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The Cooler Guild: 2025 Preseason Premonitions - Ep. 25
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The 2025 preseason is here! Coop and Van sit down to go over the Reign's offseason moves, and highlight the players they are most hyped for as this team looks to turn the chapter on a new season.
In addition to the Reign, they go over the moves to Europe from various NWSL players and cover a few other headlines in woso.
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Transcript
00:00:21
Speaker
All right. Hello. Hello. Hello.
Episode Introduction and New Recording Setup
00:00:23
Speaker
We are back with episode 25 of the Cooler Guild. I'm your host Coop Android with me as always is my co-host van. Hello. We were recording on Tuesday, February 4th, 2025. This will be the first true preseason show ah where we'll be recapping the rain's off season moves.
00:00:41
Speaker
giving our thoughts on the current and roster heading into the 2025 season, as well as covering some other news from the club and in the WOSO world. Also, we're doing a new thing with our recording methods today. So this is an experiment. Fingers crossed. it's We're hoping that this can kind of um make things easy if we want to upload video in the future.
00:01:00
Speaker
Maybe this episode will be uploaded. Who knows? Who knows? Maybe it'll turn out perfect. I don't fucking know. It won't be perfect, but maybe it'll be ah good enough to upload. I don't know. But we're trying to get going on YouTube. And if if things start going well and all that stuff, we'll upgrade our cameras and ah make sure we're beautiful for everybody. Yeah.
00:01:18
Speaker
The only thing that's stopping me from beautiful is the camera. Anyways, what's going on with you? Oh, God, so busy.
Joint Pro and W League Tryout Discussion
00:01:25
Speaker
Yeah. U.S.L. U.S.L. is kicking up with scheduling and all of that. We're doing a tryout. Yeah. So we partnered with we partnered with ah Lexington, the U.S.L. Super League Club, and we're doing like a joint pro slash W League tryout here in Olympia. Sweet. So that'd be cool. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's a lot. We're getting geared up. Ready to go for the summer. Yeah. Work life. My chess league has really been going off. I'm playing in two games on the live stream on Twitch tomorrow night. How about you? um Well, I got back from Mexico not too long ago. One, two. I think it's pronounced whole botch.
00:02:01
Speaker
It's spelled like whole box though if you're an English primarily speaking person. um So I went there for like a little bit of a week. It's great. Weather didn't really cooperate, but there was a cat there at the hotel we stayed at. I know she looked so cute. Her name was Lee Chuga. Lettuce!
00:02:17
Speaker
Yeah, the the like manager of the hotel was like, Le Chugo's been looking for you. like I never see her over here, because we our like room was a little bit further away from like most of the rooms. um And so she's like, I never see Le Chugo over here, but she's wondering to try to find you in the mornings now.
00:02:34
Speaker
She's a very good cat. She was just love to like lay down in the sun and lay down in like little dirt spots around the hotel. She was white, but you could tell that she like definitely loved to. She's a dirty like dirt girl, but like she's like drinking the pool water and then like there's like a little island where there's some like little loungers in the middle of the pool and she like would hop over the water to go lay on those chairs.
00:02:58
Speaker
And then there's like little plants around the pool area and she would like lay in the dirt around those, you know, after hanging out with her for a week and then touching mu like petty my cat, like at home, I was like, man, my cat is like really clean and soft.
00:03:12
Speaker
But yeah, I'd like to go back there when it's not raining all the time because. I don't know. There's a lot of cool stuff in the island we didn't get to do because we weren't there for the the the right time of year. But you know, vacations line up with what what you can and work with anyways. But they have like flamingos sometimes. And then they have was a whale sharks that you can go swim with and stuff. Hell yeah. You know, I love a whale and a shark. Anyways, we should get into what's going on with the team. Um, but first some housekeeping.
Off-season Movements and New Signings
00:03:39
Speaker
We want to remind people that the cooler guilt 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 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 sounder at heart.com forward slash the cooler guild new subscribers get 10% off the normal rate and you'll help support everything we're doing here. Got a few pre-season stuff to go over. I think the first one, just because we kind of want to get a good recap on what we're working with, heading into the season, because there's been a lot of movement, like a lot. And we knew, we knew this was coming.
00:04:15
Speaker
We knew there was going to be a mass exodus and, uh, need to bring in some new players. And that happens. Notable contracts. Uh, I want to also shout out Susie, uh, from right at the Valkyries for doing some good articles on covering some of these acquisitions. Um, but the notable ones we got Lynn being dolo formerly known as Lynn Williams.
00:04:34
Speaker
Lou Barnes, Maddie Mercado, Madison Curry, who was acquired as a free agent out of Angel City FC, and Cassie Miller. And we got some new acquisitions that will be Rookies, Ford, Maddie, Delene, and Defender Emily Mason. What do we think of just those? Um, out of all of those. Yeah. I mean, that's a lot of people to be bringing in. And do you think these are people you're excited about? Do you think these are going to like be the quality that we've been missing? Um, I think when William by Lynn Biandolo, um, definitely is going to add that, you know, other element that we are missing that she actually pointed out, you know, and talking on, on her podcast after, after the initial signing. Um, I think,
00:05:19
Speaker
I think one that, you know, I talked about Cassie Miller before on the last episode. um I really think Madison Curry is going to be a new starting player on the team. I mean, last season was her rookie season and she played well. And so coming in could really use, you know, another solid player to get let's go, you know, back into yeah know the forward arena where she can be productive. Yeah.
