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The Cooler Guild: Super sub ambush - Ep. 70
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Esther and company are no joke. Last Saturday the Reign gave up a late lead and lost to Gotham 3-2 in New York. We talk about how well the Reign played in the first half and how Gotham was able to substitute their way to victory. We also note the Reign’s new pub partnerships around the region, go over results from around the league, and preview this weekend’s match in San Diego.
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Transcript
Introduction and Episode Overview
00:00:19
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 70 of The Cooler Guild. I am Coop Cooper, and joined with me, as always, is my co-host, Van Crisp. Hello. We're recording on Tuesday, July 21st, 2026.
Recap of Saturday's Events
00:00:31
Speaker
On today's episode, ah we get to relive the disastrous events from Saturday morning. guess it was almost afternoon by then. um The disaster definitely happened in the afternoon. ah So going to talk about that. We're going to briefly over some NWC results, some other rain stuff, you know, whatever comes up, comes up. But before we get into all that, we've got some housekeeping.
00:00:56
Speaker
The Cooler Guild is part of the Sounder at Heart podcast network. You can either listen to us on our public feed or if you're a Sounder at Heart subscriber on the private unified feed with the other podcasts on the network. If you'd like to become a subscriber, just visit our page at sounderatheart.com forward slash the Cooler Guild. New subscribers get 10% off the normal rate and you'll help support everything we're doing.
00:01:15
Speaker
Please, we need more beers to watch these games. Good God.
Local Event Experiences
00:01:20
Speaker
um Did you do anything else this weekend besides watch this horrific game in the World Cup, the Men's World Cup?
00:01:28
Speaker
There's a annual fair Olympia called Lake Fair. And it's hosted at Capitol Lake. And it's got those like traveling carnival rides. Oh, God. It's terrifying me.
00:01:39
Speaker
Food stands. Oh, I went on all of them. No, fuck no. I'm not doing that. It was great. That's cool. um For you. i wouldn't do it, but good for you. yeah i'll go one Yeah, we all got to die some way. Yeah, what about you? ah Well, um I did kind of intermittently catch the rain game because i kind of was like, I came and saw some of it and then I had to leave for something. Plus the weather delay was not helpful. Yeah. There was a, there's an event. It's the fourth time they've done this event in town.
00:02:10
Speaker
It's called the Not So Westminster Dog Show. And it's hosted at like a park by like the animal, one of the, and like the animal shelter, like a fundraiser and stuff. So you can pay money to like enter your dog in and compete in these like events. These are just mutts. Mostly these are like just some dorky dogs, dorky dog owners, I guess I should say with their dogs. Anyways, they had like an obstacle course set up. They had a costume contest. They had a trick contest. um My dog did do her trick. I was able to get her to do her trick, which is carry dog treats. And then she, um we didn't have any costume ready for her. So we just threw on like this vest that I always wear and put that on her. And then the obstacle course, she was the only dog to complete this like, they called it like the Bridge of Doom or something. And it was just just a sketchy like two by eight or something like that, that she had to walk across. That was kind of long. Most dogs, I mean, no one was finishing the entire course to begin with because...
00:03:07
Speaker
These are just dogs that are not meant to be doing these things. Yeah. But Molly did win fastest dog in Astoria. Oh, wow. Yeah. It's all those fancy knee surgeries. I know. Those were not cheap. So at least we got something out of it. We got gifted a like portrait of the sponsor of the show, which is a made up dog soap brand.
00:03:30
Speaker
This sounds very Astoria. Yeah, it's called the Suds. Suds was sponsoring it, which is a made up dog soap. And then um at the beginning of the thing, too, because I do believe my dog was robbed best in show. They did disclose like that. The judges can be bought off with extra donations.
00:03:47
Speaker
And then i I believe I confirmed today that indeed that's what happened. They warned you. They did warn me. Fair enough. It was for a good cause. um And I at least get to brag that my dog with two knee replacements ah is, well, dog knee replacements is the fastest dog in town. So next year I'm going to come ready with a checkbook. and You should text the surgeon. Yeah, I should actually. With the picture of the ah but the ribbon, they can put it up in their office. so funny. They they gave out ribbons. When you sign up, you just automatically get to pick out a ribbon. And I got like, they're just like old ribbons from like dog shows from back in the day. And I like, I have one that says like best in show 1970 in some place in Seattle. um And then I have one that's from Portland from like another year. But I was very proud of my dog. ah She was very cute. She was quite the hit. Everyone really enjoyed her.
00:04:35
Speaker
Anyways, so that was a really, really lovely part of my weekend.
Reign's Performance Against Gotham
00:04:38
Speaker
a Not so lovely part of my weekend was watching the last 10 to 20 minutes, I guess, because there was 10 minutes of stoppage time of this rain match.
