all the way
11:38
and takes this thing, I'm not sure there's going to be a
11:41
player that's going to be able to make a better case.
11:43
Assuming that continues to play and continues to feature in the
11:47
starting lineup as well as in the offense and continues to
11:51
produce both goals and assists. I'm not sure how you make a case
11:54
for any other player. Oh wow, I love this.
11:58
The Arsenal agenda just looking on on into the on and into the
12:02
channel. No, no, no, I mean.
12:04
Look, I'm in international mode. I'm not even thinking.
12:06
I mean thinking about that. I mean, what are we talking
12:08
about? It's no, I mean, it's, it's a
12:11
great argument. I think you kind of got me
12:14
searching for who else is going to be really competing against
12:19
her. I mean, obviously Alexia's like
12:21
really picked up steam, but but Mariona's going to have that
12:25
that Champions League victory over both her and Bone Mati.
12:29
I mean, Pina was just an absolute monster in the
12:32
Champions League. Have a Pyor was an absolute
12:36
monster in league play. But again, Mariona kind of has
12:40
the notch of of the Champions League.
12:43
Now Barcelona, they have their domestic treble.
12:45
I can't think of a Chelsea player that I would that I would
12:48
take, which is kind of funny considering Chelsea won a
12:52
domestic treble, but that Champions League that that looms
12:56
large. I don't know man, it's
12:58
interesting. I think we need to float this to
13:00
to more of our international pals.
13:02
Luckily we have a ton of Internet friends who who enjoy
13:06
this program with us and are always dropping knowledge to us.
13:09
Who are the 2025 Balandor contenders?
13:12
Let's let's hear it from you guys.
13:14
I'm I'm very interested by this I think.
13:17
I think you have me considering your argument very strongly
13:20
here. Let's go.
13:22
All right, a couple of other quick notes.
13:25
You mentioned Claudia Pina Fox flashed a graphic after her
13:28
goal, which was just a rocket, totally unsavable, nothing you
13:33
can do about it. And the graphic is that it was
13:35
98.6 kmh on the on the strike, which extremely fast according
13:44
to my calculations. And then Alexia, I want to talk
13:47
about Alexia, who you mentioned, you know, could be on the out
13:50
outside of that bound our conversation.
13:52
So obviously I've mentioned the two goals to assist.
13:54
Just we'll just start there. But let's put that off to the
13:56
side leads the leads the match in shots, seven shots, 10
14:00
touches inside the opposition box led the game there too.
14:03
Six chances created led the game there too.
14:06
And 11 somehow, even though she's playing in the midfield in
14:09
in an advanced positions, somehow also managed to to notch
14:13
11 passes into the final third. You know, good for like she's
14:17
surrounded by all defenders like in that category and defensive
14:20
midfielders and she's somehow up in that mix.
14:23
So pretty much every category that matters all the way up to
14:26
goals and assists. Alexia was pretty dominant and
14:30
is it weird to say kind of had a low key game, I don't know, like
14:33
had that sick goal at the end where she kind of like, you
14:35
know, you know, jabs out the foot to kind of like just, you
14:38
know, you know, snatch a second goal.
14:40
But I don't know what am I describing?
14:42
What am I feeling here that I'm kind of confused?
14:44
Is it just too many, too many talented players for my brain to
14:46
process? Yeah, maybe that's part of it.
14:49
Yeah, that, that touch for the the second goal is spectacular.
14:53
I don't know if she had like a ton of other like spectacular
14:56
single moves. Like it's not like she's like
14:59
crossing you up. I mean, she just made like the
15:02
subtle movements, the pushing the ball down the field, the the
15:05
connecting to players into space and creating more space for her
15:09
teammates, obviously serving up goals for them on a platter with
15:13
her passes. I don't know, I I think I
15:15
understand. To a.
15:16
Stair, Yeah, I mean. To a stair, it's just like, you
15:19
know, it's like a simple ball, but it also a perfect ball and a
15:22
pass that almost everybody gets a little bit wrong.
15:26
Yeah, no, it's a great call. I I think you know, and now
15:30
they're both tied When, when she, you know, Pateas has the
15:33
brace today. Now she's tied with a stair in
15:35
the Golden Boot race with three goals.
15:39
I got to imagine the the tiebreaker for Golden Boot in
15:42
this tournament should be assists.
