Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #462: WoSo — Cat & Mal back soon, Fish strikes, Lily shines

Episode Date: January 18, 2024

Tara, Vince and Belz convene to recap a lot of things, including long-awaited returns from injury, Fishel's big goal in the FA Cup, Lily Yohannes and Korbin Albert coming along in Europe, several transfers, the NWSL draft, and several young players to watch in the upcoming season.Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon! Patrons get a private feed for the Monday Review, which is, among other things, a run-down of club action for national team players every week with Watke and Vince. We have recently added patron-only content that’s available every Friday. Patrons also 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/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. This is Woso on Scuffed. Good to be back here at the beginning of 2024. Tara, how are you? I am so good. 2024. It's a rebirth. It's a new beginning. I'm excited. I think it's finally time to celebrate. Yeah. Yes, it is. Sounds good to me. That sounds good to me. Vincent, anything changed since Monday for you? You feel like it's been a really good year so far. 2024 is looking up.

It's looking up. I'm with terror. I'm happy Tara's bringing that energy because that's the exact same way that I'm feeling about this year. So hopefully, you know, all of our wildest dreams come true. We have proof of it already. We've got some major health check-ins. Great, great, realistic news already happening. And it's barely begun.

This year has barely begun. You see what I'm saying? Let's start in North London. Let's start in North London. What's going on with Kat Makaria? Buckle in because we've been through this ride a little bit with Kat already. I have showed up here saying, hooray, she's seen lifting weights. Or hooray, she barely walked while trying to dribble a soccer ball around a few.

months ago, remember? And I tried and tried and tried to will her health into existence. And it seems like it's finally paying off. Emma Hayes has said- Thank you for sticking with it. Yeah. Yeah. Emma Hayes has said that we can expect to see Katarina McCarillo quite soon. That's the direct quote. Quite soon, she was with the team in their training camp. in January in Morocco. And it wasn't any sort of like she was seen in the locker room or she was seen, you know, at the activities on the beach later on. No, she was seen on the field.

She was seen next to actual soccer balls. She was seen right beside Sam Kerr before Sam Kerr's ACL tour. R-IP. So she was right there. She was right there with the team. She was playing and our coach, the new women's national team coach, and Chelsea's current coach and FIFA's coach of the year finalist, whatever her resume is these days, has said she's going to be here quite soon.

And, you know, Catwatch is on. I'm locked in. Their next game is this Sunday. I'll be waking up. I'll be checking that roster when it's. and either going back to bed or or watching. I'm so excited. That's at 7.30 a.m. Eastern Time.

The game gets been United. Hopefully Fallon. Fallon plays, but that's another story. Yeah. Yeah. You just love to see it. You love to see it. This is the first, I mean, you know, Chelsea has been pretty, pretty coy. You know what I'm saying? Been pretty cognizant of what they've put out.

regarding a cat, you know what I'm saying? And for us to get a full picture of cat with a soccer ball in front of her, smile on her face, you know what I'm saying, ready to take on the world. And I forgot what the caption was from Chelsea specifically, but it was something like, you know, back in training. You know what I'm saying? Like it was just like a full confirmation that everything is, you know, where we're close to full systems go.

So it was a declaration. It wasn't any, it wasn't any, wishing, you know, slow and steady, we're, we're easing her back in. No, it was cat is, she's back. Watch out. Everybody. Right, right. There was no, I don't

even, I don't even know the adjective to say, but they were very serious. You know what I'm saying? There was no flim-flamming. You know what I'm saying? They posted her today with just our number nine, exclamation mark. Mm. Wow.

Yeah. It's huge. It's huge. I mean, we could do the whole whole pod on Cat Talk. She's back. Well. She's backish. Yeah.

Well, the other big one is Mal Swanson, too, right? Yeah. So we have a lot of Mao news. It's been a beautiful week. So she, Mal Swanson, was seen training with, Kelly O'Hara in Atlanta where she has a house. So she's in Atlanta right now, which at the time was exciting. You know, great to see her training, great to see her on the field. Hooray, we got proof of life. But then yesterday, the news came out that Chicago re-signed Mao and she is now the

highest paid person in the NWSL with the longest contract as well. So she signed through 2020. And the biggest and best news is that in the article, it says that she is ready to go by day one of training. Yeah, that's awesome. It's a week and a half away. It's normally at the end of January. So Mao's ready. We can count her in. Everything's looking up.

Yeah. In 2024 and the healing powers of it. You know what I'm saying? We stand you and putting everybody's knee back together. in 2024. So, uh, beautiful to see.

2020 taught us to humble up a little. Um, it taught us resilience. Strength. Now we're back. Now we're getting rewarded. Yeah. Yeah.

