Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #503: WoSo — Hayes the joy-bringer? Croix stunner, Tobin un-retires, etc.

Episode Date: June 19, 2024

Vince, Tara and Belz talk through Emma Hayes' aura as portrayed in the latest Behind the Crest video. Also Olympic roster talk, NWSL rundown, love segment, Croix's stunner, Lily's prospects, Tobin's revelation that she ain't hanging up the boots yet. Much more.———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, it's Woso Wednesday, and even though we're right on the eve of the men's Copa America, there's a lot to catch up on with the women. More Emma Hayes stuff to analyze. Sophia Smith being a straight-up outlaw in the NWSL. Tobin Heath not necessarily hanging up her boots. Croy Bethune, glorious half-folly. How you doing, Tara? I am just overwhelmed.

I don't know what to do with myself. July can't come soon enough. I'm happy. How are you guys? How are you, Vince? I'm feeling great. If, well, number one, if Tara's good, I'm good. Number one, number two, you know what I'm saying?

Happy June teeth to everybody putting most of Wednesday in their earlobes right now. I'm currently working talking on this podcast then I got to go into work where Juneteenth will not be acknowledged once by my fellow co-workers but but but

I'm fresh off boots on the ground at Racing Louisville's June team celebrate from Racing Louisville's Juneteenth celebration instead of last year it was SpongeBob night. It was SpongeBob Square Pants Day, which was a funny juxtaposition.

As, you know, we had lift every voice and sing, sung before the national anthem, but also a race in Louisville player was randomly selected to get slimed after the match. It was. Small steps. Small steps, but I'm also wondering if it was worth it, the Juneteen celebration, because last year we beat Gotham 2-0 this. year, Gotham beat us too now. So I'm wondering, maybe, am I willing to sell my people out for a racing Louisville result? It remains to be seen.

I got to do some soul searching. Bring back SpongeBob Night is what you're calling for, maybe? Look. Whatever it takes. To be seen. Whatever it takes. To be determined. To be determined, I mean, we are well on our way to overcoming.

So I'm not totally sure that one June team. Celebration is going to make a break the, you know, make a break what's going on here. Making the playoffs will make or break me and my psyche. You know, you know what I'm saying? That's why I'm at with it. Fair enough. With the women's national team, I want to start with the, you know, what's still the big story, which is Emma Hayes, her taking over, her jib. Did you guys watch the Behind the Crest video?

Yes, of course. Yeah. Mm-hmm. What did you think? Anything stick out to you? I thought overall morale of the team stuck out to me. And I thought just the camaraderie. And something that,

something that Emma said during her big media tour before the June camp. She had this big metaphor for feeling like a heart surgeon during the middle of emergency surgery for how it felt coming in and taking over for this big team with such high stakes, with such little time before the Olympics. But she had clearly made big progress on the morale. I think that was seen in the behind the crest and I think that was seen on the field. I think that has even been seen since then, you know, for club and in different, even just pictures and pieces of the player's life.

I think they've seen uplifted and lighter. Emma said it a few dozen times that there's a lot left to be done and of course there is but I just think it's been so nice to see a lot of joy back into the team of we've always known how talented they are and how talented they can be playing together

but we've gotten a glimpse of what it looks like when they're playing together without confusion or frustration or angst And it's only the beginning. And I assume that, you know, fixing the morale and fixing them together and bringing them together and bringing back, you know, some heart and some joy and some fun into the team was some sort of an artery or a piece of this heart surgery that she was working on, that she already did in one camp. What an incredible heart surgery it was. Yeah, I'm happy with it. How do you think the heart, a couple questions for you guys.

How do you think the heart surgery metaphor plays with the veterans like Rose Lavel and Alex Morgan? They hear her saying she has to come in and do heart surgery on the fly. Is there a part of them that's like, that's a little disrespectful, Ms. Hayes, you know? That's cholesterol. You're clogging your own. arteries. Who's the cholesterol? I mean, what's the cholesterol in this?

The previous versions of the team are because there's some trauma there. Oh, she's been. There's the worst world cup we've ever had. That's not an opinion. That's a fact. Yeah, no, definitely. That's right.

No, whether what she's saying is true or not, I'm asking you, how do you, do you think there's any... I think, I think a Lindsay Horan ate it up. I think a Lindsay Horan ate it up. Yes. I think she's ready for... I think, I think she's ready for a total overhaul. But I think, I think it was probably pretty tough to hear from an Alex. and I think

a Roselphel is not used to anything but starting a game. I mean, they were a part of the like, like why would they fill away if they, if they, they went through what happened, they saw what happened in

Australia, New Zealand. You know what I'm saying? I mean, like I would assume, I would assume, you know, and you know what, you know, what assumptions can do. But, but, but I would assume, that they would understand

that there needed to be some some big changes made I agree with you there but I don't think either of them are going to be okay with being

super subs they just aren't those players in my opinion I'm I was thinking maybe I'm reading too much into it

but I'm thinking particularly of Rose some of the clips of Rose in the video she's I wouldn't characterize her demeanor as like joy. It's more like uneasy,

a little bit uneasy, you know? Like when she, like when Hayes gave her the 100 caps jersey at the end, towards the end of the video, remember this? Hayes goes, first Hayes does an unqualified shout out to Lily,

you know, for her first goal. And then she says, and this is what she says, and I would be remiss in not mentioning Rose Lavelle and her 100th cap. And the camera goes to Rose. And you can tell she's like, is this a compliment?

Is she backing into it? Maybe I'm reading too much into it. But it seems to me like she's got Rose Lavelle. Rose Lavelle is not comfortable right now. Maybe that's the best thing. The teams of the past, it would have, without a doubt, been reversed. that's not reading into anything. It would have been history maker, 100 caps,

and then congrats when your first goal. That would have been reversed, for sure. That's fair. That's fair. But I would, I mean, just based on roses, hold a meter in the situation, then, like, you know, after. So it's at the very end of the video when they're like, how's it feel? And she's just like, it's cool.

