Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / ITC's Best XI for 2024

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ITC's Best XI for 2024 · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

• 0:03
  Hello, OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast primarily about
• 0:09
  women's football. Before we hit the pitch.
• 0:10
  If you enjoy the show or love women's football as much as your
• 0:12
  boys do, come kick it with us already.
• 0:14
  Subscribe, follow YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast, wherever
• 0:17
  you like to watch or listen. Leave us a review over your
• 0:19
  favorite podcast app. Links to all of our socials in
• 0:22
  the show notes of this episode. I am your host Dino de Suspitas.
• 0:25
  And as always, I am joined by my coast, Mr. Grant Angle.
• 0:29
  What is up man? Feeling all right, man.
• 0:31
  We've, we've made it to the end of 2024.
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  And although anybody would be right to have a sense of dread
• 0:37
  of what's coming in the new year in terms of defending human
• 0:40
  rights and fighting for any kind of real world that's worth
• 0:44
  inhabiting, the football's good. So maybe I shouldn't just start
• 0:48
  off with a huge downer like that and maybe we could just laugh
• 0:50
  together and talk about football and maybe not worry about some
• 0:53
  of that other stuff for like roughly 40 to 50 minutes.
• 0:56
  I like it. Yeah, enough looking forward.
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  Let's look back at 2024 and the year that was.
• 1:01
  But before that quick programming reminder, we'll be
• 1:03
  back later in January with a lot of European football coverage.
• 1:07
  We're also going to have some special guests joining the show.
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  And then February 7th will be live on YouTube after the UEFA
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  Women's Champions League quarterfinals draw.
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  Also be sure that you are subscribed for that.
• 1:16
  We're going to have a lot of fun there, but let's get into it.
• 1:19
  We're going to talk about our 2024 Best 11.
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  We're going to do a little bit of a modified draft.
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  We're going to go back to front. We're going to draft our units
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  and then we're going to try to come together like Voltron and
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  put forward an ITC Best 11 for 2024.
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  I love it. And for anybody who's been
• 1:37
  paddling around with us the last year, you may recall that last
• 1:41
  format Dino and I drafted our teams.
• 1:43
  I may have got a little I've got my wires crossed during the
• 1:47
  draft, had to kind of refigure my lineup on the fly, and I lost
• 1:51
  convincingly in a Twitter poll when people had to choose
• 1:54
  between Dino's lineup and my lineup.
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  But don't you worry, vindication will be here soon.
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  Let's see, let's see. I think, I think you're a little
• 2:02
  bit, you're slightly more prepared this year.
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  You, you, you. You're clearly taking this
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  exercise a little bit more seriously, but it doesn't
• 2:08
  matter. I've got my game face on.
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  I got some sleep last night. I'm ready to go, Mr. Green
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  Angle, where do you want to get started?
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  All right, let's get started by cracking some celebratory
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  beverages, because we made it through 2024, buddy.
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  I like it. Sounds delicious, cheers to you.
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  Cheers to 24, cheers to you. So do you have a preference on
• 2:33
  what position group we start with?
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  I feel like back to front would make sense, but also, you know,
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  the people who score goals are upfront.
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  I think there's a case to start there.
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  Up to you though. I like it.
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  Let's go. Let's go.
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  Front to back. A little bit of a curveball.
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  I see. I see what you're trying to do
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  here. Yeah.
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  I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna jot that little, that little
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  maneuver in the ITC personal record book.
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  We'll just kind of keep it moving.
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  I'll also kick it to you with the first pick in the 2024 best
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  11 draft. Wow.
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  Now as a reminder, we're going to go with the forwards.
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  So you can pick any position. You can pick any player in that
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  front 30. And then quick note for the
• 3:09
  audience. In our pre show quick powwow, we
• 3:11
  both landed on a 343. The minds have melded.
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  Let's kick it off. All right, so I appreciate you
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  giving me the grace of allowing me to make the 1st pick.
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  This is not done out of spite. I believe it is the right pick.
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  I believe it is the only pick 2 make for the most credible best
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  11 that you could possibly make at striker.
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  It has to be Barbara Benda. There's no other player you
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  could take here. Love it, totally agree.
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  So there are multiple amazing center forwards and number nines
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  in the world, whatever you want to call this striker position.
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  And as far as I know, I'm the only person in the history of
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  sports podcasting to say that these these decisions are always
• 3:49
  very close. I think I've I've owned that
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  opinion. I don't like to say it's her and
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  it's not close. However, like I said it before,
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  I don't think you can make a credible best 11 for 2024
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  without Bendez your #9 She only scored thirteen goals for your
• 4:02
  Orlando Pride in 2024, but her presence immediately catapulted
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  them to league favorites and that played itself out to the
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  tune of the Pride winning the double in the world's most
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  competitive league. They win the NWSL Championship
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  and the NWSL Shield. She has the game-winning goal in
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  the NWSL Championship and was named MVP of that match.
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  She was number one in goal creating actions.
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  She was number one in carries into the penalty.
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  She was number 2 in progressive carries.
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  She was number 4IN shot creating actions.
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  She had a credible case despite I don't think appearing in the
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  first five matches of the season to be the NWSLMVP.
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  Yeah, I totally agree with all that.
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  She would have been my sharp beaten starter at that position
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  too. She also makes the NWSL team of
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  the year. She wins all the trophies.
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  Can't forget about four goals in three Olympics matches for
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  Zambia as well. I'm glad you mentioned
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  international play because that obviously has to have a factor
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  in here. Let's travel back in time, back
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  to early April with a spot to the Olympic tournament on the
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  line. Down to one on aggregate, Benda
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  leads the Copper Queens of Zambia into Morocco, scores a
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  goal in the 38th minute to bring the Copper Queen's level, and
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  then later converts a penalty in extra time to seal the deal,
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  pushing Zambia into the Olympics.
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  That has to count for something when you're thinking about your
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  Team of the Year for the best 11.
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  Love and respect to all the players for Morocco, but even
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  just on the strength of that, Benda would be in my best 11 for
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  getting that fucking bozo Jorge Villa out of here so I didn't
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  have to look at his stupid face during the Olympics.
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  Adios, Jorge. Total cosign.
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  I'm going to drop somebody, A player on the left side here.
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  Give me NWSL MVP Temu Chewinga. Yeah.
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  So when's the Golden Boot? Twenty goals, 5 assists.
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  Carries Casey into the playoffs. Excellent player.
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  I mean, she burst onto the scene.
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  How? Maybe with more pomp and
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  circumstance than Banda. Like, I think she had a more
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  kind of like, explosive introduction to the league and
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  she carried it through all season.
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  She takes on the MVP, obviously, NWSL team of the year.
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  Give me time with Chewing on the left.
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  Absolutely Golden Boot winner, number one in shots on target
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  and total shots number 2IN shot creating actions and carries
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  into the penalty. Just outside the top ten in
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  blocks as well. Just getting it done on both
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  ends of the field. The Kansas City Current were
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  second to last in the league in 2023.
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  They made a lot of changes and they made a lot of good
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  personnel moves, but Tamwa Chewinga was the straw that
• 6:25
  stirs the drink, so I'm absolutely with you on that.
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  I will draft right wing and I don't think there's any other
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  player here to take other than Karolina Graham.
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  She has a legitimate argument to be the best active player in the
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  world right now. Already in this young season,
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  she has seven goals and six assists in Liga F.
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  She added another three goals and one assistant in the
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  Champions League. I think if you go back, this is
• 6:48
  the fun part about these like teams of the year because in
• 6:51
  European football now I'm looking at what did you do the
• 6:53
  second-half of last season and what are you doing in the first
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  half of this season? 16 of her 27 Liga F goals Liga F
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  and Champions League goals came after January 1st in that in
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  that first half, so did eleven of her 23 assists.
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  And I know, you know, we're not counting all of last season
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  because some of it was played in 2023, but I just want to give a
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  couple of quick metrics from the 2324 League F campaign that were
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  my favorites. 18 expected assisted goals throughout the
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  course of the league of F season #2 is Aitana Bonamati with 7.7,
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  so more than 10 more. She led the league in key passes
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  with 85 #2 was her former teammate, her teammate at the
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  time, Mariona Caldente with 58. So she had roughly what is that
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  17 more throughout the season. She is a hurricane of good
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  football decisions and like I said, she has a she has a claim
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  to be the best player in the world fighting it out with a
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  couple of her teammates. Lovett yeah, no argument there.
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  She was also third on my on my forward list, on my big board.
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  So I'm going to, I'm going to switch things up here.
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  I'm going to take the player that I had 5th on my board.
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  Give me Khadija Bunny Shaw, look at you.
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  Monster season in the WSL per 90.
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  How about 1.16 goals? There we go.
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  Like, you know, it's just like you just roll the ball out.
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  You're already up 1.16 to 0. If buddy Shaw's on your team,
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  unbelievable, they come within a whisker of winning the WSL
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  title. She can score every type of way.
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  She's an absolute killer. Plays for Jamaica
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  internationally. So there's a ceiling there.
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  But when she does play, obviously her her presence is
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  absolutely felt. And then if you know for that
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  City side, you really just can't, can't overstate her
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  importance to that team. No doubt.
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  I think they win the title if she's healthy throughout the
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  entire season last year. She is an offense unto herself
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  and I think you and I noticed she looks faster than she had
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  before, so she's clearly adding things to her game as well.
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  Yeah, she's kind of like leaned out a little bit and I think she
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  was kind of coming back from an injury, 23 World Cup for
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  Jamaica, but now I don't know. She's very lean and mean.
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  Looks a little bit like ketoto out there.
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  Yeah. And like I said, she's she can
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  score any kind of way. 100% and she will and she will continue
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  to do that to score any kind of way.
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  All right, So that means it's my turn to pick a left wing.
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  My number one choice for left wing was Temwa Chewinga.
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  Also, we were aligned there. And my second choice is going to
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  be Tabitha Chewinga because 2024 as an entire year has been a
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  banner year for Tabitha Chewinga.
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  So from her time at the end of last season for Perry's Anjuman
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  and now playing for Lyon across all competitions, if my stats
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  are right and I'm looking at this correctly, she has 23 goals
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  and 14 assists in the calendar year of 2024.
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  She was a absolute spark plug for PSG, pushing them farther
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  than I think some people thought they might go in last year's
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  UEFA Women's Champions League, and now she's moving in that
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  direction. For Leon, it was a real decision
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  for me to try to decide because, you know, I talk about 20, three
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  goals and 14 assists. Her sister had 20 and five in
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  the NWSL. It was a real decision for me to
• 10:00
  kind of choose between the two. But I do think the fact that
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  Tamwa, you know, was just propelling Kansas City into
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  absolute contenders had me give Tamar the nod.