You can't keep us down for too long. You can't keep us down for too long. That would, that would number one be un-American. Um, so we, uh, we are back. And, you know,

There's a lot of, there's been a lot of concern about Chicago's roster and what's going on there. But I would just like to say, if Mal is there and healthy and firing fully, it's not going to matter. It's not like Chicago's had a lot. I mean, Chicago might even be more talented than they were when Mal was last planned. Yeah. I mean, they brought in the coach that Mal herself has said taught her everything. We got Lauren Donaldson. We've got Mal Swanson.

Sam Stobb, we're ready to go. Yeah, yeah. Like, I mean, I saw myself in Louisville. You know what I'm saying? Mal just putting an attack on her back. I mean, you know, the entire nation has sainted. Yeah, at this point. So it doesn't matter who Chicago has around her.

Mal is going to do what Mal does. And so... It'll be interesting to see what Lauren does, too. you know, fresh off his World Cup success with Jamaica. And I think how Jamaica did, it has to be considered a success. Yes. So also, one of the thought I had about it is, you know, $2 million, it's apparently close to $2 million over four years.

Like you said, makes her the highest paid player in the league. That is a, it's cool for her, you know. And it's just a huge vote of confidence in her recovery from Chicago, you know. In the Discord. I'm sorry. I'm just saying they wouldn't do that. I mean, as much as they probably love Mouse Watson, they're not going to do that to her out of like charity.

Yeah. They're going to, they're signing her to a long-term contract, presumably because she is actually fully healthy. Yeah. And in the Discord, a few people ran the numbers or whatever they do. and found out this makes Mao a top 10 women's soccer player paid in the world.

She's one of the highest paid now in the world, which is a huge success. Congratulations. Yeah, deserved. Let's see. Any other very dramatic injuries resolving themselves right now? It's not

anything worth mention. or not anything dramatic enough to bring up at this time. It's Kat and Mao. That's the show. But, you know, let 20204 continue to work and see what other miracles that it can bestow upon us. You know what I'm saying? I mean, we're only in January at this point. So there's a lot of good stuff to come.

You think of Sam Lewis is coming back? I wouldn't put it. I wouldn't put a pass at this point. You know what I'm saying? I mean, this is what the new year is all about, right? Optimism and the idea that things are going to change drastically despite you putting in zero work to change that thing. So let's let us.

We need to have a... Who am I to stand in the way of, you know, fate. I was saying we need to have a dedicated segment or maybe even a full episode where we talk about, you know, once everybody's healthy, right? And we know that given the way this year is going, everyone will be healthy at some point, right? Once everyone's healthy, who do we play and who do we drop and where do we play them? But maybe we shouldn't have that discussion right here, you know, cold.

Yeah, a little bit more preparation. But I think it's going to be a great topic. Yeah. I mean, it's going to become the topic, or at least one of the topic. transfers let's run through a bunch of these because there's been a lot of people moving around and we haven't talked about it for a while so what do you got taro again buckle up big ride christie muis the christie muis she's at west ham thoughts romantic right moved for a loved one in the relegation zone good good luck to christie muis it was a

free transfer too. She went for free. Yeah. Good luck. She didn't play that West Ham, West Ham had a game this past week. She didn't even dress. So the thought was that she's probably nursing Sam back to health. She just got there. Sam just

tore her ACL. So I'm looking forward to figuring out when Christy's actually going to play for West Ham. because it'll be fascinating to see how she does, I think. Yeah. Hopefully we are able to discuss her playing at West Ham and not so much for the national team.

Next up? Okay. Again, a pretty big one. Emily Fox to Arsenal is official, and she's already debuted. What do you guys think? Dominant win for Arsenal, Fox, touching the ball a million times

as they swing it around the horseshoe. Yeah. Are cyborg going to fit in well at Arsenal vents, do you think? Oh, without a doubt. Without a doubt. I mean, I've talked about this quite a bit on here. I rate Emily Fox very highly. You know what I'm saying?

So, and you see, she's already garnered a start. You know what I'm saying? She's already getting their PT in. So, you know, to the moon, to the moon for Emily. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? They had, they had her on morning footy one of these days, a couple days ago. And she said she's looking forward to saying hi to Emma Hayes in person, you know, when they play Chelsea.

She's looking forward to saying hi. I thought that was really nice. When is that game? When is their next meeting? March. 17th beautiful 17

two months from today yeah oh exactly I'm excited yeah it's good I'm excited

I'm excited I'm excited to watch Emily I'm gonna I'm gonna do my best to plug in every weekend see how she does

but I think it's a great move and and I'm thrilled about it okay next up you guys ready Gotham's super team. We've got Crystal Dunn moving.

