Transcript
Speaker: Hello, hello, hello and welcome to episode 78 of the Cooler Guild. I'm Coop Cooper and joined with me as always is my co -host Van Crisp. What's up? It's Tuesday. September 15th, 2026 and we are here recording. um On today's episode.
Speaker: I can just keep replaying it. It's another dub.
Speaker: Another one. Another dub pod. Wild. And this is a great turn of events for us as Reign fans and for the team. Before we get onto into everything that happened and the usual stuff we go over, we got some housekeeping to take care of. 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. New subscribers get 10 % off the normal rate and you'll help support everything we're doing.
Speaker: Did you go to your beekeeping thing? I did. How was it? Six hours long. What, did you know it was that long? Yes? you sound like you didn't know i thought it'd be more interactive like six hours just the bees or five hours with the bees or four hours with the bees it was six hours of slideshow lecture and information.
Speaker: That sucks. It was a lot. Yeah. But we made it through it. Great. ah that was not lot That was last weekend, though. Okay. I know. I just never followed up. Oh. ah This weekend. um We went to the game. Great.
Speaker: her first rain game that's awesome It was great. Did you know that if you park in the parking garage you can access the stadium from the parking garage? On the fifth floor? Like, have you used the normal tickets?
Speaker: Yeah. Oh weird. All tickets. I learned that. I did not know that. Because I saw it. I had... bought club tickets for us because, you know, first game got a. go all out right in an affordable fashion um not field tickets yeah but uh I noticed when we were driving next to the little park on the fifth floor and I was like, it says suite and club access. So I was like, well, let's just see. So we walk up and I was like, can we get in here with the club tickets? And they said, any tickets. Oh weird.
Speaker: I guess people buy the parking there, so it'd be weird if they like told them they couldn't go through there, right? Yeah. I thought that was neat and it was something new I learned. Cool. bo It was a super fun game. yeah Got our Snoopy hats.
Speaker: Mm -hmm Very cute. yeah They did have an adult option this year. That's good. But it was a fun game to watch. It's good. Good crowd. Yeah. Did you do anything fun this weekend? I had a lot of busy stuff going on. Started my new job. I went to Portland on Sunday. to go see a podcast.
Speaker: live podcast I guess yeah it used to be like they used to do recordings in a studio but now they just do live shows um and it's an improvised musical. That sounds like my nightmare. It's actually really great. ah it sounds It does not sell when you just explain what it is. ah But it's like these two really talented improv.
Speaker: like comedians. They're... on a bunch of different like it was like and drop out improv shows. And they just have this like weird talent. to improv improvise musicals Yeah, I would still hate that. I don't like musicals. I don't either. I don't like musicals. i I really don't, but they're really good at what they do. um I brought a friend to this blind. uh who doesn't know anything about this fucking show She does like musicals and we tend to have the same type of humor. So I was fairly confident that she would like it.
Speaker: And like the first two songs play and she looks at me and her mouth is just like wide open. and She's like, I They are so talented. I can't believe they can do this. And I was just like, I know. they as talented Who Ew.
Speaker: Lorraine. I was trying to do a transition, but you were still talking. it Well, I just wanted to say that the show that I saw they sang about ballet and firefighters. Hm? It was them trying to slide down ballet poles, imaginary ballet poles.
Speaker: Like firefighters. Ballet pulls are horizontal. Yeah, I know. Well, someone suggested stripper poles, but they decided to go with the firefight or the ah firefighting. method because dancing on an imaginary pole is too difficult uh anyways it was a whole thing you can listen to it later it's called off book uh yeah the talented rain how many wins do we have in a row Three. Is there a goal streak that now? 14 games. We have 14 games with a goal. Yeah.
Speaker: 14 games since I hired the Etsy witch. Wow, that's incredible. Didn't know I could be here right now. experiencing the rain at this level. ah So to that, I am going to open my beer. Van didn't have one because she's driving and being responsible. Usually you have a root beer. I might... Well, I might go see if I have a cherry coke. Give me a second. You don't have to. It's too late for caffeine, I think.
Speaker: It's never too late for caffeine. It is. You have to be up early. I know. You're too old to do that. Alright. So... Cheers to the rain. Oh, that was interesting. I was also taking a break from drinking, but... Someone needed did to cheers the rain. This is like a, it's a very low ABV one. It's like the, I mean.
