Michele Kang’s Capes with Meg Linehan

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Good Game with Sarah Spain, where we'd be
honored to duck and cover when Caitlin Clark shanks a
drive on the golf course. It's Thursday, November fourteenth, and
on today's show, we're going to be joined by the
athletics Meg Linahan to discuss all things NWSL playoffs, end
of season awards, and the latest on dronegate and the
San Diego Wave. Plus a new women's league arrives, Bluer

(00:20):
skies ahead, and dreaming of a new head coach. It's
all coming up right after this welcome back slices. Here's
what you need to know today to the WNBA, the
Atlanta Dream announced that the franchise's next coach will be

(00:41):
Carl Smesco. Smesco spent the last twenty three years as
Florida Golf Coast head coach, leading that program to a
six hundred eleven and one hundred twelve record and ten
nc DOUBLEA appearances. Smesco has the third highest winning percentage
among active coaches in NCAA Division One women's basketball, behind
only Gino Oriema and Kim Mulkey, and he is actually
the only coach in Florida Golf Coast women's basketball history.

(01:03):
He was hired in two thousand and one ahead of
the team's inaugural season. The Eagles played in Division Two
from two thousand and two to two thousand and seven
before moving up to Division One in two thousand and eight.
In a statement, Smesco said, quote, the w has intrigued
me as a possibility for a long time. When this
opportunity came up, it really seemed like the right place,
in the right time. I had great conversations with the
general manager and with their ownership, and this is the

(01:24):
right move for me right now. End quote. Smesco phills
the void left after the Dream fired Tanisha Wright last
month after the franchise lost in the opening round of
the WNBA Playoffs. Shortly after Smasco's hiring was made public,
Florida Golf Coast announced that former player and current assistant
coach Chelsea Lyles would become the program's due head coach.
To soccer and the Canadian drone scandal, which made headlines

(01:46):
during the Paris Olympics. On Tuesday, Canada Soccer fired coach
Bev Priestman following the conclusion of an independent review. Assistant
coaches Jasmin Mander and Joseph Lombardi were also fired. All
three were previously suspended by FIFA for a year and
sent home from Paris after New Zealand complained about a
drone surveilling their practice ahead of a group play game
against the Canadians. The investigation reported that there's no evidence

(02:08):
that similar surveillance was used at the twenty twenty one
Tokyo Olympics, where Canada won gold, or that the players
saw the footage. We'll talk more about those findings later
in the show with Meglenahan. To the NWSL, the league
has announced the finalists for its end of year honors.
The NWSL uses a two round selection process. In the
first round, players, owners, GMS, coaches and media select the

(02:29):
nominees using a weighted scale, and fans get to join
the voting process in the final round. That means your
voice can be heard by voting for individual awards Best
eleven First Team and Best eleven Second Team by Friday
at three pm Eastern. We'll link to the voting site
in our show notes. As for those individual awards, a
couple will point out here MVP Race, Kansas City Star,
Tenwa chewinga winner of the Golden Bood Award for most

(02:52):
goals during the season, is obviously in the mix. There.
She's joined by Orlando Prides Barbara Banda and Marta, the
Washington Spirits Trinity Rodman, and the Portland Thorne Sophia Smith.
For Rookie of the Year, you've got Washington Spirit midfielder
Kroy Bethune, who won NWSL Rookie of the Month honors
four times this season before she got hurt. She's joined
by Kansas City Current midfielder Claire Hutton and Ali Sentner

(03:13):
of the Utah Royals. The league also announced the nominees
for Defender of the Year, Midfielder of the Year, Coach
of the Year, and Keeper of the Year. We'll link
to all those nominees in the show notes. Also an
NWSL news, the Kansas City Current announced that Caitlin Carducci
is officially the club's GM. Carducci has been working as
GM in an interim capacity since May after Camille Ashton

(03:33):
resigned from the post to tennis and to the Billie
Jean King Cup. The opening tie between Spain and Poland
on Thursday was postponed to Friday due to severe weather
that brought heavy rain to the region. In a statement,
organizers of the event said, quote, this decision has been
made based on guidance from the relevant authorities to ensure
the health and safety of all participants and attendees end quote. Lacrosse,

(03:56):
The Premier Lacrosse League, an eight team men's league that
was it in twenty eighteen, announced that it's launching a
new women's professional league that will begin play next spring,
starting at the PL Championship Series in February. The women's
league will initially feature four teams in cities to be announced,
and has already garnered commitments from top players, including Charlotte
North and Izzy Skain. College Volleyball, we got a blockbuster

(04:20):
doubleheader tonight as number two Nebraska takes on number sixteen
Minnesota eight thirty pm Eastern. For that one, Huskers haven't
dropped a set since October twenty six. That match will
be followed by number six Wisconsin facing number twenty three
USC at eleven pm Eastern. Badgers lead the overall series
with the Trojans five to three. Both matchups available on
the Big Ten Network. To the PWHL. Some news that'll