We've got Rose Lavelle, Tiana Davidson, and Emily Sonnet. They've all joined Gotham. Crystal's husband also joined Gotham officially. Keeping it in the family. It's nice. It's a little villainous to sign so many people. What do you guys think?

I love it. I love it. I think it's overall good for the league. You know what I'm saying? We need people to continue to raise the standard. You know what I'm saying? Within the league, if we have like an arms race of sorts, right? It seems like Gotham has sucked up all, you know, all available USWNT talent.

Free agents at least. Yeah, yeah, the free agents. and so you know everybody else just has to find out how to how to get better you know what I'm saying there might not be too many women's national team players available within these next uh within the next year or so but um how can you find other ways to mind talent to develop talent uh you know I'm saying and I don't think that Gotham bringing in these four players means that the you know that all trophies are belong to them already. You know what I'm saying?

No, it's giving me Kansas City Current 2020 vibes. Remember? We showed up here and we were like, they're doing everything right. They got DeBinia. They've got Cooper. They've got the first women's facility ever. What?

They were second to last. They sought. Yeah. These are better players than Kansas City Currants. players. I believe. I believe. And I mean, you got to also factor in, you know, they're adding these players to Mitch Purse to Lynn Williams, even though, you know, Esther Gonzalez, you know what I'm saying? I mean, it's looking like a squad. It's looking like a squad. I mean, KC for all that they had, you know, they were, they were still starting Haley-Macee, you know. I mean, I don't want to see

too much other than that. It would be cool for them to become like a dynasty. And they brought in the CEO of Celebration, you know, after winning the championship. Pierre. Okay, I was about saying you're talking about Pierre. They just want to reload and keep celebrating, you know, and he's a perfect fan for that. I'm looking forward to see if Rose Lavel plays more. She hardly played last year. Gotham has a good coach, so I think that's going to be really interesting.

Rose and, you know, a new environment. I'm looking forward to seeing if Tierna can stay healthy. She was pretty bad for Chicago up until that final stretch of games where she was starting to look back to her pre-ACL tear south. So I'm looking forward to Tierna. And then I'm looking forward to forcing more people to watch Emily Sonet and be like, really? That's what we're doing.

That's what I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, who's, did they lose some people from their midfield to make room for all these midfielders? Well, Christy Mewis went to West Ham for free. Oh, yeah, yeah, of course. That is a, they've just a real upgrade there. I mean, it is, it is. Done to the news. But we move, we move forward.

Casey Kruger also abandoned the Chicago Red Stars. she went to Washington Spirit. And Ashley Sanchez has been sent to North Carolina Courage. That's our group of transfers this year. Is there a reason for the way you framed those two? So Kruger abandoned Chicago, but Sanchez was sent to North Carolina.

Is it... There is. Casey Kruger was a free agent, and she got to choose. Ashley Sanchez was sent. because Washington got a bunch of money in an international spot, I believe, or a draft spot.

Yeah, draft spot. Draft spot. So we talked on this. We talked on here before about the fact that, you know, Washington hiring the Bartholona manager. Which is official now. It's official.

And the fact that, you know, if somebody was going to get a tune out of Ashley Sanchez, get her to where, She's supposed to be where she is, you know, where she is put by so many people in the Wosso community. Then maybe that man could get her there. But she's also going to, she's going to North Carolina courage. And I feel like if you listen to Wosso Wednesday, you know that I am a big fan of their coach, Sean.

I think, I think it's actually pronounced Nihaz. Nejas. Nehas. Okay. You know, had the courage playing, in my opinion, the most beautiful ball that I saw in the NWSL last season. Lost the lost Caroline, of course, because she tore her ACL. But bringing in Ashley Sanchez, I do hope. Like if it's going to happen for Ashley, it should happen under Sean.

Yeah. It should happen under Sean. a style that should naturally suit Ashley for sure. You know, Spirit last year were playing, you know, a little counter attacking ball. Not that it didn't necessarily suit Ashley, but I feel like Ashley is definitely a type of player that wants to, that would love more touches on the ball, more ability to influence a match. and so if she wants to make sure that she is forever in Emma's plans, then she will have every opportunity to do so, I believe.

So let's see it. Yeah, I saw a lot of spirit fans online like melting down about this, but I agree. I think it's probably going to be much better for her in the long term. It's less of get Trinity Rodman the ball at all. all costs and more, you know, sit on the ball and you decide what to do a little bit. Mm-hmm. So I think it'll be good. Yeah. And like I just said, Caroline is not going to be a factor for, at the very least,

a big part of this season. So yeah, it should be the Ashley Sanchez show. I feel it's strange to me that I was furious with Vladko when he didn't play Sanchez soon enough or enough minutes soon enough. And now I'm like, you know. I don't. I mean, this won't surprise y'all, but I was not mad one time. Yeah, I was.

