Transcript
Speaker: Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to episode 72 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, August 4th, 2026. don't know why I just salivated a lot.
Speaker: it was like the mouth sorry uh because we're so hydrated from all these wins i know that's what's happening uh on today's episode we have another dub pod uh super exciting ah we're gonna get into the big win for the rain ah who can finally score three goals This this time it was against Bay.
Speaker: Super fun. We'll dive into some NWSL scores, preview the Reigns next match, and I don't know anything else that comes up that we decide in the moment. But before we get into all that, we've got some housekeeping. The Cooler Guild is part of the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network. You can either listen to us on our public feed or if you're a Sounder at Heart subscriber on the private unified feed with the other podcasts on the network. If you'd like to become a subscriber, just visit our page at sounderatheart.com forward slash the cooler guild. New subscribers get 10% off the normal rate and you'll help support everything we're doing. i guess before we before i ask you what you did that was interesting or another question that i have. We're going to plug the... There's like a relief fund. There's ah several relief funds for the Spokane fires.
Speaker: And ah since we, as Rain fans and Sounders fans, have ties to Spokane, it just felt like we should at least let people know that they can go donate and help help ah the people out in Spokane that are getting devastated by all those fires. It's insane. It's pretty wild. I saw like the...
Speaker: Fire line before it like went through and I was like that's not gonna end well and it's about as bad as I thought it was gonna be so yeah it's it's devastating like you said so if you have any extra funds please go donate I'll put the link in our article for sounder heart um and as long as the description allows me to I'll also put it in there um but yeah there anything going on in your life that's ah worth noting?
Speaker: Luckily, no fires here. Yeah. I've been through that before and it is absolutely terrifying. And I feel for those people. Yeah. um But my weekend was actually pretty good. Yeah. Yeah. Went to the county fair on Friday. oh yeah. You went on the rides. Yeah. I went on some rides. We had fun. Popped around town for a bit. Cool. And watched the game on Saturday after I went. I was like, I was like, going miss the first five minutes of the game. It'll be fine.
Speaker: Because I was out paddleboarding with my friend at the state park. Sweet. I literally once I got a little bit of service, I turned the game on as I was driving home. Don't do that. But the first thing I saw was ah the official Finn goal celebration. I was God damn it. What did I miss? So I had to turn it off. Because it was like glitching and i i can't because I didn't have much service. But um yeah, it was a good weekend.
Speaker: There was a the the fire is obviously terrible, but it's making for some insane sunsets. I thought the same thing last night. Alex like she's like, slow down right here because the sun like sets right on the bridge here and down. So like it was just, you know, really cool looking. i was like, yeah, sad that it it's kind of cool, but. Yeah, Sunday night at Rustin. It was like crazy. Rustin's cool too. It was nice. What about you? I started watching Star Trek.
Speaker: From which season? Next Generation. Oh, okay. I don't know much about Star Trek. It's great. i I figured Next Generation was a good place to start. Yeah, you should text my sister. uh you know sarah's like a slip a so sarah knows all about all about star trek she did like an entire class at evergreen on star trek okay yeah that makes sense that kind of adds up i feel like i haven't reached my full nerd potential and so i decided to finally get into star trek my the guy who runs my dnd game my friend he he has this cat named after a star trek character his cat's name is q yes and i don't like i don't know any fucking these references to anything so i was like i should start watching this and i also like knew i would like it because like i said i haven't reached my full nerd potential um and then his place that he runs his business his sauna business is called imzati and it happens in the first episode i watch they know imzati and i was like texted daniel's like you fucking nerd
Speaker: Anyway, so that's what I've been doing. i also have been watching the rain win. Oh my God. What a relief. Truly. Didn't know this was going to be, you know, like July was pretty good for the rain. Yeah, it wasn't terrible.
Speaker: Definitely the break, I think, really helped this team. And it showed in this three two nail biter. Definitely that. Yeah, it's still not a comfortable situation that we've got going it on in these games.
Speaker: It's not, you know, it could be better. There were a couple games this weekend where there were blowouts and I would love to be on the positive end of a blowout. Yeah. But a win's a win. A win is a win.
