SoccerWise - Gotham's London Blues, Hayes Experimentation Lab, Rodman Record & NC Making Moves

Episode Date: January 29, 2026

We finally have games to talk about like on the field! David & Jordan break down the Gotham match vs Corinthians. They look as well at their two big additions in Jared Dudley & Savanah McCaskill. Then they look at the biggest stories out of USWNT camp especially Rodman's world record contract. Finally they talk about North Carolina Courage finally bringing in their new coach and center forward.3:30 Gotham Loss In London19:12 USWNT Camp Reaction29:12 Rodman's New Contract36:30 North Carolina Courage New Coach & Players

Everybody welcome back to Soccer Wise. David Goss, the Jordan Amesley with you for a big episode here talking about all the big stories going on around the world of women's soccer. As I woke up this morning, bright and early, that's actually probably an exaggeration. 7.30 kickoff for Gotham's FIFA Women's Cup Championship Cup title game against Corinthians while going to sleep a little bit later off the U.S. Women's National Team's Friendlies. We will talk about all of that. We will talk about the Big Trinity Rodman contract. We will talk about North Carolina courage and all their moves going on. Jordan, are you surviving the cold?

Did you get snow? Or is it just normal in Colorado? No, we got snow. Did you watch a Broncos game? Did you see the Broncos game on Sunday? I did see the Broncos game. Was the weather bad for that? The first half was fine.

And the second half it snowed the whole time. I was like a snow globe. Yeah, it was like a snow globe. And I live pretty close to there. So yes, I got snow. But us Coloradoans have been a little desperate for snow. So I welcomed it. And, yeah, so I'm not too cold, you know.

I'm from here. I know how to stay warm. This is not a shock to the system for you. Nah, nah. But I am already looking forward to it, not being winter. That's the truth. You said you got up early as 7.30. That's not the normal get-up time for David Goss.

No, it is. It was more like, I don't normally like, function with the outer war. Right. It's like you get up and you're like, I'm watching a game. That's not normal. Like I, as me and my wife were getting ready in the morning, like I put the game on, she comes out of the bathroom and is like, what's going on? Like, why are you watching a soccer game right now? Which once we get into the season is fairly normal because I'm always catching up on games. So I normally get up and throw something on immediately. But it's been a little while. And I got to say, you know that first game? Like you're so excited. I felt it. I felt.

Like, oh, wow, I'm actually going to watch a thing, think about it, and then talk about it, and not just think of ideas and talk about them. And it was pretty exciting, but I got to tell you, I texted someone 12 minutes at the game. I said, I'm sorry to say, but Gotham got better. This is someone who's not a Gotham fan. And Gotham lost 1-0. So I'm already in mid-season form in terms of my ability to understand what's happening. Teams are like, don't say anything about us because it's going to be the opposite of what you said. Yeah, it is going to be absolutely wrong.

And heartbreaking finish to that game, but a fun way to start the day, I would say. You know, I love a tournament. Like you worked the Club World Cup earlier this year and I watched every game and it's like, I just like the composed set of like, this is all you need to know is what's going on in these games. I don't know that this has all those vibes to it having not that many teams and not and not that much going on. And obviously, Gotham falling out early will change the amount of it. I probably end up watching. But some big news around them as well with a big time signing,

bringing in Jordan Dudley, which we will discuss in this show as well. So let's dig into it. And let's start with the game. I think the big upset for a lot of people, especially maybe neutrals, is not getting to see Gotham versus Arsenal in a competitive game. That was like the whole point of putting this together. That is a credit to Corinthians who were like,

we are not just here to make up numbers. We are going to be competitive and we're going to be a major part of this. So Gotham faltering, giving up the goal in the 803rd minute, I think it was, to fall behind, lose 1-0 eventually in this knockout game. Arsenal went on to dominate in their matchup and they will move to the final where they will, I guess, host in theory, Corinthians, although it's technically a FIFA neutral event tournament. So I think for all of us as fans, a little bit upsetting to not get to watch this. And this is an experience that I understand very deeply because I cover a lot of major league soccer.

