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Playoffs, gone but not forgotten - Ep. 20
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The Reign lose their 5th straight match 3-0 away at Utah and it’s fair to say, things are not great. We reflect on the disappointing performance and look ahead to the final two matches of the season.
We wrap up this episode with a quick preview on the NWSL playoff race as it unfolds and dive into Boston's wild new NWSL name reveal.
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Coop
Van
Show produced by Coop
Theme song by Alex Juarez
Show artwork by Coop
The Cooler Guild Est. 2024
Transcript
00:00:20
Speaker
Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to Episode 20 of the Cooler Guild. I'm your host Coop, and join with me, as always, is my co-host, Vann. Hello. We are recording on Tuesday, October 15th, 2024. On today's episode, we'll be discussing Rain's fifth lost and rose, while some other news from around the NWSL. Um, I don't want to talk about what happened yet. So, um, ah would you do anything cool this weekend? This past weekend?
00:00:46
Speaker
Uh, went to the gym, you know, really killing it on the stair master. Oh, become my new best friend. Cool. And also my worst enemy. I think I'm in a trip every time I'm on it. I think I'm in a trip. They're tall steps. I thought they should adjust the steps based on print. Someone's height, just like a little bit. At least there could be like two settings. Maybe one with my training. You're not allowed to hold on. Oh, so you're just like free climbing that thing.
00:01:11
Speaker
Oh, hell no. I'm not doing that. Yeah, but luckily the WNBA final is on so I had that on my phone. Yeah, that's what I've been up to is following that because Friday night was it Friday night was the first first game game one? No, game one was Thursday night. Thursday night. OK, well, game one was wild. Yeah, absolutely bonkers. I couldn't believe Minnesota did what they did, but I also could because I feel like Liberty kind of just chokes in these ways.
00:01:39
Speaker
Um, luckily, they I mean, they got it together for the second game, but man, what a choke job they had in that first game. Yeah, it was bad. Yeah. Yeah. I'm really conflicted on, um, the Liberty for, I, I would feel like the obvious reasons that, you know, ah it feels like you're rooting for Gotham. Yeah. Well, for me, because Courtney vanish suits on the Liberty, at this hat I have on her now is like one of the hats that she designed that was like based off of our high school colors or whatever. But like, I want to root for Courtney Vandersleuth, but I don't want to root for Brianna Stewart. And also the super team bullshit that they got going on there. yeah It's hard to root for that. And then the Minnesota Lynx are kind of, I feel like the team, a very, very likeable team. I agree. So, I mean. Is game three tomorrow? Is the series is tied one to one now? Yeah. And the next one will be in Minnesota. So I'm hoping that plays in their favor. Yeah, it's tomorrow at five. This episode will probably we be out around then.
00:02:36
Speaker
it's And then game four is on Friday. so i So definitely need to keep watching that. I wish the storm did better this year, but yeah um before we get into the match, we want to remind people that The Cooler Guild is part of the Sounder Heart Podcast Network. You can either listen to us on our public feed or if you're a Sounder Heart subscriber on the private unified fee with the other podcasts on the network. If you'd like to become a subscriber, please visit our page at sounderheart.com forward slash The Cooler Guild. subscribers get 10% off the normal rate and you'll help support everything we're doing um let's roll into a match recap and unfortunate match recap yep on saturday the rain took on the utah royals in sandy
00:03:17
Speaker
Seattle's downfall began in the third minute when their atrocious corner defending returned and failed to clear the ball, leading to Chloe Lacasse's first goal for Utah. but Within the next 13 minutes, James Turner picked up two yellow cards and was sent off, leaving the rain down a player. Lacasse then went on to score twice before the halftime whistle.
00:03:34
Speaker
The second half was a better showing from the rain as they didn't allow another goal for the remainder of the match, resulting in a 0-3 loss. The rain have now lost the last five matches, failing to score a single goal in that run. We still love you, but it's hard. Yeah.
00:03:50
Speaker
I'm definitely looking forward to the season now. Just wrapping up. Just please wrap it up. I mean, I would like you to figure out, leave on a high note. That would be nice. Leave on a high note, please. Don't know how likely that's going to be against Orlando. And unfortunately, our last home match is on a Friday, which I never am a fan of. But I mean, I like the prime video, but getting fans in the seats on a Friday, not as easy. So general, general game notes. We were surprised, kind of excited. We got Captain Haidama. You were saying that maybe that's like a ah thing that might help Padama kind of step up her game, give her that leadership role. Yeah. And honestly, like she wasn't the worst player on the field for us. Well, yeah. So, ah you know, I mean, there's really just not a lot to work with within the whole team. No. And especially what she had going forward, like what was she going to do? Yeah. There's there's no lemons to make lemonade. Yeah. She's not showing.
