Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
The Cooler Guild: A little joy in a tough season - Ep. 21
123 Plays21 days ago
We're back with another dub pod. The Reign finished out their home season with a 2-1 win over last-place Houston Dash. Olivia Athens broke the Reign's 5 match goalless streak with an absolute banger and Coco got the game winner in her first start for the club. We get into the positives and negatives from the match, look at some other results from the weekend, and discuss a couple of other things happening in the women's sports world.
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Episode 21
00:00:20
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 21 of The Cooler Guild. I'm your host Coop, and you with me as always is my co-host van. Hello. we We're recording on Tuesday, October 22nd, 2024. On today's episode, we'll be discussing rain finally breaking their losing streak with a win at home versus the Houston dash. This is a dub pod, baby. We'll also be taking a look at a few other results from on Lee, the payoff picture, and then we'll also preview the next and final rain match of the season. But first some
Podcast Network and Subscription Info
00:00:47
Speaker
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.
00:00:57
Speaker
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. Cool. debpo I love this. Did anything else great happen in
Tegan and Sara Documentary Surprise
00:01:10
Speaker
your life this week? I mean, I don't know if this is great because of their circumstances, but I watched the Tegan and Sarah documentary. I forgot about that. I saw TikTok about it. And I was like, this looks insane. Yeah, I wanted to save it to tell you that I watched it for this. I was like, I don't I don't want to talk about it until then. It was because like we I don't know. We were trying to find a movie to watch.
00:01:32
Speaker
And I don't usually like watching true like documentaries or any true crime stuff right before bed, but my love for Tegan and Sarah goes back pretty far. And I was like, I have a Tegan and Sarah tattoo, but yeah, it was wild. it We just like watched the trailer for it on Hulu. And then I was like, well, guess we're watching this. And I mean, I had no clue any of this was going on. I hadn't heard anything about it. I mean, they didn't talk about it. Like Tegan didn't talk about it. you know did you see that tegan Tegan wasn't DMing you?
00:01:58
Speaker
I know, I was trying to think, like had I heard of somebody talking to Tegan at like one of the shows I went to? Because I used to go to like a lot of their shows, and like they they were really personal. like like they like Tegan would talk to like lots of people, which is what the documentary talks about. Tegan would always talk to lots of people, and that's like kind of why it was so believable. so The documentary, from what I understand, is like somebody pretended to be them and catfished a bunch of people.
00:02:26
Speaker
Just, they pretended just to be Tegan. It wasn't Sarah. ok And they called they called the fake Tegan, Feegan.
00:02:34
Speaker
but like they like broke into like i I can't remember who on their staff I don't want to spoil too many things because you know I think everyone should go watch it they had like the demos and like emails of like personal stuff um of Tegan's and shit and so like this person who's pretending to be Tegan was like sharing like the demos of like unreleased shit to like all of these people it's wild that's not And they still haven't figured out who did it. And they tell you at the beginning, they kind of allude to they didn't figure out who it is. They have some suspects, so you can kind of guess if you want, and then they kind of reveal something at the end. We don't have super conclusive answers, so. Yeah, there's probably some ongoing legal stuff where they can't speculate too hard. You should go check it out. Did you do anything? Watch anything cool? Do anything cool? No. Okay. I watched a lot of soccer. Yeah.
00:03:24
Speaker
Yeah, we'll get into that. It's kind of a downer weekend for me. Other than the win, the win really, you know, canceled some shit out for me. So that's nice. Um, should we go into the match? Yeah, let's talk about it. All right. Little match recap on
Rain's Victory Against Houston Dash
00:03:36
Speaker
Friday night. Rain took on last place Houston at Lumen field in what was the rain's final home match of the season. The team entered the match having mean already been eliminated from the playoffs after last week's game, but that didn't stop the players from trying to prove that they are still motivated to end the season on a high note after not scoring in their previous five matches.
00:03:53
Speaker
Rain got on the swore sheet first in the 22nd minute, all thanks to Olivia Athens hitting an absolute banger. So good. That goal was ridiculous. It was incredible. ah When she hit that, I was like, oh, that's going in. I just knew it. It just felt like it. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. For sure. It was short-lived, though. It was a very short-lived celebration. Lou Barnes conceded a penalty on the opposite end three minutes later, which Houston put away to type the game. First half ended 1-1. Rain came out in the second half looking a lot more composed.
00:04:20
Speaker
Super threatening. Monteser was taking on defenders all game and she was rewarded with her first goal and the NW cell in the 65th minute with a nice little nutmeg through the keeper's legs. We love that. um Game ended 2-1 giving rain their sixth win of the season and they were able to close out their home stand on a positive note. We love this. So great. yeah um I was right.
00:04:45
Speaker
you You were right. um I mean, we will like once again point out the team we were playing was in last place. This kind of was the toilet bowl, as you said. Yeah. But we won. But we won. We're not going to finish the season in last place.
