SoccerWise - Weekend Recap Offensive Explosion In MLS, NWSL 2nd Division & USL Jäegermeister Cup Action

Episode Date: April 28, 2025

It was a wild weekend across North American soccer on and off the field. David brings you the top highlights touching on the latest transfers in MLS, NWSL's bid for a second division, and Jagermeister Cup action across the USL. Soccerwise Live 2pm ET Every Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday on Youtube/Twitch/Twitter

Hey everybody, welcome back to Saka wise your weekend recap show David Goss with you here as we get into another big week of coverage. We've got Tommy scoops and Jordan Angeley who will be alongside me throughout the week as we have a lot of big storylines to talk about. It was a wild and wacky weekend on and off the field across the United States and Canada in the soccer world, a lot to touch on. So let's dig into it. Let's start with Major League Soccer. We had a number of moves that came through officially after we recorded

our final show of the week last week with Matt Doyle. If you want to go back and listen to that show, it is evergreen. We talked about the transfer window overall. We talked about cashfers and how they affect the league and how they have affected this transfer window. We talked about the teams overall that Doyle graded as his best and worst performers in this transfer window and we talked about some of our favorite moves and for the most part we didn't do all of the giant moves obviously spending 25 million dollars on the center forward is not a bad idea Especially when he does something like Kevin Denke is capable of doing this weekend.

But we talked about a lot of our favorite moves so far this season and some of the performances that we've really enjoyed. So I highly recommend going back and listening to that show. Obviously, we will have the live show tomorrow with Tommy scoops in which we will preview the concalf champions cupfinal coming up between Vancouver and Miami and then we'll be back on Thursday to recap, react to how that goes and of course set the stage for the final that we will have coming up for one of those two MLS teams against either Cruz Azul or T-Grace on the other side of things.

Before we dig into the games off the field since our last show, RSL have officially signed Johnny Russell, someone who RSL fans felt was a rival and of course for sporting Kansas City fans, a tough one to see him go the other way. He has been a free agent the entire offseason. He said he's very excited about the opportunity to play with this team. This obviously comes on the back of the Willie Willie Agada move that was made by RSL as they look to enforce that reinforce their attack. I think Johnny Russell I have named connected to multiple teams. He unknown quantity right now for health, but known quantity for his attacking ability.

And I think in the right sized role he could be a really special piece for the right team. I connected him to a number of teams. I think RSL is a nice pick of all of those. It allows some flexibility to move Diego Luna around the field. If you're losing Luna for a gold cup, he can fill in some minutes. It also takes some pressure off the really nice young attacking pieces that they have brought in over the last year in replace of Andres Gomez, the money they've used to go out and bring in young attacking

pieces who I think have performed really, really well. But it's hard to be consistent week in and week out. So to have Johnny Russell in your locker room and then have the opportunity to use them on the field, think it's a really smart pickup by RSL and clearly they were not able to flex their financial muscle the way they'd like to. You assume that has something to do with this middle ground they sat between the ownership change. And so now the opportunity to steal a player late on before maybe you go and make some

bigger moves in the summer or in the off season. Aidan O'Neill has gone official as well. The captain 26 year old for standard liage Australian international defensive midfielder that NYCFC has now signed. We talked about him a bit on Thursday. This just seems like a no brainer obvious move to ensure things centrally. Again, you talk about experience, talk about a player who can soak up minutes, make life easier for the players around him. Seems like a really shrewd pickup for NYCFC and a necessary one with the way moves have gotten or the way results have gone the last few weeks.

And then reports from ESPN that Julian Gressel has been waived by Inter Miami. So the mechanism here is that Gressel has been waived his contract as I've talked about is For was for the end of this year next year a little over one million dollars He is waived Inter Miami is on the hook for the rest of that money Any team that wants to pick him up can put in a bid for? To pick him up and for how much of that salary they would cover and then there is a mechanism And for how much of that salary they would cover and then there is a mechanism internally then in which Major League Soccer is

Able to award the player to one of the teams waiver order is a part of this as well as What you are willing to pay him going forward and this makes a lot more sense We think it's gonna be Minnesota It seems like maybe there is some agreement in which he has expressed his desire to go there in Minnesota Has expressed their desire to pick up some level of his contract, which is always good But you also then get an opportunity for a minutes team like Minnesota or anyone else who ends up picking him up to bring him In probably at a contract that fits more into what you've already planned into your books You have to remember for most of these teams they have filled their roster spots, they have filled their they've used most of their

salary caps. So to bring a number in at this point is pretty tough unless it was a player that they had targeted and I don't know that Julian Gressel was on that list for a lot of these teams. I would like to see Julian Gressel be have the opportunity to play and do what he does well. So I'm looking forward to seeing him back on the field. Final little piece of news here. The name Paul Pogba has been connected to DC United via the Washington Post. So a legitimate source here. This is not the the MLS, LA Vegas move.