Speaker: And I'm so happy. Yep. Rain beat Bay 3-2 on Saturday. Crazy. Which is now Laura Harvey only has one team to beat left in the NDB cell. And that's Denver, which we've only faced them once. So ah glad that we are finally able to at least say we beat Bay. It was annoying me. And it was close in this game. Yeah. Bay's never been exceptionally good. So the fact that the rain, yeah even in the couple good runs that they've had the last couple of years, yeah have never been able to beat them. Yeah, it's weird. But again, just like the Gotham game, Bay had a midweek game rolling into this where they actually lost to Gotham. Yeah. Kind of a, I mean, they held on pretty well in that game. ah it was just the one single goal, right? ah
Speaker: You know, but still midweek, not ideal. It's pretty warm out there. They didn't have to travel. It was at home for them. But yeah, I'll take i'll take any advantage can get. For sure. And playing Gotham is taxing.
Speaker: It is. Yeah. I mean, it's it's always it's always a game for the rain. Yeah, yeah. But then Bay's not a terrible team. Yeah, I'm saying i'm I'm surprised we haven't beat them, but I'm not like, they're not Louisville.
Speaker: Right. And then also going into this game, the whatever the league embargo was on approving things, finally got Lou bar lou Barnes on the sidelines as assistant coach, interim assistant coach. so that was nice. Team looked pretty healthy again. Yeah, although don't know if that's gonna be the case after this one. Oh, yeah.
Speaker: We'll see. Yeah. The a ability availability report for next game will be interesting. There is a couple stats that came out of this match, as you already mentioned. Laura Harvey, the winningest coach in NWSL history, has now beaten every single team except Denver. So that's 18 NWSL clubs in total.
Speaker: And Fishlock, big moment for her. Tenth player in league history to score 50 regular season goals and the fifth to do it with a single club. What a way to do it, too. Yeah, that was is ridiculous.
Speaker: So fun. She's like, don't count me out. Yeah, shes I'm here. I'm still here. Put me on. I'll score. Yeah. I think going into what worked, we need to talk about what we asked for at the end of last episode.
Speaker: You know, it's we ask for things and it's this season. We usually don't get it. And we got everything we wanted. Pretty much. ah Thank you for listening to the Cooler Guild, Seattle Rain. um But I mean, I feel like what we pointed out was just things that we know that the the rain have within their arsenal and they just weren't executing it. And they completely executed that. Darlene was getting in looked fantastic. She was making good decisions and wasn't second guessing herself. It looked like.
Speaker: There might be a possible reason here. What's that? A bit witchy. She wore different boots this game. Are you just like going full witch over here? Might as well. It's working. um Last week she wore a pink and white boot and coloration and this week it was orange and black. Okay.
Speaker: Had a similar kind of breakaway run and finished it with her left foot, made the decision she should have made last week. Coincidence? ah Practice.
Speaker: frustration yeah yeah I was so glad to see her get rewarded for everything that she's been working on this season i feel like she's kind of just been a little unlucky obviously there's been a little bit decision making like I said didn't see any of that issue this game hoping this keeps she keeps running this momentum because when she is playing well and they're able to get her the ball good luck stopping her it was incredible the couple end line crosses that she had i mean yeah the first one she had to official as close as you can get without that going out i mean she's so she's so good and i think some players have speed and very little control she has both it's a diabolical combination yeah and that finish from official
Speaker: where it seems that she's had good opportunities uhu since she's joined the club and has been getting regular minutes. And everything's sometimes things seem to be overthought.
Speaker: Two in her head. And finally, we just got a little dinky finish. It was clean. It gave me like Sam Kerr vibes. Yeah. Yeah, it was nice. That was great. Great to see her get a goal in the run of play for the first time for the rain. And i think getting that third goal obviously needed for the win after you let two in. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. But the team and i did see the team kind of fall into that second half malaise that we've been seeing from them. Definitely. But that happened kind of towards the end of the first half.
Speaker: And so I thought maybe they're just getting out of their system early. Didn't seem to be the case, but to be fair, it kind of was the same for both teams. I think 76 minutes in or something, there still hadn't been a shot on goal in the second half.
