Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / INTO THE NWSL! Bay FC, Seattle Reign, Gotham FC, Boston Legacy

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INTO THE NWSL! Bay FC, Seattle Reign, Gotham FC, Boston Legacy · 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 Dino de Suspitas
• 0:12
  and as always I am joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Angle.
• 0:16
  What is up man? I'm feeling fantastic, buddy.
• 0:19
  It feels like it's been a long time since we've convened this
• 0:23
  here podcast. We appreciate all our patience.
• 0:26
  All the patience from our pals. Doesn't feel like it's been a
• 0:30
  long time. It's been a long time.
• 0:31
  We're we're we're in the double digits of days.
• 0:33
  I mean, that might be a record. Not one that I want to try to
• 0:36
  break at any point soon. It'll have been a little sad
• 0:39
  times not going to get but you know, a lot to talk about.
• 0:42
  We're we're in that awkward well, Mr. Grant angle before we
• 0:45
  get to that awkward time of year.
• 0:46
  Where do we get started? Let's get started with a
• 0:48
  beverage that'll help with the awkwardness.
• 0:50
  Let's. Go.
• 0:51
  I don't think anything's going to help with the awkwardness.
• 0:53
  CBH. These beverages are going to
• 0:56
  help us figure this out. Don't worry, we'll we'll work as
• 1:00
  a team. I like it.
• 1:04
  Well, as I was saying, cheers to you.
• 1:08
  Cheers to the football, cheers to Buddy Shaw and everything
• 1:12
  that her future holds. What are you doing?
• 1:17
  Cheers to all the mixed emotions.
• 1:19
  I know, I know we weren't, we maybe weren't going to talk
• 1:21
  about it, but do you know that made a top of mind right before
• 1:25
  the mic, So I apologize, man. Well, I mean, to let everybody
• 1:28
  behind the curtain, I, I switched the rundown.
• 1:31
  We had Bunny Shaw as one of the last topics.
• 1:33
  I was just like, I don't want to talk about it done.
• 1:35
  I mean, it's, it's fine. Like I, I'm, I'm, I'm annoyed by
• 1:38
  it. Obviously everybody who enjoys
• 1:40
  the show. And if it's your first time, I'm
• 1:42
  a Manchester City Football Club supporter.
• 1:44
  Yes, they win the league. It's fantastic.
• 1:47
  And then it's just like, Oh, yeah, but they don't want to do
• 1:49
  the number of years that Bunny Shaw and her agent want to do on
• 1:53
  the contract. Here's what the contract is,
• 1:55
  guys. I'll, I'll, I'll settle this for
• 1:56
  you. Here's what the contract is.
• 1:58
  It's the highest annual value of any women's football player in
• 2:00
  the world. That's what it should be.
• 2:02
  Well, how could it not be? She just walks to the Golden
• 2:05
  Boot again and again and again. She's the best goal scorer.
• 2:07
  She's the best #9 in the world. The, the value, annual value of
• 2:10
  the contract, highest of any women's footballer.
• 2:13
  And then however many years she wants, she wants five years.
• 2:15
  Just give her the five years. Whatever, man.
• 2:17
  You got to play the Champions League next year.
• 2:18
  You need her. Yeah, no, she wants five years.
• 2:21
  You give her ten years. It's ridiculous.
• 2:25
  No, but I would what I was thinking we're I think we're
• 2:27
  caught in you know what, in the when you're watching the Summer
• 2:31
  Olympics and then you kind of switch from watching the the
• 2:33
  gymnastics floor routine, you flip the channel and then now
• 2:37
  you're all of a sudden you're watching like Greco Roman
• 2:38
  wrestling. That's kind of like what work
• 2:40
  we're going from Champions League to watching in WSL.
• 2:43
  You know, it's still football, it's still exciting, still the
• 2:45
  highest level, but it is it is a different flavor and a lot, a
• 2:51
  lot to talk about this NBSL season.
• 2:53
  We're going to we're going to keep it a little bit brief.
• 2:56
  We're going to talk a little bit Bay FC, which is my my domain.
• 3:00
  We're going to talk a little Seattle rain, which is my guys
• 3:03
  domain. And really, if we're going to be
• 3:06
  honest, we're here to talk about a special guest that we're going
• 3:09
  to have during the show tomorrow, and that's one Rachel
• 3:11
  Kundanagi. So keep it locked.
• 3:13
  Make sure make sure you just circle back tomorrow for what's
• 3:16
  going to be an absolutely epic interview.
• 3:19
  What a get credit to you, your your sources, your contacts.
• 3:22
  Credit to Bay Football Club for making Rachel available to chat
• 3:28
  with us. Very excited for that interview.
• 3:31
  But yeah, let's talk about let's talk about the weekend that was.
• 3:34
  Let's go where you wanna get started.
• 3:37
  Let's start with your account. Then.
• 3:38
  We mentioned the dynamic winger Rachel Kundanagi.
• 3:41
  How about Bay FC-1 Boston One? This one had a little little
• 3:46
  controversy to it. Kundanagi, you know, I think had
• 3:49
  a good start. Bay up had a good start.
• 3:52
  But you know, Boston was coming off I think a really brutal
• 3:55
  stretch, three matches and seven or eight days, something really
• 3:58
  ungodly. And they tried to take advantage
• 4:00
  early to to some to some success.
• 4:03
  I think at halftime a little bit of an anomaly.
• 4:07
  They went in with a six to one shot on target advantage and I
• 4:11
  think they had an XG disadvantage, which was weird
• 4:14
  because Gutierrez had like a really, really good chance and
• 4:17
  all of Bay's shots were real dribblers.
• 4:19
  They're going to have to do something offensively.
• 4:21
  But but Boston played really tough.
• 4:24
  You know, I mean, I mean, you know, rest rust, you know,
• 4:27
  schmess schmess, like they didn't care.
• 4:29
  They just they, they came and brought it even earned, earned a
• 4:33
  red card, an early red card in the first half.
• 4:36
  But what what do you think of what do you think of that?
• 4:38
  Look at Boston. So Boston, they drew Gotham on
• 4:41
  May 9th, they beat the Orlando Pride on May 12th, and then they
• 4:45
  end up with a draw at AFC the 15th.
