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Current status: been better - Ep. 19
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The Reign fell to Angel City on Friday, 1-0, racking up their 4th loss in a row. This was the 15th time this season that a Reign game was decided by a single goal. We reflect on this week’s struggles but also highlight the potential for a bright future for the group.
Also in this episode we debut our new segment “Guild Grievances” with the help of special guest June Ash Eden of Ride of the Valkyries.
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Coop
Van
Show produced by Coop
Theme song by Alex Juarez
Show artwork by Coop
The Cooler Guild Est. 2024
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Transcript
Episode Introduction and Reign's Losing Streak
00:00:21
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to Episode 19 of the Cooler Guild. I'm your host, Coop, and joined with me, as always, as my co-host, Van. What's up? We are recording on Sunday, October 6th. On today's episode, we'll be discussing Reign's fourth loss in a row, this time to Angel City. A few other results around the league we'll be talking about, and introduce a new segment for us to vent and cope with this difficult season as a Reign fan.
00:00:45
Speaker
Yeah, um but first in housekeeping the cooler guild is part of the sounder at heart podcast network You can either listen to us on our public feed or if you're a sounder at heart subscriber on the private unified feed with the other Podcasts on the network if you'd like to become a subscriber just visit our page at sounder at heart comm forward slash the cooler guild new subscribers get 10% off the normal rate and you'll help support everything that we're doing this is gonna be a downer episode so um I mean,
Personal Stories: Foraging and Home Renovations
00:01:11
Speaker
we'll try and make a... get I mean, at this point... It's a it's a it's a shit time. It's a bad time. Yeah, it's a bad time. Did you have not a bad time at other points this week? Yeah, I ah got some more mushrooms. I sent you a picture.
00:01:26
Speaker
i Yeah. It looked like ah a superb haul. Yeah. We went to like the same spot we went to last time, but like, you know, a few weeks later, got a decent haul. Um, so that's nice. My wife's downstairs cooking some more risotto cause it's so good. Um, so we'll be having that tonight. Um, looking forward to that, you know, love mushroom season. It's the best.
00:01:44
Speaker
and I also got a new mushroom knife. who I got one that was a customized too. Nice. Where'd you get that? ah It was Opinel. It's like a knife company, Opinel. I've looked up how to pronounce before and I always forget. You get it online? Yeah, so it's like a French knife company and they like make like a mushroom 4G knife because I was always ah not cleaning mine well enough because I didn't have a brush on mine. And so this one has a brush on one end. um But I like got it in gravy so I could tell it apart from my wife's knife.
00:02:13
Speaker
but like i was just gonna put coop but i don't feel like i was giving me money's worth what for it like because i they gave you they give so many characters for it so i put coop cooper and then like a line and then it says shroom's rule I also chose like the tackiest font I could have chosen. But it's great. I love it. Now I can be efficient with my cleaning. That's great. What have you been up to? ah Week was pretty normal, um but today we were supposed to record earlier.
Reign's Playoff Hopes and Angel City Match
00:02:44
Speaker
and ah so As I've spoken about before, I live with my parents' mother-in-law and they've been doing some remodeling. Adding a little outdoor space edition and my dad and his friend did the electrical and There was an issue with it today. So we were out of power from like 1 p.m. To like 7 30. Mm-hmm Maybe 7 15 but yes, I was just sitting around waiting waiting for that to come on I did finish my puzzle though. So that was good in the dark. Well, it was daylight. So
00:03:17
Speaker
What was the puzzle? At that point, I was just like some thousand piece landscape of ah like some East Coast, Massachusetts yeah town. You know how people have other those like little libraries? I want one of those, but like puzzles, because I don't like, I don't always want to do my same puzzles, but like, I would love to like rotate puzzles in the neighborhood.
00:03:36
Speaker
That's a great idea. I really thought about, because I've amassed so many puzzles since the pandemic, yeah after that became my hobby, yeah that I have boxes and boxes in the garage. I was like, why can't we have a puzzle library? Should be a puzzle swap or something. Something? But you can't always trust people that like they're not missing pieces. i I agree, but I feel like maybe that's a risk that's just like part of it.
00:03:57
Speaker
Right? Yeah. So one thing that we do have in my office, in my state office building that I work in Monday through Friday, we've got like this huge bookcase in the first floor lunchroom that is just puzzles. And we always have a puzzle going on in the first floor lunchroom, which is what I spend my lunch doing. But I take my puzzles there. I take some. So it's kind of like a puzzle library, but I think I might be the only one that uses it like that. Yeah. I mean, you know, got to get puzzle fixed somehow. But yeah, I watched the game on Friday and then, yeah. I guess we'll pop into the match recap. You want to go on that? Yeah, I can talk about it. On Friday night at Lumenfield, the rain fell one to zero on a lone goal from M.A. Bignole in the 34th minute. This is the fourth match in a row that the rain have failed to score a goal and also the 15th match this season that has been decided by a single point. The team's playoff odds are now slimmer than slim and they look to be headed for a regular season ending unless a miracle occurs.
00:04:51
Speaker
Yeah, I don't think the miracle is coming. We had an opportunity for a miracle actually before this match because of the situation that happened with Angel City. Yeah. know And I was like, oh, maybe there is like a weird scenario that's about to happen because Portland still dumpster fire. And then we got to see Angel City FC get docked three points because if they are caught cheating basically for like four weeks. Not by much, but whatever. They got done three points and I was like, here's an opportunity. Did you hear on the broadcast that they found out that they had been docked points when they were on the bus to practice the day before the game?
00:05:24
Speaker
I feel like I remember hearing that. Yeah, they said it on the broadcast and I was like, not a really good system they have going on at um Angel City. I don't think they got a lot of people know what they're doing there. Yeah, seems like it, but didn't hurt them. You know, I don't know. I mean, I'm glad they got docked points. I was kind of like, they should run probably have been docked more, but then you kind of hear the details of what happened. And it's like, I guess three points is fine because Guess what? They're going to be auditing everybody else in the league soon. so Which will be really interesting to
Lineup Changes and Player Performances
00:05:51
Speaker
see. Yeah. um But unfortunately, the standings in the current situation for the rain, it's not good. It's not good after this this result. I think hope is pretty much gone. I mean, Laura Harvey said, like, we're pretty much eliminated. Yeah.