Speaker: Or no, not 70. What was it? It was like 60-something. Anyway, it was minutes where there was not a shot on goal. But it was nice to see that injection from the subs, whether that be a Dames, a Fishlock, it even Britt, that seemed to be a point of something intentional that Laura Harvey, like obviously she said in in the past couple um pressers is that she wants to to see the team do better in the second half and not just be in hell, right? Yeah. Hold on for their dear lives. And whether it was forced because they didn't really have that luxury or not, it ended up working out in their favor. Mm-hmm.
Speaker: Um, what else? I'm going to add on to that. I think a large part of why Darlene was having so much success is because of the long ball accuracy that we were seeing. And we've seen this kind of with various players at different times and stuff, but it seems like everyone is kind of honed in really, really well on like understanding that If you can cross it and get it to Dolly, which is what I asked for last game, right? Because she can do these breakaways or whatever. But I mean, those these balls are being sent from pretty far out to try to find her. Sometimes even Maddie Mercado, ah because they've just got good hold of play and also running to the end line or whatever. But ah there was a ball for Mercado. that was crazy and I didn't realize she could do that too I was like what is happening because we've seen like a phenomenal pass from Brown we've seen a phenomenal passes from where it's over the years ah we've now got McCammon um I mean it's it's it's a lot of players they just seem to also be doing it more do you think it's working well because there's chemistry do you think like because I don't think like they have to know where all their teammates are when they're doing these kinds of things That's obviously a big part of it. Yeah. Is chemistry and positioning. Yeah.
Speaker: Before Lynn was out on maternity leave, we saw a lot of disconnect. And this team doesn't feel like there's so much of that disconnect. Yeah. And that goes into positioning, that goes into chemistry, that's because of just repetition, I think. Yeah. And confidence that you know your teammates are going to be where they should be you when you play that ball or going to make that proper run.
Speaker: Yeah, the I feel like the concern has always been is is what we've seen some of these plays happening are is sustainable. And we've now seen it multiple games. So I think at this point we can say it is.
Speaker: And that's really where their strength comes from because we don't have an attacking midfielder. yes So I guess this is the game plan until that happens. It'd be nice to be able to add it, just make this one component of our attack. Yeah, because we really don't want it to be this singular thing that can be shut down. It needs to be multifaceted and they need to figure out different ways to get through. And I think we saw that a couple of times. I mean, Mercado and Dali both had shots that were stopped.
Speaker: This game could have been a lot more had it not been for the goalkeeping heroics. Mm hmm. But I think you when you keep doing what's working, you're going to get a result. Yeah.
Speaker: do you want to add anything else to what worked for you? it it It all came together. i think the subbing was on point this match. Something that a lot of us have been critical of in recent Laura Harvey days.
Speaker: And I think it was a masterclass this game. Yeah. People won't give her credit for it, though, at this time. No, absolutely not. They'll only do it when they feel something went wrong. But you can't, if this is the new Harvey ball, 2-1 wins, two zero wins, even 3-2 loss, right? Yeah. 3-2 win.
Speaker: That's not the Harvey ball that people hate. It's exciting. I think this is new Harvey ball and I'm into it. It's exciting. People are as upset that there weren't goals. Understandably so. I mean, i wasn't enjoying eking out one zero results. No, I wasn't very fun. And I'm still a little scared about ah what's sometimes happening in the back line. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. So the one sub I want to point out, 82nd minute, Bay subs in Abby Dahlkemper, who's coming back into play here. Hasn't played much.
Speaker: Two minutes later, Jess Fishlock gets subbed in by Laura Harvey. Minute later, Jess Fishlock scores, beating Abby Dahlkemper. I don't even think it was a full minute, right? It was 84th, 85th, so... I think like on the clock though, I think it like, me yeah, wild. And she like her first two touches, right? Head, foot, goal.
Speaker: And to me, it was an incredible first touch, set herself up so well and was able to get through. But I'm thinking to myself, I'm so frustrated at this time because why can't anybody else do that?
Speaker: I mean... Sure, fish socks one of a kind. Yeah. Yeah. But that ability to use your body, to shield the ball, to put yourself in a position to finish it, we need more players that are able to do that.