It's real cool. Like I think she was just, you know, she pitched in that moment. Just taking it in. Yeah, just taking it in. All those different types of things. It seemed like maybe she didn't even want to be the focus. The focus in that moment. But Rose is not shy.

Rose is not shy in front of a camera. She, she, this is true. This is true. You know, World Cup 2018, she was everywhere. before before wrote any of the World Cups or 2019 behind the rest

Rose is their goofing she's she's she's a playful character in the camera so I just want to I guess I just want to make the point that yes the joy is back it seems that way

and definitely the soccer is 100% more coherent I love that but there is a sort of there's an edge. It seems like there's an edge to Emma, you know, and she's not,

she's not Mrs. Nice guy in necessarily to everybody. And there's some, you know, some players who are on their toes now who haven't been on their toes for a while. I'm thinking specifically of LaVelle. And I just think that's great. Yeah, Rose, I mean, I've taken a lot of here.

heat for wanting Rose to not be seen as the number one starter in 10. But she hasn't had competition. What? I mean, at five years? That's, that's crazy. Yeah. I think, I think this is, this is going to be good for her if she's up for it. In my opinion, I think, I think Kat and Jaden should be above her.

I think they probably are. But we'll see. We'll see when July comes. I mean, you have to say that Rose did, well, actually, I can't remember the second game too well. She performed in that first match and the sub-appearance. Oh, the second game was bad. Right, right.

She didn't do too much that second game. That's fair. Yeah. I don't know if it was that bad, but it wasn't that good. Yeah, but, I mean, right well like whether it's her fault or she couldn't get in the game because we couldn't progress the ball whatever but do I have to say in that first game she uh you know she she performed she performed she she did she did what she could do but but also terro val is a great

player but this is a position where we have unbelievable depth and the Olympic roster is a very tiny roster. Tough conversations are going to be made. I agree. I do agree. But like, like, Terry, I agree with everything you're saying. I mean, we've talked about the topic of Rose on this part before. People know where we stand on it.

But I will say we're going to have to, we're going to have to see if we can somehow infiltrate these thoughts to chief non-ball-knower Julie Fowdy, you know, as she continued to as she continues to spew her propaganda through the airwaves. Rose is her girl. HBO Max. That's not going to happen. Rose is her pal. Yeah.

I mean, Fowdy was going crazy over that assist in the game in Denver, right? Which was a good, it was a good pass. No doubt about it. It was a good pass. But, man, she was like, that's why she got to be on the field. She brings something different. And we don't have. blah, blah, which, to be fair, Emma said the same thing during the World Cup.

And that's another thing about Emma and regards to her, Jib, and everything that we've seen from her in this first camp. You know, lots of opportunities for people to ask her questions. And the one thing that did stick out to me about her is, she said she was surprised by our tactical nows as a group. you know she was she was like you know they they

I forgot exactly what she said but basically you know the group is uh is picking up on everything quite well they they understand they have

they understand the game tactically essentially is what she said a lot of backhanded compliments in there yeah I thought yeah and um they weren't as big of idiots as I thought they might

It's not quadruple bypass surgery. It's triple bypass. And that's the thing. I wonder if we could get Emma on a Bobby Warshaw-type pod if maybe, like once we drill down into it, and once she actually saw the breath of the pool and saw the players that, you know, Vlaco left home or Vlako didn't use, et cetera, et cetera.

Like once she really got acquainted with everything that was going on with you at soccer. I wonder if she would even change the metaphor or maybe it's just a maybe it's just a what they call those when you come in and leave on the same day.

Outpatient. Outpatient. Yeah, yeah. Maybe it's an outpatient. I do want somebody to ask her that question. She probably won't be like honest. You know what I'm saying? She's going to hype it up. She's a no liar. Yeah. I got to change it all. I got to you know, I'm in my haze. I got to put my Haze stamp on it.

But I do wonder if she's probably like, hey, number one, these players are smarter than I thought. The NWSL prepares them a little bit more than I thought for different ways to play. I thought all they did was just run back and forth. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, like once she got here, like I do wonder. And once she got familiar, like, hey, Jaden Shaw was not on the World Cup roster.

Once she became aware of a Jaden Shaw, I wonder if she was like, oh, what? You know, once she became aware of a. Bithoon, when she became aware of Sam Coffee. Sam Coffee wasn't on the word, you know. And, you know, as we talked about, all that manifesto stuff was mostly based around what she saw from the World Cup.

And possibly the U.S. players that she knew that were abroad, you know, all of them are here in the States. And so I do, I do wonder, I do wonder if we could just give Emma that true serum, ask her that one question. Because... Well, that reminds me

another thing that stuck out from the video is is just how much she's talking about it as if she is coming in to teach them a bunch of things. They have to learn very fast. It's a really, I mean, that is definitely how she talks about the job almost every time she talks. It's a stark contrast to say like Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid, who, you know, he's not maybe telling the truth, but he will often say stuff like coaches don't matter. It's all about the players on the field, you know? It's like she's not playing that game at all. She's like, I am the teacher.

These are the students. They need to learn a lot of stuff really fast. They're doing a pretty good job of it. You know? It's, uh, from like a pedagogy point of view, it's, um, it is kind of interesting because she's not, she's not, she's not doing any of this like, you know, I'm, I'm, guiding them in their discovery kind of fru-frou nonsense. She's like, they got a lot of information to process.

I'm giving it to them. They're taking it, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Let me play. One Hayes quote stuck out from the video, I think, to me and to some other people. So let me just play it real quick.

This is her talking about the weight of the USWNT badge. I think it's important for me to say the same thing in terms of players that are getting the opportunity to represent this wonderful badge. make sure the privilege is one that you enjoy, okay? I want the badge for us to be one of the lightest things, not the heaviest things. Do it for yourselves. Do it for your family. Do it for each other.

