Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #387: WoSo W-Day — USL's women's league, Coupe de France, NWSL catch-up

Episode Date: May 17, 2023

Vince, Tara and Belz talk about the viability of the USL's Super League proposal, catch up on all the American action in the Coupe de France final (on and off the field), and work through a lot of the USWNT player pool's activities in NWSL over the past two 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. Hey, hey, it's Woso Wednesday. Got Tara here and Vince. How are you guys doing? So good, two months into the World Cup. Women's soccer is taking over my mind. It's a good problem to have. Yeah, man, it's rushing up on us.

Vince, how are you? Couldn't be better. Good. A little tired, though. Yeah. Same. So first thing is this USL Super League, a new Division I league in direct competition to the NWSL. What do you guys think?

I'm going back and forth on this, which I know is annoying, like just make a decision. But it didn't make much sense to me when I first read the news. But more women's soccer, awesome, a possibility for a women's open cup, amazing. It's not going to be in the same schedule as the NWSL. So that's a plus. If it were to not succeed, it wouldn't take anyone with it. I want to celebrate those things, but then it's like they will not have to follow the NWSL collective bargaining agreement that took years and years and years to see the light. There are NWSL coaches that have been banned.

Are they just going to go coach, you know, in this league instead. Those things make me scared, but I'm trying to be excited about it. What about you, Vince? When you talk about a Division I league and not just in the United States, but in the world, like a league that's going to be amongst the top six or seven, right? You're going to need the clout to attract international players. Like the residuals of the Americans women's soccer pool isn't going to get you there.

I don't think. So you're going to need to be able to attract internationals from all different types of countries and to be able to do that. You're going to have to have the ability for them to show to them that they're going to be coming into a competitive environment. And I mean, shoot, one that's one that their national teams will respect that if they're performing in, they'll get call-ups and all these different types of things. and I just feel like it's a little, it's a little bit too big of an ask. But maybe I'm wrong. I don't know.

Yeah, I guess the question of course is can we really support to top flight women's soccer leagues in this country? Like you want to say yes, but you just don't know. It's risky. And I think to Vince's point about like what's going to be the poll, I guess it goes back to something we've been. talking about and it's the NWSL schedule this league will follow more of the traditional European schedule around the FIFA window so I guess that would be the poll yeah yeah I mean that'd be cool but you know there's the there's the financial side and like putting people in seats and stuff in stadiums but there's also the player the player pool side and I maybe this is

just because I watched some NWSL over the weekend where just egregious performances by some of the players who are a little lower on the totem pool. But I'm like, there are some players on these teams who just consistently don't do anything good, you know? And maybe this USL gambit will, you know, pull from, like as Vince was talking about,

pull from like the global player pool and in a way that isn't a problem. But like, I don't know, man. But there is also a ton of college players that don't go drafted. Like there is a player for the Washington Spirit, Paige Monaghan, I believe her last name is. But she went undrafted and now she's starting in the NWSA. So I think that there is definitely going to be capacity for another league. league. I just am unsure about, you know, all the other aspects of it.

The young players, I will say, I think there are, there are some, like, older players who, in NWSL who are not very good. But, man, the younger players, we'll get into this later. But it's just, it just, it almost, like, highlights even more how good players, like Alyssa Thompson and Jaden Shaw and, like, Chloe Ricketts are, because they really stand out, you know, immediately when they joined the league. Yeah. So the future is maybe bright. It is bright, but.

It is bright. There's just a lot of uncertainty. Well, I was just about to say, because if we're, you know, talking about using the, quote-unquote scraps, the remains of the American women's soccer player pool, like you're going to, I feel the big thing about the NWSL, right,

is it's buoyed by like a good deal of our women's national team, which boom, you got quality right there. Boom, you're bringing in, you know, Brazil's like six best players. And then stacking that with, you know, all different other types of internationals coming in. And so boom, like when you got 10 teams or whatever, you instantly have a quality league. I mean, no disrespect. But once again, the remains of the. American women's soccer player pool.

Like, you're going to have to pull in so many players to even get to a league that's like, I don't know, like, like Germany level in anything. Like, you know what I'm saying? I mean, it seems pretty obvious that it's not going to be, it just seems like a failed gambit. And to me, it would be more useful to everybody in this country if they just would be D2. you know, like having a pyramid, a women's soccer pyramid would be nice.

There are a small enough number of actual women's soccer fans who listen to this podcast that I feel like I can do this. But let me just bring up a player for an example. Danny Weatherholt. You guys know who she is? Yeah. Angel City? Yeah.

Yeah. Been watching a fair amount of Angel City this season. And I'm like, Danny doesn't do anything. anything good on the field. You know? Like she starts every game. She plays next to Julie Earts. She gives the ball away.

In the attacking third, it's like a guaranteed not scoring chance when she gets on the ball. And, you know, is this USL Super League going to be just a lot of Danny Weatherholtz? I mean, I guess that's my worry, you know? I mean, we're talking about worse than Danny Weatherholt, which, you know, I'm going to stick up for Danny a little bit, you know what I'm saying? You know, she works hard. She does.

