SoccerWise - NWSL Soccerwise | Gotham Rolls, Utah Rises & Caiya Hanks Returns

Episode Date: August 18, 2026

Utah keeps making a case that it belongs in the Shield conversation, while Gotham is starting to look like the team many expected them to be. David Gass and Jordan Angeli discuss what's behind both teams' recent form, plus the emotional return of Caiya Hanks for Portland and the continued emergence of Mel Barcenas in San Diego.0:00 Intro: Across the NWSL in 72 Hours2:46 Utah's Wild Win Over Bay FC17:06 Gotham's Best Soccer of the Season?24:32 Caiya Hanks' Storybook Return31:42 Angel City & Washington Play to a Draw38:26 Mel Barcenas Is Must-See TV42:56 Midweek Matchups: Louisville vs. Seattle & Chicago vs. Houston50:54 Power Rankings👍 Like • Subscribe • Listen • Follow🎧 Listen & follow Soccerwise on your favorite podcast app:https://soccerwise.captivate.fm/🎥 Watch full video episodes on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@SoccerwiseHQ🌐 Visit Kickback Soccer for more podcasts, news, and coverage:https://kickbacksoccer.com📰 Subscribe to The Kickback newsletter:https://the-kickback.ghost.io📲 Follow Soccerwise on social media:Instagram: swwomenfchttps://www.instagram.com/swwomenfc/Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/soccerwisehq.bsky.social

Welcome back to Soccer Wise, everyone. David Goss and Jordan Angelie with you for another action-packed show talking all things. NWSL with the person who has gone coast to coast. Jordan, you did east to west, back to east. You are an astronaut for us right now. We appreciate it. I felt so like an astronaut in moments thinking, what planet am I on? Do I know how to speak English at times? Because, It felt like a whirlwind. But it made me think of some of those broadcasters during the World Cup and how they were going from city to city every other day calling games. And I thought, okay, hopefully I get to do this next year. So I'm just getting it, getting a little taste of that. So, yeah, I went from Florida to Atlanta to L.A., back to Florida.

All in about, I don't know, 72 hours. Wow. It was a whirlwind and got to see four games in that. time. So I've pretty much covered most of NWSL over the weekend. Yeah, you were just there. Yes. What those cross-country flights, I always forgot how long they are. And so my go-to thing is I always try and bring a sandwich just in case. You never know.

Oh, that's good idea. What's your go-to flight mechanism for the cross-country flight? Did you watch movies? I worked. My cross-country flight from Atlanta to L.A., I worked on my game that I had that night. But then I took a red eye home and I tried to sleep, which you always feel like a little bit of a zombie when you're trying to sleep on a red eye because it's like the straight up sleeping where you're like my head. I've hit the age where if my head tilts any which direction, I'm done for. You know, like if I sleep too long with just a slight tilt in my neck. I've got a crick in my neck. I haven't known what to say for the last 24 hours and it's been painful, but it's not that painful. Right. And it's just an unnecessary thing. And it's like, normally it would just fix itself. And now it's not. Now it's not. It's just what happens. I am aging. Yeah. So I didn't get one of those. So win-win for the weekend. Yeah. Nice. Well, you got a little beach time in early already. You are prepping for midweek NWSL, which we will do the same. And then we've got a full weekend once again coming up on this following week. So a lot to talk about, a lot to dig into. If you are listening via Sirius Radio,

Welcome to the show. Thank you for being here. If you're not and you're listening via podcast, we love to have you here as well or on YouTube. So please subscribe if you do not. Please like the show. If you don't, leave a review so that other people can find us as well. Let's talk about a lot of the big games that we had this weekend. I didn't know where to start because there was a lot of really good action to go from. You were at a lot of it, although I ended up putting some of the ones you were not at towards the top of my

list. And I got to tell you, if you ever want to know which game not to watch when there are simultaneous games going on, text me. Just text me and say, what are you watching? And when I answer, then do the opposite. This is a problem I've had for you. Yes, this is a problem I've had forever. The Gotham game was fantastic to start the night. We'll talk about Gotham in a little bit. And then there was three, three games at the exact same time right after that. And, I put on San Diego, Denver, and was enjoying it. And then the score pops up. And it's Utah Bay 1-1, 9 minutes into the game.

And I decided, and this, I believe, is called sunk cost theory, but I have no idea. I was like, well, all the goals in that game have already been scored. So I'll stay here. And I won't go watch that game. And then Utah ended up winning a 3-2 game. There was four goals in the first half of that game, end-to-end action, and then it ends on a Tanaka penalty kick. And in perfect fashion,

and W.S.L. does not have it up for replay on Endinguosel plus. So I watched the highlights of this game. And there were some unbelievable goals. Naurumi's goal in the first half, the highlight of all of it, probably the highlight of the weekend until the weekend end in L.A. with Ali Sentinor's goal, which you were there for. But this is a Utah team that we have talked about consistently.

They remain towards the top of the league. they put up five goals two weeks ago at home against Portland. They put up four goals the week before that on the road against North Carolina. And now they put up three in a home three to win over Bay FC. I think that's where you should have immediately said, all right, actually, I should watch this Utah game. Yeah, they just did scoring goals. And I made a little friendly wager that my game was going to have a lot of goals in it to

somebody else in the studio. And it turned out that Utah game was the one that neither one of us was on that game. So we're like, well, does it really count because that game ended up winning? I like, I think for Bay, they are just doing, they're desperate. They're trying to do anything they can to get in games for them to score two goals, I think is a big step in the right direction from them. One was just aggressive pressing and one was from a set piece, but you got to get them somewhere. And then on the other side of things, this Utah team, it's one of the reasons why I have them potentially winning a shield. I think it's hard right now with what Gotham's doing, but I think that they will continue to fight for that because they know who they are. Their identity is really strong.

