Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #416: WoSo W-Day — USA-NED tonight, Rose's return, anthems

Episode Date: July 26, 2023

WoSo Wednesday World Cup edition. Belz, Tara and Vince look ahead to the game tonight against the Netherlands (who weren't all THAT convincing against Portugal), celebrate Lavelle's return and strong performances from Horan, Morgan and of course Smith. We talk anthem singing and Girma's poised response to a question about it. Also Ary Borges and Melchie Dumornay doing the western hemisphere proud, and a full Racing Louisville victory lap as you might expect.----Consider subscribing to Scuffed on Patreon. You get an exclusive episode once a week, plus access to the Discord and live call-in shows, by signing up here for as little as $2 a month: 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. It is a World Cup game day. We face the Netherlands at 9 p.m. Eastern time tonight. How are you guys doing? Couldn't be more excited. Love a World Cup game. Love a Dutch matchup. Can't wait.

I'm feeling great, Bills. I'm feeling great. I'm gaining a lot of joy from this 2020, A 2020 Women's World Cup I mean Like From match day one

Maybe match day is two and three And the knockouts will Will humble me a bit But your boys are riding high right now Well Tell me Tell us why you're riding high Okay

Number one Uh 2020 Two Two Two thousand 23 World Cup starter Savannah de Mello You know what I'm saying

She was all right It's been a long time coming. It's been a long time coming. I've I've, I've, I've, I've, I've held the fort down. You know what I'm saying? Like, I was the one that, uh, after the, uh, after all the explosions and whatnot, I was the one still standing there with the flag. You know, that, the flag was still there.

Um, as, as the famous song Star Spangled Banner once said. Uh, but it was a racing Louisville flag. It was a racing Louisville flag, so, you know, you saw the Florida Lee, little lavender in there. And, yeah. Oh, oh, also I should mention in the face of two haters, then I'm currently looking at my screen, Adam Bells and Tara Blank. It feels good. Wait, wait. It feels good.

You are not going to pretend like I have been anything but a Savannah Demello fan. Okay. Well, well, well, Tara, you, you pretend a lot of things. You pretend a lot of things about me. I got to take a lot of flag. So when Cap post game, post came out where she acknowledged she wasn't going to make the World Cup team, there was one person who came on this very podcast and said that position should go to Savannah de Mello. Okay. That was me. But you didn't want to take it that one step further. The only difference between us is I don't think.

Every single issue with our national team stems from Ashley Sanchez. That's the only difference. Or it could be solved by Savannah de Mello's inclusion. She's not going to start tonight either. Like, let's all be honest with each other. Oh, yeah. I mean, that's fine. I mean, I don't have any issue with Roosevelt being better than Savannah de Mello.

I mean, that is obvious. A fact. Yeah. Yeah. I think she may start against Portugal again because she had some very good set pieces. And I think that'll come in handy. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. She's definitely earned more playing time. I'll say that. I enjoyed your comp that you made. Thank you. It took a lot of work. As we talked about, I'm under review. I mean, I mean, seriously, four hours.

Four hours for like a minute and 30 seconds of a video, which it's a labor of love in it. You know, also. Savannah de Mello's midfield partner, Ari Borgas. You know what I'm saying? Huge game. Hat trick and an assist. I mean, and the assist and the assist was just the the, the, the, the, the, the play of the tournament so far.

I mean, it's probably going to be the play of the tournament, you know, just going forward, which, you know, I talked about this with Bells a little bit yesterday. I have some questions about Panama and, and they're, they're marking on, you know, You know, like anytime there's a ball served into the box, like, Ari was just standing still. Like, she had so much time on many of those. Yeah, standing still in the box. Cross comes in, you know, goes up, comes down, much in the shape of, you know, a parabola. Upside down.

Those were nice. Those were all nice crosses, though, from a, not from, like, way wide either. Kind of from a. I mean, I mean, they are, they, they, they all look nice. you know, when they find a head, don't they? You know? Davenia had a great game, Kansas City's own. Yeah, but we're not talking about that.

We're not talking about that. Though, though, that... Well, if Tara wants to talk about it, we can talk about it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? Of course, but... But I have the floor. Oh.

I have the floor. It's the Louisville City segment. I mean, I'm sorry, it's the Racing Louisville. Racing Louisville, excuse me. But it does bring up a really cool point in which... goals that have happened so far in this World Cup, that NWSL is leading. Yeah.

And that's a cool thing, I think. Yeah. Give us the stats. How are we doing relative to the Frauen Bundepliceliga? NWSL has six. Frowen Bundesliga has four. I don't want to read the rest, but we're winning. That's all that matters.

That's one, two, and then the rest of the field is, well, what's the W.E. League. Oh, it's the Japanese League. The W.E. League has four goals, too. These stats are true as of 12.01 a.m. Eastern time on Wednesday.

Yeah. Where it is definitely Wednesday on the East Coast, 12.01. But, yeah, man. It's beautiful to see. I've talked a lot about racing Louisville's midfield. It's a thing of beauty. It's the thing that keeps me coming back to the park. Jalen Howell, who I've talked about a lot, of course.

