Red Card Mania Across NWSL Week 2 + Midweek Previews & Undefeated Matchups

0:00Welcome back everybody to Soccer wise a big episode coming up. David Goss in Jordan and Angelie with you coming off another red and wild weekend in NWSL as we head into a full slate of midweek games and then a pretty big weekend coming up. Jordan, I couldn't even fit the rundown together. Let alone have any idea how we're going to record this full show. This is new territory for NWSL. This is something MLS has done for a long time. These match weeks that are in the middle of a week and yeah, fake weeks that make you feel like, where is the time? God, I don't have enough time to do the season two and a half weeks old and we are in week three of this season. Yeah, I mean, it makes sense. So this

1:01weekend will be four which so yeah, just trying to get used to that and also just trying to keep up with more teams in the league. It has been a lot to, you know, at the beginning of the season always fills this way. You're so eager for games and then you're just like everywhere. Wait a second. Yeah, I need to get my bearings back. So maybe this midweek will help us. Yeah, absolutely. Five games, I think, on the midweek. And as you said new, so it's a 30 week season of matches that are played across 27 actual human weeks that circle the sun. So there are three mid weeks for every team. I think Washington ended up with an extra midweek for some reason. I don't know. There's a lot of weird stuff going on because like Boston can't host and Seattle can't host and teams are moved around and stuff. So there's some weird stuff in there as well. But so we got five games this midweek and then we have a couple other ones coming up that will be these full slates of games. As

2:04you said, I will say on the weekend for the amount of games, I appreciate the way they were spread out. They're outside of the Friday night at eight o'clock in a clock eastern time. They were all on separate time windows, which was really, really nice. It's just wired a wire from Friday through Sunday of the games. Yeah. Yeah. I do enjoy that too because even even if you can't catch the beginning of a game, you know, you can get to the end of it and then get to the next game that's coming up or whatever it may be going on on your weekend. So I appreciate the scheduling for NWSL and how they've done that. I think Friday night soccer on Amazon and now there's some victory plus games on Fridays is it feels like it gives the weekend a really nice start. And so you kind of get prepped and ready for everything else. It's a big start this weekend. We're going to start with the weekends games that just happened and then talk midweek. But I will throw out there Friday night is two of the three undefeated teams in Angel City against Houston, which maybe wasn't going

3:05to be circled two weeks ago when we started, but it now is the game. And then Saturday, it has a noon kickoff for Boston. I think they're second home game and then 2 p.m. Eastern time, which will be new local time for Denver to kick off their first ever home game. So like we come out like shot out of a cannon for this weekend and then pretty much every game is on Saturday and one game on Sunday. So we're going to dig into all of that. But let's start with what we came off of. And as you said, it Amazon Friday nights, we get Portland Seattle. There's always juice around that matchup. It has meant so much since literally day one of NWSL was the first game in NWSL history at Providence Park. We did a fun video about that and the history of soccer and Oregon, which I was really into. And that was the first game ever in the league's history. It's obviously always a huge atmosphere. Portland's coming off the road victory in Washington and Seattle's coming off the road victory in Orlando. So a lot of good vibes coming into this game. And it proceeds to be one

4:09of the most ridiculous soccer games I've ever seen in my entire life. So Portland goes down a player in the ninth minute for a second yellow card or yellow card in the eighth and ninth minute to Cassandra Borgiari, whose name on her jersey says Ella, a 20 year old Norwegian central midfielder who is playing in her first season with Portland. So I don't even know how to hit that and I apologize if I get any mistakes on the name, but two yellow cards in nine minutes. Yeah. Yeah. Really two yellow cards with it like a minute and a half is when she got them called back to back. And the second one was such a foul that like you can't even protest that wasn't even a yellow card. So what are you doing going into that challenge, especially at home? I mean, the only thing I can think of is that atmosphere is reckless, right? It is loud. It's hard to get your bearing straights. The first time she's ever playing there and did that get to her a little bit like, Oh, I see I'm on

5:13to see her getting away. I need to bring her down. But oh, it was just like, I think it was, I think it was mulchery. Like she Borgair is complaining to the referee and mulchery just like goes and like pushes her away like really kindly, but like you just really foul there. Like it was, we were talking about it in our discord during the game. There was Portland fans who were in the stadium. So they kind of were like, we didn't get a great view on it. And it's one of those fouls where one, it's like not a soccer play because of the hands and the way she uses her hands to it's killing the play. And I think my biggest issue with it was the way she contorts Mondesire. It could be dangerous. And I have said for a long time, like there are malicious fouls for killing the flow of the sport that should be policed harder so that it doesn't happen. The reality should not be, I'll take this yellow card to kill an attack. We want the attack. That's the part of the sport

6:14we like. So like we should be encouraging that stuff. And it feels like, so this is now five games with red cards across the 16 that have been played. And end of your cell to start the year, four of them have been double yellows. So what that's like 40%. 30 maybe, right? Because five times three is 15 and then 16. That's how I do math. Yeah. So I think my guess is that there was conversations preseason, right? Pro always has there. This is what we're focusing on. These are rule changes, but these are focused changes of we're going. And normally those get police really tight at the beginning of a season. And two things happen. Players adjust and referees normally start to loosen on them. And it feels like this. This has been a major one of them, which is taking players down from behind when they are out into the attack is an automatic yellow card. Which we've seen policed more strictly over the last couple of years, I would say, that became an emphasis in our broadcast meetings in February. It wasn't that in particular,

