Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / LIVE POSTGAME! USWNT v JAPAN | 2025 SheBelieves Cup FINAL 🏆

Transcript

LIVE POSTGAME! USWNT v JAPAN | 2025 SheBelieves Cup FINAL 🏆 · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:05
OK. Welcome to Into the Channel
0:11
podcast primarily about 1 football.
0:13
I'm your host Dean of Desespres and as always I enjoyed by my Co
0:17
host Mr. Grant Angle. What's up, man?
0:22
I'm feeling all right, my good man.
0:25
I mean, that was a that was a good game of football.
0:30
Jess Park scored in the 33rd minute for England to defeat
0:33
Spain today. So, you know, we're feeling
0:35
good. But yeah, you know, a lot to
0:39
talk about from that USA, Japan game.
0:41
What do you say? I say, well, before we get
0:44
started, I heard that you have a French bulldog.
0:48
Tell me about your No, I'm just kidding.
0:52
That was a tough one. That was a tough watch.
0:54
I mean, sort of agonizing last 3540 minutes, as you know, you
1:00
really start to kind of figure out that it just wasn't it
1:04
wasn't going to be today that the US women's national team
1:08
brought home. I guess they're seventh
1:09
straight, She believes. Cup lot of places where we can
1:12
get started. I've definitely got some
1:15
thoughts, got some feels. Any any place that in particular
1:21
that you want to get the ball rolling, No pun intended.
1:24
We, I mean, we did a lot of line up talk in the preview.
1:28
I, I have not checked, you know, Wosso blue sky right now.
1:33
I didn't I didn't even look at it at all during the match.
1:37
If I had to guess, there's probably quite a bit of line up
1:41
talk happening in the Wosso community, especially in the US
1:44
women's national team fan community.
1:46
I know you had some thoughts. Let's I will pitch it to you,
1:50
but obviously sometimes you need a brewski to soften the blow.
1:56
Love it. Got it.
1:59
Got to soften it. Cheers.
2:00
Cheers to the cheers to you. Yeah.
2:02
Cheers to Japan. Congrats to Japan.
2:05
Great, Great tournament. Great run.
2:07
Undefeated, never lost and well deserved.
2:10
They earned it. They earned that trophy.
2:12
Or that cup. Absolutely no Momoko Tanakawa,
2:17
it didn't either. What was it and what was
2:19
essentially the final? That's that's pretty, that's
2:22
pretty wild. But we should probably talk USA
2:24
lineup, I think. Yeah, yeah.
2:26
I mean, my main take away here, I kind of feel like this was
2:32
Emma Hayes's worst performance as you have some sashes team
2:36
coach by a good bit. You know, the to start the game.
2:41
I thought Crystal Dunn got off to like a really shaky start.
2:44
Wasn't surprised to see her get taken off at halftime.
2:48
And then when I saw Shaw kind of warming up, getting ready to
2:51
come in, I'm like, OK, Shaw's got to be coming in for Heaps
2:53
here, right? Heaps has been totally
2:55
ineffective. A couple, you know, dribblers
2:58
that were that were just light work for Yamashita in that
3:01
Japanese defense, just completely ineffective.
3:05
You know, no, no knock on her and her, you know, her resume
3:08
and everything she's accomplished in this one
3:11
couldn't get anything going at all.
3:14
So I was actually really surprised to see Ali Sentinor
3:17
come off. And then when you see the game
3:22
kind of take its shape in the second-half, you realize that a
3:25
lot of the US food social team, big guns are are going to be
3:28
sitting on the bench for the last 3540 minutes of this one.
3:32
Just the way the the the substitutions shook out.
3:35
So I, I'm, I'm really interested to hear what, what, how, what
3:40
was your reaction in real time to kind of like the, the Subs
3:42
and the, the line up and, you know, it, it felt like it got
3:45
off to a rocky start and then it got, just got rockier.
3:48
Yeah, I think your spot on was Sentinor.
3:51
I think it was Melissa Ortiz on the From the Sideline report
3:56
saying that she had asked Emma Hayes about the substitutions
3:59
and Hayes said that Sentinor and Don both looked a little
4:04
fatigued out there. I didn't, you know, obviously
4:08
Emma Hayes knows these players a trillion times better than we
4:11
ever could. It didn't look like Centenor
4:13
looked fatigued in the first half from my eye, but you know,
4:16
I, the camera wasn't always focused on her, etcetera,
4:19
etcetera. She may have told Hayes that she
4:21
was tired after the first half. You never know what was going
4:24
on. On balance, over the course of
4:27
these three matches, the two best players for USA were Ali
4:32
Centenor and Kat Macario. But is that fair to say?
4:37
I think so. I mean, I think, I think
4:39
Johannes got off to a really good start in this one too.
4:42
She was like sort of like the US Mrs. Nash team pressure release
4:45
valve to start. Like I think when things were
4:48
scrambling a little bit, I mean, Japan shot out of a cannon in
4:51
this one. I I think we can't really
4:53
overlook the fact that the first goal happens 2 minutes into the
4:56
first half. The second goal happens 5
4:58
minutes into the second-half. I mean, these players are
5:01
barely, you know, kind of broken a sweat.
5:03
And I think Japan pretty much by probably by design wanted to
5:08
attack the US defense in that way.
5:10
But Centnor, she she she got the the half time interview
5:15
treatment coming off the pitch, didn't look that tired.
5:17
She looked extremely jovial, really happy to have scored that
5:20
goal. Crystal Dunn, on the other hand,
5:23
put in the blender a few different times in that first
5:25
half. I think that that sub had to
5:28
happen and honestly, bro, I'm still in shock that Lindsay Heap
5:32
played the whole 90 plus. I'm, I'm literally in shock.
5:35
I, I cannot believe it. You look at the Corbin Albert
5:38
substitution. It didn't do a single positive
5:42
thing until she was into the game.
5:43
Like, I don't know, maybe like 17 or 18 minutes until she
5:47
actually moved the ball in the right direction to, to, to an
5:50
actual other player on the US international team.
5:54
I, I, I thought the, the Subs, I mean it, it was, I don't want to
5:59
be hyperbolic, borderline disastrous for me.
6:03
Yeah, it definitely didn't look good.
6:05
The Subs didn't make a a giant difference.
6:07
I thought Jaden Shaw, you know, was out there doing some good
6:10
things using your physicality pretty well.
6:13
Our pal P in the chat points out something that I wanted two
6:18
things that I wanted to point out newly minted ITC Hall of
6:23
Famer Emily Sonnet. Sorry for jinxing you, pal.
6:26
Like because she did not play well in this one.
6:29
You know, she, she runs into Jane Campbell to kind of help
6:31
create that first goal. So not a not a great performance
6:35
from Sonnet. You're right about heaps.
6:37
And the and the thing our our pal P points out in the chat is
6:42
Lindsay heaps for for a number 10 is just so randomly offside
6:47
so often that I just don't know. Like there's sometimes when it
6:52
happens, I'm just like, why are you there?
6:54
Why are you in that in that position?
6:56
It's just it's very bizarre sometimes.
6:58
And so it you know, I I Mickey own didn't play well either.
7:03
I was surprised when I saw the lineup come out that that Hayes
7:08
went with the Mickey own Sonnet center back duo.
7:12
I would have started Sonnet though, to be to be clear, like
7:15
I she was in my starting 11 when we did the preview.
7:18
I just didn't didn't expect her to play so poorly today.
7:22
Yeah, rough look. And then Tina Davidson comes
7:25
into the game immediately, looks miles better, is affecting the
7:29
game on defense and a little bit on offense, too.
