Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - #531: WoSo — Our talent at the U20 World Cup, plus the new NWSL CBA

Episode Date: August 30, 2024

Vince, Tara and Belz talk through the most exciting U.S. players kicking off against Spain at the U20 World Cup this weekend, plus the landmark collective bargaining agreement negotiated by the players with the NWSL.Goal.com piece on Claire Hutton: https://www.goal.com/en-us/lists/claire-hutton-uswnt-prospect-kc-current-vlatko-andonovski-emma-hayes/bltd7f661fc7d4307dc 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. The Women's U20 World Cup kicks off this weekend for the U.S. of A. So we have some players to discuss also. The NWSL has a new CBA, which you probably heard about, but we plan to discuss that I've got Tara and Vince with me. Tara, how are you doing? I am so good.

I feel like Norma Ray. We have some extreme victories to talk about. Again, I'm excited to talk to you too. I'm just very good. How are you guys? I'm great. Vince, how are you? I'm doing tremendous.

Thanks for asking Tara. Thanks for asking bells. I'm doing great. I'm off the heels of, you know, my boots. They're sitting outside right now, airing out because they were on the ground this weekend at Lynn Family Stadium. Big win, big win. We're back in the very last playoff spot.

We've made some big moves over the deadline. I'm ready to rock, man. There's nine games left in the NWSL season. All of them are huge and ready to close the season out. I'm ready to talk about Taylor Flint too. And I suspect you are as well. Yes. Yes, I am.

But we'll get to that. So the U-20 World Cup kicks off for us on Sunday? Versus Spain. Getting right to it. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't realize we were playing Spain first. I know we got to...

I mean, I knew they were in that group, obviously, but I did not know they were the first match. Interesting. Yeah. Get it out of the way. Why not? It's our chance to stick it to them that we didn't get at the Olympics, you know, because they fell apart in the semis. And then it's Morocco.

Three days later. And then Paraguay, three days after that. So that's the group stage for us. So I wanted to talk about the roster. Who are you guys excited about? And it seems like there's a lot of players to be excited about. There is. I mean, we started, I mean, I guess we started this podcast talking about the U-20 team.

And that class, there were only three professionals. It was Judean Shaw, it was Alyssa Thompson, and Olivia Motry. And we were buzzing. It was huge. Now there are what, eight? And not even just those eight. We have players like Jordan Dudley there, who is a fighter. I mean, I watched that national championship last year when she was a freshman at Florida State.

It's Florida State, right? Yeah. Seminoles. I never know how to say university. of Florida or Florida State. I confuse the two, which gets me in a lot of trouble in different states. Yeah, you got to be careful with that. But anyway, Jordan Dudley, she's not even a pro, and she's going to be one of the most dangerous players out there.

This team is stacked. We have to be careful because we have a criminal for a coach. But this team is stacked, and I can't wait. Yeah, Tracy Kevin's not necessarily the, the inspiring leader we would hope for. But, I mean, maybe she is inspiring. She's inspired somebody to keep her in the role. You know what I'm saying?

Somebody is very inspired. That's true. You're very happy by the performance that Tracy Kevin continues to give us. I mean, haven't got out of the group, ladies and gentlemen, since 2016, I want to say. The group, the U-20s. And the lady just keeps her job. Well, I don't know if she was coaching all those years. But she was coaching at the last one.

Yeah, she was coached at the last one. And as a program, you know, and as we've talked about this podcast before, those results were used as evidence for our decline as a women's football and nation. But when you see the players, look at any of those rosters. They were stacked, okay? Multiple Olympians that from this, from this past, summer, you know, future pros. And no excuse, no excuse to not get out the group.

Like I said, 2016 was the last time we got out the group. If I'm, if I'm remembering correctly. And we just got to deal with it. We just got to deal with it. But I think the added fact that we have all these extra, I mean, we got season NWSL vets in here now, you know, I mean, Ali Sittner. I mean, Jaden Shaw had went to that U-20 World Cup playing. three NW cell matches at that point.

Olivia Moultrie was still like a bit player. Yeah. At that point, Alyssa Thompson was, was Lysol in the league at that point? If she was, it was barely, barely in the league. I'm not even sure if she was. Yeah, I don't think she was. I think she got drafted number one, like right after that.

But anyway. But your point stands because we have, Allie Sittner, who's carrying an entire team on her back. Claire Hutton, who's the starting six for the number two team in the league. I mean, it's a big old deal this year. It's a big difference. And I think that experience will be able to grab the reins from Tracy if things start going awry.

You know what I'm saying? That's where I'm putting my faith for this U-20 campaign. now Shaw Shaw is age eligible eligible for this tournament right she just she just sort of passed it yeah she aged out of the class for sure yeah

wait I mean like like her class moves like maturity wise oh I see yeah yeah she's beyond it she's yeah she's too good who else is there anybody else in that category is Alyssa

is Alyssa still age eligible Yeah. Okay. And Moultry would be two, right? Yeah. I mean, I was calling for Lily to join this group because this is a class of midfielders she will be playing with for years and years to come. But, you know, she's on the Champions League this week or Champions League qualifications. Yeah, playing against the Ukrainian club on Wednesday. which it's weird for her because her next game after that is until the end of September, I think, if I'm reading the schedule correctly.

