Transcript
Speaker: Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 77 of The Cooler Guild. I am Coop Cooper, and joined with me, as always, is my co-host, Vian Crisp. Hello. We're recording on Tuesday, September 8th, 2026. On today's episode, ah we have a dub pod.
Speaker: Again. Once again. Hell yeah. A little nervy, but a win's a win. So we're going to talk about the game that the rain had against the wave at Lumen Field on Sunday. And we'll go over what worked, what did not work. Then we'll rave about Hello Kitty. um I shall recap the other NWC matches and, you know, just the usual.
Speaker: but Before we get on to all of that, I've got some housekeeping. The Cooler Guild is part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network. You can either listen to us on our public feed or, if you're a Sounder at Heart subscriber, on the private unified feed with the other podcasts on the network. If you'd like to become a subscriber, just visit our page at sounderatheart.com forward slash the Cooler Guild. New subscribers get 10% off the normal rate and you'll help support everything we're doing.
Speaker: How's it going? Good. Cool. Yeah. Had a fun weekend. I went to the Puyallup Fair yesterday. do it a tro You can do it out of Gallup. ah I guess it's the Washington State Fair now. Is that what they call now? Mm-hmm. It's been that way for a while. Well, it's always going to be the Puyallup Fair to everybody.
Speaker: Who knows? That was fun. we did the We went on the wooden roller coaster. oh i like I do love a wooden roller coaster. It's so fun. Yeah. I like the like rickety-ness. Yeah.
Speaker: It's fun. It jerks you around. and It's loud. Yeah. Yeah. It's just like, I don't know. It's classic. And then for research purposes, Bailey made me go into the um America 250 Museum on Wheels sponsored by PragerU.
Speaker: oh my God. That's terrible. It was a nightmare. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it seems like i you went to Haunted House. It pretty much was.
Speaker: It pretty much was. um But yeah, other than that, it was... I'll send you a picture of myself in there. But the fair was fun. The weather was nice. it was cool. That's good.
Speaker: Yeah. On the weekend, I went to the game, got my Hello Kitty plushie. So happy for you. it was great. Yeah. What'd you do? I've had a lot. I don't know. I don't really know that I do that much this weekend. I've been trying to... I've been really busy lately. ah So I'm trying to just enjoy some time because we're going on camping trip somewhat soon. um What I have been doing is having a song stuck in my head from watching the last episode of RuPaul's Drag Race All-Stars finally, recently. Mm-mm.
Speaker: And the final lip sync for this like lip sync for The Crown ah was MacArthur Park. I don't know that. It is a wild song. It is wild.
Speaker: I had no idea the song existed. There is apparently 17 minute version of the song as well. The lyrics are like I was listening to the song and i was like, is this is this this is real?
Speaker: It's a Donna Summer song. I mean, she I don't know that she like originally came out with it, but it I think it blew up because Donna Summer cut like did it. And she has the 17 minute version of it.
Speaker: But ah the chorus, or I don't even know if it's the chorus, but it's just something about leaving a cake in the rain. oh it's it's a wild ride and so every minute of my days since i've it's just been like trying to not have that stuck in my head but um i just walk around my house and i muttered to myself someone left the kick out in the rain all right, I'll look this up. I'll look this up after. it's a I can't believe I didn't know about this because it just feels so like it's such a campy song. And I'm surprised it took this long, honestly, for RuPaul's Drag Race to bring it up um because it did feel like the perfect song for that. Yeah, it was written by Jimmy Webb, first recorded in 1967.
Speaker: and then there's versions by Richard Harris. um And then we've got numerous, covered by numerous artists, including Waylon Jennings. Mm-hmm. And then number one Billboard Top 100 Disco version by Donna Summer in 1978. Yeah, it's a wild ride. All right. I got something to listen to later. ah All right. Speaking of other wild rides, the rain eked out. I would say eked out a 1-0 win against San Diego Wave, despite being up a player for almost the entire game.
Speaker: Yeah. I'm annoyed that they only got 1-0 win, but I also will take a win. My trauma runs deep from the beginning of the season, so I am happy here. Yeah, the trauma's real from the Portland game, so I am happy. I'm i'm quite happy.
Speaker: i just have a lot of thoughts also. I do too. There's still more to get out of this team. so but Before we get into all like what didn't work and what worked, what kind of notes do you got from this game? Like going into the match? I mean, you got your Hello Kitty plush doll.
