Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #371: WoSo Wednesday — W Gold Cup explainer, Alyssa scores, player of the year

Episode Date: March 9, 2023

Belz, Vince and Tara cover the waterfront (details below) with the NWSL season just over two weeks away.----- NWSL/USWNT upcoming dates- Alyssa Thompson goal in friendly v Club America- the leaked Thorns kit- W Gold Cup explainer- Korbin Albert debut- FIFA player of the year is a joke. Sophia Smith interview: https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/articles/sophia-smith-interview-portland-thorns-nwsl-usa-uswnt-womens-world-cup-the-best- Interview with Alyssa Nichols, Jackson, MS, native and pro referee: https://andscape.com/features/fifa-referee-alyssa-nichols-is-aiming-for-the-world-cup/ - U23s in action in next couple weeks----Scuffed is an ad-free podcast. Support that and get exclusive episodes once a week, plus access to the Discord and 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. Apologies for the delay. This is another Woso Wednesday on Thursday. Blame me, bells. I was on the road and couldn't get a good reliable internet connection where I was. We muddled through with the Monday review a few days ago, I guess now, but it was painful. And I thought, hey, let's just wait a day for Woso Wednesday. One consequence of that is we missed International Women's Day.

Happy belated International Women's Day, y'all. How you doing, Tara? Did you wish Vince a happy International Women's Day, too? Vince, happy International Women's Day to you as well. Thank you, man. I got, appreciate it. I got my kid on with a mom on the back. Oh, geez.

Did you see the picture of all the women? Yeah, the less said about that, but, but you know, Tara, shout out to you, number one. Yes. Thank you. How did you celebrate? Yes. I nobody respected this sacred day enough. I didn't get any presents, but I did get to see Alyssa Thompson's score.

So I feel like all in all, it was a good International Women's Day. Okay. International Women's Day seems like a big thing for LinkedIn. Yeah. Did you get a shout off from your job or something? No, no. And I work hard not to be on LinkedIn. Fair enough, fair enough.

You definitely don't want to go there if you don't have to, for sure. Oh, man. What a wasteland that place is. Avoid it at all costs. So, yeah, I'm happy to receive my shout-outs now from YouTube. Okay, cool, cool. Okay, let's talk through the calendar for women's soccer over the next few weeks. NWSL starts March 25th, and then there's a FIFA window, right?

Yeah. The April FIFA window is the third through the 11th. So realistically, we're going to have NWSL start, and then all of our international players are going to leave right away. The United States women's national team players are going to most likely head to Texas, as that is where our first game is. Ireland on April 8th in Austin, and then Ireland again on April 11th in St. Louis with that new stadium of theirs.

It's a shame. It's a shame that I can't make any of these. two places I would love to go. Yeah, me too. Yeah. I really wanted to go to St. Louis, but it's on a Tuesday. I don't want to go to St. Louis on Tuesday. Can't do it.

Mm-mm. Can't swing it. And usually, like, if it was, you know, if it was Columbus or something, a little bit closer to Louisville, I would swing it. But four and a half hours away is just too much. It's too much. Too much. Yeah. But the talk of NWSL starting and then international players immediately leaving has brought up a lot of interesting points, I think, about our calendar.

And if you followed NWSO in the past, like, there's always this lingering rumor that our schedule is going to change. I think now more than ever it has picked up some steam and the thought that in WSL could change to more of a European schedule, like a fall to spring, is in talks, which I think is, you know, quite frankly, pretty dumb. But what do you guys think? Why is it dumb? I think, you know, I was reading something about how like an international player from another country, had the sense that it was undesirable to sign her because she would be gone for FIFA windows. I just don't get this.

It annoys me with MLS and also now annoys me with NWSL. Why don't we just follow the calendar everybody else follows? Well, I think you have to step back for a second because you... Hold on, hold on. Well, just sorry, Tara. No. On the day after International Women's Day, I shouldn't have interrupted you. For sure.

But all the hand-ringing that was had over that St. Paul game that the U.S. men's national team played. And you're telling me we're going to have to think of our season during, you know, winter vortex weather or whatever the hell. That's exactly what I'm getting to. Like, I'm more confused by the prospect than, like, sure of my conviction. But I do understand why some national team. players have spoken out in favor of this change.