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  But I think for any, any list that would have to have the
• 10:13
  chewing guys, they're starting left wing.
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  I I wouldn't have a problem with it.
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  Really interesting, I think this is our first break point on my
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  list. I on the left, I had Sophia
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  Smith, so also an NW Cell team of the year. 12 goals, 6 assists
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  in 19 matches played leads Portland to the playoffs.
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  And here's the important part US Women's national team, six
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  goals, 3 assists in 10 appearances, three goals, 2
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  assists in the Olympics. Part of triple espresso,
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  obviously, you know, and they take home the Olympic gold.
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  And this is probably a great segue into who who I've got on
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  the right, which is Trinity Rodman.
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  There we go. So Trinity leads the Spirit to
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  the NWSL final. Career high and goal
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  contributions. It's funny to say career high,
• 10:50
  she's only 22 years old, but she does have 4 end of USL seasons
• 10:53
  under her belt. Eight goals, 6 assists in 23
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  matches played. Also, in the end of USL Team of
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  the Year, Olympic Gold, same as Sophie Smith, three goals, one
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  assist for Trinity and she played in all but 53 minutes for
• 11:06
  the US National Team over those six matches.
• 11:09
  I want to talk real quick, though, about triple espresso,
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  Bad Boy Pistons, Splash Brothers, Broad St.
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  Bullies, Fab 5, Greatest Show on Turf, Triple espresso.
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  I think in the conversation, I mean, some people refer to them
• 11:23
  triple espresso, some people call them Bill Bibb de goal.
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  We're not going to, you know, litigate that here, but that is
• 11:28
  a historic nickname, I think at the level of some of the
• 11:32
  greatest that we've ever seen. It absolutely works.
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  I like that they're the ones who put it forward, that it wasn't
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  assigned to them, but they kind of took agency over it.
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  And I think it works because they're three superlative
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  talents, but they're three amazing individual talents whose
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  skill set complement each other perfectly.
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  So even like thinking about a triple espresso, I'm not a
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  coffee drinker myself, but I mean, you know, you think about
• 11:58
  being, yeah, I'm a I'm a more of a water and beer guy trying to
• 12:02
  stay hydrated. Just looking at them play and
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  the way that they can weave in and out, the way Rodman can
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  provide service or she can cut it in and shoot and the touch
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  passes. The one twos that are possible
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  with Smith and Swanson. I agree with you.
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  It's an all time sports nickname for an all time position group
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  in a sport that really matters to our country.
• 12:23
  Absolutely. Yeah.
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  And three women of color as well.
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  Awesome. From a branding expert. 10 out
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  of 10 that that's that's going to be something that in the
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  annals of history 100 years from now.
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  And I don't know, you know, maybe some AI is digesting this
• 12:36
  video. And then the year 2125, that
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  one's going to go down in the history books for sure.
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  OK, let's pick our three that are going to make our ITC top
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  11. I'm with you on Banda.
• 12:46
  Sure. With you on CGH.
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  OK. And it sounds like we both had
• 12:49
  TAMWA. Yeah, I think, I think Tamwa, I
• 12:52
  think she has to be the choice. OK, 123.
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  Boom, got it done all. Right.
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  I love it. And now this is where this is
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  where things are going to get interesting in terms of how we
• 13:02
  view the way lineups are made, how the way we view these lists
• 13:05
  are going to be made because I have I have some thoughts on
• 13:09
  other places we can put players on the pitch for this best 11.
• 13:13
  I like it. Let's save that for when we pick
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  our four for the ITC 11. And I'm going to go first
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  because you had the 1st pick in the four room.
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  Let's go give me the legend Aitana Beaumati Balandor winner,
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  best player in the world, wins everything, never loses.
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  Didn't quite crush in the Olympics.
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  I'll say everywhere else though, just monster year.
• 13:33
  You could even look back at the goal versus City.
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  We talked about that for, I don't know, 7 or 8 minutes.
• 13:38
  I felt like a really long time. You can rewind back to the
• 13:41
  Champions League last year. She gets a 63rd minute winner
• 13:44
  versus Lyon, the 25th minute equalizer versus Chelsea away.
• 13:48
  It's a basically carry them through.
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  So she has the great moments in matches and within the run of
• 13:53
  play, but then also in the big highest leverage moment, it does
• 13:56
  feel like she steps up, like she steps even higher up than we're
• 13:59
  used to. Kind of seeing her play like
• 14:01
  she's able to kind of like elevate even further.
• 14:04
  The mind meld is in full effect this calendar year in Liga F she
• 14:07
  has 15 goals, 13 assists. She's obviously the 2024
• 14:10
  Bolland, or winner. She is the leader, the most
• 14:13
  respected and the most revered. Best player on a squad full of
• 14:17
  best players in the world. I am so I'm glad the reason I
• 14:21
  say the mind meld is in full effect.
• 14:22
  I am so glad you mentioned the second leg of that Chelsea semi
• 14:26
  final to make it to the final of the Champions League.
• 14:29
  Going back and looking at those highlights, going back and
• 14:31
  looking at our notes after we covered that match, they didn't
• 14:34
  get much out of beto Ualo or CGH in that match.
• 14:37
  But the best player on the field that day was Aitana Bonemati and
• 14:40
  she showed a class and quality that propelled them into the
• 14:44
  final. That's what great players do and
• 14:46
  I think it is. It's one of my favorite things
• 14:47
  in sports. We always remember the finals,
• 14:50
  you remember the championship games, but every great player
• 14:53
  has those moments in different rounds of knockout stages or
• 14:57
  different match days within a season that you can always look
• 15:00
  back to and say that's why they're the best player in the
• 15:03
  world, because they may have won the title for us that day.
• 15:06
  Yeah, 100%. And as a midfielder that does so
• 15:08
  much damage in the center of the park, to have these flashbulb
• 15:11
  moments on the breakaway, you know, all the way up field and
• 15:14
  just kind of like dazzling and dancing is just like really
• 15:17
  awesome, right? So Aitana is in my midfield.
• 15:21
  You're up. OK, so she'll be one of our
• 15:23
  center midfielders, right? I think that that would make
• 15:25
  sense. That's kind of where she plays.
• 15:26
  So I'm going to take another center midfielder and I'm going
• 15:29
  to take another center midfielder from Barcelona.
• 15:31
  I'm going to take Alexia Pouteas.
• 15:32
  Nice. I kind of scored the winner in
• 15:35
  the final to beat Leon in that two nil victory.
• 15:38
  Alexia had the moment of that match when she puts it away to
• 15:42
  push it to two nil. She already has eight goals and
• 15:44
  five assists this season. She's looking back to her
• 15:47
  dominant way. She already has three Champions
• 15:49
  League goals to boot to end the 2324 season.
• 15:51
  At the beginning of this calendar year, she added six
• 15:54
  goals and seven assists. She is top five right now in
• 15:57
  League F in goals, assists, expected goals, expected
• 16:00
  assisted goals, key passes, passes into the penalty.
• 16:02
  She's top ten in goal creating actions and shot creating
• 16:06
  actions. I don't know man.
• 16:07
  What do you want to say about Alexia Poutez?
• 16:09
  She's either the the best midfielder in the world or the
• 16:11
  second best midfielder in the world.
• 16:13
  It just so happens that she's standing next to the the
• 16:15
  contender for that title. Yeah, I mean, she was way, way,
• 16:18
  way up on my list. Deadly accurate passing,
• 16:21
  shooting, doesn't matter. She's just a force.
• 16:23
  The blast that she had to kind of beat Kira Keating had Kira
• 16:26
  rooted to the spot. I mean, like, how many players
• 16:29
  can do that? You can do that.
• 16:31
  And then, yeah, you mentioned that moment.
• 16:33
  Written in the stars, to quote our guy Sharples Champions
• 16:36
  League final. All right, So I took Eitani, you
• 16:39
  took Alexia. Give Me the GOAT from Orlando
• 16:43
  won the double. All right.
• 16:45
  NWSL Team of the Year led the NWSL and shot creating actions
• 16:49
  at 5.09 per 90. Marta working on the statue here
• 16:54
  in Orlando. I haven't been able to confirm
• 16:56
  this, but I already know what's happening.
• 16:57
  I mean, you talk about great play, great moments, game
• 17:01
  winners, plays that propelled Orlando's season to the absolute
• 17:05
  finish lines that they're able to raise all these trophies.
• 17:08
  I don't know, a big deal gets made about Marta being 38 and,
• 17:10
  you know, still being out there. But the reality is she's still
• 17:13
  fucking bossing yes these games like you know, you you could
• 17:17
  argue she had the moment of the playoffs don't Yeah where she
• 17:20
  beats the entire Kansas City current and had the press box.
• 17:23
  I mean she was melting faces in the press box with that moment.
• 17:26
  I mean every like we everybody lost their mind.
• 17:29
  It's a moment that I'm sure nobody that was witnessing we'll
• 17:32
  forget. I certainly won't forget it.
• 17:34
  I actually had her ahead of Alexia on my list.
• 17:36
  I thought what she did this season, the impact she had
• 17:39
  against that competition. We also can't forget the silver
• 17:42
  medal in the Olympics for Brazil horse when Julia Bells to the
• 17:45
  Dodge came on our show and was like, hey, we want to make the
• 17:48
  knockout station. So even exceeded expectations
• 17:52
  there. Obviously that that Brazil team
• 17:53
  had a lot of good performance from a lot of different players,
• 17:56
  but Marta may be the emotional centerpiece of that team.
• 17:59
  She's got to be in my midfield. I have no arguments there.
• 18:01
  I mean, I I talked about I tonic Bone Mati being the most
• 18:04
  respected and revered player on a team full of star players.
• 18:07
  Bone Mati goes to sleep at night, I'm pretty sure, and
• 18:10
  hopes to be Marta one day. And Marta's still, like you
• 18:13
  said, she's still doing at 38. She still looks absolutely
• 18:15
  phenomenal at 38. She's the cultural leader of a
• 18:18
  squad that won the double in the world most competitive league.
• 18:21
  What else you got, man? I mean, she's there nine goals,
• 18:24
  one assist in league play. The numbers don't do her impact
• 18:27
  justice. And I want to do a little bit of
• 18:29
  a thing here. She, I had her on my second
• 18:31
  team, but I have my notes on it here, OK.
• 18:35
  She got that kind of wild red card in the last group stage
• 18:39
  match against Spain in the Olympics.
• 18:41
  I'm going to now argue that even though she lost her composure
• 18:45
  and got that red card, I'm going to argue that the Brazilian team
• 18:48
  decided to rally there and say no, we can't let that be marked
• 18:52
  as last match. So I'm going to give Marta
• 18:53
  partial credit for Brazil rallying and still making it to
• 18:59
  the final so Marta could then rejoin the team and play.
