speaker-1: Welcome in everyone. All right, if you're a FG's podcast Ted here, John here here to bring you through another scintillating week for at least one team. think at least one of the local teams had a great week. It was not a great week of soccer, but a more exciting week of soccer. We'll say that much then than one of the other teams. John, we looked very small in the live stream. Hopefully there is a fix coming for

speaker-0: I think we already fixed for my screen. We're normal on my screen.

speaker-1: Maybe it's just me then. have two little small boxes right here. Anyway, John, how you doing my friend? How was your weekend?

speaker-0: I feel like I'm not in a small box right now. I feel very good. I feel like I've I had an opportunity to really dig deep in these games, which I don't typically do. So happy for that. Of course, I chose to do that for this DC United game, which is there. ⁓ I would say there are other games in which there's a little bit more meat on the bone to be chewing than this one, but you know, it's all right. ⁓ And then the weatherman this weekend. Good Lord. I don't know if it was in Richmond that way, but it was, it was very nice. was shorts weather for sure. I enjoyed it a lot. What

speaker-1: I was out. I was out at 8 a.m. I was ⁓ every Friday, Saturday, Sunday, ⁓ taking time off work to go ⁓ run around and referee soccer games for a little extra money. And also, you know, because I do enjoy it. ⁓ Yeah, for the love of the gaming. Got to be the only person at the Richmond Kickers game who was maybe like, yeah, maybe that was a red card. I don't know. I couldn't really tell if that was violent conduct or not. Everybody else wanted me to be like, ⁓ that was a terrible call. And I was like, no.

speaker-0: Love again

speaker-1: Sorry.

speaker-0: They should know better than to ask that from you.

speaker-1: They were asking explanations for what I saw and what I saw happen and you know, all the, all the natures in the, of the lost the game, which if you are the, ⁓ if you are the ⁓ NYCFC ⁓ admin over the social media admin, maybe go read the, the ⁓ considerations for dog's ⁓ before you spout about how you can't believe that's, that's not a red card. That's some embarrassing stuff coming from the NYCFC admin right now. I saw that in my Twitter. like, ⁓ Literally, it's literally it's the exact scenario. You remember Kingsbury and the, and I think the first game against the spirit who got sent off for denial of an obvious goal scoring opportunity. And then they rescinded it literally very similar situation, exactly the same situation. Uh, go read the considerations. There's a lot of considerations. the, the, laws do not care about your feelings. Let me just say that much anyway, to the game. Uh, we got some soccer to talk about, uh, one team, uh, uh, we had two teams in Atlanta, uh, play a

speaker-0: Come on.

speaker-1: game where they were certainly kicking a ball around whether it was actual soccer is up is in the eye of the beholder I think in those senses but ⁓ and we have another team in the spirit who definitely played a game of soccer a little sloppier than what we're used to but hey it was it was still there still was a lot of a lot to talk about should we just dive into it should we talk DC first should we get should we should we eat our vegetables I guess we could say for we yeah

speaker-0: Let us eat our vegetables. think that's what I think most people are coming to us for for their vegetables and their fiber which would be talking about a zero zero draw by DC United. Seriously the first thing I heard when I turned the game on was us being called a suddenly tough out. So suddenly this is a team you don't want to be facing and you know from a goals against perspective it's not untrue.

speaker-1: Yeah, let's let's be clear. This was a matchup against a roster. believe I saw the number I was curious what the number was $43 million on the opposite side of the field with obviously DC United not spending anywhere close to that.

speaker-0: That's not us. In case you're curious, if you heard that number and didn't know which team he was talking about, it was not DC United.

speaker-1: It was not disunited, but a lock day lock. All these, all these players that were supposed to be big time signings for Atlanta. ⁓ And they looked absolutely just toothless. I believe the XG was somewhere like point to, so like from a defensive performance perspective, absolutely stout, Kai Rawls, big game, Lucas Bartlett, big game. Matty Patola, big game. Brendan Cervania, I'll give him props. Had a big, had a big game.