Speaker: Yeah. And we have the people who, in theory, should be able to find that skill. But credit to Emery Dames on that ball. Yeah. That through ball was incredible. Yeah, she looked good. ah You know, I've mentioned maybe the team isn't sure what they're doing with her. i I'm always like back and forth of like, do they give her more time? What do they do? i don't know.
Speaker: It's a tricky situation. It is. But if she's going to come come into games and make an impact. She she earns more minutes that way. She can earn more minutes, but also of just a place on the team. Yeah. Because I know there's questions on a loan or maybe getting a trade out of that. Yeah.
Speaker: But in that sense, I don't know if a trade at this point in the season would be good unless Lorraine plan on bringing someone in. Yeah, she meshes well with the team. Yeah. So, yeah, i don't know. Well, if you can take advantage of that and up your stock. Sure.
Speaker: There might be a good chance that she could go somewhere where she could make a bigger impact in the offseason. Yeah. If not stay here and continue to grow and then be a starting player.
Speaker: We'll see. We don't make those decisions. Let's talk about the frustrating parts of this match. ah The response after the second goal. Same things that continue to haunt us. I mean, it's gotten better, right? And I do think... How do you say her name? B-Bar?
Speaker: She was fantastic in this game. And that strike was really good. But I also... I don't know. After I spent all last week talking about Claudia Dickey's footwork.
Speaker: It was a good strike. Yeah, but she should have moved. Yeah. Yeah. And she also had that fumble too a little bit with the not a goal because of the weird offside thing that happened. But Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I don't know. it was ah it was It was a weird moment. I also think that the defense kind of done a better ah job on that marking. And i don't know. it's it's a It's a tough one. We've seen this a couple times where other teams get the ball on the top of the box and there's not an urgency to close down the space.
Speaker: Sure. And then they get punished, whether that's a quick lobbing ball over the top or just an incredible shot like this. And granted, shots from outside the box are something that...
Speaker: You don't mind giving up all the time, but in this sense, you got to do better. Mm-hmm. that was her first Did they say that was their first goal? I think it was.
Speaker: Double check. I just feel like, you know, you're marking an up against players that have a history of doing that kind of thing, and maybe it goes a little bit differently. Yeah, it's her first goal. Yeah, so maybe I'll factor that in a little bit, but I do think the defense kind of just let her for it. Yeah. ah Didn't work out. um What else did you not enjoy? Okay, I know I harp on things a lot, but can we stop giving up stupid fouls?
Speaker: I mean, no, apparently. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I mean, that second goal is because of that. The set piece was amazingly worked. I was like, oh, fuck. That was straight off the training ground, honestly. Yeah, but like, don't give up that foul to begin with.
Speaker: That's the problem. Oh, so irritating. But I'm not to harp on this game too much. Okay. Because never beat Bay before. It's a win. It's a win. We're not sitting on the cusp of the playoff line.
Speaker: Knocking there. Which is... mean... Honestly, I hoped for this, but going into the break, I was not sure. And they they pointed on the broadcast, too, that we have a pretty decent schedule for the rest of the season in terms of playing teams that are below the playoff line.
Speaker: So that's encouraging. i do think they're going to need to be tested and they definitely will be because it's the NWSL. But I'm certainly glad that we're not like stuck here with like two games against Gotham and two games against the Spirit. We've already gotten those out of the way. and if you would have maybe changed some of those games around and the season and those results would have stuck, depending on what happens the rest of the season, maybe this first half of the season wasn't as bad as we think it is.
Speaker: maybe Maybe. I don't know. It's my work around to it. uh yeah i think things are i think there's reason for fans to feel excited yeah you scored three goals in a game i'm gonna be excited we've scored multiple goals in multiple games we've scored a goal in every single game since the etsy witch was hired a he so if you don't believe in witchcraft well then you're just a fool Yeah, we've scored multiple goals in the last four games.
Speaker: No one thought that we could do that last year. or the year before. It's interesting. It really is. did you You said you read over the pressers a little bit. Yeah, I briefly read over them. ah it seems like they're really hoping to keep the momentum going and just kind of keep confidence up with these wins and feel good. They got the next game at home.
Speaker: the good thing The good thing about these wins is they're not the type where you get overconfident. Definitely. there's There's room to learn. There's room to grow. There's room to learn. um so we got that going for us. Yeah, just keep working through these these little kinks and, ah you know, maybe we'll be a nice polished product by the time the playoffs come.