• 19:03
  I would also say that Gabby Portillo had quite a bit to do
• 19:05
  with that, scoring the winner versus France in the quarters
• 19:07
  and then notching a goal and an assist to beat Spain in the
• 19:10
  semis. That's neither here nor there.
• 19:12
  But so yeah, give Marta the credit for inspiring the team.
• 19:15
  Give Marta credit for inspiring a double winner in the NWSL.
• 19:18
  The Galvanizer, I love it. OK, 4th pick, who do you got?
• 19:21
  So we have Marta, Bonemati and Alexia.
• 19:24
  You could you could legitimately play Bone Mati or Marta at left
• 19:30
  midfield. They'd be absolutely just fine
• 19:33
  out there. So if you're comfortable with
• 19:35
  it, I'm going to consider Marta on the left here and then our 2
• 19:40
  central midfielders being Bone, Mati and Alexia.
• 19:44
  Now I'm going to make a pick and I'm going to and then I want to
• 19:50
  have my discussion about positions because actually, no,
• 19:53
  I'm going to. I'm going to call an audible.
• 19:55
  Are we in the show? Are we this is?
• 19:58
  Is this the show? Sorry.
• 19:59
  I think no, no, it's good. Yeah, that's total.
• 20:01
  That's a fair question. So this is actually where I
• 20:03
  wanted to have some of my position discussions because to
• 20:06
  let people behind the curtain on my first team.
• 20:09
  I had CGH on the right wing and I put Trinity Rodman as my right
• 20:14
  midfielder because she could credibly play that position out
• 20:17
  on the wing on the right hand side.
• 20:20
  Think about what the overlaps would look like between CGH and
• 20:24
  Rodman on that side. So I would like to at least open
• 20:28
  for discussion and I'll I'll make a real pick, but I'd like
• 20:31
  to open for discussion putting Trinity Rodman in this right
• 20:34
  midfielder spot. However, to make a pick that has
• 20:37
  not already been selected, I'm going to go to my second call
• 20:42
  here and I can't wait for hopefully some of our pals to
• 20:45
  yell at me about doing this on the right hand side.
• 20:49
  Instead, I'm going to put Katidatu DNA because she can
• 20:53
  play forward and midfield as well because she is your classic
• 20:56
  wing player to start the year across all comps In the first
• 20:59
  part of 2024, she had nine goals and four assists and she already
• 21:03
  has nine goals and 9 assists in this campaign, so she's sitting
• 21:06
  on 18 goals, 13 assists. She's leading the Premier League
• 21:09
  in assists with six, she's number one in expected assists
• 21:13
  and she's number one in goal creating actions.
• 21:16
  She's top ten in shots, shots on target, key passes, passes into
• 21:19
  the penalty and carries into the penalty area.
• 21:21
  She's 29 years old and until further notice, she's one of the
• 21:24
  best players in the world and one of the most entertaining
• 21:27
  players in the world to watch. For me, I prefer to have her in
• 21:29
  my best 11. I like it.
• 21:32
  I'll say I feel like it's a little bit could be a little bit
• 21:35
  of a cheat because I feel like she could play that position.
• 21:38
  I think the real question is like, does she has she played
• 21:41
  that position in 24? I think the same with with with
• 21:43
  Rodman. All right, so so she's in your
• 21:45
  11 and yeah, obviously a tremendous player.
• 21:48
  You know, we talked a lot about her assist to the Van der Donk
• 21:51
  and just how mesmerizing the things she was doing with the
• 21:54
  ball is. And and that's just another day
• 21:55
  at the office for Katie DNE for sure.
• 21:57
  She definitely made my shortlist, but that was on the
• 22:01
  forward side where we had a ton of player, I mean a ton of
• 22:03
  players we didn't mention. Just to rewind a little bit,
• 22:05
  Katoto, Maya Ramirez, JRK, Laura, you know, Lauren James,
• 22:09
  Kundanagi, Mal Swanson, another third of Triple Espresso.
• 22:12
  So many good players in contention there.
• 22:14
  But circling back to the midfield, I've got to go with
• 22:18
  Kyra Walsh Gray maybe on some days the best player on, on
• 22:22
  Barcelona, you know, even if it's tough to kind of see with
• 22:25
  the naked eye, you look at how many passes she completes in
• 22:28
  League F 92% of her passes you because I well, that's the F in
• 22:32
  the Champions League, 93%. She's even more accurate that
• 22:36
  Champions League. She can get the ball from you.
• 22:38
  You can't get the ball from her. And basically wherever she wants
• 22:41
  to go with the ball, that's where the ball is going pretty
• 22:43
  much without fail, you know, minus the the six or seven times
• 22:46
  out of 100 where something goes awry.
• 22:48
  Every other time Kyra Walsh is getting it done, doing exactly
• 22:51
  what she wants to do, pretty much controlling the game,
• 22:52
  manipulating all the pieces on the chess board.
• 22:55
  I love her game. I just think she's one of the
• 22:57
  best players in the world. She's got to be on on this list.
• 22:59
  No doubt genius defender, hard to get a lot of shine when
• 23:03
  you're on the Barcelona team, especially with her style of
• 23:05
  play. But like you say in in big
• 23:07
  matches, in matches where there are stakes, it just always comes
• 23:10
  up where it's like, oh, there's Walsh again.
• 23:12
  She made another good play. She had another key
• 23:14
  interception. She pressured somebody into
• 23:16
  making a mistake. She's one of the reasons why I
• 23:18
  think, as I said last time, when you care about the team playing
• 23:21
  against Barcelona, it looks like they have 13 players on the
• 23:23
  field compared to year 11. She's a big reason for that.
• 23:26
  Totally. OK, so that's a that's a central
• 23:29
  midfielder so far in the midfield.
• 23:31
  You have Marta, Bone, Mateen Walsh, I have Alexia and Diani.
• 23:35
  And I do want to state for the record, our pals at fat mob,
• 23:38
  they do list and I and I obviously I'm aware of this DNA,
• 23:42
  not so much as a midfielder. I know she she plays back,
• 23:45
  though I feel like she probably doesn't get credit for that.
• 23:47
  Rodman, though, credited for playing right midfielder with
• 23:51
  our pals at fat Mob. So I just want to keep that out
• 23:53
  there just for our general, our general thinking.
• 23:56
  But I I appreciate you leaving the Lane open for me to pick
• 23:59
  another central midfielder here because Kreba Thune has to be in
• 24:03
  consideration here and so she will be my pick.
• 24:06
  She's the midfielder. I figured as much.
• 24:08
  I figured we'd be linked up on this.
• 24:10
  She was the Midfielder of the year and the Rookie of the year.
• 24:12
  She was on the team of the year in the NWSL.
• 24:15
  She had five goals and 10 assists, setting the league
• 24:18
  record for assists. She missed nine regular season
• 24:21
  matches and still set the record for most assists in a single
• 24:24
  season. She was on the path to challenge
• 24:26
  for the MVP of the league. I don't think it would have
• 24:28
  been. It would not have been
• 24:29
  outrageous to expect in those nine matches for her to maybe
• 24:33
  get up to somewhere like eight goals and 15 assists at the pace
• 24:37
  that she was playing at. And I don't think she would have
• 24:39
  won the MVP, but she would have had to have been in the
• 24:42
  conversation. She led the league in through
• 24:44
  balls. She led the league in assists
• 24:46
  per 90, which was a staggering .65.
• 24:49
  Second in the league was BIA from Kansas City Current, who
• 24:52
  landed at .42. So a healthy margin between
• 24:56
  Bethune and BIA. There she was tied for first and
• 24:59
  goal creating actions. I've said it once, I'll say it
• 25:01
  again. I would like to say in the
• 25:03
  women's footballing podcast space, I own about as much Croy
• 25:07
  Bethune stock as anybody in the world.
• 25:08
  And if you're selling any, I'll buy even more because I think
• 25:12
  she will be one of the world's five best midfielders within a
• 25:15
  year or two after her recovery from her injury.
• 25:17
  And within three years I believe she will be looked at as one of
• 25:19
  the 10 best players in the world.
• 25:21
  Totally believe it. I think she would have had maybe
• 25:23
  the inside track on the MVP only because, well, Spirit finished
• 25:27
  second. Sure, and that was with a lot of
• 25:29
  injuries in terms of like the chasing the shield and then
• 25:32
  obviously make the make the end of yourself final could have
• 25:34
  very easily been flip-flopped if Bethune plays all season and
• 25:37
  maybe the injury guys are a little bit kinder to the spirit.
• 25:40
  We also can't forget the production in high stakes
• 25:43
  moments for Bethune. Huge she had some game winners,
• 25:45
  she got some game-winning assists.
• 25:47
  I mean she was making differences in multiple matches.
• 25:51
  So it wasn't just the counting stats.
• 25:53
  What she was doing was leading to points, was leading to
• 25:55
  victories, and I mean this was all pre hit out this.
• 25:58
  I think to your point, once she gets back and you get all those
• 26:01
  brains in one room, I think it's going to be real, real scary
• 26:04
  hours for the rest of the league.
• 26:05
  Definitely on my short list. I love the pick KRI Bethune and
• 26:08
  we we did agree on a 343. So let's each make one more
• 26:12
  midfield pick. Here I am going to take.
• 26:15
  This is tough. Damn, this is real tough.
• 26:18
  Well, I'm going to stick to my list, even though I got very,
• 26:21
  very tempted not to give me Mariana Caldente.
• 26:24
  Nice. Huge difference maker at Arsenal
• 26:27
  culturally, like this is one of those examples of somebody
• 26:30
  bringing winning culture, winning football IQ, winning
• 26:34
  habits into a new organization that sorely, sorely, sorely
• 26:38
  needed them. And I think in a lot of ways,
• 26:40
  Caldente's leadership is really permeated out within that squad.
• 26:43
  They're playing playing so so, so much better, But Mariona also
• 26:46
  played really well for Barcelona.
• 26:48
  We mentioned that she got lost a little bit there, but she was
• 26:50
  productive for Barcelona. They obviously would lift the
• 26:52
  trophy. And then this season in the
• 26:54
  Champions League, she's already got four goals, 2 assists, which
• 26:56
  double S her output from last year.
• 26:58
  And then she also scored the Olympics for Spain in a somewhat
• 27:01
  underwhelming performance, but still made an impact there.
• 27:04
  Give me Mariona Caldente as my. 4th midfielder.
• 27:07
  Love it. I think that makes a lot of
• 27:08
  sense. You talk about the culture, you
• 27:10
  talk about the pedigree, you talk about just the blinding
• 27:12
  skill creating something out of nothing.
