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The Cooler Guild: USWNT vs. Japan (x3) bonus - Ep. 61
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The 2027 World Cup is just around the corner, and the pressure is turning up. The USWNT returned to Lumen Field for the first time since 2017 as part of a set of friendlies versus Japan. In this bonus episode we get into the three matches and the overall look of the national team, including the Reign's Claudia Dickey and her chances at locking up the top spot at goalkeeper as the 2027 Women’s World Cup nears.
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Transcript
Introduction to Episode 61
00:00:20
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 61 of The Cooler Guild. I am Coop Cooper, and joined with me, as always, is my co-host, Van Crisp. Hello. We are recording on Sunday, April 19th, 2026. Today is kind of a bonus episode, but since the U.S. s played Japan in a bunch of friendlies, including one in Seattle, we figured what better time to talk about the U.S. team with the World Cup on the horizon and kind of stuff happening. And we got we got to Washington and Seattle, so that's always super fun.
00:00:49
Speaker
Yeah, for the first time in nine years. Yeah, it's been too long, way too long. But hey, I'll take it. I'll take it for sure. But before we get into the rest of the episode, i let's get some housekeeping out of the way. 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.
Review of U.S. vs. Japan Friendlies
00:01:20
Speaker
Cool. So three game series against Japan.
00:01:23
Speaker
First game. So it was like a Saturday, Tuesday, Friday. So pretty quick turnaround for the three matches. And the Saturday game they played April 11th in San Jose. And the US won 2-1.
00:01:36
Speaker
Queen Street would have been nice for Claudia, but um we can go over what ah stupid that's that goal that they gave up was. Yep. but The two U.S. goals were scored by Rose Lavelle and Lindsay Heaps.
00:01:49
Speaker
And Japan's goal was scored by Ueki. who I've watched in the WSL and I like the way she plays a lot. then Tuesday's match, which we got to go to record attendance, stand record standalone attendance for a women's sporting event in Seattle with 36,128. It's pretty cool. Yeah.
00:02:06
Speaker
It was a good crowd. with the weather. it was so bad. The weather was awful. It was cold. It was pouring down rain. Yeah. um And still got 36,000 people out there. On a Tuesday. On a Tuesday. Yeah.
00:02:23
Speaker
That was sick. And they lost. Yeah, unfortunately. Not too lost as in Seattle. Zero to one. Japan won. Scored. The goal scored by Hamano. frustrating game to watch. I was really hoping they give him a little bit more of a show, but it was also terrible weather. So I'll complain about it in a bit.
Attendance and Venue Challenges for Women's Matches
00:02:44
Speaker
ah Last game that we had that was a really fun one to watch. um and The weather was also kind of crappy for that one, too. That was in Commerce City, Colorado. They got a pretty good attendance out for that one, too. 17,589, like shy about of a full sellout They won that game, though, against Japan.
00:03:05
Speaker
ah germa got a goal roosevelt got a goal And Kennedy Wesley got a goal. These were all second half goals. Pretty fun. They really got everything kind of clicking in the second half. Yeah, a lot of it clicked. Yeah.
00:03:17
Speaker
I will point out that the Seattle attendance still beat the combined attendance of games one and three. Yeah, yeah that's pretty cool. The thing to note there is the attendance couldn't really be much more for the other places. So I don't know.
00:03:35
Speaker
do they need to be looking at bigger venues sometimes? I think for these kind of spurts of games, these three match spans. Yeah. um I think it's okay. Yeah. But when you have more pointed.
00:03:50
Speaker
mean, it's a good opponent too. So brings up people. This is a good opponent. Yeah. You're playing a top 10 ranked FIFA team. Yeah. And you have three games close together. Yeah. I think when you have a more specific big name opponent.
Emma Hayes' Coaching Strategy and Challenges
00:04:07
Speaker
Maybe you play at a bigger venue. I guess the issue in this country specifically is the stadiums that we have that have grass that is acceptable for this aren't very big. I mean, this is the only reason we got to host this is because they're prepping for the World Cup.
00:04:25
Speaker
Exactly. Otherwise, it's probably getting pushed to smaller venue somewhere. i don't know where else they could go. Maybe L.A., which their stadium, not as big either. so it's cool that they got to experience a bigger crowd for sure. But yeah, I guess logistically, there's really not a lot of options in the U.S. There isn't. There's not enough good ones. No. In really big hubs for women's soccer. I mean, they like to play, you know, at the Casey Stadium.
00:04:54
Speaker
It's tiny. But it's so small. Are they even allowed to like, isn't there like a minimum threshold that they have to like, are they? Is it too small there for them to play? It might be. I think it might be too. I know they have room for expansion, but I haven't really heard anything about that recently.
00:05:11
Speaker
But yeah, it was, i definitely think that they could pull more people, but the other issue with it is u s soccer pricing. Yeah, it's it's rough. I would like to see it at a bigger stadium with more accessibility for people with prices. Yeah. But at the same time, does it, is it up to standard? Can they actually play there? Yeah. Yada, yada, yada. So it's, it's rough. Yeah.
00:05:34
Speaker
Do we want to do you have any other like over, over, I don't know, before we dive into like the Seattle specific match, maybe did you, I think over the three games, it definitely like you could tell that Emma Hayes had a plan.
00:05:49
Speaker
Totally. Yeah. And I think looking at the three games as a whole makes the game in Seattle puts it a bit into perspective. I'm still not happy about it, but you can see the you. could see the idea with it with the lineups with the changes with the rest yeah and and everything so yeah that's i would say yeah she's been doing a lot of experimenting since she took over um it needed to end at some point i wouldn't say this was like the game in seattle yes there was some experimentation but it was also more of let's actually give our depth a look and see what they can do together but she's narrowing down people for sure
00:06:30
Speaker
And it's only going to get more difficult to make the roster now between now and next year. It really is. it's It's kind of it's fun that that you can kind of feel the like pressure turning up on everybody and some are rising to it.
00:06:44
Speaker
Definitely. Some are not. But the ones that are, you know, it's starting to turn it up. It's it's really fun to watch. I think it's really also important that she is giving so many players time. Yeah. Because generally when you're called into these rosters and these camps, you know, sometimes there will be a player that doesn't even see the field. Yeah. You can be a bench player and in the past U.S. experience, yeah, that doesn't happen. They don't get on the field. And I think that that's like people were worried about that with the core of the national team, you know, after the failure at the World Cup in ah in Australia and saying like we've relied on these older players way too much.