7:19wasn't over emphasized over emphasized by pro. It was more communication about the new eight second rule with goalkeepers and how that was going to get pleased. We haven't seen it yet, but I hope we get to see it because I like it. So I think that what I'm saying with the majority of these plays is, and in gosh, I kind of go back to like, this is an expansion season. So we kind of feel this every it's been every couple of years now for what six years straight is everybody's still trying to get their bearings on like, what does our team actually look like this year, even if you're an established team, like you aren't often playing like Bogey's just came into this team. They're used to Sam coffee being there and Sam coffee making those decisions and making the time having the time and be right. But I think of Molazo. She's coming back from an ACL. Has it played that much? So you tend to go into challenges when you're not comfortable with the your surroundings. You you seem to be reaching or a step behind and a lot

8:24of them, Bianca St. George, not a defender, a step behind in things or a little too overaggressive in things, trying to make up for a mistake. Those they've kind of all seemed like that, mostly. Yeah. Even the red card to Becky felt like that. Like, okay, we've made a mistake. We let it out. Now I got to go make a make a solution to that. Yeah. Yeah. I think that makes a ton of sense. I think you definitely see team flows maybe get broken and there's this moment of like, what am I going to do? And it happened twice in this game. So after this red card, Portland goes down a player at home. They proceed to score in the 28th and 37th minute to go up to zero and then Rainer Reyes picks up a red card in the 57th minute to make it like a full on bizarre experience. But let's go back to like Portland and the goals. I think you saw like a real obviously team spirit to not think, okay, this game's over. Like a red card so early, changes absolutely everything.

9:26I will say as a fan, I'm kind of like, because my thought is like when red cards happen, the game's kind of done and I tuned in because I was excited about it. And it was a huge game for Pietro Tordine, who has been around youth national teams. I got a chance to see her live here with the U23 group. A good, rookie year, but it was a tough setting to play in a lot of moving pieces. And whatever Sofia Smith's, you know, influences across the front line, we're not 100% sure, but right now Tordine is the starting center forward. And she scores a goal, but I think even bigger is the second goal that she, her and Moultrie create, which is against numbers. There's an opening if you are perfect with every single touch and pass and the two of them are perfect with every single touch and pass to lead Turner into goal. When you're down a player, you know set pieces are going to be your way to try to say in a game. So I'm not surprised that Portland gets the first goal off of a set piece, really well executed.

10:28Tordine is awesome in the box. She showed us some glimpses of that brilliance last year, but this is, it looks like an easy header, but the way she glances it to hit the far post was really well taken. But this is going to be, you know, I love that this Portland team has come in in one, two games when we're like, what are you doing? We're like, what is this team doing? They're like, we're going to show you. We're going to score the most goals. We're going to make the team that made the finals two years in a row. Look silly. We're going to rain on Seattle's parade, even though they're up to players. And you're exactly right. We know that Mulchries going to have to have a year big year, but no matter where Sof plays, I think Tordine is going to have a role because she's such a different player than Turner and Sof and Wilson. And her ability to hold the ball up in moments in this game to utilize the strengths of Turner in that moment in transition. We're brilliant. And the pace of the pass is excellent. So

11:30so fun to watch Portland hold on for like, I actually didn't really feel like holding on for dear life because they kind of felt like they were in control, which is which I think is the second half of this conversation, which is Seattle. And I would say from watching on TV, so you not seeing all the players on the field. It didn't feel like Seattle was up a player. It felt like Seattle left four behind the attack as they tried to get back. And there were not like obvious overloads. And there were not obvious players that were open. A ton of that credit goes to Portland. I said to you before we got on. I think this is the best game I've ever seen Jesse Fleming play. Like your partner gets a red card. The solution was to pull Ollie do in Mulchries a little bit tighter, but like Fleming is playing central midfield by herself. And she's organizing. She's covering ground. She's closing down tackles from the player who was brought in to sort of play as a 10 and struggled there to I am a soul destroyer in a low midfield with no Sam coffee and no partner

12:36and all of that. It feels like such a huge swing over the two years, but it was a huge performance from her that Turner dropping in and helping defensively and reading and understanding. Okay, when is where they're going to go? That's where I have to track. And obviously that helps you throw more numbers toward the lean. There's like so much credit in there for Portland, but this is the fear with Seattle. If it's not transitional, where are the goals going to come from? And this is like the worst case example against your rival up a player for most of the game two for 30 plus minutes. And there's just not answers in this team. What felt really hard for me, Goss is the last what 30 minutes when they had what they were up to players. I'm like, has anyone not watched a power play on a hockey on a hockey ice in the like the point of the power play and the most most success you have is when you pass it around. And it felt like it was like two passes, dump it into the box, two passes, dump it into the box. And I'm like, this is not it's not ever going to work, especially with the center backs that they already had in the game in higher and obeys,

13:40but then they bring in Jaden Perry to help as well during that time where they were down two players, Portland did. It just felt really interesting to me. And and you know, we're not there, so we don't know the communication that Laura was having with the squad. But with the players that they had on the field, you would have thought somebody would be like, guys, this isn't working. Let's try something different and move the ball a little bit quicker. You have two more players. If you move the ball quickly, you should be able to find an opening and that I was just scratching my head. Yeah. What is what there's no, how is there no solution to this? I'm not saying they were going to score two goals, but they weren't even getting shots on target. And this is like I said, this is like a, if you're a Portland fan, this is in the pantheon of games, you could win seven championships in the next seven years. And if you ask the Portland fan what's your favorite game, many will reference this game, which for Seattle is a nightmare. And that's where it's like,

