SoccerWise - Mystery LA Press Conference, NWSL World Cup Schedule Mess, KC Issues & Big Time Departures

Episode Date: January 21, 2026

We finally have an NWSL schedule! And while it is one of the earliest releases we have had it isn't straight forward. David & Jordan talk through all the oddities and intricacies of 2026. Then they talk about the massive moves of Delphine Cascarino & Denise O'Sullivan moves to Europe. And finally talk about the effect of Temwa Chawinga & Michelle Coopers injuries in KC.8:30 NWSL Schedule For 202623:30 Delphine Cascarino Leaving San Diego27:15 Denise O'Sullivan Joins Liverpool & Questions in NC33:25 Spirit Spend $950k For Paraguayan Phenom42:15 Temwa Chawinga & Michelle Cooper SEI Injuries

back to Soccer Wise, David Goss and Jordan Angeley with you for another big show. We've got a lot to talk about. We've got some huge departures from San Diego from North Carolina. We've got some big additions coming in to one club in Denver. And we've got some unfortunate news coming out of Kansas City that we will touch on. But we do have one thing that we didn't have last week, Jordan. We've got a schedule for the 26 NWSL season. This feels like one of the earliest most coherent,

versions of all time. Yeah, it's wild with two more teams in. So now 16 teams, you would think it would take a little bit longer. But no, NWSL's like, look at us. We have a schedule early. I think it was officially January 15th that got put out. And this was the earlier, usually it's everybody saying, when is the schedule coming out, asking all of the, you know, talking heads in NWSL media, when are we going to get the schedule? And this time teams were like, making content to say that the schedule was coming out on a certain day. So I liked this switchup. Yeah, a lot of good release videos that I enjoyed. I enjoy that type of content. I enjoy the creativity. My favorite one was, did you see the Kansas City one where they had to say all the words?

Yes. I wouldn't do it, but I enjoyed watching it. You didn't try that over the holidays time with your family? No. Oh, we tried it. We tried it. And I was trying to. like different techniques like maybe if I only say cat with when I do this hand and hat when I do this hand cat cat cat cat hat cat cat cat cat cat because you're because you're yeah you're reprogramming your brain yeah I don't know I just was like maybe this will work it's hard and I thought that they were clever in using something that was so relevant right now and I don't know you wouldn't call that pop culture would you but just like culture but we'll still be fun always and isn't like super dated the other thing is

you see why athletes are athletes, they're so competitive. So competitive. I'm the type person with something like that where it's like, yeah, this is a thing I'm not good at. I don't care. But they couldn't not care. Yeah, yeah, I thought that was good. And then I always like when little kids name the teams. And so that San Diego won with the little kid.

I want to know whose kid it was naming the teams. But I think the called Boston, I think it was a little girl called Boston the Gooses. I thought that was pretty funny. Not too far off. No. Yeah. There was a video that came out of a guy who had, he was in Nigeria,

and he had his nieces and nephews trying to name a bunch of random European soccer teams. Yeah. And he, like, would put them up. And they had Oreos when they stepped up, and if they got it right, they'd get an Oreo. And one kid was like so pissed that he just started licking his hand

and touching all the Oreos. He was like, these are mine. And it was like, Leverkusen and Manchin Glodblock and Plymouth Argonne. The ones that we can't even say. Yeah, exactly. But it was a really, really funny video. So I agree.

I always love that type of content. Any other good content coming out for the rest of the year? We are excited about. Potentially, some coming out on Thursday. As Michelle Kang and Haley Carter have scheduled a press conference in Los Angeles, not in Washington, D.C. That is happening on Thursday afternoon. We don't know what it's for. I wrote down a theory.

LA is obviously the film and TV capital of the world. So they could be announcing the continuation of series that have been discontinued or maybe new seasons in series. I put down Lupin on Netflix. That's one I'm hopeful that will be returning. And I would love to see the next season. I'm not sure if that's under Haley Carter's pur. Yeah, you wrote that down. You wrote that down and I didn't know it.

I don't know the show. You never watched Lupin? No. Oh, my God. It's so good. Yeah. That has to be a watch for you. It's like, it's like Oceans 11, but more endearing and in French.

Oh, okay. So there's a little bit of subtitles for you. All right. Well, I'll give it a go. I don't think, Goss, I don't want you to get your hopes up. No, you're going to like it. Everyone likes to do. No, no, no, no.

I was going to say, I don't think that's what they're announcing. Oh. Yeah. Damn it. I know. I hate to be the one that burst your bubble, but I just don't think that that is going to be it. Well, then why would it be in L.A.?

Hmm. I don't know. Maybe the national team training there has something to do with it, having a pretty talked about player present. I don't know. Like, do you feel like it has to do with Trinity Rodman? I think everybody's hopeful it has to do with something with Trinity Rodman.

That is some really good detective work. You could potentially catch Lupin. You wouldn't because Lippin's the best. But you could potentially catch him if... Well, I'm just trying to try out in case this is... He starts stealing Jules. from the Denver Museum and whatnot. Yes, yes, exactly.

