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Dah clutch comeback - Ep. 49
32 Plays42 minutes ago
A gritty performance at a much needed time. Maddie Dahlien’s 80th minute goal secured the comeback win against the NC Courage Sunday night at Lumen Field. We discuss the dichotomy of the halves and the player’s performances that changed the game. We also go over the other results from around the league, preview Reign’s next match, as well as the forecast for the final four matches of the season.
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Show produced by Coop
Theme song by Alex Juarez
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The Cooler Guild Est. 2024
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode 49 Overview
00:00:17
Speaker
request and then that all right hello hello hello and welcome to episode 49 of the cooler guild i am koop cooper and joined with me as always is my co-host van crisp hello always say as always but like things happen maybe this is a bad thing to be using as my normal thing like i could be gone you could be gone Anyways, we're recording on Tuesday.
Podcast Success and Upcoming Topics
00:00:39
Speaker
almost hit 50 episodes and it's always been just the two of us. I know, but like it's only been two seasons and I feel like there will come a day where something, I mean, like hopefully i would like, I think in theory it'd be nice to have other people fill in if we ever needed to. Like the show could be successful with a rotation of other, like at least one other person.
00:01:01
Speaker
Not like on the regular, but like in a situation. I don't know. Maybe we'll travel. Maybe we'll do something. I don't know. You know mean? Just like that. Anyways, it's Tuesday, September 30th,
Supporting The Cooler Guild
00:01:12
Speaker
2025. On today's episode, we get a dub pod, baby. Dub pod! uh rain one in dramatic fashion against queer alina and we're going to talk about it and then we're going to go over the other league results and kind of just how it's tight all of the nw cell standings are right now because it's kind of nuts it's insane yeah um but first some housekeeping
00:01:38
Speaker
The Cooler Guild is part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network. You can either listen to us on our public feed or if you're a Sounder at Heart subscriber on the private unified feed with the other podcasts on the network. If you'd like to become a subscriber, just visit our page at sounderatheart.com forward slash the Cooler Guild.
Personal Anecdotes and Choir Experience
00:01:52
Speaker
New subscribers get 10% off the normal rate and you'll help support everything we're doing. what's ah What's going on? I'm chilling. Cool. I've had some nuts dreams lately.
00:02:04
Speaker
i have not been sleeping well. m No clue what's going on. Are you like waking up from your dreams or you just... Oh, yeah. Okay. Yeah, I woke up like six times the other night when I was trying to fall asleep. And then it was when I had gotten home from the rain game on Sunday night.
00:02:19
Speaker
And I'd been stuck in traffic and I was tired because I had I-5 closed. So it was just like a hell of a time getting home. um But i kept waking up and thinking that I was falling asleep, like in my dream, in my nightmare. I was falling asleep at the wheel and then crashing. And then as I crashed, I'd wake up.
00:02:36
Speaker
And that happened like five times. I don't know. I need to see a doctor.
Humorous Observations at the Choir
00:02:40
Speaker
Yeah. What about you? Well, I sent you the photo, but I went to the Portland Lesbians Choir. Lesbian Choir came to town where I am. And Alex like was looking at things to do like the night before.
00:02:55
Speaker
And ah she's like, oh my God, Lesbian, Portland Lesbian Choir is coming. i guess I'm buying tickets.
NWSL Game Discussion
00:03:00
Speaker
They're like 15 bucks. um so we went to go see that and there were so many lesbians it was just it was so cool to see so many lesbians kind of doing this but they had like a very good like set of songs the funniest part that was like they all came out right and then like this one in the closet no just like onto the stage you know yeah ah yeah okay um but there's like one one someone in the in the group who look like kim davies
00:03:27
Speaker
really yeah and i was like is kim davies actually lesbian and that's why she's so mad and trying to not let gay people get married because she looked is it davies or davis davis is it davis i don't know i don't remember she wanted to be famous and clearly i don't even know her name i was trying to remember what it was but i was like i'm not looking it up i don't really care but there was a woman in there who looked just like her and it was was just singing these like lesbian anthems and i was like get it kim The whole time I wanted to scream like, let's go lesbians after every song, but I didn't do that.
00:04:02
Speaker
I really felt like a should have though. Yeah. I mean, I would have been down for that. they Yeah. I think they're playing again. They're like doing a show in Portland. It's going to be like a larger show out there. But um yeah, it was really good. They they were really good. It was...
00:04:17
Speaker
that's cool. I did forget my sister got two new kittens. What? Yeah. That's too many cats. Was she fostering them? Are they hers? No, she got cats. Jesus, that's a lot of animals in that house. Not really. oh Yeah, it is. ah ah So one of them is named Kelsey Plum, but they mostly call her Plum Dog. Okay. Not Plum Cat.
00:04:37
Speaker
It's not. It's D-A-W-G. Okay. And the other one is Satu. Okay. WBA names. Love it. Yeah. And she said, ah the it works, the Mercury One.
00:04:50
Speaker
Okay, Sarah. She's so all over the place with her fucking WNBA fandom. I know I don't get it. Don't get me started. But the cats are cute.
Game Analysis and Player Performances
00:04:57
Speaker
I'll send you pictures later. Anyway. We have a match to get into that I am so happy we get a cover. I'm going to pop open my beer right now because last time I waited too long. I got another celebratory beer.
00:05:10
Speaker
um i got this time just sticking with the theme of going to getting stuff from Obelisk, but Sculpture Gardens. Or Obelisk, if you will. Everyone in town calls it ah obelisk. and i may Maybe I'll just, like, fuck with people and start seeing obelisk.
00:05:25
Speaker
But, yeah. um Great, great time. So cheers to cheers to the rain. Getting it done in the most gritty fashion I've ever seen in a long time.
