Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England's Incredible Comeback v Italy 2-1 | WOMEN'S EURO 2025 SEMI-FINAL RECAP | EP 154

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🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 England's Incredible Comeback v Italy 2-1 | WOMEN'S EURO 2025 SEMI-FINAL RECAP | EP 154 · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:05
OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast primarily about women's
0:09
football. I'm your host, Dean of de
0:10
Suspetus and as always I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant
0:15
Angle. What is up man?
0:17
I'm feeling fantastic, buddy. You know, these last few months,
0:20
these last several months, I would say perhaps even these
0:23
last several years, feels like justice has been in short
0:26
supply. Not today, my good man, feeling
0:29
justice was absolutely served. Yep, some uppense has come, some
0:35
comeuppance has upped. I'm not sure, but some good
0:39
stuff happened. I mean hit that point where
0:41
starting to get a little a little emotional, a little a
0:44
little wistful about, you know the the, the journey that has
0:47
been this EUR 2025 tournament. Just three teams left a big semi
0:52
final match up, a historic memorable semi final match up
0:55
went down today. I'm not sure there's another
0:57
place to get started, but we'll go through the formality anyway.
1:00
Mr. Granengle, where should we get started?
1:03
My good man, let's start with a celebratory beverage.
1:06
Before you do that, roll the tape well.
1:10
Do you have a? Do you?
1:10
Have a prediction? I do.
1:12
I'm going to say 21. England wins it late.
1:15
I like it. I'm going to go with the old
1:17
tried and true 11 England wins in penalty gigs.
1:22
Oh, wow. OK.
1:24
Thank you very much. I appreciate that.
1:28
I mean, what else can you say? And you know what?
1:30
I I do also want to point out my beer from Matchless Brewery
1:35
about like an hour or so, I think, South of Seattle called
1:39
Getaway, because sometimes it feels nice to make a getaway in
1:43
the late stages of a football match.
1:46
But. What a prediction by you, by the
1:48
way. Cheers to you.
1:50
You know what, I appreciate that and cheers to you and cheers to
1:54
the football. It's a Lionesses.
1:58
Yeah, absolutely. They held them to the bargain.
2:01
We were in, we were in prime territory.
2:04
I mean, I had the 11 PKS, you had the two one with England
2:08
scoring late. I mean, things were looking
2:10
pretty rosy. But I think down the stretch I
2:13
was going through the scenario where I was like, Oh my God, if
2:15
Italy score here, though, in both of our predictions, just
2:18
get get naked, that would be a real bummer.
2:20
But wasn't the case. But I want to talk about the
2:23
match so much to cover so many different places.
2:26
We can get started. The beers have been cracked.
2:28
I don't know. Do we want to let people know?
2:30
I think everybody knows the result of this one.
2:32
England gets it done 2 to one late goal.
2:35
I mean, as late as you can get with both of those.
2:39
But you were there. Well, you weren't there, but you
2:42
were there in spirit. Tell me about your experience
2:44
watching this one. I mean, yeah, you're right.
2:46
Everybody knows the result because I told him days ago what
2:49
was going to happen. So everybody knew the result.
2:52
No, man, look, I I think I thought England played well in
2:56
the first half, you know, even going down, you know, one nil.
3:00
It was Italy's first shot of the match, the bone and say match
3:03
the bone and say goal. But I felt like they were
3:06
controlling large, large stretches.
3:09
There was a weird thing happening where I was like, I
3:11
feel like England is getting the better chances, but the thing
3:14
about it is they they weren't really getting chances because
3:18
Italy was clogging up every single shooting alley that was
3:22
available. And I gotta tell you, as
3:25
somebody who's been an England supporter for a long time, that
3:28
was pretty frustrating. It was tough.
3:30
I mean I think that was Italies game plan.
3:32
I was a Blues guy with with our guy Charlie.
3:35
Shout out to Charlie. And I was mentioning that I
3:38
thought England looked a better side in the first half, but the
3:40
first half was played on Italies terms, which was, yeah, you
3:44
could take shots, you could have the ball in our half, but we're
3:47
going to have bodies everywhere and you won't, you won't have
3:49
any space or room to do anything.
3:51
I was actually shocked by how many of England's strikes didn't
3:56
even reach the keeper. Like it was like sometimes it
4:01
was 2 defenders there. They were just like fighting to
4:03
see who was going to get the block, just like trying to steal
4:07
rebounds in the NBA. But but again, I think I think
4:09
the first half was put in their terms and it was funny.
