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Reign, lightning, and a win in Orlando - Ep. 57
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First game of the season, first win of the season. The Reign earned a hard fought 3 points from the 2026 opening weekend. We get into the win against the Pride, including the travel ordeals that plagued the team getting to and from Orlando. Later we answer a listener question, quickly recap other results in the NWSL, as well as preview the Reign’s next match.
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Show produced by Coop
Music by Eddie Buchanan - www.eddiebuchananmusic.com
Show artwork by Coop
The Cooler Guild Est. 2024
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Transcript
Introduction and St. Patrick's Day Greetings
00:00:18
Speaker
Hello, and there's you and your Baba. Hello, hello, hello. You can start over. Welcome to episode 57 of the Cooler Guild. We don't have a soft transition anymore with new music, so we can just keep this rolling. All right. ah I am Coop Cooper and joined with me is the Baba baby herself, my co-host, Van Crisp. She's referring to my Oala water bottle. Hello.
00:00:46
Speaker
Hello. We're recording you on Tuesday, March 17th, 2026. Is it St. Patrick's Day? Yes, it is. Happy St. Patrick's Day. I don't know anything about the holiday, but happy to all you Irish people.
Exciting Game Recap Teaser
00:01:01
Speaker
um On today's episode, we get the pleasure of a dub pod.
00:01:06
Speaker
da ah first First game of the season. Really exciting. so we're going to get into that win on the road in Orlando and all of the shit shows shit that came along with traveling there for the team. But hey, they got three points. im Curious to see where that goes this following game that we got coming up on a short, short week.
00:01:24
Speaker
But before we get into the game and everything else, I just want to remind people that... New subscribers get 10% rate and you'll support everything we're doing.
00:01:40
Speaker
if you'd like to become a subscriber just visit our page at sounderatart dot com forward slash the coolergiild new subscribers get ten percent off the normal rate and you'll help support everything we're doing senator earth The rain didn't play till Sunday. Did you have anything else interesting happen to
Coop's Weekend Activities
00:01:55
Speaker
you?
00:01:55
Speaker
Over the weekend? No. ah watched the Friday game, Saturday. was watching soccer. Yeah, that's that's good. Yep, cool.
00:02:08
Speaker
i I just get so locked in on the first weekend. Well, I was planning to. I was like led to believe that there's more games on ah Victory Plus and there wasn't. and then I also made the mistake of buying Pocopia.
00:02:21
Speaker
I don't know what that is. It's a new Pokemon game. Oh. And it has gotten insane reviews and it is extremely addicting. And it's so it's probably the cutest game I've ever played in my entire life. But the point is, I've just been couch rotting and playing Pacopia.
00:02:38
Speaker
Okay. um Yeah.
00:02:43
Speaker
It does. Yeah, it's, if you know, you know, i don't know. So I am. I am a huge nerd. So in that way, at least.
Reign vs Orlando Pride Game Analysis
00:02:53
Speaker
Cool. Well, let's get into a Really exciting game. We ah got to watch the rain play for the third time in a row. Basically, the Orlando Pride. Yep. Three different results each time. a different result for every single those games.
00:03:09
Speaker
And this finally you got a win. Yeah. Finally. Yeah. ah There was a lot of problems for the team to get there. ah they so Because of the government and it sounds it seems like they're... was a weather. The first day was weather.
00:03:28
Speaker
But there's like no warning these days for like big weather coming, it seems like. It just seemed like came out of nowhere because they were on the run runway for four hours, the team was. Four and a half hours. for Yeah, four and a half hours on the runway before flying out to Orlando.
00:03:43
Speaker
ah That sucks a lot. They did get there. They were smart enough to schedule their flight. one day Monday day ah morning, but that was also a shit show. ah The flight got canceled for some reason. I'm not really sure what the story is behind that. And today it's Tuesday and their other flight got canceled as well. That was supposed to happen today.
00:04:07
Speaker
um But it seems like a charter plane came through. they didn't charter. It wasn't a charter? No, they flew on an m d eighty three is that So how does that work? So it was like a regional airline, and but they it only has like 3,500 miles range, MD-83 does. something like that. was And so they had to stop in Kansas City.
00:04:31
Speaker
So I think from what I was hearing from people, they were not going to be into town until probably when we get done recording this podcast. Oh my God, what a fucking nightmare. Anyways, team got there, did their thing. Eventually they got there. ah But there was also...
00:04:47
Speaker
First off finishes and there's a what was it? Two and a half, two hour weather delay. Two and half hours, yeah. Weather delay in the middle of fucking game. I mean, they couldn't catch a fucking break. No, it was.
00:04:58
Speaker
mean, what are you doing scheduling an Orlando game in March? in the afternoon i have no idea i have no idea i feel like knowing this is probably also true for like houston um and maybe louisville as well like these these cities that have issues with weather delays often should they make that time a little bit flexible maybe schedule it earlier just so that you have the flexibility to move it back if it needed but schedule it maybe as early as you possibly can i also think that these these thunderstorms tend to come like in the About the time that the game was scheduled.
00:05:34
Speaker
Yeah. And i don't know what you do. i mean, there's no there is predicting it, but it's hit or miss. Yeah. because I don't know. I guess I'm not a weather forecaster. Would it be better to not schedule games in nor Orlando this time of year? i don't know because I feel like this happens all season long.
00:05:51
Speaker
Yeah, i either way, it's it was annoying. It was super annoying. um But even before the game, there was
Surprising Trade: Jordan Heidemann to Chicago
00:06:00
Speaker
some news. There was. Personnel news. Major news. um Not something I necessarily saw coming this soon. Yeah. But as we talked about in the last podcast, Jordan Heidemann was in the last year of her contract.
00:06:13
Speaker
I was this close to predicting this might happen. And I feel really a ashamed that it didn't. But Jordan Heidema was traded to Chicago to be with her bestie, Julia Grosso. $500,000 for this, too, of funds. Yep.
00:06:30
Speaker
Kind of dispersed in a couple different ways. um That's a lot of money for Jordan Heidema. I didn't know he'd get that much for her, so that's why I just thought she would stick with us for the rest of the year. Yeah, I think... I don't want to say I think Chicago overpaid. oh they I'm going to say they did, unless somehow Jordan Heidema scores...
00:06:47
Speaker
I don't know, I'm going to say at least six goals for them this year. What I will say is I hope she proves to them that she's worth that amount of money. Yeah, yeah absolutely. It just is crazy. it's the The amount doesn't make sense if you look at how much she's, you know, helped on the score sheet.
00:07:03
Speaker
Right. It just is. It's absolutely bonkers. But hey, I'll take it. ah Exactly. That's kind of my thought about it. Sad to see her go. She's definitely kind of a...
00:07:17
Speaker
a light in the team if you will seem like she had a really good relationship with the rest of the team so know they're sad to see her go but i know hope she succeeds they have been crowded up top and there's been an effort it seems like to always find a way to get heidema going and it just hasn't worked out so now i don't have to worry about that yeah and um mean as much as i love defending her And how much he does defensively. Like it is a little, a little like nice to to know that other players are going to get more time. Yeah.
