SoccerWise - Racing Louisville's Historic Run, Celebrating DiBernardo + Previewing The Weekend

Episode Date: June 12, 2025

Jordan and David are back to dig into Louisville's historic club run. They celebrate the chaos of the weekend across the league. And of course they dig into the big moves coming and how it could affect these clubs. 11:00 Lousiville’s Historic Run18:30 Seattle Upset San Diego24:30 Controversy In KC-Gotham35:00 Celebrating Vanessa DiBernardo40:00 Spirit Steal North Carolina’s Courage45:40 KC v Lville Preview49:40 Maria Sanchez Joining Diana Ordonez In Mexico?51:45 Alex Straus Welcome To NWSL Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

Do you see me thinking deeply? Did you notice that? I was trying to figure something out and I can't figure it out. David Goss and Jordan Angelou together. I am currently studying Spanish for like the first time actually. Duolingo or you have a teacher? No, Duolingo. Does that not count? No, it counts. Okay, yeah.

I just wanted to know how you were studying. It's Duolingo slash living in Miami. So being bullied into it. Yeah, oh gosh. Everywhere you go. If you go to the Miami airport, you better speak Spanish. 100%. 100%.

One of my stories is that I've traveled a decent amount in my life and probably the most culture shock I've ever felt, aka I kind of feel uncomfortable and I want to go home was in Brazil. I actually found it the hardest place to function in. People wouldn't meet you halfway. They were like, oh, you don't speak Portuguese? Okay, so you can go screw yourself and figure it out. And I'd be like, oh, what floor is my room on? And I'd use my hands and they'd just say it back

to you in Portuguese and you'd be like, okay, cool. Yeah, great. Thank you for meeting me halfway. And I flew back to the US after being there for three weeks for the World Cup in 2014 and was like, I kind of am excited for the first time to be back in the US and have people speak English. And I transferred in Miami.

And you have to go through full security and customs and I get to the security line, the guy looks at me, just starts speaking Spanish, and it was like, arguably the most defeated I've ever been. Like my shoulders. No! I was like, ah, now I would do 2% better. But I was gonna say, you're going full glasses today, which you've never done

on the show. And I was going to call you the professor, which in Spanish, I believe is El Profe. And I didn't know how to make it feminine. Then I didn't know if I was supposed to. And I was trying to figure it out and I never got there. Okay, great. Awesome. Well, thank you for that compliment.

So a lot of profeta. I could show off a little Spanish too if you want me to. Feliz cumpleaños a ti. Feliz cumpleaños a ti. Very well handled. Yeah happy birthday yesterday Goss. Our birthdays are very close together. They are. Few years apart very close. I have met a lot of June people. I think it's like a really good time period. Well I'm May so don't put me in the June. Fair. But are we the same? I don't know the things. Are we the same? I don't know. Everyone always tells me. That's gonna be a good clip. My wife is six days apart for me. which is great because we do like one birthday thing. Yeah, that's nice. And both of us are like not huge about it. So it works out and everyone's always like, oh perfect.

So you're both and you know those go well together because they're and you're like, okay, I guess so and I forget a hundred percent of the time what we are. Are we cancer? Are we? I'm a Gemini. Is that the twins? So are we the twins? Are we the twins? Are we the twins is the big question everyone is asking. Well we are very excited to be back on. Our schedule got thrown off yesterday. I was being a birthday brat and all over the map. But we're back now today. This is also a very big day for soccer wise. It is technically our one year anniversary. You've got the shirt on.

I didn't have my shirt on. I don't know why I'm not wearing it. I thought we all were going to wear our shirts. I will go get mine and I will do that. But it has been a really, really special year. So we're going to do a little record with Tom that we're going to put out on socials in a moment that, you know, a chance for all all I think it'll be the first time we're all on together since a year ago an opening promo but I've enjoyed this a ton I enjoy talking

about this league I enjoy covering it and I enjoy working with you so thanks for dragging me along and being a part of this. Yeah, it is. We're living the dream day by day. And we've got a good weekend to come off of. It was international break. And then NWSL was like, oh, you felt like you didn't get enough chaos. So we're going to double the dosage this week to bring it all.

So what I calculated was four games with an 80th minute goal that decided the result or later. And by later, I don't mean the 82nd minute. I mean the 99th minute in Orlando. That doesn't include the 100th minute own goal that was scored by Vanessa DiBernardo, which made that game 2-1 Kansas City in favor. And we will talk about Vanessa in a little bit

who had a really special week. That doesn't include red cards. It doesn't include red cards. It doesn't include multiple goals from outside the box where you could debate which one is the best. I think I know your answer, but like all of them were ridiculous and that does not include VARs or potential VARs, which had people sort of riled up as the weekend went along. Nah, not NWSL fans.

Not riled up. Not assistant coaches either. Not assistant coaches either. It's like, sometimes I can't tell if it's more embarrassing if you're an assistant coach who gets a yellow card. Like, it feels embarrassing when the head coach is like, calm down. Because it's like kind of the head coach's job to be the one yelling from the sideline and then the assistants get up and they're yelling and I can't tell if you're like actually taking one for the team by the or if it's like the head

coach is like really you're making my like now I'm coaching you too. I can't tell which way it goes. I'll take take one for the team. Okay. Yeah I'll take that side. You can take the sit down child. When I watch basketball there are a lot of times where I'm like coach needs to get teed up now. Like yell at the ref, reset the tone a little, help your team. So I get it. It feels like a lot of times though when the ref makes the long run over comes into the bench area, points at one of the coaches, shows the card, everyone's like, errr, like I really wish they hadn't done that. But I will accept the take one for a team personality on that one.

