Episode 165! Dino and Grant look back at NWSL Week 18 action including:
Racing Louisville v Houston Dash, Orlando Pride v Gotham, Seattle Reign v SD Wave, Portland Thorns v Utah Royals, KC Current v North Carolina Courage, Washington Spirit v Chicago Stars, Angel City v Bay FC
The guys also discuss the potential fallout from Alyssa Thompson's rumored move to Chelsea FC.
Dino and Grant also look ahead to this weekend's NWSL matchups including:
Racing Louisville v Portland Thorns, NC Courage v Utah Royals, Bay FC v KC Current, Chicago Stars v Orlando Pride, Washington Spirit v Seattle Reign, Gotham FC v Angel City, SD Wave v Houston Dash
Subscribe now to catch all of our women's football talk, including our ongoing coverage of the NWSL, WSL, USWNT, and UEFA Women’s Champions League!
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Hosts: Dino Decespedes & Grant Engle
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:03):
Hello, OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast premiere about 1
soap. I'm your host Dino de Sasplos.
And as always I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Engel.
What's up, man? I'm feeling fantastic, buddy, no
matter how sleepy we are in these late recordings.
Just trying to just trying to make this work.
(00:24):
I feel great about it and I'm ready to talk about some
football with you. Big struggle out here, but we're
doing our best and we're back potting.
I mean, what could be better than this?
There you go all we got to do isknow what podcast day is and
then we just figure out the restfrom there.
And if you are sleepy, there is one way I know to stay awake.
(00:46):
It's to enjoy a ice cold beverage to help keep you awake.
It's. Funny, you know, it usually
sends me the other way. But talk about that one later.
Cheers. Cheers to you.
Match Week 18. Goodness gracious.
I think we're I think we're shaking off some of that that
July break rust. I think we're we're, we're fully
(01:07):
now into regular football, some goals, some tactics, some
strategies, some organization. So I saw some stuff that looked,
looked aesthetically pleasing this weekend.
So I feel like, I feel like we got back to it this past
weekend. What, what, what do you think?
Where do you want to get started?
Yeah, I'd say I think the NWSL is shaking off the rust.
Obviously, no rust from us. I mean, we were active the month
(01:30):
of July, unbelievable EUR run byus and the Lionesses, if you
will. But for the NWSL, let's do a
little something different this episode.
Let's talk about some storylines, A storyline that
jumped out to me that I would like to talk about that I, I'm
going to guess probably most shows are not leading with.
(01:51):
I just want to talk about the unkillable Chicago Stars FC.
Let's go, let's go. I I mean, I love starting with
Chicago. I I, I kind of, I had a feeling
they would be, they would be live against the spirit.
I went back and looked to see because I'm like that front 3
Schlegel Lujmila Jamis Joseph. I think it had been since May,
(02:16):
since those three had started a match together.
And I think like watching those three together was, was really,
really exciting. They're tough to deal with,
those 3. And you can also see that the
chemistry hasn't quite taken. I mean, they're just a really
fun team to watch. And I think that the, the trippy
part is, I mean, some of the results, you know, obviously
Chicago gets a result. You see a team like Utah get a
(02:40):
huge Rd. win in Portland. And it's like, I'm not sure
what's weirder, these results orthe fact that we watch these
games and it doesn't feel that weird when you're watching it.
You're just like, OK, Chicago isa good now.
Then it doesn't feel weird. Like, I don't know, where are
we? It's totally true is that you
see these things happen and you know, some some things people
chalk up to NWSL after dark or weird refereeing decisions.
(03:04):
But I think you're right, you know, Joseph Schlegel, Lujmila,
they're just kind of making things happen, especially
Schlegel and Lujmila right now. I just want to we talk about
like the week to week. So in week 12, Chicago coughed
up A2 nil lead to Seattle Rain FC at home.
They conceded two goals in 2 minutes.
An 87th minute goal by Biendolo.An 89th minute goal by Bug ends
(03:30):
in A22 draw. Bitterly disappointing. 2 weeks
later, Gotham takes a lead on Chicago on the 39th and Schlegel
equalizes in the 68th. They come back and get that one
one draw in week 15. The very next week Bay FC scores
in the 29th minute, then Shea Groom equalizes in the 42nd and
they scratch out A11 draw there.Week 16 Rain scores three goals
(03:53):
in the third, the 34th and the 46th and then the Red Stars take
about 1/2 hour to equalize and Alyssa Nair gets her.
I think it was her first career NWSL goal. 90 + 9 ends in a
three three draw. They go down at week 17 O2 to
the North Carolina Courage whichmeans the scores 2 gets the
equalizer. They follow behind again and
(04:13):
then they get the draw 33 and then that once again, week 18,
Cantore put Spirit ahead in the 57th, Lose me the scores 10
minutes later, 11 draw. We're scrappy.
So we're, what are we looking at?
Like 5 of the last six weeks? They're just kind of, they're
just kind of clawing back in these.
I think yes, seven of the last eight they've drawn and I think
(04:36):
the one that they didn't draw was a was a loss.
I think if I got that right. But yeah, I'm looking at the the
timeline here. LMS are named the interim coach
July 3rd. That was 9 days before they had
two July friendlies. They lost both of those and then
they go on the five straight draw streak in the NWSL.
Who's the guy they have. I think this last match was
their new interim Swedish fella.But no, I I will say I think the
(05:01):
the tide certainly turned when Alan Assad grabbed the reins.
Yeah, no, I I definitely think so.
And I think some stats I thoughtstood out.
Their number one in the league, shot on target percentage,
40.7%. They're #2 winning aerial duels,
they're #5 in long passes. You can kind of piece those
together and kind of see how what kind of ball they're trying
to play. But I think the story of this
(05:22):
season, they don't have a goal scorer outside of Blujamila, who
scored more than two goals. They're also the second highest
in the NWSL with regard to assist rate.
They've got 19 goals on the year, 15 assists.
So they're they're doing a good job connecting stuff and, and
playing together. But Luzhmila has absolutely been
the story. 48% of her shots havebeen on target.
(05:44):
She she's scoring a goal every 3.2 shots, She's scoring a goal
every 1.6 shots on target. I mean, just a like just a
stupid rate. She's so good.
And this kind of leads me to thematch for this upcoming weekend
that I'm most excited about, theChicago Stars, this Chicago
(06:05):
Stars side hosting the reeling, the stumbling, the the, the
ailing Orlando Pride. I think this is going to be a
very, very interesting match. This is my match up of the week.
When you look at these two teams, where, where, Where's the
1st place your head's going? I guess at this point is
scratching out a draw versus Chicago stars FCAA terrible
(06:28):
result. I mean, maybe not if you ask a a
bunch of other teams in the league right now, but man, that
last pride match, the two nil loss to Gotham did not exactly
it did not. It certainly did not bring me
any joy and it didn't bring me alot of confidence either.
It really shown a bright spotlight on kind of some of the
(06:48):
issues that Orlando's facing this season.
So you look at of the non Barba Banda division of goal scores,
Orlando has only scored ten goals this season from a player
not from not named Barbara Banda.
And that's from six different players.
You know, So you've got Marta with three goals.
Two of those are pounds of kicks, so it's really just one
(07:09):
goal from open play. Prisca Chulufia has 2, Haley
Mccutchen has two, and then one each for Ali Watt, Julie Doyle
and Corey Dyke. So that leaves a big fat 0 for
the Simones, for Angelina, for summer Eights, for Ali Lemos,
for a lot a lot of players that you just kind of got to get
(07:31):
something, especially when a player of Barbara Banda's
stature kind of goes out for theseason.
Yeah. And you know, obviously we've
talked about Elizabeth Ovallier coming in as as the cavalry.
She'll need to be integrated quickly.
And I will say this is one thing, you know, we talked about
it last week. It was like, oh, she can't get
here fast enough. She needs to get into the in the
(07:51):
lineup. She needs to play.
But one thing that I I thought about after we recorded that
episode, what I think is a truththat I try to keep in mind when
players come back from injury and broadcasters say, OK, she's
coming back from injury, so she's going to help.
And I'm always in the back of myhead going probably not so much
at first. Like, and I understand ovale is
(08:11):
not coming off an coming off an injury, obviously, but she has
to be integrated into a whole new system and maybe she could,
maybe she can make a difference.I mean, she's a great player.
We we've seen her from Mexico, but you know, that's probably
hard to count on. What drug Just getting dropped
right into this league. Yeah.
And just knowing what I know about that organization, kind of
(08:32):
how they operate, I don't think that they're looking for that.
They're looking to that, but they are, you know, and I think
on the broadcast they mentioned that Seb Hines had talked about,
you know, looking to experiment.And I think we've hit this
interesting point in the season where it's not like early in the
year where Orlando's in second, they're in 3rd.
They're kind of floating around.They're they're kind of, you
(08:52):
know, sniffing around first. You know, now they're just five
points ahead of 9th place Angel City, five points clear with
eight matches to go. So I'm not saying that they're
at real risk, but to your point,going to Chicago now doesn't
feel the same as well. This this Orlando bride opened
the season against Chicago, and just how'd that go?
Smash. Them 6 nothing and miss the
(09:14):
extra point, but they they got everything else right.
And now it's like you won't you you don't really expect Orlando
to go to Chicago and and get a win.
I certainly don't expect them toget a win.
I think a draw would be good if they they certainly can win, but
Chicago's playing really well. Orlando can't score.
I feel like defensively the experiment of like kind of
(09:35):
playing Emily Samms on the outside.
I understand like conceptually why why we want to do that, You
know, to get half Aila in there and the Danner is obviously a
beast, but it's just not really taking.
And I thought I think Emily Samms has played pretty well up
the up the pitch more offensively, but she's just so
good as the center back. You kind of lose that half Aila
(09:56):
is good too, but I think it justkind of throws a monkey wrench
in it. And then you still have those
four players. They have to figure out what
you're going to do on the outside.
Corey Dyke, Oyana Hernandez, Carson Pickett, Cariabello.
And it's like it, you know, and now you're trying to play Sam's
there and then figure out the rotation and, like, bounce the
minutes. It just seems to be one or two
(10:18):
or three monkey wrenches too many.
Maybe this season for the Orlando Pride.
