Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / The transfer window draft

Transcript

The transfer window draft · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:03
Oh, OK, welcome to into the channel podcast permanent about
0:09
women's football. Before we hit the pitch, if you
0:10
enjoy the show or love ones football as much as your boys
0:13
do, come kick it with us already.
0:14
Subscribe, follow YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast, wherever
0:17
you'd like to watch or listen. Leave us a review over your
0:20
favorite podcast app. Links to all of our socials in
0:22
the show notes of this episode. I am your host Dino de Suspitis
0:26
and as always I am joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Angle.
0:30
What is that man? No, buddy, I'm feeling
0:32
fantastic. Can you hear that off in the
0:34
distance? Football's coming back very,
0:37
very soon. The matches will be played.
0:40
I think that's reason to celebrate.
0:41
I have a frosty beverage to celebrate those matches.
0:46
I knew you would as well. There it is that.
0:51
Was a quick one, cheers. Cheers to you, cheers to the
0:55
football. I'm just happy it's back.
0:56
It feels like it's been too long, dare I say, since like the
1:00
really meaningful games that we love to watch have been around.
1:04
So excited to have him back. Way long.
1:06
I mean, we get NWSL back, Champions League knocking on the
1:09
door. We're going to get some
1:10
Champions League action September 4th.
1:12
That's a Wednesday little programming reminder.
1:15
We'll be back. I think maybe two or three shows
1:17
from now. We'll get into that a little bit
1:19
later with a proper Champions League preview.
1:22
We want to give ourselves a little time to like get the
1:24
Apple 2E warmed up. You know, you got to got to give
1:27
it a little time to to get humming over there.
1:30
Entering our sophomore season of covering the UEFA Women's
1:33
Champions League, you're exactly right about the Apple 2E to
1:36
crunch all the data. It's like an old Chevy where you
1:38
kind of got to get it warmed up a little bit to get it running
1:41
in peak performance. But yeah, the Champions League,
1:45
it's my favorite tournament, but we have pressing matters at hand
1:49
to deal with right now. So busy transfer season, a lot
1:54
of action, a lot of activity, a lot of excitement, you know, a
1:56
lot of crossings of the pond here and fro.
2:00
And you know, your boys love a draft as much as every as much
2:03
as the next guy or gal. And shout out to our guy Peter
2:05
Vice who, who's using the term lass.
2:09
I think I, I want to kind of try to find a working way to work
2:11
that in. I had to do a Google search, you
2:13
know, his last PC or not. Turns out it's it's totally
2:15
above board. So shout out to our guy.
2:18
Back to the matter at hand though, we're going to draft our
2:20
favorite, not necessarily the best or not what we're
2:24
predicting is to be the most impactful, but these are going
2:26
to be our favorite transfers of this transfer window.
2:29
We're going to go one to 10. So essentially I'll get 5,
2:33
you'll get 5 if the stars in line will have most of the same
2:37
10. But I don't know, something
2:38
tells me there's going to be a lot, a little bit of variance on
2:41
our list. So I'm excited to get into this
2:43
draft with you. No shenanigans.
2:44
No draft shenanigans on this one.
2:46
I'm going to give you the option.
2:47
I'm going to defer you. Let me know if you want to go
2:49
first or if you want to go 2nd. And that leads me very nicely
2:53
into my trademark Mr. Grant angle.
2:55
Where do you want to get started?
2:56
OK, I won't count this as shenanigans.
2:59
I appreciate you giving me the option of whether I want first
3:02
or second pick. You know what?
3:03
In a in a gentlemanly way. And also because I'm just
3:07
curious to see where you'll go. Please my good man, after you
3:11
you plea, please take the 1st pick of the draft.
3:13
Tabitha. Towinga OK, good call.
3:18
I think obviously going from PSG to Leone, you know, it's hard to
3:22
not to think about Leone just getting so close to another
3:26
Champions League title, but also not so, so, so close.
3:30
I mean, I think they were pretty much handled in that final by
3:32
Barcelona. Big time move.
3:34
I think Tabitha Chewinga, probably the most lethal scorer
3:37
in all of Europe. Yeah, top two scorer, though, in
3:40
her own family. We'll talk about that one later.
3:42
But tremendous signing fits a little bit of a need.
3:45
You know, I think as as a Champions League went later and
3:48
later, all right, now that you've got Melchi Dumore names,
3:50
you know, a really good player. They're trying to find Cascarino
3:53
Diani. They're trying to balance
3:54
everything out, make it work. I think the attack, you know,
3:56
lays some air, obviously some injuries.
3:58
Hagerberg the same trying to work our way back.
4:00
I think chewing is going to be a rock solid signing for them.
4:03
I think it's going to be immediate playing time and I
4:06
fully expect her to lead that team in goals next season.
4:09
Wow, OK, I like that. As in a little extra spice on
4:13
top of the tank. I mean, yeah, I think you're
4:15
spot on. We had heard about it from a
4:17
friend of the program, a seal two Filey former Lebanon #10 now
4:22
great journalist for Forbes and also congratulations to a seal
4:25
talking about the transfer window.
4:27
Now the. Congrats to Seal.
4:28
The new woman's football editor for Vavel USA.
4:32
Check that out. Find it wherever you can.
4:34
I digress. But a seal had told us, you
4:37
know, Cascarino likes to play on the right, but you already had
4:40
Katigatu DNE there for Leon. So now you have the natural fit
4:45
of Tabitha Chewinga on the left, you'll have Dionne on the right.
4:48
And I think you're spot on. It's why I love, it's why I had
4:52
Chewinga so high up on my board as well.
4:55
I think Du Mornay at 21 years old is going to get a lot of
4:57
playing time at center forward. And obviously, like you
5:00
mentioned, Les Amare and Hegenberg, they're on the
5:03
downside of their career and they can come in and spell,
5:06
maybe give you 20, 20 minutes here and there when they need.
