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Tiny dragon, big result - Ep. 41
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A fiery start to the second half of the season. The NWSL is back! After 74 long days without a league game at Lumen Field the Reign made a triumphant return with a 2-0 victory over Angel City FC. In this week’s episode we talk about this much needed win and all the Pride night extravaganza surrounding the match. We also cover results from around the league and preview Sunday’s rivalry meeting down in Portland.
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Coop
Van
Show produced by Coop
Theme song by Alex Juarez
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The Cooler Guild Est. 2024
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Transcript
Welcome and Introduction
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 41 of the Cooler Guild. I'm Coop Cooper, and joined with me, as always, is my co-host, Van Crisp. Hello. We are recording on Tuesday, August 5th, 2025.
Reigns' Return and Victory Over Angel City
00:00:33
Speaker
On today's episode, we'll be going over Reigns' return to NWCL action and their win over Angel City FC.
00:00:38
Speaker
We'll be doing a brief look at other results from the league on the weekend, and wrapping things up with our usual preview on the Reigns' next match, which happens to be down in Portland. But yeah, ah but for 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 sounder at heart.com forward slash the cooler guild.
00:01:04
Speaker
New subscribers get 10% off the normal rate and you'll help support everything we're doing.
Match Recap and Key Moments
00:01:09
Speaker
So we we went to the game. We did. We sat in the stands, fanned out. um So we want to do we want to talk ah match recap and then we can talk about the whole shebang? Yeah, let's do that. I had to I had a call back to to Susie's article that she put out.
00:01:24
Speaker
think was Susie's article, right? ah After what felt like 84 years of no NWSL play, the rain took on Angel City FC on a beautiful summer Friday night at Lumen Field.
00:01:35
Speaker
The first 25 minutes were a little rough to watch offensively as the rain were pinned back for quite a bit. um But eventually they were able to get more into more space in the attacking third. After a scoreless first half, Harvey brought on the tiny dragon herself, Jess Fishlock, who was able to give the offense the exact spark that it needed, finding the back of the net in the 66th minute. rebounding her own shot that was initially deflected.
00:01:55
Speaker
ah The Reign earned a corner in the 86th minute. They weren't done. No, they were not. Sofia Huerta served a perfect ball into the chaotic crowded box, which led to an own goal courtesy of Alana Kennedy. Shout out, Alana. Shout out.
00:02:09
Speaker
Oi, oi, oi. ah The match ended 2-0 and the Reign moved up to fifth place in the NW cell standings.
00:02:18
Speaker
Yeah, so we... I just... Oi, oi. I think my ah my one... The Australian slander. yeah, yeah. For sure. um Yeah, the game was great. I had a great time.
Game Day Experience
00:02:31
Speaker
Yeah, we had fun. We went to this people-watching bar before the game. What was that bar called? Meijer? Yeah, because it wasn't Fred Meijer. It was Meijer. thought I got a you know notification about our charge card or whatever, and I was like, Meijer? I didn't go to Fred Meijer's. No, the bar is called Meijer.
00:02:47
Speaker
Yeah. uh yeah and then we met up with some lovely people in the north parking lot shout out um discord yeah shout out sounder heart rain discord i have my button oh mine's still on my hat I got a button courtesy of... Yeah, shout out Matthew, a sign guy. He made a bunch of buttons that he was giving out, and i got the Lou Barnes Three Moon Wolf inspired. Three Wolf Moon? Three Wolf Moon. Sorry, nuts that's not three moons. That'd be crazy. This isn't Star Wars. um
00:03:22
Speaker
Yeah, so that was super cool of him to have that. he also had the Claudia foam hands. that's something you're interested in, I think he's still selling those and everything. um i don't know it's good vibes at rain games yeah uh yeah minus yeah what getting ambushed right before entering the stadium oh yeah um yeah sometimes van i feel like this happens to you a lot we run into your exes everywhere to be fair this is not like a new occurrence this is just like i'm the one like especially that we don't want to run into i mean hopefully she's not she's probably not listening doubt it might get back to her it was a little awkward it was a lot awkward it's been 84 years since i'd seen her and i was just like throwing back and i was like don't shoot me um
00:04:11
Speaker
ah Yeah, but walking in like they had the drag show going on right there. um And then in the TVs in the concourse, they were playing the penalty kick shootout in the third place match for CONCACAF. Is it CONCACAF?
00:04:27
Speaker
No, no, it's not because we'd be in it. I don't... What do they call that? Copa America. Yeah, yeah, but what do they call that, like, division? I'm drawing a blank. It doesn't matter. um They had it on, so we were able to go watch it, which was really fun. um Better at penalties than Euros?
00:04:44
Speaker
Absolutely.
Team and Player Analysis
00:04:47
Speaker
final two but we'll talk about that later no we went got pizza oh i do have some bad reviews about the pizza yeah i put that i yeah i took the survey because they sent us a survey in our podcast email and i was like yes i will take my game day survey Uh, yeah, pizza, it needs sauce.
00:05:09
Speaker
It was so dry. And they don't have, like, the crappy Pizza Hut pizza anymore. Which is great. There is, like, that was one of my joys. If anyone follows me on social media, I would post photos every time of that pizza whenever I got to... There's something so... It was, like, so...
00:05:25
Speaker
bad it's so good it was like the perfect stadium food and it was like such a good value too but this new pizza whatever the fuck it was i couldn't find pizza pizza uh so dry and then i was like this thing needs ranch so we went on a ranch run and um to eat our crust with because the crust was like unedible without something my jaw hurt yeah yeah and so we went on a ranch run got some ranch got back to our seats where we left our crust um and that stadium ranch is fucking garbage it's it's like it tastes like hidden valley that's been outside in the sun for two days at least two days it was sour it was fucking gross it was weird i didn't end up finishing it the funniest part though is van like i kind of held on to my ranch because i was thought i was gonna spill it before the game was kicking off and then van like spilled her ranch between her to like on her the floor between her two feet
00:06:18
Speaker
and she's like trying to clean up you didn't want to step in ranch obviously so she's trying to clean up the ranch with like an extra napkin that i have but it wasn't really working and then the ranch was so bad we just gave up on the crust so she takes the crust and is wiping the concrete floor with the like with the crust to clean up the way it did work it did work that's what the crust is supposed to be is for cleaning up your shitty ranch Anyways, ah fun game. ah Should we get into the actual game part of it that happened?