• 4:49
  So yeah, three matches, six days.
• 4:52
  It's a that's a whirlwind to walk away with five points from
• 4:56
  those three matches pretty strong.
• 4:59
  I think people were saying it ahead of the season.
• 5:02
  And then when Boston got out to that really slow start, lost
• 5:05
  some matches early, it feels like, and you know, please
• 5:10
  correct me if I'm wrong, but it feels like general consensus
• 5:13
  around NWSL fandom, at least what I've seen on Blue Sky is
• 5:18
  people were like, yeah, I I still think there's something to
• 5:20
  this Boston team and I think we've all been right.
• 5:23
  I think they're good. They made a they made a wild
• 5:27
  change, even down, down a player.
• 5:31
  Their their manager Felipe Patel put in the attacker.
• 5:35
  I saw the and and it was like whatever, 10 let's let's try to
• 5:39
  get a goal here. And it was kind of like it was
• 5:43
  so bold because she was basically saying at that point,
• 5:47
  we don't think you can score. And she wasn't wrong about that.
• 5:52
  They ends up scoring. Dorian Bailey gets her second
• 5:55
  goal of the season. I mean, excited for Dorian
• 6:00
  Bailey. You know, she's a nice person, a
• 6:01
  good player, but 29 years old gets her second goal of the
• 6:05
  season. She's based leading scorer this
• 6:07
  year where we're eight matches in.
• 6:10
  I'm going to I'm going to quiz you real quick coming into this
• 6:14
  this this this year, which is Dorian Bailey's seventh season.
• 6:18
  How many goals do you think she had coming into to this season
• 6:21
  career for Dorian? OK, All right.
• 6:25
  I'll just hand off the mouse like 7 seasons.
• 6:27
  And Dorian Bailey, she has two goals already this season.
• 6:33
  Does she have 10 career goals prior to this?
• 6:37
  Good guess, very close. She had two goals coming into
• 6:40
  the 7th season, she's got two this year, and she's Bay's
• 6:43
  leading scorer. That's kind of all you need to
• 6:45
  know. Bay's got no no one in the top
• 6:48
  25 of XG per 90. No one in the top 50 expected
• 6:53
  assist per 90, and it shows. It shows for sure.
• 6:57
  I think Bay was able to shore things up kind of defensively.
• 7:00
  They're also on a pretty good run defensively.
• 7:04
  They've only given up one goal and seven halves of football.
• 7:07
  Shout out to Silky on that, except for the one sort of like
• 7:13
  a, you know, a tough call. You know, I'll say, you know,
• 7:16
  with the penalty in this one, that ends up kind of going
• 7:18
  against them and netting Boston and equalizer.
• 7:23
  Was it a penalty? What'd you think?
• 7:26
  I don't, I mean, how is it a penalty?
• 7:30
  Like what is what Silky supposed to do at that point?
• 7:33
  It's kind of like the play's kind of over, you know, like
• 7:39
  I'm, I'm, I'm not, it seemed way off to me.
• 7:43
  I mean, it, it seemed, it seemed really off.
• 7:45
  Not to mention, when you think about the spirit of the law, the
• 7:48
  ball's gone, right? The the play for all intents and
• 7:50
  purposes is over, you know, so we could, we could put that off
• 7:54
  to the side and then the foul is just seems to be a collision of
• 7:57
  two players kind of coming together on what's essentially a
• 8:01
  dead ball situation. I think I absolutely agree with
• 8:05
  you. I won't even say I think I I I
• 8:07
  do agree with you. And I thought Mary Mathias was
• 8:09
  good on the broadcast too. Of like, what?
• 8:10
  What else do you want her to do? If she makes that contact before
• 8:14
  the ball gets to her, then sure, yeah, it's a foul.
• 8:17
  Like she's she's in the way. But she she's up there, she
• 8:20
  she's trying to make herself big.
• 8:22
  That's why her leg is extended. It's unfortunate, you know, that
• 8:25
  she hits. I started like, you know, in
• 8:28
  the, it looked like the neck face region where she ends up
• 8:30
  catching her like a flying knee. But I'm with you, like in terms
• 8:35
  of like the spirit of the law too.
• 8:37
  I just think you nailed every point.
• 8:39
  The ball's not in play anymore. Like nobody's nobody's getting
• 8:42
  when the contact is made. Nobody's getting the ball.
• 8:44
  So I didn't like the call. Silkowitz is a budding star.
• 8:49
  It's it's a, it's an unfortunate moment for her, but just the way
• 8:54
  she's been playing, the way she's been playing all year, So
• 8:58
  what? She is second in the league with
• 9:01
  32 saves, only behind Jane Campbell at the Houston Dash.
• 9:05
  And you know, some of these stats, you know, do you
• 9:07
  necessarily want to be second in the league in in saves as a
• 9:10
  goalkeeper? Probably not, because you don't
• 9:11
  want that many shots taken at you.
• 9:13
  But it is what it is. And she's #3 in the league in
• 9:16
  save percentage at 77.5, only behind on Katrin Berger, who
• 9:21
  we'll discuss later, and Mackenzie Arnold.
• 9:24
  Couple of pretty good goalkeepers.
• 9:26
  Absolutely, yeah. I think all you really need to
• 9:28
  know about Jordan Silkowitz since he's I mean otherwise
• 9:30
  other than that she's awesome is on April 25th, Bay FC versus
• 9:34
  Gotham Bay FC falls 3 to nothing to Gotham FC.
• 9:39
  In that match. Jordan Sukwas has 12 saves and
• 9:43
  is fat mobs player of the match. In a match they lose, they lose
• 9:47
  3 to nothing. I'm not sure if I've ever seen
• 9:49
  that. And you look at the XG on target
• 9:53
  faced in that 15.19 for Gotham. So you can see kind of like a
• 9:59
  how and I and I talked to Jordan briefly after that game and I
• 10:01
  was, I mean, I just was and and honestly, everybody was in awe,
• 10:05
  like coats everybody and I forgot who was sitting next to
• 10:07
  her in the post game presser, but everybody was just like,
• 10:10
  holy shit, what's incredible. And she's, she's kind of held
• 10:16
  that standard pretty much since then.
• 10:18
  While you're throwing out dates when you you talk about that
• 10:22
  match first. Gotham FCI got a date for you.