speaker-0: I'm almost nearly in the game in the 87th minute.

speaker-1: Yeah, both him and Caden Clark almost with a banger. Defensively, very, very stout. ⁓ Offensively, yeah, not ⁓ a fun watch.

speaker-0: What is the opposite of stout? That is potentially what we offensively, were anemic, I guess is the one, the phrase you usually use for that kind of attack. The problem isn't changing. What it is is not changing, regardless of the opponent, regardless of the lineup really. you know, so anybody who has eyes who watches this team is like, boy, this team isn't generating enough chances. It just seems that that's the case. Well, Renee Weiler has also watched these games apparently and agrees with you and says, We are not in a position to score goals right now. Essentially, I don't have the exact quote. We can certainly find it. But essentially it was saying, ⁓ yeah, no, you're right. Yeah, we can't right now. So we're trying to do what we can do right now, which is to play really well defensively. And if we score on a breakaway or if we score a set piece and we win one nothing, great. We'd like that too.

speaker-1: Yeah, it really does feel like, I mean, this is kind of what you get. You know, if we, if we think about, you know, the last season, ⁓ with Troy, he, Troy's the younger coach, Troy is trying to make his name. He's trying to break into, you know, being a manager. He's trying to show that he can do it. And so I think he's maybe a little more predisposed to take some risks to try to push, push his team a little bit, to press a little bit, play the style that they played. And, it. halfway worked in 2024. They got close to the playoffs and then the wheels completely came off again, you know, in 2025. You have Rene Wyler who's been around the block a few times. This job could completely flame out on him and he would probably still have some, you know, some offers out there, some ability to stay within the game. So he's like, no, I've been around. I've watched enough soccer in this league. I know this team is not good enough. I know I need more, I need more players. And right now I am trying to reverse the culture a little bit. And that starts on the defensive line. You saw it with the signings, Sean Neil is coming in, ⁓ know, hefty coming in, I think has been a guy I didn't mention who again, I thought, again, another very strong performance from him. Just overall, just trying to say like, we need to stop letting in goals. We need to get into, I'm going to call it like he is, he is, it's like he ⁓ sat down and was showing tape and got through all the glory years and then got to like the Benny Ball days. Uh, in like, you know, this feels like 2011, 2012, like all over again, just kind of like.

speaker-0: He was Leonardo DiCaprio, I pointing at the screen when he saw the Betty Ball. Things like, I can do that. Yeah. We can do that.

speaker-1: We can do that. ⁓ just like suffocating games, you know, kind of depending upon certain moments. And I call it, it is, it is in a sense to me, it's like, it's like playing 50, 50 soccer. is keeping the game close, keeping the moments close, keeping everything kind of close to where you're only behind a goal or you're down a goal. And, know, you'll get some times it's going to break your way. there are going to be some moments where they're going to play a game like this. And one of these teams is going to uncork ⁓ a goal and it's going to look. It's going to look silly. could have happened in this game. Atlanta had a couple opportunities. DC had a couple opportunities, but I think literally it is, this is all just about keeping your head, keeping your head above water, keeping our feet above water, keeping your head above water, keeping everything kind of stable. Maybe a signing comes in, you can kind of like maybe start to build the attack a little bit. ⁓ you know, it, it feels like very much just foundation building from, from Renee Weiler. I wrote.

speaker-0: If nothing else, philosophically, this is the good form of Benny Ball. You could ask questions about a team that spent $10 million on transfers being forced to play a style Olson needed to play on a shoestring. But at least Renee is a realist and can see what's in front of him and isn't trying to, you know, round peg square hole this. So I am appreciative of that. It is dire for a neutral right now. Like they're, they're not bringing any, but their milkshake is not bringing anyone to the yard right now. This is, this is not, this is not going to do it. They're going to have to do some crazy drink specials because while we're hap- I don't want to say happy. I want to take- want to pull back on that thread a little bit. I don't want to say we're happy. I want to say like, we am- I am satisfied with this team being realistic about where they are and saying, for right now, we're just going to try to- we're going to get points where we can. Particularly on the road, particularly with our big signing being hurt for a couple of weeks that we haven't started anyway. But to- The idea about like ticket sales and having people come to these games that aren't already invested, they're going to have to have really good drink specials. They're going to have to have really, really good theme nights. All those things to get the casual out because it's not going to be for the highlights that they saw ⁓ on Apple TV. That's for sure.

