SoccerWise - Da Final Gotham Dynasty & Washington's Future

Episode Date: November 24, 2025

A Rosey finish to the season for the 2nd time in three years for Gotham. Jordan & David stop hanging out on the West Coast to breakdown everything from the week. They talk about what is so special about Gotham as a club, what does this mean big picture for Washington, and much more.

Hey, everybody, welcome back to soccer-wise, the big one. We have a champion. It is, once again, Gotham F. For the second time in three years, they raise the big trophy. They are champions of NWSL this time. as an 8C, Jordan, as we all knew, David Goss and Jordan Angeley with you. We were together in person this week. Now we're back remote again so that we can record in our comfort of our computers.

We are creatures of comfort, aren't we? We couldn't have done something together. That would have been too strange. Or like take a photo, I realized after. Oh my gosh, we didn't take a photo. I never remember. Idiots. Yeah.

Well, we'll be smarter next year, maybe. We'll have a whole year to think about it. before the next... I'm all here to figure out of photo. NWSL championship. And until then, Gotham is probably going to be celebrated because they found a way. I think going into it, Goss, we both stylistically

and maybe with what we have seen of Washington's spirit, we were like, okay, this spirit team should win. But there was an edge about this Gotham squad. Like, they just found a way not to lose. It felt like to me over the last few games, And, man, what a performance to be able to lift the trophy, as you said, twice in three years in a really nice night at PayPal Park in San Jose, California. It was beautiful. So we're going to talk about the game specifically.

There are not a lot of flashpoints from the game to hit. So we're going to talk about that secondary. But we want to talk big picture first about what it means for these two clubs, what it means for the league and what we saw. it is interesting though because you said it like we both in the form we saw and what we've seen over the last few weeks we both were picking Washington that was not the conversation that I had over the course of the week in San Jose from people and I guess one of the things I find interesting coming out of all of this is like Gotham wins the title as an eight seed and for the second time in three years and the feeling I got for people was like of course like as if they were inevitable because they are star driven they are big name they're gotham like and it was almost like the moment that they slid back into that space it was a no-brainer but a lot of people all week were like well gotham are back in a final of course and you're like right but if showing and michel cooper were healthy yeah you know if a call goes a different way if barbara vander was

healthy which the whole other conversation i'm not saying everyone's ever always going to be healthy but like there was some happenstance to this run and but I think Gotham sit in this place in terms of how they're viewed globally and inside the league and inside the country where it's like it's expected from them and once they got there then it was like well now things are the way they should be we when we get to these types of games and it's like really a week long celebration in San Jose so you have a lot of conversations as I'm sure you did with people and you're like okay what do you think the game's going to be right what's the score going to be i heard it a lot of one to nothing gotham a lot of people thinking that gotham was just going to do what

they did all year is play a really good defense make it difficult for washington not give them space which they didn't give them space and find a way and i remember you and i speaking last week and we both said but they have rose level like this gotham team anything is possible when rose is healthy and she showed it again about how she can just be a game changer when you need it the most. And so it's not shocking. Like I think at one point I was like, I think Gotham's going to win, but I wanted Washington to win for some reason. I don't know why I did. I just, I think I liked the excitement of some of their attackers in combination and what they've been able to do in and out of different structures this year. And so I wanted to see that be on display. But it's

a final and finals never look like this season they just don't i think i think feeling so so a few things one i thought the building was pro-washington i think washington spirit fans and maybe that's coming off last year being like hey we might make a final let's pre-plan some trips like douglas i've produced our kickback committee did i don't know what it was but it felt very strongly like a washington crowd it felt like a way more engaged crowd than last year as well yes louder building people were into it where last year it felt like I think last year the average fan in the stadium didn't know what they were rooting for and it felt like this year it was there was a good chunk of people I saw a lot of roselvel jerseys from across the board someone came up to me and said

hey soccer wise so thank you to whoever you are wearing a roselvel man city jersey oh cool so it's like I think there are national team fans who were picking players off each team where maybe in Orlando doesn't have as much of that, even though they have Marta. And obviously the stuff with Marta and KC fans made things a little weird last year. But it did. It had a good vibe to it. Yeah. It had a good vibe.

It had good energy to it. And it felt. And I think the Washington supporter section was the bigger one, had more space around it. But like there was a lot of neon yellow. It felt like, and yes, I get that pops. But it felt like that was a strong part of it. And then I think most of the neutrals had picked aside because these two teams are pretty defined.

