SoccerWise - KC Currently Shield Winners, Orlando Sinking, Balon D'ont + Commissioner's Latest Comments

Episode Date: September 24, 2025

KC Current are the fastest champions in NWSL history. Jordan & David jump on to talk about the historic run this club has had. They relive the scenes on the ground at CPKC stadium. Besides KC everyone else is battling to the end so they recap all the wild results from the weekend and look ahead. And don't worry they have some choice words for the French soccer press as well! Which also connects to Commissioner Berman's latest media availability about expansion, spending on development and salary cap growth.

Welcome back, everybody to soccer-wise, David Goss and Jordan Angelie with me for an action-packed show coming up all about the NWSL. I am very proud of myself right now, Jordan. I'm not very, listen, I'm better spoken word than written word. It's why I do what I do. And I'm not very witty normally, but I titled this show. I titled it Casey currently champions, playoff picture, and ball on don't. Wow. Feel pretty good about that.

Who was your English teacher in high school? Yeah, Ms. Mills would be very proud. She's more proud of my sister. Okay. Well, let's forget about your sister for a second. We need to talk about David Goss and how much he has grown into his abilities in the written word. In your face. I gave my graduation speech in high school because we don't do valedictorians because we don't like to rank people and make people feel bad about themselves.

Okay. So it was a competition about you like gave speeches and people between faculty and students voted. It's like, well, if you're going to do a public speak. yeah fair it was like a select group of like 10 people okay okay it's like well if you're gonna do a public speaking competition I'm gonna come in better than like all of the smart people so I got to give my graduation speech and that was my one moment to be like you all thought you knew but that's wrong that's pretty awesome if you graduated from green mountain high school like I did you would have been giving that speech at red rocks because that's where I graduated you know that's

cool that's pretty cool yeah it is really cool. Did everyone have to repel to get to the graduation ceremony? Yes. Yes. It's a requirement. Everyone just wore those. I don't even know what they're called. When you're repelling, you know, you're wearing those things. Yeah, harness. There you go. That's easy. I should know what it's. Since I did it at my graduation, I should know what it's called. No, we just walked across the stage like normal people. That's pretty cool. Was it full? No, no, no. It's just like your friends and family at Red Rocks. But I don't know what Red Rocks holds. Maybe 8. thousand. So no, I don't have that many family members. No. You don't sell it out like Leon Bridges and Dermott or whoever. No, right. Jordan Davis, who I'm going to tonight. Nice. Whoa, concert on the on the books already. Yeah. Let's go. Yep. Um, well, if anyone has any stories they'd like to tell from high school graduations, we are open. We are all years. I do know how to play pomp and circumstance. It's one of two songs I know how to play off the top of my head. It's that and the...

What are you playing it on? Sorry, I'm not sure. Alto saxophone. Oh, okay. Wow. Saxophone. Clarinet. Nice to meet you. We could do a little jazz section. I haven't played in years, so probably not. I haven't played since the high school graduation when I was a sophomore or junior,

and it's the last event of the year, and then I quit. But you just play it over and over again. Palm and Circumstance, it's like very short. You just keep doing it and doing it and doing it and doing it. And we played it for like 45 minutes. Oh, I bet for a long time. Yeah. So it's ingrained in there.

And then the other one is the classic song that's like for all the ice cream trucks where it's like, do-d-d-da-da-da-do. I want to say it's called the returner. I don't remember the name of the song. And we learned to play that one as well. And I think we did that in marching band. So they are both memorized for me. So if anyone's out there and being like, oh, Red Rock sounds green.

I wish I had a cool high school experience and you want to redo it. I will show up. I will play Pump and Circumstance. Give your speech. I can give my speech or someone else can give a speech if they'd like it might I will can I give my full secret here this is my secret business idea I think the greatest thing like Etsy style I just 20 minutes edit mainly wedding speeches like people are all 85% of the way there they just need a tweak how to land this story maybe the weird thing about the person that

They don't need to add, maybe the awkward comment that doesn't need to be in there. And it's like, it's everyone's so close. Yeah. So my thing is like, I don't need that much money for it because it won't take that much time. 20 minute, 20 minute edits available whenever you need. And then other public speaking engagements as well I could do. Yeah. But that's my dream idea.

Since we're on it, what would you call this company that? I should have had a witty name for it and something. toasting toasting I was trying to use something with toasting edits but I don't really think that works very well you know what I'll spend 20 minutes speech is toasted yeah I'll spend I'll spend 20 minutes brainstorming on that

okay perfect and maybe I'll come to something afterwards but if anyone's out there as well and being like oh I got a big speech coming up that I'm worried about or I need a little bit of help I got you this is one of my favorite parts about this show is you just really never know what you're going to get at the never know what you're going to get but I'm going to be heartbroken if I see this idea because this is this is my million dollar idea this is my big one this is as good as I get

million dollars you said you were going to charge that much so you're going to be doing a lot of edits I'm going to be doing a lot of them because it only takes 20 minutes then I build a team of editors now we're all doing it it's all about scale it's all about buying it's all about return it's like a B to B situation in business yeah classic that we are going to talk a little business at some point because we're going to talk a little bit about NWSL. There was a state of the league conversation with the commissioner, Jessica Berman, last week. That was coming out of a couple owners meeting.

So there is some news there, nothing breaking more concepts to talk about. And it was also in light of, in the head of Kansas City clinching the first shield in their club's history and the fastest team in NWSL to do it. So we're going to talk about that a lot. coming up we will talk about some of the big results from the weekend we had a few playoff teams play against each other not a huge gap between them is sort of what we learned so we'll talk all about that as well as some teams that are making a late charge get you ready for the weekend to come and then as I said ball and don't uh ball and door voting

coming out congratulations to bon moti for winning it for a third straight year but maybe some questionable decisions in terms of voting populace and chaos and lack of respect for a large amount of players as well as people probably not watching a lot of games before they voted for that contest. But let's start in Kansas City. Two zero win at CP Casey Stadium on Saturday clinches the first ever NWSL Shield in Kansas City current history. They are on 53 points right now. 17, 2, and 2 on the year. So 18 wins is the record for an NWSL season. Orlando and Washington both did that.

Last year, Orlando finished on 60 points to set the record as well. We did this a lot last year, so we're going to do it again, not as much. The amount of teams keeps changing. The amount of games keeps changing. So the way to grade all of these against each other is pretty tough. What's interesting now this year is we have this direct con. back to last year with Orlando and Washington. So that 18 wins would be the record,

but they are the fastest team ever to do it. That being judged by when you win it, how many games left in the season that you officially clinch? The previous record for fastest was four matches remaining. It was Seattle in 2014 and North Carolina in 2018 on the way to their double and Portland in 2021. That all did it with four games left. And it has been done on the back of a.

