The Cooler Guild: A farewell dub but not done yet - Ep. 84

Transcript

Speaker: Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 84 of The Cooler Guild. I am Coop Cooper, and joined with me, as always, is my co-host, Van Crisp. Hello. ah We also have another guest. His name is Grant. You may have heard of him. He's been on here before, but yeah, we're joined by Grant. So welcome, Grant. Thanks for having me. I'm glad to be back. Yeah, ah today is recording on Tuesday. oh boy, when we finish this, we're going get some crazy news probably. ah It's November 3rd, 2026. On today's show, we're going to over the Reigns' victory, big victory against the Orlando Pride, ah that which secured our spot in the playoffs, which they we later found out needed to do in order to get into the playoffs. ah But before we get into the show, we got some housekeeping to take care of.

Speaker: The Cooler Guild is part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network. You can either listen to us on our public feed or if you're a Sounder at Heart subscriber on the private unified feed with the other podcasts on the network. If you'd like to become a subscriber, just visit our page at sounderatheart.com forward slash the cooler guild. New subscribers get 10% off the normal rate and you'll help support everything we're doing.

Speaker: How's it going, everybody? I feel great. and Well, I mean, maybe a little uneasy with some of the results pending that you're talking about. Yeah. Yeah. I was watching it before I hopped on Alex was getting, ah like, alerts on her phone that she didn't ask for. And it was like it was like the bar of like where the seats are going. so yeah. i didn't want that. yes seriously. Please don't. Yeah. So she's put her phone down and is going to the hot tub at a friend's house. so Nice.

Speaker: Yeah. Did you all go the game? Yes. You did? In the press box. Should we get into the game? Should we? we have any? Yeah. I mean, Halloween happened. you have anything interesting from Halloween? Ooh, I won a costume contest. Oh, what were you? Well, Bailey and I won. She won, really, is what it was. shouldn't say I. Take the credit.

Speaker: We were at the bar and we won um most creative oh costumes. All I did was buy an inflatable bee costume. She had a whole beekeeper outfit and we went to Michael's and she put all these little bees and flowers and had a basket with flowers. So that's fun. Yeah, it was good. I did not win any costume contests. um I think people were confused by my costume. I did have i didn't make a name tag, so I thought for sure that would make it make sense. But um I was Elizabeth Holmes.

Speaker: So I was the lesbian Elizabeth Holmes. I wore a carabiner on the front top of my pants. Did you have like a vial of blood in it? I had a, well, I was worried. I had a, i had a pill, but I was worried if I dropped the pill somewhere, i didn't want someone to take something they shouldn't have. So I just had a fiber pill, um, which it did fall apart at one point because fibers, fibrous. Um, but I also didn't have a wig. So I was like, well, I'm just gonna go to Elizabeth Holmes and this this makes sense.

Speaker: That's funny. I, you know, I thought so. Alex was like, that's a pit bit of a deep cut. deep cut And i was like, it's not a deep cut. It's just a confusing joke. Yeah. Anyways, what were you grand? Did you go anywhere? I'm so boring. i didn't, I don't dress up or anything. and got sushi. I had a nice day.

Speaker: um i feel like this is the second uh round of beekeeper content on the cooler guild though have i like i feel like i remember of you taking a ah beekeeping class perhaps we yeah yeah my girlfriend and i took a class and that's when she came up with the concept for the costume there you go so it was a callback to the beekeeping class maybe maybe you can be beyonce next year be wow amazing all right uh think we're ready get into the game uh rain they played uh the orlando pride uh when did they win the championship 2024 the double okay so that's it's been a minute but they were really good i think this team's decent um but the rain played them we got a victory little nervy i thought it would have been Should have been more. feel like there should been goal way earlier. They were certainly getting shots off, but are you getting any general notes about this game before we headed into it? Big attendance.

Speaker: The marketing and the onslaught of ads worked, apparently. ah There was 16,095 in attendance. it's the third It's the highest attended match of the 2026 season and the third highest standalone regular season season attendance in club history.

Speaker: And it felt like there 60,000 people there. Yeah, it felt, it felt, I tried to find a ticket because I was like, I want to enjoy the crowd of this, of this game. And I just, I know i'm at the point where I only want to sit in the club.

Speaker: If it's cold out, especially. nice Because I want to be able to go inside if I'm cold or whatever. ah And like for days, I was trying to find one ticket in the club section. And it was like, I think two days before or whatever, I finally found one just sitting there. And I was like, thank God.

Speaker: Thank God. But yeah, every seat was like full around me. It was great. It was loud too. We could hear it in the box. Yeah. Certainly felt that way. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. Yeah. Definitely a a better atmosphere than we've seen all season because attendance has been really lackluster. Yeah. I mean, team performance is not helping.

Speaker: i would say player recognition. we're starting to get there maybe. Yeah. But it's, yeah, I think there, there's a lot of struggles that, marketing team faces in regards to trying to entice people to come out. It's not like, don't I was looking at like the lineup for Gotham and I was like, well, you know, it's pretty easy to do marketing when you can hype up Rose Lavelle. Remember those days, but um we don't have those days anymore.

Speaker: oh we don't have sam kerr we don't have roosevelt we don't have akb yeah i mean it was just i was like well but we've got got mass and curry we got sam mezza one day though but everyone will know um anyways uh and what else you got i mean it was just fishlock's night Yeah, that was the big thing. i was on the cauc because i went around the qua concourse, and there was so many things set up for her that were really cool. There was a few typos on some stuff. Someone needs to get on checking that stuff a little bit more. But they had a ton of stuff, and everyone was at the things because they were actually, like, well-thought-out activities. There was, like, a throne.

Speaker: um They had this series of photos that was really cool. They were, like, printed really big, and they had, like, key moments over Fishlock's career and just seeing... It was crazy seeing, like...

Speaker: They had pictures of like the first goal that she scored, which was against Portland. And it was like over the years, all of these moments. And if you were there from like the beginning, it it just kind of felt like, I don't know, it kind of like it it got me a little emotional because i was there at the first game back when they played at Starfire. And I remember when she played there, it was like, yeah, this is something she's a special player. And I didn't realize how much of a legacy she would leave for this club.

Speaker: And I'm so glad that people turned up for it. Yeah, it was nice. I walked down to the concourse before the games because I was curious and it was packed. And there were not only i think one thing that I noticed, it wasn't just activities for kids.

Speaker: I feel like a lot of the time it's just kids activities, you know, or or, you know, focus towards kids like the crown making and the sign making, things like that. But they had the throne. They had DJs. I saw two DJs. I think there might have been three DJs in the concourse. um There's just a lot going on. hmm.

Speaker: So it definitely helped the fan experience. Yeah. I think that makes a lot of sense. I'm glad you make the point about not stuff not just for kids because I feel like, and you guys can you know please correct me if I'm going off on a tangent here if you think this is just wrongheaded, but I feel like sometimes with women's sports particularly, people are just like, oh, they're an inspiration for little girls. And they talk about that like they talk about that like fucking 60% of the broadcast or like they talk about that like with so much of the marketing.

Speaker: And you just don't see that in men's sports. Is it like, I don't, I haven't heard many times that LeBron James is an inspiration for little boys everywhere. And what like, what I think with what could help with attendance and I'm no marketing genius, but like, what if it was a cool ass atmosphere for adults to go to and have a good time and, you know, have a couple of drinks, whatever, have have like a cool social scene there. I just wonder if that, if maybe like turning the marketing, like 30% could maybe help attendance a bit.

Speaker: We've talked about that before because it's definitely a point of frustration I think we've shared. um So I think you're totally right about that. I don't i don't think they need to like scrap it. um But it does get annoying it does get a little annoying as an adult who watches it because I'm like, is this for me? yeah Why am I a weirdo around like a bunch of like nine, ten year old girls? Yeah. And if you look at it from like, when I think about going to a WNBA game, there's kids there. But not everything is like a kid's activity. 100%. Yeah.

Speaker: They can definitely do some work. Yeah. I mean, there are like swaths of like adult lesbians. And i don't know. There's also, I see dudes there too, Grant. A couple of us floating around. Yeah. but like i mean i did see a lot of like adult couples there and stuff and it's yeah i feel like there could be a better effort of marketing towards them but i don't know one thing at a time i guess and they spend money children don't spend money that's that's the other thing and also lesbians adult lesbians without kids love spending money take a note on that it's good call but starts i'm learning a lot today

Speaker: um But back on the Jess Fishlock topic, um she started the game um and she also started in the club's inaugural home match on May 4th, 2013, when Seattle hosted FC Kansas City at Starfire in front of 2,618 fans.

