SoccerWise - Gotham Record Breaking Trade For Jaedyn Shaw + Angel City Making Moves & Bay FC Coaching Change

Episode Date: September 10, 2025

We thought the breaking news was over for the season and how wrong we were. Gotham shatters the NWSL trade fee record with their move out of left field for Jaedyn Shaw. Jordan & David are back to dig into what it means for Shaw, Gotham, North Carolina & NWSL. Angel City have gotten into the trade market as well as they try to fgiure out what is their future post Alyssa Thompson, and Bay are preparing to hire their second ever coach. 4:15 Jaedyn Shaw Historic Trade21:08 What Is North Carolina Planning?24:10 Angel City Acquire Nealy Martin & Extend Giselle Thompson33:05 Chicago Put Up 5 On Orlando In Their New Home38:15 Is Orlando A Repeat Contender?44:00 Portland v Lville Playoff Level Clash46:25 Bay FC Plan Albertin Montoya's Departure

What up, everybody, welcome back to SakaWise, David Goss in Jordan, Angeli with you for another action-packed episode. And one, fingers crossed, I am hoping I get through without losing any power as the September storms have. rolled through downtown Miami and are rattling my window right now with rain, lightning, and thunder. So Jordan, if I lose power at some point, you can soldier on without me. I'll just keep, I'll just keep rolling. It does give a very interesting lighting to you. It's very...

I turned on my lights. Yes. I'm on full nighttime mode. Yes, yes. It's, you know, the aesthetic that you've built there in your home office really is dependent on the window light. And so this storm is really messing with us here. It's why whenever we go into the sun and it's me crazy, I'm always like, I don't want to turn the lights on because I feel like, I appreciate knowing that.

Have you ever talked about it? It's really good lighting. You have. It is good lighting. The problem with natural lighting is. You never know. Yeah. My friend works for a company called Sail GP and their tagline is the only sport powered by nature and when there's no wind there's no race and that's what you're kind of waiting for um so sometimes it happens but i am very excited for this show anyway we have a ton of breaking news to cover i thought the transfer window was open thought they or closed i thought things would come down and then i'm texting you yesterday saying i don't understand what's happening i cannot figure out what is going on jaden shop moving from north carolina to gotham in a record

trade inside of NWSL for roughly $1.5 million split out in a couple different ways amongst trans intra-league transfer funds. We will talk about that. We will talk about what it means for her, for Gotham, for North Carolina. And then in talking about that, we'll talk about Angel City as well, who have traded for Neely Martin coming over from Gotham. So moving out of the club that Jaden Shaw is joining, some contract extensions for Giselle Thompson, McKenna Moore, other players that have signed some deals as well with some new teams. And then Bay FC, we're like, we want attention too. So we're going to announce this thing, which at first glance, you won't understand.

And then we're going to explain that our routine Montoya is leaving the club at the end of the season. And we are on a search already to replace him as head coach of the team. And of course, we'll talk about all the games that happened. This weekend, the game's coming up. And we'll talk a little bit about New Hampshire, which is our 50th state for this week. week and everything else. But in the spirit of breaking news, you are coming to us directly from a breaking news moment yourself. Yes, I am. I was just hosting an event press conference for

Denver Summit FC who just announced the naming rights for their training facility, their performance center, I should call it, performance center. Common Health, which is common spirits It's health care. Wow, I should get that right. Comin spirit health care, which is exciting to have them be a partner from the beginning and then to now know that that's what the performance center is going to be called. So, yeah, there's already some it posted some photos about what it's going to look like. And yeah, the training facility looks really nice. And then the performance center itself is going to be top class. So, yeah, it was a busy morning. That's got to be fun to get a last minute call and be like, hey, we're going to do a cool thing.

It's going to be fun. Do you want to swing on down? Yeah, always. Come hang out. Always. It's nice being here. And it would have been cooler if it was a presentation of a $1.5 million player trade that maybe happened, maybe in the future. Maybe. We never know. But let's stick into the news that we do have. So Jaden Shaw on Monday, the news breaking that Gotham would be sending $1.5 million

an intra-league transfer fund, spreader. cost multiple years, setting the record for the largest move inside of NWSL and approaching the world record. Because while this is a different format, if you just take transfer fees, you are on the verge of approaching the record transfer in the world, even though it's done in a little bit of a different way. Now, the record on the fee is astronomical because it comes off the back of Allie Centaur being the record trade for 600,000 in different forms of funds and allocation money, which occurred like a month ago. And we thought that was mind-blowing. And I think the biggest context that blew my mind about this whole thing is that Jane and Shaw moved

in January for somewhere between 300,000 and 450,000 in money depending on different things being hit and the way that she played. And since then, she scored three goals and had one assist. So to me, there's like a lot of different things to talk about here. We're going to talk about her as a player. We're going to talk about Gotham. We're going to talk about North Carolina. One of the hardest things for me to wrap my mind around, though, is this transfer

fee. And I understand, as one of the things I fight with people about a lot, a transfer fee, a value is literally just what a team is willing to pay. Okay, if this player has this value, but one team says, well, we'll pay more. and another team says, no, we still want them, and they'll pay even more, that is now their transfer value. Like that, there's no debatable point about that. But a jump in eight months of $1.2 million seems to be a little bit outside of the realm of

possibility of what I considered in this season. What did you make of it when you heard it? Just to that point, Goss, it feels like at times transfers are like you're playing with monopoly money. Like, is it really? real money. No one's ever going to ask for this. Yeah, because I was shocked. When I first read this, I was just shocked at the number that was on it. I think, and we'll get to this, just was the fit right for Jaden Shaw in North Carolina, didn't feel like it. And so the fact that Gotham paid that much

money to get her must be evident that they feel like they really need her in order to be successful. And you're right. Like I think that there's a lot of positives about Jaden Shaw and a lot of reasons that you would want her to be on your team. But that value to me, it almost just feels like at times, like we're not helping each other out. Like the numbers just keep getting more and more. And maybe it'll all just like even itself out in the end, right? Because all these interleague trades will happen. But that just felt like an overinflated number in the market that we're in right now. And the assumption is that there was another team who was saying, okay, we'll pay 700, we'll pay 800, right? Yeah, maybe. And the paddle kept going up back and forth.