I was mad, but I'm not mad anymore. I mean, that's like, you know, things change, I guess. I feel like you can be mad because of the fact that it was like, Vlocco, this is so clearly not working, bro. Like, please try something else type vibes. you know what I'm saying but like I said before it's just like all these opportunities that Ashley had really from I think it started around she believes up until you know we actually left for the World Cup it was just she didn't she didn't take hold of the opportunity she had right she just didn't like it just it is it is what it is she didn't see them and now we know we have Jaden Shaw we've seen Jaden Shaw and and then there's these other players that are coming back from these long injuries that are going to demand significant looks at a minimum.

I mean, what do you say? How do you characterize who Mouse Watson is coming back from this injury or Catarina Macario? It's not, it's more than a significant look. Yeah. But I mean,

this is not to say that I believe that Ashley Sanchez is without talent. You know what I'm saying? Like, if she is the player that you know that some people believe that she is then she'll show her for Nehas and if that's the case then she will be in Emma's plans

I believe because if because it should look like a big season you know what I'm saying like one of the one of the like attacking fulcrums of the league one of the most creative players in the league a person that should be creating day constantly if everything goes to

play it and and you know Nahas has been interviewed since making this move and he's just like man I've been trying to get Ashley Sanchez for a long time like so this is a man with the plan

a man who has now a I don't want to say an established track where it's been one season but you know he has the courage playing beautiful ball yes he lost some pieces

but you know he's adding he's added some They got, I mean, you know, Bells, we both feel the same about Danny Weatherhole. But the fact that Nahaz brought her in makes me think, you know, he just got a master plan for all these, for all these players. So he's got, he's going to unlock everybody. Right, exactly. From Danny Weatherhole to Ashley Sanchez. Oh, yeah.

I can't wait to talk about her. We're going to get to her. He's got Riley. He's got Riley coming up too. And I nearly forgot I swore off defending Ashley Sanchez. So we have to move. move on. Yeah, yeah, we do.

The players who are actually playing. No more transfer. Me official. Me official scored. Did you guys see it? It was a beautiful goal. It was. It was a nice goal.

A really nice goal. Long ball into the box. Headed down to Fishel by a teammate. She boxes out the defender. Nice little box out. Just gives her a little bit of the tush. and gives her the space to take a touch. She takes a touch surprisingly to her left.

So back to go to her left. And on the swivel, takes it on the bounce, just crushes it. Top corner. Big Fish celebration. It was a good goal. Really good goal. Yeah.

Yeah. That was a real nice goal. Which apparently Chelsea was trying to run like Lauren James False Nine. before me official came in and showed and showed Emma what a real nine looks like you know what I'm saying and really like as you described the bells I'm playing it back in my head

and it really is beautiful just to set that thing up on a bounce to the left knowing that she's gonna pivot on that on that on that left foot swivel it you know what I'm saying bring that right foot through and smash it like that's a hell of a goal because she takes a touch She takes the touch back in the direction that the knockdown came from.

So, you know, the natural thing that the defender is thinking, oh, she's going to let it come across her body, and she's going to try to take it to her left side, under her left foot, I mean. And no, she does that quick little touch, and it's an equalizer in the 70th minute. It's a pretty important goal for Chelsea versus West Ham and the F.A. Cup. Then Chelsea goes on to win at 3-1 and extra time. So a beautiful goal and an important one for second in 12 appearances for Chelsea, if I'm not mistaken.

Mostly off the bench, mostly short appearances. Yep. Yep. So, I mean, as Tara brought up earlier, Sam Kerr, no longer there. And like I said, they didn't have, Chelsea didn't have too much of a plan in the first place for running Lauren James as a false not. So, and, you know, Mia came on, scored, whatever. So you would think that a nice little run of games is in store for Mia official, so we'll see. Yeah, I'm especially curious if that is where Emma Hayes sees cat filling in. Now that we can look forward to seeing her quite soon,

is she going to be that false nine that they had Lauren try out? for. I'm intrigued. I don't know. Yeah. All right. We discussed Fox and Arsenal already a little bit. I guess Arsenal's next game is Saturday against Everton at 9 a.m.

Eastern time. Corbyn Albert. I got some thoughts on her. She's played several games since we last talked, but the most recent three are she played the first half of PSG's 6-0 win against Leal last week. She went 90 versus Ren in the Coupe de France. She wore the number six in that game, which I think is interesting.

