Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / NWSL Playoffs preview and Awards

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NWSL Playoffs preview and Awards · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:05
OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast primarily about one's
0:09
football before we hit the pitch.
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If you enjoy the show or love women's football as much as your
0:13
boys do, come kick it with us already.
0:16
Subscribe, follow YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcast, wherever
0:19
you like to watch or listen. Leave us a review over your
0:22
favorite podcast app. Links to all of our socials in
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the show notes of this episode. I'm your host, Dino de Cespedes.
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And as always, I'm joined by my Co host, Mr. Grant Angle.
0:32
What is up man? I'm feeling fantastic, buddy.
0:35
And I think for anybody who's watched or listened to this
0:37
program for any extended amount of time, I usually, I always,
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pretty much always say I'm feeling fantastic.
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I just want to be sure to mention that this is in the
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footballing context. This episode is being recorded
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on November 4th, a Monday here in the United States of America.
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I'm not so sure how I'm going to be feeling in the coming days.
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So just to make it abundantly clear for anybody who listens to
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this in the not so distant future and football wise,
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feeling fantastic. Force comes to worst.
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Let's let's go out with a bang in this episode.
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Let me let me check the number here.
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Episode number 80. Episode number 80.
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How about that for your boys? Let's fucking go than us NW Cell
1:16
playoffs kick off in just a few days here.
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We just wrapped the regular season, so we're going to give
1:21
out some awards. We're going to look at the four
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quarterfinals previews with that, said Mr. Grant Engel.
1:26
Where do you want to get started?
1:28
You know, I'm a fan of starting in chronological order, the
1:32
first playoff match, which I know you have thoughts and feels
1:34
on this playoff match being on Friday.
1:38
I do. It is the first playoff match
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nonetheless. So let's start with your Orlando
1:42
Pride taking on the Chicago Red Stars.
1:46
Absolutely. Yep.
1:46
Have some thoughts, have some feels.
1:48
Had to call Nana for some babysitting.
1:53
This is an 8 O clocker. But yeah, this one's going to be
1:55
on prime. Cannot wait for this one.
1:57
This kicks off the weekend. I think the one silver lining
1:59
for the Orlando Pride is that they get the extra day of rest.
2:02
Essentially, they get to play on Friday.
2:04
Assuming that they survive this matchup versus Chicago Red
2:08
Stars. They'll, you know, enjoy a
2:10
little bit of rest. And that might be a little bit
2:12
of a precursor to a potential rest versus rest conversation.
2:16
I think the first place to start, obviously historic run
2:19
for the Pride 20, three straight unbeaten.
2:22
I mean, I think they've got to be able to hang their hat on
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being a team that lifted the shield undefeated.
2:28
And you have to wonder if there was a team really nipping at
2:30
their heels towards the end, would they have gone all 26
2:34
unbeaten? I don't think we'll ever really
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know. But what was your take on kind
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of like, I don't know, a little bit of a sputter towards the end
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of the season? Yeah, I think it was kind of
2:43
bound to happen. Orlando Pride GM Hayley Carter
2:47
had some really thoughtful things to say after the defeated
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run ended. Just like talking about how like
2:53
the players just needed some rest.
2:55
They deserved some rest. And I know we we talked about
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the the potential invincible season.
3:01
But to your point, and I think it's a great one, they clinched
3:04
the Shield and they were still undefeated.
3:06
They raised the shield as an undefeated team.
3:09
And then you kind of have to switch into playoff mode.
3:12
You know, I know you and I have described the NWSL playoffs as
3:15
like another tournament. It's like a cup.
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Obviously the Shield winners are the real champions of the league
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that I think we can safely say that we stake our flag in that
3:24
as a show. But no doubt it was a bummer
3:26
when they lost. A lot of people were saying it
3:29
at the time. It was a bummer that they went
3:30
to Portland and lost, but the rest was necessary.
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So ultimately it's one of those things you see in sports where I
3:37
wonder if losing one game loses you two games, if that makes any
3:42
sense. We're like, you have kind of a
3:43
loss and it's like, OK, I just left the air out of the balloon
3:47
and it's going to take me a little bit to kind of
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reconfigure, get my stuff together.
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But I don't think any Orlando Pride supporter should be afraid
3:56
it really in any way going into these.
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Playoffs, yeah, I wouldn't say afraid, but it does feel like
4:02
it's been a minute since we've seen this team really humming on
4:05
all cylinders. And I think that's kind of
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really what we're what we're talking about.
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But you know, obviously you look at the the two losses in their
4:12
final three, that's not great. But obviously we understand the
4:14
circumstances. You zoom out a little bit from
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there. Ten wins in their last 13,
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pretty good. Pretty great way to end this
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season. Unbeaten at home all year.
4:23
Eight wins on the road, that's huge.
4:25
I think the other sneaky thing, obviously we we went on the end
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show a couple weeks back, I predicted that the Current would
4:30
win the Cup. Leanne mentioned that they they
4:33
have the final at home now. One good thing that broke for
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the Pride is there's no receding.
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So the Current are in the 4-5 matchup.
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Orlando's in the 18 matchup, so Orlando would not face the
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scenario of having to go to KC in the final.
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If they do meet, it would be in the semifinal, play it on
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Orlando's turf. So I think that's a great
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outcome for them. But yeah, I think we're going to
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see. Does it ultimately matter that
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we haven't seen this team firing on all cylinders, you know, over
5:00
the last couple weeks, it's been a minute, you know, as mentioned
5:03
or is it, you know, the the rest point, no major injuries to kind
5:07
of speak of. Everybody should be fully ready
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to go. A little bit of an easy matchup
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we can say against Chicago. We'll get to them in a second,
5:14
but it sounds like youth. Well, let me put you on the
5:18
spot. Apologize.
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I didn't want to give this. I didn't want to tip my hand on
5:21
this. I want to make some predictions,
5:23
all right? I want to make some score
5:24
predictions. Who's advancing predictions.
5:26
So I'll give you I'll give you some time to to kind of think
5:29
about that. But what do you see potentially
5:31
from the Chicago team that could make this one a little bit more
5:34
interesting that people might be expecting?