We have some transfer stuff going on as well. So the NWSL window is going to open on July 1st, which we are not that far away from. It is an adjusted window window which has been announced. So you get 110 days of time that you can have the window open across the two transfer windows. One can be primary, one can be secondary. There are no rules actually. It's just the decision of the local soccer federation for us, USSF. And so the decision has been made here to make it split. So I think it's basically the same both, which now helps the second window line up with the European windows as all of those leagues have come to a close.

We've already seen some big name signings. We talked for like seven seconds about Angel City signing a Wolfsburg veteran at center forward, which is a huge deal, but you had to wait a little bit for that one. Gotham has already made a signing and L MX has now entered the chat, trying to start to bring some talent back from NWSL and potentially talent moving in the other way. So we will talk about all of that as we go along, but we wanted to start with sort of the biggest results from the weekend. And to do so, you got to talk about the Gantes, the giants of NWSL.

And when you are talking about it, you are talking about Louisville. You are talking about a team that has lived in ninth place. And right now, Jordan, they're on an incredible one run. It was a three to win one of our many 80th plus minute winners in this game. So they got the goal goal I believe it was in the 85th minute from Sarah Weber who's playing in place of Kayla Fisher at center forward because of the suspension for Fisher. It was in this game was delayed by an hour because of rain and it ends up having four goals in the

first 33 minutes of like oh you left early or you weren't sure if you were gonna watch no no no you got to turn this one back on. Yeah. It was the first game of the weekend too, wasn't it? Yeah, it was Friday night. Yeah. So it was like everybody buckle up because this is going to be a wild one. And I think it tends to be a little bit more wild when we come back from international breaks, just because there's a lot of changes to lineups and teams and availability. But you know, this Louisville team are racing right now.

They're like alright we have an identity. I think they've really honed in on saying we are going to be... Well played on the racing. Thank you. Thank you. That was delayed but I appreciate it. Earlier than we normally record so excuse our minds from clicking. Um, this, this racing team is bought into the identity that Bev Yanez I

think has smartly put them into, you know, this, if you look on paper, this racing team does not stack up with the best teams in NWSL, you know, they don't have the star players, they don't have those players. From top to bottom, right? Depth-wise, don't have what other teams have. Not saying they don't have good players and quality players who can be difference makers. But I think that you have to be good.

You have to have an X factor if that's who you're going to be as a team. And their X factor is who they are without the ball. They are tough. And I think that word may be an understatement with when you play Louisville, you better be ready for a dog fight when you have the ball because they are going to hunt you down and win the ball back. And I feel like they've done a really good job of buying into that identity.

And then as we've seen them progress through these five games where they've won four out of the last five, they actually have really good moments when they win the ball back and can play. In transition or against Angel City, they built up one time and scored a goal through a nice buildup. I'm just thinking back to other games.

So I'm really excited because I feel like we've seen pieces of this Louisville team over the last even last year, I thought they might squeak in the playoffs. And but they just haven't had something different. And I feel like they've they've found it. And it's been fun to watch them. They're sitting in six, the guys they're like, feeling good. They're sitting in six, theyagos. They're like feeling good. They're sitting in sixth. They're tied in sixth with, or tied for fifth technically with Seattle. This is, for them it's like, we're talking every record now because it hasn't been a ton of time in NWSL and it hasn't been a ton of success.

They are the ninth place team. This is the fastest they've ever gotten to five wins in a season. This is the best five game span they've ever had. Emma Sears in this game tied the single season goal scoring record at six, and we are in week 12 of this season. So she's gonna break that record, and there's just a ton that they are doing

that they have never done before. That alone is really exciting. Like for, I think, a franchise that I think, or at least a fan base that has deserved this, it's really exciting to see. You talked about a lot of like what's made them better, what's made them good. To play with intent and on the front foot

is just so refreshing to see. And last year, that segment of time, they dominated games through their central midfield play and control of the game. Yeah. But even then, it was often very much played in the middle third and they have very Often over their time and end of herself been a team that allows the other team to dictate the game And so now the way they are pressing in the in games but constantly playing on the front foot is

They are the ones who are choosing the way games are played out. I don't think it's a coincidence. They've had multiple lake winners of like, okay, you got to be perfect against us mentally. You have to play out cleanly. You have to switch on in transition against us. And it gets exhausting as the game goes along. Obviously this game assisted by a red card as well to Hata picking up two yellow cards, I think the second one, like the 73rd minute. So now you've got an opponent on the road after delay playing 15 minutes, 20 minutes, whatever it is down a player, but that still doesn't change the fact that they're super dangerous going forward.

And I think a lot of it is unlocks Savannah Demillo, which is she is one of the best one of you one attackers in central areas. But if you play against set defenses, there isn't really a ton of positive opportunity to take players on 1v1. And you're seeing now the moment they win the ball back, she has space to start moving at pace. She can beat defenders close to her and then that opens up the whole game for everyone else. I feel like her and Croy remind me a lot of each other because in last year when Croix was on her heater before she got injured, it was her, it was a good defensive block from Washington and it was oftentimes quick transition moments from defensive posture to that attacking phase of play

and Croix was in space on the dribble creating and that's when Deelo also is at her best and it's fun to see because she's gone through a lot of health things she went from like being on top of the world going to the World Cup and then the downfall of that and the what happened there the difficulty of handling that mentally as a young player or as a player in general despite if you're young and I feel like she's finally getting to be herself again, which helps this Louisville team. And, you know, I think Taylor Flint will continue to be one of the underrated midfielders in

this league. Like, there are plays that she breaks apart that I'm like, how the heck did she get there? It is incredible to watch. It looks effortless at times. And she is a key cog into what's going right in Louisville. But I think Jordan Blumer has to get credit too. She's been great coming in, getting her chance and she has a real like vibe about her, like an aura back there, right? She's a little like to me, it seems louder than Katie Lund a little bit more has some swag to her that I really like and she's done a good

job stepping in and making big saves when when called upon but the biggest thing for me goss if like this Louisville team is real is they have to win the games against teams ahead of them like or get results I wouldn't say you have to win. You have to get results. And they have not. They lost to San Diego. They lost to Washington.

