Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / 🇺🇸 USWNT BEATS CHINA PR 3-0 | 🚨 Jona Giráldez EXITS Washington Spirit for OL Lyonnes

Transcript

🇺🇸 USWNT BEATS CHINA PR 3-0 | 🚨 Jona Giráldez EXITS Washington Spirit for OL Lyonnes · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:03
Oh Kate, welcome to Into the Channel podcast primarily about
0:08
women's football. I'm your host Dino de Suspitas
0:10
and as always, I am joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Angle.
0:15
What is up man? I'm all right, man, a pretty
0:19
good day of football. Some men's football, some
0:22
women's football. I'd say it was a full Saturday.
0:24
How are things going over there? I heard about that, Yeah, a
0:28
little, yeah. The men, the men got a little
0:30
busy today. I'll catch up with that later.
0:33
But yeah, big, big, big match up for the US women's national
0:37
team. Excited to get into that one.
0:39
And you know that a lot of catching up on sleep post
0:42
Champions League. That was that was quite the
0:45
roller coaster. But yeah, I'm excited to look
0:48
ahead, recap what we saw today. So, you know, a little bit of a
0:52
formality. But Mr. Grant Engel, where do I
0:54
get started? Well, before we get to the
0:56
match, let's first start with a delicious beverage is it is
1:01
Saturday night, as it were. See, that's why I got to go on
1:05
this stuff, this kind of stuff. Cheers.
1:10
Cheers to you. Cheers to the football, of
1:12
course, but cheers to some footballing news.
1:15
Because if there's one thing two guys who want to do a sports
1:19
radio hack version of a women's football show want to talk
1:22
about, it's transactions as well, not just the girls.
1:27
To my knowledge. I mean, it's pretty much
1:29
confirmed a done deal. Stephen Goff of the Washington
1:33
Post backed up some reporting by Jeff Kasuf, who by the way,
1:38
apologies to Jeff I, we've apparently been mispronouncing
1:42
his name. I believe it is pronounced Kasuf
1:45
and not cast off as as we've been saying, sorry, we've been
1:48
reading, not listening, but I digress.
1:52
This report from Stephen Goff and Jeff Kasuf talking about
1:58
Yonatan Heraldez going from Washington Spirit to Olympic
2:04
Lyon. And I got to tell you buddy,
2:08
seems like a lot of digital eyebrows were raised across WO.
2:12
So, social media, how did you absorb this news?
2:17
Pretty shocked. There's so much to unpack here.
2:21
You know, obviously you have and I'll be, I'll be honest, I know
2:25
that the first place my mind usually doesn't go where the the
2:28
crowd goes. The first place my mind went to
2:31
and I don't even know where the crowd went necessarily, but the
2:33
first place my mind went to was I think Hidal.
2:37
This is probably a little bit homesick for Europe.
2:40
You know, this is just a weird take, but that was my first
2:43
take. I'm like, great, this guy, you
2:44
know, grew up, came up through that Barcelona program, you
2:47
know, through La Macia and all that and like has tremendous
2:50
success there. Crosses the pond over here.
2:53
It it's just not the same. Even though he's joining, you
2:56
know, a top flight organization and that that could get a little
3:01
lonely. It could get a little
3:02
disorienting. It could, you know, you never
3:04
really know, you know what, what's at play behind the
3:06
scenes. But that was my first thought.
3:08
I'm very curious to hear your first thought.
3:11
And generally the Internet consensus, the Woesso consensus.
3:14
What did I miss here? So I think that's all fair game.
3:18
I'm glad you you brought that up.
3:19
And I think one of the reports that I'd read said that her
3:23
Aldez and his wife are expecting their second child.
3:26
So that could like be a factor. Like you talk about being
3:30
homesick, wanting to live in Europe.
3:32
In this case, you know, obviously living in Lyon would
3:35
take you much closer to Spain. It seemed like the the
3:39
collective eyebrow raising was around the optics, frankly, of
3:47
Geraldo's going from 1 Michelle Kang owned club to another.
3:52
And whether or not this looks like Washington Spirit almost
3:58
served as a placeholder from Herald is going from Barcelona
4:04
to Lyon and just Washington Spirit being a pit stop in the
4:08
middle and almost a feeder club to something that could be
4:12
considered Michelle Kang's bigger concern.
4:16
And I can tell you like it. Maybe it is a little bit of a,
4:19
of a cynical read on things, but if you're Heraldez and you and
4:23
you tell your boss or you tell your future boss Michelle Kang,
4:28
hey, I do want to accept that big bag of money that you want
4:31
to give me to manage Lyon. But it's a terrible look if I go
4:35
from Barcelona right to Lyon after we beat you in the
4:37
Champions League, what can we work out now?
4:41
I think it's important to say that Dino and I, we have some,
4:45
we have some professional relationships with folks at
4:49
around the US women's national team, some folks in the NWSL.
4:53
Obviously I'm not, I'm not talking to any sources.
4:55
I don't have like I'm nowhere near a Stephen Cough or Jeff
4:59
Kasufa on this kind of thing. I'm just kind of theorizing and
5:03
kind of given the, some of the, some of the thoughts that I,
5:06
that I saw around the Internet. But I don't think you don't have
5:09
to be an Aaron Rodgers level conspiracy theorist to look at
5:12
this and go huh, that looks pretty weird in hindsight that
5:16
this dude goes to Washington Spirit and is going to be there
5:18
less than a calendar year and immediately go back to Leo.
5:23
Yeah, well, I mean, I mean expecting a second kid, you
5:26
know, we definitely have to take that into consideration.
5:29
I'm I'm in that same boat, expecting a second kid, even
5:32
though I've been I I left Florida, right.
5:34
See you later back to California.
5:37
Any who I, I, I don't see the, you know, 4 dimensional chess
5:42
angle of like, all right, we're going to just like just sort of
5:44
like pull the wool over everybody, especially because
5:47
you figure out, you know, I, I was just Googling here real
5:49
quick. The Leon departures, usually Le
5:52
Samer, Jennifer Motto, Jean Jiel, Sofia, where it's a, you
5:56
know, a lot of big names. You would have to these
6:02
departures were announced, you know, obviously, like some of
6:04
them we saw coming, some of them were, you know, probably a
6:08
result of this season. It would take a lot of like
6:11
collusion for Kang and Hidaldes to be like, OK, what do we think
6:16
about Marijan? Like, is she going to stay or I
6:18
know I'm in Washington right now and I'm like, I'm in a I'm in a
6:21
club room closet trying to, you know, make some decision from,
6:24
you know, from across the pond. It seems a little bit far
6:27
fetched. I think it's probably more a
6:29
situation where and you have to imagine what if Lyon beats
6:34
Arsenal, takes Barcelona to extra time.