00:05:36
Speaker
Yeah, this is a kind of grit we really haven't seen lately and so I mean, it was like a classic Laura Harvey kind of result. Very much so. um Did I enjoy watching the first half?
00:05:48
Speaker
No. Was I very nervous after the first half? Yes. um but I will say, as far as like pregame stuff goes... um amc showed up in a signed nefisa collier jersey i did i did take note of that too like i know it was signed too she's just popping in i know um and then they did a moment of silence for matt beard before the match yeah that's that was devastating i like saw the news of that and i like saw it maybe
Critical Game Moments
00:06:19
Speaker
a minute after that got posted and i was like what the fuck yeah this insane loss yeah
00:06:25
Speaker
yeah And just so connected with so many players. Yeah, no i feel like it's been nothing but good stories about him, even before he passed, but like he seems very well respected and very he was very loved. So, ah yeah, super sad.
00:06:40
Speaker
um and ah another thing i noted um the rain players during the national anthem always face the crowd all other teams turn and face the flag video that they put up there well there's a flag above the video it's very small but it's up there yeah but uh i just always think that's interesting and it gives me hope I mean, I wouldn't be facing the flag right now.
00:07:03
Speaker
Nope. Oh, and then Lauren Holiday was there at halftime. What was she there for? ah The Lauren Holiday Impact Award ah thing. Yeah. Cool. That was neat. Anyway, those are non...
00:07:16
Speaker
non uh match game yeah yeah on the field stuff cool did you line up the lineup was interesting um it looked less like a five back than we've seen lately so i was super stoked about that yeah um and at times in the first half it looked okay it stopped being okay like the last half of the first half yeah then i was like falling asleep yeah It's so boring. I just kept saying to myself like oh my god, we just need to get to halftime need to get to halftime.
00:07:49
Speaker
Yeah, yeah Which I'm fine with as a tactic to some extent Yeah, especially in games like this where you're just really having to grind it out. Yeah, it wasn't like finding a ton of success Yeah, exactly. It wasn't like fuck they need like five more minutes and they'll find the net it was like no it was much more like ah we just need to get out of here as soon as possible and regroup We got the now consistent Claudia Dickey 25th minute something
Second Half Analysis and Frustrations
00:08:16
Speaker
mysterious is wrong with my leg. Come check it out. Yeah, what the fuck is that with that?
00:08:20
Speaker
I got questions. I mean, we've pointed it out several times before, but... Is there actually something going think a tactical injury. Yeah, I mean, I guess she just, like, knows, like, everyone knows that if a goalkeeper goes down, they do have to stop it, and I'm fine. I guess I'm i guess i'm fine with it, but, like, if people call her out for it, I'm like, well, yeah.
00:08:41
Speaker
it's strategy it's not like she's ah it's not like she's diving in the box you know what i mean important diggy made a save in the first half that i have no idea how she got to that i saw that cross and then the header and i was like oh cooked And then she got her hands to it just in time. Like, that reaction time is insane. She's incredible.
00:09:04
Speaker
We keep saying this. It's just, it's nice that we keep get to, I mean, obviously you love a good goalkeeper, but like, it's, you know, we had the Buhati era.
00:09:17
Speaker
um And like we've we've had, i just i do i don't know, i'm obviously this the state of Washington loves a good goalkeeper. who um So this is this is, I love it.
00:09:30
Speaker
It's great. And she's going to, oh, man, I think she's definitely, I feel like, you know, barring some something super, you know, wacky, this national team spot I think is hers to lose.
00:09:43
Speaker
I think so. I would completely agree with that. um There was some breakdowns in the back line in the first half. um They kept getting cooked. What didn't look good? um But then when Darlene and Montessire kept getting involved, there were lots of chances that started to come through.
00:10:01
Speaker
I wouldn't say lots, but more I was used to. Yeah, Darlene was really failing at this whole game. um it didn't seem like maybe everybody was always on the same page with her, which was kind of an issue. think it's so helpful when Adames comes in.
00:10:16
Speaker
yeah, yeah. Because her Adames are, like, locked. Yeah, yeah. um But yeah as far as first half goes, when you got Darlene and Monasir on the ball, like definitely something happened. Yeah.
00:10:30
Speaker
So that kind of at that point, it was just like, okay, let's just get to half. So second half, we scored a goal and then it got called back.
Game Outcome Reflections
00:10:41
Speaker
And I i was looking on the, I just wish they had better angles on the NWSL replay. I think she was off.
00:10:49
Speaker
Oh, I definitely think she was offside, but like the angle of the like shot that they had was just like really bad. It was odd. You know, sometimes they say like, oh, it was offside. so there's just no way to fucking count it. But when you like repeat that same exact thing and you are onside the next time, like the first time was just unlucky because she was also running back on pretty aggressively to try to make sure she wasn't going to be off.
00:11:11
Speaker
She's also faster than everyone, so ah staying on side can be difficult. Yeah. a Part of that that ah goal that got called back, I wanted to point out ah Jordan Bug um was just slicing and dicing.
00:11:26
Speaker
I mean... just the audacity to do that and like your own half too i mean she was just fucking i mean she looked like a fucking forward up back there just like getting around players with the ball and stuff i don't know like it was so clean and precise and like her her tenacity just do shit like that is amazing i love when she gets into the offense oh it's a dream i was going to ask you to ask harvey about that Yeah, I'm going to have to the next game because, like, there are points where she gets up there and she's dangerous.
00:12:02
Speaker
She's so good. I was like, she could be like a midfielder or like ah like a wingback. I don't know. But, like, anytime she's up there, we're like, oh, my God, Jordan, Jordan Buggs. Jordan Buggs, what are doing?