00:06:05
Speaker
There was one pre-match kind of hopeful moment when something that we said in last week's podcast kind of came to a weird fruition when Sam was on the sideline. Yeah. I said to you because we found out Sam lady was on the sideline. I said, do you, are we oracles?
00:06:24
Speaker
I'm pretty sure we're oracles because there's been several things that we've said, whether it's like alluding to a player, maybe he used to be transferred or whatever stuff like that. And it's happened like the week after we fucking said it.
00:06:40
Speaker
And now the same lady thing. I was just like we are oracles Yeah, we got a there's a post in the slack that's like Sam ladies out here in a rain jacket and we were like We were talking about this Which is great because this is one of the changes I was hoping to maybe see yeah We don't know if it's a change that's gonna happen though. Apparently Susie said that he's in town for some ah charity Sure, but he was really rocking the new rain gear. yeah you know I'm sure they had a discussion. Let's let's bring him in for next next season. get yeah we get her Get him comfortable in the new logo again or the old new logo, whatever. I think he's more comfortable with that one than the others. They probably just like forced the jacket on him.
00:07:24
Speaker
you know yeah
00:07:27
Speaker
Yeah. So getting into the game, we really only had, I mean, Fishlock still out with the leg injury. um And the big change was ah Quinn was rolled out. they They have some sort of head injury. So that was going to always kind of mess up the midfield. Yeah. And we're just still gone.
00:07:49
Speaker
And she got her first minutes with OL today. Yeah. But we did line up with the 23rd new lineup. 23 out of 23 games, right? 23 out of 23. We have a new starting lineup. So one thing that hit, one thing that like I was kind of confounded by was Shay Holmes started over Hannah Glass. I think they're just trying to get a look at both of them and see maybe future wise what we're maybe trying to be more committed to.
00:08:18
Speaker
Yeah, and I know Harvey has said in press conferences that like they're really trying to get Shay Holmes into a spot, but I don't know how many times you can force a square peg into a circular hole until you realize it doesn't fit. I've seen, yeah, I don't know. There's been moments for sure. Yeah. And I don't think that Shay Holmes is a bad player. I just think that this system or this the way that they're trying to use her is conductive to the team as a whole right now. But nothing's working.
00:08:46
Speaker
Yeah. So I feel like it's a little like, I don't know. I could try to be like, yeah, she's like not. This is this is not good, but like all of it's pretty much not good. Yeah, it's really hard to nitpick at this point because it's all bad.
00:09:01
Speaker
like i could say like I don't think that's the problem. yeah might as well Might as well try her out and then swaper swap out for Glass next time. I don't really care. Let's just get a look at everybody so that when the offseason comes, we need to know who we actually want to keep. Yeah, and we can talk about this more when we go into comments, but it's kind of at the point where you just need to fuck it up.
00:09:26
Speaker
Yeah. To try and make something work. Yeah. Because we've been trying the same thing and and not getting results. And it's like, we you got to do something different, which we'll talk about in a bit. But ah you want to go into some of the positives? Surprisingly, there are some.
00:09:42
Speaker
I forced myself to find some. Adames? I mean, we always say Adames comes on and is like, she just gets it for her age. I feel like we're so lucky that we have her here, taking corners, laying balls into the box and everything like that. If we can find that bit of quality, heard that one before, if we can find that bit of quality on the end of these. It was said like three times in the post-game presser and I'm just like,
00:10:09
Speaker
and like Again, this isn't gonna change game to game unfortunately without any changes in the roster or some or some like long Winded training camp, you know, nothing's been going well for us so I just don't think it's just gonna click like for us right now I just don't see it you can pray for that but it's not gonna Sure, sure. and You can maybe have a moment or two of it, but um consistently, I just don't see that happening for us this season. I do think that you're right. Like Adzama's, her dead ball deliveries
Team Spirit and Candid Press Conferences
00:10:41
Speaker
are good. I remain upset that we did not have her on the team last year with Rapinoe.
00:10:47
Speaker
to kind of ah men have her as a mentor more. I mean, obviously she models a lot of her game after her anyways, but imagine her directly having her there with her as a mentor. That would have, we might be, we might be winning the whole thing this year had that happened. I mean, that's kind of my same ah argument with like bringing in a veteran goalkeeper for Digi to play under. Totally. But that's not the reality that we're in. And I think in that reality, she's doing well with what she's been given.
00:11:17
Speaker
And she does well with the time that she's given. yeah So I would definitely see her as one of the positives coming out of this game. Diggie, again, ah had a couple instances with quick distribution. That makes you happy. I know it does. So happy. And I think like just watching it and seeing it and seeing her be confident in that yeah gives me a lot of hope.
00:11:37
Speaker
Give me hope the first time she kicked the ball out quickly and like connected did a pass at the midfield last week. And then it happened twice this week. I'm like, get it. Okay. We're looking up now. Like you're putting into practice something that you've probably been told. And that if I want to look really hard into it and just speculate, that means that she's coachable and that she's learning, which is only, ah only a positive thing. Yeah. Super encouraging for sure. And she didn't have a bad game. She made a couple, she made a couple really good saves. Uh, she did what she always does and came out and got the ball out of the air a couple of times really confidently. So Angel City was pretty threatening, I would say when when they had possession around the box and in the box, they were pretty threatening. I think she handled it pretty well. There was definitely some chances that we got lucky with it and shoot better, but, um, you know, Yeah. Sucks that we keep falling to these like small scores. But I think like we were talking about with the Sounders last week was like they kind of had similar woes early on in the season. Their defense wasn't bad, but they weren't able to produce. yeah But the difference is they're now able to produce whereas the rain. They're not producing by that much either the Sounders, right? So like they've gotten these fine margin wins, right? And that's all it takes, right? You just got to hold down your back line and then just get something in the net. Doesn't matter how you get it, doesn't like just just be productive in a way that you know you have the quality at the time that you need it. Just that one moment, that's all you need. You haven't been able to do that for four matches, so. And we can go into that in a minute when we talk about the negatives. I want to move on to McLaren in space buns, which I also listed as a positive. We love a xenon moment. We do. We're a big fan of protozoa.