Sav, who I've talked about a lot. I haven't talked that much about Ari because, of course, scuffed. We have a national team slant or whatever the hell. But, yeah, she's a ball or two. We're jingoistic over here. But Ari doesn't play midfield for the national team, right? I mean, she's definitely much higher than she is for Louisville. I mean, she's basically a box to box.

You know what I'm saying? She's very adept and facilitating buildup and all types of things. I mean, she has done a few things. She scored a banger for us against the spirit. I think she's drawing like two penalties. Like usually she gets the ball in the box will do something nice with it. But she's not there a lot for us.

So yeah, to see her as high as she was for Brazil. Yeah, that was definitely a difference from league play for sure. Let's talk about the U.S., the U.S. women's national team. What do you guys, how are you guys feeling about the game against the Netherlands tonight? It's been the one that's been circled on the calendar. It's the game. It's the toughest game in the group by far for us. kind of the real test of where we stand?

Yeah, this was always the group stage game I was most excited for. I just can't imagine Netherlands is going to sit back like Vietnam or potentially Portugal will. They'll want to play, and I think that's going to bring out the best in us. The Netherlands isn't the same team as they were in 2019. And we aren't either. So I think it's going to be an exciting game, and I think it's going to bring up. the best in our attackers for sure. Who for you guys is the most impressive player on their team?

I mean, Beerenstein's a handful. Van de Dank is very active and then Grownin and Roared are also quite active in the midfield. They played three at the back against Portugal. And they have been playing three in the back for a while. It's not like a new thing. I was not that impressed, though. I guess if I had watched the U.S. as a Dutch fan,

I wouldn't have been like that impressed either. But a couple things. Like one, I mean, they won the game fair and square. It was 1-0. They won on a set piece over Portugal. But they had like, what was it? 1.71 XG to 0.1 for Portugal. 12 shots to 2 for Portugal.

5 on target to 1. 56% possession. So it was like they definitely won the game and they deserved to win the game. But I don't know, early in the game, they had a little trouble playing out of the back. Portugal had a little pressure and they could win it high from the Dutch. I mean, if they play that way against us, they're going to get punished, you know? I thought they looked real floppy myself. Yeah, I just didn't want to get out over my skis, but that's basically what I'm trying to say.

Okay, good. Did you guys see the video U.S. soccer put out asking? Heron, who had a better debut, Messy or Sophia Smith? Don't read the comments. It's not good. Why would they ask her that? I don't know. They asked her that.

Well, it wasn't even a, what was you talking about? I guess it was a World Cup debut for Sophia Smith. Introduction on the world stage, same night. Yeah. The Dutch have a bad training ground. I guess you guys have seen this. There's some kind of hard cricket pitch in the middle, like a cricket plate in the middle of their soccer training field so they can't slide on it. It sounds really dangerous and their coach is furious about it.

So we have them right where we want them, you know. Bad training facility didn't play very well against Portugal. Coach is enraged. See, this is where we gained a Conca Calfe advancement. advantage because, because, you know, if you give the U.S. his pitch, uh, where, we're, we're still sliding.

Two foot and I mean, you know what I'm saying? Like, like, we, we're used to this. We're, we're, uh, not new to this, for two to this. I knew you were going to say. Um, yeah, yeah. So, you know, you know, these, uh, these Europeans, these Europeans, they, they, they, they can get a little soft, you know what I'm saying? Coddled.

Yeah, with the nice pitches and whatnot. and their weather that is conducive to green grass growing. 12 months a year. Yeah. Yeah. So, hey, it is what it is, man. I guess the only other Dutch preview thing I have to say is that, as Carl on the Discord pointed out, thank you for the dispatch from you, Carl, this midfield of the Netherlands

can be played through. Portugal couldn't get into the box, but they could get time. in space around Van de Donk roared and groan in. And I think if Rose Lavelle is receiving the ball on the half turn in those spots, she's going to do some damage. I agree. So who's going to start for us? Who's going to start for us?

I'm thinking it's going to be real similar. The only difference is I'm expecting is Ertz for Sullivan and cook back in as a centerback. And then Roosevelt back in for Savannah de Mello. And this is only based off of the assumption that it won't be as attacking as it was in Vietnam. I think the Vietnam lineup made sense knowing that we weren't going to be defending at all. Yeah. Okay.

It's the serious lineup is what we're saying. So it'll be, you know, so cook back in as center of. Ertz for Sullivan and Lavelle for Savannah, the mellow. That's right. I'd love to see Lynn Williams come in. I'm thinking that will probably be more of a sub. She's just so good on defense. I think this is her game to come in for Claire in the Discord brought up how she may have

not gotten minutes in the Vietnam game because she was sick. So I think that is interesting. But all that to say, I'm hoping we see Lynn either start or be one of the first off the bench. Well, so wasn't it in the Wales match, whatever, where Vlako called her, like, a, she can be like the best sub in the world? The greatest 15 to 30 minute player in the world. Which is crazy. And offensive. Yeah, yeah.

It's not nice. A little bit, a little bit. I mean, you know. A little bit. But yeah, yeah. Hopefully we see the... Go ahead, Bill's. No, you go first.

