SoccerWise - NWSL Soccerwise | NWSL is Chaos

Episode Date: September 15, 2026

The NWSL is getting weird and crazy, and Jordan Angeli and David Gass are back together to try and make sense of this unpredictable league. Houston is searching for a new direction, Orlando makes a major commitment to Barbra Banda, and the playoff race is tightening every week. The stretch run is here, and nobody seems ready to make it easy.0:00 Intro0:42 Gass is Back4:34 Houston Cleans House20:42 Utah Finds a Way29:09 Barbra Banda is Staying in Orlando37:01 Washington’s Missing Piece45:24 Macario Out, Bonansea In53:18 Is San Diego Peaking?57:05 Angel City & Denver Go Wild1:04:32 Playoff Race Heats UpFor the sharpest coverage of American soccer, we’ve got you covered:https://linktr.ee/soccerwisehq

Hello, everybody. Welcome to Soccer Wise. David Goss and Jordan Angelie back together for the first time in a while. And we have a lot to talk about on this upcoming NWSL episode. Everyone listening on Sirius Radio. Welcome. Thanks for being here. Jordan, I was out last week. You were out the week before. We're just missing each other. People listening on Sirius are not seeing the dance that I just did, which was pretty impressive. If I have to say myself. Yeah. They can go to our YouTube page to see it. Yeah, it's really nice to have you back. It sounds like we both had really good vacations. Yeah. And enjoyed our time away. But it is crunch time, gosh.

It is crunch time. I feel like I missed like four days and I missed like 800 things. A lot happened. Yeah. There was a lot of news that happened last week, which you and Jill Lloyd and carried. We appreciate Jill being on this show. We love having her as a part of our group. And then there was just like results left and right.

Like some of the stuff, you know, I'm following. on my phone. You can't really watch when you're overseas. And then I'm like, oh, yeah, I know what's going on. And then I feel like I settled in for this weekend. And there was like references back to results where I was like, oh, that happened last week. And it just feels like everything's been wild. No, it wouldn't be the end of the year in NWS. If there weren't some wild and wacky things that happened and we got them again this weekend, it felt like especially with that Boston result at Washington. But this is why we love this league and we love dig it into it because we can also

think where you know what's going to happen and predict things. And then teams are like, nope, I'm going to flip the table. Things are going to be different. So it's good to be back. I mean, Gotham lost to Denver 3.0. Then Washington loses to Boston 3.0. It makes no sense. Yeah.

Expansion teams were like, watch out for us. If you're at the top of the table, we don't care. But also, we're not going to win the games we should because everything is chaos. We were digging through some of the standings before we came on. Gotham has the least amount of goals scored in the top seven, I believe. They didn't even broke 30. It's bizarre. And you said North Carolina had 44 goals?

I thought 47. 47. So it's a 20-goal gap between Gotham and North Carolina. And yet Gotham. is nine points better than North Carolina, but they will play this weekend coming up. So we have midweek games in NWSL. We're not going to dig into those because when the show comes out,

these games will just be kicking off. If you're listening to serious, they may have already happened. But Denver hosting Bay and Angel City hosting Seattle, which is a big game for the standing. So where things sit right now, Seattle's the final team in the playoffs on 37 points in eighth place. Angel City, one spot behind them, Denver,

one spot behind them as they try and charge up the standings. Both those teams have games in hands. So the race at the bottom of the playoff spot is very, very exciting. And then the race right in the middle between basically second and seventh is a four-point gap. So a lot going on there as well. So we're going to dig into what we saw this weekend, what we expect to see on the weekend coming up. But again, it feels like every week we have big news that we have to go into.

So a coach has been letting. go in Houston. Maybe the best player in the league in Barbara Banda has signed a contract extension on the hip rule, which we'll talk about. News coming out that Catarina Makario has been put on the season-ending injury list and won't be a part of proceedings for the rest of the year. So we'll dig into all of that as well. Quick plug, if you haven't heard, on the MLS side of things, we've launched our MLS Soccer-Wise Collective. So bringing in some local coverage that we're going to be working alongside across the league. Many of them also cover NWSL, Soundar at Heart, covers the Seattle Rain. Of course, our San Diego. Football partners cover the San Diego Wave.

So you can, you should please, if you don't, go follow all of those accounts on social media, tap into their podcasts. And we're really excited to do some work alongside them. And we are looking to build one in NWSL as well. Continental tires, kind enough to sponsor us on the MLS side. So if you know of a sponsor too, please feel free. reach out and let us know on the NWSL side of things, but we're really, really excited here at SoccerWaz. Okay, Jordan, you ready to dig in? I'm ready, Goss.

Let's get to it. We got a lot to talk about. We do. And I don't know that I'm fully ready because we're talking Houston Dash. Yeah. We are talking about a club that has struggled throughout its history. One trophy. It is the NWSL, we call it the commissioners cup.

The challenge cup. The challenge cup. It was the OG Challenge Cup. the 2020 first sport back COVID yes challenge cup playground in the background in sandy Utah Rachel Daley golden boot in 2020 it's the only trophy the club has won they have not been a playoff team since then and they are moving on from their coach once again so forbes gutrot was let go as was twilight killgore who just came in in the front office side of things under Angela Hoeklis and has been let go as well.

The details on Fabrice Gutrott, if you don't remember, it was hired in January of 2025 ahead of that season coming out as an assistant coach from North Carolina under Sean Nejas. The Houston Dash finished last year in 10th place on a negative 12 goal differential. Their best stretch last year was in August. They had three wins and three draws in a six game span from early August until the middle of September, which kind of put them in a playoff conversation out of nowhere. And then they sort of stumbled right across the finish line, finishing in 10th place. Currently, this year, they're in 12th place.

So it's gotten a little bit worse. They won three of their first four games this season. There is a ton of tape on me being like, love it, super excited about Houston, Kiki Van Zentens, the star, and all of that. And they were four of the first six undefeated, but it has fallen off. since then. So, Jordan, I have some other details in here on sort of what this club is. What was your first reaction when you heard this? Really? Like, you're really going to fire him? I feel like I had the game on Sunday,

or what day was that? Saturday. The Utah Houston game. And I remember watching these two teams and thinking, you know, Utah was like this just a couple of years ago. Utah was showing promise in moments in the season and then times of the season where things weren't going well at all and they were losing consecutive games. And I think they had finished 11th and 12th in the two previous seasons before this year where they have not been underneath fifth place since the fifth week of season. And they're playing this Houston team who, yes, they hire Fabrice last season, but then they pretty much overhaul their roster in the offseason, bringing in a number of rookies, really good rookies. They have played two different systems this year. They played in that

4-2-2-2-2. They've played now in a 4-2-3-1. And that change, they're playing really well at the beginning of the season, that 4-2-2-2. And then there was all these injuries and they have to adapt everything. So then they revert to a different system. And I think it, I think what's hard for me is in this league, there is a ruthlessness about coaches that you're like, okay, well, how do you balance because I understand it too, right? You need to win games. And this Houston team and organization have historically been not good enough. I think that's fair enough to say.

They have not been good enough. They've only made the playoffs one time. And they should, it's a great market for soccer, or so it seems like it should be a great good market for soccer. And they don't draw fans. They are inconsistent in their playing. And how do you build something if you don't let it give it time to percolate a little bit, to get better.