00:13:21
Speaker
You know, anytime we can bring that early 2000s Disney Channel original minis, we're all about that. So thank you, Phoebe. Do you want to talk about the the presser, ah the positive from the presser, at least the thing that I thought was kind of cool. You thought it was cool, too. We both tried to put it in the notes.
00:13:38
Speaker
Yeah, so Jordan Heinema talked after the game and i'm we're going to add this into the positives of the match because I think that it kind of just for me showed the investment that she has and just let me let me read it out. So she's talking about like the season and how it's turned out and kind of her thoughts on it.
00:13:59
Speaker
And one quote that I highlighted from it is she says, so I think it's not our season. Easy to say that hurts, unfortunate to say, but all we can do is take that and move forward. Have the fans behind us know that we're going to improve, know that we're going to get better. That's our main focus. Play out the season, playing hard, playing how we've been playing this year, pushing with our heart. And that's all we can ask for.
00:14:22
Speaker
And really that's like as fans, that's all we can ask for. And that's one thing that I will never, at least for the last couple of games drag the team for is lack of effort. yeah There's something missing, but I don't, it's not lack of effort. It's not that the players don't care. Yeah. This isn't an afterthought for them. You can tell that the fans mean a lot to them that you can tell that the club means a lot to them and they don't feel good about the way that they're playing.
00:14:51
Speaker
No, they talked about their expectations, right? And they they were like, we didn't, we had a high expectations coming into the season. And they said that even knowing that these other players that they had last year that helped the team so much weren't returning, they still had high expectations because that is the standard the club sets. That is the standard of the player set. And anything less than that, I mean, essentially is a failure, right?
00:15:12
Speaker
Doesn't mean a failure isn't something that like you can't, you can always use, this is what Heidemos is saying, is you can always use things that are like this, like a failure, and or you the only way you can go from there is up, right? Yeah. And so I think hearing Heidemos talk about that, be honest about it.
00:15:28
Speaker
was really refreshing. And, um, cause I know people have been really hard on her this year and and you could tell in the prize conference, there's no one a harder on, on Heinema than herself. And the fact that she feels like she hasn't kind of been up to the standard that she knows she's capable of. Um, but she does seem very motivated. I don't know. She just doesn't want this season to define what this team is. Yeah. You know, she wants to use this as fuel for next year. Which is great. yeah you know we've We've been cheerleaders for her. Yeah, we have. Despite people's personal thoughts about it. a fault, maybe. But I think this is this is a kind of honesty and oppressor that we really haven't seen this season. We kind of saw a bit of it in that ah halftime interview with Lou a couple games ago, where she talked about the rebuild.
00:16:25
Speaker
And I think that it is nice to hear it is nice to hear that honesty. But you could also tell when she was talking about it that it came from a place of like personal disappointment. Yeah, absolutely. Statistically, yes, she should be disappointed with herself and the expectations that are set with her. But there's so much going on with this team. You can't put it on one player. No.
00:16:48
Speaker
The fact that she, as the 23-year-old, is able to articulate this and talk about the team with this much care, it's only going to get better from here. And they're able to look back and learn from this season. We're not going to get any hardware out of this season. We're going to get nothing out of this season on paper.
00:17:11
Speaker
But if we can get something out of the season as a learning opportunity, as a way for players to reflect and see how it was, that' that's exactly what needs to happen. Yeah, it's very, it'd be very valuable. and I mean, it's like unfortunate that it sometimes comes down to that, but you know, here we are. So yeah, it was good to not lose by more. Yeah, that's positive.
Offensive Challenges and Player Chemistry
00:17:34
Speaker
I mean, we were really close to giving up some other goals. Um, speaking of lacking quality, you know, Angel City was also lacking some quality in front of goal. I don't think it's a coincidence that they are where they're at in the standings, even
00:17:45
Speaker
with the point deduction. Well, they were only ah two points above us, even before the points deduction. Yeah. Yeah. But you look at them, right? And they've got a lot of threatening pieces and they look like they could be very, very good next season. And they're starting to get hit their stride right now, um for sure. But they didn't score on us as much as they could have. Yeah.
00:18:07
Speaker
Well, and I think that says something about our defense too. Phoebe McLaren had a good game. Yeah. and i After you know her less than stellar game last weekend, what what a what a way for her to come back and just be solid again. She needed that. We love that for you, Phoebe. Big fans. We are big fans. ah All right. Let's roll into the negatives. It was boring because we have zero attack. Yeah, which is kind of interesting because sometimes we're lacking quality on like the finishing touch and I just feel like we didn't even have those chances this match. Yeah, usually it's like, okay, the final pass isn't there. We didn't even get to the final pass. It wasn't good.
00:18:45
Speaker
Oh, it wasn't good. Nothing. And all of our opportunities came from the outside. There's no penetration through the middle. It's just like like I said, it's annoying when this is happening you when we were finally kind of not. I mean, it was still a long shot, right? But we were handed it a lifeline a little bit with this three point deduction.
00:19:03
Speaker
And we were not able to take advantage of it. And and we're all we also historically play pretty well against Angel City and we we couldn't do anything about it. I think the difference is though, not maybe not the difference, but in that attacking third and in the midfield, we have nobody that's willing to take players on. You get the ball in the middle of the field. We have nobody that's beating one, two defenders and then playing a dangerous pass.
00:19:28
Speaker
We're playing quickly, which is great. The game moves quickly, which is usually, you know, fun to watch. But with us, it's like moving quickly backwards. It's like, Oh, I get the ball. I turn around. There's somebody there. Let me just in normal times. Great. Play it back. Play out of pressure. But at some point you you need to take somebody on and beat that next line and they're not doing that. The only time we get that is when Montesier comes on. yeah And Montesier comes on and she's played like very limited minutes. So she's a bit lost out there, but she's still, when she comes on, she's still the most exciting player on the on the field. Even if she's like lost in space, she's still the most exciting player.