That's a really good theory. It's a really strong theory. Do we think it's using the hip rule? Is the hip rule going to be a rule? I don't know. And my understanding is, in the way it's stated now while being fought about, I think it goes into effect in the summer.

So I guess you'd want to have to figure out a way to sign Trinity Rodman for the first half of the year before you can use that mechanism. for the money. The other thing is you'd be signing a player on a contract with the rule. And I guess this isn't Washington's problem, which is like, if the rule goes away, then NWSL can't blame them. So that whole thing is bizarre, but it would be quite exciting to hear that Trini Rodman is permanently resigning with Washington Spirit. I think that's just where my brain goes. And I'm hopeful that that is something that is happening because I want

turned to Rodman to say in NWSL that's good for the league, it's good for the spirit, it's good for the competition within this league that is continuing to get bigger and bigger. So I hope it's that. I don't know what else it would be. I don't know. I was in some chat or post about it and someone was like, if this is another celebrity minority owner, I will lose it. but I would assume Magic Johnson would be there instead of Haley Carter for that type of job.

So my guess would be that would not be the case. I guess fingers crossed. That will happen tomorrow on Thursday. So if there's any intense breaking news that we have to cover, we will do so. We also will do so on our social channels. So make sure to follow us on Blue Sky if you do not already. And on Instagram at Soccerwise, follow Kickback and Kickback Committee as well. All of our channels that are pumping out all of our.

our content. You know what's interesting is the, the PA filed a grievance against the league with this hip rule. Wasn't it, didn't we read something about it having to be, the league had to respond to it or do something within a month? Like, aren't we in that time? And we haven't heard anything about that. Well, the reason we heard about that, learned about that, was because of the initial grievance, which was filed against, um, voiding, Trini Rodman's original contract. Right. And what ended up happening with that was they had to respond and what they responded with was we need more time, which seemed to be acceptable under some rule of like we are preparing our response and defense and it takes a little bit of time. So I don't know, one, I don't know if

that grievance has been solved. Right. So then allow them to sign. And the second is I don't know if NWTL can use a similar mechanism for the hip grievance. I do think people really enjoy our legal portions of our shows. I think so too. And I think we're just trying to figure this out. We might not know a lot, people, but we're asking the questions that you also want to ask. And we're asking them to each other,

so there's no answers to be found. We could probably have an expert on at some point to talk about this, and that's something that I will work on. Going forward, let's talk about the thing we know, which is the schedule. So March 13th, we are kicking this thing off, less than two months away, a month and a half. We have our opening game.

It is a rematch of last year's semifinals, Washington against Portland. So that will be the opening game on Friday night on Prime. Then the next day, the first game of the day will be Boston's debut in NWSL, and it will be their home debut as well at Gillette against the reigning champions, Gotham. Welcome to the league. afternoon on ABC. It feels like a New York Boston game. Like there's not going to be any sort of rivalry for legacy with anyone.

So what are you going to start with? And I think one of the tried and true things we know is Boston, New York normally has some sparks and fireworks. And it's something you can build around and sell around. I like this. Even though it's a very difficult opponent for the legacy in their first game to go against a Gotham team who continues to add pieces to, you know, we talked about McCaskill last week, this team who just are the reigning champs add some really good pieces, so they're going to

continue to get better. Going up to Boston, I like it. I like that you start with a natural rivalry. Like the Boston people that are at that game are already going to hate Gotham, just because they're from New York. And same with those New Yorkers and New Jersey people are going to go up into that game because it's not that far of a drive. They can go and be a part of it at Gillette. I'm really, I'm excited for that. I'm glad it's on ABC, a big spotlight on the legacy in their first game in NWSL. Yeah, it's going to be a huge moment. It is clearly one of the tent polls of the opening weekend for that game to be on national TV to be in that time slot as well. So it's going to be a ton of fun, as you said, built in sort of

energy around it. And I just, you know, I've been to a lot of expansion games, expansion moments. Like, something special in it. A lot of times that team, I don't want to say overperforms, but like they're playing on a different level almost. And so to be the reigning champions coming back for Gotham, which is going to be their first taste of we're not the hunter, we're the hunted now. Like everyone's coming after us. I think it's going to be a pretty good example for them of what they have in store for the rest of the season. And then a few hours later, we're going to get the debut of our second new NWSL team as Denver Summit will make their debut at Bay FC for the first of what will be three road games to open up their existence in NWSL. And they do so against one

of the newer teams. And I think Bay sort of put it out there of like another historic moment for Bay, all-time biggest crowd, one of the newest teams in the league, just hosted the NWSL championship. And now they get a chance to do it. And we will see Denver on the field for the first time ever. Yeah, it's going to be a really fun Saturday with these two new teams debuting Denver. Being at the Bay, it feels for some reason in my head, I was thinking the Bay was going to be the first game for Denver here in Denver. But I think this feels right for both of these teams Bay. It's been a rebuild and they're going to be changing a lot of things. Denver, everything's new. It will be a really nice welcome to the league for both of