5:09
But that front 3, Chewinga du mornay Diani, we're cooking with
5:13
gas over there. That's going to be real tough to
5:16
stop. Very excited about how that trio
5:18
is going to line up for sure. Who do you have at the top of
5:21
your board? If it wasn't, tap the Chunga.
5:23
I'm going to, I'm going to make my second pick and this is going
5:25
to seem, this is going to seem spiteful, to be honest.
5:30
I mean, no offense. Rosa Cafaggi to Arsenal.
5:33
No. Dude, you see, I I'm sorry to do
5:39
this to you. She, she was great in the
5:41
Champions League. You spotted it right away.
5:45
She's an excellent young player. She keeps her head up.
5:48
She has a nose for goal. I think she's going to be
5:51
terrifying for Arsenal. And as a Manchester City fan who
5:55
barely finished past Arsenal, well, I mean, was pretty
5:57
comfortable beyond Arsenal but barely lost the league to
6:00
Chelsea. I was not psyched about that
6:03
pick. And the more I thought about it
6:05
and the more I thought about this draft, I was like, man, I'm
6:08
really, really kind of unhappy about Rosa Kavaji going to
6:12
Arsenal. And I think that kind of tells
6:15
the story of how great that is for for your Gunners.
6:18
Totally agree. I this was my this would have
6:20
been my third pick. I would have went right, right
6:23
here after your second pick. So props to you totally snaked
6:26
me. But yeah, Kafaji monster talent.
6:30
And I think this is a player that Arsenal sorely need,
6:34
somebody that's fast, that can have eyes up field, that could
6:38
connect passes from distance and just think quickly, move
6:42
quickly, battle in the midfield, be creative, score goals needed.
6:48
I think Arsenal's offense, you know, kind of had the tendency
6:51
to stall out a little bit here and there when when times got a
6:53
little tough. Kafaji's kind of pair that can
6:55
really cut up defenses. I went back and looked at her,
6:58
her group stage in the Champions League, BK Hakkin from the
7:02
Damos. Fenskin won three group stage
7:05
out of six. They swept Real Madrid, beat
7:08
them twice, they won away at Perry FC and they drew away at
7:12
Chelsea. Eight matches for Rosa, four
7:15
goals, one assist. She was awesome and that hack
7:17
inside one with defense and she was their offensive creator
7:22
along with a couple other great players that they had, Yusuf BA
7:25
and some others that were just fearless in attack.
7:28
And I think they had the confidence that defensively they
7:30
would be able to hold it down. But she's just such a great
7:32
player. And against her couple minutes
7:34
here, Gateside was already cooking like just, yeah, I mean,
7:38
you could just see it. And I think she's still just 21
7:41
years old. So this is a player that her
7:44
prime is still probably a few years away.
7:46
And I think Campo came on, talked to us a little bit about
7:48
this. He mentioned that Rosa came from
7:50
a little bit of like a like a checkered kind of background
7:52
and, you know, had some injuries early.
7:54
So she really hasn't even been a full, full full time player like
7:58
some of the other 21 year olds. So I think the sky is absolutely
8:00
the limit for a player like that.
8:02
I totally agree. And I mean, you know, we we sung
8:05
the praises of BK hacking because they had an identity and
8:08
they knew who they were and they had good and talented players on
8:11
that roster. But your point about they won
8:13
with defense and then relied on Kovaji to really kind of be as a
8:18
young player in a Champions League setting to kind of be
8:20
that offensive hub. Now you drop her in an Arsenal
8:23
side that already has some more talent around her to kind of
8:26
take some of that pressure off of her.
8:28
I just, I just say it again, man, I'm a City fan and I saw
8:31
that. I was like, oh boy, that's not
8:34
ideal for my club. I feel that, I feel that.
8:38
All right, well, if you're going to snake me, I, I, I think it's,
8:40
it's a, it's a, it's a worthy snake for sure.
8:42
So chewing is off the board, Cafage is off the board.
8:45
I'm going to go with my third pick was actually my second
8:47
favorite signing and that is Eva payor.
8:50
Probably exactly what Barcelona needed when you think about like
8:54
that, just goal machine type. Looking at what she did in the
8:57
Bundesliga last year, 19 matches, eighteen goals, 6
9:01
assists, pretty good 114 career matches, 95 goals, 20 assists.
9:06
So she's got more than she's just got a shade over one goal
9:09
contribution per appearance in the Bundesliga.
9:12
Still just 27 years old, five time winner, the Bundesliga
9:15
Champions League runner up three times.
9:16
I think she's going to be a perfect fit in Barcelona.
9:19
I think she already notched a couple goals and I'm not sure
9:21
some warm up matches, but didn't take her along and I think she's
9:25
going to be awesome too. With all those creative players
9:27
I jotted down in my notes. I actually, I'm going to say
9:29
this for a little bit later in terms of what they're attacking
9:32
light up might look like. It's just if we thought it was
9:35
in the same and last year, this is just ridiculous.
9:37
But yeah, I think Eva Pierre is going to be a monster.
9:39
Monster sighting for Barcelona, a real coup for that team in
9:42
League F, taking one of the supreme talents of Bundesliga.
9:45
Yeah, 27 years old in her absolute prime.
9:48
You know, what can you say? It's another it's another
9:51
massive weapon for Barcelona. So let me just move to the to
9:55
the next one. And you know what?
9:58
I I realize. So pissed.
10:00
I'm so I already know what it is.
10:02
I'm so pissed and. So with apologies to our guy
10:06
Vespa, because I realized we called these our favorite
10:10
pickups. I I think whether it's favorite
10:12
or like the the criteria is loose.
10:14
We talked about it like we could look at it be like this is most
10:17
impactful. This is our favorite.
10:18
This is one we think is going to resonate around the league.
10:21
Kika Nazareth to Barcelona from Benfica.
10:24
Again, apologies to our guy Vespa, Shadow Vespa.
