Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #442: WoSo — Colombia friendly tomorrow, XIs, play the kids

Episode Date: October 25, 2023

Tara and Belz soldier on without Vince, who was sick this morning (get better soon). We walk through some of interim coach Twila Kilgore's comments, give XIs for the Colombia friendly in Salt Lake City, discuss how our two players at clubs in France are thriving, Mal's back in training of some kind, Cat's "integrating" at Chelsea, and NWSL playoffs are underway. Scuffed is an ad-free podcast. Support that and get exclusive episodes twice 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. Hello, hello, it's Woso Wednesday, and we play Columbia tomorrow. Vince is sick. It's just me and Tara today. How are you? Tara? I'm excited. I'm a little sad.

Vince is it here. I was going to try and coax an apology out of him about his Alyssa Thompson take. About the Alyssa Thompson take. Yeah. I'm saving that for another day. Now I'm just excited. Yeah, we play. So Columbia in Salt Lake City tomorrow night and then again in San Diego on Sunday,

a chance to see Linda Kaysedo, you know, if you remember her from the World Cup, which you probably do. Yeah, I think before the World Cup, this would have been another set of Friendlies fans almost scoff at. So I think it's a great time because Columbia impressed so many people. I mean, I was rooting for them for a good, good portion of the World Cup. And I think it's going to be a good test for where we're at. Also, Lindsay Horan scored more goals in one game than Linda Kaysedo has all seasons. So, you know, do with that what you will.

Yeah, good to remember who we are a little bit. What do you think about, what do you think about Twyla Kilgore's roster? She remains in her lame duck presidency. Yeah, I was a little worried I was getting almost nihilistic about it. Like I am very eager to turn the page on the Vladko and Twyla era. But the roster is pretty cool. I can't lie. I'm excited about some of the steps that have been taken.

I'm excited that we're a day closer to a new coach being announced. We're making progress, and that's something that hasn't happened in a long time is just where I'm at right now. Yeah. So it's a big roster, right? And we got, we have some sense from Crocker that a new head coach will be in place before the December friendlies. Yeah. And they've even come out. Becky spoke to the press.

Becky Sowerbund spoke to the press. I think it was yesterday. And they brought up how head coach is expected to be announced in November in place for the early December friendlies. So November's next week. We're getting close. Yeah. Time marches on. Sophia Smith.

So Becky, of course, is back. Why don't we talk about this? Why is she back? So Becky's back and Sophia Smith is back. But Becky specifically, in. in the roster release press conference Twyla had, it was brought up a few times actually. Like Becky's back.

We weren't sure that was going to happen. And almost in impolite way, you know, they're referencing her age. They're referencing how she's not even fully fit to play in Portland. Like, why is she back? Is it another retirement tour? What's going on? And Twyla,

Twyla got defensive, I think, understandably so, a little bit. She said, it's a little bit long-winded, but she said there's a reason why she's one of the best centerbacks in the world. She has been called into this camp because she continues to be one of the best centerbacks that we have. She is a leader. She helps us, she helps our program in every single way. And my expectations for Becky are simply to come back into the environment and be herself. And like every player, continue to prove that she belongs in the environment and competes for spots moving forward. She also said that her return to playing with Portland has been very, very high.

And that's where Twyla lost me a little bit. Portland's defense has been a major problem these past few weeks. And although Becky's just one player, she's just one centerback, and she's not even playing full minutes yet, it's not been looking too hot. So she lost me a little bit there, but Becky's back. I am intrigued to see if she gets any minutes. But yeah, I'm not entirely sure what we're doing with Becky. It seems like something that could have been included in the goodbyes in September. Yeah.

It's interesting to see Twyla jumping on the buzzword environment. You know, that's like a, that's a big, that's a big burhalterism too. Yeah. She got, she got, um, the phrases down pretty, pretty quickly. But Sophia's also back and, and, um, the women's soccer social media account posted a video of like warmups. You know, they do that for every national team camp. Sophia's leg is entirely taped up. Like you can hardly see skin.