00:05:44
Speaker
So that'll be good. um i I know that you've looked into Delene more than I have, but I, Emily Mason, I think once Lou Barnes is gone, I mean, Emily Mason is 22. Sure. She hasn't played in the league yet, but if she comes in and she can really play the way that I saw her play in the U20 World Cup, we're going to be fine.
00:06:06
Speaker
Which is good because we need to improve back there. Well, and having Lou Barnes for that extra season, I think might have been part of the plan with that. Trying to like pass the torch kind of thing. Oh, just to have that seniority and experience for these younger players. Yeah. Because we obviously know that McLaren can step in. Yes. Yeah, definitely. So it just adds that extra element to help these players transition into the league and and be a success when they start.
00:06:33
Speaker
Yeah, I think there's, and there's going to be rotation with that just because a lot of these young players that we're getting are going to be called up for these, you know, you 20, uh, some of these other camps where they're just like testing things out, but a lot of them have history with the youth national team. Yeah. So they're going to be looked at, right? No matter what. I feel like once you kind of have that mark, it's, it's very beneficial for your career, obviously. Um, and Emma Hayes, I think is kind of interested in also looking at the, youth because I think a big issue we had with the women's national team when we weren't.
00:07:06
Speaker
quote unquote elite was because we weren't trying to incorporate some of these younger future stars early enough. So I think a lot of these players that maybe we're acquiring, and they've got a lot to prove. And I also think Emma Hayes is a coach that will give them a chances. Not all of them obviously, but a few of them will be hopefully getting their moments over the next few years.
00:07:29
Speaker
Yeah, and from a business standpoint, right you're getting these two young players in with this experience, with um Futures Camp, with all of that. If they end up playing well, or they get senior senior caps for the national team, they're their price goes way up. Yeah, yeah. Invest in it. It's certainly an investment. It's definitely an investment, and it's a smart one.
00:07:50
Speaker
Yeah, I'm excited about it. um you know I'll get into maybe the questions that we we should maybe have about that later, but going into just the seat the roster situation. I will say one thing. I want to add one thing. I watched the entire highlight video for Emily Mason today. If you have
Emily Mason's Versatility in Defense
00:08:09
Speaker
a chance, go watch it. It's on YouTube. If she can play like that at a high level, like the NWSL, other teams are going to be in trouble. She can score goals, but she also can take people out in the back.
00:08:20
Speaker
Do you think she's in a, cause it sounds like she's played a couple of positions and it seems like our center back situation is like solid. Um, I mean, obviously I think if we're doing rotation, we're going to need someone like her and sliding back there. But I would say like right back situation, like do you think she's in a slide back to one of those positions or do you think she's more of like a center defensive mid?
00:08:42
Speaker
Uh, for one, I think she played centrally a lot in college, but I think that's another thing with the national team, you know, players are constantly having to, you know, be versatile. She's at that age kind of where sometimes Laura Harvey has sees, sees a player and she just like thinks that they're better suited for different places. So something to keep an eye on. I wouldn't say she's locked in to send her back.
00:09:03
Speaker
No, definitely. And with Ryan Brown still out, we're going to have some some movement in those outside positions. So I think Madison Curry, Maddie Curry is going to be in one of those slots pretty easily. there Anything else on those? No, that was it. I think it's notable. We probably should at least mention like we're going to have a full preseason with all of the mid-season signage that we got from last year, which is kind of important, I would say.
00:09:26
Speaker
getting you know it's so crazy like it felt so long that we've had these players because the last last season just felt like it was forever yeah yeah we didn't really get they didn't really get like time to really you know get their feet under them and like acclimate what's that Yeah. And now now they're going to be able to do that. So with just a reminder of those players, AMC, Bug, Monteser, McCammon and Hannah Glass, I'm glad that that the team can kind of all mesh together now for full season. And you can tell, I mean, it was rough seeing a lot of those players go because and they've been part of the team for so long and felt like almost like the soul of the team, if you will. Yeah, it's hard. You get attached to players, yeah. Yeah, it's ah having an identity crisis and trying to fix it now. um One other thing to note, Lily Woodham, she got her loan extended with Crystal Palace at the end of June. We'll get more extended later.
00:10:26
Speaker
I don't know if she enjoys it there. That'd be a good place for her. We don't have a lot of spots on the roster. So I just don't. I mean, if they can keep find a place for her to stay, I think that's the best case scenario, which is sad because like that first game she played, I was like, oh, OK, like this might might be really good. And then it just went downhill after that. Yeah.
00:10:46
Speaker
Yeah, and when I was putting together um lineups for something that we'll talk about later on in the episode, um I did notice something that has been brought up multiple times. ah We are probably going to need to add a midfielder or two. Yeah, I read the interview that Susie did with Leslie Gallimore GM for the rain, and she made mention of like, they're probably going to be looking for midfielders, which I would say that means they are looking for midfielders. Yeah. um So if we can. I guess the question is, will they be trying to throw some money down for a midfielder? Or do we think we have enough to be good and then we' we're just trying to find somebody to um kind of strengthen the bench? I wouldn't mind going and spending money. There's just a lot of age in our midfield and a lot of like unproven players that we haven't really seen enough of.