14:42you come from a two one win in Orlando. And now you come out of this game. And it's like massive question marks stress. And I think you saw Laura Harvey's yelling at the ref in the 82nd minute. And I'm at home being like, you got two red cards, not like you got it wasn't a gift. They were deserved, but like, you can't, there's nothing you can yell at the ref about anymore. And I think it was just the pure frustration for this whole team. And it's like, okay, you don't want to throw numbers forward, then take risks in breaking lines. Because if you turn it over, you've got numbers back or throw those numbers forward and then start to try and find some quick combinations to get them in open spots. So it was a worst case scenario for this Seattle team, an epic game for Portland. And the red cards continue to start this season. It is a factor in pretty much all of the games we'll talk about. But I would like us to focus on the other two undefeated teams. What I mentioned are going to face off on Friday night in Houston and Angel City. So then we

15:45rolled into Saturday, Houston with one of the early games hosting Boston in their home opener. Obviously Boston, one of the new teams, Amanda was in the starting lineup, ball on door finalists, who was brought in by Boston, who didn't get to start in the first game. And obviously Bianca St. George's not available for this one. But for Houston, we talked about it over the last two weeks. The way this team takes jumps is by their young players developing and taking jumps internally. What a great game to have as an example for what it can be. Kiki van Zanton with a brace in her rookie year. The opening two goals really well taking goals. The second one, like snap decision of, I don't even know that she fully sees it coming in. Gets a foot up, puts it in a top corner. But it was a game overall where I think you saw the chaos defensively for Boston and inside of that, a lot of composure from Houston to take advantage. Absolutely. And I will say that Kiki van Zanton is not the rookie year. Oh, her sister is. Yeah. Kiki's in her second year.

16:49Yeah, but she's had like this up and down with injuries and not really being that consistent. But she came in with a big name and everybody was excited to see what she can do. Well, this is what she can do. And this is what this Houston team can do with a lot of rookies surrounding her. And I was really happy for Houston. You know, it's hard to watch for Boston because it didn't feel like Boston minus like them having possession, but their possession didn't go in in her goss. Like they had a lot of the ball and it was like once they tried to progress it through the middle third, they would lose it. Houston's block, which we have known them for at the end of last year, they showed that they were going to be a really difficult team to break down. They stayed with that, that mid block where the seams are tight. It's hard to play through them. And from there, if they can find ways to pick the ball off and then go in transition, which they did a couple of times and score those, they're going to be difficult to deal with.

17:49And I thought that I was just pleased for them because it has been so difficult. I'm sure on the inside hearing, you know, being a part of this club and like nobody thinking that they can do anything. And then you put three goals in at home, in your home opener. It just made me like a little proud for them. Is that okay? I think so and I feel like, you know, in the conversation with Jane Campbell of like, I was sort of saying like, what is Houston? She was like, yeah, no one wants to be here. No one wants us to be here. No one likes us. We're just going to like go about our business. And it was like, I didn't want to push those questions because I didn't know that it was sort of the right like tone or angle to take. And clearly internally in this team, that's what they're doing. And so if you're going to take that moniker, like go for it and sort of be this underdog and attack the game. And so now you have a game where Vincent gets goals, Radar gets goals, Ullmark looks good, Clankay looks good. We got good news on the injury for Fosse, which was it

18:55could have been much worse. They're thinking maybe three to five weeks now, world ankle. She's talked about it on TikTok of saying like, I was this close from it being broken and it wasn't. So like, that's good news for them. And then I think another strong performance for Maggie Graham. And you look at this team and it's like, yeah, all these players are getting comfortable. All of them are starting to elevate. And Vincent and I think showed some signs of like, is this a player who can get you out of trouble herself and create chances? And that's the thing it feels like Houston hasn't had for the last few years. And the best teams obviously do. And it makes the game so much easier if you have someone on your team who's capable of that, which this Houston team at least they have the base now and they could be adding that, which would be really, really huge for them. And then on the flip side with Boston, we talked about it a little bit last week. Three at the back, five at the back, four at the back. It's like a little confusing to me. And in all of that, I think they're just sort of getting lost in themselves as they try and learn who they are at this level. I do think that Carrich is really good and they need to play

20:01through her more, but can she be more... Carrich, I think it's Carrich, not Carrich. Carrich, can she be more forward-minded in when she does get the ball? Like, turn her footwork is good, her body positioning is good, but can that pass that goes into her then break the next line after she gets rid of it? I think that would help this Boston team, but it's a lot of players that have never played together. And that's their first ever await trip that they've ever had. Like, there are things that are just going to be difficult for this Boston squad that they're going to have to continue to work through. And maybe this was a good lesson early on to say, all right, we have to be better in X, Y, and Z in order to get points. I did think it was weird. I thought Chaiara was the best player in week one and doesn't get the start in week two, comes off the bench, Amanda does get the start, and then we saw them together for a stretch of time. I would like to see the two of them together more. I think Gambo and struggling a little bit with the pace of the league and so not as involved maybe as you would like to see. So Houston comes out of this one, big 3-0 win, shadows were brutal in this game, but otherwise

21:08an exciting one. And they, as I said, are going to go face Angel City, who they keep up their hot streaks. And now Angel City seven goals scored on the season, a 3-1 win at Bay. This one a little bit of a different style. They dominated possession against Chicago. They controlled every facet of the game. They created out of that possession. This one a little bit more transitional. They still had 52% possession overall in the game, but Yann's daughter with the opening goal. That's a pure, deep ball. And she's often running and just knows what to do with it in the open field. And this was sort of one of the things we question of who's at the point of the attack. Tiernan probably can't score all the goals. And I think pretty exciting for Angel City to see that they have a player in Yann's daughter who's ready to maybe pick up some of that pressure. Well, and she also can stretch the back line. And then that creates pockets for Tiernan to play an underneath her or go join her. I like what Alex Strauss is doing with Yann's daughter, because I think we both thought that she would just play as a right winger. It would kind of be,