But most important, do it together. All right? Let's go. I love that. The Olympics is going to be so fun. What a charismatic person, got to say. Yeah. I think the team is really going to just,

just rally behind her for a long time. Great. I think you're probably right. And one other thing I want to mention from the video is just the quality of the footage that we never get to see before of some of these goals, you know, like different angles. It's so good. It's probably the best thing about the videos is you get to see these goals from these different angles. And I mean, I'm damn near teared up at the footage of Lily's goal and the celebration with her teammates.

It's just an incredible scene. You know, that shot of her running across, running away from the goal, all the faces in the stands, and then all the faces in the stands behind her as she jumps up and celebrates. What a moment. Incredible. Should we move on to the news? Yeah, let's try. The Sophia Smith red card.

Let's get into it. I'm kind of blaming Emma Hayes for this, too. We have never seen Sophia Smith this. mischievous, this different. I mean, she's a player who, first of all, we've never seen her look so happy at National Team Camp before.

Yeah. And then for club, we've never seen her look anything, but I'm going to score a goal. I'm going to smile, turn around, go home. We've now have her, you know, she's a criminal. She's a true outlaw.

So, go ahead. Ben, why don't you explain it? And then, you know, we can discuss it. There's a lot to, there's a lot going on here. Yeah. In the Portland Thorns game against North Carolina last week, Sophia Smith got two yellow cards for time wasting. One was on the field and one was off the field.

The second yellow card was the key component here. It was, it was pretty outrageous. She was on the bench when the ball rolled out of bounds. Sophia was on all fours, which is important to the story because it added an extra layer of crazy to her eyes. Seeing the golden boot leader in the league on all fours was just an outrageous picture. So she was doing mischief on all fours and Sophia got the ball and proceeded to try and hide the ball under the thorns bench. when Briano Pinto from the courage was playing cop and she pointed it out to the ref

what Sophia was doing and Sophia got a second yellow yellow card and she had to leave. Presumably the thorns are winning at this point in the game. Oh yeah, yeah, no, they're winning. No, no, they're winning. So it's time wasting. She got her second yellow and she got had to leave.

So Sophia got suspended for the game, for their game against the rain the following weekend. But she still attended it with Sam Coffey, who we'll get to later. They attended it together, and we thought everything was all in well. It was just we were calling it self-managed minutes for the Olympics, and everybody felt perfectly fine with it. until yesterday when it all took another whole turn, a much crazier turn, I would say. Well, so let me take over here.

How about that? Okay. So Portland appealed the red card and an independent review panel unanimously denied the appeal because it was obviously a yellow card offense. She should have been sent off by the rules of the game. and then, you know, according to the NWSL operations manual, this appeal, because it's, because it was deemed frivolous, you know, all hell breaks loose. So it was obviously a, it was obviously a yellow card. It was silly to appeal.

Because they, it was deemed a frivolous appeal, which it definitely was, I mean, I think we can all agree. Portland forfeits like the bond that it posted The bond that it posted to make the appeal They lose the right to appeal any other decisions For the remainder of the current season And the following season Including the playoffs for both seasons They can't do any more appeals until

2026 Right? Yeah That's so crazy And then the suspension and the fine Are doubled Therefore, Smith is now missing two games, and Portland has more money to pay. Yeah.

So, but she might not miss the second game because that also has been appealed. So then the players union, they stepped in. And then the players union only appealed the players discipline. Yeah. So they stepped in and they appealed Sophia's double suspension. So they stepped in and they appealed Sophia's second game suspension and her fine. And then that was like accepted. So that was dropped.

So Sophia can play, but the, but Portland still loses the right to appeal for two years, which I understand that two things can exist at the same time. Portland appealing this was crazy of them. It was clearly a red card. It was clearly time wasting. They shouldn't have done it. So it was a wild decision to do. It was extremely frivolous.

They should be punished for that. But to lose the right to appeal for two years, what if there is a crazy call? There is going to be a crazy call. Somebody should have read the operations manual. Someone at Portland. That's right. That's right.

And I wonder, you see these goofy appeals, you know, in all types of sports leagues, you know, saying they happen all the time. And, you know, usually nothing comes of them. And, you know, business just goes about. Like, I didn't even know you could impose a punishment on somebody filing a frivolous appeal. But I do wonder if it's because, you know, the NWSL still, even though, you know, new TV deal, whatnot,

is running a pretty lean organization in the league office, in the league office area. And time cannot be wasted. Like, they literally do not have time. So, so they went ahead and put these preventative measures in to let the people know, like, yo, do not come with us with the, with the BS, man. Yeah. And so, yeah, the punishment was levied.

And warning shots have been sent around the league. Yeah. Yeah. It was, you know, one of the funest, the most fun red cards I've ever seen. It certainly adds a new level to Sophia, I think. She was never, she was never this person. I think, I mean, the women's game in general never had this level of, what do you guys call it on the Monday?

High jinks. S housing? Oh yeah. S housing. Shithousering. Though the women's game has never seen this level of it before. This is equality coming to the women's game. I like it.

I like it. And somebody made the joke on the Discord. John made the joke that Soph knew that the wedding photographer was only available between June 14th and June 17th. It really did. Before she showed up to the rain game, it really seemed like she had some ulterior motives going on. Yeah. So what's going on? Is she engaged? Is she married?

It is so nice of you to ask that because guess what we have coming up next? A very brief love segment. All right. Love segment. I love it. Yeah. Lindsay Horan had an engagement party, a brina party, something at Wrigley Field, which I found to be hilarious. What a location for that sort of a party. Who knew that she was such a Cubs fan?

Mal and Dansby were there for the celebrations before the Cubs game. And we also learned that Lindsay's Beyonce, Tyler Heaps, was just named San Diego FC. C's first chief soccer officer. That is CSO. All right. What a title, right? Cool. Not CFO.

CSO. Yeah. Okay. This is in soccer. Yeah. So congrats to Mr. Future Mr. Horan. Wedding is in December.