Now, of course, in the modern situation with the CBA, Jaden Shaw would have to be open to joining the teams that were bidding. She already left San Diego. She's not going to North Carolina. So the list starts to clear itself up. You assume it wasn't Kansas City. I'd be shocked if it was Orlando after the move they made. So it starts to bring it into picture, and it's really interesting to think who the other teams out there would be for a move like this. Could it have been a Utah trying to use what they brought in and try and send it back the other way?

We do not know the full structure of how this is broken up across the years away. I'm not officially released and announced. I will say this now, and I will probably say this every show ever and all the time. Fans enjoy knowing the details about this. It generates a lot of interest about teams. I understand sometimes for like personal income stuff. It's not always the most comfortable to release. But I know this in covering MLS, it's a huge hole in the way people can engage with the league.

And it's a reason people don't like MLS as much. And I hope NWSL figures out ways going forward, which is people want to know things about their team. Like everyone is sitting around reading about MLB and NBA and saying, what's the cap space? Where players end up all of that. And I know people like Taylor Vincent do an incredible job covering NWSL. there is still too much guesswork in all of this. Let's start out talking about Shaw as a player. Three goals, one assist in a thousand minutes this year.

Struggled with a little bit of injuries. Last year was on the Olympic team as well, so didn't get a full season. Best year was two years ago, seven goals on the season. She is 20 still. She clearly has a place in Emma Hayes' plans because of her pure talent. I do believe that she has star power capability that can be the best player on a championship team. I feel like I see it when she's on the U.S.

I feel like I saw it at times in San Diego. We never saw anything approaching that in North Carolina. So on the one hand, I liked the move, which is it clearly wasn't working. And so now you get another opportunity in a different setting. She goes into a setting where there's a lot of talent around her who can take some of the responsibility maybe off her shoulders and take away some of the pressure. I don't fully know how she fits in,

which we'll talk about on the Gotham side. But overall, like, it doesn't shock me when I hear the name Jaden Shaw connected to a record trade. But we start to approach the can't be in theory has to be in reality time period of her career over the next year or two. This is the thing about football, too, is like your season last year

is not always the season that you have this year, right? And that value, being a record transfer fee, I think we could have seen that a couple years ago with Jaden Shaw and how she hit the ground running coming into NWSL.

Then when she went with the national team and scored in all five of her first starts, she just was on fire. And this is, she's 20 years old. Consistency, no matter what, is the hardest thing to do as a professional athlete to know what to expect from a player game in and game out that's why that's where the greats really differentiate themselves can jaden shaw be a great

yeah but but is that something that she has to learn over time absolutely and i think we're seeing that doesn't shouldn't it shouldn't matter if you're a player like jaden shaw where you play with how you can affect the game i think she had has had moments at north carolina but it is not been what we expect. And so how much of that is her own pressure on herself? How much of that is not understanding or maybe getting too much information as to like how she's supposed to play in this new system? I think maybe the same thing will happen when she goes to Gotham.

But as you get older and more wise in your playing career, you start to manage those things better. So you can still be yourself within whatever system that you're being asked to play. And that's the big, I think, for her. that's the next step, is how can I be as much Jaden Shaw, no matter what the circumstances are around me, formation, set up, tactics, players. So could she do that here with this Gotham team? I absolutely think so.

And I think that's why you see that type of number is because they believe that the best is yet to come, which it should. And they want to have her for those years that it does. And the logic going into North Carolina was she likes to be on the ball. She's clean in possession. I think for many people, Casey Stony, San Diego teams where Shaw shined at her best and obviously very young in her career were heavy possession teams. And so going to North Carolina was like this perfect fit. And they, of course, needed the talent increase losing Caroline and trying to find a replacement. and it never fit for her.

And as you talked about, like, there's a lot of different variabilities with that. You would love to see a player who's capable of just performing through it. By I think coming out of it now, you have to say, well, she's clearly not a natural center forward. If you put her out wide, sometimes she can get a little bit lost depending on how you play, the best we have seen her in the last two years is driving the game from a quote-unquote number 10 position

with the U.S. Women's National Team at She Beliefs Cup and some of the other games that we've seen where she's played in there. That's her most comfortable spot. And you would assume a team giving up what Gotham gave up has an idea of how to utilize her and how to put her into place. Let's talk about Gotham, though, because Rose LaVelle plays for their tea. Roosevelt does some of those things. Jalen Howell has been scoring a ton of goals recently,

playing as more of an attacking second midfielder in front of a true natural defensive midfielder. And then you have a bevy of options across the front attacking three that Esther when healthy is never going to move. And you have three to four to five other attacking players depending on Sarah Shepansky and where you sort of put her and other injuries and other options. Like I, again, you hear the name, you understand. But I don't know that it feels so obvious to me where she fits in and how Gotham uses her. I don't know, because it's also similar to if she's a 10, that's a crowded area. You have Rose, you have Shepansky, Esther can play there as well.

It's kind of like what happened at North Carolina with Sanchez, Manaka, Shinomi, Shaw, right? They're all these players with similar player profiles. Yes, differences in details that I think you would want, depending on the matchup. But it isn't. It isn't like plug and play. Shaw is a starter in this team. because X, Y, Z. You mentioned she can't play in a different, like, she's not just a 10.