00:06:47
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, it very much reminded me of the a little bit of the friendly that I saw at Lumen, just like in that same sentiment of like the first 25 minutes was very like we just kind of locked in, not able to escape and like be productive.
00:07:07
Speaker
yeah so that was pretty familiar but i mean general notes it'd been 74 days since the last nwsl match at lumen so a little understand yeah i was like a little understandable that they got off to a little bit of a rough start yeah but i've seemed like all the players are really happy to be back uh angel city's coach this is his first match the new coach um what was his name Some guy.
00:07:34
Speaker
Some dude. Another dude. Another dude coach. another Another man. i just looked it up. ah Alexander Strauss. Notable stats that I got. ah This one's my favorite. We've already passed our points total from last season.
00:07:49
Speaker
go us. That's how bad it was last year. ah You had the other one pointed out. Yeah. Dickie with a season high six saves. And my favorite thing about this, they were all very simple.
00:08:01
Speaker
yeah Yeah, like the Angel City, as worried as I was about Alyssa Thompson, apparently wasn't an issue. No, they only really, i mean, they got into some dangerous spaces, but the rain really held them to, you know, kind of like last ditch shot opportunities where they're kind of hucking it in from outside the box and they're not quality looks, you know, they're not bending it in, scoring bangers.
00:08:26
Speaker
um They didn't really get a lot of crosses in to really threaten. Yeah. Yeah, I think they like they looked restier than we did. yeah for sure. Not that they were like super clicking to begin with, because like what place were they in going into this game?
00:08:41
Speaker
I mean, they're 11th place now on 15 points, so it's not like they're they were a great team. They lost their last two games. They drew their game before that, and they lost their other game before that, so they're not. I think my view on them is just a little skewed because of the last time we played them when we played away there and we just got crushed. It was that was us like me. We screwed ourselves over on that game, though. yeah It wasn't like a master class of Angel City.
00:09:09
Speaker
but right But I think that also like that's the last time I think we've played like disappointingly shitty this season. Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. So what a turnaround. Yeah, yeah.
00:09:20
Speaker
Didn't happen again. Nope. ah Positives. We contained Riley Tiernan, who has seven goals and one assist in the season, and Alyssa Thompson, who has um five goals, two assists in the season. Riley Tiernan didn't get any shots.
00:09:34
Speaker
ah um Alyssa Thompson got two shots. two of those were Both of them were on goal. ah Yeah, but they were like AF. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They were wimpy. Wimpy, wimpy shots. Yeah.
00:09:45
Speaker
um Diary a Wimpy Kid did you read those no I didn't were past my they're past my time I was like I'm pretty sure you're a little old to be into the Diary a Wimpy Kid but hey I'm not gonna judge um yeah I thought Madison Curry she didn't really show up on the stats at all but um even when I went and watched the replay like earlier today i mean she was just disrupting so much uh yeah and her dribbling right so instead of just going straight up the side she would cut inside and really allow for players to kind of disperse and get into space yeah i thought she played really well um she also had like a revenge tackle at one point yeah yeah and that revenge tackles always make me really happy yeah uh and it wasn't a stupid yellow card tackle which i'm really proud of her because sometimes she does that um
00:10:40
Speaker
But no, I thought that she was really dynamic in this game and really helped the offense kind of open up different channels. I mean, same with Huerta that those two, I feel like offer such different advantages, but also at the same time, like are very important in the offense. Yeah, yeah, totally.
00:11:01
Speaker
And just like shutting them down. And they really, the defense, including these players, really had kind of like a last next man up. um Just whole feel about the match.
00:11:12
Speaker
You know, Bug would be taking the ball ball all the way up and be out of position. And you'd see, you know, Holmes sliding in and taking over. I thought Holmes actually had a pretty good game too. She did. Really good game, if you will.
Interviews and Strategy Discussions
00:11:24
Speaker
ah It just all looked like it kind of worked.
00:11:27
Speaker
The chemistry is was was there for sure. Yeah.
00:11:35
Speaker
playing together and they they can definitely feed off of each other and know where people are going to be um but they didn't look super like lost which i i you know i feel like maybe we saw a little bit of that in earlier in the season especially in the first angel city game yeah And I don't, I didn't see that at all for this. um Angel City is one of the more threatening offensive teams. Maybe they're not very good at actually getting results, but Susie had pointed out in her recent three stats article on Rovalx, this was the lowest XG for Angel City um this season in a match, which was at just 0.19. That's a good day. Angel City also had a brand new forward up top in Svendis Janstotter. She didn't look bad.
00:12:18
Speaker
No, she's a good player. She plays, you know, and and i I've always liked her as a player. I don't know how she fits with this Angel City team because they don't they they're kind of like a whack it. Chase me, you know, and I just don't see how she fits.
00:12:35
Speaker
They didn't find her very much. It just seemed they seemed like discombobulated like we did. Yeah. To me, it's like one of those things where like, She is such a good player. And I see, I see i saw points where like her and Alyssa Thompson were showing some promising ah movement together, but like, what's the coaching situation? How is he going to build this chemistry and stuff? I don't know. I don't, I don't know. I've always had questions about how Angel City actually wants to, like, what, what is their team identity on the field? Yeah.
