Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Week. So we'll bring INKCD and ask the question KCD,
how you be where you be?
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Oh, I'm back home. I just got back yesterday. I'm
a little dishoveled this morning.
Speaker 1 (00:14):
And look I'm always disheveled. So it's all a little getting.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
A little sick. So if you hear my voice, I
might have pushed it a little bit too far this
past weekend, but we got it done.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
So man uh. And one of the one of the
things before we get into the games, I do want
to I do want to ask you this as someone
who is navigating all these different leagues, all these different teams,
all these different things. Break down your weekend. I guess
start with the start with the matches that you called,
(00:46):
and break down your travel and your week and how
you got through the other side of it.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Okay, I will just go through Last Thursday, I had
the un C versus Alabama game that was here Oakley
and Chapel Hill, so I had to travel the very
long trek of two miles to the stadium. So that
was nice. Had that on UNC's campus. I flew out
Friday about noon to Fort Lauderdale. Had a Friday night broadcast.
(01:17):
It was the USL Championship. Then I had a Saturday
night broadcast which was Spokane versus Fort Lauderdale United of
the USL Super League. Then I had two on Sunday,
starting at two o'clock and five o'clock. I had another
Super League game Lexington Brooklyn and then Angel City Gotham
in WSL, and then I flew back at seven am
(01:40):
on Monday morning, so yesterday, so probably why I'm not
feeling too great. Got a little scratchy throat, got a
little sneezing going on, but we got through.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
They were a lot of fun, uh huh. And that's
why you're one of the hardest working people in show business,
and that's why we try to bring you in to
break all this stuff down. And so let's go ahead
and start at the beginning of the batting order and
talk about the two mile drive. It's still non conference
play and trying to figure out, okay, where are we
(02:12):
as we go into conference play. Takeaways from Alabama and
North Carolina as they showed up for you and then
decided to leave.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
I'll be honest, I was really nervous for the tar
Heels in this game. I think Alabama has a lot
of really good attacking players. They like to press from
the front. I thought they were going to try to
catch them off guarding transition, but UNC showed up to play.
They won four zero. They looked the most fluid attacking
wise I had seen, And it was really more about
(02:44):
you and C looking at a certain standard, not Alabama
looking bad. I could tell Alabama still had a really
great team, but on the night you and C just
looked very comfortable in possession. They were much more dangerous
in the final third. Weeks ago, you and I spoke
about that. I said, they've got some really good things going,
but the final third just isn't dangerous. It's not clicking.
(03:06):
This game, it finally did. There were some great passes
in behind, some good finishing, and if you don't have
that on a certain day, that game could be a
lot closer. It ended up being a four zero win
for UNC over Alabama, but it was a really good performance,
honestly from both sides. And the reason I say that
is because then Alabama goes in to play Duke on
(03:27):
the weekend and ties Duke, so we know Alabama is
a very good team. But UNC just had a really
good night, really good performance.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
SEC offensive player of the week Vandy forward Ali Bowlig
from Ake and South Carolina gets the big goal for
Vandy in their win over Number sixteen Georgetown Thursday night.
Not get this, This was something I did not know
sideline for three years due to injury. First career goal
for Ali Bowlig for Vandy and their win over Georgetown.
(03:56):
Gets the winner just before the half as they get
their first Top twenty five win since twenty twenty two.
On the flip side of that, keeper Union Jess will
be happy to hear about this. Defensive player of the
week Bandy keeper Sarah Woyd Delco. She got the winning
pair of shutouts against Georgetown in the middle. Tennessee Freshman of
the Week Alabama keeper Maddy Maddi Mogulia, freshman from Puyat Puyallup,
(04:20):
Washington from the Polooe four crucial saves, limiting Number three
Duke to just one goal. Second time this year. Duke
has been limited to just one goal, as they've scored
multiple goals in for their five previous matches. So Alabama
shuts Duke down and that's your your rundown of your
players of the week for September eighth in the SEC
standings as we have them right now, and provided that
(04:42):
John could actually oh, I don't know, hit the right
button and you know, actually show things the way that they're.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Supposed to be yeasting too much, John, Yes, it.