00:04:57
Speaker
No. Well, hopefully are we officially like not able to? Let's see. I'm just curious now. I haven't checked because i'm I think that Houston would have to score a bunch of goals. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So we're looking pretty good ah for a bad season for a really bad season. We're not going to end last. Hopefully not get in the wooden spoon. Um, we are playing more than the next, but we'll get into that later. Did you have any general thoughts about this match or anything? Thank God someone scored.
00:05:23
Speaker
and I would like to point out, I, so the Athens school, I would consider that gonna play. It's kind of a mixture. Cause it was in the dumbest corner, got kind of headed out and that's when it bounced and then Athens just hit through it. Oh shit. Do you have a beer? No, I have water. I got a celebratory beer. I've got celebratory water. Okay. Great. I'll pop this bad boy open to a dead pod, to a dead pod.
00:05:48
Speaker
Poop just opened her beer and it seems to have gotten all over the place. It kind of splooged on me. Oh god it's dripping everywhere. This is a disaster for me. Oh my god. Oh my god. Why is it like this? It's like foamy everywhere. It's like out of the block.
00:06:05
Speaker
What beer is it? The Guild collab Oh, the Guild collab? Yeah, I don't know why it's spilling over me. This is this is but whatever. This is it's a this sum summarizes the season pretty well. Let's be honest. I got a little ahead of myself. General notes, the team as a whole, what I noticed while rewatching the game today, players were like smiling and looking like they enjoyed themselves. When we were, the game was still tied one-to-one and that just seemed there was some sort of, I don't know, maybe that was because the pressure of like not getting eliminated from playoffs had fallen away because they got eliminated. And it's like, well, now, you know, we can only play playing for ourselves and for the fans. so yeah they looked good i mean granted this was like a houston team that sucks really bad but the camaraderie i think yeah i think that's what i saw out of the team we have seen like i don't ever look at this team and think that like the vibes are bad no just the situation is bad that we are in but
00:07:03
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. Playing for the fans for the last home game really helped. So shout out to everyone who made it out there. I feel like the sentence was actually pretty high for a Friday night match. Cause those, those don't, I don't know. I don't in the rain. Yeah. I don't expect those games to be super high in attendance, but they got 8,456 people there. I think it's pretty good. I would obviously like to see us start getting in over 10,000 consistently, but get to that area and see. I don't know. Friday night. Good luck.
00:07:32
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, sign some big players in the off season, you know, probably up your attendance. Um, it was the first time the team has worn white at home. Yeah. And it seemed like nobody knew that they were that was going to happen. No. Um, Olivia Athens said that she didn't know until they got into the locker room was like, no. And Harvey didn't know. And she was like, but like I guess we have to wear white again. She's like super superstitious about stuff like that. So she's like, wants to keep that going, I guess. I don't hate the white. I wish they had dark shorts. Yeah, ah the gray could be a little bit more defined. I think these these kits are a one time thing um because I think every team has a one time thing because they're trying to get the every other season with the new jersey thing on track. And since we haven't really had that, I think this is a one off jersey for what I remember hearing at least. We had to release those like super closely after the rebrand, too. Yeah, I mean, and we were all like, this could be really bad or it could be fine. And it was fine. So.
00:08:28
Speaker
Yeah, I think they're fine. Definitely looking forward to whatever comes next year, but it should
Challenges with Inconsistent Lineup
00:08:32
Speaker
be, uh, I'm guessing they'll do white again. Yeah. Notable stats. Once again, 25 different starting 11s through 25 matches. I mean, you're out eliminated from the playoffs, so you might as well just try something. and Pretty much. And with the availability that we've had, and we talked about this last week, it's part of the problem with not being able to find consistency or like who our, you know, defined starters are is that we don't have a consistent starting 11. And it's usually like not just one player we're swapping out. It's like between two and five. that's It's all over the place. It's crazy. 16 of 25 matches now for us have been decided by one goal. What does that say to you? I i think that tells me that we're not a team that's completely off the rails. And especially when I think about the goals that we've conceded, a lot of times I think it's like what was someone doing in that instance? It's not like, I don't know, it's like we're getting outplayed all the time. It's just like these mental lapses, poor decision-making in a moment and things that I think that they can go look back on film and be like, oh shit, shouldn't have done that, right? I won't do that again kind of stuff. Um, so if we can clean that stuff up off season, pre-season, you know, with everybody playing together, I think, I think we'll have a, you know, a pretty, pretty solid team next year. I think the thing that still worries me is goal scoring obviously, but the fact that we're staying in games is super encouraging. Yeah. I think it really speaks to the defense. Yeah, it it says the same two things to me. Like, we're not off the rails. The defense has been generally okay and sometimes pretty good. And we're not scoring enough goals. Yeah. Sometimes we're getting, sometimes we're like getting bammed on and then they don't have a response. Yeah. And it seems like we tend to have a response and we don't let a goal affect us, you know, too much. Well, we've had a lot of practice going down first. It's true, unfortunately. oh
00:10:28
Speaker
I think there's some of that in there too. Yeah, I didn't know that I didn't know this. Yeah. So with because we had so many shots on goal and Jane Campbell had to make so many saves because we're such a threatening team now. um Just like last week, with is we said the exact opposite.