Speaker: That's great. i That's like an um what an amazing, you know, like, what what do I call it? Like a comparison, just like to kind of show the growth. You started Starfire, a practice field, essentially. Now here you are in an NFL stadium.

Speaker: World Cup stadium even now. There you go. Yeah. ah ah You had a fun fact that you pulled up about ah what was happening back on May 4th, 2013. So May 4th, 2013, we say. how about the number one song in the country? Maybe a little unfortunate considering some recent events and recent commentary.

Speaker: uh number one song in the country just give me a reason by pink featuring nate roos nate royce i apologize i do not know this gentleman's name i also think pink might be a zionist piece of crap i think is from some of her recent comments so that's not great uh just give me a that's the one okay i was trying to remember it I got you. I got you.

Speaker: um If you want the Seattle tie-in, on May 18th, number one song in the country, Can't Hold Us by our pal Macklemore. Decidedly not a Zionist piece of crap. um Oh, that's kind of an interesting contrast, huh? And then number one movie in the country on May 4th, 2013. How about Iron Man 3? They made more than one? I mean, I guess. Honestly, I had the same thought. I was like, there's a third one? It was $174 million, dollars so I guess that's why they kept making them.

Speaker: Dang. And that wasn't targeted towards like towards lesbians, so really impressive. Amazing. ah Does anyone else have a victory drink? No, didn't grab any.

Speaker: do. I'll partake if you're interested. Yeah, let's get let's get the cheers going for that. Do you want to grab one, Van, or are you? I don't know if we have any. Let me go look. All right. Just wait a second. This happens a lot. should definitely go. what do you got, Van?

Speaker: I have a beer that's been in a bag yes for a long time. Yes. I never drank. ah It's from Avery Brewing Company out of Boulder, Colorado. It is the Tweak.

Speaker: Okay. I don't think I like that name. a stout with coffee added aged in bourbon barrels. It's 14.7%. You're about to get fucked up. All right. ah Well, cheers to the rain winning. Last game for Fish Log in Seattle. Cheers.

Speaker: Excellent. I'm going with Ghostfish Brewing in ah beautiful Soto, Seattle. It came from the Hays. So this is a quality beer in the in um in this lovely city. I would rather be drinking that. I've got quiet hours from obelisk. This is awful.

Speaker: Sorry, Van. um All right. Should we get into the game? Let's do it. We forgot to mention it's the ninth shutout of the season for Claudia Dickey. I did want to shut that out. um All right. Moving on. oh ah what What worked for you?

Speaker: ah who wants to go first? i I think for me, it felt like a finally a complete performance, ah maybe besides the lack of goals. But as far as like a first and second half where it didn't seem like the team completely gave up or momentum completely shifted, it felt to me that it was very similar first and second half with how dominant, maybe not in possession, but as far as the attack goes, it didn't seem like the team really let up.

Speaker: Yeah, I think I'd agree with that. I think a lot of individual players stepped up in ways that I feel like I haven't seen them do as a like cohesive unit at times. It feels like there's a few players that tend to kind of maybe not show up, but I do feel like everyone kind of did for this in ah in a way that like we've had stuff on the line before and they don't tend to do that. So it was nice to see. Yeah, that was a bit mentioned in the post-game press conference too. Right.

Speaker: I think so. Okay. Just about how they've been in big games before and dropped the ball. And they weren't going to do that this game. And I think if we're talking about like individual performances and like you said, Van, kind of like putting that pressure on Orlando, Coco Mondes here, she creates five chances. These stats are courtous ofy are courtesy of our pals over at FOTMOP. Those five chances, most in the match, nine passes into the final third, 10 defensive recoveries. She had a couple moments. I mean, part of creating those chances that pass into Fishlock looked like it was going to be a goal.

Speaker: It was a good play by Wahane to kind of like at least get her body in the way and like maybe throw Fishlock off course a little bit. um But yeah, I thought Montessir looked dangerous. and And Harvey said she was the best player on the pitch in the post-match presser, which surprised me a little bit. But I know she had a great performance, but I was still surprised that Harvey was like that firm with it. Hmm.

Speaker: That is interesting. I mean, she was she was really good, but a lot of people were really good. So I guess maybe she just liked what she saw from her the most. Yeah. I think as far as like an improvement on recent past performances, that was huge.

Speaker: Yeah. Because there's been games where she's come in and you're just like, oh, well, that didn't do much. But they made a point to get her the ball. yeah She made a point to go forward with the ball. um She has that kind of knack that we've been talking about where she gets the ball. She just wants to go forward.

Speaker: We don't have a lot of players like that. Yeah. And I also i wish that she wasn't getting called for things ah because if she was actually not getting called for fouls that are not fouls, she would be even more ah dominant in some of these games.

Speaker: So I feel like I don't know what the deal is with. I mean, we can make some guesses about what the refs. It's racism. Yeah. Cause I do feel like she gets called for things and I'm just like, what, there was nothing in um and you know, it's, it's hindering from what is a good performance to a great performance for her. That's not her fault.

Speaker: That's the annoying part is it's not her fault. It isn't. And I was really happy with with her game. There's a couple times where like her first touch was a little long or a little heavy. um Definitely like a couple things to clean up there.

Speaker: But I think she could be a big game changer in the next match. When you talk about like her being one of the players right now, especially if you think about the starting 11 who are willing to really push forward with the absence of Maddie Dahlin, she has to have that that role, especially if you get to put her out there on the wing.

Speaker: Yeah. Totally. Somebody's got to do it. Just hurt me again about Darlene. um Sorry. It's so brutal. ah Another individual performance I wanted to shout out, Jordan Bug.

Speaker: Let's go. Outstanding. i got her jersey at the beginning of the season before the season started, and I made the best choice I possibly could have made it, seems like. Mm-hmm. Man, i you know, that gain that goal and the precision that she shot that with, it's like, because there was like, what, two defenders in front of her?

Speaker: ah Just slotted it right there on the that post. She went like under ah like a lunging defender. Ridiculous. And I was kept rewatching that goal and like her movement was crazy because you're like, oh, was she just like lingering the box? But she was like at the top of the box and kind of like turned her body and floated around to get into a dangerous area for that ball to kind of pop back out at her.

Speaker: And just like instinctively hit that hit that ah shot. That's the word, instinctively. And I think you could use it for both the touch and her ability to kind of like weave her way into that position, read where the ball is going. It looked like, i was I tried to watch the replay a bunch of times too.

Speaker: I can't quite tell if Fishlock gets a touch to help it out. I tell either, yeah. And then there's like another player. It might have been Fishel, I think maybe. It was Fishel, yeah. Yeah, and it's like ping-ponging and Bug still finds a way to be right there in perfect position.

Speaker: I was having a thought after watching that over and over again. And then like that rocket that she scored that one time, i was like, imagine if she played higher up the field. Well, we might have something about that from the postgame presser.

Speaker: Oh, I'm excited. Well, we love Rogue Jordan Bug. We've noticed that, especially the second half of the season. Her just kind of showing up and being like, oh, I'm just going to keep dribbling.

Speaker: Great. inspiring Phoebe, too. ah Let's talk about Madison Curry. Let's do it. She got got the start in this match instead of Brown, which after her performance in the last match, when she subbed in at halftime, when Brown got her little tweak, I'm not going to use Laura Harvey's word for this. It's a dangerous one. It is. um But she came in and definitely looked really, really solid. So it having her start in this game, I think, was brilliant.

Speaker: And she showed up. It might not look like it on the stats sheet, but as an observer and a watcher of the game, there were several times where she tracked down Soleil Washington, who was going in 1v1, about to have a breakaway, and Curry just came in and got it.

Speaker: um We lost you for a second, Coop. Just keep going. was halloween That was Halloween magic. He disappeared for a second, came right back. um And then in the second half, shutting out Marta in the box.

Speaker: She'd got beat, I think, once. That was kind of ugly. But other than that, she it felt like she had that side really locked down. and I'm glad you mentioned the play on Soleil Washington, who's really fucking good, by the way. like I was glad to see her play in person. She's part of that Florida State Seminoles gang with Jordan Dudley. and I know it was years ago at this point, but Bunnishaw played at Florida State, so like they're obviously doing... some things over there. But like, when you think about Curry's game, like she had the beautiful pass into the aforementioned Coco Mondesera where she had to chip the keeper and try to head it in. Like that's all created because of Curry's great vision. You think of her as an excellent passer, a wingback who can get up the field.

Speaker: But for her and those two specific moments, which you clocked right in the moment in the press box van was just like, you like to see that be part of her game where she could even like March is a strong physical player. And for her to stand up to her, I think that's just a great sign.