7:32
That was very cool to see. Yeah, he's definitely chiming in
7:36
here. Totally agree with the with the
7:38
the notion of letting some of the vets go.
7:40
As mentioned, Don I think had a hard time heaps as well.
7:44
Sonnet I think got got a little bit more involved late in the
7:48
match, I think when when their backs were against the wall, but
7:50
obviously the game had taken a different shape by then.
7:54
I want to talk a little bit about the opening goal and who I
7:58
thought was the best player on the pitch.
8:00
So Yui Hasegawa, I guess involved in both goals, if you
8:04
really think about it. But the first one, a super basic
8:08
throwing. We, we mentioned very early in
8:10
the match, the throwing comes in, there's sort of four or five
8:15
players like in in UE's orbit. Nobody steps up.
8:19
I mean, she's got she can. And we've talked about the
8:22
constant motion, like the tidal wave of motion that is, you
8:26
know, that Japan offense, if you give them that kind of time and
8:30
you're just kind of standing, watching, like there are just
8:33
things happening around you, behind you that you've got no
8:35
idea. And that that's basically what
8:37
created the goal UE for me, player of the match.
8:40
But that kind of start, like I feel like that just kind of set
8:45
a terrible tone for this one. Yeah, I I would agree with you.
8:51
I think Yuiyasagawa was the best player on the pitch.
8:53
You mentioned that like it seemed like Johannes for the USA
8:57
side was kind of the the release valve.
9:01
You have two of those for Japan between Kumagai and Hasegawa and
9:05
Hasegawa. Just multiple times I was just
9:07
kept putting in my notes. Hasegawa resets, you know, takes
9:11
control of the ball, makes like 2 moves to just kind of like
9:14
lose a defender and then just kind of start.
9:17
And like you're saying when you get into that 50 + 60 plus and
9:20
you have a, you have a one goal lead and your opponent is
9:22
frustrated. And then Asagawa was just kind
9:24
of moving the ball throughout the middle of the field and
9:27
then, you know, passing it through the back line.
9:29
She she dominated the game in in a way that is like not like
9:35
physically dominating the game, but just like out out
9:38
maneuvering everybody out there. Incredibly impressive
9:41
performance player. Totally.
9:43
Yeah, she was awesome. Very sharp passing on point.
9:46
Yeah, those little movements, those turns, those little half
9:49
spins made it impossible. I mean, she left.
9:53
She left a couple defenders in the dust, a few, a few different
9:56
times. And then coming out of halftime,
9:59
the free kick, that was the placement on it.
10:03
Incredible. I think when the ball's flying
10:05
through the air, I'm like, oh, that's a goal.
10:06
Shout out to Jane Campbell, though.
10:08
World class save. I mean, full extension
10:12
elevation, you know, gets good contact on it.
10:16
But then there you go, Fox, Yasmine Ryan kind of fall
10:18
asleep. Let me get this name right.
10:22
Toko. Toko Koga.
10:25
Yeah, yeah. You know, just kind of sprints
10:28
on to it. You know, first one to the ball
10:31
really kind of didn't have a ton of business being first to the
10:34
ball 'cause I think she she started off from a really deep
10:36
position. But just, you know, cut, cut the
10:38
defense sleeping and then a pretty routine put back for Koga
10:44
on that one to put them up to one.
10:46
And then at that point, you know, Hayes had made the second
10:52
wave of substitutions, but Sentinor's already off.
10:56
Jenna Nicewanger has already come in for Crystal Dunn.
10:58
And then 7-8. What?
11:00
What is that? Yeah. 7-8 minutes later, Hayes
11:03
takes out Johannes, Yasmine Ryan, Cat Macario to be replaced
11:09
by Alyssa Thompson, Lynn Biendolo and Corbin Albert.
11:13
I mean, I think taking, you know, I don't know, a ton of
11:18
bite from the offense, you know, and like really putting putting
11:22
the offense in a tough spot. The only bite they had from
11:24
there was Lindsay Heaps biting the top of Saki Kumagai's head
11:28
on that on that header where again she was offsides, yes.
11:32
Naturally, yeah, I think, I think I saw, I think I know what
11:39
Hayes was trying to do there. Like maybe you put Albert on and
11:42
and hope that she's going to head down charge at the goal.
11:45
You put Bian Dolo on to try to stretch the field and then try
11:49
to really like maybe play some long balls.
11:51
And then obviously Thompson has such a creative passer and is a
11:54
good long ball passer. Maybe send in some crosses.
11:57
I think that's what Hayes was going for there.
12:01
Shout out to Melanie in the chat.
12:02
Who is correct. It's the start of the cycle.
12:04
The team has potential for tremendous growth.
12:07
So I don't think we need to sound like too sullen on this
12:11
podcast. It is it is always fun to see,
12:14
you know, US women's national team social media, they're not
12:19
used to losing. So it's, it's kind of like, you
12:22
know, you remember the 2023 World Cup and kind of the, the
12:25
reaction to, to the way those matches played out, even matches
12:29
they, they won, people had reactions to two of those group
12:33
stage matches. But I, I think that, you know,
12:37
going back to those late substitutions, I, like I said, I
12:41
see what M Hayes was trying to do.
12:43
It did not work at all. I mean, Corbin, Albert, I'm not
12:51
sure. I mean, we talked about Claire
12:53
Hutton and and maybe like what Hutton looked like in that
12:57
second match against Australia, barring injury or load
13:01
management or something, you know, some of their physical,
13:05
you know, scenario. I have no idea why Albert's in
13:09
the game in that, in that spot. You know, I mean, I think she
13:11
can she can fire from distance, like if the conditions are
13:15
perfect and like, you know, everything kind of kind of works
13:18
out, but completely ineffective, you know, and I think there was
13:22
just too many players on the pitch at the same time that
13:26
couldn't get the chemistry right, couldn't get the decision
13:30
making right, were not accurate enough in their passing, in
13:33
their movement. And I mean, I definitely take
13:35
the point. I definitely take Melanie's
13:36
point. No need to really sound the
13:39
alarm in a big way. But that was a little troubling.
13:42
Like, I mean, you know, the the team, you know, kind of, you
13:46
know, a word I like to use in this kind of situation, a little
13:49
rudderless, sort of spinning in circles a little bit, not really
13:52
sure what to do. Give up two goals that I don't
13:57
want to say they're. I mean, those were those were
13:59
defendable goals. I'll say, you know, like, you
14:02
know, but as the first half wore on, I posted this on Blue sky
14:07
and threads. I would have been shocked, you
14:10
know, like just watching that first half, if the US was able
14:13
to hold Japan to just the one goal.
14:16
And then obviously they get the second one in the second-half.
14:19
And once those Subs kind of like take hold, there's really no
14:23
connector. You know, Johannes isn't in
14:25
there. Coffee's not quite that kind of
14:28
player. Heaps his off kilter, and then
14:31
it's a little bit imbalance. You got Alyssa Thompson, you
14:35
know, on one side, Shaw on the other.
14:37
Shaw, you know, kind of struggle a little bit.
14:38
She had one really good look. Put it right into Yamashita's
14:41
arms. I mean, yeah, I don't, I'm not.
14:48
I wouldn't criticize Emma Hayes the coach, but Emma Hayes, the
14:52
performance, the lineup today, definitely, definitely worthy of
14:56
some criticism. Yeah, I that's, I think that's
14:59
well said. That's, that's a good way to put
15:01
it. You know, managers have bad
15:03
games, players have bad games. You know, sometimes the, the
15:05
popcorn guy in the stands has a bad game, right.
15:08
Like, you know, you never you like you never know what's
15:10
what's going to happen over the course of 90 minutes.