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You have a one game sample against Mel Swanson and Ali
5:38
Schlegel. Both had seven goals this
5:40
season. Things can get dicey if Mallory
5:42
Swanson cuts through your defense and scores a goal in the
5:45
17th minute and every, all of a sudden everybody's looking
5:48
around going, oh boy, is this denied that we've been on?
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Is this still going? Is this carried into the
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playoffs, carried on to our home field?
5:57
That's a live possibility. But I don't think it's going to
6:00
happen. I think you guys are.
6:02
I think your team is going to figure it out.
6:04
I, I, I want to say about Chicago.
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On July 20th, Sam Staub tore her Achilles in the NWSL League MX's
6:11
Cup. Before that, in league play
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before the Olympic break, Chicago had seven wins, 2 draws,
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7 losses. In the final ten matches after
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the Olympic break, they have three wins, 0 draws, 7 losses.
6:26
Ouch. That's obviously not all because
6:28
of Sam Stobbs absence, but it's not a good sign.
6:32
I don't think they've looked in very good form for quite a while
6:35
now and I think it is a really nice matchup for the Pride to
6:40
kind of get their identity back, stifle a team's attack and then
6:44
just run, run, run with Benda, Yates, Marta, Angelina and the
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whole squad. Yeah, absolutely.
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I'm kind of feeling a get right game, if we want to call it
6:55
that. I'm not sure if I'm going to go
6:56
31 Orlando, 41 Orlando, but I kind of feel like in case I'll
7:00
forgot kind of performance, yes, coming from the Pride here.
7:04
One quick note, in Chicago, they've actually been better on
7:06
the road this season than at home.
7:08
They've got 20 points on the road versus 12 at home.
7:11
They'll still be dealing with the Ludmila suspension.
7:14
She's serving her three match suspension for a major game
7:16
misconduct. According to the NWSL, she had
7:18
been in pretty decent form, three goals and seven matches
7:21
played. But yeah, as you mentioned,
7:22
Chicago, you know, not playing their best football at the
7:25
moment. So where am I going to land?
7:27
I'm going to go four O 1 Orlando.
7:28
Go, OK, that's that's a big result.
7:32
I like it in single game. Sample big matches.
7:37
I expect these games to mostly be tight.
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I'll say that Orlando kind of pulls away at the end.
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Give me two nil Orlando and if we want to do the Y'all must
7:44
Have forgot game, shout out to Roy Jones junior, of course.
7:48
I think we'll see that from the defensive end specifically.
7:52
I like it. Speaking of, I'm going to give
7:54
out my first award here. OK.
7:56
Actually I might give out a couple of awards here.
7:58
Let's go. We'll, we'll build up to
8:00
actually, what are we doing? Oh my goodness, how?
8:05
How did this happen? Let's talk about Rust.
8:07
Little Rust. Little rust Seriously can't
8:15
believe we went damn near 10 minutes before figuring that
8:17
out. I don't know what's going on
8:18
here. Yeah.
8:20
I was feeling a little parched and then I put two and two
8:22
together. I want to start with coach of
8:25
the year, my guy, said Heinz. I'm not sure we can make a too
8:30
much of A credible argument for for anyone else for this award.
8:33
This one is easy peasy for me. Yeah, 100%.
8:36
Seb is the guy. He has to be the guy unbeaten in
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the 1st 23 league matches this season.
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That's 209 days, 5025 hours. If I have my from your 1:00
8:47
match in Louisville to the to the loss in in Portland, the
8:53
team has a defensive identity while also having one of the
8:56
best strikers in the world on the squad.
8:58
There's just something about that economy that I love.
9:00
I think that comes from a coaching staff and the team
9:03
plays for each other and the squad seems to accept their
9:06
roles whenever they have to rotate.
9:08
We've said so much about Seb Hines.
9:10
I think he has to be the coach of the year.
9:13
But I just want to tell you in the spirit of let's name some
9:16
people I put on here, honorable mention Lauren Donaldson.
9:20
This Chicago Red Stars team finished last in the table and
9:24
gave up fifty goals last season. We talked about how crazy that
9:29
is, 50 goals conceded in 22 matches with Alyssa Nair as your
9:33
keeper. Wild times out of Chicago Red
9:35
Stars last year. They've conceded, I think 12
9:38
fewer goals this year. Now, obviously they got Mel
9:41
Swanson back, they acquired Sam Stop for a good chunk of the
9:43
season, they acquired Julia Grosso.
9:46
But I think Lawrence defensive chops are all over the DNA of
9:50
this club just in one season, so I just wanted to give him a
9:52
shout. Great shout.
9:53
Yeah, definitely like that one. I'm ready to name my MVP, OK.
9:57
And I know that there is a certain stone cold killer in
10:01
Kansas City, Yes, that is most people's MVP pick, yes.
10:04
But going through this exercise, jotting down names, when it got
10:08
to the final, clicking on the keyboard, I could not, not put
10:12
Barba Benda as my 2024 NWSLMVP. And I think the numbers are a
10:18
little closer than you would expect.
10:20
Obviously Orlando raises the shield, right?
10:22
So like we'll start there. They are the Champions, the
10:25
regular season champions. Have everyone to think about
10:27
that. This teams fortunes absolutely
10:29
changed when Benda joins opens up everything.
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Now you know defense is fearless.
10:35
Like now it's like, OK, we know the strike can come at any
10:38
moment. She just tilts the entire field.
10:40
When you look at some of the numbers though, they're a little
10:42
bit closer than you would expect.
10:44
So Bendis 4th in the league in plus minus per 90 + 1.45 per 90.
10:51
Pretty good. Is basically how much Orlando is
10:54
outscoring opponents by when she's on the pitch.
10:56
Like as mentioned, it's good for fourth in the league behind BIA,
10:59
who only played sixteen matches, Ellis Stevens and interestingly
11:02
enough, Pride teammate Summer Yates.
11:04
When you look at now this is this is a mouthful, but non
11:08
penalty XG plus expected assisted goals per 90.
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Chewing goes at .98, Benda's at .95.
11:16
It's pretty much neck and neck. Yeah.
11:18
So I think you can definitely make a credible case counting
11:20
stats. Chewing obviously dominant
11:23
there. I mean, chewing goes an amazing
11:25
talent. We'll get to her when we get to
11:26
KFC. But I think Benda has maybe had
11:29
more impact on the team, if that makes sense.