Speaker: Yeah, i don't I don't necessarily look at Curry's physique and I'm like filled with like, oh, she's going to be able to stand up to Marta. Right. So I was surprised and happy. Yeah.

Speaker: It does feel like her and Brown keep like kind of switching off like, ah I don't know, one of them doesn't maybe look as sharp as they have looked and then they they bring in the other one um and then they kind of just keep that spot until they they're not as sharp as they look and then they kind of keep flipping back and forth. I think I like it.

Speaker: i think it's a I think it's a strong suit. i mean, there's not a whole lot of depth on this team. And to have depth at that position is really important. Yeah. Especially when you've got a player um like Huerta who can swap sides. Exactly.

Speaker: I think it was one of my favorite quotes of the season that I got out of Laura Harvey was probably like six-ish weeks ago when when Brown was in really good form. And I asked, is she the starting right back? And Laura Harvey told me, quote, I don't know.

Speaker: and which you know Which is a fair answer, right? And she just kind of talked about like, yeah it's going to depend. And I think everybody who listens to this program probably knows Laura Harvey, likely an avid listener to the Cooler Guild also. And Van, or one Van Crisp ah noted weeks ago that it probably should be Querta and Curry on the wings.

Speaker: Yeah. Well, I mean, but next week it could change too. Yeah. You know, because because Brown's had, I mean, i don't know. It's tough for Brown because she's came back from the ACL. She had a really ridiculous kind of introduction back into the team. The goal?

Speaker: Yeah. That was ridiculous. It was also a really nice goal. So, like, don't know. She's got elements in her game that, like, you got to keep rotating them. You got to. And know and like mix it also, like, makes it difficult for opponents to know what to prepare for. so It's good goal. And it makes each other better.

Speaker: For sure. When you have to fight for a spot. Yeah. The culture is good. I think it's, it works out great. Yeah. I mean, uh, Curry re resigned, so got that going for us. Yeah. Brown's up center too.

Speaker: Let's talk about, uh, Claudia Dickey. I like the distribution. I mean, you know, she's just in Sharpie, just put her in there that she's very likely going to have a good match every time she steps between the pipes. And so like, ah like right after halftime around the 51st, she has, she gets the high claim and hopefully I'm using that term right then. She gets makes the high catch off of martta cross and then just like a like a Sue bird level pass and just whips it down the field to Sam Meza. And like there was, Meza goes on the run and it's just one of those things. I'm sure we'll talk more about the attack where like the passes weren't quite there to really make it more dangerous or as dangerous as it could have been. But just like that part Dickey's game where you know she has the physicality, you you know she has the strength to fight for the ball. But then that distribution too. I mean, <unk> we get we get treated in the playoffs with probably the two best keepers in the league going up against each other next week. Yeah, I think Dickie's distribution is what's going to set her apart in the U.S. s Women's National Team conversation.

Speaker: um She hasn't been facing as much as far as like shot stopping goes um compared to PTJ. But like her distribution and how solid she can be is is very much reminiscent to the Alyssa Nair kind of player. That's a big old comparison.

Speaker: I think she just her distribution is better than there. Yeah, I think I agree with that. Yeah, I i think she she can be a big um ah big issue for Gotham next week.

Speaker: They might need her to be also. They 100% will need her to be. Knowing what I know about Gotham and their firepower, they're going to need a ah huge game from her. So I was glad that she got some moments in this one to kind of freshen up, I guess you would say. Because, I don't know, there's been some lackluster games from her this season, kind of being caught doing some silly stuff, and she needs to look sharp.

Speaker: Really, really sharp. I do think she tends to step up pretty well when we're playing some ah big opponents. ah I'm not usually worried about her when things are like that. But yeah. I think a really important thing to talk about when going even just going into this match was this fact that you wrote here, which is that they controlled their own fate.

Speaker: You win and you're in. That's extra incentive for the players. Right. You don't have to hope for something else to happen if you do your job. It's a great point. And like they need, they needed to have a certain mentality and the amount of pressure that they put on the pride, I think indicated that they had the right mentality going into the match.

Speaker: Yeah, which is something we haven't always seen, as we've already mentioned. But um I do think the atmosphere helped them get into that immediately. i mean, they walk out to this, you know, these full stands. Everyone's loud. Everyone's excited. Everyone there also knew the implications. It felt like it wasn't just people showing up because... They needed to find something to do. It was people that were Reign fans. That's what it looked like to me around the stadium. And everyone was bought in and excited to see what was going to happen.

Speaker: And they were ready to also be loud to make sure that the team got that extra boost. It was a great environment all the way around. yeah And the fish like the fish lock factor certainly helps, right? Like the players understand what's at stake. And I'll say like the one thing that I have mentioned to other people who like I talk to about football and ask ah about just fish lock is like the one thing that when people figure out that I do a podcast, I don't bring it up, but like there have been people in, because I don't want to tell people that I'm the one billionth white guy to do a podcast. Yeah. But like a couple of my colleagues have found it or big football fans and stuff. But the number one thing that people, whether they really like women's football specifically or not, is you get to talk to Jess Fishlock.

Speaker: Like, and so like she is just known here. And so, ah you know, I mean, she is, you know every word you could throw out. She's an icon. She's a legend. She's all those things, of course. And I just think like, The players certainly had to feel that.

Speaker: And that's got to be a lot to carry on your shoulders. If you are a Jordan bug and you're you know you're a teenager or you're a very young person, it's like, well, I don't want to let down one of the greatest players in the history of the league. Totally.

Speaker: Yeah. I mean, it was a big moment for her. And certain that the team is young. The team is really young. I should have looked up what the average age was of this. It's going to go down when she leaves. Well, I was like, what does it look like without if you take her age out of it? Like, what's the average age of this team? It can't be high.

Speaker: That's a great call. You take out her age and Biandolo's age and the super young team. She's still on. Listen, she takes the field again, I'm just a little upset about what's happening there.

Speaker: I can understand. live with a Seattle rain football club, super fan as well. And let's just say she's not psyched about the experience either. Anyway, what else didn't work? Moving on. ah Do you want to shout out anything else for what worked?

Speaker: I think we about covered it. Yeah. Okay, cool. So what didn't work? ah The one thing I put that I want to bring up before we you know get into specifics, but ah that's uncontrollable at least. The Reign, what didn't work for me is the Reign keeps developing really good goalkeepers and then we can't keep them and then we have to play them and they're really good. And this game was a perfect example of that because I was like, oh, shit, I know that name. Anytime I'm like kind of familiar with the name, I'm like, this is going to be difficult. Probably going to be difficult. I don't know what it is about the rain and developing goalkeepers. mean, sometimes we have like what four in a roster sometimes.

Speaker: Sometimes. I feel like the summer where there was like a moment where he had like a bunch of extras. Granted, but there were some injuries. But um yeah, the the goalkeeper for Orlando had a great game. How do you pronounce your name? I'll let you take a crack at it. You know I'm always so good at that. Um, Morshay, was it Morshay? Morshay, yeah. I think that's right. She was fantastic.

Speaker: I do you think a lot of the shots, not so fantastic. Well, and the one big save she did make was an offside anyway. Okay. True. But yeah, the best shot of the night came from Jordan Buck, I thought. Yeah. So what does it say when it's your center back making the best shot of the night?

Speaker: I would file that under things that didn't work. um Like obviously Jordan Bugshot worked, but they don't score, man. like and you know Harvey talked about it and has said it for years, is that the quality isn't there in the final third. And I know it is it's like it blends in as white noise at some point, but like what else is it? Like there's just so many near misses um that are, that look like their passes that are two yards in front of where they should be. Or like sometimes Montessir, like when we talked about her touch and maybe some of her inconsistency across goes 10 yards over somebody's head on like what could be a golden opportunity and that kind of stuff. The near misses in this match felt like they could be chalked up to some bad luck.

Speaker: But on balance, when you are the the team that has scored the third fewest goals in the league, at some point you just have to raise your hand and be like, it's hard for us to score. Yeah. And it was frustrating this game because they were getting into dangerous positions.

Speaker: um But there were several times I noticed a lot with Mercado, Fulham, and a couple other players, but like there was a couple of times where Meza had the ball like at the edge of the box and just just slam it.

Speaker: They were looking for that perfect opportunity or that perfect cross and not just going for it, which is frustrating because then they take an extra touch or take a little bit too long. And that's when, to all their credit, Orlando's defense just packed in and got in the way.