00:20:05
Speaker
And that's insane. Cerna Krotjic has moments of it as well, but she almost does it in a way that like she's definitely going to need some support. Mm hmm. Monasir's got like a little bit of a different plan. Monasir is looking for a goal. Yeah. And Cerna Krotjic is looking for danger. And, you know, in the box and just seems like nobody else seems to be on the same page with her all the time. Well, that's the other problem is like when Monasir like beats two players and gets a like gets the ball and it in your space, there's nobody available. It's like they're also it's like they're all surprised. Yeah, that's why I would like to see come on sooner with Cernagorchovich on the field, see both of them play together. Because if we can get some chemistry flowing with them and G right behind that, could be cooking. Could be cooking. ah Yeah, I agree. I think that that's that's something to look forward to if we can get that going in the next couple of games. I mean, not a lot to look forward to. No. So statistically, we are still in the playoff race. Barely. Barely. Don't don't expect it at all. Well, there would have to be like a quick audit on some of the team above us and some more point deductions, I think, for for us to really have a chance. Yeah. So statistically, we're still not out of the playoffs, but in our hearts, we are. You want to move on to the core player of the match?
00:21:22
Speaker
Yeah, there's really not much to, but we're just going to bore you if we keep saying the same fucking things over and over and over again every week. and And we're just like kind of running down the season, I think at this point. Yeah. So as always, 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 is proud to be our first sponsor. So your doctor's office, cooler player of the match is going to be AMC's pre-match fit.
00:21:50
Speaker
Which I do think if there's anybody who's going to really appreciate this, it is the owner of the doctor's office because he loves a good fit. It was so good. go The silhouette of it and her. It's probably the best. It's definitely the best fit I've seen and maybe ever. It's like my like that's like the style that I'm like, holy shit, this is this looks good. I was gobsmacked.
00:22:13
Speaker
So it's a white button up, white short sleeve button up, a Prada white sleeve short sleeve button up with the Prada upside down triangle logo on the left hand breast pocket with the Prada ah bolo tie.
00:22:31
Speaker
And the pants. Yeah, they're perfect. The pants are just like a a a loose fit black. Oh, it just it just works. It works. It works so well. We'll tweet it out ah with the with with with this episode because it's so good. It's the best thing to come
League Highlights and Broader Context
00:22:47
Speaker
out of this match. Yeah. I welcome a good fit for sure. He looks so classy. And it looks comfortable. It does. I love ah i love a like a nice relaxed pant moment.
00:22:57
Speaker
she could be on the runway here yeah yeah she definitely could be i gotta stop looking at it okay um once again thank you to our sponsor the doctor's office the doctor's office is the best place to grab a drink before or after rematch i recommend the house vodka martini it is strong enough for you to take the edge off this losing streak check out their instagram at tdo seattle or butter yet go drink there in person cheers cheers clink clink Uh, other happenings around the league. Um, well, Orlando still undefeated and they won the shield. I always start with that just because you gotta get out of the way. Congrats to Orlando. Love this for them. If we're going to suck, I'm fine with Marta being the one to really just take, take the season.
00:23:41
Speaker
Yeah, she seeing her holding that shield and just like to see what it meant meant for her. That's incredible. That team has been so bad like the entire time. Basically, she's been there. Yeah, this is a this is like an incredible story. Their coach has got to get coach of the year for sure. Oh, yeah, Seb. Yeah. Did you see that they crashed his press conference after the game? No, that's the the players crashed his press conference after the game and sat sat in the the press seats and somebody handed him ah like Heineken. Nice. As he's sitting there doing his press conference. I mean, they want it with like several games left and they still haven't lost. Unreal. Unreal.
00:24:19
Speaker
The difference for them has been their front office. They brought in, I think two seasons ago, Hayley Carter, who has been in the game for a long time and has just been such a big leader and then had this opportunity to go to Orlando and then absolutely cooked and players want to play there now. So good for them. You know, we're going through an ownership change and and bringing it back to the rain. um We're bringing, it we didn't have a lot of resources for our front office and different positions just across. We didn't have a lot of money to pay for a lot of these positions. So I don't think it's a coincidence that we're not very good this year given all the changes we're going through. But, um, you know, I think looking at a team like Orlando should give you as fans some hope that like, uh, good times are likely, hopefully ahead. If the we start getting the right people in the right positions and everything like that. Yeah. And you saw during the game, ah Adrian Hanauer up in the box, sitting, watching the game. So there is investment there and there is forethought into how this team is going to function. So, yeah, i hope that I hope that Orlando can be almost a template for the rest rest of the league. Yeah. Because they were bad. I think really bad.
00:25:32
Speaker
they were bad and then they like quietly acquired all these players and then they kind of just like got it all together run off this game together and bam oh we're gonna win every single game okay i'm i'm happy for them another another thing in the league portland portland fucking sucks yeah They're so bad how they they have like what to we only have two more losses than them, right? Something I look this up. Let me let me double-check because we're bad. Everyone knows that on this podcast We've got what is it? but as a Seattle fan. I'd love to ah lament myself in Portland struggles unless they're really serious and then i don't because it It becomes a human level thing But in this sense, when they've made this many terrible decisions and they sold the club and they put people in that like are bad, like I will absolutely get on that. Yeah, I'm sure change is going to come. I also like lived in Portland briefly, so like I feel like my ah dislike of the city is ah a different level than maybe some other peoples as far as like their sports teams go. So i love I love when I get to bash on them. But yeah, so Portland has only lost
00:26:41
Speaker
We've lost 13 games. Portland's lost 11. Ooh. Ooh. How are you almost as bad as the rain? Well, and they were what up in like third at some point. Yeah. A lot of this this ah this has been like a very quick, quick fall for them. Yeah. Looking not good. I'm enjoying it. um They didn't have our favorite goalkeeper this week. No. we I don't know why I didn't look into it. um So you can't blame her for all your problems. Not this week.
00:27:10
Speaker
They also lost to like Utah, which I know you were saying Utah is doing better. Mm hmm. And we're playing Utah in the next game. So I'm like, and the only goal Portland got was a penalty from Olivia Moultrie, who I will say as someone who's not a fan of hers, she does seem to be one of the few players for that team that is really just trying to make stuff happen.
00:27:31
Speaker
She's having a good season. And as a fellow Olivia Moultrie hater, it's been hard this season because she's playing really well. She's a good player. And however she came into the league and the grievances that we have with that, but she's shown up this season and has shown up constantly. So we'll see what happens with them. But it doesn't look great.