And so if you're going to continue to overhaul every single year with different players, you're going to bring in new coaches. It's like, what is the underlying, how do you want to play? And who do you want to be? And if you don't have that, then maybe that is what they have established. Okay, this is not who we want to be. We want to revert to being a team with different player profiles. And we're going to change that up.

and therefore we need a new coach. But I think I was really hopeful with Fabrice Cautra and his, I truly believe he's a good coach. And there are things that he wants to implement that take time, especially when you have new players all the time and you have rookies who've never played more than three months seasons in their career. Yeah. So I scratched my head a lot about this one, Goss.

You know, I just, I find it interesting. I think your reaction is, similar to mine, and I think it is completely fair in what the club is. There's like a couple ways to look at this. The first is the Houston Dash have been below par in terms of running themselves as an organization in this league. They are not as well financed. They are not as stable as many of the other clubs in this league. We know they are currently trying to sell themselves, right?

They are owned alongside the Houston Dynamo by, I think it's Ted Seagull is the name. they technically were sold, like externally to someone, it turns out, who had fake money and it wasn't real. Then they were unsold, and we are waiting for the next report on this team being sold. So there's a lack of direction from the top. I don't know then, to your point, how you expect high-level direction underneath that. If they don't know what team they're working for, if they don't know the future, Like, it's fair to say everyone needs to be a professional. We need to put people in the right situation.

This is what Jill said when Seb Hines got let go. What's the expectation? That roster is not that good. How good can the team be because of coaching? And I think the most frustrating part with this one is your president of soccer was in place to hire this coach. This was not a coach that she took on. This was a coach that she hired. And this was a roster that was flipped.

for young players. And you knew that that was going to take time. And now you are in danger of losing any progress you have made this year. So the context on that, which on your broadcast on Saturday, Mara put this very well. So I'm going to copy her. 20 of the 29 goals Houston has scored so far this year, I've been scored by players under 25 years old. For the flip side, Utah, that number is zero.

Utah are top four in the league. Like experience. And we just talked about Gotham's only scored 29 goals this season too. Right. 27. So they haven't even scored 29 goals. The top four goal scores for Houston are Cat Rattor, nine goals, a rookie. Kiki Van Zanton, third year, played four games her first year, came back from injury

last year, appeared in 17 games, barely started, almost a rookie but not. Kate Fassey, rookie, Linda Ulmark, rookie. Clanky as well, the centerback who's very good. And I think we'll have a really- You-20s, yeah. No, she's still there. Ulmerk is gone, yeah. But Clanky is another one of those young players,

not the goal score, but a stable piece in the back that I think they're going to build off of. But this is just an easy way to state the fact that you knew this year was going to be tough because you built the team around rookies. Yes. And you built the team around young players. And the value of doing that is long term.

And if you did that under a coach who you think has the right soccer ideas, then why are you pulling the rug out now based off current results? Now, if you don't think the team is playing the way you wanted to play, that part is fair. They basically, and this is what I sort of said to you as we got ready to come on, they don't really do anything specific. Like this is a team that pretty much sits 12th in the standings and sits somewhere between 10th and 12th in every single stat.

They are not a high pressing team. They're not a high possession team. They're not elite in set pieces. They're not ultra dangerous in transition. The only thing they're an outlier in is penalty kicks earned and penalty kicks conceded. Otherwise, on every stat, they're kind of less than middle of the road. They've slightly underperformed their finishing. That's the only piece that really stands out as you look through it.

But what's the game model? Like the game model should be somewhat set from the top. And if you don't think for Reese Kuchat's following, then that's fair. But like you just found that out on September 14th. Yeah. It is on the heels of a game where they don't get one shot on target, which is unacceptable. You know, I think that that is what you're saying. This team is underperforming.

And they, if you don't know, you know, are we going to be a high pressing team, which I thought they were going to be at the beginning of the season, they showed this real intensity, high pressing, counter pressing, winning the ball back high on the field, creating chances from that. And then with the injuries, they were just getting ripped apart trying to do that. So they tried to revert to something different. And I think that if you are going to be a top team in this league, you have to have that ability to look different in different situations.

But this Houston team is not going to be a top team. And I do think that they didn't find the next thing that worked quick enough. But I don't know. And then it is. Is it on the players? Is it on the coach? Is it on the ideas coming from above the coach? Is it on the recruitment?

There's so many things. And I think that unfortunately Houston has missed the mark for so long on how do you build a successful franchise that it has made them, it has put them in this position where now they are restarting again. And it's difficult as a player to constantly. be hearing from different voices. And here, again, Houston is going to have that with the new interim coach. The new interim coach will be Jaime Frias, who was hired alongside Fabrice back in February of 2025, three years as University of Houston women's soccer coach. So knows the area and spent about 10 years at the U.S. Soccer Federation, U-16, U-18 women's head coach, U-20 assistant

at three U-20s World's Cup. So I can't imagine. did this with the idea of of Jaime being the head coach long term, but we have seen in NWSL that as an interim you get results that potentially there's an opportunity there to stay on and maybe build things.

And that's the part that again becomes hard is if you fully move on from a coach, what did you gain from this year? What are the building blocks that you were moving on to? The players themselves will have experience of living through, as you mentioned, the longer season they've ever experienced before,

playing in NWSL. But it's also a world now with player control on trades and movement. And as I know a lot of these are rookies, but you get to the last six months or year of your contract faster than you realize what is drawing these players back? Because you assume for rescrued trot was part of the recruitment for all of these young players to choose Houston, which was an odd move for many of them.

And I think the reason was, hey, we're going to build a team around you. You're going to play. And you guys are going to be the core of this team. It's going to be hard to sell that coming out of this year. Yeah. It stinks having this conversation over and over again about Houston. It really does. And I feel like what's the end gold?

Is it, is this the right place for this team? Is Houston the right place for this team? Is it a situation where you try to sell them to a different market? I don't know what it is, but it doesn't feel like it's working. Yeah. Yeah, it does. And listen, the Houston Dynamo struggle, too. This is not an NWSL problem.

You mentioned it's a great market for soccer. It is the market that League MX and international teams and some and all of that cash out on. They bring the Mexican national team. The U.S. women's national team. The Champions Cup is going to be there in November. And, you know, Leaks Cup on the MLS side was an all League MX affair. and they picked Houston as the neutral site. Like, there is soccer in that market.

And there are players from that market. And, you know, University of Houston, like, there are high-level college programs in that market. Finding a way to tap all of that into NWSL, I just think all of it always starts with taking yourself seriously. And this doesn't feel like a fully professional group that is presenting that front. And I think that's the part that's really hard as a fan to, like, latch onto is listen, you're not going to spend $25 million on every player.

That's fine. But are you going to do everything you can to try and win? So that's worth my time to spend the money on a ticket and show up and engage with this and care about it. And I don't know that that's how it feels. And as you said, you're back into the cycle now with this one. We could go through potential coaches. I mean, with the amount that I've been fired, you assume everyone goes straight back into a potential interview process. Alex Struce.

I don't know if anyone will sort of bring Martin. I cannot remember his last name. Yeah. Shogren. Back in, but you could. I have obviously said if I was running a team with an opening, Sean Harris would be my first phone call with the way Gotham has played. Is he available?

