Latest / Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football / NWSL Thru 6 Weeks ⚡️ San Diego SD Wave | Kansas City KC Current | Angel City FC | Racing Louisville | Vlatko Andonovski v USWNT

Transcript

NWSL Thru 6 Weeks ⚡️ San Diego SD Wave | Kansas City KC Current | Angel City FC | Racing Louisville | Vlatko Andonovski v USWNT · Into the Channel ⚽️ A Podcast Primarily About Women's Football

0:03
OK, welcome to into the channel podcast premier about women's
0:09
football. I'm your host dealer de
0:10
suspicious and as always, I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant
0:14
Angle. What's up, man?
0:16
I'm feeling fantastic, buddy. You know what this might be?
0:20
I know this is into the channel. We might rename this podcast The
0:23
World's Two Sleepiest Boys, but we're still here for the we're
0:27
still here for the football, and I'm happy to do it.
0:30
You know what helps us? Sleepiness all the time, pretty
0:32
much. What's that beer you?
0:35
Know frosty Ice cold in a candy? Of course, we're still talking
0:43
about football too. Cheers to you.
0:44
What could, what could be better than that?
0:46
I. Feel the adrenaline starting to
0:50
start to really curdle here, I think I think things, things are
0:53
happening. All right, let's get into it.
0:55
I I kind of put this exercise forward.
0:57
I thought we could have some fun with it.
0:59
Six weeks into the end of yourself season, 6 storylines,
1:02
first storyline got to hit it. You didn't get to your 3
1:06
storylines, you only got 2 storylines.
1:07
So it's actually going to be 6 weeks, 5 storylines.
1:10
But we appreciate you. We appreciate you.
1:13
Anything, anything to say about that?
1:15
Yes, that we were supposed to do 3 each and I want to say I kind
1:19
of did 3 each, but that was because I fell down the
1:22
Alexander Strauss rabbit hole. You guys will, you will
1:26
understand later how that that topic merged into another topic.
1:31
But I mean, once we start talking about Alexander Strauss,
1:34
I cannot express how much that is my guy.
1:38
And I think obviously our guy. Our guy 100% a lot a lot of meat
1:42
on them. Alexander Strauss bones to cover
1:45
on the on this episode. We'll definitely get into it.
1:49
Like I said, 5 storylines. Mr. Grand Angle, where do you
1:52
want to get started? I think we're going to get
1:56
started in an odd place considering our pre season draft
2:00
and our pre season big boards. But let me just throw the alley
2:04
oop to you because of this is unexpected.
2:07
I think we should start with the San Diego Wave.
2:10
No disagreement there. I think San Diego's been pretty
2:15
much the shock of the season for me.
2:17
But then when you look at it, they've had so much turnover.
2:21
Yeah, I think that the stat that really kind of blew me away when
2:24
looking at it. Of the 12 players that have
2:26
logged the most minutes on San Diego, only four Americans.
2:30
And you can see, like, Jonas Idabal coming over from Arsenal
2:35
and Savannah McCaskill, one of the four Americans, as you know,
2:38
mentioned, doesn't play a very kind of American style.
2:42
She's like, you know, do connecting a lot of stuff in the
2:44
midfield and you know, like a lot of like really good vision
2:48
and really courageous in terms of like where she wants to kind
2:51
of move the ball. I think it's like secretly been
2:54
a good fit of like international players, European players, new
2:59
coach and it's has it been enough to sort of like shuffle
3:02
the deck and shake things up? So so that, you know, the the
3:06
personnel or the dark clouds from last season maybe have
3:09
dissipated a little bit. These players are just kind of
3:11
here and they're ready to just play, play some ball.
3:14
I think it's a real thing and I think it's, I'm glad you point
3:17
out Savannah McCaskill specifically because you and I
3:20
have talked about her last year especially.
3:23
She had some good moments, but there were a lot of really rough
3:26
moments out there too, where it was just like, you know, like
3:29
sometimes it felt like she was really kind of killing them.
3:33
And no disrespect to her, but she was just having a rough go
3:35
of it for some prolonged periods and matches.
3:38
But yeah, I mean, she's number one in the league in progressive
3:41
passes, 44 pretty solid. And like you said, acting as
3:45
that connector. And you know, she's always kind
3:48
of going to bring that high motor, run your ass over type of
3:53
ball chasing from time to time, even if it at times it could be
3:56
a bit reckless. Yeah, 100%.
3:58
And yeah, you mentioned those progressive passes.
4:01
A lot of those are going up field, where Delfine Cascarino
4:04
sticks in the league this season with 40 progressive passes
4:07
received. So she's way up there, you know,
4:10
just basically giving McCaskill and Kenzidali a really good
4:13
target to kind of hit. And then when it comes to
4:17
finishing this team, a lot like KC last year, nine different
4:21
goal scorers in six matches. That's definitely not nothing.
4:24
Two goals each for Cascarino and Gia Corley.
4:27
You can add to that Perla Maroney and turn the Armstrong.
4:29
No, no goals for for either of those two, but each of them have
4:32
have notched an assist. And then there's just something
4:35
about what the waiver doing. You look at their XG, 6 point O
4:40
in the season, that's good for 11th in the league.
4:43
You look at their real G, they've got 12 goals, good for
4:45
second in the league and they're plus 4 sitting in 5th place,
4:50
just one point behind Gotham with a game in hand.