00:10:48
Speaker
Uh, Jane Campbell reached 113 saves on the season. So that's the it to new NWSL single season record. And they're still in last place. Well, that's why they're in last place. Cause she's had to make 113 saves. She's tried her hardest. And neither of those goals though that we scored on her, like really, she could have done anything about. And she, she was, she was coming out to get big and Montezier kept the ball really close on the ground and was able to poke it in. I mean, if you look at the slow mo, you can see she, her body positioning is pretty spot on what exactly you'd want your goalkeeper to do. It's just really hard to save something that close. So as a and goalkeeper, myself, goalkeeper union, we have to recognize Jean Campbell. Congrats. Congrats. Moving on to positives. We got some positives and it's not like desperate positives either. We have more positives than negatives this game. Woo hoo. Said it, but we had it on high note for the last home match of the season at least.
Team Spirit Despite Playoff Elimination
00:11:46
Speaker
That's huge. Yeah. I mean, you've got fans that have been coming to games this entire season, you know, the attendance has dropped, but not, there's like factors to a lot of those lower attendance games too.
00:11:58
Speaker
Yeah, but it hasn't like plummeted with the streak of bad that this team has had. No, they were eliminated before this game, and then we still had over 8,000 people show up. Yeah. so I think that's a testament to the club, to the players, and and fans know that you're going to get you know players that are going to try and win this game. Yeah. It was friend fan appreciation night too, and they gave Harvey her 100 jersey before the match. Was it 100 wins, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah, that was cool. Olivia Athens, man, she had she had herself a game. I've been wanting to see more of her for a long time. Yeah. And I remember Susie, Susie talking about how she has looked good the last couple of times she's come on the field and, you know, she might be a difference maker. And it's exactly what she was. Even without, I mean, the goal was ridiculous, but even without the goal, I feel like what she was bringing to the midfield and everything is like a lot of what we've been missing. I was really impressed with her. I hope we get to see more of her. um And it was kind of interesting listening to the post-game presser with Harvey talking about her and just giving her so much praise. And I don't know, she just seems like ready to get in and is looking for any opportunity she can get. so Love it for her. I do too.
00:13:05
Speaker
Um, but this is, this is a huge positive Monteser, first start, first goal. Amazing. You've been wanting to see, I mean, think not just you, literally everybody's been wanting to see Monteser start. She just adds such a different dynamic up front. And one thing that really hit me saw it a lot kind of towards the end, middle end of the first half, um, and into the second half, uh, her and Adama's connecting was awesome.
00:13:31
Speaker
We have not seen our midfield handle the ball and work through to get it forward in a while. And this just felt like, oh, there might be something here. Yeah. Cause they were both taking players on. They were creating those little triangles in the midfield. So a lot of times in the past couple of games, we've been getting the ball and have no one to pass it to. So we got to go backwards, but they're opening up channels. You see the movement.
00:13:57
Speaker
I will add that Heidema also played really well in this game. She was doing the same thing. She was making runs. She was being more dynamic. And so I think that it just rubs off on players when you get somebody in that just adds that little bit extra and everybody else kind of follows suit. Yeah. It was kind of, um, and did you listen to the, uh, post-game browser with Harvey? They talked about how Mondesir like, it sounds like they've been wanting to get her to start for quite a while, but there's been a bunch of other factors. This is what I guess where Harvey's doesn't tell us what's going on behind the scenes a lot, but it would have like, this would have eased my mind a little bit knowing this the before, but Mondesir like.
00:14:34
Speaker
has had a whole bunch of things going on, like had to fly to DC for one day to like get a visa approval. She's like, well, I can't start her after she's just flown across the country and back. Yeah. And that I was like, well, that makes sense. It would be nice to know that because then I would be sitting here upset about her not starting.
00:14:51
Speaker
Um, but then after that, all that stuff got cleared up and she had like a good week of training or whatever. She was like, I'm starting her no matter what. Yeah. Wherever we can put her on the field, then we can put her on. Yeah. And it worked out great. Yeah. She was great. I love what she adds to the team. Um, and I think it's something we've really been missing.
00:15:06
Speaker
Yeah. Same with Adama's. I like Adama's. Yeah. she's She's got a little bit of a a... She's a fighter. Yeah, she's got that edge. Yeah. Totally. And she's only 18? Yeah, she's a baby. But she kind of kicked off the match, beating people in the final third, you know, getting the ball into dangerous spaces, fighting to win it back. um So I thought she was a really... That was a ah cool thing to see. Future's bright for her. ah So we just got to make sure we get her playing well and... Not overdoing it as well um But I think the team also needs to be winning because I don't she looks like somebody who is not gonna be content At a team that is not doing well. Yeah, so yeah I kept getting like a little bit frustrated because like that final shot she'd take or what whatnot just wasn't quite There and so I had to look up and was like, oh she's 18. Yeah Yeah, that makes sense
00:16:00
Speaker
It'll come. We've been spoiled with seeing so many like young phenoms in this league that I think it kind of like clouds our reactions. We just get like too like excited about it and hope hope more, but like some of these players, it's just like unreal natural ability. I'm not saying Adamus doesn't have that, but like I don't know. How has Utah got like this young kid who's just playing so well and Angel City also has somebody that's playing so well is like super young. I don't know. I think that the right circumstances just set these players up. I mean, I think we do have that, but it's on our defensive line. It's Jordan Bug. Yeah, that's true. And honestly, I'll take a ah long term elite center back all day. Those are hard to find.