Speaker: But you take a couple of those shots first time, take one less touch, you have that opening. Yeah. They seem to struggle against teams that have nothing to lose and then end up doing what you just said, like packing the box.

Speaker: The creativity seems to kind of just go out the window at times. Yeah, I mean, it's pretty reminiscent, not reminiscent in that sense, but like the inability to break down Portland when you're up two players. Mm hmm. Yep.

Speaker: OK, let's not think about that. That's really rude. we're We're moving on past that. I will just say, oh go ahead, please. i Well, I would say, what was it, the Louisville game? Like, I don't know. i feel like there was just moments where we couldn't break through and then they just ended up getting the best of us.

Speaker: And like that could have easily been this game, I thought, but i don't know. I just... yes lot of red flags. lot of red flags, but also it's a green flag because they've we've they've had these matches this season and not been able to break through. hu And they did get a goal. They did.

Speaker: And they got a goal off a set piece, which is really they've been really struggling to do this season. How many chances do they have to do that, though? And... I swear, like I saw him on Desir like going to like put the ball in the corner. Like it felt like a million times. Yeah. I was like, here we go again. it going to be this one? I mean, it did happen. One's better than none. That's sure.

Speaker: i will check. I know exactly. I think I'm, I know exactly what you're referring to. Referring to Coop was like somewhere in the, around the 20th where I just kept adding wins back to back to back to back corners, like four just right in a row. And I was like, are they going to try something different? or like I wasn't like, oh, wow, i've my mind's been blown about this new tactic. No, I wasn't quite like that. But, you know, it did work. So, yeah, have to give him credit for one.

Speaker: But they're they're going to need to score multiple goals to win at Gotham. Got to. That's a tall order, but it can be done. I mean, you know, how many times have you seen in this league and you guys, you know, I'm a transplant. I didn't have a ton of opportunities to watch this league, but like from what I understand and from what I've seen the past several years, you know, eight versus one in the playoffs is live. Like every underdog is is a live underdog and in in this playoffs.

Speaker: Didn't Gotham their first championship, weren't they eighth? Exactly right. Yeah. But that's the thing. like ah Every player talks about it. That once once you get to these quarterfinals, it's a whole new ballgame.

Speaker: That's why it's the best league in the world for women's soccer. It's most competitive. You never know who's going to win. It's usually not us. It's never been us. but I mean, can we can you hang your hat on if you are just like – I don't even know what to call myself. You guys can but set the number wherever you want. But if you're a 51% football snob and you say, well, whoever wins the shield, that's really who wins the league. And then the playoffs are like a tournament after that. You guys have won the league three times. I mean, that's lifting the trophy in my book. No.

Speaker: yeah That's not really how this league works. I think i think that if that was the goal and there wasn't ah there wasn't a reward for getting eighth place. We don't have a star on our jersey. Wow. Okay. Yeah. I never thought about it like that. That's fair. Can I can i make the argument? And please, if I'm being an annoying guy, try to make an argument. please.

Speaker: What I love about like European football especially is like, isn't the most fair way to judge who's the best team in the league that year? Every team plays each other twice, once a home and away.

Speaker: And then you calculate up all the points and it's like, okay, so over the course, who's the best team? I feel like that is one of the most fair measurements in sports of like, who is the best team that year? Grant, we're in America. we're in well i wanted and and know we are in late stage capitalism. Nothing is fair in this country. What are you waving at me? What is that hand thing waving at me? back scratcher? what do you have there? okay A bear claw back scratcher? Okay, I can see my points. ah No, I have to. I mean, I agree with you. i do agree with you. I think this is the best way to determine who was the best team of the year. i And I think that is worthy of celebrating. I think the Raid should be proud that they've accomplished that.

Speaker: But um I'm sitting here with my jersey and it's just a little empty. And understand until at least one is on there, I'm just not, I don't feel satisfied. Totally fair. And I know they don't either. I know Laura Harvey is like frustrated more than I'll ever be about that. Cause they have to put those jerseys on every day that they go and play game and then they look at each other and they're just like, wow, we need to do something about this.

Speaker: It's just like it's so it's a tournament within a tournament, right? So you finish one, you know, you win the shield. You still got more games to play. You could lose out. mean, that's why we like the World Cup, right? Yeah.

Speaker: That's true. i don't I mean, it's different. You know, we're talking about different things. And also, like... It's kind of weird because with you, I mean, this is we're getting into different conversations, but like with the European leagues, at least for women's soccer, I guess it's true for men's too. But like, there's only like a few teams that really have a chance. So if you put in this playoff element, then what happens?

Speaker: That is a that is a very good point. Like you you very. Or, yeah, pretty rarely, like in the English Premier League, like ah a different team other than like the big six, quote unquote, win the FA Cup. Yeah. So, yeah, I see where I see where coming from. Yeah. I don't know. It's just an interesting element for the NW cell to like kind of give glory to random. I mean, not random teams, but like you do in in a sense get teams that like maybe everyone counted out actually do you have a chance.

Speaker: and the team's got it's evened out enough too i think it's good for like an incentive structure too if the team ends up actually paying decent amounts of money to the players on these teams yeah you know you have multiple opportunities to rack up some funds yeah well anything else that didn't work anyone wants to point out everything everything work we're good Van, was it you would put in possession and clearances at the end of the match? I i put that in there. Please, I want to hear more. I guess, well, i went I was kind of surprised how bad possession was when I looked in the second half. I thought it was really bad just at the very end of the match, but then I saw the numbers, and ah Rain had 34% possession. i guess Orlando.

Speaker: That's the part that upsets me. It's like, it's against Orlando. Can't we hold the ball a little bit better? um And then the clearances, I thought at the end, it seemed like they were really trying to get the ball to the other side of the field and they were not successful with it when they were booting it. And i need them to kind of...

Speaker: do that better because I have a feeling they're going to have to do that the next game and they need to be able to take it to the corner a little bit better. I thought for sure Ratcliffe would be a little bit better at that and it just seemed like they weren't executing that super well.

Speaker: Maybe they're tired. I don't know. i was, you know, they were working pretty hard that game. um But I did also want to point out, though, that the went and looked at the the stats that we played against Gotham when we were up 2-0 and the possession was about kind of what this bad possession bout was. So I'm not super worried about this, like not being able to hold the ball because I think Gotham's going to want to hold the ball.

Speaker: But it did kind of ah drive me crazy against Orlando specifically. Yeah. Well, i think I think it totally makes sense. And Van and I were talking in the press box when when Harvey made the Menti and then seven minutes later, Brown and James Turner substitutions. And you think about those crosses or those clearances, pardon me, their own like you said, Ratcliffe is the only real like true blue attacking player up there.

Speaker: To have be forced into doing a lot of work. So I thought that that definitely made it challenging. But like you said, like we've seen it work before. Sometimes parking the bus is is just a horrific strategy. It worked out for him this time, though.

Speaker: Did not work last time against Gotham, though. Very true. and There were several times towards the end of the match where they went to clear it and there was just no one there. Exactly. Because all 11 players were behind the ball.

Speaker: so Yeah, I just don't understand what the reasoning for some of that was then. Strategy. They won. Yeah, they did win. ah Should we move on? Are we satisfied with being angry, upset, annoyed? Yeah, I think so. I think we're done being negative at least. um All right. So post-match presser, you guys were both in there. Yeah, but before the presser, we went down on the field. I did. Grant stayed up, but went down on the field for Jess's retirement celebration.

Speaker: And that was fun. Pino was there, did a little speech. bunch of people stayed around. it was cool. I did notice last year when we were down on the field for Lou's retirement, Adrian Hanauer kind of like stood to the side, kind of right in front of us.

Speaker: And this, he came out for this one and like went into the crowd around yeah around the stage. Interesting. It's an interesting little tidbit. But it was neat. They had a little video from like former players and impacted community members and her family.

Speaker: it was neat. And then we went into the presser and it was Grant called this one. Again, I deserve very little credit, but Van and I like to play a game where we guess who were who were who's going to be made available to us from the player side. And really there were only two options in Jordan Bug and Jess Fishlock. I mean, so it was a pretty pretty easy guess for me, but that's who we got.

Speaker: Yeah. And understandably so, you know, some of the some of the questions were about, you know, Fishlock's feelings, you know, kind of wrapping up the season. But, you know, in true like with her, especially like nose to the grindstone, like just kind of super focused captain of the of a squad. She was just like, we got more games to play. Like she was, she was happy with the win, but like she was, it felt to me like she kept pulling it back to there are three more wins left. And yeah yeah I mean, I can't even imagine a player of her import, a player of her ah level of accomplishments, how desperately she would love to lift that trophy and get that star like you were talking about.