This is a real one. Paul Pogba right now out of contract free agent eligible to play his suspension for four years because of taking performance enhancing drugs that he was caught for was scaled down to 18 months. He has served those 18 months. His contract with Juventus was terminated during that suspension at some point and so he is eligible to sign with whoever he wants and play. He has said over the last few weeks that he is passionate about playing. He wants to play. He has some different offers. We've heard Marseille connected

to him. Some people have brought in Manchester United or Juventus as well. There are rumors connecting him to the Saudi Arabian League to clubs there and Major League Soccer has been a logical one as well for this point in his career. I said this a few months ago when this story came up. I think Paul Pogba is an incredible soccer player. I love watching him play. I think the story has some value as well. You need to make a soccer move for the right moves. But if he ends up with a team, you are going to get such a level of buzz globally, because this is just going to be fascinating.

We don't know what this will look like and Pogba at his peak of his powers, one of the greatest players on the planet. And I think a lot of people want to see, can he be at the peak of his power? What does that look like? So for MLS teams, you have to consider though what that looks like versus the value he can bring you or not. Let's be real right now for DC United. They don't have a lot to play through.

They struggle to have possession. They don't generate a ton of offensive opportunities. If you can get him on the right deal, which is that you are not locked into long term money with him, it is more of an opportunity to see if it fits for both of you. Right now seems like a pretty smart time to do that. And maybe it is something to help your fan base get engaged and get excited. There has been moments where the results have been okay for DC United this year, but the

performances have been underwhelming consistently and it doesn't feel like there's a light at the end of the tunnel that they're building towards right now for fans to be excited about and maybe a player like this does that. Let's dig into the games from the weekend. Wild games throughout. We had goals galore on Sunday. Both CONCACAF, CONCACAMPIONS teams were in play on Sunday. Both of them rotated heavily. They're starting lineups for Miami. They sat messy and friends didn't use them at all. But the real superstars were able to come off the bench for Vancouver and have a high level

performance. You're talking Ballon d'Or you're talking Sebastian Burrhalter at this point. You are talking about Jayden Nelson. You're talking about these Vancouver Whitecaps players. Pedro Vite coming off the bench. He had two goals. Burrhalter had an unbelievable goal. And of course this was a really tough weekend for the people of Vancouver. Terrible violence in the city. Our hearts here at soccer eyes go out to the people of Vancouver and all of the victims. And the hope is there is some small piece of solace that this Vancouver Whitecaps team

can bring. We saw what the atmosphere in the community looked like on Thursday night in BC Play sold out the banner that said you allowed us to dream again. It was one of those special nights and I don't know that we get them so often as much anymore because so much of what this is, this whole atmosphere is has been built up, right? It is not as uncommon to sell out a building like that. It's not as uncommon to see markets engaged with this team. But Vancouver actual sister on the show talked about it. The city is embracing the club in the unknown, hoping that the team finds a way to stay there and

say stay stable and what they have done is absolutely incredible on the field. We're going to dig into it some more tomorrow. We got some questions about it, how they've done it, how good it has actually been. So we're going to dig into this at a deeper level, but to see players like the Sebastian Burrhalters and Pedro Vitez and Eddie Arocampos of the world and Ali Ahmed To see them play at such a high level and then see a game like this in which I think Minnesota is one of the contenders in the Western Conference It's been a little tougher the last few weeks the offense hasn't flowed the same way