I wonder what kind of arguments they have about European versus American soccer in there. house in their household he he has been with uh i believe monaco before okay so probably they don't yeah he he's been with her in europe for a while but this is he's he's moving back to san diego um it's funny so go ahead go ahead go ahead sorry um it's funny if you if you follow linds your hand you know she's soccer football 24-7 if you see like if you look at who she follows on social media. It's every American soccer player, national team soccer player, men's or women's. It's all of the boys players, all of the girls players, and then wedding planners. She's got two things on the mind. And I just think that that's very charming.

So congrats to Lindsay. There you go. You go ahead. Oh, I was just going to say, so why did Sophia Smith deliberately get herself sent off. Perfect. Perfect. Do we have any information on that? Yes. Sophia Smith got engaged this past weekend to her boyfriend, Michael Wilson, this past weekend. Oh, I said that twice.

To her boyfriend, Michael Wilson, he plays football for the Arizona Cardinals. I have heard he's not very good. But that doesn't matter because he is pretty. And she deserves that. you know, women soccer players deserve trophy husbands too. And I think that that's lovely. It's a beautiful engagement ring. And she looks so happy.

I am suspicious of her intentions with the red card, though, because she showed up to this engagement picnic in a floral-length white dress. You just don't do that unless you know you're getting engaged. Um, so I think John might have been up to something that she had to be off that weekend. And yeah, so Cynthia's getting good. You know, that makes me think of just going back to the red card. Vince, I wonder if you have ever had this experience where you, your daughter has like a friend over. It seems like something I've seen more with my daughter than with my sons.

Has like a friend over and she's acting crazy like in one part of the house. and she's because she's like kind of just she's just caught up in the moment with her friend they're doing they're doing something that maybe she wouldn't be doing if she was by herself and then I walk in and she looks up and she sees me and and she knows she's acting a little crazy and she'll be like what

that's the look that was on Sophia Smith's face after she rolled the ball after she rolled the ball under the chairs and she saw the ref walking over towards her. Like, she knew she, she knew she shouldn't have done it. But, I don't know. Maybe, maybe I'm, maybe it's just me and my daughter who have that moment.

Um, I mean, yes. I, I can, I can attest to the fact that they do these things. Yeah. Okay. It's a specific look. Specific look. All right. Um, what other love, what other love, uh, news is there?

The last, the last news and love segment. kind of is old news, but I've been meaning to bring it up for a while. Trinity Rodman hard-launched a new boyfriend a few weeks ago, who is also named Trinity. He is also a football player. His name is Trinity Benson. But I don't think he's currently with a team, so I don't know if we can actually call him a football player. But I thought it was interesting that she's dating somebody named Trinity. that's why I bring it up.

Yeah, what are the odds? Incredible. Yeah. Yeah. So there it is. But speaking of love, a quick check-in with two old lovebirds. I did not mean to emphasize old there. Apologies.

Kristen Press is back in training with Angel City, nearly two years after tearing her ACL, which is huge news. She was one of my favorite national team players. with the old generation. And Tobin Heath has updated us on her kind of long-standing injury that had her leave Arsenal early in 2022. That injury was a hamstring injury, but it seemed like she overcame it because she joined O.L. Rain a little bit after leaving Arsenal.

But with O.L. Rain, she only made five appearances. and then she got a knee injury and she underwent a season-ending surgery. Since then, she's been a free agent but without any team. So Tobin is kind of notoriously secretive or just like not transparent, which is her right. We just don't really know what's going on. And the assumption has been that she just kind of, quietly retired.

Until recently, on the We Can Do Hard Things podcast, she let us know about a cartilage donor surgery that she had and that she did let us know that she doesn't consider herself retired. Kristen Press also kind of dropped these hints that Tobin isn't. retired a few weeks ago as well, which has been pretty big surprise to me. And I think, I think to other fans, just because it has been a long time. But I mean, it's huge news. These are two of some of our best wangers we've had and two incredible players. Tobin, Tobin was sort of one of my favorite players as well. I don't know what to be.

make of it. I mean, they, they were giants, though. They were amazing. I don't, I don't know. I don't know. It's a wrap. I'm excited about it, though. It's a wrap. The cartilage donor surgery is what, is what took Sam U.S. out. But eventually, it has to work, right? Yeah. I mean,

unless we... So Heath is 36, and Press is 35. It's a rap, may. It seems like a wrap. to have full force into the recap pot. I mean, I mean, that's what I would say. That's what I was. More power to them for continuing to play.

Like, I mean, I think Kristen will be fine. Probably. Kristen's back in full training. So it seems like Kristen's doing it. Yeah. Yeah, Kristen will be fine. Kristen will be fine. But Carler's donor surgery, that just don't seem like it's going to work.

I don't know. I, I, it just don't sound right. It don't sound good. It's scary. It doesn't sound good. Nope. If your cartilage was to that point, like I had a cartilage injury in my knee, and I think I had micro fracture surgery, which actually got my knee back to being usable.

Like, this is my freshman year of college I played three more years after that. It was fine. Like, it's still, like, my knee is slightly weaker than the other knee. But if your carlid is to the point where you had to get a whole donation, of cartilage as opposed to, you know, just a slight repair that I had. Our physical therapist going to come in and be like, that wasn't slight. But anyway, if you had to get a whole graft of cartilage put in, I don't know. Knee might be cooked.

It might be cooked. And after a career, well played, well done, 36 years old, I mean, it would make sense for your need to be cooked. You know what I'm saying? It just, it is what it is. But, but. Even if it's not cooked, she's 36, you know, and she's got to beat people on the wing. I mean, all respect to her, she is, she was the sauciest American player. Like, she probably is the, she's got more sauce than anyone ever.