So I'm hoping for no Sophia minutes. Why risk it? She has... She has a championship to win too. Yeah, she has a championship to win. And she's played probably 30 minutes the last week, maybe 10 minutes the week before. So she's building up. But it seems risky for a friendly with a fake.

coach. Yeah. Also, no Rose Lavelle. I assume you're happy about that. I was happy about it because she hasn't played soccer in a long time. And I think that it's important to see her play with her club again. She's been out for a long time. She was not even fully fit at the World Cup. It's been a rough year for Rose, so I didn't think it was important to include her in this camp, but she played in O.L. Rain's most recent game, their quarterfinal win against Angel City. She played about 30 minutes and she looks really good, which I'm excited about. So my hope is just that she gets healthy and we see her in December with a new coach. Okay. Also, No Tirona Davidson. She's recovering from something.

Yeah, she got whacked in the face in Chicago's last game of the season, like kicked very hard in the face. And apparently that's still what she's going through. Okay. Now, the people who are going to be there who are, we're excited about, or at least I'm excited about, Sam Coffee. Hopefully she gets some minutes. M.A. Vignola. You know, it's kind of an ongoing left-back experiment. And then Mia Fischel, who has had a successful start to her time.

I'm at Chelsea, and then of course, Jaden Shaw. What is Twyla say? What's Twyla saying about Jaden after praising her in Rondos but not playing her at all? Yeah, I, this is what I'm most excited about with these games. Like, Jaden got her return. She's gone through this orientation that they referenced in September. But Twilis said, said, Jaden's special quality is final pass. there's very few people that can play a final ball the way that she does,

and she's learning pretty specific partnerships at our club. But she's also capable of creating those tight partnerships with other players because of the ability to play different types of balls. So it's flattering, but doesn't say much. I'm really hoping that we get Jaden minutes. I'm really hoping we get minutes for Sam Coffey. Jaden, M.A. and Mia. But Jaden's final

final few games with the Wave have just been extra special, I think. I want to get into like ideal starting 11s versus Columbia tomorrow. But first, somebody got her first call up for this. And I hope she plays too, but I guess maybe that's a bridge too far in the current environment.

Yeah, Olivia Moultrie's first call up. I'm thrilled for her. She's also quite a good player. And she's been really important for Portland lately. Like we've talked the past few weeks where you and Vince and I have spoken about NWSL. It's been a common theme that Olivia's behind Sinclair or Don or any of these like incredibly talented players. Olivia's been starting. She's been playing long minutes, and it seems like she's solidified that spot a little bit, which is incredibly exciting, and I think helped earn this call-up.

Christine Sinclair is retiring, right? That's also... Only from international. Oh, okay. Yeah, he's got another year at Portland. Oh, no. Okay. Fine, I guess.

Yeah. But Twyla was really flattering towards Olivia and I don't need to read what she said, but I'm incredibly excited for Moultrie to get her first call up. And if she doesn't play, it will be okay if the others do. The others who got their first call up in September. If we're seeing progress and actually adapting the young players to play in the games instead of just like watch and learn, I see that as a good sign. So I'm hoping for the best, but if it's same coffee and Jaden Shaw, we get that's still an incredible win.

Okay. And then we got a little Catarina Macario update from Twyla, something of an update? is something of an update is exactly how I'd phrase it. Twyla, you know, any coach is going to be asked about Kat's recovery because there's so little information about it. But Twyla said, Kat is integrating at Chelsea. She's just not ready for international minutes yet. So we are collaborating with them in terms of keeping in touch and making sure she has everything she needs. and I'm extremely worried because I heard integrating and I was like, progress.