Like the names are defined. The groups are defined. And so I think most people had landed on a side, therefore they were cheering rather than just like generically cheering for winning and all of that. And I think I had the same combos you had a lot of, yes, go sports, go teams. All week, though, where it was like a lot of Gotham 1-0 and Gotham would eke it out and all of that. And I think a lot of that is to me the credit of what this means.

Two and three years, are they a dynasty? Are they a dominant force? are they the model club in NWSL? I think I would say no to most, if not all of them. But they are a club that believes they're going to win every time they step on the field. And that is a culture that gets built by expectations and quality. And like that to me is who Gotham is.

Their floor is, they think they're the best team on the field every single time. And I don't know that that's always the case. I know we talk about parity. We talk about all the things that like exist in NWSL. But to me, that's what I walk away from this title run with is like the way the club has built itself and the expectations it has built itself affects the confidence and belief the players play with. And when you look at a Sarah Shepansky and a Lily Reel starting a final in their first year and playing at the level they played at, I think that's that's the feeling that lives internally in this group. I should have looked to the last time Shippansky started a game too because it's been. a while. I don't think she started a game in a number of weeks. So the fact that she could come in

and do that. And it speaks to Juan Carlos Amaros. I think that was his third playoff run in four years, once with Houston and then the last three with Gotham in a row, two championships in three years. But I think you also have to, it goes back to like, who did this Gotham team want to be? And it felt to me like when they brought in Yael Averbush West, they started to figure out. out, all right, this is how we want to play. We want Juan Carlos to be our main, you know, we want him to be here for a long time. We want to play under his style. But then it was that trying to build a dream team.

But after that, I thought that this year was more impressive, even though there were times where I didn't think Gotham was going to even make the playoffs. Yeah. Going into the summer break, I was like, I don't think they're going to make it. They just were not playing very well. But then to bolster your team with a player like Jaden Shaw, at the beginning of the year, you get Jalen Howell, you get a couple of rookies who are really solid pieces. It speaks to, you know, I think a lot of the conversation has been, how do we get players from outside the league to come in, foreign players, or how do we keep our players from going abroad? And I think Yale has done a really good job of finding talent inside this league,

inside the United States, and making it all fit together under the right leadership of Juan Carlos Ambrose. So gosh, what a display these last couple of years has been with actually a lot of changes. It hasn't all been the same, but they found a way. And I think that's maybe what's been most impressive because we've seen a lot of turnover for a lot of different teams. but this Gotham team, even with the turnover, have found ways to win. And that's impressive.

Yeah. And they have, with one Carlos, they have the style setting. And so they have, when you come in, you kind of know the expectations of like, this is what you have to do. This is what you have to accomplish. And I think that makes life easier for people to come into. It feels like the leadership, whether it's Anne Cratchenberg. or Emily Son and Esther, Rose, is at a high level in which. So Sarah Shepansky started the first playoff game against KC.

Okay. Then she hadn't started since October 1st, actually against Washington. Besides that, she basically wasn't. Right, three starts in two months. Right. She wasn't a starter for the last two months. But she started the whole first half of the year and kept them at least afloat when Esther was the only one who could score goals.

Lily Reel stepped in, helped keep them afloat at times and ends up winning. rookie of the year for the way she played hasbo as well we've talked about and like what she's brought to this team and and the strength she's brought and so as you said for um yael averbush she was able to fill back in the roster with all the that lost these superstars so it used to be like our depth is yesme and ryan and like okay that's and crystal done that was unsustainable but they were still able to bring players in that fit their system shippansky higher energy two footed can keep play going can keep play consistent can take set pieces lily real physical strong plays on the front foot you know confident when she's able to get going forward like that maybe the way she

plays left back wouldn't fit a different club and if casey currant asked her to be flying up and down the left wing and hitting crosses in she'd be uncomfortable and it wouldn't have worked for her like it fit the system for them and they were able to become comfortable and then that kept this team going and um and one caller somewhere else i think one of the things you see with him he tries stuff for two or three games throughout the season and then he can go to it and like sarah japansky hasn't started but she did start against washington and she has played in that position and mandy freeman hasn't started all year and hasn't been healthy all the year all year but she gets two three games at a time and so you have these like you have these cuts of time where you're like if we need to

go to this we know what it looks like and we know how it'll work and they're able to roll those out. And I think that's where this playoff ability comes from with them, which is they have a few different pitches in their locker, but none of them are being tried for the first time in a postseason set up. Yeah, I'll just, since maybe in a second we can transition to Washington, but let's talk about like some of those things that really worked well in this game. I think this might be a good way to do this. Like if Schipansky's not in with her ability with both of her feet, you can't get the ball to Brunina. That pass, go back and watch the pass. if you haven't people like the way that shippansky gets around a defender gets a little bit of