Speaker: i did super cute Do you think so the attendance was actually pretty good ah for this game compared to some of our more recent attendances? We almost, well, I mean, we're like a thousand away, almost from 10,000. But do you think the Hello Kitty boost is real?
Speaker: I do. um Charles actually paid for the Hello Kitty bobblehead. And he went down and picked his up. And when he came back, he said the line was super long.
Speaker: So it seemed that a lot of people were picking up that ticket ticket special where you had to buy the certain ticket to get the bobblehead. So it seemed like it pushed sales. It was really funny because like the Hello Kitty mascot was there and raised the scarf for Scarves Up Seattle with la with Lauren Holiday. It's like dystopian. Yeah, because Lauren Holiday is like an owner of, i think, North Carolina.
Speaker: Well, that she was, ah weren't they doing the like Lauren Holiday Award stuff? Yeah, it was Cassie Miller's night for the Nick of Time Foundation. And we actually got to talk to Lauren Holiday in the press box before the game. so that was cool. Yeah, they did a whole halftime presentation for Cassie Miller. Both her and Lauren Holiday had heart ah procedures as children.
Speaker: Whoa, I didn't know that. I mean, I knew i knew a little bit about Lauren Holiday's situation, but fascinating. Yeah. So that was cool. Get that, you know, involvement there. And then they also introduced before the match, Emi Diallo, the new signing for the reign. So that was cool. Notably after the match, she ran up to the sideline because she was in street clothes, right? And wasn't on the bench or anything. But she came out after the match and went around and high fived all the players. So it seems like she's into the culture already. i just, my notes before the game ah were to not get Luz Mila.
Speaker: And that we needed to watch out for Trinity Byers and Barsenas. We got caught. I mean yeah, Lujmila always scares me, ah given the history with the rain and getting Lujmila with Chicago. And then we got kind of lucky with Barsenas getting subbed out because of the red card.
Speaker: So they were making a tactical change on the field because every time she's on the field, I'm worried. Yeah, it's always scary. Good news, though. We don't have to about it 1-0 win off a Matty Mercado goal in the 29th minute, assisted by Darlene. Some notable stats coming out of the match. ah This, the Red FC has recorded consecutive sheet clean sheets for the first time since the final regular season match of 2023 and the first regular season match of 24. It's crazy.
Speaker: ah We're now unbeaten at home in five matches and scored in 13 consecutive matches, still the second longest streak in club history. Thank you, Etsy Witch. This is Mercado's eighth goal of the season and her third gaming game winning goal of this year. And it's funny because this was her goal. This match was the 500th goal of this NWSL season.
Speaker: I do feel like it's very NWSL for it to be Maddie Mercado. Yeah. Yeah. I don't want like, you know what mean? I don't want it to be like, the Reina, I would say people people haven't really bought into them. So, but if you've been paid attention, which a lot of people have been paying attention, but a lot of people also aren't giving the credit to the Reina, but Mercado is, she deserves this kind of, i don't know, accolade or whatever you want to call an early accolade, kind of just like luck to end up with that 500th goal for the season. But that's, yeah. Gets her name out there. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that she deserves that for sure. Montessir made her 50th NWSL appearance.
Speaker: All 50 with the rain. And as the first Haitian born player to play in the NWSL, she's the first Haitian player to reach 50. Wow. wow She's also the first Haitian player to wear boots 50 times in a game. Yeah.
Speaker: Just making up. We love a stat. We love a random set Yeah. I mean, i don't, there's not another Haitian player in the league still, right? i don't think so. Correct. Going into this match, I think we, I mean, we talked about how we felt about it and there was a lot of nerves and the red card comes pretty early. How did you kind of think things would go after that happened? Yeah.
Speaker: after this After that happened, I mean, obviously going up a player is beneficial, generally. Maybe not for the rain. but but But San Diego was definitely dominating possession before the card. And that changed at least in the first half after this, and which is kind of expected.
Speaker: But the unexpected thing that happened after the red card was Barsenas subbing off. That was just an odd choice. They put on another defender. And that just seemed quick. It seemed it seemed like a knee-jerk reaction from the San coaching staff instead of just playing it out because they had plenty of opportunities and they could if I think that that was a really, really dumb decision from San Diego. Beneficial to us, but... This is why i like want the rain to go get her because... and I see ah the way they like use her at times and I don't feel like they value her enough.