4:12
The bone and see a goal happens. When did that happen?
4:14
33rd minute happens at that 33rd minute.
4:17
And I'm like, I think this goal might be late enough that they
4:20
might be able to bleed this game out.
4:25
They certainly thought so. I mean, you start time wasting
4:29
at 40 minutes. We haven't even got to halftime
4:32
yet. I mean, look, man, I, I
4:34
mentioned it, I've mentioned it multiple times throughout this
4:36
tournament. That is just kind of a a staple
4:40
of Italian football is that they get a lead and they're just
4:44
going to dive and waste time and pull on your jersey and run to
4:49
the referee and do this every time they don't like a call.
4:52
And when the the keeper's going to take 90 seconds for every
4:56
goal kick. And you know, I you know what,
4:58
man, ball don't lie. They really ratcheted up the
5:01
time wasting. I want to say around like the
5:04
60th minute in my notes I just wrote, have some fucking shame
5:09
you. You can't start time wasting
5:11
with 30 minutes remaining in the match.
5:14
It's just ridiculous, man. I'm totally with you on the
5:16
ball, don't lie. We'll get to sort of like the
5:18
ball don't lie ramifications. But we talked about Italy that
5:22
first half. I thought, you know, they
5:23
controlled it. I agree with you, Italy, I'm
5:26
sorry, England, England's attack pretty frustrated, couldn't
5:30
really get anything going. Even though they they win the XG
5:33
battle, they have most of the possession, even though it was
5:35
tighter, I think throughout most of the match.
5:38
I think the the final result was closer to the 6040.
5:42
But yeah, I think well, second-half, I think I want to
5:45
talk about the Subs Serena Wiegmann, you know, because like
5:49
it was pretty nervy. Obviously ME comes in right
5:52
after halftime. I thought LJ was a little off.
5:55
Mead comes in the second-half. Well what?
5:57
What were the vibes like for you watching the second-half?
6:00
Well, you know, I mean sometimes, occasionally I can
6:03
get a bit emotional rooting watching the teams that I
6:06
support. And so you know that directly
6:08
the first two, the first two lines from my notes in the
6:13
second-half, one LJ off for Mead M dash don't love it.
6:17
And then the next line, Mead makes 2 mistakes within the 1st
6:21
150 seconds, loses 2 challenges, second one to Jarelli in
6:25
England's defensive half. Really don't like this.
6:29
Then it was like as I was typing that Jackie only did mention,
6:32
you know, LJ picked up a knock in the last match and something
6:35
to do with her ankle I believe it was.
6:37
And so you mentioned she didn't exactly look herself.
6:40
I think that's right. She looked just like 1/2 step
6:44
off of of maybe a little more, maybe 3/4 of a step off step off
6:48
of what she usually looked like. I mean, she could have had that
6:51
goal in the first half where she had the right footage shot near
6:54
post if she would have got a little more air under it.
6:56
I think she beats the keeper in that spot.
6:58
But it, I mean, it was a great save by Giuliani, a credit to
7:01
her. But yeah, I to be honest, I was
7:04
not optimistic about that change.
7:06
But wouldn't Oatley Jackie Oatley the goat?
7:08
Goatley mentioned that perhaps LJ was a bit Hanford.
7:13
I was like OK, had to be done. And from there it was just.
7:17
If you're a Vigman, do you choose Mead or Kelly?
7:20
And it just turns out that Chloe Kelly is the end of match secret
7:24
weapon slash victory cigar. At this point I.
7:27
Couldn't believe it, You know, as the game's going on, you
7:30
know, I thought the Mead change, I thought it made some sense
7:33
because I I agree with you. We didn't get really like that
7:36
dynamic electric Lauren James. It just didn't really look
7:40
threatening. And we actually talked about in
7:42
the preview that I was like, I'm not sure England has the right
7:45
profile of players to kind of breakthrough if they need to
7:49
look at their backs against the wall.
7:51
And I think that kind of that kind of played itself out
7:53
because roughly the starters, you know, minus Ham who stayed
7:57
in all kind of got subbed out, you know, like from an attacking
8:00
standpoint. And it ends up being those those
8:03
Subs that kind of can really make the difference down the
8:05
stretch. So I thought vegan playing a
8:08
little bit of a dangerous game, waiting till the 77th to bring
8:11
Chloe Kelly. But turns out it was like right
8:15
on the money. And I thought Italy, you know,
8:17
we, we talked about the, the style that they were employing.
