SoccerWise - Sophia Wilson Big Money Portland Return, HIP Players & 3 Most Interesting Offseason

Episode Date: December 17, 2025

The last live show of the year has a lot to cover. Jordan and David sit down one last time to talk about the newest NWSL roster rule. The "High Impact Player"rule that unlocks millions in spending. We already see it at play with Sophia Wilson announcing her return to Portland for the 2026 season. Then they look at the big off-seasons upcoming for North Carolina, KC, and Angel City. And finally have some NWSL new years resolutions.

Hey, everybody, welcome back to soccer vice, David Goss and Jordan, Angeli, with you for our last live episode of the year. We have some special interviews lined up for you. We've got some special stuff that we will roll out over the high. holiday break but for now jordan this is our last time to sort of dig into some breaking news and and get into it so uh this is a big one it is a big one i actually tried to wear my soccer wise shirt today i'm wearing purple because i felt like you've got your soccer wise of course you do and then i pulled it out of my drawer and it was so wrinkly i was embarrassed and i didn't have time to just give it a quick steam over are you have a steamer you would steam a t-shirt i love a steamer

Oh, I, yes, it was like, it had mega creases right by my neck. And so, yes, I would steam it just to like make it presentable because it, most of my t-shirts I hang, but the, like, those kind of t-shirts, like my, I call them my soccer shirts because that's just what they've always been, right? Like, my loungy soccer shirts, I don't hang those because who's got. That's not what they're for. Yeah. Who's got enough hangers for that, you know, not I. So it was just so wrinkly. And I feel like the purple maybe was a good choice to feel like, okay, this is, we're going to end on a good note here with soccer wise.

We're going to go big. You looked fully at theme. You looked fully. Like when you came on, I was like, oh, Jordan's really invested. She's wearing soccer wise purple. I should just taped something on my chest. Tape the logo as the crest. I will say I'm wearing my soccer white shirt.

One reason is because I love it. And the other reason is I've been coming under a lot of heat in my household recently for wearing graphic teas just in general in my life. Okay. Yep. And so a black soccer-wise t-shirt is still considered acceptable. Okay. As I am finding myself. What kind of graphic teas are we talking about?

Well, I have a lot of free stuff from soccer spaces. Yeah. And most of them are these graphic teas. They're very rarely like pure sports. They're normally like culture sports crossover stuff. Yeah. And it's all soccer and I have from different teams, from different cities, you know, old players, all that stuff. And there's been a lot of conversation with third parties recently about talking about how immature it is for adults that wear graphic teas.

And it's said in my vicinity, but not directly to me every time. It's like one of those where you feel the dagger, but you don't know, yeah. And then other times it's just said directly to me. So I am currently finding my, but one of my issues is I work from home. and I live in a hot place. So I'm like, I don't want to waste the good clothing I have for when I, like, you know, need it for other events and stuff. Turns out I'm probably wearing too many graphic teas, is what I've been told. Maybe that could be one of your New Year's resolutions.

We will go through some New Year's resolutions. We were going to set some for NWSL as an entity, and we were going to state them as if we are NWSL as a person. Do you do New Year's resolutions? Is that a part of your process? I'd like to reflect. I don't like to, I guess I'm not like I'm going to do this every week or not real. I don't really have like, I don't write it down. But I like to reflect on like, okay, these are the things that I think went well in my life in 2025,

maybe some of the pain points, like how can I be better in those areas? So I guess they're kind of resolutions, but they don't have like a end goal in mind, right? I think we think New Year's resolutions, like, I'm going to lose weight. or I'm going to go to the gym three times a week. I always say I'm going to do yoga. I always say I'm going to stretch and do yoga. And I haven't been in a yoga studio in five years. See, like we just, I don't, I don't, maybe this is your year.

Maybe 2026 is your year. There's not a lot happening. I actually wasn't going to say it this year. I was going to give up on myself, but now you've inspired me. Maybe it's your year. It's going to be a big one. It's going to be a big one. We're going to do some of that.

We are going to talk about some of the off-season moves that we want to see, or at least some of the teams we're most focused on to see how they develop in the off-season, maybe some of the most interesting openings, some of the biggest question marks, some of the most excitement. We are going to talk about the Coachella Valley Invitational, which is going to be the preseason where Denver Summit is going to make their debut on a soccer field. We helped release their schedule publicly earlier on Wednesday, alongside our third member of our crew, Tommy Scoops,

as that is the one tournament where you get to see MLS and NWSL hand in hand, which is really fun. And of course, we will talk about all of the latest news, which is pretty high-impact player-centric. Did you like that phrase? I should have probably used it. There's high-impact with the news as of late. Well, you are a high-impact.

So just put that and redo it, you know, it's no big deal. No, you're a high-impact player here. so I wanted to value you and explain what this whole process is. Let's dig into the new rule that is coming to NWSL. We think, to be clear, it's not still been fully voted on, cleared, and then accepted by the NWSLPA, which is a side of this. And it is called this high-impact player. It would allow teams to spend up to a million dollars over the salary cap on top-end players

while incurring only a portion of that as a salary as a cap hit. And there is now large conversations about what qualifies someone as a high-impact player, otherwise known as a hip, which is a bizarre acronym to go with for anything. But they've set themselves up that way, so we're not really capable of doing this. This is obviously, in a large part, in reaction to Trini Rodman's free agency and her availability and her desire to want to stay and it not currently fitting in the structure. it is obviously a reaction to Naomi Germa and Alyssa Thompson and many other players who have left NWSL or players that maybe have tried to come in the past that have been incapable of. It's a topic we have talked about every other week for the last two years on this show and everyone has talked about for the last 11 years or maybe the last five years feels a little bit safer

as NWSL has found itself on firm standing and now is looking to grow and expand. overall I think it somewhat fits in the framework of conversations we had I was sort of talking about bird rights with NBA and the idea of the ability to expand your salary cap to sign players or re-sign players which I do think to me could be a bigger fix for this but what did you make of the news as you heard this and sort of have been tracking it across the chaos that is the news coming out over the last week well first off I was like could they have not done this a little bit sooner because it was like right right after we finished filming, it felt like last week. I think Trinney Rodman and the Washington Spirit and a lot of other teams are saying, could we have not done this a little bit sooner? True, true. We're not the only ones feeling that way.