More built in FIFA breaks, less time being away from their club. International players in the NWSL have always had a difficult schedule in World Cup years, you know, bring it to light as it should. But our weather makes it impossible. And I'm not entirely sure. Disagree. How that gets. past anyone. And Bell's like, you are a self-proclaimed Euro snob. So I have to not take your

opinion as strongly here. Because you already let us know where you stand. With all due respect on International Women's Day, sure, we can't play games in St. Paul on February 3rd. I agree with that. That's an MLS thing. It's sort of different discussion. They can figure that out. what's the furthest north what's the coldest weather NWSL team probably Chicago Have you ever been to Chicago in the winter? Yes

You can backload the schedule and figure it out I don't know I don't understand why players from other countries should see NWSL is undesirable because we don't follow the calendar That just seems like a long-term losing proposition especially as the rest of the world catches up

Well I think this is Ali Riley Alie spoken on it yeah yeah they was talking about this it just it just is what it is like I don't know

like first of all we were doing this over here first okay okay so the idea that Europe can all of a sudden hop on the WOSO wave

and then all of a sudden we gotta we gotta adapt to them I'm not hearing it I'm not hearing it in the first place it just doesn't sit right with my spirit I've got a couple of big-time patriots on the call today, huh? I, like, we have come such a long way with funding women's soccer, and we still aren't even close to being able to have a conversation about

how does Chicago Red Stars play in the winter? How does Gotham play in the winter? Or spirit, or any of these teams, even the mountain teams, it'd be raining nonstop in the Pacific Northwest. There was just snow in L.A. Texas froze last year. It'd be impossible to play. But even if there is some way to do it, fans aren't going to show up in a snowstorm or an ice storm. I'm not doing that shit.

It would set us back. I mean, last night, Angel City had a preseason friendly, and there were reports that 21,000 tickets were sold. And capacity is only 20,000. 3,000. So like, I don't, I don't know why we would take this many steps back. Even with, even with the crowds, even with the TV schedule. Like, we'd have a lot more competition to get it on TV in a fall to spring schedule. And, like, I agree with Vince. Like, we do not need to bow to Europe here. And this is aside the point a bit, but I've, I've been enjoying keeping my eye on. Sam Kerr, a star of the Australian National Women's Team, and Lauren James, a star of the England National Women's Team.

They both play for Chelsea, which, disgusting, who wants to watch Chelsea, but they've had multiple games be canceled due to Frozen Fields. Like, they don't get to play at Stanford Bridge. They're playing on lousy fields that freeze. And then their schedule gets interrupted because they're, you know, they're going to play at Stanford Bridge. just get canceled games because they can't play because it's so cold and there are 14 people in the stands like I don't I don't see why NWSL would fold like that like we are growing we are getting better and I think something that is a testament to that is Dabina like she

could have gone anywhere in the world she had there were rumors of Arsenal. There were rumors of Chelsea. There were rumors of Leon. Like, she could have gone anywhere and she chose to go to Kansas City. Kansas City, Mo. Let's not act like NWSL is this poor man that people don't want to go to. Okay, fair enough. Preach. I am a Euro snob. I do like the school calendar they use. And I think it's possible for our leaks to fall in line with that eventually. I don't, bro. But just for here, specific, like, I don't. I don't.

don't know. Like, like, summer soccer, bro, like, summer, summer is soccer for me, uh, at this point in my life. Like, just to be able to go, like, I don't think just from, from my experience, like Loo City or racing would be able to pull the crowds that they do, uh, on, on, on these summer nights, um, the way that they, they, they, they, they wouldn't be able to do that in the winter. I, I just couldn't see it. January, uh, December, like, bro, we just, they, they, they, they, they, There are trees down all over the place because we just had a ridiculous wind storm. Like last week. Like, I just can't see it.

I can't see it. I can't see it. And I'm strongly against it. I'm with Tara. Well, Angel City just played a friendly last night and sold 21,000 tickets to it. But also, it was snowing like two weeks ago. In L.A. Yeah.

But, I mean, aside the point. How much snow was there in L.A.? Give me a break. I mean, anybody. So the snow was on the ground for like three minutes? I don't think anybody in California would be driving in it. And that's more of a testament to them, I guess. Don't make me pull up the snowfall records for Los Angeles in February.