15:14
Yeah, the fit of everything too just kind of looked wonky, which
15:18
again, like, you know, just with the the players available to
15:22
Hayes there you were going to get some of that.
15:26
I I'm with you though, and and not to just turn this into, you
15:30
know, trash some of the players hours.
15:33
I sorry trash some of the players hour, even though I
15:37
don't think we'll be on talking about this match for a full
15:39
hour. I just taking off Lily Johannes
15:43
for Corbin Albert. I just I don't see the value in
15:46
that. It's just especially there was
15:48
nothing from Albert's last performance to indicate that she
15:52
was ready to play in this match against the against the Japanese
15:55
side that is very clearly mostly in season and just firing on all
16:02
cylinders. It's just like Albert's not at
16:04
that level right now. Not.
16:05
Not anywhere near it, frankly. No, and I mean I think you know,
16:09
Albert's also a young player, you know, like not not super
16:12
duper experienced as well, even though she's she gets she's
16:15
played in big matches at PSG, played in a couple big matches
16:17
obviously for for the USA. I, I also posted something
16:20
during the first half with regard to the physicality
16:24
because I felt like from a technical standpoint, the US was
16:30
completely overmatched. You know, it is what it is like,
16:33
you know, that we, we didn't really have the right players.
16:34
We didn't have the right combinations to be able to keep
16:37
up technically. And what I posted was like, I
16:41
think it's time to maybe start thinking about how can we muck
16:43
this game up? How can we make it more
16:45
physical? How can we be a a little bit
16:48
bigger, stronger, tougher, you know, faster?
16:52
I think it may be a little bit of a draw there.
16:53
You know, both teams very kind of super athletic from that
16:56
standpoint. And the two players I mentioned
16:59
in my notes that started to play that way, Kat Macario, Yasmine
17:04
Ryan, those are the two that come off relatively early.
17:07
So you take your you take your players that are kind of like
17:10
trying to make make this a little bit more of a physical
17:13
tussle. You take them off.
17:14
You know, you you talked about Michelle Cooper last episode.
17:18
It's like, can we use some of that energy?
17:20
Emma Sears, I think has a little bit of that physical profile as
17:23
well. None of that we get, we get
17:26
Alyssa Thompson, Jaden Shaw, Lin Biendolo and yeah, the combos
17:32
were just way, way off. The physicality I think got
17:35
tempered from there. Like, you know, we, we got a
17:38
little softer, ended up making it easier for Japan to kind of
17:42
play their game, keep control of the match.
17:45
Yeah, totally. I, I'm, I'm glad you mentioned
17:48
Michelle Cooper because we we got about right before the three
17:52
Subs and I was just like maybe maybe Cooper comes in like just
17:56
to kind of to shake things up. You know, I, I would have liked
18:00
to see that. Let's let's see here.
18:02
Let me just make sure I'm keeping up here.
18:04
So darken. Shout out to Goldshan who said
18:10
what I was trying to say and it took me about 2 1/2 minutes to
18:12
say she she gets it done in three words.
18:14
KA adds nothing. There you go.
18:17
Yeah, I think that's about Yeah, I think that's about about what
18:21
happened there. Yeah.
18:22
Dart pointing out that Hasegawa was just on an on another level
18:26
tonight. Totally true.
18:28
Skin and Bones appreciate you rocking with us talking, just
18:31
talking about how it's an experimental roster we got.
18:35
We got a lot out of it. The you know, as much as you
18:37
could probably be expected, lots of new exposure.
18:40
I I the new exposure point skin and bones.
18:43
I love that because Terra Miccione, like I said, did not
18:48
play well. But here's the thing.
18:50
You can't you can't get experience and become good at
18:53
playing in important international games until you
18:57
play in some important international games.
18:59
So I, I, I take your point there, man, that, that I think,
19:03
you know, you got to get some exposure, you got to, you got to
19:06
play these type of matches before you get good at them.
19:10
And so, yeah, like they, OK, like you pointed out, they
19:13
didn't win their seventh in a row.
19:16
She believes cup. So that's a little bit of a
19:18
bummer. But, you know, looking at the
19:19
long game could, could eventually be a positive.
19:23
But you know, the Japanese side, they're walking away with the
19:26
trophy tonight. So they're looking at that as a
19:28
positive, as they should. Yeah, and they, they played
19:32
really well kind of end to end. I, I was really impressed with
19:35
them defensively too. Let me see.
19:39
Yeah, I think they take Kitigawa off really early as well.
19:46
It it was wild because you know, like they had, they had some,
19:49
some line up shuffling as well, you know, like I'm, I'm, I'm, I
19:53
was constantly on fat mob. I'm like, OK, who is this?
19:55
Who is this? Who's this, 'cause we went
19:56
through, you know, six or seven or maybe a little one or two
20:00
extra names of players to watch. And it felt like there was
20:04
another four or five players that we got introduced to in
20:06
this one that that were difference makers.
20:10
You know, obviously the goal scorer early, that one comes
20:13
from Yuko Mamiki from Leicester and the second goal comes from
20:20
yeah, Toko Ko Ko, who we mentioned.
20:23
I'll tell you Koga, I you know, obviously I am not I don't get a
20:27
chance to watch a lot of fan or matches good size.
20:31
I think she's only 19. She looks like a real player.
20:34
Yeah, she she looked good out there.
20:36
So I mean athletic. Absolutely, yeah, man, I mean to
20:41
so to add that with, to add that with kind of the speed and and
20:46
precision passing that Japan plays with is a nice mix.
20:50
And and so now let me just do quick mea culpa.
20:52
I, I talked in the preview episode where I said, yeah, Saki
20:57
Kumagai probably might. I don't expect her to be in the
21:00
lineup, you know, a little older, like in the advanced
21:05
stage of her career. Shut up, Grant, you're wrong.
21:09
It's it was a it was a cup final.
21:11
Of course Saki Kumagai is going to play.
21:13
And she was just hammering players out there like legally
21:17
and cleanly. Like you mentioned, she got bit
21:19
on the top of the skull by Lindsay Heaps as just a bloody
21:23
mess, like just outrageous toughness.
21:27
The only player on this squad that was part of that 2011 World
21:30
Cup champion team for Japan. So I mean, you know, Kumagai
21:34
just she was out there getting it done tonight.
21:37
Yeah, I mean, cool under pressure, good movement.
21:42
Usually kind of like when we see Kumagai struggle or or maybe be
21:45
a little bit limited, she's getting beat by more athletic
21:48
players. But the US attack was so basic
21:52
and so straightforward that I mean, totally played into
21:56
Japan's hands, made I, like I said, made it made it really
21:58
easy on them. And I think the turn, you know,
22:03
I mean, I I hate to kind of like make such a big deal about Lily
22:07
honest, but I think that really was the sub that kind of ended
22:12
it. You know, you and I connected
22:14
real briefly at halftime and and I I took the position I'm like,
22:19
OK, heaps has to come off the field, like not totally
22:23
ineffective, not posing any kind of threat distribution, not
22:28
really there. Why not put why not push
22:31
Johannes up the pitch a little bit?
22:33
You know, she's dealing, you know, she clearly has a cool
22:36
head about her. I mean, I think the part that
22:38
the sneaky part that I love about Lily's game is when the
22:41
ball's coming to her, she does the quick like, you know, 270°,
22:45
like look around and be like, I'm not going to get caught, you
22:48
know, napping. You know, you're not just going
22:49
to come, come swipe, swipe the ball off me without me noticing.
22:53
And then I think in that 270°, you know, getting her bearings,
22:58
she also figures out where she's going to go with the ball.
