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Another win in the bag - Ep. 15
18 Plays3 months ago
A 3-2 result on the road in LA makes it three wins in a row for Reign. We have a discussion about all the goals, the VAR drama, and highlight specific player performances.
In other woso news, USWNT legend Alex Morgan announced her retirement from the sport, playing in her final professional match this past Sunday. We talk a bit about her legacy and how much she's done for women's soccer.
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TCG
Coop
Van
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Show produced by Coop
Theme song by Alex Juarez
Show artwork by Coop
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The Cooler Guild Est. 2024
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:20
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello. And welcome to episode 15 of the cooler guild. I'm your host coop and joined with me as always is my co-host van. Hello. We are recording on Tuesday, September 10th, 2024 on today's episode.
League Highlights and Housekeeping
00:00:33
Speaker
We'll be discussing range third league win in a row down in LA, including all the VR chaos, other results around the league and news in LA. There's some other stuff going on there. Um, and all as usual, our quick preview of the rain's next match.
00:00:48
Speaker
But first, some housekeeping. The Cooler Guild is part of the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network. You can either listen to us on our public feed or if you're a Sounder at Heart subscriber on the private unified feed with the other podcasts on the network. If you'd like to become a subscriber, just visit our page at sounderatheart.com forward slash the Cooler Guild. New subscribers get 10% off the normal rate and you'll help support everything that we're doing. Anything exciting happened with you recently? Anything good happened to you recently?
Coop and Van's Weekend Adventures
00:01:17
Speaker
uh i did get to go on my favorite tall ship last weekend i think you i think a different is this a different ship yeah so the one i went on the week before this is double ship weekends yeah yeah okay olympia man we got a lot of ships but
00:01:33
Speaker
Actually, I went running on Thursday after work, and I was running down at the beach, and I saw a tall ship pulling into Olympia. And I was like, oh my God, I gotta go figure out what it is. And so I ran back up, hopped in my car, drove down to the port, figure out which one it was, and it was my favorite tall ship, the Lady Washington.
00:02:00
Speaker
Do you like know the people who have the ship or something? No, so it's like a historical tall ship. Oh, okay. It was in the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Got it. Okay. But I just love it. It's beautiful. It's actually a recreation of the original. It's owned by Grace Harbor Historical Society.
00:02:18
Speaker
but they like they like fly they do something that like you're not supposed to do which is they fly the state flag over the american flag and also they were flying like a pride flag as well as like a trans pride flag nice and i was like hell yeah nice no so the tall ship yeah that was the highlight of my weekend what'd you do anything fun
00:02:39
Speaker
I mean, I mean, other than the rain wind, I'm sorry. Yeah, the rain, the rain wind was a big part of my weekend. I had a friend visit in town, which is great. But I also bought a lava lamp today. Oh, what color? It's like the classic like purple with orange glow. Oh, which I got it for admirer because, you know, I love admirer, but
00:03:04
Speaker
What's on your list today? Yeah, exactly. A lava lamp. But I've been going to Fred Meyer for the last, I don't know, eight months, maybe more, and looking at this lava lamp and being like, I think this would bring joy to my wife. I should get this lava lamp.
00:03:19
Speaker
And then I like, you know, research lava lamps. And then I found out it's like bad to buy lava lamps in the winter, I guess, like have them shipped and stuff. But then it turns out the same brand that they sell online, that's like number one, you know, recommended is also the same one they sell in Fred Meyer. So today was the day I got it because the entire lava lamp section at Fred Meyer was gone.
00:03:38
Speaker
Like they're getting rid of the lava lamps and I saw like an end cap and there was like two left. So I made sure to get one of the last two. That's great. This is not going to work for me. Um, your cat just being all up in your zone. Oh, well, that's fine. Right. Oh, you just turned my volume off. You move this back a bit. Okay. Here we go.
00:04:02
Speaker
Anyway, so if you're, if you're wanting a lava lamp, they might be going out of stock soon at Fred Meyer. I'm not sure what they're doing, but I saw what was happening and I didn't want to lose my, my chance to buy a lava lamp in person, especially with winter approaching. We need some like lighting buyer bar area. We have like no lighting over there. And so I've been trying to figure out the right lighting. I was like, this is a great excuse to finally get my lava lamp. I mean, my wife's lava lamp. Remember this is about her joy.
00:04:29
Speaker
Not mine. Yeah. Okay. This is not going to work. Van's cat van jr is our guest hosts. I don't know if you can hear his purr. I can't. No, no purr. I don't hear anything van van. There's nothing happening. It's so good though. Well, all right. One second. Let me kick them out. So aside, I mean, I still haven't started the Lola lamp, but we'll get there. Um, you should get into the game though.
00:04:57
Speaker
Yeah. So in the Friday night, Amazon prime game, which we have talked about how much we love the rain, walked away victorious after a three to two thriller of, of a fricking match, man.
Rain's Thrilling Victory and VAR Drama
00:05:08
Speaker
Yeah. So behind again, early this time in the eighth minute, the rain fought back and the half ended with Seattle head two to one, several VAR decisions and a CR king goal. Later, the match seemed to be headed to a three to one win for the rain until angel city got one back in 90 plus nine, but it was still wasn't enough for the LA team.
00:05:26
Speaker
This win extends reigns unbeaten streak in league play to seven games. Whoop, whoop. I think that part kind of gets to get some of this. I mean, we got a three game win streak, but we've also like haven't lost a game since the absolute beating we took against Casey. Yeah. But then our Portland started our unbeaten streak. We don't talk about summer cup. Well, yeah, I mean, unless you win summer cup, you don't talk about summer cup. There's really no point, especially with like the Olympics happening and everything. There is just there's a lot going on, a lot going on. So.
00:05:55
Speaker
Going into the match, there were some availability things for both teams. So we didn't have Jalen Howell, who's in the last two games she's played for us has been excellent. In the midfield, she was out with yellow card accumulation, which transferred over her transfer. And then Bug and Adamas were out for international duty with the U20s. And then Angel City was missing Giselle Thompson, who was also out with the U20s. I really hope they watch this game together.
00:06:24
Speaker
I don't, we don't have a lot of notes. We didn't take any notes on, you know, bug in a, in a Dom is and what they're doing there, but a Dom has got three assists in one match and one absolutely killed it. I watched it. So she's doing good stuff there. Let's bring back that to the rain. Uh, that'd be great. Although we're doing pretty well, but.
00:06:43
Speaker
Let's start this earlier than the last time. Yep, let's do it. Cheers to the rain. Cheers to the rain when I've got an athletic IPA because you don't need alcohol to have fun. Sometimes you don't. Very true. Just want to make sure people feel. I don't have any beers. I just have another King Crispy. Yeah. From my dad's stock in the fridge. So cheers. I don't keep beer at my house. That's fair. Cheers to the rain. Did you actually hear it this time? No. God damn it. One day we'll get it.
00:07:12
Speaker
Maybe I should take the foam off when we do that. Maybe it's probably a good call. All right. Here's, here's. So other than the, uh, availability going into the match, uh, there was an issue with the heat the day before it was like 111 the day of the match.