6:39
And I mean God, you know, they they could, they could have what
6:43
you know, we talked seriously about Leo maybe winning this
6:45
tournament, you know, so I think I think if that tournament goes
6:48
differently, you know, Montemurro, like good chance
6:51
he's still got his job. I think that utter flame out
6:54
versus Arsenal in the semi final probably accelerated things, but
6:58
it doesn't I I don't I don't see the whole, you know, behind the
7:01
scenes machinations and and all the kind of like nefarious white
7:05
boarding, you know, that that maybe maybe you might be
7:07
alluding to. Yeah, And you know, I, I totally
7:11
recognize that it could be, there would be a lot that would
7:15
that would go into that. I just think if you were the
7:18
NWSL as a league and the fans of the league who are, you know,
7:24
such a powerful voice in the league are kind of looking at
7:27
this. And it was a coup when they got
7:30
Geraldus. I mean, you and I talked about
7:32
it. It's like, wow, we're we're
7:33
talking. And he hadn't won the Champions
7:35
League yet, but we had a feeling he was on his way.
7:38
This dude led the the best team in the world or maybe the second
7:42
best team in the world at that point to Orlando Pride, you
7:44
know, depending on how people looked at it that season.
7:47
And this guy was going to be a multiple time Champions League
7:49
winner and was going to come over to this league in America,
7:53
this very, you know, healthy, legitimate league that people
7:56
try that people argue is the best league in the world,
7:59
certainly the most competitive. We could again, we have that
8:02
conversation. Does most competitive mean the
8:03
best, etcetera, etcetera. But it was it was a huge win,
8:07
especially when people, you know, when you kind of stack up
8:09
some of the other things of like Naomi Germa heading over to
8:13
Europe herself. And so you you kind of look at
8:16
this on balance and say, OK, well, you know, we're we're
8:19
doing things over here in this league that people care, care so
8:22
much about. And now for him to to slide
8:25
right over, but also to go to his same boss's other club.
8:30
I just think there is, if you're other team owners in the league,
8:34
they'll probably be very curious about this.
8:37
And you know, I, I think any, any pals of the show know I'm
8:41
certainly wary of the billionaire class and the ruling
8:44
class in general. There's a part of me that thinks
8:47
they probably don't care. They say do whatever you want,
8:50
just like we do whatever we want.
8:53
But I would think some of them might feel some type of way of
8:57
don't mess with the legitimacy of our league.
9:00
And I'm gonna I'm gonna say something here.
9:02
And I don't mean to be like inflammatory.
9:04
The MLS on the men's side of football is the retirement
9:07
league. It's a wreck league for for
9:09
formerly great footballers it but in most cases, and you don't
9:14
want the NWSL to turn into the feeder league to to great
9:19
European football. So because the NWSL is great and
9:22
has elite players in it right now, a couple of whom play for
9:26
Washington Spirit. So I just think the look is
9:29
really uncomfortable for a couple of different sides here.
9:33
There's definitely a case to be made against having a, a playing
9:39
field that isn't level, you know, So you, you could imagine,
9:43
OK, now if you're Michelle Kane, you could, you know, you've got
9:46
London City too, you've got OL, you have Washington.
9:49
You could just sort of you zoom out, you could sort of be like,
9:53
OK, now here's here's a multi year plan to kind of move
9:56
players from team to team and kind of have these.
9:59
Yeah. And it's a very unfair
10:01
competitive advantage for Michelle King.
10:04
You know, basically those organizations just to be able to
10:06
draw from the other other organizations and just have kind
10:09
of organizations down the line and just basically have your own
10:12
minor league system to be able to draw from that other teams
10:15
can't. And then you have, you know,
10:17
basically, you know, you're you're on third base when it
10:20
comes to negotiating, you know, moves, you know, over to the
10:23
States and vice versa. You know, I, I don't know that I
10:26
would necessarily blame, you know, Michelle Kang or a
10:29
tribute, you know, players going over to Europe.
10:32
Europe's an attractive place to play football just period.
10:35
You know, like that's that's kind of going to be the case for
10:37
a while until it's not. But I think, I think the the
10:43
unleveling of the playing field, I think there's some real danger
10:46
there. And it's a funny side of the and
10:48
I don't even really know if I'm, if I'm arguing for this or any
10:52
like, I'm just kind of like trying to look at it because as
10:56
as some of our pals who who watch the show have noted in in
10:59
past comments or on even past social media posts, I, I prefer
11:04
the European style of football. I kind of skew that way.
11:07
I love the NWSLI, love covering it.
11:09
It's a great league. I like to go to the matches, but
11:12
like the my taste in football, I typically, you know, kind of
11:16
lean on on that side of things. So, and you know, we talked
11:20
about it with Lisa Mayer's, with Lisa Mayer leaving Lyon when the
11:24
OL Group owned Seattle Rain and they were OL Rain.
11:29
I talked about I watched Eugenie Laissemer play at a minor League
11:33
Baseball stadium in Tacoma because she came on loan.
11:36
Jennifer Marjon, coincidentally enough, was in that match as
11:39
well for OL Rain at at Cheney Stadium in Tacoma.
11:43
So like this is this isn't exactly totally foreign either.
11:48
I just think, and you know, we haven't even mentioned Adrian
11:51
Gonzalez name yet, he's going to step in as the manager.
11:55
I think of the reporting from Stephen Goff was that he's
11:57
already signed a multi year deal to be the manager.
12:01
There was also an interesting piece of that report.
12:03
Let me just make sure I have it here from that Washington Post
12:05
article where Stephen Goff wrote quote In anticipation of
12:09
Geraldo's returning to Europe in the foreseeable future, the
12:13
Spirit last offseason turned down requests by multiple NWSL
12:18
teams to interview Gonzalez for their head coaching jobs.
12:21
A person familiar with the matter set.
12:24
Before joining Washington, Gonzalez coached Espanol Femini
12:28
in his native Spain. So that I think that is a little
12:32
bit of extra context for maybe some of the conspiracy theories
12:36
kind of start, you know, that's how they gain a little bit of
12:40
momentum. But I do think I think you could
12:43
very much be on to something. And I know us living in America,
12:47
we're not satisfied with a lot of the conditions, we'll call
12:51
them happening in our country right now.
12:54
And if, you know, if you're a guy who moves over here with
12:56
your family and you kind of see what happens, let's say, oh, I
13:01
put a date on it somewhere around like November of last
13:03
year that you might be like, hey, mate, you know, France
13:07
isn't so bad compared to a lot of this stuff.
13:10
Yep, yeah. And I could definitely see that
13:12
that Gonzales nugget is interesting because that
13:17
definitely smells a little bit of collusion, even if you just
13:21
take off the table. OK, let's assume that they
13:24
weren't trying to lock down Gonzales for the spirit side,
13:28
but even then they're like, OK, well, yeah, you know, hang out,
13:32
you know, the OL job. We don't know London City, we
13:35
don't know there's there's going to be some promotion there now
13:38
up to the WSL, who know, you know, who knows what else is,
13:41
you know, on the on the on the road map over over at Michelle
13:46
King headquarters. So that type of thing is a real
13:51
point of contention. But if you're the owners and and
13:54
the league tough to kind of negotiate something like that,
13:58
like, you know, it's tough to put guard rails up like against
14:00
that. And you know, we talked about
14:01
this totally different situation with the savvy king situation
14:04
where it's like, you know, until something like that comes up and
14:08
now everybody's got a chance to wrap their head around it.
