Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #359: WoSo Wednesday — NZ takeaways, codeine, Kornieck agendas

Episode Date: January 25, 2023

Vince, Tara and Belz convene to pick through the performances in the most recent camp. Agendas grow and converge, and new ones come to life. How good is Sanchez? How good is Kornieck? When is Cat coming back? Where is Sam Coffey? How hard is it to learn Mallory's new last name? Lots to discuss. Join us.----Scuffed is an ad-free podcast. Support that and get exclusive episodes (more than 50 last year and already 5 this month in 2023), plus access to the Discord including live call-in shows, by signing up for our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedAlso, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.comAnd check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the Scuff podcast where we talk about U.S. soccer. This is Woso Wednesday. I'm Adam Bell's. With me are Vince in Louisville and Tara and Philly. Guys, what's up? Hi, I'm excited to be here again. Talk about the gals. Yeah. What's something we learned from the New Zealand games? I mean, I learned that I don't really know what to learn against a seaside opponent. it. I learned that I'm really excited for February, excited for she believes. I think we, and I don't mean like the three of us, I mean we as anyone who watched this game,

learned that Captain Rose Lavel is a force. I wish to God that we would be able to see it again at some point a little bit more meaningful. Yeah. I think Trinity lit up the field. Naomi Germa. She was the first subbed out in both games. which at first really worried me. Like, is San Diego just micromanaging? Because you know they can do that. Or is it finally time to report out that she is number one on the call sheet? I know personally that when we get to not see Alex and Lindsay out in the field,

things are looking a lot more lively. Andy Sullivan can run again, which was not promised. You'd think that would be promised in a defensive midfielder, but it wasn't. And we're in the world of Sam Coughby. I don't know. All in all, it was an interesting mess and a January window. I corrected my expectations after the first game and had a lot of fun in the second. You changed your expectations to just like, let's have fun.

Yeah. I mean, it's a January window. We weren't playing an opponent to learn anything good. like everything good wasn't good everything bad was catastrophic it was a January window all right now now Tara oh Lord

that was a long ass list that was a long ass list and seemingly you named every play on the roster but one but one and I have to and I have to ask why that is

and if you don't know I'm talking about a certain a certain Taylor Cornyack I would love to get into it. Let's get into it. Yeah. Let's get the hell into it.

Should we listen to Blakos quote about her? Because Megalindahan asked how he thought the cornec at the six experiment went. What were your tape with Taylor is the six for the first half? I think it was good. Obviously, she's a presence there. She defended well, aerial challenges. No one had any chance around her. And the challenges that she had on the ball were expectable because first time,

it will take a little bit of time for her to understand the distances, and especially now with Lindsay coming just a little bit lower to play with Lindsay in a different seam before they were together, but a little bit higher. Now they're both a little bit lower, so we knew that Lindsay is going to take, is going to need a little bit of time, Taylor is going to need a little bit of time, but then going in the second half, you know, all those little things were adjusted. Unfortunately, it wasn't Taylor at that point, but altogether was good. All right.

So number one, the key thing, the key thing in there is that he starts talking about Taylor Cornyack, right? But then he, and this is, this press conference is after the first match, right? It seems. Okay. So he starts talking about Taylor. And then he brings up Lindsay Huran into it. And why did he bring Lindsay and ran into it? Because she was the whole reason

that that shit wasn't moving the way it was supposed to move in that first half. Y'all saw it. We all watched it. Telechorniac was out there dropping dimes. Dimes. Left foot. Right foot. Outside the boot.

Little chips. I mean, come on. She came in in the second match. You seen it. She had that ball over the top for, it was in silly season time when the game was very much decided. scored a goal on their own.

All I'm saying is Taylor Cornyax and Baller. That's all I'm saying. Tara, and it's time for you to repent. I don't think it is time for me to repent. I think what I got out of that presser is when Vladko says the word expectable, it sounds like it's not a real word. But I know it is. That's what I got out of that presser.

Is it a real word? It is a real word. But the way he says it, I'm like, he just made up a word. that's what I got out of this presser listen I want you to put your sword down for one second why was Taylor the six why we brought two

we brought two that are healthy Taylor's not a six and this is a great moment this is a great moment that you only get every once in a while you know it's kind of like a the Northern Lights or something like that where two of your agendas converge,

converge at once and become a new, greater, bigger, more improved agenda that you never could have even imagined yourself. And I'm looking at it and I'm like, it's beautiful. It's beautiful. And that is, you know, we got, we got Sam Coffee in the mud and Taylor Corneack ticking up.