Speaker 1 (04:49):
Is absolutely true. Right now. Oklahoma unbeaten seven to Oho
to one, Tennessee six to OHO to one. Vandy has
now won three in a row. They're six and one.
Oh Overall, Mississippi State KLANGA has won three in a row.
They're five and one. South Carolina six one and one.
Ole miss Is now won four in a row after
losing after not getting a win in their first one,
(05:10):
so they're at four and one. Bama has now drawn,
So that's an interesting streak at five to one and one,
Kentucky six and two. A and M's three one and three,
Auburn's on the north side of four winds. Georgia's got
four wins. Everybody down to Texas, who's two four and
one right now. Everybody in the SEC, they're at five
(05:31):
hundred or above when it comes to their non region,
non region, your non conference schedules so far. I mean,
this is kind of what we expected with the SEC.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
True it is, and I think it's even more than
potentially expected from a top to bottom performance through the SEC.
We always expect it to be a good conference, but
I think that they're performing at a very high level
all the way across the board. Tennessee had that tie
with you and this, which I think if you don't
follow women's college soccer very much, you could say acquires
Tennessee tying this. But Memphis is a perennial conference winner.
(06:03):
They go into the NCAA tournament and perform very well.
So that was actually a very hard test for Tennessee
in a lot of ways, just based on the style
of play of how Memphis handles that type of opposition.
But Ole Miss as well. I'm actually in Oxford in
about ten days for a game Old Miss Georgia, so
I'm on the road again, so in about ten days
from now, I'm kind of like fingers crossed that they
(06:26):
both keep winning, because I think that's going to be
a really nice matchup in Oxford.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Acc On the women's side, you've got Duke unbeaten, Notre
Dame unbeaten, Virginia unbeaten. They're all five to oho to one.
Out of the blocks. Notre Dame has scored twenty two
goals they have given up three. That is not the
largest margin that we're going to talk about here in
a SEC Florida State at four oh and one, they've
only given up one goal. They've scored twenty. Louisville continues.
They're now won six in a row. They're seven to one.
(06:52):
Their goal difference is plus thirty three. They have scored
thirty seven and given up only four. Stanford not far
behind it plus twenty five at thirty and five. Miami
the dirty, rotten, cheating scoundrels from the University of Coral
Gables or five to one and one. Wake at five
to one and one North Carolina. Your Heels are six
and two with a goal difference of plus nineteen. SMU
(07:15):
is on the north side of five hundred, so as
BC and Syracuse. They've won four pits one four, Virginia
Tech's one four, Clemson three to one and three. The
only teams that are below five hundred in non conference
call at three to one and four at NC State
and one five and two. What about the acc on
the women's side.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Well, one of the things I thought was really important
I got to talk about my tar heels was the
shutout piece. I was talking about it on the Alabama
call because they have two sophomores, two freshmen, and my
biggest question for them was against really good talent in
defending transition, could they stay focused enough at the highest
level and so getting two shutouts in a row will
actually more than that, I think. I don't know if
(07:52):
it was two in a row, but might be three.
I think that was really important for them as they
go into ACC play. But the ACC top to bottom,
high high performing Virginia as we always know, is very good.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
I have.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
My question mark is on them. Can they turn the
possession that they have and they really show that a
non conference play into conference play, but also the dangerous
final third play. We all always have a lot of
respect for what UVA can do from a ball retention perspective.
Now it's about can you do that against the highest
level competition and have that turn into goals? And so
(08:26):
that's what I want to keep a.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
Watch on men's side, just in the interest of equal time,
they haven't played as many and they haven't scored as many.
