Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #484: WoSo — Boots on ground in Columbus, Olympics roster, young guns in NWSL

Episode Date: April 17, 2024

Vince and Tara report on their visit to lovely Columbus for the She Believes final victory over Canada, a rundown of the best young talent in NWSL, and Olympics roster discussion.———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 OTHER LINKSScuffed on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAoundrEkZUgZ13IE5XIqrg We’ve streamlined and revamped the merch we’re selling. Check it out: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Scuffed on Discord: https://discord.gg/X6tfzkM8XU 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 Wosso Wednesday. Tara, how are you doing? I'm doing so well. How are you? I'm pretty well. I'm pretty well. Got John O'Brien on tap at noon today, going to interview him. Star of the 2002 World Cup for the U.S. Vince, how are you doing?

That's not pertinent to anything we're talking about here, Bells. This is Woso Wednesday. I repeat, whoa, so Wednesday. And let me start it off. And let me start it off. I'm buzzing right now because I think it was when Jaden Shaw got our first initial call up to the national team, her orientation period. I don't think she played a minute. I let everybody know that Jaden Shaw is upon us.

And I just want to repeat after, what we're looking at, 12 caps. I think seven goals, one assist. If there was ever a way. If there was ever. a way to announce your presence, stamp your ground, make sure that your name is etched and pin on this national team roster heading into the Olympics, etched and pin into the start lineup, in my opinion. But we'll get to that later.

It's doing that. And so, yes, ladies and gentlemen, welcome. The Jaden Shah era truly is upon us. Thank you. The era has descended upon us like a pillar of flame. or pillar of cloud It's very Very very much upon us

Like a plague You know what I'm saying Just All of a sudden there's frogs in the street How to get here? I don't know Six straight It's six straight starts

With a gold contribution by the way You know what I'm saying The gold streak ended But I'm starting the gold Contribution streak up We are up Six straight starts with a gold contribution

To start our U.S. Wim's National Team Career I mean come on Come on man Friscoe Texas blessing us on both sides. Incredible. True.

What do you mean by both sides? Men's and women's national team. Not pertinent. Not pertinent to what we are discussing here today. Okay. Well, I have something to move us along if you guys don't mind. Please. Yeah.

Let's check in. Okay. So I thought I'd kick us off by bringing up something over in London. The press asked Emma Hayes a question about if she regrets her comments about Jonas, the coach of Arsenal. If you remember last time we talked, she mentioned how she's sick about male aggression. And I applauded her because I too am sick of male aggression. And, you know, she got a lot of flack about that. It turned out to be almost entirely her fault and her team's fault, not Arsenal's fault at all.

Instead of apologizing or anything like that, she decided to read a Robert Frost poem. And I'm going to try to take a whack at it as well. She said, so when at times the mob is swayed to carry. praise or blame too far, we may choose something like a star to stay our minds on and be stayed. So thank you to Emma Hayes for that one. And I get it. I just got to say I get it. I've never seen a poem version of copium before, but that is just, Emma's out here on New Frontiers, man.

That's cutting edge. That's why she gets paid the big bucks. Yeah, I do love that she quoted a Robert Frost poem. I don't understand the star part, but I'm not a, you know, I'm not a great poet interpreter, poem interpreter. The mob being swayed to take praise or blame too far, that makes perfect sense to me. That's Twitter in a nutshell. My interpretation here is, I mean, by the way, you know what I'm saying, we talked about the fact that she put the slide up with the trophies. So far she's got zero.

So far, she's got zero. Two have been eliminated in recent weeks. The League Cup lost to Arsenal and then the FAA Cup lost to... FAA. Yeah, to Manchester City here recently. So I think, like I said, copium. Emma's going through it a little bit. She's saying, you know, the mobs outside might be swayed one way,

but she's going to hold on to the star or whatever her, you know, her God in life. It is. Champions League. Exactly. Champions League. An Olympics gold medal. She's fine. Yeah.

She's fine. Cool. Whatever. She said shut up, losers. Yeah, out with male aggression, in with female aggression. Definitely. That's right.

It's 22 and 4. Come home, man. Yeah. I want you to walk me through your evening in Columbus, though, a little bit, guys. Tara, especially, because so. I went to a bar and I saw Vince. I said, hey, what's up to Vince and his friend? Right? Correct.

Correct. That was nice. It's an accurate accounting of events. Continue. It was nice to see each other, was it not? Yes, but also I didn't get a buy. You know what I'm saying? I turn around.

Tara's out. Irish goodbye. Terror's out. I'm like, hold on. I thought Tara was a bathroom. I'm like, yo, is Tara coming out? Like, we're about to leave this bar about to head toward the stadium. They're like, nah, Tara dipped, which understood you had to go see Marta.

You found me? Yeah, I, the game was getting close. I said, oh, shit, I got to go. And fence was nowhere to be seen. So I assumed they were going to be coming, and they just went to another bar. So, you know, pass did not align. They will. Culp is coming up.

Pass will align again. I do talk to him every other week. I thought it would be okay. Right. Yeah. So that was great. I enjoyed seeing everybody who was there. Paul, Anna, everybody.

Alex. Alex. The group. Somebody in a Roseville jersey bought me a beer. And I was like, appreciate you. So that was. that was that was great and then I got to the game and women's national well just just real quick I don't I don't necessarily like to bring this up too much on the public feed you know like to keep it PG but I was unaware that um

the wine the honorable governor governor of Ohio as a may cannabis legal it's a recent thing yeah yeah so terry you missed out on a blessing You know what I'm saying? In between leaving our bar and heading to Betty's, you know what I'm saying? Me and my crew, you know, you had to, you feel me? Allegedly. But continue. I just had to. No, that's news to me too.

I'm a shout out DeWine for that only. I'm not shying out Mike Dwine. He's a crazy man. Okay. I got to the game and women's national team games are a whole different beast.

My section, it was a Girl Scout troop. It was like a father-daughter dance section. It was this cute little area.

Yeah, it was like girls in like, girls in like ball gowns. You know, that age where they just want to wear, like, actual poofy. Of course. It was so cute. I don't hang out with children that much. So I was just enjoying myself. Yeah, it was great.

The U.S. came out. All of the little girls wanted to know where Rose Lavelle was, our Ohio sister. They didn't understand. I was making friends with anyone from six to 12, I'd say was the average age in my area. But I can make friends with anybody. I had lip gloss and popcorn. Those are two uniting fronts in girlhood. So, you know, I was fine.

I was set. Sophia had a brace. I was set. There was no violent celebrations because, Like I said, women's national team games are a family affair. I was a family, family-friendly woman in my section. Yeah. You know?