Speaker: Everyone's putting out low ABV ones. It's great. What is it called? Bookend? Bookend? Yeah, 3%. It's a 3 % beer. Nice. Small eight IPA. So you went to the game. it's a Fun time. You were in the stands. How did you feel going into this? I felt fairly confident.
Speaker: But after Laura never being able to beat Bae before the first time they played them this year, I was like, ooh, are we going to be one and done with Bae this year? And like... have an issue with them. But.
Speaker: Seemed to be okay. I was, yeah but I felt like the team was in good form. I had confidence in Cassie Miller. After knowing that. that Claudia still needed to be out. i was It was interesting to see Coco start. And it seems, I i actually do think she had a really good game.
Speaker: its I mean, I think the reason for it is because of we have a... packed schedule coming up. Right. ah But she stepped up. I think pretty well. Yeah. So just looking at that, I was like. Curious but also pretty confident.
Speaker: I don't know if I felt the same. But I... I mean, I was proven wrong. Yeah. I mean, they end up winning 2 -0, shut out at home. Third straight shout out at home. We need this. Have we won more than three games in a row? Am I just crazy? Oh shit. We have the internet. I'm using it. although Yeah, it's three games in a row.
Speaker: Okay. We're undefeated in four. That's right. But three games in a row. With shutouts. hu Which is our complaint for a bit was not getting the shutouts. Because a big... identity for the rain is their defense and how much pride they have in how they show out.
Speaker: And they were kind of letting silly goals in. kind of I mean, they talked about this like After the Gotham game. And what happened there, I feel like that game was. Truly tragic to watch.
Speaker: but they did seem to take a lot from it. Sure did.
Speaker: You have a note here about the broadcast, which I didn't listen to. Yeah, because you were at the game. I think it was Zerboni was on the call. McCall Zerboni. And then I can't remember who else was on it, but they they. mean we've been harping on it all rain fans know that this team isn't as stacked as they need to be
Speaker: as they could be they don't spend money like they could as much as we wish I guess they would but yeah the broadcast team pointed out that What Harvey has done with this team is is kind of... Wild. Given the lack of. Stars. like household name stars that this team has.
Speaker: I mean... Household, like which households? not Not in the Seattle area. If you pull up, like what names on this team would people know in other parts?
Speaker: of the country like i don't it's not we have a like a rapinoe we don't have anything close to rapinoe on this team We don't have a Roosevelt. We have upcoming stars for sure. But yeah, I thought it was kind of.
Speaker: Interesting to hear the broadcast team bring it up. I feel like they understand the frustrations maybe. Um... what fans complain about. But Harvey does make it work. And there are a lot of fans that tend to blame Harvey for the problems on this team. And if you know Ball, if you know NWSL Ball, then you understand that this team um and what they're doing right now is...
Speaker: Oh. largely contributed to what Laura Harvey can do. and bring out in players. and i think it's this kind of you know the broadcast crew pointing this out it goes back to kind of that same conversation we've been having where like, yeah.
Speaker: Are we in size that like. We haven't brought in a big name player. To fill. A gap? Yes. But there is growth. and growing confidence. with the current roster and and the way that they've been performing. Yeah, she was gassing them up and saying, like, they They keep themselves in games and they always give themselves a chance.
Speaker: And the fact that they can do that with this roster. just speaks volumes of what Laura Harvey. Does. Even though some people don't want to give her credit. Yeah. Mostly fans who just want to. i don't know what they want to do there they just want to be a hater They sure do. Get some notable stats.
Speaker: Yeah. We've talked about most of them, ah but another one is that was Huerta's 40th regular season NWSL goal. Eight have been with the rain. That's it. Yep. Hmm. Thought it was more. but well If it is, then Ryan is wrong.
Speaker: It's probably not. That was in the game notes. He usually gets his stats right. i just ah get She takes so many penalties, so it just feels like she had other goals. But I guess yeah i guess this makes more sense. it's like We also don't get a lot of penalties. No. You're right. darlene Took the last.
Speaker: A couple. There's your deal. Two, one, two, anyway. Yeah. Cool. Well. What worked for you in this game? Obviously the clean sheet. End. Cassie Miller.