Speaker: When I think you and I like you and I as people that talk about these games every week and hope for these fixes, right? of Things that are frustrating or that the team keeps doing. There's been a lot of growth in this team.
Speaker: Quickly back from the break. Yeah, quickly, too. and Because it it seemed bad. Yeah. And I'm not I'm still not convinced fully, but I'm having fun and that feels good.
Speaker: I just we talk about lord Laura Harvey talks about things that she wants to fix hu in these pressers. And you say, yeah, yeah, yeah. You say everything, you know, that you should after the game. But then sometimes it's the next game, but sometimes it's three games down the road.
Speaker: That thing is fixed. We're hoping more for these players. These players obviously know they need to do more. And then you see the product. So there is growth. There's learning. It's a young team. They seem to be wrapping their finger around what they need to do.
Speaker: and I think moving forward, there's plenty of reason to hope. I did find out the commentary pretty funny when um whoever was paired up with Leanne was just like, like, is this like a championship team? She's like, no. I remember hearing that. Yeah, it's pretty funny. i mean, she's she was just saying like, I mean, it's Laura Harvey. So, you know, any it could be, I guess. But like this isn't a championship championship team still. And she she mentioned specifically if Lynn Biendola comes back, then maybe.
Speaker: Well, Lynn's back in Seattle. Yeah, that's interesting. I'm still a little skeptical that that's the only way thing that we're is stopping us from being a championship team. She's been gone for a while. She's not getting any younger. And I would still like the club to go and sign somebody. I'm going to keep saying that until it happens. Well, they're making some room.
Speaker: They are making some room. They loaned Sofia Cedeno and Nico Purcell to Dallas Trinity, which seems to be our partner club. Yeah, at this point. In the Game Bridge Super League.
Speaker: Which if they've, I mean, didn't Cedeno have ties to Dallas? Yeah. So send send them, get them experience there, get them closer to their family for a while. That's where Sam Meza went. Yeah. ah And look where she is now. Yeah, all sounds good to me.
Speaker: if you If you're like, oh, that's what Sam Meza did, I guess I should definitely do that and not can come back and tear it up. So, yeah, I think if they're making these moves and not doing anything to bolster this team going into this last stretch of the season.
Speaker: Yeah, I'm not I'm not convinced this is a championship team still, but I think I'm having fun and I'm to enjoy it. yeah And I think they're going to surprise some people. I'm really enjoying this. I was like yelling and watching at the TV.
Speaker: Screaming. By yourself? Yeah. Yeah. okay Sounds about right. ah Should we get into Cooler Player of the Match? Let's do it. All right. The Cooler Player of the Match is brought to you by The Doctor's Office, a great little 12 seat bar on Capitol Hill. The owner is a big fan of the rain and is proud to be our first sponsor.
Speaker: We got to do it. Yeah. Core player the match. Congratulations, Jess Fishlock. Congrats. Game winner. Tiny Dragon. Needed less than a minute. Ridiculous. And then an Optistat came out this week that Jess Fishlock has scored three match winning goals as a substitute since the start of the last and NWSL season. No other player has done so more than once in that time.
Speaker: Super sub. Yeah, super sub, clutch, whatever you want to call her. She's unbelievable. And she's old. We hope that your hamstring or whatever it was can recover in a week. I know. Let's not. I don't like this trend of like seeing. mean, we saw like Tobin Heath have that goal and then injured. And then we saw Rapinoe injured. And then then I just I'm please don't let this be the last.
Speaker: No, I don't think so. OK. Fingers crossed. um I'm hoping that she had to stay on, right? Yeah. They're out of subs. and I'm hoping that she just took precaution.
Speaker: Sure. Because she knows what a tweak is. Especially at her age. And if you more, it pulls. Yeah. So i'm hoping get her in those... leg recovery things and... She's always using those too. Gets a massage going. I always see her using those things. so yeah. she She knows her body well that I'm sure she'll, you know, do whatever she needs to do to get back as quickly as possible and get back, generally speaking. so ah Congrats again to Jess Fishlock. um And thanks again to our sponsor, The Doctor's Office. The Doctor's Office is the best place to grab a drink before or after rain match. Make an appointment today and order of their limited edition cocktails. This one sounds amazing. It's the Peanut M&M.