11:31
Like it sort of feels like, you know, she's created a little bit
11:34
more gravity that is given Orlando total control of pretty
11:39
much all of these games. I mean, 23 unbeaten is insane
11:42
that that definitely doesn't happen without Benda.
11:43
So when it came down to it, I just, I don't know, I want to be
11:46
on record. I love it.
11:47
I think there is a thing that happens in sports punditry or
11:51
maybe just that, that has bled into general sports
11:54
conversations where people love to say this is the MVP, this is
11:58
the best player, this is the best team.
12:00
And it's not close. And I know it's boring to say,
12:03
but a lot of times I'm just like, it's kind of close.
12:06
Like it's usually pretty close, at least like usually there's
12:10
another argument to be made. So I don't think anybody could
12:13
get too furious with you for making bend of the the MVP.
12:17
I mean, you mentioned like her efficiency, the expected goals,
12:20
the expected assist. 98 shots, good for second in the league,
12:24
44 shots on target, also good for second in the world.
12:27
She had eighteen goal creating actions.
12:29
That's tied for first in the league.
12:31
We'll talk about who she's tied for first with later.
12:33
But she also had 135 progressive passes received, which is top
12:38
ten in the league. Like you said, she's an absolute
12:40
game wrecker. Can't fault you for having her
12:42
as the MVP. Yep, one more quick one to give
12:44
out my defender of the year also on this Orlando Pride team.
12:48
That's good homerism. Who cares?
12:50
It's our show. We do what we want around here.
12:52
Give me Emily, Sam's third pick in the 2023 NWSL draft.
12:57
RIP to the draft, you'll always live on in our hearts.
13:00
The the stat that I loved about. I mean, obviously 25 appearances
13:03
for Sam's absolute beast. As mentioned, her plus minus for
13:07
was third in the league amongst defenders, only behind the two
13:11
Casey current defenders, Elizabeth Ball and Haley Mace.
13:14
A little bit of a Chewinga effect there we could talk about
13:17
maybe, but I was actually listening to Becky Tweed on the
13:20
Anne show and she was talking about like the primary attribute
13:24
that you want from your back line and from your center back
13:27
specifically was stability. And I think when you think about
13:30
stability, you know, obviously you think probably Naomi Garma
13:32
first kind of rock solid. I think Sam's is kind of maybe
13:36
neck and neck maybe just a smidge behind along that
13:39
category. But to me she has a ferocity
13:42
that I'm not sure that, you know, Garma necessarily also
13:45
has. So they're kind of different
13:47
types of defenders, but again, a historic defense, a historic
13:51
season. I love it.
13:52
I mean, you said it really succinctly on Twitter and it
13:55
just makes sense. Best defender on the best
13:57
defense. Hard to argue against that.
13:59
Fifth in the league in blocks. You had mentioned her plus minus
14:03
per 90 just in general plus minus.
14:05
She's first in the league plus 28 with her on the pitch.
14:09
Let's go and she's 7th in pass completion and 8th in minutes
14:13
when you talk about her games played.
14:14
So absolute monster. She has a massive of case and is
14:19
probably the favorite to be defensive player of the year.
14:23
I picked somebody else to throw, not not in, not purposely to
14:27
just throw a curveball after watching some matches and just
14:31
kind of like going through the Rolodex.
14:32
I got somebody else who we can discuss later, but I don't think
14:35
it's homerism. I think you pay.
14:37
You made 3 picks. I'm obviously totally with you
14:39
on Heinz. You made 3 completely defensible
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picks, and I'm probably the one on on Defender of the Year who's
14:45
got kind of going off the board a little bit.
14:47
Let's go to the four or five matchup KC current versus the
14:50
North Carolina Courage. What should we be looking out
14:52
for in this one? OK, so Kansas City is unbeaten
14:56
in their last nine matches across all competitions,
14:58
including the NWSL League MIC Summer Cup final, their goal
15:02
differential and their last five matches, 12 goals for, two goals
15:07
against. So a goal differential of 10.
15:09
Pretty solid. Let's go off.
15:11
The top of your head Who's the last team to beat the Kansas
15:13
City current? Couldn't tell you.
15:16
It's the North Carolina Courage, my Goodman, who notched a home
15:18
victory in Cary, NC on the strength of a Brianna Pinto goal
15:23
in stoppage time. That loss was actually during
15:25
that kind of like weird swoon for Kansas City where they lost
15:29
that Olympic send off match at home to your pride, which I want
15:33
to bring up later. But then they lost the match
15:36
coming out of the Olympics to the Washington Spirit and then
15:39
lost to the Courage. It was it was 3 losses in a row.
15:41
But here's the good news. Those are the only three losses
15:44
of Kansas City's season. Unbelievable.
15:46
So the Vlad Go Revenge tour that we had opined about and wondered
15:50
if it was possible really kind of started to take shape as the
15:53
season went on. And now here we are.
15:55
And you know, despite your homerism, you pick them on
15:59
Leanne Sanderson's podcast, The Women's Football Show, which you
16:02
should subscribe to immediately. You pick them to win the NWSL
16:05
Championship. You know, it's it's interesting
16:07
because they they did string together 15 unbeaten right there
16:10
with Orlando to kind of study, you know, Orlando got to 23,
16:14
then they have the three losses and then they string together
16:16
another 8 unbeaten to close of the year.
16:18
Six wins, 2 draws, an incredible streak sandwich that they've got
16:23
going on. So I don't want to say I
16:25
overlooked that last eight match unbeaten streak, but I really
16:28
was thinking more about like the 15 to start the year and like
16:31
just how unbelievable they looked offensively just looked
16:34
like a juggernaut and I got a little afraid, afraid of what
16:38
that could look like. Once I figured out though, the
16:40
receding thing, I think that kind of throws the interesting
16:43
monkey wrench in it. The big question is going to be
16:45
if both these heavyweights advance, can Kansas City go to
16:47
Orlando and get a big win like that?
16:49
One thing working in their favor, Debina really coming on,
16:53
she scored in her most 2 recent matches after going 13 straight
16:57
scoreless. So that's a huge, you know,
16:59
boost for them offensively over her last 6, she's got two goals,
17:02
3 assists. So she's really definitely
17:04
rounding into form. Yeah, absolutely.