• 27:14
  I think Mariona obviously a worthy pick.
• 27:17
  OK, I got one more and I think if we're going like in the in
• 27:21
  the spirit of a 343, I think for your 4, you could credibly from
• 27:26
  left to right play Marta, Walsh, Bonemati and Mariona.
• 27:31
  So I have yet to pick a left midfielder.
• 27:33
  I am going to pick the Norwegian girl writing from Chelsea
• 27:36
  Football Club. I like it.
• 27:38
  She started this season on a tear, six goals already in
• 27:40
  league play, tied for second in the league.
• 27:42
  She had seven goals and seven assists to start 2024 in all
• 27:46
  competitions, a pair of assists across the two Ajax fixtures in
• 27:50
  last year's Champions League quarterfinals.
• 27:52
  Ten goals and five assists in all competitions so far this
• 27:55
  early season. So in total for the year 2024,
• 27:58
  I'm throwing a lot of numbers at you, but she is at 17 goals 12
• 28:01
  assists in the calendar year. Very, very strong from a left
• 28:05
  midfielder. She had the four goal one assist
• 28:07
  performance in that eight nil victory over Bristol City at the
• 28:10
  end of the year to snatch the title away from Manchester City
• 28:13
  Football Club the same day they lost Arsenal.
• 28:16
  Right now the in league play this year she is top five in
• 28:18
  expected goals, key passes, passes into the penalty, crosses
• 28:21
  into the penalty area, expected assists and progressive passes
• 28:24
  received. She is number one in shot
• 28:26
  creating actions. She is a Norwegian wonder and a
• 28:30
  genius passer who can also score the ball.
• 28:33
  Love it. Love the pick.
• 28:35
  Some tough names on the cutting room floor here.
• 28:38
  In the midfield, I really struggled.
• 28:40
  Caldente versus Melchi Du Marnay, who I thought was
• 28:43
  unbelievable, is unbelievable. Good pass accuracy, great in
• 28:47
  terms of total passes connected. She's just, I mean, involved in
• 28:50
  everything offensively. She's got a fucking cannon.
• 28:53
  Like it's just a great player to watch.
• 28:55
  Batley, we didn't mention Lindsay, Doran, Manuel Giuliano,
• 28:58
  Georgia, Stanley, I think all deserve mentions in the
• 29:00
  midfield. But yeah, tough exercise.
• 29:03
  But let's pick our 44343. So as a reminder, we've got
• 29:06
  Temmo, Benda, CGH up top. Can we Sharpie and Itana here?
• 29:10
  You have to. OK, that's one spot.
• 29:13
  I feel like, well, who's your next lock?
• 29:15
  But let's let's do it that way. So if I Tana's a lock, who has
• 29:19
  to be on from your list? So here's The thing is that we
• 29:22
  don't have, we do not have a true and you can tell me if this
• 29:26
  is just not important to you. If we're just picking
• 29:27
  midfielders, we don't have a true player on the right.
• 29:31
  Like you could credibly play Mariona there.
• 29:34
  Typically she is a central playing player and then I think
• 29:38
  she'll slide over to the left occasionally.
• 29:40
  Same with Marta, right, and his exclusive, I think mostly
• 29:43
  exclusively player who plays on the left.
• 29:45
  Walsh is a defensive holding midfielder and Alexia and Cory
• 29:49
  Bethune are also more central, central players.
• 29:53
  I won't belabor this too much. I think you could credibly play
• 29:56
  Trinity Rodman at right midfield and that would work and she and
• 30:01
  she could do it. But if you want to say, hey, we
• 30:02
  drafted her in the forward room, let's leave her with the
• 30:05
  forwards, that is fine by me. Because I realize we're also
• 30:08
  trying to get the representative.
• 30:10
  We're doing a dance, right? We're trying to get the
• 30:12
  representative best 11. Your argument of how much do
• 30:15
  they really play there is pretty valid, I would say, for US
• 30:18
  women's national team. How many times did we see it was
• 30:20
  almost like they were clearing out the midfield and the
• 30:22
  interplay was between Fox and Rodman on that right hand side.
• 30:26
  If this was 1998 and we were playing a 442, Rodman would play
• 30:30
  right midfielder because she has the athleticism, the athletic
• 30:34
  character to always get back on defense.
• 30:36
  Yeah, I'm rambling. What do you think?
• 30:37
  Make make a ruling here on this one, boss man, I, I'm, I'm fine
• 30:41
  with it. I will posit Rodman.
• 30:42
  But if you say, hey, let's keep it to the midfielders we talked
• 30:44
  about, I'm fine with that too. Well, let let me spin it.
• 30:47
  Let me spin it back to you. Just really quickly.
• 30:49
  Would you take Rodman over some of our options here?
• 30:52
  Alexia, Marta, Diani, I'm looking at our attacking
• 30:56
  options. Corey Bethune, go right in.
• 30:58
  Mariona, I think, I think there's a credible argument to
• 31:00
  say Rodman does make the list, even if slightly out of
• 31:04
  position. But she's on the right side.
• 31:06
  And I think to your point, she does cover so much ground.
• 31:09
  I mean, she goes way, way deeper than just the midfield.
• 31:12
  So I think I think it's a yeah, I think we can go with Rodman
• 31:15
  there as long as you feel comfortable maybe bumping
• 31:18
  somebody down. Now, I will add one more lock to
• 31:20
  me, and I forgot to mention you a house ago.
• 31:22
  I'm surprised you didn't mention her as a city fan, as a city
• 31:25
  follower as well, just because, I mean, she's Manchester City,
• 31:28
  Kyra Walsh, basically. But I think Kyra Walsh for me
• 31:31
  has to be a lock. She's just so incredible when
• 31:35
  you think about a deeper defensive midfielder starting
• 31:38
  the offense from back there. And then especially since we're
• 31:41
  in a 343 where she could drop a little bit, win the ball back
• 31:44
  and then just kind of get things going, which is basically what
• 31:47
  she does for Barcelona. She's like, it's basically go
• 31:49
  time when she gets to it. Yeah, I think for me, Kira's got
• 31:53
  to be a lock, which then puts the onus on is it March?
• 31:57
  Well, I don't know, Is it March, Alexia?
• 31:59
  I mean, there's there's, what do we do there?
• 32:00
  Or how do you feel about Kira Walsh as a lock?
• 32:02
  No, I love it. I, I think, I think you're,
• 32:05
  you're on to something here. I I think she is somewhat of an
• 32:08
  unheralded player. Well, let's herald her, dammit.
• 32:10
  There we go. Consider her heralded.
• 32:12
  Now she has made the ITC Best 11 as a lock.
• 32:16
  So yeah, I think if you're playing a central midfield of
• 32:18
  Iitana Bone Mati and Kira Walsh, you're in great shape.
• 32:21
  And then if you have Trinity Rodman over on the right, you
• 32:24
  should feel great about that. So that leaves us with a left
• 32:29
  midfielder spot where we have Alexia, Cory Bethune, Marta and
• 32:34
  girl right. I am fine taking Deoni out of
• 32:36
  the mix because Rodman was my best 11 right midfielder.
• 32:40
  Deoni was my second best 11 right midfielder.
• 32:43
  And I, and I do understand. Please yell at me.
• 32:44
  I know Deoni doesn't explicitly play midfield, but you know, she
• 32:48
  could. And Mariona, you could, you
• 32:49
  could credibly play her on the left as well.
• 32:52
  So Marta Wrighton, Alexia Bethune, Mariona, those are our
• 32:57
  options for the. Left.
• 32:58
  Let me chime in here. Mariona, I'm OK saying she's
• 33:00
  like a second, a second teamer for me, Sure.
• 33:03
  Craig Bethune also had the truncated season, So I think a
• 33:06
  second team makes sense there. You could make the girl.
• 33:09
  Wrighton has an outside case, I would say, but I think we're
• 33:12
  really talking about Alexia versus Marta.
• 33:14
  I think you're right. I think I would.
• 33:16
  I mean, it pains me to say yeah. I mean, you know how I feel
• 33:18
  about Alexia Potaeus. Obviously she's a two time
• 33:20
  Bolland or winner. I think she's one of the three
• 33:23
  best players in the world. How many more of these can we
• 33:25
  give Demarto? At least one more.
• 33:27
  At least one more I'm fine with going with your hometown Orlando
• 33:31
  Pride and who you also argue is the best team in the world,
• 33:35
  where Alexia merely plays for the second best team in the
• 33:37
  world. Sounds like a tiebreaker to me.
• 33:39
  There we go. Just so everybody knows, that's
• 33:42
  at Dino, the channel on Twitter to yell at about Barcelona being
• 33:47
  the second best team in the world.
• 33:49
  Orlando Bride. Come on, man, we got CGH, we got
• 33:51
  Itana. Kira, might you wanna mix a
• 33:53
  short list? Alexia makes a short list.
• 33:54
  Or I mean, we're giving them the proper due.
• 33:57
  I love it until it gets settled on the field.
• 33:59
  My opinion holds. Let's let's let's leave it
• 34:01
  there. All right, so we've got our
• 34:03
  midfield. Couple quick hat tips as well to
• 34:05
  a couple of defensive midfielders.
• 34:06
  I want to mention Sam Coffey, Aaron Cuthbert, ITC Hall of
• 34:09
  Famer and Cuthbert so I can go. Damn right.
• 34:11
  We knocked it out, we got our forwards, we got our midfield.
• 34:13
  Let's go to the defense. As a reminder, we've only got 3
• 34:16
  spots here. Can I do a shout real quick for
• 34:18
  the? Midfield.
• 34:18
  Oh yeah, let's go. Momoko Tanakawa from FC
• 34:21
  Rosengarde, central midfielder in the Donmos Fencekin 16 goals,
• 34:26
  3 assists, led the leg in goals. Had her on my short list for
• 34:30
  sure. You mentioned Manuela Giuliano,
• 34:32
  you could make a real credible argument that at where she might
• 34:35
  be third team depending on how deep we are going.
• 34:37
  Absolutely totally agree with that.
• 34:39
  I think she was in the top 30 ish, Top 40 range, I think on
• 34:43
  both lists, the ESPN list and the guardian list.
• 34:46
  Yeah. And then you just see it on the
• 34:47
  field. She's just involved in
• 34:48
  everything. Super creative, impossible to
• 34:50
  handle. You just hope she misses either
• 34:51
  the pass or or whatever she tries to put on goal.
• 34:54
  So great shout there. Let's head to the back line.
• 34:57
  I think we're going to have very little overlap here in the back
• 35:00
  line. So I'm, I'm actually most
• 35:01
  excited for this conversation and maybe that's why I kind of
• 35:03
  wanted to start here, but here we are.