10:27
It's gonna take a little bit, and I think we can do the
10:29
exercise now whenever you're ready, but it's going to take a
10:32
little bit to figure out where Pyor and Nazareth and beta Ualo
10:37
and CGH, where all these attacking players are going to
10:41
play. I mean, obviously they offloaded
10:44
Caldente. We might talk about that later.
10:46
But I mean, Keegan Nazareth has a skill level.
10:50
And this is where I'll just kind of raise my hand for some level
10:53
of ignorance is that obviously you know what time it is with
10:55
Pyor that she's a great player. I did not watch a ton of
10:58
Wolfsburg last year. So there is a there is a little
11:01
element of of unknown for me when it comes to Payor Kika
11:04
Nazareth. We know the deal with her, her
11:07
appearances in the Champions League, like she had the 6th
11:09
scorpion kick for a goal in in the Portuguese league for
11:13
Benfica. I mean, she is a superlative
11:16
skilled talent and she also has a great level.
11:19
She has a really kind of genius level of passing as well.
11:22
So again, Speaking of massive weapons to add to Barcelona, I
11:26
think Kika is right up there with Payor.
11:28
Totally agree with that and definitely shout out to Vespa.
11:32
Great, great, great friend of the show.
11:34
Absolutely. Benfica had a rough go of it.
11:35
Hopefully they've got some talent to reload good program
11:39
there. So I think you kind of fully
11:40
expect it, but might take them a minute.
11:42
They're back in action September 4th with some some Champions
11:45
League preliminary. So we'll be locked in.
11:47
So Vespa, get at us. Let us know how you're feeling
11:48
about that. But yeah, Kika of Nazareth just
11:51
supreme talent as well. I think I I just jotted down,
11:54
I'm not sure if it's going to be, let's see, by the way, low
11:57
maybe on the left, payor in the middle, CGH on the right.
12:01
And then you could trot out of midfield of Alexia Itana and
12:05
Kika and maybe Kira Walsh a little deeper, maybe a back
12:08
three. You know, I think those six
12:10
though, from an attacking standpoint, Alexia Itana,
12:13
Evapayor, Kika, CGH, Sama Patiuello.
12:17
I mean, what do you there's no, there's no good option anybody
12:21
any of those six on the ball and your blood pressure is pretty
12:25
much maxed out. Yeah.
12:26
And if you convince 1 to come off the bench, like, you know,
12:29
if you're rotating a couple of those players off the bench, I
12:32
mean, now there's no relief for any opponent facing Barcelona,
12:36
which in a state where there was already no relief when you were
12:40
playing Barcelona. Yeah, they reloaded big time.
12:43
That's a great call. It's going to be, I think
12:45
they're going to rotate those, those rosters and I think
12:47
there's enough turnover. A coach can credibly say, hey,
12:51
let's, let's figure out what our best options are here.
12:53
Let's not get too upset early in the season about, you know,
12:56
who's starting and playing time and all that.
12:58
Oh, and side note, I almost, even though I had prior 2 and
13:01
Kika 4 on my list, I almost went with Kika 'cause I just wanted,
13:04
you know, just wanted to wave my kika flag.
13:05
But I, I stuck to my big board, you know, as as a good drafter
13:09
does, you know, I want to stick loosely with Barcelona, but this
13:12
is a player exiting the Champions League champions 5th
13:15
pick. Give me Lucia Roberta Tough
13:18
bronze there. We.
13:21
Go I just courtesy of Wikipedia further for Lucy Lucy Goosey's
13:26
full name. I just love the the notion of
13:29
like I don't know Hannah Hampton or Musevic and goal that's
13:32
already off to a great start. How about a back for Ashley
13:35
Lawrence, Millie Bright, Khadija Buchanan, Lucy Bronze I think
13:39
Leon Sanderson came on our show, talked to us about the virtues,
13:44
the winning virtues of one Lucy Bronze.
13:47
And I think, you know, it definitely made, you know,
13:49
obviously I'm coming into the sport a little bit later.
13:51
So I wasn't here for the prime prime Lucy bronze years.
13:54
Leanne definitely helped me recontextualize what kind of
13:57
player that is, you know, the kind of leader that she is and
14:00
like just kind of like the tone setter, just a winning football
14:03
player. And I think that really helped
14:05
clarify for me like just how important she is as a player.
14:08
We saw her get huge stops. We saw her be threatening in
14:11
front of goal and do pretty much everything in between, you know,
14:13
and play really, really big, you know, come off the bench in some
14:16
spots, you know, when when needed.
14:18
Just a true, true, true professional.
14:20
I think he's going to fit in great at Chelsea.
14:21
I'm very excited to see what she looks like over there.
14:24
Yeah, immediately fits into a winning culture, immediately
14:27
helps set an incredibly high standard.
14:29
I think that's it's a great move, especially like for Sonia
14:32
Bumbastora coming in there. It's like, OK, I'm new in this,
14:35
Lucy's new in the club. They're new in this in terms of
14:38
being at Chelsea Football Club. And then they can kind of go at
14:41
that together and be like, hey, help us fit in, help us kind of
14:44
maintain the standards that have already been set.
14:46
I think it's a it's a great pairing and I'm totally with
14:49
you. Like, you know, even if I
14:51
started kind of watching women's football a little before you,
14:54
like it was hard even a couple years ago to get WSL or just
14:58
like overseas women's football information.
15:02
So I thought Leanne really kind of cleared it up for us.
15:05
Like, OK, this is like this is an all timer that we're talking
15:08
about who still plays at a very high level.
15:11
Yep, exactly what you're saying. She walks in.
15:14
Instant respect. Instant credibility can only
15:17
help the club from there. Great vibes around Lucy too.
15:19
I think I'm definitely excited. And you know what they say draft
15:22
starts at six. I'm actually curious, before
15:25
they say that, did you have bronze on your top 10?