00:11:37
Speaker
So sure, you can bring somebody in, but then you're like, OK, Maddie Mercado, we saw some really good things at her, but she didn't have a lot of time. You know, you get Maza in there who came back from Dallas. If you bring somebody in, that's like going to be a starting player off the bat, those players are going to lose out and we might miss something that would be potentially really good for us in
Youthful Roster's Championship Potential
00:11:59
Speaker
the long run. Yeah, that's a good point. So it's ah it's a delicate balance. Yeah. I mean, if they were to go and spend money, it wouldn't be until the summer anyways.
00:12:07
Speaker
Yeah, we don't have a lot of room on the roster. We still need a third backup goalkeeper, right? We still need like a third bet, like goalkeeper on the roster. And I think that there are some positions where we just don't like, I would say there's some players that maybe could be starting in in some teams.
00:12:24
Speaker
And if they're not going to get those minutes here, I don't think they want to be with us. Um, that's how you make room for somebody else. Um, when I'm looking at this team and thinking like, you know, like we're going to get weird to back and like, we need to still get this goalkeeper. It seems like at least one or two players in this team might not still be here come the summer transfer window, which is fine. I'm not.
00:12:48
Speaker
I think I think we' we've set up a situation in which everyone's going to need to be competing. And I think that's what you all you can really hope for going into a season. Yeah, definitely a lot lot of a bright, a lot more bright of an outlook going into this season than the last one. Yeah, I mean, we came off the championship, but then like it was the word the championship game. We didn't win it, obviously, but they lost, you know, in the most heartbreaking fashion. And then that was the heart of the team gone.
00:13:16
Speaker
and do you go to Gotham and you go to Gotham. Yeah. And then at all those traders, which doesn't seem like things are going great at Gotham anyways. So anyways, karma's a bitch. Okay. Well, I guess all that wrapped up. I wanted to ask who are you most hyped for on this roster so far?
00:13:38
Speaker
I mean, the obvious answer is being Dolo. I want to watch Lynn Cook in Seattle. Something I never thought I'd see. um Also, Olo. Olo's been at practice. yeah Love you, Vander Yacht. um Took last year off for personal reasons, ah but they still, you know, still kept her and she's been back in training and i I think she could be a really important part of the midfield.
00:14:07
Speaker
I mean, Fishlock had talked about when she was playing and got into this league and she was just like, you know, U.S. national team used to look at her. She's extremely underrated and everything. Yeah. But it seems like the teams, ah the club supported her. So.
00:14:21
Speaker
I think that's got to be good for your mental health as well to at least know that, you know, uh, your team is backing you and still believes in you as a player. It was never about her playing quality or anything like that. It's just life has things. So yeah life has things and, uh, super, super cool to see her backup practice. And I hope that, you know, she comes back into the game and can find success for herself and for us.
00:14:48
Speaker
And not to drag this on any longer, but also Ryan Brown coming back. Yeah. Yeah. I've seen that she slated for a return this summer, whenever that may be. They did put out a video about her and her recovery process and just the training room, everything like from this video seemed like a huge upgrade for the team as a whole with this new ownership group.
00:15:10
Speaker
Yeah. And they got the new facility or like the upgraded facilities. So that's nice. So hopefully she can get back on. I don't know. Mine are kind of boring. I mean, what about you? Um, for me, um, I am most hyped for bug Jordan bug. I mean, we just got a taste of it and, um, I'm ready to see her start all year.
00:15:37
Speaker
Um, I think she's ready for it. I think she's, I think she's everything we had been missing in the back line since cook kind of went downhill. So when we first initially signed her and McCammon, what were you like, what were your thoughts? I mean, I didn't really know what to think, yeah right? I was just like these, I'm hearing a lot of hype, but like, I was kind of like, it's a young center back. Like how good can she be?
00:16:06
Speaker
You know what I mean? Yeah. We're like, oh, we're signing children. Got it. Yeah. Which like, I don't know. Sometimes I'm like, there's these like prodigy forwards or prodigy like wing backs or whatever. Right. But like to have someone who's that composed as a center back just surprise the shit out of me. Like I was not prepared for it. So seeing someone this composed.
00:16:32
Speaker
back there is just like blows my mind. And that's why I just I get so stoked for it. And she's only getting better, which is terrifying for everyone else. Yeah, I know. It's great. I love it. um ah McCammon, it's, you know, I'm still hearing great things about her, but we she hasn't really been given her chance yet. So that was TBD. Yeah. um My other one that I'm hyped for, ah Maddie Dilleen, I went and watched some videos on her, because there's a bunch of new stuff about her. um She's from Minnesota, and you know how Minnesotans love to get excited about their own people. yeah Interesting fact about her, she swept the 100, 200, 400 meter races at state in high school in both her freshman and junior year. And then her senior year, she ah won the 200 meter and the long jump. i don't know She just got inspired to do the long jump, I guess. I'm not sure.
00:17:32
Speaker
Um, but I guess she was like mad about her, like, she, she was like mad about her soccer team, like not winning everything. So she just like took it out on running. She was just like, well, I can run. So I'm just going to fucking do it. And then she just like won all these fucking things, which like.
00:17:46
Speaker
Good for you. um And then with her high school team, she got total while she was there, 92 goals, 43 assists. um And then at North Carolina for college, she drew six penalties and the Reins have signed her for a three year contract. So this is, I think this is the real deal.