8:20
They wanted to be defensive. They wanted to be really
8:22
economical, really efficient with their chances, which they
8:26
were. But I thought that strategy of
8:28
like, hey, let's defend, let's be in all the lanes.
8:31
It's like, like, let's not lose our discipline at all.
8:34
I thought that strategy really took a toll on them.
8:36
And like when you start to think about all those moments that
8:39
James chances, Russo had a chance in the first half.
8:43
Kyra Walsh had shots. I think you were seeing like a
8:46
more, you know, shot happy Kyra Walsh than than we've seen
8:49
before. Chloe Kelly comes in the match
8:51
in the 77th and leads England shots with four.
8:55
You know, and then you look at I had one other shot stat here, 9
8:58
England players notched 2 plus shots in this match.
9:02
So if you're Italy and you're you're you're defending, it just
9:05
starts to take a toll. And as you as you watch like
9:08
down the stretch, you know, you get a lot more close calls.
9:11
You know, you get the ajamong, you know, you get the goal and
9:13
then she puts one in the bar like right before you know, the
9:16
the the the decider. So like, I think it it was the
9:19
right strategy to really hold, hold, hold.
9:23
And then kind of like bring on those Subs.
9:24
I mean, Ashaman comes on on the 85th, Aggie Bieber Jones come on
9:28
the 85th. Like I can't like like that's so
9:30
I would had a heart attack. You know, if it's me in that
9:34
spot, I don't know what I would have done, but I I definitely
9:36
would not want to not wait until 85 or 77 for Chloe Kelly.
9:40
Yeah, I mean, Wiegmann, that's that's part of her calling card,
9:43
like and and credit to you who mentioned that.
9:46
I mean, you predicted that Esme Morgan would Esme Morgan, pardon
9:49
me, would would come on, it would start instead of Carter.
9:52
Now, obviously, you know, there's the racist abuse that
9:55
Jess Carter suffered. I think we'll get into that
9:56
later in the show. That may have played a bit of a
10:00
role there. But you were right about that
10:02
Morgan coming in for for Carter, But then the rest, you know,
10:05
that's vegan substitution pattern, man.
10:07
She she leaves it late like every single match when she
10:11
finds her 11, she likes her 11 and then she she wants to make
10:14
those tactical changes late. And it's a great point by you.
10:18
They really worked like Alessia Russo thought she was fine.
10:22
Like you said, she had her chances, but wasn't really a
10:24
game changer. And you know, once you get her
10:27
off, I I liked the so it was the IT was Williamson off for an
10:33
attacking player. Yeah, it was it was Williamson
10:35
off for Ajerbang and then Russo out for ABJ.
10:40
You know, obviously, like any manager is going to make like
10:42
attacking minded changes in that scenario, but they immediately
10:46
came on and changed the game. So like it's easy to say now,
10:49
those were great changes, but those were the necessary
10:52
changes. They needed to have more of an
10:53
attacking posture. That's simple, but Ajamang was
10:57
just immediately able to get into dangerous spaces whilst
11:01
Italy's defenders were exhausted.
11:04
Exactly to your earlier point, because they were just pinned
11:07
back. The bus was firmly parked and it
11:10
was just getting pelted with shots all match and eventually
11:12
that's going to take a toll on you.
11:14
Yeah, no doubt. I, I, I, I mentioned Elena
11:17
Lennari a few times in our previews as well.
11:19
And I think Lennar, who's been awesome the entire tournament,
11:22
like just rock solid, a real problem for anybody trying to
11:27
score, do anything down that side.
11:30
And the Ajaman goal, she's just pinballing around Linari as a
11:35
defender. She's like kind of chasing.
11:37
I'm sorry, it was hemp to meet. So she chases Mead doesn't get
11:40
to Mead. Mead gets a shot.
11:41
Now she's spun around the other way, tries to chase down Ajaman,
11:44
tries to run off the ball, doesn't get there either.
11:47
And just a super clean finish. I had a comp, you know, because
11:51
like now you know, Ajaman on on England, you guys might have
11:55
yourself a real player here. I got to say, reminds me, I know
12:00
it's early. I know this is a big comp.
12:02
Reminds me of a young Barba Benda.
12:05
Wow, OK, that's I think that's a gigantic comp.
12:10
I think she's got I think she's got the speed, I think she's got
12:13
the acceleration, kind of like in small spaces.
12:16
And I thought I thought the goal was really incredible.
12:19
You know, so we talked about Meade.