Sub-Hine's available as well. Seab-Hine's available, yeah. Are they interested in this job? I don't know. Like, is this an attractive opportunity? It's an unknown ownership situation. You've got someone. who's president of soccer operations who just fired their assistant who they just brought in

in Twyla Kilgore, which makes kind of no sense in the context of all of this. So it doesn't look like a stable situation from the outside. But there is young talent. And if you can find the right piece. Now, it's interesting to me. I think that's also a hard part in that regard is if you're a coach, some of these openings, like, why would you want to go coach there? Yeah.

Because you're not going to be given a leash at all. Yeah. And there is just difficult to do that. The only answer you ever get from anyone who does any of this stuff is there's X amount of jobs. Yeah. Like whenever you're like, why would that person take that job? They're like, where else? If you want to be a head coach, like there's only so many jobs.

But one of the things I was thinking about in the context of this is North Carolina also a very young team. And I was like, who could be there Ashley Sanchez, right? Who could be a more experienced piece that comes in, like looking around the league because there's all these young attacking pieces. I do think you need some. experienced player to knit it all together. It was supposed to be Yasmin Ryan. Like that was the point, right? Ashley Sanchez left Washington, took a year, blew up.

Yasmin Ryan left Gotham. It was not a great year last year, although it finished better than it started. And I think that goes back to the like, you restarted the cycle. You didn't get the second year for her to be settled in and understand her role and fit it all around her. And I again, don't know who the next player is

that you go out and bring it. I just forgot that she was there at the beginning of the year. As I was thinking about the Ashley Sanchez thing, I was like, oh, kind of like, and Yasmin Ryan was one of the players that came to my head in my head. And I was like, oh, wait, she was already there. And just with a really young team, and you've seen what Yasmin and Delaney have done in Denver with a really young team as well, creating stability and understanding of how to win games in NWSL. Yeah, and then you trade those players away. And you don't really recuperate or replenish it with, players who understand this league. I don't know. It's a big unknown. Let's finish with this. They lost one zero to Utah on the weekend.

As I said, you were on the call for this one. Going to give you your credit. You went into the halftime break, you said, too direct down the middle for Utah. They need to use the wide spaces. Boom. Pass outside, quick slip, pass, and side goal. It's that simple, Jordan.

It's an easy game. You know, it's why I get paid the big bucks. Because sometimes I told you before, even a blind squirrel find the nuts. sometimes. I did feel like, though, in this game, it was, Houston was desperate to get a result. And they were like, okay, Utah is the, I think, second most physical team in the league when it comes to fouls. They fouled the second most. So Houston came in saying, all right, we have to win duels. We have to win second balls. And it became a little bit of a brawl. It felt like, you know, not with dirty challenges,

but just the ball was being turned over all the time. And neither team, really, if you're, going to go watch a game, don't go watch the first half of this game because it was not fun to call or watch. And then in the second half with a tweak, and I like the substitutions from Jimmy Coonerats. And this is where I feel like his team has taken a giant step this year because you have to win ugly games in this league, especially when it comes to playoff time. You have to figure out a way to up the ante and find the next level.

And he brings in Pange Cronin and he puts her as an outside back, which he's done before. But this time in utilizing the channel, they can get her high. It puts their winger and then a more progressive position centrally. And they find a way to get a goal from that. I think it's then the second ball that comes around to the left side. But this is the reason why Utah has found success this year because it has looked very direct in moments. it has looked very defensive. They win, you know, one of my favorite things about this game was showing how they win

all these balls off a goal kicks. Like we were showing it from a different perspective, which that is such a key to the way that they play. And for Utah, they can, they can score goals like that. But when the goals don't come from that like that, how are you going to find them? And I feel like they showed up to find the goal. And then they just defended. And they said, you're not going to get any chances.

You are Houston without a shot on goal in this game. also talks about Utah's mentality defensively and how together they were. But I think one of the big things coming out of this game, not on the Houston side, on the Utah side, is Mia Justice played. And she wasn't challenged. She didn't get a, she didn't have a save. But there's six games left in the year, Goss, and you're putting a different goalkeeper in there other than Mandy McGlynn, which to me, I don't know.

How do you keep both of them happy and both of them ready? but also your back line needs stability and saying like, okay, this is the voice that's behind us. And I'm really curious to see what's going to happen over really this weekend. Who ends up playing for the Royals and net? So going into the international break, Utah hosts Angel City. They host North Carolina and then they go to Louisville. So it's two like six-pointers in terms of playoff positioning or playoff

securement. And then a Louisville team who they're going to come out and press you, the way you press, and it's going to be a game all over the place. I assumed it was some level of just rotation, but there was no specific reason that you need it. We didn't even know until the rosters came out that she was playing. And they don't play midweek, so it's not like, oh, my God, it's so many games. So, yeah, it will be really interesting to see because it's also not a team that has rotated

much. Like, it is the same nine to 12 pieces that have been leaned on across the field. So it's not really a situation where Jimmy Koonitz has built a culture of like, you're in, you're out and like, we're all flowing with it. It was a real move to take Manny McGlynn out of the starting lineup. And for the majority of the season, they haven't had that luxury because of injuries, but it is one of the big reasons that they bring Jemis Joseph in. And Coonauts told us that it was between six teams that she was choosing between,

like teams wanted her. And the fact that she chose Utah, I think says a lot about her and how she wants to develop in her game because the defense. offensive mentality of this team. I think we'll really challenge Jemise Joseph. It was a good first game for her. I thought she got a couple of touches. She affected the play in some key moments inside the box.

And that's important. But she is one of those reasons because they have relied on so many of these players to play a boatload of minutes and how aggressive they are and the amount of ground that they cover, you have to have depth. So it's a smart move from them in multiple ways. you know, we talk, Jill and I talked about it last week, but just seeing her in there to come in, even at that center forward position, I don't think she'll always be in the nine. I think she'll be more as a right winger.

But it shows you that they now have the depth and they can rely on some minutes from other players, too. By the way, I was not here for that one. I understand why Utah would make the move. Like, like you said, depth, also she's young enough that this is not just like a win now move. Like she'll be around. But if I'm Chicago, no brainer for $750,000 for that move. Show me the money. Yeah.

I think Joseph has shown sparks, but is not a consistent game changer in NWSL. And that feels like a number where if you put all of that to one player, you should be getting a consistent game changer. It's two teams in two different situations. Okay. Let's move into the other big news that has come out. Was that enough on that?

30 minutes? I think so. I mean, it's a big deal. It is a big deal. No, I know. It is a big deal. And the coaching search stuff is going to be fascinating because there's also two more teams looking for coaches.

Well, and I was going to say, I don't know. I don't know what the internal reckoning is on what we just saw, which is all of these European coaches who had no NWSL experience. For each good child is obviously not in that category. I'm curious though what finalist lists look like, what interview list look like of one, the people, as I said, who have been let go, but now do have some NWSL experience.

And then all of these unknown coaches, where you had Benfica and Bayern Munich, and I'm not going to say Swedish team names, because that's going to get worse for me. I mean, even Yonatan Haraldas. Like, this is now three years where the majority of coaches hired have been from outside of NWSL with no experience.