These are games that they, if they are going to say, we are making the playoffs, you got to get a draw. Yeah. You hope for a win, but you got to get a draw against those teams ahead of you. And that to me is going to be the differentiation factor for this Louisville squad if they are going to be that next level. We're going to be the differentiation factor for this Louisville squad if they are going to be that next level. We're going to see it. Clash of the Titans. Two best teams over the last five games have been Kansas City and Louisville. They face off this weekend. Not sure everyone would have anticipated that like that would have been the must circle game and I think that's really fun

and really really cool. Yeah I think everything you're saying there like this team, what they have done over the last few years is when you're out on them, they steal some results against the teams. You kind of expect them to steal results again. When you finish ninth, that means there are five teams worse than you and there are points to get there. And if you could steal enough off the teams in front of you, you stay around. But the way you insert yourself higher up the standings is, like you said, by taking some of those results

I think there's a thank you from Louisville owed to us because when Katie Lund got injured We did a long show about how much we were worried about Louisville and that basically sparked this run So you are welcome for they've just been listening to it for all of the effort we put in to help you get to this point And what's the media for if we don't give them things to... And we're here for them. Are we media? I don't know. I guess so because what else would we be? Just hobbyists. Cool. Yeah. We're professors. We're just out here for educational purposes. Flint is awesome. You don't often see players at her size, at that position that cover ground, and also are so clean and tight spaces,

both in possession and out of possession. She wins a ton of 50-50 tackles in which players are trying to take her on and use their speed and their first step to get around her. You saw on the goal for Emma Sears, she plays on the left. It opens up the whole field for her.

She is very right foot dominant. She has played on the right with the US and with Louisville. Louisville last year, okay, you have Balser in the box. You've got people crashing from the far post. You want her to get to the end line and get crosses in, fine. But now this year you see, you have now opened up 70% of the field for her as an option more often and I think You have a balance with this team where Malay is better at

Overlapping instead of underlapping and so you kind of had her and Sears going into the same areas a lot Yeah, now you've opened up a ton more of the game there And you mentioned their depth at the beginning a lot of that is on non-roster invites in O'Kane being in midfield. Fisher to start because balls are unavailable. And now Weber gets you the winner. And I thought Weber was really dangerous in just occupying centerbacks and constantly making runs, especially reading the space when the ball did get wide of like when to make the first one, when to re-rotate, when to make the second run.

And I thought it made this team look really, really dangerous. Utah had spells, but they were all like middle third spells. They were not, oh, we're under pressure. Um, and the second goal comes from sort of, um, a moment of madness with a long ball over the top in which Louisville has stepped forward and had been dominating long, long stretches of the game. So everything about what they're doing, as I said, unprecedented. Ellie Jean, first career NWSL goal this week.

Keep talking. I need to get my power cord. This is a real morning moment. My computer's about to die, so let's not let that happen. Run for it. Ellie Jean, first career NWSL goal on the corner kick header that she had. That was the second goal for this team. Sears had the opener on that curling shot,

and then they end up winning it on Weber's header. Late on 85th minute, like back of the six, heads it all the way back across. And so this is pretty much Louisville's best season so far. The hope is that they're able to continue it, and it doesn't just become a flash in the pan. We'll talk about the matchup against Kansas City coming up in a little bit. Kansas City also had an eventful game, but Friday night we had Seattle with a late winner over our darlings in the

league in San Diego. Cascarino gets the goal. They're up one zero. You're thinking it's rolling. Here's a wild one. So it was the first time in seven games that San Diego didn't score in the first half. Like that's how explosive they have been. They ended up scoring in the 75th to tie it 1-1. And then sorry, take a 1-0 lead. No, tie it 1-1. I think tie it. I think it was Seattle, San Diego, and then the winner came a few minutes later. I think for Seattle, listen, it's not overly fun to watch, but it has been effective enough to keep them in the conversation.

Last year, the summer window was a big one for them, like because of the ownership change and everything. I don't expect that again. So I just don't know what the next step is for this team in the second half of this year. It is, it's a little confusing to me just because Laura Harvey is not pragmatic like this, right? She is not a coach that we would expect to see playing.

She, okay, I should rephrase that. She doesn't want to have teams score goals against her. And last year, the number, I think they gave up 44 goals. Like she was like, that is not us. and had to switch things in the in preseason and then during the season you know when you you are out adjust fish lock centrally and you don't have that player to connect your back line with your front line and all the work that fish lock does to help players around her you have to adapt and I think part of the adaptation as well is like how do we get Lou Barnes on the field?

And I think there is a way you can play in a four back and just build out of a three where you get Lou Barnes on the field. And you're a little bit more aggressive with your other outside back in Curry, which they want to be, kind of similar to what they're doing. But to me right now, it's like, it's hard. It's, it's not, it's not easy to watch because it's, it's a really defensive posture. They try to go in

transition. Um, and it w this game when they did, they were very successful through fish lock through Lindby and dolo and through a couple of younger players with bombs from outside the box. But the XG on those two shots, what do you think it is? Probably like 0.07 definitely in the point territory. Yes, it is. You're not going to score those all the time. And that's the frustrating thing with the players that they have in a Dahlien a B and dolo Hide them out even though I don't think hide them as a goal scorer per se

Serna Gorsovich Curry creating on the right side the runners that they have from the midfield to get in I think they have more goals in them and I think that's the hardest part But you got to figure out if you, this is the way that you're going to play. You have to win these types of games. Like I just said about Louisville, right? You have to get results against teams that are above you.