She's doing something and I need somebody to reel me back then. Yeah. I mean, the whole like keeping in touch and making sure she has everything that she needs brings to mind the spirit crystals and stuff. Does she have all the crystals she needs? All of the like mediation support or like inner healing. work she's doing. Yeah. Not to make too much fun of that.

I mean, it is, you know, the body is a holistic entity. And, uh, but yeah, integrating, she's not playing minutes. She's not playing club minutes. So the whole thing,

she's just not ready for, quote, international minutes is, you know, beside the point. She's not ready for minutes yet. Uh, but integrating is a word that at least,

seems pretty strong. Alludes to, something happening and I'm buying into it. Yep. Okay. Let's buy into it. What's your ideal 11 for tomorrow in Sandy, Utah? I would love nothing more than to see me official start. I think we figure out what to do without Alex Morgan. And Sophia Smith isn't an option. So I think it's me official. And I would, I would absolutely love that. I think Trinity should start because she is out of the playoffs.

Yeah, that's a no-brainer. It's got to be Trinity. Incredible player. Yeah. I would also start Thompson on the left. Also out of the playoffs. Also out of the playoffs. And could use additional national team minutes to, you know, see how she looks.

She's since the last time you and I have spoken, Alyssa's scored and gotten an assist. which goes back to me trying to coax an apology out of events. I'd also start Jaden as like a 10. And I would go coffee and Sullivan in the middle. That's like kind of a double pivot. Yeah. Only because I don't think they're going to give it to coffee alone at first. I have no alliances with Andy Sullivan.

I just think that's a compromise that I could actually see happening. And then I'd also start MA. I want as many of the newbies out there as we can get. Because in September, it was about honoring and celebrating Julie Earts. It's always about honoring and celebrating. And although I didn't accept it as much as I could have, there's no reason to do any more of that in October. It's time to figure out how to adapt and bring new people in and get better.

So I just want as many of the new gals to come in and play. What about you? I think I want the same official ed striker and then Shaw and Horan as the sort of eight slash tens. So that's where I differ from you. I think I want to see coffee, Haran, and Shaw as the midfield. I know that's a very attacking setup, but I don't care. And then, yeah, Robin and Thompson on the wings. If Fishel were, if for some reason Fishel were not to start,

I think maybe Shaw at Stry, try it and then start Moultry. Because I'm in the same boat as you. I want us to start trying things and giving new players chances. There's no reason not to. unless there's some like poor incentives going on with, you know, Twyla feeling like she has to win. And so she's going to like rely on the safe, traditional options. And then, yeah, Cook Germa as a centerback pairing.

I would, I guess why Vinulae instead of Kruger? Is it the age thing? Or you want to start them both? I would start them both. I would start Kruger in Box's role just because I think Casey's an incredible defender. but we barely have a backup for Crystal Dunn and I think we need to solidify somebody there. Yeah. Yeah, I'm just, I just don't have that much faith in Vignolet to be the solution.

Correction, it's Vignola, not Vinyl A. And I know we kind of, you and I kind of differ on that. I guess I would start Fox at right back and Kruger at left back. That's what I do. But I can see the argument against it because, Kruger, you know, Kroger was already 33. Really, her last shot is probably the Olympics coming up. But yeah.

We just don't have that many good depth options. No, we have a, we have a rock bench. So it's, that's what I would like to see. Specifically a fullback, specifically a fullback is what I'm saying. Yeah. But man, if we could see, if we could see, basically if we see Shaw and coffee on the field, I'll be, I will, you know, stop yelling at the clouds. Me too.