12:20
She gets shot to deflection and you know, Ajaman like when the
12:24
shot happens, you see so many strikers or people in the box
12:27
kind of just be in the wrong position.
12:29
Like either they get close to somebody else or they're closer
12:31
to they could they almost take themselves out of the play.
12:33
And on that play, Ajaman like knows almost like a almost like
12:37
a rebound in the NBA knows where to back up to and kind of like
12:41
get in position rightly A, where the ball is, you know, going to
12:45
end up deflecting to but B, where there's nobody.
12:48
So she kind of like like sails off into a little bit of space.
12:51
The ball comes her way and then it's a touch with the outside of
12:54
her boot to go right to get into even more space and then just
12:58
rips it, you know, like just an awesome an awesome finish, but
13:03
then also has the header. I'm sorry, like the the little
13:05
dinker down the stretch, like right before the death, you
13:08
know, so shows a little bit of touch too.
13:10
And both of these you, you cannot ratchet this the pressure
13:14
any higher. You know, you're talking about
13:17
90 + 6 for the, for the equalizer and what, 1/17, 1:18,
13:25
you know, going one on two to almost beat the keeper.
13:28
You know, for, for a winner, you know, like in added extra time,
13:31
which we never, ever see a winner and added extra time.
13:34
Thank God we, you know, we, we actually had something happen
13:36
within those 30 minutes. But Aziman, what a what a
13:38
future. I mean, you said we might have a
13:41
player talking about me and my English, my England support
13:44
buddy. It is we because she's going
13:48
back to Arsenal off that loan from Brighton.
13:51
I think we both have a player on our hands here.
13:53
Cheers to that. Yes, nothing, nothing wrong with
13:56
that. I'm sure you're going to be
13:57
very, very excited as I continue to watch Chloe Kelly play great.
14:02
And and I thought Lauren, I thought Lauren Hemp was, I mean,
14:06
we, we say it all the time. She's a dog out there, man.
14:09
She's so tough, just like pushing players around, get into
14:13
her spots, like she she hits the afterburners multiple times and
14:19
I'm not surprised at how fast she is.
14:20
But still there are moments where I'm like, Oh yeah, she
14:23
really, she got around that corner even faster than I
14:26
thought. And so there were a couple of
14:28
times where obviously I could be a little cantankerous at at
14:32
points where I'm like, wow, Chloe Kelly and Lauren Hemp,
14:35
they're great. Imagine if they played on the
14:37
same team. That would be awesome.
14:39
I would really like that if it maybe my manager would play them
14:42
both at the same time, but I digress.
14:44
That's not important right now. This is about England.
14:46
Yeah, it's about England and you know, players working together
14:49
on the pitch like Ajaman and Kelly and Beth Meade and a lot
14:53
to no we'll talk about that later.
14:55
Chloe Kelly, my player to watch coming into this one.
14:58
I mean, we we already talked about 77 the minute enters
15:02
enters the match. How about leads?
15:03
The leads the match in shots with four.
15:06
Just comes in there and. Makes it happen, yeah.
15:08
Whatever you do almost has an Olympico off a corner.
15:11
She's got that 98th minute run into the box where she's like
15:14
in, out, in, out, just darting. I think Ejaculi described it as
15:20
dancing, which I loved. What else?
15:23
She's just freaking Mariano Rivera.
15:25
Like you could just bring her in and it just sends a chill down
15:28
the spine of the opponent. And my favorite part, and you
15:34
know, I don't get on players for, you know, stank facing, you
15:37
know, getting subbed off. It sucks.
15:39
You know, like you want to be able to play, but she's the
15:42
opposite. She's just like she's on the
15:44
bench. She's like, oh, I'm not playing.
15:45
That's all right. Like I'm going to get in and
15:48
fuck shit up and get out there. And like I've played with people
15:51
like that. Like they don't care if they
15:52
start. They don't care.
15:53
They don't like, they just don't care.
15:54
They just know that they're going to come out and just roll
15:56
everybody and everything. And it's just such a cool.
15:59
That's like the ultimate level of just badassery.
16:02
And then throw into that. Obviously the penalty shot gets
16:05
blocked. She's all over it.
16:08
The put back and then the Sally. The Sally have just like the I
16:12
know there's 30 seconds left in this match, but.
16:13
Everybody does. That's my favorite.
16:17
Calm down. I was like, Oh my.
16:19
God, are you kidding me? Ice cold calmed down.
