Scuffed | USMNT, World Cup, Yanks Abroad, futbol in America - WoSo — Hayes name-checks, USWNT first-choice XIs, UCL roundup

Episode Date: January 31, 2024

Emma Hayes name-checks a few young USWNT players, Tara, Vince and Belz give their ideal fully-healthy XIs for the U.S. Women's National Team, and we check in on Champions League action, including of course the remarkable case of Lily Yohannes.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 And here's our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAoundrEkZUgZ13IE5XIqrg Skip the ads! Subscribe to Scuffed on Patreon and get all episodes ad-free, plus any bonus episodes. Patrons at $5 a month or more also get access to Clip Notes, a video of key moments on the field we discuss on the show, plus all patrons get access to our private Discord server, live call-in shows, and the full catalog of historic recaps we've made: https://www.patreon.com/scuffedAlso, check out Boots on the Ground, our USWNT-focused spinoff podcast headed up by Tara and Vince. They are cooking over there, you can listen here: https://boots-on-the-ground.simplecast.comAnd check out our MERCH, baby. We have better stuff than you might think: https://www.scuffedhq.com/store Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Welcome to the Scuff podcast where we talk about U.S. soccer. Hey, everybody. This is Woso on Scuffed, Tara. How you doing? So good. So happy to talk to you both today. It's always a joy. It is a pleasure.

And Vince, how goes it? That's right. Proud and excited to be here. You know what I'm saying? The thing about Wosso Wednesday is, you know, every other week, you know what I'm saying? So yearning, you know, I'm just yearning for the. for those two times a month where I can see y'all's beautiful faces and talk some woe and so it's finally here the off weeks I often feel the absence of it on the off weeks

because you know something will happen and I'll be oh I can't wait to talk about that oh gotta wait 10 days you know 10 whole days um so we got the gold cup preliminary roster out uh let's maybe start with that any surprises? Not necessarily a surprise, but no Katerina Macario. And don't pull the alarms. Nothing worse has happened. She just hasn't played yet.

And these games are in less than a month. The real roster comes out next week. So just some more time for Kat to heal up and get playing time at Chelsea. And hopefully we will see her at She Believes in Atlanta. but then bad news out of the way we've got mal swanson back in and that's a huge huge joy huge sigh of relief for our goal scoring issues mal swanson as at least back on the preliminary roster we'll see next week if she makes the real deal but things are still looking up all right and then everybody else who should be on it is on it as far as we know basically yeah

Yeah, basically. All right. Vince, you got any thoughts on that on the upcoming Gold Cup or the roster before we get in some other stuff? No, not too much. Just the fact that I wish I could go. But, you know, it's just coming. Well, first of all, we didn't have enough leeway. You know what I'm saying?

I get my affairs in order to make a cross-country flight. You know what I'm saying? I got responsibilities, two kids, et cetera, et cetera. You know what I'm saying? But I would love to be in Carson, California, and taking this Gold Cup. First of all, we've got to entertain a little group, you know what I'm saying? And I'm really curious as to what USW&T and Mexico going to look like in Cali. You know what I'm saying?

So I'm a little mift that I have to miss that. You feel me? Mexico, for the first time in a long time, has a young, exciting crew. and a real coach now. So I think that'll be a good game. The only thing I hope for the Gold Cup is that it continues to be some sort of a tryout, similar to how we ended 2013. We got new people in the field.

We got new people in the roster. I just hope that that continues, even though we're in an Olympic year. I think it's important to feel out the – the new blood some more. Make it a meritocracy, Emma. You know? But, I mean, via your proxy, Twyla. So speaking of that, there was an interview with Emma recently, and I'll play a clip

from it. It's a reporter asking her which players she's excited to coach as she takes over the women's national team of the United States of America. Here it is. Obviously there's a lot of young players coming through with the US, but is there any in particular that you're looking forward to working with? Jane Shaw is a huge talent, as is Olivia Maltry. But I'd say the same for Corby and Albert, you know, Alyssa Thompson.

For me that core of four players are exceptional, but equally there's a young Naomi Germa, I think could argue be one of the best centrebacks in the world. There's players and talent there, a new generation coming through and I'm excited. It's quite a frightening prospect, I think, for the rest of us, but maybe not for you. You know, I mean, yeah, we'll have to have tough decisions once you had Kat Makaria and Sophie Smith to that and beyond. But there's a very exciting group. It's like she's our best friend. Yeah, she gets it.