00:04:46
Speaker
No, and our like our what do we got going on the 10 position? Nothing. Okay. Yeah, but it's not great. We entered this match without Quinn again. Fishluck is still out as well. I think we can tell. Yeah. Very unfortunate. I don't know what Quinn's timeline is. Fishluck wants to make a push for the Euros. I would hope, you know, we might see her before the season ends, but who knows?
00:05:10
Speaker
Yeah. Cause we don't, we don't know much about what's going on there. No, we've been left out of the loop as per usual. Um, but yeah, that's, it hasn't helped at all. Not at all. We lose where to, and then Ray with that, we lose Quinn and Fishlock. I mean, I say this every week, but should we be playing better? Yes, we're not, but we also just don't have the depth to bring in more quality players throughout the game. Yeah, the lineup was kind of interesting from this match. Don't know that I expected things to go better, but we did get to kind of see some new. I mean, like Adam has got to start for once. You know, we don't really get to see that too often. But again, we're not we're not working with a whole lot else. No. And that midfield link is just so absent. Yeah. There's such a disconnect. Yeah. And so even even if you have players that can be playmakers up front, there's no support behind them. So you're seeing these players come back and have to defend. Yeah. And then what didn't help was the red early red card that we got. So we already had issues with our midfield with a full, full lineup. And now we're dealing with having to go down a player for the rest of the match. What a stupid decision on that second foul too. Right outside the box, too. Yeah. So she gets her first yellow in the fourth minute right after the goal. James Turner. Mm hmm. Yeah. And then second yellow comes right outside the box. Just straight up grabs a fistful of someone's shirt because they're getting past her. And that's a yellow in Leanne Sanderson's statements. That's a yellow all day in my book. You know, don't need vocabulary, please. Begging you.
00:06:40
Speaker
I'm begging you. But yeah, so that it was just stupid. um There's obviously frustration already. but To me, it looked like frustration with the whole fucking season, yeah honestly. um And I get that, but like, I don't know, man, we brought in these like new players and i'm some of them, I just don't see why we brought them in. Yeah, yeah, there's gonna be big questions in the offseason probably a lot of moves Yeah, I I'm fine with a loan amount if we need to until the contracts are up because we can't be hanging on to players that aren't gonna
00:07:12
Speaker
elevate this team. Yeah. And I think it's going to be a real challenge for gal more. Yeah, definitely. Um, I mean, it's going to be her real first big challenge, you know, with a full off season with the, you know, an ownership group that's not in limbo. So it'll be interesting to see what happens. and You know, as much as I doubt a lot of what may happen there, I hope that I am pleasantly surprised. Yeah. I think there's a lot of good pieces that we are working with. I'm not saying everybody we've brought in this bad. right I just think that there hasn't been a lot of thought about how it's all going to work together sometimes with some of these players and it's just not the right fit. That's all it is. Yeah, it was like we were patching holes on a sinking ship. We got brought in two Welsh players. Like I don't know. Was that the right move? No, I'm not. It doesn't seem like it was at all. So I would like to be more thoughtful. Yeah. That was also the beginning of the season when we didn't have a lot of room to make any moves. Yeah. Just another consequence of that sale dragging its feet. I'm tired.
00:08:18
Speaker
sleep I'm just like so tired of having to just think about why this is all not good because it's very obvious why and there was nothing we could have really done to prevent it. yeah In my opinion at least. I just feel like we were dealt a really really shitty hand and the ownership thing just is is is a big part of why that happened and there was nothing we could have done differently in terms of that at least. Fingers crossed for Fingers crossed for the offseason to go better. Yeah. I mean, there was a light at the end of the tunnel for a minute in this game. I mean, we were down three zero. Don't get me wrong. Well, we've come back. We've come back. We have. um But we get a penalty call and about 50, 50, 50 first minute. Yes. And we're in there. Yeah. We're lining up to have our first corner of the match. Let's take that in for a second.
00:09:10
Speaker
And then during the run up, Heidema gets absolutely bodied by Pogart. Boom. Which they had been kind of having a little bit of a battle. Yeah. And you could hear it. You could hear the official like, yeah, warning them before. Yeah. And they start their runs and she just basically like like boxed her out. Yeah. Forcefully like shoulder charge tackle and penalties call. But then it goes to VAR and he takes a look at it. And apparently the ball was not in play yet.
00:09:36
Speaker
Look to me like it it had left her foot. Yeah. It would have to be so clear and obvious to me for that to get overturned for that being the reason it it was not clear and obvious to me. Yeah. i That really pissed me off. Yeah. because Give it yeah us one goal in the fifth, you know, like a few, like five, six minutes after the half, right? Give us a penalty. Maybe we score it.
00:09:56
Speaker
That changes the whole dynamic of the game. I mean, we're still down a player, but we have proved before that we can still come back being down a player. So I'm not like counting this team out if they can get that one goal in whatever way they can. You know, it doesn't need to be pretty. We didn't, we didn't ever get that ah call or whatever reason the ref was angry. His name was Elvis. Yes.