space and curves a ball with her left foot into brunini's path to say go ahead and go that that's elite playmaking from a really deep line and she had to play a little bit deeper to help out hal with croix and santos so i think that was a move that you're talking about to start lily real and say hey we're going to be really good defensively to to start out with knowing that they had brunini and their back pocket to be more aggressive and say, I actually think tactically, one Carlos Ambros wins that battle of saying, all right, we're actually going to sit. We're not going to be too aggressive with our outside backs, but then jokes on you, now we're going to go. And that's smart. And one of the things that what you were saying is they feel comfortable with whoever is in that

backline. And it really showed when they switched to Bruninia and could get her unlocked and going forward a little bit more. So I loved those two little wrinkles for Juan Carlos. And it just feels like this Gotham team all year long has, they've been streaky with the way that they've scored goals, but they've relied on their defense. And it wins your championships. And they just won a championship because their defense was unstoppable.

um hard to talk about emily sonnet's full career and say this isn't one of her best seasons we've ever seen her play yeah and she was sort of the essence of what they were able to accomplish yesterday right there's she goes sliding in and uses her face to block that kroy baton layoff which was one of the most dangerous moments of the game um they end up giving up less than a half goal half xg in this game with less possession that's wild to this Washington team Washington had seven total shots zero of them on goal Gotham ended with 13 shots three of them on target neither team had a big chance in this game which is why we were going to start 100% with the game it's not it wasn't and we could talk

about this when we get into it wasn't the product that you want to present I think to non-fans to be like this our championship game lock in watch for every game next season I think for all of us that have been invested into the fans of the team like it was tight it was tenacious it was energetic and like that's what we're hoping for at a minimum um but for this gotham team that was the formula for them was like if this game opened up and was just on pure talent everyone has 25 shots and six of them on goal like the most likely washington wins that game so gotham created the game states they had to that's now two straight games for gotham without a big chance that they've won because they did not i don't think they

had a shot on goal until jaden shaw's free kick against ralando so now they're not so now in two straight games, they have no big chances. I assume they didn't have a big chance without a shot on goal. Two straight with no big chances, but they're able to knock off two teams that were higher than them in the standings. And some of this is painted a little weird. A lot of people said it all week of like they don't lose decision day the way they did. They don't fall to the eight seed.

Would we be saying the same thing if they were a six seat or a five seat or whatever? Yeah, maybe that feels a little bit different. But their two runs now have been as the lowest seat in, six seat last time, and eight seed this time. Maybe they have to do that every time now. Well, what's fascinating, though, is what happens now is interesting because it feels like most of these pieces should come back and that this actually was really year one of like a slight rebuild off of last year.

But last time they won a title, then all of a sudden they were the U.S. women's national team because it's New York and people want to be there and you have stars to attract people. Rose is still here. Last time it was Lynn and May. and everything so it'll be really interesting to see how they judge who they are internally and take what they do from this year and what they look like going forward yeah that's a really good point and just they don't need they don't need to add a lot because i do think with if this team is healthy they don't finish eighth in the year right but but what the what can the depth look like

can they can they get more out of stephen because they can they get more out of JSA like all these players that didn't really play this year because of injuries if you really look at who they are and they still won a championship doesn't feel like this Gotham team has to make a lot of moves but it will be interesting to see what they do in the off season I think the hope would be portio like okay first year in the country she settles in a little bit more comfortable and if that's the case and Ellis Stevens is healthy that's a ton of attacking threat that just didn't exist this year I believe midge purse is a free agent I think she's signed one more year when she got hurt to finish out to come back with Gotham. So that's a big one

to watch. There's a list of those. I need to find that. Yeah. I thought she was really up for the game. I thought Midge really attacked every time she got touches. She tried to go forward. She tried to turn her defender, even if it didn't work out every single time. And maybe the final third decision making when to shoot went to pass could have been a little different. But I thought she tried to open up the game but she's now won two titles she she knows a victory cigar better than anyone else in nwsl before we move into washington roosevelt i said closing out of the kickback committee show last week like roosevelt's never won nwsl so that was for all the illustrious parts of her career this was one she was missing and not only does she win it she's the reason and she's

the biggest name on her team and she scores the goal and so she wins the MVP as she deserves but It was a quiet performance from her overall until the goal, but it's like that's the big moments. That's what you're waiting for. That's what you're hoping for from her. What did you make of what this means for her legacy and sort of where her career sits in terms of the other grades? There's other grades that you talk about, just not even in specifically like women's soccer,

in men's soccer too, who don't do a lot in a game and still find a way. I actually think of Christine Ciclair, right? Like there were games or a sink was like not even in the game. And then she finds a way to score a goal. And you're like, where did you just come from? Like you have 12 touches in the game and you score. Those can be some of the best players. And for Rose, you could just see how happy she was to be able to be a part of it with this team.