(04:42):
make gamers pretty happy, the league announced Thursday, it's entered
a multi year partnership with EA and that the PWHL's
players and teams will be included in NHL twenty five,
which launches December fifth. All right, if you listen to
yesterday's show Slice, as you heard us mention Caitlin Clark
playing in the Onika, and from the looks of social media,
she had some six shots and definitely some fire kicks,

(05:06):
but she also had one notable shank or was it
a slice right off the opening tee that nearly took
off the head of a spectator or two? It's twenty
twenty four, so everyone's got a phone. There are a
lot of angles of the shot out there, but the
best one is someone who caught the errant ball screaming
right at him from the spectator side. So we'll link
to that video in the show notes. Caitlyn even liked it.

(05:27):
She commented, this is the greatest video ever. I'm so
real good stuff. We got to take a break, but
we wanted to give you some context quick before our
interview with Meglenahan. Just in case you need it. Here's
a quick refresher on the current situation involving the San
Diego Wave. So back in July, former Wave employee Brittany
Alvarado spoke out against the club and team president Jill
Ellis on social media, alleging a toxic work environment. She

(05:49):
was subsequently sued by Ellis for defamation. Last month, Alvarado
and four other Wave employees filed a lawsuit against the
team and the NWSL for over fifteen claims, including discrimination,
sexual harassment, retaliation, and wrongful termination. The lawsuit doesn't name
Ellis as a defendant, but it does include examples meant
to highlight her role in creating a quote abusive and

(06:10):
toxic workplace culture end quote. Now, we haven't learned much
more since the lawsuit was filed, and due to the
ongoing legal proceedings, the San Diego Wave inn NWSL have
previously declined to comment on specific claims in the suit.
We're going to get into all that, plus NWSL, SEMIS
and more when Meg Lenahan makes her Triumphit return to
the show That interview's coming up right after this. She's

(06:38):
a senior writer for the Athletic who covers the US
women's national team, the NWSL, and all things women's soccer.
She also co hosts the fantastic weekly podcast Full Time
with Meg Lenahan. Her wife and her dog have matching
puffy coats, and she wants to know if you're filling
out your full time playoff bingo card. It's Meg Lenahan.
What's up, Meg?

Speaker 2 (06:58):
They do have matching puffy because I also have a
blue one. I was just not in that particular photo
slash wearing that coat at that time, but we all
have blue puffy coats.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
Honestly, I wanted to ask you, and I felt like
it would only be right if you did, but I
didn't see photographic proofs. So you know, my reporting duties
required me to only report on your wife and your
dog having the same coat. But I'm gonna need a
shot of all three of you. Please, can we okay?
I'll work out, Thank you, Thank you. Before we talk
playoff matchups, I want to get into the news of
the week. Bev Priestman, the coach of Canada women's national team,

(07:27):
was suspended after the drone surveillance incident at the Paris
Olympics and was fired on Tuesday after an independent review,
along with assistant coach Jasmine Mander and analyst Joseph Lombardi.
They're also fired Canada Soccer releasing findings of the investigation.
What did you make of the report that's come out
and the resulting decision.

Speaker 2 (07:44):
Yeah, I mean I don't think there was anything truly
surprising in that report. I feel like I was actually
a little underwhelmed. Also, when you read it's just so
hilariously redacted, it's like, okay, but we actually know a
lot of what you've redacted, so thank you. I guess
like it doesn't really matter, but yeah, I mean it is.
It is interesting just in terms of clear sort of

(08:06):
you know, the higher brass at Canada Soccer wasn't really
aware of it that obviously. I don't think that there
was a path for any of those three people to
come back to Canada Soccer even after what happened. But
I do think the bigger question still is, like have
they actually gotten to the root of this practice because
John Herdman wasn't available, like the timing didn't work for

(08:29):
an interview, and I think that is still kind of
the number one question hanging out there of who started it,
Because it's not that I want to like absolve Bev
Priestmen of what happened at the Olympics or in other cases,
but I just don't want her to like get the
hook for something that is not just her. And I

(08:49):
think that there is maybe a chance for an easy
scapegoat here. And so this is one where it's like
I would like a yes and out of Canada Soccer, right,
I would like to see you know, and they I
think they have kind of promised more, but I don't
think this can be the end of Canada Soccer trying
to figure out culturally what enabled this behavior for so

(09:11):
long and it major targe, like.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
Just again, the audacity is so baffling.

Speaker 2 (09:17):
And the fact that you know, I mean, it was
kind of a meme at the time, but it's like
you're gonna spy on new Ze, like you're gonna do
this and still play like that, okay.