16:22
I I literally said out loud. I'm like sitting in silence
16:25
watching the match. She does that.
16:27
She starts doing the calm down. I go, they're not going to calm
16:30
down. They're actually everybody's
16:32
going to do the exact opposite of calm down because you just
16:36
want you just sent us to the final again.
16:40
Yeah, ice cold. I mean, I'm glad you you
16:43
mentioned this about her being like the Super sub of all super
16:47
Subs. Like obviously, you know, we we
16:49
like to talk about the NBA occasionally, you know, some
16:52
Jamal Crawford vibes maybe. What about?
16:55
You say Manu. Manu also great, but is that
16:58
nearly as fun as instead of lemon pepper Lou will lemon
17:03
pepper Chloe Kelly. I mean, you know, just for the
17:07
the two people who might get that reference who watch this
17:09
show. Shout out to Lou Williams fan
17:12
loved loved when he played. Just coming in just doing what
17:15
doing what he does like you said, like you're like, oh, OK,
17:18
I don't start today. OK, wait till I get wait till I
17:20
get out there. I'll, I'll, I'll, I'll play.
17:23
Yep, it's an order. Can't very excited.
17:26
You mentioned a couple players, Alex Greenwood, Lauren Hemp.
17:31
I think you can include Georgia Stanley in that mix for players
17:35
that came back from serious injuries, you know, like long
17:39
term injuries. All players that I think were
17:43
maybe loosely within the window within the range of this
17:46
tournament being a little bit in the balance.
17:49
I think Georgia Stanway, like this first first minutes in a
17:52
while, you know, definitely with in an England shirt after her
17:55
last entry. But it almost feels like you
17:59
take any of those three players out of the mix and like now all
18:04
of a sudden maybe England doesn't get past Italy because I
18:06
think those three players have just been so important in terms
18:09
of eating up minutes. Greenwood unbelievable, like
18:12
involved in everything, worked her way up the field once it was
18:15
needed defensively, what we had seen Italy be able to do
18:20
Contore, you know, Jadelli, you know, and so and some of those
18:23
offensive attackers, like we just didn't see any of those,
18:27
you know, joyous runs. We just didn't really see them.
18:30
Like, I think, you know, that the defense was really locked in
18:34
from an England standpoint and they just weren't going to get
18:37
beat with with anything more than what they what they got
18:39
beat within the first half of bonus.
18:41
Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a great
18:42
point. I I put in my notes at one
18:44
point, Italy, Italy employing the old 721 formation.
18:49
That's what it felt like at times.
18:51
But you know, it, it didn't help matters that that Stanway and I
18:54
thought Walsh in a lot of spots and to your point, Greenwood
18:58
were just mucking up their runs and they weren't able.
19:00
They were kind of doing like the Spain thing where their press
19:04
was really disrupting Italy from from even getting the ball out
19:07
of their own half and in a lot of situations.
19:10
And Greenwood is a funny player, man.
19:12
I mean, you see it from Manchester City too, where there
19:15
are times where she has some moments where I'm just like, oh,
19:18
woof, like this is that she looks confused out there.
19:22
And then for the next 15 minutes, I was just saying, oh,
19:25
nobody can get past her. And she's making really smart
19:28
passes. So, I mean, you know, she's got
19:30
the experience a lot of times. Whereas the captain C, the
19:34
captain's C for Manchester City Football Club.
19:38
And yeah, I mean, she she came through Lucy Bronze.
19:41
You already know what time it is.
19:42
I mean, we, we call her Lucy Big game Bronze.
19:45
How about Lucy back post bronze? Because that's 711 buddy that
19:51
plays always open. Like I I throw to my notes like
19:54
10 times like bronze at the back post is eventually going to net
19:58
something for us. I'll always remember the
20:01
remember the Barcelona Benfica, the 4th, the 4th.
20:05
Yes, that was so great. The most unlikely, I think that
20:09
was other Broads back poster. But yeah, that's that's like
20:12
clockwork. Another super luxury to have a
20:15
player that is just going to be whatever, you know, be there for
20:18
for all of it. Even though she was involved in
20:20
the Bonancia goal. But I mean, great game
20:22
defensively, offensively was involved was a threat.
20:26
And on the day like today where Italy's super stout and you need
20:30
different angles, you need to you need to throw different
20:33
things at them. I mean, having bronze back there
20:35
kind of you know, to your point, you know, mosing around kind of
20:38
like, you know, being a little sneaky is a tremendous
20:41
advantage. And then you add to that 30
20:44
passes into the final third for for a Lucy big game Bronze to
20:47
lead the match impact player of of the highest order.