I made friends with grandmals and dads and girls. That sounds great. It's different. I mean, they got like, I mean, it's damn near like radio Disney coming in over the airways. You know what I'm saying? No, the celebrations are high-pitched. You know, it's very cute. It's very cute.

Yeah, a lot of Taylor Swift playing. I mean, a lot of Taylor Swift playing over the speakers and whatnot. Yeah, we... Okay, so everyone has a beef with Ticketmaster. You know what I'm saying? I think this goes up to our highest levels of government at this point, class action lawsuit and whatnot coming down the pipe. So being the Ticketmaster is...

USSF's official ticket provider, you know, hopped on the app, bought some tickets. And then, like, we, and I bought them in the supportive section, you know what I'm saying? Usually, for me, most bang for you, but. Most bang for you, but you're getting in, you get a nice spot, et cetera, et cetera. And then we get there, we get to our row. It turns out these aren't, like, seats, seats, in quotes. Because, you know, supportive sections are safe standing or whatever.

I mean, these aren't even that really. It's just like stand and standing, and we're on the row with the drummers. You know what I'm saying? The people are drum for Ayo. And I guess... I could see you from my seat. You could?

Okay. I think it's called the Norddeca. Forgive me if I pronounce that wrong. But anyway, yeah. So we were just there, standing up, having a good time. nobody would let us drum. I guess those things are sacred.

Sacred. But yeah, it was cool, though. It was cool, though, just being there in the mix. And that's the thing about having wives, children, kids, grandmas, et cetera there. It was like, you just couldn't get as wild as I kind of wanted to. It was like, I looked to my left. I looked to my left.

And there's just like, there's this woman. And that's just like looking at me, like, it almost seemed like she was waiting on me to do something. You know what I'm saying? Like, yo, like, you better not. You see these peepubescent girls I got here. So, you know, but it was a good time, though. It was a good time.

No, I had a dad look over at me and he's like, hey, can I go to the bathroom real quick? And I was like, yeah, I'll watch your child, you know? Yeah. Yeah. It was fun though. Just standing next to the drums. I got to help pull the Tifo down. You know what I'm saying? I didn't even get to see what it looked like because, you know, I was under it, basically, or a little bit to the side of it. It was just an overall good experience. It was overall good experience. Great crowd. I was proud of Columbus. I was like, okay, we're turning a page. The country is no longer mad at us. Atlanta showed out. Columbus showed out. We're moving on from a disastrous World Cup. Oh, yeah, let's give a huge shout out to Atlanta. I talked about this on the Monday Review,

but I think that's just, you know, they got their shot. They took it, and we will see more games in Atlanta in the future. You know what I'm saying? I can see, I could see, I mean, nobody's going to want to hear this, but I could see this being a pairing for a little bit, Atlanta and Columbus. Yeah, and I was, I was having, like you said, I was wondering because when I did hop on ticket master, I bought my tickets the day before.

And there seemed to be a decent amount available around the stadium. But yeah, I think it was full. I think was full. Also. I mean, I've gone to many games at that venue before, and it has not been that full many times. One last question about the experience. Have you noticed, have you noticed that lower, like, has weird acoustics?

Where, like, the sound doesn't, like, ring around the, it just, like, shoots straight up into the air. It made for a very weird feeling when, like, you know, something big at and we score a goal and everybody's yelling. And it's like... Yeah, it's odd. It almost feels like you got, like, that little tractor beam or whatever from an alien ship. And it's, like, it's, like, sucking all. all the sound into the sky. But anyway, anyway, to the game.

So I had seats right at midfield. And I was keeping track of something I was calling Chemistry Watch, whether you believe in that or not, in parentheses. Would you guys like to hear about it? Yep. There's one great news and one very bad news. Which one would you like to go first? Let's go great. Let's start with the great news. Okay. Lindsay Horan and Sam Coffey couldn't be touching more. I'm talking two very, very long hugs, like multiple seconds before the whistle blows. They're hugging like, breathing in and out, making sure they're showing each other deep affection, that's not happening

anyone else on the field. They are showing each other that they care. And before Sam Coffee goes out, they're running to each other to give each other a hug. Sam Coffee, Lindsay Horan, I mean, everybody noticed it after the game in Atlanta. That's the pairing. I think they know it. That's why they're building that relationship already. But in Columbus, they're building something.

And I think they have to keep working on it. You rolled your eyes. Why did you roll your eyes? Who rolled eyes? I mean, breathing each other's breath? They were hugging each other. Like, it wasn't like a quick, give me a hug. It's a, it's a, it's a, it's a,

deep over, over the shoulders, like a good hug. Okay. I retract my eye roll. And I got to say, I want them to keep working on it because I think that that's a pairing that is going to get us far into this upcoming tournament. And they live in different countries. So, you know, I think, I think they got to figure out how to keep growing it. So Sam, coffee, Lindsay Horan, chemistry, up big time.

Okay. That's good. Before we get to the bad news, we'll go ahead, Vince. No, I won't go send him. Okay, so that's the, I think the big sort of the big soccer thing for me from this tournament in this game is, Yeah, that double pivot works well. And, I mean, we didn't see it for a lot of this game, but it does work well. And Shaw, as the other midfielder, works really well.

It seems like that's the answer. That's the midfield answer. And that's a huge, you know, whether Emma Hayes or Twyla Kulgur sees it that way, that's a huge development from just an observational point of view. Like, here we are. We've got a midfield that really works. Which we haven't for a long time. You're right. After being on the wilderness for a long time.

But go ahead, Tara. And no one else is running to each other to give each other long hugs before the game starts, before someone subs off the field. That's not happening to anybody else. And let me correct myself, it doesn't matter what Twilett Kilgour, well, I guess it matters because she's still on the staff, but she's not going to coach any more games. It's really all about what does that make. Twilis gone.

Yeah. She's not gone. Twyla is gone as a head coach. We didn't celebrate that. You got to see history. Yeah. But, yeah, so starting this match with the orientation of, you know, coffee, sonnet, Horan, you know, I feel like we all knew how that was going to go. Everybody knew, yeah, it was obvious.

We all knew how that was going to go. And it went how it went. and then once, you know, like, like not only did we make the switch and then score a goal, we made a switch and then scored the goal because of the switch, you know, where it comes, you know, Haran to Shaw to, you know, to trend to so. I had a great angle for that, by the way. Like, you could see it because, you know, they were coming towards, towards us. And you could just see the window that Lindsay had to play to Jaden.

