Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / Predicting 2027 USWNT World Cup Roster

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Predicting 2027 USWNT World Cup Roster · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:05
OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast primarily about women's
0:10
football. I'm your host, Dean of De
0:11
Suspicious and as always, I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant
0:15
Angle. What is up man?
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I'm feeling fantastic, buddy. Another international window in
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the books. Another successful international
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window in the books. And now let's do what 2 dudes
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who talk about sports and the microphones do best.
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Just start predicting things that are way off in the future.
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Yeah, and also naming some players.
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Can we let's combine both of those.
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I mean, what, what, what what better way to to spend a Friday
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Eve? Yeah, I think, I think you hit
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it a an international window with some a good amount of
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intrigue. Like they took us on a little
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bit of a roller coaster. We learned some stuff.
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I think, you know, all of these international windows kind of
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have their own like little mini narrative.
1:00
This was a fun one, you know, OK, US, you know, kind of gets,
1:03
gets gets beat at home. A little bit of disarray gives
1:07
them a hazy chance to kind of like resettle.
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And, you know, it's like almost like one step back, 2 steps
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forward kind of situation, almost literally.
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And yeah, let's have. I wanted to have some fun making
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some predictions for that 2027 World Cup.
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I like it. I mean, I want to consider it
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half predictions, half what I would like to see if we're
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really going to talk about the roster.
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But I mean, are those actually one in the same?
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Because I always would like to see my predictions come true.
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So maybe I'm just talking about the same thing.
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I like it. Yeah.
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We'll speak our predictions into the existence that we want to be
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a part of, I think. Well, we can settle on that.
1:47
All right man, Where do you want to get started?
1:50
Let's at least get started with what happened.
1:53
I mean, everybody's seen it by now, but USA 6 New Zealand Nil.
2:00
That was a real ass kicking. I mean, not sure how much we
2:05
learned. Well, let me start off with what
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we with what we learned. I I was very excited to see well
2:12
atmospheres. She can score goals.
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I think we learned that that was that was confirmed.
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I thought this one was a big a big game for Kat Macario.
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You know, we've been talking about her Shaquille O'Neal
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level, like hold up play, her physicality.
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It was nice to see you kind of banging a couple goals, you
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know, you know, also kind of like leaning way into that, you
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know, that, that DNA or that, that, that persona within that
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that attack. I think that I think you're
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absolutely right. I cannot remember the person off
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the top of my head. I I owe them a response who
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commented on one of our recent videos that we weren't talking
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much about Macario and she and you know, she's an excellent
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player. Clearly Emma Hayes likes the way
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she plays. You know, we talked about her,
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her hold up play, but she on the ball, she is exceptionally
3:01
skilled also and she can kind of RIP a shot out of nowhere and
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has that in her game. I mean, she she is an excellent
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player, came back from a devastating injury.
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Feels like she's kind of worked her way all the way back in.
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And who knows, maybe she might end up on one of our starting
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elevens or on the prediction we have for the 2027 World Cup.
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She just might. Little spoiler alert.
3:25
All right, so we were going to predict all 23 spots.
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I think we should go back to front.
3:30
You know, defence wins championships.
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So we'll start with the goalkeepers.
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I'm not sure how you want to do this format.
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I mean, I think we're expecting 3 goalkeepers and that's
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probably pretty much the standard.
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So I will just, I'll kick things off because I went on record
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couple weeks back saying that I thought Fallon, Telus, Joyce,
3:48
PTJ had kind of carved out that you know #1 goalkeeper position.
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You know, based on how she's been playing for Manchester
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United, based on, you know, the, the performance that we saw in
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the first match up and just kind of what we've seen thus far and
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her play style. I think she's a great fit for
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Mahia. So I think I think she's
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probably a good bet to make that 27 roster.
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And I think probably the the the player that I think holds the
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number one spot goalkeeper wise. I think something very strange
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would have to happen for her to not at least make the roster.
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I think it's still really competitive for who is the
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number one goalkeeper. So I think this might well let
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me ask the question first. When you penciled in your
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starting eleven. First match USA plays at the
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2027 World Cup. Is PTJ your starting goalkeeper?
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I think, yeah, I think at this point, yeah.
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All right, we have our first Divergent.
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I am going to go with Claudia Dickey.
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I think she is. I think she is slightly better
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with the ball at her feet. I think she plays a little more
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comfortably in the build up play.
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She'll be 27 years old and in 2027 PTJ will be 31.
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Not a gigantic difference there, but I'm very interested to see
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what like peak athleticism, that convergence of peak athleticism
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and peak like experience and intelligence looks like for
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Claudia Dickey, who's already arguably one of the best
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goalkeepers in the NWSL. Yeah, no argument there.
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I mean, Dicky's playing great and came up big in a couple
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spots against New Zealand as well.
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So I I love that pick. She was one of my 3 goalkeeper.
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So obviously we're we're in conjunction there.
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I think we've got the same top two.
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Do you have a third goalkeeper you want to shout out?
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I do. I think it's got to be Mandy
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McGlynn. I think she's a great shot
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stopper. She sure as hell gets a lot of
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practice at Utah Royals. I don't know if that's going to
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keep going as the next couple seasons play out, but she'll be
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28 at the time of the World Cup. And you know, obviously a NWSL
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championship winner with Gotham FCA couple years back, great
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shot stopping ability. You know, I, I think as as much
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as I like Casey Murphy and Jane Campbell, it feels like it we
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might be at the end of their time with the national team.
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Yeah, I could definitely see that.