00:07:22
Speaker
And so Emma Hayes came in and said, bet. Yeah. We got to find a new core. And so people complaining that maybe it's not, you know, that you everybody's catching up to the US and blah, blah, blah. just shows how strong the WSL is. Yeah.
00:07:36
Speaker
Other teams are catching up, which is the point of growing the game. Yeah. But also the U.S. is in such a difficult situation where you have to find that transition between the heaps and the Wilsons and all of that, while at the same time maintaining, you know, your top three status as a national team.
00:07:58
Speaker
And I think that she's overall doing a very, very good job at that. Yeah. Certainly interesting to watch. Usually someone just comes in and then they they have their core already set. And this is totally kind of her team in a way that like I don't fully know what she's going to do. Still, you can obviously pick out certain players. Yeah. But the fact that she's she's got a lot of names on the conversation is pretty cool. every I mean, like every camp there's somebody new and they're making impacts. Mm hmm.
00:08:26
Speaker
And they're getting time on the pitch. Yeah, yeah. I think that's very smart, and I think it's only going to help the team in the long we' run. Agreed. And I will say, one theme over the three matches, even with how good, technically, Japan is, the U.S. still held over 60% possession in all three matches. 61% Game 1, 67% Game 2, and then 65% in Game 3. I wish they could have done more with that in the second game, but...
00:08:51
Speaker
or wish couldve done more with that in the second game but That's the thing, you know, in the press conference after the match, Emma Hughes pointed that out and said, it's not a terrible game when you can possess the ball for 67% of the time.
00:09:04
Speaker
At the same time, you got to figure out a way to make that possession matter. Yeah, she also did. brought up that it's so much harder to play a team this short after a turnaround from playing them that same from game yeah they can make their quick adjustments pretty well and figure out oh well we're probably not going to have possession so this is what we have to do to make it work for us and they did and they did a good job at that they did Japan looked like a very, very good opponent. Yeah.
00:09:30
Speaker
And minus the last game being a blowout. Sure. If you call three zero really a blowout. But they looked good. And they have an interim coach. So Japan could be scary come World Cup time.
00:09:42
Speaker
Yeah, i really like well I really liked watching them. They're a great team. Yeah. If you're a fan of the game in its purest form, Japan, you love Japan. Yeah.
Logistical Challenges at Seattle Match
00:09:53
Speaker
Let's talk about the Seattle game. Let's get into it. um Kind of a shit show the back end for the media. ah We had we could never we know we didn't get approved for a parking pass, which like i don't know. I know there's like a whole entourage of things that come with the U.S. game. So I knew there was a chance we wouldn't get a parking pass, but they also didn't get parking passes for like the rain staff. Until like the day of. and someone had like Someone had to fight for them to get it I think it was Ryan.
00:10:22
Speaker
Kind of wild. um Didn't really start off great there, but Uh, I don't know what else, what else did do you, uh, what, like, what'd you think of the experience? I thought it was good. Yeah. I mean, and I heard that from a couple people talking about their experience at the match. Yeah. You know, though the team didn't win, it was really as a, as an event itself. It felt like an event. They enjoyed it Yeah, I mean, it really felt big. It felt big, for sure. I looked around. It was buzzing, even if it was terrible weather.
00:10:56
Speaker
People were into the game. They were excited to be there. They were excited to watch this team, even though they didn't win. The energy was there. It's a good place to play. Yeah, it's a good stadium. And I think, let me go into my little rant here, because there's...
00:11:13
Speaker
There's kind of like I'm stuck between two worlds here, right? The first one being from a whole team perspective, from a national team perspective, the Emma Hayes, the staff chose to focus on long term growth and eventually returning to winning championships over what I think would have been better for the city of Seattle and local soccer.
00:11:37
Speaker
And I get that from that perspective. That being said, not starting Claudia Dickey in the one opportunity you have yeah in nine years, and you have the Seattle goalkeeper on the roster who didn't have to make a ton of saves in the first game. She made two kind of point blank great saves, but otherwise not a whole lot else going on. And to choose not to play her,
00:12:00
Speaker
And with 36,000 people there, over 36,000 people there, not afford Seattle that ability to watch that player play and to be like, hey, there's a game on the 26th. I want to go see her again.
00:12:14
Speaker
Right? Yeah. And it's the one rain player on the roster. It's a huge bummer. And I will say with that, there was so much talk about getting Sophia Wilson and Lindsay Heaps playing in their home state and yada, yada, yada, and how great that is for them.
00:12:31
Speaker
You didn't afford Dickey that same courtesy. Yeah. It makes sense in the swapping, right? Putting Valontolis Joyce, who used to play for Seattle. We love we love her. Yeah.
00:12:42
Speaker
But as far as needing to get those thousands and tens of thousands of people to have that bug in their brain to come back and watch Claudia Dickey, you know, next weekend, that wasn't set.
00:12:54
Speaker
And that bothers me. It sucks. But so yeah, it's worth the rant. I think it's worth the rant for sure. And then to have it be your experiment game. It's like, ah really? like if You're experimenting. Can we at least, like, goalkeepers, you know, we all they're not running around as much. You could have played.
00:13:14
Speaker
And for the politics of it, I would have just liked to sub earlier. Sub at half, even get Claudia at half. put Put a player in that can really tie the game together because once Tierna Davidson came on the pitch yeah and once Lindsay Heaps came on the pitch, yeah the team looked 10 times better. yeah And to give us something to be excited about in front of your largest crowd.
00:13:37
Speaker
That's a selfish thing to want, but I am being selfish for the city of Seattle and for the RAINN organization. Yeah, we got you, Seattle.
00:13:50
Speaker
And that's kind of my I mean, we're we're talking from the perspective of Seattle fans. So this is like a very biased podcast. everyone listens to this knows that, you know,
Key Player Performances and Predictions
00:14:00
Speaker
yeah you're going to get our take.
00:14:01
Speaker
And there were moments I thought in the Seattle game, in the kind of messiness of it, there was at least one player that stood out to me. And that was Emma Sears. Emma Sears is fantastic.