And the thing that we've seen from San Diego is they're good when there's space. I mean, they're good when there's not a lot of space and they have shown that they can break teams down in low blocks. But that is the hardest thing to do. And if you're doing that game after game after game, you're probably going to be getting less and less and less goals, right? You're not going to always be able to break that down as well as you do in transition. So I think it was a good game plan from Laura Harvey, her 250th coached game in NWSL, which is far surpasses anybody else in this league. I'm happy she got a win in that, on the road against a really good San

Diego team. I will say on the goal, Adamas' goal to win it, it shows the threat she is that Armstrong's kind of on skates really far from goal. She's reacting in a way in which it's like when you're inside the box and you don't want way in which it's like when you're inside the box and you don't want to let a shot out. So you're like overplaying in both sides and then a player is able to get an opening. And I think it shows the threat that she's become and Seattle taking advantage of a transition moment and you know, San Diego dominating throughout the game. But now all of a sudden, uh oh, we're on skates,

we're backtracking. I don't know exactly where the runners are and where my teammates are and Seattle was able to take advantage. How good was that touch from Jess Fishlock off her chest? The like 12 yard, I called it in my notes, I called it a layoff and then put an asterisk on it and didn't know what to do with it because it's like a 12 yard layoff 55 yards from goal, but it's the exact way you need to make her chest like Like falling away and it but it all but then it opened up the space because the diamonds could be running at pace And you saw the two center backs slightly shift as that ball came in thinking that it was gonna go into the right channel

And Seattle took advantage for San Diego. I don't know that it's like anything worrying, but there is questions of just like they've outperformed. Like where does it fall in the middle? Part of my question of where it falls in the middle becomes depth of they don't have a ton of pieces to go into. And so whether it's internationals, whether it's injuries, whether it's just the length of the season, how much can they maintain these performances? And you saw like Gio Corleone doesn't start,

comes in, is electric. And there's a little bit of rotation across the attack, but not a ton. And I think a lot of that's going to be questioned as the season goes along. And part of that, which we're going to get into a little bit later is Maria Sanchez might be leaving NWSL in a moment. But before we get there, let's talk about the other big games of the weekend.

And one of them is the Kansas City Gotham game, Kansas City Gotham, two of the top four teams last year, big matchup coming to Gotham at home. Every time I think we've said like, oh Kansas City, we'll see what they are. Like we're going to learn a lot about them. We've learned that they're pretty good and they can win games in a lot of different ways. This looked more like it did on the road at Washington earlier in this season, a little bit more against the ball, smash and grab than maybe it is at home. But they continue. I think one of the promising things about them is all of these quote unquote big games. One of your worries is like, okay, they're the favorites.

So everyone else gets up to play them. And I think that's what we're seeing with Orlando this year is like the mentality for other teams. Like this is a playoff game. And for you, that's every game. Kansas City comes out flying in these games. They did it once again in this one. They score the early goals.

You know, you have to try and shut down Shewinga. No one can do it. But this was another example to me of how much Bia opens up the game for her. And you look at all these goals and chances that Shewinga has and it's Shewinga going from the left side to the right channel, but not being tracked because Bia is dropping in or Bia is floating wide. And everyone as they're passing Bia off loses the best player in the league for a half second and that's all she needs. Because you have to respect Bia. I remember when we did our preseason like awards what people are gonna meet to win I said Bia was gonna be the golden boot right because of the opposite thing

right like I thought I did. I know you had a lot of KC stock I know we kind of fell all over the map I didn't realize you said Bia golden boot. thought I did. I know you had a lot of KC stock. I know we kind of fell all over the map I didn't realize you said she's a golden boot Yeah, I did because I thought that because with Cooper and with chewing on the channels I was like they're gonna feed her the ball and it's actually been The opposite where she has been able to create space especially for schwingo most likely for Cooper to, as she gets healthy and back into the mix. But I just, she is so fun to watch. She might be my favorite player in the league to watch because of what she can do in the

manipulation of space and players and her hold up play is excellent. She is faster than you think she is. She is a handful when the ball is at her feet. I just, she is really fun to watch and you're exactly right. Because of that, you have to respect it and it creates space for the best player in the league, like the reigning best player in the league, right? Who continues to score goals. And this is a thing about Kansas city.

If you let them score early, it's pretty much over. Because they are not going to give up goals. No, they get the goal in the third minute from Michelle Cooper, 11th minute from Shewinga. And Gotham, I don't want to say it this way because Kansas City is really good, but they kind of didn't show up until after halftime. So you're behind the game before you've really woken up and you really find your feet. It's obviously all really promising, especially with Cooper of you've had the injuries to Dubinia, like there's sort of a little bit of worry all of a sudden and you realize one of the reasons we were so high on this team is the depth and their ability to change out all these pieces

and still be really dangerous. And they all do it in slightly different ways, but like it all fits together. Right. In all these different matchups. And this was another one for them. The second half then of this game became a bizarre set of circumstances. There was about five controversial calls. I think Gotham would say all five of them went against them.

That doesn't mean any of them were wrong, but the frustration built up, the moments built up. You had two with Claire Hutton involved. So one was a foul called against Emily Sonnet for pushing Hutton on the goal line on a corner kick that Sonnet scored. That was like right out of half time. So it would have been 2-1 in like the 49th minute. Now that changes the game. Then right after that, Esther cut back against Hutton with the ball bounced up and it hit Hutton in the arm and then you get into is it bigger than the body? Is it a natural position? Was there anything she could do about it?