15:28
I did not. I felt like I well, OK, sorry,
15:33
so sorry. She was right at the end of my
15:35
of my 10, not in my 5, not in the five that I was I was hoping
15:39
to draft. God, it got OK.
15:40
Yeah, I had her at 5:00. Nice.
15:42
OK. And you know, to take people
15:45
behind the curtain. I was telling Dino like I wanted
15:47
to go a little vibes based because there are so many like
15:52
great players who are moving around.
15:55
So I don't know if this is and I honestly, I don't care so much
15:58
if this is if this is great drafting strategy or not.
16:02
I don't know. Like, you know, it's not like
16:04
we're we're fielding 5A side teams to play against each other
16:08
in this draft. So I'm going to do the thing
16:11
that I want to do. You guys know what time it is.
16:13
You guys know my allegiance is Alba Figino, Manchester City
16:17
Football Club. Oh yeah, it's got. 20 year, 20
16:22
year old Japanese maven showed an incredible talent, incredible
16:27
skill, audacious skill in the 23 World Cup and then again in the
16:31
24 Olympics. She was the MVP of the Wee
16:34
League in Japan in 20 in the 2122 season and the 2223 season.
16:39
Wow. She's a goal scorer, she's a
16:42
genius, she's creative, and now she's going to be running up
16:46
front with Bunny Shaw and Vivian Medema, not to mention Lauren
16:51
Hemp and Mary Fowler as well. So I think the sky is the limit
16:55
for Fujino. I, I just love the way she
16:58
plays. Like I, I think of it, it's a
17:00
goofy thing to say, but if I was actually good enough to play
17:04
forward when I played and I wasn't like a defensive
17:08
midfielder, which not to say that defensive midfielders have
17:11
less skill, but in high school American soccer, they, I
17:13
definitely have less skills. So that's why I played there.
17:18
But like, that's how I would want to play as a forward.
17:22
And so I am super psyched to have her and we're going to need
17:24
the firepower going into this next season.
17:26
I love that pic. That's a great pick and I'm so
17:29
excited to see Fujino in that sky blue kit, you know, running
17:33
alongside Hasegawa to like me. That could be a nice little
17:36
connection point there. They've got the national team
17:38
link up experience, so we'll definitely keep an eye on that.
17:41
Great pick, I love it. I'm excited to see what what
17:43
what Fujino looks like on that squad because attack wise, I
17:47
think offensively City was pretty potent last year.
17:51
And I think Fujino adds a tremendous curveball.
17:55
Like like you think you're used to the kind of seeing where the
17:58
ball is coming from. And I think Fujino just kind of
18:00
hit you from the craziest angle with the most audacious kind of
18:03
shot that I think nobody was expecting.
18:06
I think we could chalk chalk ourselves up for at least a few
18:08
of those this season. I'm very excited.
18:10
That's a great pick. I appreciate it.
18:12
I think I'd also like to see her take one of those weird angle
18:15
shots and maybe the keeper gets a glove on it or maybe it
18:18
bounces off the crossbar and then falls right to Bunny Shaw
18:21
and then what's anybody gonna do about that?
18:23
I. Don't know, somebody might get
18:25
hurt in that situation. Bunny with a little put back.
18:30
All right, so my pick here, and maybe it's a little bit of
18:33
recency bias, but I loved what the Chicago Red Stars did
18:38
grabbing Ludmila. Just thinking about that, Swan
18:41
said. Ludmila pairing, she's such a
18:43
tank. I think she is 29 years old.
18:46
I think she is still in her like absolute physical prime.
18:50
She was cooking for sure at the Olympics.
18:53
And it wasn't just speed. It was speed and power and
18:56
touch. I think it's just the perfect
18:58
kind of like, I don't know, it kind of reminds me like an NFL
19:01
1-2 punch at running back. Like when you've got like the
19:03
big bruiser and you've got like the the sleek, sort of like fast
19:06
cutter, you know? And I think there's just no real
19:09
good answer. I think those two running
19:10
alongside each other are going to give defenses absolute
19:14
headaches this season. What's left of it.
19:16
And if Ludmila can take that Olympics form into the NWSL, I
19:20
mean, Chicago all of a sudden is a lot more interesting of a
19:24
playoff type team. I think if they can get it going
19:26
and I think no reason not to think that they can.
19:28
We've talked about them throughout the season with kind
19:31
of this defensive stance that they take, this defensive like
19:34
positioning that they take. And then we've talked about Mal
19:37
Swanson as a as A1 player offense.
19:39
Now you get to take a little bit of that pressure off of Swanson.
19:43
And we had talked about two kind of when we were doing like our
19:45
halfway check in point, like could the Red Stars potentially
19:48
win three games in a row in in a playoff scenario?
19:52
And we thought it would be a real tough stretch for them to
19:56
beat three really good teams in a row.
19:58
I still don't know if they can do that.
19:59
But they have now continued to move themselves toward man.
20:04
If you're a top four seed and they're your second round
20:08
matchup, you're still not super excited about that.
20:11
Nope. They've got the defensive chops.
20:14
They've got Nair and goal knockout stage Nair.
20:17
Yeah, that's a real thing. And I think those two players up
20:20
front that if they're on like they're going to score, you're
20:23
going to have to probably outscore them and then you're
20:26
going at that defense and listen there, back there.
20:29
Yeah, obviously Sam Saab torn Achilles, devastating, you know,
20:33
type injury. She would have made that Chicago
20:36
defense a lot more interesting, I think.
20:38
But still, you're going to have to really beat them if that's
20:41
the the playoff matchup that you draw my Orlando prides.
20:44
Probably it could be in that 1415 kind of match up.
20:48
So super live for that second round.
20:50
Who knows, I might be I might be at that game.
20:52
We'll see. But yeah, give me Ludmila in
20:55
that seventh slot and that means that you are up 8th pick in this
20:59
draft. OK, looking at my list, thinking
21:03
about the vibes, I have a few in contention.