It's lovely. It's lovely. I don't know why he did it. I have no clue why he did it. To be honest, Sam Coffey has played all right in most of the opportunities that she's received. So I don't know. Yeah. Maybe too much codeine.

There's got some codeine in the system. I don't see like the middle ground. Like we have Andy Sullivan who is more attacking, which some folks don't like in a six. I see that. We have Sam Coffey who is a natural defensive midfielder. I don't see why you go, hey, we need a third choice. If any, like the only explanation I have been able to come up with is that he is trying to tighten his roster to get to 23 if he's, if he's been told like we're not getting 26. He's spoken previously about how most, if not all of the countries participating in the women's world.

Cup have advocated to FIFA to make it a 26-person roster like the Men's World Cup got. But it's still 23. So in my mind, like, that is one of the only explanations I have for playing her as a six because he says, we have this 6-2 girl. We need to keep her on the roster so she can head the ball and the goal every once in a while. Because ultimately, she still runs like Godzilla. and I don't see how she can be at six. That's just me, though.

Okay, okay. Well, I mean, Sam Coffee ain't the fleet of foot, okay? That's all I'm saying. Cep Cofofi's not the fleet of a foot. And, I mean, you saw the way she was spraying that ball, dog. You seant it. Everyone's seen to it. It was live, direct, for everyone to see.

You know what I'm saying? I'm really, I'm not even sure. I mean, like to me, Taylor Cornet is probably like a fringe national team player. For sure. Like, I don't know if. she should really be seeing in the field in New Zealand slash Australia when it comes that time.

But, Terrell, you challenged me on the, on just her as a player as a person overall, okay? And I'm just, and I would just like to say, y'all all seen it, y'all all seen while I was on it, okay? I didn't know. Y'all seen the skills. The skills are there.

There are people running up on her. press resistant you know what I'm saying they couldn't they couldn't get around couldn't get the ball off her she got caught once in the second match I remember that but other than that press resistance Arizona State University players were up on her it wasn't like professional soccer players right hey hey hey hey hey you you play who's in front of you you play who's in front of you let Lindsay Iran was having a ton of trouble with those Arizona State University players in the first half of the first match for the first match you We can agree there. To the point where I mean, I was like, yo, if this continues, we got to stop calling her up because it was, it was getting crazy there for a minute.

The only player who was in season. She's mid-season. She's, you know, fit, ready to go. She's the only one who wasn't on some sort of a break. It was amazing to see. And then she flew back to, flew 3,000 hours back to France and missed the next.

game. Crazy. Which I mean, she did turn it on in the second half. She was balling in the second half. Thank you. But I mean, you know, when you take the balling in the second half and the ass of the first half, yeah, you average out to average. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah. Like you said, Tara, really, all in all, there really wasn't too much to take from this, except for the fact that maybe Korniak somehow, some way, has jumped Sam coffee in the pecking order. I guess it remains to be seen if it if it is true we'll see in February but it could be that you know the Burrhalter trick from September where you right don't call somebody up or don't play them and then they end up being on the World Cup roster did she hit the field at all though no yeah she flew a million miles not play one day to not play uh yeah it's crazy it's crazy it's crazy for

sure. But, hey. Yeah, I mean, we'll find out. I guess all of this points. You can't always be on the right side of history like me. I see Tara's call for you to beat your sword into a plow share has been ignored. Not because, look, Tara's playing nice. It's crazy.

She's trying to flip it around. She's playing nice now. She's playing nice now. but but y'all don't but y'all don't see the conversations okay like like if you're not in the discord you're not seeing all the all the all the hate and vitriol yeah always vitriol from terra that's that's spewed in the direction of taylor cordiac so i mean y'all y'all and the fact that she even uh she she tried to tone it down on this pod to trick y'all the trick y'all but but just no just no there's a lot of a lot of fuel to that fire from me but um Yeah, let me think. Is there anything else? I mean, I guess, you know, when we just talk about our wing, like our winger rotation, like, yeah, I want to, I want to challenge you to, you know, on like, how do you actually, how do you actually, you know, everybody's like, well, we got to, we got to play Trinity Rodman. She played a really nice ball for that first goal in the second game.

And, you know, she obviously did a lot of good stuff in this, in this camp. But really? We're really going to start Trinity Rodman over one of Swanson or Smith? Yeah, like I have to say, I'm probably getting to that. Yeah. Like I have to say, Mallory's making me a believer. She's making me a believer. Not that I wasn't before.