North Carolina is playing her a little bit deeper. Could she be an eight? I think so. They've tried her as a six. I just don't think Jaden Shaw is a six. I don't feel like that's where she could fit in, especially with this Gotham team who has the stability of Jalen Howell in that position. But there's, she could play as a winger, tucked inside, becoming a double 10.

if you have a right-sided outside back who could be really aggressive like Bruninia. So I think there's options, but I don't know. I don't think it'll be like you're starting every game. We've had 1.5 mil to start you every game. Well, I don't think that's going to be the case. And what's odd to me about it then is it's a Gotham team that is recovering from, which I don't think was wrong, a short-term win-now mode last. year, right? They won the championship two years ago and they said, great, we're going to

like build this super team. We're going to load up. And I think the big gamble on that was winning, like, solves all issues, right? If they had won last year and been a shield winner and won a championship, I think a lot of people would have, who weren't getting as much playing time as they expected and the position they expected would have kind of been like, okay, this is what I signed up for. This is what it is. After that didn't happen, you started to see players decide yes me and Ryan and other players like that like okay i'm going to go try something somewhere else where i'm more central to what i do and i i think gotham handled it fairly well i think what they've done is they've gone younger yeah you look at shippansky they've sort of even though

real how around all those stevens reel's been awesome now you're bringing in another you know young central midfielder into the team like i think they've done a good job of resetting themselves but keeping a core up the spine of Berger and Sonnet and Roosevelt and Esther. And then some of these other moves, Midge is on a one-year deal. And Jasa is on loan, like keeps flexibility open for you. So this is either a future move. Or it's a win now move. Or it's a win now move.

And if it's a win now move, but she's not obviously 100% of starter every game, then it feels like you've gone back in time where, Now you're back into the win now mode. I do think people might be shocked. Rose has been, I'd have to check the year that she entered the league. But Rose has been in the league for a number of years, maybe seven, eight. Can you check that while I'm talking? I'm working on.

Thank you, Goss. She's only played 89 games. That is not very many games because she is constantly injured. And if you don't have Rose, we saw in that game against Angel City, Sarah Shepansky just isn't quite there yet. She's not the unlocker of a defense. She can play on the wing and tuck inside and do well in a double 10 and help create in the channel as well. But I think if I were Gotham, I'd be thinking if we push and we play, if they play like they did in the second half against Angel City going forward, this is going to be a difficult team to play against. but if they don't have a replacement for Roosevelt, if it's hard,

but when she picks up another injury, maybe it's not this year, maybe it is in the future. I hope it's never, but it's just the reality of the situation. You don't have a player who can replace her, then you're not going to have that X factor. So to me,

it feels like both, but when I first saw it, I was like, this is a win now. They feel like they can do something this season. So Rose LaValle, 2017 through 20, played 27 games between the Boston Breakers and Washington Spirit, then went to Manchester City. Yeah. And then in coming back, played 37 times for Seattle across three seasons.

And now has played 24 times for Gotham across two seasons. That's sharp. I mean, just when I do my notes and I had Gothen this last weekend, it was Rose's 89th appearance in NWSL from 2017. Yeah. Sam's not put up. those numbers a year and a half, it feels like. Yeah, there's question marks there. And so, again, it makes sense. You bring Jaden Sean, but like, you're going to put together this type of money, once again, for a player who, if everyone's healthy, is she a starter? Is she not? We have a comment

in the chat, I think a good one from Owen Spangler, who says plenty of players move positions way later than 20 years old, yet still have an impact at club in your country level, Mickey on McCaskill and Nicewanger. That is 100% true. That is great for Jaden Shaw's career. You are not giving up $1.5 million in funds for players. To change someone's position. Yeah. Even if you are, you don't pay that money for players who play demid and centerback and right back.

Like that's not where the value on a roster falls. And so if that's the case, unless she is world class and the best in the world that whatever it is that she moves into, you will probably walk away saying that that was not the right move. to have me. She has to impact the game on the attack inside the field. And she can. Right. Like, that's where it's like, you could sell me. I'm there with you. She has these moments and not just these moments. Because in her career, she has been consistent just not over the last year and a half. And the hope is that Gotham is the place to do it. And as you mentioned, like, there's a lot of talent. I don't know how it all fits together. I really like Sarah Shepanski as a

soccer player. I don't think she is that true final chance creator. Well, she also, like a rookie. She's just getting used to it. Yeah. And if Roosevelt's out, you can fill in for her. I think the huge question mark of all of this, which it will be fascinating, is if you play her and Rose next to each other, like how effective are you against the ball? How much does one drop in and help build possession versus both of them sort of wanting to stay high and being final chance creators and being players who can get on the half turn and run at defenders? Someone's going to have to help in possession. Someone's going to have to help off the ball to close down channels and close down gaps. And so I think it's cool to see if it can work and see if it can fit for both these

teams. And you mentioned the game against Bay FC, which they were able to get a 3-1 resulting. But before we move to that, let's talk North Carolina for a second. What do you make of what's going on in North Carolina now that they were able to flip a massive profit, but you move off sort of the bright future of your team within eight months of acquiring her? I think we're all curious about what's going on in North Carolina. Maybe there's a bigger play at work than we've been able to see. But one of the disappointments, I think, for them is in the summertime, they didn't make any big signings.