She does a job. You know what I'm saying? I mean, you know, as we talked about, NWSL has their fair share of hard ladies, you know, that just go out there looking to kick and Danny's one of those. That's pretty ruthless of me to say that about her. But I do think, like, if she's the, if she sort of sets the floor in NWSL, maybe she's, even above the floor, I don't know. It's going to be tough to watch these Super League games if it's, if the level is below the,

the weather hold line, you know? Yeah, I definitely agree with that. Some sort of boring, uh, details provided by Stephen Bank, Prof Bank on Twitter, you know, kind of a longstanding, uh, provider of context on stuff. He said to be a D1 league under, you know, US soccer rules, you need to have at least eight teams and then 10 by year four. The teams have to be in at least two time zones. I don't know why that's important, but I guess it is.

And 75% of the teams have to be in a market with 750,000 people in it in the metro area. So that's all of the proposed locations for teams for this league would be in a market that size except for Lexington and Spokane. And I guess we should read the list of proposed places. It's Charlotte, Dallas, Fort Worth, Lexington, Kentucky, Phoenix, Spokane, Washington, Tampa, Tucson, Arizona, and D.C. And then the ones, the places that maybe would be expansion possibilities would be Chattanooga, which would be cool for me, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Madison, Wisconsin, and Oakland, California. And then there are also, financial viability requirements, the principal owner needs to have 35% stake in the franchise

and a net worth of $15 million. Plus the ownership group combined net worth needs to be north of $25 million. And you've got to have a stadium with 5,000 seats in it. So, you know, there's a lot of T's to cross and eyes to dot before this gets going. Hey, you know, if we got any landlords that listen to this podcast, if we, if we get a collection of y'all together, you know what I'm saying? We can start up scuffed FC. That's what I gained from this. Like landlords, just because they're so rich, basically?

No, I mean, you're talking about net worth, man. They got properties. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All that passive income. Sure. But, I mean, that's really complicated. I have no idea how to feel about it.

I just, I'm unsure. I'm uncertain. The other elephant in the room is just as far as attendance. I mean, like, NWSL attendance isn't. It's good in a few spots. But. We're still breaking records. That's why I go back to the collective bargaining agreement.

Like, all of those protections put in place were for the players, more players to come over. to feel safe here. That hasn't been promised in the NWSL. Wait, hasn't been promised in the NWSL? Yeah, in the NWSL. We've read the reports. It's been, you know.

Oh, I see. It hasn't been delivered. Yeah. But that also is like put into, if you want to support a team. You know, you want to support a team that is there for its players. And if a new league comes in,

Like, I hope that they learn from the NWSL's mistakes and start fresh and put those same practices into place. Because I just watched the first episode of the Angel City, three-part docu-series about the making of Angel City. And it was amazing. Like, it is so good. I highly recommend it. I've only watched one episode so far. But it got me thinking to hear of everything that was put into place, like, 10% of their profits go back into their community. Like, they're trying to build a sustainable fan base.

And I just thinking about a whole new league coming in to our country to compete with it, it just makes me nervous. Yeah, yeah. I mean, there's just way more questions than answers. Way more questions and answers. And, and, you know, we need the answers before, before operation starts up, please. Because, I mean, you know, like at this point, you have to say, like, whenever, whenever and wherever the abuse can occur, like, it will occur. That seems to be a fact of life at this point. Need more plans. We need to, we need to business. plan, financials, motivations. You need a CBA in place. You need all types of things, man. Oversight for these clubs, like, come on. Come on. I mean, it really is a significantly higher bar

than starting a men's league. Which we don't need another one of. Right, right, of course. Right. I will say sort of separate from this whole thing. It does seem like there's a press release every week about some new initiative on U.S. soccer. about, you know, in response to the Sally Yates report,

there's like a new thing just yesterday called the Safe Soccer Clearance program. So there's just like, they're trying to do a lot of different stuff. I saw that, I saw that press release. And it, I mean, it is relevant because there were so many burnt bridges. Like, there were so many things that we got wrong. And so when building back up and when seeing the success, that some of these newer teams are having in the NWSL. Like that didn't just happen.

Like it took years and years of fighting for it. And we're trying to, you know, correct these wrongs and make it better for the future players. But yeah, like it not being affiliated with NWSL has me worried. I see these press releases and I'm like, yeah, I mean, I get it. We could have all these trainings and like these complicated curriculums, but like just stop hitting on your players if you're a coach. You know? Like don't have sex with players if you're a coach. Portland Thorns won the entire thing last year.

They were the champions of NWSL and their first time coach who came in won the league was amazing. It got fired for kissing players next during the celebration. Like it's... Don't kiss players next during celebrations. We have... It's not that complicated. We have to be very aware because crazy things are always happening. Codeine.

You know what I'm saying? Yeah. For real. Like, and that's the thing. It's like, yeah, we can rely on these soccer house initiatives. But you just have to have your own. stuff in place. I have to have your own stuff in place. Like the, like, uh, soccer house is now setting, you know, a floor, but, but we need to,

you know, player safety, player experience needs to be at the ceiling. So I don't know, man. I just don't know. I just don't think it's, we'll see. We'll see. It's that complicated, you know, like, just keep your dirty hands off the players. All right. Uh, PSG lost to Lyon in the Coupe de France final. I think that was pretty expected, but Hurrayan went 66. Hooray, Lindsay Horan. I'm looking forward to her season being over soon so she can get a nice break,

rest that knee up for this summer. But, you know, a trophy's a trophy, so that's exciting. Michelle Kang was there, who is the... the owner of the Washington Spirit. And it was rumored that she was going to be the owner of Leon, but it was just a rumor up until, I think yesterday actually was the official announcement. She owns them now, too. So, hooray, Michelle Kang, hooray, investing in women's sports.