No, I was just saying, hopefully we see this serious lineup and let's see what happens. Because Rose came in, it was happy, like, I was happy to get that proof of life from Roosevelt. And she stepped into a soccer pitch the first time and a long time. And she was looking like Roosevelt. She barely had any rest. Like it was a near rustless game. Yeah. It was beautiful to see.

And I was talking to my uncle this weekend. And Rose is like the people's champ. Everyone loves Rose. Everyone loves Rose. My like 65-year-old uncle, grisled vet, Desert Storm, a Marine. Really? He was like, man, I love Rose. Rose is my girl.

Why does he love her so much? Well, he kind of knows ball because through his time in the service, he was stationed in North Carolina for a while. And because they were in North Carolina, his son played soccer growing up. And so he's been around and I think he just appreciates the sauce. I think he just appreciates the sauce, man. It's undeniable. Rose is the only player, my family will. like joined forces for it's it's an ohio thing i think though western ohio loves loves roose lebele because

she's from cincinnati yeah yep my you know my some of my friends who like hate burrhalter hate per halter and uh you know i think we it's a it's a real shame that we didn't send her a team to the gold cup the men's the men's gold cup uh they're they're they love roselvel Like, that's, they're like, they, they tested me the first time I, I came and saw them, like, when I moved back down here. And they said, who's the best player on the women's national team? And I was like, well, I think, you know, probably Rose, Lovell. This was like two years ago. I didn't even know what I was talking about.

And, um, and they were like, yes, that's it. That's the correct answer. You can sit down, you know? That's a good litmus test. And like, if somebody's worth hanging out with. Right. Yeah. I was really relieved.

to pass. What do they call those? Like a swing-in-doors moment for you, Bill's? I guess, yeah. What would have happened if I said Alex Morgan? Friendless. Damn. I guess my only adjustment to what you said, Tara, is I think, I sort of suspect Flacco

will start Ertz at centerback again and keep Sullivan in there. I don't know, I don't know why I think that. Please, God, no. please. Hey, I've seen enough of Andy Sullivan. Okay. Yeah. I've never been a fan, but here we are.

Like, like, I didn't have an issue with the Vietnam match. I thought we played well. I thought we played all right. But I did have an issue with Andy Sullivan's play a little bit. I mean, because if you're kind of, if you're watching a little bit, like, she just could not control the ball. she could not control the ball or she couldn't control it cleanly at the very at very least

and by the time she would a lot of times like her window like to turn or whatever was closed and she just had to pass it back to the center back and I was getting tired of it yeah she'll hit a through ball now and then that

you know if she has a lot if she has the field in front of her she played that one to Alex that was nice that was one of the first half for sure So did de Mello. Yeah.

Need I remind you. She also played a nice through ball. Yep. I've seen that play about 15, 20 times at this point. I mean, just from, you know, doing the comp and whatnot, of course. Yeah. But, but, just. I'm, I feel like, um, I am, I am coming around on Lindsay Horan as, as, as we come into this

Netherlands game. I feel like I didn't fully appreciate her game. I mean, I appreciated her game, but like, it really came home to me watching this game how much she just loves to, she loves to do things that look beautiful on the field, you know? Yeah. Like, that's what she's about. And no one.

And she also sings the national anthem, but that's, but that doesn't matter. Who cares about that, you know? No one can take Lindsay Horan versus Vietnam. away from me. It was so funny. She was trying so much dumb stuff. She was always higher up than Sophia and Alex. Like, she was all over the place. When she tried to run back to catch up with the Vietnam player, I was cackling by myself watching the TV. I thought it was the funniest thing of the world. So did you see that one? Did you see that one? Was she really, where she really hauled it to get back? I was, I was like, hell yeah. Let's hear. And then when she was, when she was,

she laughed at Megan Zino when she missed that open net. Oh, that was great. The player's captain, right? Sorry, Becky. We're moving on. This is so funny. Yeah, yeah. I mean, for me, and this isn't like another, well, it is another Savannah to me

point, but, but it's, it's one that's, you know, that brought me to my original conclusion, man, it's just like, you got to have there. doing a little extra defensive work that you weren't, that you weren't necessarily getting from Ashley. And I think that just helps, uh, Lindsay a lot. They helps her a lot, man.

I think, I think you're right. I think you're right. That, like, just to be serious about Demello for a second, like, for me to be serious about her for a second. She is,

she does, like, a lot of the piano mover stuff in the midfield that, that Ashley can't do. Like, Ashley's not suited for. You know, it's like she can get on the ball. She can hold the ball.

She can find a pass. She can get, she gets fouled a lot. As Tara has pointed out several times. Privately. Privately. Oh. Who, so we talking about here? Sam.

I said that she got fouled a lot. Is that, is that? She's like the NWSL leader in like fouls drawn. Is that a great stat? I think it's not a bad thing She knows how to do them She knows how to get them Get them drawing man

But she can help you gain control In the midfield I think Yeah And she gets stuck in too That was my whole argument When you saw her On a Vietnam player back Just just you know

Getting in there digging the ball out She deboed somebody Threw him to the ground And she carried it away I mean it's beautiful What's that term? Debo what's that?