They didn't add to their roster in the transfer window that now you're taking away from your roster with a player that I think a lot of people, were excited about. So yeah, maybe there's something larger at work here in North Carolina, but I think from the outside, there is a lot of question marks as to what's going on because it just doesn't seem like they're making the moves that can help them. You know, maybe this will help you in the future because of the funds. But right now, it's just I think a lot of people are curious about their build, how they're bolstering it, how they're hindering it maybe with this. But again, Shaw didn't really fit in, right? She wasn't playing a ton of minutes. So if you're

getting that kind of money, you would be silly not to take it. Yeah, that's where I fall, which is, yes, they don't know who they are. They have, I think, shown an ability to find young players, Riley Jackson, Monaca, the players they've brought in, especially from outside the league, they've done a really good job with. And that has clearly been a success. And so this move to me doesn't fully say, like, oh, we're, you know, affording our whole future because they do have young talent that they've already can build around. And this number is so astronomical to what you paid that it is actually the perfect spot to say to a new coach

and a new sort of sporting setup like, okay, rebuild this in your image. Like, what do you want this team to be built around? Now, there are restrictions on that. You need to acquire players inside the league. Those players need to be willing to come to you because of the new CBA. So you still have to sell yourself to players, which I don't know how easy that is right now for North Carolina team that fired their coach midway through the season and all of that. But it feels like a no-brainer to take the deal.

And obviously, in having to work with the play. There are two sides of this that were out saying, hey, this is available. So maybe it wasn't driven by North Carolina. But once they were able to see, okay, here's the potential and opportunity there, it makes sense. They have not put together a winning roster, though. And so I think all of the question marks are totally fair around what they're doing and who they are. Let's talk Angel City and Gotham. Let's start with the news.

In the back end of all of this, Neely Martin has been traded from Gotham to Angel City. trade is for $85,000 in different allocation funds. The assumption being here that Neely was going to sign with Angel City. And so now gets the chance to get there before the end of the year and play with this team for Angel City. It feels like a no-brainer. They have had trouble closing down games and seeing out victories. And you're bringing in a veteran who has won championships and has played a massive role in a leadership position at the base of that midfield. And can also play goalkeeper in a pinch. Can't forget about Neely Martin's two times in net for Gotham.

It does make a lot of sense when you put it in those terms, right? Can she help them close out games? Just provide some leadership on the field in the midfield to help them. I think since Strauss has come in and he's played Madison Hammond, there are times where I think Madison Hammond has done a really good job of being that holding midfielder for them. Milly Martin can do that. She's shown that she's done it at a championship level. I think the hard thing or the thing I think about is like he is a very attack-minded coach. Can she be a little bit

quicker at progressing the ball forward? But she can play as a centerback as well. She could play as a holding midfielder. So wasn't getting the playing time now with Jalen Howell in that spot in Gotham. So it makes sense for her to leave. It makes sense for Angel City. maybe not the signing that Angel City fans were hoping that they were going to get. They probably wanted some attacking firepower. But they have to do better defensively. And so I think this Neely Martin trade makes sense in that regard. Yeah, I think it makes 100% sense for Angel City.

You get a veteran. You get someone to build her out. I mean, it's very similar to Delaney Sheehan and Yasmin Ryan leaving for Houston, right? a team that was trying to sort of steal a little bit of an acceleration in their development and their experience. And so you do so by taking a player who's been there rather than having the time to build it fully as you're on culture. And as you said, she's kind of been pushed out of minutes with Gotham. And so here's an opportunity to start for a team and a team in another big city that could be super competitive. I will say, I do think defensive midfield, I like the

options that have emerged for Angel City, and I don't know that it would have been the first position that I would have said they need to fix. Right. But if you told me Neely Martin was available and I was running Angel City, I would try and bring her in because she's a winning soccer player. We don't have enough of those. And I could figure out the rest of it from there, right? But I think Hammond and Hodge and the pieces they have have looked okay. But right now it feels like you're more trying to build a core and then you see the exact pieces you need going forward and she can clearly be a part of that. And this comes in line with Giselle Thompson signing a contract extension right as Alyssa Thompson moved to Chelsea. We talked all about that over the last

two weeks. The final number, we don't know, somewhere between 1.3 and 1.5 million dollars. So it didn't shatter the record like we thought it would, but it approaches those top ever numbers, which if she wanted to go, I don't know that Angel City had a ton of leverage, even though she just signed a new deal. I find it interesting that Jaselle Thompson off the back that signs a contract extension, but I think that's a commitment from her and from the team saying, like, we want to remain competitive going forward. And Jiselle Thompson is a part of that.

It's also a statement to me from Jizal Thompson. Like, I know we're sisters, but I'm my own person. And she has been excellent. I know you and I going into national team camp at the beginning of the year, we're like, how is Giselle Thompson going to fit in like this? And then after the camp, we were thinking, this might be the brightest young player that the team has. So she's grown a lot.

She's been able to play 90 minutes now, which is, you know, kudos to the fitness and performance people at Angel City that they've gotten her to a place where she can perform at that highest level with the amount of running she puts in. to affect the game. And they look a lot different when Giselle Thompson is on the field and when she's not.

I don't know why she came out at a half time. Still, I was still kind of curious about that because I thought she was playing a really good first half. But it's great. And that will help them grow with a player like that. And, you know, I think a lot of people are bummed about Alyssa leaving. They understand. But for them to keep Giselle Thompson was a big statement

for her and for Angel City. Yeah, it is, it's a big. golf season coming for this Angel City team. New coach, now new identity. They need a new face of the team. Jazelle Thompson will be a part of that. And I think the easiest way for them forward. And I think to San Diego of like, oh no, who are they? What's going on? Delphine Cascarino is a superstar and sellable. But like being good is what brings the fans back. Being good is what keeps people engaged. And that should be the focus for Angel City. It shouldn't matter who the face of that is and what they do. You mentioned the game. Three one win for Gotham from behind and an Angel City

goal in the second minute. Gotham fails to score in the first half. They score two minutes into the second half and then they finish off with a three one victory. What did you make of this game and what you saw from these two teams? I thought Gotham didn't show up to the game in the first half. They looked lethargic, not really like themselves, not like they were pressing the game. And once Angel City got an early goal, the challenge was, can you hold the lead? And the way that Gotham came out, they made subs at halftime. It was very two, whipsies, two different halves. Like Angel City, I thought, controlled the tempo of the first half. Gotham controlled the tempo of the second half. And Perce, Lavelle came in, made a big difference with just the tempo, as I said. How fast are we going to run at

players. How fast are we going to progress the ball? How fast are we going to counterpress? And all those things were different in the second half for Gotham, which makes me think if they can do that through the end of this season, they will be a contender. They will be a team that will be hard to face. And for Angel City, they just looked, it looked like once they got that third goal scored against them, like you could feel the weight of everything that has happened over the last two months with this team that they weren't going to find a way back because, man, it looked like they just mentally were exhausted. So that's a bummer.