And it was closing, closing. I'm like, is she going to be able to do it? boom, just dinks that thing right through there. Jaden able to, you know, take down a nice little bouncing ball, play it in the trend. And, yeah, my boys, so it seems like Trinity has a lot of clout just like from non-socket related. You know, I think the last name does carry quite a bit of weight,

quite a bit of weight. Because, like, whenever me and my boy was driving up, he didn't know we was going to a women's national team game. But like once I told him And then I was like, you know Trinity Robin? He was like, bro, I just saw her on TikTok the other day. I was blah, blah, blah, blah. And so he was on it.

And then when we met up with my boy, Jake, once we got to Ohio, he wanted to see Trinity, too. And they were both disappointed that she didn't start. But she came on. Do you think the modeling helps? I guess. She models quite a bit. I guess I have no clue I feel like the last name recognition is is huge

number one yeah in the thing and and like another thing is like just being there in person when you see Trinity come on and you just I'm a big movement guy if you listen to this pot a lot you know you notice I'll talk about you know gates how people accelerate decelerate you see Trinity, man. It's just, it's different. It's different. Those strides get to striding. And, yeah, she was just a huge problem when she came on. And what's happened, my boys

got to see what they wanted to see. You know what I'm saying? I see Trinity get in the nest. We'll get to the pins. What's the bad? What's the bad chemistry? I'm worried to bring it up to you, too. But Sophia and Alex,

terrible terrible chemistry I can only describe it as mom hands but with both of them and only one of them is a mom

you know a lot of finger pointing a lot of direction like directional a lot of coaching

but to each other and this is happening when the ball's not in our half, when the ball is in our half. Like Sophia's, Sophia's trying to point where she wants it. Alex is trying to point where she wants it. It's clear that they're both going for the same job. It's clear that they both have something that they're trying to prove. It's clear that they're both under pressure.

I mean, they look like they have the chemistry of a rock. I mean, they're pointing to each other the entire time. Felt like it. I guess. Yeah. To a certain extent, it's unavoidable, you know? I mean, you're going to have some conflict between players competing for minutes. But it's good to hear that.

Yeah. I don't know. But Lindsay and Sam, they love each other, man. And that's what we need. I feel like there's a lot of chemistry soccer-wise. I mean, I don't know how much they're hugging, you know, doing long hugs and such. But between Iran and Shaw, too. Like, they seem to have a decent understanding of each other's game.

I definitely think that they get along, but they were not hugging like that. But it's just one of those things we put two, you know what? I'm not even going to put that tag on Lindsey. But you, Jaden, you know, and you put a, okay, me, Francis, when I play a pickup game, I'm a real hooper. You know what I'm saying?

So I'm going to be able to assess your game and be able to fit in around you and accentuate your strengths. You know what I'm saying? And that's Jaden Shaw. That's Jaden's shot. She's like, okay, Lindsay, you're going to shrug this person off and then you're going to look for a forward pass? Well, let me find this pocket right here.

Boom. There she is. You know what I'm saying? So, I mean, which, I don't know if you can necessarily say that the, that it was necessarily working as well with Lindsay Forward and Jaden playing wing or whatever. Wing. Nominal winger. I mean, that's not the position for either of them, in my opinion.

But when you get them in the midfield, they're soulmates. But even then. They played more one-toes through the lines. The two of them played more one-twos through the lines in one game than we, I don't know, than like the whole last World Cup cycle from homeschool hair from Washington Spirit. What's her name again? Andy. Andy Sullivan?

Yeah, yeah. Well, let's keep going, guys. Let's move a little quicker. Well, all right. Pins. Okay. We can't skip that. Yeah, let's talk about the pens a little bit,

and then let's kind of move on from the She Belief's Cup. Okay, just, well, yeah, I'll go ahead and handle this. I had the vantage point, you know what I'm saying? At first, it looked like they were going to, going the other way and I was about to be heartbroken. I was like, no, come on. Because I forgot who it was, but somebody started walking that direction. And then they turned around.

It flipped. It started walking our direction. I was like, ah. It's like, ah, this is great. So to be able to see a penalty shootout in front of you, it was electric. I can't lie. Really? Yes. Yes, it was. You come up first.

I think Trent takes the first one, right? Yeah. Yeah. Has a saved, terrible pen, unfortunate for one Trinity Robin. But, well, let me get to the main attraction. The main thing here, of course, is a listener. And, you know, she had done her thing in the Olympics, has done her thing since in the Gold Cup. And I had got a little, and I, even from the Olympics, I had been a little jaded on it, just because every time, for the most part,

every time I see a keeper take a pin, they smash. it. You know what I'm saying? Like, I feel like keeper should take pins all the time. Well, what do they do? They sit and hit dead balls all the time. Very well. Strike them very well. And so it kind of like wasn't that big of a surprise

to me that Alyssa and Aere would be able to take pens and take them well. But to be able to see her in person, okay, she stops the pen, right? Picks the ball up. Now usually, usually when there's a switch.

It's like if an listener saved it and somebody else was coming from the line, a listener would take the ball to them, talk to them, you know what I'm saying? Then listen there would dip, they put the ball down, take the shot, et cetera. And listen there, saves the pin, picks the ball up,

walks the three steps to the spot or whatever, puts the ball down, nobody talks to her, turns the hell around, takes the pen, buries it, walks back to the goal and saves another pin. Bro, I was on Cloud 9.

That was incredible. I got to give it up. I mean, you talk about cinema. That is cinema. That was worth the price of admission. All of that, you know, and because of the fact that I was jaded on a listener's pen exploits, I was still like, you know, we probably need to get somebody else in here, somebody better. but you know what?

I got to throw my hands up. I got to throw my hands up. Look, are there probably some better keepers? Yes. But, hey. Canada is bad at penalty kicks. Can't you say that? I was hard, man.

I was hard. I can't. I got to give it up to him. With the stone cold expression, with the pat-de-al-dilissa expression the whole time, Come on, man. Right. Yeah.

I got to give it up. But we're probably... I didn't see it in person. We'll probably revisit this topic, you know, semi-finals of the Olympics or something. And, you know, it'll be... It'll be what it is. The same thing with our double pivot, too, I think,

maybe potentially at some point. Maybe they get exposed on the counter, etc., etc. But for now, for now, I'm riding with both of them. I do agree with... see, Tara, those Canadian penalties were trash. They were absolutely, yeah. But that doesn't take away from what you're saying.