Yeah, yeah, DeVote. Can you explain that? Oh, so on the movie Friday, which is a cult classic amongst Americans, yeah, yeah. So I would say Americans. The biggest demographic that would consider it a cult classic would be black Americans, but I think... Americans. Yeah, I would say that I know. people of every race that love the movie Friday.

But anyway, there is a character in that movie named Debo. He's like, he's just a large, he's a large fellow that just lives on the block. And he scares everybody. And his name kind of just became a verb. Okay. Within the community of esteem people that like the movie Friday. So the verb is like push aside, basically, or like totally dominate? Deboat, yes.

Okay. Correct, correct. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Okay. What about, how do you guys feel about Morgan probably starting up top? I mean, she's probably going to, right? Hey.

Are you okay with it? So I would say that the way that y'all felt about this Iran match, maybe I kind of feel this way about Alex Morgan. In that Vietnam match? It's just, I mean, she does take a lot of, just a lot of punishment. And, you know, she had that, she had the flick for the goal, of course. Swinging doors moment, if you will. Yeah.

You know, she's, I mean, she's still a good player. It took me, it took me a rewatch. I was blinded by the PK in the first night, but it took me a rewatch. And I definitely see value in her starting again. And she's also going to have a lot to prove. I think that an Alex with a chip on her shoulder is going to be a good thing. I definitely don't think she's used to being the person to feed another player. I think she's going to want to score, and I think she's going to want to make up for the

P-K and I think she's going to be angry a bit and that's something I'm excited about for tonight. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And I guess like when I was going back through and watching the match, it's like the term that came to mind was just like, you know,

when they talk on TV about like you're sending a forward and they talk about them leading the line. Like that's what Alex like she does it. She does it. Like yes the whole issue here is that possibly another configuration would be better, which I probably still believe that.

But, like, Alex, Alex, she, you know, she gets out there and she leads. She leads by example, leads to her play. It's always like, you know, just taking a beating from both centerbacks. Occupine centerbacks just, uh, she's just, just playing the game. And, and I respect it. And like you both said in regards to Savannah, like Alex can take a hit. She's going to get fouled a bunch. Right. And apparently that's super valuable.

So another plus for Alex. Yeah. And like the thing I don't like with like attacking players is, you know, you put an attacker out there and you're like, yo, we're like 35 minutes into the match and I haven't like seen you once. Yeah. Um, yeah. Like Alex is, she, she's out there doing work. She might get a chance.

She might, she might, you know, scuff it, whatever, whatever. Uh, but yeah, she's out there. She's noticeable. And, uh, she's contributed. Why, why doesn't Sophia get out as much? Is that just like a style of play or luck or any guess? Oh, I want to sense because she's, I want to say, because she's, I I want to say it's because she's just so unstoppable, like, even if they do try to foul her.

She's just more, like, she's stronger. She just rides it. Yeah, I don't, I don't know. She, uh, I don't, I don't think she, she, she just doesn't operate the way, the, the, the, the way Alex does to me. It's, like, when you had that versatility to where you can, like, pop out to the wing and, like, you can just, like, run a channel or something instead of just trying to, you know, hold the ball up in a way that Alex does and occupy centerbackside way. I just think it's just two different styles.

It even reminds me of Alyssa Thompson a little bit. Like, she's not getting thrown off the ball as much as some of these other players are. And I'm intrigued by it. That's all. I was going to say earlier when you were talking about Lynn Williams coming in, I'm just partial to Alyssa. I love that. I want to see her play some more so bad.

All right. Vince, can you read that quote from what Rose said about how she's feeling? Yes, this comes from Stephen Goff at Soccer Insider. I repeat at Soccer Insider. I want to make sure. Of the Washington Post. Of the Washington Post. We want to make sure I give everybody with their boots on the ground. As a boots on the grounder myself, I understand how much of a grind it is to drive 20 minutes to a match, which is the same thing that Stephen Gough did travel. from Washington, D.C. to New Zealand, of course. But anyway, the quote from Roosevelt.

Roosevelt on her fitness level. Quote, I feel pretty good. I feel ready for the second match. Yeah, I feel good. End quote. Let's go. Yeah. Yeah.

I don't think the Dutch are going to, they don't know what's happening to them. It's going to be a pure smack. As a matter of fact, I'm going to call it. I'm going to call it. It's a statement game for the national team. Statement game from the USW&T. You know what I'm saying? Rose hitting the bar against Vietnam.

She's not going to do that again. She doesn't do that two times in a row. I'm wildly excited. Rose hitting the bar. Morgan missing a penalty. There being headlines about it being a disappointing performance. You know, like that was the general drift, right? Yeah.

It's time. Had a de Mello chance too. A few Horan chances. Rapino, like... Chances were missed, but I mean, you know, none of them was like a really bad miss. I don't know. No, no, but my point is they're going to want to write that wrong. Like, they're going to want to change that.