I think that's probably fair. And for folks who have been
watching this league longer thanwe have, I, you know, I, we, we
talk about it a lot like what I I, I come waltzing in in the
late 20 teens, early twenty 20s,especially when it's once I move
(10:40):
out here to Seattle and there's a team for me to look at that.
This is somewhat of a, a, a bit of a return to the typical form
of Orlando Pride and still even better really, because I think
they were just not a very good team for for so long.
But like we've mentioned, like Hayley Carter and Seb Hines off
that like they're, they're no longer like a cellar dwelling
(11:02):
club anymore. I think that's just, there's too
much evidence otherwise. I got to tell you, they're still
favored because you got me. You got me thinking about this.
Like do we expect them to win Orlando pride -170 on the road
according to our our pals at FanDuel?
I have a feeling I know what your next question is, so let me
just answer. The draw is plus 310.
(11:27):
You know, I love, loves pizza. Let's go.
That's that's above the bed. The Mendoza Line of where we
need it. And Chicago Red Stars to
outright win plus 370 so. That is, there's some there's
some taste, there's some taste on the left side of both of
those. I, I, I'll say that like you got
(11:48):
to be really careful and, and I want to, you know, I'll kind of
get a little bit ahead of myself, but, you know, I, I went
on Reddit and kind of shared my take of Louisville's the the
third best team in the league. Reddit got in my ass a little
bit. I'll, you know, you know,
including, you know, Mr. GOOG. Yeah, he came back for seconds
and thirds with some with some with some extra takes on top of
(12:10):
my take. But you know, I, I, I didn't
have any problem kind of defending my position.
But I think one of the things I,I took some issue with was
people were like, oh, racing Louisville, how can you put a
team with a -, 4 goal differential up that high?
We need to just throw all that shit out the window right now.
I mean, you cannot take, I mean,Orlando plus six goal
(12:31):
differential after one week. Like, does that mean anything at
this point? It, it might as well have been
five years ago that, that match.So I think we're at a point now
where we need to start thinking current form, last three, last
four, last five. Chicago's not blowing the doors
off, but you know, they are out here looking for their next.
It's not quite a victim, but they're they're out here looking
(12:51):
for their next team that they'regoing to equalize with and share
the points with in in a very harmonious, you know, afternoon.
So we need to recalibrate I guess is what I'm saying.
I think that's totally fair. And Speaking of recalibrating,
my good man, let's think about what Angel City Football Club is
going to have to do as they recalibrate.
(13:14):
I'm sure if you're watching thisprogram, listening to this
program, probably aware of all the reporting around US Women's
national team striker and Angel City FC left winger Alyssa
Thompson rumored to be going to Chelsea Football Club in the
WSL. That would be not great for
(13:36):
Angel City on the field, but that's that's my kind of broad
estimation there. But I will say I mentioned this
about them a couple weeks ago where I'm going to be interested
in watching every match they play from from here until the
end of the season. I think that still remains
(13:58):
because this match versus Bay FC, you know, great individual
effort from Riley Tiernan Young's daughter could have had
could have probably had a hat trick on some on some near
misses. And it just seems like that
front three that they played, which was vinyola, Tiernan
Yonstader. Obviously it doesn't pack the
punch of Alyssa Thompson and hersix goals that she has a season.
(14:22):
I think they're still interesting and I think they're
starting to pick up what Alexander Strauss is
implementing in terms of their tactics.
I, I want to kind of zoom out a little bit.
I think I, I totally agree with that.
We're we're starting to see a new look Angel City and a player
like vanilla up top. I think it was is is a good, you
know, kind of bellwether for that.
(14:43):
It made me think a lot about what did Bayern's attack look
like the last couple years and then what were they trying to
put together? And I think when I think about
Bayern, I think about the ultimate lack of heliocentricity
as a team. You know, it's like it could
come from anywhere. It's Leia Schuler, it's pretty
harder. It's Tom Yanovich, like
different angles and at different tempos.
(15:04):
And I think, I'm not sure if that's exactly what Strauss is
trying to do. But the thing that kind of got
me the most interested Alyssa Thompson, a number one overall
pick, 2023 NWSL draft, one of I don't know, I, I'm, I'm curious
to see here where you have Alyssa Thompson in your rankings
of NWSL players, but she's somewhere between 10 and 25,
(15:25):
let's say of the the best players.
In the league out. Where I would get her, but even
still a player with a lot of untapped NWSL potential, you
know, I kind of always think about, you know, Sam, you as
talking about going to Manchester City a little bit
later in career, her in her career and kind of picking up
some of that experience. But that was a little bit later.
This is a player Elissa Thompson, who has kind of like
(15:48):
an MVP ceiling, who has NWSL championship ceiling, you know,
as either like A1A or A1B leading A-Team again, a number
former number one overall pick who's leaving the league with a
lot of kind of unfinished business.
And it and I can't help but think that if there was a sort
of like power struggle, kind of whose team is this?
(16:10):
You know, Alyssa Thompson, who maybe could have a claim as like
maybe a player with a little bitof face of the league potential
as well versus an Alexander Strauss.
I think the team ultimately kindof decided to go the Strauss
route because now Thompson's kind of out the door and you're
you're kind of married to this, this new direction.
Maybe a little bit risky, you know, for, for the, for the, for
(16:33):
the folks in charge of that, of that franchise.
Yeah. It's definitely an interesting
question. I mean, I also do wonder and you
know, obviously we're not a business of football podcast.
I do just wonder how much money Chelsea FC is is waving in front
of the Angel City owners. One of the first rumors that I
saw was that the transfer fee could potentially be around 2
(16:56):
million, which I think, you know, some of the larger
transfer fees have been around 1-1 something million.
I think it may have seen 2.5 million out there floating
around. I don't know if that people
backtracked off that. But yeah, I mean, I, I think
bringing, bringing up Byron is agood point.
Like you think about like PernilArter playing #9 you think about
the way Riley Tiernan plays. You think about John's daughter
(17:17):
out there on the wing. I just think, you know, if
you're, if you're going to get a, a massive transfer fee and
you think you still have enough and you can still attract
players from different leagues, You know, it's, we live in a
weird timeline, especially, you know, growing up watching men's
football where Young's daughter comes over to the NWSL in, in no
(17:43):
world was a player from Bayern Munich ever or, or you know,
Wolfsburg or a giant team over in Germany ever coming over to
play football in the United States of America.
And so I know there's been some like panic of like, oh, OK,
well, first it's Naomi Garma andnow it's Alyssa Thompson.
(18:04):
Well, now there's going to be this weird domino effect of who
are the best players playing in Sweden?
Who are the best players playingin Germany or in Norway?
And are they going to start to filter over to the NWSL and then
maybe some NSL players maybe filter over to the WSL, maybe
League F or I don't know. We'll have to see.
I mean, Sofia Cantori just came over as the first Italian
(18:25):
player. So there's going to be all this
shuffling from all the leagues. And I think my couple like
overarching thoughts are, yeah, it's a bummer if Alyssa Thompson
leaves our league and goes playsfor Chelsea, especially if if
they're going to do something where they split time between
Baltimore and Thompson on the left wing, where I'm just like,
(18:45):
they're both good enough to be like major contributors.
And I don't want to see Sandy Baltimore relegated to left wing
back and and have to play defense for like the rest of her
time at Chelsea. I digress.
This is the NWSL episode, but I I also think seeing what Strauss
implements at Angel City is going to be interesting.
(19:05):
To your earlier, earlier point, are they going to play like
Bayern Munich? Are they going to have a very
distinct style out there in LA? And then what are they going to
do with the big bucks that they get from Thompson?
Who are they going to sign that that we're going to see from
maybe another Champions League match or another league that
were like, OK, great player thatyou're bringing in or maybe 2
great players? I mean, I think it's it's kind
(19:25):
of buyer beware kind of going down that route.
But I just feel like a player that young with that kind of
ceiling, you know, like you mentioned, a player like Cantore
is like, all right, Cantore is agreat player and a great
addition to the NWSL for sure, and is cooking.
We'll get to her later. But that's a player that's in a
prime, you know, And it's like, you know, there's no telling
(19:47):
where Alyssa Thompson's ceiling ends, you know, and does she
blow right past that cantore roadblock or, you know, like,
what are we talking about here? Because this is a player that
can absolutely reach the the apex of of what's possible in
the sport and is still young enough to to kind of really
maybe make Angel City pay, You know, if she's able to kind of
(20:08):
go to Chelsea and and really kind of let loose.
There's something about her game.
I think maybe it's more her physical.
Her speed, her pace, you know, her kind of like twitchiness
that I feel like is going to make her maybe more impactful in
the in the in the WSL for Chelsea than even like a Naomi
Gurma or like an Emily Fox at Arsenal.
(20:28):
I just feel like there's something about her game, you
know, even when you close your eyes And I agree, Sunny
Baltimore, I'm not sure where she fits.
Maybe BFCI don't know. This was there we go plenty of
time here available. Let's get that started.
But I feel like, you know, you think about whether there was
Edgar Wrighton out there or Baltimore or exactly what they
were doing then left Alyssa Thompson.
There is just going to be an absolute live wire.
(20:50):
She'll be able to link up with Bacario.
There's there's some definitely some fun stuff there, but I I, I
will never not feel like she left a little NWSL unfinished
business. You know, like as a number one
pick, you know, you kind of wantto see what's you know, that you
just you write the story of a person's career, what's
possible, what the what the ceiling is.
We've had some fun with with that on the show as well, with
(21:12):
regard to Alyssa Thompson. And I feel like we we kind of
got robbed of that a little bit.And now if we see her at Chelsea
just kind of running around without a ton of pressure, you
know, playing like a lot of low stakes games and minutes and
scoring and doing and having a lot of fun.
You know, it's like what, you know, did we learn a whole lot
or do we have to wait till like Champions League deeps waters to
figure out, you know, is is thismove really going to pay off for
(21:33):
her? That's that's a great point.
And I think, you know, we'll seehow the London City Lionesses
push Chelsea. Like you got to think that their
entrance into the league, it should push Chelsea, Arsenal,
Manchester City and to a lesser extent Manchester United.
So I think, you know, that'll, that'll certainly be interesting
(21:54):
to see. And watching Alyssa Thompson
play Champions League football. There are worse things in the
world that could happen that that's for sure.