Speaker: Oh. A refined riff on the beloved bartender's M&M shot. Peanut butter washed mezcal meets Amaro Montenegro fio Fino? Fino? Oh boy. Here we go.
Speaker: amon tiado sherries i'm that can't be right um you didn't put it on the on the note here so i can't help you pronounce it paste it um some sherries uh toki japanese whiskey creme de cacao mole bitters for a silky nutty sipper those are the actual words on here i didn't make that up That sounds amazing. I love peanut M&Ms so much. And I also love Mezcal. So sign me up.
Speaker: It's Amontillado. Amontillado? Amontillado. Amontillado. was not close. I should have practiced it beforehand. ah Go check out their Instagram at TDO Seattle or better yet. Go drink there in person.
Speaker: Cheers. Cheers. I did bring a Rattler up here. Oh. We've been having so much luck that I felt like I had to open something. let me go get Let me go get a Coke. Okay. Okay, back. All right. Cheers to the rain. Another dub. Another dub.
Speaker: I mean, I grabbed like a light Rattler. Oh, those are good. Yeah, the grapefruit one specifically. have a Coke Zero. Oh, I'm working on this thing calling it Coke Zed. Okay, Laura Harvey.
Speaker: My neighbor calls it Coke so I was just going one level further. All right. What happened to I some blowouts. Boy, did we have some games. Yeah. So North Carolina beat Orlando 5-0. Oh, I didn't even realize there was like two massive blowouts. Yep. Holy moly.
Speaker: and Orlando, what the fuck? Yeah, I said, what's happening with them? um So we had goals from Thompson. EJ had a hat trick. And then Ashley Sanchez in 90 plus three.
Speaker: EJ now has seven goals in the eight matches. I'm frightened. but just burped. Sorry. ah And two assists in that time. i I don't know how Ashley Sanchez doesn't go to the World Cup next year.
Speaker: i don't know either. It would be a massive oversight if she didn't. In the next stretch of games for the national team, ah bib I don't, if she doesn't get called up, I don't, I'm going to need to have a story time on it because why? In the next surprise, Louisville beat Chicago 2-1.
Speaker: I mean, battle of the bads. Yeah, the toilet bowl. Yeah. Louisville had goals from Gasek in the 55th minute and Fisher in the 62nd. And Chicago got a goal from Gomes in the 80th minute.
Speaker: Chicago's defense is really bad. like i was watching the highlights of this and I'm thinking, is this good soccer or is this just both bad soccer? In the Chicago goal, though, remember what happened when we played them in Spokane and Bloomer let a ball go through her hands? Yeah. Same thing here.
Speaker: wonder if she threw those ones in the trash afterwards, too. I was wondering the same thing. And then Kansas City tied Angel City. So, of course, we play Angel City this upcoming match. And there were goals from Kansas City from Hopkins in the 26th minute and Suarez from Angel City in the 14th minute.
Speaker: This game was kind of meh. And then Houston lost to Gotham on a Sam Kerr goal. I hate that they have her. But she did she did pull Darlene and Mr. Penalty-wide in the 22nd inning.
Speaker: We don't need to throw her. but yeah I only say that because the shot was in the exact same place. Oh, sure. But Darlene didn't invent that.
Speaker: but Someone from the U.S. s national team invented that when they all missed those penalties at one time. Yeah. Alex just was just reminding me of the that game where they Votko subbed in Kelly O'Hara. Oh, yeah.
Speaker: oh yeah
Speaker: Didn't have a single touch really and subbed her in and then she just fucking shoots. Who else missed in that one? i don't know. I was just, it was very funny that Alex like brought that up as a memory, not me, but it was, that was hilarious.
Speaker: There are some notable pe players missing for Wafcon right now. I don't know that Barbara Banda stops North Carolina from scoring five goals, but. They at least get one. Yeah.
Speaker: um And then the Spirit lost to San Diego 1-0. That's a big game. But again, the Spirit have five players out for Wafcon. Yeah. And Utah are champions.