4:52
I mean, this team is probably tracking towards the playoffs.
4:56
I mean, I think, I feel, I'm, I'm surprised, but if I feel
4:59
comfortable, you know, making that proclamation.
5:03
Yeah. I mean, I, I wouldn't be totally
5:05
surprised. I mean, I would like to and I
5:09
got to think about doing this. So I'm I'm thinking, all right,
5:11
new exercise. And obviously this is 6 six
5:16
weeks in five storylines, even though two teams, Portland
5:20
Thorns and Gotham FC, have played seven matches each.
5:24
So like, you know, the numbers are all over the place.
5:26
The numbers don't don't matter so much.
5:28
I think I'm going to start screenshotting the table after
5:33
like certain points or maybe just after every week and just
5:35
keep a file on it. Surely somebody else already
5:38
does this or there's an easier way to do it, but I don't know.
5:40
I'll do it manually at first, but I'd be curious like what the
5:44
table looked like last year around this time.
5:46
Obviously Orlando, Kansas City were up top.
5:50
I think the bats had a relatively slow start last year.
5:53
But you know, I, I think the wave are trending toward toward
5:58
the playoffs, but I don't know. It's, it's also a long season,
6:01
man. So it'll be interesting to see,
6:04
you know, they might end up in a dogfight if if like Bay FC and
6:08
other teams kind of start to pick it up.
6:10
I just, I just like their, their players in the attack, you know,
6:16
whether it's like Sanchez or Dali or Cascarina, Corley has
6:19
been great. They're they're bringing on
6:22
these young players, they're trying to bring them along
6:23
pretty quickly. You know, Barsenas Oscano and
6:28
I'm, I'm blanking them. The 3rd 17 year old Trinity
6:31
Armstrong, who actually Armstrong was was rated as their
6:34
their top player for the season on fat mob according to the
6:37
cumulative ratings on the season.
6:39
So 17 years old, just crushing for the San Diego wave side.
6:42
And then you've got players like Adriana Leon, who they added
6:45
Chiamaka Okuchuku, 19 year old Nigerian who's already got a
6:50
goal at just 144 minutes. So the the offense is coming
6:53
from a lot of different places and I don't know, we'll see like
6:57
it it. It's not quite new manager
6:59
bounce, but there there is a little bit of new manager, new
7:02
flavor, new tactics. You know, when, when will the
7:05
league, when can the league, will the league be able to catch
7:07
up to what Eduvall is doing with this set of attackers?
7:12
But I mean, I think assuming or considering the the expectations
7:16
coming into the season, I think if you're a Wave fan, if you're
7:19
part of that club, probably be pretty, pretty hopeful for for
7:22
things to come here. Yeah, no doubt.
7:24
I do want to issue a correction earlier.
7:26
I just called them the San Diego Wave.
7:28
Pardon me, San Diego Wave FC. Pardon me.
7:30
That was that was a mistake on my part.
7:32
Let me just correct that, correct the record.
7:34
I think you're right. And I like you calling them like
7:36
the attacking set of players. I know, I think the announcer
7:39
pointed it out a couple weeks ago when they beat the crap out
7:42
of Racing Louisville that they just had a ton of it.
7:45
They had like 6 attackers on the field at once and I got to say a
7:50
decent a decent move by 8 of all in this league.
7:54
Yeah, and I think they've got, they've got a piece of the
7:58
recipe that helps them unlock that.
8:01
So you look at their medium range passes between 15 and 30
8:04
yards. This stat, according to courtesy
8:07
of FBFB ref, they're first in the league completing those
8:11
medium range passes 15 to 30 yards.
8:12
That's not nothing. That's like a big chunk of the
8:14
field. They're completing 89.2% of
8:17
those passes, you know, so when you think about being able to
8:21
move the ball quickly across, you know, across the pitch
8:25
upfield, you know, maybe back to reset, when you're able to
8:28
connect that many passes at that clip and cover that much ground,
8:33
it really it, it really kind of frees things up.
8:35
And then when you've got attackers who can finish, I
8:37
mean, that's, that's a pretty decent formula.
8:39
So I'm definitely excited to see what they're able to put
8:41
forward. I do want to shift gears though.
8:45
That's, that's one storyline I think they're going to be
8:47
tracking over the next few weeks.
8:49
The second one Kansas City current and they're their
8:53
manager. They're much ballyhooed manager.
8:56
What are, what are you going to be tracking with with regards to
8:59
what's going on, Casey? Vlatko Endonofsky is ballyhooed.
9:04
He's a lot of things depending on who you ask.
9:07
I guess I'll just say feels like Vlatko could use a trophy after
9:13
that US women's national team stint.
9:17
You know, US women's national team legend Kelly O'Hara said
9:19
the following on the Sports are Fun podcast in relation to
9:24
Flacco. And this isn't going to be
9:25
breaking news. Everybody.
9:26
This thing pretty much lit wasso blue sky on fire like right
9:30
away. But for anybody who who missed
9:32
it or just a recap, O'Hara said, quote, I don't feel like I
9:35
learned anything new from Vlacco.
9:38
Actually post having him as a coach.
9:40
I was like, wow, is that on me? Did I stop learning or did he
9:44
not coach me or teach me something?