23:00
And I think that skill set would have probably maybe possibly
23:07
paid more dividends if you move it up the pitch and then sort of
23:10
slot something behind her. And then we talked about, you
23:15
know, maybe starting the game with Sonnet and Dunn potentially
23:19
on the bench so that you can bring them in and and, you know,
23:22
sort of plug them in somewhere. And I think if had you moved
23:25
Lily up and had one of those options to go to that, that
23:29
maybe could have worked, you know, in in a pinch, Claire
23:32
Hutton may be also available there.
23:34
But you start done, you start sonnet, you take, you know,
23:37
those those versatile players out of the equation, you know,
23:42
so I think and it's it is tough. The turnarounds are short.
23:46
Emma Hayes has to bounce minutes, you know, so like who
23:50
who plays in this match? Highly dependent on who played
23:53
against Australia, which was highly dependent on who played
23:56
against Colombia. So all of it's intertwined, you
23:59
know, everything's happening in real time.
24:01
But yeah, All in all, a pretty disappointing performance, I
24:03
would say. I.
24:05
Think so. And I and I think it was, it was
24:07
surprising. It was just surprising to see
24:09
Dunn not play well, Sonnet not play well, Heaps not play well.
24:14
I mean those, those are your 3 vets out there in, in the
24:18
starting 11 and to once that kind of takes a like a
24:25
frightening or an alarming term in the 1st or pardon me, once
24:29
that takes an alarming turn in the 1st 2 minutes, kind of
24:32
everybody's looking around like all right, everybody try to
24:35
settle down here and you know, they, they equalize relatively
24:38
quickly. Genius pass by Macario into
24:41
Sentinor, great first touch by Sentinor and then to tuck it
24:45
away. Like I feel like we haven't we
24:46
probably haven't talked enough about the Sentinor goal because
24:50
we're just too busy being sad that Sentinor got taken out at
24:54
halftime. But like that's the yeah, that's
24:57
the kind of stuff that that you want to see.
25:01
But again, I just think, I mean, this looked like a a Japanese
25:05
side that came to to like play its most of its top players
25:11
because yeah, we didn't see Mira, we didn't see Tanakao out
25:14
there, but they they were out there ready to to win the
25:17
trophy. Yeah.
25:18
And I think Speaking of the line UPS, we mentioned this on last
25:21
episode. UE plays I think the full 90
25:25
plus the first match sits out against Colombia super fresh for
25:30
this one and obviously was dominant.
25:33
But I do want to talk a little bit about maybe some bright
25:35
spots. You know, we've we've got a had
25:37
a somber 1st 25 minutes here. What did you see from from the
25:44
USA that maybe we can, you know, kind of get excited about?
25:48
I think something young players, you know, obviously notched that
25:51
experience, but anything else that you saw you say, hey, this
25:54
is something that I think we can we can build on even just from
25:57
this disappointing final. I mean, Yasmine Ryan, we talked
26:01
about her as a potential like big game player, as like a Team
26:05
USA player. I mean, I'm going to have to be
26:09
proven otherwise at this point. Like, I think that whatever the
26:13
forward room looks like at other at at at future, you know,
26:17
international windows, even with triple espresso when they when
26:21
they return, I feel like Sentinora and Yasmine Ryan,
26:24
they're they should be in the forward room now.
26:26
I mean, and and you know, again, we're early in the Michael and
26:31
Hayes is going to want to see more players.
26:33
Obviously we talked about, you know, Sears and Cooper look look
26:36
good in spots too. But man, Ryan, she pushes the
26:41
pace when she needs to. She swings the ball across field
26:44
when she needs to. She gets back on defense when
26:47
she needs to. She just she just is making a
26:49
lot of good decisions and she is she is helpful like on defense
26:54
or collecting the ball and getting it forward.
26:56
I just I think I walked away from this like obviously I, you
27:00
know, in my opinion, I think on balance Sentinor and Macario
27:03
played the best. I might be carve out a separate
27:07
category. I might be leaving most
27:09
impressed with Yasmine Ryan after these couple matches.
27:13
Yeah, I think I I got a note here. 12 minute.
27:18
OK, here, here's what I'm going to read a word for word heaps
27:21
with a tepid header after Yasmine Ryan's preposterous
27:24
cross field ball descent nor which was awesome.
27:26
I mean the ball traveled probably like 40-45 yards
27:29
through the air and then again ends with a with a nothing of a
27:32
header from a from the captain. Quick look at the chat sindray.
27:38
Absolutely guy to see SK broad back in Europe.
27:42
I, I should have worn my jersey but I don't know, maybe, maybe
27:46
well there'll be opportunities. And shout out to B who mentions
27:52
that Lindsay Heaps put puts another player in a head wrap in
27:55
a swim gap. Dude, shout out to you Sindre.
28:01
Thank you for joining, joining the proceedings.
28:04
For anybody who might not be aware Sindre one of the one of
28:07
the members of the Bronze Battalion.
28:08
Great club over in Norway, SK Bronze Champions League heroes
28:12
last year. Very excited to see them back in
28:15
the Champions League. Thanks for rocking with us.
28:17
Yeah, I just Speaking of players in Europe, though I I realize I
28:20
did not mention, you know, I think, well, I guess it goes
28:23
without saying, but Johannes on balance from from her time on
28:26
the field, you know, everything that's just locked in at this
28:30
point. Johannes makes every single
28:32
roster from here on out. Even if you are haze and you're
28:34
saying I'm experimenting, I'm seeing everybody I have in the
28:37
pool, Doesn't matter. She's 17.
28:39
She has to be on every single roster moving forward.
28:43
She just I mean for stretches looks like the best player that
28:46
we have, you know, and I think to start the match to go down
28:50
one nil after 2 minutes, after pretty much the entire pre game
28:55
conversation was how quick strike ability, you know, how
28:59
much quick strike ability Japan has, and we still find a way to
29:02
kind of give up a goal than the first 120 seconds.
29:06
The team turns to Johannes to kind of settle things down, you
29:09
know, connect passes, you know, hold possession just for a
29:13
minute so that we don't get beat back door again.
29:18
So not only, you know, I think this is her spot on the roster
29:21
kind of cemented, but I think for the foreseeable future she's
29:24
probably Sharpie right her in, you know, a couple other
29:29
players, Germa Triple Espresso Pius, I'm going to say there and
29:32
then slot in everybody else around, you know, those handful
29:36
of players. Yeah, no doubt.
29:38
I wouldn't mind just her being sharpened and starting 11 moving
29:42
forward. Obviously like you say, I mean
29:44
full cosign on that other, other positives.
29:50
You know what? Let me let me, Jane.
29:52
Campbell had a nice save that wasn't.
29:54
I mean, I'll remember that one. Let's talk about this.
29:57
So, so Jane Campbell had a nice save.
30:00
We don't have our we don't have our keeper yet, right?
30:03
USA doesn't doesn't know who the the keeper moving forward is.
30:08
Am I talking am I speaking out of school here?
30:11
But like I I know Mandy Hot from Utah Royals, she was on.
30:19
Mandy Mcglenn now congratulations on the nuptials.
30:22
There we go. OK, there it is.
30:26
Nicely done. Thank you for bringing that
30:28
back. I don't think I've I don't think
30:30
I've done that to a single player since we've been
30:33
recording. I think I've been on a super hot
30:35
streak of I know like Julie Foudy and Luke Wildman were like
30:41
kind of making fun of each other for like when they would mess
30:43
up. I don't think I've had a single
30:44
one this like run a podcast. I finally did it.
30:48
So Mandy McGlynn, I she she was fine in the last one.
30:54
She she looks great in stretches for Utah, though.
30:56
So I, I want to see, I definitely want to see more of
30:59
her playing. But yeah, I don't, I don't know.
