Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #431: WoSo W-Day — Upcoming friendlies, NWSL home-stretch, Jaedyn Shaw

Episode Date: September 20, 2023

Vince, Tara and Belz talk about maybe boycotting the USWNT if Shaw doesn't get minutes against South Africa, a full report on Cat Macario's inactivity, whether M.A. Vignola will challenge for a spot at left back, and much more. Not the pod for you if you wanna bask in the Rapinoe & Ertz testimonials.Scuffed is an ad-free podcast. Support that and get exclusive episodes once a week, plus access to the Discord and live call-in shows, by signing up for our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scuffed Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedAlso, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.comAnd check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the SCuff podcast, where we talk about U.S. soccer. Hey, everybody. It's been a while, got hung up on a men's national team camp. Last time Woso was scheduled, so we just decided to wait right up until a day before, our first of two friendlies with South Africa to check back in. Tara, how are you doing? Good. I feel rested.

I think Lindsay Hurrayan and Corbin Albert might be on to something. It's very European. to take one break and then it ends up being like a month long vacation. Yeah, it's like it was very European of us, wasn't it? Like August, late summer, early September. We went on holiday and it's it should be rewarded not from to Malta. We all went to Malta. Vince, how you doing?

The Jane Shaw era is upon us, ladies and gentlemen. The Jayden Shaw era is upon us. I repeat, red alert, the Jayden Shaw era is. upon us. I couldn't be, I couldn't be feeling any better than how I feel right now. Remains to be seen.

If she gets minutes, we caught a lot of people up, as we'll get into, but, yeah, I'm happy. If she doesn't get minutes, we boycott. I mean, come on. Looking at the, looking at the thing, like that, that was my first thought when I, like,

looked at the entire roster. I was like, it would be pretty convenient. Jayden Shaw get called up and just not play at all. Like I could see it happening clear as day. So, you know, we just take it day by day in it. The women play South Africa tomorrow night in Cincinnati at the Cincinnati FC Stadium, TQL, and then again on Sunday at Soldier Field in Chicago. Should we run through the roster?

I mean, do we even need to run through the roster? I mean, it's basically Jaden Shaw and... me official and Sam Coffee and a bunch of other people who aren't a surprise, right? I mean, we got Midgeback and we got Ternard Davidson. Those would be the... Casey Krueger. Oh, yeah, Casey Kroger, too. I mean, we renamed half the roster.

I mean, those defenders, they're not. I mean, I'm glad to see them, but they're not changing the national team. Vignola, Kruger. I know there's a little bit of a Kruger hive on the Discord, right? People will strongly disagree with you, Bill. Strongly. On Kruger? On, well, yeah, on Kruger and M.A.

And M.A. Vignola. Okay. I mean, strongly disagree all you want. Before you guys dig the hole too deep, M.A. replaces Kelly O'Hara, and she's, that's two different planets of defenders. Like, she's much better than Kelly O'Hara. We can at least give her that. As a miss a penalty. Okay, so let's talk about Vignola. She's way better than Kelly O'Hara. Is she any better than Emily Fox? Is she in Emily Fox's universe?

When it comes to the NWSL, like, I would say there's Emily Fox, there's Casey Krueger, and then there's M.A. Like, if that's the family of fullbacks you're in, you're in a relatively good spot. She has two goals this season. She plays for Angel City. She was Team of the Month in June. I think she's an interesting defender. I think she's similar to Emily, not yet as poised, I guess, yet. She really likes to attack.

She likes to move up the field, which gets her in trouble a decent amount as well. It's her second season as a professional, but the first season where she's playing regularly. So she's fresh. She hasn't been called into a national team camp since the U-17s, which I think is cool because she's not just designated next man up. She really earned a call-up. I don't think she's locked in for the next one. 15 years. I think she has to prove something, but I'm excited about it.

I mean, we have a very thin and thinning fullback pool. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? With every day that passes, as we've seen, you know, Kelly O'Hara can't attend this camp, you know, every day that that passes, you know, a fullback position gets a little bit older, a little bit older. And, you know, I'll talk on here about how I feel about players like Sophia Werta. I mean, we're, we're calling in Haley Mace, you know what I'm saying? So, I mean, it seems like we got to do a little bit of turning to see where our depth is at and where we can find some reliable performances out there on the flank.