Yeah, no doubt. And yeah, London City Lioness is
quietly putting together a couple, but yeah, I mean a
couple that you mentioned. Lana Kennedy, K Zelam.
Yeah. Who else?
Kosovari Aslani, Who? Who shined pretty bright in the
EUR. Elena Lenari, my daughter's
(22:16):
name. Zake.
Also another beast. There you go, making waves in
London City. Let's fucking go.
But yeah, no, no, no ink dry on that contract as of yet.
So we'll we'll we'll keep track of it, but let's scoot ahead.
Everybody's talking about it, but I don't want to say
everybody's talking about it, but everybody has talked about
the KC current this year. You know, we've seen them kind
of come out of the gate. But I think to the to the degree
(22:39):
that this team is shredding through the league and shredding
through the regular season, it'sjust worth taking a quick break.
We're at the 25 minute mark of our match week 18 episode.
I want to take a quick break andreflect on exactly what this
team is doing. So right now, 18 matches in,
they sit at 46 points. The Orlando Pride, last year's
(23:01):
double winners, lifted the Shield, undefeated at this point
in the season last year, 44 points.
So Casey Kearns 2 points ahead of that.
And what's interesting is they only have two big wins on the
season, 4 one over Bay, 3 NIL over Utah.
Everything else is like this, this very impressive brand of
(23:22):
suffocating, smothering, squeezing, pressing, harassing,
Like, it's really, really impressive.
They're, they're just like, likemuscling teams week in, week
out. And the last thing that I, that
I saw that was pretty comical. KC has scored 36 goals this
season. Now the worst defense in the
(23:44):
league, Chicago Stars has allowed 36 goals.
So basically, KC's offense turnsevery single defense into the
worst defense in the NWSL. And you could look at the
inverse. The league worst offense is the
Utah Royals, who have scored fourteen goals and Kansas City
has allowed 10. So they turn, they turn your
(24:06):
offense into like even worse than the worst offense in the
NWS. Like they're they're just the
goal differential plus 26. I'm going to read you the next
four teams, KCS plus 26. Here's the next 4.
San Diego plus 9, Orlando +7, Gotham plus 6, Portland +5, and
then if you missed it, it's KC plus 26 just slapping.
(24:27):
Everybody just destroying everybody.
And you're right, it's it's a mix like the the defense is so
much better than it was last season.
They're just quite physical. They look tougher out there.
They're they're organized and then they have, you know, the
nuclear weapon of Temua Chewingaup top, flanked by these other
(24:49):
genius players of of BIA and Tabina now Ali Sentinor in the
mix. Michelle Cooper, you know, is
there like challenging like Michelle, Michelle Cooper
challenges all those other players of hey, I'm actually the
second best player on this team and she's out there with a bunch
of world beaters. So I mean, you know, we talked
(25:10):
about it. It's a done deal.
The shield is a wrap and now they just they got to finish the
job because because our Orlando Pride by winning that double.
I think what the first thing to win the double since North
Carolina Courage. I want to say somewhere in
there, it's going to be this weird thing where they're going
to coast to the shield and then the pressure ratchets, ratchets
(25:32):
right back up was like, OK, wellare you going to do the thing or
are you going to actually win the double?
I, I, you know, they're going tobe in a little bit of a
different position from Orlando last year.
And I, and I'm, I'm, I'm positive that they're looking to
look at this Orlando post title season hangover and try to take
some notes off of that. But it's even more drastic than
(25:52):
you can imagine. So like this Kansas City
currents had already clinched the playoff spot.
But if you look at if you look at their schedule, they go to
Bay FC this weekend, then they play the second place Washington
Spirit. If they win both of those two
games, they'll be two wins away from clinching the shield.
They can clinch the shield on September 26th, like 444 weeks
(26:16):
from now. They'll need to beat Washington
and obviously run the table. But if they go 4 and over the
next 4 at Bay versus the Spirit versus Chicago at home, and then
they host Seattle as well, 4 winnable matches for sure.
They they could have the shield wrapped up.
But I think that what makes thatinteresting is then what happens
because you're playing 6-7 weeksof low stakes, no stakes, you
(26:41):
know, let nobody get hurt out there.
Let's eat our orange slices at halftime kind of football.
And then are you going to be able to ratchet up come playoff
time? And you start to look at some of
these teams that are clawing forthat set that, you know, that
eight spot, you can look at thatfour or five.
Who's going to be in there? Casey's going to want to have a
good mix of being healthy but also, you know, staying, staying
(27:02):
sharp. It's a great point and it's like
if you look at so you, you mentioned that 4 match run.
So let's say they get it done because it's obviously not
outside the realm of possibilitythat they went for consecutive
matches considering all the matches they've won this season.
Then they would play at Angel City, home for Gotham at
(27:23):
Houston, and then they close theseason at home versus San Diego
Wave. Now, you know, maybe the Wave
have something to play for near the end of the season.
I get we haven't counted out Houston and Gotham, so they'll
be kind of playing for something.
Can you as Vlatko Andonovsky, you know, obviously we're
(27:44):
talking about a a lot of great professionals.
You talk about Lola Bonta as like the the kind of leader of
the squad. Can you almost trick yourselves
into thinking like, OK, some of these matches are high stakes
for our opponents and we need togo in there and we need, we do
need to stay sharp for these, you know, an elimination
tournament. If you want to look at the play
offs that way, I think it's going to be interesting to see.
(28:07):
I mean that's that's a pretty boring answer, but they're going
to be fighting that as they enter the play offs.
Yeah. I mean, I've, you know, watched
a ton of sports in my life. You know, can a team, you know,
kind of like, crank it up and trick themselves into, you know,
reaching that level of intensity?
No, they can't. It's impossible.
Usually not, you can't, you can't lie to yourself in that
(28:29):
instance. If a team really wants it and
you don't really need it, those matches usually go some kind of
way. But Vlasco's going to have to
figure out how to again, again, you know, thread that needle and
make sure this team's ready for the play offs.
Because I, I think I agree with you.
This, this Shield's a wrap. I don't know if four weeks is
going to be enough time to get it done, but five weeks, six
weeks, I think either way, it's just a matter of time.
(28:51):
They're just so far ahead. And I think the other thing is
there's no #2 team kind of breathing down their neck or,
or, or or really ready or willing to kind of push them to
the brink. I think everybody has sort of
been like, all right, well, let's let's get ready for the
playoffs, make sure we're all set there.
But obviously still some some jockeying to be done down the
stretch. But let's shift gears here.
(29:14):
What is your I hit my most intriguing match up of the week,
Chicago hosting the Orlando Pride.
What did you have as your your top match up for this weekend?
Well. What a coincidence it would be
the number two team on the table, the Washington Spirit at
home versus Seattle Reign. FCA Battle of Washington's, if
you will. Spirit or two wins, 3 draws, 0
(29:38):
losses in their last five. Seattle Reign is one win, 3
draw, 3 draws. Pardon me, one loss in their
last five in the last match. Appreciate.
You upholding the win draw loss format I.
Always will I I won't change. I will not change for any
league. That's the way football should
be described in in terms of the win, draw, loss, record.
(30:01):
Let me do this real quick. Sorry to do this live on the
show. I'm going to text you a video,
my good man, and we'll throw it in.
We'll we'll throw it in and post.
But what I want to talk about here, Sam Meza and Jordan Bug
have seemingly returned to form.They, I think they're bouncing
back a little bit from a couple,couple matches where they were
(30:24):
kind of reached a performance valley.
But there was a player I was specifically interested in and I
thought manager Laura Harvey hadsomething very interesting to
say about her. So I'd like to kick it to that
video now, please. We've talked a lot this year
about Sam as a maybe being the best player on the squad.
(30:46):
I feel like the more performances I see Madison Curry
stack up, it feels like she's making a run at that title
herself. What did you what did you see
from her tonight? She's very good.
I think I said it last week and I haven't done it yet, but I
will do it. I think she needs a look at the
(31:07):
national team. That's my opinion.
I'm not Emma, it's not my job. But how consistent she's been,
how adaptable she is. She can be on both sides, how
athletic she is. We, we literally brought her off
tonight because she was startingto cramp and I was petrified
because, you know, when we brought her off against Chicago,
things didn't go right. Great, but yeah, she's AI think
(31:30):
her and Sam I would agree with you consistently have been the
you know top for us let's. Go.
That's awesome there. We go.
So I felt pretty good about the Madison Curry minutes for weeks
now. She was the best player for Rain
in that disappointing loss versus Portland Thorns.
But I like it that Laura Harvey was ready to to put her name on
(31:54):
it, throw the alley oop to her pal Emma Hayes and be like, hey,
might want to consider her for the national team.
We've talked about that left back spot for the US women's
national team. Kind of a little bit of a
revolving door. We weren't sure if Nicewanger is
really going to stick there. Doesn't seem like Emma Hayes.
I mean, Emma Hayes was obviouslylooking for other options to
(32:17):
kind of assess alongside Jenna Nicewanger.
On the right side you have Fox and Avery Patterson.
We, we saw some Cariabello mixedin there, you know, a few months
back. So I just thought that was quite
interesting. By Laura Harvey, who I'm just
going to go out on a limb doesn't say anything without
(32:37):
putting a lot of thought into itbeforehand.
Yep. And I I mean tremendous Okie
doke by you just kind of taking her one way and we'll bring it
back the other way. That was very I mean that was
the AI level crossover by you. So well, well done by you.
Thank you and great and great answer by by by the legend Laura
Harvey. I talked about last week like
(33:02):
Seattle versus the wave. I was like, all right, well,
first goal wins and where we're at like 6 days later, still
waiting on that first goal. Nothing to do it, nothing to do
it in that one. But Seattle, I think good season
so far, seven wins so far on theyear 6, just six last year.
They've beaten Utah, they beat Angel City, they beat North
Carolina, Portland, San Diego, Wave, the Kansas City Current
(33:27):
and the Mighty racing Louisvillejust to kind of like a little
icy on the cake. And Washington on the other
hand, they've lost 4 * 3 at home.
Six straight Unbeaten though, isa little deceptive. 4 draws over
that six and they're only +2, sonot not quite cooking.
They've only got eight goals over their last seven matches.
They scored 21 goals through their first 11.