She's the one who kept Maupu on the bench. That says a lot right there. Yeah, she's, she's a straight up baller. Yeah. And I feel like another thing about that is just, just her specifically, like, from the little bit we've seen on these, you know, on the recap pod, et cetera. We just know that Tobin is Lindsey Horan type sicko, you know, football all the time, all the time, all the time. So, yeah, I mean, she's probably going to go ahead and exhaust it until, you know, what I said about Rapino in the universe. the universe that tells you to set your app down,

which maybe they've tried a few times, possibly, to even the point of cartilage donor surgery. Well, we know Kristen had four surgeries to get to this point of fully training with our team. God knows what Tobin's done. I mean, I bet it's been a lot. All right, let's catch up on NWSL, not every game since we last talked.

Kansas City Current versus Chicago Red Stars, two to two. Anything of interest here? Goals from Mal Swanson and Samantha Stobb. And then NWSO tweeted a big Claire Hutton Turn, which I thought was very cute of them. Cute. It was scandalous. It was disgusting. Yeah.

She put Mal Swanson, sent Mal Swanson to the corner store, which is, you know, you know, Swanson's not, job is not blowing people. up in the middle of the field. But then Claire took a shot that went like 10 yards wide, but that's okay. They didn't put that in the clip. We'll take it. We'll take it. I mean, very nice turn.

It was like a double pirouette. Yeah, yeah, double pirouette. Like initially, you know, received the ball with the faint that sent mal to the cleaners. and then, you know, pirouette on whoever else I was. But yes, very nice. I think somebody tweeted us after one of the, one of the pods we did, where we talked about Claire. And they said she used to be a 10 and youth level.

She used to be an attacking mid. For the Pan America game, she was the attacking mid. And that's why, like, she scored the big goal that got the Argentina goalkeeper to retire right after the game. It was like she killed morale so much. She retired right. right after the game. Okay, okay.

I mean, to a certain extent, every good player in America is a 10 growing up. Basically, our entire senior team needs to be a 10. That's what Emma said. Yeah. Or that's what Emma likes. But yeah, further than that, you know, just Claire continues to get better in my eyes.

She came on at like right before halftime for De Bonardo who got a concussion in this match she didn't start this one but number one whenever she's in a pocket of space receiving the ball

she is turning okay facing forward she's also passing the ball forward she's also discovered her long range pass in a bit she's releasing people into the channels she's realized she can do that

she's starting to do that And along with all the defensive stuff, we're seeing, we're seeing the makings of a good player here. She really is starting to get, starting to get grasp on spatial awareness and all that. So like every time she realizes that she can, that she's in a pocket of space where she can aggressively turn in the half turn, she's doing it. She's punching that thing forward too. So, yeah. Yeah. I think that's-

Development is going quite well. Awesome. Yeah, I'm a big Claire fan, but I think this game in particular was probably a big one for Emma and our set piece coach, who I forgot, forgot his poor name already. Because Mal's goal was just, I thought it was beautiful, and I thought her corner kick to Sam Stob was, like you said, towering. and I think that that just showed them hopefully some things we could do in Paris in the coming weeks. Wait, I didn't say that yet. It's just in the notes, Tara. Jump in ahead.

But it was. It was brave, powerful header. I liked it. Towering. Like I said, it was towering. One other thing I want to mention is, I thought Neyre was pretty good in this game. Kind of the difference for Chicago in getting a result.

Because 80 France should have stopped Mal Swanson's first goal. Come on. It's like a damn near hit her in the rib cage. I mean. Yeah. She got pit-made. Yeah. Come on.

And then, but I don't, you know, the stop header, there's no, there's no stop in that one. Yeah. I agree. AD's been like the worst goalkeeper in the league this year. As she. By the numbers. By the numbers. But let's leave that there.

I mean, I believe it. Kansas City is all attack. And without Robinson, their defense is looking crazy. It's terrible. It is terrible. How about Ray? So even though the, you know, the XG totals keep being like dramatically, dramatically in Kansas City's favor. Something's going to give, I think.

How about racing Louisville versus Gotham? Boots on the ground. Talks on the ground. All right. Juneteen celebration. Boots on the ground, baby. At Lynn Family Stadium. Racing Louisville Nill.

Gotham 2. Gotham, I mean, we barely had a sniff in this game. I mean, we were so ass. Like, first of all, Gotham was controlling the ball. And then, I guess, from pure exhaustion, from just running around in the heat, it was hot too. From running around the heat, every time we recovered the ball, we were unable to, like, complete a pass. You know what I'm saying? To, like, get us out.

And even, like, starting to counter or even starting to control the ball ourselves to maybe have a little. bit of possession. We were just, we were quite bad. Taylor Flint was quite bad. Well, well, good on, good on defense. Excellent defense. She's always excellent defense. But like with the ball, like everybody was just terrible. Sav, unable to hold the ball up and provide us an outlet, you know, it was, it was, anyway, anyway. How did Nice Wanger look? How did Nice Wonger look? Nice Wonger was pretty good. It was, it was nice to watch her in person. It was nice to watch her in person, just because of the fact that, you know, you just see how, like, unbothered she is in possession, you know, always has a solution. Just very comfortable on the ball.

She was quite good. She was great. Probably the most eye-catching out of all the Gotham starters to me, the Gotham USW&T starters. We had Crystal Dunn. We had Tirana, Sonnet, Rose, and Jenner-I-Swanger. Yeah. So she was great. Second in that list would probably be,

let's put the centerbacks tied with Crystal Dunn. Crystal Dunn was fine. You know, just, first of all, I noticed she was very aggressive, just in the press, just a dog in the press, number one. Yeah. She's pretty exclusively a forward these days for Gotham, right? At the beginning of the season,

she was floating around a bit. It was right wing. These days she's almost always forward. Right wing. Clean on the ball, tidy. You know, got an assist, which really, you know, it's quite a noisy assist. Just passed the ball to Yasmin Ryan. Yasmereon carried it about 20 yards and then a toe-poke shot as she was falling down from the top of the box hit.