21:06
But you went NWSL. I'm going to do a little bit of
21:11
copycat league here. Give me Courtney Vine to the
21:15
North Carolina Courage. Extremely speedy player, 26
21:21
years old, was the hero in that World Cup for Australia, making
21:24
the winning penalty against France in the knockout stage.
21:28
We talked to the great journalist Samantha Lewis from
21:31
ABC Australia, one of the, like, emerging faces of women's
21:35
football over there in Australia.
21:37
You drop her into the North Carolina Courage.
21:40
You talked about get a lien coming back.
21:43
They've already been able to put together, you know, a pretty
21:46
solid season, minus the last year's MVP of the league.
21:50
Get a lien. Now you add Vine to add, like
21:53
another layer of speed, another player who can kind of help
21:57
connect some of those pieces. I think she's going to take.
22:00
I don't know she take people by surprise after the World Cup
22:03
performance because I people remember the penalty.
22:06
I don't know if they remember the other aspects of her play,
22:08
but I I think she's going to play a big role in pushing the
22:12
courage forward this season. I think she will be able to take
22:14
people by surprise because obviously the Courage played not
22:19
the most exciting brand of football early, early part of
22:21
the Inebiosol season. So I think whatever tape is out
22:24
there, I think it'll kind of be made obsolete, you know, because
22:27
I think she's going to change their offense quite a bit.
22:31
Yeah. And obviously Kidalene coming
22:32
back as well. I mean, it is going to look like
22:35
a completely different team. And the Courage played very,
22:38
very tough. Like the first half of this NWL
22:40
season, they were they were an extremely tough out, impossible
22:44
to beat at home. So I think they're another team
22:46
that I think could make a a good amount of noise in the playoffs.
22:50
Definitely maybe win, win one, push a team that, you know, like
22:53
who knows? I mean, like two wins and you're
22:54
in the final. Exactly.
22:56
I think they're probably right on the outside looking in of a
22:58
team that could be able to do that.
22:59
And then if the court divine signing really works out, that
23:02
might bump it up to, Hey, this is now our expectation.
23:05
Yeah, I mean, ten goals, 6 assists in 18 appearances for
23:08
Sydney FC in her last season. So, I mean, she's a real player
23:12
to add, and I think you're right.
23:14
I think it's a great point. She'll also just be adding a
23:16
level of excitement to the brand of football they play, which
23:20
should be good for the fans over there in Cary, NC.
23:23
Absolutely. All right, so that's the 8th
23:26
pick. This is my last pick.
23:28
Want to shout out Rome Luchter from IX?
23:31
All right. Signed with PSG, different skill
23:33
set than Katoto, so I think that's something you can play up
23:36
front. Also somewhat of a gold machine.
23:38
She's got some huge shoes to fill.
23:40
So PSG moves on from Tabitha, Chewinga moves on from Sandy,
23:43
Baltimore moves on. Well, Lika Martins,
23:45
congratulations. She's expecting.
23:48
So a lot of changes up front for PSG, but I think Lucha is like a
23:51
really, really nice fit for them.
23:53
Fast, aggressive, offensively, like just completely unafraid,
23:57
kind of a big game player. She's one of those players where
24:00
when we saw IAX come up on the show, you know, the short end of
24:03
the stick, you could really kind of see like her level of passion
24:06
and like just kind of how disappointing those losses were.
24:09
I think she's going to be a great fit in Paris.
24:12
Those passionate fans are going to definitely, definitely
24:14
embrace a player like that. And I expect, I don't know, big,
24:17
big time expectations for Luke through the season of PSG.
24:19
Totally agree. I think she I think PSG is
24:22
really trying something here with the upgrades that they were
24:25
trying to make to their roster, like obviously losing Chewinga
24:29
pretty devastating, but they didn't kind of sit back and just
24:33
and just let that happen. They made multiple additions to
24:36
their roster. And I will tell you Luchter, I
24:40
had her right up there with another PSG edition where I was
24:43
like trying to decide like, OK, what is the best PSG edition
24:47
that that they needed to really address, especially after, you
24:51
know, they get sent out of the Champions League by their right.
24:54
Leon. We just kind of left those set
24:57
of matches thinking, okay, like PSG, they're not too too far
25:01
away, but they're not particularly close to Leon and
25:04
they needed to upgrade in a few different spots.
25:07
And I think Luke there was a prime target, especially after
25:10
losing chewing up. Yeah, I think that's a good
25:12
point because it sort of feels like or last year it sort of
25:16
felt like PSG was trying to like beat Lyon at Lyon ball.
25:20
And I'm not sure if necessarily they're making a conscious
25:24
effort to say we need to like play our style of football here.
25:27
And not that we're not going to beat them at their game, but
25:30
we're sort of at this at a point now where we need to kind of
25:32
start defining our identity. And I thought it was really
25:35
interesting the moves that they that they made.
25:36
Obviously there was another big one.
25:37
I'm not sure if that's your your last pick, but if not, we'll hit
25:40
it in the in the names and players section here.
25:43
But let's let's just kind of scoot ahead. 10th Pick Who is
25:46
your fifth most favoritist favoritist favoritist transfer
25:50
of this transfer window. Let me do it because, you know,
25:52
that's my goalkeeper. Let's just get right to it.
25:54
It's Mary Erps to PSG. I mean, so obviously, you know
25:57
what I was saying when I said like, oh, I like some PSG other
26:00
moves. PSG what we saw in the Champions
26:04
League, they needed an upgrade at keeper.
26:07
Yep. So between Constance Pico and
26:11
Kiedroneck, PSG was just kind of looking for answers in goal,
26:14
especially when you're going when you have to go up against
26:17
Leon both in in your league, in the cups, in the Champions
26:21
League. You just needed a little more
26:23
strength back there goal and and no disrespect to Pico or
26:25
Kiedroneck, but they're not merry Earps.
26:28
And so to see that they they were able to add an elite shot
26:32
stopper, a popular player, a good leader, a well liked
26:35
player. You know, I'm in the tank for
26:37
merry Earps and I was excited to see this.