00:12:13
Speaker
Yeah. Then she cooks and then so something happens. but It's so nice to watch. I love it. ah The
In-depth Player and Tactical Analysis
00:12:20
Speaker
North Carolina goal. ah Really good goal from them, I thought.
00:12:24
Speaker
Yeah, i thought Phoebe could have been marking a little bit better. Yeah. But the run was perfect. The cross was perfect. yeah it was It was just an all-around really good goal from them.
00:12:34
Speaker
Yeah. um But yeah, Betford scored that goal. She ended up coming off, which I thought was odd. Yeah. She like she was having a good game. But then in the 66th minute is when we started making some changes. So Adamas came on for Monteser and McCammon came on for Fishlock.
00:12:54
Speaker
and fishlock wasn't having a lot of success this game but it's one of those things where we've talked about it before she just gets swarmed so rightfully so but yeah and then what minute was this so it was the 71st minute uh when mckhammon and adamez down the right hand side were just bop bop bop playing each other. um And then Adamus gets that cross in and Haidem is there and kicks it at the same time as the defender, kind of.
00:13:29
Speaker
and the defender actually kicks it in the goal. Yeah. I was wondering if they thought that it was Haidem. I mean, i i I guess, I don't know. I guess just sound like an asshole when I say, like, oh, I always thought that was an un-goal. But to me, it like always did look like an own goal.
00:13:41
Speaker
ah Obviously, it was Heidema not being there wouldn't have been a goal. so Right. Credit to her for being in the right space. And also credit to Adames for just fucking getting in the game basically right away.
00:13:54
Speaker
who And McCammon. Yeah. Oh, yeah. McCammon was great. I really like her. Me too. I want to see more. Me too. Then... The next thing that happened was Maddie Darlene on a pass from Sally Menti.
00:14:08
Speaker
Got credit now. It was good. It was good. When she's playing offensively, it's fine. Yeah. It's the defensive side that's absolutely just terrifying to me. I did have a note about what happened right after kickoff. but i was like mentee this And this was an offensive boo-boo from her.
00:14:27
Speaker
but she like tried to play a pass forward and played out wide to like the left. And it was just like the weakest pass I have ever seen in my life. And I was like, oh, God, Van's going to bring this up.
00:14:39
Speaker
was like, girl, you can't do that. But she she she made up for it, for sure. yeah a bit. um So harsh. And then, ah yeah, so Maddie Darlene just kind of slices and cuts in which i she's been doing more of lately and I really like.
00:14:56
Speaker
Instead of going wide and waiting for other players to be in the box, she's just cutting in and ripping it. She needs to. And it was really bad goalkeeping. It went under the goalkeeper's hand.
00:15:08
Speaker
But I will say it did go through two separate players' legs. It was like a double mag goal. And those can be hard to track. Mm-hmm. So it's our bread and butter, right?
00:15:19
Speaker
Like when I was watching her highlights and stuff from college, it's a lot of that. Yeah. I feel like towards, which towards the beginning of the season, she was kind of going wide and then trying to cut in first and it didn't really work as well.
00:15:33
Speaker
And she's like, Oh, i I can just cook people at the top of the box. This is fine. Yeah. Into that. And then at the 83rd minute AMC subbed on for Darlene who was cramping after her goal, Sally. Yeah.
00:15:45
Speaker
hey oops yeah and the presser she said somebody asked about that but when she came off she's like i gotta cool it with the damn sellies and hearing that come out of her like innocent little mouth was so funny everybody in the press room was just like ah but um amc came on amc really helped solidify the game because there was somehow they came up with nine minutes of stoppage time crazy Yeah, so we've kind of listed off a bunch of positives, obviously, with what we've done. But my number one positives, this will surprise nobody, is Maddie Dahlin.
00:16:24
Speaker
Fourth goal of the this season, all game winners. That's clutch. Clutch, clutch, clutch. She's also been due for one for a while. so i was really happy that it came in this fashion.
00:16:36
Speaker
I also love that it came from the same exact, like, kind of the way she set herself up for the one that got called back. I love that she got, like, another chance to try that again and got it.
00:16:46
Speaker
But, I mean, all over the field, she's just, she's cooking, man. she's she When she's feeling it, she is so damn good.
Team Strategies and Challenges
00:16:54
Speaker
Yeah, they need to find a way to consistently get her the ball and put her in dangerous spaces.
00:16:59
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, I don't know what the right combo still is at this moment to like pair in that midfield and everything with her. and even on like Because like you could switch her the ball even with the right side. and um I'd be eager to see what her and Fischl can maybe get going together to with hide him up top and stuff. but yeah We thought Fischl might come on.
00:17:20
Speaker
Yeah, which i'm glad I'm glad they saved it. Yeah. Given the result, obviously. Yeah, after they scored, Fischl went back to the bench. He was in the warm-up area. And then ah it was just McCammon and Adames.
00:17:35
Speaker
Yeah. I... Sanmeza. Yeah. I feel like a broken record, but she's so consistent. She is. And when they were, when somebody asked her in the press conference, like, how, how do you stay consistent with these like top level performances?
00:17:53
Speaker
i love that her first answer was, well, number one, it's my job. Yes, my job. but
00:17:59
Speaker
You're right. because like It is fair play. Yeah. Yeah, we've talked about before, but Claudia Dickey. Claws up. Claudia Dickey, period. What else is there to say? Not much. I do think, and rolling into the negatives here, unless there's another positive you wanted to point out.
00:18:16
Speaker
Um... I mean, I guess I just want to, like, maybe emphasize the subs a little bit more. Just on the part with McCammon, specifically because she had, ah like, a very crucial touch on both of the goals.