00:04:48
Speaker
Really the whole second half. Yeah, it was bad. It was, ah you you don't want to play like that against a team i got them in a like for a whole half.
00:04:59
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, and going into it, we were going to be a little light because Curry and Huerta were both unavailable due to injury. Yeah. We had Cassie Miller starting again on the bench, but, or sorry, we had Cassie Miller starting again, but Dickie was available on the bench. Yeah.
00:05:15
Speaker
So and left some subbing issues, I think. I don't. Yes. But then also the lineup of Gotham and just their roster is just so insane. i mean, the collapse, I think you could improve what happened if we would have had maybe these two players available for us in Curry and Werta.
00:05:38
Speaker
I don't really know if I'm going to like, I'm not sure the goalkeeper situation changes what happened. No. I don't believe it does. But yeah, that that was a disaster class of of defense in that last stretch.
00:05:51
Speaker
Disaster class. Yeah. Name of the episode. Yeah, yeah it was just... It was such a whirlwind of a match. Like, I wish I could have turned it off at halftime and that have been the end of the game.
00:06:06
Speaker
I think everyone would have preferred that. That wasn't a Gotham fan. For anyone listening that did not watch, for whatever reason, ah the Reign lost to Gotham three to two The Reign were up two zero until the 81st minute.
00:06:21
Speaker
They also missed a penalty. We'll go over that. Yeah. Let's talk about what worked because there were things that were positive in this game. Yeah, I didn't think the rain would look good against this Gotham team, especially when you look at all those circumstances surrounding it. um i do think we maybe had an advantage that we we were able to kind of...
00:06:44
Speaker
get the reason i mean like we got up to zero because there was something wrong that with gotham in terms of their full health with their squad and being on a short rest and then you factor in the air quality and the horrible weather and playing at a stadium they don't usually play out there's a lot of things going in the rain's favor and they took advantage of that and they they worked really hard to get get that lead they got a two a zero lead against gotham i didn't think they could do that no multiple goals was not expecting that yeah I think it felt like they had carried over from the Portland match. It did. it really did.
00:07:18
Speaker
And multiple goals. Yeah. Which have been hard to come by for the rain. Not since you paid the witch. Well, that's true. Still haven't gone a game without scoring since the Etsy witch.
00:07:31
Speaker
And I thought it looked like the team was meshing. There was a lot of play between the Maddies. Maddie connections. Maddie Darlene had some really good opportunities getting in behind.
00:07:43
Speaker
um Really great ball from VB. Darlene looked fantastic, I thought. Yeah. Really, really effective when she was getting the ball and running up and crossing into the box and everything was really, really cleaned up from her, I thought.
00:07:59
Speaker
and Mercado made a couple of great runs and you even had me official in there. Yeah. Drawing player, drawing defenders away, creating space. So a lot of things that she does that don't necessarily stick out to somebody. Sure. But you can tell when you rewatch these goals, the impact that she has. Yeah. It also carried over what we talked about last week with Sam Meza getting involved in the offense.
00:08:25
Speaker
I really do think there's an argument that you stick her in the 10. I think so, too. I've been kind of trying to, you know, preach that for I feel like I was doing this last year even. Yeah, the tough thing is if you're having Jess Fishlock come back, she's going to be up there, but limited minutes.
00:08:42
Speaker
But I think ideally you have her and James Turner. Yeah. I would like to see that happen. Just try it. I don't know what's going on with James Turner, though, because they don't seem to be playing her. Yeah, I don't know either. Yeah.
00:08:56
Speaker
But Sam Meza, when she does get involved offensively, she's effective. I mean, and we all know she has the tenacity, you're right, when she's playing that defensive mid. And now we're seeing these other elements of her game in terms of connecting with the forwards. And if you can bring that tenacity to the, you know, the attacking part of this team, which we have struggled with,
00:09:21
Speaker
Like, why wouldn't you do that? Yeah. And then having her in a more advanced position would be ultimately very helpful with that yeah because she's not having to run as much. Yeah. It's just how do you find someone to fill into that spot that she was in? I do think James Turner, when she's playing as well as she's capable of, is an obvious answer.
00:09:43
Speaker
Yeah. But I mean, as far as what worked. it's kind of You kind of can't really say a lot worked when you give up three goals late. Yeah, it sucks because this episode would have been completely different had they held it.
00:09:57
Speaker
I know. But ultimately there was a collapse. Yeah, I think, but maybe before we just harp on the collapse, factors that led to that, um our front office maybe not making moves to compete with teams that have the subs like Gotham has. That's a thing. yeah That's a thing. You look at this and we're bringing on a player who's had no minutes in Ruby Ladek. I know.