And the whole concept with major league soccer is comparing it to other leagues around the world. And the only chance you get to do that on the field is in Conca Calf competition. And it always falls in MLS preseason and other teams are closer to their season or in Mexico, the season has already started. The MLS teams always falter. You never get the matchup you want. It's never played the way you want it to be played.

And you were always left wanting. And you create this reality where you're like. like, oh, if we could only see this game, we would know. And yet the games happened, but I choose to discount them. And that's what this felt like, Jordan. As I watched it through, I was like, well, this isn't the real. They're not really playing. They're in preseason.

Like, this isn't what it's like. And it was like a warm blanket. It was a comforting feeling for me to return to it. Yeah, because then you could just pull out that pocket of excuses, right? And just say, well, what if it was in the summer where, you know, in July, Arsenal and these other teams maybe are coming off of a month off. And what would happen then? Yeah, I think it's difficult.

Like, the schedule is always going to be hard. And I think it's talked about in the men's game as well. We saw that with the Club World Cup. Players were exhausted and now we have to go play in this big tournament and there's a lot on the line and we want to play, but like we're tired. So I think that schedule is always going to be an issue. and how can you make it a little less of an issue? I don't know what the right answer is, right?

Is it a, you couldn't do it an international weekend, right? Because all those players, the best player is going to go with their international teams. Like, it would have to be all of these clubs and these leagues working together to say, hey, is there a time in the season where we're all playing? And we all feel like we're fit and in form where we could give up a week and reschedule a couple of games to play it during the season. I think that's the only way you're going to give. get rid of all of these excuses.

But, you know, I think for this Gotham team, what an experience. And, you know, it's difficult for them because they're coming off of a championship and playing late until November, just getting back together for preseason, probably still trying to get over that hangover of winning the championship. And now you go somewhere and you probably should have won the game, but you lost it. And, you know, it's just easier to think about those excuses. So it was a bummer. The timing is a bummer, but it's not as if they weren't in this game, Goss.

Yeah. Yeah. And so you mentioned it, like, when do you play it? So Jess Carter was asked about this post game. Was she happy about the game being in January? She said, absolutely not. I don't think anyone is, but I don't really know when else to put it. To be honest, I mean, you're asking players to cut their offseason shorts when everyone's just had competitions and euros.

And then we come in after very limited time. And the issue is none of these leagues play on the exact same schedule. Right. So wherever you put this, someone's coming out of offseason, someone's in midseason, and there is no perfect answer. I think just if you're the party that's in the worst situation, you're like, oh, let's just move it. And then you move it to another time and it hurts everyone else. And I think in the preseason thing, one of the things you always see is a lack of sharpness, but especially as the game goes along. And I thought Gotham dominated in the first half.

They didn't create a lot of chances for it. And part of that is that Estere was out on parental leave, so it was not available. for this game and is obviously a massive difference maker and the point of the attack and the threat and all of that. And then you see it waver as the game goes along because I think you can still be energy, excitement, pop for that opening 15, 20 minutes, the maintaining, the fitness, the ability to play at a high level as you get tired. That's the stuff that comes as a season goes along.

And credit to Corinthians because they also haven't played games. so it's not like a better situation for them. They finished in November, but they do start in two weeks. And that's the part that's hard of like, we have the NWSL Challenge Cup where we see. It's not the best soccer. It's not perfect. But at least your ramp up is normal because I think for Gotham,

you can't do your full ramp up into this game. I know, because you can't get your players. Again. Exactly. And you can't have your players ready on January 28th for their season because then when you get to November, they're going to be exhausted. and they're going to be dead.

So like you have to manage this as like a halfway up and then almost scale back down to then come back up for the actual season, which will kick off now in what, five weeks, six weeks. So it's like not even like they're right on top of each other. I think that's the hardest part for me is even if it was preseason right before the season,

at least it would be in the schedule into what you're playing. And this is just this like random drop down in between. So I think all of that's really, really unfortunate. And I think it's also part of the wider issue, which is FIFA drops in and is like, yeah, no, we love the women's game. We're just going to amplify it. We're just going to do all these things. We're going to create a club world cup that we're just going to throw in a schedule and not ask anyone, put it maybe in a country no one wants to play. We're going to throw this tournament in.