Speaker: It's so good. When you have. A backup. that can just step in like nothing happened. Right. like They've been playing all season. And it feels like that's what we have with Cassie Miller. it seemed There's no...
Speaker: Big miscommunications between her and the back line. It seems like they and what they've said in the presser was they have the utmost confidence in her. And I think that shows on the pitch. And she came up huge in a save that should have been up for save of the week. It wasn't because the NW cell. It's stupid, but.
Speaker: Okay. But we still watch it. We still love it. um I think... She doesn't make that save. That diving save two -handed. So she gets a strong hand on it. Pops it off the post. And it gets cleared. If she doesn't make that save, the game change the game changes. So I don't know if we get the win without her. Yeah.
Speaker: There was a little bit of a shaky moment, I thought. It's because it was raining. Was it? Yeah Oh, I couldn't tell. It started raining. So the pitch from dry to wet got really slippery. Oh, okay, okay, okay. Yeah, the shot from Niswonger was a little weird. It was like a weird shot. So then like...
Speaker: Yeah, Cassie. Because it skipped off the pitch. Yeah, so Cassie kind of had a little bit of adjustment, weird adjustment there, but it worked. We already shot out the Etsy Witch, but I do have to always put what worked, the Etsy Witch, as long as we keep scoring. I feel like it's not doing us any service. Like it's probably not good to not shout her out. So shout out to the Etsy witch.
Speaker: I was sitting there I was like if it's the one game that I sit in the stands and watch and they don't score I'm gonna be so mad. Like, I i cursed it. Yeah. But that's not what happened. Yeah, you didn't. And we also got two goals in this one. So that's fucking rad. Because we've been having a little bit of a...
Speaker: annoyance with that but no issue here in another Var. var Not even VAR, but the but the penalty was called on the pitch. Coco did a really great job. of taking the corner and trying to get ah around in a nice longer.
Speaker: And i she just couldn't get to her. and had to chop her down. Yeah, I think Niswonger is just a little rusty. After her failed. unfortunate move. whatever you want to call it.
Speaker: So I'm sure she'll get back to it and back to the best she's capable of being. But that wasn't on the rain night. Luckily for us. Yeah. So getting that penalty call and then. Huerta. Just stepping up.
Speaker: goalkeeper goes the right way but it's placed so well with enough pace that It goes in. Yeah, it was a nice strong shot. What else did you think? This isn't a surprise to everybody, but Sam Meza was phenomenal. uh as usual she's doing this thing that i feel like a lot of veteran players do and at this point she plays like a veteran so i'm not surprised but i feel like really good midfielders like her
Speaker: uh they're really good at drawing fouls at like key moments to kind of slow things down or like get your players forward and kind of reposition and and and i feel like she's been starting to get that into her game really really well There's got at least a couple moments in this game where I saw her drawing some pretty...
Speaker: important fouls but i mean it's just like one facet of her game that she's just like keeps figuring out many many things to do and how to be like such a good player yeah It's so fun to watch her. It is really fun to watch her.
Speaker: I love it. Every week, every week, so consistent. I will also shout out another player that I don't have written down, but I said it in the chat. Share it here. I think that that was the best game I've seen Sally Menti play. Okay. Yeah. a shit I thought she was really good.
Speaker: But... Bae is not very good. Again. Because i I saw a lot of players kind of, they were looking pretty saucy in this game. it was like menuss When she gets saucy it's great. I saw Darlene kind of doing some saucy stuff. ricotta was looking saucy too you like the everyone was kind of feeling it uh i wish We could maybe could have gotten some. more interesting goals from the starters, but...
Speaker: Yeah, men i thought I thought they all looked good. I did. Just do it against a really good team sometime. I guess that's that's not the game plan we go into, though, against a really good team. so Be saucy. Can you try to be saucy against ah the best defense in the fucking league? Thanks. But they, you know, they took care of it. Taking care of a business. do You got your team below the playoff line.
Speaker: this gave them a little bit of cushion yeah And we've had issues playing teams worse than us. Exactly. That's why I had to put it down. They have lost every game that they've conceded first. Yeah, they they went out on the broadcast and I was like, oh my God.
Speaker: Yeah. Yikes. I think the last thing that I'll put in here, I love. But... Just the decision. of Brittany Radcliffe and apparently from the presser Laura said that she was initially. saying Take it to the corner. And then she was like, go.