Not that I wasn't before. Like I said, she came to Louisville and just, you know, promptly shit on the entire city, like five minutes into the game. but yeah man she's she she might be too good might be too good and I just don't know I think you guys are thinking a little bit too close-minded I don't think we need to take Swanson or Smith off to get Rodman on like when you watch the spirit play she is all up and down that right side I think we could fit her in somewhere else. We just have to be open to, you know, changing this quote-unquote system that we see every single year no matter what with the women's national team. Okay. What about at the

nine? She played there. She played there when we were in Europe. She played like a false nine kind of. Worked pretty well. I would like to see it. I would like to see it. Anything that can get Trinity on the field. Because I mean, I do. feel like she's one of our, if we, like, cat's on the way back. But at this point, it's looking like, well, she may get three, two months of game time in or something before the World Cup. So if, like, San's cat, I would love to see Trinity at the night, for sure. Get our best three attacking players on the pitch. Yeah, no matter what, I think we have to find a way to squeeze her in there. Because when you think of a Rothschilder,

or a starting 11 with the attacking power that we actually have, you keep Mao, you keep Sophia, you keep Cat, you keep Trinity, like defenders are going to be weeping. It's so exciting. It's so helpful. And like I'm getting kind of sick of people talking about Trinity Rodman as the future of this team. The future is here. Let's go.

Let's embrace it. Let's be able to play exciting soccer again. Yeah. Yeah. And all three. all three of those ladies can play the nine. Like this could be a very fluid

front three, which I mean, you know, we talk about fluid front threes, but how many do you actually see like in football ever? It's not many. So it's kind of a myth at this point. But maybe, you know, I'm holding hope out because it could just, it can work so well.

It could work so well. Malas played the nine for the Red Star quite a bit. Sophia plays it every week for Portland. Yeah, so it could easily work. If I was coach. I was thinking about, you know, forget her famous dad.

Trinity Rodman is like probably the best name in American soccer right now. It's so strong. It is a great name. All right, Jersey, should we talk about the Jersey leak? Yeah, blobs of paint and guess what? I just learned I love blobs of paint. I think it looks great. Yeah, I'm with it.

I'm with it for sure. Like even when I saw the little, that little clip where it wasn't a full jersey, but they just have the design in a square. I was like, yeah, this is going to hit. This is going to hit. You could just tell. You got to get some Rodmans for your daughters.

This is an investment. It's going to be great. Yeah, it's coming. I'm getting Robbins for the whole family. And the word is. is that they'll be using the blue the blue camo for the away jersey, is that right?

And this will be the home jersey? The rumor is not sticking around, yeah. Oh, wow. Okay. Huh, interesting. And they got the gold, you know, gold stars, of course, gold Nike check. Going to have a gold

World Cup Champions patch in the middle. It's going to look nice. It's going to look nice. I'm excited for it. I can't lie. Me too. I think it looks great. And also, like, anything's going to look great on world-class athletes. So we just got to, you know, not fall into the same traps we did last year. We're new people. We're growing. It's going to be great. What did you say it to?

I'm saying discussions over ugly jerseys were a waste of time. Let's just embrace it and move forward. Yeah, it was I agree to disagree Agree to disagree You know, I'm outnumber here on this pod Two to one for sure So we're not going to get into it But all right, all right

Fair enough, fair enough And like at least we have one That we don't have to argue about I'll take it See, that's a great middle ground What about Vlako's So roster update He's sort of intimated that

The pool of players he's considering was has narrowed down to 32 yeah I'm really fascinated by this because once again it's just so shameful of FIFA to have a women's world cup with 23 player roster I think is that that's that's official it's it's happening yeah yeah it's happening Vladko has gone on record in one of these press conferences you know acknowledging that they have advocated to have it be raised to 26, but no word from FIFA that they have any plans on changing it. And when you look at women's soccer as a whole, you know, worldwide, ACLs are tearing left and right. They cannot be saved. And to keep our roster at 23 when they just had one with 26, it's horrendous.

I'm so, I'm so embarrassed, you know, it's not like FIFA is an outstanding organization or anything. But good God, it's the minimum they could do. Well, maybe they'll change it before. I mean, yeah, hopefully. Bells. I mean, it makes no sense. It makes no sense not to. Like, what are they doing?

Yeah, maybe they will change it. Maybe they won't. Hopefully they do. There's going to be a World Cup. But I do think it's interesting that Vladko said that his, his roster went from 40 to 32 recently. 32 is still a lot when you look at how many players they're calling in. We really don't get any more than 24 or 25 for a camp.