9:46
She went on to say, quote, I had conversations with other players
9:50
about it and they were like, no, no, no.
9:52
That was on him. End Quote.
9:55
Yeah. Tell ya, I mean, you know, like
9:59
Carmelo Anthony talking about George Carl.
10:02
I'm trying to think of like some other, like some other, like
10:05
real Dwight Howard. Stan Band.
10:09
Shaq and Stan Shaq calling Stan Van a master of panic.
10:12
I believe it was. It was just an amazing, amazing
10:15
turn of phrase by the big cactus.
10:19
I just, I just like you just don't hear players set their
10:25
coaches on fire like that very often.
10:27
And I got to tell you, if you're black, go that that can't feel
10:31
great. But the other thing I'll posit
10:33
is he shouldn't say anything in response to that.
10:37
He shouldn't say anything substantive because dude, he is
10:40
in an absolute no win situation there.
10:43
You know, it's funny because like, you know, we usually think
10:45
about a toxic work culture where the management is, you know,
10:49
misbehaving with regard to, you know, the, the, the team that
10:53
they're supposed to be managing and to trying to elevate this is
10:56
almost the opposite. It's like the players.
10:59
The players definitely hold more power than a Vladco.
11:03
You know for sure you can maybe make the case in the Hayes's.
11:05
Nah, you can't even really make the case.
11:07
I mean, you know, you know, Trinity and Sophie Smith and
11:11
they definitely hold more sway than than the manager here.
11:14
So it is a weird power dynamic and yeah, just a rough go for
11:20
for Vladco. I do have to feel like it wasn't
11:26
necessarily just Vladco. It does.
11:28
It does feel like it was like really having to do with the
11:32
ecosystem, the culture within the building and then the
11:35
dynamics more so than, OK, this guy's just a bum because he
11:39
clearly has something going on here in KC.
11:42
Looks like it. I mean five win, 0 draws, one
11:45
loss, the plus ten goal differential top of the table.
11:48
They were they were fantastic last year.
11:51
You know, lost in the semi final to your Orlando Pride, the the
11:55
double winners. Yeah, I think if you're black go
11:58
you could probably come out and make all kinds of statements of
12:02
OK, well, I got Megan Rapinoe at the at the very end of or pastor
12:07
prime. I had Alex Morgan at the end of
12:09
her pastor prime. I had Julie Ertz who was one of
12:12
the greatest number sixes in the history of our program.
12:14
I had to play her at center back because she was past her prime.
12:17
I had Alyssa Thompson when she was 16.
12:20
Like he could go out and say all those things and if he went out
12:23
in the media and said all those things, everybody would say
12:26
you're an ass and you should have won with the US women's
12:30
national team. And I got to say too, when me
12:33
and you were watching that tournament or just watching the
12:35
US women's national team in general and he was making some
12:38
decisions, we didn't like him. And I don't think he necessarily
12:41
did that great of a job. I thought there were a couple of
12:44
moments, I think in the match against Sweden when he brings on
12:48
Christie Mewis, he brought her on like at the 120th minute,
12:53
like not even really being warm, no opportunity to touch the
12:56
ball. It'd be like, hey, Christy, you
12:57
got to go out there and take a penalty kick, get out there 29
13:00
seconds before they blow the whistle.
13:02
Like he did some bat. He made some baffling decisions.
13:06
And so I don't think his tenure went great.
13:08
I just think he's in a rough spot.
13:10
And to my earlier point, if the dude wins a trophy in the NWSL
13:15
with this Kansas City current team, I think he can then take a
13:18
deep breath and be like, OK, everybody, Like I'm not a total
13:22
loser here. Yeah, I mean, I, I mean, I don't
13:25
know, like the, it's tough to look at that, that USA
13:32
performance in the World Cup and be like, OK, well, clearly
13:34
Vladko was the problem. You know, and I think we we're
13:37
we're rehashing a ton of old ground.
13:38
But like, I think they scored like two goals in that whole
13:41
over that four games or something.
13:44
Or maybe I think they had, I think they had two against
13:47
Vietnam. Yeah.
13:48
And then maybe one against the Netherlands.
13:50
And then they didn't score against.
13:52
It was like they didn't score very much and they didn't play
13:55
that great. And the reality is they would
13:57
have gotten smashed by Spain. They would have gotten smashed
14:00
by Spain like. Destroyed flat out like.
14:02
I would think that would have been easy.
14:04
Probably would have lost to England, you know, Colombia, who
14:07
knows they lose to Sweden, you know who is who, who then goes
14:10
on to lose I think immediately one round later.
14:14
Japan, I think would have would have been a tough go.
14:16
So I think they they were definitely not winning that
14:19
tournament. Kelly Harr, probably a player
14:23
that wasn't going to contribute to that team.
14:25
And you know, I think it is is well past the end of the road
14:28
there. It it was it had to be a
14:31
transition year. Vlad Code kind of oversaw that
14:34
transition. The transition plate showed very
14:37
poorly on the pitch and unfortunately he was the fall
14:40
guy. There was some money to to whip
14:42
up a quick doc and make sure that there was something that
14:46
that the piano could fall on and just that was sobbing to be a
14:49
vodka. Yeah, man.
14:51
I mean, you know, and don't get us wrong here, you know, it's a
14:56
tough business. Sports is a cutthroat business.