Speaker 1 (09:27):
Right, Yeah, we love a yes and around here. And
I was feeling the same way reading the results, where
it was why would someone say Canada Soccer's been doing
this forever if they haven't. So when the result comes out,
it's like, yeah, there's no reason to believe the men
were doing this and that it was existing. I don't know,
I want more, Yeah, I want more out of this
to know exactly who knew and who knew? What? Are

(09:50):
there any wave updates? While we're talking about news, this
feels like a story that's been sort of boiling, but
we haven't gotten a lot of progress on exactly what's
happening for either of the wave or the people accu using.
Jill Ellis, do you have anything for us on that?

Speaker 2 (10:02):
Yeah, I mean not really. I think now that there's
a lawsuit in motion, I think that does kind of
change the scope of reporting. I mean, I think we've
seen that a few times in the NWSL where lawsuits
have just actively no one will really talk right and
like that even comes from a leak point of view.
So I think, you know, I have been working quietly.
The part of the challenge of timing as always is

(10:24):
you know, playoffs and trying to manage all these things
at the same time. But I think there are stories
around because again I don't think it's just necessarily a
wave problem. I think that's the one, to your point,
that boiled up fastest and hardest. But there are culture issues,
I think probably in every single front office, because it's
not just even an nw CELL issue. It's really a
sports industry issue of like what has been normalized, and

(10:47):
so I think there's even a challenge of just how
can you resolve some of these issues outside of lawsuits? Right,
how could you proactively address some of the culture things
that are probably happening, whether that's I mean straight up
toxic environment, but also just like working conditions in this
industry are kind of infamously not pleasant, and so I

(11:09):
think that there's a few different things happening. But when
it comes to San Diego, I think it is a
little bit tougher, just because now with a lawsuit ongoing,
everyone has a lawyer that really does I think, change
who is willing to talk and why, and like there's
just it's all risk, no benefit at that point, and
so that things change.

Speaker 1 (11:30):
I think if you haven't been in a situation like
that too, it feels right and true to say whatever
it needs to be done to get the truth out,
whatever needs to be done to get people held accountable.
It's easier said than done. I'll tell you from experience
with the Red Stars. I was getting hounded as the
public face of the new ownership that had joined and
why am I not speaking out about stuff? And I

(11:50):
was getting threatened behind the scenes repeatedly with legal threats
that I didn't know how true they were. I didn't
know how real they were. I was told I was
behold into an NDA, but I never saw it or
signed it, so I knew somehow that didn't feel legally binding.
But I don't have the money to have a bunch
of lawyers fight that either. People don't realize even if
you're in the right, you have to spend all the
money on the lawyers to fight the other lawyers, and

(12:12):
then if nothing comes of it, you've still spent all
that money.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
And I also think that there is a push for
people to see stuff like on social media that's like
a very definitive opinion and first of all, like I'm
not really allowed to do that in my job, but
second of all, like a I'm off Twitter now, so
that has already kind of been for you. Yeah, honestly,
I have not missed it. It's actually kind of like
you realize how much your brain has been poisoned. And

(12:37):
so anyway, different different podcasts, But yeah, I think there
is this sense of, you know, a pressure to want
to say something right, and I super understand that, but
I think it's also a lot easier for folks who
aren't in like a reporting situation to be able to
say things like that. Whereas you know, even when the

(12:59):
lawsuit was filed, just in terms of like it's got
to get covered, it has to go through multiple levels
of editorial review before it can get published, all of
that kind of stuff, and so there are sort of
guardrails on what like, I can certainly have a private opinion, right,
but the sharing of the private opinion.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
Is a little bit different now.

Speaker 1 (13:18):
And they're there for a reason, and they're there for
a reason because it does matter when people with journalistic
integrity and agency and voice say something more so than
when someone on the internet expresses an opinion and later says, oh,
I didn't know that. My bad, Yeah I didn't have
that information.

Speaker 3 (13:33):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:34):
I think there's like there's absolutely you know, having read
the lawsuit, there's a there's a ton of concerning things.
But also now it is kind of you know, I
think there's alternate processes that these things can go through,
and generally, you know, the reason why I did so
much reporting for the NWSL is because it was not
going through one of those like more formal weather that
was an internal nw CL process or whether it was

(13:55):
a lawsuit or whatever it was. Right, those avenues had
not worked slashed, the pl didn't elect to go for them.
They elected to go for this sort of external communication strategy,
and so it's not this is where it is kind
of maybe not a yes, and right where once it
gets into one of these sort of paths, the other
ones get harder. Like I can have a whole bunch

(14:18):
of conversations behind the scenes, but that does not necessarily
mean it's going to get into a place where it
can be reported and get past you know, the number
of editors to get passed.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
Yeah, for sure. Other news this week, the NWSL announced
the finalist for the awards MVP, Defender of the Year,
Midfield of the Year, Keeper of the Year, Coach of
the Year, Rookie of the Year. Any major surprises in
those nominees as far as you're concerned.