(33:48):
So they've gone pretty cold, even though Cantore has come on
and really kind of blown the doors off a little bit and been
like, I think even exceeded expectations.
Even though she was cooking overthe summer in the EUR.
I think she's come on and lookedreally, really great.
I mean, that's that's the hallmark of a great player.
They can just kind of get dropped in and fit with pretty
(34:09):
much whoever is on the pitch there.
And then obviously Trinity Rodman last weekend had that
amazing. I I don't think there's another
player in the league that can dothat, reach a ball either as it
reaches the end line or as it just kind of, you know, dips
past the end line just by centimeters and then just puts
the ball back in and, and kind of changes, changes the game.
(34:29):
So I think Trinity Rodman, hopefully that's a continuation
of of her getting back into the mix for Washington.
And then Seattle, I think you mentioned it defensively.
You know, they had those two games that were anomalies, seven
goals in two matches. But you look at their other 16
matches played, just fourteen goals allowed in those 16.
(34:50):
So I think their DNA still remains, you know, that being
that defensive stopper of a teamand, you know, to your point,
maybe those couple players getting introduced back into the
mix is the right recipe to make it happen.
Yeah, I mean, they had their difficulties marking Washington
at at the the reverse fixture. When was that?
(35:11):
That was a little while ago, May23rd.
You know, they lost that match 2to one.
They were having a a hell of a time keeping up with Gift Monday
and Rosemont Quasi, especially out there on the wings.
But you know, I, I think if they're able to scratch out
another point, which would be what, their 4th consecutive draw
(35:31):
and if they were especially ableto get that out on the road.
If you look across 2 fixtures against Washington Spirit from
where Seattle Rain FC is kind ofin their, in their journey as
they kind of make it back with these young players, I think
you're OK with that. So I think that's they're,
they're going to have to put in a good performance.
And I, I'm looking at this as when we talk about how bunched
(35:54):
up these teams are in the table,Spirit, Spirit and San Diego,
they're kind of becoming and maybe racing Louisville's part
of this too. They're kind of becoming the de
facto measuring stick. Because if you are trying to
measure yourself up against Kansas City current right now,
as we see, as the table would show, nobody's measuring up to
(36:16):
them. It's kind of like, well, you
know, when when Orlando was invincible for so much of last
year's season. It's like, OK, well, nobody's
that close to them. How close is everybody else?
So I think it's going to be now obviously I live in Seattle and
I and I cover the team pretty closely.
I am out here asking Laura Harvey questions, but I think
it's a fascinating match up nonetheless.
Can't wait to see that one. And you know, we talked a lot
(36:40):
about Casey Curran didn't mention Lorena, who I think it's
like just I don't know, one of these signings of the offseason
and down the stretch he knows may end up being the signing of
this of this year, depending on how the the the postseason
shakes out. But I do want to talk about one
more match up from this past weekend.
(37:00):
This was probably the the most fun I had watching a match for a
lot of different reasons. Racing Louisville, Houston dash
in what I'm calling a tale of two playoff teams.
Oh, wow, let's go. So I mean, obviously I, I, I've
overcooked myself with my, with my racing Louisville take, but I
still think that they're really good.
(37:21):
They're so good. You know, they they put
pressure, they create chances. They've got good offensive
players, good dangerous offensive players that are all
really, really hungry. I think when you look at some
other teams, I don't know, well,maybe you can see that they're
they don't really kind of have that DNA.
But I love watching Louisville play and Houston is another team
that you know, the seasons within the season we're at we're
(37:43):
we're in that season within a season where Houston is just
good. They're they're hard to beat.
You know, you look at Yasmine Ryan, you look at Delaney
Sheehan Messiah Bright actually came in and then was effective
in this one. Evelina Dulian comes in and and
has an impact later in this one.Avery Patterson, not quite an
Avery Patterson game, but you look at the spots where
(38:05):
Patterson gets the ball and makes plays and makes things
happen and it's all over the pitch.
You're just like, how do you, itmust be a nightmare having a
game plan against this person because you could just be
effective from so many differentparts of the pitch.
And I mean, this was just a great, great battle.
Talked about Louisville's easy remaining schedule.
Houston's got a little bit tougher, but again, I I still
(38:28):
think they're sitting in 11th and they are currently 4 points
behind Gotham for that 8th and final playoff spot.
And you know, Gotham's got the CONCACAF Champions Cup, Angel
City, there's that Alyssa Thompson breakup, the North
Carolina courage. That's a team that, you know,
does is not playing with that offensive intensity that I
talked about about Reece Louisville, you know, sports
(38:49):
week in and week out. Bay FC, you know, you already
know that's that's a that's a team that is not going to strike
a ton of fear in other teams. So Houston, I think outside shot
of maybe sneaking in if they could kind of like run Gotham
down here. And Louisville I think is is a
shoe and based on on who else they've got on the schedule you.
Know sneaky contender there. Contender to fall out.
(39:10):
I mean, Portland Thorns one win,one draw, 3 losses in their last
five, including two losses on the spinning.
We'll, we'll have to see, see what happens there.
But also, you know, I won't, I won't just hate on Seattle rain
FCS rival. You know, it's not like Seattle
rain is exactly blowing up the world either.
So maybe, maybe they go up against the measuring sick of
(39:33):
Washington spirit and and show again that they that they don't
measure up. And that's another team that
Houston dash could, could potentially catch.
I, I think I'm with you. I think they're just good at
this point. And and you know, the early, the
early results, we're not completely indicative of the
talent that they had. And it was one of those cases
that I was talking about earlierwhere maybe they just needed a
(39:55):
little bit of time to get together.
And, and like we talked about Houston maybe at the beginning
of the season, we talked about them improving and then like how
much do they improve versus how much the other teams in the
league are improving? And it looks like they're kind
of starting to catch up a littlebit and it looks like their rate
of improvement. Might be accelerated to a little
quicker than some of the other other clubs in the league.
(40:18):
So I'm here for it because I, I,I love, I like, I like their
style. Yasmine Ryan and Avery Patterson
are obviously two of my favoriteplayers to watch.
See Houston. 'S got this weekend.
They've got they're going. They play Port San Diego.
Oh, wait, wait. Louisville plays Portland.
Yeah, yeah. Houston play Houston goes to San
Diego. Those are a couple of fun
(40:39):
matches, a couple of players I want to this is a player that
took my time couldn't quite piece the whole offensive attack
together for Houston, but Kiki Vanzen, I think has to get a
mention. What a player a threat pretty
much every time she she hits 5thgear like it's just like, oh
shit, we're we we don't have thethe personnel to be able to
contend with this player at thismoment.
(41:01):
So I think she's she's come out in a big way.
And then defensively, Natalie Jacobs, Paige Nielsen, I think
have been both really, really good, really aggressive, really
tenacious. And I think it's it's kind of
like just spreading through the club.
And I think you you see them score goals, you see them make
big plays and you see how they react as a unit.
And then you can kind of see some cohesion there.
(41:21):
It's pretty exciting. I want to quickly round out the
remaining mash ups from this weekend just to kind of like put
a bow on it. Friday Racing Louisville host
the Portland Thorns, the maybe all of all of a sudden in danger
of Portland Thorns. Shout out to you.
And by the way, told you to avoid that Portland thorns -1
1/2 -, 2 1/2 bet against Utah. I told you Utah was was pesky
(41:42):
and you know, here we go. It should have gone a little
further and asked you for that Utah straight up number, but you
know, jeez. Better without that Nora topic
for another show. Yeah, Ewing Theory.
Let's go shout out to the the pod father, right?
Saturday, North Carolina Couragehost Utah Royals Bay FC host
Kansas City Current and then Sunday, a quadruple header from
(42:04):
the NWS. Hell, it's fucking go.
Chicago Stars host Orlando Pride, Washington Spirit host
your Seattle rain Goth FC host Angel City and Houston Dash head
to San Diego take on the wave. Gonna be a good, possibly a
great match. Week 19 to football.
Cannot wait to get into it. Mr. Grand Angle, anything else
you want to hit before we get out of here?
I. Do I want to shout out one of
our pals on YouTube, Richard Albertson, who pointed out that
(42:29):
Lindby Andolo had said on her Good Vibes podcast with Sam
Lewis that she was dealing with a knee issue that was limiting
her minutes? I did not see that episode
before we recorded the Week 17 recap where I had said like,
hey, I don't want to accuse Seattle Rain FC of lying to me
or lying to us as a general public, but why isn't she
(42:51):
playing? Now?
I will say that Lindbiandola revealing that last week, I had
been wondering for weeks why shewasn't playing.
And Laura Harvey did say like, hey, she's got a little bit of a
a knee thing and we don't want to play her on turf.
I'll say thank you. Thank you, Richard, for keeping
me honest on that. I think that's that's totally a
fair comment. And it doesn't seem like they're
(43:13):
they're not keeping it totally secret.
I do wonder if it's worse than they're letting on.
But now that she's being shut down for a few weeks, I think it
all kind of adds up and makes sense of you don't sign Lynn
Biendolo and then just not play her.
So I just want to shout out Richard though, because I didn't
see that on good vibes. And then I didn't really hear
(43:34):
anything until Laura Harvey mentioned it on the pre match
presser before the San Diego wave match.
So shout out to you, Richard. Journalistic integrity is
important to us. We we, we appreciate the help.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, Community driven
enterprise for sure. Shout out to Mac Daily, friend
of the show on Spotify, who alsopointed out that piece of news
(43:54):
for us. So appreciate the community as
always. All right, man, I think we did
hit this with another episode ofinto the channel.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for watching, listening, hanging
out. If you enjoyed the show or love
them so far as much as your boysdo, make sure you're keeping
with us each and every single week.
Like if you liked, subscribe, follow YouTube, Spotify, Apple
podcast, wherever you like to watch or listen.
Leave us a review over your favorite podcast app.
Thanks to all of our socials except one in the showrooms of
(44:17):
this episode and a big thing in my coast as well, Mr. Grant
Angle for always being upfront about his injury status and and
his availability. And I mean, to be honest, he's
my guy's always available. It's I mean, there's no
probables, no doubtfuls. He's always in the lineup,
always sharp beat in, you know, my my running mate up top.
You already know what time is. I appreciate you bro.
(44:38):
Likewise, buddy, I wouldn't, I wouldn't do it with anybody
else. And you know, even when we we
sit here and we have to look each other in the eye and say
I'm hurt, dog, but I'm putting my heart into this shit.