• 10:25
  How about October, October 22nd, 2025?
• 10:30
  Anybody curious about the significance of that date?
• 10:33
  That's when Jordan Silkowitz joined the Into the Channel
• 10:35
  podcast as a guest. Had some great answers.
• 10:39
  Very clearly a a legitimately intelligent young person who
• 10:45
  cares deeply about her profession and thinks about
• 10:48
  being a goalkeeper in like really just kind of like
• 10:52
  enlightened ways. It was just hugely educational
• 10:55
  for us to chat with Jordan. It's why I am still on the Silky
• 10:59
  for USWNT campaign. And like, if we're bringing 3
• 11:02
  goalkeepers anywhere, it's Fallon.
• 11:05
  Tell us Joyce is Claudia Dickey. I think the third should be
• 11:08
  Jordan Silkowitz. I'm going to, I'm going to
• 11:10
  continue beating that drum. So yeah, check out that episode
• 11:13
  with Silky talking to us. And then we see she does this
• 11:16
  alt cast with Kelly O'Hara and Allie Riley for Victory Plus
• 11:21
  just the this past weekend. I mean, people are saying, where
• 11:25
  did, where did people find Jordan Silkowitz's great media
• 11:28
  chops? The end of the channel podcast?
• 11:30
  I don't, you know, I'm not saying that.
• 11:32
  I'm just, I've just been hearing it.
• 11:35
  I mean, it's not, not a reference if you wanted to just
• 11:39
  go back and see you, you know what, what that could look like,
• 11:42
  would look like. No, Yeah.
• 11:44
  And and shout out to you for for leading the charge on, on Silky
• 11:47
  for the national team. I think we're we're we're on a
• 11:49
  collision course for sure to make that happen.
• 11:53
  And I I've got some, you know, victory plus, you know, shout
• 11:56
  out to victory plus on that. But I've got some on the other
• 11:59
  on the other side for victory Plus, you know, maybe maybe a
• 12:01
  little little demerit, you know, down the road here.
• 12:03
  And and it has to do with this matchup.
• 12:06
  Seattle NIL, Gotham FC-2. You were in the you were.
• 12:11
  Yeah, this was a home one. You're in the building.
• 12:13
  I just seen this one. I didn't see Seattle score and
• 12:17
  that's not new. Seattle Rain Football Club has
• 12:21
  not scored a goal since their first half, since the first half
• 12:26
  of their win versus Racing Louisville on March 28th.
• 12:31
  That's a long time ago, buddy. That's 11 halves of football.
• 12:35
  The Rain have not scored a goal. And I got to tell you the the
• 12:39
  the fan base around here not enthused.
• 12:44
  You know, I mean, it's not and I kind of want to key it on on
• 12:48
  this Gotham matchup because it was very prevalent and you know,
• 12:51
  I haven't been watching every minute of rain football this
• 12:54
  season. Thank you know, lucky for me,
• 12:57
  but it it it they seemed a little hopeless and maybe
• 13:01
  hopeless too strong, but they seemed they seemed hopeless.
• 13:03
  It didn't seem like there was much to go to.
• 13:07
  And Gotham, on the other hand, look like, you know, playoff
• 13:10
  form. But you know, it's tough to
• 13:12
  tell. Is it, you know, was it
• 13:13
  competition based or is is Gotham at that level or is
• 13:16
  Seattle kind of like way below or you know, like what?
• 13:19
  What was your read on it? You know, the kind of like was
• 13:23
  Seattle bad on this? There was was Gotham really
• 13:25
  good? Well I'm, I'm glad you say that
• 13:29
  and you know, it just speaks to how much football we've been
• 13:31
  watching together over the past few years.
• 13:33
  I asked Laura Harvey in the post match presser.
• 13:37
  It's look, you play Washington Spirit last week, you pay, you
• 13:41
  play Gotham FC this week. I know there are a lot of games
• 13:44
  to be played for the rest of the season, but when you play those
• 13:47
  top clubs, they're always looked at like measuring stick matches.
• 13:51
  So how do you think you measure up?
• 13:53
  And she gave it some thought and as she always does, she gave me
• 13:56
  a very thoughtful answer. And she just she talked about
• 14:00
  like, hey, with teams like Washington Spirit and Gotham FC,
• 14:03
  you look at the experience and then she particularly pointed at
• 14:06
  Gotham because obviously we're talking post match.
• 14:08
  She's like, how many World Cup winners do they have?
• 14:10
  How many Euros winners, gold medalists, like all those
• 14:13
  players, they know how to win. And that was really kind of the
• 14:17
  encapsulation of her comments of just like there's so many young
• 14:21
  players on the rain right now. And then when you and she didn't
• 14:25
  mention this part, but I do think it's probably where and
• 14:27
  look, it's not it's not an excuse, it's an explanation.
• 14:31
  Jess Fishlock's not playing. And and when you look at hey,
• 14:36
  how come Sam Meza and she is still just an absolute menace in
• 14:39
  the defensive midfield. She's mucking up things.
• 14:42
  She's doing everything she can to be the best player for the
• 14:44
  rain. And I believe she has been all
• 14:45
  season. But then there's no connectivity
• 14:48
  between the midfield and the attack.
• 14:50
  Oh, what do you know, Jess Fishlock's not playing.
• 14:52
  She was the player who was capable of doing all those
• 14:54
  things. Yeah, that's such a great point
• 14:57
  because you see Meza just earning space, grabbing space,
• 15:02
  moving around, you know, kind of like tilting the field a little
• 15:05
  bit when she's got the chance, but nothing, nothing doing after
• 15:09
  that, you know, which was which is a little little frustrating
• 15:13
  to see. On the other side, though,
• 15:15
  Gotham, we we got to talk about that, that Jordan Jordan Dudley
• 15:20
  moment on I'm just going to say a, a Seattle rain defender, one
• 15:26
  of the Seattle rain defenders just gets obliterated.
• 15:30
  I mean, it's hard to it's hard to get beaten, you know, in a
• 15:34
  more spectacular fashion than than on that play.
