Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #405: WoSo W-Day — More roster talk, a hat trick, an in-form CDM, CD players

Episode Date: June 28, 2023

More World Cup roster discussion, camp arrivals, Sophia hat trick, CD players, Ertz in form, HotShot. Let's go. Tara, Vince and Belz on the mics.----Vote for us for best soccer podcast for second straight year: https://worldsoccertalk.com/best-podcast-2023-world-soccer-talk-awards/----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. The final roster for the World Cup came out a week ago today. Greg and I discussed it last week, but Tara, Vince, you should get a chance to talk about it. Thank you for the opportunity to talk about it. So gracious. Yeah. I definitely had some issues with the roster, but ultimately, I believe it's way more good than bad. 14 out of the 23 players selected, this will be their first World Cup.

So I think that is awesome. What is that? Like 60% of the team will be fresh and new into the World Cup. So I think that's something to celebrate. Yeah, Vince, you're the STEM representative on the podcast. What's the percentage there? Oh, well, you know, so 14 out of 21 would be 66. six point, you know, infinite six is percent. So, so yeah, I'm willing to bet that an extra two

does not take it out of the 60s. I think Tara is right on. Genius. That makes me so happy. I don't think I've fully comprehended how big of a deal it is that Hatch isn't on the roster. Like, of course I'm sad for Ashley Hatch. She's been on what, every roster in the last two years. like the majority of them for sure. So to just not make this one has got to be crushing. But it's such a like a monumentous decision because that guarantees that we're going to get Sophia in the middle. And that is, I can't even fully articulate how big of a deal that is and how much of a win it is and how that was not promised. So I think that's huge.

Did you say, wait, just real quick, did you say monumentous on purpose? No. That's an awesome word. Sounds like something one of our recent presidents would say. Sounds like a Don King word. Oh, Lord. But it's gigantic. It's big.

It's something that I wouldn't have expected Vladko to do. How often will we get Sophie in the middle? Like, who knows? But that's a worry for another day. Today, it's just roster construction, and that's a win. Savannah de Mello being included, huge. A pessimist would be inclined to kind of scoff at the news. Like, how much is he even going to play her?

But yesterday we got a quote from Vladko that I found to be comforting, exciting. whatever. He said, this is going to be a good story for SAV. She's one of the players that has the ability to eliminate players on the dribble in a 1V1 setting and it will be very welcomed on the team. I think that's beautiful. I think that's great. I'm so excited. Yeah. And it's huge because we just don't know about Rose. And without Rose, you know, at that point, the midfield gets very static for me. You know, I mean, we've talked about Lindsay Horan ad nauseum at this point.

There's really no more to be said, but just, you know, there's not much dynamism coming from her. And so, you know, as a, like, if, so if Rose is there, I mean, obviously we want Rose on the pitch, if possible. But if not, yeah, it might be,

might be the melleton. Yeah, Ashley Sanchez had a good game over the weekend. Goal and an assist. Very good game. Mm-hmm. It's a good game. How much are we going to miss Becky Sauerbrun, do you think, at all? Not at all?

In my dream lineup, she wasn't going to be playing. But, of course, you know, she brings what they've called her the players captain. And she brings that level of leadership that was desired and needed. And everybody loves her. So, of course, she's missed. But playing-wise, I was always riding with Cook and Germa. Who do you guys want to start at Keeper? I would love nothing more than Casey Murph for getting a start.

It would be nice. Not going to happen, though. This can be neir. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I'm just hoping with Germa, it's a different conversation than what has been going on in Chicago. I think Germa's going to help her a lot. Yep, yep.

Hopefully, you know, we can turn back the clock with Alyssa, you know, get back in the shirt. Everything just feels right, feels natural. She's back in her element and, you know, get a big tournament out of it. I mean, even though, you know, she's had these issues in the end. in the NWSL with a few goals that, you know, she shouldn't have led in and whatnot. She's also had performances that have been very good for Chicago. As, you know, Chicago lets in a lot of shots. A lot of shots.

There's a lot of work for a listener to do. And, yeah, like Tara said, hopefully we can just get Naomi German doing everything. Well, we have like... Not allowing any shots. We have a great backline. like Emily Fox has had a phenomenal season. Alana Cook is very good despite what a few oopsies here and there will stick with you. Naomi Germa, one of the best to ever do it.

And Crystal Dunn, one of the best to ever do it. We're great. But Chicago's coach, I think it was two weekends ago, he was asked about, you know, the number of goals that they've conceded. and he said it would be a lot worse without a listener and I love that I think it's very silly yeah I mean yeah it's it's it's probably true though yes it's it definitely is true but I mean our defenders are something to celebrate so so I think that there is truth and it not being like it's going to be completely different for I think I think I don't have too much to worry about. Yep.