00:13:07
Speaker
because i understand their branding i get what they're doing there i guess but yeah the team never really feels fully like there's not a vision all the time yeah so and jan's daughter played uh 89 minutes and had 34 touches well gotta start somewhere right guess it's we I guess long searcher it seemed like the rain defense and midfield for that matter really did a good job of shutting down the Angel City attack. Yeah i think that's a good good uh segue into where to picking off picking up where she left off. Oh absolutely ah did she leave?
00:13:44
Speaker
Didn't doesn't feel like it it was just like she like went on a little summer camp break or something and just showed up again and she's back where she ended things. Yeah. ah She looks like she never left.
00:13:55
Speaker
I thought maybe, okay, she's been gone for a little bit. You know, not even ah at the Leon side. I mean, like taking a break from Leon before she came back. Thought, no, maybe she needs some time. Absolutely not. No.
00:14:07
Speaker
She's ready. We saw that in the friendly against Zuruwa, but this game... just the absolute quality so so sharp that there's a quality to her game that i just you can't replicate it she's smart and where she plays the ball she's quick she knows where to be and she just runs that outside channel i love it i love watching it um i feel so at ease when she's on the field we are so happy she's the one who ah had the cross that she laid into the box that led to fishlock's goal she was she had a this is a thing that you were wondering about ah yeah uh right before the was right before it was maybe a little before that oh like 10 minutes earlier from the second goal uh there's another much like right after haitama subbed in well maybe a little up a couple minutes after Yeah, so Haidama subbed in at a...
00:15:04
Speaker
She subbed in at 64, so it was a little bit after that. Yeah, Haidama was in the box and making a really good run, and Sofia Ware to, like, lay in a really, really good cross, and Haidama got ahead on it.
00:15:16
Speaker
I would say the goalkeeper had very good positioning on that. Yeah, the ball was also a little bit behind her. I mean, it was all just... It wasn't perfect, but just the vision to find her and be like... So we got the tall girl in the box that could use her head. Yeah. mean, I was like, yes.
00:15:32
Speaker
And Heidema put it on goal. Yeah. Just not quite ah far enough ah out of reach of the goalkeeper and not with quite enough oomph. Yeah, yeah. But that is promising to see that connection come back. First game of the season with both of them together. So, like, I'll take i'll take it. I'll take a a little look like that.
00:15:51
Speaker
um And then the final goal. I so, I mean... Our Heidema discourse has gone to the next level, ah but I will say we didn't score until she came on. Yeah.
00:16:02
Speaker
Yeah, it's true. Just saying. Maybe she didn't score herself, but she was on the field. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. She's, you know, got defenders on her, worried about what she, you know, can kind of do. I don't think it's unrelated. um But yeah, we then talking about the last where to point.
00:16:17
Speaker
Mm-hmm. Yeah. I mean, to corner witch. Yeah.
00:16:25
Speaker
okay okay i like it i like it don't know i can't do witch laugh sorry oh my god are you trying to do a witch laugh yeah i probably i mean maybe i want to be witch someday in my dnd game so i should maybe hone a witch laugh for the corner witch um i know i just i just said that i don't know where that came out of i don't either other i like it now the corner witch yeah i have a witch in her castle i like it I can really certainly lean into some of these themes with my D&D exposure these days.
00:16:57
Speaker
Okay. ah Thank you, Werta, for coming back and returning. Thank you. Yes. Tip the hat. What other positives you got that you want to shout out? I
Episode Wrap-Up
00:17:07
Speaker
want to shout out the drag queens.
00:17:09
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. And the entire Halftime drag show. Yeah. That was a big positive for me. yeah And like we went on a little a little adventure at halftime, but I was actually like we stopped kind of like at the entrance to the concourse because they were death dropping and like putting on a master class of a show. it was incredible. Yeah, it was great. Yeah, Beyonce, that abracadabra.
00:17:33
Speaker
yeah it was good. I wish they would bring on, like, get a couple of MCs, you know, because we've got, like, our regular MC, but, like, it would be really fun, I think, to bring in a drag queen MC in these summer games or something.
00:17:46
Speaker
i It'd be a cool thing to I think, bring in regularly because drag queens always liven up everything. Or we could just do, like, an away game Twitch stream with commentary and have drag queens on. Oh, my God. It would be such a hot mess. Yeah.
00:18:00
Speaker
Yeah, it was great. um All the gays showed up. The allies also showed up. Good stuff. ah Positive. i Another positive I wanted to say, we scored multiple goals.
00:18:13
Speaker
I don't know if we did. i mean the we put two scores on the... You gotta put it in a dangerous area for it to go in. This was not it's not like they turned around and dribbled it and kicked it in their own goal. Right. It wasn't a fumble. It wasn't a fumble. That's for sure. It wasn't like oopsie.
00:18:28
Speaker
This is an issue we definitely had last year and earlier this year. And now we have four straight games with multiple goals. And a shutout. And a shutout.
00:18:39
Speaker
So that was the thing. things requested, like, separately. so we didn't want one or other. We started scoring more goals. It was great. But we were also giving up more goals. Yeah. So it was kind of like a... Can we do both? Can we do both?
00:18:53
Speaker
Can we do both? Yes, she can. Yeah.
00:18:58
Speaker
I am on one today. I'm sorry. I was like, Hillary's about to pop up.
00:19:04
Speaker
Emails. um the this is This is a loose show today. we didn't know when we were going to get recorded. Here we are. Loose show. Last thing i wanted to put out on the positives. Bench depth. I mean, i saw the lineup and I was like, okay, I guess we're doing this because Angel City is not so great.
00:19:25
Speaker
um But then we just like... i was like do they are is angels like are is this gonna be like angel city is probably looking at a bench and just like crying they're probably like remember when we used to like play gotham and they'd bring on crystal dunn and like the 72nd minute we're like what is that like yeah I have no idea what that's like. Yeah, it must be nice.