Speaker: Just go in and Brittany Radcliffe just switched on, turned in, went to goal. and just finish that. in the last minute of stoppage time. I feel like. The team. is just growing in this way that they want to be. And maybe that was just her personal effort. Or maybe it's a reflection of the mentality of the team as a whole. But I really think that that says something. in comparison to the team that we saw earlier this year to now.
Speaker: I don't think that that's a decision that would have been made. potentially. right I mean, Ratcliffe was kind of doing this early in the season, right? and Yeah. And there was a huge... kind of not much happening.
Speaker: I do think that there might be a correlation with... people and their bad takes on Reddit. I wouldn't give him that not much credit. No, but there has been like. I feel like there there was a post about Ratcliffe and how she's done nothing for this team all season, which, first of all, not true. And then, even before this game, wasn't true. And then there was somebody also being like, Matty Mercado should be, you know, on a different team. in the brain Oh, you were talking about that last week? Yeah, and it just seems like every time someone bashes...
Speaker: like maybe not everyone some idiot some every time some idiot tries to like come with come up with a take a hot take that doesn't make any sense because clearly I don't watch the team closely enough, but it seems like the next week. that player does something ah to kind of put them back in their place. There. I just love the decision.
Speaker: Getting that extra goal. Yeah, that has been and that was an issue. One point or two. Exactly. Yeah. So it's it's good to know. I mean, with the Louisville game and how that went, sometimes I have my doubts about this team, you know, stepping up in ways that they really need to.
Speaker: especially with the way that the kind of the playoffs are starting to shake out and how close we are to the end of the season. so Yeah, shout out to Radcliffe for making sure that that wasn't on the line. That was all you wanted to do for what worked? What didn't work for you?
Speaker: I also noted slash things that made me nervous and or concerned about. Sure. But the yellow flags. Yeah. there's a part i took a picture because i was just taking a picture of the field in the What minute was this?
Speaker: It was the 74th minute. The ball is in our box. And. Our highest player is Mia Fishel, and she's about... Maybe. eight yards outside of the 18 -yard box. What minute was this?
Speaker: The 74th minute. what When did official sub on? she She started. official didn't start did she oh I don't think she did. I don't think so, you're right ah She subbed on...
Speaker: What minute was that? 68 minute. Okay. But even with that. Everyone is so far packed back. Where's our high player? So I'm sitting at half field and you could clearly see.
Speaker: So much space. Between. James Turner. Emesa. and the front four slash the white players in the front two. They're missing that attacking midfielder that it will really fill that space.
Speaker: And it was just so prevalent in this game, probably from just the angle that I was sitting at. And. I don't know if that's something that like Menti and Fischl are supposed to be like swapping on. and dropping into that space to help out. Or.
Speaker: What it is? But when Fischlach came on... She filled that space. Seemed to solve it. Yeah. I feel like... McCammon not being there is probably not helping that.
Speaker: yeah but It's been an issue. Yeah, I'm not saying it hasn't been, and, like, we have to do rotations anyways because we have these crazy weeks, so, like, not everyone's going to keep playing, so they should be able to. make those adjustments.
Speaker: Yeah. So it's just something to watch out for. Okay. I'll watch out. I mean this is like it goes into like what the piece we've been hoping to add to the team and we never did so thanks for that uh front office really appreciate that uh the stress will continue and i will still be a little skeptical in terms of the long -term run but um you No, the team did get a 2 -0 win, and that rules.
Speaker: It was awesome. They found a way to do it. They did it in a little bit of a gritty fashion, but I do think they look like the better team the whole game. especially the second half yeah yeah uh it was fun it was a fun game i thought i saw some people complaining about how it's a little bit of a Oh. I don't know. Some people didn't find it super entertaining, but...
Speaker: I liked it. What do people want? You want defense? Cause like, I don't want that. Honest question. Yeah, I can't answer that for you. ah Did you watch the post -match wrestlers? I did. What did you get out of those?
Speaker: Somebody asked Cassie Miller, because it was Cassie Miller miller and Sofia Huerta. And somebody asked Cassie. if her mindset is different since she already had to step in this season. And there was one.