Okay, so there's a bunch of time. So that narrative that us not doing well at the last few World Cups, U20 World Cups, meaning that that's our demise. Nonsense, it turns out. I mean, if anybody wants, if you weren't following, that's kind of what kicked off. part of the thing that kicked off scuffs Woso coverage was us doing

those U20 recaps. Everybody's unfamiliar, okay? We didn't get out the group with Alyssa Thompson, Michelle Cooper, Jane and Shaw, Ali Centaur was in that group.

Corbyn-Albert. Lily Real. Send her back I'm very excited about was in that group. And really, yeah, that's all we got to say. Like, we didn't get out the group.

Get out of the group, ladies and gentlemen. with that assortment of talent. Yeah. Okay, so we're not excited about Tracy, that's for sure. But we are excited about the games starting this weekend. Yeah, and I think, I guess I would, my hope is we could talk about the midfielders who are most exciting, because that is the part of the field that, you know, we could use some help in by the time the next World Cup rolls.

around for the senior team. Even the most committed Lindsey Horan supporter, and I would have counted myself among those before the tournament, has to admit she left a lot to be desired. I mean, she's still a really good player, but can we do better?

Could one of these midfielders move into that role or Sam Coffey's role and do it just a little bit better? I guess that's what I want to explore. But also just talk about players that we're excited about in general, because I don't want to stop that. I want to silence anybody. Do we need to read the U-20 roster or no?

Okay, yeah, let's do that. I'll tell people to go look it up. Okay. So I'll do it in their club slash college affiliation. So the goalkeepers are Caroline Berkel at St. Louis Scott Gallagher. That's a development club there, an elite one. and then McKenzie Gress from Penn State and Tegan Y from California,

University of California. Defenders are Jordan Bug at the Seattle Rain, Elise Evans at Stanford, Heather Gilchrist at Florida State, Savvy King at Bay FC and WSL Club, of course. And then Leah Clank at Notre Dame and Giselle Thompson at Angel City FC. That's Alyssa's younger sister, of course, plays fullback.

Midfielders are Sam Court. from Texas Tech. Claire Hutton, before mentioned, from Kansas City Current. Riley Jackson from the North Carolina Courage. Ali Lemos from the Orlando Pride. Una McCormick from Virginia, University of Virginia. Taylor Suarez from Florida State. Emory Adamas, moving to the forwards, Emery Adamas from Seattle Rain, Maddie Dalyan from University of North Carolina, Jordan Dudley from Florida State, Gianna Riley from Florida. Florida State, that's four from Florida State now. Ali Sintner from the Utah Royals and Pietra Torden from Princeton.

Yeah, Florida State could be a club team. They are a very, very good team. And unfortunately, Bell's, Sam Courtright suffered an ACL injury in camp leading up to the U-20 World Cup, which has become sort of a trium. tradition with, which hurt me greatly in 2022 with Sally Minty, went down on a tour in ACL, right after I had Y Scott her and got all excited. Haven't heard anything from her since, unfortunately. But anyway, Sam Corpwright, Torraceo, has been replaced by Addison Halpern from PDA in New Jersey.

Okay. Get well soon, Sam. Yeah. All right. Thank you. Okay. How do you guys want to do this? Do you want to just sort of go back to front and say the ones that you're excited about?

Yeah, let's do that. And then save the midfielder for the last part of the discussion. How about that? Okay. Because then we can talk about other midfielers who are not in this camp, who might help the national team over the next two years. Well, the majority of mine are midfielder. Okay.

So I'm just going to pick out a few of, the pros, I guess. Plus, Jordan Dudley, I already spoke about her. Can you give the listeners just a sense of the kind of forward she is? Does she end up on the wing a lot? Or is she like a pure number nine? I would consider her like Alex Morgan's real air. when you think about Alex in her prime,

what did Abby Wampack used to call her baby horse? What was it? I do remember this. I don't remember the term. It was something silly like that, but she just, she just glides. And she can play, she is a pure nine for Florida State, but she can, I believe for the national team, she can play outside as well.

She's so dangerous. She's so aggressive. I go back to the national championship last year for Florida State, where she was a rookie, and she scored one of the most just lethal penalty kicks right away. She got another goal in that game. She just destroyed them. And she was rumored to go pro after her rookie season. And she didn't.

And I'm really glad about it because she's probably making a lot of money having not gone pro. I just think everybody should be watching Jordan Dudley this tournament. Because she is, she had a full. Well, not full. She had a good, decent amount of preseason with her team at college. She's going to Columbia with the national team. She's warming up really, really well. She's going to be ready. And some of the friendlies leading up to this World Cup, it was not when Florida State was in season. So you didn't quite see the full Jordan Dudley experience. And you're going to get it this time. And it's a striker that we

don't necessarily have in the pool right now. Yes, she's young, but she is really, really dangerous, really, really scary. And yeah, I'm incredibly excited about her. total opposite. I'm going to go to a defender next. Jordan Bug. She's a very newly appointed pro. She just signed with Seattle Rain. She kicked Alana Cook right out of her position with Seattle Rain. As soon as she signed, Alana transferred to Kansas City Current, and she's an immediate starter. It's so impressive I think she She is one to watch

At this tournament She's one to watch in the NWSL She's going toe to toe with some of the best attackers right now Yeah I'm really impressed with her Attacker, defender Just one of each for right now Before we get to the midfielders

Okay I'm watching Dudley clips She's pretty dribbly, huh? Like, she'll, like, beat somebody one v one? She has all the tools. It's just whatever one she wants to pick that day. Okay. Okay.