15:43
So I got to think that she's ahead, but I, I don't know.
15:48
Spain scored a million goals last match, so I don't know if a
15:50
stair assisted though, so we'll have to, we'll have to get that
15:53
figured out. But I think low key, it's just
15:57
like she's a spectacular player and you know, sometimes it
16:02
almost fades. The excellence almost fades into
16:05
the background like Tim Duncan style.
16:07
Yeah, no, I believe it. All right.
16:10
So Spain obviously moves on. They're in line to take on Italy
16:14
basically for the group. These are probably going to be
16:17
the two teams that make it through.
16:18
But let's talk about that second match up, Portugal one.
16:20
Spain is Spain is clinched. They're into the to the knockout
16:24
stage no matter what. It just depends on if they lose
16:26
to Italy. Yeah, so Italy could beat them
16:28
and and get the get the one seed.
16:32
So we'll see. We'll see.
16:35
We we will see Spain win this match, yes.
16:39
We'll monitor. We'll be back in a few days to
16:40
talk about Spain. We do that match, but let's talk
16:42
about the match that went down today.
16:44
Portugal. Portugal won, Italy won.
16:47
Bunch of fireworks. Where do you get started with
16:48
this one? Yeah, what football game, man,
16:51
that was. I mean, we talked about it.
16:53
You know, Portugal was going to have to lay everything on the
16:55
line after after match day one. We knew that they had to get
16:59
something out of it. I mean, obviously they would
17:02
prefer to get a win. I think I would argue.
17:05
I know they got they got smashed in expected goals.
17:09
They won the possession battle. There might be some bias here
17:12
because I, I know I've said it on this program before.
17:16
I don't particularly love the Italian catanaccio style.
17:21
I don't like the theatrical diving.
17:24
I don't like the cartoonish time wasting that I often see in
17:30
Italian football. So I was, you know, cards on the
17:33
table. I was rooting hard for Portugal
17:35
here. And so there were there were
17:37
some moments I know you're I, I feel like you're a fellow
17:39
Portugal appreciator, which is funny because I like some of the
17:42
Italian players individually. But then there's just sometimes
17:45
when I'm just like, oh, right, like, come on, why are we, you
17:48
know, do we have to do you guys have to do this?
17:50
You have you have talent on your side.
17:52
I, I had a pretty vigorous fist bump when Portugal nodded up
17:56
before I was called back when Deanna Silva scored.
17:59
So I, I kind of was feeling something there.
18:01
I wasn't sure though. It's funny.
18:02
I, I, I did, I did, you know, audit, you know, where, where I
18:06
was at emotionally and I'm like, is it just that I want Portugal
18:09
to survive until next week? Is that, you know, I want, you
18:12
know, maximum dramas for as long as possible or is there
18:15
something there with this Portugal?
18:16
I, I think I do like this Portugal team and I thought
18:19
they, they also played well despite the, the stats maybe not
18:23
fully reflecting it. I guess, you know, they, they
18:26
did have more touches in the in, in Italy's half.
18:30
They did win the possession battle.
18:31
Couldn't do a ton, you know, deep, deep with that possession.
18:36
But, you know, this was this was a kind of like a cagey defensive
18:39
type match. You know, in some ways they they
18:42
sort of matched Italy's, you know, interest in playing like,
18:46
you know, defensively slowing things down and, you know,
18:49
picking spots when they when they became available.
18:51
But yeah, I think first half a bunch of close calls.
18:54
Second-half really, really warmed up.
18:57
We, we've talked about Portugal since you and I like really
19:00
started following the sport closely in the 2023 World Cup,
19:05
like as pals. And it was like, Oh yeah, what
19:07
if we did this on the Internet and people talk to us about it?
19:12
Like Portugal in that 2023 World Cup, you know, they have the,
19:15
the, the draw with USA that got super nervy that they could have
19:19
beat USA, frankly, in that, in that group stage match.
19:23
I just think this is another step.
19:26
Like there were there were moments where Italy was clearly
19:31
out physical in Portugal. And you know, I think at one
19:35
point in my notes I was just like, I was like, alright,
19:38
Portugal keep investing in the weight room.
19:39
Like keep, you know, like you got to get a little physically
19:42
stronger if, especially if you're going to compete in World
19:44
Cups and European Championships, you're just going to like some
19:47
matches, you're going to come up against Italy, Some matches, you
19:50
don't know what the draw's going to look like.