• 15:37
  And then the ball works its way over to James Shaw, who just
• 15:40
  smashes it to put Gotham up. And I think the most the, I
• 15:46
  don't want to say the most embarrassing part, but the most,
• 15:49
  you know, the part that's going to, you know, be, you know, like
• 15:53
  the most dramatic is when, when Shay Holmes kind of gets up and
• 15:58
  tries to run back into the action.
• 16:01
  She's so far away. Like she's like like there's
• 16:05
  like 10 or 12 or maybe 15 yards between where she's at after
• 16:08
  getting up off the floor and where the actions taking place.
• 16:11
  And it all is in the box. You know, it's, it's like.
• 16:15
  A lot of. Space it was, you know, I mean a
• 16:22
  plate to forget for sure for for for one of those players and and
• 16:27
  and and definitely a mixtape highlight YouTube compilation,
• 16:31
  you know, just just chum in the water for for one Jordan Dudley.
• 16:36
  I saw, you know, I mean the YouTube algorithm, you know, it
• 16:40
  knows, knows my age, knows my interests, and I just randomly
• 16:45
  got served and I'm, you know, flipping through YouTube Shorts
• 16:49
  and I just got served one of the one of the Allen Iverson once
• 16:52
  just of all the all the cuts and just him talking about like I
• 16:55
  look in my opponent's eyes before the game and if I can
• 16:58
  tell you're scared, you're done. And I'm just like, all right,
• 17:01
  AI, you're the best. And like the Jordan Dudley move
• 17:06
  on. Shay Holmes.
• 17:08
  Look, I'm I'm not trying to say I'm a sooth Sayer and I realize
• 17:11
  this is after the fact. I'm going to the notes, that
• 17:14
  goal, that Jaden Shaw goal where where Holmes hits the deck and
• 17:17
  after a sick Jordan Dudley move that happened in the 24th
• 17:20
  minute, here are my notes from minute #6.
• 17:24
  Dudley gets around the corner on Holmes.
• 17:26
  That could be an issue as we progress.
• 17:28
  Holmes doesn't appear to be fast enough and then not only was she
• 17:32
  not fast enough for Jordan Dudley, she's not prepared for
• 17:36
  the shiftiness of Jordan Dudley. Who you know we talked about our
• 17:39
  pre season Gotham FC got another one.
• 17:42
  We're talking about a young player here 2 natties at Florida
• 17:46
  State University 32 goals. I believe it was in in 50
• 17:51
  appearances for the Seminoles 511 Fast, good, good skills on
• 17:58
  the ball. Like this is just another weapon
• 18:02
  for Gotham FC who is trying to I think I'm going to I'm going to
• 18:05
  I'm going to soft launch this take right here.
• 18:08
  Gotham FC trying to turn into a little bit of American Barcelona
• 18:13
  with the way they just scoop up young players, keep world
• 18:16
  champions on their roster and try to play beautiful football.
• 18:21
  I I love I mean I love the comp and like I said, they they just
• 18:25
  looked like postseason mode, playoff, you know, playoff,
• 18:28
  playoff mode. They just looked super duper in
• 18:31
  form and also defensively. I think they were just
• 18:35
  incredibly, you know, impressive.
• 18:38
  There was a moment. Well, I mean, it's tough
• 18:42
  because, you know, you mentioned, you mentioned Jay
• 18:45
  Holmes versus Dudley. My second thought after I was
• 18:48
  like, Oh my God, I'm not sure if I've ever seen anything like
• 18:50
  that before in my life. That was my first time.
• 18:52
  My second thought was why, why did Laura Harvey put, why is
• 18:57
  that the situation? Right?
• 18:58
  And I know Gotham's loaded, you know, and then I think a few
• 19:01
  minutes, not not a few minutes, but later, later on in the
• 19:04
  match, I think when it was still somewhat in, in balance, that
• 19:07
  was Maddie Dalene had a moment where she's coming up the left,
• 19:11
  coming up the left hand side and got them immediately.
• 19:13
  She shifts 2 over there and it's like, you know, Darlene doesn't
• 19:17
  really have necessarily an advantage against Gotham's
• 19:21
  backline, but they're like, we're not even going to mess
• 19:23
  around. Like, you know, a second one
• 19:25
  moves over, get off the ball and then what, what, what do you
• 19:28
  know? The balls move in the wrong
• 19:29
  direction and then they get it's a giveaway, you know, seconds
• 19:31
  later, you know, so you look at it and it's like Dudley versus
• 19:36
  Holmes. That's a that's a tough that's a
• 19:38
  tough match up at that point. And you know, she was just out
• 19:42
  there on an island and then it's just basically 1.
• 19:45
  You know, it's one big win in A1V1 situation.
• 19:48
  And then you know, kind of like the goal comes right after that.
• 19:52
  But I mean, what did you learn? Anything else in the like?
• 19:59
  I'm very curious as as to what what the the the discussion was
• 20:04
  post batch. This is why you're the best
• 20:06
  buddy. Because I I don't like on this
• 20:08
  question here. Did you watch any of the post
• 20:10
  match presser? I did not know.
• 20:12
  This is This is why. No, no, don't need to apologize.
• 20:15
  You're a certified ball knower. I believe it was Bella Munson,
• 20:18
  who I think writes for the Equalizer.
• 20:20
  I'll correct that if I'm wrong. Sorry Bella, but she asks
• 20:23
  absolute heaters of questions all the time.
• 20:25
  Certified ball knower herself. Which would she asked Laura
• 20:29
  Harvey about that. Harvey mentioned it in the post
• 20:32
  match presser. We didn't want Holmes one V one
• 20:36
  verse verse Dudley in that situation.
• 20:38
  But it ended up happening and Harvey talked about the larger
• 20:42
  picture issue of some of these younger players on Rain FC where
• 20:47
  you know, she didn't mention this, but you think about the
• 20:49
  Mike Tyson quote. Everybody has a plan until they
• 20:51
  get punched in the face. Laura Harvey talked about like,
• 20:54
  Hey, when when we get on our heels a little bit as a younger
• 20:58
  team, we start to get away from our principles and get away from
• 21:01
  the plan that we had been talking about all week.
• 21:04
  And I know I've said it on this podcast a bunch of times, Laura
• 21:07
  Harvey is incredibly accountable.