I don't care if you do. I think your argument is still not worthwhile. Okay. How about Alyssa Thompson? Let's talk about her because she was in this friendly between Clueamedica and Angel City. Did she do anything? Did she do anything? In the fourth minute, she scored her first professional goal.

She beat three defenders and a goalie. And what a better, what an introduction into the NWS out. Like, I'm so excited about her. I'm so excited that others got to witness the magic that is Alyssa Thompson. She was trending on Twitter last night. Do you guys see that? I didn't see. I never see what's trending on Twitter.

She still was. So take it as you want. She also got an assist in the second half, but it was called back from VAR, which is a good reminder that the NWSO is going to have VAR. And apparently even in Friendly's, which is going to be crazy. So I thought she was, she looked really good. She popped off the screen for just her rapidity. that like she gets to that she she moves across the television very quickly kind of like Mal Swanson and um I thought the goal was was nice there was was I hate to be this guy but there

was like a really lucky ricochet in the middle of it you know what I'm saying you didn't need to do that it's ridiculous I did need to do it yes because people are like she's the goat look at the way she did that well she she she played the ball off the the the Club America. Bill's Bill. You don't, you don't me people can't be excited. People can't be excited. You got to stomp on there.

People can be excited. I'm excited. Less than 24 hours. But realistic as well. Can we, can we be excited and realistic both? So you, the arbiter, what's real, huh? To some extent, yes. Yeah.

Okay. It was like goal aside, ricochet aside, I thought she looked really strong. I'm very excited for how Angel City does this year. I think, like, I've been talking about this with anyone who would listen to me, but if Sydney LaRue comes back, like, relatively soon, Alyssa Thompson is going to, is going to, you know, cook. I really do believe that she's ready for it. I think last night proved it.

and I couldn't be more ready for the season to start. Well, let me describe the goal a little bit and then say something else. So she gets it on the turn, on the half turn after like a turnover around midfield, and she's got three defenders to beat. She glides by one of them. She tries to go around the other one, plays it off the foot of that centerback, and then it goes right back off her foot, and then ricochets in behind the defender. So she's got kind of 1 v1 with the goalkeeper

With another defender's trying to close down from the right She rounds the goalkeeper and then tucks it in with her left foot It's very tidy And I thought she was tidy From everything I could tell throughout the game And then I thought even more impressive than the goal Well, maybe not more impressive, but also impressive A few minutes after it

There's like a ball pops up over on the left channel where she's kind of operating at the time. She brings it down very cleanly, smoothly, and then, like, finds one of her teammates in Zone 14 with a quick pass. And I thought that's, that's, she looks fully grown out there and, like, able to influence games big time. Yeah. So I'm excited.

Just for the record, I'm excited. Angel City spent a lot of money to get that number one draft pick. and it looks more than worth it. I'm excited for her. Angel City was fun. Alyssa Thompson's going to be a nightmare for defenders, and this season can't start soon enough. And it also kind of points up the levels.

Angel City missed the playoffs in NWSL last year. They obviously did add Thompson, but in preseason form they were like way, way, way better than Club America, I thought, which is. top four team in League of Emackes. Yeah, I've heard a lot about Mexican women's football in general, but, you know, they're missing the World Cup, you know, after what, seven Conca Cap teams are going to be taking part?

Six. Six, okay. Mexico would have been the same. But, yeah, so I've heard a lot about it. I've heard a lot about they're making great strides. As far as I've seen, I've seen some big crowds of some of their games, some entertaining play, stuff like that. But yeah, got to show them the levels.

You know what I'm saying? And we didn't need a, we didn't have a European calendar to do it either. And the Mexico women's national team has a great new coach, and there's a lot of young talent. They're not always going to be the flops they are right now, definitely. Okay. But sticking with NW. yourself for a second. Did you all

see the rumored Portland Jersey? I did. Yeah. What did you guys think? It's incredible to somebody approve this. I don't know. Listen, I

want to support that it's not boring. Like, San Diego Waves jerseys are soulless. This is not boring. So I support It's um It looks like something from the Irish part of Boston

It's giving me uh affliction affliction tea Ed Hardy T like like Portland Thorntz X Ed Hardy collab No no Ed Hardy doesn't own sailor tattoos And once Sophia Smith scores in this All talk will be gone I believe Okay okay um well they

They're going to be fighting in the streets of Portland as they'll be doing, allegedly, allegedly, Antifa and them. And one of the sides is going to be wearing this jersey. I don't know which side, but. Hopefully, hopefully the right crowd wears that. But once again, not boring. Like San Diego wave.