17:07
And I would like to start handing out some awards, if you
17:10
don't mind. Let's go.
17:11
So before I hand out an award, I want to mention Shawn Nejas as
17:15
somebody I also considered for Coach of the year.
17:18
Fewer than 500 combined minutes from new signee Courtney Vine
17:23
out of Australia and the reigning MVP Getoline, the
17:26
Brazilian wonder striker still finished fifth in the table and
17:30
frankly, just better than I thought they'd be over the
17:33
course of the season. So I'm going to harken back to
17:36
all the hacky sports writers who I always liked growing up.
17:39
And when your team does better than I thought they should have
17:42
done, it doesn't mean that I don't know anything.
17:44
It means, man, your coach did a a really good job.
17:46
So I'm going to keep I'm going to keep that train rolling.
17:49
But but seriously, though, I, you know, they're possessive
17:52
style. Again, I use it with Heinz.
17:54
But like, they have a real identity to the way they play.
17:56
They know who they are. Every time you watch a North
17:59
Carolina Courage game, they're hard to beat.
18:01
Yeah, I think, you know, we, we did the US women's national team
18:04
show last episode. Kind of wish the the national
18:07
team had a little bit more of the this North Carolina courage
18:10
playing style. I think it would be, it would
18:12
just give them a a new dimension that'd be tough to deal with.
18:15
But I do also feel like the current's a really bad matchup
18:18
for the courage because if the game gets away from them even a
18:22
little bit, you know, an early goal or maybe a second goal
18:25
before halftime, that's just going to feel like, you know, a
18:28
Canyon to try to try to traverse to get back into the match.
18:32
So I think really tough matchup for them.
18:34
If I want to make a prediction, if I had to make a prediction, I
18:37
think I'm going to go to 1, Kansas City Current and I want
18:40
to give an award out myself. But I'm not sure if we hit at
18:43
the top of the show. But we also want to call out a
18:45
couple moments that are going to be memorable from the season,
18:49
either on the field, off the field, just things that we're
18:51
going to take away into next season and out into the future.
18:54
Tim Wuchuinga's debut, I went back and watched it.
18:57
She comes on in the 63rd minute, one minute into her NWSO career.
19:03
She's putting intense pressure on the goalkeeper.
19:06
I mean, it's a 50. It's not even.
19:08
It's a 2080 ball for Chewinga that she chases down.
19:11
Turns into a 5050 situation, doesn't quite get to it.
19:14
The ball squirts away. Chris and Hamilton's there for
19:16
the easy put back. Basically all created by
19:19
Chewinga in less than 60 seconds.
19:21
And then roughly 4:00-ish minutes later, chewing Chewinga
19:24
again. Dangerous area.
19:26
Lays the ball off to Alex Pfeiffer basically creates a
19:29
goal and cashes on an assist to put the current up five to one
19:34
at that point over Portland Portland is a closing gap 5 four
19:37
that ends up being somewhat of a classic.
19:39
But that Chewinga debut was so illuminating for us because we
19:44
had just come off the Champions league.
19:46
Tabitha Chewinga carries PSG into the semis, pushes Lyon.
19:50
It's the whole PSG Leon, you know, power balance and I was
19:53
actually shocked the Tabitha was so low in the bound door right.
19:57
Well, maybe it shocked. I shouldn't be shocked, but
19:59
maybe she deserved to be way, way, way higher in those
20:02
rankings because she was an absolute menace, total game
20:05
breaker in Europe. So coming into this opener, I'm
20:07
like, OK, oh, let's Tabitha sister, this is gonna be, let's
20:10
see. Let's see what she's got.
20:11
And that lasted about four minutes.
20:15
Or I'm like, holy shit, this. This person is going to come in
20:18
and wreck the entire league. I love it.
20:21
It was one of my moments too that I had listed that debut
20:25
pretty much put everybody on notice the and like you pointed
20:27
out, the 1st 90 seconds essentially put everybody on
20:30
notice. But this was going to be a
20:32
player who would have an impact. Now, did we expect the kind of
20:35
impact she would have? I don't think anybody could have
20:37
really seen that coming. So I got 2 awards to hand out.
20:42
This is my one. I'm going off the board.
20:44
Let's go defensive player of the year, deploy, if you're into
20:47
that kind of thing. Ryan Williams right back for
20:49
North Carolina Courage. Why you ask?
20:52
55 tackles, one first in the league, 54 interceptions, second
20:56
in the league, 4th in the league in dribblers tackled, first in
20:59
the league in touches with 2463. She's involved in the 4th in the
21:05
league, in progressive carrying distance and 7th in the league
21:08
and crosses into the penalty area.
21:10
Every time I watch North Carolina, like I describe them
21:12
as just hard to beat. And yeah, they they have a lot
21:15
of losses. They didn't draw a ton of
21:17
matches this season. But just in that vein, I just
21:20
kind of thinking about like, who is making North Carolina so hard
21:26
to beat? I think it is Ryan Williams and
21:28
that back line. I also want to shout out Kaylee
21:31
Kurtz, center back for North Carolina Courage, one of the
21:34
seven Iron Women in the league this year.
21:37
Played 2340 minutes for Kaylee Kurtz, all 90 of every single
21:42
match. So shout to her as well.
21:44
But I'm going to take Ryan Williams as my Defender of the
21:47
Year. I like it.
21:48
I don't think that one was too far out-of-the-box.
21:51
Yeah. Probably not.
21:52
This is a rock solid defense. I'd be.
21:54
I think the play was there. You can see it with the naked
21:57
eye. The stats back it up.
21:58
Yeah. And it's going to be interesting
21:59
to see defensively, you know, how they're able to, I mean,
22:02
they're going into a little bit of a gauntlet going 2K.
22:04
I see, yeah. But I sort of feel like if any
22:06
team could really impose their will defensively, leaning on
22:11
their discipline, I think for long stretches of this match,
22:14
this is going to feel like an even game.
22:17
And then, you know, to your point, goes into deep waters,
22:19
single elimination. And like you said, it starts
22:21
with the defense, with the courage.
22:23
Yeah, 100%. And they're going to need it
22:25
because now I'm going to make my MVP pick.
22:27
You referenced it earlier. I'm not going off the board
22:29
here. Tim Watchwinga scored twenty
22:31
goals in an NWSL season. Pretty good.