It was a deflection off the player's body and then to her hand. I mean, you name the handball rule. Like you tell me what it is. I'll believe you at this point because and is so subjective. And that's how this game felt the entire time. The biggest one being a deep cross from JS that was knocked back. I don't remember which Kansas City player sort of cleared it.

Off the line is a really bad term to use but inside the six to Esther who took an unbelievable first touch scores it has been in great form looked awesome with Spain as well like is playing I think the best she's played since the World Cup both for clubbing country now back with country and everyone celebrates and like moves on like just no chance and it turns out that Esther was offside when the original cross was hit. VAR takes a look for about four minutes but the referee never actually goes to the monitor. Then the referee jogs over and you're like okay here you go. It's to

give a yellow card to the assistant coach like we talked about at the open and then the goal gets chalked off and it stays 2-0. This was like around the 75th minute and I think for Gotham, I can understand the like, okay, there's no way all of this goes against us. So there's that level of frustration with the potential that some of them could have gone your way. I think probably the Hutton handballs the one most because while Sonnet doesn't create a ton of contact, your arms are extended from behind. Like that's going to against you and you had a bit of an explainer on the Esther goal which I made me more confused. Yeah well I don't have the explainer. Christina uncle went

on the CBS show to explain it because this was on it was a big CBS game I believe. Yeah it was and they had a a post game on Golazo and Poppy Miller had asked her, you know, tell us, like, please explain this to us, because I don't get it. And your reaction was Kelly O'Hara sitting on the desk, like, okay, like, this is really the law. So I guess there's a nuance of the offside rule where if players, if, if you deliberately play the ball when a player is offside as a defender it is still it it then isn't offside if you deliberately play. You reset the play as a defender and it's no longer the pass that sets their offside. Yes. And you can be offside and receive a ball from a defender.

Yes. But if that player is close to their goal line and making a quote unquote save, then it doesn't offset the offside and that player is still offside. Got it? Have you ever heard this before? No, I've never seen this before. But also I think Have you ever heard this before? No, I've never seen this before, but also I think there's controversy between deliberate and deflection. You know, like I think if a player's reaching to get a ball, they are deliberately playing the ball consciously playing it, then it's deliberate and it's not just hitting off of you.

That's a deflection. But when we talked to pro this year, Pro comes in our broadcast seminar every year to talk to us. And we had a lot of questions about deliberate and deflection. Because I'm like, she's trying to play that ball. She is deliberately playing that ball. And anyway, so there is controversy in that. Of course, this is a thing we actually love about the game,

even though we hate it, is that there is controversy so we can have these types of discussions and talk about it. But that is the reason Christina Uncle gave on Golazo, and you do with that what you will. It is. Like you said, it's one of the reasons we like it, and it's funny because when VAR came in, everyone's like, oh, well, you're actually going to kill the debate, and then VAR has become a debate, and people are like, well, why have it if there's a debate? And it's like, this is kinda what you wanted?

Like, isn't this what everyone was complaining about? And the only thing about this save language is just, I've never read the rule book, and what I have read is actually more confusing than you think it's gonna be, because it's like very vague, there are not hard lines, which is why we like the game and all of that. I've never heard anything said about SAVE. Like I've never heard that phrase in any way. So, and then you get into like, well, is it on goal? Is it a save? Like it felt like a clearance on a cross. What

makes it a save? I thought it was going to go back to does Esther's positioning and the fact that she's around the game affect the defender now you move into passive off side which clearly is not fully what that conversation was about I don't know right but also even if that is the case she played the ball well you know it just ended up that Esther was in that space that she and she headed the ball into it's not like it was a poor play. So yes, it affected her positioning potentially, but like not enough. Like what else is she gonna do with that?

I think what people say, now we're like 30 steps past this, is the fact that the defender plays it at all is because they know there's a attacker there. And therefore that alone creates the passive offside. The need to make a play is affected by an attacker near you. That attacker is in an illegal position. So some people would say that.

This also goes to the deliberate thing, which I've always thought deliberate means making any attempt to play the ball. But then referees will say, well, did they deliberately try and make that play? And I'm like, no, that doesn't matter. You can hit a bad pass all the time. But you can use deliberate that way. You hit a bad pass all the time. Did you can use deliberate that way. You hit a bad pass all the time.

Did you try to play soccer or did a ball hit you? Those are the two. To me, those are the two buckets. Clearly, that is not the way this works. This is why we're not referees and we are me. Oh my god. I would be terrible. I refereed like I worked at a sleepaway camp.

And there was a soccer team and a soccer coach, which I was not involved in. And they were like, we have no ref today. Can you help? And I was so bad at it I also kept running towards the ball so I was like always out of position because I was like I don't really know what to do with my hand I don't know where to be it is a thankless job so we appreciate the ones who do it. Two big notes from this game one Rose

Lavelle finally returned to the field which is really good to see for Gotham for everyone obviously one of the best players in the world really good to see. For Gotham, for everyone, obviously one of the best players in the world. We love to see her out there on the field and kind of like very necessary for this Gotham team. They have not been putting together the results they would like. It has not been the season that they would have expected. Some of that was kind of anticipated because they lost so many huge pieces. They currently sit in 10th place on 12 points on the season That is this is now four straight games without a win for them three losses and a draw So that is a welcome return for them and I do think

Probably the biggest piece in all of this. There's a lot of 1v1 creators and finishers in this team There's not someone that really ties the whole thing together and Roosevelt has the potential to be that. I wonder if that's the worst run that Gotham has had under Juan Carlos. Yeah, I would guess so. Although first year was not great going towards the playoffs. Like they barely snuck in. Right.