Hooray at all. But honestly, I was hoping that she was. is going to help us out some and bring cat home for a little practice before the World Cup. That is not looking likely. There are nearing official rumors. I don't know the spectrum of rumor. This one is nearing fact, but it's not official yet. Cap Macquario likely to sign with Chelsea.

And what a bummer that is. Like, I don't want to watch Chelsea. God, I feel like this summer was everyone's hopes and dreams of finally being able to not watch Chelsea if Policic leaves. And now Kat's going to join. So, hey, at least she's alive, right? Like, we don't know anything else about her. Yeah, she ain't, she ain't playing in the World Cup, is she? Hell no.

Hell no. And, and I mean, we had those clues, man, when she was when she was on her metaphysical. I was going to say being all mystical about a month ago. Yeah. So, yeah, I took the cues from that. And I was like, yeah, it's not looking too good. She's talking in a lot of hypotheticals and a lot of hypotheticals and no concrete, nothing going on.

And the fact that, you know, you're not going to come to the NWSA, I'll get you the taste of this challenge cup, get you a taste of this regular season. with like you know NWSL got minutes minutes for you you know yeah and and plenty of weather holds on the field that you can eviscerate quite quite easily yeah it's it's sad it's always the thing that Black Co is going to have in his back pocket me like I didn't have cat I was going to build it all around cat didn't have her yeah but I I am taking this like sorrow and turning it into anger? Like, why, why will Leo never talk about her?

Why are, why are there never any updates? Why has there been nothing put out or nothing asked about her progression? Uh, I, I think it's baloney. Like, you need to speak on your, she's, she's one of the most talented players in the world and they're just never going to tell us what's going on. Balderdas. Yeah. Oh, I mean, isn't it?

It couldn't just be that like the prognosis has been grim from the start, but they didn't want to like shut the door on it? Then say, you know, she was expected in training. It may be a couple more weeks. Something. Man, yeah, yeah, I have to say like the cat ACL and the Kristen Press ACL has changed the way that I've looked at ACL injuries. Because, you know, at this point, you know,

I was like, oh, okay. You know, you'll, I mean, a lot, some people have been getting back in like eight months and in different sports or whatever. And like these two examples have just reminded me that, you know, it's not, it's not that cut and dry. It's not that cut and dry. It's not like a, as much as we wanted to be like a, you know, as straightforward as a muscle tear or a spray an ankle or something. it still is not. It still is a very significant injury and... Time lines will differ.

Yeah. But if it was a man who had the career that she had this past season and the promise that she has, like there would be an update. Is that safe to say? Yeah. Yeah, I think so. There'd be, there certainly be more media pressure for an update. there would be

acknowledgement even if there's nothing concrete they can say yeah I think that's true for sure that's fair but but also you know

these pesky Europeans and they're you know they're what I want to say they're very opaque when it comes to these injuries even on the mid even on the men's side but

yeah we probably would have slightly more information, like a little something, something. Yeah, I mean, Macario, who would be the male equivalent to Macario and Liga-A-en? You know, Namar, maybe? I mean, it's maybe not quite that high, but it's like up in that area. There'd be a thousand reporters pressing Leone for an update. Well, also, I'm going to keep talking about her. Corbyn Albert played about half an hour off the bench in this game.

continues to look tidy and quite good to me. There's a bit of a discussion going on in the Discord. I said I think she is a better soccer player, or at least a nicer soccer player than Andy Sullivan right now, though it is kind of difficult for me to assess, like, how she looks for PSG versus how Sullivan looks for the spirit. But I think she looks good. And it's truly amazing how good some of these forms.

you 20s look. I know we've talked about it. But specifically Thompson, Albert, and Shaw, after that, just brutal performance. True. Moultry. Yeah, you know, that that screamer was a deflected shot. Let's be, let's be honest.

But I definitely am not going to take the bait there. Corbyn, please, please. Olympics 24. It could be her time. I think after this World Cup, we as a collective have got

to say enough of the retirement tours. We need a new coach. We need a new roster. We need to start fresh. I think it could be so exciting. It could be so empowering. And it makes me think. Like we're getting so much news like on the Monday review about how amazing JT.

Batson is and how amazing Cindy is. I want to know. I want to know when are they going to, you know, remember that the women's team are, you know, quite, quite good and deserve some of this good fortune. After the World Cup, maybe. Yeah, yeah, yeah. See, you just got to wait on it. You just got to wait on it.

They didn't want to rock the boat this late in the cycle. You know what I'm saying? Blackhose is good as a sitting duck at this point. Sure. Like, like, as soon as it comes, as soon as the World Cup comes and goes and hopefully, you know, we lifting the trophy at the end. But, you know, that boy's out of there. And he and Greg Berthelter can go back to having three-hour coffees every Saturday morning. Did you guys see this?