31:02
I don't know who will I don't know who else is out there that
31:05
needs to that they need to take a look at.
31:07
There's there's more. There are more in the pool for
31:09
sure. Actually, before I say I don't
31:12
know, the shadow executive producer of the show who was who
31:15
was watching the the match with me looked over at me at one
31:19
point and just said Fallon, Tellus, Joyce should be on the
31:22
roster and should probably play. I don't think that's a good
31:25
shout. I mean, just definitely get a
31:27
look. I mean, one thing that we know
31:29
is, you know, what do they say when you have 3 goalkeepers, you
31:32
really have none? I mean, I think we're we're
31:34
probably somewhere in that neighborhood thinking about who
31:39
else. I, I, I'm I'm going to leave
31:41
this match with some positive feelings about Tuna Davidson.
31:45
I thought it looked really good. We we we had her in our
31:48
predicted starting 11 and she came in did not disappoint.
31:53
I thought Sam Coffey played pretty well as well, kind of
31:56
like a little bit of a bounce back, you know, didn't played
31:58
played better than she did against Australia for sure.
32:03
But yeah, I think I'm not sure, you know, like it's tough to
32:08
like really put your finger on where things went wrong, whether
32:11
it was like the roster construction or, you know, just
32:14
missing some, obviously missing some really key players.
32:17
You know, Germa, I'm not sure what, what kind of difference
32:19
she would have made necessarily, but definitely on the attacking,
32:22
you know, piece. But you know, 3 great attacking
32:26
players up front, you still have to get them the ball, you know,
32:29
and you know, we, we had Alyssa Thompson, Yasmine Ryan, Kat
32:32
Mercario in the match. Not a ton of opportunities for
32:36
them just because the service in wasn't there.
32:39
You know, I think the, the, the passing that was effective was
32:42
happening way, way, way in our defensive half.
32:46
And that is something, you know, young players, you know, like
32:52
beginning of the cycle, etcetera, etcetera.
32:54
That's something we got to figure out.
32:55
Like we're going to need some sort of offensive connector to
32:59
make sure that we can pose some kind of threat sort of in that,
33:04
you know, between the 18 and the halfway line.
33:08
Like we we didn't have we didn't have anything there.
33:11
Like we didn't have anything there.
33:12
I mean, it was it was really just can we get the ball?
33:15
Can we? Because you sort of like advance
33:16
it and get like, I don't know, a handful of looks over the course
33:19
of the match. Yeah.
33:22
Just sort of totally dominated, unfortunately, by by Japan.
33:27
And then as the Subs kind of happened, the game just seemed
33:30
to slip further and further away from from our grasp.
33:33
Yeah, if if you know for folks who might want to subscribe to
33:38
your push Johannes up the field, Well, if you have Hal Hirschfeld
33:42
to play as your second six or your your second defensive
33:46
midfielder next to Coffee, you could push Johannes up.
33:50
There's also this this player who had 10 assists in the NWSL
33:53
last season and only a few matches.
33:55
Her names. Croy Bethune, we get out, she's
33:57
good between the 18 and the halfway line.
34:01
She's good inside the 18. She's good anywhere you put it
34:03
on the field. So that that would be a benefit.
34:06
But you're totally right, man. The midfield was kind of the,
34:11
the, the empty space. Maybe not empty space isn't the
34:14
right word, but like just a black hole where possession was
34:17
going to die for long stretches of this game.
34:20
You could hear some of the frustration in Julie Foudy's
34:22
voice. Like I, I can't remember.
34:24
I I think it was a heaps turnover where Foudy just goes
34:29
and they turn the ball over and Japan has the ball.
34:32
Like she said, she was just getting very annoyed with it.
34:35
I mean, but again, you know, Fukunagano Hasegawa Momiki was
34:41
was, you know, creeping up into those into those spaces in the
34:44
midfield. They, you know, they just they
34:48
got beat in the midfield. I think it's a great call out by
34:50
you. Yeah, and I think as the game
34:54
sort of starts to slip away, Mina, Tanaka and shout out to
34:57
Melanie, who mentions great tournament for Utah Royals fans.
35:00
Sentinor and Tanaka, you know, go crazy in this tournament.
35:04
Totally agree there. I thought Tanaka did a great job
35:07
keeping the US honest because she's like, no, no, no, we're
35:11
not. We're not going to sit back.
35:12
I'm still going to attack. And she's so good at sniffing
35:16
out goal scoring opportunities. But if the opportunity's not
35:19
there, she's great moving the ball, you know, to where it's
35:22
got to go. And and, you know, just kind of
35:24
like keeping keeping the action where they want it.
35:29
You know, like, you know, she's not going to force it.
35:31
She's not going to RIP a shot. You know, we know one on two or
35:35
one on three, but where she doesn't have the angle, but
35:39
she's going to make the runs, she's going to make you play
35:42
her. And even without being a, you
35:45
know, a tremendously dangerous goal scoring threat in this one,
35:49
she had a big effect and put a lot of pressure on on on US,
35:52
like made them, you know, kind of defend and kind of keep an
35:55
eye on on where Tanaka was at all times.
35:58
Gravity. Yep, that's a that's a great.
36:00
That's a great point. You have to account for her.
36:03
I mean, I think Melanie may have pointed out earlier in the chat
36:06
that she ends up walking away with the MVP of the tournament.
36:10
Yep, deservedly so. What, four goals, 3 assists or
36:13
four goals, 2 assists? Somewhere in that, somewhere in
36:15
that ballpark and then had, you know, without getting on the
36:19
score sheet today, still had an impact.
36:21
So and to your earlier point, and I and I think, you know,
36:25
our, our pals are, are, are pointing this out in the chat
36:30
that like when you talk about a lack of connectivity between the
36:34
midfield and the attack for USA, complete opposite for Japan,
36:38
they have total connectivity, but between the midfield and the
36:41
attack. And so when you're defending
36:43
that, you have to account for that and then you get put in the
36:46
blender in in different situations.
36:48
So I mean, you know, Japan, like we always say, one of our
36:53
favorite teams to watch in the world, no matter what the
36:56
tournament is, whether it's a friendly anything, they're
36:59
always worth watching. And then they're just they just
37:02
remain completely organized at all times.
37:06
And one more quick shout out to Manchester City goalkeeper
37:10
Yamashita with the rare knee cramp.
37:13
It looks like somewhere in like the 70th minute where she hadn't
37:17
really needed to do anything. But when the ball, when the ball
37:21
trickles out of bounds and it's time for a goal kick, she just
37:24
kind of like half heartedly, like grabs her knee and sits
37:26
down. And I was like, ah, yeah, one of
37:28
those knee cramps that you get from just standing up.
37:30
That's that's typically how that happens.
37:32
So elite elite time wasting by her.
37:35
Yeah, excellent, excellent work by a, by a true professional.
37:40
Speaking of Japan, you know, we've obviously seen them play
37:44
well, you know, World Cup championship in their history.
37:50
They put it on Spain 2023 World Cup.
37:53
We saw that I I don't want to say it felt, you know, it didn't
37:59
feel like a mirage in in any sense.
38:00
They, they were playing great in that World Cup, but it did feel
38:04
like they were maybe missing a couple elements, you know, like,
38:09
you know, like a true heavy hitter #9 like a Tanaka or, you
38:15
know, like a, like a young. I don't know if Fujino had that
38:19
big of an, she might not even have been at that roster.
38:21
But you look at Fujino, you look at Tanakawa players that really
38:26
can be explosive. They do feel like they have more
38:31
to offer an attack that, you know, more than they did in 23.
38:35
And I think over the last couple years, I'm not ready to say that
38:41
this team, well, let me just say it.