14:10
It's tough to like really put up regulations to, to kind of keep
14:14
things on an even keel. That's a great point.
14:17
No, I think you're totally right.
14:18
And, you know, if there's one thing that I know about
14:22
billionaires, they sure love being told what to do.
14:25
So I'm sure even if a bunch of the other team owners came to
14:28
Michelle Kang, we're like, hey, we don't like what you're doing.
14:30
I'm sure she'd react real positively to that feedback.
14:34
I do want to say one thing because I'm obviously such a
14:37
nerd on this kind of stuff. And I, you know, am an
14:41
unapologetic fan of Manchester City Football Club, operated by
14:45
the City Football Group. And I think it's important to to
14:50
kind of remember that City Football Group owns Girona FC in
14:55
Spain on the men's and women's side, just like they do
14:58
Manchester City, they own New York City Football Club.
15:01
I think they might own like Melbourne City.
15:03
I think in Australia perhaps. But when Girona qualified for
15:07
the men's Champions League, and obviously City is a staple in
15:09
the in the men's Champions League, UEFA had to come out
15:12
with a ruling. The Uefa's club financial
15:15
control body Chamber had to come up with a ruling because the
15:19
previous rule said if you own 2 clubs, they can't both be in the
15:23
Champions League and potentially compete against each other.
15:26
And I just think in this ruling that I believe was published on
15:30
July 5th, 2024, they basically really came out with a press
15:34
release that said, hey, look, City Football Club has has made
15:36
a couple moves. And so we're going to allow both
15:39
of these teams in there. And so as did I think it's
15:42
pronounced Ineos. They're the jokers who own the
15:44
other, the other Manchester club, Manchester United, they
15:48
own United and OGC Nice in France.
15:53
But the what they said that those clubs had to demonstrate
15:57
to allow both of those clubs in the Champions League was quote,
16:00
no one is simultaneously involved directly or indirectly
16:05
in any capacity whatsoever in the management, administration
16:09
and or sporting performance of more than one club participating
16:13
in a UEFA club competition. And the second point is, and I
16:16
quote, no one has control or decisive influence over more
16:21
than one club participating in a UEFA club competition.
16:26
And so we might end up getting a weird situation depending on who
16:30
goes over to play for the London City Lionesses.
16:33
Because, you know, Leon's going to be there.
16:35
And if London City has to go there too, is Michelle Kang
16:37
really going to be able to look anybody in the eye with a
16:39
straight face and say, no, no, no, I'm not.
16:42
I don't have decisive influence over more than one club trying
16:45
to compete in these competitions.
16:47
But you know, it is UEFA, so we'll see.
16:53
Yeah, you know, just a stand up group over there.
16:55
So, you know, we'll, we'll just let them, you know, go through
16:58
the diligence, sort it, sort everything out.
17:00
All right, Something we'll definitely keep a keep an eye
17:02
on. But I want I want to get to the
17:04
football where a lot of the NWSL stars you you you mentioned were
17:11
both covers of the league and some big time NWSL talent on
17:16
display tonight or actually today.
17:19
USA, three People's Republic of China NIL.
17:24
Where do we get started with this one?
17:27
I mean, let's do chronological order here.
17:29
Let's go. When you saw the line up, I
17:33
think I can run through it quickly.
17:34
Here we had PTJ and goal. Avery Patterson, Naomi Germa,
17:38
Emily Sonic, Crystal Dunn, back 43 midfielders, Sam Coffee, Lily
17:43
Johannes, Lindsay Heaps and then your forwards Michelle Cooper,
17:49
who we we need to talk about won her choice to be, you know, put
17:52
in the starting line up and what we talked about when these when
17:55
this roster was announced, Cat Macario in the middle and Elissa
17:58
Thompson on the left. What did you think about the
18:01
roster or the squad? Pardon me.
18:04
I was excited, you know, a little, not a little Orlando
18:10
Pride underrepresented. So that that was a little bit of
18:12
a bummer. But I was excited to see Avery
18:14
Patterson in the starting lineup.
18:15
That was cool that that midfield, very, very muscly,
18:21
real muscly midfield there that was going to, you know, pose a
18:24
problem, you know, for China, although China was up for it
18:26
physically, they were happy to kind of mix it up and, you know,
18:32
just turned it into it. Like they're like, hey, you're
18:33
not going to overwhelm us with you with your athleticism.
18:37
They held tough for sure. And then the front three, I
18:40
thought a really nice balance like Cooper on one side, Alyssa
18:44
Thompson on the other, Macario. I like the Elyssa Thompson
18:47
Macario pairing because they like to occupy different spaces,
18:50
move around, you know, they can't, they definitely keep
18:52
defenses on their heels. So I think going into it, I, I,
18:56
I was excited. Not, not a bunch of differences
18:59
between I think the 11 that we looked at, I probably had like 6
19:03
or 7 of of the 11. I think between, between the two
19:06
of us, we, we came really close to, to kind of nailing all of
19:09
them. I think so.
19:11
I mean, Sana and Dunn surprised me, obviously I, I don't think
19:15
either of us had either of them in our elevens when we, when we
19:20
gave our predictions. But you know, that's a lot of,
19:25
that's a lot of genius on the field at once.
19:27
That's a lot of experience on the field at once in that back
19:30
4. The thing that made me laugh
19:33
about Michelle Cooper is that we both talked about when the
19:35
roster came out and we both made our elevens.
19:38
I immediately as I was doing it on 1st blush was just like
19:42
Michelle Cooper right wing. Can't wait to see her out there
19:44
again. And I was like, ah, well, she's
19:46
been hurt. She probably not gonna play her
19:48
and she got like the that like 30 minutes in the in the last 10
19:51
WSL match before this break. And so when I saw her in the 11
19:56
I was just like I knew it. We like should have put her in
19:59
my my 11 but. I was definitely excited to see
20:02
her and to your point, I mean, we might as well talk about what
20:06
happened in the first half. Michelle Cooper and Alyssa
20:09
Thompson and Kat Macario, obviously, along with a young
20:14
midfielder. I thought that those 4 looked
20:17
awfully good in this match. I'm with you on three of them, I
20:24
think. I think I'm still, and it's
20:27
weird to look at a player that had a goal and an assist in 1/2
20:31
and be like, you know, it's still be still be wanting.
20:35
But at the Cat Macario minutes at at the nine in the first
20:38
half, I think was more more prominent.
20:42
We saw that. We saw the the issues with it a
20:44
little bit more prominently. You know, there's a couple
20:46
offside situations. There's a couple spots where,
20:50
you know, she she received a really good pass from that
20:53
teenager that you mentioned, Lily Johannes, and then just put
20:56
a very tepid, you know, just lobbed a softball over at the
20:59
keeper. And I, I just feel like, you
21:03
know, we we've seen Macario play so well.