But she wears 24 usually. Now I'm doubting myself. Did I really see this? I think I did. Anyway, teed up a good shot from 25 yards that drew an acrobatic save in that game. She is not afraid to shoot. She shoots a lot. And then on Wednesday she came on today, earlier today she came off the bench up 3.0 in the second half, played a little bit more advanced midfield role.

I have a small concern about her game, but I want to hear what you guys are thinking about her these days before I get into that. I watched part of today, today's game this afternoon. and I was getting distracted by her wide headband. No. I think I was probably just in a distracted mood, but I thought it was fine. I thought it was fine. Yeah. I'm looking forward to seeing more.

I think I would love to see her get a real run out in the Gold Cup next month use it as more of tryouts rather than trying to win some fake tournament. But we'll see. Fine would describe how I feel about her performances when I see them too. She reminds me, I know I've made this comparison before and it hasn't got much purchase, but she reminds me a lot of Tyler Adams on the ball when she's on the ball. I know we're not supposed to compare men and women soccer players, but this is just like this is just a soccer comparison, all right, guys?

So chill. They're both competent, but not, like, particularly elegant with the ball at their feet, you know? Or particularly progressive. And the concern I have showed up in a lot of the clips from the last few games and in the game today is the weight of her passes is just always a little bit too heavy. Like, no matter what kind of pass she's making, they have, this is the quality of a shot almost. You want a shot to be heavy, you know, but you want the pass to sort of slow up as it hits the person's feet.

My favorite part about, well, my favorite part that of watching Corbyn play before this year was how often she shoots like you brought up. She's very good attacker. And to me it feels like at PSG, she's often held back and she has to, to play that more defensive role and they're trying to make her into something that she wasn't. And I don't want that to make me sound like a redneck who doesn't appreciate France.

But I really enjoyed when she was able to shoot more. And I wish that she could do that more at PSG. Yeah. So this is often my question with like, college kids as they transition to the program or whatever because a lot of these a lot of the best ones uh they're like picking up the ball dribbling for i mean you know Corbin was was chief among them you know what I'm saying I mean but you see the you see the highlights all the time anytime you see a uh a woe so highlight I mean a college woe so highlight it's it's somebody picking up

the ball dribbling four people long range shot into a goal you know what I'm saying it's very individualistic And we see it carry on into the NWSL. You see how direct everyone is, like, on the pitch at all times for the most part. And so it's always a question wondering, like, how, you know, a player is going to translate to the pro game or whatever. And specifically, you know, with Corby going over to PSG to Europe, you know what I'm saying? you know, they are definitely more rigid in their allowances to let people pick up the ball and carry it, you know, whatever, whatever. So I guess I say that to say that this isn't like, I don't think this is surprising that Corbyn is having these issues. Like this is what is needed for a development.

That's interesting. Yeah. Because she's trying to impress the scouts since she was like 11. Trying to get a scholarship since she was nine. And so that entails dribbling and shooting. But I mean, if she does probably shoot when she shouldn't sometimes. And she gets it from her teammates. You can see they're like, oh, brother.

You know, like unless it's like a, unless it's like a shot that's on frame and and requires a good save from the goalkeeper, you know, you really shouldn't, and after the fact, you really shouldn't shoot from 25 yards. That was a bad idea to do it, unless it's like almost a goal. So, yeah. I mean, this is the American most so way.

You know what I'm saying? You can't. I guess so. It just says what it is. They're going to have to accept it. They're going to have to accept it. I mean, they probably weren't going to score anyway, so you know what, just.

It's true. I want to see her be a better attacker, to your point, Tara, when it comes to, like, passes that unlock a defense or, you know, stuff that, like, kind of creates rhythm in the attacking third. But, you know, she's still very young and she's, she's only been there for, what, six months. Yeah, yeah, so we'll see. Like I said, I don't think any of this. these would have been the predictable hurdles that I guess I would have called out if you would have asked me for one, you know, when it was announced that Corbyn was going to PSG.

Okay. I trust the process, isn't it? Sure. Horan went 90 in Leone's to 1-0 win against Paris FC this past week. And then let's talk about Liliohannis a little bit. Yeah. I just wanted to make sure that we did. not forget.