00:18:05
Speaker
I am stoked. Um, it sounds like she is very fast in case you couldn't tell by the stats of her at least. minutes minnesota What is that? I don't know.
00:18:21
Speaker
ah Okay, it's a new thing. um But there was like, you know, there's maybe speculation that she wasn't even do track, like be a dual sport athlete in college. And if she really wanted to put her focuses on running, she could have been an Olympian. Don't know if you know this, but the rain have been kind of missing some speed. Wow.
00:18:39
Speaker
I am very much looking forward to someone like her being on the team and also getting some education and tips and training in with being Dolo. Yes, please. I yeah, i'm I'm pretty hyped on her. Yeah, that's somebody that probably I would I could speculate saw a lot of herself in Lynn. Yeah. And so being being able to learn from somebody like that would be incredible. be So cool. Yeah. Yeah, I'm i'm stoked.
00:19:07
Speaker
Since we mentioned ah so many young players, I guess my question for you is, do you think that the youth, like players that we have on this team and everything, do you think they're ready to be championship contenders?
00:19:20
Speaker
I think that's yet to be seen. We haven't seen like super young teams win at all, right? Right. And I wouldn't say we're a super young team. I mean, the there's a big spread of ages. There is. We are in a new era, I would say, of the league of of having people this young coming in. um And usually when we see teams doing really well, making big runs, they're not I wouldn't say they have as many young players as we do.
00:19:46
Speaker
It seems like we're really investing in the future. And that's why I'm wondering, do you think we can actually contend this year? Do you think there's enough balance with it? It's tough to speculate at this point. Most teams that we've seen make long runs like you were talking about into the playoffs usually have like a very core group of veteran or younger veteran players.
00:20:07
Speaker
I would argue that we kind of have that still. My only counter argument to that is I don't know, like, I don't know about the chemistry of those of those players together still. Right. So that's why I'm saying it's hard to speculate just because there's so many unknowns. But if if what we've been excited about comes to fruition, then I think that we do have a chance. I mean, why not? Why not? Why not? But I can say Jordan Bug definitely ready to be a champion.
00:20:35
Speaker
We and and we have a forward who's won the most championships for a single player now in our team. So that doesn't hurt. Doesn't hurt at all. No, with some of the, you know, we talked a little bit last episode about G, and you know, she's kind of getting back into the rhythm or into a rhythm. um And if that shows up, you know, ah if Adam is get Mesa in there, and we could have some breakout stars this season.
00:21:05
Speaker
Yeah. It doesn't fit. There's just one person that has a potential to be a breakout star too. I think that's the part that I'm most excited about. It seems like any one of these like signings that we've been kind of listing off other teams would be like hyping the shit out of them. And we just happen to have a bunch of them.
00:21:22
Speaker
So I think that's the part where I'm just like, this seems like a can it is it too good to be true? Probably. um But maybe in a couple of years, I don't know. But have we really just hit, you know, hit everything? If we have, everyone better be scared.
00:21:40
Speaker
And a lot of these players have also been getting reps in together on the new youth teams for little a while. So it's they know each other. Mm hmm. That should help. Yeah. Crazier things have happened. I think, too, there's there's going to be so much competition for each spot that you're really going to see the best out of a lot of these players. That's what you want. As long as it's a positive competitive training environment.
00:22:02
Speaker
Yeah, which it sounds like so far it's <unk>s it's sounding that way, um which is great because with the team being for sale still last season and not having that completed, and going into preseason and everything, it just seems like the vibes weren't there ah maybe for like competing at an elite level.
00:22:21
Speaker
No, and I was thinking about this earlier, and I think that the word that I would use to describe a lot of the air around the team and just the the vibe a lot of last season was stale. I think that's fair. and It's more than fair. We are not stale anymore. Not at all. I think I got a team that I'm like look like looking forward to actually like analyzing. Mm hmm.
00:22:48
Speaker
which I cannot say was the case, uh, maybe like four games in the last year. It was just like, Oh, here we go again. yeah Let's start a podcast. That'll, that'll bring us good luck. but It did not.
00:23:03
Speaker
Kind of on that note, um, we are rumors and our rumors that were unfounded about Sam lady, maybe joining the coaching staff did not
Sam Lady's Interim Head Coach Announcement
00:23:13
Speaker
come to fruition. Um, Sam lady congrats to him. I mean, it's an interim role, but he's going to be the interim head coach at angel city FC and as rain fans and Sam lady fans, I felt like I wanted to at least note that.
00:23:27
Speaker
And they announced it. ah Angel City announced it in the most weird way. It was like at the end of an article about their new training facility. Yeah, I checked it. I texted the C-Olympia sporting director and I was like, because he's friends with Sam. Yeah. And I was like, oh, congrats to Sam. I saw that he's you know interim head coach in Angel City. And he's like, hang on. And he texted Sam. Apparently Sam didn't know it was public yet.
00:23:55
Speaker
Classic. So that was kind of funny. I was like, oh, it's definitely in that article. Also related to some free agents. So we had Quinn and Nikki Stanton aren't going too far. They're going to the new Canadian League, which is very exciting. They'll be joining Vancouver Rise, which if you're in the Washington area,
00:24:15
Speaker
It's the closest team you can get. That's pretty neat. And also Jasmine Spencer, he probably recognized that name from the rain, uh, is also going to be joining that team. So I'm going to be very curious to see how these teams play. Yeah. So can we get a, can we get a friendly set up? That's what I was thinking. I would love that. Let's get a friendly set up hosted at star fire, even. Oh, that'd be fun. Yes. All right. I'll call ah Leslie. I don't know.