00:10:17
Speaker
oh that I mean maybe I'd be mad at the world too and just doing stupid shit if my name is Elvis. I don't know. I think the thing for me is I mean you're right in what you just said but the thing that frustrates me is there's not somebody on the field who doesn't realize that they can be that infusion. Yeah totally.
00:10:35
Speaker
You know, this doesn't seem it. It seems very the place seems very individual in the wrong ways. Yeah. In the way that you don't have somebody who's just not passing the ball and trying to take people on because they want to win the game. No, you don't have that. You're having players scapegoat themselves out by passing the ball back every three seconds. and They don't want to be the problem, but they also don't want to be the hero. And that's what baffles me. Yeah, it sucks.
00:11:03
Speaker
So with that, we're officially eliminated from the playoffs. Unsurprising. I'm about to buy a lot of people beers. Hopefully not more than two, right? I think it's... I don't remember. Oh, man. You had me and Ron. You had me and Ron. Did you keep it going after that? I think I might have run two beers at this point. I think we might have double or nothing. I was like, we had the win streak. Maybe you got too ambitious. Yeah, I might have.
00:11:29
Speaker
I'm looking forward to my drink. Notable stats. We said this in the match recap. Rain haven't scored in five matches. Rain have lost five matches. i I think we have some obvious problems with our defense, mostly. i We've talked about the decision making with Dickey and all that stuff. um But I'm also a big advocate for, and I think you would agree, defenses make championships. They don't make championships. They win them. They win them, sorry. Defenses win championships. So yes, we need to figure out our scoring problem, um obviously. And I think that that's going to be like
00:12:02
Speaker
i I think we have some pieces here that we can get that together in the off season and build that chemistry. What I am having issue with is seeing how we're going to solve the backline problems. Yeah. um And maybe this gets solved with bug and then I don't know what Ryan Brown's recovery is going to be looking like and when where to comes back, you know, maybe that can changed my mind, but I still, it's just that this defensive situation really, really seems like a ah a huge, it's definitely a weak point. This is like a huge weak point for us that I think we're not going to be taken seriously until we figure it out. Yeah. I don't think that that's, for me, I think that there's some missing parts there for sure, but for me, it's the midfield. Okay. Yeah. There's just not a lot there.
00:12:49
Speaker
I don't even like there's nothing there, but a lot of the time there's nothing there. Yeah. And when but we have players going down unable to play, you know, trying to rotate people and we just don't have the depth and you need that depth in midfield, especially when you have older players. Yeah. Where they're more likely to pick up knocks, miss games, you know, be on limited minutes. You can't be just throwing in these third string players and hoping for the best. Yeah, it sucks. We're at the end and all the things we tried to be optimistic about in the beginning turned out to be, it was false optimism. I was catfished.
00:13:29
Speaker
Yeah, I think you were. I think I tried to hold on for as long as I could. But now I feel very relieved that we can just try and win these next couple games without, you know, the mild, scarce possibility.
00:13:47
Speaker
We'll see. We'll see. The other notable set I had down was that Utah had 23 shots. We had three, and then Utah had nine of those on goal, and we had one. So we're the least threatening team, I would say, at this very moment. I would agree. That's not good. I think i think you're onto something about the midfield being why that's the case.
00:14:08
Speaker
There's a lot of problems. It's hard to pinpoint one, but for me, that's the most, it's where it's, you know, it's the engine of the team and it seems not running well. It's the engine. I feel like I might get a lot of loss of words just because I'm exhausted. I'm also like, I almost expect these games to go the way they've been going. Yeah.
00:14:28
Speaker
And that's like, I think the most painful part of it all is just like knowing that we're so bad and we can't like seem to just, I don't know, pull pull something and something out of a hat. I don't know, give us something to root for, give us some sort of something to believe in, but like we can't change the situation that we are in without an off season. Yeah. These injuries and everything else is just like, we're we're kind of stuck. So hang out with your friends when you're watching these games or something, cause it's going to be rough.
00:14:55
Speaker
We'll move on from that, get into, was there any positives? Do you have any positives from this match? We're still not last place. Not on point, we're tight on points. We have a better goal differential, so we're technically still not last place. We are hanging on by a fucking thread though, truly. We could easily be last place next weekend. That's, oh man. I don't know, I don't know if we can have a worse season than the first season, but this is really like,
00:15:24
Speaker
this is really bad yeah but and so we end up in last place i'm calling this the worst season if if we end up in last place yeah i'm calling this the worst season if we do and that could be just because of where we ended up in the standings and also the factors that led to that yeah this has been a horrible ride so please please don't do not get in last place i'm begging you beat houston i'm desperate do something i'm desperate this is desperate times right now for me and i'm sure for the players come on it's We can't go from being in the championship to this. It's the last. This is the perfect game though to just have an absolute just just go off. do You get this tone sometimes in the way you like get optimism and at this point now it's like triggering for me before. Well they have nothing left to lose. They don't and I really really hope that this week you're actually right.