The only person I think could have been considered instead would be the rookie out of Gotham, Jenna Nyswanger. That's how you say your name, I think. but yeah MA is going to be a tryout and I for one am hopeful we get some we get some minutes out of her

I'm not confident we will though like Jaden Twyla the coach for this camp in October stepmom yeah yeah she made it clear before

Kelly and Rose got replaced. So before we had Midge and M.A. on the roster, she gave her press conference. She made it clear that including Jaden and Mia was to get their feet wet with the senior team. And I think I think she even used the words orientation. So I really wasn't too excited at the beginning. I just, I heard that and I read, they're not even going to dress. You know, they're just there to get their feet wet and learn how to deal with a camp. But then Rose went down and she was replaced by Midge.

So that has sparked my interest a little bit because Midge isn't going to be playing a Rose-type role. But Jaden Shaw absolutely could. And I think that that's where Jaden Shaw's future lies as a creative playmaking, attacking, midfielder and I'm back end. I was a little crotchety at the beginning and now I'm excited. Yeah, that would be exciting. Long-winded, but hopefully clear. Love to see it.

I just want to say it quickly on Vignola. I mean, I didn't watch a ton of her, but I watched enough to see, to have like a couple thoughts. She looks like a much more sort of blunt instrument. than Emily Fox, like more straight line sort of left backery and not like as much of a combiner as Emily. But kind of, you know, sure strikes that ball clean, lanky, pacey. She didn't look like, to me, like hungry to get forward more like she would if she needed to. you're saying she's more like she like loves to get forward it may just be the difference in games we've watched

i i don't uh watch every angel city game by any means but um i have seen her get get forward and and be attacking in a emily fox type way maybe it's just a tool she has and she doesn't use that often but it's there ma stands for mary alice by the way Mary Alice. Oh, also from Sincy. A very, very Ohio name. My Ohio. Or sure.

Is it? Is that an Ohio name? Like the two names. Like my grandparents only call me Tara Louise. Like Tara Louise. It's that two name back to back. I mean, I thought that was like a southern thing. But the lines get a little blurry in Ohio, don't they?

Absolutely. Yeah. And for me, just like, like I said, she's from Sensi. Sincy and Louisville are kind of similar in the fact that, you know, strong Catholic influences. And so, and looking up M.A.'s Wiki, you know what I'm saying? She went to, like, Catholic high school and everything. You know, there's just a lot of Catholic girls around that you would find, you know,

named Mary Alice. That's all. Okay. And then you guys are excited. And you guys are excited about Kruger for her to get her chance. Kruger is one of the best defenders in the league. I think she should have been in New Zealand over Kelly and over a few others. I don't think by any means she's somebody we should rely on too heavily in building a team of the future.

But for right now, I'm excited that she has a chance again. Cool. Also, MA, as we talked about last, Woso Wednesday, boots on the ground. you know what I'm saying? I saw Angel City come to Louisville. It may be playing center back, and that met next to Sarah Gordon. So a little positional versatility there

where she was really just running rampant through our midfield, just carrying the ball up the pitch quite a bit. That was fun to watch. But yeah, yeah, just throwing that in there. Okay. So let's talk about Jaden. I mean, let's just skip ahead and talk about the fun part.

I mean, it's all fun, but Jaden's the most fun. Yeah. I have one thing to say about it. I know you probably have a lot, Vince, but one thing to say, you know, twice in the last month, she scored a goal where she got in with, like, one-on-one with the keeper, sat to keep her down, and then passed it into the net. And I just, I just note that because it's a kind of composure that is pretty rare in all levels of soccer, including international soccer. and she's still quite young and she's showing that kind of composure in front of goal. We talked about a lot of her assists over the last few months. Her ball security, a lot to be excited about.

I mean, so this gets Tara upset just as far as like Jaden's, Mrs. Casey Stoney moving Jaden around a little bit on the pitch, which I do agree with Terri. Like she probably, her future does lie at that, you know, attacking midfielder role, I think, especially, you know, we've talked about it multiple times, the graduate level passes, et cetera, et cetera. But it's just the fact that like when she does play false nine or second striker or on the wing or whatever, she's still producing. Like Bells talks about, like, I think both of those goals came with her playing, you know, in the forward line. And it's just a versatility to do all these things. to spot these passes that she spots and to execute these passes that she pulls off.