00:07:27
Speaker
Right at one point at one point it was it was like so hot 101 something like that. So I'm crazy But they were talking about on the broadcast how it dropped. Yeah game time So it was actually like a pretty good game time temperature They didn't think they were gonna have to have any hydration breaks, but then they ended up having to have them Yeah, it seemed optimistic to say that that early on I was like, mmm, that seems too hot still
00:07:47
Speaker
Yeah, wild if they didn't get a train. I mean, I wonder how many times that's ever happened. I don't know. Probably more than we know. Yeah, probably. Because summers in this country are no joke sometimes in certain places. And if they don't have, like, indoor... I mean, most places don't have their conditioned indoor train facilities for them to be so especially. So maybe they need to figure out some backup situations for players.
00:08:13
Speaker
Yeah, there's got to be some some indoor facility or something they can go to to get their like, yeah, something. I think the most notable thing about this game is there was nothing exciting going on with VR. It was straightforward match, nothing interesting. Oh, no, wait, that wasn't in this game. This was absolute chaos.
00:08:33
Speaker
absolute chaos and we'll talk about it in a bit. We'll talk about it in a bit, but I think first we should go over some notable stats and then. Don't we weren't we doing the stats after the positive? Yeah, we wanted we wanted to go into the goals. Let's talk about the goals. Let's go to the goals and then we'll go to the VR calls. Yeah. I mean, there were not almost goals if they just get chalked off. So for sure.
00:08:57
Speaker
First goal, Alyssa Thompson, doing her thing, thing she's been doing for weeks. I mean... Oh, there's a giveaway, but yeah. Yeah, yeah. But I just like, there's nothing Claudia Dickey could really do on that. Just shot it really, really well.
00:09:13
Speaker
Sucks to not have a way to combat that speed, but it is what it is. What are you going to do when there's someone who's on a tear like that? Well, I think we do have a way to combat that speed. It's just the one player you have back there. She wasn't her responsibility because McLaren is fast enough. But when a player is like, like, just like on a run, you know, and they're feeling it, it adds this like other element of just like, I don't know, like, you know, they prepared for a list of Thompson before this match and then you're just like, oh, fuck, fuck, it's happening.
00:09:43
Speaker
It's just like
00:09:45
Speaker
Yeah, but when she beat somebody like Shay Holmes, I don't I don't think that you can blame us not having somebody fast enough back there, especially since we saw what where they could do. Yeah. Against against them. So I think that was just it was early. It's just sucked. But we got one back. Didn't let them score for. We didn't let them score. That was the we didn't let them score until like extra time later. Yeah. And the second half. So.
00:10:13
Speaker
Yeah, so 31st minute. So if you were at the converted penalty again. Yeah. Second time in two games. Other direction to write, they said. Yeah, she went the opposite way. It wasn't a great penalty, but the goalkeeper went the other way. It was a little. She saw the goalkeeper, which way she was going, but like she did like get it in the corner. She's like absolutely. The goalkeeper gave away where she was going. It was terrible.
00:10:38
Speaker
Uh, so where to like kudos to her just slotted it on the other side. So, yep. And G magic G magic after this.
00:10:48
Speaker
Yep. End of the first half. So this is when I actually turned the game on because I missed the first part of the game. That's right. Okay. Yeah. You need text me. You're like, Oh, I saw that. Yeah. I was on that tall ship and then got back to watch the game and I turned it on and I thought it would be in the second half, but there was so much fucking extra time that it was, we were still an extra time in the first half. And it must've been like two minutes after I put the game on and she's just like, with the ball at the box and then
00:11:14
Speaker
No run up, no nothing. Just pop pop. Yeah, ridiculous. And I mean, she just like curves it around the goalkeeper. I mean, there's it was just the composure and everything that she needed to like do that. And then and the technique. Right. Because like that's all technique at the end of the day for that to go in. And at the post game interview, it was like.
00:11:36
Speaker
AMC was just like, are you going to pass it to me? Oh, no, she's just doing her own thing. I guess I'm just like, let her do it. You know, and King pointed out like she's been on one. Yes. Yes, she is. And I want her to keep going this way because, uh, this is, uh, this is what we saw in all the highlight reels. This is what her career has been known for. And, uh, we're, we're getting it now at least two weeks in a row. I welcome it. I'm happy about it. I love seeing it. It's so much fun. Second half starts. We don't give up an early second half goal.
00:12:06
Speaker
Hooray. Hooray. Hooray. And we actually score one. 58th minute, which almost gets called bad. So AMC plays a great ball in from the right side of the box to the left, kind of curls around the back line and King comes into it and puts it across and Heidema's there. And you can't quite tell if Heidema taps it in before or after it crosses the line.
00:12:28
Speaker
And the more I watched it, the more I could see that across the line. But how tragic would that have been? I had a moment still the goal, but she didn't. Also, Z got finally rewarded with all the hard work she's been doing. I know you've been on the Z hype train for, I would say, reasons that are probably obvious. But is this working better now without Balser?
00:12:48
Speaker
Yeah, I think that my concerns with her were very much tied into the system and the way that they were playing those front players and the connectivity with the midfield. Yeah. And when you have AMC in the midfield who is just so good at creating opportunities, it allows for players like King to get on the ball more. And that's just what we weren't seeing.
00:13:16
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, even like we had high demo, like have a lot more chances too. She's gotten so we're going to talk about this, but like she's gotten so much better like with her hold up play. Yeah. And her just kind of melding into the defensive shape of that forward line. Yeah. So I was I was really happy that that King got her goal. Yeah. And it sucked that the game didn't end three to one, but they were pressing hard.
00:13:42
Speaker
I mean, thank God we had VAR. I do think they were the right calls. So like, we, you know, it's not like they missed a call or, and it went on quickly or something like that, but like, we might've lost had VAR not existed. Yeah. I mean, I would definitely agree with that.
00:13:59
Speaker
It would have been wrong, but yeah, there were a couple of calls, including that Kingo Kingo was reviewed because Haidama was offside and she touched the ball.
Controversial VAR Calls and Game Impact
00:14:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:14
Speaker
but I think it was over the line. There weren't a lot of good angles, which I will say. They need to get a camera above. Yeah. Or goal line camera. Yeah. Goal line technology would even do. Yeah. Get a goal line camera. But so there was a couple. There was a handball in the box in the 52nd minute.
00:14:34
Speaker
This one, I think this one is the one I would be most critical of. Yeah. Because, so the ball comes into the box and Sinegortjevich, it hits her foot and her and Holmes are right next to each other. It hits Sinegortjevich's foot, pops up and then it hits Holmes right arm that is kind of up because she's moving.
00:14:56
Speaker
Mm-hmm. It's kind of tucked in a little bit though. It's not like it's not fully out It's kind of chicken wing but her forearm is out it is but it's not it's not fully like the arms not fully extended out No, and so that that was the argument I kind of made in my notes was like is it just like normal body movement? Yeah, you know, does this just like her this is what creates her Like her player outline. Yeah I'm
00:15:24
Speaker
I'm not sure about that one, but it's also like, it's so hard for a player to adjust when that ball comes in so quickly and it hits the player next to them, them to it and they're just moving. Yeah. It's not like she could have just to put her arm out to hit the ball. Yeah. It would have been harsh. It would have been pretty harsh. I would have.
00:15:43
Speaker
understood, I think, had they called it, what I do think, what else was she supposed to do in that situation? She had no time to move. She could have been in the box, like, you know, like with her arms completely tucked in, she could have been like that, I guess, to really avoid a handball, which you do see defenders do all the time now, just because VAR's always looking. Yeah.