So I'm intrigued by that. Yeah, well, let's talk a little bit about Ryan McNulty, a scuffed patron and, you know, major contributor on the Discord, big-time contributor. He kind of keeps track of this stuff really closely. and why don't we just go through, you know, who is definitely in the 11, who is definitely going to be on the roster, and then who's kind of battling over the last few spots?

No, I love it. Okay, so the idea here is Germa, Rose Lavelle, Swanson, and Smith are written in Penn starters. That's World Cup. Yeah. And then the people who are going to be on the roster for sure, goalkeeper, Casey Murphy, Alyssa Neher, and at fullback, Crystal Dunn, Emily Fox, Sophia Huerta, and probably Kelly O'Hara, although she's injured. Alana Cook and Becky Sowerbrun are the other two centerbacks who are definitely going to be on the roster.

And then Lindsay Horan, Ashley Sanchez, and Andy Sullivan are the other midfielders who are going to be in the roster. Rapino and Trinity Rodman going to be on the roster as wide forwards, and then Alex Morgan as a center forward. So that makes 18 players. Adriana Franch probably has the inside track as the third goalkeeper. And then Ashley Hatch probably has, does she still have the inside track as a striker? I guess. I think that, like my whole spiel about Taylor Corniac and tightening of the roster,

I think that we could see potentially that be Lynn Williams' spot because she can play both positions. She can be out wide or a number nine. I think we could see Lynn take over that third center forward spot. Okay. Just the theory, though. Well, that's why. So take Williams out of it for a second. Those 20 players that I named, if there's a 23 woman roster, then there's three left, three spots left, and then six, obviously, if it's 26.

That's why the coffee corneic debate has some energy to it, you know. Totally. It's the agenda to end all agendas. Emily, so Kingsbury is a goalkeeper kind of in the picture. Haley Mace, fullback in the picture. Emily Sonnet and Tierna Davidson are the centerbacks that are sort of in play, although Davidson's still injured. And then coffee, Corneack, and Christy Mewis in the midfield,

midge purse, Alyssa Thompson, Lynn Williams, the aforementioned Lynn Williams, and Kristen Press. are wide forwards who conceivably have a chance. And then, of course, Katerina Makario. She will be there almost certainly. She's, I guess we should probably mention she was on Instagram, dribbling some cones. Looks good. Everything is fixed.

Everything is almost there. The sun is shining again. We almost got cat back. So you'd rather have, you'd rather have, go ahead. Well, I was going to say, it does look like, like still going to be a minute. What do you mean? Yeah.

I mean, she was drivel around the cones, but you know, it was like if you were like walking your baby through some cones or something. Why do you have to take? I'm just saying, I'm just saying. Take a big old bucket of water and throw it on all of my hopes and dreams. Like that is coming back. No, no, no, she's going to be there for the World Cup. I'm just saying.

I might not be back to like, March or April. Gladco's timeline in January said four to five weeks she'd be able to play again. We're coming up on that four weeks here shortly. My expectation was never that she was going to play and she believes. But I do think that... When did she get hurt?

Last summer. Last summer. It was right before qualifying because it was like, oh God, where you have to go to Mexico and not have cat, It was terrible. Okay. Okay. My expectation was never that she was going to bounce back in February and get her starting spot back.

I just hope that we embrace her the same way we embrace Crystal Dunn coming back, you know, that camp where she didn't play, but she trained. She wasn't cleared for, like, contact. That's my hope and dream, and I will be crushed if it doesn't happen. Yeah. I think that's a guarantee. That's a guarantee. Like any camp that we have where she's able to participate,

you know, or at least be on the periphery of, I think she'll be there. Because, I mean, in some ways, you can say that Black Coe really built this entire team around Catarina Macario. I think that you can see, at least in the beginning,

like, when Kat, in Mal and Sophia were that top three, they were on fire. They were rolling. Like, sure, we weren't playing top competition in the world. Kazakhstan. Uzbekistan. I was at that game.