00:19:47
Speaker
ah That's us now. Yeah. And credit to the yeah younger players who have found themselves in these positions to be able to start because um that allows us to do things like this.
00:19:58
Speaker
Not that we were um the most optimistic about the halftime sub. No. um It was interesting. It seemed interesting to me, at least. Though, G was not getting a lot of opportunities or connecting very well, so I was fine with the G-Sub.
00:20:17
Speaker
When they said Fishlack was coming on, I was a bit nervous. Now, shame on me because i should have remembered what happened in the Euros. But I was definitely like, I don't know if that's what this game needs.
00:20:31
Speaker
I was wrong. Yeah, well, it was it was very much an interesting sub. And then the first parts of the game, it maybe looked like Fishlock wasn't match fit totally. it doesn't matter, though. It doesn't matter for her Well, i think it was a ruse. Number one. Number two, I think that it was her just getting her feet in the match.
00:20:59
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, she pops off and we look at each other like, oh, we knew that. Totally. No question about it. We always knew this was going to happen. I mean, she's a game changer. So like, I don't know why we.
00:21:15
Speaker
Shame on us again. Shame on us. and Are we being ageist? Like what's happening? Yes. But. But, you know, to be fair, had I seen the Copa America final before this match and seen what Marta did, I would have been like, oh, good. are Our Marta is coming on.
00:21:31
Speaker
Not quite that level, but like it is our Marta, I guess. Yeah. So um shame on me. And thank you to Fishlock for making me look stupid. Yeah. Keep putting us in our place. Yeah. Thank you. i need that sometimes.
00:21:44
Speaker
I think that's, I mean, we could go on positives for a long time. There was, I would say a lot of players performed very well. um But we do have to move on to. Yeah.
00:21:55
Speaker
There are negatives other than the pizza and the stadium ranch. That pete that pet that stadium ranch is going to upset me for a while. You know, if I had been like three more beers deep, it might've been fine. i don't, that's, it was sour.
00:22:10
Speaker
Yeah, it was giving almost like coleslaw sauce. I would have rather just like dipped my crust in tartar sauce. Well, we also didn't get the barbecue sauce that was there and that might have been good. and Yeah. Anyway, the piece of discourse will continue and range discourse. But um yeah, i mean, we already talked about being pinned back for a lot of the first half.
00:22:29
Speaker
I think that's the team is going to have to figure that out. And I would, you know, I want to see us try to be threatening earlier in the match and earlier in the matches. yeah Because it gets ah frustrating to watch the team just kind of take pressure for 25, 30 minutes to start the game. And then you're like, oh, God, are we going to win? Is this going to be okay? It's just stressful. Yeah. I mean, against different teams, it's definitely going to be trickier. so Absolutely.
00:22:56
Speaker
ah Biggest negative, ah you put the Mariners on there. um I didn't really care for the Mariners, but... there is it We had to deal with it. Yeah, we did have to deal with it. um The game overlapped with the Storm game the Mariners game.
00:23:10
Speaker
On a Friday, like, not great. I don't know. i Again, I don't know what's going on behind the scenes that it leads to these kinds of things. I would think it would be somewhat preventable, but I don't know.
00:23:22
Speaker
If someone from the rain wants to shoot me an email, we love an email, I would like some answers about why we're getting so many Friday night games, mostly. It's annoying for me because of the Mariners fans.
00:23:36
Speaker
It's just, we talked about this. It's just a different caliber person. It's like the worst. I mean, I said this and I'll say it again. I'll say it on this.
00:23:47
Speaker
It's just like running. I do like the Mariners. Don't get me wrong. I grew up going Mariners games. I don't hate the Mariners, but does kill the vibe little bit when I'm like starting to run into like the worst people knew from high school.
00:23:58
Speaker
Yeah. That's all I'm saying. But yeah, the scheduling is hard. I think the Storm game was at 7, the ah Mariners kicked off at 710, and then the Rain kicked off at 730. So it's not like you can go to any of two of those games. You have to choose one. Good job for the Rain, because I didn't think they would get this kind of attendance. i know it was The Pride match usually does better, but to be able to go over 10K, this was their highest um attendant attended game for this season.
00:24:26
Speaker
To do that on a Friday, even with all of those things going on, imagine what they could have done with those things not also going on. That's the part that annoys me, but... good for them for still getting that, that 10 K, you know, over the line.
00:24:39
Speaker
Well, I think from like a marketing and operations perspective too, you know, when you get over 10,000 people to a match like that, where the team puts on a fricking show. Yes.
00:24:50
Speaker
Yes. There's also festivities, um half time before the game, there's things for everyone to do. ah Those people are just going to come back. Yeah, it's true. and yeah they they create And if they create keep creating and an experience like that, we're going to grow the fan base.
00:25:09
Speaker
It's just going to take a little bit of time and patience from me.
00:25:15
Speaker
Yeah, it's tough. It's tough because we just like have followed this team for so long and have, I would say, like a special place in our hearts for them and just wish other people would see it. um And where I feel like I'm just constantly confused in why we can't even get like half the attendance of what we see for like a Sounders game.
00:25:34
Speaker
Yeah, it just it's an annoying thing. Not fucking one on Thursday night. That's not even an MLS game. Yeah. Anyway. Anyways, we could go on forever about that.
00:25:45
Speaker
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00:25:58
Speaker
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00:26:26
Speaker
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00:26:37
Speaker
ah Did you watch the press pressers? I did. Okay. we Kicked it off. Fishlock, Fischl. ah Mostly, i I feel like I was mostly intrigued by Fischl's comments, obviously. what about him?