• 35:05
  That's interesting. OK.
• 35:06
  Because I thought, well, yeah, OK, I can see that.
• 35:09
  I can see that. I think we're going to agree on
• 35:10
  this one. Naomi Gurmaz, the best center
• 35:12
  back in the world today, and I'm going to take her on this team.
• 35:14
  And I realized that. Did the San Diego wave play
• 35:17
  well? It's not her fault there.
• 35:19
  Let's just say there are a few things going on over in San
• 35:22
  Diego that weren't exactly conducive to a winning
• 35:25
  environment. I don't know.
• 35:26
  I mean, I saw the Jill Ellis quotes.
• 35:28
  She said nothing to see here. Go home.
• 35:31
  I mean, it's a couple, couple people on the Internet.
• 35:34
  No. Yeah, a point taken.
• 35:35
  Obviously. Tremendous player.
• 35:37
  Had a great year on that US women's national team that
• 35:40
  crushed at the Olympics. Didn't make my first team,
• 35:43
  though, in my spot. Go ahead.
• 35:46
  Yeah, go ahead. Let me just make a little bit of
• 35:48
  a case here. She played 600 minutes across
• 35:50
  the six Olympic matches, every minute of every match because
• 35:54
  they went to extra time, 128 versus Japan in the quarters
• 35:57
  versus Germany in the semi finals.
• 35:58
  That team only allowed two goals over the courses of that six
• 36:01
  matches. She is the primary reason why in
• 36:04
  the league this season, she's #2 in pass completion percentage,
• 36:07
  she's number one in percentage of dribblers tackled, she's #3
• 36:10
  in progressive carrying distance, and she's #10IN
• 36:13
  clearances. I just find it difficult to
• 36:15
  argue that she's not the best center back in the world.
• 36:18
  And I feel like we're aligned on this.
• 36:19
  But I could also see the argument that you could be the
• 36:23
  best center back in the world, but maybe your calendar year of
• 36:26
  2024 didn't prove that or I don't know.
• 36:30
  I don't even know though, like maybe this just wasn't her your
• 36:33
  best year, but I still think just on general principle I
• 36:36
  would have her as my starting center back.
• 36:38
  I could definitely see where you're coming from.
• 36:39
  Obviously maybe the best defender in the world if you're
• 36:42
  starting A-Team, if you're playing tomorrow, like and you
• 36:44
  got first pick, I mean, it's probably way, way, way up in
• 36:47
  terms of who you'd want out there.
• 36:49
  My first pick and kind of like my starting center back Emily
• 36:53
  Sam's to me. Look at you.
• 36:55
  Hands down the biggest snub of Guardians top 100.
• 36:59
  An absolute farce of a list for not having Emily Sam's NWL
• 37:03
  defender of the year. She makes the team of the year.
• 37:05
  This team didn't concede goals in the NWL, like they just shut
• 37:11
  everything down. She is a maniac out there in the
• 37:14
  best way possible. She is a leader not only on the
• 37:17
  defense, but just basically her voice.
• 37:19
  You could just kind of see it echo on the field and she just
• 37:21
  gives everything like she's just so, so, so nasty.
• 37:24
  And I don't know, like if we're looking at what a player was
• 37:28
  able to produce the winning that came as a result of it, there's
• 37:31
  no way you could overlook a player like that.
• 37:34
  Like to me, and I think even versus Germa, because I kind of
• 37:37
  had that discussion in my head, I'm like, all right, who's 2024?
• 37:40
  What I rather have had and I think for me it's Emily, Sam's.
• 37:44
  I love it. God, you, you crafty son of a
• 37:46
  bitch. No, that's that's so good.
• 37:49
  I mean, you said it when we talked about Defender of the
• 37:51
  Year on our NWSL awards show. She's the best defender on the
• 37:55
  best defense in the world's most competitive league.
• 37:57
  I will, I will continue to beat that drum every opportunity I
• 38:00
  get. I think it's difficult to argue
• 38:02
  that this is the most competitive women's Football
• 38:04
  League in the world and that defense was just taking their
• 38:08
  opponents out of every single game.
• 38:10
  Obviously we talked about Marta and Benda and the scoring threat
• 38:14
  that they were able to create, but it started with the defense
• 38:17
  in Orlando. And so I, I just love this pick.
• 38:20
  I love that it can sound like a Homer pick, but you have all the
• 38:24
  stats and data to back it up. So I'm saying I'm not accusing
• 38:28
  you of making a Homer pick. I love that it sounds like a
• 38:31
  Homer pick, but you your argument is like, oh, I guess
• 38:34
  it's just not that important to win the double in the world's
• 38:37
  toughest league. Well.
• 38:38
  The double make the team of the year and you would defender the
• 38:41
  year in the toughest league in the world.
• 38:43
  There you go, I don't know what else.
• 38:44
  What else could you do? So that's fair.
• 38:47
  I mean, the only other thing she could have done was be the
• 38:49
  second center back in a pairing with Germa to win the gold
• 38:52
  medal, and she didn't do that. But I love your argument too.
• 38:56
  Who's she? Or would you rather have?
• 38:57
  Yes, you get that gold medal if you're Germa, but your club team
• 39:01
  is a disaster. And meanwhile, Sam's and her
• 39:04
  defense are running things over in the NWSL.
• 39:07
  Yeah, and Germa and some of those free agent rumor, you
• 39:11
  know, transfer window, she's in those some of those discussions.
• 39:14
  So who knows what's something to keep an eye on?
• 39:16
  All right, who do you? Who do you got?
• 39:17
  Man I love that. I fucking love that pic so much
• 39:19
  out of you buddy. That's great.
• 39:21
  Nice one. Appreciate you.
• 39:23
  OK, so I'm going to take, yeah, let's just do the thing at left
• 39:29
  back. I'm going to take over with
• 39:29
  Carmona. She is the standard bearer for
• 39:33
  Real Madrid. If you told me that I was
• 39:35
  starting a club and I needed to start from left back, I would
• 39:39
  take Carmona. She started 25 out of her 27
• 39:43
  appearances for club and country in 2024.
• 39:45
  She did not start in that bronze medal match first Germany, which
• 39:47
  I thought was a wee bit disappointing.
• 39:49
  I don't think that was her decision this year.
• 39:51
  She is top ten in passes and crosses into the penalty, also
• 39:54
  progressive passes received. She's also top ten in tackles,
• 39:57
  tackles 1 and dribblers tackled. How?
• 40:00
  How do you want it? How would you like her to play
• 40:02
  today? That's how she'll play and
• 40:04
  she'll be tough and she'll be smart and she'll be gritty.
• 40:07
  And she'll do absolutely everything that is required to
• 40:11
  win a football match. And if that is, I'm going to run
• 40:13
  forward and I'm going to take players on.
• 40:15
  I'm going to take opposing defenders on one-on-one, then
• 40:18
  I'll do that. Or if you need me to hang back
• 40:20
  and you need me to kind of captain the defense, I'll do
• 40:23
  that too. That's who she is as a player.
• 40:24
  I love her athletic character. I love the way she plays
• 40:27
  football. And I just think she absolutely
• 40:30
  raises Real Madrid's floor as they continue to add these other
• 40:34
  players. She raises the floor, no doubt.
• 40:37
  And then she contributes to the that rising ceiling that that
• 40:40
  club has as well. That's such a great point
• 40:42
  because if you're a big time player, I mean, obviously
• 40:45
  they've got great players there, Kaiseto senior prone, Caroline
• 40:49
  Weir, like they're they're pretty loaded.
• 40:50
  Yeah. But there's something about Ola
• 40:52
  Carmona as like almost like the personality of the team.
• 40:55
  Yes. It gives you a sense of comfort
• 40:57
  coming into that locker room, coming onto that squad and being
• 41:00
  like, all right, I have somewhat of an understanding of of what
• 41:03
  we want to do here and it's because of Carmona.
• 41:04
  I totally agree with that. I was in a real philosophical
• 41:07
  paddle at left back Olga Carmona or Selma Basha.
• 41:11
  So sure, you look at Hoist Gracie, who has Gracie Jiu
• 41:14
  Jitsu. You look at God, sham God, the
• 41:16
  creator of the sham God. Selma Bosha is the creative
• 41:20
  Bosha ball. Of course.
• 41:21
  You know, the art that is the perfectly floated in cross or
• 41:25
  free kick that looks like it was spit out by a computer.
• 41:28
  It's like the perfect speed, the perfect dip, the perfect
• 41:31
  trajectory and just seems to find its mark.
• 41:34
  You'd be hard pressed to find a more important non goalkeeper
• 41:38
  than Selma Bosha who doesn't score goals at all.
• 41:41
  Like yeah, her last Premier League goal was December 2022.
• 41:47
  Amazing. And since then, she only has one
• 41:50
  Champions League goal in just over two years time.
• 41:53
  And this is a player that is ranked #50 on the Guardians top
• 41:57
  100 and #31 on ESPN. She's ahead of Carmona on ESPN.
• 42:01
  She's a little bit behind on the Guardians list.
• 42:04
  So I mean, it's pretty much neck and neck.
• 42:06
  But I definitely am a purveyor of the Bashabal style.
• 42:10
  For me, I love all of Carmona. I think her game sometimes can
• 42:13
  feel a little rushed, a little frantic, and I think that's like
• 42:17
  the one micro the tiniest knock on her for me, because she could
• 42:21
  make every pass. She could do anything, she could
• 42:23
  do everything. And sometimes it's just a little
• 42:26
  a little too hot for my taste, I would say.
• 42:28
  But Bosh, I think like her style is perfect for that Leon side.
• 42:32
  You know, they've got those killers up front and as long as
• 42:34
  she's distributing as soon as she gets back, I think we're
• 42:36
  going to see her impact. I think she had a great 2024.
• 42:39
  It leads Leon had a ton of influence on on that team,
• 42:43
  getting to the Champions League final, winning the Premier
• 42:45
  League in France, D1 or Kema division, Femini, whatever,
• 42:48
  whatever they go by, you know these days.
• 42:51
  So my left back officially was Bosha, but I did want to call
• 42:54
  attention to that, that really tough push and pull between
• 42:58
  those two players, Bosha and Carmona.
• 42:59
  Yeah, and I think that's totally reasonable.
• 43:01
  I mean, I, I was looking at Bosha too, and I I think part of
• 43:04
  the tiebreaker is, you know, and it sucks, but Bosha's wasn't
• 43:08
  available at the beginning of this season.
• 43:11
  That was part of what pushed me over, over the edge on Carmona.
• 43:15
  But I think, I mean, ever since you and I really started talking
• 43:18
  women's football back in the 23 World Cup, she's just been one
• 43:22
  of my absolute favorite footballers to watch.