19:51
You might have to play Sweden, You might have to play Denmark,
19:54
Iceland, Switzerland, Like you're going to have to, you
19:57
know, be able to physically stand up against these teams.
20:01
But I, I don't know, I just have a hard time coming away from
20:04
this one. Like it felt like when Italy
20:06
took the lead, they just started doing a bunch of.
20:10
Diving and time wasting and shithousery that just kind of I
20:15
didn't super appreciate and I was I was waiting for that
20:18
equalizer. I thought we had it to your
20:20
point with the Diana Silva goal that got called back.
20:24
But ball don't lie, man. That's what that's what my
20:27
that's what I wrote all caps in my notes.
20:29
I thought Maresh was awesome in goals.
20:33
She had a couple huge stops and I'm glad they got the equalizer
20:36
And now, you know, we're going to have to see.
20:38
They still have they still need a a lot of help, the Portuguese.
20:43
But you know, it was cool to see him get this result.
20:46
Yep. Definitely need a lot of help,
20:47
but it's kind of I mean, it's just nice to be alive heading
20:51
into the final match week, right?
20:53
You know, you get you have stakes there.
20:55
You got teams that are, you know, like I I guess Belgium and
20:57
Iceland are the 2 that are outside looking in.
21:00
I totally agree with you. Patricia Minaish was awesome and
21:04
was also getting me super fired up with her.
21:06
Like, you know, yeah, I mean, she was just all the way live
21:11
after some of those moments. But, you know, I think Portugal,
21:14
they got to kind of figure out, you know what, what their
21:17
identity's going to be. I feel like there was a ton made
21:21
about defensively, how they've been giving up goals, especially
21:24
early in matches, you know, in international play recently.
21:28
So you know, it was kind of a big deal to kind of go into
21:31
halftime nil, nil. I feel like they have it in them
21:34
to kind of play that type of defense.
21:36
I think we saw them play pretty tough defensively at the at the
21:39
World Cup as well. But I think they need to figure
21:42
out somebody in the comments. I'm not sure it might have been
21:44
MLS. Apologies for who who mentioned
21:46
it, but somebody said that Portugal was trying to sort of
21:49
be Barcelona light and I can kind of see some of that.
21:52
That's not really an identity. They don't really have the same,
21:55
you know, infrastructure to be able to recreate that.
21:58
But they do have stuff, you know, they've got athleticism,
22:01
they've got toughness, some flair and some creativity.
22:04
And, you know, you can just kind of see them.
22:08
I mean, how many times do you see a team back against the
22:11
wall, truly back against the wall?
22:14
Portugal really, really needs it.
22:16
They get the Diana Silva equalizer, then it gets ripped
22:20
away. And then how many times do you
22:22
just see it go 2 nil the other way, you know, because the team
22:26
just kind of Wilts and just like, oh, that was our chance.
22:28
And you know, we didn't get it now or now or that now our backs
22:31
were like fully broken. But to Portugal's credit, they
22:34
get the goal, VAR calls it off and they they come right.
22:38
They come back even harder and find a way to kind of just
22:41
literally just find a way that that that goal from Ghomesh,
22:46
another bit of creativity and something that I don't think
22:49
anybody was expecting. You're 100% right from my notes
22:54
I put on there, Diana Silva is going to have her go waved off
22:57
her offside. I hate this sport.
23:00
Why do I even watch? And then the next note I I
23:02
follow up with a little a little sub bullet.
23:05
I then write the airs out of the balloon.
23:07
But it wasn't because they like they had the competitive spirit
23:11
and the heart. I know like those are sports
23:13
cliches, but to your exact point, man, they didn't let them
23:17
stop them. And even before that, like
23:19
before, the ball eventually gets knocked over the line in that
23:21
scrappy fashion. The ball goes off the crossbar
23:25
and I and I'm I'm like typing in my notes like same.
23:29
Yeah. Like, are you kidding me?
23:30
Off the crossbar? This is really happening.
23:32
And then I'm all caps. But now we have ourselves a
23:34
Portugal goal. The ball does, in fact, not lie.
23:39
And that, you know, it's in the it's in the 89th minute or it's
23:41
right right around there. It's near the death.