We saw Sarah Dorson play for the first time. I thought it was an interesting debut for her centerback, a position that they need, Angel City needs to have some stability next to Sarah Gordon. Is it going to be Dorson from that first appearance? I don't know. I don't know if it's going to be. But it is an option for them and hopefully something that as maybe they,

If they can keep the ball a little bit more, if they aren't chasing as much, maybe it is a good combination, a good pairing with the intelligence of Dorson and the knowledge of NWSL with Sarah Gordon next to her. So it's kind of my big overall thoughts on the game. But yeah, I thought Gotham in the second half looked really dangerous. I would argue it's the best half they've played. And I'm just going to say this season because I can't remember a better one. I feel like they started the year getting results.

They were all grind out, right? S there scoring, 1-0 wins, whatever. And then they went through a lull. They have not played that long of a stretch on the front foot with result. Like they've played some aggressive soccer at times. You just haven't gotten the goals off the back of it. And so I thought it was as good as they've been. And it was necessary.

Because like if you lose that game at home to Angel City, I don't know where you are. Yeah. And it comes in a really big moment where, a lot of teams are struggling, and a lot of teams are struggling right next to them in the standings, and one or two results can completely change. Yeah, it is wild right now. Let's do the other breaking news. Actually, let's talk about soccer then for a second, and then we'll talk about other breaking news. So Gotham moves up to sixth in the league with that victory. They are one point behind Orlando at fifth, two points behind Portland in fourth,

and three points behind San Diego. Angel City drops all the way down to 10th right now. So there are four points behind Gotham, three points off the playoff spot. All of this affected by the fact that Chicago decided if you want to party, if you want to be interesting, you want the Chicago stars, apparently, to be a part of your life. They host this game at Northwestern in this new stadium, as we talked about last week, that they just announced will be their permanent home next year. The views were, as we thought, stupendous, right?

You've got sailboats going by on the lake alongside it. The crowd was buzzing for it. It feels like you do have the chance to activate, if not the major center of the city, a different piece of your fan base that wants to be local and wants to come to games. They came out, they're tied zero zero at halftime. Then Sam Stob scores a direct free kick from the top of the box and the floodgates open.

They beat Orlando, the reigning champions, five to two, in one of the most absurd results, I would say. But I can't say the most because this team came back from 3-0 down at Seattle with an illicit air equalizer in stoppage time like three weeks ago. Yeah. Well, but one of the craziest score lines in NWSol history, it has to be five to two with just the when the goals are scored too. and I think it shows you a little bit about both of these teams. A lot of those goals were scored within like five minutes of each other. So management of games has not been good for either one of these teams throughout this year, unfortunately, which was really something Orlando was excellent at last year.

They were a difficult nut to crack. You could not break them down. And here it was back and forth and just I think individual mistakes alongside. individual brilliance and for this Chicago team it feels like they have belief that they have not had in a long, long, long time. I know they've credited a lot of that to Ella Masser and how she has brought them together. But now under Jacobson, I don't think a ton has changed with some of the tactics that they have, but it feels like they are all bought into, hey, we have a direction finally. So let's go show off. You know, it helps that they're healthy with

Ludmila on one side, Joseph on the other, and yeah, there's been some, they feel to me like they're a little bit must-watch soccer goss, which, what the heck? What happened? This was a team where you looked at it and you said, like, they're playing Joseph up top, just purely hopeful that her speed could lead to a chance. Like, there was no ideas, there was no patterns of play, there was no real intent in possession. I think. I think the, I think getting healthy has been huge, right? Stop coming into the team. So now there's a little more confidence to step forward. I think Ludmila being who she is has made everyone's life a little easier. Like, okay, there's this like outlet. Every once in a while, we're going to get

a chance or score a goal that we don't really have to work for because it's going to come out of the pattern of play because she's just going to break someone down or hit a shot from distance or do something special. And it feels like that's opened up the game for a lot of players. I think this is the best soccer we've seen Joseph play where it's leading to real chances and real opportunities and setting up players. I think it's put Schlegel in her best spot, which is like she is a creator out of that center forward spot. She rips the shot in this game for the goal. But like those are rarer for her. But if you play into her feet, she's going to lay it off. She's going to flick it on. She's going to create chances. She's going to throw her body around

near centerbacks for loose balls and 50-50s and all of that. It feels like a lot of that's come too and Grosso as well. Grosso was phenomenal in this game. We had seen her sort of be an East West player since she's coming to end of yourself. And you look at this game. She's got defenders on her back. She's aggressive on the half turn. She's trying to create goals. She's trying to create for herself and her teammates. And it feels like it's just been sort of this like cascade of confidence that's fallen into all these players. And they are probably because of the standings in a situation of like, yeah, we're going to go out and try. And that, I think, leads to the must watch nature.

Yeah. Which is like, they're not going to close up shot when they go up one zero. They didn't do it in this game. It went 1-0, 1-1, and then immediately 2-1 again. And then they went for 5 rather than sealing things and trying to clean things up. And there are fun to watch. It felt like sort of the perfect opening to this new era. If this is the stadium they play in for how long, who knows.

Unfortunately, still on turf. I think Schlegel was quoted saying, like, yeah, we're being told they're going to do as well as they can. with the turf to make it as good as possible. It's like, yeah, okay, those are quotes we all say where it's like, we're going to have all our ducks in a row, blah, blah, blah. And then nothing really happens. Like, there's an extent to which you can handle that, but it looks like a fun place to see a game.