I and I think I tweeted after the roster come out, came out that, that, you know, I would have liked to have Carson Pickett. Carson Pickett on this team, which I talked about before. Yeah. Which, which I did some, did my own research last night on the American Soccer Analysis, G-plus tables. And Carson Pickett is leading the league in Gplus for fullbacks. You can take that for what is worth. And, and, you know, Gplus is broken up into, I think, six separate categories. Almost all of our value comes from passing.

And, you know, I'll just leave that there, I guess. I mean, but, you know, just, you know, as a left back, who's been rock solid, who's also been in the NWSL Best 11 for the past two seasons and is looking to potentially follow that up. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. It's just one of those, it's just one of those, you know, those Black Coe things that we're just never going to,

never going to understand why. But I am warning it just slightly. I mean, it's a great point. Like, I'm super thrilled. I cannot wait for the World Cup, but our bench is a bit of a mess. So, I mean, Carson Pickett as a backup would have been phenomenal. Yeah, and, you know, God forbid, any one of these centerbacks have to,

I mean, leave the field for any reason, you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't even want to see him take a hot shot. You know what I'm saying? Like, I don't need them on the ground at all. I might have a heart attack at that point because it gets it gets dicey at that point. Speaking of hot shots, well, we'll get to hot shots in a minute. Can you guys guess turning away from your computer screen so you can't see the roster? Can you guys guess the top five players on the roster for caps all time?

100%. I think top five? Yeah. Give me one through five. Let me go first. I think it is Alyssa Neyer. Tell me. What?

She's not even in the top five. Okay. Okay. Reddo, redo. Alex Morgan. Yes, number one. Megan Rapino. Yes, number two.

Horan? No. I mean, she's in the top five, but you got the order wrong. Oh, the order doesn't matter. So I'm... Keep a go, keep a call. Um, Ertz? Nope, she doesn't crack the top five.

Wow, okay, I give up. That's your turn. Um, Kelly O'Hara. Yep, she's number three. Number three, and then, okay, one more. Let me run out. Crystal Dunn. Yep, number four.

All right. Because Morgan Rapino, O'Hara, Dun, Horan, and then Ertz, and then Neier, and then Lavel. That's crazy One other thing I'm kind of enjoying this One other thing What Can you do you know how many goals

Alex Morgan has scored for the national team And roughly how many Rapino has scored Oh boy Alex has had 200 caps I know so 60 Jesus

Oh oh oh I'm going to go ahead. Over under. Oh, my gosh. It's over that quite a bit. 60 is, I guess the thing is, go ahead, Vince, go ahead. No, no, no, go ahead, Bells. You got it.

Morgan's at 121 goals. Oof. And what's surprised me is Rapino has so many fewer. She's at 63. Well, Alex being at 121 is why she gets a 20-foot statue and not Megan Rapino. Exactly. Exactly. Where is that statue? So there's a 20-foot statue of Alex Morgan as the statue of Liberty.

It's called Liberty Alex. It is insane looking, but in a good way, in a good way, don't come for me. I like it. It's 20 feet tall. It's going to be in three cities. It's going on a little baby tour. The next one, it's going to be July. second at the

Conca Calf Gold Cup, the USA game in North Carolina. And then July 11th, it's going to be at the MLB All-Star game in Seattle, Washington. And then July 16th through the 26th, it's going to be at Fox Square in New York.

Oh, Fox Square. What's that? I've never heard of that. It's where the Fox Studio is, which is, you know, the World Cup. channel what do you say yeah it's a world cup broadcaster broadcaster yeah that's uh it's it's interesting because uh Tara I did have this thought uh when you were talking about the fact that Ashley Hatch was dropped

and that we are potentially going to see Sophia Smith at the nine but but I don't know man because Alex Morgan might come out and they might just wield the 20 foot statue on the on the pitch We got a good setpiece threat then since we didn't bring Corniac. Yep. Morgan's going to get her minutes. I think that's pretty clear.

And she's a big game player. This is the time to watch Alex Morgan. She's going to want to put her on a show. Like I'm thrilled for her. I can't wait. Oh man. How to table's turn? Yeah.

How the tables turn, Tara? Do I want to watch San Diego Wave? Absolutely not. Do I want to watch, you know, friendlies or, you know, lesser of tournaments than the World Cup? Absolutely not. But Alex will put on a show at the World Cup. I'm looking forward to it. I mean, at this point, it's the position we have to take, right?