00:16:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's the one that was 50-50 for me, and I think that the on-field call really made a difference there. Yeah. Because the on-field call was no handball. Queer and obvious is always the thing that should be the deciding factor. If you can't figure it out within, I would say a minute, they really need to lower how long they're looking at plays. But if they have the call in the field as one call, and they take longer than a minute, just stick with what your original call is.
00:16:37
Speaker
Yeah, that would have been I mean, they came to a decision pretty quickly on that one, right? Yeah, they did. It was pretty quickly.
00:16:44
Speaker
Yeah. And they didn't bring it to the on field monitor. Yeah. So I would have brought that to the on field monitor, but I'm not a referee. And I'm not saying that we should win the game. And I'm really happy these calls were going our way. Yeah. But I think that that one for me out of all of them was the most kind of gray area. Then we had another one in the 67th minute where Vignola scores a great shot from just outside the box.
00:17:14
Speaker
Yeah, it was a banger. It was a banger. And then they were reviewing it, and I'm thinking, what? It was a very obvious offside. But there was an offside in the run of play. It was very obvious. There was a ball played to, well, so Jasmine Spencer had the ball outside the box.
00:17:35
Speaker
played the ball to Sidney LaRue, plays the ball back to the player that shoots the ball, and scores. There's a couple things going with this one. Spencer, who plays the ball to LaRue, gets fouled. So the referee signals for advantage.
00:17:55
Speaker
LaRue plays the ball to the player that shoots and scores. And the referee's explanation for calling the goal back for the offside on LaRue was that the advantage had been played. And looking into past calls and
00:18:12
Speaker
bit about the advantage rule, that second pass to the player that shoots the ball is the next phase of the play. Yeah. So it had passed the phase of the foul. Yeah. You don't score the goal and then call it back to like, that was your chance. The chance happened. It happened to be offside, but like that was just how it played out. So a different pass could have been made or whatever, but it is what it is.
00:18:40
Speaker
Yeah. So I think that one was correct. And then we have another VAR. Just to really, really make Angel City feel bad. This one goes to the monitor, but 85th minute LA scores. Ref goes to the monitor and calls the goal back for a foul on Sydney LaRue.
00:19:00
Speaker
So there's like a mix up in the box. Yeah. I had told you, I was like, Lester just like fell down and stayed down. What is she doing? Well, I found out what would happen had happened. What had happened was the city of Peru took us, you know, took a couple swipes at her.
00:19:19
Speaker
Yeah, she's trying. Lester was trying to clear the ball and they kind of cut it off in the V.A. review. But LaRue hacked at her once and then twice trying to get to the ball. Yeah. And ends up like kicking her feet. Yeah. And so she can't actually get there to clear. No. To clear the ball. And then another player comes in and scores. So again, I think that was the correct call. Yeah. And the fans in L.A. were not happy.
00:19:48
Speaker
which I don't I don't know that I would have been happy if I wasn't able to see the reviews. Yeah. So it's probably something they need to change in the stadiums. Right. Because it didn't sound like they were having like close plays. But it's also one of those things where like you kind of have to be careful with the way that the crowd starts kind of seeing the game.
00:20:04
Speaker
Yeah, so I don't I don't know I go back and forth on like if they need to be showing detailed stuff like that or not Because you are there to experience stuff not to just like I don't know watch videos I don't know and I think I think you know that energy That the play that that the players had of being mad about it. Mm-hmm and the fans Really kind of riling them back into that. Yeah that fuel a yeah played into that last goal that they got I
00:20:31
Speaker
Totally feel them all those I mean all those chances after all these via calls was fueling them to try to get back into it and they had some good chances and Like I don't know you're offside. It's not a goal you you Foul someone in the box. It's not a goal like that's just that those are the rules. You can't be upset about that You can be upset about like questionable You know soft calls sure but
00:20:57
Speaker
basic rules with the offside when they're, when it's very obvious, like, I don't know. I think some of these angel city fans need to kind of, uh, get her a little bit of a reality check. Cause they're all saying this game was stolen and it was bullshit. And I'm just like, I don't know about that. You can cry about it all you want, but, um, maybe score some goals that aren't going to go to VAR every single time.
00:21:24
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, that and like, even if the one that I think maybe could have been more 50 50. Yeah. You're still not winning the game. You gave up three goals. You gave up three goals. I mean, that would have put them at two goals. But again, I don't think that they're finding that fire at the end of the game if they were, you know, having this without those calls and all that stuff. But I don't know.
00:21:53
Speaker
It was a mess. Yeah. So I think like overall, and granted we're coming at this from a bit of a slanted viewpoint, but VAR did its job here. It took too long, but did its job. Yeah, I agree. And we've had games where it doesn't go our way. This, you know, this is kind of just the way it goes in the sport.
00:22:15
Speaker
But this isn't like just go your way. Sure. There might've been one call that didn't go your way, but otherwise you're offside. And you found someone. You found someone. Our player didn't touch the ball until it was over the line.
00:22:31
Speaker
Yeah, Andrew Goalkeeper, like, piled our player and that's why we got our penalty. I don't know, man, maybe better choices. Yeah, that one. So, I mean, it's fair played a part in this game, but I don't think it played as much of a part as Angel City was complaining about. Sure.
00:22:54
Speaker
And I saw some comments from their players afterwards about how the referee was interacting with them, which didn't sound kosher, didn't sound good, because it didn't sound like they were communicating with Angel City for whatever reason, but I mean...
00:23:10
Speaker
I don't know. I guess I can't read too much into it. Cause I'm just like, well, were you really heated in the moment? Were they just sick of hearing from you? Cause it's just like, I mean, it was called off. I mean, I don't feel that bad for the ref, but like, I didn't want to be in that position after having to look at the video monitor that money or like have to like hear from your VAR booth, whatever, whoever's chiming in. Like that just, I mean, you know what the crowd reaction is going to be there. That's not a fun situation to be in.
00:23:35
Speaker
No, but I also think there were player interactions with the referee that I also don't think are good and you can't expect. I'm going to try and say this in a very careful way, but you can't.
00:23:50
Speaker
You can't expect respect if you don't give it. There was a point after Angel City's last goal where City LaRue grabbed the ball out of the net or tried to, didn't get to it, and runs past the referee and shoves the referee with one of her arms. I understand the frustration, but you just don't do that.
00:24:11
Speaker
I watched that. I watched that clip probably like 10 times because I was like, did that really happen? And I know she's a fiery player. I mean, that's why we like her. Yeah. Yeah. I love her for that. But like at the same time, if you're going to complain about the referee and how they communicated with you, it kind of goes both ways. Yeah. So. But for us did all right.
Support for Sounder at Heart Podcast
00:24:32
Speaker
Celebration. Celebration.
00:24:38
Speaker
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00:24:56
Speaker
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00:25:26
Speaker
Thanks for listening.
00:25:42
Speaker
Okay, yeah, I mean, I'm sure Angel City, whatever podcast they got going on, I'm sure the entire episode is gonna be about Var, which is just like, you're kind of wasting your own time at that point. Yeah, I listened to the Louisville one after the last Louisville game, and I was just like... It's very rare that I try to sit here and blame the brass, because ultimately, it's still like, everyone deals with these issues, so your team has to figure it out.
00:26:10
Speaker
Yeah. And you have to score more goals in the other team. And if you feel like they were stolen, well, then we had it because we had a game where Laura Harvey was very unhappy with some calls. And to me, they were the right call still. And she was really upset. And I was just like, girl, you got to move on like.