00:18:30
Speaker
And I don't think a lot of times players, like, up, you know, further back on the field necessarily get credit for their involvement for the goals, obviously. Because, like, when they show the replay, you'll maybe just see the assist person, the first assist. um But McCammon was...
00:18:45
Speaker
like crucial crucial and also like reading like the defense of north carolina really really well and finding those lines um and not only that but she was just like being aggressive um and like keeping on the ball and kept kind of just don't know she's very persistent and that it was really refreshing to see yeah i agree yeah that's all i wanted to say i just really really enjoyed her ah So rolling into the negatives, I didn't put this on here because I just kind of thought about it and I've seen people talk about it.
00:19:17
Speaker
It is a negative to me that we have such quality on our team. Yeah. and these are surprising results to us at times. ah Because the quality on the field does not match the level of play that the team is consistently showing.
00:19:34
Speaker
Sure. Yeah. And I wish that they could find a way to change that. Yeah, it's tough. um It's tough because when we like when we played KC or when we're about to play Gotham, right, I do think like we'll look at those rosters and it is just like like, yeah, I like our team. I think we're good. I think we're capable of winning any game. I really do.
00:19:58
Speaker
But like those teams are just like undeniably stacked. And we've got this youth core now. And I just think it's going to be a little bit of time before i do feel that confidence in like what you're saying of expecting to win. Like I might not be. even talking about expecting to win. I'm just talking about the level of play.
00:20:22
Speaker
Yeah. I just think it's going to take a little bit of time. Right, and we've been critical about this, but we always knew that this was going to be ah ah right transition year.
00:20:34
Speaker
Yeah. and it's A year for growth. Yeah, and it's turning out really well, and I think that the players believe in themselves. It's just, ah which is, you know, key, but the KZ result was kind of brutal watch.
00:20:48
Speaker
and And then you come up with the game like this and it's just like, okay, so you do have it in you. Let's figure out how to meld all of these things together. Yeah. Other negatives, ah the stoppage time out of nowhere was one.
00:21:02
Speaker
and then I just put var in there because why do we have to review things? Yeah. I'm joking. I don't mind VAR. i I don't either. um i didn't really have a lot They did wait too long for the one with Darlene's callback. Like, they had they did technically kick the ball and were going into, like, the play after that. So it was like, guys, let's let's get it together. Like, it seemed offside to me they should have had it figured out much sooner.
00:21:29
Speaker
So, yeah. I guess, like, we could see how that's a negative. Yeah, I don't know. It also, when Curry got taken it down in the box. I didn't think that was a penalty.
00:21:41
Speaker
I don't think the initial tackle was a penalty. follow through with the foot catching hers was. Yeah, I don't know. I'm on the
Match Result and Key Players
00:21:49
Speaker
fence about it. I was fine with the call. Yeah, I mean, either way. I mean, I'd be pissed if we lost.
00:21:54
Speaker
Sure. With this result, I'm not worried about it, but in another world, I could be. Yeah. ah and Although, although we did win with only one shot on goal. So like...
00:22:09
Speaker
I don't know. I guess I could have like been like, well, I didn't get the penalty. But knock out a fuck like, we snuck out a win. So, like, even a draw would have been kind of crazy with only one shot on goal. That reminds me of, like, the first Sounders final. Oh, yeah. That's all it's all I ever think about whenever I see, like, hardly any shots on goal, but the team wins.
00:22:29
Speaker
but I mean, that's just, that was the funniest thing that's maybe ever happened in MLS Cup. Yeah. So, can Lorraine just get some more shots on goal, please? Hey, if they got a win, I don't give a shit. was I couldn't be happier that that's how the Sounders won. For some of those.
00:22:47
Speaker
Post-match presser. I watched those. I guess we kind of went over a little bit with the celebration with Darlene. What else did you take from them? Darlene was matched with Williams on side on the outside.
00:23:00
Speaker
um and she talked about, they watched she watched a lot of film of her and did a lot of preparation. And and I think it showed. The Reign have not lost at home since coming back from the break.
00:23:13
Speaker
So um they had some really positive things to say about the fans. um And Sam, as I said, you know, the fans are really genuine in the way that they show up. The fans, the momentum changed when the fans got more into the game.
00:23:26
Speaker
So does it cause and effect? I don't know, but it makes a difference and they they notice. Yeah. ah The Harvey stuff was kind of fun, mostly because she pointed out that typically a team, in order to get to the playoffs, they need at least 34 points.
00:23:41
Speaker
um And we're sitting on, are we on 33 or 34 now? 33. Okay, so technically, in theory, one more point would be hopefully enough to get us above. But I do, like, there's like four games left.
00:23:55
Speaker
Some of the results are... I don't know. Some of the some of the but opponents, we should be able to... I mean, hopefully we get more than a draw for the rest of these fucking games. ah they also... ah get She pointed out, like, we don't we don't want to just be an eighth. We want to be as high up as we can, obviously. Because they want to get home field advantage, especially with how well they are playing at home.
00:24:15
Speaker
Yeah, and sitting in fourth place now, they've set themselves up really, really well. Yeah. So I don't know. ah It's going to be a long, stressful next couple weeks.
00:24:28
Speaker
My pal who is like, i'm I'm debating on starting my own D&D campaign. i have like a idea and my buddy really wants me to start it. And I'm just like, I can't think about anything right now.
00:24:41
Speaker
I have too much going on with soccer mentally to think about doing anything until this is all over because my stress level is at an all time high and he doesn't know sports and doesn't understand standings. And I was trying to explain it to him and he was just confused, I think.
00:24:56
Speaker
But yeah, I mean, this is this is a fucking tight race. It really is. i don't know what it'll take for us to clinch and not be so stressed. It might not be till the end of the, it's probably going to come down to the last game.