14 straight unbeaten streak, which is the fourth longest streak in an NWSL season ever. And it is an eight game win streak to start that to start the year. They have not lost since May 2nd. And they are now currently on an NWSL record 812 minute nine game shutout streak, which betters the historic run from Orlando last year. This is one other note. They are one of three teams to ever beat every other. team in the league at least one time.

So there are a single team left that they did not win. I guess you look at other years. There are teams that held out for ties in both games, maybe a tie in a win, whatever it was. And I think it's actually fitting the last loss on May 2nd was against Seattle. And so the way the league works, I think it is a symmetrical season of first half, second half of the year. So they basically got all the way back around from May now through September. and they knock off Seattle 2-0 in this one.

Jordan, they're pretty good. Yeah, it's just listening to you go through that. I think it took almost two or three minutes to go through all of the... Brutal edit for Gregory coming up. Yeah, but really, it shows you how dominant this Kansas City team has been. And it also shows you how smart they were in the way that they built this team. So they have big players that have cost them. good amount of money like Temwa Shawinga,

but then you also have players like Claire Hutton that you get on a U-18 contract, who, you know, the next time her contract is up, she's going to be making a lot more money than she is right now. But they've been able to utilize different windows and different mechanisms within NWSL in a really smart way. I think we should, you know, credit Kenny Levin, who was there before, and Caitlin Carducci, who's there now as the general manager.

And then Vlaku-Anonovsky. I think there was a real energy about him wanting to come back to NWSL, And when you have that and you could work with a team every single day and how meticulous he is with the details of, you know, some of these things I wish I could share just knowing how detailed he is and some of the conversations that we have with him in our coaches calls. And it's no surprise to me that when this team goes out, they're dominant. Because every, there's no stone that goes unturned.

They really know how they need to execute a game plan and they've been able to do that in a very dominant way. One of the things that's fascinating, which I hadn't really put together, um, is obviously this shutout streak. Yeah. For them. And last year it was like they had to win three, two.

They had to win four three. And then coming into this year, it didn't feel like a ton had changed. Lorena was the huge, you know, roster building upgrade in goal, which I think has been a game changer for them. And what's actually fascinating and you mentioned the people who put this team together is The underlying numbers last year were saying that they were underperforming, that they were one of the best defensive teams and they were giving up goals that they shouldn't have been given up. And so I think it's really telling that they believed in themselves and like what they knew they were rather than throw it at the wall and say, okay, let's go get two new centerbacks. Let's change our shape.

Like, let's panic about this. They kept everything except the goalkeeper spot and the numbers came back this year. and they are one of the best defensive teams in the league, and that is on top of their attacking prowess, which has adjusted slightly, right? The overall numbers have come down because I think they've played a little bit safer as a unit, and they play a little bit more together

and a little more closed games. But I think that really shows the belief in what they were building from day one under Vlacko, specifically the one who's been there through this whole stretch, and you've seen it really come to fruition, this year, Jordan. Yeah. Yeah, we have. And I was, as you were talking about that, I was just looking at trying to find some stats for Lorena because, yeah, she's been great. She has the best save percentage in the league, 82% save percentage. But when it comes to the number of saves, she's less than 50. All, everybody that's in the top 10 is more than 50. So saves on the year. So she's not getting challenged that much. And it is bringing in Lorena, but it was also last year you bring in Kayla Sharples. Kayla Sharples has. been the one consistent center back in the back line. And the other one, because of the injury to cook, the injury to ball, it has rotated a little bit during the season, but there has

still been this stability to this group. And a lot of it has to do with the depth of this team. I think it goes back again of what you're just saying, how they built, that they knew that they had to be two players deep at each position, but also within that, know that players could play multiple positions within the structure of what they were doing. So I think it's a credit to, yes, Lorena in goal, but also this team and how they defend from the front. Like, their forwards are aggressive in their press. And they help win the ball back time and time again. So Lorena doesn't have to do all the work.

But when she is called upon, she's done a really good job to make saves. Yeah. She is, the first that I always go to just on goalkeepers is that like post-shot expected goals plus minus. And Lorena, statistically right now is the third. best goalkeeper in the league on that and that's one where basically the question is do you make saves you shouldn't and if you are like around one or two that's a good season and anything else you start to get into like outlier number uh McKenzie Arnold's at 3.4 um Bella Bixby had at 2.6

Kaelin Sheridan at 2.6 like that's like you're a good goalkeeper and Katrinberger as well like you're a good goalkeeper you're a difference maker you're a positive starter. Aubrey Kingsbury is at 7.1 and Loren is at 5.6 and Claudia Dickey in first right now at 8.0. Yeah. But some of that then becomes game states as well. As you mentioned of like the amount of shots you're facing on what you're doing. Overall, she's good. She fits the system. She is one of the better passers out of the back going long, which fits a team that can stretch the field. And if you press up on them, they want to go to the second level because Bia can bring it down and launch the two wide players or if the goalkeeper themselves can play schoinger or

Michelle Cooper over the top and into space then they're gone and running and you're chasing them and it's these levers that they can pull that very few teams can and shing is a major part of that as a cheat code but bea being healthy this year de bina's play through the first half of the year especially uh and michel cooper is playing the entire year and her ability to be a game changer, therefore pull focus. The fascinating thing to me is these two wide players are so good that both fullbacks are like the leaders and assists on the season because all the space is there for them to take when they want to. Yeah, it is so fun to watch both Haley Mace and Ellie Wheeler at times, but Izzy Rodriguez. I've loved watching Izzy Rodriguez this season

because Tamas Shawanga is not an out-and-out winger, right? She wants to tuck inside. She wants to half space. She wants an internal channel. So it is allowed. Rodriguez to have freedom. And this is the thing that I think is difficult about Kansas City is, yes, they can go in transition, but they also can play. It's funny because I don't know if I guess it is pretty transitional because they'll go through the middle of the field, but it'll be quick. Like the way that they build is not, they don't want to build slow, but they will also

build fast through the middle of the field to open up the space in the channel, if that makes sense, right? that it's not always over the back of the defenders and watch us run, right? There is a duality to the way that they like to play, and I think it allows players to get incorporated. It allows Lola Bonta to, as a six at times, be the player on the back line and stretching in behind. They have really found a way this season because every team comes in to Kansas City

when they're playing Kansas City and they're like, all right, we got to try something new. Right? Is that not the case? Like you see different tactics every single week. And when you're presented that as a team and you have to look at the team in front of you and say, all right, we plan for them to be in a 433 with this winger tucking internally. And now they're in a 352 and their wing backs are stepped back and we have to figure out a way to break them down. When you're figuring out those challenges every single week and solving those puzzles, you have to get better.