Speaker 3 (14:39):
I don't know if there's a surprise.

Speaker 2 (14:41):
I mean, I was certainly, I guess I was surprised
to see Marta in the top five finalists for MVP.
I think that maybe betrays a little sense of sentimentality
on the voter's point, but I.

Speaker 3 (14:52):
Don't hate it.

Speaker 2 (14:53):
I certainly am a big Marta supporter and I think honestly,
she's played out of her mind this season, so I
agree with that. I was a little surprised. I think
more in terms of who wasn't on some of these lists.
I think Abby Dahlkemper the way that she changed BFC's
entire second half of the season. She was on my
top five to head into that ballot for Defender of

(15:16):
the Year, and then the other one that I was
honestly very surprised by is no Taylor Flint in Midfielder
of the Year. I feel like we were maybe running
a little bit of an unofficial campaign. She was on
full time. Yeah, she's just I think she's really like
completely turned around her entire game. When she first kind
of got put into that holding midfielder positioned with the
US womens national team in New Zealand ahead of the

(15:37):
World Cup, I think everybody's looking at Flacko being like, sir, well,
it's happening, and it's been such a transformation at Racing Louisville,
and so she was very much in my top five
from Midfielder of the Year and to not see her there,
I am a little disappointed on that one.

Speaker 1 (15:53):
I think some of them not surprises at all, Naomi
Germa trying to get a third Defender of.

Speaker 2 (15:59):
The Year, but one where it's like, as much as
I fully, like fully fully respect Naomi Germa, it's kind
of hard with thee it's hard with the team she's on,
and it's not that she's had a drop in quality,
but you look at the other four candidates for Defender
of the Year and it's like, okay, all four of
those in terms of performances and the teams that they're on,
Like this is I think maybe some of the same

(16:20):
situation where Becky Souerbun kept getting nominated for Defender of
the Year and at some point finally had to like
put out that statement and be like I love the
energy that you all have, but also there are really other,
like you know, deserving candidates in this pool, and you
need to think about how you're voting. So I think,
you know, Kaylee Kurtz North Carolina really interesting one. Emily SAMs,

(16:43):
I think maybe has a little more momentum from that
sort of award season, you know, conversation to.

Speaker 1 (16:49):
They if they cancel each other out though, when you
have two Pride players, yeah, will Kylie and Emily cancel
each other out in terms of voting, or will people
think that they were such a two headed monster that
neither is deserving.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
I mean, that's actually I think we'll get into this
on my podcast a little bit too, because I think
Orlando isn't the only team that has that problem. Like
you look at Gotham and it is really hard I
think where a lot of players got left out of
these individual awards because that team is such a comprehensive team,
and also players sort of move in and out of roles,

(17:21):
and it's a little tougher when you think about like
a Yasmine Ryan who's had such a really good season,
or Neilie Martin again in my top five for Midfielder
of the Year, not there in the list, and so
and these are players that aren't like the big name,
you know, splashy signings in the off season. But it's
tougher when I think you have that sort of like
team team vibe to pick out names for individual awards.

(17:44):
So I think there is maybe a little bit of
a risk for I mean, we were even having an
internal debate of Emily SAMs versus Kylie Strawman, who's had
the stronger season.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
It's tough.

Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah. I also I knew Kroy Bethune would be in
Rookie of the Year. I think she'll win Rookie of
the Year of the month four times every time she
was available and not injured. But also very impressive to
be out for Midfielder of the Year as a key
with a shortened.

Speaker 2 (18:07):
Season legit very I mean truly one of the best
breakout performances we've ever seen in the n of cell.
I'm not actually that surprised that she's on Midfielder of
the Year. I think, you know, I even saw cases
for her to be in the MVP conversation as well.
But I do think, and I said this from the
point of her injury on, like she did enough I

(18:28):
think to earn that award. There's just no one that
even touched right that agreeable and not not anything against
the other two candidates in that category, because I think
both were like very stellar players who did very important
things for their team, but Corey Bethune was one of
those ones where just also if you see her in person,
it's like, yeah, what is happening right now?

Speaker 1 (18:49):
I can't wait to see her back out there. Okay,
let's talk playoffs four teams remaining before we get into strategy.
Let's say we've got some listeners here that don't have
a vested interest in the semi final. We want to
give them a chance to pick a squad and start
bandwagoning with two weeks left. So I need a sentence
per team to sell our unaffiliated slices on cheering for

(19:09):
that for that squad. So Washington Spirit.

Speaker 3 (19:13):
Washington Spirit.

Speaker 2 (19:14):
I mean, I do think it is just coming down
to a if you want to see them go all
the way, you want to be part of that championship celebration.
Because I don't know what kind of party Michelle Kang
is going to put on in DC, but I feel
like it's going to be legitimate one, and you.