Emma gets it. And I sleep better at night knowing it. Did you hear the bass that she put in her voice when she said Jaden Shaw? Yeah. No hesitation. It was, you know, I'm not going to do an English voice in here, but you know what I'm saying? She put the, she almost threw her O in Shaw, you know what I'm saying? saying it was a deep deep deep admiration there i mean that core group of four she said we spent a

year just talking about them we've spent a year begging people to care about those four players so right it's a beautiful thing yeah it's nice it's beautiful to see um so i could quibble you know what i'm saying on some omissions um maybe we'll get into that later we'll we'll get into that later in the We'll get into that soon, I think. But, yeah, yeah. Let's keep moving. So let's do that. We talked about it the last time we got together.

But let's do our 11 for the women's national team, assuming everyone is 100% healthy. Because, as she said, there are going to be some tough choices. And very good players are going to have to be coming off the bench if everybody stays healthy. So I have one right here in my hot little hand. Yeah, I enjoyed how you kept a secret. So I was like, oh, then I'm keeping my secret. Yeah. Who wants to go first?

You. Okay. Fair enough. I don't care about goalkeeper. Let's say Falun-Tolus Joyce, just because, just for somebody new. in the spirit of Gold Cup experimentation. When you say you don't care about

Goldkeeper, does that mean you'd be fine with a listener? No, I want somebody different from a listener but somebody younger and that's basically my only criteria. I just don't know enough to know who's like going to be the best. Gotcha.

But I have really strong opinions on the other 10. So, German Davidson at centerback. And there's going to be a lot asked to them in my conception of what the national team could be because everybody else is going to be in the attack. My fullbacks are going to be midge purse on the right and Emily Fox on the left. My defensive midfielder is going to be Sam Coffey.

And this is really a lot depends on Sam here. We're going to ask her to be a servant to her team, a servant to her country. She needs to laser focus on developing an understanding with Germa and Davidson, understanding how to deal with transition moments and be in exactly the right spot because we know she's not a world-class athlete. So she's going to have to be just laser-focused on this job of preventing counter-attack goals in conjunction with Germa and Davidson. Go ahead.

We're 100% right now. Okay. Okay. Wow. And then, And my two midfielers are going to be Lindsay Horan and Jaden Shaw, my two more advanced midfielers. And, you know, the issue here is having to drop Rose Lavelle. Sorry, I just have to do it for right now.

And then the front three Trident is going to be Swanson, Smith, and Rodman. and that means no Macario. I struggled with that one. Did I want to start Macario at Stryker or, or Sophia Smith? Or did I want to put Smith on the wing and drop Rodman? It's close, but I think I'm going to go with this because I need to see, I need to see Macario do it. You know, and we haven't gotten a chance to see Sophia's

Smith play striker for the national team. It was a cause of much consternation for a lot of us throughout the World Cup process. So that's my 11. Goalkeeper, young goalkeeper, purse, Germa, Davidson, Fox, coffee, Shaw, Horan, Rodman, Smith, Swanson. How about you guys? Or criticize mine, if you want. I think it's awesome. Thank you.

Do you want me to name mine? Yes. Okay. I was calling mine like a 4-1-212, kind of like the diamond. I have Jane Campbell and goal coming off the best year in the league. She's the number one goalkeeper. I was just rewarding that. I don't feel too passionate about it.

You're both wrong. Okay. You can talk about Racing Louisville next. I have Naomi Germa and Tierna Davidson as my centerbacks. I have Emily Fox on the left, Mitch Purs on the right, similar to Bells's. And then I have Sam Coffey, who in my opinion, doesn't need to be, you know, the speed demon in this setup. She can lock it down with German Davidson. My two midfielders are going to be Crystal Dunn and Jaden Shaw, so very close to Belses.