Yeah, they were terrible. They were trashed two times in a row, and we're putting her as our hero now. I think it's crazy. But the thing is, she did do that. She did do all those three things in succession, and that's, you know, you don't get to see that very often. Tara, how crazy was the girl Scarl Trude going? How crazy was the girl scout troop going? They started crying during Japan's penalties.

So when our penalties were happening, we were bawling. Like, they were real tears happening. It was crazy. Wow. Oh, yeah. And then just real quick, Emily Sondit stepping up to the spot. No. And like, you know, to have the ball come at you in a way.

Like I said, I'm directly behind the goal. You know what I'm saying? I mean, that thing was probably 10 feet to the right of me. And just usually I'm not a, I'm not to capture things on my phone guy. I just want to see it with my eyes. But for this one, I'm like, okay, I went a penalty. Let me pull the phone out. And, uh, but paint the picture a little, paint the picture a little bit, though.

This team, it, we cannot help but be theatrical at all moments. Emily Sonnet, this is her seventh she believes. That's the entire reason she's starting. It's that she is the seventh, like the last year she believes they made her the Thanos shirt, where she had all of her rings and she was the Thanos champion of she believes. And this year she was going to be seventh champion of she believes. Like, we do the stupidest things for, like, all of this tournament. Like, the entire reason we put her on penalties was that she was going to be a history maker of this tournament.

Like, she was going to be the only person to ever win seven she believes tournaments. And she still is. And she does that. She does that with her penalty? She still has. But, yeah, just real quick. And then we will get out of here. out of this topic.

But yeah, just phone up. And when the ball, you know, when the ball basically leaves 2D and becomes 3D and it's coming at you and you got to put your phone down because like, yo, I don't want my screen to get broken. That was a good time. But anyway, shout out Columbus. Shout out she believes.

Huge shout out to Jaden Shaw. Thank you. Listen, Doug, you guys aren't going to like this. I mean, maybe you will, but the actual Girl Scouts, they went crazy booing Corbyn. They really did. They really did. I mean, they, they, like, prepared it. They weren't, they weren't ready for it.

There wasn't as much going on in my section. And once again, with the weird acoustics of Lower.com field. It was. My section, like, was prepared. That she believes. Another thing the American public is wrestling with is Nysewanger versus Kruger for the backup left back spot in the Olympic roster. No, the American public is not wrestling with that.

But Kruger's probably a bit more versatile. So there's that in her favor? For sure. Yeah, definitely more versatile. Nicewanger can't, nice wonger is probably better at left back. look, it's a personal decision. At playing with the ball at her feet at Lefbeck. Yeah.

I mean, she really did get to cooking after giving up that goal in Atlanta. She was pretty good. Yeah. I think she was good at Atlanta. I worry about, the Olympics is just such a different beast because we get to bring so few players. And, I mean, almost all of our centerbacks have dealt with injury not so long ago. I would worry about what would happen if one of our centerbacks went down.

And Casey is playing centerback for club sometimes. So we bring in I would struggle The thing is Then you only bring in three Two fullbacks I mean I guess Krueger can play fullback That's the whole point but

Kruger can play fullback incident I don't know But we're gonna have sonnet there too And I would not trust Emily Sonnet to ever play Ever I don't trust Emily Sonnet to do anything What is she good at? She's gonna be there

Yeah She was on the today show talking about the Olympics. Oh, yeah, she's there. I guess. Jesus. That gives you a... Today show.

And for anybody telling me if she can be a fine something, that's not an argument for me because I would never trust her to play center back. Well, they trust her. That's the thing. Right. D.M. Twilett trust her. D.M. Fullback.

And guess what? My opinion matters. It does. It sure does. I'm not going to turn up the. Okay, so it does seem like the A team for the Olympics is starting to feel a little obvious with a couple of, I think a couple of question marks. So I've got two goalkeepers, Neyer and probably Murphy, but it really doesn't matter because Neyer's going to start, I would assume. Three centerbacks, Germa, Tuna Davidson, and Abby Dalkemper feels like those are the three, right?

Three fullbacks. Don, Fox, and either of the aforementioned Nice, Weonger, or Kruger. I'm going to say five midfielders, because I'm going to include Shaw as a midfielder, just trying to manifest that. Shaw, Haran, coffee, and then two of Lavelle, Albert, and Sonnet.

Roosevelt also on The Today Show. Oh, man. Because Cat can be a midfield. and she got a little bit of a run out there for Chelsea this past game. Macariel, yeah. Yeah. Is that what you mean? Yeah.

Didn't I say? Didn't I say that? Yeah, you said Cat. So, Lavelle's, you know, I mean, her Today Show appearance was her only appearance recently. On the Today Show, she said she is hoping to be back in a few weeks. That was the quote. I'm taking the over.

And she said, I mean, we did this already. That's exactly what we did in the World Cup. We brought back and injured Rose Lafell to play a little bit in the World Cup, and it did nothing for us. It's a wrap, man. The Jayton Choir is upon us. I mean, what are we doing? What are we doing trying to fit Roe?

Much appreciation of Rose. Rose isn't coming for Jaden's spot. Rose is probably coming for Corbyn's spot. Well, that's another sticky situation because of the fact that we've seen Corbyn play deep. And then also when she came in on this match, you know, she played forward and was doing a lot of running, helping press and stuff. So I don't, I just don't know. I'm not, I probably, I mean, unless LaVelle gets healthy real quick and starts stringing together good performances in WSL, which she could, I probably favor the Albert and Sonnet because we need depth at

midfield, defensive midfield more than we needed at attacking midfield to Vince's point about the era that we are now in. Rose right now is an alternate on my list, considering if she gets mildly healthy. we'll see well okay well i guess the thing is when you think about it uh Emma did mention her by name in the manifesto right uh if you're unaware of what we're referring to the manifesto it's an article that Emma Hayes wrote basically critiquing the US women's national team during the World Cup um yeah and she said you know where are the creative players there's

Roosevelt, nobody else. So, you know, she didn't know we had She learned a little bit more about the player pool. She didn't know we had Jane Shaw at the crib. So, yeah. But, Lily Johannes. I think Rose probably has until mid-May, realistically.

Well, I think in any case, it's those three, two of those three in the midfield. And everybody seems to think sonnets on the roster, who am I to disagree? So maybe it's between Albert and Lavelle for that last midfield spot.

The three wingers in my setup would be Rodman, Smith, and Swanson. I don't think there's really any doubt about that. And then the two strikers would be Alex Morgan and Kat Makaria. Beautiful. So, I mean, really, it's like Nasswanger or Kruger and

Lavelle or Albert for the spot 17 and 18. on the roster, right? I mean, is there any other really big question? I mean, outside of an injury? I think Lynn could play our way on. She came back this week. Do I think she should?