That's just how it goes. You know, we'll fight through it
when necessary, but it's always good to understand if you are
too, if you're injured, not justhurt, it's it's understandable
sit out every once in a while. But we appreciate you guys for
(45:00):
not sitting out. Like I mentioned earlier, thank
you for dropping knowledge of the comments.
We always appreciate that and wewill see you all next time.
Hello, OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast premiere about 1
soap. I'm your host Dino de Sasplos.
And as always I'm joined by my Co host Mr. Grant Engel.
What's up, man? I'm feeling fantastic, buddy, no
matter how sleepy we are in these late recordings.
Just trying to just trying to make this work.
(00:24):
I feel great about it and I'm ready to talk about some
football with you. Big struggle out here, but we're
doing our best and we're back potting.
I mean, what could be better than this?
There you go all we got to do isknow what podcast day is and
then we just figure out the restfrom there.
And if you are sleepy, there is one way I know to stay awake.
(00:46):
It's to enjoy a ice cold beverage to help keep you awake.
It's. Funny, you know, it usually
sends me the other way. But talk about that one later.
Cheers. Cheers to you.
Match Week 18. Goodness gracious.
I think we're I think we're shaking off some of that that
July break rust. I think we're we're, we're fully
(01:07):
now into regular football, some goals, some tactics, some
strategies, some organization. So I saw some stuff that looked,
looked aesthetically pleasing this weekend.
So I feel like, I feel like we got back to it this past
weekend. What, what, what do you think?
Where do you want to get started?
Yeah, I'd say I think the NWSL is shaking off the rust.
Obviously, no rust from us. I mean, we were active the month
(01:30):
of July, unbelievable EUR run byus and the Lionesses, if you
will. But for the NWSL, let's do a
little something different this episode.
Let's talk about some storylines, A storyline that
jumped out to me that I would like to talk about that I, I'm
going to guess probably most shows are not leading with.
(01:51):
I just want to talk about the unkillable Chicago Stars FC.
Let's go, let's go. I I mean, I love starting with
Chicago. I I, I kind of, I had a feeling
they would be, they would be live against the spirit.
I went back and looked to see because I'm like that front 3
Schlegel Lujmila Jamis Joseph. I think it had been since May,
(02:16):
since those three had started a match together.
And I think like watching those three together was, was really,
really exciting. They're tough to deal with,
those 3. And you can also see that the
chemistry hasn't quite taken. I mean, they're just a really
fun team to watch. And I think that the, the trippy
part is, I mean, some of the results, you know, obviously
Chicago gets a result. You see a team like Utah get a
(02:40):
huge Rd. win in Portland. And it's like, I'm not sure
what's weirder, these results orthe fact that we watch these
games and it doesn't feel that weird when you're watching it.
You're just like, OK, Chicago isa good now.
Then it doesn't feel weird. Like, I don't know, where are
we? It's totally true is that you
see these things happen and you know, some some things people
chalk up to NWSL after dark or weird refereeing decisions.
(03:04):
But I think you're right, you know, Joseph Schlegel, Lujmila,
they're just kind of making things happen, especially
Schlegel and Lujmila right now. I just want to we talk about
like the week to week. So in week 12, Chicago coughed
up A2 nil lead to Seattle Rain FC at home.
They conceded two goals in 2 minutes.
An 87th minute goal by Biendolo.An 89th minute goal by Bug ends
(03:30):
in A22 draw. Bitterly disappointing. 2 weeks
later, Gotham takes a lead on Chicago on the 39th and Schlegel
equalizes in the 68th. They come back and get that one
one draw in week 15. The very next week Bay FC scores
in the 29th minute, then Shea Groom equalizes in the 42nd and
they scratch out A11 draw there.Week 16 Rain scores three goals
(03:53):
in the third, the 34th and the 46th and then the Red Stars take
about 1/2 hour to equalize and Alyssa Nair gets her.
I think it was her first career NWSL goal. 90 + 9 ends in a
three three draw. They go down at week 17 O2 to
the North Carolina Courage whichmeans the scores 2 gets the
equalizer. They follow behind again and
(04:13):
then they get the draw 33 and then that once again, week 18,
Cantore put Spirit ahead in the 57th, Lose me the scores 10
minutes later, 11 draw. We're scrappy.
So we're, what are we looking at?
Like 5 of the last six weeks? They're just kind of, they're
just kind of clawing back in these.
I think yes, seven of the last eight they've drawn and I think
(04:36):
the one that they didn't draw was a was a loss.
I think if I got that right. But yeah, I'm looking at the the
timeline here. LMS are named the interim coach
July 3rd. That was 9 days before they had
two July friendlies. They lost both of those and then
they go on the five straight draw streak in the NWSL.
Who's the guy they have. I think this last match was
their new interim Swedish fella.But no, I I will say I think the
(05:01):
the tide certainly turned when Alan Assad grabbed the reins.
Yeah, no, I I definitely think so.
And I think some stats I thoughtstood out.
Their number one in the league, shot on target percentage,
40.7%. They're #2 winning aerial duels,
they're #5 in long passes. You can kind of piece those
together and kind of see how what kind of ball they're trying
to play. But I think the story of this
(05:22):
season, they don't have a goal scorer outside of Blujamila, who
scored more than two goals. They're also the second highest
in the NWSL with regard to assist rate.
They've got 19 goals on the year, 15 assists.
So they're they're doing a good job connecting stuff and, and
playing together. But Luzhmila has absolutely been
the story. 48% of her shots havebeen on target.
(05:44):
She she's scoring a goal every 3.2 shots, She's scoring a goal
every 1.6 shots on target. I mean, just a like just a
stupid rate. She's so good.
And this kind of leads me to thematch for this upcoming weekend
that I'm most excited about, theChicago Stars, this Chicago
(06:05):
Stars side hosting the reeling, the stumbling, the the, the
ailing Orlando Pride. I think this is going to be a
very, very interesting match. This is my match up of the week.
When you look at these two teams, where, where, Where's the
1st place your head's going? I guess at this point is
scratching out a draw versus Chicago stars FCAA terrible
(06:28):
result. I mean, maybe not if you ask a a
bunch of other teams in the league right now, but man, that
last pride match, the two nil loss to Gotham did not exactly
it did not. It certainly did not bring me
any joy and it didn't bring me alot of confidence either.
It really shown a bright spotlight on kind of some of the
(06:48):
issues that Orlando's facing this season.
So you look at of the non Barba Banda division of goal scores,
Orlando has only scored ten goals this season from a player
not from not named Barbara Banda.
And that's from six different players.
You know, So you've got Marta with three goals.
Two of those are pounds of kicks, so it's really just one
(07:09):
goal from open play. Prisca Chulufia has 2, Haley
Mccutchen has two, and then one each for Ali Watt, Julie Doyle
and Corey Dyke. So that leaves a big fat 0 for
the Simones, for Angelina, for summer Eights, for Ali Lemos,
for a lot a lot of players that you just kind of got to get
(07:31):
something, especially when a player of Barbara Banda's
stature kind of goes out for theseason.
Yeah. And you know, obviously we've
talked about Elizabeth Ovallier coming in as as the cavalry.
She'll need to be integrated quickly.
And I will say this is one thing, you know, we talked about
it last week. It was like, oh, she can't get
here fast enough. She needs to get into the in the
(07:51):
lineup. She needs to play.
But one thing that I I thought about after we recorded that
episode, what I think is a truththat I try to keep in mind when
players come back from injury and broadcasters say, OK, she's
coming back from injury, so she's going to help.
And I'm always in the back of myhead going probably not so much
at first. Like, and I understand ovale is
(08:11):
not coming off an coming off an injury, obviously, but she has
to be integrated into a whole new system and maybe she could,
maybe she can make a difference.I mean, she's a great player.
We we've seen her from Mexico, but you know, that's probably
hard to count on. What drug Just getting dropped
right into this league. Yeah.
And just knowing what I know about that organization, kind of
(08:32):
how they operate, I don't think that they're looking for that.
They're looking to that, but they are, you know, and I think
on the broadcast they mentioned that Seb Hines had talked about,
you know, looking to experiment.And I think we've hit this
interesting point in the season where it's not like early in the
year where Orlando's in second, they're in 3rd.
They're kind of floating around.They're they're kind of, you
(08:52):
know, sniffing around first. You know, now they're just five
points ahead of 9th place Angel City, five points clear with
eight matches to go. So I'm not saying that they're
at real risk, but to your point,going to Chicago now doesn't
feel the same as well. This this Orlando bride opened
the season against Chicago, and just how'd that go?
Smash. Them 6 nothing and miss the
(09:14):
extra point, but they they got everything else right.
And now it's like you won't you you don't really expect Orlando
to go to Chicago and and get a win.
I certainly don't expect them toget a win.
I think a draw would be good if they they certainly can win, but
Chicago's playing really well. Orlando can't score.
I feel like defensively the experiment of like kind of
(09:35):
playing Emily Samms on the outside.
I understand like conceptually why why we want to do that, You
know, to get half Aila in there and the Danner is obviously a
beast, but it's just not really taking.
And I thought I think Emily Samms has played pretty well up
the up the pitch more offensively, but she's just so
good as the center back. You kind of lose that half Aila
(09:56):
is good too, but I think it justkind of throws a monkey wrench
in it. And then you still have those
four players. They have to figure out what
you're going to do on the outside.
Corey Dyke, Oyana Hernandez, Carson Pickett, Cariabello.
And it's like it, you know, and now you're trying to play Sam's
there and then figure out the rotation and, like, bounce the
minutes. It just seems to be one or two
(10:18):
or three monkey wrenches too many.
Maybe this season for the Orlando Pride.
I think that's probably fair. And for folks who have been
watching this league longer thanwe have, I, you know, I, we, we
talk about it a lot like what I I, I come waltzing in in the
late 20 teens, early twenty 20s,especially when it's once I move
(10:40):
out here to Seattle and there's a team for me to look at that.
This is somewhat of a, a, a bit of a return to the typical form
of Orlando Pride and still even better really, because I think
they were just not a very good team for for so long.