When it got announced and I read Jeff Kassouf's article, I think overall there was a lot of like, this is what needs to happen, right? As a player who played in NWSL, as someone who's invested in this league, when it comes to like, my life is a big part in this league, right? I've lived a lot of my life being a player or a broadcaster, trying to bring team to Denver.

Like, this is a big part of what I want to do. And I want the best players to be able to play in this league. And it feels like we've gotten to a really good place when it comes to sustainability. This league is not just been around. It is continuing to grow. And one of the things you have to do when you're pushing the boundaries of like, what can the next iteration of this league be, is you have to make decisions that are going to allow you to continue to have the best players in this league, but also bring some of the best

players back into this league. So it keeps the competition high. It makes people want to tune in. And I think that that is kind of a little bit of a portion of this high impact player is what's your market value? Like how commercial, how valuable are you commercially, which is a part of sports and this world. So I was really happy that it felt like the terms have been got to a really good place and the league is moving forward in a direction that I think will only continue to help it push

the boundaries and be the best league in the world. Yeah, it seemed like we were playing this game where the league was trying to decide how do we maintain parity and control on spending while also being able to be open to expanding that for special players that we want to be a part of it. So you maintain the current salary cap while also having this opening to be able to go and get players. But you mentioned that commercial side of things. And this is the big conversation that we still don't know the answer to, which is who is available to be a high impact player? Who is eligible? How do you do it?

And coming out of Jeff Kassouf's article was the idea that maybe it'll be split. boarding benchmarks, something that was discussed, including ranking lists like Ball and Doors, appearances on NWSL Best 11's U.S. Women's National Team minutes. A lot of the jokes about this have come in light of FIFA's Best 11, I think it was, in which it was just basically the Euro final between the two teams slash Champions League final. There has also been discussions around commercial profiles, sources confirming to Jeff Kassou, further indicating the profile of players being targeted by these funds.

and qualifications discussed could include third-party media outlets like sucker wise rankings of top world players most marketable athlete sources set etc so the Guardian best 11 ESPN the athletic whatever it is I don't like any of these plans

because I don't think any of these are true markers of the quality of a player and the need of a player and I don't have a better solution and this is like one of the things I find really frustrating with this is the beauty of sports is that players play on a field they perform they win and that's the result like the most laughable thing ever has always been the espies you don't need an award you got

one you want a trophy like that was the thing winning the championship that was the thing you did it's the one where we know so you don't need to create a fake scenario in which you vote and voters are the ones deciding and i find it fairly frustrating every time we come out of an MVP rookie of the year defender of the year conversation i mean i loved the award show because you did a fantastic job i was going to say let's not get rid of award show since now no not enough i'm a host and and did a great job and it was super entertaining and really really fun but you i did yell at the tv when lily real one which i was not a knock on lily real but riley tyrian did something we've never seen before and did it i think as the best player on her team and then coach of the year as well which

was debatable. That's okay. But if all of that stuff's knock on effect is who is eligible for these things, now the voting becomes much more valuable and we are not in a place where as we have seen across the board, there is enough quality, understanding, and coverage of the game. Yeah. That's where I go back to the stuff I talked about, which is I think it should be on resigning players and I think you should have a right to do it to whoever you want. That's how you limit it but also open it. Yeah, it is it's hard to say like this person's more valuable to our team than the other person like like let's just stick with portland because that's going to be something we're going to talk about you can't say that sam coffee is not one of the most valuable players but if you're going to look at the score sheet she's done a good job of getting herself on there but it's not going to be the same as sophia wilson so you're going to say okay well maybe like how do you value that like that coffee is should be paid over the salary cap and be one of these

Hip players or not. And you look at it going forward and you say, you know, I think a lot of the awards in non-attacking positions end up being repeat winners very often because it's harder to judge. Yeah. So great that Emily Sams wins this award. If Taramikian never does, is she not when, if Washington decides this is the player we need to bring back? and we need to do everything we can to. And Arsenal says we'd love to have Tara Mickey on as our starting centerback

is your restriction on a voting process. And then outside of that, if you're saying that this is the way the rule set up, then yeah, for sure, the top three to five vote getters in the ball and door are going to make every team better. Yeah. But are they more valuable to that team than the star on the team currently who they'd like to keep, right? And so if you end up in a situation where you're stuck where Taylor Flint's ineligible for this, but Louisville could go out and get, I mean, Bon Mottie's a bad example, but you know

what I mean, Dumeret, Dumae, or whatever it is. Yeah, that's one way that you could look at it, but that may not be the way that that roster is going to be built or that fan base wants to engage with their team. I think some of the frustrations in women's football is with these like high prestigious awards that you're kind of speaking to, we don't know who votes for it. And it's a mystery. And I think it's kind of kept a mystery because then you can't point blame on be like you actually don't watch any football but the champions league and so that's where all of your votes are going towards or those types of players so I think maybe there would be more comfort if if and maybe this is going to happen who it truly is like who's in the decision as to

if you're a hip player if you're not a hip player I don't know why it's making me giggle what it is you are loving this yeah yeah but just think like I'm hip I'm with it I mean if you You set the line, right? This year, that's so good. Marta was the highest vote receiving NWSL player. Marta's a legend. Marta's great. That was at 12th. So that means there are 11 players above her that would all be on this list.