And then I have Kat Macario up top, false nine-ish, ten-ish, whatever we want to call her. And then I have Mal Swanson and Sophia Smith up top. Okay. I have Roselvel and Trinity Robin coming off the bench. I'm perfectly fine with that. I think it's a winning team. I take this group anywhere. You know, if one thought I had about Macario as like the false nine,

is it could bring out, you know, if she's dropping deep and playing passes in behind it, could bring out the absolute best in Smith and Swanson. Smith and Swanson can get to any ball, any ball. Okay. done a coffee done shaw midfield so heran and lavelle both on the bench tough decisions had to be made i know what do you think of it if we need if we need a goal if we need to hold a lead lindsay horeen roosevelt show us what you got yeah i think about it like uh between shaw and

Lavelle, who's going to create more chances for the team? I'm going to say Jaden Shaw. The ask was if everyone's perfectly healthy. We haven't seen a perfectly healthy rose in quite a while. That's true. Maybe she'll come roaring back and make us look like fools. She had an absolute fantastic NWSL final, but, you know, I haven't seen that before or since in quite a while.

I mean, you know, that was the end of the season. Very true. The N.W. Saffano, you know what I'm saying? I mean, there was no other opportunity to, you know what I'm saying? But okay. I guess I'll go ahead and go with mine. Please. Number one, goalkeeper.

Number one in my heart, you know what I'm saying? Seeing this woman develop over the past, what, two years now? Katie Lund. Katie Lund, ladies and gentlemen, just looked it up really almost exactly the same advanced goalkeeper stats of Jane Campbell. One year younger, you know, these college graduates are sneaky old, of course. Katie's 27, even though she's been a professional for, what, three years, the entirety of Racing Louisville's existence. I'm just a big, I'm just a big, Katie Lund fan.

Number one, you all know me, I like, I like some, I like some length in my, in my, in my, in my goalkeepers. You know what I'm saying? Katie, Katie Lund, 6-1, you know what I'm saying?

Can get to, can get to a lot of stuff. That's, that's a huge thing about Wosso. You know what I'm saying? It's a, it's a big goal out there. And, you know what I'm saying? Putting somebody in there, you know what I'm saying? I don't want to shout out. Well, well, you know,

somebody tall. Yeah. I want to put somebody small in there. Get one of those cheap little looped ones, one of those loop boys that don't even, those failed crosses that they can just scour somebody's head and get to the net. Nah,

Katie Lund got that covered. Katie Lund got that covered and, you know what I'm saying? Proficient with her feet. Okay? I'm going Katie Lund in there. My back line. I'm going to go with the same as,

uh, everybody. I mean, yeah, give me, give me Naomi. Really, that other centerback spot, I'm gonna leave that, I'm gonna leave that.

I'm just gonna leave that. You know, whoever wants it can grab it. But as long as we got Naomi Germa, I'm not too worried about that centerback pairing. Yeah, that's the truth. Emily Fox, midge purse, need that. And now, this is my thing here. Because of the versatility of one Jaden Shaw,

I almost feel like we should create, like, you, you, You know, y'all've given y'all's instances with the midfield version of Jaden Shaw. I'm going to give y'all winger, Jaden Shaw, right here. And I'm going to give you all a little midfield of Crystal Dunn, Lindsay Horan, double pivot. Okay? Cat Macario in front. Soap in the middle.

Malawide, J. Ray Wing. Thank you. Okay. So, no, no, no. No, no. No, okay. Cats plan. Cats. Cats playing in front of the two. No rows. No rose, unfortunately.

Okay, okay. Really, we could, we could switch that, our rose and or cat. As the tent. Okay. And yeah, so I'm going to keep, I'm going to keep that line of two there with Crystal and Lindsay, but both have, you know what I'm saying, we're operating a little pulley system. A little pulley system, one goes, one stays, et cetera, et cetera. We can get in some, we can get in some trouble there if Lindsay is the one, you know. that that's responsible for covering on a counterattack. But once again, with the Naomi German theorem, we got Naomi, we're going to be all right. So with that said, yeah, that's my...

That's it. Yeah. I like all of them. They're... I guess there's some... The only... The huge difference between mine and your guys is done. I mean, not putting done in the 11.

Is that heretical? Is it sacrilege? No, because I didn't put Lindsay and the same could be asked for mine. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, people come for us for this whole Rose thing. And you know what I'm saying? I actually got a, it's an actual blasphemy. I'm taking Cat out, I'm putting Rose in.