00:27:52
Speaker
Yeah, I think they're beginning the season cushion is going to be the thing that maybe if they get into the playoffs, that's going to be the only reason why. Yeah. And I don't think they're in a form that you want to be in going into the playoffs right now. So not at all, especially when you've got teams like Gotham and Orlando and Casey. I don't think anyone's looking at this Portland team and ah having the same confidence they maybe had about Portland in the past. No, not at all. But we do have to talk about the Emma Hayes curse.
00:28:20
Speaker
that has surrounded every game that she's gone to this season. Yeah, so far. Or in the last week, I guess. Yeah, yeah. Her little tour of the end of the cell. Every game that she's gone to, the home team has lost. Mm-hmm. Including us, we're victims. Mm-hmm. I'm a victim.
00:28:36
Speaker
I have been personally victimized by MAs. Portland is now a victim. what's the What's the deal, Emma? What are you doing, huh? I don't know. But it's kind of a funny coin getting. It is. I mean, she got in and she got out. So maybe now we can win. Maybe. So we wanted to create a space to air some stuff out because this has been a frustrating season.
00:28:56
Speaker
Coop texted me after the game last week and said, hey, what if we have a segment on the, on the pod where we bring people in and we just air it all out. Error grievances. A little venting session. vent session Yeah. And I thought about it and I was like, I think that seems like a good idea because we don't want to make the podcast depressing.
00:29:16
Speaker
No, but it is important to also let everybody know that we're all kind of feeling feelings. Yeah, and I think it's important as fans to have some sort of camaraderie in our and our terrible feelings together. Absolutely. So we created a new segment we're going to pull in this week called Guild Grievances. So next up will be our first installment of Guild Grievances.
00:29:44
Speaker
All right, welcome to our new segment, Guild grievances. We have with us, Sounderheart, writer, extraordinaire for Ride the Valkyries, June. What's going on? Hello. Everything is bad.
00:30:00
Speaker
It's not great. And we just have to talk about it for an hour every week. You have to cover it. I mean, talking about it sounds good. I don't know. Everything is bad is probably a bit of an understatement, but enough is bad. It's been a bad year. It's hard.
00:30:18
Speaker
We're all feeling it. Yeah. How has it been for you like week after week, having to just assess the team and what's been going on? Oh, I am. God, I think I'm four weeks behind now just because I've been procrastinating so much. Yeah. For a second there, we looked like we were figuring some things out and we lose Fuerte and Fishlock basically both at once and it all falls apart again.
00:30:40
Speaker
yeah I'm not emotionally ready to spend like six to eight hours rewatching footage of us getting our asses kicked. It's hard. It's hard. I definitely agree with that. Has there been anything with the team like on a more positive note um that's like surprised you? so So the biggest things I have to Claudia Dickey is a very young goalkeeper and she's definitely got some growing pains but She does so much so well. ah She commands her area so well. She's probably three years out from even peaking and she's already comparing well to like, uh, a listener and a bunch of big names in the league. Basically anybody not named Ben Katrinberger this year, orger is just another but like she's already comparing so well to so many elite keepers and she's only going to get better. So that's been really positive to me.
00:31:33
Speaker
ah even if there are moments where I wish she hadn't done that peppered throughout. ah these are These are the growing pains that young players have, when you can see the upside it's easier to swallow that sometime. And the other is just Jordan Bug, what a revelation Jordan Bug has been every time she's been on the pitch. yeah you know it's it's It's bad right now, but there's pieces that are going to be really good in a year, or two years, three years. and Well, the future looks good. Yeah. I'm kind of riding on that but because my my season hopes have been quickly dwindling. It's like, okay, well, what can I be happy about the future?
Reign's Consistent Mistakes and Midfield Struggles
00:32:11
Speaker
Yes, yes. I would love to see Emma Redonna's getting more minutes. I think she's end like actually starting a few times.
00:32:18
Speaker
You know, I understand still rolling a ah player who plays a ah high leverage position and is going to get beat to shit in this league. Has there been like anything that's, I mean, I don't think anyone thought we were going to be this bad this season. Is there anything like in particular that surprised you about this season? So many things, so many things that are going against us are things that are fixable and reputable and it keeps happening. And that's been the one that surprised me. I think Laura Harvey is a smart coach and I i know that she's not going into like training, saying, I want you to make the same mistake the same way, four or five, six weeks in a row. Like, I know that she's seeing this. She's telling us in her interviews that she's seeing this, but for whatever reason, we, we keep getting caught out in the same ways again and again, and we keep losing points because of it. And we keep losing points in matches where we're not even necessarily the worst side. Like, yeah, the last, the last four weeks we've been outplayed at least three times, but, uh, on the season.
00:33:15
Speaker
We've dropped a lot of points in matches where we could have had them. And it's it's always been the same sort of mistakes. It's always been the the outside back of the midfielder not tracking back at a particular key leverage moment and the team getting immediately punished for it. um I know that that's a specific thing that drives Harvey crazy. so Yeah. Why why does it keep happening every time? Yeah, there was like that three weeks in a row where we got scored on corner kicks. I mean, what are you doing? What are you doing in practice?
00:33:46
Speaker
And, you know, also sometimes it's it's just out of your control. Like, I think everybody knew Barbara Banda and Tim Ledge Show and Go were going to be good, but maybe not just how good the goal. Banda scored against us earlier in the year. I don't know how he defends that. There have been a couple of those where I'm just like, well, I'm just sort of... What was that goal that Dickey gave up? Like, was that two games ago? Yeah, where she missed the catch. I think that was three games ago. No, that wasn't the missed catch. It was the one where she just stood there because it just like... Oh, yeah. That rocket from just outside the box. Yuki on Houston. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That goal. Yeah. I was like, damn. Yeah, Yuki Nakasada can still score a banger.
00:34:24
Speaker
I wish we had one of those. I mean, we do with G. It's just, ah I don't know. We're hitting we're hitting the worst but slump right now of not scoring. I feel like we had G kind of saving our asses for a little bit on stuff like that. Yeah. And I think a fish walk going down is a big part of what's gone wrong since then. as the So we quietly had like a really good transfer window in a lot of ways. um We short up a lot of obvious ah positions of improvement. we made some loans that should be good for player development. We brought in new young players who look really exciting. ah I don't think anybody expected Anna Maria Sinogorsovich to immediately be the best player on the roster, but she kind of was. um Totally. And part of it was that there was this really immediate chemistry and connection between Fishlock G and Sinogorsovich, where they were all really in sync, really knowing where where the others were going to be, and it led to a lot more attacking dynamism than we'd seen.