00:24:42
Speaker
I think ah one thing, if anyone from rain is listening, I want to say, can you get on Blue Sky, please? Please. You're like overdue by like a while, but anytime is better than never.
00:24:53
Speaker
So we're going to do some community questions and hot takes, but first we want to thank our sponsor. We want to thank TDO, the doctor's office. ah The doctor's office is a great little 12 seat bar in Capitol Hill. The owner is a big fan of the rain and is proud to be our very first sponsor. We love you, Matt. Love you, Matt.
00:25:14
Speaker
So why don't you go warm up on a chilly day with a slow burn, one of TDO's limited edition cocktails. The slow burn combines smoky mezcal, cognac, pineapple, spicy ancho reas verde, and bright cilantro. A spiced cayenne cinnamon sugar rim lingers like the memory of a slow burning romance. Ooh la la. Ooh la la. I was really excited to read you. I know.
00:25:41
Speaker
Check out their Instagram at TDO Seattle or better yet, go drink there in person. And then they they have updated their website. So there's pictures of the drinks and it's very lovely. Yeah. You should go check out their menu on there. They always got limited edition cocktails. I think I need to reach out to Matt. We need to get our own cocktail for this podcast. People can go celebrate us. Anyways, cheers. Cheers. We got some, we reached out to the discord out or van reached out to the discord and wanted to see if there's any stuff the community wants us to cover.
00:26:10
Speaker
Yeah, we did it get some. And if you're not on the Discord, get on it, it's great. It's out at our heart.com forward slash Cooler Guild. Subscribe at a certain tier, you get access to the Discord. Anyways, we got a hot take segment, I guess, right? We're doing hot takes. Yeah, so Steve asked, ah give us your hottest hot take on the imminent doom of the league, losing some stars and adding others. Should I go first? Yeah, why don't you start it off? I've got some thoughts, but you go ahead. I think it's great. I would fucking leave if I could.
00:26:40
Speaker
you're telling me i can leave this country sign me up sign me up i also on top of that so beyond the fact that i want to leave this country if there's an option don't like have we thought ah beneficial it it is for our players to be playing different styles of football i don't I don't think it's beneficial for all of our players or star players whatever and it's also not that many players if we're being honest but I think it's beneficial for them to go and play different styles because I just think you're like you said the word earlier stale I think maybe there's a potential for the USWMS national team to get stale if we all stay in this week so I'm all for it I like it I would leave
00:27:18
Speaker
Also, like go do your study abroad, basically. like Get over there. Enjoy your baguettes. Enjoy your cup of teas. I don't know. What else do people do in England? ah There's a two-story bus. Go eat some beans on toast. Yeah. and Not bad. Going to go ahead and put it out there. Not bad. Not bad. I'm on board. I like it. And I also think if we're going to even go into this more, if you're if your player from your club is going there for free, then someone fucked up. Someone fucked up because like I would want to go there obviously. But like if you're smart enough, then you should fucking like if you have ah if you have a player that you know has those ambitions to go over there and try something new, once you do that, then like lock them down for a long contract.
00:28:04
Speaker
And then get that transfer fee because this is how we can get more money into the league. It sucks. I don't know what about the ramifications as far as like, we can't compete with those transfer fees. We like literally cannot compete with them in this league. So that's kind of a bummer, but I don't know. Maybe these transfers over there can help fully get the money that we need to kind of change those rules. Yeah. What do you think? I want to start my my argument off um with or my opinion off with ah something Bethany Balzer tweeted today. ah Somebody said, aren't you? Somebody said to her, well, she responded to this tweet that said, aren't you all going nuts right now because star players are going to Europe? And Bethany Balzer quote tweeted it and said, no, because the end of your cell is full of stars, even if they are on national teams. That's right. And I agree with that. And
00:28:52
Speaker
It was bound to happen, right? The WSL is growing. They've got a big following over there. They want to bring big stars in just like we want to bring big stars in. And you're not it's not an imminent doom. Not at all. If anything, that's like saying that the less roster spots you have available, the better players you're going to get. That's not true.
00:29:13
Speaker
Right. The more women that we can get playing soccer professionally, the better it is for the game as a whole. And if that happens, that there is a roster spot that opens up because somebody goes to play in Europe. Hell, yeah. Yeah. It's never a bad thing. And play it hopefully fans of these teams. Right. These big, big name players going overseas. They're not going to be like, oh, I'm not going to go to the game anymore because so and so is not there. Right. I mean, I may have only gone to watch San Diego games because of Naomi Girma. I get that.
00:29:43
Speaker
But that's such a, that's such a different situation because she is legitimately one of the best players in the world right now. Yeah. She got the hell out of San Diego. Yeah. San Diego's in a bad situation, right? Why would you want to be there? And they got 1.1 million dollars out of it. Yeah, I don't think losing. Let's see. We've got a list here. Crystal done a PSG. Girma to Chelsea. Caroline to City. Nice one to Arsenal. Huerta is still on loan to Leon. But we've talked about this. We've talked about this. Right. Huerta is only going to get more experience. You know, a more diverse playing style. Right. So it's only good for us in the end. And that list isn't long. So I think it's an overreaction calling it impending doom. Yeah, for sure. But yes, some players are leaving. But we're also picking up players from Liga MX into the NBA. So we're getting more African players into the league, which has blown up for the league. Right. ah It's true. So I think it's a very myopic view of this entire situation to think that like losing players to Europe is somehow um going to ruin the league. Yeah, or even ruin nash the national team, right? I think that's what some people are also worried about is the national team not being as elite.