Like, we're going to move it all around. I think you just saw, even if some of the payouts were correct at least, I think you saw the chaos of what we're still operating in, which makes it really hard. for athletes to be at their peak. Yeah. And we, for the athletes, especially, but even as people watching the games, right? Like, I think we want to know where we can watch the games. We didn't know until a few days ago that it was going to be on the zone, even, right?

And, and I don't, I mean, gosh, you probably knew that it was a 730 kickoff for you, but I, I didn't, I couldn't even find or wasn't even aware of what time the game was kicking off today. So when I woke up. I put the game on at 727. by the way in the tile. This is the second time I've used the zone in my life. One was Club World Cup. And then it doesn't auto play the game.

So I came back out and was like, huh. Then you've got to go back in. And that's the minor, as you said, of like people not even knowing where this game is. Yeah. And I think that there was frustrations. Like from my standpoint, Goss, I've been trying to call this game for months. Probably at the beginning of December, I was asking my agent, hey, what are these games on? Like, how cool.

I got to do the Club World Cup this Summer. How cool it would be to do this women's cup this year? year I've worked with DeZone and I think they do some like I've enjoyed working with them. But we didn't know it was on DeZone until last week. So like as a broadcaster, how do you even know like they end up just putting one woman on all of the games or both of the games, which she did a fine, like she did a good job. But this is the best teams from the best continents. Yeah, build this thing out. Build it out.

Have coverage. Have a studio. Yeah, people on the sideline. I just think that they could have pushed it a little bit more and had two people on the broadcast, done a little bit of a studio show because it is a big deal. And if you're going to make it a big deal, which you saw the unveiling of the trophy. And as you mentioned, the money at stake, those are all great things. but you need to get that money by people watching the games. And if they don't know where to watch them until right before or they watch and end up not wanting to listen because it's just one person and it's not engaging, then like that's difficult.

So it's just frustrating from a fan standpoint too. Yeah, it didn't feel big. And that's you wanted to feel big. And one of the sad things I think that I've seen, whether it's just soccer in general or on the women's game specifically, is like people do things poorly, and then they come back and say, well, no one wants this. So we're not going to invest in this in the future. And that's not true. Right.

It's just you got to do things right so that people will want to engage with it and people will be drawn in. And it didn't feel like that was the case with this one, whether it's from all these different points of view. So that's really unfortunate. On the soccer side of things, though, for Gotham, there were some familiar issues in this one. Dominate possession, create no chances, lose one zero. on a late goal. These were a part of the problems that they had last year. Really unfortunate to see Gabby Porchio go off with an injury. Looked like it happened right before halftime, tried to play through it, came off right after.

And then the more worrying is Rose LaVelle brought off with what they were calling concussion symptoms put into concussion protocol. Obviously, you never want to see that for any athlete, but especially for Rose LaVelle and a terrible way to start the year for this Gotham team. I did think there were some positives in this. My big one is I'm so excited for Savannah McCaskill on this team. I'm excited to see her play again and be a big part of a team. But I think just watching this game, her willingness to be played under pressure, I think will change this team's ability to possess the game. I felt like for a lot of Gotham season last year,

they were at their best being reactive. And I think he even saw that in the playoffs, right? They didn't win the possessions battles in two of their playoff games. The one they did was Kansas City, which is the most shocking part, but part of that was down to injury. And they were good at it. It's fine. They won a championship. But what's the progression?

What's next? I think Savannah McCaskill would be a big part of that. You saw her sort of directing things in midfield, just pointing where she wants it, where other options are. And I think it will open up Jalen Howell as well to go and find the game because it's a reliable piece next to you of, okay, I know I can take a risk and make a run now because I know Savannah McCaskill won't lose the ball in that spot. and I know where the next pass is going and can anticipate a little bit. So I think all of that's really exciting. And added to Jordan Dudley joining this team because you saw the lack of bite in the final third without Esther.