I mean, I'll try. Lots of interesting stuff happening in Champions League. Well, at least a couple of interesting things. My personal favorite defensive midfielder in the pool, Corbyn Albert, she's a starter now for PSG. And, yeah, go ahead. Yeah, I thought it was really excited. she got her first start probably four weeks ago in a regular season game and she she had to like stay back a lot she was playing a defensive midfielder role and it it wasn't

too exciting to watch although she did well but she got another start off of that and it was a Champions League game and she got to be more fluid, I guess. She got to do more things. She got to get up the field a little bit more. And since then, it's been Corbyn Albert solidified in their starting lineup. This happened last year as well. Like, she came in for half the season and she came off the bench. But near the end of the season, she claimed that spot. And it happened. And it happened a lot quicker this year. And I think that's a huge success for Corbyn. My hope is that she will be next up on the orientation bandwagon, so to speak. I hate that. I hate that orientation word. I've said it a lot today. But it's not your word, just to be clear, that's a twilightism.

Yeah, but she's she's doing really well. She's a starter now. She's playing Champions League. games, full games a lot of the time. She was the only midfielder this past week who didn't get subbed out. So only good signs coming out of France. And I think

we're getting close to needing to see what she looks like with the national team. Yeah, same. So she started four straight games against Saint-Etienne and then two legs against Manchester United and then against

Lille this past weekend. And she gets a ton She gets a ton of touches. Like you said, she's often, you know, she's often receiving from the centerbacks and starting the play,

starting the sequence. I wouldn't say, I think she's been pretty good. I wouldn't say she's been transcendent or anything. I mean, PSG is not Leon. You know, they play the same team.

And Leon wins six to zero. And PSG wins one to zero. You know, it's a different kind of. level there. But yeah, I'd love to see her with the national team. And it seems like she's getting exactly the experience she needs right now. Yeah.

Keeping in France a little bit, Lindsay Horan is scoring up the wazoo. She had a hat trick and she scored this past weekend. Great to see for Lindsay. She also looks, I'm a little nervous to say, but I watched both of these games and she she really looked like she was enjoying it, which you don't always get out of Lindsay. Yeah, she... Hopeful.

She looks like she's an old man out there, you know? Kind of passing and moving, finding the angles and the space, even though she's kind of hobbling around. I love it. I love that kind of soccer. And like she, in her hat trick, I mean, both of these games were blowouts. But she scored on, she scored,

two of the four goals on give and goes and then just like, you know, tidy, calm little finishes. And then one was on a header and one was on a pretty high level of difficulty volley off a corner kick that popped up in the box. And she just like smashed it home. So yeah, she's playing well right now for a very good team. Mia, after, you know, she scored that goal for Chelsea in her debut. But then what she got hurt? Yeah, she was left out of the next game out of caution. But this past weekend, she came in for Sam Kerr.

So she's back to getting minutes, which seemingly means she's better. There's nothing really to report from her minutes, but she's back. And I'm hoping we get to see some more time from her. with the national team. Yeah, I would imagine that's what's going to happen, right? She'll start tomorrow. I really hope so. I'm nervous, though.

Oh, yeah, Alex Morgan is in the camp, so she'll start. Part of me thinks that Alex isn't going to get a lot of time, though, because they have the playoff game coming up. She's traveling a lot. But that's not out of the ordinary for San Diego Wave. They've held Germar back for minutes restrictions before. They've held Morgan back. I just hope we see somebody else. Yeah.

Same here. But those hopes can be the, what's the phrase? It's the hope that kills you. It's the hope that kills you. Okay. A couple other things. Oh, well, just if you want to watch these Champions League games, Chelsea's going to be up against Real Madrid in the group stage.

PSG is going to be up against IACs and Leon versus Slavia Prague. So those are the three teams that we have women's national team considerations. And then we've got some other miscellaneous news? Yeah, I had nowhere else to fit this in, but I think it's worth, least a few minutes on. Mow Swanson is back training with Chicago. So Chicago were absolutely awful this season without her. So of course they didn't make the playoffs. But there were videos put out from Mow Swanson herself and the Chicago Red Stars like passing drills, jogging cleats on no tape. The whole shabang in Mao is fully.

participating. Like you hear players yell, Mao, Mao, Mao. She's running. She's got the ball. Things are looking up for us if Mal Swanson's back. Oh yeah. Yeah. Can you imagine Jaden Shaw playing through balls to Mal Swanson? Holy moly. This is the very small amount of videos we got with Mal in them is more than we've ever gotten about Cat Macario. So I'm taking it as a huge one. Yeah, I'm a little surprised she's back as soon as she is. I guess it was, what, April, early April when she got hurt, so six months? Yeah. I'm really curious if she gets brought back in in December, but I'm going to keep an eye out to see what's going on with Mao.