00:14:14
Speaker
Yeah, she was like the really the biggest bright spot in the first part of that match. She was great. Of course, Tana Davidson's first national team appearance.
00:14:25
Speaker
That was nice to see. And she looked great. She looked like she didn't skip a beat. Yeah, which we need. Fantastic. And she has been playing regularly in the NWSL.
00:14:37
Speaker
justn't Has she started yet or is that somebody else I'm mixing up? I'm not sure if she started, but I know she's been coming in. yeah I thought this was maybe her first start since her. Anyways, yeah, she looked great.
00:14:48
Speaker
But yeah, overall, I mean, the it was really cool to see the amount of press covering the match. ah You know, from the local TV stations, from The Athletic, from, you know, these bigger publications to have them there when there's usually a handful of us.
00:15:06
Speaker
You know, Japanese media there too, which is fun. That was great. Yeah. So it was ah it was a good event. See what they can't do it more there because it really is like Seattle is such a great city for stuff like this.
00:15:20
Speaker
They show up. mean, you see it with like the hockey team um before they even got the torrent. Right. They would have the U.S. hockey team play the the women because we don't like men. um But they were I mean, they're selling out tickets there and stuff. I mean, this this city does love supporting their national teams.
00:15:38
Speaker
If you give them a chance, I just wish they would find a way to keep that grass at Lumen. It's really a shame they're gonna rip it up. Yeah, I know. And it looked good. The grass looked good. Looked great. And it even withstood that rainy game and then being played on the next day. Yeah. Emma did comment that the field, she said it was playing well. She liked how it looked, but it was maybe a little bit quicker. So that might have played a factor into some of the stuff we were seeing team have with. It quicker because it was wet. It was also wet. Yeah, it was also wet. Super wet.
00:16:09
Speaker
And also one thing we noticed when we were there was that there wasn't covers over the benches. i was so miserable but somebody in the in the discord pointed out that the grass is raises the field so putting the cover on might have blocked the first couple rows oh interesting i wonder well they put they had them out for the sounders thing so i think that fans just got lucky because ah it sounds like it was sponsor related and why they didn't bring them out
00:16:41
Speaker
Could have been, but again, it seemed like it also covered because it's raised about 18 inches. I mean, but they had them out for the Sounders game, so I just feel like that's not the issue. I don't know. Yeah, I thought Noah had mentioned that they didn't, well, his theory was that they couldn't cover up the sponsors. And U.S. soccer is very, very strict about their sponsors and what can be seen. Well, there's other sponsors throughout the stadium, so it doesn't make any sense to me. I don't know.
00:17:07
Speaker
Anywho, anything else from the Seattle game? It's fun that we got to see such a good team in Seattle. That's what I'm thankful for. Like, yeah, it didn't go our way. That would have been so much more fun for the city and retaining fans in terms of, you know, having them come out for more women's soccer in Seattle. But being able to see Japan play is like a treat, even though they didn't hold a lot of possession. I mean, they're so fun when they have the ball in the box. Yeah.
00:17:33
Speaker
um just the quickness that they have when they when they get going with their passing is, I don't know, it's just it's really truly pleasing to the eye. It really is. i was pretty mesmerized by them at moments, to be honest. And yeah, i think I think they're always kind of my second team whenever the World Cup comes around.
00:17:53
Speaker
ah And yeah, I'm just glad we got to that was who we got to play. it was It was a treat to watch Japan for sure.
00:18:03
Speaker
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00:18:16
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:18:45
Speaker
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00:18:56
Speaker
Let's get into kind of overall stuff about the matches. um Roster predictions, I guess. Should we do that? yeah Let's go with what worked and what didn't work. Okay, we'll start there. Okay.
00:19:09
Speaker
Claudia Dickey? Absolutely. Yeah. do You think she's the starter? Yes. Yeah. At this point, yes. um We didn't lose when she played. It's true.
00:19:20
Speaker
And the goal in the second game, at the Seattle game, I think she would have saved. Do you want to talk about that that goal? I guess we'll save it for what didn't work. Never mind. We can save it because it's really just annoys me. what rewat was good That was a goal from the first game. Oh, that one. Yeah, yeah, yeah. um Both goals pissed me off. Yeah, I think Dickie looked more comfortable with the ball at her feet.
00:19:43
Speaker
which was always a talking point with Fallon, right? Uh-huh. And something that they kept saying she needed to work on. And I think Dickey just looks more comfortable. It seems that the defense is more organized with her on the field.
00:19:56
Speaker
And I just, for right now, she is so solid that I don't see why you wouldn't give her the number one spot. I'm like laughing because I'm just like picturing myself right here two years ago.
00:20:12
Speaker
hearing you talk about Claudia Dickey and where we are now. It's it's ah quite the turnaround. But she does she looks amazing. It's a turnaround because she made a turnaround. Yeah.
00:20:24
Speaker
I stand by what I used to say. i don't know. i mean, and you were you were always much harsher than I ever was. You're very critical about goalkeepers, though, for obvious reasons of your past history of your goalkeeper. um The team was really bad that year.
00:20:39
Speaker
So that didn't help Claudia. but ah She also didn't she got injured that year to a bit. um Yeah, it's just it's it's very funny to listen. Oh, it's also very funny for me to think about if you would have asked me two years ago if I would be campaigning for Claudia Dickey to be the US number one goalkeeper.
00:21:01
Speaker
Yeah, who else? I mean, Fallon? I would have died laughing at you. it just doesn't seem like we've seen the strides that we would have needed to see him from Fallon to lock up that spot.
00:21:14
Speaker
I don't know why that hasn't happened. I also think it speaks to how Emma Hayes feels about the situation. When you start Claudia in game one, and then in your game two, where you're getting other players' time working on that development, that's when you play Fallon. And then when you go into game three with the best starting lineup you've had on the of field players, and you back that with Claudia Dickey...
00:21:45
Speaker
That says to me that Emma's made her choice or is pretty sure in that choice. Yeah. Barring some disaster. Yeah. Or something injury related, which is ah why she needs to keep rotating them a bit. Exactly. And you look at the caps between the two players. They're both still under 20 caps. Yeah. It's not, it's not much. So you need to build that up.