They make teams uncomfortable with the way they press, the way that they regain the ball high on the field. And the numbers that they throw forward when they do press and attack. And because they do that with so many numbers, they can win the ball high up on the field. And that is how they score goals, right? And they showed that in this game. The resilience that they have is something that we haven't seen from Utah since they came back into NWSL. And they're riding on that, not coasting. They are getting better, it feels like. Yeah. I think we have seen, especially with the Rumi and the team this season, we have seen the development of the ability for the full backs to get really high up the field because there's such a known.

quantity, which is we're not going to lose the ball in a bad spot. And it feels like that's been one of the huge, like, stepping stones for this Utah team is they can take risks because there's guarantees that they won't get hurt. Now, I think if we ask the coaching staff, they'd say, well, we want to take those risks no matter what. You know, that's our identity. We want to play on the front foot. You could talk about the opening 25 minutes that I watched with San Diego, Denver,

and how Denver pressed them high. San Diego continued to play through it. And there was actually, Jonas Ideval was picked up on Mike and he was talking to the players during it. Everything he was talking about was attacking half stuff. My point being, Yonis I de Valle will tell you I don't care

the mistakes we're making because this is the core of who we are. And I think Utah has established that as well. But to not lose games by playing that way, it helps to be able to have this safety blanket. And the Rumi has been that alongside Tahada. And we've talked for a while, you know, since Tejada came in and Zornoso was a partner for Tehada at times, that there was great possession in there.

But Nerumi helps you turn that possession into purpose and helps you clean up some of the mistakes that you can have going the other way and then scores one of the best goals of the season. So now if you're a backline, you can't play off of her, right? So you have to step, whether it's your midfield or your backline, a little bit higher, and that gives space to Adelzer to sort of sneak in between, between and it feels like all these pieces for Utah are coming together at the right time. And they've got a legitimate shot to continue to fight for this shield. Totally. And to put themselves

in a right now, it does feel like they're just constantly getting a little bit better, a little bit better, a little bit better, scoring goals in variety of ways. And I think that that is, you know, we talk about off the ball for Utah a lot, right? How do they win the ball back? How do they set up their structure, really aggressive in first and second balls? A lot of the times, double teaming in central positions to regain possession. But they have a player like Lacasse who can stretch and create it with a space in behind. They have Delzer who's a pocket player who plays there. They have the consistency of Naurumi setting the tone. And then outside backs who want to join and can be dangerous getting to the end line, but also can be dangerous,

inverted. And so there's a real balance of a lot of different variations to Utah and the way that they attack and the players that they've been able to accumulate and put on the field, which is hard to defend, Goss, if you're constantly showing different pictures. So I feel like not only are they doing a good job of the variety, but when that is going to be successful out on the field with little different tactical switches. So yeah, kudos to them. And next time, there's a three games. And at the same time, I may, I'd maybe tune into Utah.

Before we talk about Babe for a minute, let me ask you about this one. So in the second half, two-two game, penalty kit goes in favor of Utah. Tanaka steps up, takes it saved by Jordan Silco Witch, which, by the way, spoilers. We're going to be doing a 2027 U.S. women's national team, women's World Cup depth chart segment coming up in a little bit that we'll be running on our new U.S. base show every Wednesday. We'll be talking U.S. women's national team every single week all the way up until that world. Cup and through. And Jordan Silkowitz is, as Jill has told us, is sort of the big name knocking on the door. Silkowitz makes the safe. It goes to VAR. And yes, she is a quarter of a half inch off the line, which I don't mind because a line's a line. I'm not complaining about that.

I love the way you describe it. I sound like I'm complaining about that part. I don't mean. No, you're not. But I get it. It's a bit of an advantage. Here's my question for you. So the whole VAR happens and then Tanaka steps back up to the spot. There is no rule that the same player has to retake the shot. I feel like I would swap out shooters and I've never seen it done across any game that I've watched. What do you think about the pressure and sort of the experience in the moment for a shooter to then re-step up and take it again?

And I would say this even if there wasn't the VAR. Like even if it's bang, bang, saved, okay, immediately whistle. it just feels like the second head game starts now of, well, they know where I went, so am I going the other way? And it becomes like a second experience rather than this is my spot and I'm putting it in there. It's a good point.

And I haven't seen that happen either where they switch shooters. But typically you're picking your best, most effective shooter in that moment, right? And the odds have to be really high in your favor, that if you get a penalty saved, the odds of you making the next one have to be high. right? Because the odds of getting it saved in the first place are pretty low. The pressure is, you know, I guess then what you're saying is probably right, because the pressure is on the shooter

to score, right? The goalkeeper, if they save it, great. But like, yeah, wide open, a huge net to play with from 12 yards out. You should be making that if you're the shooter. So maybe if you're, Tanaka in that situation, you want to take the next one because you're like, I definitely am going to score. Like, there's no way she's saving it twice in a row. So there could be a confidence to the shooter in some regard. But I don't know Utah's specific situation. And, you know, you're talking about in general, you haven't seen this. Maybe Tanaka is the one that they feel most confident with.

So they're just like, all right, well, you're going to go again. Keep at it. Try one more time and it worked. Yeah. And it worked out. And it was like an emotional explosion from Tanaka after scoring that goal, runs over to the sideline, celebrating with the bench. and a huge victory that she's able to lead this team too.