And because it was a big move to go there a couple of years ago. And, you know, she dealt with injuries and then to come back after not even starting this year, healthy and to score the game winning goal it's it feels wild because we expect it from her right we all think okay if rose is healthy anything can happen and it's true anything can happen i think most of the midfielders really struggled in this game and didn't show up very well there was just a lot of numbers centrally um at times where it didn't feel like there was space for anyone to really operate and even when they did have the space the game often felt felt really pressed and like they were trying too hard to the texture on the past or the pace on the

past wasn't right. And so I felt like a lot of the midfielder struggled in this game, um, offensively, I should say. But all you need is a moment. And she knows that better than anybody. And, um, I think one of the benefits of the way that she plays is she reads the game so well. And so as the game opened up in that one moment, the patience that she showed to not get into, the space too early to kind of see where the cross was going to come so she could meet it in the right place. That's hard. It's hard not to get over-eager in that moment and try to anticipate instead of really being in a good place so you can react properly. And so yeah, what a finish from her. Really nice finish. I think I finally found the spot on the stats that I was looking

for and counted correctly. So she had 40 total touches in the game. which was 16th of everyone who played between the two teams. Yeah. So on the back half of all starting players, she had zero touches in the box. She had no other shots. She didn't win any of her duels in possession. She didn't win many duels defensively either. Not that that's exactly what you're looking for.

I don't know if she does normally though. Yeah. But she buries a chance that is not considered a high goal scoring chance. And as you said, the entire time the game's playing out, the entire time the playoffs are playing out. As you're entering the playoffs, there is that feeling that if she's healthy, something can happen. I think she, in my mind, she is the most successful, entertaining American player of all time. Like the flare, the quality, the thing she does with production at the highest level. I don't know that anyone matches that.

Other people, I don't know, maybe Tobin Heath's in there as well. Yeah, I was thinking Tobin came to mind right away. Which is a little different because it's 1V1 stuff. They are different players. Yeah. Yes, an expert. But like this number 10, this magician that we think of, when we think of the beauty of the game and like the essence of it, there are very few players globally who can do it. And it's almost like an overrated thing of the Argentine 10s or Spanish players or French players or whatever.

Rose is one of them. She's one of one. like she's just so unique in the way that she sees the game the way she executes and even with 40 touches like when she gets the ball you're like what is she going to do yeah and and in this game it wasn't all that great but when it counted it was excellent and she battles enough that when the stuff that she you know she doesn't only do the one stuff and i think what one call the way won carlos has used her this year is like i trust you you're the leader so like we're going to put pressure on you and like we're going to make the game hard for you to try and make it easier for a jadenshaw or for a shippansky or for an esther or porchio like i think rose has been putting spots this year where there's expectations on her shoulders both ways to make other players lives easier and she's been able to carry the load enough to get them into the postseason and then do what she does best once she gets in there um so a really special

moment for her a really special moment for the club as well mandy freeman getting to lift the trophy is something I think she's been waiting for for a while to play and be healthy and be a part of it. And she is, you know, mayor of Gotham. And so that's a really cool moment for her and for the club. And she's been massive over the last few years. Like where and when she plays has always been important. And her flexibility, she's played a little centerback.

She's played some winger at times. She's played center forward in weird moments. But she's played both fullback positions. and that's allowed Yael to then flex and find other talent or Juan Carlos Maros to flex and put other people in the right position. So she deserves to be celebrated and it was a really, really cool moment at the end for her to get this game, to get the start and play at the level she did and be the captain

and then lift that trophy. Yeah, it was really, really, really cool and really, really special. On the flip side for Washington, back-to-back finals, back-to-back 1-0 losses. I don't, I wouldn't say in the same way, but they were both games where for stretches you felt like you saw the identity of this team and what they can do and the skill, the talent, the flair, the willingness to play in tough moments, but then you see them come up against this wall and I think there were like large stretch of this game that I find, I found odd.

I thought the first half, and I'm going to talk about this here, because I think it fits in with Washington. I thought in the first half, the game got really choppy. I thought Gotham came out. They pressed off goal kicks. Otherwise, I didn't think their pressure was that high. Washington didn't really have ideas of how to up the tempo. And then in the second half, I thought Croix herself was like, I'm going to open this game up.