Speaker: It's been a struggle watching that just like get this close over the years and not be able to finish out and like for how much she's given to this club and how good she is as a player. It just like I want this for her more than anything else.

Speaker: Um, she did give a lot of, like she took a, took, took time and nobody asked her about it, but she took a second to just talk about Jordan bug. Yep. And move the conversation around to round Jordan bug.

Speaker: Um, and i thought it was interesting. They've Jordan bug was saying that they'd been working on those, um, set pieces in this corners of her getting more involved. And she credited the rain goalkeeper coach, Lloyd Yaxley for kind of orchestrating that goal.

Speaker: Well, something's working in there. Mm-hmm. yeah There was a decent amount of set piece talk. So yeah, you're you're right. like they they clearly they They should feel like that could be a little bit of an advantage for them if you think you know a player as tall and strong as Bug, like that should be a winning proposition for them. They just haven't been able to convert this year.

Speaker: And her finishing. That's it. I was like, we need to like, we we lack this quality with finishing and like, she is so good at it. So like, you might as well do it. Might as well use her. The team's not going to change in a week. No.

Speaker: But especially if I'm thinking forward to the Gotham game on, on Sunday, Sunday, Sunday morning, Sunday, um They might not have a lot of chances in the run of play.

Speaker: Yeah, I wouldn't think so. So set piece plays in coming off a game where they were successful in a set piece play could become ah ah a big game changer for them against Gotham.

Speaker: Yeah, I keep kind of going back and forth on how, like, they're going to be able to score against Gotham. Because the last time, ah can't remember who scored the other goal, but they got a penalty. One of the two goals they got was a penalty. ah So, you know, create situations in the box, right? Yeah.

Speaker: But also, run of play, maybe not as pretty as you would think, but, like, can they do something to AKB to throw off? Yeah. Catch her out? I don't know. Well, can talk about that in a minute. ah Did you have anything else from the player presser?

Speaker: um Yeah, I mean, from Van and I talking about it over the course of months at this point, I did ask Jordan Bug about her you know propensity to get forward in in the second half of the season. And she had said, and i I don't have the exact quote here, so my apologies, but I'm pretty confident that she used the phrase that Harvey, quote, lets me do what I want. Yeah, that's right. which I think is great because she is a dynamic player. But when, you know, when I asked her about that, I told her, wanted to be careful because I, I wanted to call it freelancing. So I did the journalist trick of like, don't want to call it freelancing because I don't know what the plan is. But when you start moving forward like that, You know, what's what's the plan? What are you doing? And she pointed out she was a forward growing up, like most best players on their team are. um But then she she pointed out, which I was surprised by this, is that when they play small side scrimmages at rain practices, she's in an attacking position there too, apparently, which I find very interesting. And so you see this with like, you know

Speaker: coaches and managers taking a shot with really talented players of like, let's like, I'll just pull the example of like Lily Johannes. Like people look at her as like, she's a six and she is a great six in my view, but there are managers are like, well, what if she's an eight? What if she's a box to box midfielder? What if I could play her at 10 because she's a passing genius? And you got to wonder is Harvey and the coaching staff, are they thinking about those kinds of things with Jordan bug?

Speaker: Absolutely. i mean, absolutely. That's like something Harvey's known for doing. So thank God we have someone as talented as Buck to be able to kind of work with her. And I think but in a professional standpoint at where she is in her career and with her chances at making the national team and the full roster, like as a regular in call ups, that's going to be at center back.

Speaker: So she needs to play at center back. Yeah, they put them in the club level. Yeah, that's the thing. I would think so. I think that's right. And I'm going to use apologies for bringing up men's football here. And especially because I'm a Manchester City fan, we have this dude, Nico O'Reilly, who plays for England and he's fucking awesome, but he's a great right back. But also the dude looks like he could play number 10 at times. And so I just wonder of like, what, like if you, if you empower bug as a center back, but then say, Hey, sometimes McCammon, you drop back and Jordan's going to drive forward and she's going to dictate some of the offense. I'm Maybe she doesn't have to play 10 or number eight for, you know, 20 minutes. But can you can you give me like 10 minutes where that's kind of what our offense looks like to kind of throw a different look at our opponent? I think that could be that valuable, even at the national team level. i I'd be shocked if Emma Hayes didn't want to see some of that. Yeah.

Speaker: No, I don't disagree with you, especially for such a young player, yeah kind of pigeon pigeonholing her. But also when you pigeonhole someone, they can really perfect their craft at their position.

Speaker: Totally right. And she's a beast of a center back. Yeah. So maybe in this instance where there's a lack of quality at times, that makes sense. But in any other instance, I don't think it does.

Speaker: i think that's the right read. How is she only 20 years old? I don't know. She just turned 20 August. It's crazy. And I think the same thing, and Van, I'm curious your opinion. I think the same thing in the pressers. She is a mature, intelligent young person who just, with a bullet, she is ah the captain of a good club in any league that she would ever play in.

Speaker: Yeah. mean You saw it in her celebration too, right? Yep. She was just like, yep.

Speaker: I mean, the team took the celebration for her, but then she just like got on her way. Yep. Here we go. Back to the game. 100%. Yeah, the very humble, um I think, intelligent player.

Speaker: Big fan. Really big fan. And then we had Laura come in. which I think the most impactful thing I heard from her to start was kind of talking about that it was a similar feeling to 2023. Yep.

Speaker: yep But they this time they wanted they wanted to lock in and do it for Jess. um And then she also talked about how since there's a Sunday game, they'll get an extra day. So they'll have a little bit more recovery.

Speaker: um And she was happy to come off of the game injury free. Yeah. I thought all that made made a lot of sense from her. I thought ah I appreciated her candor in the sense that she mentioned that Fishlock didn't have the opportunity to, quote, train the way she usually does, end quote, because of all of her media responsibilities and the buildup.

Speaker: you know Everybody wanted to talk to her like before her last home match and all that stuff. So i thought I thought that was an interesting piece to throw in. And then like we talked about earlier, she talked about the healthy competition between Madison Curry and Ryan Brown. And I liked her framing of... She talked about she had to have an honest conversation with Ryan Brown about, hey, Curry's going to get the start here, but it's not your fault, quote unquote, to Ryan Brown. It's just like, hey, when you when you went out, when you were injured for a bit, Curry came in and she was great. And that goes back to Van's point earlier of like now it's a healthy competition. And to your point, Coop, when you have a good infrastructure and a good culture within your club, you can actually that can actually help your team.

Speaker: Yeah, totally. It's also fun for us as fans. Exactly. Yeah. ah On the track of having players play in different positions, um she did mention that she's they've been trying to free Meza up in the attack recently.

Speaker: um And that laura coach when Laura was coaching the U-20s, Meza played the 10 for the U-20s. Oh, my God. Stop. so know Don't tempt me, all right?

Speaker: Can you imagine? She's so good. She's so good. Can I do one more quick sidebar if I may derail us one more time? Sure. Did you guys see the list of the 50 players available for u Women's National Team for the next window?

Speaker: I don't think so. i don't think I did. So they released a list. 50 players. who are available for selection, and I think they've got to pick 23 for the next window. Not listed.

Speaker: In the 50, Sam Meza. And so the reason I tie this to the being tempted point is, at this point, are they just daring her to go play for Mexico? Yeah.

Speaker: if I mean, it's fucked up, though. I don't get it. I don't get it. is she like if And I know Emma Hayes says this, and English football pundits and managers love to say this all the time. Club form has to matter yeah for national team selection.

Speaker: <unk> I'm not sure what exactly else she Sam Meza would have to do. Yeah, she's doing everything she needs to. That's insane to me. So I'm going put Emma Hayes on my list.

Speaker: Love you. Oh, Coop, an important note from the press conference. ah Laura was asked about the um Jess Fishlock. um What is that game? Remember the Operation game? Oh, God.

Speaker: She blamed the AI on the medical department. Okay. i What do you mean? She blamed the AI on the medical department. The medical department made the game. Did they? Yeah. Listen, it's not cool to use ai You know how stupid you look when i fucking catch catch your clamp and it's also a hand? It was so creepy. And then she had two hearts.

Speaker: I mean, and that's it could be a bit. I'm fine with that. That could be a bit. She has two hearts, right? You know, but ah anyways, medical department, you're also on my list. I don't know what this list is to be clear. um Fair. But the medical department, I guess, is on there now. ah Is that it? Is that you guys got anything else? That was it for me from the presser. Are we are we ready?