6:16
And yeah, I think McGlynn, somebody who I had in my third
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spot, in my 4th spot, I just want to give a quick shout out,
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Jordan Silkowitz, who I think has gotten so I think under 23
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attention and and maybe could be tracking towards something.
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You just look at the stats, though, McGlynn probably has
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Jordan beat in most of the key categories except for
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appearances on the Into the Channel podcast.
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So that that sort of tips it back the other way.
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Could be a toss up. Still two years.
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We'll see what happens there, but it sounds like we're pretty
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much in lockstep with our three goalkeepers.
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Let's scoot ahead to that back line.
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How do you want to tackle this one?
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Actually? Can we drink a beer?
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Yeah. I was going to say I'm I'm
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feeling parched. Let's do this trick or treating
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is good. Nicely done.
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Cheers to you. Cheers to the football.
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I'd like to give an additional cheers if I may.
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Let's go. I would like to also cheer Angel
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City Football Club captain Sarah Gordon and Angel City Football
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Club vice captain Angelina Anderson.
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Thank you both. For everything that you're
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doing. Here, here cosign.
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Hard cosign, yeah, the tricky week for the end of the SL.
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But I think, you know, as always, I like to believe that,
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you know, good wins in the end. So I think hopefully we're we're
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trending in that direction. Let's talk about.
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It doesn't feel like it, buddy, but yeah, you know.
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We can't, we can't let that. We can't let that be be the
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vibes, though, those will not be the vibes.
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You know, we're going to keep it positive.
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We're we're building a roster here for 27.
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You know, what are we going to do?
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All right, let's go. This the defend, the defense.
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I mean, this is where things got really tricky.
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Hold on. Let me let me see whatever I
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came up with. So I, I landed on 6 defenders,
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my shortlist 789101112131415. I had 16 on my shortlist.
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These all kind of these are all players that have kind of, I
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think have all played over the last couple years. 4 Emma, he
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is, you know, defensively. So I think that this is going to
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be really tricky. I'm I'm very interested to hear
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where you landed. Do you want to just go through
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your starters left to right and then I'll go through my 4?
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Yeah, totally fair. You will not be surprised to
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learn that my starting 11 is a 4231.
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So let's get that out of the way.
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So my my 4 defenders starting from the left.
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Lily Reel, Naomi Germa, Jordan Bugg, Emily Fox.
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Wow, so you got really real starting.
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Yes, I do. Who, buddy?
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OK, what do you have? Starting in left back.
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Avery Patterson. OK, sure.
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So I got Patterson, Germa, Jordan, Bug, Emily Fox.
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OK. Yeah, excellent.
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Yeah, so those are those are my 4.
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So where so where did where did we differ?
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So Lily reel, you've got her starting.
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That's that's big time. I really love, you know, I
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almost included Lily reel didn't make my 23, but almost been my
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23, almost been my 23 kind of like as like a utility defender
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kind of midfield, you know, kind of like play in different spots
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and just cover a ton of real estate.
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So was super close, but the other two defenders that that
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made my list to get me to 6 Emily Sam's and Tara McKeown.
10:09
Love it. Let's do AI guess.
10:12
I mean you team me up for this. I have Emily Sam's as one of the
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three reserves. She just missed it for me.
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I was trying to figure out a way.
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I ended up naming 7 defenders. I did the seven defenders, 7
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midfielders, 6 attackers model and so players who I had who
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were not starters, I obviously I have Avery Patterson, I have
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Tara McKeon and then I have Emily Sonnet.
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OK, so you've got Sonnet and Lily Reel and I've got Emily.
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Sam's. Those are our divergences.
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I thought Sam's. So it's been it's interesting,
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you know, obviously she had such a monster season last year at
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centre back. This year spends a little bit
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more time at right back and kind of moving around that Orlando
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backline just hasn't looked the same.
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But I thought it was kind of telling that Emma Hayes had
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Emily Samms kind of logging a lot of minutes at right back
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because you know, that she could play center back so that you
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like that's an option. And now if she could really be
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effective at right back and she kind of like dinged a pass and
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you know, like a really, she had a really ugly miss very early in
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the match, but then was involved in a couple different goals.
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I'm not sure if she got credit with the assist but.
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She had at least one assist. Yeah, she had at least one and
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was the last probably USA player to touch the ball before, you
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know, 222 different goals. So at least was involved in the
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build up, not not something we saw a ton of last year for the
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pride. So I think that's Emma Hayes
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kind of figuring out, OK, if this player can log real minutes
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at right back, log real minutes at centre back, that's really
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valuable. You know, So I think that that
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kind of like led me down the path of, OK, this might be Emma.
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He's looking for a solution there.
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Emily Sana was a tough one to leave out.
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That was really hard. I was like, Oh my God.
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But I just think, you know, the physical demands of like kind of
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like what it's going to look like in 27, you know, just think
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about that Brazil team going to Brazil.
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It's we're going to require like a level of like, I think
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athleticism that just is going to make it tough for Sonnet, I
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think. I think that's fair.
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I mean, that's who I was between because Emily Sonnet is going to
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be 33 during the World Cup and I was between her and Sam's and
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Emily Sam's is going to be 28 during that World Cup.
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And as I was filling out my roster, maybe another little
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mini, mini spoiler alert is that I was kind of looking at the
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players on my team. I was like, I got to have
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somebody with like a ton of experience on this, on this 23
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and I just, you know, the way, just the way the other players
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look at Emily Sonnet on the field and off.
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I was just like, OK, I think she should probably be the tallest
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person, if you will. Yeah, no, I mean, I too Sal
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Famer for a reason. You don't know what time it is.