00:35:20
Speaker
And Pregy in particular, she was releasing the ball more quickly, which she was doing at the beginning of the season when she looked really good. And then as we started something, she'd hold onto it too long, and too long, and too long, and dribble into five players and lose.
00:35:34
Speaker
And we're kind of seeing her regress back into that, holding onto the ball too long, to going into challenges that she can't win because nobody is making the runs that she needs them to make. And nobody is providing the outlet to continue to move and play forward if we're we're getting very stagnant again, a lot of standing still while we're in possession rather than moving to create options.
00:35:55
Speaker
Yeah, and I think that one thing that was an immediate impact after Huerta left was you're not having that option. And I know Harvey is trying to make homes into a similar type of player, but that takes time. And Huerta is so mobile yeah and is always creating space and is always trying to find an outlet, you know trying to be an outlet.
00:36:21
Speaker
for players. And so even if there's, you know, one player, you know, Fishlock goes out, if you still have, if you still have um Huerta, you've got a little bit of give with that, but it just kind of still, people are coming on the field and it's like, okay, well, where do I go now? I'm just missing that kind of direction.
00:36:42
Speaker
and I'm not sure if Latz goes, I don't know if Latz goes quite the answer, but it's it's the only option I would say we really have right now. So I guess we run with it. I know she's going to work hard whenever she's playing on the field, so I'm not worried about that. but That's my other grievance from this season is Ryan Brown. Oh my God. Just when she was really putting it together too.
00:37:06
Speaker
I know she was our first ever cooler player of the match. And then like, I think maybe the next game or like two games later, ECL and ACLs. Why do we, ban them I know as an, as an, uh, in the last three years, ACL victim myself. I agree.
00:37:23
Speaker
in indulg It's harder in your thirties to tell you.
00:37:31
Speaker
Well, I was just going to kind of ask, you know, as somebody that like covers the team, is there because the team is so, and especially Harvey is pretty tight lipped when it comes to communication. Do you think that like this finishing this season as low as they're about to finish? Do you think that that ah opens her up to meet a little bit more media criticism? And do you think that that's going to be something that people will start to ask questions about?
00:38:01
Speaker
I don't know. um This is one where like Susie and Jacob dwell a lot more of the interviewing than I do. I've sat in on some interviews, but I don't tend to have the availability when she has press availability. um But my observation, at least, has been that she doesn't really respond well to the tough lines of questions anyway. It's not like nobody has these questions. It's the point you've asked them for 10, 12 years across three teams. You kind of know how she's going to respond and it's not necessarily going to get you anything more useful than just asking for her take on the game. um But I do think that there's definitely plenty of space for criticism of Harvey's performance as a coach. I know that a ton goes into coaching that doesn't necessarily translate onto the pitch weekend week in, week out.
00:38:50
Speaker
I know that it's a complicated, hard job with a so, so much pressure and scrutiny on it. yeah But Hariv's is very notoriously tight-lipped, and the rain are kind of notoriously tight, but um I think it will be interesting to watch. And I also think it will be interesting to watch if like the bigger partnership with the sounders, I don't really know how to describe the ownership situation because the Sounders are a minority owner, but are kind of the day-to-day functionaries. so And they're all a lot more open with press. And I'm wondering if some of that's just like organizationally going to transfer. Yeah, I'm hoping so. but would be like but i i also But I also know that Laura Harvey is not going to change. I feel like the way that she runs things, so I'm not going to hold out for it.
00:39:34
Speaker
but you see is what you get with Laura Hervey in good and bad ways. Yeah. And it's not a, it's not like a huge complaint, but like in times like this, it is a little like, but it's, it ah adds to the frustration for sure. It would be great to be able to get like some of the thought process between some of the things that seem very opaque from our side. Like what are you trying differently in training, even though you're trying to put out the same tactical shape and impossible to put out the same lineups when we constantly have a new injury carousel, but as much as possible, she does try to stick to certain hands. Cause they don't do any open training right now, right? Not really. Not really. There's, there's some training with press availability, but it's always kind of awkwardly timed and hard to get to and very, very limited access.
00:40:19
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Cause that would be something that I think that maybe the sounders might worst that her to open up. I wouldn't hate that of what the sentence somebody else, cause we're both not in the area, but someone will get out there, yeah you know.
00:40:35
Speaker
Well, Harvey, if if this trend continues into next season, right? And we're still having questions and questions. I think that she's going to have to answer the answer for that at some point might get uncomfortable, might get weird and might not even have to happen if the off season treats us well, you know, but we'll, we'll see. And I think it'll be, uh, super interesting going into next season.
Future Growth and Young Player Management
00:40:57
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, hopefully this doesn't continue. Yeah.
00:41:01
Speaker
Yeah, do you have any specific changes you were like would hope to see like in the roster maybe or I don't know some something that you want to see that might improve things from where we're at right now. I really want to see what Monteserre has after like an offseason after training after reps with the team.
00:41:21
Speaker
ah I think it's understandable that she was always probably going to take a bit of time to adjust to the league, let alone coming in cold to a team that has been struggling this much this late in the season. um But she has this this quality on the ball that I think could translate really, really well. And until we see what she has, I'm not really sure what I would change. But if she's not up to it, it is still the position of most glaring need. ah We need somebody who will actually score a goal when we create a chance.
00:41:49
Speaker
Um, the, the other side of that is, uh, it's Jordan, hademer who apparently fractured her spine earlier this year. And that was why she missed all that time. Um, kind of a big injury. And, you know, but she's also very young. She's a lot younger than people remember. She is because she's been playing forever, but she's 23 and coming off the major injury. So it's kind of understandable. She's having a down here, but we need to see what she can, if she can get back up to speed and maybe finally take that last step to being genuinely elite. Cause if those two things happen, I think we're actually really well positioned. Uh, not to say that there are no changes to be made, but our position of greatest need all year has been being able to find a goal. And for a month now being utterly unable to. Yeah. Yeah.