And are those players better than the star players at the teams in NWSL you're talking about? Are they, you know, is Leah Williamson or Chloe Kelly more valuable to a team that were to sign them than I'm an NACA. I don't know that that's the case, but you might get stuck in the situation. And I don't think a better solution is, oh, there'll be like a third party group set up by NWSL that will like make judgments as a team comes. I don't think that works because, again, a team wants one thing. You have to create a rule where teams can find ways to use it in their own way and use it to what's valuable to them. And that's where I find a lot of this frustrating. But the exciting part is there's more money to be spent on teams.

There's more money that can go into players' pockets, and there are better players that can get opportunities. And the first one, it seems like, will be Sophia Wilson, who is picking up her option for the final year of her contract to stay in Portland. And in doing so, is signing one of these deals for a number threshold. We do not know exactly, but sounds like could be over a million dollars a year, which would be the biggest contract in NWSL history. and I think pretty fitting for a player who has always played in the league maybe to be the first one to do this and a player who has chosen to stay where she started in Portland has already won an MVP, has already won a championship,

and this is a huge moment for the thorns. I would say she's probably really thankful too and that Trinity Rodman has been the face of all of this, right? Because I know that they, during the season, there was a lot of talk about, you know, she had a big contract and this Portland team couldn't add a lot, many, many more pieces because a lot of that was going to Wilson, who was on maternity leave, which is awesome, great things happening in NWSL and so happy for her. She's on this other side

of things, but I know that Portland was really adamant in trying to get her to stay and how would it work. And so even though she wasn't in the headlines of pushing for this rule change, it was really all around Trinity Rodman because she was playing and all the rumors were swirling around her, her last year on her contract. I think Sophia Wilson really had to be on the mind of NWSL as well. Like how do we keep her in a place and value her what the market would value her? And so I think it's a great move for Portland. This team, she has thrived with them and makes them.

dynamic in a way that they missed this season. And I liked her announcement today, just talking about how she wants to be that same player with a little mixture of who she is now, which is something a little different, right? She's a mother now and just sees things differently. And how does that, how does watching the game really for a year, something that she's never done, how does that add to what she can do on the field? So congratulations to Sophia Wilson. I think this is a great um not a new signing but for her to be able to sign stay with portland do something familiar in the midst of a lot of unfamiliar things that she's learning to do i think is a really big thing for her and this club is got to be celebrating today yeah and this is the positive of of the rule coming in that

wasn't just can washington find a way to finagle and backload a trinity rodman contract and keeper it's can you set up a system going forward and immediately it gets used on some someone else first, but it shows the issue. And the problem was that probably they didn't have the mechanisms to resign Sophia Wilson before this got set up. And then once it comes in, immediately they're able to put it into effect. And as you said, Trini Rodman has, I think, taken a lot of pressure as the face of this. And I think therefore, my hope is she's rewarded for it by getting what she wanted,

which is the money she's worth on the team she wants to be on, which would be the hell. happy ending for all of this. It's interesting, too. And I think we don't, we don't haven't heard a lot of grievances filed. So we don't really know the protocol of this, but it does feel weird that this gets announced and we haven't heard yet that Trinity Rodman's contract is signed and everything is good. And maybe because of this new contract, this new hip rule, her contract will be negotiated in a different way, right? Maybe she gets more money than she would have gotten in that first contract. And what is the grievance where is that stand is that they have to wait till the league replies to it before a contract can be pushed through again i think those are all the things

that were a little bit in the unknown there but i i feel a little strange that we're sitting here a week after this and there has been no trinity rodman signing yeah yeah it is very odd as you are alluding to sort of the NWSLPA filed a grievance against the league because of the original contract that was proposed that was voided by NWSL and the Players Association doesn't believe that that is correct under the rules the way it's set up so they filed this grievance which I think is a 14-day period that you need a response if you don't get one and you don't get the issue resolved then it goes to some arbitrator or whatnot.

And so that might be part of it. The other part of it might be, and this is just speculation, Sophia Wilson, picking up an option for one year might be more straightforward than signing a new contract and building it out of the lower. And like I said, now that they can pay up to a million over the cap, you're still having money on the cap, right? So part of that, part of whatever contract you sign

is the maximum amount that would be on the cap. And then up to a million. so maybe she's like okay this is a new rule i actually we're not we're that old contract is not good enough anymore i want a new contract right i don't know and the our understanding is they teams will be able to put about 12% of the salary to the cap and then the rest would be in this extra bucket of money which can be split up amongst multiple players which is another factor here is or is washington saying well if we do it this way can we we go out and get someone else, or does it help us re-sign a McKeon in the future or a Hal

Hurstfelter or Corey Bethune or whatever? And maybe that's a way that it ends up being used. But for Sophia Wilson, she will come back now to a team where they finished third in the league and they underscored to their XG by four goals last year. Sophia Wilson's pretty good at scoring goals. It feels like obviously a huge addition for them. Like they were good last year. and she should have been the best player on the team and will be immediately one of the best players in the league hasn't played soccer in a year, so has to come back from that and find her feet.

But I think what's exciting first for me is that it's not all on her shoulders. This team established a style and identity last year that she can fit into, and if she puts away the chances that they already were creating and makes life a little easier for people, that's one way she could impact this team. because I think back to two years ago

where until the end of that season, 24, it felt like she had to drop out of the middle of the field and be a playmaker because nothing was happening if it wasn't off her foot. And that doesn't feel like the team she's coming back into. And I think that should be really exciting for her and for Portland fans. They're the second best chance creator in the league

and Olivia Moultrie. And this is a player coming back from the summer break. I was looking at some of our stats. And I'm like, you lead in all of these areas. and yet you're not getting assists, you're not getting goals. How do you continue? And she's like, I just keep doing what I'm doing. I know it's going to come.