00:16:40
Speaker
Yeah, it's just a different, you know, she's not out there scoring goals and making her mark on the match in that way. And so I think we don't really compare them. Yeah. But I think in in the end, I think like she is just as important. Absolutely. What else you got? It just to me, it looked like they wanted to score. There was a sense of there was a sense of wanting to go forward that we haven't seen. What was the stats from the last game um for our shots? We had three shots.
00:17:09
Speaker
Awful. Three shots, one on target. and I mean, they were all sad attempts too. We didn't get our asses handed to us last game, but um that was also that red card game. We went from what looked like the least threatening team to looking at it like a team and that actually, I don't know, I'd be a little worried of us. Yeah. Maybe we had 12 shots, five on target. No complaints. No, that's four times more than the last game.
00:17:34
Speaker
Yeah. i I just, I still need Haida much to just finally break through though. One day it's going to happen. And then I feel like the flow that you guys are going to open after that. Cause she's get, she gets so close and it's just, it hasn't, hasn't broken through this year, but we have to remember she broke her back.
Heidema's Development
00:17:51
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:52
Speaker
And she's also been improving in other ah other ways. She's actually become a really good hold up player. I think she listened to our advice and put on some muscle because you're not seeing her fall down every every time she gets hit now. Yeah. um Except when she got smacked straight in the side of the head. with Which anymore stricken anyone's. Anyone's fully when that happens. Yeah.
00:18:12
Speaker
And I think that like defensively, when we lose the ball in the final third, she's put herself in really good positions and is really good defensively up top. So I think, yes, she needs to be scoring goals, but I don't know. She has things to look back on the season positively about, I think. Um, but definitely like the biggest thing is she needs to be scoring. I do think the preseason with everybody together is going to do wonders. So, cause we really haven't had all of these players together. now We're kind of just hanging out and hoping for the best. Yeah. Oh, I did want to mention it's not really positive, but if it had gone in, it would have been sick. Lats goes left footed shot.
00:18:51
Speaker
curled just outside of me. Oh, fuck. That was nuts. It was gnarly. We would have had two goals up for goal of the week. I mean, that was so close to going into. Yeah, it didn't miss by much. She hit that so well. I'm sad again. Negatives, we gave up a penalty right after scoring.
00:19:13
Speaker
It was so stupid too. And I also didn't expect that from, I mean, I know Lou Barge hasn't been playing as much as she used to and starting and all that, but you would hope that your veteran center back wouldn't do something that silly, especially right after scoring. Yeah. So that was disappointing, but i I don't know. I guess every now and then your veteran is allowed some sort of big error.
00:19:35
Speaker
yeah but She was like, well, I guess I'll stop you. I'll just stick my leg out and trip you. Just like and it was just like we've been dealing with quick restarts, conceding right after we score right out of the half, right at the kickoff. And I feel like this is like the, you know, what's what's got to happen for this to stop? I don't know. That was so easily avoidable, too. Yeah. And she took the she took her touch away from goal to get around Lou Barnes. So, ah yeah, just silly, dumbfounded, silly. Yeah.
00:20:06
Speaker
um There was about 70 minutes where I could not tell that Zara King was on the field. I don't know. I don't know if it was just because everything was so different than usual. Everyone else is adapting. Yeah, that's that's the that's the thing, because everyone else did adapt to it, so not great. She had some moments in the second half.
00:20:25
Speaker
maybe two? Yeah, but we've got, I don't know, I guess i guess when we have a new player who is getting their first start, more than likely they're going to want to take that moment and try to shine, which is what we got with Montezir. And then Adames had her moments of looking dynamic. But like, you should, I mean, she should be feeling like fighting for her her position, right? Like, because it's not a given. It was just really lackluster. Yeah.
00:20:47
Speaker
She's had a contract this year, isn't she? I think she might be a free agent at the end of this year, and that'll be interesting to see maybe what happens. Yeah. Because of whatever maybe is going on with Fishlock. Yeah, because we've been without her what now for four games. Yeah, quite quite a while.
00:21:02
Speaker
my my What I'm curious about, and this is just pure my own speculation, um I can't imagine Fishlock going to another team in the NW cell, but if she's interested in making a push ah with whales to the Euros, would she want to go back home, closer to home somewhere? Could be. Could be.
00:21:23
Speaker
um another thing that we keep doing i don't know why just straight up giving the ball away passing to the wrong team yeah geez when you pointed that out to me i mean i kind of noticed it before but then once you said gee is pretty guilty of that i was like shit she takes like four touches on the ball and is like suddenly surprised when there's three defenders around her And usually, usually like I can excuse it because no one around her is moving. Yeah, but this game is a little different. This game is so different. Plenty of opportunities to get rid of the ball quicker, but she's just sitting there dancing on it and then. Yeah, I think it's something she could adjust to.