21:05
Has nothing to do with Macario's as a player.
21:08
You know, because I think Emma Hay is in the press conference
21:12
either yesterday or the day before yesterday talking about
21:15
Lo La Banta. It's like, hey, this is a player
21:17
with like tremendous experience. And she said something along
21:21
along the lines of, but she doesn't know how we play.
21:23
She's got to learn how we play, you know, and it's like that's a
21:26
real thing. And I think, you know, you think
21:27
about Macaro, you see her shine at Chelsea at the 10.
21:30
You know, she's got, you know, Aggie up there.
21:33
She's got my Ramirez up there. She's got crazy town on the
21:36
wings. I mean, same here, same as here,
21:38
but it's just a completely different role.
21:41
And I think that that fit is still on a day like today, no
21:47
problem in a big time knockout tournament, you start to, you
21:50
know, Fast forward a little bit. I'm not sure how that how that
21:53
fit would work. Luckily on this day, I thought
21:56
Heaps was great. I thought Alyssa Thompson was
21:59
great. Cooper very dynamic on the
22:01
right, that right hand side. Patterson, Johannes Cooper.
22:05
Goodness gracious. Destroying, yeah.
22:09
Oh my gosh. Yeah, I mean, I, I think I
22:13
thought there were stretches the Dino de Suspidis, Alyssa
22:17
Thompson for MVP campaign marches.
22:20
Obviously this this isn't going to count toward the NWSLMVP
22:23
campaign, but I thought they were just stretches where
22:26
Thompson looked like the best player on the field.
22:28
She was a nightmare for the People's Republic of China out
22:32
there. What is value though?
22:33
Like how do you it's valuable? Like there you go, value was
22:37
better. Sorry, I mean there could be
22:41
some carryover like you know, it's this is a vibes league
22:45
ultimately. It's not nothing.
22:47
Can we say that? Yeah, no, I mean, she, she was
22:52
just giving them the business out there.
22:55
I mean, Thompson looked absolutely great.
22:58
And yeah, like, like you mentioned there, there is
23:01
something too when you have Cooper and Thompson, they're
23:06
like, they were just so many instances where where Thompson
23:09
was just using her speed and her skill to just keep China off off
23:16
balance. And then obviously you know what
23:18
time it is with with Cooper's physicality.
23:21
But I just thought Cooper had multiple spots too where she
23:23
would just run onto the ball and just one touch pass into the
23:27
middle of the danger area. And her passes were super on
23:31
point. Obviously she she ended up with
23:33
the assist to heaps later on, but they just, they looked sharp
23:38
and like you said, like China knew that they had to play
23:43
physical. Like that was going to be a key
23:47
point for them to even keep it competitive.
23:51
And I thought they, you know, yeah, they went down to nil like
23:54
in relatively short order, like within 35 minutes.
23:59
But I thought they China was clearly out there to not just
24:03
park the bus and have USA pelt their keeper with shots like
24:09
they they wanted to try to get out and run a little bit.
24:11
Was it successful? No.
24:12
But were they greatly overmatched in talent?
24:15
Yes. So I think USA had to make good
24:18
passes to break open their defence and they were able to do
24:22
that in spots. I thought this was probably EU s
24:27
s best passing. I'd be interested to look at the
24:30
stats. So I thought this was their best
24:32
passing performance, especially on those intermediate passes,
24:36
like over the top or just kind of like diagonal across the
24:39
field. I thought they were really,
24:40
really sharp and really patient, you know, like I had grown so
24:46
tired of OK, you know, and there's no knock on, well, you
24:50
know, I'm not even going to name a defender, but defender wins
24:52
the ball back, just smacks it up the field.
24:54
And, you know, now it's Macario with her back to, you know, send
24:58
her back and now they're dueling and now it's coming back to the
25:00
other. It's just like, God, like we
25:02
didn't need to do that. We didn't need to rush the ball
25:05
into into, into into the abyss and then just kind of hand over
25:09
the possession. So I think M Hayes and, you
25:12
know, this kind of also ties back to Hayes's quotes about PTJ
25:18
wanting to play out the back, wanting to kind of control the
25:20
ball more. I thought the passing today was
25:23
awesome. You know, coffee was great,
25:25
Johannes was great. And, you know, it made me think
25:28
about Bridie. You know, when she came on our
25:30
show was like, OK, now the US is is using like that third
25:34
dimension. You know, they're not just
25:36
thinking flat, OK, the ball's like just kind of running along
25:39
the ground. But it's like, we can, we can
25:41
loop stuff over the top. We can switch the field this
25:44
way. And then give those two wings
25:49
that are so fast, like you, you just kick into space and it's
25:52
like Cooper on one side, a list on the other.
25:54
They'll just go to that space, and they're so good and so
25:57
creative if you give them the ball in space.
26:00
And then one-on-one, Thompson was unguardable.
26:04
Like, yeah, she would just do this thing where it's like, I'm
26:06
going to go end line, OK, You, you, you got me there.
26:09
I'm going to pull back, and then I'm going to go again.
26:11
And then, like, she just waited until she got you.
26:13
She's kind of like Kyrie just waited until she got you, like,
26:16
off balance. And then she's just like, OK,
26:19
there's my end line. Thank you.
26:20
You know, and just there's nothing you could do.
26:23
Dude, I was thinking the exact same player, the exact same
26:27
comp. And because like you think about
26:28
Kyrie Irving, like I always I obviously I go back and I think
26:32
about like all those warriors, Cavaliers battles when when like
26:35
Apex Draymond and even he couldn't hold Kyrie.
26:39
Because I always just I always like think of like this motion
26:41
where it's just like I'm going this way now, I'm going this
26:44
way. And then event eventually the
26:46
defender has to their brain makes them commit one way and
26:50
like one point of the ship rocking back and forth and
26:53
they're like, like, I gotta commit at at some point.
26:56
And that's when you're like, you fall right into their trap.
26:58
That's such a good call on Thompson and Cooper.
27:01
She really is a genius at like timing her runs.
27:05
She doesn't get caught offside too much.
27:07
I, I and please, if your bounce could correct me in the chat if
27:10
I'm if I'm wrong about that, but it doesn't feel like she's not.
27:13
She doesn't seem to be the culprit of of a lot of these
27:15
offside calls. So we had a lot of Mercario.
27:18
We've joked about Lindsay heaps heaps as a midfielder just
27:21
somehow being offside a lot. It just feels like Cooper has a
27:26
great feel for the timing of the run And you talk about, you
27:31
know, you mentioned the great Brady O tool of busy watching
27:34
women's soccer. You should immediately subscribe
27:37
and watch that podcast as soon as you can.
27:39
Thanks for that. Brady Brady mentions that third
27:43
dimension, the best third dimension passer of going over
27:48
the top on the team, it feels like already is Lily Johannes
27:53
because she's looking for that and she has the skill to just
27:57
turn and fire it and fire it accurately.
28:00
And she was, she was making Michelle Cooper again.