Key Game Performances and Player Highlights
00:07:51
Speaker
And we'll talk about this in a little bit, but there were other players, namely one who I definitely saw step into that role and fulfill that high press desire to win the ball back up top. And they were a bit more dynamic with it than I've seen item up be over there. So. yeah Cool. Well, the other note, just the general note, I suppose, ah Ryan Brown had returned to play Yep.
00:08:21
Speaker
Very exciting. We've been eager to see her return for quite some time ever since we gave her a cooler player of the match. back in Yeah. Yeah, July 2024 was the last time when she when she tore ACL. Oh, man.
00:08:37
Speaker
she didn She didn't look bad either. you know i know, just get some get get a few minutes in and get comfortable. Yeah, first minutes in more than 600 days. That's crazy. Yep.
00:08:48
Speaker
That's crazy. Good for her. My dog interrupted, but... Yeah. What else do you to say about Ryan Brown? I'm just happy to see her back. And it was, a I'm glad that she's another option that we have to bring on.
00:09:02
Speaker
For sure. If not earn her starting spot back, which will take time, but yeah. Anyway, we won the game 2-1. We won the game 2-1. We were also, ah it was like tied up for a minute and we were able to still find a goal after that. And that's something that I feel like we've had struggles with before. We haven't had struggles scoring multiple goals.
00:09:24
Speaker
We have trouble scoring any goal sometimes, but we've also had trouble scoring multiple goals last season. And not not letting up and giving away another goal. Yeah, it got close. and maybe And maybe Orlando should have gotten a different goal. I don't know what was going with the referee decision on that one.
00:09:40
Speaker
um But hey, look there's luck all the time in the sport. And there's also bad calls all the time that kind of eventually even out. so That wasn't a goal. She blew the whistle when the ball was in the air before it was even shot. Yeah. Yeah, but I watched it and I slowly tried to find a foul and I really could not find one.
00:09:58
Speaker
That's fine, but what I'm saying is... Yeah, yeah, yeah. She blew the whistle... Before the goal went in. That draws attention. So would that goal have been scored if the whistle wasn't blown? Yeah, we don't know. We don't know. So screw it. It didn't happen. Yeah.
00:10:12
Speaker
So we're going to change the positives and negatives section because i like the semantics of calling it what worked and what didn't work. yeah I'm a negative Nancy, so I was fine with negatives, but I see where the issue lies for some folks.
00:10:29
Speaker
Yeah. So top point of what worked three points on the road with multiple goals scored. And you had pointed out it's, there was a lot more ah active offensive general.
00:10:41
Speaker
Definitely. It just seemed like we were talking about this in the last episode, just wanting more dynamic touches in the final third in the box, really getting in and beating that last line of defense. Yeah. And that happened so many times, even to start the match. The first two, three minutes of the game, i was like, whoa, this is very different than what we saw last year.
00:11:05
Speaker
And mean, even lineup, I was skeptical. I thought Laura Harvey might be putting the five back in because in the pregame presser, she said, you know, some things might need to change. Maybe we don't always need to play a five back. And I was like, no, are you going to play a five back all season again? No, started with the four back. She's just trying to haunt us.
00:11:25
Speaker
And it worked. But yeah, they were more active in general. There were more shots taken. There were, it just felt more dangerous. Orlando had opportunities for sure. Not to say that, you know, them pushing forward didn't kind of come at the cost of, of, ah you know, Orlando trying to get the counters and transitions and all that stuff. And Orlando's pretty i good at that stuff. That's what i'm saying. If you can make this work against Orlando, yeah it can pretty much work with anybody. Which I don't know. opponent Yeah, which is, hey, didn't the Reign kind of invent the way in how to beat Orlando at one point? yeah So, don't know, maybe maybe it's part of that is Reign, you know, when they really do lock in, they're capable of of coming up with results like this.
00:12:11
Speaker
the fact that they did this with all of the the bullshit that they had between the rate the the delay and the delay on the runway and then then the delay in that for the weather is i think speaks volumes to kind of the mindset of this team this year yeah and it has it has me feeling good i'm i'm still i'm gonna feel it out i think you know don't want to get ahead of myself but this is a good result this is a very very good result it's yeah Another thing that worked were veterans. Absolutely.
00:12:41
Speaker
Jess Fishlock, What the fuck, man? You know, and this is this is like repeating myself, a broken record, whatever you want to call it. But last season, i expressed skepticism with Jess.
00:12:56
Speaker
ah But hey, you know, she's 39 years old and she's still a difference maker. Very much so. She loves this game so much. and And you can see it in the way that she plays.
00:13:07
Speaker
And she's still strong. Yeah. She might not be as fast. Yeah. The endurance might be dwindling. Yeah. She's fast. and I just don't know how, you know, how she's quick. Yeah. Yeah.
00:13:18
Speaker
But they're just the, the forethought to put your body between the defender yourself, to touch the ball, the ball comes through Montessir though. Amazing slotted pass. It was sick. And just to be able to turn that, take a great first touch and then be one-on-one with the goalkeeper. slotted in it was so good yeah so so smart i love that yeah but yeah jpdell camera did say on the broadcast right after scorering oldest player on the field like why gotta do her like that I know um and then another veteran who we didn't quite know what kind of impact she was going to be able to have pretty at cliff yeah it turns out instant impact and you know as far as the next point with substitute she subbed in in seventy eighth minute Yeah. Scored in the 83rd. That's what you want. Five minutes in another Coco gets the ball. Yeah. Just kind of lofts it. Doesn't try to do too much.
00:14:16
Speaker
Just lofts it. And Ratcliffe jumps up. Boom. Redirects it. Yeah. It had the right amount of curl on it. And, and, uh, you know, it was whipping in there pretty good. it wasn't too much, you know, like it was the perfect amount to make danger. Uh, Ratcliffe right place, right time.
00:14:32
Speaker
Cause who was in front of her that like almost got their head on it instead? i've watched this goal like eight times and i don't remember was it phoebe have been there was a player in like for the rain who was like she i mean if she would have been a little bit taller she would have hit it but ratcliffe was right behind her to to pick it up so yeah great work what about the other substitutes um would i have liked to see adama is more Yeah, I think so. um Do we think that Orlando maybe subbed out the wrong people?
00:15:00
Speaker
Possibly. Possibly. But the subs for the rain were very defensive minded and I think it totally worked. ah They needed to lock it down. It was getting pretty fucking scary ah with Orlando. Luckily, they took out Banda.
00:15:16
Speaker
Yeah, that was an interesting one to me. But, you know, I don't know what her fitness is like. Also, they brought in Hayley McCutcheon. So another dangerous player. Yeah. ah or i know. I mean, they, they easily could have scored like three goals in this game, maybe more. um But the rain always have defense in mind first. I mean, they were getting back really, really quickly when the transitions were on closing, trying to close down Banda just, just enough to cut off that, that, you know, that angle for her. Very effective. I mean, there were a couple of times when, I mean, in the goal, sure. Emily Mason kind of got cooked. Hey, it was her first start in center back. There were several other times. Yeah, there was one big breakaway and Sam Meza was flying horse yeah flying back, feeding, holding down the back, just getting that angle in behind.
00:16:09
Speaker
It was it was pretty great to see. Yeah. um Yeah, did there were several times. Yeah, I did just see if someone try to roast Harvey and her substitutes on the on the Reddit like live. You know, people posting on Reddit and they were just like, oh, it looks like Laura Harvey does not to use her subs again. and This is right before regular school.