00:22:09
Speaker
Mm hmm. Because you don't want to be going into the World Cup with two goalkeepers, one of them way more cap than the other one, and then your backup not feeling super comfortable. Totally. I would rather have them split time until we get really, really close to the World Cup. Pick your number one, but have a definitive number two backup that could come in at any moment and perform.
00:22:29
Speaker
So I get it. What else worked for you? Rose Lavelle. She's so good. It does concern me how much we're going to be relying on her as long as she's healthy. We'll be we'll be good. But sometimes she's out for like stints. She does seem to get ready right in time true for major tournaments. But yeah, she's and it's usually to the detriment of her club team.
00:22:53
Speaker
Yeah, because she i remember the last camera what tournament it was, but she played for the tournament, but hadn't played for the club team for like four matches or something.
00:23:06
Speaker
Yeah, her club stats are interesting. and But she's had a solid year so far. She has. And she seems to be staying healthy, which is good. Yeah. um I also, I've already touched on this, but Tierna Davidson is good.
00:23:22
Speaker
And I'm so happy to see her back because there's not a lot of depth there. I feel like there's... Yeah, I feel like there's... There's different choices, but there's nobody with her so set of skills. Sure.
00:23:34
Speaker
Maybe you could argue a Jordan Bug. What do you think Tierna brings to the team? Is it like how what she can do when she pushes up? Is that... That as well as just her demeanor. Okay, like the calmness. reminds me a lot of Jordan Bug. Yeah.
00:23:49
Speaker
Jordan Bug reminds me of Tierna Davidson in that sense. Yeah. um The height, the ability in the air. Mm-hmm. But also with her, you get that... experience just because she's been around the senior team for so long and with a lot of other things going on around it's good to have that anchor point especially in the back line i mean with germa naomi germa is always going to be your starter back there But it was nice to see a little bit more of that anchored relationship back. Yeah, I was really hoping we would get I mean, I'm glad Tyrna's back, but like I was hoping to see a bug Germa connection and we just got bugged out really unfortunate with injury circumstances that she didn't get called up for this.
00:24:31
Speaker
why She got called up to the under 20s. Yeah, but I feel like if she wouldn't have had her threes, whatever, were but she would have been called up to this team had she not had that injury. Yeah, I've been playing regularly. yeah But that hasn't been happening. So it makes sense to not call her in for this, this set of friendlies.
00:24:48
Speaker
But it did allow for a couple other impactful substitutions. Sure. You want to talk about Kendi Wesley? Because I didn't really know much about her. I didn't know. ah I didn't know anything about her. I did see a lot of people being like, we've been the people apparently who've been in the know with her were just like, finally, she's getting her due.
00:25:11
Speaker
What? I mean, she substitutes on and what, two minutes later scores? It was pretty quick. or Did she assist first or does she score? I did write this up here. Why i didn't write the substitution thing even though I brought it up?
00:25:24
Speaker
Cause she scored the 47th minute. Yeah. So she subbed. no, it was the, ah it was the assist. So she subs on, she assists Germa to get that goal first. Yeah. A minute after she subbed on. And then in the 64th minute, not much longer, gets a goal.
00:25:41
Speaker
Looks fired up as fuck. She, she i mean, this is this what i was talking about. is People taking their moments when they're giving them. We don't know what's going to happen with our depth and who we bring off the bench. This is the kind of stuff we need to be seeing from players when we have these friendlies against teams like Japan. Because it's really hard to gauge...
00:26:01
Speaker
how the team is looking when we're not playing actually good opponents. I don't mean offense to some of the people we play, but not everyone we tend to play from these against is at the level of Japan.
00:26:13
Speaker
Well, we tend to play other CONCACAF teams that come from historically underfunded. Yeah, it's not their fault. kind Like just programs. Yeah, it's not their fault. Yeah, but they're still not very, they're not at the level that I would like to see us constantly test ourselves against.
00:26:30
Speaker
Yeah, they're in a tough spot when it comes to finding good opponents to yeah continually play. I feel like it's been so long in terms of the Kennedy-Wesley thing. My favorite times as a U.S. fan over the years, one of them is when we had Sidney LaRue.
00:26:48
Speaker
Just someone to come off the bench and just deliver an absolute all-time performance for the history books. I need that. i much As much as I love Roosevelt doing her thing on the regular, it's going to be difficult at times and you're going need some some crazy performances off your bench.
00:27:07
Speaker
I think Kennedy Wesley might be that. Yeah. She only has six caps for the senior team, but she's been in the national team program since the U-17s. Yeah. I mean, this just seems like a dream way to come back, right, and get this get this performance that I feel like once shes she's gotten this taste of success and being able to vibe with the team and like help them out, that that's going to hopefully give her the confidence and skyrocket to try to really push and get into this roster for next year. That's what's so exciting is that it's just around the corner.
00:27:38
Speaker
Yeah, it's coming up quick. It really is coming up quick. Yeah, we need we need these kinds of performances from players to show how much they want to be on that team next year. Absolutely. And I don't feel like we've seen that necessarily with some of the forwards or in the Kennedy Wesley isn't even in that position. no you I mean, you really only saw it from like Alyssa Thompson. Yeah. When she started coming into the mix.
00:28:02
Speaker
But to have an impact and a striking impact at that, right? Like something that you could see was a game changer is really cool for a young player. that's so cool It was fun. It was super fun.
00:28:17
Speaker
And it was cold there too. Let's not like... Yeah, they were... Well, it was like nice and sunny the day before and then it just like snowed a bunch. Yeah. And they had to clear off the field. Yeah, it was it was like what, 38 degrees or something like that. Yeah. Ground was cold and hard and ah running on that doesn't seem very fun.
00:28:35
Speaker
But she all she needed was ah one half to to so to show her to show the team what she's got. So... Is there but anything else you wanted to point it out in the what worked section? I mean, I thought the substitutes in the other game are also good. The second game in Seattle, but it wasn't enough. So I can't really say that it worked.
00:28:55
Speaker
I mean, they didn't give up another goal, I guess. But um yeah, I don't know. I don't really have anything else. one One, of the biggest things, and this is so unfortunate for her, but it was a really, really tough stretch for Lily Real.