00:22:00
Speaker
There is another time where like we were clearing the ball out of our box and somebody got it like towards the edge of the 18. And I
Issues with Ball Clearance
00:22:10
Speaker
think it might have been Heidema or might have been Lazco was like running on the right hand side and you could have easily like just passed the ball off to that running player. Instead, you kicked it 15 yards and gave it away, just putting yourself back under pressure. They need to be smarter about clearing the ball.
00:22:27
Speaker
Yeah, that's been a ah grievance of of mine for for the season. just Just boot it. I don't care. At this point, we're so bad. You just got to boot it. I don't need you to try to have some finesse. Get it as far away as possible. But even like even in that instance, like the player was wide open and had space to run. That'll, if anything, take time, right? Alleviating some of the pressure, letting the defense step up. But nope, we're just going to give it away.
00:22:54
Speaker
Post-match presser notes, um, Laura Harvey. She talked about Olivia Athens getting the armband and that she talked about like they've been kind of just like rotating the armband quite a bit because she thinks that it kind of can help players step up their game and I think that's kind of what you mentioned with when Heidama got it. Yeah. And I think she just talked about how like Olivia is just, I don't know, dedicated, loves this team, loves his fan the fans and Um, she's a hard worker and she's been here for a while and she just made sense. So yeah, I really liked what Olivia Athens said in the press conference, just how for her it's a mentality because she was asked a question, you know, what's, what's it been like? Some games you're not on, you know, you're, you're not on the player sheet. You're not even dressing for the game. And then other times, you know, you're getting thrown into a starting position.
00:23:48
Speaker
And she talked about how, it's for her, it's just a mentality thing that she needs to be ready. And that just goes to show that she's a dedicated team teammate. she For as ready as she was for that, she did say to Lou, or she's looking at her like, what the fuck? why are you Are you sure you want me to have the armband?
00:24:05
Speaker
I'm like, girl, you've just been bawling out, of course. Yeah, she had a great game. And the player in post-master pressure, they had Olivia Athens and Coco there. And Athens credited Scott, which, you know, I feel like we've been a little harsh maybe on him, but he she credited Scott, um assistant coach, on her positioning for that goal. um she She kind of knew to be there in case the ball came out and she was ready. She was real ready.
00:24:31
Speaker
she really just fucking she hit that ah as good as you can fucking hit it oh it's like butter it's too yeah it's too bad it's not gonna win gold a week because the dealer is scored an absolutely ridiculous goal but this might be up there for my top three rain goals of the season Yeah, for sure. It was so satisfying. Olivia and Athens also talked about just the team men, her personally being sick and tired of the way that they've been playing and losing games. So they wanted to come out and you know make this one count as the last home game of the season, which we figured didn't know how that would actually result. If it would result.
00:25:08
Speaker
Yeah. I think though it was the right combination of everything. Last home game of the season versus Houston, the worst team in the league. Nothing's a given in this league, right? that we We just lost to Houston. Yeah. So like as much as I can shit on them and say they're last plays, we fucking lost to them. Yeah. So I wasn't 100% sure we were going to win this. um But they got they they they got the job done. So I'm happy.
00:25:32
Speaker
Yeah, it was such a good relief and, you know, it gives the players a little bit of belief going into the next match. I did think it was great to have Coco in the presser. They translated for her in French, but she talked about how, you know, it is kind of scary coming into a new team in a new country, you know, where you don't know anybody, but that people players have been really, really great and the staff's been really good. And the broadcasters were talking about when they went to training the day before and she was getting English lessons. I can't imagine doing that, like moving to another country and then you barely know the language or like you definitely need to like learn it better.
00:26:16
Speaker
there I think there was one question in the interview where she, whoever asked it was speaking a little bit slower. um So she was, I don't think she used the translator for that. No, she answered in French, but she didn't use the translator. Yeah, for for like translator to relay the question back to her. So that was pretty cool to see. She talked about how it was really good to be, you know, even though she's here where she didn't know anybody, you know, in a new country that the coaches and all of her teammates were understanding and really helping her adapt.
00:26:45
Speaker
You know, I would like to see, uh, in the off season, uh, or whenever we do another signing, I'd like to see us get a French speaking signing who also is pretty fluent in English to really help pair with Wanda seer. Who could that be? Wendy Renard. She's pretty ancient now, isn't she? Well, we've got a Domus putting in crosses. I feel like Wendy Renard could put some of those in.
00:27:08
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I'll have to do some thinking about who I think it should be, but I think i think that because it could be really interesting. And we've got we've got the need. We've got to bring someone in. Why not get someone from the French national team or, ah I don't know, something like that. someone There's a lot of other countries that speak French. Yeah, unfortunately. Yeah, colonization.
00:27:28
Speaker
i mean yeah I think that's pretty much it on our notes for the match. You want to move on to the Cooler Player of the Match? I sure do. 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.