00:16:29
Speaker
And I was like, what was that? What was that? I don't understand how people think this is some like witchcraft and wizardy wizardry. you It's good coaching. It's knowing your players. yeah It's understanding the system that you're trying to play.
00:16:44
Speaker
It's also respecting your opponent to some level, right? And trying to adjust your game plan to that, which I think confuses a lot of people. like I mean, I'm not going to say I understand it all the time. I certainly don't.
00:16:55
Speaker
But I think that people just think she's just trying random stuff. It's like she's trying to read the opponent. Yeah. And adjust with based on who she has and what she can do with them. Exactly. Exactly.
00:17:07
Speaker
um Yeah, the I mean, the back four seemed pretty intact.
Team's Defensive Strategies and Adjustments
00:17:11
Speaker
There was a time when people were getting beat on the outside that was a little bit dangerous, but they all seemed to shift and be able to figure it out. We'll see what happens, but I i like the four back. yeah everyone i hate five backs yeah yeah but everyone had you know you could see what everyone's job was and where to cover and that that chemistry is just going to keep building um other positives that i had ainsley mccammon took a shot from about 22 yards out yeah would have been a banger oh man i didn't know she had that in her she's good man she's really good uh curry also took a shot from distance that had to be saved Yeah.
00:17:48
Speaker
I mean, getting these backline players up there and putting those balls in, that's something we didn't, I mean, other than Jordan Bug. Yeah. right that's not something we saw a lot last season try stuff yeah just the freedom to get those players up and into spaces where they're able to get on the ball yeah is great um sam as a kind of in a quiet but effective game from her yeah uh seven tackles and eight recoveries this is kind of how you want her to play right you want her unless she's scoring goals or yeah whatnot her she's just so solid back there you're like oh she won the ball back oh the ball's sticking to her foot yeah yeah i always kind of thought like i wanted to see her more offense like playing a little bit higher up to be more that creative player that we've been desperately needing but mondes here in this game i'm seeing why we signed this extension yeah
00:18:46
Speaker
It's one game, but if we got Meza doing, you know, all of the gritty, super hard work back there defensively and winning the ball back for us and have Montessir flying back up to be ready for those turnovers.
00:19:00
Speaker
don't know. It's interesting. It seems. To me, i mean, Montessir, great game. Incredible game. And this is exactly what we wanted to see and what was going to silence some of the haters that were like, we didn't see it.
00:19:14
Speaker
um It for me, her it's like she learned or but got more comfortable with where everybody was going to be around her. Sure. Because it seemed last year that she was holding on to the ball a lot.
00:19:28
Speaker
And there was a lot of just not so much confidence in kind of where she was going to go with it and indecision.
00:19:38
Speaker
Whereas this game, what it looked like to me was a little bit more camaraderie and understanding. Totally. Because she'd get the ball. She was able to hold on to the ball really well. but then be able to distribute it.
00:19:51
Speaker
but Instead of just being dispossessed. Yeah. Trying to make it her way of. Yeah, totally. Yeah. I was really impressed with her. I mean, she was player of the match in, uh, in FOTMob. The rain called her player of the match. So good for her. I feel like she needed that. She did. We needed that. We needed that from her.
00:20:10
Speaker
And we can't finish what worked without mentioning Claudia Dickey. Oh, picked up right where she left off. And I think that that's another testament to that four back. You know, you don't need you're going to have shots on you. Other teams going to have opportunities if they're good. Right.
00:20:28
Speaker
Claudia Dickey can take care of those. So I don't know. She's just so solid. It was also pretty wet on the field in the second half. It didn't didn't faze her. um Even with Barbara Banda running at her. um and avi i don't know. I mean, Orlando's scary.
00:20:45
Speaker
Yeah. Barbara Banda is a very scary attacking player. She gets every time she gets the ball, she's dangerous. She's so talented. I'm very jealous that they have her. Yeah. Yeah, luckily, I mean, it's almost kind of a relief that we got to play them first game of the season um when Banda's coming back from this injury because I wouldn't want to play her. She was already really fucking getting this first game back. Imagine her like six games from now.
00:21:08
Speaker
Imagine seven cast eight, six games from now. Yeah, that was you were you were right in calling that one. Yeah, I know. um What didn't work? Well, there was a lot of quick transitions for Orlando. Yeah.
00:21:23
Speaker
And I think that that's getting to know that new or system that they're playing. There's a lot to learn there. There were so many players behind the ball last season. Now you're having to adjust, find the space. Where do I need to be when we we when we get dispossessed? It really, the band of gold didn't really come from a transition. So were we put under pressure and gave up chances under transition? Definitely.
00:21:45
Speaker
But they dealt with it. But they dealt with it. But they dealt with it. Yeah. There were a couple of really, really good of slides, last minute slides, tackles, pressures from the back line and like Ainsley McCammon.
00:21:59
Speaker
And it could have been worse, but it wasn't because we have some really great players back there. We got kind of close to, McClernand got real close to maybe giving up a penalty. i saw I saw her like grabbing that jersey because she was trying to catch up Somehow just pulled out of it just in time. But that was a result of of how this kind of shook out against a team with as much speed was.
00:22:24
Speaker
ah Yeah. as Orlando has. So I don't know I think they handled it pretty well. um There was also, didn't we have, yeah, we had Emily Mason was on a yellow card since the seventh minute. And for someone to play first time center her back back there on a yellow card for that long. Yeah. And there were,
00:22:43
Speaker
Plenty of opportunities for her to earn another one. Yeah, for sure. She was smart. Yeah. I mean, honestly, I feel like she would have made a different decision if she wasn't on a yellow card with Banda running in the box. And I'm happy that she wasn't. Yeah. that She was. Yeah. Yeah. I noticed this is a lot of first half, some second half, but there were a lot of errant passes and easy giveaways.
00:23:06
Speaker
um First game of the season. It's the first game of the season. Hope it gets better. um But if that keeps happening, you're going to get punished for it. For sure. Clean it up. I saw a lot of that, though, in like all of the highlights I watch from games.
00:23:20
Speaker
Yeah. That's just a result of early season. Mm There were a couple of times on the right hand side when Huerta was trying to cross the ball over and find Maddie Darlene in the switch space kind of higher up and the balls just weren't getting to her.
00:23:39
Speaker
like the idea, but yeah. i like I like the idea, the execution, not so much. um Need to find a way. And they did a couple of times in this game, find a way to get her up and breaking through.
00:23:50
Speaker
but you need to find a way to do it to get her into space behind the back line. Yeah. What else didn't work for me? um we already talked about the flight situation and the weather and everything like that, but ah
Travel Challenges and Scheduling Frustrations
00:24:03
Speaker
the U.S. government isn't working for me.
00:24:06
Speaker
ah
00:24:09
Speaker
We had found out that a few of there's several contributing factors on why the rain had trouble getting back. um And a lot of it's because the federal government is using a bunch of like there's a shortage of charter planes available. So even if the team wanted to use a charter plane, they couldn't really do that um because we're just willy nilly spending money and charter flights available. I don't fucking know. um And then also March Madness is happening. And even March Madness people, players and athletes and teams were told um that, like, be prepared for shit to be fucked, basically. And like, yeah things might change a lot because there's just limited stuff. And also, we all know there's a fucking situation with airports and the flying regulations and safety and...