But that is a high level team and a high level team that was off this week And so to see a game in which Vancouver goes toe-to-toe in rotation And then these pieces that are now becoming stars come off the bench and play like stars coming off the bench. So they are able to show that this is real, that what they are doing is repeatable, that what they are doing is who they are now. And so Sebastian Barralhalter, unreal goal to open things up. Vitae, a brace as well. And then towards the end of the game, a really unfortunate moment. We don't have all the details yet. There was an interaction between it looked like Joseph Rosales on Minnesota United and Emmanuel Sabi on the Vancouver Whitecaps in which something was said and later on it was reported that

there was an investigation that is now ongoing into a potential racial statement Made between those two players And it seems like it was from Rosales at savvy and so you saw of course for Emmanuel Sabi His reaction to that his emotional reaction to that and the Vancouver players and coaches rallying behind that It was very late on the game. They ended up finishing off the game with everyone on the field and now we will see where it goes from here. It's unacceptable to have in our game.

It is such a terrible moment to have in this run for Vancouver and what they've been doing. It is the last thing you want to see and we would love for it to not be a part of the game in this region or anywhere in the world anymore. And so really, really unfortunate. You hope that after all of this, the proper punishment is put into place to continue to try and avoid something like this going forward on the other side of the concave conquer champions semi final. You had Inter Miami hosting FC Dallas.

As I said, fully rotated squad for them. Dallas comes from behind down 3-1 after an opening goal from Shaq Moore and they're able to win 4-3 without Petar Moussa. A really good result for Dallas even if Miami shifted a little bit. There's still a ton of experience along that back line in this game. There's a ton of young talent in the attack Obondo got his first goal of his inter-miami career, but this was for Dallas I think a rallying point a good moment for them. You saw Some of the elite play in this team. You saw kaiike be really really good in this game

You saw without petar musa once again. They went with this two forward structure I think it gets the best out of Anderson Julio We get to see Logan Farrington get some more minutes for Shaq more to get a goal where he pinches in he's aggressive He's in a high position. That's what you want from Shaq more We didn't get enough of it in Nashville So good to see him starting to get comfortable and I think part of that is once again the play of our Agui day He got a goal in this one. He's been one of the best centerbacks in the league,

and I think that starts to free up more and Norris to push a little bit higher, to have a little bit more freedom from those fullback positions. The goals didn't stop on Sunday. Portland ended up putting a four spot on the LA galaxy. They are now the leading scoring team in major league Soccer. Jonathan Rodriguez as he's now worked his way back from injury. He gets a goal from a penalty kick. Anthony has been unbelievable so far in this season. Kevin Kelsey scored a screamer off the underside of the crossbar as

Portland continues to flow in Saint Louis. They got two goals which is massive for them because on Saturday night, Nashville SC put up a seven spot on the Chicago fire, five goals in the first half. Those five goals equaled all the goals that St. Louis has scored this entire year. But for Nashville, it was the performance of a lifetime. Five goals, it became six unanswered at one point. Nashville ended up winning seven to two in this one. The offensive explosion they've been waiting for. They have created

chances like this. For large segments of this season, they just had not been able to finish them off. Sam Surge gets two penalty kicks in this one. He gets four goals. Hani Mukhtar gets two and Jason Palacio scores off a corner kick and it really I think Strong moment that honey Mukhtar sitting on a brace this team gets a penalty kick Sam Serge the penny penalty kick taker He lets him take it his celebration afterwards was just as excited honey Mukhtar was for his teammate It shows the type of leader he is it shows why people people root for him, why his team plays for him. And if he can start finishing a little bit and getting higher level opportunities, this team is set up for him to have the best season that he has had since his MVP season.

They play in possession, they create more chances, they're stable. This has been a really fun Nashville team to watch. I've talked about it over and over, but it's that last piece of attacking threat in the final third that they have missed. Sometimes via individuals that they don't have and sometimes the individuals they do have not performing at a high enough level. And this was a really good game for Nashville. Of course it was a show for their home fans.