00:26:49
Speaker
Just like how she seems to have a pretty good understanding of the team already. Yeah, it's incredible. i talked about it ah for during the ah when I watched her come on for her first appearance in the friendly. Yeah. And I was like, oh, dang. OK, she's super comfortable. Like she seems very at ease, very comfortable with ah getting into the team and kind of bringing whatever she can bring. Comments that she made about her subbing on. She was itching to get in She was happy to get in when the team was loose, much like this episode is.
00:27:22
Speaker
ah We forgot about that in the negatives. What? Her not getting her sub moment. Oh, yeah. That was fucked up. Was there like an injury or something? or Yeah. So we planned on sub. They took a timeout for the substitute. They took time on the restart for the substitute. And I think it was Angel City's goalkeeper was down.
00:27:42
Speaker
She was trying to like kind of seemed a little little sus to me. But yeah. But then you didn't get the whole like she got to run on and play resumed. Everybody's cheering. We didn't get a me official sub on moment at all for the crowd.
00:27:54
Speaker
Yeah. We'll have to push for it next game. Yeah. ah Other thing that Fischluck Fischl touched on was talking about Sally Menti and Sam Meza. um I know you were maybe a little critical in Sally Menti at moments for this game, but sounds like she is working really hard and is trying to take in all feedback and ask questions. And she's always trying to talk about things while she's in training and stuff like that. And um I don't know. I've got pretty high hopes for her and what she's like. I like her. Yeah. There was just a lot of errant ball losses and off passes. Yeah. But there were also moments of brilliance.
00:28:34
Speaker
Yeah. So. She's part of that bad goal, the first goal. You take the bad with the good. it's yeah sure. It is what it is. As long as she's not a liability, I think it's fine. um That's my big take.
00:28:45
Speaker
But she seems to be getting better every match. She's got a confidence about her that I like. um I think it's more of an arrogance. Which I love. Yeah, I was like, well, actually, I don't mind. But yeah, she'll have to clean up the other stuff for that to kind of not bite her in the ass, that arrogance.
00:29:04
Speaker
Yeah, but I think she there's a lot to look forward to with her. And like the player said, you know, like she's just trying to soak it all in and learn. Yeah. yeah uh i i want to see a little bit more on the field sure fair enough what do you got in harvey harvey part of the press oh yeah i mean she talked about how uh she felt like the team was timid in the first half um and then i love the halftime talk of uh telling the team to to play the way we want to play we we got to be brave I think it's hard coming from a team that's, you know, just been like Lynn said in the pregame, ah just been so kind of up and down in the first half of the season. It's hard to go into a game with that confidence of like, here's what we have.
00:29:47
Speaker
And they did it at moments when the games that they played well in the first half of the season, like they went with the game plan, they did it, they executed, they won the game. And I think it's, there's just been some turnover. There's been some other things going on. And I think just met reminding themselves that, you know, Laura had its to tell him like, go and play your game.
00:30:03
Speaker
got it yeah um and i think this is something that's really interesting uh that she thought it was like such a cool luxury to be able to have just fishlock watch the first half of the match and just like figure out how to dissect it and like take advantage of it and then put her in just to destroy everyone yeah because she didn't even need she wasn't in the locker room for the halftime talk she was just on the sidelines and then harvey gave her a few notes and popped her in I don't know.
00:30:31
Speaker
My body could never. but's so i guess. Yeah. I feel like my bias is I'm in pain.
00:30:39
Speaker
And like I can't imagine being a professional athlete at that age. Good for her. I know. I know. The cool thing about what Harvey said is that there seems like they're saving Lynn Biandolo and we didn't need to, I would say, necessarily have her on the field. It kind of allowed us to have a ah ah take a bow moment for Fishlock. But it it sounds like they're trying to keep Lynn nice and fresh.
00:31:05
Speaker
um Something maybe kind of bothered her over the little break we had and we should have her ready to go for Portland. Hell yeah. They better be fucking scared. Yeah, I mean, I'm scared because of the heat that's coming, but um we can get into that later.
00:31:22
Speaker
And then the last thing I wanted to point out was Harvey believes that Dickey has a chance to be the number one starting goalkeeper for the U.S. Women's National Team. what did What did you think of that comment?
00:31:33
Speaker
I think it's good coach being a good coach. Yeah. um And I don't think she's wrong. I think that there is potential for her to be that. I don't know if it's now.
00:31:45
Speaker
But again, we haven't seen any of the goalkeepers in really meaningful games. Any of the goalkeepers up for the number one spot, right? Yeah. Yeah. It's just all been friendlies. It's still up for grabs.
00:31:55
Speaker
So if the next tournament we play in, we better be starting multiple goalkeepers in the initial matches, like in the group stages. Yeah. Cause that's how you're going to figure it out. Cause I think it's kind of BS if you just go off training and you say, Oh, this player has been good in training. We're just going to like give them the number one spot.
00:32:13
Speaker
Yeah. And then you go in and, and there's just some things that that player's lacking. And, but then you just don't try something different because you've already made him the number one, you already made your choice. But I have really, have lot of confidence in Emma Hayes that, that that flexibility is there for her.
00:32:28
Speaker
Unlike some of our coaches in the past where they've set that. and body yeah yeah uh so i don't think she's wrong um i just don't know if it's right now yeah we got some time uh any final thoughts on the match No, I was really happy with it. It was really a fulfilling match to go to and be able to witness.
00:32:51
Speaker
Yeah, agreed. Thanks for taking me. That means it is time for Cooler Player of the Match. The Cooler player of the Match is brought to you by the doctor's office, a great little 12-seat bar on Capitol Hill. The owner is a big fan of the rain and is proud to be our very first sponsor.
00:33:04
Speaker
We talked about this. We did talk about in the stadium. And then I kind of was just like, not sure of myself. But then on the rewatching, i think for the shift that she put in this, this still made sense.