No, but I think she could. Yeah, you're right. That is, you know, if you want to join the scuff Discord and take part in all the polls that we do in there, that is basically the roster that was arrived at by the U.S. women's national team power rankings the week of April 15, 2024.

Sonnet doesn't make the roster, but that's just people, that's people's preference, you know, it's not what's actually going to happen. U-20s just played? Yeah, quick check-in. Quick check-in. They went over to Germany

first game they played germany and it was a very very close tight game germany looked like the better team but we kept it even at zero zero uh Riley Jackson and Savvy king played um but they kept it tied and for Tracy Tracy Kevin's I'd say that that's pretty good um and then game two they beat Canada three to one. Jordan Dudley scored. She's the forward out of University of Florida, who I'm hoping goes pro after this year. Florida State,

I can't ever remember what the names of colleges are. And, yeah, if she goes pro, she'll be number one. She's super dynamic. And, yeah, she's going to be somebody who makes, a World Cup team and who will be a star whenever she decides she wants to make the next step. So we had two games.

I would consider it. You're calling her as a future World Cup roster selection? A future U20 World Cup selection. Okay. Just checking. Yeah, yeah. because it is a U-20 World Cup year. And yes, we had many pros not at this camp.

So think about an Ali Sittner, she wasn't there, a Claire Hutton wasn't there. Would you say the future is bright? The future is bright, but undecided if they will go to the World Cup. I mean, it will be their decision if I am correct in the rules. Like, they will be released, but, like, their teams can't hold them back. But if the World Cup is in September, that's going to be near the end of the season. And think about it if Kansas City is at the top of the table. and nearing the end of their season, maybe they won't want to go.

I wouldn't go if I were Claire Hutton. If they're still playing every single game, things like that. So, you know, it's something that I am curious to keep an eye on, who out of our pros will want to go, who Tracy Kevin's will be able to talk into going, things like that. But yeah, something I'm curious about. Go win an NWSL championship with my team, my professional team, or go regress as a soccer player under Tracy Kevin's.

I'm on Tracy Kevin's, man. Which one am I going to choose? The World Cup is in, the U-20 World Cup is in Columbia. You going to go, Tara? I know better than to waste my money to watch Tracy Kevin's play soccer. That's right. But I am... really excited about this class of players.

So I'm not totally against it. But I do like them. I do like them a lot. I can't help it. You know, just while we're talking about U.S. women's youth national team coaches, the U-16s were announced and it was announced that they would be playing for a coach named Patchy Toledo. I just want to be a Pachy Toledo. Brazilian.

That's a hell of a name. I just want to put some respect on that name. That's all. Thank you. We've got, so a little bit happening in Europe, PSG tied Gingamp 3-3 this past Saturday. Corbin and Eva both played. I don't think there's too much to say about that.

Leon beat Saint-Etyen 6-1. Horan didn't even dress. What's going on there, Tara? I wanted to talk about this one because it's a new development that may not be exciting to some, but it is exciting to me. Vince will, I think you'll be excited about this because Lindsay hasn't been dressing the past few league games for Leo. And normally that would be a red flag for people. Lindsay's not dressing. What's going on?

But she has been playing every single Champions League game, and she's been getting assists for them in every single Champions League game. And of course, she's doing well, and she's succeeding, and we love that for her. But they are resting her in the league, and I think that that is attributing to a lot of her success elsewhere, because she's never really gotten rest before. And I've been accused plenty of times for not respecting the brilliance of Lindsay Horan. But she has been injured for so long. And I think that Leon is finally understanding or, you know, giving in to letting her knee rest a little bit. Like, the team literally calls her potato because when she unwrable, her knee, it swells up like a potato.

Like her knee has been hurt for that long. They have a nickname about it. And now she gets rest. She gets rest in her league. It is a good development. And I think it's one that we should celebrate. That's beautiful. That's beautiful.

Because if you noticed, Dernshe believes did not have that KT tape on the knee. Did y'all peep? It is a good thing. Did not have the KT tape on the knee? knee had a little bit less of the of the of the of the slight gimp in that leg when she was when she was running and whatnot um and so it's it's a good thing like tera said for sure i mean the i mean making the mistake she's still not chasing the she's still not chasing the ball down

into the corner but of course yeah she looks she looks it does it just seem like a good thing that she's getting rest um in these boat races that least own his. That's for the less intellectual players. The ones that listen to

goy-foutty chase blows into the court. Like Lincoln's mom. They have subbed her sometimes. Like,

but in previous seasons, they'd be playing her league games, different, you know, lesser tournaments and every

champion's league game. Now she doesn't even dress. Like, this is, this is, extremely good development out of France. I'm very pleased.

Very, very pleased. Fox played 81 minutes in a 5-0, in a 5-0 went over Bristol City. Chelsea lost the man United in the FA Cup like we talked about. Oh, I have a good Emma quote out of there, out of the Chelsea loss. Emma said, nobody died. We lost a game.

end quote. Okay. You guys don't care? That's funny. I'm just waiting for the Emma Hayes what's bro's name, Andrew Jones? That asked the questions on the book.

Oh, yeah. I'm waiting for the Emma Hayes Andrew Jones mash up. It's called the electric. If you guys don't know what Vince is talking about, Andrew Jones is the reporter who gets, he basically gets the last question on every press conference

with a coach at U.S. soccer. Because he always asks an interesting question, always get something good out of him. It's always like a little bit off the beaten path. Yeah, exactly. And it's great. I've complimented him to his digital face about it. Let's see.

Yeah, let's go to the NWSL. Enough with all this. stuff. Wait, wait, wait. Chelsea play again today at 2 p.m. 2 p.m. That's all. Okay.

Houston, well, the spirit beat Houston three to one. It was, you know, they got two late goals. What did you see from this game, Tara?

I thought Trinity looked very good all game, although not directly involved in any of the goals, but, you know, Trinity had a very good game.

Two rookies scored and they're becoming stars in front of our very own eyes, Hal Herschfeld and Croy Bathune, plus a Casey Krueger assist. So keep that in mind while you're voting in these freaking polls because Casey Krueger should go to the Olympics. That's right.

Oh, yeah. So it was a... So I'll say this. I watch Howe, I watch Croix. Um, Kroy, okay, like, coming into the season,

I watched, you know, footage them of, like the top five picks, I think, in college. We talked about this on the pot. But, um, I did, I did like Hal quite a bit just because,

you know, we don't have too many serious, uh, midfielders coming through the pipeline, you know what I'm saying? And so anytime I see one, potential tempo setter, that type of thing,

I always, it always piques my interest. Not to say that there are a ton of Croy Bethoons, but you know, Croy, since we got a lot more attacking players coming out than, you know, true red-blooded midfielder.