23:44
Yeah, it's in the 89th minute. And then Maresh makes the big
23:46
save. I put in my notes.
23:48
I'm on caps lock for the rest of this match.
23:52
Like it, it was just, it was just completely, it was a wild
23:55
finish. You get the anaborgous red card
23:57
at the end. I, I haven't checked yet.
24:00
I think it's just a straight or whoa.
24:02
No, it's a second yellow. They said it.
24:04
Oh, it ended up it was a second yellow.
24:06
OK. It wasn't just a straight red
24:07
for that one. Yeah.
24:08
OK. Do you know?
24:09
And at the end of the match, I couldn't tell.
24:11
Like, I don't know if she had like tape on her face or
24:14
something, but Diana Gomsch, she might have just had a bunch of
24:17
Vaseline over her eye. Like she had just been through
24:20
like a middle weight title fight or something like that.
24:23
And I, I was thinking about it. I was like she kind of was in in
24:26
the in in this in this boxing match.
24:28
So great match, physical play. And there was also something
24:34
about it too, like with with some of the from and this one
24:37
was from both sides. So I don't mean to like totally
24:39
bag on Italy this whole time, but there were sometimes where
24:42
there weren't fouls called and players were getting up and you
24:45
like doing the, you know, the theatrics and like throwing
24:47
their hands up. And I was just like, the ref
24:49
hasn't been calling that all game.
24:51
Like we're in the we're in the 75th minute.
24:54
Like she hasn't called it once. She's probably not going to
24:56
start now. No.
24:57
And I think I appreciate you not wanting to bag on Italy, but I
25:01
want to do a little look ahead, maybe some tournament
25:04
machinations. We know that Group A and Group
25:08
B, there's some some intermingling there once we get
25:11
to the knockout stage. So I don't know if you could
25:14
remind me who's who's currently sitting at the top of Group A.
25:18
Oh, that would be Norway A-Team full of great, spectacular
25:22
players who maybe have not played to their full potential
25:24
yet, but have won both of their matches over good competition.
25:28
So I think, I think they would, they would then get the runner
25:31
up from Group B, which at this point it's looking like it's, it
25:35
might be Italy. So potential Norway, Italy match
25:39
up. Any any thoughts on that on what
25:41
you'd like to see there? I thought I didn't mention it in
25:45
the in the first episode that we did on Group A, but I thought
25:51
Switzerland was kind of like diving a lot against Norway.
25:54
I can't imagine what it's going to look like with Italy versus
25:57
Norway, but yeah, come on, we must break you like you're not.
26:01
You're not going to beat Italy's, not going to beat
26:03
Norway. Let's go.
26:04
I'll be happy if those teams match up against each other.
26:09
Bring it on. Some bulletin board material.
26:11
And Speaking of bulletin board material, I had this.
26:13
I had a wild thought. I know we're not talking to
26:15
England, Netherlands. Well, maybe we might get into it
26:18
a little bit tomorrow night, but have you considered the
26:22
possibility that I know we don't have a huge audience, but you
26:26
know, we've got friends at Arsenal.
26:27
You know, I know you, you covered a Manchester City match.
26:29
We've got friends in the Netherlands.
26:31
We got audience. We've got audience in Europe.
26:33
I think we know that. And I did cut that clip of you
26:36
predicting what would happen in Group D and, and you
26:39
contemplating, you know, maybe should you pick me to have you
26:43
considered that maybe there's a really minute possibility that
26:47
she might have seen that clip and and you could have motivated
26:50
her and you could have indirectly played a part in
26:55
potentially jinxing your lionesses.
26:58
I don't believe in jinxes. Do I think Viv Medema saw the
27:02
clip and was like this guy, you know, this is like my indoor
27:05
like Mr. Rogers hoodie, like where I take off my outside
27:08
hoodie and then put on my inside hoodie.
27:10
So like, obviously this hoodie, it's got the Crest right on it
27:13
for Manchester City Football Club.
27:15
Obviously Viv Medema, you know, moved over from a small club in
27:20
London to come play in, in Manchester.
27:24
You know, maybe I I didn't consider that she had seen it.
27:27
But if I said I I didn't think about that clip where I'm openly
27:32
saying it's probably stupid to bet against Viv Midima and then
27:36
she comes out and has a supernova match in the first one
27:40
and now England has to play her and her teammates for their
27:44
tournament lives. Yes, buddy, I have considered
27:47
that. I have given that some thought.