And then also to be able to finish and always say that the entire package, I think last time I checked, she was like top in the league or actually second in the league and expected place, which is basically like the difference between post-shot XG and your pre-shot XG. I'm looking at it now she is fourth in the league. So just an excellent finisher And just a Just a player that knows how to play She can shoot from distance too

I mean It's all kind of there We pulled off a nice one this past weekend What do you mean? She didn't score this weekend, did she? No, no, a nice shot from distance Oh, got it The one that drew a good save to the keepers, right?

Yeah, top of the table San Diego Wave got beat by bottom of the table, Kansas City It was a good game. It's a good league we got here. She gave an interview a few months ago. I forget who with, but they asked her about her goals. Like she's already accomplished so much.

This is her second season, like her professional goals with the wave and soccer in general. And she said that she wants to be called into the first senior camp after the world. Cup and that's what she's working towards and she did it so thrilled for her I the the frustration I have with San Diego Wave is never about Jaden Shaw of sure I wish they'd keep her keep her in one place and let her thrive but Jaden's a superstar she's always going to be one I am praying Twyla gets it together and um gives her some minutes yeah get ready for a hundred 180 minutes of our World Cup starting Striker, Alex Morgan,

and... Oh, yeah, yeah, if we could talk about me and Fisher real quick, it's just the fact that, like, I really need her to hit. Like, I'm not sure how much of a believer I actually am based on the performance in, you know,

in League of MX Feminale. But it's just, we need it, because you know, we're getting some of these players from the older guard have realized that the time is up, you know what I'm saying, I'm gonna ripino, Julie Erds, et cetera, et cetera, leaving. You know, who hasn't announced Alex Morgan. She still thinks she has something left in the tank, which, who am I to tell her whether or not she has something left in the tank?

But I need Mia to hit just to go ahead and end that conversation. just be so convincing in the WSL at Chelsea that we have no choice but to tell Alex that, hey, maybe you're better for 20 minutes at the end of a match in the Olympics. Kat Macario also at Chelsea, the two of them, me official and Kat, received the award for most likely to be late to training at Chelsea. Did you see this on social media?

Ah, man. It was a joke, but I was like, wait, so Kat actually goes to training at Chelsea. training she trains it it's a good thing wrapped wrapped in wrapped in a funny little social media bit cats going somewhere for something professional yeah yeah was Mia was appalled she she uh she blamed cat she's like I'm just the passenger she she's the one who gives me a ride oh man I'm not to take a hit on both of that mentality's no I'm saying hey we need we need y'all first to the training ground please thank you mea mea especially

come on you gotta leave no doubt yeah cat's just vibing man just like she wasn't that statement about her knee remember that oh yeah uh talking about the talking about her knee's spirituality and stuff well uh while we're while we're on chelsea um their season doesn't start until october so like two weeks i guess how did september go so quick um but they had a friendly where me official started and it seems like like Mia is going to be Sam Kerr's backup, which I think is flattering to you guys. Do you guys care? I mean, that's great.

I mean, she's not Sam Kerr yet, that's for sure. Sam Kerr's one of the best players in the world. Her backup is good to me. But anyway, Mia started. She was a striker. She didn't do anything too good or too. bad. What I took, what I mostly took out of the performance was that it looked like she belonged in the league, which we didn't know was a sure thing coming out of Mexico. Like when said,

we never really knew how to track her performances there. So I'm excited to keep watching Mia and see how she looks. Kat was at the friendly. She watched from the stands along with some of her teammates. And I've been keeping track of what Chelsea posts from their preseason to kind of see what's going on with Kat while still trying very hard to respect, you know, her medical privacy. What's going on with her? What's going on with her? We have seen Katerina McCarillo on a stationary bike. We've seen her lifting weights. We've seen her stretching. We've seen her holding a soccer ball with her hand. And we've seen Cat Media Day.

What we haven't seen is Kat playing soccer or looking like she recently played soccer or using her feet to kick a soccer ball at all. So patience. It's bad. Patience is the watchword. I appreciate that report, Tara. Let's see. Julie Earts, like you said, officially retired.