All right. So, Terri, did you catch the, uh, did you watch the game, uh, Jordan started? That, that North Carolina match? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. The Rapino match? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, the Rapino match. Yeah.

Okay. I'm going to watch that thing back. That happened past my bedtime, man. North Carolina was the significantly better team, but that's the Seattle Rain experience. Right. Yeah, for me, before we get to the midfielders, of course, you know, I'm a, I've talked a lot on this podcast about Savvy King

and Giselle Thompson. Two fullbacks who are coming up in the ranks, we need fullbacks, right? We need fullbacks. backs. We had we had 32-year-old Crystal Dunn, hold her down for these Olympics,

and hold her down, she did. But, you know, we need some coming down the pike. You got Jenna Nosswanger, of course. Emily Fox is going to be there for a long time. But behind Emily Fox is what Casey Kruger, right? Casey Krueger, I want to say it's 34 years old. So,

Savvy King, Giselle Thompson, they're the ones that are next up. savvy right now is she's she's a she's she's been good she's been good to me in her first season the first nwsle season not great right there's a lot of things for her to work on um particularly on the ball quite quite basic as far as just just what she can do with it right now and that's kind of something i saw like on the u 17 on the U-17s coming up and everything. And I was not as excited as Tara was when the draft was going on, and Tara was just like, Savvy King, Davy King's coming. And I've come around. I've come around because she is just that good 1V1 defensively at this young age,

just to start off. And it's like, man, if you can lock down like that, then eventually it's just always going to play. You know, it's always going to play. So I'm still keeping my savvy king stocks, but it might be a bond. I might have turned into a bond or something.

I don't know financial products. A long-term play, okay? A long-term play. Now, Giselle Thompson. I think Giselle Thompson is the truth. I think Giselle Thompson is absolutely the truth. combination instincts, good attacker, athletic, of course, being a member of the Thompson family, can play out of pressure with both feet, soft feet to receive, to get it off, to combine

as you're trying to build out the back or whatever. Just a modern, a modern fullback. every every trait that you would want a young fullback coming up to have Giselle has it and which is it's kind of no surprise

if you know the like the phenomenon of the younger sibling but word out of Angel City is Giselle's the better Thompson and what I feel really good about Savvy and Giselle your two picks Savvy made the preliminary roster

for she believes and Juzel was a training player for one of the last camps. So both of the players are in the pool radar

at some capacity. Which is great news. Great news. Yeah. Excellent news, baby. Excellent news. Jaze started eight matches this season. and just looking at FBREF, like her, that's a pretty decent, I mean, it's a decent sample size, you know, for a...

Jazeel's been dealing with an ankle injury on and off. Yeah, she'd be starting way more. Okay, but even, I'm just saying, that's enough to have a little bit of data on her, and she's one of the best fullbacks in the league statistically. And you should see her with, when she does play with Alyssa, magic. Yeah, I'm excited. I'm excited about her.

So Savvy just doesn't do enough on the ball, really, to get you too excited, Vince. Do you agree with that, Tara? I mean, I... Go ahead there. I think Savvy's a good defender. I think Savvy's a much better defender. I always thought that. And I think the pool needs that.

I'm not calling her in tomorrow, but I think she belongs in the pool radar. And I always thought that. How about Emery Adamas? Anybody have strong opinions about her? I have strong feelings about what she did this weekend, man. Let's talk about it. Let's talk about it now. Oh, my God.

Emery Adamus, they had the Megan Rapino jersey retirement game. And, you know, fine. They're retiring her jersey, very cute celebration. It was rain versus North Carolina, North Carolina, this poor team. More shots in the box, more attack, more chances created, more possession. It's the classic Sean Nehas story. They're killing it. They're doing everything right.

Emery Adamas, extra time, late goal, runs to the, corner, strikes the Megan Rapino celebration pose. What a girl. I mean, that takes some spunk. I just thought it was lovely. Yeah, what an homage, too, to her teammate. It was something special. It was something special for the city. It was something special for Megan. I don't think a lot of people had that in them. It is funny to hear them talking about how Laura Harvey's the winningest coach in NWSL history while she's sitting over there on her cooler and they're third from the bottom of the table in the league, you know? I mean, it's not that it makes it untrue, but.

She's having a real dud of a season. Everybody left her. It was counted in own goal, the goal. Yeah. I don't want to hear it. NWSA overlords. Yeah, I'm with you. I don't go for that.

It was, uh, it like went off the post. Mm-hmm. And then Timmy. off the goalkeeper. Emery's heating up. I by no means think it's going to be this year, next year. But Emory's got talent. You know, something to watch.

I'm not calling it a sure thing, but Emory's got talent for sure. I think she's somebody to watch in this tournament this weekend. We discussed Allie Settner much. I mean, we did earlier, but... Ali Sintner is somebody that I'm going to highlight in the midfielders. Oh, yeah, of course. Yeah. Let's take a little break, come back in a minute and talk about the midfielders.

You know, if you want to skip the ads, join the Patreon. Link is in the show notes. All right, we're back. Hutton, Riley Jackson, and Sentner, all pretty high upside, I think. Where do you guys land on them? Who's the best of the three? Where do you want to start? And I know Sintner and Hutton played different positions.

Well, let's start with Jackson. Why don't we start with her? Okay. I'll go first. I really like Riley Jackson. I think she's being crafted in, like I said, a little American god Sean Neaths Lab. I think it's appropriate the minutes that she's getting because she's, she's one for the future.