• 43:24
  And she backs it up on the field.
• 43:25
  So I mean, I'm with you though, Basha ball can't fuck with it.
• 43:28
  It's absolutely wonderful. She's a genius passer.
• 43:31
  She's absolutely vital to what Leon does.
• 43:33
  So, I mean, you know, we're, we're, we're splitting hairs
• 43:35
  here for sure. Crack this Crack this beer in
• 43:39
  celebration of two amazing left backs.
• 43:41
  By the way, I like it. Let's go.
• 43:42
  Phenomenal footballers. All right, so who's up?
• 43:47
  You're up. Yeah, I guess that would kick it
• 43:49
  back to me for right back. So I am going to go with this
• 43:56
  was another one where I was, I felt like I was splitting hairs
• 43:59
  between two players and it's funny because they play on the
• 44:02
  same team now. So I am going to take.
• 44:05
  I ended up taking Ashley Lawrence in my first team and
• 44:09
  that is because she is a stalwart of Chelsea's defense.
• 44:12
  To start the calendar year. She played the full 90 in
• 44:15
  something like 12 or 13 of the 20 matches she appeared in.
• 44:19
  She injects a level of intelligence and pace wherever
• 44:21
  she is on the field. She's one of the main reasons
• 44:24
  that Chelsea can go from causing a turnover deep in their own
• 44:27
  defensive 3rd to then celebrating a goal in the blink
• 44:30
  of an eye. And I'm going to do another
• 44:31
  little Olympics thing here. Ashley Lawrence played every
• 44:34
  second of every match for Team Canada in the Olympics.
• 44:37
  You might have heard they ran into a wee bit of trouble with
• 44:41
  the with the Olympic Committee and just rule followers in
• 44:45
  general. Eventually lost in the
• 44:46
  quarterfinals to Germany and PK's after 120 minutes.
• 44:50
  Couldn't settle things. And if memory serves, Canada
• 44:53
  really needed some steadying forces on that squad.
• 44:57
  And I'm going to go out on a limb and think that one of their
• 45:00
  absolute best players, actually Lawrence had quite a bit to do
• 45:03
  in that you could drop her can Canada does drop her on any part
• 45:07
  of the field at any time, whether it's an attacking
• 45:09
  player, a defensive player, the player in the midfield.
• 45:11
  And she goes a long way as a settling force of a wonderful
• 45:14
  player who makes good decisions. And when she plays right back,
• 45:17
  which is, you know, admittedly less often now for Chelsea
• 45:20
  Football Club now that Lucy Bronze has has been introduced
• 45:24
  into the lineup, I still want to give her her credit for this
• 45:28
  2024 being a fantastic year for her.
• 45:31
  Yeah. Great call out.
• 45:32
  You know, I mentioned at the top of this segment that I thought
• 45:35
  there'd be a little bit of the dissension here in the defense.
• 45:39
  Ashley Lawrence, who I love. You already know I'm one of the
• 45:41
  biggest Lawrence fans there is. And I totally Co signed the the
• 45:45
  the Canada success story. I mean, you remember they got
• 45:47
  docked those points and they needed to win all three just to
• 45:50
  make it through, which they did. Shout out to them.
• 45:53
  Didn't make my top three right backs interesting.
• 45:55
  OK, I looked at Lucy bronze. I mean, just win her through and
• 45:58
  through. All she does is win Lucy big
• 46:00
  game bronze or you know what time it is.
• 46:02
  Emily Fox, Olympic gold, force of nature for Arsenal.
• 46:05
  You know, it's just there's not that many players better than
• 46:07
  her at what she does. And then you got to look to
• 46:09
  Barcelona Onabatier, who moved to the right side to replace
• 46:13
  Lucy bronze. Obviously you could look at all
• 46:15
  right, well, what are we better? But those are my shortlist
• 46:17
  players. But for my third defender, I
• 46:19
  know this throws it a little out of whack, but I've got Bosha.
• 46:23
  It was a little slight, likes a play up field a little bit.
• 46:25
  So I think I kind of need a, you know, a little bit of a heavy
• 46:28
  hitter in my back three. And I'm going to take one of
• 46:31
  Ashley Lawrence's teammates, Vanessa Giel, part of that
• 46:34
  monster Lyon defense. To me, she's every bit as
• 46:37
  important as Wendy Renard for that team.
• 46:39
  Two goals in the Olympics, She's scoring for Lyon.
• 46:41
  She played all but 5 minutes for Canada in that Olympics.
• 46:45
  So I mean, involved in everything that they were doing
• 46:47
  there defensively. That's my third pick there,
• 46:49
  Vanessa Giel to round out my backline.
• 46:52
  Yeah, great pick. I mean, she is a massive threat
• 46:55
  on set pieces. She's able to play a physical
• 46:58
  style down near the goal when in her own defensive 18.
• 47:01
  Can't argue with that. And we've talked about too,
• 47:03
  she's just improved. 2024 was just a year that didn't start
• 47:07
  off great for her. She had a couple uneasy moments
• 47:09
  in the Champions League and then and I think it was the Kaki FW
• 47:12
  Gold Cup, but she bounced back seriously from that.
• 47:15
  So I think that is is an interesting pick.
• 47:18
  You're making my eye twitch a little bit because I feel like
• 47:22
  you were kind of disregarded starting The Who plays right
• 47:24
  back, who plays left back, who plays center back.
• 47:26
  But I will say that our pals at Fat Mob, they do say that Emily
• 47:32
  Sam's has gotten time at both center back and right back.
• 47:36
  I don't know how you feel about that because.
• 47:38
  I've written in the stars. So yeah, I wasn't sure how you'd
• 47:42
  feel about it, but I think it makes it makes sense.
• 47:46
  If we wanted to shift her over, you could essentially shift
• 47:51
  Sam's over to right back. And then we just have a
• 47:53
  conversation between Jill and Germa at center back in our
• 47:57
  three back lineup here. Who do you let's let's do the
• 48:00
  thing? Who do you feel most strongly
• 48:03
  about? I think once you scrub, you
• 48:05
  know, those couple funky moments from Vanessa, Jill, I think you
• 48:09
  can kind of make the case that she had a better 2024 also than
• 48:13
  Germa. And with Germa, you can't you
• 48:17
  can't argue with what she does on the field, right?
• 48:19
  But you do wonder how could things have gone so wrong in San
• 48:23
  Diego? And obviously, maybe it's a
• 48:24
  totally toxic environment and it was DOA like, who knows?
• 48:27
  But I kind of wish that there were more, I don't know, moments
• 48:31
  or big wins or it felt like that Wave team did nothing like all
• 48:35
  season, you know, like they just were almost a total no show.
• 48:39
  So for me, it's tough. I mean, obviously NAO Mcgurmont
• 48:41
  was on my second team for right? But I don't know, am I crazy for
• 48:44
  kind of thinking that Jill maybe slight edge over Gurma or am I
• 48:48
  kind of being a little too harsh because the team's success or
• 48:50
  lack thereof? It's definitely an interesting
• 48:52
  question. I mean, you know, Jill, she
• 48:54
  starts the first half of the calendar year.
• 48:57
  She plays for a team that's being coached by Sonia Bone
• 49:00
  Pastor. Then you know, they're Leon.
• 49:03
  And then we saw we saw what happened with San Diego Wave
• 49:07
  this year. I realize, and I, and I say this
• 49:10
  a lot of times, like when people talk about college football or
• 49:13
  professional football and they compare quarterbacks and they
• 49:16
  say, well, he beat him head to But I mean, USA had two pretty
• 49:29
  impressive wins over Canada in the CONCACAF W Gold Cup and the
• 49:33
  She Believes Cup now just went down to the absolute wire.
• 49:37
  Gio had that bad mistake in in one of those matches.
• 49:41
  Which was a function of like the.
• 49:43
  Monster. Terrible field.
• 49:44
  Yeah, the terrible field conditions.
• 49:46
  That's absolutely worth pointing out.
• 49:47
  I'm glad. I'm glad you mentioned that.
• 49:49
  If we're talking about trophies. So Leon wins the league, they
• 49:54
  win their League Cup, they win their playoffs, they win their
• 49:57
  their final. So Jill essentially is walking
• 50:00
  away with a treble and a Champions League final
• 50:03
  appearance even though they lost.
• 50:04
  And Germa's walking away with a gold medal but nothing else.
• 50:10
  And I think made second team all NWSLI.
• 50:13
  Don't think Germa made team of the year if I am remembering
• 50:18
  correctly. I don't think so either.
• 50:20
  So. Man, let me just check that
• 50:22
  real. Quick, quick Fact Check.
• 50:24
  Yep, Garma did not make the team of the year in the NWSL.
• 50:28
  I mean, it's Casey, Krueger, Sam's, Kaylee Kurtz, Jenna
• 50:31
  Nicewinger. OK, so this is the Trinity
• 50:34
  Rodman as listed as a midfielder.
• 50:37
  There you go. Come on man, Discussion over
• 50:40
  There you go. We, we're out here, we know
• 50:44
  stuff. We watch the games, bro, OK.
• 50:47
  There is just a, another part of my brain and this is a part of
• 50:50
  my brain I shouldn't listen to that often.
• 50:52
  So I feel like we've circled around this and I think you've
• 50:55
  kind of talked me into it. There is a part of me that
• 50:58
  doesn't want to release a best 11 that doesn't have Naomi Gurma
• 51:04
  in it. But I think, I think you've
• 51:05
  convinced me. I think Jill has the hardware
• 51:09
  this year, in the year 2024. Does it mean that I think, or
• 51:12
  that that we think even Vanessa Gill is a better player than
• 51:15
  Naomi Gurma? I don't think so.
• 51:17
  I I certainly don't think so. Well, I, I mean, there's nothing
• 51:20
  wrong with that. I mean, Alexia is not in our
• 51:22
  best 11. You know, she's certainly one of
• 51:25
  the best 11 players in the world.
• 51:26
  I mean, it has to be, you know, like it's not really the
• 51:29
  discussion that we're having. It's semantics really.
• 51:32
  But I feel like I could have been talked into Germa.
• 51:35
  But you know, I think honestly, it's weird, but the, the NWL
• 51:38
  team of the year, her not being listed there I think says a lot,
• 51:42
  you know, like because we're, we're talking about our global
• 51:44
  best 11. She didn't make the, the
• 51:46
  domestic the domestic 11. So I feel comfortable with Jill.
• 51:49
  She was my second ranked defender coming into this
• 51:52
  exercise. OK, I'm in.
• 51:53
  So Jill will be our center back, We'll play Emily.