Let's not rush anything. Let's not rush anything. Let's make sure she's really good. That's good. That's good. I will try and try and have those thoughts. Our U-19s are playing senior teams in the Pan America games, which are currently going on. I know very few people really care about this tournament, but I think it's important to note because it's a really young roster. So none of these players are currently in college. Seven of them were part of the U-17 World Cup that I know a few of us in the Discord watched.

And they're playing senior teams. So, you know, I might be blindly optimistic here, but it felt a little bit like we're taking our youth teams even a tad more seriously by participation. And we beat Bulgaria 6 to nothing a few days ago. So I thought that was exciting. We play Argentina and Panama next. Right. And we, that 6-0 win over Bolivia, Ava McDonald scored, what's a hat trick? And what do we know about her?

She's from Texas? I'm not sure. Texas going to UNC, I guess. I was excited about Giselle Thompson. She's been rumored with PSG. She's been rumored with Angel City. She started that game as well. So I just hope that it's a sign we're taking our youth teams a little bit, a little bit more seriously.

Yeah. I don't know if it is, though. It may just be wishful thinking. Yeah, very young, like you said, a very young group. because Ava has committed to UNC. She would not be graduating from UNC until 2029. So still weighs off. Yeah, none of these girls are in college yet.

We didn't call anyone like currently playing college soccer is what I mean. Is there any way to watch these games? Have you been watching them? I watched the first one. It's streamed on Pan America website. Okay. Um, this next one, it was a little bit more for Vince, but we'll see. Somebody out of Texas, a foreword was recently called up to the U-15 camp.

Any of those, uh, I'm trying to give you hints. Any idea? Texas has a familiar name. Is it like Clint Dempsey's daughter or something? Carolina Raina. We have Gio's little sister officially called up into a youth national camp. Wow. Mm-hmm.

Carolina Raina, we have, you know, youth of teams are way too young to care about. But seeing her name sparked a bit of interest, we'll get to see if she can keep the Raina name going in the women's national team sphere. It's cute that they named her after the state where they met. That was cute. Next up, Stanford, Stanford named their assistant coaching position after Katerina Macario. And I don't know if that's strange or if that's a normal thing that happens. Yeah, it's a little bit like calling our pickup soccer games the Greg Velazquez Memorial tournament of roses. Because Greg's still alive and so is Katerina.

Like there was a full press release announcing the Katarina Makario assistant women's soccer coach and how like who this person is. And it's named after Kat. She had to thank Stanford for the honor. And I found it all a little bit bizarre. Yeah. I don't like naming things after living people who I'm hoping will get healthy and return to the field. Okay. I'm going to piggyback off of that.

I'm going to also be against it. Vladko Andanovsky has been named head coach and sporting director for Kansas City Current. He said he got offers from MLS teams and international teams. Good for him. You've been calling this all along, basically. You've been asking for Kansas City to hire him. It would have been nice if they'd hired him in June, you know? It would have been nice.

Do you think it's interesting that he said he was fielding offers from MLS teams? I think that would have been so funny. Yeah. He's a terrible soccer coach. I just can't understand what any of these words mean. Yeah. So we get to really close the book on Old Vladko. He's back in Kansas City.

But that's enough of the miscellaneous topics. N.W. Sall was wrapping up, we've got playoffs and the final almost directly after these two friendlies, which was poor timing, but I don't know how you get around it. Yeah, what with our summer schedule and all? It's tricky. One more thing about Vlako, wouldn't it be funny if he just like, started calling more players out of retirement to come play for Kansas City. Like, Carly Lloyd at Stryker, Megan Rapino at left wing. Like, the list of free agents in the NWSL right now is very large, very vast.