Speaker: She's, I don't know. She's just, she's a really dynamic and impactful player when given the opportunities. And to me, this feels kind of like, I don't know why they would do this. And I would be kind of offended if I was Barsenas.
Speaker: Sure. She wants to be a team player, but like that's, I don't know. I just, that seems like a dumb move to me. It's a really dumb move. I think the game could have been completely different had they not made that decision. Yeah. i if the rain If she feels slighted and ah is looking for a new team, I you know i would welcome welcome her on the reign. As well as that, I think for me, there was a good feeling knowing that this call went to VAR.
Speaker: Because it wasn't initially called. It wasn't and even initially called a foul. So when we get VAR luck... It's huge. It was already trending in the right direction. Yeah, after last last games, well, not this game, the game before is, you know, two falls in the box and not getting calls, whether they were pens or not, or even they didn't even get reviewed.
Speaker: So this going to VAR and the what I believe is the correct decision being made. Yeah, i thought so too. Is already things are looking up for the team. Yeah, Darlene doesn't seem to get those calls.
Speaker: I don't know. and this wasn't a flop. I mean, she literally got taken out. Yeah, and she's been taken out in many other situations as well. There's also situations where maybe she isn't getting taken out and is looking for a call. But but they i think they they went back and got the call right on this one. we can go into what worked because my the dogs are red card in the 13th minute was obviously very helpful. We did talk as well last week in the ah looking forward to this match, talking about how Claudia Dickey and the defense needed to have a really solid match. Yeah.
Speaker: And I think Dickey finally had a game where I was like, oh, yes, you're very, very good still. And standout saves. There was one save she made on, think, the free kick.
Speaker: ah Footwork was great and she collected the ball and didn't let it get away from her. No, she caught it like straight up. Vacuumed that in. It was concerning to see her go out, but Cassie Miller, it was her night and she got playing time. So it kind of...
Speaker: Worked out. And I thought she was solid when she came in. Dickie's like head bleed. I was like, oh, that's not good. It's like, yeah, Cassie, you got to get get that. get get Get to warm it up now. Dickie, like, I mean, ah I guess we could talk about later, but because you put in don't didn't what didn't work is their head splitting open. And you usually should we do the second. But I guess I have a question about the play that got her injured.
Speaker: Do you think there's a foul there? No. OK. Yeah. She saves the ball before she makes contact. Okay. Okay. I just, and it was a little weird to me. There's no foul there. I mean, she comes out and makes a save, does her job. She didn't get the ball first though.
Speaker: Yeah. She makes a save. I don't know. I'm a little, it was a little, it was a little weird to me. else you want her to do in that situation? don't know. I don't know, but I just feel like she didn't get ball. Like, yeah, she makes the save. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. It was just, it seemed a little weird to me. And the contact comes after the save.
Speaker: The ball's already gone. She had an opportunity to shoot it and missed. Yeah, it was evident it was a weird play. And then if anything, fouls Dickie after with the follow through. You can't like predict any of these scenarios, right? Like in the box, like every single scenario. So it was just, i don't know. It was a weird play to me.
Speaker: She was bleeding her head though. So I was like, well, that's not good. So something, something happened. She made, she made the correct decision to come out and challenge for that. Gets a stop and gets injured on the follow through. So, yeah.
Speaker: But the defense was overall okay. mean, you don't get scored on. You have a good game. Can things improve, especially through the midfield with defending? Yes. And there wasn't like a ton of shots for San Diego that were like super crazy.
Speaker: Yeah, there was some concerning defense with before it got to the back four. There was one play where Escanio dribbled through like four or five players, just straight through, just all the midfield diving right in. I was screaming at my TV when that was happening. i was like, someone do something. Someone do something. like just for like someone do something someone to do it just kelly just They were just having a field day For a bit. And I was like, there's no way this isn't going to result in a goal. But somehow it didn't.
Speaker: and that was like the thing that I wanted from this game was bend, don't break. Because I just know how good San Diego is. They are so good with possession. They can get around players. They're so talented. They have so much quality with passing. And their chemistry, I think, is really solid. So when they start feeling it, and I was hoping maybe you were going to be right in the brain taking over this game.