28:03
And I and I think she's a she's a smart runner and and you know,
28:07
willing to get out into that space, but she was like passing
28:11
her way open like she, she was, her passes were making Cooper
28:15
look even more open than she already was.
28:19
And that's just going to be a nightmare for defenses.
28:22
I mean, that's that's the benefit of having that speed on
28:25
the wings. It's like, you know, not only
28:28
can we, you know, muscle up in the midfield and, you know, get
28:31
creative and drive the ball forward.
28:33
You know, I think that's the benefit of having it done on one
28:35
side of the Patterson on the other two.
28:37
You know, on the back line is like we can drive it or we can
28:41
pick out a spot. And I think that that element
28:46
way missing, you know, I think so far or just way too few and
28:50
far between. Instead, we can't just do this
28:52
like one offensive approach. It's too frustrating, too easy
28:57
to defend against. I mentioned it earlier.
29:00
I thought the movement was pretty exciting as well.
29:02
You know, sometimes like I'm watching the offense because I
29:05
think I think we knew it. You know, it's like, all right,
29:07
China's going to pose no threat here.
29:09
And I actually posted it. I think I posted it on blue sky.
29:11
I put it in the notes. I'm like, this needs to be a
29:13
four or five goal game. If China's not going to threaten
29:15
in any way, shape or form, offense has to get busy.
29:19
We got to try stuff. We got to like, like make it
29:21
happen. I think there was maybe a couple
29:23
close penalty that could have been called, like maybe could
29:26
have got us there. But I thought the passing was
29:29
great and I thought the aggressiveness was great.
29:32
And every so often I looked up and I I was completely lost
29:37
looking at the attack because I'm like, OK, where's Picario?
29:39
Where's Cooper? Like where where's Heaps?
29:41
Oh, Heaps is like what? You know.
29:43
And I was like, well, this, this must be driving them nuts
29:45
because like you're just so used to, you know where everybody's
29:48
going to be, you know where the runs are going to come from.
29:50
It's the same run over and over, the same pass over and over.
29:54
But I I thought the the variety today, the unpredictability
29:58
probably gave China fits definitely in that first half.
30:01
I think that's what you get when you have super hot, a bunch of
30:05
super high IQ players with great skill.
30:09
I mean, Sam Coffee, we've talked about her.
30:10
She's just been on such a heater in the NWSL.
30:13
She just carried it over today. Like that run she makes to get
30:17
into space to to get the pass to to score the goal with left
30:22
footed, as Julie found, he pointed out a couple times,
30:24
rightfully so. Great look for for coffee to
30:28
score. That then hits you with the big
30:30
I I I don't know. I don't know if it was like half
30:33
Jordan shrug and half Brett the Hitman heart shrug, which you
30:37
know, for anybody who's you know of that age to remember the
30:41
hitman. But like, China was just, they
30:46
were in this weird spot where I respect that China did not play
30:51
a low block and stick 6 defenders back there and just
30:55
pray for A1A1 nil loss or like, you know, you know, whatever it
31:01
is, A2 nil loss or something like that.
31:03
I liked that they tried to play a highline and tried to do
31:06
something to at least maybe trap into, you know, getting some
31:10
offside calls and then seeing if you could, you could run the
31:13
other way. It just, it didn't work.
31:16
And like, I don't blame them for it not working.
31:18
You know, again, they're, they're severely outgunned
31:21
talent wise. And again, I'm not going to act
31:23
like I know anything at all about Chinese, China's domestic
31:27
league, but I think I think that the proof was in what we
31:32
watched. They don't have nearly the
31:34
talent that USA has. But I also just like that they
31:38
didn't, they didn't park the bus and play terrible.
31:41
You know, I, I won't name teams out there, but I'm just glad
31:46
they didn't play terrible defensive football for for no
31:50
reason, you know, because they're not in a cup final,
31:52
they're not in a knockout stage, They're not trying to scratch
31:55
out a point in a group stage or something like that.
31:58
So, you know, credit to China for being physical and and
32:02
trying to make it give themselves an opportunity.
32:05
But what they ended up with, that's quick, quick stats check.
32:09
Yeah, they had two shots on target and PTJ wasn't troubled
32:14
at all from my recollection. But you know, that's that's
32:17
going to happen. And I think, you know, to put a
32:19
bow on it the not the whole segment, but just to my overall
32:22
thought was, yeah, that's about right.
32:24
That's how that win should look for for Team USA.
32:29
Yeah, I agree with that. I mean, I think, you know, long
32:32
gone are the days of like had this finished nil, nil.
32:36
You get the shot of like, you know, the, the, the Chinese team
32:40
celebrating wildly at the center of the park, just jumping like,
32:44
you know, they like they just won the Super Bowl in the World
32:46
Series. Like I think A-Team, like China
32:49
where they're at, obviously like a team with a, with a long
32:52
history, they can leave this match, you know, happier.
32:57
Not saying that they will, but you could leave this match
32:59
happier losing 3 nil than you can drawing nil nil if it's not
33:03
the right kind of game, you know, because you go into these
33:05
matches trying to evolve and grow and work stuff out
33:10
offensively, defensively. I feel like, I feel like they
33:13
did get into the game that they wanted to play a little bit.
33:17
But to your point, way over overmatched from a town
33:19
standpoint. I think it was pretty clear that
33:22
they weren't going to be able to threaten the US.
33:25
And you know, this one goes into halftime, 2 nil, we get the
33:31
third goal, the Heaps header again off of Cooper action.
33:38
You know, like I like the past was great, but just using those
33:42
wide channels was like, like really exciting, you know, And I
33:46
think, you know, there's Bryce's going to mention again, the 3rd
33:49
mention here, but she talked about that too, like just not a
33:51
team that's used to kind of crossing, putting balls into the
33:55
box. See what can happen.
33:57
But like we have we've got so such talented, creative players
34:00
that physically are tough to deal with that that now becomes
34:04
like a super viable strategy. The last point that I'll
34:07
mention, we're kind of get to the point now.
34:11
You never want to think this way, but triple espresso was
34:14
such a cultural football pivotal woe.
34:19
So moment like it. It was such a thing that, you
34:24
know, it, it, it I, I don't want to say like it had some
34:28
stickiness to it, but it was such a thing that you're just
34:31
kind of like, OK, yeah. Well, of course all three of
34:33
those players are going to be back, you know, doing what they
34:35
were doing, like in that rhythm, you know, and it's like the
34:38
reality is that might not happen.
34:42
You know, it might be one player, two players, three, you
34:45
know, like there's life things, there's health things.
34:48
There's other players ascending. There's just there's, you know,
34:52
I, I think we're not necessarily going to go right back to the
34:55
triple espresso. So I think Emma Hayes is
34:58
probably doing a lot of work shopping, doing a lot of, you
35:03
know, strategizing and, and thinking through like what kind
35:06
of unit makes sense? And I think within this match,
35:11
the starting unit made a ton of sense.