Vladko went on a serious XM radio show called The Coaching Academy. And he spoke about the incredible, these are his words, not mine, the incredible experience he had where Barry Pwells, is that how you say? Anyone know? Pavels. Povles. He's the door. director of technical development for U.S. soccer. And Barry would set up these weekly calls between Vladko and Greg Burhalter on Saturday mornings,

and there would be a topic set. It reminds me of like speed dating a little bit. But Barry and Greg and Vladko would have to speak on that topic. And Vladko is romanticizing it. He's saying all of a sudden three hours would go by, or the games in Europe, would just end and oh now now they can talk about what happened in europe this morning and he vladka was speaking on on it about how it's it those conversations were some of the most educational he's ever had or how much he learned from something gregg would say and it was it was truly adorable but um

i i i was blown away by the dorkiness of it all you know i mean i'll set my snideness aside for a second and say, I'm sure they were fun conversations. You know, I would like, like, release the tapes. Let's go. But it, it definitely had me thinking, like, if U.S. soccer, if it's important to U.S. soccer for the men's national team coach and the women's national team coach to collaborate or to have, you know, some sort of a relationship, maybe. And this is a bit of a stretch, but stay with me.

Maybe in this hunt for the men's national team coach that's going on right now, maybe once they found their person and the men have their coach set up, maybe they're going to take all of those best practices, you know, like corporate language, best practices that they have found in searching for a men's coach, JT and Sydney and Crocker and all of them. And hey, now it's time for a women's coach. What do you guys think? You're talking about replacing Vlaco before the World Cup?

No, no, no. Like this summer, the World Cup's going to be over early August. It's now time for the women to search for their coach, right? Yeah. Yeah. And then we get to build a young, dynamic, diverse roster for the Olympics. that do not have anyone on a retirement tour. It's going to be incredible.

And so I don't know if y'all had caught this, but the U-17 coach Natalia Astrain has left the Fed. She's actually going to be doing like commentary on the World Cup. I forgot for which broadcaster. But for anyone that watched the U-17s play, I know Tara and I did, they played extremely impressive ball and and you know the the whole topic that got us to this place in the first place was how much better these you 20s look after playing for uh Tracy Kevin's who I just don't want to see near a youth national team ever again but yeah so I'm I'm I'm looking at a strain as a potential I don't think I'm saying her last name right she's spanned it might be astrayine something like that but anyway um i'm looking at her as a potential

replacement for vlaco i know she she really hasn't proven too much as far as like the CV or whatnot whatnot but i would be all over it and really i like i would fire my club coach today i would i would fire uh kim kim kim borkigan i love you uh he's a very large man he's like, bro's a solid like six, seven. But then Natalia's like a, I mean, you're going to be like a rising superstar in the game. I was, I was, I was really thinking like the timing was suspicious with the Bay Area team coming soon. I was wondering if she was, you know, going to throw her hat into that pool as well.

like any U.S.S.L team, it would, it would just, it will behoove you. It's a great time to talk about the U-20 Concaf Championship that starts next week. You know, we still have Tracy Kevin, so who knows what it's going to be like. But you brought up the U-17 team. I don't know if I can watch. You brought up the U-17 Women's World Cup team and how fun it was, because it was. It was a blast. These players are really, really talented.

And there are six of those players on the U20 roster. So six of them got the move up, which I'm really excited about. But to go back a second, we're in Group A, and we played Panama on May 24th. We played Jamaica on May 26th and Canada on May 28th. No NWSL players were released. So Alyssa Thompson, Jaden Shaw, Olivia Moultry will not be there, which is fine. Like they're going to have much bigger and better competition in the NWSL. Yeah.

But six of the Women's World Cup players, Valentina Amorell, I'm saying that wrong. Defenders Ella Emery, Savannah King, Giselle Thompson. So Savannah King and Giselle Thompson were. two of the highlights for me when watching this team. They both were incredible. And then midfielders Lauren Martino and forward Onika Gamero. Really, really talented group of players, which I am excited to watch. Yeah. I mean, for me, and I think for Tara too, if I could speak for Tara. Well, I don't know. Like, I think Tara might be on the Thompson family payroll at this point. Giselle Thompson is going to be better than Alyssa.

Does she also possibly? Yeah. Yeah. And she's a defender. And that is like we have such a lack of young defensive talent. We're seeing it right now in the World Cup roster talks. Like I think Jazeel is going to come out rolling. And she also trained with Angel City in the preseason.

Just little notes. Yeah. Like I don't know. For me, the fact that. she's a defender this early and her career is a little bit of a red flag for me, but I don't know. But, but, uh, it's, it's possible that she would be, uh, occupying the right wing. If, uh, in that U-17 World Cup, if it wasn't for, uh, Gamero, who is, I mean, she,

she's next up, you know, you talk about these, these wingers that we have, these playmakers that are just dynamic and lightning and just, I mean, I think I referred to him as, as demons before, but, you know, that, that she is another one of those, just an absolute dynamoval player. And I can't wait. Even if it is for Tracy Kevin's, I might have to turn on the TV. Uh-huh. Which says a lot because it may not be fun at all.

But these young players, oh, I'm looking forward to seeing all of them on the field. Yeah, guys, I'm going to, I mean, if I can just break down how the U-20 team played, it was the weirdest thing I've ever seen. We had centerbacks, like when we're building out, the centerbacks were like on the touchline, almost. They were split out that far with the goalkeeper in the middle, and they would just pass it between each other. And then they would just like see a lane to carry the ball. And that's how we, that's how we progress play through centerbacks, just carrying the ball in the midfield. And if we lose it, then of course we're just like butt naked as the other team goes like, you know, and gets a shot on goal or whatever. And, yeah, I don't know.