Speaker: I don't know if if it's they should have 100%. I think that they get in their heads, as we saw with the Portland game when they're up a player and they just kind of don't really execute or something. I'm not really sure because it sounded like Harvey maybe didn't take the right approach with the game plan when that happened. But San Diego is no joke.
Speaker: And I think overall, our players did pretty well with it. Especially, we didn't even have a McCammon. Didn't have McCammon. Never signed anybody really new that was playing. um So I think you you take this win and you move on and you learn from it.
Speaker: we beat We beat San Diego 2-0 at home earlier in the year. That was in one San Diego. ohop Sorry, yeah, 2-0 away when San Diego was home. Yeah, that's six points against San Diego. we We shouldn't be so mean to the team right now.
Speaker: No. yeah
Speaker: I just want to see more. They're capable of more. I know. ah But you know who we don't need to see more from and we're seeing everything we need to see? Maddie Mercado.
Speaker: That finish that she had on that. I thought someone in the... ah And I don't know what idiot was on the Reddit, but there so there was some idiot on Reddit who was saying how the range should trade Mercado because because she's not like super high quality or something like that. I'm like, do you see some of her finishes? Yeah.
Speaker: I think that there's a fair, maybe maybe unfair comparison with the history of forwards for the rain to make with her and Bethany Balser. Sure.
Speaker: the The ceiling for Maddie Mercado is very, very different than Bethany Balser. And the ability to to make the connection that she does with these aerial balls is insane. And we haven't had a player that can do that since Balser, since Heidema. And it's incredible.
Speaker: You can't say you can't say scoring eight goals in a season with games remaining. Right. Yeah. That's not very good. I also find it crazy to suggest that she should like be traded and they should get like somebody else. I'm like, she's literally doing everything you could want from a forward right now for this team. I'm confused. um Second of all, I feel like the the person saying this is probably also the same person that was like really upset when we traded Balser.
Speaker: So it just, I don't, it doesn't really make sense to me. Appreciate the goal scorers that you have. And she's been the most productive player. many assists does she have on the ears right now?
Speaker: She's got eight. She's got eight goals and one assist. So she's one more goal contribution from hitting double digits, which we've been desperately needing somebody to do that for years. Well, and one of the stats in the postgame notes from the rain was since July 12th against Portland, Mercado has recorded at least one goal contribution in seven of 10 matches. It's ridiculous. Oh, she's also from San Diego. So.
Speaker: She's so fun. i like well i like to watch her play. Yeah. ah And her... Darlene scored last week, right? Off of a Mercado ball. Mercado scores this week off of a Darlene ball.
Speaker: Just great. Good stuff. And that's what you want. When we talk about we need more people to contribute to goal scoring and whatnot, but... If this can continue, I'm going to be happy with it until somebody figures out how to close it down. hasn't happened yet. Yeah. I mean, the thing is, is there's more.
Speaker: do you have things anything else you want to to what worked before we move on to the what didn't work, I guess? You want to talk about Sam Meza? Yeah, I guess what we to we have to mention Sam Meza. Sam Meza was a phenomenal in this game. I will also give us a quick shout to Sofia Huerta. She balled out as well. But Sam Meza was all over the place and had so much work to do defensively.
Speaker: she always She's always up for the challenge. Every single time. She makes any team look mediocre if they're going through her. There was the time with the Ascanio run that she kind of dove in, but... There's only so much you can do for 90 minutes, okay? ah she put Did she play the full 90 of this game?
Speaker: Yeah. Okay. So, you know, she's getting back to it. I'm not going to get upset about it ah the one the one time. The rest of it was she had eight recoveries, five tackles, two interceptions. I need the U.S. Women's National Team to call her up.
Speaker: There's a couple in the league right now that they need to do that with. But we've got some gaps in the national team for sure that Simeza could fill in. I think she needs time with the national team. Yeah. We can't just like put her in for a couple minutes and i don't a couple games and and hope. I think you could.
Speaker: No, but i mean, she needs more consistent time with the national team. Yeah. Yeah. mean, there's a few players in Ndibisal that have been ah knocking on the door of being able on the national team stage. And ah one of them's on our team.
Speaker: Maybe two. Who's the second? Well, if Darlene can figure it out. Man, if she if she scored even half of the chances she's been missing lately. Jeez. She's getting some good. She's getting into some really good spots, though. So I'm not going to like at some point it's got to fall for her a bit more.