00:24:53
Speaker
It's all bad. And TSA. Yeah. And now, of course, like the women's teams are going to suffer pretty quickly when this kind of stuff's happening. So um I don't like it. I'm pissed off about it. Well, and it sucks, too, because you have such a short turnaround with a Friday game.
00:25:10
Speaker
All of it's fucked up. But then like you, they already scheduled them a Sunday match followed up with a Friday match, both away games. Granted the other ones against Portland, but like who, who a Saturday to Friday kind of sucks anyways. Why is the league doing that to any team? I don't know, but it's super stupid, especially when you know that that other game that they're playing away is in Orlando, which is notorious for having shitty fucking weather that can delay flights. Yeah.
00:25:36
Speaker
That didn't work for me. Didn't work for the fucking team either because they were still like waiting for a fucking fight today, which is just insane. Insane. It was so unacceptable and so unprofessional that like the league didn't have something figured out in case this might happen.
00:25:50
Speaker
I'm curious on how what the, ah you know, the players union and stuff is going to do because there's no way this isn't going get brought up. Just Fishlock like post a picture of like I've never dealt with this in 20 years of playing. Yeah.
00:26:02
Speaker
It's they got to figure something out there. Yeah. um The other thing that is quite a bit of concern coming out of this game is me official left with
Injury Concerns: Mia Fischl's Hamstring Issue
00:26:12
Speaker
injury. Kind of pulled up on her hamstring. Yeah. And you could read her lips when she's walking off the field and you could read that she said, i felt something. Yeah.
00:26:21
Speaker
Just what we needed. it <unk>re but One of our best players in the game is looking very, very promising. We'll see what happens. We'll see what the, end we don't even know when the injury report is going to fucking come out because they've been in Florida.
00:26:33
Speaker
In theory, we would have found that out probably today. who knows? But I guess we'll figure out on Thursday. But you probably won't be available for Friday. Probably not.
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Speaker
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Speaker
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00:27:36
Speaker
Got post-match presser notes. They brought in Britt Ratcliffe, goal scoring extraordinaire for the Seattle Reign. I'm just going to like speak into existence. Maybe she'll keep being a super sub. yeah um And Ryan Brown. Ratcliffe is like, I mean, total total veteran energy when she when she was in there.
00:27:55
Speaker
yes ah She talked about how they got a win through all the adversity and how they just like don't want to complain about anything.
Team Resilience and Camaraderie
00:28:01
Speaker
yeah they're just like yeah we're we're just locked in and like yeah we were on the the runway when we left for like four and a half hours or something but like we just dealt with it it's fine basically i'm like is it fine i mean i'm i can complain about it for you yeah that's fine i got you covered don't worry um but yeah they're they're they're totally right i hope this is a i hope they don't have these kinds of adversities again this season overcome but it's good to know they can have those things and they can still find a win her entire demeanor through this there was a question asked about ryan brown and she was talking about ryan brown like they were childhood friends and she's like how long have we have i known you two months two months i might cry you know
00:28:45
Speaker
She's so sweet. I mean, we say this all the time, but it just really speaks to the environment that Laura Harvey creates. Yeah. You know, it's really toxic when your corporate office says you're a family but in some ways with the team it's not toxic yeah they all seem like and laura talked about this they're all in it for each other and that's what it looked like on the field it was kind of that next man up mentality that's what they need um and brit rackliff said as as subs we need to call ourselves game changers yeah it's let's let's uh let's it's corny but it works if you If you make that kind of the motto, right? Like everyone knows that is kind of what the idea is with any sub. But if you just really instill that into everybody who's coming off the bench, then those players are going to work their way into like trying to fight for starting positions and everything like that. And that's like exactly what you need on weeks, especially like this, we're having quick turnaround. and You can feel confident about your players that are subbing in to maybe fill in even a starting role.
Defensive Depth and Handling Opponents
00:29:51
Speaker
What'd you get from Laura Harvey's press conference? She agreed that, remember how I said we were thin at the back?
00:29:58
Speaker
She brought that up. I'm wondering if that if she's if she's acknowledging that we're thin at the back, I'm wondering if if we're going to make moves for that, you know, when the time comes. um But that did mean she brought it up that Mason got her first start ah at center back with the team and everything for that. I think she did a fine job with that. um I think Harvey so thought she had obviously points to maybe improve on that. But for her first time back there, um i think she she was pretty pleased with it.
00:30:27
Speaker
And she also just gassed up Barbara Banda. I know. I mean, how can you not? Yeah. Yeah. She's like, she when she's informed, she is the best forward in the entire world.
00:30:38
Speaker
ah And that, you know, that's when she's the best. When she's not informed, she's still one of the best in the world. So I think she was impressed with how the team defensively was able to ah take on that challenge of containing Barber Banda. Yes, they let in one goal, but they didn't let anything else happen.
00:30:58
Speaker
Exactly. Yeah. And it's pretty impressive. Yeah. Some people would call it luck. You're dumb. It's impressive and it's hard work. You need a little bit luck sometimes though. That's fine. ah The other thing she brought up was her cooler situation.
00:31:12
Speaker
Which we haven't talked about yet. No, we haven't. ah If you somehow didn't catch the game or like missed the part where they showed her on the sideline, I didn't see the pregame stuff, so i didn't I didn't catch it until they just like shot to her in the middle of the game sitting on her cooler, her custom cooler now.
00:31:29
Speaker
Someone from the team like got a decal of Ula Harvey sitting on the cooler put onto a Yeti cooler because now Yeti sponsors the league. ah And so they have like a fancy cooler and she got to sit on it with all of the don't know she seemed confused on why people are so obsessed with it.
00:31:50
Speaker
but know And I'm like, well, our podcast is named after it, so we have to be obsessed with it. yeahp Exactly. i mean, I'm all for like, give us a marketing thing and let us run with it, um especially when we're getting it I do think I would have chosen my only complaint was the silhouette that they chose of her. I wouldn't have chosen that silhouette. I like the ones where she's sitting back with her arms folded and her legs out.
00:32:16
Speaker
Yeah, those are my favorite too. I think that's more Laura Harvey for me. Well, maybe there will be another decal. Yeah, they could add all of the silhouettes yeah of her on a cooler in different forms. ah She did ask that possibly ah the next edition would be a padded top.
00:32:32
Speaker
Yeah, I'm not going to keep advertising for Yeti, but apparently the padded tops exist for those coolers. I did not know that. I didn't either. used to be. Is that a thing? Well, I'm just like, girl, you've been sitting on it without a padded top for this long. Why why do we need to change anything? But we also haven't. They put the crown on that decal and now she's acting like a queen. I know. know. I was also kind of like, let's not get ahead of ourselves. I know we have it like in our logo and stuff, but I was kind of like, I think she, we got to win a trophy first.
00:32:57
Speaker
Yeah. That was my thought.
Reactions to Heidemann's Trade
00:33:00
Speaker
Anyways, um, we got community question from our good buddy, Dave. Hi, Dave. Uh, Dave actually DM me this and I asked him if I could answer it in the community questions on the episode because it's easier to talk about it than it is to text about it. Um, there's two parts to this question.