00:25:09
Speaker
Yeah, I think it'll, just because of the way that the matchups are though, um it might be a little, I think it'll be pretty clear. um Hopefully not as nerve wracking as it could be. That's what another thing Harvey pointed out is like, you've got a lot of the teams that are kind of competing with us playing against each other. So like only one of them can walk away with, you know, points, maybe yeah split the points, which might even be better in some circumstances. But yeah, it's, as this is, This is about as good as it gets as a MLS fan or a NWSL fan. Sorry. MLS. Wow. Someone just, I was just reading a post that's at MLS. They were like making fun of the Chicago fire and they're like, I've always been a fan of the MLS.
00:25:53
Speaker
and the Chicago Fire FC whatever the fuck they call themselves now. I think do another important thing rolling into like this playoff race is going to be getting goals.
00:26:04
Speaker
The rain school differential at plus two right now. They need momentum for sure. You know and then the teams within that bracket like eight to four even eight to three right. I mean, Gotham has a plus 13 goal differential there in third place. We have plus two in fourth place.
00:26:19
Speaker
Orlando's got plus four and the other teams are at plus three. So we're losing goal differential battle and that might hurt us in the long run as far as placement goes.
00:26:30
Speaker
It's interesting. It's very interesting. Cooler player of the match. Are you ready? i am ready. The cooler player of the match is brought to the doctor's office, a great little 12 seat bar on Capitol Hill. The owner is a big fan of the rain and is proud to be our first sponsor.
00:26:45
Speaker
um i kind of had to put my foot down for this a little bit. I said that's fine. Yeah, but you were a little like we were on the same page. At first. There were options.
00:26:57
Speaker
There were definitely options. There's always options when
Sponsor Shoutout and Trivia Question
00:26:59
Speaker
there's a win. It's always a team effort, right? Yeah. ah But this week we're giving it to Maddie Darlene, which you so I think it might be her first one.
00:27:10
Speaker
think. That's because you were worried for a while about giving it to underage people. Which we have done since. And look, we're fine. Well, I mean, we live in the Wild West these days. So going to come for us? I guess. Ice. Literally the government. um
00:27:27
Speaker
uh yeah so it yeah she's one of the i feel like we should some maybe we should put a note of like the few times where we do choose the same player as who like the rain pick for the player of the match because yeah doesn't it doesn't happen often we try to avoid it just because i do think it's important to shout out players don't get the credit that way but this week it's got to be maddie this maddie not the other maddies Maddie Yeah. shout out to you, Maddie, and your dad, if he's listening.
00:28:02
Speaker
um and don't know if Maddie actually listens, but i think your dad... I doubt any of the players do. Probably They have better things to do than listen to us yap about crap weed they know more than us about. Exactly.
00:28:14
Speaker
All right. ah Thanks again to our sponsor, The Doctor's Office. The Doctor's Office is the best place to grab a drink before or after a rain match. Stop in today and go try one of their limited edition cocktails like the Chili and the Chocolate Factory. who Negroni that flirts with flame.
00:28:32
Speaker
Thai chili smolders beneath a pillowy crown of silky chocolate. Wait, this sounds delicious. I know. i think I'm going to, I'm hoping it's still on the menu because I think I'm going to try to get, go to the final game of the season on Friday.
00:28:47
Speaker
That's on a Friday night. Um, cause I've got shit going on next weekend har like the the last, the last, one of the last two home games I'm busy, so I can't go, but i want to go and have this cause you know, I'm a sucker for any Negroni and now you're adding some spice to it. Yes, please.
00:29:01
Speaker
Yes, please. um anyways go check out their instagram at tdo seattle or better yet go drink there in person cheers cheers i couldn't think of a trivia question for this week and to be honest getting worn out on trivia great it could just be a never now and then thing so uh last week's question who did the rain get their first nwsl win against would you have guessed this You know, if I would have thought about it, yeah.
00:29:26
Speaker
Yeah, me too. ah The answer is Boston Breakers. And two rain players scored goals in that match. ah The first one was Christine Nairn, who was the answer to our first for our question last week.
00:29:38
Speaker
And of course, the original Tiny Dragon herself, Jess Fishlock. Was that game at home? I don't know. I didn't look that far into it. Because I know that Boston Breakers also had a shit show of stadium situation back then, too. Oh, yeah, that was terrible. Yeah.
00:29:53
Speaker
Cool. Well, maybe to really back when things are not so, uh, so spicy with standings. Um, email me some trivia questions if you have them.
00:30:05
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the sounder at heart podcast network, which now includes no Saniettes, lobbing scorchers and the cooler guild.
Discussion on Other NWSL Results
00:30:12
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:30:52
Speaker
Thanks for listening.
00:30:57
Speaker
So moving on to other NWSL results. I kind of watched a little bit more highlights this week just because things are getting so interesting. I watched full a couple full games and then a couple highlights. Good for you. um Did you watch the Gotham-Portland match?
00:31:13
Speaker
Yep. that is one that i missed but i did see the highlights okay i mean i we can speak about the big piece of news after the few things portland lost pretty badly um love that first of all i'm just gonna go ahead and throw that out there they also lost three to zero ah No goals. ah The first goal was Mitch, Mitch Purse.
00:31:39
Speaker
Enjoy that for sure. There was really, really shitty defending from Portland, which is a trend for them. um Rose Lavelle scored after a quick passing sequence. I mean, they're just, they were flying. They were really flying on some of these, some of these things.
00:31:54
Speaker
ah The last goal, which actually Esther subbed out the half. and thought it was funny because the commentator was just like, I think they're trying to put her back in her little glass case and save her. I was like, yeah, you might be right. I would.