And that's what I really think the biggest thing is the gamesmanship, the game stakes, how they're solving these soccer IQ questions in the middle of the game and still finding a way to score. Yeah. And the fight to try and figure out how to, you know, delay this team got harder all year because they added the likes of an alley sentinel or sentinel. And it's, I think that we talked about it when it happened. And like the testament to this ownership group, which I think having the win at home and my favorite stat of the day is that the shield winning t-shirts sold out within 20 minutes inside the stadium. So now they have to go order more. Not surprised, are you?

Yeah, not at all. Because the party on TV was like epic. And you're watching fans, you know, showing us scores in like the 80th, 81st minute. It's on her birthday. She comes back from injury. She is going to win MVP again. I have zeroed out in my mind. She might push for the golden boot.

Who knows what the rest of the season looks like? And it just felt like from that moment on, it was a longer than it had to be, 20 minute party of soccer because 10 minutes of stoppage time. And then into the celebration and all of that. But I think it's telling of like, you know, this club building a new training ground, built this stadium,

which has been a driving force for the team to play well. But there's no way it's not a factor in out. sent nor saying like yeah i'd love to go there like the team's good all of that but like how could you not want to play there and we had briana pinto on kickback committee yesterday which i'd highly recommend going to listen to awesome show with her and susanna um talking about a lot of different things some of what we're going to talk about here today as well but she talked about like well we kind of get up to go there because it's kind of really cool and like a really good experience but you have to think it's a major part of the pitch to bringing players in and if that's

the case, then, you know, they're going to continue to compete at a really high level because they're going to continue to be first to the door when people who are good players want somewhere to go. And they're able to do that still within a salary cap league because of that. There is drive. There is the ability to get better. I think Ali Setnor is a good example of that. It takes some finagling, right?

It takes some figuring out how to work within the salary cap. But it is a testament to what. they're doing there that you, you know, as a player, personally, I would probably take less to play in that environment week and week out, not just inside the stadium at the training, because you know that you're going to get better. And then at the time the next contract comes up, you're going to have more negotiating power because you have, you have become a different player in that time. That's kind of my thought process. And it's been working really well for Kansas City. Jackie D in the chat says Utah on a pretty good runs since sentinor has left just saying fully agreed uh i think part of that is i think part

of that is causality and whatever part of that's connected part of that's not which was like that team's not bad enough to be that bad the whole year and there was injuries in the first half of the year and some of that is that they've looked a lot better without her and maybe having a 20 year old be the number 10 and have to carry the attack and everything going through her and that's a lot That frustration leading to a lot of long shots wasn't great for the flow of the team. And that is totally fair. And I appreciate you bring that up. Owens Spangler says that we need a nickname for people who are in the live chat for the people as part of the show.

So think, you don't have to rush. I want to say, we have our 20 minutes. That's my new thing now. We get 20 minutes to think about everything. It's definitely something with wise. Like, wise. Well, so the Union Omaha, which by the way, our 50th state this week is Nebraska. Okay.

they are the union omaha they are the owls right and their supporters group is called the parliament which is what a group of owls is called which i got wrong news to me trivia yeah which i learned because we were looking up like nicknames to use for something um and i knew that and then like a week later the question at bar trivia was like what is a group of owls called and i could not believe that i got it wrong it was heartbreaking so it's called the parliament yeah which is fun just like what's a better name for a group of things no it's great i think that's great and now it's like the standard is really high for the people in the chat and i need the 20 minutes now to brainstorm yeah uh oh and says we can let it simmer and we can work on it um just to bring back in

here you mentioned vlatko uh and like the questions coming out of the national team of what he would do where he would fall i think this is i think this has been obviously great for many reasons, but one being, I do think, and I've gotten this from being around Emma Hayes a little bit and talking to her a lot, is like, the U.S. women's national team is arguably the best team in the world. They're capable of doing things that are different. And, you know, them being a trailblazer is great.

But one of the ways that that helps is having people learn in that system and then come out of it. And I think Flacco being the guy, even for the failures at 2023, if you want to call it that, whatever, Coming back out of that and saying to the ownership group in Kansas City, like, this is the level. This is what I need for video. This is what I need for training. And then being able to bring that to the players, it just goes, that's the trickle down of having, like, this top end thing.

And he is obviously an expert at winning an NWS up. That's why he got the job in the first place. What he built over his 10 years, you know, in the league before that was why he was the national team coach. And a lot of people were excited about it. But I think it's cool now for him to come out of that. And we have heard from, you know, you heard from Lola Bont of like, yeah, going to the national team was big, but it wasn't like a difference in intensity because like we train that way every single day. We've heard it from Claire Hutton as well. I think that's, that's a huge part of a two-year sustained success for them. And it's not just on the field. It's, you know, what are our, how do we go to the game? Vako told us a couple weeks ago that they all meet at the training facility. They eat a meal together and then they bust to the game. He wants a team to be together. They give a height. video and all the videos are all specific to whatever team they're playing. But they've implemented these systems that he learned when he was at the national team. He said, if we're

going to be the best, we have to, everything we do has to be the best that there is. And it is fine margins in this league. We talk about it all the time when we're calling games and, you know, you miss by a foot, your final pass. That's the margin. And that can be the margin. Yeah. Yeah. that can be the margin too when you're trying to build a culture, build a team, build a system. And they've really honed in on that. Three of 11 Shieldwich winners have won the championship. One of them was last year in Orlando.

So it's rarer to do it than to not. I don't think we have to dig in right now on whether or not they're going to win the shield or win the championship. They're going to be heavy favorites. Unfortunately, it's a year off and they're not going to play the final at home, no matter what they're going to play the two playoff games if they win in the first round before it's single elimination we don't know what the table looks like we don't know what will happen but that is the stats and that is i think something that we're going to be watching now the last

five games of the season is like how do they handle not having a fall off and being in the best spot to go into the playoffs but i do think the question we can start to talk about is this the best team slash season of all time because we did that conversation last year with Orlando fairly they set the undefeated streak in NWSL history they set the record for most games to start a year undefeated they set the shutout streak they set the wins record and then they went and won both trophies last year it felt really hard as I said because you had COVID years and you had less teams and you had different leagues and leagues where maybe the level wasn't as equal across and it really was the two North Carolina Courage teams

and Seattle in 2014 that we were comparing Orlando to, and it felt fairly tough. This year right now, how much more do you need to see from the rest of this season or where do you already stack this up? I think right now, from what we've seen, they have to be comparable to the team last year in Orlando. But we judged Orlando by the end of the year, right?

There's still five games left. And I think that that is going to be the opportunity that Kansas City has. They, they, I think last year they had the most goal scores in the league. I think they had like 18 different players that scores a goal, something crazy like that. They're not going to get to that this year, but I think they're going to have so many of the records that we look at that make a good team. I'm trying to remember how many shutouts they have now.

One, two, they have the nine in a row, right? Yes. 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Do they have 14? Am I counting that right? I have no idea because I did not count that far back. So now we're making good radio. 11, 12, 13, 14.