Yeah, I have to say truly, we haven't had a statement match since that Canada Conca Cap championship. Like that was the one I was flying I was flying high I was feeling good because you know we had had like England And Germany on the horizon right like after that I'm like yeah I'm like yeah we're about to prove you know what I'm saying That that it's it's still our time and you know the no better time than the world cup Right no better time than the world cup in it uh yeah

Netherlands better get smacked better get smacked I mean when when you got rose I mean you can tell she's just ripping and roaring and ready to start this match. She said, I feel good three times. I feel pretty good. I feel ready for the second match. Yeah, I feel good. I mean, if that's not a statement of intent,

then I don't know what is. The team's social media accounts are not being shy about it at all either. It's rows as much as possible. Rose in the airport, rose in training, all sorts of stuff. Yeah. And I was very pleased by the amount of sky afting after Rose came on. It was truly beautiful to see. It was truly beautiful to see.

So, yeah, yeah, this is Rose reannouncing herself on the grand stage. You know what I'm saying? We got a player or two from Man City on this Netherlands team. Rose had a terrible time in Man City. Cards are adding up. Is that I saying? It's adding up. It's adding up.

Something's adding up. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you can just see. Her and is playing really well, I think. You maybe don't feel it quite as keenly as we do, Vince, but it seems to me like she's really... No, I...

She's cooking. I mean, yeah, yeah. I'm... I don't know if I'm... She can't really defend, but... I respect Lindsay Horan's game. The thing I respect the most is that, I mean, she's, like, absolutely teched out as far as just, like,

she's, like, the best technician on the team to me. And like all the way she struck the past The way she's, sorry, go ahead. Yeah, go ahead. The way she struck the pass to, um, to Morgan's feet. And the way she, she hit that shot in the goal was exact same technique. Just kind of punched it with the top of her foot. Yeah, yeah.

She has like, and it's kind of like, um, the reason why she's able to get by despite being like physically compromised or whatever is because it's just like, it doesn't matter. Like I can receive this ball in a phone booth. And it's just not, it's sticking to me. I'm using my body shielded, whatever, whatever. So, yes, I'm, look, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's the World Cup now. I've had a lot of, had a lot of talking about what, what may or may not be going on, what may or may not be wrong with this team.

But, I mean, you know. You're coming on board now? I, I, I, I've, I've been on board. You know what I'm saying? It's just, yeah, you know, you know, I mean, I mean, I still love my kid even though what I got put her on punishment, you know what I said. you know what I'm saying and and and now I have an outsider coming in and trying to disrupt me and my family so so you know what I'm saying at this at this point it's we circle the wagons yeah circle the wagons man this is our game you know what I'm saying it's it's it's it's it's our game everyone else trying to come on and and you know claim whatever whatever hey no we we we don't go down like that we don't go like we we don't go down like that famously if I were to refer

the back to the Star Spangled Banner one more time I mean, you know Speaking of that, the national anthem Okay, we're not talking about that. Do you want to talk about it? I don't know.

No, it's it's it's actually something that's that I think about a lot, kind of, not singing the anthem or anything. But the fact that like

I think I was talking to somebody listened to a podcast or something but they were talking about like this was during the men's World Cup and somebody was talking about like yeah you know I'm gonna cheer on the United States and they're like oh like somebody in a mocking tone was like

oh man you patriotic which it's funny because I don't even like consider rooting for the national team patriotism I don't know man I just I just like the team

like I I just like the teams. Like I don't, I'm not really caught up in all the US and A of it all. Like, I don't know. I don't know. So the whole singing the anthem thing doesn't really. All this stuff is, if I can get onto a bigger, a bigger soapbox, you know, like everything now in society, these kids where you have to like, I don't know, make an Instagram post for your significant other birthday and all this stuff. like all these empty gestures, which to me, singing the national anthem is also an empty gesture.

To me, like, it's no, like, you can literally do anything. And, and, and, and, and that's all I got to do, if all I got to do, is, is tell you, I love you and I'll show you or whatever. You know what I'm saying? Like, those are the things that have more substance to me. It's certainly not the most important thing, you know? Right. Not even close. I think it's a larger point in just that when the women's national team gets any substantial press like being on a world stage

unbearable people come out of the woodwork it's like clockwork it happens every tournament they get unbelievable amounts of shit can I say shit for the simplest of things and I just

to to even imply that not singing the national anthem somehow makes these women less American or less patriotic or less proud to be representing their country. I just think it is telling on yourself a bit for just being like a duplicitous piece of garbage. And you don't need to do that. And you just need to touch grass a little bit and be excited. Naomi had a great response to it. I mean, Like, it's dumb. It's silly. But it's still, it's still awful, I think. Did y'all hear, Tara? She said duplicitous.

What, what? Duplicitous? I believe it is duplicitous. So I misspoke a little. No, no, no, no. I do it all the time. No, no, Terry, you got me. I don't even know the word to call you out.

Did you misspeak? I don't know. I was just marveling at the word. I was, I just think it's bullshit. Shit, I do. It doesn't add. Look, here's the thing. It's like to say that someone is less American because they don't sing the national anthem or like a traitor to the country or something.

Like that's, of course, it's ridiculous. But like, it's some people want to see the team sing the national anthem. And it's like a nice thing. It's a nice thing for a lot of, for a lot of countries. You know, like everybody sing every. We're. So I looked at, I looked at all the national anthems. I looked at all of them.