00:26:26
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I think that there's a root to the frustration that is maybe not the referees. Yeah. Yeah. There's some underlying. There's a potential therapist too much. There's a root of a problem there. Yeah. But yeah, positives. There was a clip that came out before this weekend.
00:26:47
Speaker
There sure was. Lisa Carlin from CBS Sports, who is a host there. I think was she on like the halftime show or something like that? I saw her pop up again and I was like, oh, this is the one who said that this game was in the bag. Well, this happened on Attacking Third. Yes.
00:27:03
Speaker
But so the attacking third was doing is like, is there a podcast or something? Is that what it is? So they did a podcast and had her on Lisa and she was talking about how Angel City are like the front runners. She thinks they're the front runners are going to win the league and win the championship. And it all starts with beating Seattle this weekend, this past weekend. And she she said like these two games against Seattle in the bag, girl,
00:27:30
Speaker
Do you know how bad Angel City's record is against Lorraine? Show some respect. I commented that. Show some respect. Yeah, I saw that our GM tweeted that. Oh yeah, and this was before the match too. Yeah, this was before the match. Yeah, she was like, I'm going to call them out now because I know what's going to happen this weekend.
00:27:49
Speaker
Yeah and I saw that their GM retweeted it and I was just like commented on it and I was like do they not know that our record is seven one and one against them? Yeah and now it's eight one and one like let's let's run this back now all right I mean we do have another game against them so like hopefully they don't get their revenge next time but our record would still be really darn good.
00:28:11
Speaker
Yeah. But I think when you call two games in the bag and then you lose the first one, I feel like your points move at that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You're, you're half wrong so far and you're running towards a hundred percent wrong. So you're halfway there.
00:28:27
Speaker
Uh, I also thought the, uh, refuse suck chance. So I feel like that's why like super league, like fans make fun of us. Like from England. Yeah. Like at least calm a wanker at least. I don't know. Sometimes I'm just like, this is going to look really bad for you later as a fan, as fans, as a fan group, if you're just sitting over there, but that's fine by me and we're not angels, any fans. So I'm fine with them looking stupid. Yeah.
00:28:55
Speaker
Welcome it. And you could clearly hear it on the broadcast, which kudos to them. But same time, like be a little bit more creative, please. The one good thing that they did was shout out Jane Fonda when she was on the TV screen. They were like, that's great. And I was like, who is it? Jane Fonda. OK, this makes sense. Big positive. We didn't wait until the very end to get back in the match. In fact, we went at the half up to one.
00:29:21
Speaker
Yeah, sick. I love that. We even went up two goals. Good response. Very good response. Did take some magic from G, but we used to need magic from Rapinoe, so you gotta have that in your arsenal.
00:29:37
Speaker
Hey, you have to you have to have that card to pull, you know, when there's other things that aren't kind of going your way. I did watch the post-match presser right after the game. Oh, yeah. The vibes on point. So it was C.R. King and AMC, and they were just like absolutely feeling it. And they're talking about G School and how magical that was was.
00:30:01
Speaker
Amazing. They were actually asked about, about VAR and they said, you know, I understand. And they came off the same game, seeing the same things on the monitors, on the same things as everybody else. And they said, you know, I understand their frustration, but at the end of the day, we have to look forward. And it worked out for us too. Like they, I mean, they pointed out like it's, you can't, it's hard to be critical when it works out for you.
00:30:25
Speaker
Yeah, but also like I love the fact that you know you acknowledge it and then you move on And she did bring up howl's goal from last week. Yeah, she did which I loved Yeah, because there was no not enough talk about it. Nope. No look at the monitor. It was just bullshit It was such bullshit. So I love that. I also love that the vibes with her
00:30:48
Speaker
like standing up for Howell from the last game after they're two of our very newest players. Yeah. Like there's just so much good energy coming from the team right now.
00:30:59
Speaker
Yeah, and that's what you need if you're... I mean, I know we still have a lot of work to do and it's still pretty slim chances to get to the playoffs, but this is what you need to make that playoff push. Yeah. You want to be kind of in this groove at this point. It's just too bad we don't have more points going into it because this is exactly what you would need to have a successful playoff run. It's just a matter of, is it too late or not? But we'll figure that out later.
00:31:23
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think it's too late. I mean, where we're sitting now, we're all right. Not where we want to be, for sure. No. I think we could be in a worse spot and we've won the last three games and you really can't do anything more than that. We were we were hoping to come off, you know, the Olympics break and make something happen. Right. Yeah. And we were a little worried that it might not. We were very worried.
00:31:48
Speaker
We were critical of the AMC signing. We were wrong. We were absolutely wrong. Well, I was wrong. I don't know that you were as anti. I mean, I was looking at you. You were giving her a chance more than maybe other people were. Yeah, I was giving her a chance and hell yeah.
00:32:06
Speaker
I would say I was right. Cause I wasn't like super stoked, but because I'm looking like future wise, a lot of older players and we have a lot of younger players that I'm looking in the middle and you know, seeing what we have for next year. Yeah. And I don't know. Like she's been stellar howl. I mean, you and I were both pretty keen on that trade. I have a lot of people working on that trade. I think a lot of people weren't. Well, that's their problem.
00:32:32
Speaker
I really just think that I hope that Montessori can get a little bit more match fit and a little bit more as Laura Harvey called it. I think match fit and match keen, ready to be involved a little bit more because I think she'll be an important part towards the end of the season. Yeah, I agree.
00:32:47
Speaker
So yeah, I think the new signings, I mean, they're, they're going into, they're doing a post-match presser and absolutely just like laughing, having a good time. Like already looked like, yeah, we haven't seen that in a while.
Post-Match Reactions and Player Highlights
00:32:59
Speaker
We have not seen that in a long time. And then like to pile on top of that, uh, if you go on there and the players, Instagrams, they're like staying in LA, it looks like for at least another day to go to the beach and like hang out and kind of just like enjoy the win, enjoy the three wins that they've had.
00:33:15
Speaker
Yeah. After this fucking tumultuous season that we have had up until these past three matches. Excellent word choice there. We got some other players you want to point out? Yeah. I mean, we kind of talked about her already, but I've got to I've got to hand it to King. Zara King bowled out in this game. Defensively, she was looking really good. She got the cross into Heidema that led to the penalty. Great cross.
00:33:42
Speaker
Yeah, great cross. Her fot mob rating, I don't know if it was the highest one she's had this season, I'm guessing it probably is. 8.2 fot mob rating tied for second with AMC. Number one was where to obviously. I don't know if people know what fot mob is. I realize that we've talked about it a lot, but we've never mentioned what it is. It's like a standard stat. So it's an app.
00:34:05
Speaker
Called FOMOB. F-O-T-M-O-B. We are not sponsored by them. They sponsor us. But it's a great app where you can find stats from games. There are some women's leagues that aren't included on there, which I continue to protest online. But it's a really good resource for games. And if you want to see schedules and things. But this is where we're pulling these from and their ratings are usually pretty congruent.
00:34:29
Speaker
They use a whole bunch of stuff to like come up with these ratings. It's not just like a few stats. They pull a whole bunch of things to try to figure out these ratings. So yeah. So I think they're fun to look at. Yeah. With other stats, websites and things like Sophoscore and things. But yeah, that's Fat Mob. So we look at that a lot. So we reference Fat Mob. That's what it is. I would agree with her Fat Mob rating. Yeah. I've been pretty I've been pretty critical with her lately. Yeah.