But yeah, I would assume over five games, they've probably gotten more than four points. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It is, it's, it's, it's tough to watch at times. I think this one was one of those like, oh, they'll get up for this, right? This is heart of a champion type stuff. And you didn't feel that for a lot of it.

They've made a big acquisition in central midfield, bringing in the Danish international, which I think shows you where they think their weaknesses are. And I don't think that's wrong. And we've talked a bit about people's positioning. I think Howell's more of a six than an eight, and I think it kills some of their passing there. I think Schiavanski is more of an eight than a 10. And so I think that kills some of their creativity. I think you've seen that from Juan Carlos Amoros, the way he's played

Esther at times as a 10 to try and help spark the attack. There's a lot of question marks for them. The other big note from this game is that it was Vanessa DiBernardo's 200th career NWSL appearance. She scored the home goal in the 100th minute of this game. It's a memorable one. Which I didn't even know how to put in my own notes. Like, do you put 90 plus 10 or do you put 100th when you say it? Technically, probably 90 plus 10, but we are going to say 100th because it sounds more dramatic.

It is way more dramatic and more fun. We love round numbers like 200. Vanessa DiBonardo, we've talked about on this show a bunch. One of those players who has always been at the top of her game in the league had never got the international opportunity to sort of break through. But the way the league has grown, I think, to play in a sold-out building every week in Kansas City and be a star for one of the best teams is now sort of like part of that reward, I feel, that she's getting put on the stage she deserves, finally.

And we're seeing another crop of players like her, and the Taylor Flints and Sam Stobbs of like, are they going to get call-ups or not? But whatever it is, DiBernardo is a huge linchpin for this Kansas City team now because of the qualities she has and the experience that she's gathered. Yeah, I actually I had to just look that up because I thought DiBernardo got a cap with the national team. Did, but not a was not a part of the group. Yeah, OK. What's interesting to me about Vanessa DiBernardo, all those things that you said. Every player that I talk to that has been around her,

say that she is the best player they've ever played with. Her understanding of the game might not translate to goals and assists all the time, but what she can add from a tactical standpoint, from solving a situation in front of her standpoint, she's just one of the best that there is. And I think that that really says something when everybody speaks of her like that. I want you on my team and I never want to play against you because you're so savvy and smart and have the highest soccer IQ that I know. So just a

little side note of like these conversations that I've had. It's cool to see someone have such a long career in the league and yeah I just hope that she can keep playing for a few more years. And it doesn't seem to be a problem. And I think when we talk about this KC team, one of the things that I always go to is I think DiBernardo is the most versatile player. And that to me is why she's the linchpin of, Cooper can come in for Dubinia. Dubinia can come in for Bea. You can rotate Hutton and Labonta.

The fact that DiBernardo can play as a 10, play as a winger, play as an 8, and probably play as a 6 is the thing that unlocks all of it. Okay, so you can do whatever you want as Latko because as long as you have her in, she can play the other role that that person's not comfortable with. Yeah, and because she knows the defensive responsibilities, but in attack, I feel like she just turns into being a midfielder in a lot of ways She's just like alright these are the pockets that I know I can exploit a team in and I know the threats around me and so I'll just

Play as a pocket winger or as a nine. I'll play as a false nine, you know, she does she's just really smart and Congrats on 200. Yeah, it is awesome And they are expecting a big game against Louisville this weekend before we get into the weekend one last game from last weekend Washington against North Carolina. This was a fun one to close out. You were on the call for it. Congrats to Mike Watts, right? Papa Watts. Oh my gosh his son He showed me this video of him just like, and I think it was his mom saying like, say hi to daddy and he's just like looking at the camera. And Mike just like the way he looked at the video just made me, you know, I've known Mike

for a long time, like eight years, like we've been working together and just to see him grow up, right? He's much younger than me and to see him now become a dad, it was just a cool moment. So we're just so happy for him, congrats. But made it back for the call for this one, which was an interesting one. It was, I think a game,

and I think you spoke to this on the broadcast where North Carolina came out and played their soccer and controlled things. Washington is getting healthier, which makes them harder to play against. Cory Bethune is looking like Cory Bethune, which changes the game for everyone on the field. North Carolina scores in like the 15th minute, gets called back. Boom, Washington scores right after. North Carolina controls, Washington scores

again, and it kind of just threw the equilibrium of this whole match off. It was a wacky game, and this is I think the biggest point for North Carolina in the last two games. They've actually played pretty well, but it's been a couple of silly mistakes that have put them in where they've they've had a five goal differential in two games, right? Like a five to two game and then a three to one game. It is it was bizarre to me because even on the first goal,

like Courtney Brown shouldn't score that goal. There's five players versus two for Washington in that transition and North Carolina doesn't mark up the player in the middle of the box. Like that is, that is a mistake. That is a mistake. And it actually stems, I think even before that, they could have been up one to nothing with Sanchez Mista sitter right in front of the goal. And you wouldn't expect that with the

form that she has been on. So North Carolina to me, I still will, I love the way they play. They are one of my favorite teams to watch in this, in this league. But if they don't start capitalizing on those big moments that they have, especially when they're dominating the game and fix some of these silly mistakes that they're making, it's going to be a tough year. I have two questions for you. First is you mentioned Bia being maybe your favorite player to watch. How high is Menaka on that list? Oh my gosh.