00:33:17
Speaker
I'll start with the first part. He said, I can't believe so many people were hung up on Haidema. She scored as many goals the past two seasons, six, as some other player named Ongol. I don't know who Ongol is exactly, but maybe we can sell her for half a million too.
00:33:32
Speaker
ah dave I understand this thought. And I know a lot of people felt this way, but there is a There's she as herself as a brand as herself is a very enticing figure. Sure. Right. Yeah.
00:33:51
Speaker
And she was somebody that it was easy to latch on to to get into following the team. And so there's always going to be that that kind of relationship, quote unquote, that fans have with her.
00:34:05
Speaker
And that goes regardless of her performance. Just like when Bethany Balser left, right? Had she really done much? No. But it was the story. It was the personality.
00:34:16
Speaker
It was, you know, those moments. Yeah. And so there's reasons that people were, quote unquote, hung up on it. And I think what we've talked about is just her defensive contributions.
00:34:28
Speaker
And we saw Fischl ball out, on defense up top so i don't think that'll be a problem or something that we're missing if me officials in in the mix there i think alternatively emory adamas can also do that yeah you have any other thoughts on this item and stuff I kind of address this person on Blue Sky. um ah so there's And it's not just this person. I've seen other people having hot takes about Heidema and just being like, you know, like, why would the team get rid of her? We love her. Like, she's a fan favorite. And I'm kind of like, I understand that, but I also want to win. and when you have a player that has only scored six goals in two years and is your one of your primary forwards... And that's three goals per year. That's not good enough.
00:35:15
Speaker
And we have been huge Heidem apologists. I don't know if the people that, because the the take seems to come along with why are the why is he getting rid of this these players, the teams losing their identity, whatever else you want to say about it Why, why is a player who's only scored three goals, the identity of the team? I agree. There's been an issue with that, with the team, maybe losing some of its identity, but that was when Rapinoe left.
00:35:41
Speaker
That was when and like Roosevelt was never the identity of the rain. Like in my opinion, she was, she didn't play that many minutes. I'm just, I am genuinely confused and why somebody is sitting here saying it's hard to follow the team when they're getting rid of players like Haidemah.
00:35:57
Speaker
There are new exciting players for this team. If you watch it, if you watch it, if you're giving up on it and having all these negative opinions and ideas that it seems like you've already made up your mind on, then like, how are you going to latch on to a new player? How are you going to understand the identity of what this club is doing now?
00:36:14
Speaker
I don't know. That just pisses me off like quite a bit because I do feel like this team tries very hard to connect with people. Yes, there are gaps where they can do better for sure. But I also understand that with women's soccer and any women's sports in this country, the lack of funding for marketing, the lack of funding for resources, the lack of funding for ah facilities, it's all connected. And it all creates these things that people want to like complain about that they don't feel they get with women's soccer that you might see with a men's team.
00:36:45
Speaker
I don't know. I just, it really pisses me off when people are sitting here telling me that Haidama is like, what the team's losing their identity because Haidama leaving. And I get your frustration. Like why is a person that scored three goals last year, uh, your identity? It shouldn't be. And I want the identity of this team to be champions winners. That's how I feel.
00:37:07
Speaker
I thought we understood that as a team, like as fans of teams in Seattle, like that's the goal. People need to recalibrate. Yeah. And that's been happening. And I want the team to win.
00:37:20
Speaker
do I care who's on it? Yes. But also every move in the NWSL now is by choice. It's also not like we're like, take for instance, obviously Trini Rodman is the focal point of the spirit, right? But Corey Bethune to me was also a huge part of the identity out in spirit and was performing at an insanely high level. And so when she got traded to KC of all teams, I understood the frustrations of Washington fans. That made sense to me.
00:37:49
Speaker
i'm not I'm not seeing the connection that people where people are like shitting on the club for trying to move on from Haidaba. Also getting an insane amount of money to maybe do something with it, to bring in somebody that could help with... you know, club culture, identity, whatever else you want to complain about losing with Hidama. Like that's a pretty good chunk of money to try and find somebody else that can also perform hopefully better um or go towards that. You know, maybe not all of it. I feel like they're gonna have to spend way more than that, probably. um But yeah, I don't know. i I could go on about this. I just think that there's a lot of disconnect sometimes about the struggles with with women's soccer and I think you have to invest a bit more of your own time to to latch on in in different ways with with players it's not as easy um but I just feel like some people aren't watching the team when they're saying these things I think that's a lot of it
00:38:44
Speaker
Honestly, that's a lot of it. if you you gave up on the team, it seems like a while ago, and you haven't tried to find someone new to to understand what they're doing now. And exactly. And then on the flip side of that, there are people mad that we got $500,000 for Hynema.
Strategic Direction and Veteran Reliance
00:39:00
Speaker
If you look at the reaction of Chicago fans, a lot of them are not very impressed. They're hopeful, but they're not very impressed with this. I could understand why. Yeah. Okay. Second part of the Dave's question here. Um, last season was also the least amount of rain games I've watched in the last 10 years. Well, that's dumb. They were boring. No, they weren't. Uh, and I'm still slightly concerned that there isn't enough firepower still.
00:39:22
Speaker
I wanted Macario. Damn it. We all did. Yeah. How long can we lean on Fishlock, the GOAT, and will Sounders ownership open up Sounders and Rain ownership? Don't just call it Sounders ownership, Dave. yeah Open up the purse strings, which they don't really like to do for the Sounders, even though I usually agree with the roster moves there.
00:39:39
Speaker
I mean, the question that's the question. And I also do think that like I would rather follow the model of the Sounders than anybody else because they show how long term success works. They win championships. Yeah.
00:39:49
Speaker
Yeah, they don't go out and spend in like, do I think Macario is worth eight million dollars? Absolutely. Absolutely. I do. I think that is such small. That's such just a small figure. Guaranteed money. Yeah, that's such a small figure, though, when you compare to men's sports that I'm like, hell yeah, get get paid. Go get paid. yeah Like, absolutely. Go do that. But but I also like don't I don't think that's not who the reins identity needs to be. And transparency is also a lot less in the NWSL. That's the other struggle. So sure, we have this $500,000, some of it we have to spend this year, right? Yeah. Also, what's the pot look like? We have no idea.
00:40:25
Speaker
We don't know. true mystery. We also have like all these international slots that we're sitting on. There's a lot to work with from what I know, because you'd never know everything.
00:40:39
Speaker
So I'm hoping since they have a lot to work with, that there will be something that happens, something exciting come the transfer window.
00:40:49
Speaker
Do you think he's he's right about leaning on Fishlock? And is that a concern for you down the road? No, no, no. I think Fishlock is a great player. She has her limitations now.
00:41:02
Speaker
But that's been openly discussed. Harvey talks about it She, you know, Fishlock talks about it. Yeah. And there's going to be a different role for her to play. And for this game, it was goal scorer.
00:41:13
Speaker
When did she sub out? few She subbed out in the 61st minute. And then Ratcliffe came on at some point. So but yeah. Ratcliffe came on for Darlene.
00:41:25
Speaker
Yeah. I'm just saying that like we have firepower in some way. Maybe it's not as flashy as one would hope right now. But sometimes the best players even for Gotham are players who kind of fit a model like Ratcliffe. Stangle, for instance. Yeah. Yeah.