00:10:27
Speaker
It's not her fault. It's not her fault. No. But then you've got international stars. Superstars. Megastars. Superstars. Yeah. You're subbing in Esther, Bruninha, Denise Sullivan, Sam Kerr, girl writing. like It's not fair.
00:10:44
Speaker
What are you supposed to do? How do you have that many players on your team that are that good? Yeah. And you still have Roosevelt on the field. Emily Sonnet. You had Jaden Shaw in there. Mm-hmm.
00:10:56
Speaker
Midge Purse, who was an absolute nightmare for the back line. You've got a star goalkeeper. You've got Jalen Howell who's been playing really well for them, which is a sensitive subject for us. Yeah.
00:11:10
Speaker
It's just an insanely stacked team. And like i i posted on Blue Sky, the rain played really, really well and could beat the starting lineup of Gotham.
00:11:22
Speaker
yeah But when you factor in all these players that I think are blatantly violating the salary cap. Yeah. You just can't. We need different personnel to be able to stand up to that. And that's the problem with the front office. Mm-hmm.
00:11:39
Speaker
There's been no moves to compete with something like that because that's just a pure skill issue. Yeah.
Game Environment Concerns
00:11:47
Speaker
It's tough. It's tough to sit here and like, I don't know, you look at the result and I'm like, wow, the like if you didn't watch this game and you just saw the result, didn't know when the goals came, you'd be like, wow, like the rain actually did really well for what it was.
00:12:00
Speaker
When you later find out how it happened, it's it's really disheartening. um But but i I mean, just bringing in players like that is kind of just like, well, fuck.
00:12:12
Speaker
Yeah. Like no offense to our team, but like those are elite athletes. You know, they're thinking the same thing. Yeah. They're just like when they see Sam Kerr subbing on. Oh my God.
00:12:26
Speaker
yeah um okay so that happened they sub in then what happens her well to be fair they made two halftime subs yes because and that's is where everything kind of started to return for the rain you bring a stare on you bring girl right now i'm like What are you supposed to do? There's, I mean, they tried, they did try and they did hold on for quite a while.
00:12:51
Speaker
Yeah. Um, Gotham made subs at half and then the 63rd minute and then the 80, uh, 82nd minute. So yeah, it, they didn't quite collapse, but they, we knew it was coming.
00:13:09
Speaker
It was just an utter onslaught pretty much in the second half. I mean, all the goals, like Esther's touch to get those goals is world class. Like that's not an easy, those are not easy finishes, like being able to get that movement behind the defense and just slot it in like that.
00:13:26
Speaker
Maybe there's a missed timing from Bug, but like Esther is one of a kind. And that finish was so clean and precise. And then Roosevelt's, you know, dagger to our hearts.
00:13:39
Speaker
Also insane. These are world class finishes from players that I we just don't have on our team. We don't have that kind of quality. And if we do, it's not it's not like five fucking players running at us like I'm running at them, you know? Yeah, it was an onslaught.
00:13:58
Speaker
Brutal. Absolutely brutal. So it was a disheartening second half. um I just can we just have a little bit of something? Can you get us one player?
00:14:11
Speaker
you think Emma Sears gets us a draw on this? I think Emma Sears would make that penalty. Sure. Maddie Darlene missed a penalty in the 57th minute ah after Fischel opened up her account in the NWSL in the 14th minute with penalty.
00:14:30
Speaker
It was close. She slotted it exactly where she needed to, but Ann Ketchaburger went the right way. Right. But she still didn't put it on frame. Yeah. I mean, it's penalty. You got to put it on frame. Yeah.
00:14:43
Speaker
Yeah. And from what we learned that she really, really wanted to take it. Which she campaigned to take it. I'm fine with someone campaigning like that. I obviously think it's not going to be a good look and you probably can't make that campaign in the future if you miss it like that, if you hit the post. um But she, you know, worked hard to get the assist.
00:15:06
Speaker
on the second goal and she also helped with getting that ball into the box that got the first penalty. So I'm sure she was wanting to step up and do something.
00:15:17
Speaker
Was that the right move? But to me, it just kind of demonstrates the problem that this team has. In what way? Why fix something that's not broken?
00:15:29
Speaker
Like, why are we playing that super defensive second half trying to hold a two goal lead, which, as we all know, and as you know, if you listen to this podcast is the most dangerous lead in soccer. And then you've got somebody that already slotted a penalty in the first half.
00:15:43
Speaker
Why not to give that player an opportunity to get another one? Yeah. They've already proven that they can make it. Yeah. And with Cuerta out, who's our normal, normal penalty taker. It's tough.