speaker-1: No. I mean, it is my, my, my sense is that this team is maybe starting to win, starting to push a little bit. You know, I think people will come. am of the believer that I don't, it doesn't matter how you win. I absolutely hate Pep Guardiola and you know, not everything he stands for, but sort of instilling this idea of like, ⁓ you have to play beautiful soccer to win games. play soccer to win games. I I personally do not care. had immense amounts of fun in 2012. had immense amounts of fun in 2011. when this, you know, during the maybe some 2014, you know, 2015, there were some moments in games. Yes, there were some boring moments, but they were out there winning. They were out there, you know, putting on competitive performances and, you know, coming away with, with potential wins in soccer games. And that's honestly winning. A winning formula is more fun and a winning team is more fun. Again, you're right. Nothing like I'm not saying this. ⁓ this is the style they want to play. I think even Renee was like, I don't want to play this for a whole year. I don't want to play this for.

speaker-0: This is why he had two years at a place. he has to play like this for that long, he's going to go probably insane. Yeah. But I think, I also think what he saw is this team losing seven, seven one, seven nothing is like, this won't happen anymore. We're done with that. We will not be embarrassed. That is probably what he has told his players. Like never again, no matter what, that's not going to happen. And I actually kind of believe that. I think that that's probably true. Some injuries. This team is still always a couple injuries from like, you know, structurally the wheels falling off. particularly at right back the player that they have run every single minute of the season. ⁓ I'm flagging him out one as a one to watch.

speaker-1: And I asked Renee about that. was like, you know, what is, you know, it's incredible. He's kind of like trusted this guy who has not played a single match. And he says he's just very smart about knowing when to run, how much to run, you know, he's very smart about his timing. you can see it, Hefty, he's not the fastest guy in the world, but I think he's very collected. He knows kind of where to push, you know, where to push the boundaries, where to not. He's not going to be running himself to death and he's going to be very composed and very controlled about how he. ⁓ about how he moves. ⁓ and you know, I also asked about, you know, we talk about a few injuries, surveying. goes down, Peltola goes down, you know, who's occupying that that could start things could start to get even uglier for this team in that center of midfield because there was nobody asked him about Markovic. was like, do you, you play him at defensive midfielder? You know, is that a position you see him in the future or he's a center back? And he said, no, under no terms, he is a center back, but right now the situation is the situation. I asked.

speaker-0: He is being a realist practical guy right now as opposed to any sort of real and maybe that's a story about Jackson Hopkins out on the wing too. That's what and we can have that there's gonna be questions about that to come. This is where we're in somewhat survival mode which is maybe not what you'd think we would be at the beginning of the season after you have a full transfer window to sort of put your mark but we are working.

speaker-1: we are. Renee seemed a little annoyed about the schedule being so road heavy right now. ⁓ Yeah. He, think he talked about that in the press conference. He mentioned, know, he's got, he's like, we haven't, we've been, you know, he, he even sort of, it was almost like, it seemed like a little bit of a shot towards the whole Baltimore game. Cause he considered that a road game. He's like, we had to travel for that game. Sure. wasn't Barb, but you know, it wasn't, you know, we've had one, one singular home game. ⁓ You know, but I will state he's weathered it extremely well. If you look at it. You know, one, you know, we, can toss the Miami game. That was probably always going to be, you know, a loss. And that was, guess the one home game, but you know, he's one went home, ⁓ know, Philly looking kind of dire. So that game has kind of shifted a little bit in the angle because Philly did not look so good. ⁓ but you look at, know, you talk about what did they need out of this performance? I think if you had told him you're getting four points out of these, you know, two road games, he would have absolutely taken it. And I think most fans would have taken it. The one was, it was a very fortunate, a very fortunate. road win in Chicago and kind of like just a gutted out point with, you know, again, an opportunity where it could have been, it could have been six points. It could have looked and could have looked very different.