Speaker: Quote, that I wrote down from her. that I really, really liked. And she said, At the end of the day, that's my job. That's my role. Been playing this game forever, so stepping in is fun and just being out there with the girls is really fun. So just happy to get the clean sheet and get the win.
Speaker: But that that responsibility. and understanding and being happy. in some context, about your role. That's my job. That's my role. That's just such a consummate professional. So I loved that. Also. Apparently Huerta like had a feeling that they they were going to get a PK today. or in the game.
Speaker: Little premonition? I guess. she just She said, don't know. Don't know why. Just had a feeling. Oh, she didn't. Okay, that's interesting. i It's not like they pointed out that bae is like really bad at giving up penalties or anything so but i mean sometimes you feel due for them Oh yeah. yeah So it was weird.
Speaker: Anything else I got from this? ah Talk about like ah some adjustments that were made at half in. Laura made a point I have to protect centrally and adjust players to not have the six be pulled out wide so far.
Speaker: And you could tell in the second half that that was happening a lot less. Because there wasn't that gap. between has. And Mesolite, there wasn't the first half. Harvey talked about they how they were reluctant in the first half.
Speaker: Love the subs. Thought they all played well. And talked about. The decision with playing Coco this week. or this match. and She said she met with her this week and thought she was one of the more influential attackers at the beginning of the season. Which we we pointed out. And they're just trying to get her back to that. Yeah. all right like We've seen glimpses of it, but it it just doesn't seem to show up.
Speaker: when you need it. yeah and it's a no it's it's annoyed me to be honest but she had a really i thought she had a good game it's too bad she wasn't rewarded for some i mean she was rewarded for at least one of her efforts in terms of getting the PK.
Speaker: But I did kind of think maybe she deserved to get on the score sheet, at least in an assist or a goal. but sometimes I think it's coming. Yeah, it doesn't fall that way always. Maybe it'll make her more hungry for the next time. But she looked good in a way that I feel like I hadn't seen in way too long.
Speaker: Yeah. I've talked about. Ratcliffe and how she's a good closer for the team. And din about like just they brought her in because the team lost so much experience last year. And I don't think Laura's ever... pointed out that to be a reason why she brought her in. Interesting.
Speaker: it's not just like last year either it's like last few years it seems like yeah There's a lot of youth on this team. Um, She would change since the World Cup. but She was asked about that. And she said they've done a lot of work with the sports psychologist and staff collectively is looking at ways that they can be more interactive.
Speaker: And she said. She didn't feel like her old school approach from the past was really sinking in. so theywe So they tweaked how they analyze games in video and made it more interactive with the group. made it more small groups that are player led.
Speaker: kind of solving it for themselves instead of Laura doing it for them. That's cool. They keep talking about they keep talking about that in the broadcast, too. They keep talking about how the players are like leading all these things. And she made made note to say that it's not.
Speaker: It's. Very rarely Fishlock and Phoebe. And Huerta, a lot of times it's the younger players. Oh, fascinating. They should do a documentary on this tomb. I know. Sounds interesting to watch.
Speaker: Last thing I'll add. um Grant. from into the channel asked about Emma Coates and Bay's performance. Because Bay's not necessarily a bad team. Buh. Coaches are beginning.
Speaker: Just axed all season. And. Emma said, or Laura said. they she hopes that bae sticks with her well of course you'd say that like Emma Coates is English, but. She's also a woman. She also said that there were plenty of seasons when the rain could have turned their back on her.
Speaker: She said, you know, 2013, Bill Predmore could have turned his back on me and he didn't. In 2024, the rain could have done it. They didn't. mm -hmm so it's She said chop and change is what she called it. Teams don't tend to have a real project that you can see coming to fruition. Hmm.
Speaker: It's interesting to hear that from an actual like, I don't know, they that's not talked about. you know, really much at all. Just the constant, like... When 2024 was the first year we did the podcast and there was so much.
Speaker: So much. crap being talked about harvey and it was harvey's fault we need to get rid of her i mean there always is but it was It was hard. It was hard that season. Yeah, it was. It was extremely difficult. We understood the changes that had undergone with the team. So I feel like we were willing to give her grace. And we also understood kind of like. her ability to turn teams around. even if there's a tough season. But...