The Chicago fire completely out of sorts. I think it's one of those games where you're gonna watch tape, you're gonna wonder. There was signs of some tactical holes for the Chicago team. There's also signs that maybe some of these individuals cannot play in all of this setup. You had the three man midfield sort of get out played at times, they were overrun because Nashville has so many numbers centrally because of that two, two, two

setup and the way all of those attacking pieces play. I also think though you see some of the inefficient or individuals incapable of playing those performances you saw Pineda get taken off the field early. I think he might at this point be a better center back than he is a central midfielder just from a ground coverage point of view. You've seen Jack Elliott have highs and lows so far this year. I think he has struggled because he has not had the same type of partnership that he had in Philadelphia and so more responsibility falls on his shoulders. This was a tough

game for him as well, but everything burning down for Chicago, everything on fire for this Nashville team in those opening 50 or so minutes, especially in that first half, they were on the verge of the highest scoring game in MLS history. They were on the verge of having two players score at hat trick in the same game. And now for Nashville, the question is just, can they continue it? Can they take this form and try and make something like this, the reality of who they are going forward their next game a fun one at Atlanta. So a big opportunity for this team to continue to sort of knock off some regional rivals

and continue on this form for FC Cincinnati. They continue to win. It hasn't been pretty. It hasn't been explosive in any way. They have just gotten over the line over and over again and this time they did it through one of the best goals of the year and Kevin Denke. He hits this bicycle kick off a recycled ball from a corner kick, clean bike. And then the celebration in the corner loves to take a shirt off. I get it one, that should be legal. There should be no yellow cards for being for shirts taken off for goal celebrations. It's fun. It's exciting. It doesn't bother

anyone. Don't be the no fun exciting. It doesn't bother anyone. Don't be the no fun league and to if I looked like Kevin Denke, I'd probably have my shirt off fairly often as well. So another big result for FC Cincinnati as well as for the New England Revolution. They went to Charlotte. They hung in the game. They stayed alive and they were able to get a winner through Carlos Heal, who's been one of the best players in the league over the last month as he has over the last few years. And now this New England Revolution team have now won three straight games. All three are shutouts, so they are on this three game winning streak.

It has stabilized things. It's taken the pressure off of Kayla Porter if it was there and allowed this New England Revolution to start to find their feet with all these new pieces defensively has been where it is for this team. They haven't conceded more than one goal since March 15th. They've never conceded more than two this season. We talked about it on Thursday show. Sebaeus and Fafana have been really good signings for this team.

They've solidified things at such center back. They've solidified things at center back They've moved to this three center back system. It makes them even stronger defensively It also opens up the game for the wing backs gets two forwards around goal to create chaos And that's what we saw on this goal in Charlotte Carlos He'll basically whipping a ball across the box as a cross but with so many runners flipping a ball across the box as a cross, but with so many runners, Kalina not quite sure where the contact's gonna be made and it sneaks into the far post.

And one goal right now is enough for this team. On the flip side in this game, shutout for Charlotte. They continue to struggle when teams sit in against them. Obviously looking back to that Inter Miami game where they picked up the early red card against Inter Miami and were not able to break through trying to break teams down they are better in transition but after the game Wilfred Zaha went on Instagram or snapchat not a hundred percent sure or remember and sort of went on a little bit of a rant about how he

felt like he was blamed for everything that was negative if he dribbled too much it was his fault if he passed too early he wasn't doing like he was blamed for everything that was negative. If he dribbled too much, it was his fault. If he passed too early, he wasn't doing what he was paid to do. He shot too much. He didn't shoot enough. All of those things. So Wilfred Zaha showing some frustration very early on. Obviously, it's been a tough run for him. Over the last few years, he hasn't been able to find clubs that are stable for him where he's had stable opportunities to play. That was a huge part, It felt like of why he came here, a chance to sort of live in the United States, live a different lifestyle,

maybe a different type of pressure on him day to day, as well as the opportunity to have a team where he is going to get a ton of minutes. And a lot of the attack is built around him. With that comes pressure. And part of that is you are the star and you're the face of the team. and part of that is you are the star and you're the face of the team and part of that is the way contract structures are in Major League Soccer DPS are such a massive part of the expenditure of a club that you have to perform at a really high level all of the time for your team to get results Charlotte have gotten those results

Zaha I thought this was one of his better games I thought he looked dangerous almost scores in this one just misses the far post on a turning shot where he um, you know, the goalkeeper is unsighted I thought he was dangerous throughout. I thought he was more connected And dangerous than he has been in other games, but he hasn't hit at a super high level yet This team has still gotten the results There are other options a bottom is the big chance in this one as well There are other options a bottom is the big chance in this one as well Patrick Oseman has struggled to find the goal PPL has really been the best piece in this attack And so I think for Zaha should be fine, right? He is in a really stable place