Everything I do is going to be frenetic. I'm going to make the game faster. I'm going to try and get moving around. And I thought it worked a little bit for 15 minutes. And that's where the big chances come in the final third layoffs from her, runs from her that pulled defenders to open up chances for other players. But overall, Washington could just never control the way this game was played and turn it into a Washington spirit game.

And that's where I think they end up losing this, Jordan. And I think the frustration for Washington fans should be, it felt like after last year, like that's what they had learned and grown over this playoffs. And the Portland and Louisville games were very much played that way. And it felt like they understood how to do it once again. It's such a different defensive unit for this Gotham team than those other previous games that Washington had. And I think that's going to be the challenge for them is to figure out, okay, if teams are not going to give us that space, if defenders are going to track Gwasi wherever she goes in the channel and it's going to be hard for her to get in and be, and there is no space in behind for any of those runners.

or how do we successfully manage the game and pass around and find the next seam or the scene that's going to get us the best pass? And I think because of Croy pushing the pace in the second half, they did find a few of those combinations that dragged the intense pressure of Gotham in their defensive third away from those really good, that defensive structure. I think they got a little stretched, but you have to be able to finish in those moments. And before the playoffs, I think that was one of the things we saw from Washington is they were just not scoring at the clip that we were used to them scoring at.

And so it kind of came to bite them in the moment that it mattered the most. But it's hard to talk about this game without just talking about how good both of the defenses were. Like I really thought both of the defenses were excellent. Unfortunately for Washington, after that, their game against Portland, I said Portland had two of their best chances coming down Portland's left side. It was Castiano or it was Maltry. And because of the way that Washington sets up, it's like, it's like a three, five, two,

but it's also a three, four, three. It has some variety to the way that they look because he can build out of a three. And it asks a lot of Esne Morgan as that. right center back and that's exactly where the goal comes from for for gotham and so i and you could see goss during the game gotham keyed that if we get the ball we're going to try to go quickly to the our left side not just because you have jaden shaw over there and you know in the second half brunini or even in the first half with lily real but in that second half that was clearly what they were trying to do and they just needed one shot but i thought the reason that this game was so difficult at

to watch too, and these teams couldn't find barely any shots on target. It's because the defending was just really good throughout the entire match. Yeah, on the flip side of that with Esme Morgan, so her 96 touches were 30 more than second most in the game. So, like, she was in the stratosphere by herself, and often you would say, like, oh, centerbacks pass it around, but she's played at that right centerback position. And I think one of the things that's harder was it felt to me, like most of the time it shifted into a back four with Rose Kwasi playing as a winger. Yeah.

And then Rose Kwasi, the way she pulled the gravity of defenses, then there were gaps for Esmond Morgan to step into. And she wasn't fully comfortable to do that. We see a lot of coaches around the world now playing a full, a natural fullback as the third center back, a defensive midfielder as that third center back. where if my wide player is good enough in the tackle and can keep with, the channel is actually open, but you have to drive into it and you have to be comfortable having defenders around you. And I don't know that that's Esme Morgan's game. And at first, the first few buildouts,

Bernal pushed into central midfield. And McKeown and Morgan became a back, you know, a pairing as a back too. And I thought that was an interesting idea. I've liked what we've seen from Bernal and central midfield. But like so clear understanding that there. was going to be space for some of these centerbacks to have to work into and they're never really capable of taking it over. But I was impressed by Croy. I think Coy tried to push the game,

but like we just did a long thing about Rose Lavelle. It's a championship game. Who's your best players? Where are they and what can they do? Trinney Rodman is obviously one of them. Trinney Rodman came in for 30 minutes in this game. She said it in the post game. Maybe playing nine minutes going to a final is not the best way to get there. Like there was nothing they could do about it. it because of injury. She wasn't herself. And she wasn't herself last year in the final either. Um, the first, her first touch of the game, it's like a weird 50, 50, the ball pops out. And she's like 25 yards from the ball and no one else is there. And as she goes to get at the, whatever defender is tracking her, you're like, I said out loud, Trin's spit. Like, here it is.

Yeah. Yeah. You're one on one. You're isolated. You put it. And she didn't even think about it because she hadn't, she hasn't played a competitive, like the minute she played last. week we're not real she hasn't played competitive shocker in a month and a half two months so she just wasn't herself and some of that's timing same as it is for kc but that's how you break down the defense that's you can't break down is you have someone do something special i think crow's elite moments are more in transition than against the set defense it felt like against portland they had this like willingness we talked about it last week of like taking risks and getting the ball moving and making it play fast and all of that.