That somehow got past Katie Lund. Anyway, Rose, Rose was, she was Rose, man. The thing about her is she doesn't do a lot of creation these days That's the thing Her best moments now are like popping up in the box And getting a shot off And she's real like

She got a very nice shot off That earned a nice save from Katie Lund She collected in the box One two quick touches Got the thing out of her feet A couple more A couple more dangerous moments in the box But they all

revolve around her receiving like her being at the point of that attack her receiving the ball shooting in the box you know as far as not creating as far as creation is just it's just not there and you know she goes on those she'll find pockets of space and then

this match you know she'll go on those long those long patented Roosevelt carries and they you know they just don't come to much right that's the thing is she that's what's different about her she can carry the ball at speed. It's different than some of our other, you know, attacking mid options.

Like, just that way she just goes. Yeah. But whatever comes of it, you know? Right. It's like, she takes 30 yards and then it's, and then nothing happens. Emma's not going to be playing the speed game anymore, though. She's not going to be playing the run, right, right, right. And all that, the transition.

I mean, hopefully we'll be able to play in transition somewhat, but. Yeah. I don't think she will in the midfield is my point, though. I mean, Stof and Mal and Trinity absolutely are. Yeah. Yeah, fair. But, but yeah. And another thing is, like, when she carries it, like, as soon as somebody confronts her, like, it's over.

Like, you know, she's not necessarily eliminating people. It's like she'll pick up the ball, ends of space, and boom, she's gone. But then when somebody comes, like Taylor Flint got her a couple times, took it right off of her. Give me that. Boom. You know? So anyway, I know people get mad at us for Tom Arrows. But yeah, that was, that's the boots on the ground report, man.

That's all. Okay. It wasn't nothing too eventful. Washington Spirit versus San Diego Wave 1-1. Tara? Yeah. This was, I don't know. I don't know how it would categorize this game.

It wasn't the best game from either of them. I wouldn't say. Goals from both Jaden Shaw and Kroybathune. It was tied one to one. I thought the real standout was Naomi Germa. She was keeping Trinity, Rodman, and Kroybathune locked down this game for the majority of it. It would have been the entire game if her centerback partner, Abby Dog Kemper, didn't hand the ball over to Kroo Bothune.

and extra time for Croix's late goal-tying, game-tying goal. But the goal was beautiful. See, it's why you need a tall centerback. It's why you need a tall center-back. Yeah, she just doesn't get her head up high enough. Exactly, really. You give Abby a couple more inches.

That's hitting the forehead instead of, you know, the crown of the head. I thought, I thought, like, Naomi and, Naomi and versus Trinity was a great matchup that entire game. Well, just to describe the goal, the Bethune goal a little bit, it was off of a Dahl Kemper error, pretty much, but it was just a lot, like a speculative lofted ball at the back line. And it bounced, like, as Vince said, off the crown of her head, backwards, behind the back line. into the path of the onrushing, Croy Bathune, who took, I think, a touch with her chest, and then I think it was just one touch with her chest, and then just ripped it on the half-folly near post

with that left foot of hers. It's a really nice goal. I mean, obviously, the build-up wasn't nice, but the action from Croy herself, fantastic. No, the goal was, the goal was gorgeous. Hit the post early in the match. That's right. Also on a gift from one of Germa's teammates.

I don't know which one. It was somebody on the left side. Just passed it across. Try to pass it back to Germa, I think. No, try to pass it back to the other center back. Dahl Kemper, I think. Yeah. Anyway, Shaw's goal was on a really nice, a really nice cross.

From Sanchez, Maria Sanchez. Yeah. And she missed the cross initially, but she got a foot to it in the end and kind of tapped it in. Yeah, her foot kind of rolled over the ball on the half-folly. And it's just. But she killed her dead, though. She did kill it dead. Then she just, all she had to do was pull her foot, bring her leg behind the ball and push it forward.

Go. Beautiful. Yeah. Croix, man. Corey is quite good Yeah, she just keeps doing it Just keeps doing it It should be on the US

W&T sometime soon Maybe not the Olympics, but yeah, soon as Olympics are over, I guess But I don't see why we can't bring it to Paris She, that's another thing from behind the crest video She was no, it looked like she was no Shrinking Violet in training there's one clip where she just like she just wrecks Lindsay Horan

Rex is a little strong she takes the ball from Lindsay Horan and then um gets closed down by somebody else and gives it gives it right gives it away right away but it's nice to see her clattering into Heran this is a

it's the thing I was watching in this match uh watching spirit were mostly outpossessed by the wave um spirit missing Andy Sultz elephant quite a bit. Also had a injury to... Who ended up being the right back in this match?

Was it Carl? Anyway. Had an injury to that right back, which caused Hal Hersch felt to move over the right back. Just a lot of issues playing out within the Spirit Squad that led to them not being able to possess per usual. And Croy was doing a lot of work

in the spirit press. I was doing a lot of work in the spirit press. I think that's the one thing that's kind of left up in the air is Can't Croix. Can't Croix do defensive work, et cetera, et cetera. She was doing a lot of stuff in the press. She was recovering balls quite well,

winning balls. And like Bell's talked about, I've seen her cladering to somebody and win that thing back. And, you know, she doesn't have a ton of defensive responsibility of the spirit, but I think she's willing and able. And so, yeah.

And just another thing real quick, she just, she's just a breath of fresh air and the fact that, you know, we do have a lot of carriers in the pool, right? Everybody wants to, that's like the American way of playing. Everybody just wants to grab the ball and go

for the most part, like Jaden Shaw, Cat and and Croy are like they're different in that way. Whereas, you know, Mao, Sof, Tren, etc, etc. Alley Settner, like, I was watching this weekend. Everybody just wants to get the ball and go, go, go, and a lot of times. Yeah, and then shoot, right? Croy, always looking for a little pass, always looking for a way to combine, just, you know, if that ball's on her foot for longer than three touches, you know, she's ready to get rid of it.

And just love the way she plays, man. Yeah. Speaking of Washington's spirit real quick, I saw online the Barcelona coach, his contract officially ended this past weekend. So I'm looking forward to seeing if he shows up to the next game. They don't play today, but they play this weekend. He should be here. Michelle King, paid enough money. Get on a plane, sir.