00:27:47
Speaker
Drum roll. and ah that Stop. I can roll my arms. Anytime you need that let me know.
00:28:02
Speaker
All right, this week, uh, cool. Get it together, man. I you scrambled my brain with that. Let's to do it again. Don't, I might lose it. Uh, the doctor's office cooler player of the match this week is.
00:28:18
Speaker
Olivia Athens ba bear great game congratulations on scoring that absolute banger and welcome to the clear player of the match hall of fame Olivia Athens welcome um the doctor's office is the best place to grab a drink before or after a rain match celebrate all of the rains wins this season with a six agave sazerac a classic what six agave for our six wins hopefully we have more than that next year It is a classic Sazerac with neither rye nor brandy, rather a divine balance of four mezcals, one tequila and one I don't know how to pronounce. For the agave aficionados and Sazerac true believers. Check out their Instagram
Portland Thorns' Playoff Prospects
00:28:58
Speaker
at TDO Seattle or better yet, go drink there in person. Cheers. Cheers. thank Other notes moving on to the rest of the league and things that happen that we want to talk about. Number one, Portland lost. They did.
00:29:11
Speaker
yeah ah so they're still fighting for a playoff spot I mean they're gonna get in I don't see a situation when they don't get in what's the like the situations they're they're looking pretty fine with their ah goal differential I think it's gonna save them in order to get eliminated they would have to lose and two other teams would have to win Yeah, but because ah oh god I'm really bad at math. So this is a fun game for me right now because the goal differential. So if Racine wins and they go up to 31 and then presumably their goal differential changes the 31. So yeah, I guess Racine would have to win with a decent amount of goals. Yeah. Portland would have to lose. They would also have to win.
00:29:52
Speaker
stranger things have happened don't like and also don't think what i'm saying is true this is just what i'm looking at the standings and being really bad at math that's what it looks like to me but yeah stranger things have happened like when we won the 2022 shield so I mean, I'll hold out for sure. That'd be cool and fun. But Portland's playing Angel City last. I don't know. Angel City is pretty wishy-washy. Yeah. They could win, but I don't know. Angel City is pretty wishy-washy. And I don't have a clue about what racing in Louisville is going to do at any given day of the week. But they're a playing San Diego Wave last. And they're definitely worse than racing.
00:30:29
Speaker
Yeah, they are. Unfortunately, Portland has listened to our podcast, it seems, because they have moved on. Well, she's working another role inside the organization, but they have ah fired Karina LeBlanc from her position as GM, which is really unfortunate as a rain fan, because I thought they didn't fire her. No, she just got moved somewhere else. Well, she got fired from the GM job. Let's let's be clear. She's working it through the end of the season and then moving on to whatever group bought the thorns and is in charge of the new WNBA team that's coming. Yeah, I was a big fan of her and what she was doing there. So I'm devastated. She really knew what she was doing. Made so many good choices. Yeah.
00:31:09
Speaker
Sydney LaRuegal, if you haven't seen it, go watch it. It's going to be goal of the week. It was. It was. It got announced already. I think so. If it's not, it's going to be announced tomorrow. i saw the the There's no way anybody could catch up in the voting either way. She made that look so fucking easy. She chest it up and then somehow gets around it and like, I don't know how she did it. It like looked like a like a little like like what you would do to pass the ball back to like your keeper or something like that, but it just like lobs perfectly into the fucking net. Yeah, it was so good. Ridiculous touch. Absolutely ridiculous touch.
00:31:43
Speaker
Really bad week for Olivia Athens to score a banger. But who lowers remember because she was coop player of the match. Mm hmm. This is a big, big kind of cool thing that I didn't realize we were going to have to be able to. I didn't realize we're going to be able to see something like this this season. Chawinga has scored against every single team in the UNDB
Chawinga's Record-Breaking Season
00:32:01
Speaker
cell in one season. Every single team except her own. She should try for an own goal. This is what I say.
00:32:09
Speaker
You want to do the whole thing. You got to do the own goal. What a monster stat though. Yeah. She also, uh, has the single season scoring record. That's not surprising. and She's just been on an absolute tear since getting in this league. Incredible. Must be nice to be Casey right now. Yeah. I really wonder what they're going to look like in the playoffs. Cause I don't know if there's a team that can handle chewing. Yeah.
00:32:32
Speaker
She hasn't scored every game. So, you know, we just got to figure it out for one match, how to, how to stop her. That's true. Um, and you know, do, a do a Sweden, the old trustee, just do a Sweden. And then someone, those were the worst gay. I know. Then we'll have some goalkeeper chime in about how it was the dumbest thing to ever play. Um, but I wouldn't shame anybody for trying that on showinga. No.
00:33:00
Speaker
Maybe we had a double red card in the Chicago versus spirit match. Yeah. Crazy. Yeah. Um, there was like a fight. It wasn't like a full fight. It was just like two people, two players having like a very physical scuffle, which yeah just seems super reactionary. Like you grabbed me, so I'm going to swing at you and it's like, Someone's hair got bald and then a fist came flying after that, which I would have been throwing a fist too if someone was speaking my hair like that. Um, so then they had like a VR cause I don't think they caught both of them. Yeah. Cause one was in like the 70th minute and then another one was in like the 73rd minute. And I was like, wait, did these happen at the same time?