35:13
I really loved the balance. I really loved kind of like the
35:16
like the units like had their responsibilities and it was I
35:19
don't know the everything was like very clean and sharp
35:22
outside of a couple of small things, but I think one of one
35:25
of EU s s best showings, I think, as a unit.
35:29
No doubt. And I'm, I'm glad you say that
35:32
man, because I, I totally agree on the unit making sense.
35:36
Like when I looked at the 11, you know, they, they list out
35:39
the, the starting 11 in the, in a graphic and they, you know,
35:42
they don't necessarily tell you what the formation is or what
35:45
people's positions are in a lot of those graphics.
35:48
But you could look at that and be like, oh, OK, 433 or, or like
35:51
even if you wanted to say like maybe coffee is like dropping
35:55
like super deep, like you could call like a four one, you know,
36:00
4123 or like whatever. Like, but traditionally like
36:05
it's a 433 like and it and it made sense.
36:08
Everybody was playing where, you know, their skill set would
36:12
would be maximized in those positions.
36:15
So the the triple espresso point, I think you're you're
36:19
right on. I do, I do have, you know, full
36:24
belief that Wilson and Rodman if healthy and available and I, and
36:30
I know you feel the same way. They're playing in the in the
36:32
World Cup. Duh, Of course, Swanson's going
36:35
to be an interesting case with the ascension of Alyssa
36:39
Thompson. Like you're just going to have
36:41
to you're going to have to go out there and and earn the spot.
36:46
Now, would I be in the business of betting against Mallory
36:51
Swanson? I would not.
36:53
But it's going to be it's going to be interesting and it's a
36:56
good problem for for Emma Hayes to have.
36:58
And I would venture to say not even really a problem because I
37:01
think Emma Hayes has the credibility with these players
37:05
to say, hey, look, we're going to cycle in depending, you know,
37:08
match up dependent. We're going to make sure we get
37:10
a squad out there. Here's the plan.
37:12
I hope you guys trust me, and I think I'm sure they will.
37:17
Yeah, I think USI mean this group is probably getting to a
37:22
point because it's interesting, because this isn't necessarily
37:26
the best roster that Emma has put together talent for talent
37:30
top to bottom. But I think the way they looked
37:33
in spots, we've seen this team look flat against relatively
37:38
similar competitions or like top 20 ish competition.
37:43
So I I think there, there is something to, you know, a good
37:46
problem to have, but also the the pieces have to fit.
37:49
They've got to make sense. You've got to be able to like
37:52
imagine, OK, you know, this midfield there, there's there's
37:56
places to go with the ball, you know, and you think about a
37:59
player like Alyssa Thompson, who's you cannot keep her off
38:04
the field at this point. You know, one-on-one.
38:07
There's nobody that can defend. There was nobody that could
38:09
defend her today. Even if you want to take
38:12
something away, the end line or you know, the center of the
38:15
field or it like she'll still beat you there.
38:18
Like it just kind of is, is, is that way.
38:21
So we've talked about the sharpie situation before where
38:23
it's like this player is, is playing out of their mind.
38:26
That's a Sharpie. It does change who else you
38:29
could put around them, right? You can't necessarily just pick
38:32
or who is our best 9, who's our best right right winger, who's
38:34
our best, you know, 10 and eight, you know, like you have
38:37
to sort of think through how these pieces fit, You know,
38:40
like, and there's there's different skill sets.
38:44
I thought it was kind of cool late in the match when Moultrie
38:47
comes on for for heaps because that that kind of felt a little
38:52
torch passing Y. You know, maybe, you know,
38:54
you're projecting forward Moultrie.
38:55
Moultrie was a little a little bumper car reckless today, but I
39:00
just love the work rate. You love the activity, you love
39:02
the energy level, like you're just like let's unleash.
39:06
I love the Unleash Moultrie minutes.
39:08
Yes, no, I totally agree. And you know, we've talked about
39:11
her form in the NWSL and that's and that's OK for her to be a
39:16
little bumper car ish at when she comes on to kind of like
39:20
finish out the match. I think that makes sense.
39:23
But we also know that we've she's capable of playing under
39:27
control while still being aggressive and filling in a
39:32
spot. Like if you have, you know,
39:34
we've talked about the midfield possibilities, like now you
39:38
could have some kind of rotation.
39:41
By the way, we don't even have NWSL Rookie of the Year, Kroy
39:45
Bethune out there. So if you have some kind of
39:47
rotation of Bethune, Johannes, pardon me, Johannes Hirschfeld,
39:53
coffee Hutton. I mean, come on, man.
39:58
That's a lot of that's a lot of players that can do a lot of
40:01
different things that you can put in a lot of different
40:03
positions to help win football games.
40:06
Yeah, I mean, the flip side, some of those players have to be
40:09
on the bench and how do you put a Corey Bethune on the bench or
40:13
a Claire Hutton or a little, you know, like that's that's where
40:16
the job gets very tough. Speaking of Moultrie and some of
40:21
the some of the bench miniature bench players, I think another
40:24
bone to pick. You know, I mentioned a couple a
40:26
couple spots here. I would have loved to see a goal
40:28
from the second unit. You know, you look at Biendolo,
40:32
Centenor, Sears, Lebanta, Moultrie, these players all come
40:36
in in the second-half and China only made one change along their
40:41
back line. So you've got a back 4
40:44
relatively gassed and you've got exciting attacking players.
40:51
I would have liked to see a goal there or two.
40:54
I think this match had definitely another goal or two
40:56
in it once the Subs got into the match.
41:00
And, you know, I, I don't know that there's a huge talent drop
41:04
off between unit unit A and unit B, you know, to, to our, we were
41:08
just talking about a couple of minutes ago, But the unit, you
41:12
know, didn't look, you know, as effective, even though they're,
41:15
they're facing, you know, defenders that could be a little
41:18
bit leggy. But I don't know what you see
41:20
from, from the, from that second attacking unit when they came
41:24
into the match. Was there anything there that
41:25
that we could build on or, or were you left a little, you
41:29
know, underwhelmed like I was? Yeah, I did somewhere in the
41:34
ballpark of underwhelmed, I think.
41:36
I mean, there was a moment, I think it was right around the
41:38
80th where there is a pass from Sears to Moultrie right in the
41:44
danger area that I would say Sears like maybe like 10%
41:49
overcooked and Moultrie, like if the pass was if the pass was
41:53
just a little better or if poultry was like 1/2 step
41:56
faster, it could have been pretty close to a Tappan.
42:01
So, yeah, I don't know if that was a little bit of hey, we're
42:04
we got to get into the game kind of coming off the bench.
42:08
But yeah, I think I think that's a fair a fair comment to say,
42:11
you know, against some tired defenders.
42:14
You would have liked to see Bian Dolo and that and that group of
42:17
younger players. And in Lola Bonta's case, a
42:20
player coming into her first cap get get a goal.
42:25
I'll say Wu Haiyan, the Chinese captain yellow card for, for
42:31
just pulling Macario down. You know, I, it wasn't a dirty
42:36
foul. It was a professional foul, but
42:39
it was one of those ones that I saw.