22:08all right, this is the way it's going to be. But I think Angel City, yes, excellent play. This is what they're giving us. Let's execute. But I could not for the life of me understand why Bay was still playing a high line. At a certain certain point in this game, I'm like, you were getting crushed every time the ball. It doesn't have any pressure on it. Your ten yards if that from your half, half line in the ball is going over top and you're just giving chance and chance and chance away. And when we spoke about Bay before the season, we were really excited about what they could be this year. And I think probably still are. But my biggest question was their back line. How are, is this back line going to manage when opponents throw different things at them? And I didn't like that they didn't adjust. Like that for me felt like, okay, why isn't, why isn't somebody in there saying, oh, he's a drop or line quicker. But Angel City is really showing some cohesion. I think

23:12news is going to be one of the most exciting midfielders to watch this year. There's, so there's too many things happening. One which, you know, I think sometimes we get too caught up in which is like, what's the best to live in in a team? Because it's rare that ever was available. But this was one of the teams you looked at. Some of the pieces and you're like, how does it all fit in? Sarah Gordon did not start this game. The captain of your team week off now. There's midweek this week, although they don't have one of those games. So I probably shouldn't throw that in there. But like, you're going to have to rotate. But Savvy King got the start at center back. Now, we know Savvy King can play as a fullback. We know Sarah Gordon can play as a fullback. We know that Giselle Thompson can play more centrally. So like, there's a ton of flexibility in this team. But that will be interesting to watch. And it will be interesting to watch in the attack as well, where if this team stays hot and everyone scoring goals, like, who's going to get the opportunities? And the other is Strauss. Just my guess would be if everything went well. Emma Cotes has a similar experience where it's like, yeah, this league was maybe different than

24:13I expected in the first five, six months. And now it's like, I've settled. I figured out what it is. And like, can sort of help my players a little more where it feels like Alex Strauss had that last summer, where it was like, oh, well, this is not this is not Germany. I'm not Byron Munich. And this is not as easy as I expected it to be. Yeah. The one advantage too, I mean, it's it's a such an advantage for Strauss to have three center backs at her. I would say Sarah Gordon is now entering into that category where she's a good ball playing center back. Not one of the best, but she's good at it. But the advantage Savvy King has is she's loaded. And then you you have an option of, okay, like, what's my best, what's my best, if we were going to play two, who are my best two together? How do we manage that? Do we put a left footer and a right footer on? You paid a lot of money to get Emily Sam's. How does she fit? You know, are you moving her over to the left side when Sarah Gordon's playing? So I think those are potentially some of the questions that Strauss is trying to answer in in some of these lineups. I don't feel like Bay challenged too much in

25:18that, like, challenge the back line a whole lot to say, like, okay, this works. And I think that these two are going to be the best pairing we have together. But what a luxury for this Angel City team to have multiple players that can play in that those two center back positions. So now these two teams face off on Friday night. It'll be 10 p.m. Eastern time. It's the only game on Friday. I assume we'll see a game model of Angel City, who's the home team high possession controlling a lot of it. And Houston sort of sitting in and trying to counter outside of that. Does that feel fair to say? Feels fair. That's kind of what Houston has showed us. And for Angel City, this might be the marker because Houston is probably the, for the teams that they've already played defensively, the most cohesive unit. And so how do you break down a mid block with not a lot of space in behind it? How do you use Yann Stoutter to stretch the back line and create a pocket for fuller or Riley Tiernan to operate in? Those are going to be the questions. And then

26:23can you score from a variety of ways, which they've already shown that right Angel City has, but can you do that against the team who will also threaten in the opposite direction if you make one wrong pass, certainly. And it's a huge, I think it's a huge game for both to sort of establish across the league. Like we are here. This is who we're going to be known as. I think it's really big, obviously, for Houston. If they can go on the road, if they can get one early, it's going to put some pressure on Angel City that they haven't really had. And so this is a big game for both these teams in a great way to start the weekend. But before we talk full weekend, let's talk a little bit of midweek action as we have the five games coming up. And then we will probably talk about Denver for a little bit in there as well. The big game coming up this weekend. We have Gotham vs Denver. We have Washington, Utah, Chicago, Orlando, Seattle, KC, and San Diego, Portland. We've talked about some of these teams already. We figured let's go through, sort of talk big thoughts about them coming out of the weekend that was. Let's start with Gotham

27:29vs Denver. Both teams coming off draws on the weekend for Gotham. It was home. It was the home opener. So a chance to sort of present the championship and everything to your fans against North Carolina. It was 0-0 in this game. And I would argue by the end of the game, it was lucky to be 0-0 where at halftime it felt like they were really in control. And then the big news was the return of Tierna Davidson who we are excited just to see on the field. Comes in in the second half, slots in at that left center back position. We expect to see her play. But Jordan, it has not been a smooth start to the season for Gotham so far. No, it hasn't. And for them, I think, hopefully, I guess I should say, it won't be what it was like last year, right, where they're just searching for goals and searching for goals and searching for goals. And maybe sneak out with a one to nothing when push comes to shove. I think that's in general. The team wins championships,

28:32so there's not a lot to be disappointed in if you're a supporter of this club. But also, if you're a supporter of this club, you're thinking, we have this and we only win games one to nothing. Like, this team should have a little bit more dominance in what they do, no matter who's on the field, right? They start a stare in Dudley. Those two players, very different in the way that they play in this last game. But they should find ways to get in front of the net and put the ball in the back of the net. So this will be an interesting challenge, I think, for both teams. Like Denver showed that they could can be really good in the way that they attack, but they also showed that, like, when things go off kilter, it's hard to regroup and get back going in the right direction in that game versus Orlando. They made the trade last week. I think right after we got off with Delaney Shien and Yasmin Ryan coming over and Yasmin Ryan gets the start in this game. Obviously,