And I think nobody's probably happier than Olivia Moultrie that Sophia Wilson is re-signed with this Portland team because she knows those crosses, those chance creations, are going to turn into assists. When she gets herself into a place where she is dishing out the ball, she now has a player who has proven that she can score goals in this league will it take a little bit maybe yeah of course but i i think that it's like riding a horse right sophia wilson's going to it's going to take a couple games and then she's going to be

right back to where she was before and so uh her and olivia moultrie are going to be a great one-to punch for whoever is coaching this portland next year which is a huge part of this that was the most coloradoid thing you've ever said by the way riding a horse riding a horse i don't i don't know how to ride a horse it would not be easy for me to to just get on a horse and ride it? Maybe it's a bike and I just said that. Well, it is a bike normally, unless you live somewhere where riding a horse is pretty common,

then maybe it is just like riding a horse. Sure. It's exciting to know that she's coming back. It's exciting for Portland. I do have to ask you, she is a Denver native. Is there any sadness that maybe she won't be on a debut summit team? I think so for Colorado, for people that support the summit.

I think they were all hopeful. You know, there was a lot of speculation as to what was going on. Why hadn't she signed? And it would have been so cool. I think that is one of the things about building a team is you just really don't know what's going to come next. And it could have very well been, Sophia Wilson, coming to Colorado and being a part of this debut season.

But I think for her, with the option, with so many things, as I kind of mentioned, like, there's been a lot of changes in her her life big changes great changes amazing changes but to keep something a little bit more steady and being like okay i'm going into this team i know the players around me i know how to get from x to why when it when it comes to get into the stadium or to all those little things that like kind of add up when you're doing something brand new i think for her it's nice going back to a place that feels familiar and comfortable and so yeah nothing but excitement for her and happiness that she'll be back in the league And this was the number one focus for this team was how do they get better offensively?

And it is plug and play. Yeah. You look at that you mentioned Moultrie, her numbers, Fleming and coffee behind her. Turner and Spanstra. Kaya Hanks is coming back from injury as well. Morgan Weaver. In this team, Morgan Weaver, Tordon. And then they have built very strong up the spine defensively.

And they were one of the top teams defensively last year. So at a base level, if she can finish some chances for them and be the true center forward, they're going to be better than they were last year at the ceiling. If she's Sophia Wilson, if she's an NWSL MVP, a golden boot winner, and maybe the best player at the Olympics two years ago, then this is a team that's in a championship contention already going into next year, but still looking for a coach to do all of that under, which is one of the fascinating storylines to follow. We mentioned Trini Rodman, hoping she resigns,

probably not a hit player under the distinctions of the rules. But one last news note before we move on to our next segment, there are reports that Jenna Nyswonger is looking for a new spot to land, not getting a ton of playing time at Arsenal has struggled for it. Most of the time she has been there after winning the last championship with Gotham and then leaving. in the middle of last year. The obvious direction to point in for many people is NWSL. I think she sits in an interesting spot.

She's an elite attacking fullback if that's the position she plays, but is not a natural defender. And I think that's what's held her back at getting more playing time for Arsenal and kept her then out of the U.S. women's national team. I think she's a good enough attacker that she could play for most teams not as a fullback and still be a difference maker. and that was sort of like a Gotham specific thing that happened, which was as a rookie, that was the spot to step into.

And she was such a game changer that they were able to tilt the field towards her and make her that attacking option. There's not really an NWSL team that couldn't use her. I think she's that good, but maybe not at the position, as I said. Do you have an obvious fit that you were like, oh, Jenna and I swunger, that's where I would probably place her? My mind goes a couple of different places. I wouldn't be surprised if Gotham is like, we want her back.

Just knowing Gotham, I know they have that kind of locked down, but it does feel like Juan Carlos really loved having Jen and I swunger on his team. So I don't know. It just wouldn't surprise me. That's not one of the teams that I thought of right away. The two teams I thought of right away are Boston and then Chicago stars. I think the Chicago stars, and they've been able to solidify a little bit more bringing in Hendritch and then Stobb as two centerbacks.

You put in a Jenna Nysewonger, and this is where I'm like a little rusty on my stars team at the moment is Malam, I believe, can play on both sides of as an outside back. So then you have, with the loss of Bagalski, you bring in a player like Jenna Nyswonger, and it feels to me like the Chicago team

wants to have the ball a little bit more. They want to be more possession-oriented and move through the thirds in a way that would really, scream, we have outside backs that can help in the attack. So I think that stars would be a good place for a nice water to land. Yeah. And just like the punch of attacking impetus that she would give. Boston's interesting where a lot of, it feels like the big work they've done is international and is not going to have NWSL experience. And again, with Nicewanger, she has the flexibility, which is

she could play as a winger or she could play as a fullback and i think she's good enough to be a game changer as a winger um another one that uh the two others that popped in for me and one of them is one of the teams we're going to talk about right now north carolina of you know can she whether it's at fullback or at winger can she i think she's a high level player that could be a difference maker um for them and i think that's one of the spots and i just would love to see louisville invest and that's another player where I think she plays on the front foot and can fit into the style that they play as. But we wanted to talk about three specific off-season teams

that we're super focused on, we're interested in, could go either way, a lot to talk about with them. Portland's one of them, but we already talked about Portland. So the three we had keyed on were North Carolina, Kansas City, and Angel City. Let's start with North Carolina. They don't have a starting goalkeeper. They've let a couple players go.