I mean, we don't. Yeah, if you want to enjoy yourself. Yeah. Which I do. Yeah, I do too. Well, speaking of hot shots, back to that for a second. There's some great video of both Michelle Cooper and Alyssa Thompson this past week, giving visible reactions to how unpleasant the taste of hot shots was, I guess. Spicy, is that what it is?

Yeah. Of course, Alyssa was asked about it like a thousand times yesterday at Media Day. And she said it tastes burnt, which is such a dumb way to say that, but also very, very. funny and charming, I thought. Like, it tastes burns. No, not burnt. It was, it tastes burns. Hmm.

I saw there's like some good, some good ingredients in there. Isn't there like ginger and stuff? Yeah. So I'm like, I chalk it up to like, these are just children's palettes, you know? Yeah. And why is this only happening to the rookies, I wonder? It felt almost like hazing. I haven't seen videos of like anyone with.

even a season under their belt take it yeah i mean for anybody who's has no idea what we're talking about there's like these little drinks you can take that uh to keep you from cramping or that or they solve a cramp i guess fix a cramp on the field it shocks your nervous system into not cramping anymore yeah so basically disrupts the signals from your brain to your body I don't know. Sounds a little suss. But they both had to take them and both made just like really funny faces

at how bad they thought they were. Yeah. So it just could be a thing where, you know, the vets are used to it. And also, you know, like Bells talked about, the maturation of the pallets. Also can lead to not react in the same way. Michelle and Alyssa did.

But, you know, it's a lot. It's great content. And, and this seems to be one of those rare moments where, like, it's broken into, you know, general sports discussion. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think we're for sure getting a hot shot in WSL sponsorship coming. Hopefully.

Yeah. I just wonder, like, if Alyssa Thompson and Michelle Cooper had had had a few picklebacks in their day, would they be quite as traumatized by a hot shot? I doubt it. I doubt it. I mean, yeah. Alyssa can't even legally drink pills. Right. I know.

I know. I'm not. I'm not, I'm not criticizing her for it. I'm just, I mean, I mean, but you said back in their day, I mean,

when would that be? You know, like 16? I just, I said in their day, if they had had a few picklebacks in their day, which obviously they have not.

Well, you know, they've had the day yet, you know what I'm saying? Right, right, right. You know, I mean, after, after this World Cup,

hopefully, everybody can get back the Disney World. Oh, geez. And get rowdy again. And so then, you know, we can cross that bridge. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah. Get upcott. So let's talk about the NWSL weekend because it was kind of the send-off weekend, right? Yeah. For the most part,

our 23 gals had one more camp before they headed out to the national team. What, except Lindsay Horan, her season's been over for a bit. Rose has been injured, but apparently not too bad. And Megan hasn't been playing as well. So everyone else basically had a game. And there's lots to be excited about, in my opinion.

Impossible to start anywhere, but the Thorns versus the Spirit, where we got Sophia Smith's second hat trick of the season. And she also became the youngest player ever in the NWSL to score 30 goals. Yeah. She was outrageous in this game. This is a really fun game to watch because the spirit were actually pretty good. Yeah, I thought the spirit were like outplaying them. It's just Sophia decided to be out for blood and score three goals.

Yeah, she gets us one of those centerback. Well, the first goal, she dribbles from basically midfield on her own and then slots it left-footed. just a perfect finish after beating three or four people, including Andy. I mean, she didn't exactly beat Andy Sullivan, but Andy Sullivan made herself a passenger on the sequence. Yeah, you don't need that many chances, you don't need that many windows if you have Sophia Smith. No, I put the XG chart on here what Portland Thorns told. total was 1.23 and they got four goals. Yeah.

Because all three of her goals were very difficult shots. You know. She didn't, she didn't make them, she made them look easy, but. No, they were outrageous. Like, it was such a crazy game. It made me so happy to see, like, all of our national team players doing well. because even though they lost four to two, like the spirit gals also played pretty well.

Trinity was speedy and dangerous. She got stopped a few times, but she still looked really good. Sanchez had a goal and an assist, a really good assist, which is a welcomed sight to see. Can I describe the assist real quick? I would love it.

I would love it. Is it all the ball? of the back post. I forget who hit it. And it was, and she's, so Sanchez is sprinting towards the end line.

She's almost, she's about to go out of bounds. And she just touches it with the outside of her right foot on a little, nice little diagonal line, just serves it on a platter right in front of the goal

for Ashley Hatch. Ashley Hatch puts it, puts it away. I think the, the level of difficulty on a touch like that is high. 10 out of 10 difficulty. And she executed perfectly. Love to see it.