00:41:41
Speaker
I don't necessarily think we're relying on Fishlock. She's never been a reliable goal scorer. She's been a reliable player. She's clutch. She's clutch. Yeah. But you're not going into the season saying Jess Fishlock's going to be your golden boot nominee. Yeah. Especially if she's the only going to get 60 minutes a game. Yeah. Yeah.
00:42:01
Speaker
If she can score a goal in 60 minutes, hell yeah. But you have players like Maddie Darlene, right? Mia Fischl looked extremely dangerous. um There was just so much else going on that i I think you rely on her as a leader, as a veteran, and as somebody, like they said in the broadcast, that's almost like a second coach on the field.
00:42:22
Speaker
And that's helpful with a young group. But do I hope they bring someone else in? Absolutely. Yeah. we We have new ownership. So, i yeah, I do want to see them.
00:42:33
Speaker
I do want to see them spend something. And, you know, you talk about ownership not opening up the purse strings for the Sounders. Those purse strings are a lot more open for when you sign millions and millions of dollars worth of players for the Sounders. Yeah.
00:42:48
Speaker
So not
League Financial Dynamics and Player Salaries
00:42:49
Speaker
going to be a lot. Yeah. How do you, I mean, like, would you have wanted the reign to spend $8 million on Makario? Because to me, that just feels like an imbalance. This is why i don't like this new HIP, whatever the fuck it's called, the new HIP rule. I just feel like inherently it kind of sucks that you as another player on the team, just like, because like, we don't even know where Makario's full fitness really is at right now. I mean, obviously when she's, she's fit, she is one of the best players in the entire world, but it wouldn't, I don't know. I feel like that's going to create a weird dynamic. It would create, I think, a weird dynamic within the reign to have a player making a guaranteed salary of $8 million. Mm-hmm.
00:43:26
Speaker
Yeah, they actually talked about this, um Tobin Heath and Kristen Preston. Yeah. Like a year ago, maybe six months ago on their podcast and talked about that dynamic and that discrepancy in pay.
00:43:40
Speaker
and that was a real concern for them. And I get it. i would. Yeah, it would make me pretty uncomfortable. Especially when the base salary is like not even living wage. No. Barely, maybe. And then you got somebody that can afford a Bugatti. Yeah.
00:43:56
Speaker
there's like oh that sucks there's yeah that i think until yeah i think you're right about until there's transparency with this i just don't want to get hung up on it I can see spending for somebody that's maybe already in that position or somebody that is worth a million dollar transfer fee.
00:44:17
Speaker
I'm fine with that. But it does $8 million dollars over what? Four years? Five, I think. Five. That's just a lot of money. It's a lot of money for an NWSL player. Yeah. And especially when your surrounding players are not able to work their way up to getting that kind of contract within the league yeah because the rules of the high impact player rule. Yeah.
00:44:41
Speaker
It's a weird situation for sure. It is odd. ah Am I jealous of San Diego? Yes. Yeah. All that said, I'm still jealous. Yeah. Yeah.
00:44:51
Speaker
But I got to find ways talk myself out of it. So here we are. All right. Let's move on. thanks for your question. Yeah. thanks stations We do appreciate that. Like the discourse. i Appreciate it. um Before we do like a final summary of the match, final thoughts on the match, we're going to cooler player of the match.
00:45:07
Speaker
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. We haven't talked about her yet, really. um But we're giving this cooler play of the match to Madison Curry.
00:45:24
Speaker
She balled out defensively, was getting in there tackling. She had a lot that she had to do defensively. That clearance she made. Yeah. Facing goal, ball coming in and heading it over the goal. Yeah. And she's also like really small.
00:45:38
Speaker
That could have gone so badly. But she is smart, capable, great player. Had really brilliant moments last season. And I feel like I saw that again this game.
00:45:49
Speaker
She led the team in tackles one for this game. Yeah, she's great. Big fan. Congrats. Congrats, Madison Curry. Thanks again to our sponsor, of the doctor's office. The doctor's office is the best place to grab a drink before or after a rain match. Make an appointment today and order their Toki highball.
00:46:06
Speaker
Suntory Toki blended perfectly with soda water with bubbles four times higher than champagne. I love bubbles. Straight from their super sexy Toki highball machine.
00:46:17
Speaker
Check out their Instagram at TDO Seattle or better yet, go drink there in person. Cheers. Cheers. ah Any final thoughts on the match?
Optimism for Future Performance
00:46:25
Speaker
I was overall extremely happy about it.
00:46:27
Speaker
Me too. Minus the you know uncontrollables, right? Yeah. I felt that the team came out hot, which is what I wanted to see. They looked dangerous. If we had played this way last season in a game randomly, we would have been like, holy crap, who is this team? Yeah.
00:46:44
Speaker
But it felt different enough to me to be excited about where we're going to go this season. Because there was a lot of questions surrounding that is, are we going to be exciting this year? Is it going to be boring, air quotes, boring Harvey ball, right? Yeah.
00:47:02
Speaker
And I saw so much positive attacking prowess from this team that I was like, oh, I think we're going to be okay.
00:47:12
Speaker
Yeah, they looked dynamic. It was great. Yeah, it looked fun. They looked were having fun. They really did. Was it stressful? Yes. Yes. Every game, every two to one match is always going to be stressful. Yeah.
00:47:23
Speaker
But going to Orlando after losing to Orlando 2-0 in the playoffs last season, going back to Orlando. Yeah. Going back to Orlando. Yeah. With, you know, 22 returning players, some of them not. 21 now. Yeah.
00:47:38
Speaker
But 21 now. Yeah. um And performing like that, it really but illustrated to me how different the team can be with just a couple pieces swapped around and swapped out.
00:47:53
Speaker
Yeah. i think that's great. um you don't write it I don't really have much to add to that other than I've been eager to see how much this will cost us come Friday. Yeah. And not because of what they did on the field, but because of all of the travel situation. But yeah. Cool. Well, let's get into some...
NWSL Match Highlights
00:48:11
Speaker
I didn't really watch a lot of these. As everyone knows, I got Pocopia. But I did go watch some highlights. So let's get into the rest of the N2B cell results.
00:48:19
Speaker
You watch this Friday night game? did. Okay. Spirit played Portland. Portland snuck out a win on the road, which do I think ah do is Portland going be good this year? I have no idea. I always hope they suck. But I also fucking hate the Spirit.
00:48:33
Speaker
Yeah, this one was give or take for me. i mean, obviously, I don't want Portland to win. but I don't want Spirit to like star easily get away with you know like the lead if they if they do that but it seems like they're feeling the effects of losing cory bethune already they are um i also think portland saw the effects of losing sam coffee yeah um i don't know how the spirit didn't score they had 62 percent possession they'll figure it out 38 percent They'll figure it out, though. That's why I'm saying, like, I'm fine with them losing out because i they need to lose as many games as possible early yeah because they will get it going.
00:49:12
Speaker
I think Portland's goalkeeper only had to make one save. I don't think it was really it wasn't anything crazy. It was also their third string goalkeeper, right? Yeah. Mackenzie Arnold was too too busy on the Asia Cup taking out players in the penalty box. Yeah. Is she going to be back for Friday's game? I don't I don't know.
00:49:31
Speaker
Anyway, um yeah, Olivia Moultrie scored. It was some pretty bad defense, honestly. Yeah, I took a screenshot to post it in here to just really, in our little show notes for us, I put a screenshot of how disorganized the...