00:29:10
Speaker
It was not a good three game series for her. And i to the point where like, I know we're trying to do to grow, grow players, but when you're constantly having subpar performances, how long do you let that go on?
00:29:25
Speaker
It was tough. Real tough. And I wish that was a thought what was happening, but she got axed so many times and it's just really unfortunate. That's going to cost, I mean, that's going to cost them in the world cup too. Yeah. Something like that. Yeah. Just bad mistakes. Yeah. Get some more speed on that side against her too. And I mean, I don't, I don't want to see what happens after that. Yeah. She didn't look comfortable or confident and it was just wasn't good. Yeah. Yeah.
00:29:55
Speaker
The goal in Seattle, I think Fallon's position could have been better, but it was a good goal. Real got basically her ankles broken.
00:30:06
Speaker
stuck. The player was wide open.
Defensive Mistakes and Focus for Improvement
00:30:08
Speaker
got stuck. to she It was terrible. But I think the the worst goal that they let led up was in game one. i mean, they didn't even care.
00:30:19
Speaker
No. No one seemed to give a shit about keeping a clean sheet. No, the ball, like, went forward for Japan, and they were in the box, and then it bounced back out and into, like, close to the six.
00:30:31
Speaker
And then, for some reason, when it came forward to the attacking Japanese player, everybody just, like, assumed she was offside. Yeah. And just let her have a free one. Mm-hmm.
00:30:43
Speaker
Giselle Thompson held her on. And you noted... It's so painful to rewatch this once you realize this happens. Yeah. I mean, maybe other people caught it live. know I was observant sometimes, but Emily Fox is, you know, the first defender kind of there when the ball starts coming in and heads heads the ball back out. Obviously didn't go far enough because Japan was able to get it and score right after that. But after she heads it with her head, she is readjusting her hair.
00:31:11
Speaker
Like while the ball is still in the box, while Japan is still trying to score a goal. I'm sorry, but like, wait, like then what? Like that is to me like what? You are not locked in. And I don't like, I mean, to be fair, everybody was doing that i know not but not adjusting their hair but not locked in like you could tell when they thought just the visible body language change when they assumed the player was offside yes but she was adjusting her hair that is like next level inexcusable Yeah. Truly come on. To me, that was like, we don't do that at this level until the ball is completely out of the area.
00:31:53
Speaker
I know it's a friendly, but I don't care. It's a bad look. It's a really bad look. But to to be fair, i didn't see her do it in the other games she played in. To me, it was kind of like the equivalent to me, maybe not as bad, but it was kind the equivalent to me of like someone running a ball for a touchdown and then celebrating but dropping it like three inches from from crossing the line. Like that's what it looked like to me. I was just like, that's – she's never going to do it again.
00:32:22
Speaker
But wow, you let that happen. You let us see on the highlight reel you adjusting your hair while the – book Japan scores. It's an interesting look to just the mentality of it when, you know, offside isn't necessarily called right away now, right? The flag stays down. Yeah.
00:32:40
Speaker
Until, you know, something happens with the ball. Yeah. so there should be more. So you should be still playing yeah it's as if it is onside. She should know better too. They do. They all do. But it was a bad lapse of judgment. Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:54
Speaker
And it it hurt him in the first game. Yeah, it was annoying. Super annoying. mean, credit to Japan for taking advantage of it. But good God, the defense really just fell apart. Do you want to do some wild roster predictions for the World Cup?
00:33:08
Speaker
I mean, i don't know if I'm anything super wild, but we can go through it. sure um Yeah, we can go through it. Starting goalkeeper situation, I think.
00:33:18
Speaker
Yeah, I think we went over this a bit. Dickie, I think he's got that spot locked up. Fallon, I still the two. The three is, i you know, who knows what's going to go on there. I feel like at this point, though, Jane's, she seems like a good vibe.
00:33:30
Speaker
guess stay the three don't know uh the other option is maybe abby smith yeah i mean at this point like if you come in and you know you're going to be a third goalkeeper i think it's all about your vibes for sure you gotta be good obviously i will be interested to see though once lindsey heaps gets to denver uh-huh if um that changes anything maybe for abby smith Maybe.
00:33:57
Speaker
what do you what kind of what like What kind of things would do you think would change? Her visibility to Emma Hayes. Oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah, because he she'll have to keep an eye on heaps. Okay. Yeah, I think that's fair.
00:34:09
Speaker
who's watching that mean hugh's Who's watching the dash? I don't know. Not in here. All right. ah Midfield. Do we give credit to heaps now?
00:34:20
Speaker
ah she i don't know. I don't know what's happening here. i think she has just become so much more solid and consistent.
00:34:32
Speaker
And I think that she fits in with the system better now than she did previously. mean, it's her team, right? Yeah. And it feels like that now. I would love to see, i mean, the U.S. already has a ton of possession, but I would love to see Sam Meza and Meza heaps midfield.
00:34:52
Speaker
That's because I'm a Marine fan. This is a biased podcast. We will remind you. Because Miz has gotten called up before. The Reigns performances need to hold up in order for that to happen again.
00:35:05
Speaker
it would be awesome to finally see her get called up again with, you know, the the ideal, like, when she got called up, it certainly wasn't this kind of roster build. No. So it would be cool. We're in different phase now. Yeah. So it would be cool to see her get brought in with this kind of...
00:35:22
Speaker
pressure of the World Cup actually coming up and be given some chances. I just, there's not going to be many many more chances though. So I just, it's hard to say. Yeah. You got to make it happen when you do get that chance.
00:35:35
Speaker
Yeah. But who's like, I mean, if, if heaps goes out, What do we do with our midfield? I don't know. That does seem like... I mean, Liliana's... She didn't look as good as she has. No, she didn't. And that worries me.
00:35:49
Speaker
Because she, to me, seemed like such a shoe-in and such a bright... I don't know. Maybe it's the move to to her new team. I don't know. I don't know what it is, but... Maybe a move to another new team would benefit her.
00:36:05
Speaker
She seemed to really enjoy being in Seattle. Yeah, she brought the whole family. Yeah, we walked out of the press conference. She was in the hallway. i did a double take and I was like, oh, and then like all of her family was there in Seattle. Yeah. Wonder why.