Mr. Batson, I'm out. This is your next, this is your next thing you need to tackle. You know what I'm saying? Take, take somebody off the coach search. And I don't know. We need to find, like, get Tracy a, I don't know, a very qualified assistant, something. But I can't keep seeing the talent spoiled. And like in the few opportunities that we get to see in the play in the first place.

Come on, Mrs. Drunch Bull. She does look like this. She really does. Poor thing. I think the next thing on the agenda is NW.S. Action, right? Yeah. It remains incredibly challenging for me to wrap around,

to wrap my head around how many goals have happened since the last time we've spoken. We've got to bubble the frequency. I'll go with Alex Morgan first. She's scored a goal and then also kind of. have scored a goal, but it counted as a own goal, which, ugh. There was a game against Washington Spirit. It was in D.C.

And the spirit were dominating. It was honestly kind of bizarre with how good San Diego Wave has been and how much of a statue there is around Alex Morgan. They were up

I think it was three, to nothing and Alex scored one in the 88 89th minute she was kind of on the ground and then all of a sudden she wasn't on the ground and she got one back so good for Alex um it's kind of odd to see san diego lose um that was their second loss they they lost to orlando the week before um but we also got goals from trinity and ashley sancho so it was it was a fun game i'm not gonna lie Yeah, I mean, I mean, and really, Terry, you got to put a little bit of respect on the, on the Spirit's name. I mean, as a, as a Spirit fan yourself, the top of the table, Washington Spirit, you know? I don't really have a club.

I know, I know it may sound like I'm the Spirit fan, but I'm a Trinity fan. I'm an Ashley Sanchez fan. I'm an Andy, Andy fan, but. Oh, okay. No one, no one went into it thinking that Washington Spirit were going to beat San Diego a wave. I mean, like, they have the best goalkeeper in the world. Naomi Germa is one of the best defenders in the world. It was a shock to a lot of people, but I mean, I still had a blast. The spirit, the spirit, I do seem like a really tough out right now, you know, even if they,

even if Ashley Sanchez is missing a lot of chances in front of goal. Last time we spoke, she didn't have any goals. Today, she has two goals. So shooters, shoot a shoot. Oh, oh, oh, Terry. And you know what? I do got to bring this up. Yeah, go ahead. Because Tara tried to comfort me on Discord, say, hey, Vince, you see that pass Ashley Sanchez made for the Trinity goal? Which we're talking about the Trinity goal from last week.

Yeah. I guess. San Diego. Yeah. Yeah. That wasn't a good pass, Tara. It almost got picked off. It resulted in a goal.

So I think it was pretty good. It should have been picked off. Not like almost got. It should have been picked off. Trinity is just a physical load for whoever. if she's going up against in the NWSL, they just truly can't do anything with her. And I think the defender there got a little flustered under the pressure that Trinity was applying. I was unable to clear the ball.

But Ashley Sanchez does not get a point for that pass. No, no, no, no. But the finish on the goal was nice. Yeah, it definitely was nice. I saw a clip of like an aftergame press conference, with the spirit coach Mark Parsons, and they asked about Trinity and the national team. And, you know, like the basic question,

all these coaches get asked when they have big national team players about, you know, they're going to be missing them for a while. And Mark was like, I do not care about the national team, you know, which is what any coach should be saying. But he is playing Trinity Rodman on the left quite often. So I think he may actually care a little bit about the national team because that's what gets Trinity on the field is is Mal's absence. So I found that a little intriguing. Yeah.

It certainly softens the blow of Mal's absence to have Trinity and Alyssa playing so well. Yeah. But this isn't going to help with the idea that I'm just like some crazy Washington spirit fangirl. Ashley Hatch is now the Golden Boot Race leader, which is crazy. She scored this past weekend. She scored a PK. It was a late, stoppage time penalty kick. It was very controversial, but she took a great PK.

Yeah, the spirit deserved to win the game, I think, pretty clearly. Yeah. And even though it was kind of a nonsense penalty. Yeah. I mean, this is Ashley Hatch, you know what I'm saying? I mean, I don't think she's been, I don't know, she probably has been pretty close in the golden boot race in the prior two seasons. She won two seasons ago. Yeah, I was about to say.

So, yeah, I don't know if this is, we can really count this as like a leveling up or anything. Like, this is. Ashley Hatch is dominant in LBSL, man. She's a handful, yeah. It took a hell of a penalty kick, too. I mean, after watching our national team, after watching Rose miss the penalty kick, Horan missed two penalty kicks for the national team,

it does bring me a little comfort to see some of these players who may be in a game, you know, in stoppage time, be able to take dominating penalty kicks because that's definitely Ashley Hatch. It was a good one. My whole point was she's a golden boot race winner now,

so, or not winner, leader. Yeah. That for me is one of the key differences between like the men's and women's game. For me, like, I don't know if the numbers bear this out. But for me, like penalties in the women's game seem like a, like, there's a less chance of converting to me than the men's game. Like, like I would say in the men's game, if it's like a 75, 25% chance that it's a goal, I was saying the women's game, it's probably like a. 60-40 or something. So I don't know if y'all agree, but this is

something I've picked up over the years. Not sure. I'm not sure either. It sounds kind of sexist to me. Tone it down. No, I'm just, I'm just not sure. That's all.

I'm kind of curious what the numbers are, and I'm kidding about it being sexist, obviously. I think the stats will back me up. But also on, on Trinity, three goals to assist so far the season. her season high in the NWSL over her career was six. She had six and six

in her rookie season in 2001. So three goals and seven games so far which took her 22 games to get those six. She does so many other things well too. Plays defense well. You know, progresses the ball. She's ball secure. You aren't going to knock her off the ball.