There is the hope is a long time left in his time in Charlotte But something to note and watch out for coming out of this weekend. And the final big one to note here, um, Max Arveste the winner against his former club technically in San Jose. He used to be a quakes two player. He was never on a San Jose earthquakes contract. He was signed out of college to an MLS next pro deal. And then he was eligible in the draft because his MLS next pro contract had run out But he was still a former college player that was available and Columbus ended up drafting him putting him on their two team

And now he is doing big things both for the club and potentially for the national team. This goal is filthy It's double stepovers. He destroys his defender and then powers the ball into the top corner. It's why they let to Juan Jones, Juan Jones go to San Jose. And it's why I think there's a lot of confidence in this Columbus team that they've made some moves. God's dog coming in. I'll let you coming in. But overall, they think there's enough goals in this team for them continue contend this year without truly replacing Kucho Hernandez and Arfstin Mo Farci, Stephen Marrera, Sean Zawadzki. These are all huge parts of that they need to chip in with goals when they can. Arfstin probably most of all of those options and he's

done so so far this year. But I do think it's a little fitting in that I think San Jose is going in the right direction. They've clearly opened up the spending. They've clearly pushed to build a team around Bruce Arena that can win now. But the skeletons in the past for San Jose are all there. Max Arveston, a local player out of Fresno played college soccer in California should have been on this team. And there was not a cohesive plan from top to bottom to bring players through. And this is on the same weekend in which Diego Luna goes starboy once again, the moon kid, two goals in San Diego, one of them an elite goal, similar to Arfstein's create space shows

his comfort and possession and then a rocket with very little buildup in two goal in a two goal game to beat San Diego on the road. San Diego struggling after their hot start RSL a huge result. Will he got it? Not there yet. Johnny Russell not there yet So to get a result like this is massive even with a weird late red card And now they're going to try and push things going forward. Diego Luna also was in the san jose earthquakes academy So a lot of frustration with the lack of ability for san j Jose to take advantage of one of the great soccer rich areas and To help nurture and develop players and give them opportunities to push through

Especially because all of the years we're talking about the quakes were bad at the first team level So if they had been pushing these players through the results probably would have been the same if not getting better And you would have all these players that potentially then move on and bring in transfer fees or connected to the club or choose to come back. Whatever it is, it was another reminder of where San Jose has been and the hope is that it will continue to get better. Massive news off the field in NWSL before we get into on the field in which NWSL like MLS had their final undefeated team

lose this season. It was Miami on the MLS side and it was Orlando, excuse me, and it was Kansas City on the other side of things. But first we got the news from friend of the show, Pardip party country at CBS Sports late last week on Friday, I believe it was that NWSL has put in a bid or a proposal to US soccer about launching a division two league under NWSL that would for now serve as a reserve league and potentially then could expand into having other teams so the eight they would have eight affiliated teams in this league to start is the idea. Bay

FC, Kansas City, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Gotham, Orlando, Louisville, Seattle, and the Washington Spirit. The rest including Denver and Boston would have their teams involved within the next four years. So if you were following along there, the ones that have not been named in this initial bid are Angel City, Chicago, Houston, San Diego, Portland, and Utah. The proposal has room for unaffiliated clubs to join.

So independent clubs to join and be a part of this. Apparently some of the teams that are listed as being a part of this from the start had not agreed when the proposal was sent. The belief is now they are all in line and a big push of this was done by the Kansas City current ownership and front office, which makes sense as one of the few teams that owns their building and all of this because the idea is that all of these teams would play in the same building as the NWSL teams and they would lean on the resources of the NWSL team.