00:42:28
Speaker
ah if we can find those, and you know, we have Jason and maybe another year of just fish flock to add room are very promising young midfielders going forward. I think we're really well positioned, but it's an F that's the hope. It's definitely an F and it's definitely a hope. And I think, I think as fans, we can see the potential for sure. Um, and I feel like we try to be optimistic about it. Time will tell. Do you want to do the community thing?
00:42:54
Speaker
and Yeah, so this is a question from Steve in the Discord. He said, is it better to still have a tiny very tiny sliver of hope, or would you rather have already been eliminated from postseason contention and been put out of our misery at this point?
00:43:08
Speaker
And my got an answer of like response is kind of like, I kind of, I'm glad we still have a sliver of hope because it while it's still there, I will hang on to it with your life. um But I think once you get to the point, you know, we only have three games left, get to the point where it's like, well, fuck it, you know, we can't make the playoffs now. Let's try something different. And that's really what when it's going this poorly, that's kind of what you need to do.
00:43:35
Speaker
but at the same time I'm like grasping at straws. So what do you think? Do you think that things would change if if we were already eliminated? I genuinely don't know. I think I think Laura Harvey would probably still Laura Harvey. I think she might give a few more minutes to like Adonis, McCammon. She's already giving a lot of minutes to Jork and Bug and I love that. but On the other hand, my scarf says I believe and I refuse to make a liar out of it until we are officially eliminated. So we're making the playoffs. I feel like I'm the only one who's like Yeah, I feel like I'm the only one. Well, we got handed that um the little the little thing about Angel City. We got like, a here here's a three-point takeaway and and we still couldn't but take advantage of that little hope. But um after that, I was like, God, well, maybe there is none. I feel like I've been checked out more like longer than Van has. yeah But that's that's not that's my own personal problem of being a pessimist. Do you have any other grievances you'd like to air from this season?
00:44:32
Speaker
I think we've gone through all my big grievances. I want, I want them to have us together for minutes. That's my, that's my grievance. and i think that's ah I think that's a very good big grievance to have. I think we've we've been very um upset and confused by it. I'm also one of those people though that's been like, I don't want to overplay young players and we haven't really been in this territory for the league with having players this young and how many minutes they can kind of handle without it having, I mean, who knows what's going to happen. There's so many players that have been around the game for so long that are having some pretty catastrophic things happen to them.
00:45:08
Speaker
And I would hate to be like a team that's kind of pushed a player to play too much too early. So on one hand, I'm like, yeah, I want to see more dumb has been in the end. I'm like, well, long-term, maybe we should think about it. He is playing it very cautious, but there are, there are reasons to play it very cautious with young player. Jordan bug just seems like a different breed where she already like is acting like she's 24 years old and it's just like, I'm going to come and get the ball off of you. whereas We have Naomi Girma a little bit, just kind of gets it. And I don't know her mentality. So she kind of gives me like, uh, 20, 21, I want to cook with her, uh, her field vision. She's got an eye for just the line breaking long passes. And that is a thing we have been missing before she started showing up. Yeah.
00:45:54
Speaker
Yeah, it's kind of crazy it's kind of crazy how she popped in right as we were kind of needing to transition, cook out. ah couldn't I feel like we kind of got away with something there. Yeah. Cool. Cause I don't think we expected that Walnut Cook to just really, I don't know, go downhill so fast. I don't know what happened. I don't know either. I'm upset. I said, I really feel for her and I hope she figures it out, but it's not looking good right now still. Yeah. obviously see some and scenery and yeah chance to get it together For sure. In case he's still doing pretty well. So I think being in that environment can kind of help you get in that winning mentality again. So anything else? We're good. What do you think van?
00:46:31
Speaker
I'm going to hold my grievances until the end of the season. I don't know. I don't know how this is going to end. You know, we're making the playoffs pretty straight when new people.
00:46:44
Speaker
not happening. Three straight wins by six goals each game. We're gonna we're gonna be the ones that destroys Orlando's perfect season. Mm hmm. It'd be kind of funnier if I don't want this to happen by any means, but it would be kind of hilarious if we ended up in last place and we were the ones to also ruin Orlando's winning season. Like, you know, when complete, they're this straight. We're taking down the courage. That'd be kind of funny.
00:47:10
Speaker
I mean, we'll probably be sick. Yeah, I don't want to be that low on the thing, but. The one year where we could get a good draft pick. And no draft. And no draft. Laura Harvey, what you we all know that Laura Harvey would have traded that for some allocation money. Oh yeah. Trade it for a bag of bowls. She would not have kept it.
00:47:30
Speaker
For sure. Ooh, new cones? Yes. Heck yes.
00:47:35
Speaker
A new tracksuit I'm in. Oh yeah. You're cooler. Yep. Well, I think that, I think that's a good, I think that's going to wrap it up. I think that's a good segment. I like it. Thank you for joining us June. It's been a pleasure. Thank you for having me. um This has been Guild Grievances. Um, yeah.
00:47:56
Speaker
So we don't play until next Sunday, which is great. A little extra day of rest. ah So next Sunday, October 13th at two o'clock Pacific time, we play at Utah. Utah has won their last two matches leading up to this game. So they're they're kind of on a roll, which is a little concerning. They're also above us now in the standings.
00:48:16
Speaker
Yikes. They're not bad. I've been saying that. Well, yeah, but when we started this, you know, we were doing our shout outs of teams below us and it was always Utah for a while. And now they've lapped us. I don't like it. I don't like it. Well, they're only one point above us at the table. That's all that matters right now. It is. It really is. You're right.
00:48:36
Speaker
Yeah, we'll see what happens. I think Centnor, once again, some someone to look out for. She's been great. Yeah, that's a really good get for for Utah. I think they'll be formidable next year. I don't know what to expect for rain because we literally have had a different land every single match.
00:48:53
Speaker
ah Is it going to be 24 out of 24 next week? maybe Maybe next week we just do one of the same lineup just to say we did it again. No, why would we why would we not just like keep it going? Just like one time maybe? I don't know. Maybe that's that's too much to ask. what i mean like Will Quinn be back by then? Because then yeah then we're not having the same lineup.