14:58
We're not. We're not crying any tears for
15:00
Vladko. I'm sure he was compensated
15:02
fairly for his position, especially in women's sports
15:05
where, you know, men tend to make all the money anyway.
15:09
So, you know, we can obviously have our gripes about that,
15:12
rightfully so. But I'm sure Vlaco got paid a
15:15
fair wage and he'll, he'll, I think he'll be just fine.
15:18
And he seems happy. I think all the reporting is
15:20
that he, you know, he, he loves Kansas City.
15:23
I know he has a history there. So I, I just, it's one thing
15:27
that I'm tracking is that they fall short last year.
15:30
Orlando Pride has a historic season.
15:32
You know, they lose that match like right before the Olympics
15:34
at home to Orlando. So it kind of took them out of
15:37
shield contention or it made made winning the shield very
15:41
difficult, especially when the other team doesn't lose.
15:44
And then obviously they get knocked out of the playoffs.
15:46
So I just think and I, you know, again, I don't even want to
15:50
sound like a jerk here. I'm not even like particularly
15:53
rooting for like some kind of grand Vladco comeback.
15:56
I just think the dude could really, really use a trophy and
15:59
I'm interested to watch how it plays out.
16:02
Yeah, I'm kind of rooting for it.
16:05
And yeah. And, and Speaking of going
16:07
undefeated, and, you know, it's just sort of like the, the, the
16:10
machinations of the leagues in the standings pretty wild.
16:13
Six weeks into the season already, there's no, there's
16:17
zero undefeated sides, considering that the Orlando
16:20
raised the shield last year as an undefeated side.
16:22
Casey was undefeated pretty deep into the season as well.
16:26
And pretty much, you know, six weeks in, everybody's already
16:30
sporting an L as part of their record.
16:33
So definitely speaks to the parody.
16:36
I don't know, do you do you feel like this season's taking a
16:39
little bit of a different shape than last season?
16:42
I think so, Which brings us to the other storyline that that I
16:46
had started to develop here. That's just week to week.
16:49
I don't know what's going to happen and I don't I don't
16:52
believe anybody else who says they do know what's going to
16:54
happen. So this Kansas City current team
16:57
that we're talking about, they were smashing teams to open the
16:59
season. They look like a juggernaut and
17:02
then, you know, everything looks like it's it's all good versus
17:06
North Carolina Courage. North Carolina Courage, who was,
17:09
pardon me, who was struggling to start the season.
17:13
You know, Kansas City's up to 1. Easy peasy.
17:16
We're going to close this baby out.
17:17
Nope. Two goals in 3 minutes to lose
17:20
to the North Carolina Courage. So I would say surprising, not
17:25
mind blowing. But two goals in the final, you
17:27
know, in the at the death, not not great.
17:32
Then you look at Washington spirit.
17:33
So they have this great performance.
17:35
They hand Orlando Pride their first home loss since August
17:40
25th of 2023. So naturally I, I look at
17:46
Washington spirit, Geraldes, you got the great roster there.
17:50
Obviously Rodman's dealing with a back injury like, but I'm just
17:54
like, OK, the Geraldes magic is here.
17:56
Doesn't matter what the injuries are they they still have great
17:59
depth. They're going to work it out.
18:01
Naturally, they turn around, they get smacked by Gotham FC-3
18:04
nil. Now how shocking is that?
18:06
I don't know Gotham is good, but the spirit shouldn't lose like
18:09
that. I I just think we're we're in a
18:12
a weird. We're in a cool place in the
18:15
league. And I don't want to conflate the
18:17
most competitive league for being the best league or having
18:19
like all the best teams or anything like that.
18:21
But the an interesting part of this league is that I just don't
18:26
think you you can count on any results going into any match.
18:31
Definitely cannot. You can't even count on a result
18:36
within a given match. You know, you can think about
18:39
Angel City ahead or Casey had like, as you mentioned, against
18:42
the Courage, like there's just too much talent on the other
18:47
side. Like it just seems like the
18:49
momentum, you know, swings a little bit more wildly here and
18:54
the there's just belief. You know, you got to imagine if
18:56
you're when the, the Levante's in League F and you're their
19:00
guy, that Barcelona is going to be tough.
19:02
They just lost last week to Madrid.
19:04
What's going to happen to us this week?
19:05
You know, like there's just none of that in NWSL.
19:08
It's like, OK, we can, we can beat this team.
19:10
You know, like, let's just we know what we got to do.
19:12
There's 3-4 things that are top of our priority list.
19:14
Let's get them done. And you know, to to every player
19:20
in this league, to every team in this league's credit, you never,
19:24
you never do know. I totally agree.
19:25
I mean, definitely up in the air with regards to these results.
19:30
And I think standings wise, I think we're going to see a lot
19:32
of surprises down the road as well.
19:34
For sure. Let me just say Levante amazing
19:37
example for you to give, especially because they beat
19:39
Barcelona 2 to one back on February 1st, but your point
19:42
stands. You go in, I mean, what you go
19:45
into all these matches and you, you know, against Barcelona or
19:50
teams in the Premier League in, in France, you know you're going
19:53
to get smacked by Leon. You know, been in, in Liga, if
19:57
you know you're going to get smacked by Barcelona.
19:58
I want to give two more examples here.