27:49
OK. Just wanted to double check
27:50
that. Thanks.
27:52
All right, man, quick look ahead here.
27:55
Some people might refer to this segment as episode calendar.
27:58
So next Group B matchups, those are going down Friday, July
28:02
11th. As mentioned, Italy versus
28:04
Spain, that's for Group B bragging rights.
28:08
And then Portugal versus Belgium, that's pretty much just
28:10
for pride and maybe a little high intensity cardio.
28:13
We'll keep an eye on that. But tomorrow, Group C back in
28:16
action, the early match, Germany versus Denmark, the late slot,
28:20
Poland versus Sweden. All right, man, you mentioned
28:23
it. Our 12 days of UEFA Women's EUR
28:25
2025 group stage football coverage continues as we March
28:29
toward the final. Six.
28:30
Down 6 to go, no calculator necessary.
28:33
We're 50% of the way home. I mean, when usually there's
28:37
some load management, some conditioning, I feel like we're
28:39
we're, we're, we're getting stronger.
28:41
I think the strength is like really ramping up here.
28:43
So I'm very pumped. I'm excited to get down the
28:46
stretch here. But before we hit the, before we
28:48
hit the outro, is there anything else you want to hit?
28:51
I want to say that Portugal, Belgium match, if Portugal wins,
28:58
they're playing, obviously, you know, the final match day.
29:01
All matches are played concurrently.
29:04
They're played at the same time. So if Portugal beats Belgium,
29:10
they have that draw in their back pocket.
29:12
So then that that zips us all the way in the tiebreakers to
29:17
goal difference in all group matches.
29:20
I don't know. Could Spain beat Italy by by six
29:24
goals? I think Spain could beat a lot
29:26
of teams by six goals. Now, are the Italian players
29:30
going to be grabbing the back of everybody's jersey like they
29:32
were just hanging on to Kika's jersey for dear life and
29:36
multiple spots in this match? Probably, but I don't know.
29:40
I mean, I don't think it's totally out of the question.
29:42
So I'll I'll be interested to see it.
29:43
I think that's that's my final thought is I wouldn't count, I'm
29:46
not going to count Portugal out of this thing just yet.
29:50
Yeah, no, I definitely appreciate that, that
29:52
clarification and correction. I probably had just kind of
29:55
chalked up, All right, Portugal's got to get, they've
29:57
got to make up a, a bunch of goal difference versus Belgium.
30:01
And then Italy's got to do the same, you know, in terms of like
30:05
giving up a bunch to Spain. So it is certainly possible.
30:08
We'll keep an eye on it. It's late, we're loopy.
30:10
It's day 6, as mentioned, 50% of the way through.
30:14
You know, maybe, maybe in spirit I'm feeling good, but maybe
30:18
mentally we're we're starting to crack.
30:21
We're not rusty. No, we're not rusty.
30:23
I mean, that's what I'm saying like, so, you know, we don't
30:27
have a ton of rest, but we're also not rusty.
30:30
So you know what, I I like our chances to make it through these
30:33
12 days. Yep, I mean, there you go.
30:35
Chalk it up. Another one for for old team
30:37
rust there. All right, man, I think we did
30:40
it. This is another episode into the
30:42
channel. Thank you for hanging out.
30:43
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30:58
And a big thank you my coast as well, Mr. Grant Eagle for be in
31:02
the ultimate, you know, kind of like running mate.
31:04
We, you know, we do these one twos.
31:06
I'm I'm I'm sending the ball over the top.
31:09
You know, I'm running in, you're running out.
31:10
And I think we're just kind of making it work.
31:12
Goals and assists in every direction.
31:14
I mean group BI mean did I know? I know nobody's officially won
31:18
Group B, but I mean, when it's all said and done, who, who are
31:21
you going to have sit at the top of Group B?
31:23
I think I do know who won Group B and that would be the end to
31:25
the channel podcast and then we'll see who else is riding
31:29
with us. So congratulations on the win
31:31
Buddy. Couldn't have done it without
31:32
you. And same goes for all of our
31:35
Internet pals. Thank you for rocking with us.
31:37
As Dino said, we appreciate all the knowledge you've been
31:39
dropping. Please keep it coming and we
31:41
will see you all next time.