Speaker 3 (19:29):
Want to be a part of that. And maybe you
want to wear a cape.

Speaker 1 (19:32):
Agreed, She wears a lot of capes. She does. Kansas
City Current.

Speaker 2 (19:38):
Kansas City Current. Honestly, what I'm fascinated to see with
Kansas City Current is if they beat Orlando in the semifinal,
they're actually going to be the quote unquote away team,
So they're going to be forced to be in the
away supporter section.

Speaker 1 (19:50):
And if they're a stadium.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
It's just a little chaotic, and I enjoy the vibes,
but I do think go for the current. Go for
the the current. Obviously Temwatt, but I will say also
if you are someone who maybe thought Vlaco got a
little bit of a rough deal with the US women's
national team, it is also the Vlaco and Aanofski.

Speaker 1 (20:10):
You go there, you go, all right, New York, New Jersey,
Gotham FC.

Speaker 2 (20:14):
I mean, you're rooting for a super team right in theory,
but I do think this is the most comprehensive team.
Also again, potential celebration. They did not do one last year,
but like I am rooting for if Gotham wins at all,
we go.

Speaker 3 (20:29):
Ellie cameo.

Speaker 1 (20:30):
I was gonna say, you can't throw a party for
the Liberty like you just did and then not follow
it up.

Speaker 2 (20:35):
If Gotham so, I mean, like again, I would like
to maybe see an NW CELL parade down the canyon
of here, like you want to talk about first in
the nw CELL that honestly something too.

Speaker 1 (20:48):
I want to see Ellie and a soccer kit.

Speaker 3 (20:50):
Yeah, yeah, let's go.

Speaker 1 (20:53):
Uh finally, Orlando Pride.

Speaker 2 (20:55):
Orlando Pride, I mean then you are a fan of excellence, right.
They have been gold standard all this season. And I
think there is also again to our earlier point about
Marta being an MVP candidate. You want to see Marta
win another trophy in this country. She loves a trophy.
The celebrations are gonna be epic. Yeah, there's not a

(21:17):
bad choice out of these four if you're a neutral.

Speaker 1 (21:20):
Yeah. And I think also Orlando, like being such a
downtrodden team for so many years, not only do you
get your roop for Marta, but one of those teams
that like, you know that they've got fans that have
been sticking with them for years through the tough times.
Kind of cool to see a team like that. You know.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
Also for listeners of this show, if they're the slices,
like all you got to do is get an Orlando
Orange kit and then you're said.

Speaker 1 (21:41):
Oh, look at you, look at you. Okay, let's talk
about these games. Saturday, Audi Field, twelve pm, Eastern Washington.
Host got them what needs to go right for the
Spirit to win.

Speaker 2 (21:51):
They've got to probably just like get past the injuries, right.
I don't think that was the cleanest game for them
against AFC that was the one where everybody sort of
tapped an upset. And now, to be fair, I don't
think there's any such thing as an upset in these
two games, right, Like, yes, it seeds one through four,
but these were the clear four best teams of the year.
I don't know if we can call any of these

(22:11):
whoever wins an upset. Any one of these teams deserves
to go through. For the spirit Andy Sullivan, that injury
I think is still one of the biggest ones. But
Sar being out, I mean, they've just kind of Cory
Bethune again, like they've lost a lot of very key players.
So for me, Lacy Santos was the difference maker last weekend,
and I think you need to get another big performance

(22:32):
out of her, changing the game, being able to control
the temple, being able to find those spaces in those
little pockets in the midfield, and that's really tough to
do against that Gotham team, but she can do it.

Speaker 1 (22:45):
What needs to go right for Gotham to win.

Speaker 2 (22:48):
They've got to be I think, honestly a little more
ruthless having been at that quarter final. They love to
be pretty right, like it is a little frustrated watch
them sometimes where it's just like just someone take the shot,
like just right, and I like it's it's fun to watch.
But also I think there is this sense of they

(23:14):
Ella Stevens, like again, every time I see her in person,
I'm just like, you have such tremendous skill, and sometimes
I'm just like you just have to like, oh, I
just need you to make a slightly better.

Speaker 3 (23:25):
Decision and you would have a goal right now.

Speaker 2 (23:27):
And so that, to me, I think is the key
for Gotham is just really dialing in on the ruthlessness,
set set that game from the jump and just put
your foot on their necks, like truly, that's that's the
vibe for Gotham in order to advance well.