38:43
I think this team is probably knocking on the door of the
38:47
absolute upper echelon of teams, you know, around the world.
38:50
I think even the US at full strength would would struggle
38:54
with this Japan side. Oh yeah, no doubt.
38:57
You know, I'm I'm totally I'm totally with you on that.
38:59
Yeah, I OK, so, you know, pals in the chat, please correct me
39:02
if I'm wrong, but I Fujino, I think she had a wonder goal in
39:07
that 23 World Cup. If I'm and that's kind of that's
39:13
where she first got on on my radar.
39:17
And you know, June Endo looked really good in that 23 World Cup
39:21
and that you know, she's she's coming back from her.
39:24
It was either an ACL or an Achilles.
39:27
So she's on her way back for Angel City.
39:29
So this team is still missing a very talented, dangerous young
39:33
player out there. Yeah.
39:35
I mean, you're right. Tanaka is 30.
39:37
So let me wait. Ahmed, live Fact Check.
39:42
Tanaka is OK. Yeah.
39:45
Tanaka is 30 years old. So obviously, you know, you got
39:48
a couple more years left in in toward in the back end of her
39:51
prime. But yeah, I mean, this team is
39:53
absolutely ready. They play a physical style in
39:57
the sense that that is pass and move, pass and move.
40:00
Like they're not, you know, they're not like bodying you up
40:03
necessarily all the time. But they're, when I say a
40:06
physical style, they're just playing a, a running style where
40:10
just like your, your mind is spinning and you have to keep
40:13
moving your legs at all times when you're playing defense
40:15
against them. But you know, and any tournament
40:18
they're in, they're they're live to win it.
40:21
Yeah, I totally agree with that. And you know, so they, they win
40:24
this one, you know, probably as an underdog deaf coming into it
40:27
for sure. If your MAS or maybe if if
40:32
you're on that US massage team staff, the very next time you
40:37
kind of like come together to meet and and you know, sort of
40:40
like figure out where we might go from here.
40:43
What would be maybe the first thing that you're like before we
40:48
get to, before we get to the the six or seven things that we're
40:51
going to talk about in this meeting?
40:53
Let's start here. How do we fix this issue?
40:57
What's that issue for you, would you say?
41:01
I think it has to be, I think it has to be the midfield.
41:08
I think you got to look at your options and say, OK, well,
41:13
Hirschfeld's an awfully good player.
41:16
Probably should give her an extended look.
41:21
And you know what credits credit to you, you were on Hirschfeld
41:25
for Corbin Albert. I think when the roster dropped,
41:28
I think that was and I thought, I don't know if we had a chance
41:30
to Fact Check the health situation or you know, the
41:32
availability situation, but you were definitely on that.
41:36
And that absolutely was a player that was missing.
41:40
Some of that can connect, you know, passes and and keep keep
41:44
things moving, put pressure, you know, just through distribution
41:48
further up the field. That just wasn't a player that
41:50
we had. And then sort of to have, I'm
41:53
not saying it was a A1 for one, but to watch those Corbin Albert
41:57
minutes and to see Albert not really be able to do that with
42:00
any kind of effectiveness, that was that was a tough look.
42:03
Yeah, I I appreciate that. I mean, you know, I mean, we've
42:06
been on the we've been on Hal Hershfeld watch like since the
42:09
draft and since we saw her first play at Washington Spirit.
42:12
I mean, you know, it doesn't take a doesn't take a great
42:15
football mind to to realize how good she is.
42:18
But I think, yeah, I think that midfield spot is OK.
42:22
Well, how are we going to take advantage of whatever mix of
42:27
coffee, Johannes Hirschfeld and then eventually Bethune and and
42:32
so I don't want to steal any more answers, but I think you
42:35
were on it earlier. If if that if fixing the
42:38
midfield or fake kind of figuring out what you want your
42:40
midfield rotation to look like. Obviously Macario is, is a great
42:44
fit at #10 That means the second question has to be like you were
42:49
talking about earlier. Do you start transitioning out
42:53
some of the older players? Because there's there's just not
42:55
going to be room for that past generation.
43:00
Fuck yeah, you start transitioning.
43:03
OK, All right. We don't want to overreact, but
43:05
yes. No, no, no, no.
43:07
But yeah, absolutely. I mean, a tough spot, you know,
43:14
but you know, Crystal Dunn obviously, you know, is moving
43:17
from the NWSL to PSG. Not sure where kind of her
43:21
conditioning is at Lindsay Heaps, though.
43:24
I'm not sure what the excuse was there.
43:26
I, I'm sort of fully, you know, and when we talked about the
43:29
starting 11 show or when we talked about this on the
43:32
starting 11 show and you were saying, Hey, there's no way that
43:35
Heaps isn't in the line up. Dude, I, I was, I, I, I said on
43:40
the show. I was like taken aback.
43:41
I'm like, wait, but she's not really producing right now or
43:46
recently, you know, and she's not doesn't have really great
43:50
chemistry with with the other players out there.
43:53
Even a player in her age band, Alin Biendolo, you know, it like
43:57
there doesn't seem to be any chemistry between those two
43:59
players either. So I really struggle other than
44:04
saying, OK, Heaps is having a great season for Leon and has
44:08
the resume that that goes back a ton of years, etcetera.
44:12
I'm really struggling to kind of figure out what her role is on
44:15
this team. You know, because I think when
44:17
you when you stick her at the 10, it kind of, you know, like
44:21
we talked about this, it means Macario goes to the 9.
44:23
It means centre goes out to the wing.
44:25
You know, you take away you take away a lot of the bite to the
44:30
offense, you know, and I think like if you just shuffle some
44:33
pieces, maybe move Macario back, that kind of turns her into more
44:36
of a distributor. And that's where the goal came
44:39
from. You know, the goal comes from
44:41
Macario in a deeper position, getting the ball bodying turn,
44:46
look, find Centinor up the field.
44:48
That's your 10-9 combination right there.
44:51
That completely gets neutered. You know, like we we saw it on
44:54
the pitch, but it completely kind of gets neutered because we
44:57
have to have heaps in that position.
44:59
Everybody else has to shuffle, you know, somewhere else.
45:02
And then we end up with an offense that that doesn't really
45:04
make any sense. So to me, I think, you know,
45:09
probably tactical move number one is, you know, we, we have
45:14
the conversation and we say, hey, we, we appreciate all the
45:18
contributions, but the fit just isn't there with the rest of the
45:22
skills that we have with the rest of the talent that we have
45:25
around this spot. You know, there's probably, you
45:28
know, and you don't really see a lot of like, you know, I I
45:34
really kind of feel, you know, out of turn saying this, but you
45:36
don't really see a lot of leadership type stuff on the
45:39
field either. It's not like, you know, she's
45:40
sort of like grabbing people and huddling them up and, you know,
45:44
coaching up the young UNS and throwing their arm around people
45:46
and, you know, doing like, we don't really see a ton of that
45:48
either. So I feel like that that's
45:52
probably step number one is reshuffling and you know,
45:57
redefining what that front 4 looks like and then, you know,
46:02
kind of starting with like a clean whiteboard.
46:06
I think that's all totally fair. And so if you bring in Bethune,
46:11
then yeah, her and is is is falling down the depth chart.
46:14
Shout out to the legend CTX for joining us on the live show.
46:18
CTX. What's up, pal?
46:20
Asking when will Kroy be back? OK, so she got injured throwing
46:24
a baseball, which is always what you want from one of your center
46:27
midfielders. Not to make light of it,
46:30
obviously, it's fucking devastating.
46:32
But Ola sports injury physio tells me that a torn meniscus
46:38
usually can take you about three to six months to come back from
46:43
to play like heavy physical activity sports.