And I don't know that there's a clear answer, which way it's gone. I don't know either because a lot of them have it. I mean, think about Chicago. They barely even gave their coach a year. And, you know, that might be a mutual, like, hey, I can't, I can't work with this. You're not giving me any players, you know? So how do I actually build a team when you're not actually building a team?

But it is, it also shines a light on, which is we could go another half an hour on this on American coaches. And I think Bev is Bev the only American coaching in NWSL right now. I almost said Laura Hartley, which is an insane thing to say. She feels American by now. But she feels American. I think she is. That is correct. She's also the only former player.

Yeah. Which is the real indictment. And this is a U.S. soccer issue. And we'll talk about these things. This is a U.S. soccer issue bigger than NW.S. of like getting players into licenses and making sure players get opportunities. And that's where the frustration for me is with the foreign coaches brought in is

there needs to be directed from clubs of like Lou Barnes is going to be one of your assistants. Like it's not be just to help you. It's to help us as a club. Yes. But that's not a coach's job is to win the games. Like that's the coach's job. That's where you have roles like technical director and sporting director.

Now obviously you don't have academies and reserve teams. So you don't have places to put young coaches. That's what MLS has done. A lot of players who come out of playing who want to coach, all of a sudden they can coach all of the youth teams where it's a place to just learn coaching and work on it and get your licenses and all that type of stuff. NWSL doesn't have that luxury. So it'll be interesting to see as well.

Like, do you look to college soccer? If it's not working, only looking towards Europe. But we will see what happens in these openings. Okay. Huge news. Barbara Banda, contract extension. Her deal was set to end in 2027, now runs through 2029. So a big moment for this club.

Again, a club that's in a state of flux after letting Seth Hines go, after losing Haley Carter at the beginning of this year, 16 goals this season for Barbara Banda. That's with an injury and Wafcom. So missed, I believe, at least four games. The team has 31 goals. So she has scored more than half the team's goals. And she will remain on this team for a squad that probably won't make the playoffs this year.

We did get confirmation. It is a hip deal. We don't know the exact number. But Caitlin Carducci, who's the way? who's the Orlando VP of Soccer Ops, said this to ESPN. It is, quote, well over seven figures per year. So it's over a million dollars a year. We know that the hip money allows you to sort of tap into this extra couple million

to pay players over what they're making on the salary cap. And Jordan, this is why you made the hip rule to keep players like a Barbara Banda. I imagine after her run in NWSL, her run in WafCon recently, and it sounds like a lot of teams wanted Barbara Banda, a lot of foreign teams, willing to pay a big amount of money to bring her over. But I love that Orlando is saying, no, like she's not going anywhere.

And even if she does go somewhere, we're putting her on such a contract that is going to make it difficult for her to even have eyes for other leagues. She's, it's hard to find more words to talk about Barbara Banda. Scored one of the best goals I've seen this weekend. And it's not a chance.

Chip, it's a full power volley from 25 yards out on the bounce over her head. And the degree of difficulty of that, it shows you that I think when we saw Barbara Banda come into this league, there was a rawness about her and she is continuing to refine herself in a lot of different ways. And then she scores another goal in the game that is completely different from the goal that she scores earlier. And it's, she is able to hurt teams in a variety of ways. And it just feels like she loves it in Orlando and Orlando loves her. And when that is the case, you want to hold on to these players. And I hope that NWSL gets to a point where it feels like,

I don't know why Major League Baseball came up first, but like there are these icons for certain teams in Major League Baseball. And they play their whole careers with this one team. They're lifers. And I hope that we can get to that in NWSL because of what we've done with the hip rule or whatever is going to, whatever it's going to translate to next, where players feel like not only are they playing a season in these places, but this is their home. Because it never was like that for us. We barely could

make a living playing five months in a place. And then we'd have to drive all our stuff back home and stay at her parents' house or, you know, we have really cheap rent in a terrible place with four roommates in order to play the next season. And I hope that this is a bigger, step. And it's players like this that really start that and allow for this idea of longevity in this league. And so no-brainer for Orlando. And if they want to continue to push to be a perennially playoff team, which I don't think they're going to do that this year, but doesn't mean that they can't do it next year, they have to make big moves like this. And I think it's good timing as well, just on the heels of the Seb Hines news, Gilanda Thomas.

I think the team is really latched on to her. And they've known her a lot really well. But how is she serving in this interim role with a different, she's going to have to present herself differently to the team? I think it's a really great move for Orlando. And just excited that Banda will be here until 2029. That's what, three more years? Yeah.

Go, girl. Yeah. So three more full seasons guaranteed. And I think, I think Caitlin Carducci sort of mentioned in some of the media around this. Like, we know the job now is to find the second piece alongside Banda to take some of the defensive pressure off her to take some of the attacking impetus off her shoulders. And that's got to be, that has to have been part of the conversation with Banda is like, okay, we're not good enough. Like, we were a double winning team two years ago.

Now we're not going to make the playoffs. This isn't good enough. And I think as a fan, your hope would be you can take comfort in that Barbara Banda was conno. convinced that it will get better. And I don't think that just comes from Seth Binds being let go. I think that comes from how can you improve the roster. How can you change with the league as well? Because the league has changed in two years.

And I think even you see it in Washington's struggle this weekend of like, Washington, I think has the deepest roster in NWSL. Gotham maybe is the deepest high end roster. But like 18 players you're going to trust probably Washington on that high end. It could still be hard. You could still lose game. games. But Orlando has seven, nine. Like it's just, it has completely, they've sort of been bypassed by the increase in spending and depth in some of this. But they've shown willingness

with Ovae, and I think the hope is that Barbara Banda was convinced, okay, it will get there. And for the club, that's your first slide when you go and sell yourself. Oh, yeah. To new players, like, you can play with Barbara Banda. Especially if you're trying to get a, you just think if they have a winger, like, they used to have with Adriana, right? And you bring in a winger like that and you say, this is who you get to play with. Or if it was me,

I would try and find a second forward or a 10. Yeah. Slide a Valle out wide and say to that player, by the way, the leading goal score in the league is going to play in front of you. No one's ever going to double you, right? Yeah. You're always going to have space.

You're always going to be able to operate. Orlando is fourth worst than expected goals this season. And Banda's got 16 goals. That's wild. Yeah. I mean, the goal this weekend is, and it's gotten, as you said, it's gotten a little better since Zeb Hines have been let go. They've been a little bit more dangerous. They also conceded twice is like, if you get her two half chances, there's a pretty good chance she's going to score.

There's like not outside the realm of possibility. She's going to sort twice. Yeah. I wonder what the XG was in that game with her two goals. That's the expect. That's the like dream scenario for a team is like, do we know the chances we create will be finish, they just don't create enough chances. And so now all the pressure sort of falls to the rest of the roster.

And hopefully they can sort of reset things moving forward. I do think it's interesting with the hip rule. Like it happened. It was chaotic. It happened late in the off season. We came into the summer being like, who's going to be hip players? Like, let's look around the world. And in reality, it looks like it's going to be the mechanism to keep players.

Yeah. Which makes a ton of sense because. look, I mean, we're going to talk about Catarino Macario in a moment, and that's a little different with injury, but like you never know how a player is going to settle in. The biggest guarantee you can have is continued production from a player

who already is comfortable. As you mentioned, like Banda likes Orlando. She likes her teammates. She's comfortable in the club. This is a no-brainer one, but I think that you could convince me that most of the money spent with this rule if it was on keeping players

rather than finding new pieces, I'd probably agree with you of like, yeah, okay, that's probably the right way to use this to just maintain what you have and have a star player who might stick around for their whole career. Speaking of extension, sorry, Lacey Santos, a one-year contract extension with Washington.