22:34
She added 5 assists, her XG 18.1 good for first in the league. 5
22:39
ahead of Barbara Benda in XG. But you know, she obviously
22:43
Benda didn't come on till like late in the fifth match of the
22:46
season. 106 shots from Chewinga, that's first in the league. 58
22:50
shots on target, that's first in the league.
22:53
Shots on target percentage is 54.7.
22:56
That's good for 8th in the league.
22:57
She had 192 progressive passes received.
23:01
Also good for first in the league because why the hell
23:04
wouldn't you just progressive pass send the Hail Marys down
23:07
there and let her run on to him. Like you mentioned earlier, she
23:10
she was a game breaker from the second she stepped on the pitch
23:14
in the first match and had the Kansas City current pretty much
23:17
threatening to win the league until that three-game swoon that
23:22
they lost three in a row. But it felt like Kansas City was
23:25
threatening for the league pretty much until that home loss
23:28
to your Orlando Pride, which I do want to shout what I think
23:31
one of the moments of the year as well.
23:32
I can picture Marta just screaming after they win that
23:36
match that, you know, they were down a player because there was
23:38
a red card for the Pride in that match.
23:40
That was absolutely one of the flash ball moments of the season
23:44
for me. But going back to it, I think
23:46
Chiwenga, I think he got to give her the MVP.
23:49
It's funny when you say, oh, this person look at the MVP and
23:51
you know it's not even close. Well, I think what one thing we
23:54
can say is the gulf between 2nd and 3rd.
23:57
That's not even close because these two players are are miles
24:01
ahead and have been available for the most part all year long
24:06
and and have delivered pretty much week in week out.
24:08
So much Wingo. One more stat here.
24:10
Second in the league and shot creating actions with 96 behind
24:15
the GOAT. Marta 98 shot crazy actions.
24:18
Let's fucking go. Another Marta moment, obviously
24:21
when she sinks the penalty against the Spirit in the
24:24
clincher to put them up one nil. Another signature trademark
24:29
Marta roar for the ages. That's definitely on on my
24:32
moments of the year list for sure.
24:34
It's got to be the greatest player, whoever lived.
24:36
Let's go. All right, let's go ahead.
24:38
The two versus 7. Washington Spirit hosting the
24:42
team that nobody thought would make the playoffs.
24:44
Not a single pundit out there. Damn it, nobody would.
24:48
Nobody with the microphone guts, Not a single person had this Bay
24:53
FC team in the playoffs except for my guy for a couple minutes
24:57
and before he, you know, dropped the card to reverse and, you
25:00
know, damn it, scooted back out the other way.
25:02
Terrible Washington Spirit Bay FC.
25:05
But oh, actually, did you make a prediction?
25:07
Current Courage. Oh yeah, I think you took 2 to
25:10
one current. I want to do.
25:12
I want to do the same because I I just believe the courage are
25:15
capable of keeping matches close.
25:16
I like it OK. Spirit Bay FC might have a
25:19
surprise or two for you on this one, but what are you going to
25:21
be looking for when these two teams lock up?
25:23
The Spirit are threatening to win the NWSL championship.
25:26
I don't think there's any doubt about that.
25:28
You already know what time it is.
25:29
With Trinity Rodman, Ashley Hatch, Hal Hirschfeld, Casey
25:32
Krueger, Gabby Carl, Lacy Santos, Tara Mickey Own, who
25:36
also played 2340 minutes. She made the Iron Iron Woman
25:39
list. Let's go.
25:40
McKenna Morris has three goals and one assist in her last three
25:44
appearances. She's coming on very nicely.
25:46
Ole SAR was still listed as out with a back injury in the club's
25:50
final regular season match. But they just have so much
25:54
firepower that I think everybody has to be concerned with them
25:58
winning the league. Not to mention they have Yonatin
26:00
Gerald as as their as their manager.
26:02
So it's going to be a real uphill battle for Bay FC, but
26:06
credit to them because they have figured out a lot of things in
26:09
the back half of this season. I think this one is going to be
26:12
a little closer than expected. But yeah, just to stick with the
26:14
spirit side. You mentioned HIDAL does.
26:16
He was quoted as saying that SAR has been experiencing some ups
26:19
and downs on the road to recovery, so we'll see what that
26:23
means. Rosamund Kwasi also involved in
26:25
the Ludmila TIF is will be serving her second of two
26:30
matches that she'll be suspended for.
26:32
So that's going to hurt a little bit.
26:34
Obviously SAR, I'm not sure we're expecting her back.
26:36
Ashley Hatch, who you mentioned, I think has been pretty huge,
26:39
really stepping in 1400 plus minutes played, five goals, 2
26:43
assists. Since re entering the starting
26:45
lineup 8 matches ago, the Spirit are six wins, 2 losses over that
26:48
stretch. But the Spirit haven't quite
26:51
delivered against the big dog. So the two losses in that
26:54
stretch at the current, they lost three nil at the Pride,
26:57
lost two nil. You could look at the other side
27:00
of the coin and say, OK, well, this team won 18 matches, which
27:03
matched the Orlando Pride. So I think, yeah, I I totally
27:06
agree with you. I think the talent on that spear
27:08
side is there. The coach is also probably an
27:11
area where they've got an advantage.
27:13
It'll just be about going out in the field and actually like
27:15
putting it into practice. Yeah, I, I mean, it's, it's hard
27:18
to say, you know, that you don't have a coaching advantage versus
27:21
anybody really with it all does and what we know about him and
27:24
that just the way we've kind of seen the team style of play.
27:27
I will say you got to give a lot of credit to Albertine Montoya
27:30
kind of taking an expansion side, having a real rough go of
27:33
it early. Mushwala wasn't really scoring,
27:36
Kundanagi wasn't scoring early. They were conceding goals left
27:40
and right. But they've really kind of
27:41
started to to turn that around. And I'll say just quick side
27:44
note, Rachel Kundanagi is playing with confidence right
27:48
now. She looks absolutely great.
27:50
She looks like she can do whatever she wants on the pitch
27:52
right now. And she bagged a brace versus
27:55
Houston in that, in that final 32 win at Houston.
27:58
I mean, she just looked stress free out there just doing
28:00
whatever she wanted, getting past defenders.