And if I were a supporter of Kansas City Current, I'd be scared. He's going to want to bring Becky Sauerbrun. And then he's going to, all of his safety blankets. Like, could he possibly talk Julie Earths into unretiring again? Yes. You know, like him? Bring her in on the right wing. See what happens?

It'd be perfect for him. So, yeah, back to the NWSL. Gotham beat the courage in the quarterfinals, which is kind of like a wild card game. And then the rain beat Angel City in the Western Conference in this sort of wild car. quarterfinal game and the thorns and the wave both get a buy into the semifinals and so Gotham plays the thorns and uh the rain plays the wave in the semis which are both on

Sunday November 5th after a week after these friendlies are completed who do you who you got yeah I if if Twyla can mind her business and not break Sophia Smith, I think Portland can take it, take it home again. Yeah, I think I'm going to go with Portland too. You know, we could see some magic from Jaden Shaw for the wave. As she has, you know, been showing us that she can do. I think that's totally possible. O.L. Rain have been looking good. Gotham have been looking good. I think the playoffs are going to be exciting no matter what.

Yeah, I just think Portland's too strong of a team and too deep of a bench. If Sophie is back, I think they're going to be able to get it done. Also give Sam Coffey a little head of steam from this camp as the midfield orchestrator. So the NWSL released the finalists for the MVP. It's Sam Coffey. It's Debian, Naomi Germa, Caroline, and Sophia Smith. I'm going with Naomi Germa, just because I don't think defenders get enough attention and she's the best player in San Diego. I think it would be huge if she got to be MVP.

If it's not Germa, I'm going with Sam Coffey. Eight assists for her position is gigantic. She... She's good on all the metrics. She's good on her. She's an FBREF dream. Yeah. And we'd be so silly not to play her this camp.

I'm going to be so upset if we don't. Get to see coffee a little bit. I'm really looking forward to it. But yeah, those are my two MVP choices. Sophia was MVP last year. She's going to win the golden boot. She missed a lot of the season too. Yeah, she's going to be fun.

I mean, I'm saying I want coffee to win it because Sophia won it last year, because Sophia missed a lot of the season this year, and because it'll make Vlako look like an idiot. Yeah. Stick it to the man a little. Yeah. I can't believe she didn't even get to come to the World Cup. Coffee didn't.

Big mistake. Yeah. Turned out to be. And then, okay, December games, December 2nd and 5th against the People's Republic of China. We'll have a new coach. Yeah. It's going to be huge. What's your favorite thing Jaden Shaw has done in the last three weeks?

on the field? This past game, this past game, I'm pretty sure it was their last game of the season. They beat Racing Louisville and she Megged a defender in the box and scored off of it as well. It was just, it was just ridiculous.

I mean, she, I think Jaden had, I think Jaden was close to making that MVP list. I think I agree with everybody who is on the finalist, but Jaden just had a great second season. And I think it's only going to go up from here. Yeah, absolutely.

And just a reminder, Jaden is still only 19 years old. And Corbyn Albert, who, you know, we're still waiting on her first call up. This is just turned 20 last week, two weeks ago. So still very young for both of them. And they're getting it done at the highest level. Tara, appreciate you. Thanks everybody for listening. I'm interviewing tactical manager later today.

We're going to talk about grassroots soccer and a lot of other stuff. Got an interview with Jim Hart, the guy who invented the high school champions league for boys and girls in Tampa, Florida. I think it's a interesting. topic that you will probably enjoy. That's coming out later today too. So thanks for listening. Check us out on Patreon. Anything, Tara? No. Can't wait for the games. Can't wait for new coach. I'm hopeful. Thanks for listening. We'll see you.