I think Jordan, we've seen, they lost the Boston 3-0 on Sunday. We've seen how important she is when she's not there this season. Right. She is crucial to the way that they play, especially without another like for like player in in Washington. Croy Bathune left at the beginning of the year.

And now it has been all on Lacey Santos to operate in the pockets to connect the midfield and the ball winning players that they have as deep lying sixes into this front line with all of the attributes that the front line has. And when they don't have her, you see how big of a gap that is. And I think Betty has shown some good moments in coming into the. the league, the Algerian international, who they just signed recently. But to get Lacey Santos to to another year is when you're talking about the depth of this Washington team, the thing that also makes them deep is the consistency that they've had with some players in their roster. And so

you want to keep that because, I don't know, they're probably, they're probably looking at this is the year that they were going to win all these things. And it might still be the year that they win all the things. I don't know. But to make sure that if you do that, you can still do it again next year. If you don't do it, you can do it again next year. This is a key piece in that. The creativity, the different repertoire that she has when it comes to the final pass that she can make, her goal scoring ability has really showed up at the beginning of this year. Now the thing that they need for these last six games is a healthy Lacey Santos. They have her for next year, but Washington needs are now and they need her to be back in the starting lineup. And I think

it went from one injury to another is what I didn't it go from a foot to a hip or something like that yes although we'll talk about this in the catarine and macario um section I don't know how much I trust any injury news coming out of any NWSL team at this end up she had this NWS she had this knee injury and it was said a foot injury this whole time for the entire yeah heel yeah um but you you mentioned it Lacey Santos does a thing no one else does in this roster she unlocks that last pass she connects with the wide in a way no one else does and is aggressive in her passing in the final third. Most of the players in this Washington group's central midfield area are a little bit more east-west, a little bit safer, ball winners, or you have players who want to be direct one if you want.

And Cory Bethune stitched it together and Lacey Santos does so as well. And that is this missing piece that we've seen of just like, you know, Trini Rodman was dangerous on Sunday. let's talk about this game like I believe it was the 67th minute where Washington had their first shot on goal. They had three shots on goal the whole game. Asiata Trioire, great goal from her in like just doesn't die on a play that Gabby Carl should deal with and creates chaos and scores the goal. And then once that happens, Washington has to throw everything forward. Washington was dangerous in their moments, but it is individual.

moment and it is disparate rather than the intensity of chance, chance, flow of the game, and eventually it breaks through. It'll be interesting for Washington. Not only do they not have Lacey Santos right now, but they just transferred Rebecca Bernal to Manchester United, which they have had depth in that sixth position, but now Andy Sullivan has been out for a couple of games. So you're bringing in a brand new player to NWSL, two brand new players in the center midfield, which if you're looking at this Washington team,

that has been their engine room. That's where they really create so much attention. So then there is isolations in the channels. And so they're going to get, when you have a front line like you have, you're going to get chances. I actually thought it was, I mean,

I only caught the first part of this game. I probably should have just watched the last 20 minutes. But the first half, it was pretty pedestrian for Washington. And I think Boston does a good job. of doing that to teams, making it more difficult than it has to be with,

I don't know what they do sometimes, this Boston team. I wish I could tell you, but it is a little, I feel you, Zagero, it felt like everybody was talking about Gotham was organized chaos.

This feels like chaos that maybe sometimes is organized. Not a lot of the times, but it is effective in the way of just, they dictate the way that the game is going to be played. And I think they did that against Washington. And if you are going to be a shield contending team if you are the spirit.

You have to say, how do we manage, especially at home where they, man, it's been crazy how bad they've been at home lately. You have to be the team. Douglas has been at all the games. I know, Douglas. Poor guy. You have to be the team that sets the tone for these games. Because even if a team wants to play like Boston, all right, can you sit back a little bit

and let them come at you? And then jump them in your transition moments. Yeah. I just, it feels like the answers aren't there, which for so long we have, I have praised Gonzalez and what he's been able to do with the different rosters that he's put out.

And I think it feels like he's just a little like tied right now to the available players. Yeah. This was a game. You're not going to dominate possession against Boston because they want to be on the ball so much. But as you said, like one, they will make mistakes. have to open your lines up enough often enough to be able to turn those mistakes into immediate

transition opportunities. And it felt like Washington was a little bit too deep or lethargic in some of this. I like what I saw from Sarah Shepansky. I'm excited about that addition as I was when they made the move. It just feels like she turns up field a half second quicker. She cuts a pass a little bit more dangerous. Like there's just a little bit more to that. And then by the way, the final goal or the second and final goal from Amanda. That's like a cool moment. It was another mistake that time. I think it was Tara Rudd along the back.

You're trying to create a goal. You're open. You're exposed. Not everyone scores that. Like that's like a little bit of a level of magic of like, yep, I know where the goal he is without looking. Yeah. And I know how to finish that.

That's what we're hoping from her. Doesn't start in this game. Has still been a struggle. But she still has what? Eight games goals on the season? Which is wild. And Boston's not even that. like dangerous of a team in terms of final scoring numbers.

So it's been an interesting season for her and for that team. But for Washington, yeah, they're hosting NWSL championship this year. They've been to the last two finals. The expectation is. Do you think that pressure is getting to them then? I don't. Or they don't even think about it. Well, I don't know that well.

I just think. Seven goals for a good year. This weekend is the weirdest one for me because they had gotten Gotham in touching distance. I kind of think there's Washington clearly doesn't win the shield. I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's the nature of like they believe they're so good

that maybe you're not sharp every week because you don't feel like you're threatened. And it's like we'll figure it out when we need to figure it out. And I'm not saying they take it casually, but they do malaise through moments of the season, which is where they've lost the shield the last two years while being one of the most talented teams. And then you get into the playoffs and it's like,

every game matters. And it's the most important thing. And they play that way. Yeah. I don't know if it's that. I don't know if it is like the depth and the nature of the roster where when you move pieces around enough, like it's hard to have pure consistency. And they've had a million injuries as everyone has.

Right. Over the course of that time, Ashley Hatch now back into the team, but limped off. I think it was. So I don't think it's the pressure of that. I just think it's like, I mean, honestly, it might change the pressure, which is you don't, like, you're not fighting to host because you don't have to finish top of the standings. I guess they have to finish top two to at least not have to travel for a playoff game. But it feels like maybe Feta complete that they will and maybe that takes off some of the pressure.