So Louisville unbeaten at four, to oh Clemson at three,
to Zho to one, Col's got three wins in C
State's got three wins. North Carolina's got three, Virginia's got three,
Wake has three, Stanford's four and one. Everybody once again
(08:48):
battling in and around five hundred. Then you get to
Notre Dame, who's off to a slow start at one
to one and two B season two and three. So
once again, everybody it's like they're they're lining them up,
they're taking their shots, and everybody's still kind of doing
well so far non conference on the men's side, but
this is just once again the predecessor to get you
(09:08):
ready for conference play. There haven't been a whole lot
of goals scored in the men's actually in the entire
conference of the ACC, So it's kind of kind of
feeling everybody out right now when it comes to offense
and defense.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
Everyone's beating up on each other, that's for sure. And
I haven't taken a deep dive into the men's side
by any means, but I think it's an interesting trend,
Like you were saying that there hasn't been as many goals,
Like will that stay that way throughout conference play, because
usually it does get stingier like non conferences, where you're
usually finding, you know, the ability to score goals, and
(09:41):
matchups usually allow that. But I'm really interested to see,
like are they going to break through in conference or
is it going to be a lot of one zero
wins two one one one? What is it going to
be as they go throughout that?
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Yep? All right? Now that the USL Championship will turn
the page there. And the late night that you got
to have with the matchup that you got with Phoenix
and Vegas was this one at Cashman or at the
corner of thirty eighth in Washington.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Where was y It was in Phoenix. It was in Phoenix. Yeah, yeah,
so they were hosting. I was actually on the Las
Vegas feed for it, So I was on that call.
And I tell you what, myself and my broadcast partner,
Michael Watcheran, we expected like a four to four game,
three four four four three three, wide open talking to
(10:30):
both of these coaches, and I'll tell you what, it
was wide open in a lot of ways, and it
was a zero zero tie, and we could not believe it.
Both teams just didn't look very sharp, to be quite
honest with you. There were some opportunities, but it really
never felt like either team was going to implement a
real attacking style, which was really interesting because Phoenix has
(10:50):
conceded the most goals, but they've also scored the most goals.
And Las Vegas has the most clean sheets, but his
second in conceding goals, and they don't score a lot
of goals. So it was just it was a weird
matchup in a lot of ways. But I think what
was that play is the Western Conference is so incredibly tight.
It through eighth is a four way tie now, and
(11:10):
even Las Vegas, who has had a very rough year,
is only six points out of the playoffs, so three
points would have gone along ways. So both teams were
going for it, but it just looked flat, and it
just looked a little bit, you know, not as sharp
as I think both coaches would have liked.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
You give everybody an idea about the Western Conference. Tulsa,
which to me is one of the shocks of the
season that they have pieced it together. They've won twelve
to twenty three. They're six points clear of Sacramento. Sacramento
had it kind of rough last year. Mark Briggs and
Sacramento decided to part ways. Briggs is now in Birmingham
and Sacramento six points back. There are five points ahead
(11:45):
of El Paso. And this is where the chaos starts,
because if you were to take El Paso in third
and go down to Orange County in ninth to expand
on what you were talking about, seven teams separated by
four points just to get to either maintain your spot
in the playoffs or in Orange Counties place try to
(12:06):
hop in. Then after Orange County in ninth, four more
points to that Vegas group that you were talking about.
They've got their own little attack pack going on. Vegas, Oakland, Monterey.
They're all at twenty four points. So the Eastern Conference
actually three to the bottom, three to the bottom, is
separated by eight points. You have ten teams separated by
(12:30):
eight points either trying to stay in or get in.
In the Western Conference, that is insane to me.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
We don't normally see that in a USL championship. You
definitely see pockets of where you think that there's going
to be some movement in the standings, but from three
all the way to the bottom, that's pretty crazy to
see that type of play. And that's why I think
I was a little bit underwhelmed with the game that
I had because Phoenix needed three points in my opinion,
just as much as Las Vegas did. Because of how
(12:57):
tight the Western Conference is, you have teams like the
Colorado Springs Switchbacks who started the year in a really
rough way from a points perspective. Anyone who watched their
games knew that they were playing well, they just could
not figure out how to get points. They had a
lot of individual mistakes. They're still right in it and
they're playing well. So when it comes down the stretch,
I think this is about how you manage your group,
(13:19):
how do they perform under pressure, what players step up individually,
because you don't need it to be pretty at this point,
you need it to be effective. And a team like
Phoenix could have really helped themselves by jumping out of
that mayhem a little bit, and they weren't able to
do it.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
Back to the Peloton Loud thirty three, Hartford at thirty
to along with Detroit City. Hartford has one more win,
River Hounds at thirty one, and then the race to
get in is where you have your Chaos Indies at
twenty six. They're the eight. Rhode Island's at twenty four,
two points back. Legion at twenty two, four points out
(14:12):
of the playoffs, Tampa Bay five points back, and then
the MIAMIFC not a MIAMIFC, but the MIAMIFC as they
wish to be identified. They've now lost four in a row.