00:16:15
Speaker
but I really do. Yeah, like this time I'm like, oh man, I could really use vans, this this stopp optimistic toll. Yeah, but then it breaks your heart. yeah i know and then we have to fucking meet up again and just talk about how shitty it was and it's like well you were wrong again one of these days i'll be right broken clock are you a broken clock you gotta be right you gotta be right at some point right maybe i hope took i hope so i guess the one other positive is that we stopped the bleeding after halftime yeah it could have been a whole lot worse
00:16:47
Speaker
Yeah, and to me that says the to me that says the that Harvey still has the locker room. um I think another coach in that situation and everything that that could this game could have gone completely off the rails. It did in the first half. Yes, I mean, it's the definitely first hat trick of the season and then to sell for the season. season Like what? How did that happen to us? Yeah, against Utah. Yeah, that's bad. I know Utah has been playing better, but yeah, if you would have told me that like two months ago, though, I would have been like,
00:17:15
Speaker
I would have believed it if it was like Orlando or KC or Gotham. Chloe Lacasse has been an absolute revelation for them though. They're gonna be really good next year I think. I mean you've been on this this small hype train for Utah for a few weeks now it's biting us in the ass, the rain.
00:17:31
Speaker
yeah Utah has scored, I think this is probably why it's worth pointing out as a positive. you Utah has scored 13 before this match. They had scored 13 of their ah last 17 goals in the second half of games, which is just over 75%. So I think we have to give credit to our defense for regrouping. Yeah, especially for playing down a player for so long. Yeah. We've been in that situation before. And won the game. We did. Let's roll, I guess. That's probably all the positives we got, right? This was a shitty, shitty game. Yeah, it was not great. Not great. Do you want to talk about James Turner? What were you doing, James Turner?
00:18:08
Speaker
what What, like, what, what was going through your mind? we We, I mean, we touched on this a little bit, but like you just, I mean, she essentially ruined the game but for the rain. And I just, I'm, I'm, I'm tired. She hasn't, but she hasn't started for us for a while, right? Like, or like, she hasn't been getting regular minutes for quite a while. So then she finally gets her start and is like, seems like she's going to be playing like at least probably 70 minutes, maybe 60. And then this is what she does inexcusable, completely inexcusable for me. yeah it's i just like uh no words just dumb decision making selfish maybe that's harsh i don't know yeah she wasn't thinking that's for sure yeah i mean i think she's gonna look back about it obviously no but that's
00:18:54
Speaker
but was like That was the game killer for us. And, you know, it can be a learning a learning opportunity for players. Roy your eyes at me. I want a winning opportunity. and I want a learning opportunity. I want a winning opportunity. And she took that away from us. Yeah. I just feel like you should be making better decisions when you're 30 years old. Yeah, that's my problem. Like at that point, you should know better.
00:19:15
Speaker
Yeah. And especially it's like, she's part of the Wales national team. So like, if they're going to be making an honest Bush for getting into the euros, I mean, sometimes people play differently in club and country, but, um, you're not, you're not going, you're not going to be going into in great form if you're doing this kind of stuff. Yeah. Next negative, it's just like, this is like a back and forth thing, I swear, with Dickie. It's like, one week we're like, yeah, she was great this week. And then the next week- I never said great. She had a good week one time, more than once. She's had some good games. This was not one of those, at least the first half. The goal in the third minute, which I know we've had issues, early goals and quick restart goals and whatever, we've had really poor defending on that.
00:19:58
Speaker
I don't know what the fuck she was doing on that first goal. So they got a corner, right? Utah got a corner and they're setting it up. Dickey sitting in just it seemed like she was going to come out and grab the ball, right? Like, which is what she's good at. Yes. Which is where she was positioned first. And for whatever fucking reason, she decides to step back and get into the Yeah, basically I get on the line like I the ball drops like maybe two yards away from her. I don't know why you don't come out and get that ball. I have no clue what she saw when she decided to do that. Well, I think that probably aids in the confusion for the defense and why the ball ended up bouncing around for a minute was because they're like, oh, she'll come get it.
00:20:34
Speaker
uh second goal don't know that much she could have been done by dickey on that one and then do you want to walk through the third goal so yeah the ball gets played through the into the box the cast comes onto it and it's odd dickey's near post she comes out to cut off the angle and the shot comes to the near post and her body is like oddly positioned where she's ah turned a little bit to like too much to the side. And so when she gets her body to it, it just goes in like the ball hits her and then goes in. And that got counted as a goalkeeper error rate on football. I think so. I think that's the one they're talking about because I think. Yeah.