Let's talk San Diego before we get out of here. Let's talk about Catarina Macario, who's placed on the season ending injury list for 2026 after an ongoing knee issue. As we said, it's been reported that it was her heel in a lot of the game day information, which is a frustration that's in a different category. But the main frustration is not getting to see this elite player. She hasn't played a game since December of 2025. And she wrote on social media, to be completely honest,

it sucks to find myself in this position again. I would never have chosen to be in this position. But over the years I've learned, there's always something to be gained even from the moment we wouldn't choose for ourselves. She left college to go play at Leone before finishing at Stanford, tore her ACL in 2022. If you remember,

was forced to withdraw from the Olympic roster in 2024 with consistent irritation in her right knee and then signed in the off season on a five-year deal in San Diego and has said sort of, I think coming back home and being in the sun and just being around, my friends and family might help me

in being able to get back and get healthy. Never played this season, and we won't see her in 2026. First off, just really bummed for Kat. And I think we both are. And when this is your life and your livelihood and your body seems to be failing you over and over again, you just can't find that you're, you can't find health. And I've been there. And it is a really, it can be a dark place to be. It can be a really difficult place to be. And I think she's right. The place that she needs to be is close to

home and to be able to be around people who really truly love her and know who she is, not as a soccer player. And for her to get fully healthy, I think that's a big place to start. It's really, it's really difficult to see this reoccurring and like reoccurring injuries. And for it to be something else and then, you know, sometimes that happens when you hurt something else and an irritation happens because you're overcompensating in a leg and then you get another injury. And so although it feels really difficult, I hope this was done proactively in saying, we have now six months until the start of next year. And then we have all of next year. And actually not even six months because the season starts in February, right? So I lied.

But utilizing as much time as possible to say there is no pressure on you to get back into this team right now. And I think San Diego has made, we'll talk about the move that they made, which I think helps that in taking some load off of Macario. But this is a world-class player. So let's get her back to being a world-class player. Yeah. And it feels a little bit like, did they wait too late to do this? Potentially.

I don't know the inner workings there, but I will say if this is what it takes to get Cat Macario being Kat Macario again, well worth it. And I think that's the part where was their undue pressure put on externally because they didn't just say, I mean, they may have made this decision two months ago. Like, we don't actually know for accounting purposes. I assume they didn't because you put her on the season on the injury list. It opens up some of the roster spot. But I completely agree with you, which is I think the key of everything I said in red is she has a five-year contract. Yeah.

Like Kat Mikario should be the face of this team. This is a team that should contend for trophies. They have done so over the last two years missing some of their biggest and best players. Like there is a real, I believe. leave there's a real DNA and core to this club as good as any in NWSL. And having her healthy for the long term of that contract is the key. I don't know how much the pressure of a 2027 Women's World Cup in her native home country, Brazil, where she is a piece of the U.S.

Women's National team. So I don't know how much pressure that added to, well, I want to get back this year. because now she won't play until at least February of 2027. I don't know the exact international schedule, but I assume there are not games in January. And I assume she will not play in 2026. So it is a really tight timeline to try and make the national team if she is able to get healthy.

And I think the best thing for her in this club and her career is to not worry about that. that specifically and if it works out great. Like World Cups are a special moment and most players build their lives around it and I think it's understandable. But clearly this is bigger than just trying to figure out if you can make that team. If she plays next year and she scores goals and is healthy, she's going to get a look, even if it's late.

Totally. Emma Hayes loves Katarina Macario. She signed her in Chelsea. She loves anyone who played at Chelsea like and Kat's that good, right? Cat came off injuries into starting for the U.S. Yeah. It'll be a fight because if other players are healthy, like she will be down the pecking order on some of this.

But I think she could get healthy in April and potentially make the roster next year. That's how much MAs has leaned on her as a player. But more importantly, trying to get her healthy. And this was a huge investment from San Diego. Like what? I think the report was $8 million in contract over five years. Like this was a big deal for this team. And they made another move, as you mentioned,

sort of, it seems like off the back of this. They brought in Barbara Bonsa on loan through June of 2027, a 35-year-old Italian international to over 100 caps has won Sierra like six times on three different clubs. Most recently with Juventus. And it feels like the right type of move, which is someone who can be in a win now mode and help you at that center forward position in light of not having the star that you thought it was

going to be built around. Yeah, winner experience, which this front line, San Diego doesn't really have a lot of experience. I think it puts good pressure on Luchmila to, and I think she's already feeling that with buyers playing and scoring goals, but now you bring in another true goal score different than Trinity buyers, more of a box player back to goal, wants to connect, and then get into the box as a target player there.

But I think Bonisea is a great signing and just another Italian international who is coming to NWSL. And I really, for a San Diego team who has found the net as of late, but we're struggling a little bit to find consistency there for probably the middle part of the season to add another true out-in-out goal score. I like this move. And I hope it hits right away. And my thing is to bring a 35-year-old on loan for a year, you don't owe her anything in that if Trinity Byers is playing better, Trinity Byers will play.

and that's the ideal scenario for San Diego. But you have a little bit of sport. This is what I thought Adriana Leon was going to be and hasn't really of like veteran experience, rotation starter finishes games when you need a goal can help you close out games with ball to feet at the center. I think she's going to provide all those things. And when you think about the San Diego team pressing, like if they're down a goal and they're pressing, you play two players in that nine with buyers and Bonacea and you have

two very different goal scores. but that can utilize their little movements in the box to help you get that goal. And I like that what you said. You know, there's no pressure to make her the starter. But also you want competition. Like all the coaches are saying, we want competition in these spots. It just breeds that competitiveness breeds good play. And that's what if you're San Diego this year, you see how good you can be.

And you need those types of players. And San Diego, a 2-1 win at home over North Carolina. on the weekend. I thought North Carolina was pretty good in this game. They weren't uber dangerous, but there's a lot to deal with when you go to San Diego. And they started a 20-year-old at centerback. They've had a ton of rotation along the backline

and sort of that defensive midfield position. And I thought overall they handled a lot of it. They just were not dangerous in that. And E.J. dropping deep, I think, which creates the turnover for the, the first goal probably because isn't getting enough touches, doesn't feel involved enough. And maybe that's all a piece of it. And I think for San Diego, they'll feel like they got Ashley Sanchez as out of the game as

you possibly can right now against North Carolina. But overall, I think I come out of this game saying these are two of the top five teams in NWSL, like almost proven in the way they played against each other. The difficulty with North Carolina is I feel like San Diego has just gotten healthy. They get Asconio back. They get Kenza Dali back. And this North Carolina team is in that rough zone where I think players are close to being back, but not quite back. Don't know the severity of Natalie Jacobs.

But if they can get her back, that would really help their back line and help them. Because they were just a little bit more solid with her leadership in the backline and her ability to step in moments, but also read when the space behind was going to be exposed. I don't know. Did Jackson play in this game? I didn't watch this game. Was Jackson back? I don't think so. Riley Jackson is still not back. I think Ali Schlegel back will really help this North Carolina team because the way they want to progress Ryan Williams so that they can get Schlegel back. And then I think Erica Meg has been one of the brightest newcomers in this league. And she only came in at the end of July.

And for her to opt out of the under 20 Women's World Cup to play for North Carolina because they are in need, desperate need of just players right now. players. You can see that she's playing trying to prove that this was the right decision. And so I really like, I really like what she is going to do. So I think what I'm trying to say, I agree with you with San Diego being, they look like they're in stride and peeking at the right point. I think with a couple of players coming back from injury, North Carolina will be in that same wave, but this isn't a bad loss for them away to San Diego. In my opinion. We're not going to talk a ton about the U-20s because they're going to play Brazil on Wednesday morning at 9 a.m.