00:36:19
Speaker
i don't know if they were at the other games. For our own speculation fun, maybe the family was checking things out in Seattle. Maybe. Who knows? Who knows? Yeah. Yeah, the midfield for me is just kind of a wash right now.
00:36:33
Speaker
I think it's it's fine where it is, but we definitely need players like Johannes to start stepping up. Moultrie was pretty mid these games. I thought she would do better.
00:36:46
Speaker
She's been playing really well. That's why was little disappointed. And didn't translate. No, it didn't. Which was surprising to me. Super surprising. i don't enjoy her. I am a Moultrie hater. Yeah, i need her to be good, though.
00:36:57
Speaker
But when it comes to the national team, I need you to be good. I will put that hatred aside. I won't, though, if you're not very good. Fair. The the hate will be on stronger at that point.
00:37:11
Speaker
So, yeah. Defense. Defense. I don't, I understand the Giselle Thompson hype. She has moments. But as a shoe in for the back line, she's not there yet who for me. Who is there instead then? Avery Patterson. Yeah. I like Avery a lot.
00:37:30
Speaker
I think she's a more well-rounded player. I think given a little bit more time and maybe that time is up until the World Cup next summer, maybe Giselle Thompson will figure it out.
00:37:41
Speaker
But there are really good moments and then there are very bad laps moments. So, yeah, it'll be interesting to see if she stays at Angel City. yep Knowing what's on the horizon, like, does she need to, i don't know. i'm I'm just, I feel like something might change there. Maybe.
00:37:59
Speaker
um I was thinking of my ideal back four. Mm-hmm. And I it's Emily Fox, Germa, Davidson and Patterson.
00:38:10
Speaker
Bug, I don't know where about where Jordan Bug's going to be, but I have full confidence that if she's playing well, because she does have the senior national team experience now. Right. She's been called up for the last couple camps and has played minutes.
00:38:24
Speaker
I think she's definitely in the conversation there. I mean, there's group stages, so she'll if and when she gets back to being fully healthy, i fully expect her to be on this roster because i just there isn't a lot of options there. Yeah. And she is up to the task. And I'm still waiting for the moment where they figure out that Emily Sonnet is a good six.
00:38:46
Speaker
I mean, I guess people are just refusing to acknowledge what happened in Seattle. ah That and that she was the only reason that the U.S. wasn't an absolute complete embarrassment in their last game in the Australia World Cup. It's weird.
00:39:03
Speaker
It's weird. though that pe the I don't yeah I don't understand the insistence on having to put her back there. Yeah, I don't get it either. um I do want like we were talking about Kennedy Wesley. I want to see more of her.
00:39:15
Speaker
If she can keep doing what she's doing, great. It adds, I mean, it adds, it adds a dynamic element to the team. But Bug's also doing that when she's on the pitch. She's getting higher.
00:39:27
Speaker
It's going to be a tough choice there. What's going to be an even tougher choice is in the forwards. We didn't even get Macario in this one either. I would add that to the midfield. Yeah. That's an attacking midfielder. Yeah, it's just, I don't know where she's at, you know? And like right now would be the time that you would want to see her getting in with the team.
00:39:48
Speaker
I know that she's such a good player that it doesn't, she doesn't really need that as long as she's healthy. Yeah. Yeah. But I don't know. yeah you also don't want to screw up what was working in this last game too much. So.
00:40:00
Speaker
But it's the third of three games. Yeah. There's been a lot of rotation. Japan's rotated a lot. Don't have everybody at 100%. That's it's tough. Yeah, that's and that's kind of the I feel like, yeah, we won the last game 3-0, but our forwards are not where ideally we want to see them at the moment.
00:40:22
Speaker
And that's going to help. I mean, it seems like they could be peaking at the right time. Yeah, the exact right time. I wrote that in the notes here. Alyssa Thompson will probably be peaking by World Cup 2027, which is scary, exciting. And I think it's important to, you know, because you had Wilson returning and Rodman returning, Wilson from maternity, Rodman from injury.
00:40:44
Speaker
And they didn't look like themselves very much. There were moments, I think. But like Emma Hayes said in the press or in Seattle, they've only played together about 90 minutes in the last 18 months.
00:40:55
Speaker
Yeah, Wilson definitely could have scored and the third game. Yeah, she put herself into some really dangerous positions. Just the execution wasn't there. Yeah. And that's just a time thing. Yeah, she and she just looked a little rusty.
00:41:05
Speaker
So I think that'll be fine. i really like Alyssa Thompson. She looked awesome. She was having so much fun out there. And she's fast. She's super fast. That speed is so important yeah for breaking down these teams, especially in when you're playing in the group stages, when you're playing teams that are maybe less experienced or at a lower-ish lower ish, lower quote unquote level. Right.
Future Star Players and World Cup Predictions
00:41:30
Speaker
um To get, have that speed to break through when there's, when you're going in transition, those moments where even if they've stacked the back, you're,
00:41:40
Speaker
We talked about this in the Seattle game in Portland, right? When they're shoving all 11 players in the box, it's really hard to beat them. But when you pull them out and have a moment transition, that speed is what gets you through the lines and offers you opportunities. And that Alyssa Thompson is really helpful for that.
00:41:57
Speaker
Yeah, speed seemed to be a real issue um in the second game in Seattle. Yeah. They just look slow. The ball was fast, but they look slow. Yeah. Well, they were bogged down by an extra 10 pounds of water, but that's true. That's true. um Yeah, it's going to be a tough roster once we get close. I mean, honestly, you'll have a little bit more clarity once it gets closer just because they'll play more games with that core group.
00:42:23
Speaker
So you'll have a little bit more insight into what Emma Hayes is thinking. I also, yeah, it's, it's just so hard. we get a lot of time. Yeah. And almost certainly there's going to be some injury.
00:42:38
Speaker
i didn't want to say it, but yes, it's just inevitable. It is. There's going to be something that is going to give us a scare. but Which is why it's important for Emma Hayes to keep playing these players that have less caps and getting them more experience, putting them into these pressure cooker situations.
00:42:58
Speaker
Yeah, because I really did like the last team she put out, obviously. Yeah. And I was like, oh okay, I get it. I get it. I yeah i see what we're doing here. I was very skeptical about where things were going with how much she was bringing in new players last last year and for a while.