Speaker: i think it would fall for her. Yeah, I would. I think it would fall for her a lot more if this team would have signed a really threatening big name midfielder. But apparently we just don't care about doing anything like that.
Speaker: We do not. ah Let's go to what didn't work. Same thing that like didn't work last week. Not finishing our chances. it haunts me. Couple close calls. What's well like? Why? Why is it happening?
Speaker: that Week after week after week. It's just a lack of quality. I swear to God, I hear that fucking phrase one more time. ah do You can't just nonchalantly say lack of quality to me.
Speaker: I just did. They had so many opportunities to just put this game to bed and they didn't do that. They made it as nervy as fucking possible. It's kind of the DNA now.
Speaker: Don't, don't, don't tell me that. mean they haven't got like a really bad result in a long time. So is this the DNA of the rain though? Like, is this, is this, is this capable of making a run the playoffs? I think there's a chance, but if you look at the stats from the game, the rain had a 0.73 XG. So the quality of chances wasn't super great, which is a problem, right? Something we've been ratting on.
Speaker: They only, they only had nine shots and four shots on target. So San Diego's 13 shots, six on target and 0.93 XG for San Diego. So I'm going to take it this game. Should they create more being a player up? Yes. But as Laura said in the presser, she puts a lot of that on her and how she set the team up in the second half. Was she just telling them to sit back? Well, she changed the press about halfway through the second half and it started a little bit past halfway through the second half and it started to look better.
Speaker: And that could have been done a lot sooner. And she said in the presser that she should have done that a half. Would you have been nervous with being up a player and then having a 2-0 lead? I mean, I'm always nervous for the 2-0 lead. What else didn't work for you?
Speaker: i'm I'm not going to rag on this too much. They won the game 1-0. I just want to be more comfortable. Yeah. but But I guess that's not what the rain do. Sure isn't. We've determined that that's not what they do. Nope. and that's fine. I'll just be stressed when I watch the games and understand that that's what my weekend will be. They got three points.
Speaker: They almost got knocked below the playoff line, but they didn't. Things are really tight. So they're going to have to keep getting these points in any any means necessary, in any fashion they need to. So I'm not going moving forward.
Speaker: I am going to try and not be upset when things don't really seem like they're working, but they still get a result. Yeah. Because that's all that matters. I think we should all do that. But boy, am I seeing things that make me worried.
Speaker: We do have one of the we would do have one of the more favorable favorable schedules heading into the end of the season. So post-match pressers, how'd they go? yes ah they We had Huerta and Darlene the player presser. Okay. was there like ah What was the tone? like what you get like What were you feeling from them? because Were they happy? Yeah. I mean, they seem to be they seem to be satisfied with the win. Quirta reiterated what Laura always says. Good teams win when they don't play their best.
Speaker: And that's what happened in this game. So they can eat out a win in a game where they didn't play great. Love it. ah She also stated that, you know, when a team goes down, might think you're an advantage, but it's not as easy as it seems.
Speaker: And Laura talked about that. It seems that players tend to think they're going to have more space. And so they play differently when you have 11 versus when you're playing against 10 versus 11.
Speaker: And they make mental adjustments based on that. And when they don't have that space, they kind of get stuck. So instead of playing like you're playing against 11 and making the same runs and doing the same things, you're almost overcompensating. They talked about how they kind of fed into San Diego's hands and made it harder than it needed to be.
Speaker: Which is fair. We saw. Yeah. Yeah. ah Apparently going into this game, they a big focus was needing to be big defensively against San Diego.
Speaker: Everybody that's watched this team in this league this year would think that as well. And they did that. Harvey said it was a big three points. They made it hard on themselves, but it's a good one for them to learn from being a player down. Said they kind of tossed away the Portland game after just to not ruminate on it. So maybe not a whole lot of lessons were learned other than not to have to feel the way that they felt after that game. Yeah.
Speaker: And she talked about how it was going to be easier to take ah this as a learning experience when you win and you don't play great against 10 players. And it's the best time to learn and grow after you win a game like that. Harvey also said they need to get back to scoring multiple goals. Agreed.
Speaker: Happy with the win, but not happy about the performance. also agree, Laura. But she likes the attitude of the team and they're their drive to learn and to get better. We're like so close to the end of the season that I'm just like, I don't really know how to feel and I'm not sure where things are going to shake out.