RIP, my uncle, the one that I told you a few episodes, well, a long time ago, the one that randomly talked to me about Roosevelt at a cookout. Yeah, yeah. That was actually the last conversation I ever had with him. He died soon after. Wow. But in his memory, RIP Uncle Dean, you feel me? I gotta have his girl in there.

Rose starting as a 10th. Okay. This man has Katerina McCariel coming off the bench. That's right. Rest in peace to your uncle, but that's crazy. I had to do it for my dog Now that it really just hit me Yeah man I can't have Rose out there

Look at it now Now Rose is family at this point Okay all right Well It's a good As we like to say it's a good problem to have It will be a good problem to have When the games start coming

I thought that was fun I mean too Um Mitch Purse bombing down that right wing though I mean if we can figure out how to make that work and and get Jaden Shaw on the ball

a lot I don't really care how we line up you know I don't think we've seen enough of the Midge Trinity connection none of us had Trinity in our starting lineup but if we're doing like a realistic not everybody's healthy

lineup I do I do I have Ryan in my starting yeah I have swine in my starting yeah I have swine Johnson Smith, Rodman up front. My apologies. Macario on the bench. Macario on the bench.

My apologies. But for Gold Cup, I hope we can see Midge and Trinity's connection a bit more because I think that's real. That is something to be really excited and hopeful about. Yeah. So, yeah, I do just want to go ahead and throw it out there that, you know, should be obvious, but I love Trinity. I love Trinity. This is just my Because of my

Growing feelings that The U.S. Women's National team should revolve around whatever position Jaden Shaw wants to play on that day I just wanted to give a lineup with Jaden Shaw at Winger Instead of in the midfield But if I were to give

my line up with Jaden Shaw in the midfield Trinity Robben would be starting for me on the way Okay Yeah, I mean, I just think Obviously we can make it work to get Shaw on the ball a lot In that half space outright I guess is that kind of what you're thinking But man, I just want her on the ball

All the time, you know Yeah, she's a creator for me Pulling the strength All right, let's get to some I can give you all my striker Jaden Shaw lineup Yeah, I want to at least give us the front six on that. So yeah, I'm a sit

Soph because really at this point I think Soph got to play if Soph ain't playing in the middle I'm a I'm a she can sit the bench I'm sorry

I knew this day was coming but I almost sat her it as soon. It hurts me to say but if she's not playing in the middle we can go ahead and yeah like especially with Malback

with Malback is just like, okay, you know, Mal can roll that left wing, no problem. Train, right wing, J, middle, Rose, Lindsay. Yeah, and then I'll just do this, Rose, Lindsay, and then we can give you all a real six, you know what I'm saying, and Jaylon Howell. Yeah. I'm going to have an aneurysm. You guys are sitting Sophia Smith?

Yeah, I might, I think. she's on the hot seat. I have her in my starting lineup, but she's on the hot seat. She needs to play better for the national team than she has. No mention of Alex Morgan. What's going on there? Alex has been done. I don't know what you're talking about. I just have to throw that in there. You know they're going to come for us. Smith, I mean, the concern about, my concern about Smith is she feasts on transition in NWSL. But can she be part of an attack that pulls apart a sort of dedicated low block

in the way that we're going to need it against good teams? Can she be part of that? I don't know, man. I don't know. So that's why she's on the hot seat for me. Okay. To the action. Let's start with me official.

We've got some games. Yeah. That's all I was saying. Mia started yesterday in Chelsea's Champions League game against Paris FC. It didn't mean a whole lot because Chelsea had already qualified for the next round. But good to see Mia start. She scored a header, which was her first Champions League goal. It was Chelsea's second goal of the game.

I thought it was a fine performance. Did you guys watch? No. I saw the goal, though. Yeah, very physical, Mia, that is, very physical. I thought she was good out there. It was a really, like, different lineup for Chelsea. It wasn't, it wasn't, you know, the 18 by any means.

But, yeah, I thought it was a tier above fine. I thought it was pretty good. Okay. Okay. She needs to be in camp, you know, especially right now. Just to note, we talked last month's on Wednesday about the fact that Mia would, you know, that the non-position would ultimately be Mia's as, you know, in the absence of Sam Kerr, et cetera, et cetera.