On the other side, Orlando? I mean, Barbara Vanda's out for the year. The reality has shifted. Ovae comes off the bench in this one at halftime to try and help them. Like, is it totally over? for a repeat chance for them, like losing 5-2 to Chicago, a winless spell coming into it to just not feel like a team that is capable of competing against a Kansas City

or a Washington in a postseason match. It was tough, tough to watch that, especially with this Orlando team who was unstoppable last year. I'm curious what Seb Hines is going to do moving forward. I think he's tried to keep some of the similar not everything similar, but similar positioning for for players, right? Like it's hard to not give Marta a free role, but if Marta has a free role centrally, well, who's defending in the central spaces, right? Are you going to be outnumbered in times? Are you, is that a lot of stress on

McCutcheon and Angelina? And I just am curious as to how he gets, or even like the players he's starting, right, with Hafeely in a centerback position, Corey Dyke next to her. And and then Emily Sams as an outside right back. Like, the thing that worked last year was this Sam's Nadanner combination. And could you just solidify two center backs, utilize your outside backs a little bit more with true outside backs and find some stability centrally? I think you potentially don't give up as many goals as you did in this. I just feel like the tactics that they had when they were so expanded. they're not going to be what is necessary for them here moving forward without

Barber Banda. And Ovaya is a much different player than Banda, right? Ovaeya wants to play in the channel, cut inside, get it on to her left foot if she can. So I'm just curious to see how all of that works together. And if anybody can figure it out, it's said. And, you know, we've seen him mastermind a starting lineup and come up with really interesting ways to implement the game plan. So that's what I'm curious about. How do you really find the best out of the players that you have? So what's fascinating is I think you could convince

me of like, all right, trial and error a little bit, like get to the postseason, work on some stuff, maybe find something that works because is it five at the back as a way to create natural width and support Marta a little bit more? Or does that hurt Ovae? And then it's four at the back and then is it Sands? Is it Raphael that's not starting? Whatever it is. Orlando is two games up on the final playoff spot. So they don't really have the breathing room to do trial and error in live games. And they may not make the postseason if that's the case. And so that's where the timing all of this is so tough. And like that's where it's like understandable. Like this isn't what you plan for.

They do have some of these Concaf games, which is like maybe now a place where you're doing more of that. They finish the year with Seattle, Washington, and the Portland Thorns in their final three games of the season. So those are two teams that you expect to be in the playoff hunt around them. Great. If Seattle can find their own feet, Washington above them, and then think Washington, the only other team that's like in a clear space, but will be also trying to sharpen

themselves going to the postseason and maybe clinch a second spot and all of that. So it's worrying times for this Orlando team. And partially you think, okay, they won every 51-49 game last year, or just 50-50, right? Late goals. Stoppage time equal. One to nothing. Having teams not finish against them, hanging on 1-0, all of that. You are always going to regress off that because it was impossible really to stay on that.

now it feels like longer more than just that regression and it's like that regression hitting with the loss of Adriana which they still are like dealing with as an attacking sense and now Banda and maybe some complacency after winning a championship and all of that so a huge result for them I wouldn't say complacency I would say teams at the beginning of the year were coming at them with a lot of different tactics and so they were preparing for something that wasn't actually what they were doing. And the difficulty is then, you know, you're trying to, you're, you have to play the game in front of you. And so then when they're not finding success, because, hey, this is our game plan. This isn't working. Then there's that little bit of doubt

that creeps in. And then you start to lose games. More doubt comes. It's the opposite of what we saw last year, right? When you're winning those games, confidence creeps in. And you're like, okay now we're we're not going to we're not going to give up a goal whatever it is it's just the opposite so i would i would say not complacency but um just it's just been rocky and how do you deal with that on a mental side yeah it is a lot for them to handle um and a lot for rlando to try and grind through it i think we're going to learn a lot about them and and who this group is going through the rest of this season uh not the only huge surprise of the weekend Houston a 3-0 win over San Diego.

So San Diego now winless in their last four. This is a Houston team. This is one of the best stretches in club history. We thought it would be from the start of the year. But they are now in ninth place, sitting one spot out of the postseason, three points behind a racing Louisville team that lost at home to one to the Portland Thorns in what I think was the best pure soccer game of the weekend. I was excited for this one.

It's a bit of a clash of styles. And we saw it play out. in the first half. Louisville opened up. They pressed. They pushed their numbers high. And Portland was so confident playing through it. That's what I walked away from this game with. Take away the result. For a young team and a team still somewhat coming together, Portland really sort of faced off against this, accepted the pressure, and were able to shine through it. And I thought that was really, really cool. And I think for them, too, the nature of like the game, getting scored on, coming back, the goal in which Jesse Fleming, like, there has been so much

demand, I think, on Jesse Fleming with her being, yeah, she is, I don't think she's one of youngest, but she's, this is a young team. She's fairly young, but she is very experienced when it comes to playing internationally, not just with Canada, but playing abroad. And she hasn't carried her weight. And so I think that gave them a lot of confidence, too, to see her come up big in that, that time. Now, I would say, I thought Louisville played well. Yeah. I thought they did so, especially in the game without Taylor Flint.

I think there's a lot to like about this team still, right? These are the small margins now of like where do they really fall in the league structure. I know we've talked about MSCers a ton. I thought this was another game where you saw she has matured as a player. It's not always like head down. Can I get to my cross? You saw a little bit more variance in this game, come inside, come out. side, connect a little bit more.