So the same training grounds using for the most part, a lot of the same medical staff front office, all of these things to be able to run both of them in a reasonable way very quickly. The idea is to launch this in 2026 to have each of the teams play around Robin so 14 games with a four team playoff at the back of this sitting as a Division two league. This comes at the same time as last week WPSL announced their bid to be a second division league and create a new women's soccer league backed most importantly by the Cleveland Pro Soccer Group. The group that is trying to build a stadium in Cleveland. They were the ones that were bidding for an NWSL expansion team. They lost that of course to Denver. So now transitioning to having a men's team in one league and a women's team in a different league and the women's team they want to be in this WPSL which

would elevate itself from a semi-pro league into a fully professional league we thought originally on division three status and then when the bid came in on division two status so yes soccer wars are fully alive we're talking about this a ton on the men's side and on the women's side we've got two division one leagues right now with the USL Super League and NWSL. And now you're talking about it happening down the pyramid as well. The statements from the commissioner from the league from all the teams around this is just a desire to help connect the pathway for young players to help bridge the gap between college and the pros. It makes a ton of sense. You want more spots in soccer. If I was spending millions of dollars, for me, it would start at the academy level

and I would be less worried about this bridge in this way. I think trying to help players gain the ability to play at a high level from a technical point of view and teaching them about the environments and the stresses of a pro level from a young age is more useful than having this one bridge and gap. But I'm never going to complain about more spots for more players about more opportunities for up and coming coaches and athletic trainers and people that want to work in any facet around soccer, social media, broadcast, you know, whatever it is, groundskeepers, whatever it is, there's going to be more jobs and more opportunity. And that's not a bad thing. I don't know where the success comes from, whether it's just, oh, we're developing the best players because you're not going to sell out these buildings that host at the same time, the full

NWSL team playing in highly competitive games. And so you can understand if a lot of this is just, okay, can we get this going and then start to move it in the right direction? But in the article, or in the bid, the Commissioner Berman was quoted as saying similar to minor league baseball setup. And we've talked about this a bit on the show over the last few weeks, especially as the pro rel conversations come in and where USL stands and what it can be and Minor league baseball teams don't play in the same market as their major league baseball teams Like you have to sell a different product. So whether it's a different place or a different item

So even if it's just a different stadium in the same market Can you be closer to other fans? Can you create a different experience a? 4,000 person or two thousand person stadium feels intimate It gives you the chance to sit on the sideline gives you a chance to see the game up close like all of those things are Different nothing about this has that feel I like the idea of NWSL being more active about player development. It is one of the fears for me when you talk about the rest of the world is catching up is as resources start to come in in other countries that have been less focused on the women's game, they have more of the infrastructure that already exists on the men's game that if the

resources come in, they can tap into that where Where in the US, you are trying to find ways to professionalize maybe some of the player pathway so that it becomes more similar to what you see around the world, whether that's on the men's or women's side. So this still leaves all player development in amateur clubs and then college teams until that player gets to NWSL. And at 22, 23 years old, it might be a little bit too late in terms of teaching technical ability or even tactical understanding for some players. For other players, this is going to be exactly what they need, which is just a little more time coming out of college to develop and adapt to the pro game or continue

to grow physically, mentally, and then be able to play. I think you see, even right now in NWSL, some rookies having an incredible year and then some players that you look at things and you say, oh, first or second year in the league a little bit tough, now starting to find their feet. I think of Kayla Fisher at racing Louisville, who I think has done a really good job holding down that center forward position with Bell, Bethany Balser out was able to get a goal this weekend, coming into her own now two or three years into the pro ranks after understanding the speed and pace of the game and positioning

and all of that. This can help that. But what understand and backheel had an incredible article about the economics of Running lower division teams in the US is right now Usl Super League team costs anywhere between 3.5 and 7.5 million dollars a year to operate That is a lot of money to spend and I don't know if that's being spent in the best way in this setup But we will continue to learn more and we will continue to of course cover it here at soccer wise in NWSL. As I said, last undefeated team lost. It was the Kansas city current with an unreal game in which they lost three to two to North Carolina who got their first win of the season.

It was the most NWSL week you could possibly had. You had Washington last week go on the road, be the first team to beat Orlando. Then you had Gotham go to Portland and get smoked four to one after beating Angel City four to one. Okay, so we're starting to see where all of this stands. No, this weekend, Washington losing three zero to this Gotham team, giving up all three goals in the first half. S there now, the Golden Boot leader had two goals, one penalty kick, another one a header

off a corner kick. She is completely unmarked on that header. Sarah Schipanski got her first professional goal early on in a cross on a cross from Lily Real, a fellow rookie, massive gap in the middle of the field for Washington, you are seeing some of the holes for them with Hal Hirschfeld out. Rebecca Bernal then stepped into midfield later on in the game, and it stabilized things for this Washington team. They're hurting. They are missing so many pieces. You are

sort of just hoping that they can continue to keep things together until enough of their options can become healthy. You really saw it this weekend, but it was a 360. It was a little bit of whiplash coming off getting the results against Orlando. So then you go into the Kansas City game and again, you're talking about the last team without a win in NWSL against the only team still undefeated in NWSL. No brainer. North Carolina are able to grit their way to a 3-2 come from behind win after trailing