And she was asked, like, I'm going to keep, I'm going to be a broken record here. Media Day was yesterday. So they were all talking to a boatload of press. And Ashley Sanchez said that she's most excited for Sophia to be on her team now. She said that. Yeah, because it was not fun to play against her this past game. I was wondering if that was, if there was some comfort in what Sophia was doing to them for Ashley and Andy Sullivan because because for that very reason.

You know, Sanchez is still not doing everything, you know, not doing everything perfectly. She still has her oopsie moments, but it's a nice goal too. It was a nice goal. Yeah. And I love that. Like she's one of the younger players on the roster. She's in a perfect world not going to be starting. I think she's a great option off the bench.

And, you know, just like you said, try to do more good than bad or try not to have any oopsies. And this week, we got a goal and assists off the best team in the league. So I think it's looking good. I'm excited for her. Me too. Then there was Wave versus Rain over the weekend. Yeah. Anything happened there? Where Jaden Shaw scored a beauty of a goal this weekend, this past weekend. And you know, you may think, hey, you idiot, Jadam's not on the roster. But the goal can, came from an Alex Morgan assist and a really, really good one. So I just think it's nice to highlight that when it happens. It was a really nice, really nice ball, left-footed ball from the right side from Morgan and a good header from Shaw.

It seems like she's good at a lot of things, isn't it? Isn't she? She is. I think she's a force. I think she has so much potential to be on the senior team one day. And I'm hoping it starts after August. It's coming. Mm-hmm.

Alex nearly... I can't wait. Yeah, no, I can't wait down there. Alex nearly had a goal herself this game, too. She was definitely dangerous. She went 1V-1 with Reins goalie Fallon, who I've spoken about before, in which Fallon stopped it. So that's a huge credit to her.

You know, I hope she's a national team goalie one day, but that day is not here yet. Alex has four assists this season, only behind Sophia Smith and Sam Coffey. Who? Alex Morgan. No, but who's the last name he said? Sophia Smith and Sam Coffey. So going into the World Cup with our goal scorers also getting a ton of assists, it couldn't be more ideal in my mind.

Yeah, I just think it's cool that Sam Coffey is the league leader and assists. as a defensive midfielder is anything she doesn't do well Vince Look man We we focusing on the World Cup roster Okay And then we have Angel City So it's not one game

Angel City went to San Diego Not this past weekend but the week prior to that And Angel City won And who knew they could even do that especially against a good team in the wave. So I thought that was great for Julie Ertz, who went 90, and also Alyssa Thompson, who has been carrying a lot of the weight of this team on her very young shoulders. So I was thrilled to see that.

And then Julie Ertz also went 90 against Houston this past weekend at home, in which Angel City tied. All that to say, I think Julie's been looking. looking better and better. And that's great for us. Like we kind of went from Julie transitioning back into club soccer to Julie being hurt, to Julie coming back from injury. And now she's just getting to be Julie arts. And, you know, the timing.

Good timing. Very good. She did look. I thought she looked really good in that the game against Houston, which even though it was a zero zero draw was actually a pretty exciting game. And she's progressing the ball, like you said, playing well, which is massive. And Alyssa Thompson looks dangerous. Man, she played Sidney LaRue in for a nice chance at least once, I think twice, maybe.

And then after LaRue missed some chances, then Thompson was just like, give me the rock. And she tried to score the rest of the time. I didn't pass the ball. But I can understand. Yeah. It's good to see Julie doing that thing. Also, if I can talk about this, Angel City and Wave match, which was maddening because we had to miss, like, what, the first 14 minutes, had to miss the first 14 minutes

of the match due to a CBS doubleheader. Right. It was the baseball. I mean, the basketball day. Yeah, yeah, yeah. had a WMBA NWSL doubleheader. And to any TV executives that might be listening to this illustrious podcast, I just want to say, if you're going to do that, put the soccer game first.

Put the soccer game first. Soccer is palatable as far as like if you have a double header going and you want to stay on schedule and you don't want people mad at you, you will put the soccer game first because it's an easy two hours in and out, guaranteed, guaranteed. This damn WMBA game, and, you know, I'm a fan of the WMBA. But, yo, it took 30 minutes to play like four minutes and 30 seconds. Yes, four minutes.

The clock and 30 seconds of basketball was stopping all the time. It was the first time I've ever watched basketball. So I was like, why is this clock stopping every five seconds? So it was blowing my mind. It was incredible. It was incredible. Uh, yeah, we, I mean, you know, multiple timeouts called, uh, teams were in the bonus, you know what I'm saying, getting, getting foul going to the line. And then the game was close at the end, so they're intentionally filing more timeouts.