Speaker: I love them for doing this. They beat Portland 5-1. You know, the saying used to be, at least we're not Utah. And I think right now Portland would be like, I wish we were Utah. Honestly, I wish we were Utah. Yeah, they're having fun. They're they're having win good time.
Speaker: And this game was kind of a catfish, right? Was this game in Portland? No, this game was in Utah. Okay. But Sophia Wilson scores 35 seconds into the match. And you think Portland, Portland, they're going to roll with it. Nah.
Speaker: And it was one to one at half. Okay. But Portland just collapsed in the second half. Their defense is bad. Their defense is bad. It's terrible. They like can, they, I will say they can go through like a pretty good chunk of a game usually, but then they just like get gassed completely and turn off.
Speaker: It's if I were a fan of Portland, I would be asking a whole lot of questions. They give them hope at like like every so often so that nothing changes. Something. Which I'm I'm fine with personally. well yeah. But Utah is also scary in transition. They are. They are.
Speaker: And we might have seen top five goals of the season in this match. There was a cross that came in directly in front of the six and Palacios just backheels it in. Ridiculous.
Speaker: Quality. We're missing that quality. That little bit of quality. And then to a to wrap up the weekend, ah Denver tied Boston, which, interesting. There was, Denver's goal was from penalty from Sonis, but on the Boston goal, Casey Murphy absolutely crushes punt over the top. The spin on it is perfect and assists the Boston goal. just saw that. Yeah, that was ridiculous. Insane. Insane distribution. It was assist of the week. Yep. As it should have been. Yeah.
Speaker: But that was it for the weekend. The Reign currently sit in ninth place, which again, on the precipice there. And we play the team that is in eighth place, which is Angel City, this coming weekend.
Speaker: One thing I'm going to add to that, we got an update on Emily Sonnet. Oh, that's right. her patel Her kneecap was all fucked up. Her patellar tendon. Ugh. It's disgusting. immediate thought was, oh God, isn't that what happened to Mal? And it is. But Mal had a a complication, so I'm not sure that it's going to be as bad of a recovery. and um Hopefully that doesn't happen to her as well, just to Sonnet. But just wanted to provide that because that's going to be important for the World Cup for the U.S. Yeah. so And important for Gotham ah to lose her and Esther's kind of a big deal. Huge. Doesn't hurt, doesn't hurt though, to get Kasam Kerr out of nowhere.
Speaker: Must be nice. Anyways, Rain's next game. What is it? This Sunday. When is it? Where is it? It's this Sunday, August 9th. Back at home at 6 p.m.
Speaker: Are you going to this? I will be there. Great. It will be on television in English and Spanish, English on ESPN, Spanish ESPN Deportes, and on the radio on 950 KJRAM.
Speaker: Right on how What you to see out of this? i want to see us get above the playoff line. I might be a little ah ambitious, but since we're kind of present at least I want them to be presented this opportunity, maybe with the chance to get into the playoff spot and take it.
Speaker: And if I'm extra guilt, like feeling extra selfish or like ambitious, maybe because Lynn's back in the States, she's back stateside. I don't know where she's at with fitness and training, but I would like to see some just images of her in training. Yeah. I know it's not fully related to the game, but like I think for the players' mindsets to know that she's like on her way back, that would be super helpful.
Speaker: I don't know if it's necessarily in training, but maybe just a present. Yeah, that's what i'm saying. I just want her to be around and i think that'll be really good for the players. don't know if I have super specifics other than maybe keep doing what they did with Darlene.
Speaker: It's going harder because Darlene's going to be matched up with Alyssa Thompson. I got... And Alyssa Thompson is more... You mean Giselle? Sorry, Giselle. Jesus. They look the same. They do look the same. They're sisters, I think. I wrote Alyssa on here. I'm pretty sure they're sisters. Are they?
Speaker: Darlene's going to be up against Giselle Thompson. And Giselle Thompson on defense can be at times a liability. She's a huge help for them offensively. So I'm hoping, as I wrote here in my notes, I'm hoping Darlene tear her to shreds. Yeah, I think it's who who wants it more.
Speaker: There's going to be some interesting matchups here. there's That's one. And then you have Allie Centnor. So weird. Third team, two two years. Will be matched up against Sam Meza. Yeah. I got my money, Meza.