Well, how do you replace that? Arguably the best center forward in the college game coming out who now joins this team officially. Last week we talked about we knew she was leaving college. Now we know that she is going to join the reigning champions in Gotham. Yeah, both of these players, I think, are going to really help Gotham. I want to go to McCaskill just for a second before I go back to Dudley. But bringing Savannah McCaskill into this Gotham team, they're so aggressive when they do have the ball. They want to be aggressive.

And both McCaskill and Howell can cover so much ground. And we saw last year how much Howell. I actually think if you look at midfielders in NWSL, Savannah McCaskill and Jalen Howell probably had some of the biggest leaps of their overall game growth and understanding certain situations and how to navigate them and get their teams out of pressure and draw players in to then expose space in different places. And now you have that being orchestrated by two different players. So there will be times where Hal is, like I can already see McCaskill operating on the right and it allows howl to just sneak up a little bit on the left and become a more aggressive, almost eight at

times. So I think that both of them are going to be really crucial to Gotham. And hopefully if Gotham doesn't have the ability to stretch in behind, which they like to do with some of their players and will like to do with Jordan Dudley, now you have midfielders who are problem solvers and can unlock things a little bit better. And if you do get the space, then you send Jordan Dudley or you play it into her feet and she can do a little layoff and run in behind. I think she's going to be excellent. I'm curious to see. how Dudley is used by Juan Carlos with, you know, this is a team who, if you look centrally at that area, right, from the midfield to the center forward spot, like, you have a lot of players to

choose from Goss, right? You can put Esther at the 10, she can play at the 9. Dudley can play at the 9. I think Dudley could even probably play as a winger who almost inverts and plays as a dual 9 in some situations, depending on who the outside back is on that side. But then the midfield is just stacked with so many players, like Hal, McCaskill, Lavel, Shaw, Shapansky. Shepansky. Starting a final that they won. You know, you just, you have so many players vying for not very many spots.

So where does Dudley fit in that? If she is your nine, then where is Esther? Is she in the 10 spot, taking one of those spots away from the midfield? So it is champagne problems for Juan Carlos after a year winning the champion. championship, but if Jordan Dudley is available, you take her, right? Absolutely. If you can. Yeah.

And this feels like, you know, obviously this is their big swing for the off season coming out of last year or last time they won. They made 13 big swings. So your hope is you're not destabilizing as much, bringing one big name in. And it's a different situation being a college player, but a highly touted one. Shaw's an interesting piece of all of this just because of her flexibility. Played center forward today. we saw her play centrally as you talked about a lot when she joined Gotham last year but also played out on the wing

I think finding her best position is still a question mark and now having these options allows that I think having cover for Esther is huge just because they didn't have it but I don't hate the idea of dropping Esther a little bit deeper like all her talent being the final touch in the box I think there's probably a lot left on the table with what she can do for your team if she is deeper in buildup and touching the ball more often. And that would be a fascinating thing to see, I think, for this team if that becomes an option. Yeah. Yeah, I'm just, it'll be so interesting to see what this team looks like as they roll out their starting lineups. And you, of course, hope everyone's healthy and you hope Rose Lavelle what happened today is nothing serious and keeps her out for a long

time because this team could look very different game in and game out just with the number of bona fide starters that they have right so you could adapt depending on the games there's a lot more midweek games this year too gosh so that depth is going to help this gotham team but um yeah good luck on carlos picking your 11 but i would say we were talking about this before we got on of like the 11s and this is preseason time both on the mLS and nbos hell side where i'm like looking at Depth charts, blah, blah, blah. And then you're reminded in one game, two players injured and Esther out on parental leave of like, best 11s are very rare for a team across a regular season, having them available.

So we always talk about, oh, where will everyone fit? And then it's like, there's going to be plenty of minutes for everyone. And that's just, unfortunately, the way it ends up. And that's probably the problem that Gotham is leaning into. Speaking of, we had two U.S. Women's National Team games this week, two different starting 11s completely for the two So it was a 6-0 win over Paraguay. And then after that, a completely new 11 in the second game that averaged 5.2 national

team appearances in their career, the fewest for a starting 11 for the U.S. Women's National Team since 2001, 25 years, because now it's 2026. It goes to show the depth of the program. It goes to show, of course, the work Emma Hayes is doing. She said afterwards, experimentation is now over that there. This is sort of that last camp of giving everyone a first opportunity. She has sort of said this before. I know she has said in the context of like four next year.