00:33:39
Speaker
I mean, I do, you know, I don't want to see it from my team, but I love seeing those kinds of things. It's fiery. It's fiery. I like it. It's fun. Plus, like, you got to get your red cards out now before the playoffs start. Thank you for listening to the Soundwork Heart Podcast Network, which now includes No Sunny Yetis, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild. We've been independent since August of 2023.
00:34:04
Speaker
but need your support to make sure it continues. Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible by your continued support. Memberships start as low as $25 a year, which not only helps make podcasts like this one happen, but also gets you access to everything we produce.
00:34:20
Speaker
If you're able to support us at higher levels, starting at $75 a year, you gain access to a host of other perks, most notably entry into our Members Only Discord, where the smartest, funniest, and most engaged commenters share their thoughts and ideas. To find out more, just visit soundrathart.com and click the subscribe button in the top right corner. Thanks for listening.
00:34:46
Speaker
Anything else from the NWSL? I do want to talk about the NWSL television show. hey It's not on television. It is on the internet. It is on X, formerly known as Twitter. The first episode came out on Friday. I watched it. It is incredible. Well, it's incredible. I haven't watched it yet. I'm waiting.
00:35:04
Speaker
I've been busy, but it's I assume it's incredible because of Nikki Stanton. She is born for this. We've known this and we've been saying this since the very beginning. She has the most amazing, weird personality and I mean that in the best way possible. Yeah, absolutely. So right after she gets in the house, and this is something that like apparently like I didn't know the full extent of like how it kind of worked, but Midge Purse put this together. Yeah, she was a producer. So Midge is like in heart in charge of this house. so Everybody gets there and meets Midge and Nikki gets there and they go in the elevator because there's an elevator in this mansion and they get stuck in the elevator. Her Midge and Nikki? Midge and Nikki. Was this like, did Midge set this up or is this just actually a freak accident? No, they had to have like an engineer or like somebody come out and fix it. Yeah. But they were stuck in the elevator for like over an hour. Oh my god. midge there's a There's a point at which Midge goes, this might be the worst person to ever be stuck in an elevator. But there's, I i can't ruin it for you, but there's a really, really funny moment where Nikki Stanton does something that she has no idea is like really insensitive and borderline racist.
00:36:16
Speaker
oh No girl image calls her out on good. You have to watch it. It's so funny. I will I definitely gonna watch it It's just it turns out to be just incredible. They're like half-hour episodes, right or something like that cost to See I wasn't sure what the format was cuz I kept just getting clips and I was just like is it just like this weird thing? but then I saw today the full like video and I was like, okay, I'm watching that and It's cool. It's really well done. I mean, they've got like professional chefs, private chefs in there. And so they're taking care of their bodies. You know, they've got trainers at the field. Yeah. I need this every year, every off season of the NWSL. I don't know why this isn't this market like, or this like idea hasn't been tapped into until now, but it is such a genius thing.
00:36:59
Speaker
And at one point they're like, there is somebody showing up tomorrow. One last person showing up tomorrow. And I think Paige Nielsen goes, is it one of my exes? Oh my God. Non-soccer related. WNBA finals, Ron. Probably one of the best WNBA finals you could have asked for. and It was insane. Every game. Yeah, absolutely ridiculous. I was really polling for Minnesota just because they're the underdogs, but they had some problem. I mean, both sides.
00:37:26
Speaker
I had bought problems shooting. It was a very low scoring game. It was kind of upsetting how bad things were going for Minnesota at the end with shooting. That last call, I don't think it was fair, but I'm also like, why don't you shoot better? That's a thing. Like you can pinpoint. It's kind of like the penalty call, right? Yep. In our last, in the last rain game, it didn't lose the game for them, but it definitely could have changed.
00:37:53
Speaker
Yeah. But you could, but you could have fixed it yourself by scoring more points. Like what was Courtney Williams was her field goal percentage. Oh, something terrible. and Which she had been like, it was funny to me because she was talking about being in her bag, right? Like last two games ago, right? Game four or whatever. And she's been playing really, really well, so. She has, but after she said that she was in her bag, she just like wasn't making anything. I was like, oh no, this is gonna backfire. She was like, I don't wanna be a Target bag. And I was like, you turned into a Target bag. Yeah, you did. Went from a Birkin to the Target bag.
00:38:28
Speaker
You set yourself up for that, though, once you said Birkin. But congrats to Liberty. Obviously got some bitter feelings about Brianna Stewart. But, you know, she was getting death threats like her and her wife were getting death threats and stuff. So I'm not going to be like anti Brianna Stewart winning the championship after having to deal with that kind of crazy shit. Plus now someone from my high school that I graduated with has now won two WWE championships. And I don't think many people can say that. Shout out, Courtney Anderson. Next match.