And I think the big storyline, which is not specific to this offseason, is Caroline left. She was replaced by Jaden Shaw, and Jaden Shaw has now moved on and hasn't technically been replaced. And so I think the big story is they don't have a coach. They don't have a superstar to go alongside Monaca and sort of run this team as it had been done over the last five years. And then they've got a couple huge openings in their starting lineup. And it feels like in two months, we could feel a lot of different. ways about North Carolina. I hope so. It feels like there's been different iterations of the North Carolina courage. And with Sean Nahas, there was a real clear style of like, this is what the

team is going to look like. But there wasn't that investment to say, okay, we're going to add these crucial pieces so then we can be the dominant North Carolina teams of the past, right? And now you go to a place where they have some additional new ownership. and Lauren Holliday as a part of the ownership group, what she brings, as far as experience go, can she help them get over the line some of spending to get players who are game-changing players? Because you have an Ashley Sanchez,

you have now an Ali Schlegel, who is a good piece in their midfield or their forward line, Monaca, Denise O'Sullivan, Riley Jackson, who's probably one of my favorite young, players in the league you have really good pieces but you have to be the NWSL is at a place now where you have to have the game changers in the attacking third and this I just worry about North Carolina who's going to be the next head coach what is that what's the style going to look like how much is it going to deviate from we already saw deviation between what Sean Nehas was doing

and what Nathan Thackeray was doing when he took over right it was much more direct in the way that they were playing, not that it was, let's just go forward at all costs, but instead of 15, 20 passes, it was six, seven passes. Let's get forward in a little bit more of a direct route. And they don't have a, they just let both of their goalkeepers go. Marissa Jordan goes to Kansas City. Casey Murphy goes to Boston. How are they going to fill that piece? So there's just so many questions around this North Carolina team. And what a, in a way maybe gosh like nice because it feels a little bit like a fresh clean slate but i worry that what they're going to do with that fresh clean slate just from what we've seen over these last

few years yeah there um the hope is about the commitment and focus i think the new ownership group is is huge to bring up as well as they have folded the men's team that the current ownership group was in charge of with the idea i think to be fully focused on The North Carolina Courage, it sounds like a stadium as well to maybe be able to build it into something bigger than it is. And it feels like North Carolina Courage have sat in this stasis as a club across the board since 2019 where the league has changed and taken step forward. And it feels like North Carolina stayed the same because they were so far ahead. They didn't fall so far behind. But now it feels very obvious from the outside of like the structure, the way that they invest.

what they build around their team, the way they treat their team. It doesn't feel like on the same level as now the biggest teams in NWSL, and they have to do all of that while also finding ways to fill holes in this roster. I mean, there is a world in which they could start a Monaca, Coyoma, Jackson, Midfield, 3. Now, if Denise O'Sullivan's healthy, she's starting. But point being, you could probably put them in, those are three of the top five young players in the league. Like, there's good work there, but as you said, it's, not filled in around them to support them to be competitive enough. And a lot of that is just

on experience and quality of players that can carry you through segments of the game and keep things consistent as the season goes along. And they don't have a head coach. So the latest reports or rumors are a coach named Mack Lind who's in Sweden, I believe, who was connected to this team about a month ago. And we haven't gotten any news since then. And that's going to go a long way towards deciding what this team looks like and what they put together. What type of goalkeeper do they want to land on? What type of players do they need along the backline to help fill in for some of the huge losses that they've had like Kaylee Kurtz?

So there's a lot to be decided there. But you have, we both, I think, had Monaca's number two on our MVP lists. Like, you've got that young player. Yeah. Okay. What can you do to emboldened that? What can you do to platform her and make yourself more comfortable? competitive this year. And it feels like this is a team that for all the things I said,

isn't that far away. Yeah. So can you be strong enough? I think that's why it's been most, most frustrating guys. Exactly. Because they've been close. And you're just saying, like, add a couple pieces that are goal scoring that are chance creators and the attack that can help you get some of those draws into wins, change a point to three points. Like it doesn't feel like they've been that far off. But now it feels like they're farther off from that because of, of the changes in the off season. We don't know who the head coach is going to be. Now is a chance to say, okay, this is who we're going to be

in this new iteration of North Carolina. I think you and I are both just like, what's that going to look like? They are top five in both expect to goals, four and against. And they didn't make the playoffs. And like there's a few ways you can connect that, but one of them to me is the hardest thing to do. And the most expensive thing in sports is goal scoring. Yeah.

And you have to like overpay to have some. someone who's good at that. That's why Sophia Wilson is going to be paid a million dollars because she's good at scoring goals. And it feels like North Carolina has done everything else but hasn't been able to find that last piece and you're not going to find that piece on a great deal. Like yes, Riley Tiernan came in and scored goals. It's awesome. You can try that. But if you want to go get Jordan Dudley to do that is going to cost you a chunk of money now. Like that's the way the league is set up. You have to acknowledge that and move forward. And I thought they had found some of it with Jane Shaw.

Like, I don't knock them for that move. I think that was the right type of move to make. Can we find someone who's a high profile, but maybe needs a different fit? And it didn't. But now they have to, like, evolve from that and move on and make the next one. And so this is going to be one of the teams. It's going to be fascinating to watch who the coach is, what they decide to do going forward. Let's move to another team that doesn't have a head coach.