00:34:52
Speaker
And I think that, like I said earlier, that support behind her really has allowed for that, for her and Heidema to really kind of figure out what's working out there.
00:35:09
Speaker
one play i wanted to shout out because it didn't result in a goal but i thought it was a really good heads up play from king um she's kind of like in like a little tussle tackle situation ended up on the ground but she was still able to pass the ball out to like to the right right and so then Quinn was right there and we all know Quinn has like
00:35:29
Speaker
like a ridiculous, I don't know, ability to shoot these like rockets, right? So Quinn just blast it, but Herachiche was there, got a good save on it, pushed it out or whatever, and then Heidema was able to follow it up. They wouldn't result in a goal, but to see King putting in that effort and kind of being aware of what's happening around her, to
00:35:53
Speaker
Well, something off like that was just to me like she's locked into this game. I don't know. I like seeing that kind of stuff from her. Yeah, I think that we saw that from a lot of players, this game where the effort was just kind of off the charts. Yeah. I mean, they know that they have to win these games. There's no if ands or buts.
00:36:09
Speaker
Yeah, that doesn't always mean they're going to act like it. No. But I think I think this goes with our like woo woo vibes conversation where like I think they're kind of feeling it and I think that they think that they know that there's a chance. Yeah. And so they're going to do whatever they can. So I think it feels like the players are bought in and it feels like that's why we're getting these results because you don't have a team that's not bought in that gets these kind of results.
00:36:39
Speaker
Yeah, and they're also like, right, we all know it's a bit of a long shot, right? So like, what do they have to lose kind of mentality? Pretty much. Yeah. And if you're coming on the field, make a difference. Yeah, and you've got all these new people in, so like, might as well just like, see what everyone's good at and let's just figure it out. See what we can do. Yep. Who's the player you want to shout out positives? Another player. I want to talk about Sofia Huerta. Captain Huerta. Captain Huerta. Because Shark got knocked off, but...
00:37:07
Speaker
Yeah, she for me, we talked about I don't I don't know if we aired these episodes that we did in the beginning of the season where we talked about like wanting her to like get back on her game, you know, because she fell off fell off the national team, call up, you know, roster and all of that. I think that.
00:37:26
Speaker
And she was, you know, not playing at her best last season and even towards the beginning of this season. Yeah. Yeah. And so I just like every game for me, she looks better and better and better. Yeah. Her physicality is absolutely on point. She's able to wrestle people off the ball. She's able to shield the ball out.
00:37:53
Speaker
Against really really high pressure She's heading the ball out of danger in the box. There's just she's converting penalties Mm-hmm. She stepped up when balsa left and now she's scored the same amount of penalties as Bethany balsa did for us this season in two games so I don't have enough good things to say about her like she is just she's
00:38:17
Speaker
If she doesn't get a national team call up in the next window, I would be not surprised because the national team is kind of like a political thing. But at the same time, man, like she's been invaluable for us. Yeah, she would deserve it. That's for sure.
00:38:32
Speaker
Yeah, but she's been invaluable for the team, and I think that I hope she stays healthy. Yeah, she's like that that cross is coming next game. I'll call it now that that assist is coming next game. I know I was still waiting. God damn it. I yeah, we definitely had. I'm sure there's an episode that is out because I like had remembered, say, like multiple weeks in a row being like, what do I want to see more of when we were not winning?
00:38:59
Speaker
And it was like, or what do I want to see happen? It was always like, we need where to to get back to where to. Here we are. And we're winning. So not a coincidence. No, she's she's been fantastic. And if she keeps getting better of her game, I'm so glad she's locked down for another year. I'm really hoping because she's got this connection. I know she has no designers to leave.
00:39:20
Speaker
I know. And I think she knows her value here and like her, like how much we rely on her. And since she got this captain in our band when Fishlock came off, like that could be our future, you know, for the team. If and when Fishlock, maybe she'll play till she's 80, I don't know. But whenever Fishlock is moving on to the next adventure for herself, where took it to be the next captain for the club?
00:39:45
Speaker
I want to apologize right now. I, you know, we, I, I edit out like pronunciations, us struggling and trying to learn pronunciations. We do try to put in a decent effort of figuring out name pronunciations, but I wanted to shout out Gisto Young, which I have been told that it's pronounced the young rhymes with son. So for folks who are maybe also weren't sure that's what I was told.
00:40:14
Speaker
um let me find that guy let me find that guy's twitter so i can shout him out okay we don't and please if we ever get something wrong let us know we would like to get things right especially with players who are so good um we're gonna talk about yeah players we're gonna talk about i mean i want to get names right for anybody we mention obviously um boy i'm really getting humbled um
00:40:37
Speaker
with pronunciations after giving lots of commentators shit about Sane's other names, and now here we are also doing bad things. So, Chris, Chris Coe, love that you're listening and we appreciate you to say that Yeon is pronounced like Sun, rhymes with Sun, so Jiso Yeon, not soon.
00:40:57
Speaker
G is on a tear. I love it. Also that play started with Shay Holmes getting forward and getting across across to Heidema. And then Heidema was the one who laid the ball back into G, which is like, this is like, we're starting to see Heidema kind of get more involved in all these little things. Just like in little ways. Like we don't necessarily, I mean, I would like to see Heidema obviously get rewarded with these goals, but it's great to see her involved in all of these things.
00:41:23
Speaker
and all of the chances that we're getting, um, and dangerous chances. Um, but yeah, G just phenomenal. Love her. What an addition she's been. Yeah. I think that what we, what we were talking about a couple episodes ago about like finding the pieces, right? To make everything work, not really finding one solution, but finding the pieces to make the whole thing fit together. Yeah. I think we're kind of seeing the evidence of that. Yeah. So we're getting players on the field that make each other better. Yeah.
00:41:51
Speaker
I want to, I don't want to be negative on ballster cause I do think she can provide something for a different team in the way that they're set up, but it's becoming very obvious to me that that wasn't maybe the right fit for what we have started to build here now.
00:42:06
Speaker
Yeah. Well, I think it was positive trade for us. And I think that they're stoked on having her there. And so I hope that she can continue to or start. I know she's got a, she got the assist in the first match, but it's kind of been a little quiet since then, since the Seattle humbling off early in the first half, which now Louisville's below us in the standings. Yeah. Very interesting. Last positive shout out.
00:42:37
Speaker
Oh, AMC. AMC. I don't even have the notes pulled up. I know it's AMC. I love her. She is so much more than I expected. She is such a fucking boss. Yeah. And her vision. Yeah. And where she sees players on the pitch.
00:42:59
Speaker
And her ability to play balls that are well-weighted and just right. It reminds me of Pinot, but on the other side. Yeah. Right. A little bit at least. Her physicality too. Like I talked about this with Huerta, but I think we're just starting to kind of like physically bully teams. Yeah. And we haven't been that way. We haven't been that way for a long time. Maybe ever. Yeah.
00:43:25
Speaker
Yeah, I think you're you're right. Yeah. So we haven't had that physicality maybe ever on the team. I think that is so invaluable to have players that we've had it in Fishlock because when Fishlock in the past has gotten the ball, she's able to keep the ball on her feet. She's so kind of shield players off, but she's very small. It's not about height.
00:43:47
Speaker
But, but I don't think it hurts when you're, cause how much taller? It certainly doesn't hurt. I would say it doesn't hurt. I would say, you know, how I am with hike shorter than you, but I just feel like.