But as you said, this was a different level with Gotham. And it felt like they got tight because of that. And there wasn't the same flow to their attack. And with that, Cantori and Giff Monday superpowers kind of went away. And all of a sudden it was like, can anyone do something special by themselves? I was, you know, I talked about Juan Carlos and the tactical switch he had. I was actually surprised when Gonzalo, us put Rodman in and he put her on the left side and not the right side.

I just think in general, Trinity Rodman's just slightly more comfortable as a right winger. And we spoke about today, we've spoken in the past, but just about how Washington set up. And they actually, it's almost like a wing back on the right sides. It's not quite a winger. And maybe that's the decisioning why. They don't want her to have to do as much defending. Yeah. But it was a little too late because you did see after Gotham scored the goal, Washington

then find Trinity Rodman on the right side. She's the one that stretches and behind and tries to get the goal. But I think they should have put her on the right side way sooner. Alair, do you have anything you want to say? Alair, what did you think of the game, Alair? Did we go to the soccer game yesterday? Yeah. Did we play with the ball?

Yeah Was it fun? Yeah Hi Allaire Can you say hi to Jordan? I saw you yesterday Hi I like your pony

Yeah Yeah Yeah I'm on the phone But then when I'm done I'm going to come play with you Oh Bye Bobby

Yeah And And again Again even the The chance before the goal where Berger makes a mistake out of the back and Rodman first touch, long touch, to try and get it to GIF Monday.

It's like Rodman in form takes that ball down and starts attacking a defense and wants the ball at her feet. And it just, that wasn't the case. And it felt over the course of this year, like Cantori is a, you know, B plus a minus option. And Lacey Santos is as well. and Giff Mondays is as well.

Rose Quasi is as well. And it's like they're so good because they have so many of these. And then I think the gap was no one specifically in this game is the A plus option. Yeah. I think all those players,

yeah, I would agree with that. But I think that this is kind of like the best part about championship games, especially both these teams. Like it was such an evenly matched game that if Cantore were the one that scored the one goal, we would have been like, make sense, right?

Even if Giff Monday scores the one goal, we would have said, make sense. But it's just like, it's a game of moments and how players show up in those, the biggest of moments, under pressure with everything on the line.

And this one just felt like, it really just felt like me, to me, it fell to Gotham. And Rose LaValle with the ball at her feet was the one difference maker. One of the big conversations coming out of the game, Hal Herschfeldt, a warrior in central midfield for this team, goes down with an injury.

It's a long stoppage for her in the second half. She finally gets taken off. She's sort of testing it on the sideline to see if she can go. She's not moving well. It's obvious. You seem to be able to indicate from the broadcast, she's like, I'm going back in. There's a lot of emotion on her face when she does that.

She goes back on, and she's one of the players that get sucked out of the play for Rose to be open enough to get the shot away. What did you make of the overall way it played out and sort of what happened? Our hindsight is 2020, right? But it looked like from just seeing how on the sideline, of course, she's going to want to continue. But the options for Washington are, Abby Odin's a great option to have. I understand if Hal's not fully injured, you're not going to take her off. But she was, she could barely move. I think the substitution probably should have come because then right when

Hal gets back on the field, the goal comes from, you know, it's not that she's not tracking correctly, but does she overcorrect the way that she's tracking because she's thinking so much about what's going on in her body and she's not really reading the game? Well, it just was difficult. It was a difficult decision, and right after the goal gets scored, they make the sub, they bring an Abi-Oden, and it feels like it was pretty terrible timing all in all for the spirit on that play in particular. And in the moment in the play, you watch it, and it's Mitch Purse's run that Hal Herschfeld sort of gets distracted by in tracks, which is not a health thing. But as you said, she's not playing her normal self, so is that what affects it? and I think all this comes on the back end of like Bia playing how many minutes she did

and was she healthy and should she have been left in and was it Flacco's call that he should have made and so is this Adrian's call and he should have made it and I think that's all part of it I think the odd part about the whole thing is as you said there are great options there it's the one position of depth that really felt like they had where I was watching the game as it played out zero zero and you're like oh you wish Washington had more attacking options but they do have fresh legs they could bring on they could bring on to Rumi they could bring on obiodin like that those those exist for this team and that's their strength and so I thought that part was a little bit odd for them and obviously it sucks for her right she

cares a lot she has done a lot for this team like she is not a six this is a year that and how was in rookie of the year combos last year as an eight alongside andy sullivan has taken over most of the responsibility it still probably isn't her best position and so that it's a lot that she has put into this year, which I think is really, real unfortunate for to end with that taste in their mouth. Is there anything about what happens now back-to-back years to championship losses one zero