Speaker 1 (23:44):
And Gotham benefits from the later in the season and
the more tired everyone is because they honestly have a
bench full of starters.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
Yes, I mean we saw like Delaney sheehan coming in
changing the game for them. I mean again, I have
never just being at the Championship last year, the rain
vibes were great, right like Pino last game, like obviously
I know, right until two and a half in, but
like Gotham walking into the room for media day. I

(24:14):
have never experienced that sort of vibe with a team,
and the end of his they were just such a
team in a way that I it's so hard to explain,
but like they so clearly were in it and bought
into the system, and it didn't matter who got the glory.
It was all about the team result. And I think
this is a little bit of an extension of that. Obviously,
they have stacked in some more talent and we saw

(24:36):
it coming through with Tieranna Davidson and Roosevelt getting those goals, right,
like it has paid off. But it's really the Neely Martin's,
the Yasmine, Ryan's, the Delaney she hands, Like those are
the players who are making all of this work. And
so I like I do lean Gotham, but also Gotham
has not won at Audi Field this year.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
Yeah, so yeah, all right. Sunday, Interra and Co Stadium
in Orlando, three pm, Eastern Pride hosting the current what
needs to go right for the Shield winners the near
ran the tablers Pride to finish the season off with
a win and chance at the title here.

Speaker 2 (25:13):
Yeah, I mean, I think more of the same of
what they got out of the quarterfinal I mean they
owned the midfield against Chicago. You got Barbara Banda off
the jump doing stuff right, and so Banda has been
quiet post Olympics. I think there are a lot of
questions that she's obviously dropped off in the MVP conversation
and then quarterfinal happens and it's like, oh, here's the reminder, right,

(25:34):
like here we go, here's what she's capable of. And
so I think that really is just can you get
Barbara Banda involved from the jump and forcing Kansas City
into making mistakes? But this is really one where, you know,
the last we had, there's some spice between these two teams,
and I think Orlando has owned the spice battle, yes,

(25:59):
and so just again doing more of the same for Orlando.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
Yeah, for those who don't remember, tell everyone about what
Marta did after one of their previous meetings and how
current right.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
So, I mean, the whole story of the first half
of the season was Orlando Casey two unbeaten teams. Orlando
comes in to Kansas City's beautiful little stadium and wins,
and Marta is in pure Marta mode, shushing the crowd,
and it did not go over well. Michelle Cooper had
some thoughts, right.

Speaker 1 (26:29):
Like.

Speaker 3 (26:31):
She did rock a bait. Yeah, I mean just like
truly truly.

Speaker 2 (26:34):
Went for it in all Marta glory. And then we
got the second meeting in Orlando, which was this very
cagey zero zero draw, and I think everybody is kind
of expecting to see the Cagenus come back out in
this matchup. But I'm honestly like, these are two teams
between Barbara Banda and Tumwichwinga, like you can do heavyweight

(26:59):
punch for like, that's the game I want to see,
but also to jump ahead and get into what Kansas
City needs to do, right, Like, yeah, we did see
the return of that sort of Gwendinofski. I will settle
for a single goal and then might knuckling it the
rest of the way. And I don't know if you
can get away with that against Orlando. I don't know

(27:20):
if cagness will pay off in this game, right, It could,
It could, but I.

Speaker 1 (27:24):
Mean prefer right, we would all like to see eight
thousand shots apiece from these superstar strikers. But to your point,
it is so easy because of the pace of both
Temwa and Barbara and because of their skill sets to
make a tiny little mistake. They got out ahead, they
beat your defenders to the ball, and it's a one
v one against the keeper and it's over. Right. If

(27:45):
that's so easy to happen, the game plan of sit back,
almost low block style and hope that no one makes
a mistake might be smarter. Then let's have a shootof
and see who gets the most.

Speaker 2 (27:56):
Yeah, I mean it is going to be really you know,
like maybe first half is super cagy and second half
opens up a little bit. I mean, this could be
one of those like very cliched tale of two half games,
but I do I think everybody is hoping for fireworks
to like that's truly this should in many ways be
a final, right, Like this is kind of the narrative
game of this postseason, And so it is a little

(28:19):
disappointing to not have it happen again in Kansas City
and have Orlando come in and have maybe this potential
repeat of do you get the narrative of Orlando shushing
the crowd in a championship game?

Speaker 3 (28:30):
So it is a little bit of a bummer.

Speaker 2 (28:31):
But again, like there's no wrong answer, right, what is
really I always try to resist predictions, and these semi
finals I think are truly impossible to predict because it's
just like, yeah, the parody narrative is obviously dead this season,
but like, if you want to talk about parodies the
team right here, it's.

Speaker 1 (28:51):
The parody at the top. Yeah, and to your point,
like there is a great argument for like Temwell versus
Barbara Kurrent versus Pride been like at the top all
season long, But then you're also ignoring that Gotham, once
they adjusted to the new faces, to your point, might
actually be the deepest and most talented.