00:44:03
Speaker
Yes fish like has done what she's like it's been impressive what she's done I don't want to bring this in but like it's like messy messy always keeps the ball at his feet. Yeah, but it's all about body positioning, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's what it looks like. So I think I think there's that but I think also like with Serna Garchovich and Huerta it's very much a lot about just them putting in the work putting in the body
00:44:29
Speaker
And just kind of pushing players out of the way and I love that. Yeah, it's fun that we're that team finally It's really fun So the physicality is great, but I think the vision is even better. I think that her ability to Make king better Mm-hmm to get hi to man. Mm-hmm to really get everybody else involved in the attack, which you can see stats wise, right? Yeah
00:44:56
Speaker
she's doing everything so shout out to her excellent well done i love it i was very skeptical and i felt a little mad when the signing did end up being true from the rumors and uh gonna go ahead and take this l and
00:45:15
Speaker
Let everyone know. Are you an ageist? I can be. Yeah, absolutely. But I also know that we're looking at our roster and we've got a few people who are up there in age and it's just like, to me, I didn't want to add to that problem that we're going to be facing. But at the same time, I didn't really look at the other side of it where
00:45:34
Speaker
And I kind of tried to reason with this when we signed her. I was just like, you know, we did lose a veteran who was capable of great things, even at, you know, an older age for athletes in Rapinoe, right? Like, yeah.
00:45:49
Speaker
She was like our best player. And besides from Lavelle when she was healthy, but, and Sonnet, but you know, I think if you've got a good veteran can definitely make everyone else better and they can figure out what they're doing a lot easier.
00:46:06
Speaker
Well, I think it takes the pressure off other players that are on the roster. So like Fishlock Barnes, you know, those players takes a little pressure off of them because they're not necessarily. I mean, you could say that sort of Garchovitch is like kind of in the same line as Fishlock is, but it kind of just it's another avenue for players to find mentorship. So I think that's invaluable and it might be overlooked when we look at a signing like that.
00:46:36
Speaker
To be fair, I mean, it seems like there's maybe a three and a half or four year age difference between Fishlock and Sernogorchovich, so like if we can get- I think Fishlock's like 37.
Veteran Influence and Season Reflection
00:46:46
Speaker
Yeah, she's turning 38, um, what in like, February? And Sernogorchovich is turning 34 and I think October? Was it October? Let me see.
00:46:58
Speaker
October yeah, I had that right look amigo. She's 33 now, but she's turning 34 You know we've seen some really good stuff out of players in those ages if they take care of their bodies, and they know and they have the Vision that you're talking about if they have that in their skill set they can have a very very long career and
00:47:19
Speaker
Yeah, I think the concern for me is kind of the interim, right? Because we've got these older players, quote unquote, older for athlete players. And our mid-range is not deep. And so I think there's a concern there. But I think that what maybe we weren't thinking about when that signing was talked about possibly happening was that why are we bringing a player in for one or two seasons?
00:47:46
Speaker
when the season already kind of felt like a wash. Yeah. And so I credit the team, you know, for this, but this season is by far not a wash yet.
00:48:00
Speaker
And I think that having some valuable players in, even if they're only going to spend one or two seasons with us, will help whatever goes forward. Yeah, we did a howl, so we're talking about, you know, that could be a player. God, what a monster. I cannot wait for the next game because I want to see her play.
00:48:21
Speaker
can you wrap it up for positives moving into negatives we don't have a ton to talk about there we've also been talking a lot already about positives but negatives fish lock injury um subbed out 17th minute yeah i mean it was a no contact injury so we had to wonder
00:48:36
Speaker
what that's going to turn into. Yeah. She came off. She's been going down. She's been going down every game though with a little bit of something. So I would think that it's probably an egging injury. Yeah. She's tough. It seems like Harvey's optimistic about it. So we'll see. Um, but it seems like we did fine without her. So I'm not as worried as I used to be maybe about that. Um, yeah.
00:48:57
Speaker
Now you get another negative. I mean, this is just kind of me feeling bad for somebody, but like, Angel City fans don't understand the rules and they just got too hung up on the VAR calls and they weren't willing to accept, you know, how the rules of soccer are. I just felt bad for them. So I wanted to like, you know, I feel you. I'm sorry. You don't understand it. You'll figure it out someday, I'm sure.
00:49:21
Speaker
uh next we'll wrap that up there i think that there's nothing else to add to that unless you've got something i won't add anything okay next one despite how good she looks in my opinion respectfully um in a respectful manner
00:49:40
Speaker
Leanne Sanderson, we need to make up our mind or like do a little bit more research maybe when we're commentating, because some of the stuff she was talking about didn't make any sense. And I don't get it. She had said like, she has scored a bunch of bangers this season. She has only scored two goals before this match. When talking about G. When talking about G.
00:50:07
Speaker
Yeah, I think she played with G in Europe though, so like she is biased a bit with her and really likes how she is. Just don't say that this season, that's all you needed to do. Just like she has a history of square and bangers, right? Like that's all you needed to say. My issue with her is that she doesn't shut up and she's just like filling, she's just filling space. Yeah. It doesn't necessarily need to be filled. I understand that it's like part of your job, but at the same time, like
00:50:36
Speaker
Just because it's silent doesn't mean you need to say something and say something that isn't wrong. Yeah. Let the game speak for itself. She had also said something about Manda's ear and she's seen a lot from Manda's ear this season. Manda's ear had only played three games. Is that a lot? No. OK, great. Anyways, just wanted to do a quick quick shot at Lee and maybe just let the game kind of play itself out.
00:51:01
Speaker
You know? Mm-hmm. Twenty two minutes of stoppage time this game. Twenty two plus. I could have watched nearly an entire episode of Couples Therapy. You still have showtime? I do still have showtime right now. I'm on season three of Couples Therapy. There's four seasons. So after I get through the four season, I'll be canceling showtime because I am deep into that Couples Therapy.
00:51:24
Speaker
I need to watch it. I keep seeing clips on TikTok. Yeah. Oh, it's it's great. I mean, it's like kind of traumatizing to watch some of these things, but it's it's good TV. Twenty two minutes. I know the first half kind of made sense because of Fishlock's injury and stuff. And then there's a bunch of VR calls, but there's something needs to change. Well, VR mostly was like in second half, but.
00:51:44
Speaker
Yeah, we need to. I mean, there was 12 minutes in the second half. We need to. We've talked about this several times, so I don't want to harp on it too much, but it did seem like more people are starting to talk about it. Darian Jenkins, they had like talked about like movies that were the length of how much stoppage time there was at a time was from last not last week and the
Game Dynamics and Claudia Dickey's Impact
00:52:08
Speaker
weekend before that. And it was like, yeah, you could have watched an entire like long movie.
00:52:12
Speaker
with how much Sapa Chime there was. Something needs to change. I hate it. We also gave up two goals. Not great. But you win the game. It's hard to argue against getting up any goals. I think my one thing was we got to get better. Like those two goals we did give up were from crosses. So those plays from outside the box in. So that back line really needs to get it together. I did miss one positive.
00:52:41
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I forgot you wanted to shout this out. I do want to shout this out. We didn't write it down, but you did text me about it before we popped on. I've been very critical on Claudia Dickey this this season, and she had a really, really good save this game that I want to talk about. I want to kind of want to break it down a little bit. So in the 66 minute, there was a shot from the right side of the box in the inside the box.