Just to be clear, which is not many. She makes mostly cameos. She did start a game a month ago or so. Because... Yeah, she started... Because she's 18, and there are much better midfielder

at North Carolina. It's a great team. And I believe Sean is building her for the future. He even said, this is when she was announced

for the U-20 World Cup they posted, you know, the called up picture on the North Carolina account. He quote tweeted it. He said the future of the national team plays here

in Kerry North Carolina, a true pro already. And I think that that's true. I don't think I don't think she's being called up next year. I don't think that it's happening when she's 19. I don't think that it's a first year thing for the next World Cup. But I think that it's clear that she is incredibly talented.

I think that she is a very good midfielder. I just think we're going to start seeing her be, you know, build up, build up, build up as a professional. I just don't think that it's right now. Yeah. Yeah, I went in search of inspiration. Because I, you know, I remember watching, I went back and watched some of the, that U-17 World Cup.

And she was so commanding in that tournament. I mean, you guys remember because you watched it more closely than I did in real time. But I didn't, you don't see that now. Like, at least, like you're saying, She's, we're going to have to be patient because it's not, it's not like that. She's, she looks okay out there when she comes on, comes on. That's what this league, I mean, it should be.

It should be a place for young players to grow. It's very rare for an alley or a Claire to come in and be a starter every single time. And that's, we're going to be talking about Ali and Claire, who are the outlier, but the majority of the time, it's going to be like Riley, who are going to have, this is like her rookie season. Last year, she was technically a professional, but she was injured the entire time. So this year, it's figuring it out, figuring it out, and next year, we're going to be seeing more of her.

Okay. And of those two outliers, really Claire is the outlier, because is the outlier. outlier because she's the one playing for a good team and playing a key role. Yeah. Sentner's playing a key role for the worst team in the league. Yeah. Second worst team now.

They just got a big old win. But yeah, I mean, Claire Hutton, I think she's a U-20 who is fundamentally ready to graduate onto the senior team before anybody jumps on me. I don't think she's ready to be a starter.

She was an attacking midfielder who's turned into a starting six. Kansas City, they do push her high. In her first professional year, I think that that's very important to, you know, hammer home. It's a huge deal. They're sitting second in the league right now, right behind the Orlando Pride. She's been playing chicken with Taylor Flint, all season on who's leading and tackles one and tackles plus interceptions.

And before you say it, well, I'll take Flint because she's the one who's leading right now. Claire, Claire can run, which is the one thing our midfield is lacking significantly. I think Claire's the investment piece. By now, we have the coaching staff, the time before the World Cup. She's only going to get better. I think it makes a lot of sense. And there is a great profile on her on Go.com that I think everybody should read. Okay.

I'll put it in the show notes. She does look like she's been playing the six her whole life when you watch her play. She's very comfortable covering that ground alert to what's going on. I wouldn't say she's an electrifying passer, but she's better than competent. I think competent would be an insult to what she is as a passer. I did notice she got Sam Coffied a little bit in the open field by Paige Metair on that first Washington Spirit goal. I mean, it was probably like, what is it?

No, I'm saying Paige Got Her. That's awesome. But also, Paige Batyr was moving like I've never seen. her move before. Yeah. She was shot out of a canon like that whole match. It was crazy. That Olympic break did her good, I guess.

But yeah, she did get clear in the open field, blazed right past her. She couldn't catch up. I don't know if she... Yeah, she did not catch up. She did not catch up for sure. So it's a little something there, but, I mean, I don't know.

it was a thousand degrees out there. Who knows? It's so hot. You know what? They did look a little, a little, I don't know. Like they were having a heat stroke.

The Kansas City current in particular. But, but you know, like Claire, yeah, she's doing, she's doing it all. And obviously,

as a starter for one of the best teams in the league. But, you know, you talk to people about Claire maybe getting invited into a national team. I'm like, oh, she's not ready. But it's like, we have spots, you know, in this past. No, no shade to Hal Herschfeld, but it's like we called in, we call it Hal Herschfeld.

You can call it in Claire. 100%. You know what I'm saying? And I'm not, once again, I'm not shading Hal Herschfield. But I'm just saying, we have a not fully ready spot in our midfield because our midfield just isn't, stocked with the true deeper midfielders. You know, we got a lot of tens. Got a lot of tens, don't have a lot of eights,

don't have a lot of sixes. We have only friendlies coming up. That's the entire point of this. Figure other things out. Right. Yeah. And I think Claire has done as much as anybody to put her name in the thing,

in the hat or whatever. Bell's, you said she's not electrifying passer. I do agree. but just off of and she does get caught I mean like the spirit game might have been probably her worst game she played out of season I think so too

there was a stretch of about stretch about 15 minutes she couldn't even like complete a pass she was getting caught on the ball she was passing it to the spirit multiple times all different types but the traits the traits are there she she did play that nasty left footed ball down the left wing.

Oh, the one over top? Yeah. That was a... The one down the left side line. I know exactly what you talked about. It just died right in front of the winger's feet, like just so easy to receive. Yeah. She's done that a few times.