But like we've mentioned, like Hayley Carter and Seb Hines off
that like they're, they're no longer like a cellar dwelling
(11:02):
club anymore. I think that's just, there's too
much evidence otherwise. I got to tell you, they're still
favored because you got me. You got me thinking about this.
Like do we expect them to win Orlando pride -170 on the road
according to our our pals at FanDuel?
I have a feeling I know what your next question is, so let me
just answer. The draw is plus 310.
(11:27):
You know, I love, loves pizza. Let's go.
That's that's above the bed. The Mendoza Line of where we
need it. And Chicago Red Stars to
outright win plus 370 so. That is, there's some there's
some taste, there's some taste on the left side of both of
those. I, I, I'll say that like you got
(11:48):
to be really careful and, and I want to, you know, I'll kind of
get a little bit ahead of myself, but, you know, I, I went
on Reddit and kind of shared my take of Louisville's the the
third best team in the league. Reddit got in my ass a little
bit. I'll, you know, you know,
including, you know, Mr. GOOG. Yeah, he came back for seconds
and thirds with some with some with some extra takes on top of
(12:10):
my take. But you know, I, I, I didn't
have any problem kind of defending my position.
But I think one of the things I,I took some issue with was
people were like, oh, racing Louisville, how can you put a
team with a -, 4 goal differential up that high?
We need to just throw all that shit out the window right now.
I mean, you cannot take, I mean,Orlando plus six goal
(12:31):
differential after one week. Like, does that mean anything at
this point? It, it might as well have been
five years ago that, that match.So I think we're at a point now
where we need to start thinking current form, last three, last
four, last five. Chicago's not blowing the doors
off, but you know, they are out here looking for their next.
It's not quite a victim, but they're they're out here looking
(12:51):
for their next team that they'regoing to equalize with and share
the points with in in a very harmonious, you know, afternoon.
So we need to recalibrate I guess is what I'm saying.
I think that's totally fair. And Speaking of recalibrating,
my good man, let's think about what Angel City Football Club is
going to have to do as they recalibrate.
(13:14):
I'm sure if you're watching thisprogram, listening to this
program, probably aware of all the reporting around US Women's
national team striker and Angel City FC left winger Alyssa
Thompson rumored to be going to Chelsea Football Club in the
WSL. That would be not great for
(13:36):
Angel City on the field, but that's that's my kind of broad
estimation there. But I will say I mentioned this
about them a couple weeks ago where I'm going to be interested
in watching every match they play from from here until the
end of the season. I think that still remains
(13:58):
because this match versus Bay FC, you know, great individual
effort from Riley Tiernan Young's daughter could have had
could have probably had a hat trick on some on some near
misses. And it just seems like that
front three that they played, which was vinyola, Tiernan
Yonstader. Obviously it doesn't pack the
punch of Alyssa Thompson and hersix goals that she has a season.
(14:22):
I think they're still interesting and I think they're
starting to pick up what Alexander Strauss is
implementing in terms of their tactics.
I, I want to kind of zoom out a little bit.
I think I, I totally agree with that.
We're we're starting to see a new look Angel City and a player
like vanilla up top. I think it was is is a good, you
know, kind of bellwether for that.
(14:43):
It made me think a lot about what did Bayern's attack look
like the last couple years and then what were they trying to
put together? And I think when I think about
Bayern, I think about the ultimate lack of heliocentricity
as a team. You know, it's like it could
come from anywhere. It's Leia Schuler, it's pretty
harder. It's Tom Yanovich, like
different angles and at different tempos.
(15:04):
And I think, I'm not sure if that's exactly what Strauss is
trying to do. But the thing that kind of got
me the most interested Alyssa Thompson, a number one overall
pick, 2023 NWSL draft, one of I don't know, I, I'm, I'm curious
to see here where you have Alyssa Thompson in your rankings
of NWSL players, but she's somewhere between 10 and 25,
(15:25):
let's say of the the best players.
In the league out. Where I would get her, but even
still a player with a lot of untapped NWSL potential, you
know, I kind of always think about, you know, Sam, you as
talking about going to Manchester City a little bit
later in career, her in her career and kind of picking up
some of that experience. But that was a little bit later.
This is a player Elissa Thompson, who has kind of like
(15:48):
an MVP ceiling, who has NWSL championship ceiling, you know,
as either like A1A or A1B leading A-Team again, a number
former number one overall pick who's leaving the league with a
lot of kind of unfinished business.
And it and I can't help but think that if there was a sort
of like power struggle, kind of whose team is this?
(16:10):
You know, Alyssa Thompson, who maybe could have a claim as like
maybe a player with a little bitof face of the league potential
as well versus an Alexander Strauss.
I think the team ultimately kindof decided to go the Strauss
route because now Thompson's kind of out the door and you're
you're kind of married to this, this new direction.
Maybe a little bit risky, you know, for, for the, for the, for
(16:33):
the folks in charge of that, of that franchise.
Yeah. It's definitely an interesting
question. I mean, I also do wonder and you
know, obviously we're not a business of football podcast.
I do just wonder how much money Chelsea FC is is waving in front
of the Angel City owners. One of the first rumors that I
saw was that the transfer fee could potentially be around 2
(16:56):
million, which I think, you know, some of the larger
transfer fees have been around 1-1 something million.
I think it may have seen 2.5 million out there floating
around. I don't know if that people
backtracked off that. But yeah, I mean, I, I think
bringing, bringing up Byron is agood point.
Like you think about like PernilArter playing #9 you think about
the way Riley Tiernan plays. You think about John's daughter
(17:17):
out there on the wing. I just think, you know, if
you're, if you're going to get a, a massive transfer fee and
you think you still have enough and you can still attract
players from different leagues, You know, it's, we live in a
weird timeline, especially, you know, growing up watching men's
football where Young's daughter comes over to the NWSL in, in no
(17:43):
world was a player from Bayern Munich ever or, or you know,
Wolfsburg or a giant team over in Germany ever coming over to
play football in the United States of America.
And so I know there's been some like panic of like, oh, OK,
well, first it's Naomi Garma andnow it's Alyssa Thompson.
(18:04):
Well, now there's going to be this weird domino effect of who
are the best players playing in Sweden?
Who are the best players playingin Germany or in Norway?
And are they going to start to filter over to the NWSL and then
maybe some NSL players maybe filter over to the WSL, maybe
League F or I don't know. We'll have to see.
I mean, Sofia Cantori just came over as the first Italian
(18:25):
player. So there's going to be all this
shuffling from all the leagues. And I think my couple like
overarching thoughts are, yeah, it's a bummer if Alyssa Thompson
leaves our league and goes playsfor Chelsea, especially if if
they're going to do something where they split time between
Baltimore and Thompson on the left wing, where I'm just like,
(18:45):
they're both good enough to be like major contributors.
And I don't want to see Sandy Baltimore relegated to left wing
back and and have to play defense for like the rest of her
time at Chelsea. I digress.
This is the NWSL episode, but I I also think seeing what Strauss
implements at Angel City is going to be interesting.
(19:05):
To your earlier, earlier point, are they going to play like
Bayern Munich? Are they going to have a very
distinct style out there in LA? And then what are they going to
do with the big bucks that they get from Thompson?
Who are they going to sign that that we're going to see from
maybe another Champions League match or another league that
were like, OK, great player thatyou're bringing in or maybe 2
great players? I mean, I think it's it's kind
(19:25):
of buyer beware kind of going down that route.
But I just feel like a player that young with that kind of
ceiling, you know, like you mentioned, a player like Cantore
is like, all right, Cantore is agreat player and a great
addition to the NWSL for sure, and is cooking.
We'll get to her later. But that's a player that's in a
prime, you know, And it's like, you know, there's no telling
(19:47):
where Alyssa Thompson's ceiling ends, you know, and does she
blow right past that cantore roadblock or, you know, like,
what are we talking about here? Because this is a player that
can absolutely reach the the apex of of what's possible in
the sport and is still young enough to to kind of really
maybe make Angel City pay, You know, if she's able to kind of
(20:08):
go to Chelsea and and really kind of let loose.
There's something about her game.
I think maybe it's more her physical.
Her speed, her pace, you know, her kind of like twitchiness
that I feel like is going to make her maybe more impactful in
the in the in the WSL for Chelsea than even like a Naomi
Gurma or like an Emily Fox at Arsenal.
(20:28):
I just feel like there's something about her game, you
know, even when you close your eyes And I agree, Sunny
Baltimore, I'm not sure where she fits.
Maybe BFCI don't know. This was there we go plenty of
time here available. Let's get that started.
But I feel like, you know, you think about whether there was
Edgar Wrighton out there or Baltimore or exactly what they
were doing then left Alyssa Thompson.
There is just going to be an absolute live wire.
(20:50):
She'll be able to link up with Bacario.
There's there's some definitely some fun stuff there, but I I, I
will never not feel like she left a little NWSL unfinished
business. You know, like as a number one
pick, you know, you kind of wantto see what's you know, that you
just you write the story of a person's career, what's
possible, what the what the ceiling is.
We've had some fun with with that on the show as well, with
(21:12):
regard to Alyssa Thompson. And I feel like we we kind of
got robbed of that a little bit.And now if we see her at Chelsea
just kind of running around without a ton of pressure, you
know, playing like a lot of low stakes games and minutes and
scoring and doing and having a lot of fun.
You know, it's like what, you know, did we learn a whole lot
or do we have to wait till like Champions League deeps waters to
figure out, you know, is is thismove really going to pay off for
(21:33):
her? That's that's a great point.
And I think, you know, we'll seehow the London City Lionesses
push Chelsea. Like you got to think that their
entrance into the league, it should push Chelsea, Arsenal,
Manchester City and to a lesser extent Manchester United.
So I think, you know, that'll, that'll certainly be interesting
(21:54):
to see. And watching Alyssa Thompson
play Champions League football. There are worse things in the
world that could happen that that's for sure.
Yeah, no doubt. And yeah, London City Lioness is
quietly putting together a couple, but yeah, I mean a
couple that you mentioned. Lana Kennedy, K Zelam.
Yeah. Who else?
Kosovari Aslani, Who? Who shined pretty bright in the
EUR. Elena Lenari, my daughter's
(22:16):
name. Zake.
Also another beast. There you go, making waves in
London City. Let's fucking go.
But yeah, no, no, no ink dry on that contract as of yet.