these teams and their new styles that they're trying to incorporate into what they're doing. And for anyone who doesn't know, Bayfc plays their games at PayPal Park, which is actually in San Jose, which is where Santa Clara University is also located. So I think they just did it for you, Jordan. Probably. They were probably like, oh, well, what would be the most fitting thing for Jordan's life? Yeah, yeah. I already talked to Leslie Osborne and she's like, see you soon. And I'm like, yeah, can I crash at your house? Can I have your extra? Can I have your extra? your bedroom for the weekend. But I will be wearing all green on the day. Which actually will be a funny picture to, you know, hopefully I'll get to see all four of them. But, you know, Leslie and I and are

rocking our gear for whatever team that we are associated with. And then, yeah, get to watch our teams play each other. So those are the headlines of the opening weekend. Obviously, every game's going to be big. A lot of teams with a lot of moving parts that we're still keeping up with. And we'll talk about some of the big ones out there on the field for the first time. So all the games that opening weekend are always fun. And it's always a really cool way to start things. As we said, the two games on Saturday for the debut team's only the one game on Friday. Casey Current have Utah Royals, North Carolina have Louisville, San Diego host the Dash on that opening weekend. And then the two Sunday games are Orlando hosting Seattle. So like Seattle for the third straight game is playing.

Orlando. That's so funny. I didn't think about that. Yeah. Another thing about Seattle, Orlando is they play each other the first game of the season, and then they play each other the last game of the season this year. And then it will end up being the playoffs again. Yeah, probably. And then Angel City will face off against the Chicago stars in their first game of the season, which will be the last game of that opening weekend on Sunday at 7 p.m. A new broadcast partner has come on board. Victory Plus. Not a channel that I'm super. familiar with. It seems like in looking at the schedule and just skimming through it, it's pretty

much a replacement for NWSL Plus. NWSL Plus does still exist and Victory Plus is free. So it just seems like the games in those windows, a lot of them have shifted over in terms of watching. But we'll talk about all of that as the season gets closer. And I'm sure we'll all be figuring it out at the same time. Then the season kicks in. There's a chunk of midweek games. Most of them are than the first half of the season. There is a large break from April 4th to April 19th, or sorry, April 23rd, a 19-day break, which we can't figure out why. We looked at FIFA windows.

We looked at the women's AFCON, which is finished on April 3rd. So if anyone has any information on why, feel free to let us know. The official announcement came through that the Concorda-CafW Champions Cup has been scheduled for the semifinals and the finals the same as last year, so it's all at the same. site double header semi-final on the midweek with the final on Saturday. This year will be at Pachuca in Mexico. So it will be May 20th for the semis and then May 23rd for the final Washington Spirit and Gotham are the two MWSL teams that are in that. If you've never been before, I've never been to Pachuca, but in doing the research for our World Cup pods, it is like the home of soccer

in Mexico. It's where it was invented and there's a museum about the history of soccer and history of soccer in Mexico. So if anyone goes, please go to that museum and let me know how it is, because it's one of the things I would like to do in life. And it sounds really, really cool. After that, about a week later, is the start of the month-long mandated break for the league.

The break is combined. So it's the mandated break, which I think is two weeks, combined with an additional break to fill some of the time while the Men's World Cup is happening. So from June 1st to June 26th, the teams are on a break. and the World Cup is a huge factor in the scheduling and setup of the league. It's a factor, of course, with this break, it's a massive factor in terms of stadiums for a lot of the teams.

For some like Seattle, the games are being played in their stadium. For some like Gotham, it seems like the proximity to the big games has forced them to move things. Maybe it's a resource thing in terms of first responders and availability or traffic, whatever it is. So Seattle is playing their first three home games of the season. in Spokane, Washington, which is like five hours. I mean, it's Eastern Washington versus Seattle. It's a completely different setup. I think my understanding is it's not even part of the season ticket package.

Like, it's available on its own. Spokane has two teams, one in U.S.L. Super League, one in U.S.L. League one, that play in the stadium holds about 5,200 people. So that's going to be a huge factor for them from March 25th to April 4th. That's three home games that will be played there. Gotham, as I said, won't play a home game at Sports Illustrated Stadium between May 31st and August 7th. Now, the break is in that, but it just shows how long some fans will wait to see their team. They have two games that are home games scheduled in that window.

One has already been set on July 18th at Icon Stadium. And then the rematch of NWSL championship between Washington Spirit and Gotham on Wednesday, September or Wednesday, July 15th currently has a TBD next to it. So the location or the time is set, but the location is not set. Obviously the World Cup final is on July 19th, I think, and that's happening at Giant Stadium or MetLife, whatever you want to call it, or they're going to make up a name, New York, New Jersey Stadium, which is not right where Sports Illustrated is, but it's close. Yeah.

Um, that's a, this one's worrying to me of like, this should be your headline game. And it's on the same day as a World Cup semi-final at in Atlanta. And it's not a set location. It's not probably going to be a true home game for Gotham. I think that's all pretty unfortunate. Yeah, I have no idea what it takes to put on a World Cup final in that area and like how it's not done it before. Yeah, I know.

Maybe I should ask your wife about all these things. She'll tell you she doesn't know. Yeah. So I. I would imagine you start the preparations in the surrounding area a while before, but like why couldn't you have a game? And I don't know. You tell me how close Sports Illustrated is to whatever they're calling the stadium.