20:00
Speaking of those those bats in New Jersey that we're talking
20:05
about. So in a midweek match, they get
20:08
absolutely smoked by Portland Thorns and then they go on and
20:13
crush the Washington spirit and it's just like like from between
20:19
two matches. Like you, it's hard to draw like
20:23
sweeping conclusions. It's like we have to like take
20:25
these a game at a time. And when you think about those
20:28
same Portland Thorns, they they have scored seven goals in their
20:33
last two matches. In their previous five matches,
20:37
the first five matches of the season, they scored three goals.
20:40
So it's just like, and, and you think about Portland last year,
20:43
they were having these like wild swings, these like wild runs.
20:46
Gotham had a little bit of the same.
20:48
Now they're, when Gotham got good, they had a pretty extended
20:51
run once they picked up on Katrin Berger and kind of put it
20:54
together. But, you know, I think one of
20:57
the interesting parts of the league, well, probably, you
21:00
know, aside from all all the great superstars, maybe the most
21:02
fascinating part of the league is you sit down and anything can
21:07
happen. Truly.
21:08
I know it's a cliche in sports, but any any of these teams has a
21:12
chance to win any given day. Yeah, no, I think it it it
21:16
definitely makes the league special for sure.
21:23
Like where do you think, you know, it's interesting And and
21:28
you know, you mentioned the cliche.
21:29
The the cliche that I was kind of thinking about is more having
21:33
to do with like the chemistry mattering because, you know, we
21:37
talked a little bit coming to the season, a couple teams in
21:40
particular, Houston Dash, Utah Royals were like, OK, these two
21:44
teams are pretty exciting. There's some interesting stuff
21:46
happening, some players that we like, some managers that we
21:49
like, but then on the pitch, there really is no chemistry.
21:54
They're not really able to make these connections.
21:58
And for whatever reason, you know, we'll we'll look at some
22:01
other stats, but like, you know, I mentioned that San Diego
22:04
medium range passing stat. That's a six stat, 90% of your
22:08
medium range passes just to be able to connect on it.
22:10
That's chemistry, that's kind of knowing what's happening,
22:12
knowing what to expect. And then you look at these other
22:16
two teams I mentioned, Utah and Houston, there's really a lot
22:20
more unpredictability. That doesn't seem like there's
22:22
like flow. They're not able to string
22:23
together multiple passes. The offense just kind of stalls
22:26
out. So it's, it's, it's the belief,
22:30
but also like how quickly in a season can a team develop, you
22:36
know, these link ups and this sort of like intuition about
22:39
what's available and who's going to be where.
22:41
And how can we like sort of like be, you know, almost mentally
22:43
string together 234 passes before it happens and then be
22:47
able to make it happen as a, as a, as a collective?
22:51
Well, it's a great question and and I love that stat, by the
22:54
way, it was a phenomenal stat talking about San Diego.
22:57
I I wonder like if you put it together 10 games in, you still
23:03
have 16 more matches to be played, right?
23:07
Like, so I mean, you could make a, a huge run or a huge playoff
23:11
push, you know, toward that like back half plus like 60% of the
23:17
season or whatever it is. So I'm not sure what the magic
23:20
number is, but I do know, you know, there's still time.
23:24
I mean, even if let's say you figure it out 13 matches into
23:28
the season and you still have half the year left, that's a lot
23:32
of available points. That's let me do the math on the
23:35
fly. That's 36 available points to
23:38
you that that you could possibly win.
23:39
So you know what if what happens if you get on a Really, if you
23:43
get on a heater and you scoop up 27 of those points or something,
23:48
you might find yourself in the play offs.
23:50
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
23:51
I think I want to talk about one of those teams too that is maybe
23:57
on that track or maybe at least on the bubble.
24:00
Angel City. So this is a team that we're not
24:02
super duper size to come into the season, but start to get a
24:06
little bit more into it. So they're tied on eight points
24:11
in a, in the 7th and 8th and 9th spots with Seattle and BFC Angel
24:15
City's got a -, 2 goal differential.
24:17
They're two wins, 2 draws, 2 losses on the season, 9 goes for
24:20
11 again. So they're -2 Alyssa Thompson,
24:24
Riley Tiernan, three goals each for them.
24:26
Kennedy Fuller, the 17 year old, I'm sorry, the 18 year old,
24:30
happy belated birthday. Kennedy leads the team in
24:33
assists. She's got 3.
24:35
And the thing that I think we're going to be thinking about,
24:38
obviously April 17th, the big news, Alexander Strauss gets to
24:41
name the manager this team was -13 last year gold differential
24:47
-2 this year in gold differential through 6.
24:51
And this is a team that loves to draw points.
24:54
Do we think, well, what do we think about Alexander Strauss,
24:56
the fit? You know, culturally, you know,
24:59
we know this team can score and can be in games.
25:02
They seem to always be in games. Is this a team that is a manager
25:07
away maybe? Or is it a little bit of a
25:10
mirage in terms of like what we've seen so far for Angel
25:13
City, you think? Well, I'll be very interested to
25:17
see it. I mean, I guess it depends on
25:19
what kind of manager if if are they if the question is, are
25:22
they a manager away? Well, let me just let me just
25:25
make sure I check Alexander Strauss birthplace Bergen,
25:29
Norway. Maybe they are a manager away if
25:32
he's born in beautiful Bergen. Come on now.