46:46
So, you know, injured in September, September, October,
46:50
November, December. So yeah, she should be close, I
46:54
would imagine for the start of the season.
46:55
Haven't seen anything from Washington Spirit yet, but
46:57
obviously we'll be we'll be tracking that.
46:59
So you know what, USA back in action in April again, a couple
47:06
matches versus Brazil. So you know we're going to be,
47:10
we're going to be hovering around that timeline.
47:12
I don't know if you, I don't know if you bring Bethune back
47:16
right away for a couple of high leverage matches against Brazil,
47:20
even if they're friendlies, anytime you play Brazil, that's
47:23
a high leverage match in, in my view.
47:26
So yeah, I think Bethune can handle it.
47:27
Let's go. So let's get to, let's turn that
47:29
page already, and let's get Bethune sure properly, properly
47:33
set up here. This is, yeah, this is the, the
47:36
dynamic between me and Dino where I'm just like, be careful
47:38
with your injury. Don't don't rush back and Dino's
47:40
like, come on, get out there. The best way to, to get back is
47:43
to play, which is cool. I, I respect it.
47:45
I, I know I'm definitely, I could be a a little on the
47:48
softer side with that kind of stuff.
47:51
Yeah, no. And I and I apologies if I ever
47:53
push him like hey, let's go, come on, let's go, let's get
47:55
let's get get back potting. Come on.
47:57
None of it. I'm no.
47:58
That's not deep. Yeah, that's how that's how Dino
48:00
treats me. Everybody, he's just like, well,
48:02
you're not feeling well fucking, you know, stand up, man.
48:05
Let's go. That's that's the dynamic.
48:08
We do the show sitting down. We can do this.
48:12
All right. So a little bit disappointing.
48:17
Not the best. Emma, he is showing, I think
48:18
probably, maybe a tournament, definitely a day that I think
48:23
she'd want back. I don't I don't think anything
48:26
really worked today, unfortunately.
48:30
And you know, even when you think about what did we talk
48:33
about last show, the link up between the Thompson sisters,
48:37
you don't like the the the ungodly, you know, connectivity
48:41
between those two, the chemistry that, you know, obviously you
48:43
know, dates way, way, way back before their professional ball.
48:49
But you have Alyssa out there. You don't have Giselle out
48:51
there. And Giselle, I think probably, I
48:54
don't think there's any argument there, outplayed Alyssa against
48:58
Australia. You don't put us, you don't put
49:00
yourself out there. And it kind of takes a little
49:02
bit of the bite from Alyssa's game as well.
49:05
So I think the combinations were absolutely lacking.
49:10
You know, I'm having a tough, having a really tough time
49:13
trying to key in on some of the positives, which is which is
49:18
tough. You know, I, I and you know me,
49:20
I'm not the type to be like, OK, we lost.
49:22
Let's do an hour on on kind of what went wrong, but not a ton
49:26
went right today. Like I, I think it's just just
49:28
kind of the way it broke out. I think that's right, man.
49:31
I think they just got outplayed. Like they just, they didn't look
49:35
as fast as Japan. They didn't look as organized as
49:37
Japan. They couldn't hold the ball as
49:39
well as Japan. I mean, I think, I do think the
49:41
possession ended up being like 51495248.
49:45
I think it was somewhere in that ballpark.
49:47
But we also know that Japan can play without the ball and then,
49:51
you know, crush you on the couch counter.
49:53
So they don't necessarily need to hold it for that long.
49:55
They just kind of started to, you know, run the clock, you
49:58
know, later in the match. So yeah, you know, I don't think
50:02
it's it doesn't have to be overwhelmingly negative to say
50:06
there weren't a lot of positives, if that makes any
50:09
sense. I don't know if if the universe
50:11
will allow for those two things to be to be true at the same
50:14
time. But, you know, the other, the
50:16
other players get paid, too. And when it comes to Japan, you
50:20
have a lot of elite players who I mentioned and are are in form
50:24
and in season. I know they have NWSL players on
50:26
that roster, but you know, they're they're players who are
50:29
really cooking out there. We're just ready to play.
50:33
And they and they just looked sharper than USA in this one.
50:38
Yeah, shout out to Dark Who? Who's got Japan's top 4 or Japan
50:42
in their top 4? Apologies.
50:45
No arguments there at all. All right, so yeah, I think, I
50:50
think we covered a ton of ground here.
50:53
Any any kind of final thoughts on the match?
50:59
You know, it's like I always say, it's never time to hit the
51:03
panic button. I don't believe in that, you
51:06
know, and obviously we we never, we never said it was.
51:09
We know it's early in the cycle. It didn't go well.
51:12
He got beat by a by a very good team, yet an experimental
51:15
roster. I just think, you know, we're
51:21
walking away with Macario and, and obviously Cat Macario.
51:25
People have known she's she's been great for a long time, but
51:27
we can feel great about Macario again in the sense that she's
51:30
coming back from this injury and she seems to be in just dynamite
51:34
form. We feel great about Macario.
51:36
We feel great about Centinor. We feel great about Ryan.
51:38
We feel great about Johannes. That's that.
51:41
Those are a lot of positives. You should feel good about Jaden
51:44
Shaw. I real quick shout out Jenna
51:47
Neiswanger in the Columbia match, she had a real physical
51:51
play against Pavi where she just like really bodied the shit out
51:55
of her. And I was like, I'm going to put
51:56
that one in the memory banks. And she had some more physical
51:59
play today and I have to think that she either some, you know,
52:06
she probably figured out that she needs to add a little bit of
52:09
that to her game, especially not, you know, she makes the
52:12
move to Arsenal. She's going to have to add that
52:15
to her bag. And I think she may have
52:16
realized I got to add this to my tool set if I want to get more
52:20
minutes and and Team USA. Yeah, and Poppy gave it to her
52:24
early in that they were going back and forth a little bit.
52:27
And I think nice one was like, Nah, this is not happening.
52:29
And any anytime you move to the WSL, you already kind of know
52:33
what you're signing up for for sure.
52:36
In terms of, you know, kind of takeaways from me.
52:41
I think probably what I'm going to remember from this tournament
52:44
is, you know, obviously 1 foot in the past, one foot in the
52:47
future. And I think that dichotomy
52:52
essentially sinking this tournament for for for the USA
52:56
because the chemistry just was not working between those two
53:00
camps, unfortunately. And I think when you think about
53:04
what the future looks like, I think he has been Ryan's
53:06
involved. Macario, you mentioned Sentinor,
53:08
obviously Johannes and Hutton. I mean, I was bummed that we
53:12
didn't get Hutton. And obviously, you know, it
53:13
could be a load management issue.
53:15
Young player you don't want to put, you know, too many too many
53:17
miles on our with with with short rest.
53:21
But that was a player that I think could have made a
53:25
difference again the the midfield.
53:27
I'll continue to kind of lament our ineffectiveness there.
53:31
And yeah, shout out to Kristen who you know, I think is is on
53:35
my same page puts it very succinctly.
53:39
It seems Hayes protecting Haran by not allowing Bethune,
53:42
Macario, Rashad to run the 10 with the first string attackers
53:45
is a real problem. Totally agree there.
53:48
I think it's I think it's absolutely time to kind of turn
53:51
the page. And we saw we saw enough
53:55
glimpses from players that don't have a ton of caps to sell
54:00
Thompson and Messieurs, Michelle Cooper.
54:03
Like these are players that came in and and had good
54:06
performances. Obviously, Japan's a different
54:08
beast, but it would have been nice to kind of see, you know,
54:11
some evolution of some kind of core, you know, that would have
54:16
culminated in this final that, you know, some of the young
54:19
players could have like, you know, maybe fought through.