It's the Northeast Tri-State area where it's like 10 miles is a huge difference. That's like 15 towns away. So I just, yeah, I wouldn't say. Or are the teams going to be training there like at the stadium? That is part of it. Yeah. So it's interesting to me. This is a really big game.

And it's, you know, this is a crucial time of season because you're getting back in. You're trying to go on that. We've seen a lot of teams start that second half of the year really strong with these games when they come back and kind of get themselves on fire. And if you're Gotham, you had a really strong second part of the season last year. And you know that you're going to want to perform against a team that you took out in the final. So I don't know that area well enough to be like, okay, there's multiple other options. Obviously, there's Icon Stadium that they're playing their other game in, but why wouldn't you just do both of them there then? So my assumption is this is going to end up in Philadelphia.

That's like kind of what it feels like. Obviously, Gotham has played games there in the past. I think that's great for Spirit fans. It gets them halfway there. Yeah. Makes their life a lot easier. So we'll see. But this is some of the effect that we will see.

Boston will be another big one because they are playing their home games in theory at Gillette Stadium, which is a World Cup Stadium. They are also the third tenant of that building because they are not owned by the Kraft family who owns the Revs and the Patriots. So Boston, of their 15 home games, seven are going to be played in Rhode Island at Centralville Bank Stadium, which is home to the Rhode Island USL team. It's a gorgeous stadium. Brand new. It came online this year, right on the water, built where the Pawtucket Red Sox were. It's an awesome place to play. And I like the idea of spreading games around and being in different places.

is 48% of your games is a lot to play in a completely different market. And so I think this will be a huge factor in terms of the way they're supported. Because this starts, May 20 seconds, their first game there, and then a lot of the games after that, that's when they're played. So for people in quote-unquote Boston or the Foxborough area, they won't see home games for a really long time. Then when we come back, we come back from the break with the Challenge Cup on June 26th. That is in Columbus. So it's a neutral site between Gotham and Kansas City, which is a new thing. We've never seen that before.

And then we are rolling back through with games that July 4th week. Rivalry week is July 10th. And then Decision Day is a true decision day. November 1st, every single game is played at the same time, 5 p.m. Eastern Time, which will be a really, really fun two hours to see based off the last two years. years where everyone finishes anywhere. Yeah, no, there's a lot that you just went through quickly in that second half of the season. I think it's strange that the game is in Columbus, the Challenge Cup game, but I also, I'm really pumped for, you know, I lived in Columbus for three years, working for

the crew. And I think that that community would really love having an NWSL team there. So it'll be cool to give them a little, little taste to that as that game is there. And then lastly, Decision day is fun. It's fun too for us broadcasters going down to Vista, which is where all the games are broadcasted out of. And you're all there. All of your friends are in one place at one time. You're kind of like getting notes for each other about what's happening. You're texting each other when goals score. So goals get scored. It should be a really fun decision day. And hopefully just as wild as these last couple of ones have been. I can not imagine it will be any different with two new teams in the league and all of the chaos that we have seen over the last. last few years. So that is the schedule the week after November 8th. The playoffs will start. And then as we know, that's the sprint for straight weeks, playoffs, knockout games, all the craziness, all the high level games. It will be really, really fun. Let's dig into who we will and won't see in some of these games. Let's start with some of the outbound announcements. Delphine Cascarino has officially

parted ways with San Diego. The two parties agreed to mutually part ways. And the quote from Delphine Cascarino in the release was, since joining the wave every moment of my time in San Diego is something I will always cherish. Playing for this club, this city, and in front of such a passionate fan base made this decision incredibly difficult. However, due to personal considerations, the next step in my career needs to be closer to home at this time. I'm grateful to the wave for their understanding and support,

and I will always look back on my time in San Diego with pride and appreciation. We had heard the rumblings for a while now in terms of the interest from London City. It felt like the acquisition of Ludmila at such a huge number was the anticipation of this. The lack of any sort of transfer fee stands out a little bit in terms of San Diego's ability to recoup some of that value that they output on Ludmila. And either way, it's a loss on the field, as we've discussed seven goals, nine assists in the year and a half and one of the most electric players in the league. It's a bummer. When she first came in in 2024 at the end of the year, I was like, take it to the bank now. This is going to be the MVP of 2025.

And, you know, I think if San Diego would have not gone through the scoring drought that they did, there's no question in my line that Cascarino would have been in that mix because she just is electric. The way that she plays, she defies all odds in certain situations when the ball is at her feet. So it's a disappointment when it comes to being a fan of this league and getting to watch her on a weekly basis. But you can tell that this is more than, you know, playing in NWSL playing in San Diego. This for her feels like, you know, it's the year before World Cup, she's trying to make that French team and be a really important player, moving to London where she's closer with all the international breaks that are coming. I would imagine that has something to do with why she would want to get back. to Europe at this time.