00:15:55
Speaker
It's tough. so I think everyone on this team knows how, knows how much was kind of riding on this game for their season and kind of create momentum. And I kind of like the audacity to try to step up in that way.
00:16:09
Speaker
But, but here we are on a loss. so would we would have gotten a point maybe i mean maybe we never know but yeah yeah there's a good chance we would have gotten a point so well they would have had to come back with three goals yeah so i do think that the gotham team though could have ah easily come at us and scored four who knows ah yeah i feel i feel for dolly in on this yeah but i think if you've already made a penalty in this game you need to take the other one Maybe. Yeah. I don't know. I'm kind of back and forth on it.
00:16:43
Speaker
I can see both sides of of of the argument. Here's another thing I want to talk about unrelated to this. If you have really bad air quality index, right? Why are we keeping the players out longer on the field with extra hydration breaks? Yeah, I asked Alex about that because, you know, she's a medical doctor. And I was like, you know, they're taking two breaks. And she's like, why are they staying out there longer? Isn't like the worst thing you can do for air quality problems? Yeah.
00:17:13
Speaker
And after a two and a half hour game delay. and Yeah. So then they've been sitting in this city where there's really bad air quality for even longer than they should have been. i don't know. Part of me wanders. And I don't know that this would actually act like work, but does the NWSL need to have some sort of neutral venue ready somewhere?
00:17:34
Speaker
Yeah, that's ah's a good question. Somewhere in the middle of the country. i don't I don't really know because obviously this air quality thing is bad anywhere you go a certain places. So I feel like there might need to be some other options. The downside of that is you're probably setting it up for being like a closed door game. But if we're thinking about player safety, i think that's probably more important.
00:17:53
Speaker
Yeah. So I don't know. I just if they're going to keep playing games in the summer with climate change and the increased wildfire stuff and also the the heat because I mean, some of these games are just in and like you're having hydration breaks and then they're burning their feet, as we've seen in
Team Management Critique
00:18:09
Speaker
other games. I think I don't know if it's an actual solution that would work, but I do think maybe there's a conversation that could be had about it, about having a neutral venue somewhere.
00:18:17
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, after the Wednesday match between the Spirit and ah in Gotham, Trin came out and said we shouldn't even play the game.
00:18:29
Speaker
Who is, ah do they, like, they need to get some sort of consultant there ah in terms of, like, air quality? Because i also have questions about who decided to keep doing firework shows.
00:18:43
Speaker
Or setting off fireworks in general. It's so bad for... It's so... like There's always talk about like like lights and laser shows or whatever the hell, like light shows, and how bad that is for some people.
00:18:55
Speaker
i don't think there's enough discussion about how bad these like fireworks and smokes smoke things are for like the both the players in the field, but also people going to the games.
00:19:06
Speaker
And ah we saw what happened. i mean, if you haven't seen the clip yet of what happened in LA, was it, two weeks ago? With the fireworks nightmare? Yeah, and it was at halftime, right? think I don't know what time. it was either halftime or after the match. I remember someone saying that the smoke hadn't cleared out yet for like the second half. um But they had a snafu and the fireworks ended up shooting into the stands. I think we should stop fireworks. Hot take.
00:19:33
Speaker
i think that's a fair take in this day and age. Have you seen a drone show? I was like, get a drone show. Those are sick. Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. I think that's an interesting point about ah the neutral venue.
00:19:47
Speaker
Just somewhere out of harm's way. But i yeah that's something for the Players Association to take on. Yeah. Did you watch the pressers? ah I started to, and then I was like, I don't like watching these faces. So then I just went read what they said because i it was really hard to watch. You did more than me. What did you get out of it?
00:20:12
Speaker
um i mean, Fischl and Mercado looked pretty disappointed in what happened. I do think that there's some positives to take away from what happened in this match. I think that's kind of where they were at with it. They were like, we recognize it's a loss, but... um I don't know. There there is improvement, so I don't want them to get super sad about it. Obviously, things are kind of getting rough in terms of the standings, and they can't really afford these kinds of games. But i don't know. They have got a really big opponent next week as well, so like they kind of need to stay mentally focused and locked in. ah The thing that i put a the quote down from Harvey's presser, um this was on balancing defense solidity with staying ah threatening going forward.
00:20:56
Speaker
Because it seemed like they were trying to do too much at once in the second half. um They weren't really, i don't know, balanced with that. But she said, you've got to decide which areas of the field you you want to be really good in. And I think we've just got caught up in doing half of each one.
00:21:12
Speaker
That's what we've got to sort of analyze and get better at. Are we going to absorb pressure, but know when the ball comes into those dangerous areas, we can deal with it or prevent the ball from getting into those areas. We tend to be a prevention team, but the gaps were starting to get big in this game. We were fatigued, so we were just trying to protect that central space. But on the second goal, we just completely opened up on that central space, and you can't do that against players that Gotham have.