00:33:16
Speaker
Yeah. And I agreed. It could have gone to a couple of people. Yeah. Yeah. ah But Dremel. oh uh cooler player of the match for this first game back is madison curry bam bam bam congrats uh i love seeing your work against your old team it was a good time i loved your rainbow scrunchie nice But I hope she can keep just absolutely tearing up that side and, like, working with, in sync with Huerta and having both of those wingers be dangerous.
00:33:52
Speaker
was kind of crazy because, like, I mean, both sides are kind of building, I think, these these really dangerous, ah can like, buildups. i don't know what you want to call it. There's there's just, like, something going on with, like...
00:34:07
Speaker
the center backs also sometimes get involved, right? And they're kind of all like, what do you call this?
00:34:16
Speaker
octopus? Not an octopus, but they're like, i don't know. They're like overlapping. Interchangeable? Yeah, they're like overlapping. Interchanging, overlapping. Yeah, they're like overlapping with each other and kind of just covering each other's asses in a way that is just so fun to watch.
00:34:31
Speaker
Like, because Bug was getting up top and then Wirti had her cover and then Curry has someone covered and like... um i don't know there were times where that coverage could have been quicker but sure it didn't turn out to matter no uh but it is nice to see the defense the wings and you know the more defensive central players all kind of have each other's butts when they want to take the ball up higher yeah so congrats madison curry but papa Thanks again to our sponsor, The Doctor's Office. The doctor's office is the bless best
00:35:06
Speaker
the blessed the bless hashtag bless
00:35:11
Speaker
the Doctor's Office is the best place to grab a drink before or after a rain match. Try their limited edition Lads Love cocktail. Salted strawberry, celery, and absinthe come together in this botanical leafy cocktail. o I know, it sounds de delicious. It sounds really good.
00:35:27
Speaker
I know. I love strawberry. I love celery. I love absinthe. So excellent. Check out their Instagram. What? I said I like salt.
00:35:36
Speaker
Anyways.
00:35:39
Speaker
I also enjoy salt. um Oh, I had a beer that had a tahin rim. Delish. Anyway, ah check out their Instagram at TDO Seattle or better yet, go drink there in person. Cheers.
00:35:51
Speaker
Other results from the league. We'll quickly go through these. ah We don't pick trade. Big trade. Massive, massive movement. um Louisville lost to KC. And meanwhile, KC just acquired Ali Centenor from Utah. What the fuck?
00:36:08
Speaker
Why? Why? I don't know. Is it just to prevent anyone else from having her? I guess. I'm so confused. I mean, I get it. Like from Allie Centenor's point of view, i get it. Like you want to join a good team.
00:36:21
Speaker
We need salary transparency. Yes, 100% because want to go through their books. No, yeah. Who's cooking over there? Yeah, I know how to read numbers. Yeah, I know how to read numbers.
00:36:32
Speaker
I'm good at math. um I will say I saw like this, the announcement with Allie Centenor. She's kind of jacked. Did you see her? Yeah, she's like one of those small jacked ones.
00:36:43
Speaker
Anywho. Okay. um Chicago. Hey. ah They tied, which is basically a win for Chicago, especially if it's against Gotham.
00:36:54
Speaker
Yeah. Fraud watch. Yeah. I mean, i don't know what the fuck deal is with Chicago or New new new York, New Jersey, Gotham FC. That's a mouthful every time.
00:37:05
Speaker
Cause they have like most of their team, right? Like I saw Roosevelt started and everybody else. um And they, so, well, you know, fine by me um north carolina san diego zero zero move on um i only watched the a couple of the other games so did you watch the bay houston game that was not one but i saw the highlights of this one okay I will say I do have like a soft spot for Sophie Schmidt.
00:37:33
Speaker
um And she scored the 88 minute game time goal. And she subbed on in the 83rd minute. Super sub. Super sub. Right place, right time. Yeah. she's She's been playing for so long that I just feel like i I just appreciate her as a player. The real fun game was Washington Spirit versus Portland at what, 930 in the morning on Sunday?
00:37:56
Speaker
Yep. I was tuned in for that. Yeah. What'd you get out of that game? Washington dominated in the first half. Not sp surprising. Absolutely dominated. um got a goal.
00:38:07
Speaker
And then right before halftime, gave up a goal. It was a good goal. Against the run of play. It was fine. it was You wrote banger in here. It wasn't a banger. go ahead Go back and watch it. It wasn't a banger.
00:38:18
Speaker
and It was a good strength from outside the box. And the timing. Yeah. Sure. Right before the half. Yeah. Good for them. I don't care. ah Anyway. Exactly. ah But the real the real story here is Trinity Rodman was...
00:38:34
Speaker
bad Woo! For the first time since... Forever. Forever. Months. can't remember what day was. See, this shit I should have looked up. Anyway, forgot I was going to talk about this.
00:38:45
Speaker
ah It had been a long time, and she's been through it. Yeah. So she gets up and... Portland's subbing, but then you hear the crowd because they're at Washington Spirit Stadium and you just hear them kind of start going, erupting. And then she subs on.
00:39:02
Speaker
Trinity Rodman, baby. Trinity Rodman's back. And in absolute Trinity Rodman form. Yeah. Scores the abs. That's a fucking banger. Yeah. She ble she kick kicked the... And in Sofia Huerta's words, she kicked the shit out of it. Mm-hmm.
00:39:16
Speaker
ah And she wasn't going miss that. Game winner. Yeah, game winner. 90 plus two. Yeah. And the emotion on her face after she scored. Yeah. Yeah. There's been so many people online talking shit about how she doesn't care about soccer and she's just like there to like date her tennis boyfriend who so is whatever. I don't think she cares that much, but and just like not focusing on recovering and things like that and her just breaking down about how hard she's worked to get back to where she is like to where she is now and to take care of herself and then just to come on and win the game for them in extra time.