So, yeah, these are the ones where you understand it as a former player, but I'm also disappointed. I wanted to continue to see her wrecking defender's ankles out there on the wing. Yeah, special player. It's going to be fun to see what she does over in England. I do wonder if part of the recalculation for the wave has been that concept because they, you know, obviously they brought in a large European contingent last year, especially French. And now Doudinia was the big addition during this season, Ludmila, the big addition in the off season, Adjiana Leone, all players who are in America's based originally, play national teams in the Americas, where maybe they did realize that it's going to be hard.

It is probably, maybe with Seattle, the most quote unquote remote trip for a European of like, you're probably. probably transferring, you know, it's probably a 12-hour day of travel to get to Europe and whatever it is. And the World Cup's going to be a huge factor for a lot of players as they try and establish themselves. The understanding is that there was a clause in her contract originally placed that if she wanted to go back to Europe, that there would be this ability to terminate the contract in this January, which is why when London City the interest came in the summer, they would have had to pay a transfer fee. And so London City waited till the off season, or at least the NWSL off season, and then brought Cascarino in. So a big addition for them. As we said, though, with Ludmila,

they already have kind of done some of the work in advance to fill in for her. And then they signed Kiki Pickett to a two-year deal this week, which I love Kiki Picket. I think she's underrated, showed she could play in defensive midfield. I think for Bay has played out at fullback with Lungquist leaving, maybe that's an opening. It feels like the type of player who will start between 22 and 30 games this year, even if she's not first option at one position for the whole season. And even if she doesn't start, I think just what Kiki Pickett brings you from a day-to-day basis, her professionalism, getting to chat with her, she is so focused on getting better day in and day out.

She, you know, we've done a little feature on her about how she has this notebook and she continues to write like things that she wants to get better at in this notebook and brings it with her everywhere. Like her dedication to her craft is up there. And I think that is what you want when you're bringing in a new player who's, you know, can play in multiple positions. You want someone who can be laser focused at what you want as a coach and be able to implement that. So really good pickup there for a couple of different spots with Kiki Pickett.

Let's move on to North Carolina and a name that I think all of us were hoping. wouldn't be leaving the league. Deniso Sullivan is heading to Liverpool after eight years with North Carolina Courage, three NWSL shields, two NWSL titles, a couple challenge cups in there as well, was voted team MVP for two of the seasons that they won the shield,

was named club captain in 2023, and is the record holder for appearances in North Carolina Courage history with 155 career appearances across all competitions and is heading to Liverpool, but is one of the legends for North Carolina and one of the great players in this league, Jordan, one that we continued to gush about week after week.

Anytime she had a couple injuries over the last year, which was unfortunate, anytime she was out there on the field, she was the metronome for this club. This kind of shocked me. I did not see this coming. And with all the changes at North Carolina, this is probably a player they had Circle does to like we know we'll be okay if we have Denise

so Sullivan right because we often talk us about players being metronomes but she really is like she is a metronome for this team like they play at the pace at which she competes which she can slow the game down with her passing she can drive forward with dribbling has good range her tenacity to win the ballback is elite her she can cover a lot of ground there are so many things that we can talk about with Denise O'Sullivan. And this is a massive loss for North Carolina courage. For her, you know, I don't know what else you can do at that club, right? She's done it all.

She has elevated them to being a real contender at, you know, one of the elite clubs in this league for a number of years. And I would have liked to see her continue in NWSL, whether that would be at North Carolina or somewhere else. I'm bummed that she goes back to Europe, but for her, she did, I mean, that was one thing that you could always count on with Denise Sellevan. She's going to go on the field and she's going to give every single ounce of her being. And yeah, it was a pleasure to be able to watch her play for so many years. And she was really the essence of the way they played in two sort of different

styles under two different reigns, right, in terms of the original championship teams under Paul Riley. And then later on, when Sean Nehas took over and they, became this outlier possession-style team much more short-passing. And she was fantastic in both, which I think shows the soccer IQ, shows her ability as well as, as you talked about her professionalism and reliability for this team. It is also for a team last year that we kept calling Young, it is a new now step into the unknown. They don't have a coach right now. They've lost Denise O'Sullivan.

they've lost Casey Murphy and they've lost Kaylee Kurtz. Pretty much the only experience in the young team last year has now left. And so while there's the incredible talent of Jackson and obviously Manaka and Koyoma and all the young players there, it already felt really hard for them last year to carry this team week in and week out. They've lost their most consistent piece and they've pretty much lost their experience any experience they had in the spine of this team. and they're doing so without a coach still as they head into preseason,

it is very worrying what is going on in North Carolina. Their potential for 2026 and even pass, like how far can you fall behind and be able to reset and fix it and how quickly can you do it? The one positive I would say of this off season because I think there's a lot of question marks there is they do get Kalin Sheridan. So we talked about that last week. It's a good pickup for them where they are losing players down the spine.