For this Bay FC squad, we both were very high on them coming out of sort of the mid-season layoff, right? We both had really pushed them up the standings, and I think we both had them as the last team into the playoffs when they were not very close at the time. Now, part of that was they came out of the World Cup layoff break with a three-game winning streak, or sorry, it had bookended,

And that was part of it was they went into the break playing well. They came out of the break playing well. It feels like the attack has found its feet around Fyfer and Fuller and Carly Lemma leading the front line, which gives them a little bit of speed in a different way and has that finishing quality. We don't know when Rachel Kuhnanji will return to this team. Jenna Nyswanger made her debut in this game. But now we're starting to see the holes that Albertine Montoya played. with, which was when they attacked, they couldn't defend, when they defended, they couldn't

attack. And I think I kind of forgot about that issue, which was balance in this team. What is Bay FC, what should they be looking to do going forward for the rest of this season? It's, there's a difficulty with Bay because in games where they create a lot, they're not scoring goals against Chicago, they should have had a couple of goals. And one of the things that Emma Coates tells us as broadcasters, she's like, I feel like goals with this team are like London city buses. Once we, like you wait there and none of them come. And then, and then they all come at once. And I love that analogy because it does feel like that for this Bay team. If two games ago, they would have scored three goals against Chicago, do they feel more confident that, okay, now we can take that

and run with it feeling like everything is working out in the final third for us? There's just a lack of confidence for this group. And when you lack confidence, you lack, you lacked intuitive decision making once you get into the final third. So it feels like sometimes there's so much pressure on am I making the right pass, am I making the right run instead of just, they know the patterns of play. They can see what's open when it's open once they get to the final third. But oftentimes, it's almost as if you're watching them think through the problem instead of just playing through it. So I don't know what they do. I hope that they find that first bus, right?

And all the rest will come or that first goal and all the rest will come. But you hope with Jenna and Icewanger's first appearance, maybe she can get some more minutes? And can they just stay a little bit more compact? I feel like this team, when they are compact, can win the ball back in good areas because of the work rate and the ground coverage from their center midfielders. But also, they can't put too much pressure on the back line.

So like your compactness can't be high. up on the field a lot of the time because you're going to get beat with speed going the other direction. So can they find that almost maybe it is a mid block where they kind of let teams have the ball until they get to the top of the center circle and then they ignite their press? Because when they get stretched, they can be broken down fairly easily. So maybe that's one solution for this squad. I don't know. It does feel like we had them moving up and we had positive hope, like some hope for them for a reason, because their squad looks a lot better. But I do think if there's too much pressure on this back line, it just isn't consistent enough

to be able to handle it. And this has sort of been the case outside of, I would say, there was what, a two-month period with Abby Dahl Kemper there where they seemed to really solidify. And that was the most balanced. We have seen them with the ability to put numbers into the attack without sort of leaking goals the other side. Now, Sokowitz has elevated in some of these games, and it's kept them in some of these games when they've opened things up. And I think the other hope there is if Claire Hutton can sort of dominate things in central midfield, but it's a lot of responsibility for a young player.

And it's a lot of responsibility around pieces she hasn't been with. Like, you know, Kenny Fuller is a massive part of this. They've been together, what, six weeks? Like she's been on this team for very little. and she's high, high volume, high touches. Everyone's certain to learn each other a little bit. And I think the hope is Bay FC can get it right before the touching distance to that final playoff spot is too far.

They will play Houston next weekend. Houston plays midweek. So a little bit of an arrest advantage there for this team. And I think maybe a good opportunity to get a win for Bay FC. Let's talk a little bit about Gotham. Gotham came out the gates and came out. Kansas City came out faster. 22 seconds in, Amelia White with the goal.

It's the fastest goal in NWSL this year. We just talked about Sophia Wilson's opening goal in Utah two weeks ago in that big goal scoring game. So Casey puts up the early lead and Gotham never really missed a beat. They just, you know, I think when you give up goals that early, it's like, all right, well, game plan is game plan. Like, we didn't come out for a zero zero. So we have to score goals anyway.

Let's just continue to play the way we want to play. And I don't know if it was you mentioning the name in our midfielder of the year conversation or not, but this was a dominant performance from Jalen Howell. And it was both sides. She scores a goal that ends up getting called off. But she was everywhere in this game. And I'm watching a Gotham team. I think play the best soccer that they've ever played that I've watched.

Now, for a game, game and a half may be different. but over a stretch now of four or five games and just repeatable attacking movements. And I think it's the most I've seen a Gotham team play blind passes and anticipate moves where often you'd see players for Gotham over the last few years sort of draw playback, but they're so talented that you can create chances anyway. It just feels like the game is really fast for them. and it's really nice to see. And I would mention that if I was any team looking for a head coach,

that I'd be calling Sean Harris and asking for an interview. Because I don't think it's a coincidence that it's happening under him. And he is clearly helping this team find their ceiling. I was prepping for my game that night. And then I had, what, three more games? So I haven't watched back this Gotham, Kansas City game. I did see the highlights. But I'm just curious.

from your standpoint, because we have talked so much about this Gotham squad and how when you look at this roster, there does feel like underperformance in moments from them, from what we expect them to be and who they really are sometimes out there on the field. You expect them to dominate more. Do you feel like that was the case in this game? Like they dominated the maybe not 90 minutes, but the majority of this one. Yeah, they ended up with 65% possession in this game. And I think when you look at the passing in this game, you can see the setup, which is right and gets forward, Shaw comes inside, but Dudley hangs wide.

So the game kind of tilts up right and's left wing, and then you've got bodies inside. to be finishers, to make hard runs, to create opportunities, and the connection, I think, in this game from McCaskill and Howell was as good as I've seen it. And then that connection to then clean up second balls or as Howell did on the goal that got called off to be the late runner and be a get an attempt at finishing. But it felt like they were able to play through Kansas City's lines when they wanted to centrally. And then they had that outlet up the left wing. And every piece is sort of working together.

when you look at the sort of stats at the end, you know, there's a cluster of Sam Kerr and Dudley and Rose playing off each other along the right side and then Shaw coming inside and just like a ton of room to run up and down the left wing. And then Mitch Burriss, as a right back, is a true finisher. Right. She's not a right back.