00:32:07
Speaker
um and but And then single Katie Stengel came back to the Gotham and she scored um the third goal for Gotham. There was really bad defending on that one as well from Portland.
00:32:18
Speaker
Sam Hyatt with a really, really bad giveaway. ah Something Reign fans might be a little familiar with. Oops. i'm not gonna say a word just it's that but that is something i had it's not something i hadn't seen before uh the big news though with portland this came out today pretty wild pretty wild i don't understand this it got a lot of money for her But this was like such a loved player for Portland fans. But I, you know, all these things get approved by players now, right?
00:32:51
Speaker
So ah Hina Sagita is no longer a Portland Thorns player. She got traded to Angel City, um which is also weird. ah But, i you know, you're joining some some of your national team teammates, I guess.
00:33:04
Speaker
And then Portland's going to get Vigna. No, M.A. Vignola. I think her name's like Mary Alice or something. Oh, M-A, okay, i think was double Vs. There's a lot of Vs letters and shapes with Vs and Ms. yeah it is mary alice oh wow nailed it i was always wondering what that stood for so yeah ma vignola joining the thorns and they also got six hundred thousand dollars of like interleague transfer funds or something like that don't know it's weird right i dip maybe she just wanted to leave i mean i would i would want to leave portland personally yeah the troops are coming in um
00:33:46
Speaker
uh yeah things are i mean that's i really am not happy i feel really bad for the city of portland just putting that out there first of all the situation that's going on and i'm in oregon so this is like not great um but yeah i i was like is karina leblanc still the gm that's what i thought first Yeah.
00:34:05
Speaker
But I guess this is just that this is just how they run things. So I don't know. mean, maybe this will work out. Gnola's a very good player. I do really enjoy her. I think she's great. um And like this is going to get them a decent amount of money. But i just again, I think Sagita's such a good player for them.
00:34:20
Speaker
A pivotal player for them. Yeah. It sounded like a Portland like just couldn't keep up with the money that she wanted or something that that like Angel City was maybe willing to play her or pay her. I'm not really sure.
00:34:31
Speaker
You would think Portland would just be willing to do that, but don't know. They've been really bad with their finances in the past, so who knows? I'm glad that they're goingnna be having the WNBA team or soon be performing their WNBA team.
00:34:45
Speaker
ah All right. ah Did you watch the KC match? I did. But the beanie scored, which seems to be a yeah reliant thing this time. ah But casey air of Chicago was trying to play out of the back, which made like zero sense to me because they were just under attack.
00:35:01
Speaker
And so that's how first k goal came about. um But Chicago did score. They did. Which i was like, yay. Yay. ah the shut The shutout streak, yeah you have a here nearly 900 minutes. Mike Watts yelled it at me.
00:35:20
Speaker
to I know. I watched most of that on mute, actually. up But look people keep talking about how good of a goalkeeper Lorena is. I don't see it she makes some really terrible mistakes and like her positioning on this goal the goal came went near post shouldn't get scored on near post so yeah i don't see it she's also terrible with her feet so there are things to take advantage of in the back for them do you want to talk about chewing a goal oh god her Shuinga is so damn good when she is when the team isn't fouling people around her and she's not fouling people.
00:35:57
Speaker
so She doesn't need to be playing... The way she played up against the Reign, I guess everybody ah on KC was pissing me off against the Reign. But Shuinga's just... Her touch when she gets the ball and just her ability to just seamlessly get through defenders is unreal. it it really is. When she is...
00:36:16
Speaker
is gets the ball fed to her in the right spaces and stuff. I mean, I i don't know that there's a better player that has better touch than her every now in the league. No, I completely agree. ah She's just clinical. Yeah.
00:36:29
Speaker
Everything she does is clinical. Yeah, if you haven't watched the goal that she scored in this game, you should go watch it. I mean, it's just butter. It really is. It's so good. She, I mean, there was like three defenders on her. She had four on her at one point, still gets it past the goalkeeper.
00:36:43
Speaker
it was great. It was great. ah can't be mad at them when they, you know, when she's playing like that. Yeah. I would say they didn't, I mean, it's also Chicago. We're going back to, you know, the Chicago win thing might be a thing again.
00:36:58
Speaker
Maybe. be Maybe. If they can not lose San Diego lost to Orlando two to one I did not watch this game. and This result confuses me on many levels.
00:37:13
Speaker
and I didn't watch it either, but I'm just, I never know what I'm going to expect when I check it out in San Diego right now or
NWSL Standings and Playoff Race
00:37:19
Speaker
Orlando. I mean, our Orlando, I don't expect them to do well. So it's interesting that they got one up on San Diego. ah Louisville beat Angel City.
00:37:27
Speaker
Yeah. 1-0. That's a big result for Louisville. yeah good for them then utah beat bay two to zero hey oh my god utah's on a run though i know know it was it was i you thought they were never like really terrible they were just bad solar zono is that as how you say do we figure that out orzano yeah solar zono who i believe we wanted on the rain at one point um got got her first nw cell goal and she kind of just like she had like a it got blocked initially and she kind of just stayed on it i don't know how bay let that go in to be honest because it she was such a tight tight did you see that shot yeah i mean it was such a tight angle on that on the end and there was like a million legs in front tried to block it basically
00:38:18
Speaker
And she's still got it in So um she's going to go down as the first Guatemalan to score in the league. So that's a cool stat to have. I did watch the Washington Spirit versus Houston game.
00:38:31
Speaker
Watching all the blowouts. I like to see goals. I don't know. Gift Monday scored the fastest hat trick in a WSL history. There is a goal. The second goal she scored was my favorite.