It was great. But the shift in the front three when Alex came back, those three really don't have that good of chemistry. I always thought it was because they got really, really used to playing with Kat. last year and you know the the shift in talent was obvious yeah i mean because you know mal and so far like real forwards you know wide forwards not not just wingers you know what i'm saying so they're looking to like if cat and cat picks that thing up in the middle they're going to run off cat you know what i'm saying pick that space up in the middle hopefully get a ball and and you cat can deliver

Alex Morgan, not so much. Trinity Robben can deliver those passes as well. So I want to throw that out there. The draft, Michelle Cooper goes to Kansas City and Alyssa Thompson to Angel City. That is not what we expected to. Last time we talked, I went on a whole tirade about Cooper to Gotham, and it didn't work out, and I was crushed for like two hours. But Michelle Cooper's going to Kansas City now, and Lynn Williams is going to Gotham.

They traded Lynn for the number two spot. And I just wanted to briefly come in here and say, we all have to get on board with Kansas City now. I like Kansas City, but now I have to love Kansas City because Cooper's there. But I think it should probably be a pretty easy task. I like barbecue. I like jazz. So I'm excited.

Yeah, I'm on the total opposite of the spectrum, just because, just because. just because, you know, I see Casey as a competitor. Number one, they took two of my favorite players off of racing, which it is what it is. But, yeah, Kansas City is just sickeningly, sickeningly competent, their front office and whatnot. All the moves they make is just like, damn.

Because they got Debiania, too. Yeah, like, what are y'all doing? Chill out. You know what I'm saying? And it's like, oh, oh, okay. And they were in the final last year. Yeah. They were in the final.

They're building a stadium that looks like it's going to be beautiful. Probably not as nice as the one in Louisville, but, you know, it's objective. Dedicated training space for the women's team. Like, we don't have to share everything with the men. That's how they got to beanie, is this growth that in commitment they have to women's soccer. Now they have Cooper going there. It's going to be world class. I'm so excited.

Yeah, yeah, they got a squad. They got a squad, and I'm sick about it. I'm sick about it. Because the main reason is like, yo, they, you know, had the upheaval from Utah. And then, you know, the Utah franchise moved to Kansas City. And they were basically supposed to be on, like, the racing Louisville path, which, you know, we, I think the same year that Casey debuted was also a race in Louisville's first year. And they just, they just, they just lapped us. They just lapped us.

Yeah, they did. Add insult to injury, you guys are trading Emily Fox. Yeah. I mean, but that's actually, that's actually a good trade. Because she wasn't going to resign, bro. She wouldn't go to resign, and we got Carson Pickett, who was best 11 in the NW. Like, as a, as a soccer player in the NWSL,

um, better than Emily Fox. and also Abby Erick, which we need a centerback too. So it was a hell of a trade for somebody that is out of contract after this next season and wasn't going to resign. So I'll take that. It's really flattering to be traded in exchange for two players. So I'm happy for her. I think North Carolina is a bit of a mess, though.

So hopefully she's just there for a year and goes somewhere else. Yeah, we'll see. And another big thing with regards to Louisville. Emily was just that like our coach really kind of put some shackles on her and didn't and then like when she was playing left back or right back she wasn't allowed to go on like those mazy runs that we came accustomed to seeing from Emily

which kind of you know I mean that's that's the most magical and beautiful thing that she does and there rives a lot of value out of that just just from the ability to carry the ball from a fullback position and so we played her to counteract that we played her on like midfield a little bit and whatnot but i think our our coach really just prefers like a up and down traditional type fullback and that's what we're getting to cars and picket and probably the best one in the league so hey it is what it is baby i'm i'm sad to see her go i'm sad to see her go and the fact that i'm not going to be able to

to claim anybody on the World Cup roster, you know, when the World Cup comes around. It's going to hurt, but it is what it is. Well, unless Carson Pickett makes it a late, late surge. She could. And probably should, you know what I'm saying? No offense to Haley Mace, but.

I think you should say no offense to Kelly O'Hara. I think that's more like it. They can all get the smoke. Any back of fullback. No offense, but we're coming for you. And, you know, I'm going to have my eyes, you know, well, ear to the ground and eyes everywhere. Like I'm watching every Washington Spirit game, Casey, y'all better not get roasted because I'm sending them to Black Coe directly. Before we get to some player-specific stuff that we're just going to try to race through, Crystal Dunn's husband, a trainer for the Thorns, a guy named Pierre Subriere, got fired.

for administering codeine without a prescription in one case to a player who did not give, quote, unquote, informed consent. So that's kind of bad. Yeah, I'll be honest. I was laughing it up when the news first did just because of the ridiculousness surrounding women's soccer as a whole. And specifically the thorns, like, we've got racism, we've got sexism, we've got homophobia, we've got verbal abuse, we've got sexual abuse. and now we have distributing drugs. So it's just another day in the NWFEL. It's ridiculous.