That was on August 31st, and then she made another comeback. It happened again. Julie Ertz is on another roster with no club attachment. She's done. She's playing our last game in Cincinnati, so she's not traveling to Chicago. You think she'll play centerback? God, that's going to be so dumb. I'm trying to be hopeful about this game, and if she plays centerback, you know,

I'm not sure what I'm going to do. That's going to be so dumb. You know, Greg Velasquez talks about froth on the USMNT side. I'm like super frothy about this whole camp. You know, I'm preemptively outraged about a lot of things. Jaden Shaw not getting minutes. Julia is playing centerback. Megan Rapino playing 180 minutes or whatever.

Or is she only going to play in Cincinnati too? Her last game is in Chicago. Okay. I don't know. she's playing in Cincinnati, but... It's what the fans want. The fans want Rapino. It's being marketed as Julie's last game in Cincinnati,

Megan's last game in Chicago. Like, they both have a send-off. We'll see you in it. Which we're in for a long run if everybody just gets their own send-off game. Like, there's not enough retirement tours to warrant that to me. Did players who, well, let's see, Sophia Smith, not in this camp. She was injured at the end of August. right yeah she got she got hurt at portland's game against the spirit she sprained her mcel which is

part of her knee apparently um Portland came out and said it'll be week to week so like a sigh of relief across the nation it wasn't it wasn't too serious last we heard she was brought back into training to observe and she was going to be um put back into training uh after afterwards. So I'm happy she's getting a break from the national team, especially during the retirement tours. She doesn't need to be there. Rest up, heal up. She's got a championship to win. It's all fine. Some players who didn't make the World Cup other than Jaden Shaw, Mia Fisciel and M.A. Vignola, who were, but were called back in, are Ashley Hatch, Ternad Davidson, and Sam coffee. We already mentioned Casey Krueger. Anything stick out to you guys here? I'm excited to see

coffee. In a perfect world, we're getting what I've, what I've been mentioning since Julia's first came back to life. A young defensive midfielder to pair up with her, to learn from her, to like be around her, even if it's for one camp, bring Sam coffee in for a reason, and it's, it's to, you know, learn from the best. So like, there's no reason why Sam Coffee shouldn't get some minutes. Again, I'm preemptively outraged if she doesn't.

But, yeah, I think it's more than earned that she got a call in. She is somebody who could have been in New Zealand as well. And we're going to be better for it if we take it seriously and not just, you know, try to get Julie and Megan goals for 90 minutes. You know, killing me. Coffee, the league leader in assists and tidy midfield play, I think. Seven assists. I think her second place is Sophia Smith, her teammate.

She's Black-Oh. Screwed it all up. Screwed it all up. Somebody who didn't make the roster, but I think has more and more reason to, I guess, is how I would put it, is Olivia Motry, I think. It's fine she didn't get called up yet, but it's going to happen sooner than later. I hope. What do you guys think?

I think she's a proper footballer, man. She likes to play the game. She likes to pass the ball. And the problem is she's still kind of stuck behind Dunn, Sugita, and Sinclair. But yeah, she always gets minutes. Very pleasing to watch. next year is her year I'm thinking

Vince you got any boots on the ground from her visit to Louisville on Labor Day weekend I wouldn't there okay and everybody was bad I thought she was okay and that came

but Morgan Weaver was good Portland I'm looping them all in Portland played pretty poorly okay let's talk about the Matt Crocker interview during the last U.S.

men's national team game. Tara, I know you have some thoughts. Well, Vince, do you want to say anything about Olivia? No. I mean, it would have been nice for her to be there. Being this camp. But I assume the time is coming. You know what I'm saying?

She keeps playing the way she's playing. She'll be there. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like you said, Matt Crocker gave an interview during the last men's national team game. At halftime, he was more open than I thought he was going to be.

The highlights are basically the goal is for them to have a head coach in place for the December camp. So Twyla is getting this camp. That's the games tomorrow and the 24th and October, which is news. We didn't know that. He, meaning Matt Crocker, he chatted with coaching staff and players post-world. Cup to see how it went and felt, which of course, it's his job. He should have done that. He would like to develop a more possession-based style of play and have a plan B.