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As part of my reserves, I had 18 year old Trinity Armstrong
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because I think she's a beast and you know, she kind of has a
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nose for goal. And then defensively, I mean, I
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just continue to be impressed by having a player that 18 that you
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could just kind of go from a back four to back three because
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they're kind of so physically dominant, can cover so much
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ground. I think that's a player that can
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really, really grow into, I don't know, like almost like a
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player that you might have to take, you know, to Brazil in 27.
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So I had her, I had her notched as as one of my reserves.
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That's a great call. I mean, and this is the fun part
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of doing this exercise right now is that we kind of have to spin
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it forward and think about like, well, what are the next two
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seasons going to look like for these players?
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What are the next, you know, several international windows
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going to look like and Trinity Armstrong's 100% going to be in
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the mix. I'll name a couple other
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defenders here quickly. EV Gatino was on my list.
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She'll be 24. Like, how much more playing time
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is she going to get for Perry's on German over the over the next
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couple years that she can get more Champions League
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experience? Carrie Abello will be 28 during
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this World Cup. We've already seen Emma Hayes
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give her a look. We like her passing ability.
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We like the way she was in the last window.
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Maybe it was the window before Abello's ability to kind of move
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up and down the pitch that sometimes you don't see as much
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at Orlando. And he was another player who
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was right there in that mix with Sonnet and Sam's.
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And I think this kind of speaks and, you know, we'll see what
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happens. And it far be it from me to
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count this player out. Tierna Davidson will be 29 years
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old in this world in that World Cup year, and she was a dynamite
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center back pairing with Naomi Germa obviously suffers the ACL
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injury. I believe the ACL injury, I know
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I'm going to get this backwards, but I think the ACL injury this
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year was in her right knee and her ACL injury in 2022 was in
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her left knee. I might have those.
15:02
I might have those mixed up. You know, there is a cruelty to
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sports where, you know, old school sports writers and
15:11
sportscasters would say like, well, you shouldn't lose your
15:13
job due to injury. And then you, you see these kind
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of situations out in like the NFL and I'm, I'm just for the
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record, Tina Davidson's a way better player than Alex Smith
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was. But Alex Smith gets hurt.
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Colin Kaepernick steps in and people are like, OK, like this
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guy, this works. This player actually really
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works. And so I'll be, I'll just be
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really interested to see how Tierna Davidson comes back from
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the ACLI. Just I didn't want to do this
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show without mentioning her because I thought she was
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fantastic in the Olympics. And you know, she's been great,
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you know, in the NWSL as well. Yeah, no doubt.
15:48
That's a great call out. I mean, there's a bunch of
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players that I think could, could, you know, I mean, Tierna
15:54
Davidson's a great one because the chemistry with Germa was so
15:58
on point. I mean, I think once you put,
16:00
once you put the Jordan bug Germa, you know, paring in my
16:03
head, I think I couldn't, it was hard for me to get that out of
16:05
my head. And the reality is bug looks
16:07
great, man. Like I think I, I took this in
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my notes, take it on a little bit of a, like a like a detour
16:14
here. But I, I kind of have this
16:16
theory that there's two kinds of players.
16:18
You know, there's, there's the Peyton Manning and then there's
16:21
the Brett Favre. The Peyton Manning is like the
16:24
headier player, you know, like the, the, the thinky computer
16:28
machine type player. And then the Brett Favre is like
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the instinctive just, you know, throw the ball 60 yards and then
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think later, you know, like, so it's just the, the, the kind of
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inverse. And then you have players like
16:39
Messi that are just both they're the supercomputer and then also
16:43
instinctively they're just better at that also than
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everybody else. And I think Jordan Bugg is like
16:49
her instincts, like, you know, Lily Johannes has some of this
16:51
too. Like they just don't have to
16:53
think. It's just the autopilot.
16:56
They're just swiveling and turning and look at their they
16:58
just, their body just knows what to do, where to go.
17:01
And then like, I think, think about a player like Emily Samms.
17:04
I've spoken to Emily Samms a few times and like, she's clearly
17:06
the, the Peyton Manning type. She's clearly a cruncher, a
17:10
machine, you know, a thinker, you know, and like, you can see
17:12
it a little bit in her play. I think, you know, kind of like
17:15
the weight of the the US shirt a little bit heavy, but I loved in
17:19
the New Zealand match kind of her kind of settled into that.
17:21
But yeah, I think back to Bug, Bug is just super instinctive
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and a player that I think is going to like just coast righted
17:30
right into that role and like really fit next to Germa.
17:35
And then I think we're going to see the chemistry even just kind
17:38
of kind of take off from there potentially.
17:40
The more players you have in your 11 who can just give you
17:44
that sense of calm, just every like, I got the ball, I'm gonna
17:48
take a step back. I'm gonna turn and play it to
17:50
the keeper or I'm gonna turn and play it to the wing.
17:53
And I'm just gonna create some space.
17:55
Like the more of those players you have, the the better you're
18:00
going to fare. Certainly against a team like
18:02
Spain who might try to press, who will try to press you or
18:06
just to even like the European competition that you're going to
18:08
play against. And sometimes even like a
18:10
barnstorming team like like Brazil, where sometimes it's
18:14
like, hey, we need to make sure that we calmly move the ball
18:17
around a little bit to get them to back off and then hit one of
18:20
our release valves. Yeah, no doubt it's going to be
18:26
interesting to see the the tactics that get employed too.
18:28
And I think a lot of it, I mean, that's the kind of like the, the
18:31
mental game we have to play too is like, what do we expect, you
18:34
know, then like what players do we expect will fit that style?
18:38
But the shift gears talk about the midfield.