• 51:56
  Sam's it right back. You know, I think Olga's
• 51:59
  availability really matters. I think her being the Talisman
• 52:03
  of Real Madrid and then them making a big jump from their
• 52:08
  Champions League performance last year into this year, yes,
• 52:11
  they added players, but those players get added into Olga
• 52:15
  Carmona's culture at Real Madrid.
• 52:18
  Yep. I mean, obviously, I know I'm
• 52:19
  stumping from my own pick. Do you think, do you think
• 52:21
  Bosh's cases is that much better than Olga?
• 52:24
  Where? Where do you land?
• 52:25
  I don't think so. I mean, I think the availability
• 52:28
  points of major one, yeah, it's been a while since we've seen
• 52:31
  Basha, right? So it doesn't mean that 2025
• 52:34
  can't be awesome. It doesn't mean that she didn't
• 52:35
  have awesome moments of 2024. No small feat to get on our
• 52:38
  second team. So I feel so dumb saying that
• 52:41
  little podcast, but let's go with Olga.
• 52:44
  Defensively, we've got Ola Carmona, Emily Sam's Vanessa
• 52:47
  Giel, love it rounding at the back line.
• 52:49
  I think that's pretty solid. Wanted to mention a couple
• 52:51
  players here, Glottis Perla, Vegas Dotiere got to get a
• 52:54
  mention, got to Irene Peretas champion through through Julia
• 52:58
  Gvin. I had a real tough time leaving
• 53:00
  her off of my two teams. Tarciana had a great year.
• 53:03
  I'm going to go a little Homer here and give a little shine to
• 53:06
  Kylie Strom from the Orlando Pride.
• 53:08
  Emily Sam's army me, who was also really excellent, played a
• 53:11
  ton of minutes this year. And while we're here, shout out
• 53:14
  to ITC the all the favorite Corey Dyke, first NW seller to
• 53:19
  join us on the show. Didn't make my list, but you
• 53:21
  know, obviously we love you Corey.
• 53:22
  Yeah, that was I was looking for ways to be like, OK, how can I
• 53:26
  get Corey onto this list? I mean, she had a she had a
• 53:28
  great year, man. I mean, when she gets into the
• 53:30
  starting lineup, she just took the baton and ran with it.
• 53:32
  Just a phenomenal player. I had Irene Panetta's on my
• 53:35
  third team, 33 years old, doesn't look slow.
• 53:38
  Absolute Stallworth back there at center back.
• 53:41
  I talked about Lucy Bronze, Monster performance in the
• 53:44
  Championship Champions League final that helped them win that
• 53:47
  Champions League also had a goal and I think an assist in that 4,
• 53:52
  four draw versus Benfica. That was just another big time
• 53:55
  performance, final match of the group stage.
• 53:57
  At 33 years old, Bronze remains reliable.
• 54:00
  She has nine matches for Chelsea in the WSL.
• 54:02
  She's played the full 90 and seven of those, she's played the
• 54:05
  full 90 and three of the four Champions League matches that
• 54:08
  she's played in. I understand that this is a bit
• 54:11
  of like just recency bias, but in the context of Lucy Bronze in
• 54:15
  that one, one draw versus Lester, where the team just
• 54:17
  looks completely lost at sea in the first half, she was the best
• 54:21
  player on the field for Chelsea in that entire match.
• 54:24
  And that's just because you can set your watch to a good Lucy
• 54:27
  Bronze performance, especially when she looks around and sees,
• 54:30
  hey, my teammates aren't getting it done today.
• 54:32
  Looks like I'm gonna have to be the one to carry this.
• 54:35
  That's just what kind of player she is.
• 54:37
  That's just sorry real quick. That's such an underrated skill.
• 54:41
  And I'm glad you called it out because it's like when that team
• 54:44
  was looking middling or when Chelsea is kind of like looking
• 54:48
  a little, you know, sluggish. You know, coffee hasn't kicked
• 54:50
  in yet. It just always seems like it's
• 54:52
  Lucy Bronze doing something wild, like, Yep, you know, going
• 54:56
  from right to left, from back to front, and she's just dropping
• 54:59
  little ingredients into the match.
• 55:00
  She's so, so, so good at doing that.
• 55:03
  Like some players will fall into the background when things
• 55:05
  aren't going well. She basically catapults way into
• 55:08
  the foreground in those moments. She's like, no, no.
• 55:10
  And now I'm going to get some camera time here.
• 55:12
  I mean, she's so, so, so good at those moments.
• 55:14
  What a player to have on your team.
• 55:16
  Yeah, that's a great way to describe her.
• 55:19
  And you can tell that's her personality type and that's why
• 55:21
  people rally around her. I also had Wendy Renar on this
• 55:24
  list looking at her compared to Vanessa Gill, looking at her
• 55:29
  compared to Germa and Sam's. I mean, she scores goals.
• 55:31
  She remains an elite threat on set pieces.
• 55:34
  She is still one of the better players in the world.
• 55:37
  I look at her kind of like a LeBron James in the sense of
• 55:40
  you're just like at the end end of your prime at this point,
• 55:44
  which still makes you one of the better players in the world.
• 55:47
  Everybody, you know, clearly reveres and respects her every
• 55:50
  time they they're within her presence.
• 55:52
  That's just who she is as a player.
• 55:53
  So I don't think we could do this without mentioning her.
• 55:55
  And then I just want to shout out Kirsten Kaspary at right
• 55:58
  back for Manchester City Football Club.
• 56:00
  Completely reliable, plays all the time, plays the full 90 all
• 56:04
  the time, makes good decisions, is tough.
• 56:06
  Still a young player kind of coming into her own.
• 56:09
  Would not be surprised if in future Best Elevens, Kirsten
• 56:12
  Kaspary starts to creep her way into our second team and
• 56:15
  possibly eventually the first team.
• 56:17
  I like it, yeah. And thinking about city
• 56:18
  definitely get well soon. Alex Greenwood.
• 56:21
  Yeah, let's shift gears to the goalkeeper.
• 56:23
  I guess I got first pick here. Go ahead, my man.
• 56:27
  Give me the legend. It's got to be Queue the Star
• 56:30
  Spangled Banner. American.
• 56:32
  Flag floating in the wind. Yeah, you know, I don't know for
• 56:36
  football sake, I think I'm OK still, you know, wrapping myself
• 56:39
  in the flag. Olympic gold for Alyssa wins AW
• 56:41
  Gold Cup when she believes goes out with a couple nice
• 56:44
  performances across the pond, some epic penalty kick moments
• 56:49
  both on the offense and the defensive side of the penalty
• 56:52
  kick proceedings. Just a great player.
• 56:54
  You can kind of Ding her a little bit and and I'll be I'll
• 56:56
  be interested to hear who you had at goalkeeper and if it's
• 56:59
  the same as who I had to round up my top two.
• 57:01
  I kind of shuffled back between these two players for sure, or
• 57:04
  in preparation for this exercise.
• 57:05
  But yeah, give me a listen there.
• 57:07
  Yeah, I think I I think she's the logical choice.
• 57:10
  I mean, you know, club form is always a little interesting for
• 57:14
  goalkeepers. You know, Chicago was in the
• 57:17
  mix. They make the playoffs.
• 57:18
  She had a dreadful year in 2023. She got the bounce back.
• 57:22
  That obviously part of that was it was an improved defense and
• 57:25
  improved culture over at Chicago Red Stars, not the Chicago
• 57:28
  Stars. I believe we'll cover that in
• 57:29
  the NWSL episode, but listen there.
• 57:32
  She shows up in those in those big matches.
• 57:35
  She makes important saves when she asks you, and if she needs
• 57:37
  to score penalty kicks for you, she'll do that on top of
• 57:40
  blocking the opponent's penalty kicks.
• 57:42
  She was my first team goalkeeper as well.
• 57:45
  She walks away from her historic career with a gold medal,
• 57:48
  marches into retirement. Well deserved my second
• 57:51
  goalkeeper and I'm with you. I, I was bouncing, I was
• 57:55
  bouncing between 4 goalkeepers here.
• 57:58
  It's just hard to make the decision.
• 58:01
  So I am going to take for the year 2024.
• 58:08
  Give me I'd see I like I have my second team goalkeeper and I
• 58:16
  still I still almost like am bouncing between.
• 58:19
  Just give me Kata Koi. She wins the she wins the she
• 58:24
  wins the quadruple for Barcelona.
• 58:26
  You know, I mean she wins the League Cup, she wins Copa de la
• 58:29
  Reyna, she wins league If she wins the Champions League, she
• 58:32
  is reliable back there. It's not all Barcelona's
• 58:36
  defense. She makes important saves when
• 58:38
  she has she has great diving ability.
• 58:40
  I think it could be easy. We've had this conversation for
• 58:43
  for great, great teams, it can be be easy to underrate a very
• 58:48
  good 2, great goalkeeper sitting behind those ten players.
• 58:52
  If we're looking at a player who has four trophies.
• 58:56
  And I know Spain was a little underwhelming and I know contact
• 58:59
  Koi made a couple questionable decisions during those Olympics.
• 59:03
  You won a quadruple this season, so I'm going to give it to her.
• 59:07
  But man, it was close. I had two other goalkeepers in
• 59:10
  mind. I'm curious if if they're the
• 59:11
  two that you're you're thinking of.
• 59:13
  Well, I'll tell you, I love the Katakoi pick because obviously
• 59:17
  you can't argue with the results.
• 59:18
  She is a great shot stopper, yes, and she has great
• 59:21
  instincts. She's very rarely in the wrong
• 59:23
  place. I can't knock that pick at all.
• 59:26
  My second goalkeeper on Katrin Beggar, yes, I mean changed
• 59:30
  Gotham upon arrival. Pretty much just like Vonda,
• 59:33
  like the minute she steps off the plane, like I think changes
• 59:35
  the fortunes of that team, carries them to the semis of the
• 59:38
  end of BSL playoffs. Olympic bronze medal as well.
• 59:41
  Had a similar type of performance.
• 59:43
  You know, the bearing of a penalty kick and and making
• 59:46
  huge, huge saves in the Olympics.
• 59:48
  Just a great year for that player.
• 59:50
  And I had two more on my shortlist.
• 59:51
  I had got that going on my shortlist.
• 59:53
  I'm curious to hear who else you had at goalkeeper.
• 59:55
  Yeah, I'm I'm glad you said on Katrinberger.
• 59:58
  She was the the person in in absolute contention for for my
• 1:00:02
  second team, even my even my first team, like you said,
• 1:00:04
  bronze medal at the Olympics 8. Sheets walking into Gotham FC
• 1:00:08
  81% save percentage will immediately change things.
• 1:00:12
  I think you will appreciate this.
• 1:00:15
  We talked about the best team in the best league, the English
• 1:00:19
  lass herself, the Lioness, Anna Morehouse.