Speaker: think we're ready. Let's do Cooler Player of the Match. The Cooler Player of the Match is brought to you by The Doctor's Office, a great little 12 seat bar on Capitol Hill. The owner big fan of the rain and is proud to be our very first sponsor.

Speaker: I don't think this is going to surprise anybody for this episode, given how we've talked about her. Yay. Who we're giving it to. Madison Curry. ding, ding. meow, meow. Great performance. Thank you.

Speaker: you're talking about Madison Curry, not mine. Both of you. You know what? All four of us, really.

Speaker: No, I think she just had a standout game and it would maybe goes unnoticed by the stats in this performance, but didn't go unnoticed by us. So congratulations. Yeah. I was looking at the Fottmob Radians and I was like, what?

Speaker: I know. Shocked. ah But yeah, she's great. ah Cool. And thanks again to our sponsor, of The Doctor's Office. The Doctor's Office is the best place to grab a drink before or after a rain match. Make an appointment today and order their limited edition Tea Time with the Cowboy.

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Speaker: That does sound wild. Yeah, I had to look up the pronunciation as usual for poont MS. I saw a video of all these people like trying to pronounce it. And then like some, I don't know, some like liquor place in like New York explained how to pronounce it. But I love, I mean, going shout out Chartreuse anytime I can.

Speaker: Fair. All right. Cool. Well, go check out their Instagram at TDO Seattle or better yet, go drink there person. Cheers. Cheers. Yeehaw. I'll show up. I've been made making, i've I've wanted to make a point of going to the doctor's office. I live in the beautiful central district of the Emerald City. And so I'm not far from Capitol Hill. I got to go check it out. So doctor's office, I'll be making an appointment soon.

Speaker: It's good. It's really good. It's nice. Yeah, it's really swanky in there. if you ever like want to impress like someone. i have somebody to impress. can try that. yeah It's a cool little spot to go check out. It is. right All right. So the NWSL games that we had were all at the same exact time. So I'm not sure how much everyone was able to see. I don't know. Did you have like video feed of other games up there when you were in the press box? ah Granted. Yeah. The best I could do was on my laptop. I had the Courage Summit match on my laptop. But like there were a couple moments where like you know I'm watching the rain match, and then I would kind of glance down.

Speaker: And like from what I could see, I was like, oh, it looks like Courage has like a decent number of chances. But then when I went back and watched after, i was like, no, Summit was definitely the better side throughout most of that match. And I was just like catching snippets. So it it was... The you know decision day in any football league is fun because you play them all at the same time and all that all that stuff, but it could be hard to track.

Speaker: Yeah, there's also only one spot up for grabs. So, I don't know. But you want to run through the results, Van? Sure. Yeah, i didn't I watched a couple replays. I watched the replay, or not replay, but the highlights of the... the Gotham game and the Portland game just because I wanted to see the penalty. um Angel City beat Boston four to one um Goals from Martin Shores, John's daughter, Jan's daughter, and Emsley. And then Gutierrez got one for Boston. She's been a beast for Boston.

Speaker: ah Bay lost to San Diego. Lone goal by Van Zanten. ah Gotham beat Utah 2-0. girl right and Shaw with goals so something to watch out for there they did clinch the shield with the win it was the first shield for Gotham Houston lost to Portland two to zero ah Wilson scored both goals there was penalty in the 70th minute ah for the second goal but it had to be retaken it initially got saved um but there was an encroaching play this would only get called back for Portland there we go

Speaker: There was a player that encroached and so from Houston, so it got called back and they retook it and she scored. yeah yeah To be fair, Campbell did save it and then it bounced back into the box. You know what I love the most about when you say something about Portland is you'll be like, well, of course this happened, but it also it made sense. i love i like love that you give your bias that we fucking hate Portland, so it was dumb that it happened, but also it was the right thing. Yeah.

Speaker: I'd like to co-sign that as a fan of your guys program. I fucking love that. It is a recurring theme. You know, I do my best to be objective when objectivity is needed. But also a hater. Yeah, for sure. ah North Carolina did end up beating Denver. So this was the game that if we had tied, we needed North Carolina and Denver to tie. Yeah. Or Denver to win.

Speaker: Yeah. I mean, just, yeah. um If we tied. ah And North Carolina waited until the very last minute and it eventually was an own goal at 90 plus four. That would have been a brutal way to lose like out on the playoffs. Yeah, really would have.

Speaker: I thought about that when I went back and watched a bunch of the match. i was like, oh, shit, Denver was way better than North Carolina. Most the match. And then if they would have nicked one at the end and then rain gets knocked out of playoffs, that would have been brutal. Yeah.

Speaker: And of note, Ashley Sanchez, even with all those games in hand, could not score the record breaking goal. I think someone pointed out that we kind of did I go out? do grandco out Oh god. ah You're back. I think we're back. yeah This keeps happening. ah Someone did point out that like we like usual lay the groundwork on how to shut someone down. Yeah.

Speaker: We figured it out. Yeah. So then everyone followed us. Uh, Louisville lost to KC two to zero goals from Sharples and Hopkins. And then tying out the weekend, um, the spirit beat Chicago two zero.

Speaker: own and there was an own goal to own goals this week. Um, and then Rodman in the 85th. Cool. Well, that means, uh, for the next game, we're facing Gotham, uh, cause we were the last seed and Gotham won the shield. Uh, the game will be obviously not here. It's in New Jersey. Everyone's favorite place. Um,

Speaker: Yuck. I've never done. It'll be at 9.30 on Sunday, November 8th. 9.30 a.m. Yeah, sorry, a.m. A.m. This is so crazy. Can you imagine if it was at 12.30 at midnight in these costs? That'd be crazy. Anyways, 9.30 in the morning, bright and early on Sunday. ah It's on a ABC and ESPN Deportes.

Speaker: So hopefully you have those channels or one of them, at least. General notes that I put down um for this. Gotham haven't lost to the rain in eight meetings.

Speaker: ah The last time the rain beat Gotham was April 1st, 2023, which April Fool's maybe, you know, I don't know. ah wow but So they've had her they've had the reigns number for a while. that that that kind of worried me. And then the last result, as I kind of already mentioned, it was the late collapse game where we went up 2-0. And then ah the good news, though, is that when we had the collapse, they had a stair still.

Speaker: And then we had that last dagger from Lavelle. There's no more a stair on this team. No more a stair. So hopefully that helps us. Seems like you had a couple other notes, Van. Yeah.

Speaker: Um, most these are Grant. Oh, Grant doing the work. What do you got, Grant? I got thoughts. And, you know, I raised my hand on my New Jersey bias. I lived in New York for nearly a decade. And so obviously I much prefer New York to New Jersey, obviously. The best part about New Jersey, it's close to New York, but I digress. um so now ja Important to note, though, Jalen Howell, she left this victory 20 minutes into the match with an apparent ankle injury. Now, I have not been able to find a single injury update because, you know, the NWSL, but that certainly bears monitoring, I think. Absolutely. Yeah.

Speaker: you you mentioned You mentioned girl writing. She has one goal, two assists in her last five appearances for the Bats. Fun girl writing stat. Since 2017, she has played for the league winners. but yeah but I rebuke this. I rebuke. She has played for the league winners in 10 of 11 seasons. So that's three titles with LSK Kavinner in the beautiful top Syrian in wonderful Norway.

Speaker: She won the league with them in 2017, 2018, 2019. Then she moves over to Chelsea for the 19-20 season. So she wins the league in Norway for 2019. They play a summer season like NWSL.

Speaker: Then she moves to Chelsea Football Club, and she goes on to win six consecutive league titles in the WSL from 2020 to 2025, and now comes here for the bats and wins in 2026. She has spent a ton of time at left back, but she can play attacking midfielder. She can run. She can dribble. She can pass. She can shoot. She's an absolute nightmare to go up against NWSL.

Speaker: And so it just depends. If she's a left back, is she going to be matched up against Curry? Or if she's playing attacking midfielder, is she going be running running at McClernand, at Bug, and Meza? No matter what it is, it's not going to feel great for us as observers, I think.

Speaker: I guess I could transition that into things I want to see, and it's the defense. You just pointed out players that I think can take on that role, like that job. Got to. And be successful, too. ah You pointed out Bug. Obviously, she's incredible. Sam Meza, I think she's going ready for that task.

Speaker: um Yeah, I think the defense, need they're going to have to show up. This team is super, super scary, super threateningly attack. Stacked. Super good.

Speaker: It's like not fair. I don't even want to like list the names because it's just like superstar after superstar. And another thing I'd like for them to, I know that they're going to at least try to do, but is to isolate and take Midge Purse out of the game. Yeah, they're good at that. Great call. yeah She's their main playmaker.