Speaker: And I'm still trying to figure out kind of what this team, the team is like planning to do for like their game strategy every single every single week. And the fact that they're still like learning stuff every single week is just like...
Speaker: i I understand this is a young team. i understand this is a team that doesn't have a ton of experience in the league. It's just, I don't know, it's a little it's a little hard to hear sometimes. don't think that's hard. i don't think that that's I don't think that's fair at all.
Speaker: ah but ah Because when you're a professional, you're always aiming to get better. There's no harm in learning. No, but I'm just a little skeptical that that's going to take us far in the playoffs.
Speaker: Sure, but this was the hope for this season was to always make the playoffs. Yeah. This was never going to be a shield contending team. I know. I just wish we, I think they could be if they would have made a signing.
Speaker: But they didn't. I know. you have to live We have to live in reality. That's, I guess I'm just frustrated because like the windows closed and we didn't, we didn't make it a significant signing, like a huge name signing.
Speaker: But like, how, like, how am I supposed to feel like a super optimistic? I mean, we can't because the front office screwed us over. But with the players that we have and their attitude moving forward, I have confidence. Yeah, I think that's fair. i think and I we have what do we have eight matches left? One, two, three, four.
Speaker: lost count. One, two, three. three, four, five, six, seven. Yeah, there's eight matches left. ah And looking at the schedule, that's i guess that's where my frustration grows is just like, I see the schedule. I think the team could be set up in a very, very good position for the postseason if they would have added a significant proven player to the squad. And knowing that one of our biggest, I mean, McCammon's going gone for like a month.
Speaker: And that's been one of our biggest players for us. And now we're not going to have that. Sure, they're eking out wins in ways that I will take and happy about. But i know it's just it's a weird, feel like we're in a weird place as Reign fans.
Speaker: I think so. At the same time, I'm happy that they're at least starting to figure it out. Yeah. Two years ago, this was nowhere near the case. Yeah.
Speaker: And so I'm going to continue my optimism that this team has the possibility of peaking, at least to their ability. At the right time. At the right time. Yeah. Cooler player of the match. Should we move on to the cooler player of the match? Let's do it. ah The cooler player of the match is brought to you by The Doctor's Office, a great little 12-seat bar on Capitol Hill. The owner is a big fan of the rain and is proud to be our first sponsor.
Speaker: I, this was my idea, but just because of one play and in the last minute of first half stoppage time, Jordan Bug made a huge block on Trinity Byers, probably saved the game, saved the three points.
Speaker: I thought Bug had an overall good performance this match. And I think it's worth shouting out the defense 100% when you get a clean sheet against San Diego. Because they were scoring some, they've been scoring a lot of goals recently. They have. This was not an easy task at all. Even though they were up a player, this was not an easy task.
Speaker: San Diego with 10 is still San Diego. but I don't understand how they're so stacked. ah Maybe we'll get some transparency in the finances of the league someday, but apparently not this year. No, because people that need to know, know.
Speaker: But like, I'm watching. Yeah, sorry. yeah Go ahead. I was just going to say shout out to Jordan Bug. Yeah. You didn't get it last week because your name wasn't Mick Bug, but you can have it this week.
Speaker: Thanks again to our sponsor, The Doctor's Office. The Doctor's Office is the best place to grab a drink before after a rain match. Go make an appointment today. Try one of their limited edition cocktails. Go check out their Instagram as well, at TDO Seattle, or better yet, go drink there in person.
Speaker: Cheers. Cheers. Oh, we got some other rain notes. What have we got in the raine rain news? So the rain had training today. and it was season ticket holder open training, so season ticket members could go. And apparently it seemed pretty busy.
Speaker: I went to one of those in the first season and it was, yeah, it was pretty busy. I got to meet Hope Solo. Oh. Steve, Steve Vogt from Ride of Valkyries was there and he noted that Dickie was not back at the training, but then Harvey said later in her availability that they think she's going to be fine. She hasn't shown no obvious concussion symptoms, so she's not in protocol. And she was just waiting to be cleared by the doctor this afternoon. So Tuesday today on the day of recording.
Speaker: She can wear one of those scrum caps. Yeah. And then another another piece of news today Maddie Mercado. Great news, everyone. Her player option x was exercised with her appearance in the San Diego match, and will she'll remain with Seattle through 2027 season. That's great news.