• 21:10
  Like she she raises her and is like, hey, you know, maybe I
• 21:12
  didn't have him prepared enough. Whatever she said all those
• 21:15
  things. She doesn't throw her players
• 21:16
  under the bus. But you know, for her to say
• 21:19
  that she was just like she when she talked to me about Gotham FC
• 21:24
  and and Washington Spirit know how to win.
• 21:26
  We're just not quite there yet. We are working our way toward
• 21:29
  there. There's only one way to really
• 21:32
  get there is just to play more games and to have players like
• 21:35
  you mentioned, Darlene, who looked good in a lot of
• 21:37
  stretches in that match. But just the final ball for
• 21:41
  rain, it just bedevils them right now.
• 21:43
  They just how many times if when you know, I know you watch the
• 21:46
  match. How many times were there like
• 21:48
  one or two passes that were OK and then when you needed that
• 21:51
  one more pass to get into a dangerous area or even the pass
• 21:54
  before, what should be the pass to get the ball in an area?
• 21:58
  It's just an interception. It's just a bad pass.
• 22:01
  Yeah, yeah. And I think it's, I mean, you
• 22:06
  had the you, you were on the money with the fish lock call
• 22:09
  because you could, you know, you like, I love to kind of sort of
• 22:12
  like play the exercise of like, all right, well, what do they
• 22:13
  need? What could fix this?
• 22:14
  Instead, it's like, or you start to imagine the player and what
• 22:17
  they could do is like, oh, OK, yeah.
• 22:19
  She's literally on the roster. There was a funny moment too.
• 22:24
  Well, a couple funny moments where 69th minute and this this
• 22:28
  speaks to your point where Seattle maybe loses some
• 22:31
  composure. You know, when things start to
• 22:33
  go awry a little bit, especially when you're looking at some
• 22:35
  champions on the other side, but there's a corner taken comes
• 22:39
  over the top. And then you have the mid purse
• 22:41
  moment where she does the the Grand Theft Alvarado.
• 22:44
  She's just like, no, I'm going this way.
• 22:45
  It's just like scoops in and then like she's just at the back
• 22:48
  post. And what was so funny was like,
• 22:50
  she's so wide open that in a like the first micro reaction
• 22:55
  that my brain has is like, oh, that's a defender.
• 22:59
  Because if there's, it's impossible that we could be that
• 23:01
  close to the back post. To be wide open doesn't end up
• 23:05
  being a goal, but like a real. Hammers the post.
• 23:09
  Yeah. And it was just like.
• 23:11
  A weird moment, right? We're not really used to seeing
• 23:13
  that from a rain side down the stretch.
• 23:16
  And then the the other funny moment that I had in my notes
• 23:19
  was 75th minute Seattle has taken a free kick comes over the
• 23:23
  top on Katrin Burger just jumps up and snags it and you're just
• 23:28
  like, Oh my God, like you just forget that she's there, you
• 23:31
  know, because like, you know that she's not tested.
• 23:32
  But then a ball goes and you're like, oh, there's there's that
• 23:36
  player that's just unbeatable and shot a temp calls her
• 23:39
  Zerbony who she's like, you know, Seattle after that moment,
• 23:44
  she said all it takes is one goal.
• 23:46
  And in my head, I'm like, no, it takes two goals they're down to
• 23:50
  and cut from like that that that player needs to get beat twice.
• 23:54
  You know, like, yeah, one goal is not, it's, it's basically,
• 23:57
  you know, like you're still infinitely far away from, from
• 24:03
  any kind of result. Yeah, no doubt.
• 24:05
  And I mean, Burger showed it on the Brittany Brittany Radcliffe
• 24:09
  safe where Ratcliffe IS1V1 versus Burger and you feel like
• 24:14
  everything plays out perfectly. And you know, like to to an
• 24:18
  extent, I understand what Zerbroni's talking about.
• 24:20
  And Laura Harvey always says that two goals change games.
• 24:23
  Like you, you could, you could feel momentum swing.
• 24:25
  You could, you know, see confidence, all that stuff.
• 24:29
  But you are right, burger though, right?
• 24:31
  You are right, though, And that's The thing is that you
• 24:33
  need 2 versus burger, which is like needing three against a a a
• 24:36
  normal human goalkeeper. But you know, the way Burger
• 24:40
  makes yourself big gets gets the paw out there, hits away the the
• 24:44
  Radcliffe chance. That was nuts.
• 24:47
  You just there's no margin for error against her.
• 24:51
  Yeah, I couldn't believe that. I mean, it was 11V0.
• 24:55
  It's just like, here we go, you know, can, can you beat this?
• 24:58
  And it's just like you. I mean, I mean, I, I, I would
• 25:02
  just, you know, I would melt into a, a, a puddle of ooze at
• 25:07
  at that moment you're trying to stare down that keeper.
• 25:10
  So I can understand. She just seems unbeatable at
• 25:15
  times, you know, and just like you just wonder in a big in a
• 25:18
  big game, in the playoffs, who and how you know is this team?
• 25:23
  Is this team going to get beat? Because we just kind of saw them
• 25:26
  down the stretch. You're just like, wow, they
• 25:27
  they've really got solutions for everything and they're so
• 25:30
  experienced and so, so poised. I don't know.
• 25:34
  It's going to be it's going to be a good season.
• 25:36
  I'm really excited to kind of shift these gears.
• 25:39
  I've I've had my finger on the pulse for sure here at Bay FC,
• 25:43
  but the broader league, you know, we're going to get to the
• 25:46
  point where now it's now it's like wrap, wrap myself in in
• 25:50
  this grand old league here that we call the NWSL.
• 25:52
  I'm excited for you. You're totally right.
• 25:54
  I mean, we talk about, you know, clubs like Seattle Ring Football
• 25:57
  Club having a hard time, you know, going from defense in the
• 26:01
  offense. We're going from UEFA Women's
• 26:03
  Champions League fully into the NWSL.
• 26:05
  Yeah, give us and we appreciate you guys always do give us a
• 26:08
  little grace as we kind of transition back to our home
• 26:11
  league here as we wrap up the coverage of the Champions
• 26:13
  League. Pretty big match coming up over
• 26:16
  there in Europe. We'll talk about that later.
• 26:17
  But yeah, man, I mean, look, Burger is is fantastic.
• 26:21
  Do you think about her and all the other winners on Gotham FCI?