20:51
No doubt and plays pretty much the same way in the 118th minute
20:56
as she did in the second minute. I mean, you like the the the
21:00
endurances there. Unbelievable athlete, great
21:03
leader. You know, she's, you know, at an
21:06
advanced age in this sport and still just gives you the full
21:11
time. And there was never a moment
21:13
where I thought Wiegmann was going to take her off the pitch
21:15
because why would you? Because she was delivering
21:17
throughout the entire match. Yeah, no way.
21:19
I mean, she was she was huge. Let's talk about the penalty.
21:23
I didn't get your take on it. We haven't talked about it.
21:25
You mentioned a basketball ISM that's important to I think both
21:29
you and I that maybe could apply here Baldontliest.
21:35
You know, I think the football gods may be a little annoyed
21:38
with Italy style. I mentioned all of the close
21:41
calls for England leading up, you know, to the penalty.
21:45
And I think if you're Severini there, you just you just can't
21:49
put yourself in that spot, you know, and I and I think it
21:51
reminded me a lot of what you LeBron did to Bosha in the box
21:56
when they played where it's just like, OK, it's been rough all
21:59
day. And it will like, you know, it's
22:02
such a savvy play there by me to be like this.
22:05
This place is going nowhere. Like all of the plays that we've
22:09
all of them but one that we've had today.
22:12
And let me see if I can bait Severini here into something and
22:16
the the ball was just close enough that the foul was live.
22:19
And I think if that foul happens at any other point in the game,
22:23
a foul is live, a penalty, a penalty kick.
22:26
All of those outcomes are live. It just so happened that it was
22:31
a knock down drag out game where an added extra time we're just
22:34
minutes from the death. It gives it like a bad after
22:37
taste for sure. But I had zero problem with the
22:40
call. Yeah, same here.
22:43
Yeah, I thought the after taste was just fine.
22:47
The I was all right with a call. You know, especially.
22:51
I mean, we're talking about the ball don't lie principle again.
22:54
And you know, maybe I'll get yelled at in the comments for
22:57
this. It was around the 63rd minute.
22:59
Here's something from my notes. Greenwood barely gets any of
23:02
Jarelli and she behaves as if she's been hit by a double
23:05
Decker bus to maximum waste time.
23:09
Like if you're just out here behaving like that around the
23:12
63rd minute, if you're going to rely as you put it at, you know,
23:16
the common term is like the dark arts or shit Hauser or whatever.
23:20
If you're going to rely on that for 1/3 of the regular time of
23:24
the match, don't be mad when the other team gets away with it.
23:28
Like even, you know, there are a couple.
23:30
There are a couple moments too where Sanchin their their
23:34
manager is like doing like little things like like stepping
23:37
in the way of players who are trying to get the ball, who are
23:40
when the ball goes out of bounds, like get out of my face
23:43
with that, like enough, enough of that.
23:45
And then so like when England takes takes the lead late also
23:50
and the ball goes out of bounds, Sanchez like runs and grabs the
23:53
ball and is like holding it up to an England player to like,
23:56
like, hurry up the throw. And it's like, no, Bubba, that's
23:59
what you're way past that. Like of all people on planet
24:04
Earth, you do not get to do that.
24:06
So I've, yeah, sure, I've seen less called for a penalty in
24:10
that spot. I've seen more not called for a
24:13
penalty in that spot. You leave it up to the referee
24:16
if you both are wrestling right near the penalty spot inside the
24:20
18 and you got dinged for it, man, like sorry for you, but
24:25
like, that's that's the way it goes sometimes.
24:28
And if you're going to employ all those tactics, turn about as
24:31
fair play as they like to say. Yeah, I totally agree with that.
24:35
I'm laughing because did you sketch that moment when in the
24:38
in the match where Sunshine is trying to get the ball back in
24:40
play? And then, like, he spots like
24:42
Ajamang on the sideline and he's like, all right.
24:45
And like, I think she's like, yeah, yeah, yeah.
24:46
Toss it and he tosses it to her. She just lets it hit her in the
24:49
chest and fall on the floor. She just walks away, Yeah.
24:52
And she should have like the way that, Yeah, the way that dude
24:56
and his players were behaving. I mean, Ashumang is, yeah,
25:00
quickly climbing up the ranks, one of my favorite players to
25:03
watch. I I was glad she did it and
25:05
Sanchon deserved it in that moment.