00:21:36
Speaker
Okay, fix it. like like yeah they They executed the game plan the first half, the second half, it just didn't come together. Is that fatigue? Is that the smoke? Is that the travel? Is that the early time kickoff? Is it the weather delay? Yeah.
00:21:52
Speaker
there's a lot of things going on here that I'm... It's hard to put this match, like we wanted the last match to be the start of something. And it's hard to not put an asterisk next to this match. And I'm not saying that as a cop-out. No.
00:22:10
Speaker
I'm just saying as a whole, i don't think it's as terrible for the momentum as we possibly might feel.
00:22:21
Speaker
I was talking to Ron about this and he asked me after the game. So that was terrible, wasn't it? Don't you feel bad about that? And I was just like, you know, not really. Look at who they subbed in.
00:22:33
Speaker
We don't have that kind of firepower on our team. Could they have done better defensively in the last 15 minutes? Sure. But there were so many things leading up to the match, player availability, the conditions, the air.
00:22:48
Speaker
It's just such a one off. Yeah. that i have a hard time really taking this loss to heart and feeling it as a true example of the team at this current moment. Yeah, I think you could read it, whatever mindset you have, you can read this game as as as that.
00:23:07
Speaker
Because there's things you can pick apart. There's also positives you can take away from it. it's hard to know where to land on that because we had such a long time off from playing and we came back, you know, um we're kind of stumbling our way through things. The team, the front office hasn't made changes though. So I'm kind of just still in this, this place where I'm like,
00:23:30
Speaker
if they're scoring If they're scoring goals, that's great. If we get a new player in here to kind of keep up that and then the defense can focus on their thing, that could change the whole season.
00:23:41
Speaker
And that's not happening. Like, that hasn't happened. So I just don't... I don't know. I feel like they're doing well with what they're what they have to work with. But there's still a very obvious and clear need to go and get somebody new.
00:23:54
Speaker
Absolutely. And I want to see them go spend that money that we got from Hidema. And we had such fun at the Portland game, right? We had a blast.
00:24:06
Speaker
And we were, you know, just this close from from tying Gotham, the best team in the league, who's probably breaking rules. Right. like that's i don't know to me that just gives me a little bit of hope i just yeah i don't think all is lost no i just want the front office to i don't know give give me something to show that they recognize that we're not our full we're not at our full potential give me something that makes it up appear that you give a fuck ah
00:24:36
Speaker
it's it's It's very annoying. and we say it every week. We do. And these players are trying really hard. So I just them to be... It's not on... I mean, not some of the mistakes, yeah, are on them. There's some mental stuff that they're going through. But they're working so hard with what they have. And I just feel like it's a total letdown from leadership.
00:24:57
Speaker
Yeah. Front office leadership. Yeah. Yeah, because I mean, the way that I see this game, it's like they had Esther and they had Lavelle. Those are difference makers. you're And you're bringing Esther off the bench for one half. Like, wish we could afford that kind of luxury.
00:25:12
Speaker
We can. They don't want to spend the money. Yeah. I'll end this on a more positive note. We did get to see Jess Fishlock back on the pitch for the first minute since end of April when she subbed it in the 83rd minute. Yeah.
00:25:29
Speaker
Did she look great? No. um Did she block a ball with her bad ankle? Yes. Oh, God. Yeah. But man. I don't know.
00:25:39
Speaker
I have mixed feelings about it. And then I guess you said you want to end on positive note. So this is kind of a mixed positive note. But our loss wasn't as bad as the Sounders.
00:25:50
Speaker
We didn't lose to Portland either yeah this time around. Yeah, at home in that fashion that they lost. um i would I would argue that it's worse than our first loss to Portland this year. Oh, i absolutely. It's probably worse than like our last two losses to Portland.
00:26:07
Speaker
Yikes. ah All right, let's get into Cooler Player of the Match. You ready? Yeah. Cooler Player of the Match is brought to you by The Doctor's Office, a great little 12-seat bar on Capitol Hill. The owner is a big fan of the rain and is proud to be our very first sponsor.
00:26:21
Speaker
This was an agreed upon one. Yeah. It was tough. It was because I really, really wanted to give it to Darlene, but that missed penalty, I can't reward it. Nope.
00:26:33
Speaker
Can't. Sorry. and So congratulations. Maddie Mercado. Yep. Congrats. Looking forward to more goals. And thanks again to our sponsor, The Doctor's Office. The Doctor's Office is the best place to grab a drink before after a rematch.
00:26:47
Speaker
ah Go check out their Instagram at TDO Seattle or better yet, go drink there in person. Cheers.