Speaker: Money, Meza. Meza mania. Yeah. I don't know. That's, yeah. That'll be a fun watch. Diggie's going to need to have a good game for the Reign to get three points out of this match.
Speaker: Angel City does break through. And when they do, they they're very dangerous. And Diggie's probably going to need to come up big once or twice this game for the Reign to pull out a win. Yeah.
Speaker: mean we She needs to show that consistency. It's been lacking. know she's coming back from an injury, but I didn't like the little things that I saw in the last game.
Speaker: So I want to see that stoic face with the, you know, incredible saves at the same time. Yeah. Because she when she gets up after some of those days, she's just like, what?
Speaker: What, like it's hard? Yeah. And there's a couple of slip ups in this last game that I was like, ah come on, girl, let's get it together. So I think that's those are the keys. Yeah. Win those win those matchups and for Dickie to have have a good game. Yeah.
Speaker: I think that this is a really good opportunity for the fans and for the team to see if this team, if the rain are really on the up and up or if the issues are going to come through again, because this is a very evenly matched game statistically.
Speaker: I'm just looking at the rest of the schedule that we got coming up for August, just to get an idea. i do think the Angel City game is definitely going to be one of their tougher ones. Then they've got Chicago Stars racing Louisville.
Speaker: <unk> It's a busy August, so they've got five games. already had one on the first, so they've got six games, really. ah So after at Louisville, it's Casey Curran, and then they've also got Houston Dash.
Speaker: So I think Angel City is vulnerable. and I think the Reign are a better team. so And they'll be at home. give Give the fans a show again. Would love that. Please. I'm always saying please. i think kindness works, right? Yeah. ah Okay. Anything else you want to on before we wrap everything else up?
Speaker: No, I think I'm good. Okay. um i got a shout out for the week uh it was on reddit and there was a post about which games mike watts was doing this weekend because he's doing four because apparently he needs money but someone with the username anonymous in here this person on reddit said cool about mike watts host doing four games rain fan here won't have to hear the cooler guild complain about him
Speaker: The funny thing is before you sent before you mentioned this and I went and found it was that I was complaining about watching all the replays and having to listen to Mike Watts for three games. And then Steve said, you're actually, he did four. Yeah, because people were talking about this. That's why I posted it on there. It's because people were talking about it. And so everyone, I mean, there is like a, I don't know if Mike Watts has like eight burner accounts on Reddit. Yeah.
Speaker: But the defenders for Mike Watts are plentiful on Reddit. It's weird. I don't get it. But the response, because Van went and looked up this post today and the updated response from that person who posted it. Because somebody said, why would anyone complain about Mike?
Speaker: Another Sounders fan. Yeah. And I kind of thought the person, the anonymous in here was like annoyed that we complain about him. I think they are. But I think that they understand that we have our reasons. Yeah.
Speaker: Because they're on our side. But anonymous in here, I hear you. And I'll stop being so whiny about it. Yeah. Unless I have good reason. Unless he does something, which he's going to. Fair. So, but anyway, shout out to you. Thanks for listening to the show. i just wanted to make sure you got shouted out. I see you. i hear you. And I appreciate you. Do you have any shout outs?
Speaker: No. All right. That's our show. All right. Thanks again to our sponsor, The Doctor's Office. You can go follow us on Blue Sky and Instagram at Cooler Guild Pod.
Speaker: You can send us an email. You can tell us how much you hate us complaining about Mike Watts or how much I complain about certain things. Whatever. Really. We love listening. it we love We love hearing from you.
Speaker: Yeah. And shoot that email to thecoolerguild at gmail.com. You can also visit the main page, sounderthart.com forward slash thecoolerguild. And don't forget that the link for the Spokane Fire Leaf Fund that we're going to post up will be on that. So that's where the easiest place probably be to find it. You can also follow on YouTube, youtube.com forward slash at thecoolerguild. Wherever you're listening, please go rate five stars. Till next time, I'm Coop. I'm Van. Stay cool, y'all. Stay cool.
Speaker: There she goes. There she goes again. Getting the Coke to drink so we can celebrate the rain winning another game. There she... she's back.
Speaker: Yeah. No, she's not. I'm to do that after while.