18:41
I had 12345, I had seven players in my midfield.
18:44
Again, only 6 defenders. Sounds like you also had seven
18:47
in the midfield. I did.
18:50
All right. We talked about our 4231.
18:52
Do we want to start with the two?
18:53
Do we know the two? I think we know.
18:55
I mean, I don't know. We kick us off here.
18:58
I mean, you know, I know the two I'm going with.
19:02
I'm going with Claire Hutton and Lily Johannes.
19:05
Let's go check, check. Same for you.
19:09
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think they're the double
19:12
pivot pairing of the future. I know you know, Johannes can
19:17
also thrive and does thrive and kind of like that box to box
19:20
midfielder role like as a #8. But I think if you're going to
19:24
play a 4231, she's just a natural fit there who can still
19:29
get forward and create, you know, havoc in the attack.
19:35
But when she's kind of back there surveying the field, you
19:38
just see there is a chemistry she has with Michelle Cooper of
19:43
just, oh, there you are. I'm playing, I'm playing you
19:45
wide open and you're running wide open.
19:47
And she can do the same thing with Alyssa Thompson.
19:49
So I just there's there's just no way Hutton in Johannes.
19:53
We're we're not going to be my my starting holding midfielders.
19:58
I have AI have a little notes column and with with my names
20:01
and my the two notes for those two players, which were also the
20:05
first two at my midfield sharpieed sharpie.
20:08
Those are the notes. That's it.
20:10
Not today for those two players. I'll give you my next two.
20:15
I think I've got to go with Sam Coffey just because obviously
20:21
you you mentioned Sonnet in terms of like your veteran
20:24
leadership presence. I think for me, Sam Coffey's
20:27
probably going to be one of the most senior players that I have
20:29
in my 23 by that point once we get there.
20:32
And I think she's just one of the types of players that you'll
20:36
have to pry this jersey from her cold, dead hand.
20:39
And it's true. I think it's just like she will
20:43
not give up the space. I mean, she just strikes me as
20:46
that kind of competitor. So I've got coffee, which I
20:50
think would prepare really well with Johannes and Hutton.
20:52
And then I think another attacking midfielder, Cory
20:56
Bethune, has to be there. So give me Cory Bethune, buddy.
21:01
As the world's foremost Croy Bethune stockholder, you're God
21:06
damn right she has to be there. And she's my, she's my starting
21:09
#10 She will be 26 years old in that World Cup year.
21:14
I think she will be pretty close to her apex.
21:18
And you know, teams like Spain and your reigning European two
21:23
time European champion England are not going to be scared of
21:27
anybody, but they shouldn't be feeling great about Apex, Croix,
21:31
Bethune playing with a lot of other superstar players.
21:35
I mean, that's a real problem offensively to deal with.
21:38
I think, you know, just has the dynamism and I think that's kind
21:41
of like what Emma Hayes is going to be looking for.
21:43
It's like distribution that could cover a lot of ground.
21:46
I grabbed A stat. So Corey's completing 73% of
21:51
long passes in the end of USL, 27 out of 37.
21:54
That's 30 plus yards. So, you know, she can spray it.
21:57
Johannes can spray it. We saw her do that, you know, so
22:01
I think so now we've got 4. Are you, are we locked up with
22:04
those four? You had those same 4?
22:05
Lily Hutton, Sam. Coffee.
22:07
Korba Bethune. No doubt.
22:09
Yeah, Coffee. Interesting note about coffee.
22:11
She'll be 28 in that World Cup year and has not a she'll be
22:15
making her World Cup debut. Did not appear in in 19 or 23.
22:21
Oh, let's go. So that's that's that's just got
22:24
elevated, I think to Sharpie status for sure.
22:27
So we got our four sounds like we each have three more
22:30
midfielders to hit. Who else do you have you?
22:34
Want me to just RIP off the three?
22:37
Let's go, Let's go one at one at a time.
22:39
All right, she'll be a crafty veteran, but at this point in
22:44
2027, she will be in a hole 22 years old when this World Cup is
22:50
played. And her name is Olivia Moultrie.
22:52
Let's go has to be on there. 125 shot creating actions, good for
22:57
first in the NWSL. 5.43 shot creating actions per 90, also
23:02
good for first. Also a goal scorer.
23:04
Eight goals per Moultrie, good for 6th in the league.
23:07
So it's like you figure you think about her as like a
23:09
facilitator, creator can finish and this is a player that's in
23:13
the top 6 and goal scoring. And then WSL definitely had
23:17
Moultrie. She, you know, I think burst
23:20
burst through with this most recent performance.
23:22
But she's been having such a great season.
23:24
And to your point, she's still so young and continues to just
23:28
kind of add stuff to her game, get better.
23:30
So I think she's she's a shoe in or probably tracking towards
23:33
that. I'm going to grab the 6th spot
23:37
and I'm going to say Jaden Shaw. Very cool to see a player kind
23:42
of get things back on track after like a super white hot
23:45
start for the US with national team and then sort of tumultuous
23:49
professional career, you know, sort of 12/15/18 month period
23:54
and now kind of found a groove a little bit back with the US with
23:56
national team. Totally agree, she was the next
23:59
player I have listed as well. I mean, we talked about it when
24:02
when you put her around other smart players who can read the
24:08
runs, the very intelligent runs that she's making, she's an
24:11
absolute nightmare for defenses. Yeah, no doubt.
24:15
I think, I think she's got to be there.
24:17
Good fit for him. He is as well.
24:19
Yep. You want to hit your seventh.
24:21
Yes, I am going to take the aforementioned Katarina Macario.