25:35
Our guy, 49 years old, former coach of Sandviken, which later
25:41
became SK Braun, our beloved SK Braun.
25:45
So so Strauss managed Sanvikin and I, I think I've heard
25:51
Sanvikin or Sanvikin some, somewhere in there, please.
25:55
Obviously our pals from Norway will will correct me, make sure
25:57
they get me right on this. So he coached Sanvikin in top
26:02
Syrian and they win the title in 2021 and then they change the
26:07
name and they become the mighty SK Brown in 2022, wins the title
26:12
again in top serial. So I don't know if that counts
26:15
as winning. Winning the league with two
26:18
different teams certainly sounds like it if we're if we're
26:21
looking at the names. So that's a great
26:23
accomplishment. But in between, like his first
26:27
stint at Sonic and he then coached Norway's U20 threes from
26:31
28/20/18 to 20/20. And some of this data was a
26:34
little tricky to find, but at least from some of my research,
26:37
again, our pals in Bergen will let us know.
26:40
It looked like he coached the likes of Merritt, Bratberg,
26:42
Lund, formerly of Braun, now at Benfica, Nora, Italy, currently
26:47
at Braun and Olog to Vetton, our our old pal who played more than
26:51
500 minutes in the in the Champions League group stage for
26:54
Valarenga this year. You know, so he has he has two
26:58
top Syrian titles They won. I think they I think they made a
27:04
cup appearance, a cup final appearance in Norway.
27:08
And then he goes on to Bayern Munich, little little football
27:11
club, little fledgling football club out in Germany.
27:13
And what does he do there? Wins 3 consecutive frown
27:16
Bundesliga titles and then wins the 2024 DFB Super Cup.
27:21
So you get you gotta love the dude's pedigree.
27:25
I mean, I immediately fall down the rabbit hole when I was
27:28
looking at the Sanviken neighborhood.
27:30
I believe it's known as the Venice of the North, which is
27:34
just fantastic. A lot of beautiful fjords around
27:37
there. I mean, just the photos.
27:39
Love a fjords, love a fjord. Like the photos of this place
27:43
are absolutely gorgeous. I'm like looking into, can I do
27:46
the Bergen Voss cycling trip? That's like 100, 100 miles, I
27:51
want to say like 150 kilometers. However, the math works out on
27:54
that where you're just like going through the countryside in
27:57
Norway. It just looks absolutely
27:58
gorgeous. I digress.
28:00
But of course, I mean, if this dude certified Bron Battalion,
28:05
unless somebody corrects me, unless our pals correct us and
28:08
he said, you know, forget about Bergen when he left, I doubt
28:11
that's true. I mean, this Alexander Strauss
28:15
absolutely 100% certified our guy.
28:19
I think he's going to do pretty well in Lai think I just liked
28:24
what he did at Bayern and even growth at Bayern.
28:31
You know, even a team at the at the top of the kind of the
28:33
mountain. I guess Wolfsburg is is one of
28:35
the heavy hitters with with a, with a big history.
28:37
I track Frankfurt as well in the front of Bundesiga and Bayern
28:40
made-up a ton of ground in front of Bundesiga this year.
28:44
And now they're sitting way clear.
28:46
They're in first. They're eight points clear of
28:47
Wolfsburg, 9 of Frankfurt. They they they've got another
28:51
title in front of this booth. They get pretty much sewn up and
28:54
a really good Champions League showing as well.
28:56
You know, obviously we talked about them getting knocked out
28:59
of the group stage last year. They make the knockout stage
29:01
this year, you know, pretty decent showing.
29:05
Had some injuries to kind of deal with a team probably on the
29:08
way up. But yeah, now Alexander Strauss
29:12
off to LA and I think there is a chance that he is able to kind
29:16
of like corral this Angel City side clean up.
29:19
Just a few small things, get a little bit more responsible,
29:23
maybe a little bit more consistency in the line up and
29:26
the shape and the attack starts to develop.
29:28
You know, a little bit more of an identity, slightly more
29:32
responsible play. And I think like I said, this
29:34
team could be tracking towards. That's a playoff team to me.
29:38
I yeah, I, I, I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility
29:41
at all. And I think it's it's important
29:43
to point out and shout out to our guy Michael Cocaine, great
29:47
friend of the pod, long time friend of the pod.
29:49
At this point, just a guy who absolutely knows Ball for
29:54
pointing out to us that you bring in Strauss.
29:58
I don't know, Los Angeles, CA sounds like a pretty good free
30:02
agent destination and with his European ties and his ties to
30:06
Bayern Munich specifically, like he might be able to have some
30:10
pull. And you know, Norway produces
30:12
some pretty great players too. Would you be interested in
30:15
living in Los Angeles? I think some players might.
30:19
Yeah, you can imagine. I got to think Alea Schuler or
30:24
Jovanovich would look pretty good.
30:27
The Angel City kit a little bit of muscle up front or maybe a
30:31
glottis fig as don't tear in the back, just some muscle in the
30:34
back. I don't know.
30:34
There's a lot of muscle over in that bite that maybe we can do
30:38
that over here. Yeah, ideally tear free.
30:41
I'll talk about that one later. So Angel City where we'll be
30:44
watching them. The 5th storyline that I want to
30:47
hit Racing Louisville, I've got here in my notes.
30:51
Like seriously, comma, what the fuck?