You feel me? But, go ahead, yeah. Croy, um, Croy's further along than how right now, I would say. Like most of the actual work,

like the tough possession work is actually being done by Andy Sullivan. like the tight space stuff, the half-turned stuff, all of that stuff. Like if Hal is receiving the ball with her back to the amoeba, it is going right back to the centerbacks. But at most part, and, you know, she waits for Andy to do something and then passes her to, passes her the ball while she is facing the defense for her to make passes and whatnot, which is slightly, it was slightly disappointing for me just because I like a, I know Hal got a little bit more tour. But, you know, just insert, what, fifth game, fourth game in the NW. So, you know, we got time.

But, but, yeah, Croy, Croy's going crazy. I mean, almost had an assist for Tren. Trinity kind of hit it, like, right at the keeper, unfortunately. Right at the keeper. Yeah. But, yeah, Croy's clicking very, very smooth, too, very smooth, just, you know, has that, has that air about herself on the ball where, like, you know, she's able to, she's able to pause and stuff with it because she's just like that nice with it.

You know, you know, those type of players. Yeah. La Paza. I love that. I love that. I noticed that too. There was a time where actually the one where she played Trinity in, she paused on the ball for that one. You know, a lesser player just immediately plays it to the open player.

But she paused, I don't know, beat in a half, drew the defenders closer to her, then released it. And as a result of that, Trinity has a, like, a. a free shot-on goal. Yeah, and my... Real quick. In my head, like, the thing that, the play that pops out for me was, it was just like a random, like,

build-out moment. Or like, she gets the ball on the right touchline. You know, you're on the touchline, you're like, you might take a little couple dribbles up and then come back, you know, just to... So she takes a couple dribbles up and then turns back around. and, you know, just faces up

whoever was Markiner puts her foot on the ball. You know what I'm saying? In a dangerous situation, but it's like, you know, she's just like, I'm Croyd. You know? Yeah. It was just, yeah. I'm a fan.

Yeah, I flipped that game on, like, with, like, 20 minutes left, and I was kind of annoyed with Bethune for, like, the way she was moving off the ball. Like, there was one time when Trinity played it, played uh who's that striker for the spirit um who was on at the end of game sob okay yeah she played her into the box and then sob trickled it across like squared it across the penalty area and if bethune had made a like a determined run right at the mouth of goal she's got a she's got to tap in basically but instead she was drifting to the back post um and i was like man you got to make that run and then

and then she scores on a back post run like five minutes later You know, she loves flaring to that back post. And then I realized, like, she's not a, why would she be, like, vicious in her in the box movement? She's not a striker, you know? And I do like the way she moves in the middle of the park. She does find good pockets to receive the ball. She does play on the half turn. She's got two goals.

Sar. Yeah, yeah, sorry. Okay, Saar. I messed up the last name. The striker. Two goals and four games for Bethune And like I said I think she likes to work on the half turn

Good instincts for combining Good instincts for finding the right through ball At the right moment Got some back heels going in this game I'm a fan And I think I slightly disagree with the events That we have a ton of this kind of player coming up Like she was playing as a real 10

You know I just said a thank you Yeah okay But yeah I mean I probably agree with you I get a little nervous Every time I watch her, she's got a crazy injury history. Does she? Three ACLs in college.

Holy smokes. I just, yeah, it makes my stomach hurt. I just get nervous for her. I'm a big fan. I just get nervous for her. Let me give a big shout out to Sanjay Sujah Tumar just because he told me Saoamelo was the USC guy. You know what I'm saying? Croix was at USC before she went to Georgia.

when racing Louisville draft to Saab he was like yo saddamela's the truth turned out that she she's pretty good real cup you know we did that Croy he gave me the he gave me the insight on Croy too also the truth yeah we did this whole thing during during the draft you know what doing it again we got a shout there no ballers out there you know what yeah for sure I also I worth noting that Croix not some spring chickening.

She's 23. She's a full college experience. Yeah. North Carolina beat Portland 2.0. I mean like the big news out of this is the, well, what is the big news out of it,

Tara? I mean, thorns defeat similar to the fall of the Roman Empire and we got the thorns got to announce a restructuring yesterday

where their head coach moved to the technical department instead of head coaching, which doesn't make a lick of sense to me, but he is now the technical director, and a man named Rob Gale is going to be their interim head coach as management embarks on a global search for their new head coach. So it's a big old mess over in Portland. Ashley Sanchez got an assist,

but let me get ahead of it before y'all say anything. I'm sure it was terrible. It was off a corner. It was off a corner. I mean, Sanchez looks like she's thriving. She's doing really good. I just have to get ahead of it because it makes me laugh every time I say something. Well, you know what, Tara?

You know what, Tara? I'm here to praise Ashley Sanchez because she was absolutely balling in this match. She was. She was balling, bro. She was going crazy. I mean, I'm talking like, okay, so first of all, I mean, just North Carolina courage. Sean, Sean, uh, is it not? Nahas.

I think it's Natehas. Nahas. Okay. Sean Nejas. I mean, unbelievable. Let me say it again. You would love him. I think you would really like him, Bels. You should try to talk to him.

I already look. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, I know Anson Dorrance is a fan too. Like for all your... Who I do disagree? For all your hangups and for all your hesitancy about this week, I think... He is your connection.

Yeah. I mean, yeah. And when you watch the courage play, you feel, you feel something in your soul. You know what I'm in the midfield trio of... Now you're talking my language. Denise O'Sullivan, Narumi, Miura, and Ashley Sanchez, I mean, it's just, it's dynamic.

You know what I'm saying? All three of them are picking up the ball, like, anywhere. Ashley Sanchez could be getting the ball from the centerbacks. She could be coming, checking for the ball off the four. forward line. And every time she's receiving it, I mean just, you know, we talk about a player being press resistant, which a lot of times is just, okay, somebody's coming to press them. Hey, they're able to keep the ball and keep it ticking or whatever. The thorns were unable to get any pressure to Ashley Sanchez because she was just receiving the ball and giving it. And, like,

I mean, before anybody could even get to it. I mean, she was untouchable. I'll tell you, anywhere she was receiving the ball, I mean, bouncing balls coming to her. She was able to control them, just little flicks and tricks everywhere. Now, absolutely no defensive presence to speak of. I mean, none. Absolutely none. You know, we've come to expect that from Ashley. But, I mean, the way she's playing, I'm with it.