24:26
She will be 28 years old. She's going to play the style
24:30
that Emma Hayes wants to play. And she is excellent at that
24:37
style of play. And like if you if you, you
24:40
know, if you're going up against some of these like physical
24:43
teams, like what if, you know, what if in your group you draw
24:47
Germany or Iceland or you know, some of some of kind of your
24:51
more physical teams? What if you draw Italy and you
24:53
have to get drawn into a Cardenacchio rock fight?
24:56
I want I want Katarina Macario in that situation.
25:00
Yeah, absolutely. I had.
25:01
I had Macario as one of my forwards, so she was definitely
25:05
on my short list. The midfielder that I did want
25:08
to mention though, who made my 23, Corbin Schrader.
25:12
So I think, you know, you look at what she did last year for
25:17
PSG, four goals, 2 assists in 19 appearances.
25:21
So in four appearances for Leo, and she's got those same four
25:25
goals and two assists. Incredibly productive scoring
25:28
bangers kind of came out of nowhere.
25:31
I mean, I've, I've looked up, you know, Corbin Schrader,
25:33
social media, I can't really find anything.
25:36
It seems like she's just kind of came out of nowhere.
25:39
But here we are. I think a good player going to
25:41
be 24 by the time we get to 2027 and I think ultimately another
25:46
good fit and I think defensively can do some stuff to compete
25:51
where the midfield room I put together more offensive focused.
25:56
I think Corbin could kind of like step in and and at least
25:59
compete defensively. Yeah, I, I can see it.
26:03
Look, I mean, she she's a good player.
26:06
She has room to grow. Obviously working at Lyon and
26:10
with Gerald as I think will help her game.
26:14
I think sometimes she has AI think sometimes she relies on
26:20
just like putting her head down and charging forward.
26:24
And I am just I mean, I think anybody who listens this show, I
26:26
am just Spanish football pilled at this point.
26:29
Like I the the players I liked when I was young played that
26:32
way. I'm you know, I'm a city fan.
26:35
I watch Pep Guardiola ball like I just like that style.
26:38
And so sometimes I think her her passing ability leaves a lot to
26:42
be desired. And honestly, I mean, just to
26:44
keep it a Benny year, like I think she's a distraction in in
26:47
in a lot of cases. And, you know, I know sports
26:51
coaches and managers kind of look at that kind of stuff or
26:54
it's just like, are you worth it?
26:56
And I think she's, like I said, she's a good player.
26:59
She's a fine player for sure. I don't know, I don't know if
27:03
she's worth the distraction to me, but I, I can absolutely
27:06
understand it. I I understand why anybody would
27:08
put her on the roster. Yeah, and I guess we'll see.
27:12
I guess we'll see what happens, you know, once we get there, you
27:15
know, I mean, definitely take that point.
27:17
But again, a long time between now and then.
27:19
But let's shift gears. I want to hit the forward room.
27:22
What? You hit one of mine already.
27:24
I think Macari. Macari had listed as a forward.
27:26
She made my 23. Like I mentioned, those couple
27:30
goals against New Zealand had a look in more like Shaq in the
27:33
post, less like Dwight in the post.
27:35
So I was happy to see that. But who else?
27:37
Who else do you have in your forward room here?
27:39
So my 2 wings that I have in my 4231, so I, you know, I
27:44
mentioned Hutton and Johannes as the holding midfielders.
27:46
Then I have obviously Bethune is at the center of that three.
27:50
The two wings that I'm going to have, I don't think it's going
27:52
to really be a surprise to anybody.
27:54
Alyssa Thompson on the left, Trinity Rodman on the right.
27:59
What's up everybody? How you going to defend those
28:01
two? Love that.
28:03
Yeah, two players that also made my list.
28:07
Got to got to have them there. I'm just going to like include
28:10
the the full triple espresso compliment into my 23 just out
28:15
of respect, you know, I think, you know, we're we're projecting
28:19
forward age wise, but we're also I'm well, I'm also projecting
28:22
like full health recovery, you know, like just basically back
28:25
to full back to full strength and then whatever normal time
28:29
age we would expect there. So I had the full trip triple
28:34
espresso compliment. I also had Alyssa Thompson and
28:39
then to round things out, I had both Ms. Years and Michelle
28:44
Cooper as kind of like my backup wings.
28:47
And I think there was just something about, and I'm not
28:50
saying that this is going to happen, you know, but I did make
28:53
the case when we're watching triple espresso, it's like, all
28:55
right, well, this is very cool. We should appreciate this.
28:58
We shouldn't just assume that this is going to be our our
29:00
attack for the next 10. You know, like we'd love to do
29:03
that as kind of like pundits and like, what do we see the very
29:05
next tournament? I don't like any of them or like
29:07
for whatever reason, it was over three at that point.
29:10
So we'll, we'll we'll assume that they're back.
29:13
But there there was something about Sears on the left, Cooper
29:18
on the right, Hutton and Lily in the middle and Macario in the in
29:23
the 9 where those five physical players just had death * vibes.
29:30
And I'm like, if you're a, if you're a defense, if you're
29:33
Brazil, you might have a Tarsiani or a Hafaya or, you
29:37
know, like, but it's hard to defend with those five profiles
29:42
just coming at you, the ball being able to be distributed in
29:46
intelligent ways, runs coming up the backside.
29:50
And even when you're in position, we saw this with
29:52
Michelle Cooper, even when you're in position to defend
29:55
her, she'll just, you know, like, dispose of you because,
30:00
you know, it's like, it's just that's just how he rolls.