25:08
Pretty lame behavior. And then he does the walk off
25:10
like 2-3 minutes left in the match, like after the penalty.
25:13
Yeah, I. Think he I mean, he's in the
25:15
tunnel. Like putting his blazer back on
25:17
and then like 2 minutes later his Blazers back off.
25:20
I'm like, what is this guy doing?
25:22
Dramatic effect. You take the blazer off, put the
25:24
blazer on, I think, yeah. But I'm like, dude, there's
25:27
still 2-3 minutes in your tournament life.
25:30
You're still alive. Like, you know, the tournament's
25:32
still happening. You can't be in the, you know,
25:34
and like, you know, there's been a penalty kick.
25:36
There's going to be a couple extra minutes of that, you know,
25:38
like there's still some coaching to do here with stakes.
25:41
You're not down four goals, you're down a single goal.
25:44
So that was just very weird to see him like huff and puff, you
25:47
know, down the tunnel and then kind of grumble his way back,
25:52
back to the sideline. Oh, I was just going to say, you
25:54
know, there there is a just a reality in this sport and it's
25:59
just that men are emotional creatures and we just have to
26:02
deal with that. Yep.
26:03
I mean, it's, it's, it's a drawback, but that's OK.
26:06
You know, we're not going to, we're not going to dig them too
26:08
hard for it. But in all seriousness, in all
26:11
seriousness, I thought Italy had a really good tournament, you
26:14
know, considering where the expectations were to take it all
26:17
the way to the limit. I mean, just a couple minutes
26:20
away from from the final is is an incredible an incredible
26:25
endpoint for this run. And I think we see this across
26:29
sports, You know, a team that is trying to kind of reach the the
26:33
mountain top, reach the apex. You know, there's a lot of
26:36
there's a lot of like potholes and landmines up up the
26:40
mountain, right? You know, to get there and just
26:42
just like obstacles that that you just don't see coming.
26:45
You know, we mentioned this before.
26:47
To beat the Champs, you just have to really you have to take
26:51
the Champions belt. Like I think that's kind of like
26:53
a boxing adage. For sure.
26:55
Italy played their game and they got they got extremely,
26:58
extremely close. I think that's probably as as
27:00
good as they they could have hoped for.
27:02
Last quick note, though, you cannot tell me down the stretch,
27:06
especially when England makes those defensive Subs, that one
27:10
Valentina Giacinti wouldn't have been helpful.
27:13
Maybe going at an SV Morgan, maybe going at, you know, an
27:16
Alex Greenwood that's a little tired or maybe a little dinged
27:18
up Leia Williamson. I don't know, man.
27:21
You know, there were some people making the case that she didn't
27:23
have the most productive seasons here.
27:24
Yeah, but you cannot tell me that that player and that kid in
27:27
that moment wasn't going to at least put a scare or two in you
27:32
as an England fan. Yeah, no doubt.
27:34
I mean, you know, we've we've seen too much watching Roma
27:38
play. So yeah, I was, I was happy that
27:42
Giacini was not available to be to be put in the match, you
27:46
know, obviously not picked for the squad.
27:48
I'll tell you though, there were a couple times in my notes where
27:51
Martina Piamonte scared the hell out of me herself as well there.
27:56
I think there was one pass, like they could have iced it a couple
27:59
times. You know, there, there's the
28:00
one. You have Severini chance. 86
28:03
Yeah, yeah. Where, you know, the match
28:06
should have been over in that moment.
28:09
I don't know. You know, it's kind of a howler.
28:11
Like, you know, Hampton's on her side.
28:14
It's a great effort by Hampton, but the second chance by
28:17
Severini, you're pretty much just, you know, easy for me to
28:21
say sitting here in my office in Seattle.
28:23
But like, I just thought she was just going to pop it over
28:27
Hampton and end the match right there.
28:28
But that's going to be a tough one to get over.
28:32
But yeah, I mean, Giacinti would have helped, but you know, they
28:36
they made their choices. Pia Monte couldn't get it done
28:39
even though she played well. But I, I think overall, you're
28:43
right, Italy should be enormously proud of how far they
28:47
went, the way they pushed England, they, they looked like
28:50
winning it at times, even though I do think on balance, England
28:53
was, was the better side throughout.
28:55
So, you know, they have a lot to build off of.