Yeah, come on. That's right. That's right. I mean, yeah, you got a job to do, man. You don't got a little vacation. Come on. No sabbatical. No, sir.

Oh, and also one more thing on Croy. Croy, right, turn the league up, all these goals and assist. I just want to say that her expected numbers are up there, too. They're not quite up there. like she is outpacing her XG plus XA a little bit, but not by a lot. Like everything she's doing is quite real. She's not just on heater or nothing. Also, Hal Hersch felt played in this match.

As I said, she moved her right back, let's say 35 minutes in. But she did do a couple times, literally just twice. she received the ball and some space in the buildup turned, passed the ball forward. I think it was twice to Croix Bethune. And that was cool. That was cool to see.

We need to see more of it from how Hurst felt. You know, I talked about Claire earlier. Claire is doing it a lot more than how Liz. Claire seems a lot more comfortable and a lot more aware of her surroundings to be able to turn and play. play the ball forward. How it's a little bit of a work in progress, but we're getting there, baby. And I watched their last week's game, too. And, um, yeah, it's still, it's still a little

sporadic. There's still a lot of backpassing, but, but slowly, how Hirsch felt, we're going to, we're going to get there. All right. That's all. Yeah. No, that bent's stamp of approval is going to go far. people are going to start really respecting how harsh felt and I'm going to go crazy because of it. Houston Dash versus Angel City. It was a zero-zero game. It should not have been a zero-zero game, but that's beside the point. Something that did stand out and has been standing out for the Angel City games is Jazeel Thompson is racking up impressive performances for a pretty lackluster team. so it's getting overlooked.

Alyssa's at four assists now, and you can see the chemistry building and continuing to click between the sisters. But again, Giselle Thompson is doing quite well. And if you watch the league, those two are becoming a must watch, in my opinion. So Alyssa's playing well.

She's back. Yeah. I mean, the goals aren't coming, but the assists are there and Vince is shaking his head no. So again, everybody's going to believe him over me. But those two are doing really well. Look, I'm not saying she's not playing well. I'm just saying she's like playing well for me would be, you know,

Alyssa putting herself back into contention to be on the U.S. Women's National team. I think she's getting there. But is she there right now? That's my, that's my dissension there. She has more assists than people who are on the national team right now. All right, fair enough. But, you know, I mean, we just talked about Crystal Dunn's assist.

She just got, you know. She got some. Anyway. She does not have Crystal Dunn assists. She has good assists. Giselle, though. That's what I want to talk about, quite the baller. Quite the baller.

Yeah, she's just very good, man. Beginning and run, she's played left back. She's played right back. Basically, the way I would describe her is Jenna and Oswanger with speed, you know? Ooh. Comfortable. Yeah, yeah. Like comfortable in possession.

And every facet of possession, sometimes she'll come infield, receive a ball in the half turn, carry it. She's good in combination. She almost had against Gotham. She almost had a cross from the right back spot to her sister. Her sister headed it basically right to a burger. Is that a, is that, it last thing, the burger, right? The keeper. Yeah.

Which, you know, there was kind of nowhere else for Alyssa to head it. It was one of those where she had to, you know, fully dive into it. It wasn't a placement header type of situation. But anyway, almost had assisted-assisted goal. There's been a few of those this season so far. Nice. Yeah, yeah. You can tell that they are sisters.

You'll see, you know, you'll see Giselle play Alyssa the ball, and it just, you can just tell. You can just tell the way Alyssa will just, somehow, Giselle being like a pickle, Alyssa, boom. She's playing right wing. Why is she on the left? Who knows? She popped up in this little pocket of space

Giselle play it to Alyssa and then Alyssa's off to the races But yeah I've been very impressed I just caught up with Giselle last night I've been extremely extremely impressed with her She can do it all on the ball

And defensively she's looking solid as well And you know We've talked about Savvy King quite a bit And how Savvy King applies clamps But has yet to do anything interesting On the ball And Giselle is doing all the interesting things on the ball

that savvy is not currently capable of doing. You hear all that, Emily Fox? Time to get your act together. Hey. Yeah, she's coming. And she's about every bit as fast as her sister. So, yeah, man, Giselle is, she's good, very good. Okay.

That's a great way, guys. Thank you. Yeah, thank you, Vince. Thank you, Tara. Seattle Rain versus Portland Thorns, Zero, Zero. Nothing too interesting. No coffee, no soap, no multery. Although we don't know why Olivia was not there.

And Emera Adonis, I struggle with that last name. She didn't come in until the last few minutes. So there was no real national team interest in this game. And then the last game we had was Bay versus Utah. Utah pulled off a huge surprise, one nothing in the very last few minutes, a huge three points for our little royals. They have scored seven goals in their debut season, and five of them, Alice Sittnor has contributed to. I thought that was a fun fact or a sad fact, just depending on how you think of it. Yeah, she's really working hard out there, just running around.

She's trying to inject quality into these royals matches. It made me sad for her. Life on an expansion team just isn't where you want a young attacking player to go. Like racing's first year, we had Emily Fox. You know what I'm saying? So she was like a left back. We need to help with ball progression, all that stuff. She could do that and she looked good doing it.

And that was cool. But Allie is just kind of like dying on the vine a little bit. And I wonder what it would look like if she was on a better team. That's all. Yeah, it would look much different, I'm sure of it. All right, what about Midge Purr's Netflix show? Okay, Mitch Purse, the Netflix show we've been talking about for basically a year and a half. Finally has a trailer.

It came out yesterday, the offseason, a bunch of NWSL players, all got a big, beautiful house together in southern Florida, and trained during the off season. It filmed. It's going to be on Netflix. that's it. Watch the trailer if you're interested in those sorts of things. I don't understand what the plot points are going to be on the show. You know what I'm saying? Like it's a reality TV.