• 1:00:22
  Let's go. I think she had 12 clean sheets
• 1:00:26
  in NWSL this year. Her clean sheet percentage was
• 1:00:28
  48%, good for first in the league.
• 1:00:32
  Well, Alma Schulte, who came into Kansas City Current, who
• 1:00:35
  was a great goalkeeping addition for them.
• 1:00:38
  She only played nine matches. So I think her goal, I think her
• 1:00:40
  clean sheet percentage was a little higher than Morehouse,
• 1:00:43
  but in significantly fewer matches.
• 1:00:45
  I think she only played nine matches for Kansas City.
• 1:00:47
  Please you know in the comments correct if I'm wrong on that,
• 1:00:49
  but Morehouse. Great size, great shot stopping
• 1:00:52
  ability, great instincts and is the goalkeeper for the team that
• 1:00:55
  won the double in the most competitive league in the world.
• 1:00:58
  Yep. Definitely made my short list.
• 1:00:59
  I'll say Christian Endler as well.
• 1:01:02
  I think we both had their first. So that's our starting
• 1:01:05
  goalkeeper, right? 100% the Olympics and then the
• 1:01:08
  iconic moments of burying penalties, even though, you
• 1:01:12
  know, we're not pretending like she believes in the Conga.
• 1:01:15
  FW Gold Cup are like massive, massive tournaments.
• 1:01:18
  Although I will, I will argue in favor of the CONCACAF W Gold Cup
• 1:01:21
  because there are good teams in that tournament and it was very
• 1:01:24
  competitive play. But just her performances in
• 1:01:27
  those matches that clearly mattered to both sides.
• 1:01:30
  It's hard to argue about her impact this year.
• 1:01:33
  Yeah, I totally agree. And I think you could look at
• 1:01:35
  she believes in the Gold Cup as real precursors to the Olympics
• 1:01:39
  to kind of like springboard them to to that gold medal.
• 1:01:41
  So can't take anything away from those performances.
• 1:01:45
  I want to do a quick recap of our ITC starting 11.
• 1:01:48
  So we've got Temu Chuenga, Barbara Benda, Carolyn Graham
• 1:01:51
  Hansen, Aitana Beaumati, Marta, Kira Walsh, Trinity Rodman and
• 1:01:57
  then in the back we've got Olga Carmona, Vanessa Giel, Emily
• 1:02:01
  Sam's and Alyssa Nair in goal. It's a pretty good 11 buddy.
• 1:02:05
  I think we I. Think we've done something here?
• 1:02:07
  I'm going to spring something on you right now.
• 1:02:09
  You ready? We've got our eleven.
• 1:02:12
  Who is your manager of the year now?
• 1:02:16
  I'm going to put 4 three names that I want you to chew on a
• 1:02:19
  little bit. We've got Emma Hayes, Chelsea,
• 1:02:22
  US women's national team. Got to be in the mix.
• 1:02:25
  Seb Hines. NWSL wins everything, raises the
• 1:02:29
  shield. Undefeated.
• 1:02:30
  No team had ever won the double in the NWSL.
• 1:02:32
  Just start there. Yeah.
• 1:02:34
  Unbelievable. Or Yonatan Hidaldes takes the
• 1:02:38
  spirit to the to the final second place finish in the NWSL.
• 1:02:42
  And that's after leading Barcelona to winning every
• 1:02:44
  single trophy imaginable of those three.
• 1:02:47
  And yeah, I feel free to throw somebody else in there, but I, I
• 1:02:49
  feel like those are, are maybe the gold, silver, bronze.
• 1:02:53
  Who would you want calling the shots for the ITC starting
• 1:02:56
  eleven of those 3? I mean, you obviously could not
• 1:02:59
  go wrong with any of the three, but I was going to go to it and
• 1:03:04
  I was hoping to sound very clever, but it's pretty common
• 1:03:07
  knowledge and you alluded to it before.
• 1:03:09
  There is something to the fact that Jonathan at all does wins
• 1:03:12
  the quadruple at Barcelona, then shows up in Washington and helps
• 1:03:17
  lead the team to the NWSL championship, even with the
• 1:03:20
  injury issues that they had. And it's rare.
• 1:03:23
  And obviously Seb Hines didn't have the opportunity to kind of
• 1:03:26
  do that. And Emma Hayes, she had a little
• 1:03:28
  bit of that in the sense of, you know, Chelsea wins the league.
• 1:03:32
  They don't win the FA Cup, though, and they didn't they
• 1:03:34
  don't win the Champions League. But then she comes and helps USA
• 1:03:37
  win a gold medal. She has some like
• 1:03:39
  intercontinental championship vibes herself.
• 1:03:44
  But I'm going to give the edge to HUD all does, because what a
• 1:03:47
  year that is to take home all those trophies in Spain and then
• 1:03:51
  you just come over to America and you and you come this close
• 1:03:54
  to not only, you know, winning the NWSL championship, but you
• 1:03:57
  they were in shouting distance of the shield for for a long
• 1:04:00
  stretch of the season. Love it.
• 1:04:01
  Very cool story, bro. All right, so I'm going to
• 1:04:03
  pencil in Seb Hines here. There we go.
• 1:04:06
  That's fine. No, that's totally fine.
• 1:04:09
  He won the double in the world's most competitive league.
• 1:04:11
  That's totally fine, no? No, no, no, I'm just joking.
• 1:04:14
  I'm. I'm really.
• 1:04:17
  Nice to go. I'm really like, I'm in a mental
• 1:04:20
  game of rock, paper scissors between these 3 to be honest,
• 1:04:23
  because like you really cannot go wrong with either of the
• 1:04:26
  three if you think it's Hidal does.
• 1:04:29
  You know, interestingly enough, I typed in Hidal does first of
• 1:04:32
  the three names in my little Google doc here.
• 1:04:34
  I'm not sure if that means something or if you know, my
• 1:04:36
  finger was just close to the J on my keyboard.
• 1:04:39
  But I think I might agree with you.
• 1:04:40
  I think what he did at Barcelona and to be able to just get
• 1:04:43
  dropped in taking that team to the final.
• 1:04:47
  And I think I was pretty loud out about saying, Hey, I think
• 1:04:50
  Orlando KC is the final, right? I think these are the two best
• 1:04:53
  teams. I was proven very wrong.
• 1:04:55
  Like what, once the final came to pass, Obviously the finals,
• 1:04:58
  the final, it's tough. It's it's tense, but they played
• 1:05:01
  their ass off. They were really, really tough
• 1:05:03
  to contend with. And it's, you know, when you
• 1:05:05
  start to think about, OK, what is this team going to look like
• 1:05:07
  once he has a full training camp, a full year, you know,
• 1:05:10
  like, like a really chance to build relationships, to build
• 1:05:13
  chemistry. Pretty scary.
• 1:05:15
  I I think I can go along with it.
• 1:05:16
  I'll just pick as the manager of the year.
• 1:05:18
  OK, and it's no disrespect to Seb Heinz because I I realized I
• 1:05:22
  made the case and you know, obviously we got Emma Hayes in
• 1:05:24
  this mix too, so you just can't go wrong.
• 1:05:27
  I I wouldn't argue any of the three.
• 1:05:30
  Yeah, Heinz Heinz is such a beast too.
• 1:05:33
  And you already know what time it is with Emma Hayes on a short
• 1:05:35
  on a short timeline going into the Olympics, a grinded out
• 1:05:40
  tournament, the. 18 player roster. 18 Ridiculous.
• 1:05:44
  Yeah. And the immediate respect and
• 1:05:46
  cachet that she had with all those players.
• 1:05:48
  Like she's doing a press conference after they win the
• 1:05:50
  gold medal and she talks about the importance of Lindsay Huran.
• 1:05:53
  Lindsay Huran, who, you know, again, we always say we don't
• 1:05:55
  know these people. She doesn't strike me as an
• 1:05:57
  overly emotional person. But Emma Hayes talks about
• 1:06:00
  Lindsay Huran and Lindsay Huran is crying at the press
• 1:06:03
  conference. These women have known each
• 1:06:04
  other for like a matter of months, like and and Emma Hayes
• 1:06:07
  immediately has this this impact on them.
• 1:06:10
  So yeah, I think it, I think it's all does by a nose.
• 1:06:14
  Love it. OK, I think we did it.
• 1:06:16
  Anything else you want to hit before we get out of here?
• 1:06:18
  No, man, I think we safely can say we have the single greatest,
• 1:06:23
  best 11 of any women's football podcast out there.
• 1:06:27
  Especially, I mean, especially hosted by two Bros.
• 1:06:29
  You already know what time it is.
• 1:06:30
  We dominated that category. I'd put our best 11 up against
• 1:06:33
  any other podcast. I love it.
• 1:06:35
  The ITC bestest 11. I think we did it this bit I'll
• 1:06:40
  ever submit to the channel. Thank you, thank you, thank you
• 1:06:41
  for watching, listening, following, liking, subscribing,
• 1:06:43
  commenting, just playing hanging out with your boys and we want
• 1:06:46
  to hear from you. Let us know what we got right.
• 1:06:47
  Let us know what we got wrong. Shout out to our guys, MLS
• 1:06:50
  architect Justin and our girls CTX go.
• 1:06:53
  The comments were on fire last week.
• 1:06:56
  We didn't get a chance to get back to everybody, but you know
• 1:06:58
  a lot of good vibes. So we appreciate all of that.
• 1:07:01
  Remember to like if you liked subscribe or follow into the
• 1:07:04
  channel, YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast, wherever you like to
• 1:07:07
  watch or listen. Leave us a review over at your
• 1:07:09
  favorite podcast app, links to all of our socials in the
• 1:07:11
  showness of this episode, and a big thank you to my coast as
• 1:07:14
  well, Mr. Grant Angle for I'm not going to hold it against
• 1:07:17
  you. Maybe you got me this year,
• 1:07:18
  maybe you didn't. But I mean, they don't make a
• 1:07:21
  sharpie big enough for me to write pencil your name into my
• 1:07:24
  ITC personal record book. So I appreciate you, bro.
• 1:07:27
  Couldn't do it without you. Likewise, buddy, thank you for
• 1:07:29
  humoring me and thank you for working more as a team this
• 1:07:33
  year. So you embarrass me once again
• 1:07:35
  and have our pals vote on who had the best team.
• 1:07:38
  I'd liked my my chances but I wasn't super confident.
• 1:07:41
  Let's just say that. But thank you to everybody, like
• 1:07:44
  Dino said for chiming in, dropping knowledge in the
• 1:07:46
  comments. We always appreciate you all.
• 1:07:48
  Thank you for rocking with us this year and we will see you
• 1:07:50
  all next time.