I think she's going to be surprising a lot of people this summer. I The timeline's just working out so well Like she's getting better and better Every game She's so dynamic I'm so excited to watch her

Really explode for the national team We haven't we haven't really seen that So much yet I know I know I'm not just trying to like antagonize you here Tara But I get I have to mention this from Sanchez

Because it's just so annoying to me She Did you see that volley she had? in the early in the first half. Of the wave or Angel City game? Angel City game where there's a corner and it gets played back out to the corner and then it comes back in and then there's a deflection and it loops up about five yards from goal and then she's just rushing in on it and you know she's a national team player.

She needs to be a difference maker and she needs to thump that thing in the goal on the volley. and sure enough, what does she do? She snipes a capo, you know, behind the goal. I'm tired of it. And then she just, she trots back to the, trots back to her spot in the center of the field. Just, you know, as if, like, she did everything perfectly. That's the look on her face. You'd rather her be in distress?

I'd rather her be, like, swearing loudly. Okay, okay. To stick with Trinity, though, for a second, still in the Angels the game, I didn't think it was like a particularly, I didn't think it was like a particularly exciting game, but there were a few moments where Trinity beat out Julie Ertz, which I took note of. That's great practice for the World Cup. Julie Arts is still Julia Earth, so I thought that was a big deal. And then there was a moment where Sarah Gordon, the defender for Angel City, caught up on a Trinity run. Like half the field, she caught up with her with ease, and not a lot of defenders can do that. And it was just my shameless plug to tell you guys, I wish Sarah Gordon was going to go to New Zealand with us. I think she's very, very good.

That's all. So this is all fine and good. Do you have any comments on Ask Sanchez out there? I think since the last time we spoke, she scored two goals and got an assist. And I think that that's awesome. Yeah, that is awesome. I agree. All right.

Fair enough. Fair enough. I mean, let's just move to Alyssa Thompson because she was also in this game. And she scored a goal, you know, she scored a goal the week before. That one that many of you have probably seen, where she cuts in from a tight angle onto her right foot and then rings it off the post. Great. She beat 80 French, right?

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, nothing really French could do about it, although French has allowed. It was actually their other goalie, I think. Casey keeps changing their goalies too much. I get confused.

French keeps scoring goals with her back, too. It's her second goal. Second goal that's no. But Thompson, I know we talk about it every week, but, or every other week, but she's, she's just so good. She's so patient and, uh, and tidy. And even in this, even in the spirit, go ahead. Sorry.

No, no, no. You do not apologize to me. You do not apologize to me. Even in this spirit game, um, she, which was quieter for her and, you know, she wasn't, she didn't get a goal or an assist. They lost one zero. Um, she still looked for, I thought very good. And, um, I did, I'm a little worried that.

her patience is starting to wobble a little bit because she was like she started pumping some crosses in when she could have found a cut back or you know you know soccered her way through it to use of Alaskquezism but that's just something to monitor her getting poisoned by the you know the environment or something yeah it's okay well like once we get the uh once we get the soccer players back, the good soccer players back for the range of city. You know what I'm saying? Press, hopefully, at some point. I think Leroux even sooner.

I think she's going to be. Yeah. I am worried that I'm worried for myself that what's what is going to happen if Alyssa doesn't make the plane. Like I really need her to go to the World Cup. I am just going to be so disappointed if Vladka screws this up. I really am. That's all.

Well, there's definitely a non-zero chance he will screw it up because so she's got to keep her foot on the gas, you know? Yeah. G plus A. Is Juliette still Juilliardt's? Yes. Don't even say that. Yes. Okay.

I believe so. This was her third game. that you saw parts of the spirit game. It's her third game with Angel City. Fair enough. I mean, I was celebrating her return harder than almost anybody. Yeah. No, she's still, she's still Julia Arts.

I believe. Okay. Speaking of someone who's not who they used to be, Megan Rapino. This past weekend, O.L. Rain played North Carolina Courage. And Megan looked bad the entire. game and it really bummed me out. It made me sad.

That's too bad. Yeah. Which, uh, I don't know if I've said this before, but, but I do want to comment on the fact that like, people are going to come from me when I say this, but I don't even think Megan was, I mean, when you look at those performances, especially, uh, the Spain one, I remember the Spain one, very vividly in the last World Cup. I was on my honeymoon and we were at a bar watching it. We're at.

I want to know where you went on your honeymoon. That's all. I was in Florida. Oh, pretty. Yeah. I, she really wasn't playing that well, I don't think, in these matches. You know, there were some pins. There was a little tap-in.

You know what I'm saying? And so, like, all I'm saying is we're talking about, we're talking about throwing four years onto it. And yeah, I just don't know how was going to look, how it was going to go. We all know she's going to be there no matter what. I remember being frustrated with her in the run of play in that tournament too. Yeah, yeah. But she, you know, she scored the goals and I'm not taking that away from her. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Madam Rapino can bury a penalty. There's no doubt about that. For sure, for sure. And I actually got to see it, you know, in. person, I talked about it last episode, but yeah, it was, it was just, it's, it's easy as Sunday morning anytime she steps to the spot. She's never going to lose that, of course, but. Laura, Laura Harvey, after that game in, in Kentucky, she said, she said, uh, I, I would bet my

mortgage on Megan scoring a penalty kick, um, every time. And I thought that was really charming. Mm-hmm. It's facts. I mean, there is, yeah. And then Laura pulled her pulled her off the field immediately after because that's what she's there to do. That shit was so funny. She literally ran from the She scored the pen

because they were down. You know, no celebration. Grab the ball, dropped it at the center circle and ran off the field. But yeah. It might be time. It might be time, Megan. I appreciate the service, though.