28:02
But I want to, I want to give a shout to Abby Doll Camper, who
28:05
who we talked about when Bay FC acquired her.
28:08
So they acquired Doll Camper on August 26th.
28:11
At that point, Bay FC was six wins, 0 draws, 10 losses.
28:15
Since then, five wins, one draw, 3 losses.
28:19
You know, I don't know if if Dull Kemper completely fixed
28:23
everything about the defense, but she apparently taught them
28:26
that you're also allowed to at least draw one match while while
28:30
you're playing football. To the point about the defense,
28:32
this squad has only allowed more than one goal twice since August
28:37
30th. That's a span of nine matches.
28:40
By contrast, opponents put up crooked numbers versus Bay FC 10
28:45
times in the 1st 17 matches of the season, so they've really
28:49
been able to tighten some things up.
28:51
I'd like to think Montoya probably deserves some of that
28:53
credit. Obviously you bring in Doll
28:55
Kemper, the team just starts to gel a little bit more.
28:57
But even with an improved defense, it's a tall, tall, tall
29:02
task to stop Trinity Rodman and Ashley Hatch.
29:05
Well my friend, I'm going to be the guy that predicts that they
29:07
get it done. Are you kidding?
29:09
Give me Bay FC 2 to one. My God over the Washington
29:13
spirit. Let me tell you why.
29:17
I think a tall task like you mentioned, but all you have to
29:22
do is rewind back to last year. Obviously a different season,
29:24
different circumstances. The one seed and the two seed in
29:27
last year's tournament bounced in the semifinals.
29:29
We got the six seed Gotham FC versus the fourth seed, you
29:34
know, formerly the OL Reign, now currently the Seattle Reign, of
29:37
course. So I do think anything can
29:39
happen. And this BFC side, you know, you
29:41
mentioned two wins, 7 losses to start the season.
29:44
Since then, nine wins, 7 losses and a draw.
29:48
That pace roughly works out to 1.6 ish points per match.
29:53
That would have been good for 5th place if they were able to
29:55
play that style of football all year long.
29:59
And that's that's that's no small sample size.
30:01
That's seventeen matches that they're playing 5th place
30:03
football. They would have been three
30:04
points clear of the courage 42 versus 39.
30:07
I love the doll camper point had that in my notes for sure.
30:10
And I just don't think, you know, we, we spent a lot of time
30:13
early in the season kind of inventing the slow start from
30:16
Rachel Quintinagi, obviously, copper queen, Zambian legend.
30:19
We were super pumped. Couldn't wait to see her huge
30:22
transfer fee. And it took her a minute to get
30:24
cooking. I just don't feel like she's
30:25
ready to go home just yet. Oh my God, I love this.
30:28
And you know what? I realize you have me a little
30:31
concerned because I am. I'm picking a lot of chalk in
30:33
these matches. And, you know, we've watched
30:35
enough sports to know that's just not how it goes.
30:39
Yeah, a lot of betting podcasts out there will tell you that's
30:42
not how it goes. Yeah, we should try to find some
30:45
of those. All right, give me a pick.
30:49
Bay FC Washington Spirit, who are you taking?
30:51
I'm not going to bet against Trinity Rodman, though, just
30:54
just to let you know I I, I love where your head's at.
30:57
I will say that will be the final twist of the knife in me
31:02
abandoning Bay FC. When I said just just for
31:06
anybody who has didn't catch it, we're on the great podcast loud
31:10
and proud. Orlando and I had picked like
31:13
early. I was like, I think, I still
31:15
think BFC could do it. And then I was a big old coward
31:17
and I ran away from it. I'm going to keep on harping on
31:20
this because I knew I shouldn't have done it.
31:22
But I just think the Spirit have too many good players.
31:26
You know, maybe Lacey Santos comes on and to play the
31:29
second-half or comes on to play the last 30.
31:31
I just think that they'll get it done.
31:33
Let's make it a barn burner. 3:00 to 2:00.
31:37
Washington Spirit. I like it.
31:38
Because then I get to actually be up two to one at some point.
31:41
Yep. I'm feeling good about my
31:43
prediction. Then you're going to come over
31:44
the top and nail your prediction.
31:46
I love that and I'm glad you mentioned the guys from that in
31:48
part of Orlando. That brings me to one of my off
31:50
the pitch moments of the year. How about the production value
31:53
2024, Amazon, ESPN, Paramount Plus, ION, NWSL Plus, CBSABCA,
32:01
plethora of options to be able to watch all these NWSL games
32:04
and then the pods as well. You mentioned the women's
32:06
football fall show, loud and proud shout out to those guys,
32:09
shades of Blue who we rocked with busy watching women's
32:12
soccer brighter. You already know Samantha Lewis.
32:14
She's got her podcast, our guy Peter Vice, expected own goals
32:18
who have gotten into pretty recently, even though I'm more
32:21
of a real G guy than an XG guy. But a lot of great insight on
32:25
that show as well. The production value and just
32:28
the general raising of the water level around the media, the
32:32
coverage, the discourse. That's been one of my moments of
32:34
the year, just seeing the step up 20. 24 I love it.
32:38
Can't forget Vavel and they're in hand still.
32:41
Let's football coverage with obviously the legend Lebanon's
32:44
number 10, a CO2 Filey heading that coverage as the editor for
32:48
women's football. Yeah, that's a great call.
32:51
Is that a bunch of people coming together to basically form like
32:54
Voltron to make sure that we don't have a bunch of crappy,
32:58
terrible sports shows with two people just screaming at each
33:01
other and we can actually talk about the ball and enjoy
33:04
ourselves while we do it? Hell yeah.
33:06
All right, let's get back to each other.
33:07
Of course. All right, so we made our
33:09
predictions. One more match on the docket.
33:11
Gotham FC, the defending Cup Champs Cup holders.
33:15
The defending NWSL champions. I don't, I don't want anybody
33:19
to, to yell at us. Yell at us.
33:20
I think you may have referred to it as a cup once or twice.
33:23
I don't know if people will yell, but you know what?
33:25
We could be somewhat European football snobs and call this
33:29
tournament a cup. No, we could live with that in
33:30
the cup holders. It sounds like something that's
33:32
in my Subaru right now. They got a couple of those.