29:34you had the red card to Sony, so an opening there. And on top of that, we get the news around the ACL tear for Aiki. There you go on the pronunciation that I just couldn't wait to have second long enough for you to help me fill in on. So Yasmin Ryan steps in. I thought she brought a lot of what she brings. She can connect the play. She can break down a defender here and there. I think she is someone who will skip a pass sometimes and help you break a team down. But I would say overall, it just felt like she brought some poise in some high, you know, high intensity high pressure moments that the young midfield obviously it's hard to tell with the red card, but they just didn't have in the first week. That's why you bring her in, right? You bring in this player who understands this league. She's going to know this got them team very well and how they operate. I thought Denver showed something different than they did in the first week. Right. Pull out the first week. I don't know. But it looked more of a diamond in the midfield or a box

30:38in the midfield. And that really allowed Ryan to float along the back line at times. It looked like two center forwards. Sometimes she was all the way she started on the left, but she's all the way on the right at times in the buildup. So allowing a player like that, the freedom to find where the space is going to be in the buildups was helpful. I'm curious. God, if they play that same way against Gotham because Gotham tends to have a lot of numbers in the middle of the field, like would that just be too congested to try to do that against Gotham? I mean, the flip side is it keeps numbers around Rose LaValle and it keeps numbers around polyester if she's starting and dropping into that space. I think that's the other part about that, which makes it feel a little bit safer. Now Orlando's a different monster where Ovae wide and Washington, what she's brought so far, like it's a little bit of a different challenge. I don't know that you saw that effect as much, but I thought through 55 minutes, Denver looked like

31:39a coherent like team that had been together in a tough spot, which hard to take stuff out of the first game, but I felt that way about Boston the first 45 minutes of that first game. So I thought it was a pretty good sign for Denver. I think it's a great pick up as well with these two of you've talked about all the like challenges and whackiness of different stadiums. And first time you're in these tough situations, I'd want, yeah, as me and Ryan and Delaney, she in my corner in those moments. So it felt very opportunistic by them just to pick them up and get them into the team. I think she had sick so unavailable for this one. But for Denver now, three straight games on the road in two and a half weeks to open. And then they'll go home and have an early game on Saturday morning. So something to think about probably in terms of rotation for them. Let's hit the next one, Washington versus Utah for Utah. I think a pretty devastating two one loss at home to open up the homestands for them. They were able to tie it up one one with a Prasnikar equalizer and then Tata Milazo picks up a late red card right on the edge of the box. Again,

32:42missed timed awkward tackle. Maybe a little bit more aggressive than you had to be. And a time when it didn't feel like there was that true danger. And Milazo picks up the red card. San Diego goes on to get the 88th minute goal and Utah falls in this one. And one big note, Tanaka missing because of the Asian Cup. She came off the bench in front of I think 75,000 people in Sydney and helped Japan to a one zero victory there to win the Asian Cup. We'll not be back for this game. I'd be shocked if anyone from that Japan team is available even this weekend, but the hope will be in about two weeks. They all come back. But a light at the end of the tunnel there for Utah where it feels like they're a piece short in the attack. And especially in the midfield right because I one of the things that we saw last year from this Utah squad that really changed guess when the second half of the season. Well, when they actually played more defensive and direct in transition moments. But throughout the first part of the year, they showed the

33:45propensity to build through the thirds. But from the middle third to the final third, they often would lose the ball in just not good situations. And when you bring in a piece like Tanaka and I don't know where she'll play, right? Well, she'd be the nine. Well, she'd be the 10. Well, Prashnikar be the nine. Well, she'd be the 10. I don't want to start and play. Yeah. I would think why she could play why now, like nothing stopping her from doing that. Yeah. That's true. But just adding in another piece who understands the system but has the soccer IQ to help build like for Utah, it is from that middle third to the final third because then they lose the ball in a terrible place and a team, especially like San Diego is going to come right at them. The first goal is losing the ball way too deep in their own half. But it just, it feels like that piece is going to be really helpful for them because right now it's a lot of, it's a lot of

34:47fair players, but rotation within that player is that probably would come on and play some minutes at the end of the game, not typically your 90 minute player every single week. I think Utah so much momentum in this second half, that's where the disappointment comes like, not only do they get the goal, it's their game, the crowds into it. It felt like it was moving in one direction. Then you get the red card and they're just not able to resettle themselves. At that point, I think they just subbed out pressing the car so you don't have her fee to play through. I think a lot of frustration for them after this result. On the flip side for Washington, they're yet to win so far this season. They go to Louisville on Friday night. They go down to zero. Sophia Cantoria scores one of the goals of the year and they tied to two. I think you could tell post game. All the comments were, yeah, we expect more from ourselves. It was a mix of, I think they were happy with the bounce back, but also looking at things and saying we've got one point after two games in a year, which I think the conversation had to have been in pre-season.