She's done that a few times a season. Like that exact ball. But yeah, and that's why I was getting to the traits that she's shown. Like, you know, consistent performances aren't necessarily there yet she's 18, 19 years old or whatever. But, you know, first of all, her willingness, we've all seen Claire do a nasty turn or two in the midfield. Just the confidence and the skill to be able to do that, first of all. And then as the seasons went on, she's gained the ability to play on the half turn and find a pass. Now, she's improving in that area, and she is also liable to get caught on the ball,

as I've said before. But it's a, it's a demanded position, right? Playing as, really a lot of times she's playing as a single pivot six in her first professional season, which is crazy. And if she did at this point in her development have that whole 360-degree picture in her head at all times and was able to find passes and evade pressure and know where the pressure was coming from and also know where your next pass is coming from and know what to do if you see, the person that's opens to your right,

but you're also getting pressure to your right. And if she knew what to do in all these different situations, I mean, we'd be dealing with, you know. A non-mortal. Yeah.

Yeah, you know what I'm saying? It would be insane. It would be insane. To expect her to have all these things. But just, yeah, just the traits. The ability to play on the turn, the ability to play on the half turn. She has good feet.

She has good athleticism. I know she got exposed in the open field, but most part, she's got good athleticism, good short area, quickness, good bite, all these different types of things. I like how you say it's a demanding position because it is a demanding position. You can play it in a way where it's not as demanding, though, right?

Where you just don't, you never play on the after. You never try to find the little spaces and you just, you know, you do the simple stuff. there's a way to play the position where it's not as demanding, but it's clear that she does it. She plays it in the way that it's, is demanding and just going to be, it's not going to be perfect.

Right. And then that goal article that Tara talked about, like they got some quotes from Black Co. And Black Coe's talking about it. I love to hear him speak. Yeah. And he's praising Claire for these abilities and just saying that, like, you know, it's not easy for her to come in and have the bravery

to do these things. Like, that's a win in itself. And, like, if you compare it to Riley Jackson, for instance, like, Riley Jackson is not necessarily getting busy on the half turn. You know, it's a much more conservative. Performance is a much more conservative from Riley Jackson, without even speaking of the fact that she is a little bit behind, Claire, at least, athletically.

You know what I'm saying? Not pressing any panic buttons, you know. There's a ton of strength and conditioning to come. For both of these young women. Yeah. But Riley doesn't look like a guided missile out there. Definitely not. I have three more, but they're not all as long, I promise.

Okay. I mean, Hutton's the one we're most excited about just to give people the TLDR, right? Yeah. Okay, next one I have is Ali Sittner, who may be playing as a forward at times in this tournament, but I have her as a midfielder because she's also going to be playing as a midfielder and I believe her future in the national team

will be as a midfielder. She is a player who has an entire expansion team on her back right now. She can play multiple positions. She is a strong, feisty playmaker. I think she has an immediate reason to be called up. I think that she can fill

multiple positions, like I said. I consider her to be I don't know, maybe like Lynn Williams' air for right now. But her future for 2027 for this conversation's purposes. I would love to see her in the midfield.

I think she's better in the midfield. The proof is in the pudding. when Utah plays her in the midfield, she's much, much better. She's a playmaker. That's where she thrives. Okay. And then the last one I have is Kat Mikario.

She is going to be 27 in 20207. She is one of a kind and has been severely punished by missing a World Cup and now an Olympics due to injury, but she's just too talented to ever count out. In just one season as a midfielder at Leone, she's gotten 20 goals, became a Ballandor finalist, and became the first American to score in a Champions League final. She's one of the most

press resistance, press resistant players in our pool. And when you hear me say she's an attacking midfielder, that almost doesn't do her justice. In the same way, Lindsay, Heron, Rand has that natural gravitational pull to be closer to the goal. Even when she's not supposed to, that frustrates me. Kat has the opposite. She's always falling back to slow it down, to find a play. She's so special to us. It's why Emma bought her for Chelsea while she was still out with an ACL tear.

Why I trust that she will come back to us. us. We even got an update. She's going to be back in training in a week and a half. Why, I want everybody to know that this three-headed dragon of Triple Espresso could easily grow into a four-headed dragon. Cat Macario is too special to dismiss because of a persistent injury. And we need to remember this midfielder is just very, very special. It's really sad that she's missed both of these tournaments. And we've spent basically the entirety of the life of this podcast discussing that when is she going to be back in training. Yeah.

But I had to bring it up 27 in 2027. or prime of her career. It's fine. It's totally fine. Yeah, I never counted her out. Not I. Good. And I'm done.

I'm done. And, you know, this is a side thing about her, but it's a nice segue to the next person that I want to talk about, which is she did a lot to make Lili Honest feel welcome when she was at, which she was in camp. And I think, I assume she kind of does that for everybody. she's like a she's like that rare

vibes player who's also world class you know and if you remember she's the one who got everybody to run down and mob Johannes after she scored her goal

it was um pretty clearly at um cats urging that everybody went down there so anyway Lily's the one Lily's the midfieler that I think is going to help us in the future maybe not by 2027 but uh

I wouldn't be surprised. I'm obviously higher on her than most people. I think she's the classiest. Just in terms of raw talent, midfielder that we have, probably. We'll see what happens. But IACs plays, like we said, that, Champions League Qualifier on Wednesday. And then the league starts after that.

That's all you got? I don't know. I mean, I feel like I've saying, Johannes' praises a lot. Do I need to do it again? Yeah, fair enough. Fair enough. You know what?