Lily, I'm going to say this was a magnificent performance. Magnificent performance from Lily in the Champions League at home against Byron, IX1, 1-0, and that was definitely the best that I've seen, I've seen Lilly play so far. And the best I've seen IAX play so far. I mean, that first match that they played against PSG, even though, like, IAX won that game right I'm almost positive I'm almost positive I X when that match I mean it was a it was an

it was an ugly game is that what you're saying right kind of um yes yes that my my point is that iX as a footballing side has made major strides over these past three months or whatever and it seems that Lily has also made strides I mean she was uh she was kind of she she was going crazy man I mean, she was making just beautiful turns out of midfield, you know, holding grown women off, receiving the ball, turning them, progressing it, progressing the ball of the past. I think she, I think she might, I'm pretty sure she made somebody too. Like, uh, yeah, that was the most comfortable I've seen her. And that was just, I mean, I was, I was very impressed. I remember talking about Corbyn.

Corbyn has not looked as good in any Champions League match as Lily did in this match against against Bayermudic and I just wanted to make sure that it was not

overlooked because it did happen like probably like that same either that same week that we did our last show or like the week after so like it's been a while now but still

yeah important to highlight yeah yeah I mean on the ball, no doubt about it, I agree with you. Lily looked better in that game than Corbyn has looked in any of her games. Lily off the ball has a lot of work to do, I think, still, like defensively. Of course she does. I mean, she's 60.

Definitely true. But, man, it's fun to watch her play when she's got the ball at her feet. She does stuff. She's got the sauce. And she's trying to make stuff happen. She has ideas, you know. Yeah, yeah I'm pretty sure she found a

A big chance And that match too That she skied over the bar Um The ball Came to her in the box And she kind of She got under it a little bit

But yeah Uh 16 years old To put a performance in like that Against Byron I mean You might think she would deserve a U-20 call up You know

I mean At the very least I mean She's way too busy to go to U-20 training camp right now. That's true. I should never let that happen. That's true. You're right.

That's probably the case. She absolutely needs to go to the U-20 World Cup, but this January training camp, I'm not going to get worked up over. No, yeah, that's totally valid. I just, you know, if Tracy Kevin rates her, that would be news to me. at this point. It's just so depressing. What is that woman doing in charge of anything?

No. I try not to think about it. It bums me out. Tracy's still around? My God. Vince, talk to your boy J.T. Come on. Yeah.

So I'll see what I can do. But I can almost guarantee y'all. Like, as I said before, you know, she's the final boss soccer mom. She has some type of legality, some type of clause within the Federation's rule books. You know what I'm saying? That she is continually citing any time that anyone tries to oust her. And she's just, I mean, she's undefeatable. We know what I'm saying.

HR on speed dial somewhere. HR on speed dial. Um, USSF can't afford any more lawyers. You know, they're trying to lay low on the litigation front. But it's busy a couple years. Yeah. Yeah. So, uh, I'm assuming that that's the only reason why Tracy Kevin's continues to terrorize us.

And the funny part is it's like you can go, right? You know, these are just, uh, national team youth camps. You know, you can go a solid three, four months without hearing Tracy Kevin's. name. Then all of a sudden a roster drops, you're like, God, Tracy Kevin, still the coach. Still the coach. It's like a recurring nightmare. You know what I'm saying?

Cold sweats and all. Well, you know, eventually Lily will play for some national team somewhere, you know. It needs to be the U.S. Women's session. Yeah. Yeah. Let's get on this, please.

Not that this, not that, again, not that she doesn't, you know, have plenty of improvement in her future and development as a soccer player I mean like her brain's not even fully developed yet she's like she's a baby you know come on yeah yeah and I just looked at the shot that she took that she's got

like the the run she makes and like her her intuition for like combination so basically yeah I'll just go and explain it so she's basically running off of uh she's playing left left

Eight, right? And, you know, a combination starts up on the right. Ball basically ends up at Iax's nine at the top of the box. And here comes Lily, basically making an arcing run so that the nine can make a little one-touch layoff into Lily's path for her to receive the ball and shoot. And it's just like, you know, we were just talking about our brain. And it's just like, it's a very, it's a very, it's just a very smart play. You know, you can see the soccer eye key right there. The fact that she was available for that layoff made the run from her left aid position

to basically, you know, arc in, you know, right about where the, where the D is to receive that ball getting into the box. And it did. So it definitely wasn't a give me. It was, you know, pretty close at the top of the box, probably 16 yards out or something. But, yeah. just to have that that brain and that eye for combination

and, you know, with Dutch influences, you would assume that it's only going to get better. Yeah, there's a lot of subtlety to that kind of thing. I'm excited. Like, you got to, the way you arc your run, I know, I know everybody probably everybody listening knows this already, but I'll just say it anyway. The way you arc your run,

the, like, you give the person passing the ball another yard to put it in the right spot makes all the difference. It's everything. You know? Yeah. It's everything in the game of soccer. And she's clearly, you watch her play, she's somebody who loves the game of soccer.