I am ashamed. I think it's horrendous. But I think it is also important to note that this is transparency we've never had before. Like with the report coming out, I know so many people just want to put everything behind them, keep it going. like it's a new day in the NWSL. We need to know these things in order to improve. But yeah, it's horrendous. The Thorne's also fired an assistant coach, Sophie Kloh, I believe,

for kissing a player's neck during the celebrations after the NWSL championship. So it's a bad day to be a Portland Thorn. For Sophia Smith's sake, I hope they get it together. Yeah. Yo, I just want to say it's absolutely, look, hopefully that the player that received the codeine without

consent is okay I assume that she is you know what I'm saying but yeah it's not comedy this is comedy I'm sorry I'm sorry this is hilarious bro because you're talking about codeine bro

the dirty sprite one of the you know if you listen to Southern hip hop at all you know it's lined with references to lean the purple drink dirty spray yeah double cups

drank in my cup you know what I'm saying and it's just beautiful that you know worlds have collided here worlds have collided and for it to we were to be Crystal Dudd's husband too

is just like what bro what's going on what's going on and I think we actually found out why Sam coffee wasn't playing in New Zealand. She was sleepy. She was sleepy. She was very sleepy. You know, Crystal Dunn, she's not new to this. She's true to this.

So she was able to, she was able to just truck on and just, and just keep it moving. You know what I'm saying? But, yeah, man. First of all, it looks like Pierre's going to jail, which isn't funny. But damn, it looks like he might be going to jail. Yeah

It's crazy all around It's crazy all around They've got like the cutest baby in America That baby needs a dad with a job This is this is bad news He is unemployed What's Sophie doing What's Sophie doing kissing somebody's

I mean you kiss somebody's neck And Against Without their informed consent Without their informed consent Listen this is Barely getting into what happens in the NWSL. It's horrendous.

I mean, Portland just needs to burn down that front office, rebuild. It's bad news. Yeah. And, you know, there is a minor on the team as well. Yeah. One Olivia Moultry. Who sued the NWSL to be able to play in this league. Now she's got to deal with all this.

Poor girl. Multiple scandals at this point. point, multiple scandals. That's crazy. I just have to say like whatever you, when, when, after everything we've learned over these past few years, whenever you see a women's sports team in general, just take the field, you have to have just the ultimate amount of reverence and respect for all of them. Because truly, they've probably all been through hell in order to just play a game that they love.

It's incredible. So, you know, my heart goes out to everybody. Yeah. Well, you know, that reminds me of one thing we haven't mentioned. You know, listening to Meg Linnehan and also Vladko's press conference with Mallory, there was a significant discussion of the crowd in New Zealand. And I think that we should probably mention that they almost never play at home, that team. And they had 12,500 people in the national stadium for that first.

game. I don't know how many were there for the second game. But it is cool to see, you know, more people starting to enjoy women's soccer, you know, grow the game. Because it would be awesome for the game if New Zealand comes out of this World Cup with, you know, a rabid fan base and becomes another soccer power. Yeah, that team never played in their national stadium. It's the women's national soccer team, and they've never played in the national stadium. Crazy. But all good signs for the future. Man, that's crazy.

They never played in it, but Tyler Boy did. Is that the chair of Tyler Boyd on? Probably mostly it's like rugby games in there, right? Yeah, more than likely. So get into the player pool real quick. We already discussed Macario's somewhat, I guess, depending on your interpretation, maybe tentative dribbling of the cones on Instagram.

Instagram. Ashley Hatch, I just want to point out, she scored a nice goal in that second game. It was a really nice finish. But watching it back, there's a point in the third minute when Sanchez fizzes a ball across the six. Hatch could have arrived on it if she'd been a little more alert and, you know, just a little alert, you know, make a decisive move at the goal mouth. And she didn't.

And I think you were asking, Tara, like, what did Alex Morgan do in these games that Hatch didn't do. And I would say Morgan is a little more. My sense of it is that Morgan is a little more ruthless with her movement in the box than Hatch is. I just don't know if Hatch is like dialed in, really. Don't can be wrong. I'm not here advocating for Ashley Hatch to even really be on the roster probably. But Alex in that first game was nothing special.

They actually and Alex both have one goal and they both missed. a bunch of other chances. I mean, when you, when you zoom out a bit, it's like, this, this is our hero still.

She, I don't know. I've made my case. I hope to God, Kett comes back soon because I was not impressed with Alex in the first game at all. Yeah.