All 32. From the first, from the first round. And the only country that sang it less enthusiastically than us was Spain. And Spain doesn't have words in their nationally. So I don't know, man. Like, for people to be a little sad about that, that doesn't make you an asshole or like, right? Like, I don't know, all this stuff that you are. Because I think some of the people, I think people react to like some of the people who pointed out or the people who pointed out the most aggressively, they're like not talking to us, you know?

They're like, they're in a different part of society. I saw soccer accounts that I see regularly. It wasn't just like the algorithm popping up, implying that we are once again acting a victim of something. Like, we're just playing the victim. And that narrative is horrendous. Who's playing the victim? The women's national team. Like, oh, look at us.

We're pouting or we're striking or we're kneeling or we're staying silent. Oh, yeah. I'm not getting that deep about it. Yeah. So I was excited to hear your point of view, Bill, because I know you a big singing guy. You, like, you're a big sing. Yeah. I really enjoyed singing the national anthem all together in Cincinnati.

And I think it had an effect on the players, too. I think the way they sing the national anthem is more enthusiastic since that night. Uh-huh. Well, well, on the inside. It's a collective thing. We got to have, like, a good singing culture and people who like singing the anthem for the players to really want to do it. And I don't know that we really do.

And it's not the, I'm not losing any sleep over it. I also don't think it's how it's always going to be. Like, if we're actually going to think on it, what came out after the Vietnam match, Sophia talked about how this was the most nervous she's ever been and she doesn't really get nervous. Trinity came out and said that her heart was beating louder than the anthem. These were a lot of young women playing in their first national team World Cup. up and if if nerves were one of the forces behind it, you can't blame them. No, I'm not, I'm not mad about it.

To Tara's earlier point that I didn't quite address just about the, about like, you know, everything that the US, uh, W&T gets, you know, railed for or whatever, like, like, like railed against four. Um, yeah, like, like, like, like, I don't know. Like, like, sometimes I, I, I just get surprised. like because like usually in life I'm a pretty cynical dude

I expect the worst from people for the most part but when I saw that that this was a controversy again I was like I was like damn no they got us again because they've been laying dormant

for like four years like you know what I'm saying ever since you know it came to a head with the Rapino stuff or whatever. And, yeah. There's a lot of bad faith in the air, for sure. And which, which, you know, which, which, which probably brings us to, oh, two more points, actually. Bells, he said you're not losing any sleep over it.

Sir, you watch 32 anthems. So I don't know. So I don't know if you lost any sleep, but you lost something. I think there's bad faith on both sides. I think there's a lot of people on the, let's say, the left. who like pounce on this one tweet from this guy with like 10,000, like 1,000 followers and make it like a giant story, you know? It's like, you know, bad faith is not unique to one side here. But also, Sophia being completely silent and just staring off looked super badass, I thought.

Yeah, I'm like, like, I mean, I don't know. I mean, I'm proud of all of them. You don't think she looked badass? Oh, sorry, I was not responded to that. I was just thinking to myself because like, if you ever see me at a, at an event, most of the time I am not, I am not singing the anthem. Fair enough. Maybe after a few beers or something, I'll just join in the chorus just because, but, you know, whatever. But I do want you to play Naomi's answer because I think it was wonderful.

Definitely. Hey guys, congratulations on the victory. Matt Cannon from Marker. There's been somewhat of a tedious debate online as to why only three players sang the national anthem. What are your thoughts on it? Do you pay attention to it? And is it just an unnecessary fuss about nothing? Thanks.

Yeah, I think it's, I mean, I think when we're out there, we're preparing for the game. And, you know, that is in the focus. So ultimately, every player has the choice. So, yeah, I think, yeah, that's what I would say. She said personal choice. She's so good. It's a great answer. And it's totally valid.

You love to see it. Also, if I could, let me see. This is from At Sportico. We has 6.26 million viewers across Fox and Telemundo for the opening World Cup match. Messi's debut. 1.75 million viewers on Univision. Which, you know, you got the Apple TV stuff on the side. But, you know, it's...

Well, something to chew on. Something to chew on in it. I'm proud and excited. But yeah, if I just wanted to bring up one more thing, kind of with regards to this, which is also, it could also be considered non-sequent. But, you know, us three in this in this call right now, we always talk about how it pains us that we can't be a unified front with, you know, both national teams, support the men, support the women. and yeah, this anthem thing, it just reminds me that, you know, there's just always, it's always going to be something because, because, you know, even, you know, even if this, like, this doesn't really have anything to do with the men, right?

But also, I saw a video on Twitter of, you know, like some of the boys, I think before Netherlands and singing their hearts out or whatever the hell, um, as a, as a comparison. But, but it just, it just, you know, it just draws us further apart, draws us further apart. Because it hurts, man, because I'm just like, what, why do we have this faction of USM and T fans, the faction of USWNT fans and they all talk S about the other side? It hurts. It's a lonely world in the middle. It's a damn shame.

It's a damn shame. Which, this could just be a. Twitter thing because, you know, on scuffed in the community and the Discord or whatever, you know, there seems to be more, you know, crossover than not, I think. Unity for sure. I think, but I don't know. Let's see. What else is happening in the World Cup?