Yeah, like San Diego dropped some black teas and some white teas or were the Navy. No, there were Navy. and white and yeah navy and white t-shirts uh washington spirit dropped some black teas and like one of the one of the things about the nwsel they really popped was was the kits i don't know what's going on here but uh we need to pick it back up which um Portland thorns probably need to put it back down you know the put down whatever the hell you picked up but you know we'll take it we'll take it in the post Sobriere era, you know, they needed a reset and this is it. It's sending a sop to the white, the working class whites is what I'm hearing.

Yep. I'm going to get a lot of working class whites on board with this kit. Let's see. We've got a format for the Concalf W Gold Cup, which is new. So we already have the Concaf W Championship, which, so I guess to simplify this for everybody, Concf W Championship is basically like the Men's Gold Cup, and the new Gold Cup is basically like the Men's Nations League. Is that about right, guys?

I think that's fair. Yeah. So the W. Gold Cup will take place next February and March, replacing, she believes. And the 12 nations, so this was announced yesterday, the 12 nations participating in the group stage will be determined as follows. There will be three teams from the road to Concaf Gold Cup League, which is, like I said, basically Nations League,

three teams from the early rounds of Gold Cup qualification. So there's going to be like a preliminary Gold Cup qualification, several rounds of that. Three teams will make it into this group stage from that qualification tournament competition. And then four teams from Conma Ball, which is based on their Copa America results in this upcoming edition, It'll be Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, and Paraguay.

And that's interesting because it's kind of a role reversal for commonball and cockcalf. Those teams really want to play against us, play against Concaf competition, because it's better than Common Ball competition, as illustrated by Haiti and Panama, just defeating some South American opponents to get into the world, the upcoming World Cup. So that's 3 plus 3 plus 4. That's 10. And then you've got the Concaf W championship champion, which is us. the United States, and then the Cockcalf Olympic play-in winner, which is going to be either Canada or Jamaica.

So that's something to look forward to. It's a big deal. And I'll miss, she believes, but this is clearly going to be better. So I'm excited. Is it clear? Yeah, it's going to be more than three teams. So I think by that nature, it's a real tournament, you know, with like a knockout round and stuff. So I'm just looking at this as to how like what she believes we got three solid games against

Yeah solid to solid to great World Cup opposition in this tournament so looking like so get Brazil of course Hopefully Canada gets in and then Also Haiti so Haiti's been pretty impressed Haiti got talent He got something cooking Yeah I like those two. Like, but, but as it was just International Women's Day, I feel like I can't cut you off for a second here.

I, like, she believes had great opponents this year, but that's not always promised. Like, it was kind of rare that we got such a win this year. That's my only point. Fair, fair. but yeah if we can get Canada, Brazil and Haiti then really Haiti really got

like Haiti really got something cooking Like they were real impressive in that match that they played against us in the summer And they've continued that They got Big time players So Dumonté

She's the really young one Going to Lyon, right? Yep If she's not already there I'm really liking what I'm seeing from Haiti We already spoke on Mexico. Okay, and then real quick, let's just talk about the scuffed women's national team power rankings, which are being conducted on the Discord by our moderator Jordan.

I'm not going to read the whole list, but I think basically there are marginal differences. The differences are actually pretty marginal between what the scuffed hive mind thinks of the player pool and what Vlako thinks. It's not that different. It's like Fissel over Hatch for backup striker and Franch over Murphy and Neier at goalkeeper. And I don't know. Is French better than Murphy and Neier? She is extremely better in club.

We don't get to see her with the national team, but extremely better. Okay. So that would seem like pretty, that was like the consensus. She should be the starter over those two. and, you know, I think Fisiel deserves a chance, especially given how ineffective Hatch has been. I mean, she did have that one goal and she believes. Yeah, man, Ashley Hatch, I mean, you know, she had the blink slate

when she came in, of course, the ability that multiple, multiple chances to prove herself over this past year. It seems like getting worse as she goes on. Ashley Hatch in general had just a bad 2022, 2021. She was the golden boot winner for NWSL, and it just kind of went away. I do differ a little bit with the power rankings. For official overhatch for backup striker, as intrigued as I am, I've kissed that dream goodbye. I now hope we have Lynn Williams as our backup striker.