00:21:16
Speaker
I just I mean she got magged on the first goal and then this one that's like All you have to do is get your body in front of it. But you're just what what are you doing? It's yeah I don't yeah, this is to me. Maybe there's a mental like thing going on with the players between this the James Turner situation They just kind of came out with the wrong. I know they just didn't look ready. They didn't look ready They didn't look hungry Yeah, but with her, these are mistakes that she's made all season. Sure, but she does, you know, oftentimes learn from certain stuff. And then this, I feel like the first goal, that's not an error she usually makes. She usually comes out and grabs them. So like, what's, I don't know, it just seems like she wasn't thinking there.
00:22:01
Speaker
And I'm just over having somebody, our our number one goalkeeper, be somebody who is this inconsistent. I think this is this this match is made the argument for me that we need to go get a veteran to compete. We've we've we've talked about it and said maybe that's, we don't know if that's for the right call. And I think I'm at this point thinking that it is.
00:22:25
Speaker
It is. There are better goalkeepers. and There are better goalkeepers that deserve to have number one spots that are in this league. And yet we have one who has not shown that she's even the number one on our team. I think she can could be competing for the first spot. i think but I think you've said this before, having competition and having veteran around, then that can help her game a lot.
00:22:50
Speaker
Yeah, because you know, she's going to start in the next game because we don't have anybody else. There's really no consequence team wise or, you know, from a fan perspective. Yeah. We'll see what happens there. But don't be surprised if we make some moves. I would say Nicole keeper. God, I hope so. Can we get Fallon told us Joyce back? I think we all are still upset about that move. That was,
00:23:15
Speaker
They probably got a lot of money for that mystery money, but negative. unreal I mean, not related directly to the game on the field, but um we keep getting these like big, big games on. Well, they, you know, like the big, big network games, right? So this was on ESPN too. yeah Was it on ESPN too? No, it was on ESPNU for the first half.
00:23:39
Speaker
because there's more golf which we had had a we covered a match where there was golf so they need to stop scheduling things and i know sports i don't know not very rarely do things end on time but they need to be scheduling these things with that in mind at least this time it was a women's sport but wasn't bull riding men's, men's bull riding. It was women's golf last time too. Uh, I just, you're not really helping me, but like ESPN isn't helping me believe that they care about, uh, airing and covering women's sports when they keep having these horrible overlaps, yeah um, making us trying to find these streams and all that stuff. But yeah, I don't know. Something needs to get figured out there. uh last negative I had listed um howl is gonna be out for the next match for yellow card accumulation I feel like we were just talking about this so I should really be racking up those yellow cards I don't like it it's not great for us so I don't like it either
00:24:43
Speaker
Because I don't think of how was like, well, didn't that yellow card that she got in this game was also like bullshit. beat Yeah, it was total bullshit. She got the ball. She got the ball. She didn't step on her foot afterwards, but it was it was a harsh shift like a ball. So like it was a harsh yellow. Yeah, sure. A foul. But it's not a yellow. No. And then because of that, because of that Elvis gave us a yellow.
00:25:05
Speaker
Fucking Elvis. we then Now she's got to miss the next match. So she only has one more match with us. Yeah. And then now she's, she's also missing the last home match of the season, which really sucks. Yeah. Stupid. Do you have any other negatives? No, just the match as a whole. The entire thing, yeah the entire thing was, was, was a negative. Yeah. Agreed. Post-match presser. Did you watch the player one? Yeah. What'd you get from that? Not a lot. Great. Disappointment, you know,
00:25:32
Speaker
Yeah, this point is just the same thing we're although I don't think Harvey on hers talked about poor quality cuz we get the point now She went on um she didn't go off I think I think in this instance of complain sometimes about when people coaches players complain too much about something that gets You know, maybe they don't feel like the call was correct. I do you feel like maybe in this instance, she had a little bit more ground to stand on. Uh, and I'm sure she's also just fucking sick of everything with the season. So she was really just going to like get in our soapbox and just fucking let them have it. Yeah. She was really upset about the, uh, the PQ decision. I think rightfully so.
00:26:10
Speaker
Yeah, it's a tough one, especially with the level of replay that they have. Yeah, her whole thing was just like goals change games. Maybe get a player that'll score you a goal that'll change the game then. Yeah, it's a good idea. Maybe be a maybe this offseason we could figure them out like that. um King did say so as King and Athens in the post game presser and King said at one point, I hope we can remember what this shit feels like and not allow it to take the wind out of our sails. That's depressing. let's see Yeah, I feel so bad for them.
00:26:39
Speaker
Yeah, she also ah talked a bit about like, yeah, I mean, we're disappointed. We want to play our best every game. We're our own biggest critics and like, yep don't get too hard on yourself because then you got to come back and play next week, maybe at the end of the season. But yeah, because they're also playing on Friday, which is kind of a quick turnaround. Yeah. So don't get into too much reflection depression mode yet. I would like to possibly have at least one enjoyable moment within these next few games. I think we're due for it. I also think that there's no better time for that than ah the last time match of the season. So yeah.