00:43:13
Speaker
And I finally saw kind of everything put together and I was like, okay, okay, okay, okay. Now, who I didn't feel comfortable because of the Seattle game with with the rotation and if if there is an injury. Yeah. To one of to one of those key players.
00:43:32
Speaker
don't I don't know. does have me worried, but it is the U.S. We have depth. We have players that can step, but they have mentality that they know that they have to get to ah moment the moment the World Cup comes around. Yes, there's not a lot a ton of experience. in that with this roster still but there will be players there heaps i think actually does a very good job as the captain and keeping everybody kind of in check so yeah i'm i'm looking forward to it one player we haven't talked about who featured multiple games claire hutton in for the life of me ah she must have been but
00:44:14
Speaker
But I can't remember a moment when I was like, oh, Claire Hutton. Uh-huh. Which now just thinking about it is interesting. Could be a me issue, but. i think we can wrap up that, right? Yeah. Do we want to do like a cooler player of the of the series? It's Claudia Dickey. It's Claudia Dickey. Congrats.
00:44:35
Speaker
Yeah. ah we can We can quickly plug our sponsor for the segment, but yeah. a Cooler player of the match is... Cooler player... Sorry, let's restart that.
00:44:46
Speaker
Cooler player of the series is brought to you by the Doctor's Office, a great little 12-seat bar on Capitol Hill. The owner is a big fan of the Reign and the U.S. women's soccer team and is proud to be a very first sponsor.
00:44:57
Speaker
Congrats, Claudia Dickey. would also give a shout-out to the 36,128 people oh yeah brave the rain yeah and i will make note i did see a lot of portland fans came up good for them um i did see that they made use of their really shitty plastic capes and they used them you see it you can see it from the press box yeah they were you're looking down and you were like oh the capes they were basically trash bags is what they were they were black trash bags with the thorns logo on them which is also trash and
00:45:31
Speaker
So they just draped their cape over their seat to protect it from the water before they sat down on their garbage, enhanced garbage bag. um Anyways, you'll never hear the end of the capes from me.
00:45:46
Speaker
I will say not to glaze them or anything, but i do appreciate the the reuse Yeah, sure. i mean, it was like if you're going to get like a crappy handout from a game, the fact that you could find multiple uses for it. good on you what a What a stupid thing to give away. It's insane. All right.
00:46:09
Speaker
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 or even a women's national team match. Go check out their Instagram at TDO Seattle or better yet, go drink there in person. Cheers. Cheers.
00:46:24
Speaker
Do we want to wrap up? Well, I guess we'll quickly preview the Reigns next match. just ah Just a quick reminder.
NWSL Schedule and Sponsorship Controversies
00:46:31
Speaker
we have the little preview we already did in the other episode. um And then ah do you want to talk about the schedule change thing here? can touch on it real quick. Okay. So I'll just mention, I guess we can save the Reign match for last, fully last. Okay, so the NWSL is voting on changing the schedule to line up with like what the leagues do in Europe. Basically, it puts them onto the FIFA calendar better.
00:46:59
Speaker
It also would put them onto the transfer windows a lot better and contracts and stuff like that would be a lot more... efficient probably if you're looking at players from other places in the world um what was your we've talked about this before we have talked about this before because the mls is changing their schedule it seems that the players association for the nw cell is against this what were you what was your reaction to the news that they're voting on it again i mean it's not surprising no uh i like the idea of getting on the fifa calendar
00:47:36
Speaker
But specifically for the NWSL at this moment, I don't think it's a good idea. I think it's a bad idea. Yeah. Unfortunately. it just, it competes too much with the stadium, um the other occupants of the stadium, in multiple, multiple teams, not just ours. hu It overflows the soccer calendar for people that already have short attention spans for their teams. Yeah.
00:48:06
Speaker
And so if you're going to watch, oh, I've got football, soccer, men's soccer, all these things, it's not good. It draws attention away from the women's game.
00:48:17
Speaker
And I doubt in the climates where these teams are, they want to play. It's already hard enough with the freaking weather delays and stuff. Imagine playing in the in den january early, early February. Denver, Chicago, Boston, York. These are not places that will be easy to set up fields.
00:48:39
Speaker
Yeah. I don't like it at this time. I hope the game outgrows that conversation. I hope the NWSL outgrows this conversation, but I don't think. And for a league that seems to be overly obsessed with just making money at anybody's behest, right? Yeah.
00:48:58
Speaker
I don't understand this. this is going to kill It would kill attendance. Yeah. It's going to kill attendance for MLS. Imagine what it would do to the NWSL. Right. yeah And I don't think the risk reward is on the same level as as it is for MLS. Agreed.
00:49:13
Speaker
So I think this is a terrible idea from all angles, from player welfare to attendance to making bank for the league. Yeah. I think the thing I would add on to that is because people talk about the heat being an issue. i think the way that they're there, I think they're just to have to adjust their like kickoff times and be smarter about it. Because if you put them in the evening, temperatures are typically lower depending on where it is. At least you might have to go even early in the day, depending on where it is.
00:49:49
Speaker
But that might have to be so the the conversation, because if they're talking flipping the calendar, they also need to have a conversation that that's going not going to help grow fans. How do we create a safe environment for players if we're not going to flip the calendar?
00:50:03
Speaker
Because it can be done, I think. they're just They haven't historically set them up for success in many circumstances, Portland last year specifically. I don't know. um It's interesting. i really don't want to compete with MLS, NFL, college football, basketball, hockey. That just seems so irresponsible to put the NWSL having to compete with all of those. Yeah. so the Players Association has seemingly spoke their mind on it, so i I don't think it'll go through, but the conversation is going to continue to come up, I imagine.
00:50:38
Speaker
so They've also like decided to start... actually implementing a rule that was in the negotiations which is like fining players for not wearing certain sponsored cleats yeah nike and adidas signed on to this yeah so like brands could buy into the to be brands that and nwsl so players could wear yeah which the wmba does this some version of this They are barring brands from paying the fines if they want to wear the the stuff.