speaker-0: What if we broke Philadelphia Union's soul by beating them in week one? What if that's why they are the way they are now?

speaker-1: I think it's a combination of champions league and this is kind of how our champions cup. this is how, this is how they operate. ⁓ as an organization, they hit the reset button, they kind of restart and you know, they kind of, you know, figure out, they, you know, bring in some players offload some players. They, they have sort of an academy that can then kind of promote and move around. ⁓ I think this could be, this could be like almost a rebuilding year from them. ⁓ I think.

speaker-0: Well, all the outgoings that was certainly when we talked to the Philly guy, that was my impression. Like that was a lot of quality out the door. you may, I think they, they may have had such a long string of them being able to retool on the fly that they didn't think it could happen to them, but it appears to be happening to them.

speaker-1: think they're pretty well, I mean, they've had a way, they've had like peaks and valleys like this. I would say before bringing on, ⁓ before they got rid of Curtin and brought him on, they had sort of a year where they did this. They had a lot of players, ⁓ know, Hugo Kipers, they got rid of, you know, they had this sort of cycle where they kind of like cycled through these players. And then they kind of retool, they build up, they believe very much in their academy and they don't count out like maybe a Kevin Sullivan coming in. and maybe really trying to steam around, seems like.

speaker-0: He did look good. He did look good in a limited appearance to Champions League. Everyone that focused and wrote about that was like, he was, the team was cruising for 65 minutes and they took him off and then the team fell apart almost instantly. maybe, you know, hindsight 2020, but yeah. So I'm happy that they're not, I'm happy that they're, you know, finally.

speaker-1: Well, we got up, got another question from Timothy the Brarges says, what did you guys think of Gavin Turner's debut? I know it was limited minutes. I don't think we saw too much from him. ⁓ I was interesting. He was out there. I was not, I, I I still have the notification like turned on my foot mop for Gavin Turner. Cause I was trying to follow him. So it came on. was like, ⁓ shoot. He's in the match. I was like, turned away and I was like, I didn't even like put two and two together.

speaker-0: Playing as, and he was a second forward too. Yeah. Which, so he was in the sort of the, uh, Pirani, Pirani position. I, didn't see too much out of him. I, I need to see a longer run. My plan honestly was to go back and watch the last 15 minutes and just, just key in on him. But from the live view, I didn't see anything that was, you know, but also what were you expecting? I, would be very bizarre if all of a sudden he came on and made a huge difference in the, in that game and where it was and, and it's, in its position.

speaker-1: If that's serving ago, goal goes in, he gets the assist from the corner kick. takes the corner kick off of that. ⁓ so, ⁓ I don't know. I will, I will see some more. I think it's interesting. He was out there. ⁓ I do think, you know, with the, with the attack, I think there are some moments, there are some opportunities. ⁓ I think Pirani had a, maybe a little bit of a better performance, but still again, just kind