So everything that gets created up that left wing, you've got opportunities. It's not a coincidence, by the way, in what I'm saying in this run, that this is the healthiest stretch we've had to here to date. Davidson in a long time. Like she is, again, talking about that U.S. thing. And I've been playing the ASA game where you have to select old, you know,

put together rosters from random draws. Like the best team I've had was the one when Tiernard Davidson was healthy with Chicago. And she is just a cheat code at that left centerback position. She is. And it's the, I mean, both the centerbacks are really solid. Even with Carter in there, right? Yeah. Clearly.

Carter is a national team player for England. For sure. also when you, when teams are asking and demanding so much of outside backs right in, purse, because purse is, she's not an outside back. So she's not going to stay a lot, right? She's going to want to go and be a part of the attack. And you want her to be able to do that. You have to have midfielers who are ball winners.

And I do feel like McCaskill was so recognizable with San Diego, how she found that role, because it wasn't all ball winning for her. It was some, but also it was how she could get into the, attack. And if, if this Gotham team keeps the ball a little bit more, you're going to see her pop up more and more often and how she can progress the ball and do that. But both her and I would think more howl. And this is why I go back to my, my thought about how being midfielder of the year is this Gotham team is, they don't have like a lot of bite to them. They have a lot of beauty in the, in the way that these players play. I would say Dudley brings some more bite to that front line.

But when you have Jalen Howell in there, she's feisty and she's going to win the ball back. And then when she does get the ball, she has the beauty to balance and find the next pass and all of those things. But this is why I think she is at the right place. She's stepping up. She's allowing Gotham to, when you do have the ball, you feel like you can ask more of the outside backs and let them up a little bit higher on the ball because she's going to make it predictable. Yeah, she'll make it predictable. And when a team does get out, she'll slow it down. She'll foul if she has to, but she'll guide them in a direction where then

Carter and Davidson know what to expect the next pass to be, and then they can go win it. So there's a lot to like about Gotham. And I'm interested to go back and watch this game because I do, I feel like if anybody has been hard on them, I have. I'm like, you guys are better than this. Like you can be better in some of these areas and to see them feel like, they are performing at the best that they can. Like that's, it's really good timing, too, coming up on the last 10 games of the year

and really saying, okay, we're going to solidivide this. We're going to win a shield. I didn't notice this when we did it. But our midfielers of the year, I picked Jesse Fleming. So far, I picked Jesse Fleming. You picked Jalen Howell. The two of them are basically the leaders in minutes as well. So when you talk about reliability and predictability,

and some people have the cliche, the best ability is availability. 1,761 minutes so far for Jalen Howell. Jesse Fleming's played 1,800 minutes. She has played every single minute that has been available. So it's all the stoppage times that these games have now, right? Right. For Portland. So that shows you, again, building block.

For Gotham, it's a known, and you can build some stuff around it. And they've, you know, Savannah McCaskill's missed time. Denise O'Sullivan was supposed to come in. Now, Les Shore with her injury. Jane Shaw has played around midfield, Rose Lavelle has played deeper, but you move all of that with a constant and with a known. And I think this was a sort of shining performance for Jalen Howell. On the other side, not a bad day for Jesse Fleming and her team, Portland, Thorns,

a 2-1 home victory over Orlando. I start with congratulations to Megan Klingenberg, who was honored at this game for her long career, a good friend of ours and a big friend of the show. So congratulations to Claytonberg. who got the flowers that she deserved after retiring at the end of last season. And obviously last show, the big moment for us, we learned live on the show about Olivia Moultrie's injury. And it is sort of the dark moments of the game. The other side of this stuff, though, we have seen on the field now.

Morgan Weaver returning after two years of injuries a couple weeks ago. And then Kaya Hanks, who last year was the top of our rookie of the year, conversations and felt like was going to resurrect a Portland team along with Ryland Turner, along with Pietra Torden in a year that so many pieces had gone out. And Sophia Wilson was going to miss. And then it was taken away with a big injury and an ACL tear of her own. She returns this weekend and she returns with the game winning goal off the bench in like the 90th minute.

Like you literally, I have chills saying it. And I wasn't even there during you cannot write this stuff. You can't. And you're probably guessing what I'm going to say next is I cried when I watched it. Because this is, it's, we had started talking about the injuries at the beginning of our show and then to watch somebody come back from that and look like herself. She looked, she looked exactly like she looked when she left. It is just such a positive after a really difficult week for Portland.

And honestly, they didn't look at, they did not look like themselves. I thought Wilson looked off. Her touches were long. She was getting herself into spots and tackles that she doesn't normally do because she has the ball under so much control. I think they struggled with Castianos in that 10 position. She wasn't getting the ball. It was a tough night for Portland,

but somehow they kept themselves in it. And I think part of that has to do with Orlando and their lack of finishing. But then you get to the end of the game and you get a performance like this, a moment that can only be written up in a storybook. But when you watch it come to life, you think about, this is why we love sports so much. We love people that overcome adversity. We love an underdog. We love these types of stories that make you believe that there can be good things that come out of hard things. And Kyah Hanks, when she got that ball and started dribbling inside, you're thinking, she's going to do it.

Like, this is going to, and it was the perfect shot from her, bends around the goalkeeper. She was shocked still after the, after the game ended, that it really was reality. Like, it was a pinch me moment. Like, I have to wake up from a dream because it feels like this could only be a dream. Her family's in the crowd. They're screaming. They're yelling. And I thought you said it perfectly, which is she looked like Kyah Hanks.

And that's what's so exciting, you know. you know better than I do. There's one for players trusting your body and trusting yourself again. But for Kaya Hanks, what we learned last year very quickly was she has elite technical ability at high speed. So for some players, they have elite technical ability and they can slow up to get there. They need space to do it. Some players have elite speed and they can do things at really high speed. The combination is what makes Kaya Hanks special.