So we'll we'll we'll keep track of it, but let's scoot ahead.
Everybody's talking about it, but I don't want to say
everybody's talking about it, but everybody has talked about
the KC current this year. You know, we've seen them kind
of come out of the gate. But I think to the to the degree
(22:39):
that this team is shredding through the league and shredding
through the regular season, it'sjust worth taking a quick break.
We're at the 25 minute mark of our match week 18 episode.
I want to take a quick break andreflect on exactly what this
team is doing. So right now, 18 matches in,
they sit at 46 points. The Orlando Pride, last year's
(23:01):
double winners, lifted the Shield, undefeated at this point
in the season last year, 44 points.
So Casey Kearns 2 points ahead of that.
And what's interesting is they only have two big wins on the
season, 4 one over Bay, 3 NIL over Utah.
Everything else is like this, this very impressive brand of
(23:22):
suffocating, smothering, squeezing, pressing, harassing,
Like, it's really, really impressive.
They're, they're just like, likemuscling teams week in, week
out. And the last thing that I, that
I saw that was pretty comical. KC has scored 36 goals this
season. Now the worst defense in the
(23:44):
league, Chicago Stars has allowed 36 goals.
So basically, KC's offense turnsevery single defense into the
worst defense in the NWSL. And you could look at the
inverse. The league worst offense is the
Utah Royals, who have scored fourteen goals and Kansas City
has allowed 10. So they turn, they turn your
(24:06):
offense into like even worse than the worst offense in the
NWS. Like they're they're just the
goal differential plus 26. I'm going to read you the next
four teams, KCS plus 26. Here's the next 4.
San Diego plus 9, Orlando +7, Gotham plus 6, Portland +5, and
then if you missed it, it's KC plus 26 just slapping.
(24:27):
Everybody just destroying everybody.
And you're right, it's it's a mix like the the defense is so
much better than it was last season.
They're just quite physical. They look tougher out there.
They're they're organized and then they have, you know, the
nuclear weapon of Temua Chewingaup top, flanked by these other
(24:49):
genius players of of BIA and Tabina now Ali Sentinor in the
mix. Michelle Cooper, you know, is
there like challenging like Michelle, Michelle Cooper
challenges all those other players of hey, I'm actually the
second best player on this team and she's out there with a bunch
of world beaters. So I mean, you know, we talked
(25:10):
about it. It's a done deal.
The shield is a wrap and now they just they got to finish the
job because because our Orlando Pride by winning that double.
I think what the first thing to win the double since North
Carolina Courage. I want to say somewhere in
there, it's going to be this weird thing where they're going
to coast to the shield and then the pressure ratchets, ratchets
(25:32):
right back up was like, OK, wellare you going to do the thing or
are you going to actually win the double?
I, I, you know, they're going tobe in a little bit of a
different position from Orlando last year.
And I, and I'm, I'm, I'm positive that they're looking to
look at this Orlando post title season hangover and try to take
some notes off of that. But it's even more drastic than
(25:52):
you can imagine. So like this Kansas City
currents had already clinched the playoff spot.
But if you look at if you look at their schedule, they go to
Bay FC this weekend, then they play the second place Washington
Spirit. If they win both of those two
games, they'll be two wins away from clinching the shield.
They can clinch the shield on September 26th, like 444 weeks
(26:16):
from now. They'll need to beat Washington
and obviously run the table. But if they go 4 and over the
next 4 at Bay versus the Spirit versus Chicago at home, and then
they host Seattle as well, 4 winnable matches for sure.
They they could have the shield wrapped up.
But I think that what makes thatinteresting is then what happens
because you're playing 6-7 weeksof low stakes, no stakes, you
(26:41):
know, let nobody get hurt out there.
Let's eat our orange slices at halftime kind of football.
And then are you going to be able to ratchet up come playoff
time? And you start to look at some of
these teams that are clawing forthat set that, you know, that
eight spot, you can look at thatfour or five.
Who's going to be in there? Casey's going to want to have a
good mix of being healthy but also, you know, staying, staying
(27:02):
sharp. It's a great point and it's like
if you look at so you, you mentioned that 4 match run.
So let's say they get it done because it's obviously not
outside the realm of possibilitythat they went for consecutive
matches considering all the matches they've won this season.
Then they would play at Angel City, home for Gotham at
(27:23):
Houston, and then they close theseason at home versus San Diego
Wave. Now, you know, maybe the Wave
have something to play for near the end of the season.
I get we haven't counted out Houston and Gotham, so they'll
be kind of playing for something.
Can you as Vlatko Andonovsky, you know, obviously we're
(27:44):
talking about a a lot of great professionals.
You talk about Lola Bonta as like the the kind of leader of
the squad. Can you almost trick yourselves
into thinking like, OK, some of these matches are high stakes
for our opponents and we need togo in there and we need, we do
need to stay sharp for these, you know, an elimination
tournament. If you want to look at the play
offs that way, I think it's going to be interesting to see.
(28:07):
I mean that's that's a pretty boring answer, but they're going
to be fighting that as they enter the play offs.
Yeah. I mean, I've, you know, watched
a ton of sports in my life. You know, can a team, you know,
kind of like, crank it up and trick themselves into, you know,
reaching that level of intensity?
No, they can't. It's impossible.
Usually not, you can't, you can't lie to yourself in that
(28:29):
instance. If a team really wants it and
you don't really need it, those matches usually go some kind of
way. But Vlasco's going to have to
figure out how to again, again, you know, thread that needle and
make sure this team's ready for the play offs.
Because I, I think I agree with you.
This, this Shield's a wrap. I don't know if four weeks is
going to be enough time to get it done, but five weeks, six
weeks, I think either way, it's just a matter of time.
(28:51):
They're just so far ahead. And I think the other thing is
there's no #2 team kind of breathing down their neck or,
or, or or really ready or willing to kind of push them to
the brink. I think everybody has sort of
been like, all right, well, let's let's get ready for the
playoffs, make sure we're all set there.
But obviously still some some jockeying to be done down the
stretch. But let's shift gears here.
(29:14):
What is your I hit my most intriguing match up of the week,
Chicago hosting the Orlando Pride.
What did you have as your your top match up for this weekend?
Well. What a coincidence it would be
the number two team on the table, the Washington Spirit at
home versus Seattle Reign. FCA Battle of Washington's, if
you will. Spirit or two wins, 3 draws, 0
(29:38):
losses in their last five. Seattle Reign is one win, 3
draw, 3 draws. Pardon me, one loss in their
last five in the last match. Appreciate.
You upholding the win draw loss format I.
Always will I I won't change. I will not change for any
league. That's the way football should
be described in in terms of the win, draw, loss, record.
(30:01):
Let me do this real quick. Sorry to do this live on the
show. I'm going to text you a video,
my good man, and we'll throw it in.
We'll we'll throw it in and post.
But what I want to talk about here, Sam Meza and Jordan Bug
have seemingly returned to form.They, I think they're bouncing
back a little bit from a couple,couple matches where they were
(30:24):
kind of reached a performance valley.
But there was a player I was specifically interested in and I
thought manager Laura Harvey hadsomething very interesting to
say about her. So I'd like to kick it to that
video now, please. We've talked a lot this year
about Sam as a maybe being the best player on the squad.
(30:46):
I feel like the more performances I see Madison Curry
stack up, it feels like she's making a run at that title
herself. What did you what did you see
from her tonight? She's very good.
I think I said it last week and I haven't done it yet, but I
will do it. I think she needs a look at the
(31:07):
national team. That's my opinion.
I'm not Emma, it's not my job. But how consistent she's been,
how adaptable she is. She can be on both sides, how
athletic she is. We, we literally brought her off
tonight because she was startingto cramp and I was petrified
because, you know, when we brought her off against Chicago,
things didn't go right. Great, but yeah, she's AI think
(31:30):
her and Sam I would agree with you consistently have been the
you know top for us let's. Go.
That's awesome there. We go.
So I felt pretty good about the Madison Curry minutes for weeks
now. She was the best player for Rain
in that disappointing loss versus Portland Thorns.
But I like it that Laura Harvey was ready to to put her name on
(31:54):
it, throw the alley oop to her pal Emma Hayes and be like, hey,
might want to consider her for the national team.
We've talked about that left back spot for the US women's
national team. Kind of a little bit of a
revolving door. We weren't sure if Nicewanger is
really going to stick there. Doesn't seem like Emma Hayes.
I mean, Emma Hayes was obviouslylooking for other options to
(32:17):
kind of assess alongside Jenna Nicewanger.
On the right side you have Fox and Avery Patterson.
We, we saw some Cariabello mixedin there, you know, a few months
back. So I just thought that was quite
interesting. By Laura Harvey, who I'm just
going to go out on a limb doesn't say anything without
(32:37):
putting a lot of thought into itbeforehand.
Yep. And I I mean tremendous Okie
doke by you just kind of taking her one way and we'll bring it
back the other way. That was very I mean that was
the AI level crossover by you. So well, well done by you.
Thank you and great and great answer by by by the legend Laura
Harvey. I talked about last week like
(33:02):
Seattle versus the wave. I was like, all right, well,
first goal wins and where we're at like 6 days later, still
waiting on that first goal. Nothing to do it, nothing to do
it in that one. But Seattle, I think good season
so far, seven wins so far on theyear 6, just six last year.
They've beaten Utah, they beat Angel City, they beat North
Carolina, Portland, San Diego, Wave, the Kansas City Current
(33:27):
and the Mighty racing Louisvillejust to kind of like a little
icy on the cake. And Washington on the other
hand, they've lost 4 * 3 at home.
Six straight Unbeaten though, isa little deceptive. 4 draws over
that six and they're only +2, sonot not quite cooking.
They've only got eight goals over their last seven matches.
They scored 21 goals through their first 11.
(33:48):
So they've gone pretty cold, even though Cantore has come on
and really kind of blown the doors off a little bit and been
like, I think even exceeded expectations.
Even though she was cooking overthe summer in the EUR.
I think she's come on and lookedreally, really great.
I mean, that's that's the hallmark of a great player.
They can just kind of get dropped in and fit with pretty
(34:09):
much whoever is on the pitch there.
And then obviously Trinity Rodman last weekend had that
amazing. I I don't think there's another
player in the league that can dothat, reach a ball either as it
reaches the end line or as it just kind of, you know, dips
past the end line just by centimeters and then just puts
the ball back in and, and kind of changes, changes the game.