Speaker 2 (29:07):
Yes, I mean back half of the back half of
the season, the way that like they just really since
July and to August like truly turned it on. And
I mean they've had some extremely comprehensive performances, right, and
like you look at the Summer Cup final where they
played against Kansas City and they were missing literally everyone
on that team, Yeah, and what that did to them

(29:29):
and the fact that they were still honestly like not
as bad as they could have been. Right, Yeah, it
is going to be really I mean, any matchup that
we get out of these semifinals is going to be
good and interesting. I have been joking that like any
matchup out of these semifinals also gets you like a
good pr team too, Like all the four meeting teams
are easy to work with, which is like a benefit

(29:50):
to the reporters.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
But they've all got names, they've all got stars.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
Yeah, I mean there's no I think that there is
obviously the sentimentality in Marta potentially winning a championship in
this league, but really, you've got the narrative of Gotham
going back to back. You've got the narrative of the
spirit kind of coming back and having the head coach
of FC Barcelona come in mid season and the way

(30:13):
that they've you know, survived injuries that you have Kansas
City and everything with Kansas City to watchewinga right, like
at their.

Speaker 1 (30:21):
Stadium, the first purpose built stadium for women's team, Yeah right,
really at a million times and getting to lift the
trophy at that stadium in front of the crowd that
sold out every game this season.

Speaker 2 (30:31):
Right, Yeah, I mean there's no I don't loss, there's
no losers. It's it's all going to be just like
I hope, truly enjoyable soccer to watch from here.

Speaker 1 (30:42):
I'm headed to Spain here, which means I will actually
be in a foreign country when these games hit, I'm
gonna have to figure out how to watch them and
how to see what happened. But I'm going straight from
there to KC four Championship weekend. And I haven't been
to an NWSL Championship weekend since the Red Stars fell
to the Spirit and a Thriller in Louisville in twenty
twenty one. That was a blast. I was making pyramids

(31:04):
at three in the morning the night before the game
with you know, the head of the NWSLPA and causing
trouble little on the next morning, not gonna lie, Yeah,
and then immediately got on a plane after the game
and had to fly home from my husband's birthday party
that I was potentially gonna miss if I didn't, if
I didn't high tail it back. But I've heard even
in the couple of years since then, it's gotten even better.

(31:25):
There's more going on, there's more events, there's more activation.
So tell us a little bit about what goes down
at the at the championship weekend and what you've heard
about plans specifically for Casey.

Speaker 2 (31:36):
Yeah, I mean, I do think obviously Casey is a
little bit of a smaller town like Louisville, right, I
think it's it's going to be pretty easy. Casey's also
just like a soccer town, So I do feel like
Ndbusel is going to take over for that weekend a
little bit. But yeah, I mean there's actually just compared
to I mean I was at the first end of
b Cell Championship. It was lame as hell and there's

(31:57):
nothing right. It was literally the game and that that
was it. And so to have more events to have,
you know, I think a lot of podcasts are going
to be recording Sam Muis, Kelly O'Hara, like all of
these folks are going to be in. There are parties,
there are you know, like there's the Skills Challenge, there's
obviously like the media, we all have a million things

(32:19):
to run around and do. But also just the fact
that Kansas City has its own stadium, like you can
actually have stuff. In the fact that they're right on
the river, there's going to be space to spread out
a little bit. And so I will say, like I
have finally learned my lesson in terms of trying to
be irresponsible adult and not drink my way through that way,

(32:40):
because like early endsl championships were very rough for me,
and I'm a little too old for that now, but yeah,
it really like especially for when you're working, you know,
twelve plus hour days and it's like, okay, I can't
get up the next morning and function. But yeah, it's
honestly like, I know the Blue Crew Casey supporters group

(33:04):
is going to be all out. They've got some spaces
already planned for this sort of thing too.

Speaker 1 (33:08):
But I would like to see I mean, we've all
been talking about river goals all season. You know how
they always have these like fan activations where you can
like try to score a goal. We need to do
a fan time river goal. I mean you could put
some nets out there so the balls don't you know, actually.

Speaker 2 (33:25):
They fish them out, like the one, the one that
tem Wall scored, they fished it out so they got
it all right.

Speaker 1 (33:30):
Well, I would like I would like that instead of
like a dribble around the cones, I would like a
river goal participation element to this.

Speaker 3 (33:37):
This is that there's still time to address.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
Only I'm gonna call it Jessica Berman. I'll give her
my pitch. Okay, final question. There's only two weeks left
in this season, and while I hate to do this.
I have to ask you, do you know what next
your schedules coming out?

Speaker 2 (33:51):
I do, yeah, hopefully sooner, hopefully. But this is I mean,
like to turn it more. Are serious for a second, like,
this is the challenge, right, And we saw this in
San Diego at the end of the year with the
fact that the stadium conditions were not ideal enough to
even play a game. NBSEL has very limited availability in

(34:15):
those stadiums, and so I think it does as the
league expands to it only gets harder. And I will
tell you I do not envy all.

Speaker 1 (34:25):
The schedule makers.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
Yeah, it goes through a machine first. Yeah, the after
part where you have to go to like every team
and you're like, what does this work?