I'm with it, man. She was sublime in this match. But she's also, I don't think she also has to. to have any because she has Denise O'Sullivan. I mean, yes, but, you know, in those opportunities that she has, it's... She's got the best defensive presence in the midfield in the league. Denise O'Sullivan's unstoppable. So she's, so Sullivan's kind of the six and is Miura like kind of a box-to-box?

Is that how it plays out? Or is it a double pivot? I mean, it's a... Mirro is like a box to box, I would say. Okay. But it's not necessarily like Ashley's paying 10 either. You know what I'm saying? It's like a six and two eight type of situation.

For real. Okay. Because it's not like Ashley's just out here. Like really, all the stuff I'm talking about is not even attack-related stuff. Like just her in the midfield. I mean, she was going crazy. I mean, it was something to watch. Like ball close toward, like every touch she takes is just perfect.

Like, I mean, it was It was almost a 10 out of 10 match I think like Sam Coffey got her once Tick of Cookies one time Somebody else might have got her once But other than that, it was like flawless I'm telling you She was cooking

Happy to see it Because she's obviously talented The The player I'm You know, most interested in And she made an This match barely plays She made Olivia fall to

Receive the ball and just made a turn so tight on a dime that, you know. Did you like that? I did like that. I mean, I didn't like that. I mean, anytime somebody can make somebody fall, I love it. But, anyway, my bad bills. No, no, that's okay.

Riley Jackson, she's getting very limited minutes, but looking good when she's on, the cop from her performance against Utah last month, which was just, you know, she came on in like the 80th minute and played until the end of stoppage time, of course. So I think it was like a 22-minute appearance. It's a clinic in ball progression from deep. So it's, I mean, unfortunately she plays for one of the best teams in the league

that has an incredibly good midfield already. So she's not going to, it may be a while before she starts getting a lot of minutes. But look out for Riley. I mean, she's a player. I think whenever some of these cups start happening or Concaf tournaments start

happening Riley's going to get a lot more minutes. We just have to get a little bit further into the season. So composed. She's so composed. She looks great. I mean, the little bits she does see the field. She's been looking

great. And I think that's another great testament to Sean, he is being very careful and serious with Riley. I mean, there was a preseason game where he said she was the best player on the field. Best player on the field was Riley Jackson. So, you know, she got the right coach. She got the, you know, everything's come together. We just got to slow bake it. But, you know, what's unfortunate, I guess, is that, uh,

for whatever reason, Murura doesn't get called up to Japan, which she should. I mean, she's been one of the better midfielders and ended up yourself for two years now.

I don't know. She only had one cap over the last two years, I think, right? Yeah. Ashley Sanchez, you know, may or may not be leaving.

You know, so, you know, just, just there, there may not be those built-in minutes, but,

uh, she'll be there. She'll be there. I mean, Jackson's only 18, right? So she's got, she's got plenty of time. All right, racing versus the San Diego wave. Not exactly a barn burner, or maybe it was. Boots was on the ground, okay?

Awesome. Boutes on the ground for this match, your boy. Put up to Lynn Family Stadium on a Saturday night. Hey, ladies and gentlemen, we got Jack Harlow out to the game. First racing Louisville match that I can, that I can. can remember that Jack Harlow's been a part of. Shout out to Jack. You know what I'm saying?

Great ambassador for the city, the mascot, almost. So really, this game was ass. I'm going to keep it real. The game was ass for the most part. The one thing, I guess I could say, is, well, Sab DeMello's back. She wasn't necessarily that good. Jalen Howell seems to almost be,

I mean, she's back now. She's flying around, getting got some real nice patented Jalen Howell tackles in. But the most important thing, and then we can just totally move on from this match, is that while walking around the stadium, I, like, stopped by the suites and was just standing, watching the match.

And I look over. I'm like, who's that? Oh, it's Naomi Germott. Naomi Garmor made the flight out to Louisville. And I was on Thigh Watch. I was on thigh watch, you know what I'm saying? Naomi, since she came out the match in Atlanta with a little bit of a thigh injury, and let me tell you guys, the thigh looks great.

She was sitting down, she was standing up, she was into the match. So Sheridan made a big save on an Ari Borgia's header, like towards the end of the match, and Naomi jumped four times. So, and I got to see her walk down on the field after the mat, you know, no noticeable limp, anything like that. So I'm just here to let you all know that thigh is in fact fine, I think. Yeah, we're being careful. Yeah, we're being careful. She'll be back soon.

Yeah. It's a reoccurring theme throughout the weekend. All of our national team players, we're dealing with some fatigue, I think. Jaden played 59 minutes. Alex played 66. That's about it, right? I feel like Louisville might have been scorned by the fact that. Alex didn't come last year.

She went to the Taylor Swift concert in Detroit instead because there wasn't as many Alex Morgan jerseys as there was last year. So maybe all of them disappointed little girls was like, you know, maybe Alex lost some fans that day. I don't know. I don't know. But it wasn't as many there. But anyway, that's all I got.

Chicago Angel City? Mostly just interested in the injury update. Health. All right, health update. Mal Swanson was listed as questionable with a hip injury, and everybody freaked out. But ultimately, she didn't play. I assumed they were just being cautious with her. And we got a quote from the coach after the game. He said, she's going to be fine. She just came off a tough series with the USA, and we don't want to take any chances with her. We don't want to chance. anything. We want to keep her for the entire season, but she's going to be okay. That's it for the game. On to Gotham versus Kansas City. Real quick. One thing about this match. Are we getting a little worried about Alyssa? What's going on, Alyssa, man? We talked about it like just the burst not being there. What's going on?

Thompson? Yeah. I mean, I thought she looked. a little better, but still not as good. Yeah. Okay. I keep an eye on it. Because, yeah, it's the alarming thing, like I said, it's just that, you know, that breathtaking acceleration and all that is just,

ain't there right now. Yeah. I mean, I don't, I didn't think she looked physically as good. I also don't think, I mean, post-world cup, she's, she was upfront that. mentally it wasn't good for her. Like, lots of things going on. Yeah.

Yeah. Gotham versus Kansas City. Somebody could have taken her under their wing. Not to, not to, you know. Gotham, Kansas City. Dredge up old dirt, but Gotham, Kansas City. Gotham, Kansas City.