And that is the Shield current holders, Casey Currant, where Vlako andinovsky has been moved out of the head coaching role and up into the front office of the team. It's rare to see that for a team coming off the success they're coming off of. And there's a little bit of roster squeeze. If you look at things because they've built such depth and they filled in for players when they've been out of Vanessa Di Bernardo, who was out for the season after halfway through,

they brought an alley Centaur. Okay, if Di Bernardo comes back into the team, where is the space? where is the options and then do other players start looking for their next move and their next opportunity to maybe become a more central piece of a team rather than one of the options this is a Casey current team unfortunately they can only go backwards because they were up so high but maintaining that is going to be the key to the off season well I think that's interesting because they're thinking like we can only go forward you know knowing this ownership group and

how bold they are in moments like they're thinking yeah there's we can break our own records we can win the championship like there's still places to go forward um and i i'm just curious right like as you're talking about space on this team we already saw haley mace go to orlando is this uh you know it feels to me like when this team was built the way that they were built a lot of the players are like i want to go play for vlako i want to play for vlako in this atmosphere the way they're playing um And is that going to be the same? Are people going to be whistling the same tune with whomever is the head coach?

I don't know. I don't know what that's going to look like. I can't off the top of my head, like recall who else is free agents that could potentially leave this Kansas City team. But I'm worried about how the shield winners and how this team who had a very distinct style of play and it felt like Vlako was able to get the best out of, every single player on that team and there was a real synergy about the way that they were moving will that be the same if a new come a new coach comes in wanting to have different ideas and

wanting to let's just say build through the midfield a little bit more right these midfielders are excellent but they don't get on the ball as much as they would think they should get on the ball And so I just think that there's a lot that could change for this, this Kansas City team, which is wild coming off of the strongest season in NWSL history. Yeah, the possession idea is really interesting if you're going to go and find a new coach. Like, that's the one way that you could say, okay, how can you make this team better? Last year, it was very clear. It was goalkeeping, and it was your structure up the spine, but mainly defensively at centerback. They knocked both of those out of the park, and then partially because of injury, but reality, they lose the first round of the playoffs.

Okay, do you want to try and ensure that doesn't happen? Well, what are the next steps you can take? That would be finding a way to dominate the game a little bit more, to create the game states you always want, rather than if we can get into a track meet, we know we can win, so can we force track meets. And that's reductive. Kansas City was much better than that this year. But that I think is where we- They had to have the ball a lot more because teams were adapting their style

every time they played them. And Bia and Debiania and I think Allie Centaur and Michelle Cooper, they all, I think, took steps forward that helped change the team. But that was the fear going into the playoffs was could they break teams down if they came here and sat in? It didn't end up happening because of the injuries

and the way the game states happened with Gotham. But they also were not capable of dominating that game. Like even if you didn't have a Schoinger and Cooper, if you had a way to dominate through central midfield and dominating possession, that game would have been played in your attacking half even if you were toothless and couldn't create chances. And maybe that would have

been enough with Gotham down to break their spirit or get that opportunity or not concede the first goal and not have to chase the game. That's an option for the way they want to set up going forward, but it feels really hard to think how they take a step forward with Flacko stepping away. Because I think

we had Izzy Rodriguez on this show at the start of the year and she was like, I went into the national team for the first time and I was ready because we train like a national team. We play such high level and that is clearly a thing that everyone's aware of that they want to come into. And so what do you look like going forward? And then that roster squeeze a little bit. You mentioned some of the names that have already gone, but bringing Allie Centaurian in in the middle of the year felt like a luxury. Not every team could afford. There is a salary cap. So there is going to be a squeeze at some point on roster spots on minutes and then on the amount of money one of the

reports we're hearing is that Barcelona has reached out about Bia that's a one-sided thing that doesn't mean Kansas City's thinking about it that just means other teams are out there talking about it but it probably means on the back end everyone else is looking at what I'm saying and saying okay if someone's going to leave let's see if we can guess who it'll be and see if we can be the ones to make that move and that probably means this KC group looks a little bit different from these star players in 2026. Yeah. I mean, I would hate to see Bia go. That hurts. That hurts just even thinking about it. But it does feel with some of these circumstances, it will be a different looking Kansas City team in 2026. Will that be a good thing? I don't, I think that's why we're

raising all these things. We don't really know if that's going to be good or bad. We just don't know what to expect. And that's weird coming off of a season. where this team, you knew what to expect every time you saw them play. Yeah. And has been, it feels like, for a year and a half. Kayla Sharples has re-signed, by the way, on the free agent sign of things. And then Bia is the big free agent that's sort of still out there. Everyone else has either signed with another team or Lola Bonta.

Kayla Sharples have re-signed. And you'd expect some of the other ones to resign as well. All right. Our last team that we wanted to talk about, Jordan is Angel City, brought in a new head coach in the middle of the year. we are all still waiting for Angel City to figure it out, which has now been the entire Angel City existence. We heard the comments from Alexis O'Hannon

and sort of coming out of the season, some of the chaos maybe that occurred already, but the feeling from what I get from talking to people around the league is Merck Parsons understands what it takes, and he has put that house in order, and now it's about taking the right steps going forward, but they are doing so with very little returning talent from the last few years like this is a team that is still figuring out who they are on the field

and they haven't announced pretty much anything yet so it's kind of a blank slate under a new head coach going into 2026 yeah and just getting to talk to Alex Strauss when he came into the league throughout the summer and fall only three wins for Strauss with the reputation that he has coming from Bayern Munich, a team that dominates their domestic league and did very well in the Champions League, I, you would have thought by, you know, six months into, not six months, how long was that? Probably five, actually, June to November. Yeah. That's five months. You would have hoped that you would see some more results from this team. And I'm curious from his standpoint, like what he felt like he was able to translate from this is how I want to operate and play

to the team is doing X, Y, and Z in that progression of what he wants. Because it seems like he's very detail-oriented. He often talked about layering things in. It's not easy to come into the middle of the season. And I agree. So a full preseason, and it's a longer preseason than typical in NWSL, how does he use that in order to get this team out on the right foot early in this year because they have a lot of good pieces. You mentioned Riley Tiernan, Sveniz Jan's daughter, I thought, came in and

really impacted well in this team. They bring in Hina Sagita centrally. How do you get that midfield cranking and get the best out of Fuller Hina Sagita, Macy Hodge? I'm trying to think of other midfielder's in that system. To make sure that this. They're running the way that this team is. They need a centerback. They lose Megan Reed to the summit. We don't really know the progress of Savvy King. We know she is going in the right direction.