But yes, I agree. So I don't know how much I believe that line. But I think it goes to show the purpose of what this camp was. And I thought her line post the, I think it was a Chile game of like, I'm not watching the opponents in these. I'm watching our players. are they executing the roles we've asked them to execute? Because it's really hard to take the context after two blowouts.

I mean, the Trinity Rodman Dan's, we'll talk about more later. It's kind of a sign of like what was happening and what the vibes were. But I think that's the key is like she is going to look at these players and say, what did you bring to camp? How did you affect the rest of the players around you? And then how do you execute the roles and the things we ask of you? And I think that's what a lot of these players are going to be judged on coming out of. of this. I think about even just the role last night with Emily Sams, how there were so many times

she's, it's that internal run where she's then getting herself higher up on the field. She was captaining the team. How do you handle that as a captain? What is your communication with players? Like that's a role, right? And that's what Emma Hayes is looking for. It's hard. Goss, like, it's hard to watch these games because you're like, what are we, I hope we beat the 46th and 47th team in the world by a lot of goals. Honestly. I hope the U.S. does that. And then you're trying to see what you're going to get out of it. And I like that comment from Hayes, but also as a, for me, when I'm watching these,

I think of an example of last night, Kate Weisner gave the ball away. Her reaction after she gave the ball away, I would note that as a coach. Yeah. I would say, that's something that I liked because it was the tenacity, the grit to get the ball back, to win possession, regain, and keep the ball for the team. So those are the little things I think you can take away from this. But, you know, there's not, there's not a lot to take away. There was some great finishes.

Honestly, as a former player who had been in with the national team, I think a lot of us who have been in that situation who never got capped think, man, we're just a little bit too early in our days, right? Because every single person is getting caps now. And I love to see it. Like, I honestly do because of Sally Menti last year. She was going into the year, she signed through the middle of the year because Laura Harvey was like, this is when we can sign you through, but prove me wrong. Is legit what Laura Harvey said.

And Sally Menti didn't just prove her wrong. She became a starter for that team who dictated the tempo of a Seattle team who, you know, could be a little bit more aggressive going forward. And we'll probably talk about that later in February. But she gets herself into nationally team camp and then she gets a cap because of how she played. Like I love that. I love the reward for what these players did last year that they get to see their dream come true. I think that is incredible and that they went out there and you could tell each one of them held that with the responsibility that it is owed and said, okay, I'm going to go out there and it might be three to nothing right now. But when I leave this field, I'm going to contribute some way to make it the score more.

And that's what this team has always been about. They have been about being the best. And to do that, you have to honor the crest. and go out there and try to make your team better. And I think there was a lot of people who did that. It's just hard to say, like, what are the giant takeaways from this camp? I think for me, my biggest takeaways, I'm just so happy for those players who got caps and got goals. Yeah, three players got their debut goal in the second game against Chile in Croy Bithoon.

If I could speak, that'd be great. Jemis Joseph and Emily Sam. So that alone, cool, special for them. You talked about Sally Menti. I mean, Claire Hutton, the responsibility she was given, Emily Sam's. Trini Rodman being named captain like that. Again, those are the little things where now there's value to this experience for Trinity Rodman, who's clearly good enough that she probably doesn't need the game against Paraguay or the sub-appearance against Chile.

But here's three weeks of her being a leader at this level in learning that and learning Emma Hayes a little more. And so I think, you know, Emma said, I said to the players, whether you're working for, 27 or 28 or 31 like you all have something you're working towards here and i think that's probably well said of some of these players will go away for a year or two but when they come back they'll have this experience in their back pocket they'll have a little more confidence i think this could jumpstart a lot of their preseason and like what does sam mezzo look like going into a year now where she's not trying to fight from a super league loan to a player but i've been told by the u.s women's national team coach that I belong at the highest level.