You know, it's not just periphery players. These are spine players who, you know, kind of set the tempo and the way that the team is going to play. But I'm curious about North Carolina. I'm curious about Portland. Those are the only two teams, right, without coaches right now that have been announced. So, I mean, you're already, you're already in preseason. And, you know, this is valuable time to get everybody on the

same page and it just it's a head scratcher to think that these teams don't have head coaches yet and it feels like an own goal like why yeah for portland it felt like they left it late in terms of when they decided to move on from rob gale which could be part of it north carolina fired their coach during the season like have you not been doing interviews have you not been assessing what you want to do and that's where it's really worrying and this at a time where they closed the men's club to put more focus and resources on the NWSL side. So there's not question marks there of like how much there is value in the team. And it seems like a really,

really unfortunate and odd way to go about an offseason and is very, very worrying. Remember last year, Angel City didn't have a head coach. Like at times the form they played in, they would have been a playoff team. I think part of what tanked is you're basically going to have to redo preseason and reset a lot of this stuff whenever your coach does.

does come in. And if it's not at the start of the season, then there's question marks about when they should join and where it should be. And so for North Carolina, there's a lot to worry about. And I would assume a lot of that went into the decision making for Denise L. Sullivan, who has been through a lot and maybe didn't want to be a part of the unknown or this Rebold, goes to Liverpool, scored in her opener or her debut for Liverpool. And as an Ireland international, that's like as close as you can get to Ireland without actually playing in Ireland. And I think the level a little bit higher, though Liverpool has had its problems in the past. North Carolina did re-sign Olivia Wingate that came out yesterday. So that's one piece of

news for them as they build back that roster. A little under the radar somehow, but Washington Spirit continued to set records and do insane things. They spent $950,000 on an 18-year-old from Paraguay in Claudia Martinez. It is a top 10 transfer fee all time in women's soccer history. It's more than Sam Coffee, if you think about what we just saw Manchester City pay for the U.S. Women's National Team starting center mid. She was the co-leading score at the Copa America Femini last year with six goals, including a hat trick against Bolivia, which broke Daniel Castellanos's record for the youngest hat trick in Copa America history and won a you seven team common bowl title for Paraguay before that, a nation that has no history of success at the

international level on the women's side and was playing for the biggest club in Olympia before then and now is headed to the Washington spirit. I don't think we needed this because Haley Carter leaving Orlando to go to Washington, I think was a sign once again. Washington are the power players in this league, but it's a real sign of intent from this club to go out and spend that type of number. And to do so on not a guarantee on a young player who everyone believes has the potential can grow, but we'll need to do so. Washington scouting has been excellent.

How many times over the last year and a half have we been like, well, here's another forward. Don't really know how they're going to fit in. But unfortunately with injury, we've seen all of them have their fair share. And maybe that is a positive, too, is because they've got. gotten some real good quality out of every single player that they've brought in. And so I think if I'm an 18-year-old who has been successful, I'm looking at this Washington Spirit team saying, wow, they are getting the most out of their forwards. And I have not been

shy about talking about Adrian Gonzalez and how good he is at understanding the puzzle that he's spacing and matching it with the pieces that are going to best fit that particular match. So I'm excited to see her in this league. That's a lot of money for an 18-year-old. A lot of unknown with her because she is so young and a lot of her success has been on the youth level. But I think one of the benefits of how much the women's game is growing is there are more eyeballs on these young, you know, U-17 players, you 20 players for national teams all

across the world. You know, we've seen that with Monaca, Shinomi. You can name this, these players from different teams across the league. I mean, Haley Carter has talked about players coming from Africa, especially West Africa, that were, you know, underrated, unknown, and bringing them in at a younger and younger age because you can then help their development, rather than waiting for development to happen externally. And I think that this would be a great team to go, great facilities, amazing coaching staff. And the players, and the players, are getting better. You know, you can look across that roster and see how impactful some of these players have been, not just on the forward line, but it really does feel like they have a culture

and an environment where it doesn't matter if you're 18 or 32. You're continuing to progress. And, you know, as a player, that's really what you want. And I think for a lot of people, this has been an ask for NWSL teams, is to be this option for players, especially from South America, rather than having to go to Spain first, right? You look at Alinda Kaysedo, who went over, and that's a huge move, and moves like that will always happen. But as we look at some of the transfers,

NWSL teams are making and bring players from Europe that are South American players at 24, 25, could you have done that scouting four or five years earlier and brought those players in? We had them developing your system, learn your style, learn the league, and maybe choose to stay and be a major part of things. And as you said, we've seen with Giff Monday and Rose Kuasi coming in and obviously the range of draft picks,

Hal Herschfeld and Croy Bethune and what they've been able to do in terms of helping players find that next level. And so this is one that the whole world is watching. And it's not shocking to see the Washington spirit come out on top in a situation like that. So really, really exciting for them, for their fans. And this club continues to plan for the future while also plan for the present. And let's finish up with one more team before we get into some unfortunate news out of Kansas City. Did you get a cowboy hat this week? I saw that the Denver Summit did a cowboy hat hangout.

The summit had a nice, the marketing team and the front office put on this nice lunch for the squad where they got to customize cowboy hats, which was really cool. Some of them, I mean, you clearly saw some of them. There's a blow torch that people use. Yeah. you can like add different texture to the felt or whatever the hats are made out of. It depends on what hat you get. But yes, you can brand them like you would be more brand in a cow, you know? And one of the brands was, two of the brands were Denver Summit logo.