42:41
I think, I think Wu is, is somewhere around like 32 or 34
42:45
years old. I was just like, Yep, I get it.
42:48
Captain had to be done because she because, you know, Wu was
42:51
just like, all right, I'm sick of this shit.
42:52
Like, you know, you're going to feel us.
42:55
And and that seemed to be the general consensus throughout the
42:57
match. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
43:00
Yeah. Lily had a moment early where
43:02
she shrugged off a foul that was clearly trying to just stop the
43:06
action that she just was like, no, no, no, no, no, get like
43:08
just a little keep away and then put a put a great ball up field.
43:12
I think it was to Macario. But yeah, that a lot of a lot of
43:16
fun stuff to kind of keep an eye.
43:17
And I wanted to shout out great friend of the show boy named
43:20
Blue. Speaking of Lola Banta, and I'm
43:24
going to quote blue here in our YouTube section quote.
43:27
I am beyond excited for Lo la Banta.
43:28
Her getting your first call for me is just magic.
43:31
Get it, silly Mama. End Quote Shout out to blue
43:35
rock. I was rocking with us.
43:37
I was legit the best keeping keeping content flowing and
43:43
appreciate the view, the viewpoint and I think I thought
43:45
Le Banta great to see you're out there.
43:47
Didn't didn't quite have the the rhythm with the with the rest of
43:51
the midfielders or attackers, but energy level is high all
43:55
over the place, kind of harassing, being super pesky and
43:59
relatively sharp. You know, I think it'll, it'll
44:02
I'm excited to see. It's going to be excited to see
44:04
if if she sticks because I think there's that you could
44:07
definitely see a role for a player like that, especially if
44:12
you know the health or injury situation makes it so some of
44:15
those players maybe are are available or aren't available
44:19
because I think definitely there could there could be a role for
44:23
for a veteran like that and you could see on the pitch was
44:26
effective for sure. Yeah, and I mean, it feels like
44:30
we haven't said the name for several weeks.
44:33
And obviously, obviously, she's battling to come back from
44:36
injury, but Rose Lavelle is not on this team.
44:40
And so, you know, you think about now, obviously you cannot
44:44
replicate Rose Lavelle's experience for the national
44:48
team. I know I've said it on this show
44:49
before for our pals who are, are, are consistent watchers.
44:55
Lavelle had had several periods in the in the 2019 World Cup
45:01
where she looked like the best player on the pitch.
45:03
And you know, she was, she was crucial to that championship.
45:08
So you can't replace that. But if she's still fighting to
45:11
come back from that injury, you you're going to need some, some
45:14
midfield backup. And I, I did think it was funny.
45:17
There were a couple moments like shortly after Labonte came on
45:21
where she was doing the midfielder move of like pointing
45:23
like, OK, pass over there, pass over there.
45:26
But the players weren't passing in those directions.
45:29
And I don't think it's because they were ignoring Labonte.
45:31
But it goes back to your original statement that Emma
45:34
Hayes had mentioned of like, she's not, she can't know how we
45:38
play yet, right? I, I think it was, I think you
45:41
said Hayes, Hayes said like she doesn't know how we play.
45:44
But my read of that is how could she, because she hasn't played
45:47
with them yet. So she still kind of has to
45:48
figure that piece out. But she was great in the post
45:51
match interview kind of saying like, I went out there and I was
45:54
like, I wanted to give everything, but then I needed to
45:56
like get into the flow and be like, how can I, how can I help
45:59
my team mates in those situations?
46:01
And just everything you ever see from her, that's just what kind
46:04
of player she is. So I I think she has to be in
46:06
the mix moving forward. Yeah, certainly hope so.
46:12
Any other big picture takeaways? I, I think for me, I'm going to
46:16
walk away with the passing being impressive for me, really like
46:22
that. I think with regard to the
46:25
attack, what happens at the, at the 9, I think still remains
46:29
like a like a big, you know, and it might not even be a personnel
46:34
thing. Could be a tactical change to
46:35
kind of like make it so that a player like Macario is just more
46:39
effective in that role. So that's definitely something
46:41
I'm going to be watching for. And I think the line UPS, I
46:45
think Emma Hayes has moved some stuff around pretty consistently
46:50
from match to match within these windows.
46:53
So I think maybe we can expect to see like AI don't know, maybe
46:56
some a lot of turnover between the starting line up today and
47:00
the starting line up on the third against Jamaica.
47:02
So I'll definitely keep my eye on that as well.
47:06
And then basically who might get into that #9 row because I think
47:10
even with all that roster shifting, it does feel like
47:14
Macario has got has logged a lot of matches in minutes at the
47:17
nine with a lot of changing around her.
47:21
I'll be interested to see if that continues if Macario's back
47:24
at the 9 or if we get like another, you know, line change
47:28
hockey style and we see kind of like a whole new approach.
47:31
Maybe that second unit, you know, becomes the first unit
47:34
those that's kind of like the my main things I'm going to take
47:36
away from this one heading into Tuesday.
47:39
I'm I'm betting on something pretty close to a line change.
47:43
Seems like that's Hayes's MO at this point.
47:46
I mean, I would be shocked if we don't get a Terra Mickey own
47:51
start, a Claire Hutton start in the next match.
47:55
Carrie Abello, I think she obviously get another look.
47:58
Get our Orlando Pride contingent out there with both, with both
48:02
Sam's and Abello. I want to see more of the Sam's
48:06
Germa pairing, like put get that in our lives immediately and
48:12
I'll just I'll make the prediction.
48:13
I don't think she'd be on the roster otherwise.
48:17
Seattle rain zone, Claudia Dickey.
48:20
I got to imagine she'll be in goal in this next match.
48:25
Let's go. That's exciting.
48:26
Yeah. And you mentioned Germa, not a
48:28
player that we mentioned today. That's probably a good thing,
48:31
you know, as a center back, like just no notes.
48:36
Great to see Gerba played 90 plus, looked great out there,
48:40
super sharp. The captain I, I, I was quickly
48:44
reminded why I thought she was the best player on the team.
48:47
2023 World Cup, she looked kind of back in that form, which is
48:51
great. And yeah, we just kind of look
48:55
ahead to Tuesday as mentioned, June 3rd versus Jamaica,
48:58
Energizer Park, St. Louis, MO should be a fun one.
49:01
I don't think Bunny Shaw is in line for that one.
49:04
I. Don't believe so?
49:06
OK, U23 update, I missed this one.
49:14
Anything we need to know about the U23 team?
49:18
I know they were in action, I think versus Germany today.
49:21
That is right. And I think it was, I want to
49:25
say it was Friday. It was either, yeah, I think it
49:27
was Friday that they played Germany.
49:30
Shadow, executive producer of this show, wanted to watch the,
49:37
the recorded version because obviously I think it happened
49:39
during our work day. So the shadow EP said, I, I want
49:45
to watch, I think I'm going to try to find the U23 match on
49:49
YouTube and watch it. I want to see us.