Yeah, I mean, injuries. It was, it was just a painstaking process. And, and then the fact that they couldn't, they, they couldn't put, uh, the NWSL match once it started on, like, CBS Sports Network even. they were like, yo, you're just going to get online and catch this game if you want to catch it. And that was, it was just... Disrespectful, man. Disrespectful. Disrespectful. CBS, if you're hearing this,

next time, next time, put the soccer game first. Put the soccer game first. Okay. Gotham beat Chicago. It's past Sunday. Lynn Williams got herself another goal. Just another one, you know? Lynn keeps scoring.

it's a beautiful thing you know it happens all the time so it's not you know it's not you know shocking or anything but lends scoring going off to the world cup we've got Alex assisting we've got Sophia getting hat tricks it's it's a great great time to tune in to our national team it was a pretty remarkable goal too you know she had she was getting a lot of chances in the game because she's based out of I don't know, as far as I can tell, Gotham just says give it to Lynn Williams, and then she's going to cut him from the left and try to shoot. But this one was a throw-in from the left side, and she took it, you know, took a touch with her right foot out of the air and then turned and volleyed it with her left foot. Really, really nice volley, arcs it over the keeper who has no chance.

She also tried a left-footed chip from way out earlier, you know, that famous. Well, yeah, that famous messy goal where he chips the keeper in Lolliga and the keep, it zooms in on the keeper's face and he's like, woo-wee. Yeah. One other thing about Gotham, though, Kelly O'Hara was playing forward for a little bit, which I thought was crazy and interesting. I was convincing myself it was just her getting some attacking minutes before the World Cup, because I'm not super sure what she's doing on the world.

roster. So I'm thinking like if Gotham is playing her as a forward and not as like a right back, there's got to be a reason for that. So I'm looking forward to seeing if that, uh, you know, comes out to anything. But you are spot on. Like Gotham will try a few things at the beginning of the game. And if it's not working out, it's just give it to win. And it's working out for them.

Seems to be working all right. Yeah. Let's do a quick check-in with Vietnam, the Netherlands, and Portugal, the three teams we face at the World Cup. Hopefully we can do more substantive, you know, a more substantive scouting report on each team at some point. But for now, what's going on? Vietnam played a friendly against Germany this past weekend and lost one to two, which at the, you know, hearing that, it was like a shock to the system to a lot. lot of women's national team fans. Being as Vietnam's our first game and Germany's a very good side, it was surprising.

So looking into it just a tiny bit, the Germany side, it wasn't their best team and it also wasn't Vietnam's best team. So I think it's definitely worth watching, worth getting into, trying to piece together a few more ideas about what Vietnam is going to look like because the game's quickly approaching. One thing I did want to say, though, Vladko talked about our group, and I found this interesting. He said it's one of the hardest, if not the hardest, if not the hardest, at the World Cup. three different types of teams in some ways different philosophy or different style of play which made it a little harder for us in the preparation that's direct quote so i i think he's definitely right this is a very like complex uh group of teams um and i'm looking forward to learning more about them yeah so by the transitive property property, Vietnam loses 2 to 1 to Germany.

We lost 2.1 to Germany. We also beat Germany once. Oh, yeah, that's right. Gotcha. We're back in. What about the Netherlands? Their star forward, Vivian Metema, down with an ACL injury. She's suffered in December, so they're going to be missing her. Yeah, like so many other countries, ourselves,

included. A big star will not be there. And then also continuing to use Germany as kind of the baseline here, Netherlands played a friendly against Germany in April of this year and lost one to nothing. We've seen Netherlands before. We know they're going to be aggressive. They're going to be very good. But just saying this past year, played Germany, lost one to nothing. I think that's a good scope to look at, I guess. Yeah. Well, and then with Portugal, their last two friendlies, their last two games, I think we're in April. They beat, well, they lost to Japan, two to one, and then they drew whales one to one. So I guess, you know, we face whales on the 9th of July, so maybe we'll get a little info there.

Portugal plays England Saturday, July 1st And one of their last two tunups, yeah It's going to be interesting to see how they stack up Against the team that did that beat us and we did not beat in the fall Brazil beat England though if we're if we're putting all the cards out and we've beaten Brazil Exactly exactly Yeah I mean if we take this transitive property silliness all the way to its logical conclusion we're always

to come out on top because we're the two-time reigning champs, right? How about that? How about that? Soon to be three. Soon to be three. But moving ahead a little bit, camp started on the 26th. I've said it a few times already. They had a big media day yesterday, and we got a lot of goofy stuff to talk about if we want to be lighthearted for a little bit.

okay? That's okay, yeah. Okay, first up, Sophia said she's never used a CD player. Thoughts? Yeah, I don't know. It seemed to hit a lot of people hard, but, you know, I have fully internalized the fact that I'm getting old and, you know, it is what it is. It's almost hard to believe that I once did use a CD player. It's crazy, ain't it? You know? Yeah.