Speaker: And there was a little confusion about whether that was her choice, whether that was just something that automatically happened. And wasn't really stated in the press release or what people were getting from the comms department.
Speaker: But then Mercado went ahead and said at training when she was being interviewed that her and her agent had put that appearance clause into the contract to bet on herself. Great. That's a some I feel that that's like fun pressure to have on yourself.
Speaker: Yeah. And it's a player that wants to be here. Yeah. Yeah. And you can see that with her and Darlene, especially given they're just, as ah Sanderson said in the broadcast, their telepathy.
Speaker: Oh. You love some Leanne Sanderson. I didn't get that broadcast because I finally got booted off of ah Van's YouTube TV. So good news though, VPNs work. So I had the other broadcast, but but so I do miss sometimes some Leanne Sanderson commentary.
Speaker: It's always so out there. Congrats to Mercado. Happy she's with us. Looking forward to more goals. Looking forward to her breaking 10 goals. i think I'm going to say it. Double didge. I think it's going to happen.
Speaker: think we're fine. Yeah. I think it's going to happen. I just knocked down wood, but I do think it's to happen. We have eight games left. You don't think she's going two goals in those eight games. She has to. You'd be crazy to not think that. Yeah.
Speaker: ah What happened in the NWSL? Utah lost to Boston 2-1. Oh, no. Yeah. Boss Nation.
Speaker: But the on the Utah goal, Mandy McGlynn assisted it. i believe I saw that. Yeah. Yeah. Just the second goalkeeper to earn more than one assist. And the first one was Kaylin Sheridan, who did it last week.
Speaker: I don't know what's going on, but people are seeing stuff and going for it. Defenses are pushing higher up. Yeah. Getting faster players up top. You know, who knows? ah Bay lost to Kansas City.
Speaker: We're playing Bay next, so that's, you know, maybe a good thing. Both players named Rodriguez scored for KC. Great. And Croy Bethune assisted the game-winning goal for KC and tied the single-season assist record of 10.
Speaker: I don't want to hear it. Yes, we should have signed her. I'm going to sign anyone. almost Yeah. Angel City beat Louisville at Louisville 2-0. I'm always going to be annoyed about not winning against Louisville there.
Speaker: Yep. Denver, this is a big... That's a result. Maybe of upset. Yeah. Beat Gotham 3-0 in Denver. That's ridiculous. There's a lot of talk on this broadcast because I watch this live about the altitude. Oh. Well, you know, fair enough, honestly.
Speaker: If that's the thing that can take down Gotham, I'm fine with it. Yasmeen Ryan looks so in form. Really? she's She looks good. The move We still have to play Denver at Denver, so... Oh, Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, that's going to be a scary one for us. um Chicago. god and i don't know what say about Chicago. Chicago win these days is lewwi losing three to zero Yeah, they lost to North Carolina 6-0.
Speaker: Ashley Sanchez had a hat trick. And she has now set a new record for goals scored by an American in a single season with 18. Whoa. whoa She was tied with Alex Morgan and Crystal Dunn with 15 going into this match and then just blew it. Then just blew it out of the park.
Speaker: Amazing. If you're Emma Hayes, you're dumb as a box of rocks to not invite her to the next camp. Yeah. I love this next result. Portland lost to Washington Spirit 2-1 at home.
Speaker: It was the first time the Washington Spirit have ever won in Portland. I also love ah just because I'm a, you know, a bitter fan and a Portland hater. But i I love I absolutely love when Portland goes up in Portland and then loses.
Speaker: Yeah, they were up one zero at half. Hope was there. Bethy, who ah is an Algerian player. She had her first start and first NWSL goal in the game winner. Hell yeah.
Speaker: mean, I don't like to think about being spirit, but whatever. All right. First goal by an Algerian in NWSL history. First appearance by an Algerian. Here we go. These damn stats again.
Speaker: Andy Sullivan did get ah two yellow red. I saw that on the thing and I was like, what happened? She like subbed on so late hate too. Yeah. She got two yellows in five minutes in 90 plus two and then 90 plus seven. And she had subbed on in the 73rd minute. I feel like I've seen her do this before. Yeah.