And last year, Portland struggled a little bit with their possession. They weren't controlling games the way they'd like to. But they stayed in games because Hanks and Torden and Turner in transition were demons. And they could do whatever they wanted and they could keep you in games. And Hanks was the one that we learned a ton about coming out of college, which is, oh, like, this is repeatable at the professional level. And so you see the goal where she's charging at the back line at full speed. she doesn't have to slow down much to get the strike off,

but also as a defender, you're not stepping tighter because at that pace, you're going to get beat. If she goes and cuts the other way and right on the edge of the 18. And so that was so cool to see, and it is a huge boon for this Portland team that is wavering right now and has dealt with even more injuries. As we said, Kyah Hanks, we haven't seen her play with Sophia Wilson ever before,

but this feels like a perfect match of, you know, and with what torting can do along a front line, creating chances on their own, but also ability to link up when the midfield gets a little bit higher. Mueller has stepped in to that wide position for now. And we mentioned, like she brings physicality, pressing ability.

There's positives there. But I think you'd ideally want someone who's a little more goal inclined. And Hanks has that. How long it will take her to get 90 minutes fit or starting fit, we don't know. But like this was, this was a dream scenario for Portland to get the emotional lift. to get the energy in the building, a full building, to celebrate Kling,

and then to get the win off the back of a returning player. And I'll just say it will be interesting to see how Villalhamun incorporates all these players. Because in order to have that little extra bit of spark at the end of the game, and Tordon's playing as a left winger right now. She tucks inside. She's not really a left winger, but she tucks inside. And that's where Kaya Higgs wants to play. She wants to play on that left side.

and get herself in the situation that we saw her scoring a banger this weekend. But I kind of like a role of a player coming off the bench like that, Akaya Hanks where maybe that's her role. There's not a lot of games left in the season, and maybe there will be some games where she does start. But to have a player with so much effectiveness off the bench is that X factor you need when you have to win games. So I feel like the timing of this could be really elite to just not put a lot of

pressure on her, but also say, hey, if we get 30 minutes out of you every single game and you can get out a tired defender time and time again, she could really have a role this year that could exponentially help this Portland team. There was a Portland team that, like you mentioned, they were much more dangerous in the second half than they were in the first half in this game. A heartbreaker for Orlando, they get Barbara Banda back immediately inserted into the start lineup. They get a little bit of a fortunate goal, I think, for Ovae. They're hanging at 1-1 on the road. Hafeela looked really good in this game, made some big tackles in the open field. They looked closer to who they were. And I think having Banda is just such a big boost for them. And then they

drop all three points at the end. And that will be pretty heartbreaking for an Orlando team, just trying to find their feet right now. But we'll talk about them a little more when we get into the power rankings. I want to finish out on 2-1-1 draws. Let's start with the game you were at, Angel City against Washington. I mentioned it in a room. He had the goal of the weekend until probably Ali Sennor did a thing that happens where a ball moves one way and then moves a second way. Wow.

Not touching anything, right? Like there's no deflection there. No. Yeah, the way she hits it, she hits it like outside of the ball in. And so it kind of starts and starts going straight. and then it moves out wide. The motion on it from that one angle was like, your head was spitting, watching it.

What did you make of this matchup in sort of these two teams where they stand right now, seeing them in person? I actually thought Angel City looked the better of the teams on the day for chunks of this game. And the thing that you have, at this point in the season, if you have the big M word, right,

if you have momentum in a game, you must capitalize. Yeah, you must capitalize. And that was the biggest thing that I would circle for Angel City is the first 20 minutes, Washington couldn't breathe. And they put them under pressure, high press. When they win the ball back, it was quick into Chalufia, win the second balls, get after the back line. And they didn't have anything to show for it.

for Angel City, that is not going to be good enough as the season goes along. If they get a goal in that situation, which I do think that the, I don't think that should have been called a handball. I think that was a poor decision from the whole refereeing staff. And just a missed call. And Angel City, if they get that goal in the beginning, I thought they defended really well as a unit and limited Washington to chances. there were barely any shots on frame in this game for either team.

And it's just not good enough, especially for the spirit. And the spirit do miss, they miss Quasi. And they miss a player. I thought Tamara did well in moments. But just to have some players that takes a little bit of pressure off of Rodman, the biggest thing I noticed in the second half is the change. The change is not only tactically, well, really just tactically. Morgan, they'd build out of a three. And then it was a box in the middle of the field in various

different rotations. Sometimes it was Morgan as one of those lower players in the box. And if, I think Gonzalez thought, if Angel City's trying to take away the middle of the field, we're going to actually bring more players in there, bring some of their players centrally, and then it'll create space for us in the channel, which bringing Rodman centrally to as a second, at nine freed up the space for her to then kind of drift into it when she then scored the goal. I thought it was brilliant because you keep the outside back out of the situation. You isolate the center backs and it's exactly how they get the goal. So I liked those changes. And this is one of the reasons why I'm so high on Washington is because of the way that they change their tactics

like that. It could be half time. All right, it's not working. This is how we're going to try to go out the second 45. And they did look better in moments in that second half. Yeah, I mean, you mentioned waiting for Rose Kawasi to come back from Wafcon. They have five or six players who can play multiple positions. So whether it's bringing someone off the bench or it's flexing the players that are on the field, right? You have a player in Wisner who has played on the wing and at fullback. You have a player in Bernal who has played in central midfield and centerback. You have a player in Rodman who can play inside or outside.

the same. Lacey Santos as a 10 or as a winger. They can change the game without even really making heavy substitutions and they can hurt you in a lot of different ways. They are three without a win though. So again, we said they were going to win the shield and they've now failed to win three times because of the late goal that they concede to Alie. I do. As deep as I thought this team was, Goss, when they don't have Santos, they don't have a 10. Yeah, it's the one piece that they don't have the depth with, which that was the Croy Buthon decision, right? It was Croy and Lacey Santos. You can't have five, you can't have depth at every position.