Always, always. But even though, like, I mean, I would, I would probably say, you know, just to be a designated penalty taker, it might be worth a spot. If, if her end keeps missing, sure, yeah. Might be worth a spot. Just in case, you know, you throw her on at the minute 119 or whatever, when you know what's about to be time. So, who knows? Yeah. let's move to Portland

Sophia Smith got another assist on a Crystal Dunn goal in Portland's game against the courage weekend ago another cutback another it's just another Sophia dribbling down the left side

or like into the box from the left and then basically everybody fixating on her like a loadstone and then you know if she finds that cutback it's a goal and Dunn finished it cleanly. Anything else on Sophia before we talk more about Dunn?

No. No. It's not all about goals with Portland. Like she just is such a creator. It makes it must watch TV. She's having a blast. I love it. Yeah.

Dunn had two goals last weekend against the courage. What a blessing, right? We get to watch Crystal Dunn score two goals. Yeah, I mean, if I'm if I'm keeping it 100, I like I still don't know if we've seen a vintage, vintage crystal done attacking midfield performance for the thorns yet. I mean, but, but you know, she just, she also just completed her first 90 since the having of, you know, the lean baby Marcel. The cutest, cutest boy out there. Oh, I fall for every picture she posts with him. Did you call the lean baby Marcel? Crystal tweeted that her son is built like a linebacker,

and he outboard her in the face. And I just love him so much, please. I want to love that baby. I just want to go on record again and say I'm 100% comfortable with Dunn playing fullback for the women's national team. Great. She scored two goals, though, so. You could score goals as a full-

fullback too? It's a good time in NWSL, Crystal, is scoring a bunch of goals. Bills, how do you feel aligning yourself with Vlako and Donofsky? I do feel a little weird aligning myself with Flacco, but I just think Don she solves the problem at left back, like, so completely, or I guess it could be right back too. She solves a fullback problem so completely. And, like, I think it's true we haven't seen like a vintage attacking midfield performance.

from her. There's some games where she's kind of, you know, she doesn't get too involved. We need that against good teams. We're going to need her class and her intelligence to progress the ball from deep. And so, yeah, I reluctantly align myself with Mr. Andanovsky in this case. I definitely agree she's the best we have. She's the best we have. It sucks that it's not the position she wants to play, but she's the best we have there. She's a comprehensive solution. That's not controversial, I don't believe. Yeah. And I don't know.

Like for me, it, she, she, for me, she gets to show like her, her class. And like, she gets, she gets to play ball from that fullback spot. You know what I'm saying? And it's, it jumps off the screen every time you see it for me. Like, just to see your left fullback just orchestrating things at times. And if, if you guys, if you can remember. back to the Ireland camp

the first game the game we took seriously she was always attacking like she was allowed to be very much way up the field more so than I think we have seen in like the classic national team sense so

who knows maybe maybe she's helping helping Vladko you know adjust a little bit let her move up a little bit more more frequent Yeah, it makes sense because for me, if you're going to move, I mean, if you're going to have one of those fullbacks attacking between Emily and Crystal, it would have to be Crystal. Like I love Emily, love Emily, but as an attacker, like, she's not totally refined yet.

I don't want to take anything away from Crystal, but Emily Fox is having a hell of a few weeks with North Carolina. She's a baller. She is, and she's thriving in North Carolina. It's exciting. Hey, can I, before we go on to Fox, can I say one more thing about done? Real quick, I just want to say she was, she was thriving away in Louisville, too, thank you. But she wasn't. Okay, I mean, you must have a different definition of throughout.

In the sense of what she wants to do, which is get up the field and attack and things like that. Oh, oh, yeah. Yeah, we have that issue with Kim. That is true. That is true. I'm not saying she wasn't good. Does Emily Fox even have desires? Or does she just want to complete the mission?

Who wants to play soccer, man? She just wants to, yo, I'm telling you, just soccer playing sideboard. That's all she's, that's all she's ever cared about is just playing soccer. Somebody on the Discord, John, just in the last half hour brought up the idea of, you know, this hot thing in soccer right now is playing an incredible center mid at left back and having that person occupied the traditional 6-8 zone pretty much as soon as you get the ball. I guess you could call it the Nick Lima roll. Sorry.

But, you know, wouldn't Crystal Dunn be the, like, the goat at that? Can we have to do that more? And I feel like she kind of does do that a little bit, you know? I do too. Yeah. Yeah, she's definitely done something that resembles that over these past few camps, for sure. So that just tags along with your point that she gets to play. You know, she gets to play soccer.

You get to see her play at left back. It's not like she's hugging the touchline and just, just recycling possession and running back and forth all the time. Trapped in a little defensive bubble. No, she gets to get out there, for sure. But at the same time, she wants it. So therefore, I want it for her. Yeah. It's hard.