30:02
So there was something so Death starry about watching those five
30:06
players just out physical, you know, you know, hapless New
30:09
Zealand. Yeah, and the the thing about
30:13
Macario is, yeah, she'll out physical you.
30:15
She'll outrun you. She she hits the ball into the
30:19
middle of the danger area off the end line so brilliantly.
30:24
Like, I mean, she she waits till the sometime she waits till the
30:27
last possible second to serve the ball into the middle in a
30:31
spot where the goalkeeper is just in a rough spot.
30:35
Like, am I going to dive out for it?
30:36
Am I going to try to catch? Do I have to hold and, and try
30:39
to brace for the shot? I mean, Cooper's an absolute
30:42
genius. Yeah, exactly.
30:44
Yeah. And and so Cooper's an absolute
30:45
genius. Well, I had her on my on my
30:49
sharpie list in our last episode.
30:53
So she's she's on the roster and you've already alluded to it.
30:56
Speaking of mentioning triple espresso.
30:59
But so Sophie Wilson is the top. She is the one in my 434231.
31:04
She has to be multiple time NWSLMVP, one of the most
31:09
brilliant goal scorers you could imagine, a professional goal
31:12
scorer of the highest order, Golden Boot winner in the league
31:14
as well. So, I mean, I did not have
31:19
Mallory Swanson and I on my roster on my 23, but I do want
31:23
to say she is obviously a fabulous player.
31:26
As I looked at it though, my 6, my 6 forwards were Wilson
31:34
Thompson, Rodman, Cooper Sears. I'm right there with you on
31:38
that. And Ally Centenor, she'll be,
31:41
she'll be 23 years old should be getting more reps for, for
31:45
Kansas City current. And I just kind of was left
31:48
thinking, will a 29 year old Mallory Swanson be quite as good
31:56
as a 24 year old Michelle Cooper, 26 year old Amos Sears
32:00
or a 23 year old Ally Sentinor? I think it's a toss up, but I I
32:04
want to be clear, it's not impossible that Mallory Swanson
32:08
is better than any of those three players in two years
32:10
because she's a supernova in her own right.
32:13
Yeah, and I somebody also mentioned to the, I think they
32:18
mentioned, well, they mentioned Swanson as well in their comment
32:20
section last week about us kind of overlooking Swanson.
32:23
It just didn't come up with the conversation.
32:26
But I think if Swanson's back to full health, I think her goal
32:30
scoring, considering what we've seen from this US attack, I
32:34
don't think you could overlook that.
32:37
Like, I think, you know, you just you just need it, it it we
32:42
just might need a mouse wanted game, you know, and I think like
32:45
she'll still be within the age that I think she'll be able to
32:50
more more than capable of of producing that even against top
32:53
competition, right, If she's back to, you know, full
32:55
strength. All right, pretty solid list.
32:59
I love that we I think we synced up on 20 of the 23.
33:03
So Alyssa Thompson, Trinity Rodman, Sophie Wilson, Kat
33:06
Macario, Emma Sears, Michelle Cooper, forwards or attackers,
33:11
Lil Johannes, Claire Hutton, Sam Coffey, Craig Bethune, Olivia
33:14
Moultrie, Jaden Shaw In our midfield, Naomi Germa, Tara
33:18
McKeon, Emily Fox, Avery Patterson, Jordan Bug as our
33:21
defenders. And we also synced up on our
33:23
goalkeepers, PTJ Fountelis, Joyce, Mandy McGlynn, Claudia
33:27
Dickey. And then where we had a little
33:30
bit of divergent attacking wise, I had Mel Swanson, you put
33:34
forward Ally Sentnor. In the midfield, I had Corbin
33:38
Schrader. And then in defense, I had Emily
33:41
Sam's and you had Lily Reel and ITC Hall of Famer Emily Sonnet.
33:47
I feel pretty good about, I mean, I love the, I love the
33:50
overlap and I think we got the right room and I love that we
33:53
also had three, you know, 3 divergences.
33:58
And we also agreed that we'd have three, you know, Subs or
34:01
reserves. So it could be that the 26 we
34:04
have are the actual 26. I wouldn't be surprised.
34:07
There were two of my reserves who did not get named, and so
34:12
I'd like to name them right now. And it it would be a a sham if I
34:17
did this entire episode without naming her because I really
34:20
tried to find a way to get her on.
34:22
Roosevelt's going to be 32 when this tournament is played.
34:24
She's going to be 32 in the year this tournament is played.
34:27
And she's a legend. I've often said that she's one
34:30
of my favorite players when I really kind of started to
34:34
ratchet up my interest in the sport.
34:36
And, and you know, obviously I'm an old man.
34:39
I was, I was 14 years old in 99 during kind of like The Big
34:44
Bang. But in 2019, you know, when I
34:49
was like, OK, I'm going to start watching the league.
34:52
Rose Lavelle had moments in that 2019 World Cup where I was just
34:55
like, is she the best player on the field?
34:57
And like, for like long stretches And, you know, I, I've
35:01
just been a fan of her game ever since.
35:02
So it was hard to leave Lavelle off, but I figured I would put
35:05
her as a reserve and then my other reserve to get a forward
35:08
in there. Yasmine Ryan.
35:10
She'll be 28. She plays that Emma Hayes style.
35:13
She's she's tough, she has great skill.
35:17
And I figured if I was going to have three, my three were
35:19
Lavelle, Sam's and Ryan. Love it.
35:23
I also had Roosevelt is one of my reserves.
35:28
I mentioned Trudy Armstrong has another one of my reserves, the
35:31
third one that I had Maddie Dalene.
35:36
Let's go, let's go. She was only on the.