00:38:57
Speaker
for the rain so next match saturday november 2nd 2024 at 2 pm and that is uh at orlando away so orlando is kind of on a losing streak that's right yep they've lost their last two matches Haven't scored a goal in the run of play in the last three matches? Heartening for us. They did get like an own goal And I don't know if I couldn't tell should I count that as a goal in the run of play? They didn't their own player didn't score it though So yeah, they they're doing too too hot for a team that was looking like the most dangerous team going into the playoffs This is not the form you want to go in on
00:39:34
Speaker
No, so that worries me. Yeah, absolutely. For our game. We gotta we gotta get things back on track before a lot of those bad games have also been on the road. They're going to be back at home needing to get things back on track. Yeah, but one thing we're coming off a win, you know against Houston. You know what? We can beat the last place team, then we can beat the first place team. I don't hate that idea. I don't know if I believe it, but wouldn't that be so funny though? If we won, we beat the shield winners. Yeah. would be That would be great. I would be very uplifting for the fans, I think. And so it should happen. We need it to happen. And it's not Orlando's final home match of the season because they'll they'll get playoffs at home.
00:40:12
Speaker
Yeah, it's true. They've got a lot of players. We do have a lot of players also going away on international break. But Orlando's got a lot of players going away on international break as well. And they're playing like a lot of games in this international window for whatever reason, everybody kind of is. So that's going to be very taxing and interesting to see what they do with the lineup. Because you don't know who's going to be on minutes restrictions, who's going to be who picked up a couple knocks, you know, in and the international window. So we'll see.
00:40:37
Speaker
Yeah, and Maundicere is also like Hades playing three games. So like, I don't know, I don't know how many minutes Maundicere is going to get, but probably a lot. So I don't know that Harvey's going to be starting her after that. And that seems like a reasonable decision to make. How will, we'll be back.
00:40:54
Speaker
So I imagine we'll see Jalen Howell again. Oh, thank God. We'll take that. That's a consolation, I guess. Maybe her and Olivia Athens. Maybe another Athens start. Yeah, she deserves it. Yeah, for sure. One shout out for this week. I'm going to shout out Jacob Kristobal. He is a writer. Covers the reign for Ride of the Valkyries with Sandra Hart and all that stuff.
00:41:17
Speaker
and he's been a very good friend of mine um online and everything and kind of helping me connect with the rain community and I don't know he just he's just really nice guy and knows his shit and really loves the team and he's been covering the rain for so freaking long um but he's stepping away from covering the rain after this season and I think we're gonna definitely gonna miss him and everything that he's brought you know I also want to thank him for just like everything that he's done over the years Same here. I mean, huge loss, but also for everything that he'd done. what What an incredible body of work for the rain. Nobody's done it like him. And now he gets to go be a fan in a normal way. And that sounds nice.
00:41:58
Speaker
He's been working hard for so long. And I think he, uh, you know, at some point you kind of need a break covering sports and all that stuff is very taxing, especially when, I don't know, it's an independent soccer thing. People have other jobs and do this. Hopefully you can hit up some games with him now that he's not going to be working so much during them. So shout out Jacob. I think that's it, right? Yeah. Um, we haven't talked about what we're going to do in the off season. I mean, if, is there going to be, should we do a monthly pod?
00:42:28
Speaker
I don't know. We'll decide. I think I don't know how many resources we have to get like an interview with some players. Um, and also there's some contract stuff going on. So I don't know that we're going to be able to get anybody, uh, that isn't under contract going into like the next season.
00:42:44
Speaker
I don't know. We could also cover the U.S.L.W. stuff going on. Yeah. U.S.L.W.
Off-Season Podcast Plans
00:42:50
Speaker
because there's some news there that affects Seattle, especially. But I don't definitely don't expect regular weekly stuff, I would say, until the season's kicking off. Definitely going to taper out and enjoy and also kind of work on some stuff behind the scenes, probably. Well, we'll have some bonus pod content. I know. See if we have to get creative. If not, we're just going to enjoy ourselves. I'm going to enjoy not having to edit every week. But you can always find us on the internet. ah We're on Instagram. i Our handle is Cooler Guild Pod. We're on Twitter. We're going to maybe get away from that because, um I don't know, it's looking bad over there. um But if you want to go on there for now, Cooler Guild Pod is also the same handle.
00:43:32
Speaker
We have an email address and we love to receive emails. So if you would like to indulge us and send us a little, a little something, our email is thecoolerguildatgmail.com. You can also find us on the main website, sounderatheart.com forward slash thecoolerguild.
00:43:48
Speaker
Uh, if you're on our website and you look at our posts as well for all these episodes, uh, we also now have a tip option. So if you don't want to do the full subscription, annual subscription, man monthly subscription, whatever for Senator Hart, uh, you can just leave us a little tip. We appreciate that. If anyone wants to do that and wherever you're listening, please go rate five stars. Five stars. Till next time. I'm Coop. I'm Van. Bye. Bye.
00:44:33
Speaker
Is it Ricilla? Ricilla? It could be Ricilla though, you know what I mean? Could be. Like a tortilla.