35:48We're a shields contender because we're the best team in this league. Which is one of the interesting things of just, you know, there's outside expectation, but there's inside expectation for this group as well. How do they handle it? There are times where they feel a little stiff in what they're doing. Is that nervousness to make a mistake and not do the correct thing? Or you're thinking too much about what could happen instead of just like, I'm making the next best decision I can make on the field at that moment. There were chances like, Rodman has a point playing chance in front of the goal. You think she'd score that, but the thing that concerned me is the way that Louisville scores their goals on Washington. That doesn't feel like, you know, this Washington team that we, Washington team, we know at least. So frustration for them. So they come home big game to try and get that first three points against Utah in this one. Okay, let's talk about the last few games of the Wednesday

36:54and let's start with Chicago vs Orlando, Chicago. They come back from the 40 loss at Angel City and they turn around with a 2-1 home win over Kansas City in their new home in Evanston on the campus of Northwestern University, which we really thought much about before in my life. I don't know a lot about lakes, but just from watching on TV, the white caps and waves that were crashing out of the lake, made it seem like it may have been a little bit windy. I was going to say on the, was it a lake or was it the ocean? It was scary. The way those waves were crashing gave you a little insight to how the wind was blowing in this game across like diagonally across the field. What a terrible game. Like honestly, like as a player, when I rewatched it, they were talking about the players came back out from warm up and they were all like, what just happened? It seemed as if the weather had changed too between warm up and the actual game. So you're not really getting a feel for it before the game

37:57even starts. And how I mean, how much you take from this truly? I would say like, if I'm Chicago, I'm not dismissing it, right? This is an emotional thing to do. You came back from the 4-0 down. You fought through that. But the look on people's face, the players as they zoom in of like the wind swept, but also the, as you said, like shock of like what's going on. Yeah, I don't think we saw either of these teams play the soccer. Like we were talking before about the setup for Chicago before we got on. It's like, was Brianna playing right wing? Was she playing tenant? And it's like, I think everyone was playing narrow because you couldn't really switch the field. And so in the second half, she was out on the right. And it's like, if the balls on the left, it's not going to make it to you out there. So now you're coming in to be an option. And I think Kansas City, it took them 45 minutes just to figure out like what was going on and like what it, how it was affecting the game for them to even like wake up and be a part of it. Mm-hmm. Good. That little amount to get to start for Kansas City coming back from the injury and

38:58seas, I think like 60 minutes almost around that there. But I thought two things. I thought Julio Grosso looked probably the best we've seen her look in NWSL. And I thought, you know, you go, you go girl. You know, she started that play where Chicago scores off at a height of a header. She's driving with the ball at her feet for 40 yards. It also made me think on the flip side, Goss. Who would stop that if that was happening for this thing? Oh, you think Claire Hutton might feel full. It just, it feels, it feels like this team is going to have a pretty what rude awakening to missing Claire Hutton. And they have, right? And these, these two games, it's nice to have Lola Bonta out, but that those are typically the swats where Grosso doesn't even pick that ball up, right? Hutton's already already pouncing on that. But Kudos to the Chicago staff to understanding that when, when Kansas City go, they have a lot of numbers forward and you can hurt them in transition

40:04if you're precise with a few passes. So I'm not going to take it away from Grosso, but I'm just going to say Kansas City is going to have to figure out a solution. And I mean, I think for Kansas City, like I said this when we sort of talked about it with Jill and Lori is like, clearly Claire Hutton was looking to move. And I think the calculus was, you probably can't replace Claire Hutton. So what do you do? And they just chose to shift and say, we're almost going back two years and be like, can we beat teams 5, 4? And the part of this, I think is be a leaving. And part of this, I think, yeah. And this is, we have no clarity. I think it's so much of showing us health. And so I think they probably looked at it and said, like in the whole, if we take the whole team and say 100%, we're going to lose 8% with Claire Hutton. We can't replace it perfectly. We're also going to lose this with Bia. We don't know what showing up blah, blah, blah. Let's go get Kory Bethune and slot in there. And I think all of that makes sense. But like this first goal, that's a mistake. Lorena did not make for all of what was good with Chicago. Lorena is going to

41:08the far post to catch this ball and hide in my cuts across and wins the header. Last year, Lorena was a match winner where she comes and gets that. And that was a huge addition to them. So I think it's going to be this balance as we figure it out. And I think the hard part about the balance right now is there are four, three attackers that kind of want to be in the same space. And if they're not clicking, it doesn't work because they're not going to shut teams out. Like I don't think that's who they are anymore because of what they've lost in Claire Hutton. And they get behind in this game. I thought they worked themselves back into it pretty well. But like as you said, I don't even know what the soccer stuff you can take from a game like this is. But I think this will be a really good challenge to watch them play Seattle tomorrow because Seattle is going to be not happy. And Kansas City is going to be not happy. They're both playing in a place that they'd never played before in Spokane. So I, I'm curious how Kansas City rebounds will know

42:09a lot more about them because there's just not a lot you can learn from that game with the win just. The one thing we might learn is games at the stadium might be hard to take stuff from. And it might be weird. And there is a bigger conversation, which we will have at some point this season, but I think we're more excited about the games of the reports coming out that not reports. I mean, Chicago saying it of like they did not they, I guess they applied to play in the stadium that Northwestern built for the football team. That's next sort of the 10th stadium they are playing in. That application was sort of denied. So then they withdrew it. And then reports come out that Chicago fire are building their own soccer specific stadium. They reached out to talk to the stars about being a part of it and the stars declined. So now the stars are in a spot where they kind of don't have a permanent home. And while it wouldn't have been their building, they would have been a part of at least an actual soccer stadium that is built for it. And all of this is fine, but it sounds like maybe this temporary stadium isn't meant to be

43:11permanent. And so parts of it aren't maybe up to snuff of what you wanted to be plus the environment that it ends up in. So I think for Chicago, it's like a real up and down of it feels like in some ways they've announced training centers and the investment they want to put into the team and they go get a coach from Europe and they go get joined the Heidemun like there's and then at the same time other times it feels like the club maybe is a little bit aimless and doesn't isn't really facing the same way that a KC and a Washington are where you're talking about this the future of the league and sort of these are the one you know top tier clubs and all of that. So it was a big win for them on the field and hopefully Chicago is able to continue it. They face off against Orlando and this one who will be coming off the frustration of the one one draw at home against Denver. I think second half on you start to see Barbara Banda be an MVP candidate and that starts to dictate everything for them. It makes life easier for the central midfielders. The fullback sort of have direction to what they're doing and they're still waiting for some finishing from OVA and