35:39
Periphery that's. Awesome.
35:42
Needs a little look. I think the speed is there.
35:45
I think you know, the the she has that kind of like, you know,
35:51
the speed, but can also kind of change direction, but like
35:55
change the angle basically of the run and keep the speed.
35:58
You know, some people are just like straight line.
36:00
She could go and then kind of like, you know, turn a go route
36:03
into a post route and kind of like not miss a step, you know,
36:07
and has great ball skills, great finishing skills.
36:12
I think a player that can kind of grow into, you know, I, I
36:15
wanted to find the attacker that I thought, you know, could
36:19
evolve. And I think just from what we've
36:21
seen, you know, the growth in her game just for Seattle, just
36:24
since since doing this show, I think kind of puts her on a
36:27
really interesting trajectory to be one of those types of players
36:31
that, you know, can can put put forward midfield minutes, can
36:34
dart in from the midfield, can play on the wing and like just,
36:38
I don't know, be be an interesting wild card.
36:39
I think if she goes up a level or two, she's she's right there
36:43
in that mix for me. I absolutely love it.
36:45
She's got time at wingback too. I mean, playing for Laura
36:48
Harvey, you know, one thing that she absolutely has to have in
36:52
her arsenal is being a willing defender.
36:54
So I think that bodes well for for her future.
36:57
What a great, what a great shout by you.
37:00
I will say on on the periphery, obviously not one of my 3
37:04
reserves, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention Sam Meza,
37:08
who will be 25 in the year this tournament has played.
37:11
I mean, she's Laura Harvey has told me on multiple occasions
37:15
she's been the best player on the team for a very surprising
37:19
Seattle Rain FC this season. It's just that defensive
37:23
midfield room or you know, the midfielder room in general is
37:27
just so packed. I just didn't, I don't know.
37:30
I mean, we'll, we'll see what Meza grows into.
37:32
Like she certainly has a great starting point this year, but I
37:36
that that midfield room is stacked.
37:37
And so with that I do. I also want to mention another
37:40
ITC favorite, Hal Hirschfeld. She's going to be 26.
37:44
I know she's, you know, been a little banged up this year, but
37:48
great size, great attitude, another smart player who plays
37:52
with a composure that you like. I gave her a long look as well.
37:58
Yeah, absolutely. And I think it really does speak
38:00
to who's also available at that time because weirdly, if coffee
38:05
is not available, it's like, I don't like, it's like by my
38:08
name, Mealy goes to Hershfeld. It's like we need somebody in
38:11
there that could like really muck it up.
38:13
Hershfeld definitely on my short list.
38:17
Couple other midfielders, Lindsay Heaps.
38:19
It's just tough for me to leave her off.
38:21
You know, also it's like, I don't know, tough to kind of
38:24
like, you know, you just think that you're going to be in a
38:27
tournament, things are going to get dicey.
38:30
You know, you're going to want players like with that
38:31
experience. It will be tough when it comes
38:34
to that point if Heaps is not on the list to have left her off
38:37
for short. Jalen Howell made my short list
38:40
and Taylor Flynn as well. You know, like, yeah, great.
38:44
Think about a player that could be Taylor Flynn just has like
38:47
all, you know, limbs and, you know, like stretchy distance
38:51
just could like just she's got that that Legion of Boom kind of
38:54
vibe to to her defensively in the midfield.
38:56
There might be a match where we just need that player to stand
39:00
in the middle of the park and just disrupt everything, you
39:03
know? And I think like it.
39:04
It just goes to show how much talent there is and how tough
39:07
it's going to be to crack this 23.
39:08
And then it also shows how fucking good players like Claire
39:13
Hutton and Lily Honest must be for them to just be like, OK,
39:17
all you other players, y'all are outside like, we're just here,
39:20
we're in Sharpie, we're we're tracking.
39:23
And it doesn't matter that neither of us can legally drink
39:25
alcohol in this country. It's an absolute great call.
39:29
Flint put up a great year. I love the Jalen Howell call out
39:34
as well. Yeah, I mean Flint.
39:38
If Flint does have another season like she did this year,
39:42
next year I think he would be. And I and I not accusing Emma
39:47
Hayes of this because I think she would do it.
39:49
I think it it would be borderline irresponsible to it
39:52
not least get her in the next international window that season
39:56
if she plays like this again, because she was fantastic for
39:58
racing Louisville. I want to make one more quick
40:00
call out. This one's on the periphery.
40:02
I know she suffered A devastating ACL injury this
40:05
year, but I I saw her play in person.
40:09
Kaya Hanks, left wing Portland thorns.
40:13
I think she will be, she will be 23 years old when this
40:17
tournament is played, or at least in the year.
40:19
This tournament will be played in 2024 for the Wake Forest
40:24
Demon Demon Deacons. She was first team All American.
40:29
She was all ACC and she was the top three finalists for the
40:32
Hermann Trophy, which is essentially in women's football,
40:35
the Heisman Trophy. And Buddy, she plays with a lot
40:39
of sauce and that that I know that forward room is going to be
40:44
absolutely stacked. But when I was thinking about
40:46
what could players grow into she, I mean, she has a lot of
40:51
style and speed and smarts. And so I just want to make sure
40:55
I gave her a shout. Yeah, no doubt.
40:58
I I, I got to see Kaya Hanks too when Portland came to Bay and
41:02
same thing. I was just like, OK, that's
41:04
that's a that's got some impressive skills.
41:09
A couple other attackers I want to mention.
41:10
I mentioned Darlene Riley, Tiernan, Raylin Turner.