26:39
And I think it's one of those moves where it's like, OK, yeah,
26:43
we're clearly playing second fiddle to this bigger, more
26:46
powerful club. But we're in this to win.
26:49
And whether whether we scoop a cup versus them or maybe maybe
26:53
we win a couple regular, a regular season matching, we can
26:55
actually challenge for the title, we're going to go for
26:58
that because we're not just going to let Leon run this
27:00
league forever. Yeah, love that pick up.
27:02
Happy to get old Merps out of of course that part of Manchester
27:06
as well, because everything floating around there and yeah,
27:09
I think it's I think it's the right move for them.
27:11
We saw the the goalkeeping get a little shaky.
27:14
And I think when the stakes are that that high, it's like
27:17
essentially champions of Europe, you know, that's on the line.
27:20
A player like Mary F Earps. I mean, that's it becomes a
27:23
position no longer of worry. Great pick, great way to run
27:26
about the draft. Not that we were going for this,
27:28
but I think we've got a pretty solid 10.
27:30
Maybe, maybe on defense we're a little bit light, but I don't
27:33
know. This would be quite the squad we
27:34
put together with our favorite transfers here but now on to
27:38
everyone's favorite game. Let's name some players who who
27:41
who was it tough for you to leave off I've got three names
27:45
on my list that were in my top ten that didn't get drafted.
27:48
So I definitely want to hit those three, but I want to hear
27:50
who you had that was just right there outside on the periphery
27:53
the. Toughest one for me and I didn't
27:56
want to skew like 2 American, but I mean, you know, we talk
27:59
about NWSL as an Elite League. Obviously we have a lot of pals
28:02
over in Europe. We're making new pals as we
28:04
cover the US women's national team and and NWSL over here.
28:07
I think Jess Carter to Gotham is kind of huge.
28:10
That move, yeah. I mean that like as soon as I
28:13
saw that, I was like, wow, like that is a massive power up for
28:17
them. I mean, still just 26 years old,
28:20
all that resume, all those big time matches, I mean, none of
28:24
that sweat. Like, jeez, she just is like
28:27
full lockdown. Barely, barely.
28:29
She looks like she could dominate games at 7075%
28:32
capacity. Yep, what an excellent player
28:35
she was right outside my top ten.
28:36
Yeah, but I love that signing. Couple other big time, well,
28:40
medium time signings for the NWSI want to hit.
28:43
Obviously. Lisa Santos talked about that on
28:44
the show. Delphine Cascarino, you hit that
28:47
up top. Chloe Lacasse.
28:48
Yeah. Canadian National moves from
28:50
Arsenal to the Utah Royals. They should be excited.
28:52
Katie Zellem goes from United to Angel City and Jessica Silva to
28:58
Gotham. I mean, when you think about
29:00
those Jenna Neiswar crosses, she's a big four.
29:03
She plays big. A good counter punch to Astaire
29:07
Lynn Williams, I think, I don't know.
29:09
There's definitely going to be some minutes for Jessica and
29:12
probably some goals too. She's making her return to the
29:14
NWS cell. So yeah, I think All in all, NWS
29:17
cell kind of like what they did, nothing too over the top, but
29:21
really, really solid moves. I think they were kind of
29:23
opportunistic. Yeah, 100%.
29:25
I mean, Jessica Silva is a great call out.
29:27
Once again. Sorry, Vespa, your players are
29:29
getting stolen off your squatting.
29:31
That's what happens when you have a lot of great players.
29:33
But Benfica, we already know what time it is with that
29:36
culture and then the way they're able to play.
29:38
So looking forward to see the next crop of great players they
29:41
produce who will then hopefully stay there and then grow that
29:44
league. You're totally right about Lacey
29:45
Santos. I mean, she was just outside of
29:47
my 10. She could add another element of
29:51
of toughness too, to an already kind of mentally tough
29:55
Washington spirit squad. So I think she's super exciting.
29:58
I want to point out Alva Redondo to Real Madrid from Levante, a
30:05
goal scorer, 16 goals and 26 appearances last season.
30:09
I think Real Madrid kind of fit that PSG mode of OK, we're
30:15
second fiddle to one of Europe's absolute giants.
30:19
Not for long. And maybe, and you know, people
30:21
will probably laugh at that now and probably for good reason,
30:24
because there is a clear talent disparity between Leona, PSG and
30:28
Barcelona and Real Madrid. But if you're Real Madrid and
30:31
PSG, what else are you going to do other than try to close that
30:35
gap every single way that you possibly can't?
30:37
So I love the Redondo signing for them and I'm excited to
30:40
watch him play. Totally agree with you on on the
30:42
excitement level around the team that they're going to try it
30:45
out. I thought they crushed this
30:46
transfer window. It's not just Redondo Antonia
30:49
from Levante, Melanie Leopold from Chelsea, Lacrosse from
30:52
Montpellieri, Felipe Angodol from your Manchester City Sky
30:56
Blues and 23 year old forward Eva Navarro.
30:59
So I think they they crushed it. I mean, like they're they're not
31:03
messing around. They also let, looks like they
31:05
let Claudia Zornosa go. She signed with Utah Royals as
31:08
well. I like that.
31:09
And then I think Haley Rosso remains unsigned.
31:12
Doesn't look like she'll be returning to Real Madrid.
31:15
But yeah, in in my my one team category for let's name some
31:19
teams. Real Madrid was a team that I'm
31:21
like we we've got to mention kind of like the moves they
31:23
made. I thought they they really made
31:25
an impact this window. Totally agree, a little bit of a
31:28
bummer and sorry if you if you mentioned her, but Ivana Andres
31:30
going to Milan. That's right.
31:32
That'll be interesting to see. I mean, it'll be cool if Syria
31:36
Femoneal can kind of really start to bubble up.