00:53:11
Speaker
and pretty close range and it hits kind of off the right side of McLaren's butt and it looks like it's going in. Claudia Dickey dives and is able to get her hand down and get the ball outside of the far post. And that says one thing to me is that her positioning was correct because if your positioning is not right in that you're diving backwards and that ball goes in the net from that angle.
00:53:40
Speaker
Another thing, she's able to get there. So that reaction time is fantastic. I can talk crap about her distribution this game because it was left something to be desired, but I won't talk about it because we won the game and it didn't ultimately matter.
00:53:56
Speaker
But this save mattered. She also held it down at the end. Yeah, really, really good getting the ball out of the air. Yeah. But this save, this save like kind of sold me on her. Yeah. Which, yeah, that's big because you've been really critical about these kinds of things. Unless specifically these things. Yeah. Well, a lesser goalkeeper is in this position because you're so far turn to the near post.
00:54:21
Speaker
that you're not able to get your hand down and that ball, you're diving backwards because you're falling with the shot, but she's able to step out at least vertically or not vertically, sideways, and get her hand out so the ball's going past the post. Yeah, so shout out to her. That was an excellent save. Good old Claudia. Good old Claudia. One last negative you had. Back to one last negative. That's when it was funny.
00:54:49
Speaker
Well, so the Angel City players like kept falling in the box. It was like, okay, sure. You might be getting bodied a bit, but it wasn't a foul. You need to figure, you need to figure it out. Yeah. To me, it was almost like they thought because they had lost so many VR challenges, they were like, well, if we fall down, like one of these has to go our way. Yeah.
00:55:12
Speaker
And it's like, well, that's not how the game works. Also, those VR calls were correct. Like the whole point is to make the correct call that you maybe miss. So like, I don't know. Get up. It kind of culminated in that last kind of last ditch effort that Kristen Press had in the box where she ended up like hugging Sofia Huerta to the ground, also known as a tackle. If that's their game plan. Press for me was not impressive this game.
00:55:36
Speaker
Well, I know I can't be too harsh on her because she didn't play in what like over 700 days or something crazy like that. So I feel like for someone who hasn't played for that long, she did OK. Yeah. But I mean, tackling a defender to the ground, you're already behind.
00:55:51
Speaker
Yeah. I'm overly critical. Let it happen. Yeah. Not my player, so it's whatever. I don't care. I mean, it's cool that she's come back. Yeah. Hell yeah to her. I had when I came back from my ACL, I ended up having two surgeries. Yeah. And my reconstruction. Then I had a second arthroscopic surgery. So the fact that she's had four
00:56:15
Speaker
to get back to this point is incredible. And it's still, yeah, it is able to get back and get some, and it's really cool, but I'm glad she's not playing for us. That's all. And maybe, hey, you know, she gets like one good moment.
00:56:30
Speaker
I mean, she deserves it. She is exactly that. You know, it sucks that we're seeing all these players in that generation that we watched. A lot of them haven't gone out in like a good way. And I mean, even if press comes back and gets like a little bit of what she used to be, man, those like years grasping at straws at this point. Yeah, we really are.
00:56:54
Speaker
And we'll get to that when we get to Alex Morgan in a bit. But I think first, do you have any other comments on the game? I'm excited we won three matches in a row. Didn't know that this team could do that. Gives me hope. It gives me reason to follow the rest of the games around the league, which is kind of always a fun thing to do at this time of year because you're kind of just watching different matches. And you know, you have certain teams you want to root for and everything.
00:57:23
Speaker
i don't really know much more i have to say about this game we have got enough a tough opponent next match so we'll see if we are as legit as it's been looking like you want to get a cooler player of the match let's get into the cooler player of the match which is brought to you now by the doctor's office uh bar and capital hill really cool bar and capital hill we love it we do um we are going with
00:57:47
Speaker
Sofia Huerta Should we should we say though for this one not just Sofia Huerta captain Sofia Huerta Like it'll it'll be in the Hall of Fame as captain Sofia Huerta. Okay. Yeah, she hasn't been cooler player of the match yet She's been player of the match the last two matches now Which I do think or we use, you know, we decided that earned you cooler player of the match. I
00:58:12
Speaker
Well, that and her performance in this game. But congratulations to Captain Sofia Huerta for being inducted into the core player of the match Hall of Fame. Well done this game. Absolutely invaluable. Great. Great. Just great game.
00:58:30
Speaker
Yeah. One of the few, I don't have a ton of player jerseys. Sofia Huerta is one of the player jerseys I do have. So I love, I love this for her. We want to thank once again, our sponsor, the doctor's office with its intimate 12 seat bar setting. TDO Seattle is the best place to grab a drink before or after rain match.
00:58:49
Speaker
Enjoy a beachcomber Paloma or three. One for each rain, wind in a row. Cinnamon, guava, and butter for texture. Enliven this Paloma with beach vibes, rich flavors, and a positive outlook on life. Check out their Instagram at TDO Seattle or better yet, go drink there in person. Cheers. Cheers.
00:59:10
Speaker
All right, we got to talk about this because it's really sad for our millennial brains, but yeah, and out of nowhere, Alex Morgan retiring. She's done. Boots are
Alex Morgan's Retirement and Future Matches
00:59:22
Speaker
hung up. She announced it. It happened. She played a little over 13 minutes, maybe, maybe. I think it was like 15 minutes when she came off. But yeah, well, I mean, there was a whole whole thing going on in classic
00:59:37
Speaker
I do have to point this out. She did take a penalty and it did get saved. And if you followed Alex Morgan's penalty, kick history. I think this was kind of a funny ending because it was kind of fitting. And then she still got to celebrate a goal with the team one more time before getting stepped off, which is like for her, I think that's all she could have hoped for.
00:59:59
Speaker
And I think that I feel like it's not quite on the Rapinoe scale for me, but after the engaged report and after my view of her completely shifted 180 degrees, I just am going to miss the game without her. And she left it 100% a better place than she started at.
01:00:23
Speaker
I think it was pretty well known that she had one of the biggest followings for one reason or another as a US women's national team player and she used that for good things and she could have easily not done that but she always tried to do the right thing and she tried to stand up for people who didn't have the platforms like she did
01:00:42
Speaker
Um, that goes along with, you know, all the people with the Ace report, but also like with what she did with Tottenham, you know, I just, I respect her so much and I didn't expect her retirement to like make me feel so emotional. Cause she's never, there's people who are like huge Morgan fans, right? That was never really me, but just seeing, because yeah, I've watched her for like, since the beginning I've followed women's soccer. She's been there for me at least.
01:01:08
Speaker
And it's it's just ending. All of a sudden it's ending. We're not going to see her again, at least on the field. And it had me feeling super, super emotional in a way that I did not expect. The announcement didn't really hit me. But as somebody that's been watching women's soccer for most of their life and following the US Women's National Team, like her inclusion in the beginning of that was mostly seen as to me, at least like reaching out to like white male fans.
01:01:38
Speaker
Yeah. And what they wanted. And that didn't seem, it seemed like a good marketing thing, but I didn't feel a lot of connection with her as a person. Sure. Which is kind of like the main thing that you do with women's national team players, right? Yeah. And so I never really got that.
01:01:58
Speaker
And then it took until, what, like four years ago? And I'm like, oh, my God, like you've just been like, not secretly, but like behind the scenes, actually just this stand up fucking human being. Yeah. And using every hour that you have for being like the face of the league for people that it's like really easy to be, you know, you don't have the Megan Rapinoe backlash.