You can tell. Johannes does. And yeah, and I'm just happy that Iax is better. I mean, it's, like I said, it's been, I mean, night and day from that first match until now. And so the fact that they are just a better side in general is allowing, you know,

Lily to also be better. When is, may as long continue? When is, uh, that group playing next? I ask. I mean, Champions League group, not, not their league. I don't know. They play PSG on a week from today. A week?

Okay. That'll be a big one. In Paris. In Paris. Yeah. Great. Okay, NWSL draft. What happened?

Tell us, tell us what happened, Tara. Okay, since we're on the topic of promising young Americans, we've got three big U.S. youth national team members that were drafted this past week. The first pick, oh, geez, I promise to do this quick. Okay. Ali Sittner was drafted first, who I'm a huge fan of. We talked about her a little bit in the award show in December, but she had a phenomenal season at North Carolina.

She was drafted first, so she is going to Utah. Savvy King, a youth national team defender from the strain class, that U-17 group that we were all big. fans of. She was drafted second. She's going to Bay FC. And Croix Bathoon, she was drafted third. She's going to Washington Spirit, a great attacker. Three players that are worth keeping an eye on, especially we have U-20 World Cup this year. We've all been fans of them at different times. I know Vince and I have spoken about Ali Sittner before. A big draft, a really talented class, but But I thought those three were worth mentioning while we have a little time.

Yeah. So I did a little research last night, actually, and went in, uh, looked at the tape of, I think, I think I stopped right when, uh, racing Louisville drafted. So I think I got the first, I got the first six in. And yeah, this is, it's a really talented draft class. Mm-hmm. Really talented draft class. Um, I would say, I'm, I'm a little bit, I don't know.

I'm, I'm a little bit lower on Savvy King, I think. just because the multiple times I watched her at this point, well, with the youth national team specifically, she didn't necessarily like stick out to me. But, I mean, she is a good defender. It is a good defender. I think some of it was just like limitations with her system at UNC. But I think she'll be fine.

Ali Settinor is, she's nice. Yeah. She's nice. you know very two-footed left right foot can pop a shot off from anywhere can dribble with both feet like it's it was really something

watching her play watching her come off you know being able to come off any wing and cut inside and get a shot off with that with that foot that she's coming into so just a really really really talented player also Mrs. Croy, Croy Bithoon.

What a great name, too. Croy Bithun. Hell of a name. Yeah. Hell of a name. So our boy, so our boy Sanjay, Sir Dr. Kumar, put me on a while ago

because she started at USC. So Sanjay, big USC guy. She started at USC. He's also the man that told me that Savannah de Mello was going to be the real deal before anybody ever knew that she would be the real deal.

And so, So, yeah, Croy is very good. Very, very, very, very good. I had seen the highlights, and they were the typical, you know, as I just described, you know, slalom through the defense with the long shot or whatever. But as I dug into the film, there's a lot more. There's a lot more to her game.

A lot more to her game. She played this nasty through ball against Texas A&M where she basically took the ball out of the air and with her first touch, killed it into the path of an attacker and played a through ball all in one motion. It was extremely nasty. Croy is just a player that everyone will love to watch.

You know, just flare and technique for days, for days. So I'm quite excited about this draft class. And the fact that, you know, the spirit let asking Sanchez go and then promptly picked up Croy makes it makes sense it makes sense

well Croy was the Sam Stobb draft pick that was Stob left and they got the number three draft pick right right but but I'm saying like I think that Sanchez trade was made public equal

yeah yeah yeah I mean they still got to replace stop or whatever of course but I'm pretty sure that Sanchez news came out maybe like two, three hours before the draft. It did. It was crazy.

Yeah. And then for Croy to fall to Washington at that point, it seems like, yeah, there was a little bit of a plan there with what their moves were. So we shall see. Why did she leave USC to go to Georgia? Why did Croy leave? I have no clue. Does anybody know? She made use of the transfer portal.

I mean, she was a 2022. She was a finalist for the Mac Herman trophy at USC. Is that right? Yeah. I mean, 2021 she was. She was a semi-finalist for the Matt Herman Trophy. Anyway. Yeah, she suffered a bunch of injuries.

I know that. Maybe it had something to do with the move. Fresh start. Yeah. I think she tore her ACL three times. Oh. Jeez. Yeah.

But getting away from the draft, but, you know, in the family of it still. Yeah. Ava, Ava Gatino, I believe it is. She pulled out of the draft. She registered for the draft. She's a player at Notre Dame. And she was on a week-long trial at PSG. So there has been no official announcement, but you put two and two together.