Speaker: ah last week This last weekend's game, she was a huge part of that. It was very dangerous. ah So they're going need to take care of her if they want to have any possibility of or opportunity to win.

Speaker: Yeah. It's, I mean, i think you're spot on. And if if Midge is playing on the right, then she'll likely be matched up against Huerta. And, you know, we've talked like Huerta's kind of had like a little bit of a little bit of a turn back the clock. I mean, she's never been the fastest player, as I know you've educated me on, especially for the early parts of her career.

Speaker: But Huerta's looked really spry these last few weeks. She'll need it against Purse. And when you think about that, you know, if if you want to talk about that defensive triumvirate, if you will, a coup of McLernan, Bug and Meza, they're going to have to find a way to deal with Wrighton and Shaw and Lavelle in the middle. And so, you know, it's scary out here. No deal. Yeah, you it's scary out here and And like, you know, how about Rose Lavelle scored the winning goal in a World Cup final? Like she's pretty used to some big games. so at and NWSL championship MVP literally last season.

Speaker: Yeah. ah I don't think it's impossible, though. no of course not. And i think I think that we saw a little bit of it from Fischl in the last match, but AKB loves to mess around with the ball at her feet. And it does come back to bite her. It's a great call.

Speaker: um And Fischl has been kind of doing that. And I think that that's something they can definitely take advantage of. Does it make you a little bit more open behind that? Yes.

Speaker: But I think that they're up for the task. And if that's a way they're going to get a goal is off a mistake, you have to capitalize on it. Yeah, I really wish Darlene was there for that. It's a shame because, I don't know, I feel like that kind of slip up could happen. AKB is little bit further up, right? She likes to do that too. And then if Darlene was there to kind of run at it, it's really upsetting to me that she's not available and she's not able to be in this game. But yeah, hound AKB. Hounder.

Speaker: The grass didn't look great last weekend. So we'll see how the condition of the pitch... That's interesting. So you think if you think shitty pitch conditions maybe slows down the game a little bit, that feels like a check in the rain column if if the game is a little slower, Yeah.

Speaker: Yeah, I don't know if it'll be slower. There look to be like kind of dead patches. We've done just for, you know, fields, bad fields I can think of in the league. We've done okay at San Diego. Yeah. So, yeah, yeah I'm not I'm not thinking it's going to hinder us. No. ah So maybe all these superstars will be like, I don't know what to do. This grass isn't great.

Speaker: And they'll be confused, but we will be ready. These aren't the conditions I like to play in. Yeah, that's fair. Yeah, don't know. Maybe I'm grasping at straws these days with what this game is going to turn out to be.

Speaker: uh you put on who put on finish that's me and i i will say you know van it's a great point of like can you can you capitalize on a mistake um i really like that i think that makes sense and you know i talked about it earlier and and even harvey in the post-match presser of this last match said like hey some of those that we missed were unlucky and i think that's true to a point But like, I mean, that pass early in this match against Orlando, the pass from Fishlock to Fischl, like it's on a dime. Like it's it's an absolutely perfect pass to Fischl's left foot. Like you you really need her to finish that. I talked about the chance from Montessier into Fishlock. Curry had great passes.

Speaker: The squad has players who we know are good, smart passers. Well, Fishlock, Curry, Huerta, Meza, and Bug. You just need somebody who's up front to take that chance. And maybe it's, I think capitalizing on a mistake is great. That's a part of underdog football, if you can cash one of those in. Maddie Mercado and her work rate that we've talked about all season, that you guys have talked about all season on your program, like like if she can dedicate to that and if maybe if she's one of the people hounding Kotchenberger... or on Kotrinberger, pardon me, like like that could that could help. But you just got to, like if you get the chance, you got to be, um you have to be efficient with scoring those.

Speaker: Because you're not a get ah gonna get a lot of chances. No, I feel like this game is kind of screaming just fish looks gets another goal yes they Yeah, and then the defense needs to do their job. I don't think we're gonna hold a lot of possession and I think fish locks pretty comfortable with figuring out ways through that So I don't know how much she'll play is it gonna be another 60 minute performance with the star She fit for that ah for a 930 start time on these like, you know, it's just like I don't know uh she is 39 years old holy crap um but yeah finish if if i may and you know this is a little bit of gambling so again please shout me down if if this is silly but if i we do a little over under 35 and a half percent possession for seattle rain football club you going over 35 and a half you going under 35 and a half

Speaker: Over. I might pick under. I'm a little torn, but I feel like I might pick under. That makes me feel good about the number I set. I'm going guess. I'm going to go to 42.

Speaker: Okay. You have more faith than I do. I think it's going to be in that 37-ish range, which is why I kind of set the number where I did. Yeah. I want to pull up the last Gotham game that we played. well that's a Yeah. That's a good call why um what do you think What do you think helps him while Coop does that? What do you think helps him hold the ball a little bit, Van?

Speaker: um I think we saw a little bit in this last match. The passing just seemed to be a little bit more, for lack of a better term, crisp. um Sure.

Speaker: And they seem to work the ball around more, which helped possession in the first half. Didn't do a lot of it in the second half. But I think Gotham are going to give them the ball for a little bit just because they know they can strike.

Speaker: Um, so ah the first half of the last game, the rain had 28% possession and the second half was 31%. So it averages out to 29%. That was the last game. Our XG on that one was 2.09 and then Gotham had 2.54 on that. So, you know, they, they didn't hold possession, but they had chances. But also you're up to zero in the first half. Also true. So, or no, they scored one in the second half, I think, but you're up 2-0. So you you are afforded the ability to give up possession.

Speaker: They did score both goals in the first half. Yeah, you were right, Van. 14 and 23. Okay, yeah. So they were afforded that ability to give up some possession. Right. Because Gotham, in that time, until up until the end of the match, sure they looked threatening, but not incredibly threatening. Our defense looked good. Yeah, so giving up that possession wasn't a big deal. So that's a strategic thing that they do. It wasn't like they were trying to hold the ball. And they fully collapsed, too. Yeah, they should have held the ball. Yeah. That was the problem. Yeah.

Speaker: But you get comfortable. You know, it's the most dangerous lead in soccer. You get comfortable. And that that's what happens. Yeah. Well, I'm feeling, um I could feel better. Yeah, me too.

Speaker: Uh, does anyone else, do you have anything else you want to add to what you want to see in this match? I'd like for them to win. It would be a ah very pleasant surprise if they did. I'm not expecting them to necessarily. Yeah. But anything can happen.

Speaker: Jordan Buggs, you know, who knows? Yeah. wrote her it's With her, anything is possible. Yeah. That's right. I would say the last thing I want to mention of things I would like to see play through contact, especially in the final third. So I went to the NWSL championship last season, obviously easy flight to to San Jose. um And in the, in the, like the post-match, I can't, I can't remember what they call it, but like where like the players come out on like a, like a red carpet, so to speak, and like kind of give interviews after the match, ah the mixed zone is what they call Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker: I asked Jess Carter about, and and for full disclosure for all of your viewers, I am a huge England supporter, both in men's and women's football. I just grew up playing with them in the video game. You could probably take a look from from looking at me. i'm um I'm a descendant from that part of the world. And so I'm a big Jess Carter supporter. And I asked her about them being able to match the physicality of Washington Spirit in that game. And Jess Carter stared a fucking hole through me and was like, we're the more physical team. So we impose our will. And I was just like, oh, Jesus Christ, I'm going to beat up by Jess Carter in the fucking mix zone. um And so like, smart jecarone she takes it very seriously that they play a physical style. So I expect me official and Maddie Mercado and Narelia Montessir, Coco Montessir to really go in there and have to play through that contact to get that those goals that we're talking about.

Speaker: good shout. I love your, I love, I love having like this kind of extra, know because Van and I, we've watched games together for a long time. So I feel like we end up kind of having this similar takeaways.

Speaker: Granted Van has like a goalkeeper view on a lot of stuff, but like, yeah, I appreciate the fact that you shout out these things because sometimes they don't really think about it. oh i appreciate that. Yeah. And as a viewer of the program, I'm very flattered by that. So thank you. I think you guys are the best goddamn show in women's football for, for what it's worth. Oh, thanks. Thank you It's not worth a lot.

Speaker: I'm just'm just You know what? I know you've been dying for a white guy's opinion on that. I just meant we don't get paid a lot, you know, but we do get paid.