(34:29):
So I think Trinity Rodman, hopefully that's a continuation
of of her getting back into the mix for Washington.
And then Seattle, I think you mentioned it defensively.
You know, they had those two games that were anomalies, seven
goals in two matches. But you look at their other 16
matches played, just fourteen goals allowed in those 16.
(34:50):
So I think their DNA still remains, you know, that being
that defensive stopper of a teamand, you know, to your point,
maybe those couple players getting introduced back into the
mix is the right recipe to make it happen.
Yeah, I mean, they had their difficulties marking Washington
at at the the reverse fixture. When was that?
(35:11):
That was a little while ago, May23rd.
You know, they lost that match 2to one.
They were having a a hell of a time keeping up with Gift Monday
and Rosemont Quasi, especially out there on the wings.
But you know, I, I think if they're able to scratch out
another point, which would be what, their 4th consecutive draw
(35:31):
and if they were especially ableto get that out on the road.
If you look across 2 fixtures against Washington Spirit from
where Seattle Rain FC is kind ofin their, in their journey as
they kind of make it back with these young players, I think
you're OK with that. So I think that's they're,
they're going to have to put in a good performance.
And I, I'm looking at this as when we talk about how bunched
(35:54):
up these teams are in the table,Spirit, Spirit and San Diego,
they're kind of becoming and maybe racing Louisville's part
of this too. They're kind of becoming the de
facto measuring stick. Because if you are trying to
measure yourself up against Kansas City current right now,
as we see, as the table would show, nobody's measuring up to
(36:16):
them. It's kind of like, well, you
know, when when Orlando was invincible for so much of last
year's season. It's like, OK, well, nobody's
that close to them. How close is everybody else?
So I think it's going to be now obviously I live in Seattle and
I and I cover the team pretty closely.
I am out here asking Laura Harvey questions, but I think
it's a fascinating match up nonetheless.
Can't wait to see that one. And you know, we talked a lot
(36:40):
about Casey Curran didn't mention Lorena, who I think it's
like just I don't know, one of these signings of the offseason
and down the stretch he knows may end up being the signing of
this of this year, depending on how the the the postseason
shakes out. But I do want to talk about one
more match up from this past weekend.
(37:00):
This was probably the the most fun I had watching a match for a
lot of different reasons. Racing Louisville, Houston dash
in what I'm calling a tale of two playoff teams.
Oh, wow, let's go. So I mean, obviously I, I, I've
overcooked myself with my, with my racing Louisville take, but I
still think that they're really good.
(37:21):
They're so good. You know, they they put
pressure, they create chances. They've got good offensive
players, good dangerous offensive players that are all
really, really hungry. I think when you look at some
other teams, I don't know, well,maybe you can see that they're
they don't really kind of have that DNA.
But I love watching Louisville play and Houston is another team
that you know, the seasons within the season we're at we're
(37:43):
we're in that season within a season where Houston is just
good. They're they're hard to beat.
You know, you look at Yasmine Ryan, you look at Delaney
Sheehan Messiah Bright actually came in and then was effective
in this one. Evelina Dulian comes in and and
has an impact later in this one.Avery Patterson, not quite an
Avery Patterson game, but you look at the spots where
(38:05):
Patterson gets the ball and makes plays and makes things
happen and it's all over the pitch.
You're just like, how do you, itmust be a nightmare having a
game plan against this person because you could just be
effective from so many differentparts of the pitch.
And I mean, this was just a great, great battle.
Talked about Louisville's easy remaining schedule.
Houston's got a little bit tougher, but again, I I still
(38:28):
think they're sitting in 11th and they are currently 4 points
behind Gotham for that 8th and final playoff spot.
And you know, Gotham's got the CONCACAF Champions Cup, Angel
City, there's that Alyssa Thompson breakup, the North
Carolina courage. That's a team that, you know,
does is not playing with that offensive intensity that I
talked about about Reece Louisville, you know, sports
(38:49):
week in and week out. Bay FC, you know, you already
know that's that's a that's a team that is not going to strike
a ton of fear in other teams. So Houston, I think outside shot
of maybe sneaking in if they could kind of like run Gotham
down here. And Louisville I think is is a
shoe and based on on who else they've got on the schedule you.
Know sneaky contender there. Contender to fall out.
(39:10):
I mean, Portland Thorns one win,one draw, 3 losses in their last
five, including two losses on the spinning.
We'll, we'll have to see, see what happens there.
But also, you know, I won't, I won't just hate on Seattle rain
FCS rival. You know, it's not like Seattle
rain is exactly blowing up the world either.
So maybe, maybe they go up against the measuring sick of
(39:33):
Washington spirit and and show again that they that they don't
measure up. And that's another team that
Houston dash could, could potentially catch.
I, I think I'm with you. I think they're just good at
this point. And and you know, the early, the
early results, we're not completely indicative of the
talent that they had. And it was one of those cases
that I was talking about earlierwhere maybe they just needed a
(39:55):
little bit of time to get together.
And, and like we talked about Houston maybe at the beginning
of the season, we talked about them improving and then like how
much do they improve versus how much the other teams in the
league are improving? And it looks like they're kind
of starting to catch up a littlebit and it looks like their rate
of improvement. Might be accelerated to a little
quicker than some of the other other clubs in the league.
(40:18):
So I'm here for it because I, I,I love, I like, I like their
style. Yasmine Ryan and Avery Patterson
are obviously two of my favoriteplayers to watch.
See Houston. 'S got this weekend.
They've got they're going. They play Port San Diego.
Oh, wait, wait. Louisville plays Portland.
Yeah, yeah. Houston play Houston goes to San
Diego. Those are a couple of fun
(40:39):
matches, a couple of players I want to this is a player that
took my time couldn't quite piece the whole offensive attack
together for Houston, but Kiki Vanzen, I think has to get a
mention. What a player a threat pretty
much every time she she hits 5thgear like it's just like, oh
shit, we're we we don't have thethe personnel to be able to
contend with this player at thismoment.
(41:01):
So I think she's she's come out in a big way.
And then defensively, Natalie Jacobs, Paige Nielsen, I think
have been both really, really good, really aggressive, really
tenacious. And I think it's it's kind of
like just spreading through the club.
And I think you you see them score goals, you see them make
big plays and you see how they react as a unit.
And then you can kind of see some cohesion there.
(41:21):
It's pretty exciting. I want to quickly round out the
remaining mash ups from this weekend just to kind of like put
a bow on it. Friday Racing Louisville host
the Portland Thorns, the maybe all of all of a sudden in danger
of Portland Thorns. Shout out to you.
And by the way, told you to avoid that Portland thorns -1
1/2 -, 2 1/2 bet against Utah. I told you Utah was was pesky
(41:42):
and you know, here we go. It should have gone a little
further and asked you for that Utah straight up number, but you
know, jeez. Better without that Nora topic
for another show. Yeah, Ewing Theory.
Let's go shout out to the the pod father, right?
Saturday, North Carolina Couragehost Utah Royals Bay FC host
Kansas City Current and then Sunday, a quadruple header from
(42:04):
the NWS. Hell, it's fucking go.
Chicago Stars host Orlando Pride, Washington Spirit host
your Seattle rain Goth FC host Angel City and Houston Dash head
to San Diego take on the wave. Gonna be a good, possibly a
great match. Week 19 to football.
Cannot wait to get into it. Mr. Grand Angle, anything else
you want to hit before we get out of here?
I. Do I want to shout out one of
our pals on YouTube, Richard Albertson, who pointed out that
(42:29):
Lindby Andolo had said on her Good Vibes podcast with Sam
Lewis that she was dealing with a knee issue that was limiting
her minutes? I did not see that episode
before we recorded the Week 17 recap where I had said like,
hey, I don't want to accuse Seattle Rain FC of lying to me
or lying to us as a general public, but why isn't she
(42:51):
playing? Now?
I will say that Lindbiandola revealing that last week, I had
been wondering for weeks why shewasn't playing.
And Laura Harvey did say like, hey, she's got a little bit of a
a knee thing and we don't want to play her on turf.
I'll say thank you. Thank you, Richard, for keeping
me honest on that. I think that's that's totally a
fair comment. And it doesn't seem like they're
(43:13):
they're not keeping it totally secret.
I do wonder if it's worse than they're letting on.
But now that she's being shut down for a few weeks, I think it
all kind of adds up and makes sense of you don't sign Lynn
Biendolo and then just not play her.
So I just want to shout out Richard though, because I didn't
see that on good vibes. And then I didn't really hear
(43:34):
anything until Laura Harvey mentioned it on the pre match
presser before the San Diego wave match.
So shout out to you, Richard. Journalistic integrity is
important to us. We we, we appreciate the help.
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, Community driven
enterprise for sure. Shout out to Mac Daily, friend
of the show on Spotify, who alsopointed out that piece of news
(43:54):
for us. So appreciate the community as
always. All right, man, I think we did
hit this with another episode ofinto the channel.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for watching, listening, hanging
out. If you enjoyed the show or love
them so far as much as your boysdo, make sure you're keeping
with us each and every single week.
Like if you liked, subscribe, follow YouTube, Spotify, Apple
podcast, wherever you like to watch or listen.
Leave us a review over your favorite podcast app.
Thanks to all of our socials except one in the showrooms of
(44:17):
this episode and a big thing in my coast as well, Mr. Grant
Angle for always being upfront about his injury status and and
his availability. And I mean, to be honest, he's
my guy's always available. It's I mean, there's no
probables, no doubtfuls. He's always in the lineup,
always sharp beat in, you know, my my running mate up top.
You already know what time is. I appreciate you bro.
(44:38):
Likewise, buddy, I wouldn't, I wouldn't do it with anybody
else. And you know, even when we we
sit here and we have to look each other in the eye and say
I'm hurt, dog, but I'm putting my heart into this shit.
That's just how it goes. You know, we'll fight through it
when necessary, but it's always good to understand if you are
too, if you're injured, not justhurt, it's it's understandable
sit out every once in a while. But we appreciate you guys for
(45:00):
not sitting out. Like I mentioned earlier, thank
you for dropping knowledge of the comments.
We always appreciate that and wewill see you all next time.
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