She pulled out. She's in Paris. Hopefully her trial went well and Corbyn can get a friend. Something to watch, at least. and then keep just a few other things. It's not draft related, but we got some players added to the league that we have watched in youth national team camps. They joined in the under 18 rule, so they didn't have to register for the draft. Claire Hutton joins Kansas City Current.

Vince, you liked Claire. Do you remember? I do not remember the name whatsoever. So was that the girl that? Pan America Games, the U-19 group. She scored some great goals. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I was excited because I was like, if Vince likes her, that means other people don't like her, and then I can be like it. So Claire joins Kansas City Current. I think it's a great get. Jaze Thompson, she joins Angel City, another great get. Two players I'm super excited to keep watching in addition to the draft class.

And then you got one more, right? You got to tell me, you got to say the third one. Oh, okay. Okay, so we have Claire, we have Jazeel, and then I'm also including Riley Jackson here because although she signed with North Carolina last year, she didn't play, she was hurt. So I'm considering this her first year as well. a great player from that U-17 class that we loved watching. I think we all loved watching.

I think she's going to surprise a lot of people this year. I can't wait. Yeah, she is, I'm really excited about her. She was a fabulous player at the U-17 World Cup and, you know, studied under Natalia Strine, may she live forever, and is a do-it-all midfielder. You know? Like, and I feel that that can be read as a backhanded compliment sometimes.

Like, yeah, they can do it all. The jack of all trades. But she really can do everything. And the only question maybe is long term, in my mind, which is obviously a flawed thing. But in my mind, the only question is like her athleticism when we're talking about, like, being a really elite talent. Because she is so comfortable on the ball, so alert. So, um, she just. kind of lopes around the field and snuffs out problems too.

So I can't wait to see her healthy and playing in NWSL. Yeah, me either. And I've seen a lot of people question these very, very young players joining the league. Like, you know, it's good to be protective and wary of it. But I'm excited that we're going to have more players forego college to join our league. the opportunity to turn down a Stanford, we finally have made it. You know, that's a big deal. We can finally pay women enough money to, you know, play professionally earlier.

It's going to be great for development, I think. Laura, Emma Hayes thinks. So as well, remember her manifesto? Yeah. Education is some education. That's what I always said. I'm like, man. If I could go to Stanford.

I mean, nobody Nobody's being like, should Kevin Sullivan go to Penn State for a couple years? That's right, that's right. No, we got to get the girls in. Fair enough. Right.

Yeah. Did Riley Jackson turn down Stanford? Giselle did. Giselle did, yeah. Giselle did. Gamero did. Yes, Camero, exactly. Russell.

So does it work this way? Like Germa go, German went to Stanford for one year, right? No, I think she I think she went for three. So, Fia went for two. Man, how embarrassing for you. I was going to say

if you go for one year, do you get to study the rest of the four years, even if you're not playing soccer? That's a school by school. Okay. Yeah, that's a thing that you would have to ask that specific school.

But Bells, I do want to get on you a little bit here because, you know what I'm saying? You are now Mr. Adam astrain, you know what I'm saying? But you weren't there in the trenches with me and Tara watching those games in real time as they happen. You know what I'm saying? It was a bonding experience. I was back at the, I was back at like Army headquarters while you guys were in the trenches. I was having a cup of tea, you know. Yeah, it's true.

So I just wanted to let that be known. You know what I'm saying? Because we did try to tell you like, oh, Bells, these U-17s are playing some ball. You did. And, you know, who didn't join us to watch his games? Adam Bells. And now, you know what I'm saying? You got the interview.

You know what I'm saying? You're smitten by the idea of the fact that we can teach these kids how to play, you know. Well, I also did go back and watch some of those games. Right, right, right. Correct. Which is what you can do on FIFA Plus if you put in, you know, a solid 20 minutes of searching and refining your searches to get to that match. You can find the full match. And yeah, but I admit it.

I was not in the trenches with you. Thank you for your service to your country. No problem. It was an honor. Yeah. I loved it. And wrapping up, we have no January camp for the senior team. It's the first time there's no January camp in 10 years.

Damn. Yeah. But I'm not mad about it, you know. We're just waiting for him anyway. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Gold Cup starts soon in about a month. And all the games are in the Galaxy Stadium, dignity, health.

Sports Park. Yeah. I wish I could make that happen. It would be nice. It's a beautiful spot. I mean, I don't know if the surrounding area is beautiful or anything, but the stadium is nice.

Looks nice. Yep. We'll have to see this roster. Can you imagine if we get, you know, Mao reintegration or a cat comeback at the Gold Cup? That'd be crazy. Let's go.

That is nice. It's going to be a nice month long Bonding session with Twyla For the gals Can't wait Thank you guys Thanks everybody for listening Oh wait check out

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