Eastern time. The 9-0 win over New Zealand clinch them on the last day out of the group stage. But a reminder in all of this, I know people very much want the U.S. to win a U-20 World Cup. I think it's fair, like the players out of there to be competitive. Mel Barcena is 18 years old. Yeah. And it's not on that roster because Mel Barcena is one of the two best players on the field in an NWSL game. at the exact same time.

Most goals as a teenager in, I think, NWSL, right? Yeah. History? Yeah. And like another stunner, could add to just a phenomenal player. And this was Gia Corley's third goal of her NWSL career.

She hadn't scored in two years or whatever. She scored the beginning of 2024, like the first three games. I think she scored two goals and hasn't scored since. Yeah. But guess what? I'm back in. I'm fully committed.

I'm back in. Get her on the U.S. roster. She's got me captured again. I love watching Geo Corley play. So I'm there for it. But both these teams have been fun to watch. One more game from the weekend to mention before. We look forward to the weekend to come.

The wild one. Angel City, Denver, 3.3. Lindsay Heaps' first goal with Denver in this one. So it was an Angel City goal heading into halftime to make it one zero. And then Denver scored twice in three minutes. I think it was to make it two. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, because it was like basically off the restart that Denver hit the crossbar and Lindsay

heaps puts it in for her first goal to make it two one. Janine Sonis with a stunner to make it 3-1 and then Angel City within 10 minutes had marched all the way back. Chalufa scored moments later and then it ends up being an Allie Centaur penalty kick about 10 minutes later to make it 3-3. both these teams sitting outside the playoff line. So for Seattle, this was a great result. It was two points dropped underneath them.

Both of these teams have a game in hand in the race for the playoffs, but they are more than three points back. So they don't control their own destiny right now. But it was wild to watch Jordan in this one. And I think shows the capabilities of both these teams. Angel City looks good when they have Yon Stodder, healthy and fit and stretching the back line. But I like also what they've done.

They played in a 4-4-2 and they put Noose up front with Yon's daughter. I love Leuze. I love her. You said it like seven months ago and then they cut. They didn't stop playing her. They just stopped playing through her. Yes. Yeah.

And I'm like, what are you guys doing? Yeah. She is the key. She really, I love the way that she plays. Her goal, unreal. I loved the goal. Not good stepping out from Denver. It was a little sloppy.

and she makes them pay, but to go around Megan Reed with this finish down into the ground. Incredible. I like that setup for Angel City. I don't know if Leishmurud will continue to do that. Can I add? I thought, as they've played this way, I thought it would shift more into a back five at times, whether it was Savvy King sliding inside. It is a true back four.

Giselle Thompson plays as a winger, and I do think that's worked as well. It's been fun. And I think the, yes, Jazeel Thompson is a good defender, but for this team, they need more, they need more zip and attack. And so they get her higher up the field. I, I've liked that a lot. And on the Denver side, I think this Denver team, one of the things that they've done really well is when, when they are in their build, it, the right side is like, there's a clear like isolation on the left, led Janis Sonis or Yasmin Ryan find the ball. and shoot from distance or cross from that the corner of the box or on the right side, they've done a really good job of getting a cut up with Yuzuki in the pocket, Lindsay Haran flooding that space too. And it's like streetball over there at times for Denver where they're just like popping the

ball around, making defenders move. They've scored a few goals from the combination play that they've had on that side of the field. But one of the things I think they need to do is when they are building, they have their six is so low that they're trying to get the midfield of the opponent to come out and press them, which they've done, like they did a pretty good job against Gotham with that, of filling those next pockets. So like Lindsay is good at filling the pocket, but who's filling the other pocket? And is it Yasmin Ryan? Is it the nine coming in? Because there's space there on both of the sides,

but it gets so long-sided to the right that it makes it predictable in moments. hard to stop in moments as well because even though it's predictable they have numbers and they have the movement in IQ to get around. But I think that there could be a little bit more, I don't want to say balance, but there could be more play through that left side half space. Yeah. I thought Ryan was really good in this game coming off that wing and filling the holes and being another piece. But I do

think there's a level of predictability of like where the attack's going to come from. Six, uh, 12 goals in three. Three games. Now, playing Chicago clearly is the help, although Portland did not get that experience. But like, I don't know. I guess Jen Cooper can tell us better. When was the last time a team scored 12 goals in three games?

You know what? I know that was given to us. Okay. So it has happened before. Yes. Obviously, the sixth goal outlier is going to like break things a little. I think it's a long time ago. And then three against Angel City.

I think there's a lot to like for both these teams. So my hope is that they both push for the playoffs. And it is last year we did this. And this reminded me when I went back and looked at Houston of like, you know, teams make runs. And in the end, the playoff race became the wimper. And it was like North Carolina at the last second, not enough. Remember Gotham backed into the playoffs getting crushed at home.

And then they go and win the whole thing. So it doesn't really matter. Or sorry, crushed on the road. Yeah, but I just love that crushed. Yeah. But like, it would be nice. I think for Angel City in Denver, no matter what the final finish is, if they push towards the end.

And if it's not enough and it's too late, fine. But like, you know, go in on the front foot and then have something to transition into the next year for. Obviously better for Denver, where, you know, it's your expansion year. Can you build off anything? Can you feel positive? This is what Bay did two years ago, right? Like, they snuck in at the end. They played great against Washington in the playoffs.

They lost. They felt like something to build off of. And then all fell apart the next year. Two things. I think Denver should feel really good about their schedule throughout the rest of the season. Yeah. There are six points out and there's what now, 24 points to still be had. Am I, is that too many? No, that's right. I don't do math. 18. Yeah. That's not a part of my contract. Or seven. 21. Okay, 21 more points. They have 20 more and more points. Do you want to give the schedule? Well, I was going to say, so they play, obviously they play a heavy amount of home games because they were away for so long.

They play Bay on Wednesday night, which we don't know what happened there. Then they play Seattle on the weekend. So that's a six-pointer. And they still have Angel City again? Yeah. Going into the international break, they go to Kansas City, which is tough. And then they go to Chicago. So if they can beat Seattle, they could set themselves up to be probably within a point of the playoffs going into the international break.

Yeah. So they're in a good spot. And I will just say one more thing about this game. I think that Lindsay Heep goal, one, you can tell Heaps. was like she's been itching for a goal. That was harder than it looked, don't you think? It's bouncing. A lot of players take that at the inside of their foot and it skies over.

She like does this little hop, like hops her feet up and hits it down into the ground. Yeah. That was really good. To me it was one of those moments where like it's impressive how casual she can be because you need to be casual. Because if you strike it, like you said, if you strike it hard, it's gone. she took it like a training goal and that comes from a player who has scored a million goals in big moments

where it's like her eyes don't flash like oh this is my big chance. No. It's just like this is the way. Yeah, this is the way you need to finish this. Yeah, it was good. Do you think Sonas's shot was on purpose? Yes.

I think it has to be. It's like at this point of the year how many goals she's scoring. You're looking for the goal all the time. Okay, let's talk about this weekend then. So Denver, as we said, So they play Angel City the first game out of the international break, and they play Seattle here. So Denver comes into this game.

They are on 23 games played in 31 points. Seattle have played 23 games on 37 points. Yeah, both teams play midweek. Both teams play midweek. So we won't know the result of that one. Denver, you know, Angel City, much more possession, much more attacking. Seattle's not going to do the same. how does Denver sort of handle Seattle and what they pose?