00:49:46
Speaker
The line was for the spirit. I mean, i will give credit to Moultrie because she had some very good movement and her touch was really nice to to kind of put it out of the way of the defender.
00:49:58
Speaker
um But the defender kind of also got caught flat footed in that moment. Absolutely. It was Tara McKeown, now Rudd. Oh, God, I can't keep up with these street and their names. um Yeah, for me, it was...
00:50:11
Speaker
it was a defensive breakdown they take advantage of it yeah um and mulch will punish you if you do that yeah so do i like her no no is she really good yes yeah I hate it. So we'll see what happens next weekend. um How Church felt did hit the cross far crossbar. Yeah, I was really rooting for that, too. It was it was the goalkeeper wouldn't have been able to get there. That was a rocket. Yeah. um Boss Nation debut. I
00:50:43
Speaker
i think that's what we have to do every time you say Boss Nation. Boss Nation.
00:50:51
Speaker
If I was going to make a Boston soccer podcast, I would call it absolutely boss nation. Yeah, for sure. um Boss nation zero Gotham one. This was actually an interesting game.
00:51:01
Speaker
Yeah. um Because Gotham didn't look that good. This is what they do, though. This is the plan. This is all part of the plan. Uh, until a stair came on, stair subbed on.
00:51:13
Speaker
have yeah you Again, again, it was bad defending. Yeah. Bad clearance. no Open player in the box. I will say great shot. This is the early season stuff though, right?
00:51:23
Speaker
Yeah. And you gotta take advantage of it. Yeah. Um, it was the first red card of a two red card weekend for the NWSL. Bianca St. George.
00:51:34
Speaker
george's george i don't remember george george i can never remember um got a red card second yellow in the 77th minute this is such a stupid foul did you see it yeah the player is receiving the ball they're hot the highest player from gotham receiving the ball there's three defenders behind the like there's no other attacking player and she just comes in the back of her and pummels her down at the half line unnecessary yeah it was really weird She didn't know better, too. Yeah. It's like she's she's new. She's not new. No.
00:52:09
Speaker
Super weird. don't remember anything from the KCU game, honestly. Wait, wait, wait. I want to bring a one more thing about the Gotham. Did you see the the nickname someone put for us, sir? No. The exterminator.
00:52:20
Speaker
but Wait, I kind of like that. I love it. It's really good. had to bring it up. i didn't want to put it in there in case you hadn't heard it because I wanted it to surprise you. I had it. It's good, huh? The exterminator. Okay. we can move on. Casey beat Utah two to one Utah scored?
00:52:37
Speaker
They didn't get blown out either. Yeah. I didn't watch that. um Bay beat Denver. ah Denver also got a really early red card.
00:52:49
Speaker
This red card was interesting. It was interesting because it was by the book a red card. But in the run of play and when you take in all of the other parts of the foul, it really could have gone either way.
00:53:05
Speaker
So it might have, if you're a Denver fan, you think it's, you think it's a ah pretty shitty call. Yeah. If you're a Bay fan, you're like, yeah, that could have been a huge injury.
00:53:16
Speaker
So anyway, yeah. um Janine Sonis. So Canadians, two Canadian red cards. Yeah. uh got red card in 27th minute and it was already 1-1 at that point canada's feeling the heat man huh canada's feeling the heat man of the world cup like real bad you know what i mean like i don't know what's going on there man but i just feel like they are they they they're so confused about how to play it feels like well they don't have drones they're just being dumb though yeah I don't know. I did. This was the first time we got to see VAR announcement from the referee crew.
00:53:53
Speaker
i like this. Yeah, I do too. When you can hear it. Yeah, you can hear it. Yeah. So they don't just come on the field and then make an errant decision and then walk away. Yeah. I've always liked it. Yeah, I always liked it in rugby. i was hoping it would pop over here and it has. so There are a lot of things that I think soccer should take from rugby, but that's a conversation for a different time. Yeah.
00:54:11
Speaker
I put in a note about the Bay and Denver game um from the highlights that I watch. Also, whoever's making the highlight highlight reels on YouTube for the NWCL sucks at their job. Oh my God. There's so much crap left in them. There is. And they also just cut it off before seeing something through. um i don't know. It's very weird. Anyways, one thing I wanted to bring up was 18 year old Alex Pfeiffer. She scored a goal and got an assist in this game.
00:54:37
Speaker
um I think she's going to be really fucking good. I really do. um It seemed like she was kind of on that path to be really great when she split for KC, but then she tore her ACL. And keep in mind, when she was with KC, she was 15 years old, and she scored the one goal that she scored there. She was 15 years old, and she became the youngest goal scorer at that time. I don't know if that still holds true or not. um But contract like got mutually terminated with KC at the end of last year, so she joined Bay this year. um If she's cooking... she I mean, she looked fucking good. She did kind of have like ah the same move on both of these goals. She ended up passing it for the assist on the second one.
00:55:17
Speaker
So if someone can kind of figure out how to stop her there, but she just looked dangerous. It didn't seem stoppable in what she was doing. She was quick. She's she's got but good ball handling skills. She looks eager to score, which is, I don't know. She looked good. She looked really good.
00:55:34
Speaker
uh north carolina beat louisville you get anything on this one i didn't watch it okay i heard sanchez was great but that's about all i know yeah she was excellent um san diego lost to houston and this game houston won this game because of jane campbell Which, good good for her. I mean, she kind of fell off for a while. Yeah. And granted, Houston's been pretty bad the last couple years.
00:56:01
Speaker
Unfortunately. It didn't seem like it was going to be that way, but... But, yeah, she's really stepped she really stepped up this match. um Of course, San Diego now um bringing in Kamakario. At some point. So... That should help them a lot. Yeah.
00:56:16
Speaker
We'll see. If it doesn't, damn, that's a lot of money he just wasted. ah Last game of the weekend, Angel City played Chicago, Jordan Heidema's new team.
00:56:29
Speaker
they This was the blowout of the weekend. Angel City scored four goals to Chicago's Yeah. o yeah Not a great look for Chicago. The New Jersey's do look good though. They do. um Chicago's New Jersey's. um But Hina Sagita tore her ACL in this match. I couldn't tell if she tore it in the match or if it was in training, but I assumed it was match. I was trying to find information out, but no one really clarified anything for me. So that's not cool. Anyway, one of Angel City's biggest players. Well, they signed her for a fuck ton of money last year and traded away ah Vignola. Mm-hmm. Yeah, so that yeah that's a huge blow.
00:57:06
Speaker
Big blow. Any takeaways from the weekend? Any results that surprised you?
Bay FC's Potential and Women's Sports in Bay Area
00:57:11
Speaker
It's early. i cant i don't want to read too far into it. I think it's too early. i think i but if if I have one hot take, maybe Bay's going to be good.
00:57:20
Speaker
Yeah. That's pretty much all I got. Kind of about time for them. Yeah, I don't want it though. No. I don't hate them as much as i hate other teams though, so guess it's fine. As a fan of the league, Bay being a decent team has been coming. i feel like they've tried.
00:57:38
Speaker
They've brought in players that they thought would work, but things just haven't really clicked for them. I also like their like the women's sports like the Bay Area needs women's sports to be successful. I think that is such a good sports town for men's sports.