They were in the race a little bit. They've now
lost four and a row. They're at twenty point six
points out of the playoff spot. So you've got one
and two in the East. They've pulled away. Then you
have Louden who's kind of cruising around and there's chaos
(14:33):
that they're having to deal with in their front office.
Then the group four through seven going for positioning, and
then eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve will go ahead and
include the MIAMIFC trying to get in. So it's a
different kind of chaos in the East.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
It is. It's a little bit more narrowed, a little
bit more focused on what your current issue is in
the standings. I wouldn't sleep on Rhode Islands. I know
they had a year last year in their inaugural season
and that no one really expected. But they do have
a coach in Kado Smith who's been there, done that
at the highest level, and I think, like I said,
I think manager has become really important. They're always important,
(15:11):
but at the end of the day, it's a player's game.
But this time of year, down the stretch, how you
manage your players, how you generate buy in, and all
those types of thing I think just become could become
something that's a small margin that really gets you over
the edge.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
This is one of the first times that we have
had the opportunity to jump in and talk about the
super League, the USL Super League, and since our friends
at Gamebridge have yet to sponsor us, we're just going
to call it super League or the USL as right now.
You've had a couple of matches in you know, anywhere
from two to four. It's early returns. You had a
couple of games and it was Spokane and Fort Lauderdale United,
(15:49):
Lexington and Brooklyn FC. I want to take it a
match at a time and just get your breakdown on Spokane.
Spokane I think has kind of found something just as
a soccer home because you see what they're doing in
the in USL League One and now you're seeing it
roll over into the USLS. I think that Spokane has
(16:11):
really shown themselves to be a great market in the
USL coming out of the block.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
They are. And I had a really good conversation with
Josh McCallister, who's the interim head coach right now for Spokane,
but he's the overall technical director and an assistant with
Spokane Velocity, so he was really interesting in the way
he approached this first half of the season. Spokane Zephyr
had an amazing spring in the inaugural season. They just
(16:37):
couldn't quite get over the playoff line because their fall,
but then way too far behind. But I remember calling
a game of Theirs in the fall of twenty twenty four,
and of all the teams, I felt like they played
the best style of soccer and I was like, I
don't understand why they're not getting wins. They just couldn't
figure it out. And a lot of that was just
in the boxes, you know, some mistakes here and there,
(16:58):
not able to finish. But he said, we can't dig
ourselves into a hole. And it was unfortunate in this
game because they were by far the better team across
ninety minutes against Fort Lauderdale United and still we're not
able to figure out the victory. I mean, it's still
early days, but I think there's a lot of positives
coming out of Spokane. I expect them to be a
(17:19):
team that can compete at the top of the GAMER
Super League. But I'll be interested to see if they
could figure it out or if it's the same as
twenty twenty four Fort Lauderdale.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
Right now, they are second in the table after three
they are at one win, two draws in five points.
Dallas Trinity right now they're three for three. They're well ahead.
They're already setting an early marker in this one. The
other match that you called once again, it's another market
in Lexington with lex sc when they went up against Brooklyn.
(17:50):
It's another market that seems to be warming to what's
been going on on both the men's side in League
one and now the women's side in Super League. So
lex and Brooklyn. I know that Brooklyn's had a lot
of issues trying to figure out where they're going to
play and all the off the field stuff, but Brooklyn
and lex right now, Brooklyn's played four matches, they've already
(18:12):
there were already four matches in on their season. Lexington's
only played two thoughts on this one.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
This is the team to watch Lexington. So you took
me right to where I wanted to go. They look
very good in a lot of ways. They brought in
so many players in the offseason that were top players
in other teams. You bring in Masaki Himmi as the
head coach, who was the interum at Chicago Stars for
a little while. He comes in. You bring in Addison
(18:39):
McCain who had ten goals on the season last year.