What a goal. How? What a goal. How? What a goal? Who does that? It's like a 30 yard scoop in the air. It's crazy how high that ball goes. I was doing this in the broadcast, in the booth. For anyone not watching, you should be, because you're missing the glasses, it's the we are

not worthy. Yeah, from Wayne's World, it was, which I'm sure Monaka knows very well. A huge part of growing up in the 2000s in Japan was watching 90s SNL clips from the United States. It was, it was incredible. Her movement on that, the recognition of like the seam, the pass into her. I got some good goals this weekend. That was one of them. The other one is just what do you, you said you worded it as didn't mark in the box. The way I wrote it in my notes, because it's the first and third goal,

is that North Carolina's entire back line drops to the end line basically on both the goals. And I don't understand about the corner. They don't know. Yeah. And I just don't, I don't understand what was happening. The first time it's like, okay, it's a bit of a transition moment. You're sort of recovering, but you very rarely will see that happen, which is like there's, there's no point marking that far deep on the field because your goalkeeper is going to pick up the ball at that point, anything coming into the six. And they did it twice.

I thought that was very, very odd to see. And you could say, Oh, it's a different formation. They're learning it, but that's not the case at this point. And I, I was a little surprised by that. That's a good point. I didn't think about that. Um, it would have been a really good thing to say on the broadcast. I think you did fine over the 90 plus minutes that you were talking about.

These teams, Sean Neyas is not at the game. He had a medical emergency so we're hoping everything's okay with him. We're hoping for the best. As I said, Cori Bethune just looks like there's pop. Her ability to accelerate. She's zippy again. Out of a slow, you know, standstill and then you see it in transition. But what makes her so good is she can do that against set defenses.

And there are few players in the world who can create enough space because they're so quick, so fast that they can do so against set defenses. Gift Monday looking really good. Ulrich Saar was at the game with Trinity Rodman, which is really exciting to see. And so it's all starting to come together. It feels like for Washington, I will say this quote, which is, so gift Monday has scored on Friday, Saturday and Sunday and SMA Morgan said we should have a Monday night game so that gift Monday can score on

Monday night soccer. So I love fingers crossed for that one. I don't know if the spirit fans would, although they've shown up for everything. 17,000 again, they have sold out Rowdy over and over. Obviously we talked about Yonatan Giraldez last week. I think it was pretty positive and I don't know if this is me trying to read in too much of like when there was injuries and water breaks, he had the board out. Everyone came over.

Everyone was still engaged. Like it didn't feel like there was anything sort of weird happening, which is your best hope of like, can we get through this period and not sort of rock the boat too much and then go forward under Adrian? Yeah, I think that's well said. And it might just be really weird for us. And maybe they're just thinking it's all right, whatever. We just got to play soccer.

I mean, now that we have full free agency players get it or, you know, players are consistently going to be announced as free agent available while playing and so they may have already signed contracts or you know they're leaving and they're gonna have to play through that so maybe as you said it's not as weird internally for it to happen with the coach let's go to the big games of the weekend Kansas City vs. Louisville so what Louisville success has been is pressing high, which opens up space and the person who likes to run into space is Shewinga. How do you see this one playing out? Like what's the balance of finding knowing who you are and managing the opponent?

I think you have to adapt in this one. You can't. I'm not saying you can't high press Kansas City because there are moments that you can high press them, but you have to make sure that when you go, the domino effect is in place that everything behind you is prepped and ready and maybe even that's like a call or a signal from a center back and outside back, a central midfielder to say like, this is our moment go. But if if Okane or sorry, Weber who started up front, if she goes, like, you can't be disconnected. And so

either she's going by herself and everybody else is staying. And you you respect the space and behind where you all go and you you commit to it hoping to make a little bit of a mess of it it'll be interesting because That side with shewinga is I think Ellie Jean has been really good on As a center back coming in stepping into this spot really owning that right center back position but how We're gonna see how good they, this Lauren Malay,

Ellie Jean combination is with Shewinga floating in that space, Bea dropping and pulling a center back into the midfield. I think, I think Louisville is gonna have to adapt slightly, but I think a lot of people have to adapt on when they play Kansas City. And that's one of the benefits of this team is your I guess it's a benefit but also one of the things that

Vlachos said is every time we prep for a game and this is our game plan and then we go into it and teams aren't playing the way that we thought they were gonna play and so but it makes Kansas City better right because they're constantly solving situations because they have to do that every game what do you think I just feel like Louisville can't high press the way that they have. And I think, and we talked about this a bit with Utah against Orlando of like no adjustment, Banda is too good to not adjust to. One of the things I saw, and I saw it even in the Utah game is like, to me,

the big one is going to be the decisions of when to press on the build out. Counter pressing, I think a little bit less of like, okay, if you're playing on the front foot at times, you're already higher up the field. Can you counter press quickly? I think that initial press, I think it's less like what are your triggers and more like we're going to make conscious decisions every 10 minutes that we're going to try it once. I don't, I think if you have a trigger that you're going on, whether it's when the ball gets into the right back because she wing is the opposite

side of the field and quote unquote, maybe that makes it safer. Look at the goals she scored against Gotham. She will make the run across the field. I think that becomes too predictable and Kansas City then very quickly can say, All right, if that's where it is, then we're gonna go long immediately off that pass. And I don't know, like even against this Utah in this last game, I don't know, like even against this Utah in this last game, I don't know that Louisville's good enough yet at funneling the ball

exactly where they want it. And so I think you'll have, my guess is you'll have Weber start deeper off and sort of try and take out Labonta or Hutton off the initial pass. And then you'll start to decide where you press and maybe it's higher up the field. So your back line doesn't have to be stepped even higher than that because

yeah, I think you're right. Like you if you go to Kansas City on Saturday and Cooper's back too. So it's like it doesn't matter which side and you're gonna if you try and press high off every goal kick and you get pulled into the defense, the attacking third sort of defensively and your back line standing on the half field line is going to be really, really hard to play against this Kansas City team. But you said it, like this is how we'll learn. This is where we're going to learn, okay, where can Louisville be? Even if they come out of this game in a one goal loss, but they played to their fundamentals, then they were competitive. That's

like a big eye opening moment that has potential for this team. Houston playing against San Diego. I mentioned the reports are out. I think Cesar Hernandez out in San Diego reporting this, that Maria Sanchez is in talks to join Tigris, which of course Diana Ordonez recently left Houston to go join down in League MX Femina. Maria Sanchez, one of the biggest acquisitions in league history to come to NWSL

and then one of the biggest trades inside of NWSL to come to San Diego. That was under a different president, a different GM, and a different head coach when San Diego made that move. I think from the outside, I actually think Sanchez has been good this year. I think they found the best she's played in San Diego. If you can get any reasonable number and sort of get out of this where everyone's happy, I think it's probably best case scenario for all parties. Yes.