But will that mean 90 minutes at the start of the season? Or do they need somebody else to play centerback next to Sarah Gordon? There's just big holes that this Angel City team needs to fill. And then the question is, how do they really, truly show what Alex Strauss is trying to do. Can he translate his ideas into a product on the field that is kind of what everybody's been waiting for in Angel City? Neely Martin, one of the moves that they did make late in the season who we didn't really get, you know, that was one that's this new reality, which is if a player is going to sign on a free agent coming up, you're going to make the trade early,

but it feels like from what we saw last year, that first season isn't really where you're going to see the impact of that player because they don't have enough time and it will take time to fill in. Kennedy Fuller obviously also has become a huge option in central midfield, but it feels like a lot of the game fell on her shoulders and then laid on under Strauss. She lost playing time and I think it's okay for a teenager to like be put in the right position, but she's performed so well for bad teams, it feels unfair sometimes maybe that she loses opportunity. So and then to of course, again, we didn't really see her put into a group that made sense, so we haven't seen the best of her and what she can be for this team.

They have not resigned a single free agent that they had coming in to the offseason, and most have already signed contracts with other teams, which is not shocking the way they want to change, but just goes to show how different it will be next year for this club. And you go back to, it's a club that everyone expects to succeed at a high level, and they have zero evidence of it so far on the field, but a huge changing of the guard with the Christian presses of the world retiring and some of these big names that have left the team over the last year or two. And the potential that they can be going forward under a new head coach is really, really interesting for this squad. So those are three that we're going to have our eyes on.

We will be all over on social media still, blue sky, Instagram, whatever, reacting to a lot of the big news as it comes out over the next few weeks. We have a, uh, Long sit down with Nick Cushing, the new head coach of Denver Summit. We chatted with him going into our announcement and release of the Coachella Valley Invitational in 2026 because they will be one of the teams. But we only put out about three or four minutes. We have about 15, 20 minutes more that we will put out as a special episode coming up over the next two weeks.

So that's something to look out for. And then we'll be back in the new year to cover everything going on in NWSL. But the CVI is going to be a big deal. Jordan, it's the first chance to see Denver out there on the field. We're hoping to see Sophia Wilson with Portland. They open up the tournament on the first day on February 15th on Sunday against San Diego, which is an awesome way to start. Kansas City as well will be playing on that first day.

A lot of big names, a lot of big teams. Denver will be debuting against Utah. I am working on my nickname for the rivalry. It's got to be like the chairlift something, the lift line, whatever. it's got to be skiing related or snowboarding if you're a person who's coolly than I am and know how to do that snow sports related it's got to be it's got to be mountains snow sports related and it's going to be a special time for a lot of these teams including Denver Jordan and that first chance to to see it all on the field for all of these teams I think we just went over three teams and like what we're looking forward to

but this this offseason is short and preseason comes fast and to be able to have a testing point about a month into preseason, a little over a month into preseason, to say, all right, we're going to size ourselves up against competition in NWSL, break up the preseason a lot, a little bit, which everybody is very happy about playing actual games. I think there's a lot of excitement around CVI and what was going to happen in Coachella after last year was such a success. Excitement around Denver Summit, we saw that happened last year with San Diego playing in this tournament and how the fans really start to rally and get to see their team for the first time that'll be cool to see for the summit and just think that we're not that

far away from games, right? Only really eight weeks away from some games happening that we get to watch again, which is wild to think. Yeah. And I think last year we felt like last year being 2024, depending on when you're listening to this, we felt like two expansion teams coming into the league caused a little bit of chaos, which is fun. And we've got two expansion teams on the docket. Again, big unknowns when you get those teams. What are their matchups look like? Where in their roster builds are they when you kick off? And that will affect a lot with the standings, which is, are you getting Utah out the gate in 2024 versus Utah in the second after the year depending on when you played them at home and when you played them away and where

you got them those were points that some teams were picking up that other teams weren't going to go on to pick up bay the same right bay the way they improved the way they got better as it goes along it's really really hard to put together an expansion team there's so much about it that's difficult but the big one is you have nothing to lean back on there is no culture built so when things go wrong early on there is nothing to look back and say okay we've been here before this is how we handle this and this is what we do let's close out with our New Year's resolutions. I've written a couple down for us. We are going to be acting as other entities in all of this. And we talk about CVI in February and an opportunity to see some big

teams. But before that, we are going to get to see Gotham in the FIFA Women's Champions Cup, which will take place in London in January, and Gotham qualifying as the winners of the Concaf W championship, the regional competition. So first New Year's resolution is for Gotham to win the women's championship cup i like that you got to start out on high note right yes all this disrespect from nwsl no players getting on these lists very high let's go and show you know just in the middle of your preseason not a deal just a bizarre timing not even the middle it's like before preseason kind of even starts yeah and coming off a championship and playing the latest in the season that you could play but it is a really fun new competition and

And what an honor to be able to be there. There's part of me that's like, do I go to these games? Yeah. This seems like a really fun thing to happen. So it kicks off on January 28th. Gotham starts with Corinthians and then Arsenal plays a team called ASFAR. There's a playoff, right? I think there's a play.