I'm going to throw somebody in here who is part of his U-20 roster. And I've watched her play a few times. But for whatever reason, it didn't necessarily click that she was a young American. Young Allie Lamos from Orlando Pride. Yeah. A solid player. solid player She plays basically bit minutes for

Orlando Pride so far Has two starts Two starts to her name In WSL play One of them against race in Louisville She's solid She's solid Orlando Pride plays ball

And whenever she's in there They don't necessarily miss a beat Yeah she goes to the Marta School for Girls I mean you can't ever count her out Tough in the tackle can hit a very nasty long ball can pass I do like Allie a little bit

I like what I've seen from Allie so far Yeah I like that shout What about Taylor Flint? Can we talk about her a little bit? Yeah, we can definitely talk about it Your boots have been on the ground I know they're airing out right now But they've been on the ground all season, baby

Could she help us? Yeah, I talk she could definitely help us, I think. In the situation that we're in, she's definitely played well enough in the NWSL to put her name in that hat, similar to Claire Hutton. And this match that she just played this past weekend.

I guess Chicago Red Star is at home was her best match of the season. Yeah, her best match of the season by far. I mean, just, you know, I talked about her struggles passing the ball as far as it's like the passing percentage, passing completion percentage wise. She had, I think this was her highest match, she was like 87%. But like, you got to see her out there cooking. Just first of all, first of all, when you watch her, always available for the ball. Always available calling for the ball.

Hands to her feet at all times. finding pockets to receive the ball in. Number one. Number two, she gets it. She's aggressive on the turn. She's looking to play that thing forward. And she has multiple ways to play it forward. She can hit you with a long ball. She hit she hit Kayla Fisher with a nice assist on the ground with her left foot. And in person, one thing that really, so first of all, first of all, I want to shout out Tyler Greaver, sports, sports anchor for a, WDRB in Louisville.

He's really taken to racing and covering racing in the way that a lot of our local newspeople are not. So he got my man's put together. He was at the game. He was shooting at the match shooting video. He put together a field-level comp of Taylor Flint. Wow. Maybe the first ever field-level comp of all time. It's like two minutes and 30 seconds too.

Like a bunch of tackles and stuff or what all kinds of stuff? There's there's a tackle that there's it's the usual comp stuff which some of it doesn't play as well on field level as it would if it was like a TV copy. Yeah. You know just like a regular pass. You know how you put like a regular pass in a comp. It's like ah, they're really keeping a ticket. But then you watch it on field level. It's like but anyway in these comp.

The one thing about the field level comp. And one thing about being there in person that I can see is the way that Taylor is disguising the passes that she's, she is excellent at hitting people in the pocket. A lot of times she goes, she goes for a little bit too much. That's where the passing completion stuff comes into play. But like in this match, she was just dicing people up. And she was doing it by disguising her passes, bro, in just beautiful ways. Beautiful ways. Looking off like she's about to play into the fullback, boom, I got Savannah de Mello on the podcast.

pocket right here. Like just sliding them left foot, right foot. It was bro. She put on a master class I guess the Red Stars. Now the Red Stars were looking quite ass. And there wasn't a lot of pressure. They weren't applying pressure for Taylor's flame.

Thank you for saying that. They were looking awful. Quite ass. But even under pressure Taylor has shown a nice bit of press resistance. She's

really gotten her feet sorted out. And once again, let me remind you, this is her first season as a midfielder really playing with her feet. You know, San Diego Wave was using her as a Target 8. And she has developed and gotten better and better and better. And she is legitimately an excellent six.

And, and there's a very nice angle of a tackle that she made on the field level comp where she ran, she ran with a Red Star's attacker for about 40 yards before tackling it. But even there's a couple that didn't make it on where she ran with Jemise Joseph. Stride for stride on counters down the field.

Like speed that I didn't necessarily know she had in her. So she got a dog, she got bite. She's, I mean, as Tara was talking about, he pulled up her FB ref, 99%ile on all defensive stats. She's covering ground. and that's the part that was always iffy with her, right? But I think she must have got with a speed coach, did something because she is out there moving this year.

She is moving when it needs to happen. She's putting those long legs to work. And yeah, she needs to be included. And then when she tackles, she tackled with authority, it seems like to me. Like she's getting the ball. She is getting the ball, man. like there's even been like tough yellow cars she's had to take where even it's one of those yellow cars where like she got the ball you know she she might have came in with a little bit too much force legs a little bit too long you know might have caught somebody with a stud or something but look man tayloric that's just racing louisville that that's just racing that's what we do yeah i thought maybe she was she was getting a little bit of the she was getting a little bit of the she was getting a little bit of the darrell dk where she was getting called for fouls

just because she's somewhat bigger than the player that she's dueling with, you know? It does happen sometimes. Maybe like won a match. But yeah, the real deal. The real deal. She has really blossomed into, and y'all know, veterans of the Losa Wednesday Pod know that I've had my,

I've had my aunt Taylor Cornyac for a while now. Because she's a large woman. large woman with good feet good feet can't leave out the feet you know I mean I have my at my Tandotestment love and the analog on the women's side

was Taylor Corniac and I just had to sit here and believe and nobody else believed they they people was laughing when she was starting against New Zealand and uh but I saw she was pretty bad I thought but in that game

I seen it horrific I thinked it I seen it and that's the value of putting your boots on the ground, ladies and gentlemen. You can see things that you just can't see on them griny-ass NWSL. I mean, we're talking about two years ago NWSL. You know, the games wasn't on Ion. It wasn't

no HD. Games in 40p. Yeah. Okay? You really had to squint to see. Yeah. So it was coming good. Underdog Shout with no explanation. Kennedy Fuller. Then we can move on. Well, no.