Has not necessarily been the case. They still running, you know, Lauren James got to start this weekend in the, in the WSL. They had a brace, you know what I'm saying? So Mia is still fighting for playing time, you know what I'm saying? Also, just not for nothing, didn't get named by Emma Hayes as part of the core four. I'm just saying that it could be nothing. That could be something. It's probably nothing.

I'm joking, yeah. But, yeah, I mean, I guess she was asked specifically about young players. Maybe Mia doesn't quite fit that. I mean, she's still pretty young. I'm not too worried about her playing time, though. something I've learned about Emma Hayes and since her being named

our coach or future coach she doesn't roll out the same 11 constantly like it's never going to be here are the starters and here are the bench players she switches things up a lot Mia has been finding her playing time I think it's all good

she's she's still adapting and obviously scoring. So I think it's all looking fine. Yeah, people that I trust that talk about Chelsea say that, you know, with most new signings, it takes a solid year for them to really, you know, take off or whatever. And so really, to be completely honest with y'all, that's the only thing keeping me from starting an agenda. Because as I'm looking at these stats, you know what I'm saying? We're talking about, you know, two goals in like 15, 16 matches.

But anyway, we'll keep it moving. She gets a mulligan for this entire year. Yeah, she hasn't been, like, she hasn't set the world on fire yet. It was a nice goal yesterday. Kind of Meg the keeper with a textbook down at the groundheader, beat her marker to it. Also, yesterday, Corbyn Albert. came off the bench for PSG.

She didn't start in their last game against Iax either. What's going on? I don't know. I don't know. She came in around the 74th minute in their game against Byron yesterday. I didn't think she looked particularly good. Maybe she just, you know, settle some things out. She needs some time.

Who knows? Yeah. I want to reiterate the thing I try to. to say the other day, which I don't know if it made any sense, but which is that while she has a good engine and good range and is pretty strong in the tackle, she's just not super elegant with the ball at her feet. And, you know, at the elite level, she's going to have to get better at that.

And that's a hard thing to get better at. Yeah. Once you're already a pro. We'll see. I want to do a little comp of her passes that just like she blasts at people from like 15 yards away, just to try to prove my point. But anyway, we wish her the best. And things are probably, she's doing great.

She's doing great. Lily Johannes. Yes, Lily. Going to the knockout rounds. Yeah, first time ever IAX qualified for the next round. So she started in IAX's game against Roma yesterday. She got a great assist. It was a big one.

It leveled Iax and Roma one and one. So it brought them back. It kept them alive. They ended up winning. It was a huge game. Lily was player of the match. I watched the whole game. I thought she was fantastic.

Yeah. What did you guys think? Well, go ahead, Vince. You go first. Um, no bells, you got it. Well, I just want to describe the goal, the assist, because she, she tackled somebody hard at midfield, um, hard and clever, took the ball, mugged that person, carried it 40 yards, drew the defenders to herself just outside the box, and then played it, you know, played it calm as you like,

out to her left for hookstra to slot it far corners, just textbook stuff on the break from her. she did take a little bit of a heavy touch in the middle of it but you know who's to say maybe it wasn't a heavy touch maybe it was deliberately sort of goading the defense into stepping towards her it worked out fine yeah and then like you said iex is going through the knockout rounds on a late roma own goal and yeah like you said she was player of the match even on fat mob you know which we you know we check religiously around here uh top player in the game still only 16 years old and never called up for serious U.S. Youth National Team Camp.

It's pretty wild. Yep. And this is the biggest omission I was talking about, you know, from Emma when she's talking about that core four. You know what I'm saying? I mean, this is a big deal. Like, I don't know. I don't know.

It's almost like we're being gaslit at this point. It's like, this is a big deal. Huge deal. Is it not 16-year-old Champions League? being instrumental in IACs making their first knockout stage you know what I'm saying all this stuff going on like imagine if this was uh you know if this was a brosso you know what I'm saying 16 year old playing in the champions league doing the type of things that Lily's doing you know what I'm saying against players that uh just played in the World Cup you know etc etc and you know the application

stuff is inconsistent like I uh I'm mostly thinking about, you know, defensive stuff. Like she did mug the player for the ball that she then carried to get the assist. But other times, you know, she lost the duel in other situations. Like other times, the player might, you know, breeze by her on the dribble, et cetera, et cetera. But that's just it just is what it is. Like, you know what I'm saying? She's 16.