Okay. Sophia Smith is, there's a, there's a, there's a XG touches and shots. XG is for nerds, Twitter account, touches and shots in the box per 90 chart going around. And it's almost comical how much of an outlier. Sophia Smith is. Yeah. I mean, when she's not in the camp, we don't have a lot to say. But it's always a nice reminder to just tell folks

what we have coming. Sophia Smith is unlike anyone else we have. She's a killer. I can't wait to see her in February. She's got to. to be there in February. Yeah. Let's talk about Mallory Swanson real quick. Yeah. My only note, she had a great, she had a great January. She was amazing.

But learning a new last name is not hard. Every, every person on HBO Max, every clip I've seen going around the internet, it's like Mallory Pew, oh, I'm sorry, formally known as Mallory Pew. She didn't die. Her last name is just different. It's Mallory Swanson. I don't see how everybody's having such a hard time with this. Yeah, shots fired at Greg Velasquez, definitely.

Let me play a clip on this. Yeah, the first goal first was very nice goal by Swanson. Yes, I got to say, we kind of like Swanson better than you. She's done Yeah, Swanson's done better than Pew But no, it wasn't that funny He is a weird dude He is scoge

It was out there falling over there So I was laughing at that It wouldn't have funny But I mean, I kind of do agree I think Swanson's going to be good for her I'm all in on the Swanson era Let's see it Let's see it

We're gonna need it If you're going to win the World Cup Yeah Yeah when she's finishing which I know we don't believe in finishing around here but when she's putting the ball in the back of the net man What was it the third goal in the second game

Where it just was top corner That was lethal It was oh loved it Yeah all of her goals This camp were delightful Midge purse If we don't get a 26 woman roster She's out probably

I think so She had a good first game but not good enough to warrant, you know, replacing Trinity as Sophia's backup if we're going that route. I think her time has come and gone. She was really good in that first game. She was, and who knows? Maybe she'll be there, but I don't think so. Alyssa Thompson even further down the depth chart.

Rapino, anything going on with her? She resigned with O.L. Rain for one. year and let's help something comes up where she's not and she believes because I don't I don't want to deal with that. He's going to slide in right over Trinity. Yeah. Go, Lord. Brace yourselves.

And then let's skip ahead to Ashley Sanchez. What did you guys think? I thought she had a good New Zealand run. And before both of you come at me. because you've both abandoned ship and aren't loyal to the cause. I'm back on the ship. I abandoned and I came back. There is, there's some rumors going around.

Is she leaving Washington's Spirit? So Spirit had their first day back and you know it was just like social media crazy. It's welcome back videos. It's team videos. It's stretches, not a Sanchez to be seen. And she's one of their top players. They're always trying to get her own video. out. So it was alarming. We didn't see her for quite a bit. They did end up posting a picture of

Ashley and Trinity cuddling, like kind of taunting all of the rumor mails because people did pick up on it really quickly. But I don't know. Like they bought themselves like maybe a day. It was also a weird picture to post. So I'm keeping, I'm keeping track of it because that will be very interesting if she does leave. Did you think, yeah, that is, that is interesting. Do you think she, do you think the time in New Zealand was good for her? I do. I do.

And I've been, I've been watching this team for a while since I was like a child. And in the past few years, it's quite frankly gotten like boring. It's gotten a little doll. And I get it like, it can be a tough position being. the best in the world, which sounds utterly pathetic to say out loud. But you all have, like, you guys have to see it too. When we win, we don't win by enough or it wasn't good enough. When we lose, the world is burning. When a player scores, it wasn't a good enough goal. We purposefully don't play good enough opponents. Like the list goes on and on. And I'm guilty

of thinking many of those things as well. But to me, when a player gets like, stagnant or feels like their position is just theirs forever, which we see quite often. Or when we just run the same team and the same system over and over and over again, I lose some of that fire I feel watching this team. Like I want to love this team and it's hard when it just gets, you know, it plateaus a bit. But then we get someone like Ashley Sanchez who, let me be clear. is not perfect. I'm not saying she's even world class. But those flaws are kind of her power here. She's always going to be looking for the goal. She's going to have the confidence to try wild things at any time.

She's got chemistry with almost everyone I've seen her play with. She's bold. She's confident. She's always looking like she's having a blast. And like this team unfortunately also has to carry the weight of being role models to so many little kids. Ashley Sanchez is someone who I think we should all get behind because of all of these reasons. Like, and even what we saw in New Zealand, all that to say is like, yeah, I think she had a good camp. I think she was a burst of life in New Zealand. I'm trying not to be like a hyperbole here, but I think that she's earned consistent minutes.