While you're doing that, which I heavily appreciate so that I don't have to count things. Last year when Orlando won the Shield, they won it at home against Washington. You were there for that game. And then it was like, all right, they're going to continue to set all these records. They went and lost the next two games. They lost to Portland. They lost the Gotham before we're finishing the year out with a, win and then going into the postseason.

So, like, there is some space here for KC if they keep the foot on the gas to really put some distance in terms of, like, just raw numbers between what a team's ever done if they want to. Yeah. So I have them at 14 shutouts right now, which if memory serves me correct, I thought it was 13 last year for Kansas City or maybe on Anna Moorehouse had 13 specifically for her, but I don't remember her not playing a game. So they could win that, right? They are the hardest team to score goals against. They are the best team when it comes to points. They have this ability to go

into games and just completely dominate. I think their style of play is perfect for them. And I think that goes into it, right? They played different than Orlando did, but with some similarities because of shawinga and Banda and how much room they can create for other players. But in five games, I would be shocked if I'm sitting here and not saying this is the best team that's ever played in NWSL. Orlando finished last year, 46 goals scored 20 against for plus 26 goal differential. Casey is on 40 goals scored right now, 10 conceded plus 30. So the goal differential is better.

That defense is better, as you said. And I'd be surprised if in five games. games, they don't score more than six goals and end up finishing with a higher scoring record as well. Also, this is something that I've been wanting to go back because I think Vlako told us that they've only had four goals scored against them in the run of play. Everything else is set pieces or PKs. That's crazy.

Set pieces or penalties. Yeah. Isn't that wild? Yeah. Yeah. I need to go back and check that. But it's a low number. I mean, you've only given up.

Right. It's hard to give up goals from the run of play if you don't give them goals. Yeah. But that, I mean, that is another thing that I think will add to this. If you're not, if you've only given up four run a one of play goals, that isn't, that's elite. That's not heard of. So Toros in the chat says, I think they'll be called great. You have to do it again next year.

I think that's fair in terms of greatest squad of all time. But if we're talking season, all you can do is talk about one season. And like at some point, you always have to come back to what was the greatest season. Now, I think it's fair to say, like, well, the North Carolina group over three years is the best group we've ever had. And I would call that like a legacy or what would we call it? Like, I think of the Bulls when Michael Jordan was there. It's like a, it's a legacy, like that they're, I don't know. I always say squad because I like, squad.

I feel like that came from college sports where you're like, you know, you remember a group, but players move in and out. I don't think Owen put dynasty in the chat. I don't think it's a dynasty because it's not purely based off. trophies like i do think kansas city jumping to fourth last year and being in a context which they were in that top four that was the best four teams ever in league history and won a playoff game and went to extra time on the road against orlando like that was a successful year right and if you win this and something else and you win something next year it's a three year span to me even though they didn't win a trophy last year like it because i assume the players will be very

similar and the group will be very similar. So I think like I get that point and and it may shade the way people think about Orlando season last year going forward after the drop they've had. And we'll talk about that in a moment. But I don't think it should affect Casey at all. The assumption is Timosher Winger will win MVP as well. I assume Lorena is going to be frontrunner. Will she? What if what if Gotham keep climbing up and Esther keeps scoring goals? If she wins a golden boot in Gotham finish second, she is currently, she has 13 goals scored and the team has scored 29.

So she has scored 13 and the rest of the team has scored 16, which is absurd for the third place team. Yeah. I think you get into narrative stuff with this. I'm just saying there's competition. I would vote for showing up. But yeah, you're right. But you also told me it would be Delphine Cascarino

when we started the second half of this year. I know. I wanted it to be. I know. So that's a different conversation. Sometimes my picks are just who I wanted today. Yeah, me too. And I think that's totally fair.

Let us know what you think on this KC team. What do you need to see? And then if they win the double, now we're fully into that conversation. If they end up, you know, winning that NWSL championship for the first time, I mean, they'll clearly be straight connected to the Orlando team. And then we can sort of talk about all the other teams and all of that going forward. Let's talk about the teams that are trying to get in and let's go to Orlando. Orlando lost at home to North Carolina one zero so it's back to back wins for North Carolina

three straight undefeated for them it has them sitting in the final playoff spot right now in eighth place on the other side Orlando has lost four of their last five their last win was 10 games ago on June 13th in NWSL action because they've been winning in Concaf action as well from watching this game I think North Carolina you know there's you expect them to have more possession. I do think it's been a bit more direct. And I think the variance off the ball is what stood out to me. I think Wetherill pushing from the left back spot internally at times. They played a 433 too in this game, didn't they? Yes. Yes. And so, but, but you think with that 433, all right, the fullbacks are going to stay wide. There's probably less variability inside

of that. I think there was a ton of movement in that. I think there was a ton of options for I'm not going to push in and off the front line and find the game where she wanted to. two. And I thought it was, you know, a different collection of talent than we've seen start most of the games from North Carolina. But it did not feel the same on the tracks. You can pre-predict every pass and every motion. I think that's been a lot of what's helped get them out of the rut and back into the playoff conversation. The ideas and concepts that this North Carolina team has been built on work. But it also, you have to have variability to it. You can't always say, like you just said, right, like this is, it's going to go here and then it's going to go

there and this is how we get out. There has to be a sense of playing the game in front of you. And I think because they have been a little bit more direct and less dependent on some of those structures and rotations, not that they're not there, but less dependent on them. It has given them it looks like a freedom to kind of just play in ways and to be more aggressive. They're getting more players in the box. They're getting into better situations to create goals. And I think a lot of that is just, you know, I don't, I haven't talked to Nathan Thackeray in a little bit, but I would imagine he is trying to implement this like freedom within the group. Like, you're here, you can make decisions, you know, how we can get out of these things.

Here's the different options, but also if that's not what you're given, go solve it. And so I think when you have players like Monaca and like Shinomi, especially Monaca, Monaca has been one of the best players in the league this year. Awesome. Yeah. She has been a handful. And it doesn't matter what game she's playing in. She will flow and find the spaces and figure out a way to solve the puzzle in front of her. And so I think because of that freedom, it allows her to operate a little bit better and find spaces.