speaker-0: I thought he was pretty pretty dour again. He did not have a situation in which he had a 1xG chance that he decided not to take. So I guess that's an improvement. I have on here that Pirani, Ty, and Peglo do not look like a coherent group and are not coordinating their press successfully. And in fact, they seem to be yelling at each other most of the time. They seem to be in constant sort of disagreement about the press and when to go and when not to go. It has never been better for me. It has not. The best I saw was the Philly game, the one that you and I were in attendance. I think it may, I may have some recency bias slash in-person bias because you get to see sort of the off the camera view about how the whole team is moving, like the all 22 view, like to use the NFL term. ⁓ But I think that ⁓ Pirani continues, Pirani continues to be a problem, but as another person asks a question too, and I want to pull that one up because it's relevant about Pegalo. I can't find it right now. But basically, and I'll give you credit when I get to it, but basically the idea was, oh, here we go. Brandon Z. Lots of focus on Pirani not living up to expectations, but can we say the same for Peglo? feel like he's been giving possession away too cheaply lately. I thought he was very poor in this game. From the beginning this year, we have said like the way that this team, prior to the two big transfers in, million and a half transfer or a million and a half player coming in in a position of offense had to be a contributor and Last year through injury and through uneven form, he never really was able to do that more than a couple of games in a row. I'm not, I, this is a position that needs to be strengthened. I believe this is not something that you should look at this and say, I think he'll probably just come good and needs a little more time. think that when you're looking at why this offense is so clunky, it is there and it is on the right wing. If, if Jackson Hopkins is ideal there, if Clay, Kayden Clark should be there or if some other place should be there and then Prani. That's three across the front, which is unfortunate because that's a large portion of your lineup. is, Boribo is not the problem. He is a high motor guy. He is kind of a pest. He is kind of playing to get underneath the skin of the other team, which is good. A little pescadito action, potentially. I worry sometimes, and I don't know him good enough yet. I feel like he's also a player that can be sort of bullied out of the game. Like he can be distracted somewhat by physical play, where they're starting to kick him after he does the, who was the guy who rolled around in the World Cup? Why can't I remember? Neymar. He has a little bit of the Neymar action when he gets hit in the ankle. He does that every game pretty much. And I think as that game goes on, players start to get more annoyed by that and kick him more. And I've seen him sort of get like, you know, get really upset about it. So I'll watch that. think he is frustrated at his lack of service. He is frustrated at his lack of opportunities to convert. But really it's coming from those three players that I said, in my opinion.

speaker-1: Yeah, ⁓ Bribo is getting frustrated. You can tell in the games he is like, players are not finding him where he needs to be. He's not getting opportunities. He's getting very, very limited chances. If you really think about it, he's had, you know, maybe one good opportunity, non-PK opportunity, and that was against Philly. It's been a rough goings. You can still see what he brings to the team and sort of the movement he brings. ⁓ you know, I, I agree, I agree with, I agree about Peglo. ⁓ I was maybe a little high on him this year, seeing what he could do. ⁓ he has not very much not lived up, I guess, to expectations. ⁓ I would say other than getting the assist, other than maybe some of, some of the pressing that you spoke about, not really been a strong performance from him. ⁓ I think those are positions. It's very curious to me, you know, the obvious problem is the attack, you know, is, is it a sense of, you know, he's, he's not trying to rock the boat. There's no reason to at this point, you know, does it, you know, but would you, know, do you expect, you know, a Cayden Clark to maybe make a starting appearance and get a look and get an opportunity? Obviously we know like Luis is waiting out in the wing. He, he, once he's healthy, he's going to get a starting opportunity. ⁓ we got an update. We got an update from, ⁓ from Renee on both, ⁓ both Herrera and, ⁓ and Luis Herrera will be back, ⁓ by the end of the international break. Same with the weeds. will be back.

speaker-0: you

speaker-1: So the injuries are not expected to be long term, which is good. So, you know, look, look to see what's happens in Dallas. I don't think we'll see Luis start. I think we'll see him come off the bench. I think same with Herrera, but you know, some, things to look out for, ⁓ to start the, to start the week. So.

speaker-0: I the Romanian sources on Twitter that are saying a serious lower body injury out for a long, time. Yeah.

speaker-1: Might have been some translation issues. was he Renee kind of laughed at the sort of the media rumors and everything with

speaker-0: Well, sorry, Renee, we're all just checking Twitter. There's not a of primary options to look at.

speaker-1: I realized too, like I'm on the press conferences and like that was always like Steven golf's like first question was like asking about the injuries and no one else does it. And so I have joined those press comp. Usually I w I've decided to join on Thursday to say, how the injuries, what's, what's the injury status? Are we, you know, expecting players to come back? I am curious, like about no one's asked about Karamoko. I'd be curious. And I did not ask it on the press conference, but like what, is going on there? He's listed as illness and out.

speaker-0: question.

speaker-1: What is the illness exactly? Do we even know what the illness is?