49:51
I want to see us win. And I said, oh, do you know the
49:54
result? And she said no.
49:57
I said, oh, who are they playing?
49:59
And she said Germany and I I very, I quickly turned into just
50:04
kind of reflexively, I turned a little bit into Tony Romo on
50:08
some of those CBS broadcasts, like when a player does
50:11
something bad and Tony Romo goes, I don't know about that
50:14
one, Jim. Like, because I was like,
50:17
Germany's got a lot of good players.
50:20
And so, you know, good match, entertaining match.
50:24
I, I was kind of like in and out while while she was watching it.
50:28
The Shadow AP that is Lily Reel from Gotham FC got things
50:33
started with a goal off a Jaden Shaw corner kick.
50:37
Mara Alber, 19 year old forward from TSG Hoffenheim, scored an
50:42
equalizer with 86 minutes left. To to equalize, Which I, you
50:46
know, I kind of came in and saw that and I was like, oh OK,
50:49
looks like it's going to be a draw.
50:51
The pass was from Vivian Endeman, who I could not believe
50:55
was on the U23 squad, which kind of speaks to the talent that
50:58
they're working with over there in Germany, by the way.
51:04
But then at the death, there's 5 minutes of stoppage time.
51:07
I think it was like 9433 on the clock.
51:11
Seattle Rain FC center back Jordan Bug sends in a genius.
51:15
Just the absolutely beautifully executed diagonal ball over the
51:20
top. Speaking of that, third
51:21
dimension again, for Evelyn Shores of the University of
51:25
North Carolina Tar Heels knocking in the winner at 90 + 5
51:32
pretty much at the death. And and thank goodness for like
51:37
some like German football YouTube channel that posted the
51:41
match, posted it with English commentary.
51:44
Because if you look around on the Internet, I don't know if
51:46
I'm bad at internetting right now, but the shadow executive
51:49
producer who, who lives in this house with me, is very good at
51:53
the Internet. And if you look at the Internet,
51:55
it's like this match didn't happen unless you see that
51:58
YouTube, that YouTube video, the full match.
52:01
So I don't know like where the stats are or anything like that.
52:04
But shout to that, shout to that YouTube channel.
52:07
I should, we should link to them or something in the, in the
52:10
description because they, they put the whole U23 match on there
52:13
with English commentary. And it was.
52:15
It was an enjoyable watch. Yeah, that's awesome.
52:18
Yeah, we'll definitely link to that.
52:21
Yeah, a lot of the young talent on Germany.
52:22
I was just furiously Googling you LeBron, who is apparently
52:27
still maybe young enough to play on the under 21 German team.
52:30
I mean come on man, what are you talking about?
52:32
Like they got a squad over. There.
52:34
Crazy. Yeah, Congrats to the US as
52:38
under 23. Big win there.
52:40
That's exciting. Quick episode calendar.
52:43
So we'll be back after the Jamaica match Tuesday night
52:46
here. I know what time it is.
52:48
And if you're looking for US women's National Team gear,
52:51
check out the collection we put together over at our Link tree
52:54
in partnership with Fanatics. We got a ton of great gear
52:56
available. I think you could probably
52:59
finagle something. I'm not sure if it'll go right
53:01
by Tuesday, but it's a pretty loaded U.S.
53:03
National team calendar this summer, so definitely get
53:06
stocked up. A bunch of cool stuff in there.
53:09
Link in the show notes of this episode to that store as well.
53:14
Anything else we want to hit for a get out of here?
53:16
I think we did it my good man that was I mean that was a that
53:20
was a good US women's national team win.
53:23
Obviously some other good international football Lionesses
53:28
over in England with a big win. Spain notched a big victory.
53:33
Germany's senior national team just an ass kicking of
53:37
Netherlands. Maybe we can get into that
53:39
another another time. But yeah, I mean, the
53:43
international window is here and it is rolling and I enjoyed
53:46
chopping it up with you about it.
53:49
Absolutely, yeah, as as Nations League, as Nations League
53:51
continues to kind of rumble down the hill.
53:54
I think we'll definitely circle back to that.
53:56
It does feel like Spain and England maybe on a collision
53:59
course this summer. You know, we obviously get
54:02
Arsenal and Barcelona Champions League final.
54:06
Yeah, those, those, those two, a lot of those players have been
54:09
circling each other, you know, kind of kind of side eyeing each
54:11
other. And I think, I don't know,
54:13
maybe, maybe a big time pay-per-view steel cage match up
54:16
this summer between those two sides would be pretty awesome in
54:19
the Euros. I yeah, the EUR, I think the
54:22
usual suspects are going to show up locked and loaded for the
54:25
EUR. Spain, England, Germany, France,
54:30
Norway. Let's go.
54:31
Always our pals in Norway. So yeah, I think we should be
54:36
looking forward to a great EUR. I just sneak in here.
54:40
Lauren Hemp looked absolutely fantastic for the Lionesses.
54:43
Nice. If she was healthy in the
54:45
Champions League, I think it might have been a different
54:47
story. The topic for another day.
54:50
You know, I mean, the Champions League will it'll roll right
54:54
back around relatively soon here till then, you know, upstairs in
54:59
North London and you know, that's right.
55:02
Come, come, come visit. Take a quick look at it.
55:04
I'm sure it's in a nice, nice glass case.
55:07
And you know, maybe you should draw some inspiration from that.
55:10
This has been another episode of into the channel.
55:12
Thank you, thank you, thank you for hanging it out.
55:14
If you enjoyed the show or love in football as much as your boys
55:16
do, make sure you kick in with us each and every single week,
55:19
sometimes twice a week. Like if you liked, subscribe,
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55:28
Leave us a review over your favorite podcast app.
55:29
We want to hear from you. We love hearing from you.
55:31
Links to all of our socials except one in the showness of
55:34
this episode. And a big thank you to my coach
55:36
as well, Mr. Grant angle for I don't know, man US was that I I
55:42
just love that we're able to bounce around.
55:43
Doesn't matter that the kind of football club country, you know,
55:48
domestic, international, like whenever there's football and I
55:54
need somebody to talk to you about it, I need some some
55:57
illuminating notes and takes and ideas, stuff to chew on.
56:02
You're my guy. You're always there and I
56:03
appreciate you that. I appreciate you for that for
56:05
sure. Likewise, buddy, hey, you know,
56:08
I wouldn't chop it up with anybody else about this and you
56:11
know, we'll we got a match coming up on Tuesday.
56:14
Should be interesting. Thank you everybody for for
56:17
dropping the illuminating comments on our last couple
56:20
videos. You guys were were super awesome
56:23
about the the Chris Sharples interview.
56:24
Chris, that's our guy. He absolutely delivered on that
56:27
on that Champions League review where he was there for the
56:31
sights and the sounds and the voice of of the final in the
56:34
gantry. So yeah, in the gantry.
56:36
What may or may not have been a gantry TuneIn to find out if you
56:40
haven't already watched that episode.
56:42
But again, thank you guys for checking out the show.
56:43
We appreciate you and we will see you all next time.