41:15
I think Emery Adamus could could have an outside shot of of being
41:18
interesting mid first. Who's the Seattle guy on this
41:21
show? What are you doing?
41:22
Why are you? Why are you stealing?
41:25
He's got a nuzzle in here. You know, I mean, Libby Andola,
41:28
she might be, you know, back to full form.
41:30
We'll see about that. A couple I did a couple of
41:32
Chicago names. Ali Schlagel.
41:35
Jamiese Joseph is only 23 years old and like had a real big step
41:39
up into this season, scoring goals, assists, a player that
41:45
you know, another, another player that you know, I think is
41:47
going to again, you mentioned with Taylor Flynn, if, if he
41:51
stays on the track, he's going to have to get onto Mahay's
41:55
radar and we'll have to get a look and we'll have to get a
41:58
couple minutes and see what she's capable of.
42:00
You know, because she's she's at that age where you you expect
42:02
some, some improvement. But All in all, big, big pool of
42:07
of really good players to choose from.
42:09
There's a bunch too. I'm looking at my list of 48
42:11
that I didn't mention. I won't kind of knock there
42:13
anymore, but I think we did. I think we did a pretty good job
42:16
here, man. Anything else you want to hit
42:18
before we got here? I think that's it.
42:20
I mean, obviously everybody chime in, let us know who are we
42:23
foolish for leaving out, who is the U-17 player that we need to
42:27
be thinking about? Who's the U21 player that we
42:30
might need to think about that we didn't mention?
42:33
Is there an obvious mention? Should should you yell at us for
42:36
not, you know, talking about Lindsay Heaps until the end?
42:39
You know, granted, she will be 33 in the year of that
42:42
tournament. Although, you know, just based
42:45
on the comments I've seen in our past videos, I don't know if
42:49
there will be a lot of Lindsay Heaps defenders.
42:52
But you are you are right about her, her pedigree, her
42:55
experience and her accomplishments.
42:57
I mean, you know, check the jewelry like she's done all
43:00
right for herself. So yeah, please let us know in
43:03
the comments. Who, who did we forget?
43:05
Who do you have? Who's your starting 11?
43:07
Who's your starting? Who's your 23?
43:09
You know, put us on game here. Yeah, no doubt.
43:13
Don't come at us too hard. We're just a couple UU 46
43:17
podcasters trying to trying to make it happen out here.
43:20
Quick episode calendar. If you missed these Jordan
43:24
Sukowitzer, you go back and check that out.
43:26
That was a banger you we have women's Champions League match
43:29
day 2 recap, another banger and we covered decision day match
43:33
week 26 in the NWSL where we talked about all the different
43:35
machinations that are just a couple days from unraveling
43:39
here, which leads us right. I mean really nicely into next
43:43
week where we'll we'll be back into the NWSL to talk about
43:46
those playoff matchups. Those will all be decided.
43:49
We'll also have an end of season award show.
43:51
I think this is a good primer on like kind of wrapping my head
43:54
around all these NWSL stand out players that that that might
43:56
kind of crack our awards, you know, episode.
44:00
So I'm excited about that. More champsy coverage coming
44:02
your way as well next week. All right, man, Now I definitely
44:05
think we did it. Is there anything else you want
44:07
to hit before we get out of here for real?
44:08
For real. For real, For real.
44:10
I do want to say I'm kind of questioning having Mcglinn over
44:14
Silkowitz on the roster because I I kind of do want to start.
44:18
I mean, obviously we're going to assess how she plays next year,
44:22
but I do think, you know, if if next year starts the way I think
44:27
it will based on the way she talks about her preparation and
44:30
her her offseason activities, we might have to start the silky
44:34
for USWNT campaign and I will gladly get that started with
44:38
you. I.
44:39
Mean I'm, I'm all, I'm all for that.
44:42
I'm ready for that. Before we get there though, you
44:45
know, couple, make sure you're supporting the show.
44:48
We got patreon.com/into the channel.
44:51
We've got the ITC merch. Be ready what time it is, boys
44:53
rocking the white, the white hoodie with the full into the
44:56
channel logo treatment on the front.
44:58
I appreciate everybody for checking checking that out.
45:02
And there's been another episode into the channel.
45:03
Thank you, thank you, thank you for watching, listening, hanging
45:06
out. If you enjoyed the show or
45:08
loving football as much as your boys do, make sure you're
45:09
kicking them with us each and every single week, sometimes
45:11
twice a week. Sometimes we've had some three
45:14
times a week forays. So we we keep them busy around
45:17
here, like subscribe, follow, leave us a review YouTube,
45:20
Spotify, Apple podcast where we like to watch or listen links
45:23
all the above much, much more description of this episode and
45:26
a big thank you Michael as well. Mr. Grande go for 202720372047
45:32
doesn't matter. My guys already Sharpie.
45:34
Didn't you already know what time it is?
45:35
I appreciate you bro. Likewise, buddy and and thank
45:39
you for allowing me on the U46 team with you, especially
45:44
because I am so significantly U46II.
45:48
Appreciate you still allowing me on the team with you so I'm.
45:53
Not going to try, I won't take that personal.
45:56
I didn't know. I mean, I still forget that you
45:59
are on, you know, even in that ballpark.
46:02
Like I like I say, though, you know, we we've just turned 20 a
46:05
second time. So I mean, that's really all
46:08
that's happening here. And it's partially because of
46:11
all of you being nice people on the Internet.
46:14
Lord knows that that's hard to find.
46:15
So thank you all for always rocking with us, dropping nice
46:18
comments in the comments section, putting us on game,
46:22
educating us. We always appreciate it and we
46:24
will see you all next time.