I think that that's great honesty going into the World Cup, though. She came out, she came out and she, like, quote, tweeted it. And she was like, guys, you know, I was basically, like, I had to say it. I didn't want to say this. I had to. They're asking the questions. Yeah, because everybody was having some heat for this? Yeah, yeah.

There's people having existential crises about their own mortality. Which, you know, hey, face the facts, Bucco. Happens. It's the human condition. Happens to the best of us. But so we've got Sophia never using a CD player. Alyssa Thompson kept calling everybody to ask what to pack. She called Lindsay Horan.

She called Becky. She's like, what do I bring? Megan told her, bring it all. And I love that. Bring it all? Bring it all. She said she has four suitcases. Jesus.

Bring it all. You never know what you're going to need, you know? So hopefully Alyssa's very prepared. Yeah, I'm, so I guess I've never flown on a charter flight. You know what I'm saying? Or you can, like I assume you can just bring whatever the hell you want to bring. I'm sure there's still weight limits. Yeah, but, you know, 23 people.

Maybe not for the players. Do they have like a baggage plane? too. Ooh, that's a good question to ask. We've got to get on that. Megan Rapino has the same hair color as the official 23 Women's World Cup mascot. Did she say that this was on purpose?

No, this is just a connection people are making. I don't know what else it could be, though. She does kind of look like the mascot. Yeah, we got a little mascot with blue hair. We got Megan with blue hair. Good connection to build. That's nice. Who else has blue hair?

Crystal done, but instead of mascot shade of blue, hers is a bit more USA shade of blue, in my opinion. Love it. Good, good. A little enthusiasm for the hair color, guys. Yeah, I can't wait. I can't wait for these games to start. Crystal looks great. We've already touched on Liberty Alex. Alex has herself a 20-foot statue that's going on tour.

so thrilled for that. She's also got herself a Calvin Klein campaign, similar to what we saw before the Men's World Cup, where a bunch of soccer players got in their underwear. We're doing it again for the women. So equality, you know, we get the same campaigns. Hooray. How would you guys characterize the expression on her face in the statue?

In the statue, she looks a little pissed off. Yeah. But in a good way, you know, as the Statue of Liberty should. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, like, pissed off at her enemies, vanquishing her foes. Honkering things of lesser liberty. Yeah. But yeah, that's about it on cute things that happened at the press day.

Love it. Vince, you got a report from the ground in Louisville. Oh, yeah. Racing versus Gotham. I sure do. Booth on the ground, what was this? This was Father's Day. It was SpongeBob Day. Most importantly, though, Father's Day.

You know what I'm saying? Brought the whole fam. Brought the whole fam to the park. You know, both girls, my wife. So usually I choose to spend Father's Day alone. But, you know, for soccer, I'll make some sacrifices. But also, yes, as Tara said, as

Tara said, SpongeBob Square Pants Day, controversially, controversially, SpongeBob Square Pants Day, which, hey, you know, I'm not going to get into the whole thing, but, you know, we could have soccer holdings, the parent company of, you know, Louisville City and Racing Louisville.

Do a little bit better there. Do a little bit better there. They seem to repeatedly. step in and unnecessarily. But anyway, I was, I was that, just to be clear,

the issue was that they did SpongeBob Day on Juneteenth, right? The day before June 2th. Can you briefly tell me what SpongeBob Day entailed? I'm so curious. I didn't see anything.

There really wasn't too much going on, to be honest with you. I, like, I don't know. Like there's been a theory going around that since the game was on CBS, like Paramount told him to do this in order to get the game on CBS. And it kind of, it's not as far-fetched as it seems because like this could have easily been like a June team celebration. It could have easily been a June team celebration. We had had a had a woman there that sung a beautiful, beautiful rendition of lift every voice and sing.

had Juneteenth warmups on like the whole the whole thing the whole thing was going so I just don't know but yeah there wasn't much going on in the stadium with regards to SpongeBob I mean like during like during

halftime or something they had two people on and they did like SpongeBob trivia which I definitely would have won I'm a SpongeBob I'm a SpongeBob stand Why didn't you win it? well well i wasn't you know invited on the field to participate oh okay yeah like me and my wife would have won you know we would have blown anybody out you know what i'm saying we we i'm a sponge bob

dude okay it's it's one of the it's one of the great greater uh pieces of art that america's ever produced if i'm being honest with you um and let's see oh oh oh and then also like during the week there was like a campaign to like vote which race and Louisville player gets slimed. Oh, that's cute. Yeah, I think it ended up being Paige Monaghan or something. It happened. Once again, it happened at halftime on the video board. Yeah, but anyway, to the match, to the match.