2-1. Ashley Sanchez gets the late goal and you saw was what we the positioning I want from Ashley Sanchez. Inside a little bit off the right channel, the pullback good feet whips the shot to the far post gets the breakthrough. North Carolina was pouring on pressure for the final 15 minutes or so of this game, finally able to get the goal early on. They almost had a half chance over the top to Jayden Shaw. An interesting moment in which North Carolina sort of broke their possession style and played early over the top.

You started to see that play out a little bit. They changed their formation for this game. I think they did so to try and limit some of Kansas City's danger and going five at the back, going to a wing back setup. But I do think it actually helped them have a little bit of a different feel balance, change things up a little bit, and they were able to create some opportunities and get a victory. Kansas City, obviously, they won't stress about this. They showed their depth once again. They have so many dangerous options. They still are missing Michelle Cooper, they were able to rotate to being out of the starting lineup, and they

still were able to score two goals should have gotten a result in this one at a minimum, if not a victory. Orlando then losing last week at home to Washington. Okay, are we going to be troubled or not? Angel City comes out on Friday night in Orlando, they blitz Orlando off the field. One of the best performances we've seen from Angel City ever in their time in this league definitely so far this season and for Orlando, it's like, okay, oh, this group is human in a way that we didn't expect. And then Orlando comes

back and gets a three to victory. In the end in this one, they're pouring on chances late on, they're able to see it out. An incredible performance for them. It ends up being an own goal for this Angel City team that ends up losing them the game, which was a brutal way to finish. It ends up being off of Vinola, but it was the injury to Alana Kennedy that forced her to come out of the game for Angel City

that really changed the momentum in this game. And of course, I think that championship medal in this Orlando side, Marta gets the the first goal Banda gets the second goal and Then you see a team that really had belief and there's an unbelievable moment Where even when Orlando was trailing they have a sloppy turnover and Barbara Banda Makes a 65 yard run to get back and try and help her team defensively ends up giving up a foul I didn't actually think it was a foul on the tackle, a slide tackle, whatever it was. It showed how connected this team still is.

Even in these tougher moments, we haven't seen a lot of tough moments for them. It was the first come from behind goal, come from behind in a multi goal deficit game for a win in Orlando pride history. So it was a huge moment. Marta had a great quote after the game. Always one of the best quotes in the world where she said, no one should be having fun in our house. That's what I told the team at halftime and they were able to pick things up. I will say though for Angel City that first half I said as good as we have seen I think this is a product of a thin Angel City team from a roster composition

point of view, a young Angel City team who hasn't really been in these situations before, and a group that is new and coming together. We said it, they just announced their full-time head coach who's not even there yet. Sam Lady's been working with the group, but you don't have as much muscle memory and as much structure built in in this team to be able to manage the tough moments at a high level. And there's no tougher moment than going cross country to play against the reigning champions in their building. And so for Angel City, I would take a lot of the good from this, the possession in the first half. They broke Orlando's shape, especially for the opening goal from Tiernan who reads the space goes out wide picks up the ball after a good build that sucked in

Orlando shape and then was able to beat Morehouse to the near post and then you ended up having another really dangerous opportunity for them created later on and then they were able to get a goal from a corner kick So I think there's a lot of good in this game for this Angel City team And that's what you'd like for them to lean on in this one Besides these two matches a couple really good matches on Saturday night, San Diego continues to perform at a high level They beat Chicago 3-0

continues to perform at a high level. They beat Chicago 3-0. Houston got a big 1-0 victory over Utah with a late goal for them as they continue to try and find their feet. And then the weekend ended with Portland hosting Louisville on Sunday in what was a wild game. I've not watched it in its entirety yet. So I have to go back through and figure out what went down fully in this game. But Louisville went to Portland, they played one of their best games of the season, they got an early goal. Then Portland ties it up. Jayden Perry had an unreal week rookie