00:30:55
Speaker
players in the nationalities that are in a lot of those leagues are a lot of the are in those. We're talking about France. France is usually a very good team. A lot of English players are obviously playing in England. You want to be able to like be with them. And then there's a lot of Dutch players also in the English league. How are you supposed to like learn those playing styles or like see how they play if you don't play against them? Staying in one league doesn't give you that experience. Right. And do you think Naomi Girma is going to come back to the national team? Be like, I can't spill dirt on these players. No, she's a fucking competitor. They also get to, I mean, obviously some of those fields that they play on aren't great, but they're not on turf.
00:31:32
Speaker
yeah And I say this as a fan of a team that does play on turf. So, and then like, yeah there was like the whole thing when Lindsey, what does she go by now? Not Lindsey Horan. I think she still uses Lindsey Horan for her Jersey name, whatever. And Lindsey Horan left for Leon full transfer from Portland or whatever, but like Portland the best elite team, whatever in the league, they still made their women's team train on the turf. So they were training on the turf. They were also playing on the turf for all their games. Meanwhile, their men's side was training on grass at a different facility or whatever. But like Horan had mentioned, like I get to go to Europe and then like everything's grass. I get the nice facilities, all that stuff. Obviously, it's not the case for all the teams in those leagues over there, but like there are
00:32:19
Speaker
premiere facilities at some of these places, and they get access to things that maybe you can't get at some clubs in the Nebusel. I don't see any reason to be and like up in arms about about these moves at all. No, I think it's for me, it's more exciting than anything else. I think the only thing I would question is how are the teams I don't think has anything to do with players I just think that like the the league may need to change some of the rules as far as um salaries and transfer fees that are allowed and all that stuff ah maybe they can do like a
00:32:56
Speaker
DP type situation like you do an MOS. They're going to need to figure out a way to compete um on the international level with these transfers and with the amount of money that these English teams are playing are paying for the most elite players. But just like the individual, there's a huge salary discrepancy, right? And I think even more in the WSL than the NWSL is there is a huge discrepancy between last place and first place. Massive. You think, you know, when you think of WSL as an American who maybe will only watches one or two games a year, right? You're thinking that city arsenal lot like matchup or arsenal Chelsea.
00:33:37
Speaker
You're thinking of like three teams, right? There's not just three teams in that league. The fact that people think that their level of play is so much better. I i challenge you to watch the lower table teams in that league play against the Chelsea's play against the Arsenal's the the city's, you know? Yeah. And the United's at this point. Ellatoon is like going off at United right now. And ah Fallon. And with Fallon's whole choice, yeah. If we start seeing in success with these clubs and the attention that they bring, bringing in these American players, then that only makes the sport stronger. And that's what I support, number one. I'm all for it. I agree. and Send them all. And me. Yeah, and yeah this is a cut the caveat is I am also off to go.
00:34:22
Speaker
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00:34:48
Speaker
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00:35:14
Speaker
So the next one we got from was from Matthew. ah
Speculative Starting 11 Lineups
00:35:18
Speaker
He said, give us a best guess starting 11 and a spicy starting 11. You had a list. I do have a list. My best guess is kind of also the spicy 11.
00:35:30
Speaker
I put it as kind of a four, five, one just for ease sake. This is my this is my list. This is my list for a starting 11 first game of the year. Well, minus one player minus one player who I would have to switch out. But here's the list I came up with. Starting goalkeeper, Cassie Miller, left back, Ryan Brown, center backs, McLaren in and bug, right back, Curry, ah diamond or triangle midfield, Van der Gotte, Fishlock, and G up top, ah left outside, Heidema, right outside, Adames with ah Biandolo up top, and set that up i how how you will, but. I mean, I think in that situation, you can switch Heidema and Adames, but they can kind of just flip back and forth like they do. Yeah, and that wouldn't be like a flat thing. I think it would be like kind of a roving to top, depending on what side of the field filled the ball was on. I think the only one I would maybe switch out this is maybe a little controversial. I might start Maiza. I want to get her off and running this season and I want to put Maiza in. Well, I think Maiza's going to be a Fishlock sub. Yeah. Because Fishlock's not going to play the whole game. That's why I would maybe start her over Fishlock and then bring in Fishlock. Yeah, you can do that. I think Fishlock's got that feistiness off the bench. And then the Cassie Miller is obviously an interesting one. You know.
00:36:39
Speaker
The other outside back options. Well, you got let's go. Maybe I don't think I don't think that's going to play in the back. We've got too many options back there. I think it's probably going to be Shea Holmes. I mean, if I'm guessing who would start in that back line, it would be it would be Holmes with Harvey. Yeah, with Harvey. Yeah.