You know what I'm saying? And she has like a nice, like. athletic frame to where like it you know as far as like athletically like I don't think it's it's really gonna be like those duels that she's losing now um she will win those in the future you know right she just continues her athletic development continues her uh her progression getting more experience more reps blah blah blah blah blah blah but all that to say like what she's doing now is very impressive extremely extremely extremely extremely extremely extremely extremely extremely impressive and it's just like what we're doing here we'll see balls in uss

court as you were talking i was gonna i was thinking she's she doesn't get little sistered she doesn't get like you know put down yeah yeah it's like she's just a little goofy she's like a goofy she's like a goofy adolescent she can't quite like physically you know yeah yeah sometimes it's just like yeah if she's going like full if she's getting stuck into a duel you know I'm saying she's not getting little sister as you said which like to my point about like her frame and stuff like she's like uh I always feel weird saying this stuff about women but she's like a you know she's a big kid you know she's yeah I don't know how tall she is but you got to be like five or ten I don't know what I would think uh her hair helps her look bigger too

but yeah she is she does look like the one of the biggest players on the field yeah but yeah yeah when she gets stuck in she's definitely not getting little sister It's just a lot of times it was just like, maybe she's just like, I let this thing. I let this thing go. But, yeah, it's a, this is a thing. Now, I mean, it should have already been a thing, but like, hey, you know what I'm saying? It's time for me to call on CPC, JT. Goetton. I mean, let's get this, let's get this thing in order, man.

Let's get this in gear, Twyla, Emma. I mean, Emma, especially, like, this should be, for me, you know, for Emma and the stuff she's talked about in her manifesto, her experience, like, you know, coaching in Europe, all this stuff. This should be like just a no-brainer at this point. So, I mean, and, and I guess I assume that we will, you know, do whatever needs to be done. I have that feeling, too, based on no inside information, just like, of course, I mean, they'll work it out.

There's just no way that Emma Hayes would ignore a player doing this, an American player doing this, a 16-year-old in the Champions League, to me. And if it does happen, then we'll have more questions, but I would even ask why we even hired Emma Hayes if she was going to ignore this very obvious thing that's in her face. Like, you know what I'm saying? But anyway. Yeah.

It is an interesting case study to see how she plays versus how Corbyn Albert plays in the same group in the same Champions League year. And I mean, you have to say Lily has had a more impressive showing. For sure. And that's the thing. Yeah. And that's the thing.

She ain't part of that core for it, though. I mean, you know, let's give her the benefit of the doubt for the moment. Yeah, she's just talking, you know. I understand, but it should be on your tip of your time. You know what I'm saying? Emma, let's work on it. Yeah. If she ends up playing for the Netherlands, that'd be crazy, man.

She's an American girl, you know? She grew up, she grew up in Maryland, born in Maryland. Come on. I'd cry. Yeah. All right. Lindsay Horan, did she not play? I don't know.

I didn't list anything there because I didn't know. Okay, Lindsay playing today. against Slavia Praha. They are... I'm sure it's going to be a really competitive game. Okay. Yeah, they've got Bran, Slavia Praha, and St. Poulton, famously Ulysses-Yanez's club in Austria.

As a nasty group. Yeah. That's a nasty group. They're at plus 20 goal differential in five matches. So that gives you a sense of what's going on there. Emily Fox. Guys, did you see?

She was player of the match in Arsenal's league game this past weekend against Liverpool. She played a key role in both of their goals. But she got an assist in the first one. It was a great assist. Everybody in London is obsessed with Emily Fox. I mean, it couldn't be going better for her right now. She looks often like one of the best players on the field. What does Emily do in her free time?

Do you guys have any idea? Probably watch soccer. Probably watch soccer. That was nasty. I mean, she gets the ball. She takes the ball off somebody at midfield and then splits two defenders. Just waltzes past another one. I mean, making it look like she's on a cheat code.