Am I saying she should start every game? No. But I think she's earned consistent minutes, and I think she's exciting to watch. And I think everyone should get behind her because it's fun. Yeah. I was kind of down on her after the second game, you know, complaining about her in precision, technically. But I went back and looked again, and I've come around basically to the idea that she was good. And she does try stuff, and she plays quickly, and she moves off the ball purposefully.

three or four of her ideas were the wrong thing at the wrong time, I think. But she's only two years into being a pro soccer player. And you hear yourself, three or four of our ideas were wrong. We can live with that. Yeah, they stick out because they were kind of, you know, bozo stuff a little bit. I'm sure when you go back and rewatch Haran, 10 or 12 of her ideas were wrong. And we're not calling for her head. I mean, I am, but we as a collective women's a national team,

audience aren't. Yeah, the aesthetics of a, of Horan and Cornyac in the midfield are just, it's more than I can, more than I can bear, less than I can bear. Bells, you're, you're always one for elegance. You're always one for elegance. So, so when you see, when you see Taylor Cornea kidding outside of the boot balls to the, to release a player in the space, you don't do that. That doesn't tickle your fancy? It tickles it a little bit, but she looks like a robot. She looks like a robot doing it, so. Very interesting. Elegance is not a word I associate with her. Okay. And then also, that was a very nice soliloquy about Ashley Sanchez, but I got my eye on her too because I'm loading up an agenda. Savannah de Mello is better than Ashley Sanchez. Well, we'll see how this NWSL season plays out.

Savannah DeMello should be, you know, leading the attack for a much improved, much improved racing Louisville team. We'll see. If that were the case, maybe she would be called up. Yeah, okay. Yeah. Yeah, it's why you got to, you know, you got to get out in front of things. You got to get out in front of things. That's how you make money. That's what I'm all about.

I'm a visionary. We'll see. I think, I do think that that liveliness that you were talking about at the beginning of the show, Tara, that we saw from the team without Horan in it is, it does have a lot to do with Sanchez. And we were better at, I mean, I didn't cut the clip, but. Vlako was talking after the first game about how we were better in the second half of that game at building from the first third into the second third from the defensive third into the middle third.

And he's like, yeah, once we get in the middle third, we're fine, we can get it into the final third easily. So I thought we were even better in the second game than in the first game at getting into that middle third. And, you know, Sanchez is a part of that. So I don't know. Got to keep watching and see what happened. in February, I guess.

Yeah. Last thing I want to mention, and I think we should probably get going, is Germa's first involvement in the second New Zealand game. I really want to spotlight how nice it was. She gets a pass pack from Dunn, and then she just kind of disguises her intention and then skips by the pressing forward and then plays it to Sanchez's feet.

and I just love that right off the bat, letting them know that they're in for a long day from a centerback with composure. And you see, when we talk about Taylor Cornyack's performance in the first match, Taylor Cornice performance in the first match, notice that there wasn't a lot of that going on, okay? That's all I'm saying. That's all I'm saying. It was a tactical problem, right?

I mean, we were mirroring there 4-4-2. We are talking about how Naomi Germa is world class, and she is. Okay. I mean, she is for sure. It's disrespectful for you to bring up Taylor Cornyack in the Naomi Germa section. Look, look, I'm just saying, I'm saying there's outcome-based results and there's process-based results. And, you know, people are, you know, I saw that Andy Sullivan, Taylor Cornyack tweet go around a little bit too much from

I like it. A little bit too much for my liking. I'll just, you know. But anyway, Naomi Germann. Naomi Germann are very good. I think we can agree that midfield is a tricky puzzle. Which is the basis of my foundation for the, if Greg Berthelter took off of this team, they would be much better take.

Finally, a cause I can get behind. Funny, hilarious, accurate. Love it. All right. Man, those midfields. does either you have something you got to say before we get done yeah back on the not officially tracking but officially tracking scorecard me official scored again yesterday that's all i got yeah and uh spring here in february vlad yeah i mean just just to do it i mean because i mean i don't know what vlad lad has proved pretty stubborn to this point i guess but i think just to satisfy everybody like bring your in man i think we will see um a zach stephen situation with alex morgan i think she'll she'll not be able to show up one time because she doesn't want

to be back up and then we'll be in a whole new world okay hey another woe so wednesday in the books thanks guys thanks everybody for listening uh we'll see you