I thought that was meaningful because that's something we very much didn't have at the World Cup is a plan B. If something's not working, we don't just sub in Megan Rapino as our first sub. we try to win the game still. Another note is he wants to work on the ability to have impactful changes in game to improve performance, which I read as having good subs. And he wants to develop young players, which we see some of that already happening in this camp. I mean, we've not had a camp this large in a while.

we have new players coming in for the first time and forever um i'm not letting my guard down yet but i thought it was a good interview yeah i think they seem like all thinly veiled shots at vlako right i wish they were i wish they were less veiled just be more open yeah i mean the last the last few it's impossible not to read as things that we didn't have we didn't have a possession-based style we didn't make impactful changes to the game. We didn't develop young players. Yeah. I'm just happy, Tara, that you were able to get all of that out of Matt Crocker talking in that stage because, like, once he got going, I zoned out.

It was, it was very boring to listen that man talk. As a matter of fact, I remember when I listened to his first press conference, it had the same effect on me. So there's a there's a stilted nature to the way he speaks that is, uh, you got to be kind of, you got to kind of be a dog to stick with it. And listen. That's probably the case. That's probably the case.

Matt Crocker also mentioned a few days later in the, um, what, was it a board meeting where they announced Atlanta as the new home of, everything. Yep. Yeah. At that meeting or board meeting or whatever it was. Matt Crocker also mentioned that they are currently working on a SWAT analysis of the women's national team.

So that strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It's just very cringy business school talk, but I found it funny. Have you ever been part of a SWAT analysis? Yeah. And I want to kill myself each time. I hate it. I haven't. I haven't.

In the threats column, it's just a picture of a nice coach from Kansas City, you know. Nice man. Threats are coming from everywhere, man. That list is very long. Yeah. Father Tom. Hubris. Yeah, hubris.

Europe. Predators. I mean, yeah, I mean, they come in all around. Yeah, Spain, I hope everybody watches the Spain tape. I know you guys don't share my veneration of the Spanish national team necessarily, but I thought they were so fun to watch. And, man, we got to be watching. We've got to be paying attention to how good soccer is played.

I enjoyed the World Cup winners two goals at Gotham this past weekend. We have, it's been so long since we've talked. We haven't even mentioned that Gotham got somebody from the Spain. Esther. Yeah. It's cool. Yeah, it is cool. But anyway.

Yeah. I mean, it's good to, you know, who am I to say these frameworks are bad? I mean, if you guys don't like SWAT analysis, you're not going to really, you're definitely not going to enjoy the sports mediator I interviewed yesterday about the Geo Raina situation. It's all about toolboxes and tools. and hey I'll be listening I assume that it is a good tool to I mean because like I saw like when this was announced right you see people's reaction on a Twitter and whatnot everybody's like oh brother whatever like they're like oh Matt Crocker took a intro to business management class and thinks he's blah blah blah but it's like it's sports I don't know how much like deep analysis you really got to do you probably just got to do something simple like this to hurry up and plot up playing forward. You know what I'm saying?

It's not like you. I assume this will encompass everything and lay everything out there that needs to be seen. I hate to reward the bare minimum, but it is nice to know that they're doing something for the women's national team. Yeah. Not always the case with federations.

Yeah, I mean, we better, man. We better do something. Yeah. It's all fun in games until we realize, like, they, I don't know, they're going to tweet out the board, and our number one strength is going to be marketable superstar Alex Morgan. Man, I can't do it. Can't do it.

It's all funny games until we realize that we're like Uruguay. You know, we won the first three World Cups, and we're never going to win one again. I don't think we're there yet. Hey, in 1934, Uruguay, I didn't think they were there either. So, fair. Time to get busy. The Ballandor.

Yeah, we got a nominee. Yeah. The only, yeah, not maybe not. Yeah, she's the only American player who deserves to be nominated, right? I think so. And, um, it's Sophia Smith. It's Sophia Smith. It comes from her big, big season last year.