Yeah. But hey, she scored two goals. That's cool. Yep. Other midfielder, national team midfielder, we can talk about. Rose Lavelle, she's still out, but Laura Harvey did say she is back in practice with the team. Collective sigh of relief. I love it.

All looking good. Take your time, Rose. We don't, you know, come back soon, but not too soon. Watch some tape of people not playing hero ball. Yeah That'd be nice A little A little, you know

One two here and there Yeah, just keep Just ping, ping Come on And shoot I want the ball off her Off her feet Yeah

All right, what else we got? I'm marking it But like, do we have to talk about Horta? No, I mean I need to go in like three minutes Like five minutes ago. Yeah, kind of, but...

Well, let's just... Let's do sour brine and then... Maltry, if that's all right. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, we need to talk about Maltry for sure. Okay, so let's do... So maybe... Could you just say...

Tara, could you just say skipping over to centerbacks? Yeah. Becky? Yeah. All right. Okay. What are you saying? Well, I'm sorry.

I just wanted to say we probably need to talk about Tira too. Yeah, she's been real bad. But you're the one that has to leave. Okay. Okay. Go ahead, go ahead. Skip in over to some defenders. Tierra Davidson has been bad, guys.

She's been very bad. Vladko has been at two Chicago games recently. So more than any other team. So putting the clues together, I think. he's watching Chicago's backline. Tiana Davidson, Alyssa Neyer, Casey Kruger. I do have to say Casey has been the only bit of goodness in Chicago recently. They're kind of plummeting.

But Tiana's looking bad and she's officially off my list for New Zealand. Unfortunately, RIP, Tierra. Love you. That's a shot. That's a shot. I mean, that that is somebody, you know, but, well as we all know centerback is not you know uh as as as bell's called alana cook last week mark mackenzie you know what i'm saying there there's just something that we need to sort out here

and the fact that tyranna is not has not regained form upon the return from injury is it's concerning it's concerning yes and i i do like knowing where flat co is you know he's he's made a big deal club play is important now. And I like that he's been to two Chicago games, but Tijuana has not been looking good. It's troubling. Along those same lines, kind of. Becky Sauerbun is still hurt, which is a huge loss for Portland. Like Portland Thorne's got their first loss this past week.

And it's basically entirely because Becky is gone. Like their defense is just not good enough. and I don't want to be, you know, a terrible person, but shouldn't Portland have a plan for if their 37-year-old player gets hurt? That's concerning to me. Yeah. I honestly just don't care what happens with Portland. You know, I'll do respect.

So I'm just worried that our run is hurt. You don't care about Sophia Smith winning games? Not really I mean I mean I don't You were the one who said earlier You don't have a club I don't have a club either

Yeah I like to see As a seed as all Okay I mean yeah Would I rather Portland win Than lose yes But like It's not terrible For you

Right I'm not terrible I just think we need sour brown Back before the World Cup Even though she is kind of old We need him We need her and that worries me a little bit.

Yeah, there's not been anything timeline related that's come out from Portland or anyone else, but I'll keep you guys in the loop if I hear, for sure. Okay. Last thing is Olivia Maltry, she did score like what on first inspection looks like an absolute banger with her left foot last week, last week.

And don't, let's not forget that dime she had, earlier in the month. Was it earlier this month or late last month? Yeah. Time is illusion. I have no idea. But two great assists now, one goal. We're looking good.

Olivia's having a great season. Before you guys try and tear down a 17-year-old, just say she's having a great season. She's having a great season. I just wanted to get the ball out of her feet a little faster when she tries to pull the trigger. She will. She will. I think the progression has been really, really good compared to where she was last season so far. I'm looking forward to it.

And, you know, when the World Cup starts, this is going to be her team. She's going to have a lot of, yeah. Oh, you're talking about the thorns. Oh, okay, okay. Sorry. Yeah, I'm talking to her when she's at the club, it's going to be multery time. I'm really looking forward to it. For sure.

And yeah, I mean, this is, this is good for me to see because, you know, as I've said before, I just didn't know what exactly I was supposed to be seeing. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, we had the, you had the U-20 World Cup where even though we, you know, we talked about a lot of players looking better than they had, than they did at the World Cup. You know, you still saw brilliance from Melissa Thompson. You saw brilliance from Jaden Shaw. You saw some brilliance from Michelle Cooper. You saw some brilliance from, uh, So actually that might have been it. But and and the the ones that struggled were the, I guess, the more midfielders, which Corbyn Albert and Olivia Maltry. So had a negative experience there for me. And then in the NWSO last year, it just looked like, it looked like she couldn't put one foot in front of the other, which like literally when I'm talking about like running. Couldn't put one foot in front of the other. But it turns out she was going through a growth spurt, which makes a lot of sense. And now you get to see, you get to see her quality.

You get to see her quality show through. And now I get it. Now I understand what's going on. And now I understand where her strings lie and what we can kind of expect from her as she develops in her career. And she's a trailblazer. Like we come out here so excited to talk about Chloe Ricketts and Jaden and Alyssa and Olivia is the one that sued the NWSL to allow her to even play. Like she's going to have a legacy who knows what it's going to be like with the women's national team. But like she's the one who did this.

Sure, somebody probably would have eventually, but we can't say that. Olivia did do it. And now we get to see young players start to really thrive in this league. But yeah, good two weeks in the NWSL. We'll see what happens next. All right. Hey, thanks everybody. Thanks, guys.

Thanks for listening. We'll see you.