33:35
Gotham FC, Portland Thorns, Sunday, 3:00 PM Eastern.
33:39
This one closes out the weekend. A lot of pedigree on both sides.
33:43
Player for player might be the most talent on the pitch in any
33:46
of these quarterfinal matchups when you kind of stack up these
33:49
rosters against each other. Yeah, I think we might see
33:51
fireworks in this one as well. What are you going to be looking
33:53
out for? Oh, Nelly.
33:55
Lookout for those bats. In their last four league
33:58
matches, they have a goal differential of plus 1114 goals
34:02
for three against. They dominated the Utah Royals
34:05
in their final match of the season.
34:07
They kind of beat up on your Orlando Pride 31 a few weeks
34:10
ago. Esther's brace in the regular
34:12
season finale got her to nine goals on the season.
34:15
Rose Lavelle had seven goals. Ellis Stevens had seven goals.
34:17
Yasmine Ryan had five. Lynn Williams had four.
34:20
How do you want it? They might give you goals from
34:22
any direction at any time. It's so interesting because you
34:25
look at any of the top offensive categories and it's like you're
34:28
going to see chewing, you're going to see Benda, you're going
34:30
to see some of the other sort of familiar names, Trini, Rodman,
34:33
Sophie Smith. And then it just feels like
34:35
Gotham FC players are sprinkled throughout pretty much every
34:38
offensive category, whether it's Ellis Stevens like you
34:40
mentioned, Yasmine, Ryan Astaire, she came on late.
34:44
We talked a lot about championship DNA.
34:46
You know, obviously this this team is going to come into any
34:49
match in this tournament with the confidence that they can
34:52
walk out of there with a win if they play up to their potential.
34:55
And then you have to consider the Jess Carter effect.
34:58
Super solid, super disciplined, and they've just played better.
35:01
They've played more cohesive. Things look a little calmer in
35:04
the back, and it's hard to kind of detangle, you know, the Jess
35:07
Carter effect from from how Gotham has looked down the
35:10
stretch here. So I think they might be a team
35:12
that's kind of peeking at the right time.
35:14
Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised. I think if you have Portland
35:16
Thorns, you know, you got to travel to New York to play this
35:19
match and things haven't been going super great.
35:22
And your last five, your two wins, 0 draws, 3 losses, with
35:25
one of those being that two nil victory to end Orlando Pride
35:28
streak though, so you got some good feelings there.
35:31
I expect this to be a banger with the NWSL Championship.
35:34
There's verse a proud and historic franchise with several
35:38
great players. I actually think that this one
35:40
has a broader range of outcomes though that I would normally
35:44
expect with two teams with these kind of statistical profiles.
35:48
I agree with. That I think it's it's on the
35:49
board. Obviously, I think the most
35:51
likely outcome is a close win probably for Gotham, but I think
35:56
a close win for Portland is right out there.
35:58
But I could just see something weird happening to to where
36:02
either one of these teams could end up winning three to one.
36:05
Like if Sophia Smith gets a brace, maybe like Inna Sujita
36:08
adds a goal or like Jesse Fleming has a sick pass and
36:12
Christine Sinclair like pops one in.
36:14
Like I'm not going to be surprised if they if they find a
36:17
way to beat the best 3 to one. This one might for me have the
36:20
most intrigue of the weekend. I like that.
36:23
I mean, I'm in total agreement with you with regard to the
36:26
range of outcomes because we could get a Sophie Smith game,
36:30
You know, we could get Christine Sinclair.
36:32
Yeah. I mean, like, she scored in her
36:34
in her in her final matchup against Angel City, which I was
36:38
actually shocked how much success Angel City was having
36:41
kind of coming back the other way.
36:42
Yeah. So I think Portland is going to
36:44
be a little shaky. They're going to give up
36:46
opportunities for sure, but they could be explosive.
36:49
The midfield is solid. Like you mentioned Jesse
36:51
Fleming, you know, she's always capable of, you know, connecting
36:53
something huge. Sophie Smith had a goal wiped
36:56
off against Angel City. That was, like, pretty
36:58
ludicrous. This is funny because.
37:00
Looks like looks very much like a goal.
37:03
Very much like a goal, but actually when you were watching,
37:05
I was watching the telecast and the angle that they showed on
37:08
Twitter, which was the proper angle basically like with proper
37:12
perspective, was not the one that they were running on VAR on
37:14
the telecast. Like they were running run from
37:16
like a corner camera where it was a lot more more in doubt.
37:20
But yeah, I totally agree with you.
37:21
I think I think Portland could could make this one really
37:24
interesting. I wouldn't be, I wouldn't lose
37:26
my mind if they won this match and it would set up maybe a
37:30
funny outcome where Christine Sinclair had like the big to do
37:33
for a final home game, but if it ends up being Portland Bay FC,
37:37
she'll get another home game. Oh, wow, yeah, that's true.
37:40
Well, I could definitely, I could.
37:41
I think I could see that happening.
37:43
Two big upsets like that would be pretty wild.
37:46
But you know what? I'm going to do the thing.
37:48
I listened back to our NWSL season preview episode and I
37:53
picked to win the NWSL championship, those Portland
37:57
Thorns. And you know what?
37:58
I've learned my lesson with the Bay FC disaster of me being a
38:01
huge coward back away from them. So Portland Thorns 2, Gotham FC
38:07
one, they find a way to do it. I think if it happens, you got
38:11
to give me at least one Sophie Smith goal.
38:13
But put me on the board for two Sophie Smith goals and they win
38:17
the match. I love that.
38:18
That's a great pick. That's a great upset pick for
38:20
sure. Because you know, they've got
38:22
they've got the firepower. It kind of reminds me of the the
38:25
NCAA tournament scenario where one team's got the best player
38:28
in the pitch and they're going up against the bigger, higher
38:32
seeded, more talented team and it just becomes a right, let's
38:35
see, let's see what side of the line this one falls on.
38:38
So I really, really love the pick.
38:40
I think I'm going to go. I've got a couple 2 ones on the
38:43
board already. Give me, give me one NIL Gotham.
38:46
All right, I can see it. Absolutely like good
38:50
goalkeeping, maybe a little bit more of a nervy game, you know,
38:53
less chances that you'd imagine and then Gotham with a
38:56
professional one nil victory to to advance out of the quarters
39:00
here. I love it.