She was in WSL MVP last season. She had 15 goals, three assists. She's on track to meet that again. She already has more assists than that. I just think it's cool that it's a good reminder for who she is. I think the World Cup made people forget a little bit about who she is and what she's capable of. and one collective bad team shouldn't do that because she's a superstar and we should be doing everything we can to make sure the national team gets the most out of her.

Not to go over it again, but it is crazy that we weren't, we easily could have beaten Sweden. We easily could have made it to the final. We easily could have beaten Spain. It was all there for the taking. Yeah. I mean, this is not something that will get me any friends, but we sacrificed Sophia Smith over and over again to get a few flicks from Alex Morgan. I mean, it's terrible. Look at any of her numbers when you're making the case for Jane and Shaw.

Sophia's way up on that list over and over again, higher than anybody else. So also, Tara, since you brought that up, I realized I made a mistake. I wasn't looking at non-penity, XG plus XA. And so I filtered that back out. Jaden Shaw fifth in the league, Alex Morgan, she's down there. Yeah, you take the penalties out. That gets a lot of good. Okay.

I just wanted to make sure I got that in there. So, yeah, Alex, not that good. Not that good man, that would be so. Sophia is, though, and she's nominated. I don't think she'll win. I'm sure it'll be a Spain player, rightfully so. But I think it's worth talking about because she's very, very good. Yeah, that's all I got.

But it is nice to see. Like, I remember when Trinity was nominated, was it last year? Yeah, last year. Okay. Yeah, just to see all the pop and circumstance, how Michelle King, with her, Ashley Sanchez with her. Everybody was dressed up, you know what I'm saying? It just looks like a...

She's out next to, like, all the stars. It was just Trinity Rodman, and... I forget who it was. But it was one of the superstar men. But, yeah, it's just one of those moments. Even if you're not winning, you know what I'm saying? It just seems like a big deal, like a Heisman ceremony or something. You know what I'm saying?

It's just... I hope she goes. That'll be fun. Lindsay Horan was nominated for FIFA's best women's player, which I don't know why, but hey. Okay. I hope she gets it. I hope she wins too. I don't know what the criteria is, but hey, go Lindsay.

Go Lindsay. I want to correct myself to Uruguay on the men's side has won four World Cups. They have four stars. So the parallel is even more striking. Yeah, good, good for them That's the thing about history in it What's that? I said that's the thing about history

You gotta study it It repeats? Yeah Make sure you study it So it doesn't repeat You know what I'm saying But that's a theory at least Speaking of Lindsay Horan

She started in Leon's first game back of the season They won 4 to nothing It went okay It went fine I mean they won four to nothing. Lindsay got a few headers in, did her thing. Any flicks? No flicks?

Some volleys, some headers. Just the Lindsay ran up by goal, just trying to get it in. I want to say Corbyn Albert was mostly unremarkable, which I am unhappy to report in a cameo off the bench for PSG and a 3-0 win. She'll get her chance. Yeah. This was not a game to be super excited about, though. Okay.

Moving away from France a little bit, Onyika Gamera Gamero, she looks like she's playing with Barcelona B. I have found it nearly impossible to learn anything else, though. They've had a few games this season, so I'm going to try to figure out how to watch some of that. but you know Barcelona B aside we have Faluntholus Joyce the goalie from O.L. rain. She has

officially moved to Manchester United. She's going to be behind Mary Earps, who is their first choice goalie, and England's national team starting goalie. Mary Earps is rumored to be moving to Arsenal in

January. So if if she moves in January, Fallon has, you know, a few months of orientation, I guess, is a word I'd steal from Twyla, until she takes over and wish her all the best. Erbs is such a ridiculous last name. And also, Gamero, I'm just want to say I'm excited about her being at Barcelona and B. It seems like it's a good place to develop, given how many World Cup winners were there

as recently as four or five years ago. Yeah, and remember with Gamero, she had contracts from other teams. She chose Barcelona for that very reason, which I think is bold and cool. And, you know, I'm excited for her. She could have gone to Leone. I think she mentioned a few other teams, but she chose Barcelona B. And she specifically mentioned that she's going to have the opportunity to work her way to the senior team. which I'm thrilled about.

She's an ambitious young gal and somebody to, somebody I have to keep track of because I would love, I would love for her to, you know, succeed over there and find a way to bring her into the national team sooner rather than later. Absolutely.