00:38:44
Speaker
Robin had the ball out wide and crossed it in and it came straight across gift Monday's body and she was able to open up and let it roll past to her left foot and place it in with her left foot. Just the adjustment was insane.
00:38:56
Speaker
Yeah. So ah like I've said since beginning gift Monday is still good. Yeah. And then Cantore scored the fourth goal in that match. These are good players. These are good players. They're cooking.
00:39:09
Speaker
this Consistency. And it's not like, don't know, it's like these teams have like these players that are, maybe they're not, mean, they could be if they would have gotten them sooner, but like having like these multiple people who can score like five, six plus goals season on your team, multiple players that can do that, man, when when can that be us?
00:39:31
Speaker
I don't know. but Someday. Wouldn't be official is healthy. yeah Yeah, that would be one. The other note, I guess I wanted to put just kind of put a little bookend on these NWCell results. ah The top three teams currently are undefeated in their last five matches.
00:39:48
Speaker
The top three teams, that is, and Utah. Congrats, Utah. know. ah do they have enough Do they have enough in them to somehow get above the line? I know there is a scenario in which that could happen.
00:40:02
Speaker
I don't think they're eliminated technically, but ah yeah, it's wild. It's wild what Utah is doing without Ali Sentinel anymore. Yeah, it's like they got better. it Maybe it was like relying too much on trying to feed her the ball or something. I'm not sure, but... Who knows?
00:40:17
Speaker
Yeah, teams at the top seem to be rightfully at the top, so that's not ideal because means that i means they all have good momentum going into the playoffs.
00:40:28
Speaker
Yeah, and the Spirit clinch this weekend. who Unsurprising, but yeah. ah All right. got anything else you want to add on Nope. Okay. Reigns next match. They're playing Gotham away Sunday, October 5th, 1 p.m.
00:40:42
Speaker
That game's going to be on NWCO Plus and Paramount Plus. ah Gotham are just one point above us in the standings. We're sitting in fourth place and they're in third. So that's ah kind of exciting.
00:40:54
Speaker
If it wasn't Gotham that we have to actually play. yeah and they've won four of their last five matches their last uh loss was they haven't like the last loss they have since returning from the summer break was like august i think don't know i didn't put the date down but they had they've only had one loss basically since the summer break ended crazy Yeah, they were looking a little suspect, I would say. They were on road watch for a minute. and i they're definitely off of it now. um the only The only kind of maybe good news for the rain is that ah they're playing, Gotham's playing Wednesday night, which this will be out Wednesday, but they're playing Wednesday night in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
00:41:36
Speaker
and And they're also playing in Pennsylvania. Yeah, odd. and I know there was a reason for that, but I can't remember what. I think it was because d I think the Spirit supposed to maybe be hosting and their stadium wasn't available.
00:41:47
Speaker
I'm not really sure, but yeah it's Interesting to see what kind of crowd they pull out in Pennsylvania. Yeah, but I would also suspect that they're going to play their big players. like This is why they subbed out Esther to have her ready for a game like this. so yeah what do you want to What do you want to see in this match?
00:42:04
Speaker
and Everything? i don't know.
00:42:08
Speaker
I want to see us win and at least fight. Fight and win? Fight and win. um Anyway, I know that stats don't matter. The the the result matters, right?
00:42:21
Speaker
I would like to see the stats show when we win this match, I would want the stats to show that we should have won the match. Yeah.
00:42:33
Speaker
I don't know. It's just been a weird thing. Like we're getting results and people like it keep getting confused about like why we are up where we are. And it's like, well, those of us that watch understand here's the things, the team's gritty and crazy yeah and really fun to watch at times.
00:42:51
Speaker
Yeah. um And I'm really hoping as I skeeted that the Etsy witch somehow found us. Yeah. To that, I will say you have one bad take.
00:43:03
Speaker
I'll call it out. You have two bad takes. I'm going to laugh a little harder. You have three bad takes. I don't really want to acknowledge it really. um Because, yeah, there are a few people who just don't seem to understand what the Reen are
Upcoming Games and Season Prospects
00:43:18
Speaker
doing.
00:43:18
Speaker
Oh, you're not talking about me? No, not you. Not you. That would be crazy if I just called you like that. I mean, I'd expect nothing less. suck, man.
00:43:30
Speaker
No, I just think that there are people who don't, they're just, they just want to be bitter about this team given what happened last year and they're not wanting to let it go kind of thing. That's that's like the vibe I kind of get and they don't want to like give any acknowledgement to just like that that this is a project.
00:43:48
Speaker
um It's not always going be pretty, but like this team does have, good players they can get goals might not be a lot of them no and i mean sometimes it might be but you never you just don't know all the time like we don't we don't know what what's going on still obviously with kind of the identity i would say of the same because they're still trying to figure out right because like like you're saying sometimes they're leading the stats but they don't get the result And then sometimes they aren't leading the fucking stats. They get one shot on the ball and then they win the game. So like we we haven't found the right ah combination of everything to kind of give give a clear picture on like what this team is. Totally. Yeah, guess that's.
00:44:30
Speaker
kind of what I meant in that convoluted statement was I just want to see a bit of identity sure yeah because you see you see little things but it's just not totally clear yet what if if they are to make a deep run into the playoffs what that is going to look like on the field yeah and And it's good to have versatility, too, because you don't want to have like one thing, right? Like you don't want a team to be able to break you down super easily with only having one type of thing you're good at. So I don't think this is a bad problem to necessarily have.
00:45:02
Speaker
But the goal scoring thing for sure needs to get figured out. Yeah, I want to see a score multiple goals in this match. I did notice and I see that you put this in the note here, but the the the in stadium camera was like really zoomed in on people for some reason. I don't know who was running it this match, but like multiple people pointed it out and There did seem to be a lot of communication from Dickie to the back line, especially during breaks.