Yeah. Like you just can't do it. And I don't know, these two new players that they got from Africa, I'm not, I am, I know one of them is a midfielder. I'm not quite sure. I haven't dug in because I know that they, she was not going to be available. so I'm not quite sure what position she plays. Maybe that would be a like-for-like player. And I wonder if in the off-season, now that Andy Sullivan's fully back,

they look at it and say, okay, we have a lot of pieces at deeper midfield. Can we go and build depth at the 10 and move one of those pieces around, whether it ends up being a Bernal or Hal Hersch felt or whatever it is. I think tomorrow's played pretty well. It shows again they've used the loans to USL Super League as well as any team in NWSL to build depth. I put Seattle in there too.

Yeah. But to build depth, but that's another spot where now they have options. So they could potentially move another player on there. But yeah, it's a little bit of a hole for them. It's tough, but you can still win games with great wingers who are creating chances. Or can you get someone closer to Cantore and you start to get the fullbacks higher and get crosses in? There are other ways to just. generate attack outside of that, having that true special 10.

But Corey Bethune has played her most minutes in a season in her entire pro career. And she is crushing it at Kansas City. And you lost one of the, what, five, 10 best attacking players in the league. Like there's going to be a huge loss there. And yet they are still super competitive. And they have Ashley Hatch, who has come back from maternity. Congratulations. Which, I mean, does anyone want to face a Hatch, Cantore starting to?

at any point. Both of them can drop in because they like the ball at their feet. Both of them can shoot from distance and both of them can, I don't know, rattle around with the centerback and throw elbows and create chances and finish.

So that's another sort of curveball that this team has in it. But for Angel City, good result, not a great result. They are still trying to push up sort of from the middle of the pack. The other game to mention was San Diego,

Denver. Denver came out fly. high pressing, as I said. And in San Diego doesn't step away from, from their style and who they are. And they ended up finding their chances. And Mel Barcena's is crazy. Like I had Devin Lynch on the short list for rookie of the year. She's been one of the best defensive midfielder's in this league.

What Mel Barcena's did to her on the goal, it's a basketball play. Now, I have to admit, I've been watching a lot of Jalen Brunson highlights over the last few weeks because the next one in the championship and I'm like reliving it for some reason right now. But the way she shuffles her feet from distance is the way a basketball player sort of crosses over, where it's like, I'm waiting, I'm watching your feet to find when you shift away from me. And then Lynch is like, okay, I'm going to step off. And Barsena's like, oh, well, then there's space. And she said at halftime, she said, I've been practicing that finish all week.

So I feel really good about it. And it's like, well, what is she going to work on this week? Because watch out. Like, this is one of the best young players on the planet. she might be the best dribbler already in the league. And yeah, it's not easy for San Diego. Lujmila had chance after chance that she's there to put away.

Like that she's supposed to be the experienced one who sort of takes advantage of those. But Barsanis is as advertised and is one of the most fun players in NWSL. She is. So it's almost like a, what would you describe that play in basketball? It's a crossover or it's like, where you almost bait a team and then you back up

and then you shoot. Well, now it's what you do is you cross over and you start walking forward. And if the defender decides to sag, then you pull up. If they step in, you cross to the other hand and you go past them. I would never know how to do any of the things I just described, but I know how to watch them on TV. I was just trying to think if we could figure out a good thing to call that. You know, the trend spin. It's like the Barsanus bump or something where she just comes back and shoots it.

She is. She's, it's been amazing to watch her. develop into a player because when she first came in, it was flashy skills, flashy skills, but the role wasn't really there. And as she's grown into herself and knowing who she wants to be in this league and how to incorporate all these different aspects to being a good player, defensive work, positioning, tactics, how to break down a team, you're seeing all that skill, skill, skill, in really key crucial moments. And it is a joy to watch. not a joy to defend if you're an opponent because you're oftentimes on the, you know,

the highlight reel of somebody else. But this, the San Diego team, I think for both the teams, Denver and San Diego, they have enough there to create and finish. It is just been the lack of finishing or the goals that have been given up, I think especially for Denver, giving up early goals has put them in this whole, well, now they have to break down a team who is solid defensively and there's not as much space. There's not as much, yes, I guess space in the game because the opponent doesn't have to attack as hard as they once did. Eva Gaetano came off with an injury early in this game.

That sort of back three between her and Kurtz and Smith has been the core of this Denver team that's kept them afloat at times in an expansion year. So that's a huge note to watch for. Eventually, Yasmin Ryan gets the finish, And that's like you talked about, there was a lot of opportunities in this game and not a lot of finishing quality. Yes, me, Ryan, one of the few sort of experienced players in there. But you look at the, when you look at the expected goals list, by the way, in NWSL, Lujmila and Trini Byers are high on that list. And they are not high on the goals scoring list.

Yeah. Buyers is young coming back from injury. She'll get there. She will score a thousand goals one year because she is everywhere. you need to be. Like she's in all the right spots. She is, she understands on pullback moments, when to break away. She's around the goal for like loose balls. It's just like it feels like everything doesn't go in for her. And it's like all at the same time. So she'll get there eventually and it would be really nice for San Diego if that eventually came very soon. They need the support

right now. The time is now. Yeah. That's what they are hoping for. Let's talk about the midweek action that we have coming up. We have two games on Wednesday night, Chicago and Houston and Louisville and Seattle. So we have those two games coming. We've got the power rankings as well to talk about. Jordan, we, I went through them last week. And I, you know, I kind of was down on a couple teams, but Louisville are flying up those power rankings. And they get a game this midweek,

another opportunity to show who they are. But we've been doing now, player of the weeks and newcomers of the week, which is a combination of rookies and young players that have come into the league. And Kyla Fisher picked one, our player of the week, scored two goals in this game,

and Louisville beat Boston four one on the weekend. And this is a team that, as we had said, they hadn't won in forever. Now they won three of the last four and looked like a totally different group. This will be an interesting game against Seattle. Fisher gets not just the two goals, but she draws the penalty too. So she was involved in three of the goals that Louisville score.