She is 17 years old for what it's worth. Could be in two years. Who knows? Yeah. We had some mention of Arsenal Football Club. the women's side on this pod. And I just, I just wanted, I just wanted to point out that in championship, the, the Paris FC, not, not Paris San Jamon.

Paris FC. I just wanted to point that out. I mean, I mean, I'm an Arsenal fan as everyone knows. Hey, hey, man. I, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, So I got a lot of propaganda during the World Cup. I'm just, you know, every action needs an equal and opposite reaction. So I'm just making sure that I'm here to provide that.

Thank you. NWSL, three weeks left, tight table. Five points separate the bottom from a playoff spot. What are you wondering about? That's crazy. It's so competitive right now. I mean, aside from who's going to make the playoffs, I think we have to,

see if Sophia gets back in time to get her team a championship again or get the golden boot. She's still the current golden boot leader, but when Sophia makes her return to the thorns, I'm excited to see what that looks like. And Sam Coffey, will she break the assist record? She currently has seven assists the most in the league, which we mentioned before, but the record is held by Tobin Heath with 10 assists. So I think that would be huge if Sam could not only lead the league right now, but get that assessed.

It's something, you know, I'm excited to watch. Yeah. I'm also really excited about Kansas City, if bear with me, who prior to this week were dead last in the league. They've been played with injuries and bad luck. They went to San Diego and kind of scrapped out a win against the top team in the league, which was huge. And they're also building the first stadium specifically for an NWSL team,

but it's also the first stadium specifically built for women. Is that relevant at all? No, but always worth celebrating. I'm excited about Kansas City It's going to be A.C.L. tear-free stadium. You know what I'm saying? Michelle Cooper

wasn't even playing in their win against San Diego because she was out for yellow card accumulation. Why are you guys laughing? ACL-ter-free stadium. I was looking at Bell's face

after I told that joke, dude. I tore my ACL listening to that. That's what happened. Oh, oh, oh, just so we have, I'm looking at the table now. We have proclaimed the wave as being the top team multiple times. They were last week when they were. Yeah, that's why I said they were the top team.

Thorn's now up. Two points, yeah, this past weekend, racing Louisville played the Houston dash and what seemed to be a prime opportunity to get us up into a playoff spot. Didn't happen. We did not win. And really, I was going to come on here and slander Ashley Sanchez because she hasn't been good since the World Cup break. But you know who hasn't either?

Savannah de Mello. Ashley Sanchez has scored since the World Cup. She's a little goal. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. It's just, we'll have to see what happens, right? Got three matches.

Because Raisin Louisville had a very favorable schedule. I'm talking like, we lost in the Challenge Cup final, right? Made it to the Challenge Cup final, which was great. Lost in North Carolina courage. And then our last four remaining matches were, Dash, Red Stars, Pride, and Wave, which. You would take that originally, but Chicago is winning all their games now. I would, I mean, I would still take it, but yeah, you know,

Pride are good. Pride can beat anybody. I mean, the wave, you know, we've talked about the wave. Red Stars, yeah, they've shown they can beat everybody too. So, yeah, NWSL is just a crazy league. Crazy league right now. And also, it came out, this is the first year that every team has been above 20 point in the table.

Like the first time in NWSL history that this has happened. Also, I mean, what, we got Bay FC. Are they coming in next? year yeah yeah Bay of C next year Boston just got announced yesterday Boston's 2026 I think right right right they're gonna take it but yeah I'm just I'm just excited about the league just excited about the league and just the Utah team oh yeah Utah too yeah yeah man so what's the confirmed total uh in the future like 16 15 15 now okay 15 now with Utah Bay FC and Boston um cool it's just crazy to me that Louisville's even in this

it's great cool that Louisville's in there it's great our ownership is a bunch of bozos I'm not going to lie to you it seems but um they got us in the NWSL and I'm I will forever be grateful for that but um yeah man I saw

the racing had more people attend the game than Gotham did Gotham's like really good right now that's crazy yeah got them has, I mean, you know, it's just a Red Bull, a stadium called Red Bull Stadium, man. Red Bull Arena. Red Bull Arena curse, you know what I'm saying?