So customized cowboy hats, I did not get one. But maybe just in the great, that's who did the hats. Maybe he'll give me one one day. Do they get the carrying case with it? No, I think that's B-E-Y. Separate. I got it. Because I will tell you when you fly from Miami to Denver,

all of the Miami people bring their cowboy hats, which are real cowboy hats. They are using them for the purpose. And then everyone has to take the case out of the carry-on space at the same time. It makes the carry-on space in those airplanes. You're like, come on, do we really need to take up this space? You like just wear the hat on your head. Yeah.

Right? Tell all these people. Tell those Miami people that. They're not real cowboys. I will work on that one as soon as possible. The news continues to come out of Denver as they are preparing to enter their first preseason and finally meeting up as a team. A new signing in Melissa Castler. Did I miss an A there when I wrote it down?

You did miss an A. Melissa Costler. Yeah, Costler, 25-year-old German. Yep. Yes, potentially to play center forward, 25 goals and 58 appearances for Hoffenheim and played a year in the U.S. at UMass. So it seems like another good depth signing, another option, but a little bit more experienced along the front line as they continue to sign college players as well, Olivia Thomas, coming out of UNC 13 goals and seven assists over the 20 games played in 2025, won a national championship, was one of the three. three big players coming out of UNC that we had heard announced saying they were going to go pro, and everyone was waiting to see where.

And it feels like for Denver now, they're starting to add on both sides, but a lot of high-level college players who they're hoping can be an impact in year one. Yeah, a lot of college players. I think the last time I looked at Denver's roster, it looked like seven players out of college. So which it's just a different, you know, we haven't seen expansion even in this free agency period, right? So it's been interesting to see how both teams built. We talked about that last week. But when you were looking at the summit's roster,

it did feel like there were some winger type players, but not really target center forward who could challenge. And I would think that this is the thought here, bringing in an experienced player playing for Germany to come in and be that target center forward. So then you can have a player like, Thomas and Watt and some of these wingers be able to flank the play of the center forward up there. So I think both of them are good pickups for the summit.

Jordan Dudley, one of the top players in college soccer for the last two years, has announced that she's leaving Florida State, but no second announcement of where she will be going. I think she is like day one an impact player anywhere she goes professionally. I thought she was the best player on her USU20 team. I thought she was the best player in college soccer that I've watched over the last two years. So that could be a huge get for an NWSL team or maybe she chooses to go overseas to start her career.

So one to follow, and I think one that a lot of fans are, fingers crossed that it'll fall on their side. A team that actually could use some additions, which I don't think we thought we would be saying four months ago, is the Kansas City current. We talked with Chris Armis, the new head coach last week.

So if you want to go back and listen to that one, you can. He talked about how it came about that he went from being let go by the Colorado Rapids, the head coach of the Kansas City current, not exactly the career path that we've seen a lot of people follow. His style, what he's looking to bring, his integration with Flacco andanovski and his role and a lot of other things. One of the big factors that will be a part of his opening as head coach is the announcement that Temwa Shwinga and Michelle Cooper have been placed on the season ending.

injury list. Now, that sounds worse than it is. It's not good. You're talking about the best player in the league, and you're talking about a player who has elevated herself into the conversation with those players and directly into the U.S. Women's National Team. But as we've seen over the last two years, you can be placed on the season-ending injury list to start the year and then taken off of it. And it's a cat mechanism to operate in if the play. player you know is injured in preseason and won't be able to start the year. This doesn't mean their year is over. If you place a player on a season ending injury list during the season, then the rest of that year is done for them. In theory, and this is not what's going to happen,

they could play in week two, and you could take them off that list, and that's a possibility. That I don't think is going to happen. Otherwise, I don't think they'd put them. But both of the return dates are unknown. Here's the two quotes from Chris Armas that we have. He said around Temwa Showinga, it's hard because of the nature of the injury. With Temo, we've got to be very careful, but she's looking great and doing lots of good work on the return to play. And then on Michelle Cooper's side of things, it's the foot injury, which we saw on Decision Day for Casey Kern, which held her out of the playoffs. And in the quote from Armas was, it was a little bit of a tough ending here after honestly an amazing historic season. Hopefully she's back as soon as possible, but it's still unclear.

all of that is worrying for fans, I think for neutral fans who want to watch the best players, but especially for Kansas City current fans in an offseason in which there's been a couple of losses to this team that set a ton of records last year. Yeah, they be out left. We talked about that. Haley Mace went to Orlando. They have Nichelle Prince going to Boston. Alex Pfeiffer went to Bay. So those players leaving on top of these two, you know, your two top attacking players being injured and out for the unperseeable future, which kind of felt that way when Temu Shuianga got hurt, it felt like it was a long, it was a big injury.