I don't need her on the wing And I think that if we need a goal, she could be She could be thrown in a striker. So I just wanted to throw that out there. That's my new thing. No, that makes sense. Because we got so many wingers. Yeah.

Especially if Alyssa Tom, you know, if this performance last night is the signal of like a really, really good rookie season in NWSL. I think Alyssa Thompson... Forget about Jane Shaw. Yeah. You said don't forget about her or forget about her? Okay.

I thought you said forget about her too. Do not forget about Jane Shaw. Yeah, I was like, she's gone. First I thought you said forget about her. I'm like, where did Vince go? Yeah. Who also scored in her first official? I'm a little bothered still by...

Jade and Shaw not getting a call up to the U-23s when they went over to France, where it seemed like everybody else did. I think that's something worth to keep track of. Like I know we have U-23s coming to Portland to play in a pre-season tournament, and no professional players were called up, obviously. But I was a little shocked. She didn't get included. last month.

Like, I've been shocked that she didn't get just a full national team call up. If Alyssa Thompson was getting one in high school, look, all due respect to Alyssa. Like, Jaden was doing her thing in the NWSL last year for the second half of the season. Right. So I would have liked to see it. And yeah, it's getting a little strange, but we'll see. We'll see how it plays out. Sticking with the youths, Corbyn Albert made her debut for PSG a couple weekends ago.

And I thought she looked pretty good. Tough and duels, good at finding feet. They didn't play this last weekend, but they play, PSG plays again this weekend. It will be interesting to see, you know, how many minutes she gets. I was shocked. I thought it happened much sooner than I anticipated. And I agree. I thought she looked strong.

She belongs. like I think we have high hopes in Corbyn. Yep. And she's always going to find that space to get to get that shot off. It doesn't matter where she is. She's pulling it. She is pulling it. So, but yeah, it's great to see.

Like Tara said, definitely didn't I expect her to just walk into some minutes. Yeah, she went straight from Notre Dame to PSG what, like a month ago. and then right onto the field. Yeah, with regards to Corbyn and Notre Dame and PSG, I was doing some research on the Notre Dame women's soccer page online. I think I was looking up something about Eva Gaitino, who was playing in those U-23 friendlies in France. And I came across the article where Notre Dame was announcing Corbyn's move

to turn professional and sign for PSG and I don't have I don't have the article up in front of me but but the the the verbiage used which is just peak Notre Dame was something along the lines of I think it was like their associate athletic director somebody speaking and it was like yeah this is the

merger of two iconic brands Paris San Jamon and Notre Dame the university of Notre Dame and I just want to say at Notre Dame, get over yourself. Spoken like someone who never saw a Rocket Ismail, return a kickoff for a touchdown.

I have watched my little brother play quarterback and beat Notre Dame at Notre Dame. So thank you, Bells, for T&Me up there. You're welcome. They've fallen on hard times, haven't they? Football-wise. You know, they'll go to playoff games

and get blown out. A lot of football talk for, Women's Soccer Podcast. Whoopsie Daisy. Well, I just had to bring up, you know. I had to bring up Notre Dame throwing their hat in the ring like this.

Because you... I don't appreciate. You're not a global brand. You're not a global brand. And Tara, the Ohio State University isn't either, so... I'm not that committed to OSU. It's okay.

Okay. Yeah. All right. The Spirit signed a 15-year-old. Chloe Ricketts. The coach is Mark Parsons, the same coach who signed Olivia Moultrie in Portland. Yeah, I know not a thing about Chloe Ricketts, but Mark Parsons had a very successful run with Portland. Plus, he has relationships with Sophia Smith, Lindsay Horan, Crystal Dunn, which is a total side point.

but I just always assumed he was going to be on the short list for our post-Blattco team. And like I said, that's very much aside the point. I'm excited. The spirit signed this young Chloe. And I think I have high hopes for what Mark can do with a team of Trinity, Sanchez, Sullivan. more young players is always a good thing yeah

nothing too exciting yeah I mean she must be very good it's kind of hard to find footage of her that just reminds me that Ashley Sanchez she needs to pick it up right now she need to pick up her game got five months till the World Cup

get serious make sure she stakes her claim also with this I'm gonna confess I'm feeling a little bit burned by Olivia Motry. Not not not not not like totally but you know what I'm saying. There's just a lot going on. I don't even know if I would call it hype but with the the lawsuit and her trying to play with the end of Yssel and everything.