I have something. It may be a little stupid, but I've been curious. What do you guys think of the live? refereeing decisions of her tiny mic I'm loving it I think it's so funny yeah it's it's hilarious

it's hilarious um that's what they do in football right yeah I've never watched a game so I had no idea but I think like I'm loving it I think every time they make a rash

decision and she has to go back and watch and then she has to make the big call in front of thousands of people. It just adds a whole new level of dramatics to it and and I think it's really fun. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was thinking about it the other day like, you know,

it's only a matter of time until we have players like running up trying to like put their hand over the mic or whatever, the little thing that's like coming down over the like the little earpiece or whatever. So that the ref can't like get their call out. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. I love it though. I love it though because it's just, it's just, you know, it's, it's, it's all theater in it. And you, you have that, you had that, you had that point to it. Yeah. I'm loving it. I'm loving it. The potential is just, it's out of this world for shenanigans, for, for, for the refs to show the players up, for the, you know, just, and any, anything can happen. It's fun to hear the ref's voice, you know? Yeah. So, you know, since we're talking about the world coming in general, I just want to bring up Haiti because, you know, when we played them in the in the Concapt Championship or whatever, like you could, like, we didn't play that well, but you could see that the reason why we didn't play well was because Haiti was good, in my opinion.

Like, I mean, not great, right? But good. And, you know, they got players. They got players. Old girl, what, Melchi, Melchi do Monique. Yeah. I mean, she's just incredible. Huh?

De Moines. Exactly. It's incredible. But, you know, like I said, we kind of already knew that if you've been following this team. Yeah. But, yeah, I was excited to see them. And they showed well, even though got a tough result. But, yeah, you could just, you could see.

And it's not just the young woman who plays a Leon. You know, there's class in the back, like on the ball throughout the midfield. I mean, it was just, it was fun to watch them play. England was not prepared. No. They weren't familiar at all. They weren't. They weren't.

And I mean, you know, they got their chances or whatever. You know, it probably could have been a slightly different match. But yeah, that was fun to watch. I was fun to see. I was listening to full time with Meg Lennahan. and she was talking about kind of the feelings after our Vietnam game, like the disappointment in some aspects that it wasn't by more, our win wasn't by more. And she brought up how just like imagine if we only won by one penalty kick like England did.

The differences in those two games were substantial. And I liked it a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Germany's cruising? Yeah. Big time. Germany.

Germany's not playing around. There he's not playing around for sure. I'm really excited to watch the Germany-Ireland game. It already happened. I'm going to go back and re-watch after we... are done here. Mm-hmm. I'm excited about that one.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. I haven't been able to watch Japan. I'm going to catch him. I'm going to catch him at some point. Probably. Yeah.

Their third match day, but it's looking like that, that quarterfinal opponent, you know, Spain, Japan. I hope it's not Japan, basically, is what I would say. But, Also, at the same time, we handled, I mean, I don't want to say handled, but that game in Nashville, you know, we did what we had to do against Japan. Barely. Yeah.

You both came back as if it wasn't a good game at all, and we beat them. So I remember it. Yeah. Had Christy Mewis at the 6th. You know what I'm saying? It was toying around. He's toying around out there. That one didn't feel that great.

Did it to you, Tara? I don't remember it. Okay. It's Dumourne. I didn't even, I don't think I pronounced it correctly before. Okay. Okay. Yeah, I can't even understand why I hate England so much, but I do.

That's why I'm so excited about Group B in the Canada and Ireland matchup. Whoever is second in Group B, which is Australia, Nigeria, Canada, Ireland, it's a stacked group. whoever is second is most likely going to go up against England. And I think any of those teams have a good shot. So outside of the U.S., I'm most bought in and groupie. Got a shout of the Philippines. California, Etsy. Right.

Which is funny because, you know, as I said, this is our game. And you see it. You know, we got smattering. You know, we got players everywhere, of course. Jamaica famously had a young girl getting the match

for South Korea who seems like from reading up on it seems like a potential it like a potential youth national team player and

like you know if you're getting the youth national teams it's fair to say you might have the potential to be a member of the U.S. Women's National Team bet

but I don't know so maybe we lost one on the dual-knat front but But it is nice to have the shoe on the other foot and be like, yeah, you know, we'll get another one. Yeah. But yeah. Philippines, just tremendous scenes after they scored their first ever World Cup goal, New Zealand.

You know what, Tara, you listen to that full-time episode, right? And it was funny to me. I don't like Ali Riley that much. I don't know. I don't know. She's, Ali Riley is the media's wonder child this tournament. Like she can do no wrong.

Everybody is in love with her. And I get it like she seems very cool. She seems very kind. Alyssa Thompson has spoken about how much of like a maternal figure she's been to her at Angel City, which I love protect our Alyssa at all cost. But I don't really care. for her as a player, which gets me in trouble regularly. Yeah, yeah.

I don't, like, I don't know. It's just like some NWSL beef I've built up over time. Like, because like Louisville's first ever match was against the pride when Alie Riley was there. And I don't know. I don't even know what she did. But it was just ever since then, it's been all sight. It's been our sight. So I'm taking a little pleasure in this, in this New Zealand loss.