Yeah, well, the hard thing is the Seattle team has been, they've been really good defensively. They've only given up 26 goals this year. And they are in this little bit of a cycle right now where they're winning games. They end up winning this one two to nothing. It's right up the end over the last weekend. But they're in these games where they score the first goal and then they just defend. And they have Meza essentially, I think James Turner.

is coming and done a really good job. I think for Denver, one of the things you have to do against Seattle is you have to invite them to press, but also make sure that you're filling in those gaps in behind. So like what are your six is doing to provide the next pass? But then where is from the six? Because as you invite that pressure in, then you have to have the outlet. So is it your wingers? Is it the nine coming back in? Is it an advanced outside back? I don't know what that's going to look like, but for Denver, you have to be brave enough to play through the Seattle press because they are going to press you. And then this Denver has created a lot of chances. And yes, in these last three games, they've scored a lot of those. Can you do that consistently? I think that's their thing.

And then on the other side of things, Seattle is probably looking at this Denver team and saying they gave up transition goals in the last game. How do we expose the space in behind? How do we quickly find the ball to Dahlene. And they played a little differently this last week with Mondecier starting. And I like her. I think she's just a little bit more zippy than Fissel in moments. But Dahlene really is their key in stretching a team. And so I think they'll utilize her as much as they can.

Yeah, that's to me the whole key is if Okan Sannis get forward, what does rest defense look like? Who's ability to kill transition? Devin Lynch didn't start on the weekend. I think. I happen tomorrow, so I'm like a local feed. But is very good at closing down counter opportunities, and that might be a spot where you get a chance,

but this to me has Dahlene match winner written all over it. And if Denver can avoid that, then they've got a chance to win. The other one is I think this is one of those games where we see, Lindsay keeps to be the second runner in central areas, because you're not going to break Seattle down in your passing movement very often. So at some point it's going to have to be crosses. And Costler's a force and you have to throw bodies towards her. Like can heaps find that right moment to be that second runner and score the goal?

But this is going to set up the playoff run this midweek and then this weekend game. So this is. Yeah, because Seattle plays Angel City too. So it's like Denver needs the points off of Bay because Bay is in 15th, I believe. And then these two games are really crucial for those three teams who are in the hunt. And Angel City goes to Utah midweek. So, or sorry, on the weekend. So that's the question then is, can Angel City play with the intensity and energy and open nature that they did last weekend at altitude against a team that's cruising?

That is one of the other big games to watch this weekend because for Angel City, they want to play through the centerbacks. They want to open up play a little bit more. And Utah are going to say, great, we're going to go and press you. And you're going to have to do this for 90 minutes at altitude. And most teams have failed to maintain that level throughout 90 minutes. Yeah. Yeah. And then one more for you.

Let's do it. North Carolina, Gotham. North Carolina hosting Gotham, as we said, they've looked really good. They have, didn't get the win on the weekend. but I think they have flirted with that top four spot right now sitting in fifth place. Coming into this one, they obviously put their own six up on Chicago the week before. They lost at the Casey Current 3-2 before that coming off that winning streak. So I think this is as big a test as Gotham is going to get down the stretch.

And North Carolina have looked very assured of themselves. Also, Ashley Sanchez is one goal away from tying Temwishawinga. for the most goals in an NWSL season. How many do you think she scores this year? I think 25. Oh, I was going to, yeah, okay. I was going to go a little bit lower. 23.

Yeah. But that's because I'm always soft. I always go somewhere in the middle. I'm too scared to put my name on something and really shout it. You know what graphic I loved this week is the Messi and Sanchez, like both have scored 19 goals? I was like, how cool. You're on a graphic with Lionel Messi.

Do you think she'll be on a U.S. Women's National Team roster? in about two weeks? Yeah, me too. Yeah. If she isn't, do we riot or what? I think so. I think we're all too riled up to get ready to riot

without any proof that we have to. Like, I get it. I think last year I picked Ashley Sanchez in preseason for some award. Like, I thought she was going to be a big difference. She was not. No. I think it's fair for Emma Hayes to have built a roster that didn't have Ashley Sanchez in it until this summer.

Like she hadn't earned the spot in that. space. It will be an awkward fit, I think, for her in that team because I think her role will end up having to be different than what it is for North Carolina. But this finish this weekend is crazy. Does it have to be? Does it have to be? Because I think she's out playing Emma Sears who's played in that position. She's out playing Yasmin Ryan who plays in that position. But I don't think she does any of the, I don't think when you put her profile up and you say this is what you bring to the team. Yeah, but she's different than Thompson. And I would say Tompson. And I would say Tompson. and Sears are more alike than Thompson and Sanchez.

But the question is alike, is that a bad thing? Because if she was more like Emma Sears, it would be easier to say, okay, just swap out. My question is like, so I think there's a spot where if we look at triple espresso in the Olympics at its best, there was a lot of swapping across the front three. You become a center forward. You go out wide. I think she's okay with all of that. The question is, is she going to create for Sophia Wilson? and Trinny Rodman on the far side,

like as she's played as a finisher, but also if she doesn't, Alyssa Thompson does, but also a lot of the role for Alyssa Thompson when she's been in the group is, well, you're always going to be one v. So just win your battle X amount of times and it's worthwhile.

And Ashley Sanchez showed this weekend. I mean, that's an insane goal. One of the best she scored. Just the window that she had, we often talk about like getting that half a foot on a player, half a yard on a player. and the distance between or the time between her touch and her shot is so quick that there's no reaction from the, like you just are never going to get there.

And yeah, I hope that she gets called in. And I think that this is going to be a really interesting game between Gotham and North Carolina. I think North Carolina, Gotham in the same regard to what I was kind of talking about for Denver, is they want to play, they've been playing Howlin McCaskill a little bit lower, especially against teams who want to press them. and so they've been inviting that space and then it's given Shaw so much space up up in the front line um so I'm I'm interested in Sam Kerr kind of had a little bit of a stinker last game she should have scored for sure the one that Dudley pulls back for her I think it was yeah there was a

few where you're just like Sam Kerr scores that right and I don't I wouldn't want to play Sam Kerr after she had a game like that I just wouldn't um there's a couple players where you're like that player is going to be on the ground at some point. Jordan Dudley is now in the like, there is going to be a medic come out. She just plays so physical and it invites physicality. And it sucks for her because it looks painful. But she initiates too. For sure. Like she's not scared of it. And I do think players now have already come in of the like, I have to be strong. I have to go into these tackle strong, all of that. But Jordan Dudley is good for a medical timeout, which becomes the mini box on Ion with the commercial running and all of that.

You'll see that. Watch me and Mora this weekend on Ion, 630 Eastern Time. There you go. There's all you need. Awesome chatting about all of this. Glad to be back. We've got a lot more to talk about. We will have that U.S. Women's National Team roster soon. We've got their special U.S. show that we're going to be talking about. All the big topics. We were lucky enough to dig into what the future of youth college soccer looks like

in terms of development with Mark Kekorian and about the U-20s coming into it and the future of youth national teams and all of that. And we've got a lot more to talk about. We've got two games against Spain on the horizon. But first, it's all NW sales. Thank you to you, Jordan. Big shout out to Douglas for putting this all together. And we'll talk to you all again, very, very.