• 26:25
  Think it's probably worth pointing out that, you know, if
• 26:28
  you look at like that near the top of the table into the mid
• 26:32
  table, you have Thorns at at #3 Spirit 4th, Gotham 5th, Kansas
• 26:38
  City Current 6th. Would you be surprised if any of
• 26:41
  those four teams won one of the two trophies?
• 26:45
  Not at all. I mean, I think they they all
• 26:47
  have a case for sure. But what I found more
• 26:51
  interesting is, you know, you read 3 through 6 who?
• 26:54
  Who out here had San Diego won? Utah Royals 2 like your top two
• 26:59
  teams 1010 weeks in? I don't think anybody did.
• 27:02
  It would have been weird if they did.
• 27:04
  Yeah, I mean pretty surprising. I'm looking at my pre season
• 27:07
  big. I had the North Carolina Courage
• 27:10
  when the shield and Minaka Matsukuba was in the MVP, who,
• 27:14
  you know, at this point is still thought Mob's top ranked player
• 27:19
  for the season, gets her first goal of the year in a four NIL
• 27:22
  win over Chicago. So, you know, not totally out of
• 27:25
  it. I mean, I think it's an uphill,
• 27:28
  it's an uphill battle. But you know, we have we have
• 27:29
  some fun with these predictions. What I mean, Courage has
• 27:34
  several, several games left. What the 21 games left, you
• 27:39
  know, anything could happen. Yep, game in hand.
• 27:43
  Yeah, they got a game in hand over a lot of different clubs.
• 27:45
  So yeah, man, I mean, this is going to be an absolutely bonker
• 27:49
  season. I think, you know, the way Utah
• 27:52
  is playing right now, four wins, one draw, 0 losses in their last
• 27:56
  five. I mean, I, I will say I'm going
• 28:00
  to take it back to Seattle rain real quick in the post match
• 28:03
  presser, Sam Meza, who I think is all of what, 20 years old,
• 28:07
  maybe 21. I, I was really impressed with
• 28:13
  the way she answered a lot of the questions.
• 28:16
  She's 24. Sorry that I was, I was way, way
• 28:19
  short there. But even then, as a young
• 28:22
  player, second year in the league, she really had her
• 28:24
  breakout last year. She I think she's been Reign's
• 28:26
  best player this season. She had pointed out like, hey,
• 28:29
  look, we started with those three wins early, We had our up
• 28:33
  and now we're having a down and other teams, you know, maybe
• 28:36
  they start with a down and then they have an upswing and like,
• 28:38
  there's a lot of time left to go.
• 28:40
  And I thought it was a very mature answer from her.
• 28:43
  I, I had basically asked her, you know, I, I know you're
• 28:47
  driven by team success, but you, you've been the best player on
• 28:50
  the field. Like, how have you been feeling
• 28:52
  about that? And she really wasn't sure how
• 28:54
  to answer it because I can tell she didn't want to throw her,
• 28:57
  her colleagues under the bus and she didn't in any way.
• 29:00
  But her and her and Angara James Turner just talked about like,
• 29:04
  hey, look, we like our process. We like the defense.
• 29:07
  Harvey said that too, that that rain has a good enough defense
• 29:11
  to compete with teams, but you got to score.
• 29:14
  And that's what, you know, Wave and Royals and those teams that
• 29:18
  are up at the top of the table, that's what they're doing well
• 29:20
  right now. So there, that's my that's my
• 29:25
  big picture. Very astute analysis.
• 29:28
  Goals, super important step. Yep, no cosine for sure.
• 29:36
  Is me official forward Lindsay Heaps?
• 29:41
  What do you mean by that I. Don't know what do I mean by
• 29:46
  that. She's got a score, man.
• 29:48
  She hasn't scored yet. She hasn't scored yet for
• 29:50
  Seattle. That's what they brought her in
• 29:51
  to do. She has the capability to do it.
• 29:54
  Her hold up play, every time I watch her live and I get to see
• 29:58
  and maybe sometimes it's before the camera gets to her in live
• 30:02
  action, her hold up play is great.
• 30:04
  She's so strong. She's smart.
• 30:07
  She does her work early so she gets in the position like
• 30:10
  before, you know, as the ball is being played in or before the
• 30:13
  ball is being played in. She's a smart player.
• 30:16
  You know, she's, she just, there's something with that
• 30:20
  connectivity and I don't know who's going to do it, but there
• 30:24
  has to be something like when when I was watching those, that
• 30:27
  Bay match and a couple of the last Bay matches, I'm like, I
• 30:31
  like Kunanagi, Lima and Hutton and Bailey.
• 30:35
  That's good. There's a there's some
• 30:37
  connectivity there. It just doesn't feel like rain
• 30:39
  has any of that. Somebody needs to build that
• 30:42
  chemistry with Fishel so she can work in the hold up play.
• 30:46
  And then I don't know if it's one twos after that, giving goes
• 30:49
  after that, whatever has to happen, but you got to get her
• 30:51
  in the position to do the thing that you brought her in to do,
• 30:54
  and that is score goals. I think that's a great point is
• 30:58
  like, who's going to be, you know, who's going to be that,
• 31:01
  that counterweight to what she's able to do?
• 31:05
  I had the exact same thought at Bay with Christiana Giarelli.
• 31:10
  Sure. Who?
• 31:11
  You know, in this match up versus Boston, Bay gets nine
• 31:14
  corners. Gino Jarelli comes on later in
• 31:16
  the match, you know, so it wasn't on for all nine, but you
• 31:19
  bring on that player to give her cert, you know, like service and
• 31:23
  let her kind of sky and, you know, get be elusive and be
• 31:26
  slippery in the box in those moments.
• 31:27
  And it just doesn't seem like, you know, either those
• 31:31
  opportunities are coming or yeah, I mean, you know, Bay
• 31:33
  didn't do much at all with the with the corners that they had
• 31:36
  versus Boston, but same kind of situation.
• 31:39
  You know, if you want to, you know, extract some some value
• 31:43
  out of GDLE, you're going to have to figure out the the the
• 31:46
  ways and then the the players are going to be responsible for
• 31:50
  making that happen for her. Because, I mean, I think at this
• 31:52
  point, it's just like there's no bridge.