And, yeah, it's showing it's a late goal in this one. I don't think either team really challenged as much as they should have. But when it comes to goal creation, but it's a good result for North Carolina. shout for Peyton Linehan entering into this team getting the opportunity to get the start for the second straight game both of them are wins for this team I think that goes a little bit too a little bit more of a direct style and even on the goal right yes the game is broken down and open but like North Carolina pushes in transition they try to make something happen rather than being safe being contained and closing things up and as you said I think you talk about those margins like like with North Carolina for the last two years, it's been like, if they could score this early or if they could be on a winning streak, they could relax a little bit. And they could play their soccer without stressing and every single action. And it's what we saw against Angel City with the goal in the second minute. Second goal in the 15th, it's like, all right, now we're cruising,

we're home. Yeah. All of that. Not the same against Orlando. But I still think now coming off two, you know, four points in two games, a win, playing with some confidence. I just think you feel the game, feel a little bit easier for them. on the other side game's not easy for Orlando as I laid out there have lost four of five their last win back on June 13th

you give up one goal so the issue is clearly creativity even though they have conceded more in some other games like the game against Chicago the big issue is creativity they've lost Barbara Banta that's been a massive loss I think you're seeing some of the limitations to some of the players they have

we talked about Ali Watt when she signed with Denver I like a lot of what she can do not as complete a player as some of the great attacking players. And I think you see at the center forward position, ball over the top, chasing game changer into the feet on the half turn. Can you break out and get into those open runs? Not really her game. And that's one of the things band is so good at as well as linking up

with the players underneath you and helping them find creative moments. From the little I've seen so far, I think Olvey A is starting at a very high point of she's dangerous in, the final third. I don't think she can get herself there fully yet because she's settling into a new team in a new league. And that's one of those things you're missing,

which is like you don't have a central point of this attack for Ovié to play off of. And with pressure on her and focus on her, it feels like a little bit too much. And Orlando has to figure something out to get out of this tailspin because the way it feels is this is a team that isn't going to make the playoffs. There's so many questions.

with this Orlando team. And you wonder, because Allie Watt, everything that you just said makes me, it screams to me, she's not a center forward, right? She's a winger. And now you have this predicament because Ovaee likes playing on the right,

cutting in on her left. But where is Orlando best in chance creation? When they get to the end line and cut it back. So there, I'm actually going to show this in our game, show a couple of plays in our game. I have them on Friday of Ovalier getting into great positions, but she is so left-footed that, the options just dwindle once she gets further and further down the field.

Or the one, she has the one where she gets to the end line and does cut it back, but like delays it a long time. And then everybody's runs are too. And everyone on Orlando made the near post run and overran the ball. Another, that is one of the plays I am looking at because it was, but this is my thought process. Get your best players out on the field that you can get. A lot of midfielers are really good in this group. So can you push Marta to the nine?

Marta can hold the ball up. Yeah. Marta can connect with who's behind her. She doesn't have to stretch him behind. And then you put, you know, now it depends. Like, do you want OVAe chance creating in the channel getting to the end line? Then put her on the left side and you let her use her left foot and you put Alleywatt on the right. Or vice versa, it depends on how you want a chance create.

And if you want your right outside back to get higher than OVA in some of those builds, because the builds probably will be slower now if you have a player like Marta, who's your, target holds the ball up but it just there's no answer at the nine position right now and it just feels like and we talked about this i don't know if it was last week or the week before about just like Orlando switching some things up and you have seen sub tinker and try to figure out a way and i would imagine they are trying their best to figure out who are the best 11 at any given moment to help them figure out how they can score but it's not as if they're not getting the chances the chances are there.

It's just this decision-making and those last moments is not as easy as it was before when you have a band-a who could just dribble four people. And you already, as we've said many times, like you were already carrying the loss of Adriana of like Haley McCutcheon has said, I think she's doubled her career goal scoring mark this year. She went from three career goals to three goals this year because you sort of played her out wide a little bit. You sort of had her fill in in more attacking spots.

you've asked a little more of Angelina pushing forward like you were already carrying that burden and it's only gotten worse with the loss of Barbara Banda and now you're in these odd rotations where you're trying to find a little bit of an option I fully understand what you're saying I do wonder if you know this seems at their best when they absorb a little bit of pressure and then you play martin there and it's like one of those winger is going to have to break out and be the run coming off of martin so it might be more natural for Watt to come from that wide position or whoever it is. Yeah, that's kind of what

I'm saying. Like, you can't rely on your nine to be the outlet. Like, maybe because Marta get so many eyeballs and she is gravity, like she has a gravity to her, it'll suck players out of the space that then they actually want to utilize. So I don't know, I think we're all in the same place. Like, when we

watch this Orlando team, everybody's just thinking, like, what's the solution? And I think Orlando's searching for that is right now as well. Their next game's against San Diego, I would argue that's not the worst matchup for them, even though it's on the road because similar to North Carolina, like, you're not going to have the ball. So now it's to their strength, which is still their centerbacks, their goalkeeper, that connection, like that is still the strength of this team. Can you lean into that?

And it's a San Diego team that is in their own issues and struggles, which, um, just last thing on Orlando really quick, you, you talk about their fall from grace, like from last year to this year. Last year, they didn't change their backline. Their backline stayed the same. Maybe Cory Dight coming in at the end to fill in that right back spot. But besides that, and Adaner and Sam's played every game together. And this year, it has been this rotation of players in and out of that whole entire backline. People haven't been available. They've had more games. So you can see why, you know, if you take something that's stable and break it apart, that's going to create instability within this team. That's why they are giving up more goals. They've

been a little bit more leaky than we've seen before. And if you're not scoring goals, you can't give them up. And that is also been one of the issues for the pride. Yeah, Shavushi's been a good ad, like clearly a talented player that will help them sustain success for longer. And Hafayela, we kind of knew, like, coming back, arguably one of the best centerbacks in the world, like that was going to be a big ad. How are you going to deal with it?

And they never really found a natural, comfortable way to deal with it. This season, which I think is totally fair. San Diego, I mentioned coming up against Orlando, they went on the road against Portland. This was the only two teams in that, you know, three through seven stretch of every team that's tied that faced off against each other. That is the message I just sent you that you just received. And no difference between them. One one draw. So both teams now sit on 31 points.

They are tied with Gotham in three to five now as Gotham tied against Bay. first goal for San Diego since August 16th, over 400 minutes scoreless, some lineup rotation for both teams, more for San Diego, some of it worrying, Delphine Cascarino, unavailable due to a leg injury, and Sheridan excused for this one. It allowed them to sort of play some different options up top. I would argue like really three true center forwards kind of across the front three. and San Diego came out and poured on the pressure like you expected for them.

They finally get the breakthrough and then Portland are able to equalize. You were all in this game. What did you make of sort of the performance from these two teams kind of moving in opposite directions? Yeah, I thought that Portland, like San Diego should have been up by more goals.

Yeah. At the end of this game, I think they're going to be kicking themselves because kind of similar to Orlando, I think maybe even more drastic. They create a lot of good opportunities. And it's, it's just the one thing that I feel like I was struggling with San Diego as the game was played out. It was just so narrow.