Like what is her now belief as she walks into preseason and what she can do? And then can these players raise their game knowing that that's the case, I think is really, really big. And so I think there will be huge like payoff for this for a lot of these players. And one of the ones that Emma touched on, which I think he could feel watching the games, was Croy Bethune, who we haven't seen a full 12 months of her healthy. And that's been unfortunate. We saw the peak at the beginning of her rookie year.

and we started to see it at the end of last year. I just felt like from the game she started to her coming off the bench, every time she was on the field for these two games, it felt like she was the best player in the world. And that's not like a definitive statement, but that is where she should be and the way she should carry herself and the way she should affect the game. And it felt like she understands that and is ready to go do that.

And I think Spirit fans should be pretty excited about that. I would expect in these types of games, Goss, for Croix Bithoon to play like that. Because there's a little bit more space, right? And the seams are a little bit more open, so she can be creative in those times. Then she did it. You know, you expect it, but then she also did it.

I think the big thing for me is Emma said it's the best camp that she's seen Croy. So Emma saw every single moment of camps, right? It wasn't just the games. It was how was she competing against the players in training who are some of the best players, in the world because I think this second you I mean clearly this second US team can beat a lot of other players so I to me that's a big takeaway and it has slowly developed as we saw kroy come back from her

injury and she's like solely gained momentum during the year and oftentimes when you're going through big injuries which she is done it's not like it's not until a few months into it that you actually feel the freedom of like, I don't have to think about everything. I can just feel the game and perform how I want to perform. And to me, that's what it looked like is she was just out there like freestyling almost, right? Like she could just sense where the pockets were going to be, find the right pass, finish the ball like she did. And that goal, so many things about what Croy Bathune is good at, I think, was showed off, showed off in these games. games. I think this is going to be a really big year for her when it comes to like how does she now

utilize that week in a week out for the spirit in order to make herself that number one in the 10 spot for the U.S. women's national team. One of the things that's going to fascinate me is for the players on the back end of the roster making these rosters, whether it's World Cup or Olympics, it's going to be on like versatility. Where can you help because you're not going to be locked in? um jazelle thompson is good and she's like a crazy high IQ soccer player and now we're seeing her play more inside play higher up the field she feels like one of these she's like a more defensive style yasmid ryan of like she could probably fill four spots on a depth chart that's how you make a roster like this i think angel city fan should be excited i'm excited like the one pass she hit

again you said it like the seams are there the channels are there it's not exactly normal was so good though but that's like because it wasn't like fully bent goss she like almost chopped at it outside of the ball so it bent when it need to and then it slowed it's slowed it's slowed it's slowed it's slowed it's trajectory so it would go into the run of I can't even remember who scored the goal because I didn't care the ball was so good yeah is it who was it sent nor it might have been sent nor oh gosh that pass was so nice like unreal and you're like okay this is what I want to watch all the time and she looked great on the wing for angel city last year. She's played both fullback positions for the U.S.

And they were building out of a three. Yes. And so she was like that one of the three, but she can also be the wingback if she needs to be. Yeah. Yeah. So she's a special player. I know Alyssa Thompson's special. And like that was always the conversation what it was going to be. And that's the older sister. And that's the way life works and all of that. But Jaze Thompson is special. And I think I'm really excited to see her. And then obviously seeing Emily Sam's like, I think Angel City fans should be excited overall. So a lot of a lot of big performances for some of these young players, a lot of big news coming out of this U.S. Women's National Team camp because right as we finished recording last week, Trinny Rodman officially announced her contracts of Spirit fans weren't excited enough about

Corey Bethune. Then they could be excited about Trinney Rodman who scored off the bench against Chile and then went over and forced Emma Hayes to dance. I think it just shows life's pretty good right now for Trinery Rodman. Yeah, life's pretty good. And you get you can tell. Emma was like in these, she was thinking so many things. Like, this is the fifth goal, right? Like, do we really need to be celebrating like this? But I told her I would celebrate. And this is so fun and she's so happy and I want her to be happy.

So it was like the celebration, the dance from Emma, you could tell was like a little hesitant, but I love that she did it. I love that Trinity went straight to her. Yeah, she's flying high and she's playing. You could tell there was a real freedom about the way that she played in these games. She is officially, well, I guess un-officially, let's say. She is the highest paid player in league history. That's official.