00:39:50
Speaker
Hell yeah. Yeah. Just like raw emotion. It was great. Love to see that from from a player having that passion. um And she's so good that it's just like, I don't know, you get worried. It went like the way she talked about her injury. Like, it was just so hard to tell like where she would could get to and stuff like that. And we don't know what her future holds. But this is at least an encouraging way for her to get back into the game. So yeah. Yeah. I you you really worry about those players and and what possibly could happen to them.
00:40:20
Speaker
I mean, we've seen it with Rose Lavelle. Yeah. Sam Lewis. Yeah. Like what could happen if something happens? Yeah. So it was great to see her back. I hope that she continues to stay healthy you and they take care of her over there in Washington.
00:40:33
Speaker
And then the Orlando Utah game. Utah scored early and it was against the run of play and it kind of just shell shocked everyone because this game was on after the spirit game. Mm hmm.
00:40:44
Speaker
And I was just like, oh, OK, Utah. And then it took Orlando a while to score and they only end up scoring one. So they tied one one. I mean, things have been going downhill, maybe not super downhill for Orlando. It's not like they're absolute garbage. But I think once we exposed kind of how to deal with them, they've had a hard time.
00:41:04
Speaker
They've had a very hard time. Marta was still out because she's playing in the Copa America final. so there was that. Yeah. Yeah. yeah That was the weekend in NWSL, but there is ah one of our favorites.
00:41:16
Speaker
Yeah. Allie Watt. I'm glad she's leaving Orlando. Hell yeah. i you know i just I want to see her do good somewhere else, too. Or slowly get back just yeah um but we've wanted her to But we've known she's a superstar for a while, right? And I love that she's getting this attention as yeah being the first signing for the Denver NWSL team.
00:41:38
Speaker
Yeah. And she's from Colorado. Yeah. So it's perfect. um She and then so Denver, they signed her to Denver and then Denver went ahead and loaned her back to Orlando for the rest of the 2025 season. So she'll still be at Orlando this year, but has committed to being Denver's first signing.
00:41:55
Speaker
It's cool. i like den I also like denver's ah Denver's logo and their colors. It's fine. i think I think it's set up so that they'll have some really good uniforms. i that's Yeah, I think that that could be. Yeah. That could be. And it's a bit it's different than kind of what we've seen in the past. Yeah.
00:42:10
Speaker
So I do like that. It's very of the times in terms of like that retro colorway, but like... There's many teams that do that. So I don't think that's a a knock for me. And the logo is kind of just looks like a sticker you'd buy inside of a fucking tourist shop or something. But get outside. and yeah Yeah. Yeah. The mountains are calling. oh i must Don't let it go to voicemail.
00:42:32
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. It definitely has that vibe. But I think they're going to have some good uniforms. so hopefully fingers crossed for them. Last bit of woe-so happenings. The Copa America final did not disappoint.
00:42:48
Speaker
no was a thriller. Yeah. Marta. She's still got it. Bad B. Bangers. She's so good. What the, like, what? She didn't miss her penalty, which is, i I saw her go up and I was like, we're going to Pino moment right here. i like i like, I straight up was like, this, this isn't going in. I was like, but luckily for her the rest of her team did okay. Yeah.
00:43:11
Speaker
And it was sad for Columbia because Columbia has really been on the up and up. I mean, Lucy Santos, Linda Caicedo. They've got a good team. They've some incredible players.
00:43:23
Speaker
And they're still young, so I think that's good. But I had definitely pull up for Columbia in that one. yeah And they took them all the way to PKs after being 4-4 after, I think it was 3-3 after regulation, and then 4-4 because both teams scored and in um extra time. Yeah.
00:43:40
Speaker
And then they went to penalties 4-4 and Brazil won. Yeah. it was fun though was really if you haven't watched that match go find the highlights because i mean it was just back and forth um a lot of a lot of fun it was probably one of the best games i've watched this like that the last like what from the 70th minute on was probably like some of the most fun like soccer i've i've watched this year um yeah but i was definitely disappointed for columbia i was rooting for them from the beginning yeah like it doesn't i think how many Did they say it's only been like three different teams have won that tournament and Brazil's won like fucking like 10 or something like that?
00:44:15
Speaker
I think that sounds. Something crazy. But um yeah, too bad for them. That stadium also looked really fucking cool that they were playing in. It did. In Ecuador. But, you know, like the players are saying during the whole tournament, like the ah the Federation did such a shit job of of advertising it, of supplying it with sponsors. Like they did really the bare minimum yeah to make the tournament happen. And the players felt like they deserve way more, which they do.
00:44:42
Speaker
Yeah. So hopefully they can fucking step it up for the next. yeah all right i think we're gonna move on to the reigns next match do a quick little preview of what we got to deal with soon uh rainer playing portland thorns um in portland sunday august 10th 1 p.m it'll be on cbs or paramount plus whichever one you got big cbs i know Big CBS, we're the big we werere the big rivalry game. And at 1 p.m., which is a solid time. Because it's the rivalry weekend. It's not like a 9.30 in the morning.
00:45:18
Speaker
It is a solid the time. It's not 9.30 in the morning. Okay, fair. That's all I'm saying. Kind of fun going into this. I mean, I'm definitely nervous about this game because the the way that the the Thorns play is very obnoxious.
00:45:32
Speaker
But for the standings, the Rainer in fifth with 24 points and Portland's in sixth with 22 points. So only two points separating them. Should set up for a very ah interesting rival match.
00:45:44
Speaker
Things you want to see? i want to see us win ah I want to see the players not die of heat exhaustion because it will be like 94 degrees. i was like, the game's scheduled for one. i don't know what the chances of it put getting pushed back are.
00:45:59
Speaker
I think probably big CBS is going to say no. Yeah. Yeah. So I think we'll just plan on one. um I, the Portland, this game, this rivalry, and I have to admit the though I followed this team since the very birth, this is the first time I'm going to an away game in Portland. I didn't know that.