00:27:09
Speaker
Extra, extra cautious optimism. I think that pretty much wraps up the match. I don't really think there's too much to expand on. I think we're kind of just getting through the rest of the season as best as we can. Yay. yeah So I guess we'll roll into the final part, um, cooler player of the match. 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. And we have decided that the doctor's office cooler player of the match for this game is the rain second half defense. Yep.
00:27:47
Speaker
You know, good for them. I thought about giving it to the friends we made along the way, but I don't think we're there yet, all right? There was a positive from this, a big positive, I think. And we're gonna hold on to that, so. but who Thank you, Rain, for not having the most embarrassing game we could have ever had. Could have been a lot worse, so thank you. And thank you again, once once again, to our sponsor, the Doctor's Office. The Doctor's Office is the best place to grab a drink before or after a rain match. Take the edge off the rain missing the playoffs.
00:28:14
Speaker
With one of TDOs limited edition cocktails, like a Rocky stinger, a cocktail that tastes like an Andes mint served alongside a real one. Check out their Instagram at TDO Seattle or better yet, go drink there in person. Cheers. Cheers. Um, there is a lot of other stuff that had happened that had happened happened around the league.
00:28:35
Speaker
Orlando, I'm mad that we didn't get to do this. i know i don't I don't know that we could do this, but I was hoping we would get a chance to do it, but Orlando finally lost. And Portland and were the ones to crush their undefeated season, but they didn't really set it up like Orlando was trying, like Orlando didn't set it up like they were really trying to get undefeated. No, they won the shield last week. So they already are finishing at the top, going to be the number one team in the league. You've got Marta, who's a hundred years old.
00:29:05
Speaker
But all these players that have been like showing up and showing out for the season, and like time to give them a rest. yeah So then they go into Portland. Portland's riding on that playoff line. They've got something to prove. Yeah, super desperate. Yeah, extremely desperate. And honestly, it's the worst game I've seen Orlando play this whole season.
00:29:25
Speaker
Unsurprisingly, I would say, given the circumstances too. Yeah. You start your B squad, you get a B squad performance. Yeah. And you're playing a desperate Portland in Portland. And then they had said, um, on the broadcast that like Portland had never lost three home matches in a row. So when I went to sit down and watch part of the match, I was just like, I have a bad feeling in the sense that I think Portland's going to win. Um, and they did. Yeah. So, you know, a kind of a bummer. We don't get to see Orlando have that perfect season, but I also, i I get why they did what they did. I know you were like, it annoys me as a competitive person. Like I would want a lineup to go out and like that the first step. I instead put a line about that would win a game. But it's I also understand. OK, you're trying to make this. and And that's the other thing, too. It's not really a long push into playoff. It's a short playoff series.
00:30:16
Speaker
So you as much rest as you can get is good because there's not a lot of break, not a lot of opportunities to give players breaks. And you have some essential pieces there that you don't want to lose. Think it's kind of tricky cuz like you want momentum going in to the playoffs But like this international windows kind of screwing things up anyways um Because we've got like a little bit of a break after this next week's game And then they've got a I assume a pretty good amount of players going and wherever whatever bur Brazil's playing and whatever they're doing for their stuff But there's a very good chance they're gonna be losing a lot of players for that so the momentum and the travel and And all that stuff is already going to be a huge factor that I guess now is the time to get them the rest. We'll see if it pays off for them. Cause like I said, I think momentum is a big factor in playoffs too. So I don't know. Yeah. Be interesting to see. I'll be excited to see how they do in playoffs, especially with how well their season's gone.
00:31:10
Speaker
Moving on, uh, Angel City played North Carolina and Kristen Press scored her first goal since she's come back from her 18 knee surgeries. Um, cause at 18, I think she ended up ended end up having, he was like five, right? It was like three or more. I can't remember the exact number, but yeah, her last goal she scored was June 11th, 2022. So over two years ago. Wow.
00:31:37
Speaker
I got to say I was a little skeptical ah that I mean, she's she's a goal scorer, right? Like, so I'm not super shocked that if she's going to come back, she's going to find something because the goal that she scores like vintage crystal press. But I don't know. You just this. It's been so long. There was questions of whether she was ever going to play again for sure, let alone this season. So good for her. Yeah, good for her. And then they absolutely lost it and gave up the goal.
00:32:03
Speaker
It's North but Carolina, you know? And it can never count out North Carolina. No, you can't. They're there's they're a team that's always gonna be in it. Yeah, they've been bad on the road, but yeah, you can never count them out. Although if you're playing in the rain, you can almost always count us out.