31:39
I mean, I know you and I loved watching AS Roma play in the
31:42
Champions League. It'll be cool to see if they're
31:44
able to kind of really build a great league over there.
31:47
And I'll just do this just for fun, because Syria on the men's
31:50
side stinks and it's not nearly as good as it was when I was a
31:54
kid. So let's go ahead and build up
31:56
the women's side of the game over there.
31:57
For sure. Yeah, that'd be awesome.
31:59
They did lose Lynette Berenstein.
32:00
She moves over to Wilfsburg to maybe replace Pyor.
32:04
Two more that I want to name Elizabeth Turlin to Manchester
32:07
United, another gold machine from Brighton.
32:09
I think she's going to fit in really, really well there.
32:12
I mean, I'm not betting anymore, you know, those days might be
32:14
behind me. But her to lead the league in
32:17
goals that that might be worth a little look if you could get in
32:20
at maybe a + 750 + 800 kind of range.
32:24
Mike Gunners, Mariona Caldente, Daphne von Damsalar waiting for
32:28
these. Welcome to the squad.
32:30
And yeah, this is this was a really fun transfer window.
32:32
And I think I think they're only going to get funner from here.
32:35
As we keep expanding the tentacles, you know, friends of
32:38
the pod keep getting, you know, these jobs in higher up places.
32:40
There's going to be more connections, more, more little
32:43
whispers that we're going to have access to.
32:44
Yeah, I thought it was. I thought it was a really
32:46
exciting window. I think I want to I want to
32:49
leave with two, two more players, if I may.
32:52
And Speaking of of our friends of the show, we talked to the
32:55
great Miriam Karabi of She Scores Bangers about Simea Wujo
32:58
who was playing for the University of Southern
33:00
California who jumped out during the CONCACAFW Gold Cup.
33:04
Now going to, in my opinion, the wrong side of Manchester, but
33:08
still going to Manchester United from the University of Southern
33:11
California. Just one of those classic
33:13
football stories that you always hear.
33:15
But joke jokes aside, I think that's super cool for a Wujo who
33:19
has close to a limitless upside I think.
33:24
She's gonna terrorize that league.
33:26
Very cool. Jump USD to United.
33:29
She was on my my longer list, so she was mentioned there.
33:32
Oh, Eustine Jellen to Wolfsburg. That's a tough one.
33:35
But you know, we see you. We see you, Eustine.
33:37
That was the last one I wanted to mention because it's.
33:40
Not my bad. No, no, you're good.
33:42
Because it's not one of my favorites.
33:43
I didn't like it. I don't like it for Braun.
33:45
I didn't like it for the Braun Battalion.
33:47
I was immediately bummed when I saw it.
33:49
We saw on Twitter all our pals. We saw you guys not thrilled
33:52
about it either. They transferred and they
33:54
announced it right before an important fixture as well.
33:56
And it was just like, hey, guys, what are we doing here?
33:59
And then Bron later on, you know, just earlier in the week,
34:02
they drop another important one to Rosenborg.
34:05
So, you know, tough sledding in in top Syrian right now for the
34:10
Bron battalion. We're trying to monitor, we're
34:12
trying to, we're trying to watch along with you guys.
34:14
We we're we're also just behind the scenes trying to negotiate
34:17
this deal with the zone to to show top Syrian over here still
34:21
working on that. That's a long game, I think, But
34:24
yeah, still holding it down in 3rd place.
34:26
It's going to be tough sledding to get in one of those top two
34:28
spots to get into the next Champions League qualifying.
34:31
But you know, Bron, we see you. We were bummed to see Jeland
34:35
leave the squad, but you guys are tough.
34:37
You're going to develop more talent over there.
34:39
Absolutely. We're not selling any Bron
34:40
stock. No, never.
34:44
No chance. With that said though, was that
34:46
the only worst transfer or was that the at the top of your
34:49
least favorite transfer list? Or anything else we need to hit
34:52
before we get out of here? I don't know.
34:53
I don't know if it counts as a transfer.
34:55
It happened during the transfer window.
34:57
I know there are a lot of takes about this on the Internet.
35:00
I'm very curious to hear your thoughts on it.
35:04
Landon Donovan to San Diego Wave as the interim manager for the
35:09
remainder of the season. I have thoughts and feelings,
35:13
but I would like to give the floor to you to kind of hear
35:16
where you landed on it. I mean, this is maybe This Is Us
35:19
being a little bit too gentlemanly, but we talked about
35:22
this offline. I cannot get that that scenario
35:26
out of my mind where Landon Donovan is just talking to a
35:30
newly signed Delphine Cascarino and trying to explain to her how
35:34
to play football. Sure.
35:37
I just don't know what the fuck to expect.
35:39
I mean like, you know, maybe I do need to unretire from betting
35:41
and we just start betting against the wave because is
35:45
there like it's hard to even think of.
35:48
Let me ask you this. What's a worst move they could
35:50
have done? That's it within the realm of
35:52
like all possible scenarios, because I think this is pretty
35:55
near the bottom of the list of you move on from Casey Stoney.
35:58
We joked about this on the show. We had a good time with it.
36:01
The notion of like they they move off of Casey Stoney and
36:03
then they look worse, like, so clearly Stoney wasn't really the
36:07
problem. I think those were the feels.
36:09
Immediately after she was like, oh, and now it's like, I don't
36:12
know, it just feels like it's slipping in the way, way, way
36:15
wrong direction from here. Very curious to hear what your
36:18
expectations are for the squad and Donovan.
36:20
Well, so I mean, you ask, you know, what's the worst move they
36:24
could have made? I just want to be like real
36:26
straightforward about this. Online discourse is online
36:29
discourse. It's often terrible.
36:31
And it's often, you know, depending on the side that's
36:34
making it, it's often done in bad faith.
36:36
Here's my thing. This is my really, really spicy
36:40
take. If you are hired to be the
36:42
manager of a woman's football club that won the NWSL Shield
36:47
last season, and you're going to be the interim manager to be the
36:50
caretaker for another half of a season in which you still have
36:53
an opportunity to sneak in the playoffs.