This is a team that that's crying out a bit for like an easy goal, a.k.a. like a star player, like we talked about with the Ludmila, who sort of takes responsibility off your shoulders. But they're getting a decent amount from Sanis as a right back as well. And like that adds to the attack. This felt like a playoff game. I think of all the games this weekend, this was the one that felt like a postseason game. Both of these teams should make the playoffs. And if they do, I'm very hopeful about what it looks like again, because they're clearly not going to back down from who they are, even if it's in a big game. And I think that's like

exactly what you want to see because I think last year in the playoffs, things got tight really quickly. And you look at a Washington team that's expansive and now it's set piece goals and PKs and surviving, which is the nature of playoffs. But teams like this, I think, can really spice things up and make things interesting. Let's talk about our last big story before we get out of year Bay FC announcing that Albertine Montoya will step down at the end of the year. He will see out the rest of this season. He is the only coach in Bay FC history took over ahead of the expansion year, guided them to 11 wins last year, which is an expansion record. That is what now Denver and Boston have that they have to shoot for. And a playoff spot in which they lost, of course,

in extra time at Washington after taking the one zero lead currently this year. They sit 12 of 14 in the league. They are on a four-game losing streak, and they're winless in their last eight games. Albany, Montoya, will finish out the year and then will be done as head coach of Bay FC. Matt Potter, currently in place as the general manager, will work on the... Sporting director, I think. Sporting, sorry. Yeah.

They're all the same thing to technical director, sporting director. But offensive probably to people who do understand what the difference in the titles and hold those titles. So sorry about that to Matt Potter. And then Kay Cossington, a major part of the release, who is CEO of Bay FC underneath the 6th Street group, which is supposed to be building a global network of teams that she would be connected to, who is the former technical director of the English FAA, announced in January but did not officially join until June, clearly a part of the decision making now who looked around and said this isn't working and that we're going to change some things. Let's start with Albertine Montaure. What type of grade do we give in? What do we make of this news coming out now a year and a half into their time in NWS? Mm-hmm.

A grade is hard because one of the things that head coaches have is that you're not building your roster, right? You're not saying these are the players I want and these are, you know, this is what I want my team to look like. You're getting it from above you, which the GM at the time of Bay coming. into Lee, I think was Lucy Rushden. And I feel like there were some good moves that were made, but there was some, you know, I don't think anybody thought that Osat Oshala wouldn't score goals in NWSL, right? I don't think they knew how important that centerback position was going to be. And so I think as there were moments where Albertine Montoya really had this team clicking and found ways to get the most out of the roster that he had. But there's also times where you ask why,

why didn't Nassi Sot find the footing? Is that her? Is that coaching? What is it? There was questions about that. So, you know, I think for what he was given, I wouldn't give him a harsh grade, but it's hard. Starting a team from scratch is such, you know, it's something that you know, it's a needle in a haystack. You do not get to do that. And you also aren't ever prepared for that as a coach, because think about coaching, you're always coming into something that's already established. And so it is a different way, to approach everything and I think it's hard to like really get understand what somebody did when you don't you don't really know how much of it you really had to do with coaching as opposed to off the field there's just a lot going on in my opinion yeah but you wouldn't expect this team to be in 12th right I think I think one of the tough parts is it felt like the assumption in hiring him to take over was with his experience you could sort of get a leg up and start on second base, maybe. And so now you're a year and a half in where things haven't gone great.

They're probably going to miss the postseason this year. And so that's not the case. And then you look at things and say, okay, well, that didn't really pan out. What's the soccer ideas? What's the vision going forward? And one of the things that I've talked about with Bay over and over again, and I think has to fall to the shoulders of the coach is the lack of balance in the team. And when they have been solid defensively, they've been,

incapable of scoring and when they've opened up games and gone to score they've been incapable of defending and so at some point it falls on the coach which is how do you find whether it's the right connection of personnel whether it's the right tactical ideas whether it's the reading of your opponent as a way to find this balance and play consistently competitive games and like i love teams choosing a style and overcommitting to it they change that every four to five weeks back and forth and never really built a roster that balanced into that. And then on top of that, the other option is, well, can you play a little bit more contained and safer, bounce results back and forth and be a mid-middle of the pack team, which

puts you in a playoff conversation. And so I could understand for Bay if Osceola is out and now some of this money has moved on and they're like, okay, we're going to reinvest and we're going to try and do this the right way, sort of like a second time, second opportunity. Is this the person we want in charge of it? And I could understand the idea of maybe not feeling that way. All of this comes. Oh, sorry.

Oh, I was just going to say, I also find it weird. You're in 12th and your coach is staying until the end of the year. That's zero sense. And I just find that a very weird way to go about this because that's really hard on the team. They're going to have change regardless. But like, if it's not working and you don't think it's working, you're just going to keep that person in there to make it not work for the

there's still games left your eight games wins which means your worst case scenario is things stay exactly as they are which is what you've chosen to do your best case scenario would have been you get the new manager bump and the new manager bump by the way is not

the individual it's sort of players internally being like okay I got to play well because I don't know if this player's going to choose me or not or there's a clear acknowledgement that it's not good enough and people are being held responsible and so far it's just them right but afterwards it might be me and the pressures on change of energy change of atmosphere i fully agree with you i do not understand the thinking behind things are going wrong let's keep a steady hand

while outwardly acknowledging that we're going to make things a little bit messy like the it's hard on everyone the coach the players the staff like yeah just strange It is strange. All of this, by the way, was then, I don't know, overshadowed by the announcement that happened like seconds ago that Abby Dahlkemper is pregnant. So congratulations to her and her partner. And it explains a bit why she's been excused from the last few games. And we mentioned it. Brooklyn Court and all brought in as a potential cover on loan for the rest of the year.