Speaker: It feels very familiar. Yeah. The last game of the week, Orlando, after the Seb Hines departure, beat Houston three to one in Orlando. Barbara Banda took a penalty kick in the 44th minute. Her first penalty kick in the NWSL. What? Yeah. Oh, I guess Marta's usually doing them right. Marta or when she gave it to Luana. Yeah. Okay. Yeah.
Speaker: But I didn't think about this because I read about the Seb Hines departure, but I didn't heard firing. I didn't know kind of what their plan was. ah And they named an interim head coach in Yolanda Thomas.
Speaker: And she is the first black woman in the head coaching role in NWCell history. And just the fourth female coach to win her first ever NWCell match. Really, really sad. I was this is kind a depressing stat.
Speaker: But good for her. You got to start somewhere, I guess. Yeah. Jeez, that's really... Better late than never, i guess. The other stat coming out of this game was ah the other Van Santen sister scored Houston's lone goal.
Speaker: All right. So one of them had an okay weekend. Yeah. I mean, that she still lost, but whatever. yeah The Reign have another game coming up ah because there's a games left. The Reign are playing Bay FC next Saturday, September 12th, 5 p.m. NWSO Plus also at Lumen Field. So go get your tickets. This is also one of those games where you can bring up to five kids if you haven't done that yet this season. So if you've got neighbors, I don't know, people who have children in their lives, that's not me. um But take them.
Speaker: You bring up the five of them for free. for free ah what do you want to see in this match i need to see them win again yeah they do 100 i don't even care what it looks like i kind of do but i ultimately don't care yeah i mean i'd like to see them have a transformative performance where we're like yes everything we've wanted we've seen doesn't seem to me that we're currently at that trajectory sure But I will be in the stands yelling. Great. And ah i just i just want to see them get a win. Yeah. It's always difficult for the rain against Bay. Yeah, for some reason.
Speaker: So three points out of this match would be fantastic. I think that we're going to have to score multiple goals. Yeah. And it's the last home game for a couple of weeks. So put on a show, get people back for the last two home games and end of September, beginning of October and finish, finish the home home stretch strong.
Speaker: Yeah, I and and and mean, maybe this is greedy, but like I would like to see some of these chances that they've been consistently having or getting close to. I would like to see at least one of those go in where I'm like, this has got to be a goal. I need one of those to be the goal instead of just these like, well, how is that a goal?
Speaker: you know what i mean we've had a few of those for like how is that the goal we get to win the game i would like to see some ah you know clinical finishing with some good build up to the end of the net Yeah, I'd like to see that me official shot from this last match go in.
Speaker: god. Because the turn was great. look was good. It was. Just that final finish. Yeah, I mean, that's like kind Can tie that in? That's almost like the opposite of what I want to see, but I'll take either one of those. Okay. Because like I want to see either one of those long runs down the field where someone's just one-on-one with the keeper and actually slot it and finish it. Am I calling out one specific player? Maybe. um But I would like one of those shots or me I guess a Mii official like cheeky finish.
Speaker: Because she gets she she holds up the ball so well there and and really does some special stuff. It's just where is that final thing? I would like to mention that I forgot to mention earlier on the Mercado goal. Mercado was 1v1 with her defender. There were two players on Mii official.
Speaker: And she still didn't score a goal though. And how much money do we pay for her? Right. But if there'd been two players on Mercado... all right all right all right um uh all right i think that we can wrap it up it's kind of a mess this episode my connection kept coming out i'm sorry i don't know what the deal is i haven't changed anything in my life other than i turned into an alien are you are you hello kitty now is hello kitty an alien no oh you could have told me that she was and i would have believed you
Speaker: What do you got shout outs for the week? Shout out to the guy that did the flying dog show at the fair. It's like amazing dogs and it was like Frisbee tricks. Oh yeah, those are fun. It was cool. He's from Bend.
Speaker: Of course. And they were all like rescue dogs. So you got shout outs? No, I need to go to D&D. So. shout out to me being me being late at dnd uh thanks to our sponsor the doctor's office can go follow us on instagram and blue sky at cooler guild pod can send us an email we love an email at the cooler guild at gmail.com you can visit our main page sounderheart.com forward slash the cooler guild uh we're on youtube i just i'm this day has been so scattered uh we're on youtube youtube.com forward slash at the cooler guild wherever listening please go rate five stars till next time i'm coop i'm van stay cool y'all stay cool
Speaker: Come here. Well, she was ready. Now the cat's meowing. Come here.