They already won that. Oh, they did win the path. Okay. Wuhan Jiangdin in the playoffs. off three days ago to be the other team in so those that will be the semi final leading to a third place game and a final the first two games are in brentford and then the finals are the final and third place game is at the emirates on sunday february 1st yeah so put that down on your calendar um yeah this is a really cool event it's a big opportunity as you said for gotham to represent the league

to represent themselves uh and they will have the the commissioners cup commissioners cup I'm going to, there's so many names. The challenge cup. The challenge cup. They will have that as well. So they want to hit the ground running in that. They play in this. Then they play this basically championship game against KC.

And then they're into the season. There's a lot for Gotham to have to hit the ground running with. And I think this is a huge opportunity to do so. So that is our first one. Our second one. Our resolution for 2026 is to have all contract rules set before the season and stick with them. So we want to be having foresight about the necessities that we will need so that we do not end up in a situation.

I don't know. Let's say a player is a free agent and they put in a contract that they want to sign and you void it and then you get together and you make up a new rule before the players union can even vote on it and you put it into effect. We want to avoid situations like that in 2026. I think that's fair. I think that's fair. We're taking your model of looking back at a year, finding pressure points and making

sure we can avoid them for the future yeah and it feels like i mean these new rules that are happening right now they are technically in an off season so you can get it all done right now yeah have it in place so these teams who are building and looking to add teams to our players to their roster which we just spoke about they will be set up to succeed in 2026 that's what we want here we want our next one is for louisville to remain competitive uh i talked about at the beginning coach of the year i think Bevianez was voted Coach of the Year because she was the MVP as a coach. Like she generated the most impact, I think, and points for a coach. But the necessity of that was she coached one of the thinnest rosters in the league and one

with very little experience. Take what you have, which is one of the best coaches in the world, and empower her by giving her the full breadth of a roster that she could work with and remain competitive. Do not say we finally broke the duct. We got seventh place. into the playoffs that's good enough this should be the start not the end i like it i like a go big perp where i'm a perp you want to go next sure i'll go next um the next thing we're we're looking forward to as our new year's resolution is don't schedule tv windows that physically can't be played

you know i think we've seen that a couple times this year um summertime's hot summertime will be hot and i get it i'm on tv i know that finding a tv window that always works is part of the juggling act. But when we have these big windows and like all the eyes are on NWSL, let's let's make sure the eyeballs stay on NWSL in a good way. I like it. It's good resolution. And I'll go to the next one because I just saw a point and I figured. Oh yeah. The next one is just you know social media is a real thing. We know that. And I do get comments. So I just want to say let's be nice to the broadcasters they're really trying their best humans too they're humans and um they it's you know sometimes we say players names wrong and it is a thing that i try not to do

to the best of my ability sometimes words are hard but let's be nice to each other maybe that maybe it's just nice to let's be nice to each other oh that's pretty good resolution for 2026 and going forward uh but we want one exception there which is we would we have a resolution that we will allow rivalries to develop naturally. So the animosity that does grow will let it happen rather than setting something as rivalry week and stating these are rivals because we have half decided after I've tried to invent a Denver.

I know it's like this is so funny because of this whole time and in our other podcasts about Coachella Valley Invitational, we were talking about how we're trying to make a rivalry between Denver and Utah. So that's so funny. Well, in our 50 states conversation, I asked you, what's Colorado's rival? I've asked a couple other people.

Yeah. And everyone said California. Yeah, California. Like, without a doubt. Now, Arizona, Colorado, the state of Washington, I think those are three we've done that all of the people have told me California. And California was like, oh, our rivals are, you know, NorCal. North Carolina.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. So it was a little tough, but I understand now that from the outside, Utah, Colorado. feels like a thing and on the inside it's maybe a little bit less yeah which is also interesting because you're like oh they're close but i think Utah to Colorado is the same as Colorado to Kansas City so like how what's the rival we're going to be at yeah what does close mean if it takes 13 hours to drive somewhere yeah well it's only like eight I think to both oh that's not that bad yeah all right so we'll drive to the the the first Utah game and we'll experience it that way

Okay. Perfect. You will? You're going to drive from Florida? Oh, yeah. Well, yeah. We'll figure it out. Okay. You can just pick me up on the way. I'm not going to. I'm a real long haul driver, so I'm learning as I learn how to drive a car for the first time on a daily basis here, which will be part of my resolution for 26 to be a better driver and to hate it a little bit less, which is always pretty difficult. Oh, good luck in southern Florida. I know. Well, I always enjoy doing this show. It's been a great year. It's our first year covering the league. to end. You were in New Zealand to start the year. Now look at us. You're hosting award shows, and I'm still wearing graphic ds in the same room and doing online shows. But we hope for some in-person events next year. We hope to get to cover some big games. We are excited for the start

of Boston and Denver. I will be in the building for the opening of Denver. That much I can guarantee. And we'll see what else we end up at throughout the year. But we are so thankful to all of you for listening. Thank you to any of you that send the show to other people who you think would enjoy it. Anyone who's an NWSL fan, we try and cover the league the way we want it to be covered and dig into a lot of the big storylines, but I think try and go below that and talk about the teams on the field, the tactics, and all of that to help educate ourselves and educate other people. So if you enjoyed it, please send it to someone. That's the greatest holiday gift you could give is the gift of soccer wise. To us and to them. And Jordan, thank you.

for always being here and hanging out with me and talking. Yep. Thank you. You, I don't even know how many shows you did this year, but you should count them up and be proud. Because that was a lot. And, yeah, it's always fun to be able to chat. Sometimes we're like, okay, we've got these three topics. And then an hour later, we've talked about three topics.

Yep. We have an ability to gab, an ability to stretch. And we enjoy doing it for all of you. And we enjoy all the feedback we get. So everybody have a happy holiday. We'll be back, as I said, with a couple specials, including our Nick Cushing interview. Then we'll be back live and in person on the new year. So thank you to all of you once again.

We'll talk to you again very soon. Thank you.