Taylor Almer, a really good holding midfielder, captain of the team.
Just different players in different roles. Amina Ekich, who was
the Super League Player of the Year came over. She
plays in the white space. There is some great attacking
talent in this Lexington team and Brooklyn in this matchup
(19:02):
did not have any answers. Yes they went on the road,
Yes they're four games in, but we were previewing it saying, well,
Lexington's only you know, won two games in, like they
probably one game in. Actually, they're probably going to be
so excited at their home facility to have this game.
But Brooklyn is more played in, they should be more
comfortable in their system. And it was the complete opposite
(19:24):
where Lexington looked extremely comfortable in the style of play
they wanted to play. They were stingy defensively, had a
great four to four to two block like it was
really fun to watch. And I'll tell you this, the
entire level of the Super League has taken a big
step up from last year. It was it was a
solid level for a first year league, but this year
it's gotten even better and I've already seen that just
(19:46):
two games in.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Let's wrap up with the NWSL and in addition to
what you got to see with Gotham and angel City,
we'll talk about the match first and then the news
that happened in the overnight involving Gotham. Gotham and angel
City takeaways from this one as they're getting to the
money part of the schedule.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
You're not gonna hear this very often, but I think
the worst thing that happened to Angel City is they
scored in the second minute of this game. Normally, when
that happens, you're thinking, Okay, we're flying. This is great,
we can dictate the game. We're gonna have confidence we
can generate more opportunities. But they are so thin in
their roster right now, nineteen total players, especially in the attack,
(20:28):
so they weren't really generating a lot of opportunities and
Gotham woke up immediately and Angel City wasn't bad the
rest of the first half, but they weren't really ever dangerous,
and Gotham started to take over. But what was the difference?
So Andy Spence was the interim or acting head coach,
I should say not interim head coach because Wan Carlos
Amros had yellow card accumulation, so he was up in
(20:50):
the stands and there were subs made at halftime. Mitch
Perce came in and Rose Level that must be nice
to have to bring off your bench, right and Midge,
person we know has kind of been in and out
and coming back from injury, a lot of different things.
Same with Rose Level, but there was an obvious wide
area opportunity to take advantage, and that's what he did.
(21:12):
It was a great substitution because Midge Purse was excellent
in the wide space and goals came in the second minute,
and then just four or five minutes later they scored
a second goal and Gotham never looked back. So Gotham
had control the majority of this game and ended up
getting the deserve three points.
Speaker 1 (21:27):
Middle of the pack right now is where it's interesting.
Obviously Kansas City current they are just doing a horizon
job on everybody else. They are like way out here
at sixteen to two and one, which is crazy to
think about forty nine points, fourteen points clear of Washington,
who's in second at thirty five. Then the fun begins
San Diego, Portland, Orlando, Gotham, Seattle and Racing Louisville, all
(21:51):
separated by four points. Sixteams four points, and that gets
you to eight. Then you have Houston and Angel City
in courage, who are kind of chasing right now. They're
anywhere from three to point three to four points. Back
Bay is at seventeen, the Stars at fourteen points, and
thirteenth in Utah's at twelve. I thought it was really interesting,
just as a bit of a side note. Chicago played
(22:12):
at the lake Front at Martin Stadium on the campus
of Northwestern, packed house, full crowd. I thought it was
a great vibe. If I was anybody of any influence
at all in the NWSL, I would tell Chicago stay there,
don't move, stay right where.
Speaker 2 (22:29):
You are, definitely, And it looks like they're going to
be for twenty twenty six, so it sounds like that's
going to be happening, but you're right, it just atmosphere
wise everything and then they got the result out of it,
so they definitely capitalized.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
All right, last topic for you, so you can go
and rest your voice and actually spend some time and
like unplug and put things down. In the overnight, Jeff
Cassouf comes out with a blockbustery, blockbuster of a deal.