44:13Washington. All these other players around it, but it feels like a lot of chances are falling for them, which was not the case the second half of last season when they were struggling. I felt like Washington was really good when she came into the game made it made a huge difference and stretching the backline pressing the the backline finding those little places to overlap and overload. So real bright spots and some of the young players that they I thought Castain was good in the first game and in Washington was good in this last one. So Orlando making some key additions that will continue to give them depth because now you're in the middle of a three game week, right? You have to have that because I don't know, maybe Barbara Banda can play all the time, but coming off at injury, you would think that you're going to have to rotate or at some point. So this will be a big one for a lot of these teams showing the depth and quality that they have. Okay, if you're listening on serious radio, we're going to go a little bit long because that's what we do. So you can go find the rest of the show on the on demand player or anywhere you get your podcast just search soccer wise. We've got a couple more midweek games to go through and then talk

45:14a little bit about the weekend upcoming. Let's start with Seattle Kansas City. You mentioned it. Seattle will not be happy and KC now can they turn it around as well. So this is a big game for these two teams and then San Diego facing off against Portland. So we mentioned for Portland how well they've played. They will now have to go from the start without Borgia or Ella what we're going with here and then obviously Rainier Reyes. So Marie Mueller, who just returned from her, was it Achilles or ACL? Her ACL injury, which was part of the rash of injuries that hit them at the start of last year. She returned in the last game, came off the bench for 30 minutes and obvious fullback option in place of Rainier Reyes as well. Jaden Perry along the backline can come in and either play or move one of the centerbacks out wide. So it feels like there's a couple options there for Portland, but they obviously have to replace two pieces in the starting lineup. Yeah, and they could also play. Oh, why can't I be talked about?

46:15Uh, Mally McKenzie. Mally McKenzie would be a good option for them to play as an outside backshade. Good run a form last year probably middle of the year. But yeah, I am honestly probably less concerned about the wing than I am centrally for this Portland team just because they lost such a big piece centrally. And then maybe Shay Harvey will be, we'll get the start from the beginning Stanford alum. I'm reading Stanford UCLA Stanford. She could be that six for them and then allow Jesse Fleming to be a little bit higher than her at times, but play out of a double pivot. That would probably be my my option from them. But I, it's going to be challenging with San Diego because you're switching up to two new players into the starting lineup that haven't started yet. And this San Diego team, if they do anything really well, it's moved the ball and make you have to make decisions defensively as to who you're going to pressure, which run you're going to follow.

47:16Their ability to move the ball and move defenders is probably top in this league and that's going to I would think create a lot of issues with a team that is changing two pieces in their starting. Yeah, it is definitely a team that you have to react to. You have to be cohesive to play for this San Diego team. Obviously, the pure finishing off a lot of what they create is the question mark right now. We don't know anything about timeline with Cat Macario and when she arrives and how many minutes she'll play when she gets there, but it won't be this week. And San Diego is one of those teams where they've we don't think that's a good point. We don't know outside of goalkeeper. They've put the same lineup on the field back-to-back games. So you expect there will be some rotation in that for San Diego because you cannot play the exact same players for another time. A big moment for God-free to come off the bench and score the winner her first career. The professional goal, you've got Esconio, you've got Barçaena's, you've got Picket on the bench. So I think all pieces,

48:19you feel comfortable bringing in. The question is where to me, it's tough because if Fajar and Dolly are not starting, that's like the real heartbeat of this team. And I think you could argue like, okay, you could fill in for Portio from the start. You could mood a little meal out wide. If not, you could rotate center forward. Like I think there are pieces you could change. It feels like fullback and central midfield are the ones where that's like so key to the way they play. And then obviously the confidence at center back of when Wesley's in there. I think wearing the captain's arm band in the last game. So there's like options there for San Diego, but I don't know that I think one of the things we saw last year was like the lack of depth at a high level is what hurt them as the season went along. And so playing three games in a week is tough for a team like that. They were struggling to find goal scores and they're starting 11 and then they would bring players in off the bench and it didn't have the depth that they would want to want to have. So in some ways, guys, maybe this is helpful to have midweek games. So you have to

49:23rely on these players and they have to show either they're going to show you that they should be starting games and prove that they're a part of this. But it's creating competition within groups. And first, San Diego, maybe that's the biggest thing that they need is a player behind them. No matter what position they play and probably not those two that you just mentioned centrally to say, all right, I'm breathing down your neck. I want that spot. And I'm going to show you how bad I want it when I go out there and start this game. So that'll be the final game of Wednesday night. As we said, Friday night, one game, 10 PM Eastern time, Angel City host Houston. And then every other team plays Saturday except for Gotham Hosting Orlando on Sunday. That one at seven PM Eastern time. So a really nice game to close out the weekend there, raining champions against the previous champions. And you to assume, you know, for those teams, maybe that's where they hold a little bit of their powder. The rotation comes midweek. And then the focus maybe is on the weekend. But let's dig into Saturday a bit Boston legacy

50:25hosting Utah at noon Eastern time and then Denver summit hosting the Washington spirit at two PM Eastern time. Jordan last reports are over 50,000 tickets sold. It's just a few minutes away from your place that you can walk to the game. It's a big moment we've been building towards you are at the season opener. The home opener that kind of feels like the big moment we've all sort of circled from about a year ago. Yeah. And everybody that I talk to around town when they're asking about it. And I say, there's going to be over 50,000 people there. Their eyes just are like, what? That's incredible. And it will be, Goss. I'm so excited. You're going to be there, Douglas. One of the people that saw our kickback is also going to be there, which is pretty exciting. It is going to be really fun. And I think for people in Denver that coming to the game, that all the people that are coming to the game show you how ready this city and state is to have