They looked like they've never seen someone so fast. She just ran past so many players. It was amazing. It was so decisive. And then just a clever little pass to find Miedem in an ocean of space in the middle of the field. This entire disorganization, this devastation of Liverpool's shape, was done single-handedly by Emily. And then Mietamah still has some stuff to. do she takes like three touches and then hits a banger from uh i don't know if it's a a banger in your

guys's opinion or one of those short goalkeeper goals uh for you vince but she hit it she hit it from 20 yards went over the keeper's head yeah uh i mentioned i meant to say this earlier but that roma own goal was a short keeper goal i'll tell you that katie lena giving that up katie lena giving that up yeah it's a sad way for i'm not i'm no fan of roma but a sad way for roma to go down down on that. It was pretty sad. They just put a whole bunch of bodies around. Like, if you can put a whole bunch of bodies around your keeper and they just disappear in the sea of like, like, come on.

Yeah. Well, what's that defender doing? Like, she needs to jump and get the ball out of there. Why is she, like, letting it graze off the top of her head. Yeah. Into the goal. You do all this work all game long. And then you lose on it something like that.

But anyway, Emily Fox. Yeah, speaking, but speaking of Emily Fox, I was searching her name on Twitter, like normal, cool women do. And there was like so much outrage over her leaving to come to the Gold Cup from different Arsenal fans. They were like, what is the Gold Cup? And why is she leaving? And London is red white and blue. now. It was heartwarming. It's the premier, you know,

Western Hemisphere tournament. And Mexico's going to be good. Ish. Ish. Yeah. So the assist, amazing. Also that, you know, the pre-assist or whatever for the second goal, also just amazing, you know what I'm saying? That's a club.

That's a club. I don't know. I've seen Emily pull out of bag, you know, that much. And probably, you know, that, like that play, right, you know, once again, you know, a nice little, nice little carry takes that thing. Horizontal play, basically plays a nice little slip, left footed slip past across her body to release Arsenal attacker in space, you know, and then the cross-played across goal. That's not something I've seen Emily do too much of. That's not something I've seen Emily do too much of. A nice little well-weighted pass like that because and I think that for like similar to Corbett Albert kind of Emily Fox's style of play um is one that like in the NWSL you can

kind of she can kind of lose herself because she's so good at dribbling and carrying the ball and like in a in a back and forth game like the NWSL she basically just ends up you know making these like 40 60 yard runs with the ball that usually just not necessarily go anywhere, you know what I'm saying? She's just carrying the ball to the other half and then just making like a simple pass. But like now in a game that like kind of plays in phases a little bit more,

she can like focus her efforts to not just carry the ball in tiring excursions up the field that, you know, at a certain point you can only do that for so long. you can focus you can focus it to where hey I'm gonna get the ball right here I'm gonna do a couple people and I can I can slip somebody in there's not there's not all that uh all that runway to get all this you know to do all this freelance and get all this crazy you know the stuff that she didn't end up you so which I love to see which I love to see I loved personally as a fan of race in Louisville it was always fun to watch Emily you know just try and embarrass everyone that she can everyone

every time she touched the ball but uh doing it with a purpose now. You know what I'm saying? Doing it with a purpose and and seeing it come to fruition was pretty cool. Yeah, finding the past that makes good on the whole thing at the end of it is kind of the hardest part. Yep.

Good to see you're doing it. And y'all know I've been extremely, extremely high on Emily. And yeah. Feeling vindicated? I mean, I was already vindicated. You know what I'm saying? It's not. She was great in M.W.S.L.

You know what I'm saying? I knew she would be great at Arsenal. It was never a question for me. You have a steaming hot cup of vindication every morning, don't you? I've stepped away. I've stepped away from the fire and brimstone that used to fuel me every day. I'm getting old bells, you know what I'm saying? Yeah.

So, yeah, now I'm just in Proud Papa Stage. Okay. I think that's a good, that's a good roundup, right? Anything else? Do anything else, Vince? No, I don't think so. Ain't anything else going on. Anything happening in W.S.?

I feel like something happening in NWS these past two weeks. They're in preseason. Players coming in. We'll probably have some preseason news in two weeks. They've got all of their scrimmages. I'm so excited about Emily finally drinking that European water that, I mean, I kind of forgot what's going on over here. The first goal cup game is February 20th, I believe.

So three weeks. Roster comes out next week. Yeah. That's a big thing. Check out our YouTube channel. Scuffed soccer on YouTube. Like some stuff. Subscribe to the podcast on the podcast catcher you use.

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