Speaker 3 (34:33):
Does this work?

Speaker 1 (34:34):
Like?

Speaker 2 (34:34):
That sounds like my nightmare. So kudos to Vicky and
crew at the end of USEL who it is a
very thankless job and obviously there's a lot of complaining
that happens around it.

Speaker 1 (34:47):
So well, Meg, we always love to have you on.
We know you're so busy and you are have been
for a long time sort of single handedly holding up
the women's soccer infrastructure in our country. Thankfully, more people
are joining the party, but you're still the go to
and I know so many people try to get your
services and your insights. So thanks for coming on. Everyone,
go listen to Full Time with Meg Lenahan, read her

(35:07):
work on the Athletic and get a Bingo card. Right.
You guys put out full time Bingo cards for people
to play along with the playoffs.

Speaker 2 (35:14):
So I do think we are refreshing the Bengo card
for this week. So and I think we'll have some
awards chat on full Time so I think we might
have a little awards card as well. But we're trying
to come up with our own awards, so if anybody
has any ideas, okay, well we are open to them, okay.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
Love that. We've also been considering an end of the
year awards ceremony here at Good Games, so we will
all be thinking together and looking for those updated Bingo
cards to play along. Thanks Meg, Thank you, Thanks again
to Meg for joining us. We got to take another break.
Stick around, Welcome back slices. We've got some news from

(36:00):
the grove. The Good Sports. Y'all are coming through with
some good name suggestions for our little trio. Keep them coming. Okay,
So the news we've made the leap to Blue Sky
producer Alex and Meglenahan got the party started and I
followed belatedly, Sure, but I followed and Mish has two
so you can now follow all of us over there.
I haven't yet deleted Twitter slash x, but I'm hoping

(36:21):
to be part of a larger migration and be able
to find all my favorite teams, leagues, athletes, reporters and
fun follows over under bluer less Fascist Skies. Join us.
We'll link to our accounts in the show notes, and
besides following us there, we've got one more good game
play of the day too, play nwsl bingal with the
full Time with Meglenahan crew. The quarterfinal round card included

(36:43):
some fun spaces like hal Hirschfelt, Yellowcard, Brandy Chess, Dain Sighting,
check and check. We can't wait to see what's on
the card for the semis. We'll link to the full
Time Instagram account in our show notes and we'd always
love to hear from you, so hit us up on
email good game at wondermedianetwork dot com or leave us
a voicemail eight seven two two oh four fifty seventy
and don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. It's easy.

(37:06):
In fact, listener Matt Douglas emailed us to give us
a review of sorts. He responded to another Slice, Alexandra Hand,
who rode in and admitted to being new to the
w but wondered if the Connecticut Sun might ever move
to a bigger city. Well, Matt has thoughts his review,
know nothing new, w fans trying to take the Connecticut

(37:28):
Sun away from us. I have to assume his rating
would be zero one of five stars, Matt continues. Number one,
the Sun are the only professional sports team owned by
a native tribe. Please keep your grubby colonizer hands off
our team. Two. Yes, it's an arena that's under ten K,
but I've never seen that arena at less than seventy
five percent capacity in the ten plus years I've been

(37:48):
going to games there. Three, there's support for women's basketball
and Connecticut from the Sun and Yukon all the way
down to high school. The arena has been used for
tournaments and state championships for quite a bit. Now, hope
this helps Matt from Connecticut and unasked for unofficial Good
Game Connecticut's un correspondent, Thank you, Matt, check is not
in the mail. Just you know, FAYI, we don't have

(38:11):
a budget for correspondence yet, but we'll hang on to
your resume. Oh and by the way, Matt, you might
want to talk to your girl Djen A. Carrington. She
posted on Twitter in response to a report that Jason
Tatum might be trying to get a WNBA team in
Saint Louis. Quote, what about a bid to move a
team to Boston? Smiley faced Djona. I know you're a
free agent, but the Sun still has your rights. You

(38:31):
better be careful girl. All right, now, it's your turn slices.
Head to Apple Podcasts, scroll down to stars, give us
a five and review. Please, thanks for listening. See you tomorrow.
Good Game, Meg, Good Game, Women's Lacrosse League. You you redactions
in juicy investigative reports. Good Game with Sarah Spain is

(38:52):
an iHeart women's sports production in partnership with Deep Blue
Sports and Entertainment. You can find us on the iHeartRadio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Production by
Wonder Media Network. Our producers are Alex Azzie and Misha Jones.
Our executive producers are Christina Everett, Jesse Katz, Jenny Kaplan
and Emily Rudder. Our editors are Emily Rutterer, Britney Martinez,
Grace Lynch and Lindsay Cratowell. Production assistants from Lucy Jones

(39:15):
and I'm Your Host Sarah Spain

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