And it made it there, there are team, they are a team who loves to have the ball. But if they go quickly, there is a narrowness to the way that they play because probably because you have multiple center forwards out on the field and they don't, they don't feel comfortable in the channel, even though Leon is, has been a winger for the majority of her career. But I think if they're going to find ways to be successful, they have to be more patient in those moments and utilize the width and stretch a team out in a horizontal capacity to find better pass to find a better final pass. I thought that coming out of the game, one-to-one kind of felt fair in the end of it

because Portland found a way to flip a switch in the second half and say, hey, we're not going to lose again at home. and I appreciated that from them and that's the kind of fight and tenacity and stubbornness you need from a team going into playoffs. If you want to win playoff games, you have to have that ability

to change the momentum of a game. And I thought that came through Sam Coffey and there were good things for both teams but I just in the end if I would have looked at this game, I'm shocked that San Diego didn't go get out of there with three points. I mean straight up, Doudini should have scored.

like she was putting spots not just like dangerous hairs but like straight up goal scoring spots she's 20 adjusting to a new league she is clearly one that like is going to be special yeah it was a great addition and one of the things i talked about last week was like it's a lot of pressure on these young players ascani oh geocorli like it's a lot on this team um you've added another player like that to that and it's the right move which is like this is year one of Yonis Iidavall, like, it should only continue to get better, but you can, you see the limitations on some of that in terms of not as much the finished product. And I think that's what you saw on this one was like, because of that narrow nature, she was the only one who

ever went wide, a lot of stuff finished on her, which was like, you're one v1 on the edge of the box or you have potential finishing opportunity for something that was created down the right side and not able to put it away. A big one in that Moroni was rotated for this has been arguably the best fullback for the first three quarters of the season. So interesting, if I'd of all is just trying to change things up and give everyone a refresher, or if that is a clear idea of like, if we can't score, maybe we'll throw three centerbacks out there and see if we can be a little bit safer. So something I watch out for San Diego.

On the flip side, I didn't know the official confirmation on this, but Jackie D in the chat is saying Julie Dufour is out for the season. she went down with an injury in like to 23rd or 24th minute it was a very odd play it was a 50-50 tackle or shoulder to shoulder was what the referee said and i don't think the referee was wrong on that and kensadali felt very strongly about it across the whole experience which was i think she was heartbroken about the injury um but felt it was a fair play and two four goes down and do four has been awesome for them and had given them like a little bit more composure in the final third for a really young group, and I think that's a pretty big loss.

Allie Doe comes on for her, and I think Allie Doe's been good this season, but like is not a full-time game changer in NWSL good. And it makes me worry about Portland because this is now, it looked like a knee. I don't think there is confirmation. Jackie D says ACL. Yeah, I thought it was an ACL. That's why when I was watching it, I said, I am not going to watch this because it's hard. As you can imagine someone who's torn their ACL three times, you don't really like.

like watching other people do the same thing. That's five knee injuries this season for Portland. You've got Kaya Hanks, you've got Mueller, pain, Morgan Weaver with that multiple knee injuries and now Dufour. That's something to look into. You can't have that many knee. Yes, things will happen like this tackle, right? There will be challenges and you just step wrong. And that happens and um your body when it's not prepared for those challenges you can get injured but that just to me puts off a warning sign like i said earlier with washington spirit right i said something's going on you guys got to figure out what's going on to keep your players on the field yeah um yeah that was a hard hard injury hard to see kensadali with that it's hard for portland because they finally get

another addition to the front line and and she's now injured again but i will say in general I think it was difficult for Ken Zadali because Matt Beard was also one of her coaches and really close with Matt Beard. And so now there's the emotions of, you know, I'm playing this game. Somebody got injured after the game. You could see she was really upset and multiple players played for Matt Beard. And I think it was just a really emotional week in general in NWSL. And so it kind of gave me an opportunity to just talk about him and tell people to check up on one another. It doesn't matter if it looks like people are, um, how.

having a good day or not, like make sure we're kind to people and also respect that these players and coaches are people. And when we have opinions, sometimes it's best for us to keep our opinions to ourself. You know, if they, because these people are trying their best. And, you know, we're it, we are allowed to be critical, but let's not be inhuman. Yeah. I think absolutely, uh, I will say off the back of that. unrelated. Congratulations to Rainier Reyes, signed a contract extension this week. And I think we did our season previews for a while this year. And it was like, what does this season need to be for a lot of teams? Yeah. And there were multiple teams that we were like,

show us your future. Show us you're going in the right direction. Be competitive. And I don't even know that Portland was one of the teams that we ended up saying that about because we were so unsure about what it was going to be. And there was multiple teams that are down towards the bottom half that we thought this year would be that for them and it's portland who has done that and so i think retaining a player who was a big part of your game model who looks super comfortable there um who i think is a game changer from that position the way she can get involved in the attack and still defend at a high level one v one uh is a really good moment for them uh so portland and san diego still sitting, as I said, tied on 31 points from three to five in the league.

One other thing to mention, Obaze, who went off early hurt last week, which we were worried about, was available on the bench for this one, which is good for them. Two more games to mention from the weekend, Gotham, a one-one draw with Bay FC. There wasn't a ton in this game, but I do think it's interesting that now we have our answer. it's like jaden shaw is the 10 Rose Lavelle is the 10 and a half or 8 and a half, whatever you want to call it and Jalen Howell in midfield and like

that's what they are going with no matter who else is available it seems like so far whether it's Mitch Purse or Porchio or whoever out on the wings and I don't hate the idea like you've got these options try and make the game dangerous

and even if it exposes you a little bit like you might as well go for it. I was going to say I think that is the thing I noticed, even with Bay. Bay had some success on both channels, I would say specifically on the right side, especially just like a pretty simple, like, up back and through. And that's the space when you're playing down the channel,

or even in the half space. Like, if you don't have three midfielders and a 433 who are willing to cover the space and work back in those moments, you can be exposed. But I think what this Gotham team has said to us, clearly by this move for Jaden Shaw and getting MidgePers healthy, Roosevelt healthy, they're saying we're just

going to outscore you. And we're going to rely on our backline because Carter, Sonnet, have had a really good partnership. They have AKB in the net who will stop everything. So I feel like they're reliant on we're going to score more than you. We might give up a little, but we have trust in what we can do defensively

to manage, even if we give up some space in those central pieces of the field. When I was cruising through the goalkeeper numbers looking at Lorena's stuff. Yeah. And Katrin Berger's like actions off outside the box are so far above every other player in the league. She's a little wild in moments.

Yeah. But if you're doing it almost double everyone else, then like, yeah, there's going to be questionable moments here and there. But it's clearly a part of their game model. It's an advantage to have her as part of the team. Henry Elliott says if I called Rose LaValle a 10 and an 8, can we split the difference in caller in 9? No, because there's a number nine on this team in Esther, who, as we said,

has scored almost equal to the rest of the team. They're like interaction with her and Rose after the goal. I think Esther kind of was like, oh, I didn't have to score this one. Like, thank you. I know. Also, I think those two just see the game very similarly. So I would imagine that's a little bit of like, like not speaking the same language, not even talking to each other, but just knowing where the space was, occupying it,

finding the past, you know, those moments. since I just transcend language that you're just like, ah, that was awesome. So Gotham, still sitting in third place, as I said, on goal differential, whatever. But I think for them clearly have found their level. The back five has remained the same now over and over again. I think that's brought a lot of stability to this group as well. The last one. Jaylon Hal has been excellent.