00:36:57
Speaker
I would I would put lads go in there if we're trying to get lads if i'm trying to get lads go in the field and that's the only place you can go i'm putting her on yeah yeah anyone else you want to throw in there and starting monda seer maybe yeah monda seer instead of adames yeah you could switch out adames with monda seer fish lock for meza yeah i don't hate that lineup i mean the bench is going to be interesting because it's that's where we're really going to see if these young players are up for the task Yeah. Cause the lineup you just gave us, you know, a majority of our, you know, experienced players, the experienced players, minus a few. It does seem like our bench is going to be heavy on the, uh, the youth talent. Yeah. I really hope Laura Harvey learns how to sub this year. I was like, I don't know. I mean, the thing is, is like, if you want to develop these kids, like you do need to give them some meaningful minutes. You can't just throw them in for like five minutes at the end.
00:37:50
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it'll be it'll be interesting to see. But that was my my projection or my hopes and dreams. I don't know. What was this thing for Mongolian barbecue? Do you think our youth starting 11 is better than our traditional starting 11? Is that what he's trying to ask? I don't know. He's saying if we put all of our youth players on, would they be better than all of our non youth players? I don't think so. No, I think it's an interesting thing maybe to think about beyond that. But I would say no, not I would say that because of Biandolo. Yeah. Like, I think she's running through all of them for sure. um Maybe Maddie can catch up to her, can catch up to her beyond that. I don't know if anyone's keeping up with her. I guess Bug is but is Bug going to like take down Biandolo. I know Bug's good. Is she that good? but that I don't know.
00:38:45
Speaker
I mean, I would pay to see that scrimmage 100%. Yeah, I want to know who the other youth who was like, who would be the other like young center back with with her with with Lynn, you know, coming at them. They'd be Emily Mason, probably. I think they'd be up for the challenge. I don't think they would back down. I think they would be up for it. But it's all I think still ultimately I'm putting my money on Lynn. I hope that's what you were asking.
00:39:10
Speaker
Mongolian barbecue. um You can always um somewhere where you follow them on social media that they're available on social media, you could put that out there and maybe they'll do that at practice and can send us a result. I'm sure they'll do that just for us.
00:39:26
Speaker
Uh, okay. I think that's pretty much it for the hot takes segment. We got some other happenings in a whoa. So, uh, we did want to talk about the Europe stuff, but I think we got that covered. Thanks to Steve, the Houston dash are for sale. Um, seems like they're just trying to make money. yeah Um,
00:39:44
Speaker
I'm a little I'm a little like bummed out by it just because I think they've gotten a lot of interesting acquisitions and knowing what happened with the rain and how that took a toll on players. um I think it's kind of a bummer to know that that's kind of something that that they're going to be going through. Yeah. And that came out. but I think like the day that preseason started for them or the day before, it was it was a really terrible time to announce that. So hopefully things are better behind the scenes than they were for us. I mean, and I don't know. It's you it's Texas. So It's probably way worse. Um, other thing, our favorite Michelle Betos has retired officially. Um, maybe we can try to get her on the show now that she is no longer going to be a competitor in at least the player sense. Cause she's joining the coaching staff at Gotham.
00:40:33
Speaker
Which is good. Good for her. Yeah. They also need someone like her, I would say, in times like this. You want to go over the next few pieces? We have news. Something good happened for Casey Stoney. She deserves it. After she very much deserved it, she was announced as the new head coach of the Canadian Women's National Team. Hopefully, she's not into drones.
00:40:57
Speaker
Fingers crossed. but She's I don't think I don't get drone vibes from her. No, I don't either. ah and she And also like the weather for Canada and her outfits. Well suited. Spot on. Yeah. Spot on. Hopefully that's good for them. I mean, they went from one female head coach to another. So there's all the drama and shit with Bev. But um Canada, they've always been kind of punching above their weight, I feel like. So for them to have an actual good coach, I think that it would be really good for those players.
00:41:28
Speaker
Yeah. And she might be able to find talent that's been overlooked in the new Canadian League. And then you're my last bit of news on this, my favorite piece of news out of this week, um there's going to be a new team for women in the 77 TST summer tournament, and that
Hope Solo's Return for 7v7 Tournament
00:41:47
Speaker
is solo FC. Hope Solo coming out of retirement. That's right.
00:41:53
Speaker
I know a lot of people are not fans of her for reasons that are very logical and very validated. um I live for the chaos. um So this will be interesting. Maybe not for the team at the end. I'm not sure it'll be very interesting to see what kind of energy she's bringing to the to the team.
00:42:13
Speaker
I mean, and she's kind of been other than that Netflix flicks series that I did not watch. Did you watch it? No, I didn't watch it. Oh, that's weird. My mom watched and she's like, you got to watch this. That makes sense. And I was like, I know everything. No, it's not that I know everything. I just I don't need to expand my image in my head that I have of her. I know enough. I know it's not great. Yeah.
00:42:36
Speaker
What I think is the funniest part of this, was it Susie that pointed this out? But like, you know, if we get if we somehow get the matchup of Solo FC versus US Men's National Team, just like the names alone, it's just so like, ooh, what a matchup. Because it kind of has been Hope Solo just, ah what did didn't she wasn't didn't she so like try to stop the equal pay stuff?
00:43:05
Speaker
Well, she had a separate lawsuit. That's right. But did not get equal pay. No, it was for a different reason. But they blamed that for holding up the equal pay lawsuit. Got it. She's a wild card for sure. I know. And I just love it so much. You sent me that video of it was the Chapel Rhone song.