00:26:56
Speaker
Thank you for listening to the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network, which now includes No Sanietes, Lobbing Scorchers and the Cooler Guild. We've been independent since August of 2023 but need your support to make sure it continues.
00:27:09
Speaker
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00:27:22
Speaker
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00:27:37
Speaker
To find out more, just visit centeratheart.com and click the subscribe button in the top right corner. Thanks for listening.
00:27:48
Speaker
I do want to talk about some rain related news. Yeah. They did announce today their pub partnership program. Sweet. It's lot of. ah he does up fairly well He's always show for so well on the the mics too. So they are calling it rain together, home or a away. We watch together.
00:28:09
Speaker
Okay. So Tuesday, they unveiled Rain Together brand new pub partner program centered on creating gathering spaces for fan on home or away match days. Enjoy the energy and atmosphere of match day with your local community if you can't make even if you can't make it to the stadium.
00:28:22
Speaker
Great. Excellent. ah You can go on the website. They've got the pub partnerships. Rookies is on there. Love rookies. Rookies. We've got down here in Olympia, three magnets.
Community Engagement Initiatives
00:28:35
Speaker
Cool. Great place to watch a game. Any other spots? Bunch in Seattle, a lot in Seattle. We've got one up in Bellingham. Love Beham. Menace Brewing Company. Apparently, I don't know if this is their main logo, but they've got a can of beer kicking a soccer ball.
00:28:49
Speaker
Cool. I like that the Chuck Topshop is on there. hes Pitch the Baby, Rough and Tumble, of course. The Westie. and Okay. Out West Seattle. Yeah, this is great. They've got Rinehouse on there.
00:29:02
Speaker
were they doing this sooner? Here's the thing. Every time I've ran into my friends that own three magnets, yeah they tell me we applied for this months ago and they said, OK, and we've been been waiting for the signage and they won't send it to us. hu And this is like weeks and weeks ago. They're like a month ago. They were telling me this.
00:29:25
Speaker
Okay, so we just keep dropping. They had already been waiting, so I don't know why it took them that long to unveil it. And then they also told me, which makes no sense to me, that the RAIN and the Sounders, which are now essentially one organization, were doing this separately.
00:29:41
Speaker
So they're emailing a different guy about the Sounders one, a different person about the RAIN one. I have a lot of questions about what's how things are being run there right now. I do too.
00:29:51
Speaker
Cause there seems to be a slight common thread happening with the rain and the sounders of kind of just, I don't know, dragging their feet with stuff. Lack of investment. Yeah.
00:30:03
Speaker
It's interesting. I don't like it. i don't either, but This did come out today and they have a whole thing on the ReignFC.com website where you can explore the map.
00:30:14
Speaker
Great. See where all the different places are. Just cool. And you can go to a bar and be guaranteed that they're going to have the match on this day. Yeah, that's that's that's great because it's been a struggle in the past.
00:30:29
Speaker
Especially when these these pubs have to get access to Victory Plus, NWSL Plus. Yeah, yeah, And you don't want to have to drive all... I mean, as much as I really enjoy Rough and Tumble, um getting to that part of the city sucks. Well, they're going to Columbia City now. They do. They do, and that's awesome. Love Columbia City.
00:30:48
Speaker
In the previous times, though, to get to Rough and Tumble, kind of a pain in the ass if you don't live in Ballard. Yeah. Even if you do live in Ballard, it's kind the ass. Just... I'm also somebody who hates traffic, so anything kind of annoys me now. but um Well, if it's an you know if you're going to Balor, at least but you might get a Jimothy sighting. You might get a Jimothy sighting.
00:31:07
Speaker
So that's great. ah Cool. Well, at least Lorraine did it. Did some pub partnerships, yes. Okay. give us a player to watch.
00:31:18
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Follow it up with something that will actually keep people's eyes glued to the TV. Thanks. Blig splashy signing. <unk> Blig? Blig. Yeah, I did that. Okay.
00:31:32
Speaker
ah Let's move on to the other NWSL results from the week. There were two Wednesday matches. Orlando lost to Boston one to zero Gotham beat Spirit at that big flashy game at Citi Field.
00:31:44
Speaker
They won 1-0 on a Rose Lavelle. Just absolute worldy. That field looked like shit. Oh, it looked terrible. The air quality was worse, I think, for that game than it was in our game.
00:31:55
Speaker
Yeah, it was just bad. Casey tied San Diego 2-2. There was an ACL tear in this match, 1-2 this week Trinity Armstrong and you said that she had already previously torn her other ACL? She had some sort of knee problem before. don't know if it was an ACL. I feel like I read somewhere but then I couldn't confirm it. I don't know a lot about teams that aren't the rain to be fair. Cool. Yep. Denver beat Portland We got the Lindsay Heaps return.