Yeah. She has really covered in that space. And I think this is her best natural position. Yes. And that's something I think you might think because we've talked about it many times as where this season went along. And it's cool that they've given her the opportunity and she's been able to take advantage and be healthy. Like that was the whole thing. It was like, can we see her get a sustained run and be herself?

The last result from the weekend of mention Houston, 1-0 went over to Chicago, which we wouldn't have said was super impressive a month and a half ago. But Chicago, impossible to beat. In Houston, they have quietly moved into ninth place, two points out. outside the playoffs. They've lost one game since the international break. Of course that's first Utah because nothing makes sense in NWSL. So they're two one and two in their last five games. Yasmin Ryan now has three goals and one assist in the last four games.

She has four goals and two assists across the entire season. So in the last five games, she has done more than she had done the previous 13 or 18 games or whatever it was before that. and now Houston heads to Chicago, sorry, to Washington on the weekend, which is going to be their toughest game left of the season. But it would be a huge statement, whether it's get a result or get a win there to try and push their way into the playoffs. So a big close to the season for a Houston team that they were sort of the one I was really alluding to of like, this year is just show positively, be going in the right direction.

It wasn't that way for a long time. The style wasn't there. The connections weren't there. this is like the perfect way to end the season for them, whether they make it or not. We also talked a lot about Houston though at the beginning of this season because they made all these moves, but they were all intra-league moves,

right? Moves to bring veterans in who understand the league, who understand the game, football playing type players, Sheehan, Colaprico, Ryan, all those players want the ball at their feet. And I think it just as reminds you,

you know, Seb Hind is in a build Orlando in a year, right? There's a vodka. didn't build everything that he has now in a year. Fabrice Cottra, I think, was seeing little glimpses of, okay, we're heading in the right direction. And now after that, after the international break and you have time to actually work on things in a week-long capacity saying, all right, we're going to work on this defensive action, this is how we want to attack, these types of rotations. You can see that it just reinstilled what they're trying to do and they feel so much more comfortable in what they're doing and might be heartbreak Houston kicking somebody

off the playoffs on that last game on that last day. They play at one o'clock on Sunday. Seattle plays North Carolina at 8 o'clock on Sunday. So coming out of the weekend, we will learn a lot more about where teams stand at the bottom of that playoff race. We've got another, I don't know what you want to call it, the third through fifth tied team's pointers, Gotham host Portland in this one. So that could show us a little bit of a gap between those two teams, which could be really big. And as I mentioned, San Diego hosting Orlando, also another huge game on the weekend. It is sad to say that Louisville hosting Angel City is not, like it has really fallen apart for Louisville fast.

They are fully outside of the playoff race. Once again, they've never made the postseason in the club's history. And Angel City also look to be a little bit too far away, a lot of rotations to their lineups, some of that forced, some of that seems self-inflicted, maybe hasn't been the best path forward for them in this one. We have some outside of the field stuff to talk about. We've got the ball and door stuff, which we did talk about for a while on the kickback committee yesterday. So if you haven't listened to that, I'd recommend going to listen to it. We talked about it with Brianna Pinto and Susanna Fuller about the voting and the way it went. The big conversation was

that there was not an NWSL player in the top 11. And on top of that, the top voted NWSL player was Marta, who is the greatest player of all time. But last year was not MVP of the league she plays in and was not even MVP of her team. I think you would say with the way Barbara Vanda performed, and Banda and Tamwa Shwinga both finished behind Marta. I think Banda was 12th and Shiawina was 17th in Vanda.

voting in the top 11 vote getters. Bando was 14th and Marta was 12th. Oh, Marta was off right because I said that. The top 11 vote getters, every single player played for either Barcelona, Arsenal, England, or Spain. For the most part, they played for both, which is Arsenal and Barcelona or, sorry, Arsenal and Spain or Barcelona and Spain. I think this is less a conversation that some players aren't deserving and more of that. other players are and just the pure lack of awareness of the like global scene in the sport for something that is like celebrating itself and trying to promote the game I think is pretty

frustrating. It's really frustrating. And I'm I'm someone who said that Marta should be up there because of her performance in Copa America and what she did there on the national team. I think that is something that elevates her above those other two players who, one Banda and Shiawinga, for me personally. But then I, you know, I can back that up with why I think that. I think what is frustrating in the voting is there seems to be a real disregard for anything else that's not European. And so are they going to expand that?

Will there be more people voting on this come next year? Because Bon Mati, excellent player, but missed a big piece of the year with an injury and you're still the best player in the world. I just think it's it's lazy. Yeah. It's honestly lazy and frustrating because there are so many people that put so much of what they you know, they put their all in life into, you know, not trying to be the best player, like getting the ball and door, but trying to be the best player that they can be, which they hope amounts to being the best player in the world. And it's silly things like, you know, I think Emily Fox is a great soccer player, but I don't think she's better than Lindsay Heaps.

And they voted that because she's on this Arsenal team, who is great. But I just feel like there are just little things in this that just make you tilt your head and say, huh? Well, and Jackie D puts this one in there, which is fascinating, which is like Esther was the Golden Boot winner at Euros. No, I think she finished, yeah, she finished top. She's 22nd. yeah um 20 second and and that's when where you're like well what's the gap between her and the

other players on spain that she plays with that she would fall so far behind them he plays in america which yeah plays in a different league is not being watched as heavily clearly i'm not like an expert on any of this but like i watch a lot of soccer and any phrase you want to use best game changing important striking fear there's not a planet where ten was showing is not one of the top five in the world in that category agree and what you said of like you work your whole careers for things like this like she deserves to be there and then the other side of things is you'd be shedding a light which haley carter's come on the show and talked about how much talent there is in other parts of the world. Now maybe you open up opportunities for other people to go find that talent.

And like none of this is you're awarding this. Like Timu Shwinga has earned the right to be in that conversation. And even if you want to do the comps of the silly ones of like, well, we watch Alyssa Thompson play in the same league. How much better is Shwinga? Now she plays there. How good is she? Naomi Germa is this good. Blah, blah, blah. Like you could do dumb stuff like that. You don't really have to. If you watch the sport and you watch the game, like it's fairly obvious yeah and these players like yes the other ones that are playing for spain barcelona england arsenal or chelsea or whatever they're playing some good games in the champions league but you're comparing that to every game in nwsl which is at a higher level

week in and week out than the the leagues that they play in so it just is i think a frustrating thing because it shouldn't be this way, right? It's not women's football is not the same as men's football. It's not when it comes to where the talent is. The talent is all over the world. And I would say the same for, for, how do I want to phrase that?