00:49:13
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, there's questions about Quinn, there's questions about Fishlock. I did see, though, so Fishlock has a new BBC Wales radio documentary coming out on Monday, tomorrow, in which it was previewed that she really wants to go to a major tournament with Wales, and that would be Euro 2025.
00:49:37
Speaker
Yeah. She's very adamant about being in that and getting the team to that. So I don't know my, my comments last week about what is she waiting for? There's nothing to like keep going. If she's going to retire. You were wrong. Yeah, I'm wrong. A hundred percent wrong. Uh, we'll see what happens if she needs to preserve herself and like once the wants to do that, get it. Yeah. Rest up, get your body right again. Um, cause then you got to get in form, right?
00:50:06
Speaker
In order to do that, you would also have to be playing for the brain consistently and pretty well, which I would not mind because she was playing really well at the beginning of the season. Yeah. Yeah.
Fan Support and Community Engagement
00:50:15
Speaker
And I mean, you could definitely see like when she left, when Huerta left, you could tell a difference. I mean, even when Heidema was gone, yeah the energy you could tell a difference. So it's the energy, but it's also like the defensive shape. You can maybe critique her individual contributions.
00:50:33
Speaker
But when you watch the game and and you see the movement and you see the leadership on the field, they miss her. I agree with that for sure, especially because Barnes was gone to begin the season or like a lot. Right. And then Fish was kind of there in that leadership role. And then we've kind of just been like, I mean, Barnes is back now.
00:50:54
Speaker
I don't know. It'd be nice if, again, the transparency thing has always been lacking for injuries and Laura Harvey. So i who maybe she's available next week. Maybe she's available in next season. I don't, I don't know. The media accountability is also difficult because other than sounder at heart, there's no real consistent media coverage of the rain. That's a problem with many and abuse all teams.
00:51:18
Speaker
Yeah, it's across the league. It's not just rain and everything. We're like, I would say we're lucky to even have right of the Valkyries and Sandra Hart to be like putting resources and time into covering the rain. Yeah. So it's getting those answers and like, I don't know. It just Laura Harvey's always just been pretty, I don't know what the term would be. Close lipped. Yeah. You use it last week. I think you're right. I don't know. Maybe we'll break her out of her shell. I hope so.
00:51:46
Speaker
maybe maybe the cooler guild is what she needed. Maybe we need these like random ah amateur podcasters to like ask the hard questions. That's right. We'll just pop on and we'll be like, hi, we're we're from the cooler guild. And I'm like, what the fuck is that? You don't know. It's the hottest new thing. Everyone listens to the cooler guild. Did you want to shout out? I think you should shout out the the review because I thought it was nice.
00:52:11
Speaker
Yeah, so we got a really great review on Apple Podcasts from a user named Bellevue Liz. Shut up, Bellevue Liz. Shut up, Bellevue Liz. um That was really nice. It made my day and we hope we can keep living up to your expectations because they are high and mighty and we appreciate you. Yeah, thank you for that. Anything that makes fans stay better.
00:52:34
Speaker
but I'm just kidding. And also I was agreeing out to my wife and she was like, that's really nice. And I was like, it is nice. ah forget Sometimes I forget that people listen. Yeah. Yeah. Because we're just chit chatting, right? And we're just like obsessive about following right news. And so that's how we ended up where we are. um So it is nice to, I don't know, get feedback that it's appreciated that we're putting this out for people to listen to um that maybe don't ah have the time or spending their time better.
00:53:04
Speaker
in better ways than us. More productive ways. Yeah. More productive ways in terms of like ah the amount of stuff that we tend to, I don't know, obsess over and consume. Um, so we're happy that it gets people excited about the team, even when we are not playing well.
00:53:21
Speaker
Yeah, it's not going great, but i I do think there's, there's room for optimism and I think it's valid to have optimism about this team. And part of that is the fans and the energy that they bring in showing up for the team. I think without that, you know, yeah, we, we love, and we are really appreciative to be a part of that. Um, even from our but more remote locations, you know, neither of us live in Seattle anymore. And, and to be.
00:53:47
Speaker
involved in keeping people around really is something more than I could have ever asked for. Yeah, it's really special. We appreciate you. Keep listening. um Hopefully it'll get better. It will. Maybe be not this year, but it will it will next year. I feel good about that.
00:54:05
Speaker
Um, I think that wraps it up for this episode. If you want to follow us on Instagram or X formerly known as Twitter, our handles are the same for those. It's at cooler guild pod. You can send us an email and we love an email. That email is the cooler guild at gmail dot.com can also visit us at our home webpage, which is sounderheart.com forward slash the cooler guild. We're also on YouTube. but We got some episodes there hoping to maybe upgrade the video stuff at some point, maybe next season. ah YouTube is youtube dot.com forward slash at the cooler guild, which leads us into our new tip option on our sounder heart page for the episode. You can leave us a tip and help us upgrade our lighting so that we can put some video. That expensive lighting is expensive. It turns out things are not cheap. No, they're not cheap at all. So if you'd like to leave the tip, you can do that on our episode page at Sounder at Heart. I always encourage people though to do the, I think it was $80 a year tier. I had to edit that out. 75. Is it? I thought it was 80. It's 75. No, I looked it up. It's $75. There is a tier on Sounder at Heart that I usually try to encourage people to go to because then you get access to our Discord. Yeah, that's a $75 tier. Yeah. The discord for Sandra has like a rain one on there and the discussions are really great. Really fun. Even if you don't want to purchase Bay, it's very fun to read the comments. People have during matches and you know, all of the stuff going around the team right now.
00:55:32
Speaker
And you can, yeah, if you want to get hop on that $75 a year subscription to Sound Art Heart, you can do that ah through our site, which we get a little piece of, which is soundartheart.com forward slash core yield. Yep. Go right wherever you're listening. Five stars. Leave us something funny or nice. can Funny is always good. Or drag us and give us five stars. We love it either way. Dragging is funny to me. So until next week, I'm Coop. I'm Van. Bye. Bye.
00:56:19
Speaker
I guess I should leave my comments out about their bum-ass goalkeeper that they had for a while.
00:56:26
Speaker
Oh, yeah.