And we believe she is the highest paid female player in the world. That is according to her agent. I don't think we know everyone's contract because that's not the way the world works. Either way, it's a historic three-year contract worth over $2 million annually, including bonuses. So the base is lower than that. The potential ceiling is at least at $2 million. maybe more with winnings if they come in from other teams. This is what a lot of the fight has been about.

I think it was a really big moment for the league last week. It was a huge moment for the club, a huge moment for her. But I think you saw it in the way Michelle Kang and Haley Carter talked of, it was a breath of relief just to get it over with and know that you're moving on and moving forward with Trini Rodman in the fold for the Washington spirit. Yeah. I feel like parts of that press conference, they were like, what do we do now? You know, like they had worked so hard to get to that point that it was like,

Operation Trinity has now finished. What's next? Like, we kind of want to pass out, but they made it. Well, they broke a transfer record two days earlier, so they got Corey Bethune coming back from national team camp. They'll figure it out. Yeah, they'll be all right. They'll be all right.

Yeah, just really excited. And it makes me feel a lot like I'm molested when they, They had the Beckham rule, right? And they changed things to bring David Beckham into the league. And really, gosh, like, if you look back at MLS, how much the trajectory of the league changed after that, right? It completely changed what the players that were coming into the league, how much you could spend, what players you were getting, then how much you could sell players for.

I just feel like this is going to be a point in NWSL. We're going to look back. And I think we'll call it, you know, it's hip, but I'm pretty sure a lot of people will call it the Rodman rule. Yeah. and it has the potential to really change this league in a good way, right? Because there has been so much talk about paying these players, and now you put your money where your mouth is,

and you say, okay, we talked about we want to pay them, now we're really going to pay them. And to give them an opportunity to do that, to see Washington right away, jump on that opportunity and secure Trinity Rodman, and that we get to see her for three more years. And NWSL is, yeah, I think what everybody that watches this league would have hoped for. And she seems pretty happy.

Yeah. And, you know, this hasn't been straightforward or easy. And I don't want to say it could have been easier to just go to Europe for her. But like, we know the options were out there. And so I think it shows how committed she was to want to be a part of this, which I think is really exciting for the spirit. I think it's really exciting for Washington Spirit fans that there's a clear relationship there

that she has with that fan base and wants to be around. It is obviously a huge sign for the league with Sam Coffey and Alyssa Thompson and Naomi German. The list goes on and on of players that have gone in the other direction, her commitment to staying. We have gotten questions, what if the hip rule doesn't go through?

What if the NWSLPA is able to in terms of filing the grievance is able to knock it down. My guess would be, so Haley Carter said, we have a contract. She's got a contract. Like, legally, she is going to play for this contract for three years. My guess would be the assumption from the outside is, well, if it doesn't happen, then they're going to put the money into the salary cap. Either way, Trini Rodman is getting paid this money.

And the ownership and the league has already said, like, okay, this is money we want to allocate to players. So however this ends up going. I think the money is coming into the player spending side of these teams. And so she's going to get paid either way. I think I would ideally want to see it go into the salary cap. But there is a shot across the bow here where she's now the highest paid player in the world. And any other player out there who's on this hip list, because they know who they are because those lists are public, such as Guardian and ESPN and all that, has to look at this and turn to their agent and say, which team wants me.

go. Yeah. And we've seen it a little bit already with some Arsenal players. Bon Madi was the highest paid player in the world. Obviously out injured right now, but is that something where she looks at it and says, okay, well, I want to go back on top of that list. And not everyone is worth maybe the same number. And we don't know how it works exactly of like, does everyone get signed to the exact same contract, whatever? But it's not all the way that we would want for the league to show like, okay, we're here. But it is now this mechanism. that exists for at least 15 other players around the world to look at and say maybe 14, maybe 13, depending on how Sophia was signed and how Lindsay was signed.