00:32:24
Speaker
Oh, she's back. Very cool. Beating her old team, too. So Portland just racking up L's. Hell yeah. Love to see it. That's two L's in hell.
00:32:36
Speaker
That was a banger right there. ah Okay. ah ah Bay demolished North Carolina. Three to zero. God. Well, that's what happens when you get rid of of your best players.
00:32:50
Speaker
Yep. Chicago lost Angel City 2-0. And the unfortunate happened. Jordan Heidema has announced that she tore her ACL. Sucks. She was not certain to get things together there.
00:33:03
Speaker
Yeah. Utah beat Orlando one to zero I have questions about Orlando. I think a lot of people do. They seem very one dimensional. Yeah. Louisville tied Houston one to one and Boston lost to Washington one to two.
00:33:18
Speaker
Lost nation. Lost nation. Yep. So that was that was the game. And as we're sitting now, not great. We are in 12th place.
00:33:29
Speaker
Long pause. yeah I mean, this is what they deserve given what they've done in this offseason and what they've done in the summer window of signings. I'm sorry. I don't i don't want to have to say that, but I think it's true.
00:33:45
Speaker
ah Gotham does play Portland next week. This upcoming weekend, so maybe that'll add. Triple L's.
Future Matches and Team Strategy
00:33:53
Speaker
Hell with three L's.
00:33:56
Speaker
He triple hockey stick. And we're playing San Diego, who is in third place. They haven't been as good as they can be. That's maybe the only comfort I have in this game.
00:34:07
Speaker
they have two wins, two losses, and a draw in their last five matches. When they're feeling it, though, they're very good. Yeah. That game, did you say when it's going to be yet? No, I haven't haven't said that. I was just looking at the looking at the table there. Okay. But we do play San Diego next.
00:34:25
Speaker
Yeah, ah we're playing them. you have anything else you want to say before I the time and date? No. Okay, ah they're playing San Diego on Sunday, July 26, 2 p.m. That'll be in San Diego at one of my least favorite stadiums and a lot of people's least favorite stadiums in the league. Notorious for having bad grass. um Aesthetically, i just don't like it also. um That's just a personal thing. That'll be on Fox 13 Plus if you're a local and then CBS Sports Network for everyone else.
00:34:56
Speaker
What do you want to see in this game? Well, I'd like to see them win. you think they can pull a win out against this Wave team? I think so. What changes between the game against Gotham and this one to get that to finish out a result like that? San Diego doesn't have a stare.
00:35:13
Speaker
They have other good players, though. Yeah. Yeah. But I think that they can do it. Okay. They're going to get some rest. Go down to San Diego.
00:35:24
Speaker
brief Reset. And I think that connection between Darlene and Mercado needs to be exploited. And if they can get Darlene in behind and keep the ball, have possession.
00:35:40
Speaker
Possession was so lacking in the second half of this the match against Gotham. And it really just tired our players out in a situation where they were obviously already not primed properly.
00:35:52
Speaker
So i I want to see what they can do. i have i won't be surprised if they lose. I also won't be surprised if they win. It just depends on which team shows up, and i want I hope that they can mentally show up for this match.
00:36:04
Speaker
think the... Yeah, I was just looking it up. The possession actually wasn't that drastically different between the first half and the second half of that game. They just couldn't handle the pressure of... Holy moly, if you look at the shots... Because Fottmobby, you can like filter by half to look at the shots, and it's just like first second half for Gotham is just like ridiculous. They just laid it on.
00:36:26
Speaker
So I guess what I want to see in this game is prevent t they prevent prevent San Diego from kind of doing that same thing, limit those chances. They were getting so good at like blocking shots and preventing things from even getting the balls from being passed around in the box. If they can kind of do that and not allow San Diego to...
00:36:49
Speaker
sneak in i think yeah i think you i think you might be on to something and that they have a chance in this game um and i do think san diego's little vulnerable so they do give up goals yeah they do what's the how many goals have they given up this year i'm so good at doing my research before this
00:37:11
Speaker
uh they've given up 17. What have we given up? maybe is Maybe that's a bad question to ask. 19. Okay. So, yeah. and ok so yeah Yeah, they've scored given up We've scored and given up god we can't score for shit though jesus couldn't it's yeah you're you're right i wonder what since we started scoring from the etsy which like what i should do some studies on how whatever how much your goal scoring changed the study in the last in the last five matches we are eight scored eight conceded nine uh can we get 500 that
00:37:47
Speaker
In a way, we've scored eight, given up 12 home matches. It's 500, seven and seven. Okay. But if they want to jump the table, they got to do better.