28:57
I thought Jackie Olli and Lori Lindsay did a good job on the
29:00
American broadcaster talking about how Siri off Emineel is
29:03
not that old. But we we've talked about it in
29:06
this tournament. Like, you know, they have some
29:08
broadcast rights on CBS Sports Network here in America.
29:10
There seems to be investment. The league is growing.
29:13
They have good teams, they have good players.
29:15
They're getting to the knockout stages of the of the Champions
29:17
League. Good things are happening in
29:19
that league. And this is just proof of
29:22
concept. Yeah, no doubt.
29:25
All right, man. Quick episode calendar, just one
29:27
more EUR 2025 semi final match up to go and that is Spain,
29:33
Germany. Couple of the biggest dogs in
29:35
the mix here. Just three teams left.
29:38
I mean, I think we could we maybe could have predicted these
29:41
three, but you know, it was it was a very fun ride getting
29:44
here. So very excited.
29:45
We will be back tomorrow breaking down Spain, Germany and
29:48
we'll be back a day after that probably give or take to
29:51
breakdown preview, provide some predictions on the UEFA Women's
29:57
EUR 2025 final. And if our previous predictions,
30:00
our indicator for future success.
30:02
You're going to want to listen to those.
30:03
You're going to want to be, you know, probably, I don't know,
30:05
hop on the on the ITC bandwagon and rock with us if if you agree
30:09
with with where we think the wind is blowing.
30:11
But with that said, anything else you want to hit before we
30:13
get out of here? No, man, I think we've done it.
30:15
I mean, you're right, we're down to the final three.
30:17
Who could have thought that England, Germany and Spain would
30:22
be good in a football tournament?
30:23
But hey, it was more about the journey.
30:26
I'm glad we covered it. I'm glad we witnessed it.
30:28
I'm glad we're alive to witness it, even though witnessing
30:31
what's happening in the rest of the world is not so great.
30:33
I don't know why that had to take a dark turn there at the
30:36
end, but whatever it it's football.
30:38
The football's giving me life. Yeah, man, it definitely was.
30:41
It's been about the journey and the friends we've made along the
30:43
way that's ran the episode have been to the channel.
30:45
Thank you for hanging out. Thank you for hanging out.
30:47
We really, really appreciate it. If you enjoyed the show or loved
30:50
ones fall as much as your boys do, make sure you kick with us
30:52
each and every single week. Like, subscribe, follow YouTube,
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30:58
Leave us a review over your favorite podcast app, links to
31:00
all of our socials except one in the show notes of this episode.
31:04
And a big thank you to my close as well, Mr. Grant Angle for
31:08
never losing faith, you know, never wavering, you know, never,
31:12
never losing his cool, never raising his voice, you know, in
31:15
key moments during the game, just a quiet, pensive, even
31:19
keel. And what, what can I say, man,
31:21
championship, championship rounds.
31:23
And we got an ice cold performance from you and from me
31:27
and a great show. And I think, I don't know, man,
31:29
I think we're, I think we're in championship form.
31:30
We're I think we're ready for the final.
31:32
We got one more match to go just to, you know, work out some
31:34
kinks, get a little warm, get the blood pumping, and then
31:37
we'll be back for that, that big, big final.
31:39
But either way, bro, I appreciate you man, and, and
31:41
Congrats to you. Big win for England.
31:44
Historic Day. Memorable day.
31:45
Well, I appreciate that buddy and and the feeling is mutual.
31:49
You know Congrats to you for getting you you already have 1/2
31:53
of your final correct. I mean that's gigantic.
31:56
I I need to wait till this next match to see if I got even 1/2
32:00
of the final. It's still live for you to have
32:02
predicted both sides of the final.
32:04
So let's go now I'm even more excited for this second semi
32:07
final. I appreciate you know you always
32:10
dropping knowledge same with all of you.
32:12
Thank you for watching kicking it with us and just to all the
32:15
German fans, no matter what happens tomorrow, can you just
32:17
do us a favor? Don't just like unsubscribe if
32:20
Germany loses like that. I mean, like the numbers have
32:23
pot have like really jumped up and we've very much appreciate
32:26
that. Just like don't like chop it
32:27
back down. That's all I'm asking.
32:29
Not saying that Germany's going to lose, but we'll just have to
32:31
see how it goes. I picked it man.
32:34
It's not going to lose. Come on, no.
32:36
That's right. I mean, we're soothsayers at
32:38
this point. So all right, thank you
32:40
everybody for watching. Thank you for hanging out,
32:41
continuing to interact with us. We really appreciate it and we
32:46
will see you all next time.