Tierra and Sonet were the only national team players to start. Crystal, Jenna, and Lynn Williams all came in during the second half. First time we're seeing Lynn Williams play this season. Tirana, I thought, was very good this game. Kansas City by no means were perfect, but Kansas City has the fastest forwards in the league. And, you know, I think that means keeping it a tie. Tierna gets a lot of credit for that.

I thought she was very good. I think it's also going to be really interesting to watch Lynn build up her fitness, and that's going to ask some questions about the Olympics. Same for Rose. We already talked about that. For Kansas City, I think Claire Hutton had a really solid second half against the reigning champions. It's no small ask. She was able to take the ball off of Emily Sonna and Yasmin Ryan.

Back to back, she has started every game and played every single minute as the six for the top of the table team. What did you say? I said, it's pretty remarkable. It's pretty impressive. She's from upstate New York, and so her club chartered a couple buses and 400 people traveled down to watch the game. I thought that was incredibly cute. And they showed a bunch of little kids in Claire Hutton jerseys from her club team. Is she from Buffalo or some other part of Upstate New York?

Some other part. Yeah, it's definitely not Buffalo. I saw the town yesterday. I forgot what it was, though. But yeah, her and Yasmin and Ryan were like having a big old battle that entire game. It was pretty even, but she got her a couple times in the second half. Michelle Cooper. Also, this was her debut for the season.

season. She was injured during preseason so I'm going to keep track of her this for the next couple weeks as well. But yeah, Kansas City, Gotham, it was a big game. Reigning champs versus current top of the table team.

Big game. Yeah, so I just want to talk about Claire a little bit more just because of you know, like this game wouldn't necessarily like a masterclass from Claire or nothing. Like she made plenty of mistakes. Like for instance, like Um, like so the passes that like, you know how balls come to you imperfectly within a game,

whether they're bouncing high or whatever, whatever. Ashley Sanchez, for instance, dealt with each one of those just beautifully at her match. Claire, not so much. So, and, uh, and there was a couple times where she showed too much of the ball to an opponent, got a one off of her, et cetera, et cetera. Like, like I said, it wasn't, it wasn't perfect. but she kept going and she got stronger as the game went on as tera talked about like the good second half like she just kept showing for the ball kept coming you know she she

wins the ball beautifully off players can read the game well is always in the right spot for a second ball is always applying pressure to somebody's back like as soon as they get it like i mean claire clear come up i mean like somebody will think they're receiving the ball cleanly uh here's claire right on the back boop poked it out And then, you know, as it goes on, like, in the second half, she has just two nasty turns. Two nasty turns. One was on Yasmin, Ryan. I think the other was on Esther, I want to say.

And drew a foul on Ryan, right? Drew a file on both of them. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, for sure. But, yeah, they were absolutely disgusting. Gotham scored on a corner, too.

So, you know, that's, I think, I think that's important to know it wasn't. on open play or anything. You know, she has a nice left foot. You know, I'm just, and is it too shabby with a right foot either? And so, you know, just. This was the first game, the midfield was different, too. So I think that it was probably Claire's worst game. And that sounds harsh, but it was the first game without Lola Bonto.

So her partner was kind of gone. I think could have played into it as well. But yeah, I think the second half was much better from her. She was better than Emily Sondon, I'll tell you that. Yeah. Shocker. She was a month younger than Riley Jackson, too. Just turned 18 in January.

Jackson turned 18 in December. There would be probably the two of them going to be competing for, I mean, I suspect the two of them will be competing for national team. at some point in the next decade. Anything else? Savvy King? Last game, Bay FC played Seattle Rain. Savvy King came off the bench, I'm guessing, due to international duty.

Like I said, she came back from Germany because she started every other game, so that's why I said, I'm guessing. She came in the second half And she got her very first assist On the final game winning goal These Bay games have been pretty chaotic so far But very fun And then for Seattle, Alana Cook

Got her first start She's been getting minutes the past two weeks But it looks like she's back to being fully fit Another What does she do in this, Matt? made some pretty big mistakes. But in the same conversation of Rose and Lynn, like keeping track of where they're going to be in Olympic questions,

I think we're probably going to have to look at Alana Cook as well. Even with her oopsie, I think Alana's probably my alternate for centerback. I mean, there's an overdog, Amber. I mean, what? Is Becky Sauerbren your alternate? We don't have that many Cedarbex. I guess so. You know, there's an opt-ass tweet just sitting there waiting to be made.

She scored four own goals since she's entered the NWS. Which this one would be in. Four. Yeah. Not too much. Just to. Yeah. Savvy, I think...

Yo, a lot of got turned it up. Turn it up. You know what I'm saying? So you're supposed to be looking imperious out here. Like, get to it. Vince, Savvy King got an assist. Acknowledge that one second. It was a pretty noisy assist. But she did good.

She got an assist. Correct. She's a fullback, just so everybody knows. I know you two know that. second player drafted in the draft behind Ali Settner just ahead of Croy Bethune. Also shout out to, you know, Bay FC, San Jose, the entire Bay Area, etc. You know what I'm saying? They've been bringing it.

Their home games have been electric. So that's great. That's cool. Does Bayfc play in, like, in the city more than? They play in San Jose's arena. Oh, they do. PayPal Park. I mean, it's been a while since there's been a rowdy atmosphere at an earthquakes game, hasn't it?

Yes. I think so. Well, awesome. All right, let's get out of here. Like we said, they were on Rose, Crystal, and Emily Sonnet were on the Today Show. John Tolkien was on there too. John Tolkien was on there too and Tara just went ahead and cropped him out of the photo.

Unbelievable. People are like, they got all the New Yorkers there. It is now 99 days to the Olympics. It's coming up quick, guys. Can you believe it? I love the Olympics. It's going to be a great...

I want one of those... I love you. Those jackets that the... The TV hosts are wearing. Oh, yeah. I mean, that should be available to buy soon. Probably on Nike. Nike.

You know what I would like? I would like when I was Ralph Lauren, you know what I'm saying? It's a full suit. What they wear coming into the, like, the opening ceremonies and stuff. Yes. With the torches? I'm a big Ralph guy. What?

But when you, she said with the torches? Where you walk out? Yeah, right, exactly. Exactly. So, yeah, Ralph Lawrence been, like, Team USA, like the greater Team USA of all the Olympic athletes. Yeah. It's been the official clotheier. Even when, I even like the, what do you call those hats they wear, like the white hat with like the blue ribbon around it?

I don't know what the technical term for those hats are, but I guess it's a fedora, I guess. I don't know. All right, let's go. Thanks everybody for listening. Join us on Patreon. The link is in the show notes. Also Wednesday, we'll be back in two weeks and we'll see you.