00:37:58
Speaker
Yeah. They need to score more goals and not give up as many. Win a game. Really? hey I guess there's there's some bit of rain news that still hasn't been announced yet. That's kind of, it's not the flashy big signing we want, but there is some rain news that they still haven't announced that's coming. Yeah.
00:38:14
Speaker
It was on the media Yeah, I know. It was on the media release, but then they took it off, right? They did. It's not, a again, I don't think it's worth... It's not a player. No. It's coaching coaching stuff, but... ah feel so frustrated.
00:38:34
Speaker
Not at the team and the players. I'm frustrated with the front office and the lack of ah ambition that it feels like that's happening there. It really feels like they don't care. Yeah. Yeah. And like when it did feel like they did care ah hu with the promos for the Portland match, ahhu the team showed up. Yeah. the fans showed up. Yeah.
00:38:55
Speaker
But give us keep give us something to cheer about. Yeah. But it seems like they just are not dialed into the reality of what this team is facing. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we've talked about it a lot this season, so I guess I don't really need to go into it more. But I think they need to do something or else things get worse.
00:39:16
Speaker
Yeah, we could lose people. Yeah. And they can't afford to lose some of these players that they have. Correct. So i'm go spend some money. If your name is Leslie Gallimore, please go spend some money. um Smart choices only. Yeah. Yeah. I, here's the thing. I'm kind of like, it's clear that we have a lot of really good youth talent.
00:39:37
Speaker
Uh, I do think at this point, maybe it's time to move on from Dames. It doesn't seem like they're interested in continuing, trying to figure out how to work her into the team. So i think they could use her and some sort of transactions so she can get playing time somewhere else. Cause do think she's good enough to be starting somewhere.
00:39:52
Speaker
Um, but in my head, I'm like, They don't clearly seem to be making a team for this year or last year. And they're getting a lot of youth players. Could we just tell us that?
00:40:05
Speaker
Could they just tell us that like, you know, this is kind of like a big project, big project kind of thing. Cause that's kind of like the, i don't know, the storm kind of have a similar thing going on with them, I think. So like, if that's what it's going to be, then they need to market these younger players better.
00:40:19
Speaker
But they don't, they don't, they don't. So that's obviously not what they're doing. Yeah. so I'm just confused. I'm ultimately just confused.
Episode Conclusion and Wrap-Up
00:40:25
Speaker
I think we all are. Yeah. um Sucks. Yeah.
00:40:31
Speaker
I have a lot of thoughts about it. I don't really know how to piece them together, but um yeah, we're all and we're all in this together as they used to say in COVID times. i We are the world. oh gosh. um You got any shoutouts before we wrap everything up? Any final thoughts? Anything you want to say? Shoutouts to Simon Bay.
00:40:54
Speaker
Cool. Yeah. Winning the USLW championship, ah the easiest route possible. I was like, the USLW loves to crown champions on their own. They sure do. it's like the private equity version of semi-professional sports. Pre-professional, as they call it. Pre-professional. I mean, hey, I'm I'm fine with it if it gets people in Seattle excited about women's soccer. Yeah, for sure. Like, you know, that's great. Let's do that.
00:41:20
Speaker
Shout out to Suds. Soap. Dog soap. yeah Dog. Dog shampoo. You can go visit our sponsor if you want while you're sad ah or happy about being a rain fan, even though it's hard.
00:41:33
Speaker
You can go to the doctor's office, though, and have a drink over it. Thanks again to them and Matt. Delicious. Yeah, delicious. It's summertime. It's a good place to be in the summer. You can go follow some blue sky on Instagram at Cooler Guild Pod.
00:41:45
Speaker
You can send us an email. Email us your frustrations, please. Yeah, we can be the comment, comment card collector for the team. Yeah, maybe we can compile them.
00:41:57
Speaker
And if you haven't already visit us on our main page, sounderatheart.com forward slash the cooler guild, subscribe to Sounder at Heart through our page. And then you can get access to the discord at a certain level. And then you can really air out your frustrations with those of us that are on there and really do give a shit about this team. Yeah.
00:42:19
Speaker
Um, it would probably get more reactions than it would if you sent it to the front office, to be fair. yeah um you know we're we're doing our part at rovox steve mostly call out the front office uh so go subscribe there make sure steve gets credit for his hard work that he does uh can always go follow us on youtube youtube.com forward slash out the cooler guild uh till next time i'm coop i'm van stay cool y'all stay cool
00:43:12
Speaker
Alex was like, there's no way a child didn't do this. And then we saw the guy who did it. I mean, like it's in an aesthetic of like, you know, that kind of thing. But a child definitely did these. And then he like gives us the artwork. and I was like, I told you it was a real adult.