speaker-0: It's a HIPAA violation to tell you. He's got suckitis. He's not good enough.

speaker-1: Let's hold it in case it actually is something else.

speaker-0: You're ⁓ right. Delete that part. So the other, before we sort of close on this, feel like the Kayden Clark and Kojima substitutes were immediately, I think it was stark, how much better we got on the wings all of a sudden. Kojima looked his, I would say most forward focused and attacking and dangerous that he's since he's probably, for his first couple of games with the club, which is where we kind of people were thought and then he got forced to be in a more of an eight roll and I think lost a bit of his shine in that because he doesn't that really wasn't his that really wasn't where he was ⁓ succeeding. think Caden Clark obviously almost scores in the 70 where's the minute that like around the 78th minute hits the post. He looked great though the big the big conversation piece was Dax McCarty went on this big long thing about Jackson Hopkins is an eight he's wasted on the wing he does not need to be out there he's much more talent. He's much better when he has more space in the midfield to play and to play in someone else or take his on opportunity as opposed to trying to do with any defensive responsibilities on the wing. ⁓ And I think Caden Clark showed that, you know, I'm here and I can do this over here. This may be my best position. ⁓ And I think if you're also looking at the Pirani situation where this is a player that has not produced real results here through the first couple of games, first five games. ⁓ Could Hopkins play in the second forward role? We've seen him play that before. ⁓ What do you think about the sort of the dialogue that's going on around Kate and Clark slash Hopkins on the right side?

speaker-1: I think this is the first game where I think you saw Caden Clark this season, I will say. There's been moments in other games where we've seen him kind of show up. I think this is the first game where it's like, okay, there was an actual change of pace here in the attack. There was an actual, it felt like this team might actually steal a win here. Before it was just like, they're just trying to just make the game ugly and muck it up and try to keep Atlanta's attack. The second half they got, I would say, the better of the chances. better of the opportunities like literally Atlanta just completely ran out of steam. Well, they had maybe looked lively for the first few minutes and then when it wasn't coming they were very lucky honestly to escape with a 0-0 draw. ⁓ I think it's I think it would be interesting. I think in the center midfield he would get on the ball a little bit more. I think he has struggled. He looks good when he's like when a team when a player kind of is able to sort of show him up and kind of try to close down the space he's able to show his elitre billing ability. He almost had a goal. He had a goal from sort of the outside of the box where he took a shot really nicely. Again, and it's also a question, I say, well, I do worry, he would have to sort of be a provider. And then what happens when Luis comes back? Luis takes that role from him. Do you shift him back? I would be maybe curious, again, it's tough with the servanier role, but I would be curious to see if he could slot in as kind of that right next to Peltzla, kind of be able to maybe push the game, push the envelope, push a little bit forward on that front. from the center midfield. ⁓ he has played at kind of a center midfield defensive midfield position in the past, but I don't know.

speaker-0: I'd rather he and Clark split the minutes than then try to shoot him or shoot him, porn him out of the field where maybe we're not getting like it's.

speaker-1: I think it's worth, I think it is worth trying him, keeping him outright, Brian Clark out left, ⁓ giving, ⁓ Peglo arrest. ⁓ and then, you know, obviously with Perani, think unfortunately Perani stays there, stays there by default because I mean, we've seen Peglo play up top. can't do it. ⁓ maybe, know, maybe you wouldn't, know, honestly, maybe you would, maybe you would know who do I want to see bench more? I probably want to see Perani bench more. would say those two roles Perani between Perani and Peglo. just waiting for somebody else to kind of step up at this point and then sort of take that role. So I don't know. Maybe, maybe he was kind of waiting for this week. You know, it will be kind of an off season. It will be kind of a, an extra week. Maybe he gets an extra couple of weeks in training to kind of work on some new, some new ideas, some new sort of formations, some new, maybe work on trying to pair up and maybe build sort of a different look in the attack that that might work because so far it hasn't really been working. So.