36:55
And on your roster, you have the best center back in the world.
36:57
In Naomi Garma. Now you've just added a world
37:00
class striker. In Delphine Cascarino.
37:02
You have Maria Sanchez. On the left hand side, you have
37:04
Alex Morgan. And then you have the young
37:06
budding star Jaden Shaw on your team.
37:08
Caitlin Sheridan, you have. Caitlin Sheridan in goal, you
37:10
have a lot of excellent players. This is my super high standard,
37:14
so if people want to criticize me for having this very high
37:16
standard, have at it. I would like that manager to
37:21
have been a coach for a women's football team at least once in
37:26
their career prior, and if that is too high of a standard for
37:30
some people, then that's fine. But for me, for me to consider
37:35
it a serious move, a move that where you are focused on winning
37:39
football matches and getting back into contention in a
37:42
season, then I think you should put a manager and I'll say it
37:45
one more time, it's the last time I'll repeat myself, A
37:48
manager who has managed a women's football team at least
37:52
once in the past. 100% agree. I mean, perfectly sad, I think
37:55
serious. And the the lack of seriousness
37:58
of this hire is like level 100. It just doesn't, it doesn't get
38:03
less serious than this hire. You know, it took them, what, a
38:06
month and a half, two months to find this next interim?
38:10
It's just ridiculous. I mean, I don't know who.
38:12
I don't know. I feel Brittany's in San Diego,
38:16
right? Yeah.
38:18
I think she'd take the job. Let's go.
38:21
Like what the what are we doing? No, I mean, we should check in
38:26
with her to see if she's going to be on any of these games or
38:28
getting her finger on the pulse somehow.
38:30
All right, man, I think we thoroughly, thoroughly,
38:33
thoroughly did it. Great transfer window draft.
38:36
I think this has got to be I don't know.
38:38
It would be nice to kind of set this up as a little bit of an
38:40
ITC tradition. Let us know if you enjoyed it,
38:43
what you think we should do any kind of tweaks we think we can
38:45
make quick programming. Reminder, we're going to be back
38:48
early next week to talk NWSL Match Day 17.
38:51
Spirit host the Casey Current, Miley leading Orlando private
38:54
visit, the Houston Dash, and Grant's Seattle rain.
38:57
We'll be back in action against a tough North Carolina Courage
39:00
side. Maybe Ketaline makes another
39:01
appearance at Lewin Field and also in Grant's nightmares.
39:03
We'll see. We'll keep you posted.
39:05
And then next week we're going to drop our Champions League
39:08
preview. Champions League kicks back into
39:11
action September 4th. A swath of UWCL teams are back
39:14
in action per UFC My Arsenal, IATROC Frankfurt, Saint Polton,
39:19
Benfica, Sparta Praha, not to be confused with Slavia Praha, FSA
39:24
20 amongst many, many others. It is going to be a banger of a
39:28
tournament. You already know your boys gonna
39:29
be covering it from top to bottom.
39:32
With that said, anything else you want to hit before we get
39:34
out of here? Let me do two last lasts the
39:37
match against North Carolina courage for Seattle rain will
39:40
also be Megan Rapinoe's jersey retirement.
39:42
Obviously. Let's go no brainer.
39:45
Completely fitting for the legend.
39:47
I'll come back with updates on that.
39:49
And then you mentioned your Orlando Pride.
39:51
Shame on us. We did not mention correct me if
39:55
I'm wrong, Carson Pickett to your Orlando Pride from from
39:59
Louisville. I think that could be a really
40:01
nice piece for you guys. Just I mean, two time best 11, I
40:06
believe. Let me make sure.
40:07
I got my my notes correct on that.
40:09
Yeah, two time NWSL best 11 and 21 and 22 while playing for the
40:13
North Carolina Courage. Great defensive midfielder,
40:16
smart player. Has played in Orlando before.
40:18
Orlando is going to keep competing for the double here.
40:22
I think they have a real look at winning the shield and possibly
40:25
winning the championship. So those are my two last last
40:28
lasts. That'll be wild.
40:30
Also get well soon, Grace Chanda.
40:32
He's already hear about the injury cars to pick a big time
40:35
pickup. Appreciate the shout out there.
40:38
All right, man, I think we did it.
40:39
It's been another episode of into the channel.
40:41
Sincere thank you, thank you, thank you for watching,
40:43
listening, liking, subscribe and following.
40:45
Just playing hanging out with your boys subscriber follow into
40:48
the channel YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast or wherever you
40:50
like to watch or listen. Leave us a review over your
40:52
favorite podcast app, especially if you listen all the way
40:54
through to this point. The episode we appreciate you
40:56
already know links to all of our socials and the show notes of
40:58
this episode. Big thank you my coast as well
41:01
Mr. Grant angle. I'm not going to hold it against
41:03
you. Tick.
41:04
Rosa Cafagi to Kika Nazareth just pulled the rug out from
41:08
your boy. But that's all right, man.
41:10
I always appreciate you got love for you.
41:12
And I think we crushed it. What else is there?
41:13
Not much more to say. Likewise, buddy.
41:15
I didn't want to do it. I didn't feel great about doing
41:17
it. I thought for sure when I gave
41:19
you the first pick, I was like, well, this is obviously going to
41:22
be Cafaje, but the Chewinga pick, that's the right pick to
41:25
win a draft. Everybody let us know that Dino
41:28
won the draft. I already know how that's going
41:29
to go. That's how these drafts tend to
41:31
go also. Free your mind though.
41:34
Come on, like at least try to see it from my point view here.
41:37
But seriously, thank you guys for rocking with us.
41:39
Let us know who we missed on the transfer episode.
41:41
Like Dino said, the football is almost here so hang tight.
41:44
Hopefully this episode helps get you through and we will talk to
41:47
you guys next time.