51:28and welcome this team properly and to say, hey, we're going to make this a fun atmosphere, but we're just, I just think people are pumped that they get to watch women's professional soccer here in Colorado. It is going to be the record crowd already. I checked the weather while I was getting ready to pack. It's going to be partially cloudy. I made 60s. So it's going to be pretty perfect weather, which makes me think some people maybe who were considering at the last minute probably grab a ticket and head in like whether it's you might want to read. Look, it got a little warmer. It says it's going to be almost 70. Well, I think I can make that. Yeah, that's true. I can make that work. I'll just wear black so that I can sweat through everything. That's what I do all the time. So unfortunately, I can't get away from it. But, you know, it's another historic event for sports. Like, I think that was, yeah, obviously, I'm excited to be there because I'm excited for you and I'm excited for so much of it. I'm going to go with my nieces and my in-laws and everyone is very excited, but like,

52:30it's going to be the biggest crowd in NWSL history. It's going to be one of the biggest crowd in women's soccer history and it feels like from bay last year and Chicago the year before, and I know you were at some of those. Like, the momentum continues and this is now a whole new market to be a part of this. And like, I think bay will continue to draw and continue to be exciting. But like, this is a new benchmark to be laid down and it feels like, I know I wanted to be a part of that. I think a lot of people do, but like, that's one of the massively exciting things from a big picture point of view is one of the ways this league in sport grows is having more markets that care about this thing and having this connection for way more people. One of, absolutely, and one of the things that I have been working on over the last few months is making sure people that have helped build this in a different way are going to be a part of it. So I've reached out to over 35 women who've played professional soccer either in NWSL, WPS,

53:31or WUSA and or played for the national team before those leagues were around. That grew up in Colorado. We're born here and we have about, I think, 17 players coming to the game who have played in these leagues who people get to cheer for and say, you know, you never got to play soccer for this team on this field, but you helped build a foundation to show NWSL. Hey, there's a lot of good players that come from this place. And so I'm really excited for all those players to feel honored and to know that they played a part in this and they helped this more than they probably will ever know. So it's going to be a cool moment. I think that's all happening pregame. So hopefully that gets a little shout out on the broadcast. So some of these players can go now. I got to be the first to say it because we know the issue in NWSL, which is you set a record for a crowd. You have a cool moment. You normally lose the game. And the league does no favors in bringing the back-to-back

54:34finalists in Washington for all the struggles we talked about into the building. I think it's exciting that, you know, Trinny Rodman, the year of the hip rule, all of that. She will be a part of this because I think that's one of those names that for people who are more casual to, yeah, I want to try this out. That's the one name. Maybe that they know in the league. And it's an exciting player to come see. But then for all the strength that Washington has and brings in like they up the spine are probably the best team in the league. We've seen Bernal step into central midfield. I think she's one of the best there. I think she's one of the best at center back. I said it last year like Swiss Army knife in a way that other players aren't. They've had a little bit of struggles in the attack, though. So we'll be interesting to me. Like how does Denver play this? Because you got to think you're coming out and you want to run 140 miles per hour in one direction. And the question is does that work against Washington? Do you try and ride that momentum or do you try and maybe come in and settle in those first 10, 15 minutes?

55:40Good question. I hope Nick was sharing how's it answered for that. Just feel like you have to use some of that momentum. But Washington has proved, especially last year when they played in that game at Oracle that they can ride it and find solutions. Their first goal is a little flukey, but they're in their second goal in that game was excellent. I think it's great with a thing right down the middle of the field. So they won't have her clearly for this game, which will be a benefit for Summit. But that's going to be one of the biggest things, I think, for the Summit team. Because when you talk to these players, they all have all been thinking about this day for a long time. And I'm sure they want to perform the best they can, but you have to manage those emotions. You have to manage the crowd. A lot of these people have never played in front of 50,000 people before. How do you manage that? How do you manage the hype of like wanting to put on a show in a new place to get fans to continue to come back? Well, you do that by just

56:41worrying about the details, not about the big things, right? So I think that that would probably be the conversation is let's do the little things, right? And make sure that we are focused on on what we can do to manage this moment. But for Denver, it's going to be the people here and the people that have supported this in the beginning, it is going to be a part day. Bright and early, a breakfast party, which is what we love to hear. My wife and her sisters already have plans for making breakfast sandwiches in the parking lot. We've got potato buns on order. We've got the eggs on order as well. So it's going to be fun. We are excited to be there. If anyone's going to be in the area, hit me up on blue sky, shoot me a message. We're going to be around the stadium as early as possible. We're going to be in the building early as well. So we can see all the festivities. I was already told we'd be in the building by 11 local time. The game kicks off at 12 at a minimum. So we will be in the building for all the festivities, all the honorees as well. And then we'll be

57:41back on the show next week so that we can talk about all of it, react to all of it, bring you behind the scenes on what we experience and talk about the whole league overall. We will be four games in after three weeks at that point in NWSL. But it's going to be special. I'm excited for you. Jordan, congratulations early on on this one. I think it's probably one I can give an early congrats. I don't think anything's going to happen between now and then that would make it not happen. So I don't think I'm juicing it. I don't think I'm juicing it on that one. And I hope not. But if so, then we're both in trouble. I think we'll take that and I'm not going to take blame for that one. Everyone enjoy the games midweek. We will be on blue sky. We will be in the discord as well. If you subscribe to the patreon, you get access there. Thank you to all of you for listening. And we'll talk to you again very, very soon.