All over the world when it comes to playing in different leagues. It's not so isolated in England, in Spain, like these big leagues. You've got to look other places and it's frustrating. So this comes now in light of, or on the back of, or use a different phrase that's correctly placed, Jessica Berman having this state of the league conversation coming out of their owner meetings and saying a few things, she has four key focus areas that they're making sure that we have

the most exciting games that were driving the soccer narrative, that we are trusted as a league, that we're building the talent pipeline. Like 50% of that is just buzzwords that people say, and I get it. Everyone has to create a deck and give a presentation, not knocking them for that, but like, I don't need to talk about driving the soccer narrative. I think building the talent pipeline is real and that conversation is real. We're seeing it with what we believe is the creation of a two league coming in, which was announced, but I haven't seen any actual details.

They pushed it a year, the second league. It's going to 2027 now. Right. Yeah. That sounds like a real focus, something that we're focused. on you have now of course no draft which i do think has been a positive this year on the ability for young players to come into the league and be difference makers and grow because they've been able to choose the spots that fit themselves the best and we're going to talk a lot about rookies and young players and everything that's happened um we did a a piece yesterday the black

women's players for change is creating a combine for the best young black players in high school to be seen by pro scouts and college scouts like everyone sort of chipping into this and building it i still don't understand how the starting points not just professional academies and i'm not saying that that's like the be all end all fix of everything but it yeah i have thoughts i just don't the foundation of a player's technique and very often that gets missed because players are already the best player on the field and game changers and winning matters and it should matter that's something you're teaching young players but i think a professional environment builds technique the best way and you have to be at least connected to high level clubs and helping get that

there and that to me is where i'd spend the money over a reserve league but that's another conversation for another day um and then there was a conversation a jessica berman had about future proofing uh the league we are positioning our league for sustained success we're in it for the long game our owners are investing in things that demonstrate that they're here to ensure that our league achieves our missions of being the best league in the world. I think with the stadiums and the training grounds on a lot of this, I think that's what she's talking about. And I think a lot of that feels true. But in the Ball and Door conversation, the connection comes now to the high-level players, Alyssa Thompson and Naomi Germa, choosing to leave the league. We're all on alert for Trinity

Rodman and what will happen next year as well. And Jessica Berman said, I understand the focus on the salary cap, but the way that players make decisions about where to play is a complex set of considerations. We will always look at that, not in a myopic way, but holistically. We're quite confident the value proposition we offer players as compelling and will continue to attract and retain the best players, particularly as we look at the focal point in this country over the coming years with the Olympics and blah, blah, blah. Yeah, I mean, yes, it is not a singular reason why players leave this league. But when you hear Alyssa Thompson's salary, when she leaves to go to Chelsea, you realize that it's a little bit about the salary. You know, it's a little bit

about what you can make going somewhere else. So yeah, we'll see. I think one of the difficult points of where we're at in this league is it has grown a lot. And you need that growth, especially from a financial point. I don't know if it's grown financially enough to have an academy because that would be a huge amount of money to be able to sustain an academy, pay for players to get coached, coached, play on a team, all of the things that come with that. Is there, you know, is there schooling attached to it? All the things that you can think about that come with an academy. And that is a really heavy load. Are you going to pay for that right now? you're going to pay to increase the salary cap to keep players here in the U.S.

I don't know where you go with that type of money, but these are the things I'm sure we're being discussed during these meetings with all the ownership. And one of the things that needs to be discussed in all of this, which we've talked about on this show as well is like it is not between NWSL and the Spanish League and the French League. It's between Chelsea and Man City and, I mean, you can't even say Barcelona. more and Leon and PSG and Arsenal and like that's it and I think it's five five or six teams right and I think it's fair for NWSL to look at that and say maybe one in city now with

Michelle Kay yeah and look at it and say that's fine like if those five teams are going to come and sign Giselle Thompson instead of someone else that's going to happen and it is what it is but overall we're the best like I think all of that's okay you just can't sit on laurels with any of that because if you just look at the way the transfer fees are jumping like you're going to be chasing and you don't want to be chasing. You're at a position of strength right now. Maintain that position of strength and put yourself in the driver's seat going forward.

The last piece of news coming out of this that I think really piqued people's interest is the mention now that expansion going forward is going to occur on what they call a rolling basis. So there is not going to be two teams are coming in 2026. Everyone apply. The applications will be gone through in this. I'm sure you've heard any of this before.

I am slightly aware. Any of this. And then this is the end of this. And if you're not ready on that date, you can't be a part of this process and you can't get in. She said, we'll communicate decisions when they've been made, but it is an open process. I think this is correct. Like the league is in a place where it can afford to add teams if good teams are available. If it's a good market with a good plan and support behind it, there is no reason to close yourself out.

normally the reason you have these restrictions is one pacing like how often you bring teams in that affects the player pool it affects a lot of other stuff I think with the abolition of the draft that helps a little bit of like teams can go out and sign who they want to

if they're going to do a good job the other thing is normally pressuring local governments and places to vote on things and push things and push things through I think it'd be cool if that wasn't really a problem because ownership groups were just going to pay to build buildings and play in stadiums or playing stadiums that already existed.

So we'll see. I wouldn't be shocked if the language on that shifts at times of like, we'd really love to have a team in Minneapolis, but we just can't find a place to play and we can't wait forever. And it's like, okay, cool. Well, you said it was rolling, so I'm not really sure what to do with that. Last thing as we close out, our 50 state this week is Nebraska, which is not a big state.

but Paige Nielsen is from Nebraska. Sarah Weber is from Nebraska as well. Haley McCutcheon or did she just play at Nebraska? I think she just played there. And I think Creighton has a few good graduates as well. Where is she from originally? I'm looking right now. Jason Christ is from Kansas, from Kansas.

There you go. Jason Christ is from Nebraska. Duncan McGuire is from Nebraska. So it feels like we've got four pretty locked in. If anyone has any recommendations on other players, we should add, though. Let us know we will have our live chat tomorrow afternoon where we will close the book on the state of Nebraska, which we talked about a lot yesterday because Susanna just went there for a Union Omaha game and had a great time. I went to Nebraska on my drive to

Colorado one time and stayed in. Lots of bugs. I didn't notice any bugs. I had a great time. I'm a fan. Nice. I have only driven through Nebraska, so I'm not going to say anything. That's why I think there's lots of bugs because my car always has a lot of bugs on it afterwards. Jordan, living the Nebraska life through and through. Thank you to all of you for joining us. Thank you to all of you for being here, especially everyone in the chat.

Owen finished with the wise kickers or wise assisters. I don't know if we're going to land on either of those. So send us more recommendations and we'll talk to you again very, very soon. You know,