00:51:11
Speaker
Yeah. um And I think it's like a $35,000 fine. it gets It gets bigger. So like the first offense and then it keeps going up. It's weird because it apparently like the article that wrote about this, the Players Association seems to be okay with it. Well, it's in the contract. Okay. I'm just wondering because like this could offer goods for players that don't have sponsorships.
00:51:35
Speaker
I don't, I just feel like it's kind of fucked up though to like, yeah, I haven't read a ton into it other than the initial, what the heck, but like and looking at some parts of it, but yeah. Yeah. Cause now I like what happens with players with new balance shoes or like Sophia Huerta has a, who's, who's, is she with Umbro? I think it's someone else. I think she has that. She would lotto. She's a lot. Yeah. yeah Like I just don't, it's, that's dumb of that she wouldn't be able to promote them. on like a it's not even that big of a deal it's just a fucking shoe and they're not getting yeah and they're not getting that well they're not even getting that much money out of it so i don't i don't know and to be still a wacky place it sure is always about bottom lines it's very annoying ah all right do you have anything else you want to bring up in terms of
00:52:22
Speaker
NWSL, US Women's national team. Anything else before we kind of wrap everything up? Nope. Okay. Reigns next match is versus Utah Royals. In case you forgot, get your tickets. It's at Lumen Field. First match at Lumen Field. It's going to be on some nice new grass. Yay. um That's going Sunday, April 26th, 5 p.m. If you're not going, it's going to be on Victory Plus, but you should go. You should go. You should go. It's fun to see the grass. It's very fun. And there might be extra hype with the national team just having played here. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. i
00:52:54
Speaker
Yeah. ah If we went around a shout out, shout out to ah to Noah. Yeah. U.S. Soccer for... One time I'll shout out U.S. Soccer for for ah helping me out in my life. But they know I was doing some coverage for U.S. Soccer, and can't remember who else he was partnered with, the Lobbing Scorchers, but they covered the game there, and we got to go on a mini. it Legends?
00:53:20
Speaker
Yes. I think it was Legends. But we got to go on a little shopping. he called it a shopping spree. we were It was a shopping spree. We got a hat. We got some really cool hats though. so Simple hats. They're really cool hats. Van has hers on. Maybe she can post a picture of it. and i don't have mine on right now, but I also got a really cool hat. I got like a 99ers hat there. That was kind of fun that they got to have all the merch there for fans to buy Pretty sweet. um So thanks to Noah for bringing us in for that. um Yeah. Do you have any shout outs?
00:53:51
Speaker
I want to shout out former Rain player, Allie Long. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Hell yeah. So, Allie 38 years old. Come back. On a comeback tour. Hell yeah. She just signed with the USL Super League, Cambridge Super League, ah Fort Lauderdale team. That's pretty sweet. I love Allie Long. So, yeah. she's i'm I'm happy to see her wanting to come back.
00:54:12
Speaker
Yeah. Also, shout out Sydney LaRue. She's coming back. Yeah. Some of our faves. It's crazy how long they've been playing the game, but... I'm excited for Ali Long to I for me, I just it seems like obviously she's not doing it for money.
00:54:28
Speaker
She probably just really misses playing. Yeah. And I love that. It's pretty cool. Somebody that enjoys the game. Yeah. To be able to get back on and play. And that's why having another professional league is so important in this country. Also imagine like playing for that team and then all of a sudden Ali Long is coming to play with you. It's so cool. Yeah.
00:54:47
Speaker
It's so cool. um i won't bring up i won't bring up our uh day of remembrance that will be coming was it friday that we found out that news the darkest day in lesbian oh sports history i had forgotten will you stop
00:55:06
Speaker
this truly ruined my weekend truly ruined my day you sent that to me and i was like van i gotta put you on mute i cannot have you I cannot have you breaking horrible news to me like this.
00:55:18
Speaker
I was because i was just living my life. Live, laugh, love in my life. I just, you know, was enjoying live, laugh, lesbians. Yeah, that was me. That was me. That used to be me. Now I'm not. i was fine. I was like off my phone. I was enjoying life. And then all of a sudden text from Van.
00:55:36
Speaker
You want to hear the worst news that's ever happened in Seattle? Lesbian sports history. I think I texted you something like, oh, no, Sue and Megan. It's heartbreaking.
00:55:47
Speaker
I'm not surprised, but it's still heartbreaking. Yeah. I was very, ah their relationship started kind of when Alex and I started kind of dating. So it's kind of been a constant with us.
00:55:59
Speaker
And now it's over. Oh, my God. I was just looking at the article. ah the think it's the yeah ESPN article. Oh, God. um about ally long yeah okay but it's funny because it's a picture of her playing for the thorns oh weird against the rain huh it's her and you can't really see it but uh her in front of hayley copmeyer shout out cop with lou barnes in the background and megan rapinoe in the background with emily sonnet oh my god
00:56:30
Speaker
and golden age i know i know i don't that's the thing is i'm not getting this like golden age feeling with the u.s s team no unfortunately and there was just something so special about that team oh man reminiscing anyway maybe they can turn turn you know change my mind because they just haven't they haven't done anything special yet the new people so they've got to they've got to do that themselves yeah they need a moment Yeah, I just don't feel the energy quite there yet.
00:56:59
Speaker
Well, it's hard to have that energy when... It's cold and wet.
00:57:04
Speaker
When there's so much turnover, right? Yeah, yeah, for sure. ah Well, guess I'll go drink my sorrows again.
00:57:14
Speaker
I did pour drink that night, a big drink. I was like, this is terrible. End of an era. End of an era, yeah. Cool. Well, ah hopefully you all enjoyed this little bonus episode. i mean, we're probably going be doing more World Cup coverage as as it kind of keeps going. so um Thanks again to our sponsor, the doctor's office.
00:57:34
Speaker
You can follow us on Blue Sky and Instagram at Cooler Guild Pod. You can send us an email. Let us know if you want more U.S. Women's National Team coverage or whatnot. You can send that email to thecoolergild at gmail.com. You can also visit our main page, sounderatheart.com forward slash the Cooler Guild. hit the subscribe on there subscribe we haven't had one for a little while so little sometimes means long but uh yeah go on youtube youtube.com for so shot the cooler girl you can follow us there wherever you're listening please go rate five stars uh till next time i'm coop i'm van stay cool y'all stay cool