39:01
I think it's definitely strong on the on the range of outcomes.
39:06
I do want to point out, I think we we've passed the match that
39:10
relates to it. Did you give out your Rookie of
39:12
the Year yet? Oh, I did not.
39:14
Neither did I. Do you want to do the honors
39:16
first or shall I? What are?
39:18
What are you make it happen? I appreciate that.
39:21
It's Kroy Bethune, everybody. She has to be the rookie of the
39:23
year. She appeared in 17 matches.
39:26
She started 16 of them. She had 10 assists.
39:29
That's still first in the league.
39:31
She hasn't appeared in months third in the league in goals
39:35
plus assists per 90 again, she hasn't played for months.
39:41
She's first in the league still in through balls and she's first
39:45
in the league in goal creating actions, which I referenced
39:48
earlier with 18. She was one of the most talented
39:52
players on the pitch every single match she played and she
39:56
was a rookie. I think she is the future of
39:59
Gerald as his system and his winning machine.
40:02
That's. Going to be there in Washington
40:04
in two to three years. She'll be the best midfielder in
40:07
the NWSLI think she'll be in contention in that time for the
40:11
best American midfielder. And I think that then puts her
40:15
in contention for one of the best midfielders in the world,
40:19
which also by degrees puts her in contention as possibly one of
40:23
the best players in the world within three years, I mean.
40:27
That that if you walk back to that prediction, I'm going to be
40:31
very upset. That's a great partition.
40:33
I love it. All the stock.
40:35
And then when you look at her coach Jonathan Heraldes, I don't
40:38
know, does he have any experience taking a a gifted
40:41
midfielder and, you know, at least being in a support role
40:46
while that's while while said midfielder ascends to maybe the
40:50
best player in the world, I don't know, I kind of feel like
40:52
I've heard that story before. Yeah, I think he's just the man
40:55
for the job. And I, I want to point out
40:57
Trinity Rodman in her Rookie of the Year campaign in 20/21.
41:01
She she had six goals and five assists.
41:03
Cory Bethune had five goals and 10 assists in her Rookie of the
41:06
Year campaign. He, they, you know, they do very
41:09
different things on the pitch. But I mean, we're talking about
41:12
a rare player with a rare level of vision.
41:15
I'll never walk back this take. You know, we're, we were like
41:19
two months into her career and I was comparing her style of play
41:22
to Lionel Messi at that point. I believe in it, man, and I'm
41:25
not walking it back. Leo Messi meets Steve MVP,
41:29
You're Steve Nash. I think.
41:30
Go like that. The other thing about Bethune
41:32
real quick big moments delivery big moments like flipped games,
41:36
like one games. These were high leverage moments
41:40
that changed outcomes. And you know, as mentioned, the
41:42
spirit side able to rack up eighteen wins out of 26.
41:46
Curry Bethune incredible contribution to that number.
41:49
So no arguments here whatsoever. I'm glad you got to deliver it.
41:53
I wanted to deliver the assist, let you smash it home.
41:57
Announce our our our Rookie of the Year as a show in the spirit
42:00
of Curry Bethune. Well, soon.
42:01
You already know what time it is.
42:03
I think we covered quite a bit of ground.
42:05
Anything else you want to hit before we get out of here?
42:07
Speaking of her big moments, I think she had three goals in
42:10
stoppage time, 3 winners in stoppage time.
42:12
I think that's some kind of real SL record.
42:14
If I remember correctly. May 1st, the Spirits 4 to win
42:18
over Chicago Red Stars. Craig Bethune had three assists.
42:21
I think she's one of five end of the USL players in history to do
42:24
that. Yeah, I can't say enough about
42:26
her vision and the way she plays.
42:28
I'm going to do one more quick one because I would be very if I
42:31
did not mention this. On August 2nd, Kristen Press
42:34
returned to football, returned to the pitch to play for Angel
42:38
City FC. Just a great moment for a World
42:41
Cup hero, a great contributor to just the game in general.
42:46
Wonderful moment to watch. And I think, you know, Kristen
42:48
Press and her return to playing football, the perseverance, the
42:53
toughness that she showed to see that pay off for her on that
42:57
August 2nd night, Very, very cool to watch.
43:00
Absolutely. Yeah.
43:01
Christine Sinclair also, we mentioned caps off a great
43:04
career. Just a ton of great moments this
43:06
year. It's kind of got me a little
43:07
bummed out where they were kind of nearing the end, but we'll be
43:10
right back here in a couple months.
43:12
All right, man, I think we did it.
43:14
Just another episode into the channel.
43:15
Sincere thank you. Thank you.
43:16
Thank you for watching, listening, following, liking,
43:18
subscribing, just plain hanging out with your boys.
43:21
Actually, quick programming reminder, we'll be back later
43:24
this week. Champions League preview that
43:26
might drop over the weekend or early next week.
43:29
We're going to take another look at match day three, three match
43:31
day 4. This is where the tournament
43:33
gets real heated and a ton of fun.
43:37
And then we will be back next week to recap the NWSL
43:41
quarterfinals action, preview those semifinal matchups a ton
43:45
to get excited about. We hope that you continue to
43:48
rock with us. Remember to like if you liked
43:50
and subscribe or follow into the channel, YouTube, Spotify, Apple
43:53
podcast, wherever you like to watch or listen.
43:55
Leave us a review over your favorite podcast app, links to
43:58
all of our socials, the show notes of this episode, and a big
44:00
thing to my coast as well. Mr. Grant Angle for being rookie
44:04
of the year, defender of the year, my MVP.
44:08
You already know what time it is.
44:10
ITC not possible without my guy. I appreciate you bro.
44:13
Likewise, buddy, I mean, I, I can't possibly have all those
44:16
awards. I mean, you're definitely coach
44:17
of the year. I think that goes without saying
44:19
in the producer role, host role, maybe Co MVPS.
44:23
I'm not sure how we can do this. But either way, let's just start
44:26
calling ourselves an award-winning podcast.
44:28
I don't even know what what awards podcast can win, but we
44:31
might as well just start calling ourselves that.
44:33
Who cares? Coach of the year, There you go.
44:36
It's right there. Congrats, Coach.