00:45:33
Speaker
So maybe that's something that's becoming helpful. Yeah. Especially not having Lou in. Yeah. That was the one thing I put in things I want to see is Dickie continued continuing to be Dickie. And then all that kind of goes into the entire back line. We'll need to be community communicating with each other constantly against the Gotham team because there are so many threatening pieces with them.
00:45:55
Speaker
that they will take you take advantage of any slip-up, any slip-up at all. So they've really got to be on their A game, the defense. And they need to find a way, um and I think this will probably be Sam Meza um trying to isolate Roosevelt.
00:46:09
Speaker
Yep, isolate her and then hit those transitions. That'll be fun to watch, the two of them. Yeah, and it's not like Gotham doesn't have a good defense either, so it's not going to it's not an easy game by any means. Obviously, i think everybody who follows the NDP sale knows that this Gotham team are definitely favored.
00:46:25
Speaker
um but if you want to test yourself before the playoffs in a serious manner this this is a game to do that in so i'm very stressed about it i hope ann katron burger has an off day just kidding i love her i don't know not against us at any time but again she could have an off day against us yeah i'm fine with that uh yeah so just kind of Quickly go over the Reigns' remaining schedule since we've only got four games left. We've got the Gotham game up. Next, it's away. There's the Bay FC game. That's at home.
00:47:00
Speaker
or Orlando, we're playing at home. in Utah was our last game of the season, and that's away. What do you think of this final stretch? I think there are points to be had, and a good amount of points.
00:47:12
Speaker
Yeah, for I think ah Gotham's probably going to be our biggest hurdle. And if we can pull points out of this Gotham match, really set yourself up for success going forward.
00:47:24
Speaker
Yeah. um Because if you don't get any points out of this next game, you're really going to have to push hard for the next three weeks. Which they're going to try to do You're going to anyway, but it just makes it so much more urgent.
00:47:38
Speaker
And that just seems ah that could be a make or break situation for players. Yeah. and with the youth on our team i think they can handle it but you still want to set yourself up to you know bay beatable orlando beatable utah beatable that might be one of the more harder matches yeah i think it will be harder than we think um so i like this end of the season route because there are there is a possibility that the team could win at least three of these matches Yeah, which is not the case for many other teams that, um... No, there's a lot of contention going on, especially with the teams close to the Reign in the standings.
00:48:20
Speaker
Yeah. Cool. Well, now that I'm gonna go stress about this for the next several weeks, um, do you have any shoutouts this week? No. I don't think so. Oh!
00:48:32
Speaker
Well, I was gonna shoutout Jeff, because he showed me how to get soft serve before the game. What? Yeah. Like, free soft serve? No. Oh. where in the club section oh nice nice um he does that before every game he walks and gets soft serve and it i asked if i could learn his secret ways and he he said yes so i joined him that's nice uh i don't think uh do i have anything Oh, well, I you mean, I like to shout out small businesses in my town.
00:49:04
Speaker
um I'm doing a taking partaking in a photo shoot, like volunteering for a photo shoot this weekend, but it's for Shift and Wheeler, and they're giving me like a little gift card for helping out with it.
00:49:16
Speaker
What is it? It's like, uh, I did my tote making class with them. Oh, gotcha. Okay. So they have, they have a lot of like, uh, I would say like more feminine clothes, but they also have some dope ass fucking like canvas wax canvas jackets and stuff.
00:49:31
Speaker
And so they're doing like a little editorial shoot and, I'm going to help out with that, but they're, they I'm probably use my gift card to get this new, like, um, vest that they're making. That's like wax canvas.
00:49:42
Speaker
That's really gay. Yeah, I did look really gay in it, but i will say like when I tried it on, everyone's like, that's the look for you. and I was like, ugh.
00:49:52
Speaker
well Yeah, but they're they're super nice. I also just love, I don't know, my my town that I live in is is is a joy and I love all the small businesses that we have here. So um yeah, I just want to shout them out. If you're ever in Astoria, on pop and buy, vacation, whatever, go check out Shift and Wheeler.
00:50:10
Speaker
I don't, you know, they don't make a lot of money. So I feel like this is fine to do for free. we yeah I don't know. maybe they Maybe you can ask if they want to sponsor us. I was like, maybe we could shut out small businesses every now and then just to just the help
Episode Closing and Anecdotes
00:50:24
Speaker
with... a Well, pretty soon they're going to come after us for being anti-capitalists. But like if I'm going to support any businesses, it's going to be the small ones. Yeah. So...
00:50:33
Speaker
uh all right thanks again to our actual sponsor who pays us uh the doctor's office and as ah as always the best sponsor i know as always you can go follow us on blue sky and instagram at cooler guild pod you can send us an email if you think of trivia questions please send them ah to the email at thecoolerguild at gmail.com you can also visit our main page at sounderheart.com forward slash the cooler guild Yeah, and if you ever have like, don't know, questions you won't maybe want us to stand answer on the show too and send them there, whatever. Maybe we'll get to it. Maybe we won't. But ah you can go on YouTube, follow us there. Although we're still kind of working through some stuff. YouTube.com forward slash out the cooler guild. um As always, please go rate five stars wherever you're listening. Till next time, I'm Coop.
00:51:17
Speaker
I'm Van. Stay cool, y'all. Stay cool.
00:51:36
Speaker
Hold on. What? The big measuring cup. It should be in the thing downstairs. Like the right cabinet. It's not up here. It's not in the bedroom.
00:51:50
Speaker
Okay, well, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe it's got used for, I don't know, maybe it's by some plants? But it's not up here. don't know. She's cooking dinner.