that you think Washington has to go back to the drawing board and reset? Or does it take away from what Washington has accomplished? Or does it change the stratosphere they exist in? I think only winning it would have changed where they were. think getting there back-to-back years and not just getting there, but they got there by being one of the best teams in the league in back-to-back years, right? I think they, last year, were they second as well? Yep. Yeah. So second two times in a row to have that consistency. Now it's just about is there enough experience? Like, I do think if you have Gabby Carl is this different. If you

have Case Grueger is this different. If you have Andy Sullivan, like we talked about Gotham a lot. The players that were actually hurt at this point in the season for Washington are a lot of the ones with a really good experience, whereas it felt like the Gotham team got back those players with experience in big moments. Minus Tim Davidson, who missed the whole year. Yes, yes, minus her. So I don't think to me it really changes much about my perception of Washington. I still think that they are doing a lot of the right things.

but there is going to have to be like those players are all going to look at themselves and figure out how can I be better in those moments to make sure that when we're there again because you got to know that they're all thinking that they can get there yet again next year that they find a way and you know it's it's a moment it's a tackle it's a block whatever it is right throwing your body on the ground like emily sonnet did those types of plays can be the difference. So it doesn't really change what I think of the spirit. Yeah, I agree.

I think they've done things the right way. They've found talent in a ton of different ways. Whatever process they have set up to make new players coming in, fit in and feel comfortable is as good as anyone. Like now Cantori and GIF Monday and Rose Coasi and Esmey Morgan and Bernal. Like that's a two-year span. all those players came in at different moments of the season, from preseason to midseason to three quarter of the season to one quarter of the season,

and all of them have hit and being comfortable really, really quickly. So whatever process they have there, I think really works. I think understanding the type of talent they want and all of that. The one thing that stands out to me and that I'm hopeful it was just a blip that they're over is I think the part of that 2% in these moments is your patterns of play. and your identity and how you want to be. And this is where the Adrian to Jonah, to Jonah to Adrian two years is like, what's the muscle memory and where are the patterns of playing the highest stress moments

that we know we can break down the best opponents that hasn't been there. And that to me, some of that is the latency you lose of like they haven't drilled something for, you know, X years with the same players over and over to do it in these high leverage moments and Mark McCorion has stepped away and you know they're going to fill that role and that's sort of the only fear for me and the hope is it was just okay Michelle Kang was getting this on board and and this is where it is and it's not that there's always going to be this movement in and out because if that's the case I think that's first that's part of what you lose is that consistency for players to thrive under even though you're finding and emboldening the right players

And just kind of what you were saying about Gotham is they tried things throughout the whole entire season. And not that Washington hasn't, but they did that with two different coaches. Right. Yeah. So you're just creating awareness of like, all right, my, I know my role. I know my responsibility. I know that I can execute no matter what under this head coach who has been there now for, you know, really two solid years. But for Adrian Gonzalez, I think he's going to be happy to just be there for one year as the full-time manager yeah yeah he may be doing it without trinny rodman we still don't know the end of that and that's going to be a huge part of this offseason i didn't learn anything this week but if i were to guess she's not going to be playing in north america next year one she's not

going to be playing for dc power i thought that was an offensive thing as i put on blue sky that dc power has players who are not making what they should they're not promoting their team they're not putting the right resources into their team and they're like here's a marketing scheme that we're willing to throw a bunch of money at because structurally we can why don't you have like the the allotment of athletic trainers you should have first before you try and give trinity rodman X millions of dollars and try and get publicity for doing it but i would be surprised if nwsl found a way to keep her in the league is my feeling right now based off no expertise and no insight um scoop one of the combos i had with some people which popped in my head and we talked about this a little bit when we met up but in the NBA there's this thing called bird rights where you can extend a player who's been on your team for X time and it doesn't hit the cap at the same number and that could be an interesting thing for an NWSL which is you're not looking at DPs to say how do we improve the league by bringing in the 12 best players in the world because a lot of them already are there it's like how do we keep the identities of

these teams and that could be something that you could find a way to bring in, which is, you know, 60% of a Trinity Rodman or Naomi Germa's contract hits the cap if they're there for X amount of years already. So how do you keep players and I think just keep teams? Because in NBA, the way that works, it's not only star players. It's every player. If they're with you, if you drafted them, obviously no draft, like things like that. And I do think one of the things you want is like you want less churn and movement