They just can't draw. It just can't draw. A lot of talk in New York. You know what? Speaking of people that can't draw, like, I need the people to Seattle to get with it. Because these Sounders games be sold out. Well, well, maybe not sold out, but, and the rain matches. Like, I think I saw the rain have like their second biggest crowd ever, and it was like 8,700 people.

Really? Yeah. That's terrible. Hey. Well, the way. I mean, the rain have been fumbling it all this season. I don't blame them too much. Let's talk about real quick, a couple youth national team players.

Chloe Ricketts and Melanie Barsenas. They're both on this U-17 roster, right? Yeah, for the first time ever, we have professionals on the U-17 roster. I think that's hilarious. I think it's awesome. I think they both look good. I know Ricketts hasn't really put up the numbers for a quote-unquote attacking midfielder, but she's not really an attacking midfielder, I would say.

It's kind of like an eight. I think they both look good. I mean, the Washington Spirit with Chloe and San Diego with Melanie, they're both rightfully so, like, very hesitant with them. They're very young players. They don't get a lot of minutes. But when they do, I mean, I'm always a fan. Yeah, I mean, we're closing in on Bells is going to have kids older than some of these players.

It's not that far away, you know. So, I mean, they are really young. But Barsinus, I thought she looked really sharp against Gotham last. This was exactly one month ago. Got an assist on a Jaden Shaw goal. Why hasn't you played since then? I just think they are careful. They're just being careful.

Okay. Yeah. Which is the right way to go. Yeah. I think I've mentioned this on the men's side, but yeah, I'm just increasingly dubious of the fact that like 16, 17, 18, I mean, we're talking about even 15-year-olds in this situation, but that they should be like subject to playing a full adult professional football schedule. You know what I'm saying?

Like we're seeing it right now with Jalen Neal. Jalen Neal, God damn sports. You had a sports hernia had to get surgeries shut down for the season. It's just like you just wonder. Well, Jalen Neal is 20. He's 20 and he doesn't look like he's lift. I mean, I haven't lifted weights in my life either, but I don't, it doesn't look like he's it. Well, anyway, we don't need to talk about Jailen.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We don't need to get into it, but yeah. But I mean, your question about, you know, why aren't they playing more or hesitancy from the coach to protect them? You kind of saw the same thing with Olivia Moultrie. I mean, this is a third year, and it's really the first year she's getting consistent minutes. Meaningful minutes. Jaden Shaw, she's their best attacker, but they do take their time with her and rotate her often. and, you know, it's a good practice, I think.

I'm excited to keep watching them, and I'm excited to watch these U-17 games. Because, like we talked about after the World Cup, like, we just weren't taking any of our youth national camps seriously. And I think including Chloe and Melanie for the first time, it's a huge look towards the future. Did, uh, But we got coaching them.

No clue. Yeah, I'll look it up. It's the U-15 coach. I remember that. Whoever had the U-15s. Okay, so it's not Estrain. No, Estrain has kind of moved on, right? Well, I don't know.

I'm kind of confused. I think we talked about this for it, but her Twitter bio still says she's, I mean. Nobody updates those things. Astrain underscore coach. Yeah, soccer coach. slash UAFA pro slash, well, slash U17 women's national team at U.S. soccer. So, so yeah, maybe she is done, which would be a huge misstep.

Yeah. By the Fed, in my opinion, we need getting to tell you back. I mean, we could pull a, we could pull a Mikey Varis and have her, like, on the staff of the, of the new coach, whoever comes in, that would be great. anything just we need we need to keep her in the program we need to keep around the program because you talk about I mean we've talked about it before but any team that was playing anywhere similar to the type of stuff that you would see from Spain or Barcelona or whatever

it was those you 17s I'm gonna I'm gonna you know no promises but I'm gonna try to get a strain on the podcast that would be amazing that would be done but we need Tracy Kevin's out of here Oh. Yeah, she's not coming on the podcast. Two friendlies against Japan on the 22nd and the 24th, so Friday and Sunday for the U-17s.

Senior games again tomorrow night against South Africa and then Sunday against South Africa. And then late October would play a pair of friendlies against Colombia, which should be cool. Some West Coast love. Yeah. Finally. final. Thanks everybody for listening. Thanks to you both.

We'll see you.