speaker-0: So my overall impressions from this were, sort of where we are at the moment is seven points from five games with an inert and ineffective offense is probably an achievement. It makes for awful soft soccer to watch, but so does being the worst team in the league. Paglo needs to take a seat and Hopkins should be inside. More minutes for Clark and possibly more for Kojima and disciplined defense, especially in transition in Atlanta look lost for the amount of money they spent and the theoretical attacking talent that they have. I think we talk about this always, this is like the question we ask us, and I think we have to ask this because of where we usually are in the standings, is who would you rather be? Would you rather be Atlanta or DC United? And we usually say Atlanta because money can bail you out of many, many things and problems in life. But, ⁓ you know, Atlanta could play this way if they wanted to. Yeah. But they choose not to and they choose to, you know, fail generally. we, you know, I'm not, I maybe want to be us because I think we're a couple players away from being able to play two styles and each of them are point generating styles. Yeah. What about you?

speaker-1: I would say if I had to put my head to it, I would, I would still say Atlanta because I would say their path to turning themselves around could be, could be quicker than us. ⁓ I think they have suffered from ⁓ just kind of some poor decisions in poor direction. Mostly you look at their coaching staff, their signings, you know, they've spent big on signings and haven't really worked out. They really, you know, but they have the money to spend those types of things and they have the ability to be a successful team. You know, think Garth Lagerway was kind of brought in to do that. And then unfortunately Garth Lagerway suffered from some very serious health issues and had to kind of pull himself back. ⁓ yeah, I don't know. It's right now, would I rather be DC? Yeah, because, ⁓ you know, ⁓ both all the players, all the DPs right now, Maroon Chuck, ⁓ you know, Lock Day Lock and shoot, why, why can I fit the other one? Miggi, Miggi Amarone. All those players are locked in for this year. All those players, their value has cratered. Every single one of them. ⁓

speaker-0: He does some cool stuff occasionally. What's He all on his own, at least does some cool stuff occasionally. had a nice run that was pretty sweet. ⁓

speaker-1: Yeah, I mean, yeah, but again, he's 32 and he is one of those players, I think, where as a younger player, you know, I think, I think his, his, his speed and quickness, like you can see the skill level is still there, but he is just, he's one of those players. feel like, I feel like there's certain players that like they're, they're good when they're young because they're able to be quick and fast and they're able to sort of make the plays. know, once they get older, it's like the wheels start to kind of come off. They're not able to be as fast and they're able to be predictable and they don't adjust. They don't like they play. Megan Amarone is the same player he was when he was 24 and 25. He's just older and a little slower and that doesn't, you know, hold up. ⁓ you look at player, the reason Messi is so, if Messi tried to play like 20, like current Messi tried to play like 24 year old Messi, ⁓ he would struggle immensely. You can't do the things that he does, but he's such an intelligent player. He's able, he was able to develop sort of a new style of how to play and sort of adapt his game to be better. It's similar to what, honestly, what Jaime Miranda did for going DC. Like, you know, he. was a very quick pacey kind of forward, a great forward. And then he slowed down and he said, I need to adjust my game. I need to be smarter. And that's why he was able to have that sort of Renaissance from 04 to 07 because he changed how he played. He became more of a second forward. He didn't become kind of the primary score. So that's, that's, that's usually the testament of a good player. And it's why when people talk about Marco Echeverria and Jaime, I say, I say Moreno, like he turned himself into a completely different player and became very effective. Yeah. That was, that was a Patreon. That should have been a Patreon part of the show.

speaker-0: and we're good. But here's what we're gonna do instead of that. I'm realizing how long the show is gone I want to talk about the spirit game We're gonna put all the answers to all the questions on the patreon thing. Otherwise, this is gonna be a two and a half hours

speaker-1: Do we get to release the I do want to get through the free questions, make sure that we.

speaker-0: There are too many. There are like a million. You guys ask so many dang questions. Fair enough. Here's one. Purdy Fish says, we learn anything about either team during this game? Feels like we still don't know if Atlanta or DC are going to get it together this season. I think that's sort what we just kind of talked through. I think we learned that DC United is playing a very realist style of soccer right now. And that isn't what he wants to do, but it is what he must do. And so it's what he will do. And he's doing it ⁓ and getting seven points from five games from some challenging opponents in the room.