I do want to. All right. Give us a tight 25 seconds on Kennedy. Kennedy Fuller started off the season, kind of ass, looked like she wasn't ready for the NWS. I always loved. I always loved. Let it be known.

Angel City kept giving her minutes, kept giving her minutes, even as she was looking like she couldn't even swim out there on the NWSL pitch. Lo and behold, she's turning it around. She's winning, winning, duels in midfield now. She's dribbling people. She's receiving passes at the top of the box, turning and firing that thing into the back of the net

from the top of the box. Just I don't know if I saw that goal. She scored. Of course I did. I think that was in the little cup. I can't remember. But anyway, she's really picked it up. She's going to be throwing her name into the tin hat as well. I mean, we've got tens all over

the place. And then also, before we leave this, I do got a shout out Olivia Moultry because I feel like we were going to leave this without talking about Olivia Moultry and just wanted to shout out, Olivia, we haven't forgot about you. Okay. And probably

if you want to you call Lily the Classiest Midfield in the pool, I do think, second probably Olivia. I would say cat's pretty damn classy. As far as, well, let me say young midfield.

Okay. Young midfielder. Yeah, Olivia's very classy too. Okay, let's move on to the CBA, collective bargaining agreement. We got a new one, and it's huge. Are you guys excited? I am. I'm very excited. It's a big deal. I love labor unions.

Me too. Me too. There's one down the street, the AT&T people, the linesmen, are striking. And every time I pass it, while I'm taking my kids to school, guess what I do? I hit that horn, baby. Don't cross the picket line. You're not no scab. That's right. All right.

I've been a member of a union before. Good for you. I just want to throw that out there. Yeah. I don't think the union, I don't think the union had a good effect on the work of its members. But hey, I was a member. I was a dues-paying member.

Good. All right. This new collective bargaining agreement, I pulled out some of the key components, but I didn't pull out everything because it is vast and complex. But I pulled out like four of the key components that we can talk about, if that's okay. Okay. Okay.

First up, and something that has never been done in the first major, the first major professional sports league in the United States to eliminate the draft. So we've eliminated the college draft. Incredible. Huge deal. Huge deal. Huge deal for the players. Now the teams have to attract the players.

It's not the other way around. Yeah. They have to put in the work to make the players want to come to them. Why did NWSL feel like they could do this? Just because they're so much more successful financially than all the other women's soccer leagues? Yeah, and USL doesn't have the draft, so they're not going to lose any players to this new league as well, I'm sure, played a role. I see. And also, now the power is in the player's hand.

So it's a great opportunity for every player now. And it means the teams are going to have to attract the players to come to them, which I think it's a very big deal. It's going to be really interesting to see how it plays out. And it also means no more expansion draft. So we know that we have more teams coming in 2026. Boston's coming. We've got to figure out how they'll get to. at players.

So all trades and transfers now require player consent. That was a, that's a huge deal. We were trading players left and right, which brings in to my next point, which is salary. So trades and transfers in other leagues. in men's soccer, in other sports, were less of a point of contention because people were making a lot more money.

The minimum salary in the NWSL right now is $37,856. You know, the majority of players aren't making the minimum salary, but it sucks to say, hey, you got to get on out of here. we just traded you. Yeah.

Next week, you're playing a game across the country. But you're still only getting paid $37,856. So the minimum salary rises from $48,500 in 2025 to $82,500 in 2030. So we're making big jumps in money. Nice. Huge deal for the NW. Next point, the end of year bonuses. So the NWSL shield, the championship winners, the best 11, a rookie of the year,

midfielder of the year, defender of the year, goalkeeper of the year, golden boot. All of those will double from 5,000 to 10,000, and the MVP will quadruple from 5,000 to 20,000. Big rewards. Great. So I guess just another clarifying question, sort of a context question. Why,

how is NWSL able to do this when like MLS, like a league like MLS, which makes more money and the players make more money, they can't? Is it just that connection between like

a trade and a transfer against your consent is worse because you're not getting paid as much money? Is that the... I mean... Is it... MLS players are okay with being traded or transferred without their consent because they're making more money? I just don't understand.

It seems... It's great, but why is MLS still doing it? Doing all this stuff, you know? NWS... Well, I would imagine that any... sports league in the world would any sports league player union would want to bargain

for these very things at the NWSL has bargained for. But NWSL has the leverage here from the players union comes from the fact that the NWSO wants to compete, wants to make sure that they can still compete with

all the European leagues. Yeah. And what do the European leagues have? All these things they were talking about here. You know what I'm saying? So, I mean, that's basically what it comes down to, I would say. And just as far as like the NWSL making sure that they make themselves competitive. And because of that, you know, it kind of forces the hand.

Like not just the Super League, but you got to look across the pond, look to the WSL, you know, the Wii Wii Feminile, etc., etc. And, you know, we all know that MLS is not necessarily. competing in that, they're just not in that stratosphere. Yeah, right. So, like, MLS don't care. Like, you know, the players, players want, they probably want a lot of stuff.

And, you know, they've made wins in their labor agreements and discussions and whatnot. But it's just more drastic than NWSL just because of where SINWSL finds itself in what it's trying to be. Strength of league relative to Europe is the key difference, I guess. In terms of money, this comes from the major TV deal that we got. It made us a lot more money than we've ever had. Okay.