And Louisville's been playing in this and pressing in a really a three, five, two. So what I love about Laura Harvey is she has a plan, especially in the way that Seattle is going to press. I think they're, I think they're fourth in the league right now in winning the ball back high up on the pitch. I'd have to, I'll look at that exact stat, but they want to press in the attacking third. And this is one of the things that has made Seattle, Seattle over the years. And they've really reverted back to that here since the summer break, which is helping them win games and be super effective. And so against this three-back build and the shape that Louisville has, I'm curious to see how the Seattle team tries to pin them into their back. third. On the other side, Louisville, especially getting sponsored Boston, did a really good job of

when they did press keeping it to one side and not letting Boston out, saying, okay, your one option is going to be playing down into the channel. And then we're going to swarm that spot, win the ballback. And there goes Kayla Fisher. There goes Emma Sears. And the two of those, those two players up front, because it's a, it's a tandem, there is really good interchange between them, but they also have more space to be able to work with. So they can start inside, but they can also occupy the channel. And that's hard to deal with if you're a defender, because is it my responsibility as a centerback? Can I send my outside back to go press a little bit higher? Do I need to keep them in the back line? There's questions that have to be answered

in a split second. And Louisville is doing a good job as of late, asking those questions with those two up top. This is going to be an interesting game for those tactical reasons. So Boston, which I agree with big picture, they tried to play Lily Real at left centerback and played Nicolette Hernandez at left wingback in the game this weekend. And they brought Carabali on at halftime and slid Lily Real out wide because MS Sears was living in the gap of left wingback leaves this place. Lily Real, a player who's been told for a year and a half, push forward, getting to the attack, struggling a little bit, dealing with it one-by-one, anyone struggled. to deal with M as here is 1 v1 in space.

That's what she does. This will be a different style though, right? Seattle will sit in. They're going to be a little bit tighter in their line. So finding those spaces is going to be a little bit tougher for this Louisville team. But Katie O'Kane's been phenomenal coming out of midfield. Obviously scored a goal in the last game. So that's always going to flash.

But like one of Louisville's problems has been when they do create turnover is what do you do with it? How aggressive can you be on the first pass? And I think having the tandem up top means. you've got two options closer inside when the ball turns over, so you're ready to go to goal, but also it feels like O'Kane's aggressive passing. Flint does it from a deeper position. And this is where I like to Ari Borgis on this team

because I felt like she kind of provided some of this, and it feels like O'Kane's doing that now, where it's like once I win it back, my first two touches are going forward, and we're going to be back into the attack. We're not going to knock it around and reset. And two players up front who can stick with each other when they go quickly in transition.

They're both super speedy. And I think that works just to clarify Seattle's right six right now when winning balls back in the attack and third. But they're point three off of the team in third. So they are aggressive in that. And I think that that is going to be something that they're going to try to utilize against Louisville. Well, if you're listening to Sirius Radio, we're going to leave you now and talk a little bit more. We'll get into our power ranking. So search the show on the on-demand player anywhere you get your podcasts for the rest of this one.

you'll see how high Louisville ends up in our standings. On the other side of the midweek, we've got Chicago against Houston, Chicago, struggling. They've been the worst team in the league, especially over the last few weeks. Houston had been struggling. And this is where NWSL is a one of a kind. North Carolina are the hottest team in the league. They've gone on the road. They've put some incredible performances.

They had five goals at home against Orlando. Then they went and beat Denver midweek. Then they went and beat the Washington. Washington spirit in Washington. They put up three goals in the opening 25 minutes. They concede and then EJ gets the winner in stoppage time. That is a two-week span for North Carolina. So you're coming home to play a Houston team that has not won in a thousand years, basically,

coming into this game and Houston is able to win three to late on. It was Clarissa Larissy coming off the bench, scored two goals, including the equalizer in the 80th. and then the winner in the 93rd, and it was just like a massive moment for this Houston team, and the bench is going wild. They're on the road. So it's just completely quiet,

and it feels like a really big moment for this group. And good momentum, because now you have belief going into this game against Chicago, where if you're, sorry, if you're Chicago, don't listen to this. If you're playing Chicago right now, you have to win. Yeah. It is a must win three points. Laura Harvey called it a don't lose,

but it's a must win. For Houston, it's exactly the type of momentum and belief that they need winning that game late, which this is a Houston team who have had those late game heroics. They've scored, I think, off the top of my head, five goals in the last like 10 minutes to stoppage time and kept themselves to getting a point or getting three points. So really big at the end of the games and they need that. I'll be on the call for this one. I think there should be a lot of goals in this game against Chicago,

this Houston Chicago game. So hopefully it pays off. And setting the stage, so it's the first time these teams have faced off this year. So they haven't played yet, even though we're so deep into the season, which means one, if that's the case on the can't lose or must win,

whatever it is. That's a potential six points on the table for Houston still this year. Has to start now. And for Houston, they're currently sitting in 11th on 23 points. Seattle is the playoff line on 27 points. Now Seattle's played one less game, but you're in touching distance. Like if you get three in this one, you're putting the pressure on the teams around you.

Houston's got a little bit healthier. They brought in Kaya Harper, who gave them some big minutes in this game as well. So it feels like maybe a little bit more reinforcement for this Houston group. And this is a big opportunity for them in this midweek game. So those are the two Wednesday games, a full slate. of weekend games coming up, but we'll talk about those when we get back next week. But let's do our power rankings real quick before we get out of here. So the one thing I got right last week was I had Gotham in first.

Although I had Utah in second. Do we feel like those remain? I would probably go Gotham, Utah Spirit. You still have Washington up there even though they've not won once again. Yes. Okay. I like that. They got a draw.

They did get a draw. Cross country. They went on the road. And as you mentioned, Kauasi, they're still missing some pieces that are coming back from Wafcon, including some of their new signing. So we've got Spirred in there. So what we had last week was San Diego in third, spirit in fourth. So now they've moved up to third.