Courage agree to trade jaden Shaw to Gotham for a million,
(23:04):
two fifty million and a quarter. Multiple sources confirmed to
the four letters, so that doubles the Intra League NWSL
record set a month ago, ranks ranks a month some
of the top global transfers. So jaden Shaw from Courage
to Gotham. I thought that was really interesting. It doubles
(23:25):
the six hundred thousand that we talked about previously. When
Ali Sentiner goes with the Kansas City and Utah deal
million and a quarter for jaden Shaw and she gets
a change of address.
Speaker 2 (23:37):
I woke up this morning a little sick, like I
told you, and I thought I was like like not
reading properly when I saw this, like not because of
Jadenshaw leaving, but the amount, I couldn't believe it. I
will say this Jaden Shaw at North Carolina just has
not really worked. That could be a whole other conversation,
but it hasn't really worked all year, and so I'm
not surprised this is happening. You get that much money
(23:59):
for a player, you can do a lot with that,
which is great. I think she has a big opportunity
going into Gotham. Obviously you have a stare. A stair
is not going anywhere, but you can supplement with her.
You've got Jason up top, you have Porchio, you have
Midge Purse, but none of them, of those three are
players that I think have really established that they can't
be taken off the field at any given time. So
(24:20):
you insert Jade and Shaw into that with Rose level,
I think it just increases your depth in that area.
It gives her a new lease on her experience and
just gets to start over and see if this could
be a good fit for her.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
All right, So when you recover and you get your
voice back and you're not sick in running a temperature
of like one hundred, nice ex give.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
Me in my jacket. I'm normally not in a jacket.
Speaker 1 (24:45):
You're all dialed up in your tar heel in your
tar heel trim. What's the next of joints on the
rundown for you? Where do you head next? So?
Speaker 2 (24:53):
I have a game tomorrow night, but it's at home
from my home right here. I will have Wake Forest
versus Miami on the ACC Network live from home, So
I'll be sitting right here calling a game, which is
so fun. One day, I'll turn my computer around and
let you guys see my setup. So I have that
tomorrow night, and then I go to Chicago on Friday
(25:13):
for Chicago Fire in YC. So it's a lighter week,
but I still have travels. So I am going to
take the next few days and just kind of try
to hang out in Chapel Hill and recover a little bit.
But it should be fun.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Okay, So do you know who your broadcast partner is
when you go to uh Chicago? Wow? Wow? She just
like she hit a button. She was trying to It's
like she was trying to sit there and something. Yeah,
here we go. She hit a button. It's like.
Speaker 2 (25:43):
I didn't hit a button, you FROs.
Speaker 1 (25:45):
I swear, I swear I hit no freezing young lady.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
Well on my side of fro.
Speaker 1 (25:50):
Sorry about that, but yeah, who's your broadcast partner.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
My broadcast partner tomorrow night is Joe Malfa, who I've
called a lot of games with across Alata leagues and
he's the head play by play now for ACC network
men's college soccer and he does women's as well. And
then I have Just Charman on the weekend.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
It's awesome. It is the Wonder Twins this weekend.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
Yeah, the remainder of our MLS assignments are together, so
I think we have after this weekend we have three
more again, so the last four we'll be together.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
Sweet. The Wonder Twins are in the Chicago And is
it a bridge View or is it a Soldier Field?
Speaker 2 (26:23):
Soldier Field?
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Okay, good because you're at the Spaceship instead of having
to drive an hour southwest to go to Bridgeview where
there's like office parks and nothing else.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Yes, we're excited about that. It should be. It should
be a lot of fun. I'm going to be diving
into that game pretty much tomorrow and go from there.
Speaker 1 (26:39):
Good deal, all right, Go get healthy and enjoy your calls,
and we'll catch up with you next week in the
same time slot where you get to discuss what it
was like in Chicago and what it's like in the ACC,
plus all the other leagues you covered. We did set
a modern day record.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
By the I love that. I'm proud to be a
part of that. Now i gotta recover.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Thanks for having me there now case he can go
and recover.