Yeah, so racing Louisville was hosting Gotham. Gotham came to town. No Christy Mewis in the starting lineup. No Kelly O'Hara in the starting line up. up. So really, all I had to see, at least at the beginning, was Lynn. And I don't know. So it's really, racing kind of played Gotham off the pitch. Really. I mean, Lynn, okay. So y'all remember, like, a few weeks ago when we had that centerback come on and immediately get sent off for a dog so against Trinity Robin? Yeah. Okay. Her name is.

Ellie Picayyamsa. Elipikyamsa is extremely slow. And I mean extremely, which is why she got ate up by Trinity the way that she did and had to, you know, it had to file to prevent a goal. Like, and Ellie started this match. And we didn't have, like, Lynn Williams taking advantage of this at all. I don't know if it was Gotham or it was Lynn. You know, Lynn had probably already received the call.

was trying to just chill a little bit and not open it up. But, you know, if I'm got them, I'm hitting long balls. I'm having Lynn just play off a playoff Ellie Pickyamsa the entire time. And Lynn was just like in between the lines trying to receive balls and do all that type of stuff. And it just didn't, it didn't totally work for me. It didn't totally work for me. I wasn't a fan. I wasn't a fan.

So really, there wasn't too much in the way of like a, like effectiveness from Lynn because she wouldn't play into her strings. It was weird. It was weird. I don't know. Racing on the other side. I don't think I've talked about her on this pile,

but I've talked about her assessing in the Discord. And she's going to the World Cup for South Africa. A winger named Timby Kotlana. I mean, I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan, too. I said this in the Discord that she might be like one of the most dynamic players I've ever seen and I really do stand by this. I really do stand, but she just eight got them up.

Eight got them up. Just mostly on like long balls, just go and chase them. I mean, if she did get the ball on the wing, she was just skinning whoever's on it. Like on the dribble, she's untouchable. Running it behind, she's untouchable. Could have had like three goals. Oh, we also, I mean, we got to go from Sab to Memphis. off a little scramble in the box in the first half.

And then to start the second half out, had a goal right in front of me from Timby Kotlana. As the second half started, 2-0. And then, oh, so Gotham subbed on Kelly O'Hara and Chrissy Mewis. Sometime in the second half, Kelly O'Hara started off on the left side, playing left back. didn't look that good over there and eventually came to my side and was playing right back

there really wasn't too much a report. It really wasn't too much a report. The one thing I guess I thought was kind of noteworthy was Christy playing like super deep receiving the ball from centerbacks and whatnot. So it kind of made me wonder like when she did get the call

because I was kind of unsure at that point. You know that we had had rumors leak out. You know, the rumor had came out that the Kelly O'Hara and Savda Mello were on the roster, but nobody had heard anything

about Christy Mewis yet, but notable that in this match she was playing so deep. So I don't know, you know, I mean, Julie's playing fine now. Andy Sullivan has also, you know, held down the sixth position.

You know, we can argue about the degrees to which she held her down. But, you know, it seems like we have that backup sixth position taken care of. Christy maybe can deputize there. Maybe as an 8-2, but I don't know. You know what? Does a wrench in this a little bit? Vladko said that Julie could be backup centerback.

Right. It's something they're exploring. Yeah. Yeah. So if you are wondering why Christy Meuse is included, maybe that's it. Maybe that's it to be to deputize of the sixth at some point. We also got, I'm not even going to bring, I was going to say we also got Emily Sonic, but I've seen her be very ass at, in midfield.

But, yeah, that was the game. Jalen Howell just continues to be. I mean, like, she's amazing. She's amazing. She's everywhere. She's breaking up all types of attacks. You know, still doing the simple thing and build up. up, but that's just her game.

And, you know, she's going to play it simple. And then on defense, she's just like a honing missile. Just busting everybody's ass. It's incredible to watch. It's incredible to watch. But yeah, really? That's it, man. That's boots on the ground.