because you want people to fall in love with the teams. I think about, you know, Sophia Smith, too, being one of the, of those or Wilson being one of those players too because she's on she's a free agent as well right now and I think a lot of attention is going to Trinity Rodman because she's playing but there should be attention to Sophie Wilson as well and we did see her at the final so she she's back around and these are the players that you want to keep in this league so I like that idea and as much as I hope I am hopeful that she will not be going anywhere and she does stay in the league because I want Trinity Rodman in NWSL, I think that that might be the last game

we see her play here for a long time. Yeah, I think so as well, which will be unfortunate to see, but we will still watch her wherever she plays. We've got a lot of shows coming up here in the offseason. We haven't really done offseason preview stuff. So we're going to dig in to what a lot of these teams need to do, what the free agents do look like, obviously to expansion teams around the corner. So we're going to learn a lot about them over the next few weeks as they start to announce the players coming in.

So we have a lot to talk about here on this show. We've got kickback committee still. We'll be covering this game with Susanna Fuller as well as the USL championship final that Pittsburgh won. We had their goalkeeper Eric Dick on the show last week. Obviously, we already covered one Knoxville. And Major League Soccer still has playoffs ongoing as we head to the MLS Cup final. And we will be doing a live show around the draw coming up on December 5th for the World Cup. So we are your source for all your soccer coming into the off season.

Last thing I'll leave it on. You know, interesting game, wild final. Bay has a really cool identity. Like I saw the Bay vibe. Everyone had Bay gear on. They have it on. I'm up in San Francisco. Came down to San Jose.

Like there's a lot going on there. So that's one of those teams where I'm hoping they get it right in this off season. Because we see how quickly it can jump in this league. And if they can just get it. consistently effective and dangerous like be in a four or five conversation next year be exciting going forward the cheers for rachel kunaanji at the skills challenge everything else they have something special it's why they got to host the finals a neutral site and unfortunately not to be able to see them in it but like they should be around that conversation fairly soon they should and yeah it was

great they great party hosts all week long they did San Jose it was so much fun um to be in amongst everybody so if you haven't been to nwsel championship weekend too you should go there's so much to do and it just keeps getting better and better and better so uh hats off to the bay folks and being the hostess with the mostest and it's wild the season's over gosh i know it happens so Fast. Speaking of host, by the way, awards, Jordan Angeli, in the Vegas dress doing the full hosting, full Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra impersonation. And it was awesome. It was so fun to watch. I have no idea how you could do that. I could not do any of that. I don't know how I did it. And it was so much fun. I had so much fun.

I could have used a few more laughs from the audience, but, but, yeah, well, because they were getting ready for a game. That's a tough thing. They're all still in, you know, half the people in the room are still in battle mode. True. That's true. But it was awesome to watch. It looked like a fun event.

Yeah. And we all enjoyed it a ton. And then we will watch the skills challenge because that is coming out next weekend. Next weekend. So we're going to watch that and we're going to get to hear Jordan's voice one more time. a broadcast and otherwise you're going to have to come here to soccer wise to hear her as well so thank you to you for being here thank you to everyone for listening thank you to a lair who popped in in the middle of the show gave her commentary i think she said there was a ball yeah and soccer yeah big time

commentary uh oh i can't wait she probably didn't take my job yeah she was my seatmate for the game and she was very impressed by the wave which was a big part of the of the game experience in the second i bet the wave is mesmerizing so i can imagine for a two-year-old yeah I think I'd fallen out of love with the wave, and it kind of brought me back in. And we're not talking about San Diego. We're talking about the vibe in the stadium thing that moves as well. All right. So thank you to all of you, once again, for listening.

Rate, review us, follow anywhere you get your podcast. Thank you to everyone who came up and said hi over the course of the week. It was awesome to see people. It's awesome to know that anyone cares and listens and is engaged. And I hope we said things that made sense to you about your team or other teams or the league overall. And we're going to have some big picture conversations as well, while we have some time in the off season. So send us anything that you want us to dig into.

Any topics, any angles, college soccer, youth development, future of the league, salary cap stuff, favorite formations, what type of coaches have been successful. Whatever topic you want, send it to us. I know. Favorite board game. We can find a bunch of different ways to hit it. I think favorite board game is obvious for everyone. Like, there's only one that's fun in its life.

Life. Okay. Okay. Great. Well, it sounds. I was just trying to think of another. topic that we could throw in there that people could have an opinion we could do best breakfast sandwich that's a good debate topic okay I like it I like it bring it on people bring it on

all right and on that note thank you everyone and we'll talk to again very soon Thank you.