Speaker: so I love that. That's saying more than some people. uh cool it sounds it looks like someone put in the uh who put in the other games this this is this is this is good i like seeing i did i um i won't just wanted to because there is only four matches this weekend um might want to watch them do have three days there but there's games uh so the first game morning games yeah and So there's a game ah Friday, November 6th at 7 p.m. That matches on Amazon Prime Video. That is San Diego against Utah. Mike Watts game. Oh.

Speaker: I had to get in. Come on. I'm a viewer of the show. I know youre getting i know your buddies is with him, all right? Of course. We're pals. Yeah. He fucked up another call with this Jordan bug goal. ah Anyway, then there's a Saturday game at 9 a.m.

Speaker: That is the KC against Angel City game. That game is on CBS. You can also find it on Paramount Plus and Fubo TV, apparently. And then Sunday, our game at 9.30 a.m. Again, ABC and ESPN Deportes. And then following that match is the Spirit Thorns game at noon on ABC. You can, however, max out your free trials on FUBU and get banned from them.

Speaker: i speak from experience. That is so great. My credit card is blocked. That is awesome. ah ah Those are some good matches to watch. And I think the weather is also turning, so it'll be a good time to stay in your house and watch soccer. ah Cool. well Are you guys to pick? you want to do picks? We can picks. Yeah, we can do picks. ah First match, San Diego, Utah.

Speaker: San Diego. I'm going Utah. Yes. Coop. Yes. I'm picking Utah. i did Man, I really, really dislike San Diego Wave FC's coach. He is so arrogant. I think that San Diego just gets overconfident sometimes. I don't know.

Speaker: We'll see. you hear you. KC, Angel City. Vans typing, so I'm going to take Angel City. Oh, I going to take KC. I'm going to take Angel City. I hope KC loses, to be clear.

Speaker: Fair enough. I just think they might get their one win. for the playoffs uh god i mean we didn't do we didn't do a pick for the gotham rain game who are we i gotta say rain are we being homers yeah i'll be a homer with you guys let's go fucking fish lock magic i'm doing two one rain love it and then we got last game spirit portland thorns it's spirit spirit more homerism giving the washington spirit but also yeah portland is kind of kind of ass

Speaker: Like lately, they've kind of snuck their way in to like being OK at the end here. But like they're not good and their defense has struggles.

Speaker: Yeah. Struggles. They definitely need Olivia Moultrie back. Yeah. I don't think they can deal with the firepower of the Washington spirit. I just don't. I will ah totally agree. And I think um so on Into the Channel, the podcast that I co-host with Dino DeSespedes, we had ah Southern Silves who co-hosts the Shea Butter FC podcast. And she picked Trinity Rodman as her MVP of the season.

Speaker: And it's just such a fucking great pick. I mean, she has 20 goal contributions. It's sneaky, Van. I see you're giving me a face. We're not it like silves had a good argument here 20 goal contributions on the year. She is the engine of a top three of a top three side. I think that you know, this could be a very interesting year for the spirit. Obviously, they make the final lose in disappointing fashion. Rodman was hurt could only give him 30 minutes in the championship match last year.

Speaker: I'm looking for and rooting for frankly the Trinity Rodman revenge tour. i like I don't root for Michelle Kang teams. Yeah, that's that's our issue. Also so fair. That's a good point. But you're not wrong. Yeah. And all credit to Sylves on that, by the way. Yeah.

Speaker: All right. ah Shoutouts. I'm to start the shoutouts this week. I didn't really want to talk about it just because it's... Loserville doesn't deserve any credit, but the credit does go to the Royal Guard and the range supporters that did what they did on Sunday. They were prepared. They were persistent, and they handled what happened in the stadium with class.

Speaker: And ah yeah, so shoutout to them. Outstanding work. You guys are MVPs. So... You would have known happened if you hadn't been there. Yeah. And I do have very good pictures of the people, some of the people that were there. So if anyone actually needs the faces of these people, I'm not trying to put them out because I just don't want them to have credit. But if someone is actually trying to use them for something that, I don't know, is worthwhile, I have those. I just don't want to put them on blast for... There were so few of them. It was pathetic. I know. It was dumb. Those those bigots, above all else, are cowards. So even their racist, mega, dipshit, semi-literate sheriff down in Tacoma who tried to organize this thing, telling everybody, oh I got 70-plus people. What, at six people maybe show up? And that bald bastard didn't even show up himself. So they are fucking cowards, like they always are. They get shouted down by people who believe in human rights and they deserved it. And hopefully when we leave this podcast, Initiative 638, which is just rampant bigotry and pushed by weirdo freaks who want to check the genitals of young people who want to play sports. Hopefully that gets voted down in Washington state and those people got everything they deserved.

Speaker: Exactly. ah Any other shout outs? Well, not to do with that, but I wanted to, I wanted to shout out Marta. Let's go. Yeah. What a consummate professional that woman is. Yeah. She terrifies the crap out of me.

Speaker: Of course. But so we're standing there by the tunnel watching. That's where they put the media out watched to watch the celebration on the field and after the game. And she stayed after and signed autograph after autograph after autograph.

Speaker: You know, of some bru Brazil fans, but mostly rain fans. Amazing. Love that. And she doesn't have to do that. No. She's scored more, goal more international goals than any, like than most of the people on the planet.

Speaker: She's possibly the greatest women's player of all time. I was going to ask, she has to be the greatest player ever lived, right? I probably. Field player. Yeah. Yeah. yeah Of course, fan.

Speaker: An important distinction. Absolutely. ah But i just thought it was really cool, especially after a loss. The season's over, right? We don't know if she's probably going to come back, but we don't know. And she could have easily walked off the field and left, but she stayed around to sign autographs.

Speaker: And several other Orlando players stayed after in the freezing cold in their game kits to watch the celebration. So I think they've got a good group of, do I love everything about Orlando? No, but I think that they've got some solid people on their team. I just want to shout that out, especially Marta.

Speaker: Good shout. What about you, Grant? um Well, yeah, I mean, this is a cop out. Let me shout out you guys. Just like I said, I just like I like I try not to be like when ah Van and I are hanging out in the in the press box. I just really enjoy your guys show. Like I know it's it's a weird connection to make. But when I was a kid, I used to love the television show. Pardon the interruption with. Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon because it was two people with really good chemistry who would talk about sports and be funny and be clever, but also know ball and be able to talk about stuff. And so I'm just, I think it's really fucking dope that you guys invited me on the show to to give me some space. So thank you guys for having me on.

Speaker: We're happy to have you. um And I guess I could quickly preview. ah We're hoping to have Grant on ah possibly more next season. um We're excited about it. I'm hoping to maybe ease off a little bit of my, because I don't know, I do a lot of editing and I've got like a million. It feels like I have a bunch of different projects going on. So Grant is, i think, a wealth of knowledge that I appreciate. And um I really wanted to bring him on the show more. So um yeah, I think I'm excited to have him on more.

Speaker: Yeah. And hopefully everyone else likes him. And if they don't, we do. So it doesn't matter what you think. Exactly. Because it's our fucking show. It's our show and we vote for Grant. So, yeah, i mean, you know, ball too, you know, like, and you follow like a bunch of other stuff that like we're not maybe as tapped into, ah you know, super specifics about European players. And um that's like super valuable, especially with the World Cup coming up and all that stuff. So diversity of knowledge is a strength. It is. It totally is.

Speaker: Well, it's very kind. I appreciate it. And yeah, I gotta say, after my first appearance, I i i mean, Van knows. I told her I was concerned. I was like, okay, 70% of the the comments are going to be, get this fucking guy out of here. Where is Coop? But I guess it didn't quite go that way. So I appreciate everybody who said kind things about my last appearance.

Speaker: Yeah, I don't. Well, you know, someone will send an email at some point being happy about it, too. Yeah. yeah we We love an email. Yeah, we love an email. You can send us an email at thecoolerguild at gmail.com. You can also visit us on our main page, sounderatheart.com forward slash thecoolerguild. Yeah, and thanks again to our sponsor, the doctor's office. Oh, we're also on Blue Sky and Instagram at coolerguildpod. Are you going to use it sometime?

Speaker: What? I deleted Blue Sky from my phone, so I'm like never on there anymore. i use it sometimes. Okay. I could start posting more. Okay, sounds good. Anyway, yeah. Check it out. Go rate us five stars. Leave a review. Boost.

Speaker: We're trying to hit the top charts. No, we're not. I'm literally not trying to do that. Please don't put me on blast. Don't look at us. I do not need that attention.

Speaker: ah Cool. Well, I guess that's, yeah, that's all we got for now. Actually, now. ah Goodbye. I'm Coop. I'm Van. I'm Grand. He's Grand. All right. Stay cool, y'all.

Speaker: Stay cool. Stay cool.