I'm just thinking like you know she must be the future and uh yeah like she's lebron james or something yeah yeah exactly something like that and she's not LeBron James. She's probably going to end up being a very good player and more than likely a women's national team player. But the fact that I can't even say that for sure, like, lets you know where we're at right now. But maybe I'm tripping. Maybe I'm tripping. I think both of your qualms are really with Christine Sinclair, who has Olivia's spot and is,

not the player she once was. And I think Olivia's going to get more minutes and more minutes, and that can only be a good thing. And she's very young, so please don't ride her off yet. I think that's wild of both of you. No, I'm not writing her off. I'm not writing her off. We should be excited to support young Olivia.

But she's not LeBron James, though, or Candace Parker. We don't know. because Christine Sinclair won't retire. Okay, fair enough. She's 17 now. So we'll see what happens when we don't got Mrs. Sobrier there anymore to supply Christine with some of that pain killing codeine.

So we'll see what happens this season. She might need a little bit more time off. I have high helps for Portland as a whole and getting Olivia more minutes is only a plus. It's not like I care that much. She's so young, but I definitely think she'll have more time this season, and I'm excited to see it. All right.

So keep an eye on Chloe, keep an eye on Olivia. What about the Best of, FIFA's Best of Awards? It seems like a, honestly, kind of seems like a joke to me, but whatever. We should tell them. No, no, no, no. Don't call it a joke, Bills, because these are people that align with your way thinking you know what's my way you'reosnobs unite

euro snobs unite the people that are going to take the game that that we that we brought to the masses and and and and they're going to jump on the wave and exclude all our players who are trying to MLS the NWSLS that's what they're trying to do

but wait wait wait wait I thought okay so who just because they chose Alexia Puteaos then there are no not just that we're talking about the we're talking about the overall nominations for the players in the first place

they didn't nominate sophia smith who was the MVP of nwsau i get what you're saying okay but sophia smith thinks alexia puteus is the best player in the war we're not talking about the best player bills did i not just say nominations awards as a whole fiefa as a whole Alex Morgan was nominated for Best Female Player. She was a finalist along with Alexia Patelis and Beth Mead, and she ended up losing to Alexia. So she got second, whatever, the whole awards are baloney.

So who cares. But the votes are public. Members of the media, captains of national teams, and coaches of all national teams, plus fans are able to vote for these awards. But how the captains and the coaches vote is public. And, you know, all of the coaches voted for their national team player or their nominee, for the most part, when they could. Same goes for the captains of the national team. There was loyalty there.

but our very own Vladko did not vote for Alex Morgan as the best female player he voted for his care he voted Alex second and second she got overall but I think that this is hysterical

that he did not vote for Alex as the top player you know I don't want to care too much about it because it is meaningless but I just think that really speaks to his soul. He does not follow these social norms. And, yeah, he did not vote for his own nominee.

Well, he's got to know. Morgan's not even the best player on his team. Not even top five, really. So I imagine that, you know, we've talked about, we talked about Mr. Andanovsky's pockets and the amount of money he's making. So I think he was doing a little bit of hating here And I think he might have looked up how much Alex had made In this past calendar year

And realize that if she had won this award That the that it would have put him It would have put Alex over him And so he was like you know what I can't have this And I'm looking at this If you look at the Yes I'm gonna make it

I'm gonna make it And if you look at right above the USA in the vote is the U.S. Virgin Islands. And they do a great job. The Patriots that they are, the team and the coach, Mr. Jorge Zavala. Yep. He voted Alex Morgan first. So I don't know what to say about Mr. Flacko, but I don't know.