out of UCLA has two goals and assist as a center back, put a dime over the top for the opening goal in this one for Portland, but then misplays a pass across the top of the six to Mackenzie Arnold the goalkeeper that leads to a turnover that Louisville's able to put in for a two one lead. You then had two penalty kicks for Portland to end up equalizing in this game. The first one scored by Jesse Fleming and then the second one by Perry as well. After the game, Ari Borges

picked up a red card for I think clapping at the referee maybe yelling at the referee after the final whistle went for this Louisville team. They felt wrong done by the penalty kicks that were given. There was reviews long reviews on some of the goals in this game, including one that looked like it was going to get called back. The referee went to the monitor and then upheld the call. You had in the end a quote from Jesse Fleming saying, I think we played into their hands a little bit and kind of dug ourselves a

hole. I do think that match can't keep happening in this league. I think it's embarrassing. It alters the magic alters really the sport. So yeah, I think it's embarrassing for the league and I think it's embarrassing for Louisville as a club and very frustrating for us as players. So I mean, I think I'm very proud that we were able to find a way to come back from that and to get points out of that game because yeah, to be honest, probably one of if not the most frustrating matches I've ever been a part of as a player so I think the needs the league needs to look

at that closely and yeah I think Louisville should be embarrassed on top of that Ari Borges tweeted out after the game to apologize for picking up the red card at the end of the game but also had complaints so the tweet said first I'd like to apologize for the red card. The end of the match, I ended up getting carried away by the emotional side at the moment. I'm not much of talking about referees because they are things that are beyond our control. But what happened today in the match was a shame at the level of this league. It is not acceptable to have someone commanding a match like

it was today. For those who had two questionable penalties and spent the whole game throwing themselves in and around the penalty box, please take a moment to reflect and not talk about my team. So the sparks are out there between these two sides. I have to watch this game back as I said to fully understand what happened. We'll continue to see how things come out over the course of the rest of this week and a note For all of you because you are thinking it September 5th It's when these two teams will match up again for the first time It is not much of a rivalry between these two clubs, but it might be one coming So we've got a huge week coming up for you here at soccer wise as I said myself and Tom back on Tuesday

We'll look back on all the transfers that finish as we continue follow the Julian Gressel news and everything else around it. We will preview concave champions cup. We will review more the weekend in depth and then Jordan Angeley with me on Wednesday will talk about potential emerging second division run by NWSL as well as the wild and wackiness we saw across the league this weekend. And we will dig into the concave champions cup on Thursday on this show live as well.

But one more thing to know. Jägermeister Cup started play this weekend, USL championship and USL League one in one tournament against each other. You have group stage matches in which you'll have teams play teams from the same league, but also from other leagues. And I think what we saw is what we saw in the US Open Cup, which is the gap between USL League one and championship is not that large. I thought this was really fun. It was a nice change up in this

week. I think you can get some cool other regional rivalries because you have teams in the different leagues that are location close to each other. And I think it's never a bad thing to give teams an opportunity to make a cup run different than maybe a league run to be able to sell quarterfinals and semi-finals and finals to their fan base and the excitement. FC Naples, a huge upset over Charleston, a fun PK shootout down here in Florida between Miami and Tampa One Knoxville opening up their new stadium now is a fully professional side in USL League one their original Stadium they used it was on the campus of University of Tennessee. I think held almost 3,000 people They got 6300 inside the building for this one. It's a converted baseball stadium

So it's not perfect but you could feel the buzz in the crowd when you watch this game and they've done some work to be able to convert it quicker and Faster and more often not perfect, but it's fun. And I think for that club This is again you're opening a new stadium rather than doing a friendly or bringing in a big name team You already in place had FC Tulsa coming to town. They end up getting a PK shootout win in this one. Spokane got a victory at home over Oakland as well. Think about it for a fan base in the Spokane area.

Anyone who doesn't already know about you or isn't coming. Oakland, massive Metro market, a big city team coming into town. That's a huge opportunity to sell people, to get eyeballs, and then you get a result like this in that. That's a way to draw those fans in. So I think it's really cool what's being done. We're going to cover it here at Soccerwise. I'm really interested by it, and so we're going to do some interviews around this as well going forward.

Thank you once again to all of you for listening, and we'll talk to you again very, very soon.