We don't actually know that yet. To look at it and say, okay, what's my option and who wants to come get me? And I will say this from covering MLS for anyone who doesn't follow. You know which teams have used them in teams that don't get shamed. So there is going to be some pressure on the teams that don't use this. mechanism, especially because it doesn't go into the salary cap of like, this is an avenue to choose to make your team more competitive. And if you do not engage this avenue, you are choosing to start half a step behind other

teams in this league. And I think that's going to be a conversation that fans are having and I think us are going to have going through this year, especially as it comes into effect and as we start to see how it can be used and who's available. I think it's going to be the summer where it really explodes because unfortunately a lot of these players that are available for it are not in NWSL and they're going to become free agents or they're going to be able to start to be available on pre-contracts coming into the summer. Let's talk about one more team before we get out of here.

North Carolina Courage have finally started to put the pieces together. So I think we talked about this rumor three months ago, but Mack Lind has officially been announced as the new head coach for the North Carolina Courage. Macklin comes in from B.K. Hackenberg in Sweden where he has coached for a number of years, both on the men's and women's side, was a player in Sweden and then converted over to become a coach with the team that he had played for and then slowly worked his way through eventually becoming the head coach of BK. Hacken for the last three years and now with North Carolina. Immediately in the aftermath of that, they announced the signings or I believe announced, maybe it should be. just reports of Aline Gomez coming from Pachuca and Evelyn, I have no idea. So I'm going to go with Aya, a 24-year-old center forward coming from Swedish center forward, three caps coming from Milan right now, but was originally sent there on loan from Tigris,

had played in Sweden as well. I assume that's some of the familiarity and background. And it feels all of a sudden hypercharged of this is a team we've offhand mentioned twice in the last two weeks of like what's going on and this at least is like some movement in the right direction finally as we head into preseason yeah um also don't know how to say evelyn's name so um please help us out with that um and i i love how you called them hackenberg at first i was really trying not to giggle you you corrected yourself but i love that you just added a berg on there because if it's European, it probably has a Berg.

Yeah, for sure. I just got done talking to my mom's cousin about their 1800s family in Latvia, Austria, and Germany. So there was a lot of Bergms mentioned. The burgs are just on your mind. Maybe you'll go get a bird or later. The Rauch bombs and the Goldenbergs. I don't know much about Mackland, but I hack-in was. in Champions League or for the last couple of years.

I think they didn't make it to the group stage or not, they don't even call it the group stage anymore this year. But last year they were in the league phase, I think is what they call it. So this is a team who has been successful in Europe. I'm excited to see what he does with this group because they bring in some pieces. As you mentioned, Evelyn will figure out your name before March. 13th, I'm sure. This is a high level performance from the two of us.

Yeah. And then I really like the signing with Schlegel. I think that will be interesting for them. And we'll see what happens. This is a club who it's been a difficult year for them, with a lot happened and a lot of changes. So can this be the coach that sets them in the right direction, gets them playing the quality football that we know that this team

can play. I'm excited to see what he can do here in NWSL. And Gomez obviously returns having already played there. And oh, sorry, correction, Aline Gomez leaving the team heading to Pachuca after the last two years with North Carolina courage. But that is news because now they're going to need even more speed on the width. Because what we would be asking for this North Carolina team. They needed a center forward. It looks like they got that in Evelyn. But then the way that they were successful as with Caroline in the channel, are they not going to be as dominant in those situations? They get rid of Gomes who goes to Pachuca.

It's just interesting. They haven't made a lot of big changes, made a couple of changes centrally where they've had depth with a Sanchez, bringing in a Schlegel. I think there's still a lot of question marks for this North Carolina team. And not a lot of time.

So we're hoping to see more answers. Now that a coach is in place, you assume any players who were on, the verge are considering joining this team now it gives them a little bit more sense of okay it's going in this direction if I want to be a part of this or if I don't that's all for us here still a lot to cover a lot coming up as preseason is now hit we thought we'd be covering a Gotham arsenal game which I think I was excited about that is not the case but we are going to start to see some preseason stuff in a little bit we are going to be doing some big interviews across the league and we are

prepping our big previews to come in a little bit. But that's all for us here, Jordan. Thank you to all of you for listening. Thank you for joining me. And we'll talk to you all again very, very soon.