• 31:54
  There's no bridge to, to, to anything at that point.
• 31:56
  You're always not playing poorly.
• 31:58
  But there's just no, you know, we're missing something in the
• 32:01
  middle there. I think that's fair and I
• 32:04
  appreciate you bringing it back to Bay because I I didn't fire
• 32:06
  off this take earlier. I'm going to do it this time.
• 32:10
  You might remember two seasons ago I was a coward and I was
• 32:13
  like, I think I think I should pick Bay to make the play offs
• 32:17
  because they probably should, but I won't.
• 32:18
  That's probably too far fetched and I I regret it.
• 32:21
  I'm not I'm not letting that happen again here.
• 32:24
  Here's the first take Bay FC as a football team.
• 32:29
  I like the way they play. I like the connectivity.
• 32:31
  Look, the goals aren't coming right now.
• 32:33
  And I realize I'm lamenting how Seattle Rain, football clubs
• 32:36
  playing. Bay FC, has eight goals for, 11
• 32:39
  against. They're -3 they're sitting on 11
• 32:41
  points, they're 10th on the table.
• 32:43
  Seattle Rain has seven goals for, 10 against, they're sitting
• 32:46
  at -311 points on the table. I feel way better about Bay FC
• 32:52
  because I know Jarelli, even if she's getting 30 minutes a
• 32:56
  match, sometimes maybe 20 minutes a match.
• 32:58
  I know Rachel Kudinagi is good. I know.
• 33:01
  And I didn't even mention as part of that connectivity of
• 33:04
  what I like Claire Hutton is such a baller to where
• 33:09
  especially in this last match, it's just like, I'm like, OK, is
• 33:14
  she going to be the type of star slash superstar who's not just a
• 33:19
  floor razor? I think, I think at absolute
• 33:23
  worst, Claire Hutton is a floor razor on how good your offense
• 33:26
  is from the midfield. I think she's, I think it's fair
• 33:30
  to say that she could also be a ceiling razor as well.
• 33:35
  Absolutely. And I think her, her impact so
• 33:38
  far at Bay that's been the most noticeable has been defensive.
• 33:43
  You know, I mean, she's tackling everything.
• 33:44
  She's intercepting everything. She's just winning everything.
• 33:48
  You know, she even draws the red card on on Bianca Saint George
• 33:51
  in this one. Avoids injury, you know, as a
• 33:55
  true superhero would. Yeah, just a nasty foul.
• 33:59
  But what's missing so far, which Hutton had in Kansas City are
• 34:06
  those outlets and those options. Like in Kansas, she'd win the
• 34:09
  ball And it was just like she was just she just looked like a
• 34:11
  computer was like like in just a bam.
• 34:13
  Like that's the, you know, like quick calculation and the balls
• 34:16
  like right on point at Bay. She's win the ball and it's
• 34:21
  like, does she take, you know, does she advance it?
• 34:25
  Does she pass it like who's where?
• 34:26
  And it's still kind of like a little a little funky and like
• 34:29
  Taylor Hoff, you know, was was not enough to start this one,
• 34:32
  but it's been really good this season.
• 34:34
  Hannah Bieber has been rock solid as well.
• 34:36
  The midfield's been very, very cool to watch that evolution And
• 34:40
  what you know, Hutton's been able to kind of carve out there
• 34:43
  the forwards or they've they've got a lot to sort out for sure,
• 34:46
  getting shots, getting looks. But conversion wise, it's it's,
• 34:50
  it's just way off. And, and I was feeling down
• 34:54
  until I watched the Seattle. I'm just like, OK, we're, we're,
• 34:58
  we're not at this level, you know, and I hate to, I hate to
• 35:01
  do it. I hate to say it to you, but I
• 35:03
  mean, I, I got to keep it real, man.
• 35:04
  That's that, that was the feeling.
• 35:05
  I watched them in that sequence and you know, that was the
• 35:08
  outcome. It's literally what's happening
• 35:10
  with me, why I'm sitting here like I'm bullish on Bay FC.
• 35:13
  I think you guys are going to be fine.
• 35:15
  Like you have the talent to do it and I think Rain has the
• 35:19
  talent, but like, like, what am I going to compare Maddie
• 35:22
  Darlene to Rachel Kundanagi? Like, and I don't mean to
• 35:25
  disrespect Maddie Darlene. That's not fair to do to Maddie
• 35:27
  Darlene and where she is in her career as a young player.
• 35:30
  So like that's I think that's why I feel so much better about
• 35:35
  about Bay than Seattle right now.
• 35:39
  But I mean, from that match that we just watched, I mean, we're
• 35:42
  talking about, you know, feeling good about teams.
• 35:44
  Boston Legacy Football club sitting at 14th on the table.
• 35:48
  I think they're good too. Like we are talking about like
• 35:51
  they're a good team. And Philippa Patao, me and Dino,
• 35:55
  just for everybody. You know, of course, I I don't
• 35:57
  want to be this guy. We've been known about Philippa
• 36:01
  Patao's game. I mean, you know, they they
• 36:03
  mentioned it on the broadcast, which I think is good.
• 36:05
  She was, you know, on the on the Balandor for best coaches.
• 36:09
  She was in the mix in that after that 2324 Champions League.
• 36:13
  And she should have been. And we saw the way those Benfica
• 36:15
  teams played. And every week you watch Boston
• 36:19
  play, it's like, OK, they're starting to pick it up.
• 36:22
  And they had they they like they know who they are.
• 36:26
  Yeah, yeah. And they, I, I, they it's weird
• 36:30
  to say. And I'm glad you brought the,
• 36:33
  the Benfica tie in back, but nobody really plays like them.
• 36:38
  Like it just feels weird. And like I've covered all these,
• 36:40
  you know, like I've seen every team at this point come through,
• 36:43
  you know, town at least once. And I'm like, this is a weird
• 36:47
  team. And you like, I don't know, this
• 36:49
  is like it, it's, it's unnerving.
• 36:51
  It's a little unsettling. Just like, you know, like like.
• 36:54
  That's Portuguese football. That's like, that might be my
• 36:57
  favorite way I've ever heard Portuguese football described.
• 37:00
  A little unnerving? Absolutely.