00:46:20
Speaker
That's interesting. I've gone to several. So that's interesting. You used to live there. Yeah. I went down the first year though. And then we went down for like a weird game. That was not for the final. I went for the final too. I've been there for the final. Yeah.
00:46:35
Speaker
But not like regular season match. didn't go, I'd never been to a like a regular season rivalry match. Not a rain versus thorns. Right. Yeah. Um, So I'm excited. yeah Though I didn't want to give them any money, so I will be sitting in the press box. Fair. Didn't they get free tickets to reign some rain season tail holders anyways?
00:46:53
Speaker
I don't know. I think that was a thing. But hopefully they have AC up there. Truly. Fuck. but We might die if he does exhaustion. I know. No, i I think I want us to win. These games are always kind of like just shot in the dark, what you can expect.
00:47:12
Speaker
But I feel like... We're coming off a match where they won pretty handedly. And Portland's coming off a match where they feel like maybe they got robbed a little bit.
00:47:26
Speaker
So that dynamic will be interesting. And if we can come out, if the rain can come out and be composed, right, follow the game plan, set the tone of the match, which I feel like we haven't really been doing. We kind of just been trying to like get acclimated to it and then playing the game, like Harvey said. Yeah. But setting the tone to start the game and really leaning into that and making Portland adjust to us and instead of the other way around.
00:47:53
Speaker
I think that then you give yourself a really good chance to win against this against this Portland team. Yeah, think that's i think that's right on. um I'm looking forward to seeing the Thorns fan on the sideline with the Academy Award, pretending as if she didn't get it from her own players. Yeah.
00:48:11
Speaker
whatever the rain ended up getting fouled um yeah that i mean that's that's a real thing and they will try and draw penalties they will try and draw fouls in really dangerous areas they will because everybody on their yep everyone on their team has attended and graduated from the olivia multrie school of diving it's true school of diving and simulation
00:48:37
Speaker
So they have to be careful of that. Madison Curry needs to be careful of that because she does go in for hard tackles and generally they're clean. But with a team like this, i mean, you still play your game, but you don't let them try and pretend you're not grabbing shirts as much, right?
00:48:55
Speaker
You're not maybe throwing that elbow in as hard. But then again, maybe they just won't be called. Yeah. I mean, rival matches get chippy. I'm going to keep a tally, an absolute tally of how many times they try to fabricate something because it's it's getting ridiculous. Yeah.
00:49:17
Speaker
We'll see what happens. think that's pretty much it for Rain and anything else. Heck yeah. Soccer related besides our shout outs, which I had to shout out because we were saw the billboard for first match on us for the Sounders and you were like, when is the ring going announce this? And I was like, it's coming.
00:49:35
Speaker
It has. It has finally been announced. ah The rain are doing a first match on us promo. ah It seems to be for the August 29th match versus San Diego particularly. So go tell your friends, go tell your coworkers, go tell your family, anyone who hasn't been to a rain game, go sign up there. They'll get the first match on them or first match on the rain for your friends, whoever to go see for free.
00:50:00
Speaker
Yeah. It's cheap, but i mean, no one, everyone likes free. So no excuse. Literally no excuse. Yeah. um that'll be free yeah it's also against uh san diego who is nearest in the standings so it'll be a really good game uh they've got some really good players our players should be nice and healthy and ready you know this month is kind of crazy for the rain but all the more reason that they're going to be fighting hard come all the more reason for you to show up and support them mm-hmm
00:50:31
Speaker
Yep. So get on that. um Anything you got to shout out? No. Shout out to my sister for letting me stay at her house next weekend. I always find it so funny because ask you if you like anything else. I always say no. Yeah. So that'll be great. We'll see every... Well, we won't see anybody, probably. We'll see. We'll be at the... We'll maybe...
00:50:55
Speaker
sort of maybe I'm going to be doing post-game stuff with the Royal Guard. Oh, cool. I'm going to hang out with them, try meet up with them. Sweet. ah Because, yeah, why not?
00:51:06
Speaker
It's an early game. Yeah. And if you make the trip all the way down there, might as well hang with people. um Thanks again to our sponsor, at The Doctor's Office. You can follow us on social media, as always, Blue Sky and Instagram, Cooler Guild Pod.
00:51:19
Speaker
ah Shoot us an email if you're going to be down in Portland. ah We can all meet up and have a great and old time. Our email is thecoolerguild at gmail.com. You can also visit us on our main website, soundartheart.com forward slash thecoolerguild.
00:51:33
Speaker
It's also the anniversary of Sounder Heart going going ah independent of everything. So ah if you're not a member yet or a supporter level yet um with Sounder at Heart, please go subscribe, sign up there. you get access to the Discord.
00:51:50
Speaker
We have a link so you can sign up on ours too at that link Fan just said. you want to add anything to that? No, thanks to Sounder at Heart. Yeah, we appreciate you. ah We're also on YouTube. Some episodes, most episodes will be on there. YouTube.com forward slash OutTheCoolerGuild in video format.
00:52:07
Speaker
um You can always leave us a tip too on our little articles that go out with this on Sounder at Heart. um Wherever you're listening, we would love it if you can go rate five stars. to Leave us a little review. it really helps.
00:52:18
Speaker
Yeah, it's also nice. It's funny when you say something funny about Van. Yeah. As long as it's five stars, you can say whatever the fuck you want. Yeah. you can say You can just rate five stars and then absolutely trash me in the text You can that ranch is my favorite fucking ranch. How dare you?
00:52:36
Speaker
and though If you say that, I'm going to be really concerned for you. um Anyways, till next time, I'm Coop. I'm Van. Stay cool, y'all. Stay cool.
00:53:02
Speaker
ah Two fish, one. Okay, sorry. I'm not going to do those references anymore. Try not to do any more references with two and one.