You know, it's not something that comes out of the blue for this Bay team. But it's a huge loss. was the best stretch of soccer they've ever played was right when she came in last year and carried them through the playoffs. You assume whoever is the next coach, like the first question is going to be how to use Rachel Kuninanji, how do you get the best out of this? Like, what are the ideas going forward? There is still talent there, though. So it should be a team that is competitive. For the weekend, the two big games we circled, Kansas City playing Washington. That's one verse two in the league. Obviously, it is not a race right now for first

place, but Washington is healthy and it is a clear difference. Trinity Rodman with two goals this weekend. Corey Barthune sets one of them up. Great question from reporter Ben Shelton to Trinity Rodman about that and about her play, how hers felt back into the team. Sophia Cantore it feels like is getting very comfortable in this group. This is the best game that we're we could have. It could be a preview of a championship game. And of course, KC are a monster at CPKC Stadium. Jordan, how do you think sort of these two teams match up in a moment like this? I'm interested about how Washington will set themselves up because the thing that I've noticed when Adrian Gonzalez was the head coach last year at the beginning of the year and now since he's

been named the head coach is he is willing to tinker with set up structure tactics a lot more than I think, wow, I forgot his name already. The head coach, who was the previous head coach for Washington? Jonah Heralda's, there we go, came to me. Now, you didn't know who you forgot. And I was like, he just said Adrian Gonzalez. What do you talk? I think he tinkers a little bit more than Joe.

Yeah, right. So I, like, Gonzalez has played with a five back. He's played, like, I think even last weekend, it was a very, variation of a five back with Wiesner as like a, is she a winger? Is she a wingback? These are the things that I think ask questions for opponents. And Kansas City has done a really good job this year. Kind of what I was saying about Orlando is teams of, every time a team goes into Kansas City, you think they're playing one way, and then they go play Kansas City and they just switch things up. And they make Kansas City be decision makers and play the game in front of them. So

Kansas City has done well against that, but I don't think they have faced a team like Washington with the threats that they have, with the depth that they have. So I think Washington has the ability with some of the tactics that Gonzalez has to just give Kansas City a run for their money. Yeah. Yeah. I would love to see that. I would love to see them go after this team, go after the game. The thing for Washington that they're capable of is, they can just be so dangerous in transition and without the ball

because of Croy Withoon and in Trinity Rodman and GIF Monday and whoever else is in there, that they could probably hang in a game where you sit in with numbers and try and survive against Kansas City in KC more than any other team because they have the best players in the league against that. So it's an option.

Or do you, with nothing to lose in this game, do you try and go in and control things and sort of put this warning for KC into the playoff look of like, hey, we're capable of going toe to toe with you. We're not scared of you. Yeah. Like, you have to deal with us going forward.

And I think I have no idea to your point of, like, the different options and what Adrian Gonzalez can do. And so it'll be interesting to see. And you mentioned must watch TV starts with Chicago. So Chicago facing Portland this weekend, we will now weekly be setting your Chicago watch schedule because clearly that is what we have to do. So Chicago faces off against Portland. I believe that game is.

I already clicked out of the exact standings I was looking at. It's Sunday. Yeah. Eastern time on Sunday. So something to follow. We do have some weird schedules coming up, by the way. So that's a warning for everyone this week, a little bit normal Saturday and Sunday. The following week, Angel City plays Washington on Thursday, September 18th. Then you've got two Friday, three Friday games in just the lone Sunday game. So just keep your eye out. But of course, we'll have all your coverage here at soccer wise. One last thing before we go, our 50 states this week is New Hampshire. We will have Charlie.

Davies on our live happy hour on Thursday, who is a New Hampshire native. I think from Googling, it is a granite person because it's the granite state, but I don't actually know how you word that into a nickname for a person being from a place. Charlie Davies will be on our five-aside. Granite. It's literally like, oh, granite. That's what we do. That's who we are. Rachel Hill is probably a clear number two on this list. Two-time max on my final at Yukon, 40 appearances, and plays for Bayfc. And it has been a really good player for that Bay of... Yeah, just for Bayfc, she has 40 appearances.

She's well over... Yes, sorry, in the last two years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So not a lot of people who have played a lot of pro out of New Hampshire. After that, Morgan Andrews is one, played at Notre Dame and USC, played on the Boston Breakers for a year.

And then when they... What's the phrase that was? Folded. Okay. Ended up with O.L. Rain for three years and played a bunch for them off and on. And those are like the main players who really played professional soccer. And then Josh Bauer is the other one currently starting off and on for Nashville. S.C. went to UNH. And then you kind of have some names that we have to figure out. So if you were out there and you know of a great player who played a New Hampshire that I'm not thinking of, please send it to us.

Jordan, it's an easier one for you to go through because I only give you four names. So you don't really have to limit anyone from a potential five aside in this one. Any thoughts on Rachel Hill or Morgan Andrews before we go? I think Rachel Hill has made herself a really good NWSL career. She's a player that people want on their team. It's been chosen in an expansion draft twice, which I think tells you who she is. And then I remember watching Morgan Andrews play in college and then early days of NWSL, really good attacking-minded player. I think she could play as a a midfielder sometimes as a forward. Yeah, just I like bringing up these names because of like players you haven't thought about in a while.

And that was like, oh, yeah, I remember her. Yeah. It's a great remember a person, which we love to do here at Kickback. We've got a lot more coming up for you. We have U.S. Open Cup coverage coming next week. We have a special guest. We're going to have Walker Zimmerman on the show as we dig into some Nashville. We have myself and Tom will be back on.

soccer-wise tomorrow. We've got some college soccer stuff coming out as well. Kickback committee is just coming out right now, probably as you are listening to this one, myself and Susanna Fuller going through pretty much all of the World Cup qualifying that occurred on the men's side over the last few days, which is fun. Yeah. We get to explore all things from Cape Verde through to Nicaragua, out to Iran and Iraq and everything else that's going on. So thank you to all of you for listening. Shout out to Owen Spangler for being an MVP in the chat. Thank you to you, Jordan, for being here. And we'll talk to you all again very, very soon.