And, you know, I referred to the full-time episode because they were just talking about how great of a leader. Ali Riley is and... She can do no wrong, man. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Well, uh, take this hell. How about that? How about that? Well, it's just me.

I really don't know why I don't like it. I definitely don't like. Like, she'll, she'll make some, like, nasty tackles and then immediately cry after the game. I'm just like, you can't, you can't have it both ways. I don't think you can. Yeah, it's just something about the jib. Something about the jib ain't adding up. Ain't adding up.

Oh, also, another thought I had is just, just want to shout out Cindy Parlow Goat and J.T. Goetton one more time because it looks like, so I think Concca Calf got a little something going. We got us. Mexico is rumored. I don't even know what's left. less than a rumor. But by rumored to be on the come up at some point,

I can't make a roll cup, but. They have a real coach now. That's true. Okay. Okay. So hopefully they can get something going. Canada stays, is going to stay putting out talent. I mean, we'll see how the fed.

They're fumbling. They're fumbling right now. Yeah. Their first game was bad. Federation is a disaster right now. Yeah. So, but, but, you know, when, when, when, I throw the gullas teams like Costa Rica got a little something building

Panama got a little something building Haiti Of course Mexico USA Canada And so with that Copa America announcement There was also like a little aside added onto that That like there's going to be some comma ball Conca Calf crossover on the women's side

And I'm loving it I'm loving it because Brazil Brazil's looking like They are there them. You know what I'm saying? Collective. A whole team of hers. You know what I'm saying? Capital H. Hers. Hers in the, you know, in the compliment way. So, you know, got Brazil, Columbia, who's building a little something, something, Argentina, which is really just getting started. And they probably have the most shambolic federation support.

Naming all these teams. But, but I don't know. I'm just excited. I'm just excited. I see some comp coming the U.S. as way in the future, which it's not like we've ever really struggled for it, but I don't know. I don't know. I'm just excited. I think it's a wildly exciting

time to be a fan of the women's national team outside of the World Cup. We just have so much up-and-coming talent coming our way. If it's this year, if it's next year, if it's in five years, like whenever it happens, it's going to feel really, really good. And it's just me being a

Proud American over here, but I, I got to point out that 18 of the players on the Philippines team were born in the U.S., which is pretty cool. Henry Bushman has a great piece about how that all came together. And also the NCAA, you know, the, you guys know what the NCAA is, they, they got a lot of things saying that 136 of the players on the, of all the, 136 players on all teams. are from or at least played in the NCAA, which is like 18 and a half percent of all the players at the World Cup, which is just a huge percentage. That is huge.

So we've, I think somebody on the Discord, that's a common Title IX dub. And that's exactly what it is. It is. I mean, like every time you see a, I mean, especially for like. That was Jared, by the way, who said that. I got to shout him out. really probably for every non-European team like you know what I'm saying like at least like every time they they like dip into their bench you know what I'm saying it's like oh here comes a 20 year old who's a striker at George Mason it's like all right yeah let's go I don't know George Mason's a mascot I was going to shout him out but I don't either 61 players play in the NWSOW so

that's what a lot of Brazil less than 10% yeah yeah but still I think it's a cool statistic yep all right what else nothing probably right no game day spend all day being excited for the game then watch it oh

so I so I left Jamaica out of my concaf my little concaf list there I know I exactly got a night draw against France. A nice draw. Really good. Really good one.

And I just want to shout out South Africa to. Because, you know, I got my girl Timby on there. They had a, they had a, I mean, if you want to talk about, if you want to talk about moving entrances to the tournament, you know, when South Africa got off the bus. It was. Singing that song. I mean, come on, man. You know what I'm saying?

You talk about vibes. I mean, the Star-Spangled Bender wishes. Yeah. Bunny Shaw, Bunny Shaw of Jamaica fame, got a red card and like extra time. Like, uh, 90th minute or something. But she's handling it with the opposite of grace, which I really, really love. You're damn right because that was a...

It was. And she's posting every picture of her getting massively fouled against, uh, from France on her Instagram. She's being so funny about it. Um, and, And I also don't think it's going to be the worst thing in the world. Jamaica should be able to handle Panama on their own. So always, I'm happy to see Jamaica do well.

The reggae girls, which, you know, I mean, they had to put a damn go fund me on. We got to get this stuff together. I mean, I don't care if we got to have a gold cup every year. You know what I'm saying? We got to get some money to these. Yeah, I get some money to these. well, we need the feds to, let's do an audit. Let's do an audit.

I'm sure everybody knows some accountants in here. You know what I'm saying? We need people making sure money is divvied up and appropriate it responsibly. So if you want to get this team together, hit me up. I have Vesos Piffy. If you got your CPA or in your school, you're in school studying to be a CPA. We're going to get right, man. I gave $30 to Jamaica to go to the World Cup, so I feel like I also helped keep a point away from France.

I have some ownership in it now. You do. It's like being an owner of the Green Bay Packers or something, right? Absolutely. All right, let's get out of here. Thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you.