And I think because it was at the end of the season, it wasn't talked about a lot. If that would have been the same as when Barbara Banda got injured in the middle of the season, I think there would have been a lot more talk about what the injury was, how long it was going to be. But I think because of when it was at, nobody really dug in, you know, because then they lost and it was over. So I would be curious to see how long it takes time with Schoenga to get back from this injury. But, you know, there is hope for Kansas City current fans that they could come off that season-ending injury list. But they have some holes to fill when it comes to their attacking talent and are going to need to get more out of a player like Dubinia, who I thought was much better this year and impacted the team a lot. But is this going to be an Allie Settner year? You know, they bring Allie Settnor in to have an impact attacking-wise

and she couldn't find her footing really within this squad. So now that there is not so many eyeballs on everybody else, can she carry some of that weight this season? It's going to be interesting with the options, the way we know them, and obviously the off-season still continues, so they could add more players to fill some. of these spots, but who is the starting center forward for this team? And I think the obvious candidates are Ali Sentinor and Debian. Neither of them are naturally that position. Both of them

can play there. Debenia did so for Kansas City. And Ali Sentinel has done at times for Utah. And then Michelle Prince was the replacement for either Michelle Cooper or Temasher Wingo on one of the wings, who's no longer available to this team. And Haley Mace, obviously, getting the start at fullback made Ellie Wheeler more available to play in other parts of the field. So those are all the pieces you've taken off the board that you can't use to replace them. But I think in what you're saying of like bringing up Alley Center, there's so much talent still there. Yeah. Can you?

You know, there's not as much, okay, well, if someone's not performing, someone else gets the chance or like they're fighting to get in the team, there's more reliance on them. And we don't know yet Vanessa Di Bernardo's timeline who's out on maternity leave. and missed the end of last season. But in theory, a starting whatever, middle four, you know, three center mids and a center forward of Claire Hutton, Lola Bonta, Alex Sentinor, and Tobinia, most teams would kill four. Yeah, yeah, for sure. And I do, just looking over some of the players that they've brought in,

they bring in Gianna Paul from Alabama. And there's a lot of talk about Olivia Thomas and Jordan Dudley, rightly so. But I do think Gianna Paul will transition well, from the collegiate game into the professional game and maybe a little under the radar just because she didn't go to UNC, she didn't go to Florida State. She went to Alabama, which is great program, right?

Went to the national championship a few years ago. But I think that that will be, she will get more playing time at the beginning of the year than you would have expected with the roster that they have. This feels a little bit like what Gotham did last year where they kind of reset things of they had so much depth two years ago and then a cohort of college players to fill in, some of the roster spots.

Yeah. And just leaning farther into the veterans they have of, it's your team, right? Rose Lavelle on that side of things. And obviously Jalen Howell and the performances they got. It feels somewhat like that for Kansas City. Not having Temuasua is just hard to avoid of like she's the best player in the league. But you know what?

It might help them because if you can play well without her, adding her in is the cherry on top, taking her away. like you like basically change everything about the way that your team plays. The question for me is just as Chris Armas comes in and talks about high intensity, high pressing, verticality, direct play, that's the part where it's like, okay, what you're talking about is that curveball of like this is what we do great and then can we add to our game where he, we haven't seen him yet put in place the fastball that they

and the go to. I'm losing sports metaphors that I don't really know things about this stuff. going. Yeah. Safety. You got to put safety in there. When you said Alabama, you sounded so like college football. Anytime anyone says Alabama in context like that, I just think that stuff.

So I was like, oh, whoa, we're in one of those shows now. So yeah, there's going to be huge question marks around some of that. But it's a chance for other people to emerge. I think this is a team where there is great goal scoring ability out of midfield, whether it's Lola Bonta, whether DeBina is playing there, whether Ali Sentinor is. And also, Ali Sentinor, is, I think, one of the top 20 prospects on the planet and, like, has been good enough on the field in NWSL games to be the best player already in her career. And so this is a huge chance to emboldened her, make her feel that way.

And if she's able to be playing at that level, when Michelle Cooper or Temwasher Wishinger comes back, that's the ceiling for this team. And so it's a huge opportunity for her and for them. But question marks we didn't think we'd be having. I know. Like there's really maybe outside of Gotham, and I say that in context of they were the eighth seed last year. Even with the run they went on, there aren't teams without question marks. Trini Rodman has not resigned with Washington. That's probably the one that's closest.

And then you look around and everyone sort of has, what are you going to do this year? When does Barbara Banda come back? What is, you know, what does Orlando do? Sam Coffey has left Portland. They don't have a head coach. The Seattle Rams. you know, Lynn Biondolo is not going to be a part of this group this year. And they struggled last year to score goals.

So Delphine Cascarino leaves. I'm just going down on the standings right now from last year. Right. There's a lot of question marks, which is exciting, I think, for us to be able to see these teams for the first time. And we're going to do so on March 13th. We now know. And then 14th and then 15th, depending on what team you are and the way you're set up. So thank you to all of you for listening.

If you understand things that we don't in all the categories we discuss, tell us. Please let us know on Blue Sky. You can get into our comments, whether it's on YouTube, whether it's an Instagram, or you can go and rate and review the show on Apple Podcasts. And then you can do it in there. iPhones? You can do it on iPhones. Is that what you're going to say? I am limping to the end here. My back has seized up. I got to go lay down. I'm a thousand years old at this point. But thank you all for listening. Thank you to you, Jordan, for being here. And we'll talk to you again very, very soon.