• 37:04
  And I'm I'm glad you mentioned you know yeah, that that Darlene
• 37:07
  Kundanagi com because as mentioned up top a quick episode
• 37:11
  calendar Rachel Kundanagi Rudy on the show tomorrow.
• 37:16
  We'll see We'll see how quickly we can turn it around for you.
• 37:18
  But definitely for the before the Wednesday and the BSL
• 37:21
  action. We'll have that interview
• 37:22
  dropped. We're going to have another way
• 37:25
  from the San Jose preview coming your way.
• 37:27
  We'll talk some Champions League best 11 probably its own stand
• 37:30
  alone episode. Our guy Mr. Grant angle.
• 37:33
  We'll be in the building covering the chiefs like final.
• 37:38
  How about that on official on official business.
• 37:41
  Now we can say officially, officially, our guy will be
• 37:44
  covering the big final. Locked in look, shout out to
• 37:48
  UEFA for credentialing your boy. You know, we're running a we're
• 37:53
  running a small pirate ship here.
• 37:55
  Independent media and you, you know, we made our pitch.
• 37:59
  We're like, can I can I, can I show up?
• 38:02
  Can I, can I talk to some players?
• 38:04
  Can I talk to the manager? And they're like, you know what?
• 38:07
  Good show you, you can show up. I'm, I'm, I'm not, it's not a
• 38:10
  direct quote, but they let me in and I'm looking, I'm very much
• 38:15
  looking forward to it. Long flight.
• 38:17
  You got a little, a little stop over in Iceland.
• 38:19
  Then you get over to Norway. Look, looking forward to it
• 38:23
  though, man, I've never been to the country of Norway proper.
• 38:26
  I've only stopped at the airport before, so give me a lot of
• 38:30
  exploring going on. How much like am I going to be
• 38:33
  walking around with a selfie stick giving you like additional
• 38:36
  content? Probably not, but we're not
• 38:38
  we're but we're going to try. We're going to figure out.
• 38:41
  I'm going to try to do some. Stuff.
• 38:43
  We don't have to decide that right now.
• 38:44
  That's fair Dino, always producing.
• 38:47
  I don't know, I'm going to try to do something.
• 38:48
  I just don't want to produce anything that's that's crap.
• 38:51
  But we'll be talking boots on the ground at the UEFA Women's
• 38:55
  Champions League final and after that in Oslo, I'll hop on a
• 38:58
  train ride past some beautiful fjords and again, the beautiful
• 39:03
  landscape of Norway, get up to Bergen, visit some of our pals
• 39:08
  up there. How about SK Brown versus Lynn
• 39:11
  Football Club later in the week? Lynn's in big trouble.
• 39:16
  Yeah, Honorary Battalion get get ready.
• 39:19
  How about, how about the football gods also put this
• 39:23
  year's champions final in Norway for for our guy?
• 39:25
  I mean, come on it. Worked out pretty nicely.
• 39:29
  How do you get better alignment than that?
• 39:31
  Also, NW cell coverage continues, so make sure you
• 39:34
  subscribe to following your boys and all this on all the socials
• 39:38
  as well as wherever you're listening and watching now.
• 39:40
  All right, man, I think we've gone and done it.
• 39:41
  Is there anything else you want to hit before we get out of
• 39:43
  here? I mean, if we mention them we
• 39:45
  might as well just say on Friday May 15th we're talking about all
• 39:48
  those big NWSL games. How about SK Braun beating FK
• 39:51
  Hogsund 7 nil, Is that good? Is that good for the old gold
• 39:56
  differential Piggy Bank? I think so.
• 39:58
  On AIM comes on, gets a brace. Albera had a brace, Davidson had
• 40:03
  a brace. I cannot.
• 40:05
  You get a brace, you get a brace.
• 40:07
  Everybody gets a brace. I, I can't, I can't wait to
• 40:10
  visit Bergen, Norway, in the northwest of the beautiful
• 40:14
  country of Norway. I live in the Pacific Northwest,
• 40:17
  the United States. That I mean the the symmetry,
• 40:19
  the alignment. It couldn't be more symmetrical
• 40:23
  or aligned. This has been another episode of
• 40:30
  it to the channel, thank you, thank you, thank you for
• 40:32
  watching, listening and hanging out.
• 40:34
  If you enjoy the show, leave us a review or like, comment,
• 40:36
  subscribe, follow YouTube, Spotify podcast for everything
• 40:38
  to watch or listen. Want to support the show?
• 40:40
  Patreon.com session to the channel or become a YouTube
• 40:44
  member using that join button or grab yourself a piece of
• 40:48
  official into the channel. Birch links all the above and
• 40:51
  much, much more in the description of this episode.
• 40:54
  And a big thing in my goals as well.
• 40:56
  Mr. Grant Eagle for being I'm not sure what like let's what do
• 41:01
  we what do we want to go to here?
• 41:04
  Yeah, I mean, if, if the Champions League is the ballet,
• 41:09
  the NWSL is the the real world Rd. rules challenge.
• 41:13
  And yeah, you're just you're you're my my tandem partner for
• 41:16
  that and for for lots of other things and and for that.
• 41:19
  I appreciate you bro. Likewise, buddy.
• 41:21
  I mean, look what a lot a lot of time left in the NWSL.
• 41:26
  Nobody I'd rather be chopping it up with about this league for
• 41:29
  everybody who's like, hey guys, where you been?
• 41:32
  You've been taking too long. Let's get back to the end of
• 41:34
  yourself. Let us know what have we missed?
• 41:36
  What have we overlooked? Tell tell us, put us on game,
• 41:39
  please. I mean, and then you know, we
• 41:41
  know you enjoying the European football as well.
• 41:43
  So you know, we'll watch the Champions League final show we
• 41:46
  got we got a bunch of stuff coming up.
• 41:47
  We're going to be joined by a very special guest post UEFA
• 41:51
  Women's Champions League final. That's going to be exciting, a
• 41:54
  tradition if you will, for people who who've been watching
• 41:57
  the show. So keep it locked in.
• 41:59
  But as always, thank you for the education, thank you for hanging
• 42:02
  out with us. Thank you for being the only
• 42:04
  corner of the Internet that is populated with nice, kind
• 42:07
  people. We very much appreciate you.
• 42:09
  Thank you for watching and we will see you all next time.