01:02:25
Speaker
You're just kind of like the straight woman who is very good at soccer and it's really pretty and you're using that and you're leveraging that for the best things that you could and risking your career and risking everything that you've built. I could not respect a person more. I when she came off the field like
01:02:47
Speaker
I, I didn't lose it, but I just like, I got way more emotional than I thought I would. Yeah. It was, um, I don't know. It's just, it's, it's crazy some seeing somebody like that. I don't know. We've just, we've had so many of these goodbyes for this generation of players and I don't know. It has me feeling a certain type of way.
01:03:08
Speaker
I didn't expect my reflection on her career to be so meaningful. And I think that that's my own fault. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's a fair point. I think for me,
01:03:24
Speaker
I don't know there's just like I mean you touched on this but like usually when we see somebody speaking out for people it's not someone that does look like Alex Morgan right because it would be she could she could do her whole career with how good she's been or whatever she doesn't need to she doesn't need to be that person but she's been that person to stand up yeah and she did it all behind the scenes
01:03:45
Speaker
I know she didn't try to do it for like attention or anything. No, she never asked for anything. She never wanted, you know, to be seen as like the biggest ally for women or to like need that. She did it out of what she felt was right. And I feel like that is just it's such a.
01:04:01
Speaker
stand-up thing to do. It was pointed out to me that it's what every person with a conscience should do. Yeah, totally, totally. You know, when you have that power and you're a female athlete and you have a lot at stake, I feel like it's more difficult for you whether it should be or not.
01:04:18
Speaker
Yeah, it's not that easy. And the fact that she did it just blows my mind and makes me so thankful that she was involved in the game at this time. Yeah. Thank you, Alex Morgan, for everything you've done. Thank you for your Sounders women's days. Yeah. Thank you for marrying a Sounders. Thank you for being a Sounders. Brief league results to cover. Orlando's still undefeated. Will they finish it that way? I don't know. They've got a pretty tough schedule coming up. They got to play KC again, which, like I said, KC for me on fraud watch sale.
01:04:46
Speaker
Yeah, they are they're still on fraud watch but the Orlando does have spirit that's gonna be a really tough game They've got thorns that could go either way. I would put my money on Orlando Yeah, just cuz the thorns defense not great Gotham that's gonna be challenging depending who's available and then us so I'm not looking forward to that for the range perspective and
01:05:08
Speaker
I am a test before. Yeah. The biggest test. I just wish the timing was different. That's all. I wish it was not the last kind of the end. Very, very end. I would rather have it like sooner, but I don't know. Nice. It would be nice like table wise, but they're going to be clinched, right? Yeah. So they could be saving people. There's that.
01:05:29
Speaker
okay okay no you know what you talked me into it all right um look a lot here we go i mean unless they're still undefeated at that point i guess my hope is be that they have one loss so that they're not trying to go for an undefeated but yeah that would be that would be the kicker there but right now we're in 10th place three points off the playoff line but we're goal differential behind red stars
01:05:50
Speaker
Forward puts us above, so we're not too far off. It would definitely be worth relying on other results to go our way. But I don't know, there are some teams at the top of the league that as long as those teams around us are playing those other teams with a pretty good chance to... We just got to take care of our business. We had to take care of our business first and foremost, because that's what matters most right now.
01:06:08
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that the fact that we're having this conversation is a win. Yeah, absolutely. Didn't think this was going to be happening early in the summer. No. Next game. It's at home. Actually, you know what? I want to shout out one more league result. Just one. Just one more.
01:06:23
Speaker
Want to shout out to the thorns and the spirit. We had a last minute game winner from Lacey Santos 90 plus six. It was a good goal. It was a really good goal. And the thorns lost a cross from Rodman. Santos just completely unmarked in the box and I had to head to the ball really, really well.
01:06:44
Speaker
Um, got a tiny, she is tiny, which is like, what are you doing in the box? Defense. Um, don't know, but Arnold was just like frozen. I like sent van, like an emoji of a tree. Cause I was like, Hey, look at her. Just didn't move. She just froze. Um, and so they lost. Um, interesting. Anyways, we can move on.
01:07:04
Speaker
I just wanted to shout out our good friends out in Portland next match. Um, next match for us Monday. We got a Monday night football match, September 16th, 7 PM at Looman field. Get your tickets. If you haven't yet it's against Gotham of all people.
01:07:18
Speaker
Yeah, we tied one to one in the last game in New Jersey. Rose wasn't there for the last match. She might not be available for this next match. I haven't seen any updates on that, but she's dealing with some sort of fight issue, so she wasn't available last game. I would prefer if it stayed that way, personally. I mean, I want her to play. Yeah, I wouldn't be so upset if she was still dealing with something, though. That's all.
01:07:42
Speaker
You don't wish for players to be injured. I'm not wishing her to be injured. I'm just like, oh, if she's still recuperating, I guess that helps us. Don't force her into the game. No, I would never. I have a Roosevelt jersey. She's, again, few player jerseys. I think she's the only maybe national team jersey I have with the player name on it is Roosevelt. So.
01:08:03
Speaker
And I got her on a national team jersey, not a rain jersey, because I was pretty confident she wouldn't be with the rain for very long. What, Gotham's last match? 2-1 win over Houston, which is kind of not great. Houston sucks. Yeah, they're in last place. And, like, deservedly last place.
01:08:23
Speaker
I don't know where we're gonna get there. Monday night, we got a Monday night game, which will be fun. Our other favorite player, I mean, we have so many favorite players these days, but one of our favorite players will be back from her yellow card accumulation, Jaylen Howell. I'm expecting her to do some fun things. And AMC, I'm really hoping for another great AMC game.
01:08:42
Speaker
I hope Montessori can get in for at least a good 25 minutes. Yeah, that would be great. That'd be cool. Shout outs? Yeah, sure. Shout outs. We are here and we are in 10th place, which now means the shout outs that we have this week.
01:08:59
Speaker
Because we have to pilot on, right? We have to keep piling on what we can. We now have four teams below us. So shout out to Louisville. Shout out to San Diego, Utah, and Houston.
League Standings and Audience Engagement
01:09:10
Speaker
Just thank you. Thank you. Shout out to you. If anyone wants to join them soon, we welcome that. Any other shout outs you have?
01:09:16
Speaker
No, that's it for shout outs. That's it for shout outs. You can follow us. You can follow us on X formerly known as Twitter and also same handle at Instagram. Cooler Guild pod. Um, I'm going to be starting a new thing on there. If you guys want to partake in that, it's going to be called coolers in the wild. It's going to be great. It's going to be great. We'll start sharing other people's posts of it, but if you ever see a cooler in the wild, either the word cooler as part of something or an actual cooler, take a pic, send it to us.
01:09:44
Speaker
Um, we're going to start posting those just to kind of get some fun going. Um, maybe if you see a fun cooler, you could sit on like Laura Harvey, take a picture like that. You want to plug the email and you can send us an email. We love an email. Send that to the cooler guild at gmail.com or you can visit us on our main page, sounder at heart.com forward slash the cooler guild. Wherever you're listening rate, five stars, little review until next week. I'm coop. I'm van. Bye. Bye.
01:10:27
Speaker
Maybe we should go celebrate, get drunk, Disney World, and get kicked out. Epcot Center.