Speaker: Ahem. People don't like to give her credit. Like people. I would say misinformed people don't like to give her credit. when she actually is finding success. I feel like, yeah, there's slumps and stuff like that, but the fact that you you just pointed out what you did about her finding new techniques and ways, that's the mark of a really good coach. And that's somebody that you want to stay in your organization. And that's somebody that you want to kind of work through these little things. And she's doing this with a team that is not star studded.
Speaker: And you have to give her that that credit. Well, I think it's interesting too, because... There's always been talk throughout the years of how she's so set in her ways. And... So I think the growth.
Speaker: says a lot about The team, sure, but also about her. Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. And. Being willing to change. in order to fix an issue that's being presented and realizing that Maybe it's something I'm doing.
Speaker: Coming from somebody that's always been so... staunch in the past. I feel like it's only gonna make this team incredibly better. Yeah, I feel like I've been seeing a change in her. And that's... really cool to see. knowing that the results are starting to also kind of flip around.
Speaker: it's cool It's fun. I like it. I'm glad that the team is sticking by her. I also think that this is happening because she. genuinely cares about this team and this organization. And I think. For the most part, they have her back. Yeah.
Speaker: And I hope they continue to. I wish they would also help her. and other ways that they could. Cause. She is... worth doing that for. And they could have something great here if they were willing to also give her all the tools that she needs to kind of level up again.
Speaker: but um you know the challenge is real right now and she's she's she's definitely up for it so yeah That's about it from the presser. Cool. ah Should we move on to cooler player of the match? Let's do it. All right, 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.
Speaker: Going to give this one. To the save of the week, in my opinion. So congratulations. Cooler player of the match goes to Cassie Miller this match. Hell yeah. I i just think that save was incredible.
Speaker: Yeah, the game changes if that that doesn't happen. It really does. I was, you know. personally kind of vouching for phoebe at first but i think i think this is right and correct um yeah so go congrats to to cassie and thanks again to our sponsor the doctor's office the doctor's office is the best place to grab a drink before or after a rain match or really anytime
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Speaker: ah Check out their Instagram at TDO Seattle or better yet, go drink there in person. Cheers. cheers Also Matt if you're listening I got. Church Roots. I love chartreuse. It's hard to get and...
Speaker: Klatschke and I liquor store, no one gives a fuck about chartreuse there. You know you can go on the Oregon Liquor Board and see what stores have what? Yeah, but like Chartreuse hasn't been nowhere for like months. Has it been nowhere? Has it been anywhere? I'm just kidding.
Speaker: Fucking asshole. You're not getting any of my short truths. Dennis, it's my dad's fault. All right. ah What happened in the NWSL? Let me blow this through these real quick. ah Louisville lost to Gotham two to one.
Speaker: she Yeah. Uh, Gotham's first goal was from grew a writing. It's her first NWSL goal and first Norwegian to score in the league. she this is ah This was a banger. i saw this it was ridiculous It was a banger of a goal from outside the box. ah Casey tied Orlando 2 -2.
Speaker: I should say Casey tied Barbara Banda 2 -2. Holy moly. Orlando's not good, so that's a big result for... Casey to drop. Yeah, Casey had goals from Chewing Gun Ball. Orlando, both goals were scored from Barbara Banda. And this week it was announced that Orlando had signed Banda to a high and high impact player contract through 2029. Well deserved. She deserves it. I'm glad they did this.
Speaker: If they didn't, somebody else was going to. Yeah. ah Angel City tied Denver three to three. So high scoring game there. Denver. Kind of dropped the ball on this. They were up 3 -1 at one point.
Speaker: And Chalufia is... on a tear. So watch out for that. They got a penalty, but it was Lindsey Heap's first goal for Denver. Houston lost to Utah 1 -0. Tanaka scored in the 69th minute. The big blowout of the weekend.
Speaker: The Washington spirit lost at home. to Boston. Not good. Watch. The Spirit's defense looked terrible. Okay, I was going to say, but do you think Trinity Rodman being on her?
Speaker: Pleasure cruise? Yeah. I know they want to say, well, she can do it. And I'm like, well, her team just lost to Boston. Yeah, I don't know what's going on there, but. Traore scored in the 81st minute and that was just like a very weird goal stuck in. ah But the ball was bouncing around. the Washington didn't clear it. And then Gutierrez subs in in the 84th minute. Amanda Gutierrez scores in 90 plus four.