Kansas City in fifth and North Carolina in sixth with Portland in seven. So, yeah. What? I was just thinking what I would do. So Kansas City went in lost. That was my brain thinking out loud. Kansas City went and lost to Gotham, North Carolina, lost at home to Houston. San Diego dropped points, but in a one-one draw against Denver,

and then Portland won at home against Orlando. I would probably go San Diego, North Carolina. Portland. Portland. Casey have oddly been, for one of our teams, one of the most consistent in the power rankings. Like they have sat around that fifth spot, like almost the entire season. season. They haven't really gone up. So literally going back to June 2nd, they have been fifth, fifth, fourth, sixth. They've been one of the most consistent teams in the middle.

Do you like North Carolina moving up, even though they lost? I do think they're dangerous right now. EJ is one of the best goals. Shlegel's cooking. Yeah. Although if Schlegel finished more of what they created with her, it's probably a victory this weekend. But yeah, Williams looks awesome right now. I think I watch. Their mid- Parkinson is really fun.

I like the way that she operates there and how the midfielder's work off of her. I think I'm going to do for my open on Sunday, or I have them Saturday. I think I'm going to do something on that because I just love how those players work off of each other. the interesting thing about the goal that was scored or maybe it was the second goal koyama playing along the back line um sort of gets dunked on and it's one of those situations where it's like it's different your body positioning of how you want to like affect a ball in the air in midfield where it's like can i avoid the other team getting a clean header versus here where it's like you can't allow like you have to go up and challenge for it you cannot allow

an open header to occur uh and it felt like one of those like difference moments, but I agree with you that North Carolina has been great. So I'm happy to put them in at fifth. So that gives us fifth through seven. So I put Portland at six, Casey at seven. And I guess I'm going to ask, how high can Louisville be? They've won four of their last five and three in a row. I think it might be Seattle, Louisville.

Okay. In that order, eighth and ninth. Yeah. I respect it. I love it. I think they're making a real run at this thing. And like no one wants to play them right now, but we're going to learn a little bit more midweek because those two will play against each other.

It's going to be the power rankings derby. You think they'll know. They'll probably will. They'll probably be on their pregame board. It'll be the entire tape session will be this little clip. And then they'll have it up. You're welcome, Laura. So the big drop here from eighth will be Denver.

not a bad performance to go on the road. A 1-1 draw at San Diego, a good San Diego team. Angel City was sitting at 10th. Boston was in 11th. And then Orlando, Houston Bay, and Chicago. Houston have won two of, I think I misspoke. Does Angels? Oh, Angel City was a draw.

Yeah, I think they'd go right. Wait, let me look again. I think that's fine. Okay, yeah, I think they would go right under Denver. Okay. So let's do, so we're going to put Denver 10. Yeah. We'll put Angel City 11th.

We'll put Houston 12th. Mm-hmm. And then we have Orlando Bay, Chicago, and Boston left. Orlando Bay, Chicago, Boston. I probably would go. Boston, Orlando, Bay, Chicago. I think I would switch Orlando and Boston, because I do feel like that was the best we've seen

Orlando play. And it was like if you feel like you were heartbroken leaving that game, it means you've put on a good performance. And it did feel like they couldn't believe that they lost that game. It's going to sound weird to say because she scored a goal from this position. But it felt like Ovae played more off the shoulder of Banda underneath. And I kind of thought Banda back, O'Valle goes out wide, starts trying to cook one v. one and get those crosses in.

I understand the idea of having more support centrally and being able to link up a little bit more. But I also wonder if it's like you purchase Ovaya because she's one of the best in the world at this one thing, do you not want to get the most out of it? So it's just something to watch for. I think for me watching this Orlando team. And Seb Hines has been pretty against big changes over his time and has tried to keep things consistent even when he hasn't had the.

personnel to do it. Right. But the last two games, they've reverted back to this 4-4-2 that they played, gosh, in 2024 and a little,

most of 2025, I think it works. And I think if you can get OVA in spots where she plays it like Marta plays that when Marta played next to Banda, where she drifts a little bit more

to the right. So then she can utilize her left foot coming in that half space, you could be fined. need something that works. But it's, can you get enough from your wingers in those positions? Because when they were successful,

their winger was the Brazilian Adriani. Adriana? The one that got sold to. Adriana. I'm like, I'm close, but that's not how you say it.

Yeah, Adriana. Yeah, and Gabby Nunez, they have Gabby Nunez now. Can she come in and play a role? But I do think that the wingerers are going to have to provide more if they're going to play in this 4-4-2. Yeah.

Okay. Okay. And after all of that, we've got a power hankings. This was a blast. I am excited for midweek action. You can hear Jordan on the call if you are on it. And then, of course, we've got that full slate of games coming up on the weekend. So I can give you a quick rundown of that because I didn't do that.

On the weekend, we have Friday. We have San Diego, Utah, the lone game, 10 p.m. Eastern time. That's going to be fun. That's a big one. Saturday. Casey hosts Seattle, North Carolina hosting Boston. That should be a million goals. And then Portland hosting Denver, which should be a fun one.

And then Sunday is a full slate of game. So there's 2 o'clock, 4 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 8 o'clock. So you can sit down and just watch soccer the entire day. Chicago hosting Louisville second time in what three weeks those two will play. Washington hosts Orlando in a 2024. end of yourself final rematch. And then Bay host Houston and Angel City closes out the night hosting Gotham F.C. And we'll be back next week to talk all about it.

As I mentioned, we will go through our U.S. Women's Women's National Team 2027 women's World Cup depth charts where it stands right now. And then we are going to continue to update that as we go through into these two friendlies against Spain in October, World Cup qualifying in November. Then we get the draw in December on the road to a women's World Cup. next year. So thank you to Douglas for putting this all together. Jordan, thank you to you for being here. Big shout out to everyone for listening and we'll talk to you all again very, very soon.