The last pre-World Cup roster edition. Oh, also, after that match, we went down to the field level. usually the team comes around sign some autographs or whatever so we had a poster had a poster with the entire roster on it baby excuse me

baby got some signatures and then we also got our picture with Sabde-Mello I also got a picture of Saddamelo because I was like yeah yeah the that's a great picture it is

my daughter's adorable if I can say so myself she really is I tweeted it out Yeah Yeah I tweeted it out Um Did your daughter

Understand she was getting her picture taken With a World Cup player I've tried to I've tried to drive this point home to her But she's just gonna have to like See her on TV In the USA kit Before she like fully gets it I guess

I mean because you know She fully understands Like the the men's team as far as like like like what that is yeah and and you know I've watched some like uh USW and T games like with her around too but there just hasn't been as many of consequence in these past uh you know in these past two years or whatever for for her to really see so so once the World Cup comes well actually these games are like at 9 p.m right yeah sure she did this thing right To wake her ass up at 3 a.m.

Like, let's go watch this. But, yeah. So hopefully I'm a, I'm going to fully understand what the hell's going on here. But yeah, man, just great game at the, great game at Lynn Family Stadium. I love boots on the ground because I, like, as an outsider, I think teams have a really difficult time playing there. Like, if racing has a home game, like, they could go up against. anybody. Is that true?

Yeah, yeah. I mean, yeah. They have a bit of a fortress. I mean, I guess. I would, like, I do kind of have this vendetta against the soccer watching public of the city of Louisville. Because, you know, like Louisville City gets a solid 10 to 12,000 every match. Every single match.

Racing, I don't think. might have barely topped 6,000, if that, you know. And also, I also haven't been to a Luce City game this year. I've really put my whole... Out of spite? A little bit. They also kind of stink this year. Yeah, like, I don't know.

It's also some residual emotions from just the whole, the whole Christy-Holly scandal that we went through. through. Oh, right. And it's just like, I don't know. Like, I'm going to come here and support the girls and make sure that, you know, that they have people here and they, and they know that they are supported and everything. Lou City, I don't know.

Like, I'm going to get back. I'm going to get back. But I just feel like, I just feel, I feel compelled to help build this racing thing up. We got to get it to the same level that Lou City is. Like, you know, I, like, I keep seeing videos of, like, Jaylen Houns, I have DeMello, they get an interview,

they're doing like content for the team and they're just begging. They're just begging for fans to come out and it breaks my heart. They do a really cute midfielders in the car thing.

Yes, yes. Yeah. Yeah. So that was one of them where just like, Jaylen was like, yo,

if we, if we get some more fans in the stadium. Like I just, like, you know, just dreaming of what it would be like to basically have a loose city crowd.

Also, I got a car. call out Jack Harlow too. Jack Harlow always be pulling up to these Louisville City games. I ain't seen him at a racing game yet. I ain't seen him at a racing game yet. Be at a Louisville game and a bonnet. You know what I'm saying?

I feel like the racing Louisville crowd would appreciate the bonnet even more, Mr. Harlow. So come out. Come out. But that's it. Nice. You know, speaking of attendance at NWSL games, hoping to have a good conversation with Paul Kennedy tomorrow. Waki and I are going to interview him.

That's the editor of the of Soccer America. I've been covering American soccer since 1974. The OG. And we're going to talk finances, USSF finances, MLS finances, NWSL finances a little bit. How much money will it take for us to buy the Chicago Red Stars? Question number one. Man, it's a good question.

Are you ready to, it's like how much money does it cost to buy them? And then how much money does it cost to run them? Yeah, like maintain it as a brand. But yeah, hopefully we can learn some stuff there. And then I do want to say, I'll put the link in the show notes, but please vote for us for Best Podcast on World Soccer Talks annual awards. We won last year and we'd like to win this year. I think we're ahead now.

But another vote or two wouldn't hurt. I got my vote in yesterday. Yeah. You should vote again. Hey. Vote often. Regularly. I'm all for it.

I have one more thing to say. Yeah. It's a bit miscellaneous, but I've been waiting for this day. So Michelle Cooper got her first professional goal. She got a cup goal, but her first regular season goal, and she broke a record while doing it. She scored in 23 seconds, which is the fastest school in NWSL history. Wow. This season, we also got the latest goal, which Lynn Williams now holds.

We're just coming up with records at this point. But Michelle Cooper, fastest goal, and it was wonderful. She's good. I admit it. I admit that she's good. Thank you for getting that off your chest. That send-off game against Wales is a week from Sunday, July 9th. 4 p.m. Eastern time. So we'll be back.

We'll be back definitely two weeks from today. Maybe we'll figure out some other stuff too. You guys good? Anything else? All for me. Good. Thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you.