Speaker: Gets the ball, scores, just lobs one from about 50 yards out. Yeah. I saw that goal. uh when i was at that place yesterday and like Washington just kind of fucked up. They were just like sleepy. They look sleepy. Yeah. And then she scored again in 90 plus six. Yeah. So.
Speaker: Three goals from Boston. Incredible. And another kind of shocker from the weekend. Portland tied Chicago at home. Actually, I have a note about this one. When I was in Portland, my friend that I went with, she's like a quote unquote Thorns fan. um
Speaker: I put that in quotes because she was like, yeah, I think the Thorns are playing tonight. And the game was already over at that point. I was like, who are they playing? And she's like, I don't know. I was told they're playing the worst team ever. And I was like, oh, so they're playing Chicago. And then I looked up the score and I was like, oh, this is hilarious.
Speaker: oh technically Chicago scored two goals because the first goal was an own goal but it' an This is a Chicago win. this is ah This is like a Chicago's championship right here. Yeah. These days.
Speaker: Portland just could not get their shit together. And then Chicago scored in 90 plus two on a good header off corner kick. amazing love it So that wraps up the NWSL. Well, that's a week of surprising results I would say.
Speaker: Yeah. A little bit. A little bit. Yeah. ah Definitely favorable for the rain. Very good for us. Yeah, I love that for us. ah Next match for the rain we got up. We'll get into that now. Although, we're not I don't know if we're going to have... We'll probably cover the next two games in our next episode, as long as I can definitely record. ah But the one that I wrote notes for, and we'll briefly maybe mention the other one. Next game is going to be against Angel City. That's gonna be Wednesday. That'll be the day that this comes out, 7 p .m., and unless they have issues with Zencaster again, which, fuck you, Zencaster.
Speaker: you know Be in LA. So a quick turnaround on the road. It will be on Fox 13 Plus, NWSL Plus. It's also on the radio, 952KJRFM. AM. m AM. you said You put, yeah. the kid You know, KJR, there's a lot of letters happening. NWSL Plus.
Speaker: KJR AM. m ah Though if we won this game And I don't want to like, you know, put that. pressure too much on this, but if we won this game, it would have serious implications because we're one game back right now with ah several teams above us. And if we won, let me double check the table. We're sitting on 37 points, game in hand. on all of the teams above us.
Speaker: If we won, that would put us into fifth place. And we would jump North Carolina, Portland Thorns, and Kansas City. Winsane. but The rum arena has been going on since that break.
Speaker: Wow. I love it. It's nothing sort of Short of, I don't know, witchy? Yeah. ah Anyways. I... i I'm nervous for this game, but I do feel like, you know, what happens happens and there's a lot of pressure on it. I don't know what's going to happen in it, but.
Speaker: I just had a thought. okay So last year when they went down and played at Angel City and lost. Yeah. remember how sam mezzo was coming back and she had like a really bad game uh -huh Like her one and only.
Speaker: I wonder if she'll go on like an absolute just tear. potentially. I'm hoping to be like last time I was here. I'm... Yeah, I can't have two bad games in this place. Mm hmm.
Speaker: I'm hoping her and Curry. given Curry's previous history there. get the start and just go on tears. That'd be dope. I did kind of like. Do a little. little bit of a deep but little little shallow dive into angel city's recent form they're not
Speaker: They're not bad right now. They've been scoring a lot of goals, but then if you go look at who they've played. it's maybe not as impressive because they... But five. Goals up on Lost Nation. So they've scored 10 goals in the last three matches, but five half of those were in one game. That's still a lot of goals to put up, and that's not something we've done. But Boston's defense, not great. Yeah.
Speaker: ah So I think. Things I want to see in this game. Defense. It's got to be locked in. has to be locked in. There is a lot of firepower on this team and they like to come at you fast.
Speaker: And there was a Claudia update in the premas pre -match presser that I went to ah before this recording. Claudia, she's good. She's back. She's good, she's back. According to according to Laura, that's that's what she said. Great. Well.
Speaker: Let's have her on her best. What do you want to see in this game? I think there's some players that they need to... Limit. Two of them being John's daughter. And Shalufia? Because when they can get...