00:32:18
Speaker
at least reasonably. she this ah Gotham, we're going down, playoff looking at the top of the playoff part of the bracket, whatever we want to call it, top of the playoff standings. Gotham got two late goals to win against Chicago, which means now that Gotham gets to host This is crazy. This, this extends to sky blue FC as well. Gothic gets to host their first ever playoff match like at home. It's crazy. They've never done that before. So, um, it only took like probably breaking a bunch of rules and stealing a bunch of players, but they did it. They finally did it in the most honest way possible. They did. And, uh, Chicago's coach got red guarded. Oh yeah. Yeah. He won't be there for the next game.
00:33:01
Speaker
I don't know. It'll be interesting to see these, the momentum. And I think this is kind of why it gets so like, like, I don't know what's going to happen in the layoffs because there's just like, we get this like kind of break, usually with an international break. And then we pick it up wherever we pick it up. And then like, who knows what teams look like when they get back. Yeah. It's like, which team am I going to see? No idea. Thank you for listening to the Soundbit heart podcast network, which now includes no sunny at this lobbing scorchers and the cooler guild.
00:33:28
Speaker
We've been independent since August of 2023, 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. 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 SenderAtHeart.com and click the subscribe button in the top right corner. Thanks for listening!
00:34:13
Speaker
Oh, this is the big news. This is the really big news we have to cover today. We, you know, the rain, maybe have the best name in the league and the best branding in the league now that we've gone back to, you know, the queen. Um, but we have competition now. We do have some serious competition now, and it is, it is Boston's has revealed their NWSL team name and it is boss nation football club thoughts.
00:34:44
Speaker
I thought it was a joke. I did too. And it's not even BOS. It's B-O-S. but Yeah, because Boston doesn't have two S's. I know, but ah then I just think of it as Bose Nation. I know, Bose Nation. Not only this. So that was announced yesterday. That was announced on Monday. Today, they unveiled their marketing campaign for Bose Nation.
00:35:11
Speaker
boss nation sounds like like they're going to do like a bunch of clubs. Yeah. The club nights or something. Mm hmm. Yeah. It sounds like a rap label, which from boss nation records. Well, it sounds like one of those things you might hear back when you were downloading music from LimeWire or like Napster. Oh, I see. And then it would just like echo in the background. That's what that sounds like. It does.
00:35:36
Speaker
but Not sure it's working for an NWSL team though. No. So it's not great. The name itself is not great. And everybody yesterday was like, all right, like, let's see. Let's see. They rolled out this video today. That's absolute fucking bonkers, dude. Balls. It just says balls, like balls, balls. 20 plus times.
00:36:00
Speaker
I'm like, what? What was the thought process in this? It's just all about like literally we've got steel balls. Boston loves its balls. I actually took a note. There's a quote in this video that says Boston loves its balls. I would i think what I said is did a 13 year old boy come up with the balls campaign? Like how old are we?
00:36:25
Speaker
yeah You have to wonder. And someone on on Twitter found the Instagram post from the company that came up with this marketing campaign. ah The company is ah Colossus Creative Co. um And they're the company that Boz Nation FC hired for the launch. And they say in this post, part of it says, quote, thanks to our brave clients for having the guts to be wildly provocative with this launch. andot
00:36:56
Speaker
It's not provocative. It's just gross. It's It's bad. It's gross. It doesn't belong in this league. It doesn't belong in a professional sports league. No, it's embarrassing. It's extremely embarrassing, especially for a women's sports team oh to make it about balls, to make some like fucking middle school joke. They also had zero of the pro women's teams featured in this Rola video. No, so they had the NHL team, they had the Celtics, they even had Red Sox, Patriots, yeah whatever whatever. All the men's teams were featured, but they didn't have their like hockey team that was in the final last year, but i like completely out of touch. No, it just seems like they hired men to do this and they thought this was a great idea.
00:37:45
Speaker
And that is not the, that is not the trajectory that this s league is on. This seems like an absolute regression. Yeah, absolutely. And it's gross to me. I hate it. Yeah. It is funny how much engagement it's getting because it's so bad, but also was that like, do they think that's smart? And that was the point. Not when the fans are the fans of the NAB cell, like this is to me is just like, you're so out of touch about who these fans are.
00:38:11
Speaker
Not even that the players. Yeah. Yeah, totally. Yeah. On the video post on Instagram. So many comments. um The first two that came up on my feed because I follow these people on the balls video is Nikki Stanton going just what? And then Ella Duderick saying this is weird. Yeah, correct. I did see a tweet that do people who liked Portland's tattoo jersey also like the name boss nation FC. I'm trying to see something. I thought that was hilarious.
00:38:47
Speaker
Someone commented, no. And I'm like, that's not what you look like, though, in that jersey. So and then Quinn, Quinn had also commented on ah that video because there's a weird point at that video where like they were talking about the players that they can have on the team or whatever. and They're like, no balls necessary. And Quinn was like, this is a bit turfy, this like video, like what what the fuck? Yeah. And yeah, I think I agree with that. And then it's it sounds like Quinn's comment got like hidden, right?