30:54
This team is so weird. We they they fell in our pre
30:58
season draft. Then I think either I'm not sure
31:01
if you grabbed or I grabbed them but there there was some lament
31:03
about how deeply they fell and it's almost like this season has
31:08
mirrored that rise and fall of our pre season draft board.
31:12
So they're second best in the league with regard to XG
31:15
differential. They're plus 3.7, which is.
31:20
It doesn't sound like much, but it's roughly 0.6 XG per match.
31:25
They're out XG. ING their opponent, they're
31:27
getting better chances like pretty much every match and then
31:30
if you look even closer, they've out XG Ed every single opponent
31:34
in all six matches this season, they've had four XG in all six
31:38
matches. Real G, on the other hand, not
31:41
so good. Minus 66412 against Orlando had
31:46
six goals in their opener. Louisville had six goals in six
31:50
matches. Little rough five points in
31:52
those six matches. They're currently sitting in
31:54
12th, and they had a pretty favorable schedule thus far.
31:57
They played Chicago, they played the Thorns, they played Bay FC,
32:00
they played the Wave. I'm not sure, but like, what,
32:04
what, what? What do we make of this this
32:07
conundrum in Louisville? Well, it's interesting, you
32:11
know, when you talk about Angel City or other teams and like how
32:16
chemistry is going to play into things, it just, I don't know,
32:21
like, and I'm not going to act like I'm an expert on racing
32:23
Louisville. Like I've I've been able to
32:25
catch a couple matches. You know, they haven't been
32:28
super high on my radar. So it's just like a couple
32:31
matches and then a lot of highlights.
32:33
I don't know if they have those connectors in the midfield right
32:36
now. Like, you know, I like Savannah
32:40
D'mello, Adi Borges, like is the connecting piece?
32:44
Is that is that a huge part of her game?
32:47
Like, you know, Emma Sears, you like what she can do on the
32:50
wing, you like what Taylor Flynn can do, you know, in the air.
32:55
But it just seems like there are a few things missing in terms of
33:01
like, can we get the ball to our playmakers when we need it?
33:07
And I I just think that's probably what what's hurting him
33:10
right now. That let me just give you
33:12
another prop, some more props on another great stat.
33:15
That XG stat is insane considering they have multiple 2
33:20
nil losses and that 41 drubbing that they took by San Diego.
33:25
Just like I don't know what if if you get a trophy for XG but
33:30
they would deserve one. Yeah, I mean, according to FB
33:34
ref they were at 1.4, the waiver at 0.7 even though they scored
33:38
four. Just more more evidence that
33:42
real G is a you know, it's it's a difference maker in this
33:45
league for sure. A little quick zoom into the
33:47
Louisville stats. Second in the league in shots
33:50
this year, 84. But with regard to how many of
33:55
those shots are on target, 2nd to last 27.4% of their shots are
34:00
on target. So they're getting looks or
34:02
they're taking cracks at it, but not from great spaces.
34:05
Three goals from Ms. Sears, Fisher, Borges and D'mello have
34:08
won each Borges probably facing maybe a lengthy fine for that
34:13
post match red card. You know, that little tiff with
34:17
the, with the official Taylor Flynn, Genie, Becky, each with
34:20
one assist, but they're, they're not getting assists either.
34:22
I think they've only got 4 assists on, on those six goals.
34:25
Still waiting on Sarah Weber to contribute to a goal, which had
34:28
a kind of to as well 28 minutes for Canyon this season.
34:32
So hopefully they can kind of get her up and running.
34:35
And then the last stat that I think was a, it's a tough one.
34:39
I like looking at passing. I like, I like kind of equating
34:41
passing to chemistry. They were dead, Louisville's
34:44
dead last in the league in pass completion, all passes, 68%.
34:50
That's basically that means you're just getting smacked
34:53
around. That's tough.
34:54
That's that's two, that's two passes completed for everyone in
34:57
completed. So you're not you're not, you're
34:59
not able to streak together very much when you're at 68.
35:03
And that medium range pass that that I mentioned where the
35:06
waiver at 89%, basically the entire league is between 80 and
35:12
89, except for Louisville, who's sitting at 74.
35:16
So there's they're way behind in that medium.
35:19
They're just not able to string anything together.
35:21
And the results are kind of showing it.
35:23
But weirdly, I'm not able to cross this team off the list
35:28
just yet. I still kind of feel like, you
35:30
know, there's enough there to kind of hope for it.
35:33
You know, you, you, you mentioned at the top of the
35:35
segment, you're not really a racing Louisville expert.
35:38
I'm not sure there is a racing Louisville expert.
35:39
This team is is such such a mishmash that I think wide wide
35:45
range of outcomes for this season, but I don't know am I
35:48
crazy to think that this team could string something together?
35:51
No, I don't think so. I mean, they have good players,
35:54
man. I mean, like we've talked a lot
35:55
about, you know, Emma Sears, Borges, D'mello.
35:58
We'll see what the like you said, we'll see what the Borges
36:00
suspension looks like in terms of length.
36:04
I I'm not sure if that's been, I know she's out for the next game
36:07
with a suspension. I don't know how lengthy it is.
36:10
I look, I didn't see anything today.
36:11
I look today didn't see anything.
36:13
Yeah, so I mean, that'll be that'll be interesting to see.