They're going to manufacture some drama. What's going on? Did you watch the trailer? No, I didn't. Okay. So they talk about a potential, like wanting to get pregnant, potential injuries, drinking, going to clubs, fights.

Like Maria Sanchez's, like Maria Sanchez's, at the time, her largest contract, she had the biggest contract in the league. And people, like, did people not think she deserved it? Things like that. Like, imposter syndrome type things. Understood. Okay. Okay. Fair enough.

I'd watch Mitch Purse do anything, honestly. Mitch Purse is just another thing in her arsenal of becoming, you know, unstoppable. So Olympic roster, the Olympic roster checking. This is the elephant in the room, the thing hanging over all of this. What do you think? What do you think, Tara? Have you paired it down at 18 yet? No.

Mine is sitting pretty at 19. iconically one more than I'm allowed to have but I have until the first week of July until rosters are due so I'm not stressed about it do you guys do you guys have are you set on who you want to go to Paris yet I think so

no I think I am the thing is the thing for me is I have no clue who I want my authoreds to be because we run this poll on the Discord it and it's just flavor of the week. Like, who's fresh in your mind?

And it can't be like that because the Olympics, it's a puzzle. It's who needs to fill multiple pieces. It's not who your favorites are at the time. You know? No, no. For me, it's just who my favorites are. That's just, it can't be like that.

That's the only, I mean, if I'm not picking my favorites, I'm not having fun. What am I doing? You know? Everybody's fun, basically, except for like three people. Okay. I mean, the question is, I think the question is,

will, okay, here are some questions. One, will Emma Hayes leave Alex Morgan off the roster? I don't know if we, I mean, I think we have a sense that she may or she will, but I'm still at the point where I'll believe it when I see it. So that's a question. If she does, leave her off. I think it makes the front six pretty straightforward. It'd be Sophia Smith, Cat Macario,

Mallory Swanson, Trinity Rodman, Jaden Shaw, and, you know, probably Crystal Dunn, which is what the scuff Discord arrived at in the power rankings run by Jordan. So then in the midfield, Herane and coffee are absolute locks, assuming coffee is healthy. I think she will be, right? Then who are the other two midfielder is going to be? That's where the real question is, right?

That's the big, maybe the biggest question. I mean, this is my ax to grind with this Google form. Do you consider Jaden Shaw and Katerina Baccaria a midfielder? or do you not? Right. Yeah. But we didn't even talk about Sam Coffee. He got hurt.

No, we did talk about Same Coffee. But I didn't say prognosis. Her coach updated because she was seen in a boot. So she came off in that North Carolina game

on her own. She wasn't She didn't like get injured or anything. She came off because she was feeling discomfort. She was, uh, she was in a boot afterwards, which scared the entire world. And she was at, she was in a boot, um, with Sophia on the sidelines or, or in the, in the stadium at the rain game when Sophia was suspended. And the coach said, uh, it's, it's not a injury. Right now, it's just something that they're being,

they're taking precaution with, and right now they're considering it week to week. So he's still wearing a boot, but they're considering it week to week. All right. Which seems kind of counterintuitive, but I'm considering it good news. Yeah.

Okay. I'm not sensing much energy for talking rosters from you guys. I'm getting a no thank you. I mean, you know me, Bills. I'm not a, I'm not an imaginary roster guy. I'm not a rosterologist. 18 stuff. When the thing comes out, I'm going to have like one or two quibbles and then we'll

talk about those. I just hope I just hope Jaden Shaw makes the roster. That's all I got. That's all I got for y'all. Well, in terms of Jaden Chaw, I mean, she's a great example. I am not positive where she falls in our 10 depth part, but I am very sure she's going to make it because she fits more pieces than like a rose because she can play outside and she can play a striker.

So like when you talk about Alex, is Alex going to make the roster? Take the great Alex Morgan, take the leadership out. of it. How many strikers do we have? Sophia. Jaden. Mal has played there before. That's four people who can slot in if something happens. Alex can't play anywhere else.

Olympics is all about people who can slot in everywhere else. So Jaden's somebody who can fill other roles. So she may not be number one in one spot, but she can, she's somebody who can fill in lots of places. Maybe I feel too. Okay. So she's somebody who, to me, is... Well, well, let's move on to Lily then. Lily going?

Makes sense. That was only two people I care about. I think... I think Lily is for sure on the plane. Is she on the plane as an alternate, or is she on the plane as an 18th? I think she's one of those because I think Emma loves her. I just don't know if she's an alternate or a... To me, I feel pretty passionate that she shouldn't be same coffee's backup.

I think she should be Lindsay's. And that's gotten me heckled beyond belief. I mean, I think that... I don't know. Like, practically, I would probably say that she should be there on the basis of... We need a true midfielder in the event. that, you know, Sam Coffee has to put a boot back on. Lindsay Haran's knee explodes, et cetera.

Because, I mean, if we lose Sam or Lindsay, we're going to be in dire straits. And it's potentially, and especially if we don't have a lily, like, what are we going to do, man? We're going to move Rose back there? I mean, I guess we can move, uh, fair. Cat has played back there for Liam. We can move, uh, anybody bringing sonnet?

Can we'll sign it up. But I don't know. So we'll see. We'll see, I guess. But, yeah. Those are the only two I care about at this moment of time, especially with today being June 16th. So, you know, let's get some black people over to the...

Yeah, it did occur to me as watching the behind the, again, behind the behind the crest video, the clip of Swanson, I think it was Swanson Smith. Germa and Rodman celebrating a goal together. I'm like, this is just a different generation of the women's national team. It's beautiful to see.

Happy Juneteenth. That's right. A couple midweek games tonight, Gotham versus San Diego at 7 p.m. Eastern Time. Angel City versus Racine, Rays in Louisville, at 10 p.m. Eastern time. The U.S. women's national team's final friendlies before the Olympics are versus Mexico on July 13th in New Jersey

and versus Costa Rica on July 16th in D.C. So I think that's it from us. Anything else, guys? No. Okay. Appreciate you listening. We'll see you.