00:43:27
Speaker
What was that song? What's the job? I gotta find this, this, this song. I don't know. radio but So van sent me this TikTok video and it was like showing hope solo as a clips of hope. So I think maybe also Carly Lloyd. No, it's just hope solo I thought there was Peter, but might've just been because Carly Lloyd was on the team at the same time.
00:43:48
Speaker
Anyway, so it's these weird like montage of like hope solo and stuff and it's playing to the song of my kink is karma Which if you don't know the lyrics to my kink is karma, let me uh, let me pull up some of the lyrics I found it We can't play it on the show. We're going to get in trouble if we play it on the show. So the lyrics, it was like... ah Oh, it is Carly laid on it too, but I i yeah just walked that out with my brain. Yeah, that makes sense. I mean, you were fixated on Hope's Hello. It was, people say I'm jealous, but my kink is watching you ruin your life. You losing your mind, you dying your hair. So that's just the gist, some of the lyrics from that song. Crashing your car.
00:44:30
Speaker
It was a very unhinged video for Van to send me, but it also has like hundreds of thousands of likes, I'm pretty sure. 97.5 thousand. Okay, so almost a hundred thousand likes. The comments are turned off. Yeah, that makes sense.
00:44:44
Speaker
uh yeah uh the you know well i'm sorry to everybody who really hates hope solo that's just we grew up on her so much i will say this it's always good to have a villain it makes it more interesting yeah i don't know who well i do know who the current villain is we all know who the current villain is think about it she hates the gays she hates the gate come on she hates rupino too Oh, God. Yeah. I mean, I prefer not to have that, but it is what it is. Anyways, I think that's pretty much it that we got for for what. So you got anything else? No, no. I got a couple. I got a couple shout outs. I think maybe you got one, too. I wanted to shout out Skyler, Megan Smith. Please bring this energy back to the storm. She's got the rule. She's been playing unrivaled if you don't know, but unrivaled and you're like a women's basketball fan. I mean, I'm sure you do know about it.
00:45:38
Speaker
but they're undefeated her team and she's gotten four game winners, which like there's always a game winner. Like the way that the these games work are kind of weird, um but she's gotten four game winners, which is just crazy and incredible. She also looks like she's having the time of her fucking life.
00:45:55
Speaker
They all do. It looks great. They all do. Yeah, I'm like really hoping that all of the vibes that they're getting from this like tournament are brought back to the WNBA because it just looks like they're all having so much fun. Yeah. ah Speaking of like team shake ups, they had Stormer get one right now. Jewel Lloyd, Jewel Lloyd out going to Vegas. NECA re-signed though. That was huge. I wasn't sure it was huge. And then we've got the second pick of the draft now. Is there someone? Please pass up Paige Becker.
00:46:24
Speaker
Yeah, if they can get Paige Becker's, I'm gonna lose my mind. Absolutely lose my mind. I was hoping maybe they would get Courtney Anderson back. She's a free agent, but she's going back to Chicago. Makes sense. ah The other thing I wanted to shout out, gotta get my hat on for this.
00:46:37
Speaker
We got gotta shout out Beyonce. I'm sure she doesn't get enough shout outs. um She is the first black woman to win Country Album of the Year for the Grammys. And she also won Album of the Year for the Grammys, which is her first ever one, which is crazy because this is probably her fourth best album at least. But you know, she did it finally. She finally did it. So congrats to her. As a big Beyonce fan, I'm very happy. ah That's my shout outs. You got anything? I want to shout out um a UNC basketball player that's playing right now. Oh God, not this. Her name is Traiana Crisp. As a fellow Crisp myself, it's been a pleasure being a fan of hers. I hope she makes it to the W so I can get a jersey. I would also like to shout out. I am throwing a birthday party for my cat this month. Oh my God. On the 23rd on Sunday, Sunday, February 23rd, 3 p.m. at Triceratops Brewing in Tubwater. Oh, everyone's invited. Everyone's invited.
00:47:35
Speaker
All right. If you're in the Olympia area, come hang out. My cat will be there. We'll be having a pint. If you do go, you will be shocked how big a cat the cat is. Quite large. Yeah. um I'm excited for our upcoming episodes that we've got. We've got some stuff in the works. We do. You'll find out later.
00:47:56
Speaker
I don't want to give it anything away. Supposedly got to get it planned still, but, um, yeah, I don't know. I'm excited for the season. I think it'll be a much more interesting, all the turnover and everything that's just inherently going to have more to talk about. Um, and we've got, we've got some stuff to look forward to, which is very new for us.
00:48:15
Speaker
Indeed. Indeed. Well, if you want, you can follow us on Blue Sky and Instagram.
Engagement and Social Media Channels
00:48:21
Speaker
We're at Cooler Guild Pod. You can just send us an email. We love an email. Email is thecoolerguild.gmail dot.com. I actually have to say i I have a podcast that I listen to and they started a new season and I sent them an email.
00:48:34
Speaker
Oh, nice. I sent them fan mail. I titled it straight up fan mail. But please, ah please find us on our main website, center heart dot com forward slash the cooler guild. Go right wherever you listen. Five stars. You can catch us on YouTube at some point. Coming soon. Maybe. YouTube dot com forward slash at the cooler guild. Till next time, I'm Coop. I'm Van. Bye. Bye.
00:49:13
Speaker
Avocado. I did this last time. I think this isn't like the b-roll for one of the episodes. It is. It is. It 100% is. And it's going to keep happening, apparently.