So how would you feel if you were Alex? Not great I feel nothing about it Alex knows she's not the best player in the world Come on No she doesn't She doesn't know that She thinks she is

The idea that a professional athlete Would definitely know that Crazy talk Yeah I would say so yeah More of them believe that they are the best player in the world Than not I don't think

I mean it's possible He did the math And said if Alex wins this award She's gonna make more money than me So I'm gonna vote against her but I think it's also possible that he said she's not the best player in the world. She's not even a top five player on my team. So I'm going to give it to Sam Kerr and keep it moving, you know?

Either path is hilarious. It's hating either way. It's hating either way. I can't stand to watch her hold this trophy. So I'm going to throw my vote. Not even, you know what I'm saying? Not even vote for Pateles. Either way, like this is.

step on it. This is a public vote. He knew what he was doing. And either way, hilarious. Let's talk about Sophia. Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, no one should really care about these awards, not even Alex.

But somebody who definitely did care about these awards was Sophia Smith. She did this interview with FIFA, which I'm hoping we'll put in the show notes so everyone can read. And it paints this picture of where Sophia was. when she watched the award show and how she doesn't want to watch next year. She wants to, you know, be its leading lady or whatever. And there are so many, so many good parts in this interview. She comes off as sweet and intelligent and sincere. But then every once in a while, she comes off as letting us know she's going to be out for revenge.

And one part I want to hone in on here is they ask her, who do you think is the best player in the world right now. And she kind of skirts around everything. She would say, she says, I would say Alexia. I also think Beth Mead is up there with her, watching her in the Euros, she's a different, she's different from other players. She gets the job done. She brings her teammates into the game. She finds a way to score. I'm a big Sam Kerr fan. I would put myself up there too. I think American soccer doesn't get as much respect as it should. I don't think people give it as much attention as they do European soccer. So, let's go.

Like Vladko, she neglected to mention one of the finalists here as well, but she did say, hey, I'm on this list as well. I'm one of the best players. And she's just reminding us who she is and what we have to look forward to. And I loved it. Yeah. I think it's weird that everybody has to tiptoe around this. I mean, the nominations are silly.

I will, that's why I said joke at the beginning. It's weird that everybody has to tiptoe around this and pretend like Alex Morgan is one of the best players in the world. It's just... Yeah, yeah. But that's the point, though.

If you were a Euro-snop and you're looking over here like, oh, you know, we got to throw an American in here somewhere. Who we're going to pick? Alex Morgan. I remember when she drank out of a team, Cup or whatever. Like that's the exact type of nomination that, that, you know,

somebody that didn't give it much thought, you know what I'm saying? Would. Yeah. So, but, you know, we, we see all your respect, a disrespect, disrespect, disrespect, Europe. And, you know, we're coming. We're coming. We'll see what happens.

Sophia, Sophia talks about, like, her expectations for the World Cup, about, you know, adding another star to our crest. She talks about loads of different topics, but they asked her, like, are you excited about the World Cup? Something fluffy like that. And she said she thinks about it every single day, 24-7. And I just, I think that's great. I can't wait to get the national team back and have her as our leading lady.

Well, to that point, to go back to the power rankings, Mal Swanson is ahead of Sophia Smith right now in the scuffed discord, which may be wrong, but Swanson has been outstanding past couple months. Yeah, but as a power ranking, you can't really take too much from it. Because, you know, Sophia's not playing, and Mal has been unstoppable. So it just says what it is. But, you know, like at this point, it, for me, before, before the Mao supernova he's so yeah was clear yeah but before the

mouth the supernova yeah Sophia was definitely quick clear but now we're looking at a little one A one B situation and I'm not I'm not mad at it no I'm not mad at it because this has been a this past NWSL season and this explosion with the national team has been a level and up for now for sure like like Like it, it, it wasn't that they were just always on equal planes. Like, Sophia took the jump first and, you know, Mal just, I guess, got inspired and followed behind it. Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely not the norm.

But who are we to complain that we have Sophia and Mao competing against each other? I mean, they're both going to be world class. Just need a little bit of a level up from a world player of the year. nominee Alex Morgan at Stryker and we could have you could really be cooking. They're going to get your bills. But if we can get one from Trinity in the first half of this NWSL season, because, you know, like, so, like, I used to think Trinity was up there with them. But so for Malden, raise the bar to a level that, yeah, like, like, Trent, it's time for you to catch up now.