00:57:54
Speaker
And they've been severely lacking having women's teams for so long. And now they've got WNBA and they've got Bay fc So, and I've got some, some connections with friends down the Bay area who are like into skateboarding that are like huge fans of women's soccer. So I'm very hopeful I'll be successful. And that also is going to require the team to be somewhat decent. Yeah. I also enjoy their stadium. It was nice. yeah Okay. Moving on. We play again on Friday, Friday night at Portland.
00:58:27
Speaker
It's at 7 p.m. Van thinks it's going to be the prime game. It is. Okay.
Portland's Cape Giveaway and Upcoming Match Preview
00:58:32
Speaker
ah And also, fun fact, the giveaway for for fans, i they're giving away a cape.
00:58:40
Speaker
They're giving away capes to Portland fans. A Thorne's branded cape. I want to know, first of all, what the cape's made out of. And second of all, if there's going videos of people trying to sit in their seats without like rolling their capes up. Because I just like picture them like sitting on the cape. Yeah.
00:58:55
Speaker
you know like getting like choked yeah like getting choked and then like spilling the drink a little bit so like i'd like a cape cam personally i also like can't believe this is real so also it's it's from the sponsor night so i think it's like because it's kaiser permanente not the kaiser cape it's like kaiser cape so so i was wondering why they didn't do this for like a health care heroes weekend right i don't that would have made more sense i don't know if it would have but nothing makes sense in portland the thing is they're encouraging everyone to wear black yeah okay is this theater troupe in like eighth grade i guess so yeah might as well be have you met them yeah yeah you're right um no offense to theater troops in eighth grade uh but like here's the thing i told i told alex about this cape night because i had gotten an ad for it on my instagram because i live near portland so i tend to get portland ads um and so i got the ad for it and i was like wait a second
00:59:51
Speaker
do they are they so are they giving away capes i was like i couldn't believe it but then like i just it's just like i just kept thinking about it i was like wait a second they're giving away capes and so then i told alex i was like guess what they're giving away you'll never guess and and i was like capes and then we all we had a very good laugh about it and then i texted my friend and she was like are you coming to portland because i might be in town and i was like i'm not coming to the game but if you're going to Portland, and she's more of a Portland fan Seattle, but I was like, if you're going to Portland, if you're if you're looking for a new cape, they're getting away capes.
01:00:24
Speaker
And so, like, but then I couldn't find any proof because i wanted I told you about it too, and I couldn't find any proof of this cape thing actually happening that I thought I straight up just had, like, some crazy dream. and There's now proof, but I thought I had a crazy dream.
01:00:39
Speaker
Because like what is the i have no idea. But it also like it seemed way too random for me to have a dream about it. But it also did seem so random that there's no way they would actually do this, especially since I couldn't find proof of it. But then today proof has come. Anyways, let's talk about the actual game. So hold on. This is part of the the graphic that they have for the opening opening night exclusives. They're calling it Dark Mode. Wear black to the match and bring the energy. what was this like? Was like Dark Joe? Is this like the same fucking thing?
01:01:14
Speaker
i don't know. ah Arrive early. First 10,000 fans will receive Thorns Capes, courtesy of Kaiser Permanente. I desperately need to see what these capes look like. I'll send you pictures. um New merch for new scarves will be available for purchase in store.
01:01:29
Speaker
Okay. Anyway, um i will be there and I will send you pictures of capes. but And try to find people struggling with them specifically. I don't care if it's low res. I don't care. If anyone can get me some good clips of people struggling with their capes. I'll be looking when I walk out of the box. It won't be happening. There's no way. look I was like, there's no way everyone in Portland is comfortable with capes, but there actually is a chance everyone in Portland is comfortable with capes. If there's any city in America that knows how to manage a cape, it is Portland.
01:02:02
Speaker
Oh, I hope this game goes well for us. ah What do you want to see in this game? I don't want to get embarrassed. I know there's going to be a lot of things not working for us in this game in terms of how much training time we've gotten before this, given that the team is going to have today's Tuesday. They're going have Wednesday to train and Thursday and then travel Friday. so I just I don't want to get embarrassed. We got embarrassed last time we were there. Last time it was hell on earth on the ground.
01:02:30
Speaker
And now our... And now our travel from Orlando into Orlando was hell on earth. um So, yeah, i I don't I don't want to get embarrassed. A draw would be awesome.
01:02:41
Speaker
A draw would like be fucking awesome. So if the defense can lock in, which I do think they're capable of, since the the field will not be a thousand degrees, um if they can just lock in that defense and maybe sneak a goal.
01:02:52
Speaker
maybe sneak a win i don't know well yeah i want to i want to get points out of this match yeah either way um i think that they're capable of winning that just depends on the recovery um yeah and i want to see if jordan bug and sally menti either one of them can yeah let's get some rotation get in there yeah if bug's ready on injury but like if if they're if they're ready i would like to see some rotation Yeah, if they're ready, because we got Jordan Bug out with the leg injury. Shea Holmes also had a lower egg lower leg thing she's been dealing with. Tally Menti's got a knee thing going on So hopefully maybe they're ready to play this weekend. So we do have some rested players. I'd like to see Adama's play and start.
01:03:33
Speaker
want see Adama's play. I'm really wondering how um ah That new player. Going from Utah. Yeah. How do you pronounce her name?
01:03:44
Speaker
It is, i will tell you, is Haladic. Okay. Haladic. Ruby Haladic.
01:03:55
Speaker
Yeah, that'd be fun, sub. Yeah, see see what she can do. Yeah. If they're in that situation. so then danio so danio is is the other one too it's on here now there's no audio clip still but yeah i mean they need to be smart so i don't want them taking too many risks um but everyone i would like them to get a subtle reminder about what happened last year to maybe not let that happen again Because we started off so well last time we like kind of came in. no I mean, it's always tough to play in Portland, but there are times when they can feed off that energy and in and use it and ruin their days. And that's what I want to happen. I mean, Laura Harvey says to team, you know, really finds their grit and, you know, their what did she call it? um Show up as their best selves in adversity. and This is adversity, right? yeah so we'll see yeah i don't think she saw this coming but yeah oh could ring true yeah well i needed to go to dinner soon so we should wrap this up do you got shout outs nope cool uh thanks again to our sponsor actually sorry go ahead shout out to my sister sarah for letting me stay at her house in portland this weekend
01:05:08
Speaker
cool hey sarah uh i've been she texted me on it recently chat it up chat it up anyways uh all right thanks again to our sponsor at the doctor's office uh go follow us on blue sky and instagram at cooler guild pod you can send us an email please email us i like emails um the cooler guild at gmail.com you can also visit our main page at sounderheart.com forward slash the cooler guild We're on YouTube, youtube.com forward slash at the cooler guild.
01:05:37
Speaker
Um, wherever you're listening, please go rate five stars, five stars, five stars, um, rating and reviewing high ratings and reviews, um, help with SEO and getting people to listen. So. yeah i saw i saw a skeet today of a woman that was saying that the sonics should be called ah something more apt like the rain and i was like how in the hell do you not know that this team exists so let's get on it and we can do better yeah we can uh all right till next time i'm coop i'm van stay cool y'all stay cool
01:06:38
Speaker
and they can go home crying in their capes.