And Maria Sanchez, she has the best left foot in the game, but she doesn't give you, like if you have a Kimmy Escanio and you're trying to get Kimmy Escanio on the field and she can play a Barca in us, the that the energy they bring in this system is just different than Sanchez is and that is disappointing because I do think when you have a really good Maria Sanchez, she is a difference maker and she has been a lot better this year. But I just from what I've seen from I've been on a lot of San Diego calls, it doesn't feel

like she is exactly what Jonas wants in that spot. The other big game to note for the weekend or one of the other ones is Angel City against North Carolina. I think this is a really fun style one. The results haven't been there for the two teams. You were on Angel City's game this weekend, first one under their new head coach. What do you make of sort of what he'll be for this club? It's been interesting. I got to talk with

Alex Strauss before the game and he's a very interesting personality like he was funny and even ma vignola said something about his personality like I've never played for a coach like this and He is very detail oriented She said it's the hardest trainings that they've had since she's been there in this few days that leading up to their game So he is gonna be very demanding, but he also said like he you can't build Rome in a day, right? You're not and not like they have a long ways to go, but they still leaked two goals, right? It was still Angel City giving up goals, which is something. I mean, he was like, well, we'd like to give up less goals and score more goals. I was like, well, wouldn't everybody? But he wants to see little nuances of the game.

And if you watch that first goal for Angel City, the way that they combine and build through the lines. And Dufour was a little bit tucked in, playing as a playmaker centrally, which we haven't seen a lot from her. Are we going to see more from her now? Under his reins, I didn't see a lot of different things, but that goal to me was like, all right,

they are working on different distances between the players centrally as they build and you know I think that could be really exciting when you have a full healthy squad with Giselle Thompson back and not Miyabi there who's been great but it's just not Giselle Thompson. One of the big debates that we have I feel like consistently when people come as players or coaches from outside of NWSL is like is that team that they're working at of the quality of the teams They're going to is it higher and I I do think one of the mistakes in that is I do

I actually think the opponent conversation is even bigger and like Byron doesn't really go to the last place team in Germany or have the last place team in Germany come to their building and Be challenged even the way the stars do and like Ali Schlegel is going to the best goal of the weekend. But like that's NWSL. Very rarely is there like, oh, you're going to walk over an opponent. I think it was a pretty quick lesson of like, okay, so this is what we're doing now. Welcome.

And let's move on from here. And I wouldn't blame, like he's come in so late. I'm not blaming him in any way. I'm just saying this was a very NWSL moment and I think it's a way to To be readjusted to things one of the other big games to note for the weekend I think Bay FC against Orlando is gonna be really interesting and we are going to get out of here But two things to mention before we go one congratulations to Canada for the first time ever. They want to conquer calf u20 Championship, they obviously knocked outS. and Mexico to get there.

One of the stars of the team at Notre Dame. So expecting, hopefully, to see an NWSL, but this is a really good moment for Canada. I think the senior national team doing very well right now. And so to have it come through the youth ranks, congratulations to them. And the other, which Morgan Tensor reminded me of in the chat, is congrats to congrats to the US women's team that won the TST for the second straight year. Carly Lloyd lacing it up once again. I think Heather O'Reilly had the winning assist on the target score winner in the end and just keeps rolling out a million dollars.

Yeah, and Casey Lloyd, formerly Casey Negara, my former teammate, just ballin' like that girl. This tournament was made for her. If we would have gotten Casey Lloyd in this tournament in her prime, everybody would be talking about her. We're still talking about her now, but I just love, I went to the first rendition of TST and watched her and Nikki Phillips, two of my really good friends, play in that and they're still playing. They're still winning 40 grand a year, which is pretty nice.

Not a bad way to spend four days or whatever it ends up being. Zach also runs a team. Zach does, yes. Her husband played for FC Dallas for a long time and they have a soccer ministry called 1015 and they put a team in the I think they lost in the quarter. But they've gotten to the knockouts both years. Yes. She's technically the GM of that team so on both sides running on field and off field putting together results shout out to Lori Lindsay by the way who's been here on this show a bunch. Shout out to Casey White who was one of the coaches as well. And Jill Lloyden. Who I told this story on one of the MLS shows but I came over to say hi as they were warming up for one of

their group stage games and Jill is talking to me and they're like Jill you're up and it's like a shooting Jill turns around jumps in goal makes two big saves screams and then turns around and comes back and like rejoins the conversation and I was like she is having so much fun no one loves goalkeeping more but also loving the game it was really really fun it's it's a fun event if you've never been and did you have a good time I did I got rained on and I got soaked through but I had a good time and I was glad to be there glad to watch the games congratulations to US women and bumpy pitch I believe which were the two winners have a great weekend watching NWSL. We'll be back with you. Uh,

I'll have the weekend recap on Monday and then we'll have our show once again next week. So thank you to all of you for listening. We love you so much for being here and we'll talk to you again very, very soon. you