36:16
But no, I'm with you. I don't, I don't think they're
36:18
out of it because you have to trust, you know, there's a
36:21
decent level of talent there. I'm glad, you know, I'm glad you
36:25
come out with some more banger stats because, you know, I said
36:28
it felt like they they aren't able to connect.
36:30
And from those passing stats, it seems like they are having a
36:33
hell of a time connecting. So it, it, they're, they're, it
36:37
looks the numbers bear out how it looks, it would seem.
36:41
But you know, I, I just don't think, I, I think you're right.
36:45
It's, it's still too early in this league.
36:47
It's too early to count on any of these teams except maybe Utah
36:50
or Chicago. Well, Chicago, maybe there's a
36:53
well, we'll see what they do at manager.
36:56
I think Amy Audrey is still available.
36:58
So when I come make a move there, Manager.
37:00
Yeah, they're you got to be able to put put some passes together.
37:06
And you mentioned Taylor, Flint, D'mello, Emma Sears.
37:10
This is a team that I think could could be explosive, could
37:13
hang three goals or four goals on you on their best day.
37:17
But the problem is, I think on their worst day, they're they're
37:21
they. Might get fried.
37:22
Very bottom at the very bottom of this league.
37:26
Let's let's take a look at the episode calendar this weekend in
37:30
the end of yourself match week 7, another loaded slate Friday
37:33
night Houston they'll host racy Louisville the aforementioned
37:37
racy Louisville Washington spirit will host Angel City your
37:39
Seattle rain will host the KC current how how's how are things
37:44
tracking are you going to be in the building for.
37:46
That 10 absolutely be in the building.
37:47
For that. One now Michelle Cooper out,
37:51
Nichelle Prince out for Kansas City, current Temwa Chewinga,
37:56
according to the league's availability report.
37:59
Questionable. So I don't know what that's
38:03
going to look like. Just Fishlock will be out for
38:06
the rain and so will Coco Mondesir.
38:10
So now they've been, you know, obviously rain's been operating
38:13
without fishlock for a few weeks now.
38:16
Not sure what I think Mondesir has like I can't, I won't try to
38:21
just I won't try to remember it off the off the top of my head.
38:24
But Mondesir, she took a knock a couple weeks ago.
38:29
So, you know, it'll be interesting to see what this is
38:32
going to look like. You know, obviously waiting with
38:34
bated breath to see if Chewinga plays.
38:36
But either way, tall challenge for Seattle, rain at home.
38:42
Yeah, absolutely. You mentioned those personal
38:44
changes. B also back for KC potentially.
38:47
She logged 20 minutes against the Courage.
38:49
So we'll see if B is back in the light up as well.
38:51
Saturday. Portland host my Orlando Pride
38:55
and the Utah Royals host the courage Sunday.
38:57
A couple more Gotham FC host Chicago and the San Diego Wave.
39:01
I'm sorry, San Diego, San Diego Wave FC host Bay FC that one
39:05
going down Sunday evening, 5:00 PM Pacific.
39:09
If you need to know the time of Easter, just figure it out
39:11
yourself. This is this is a PT show going
39:14
forward here. We'll also we'll also have some
39:17
more champions in coverage coming your way between now and
39:19
the final. Maybe a special guest that
39:22
agreed to join join the show. We'll keep you posted on that.
39:26
Hopefully we'll announce that comes coming up soon here, so
39:28
make sure you're following us on socials.
39:29
Anything else you want to hit Mr. Grand Angle before we get
39:32
out of here? I think we've done it, man.
39:34
I mean, in this in this lull between the Champions League
39:38
semi final and the final, we're going to get plenty of NWSL to
39:41
chew on. Obviously the WS LS been
39:44
decided. But yeah, we got a pretty good
39:47
league over here like we've been talking about, you know, let us
39:51
know, please, What, what teams did we miss?
39:53
Who? What was an egregious oversight?
39:55
Who are you most interested in watching as this season
39:58
progresses? And, you know, I'm sure we'll be
40:00
talking about them soon. Yeah, 100%.
40:02
Yeah. And you mentioned that you'll be
40:04
in the building for Seattle. KCI put my my official
40:09
credential application in with Bay FC, so I'm putting them on
40:12
notice on the pod. Let's go up.
40:14
Anybody here see if you could shuffle my paperwork through the
40:17
through the the old tunnel for me?
40:20
All right, man, this has been an episode of thank you.
40:22
Thank you for hanging out with us.
40:23
If you join the show, our love ones have always much to see
40:25
your boys too. Make sure you're kicking it with
40:26
us each and every single week. Like if you liked, subscribe,
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watch your listen. Leave us a review of your
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40:35
We love hearing from you. Thanks to all of our socials
40:37
except one and showing us this episode.
40:39
A big thank you to Michael's as well.
40:41
Mr. Grant angle for two storylines, 3 storylines.
40:44
He brings all the storylines. All the storylines that he does
40:46
bring are always top notch. I appreciate you bro.
40:50
Likewise, buddy, really strong showing with the stats today.
40:54
I would be remiss if I did not mention this to all my Union
40:58
siblings out there. Happy mayday.
41:00
Happy mayday to everybody out there who's in the fight for the
41:02
working class. I appreciate you all and thank
41:05
you all for watching and rocking with us and we will see you all
41:08
next time.