Yeah, Trinity can be there. She's not yet. But it's, it's such a good problem. have. Right. Of course. It's just unbelievable that we can develop these players like this, but yeah, go ahead, Bill's. I mean, it looks like, and it totally looks like Alyssa Thompson is just going to slot right in in a similar way. But I guess we'll see. Another, one other interesting thing I wanted to talk about was this, there's a good profile of Alyssa Nichols website called Anscape. The article is by Tamara Griffin. Man, it's really good. She's.

She's one of the few black American referees with a FIFA badge. I think they're only two right now. And black American woman referees. She talks a lot about how she tries to, she's from Jackson, Mississippi, which is also interesting to me because it's not like Mississippi, Alabama, not big soccer hotbeds traditionally. But it talks about how she sort of came up as a referee in high school

and how she got into like refereeing SEC games while she was in college. And just it sort of explains the path of advancement for a referee. And she talks in some really clear detail about like how she tries to improve and the ways that referees try to improve their game. And I thought the whole thing was really interesting. I'm interested in referees in general and the referee shortage because, you know, because I'm interested in grassroots soccer.

But I'll put the link to that article in the show notes too because I think it's very good. Yeah, it was really good. I really enjoyed when she was talking about their national team call-ups, like for refs. I didn't know a single thing going into it. So I learned a lot. I thought, like you said, it was really interesting, very well-written, worth the read for sure. She, oh yeah, she's talking about going to a national camp for referees where you try to get your, you know, try to get in with professional referee organization pro so that you can do MLS games and stuff. So you have to sort of, you know, try out and get in.

And she said, you go through every, this is a quote, you go through everything and talk at an elite level about how to get these calls right. I like that language at an elite level about how to get these calls right. What position should we be in? What should our body orientation be? What should our mindset be? What should we be expecting? You're in a room full of referees and you have referee coaches giving active feedback throughout the meeting. They call on you and ask questions and tell you if you're wrong or right.

It just sounds really interesting to me. But maybe I'm a nerd. I mean, you weren't trying to be a referee in high school. So I think there are different levels of a nerdy lesson. Right. You have to be a certain kind of person to want that, I think. Interesting nonetheless. It's just, ooh, never, never knew such things existed.

The last thing I want to bring up is our U-23s will be playing in the 2023, Thorns, preseason tournament. The roster obviously doesn't include any professional players, but it still looks pretty nice. I'm excited to see how they do. The game schedule is going to be. Saturday, March 12th, OL Rain is going to play the U-23s, and the Portland Thorns are going to be playing Racing, Louisville.

Wednesday, March 15th, Racing will play O.L. Rain, and Portland Thorns will play the U-23s, and Saturday, March 18th, the U-23s will play racing, and Portland will play O'L. Rain. So just a nice little preseason tournament. I'm going to try to keep track of to see how some of these younger players do, especially since the professionals won't be there. So like, we'll finally get a good look at Trinity buyers who is often on the bench for players like Alyssa Thompson or Jaden Shaw or Michelle Cooper to be playing. So I think I think it's worth keeping track of. And also, we just get to see some of our favorite NWSL teams, you know, Shake off the rest, see how they're looking.

We'll get first eyes on Sophia for a while. We'll see if she's healthy. It's worth, worth mentioning simply because I think it'll be fun. Yeah. Buyers is one you're excited to buy. Who give us a couple? I mean, we got a steady dose of Talia della Peruda last summer in the U-20. Yeah, I'm good on that.

But Talia had a terrible U-20 World Cup, but so did many others. She had a good run with UNC last year, so I think she's worth not completely ignoring. Lauren Flynn at Florida State, I think at least Vince agrees with me there. She's wanted to keep track of. AEO. Very good centerback. Ayo, okay. Really exciting player, Lily Real, or Real, I'm never sure.

She won the championship with UCLA. She's someone who is going to be professional very soon. They've got real good defenders for sure. And then Mia Justice, our goalkeeper, our little Nepo baby, remember she is Tim Howard's cousin. So some U.S. soccer royalty there. Okay. And we'll be able to reconvene before the NWSL season starts. So after this tournament is over and before the actual season starts, we'll have to get, you know, serious about previewing the NWSL season in some way, in our own way.

I think that's it, though. Thank you, Vince. Thank you, Tara. Happy International Women's Day again. Thank you. You're welcome. Thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you.

Thank you.