54:22
But I think the last 3540 minutes it felt like the USA was
54:28
resigned to OK, this is just not going to happen unless we get
54:31
lucky, which was which was a tough look.
54:34
Yeah, that's a great point. And you know, I marked in the in
54:38
the 55th minute in my notes, the crowd was out of it at 55, like
54:43
completely out of it. They they ended up, you see it
54:45
happen a lot in football. So you know, that's 5 minutes
54:48
after the cola goal and I was like, yo, you can hear a pin
54:51
drop in there. And now what you do see a lot in
54:54
football is after the Kumagai Haran collision, the the crowd
55:01
kind of gets back into it after the restart of play and all
55:04
that. But there was there was a good
55:07
six to seven minute stretch there where the crowd you like
55:10
you could just hear in the crowd.
55:12
They were stunned. And it felt like sometimes that
55:15
almost like, and you know, this is probably some hocus pocus
55:18
nonsense that I'm doing, but like the, it, it feels like
55:22
sometimes when you're watching the match, it is permeating
55:24
through the squad, through the home team when that kind of
55:28
thing happens. And I, I, I like your
55:30
description, using the term rudderless at times.
55:33
They just, they couldn't keep possession and they're just kind
55:35
of looking around at each other. Like what do we do now?
55:39
Yeah, well, I mean, that's it's not wrong because they they ran
55:44
out of ideas pretty clearly the best look in the last 20 minutes
55:48
was probably Shaw had a good look.
55:50
And then it's the Tierna Davidson shot from distance that
55:54
I think works it way. It works its way from maybe Sam.
55:56
I mean, Sam Coffey was involved in, in, in, in that build up.
55:59
But you know, you're going Sam Coffey to Tierna David.
56:02
It's like this is our our the best look we can kind of muster
56:06
over the last half an hour outside of a Jaden Shaw, you
56:10
know, kind of like drive and strike tough, you know, tough
56:14
tournament. Not the end of the world for
56:16
sure. I think some some positive to
56:19
build on. But yeah, I think, you know,
56:22
maybe maybe I'm not I'm not sure we left the title.
56:26
I'm not sure we left the cup on the table, but I think we left
56:29
an opportunity on the table for a little bit more growth, you
56:33
know by by sort of like defining a little a little firmer
56:36
identity, you know, as it pertains to maybe that that next
56:40
generation. Yeah, for sure.
56:43
Yeah, that that play that you talk about, I'm glad, I'm glad
56:46
you mentioned that it was when it was Libby and Dolo who like
56:50
left it off for Tierna. And Davidson has that in her
56:54
game. As Nancy in the chat points out,
56:56
it's the old give the ball to Tierna and let's see what
56:58
happens play, which, you know, I, I like it as a smart move
57:02
from Bianolo to to leave it off. I wish Davidson was maybe a a
57:05
little bit closer to the goal when she when she rips that
57:08
shot. But like you said, not not
57:10
encouraging when that's your best chance.
57:12
But you know, a a lot of time I'm, I'm, I'm even, I'm looking
57:17
forward even more now to the two matches against Brazil, because,
57:21
you know, Brazil's going to smell blood in the water and be
57:24
like, OK, what's your roster going to look like in a month?
57:26
Let's let's go play some football.
57:29
Yeah. And I think I mean talking about
57:32
the cycle, you know, Spain's not looking like quite like Spain if
57:35
the US is not looking quite like the US, You know, Japan
57:39
ascending England, you know, obviously in solid position,
57:42
Brazil, obviously, you know, on the way of Colombia, a little
57:45
bit little middling. I still maintain their top 12
57:49
team. Talk about that one later.
57:51
We're getting to that. Yeah, 27 World Cup now looking a
57:56
lot more like an open field. Very, very exciting stuff.
58:00
And, and, and still a lot of time, you know, for, for the US
58:03
to kind of like continue to firm up that identity, figure out
58:06
who's going where and continue to develop some chemistry.
58:10
Yeah, it's going to be absolutely interesting. 27 World
58:13
Cup, looking forward to it. Obviously England, the Lionesses
58:16
are going to win their second straight Euros in 2025.
58:18
What? We already see how that's going
58:20
to work. And so yeah, we'll just see how
58:22
the the way the rest of the world shakes out from there.
58:27
All right man, anything else you want to hit before we get out of
58:30
here? I think that's it, man.
58:32
I got a meeting in the morning. It's 10.
58:34
I'm. I'm going to complain.
58:36
It's 10:44 PM in Seattle. It's what?
58:38
It's like a million o'clock where you are.
58:41
How late is it? Is it nearly 2:00 AM on the East
58:43
Coast? I don't know how.
58:44
Time works well, first of all, for Cedray and myself it's
58:47
Thursday, so let's start there. There you go.
58:51
Just a shade a shade before 2:00 AM.
58:54
Appreciate all the West Coasters rocking with us.
58:57
Appreciate the East Coasters even more for rocking with us.
59:01
All right, man, I think we did it just like the Japan team did
59:05
this evening. There's been another episode of
59:07
Into the Channel. Thank you, thank you, thank you
59:08
for hanging out with your boys. Like if you liked, Oh, real
59:12
quick, quick look ahead. We've got some great shows
59:14
coming down the Pike. So end of this week, your boys
59:17
are going to do our first annual NWSL team draft where we pick
59:21
seven teams. I've got 7, you've got 7, and
59:24
we're going to sort of like carve out some territory.
59:28
You know, you're going to have your teams that you're covering,
59:29
obviously Orlando, my domain, Seattle, your domain.
59:32
And then we're going to figure out what other teams are going
59:34
to be within those given domains.
59:37
That way, you know, we can have our go to, you know, we'll
59:40
figure out what our beats are for the 2025 season.
59:43
We also have a great interview coming down the Pike with Claire
59:47
McEwen, author of a great book on the women's soccer.
59:51
Yeah, history, women's soccer. She can kick it.
59:53
The history of women's, history of women's football across the
59:55
world. Appreciate you helping me out
59:57
there, buddy. You know, you already know
59:59
you're, you're, you're my, you're the the 10 to my 9.
1:00:02
Absolutely. I always appreciate you there
1:00:05
anyways. Sorry.
1:00:08
Sorry for stepping on you like if you like, make sure you're
1:00:10
rocking with us. Subscribe, follow you, do
1:00:11
Spotify, Apple podcast, wherever you like to watch or listen.
1:00:13
We want to hear from you. We love hearing from you.
1:00:15
Leave us a review over your favorite podcast app links all
1:00:17
of our socials except one in the show notes of this episode.
1:00:21
And again, thanks for everybody for hanging out with us live and
1:00:23
a big thank you to my coast as well.
1:00:25
Mr. Grand Angle 4 always showing up in the championship matches.
1:00:29
I mean somebody like an account on all the time.
1:00:31
Like I said, the 10 to my 9. All we do is score goals.
1:00:34
Doesn't matter. Wednesday, Thursday, Eastern
1:00:37
Pacific. You already know that's my guy.
1:00:39
I appreciate you bro. Likewise, buddy, I appreciate
1:00:42
you staying up. Yeah, and thank you to everybody
1:00:44
for rocking with us in the chat. I would be remiss. 11 more quick
1:00:47
one from Melanie. That offside call that wasn't
1:00:49
actually offside call on on Nicewanger.
1:00:53
Terrible job by the refs. OK, We did a live show and I
1:00:56
complained about refereeing at least once.
1:00:58
I think we've done it, my good man.
1:01:00
Again, thank you everybody for hanging out with us tonight and
1:01:02
we will see you all next time.