Speaker: Up high together. defenses don't have a ah chance So I wonder how they're going to kind of isolate them. And they're going to have to do that. Because they're... Pretty threatening.
Speaker: The brain tend to do a good job. I think at having... like dealing with the task of of you know like these are the players you need to pay attention to and they tend to do a pretty good job with that But they also...
Speaker: have had a history of making mistakes in games like this like they'll be locked in all of a sudden just like one thing kind of goes like one ball kind of doesn't get passed, right? And then they're not in position to deal with that.
Speaker: yeah yeah They really need to be on it for this one. because angel city will punish you i also sentinels kind of been feeling it lately i do the rain have typically done pretty well against her and dealing with her but she still has a ridiculous shot from distance that ah They can't give her that space.
Speaker: Exactly. So the midfield and and the forwards need to do a ah good job. kind of stopping that attack before it starts. limiting those long balls. Do you think... The rain ain't gonna score again. Oh yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. Oh yeah. Who do you want to see? Kind of getting squishy. What do you expect to get on the score sheet? Expect and want are two different things. Do I think Matty Mercado might go a little crazy? Yeah. Do I hope it's me official so she can do a cartwheel for that?
Speaker: Rain kid. did you watch that video i read about it yeah i didn't watch it but She's got to do it. But i think they'll I think they'll get a goal. it's It's about the defense in this game. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah I agree. Yeah, I was looking at the like the last time you played them. There was a play that I really... didn't want to relive Yeah, I watched the replay again, or the highlights. Yeah, the Chalifia goal.
Speaker: Yeah. ah That was brutal. ah So. don't Don't leave any of these players one -on -one with the goalkeeper. They can do silly stuff. I think. Dickie can handle it. But... There's only so much you can do.
Speaker: At a point. Yeah. Cool. Well. And then what was the game that we have after that? Denver. That'll be interesting. that's in That'll be a challenge. Yeah, that's an... Don't worry. The Denver game is going to be more challenging than the Angel City game. Yeah. So if I were to choose one to have a good performance for the team. angel I would want it to be Angel City. Yeah, I think I'm i think i'm there with you.
Speaker: Hopefully they can.
Speaker: get some points away from this if they can get at least three if they can get one win out of this i'll be happy yeah let's just make this make the standings a little like kind of get you get your solidify your playoffs spot or just like being in the playoffs and then you know start climbing yeah have fun with it after that agreed oh lynn is uh lynn's back in training right practice i i saw like some surveillance video yeah did you see that she posted she was in the training room or something Yeah, she was running around practice. Did you see this? And she was running behind the goal and somebody shot one. Oh, yeah, I did see that. She tripped on the net. Yeah.
Speaker: I, you know, I don't hate the idea of her like kind of just like. You know, we got two games left. Oh, guess what? We have Lynn Bean Dole to bring on for the last five minutes. Just fucking go for it, man. Yeah, that's that's something I did want to bring up. But do you have any shout outs for the week?
Speaker: like shout Shout out Holly Rowe. Cool. Professional. You can love her or hate her, but she's... Pretty damn good at her job. So men need to stop disrespecting her. You got any shout outs? Should I shout out Macklemore?
Speaker: Why not? You know? Hell yeah. Good for him. ah All right. Thanks again to our sponsor, the doctor's office. You can go follow us on Blue Sky on Instagram.
Speaker: at coolgoodpod. We love an email. You can send us an email. You can send that to thecoolergild at gmail .com. You can also visit us on our main page, which is sounderheart .com forward slash thecoolergild. Wherever you're listening, please go rate five stars. Till next time, I'm Coop. And we don't quite know when next time will be, but hopefully the episode will be out next week, Tuesday, Wednesday. Yeah, I'm going to be on the road.
Speaker: I'm going to be on the road. I'm on the road. We got Coop on the road again. I'm going to be. In my van and on the road. Night. Okay, I'm going to be in a van. Electric van. ah in or Anyways, I'm going to be gone on on the road.
Speaker: But we'll figure it out. We'll figure it out. Yeah, where we're trying to figure out the details and figure out that stuff. But hopefully the internet's good enough for that. I'm Coop. I'm Van. Stay cool y 'all. Stay cool.
Speaker: Oh my God. Fucking get this thing out of here. It's not the connection, it's the cat.
Speaker: you