Where was it? The last one that I pulled out, players will receive expanded parental leave and child care benefits, broadened mental health services and benefits. Each NWS health team is now required to have 10 healthcare professionals on staff that is up from the previous six that were required. So more supports all around, financial and physically there on staff. It's wonderful news. I mean, all of it.

Yeah. Breaking barriers for sure. I had no clue that they were to negotiate. I didn't either. Until like the league started spinning out. Because, you know, they just signed a CBA. What, like a? Like a year ago.

Yeah, they can renegotiate depending on how profitable they are. Like, there's stages. Okay. So, yeah. Because we were so profitable, they could renegotiate. And then there's another level. Do you agree with that that it's the relative strength of the league to Europe? Like NWSL actually is competing with the European leagues.

MLS is not actually competing with the European leagues. leagues for players? Yeah. And so that's the, yeah, okay. But in terms of, in terms of like the transfer stuff, the draft, that was, the NWSL was the first American sport to do that. So like football, baseball, anything. So outside of MLS.

Right. But the same dynamic would be in place for baseball and football and basketball because they're really competing. I mean, I guess they are maybe in basketball a little bit competing, but... They're not. Competing with players. I mean, competing for players. Right. Like, you know what I'm saying?

Like, for instance, me official, me official went on a podcast and talked about how the whole reason why she didn't go to the NWSO was because of the draft. She got drafted to a place she didn't want to go. She signed with Tigray's, and, you know, the rest is history.

and an American a male American soccer player could do the same thing you know I mean assuming I mean most of the good ones are not even thinking about the draft at this point in history

but MLS doesn't care really because they're like well are we meeting our KPIs here fellas you know that's really all they care about even a come on man give me that even a all right we should get out

we should be done anything else on the CBA, guys? No, that's all I had. It is, I mean, we should probably just do a whole celebration pot on it. Yeah, I mean, I'm thrilled about it. No, it's awesome.

I'm not being sarcastic. Oh, you know what? How do we, let's talk about this real quick, just before we get out of here. Do y'all feel like it will cause an issue with parity? with a lily I don't that was the accusation but I don't because what

the accusation is everybody's going to want to go to New York and L.A. But we already know Kansas City got to Bina because they had the first women's stadium and facilities.

Louisville has the first women's facilities and the cost of living is going to be incredibly affordable. People are going to want that. Orlando is Marta School for Girls. People are going to want to go there.

Hey, hey, look, let me tell you, I'll tell you this. I was living good in Louisville off of 48,500. 82K in Louisville, probably not bad at all, right? bro, 82K in Louisville you would be chilling. That's the first thing Bethany Balser said.

She said, oh my God, everything is so affordable. Yeah. Let me tell you, man. Like, I mean, it's not... Not to even... I don't make a lot more than 485 right now. Okay?

Not to even... Not to even mention the... Not to even mention the program that they're building. That's a good coach in Louisville. people, they have good players. I do not see that being an issue at all. Seattle, Seattle's near the bottom of the table,

and it's a beautiful city. It's going to be a desirable team to live in. What the accusation is who is going to want to go to Utah. Have you ever been to Salt Lake City? It's gorgeous. Oh my goodness. What a city. It's so beautiful.

I haven't been in the Holy City. It's gorgeous. It's so beautiful. Yeah. Yeah, it, um, I don't care about parody in the first place. I just, whoever, whoever is good, whoever is just good. And they get to be good because they're doing good things. Like, like, you know what I'm saying?

Would everybody be flocking to New York if it was still the old Scott Blue leadership? Like, I don't think so. You know what I'm saying? Like, uh, yeah, it's New York in New Jersey. Yeah, people are going to move there. This is a crazy argument. Yeah. They got in there.

turn their whole organization around. And that's a big part. And also they have prime location. And, you know, now they're able to play it up. But if it was old Sky Blue when they were living in, I don't know, roach and fessed apartments or whatever the hell was going on back in those days, people wouldn't be lined up. Lynn Williams wouldn't be there.

You see the news today, Lauren just cleaned house at Chicago. People are going to move to Chicago. And they're not a very good team right now without Sam Stobb and Mal Swanson. People are going to move to Chicago. It's just about doing your work. Like Louisville, actually, low-key, has proven to be pretty damn good at scouting. Pretty damn good at identifying targets who they want, bring them in. They most, like, we've been pretty, we've been pretty decent in the draft here.

Like, like, all different types. So all that stuff will just carry over. Yeah, identify targets, negotiate with them, see if you can get them. And, yeah. Like you said, I mean. Louisville got nice facilities, got a stadium,

all this different things. Like everyone that comes here, everyone that comes here is like, man, they really got everything. Like we feed our players two times a day. You know what I'm saying? Like in our training facility,

we got, we got cafeteria, lunch served, breakfast, lunch served, like all those different types of stuff. Like, I mean. Barcelona,

Barcelona went to Bay FC and the entire press conference was how you can, you can play soccer and go to college. You can play club soccer and get your education. Like they were saying, you can't do that in our country. This is wonderful. And players are going to want to come here and get that experience.

The NWSL has been wildly successful at getting players to come here. And I don't think that changes just because we're giving players more freedom and more money. Yeah. I love it. I just, I was looking forward to potentially go into, going to a NWSL draft in Chicago in January. I was,

I was looking forward to seeing Jordan Dudley go number one, but now it's going to be who's going to give her the biggest check. Yeah, it is what it is. A whole bunch of backroom deals and whatnot. But yeah, anyway. All right. Thanks everybody for listening.

We'll see you.