00:39:18
Speaker
Yeah, they posted after that and said love how my comment was hidden by Instagram Quote calling out transphobia shouldn't be hidden. This doesn't represent the league and it is such poor messaging. Yeah agreed Yeah, it's crazy that they rolled this fucking message out in the year 2024 for a women's sports league that has you know gender non-conforming, non-binary players. um And we're also just trying to be a very accepting league of various gender identities. And this is this is what they want to put out. And to make it about
00:40:00
Speaker
Body anatomy and male anatomy to make something that is so good and so good for women Like a professional soccer league that is thriving in the united states To make it about male anatomy and in that space balls is just such a bad fucking look Yeah, big yikes huge yikes like I feel like I deserve compensation For having That splashed all over every part of social media and news sites that I follow. Yeah, I might have to block them. I kind of want to see the downfall. i If they're smart, they will change this. They will they will delete the video and they will go back to the drawing board, which we have seen teams do when they get really bad feedback and bad reactions. Louisville being one of them. And we've also seen it in the MLS as well. Chicago famously put out really bad branding. Yeah. You know, it's not too late. You could you can change what you fucked up and anyways. Yeah, I feel bad for everybody in Boston who was excited by this team. Did you have anything from the league and you want to talk about? No, there's some more crap going down in San Diego, but I feel like we should wait for that to pan out a little bit. But what an absolute mess down there.
00:41:18
Speaker
No joke. So we have a chance for redemption on Friday, October 18th, this Friday, 7 p.m. at home. So at Lumen ah against Houston Dash. So ah what they would call this is the toilet bowl. The battle at the bottom, if you will. Yeah. Yeah.
00:41:38
Speaker
Uh, it's the last home match of the season for the rain. Uh, we're tied on points with Houston. So whoever wins this game will, uh, not be last place. Whoever loses this game will be last place. And if we tie, we'll remain second over second to last. Houston did win last weekend against San Diego.
00:41:57
Speaker
But as we know, San Diego is kind of a dumpster for these days. yeah Bad vibes there all around bad vibes. So and then after after this Friday's game, we got a big break um before the final match of the season and at Orlando. We'll see what happens against Houston. um They've been playing better. Unfortunately, they also finally got rid of their coach who was just who knows what the hell he was doing. But he's not there anymore. So they actually have ah something that you can put together, um but they're capable of being bad. Let's take advantage. I'm into that. I mean, I know we're also capable of being bad, but this let's let's win the last game of the season at home. Yeah, let's do it. Let's do it. I'm going to make Megan watch this game with me so that if I completely break down, I won't be alone. Hopefully we don't have to cry.
00:42:45
Speaker
Maybe there'll be tears of joy. Yeah, honestly, I'll have so many, I'll have a lot of and emotions if they win this game. And I'm sure the players will too. It's a going to be a big day for them. I think it's going to wrap up this week. Sorry, it was a downer and we didn't have a lot to really break down in depth, but this season is almost over and we are not good right now and it has not been fun.
00:43:11
Speaker
But we're doing our best. We are doing our best, we think. um So we want to thank everybody who's been listening and made this podcast what it is today. And let's let's just all like hold hands virtually. And we're going to hold hands and pray to the soccer gods. Yeah, pray to the soccer gods for next year to be better. And ah and by better, I mean it at least over the playoff line. Yes, goal for next year, make the playoffs. We're on social media if you want to follow us.
00:43:39
Speaker
We're on X, formerly known as Twitter and Instagram. Same handle there. Cooler Guild Pod. We have an email and we love emails. So please send us an email to thecoolerguild at gmail dot.com. We are also on our main website, sounderatheart.com forward slash the cooler guild.
00:43:55
Speaker
We're on YouTube as well, youtube dot.com forward slash at the cooler guild. We also now have a tip option. So if you don't want to do a full subscription to center heart, you can just leave us a nice little tip. Um, with all the posts that go out for each episode. Um, we would love it. If you go and rate us five stars, wherever you're listening, leave us a nice review. Leave us a funny review. Tell us where we're wrong. Tell us where we're, what you believe five stars, five stars though. Make sure it's five. Please don't kill us in the algorithm for the podcast. Yeah, we're like 99 right now in soccer podcasts. That's pretty big for a rain podcast. that's where were That's where we're at. Thanks to you people. But if you don't do five stars, you're going to screw us over. where We have already have enough hurt this season. Please don't compound it. Don't make it worse, please. um All right. I think that's going to do it for this week. I'm Coop. I'm Van. Bye. Bye.
00:45:02
Speaker
You just go. You go. oh You go. No, you go. That stupid Geico ad where it's like to Pacific Northwest cars, like trying. Oh yeah. Wasn't that Pemko?