speaker-1: Fair enough. Bear witness says, do we expect us to bunker against the FC Dallas? would say, ⁓

speaker-0: ⁓ I watched some of that game against Houston. I think that might be a good strategy. Yeah.

speaker-1: ⁓ Yeah, I don't expect the style to change all that much for sure, so.

speaker-0: All the rest of your questions will be behind the paywall. So, you if you asked one, really want to know about the three can find it. ⁓ Washington Spirit, ⁓ a 2-2 draw against a team that this team, you know, obviously, race in Louisville. NWCEL is weird. It's small. The playoffs are large. Any team can make a run. This is a team that made it to, was it semis last year that we eliminated them from? It was in the playoffs, we beat them. ⁓ I still think when I look at this roster and looked at the starting lineups, to me it looks like the spiritual win in a boat race. Just looking at the attacking talent, the defensive talent that the spirit are able to marshal. Obviously the racing has some good players as well, but I look at that lineup and I don't see a lot of lead up from most of whole way. So a bit of a disappointing start to the game, certainly. ⁓ What we talked about, we talked about this briefly already before is that in the opening game against Portland, the team had, the team could not get it together in the final third. They were, look, they looked really, really ineffective. They looked like they were missing something or someone. Kribbathun potentially is that person who knows. That's that's an eye of the beholder situation. ⁓ But they just were not connecting in the way that they should have. In this game, I think that the connection was there. I think that they had found their passing triangles. They had found their movement down the wing. had found the ability to ⁓ open up some space and get a shot off from even it's outside of 18 if that's what Louisville were presenting them with. Still, the finishing was not clinical. Brodman just scored in the sixth minute. gave her an opportunity right in the six and she shot it right to the keeper and then couldn't bury the rebound. Kwasi had a full field half field breakaway. In the eighth minute stole the ball right off of Peterson who was standing there as a center back just looking like she was hitchhiking.

speaker-1: That should have been a goal.

speaker-0: had an opportunity right on goal and the announcer said like she should have gotten an angle. She ran directly at the keeper and then had nowhere to shoot, which shouldn't be a problem when you have the whole half of the field yourself, but she's one footed.

speaker-1: And this is a feeling like a criticism of quasi that we've we've had. It's like the final third. It's like she does everything right. And this was a, this was a problem last year and she improved upon it. Like she improved upon it. I felt like throughout the season. maybe this is something that just takes some getting used to, but like so good. And she had to assist in this game. like you can't even

speaker-0: was very dangerous. She was very, very dangerous. It's just that it's like the 80 % of the player she could be is the player she is. And not having any left foot is part of this. And then her lack of clinic, lack of being a clinical finisher, she would be in the MVP conversation. Right now she's able to use her intelligence and her speed to get open down that channel and provide opportunities for other players. So that ain't nothing. That's certainly to be valued. I just think that... It will never not frustrate me to have her not be the full player that hopefully, you know, that we see could be. And then things got bad for the spirit. ⁓ Kayla Fisher scores outside the box on a ball that MacGyver 100 % should have had. I think, you know, there could be an argument that Tara screened her and she didn't have a great sight on it, but the ball was right at her, snuck under her arm. She's got to get in front of that regardless. Whether or not she saw it or not, she's got to make that stop.

speaker-1: Simply B1 says, how are we feeling about Spirits Kingsbury replacement? I don't know. Like it's, tough, you know, bad game. think, you know, you look at the, the XG 0.86 XG and she gave up two goals. That's never a, never a good moment that, that you want to do. That goal was pretty bad. She gets kind of hung out the dry on the, on the second one. I think we are seeing, you know, maybe a little bit of a miss of Kingsbury. I would also say, you know, she has, ⁓ she did not play all year. She sat on the bench all year. So maybe there's, you know, some minutes need to be, maybe there's a little bit of pain that needs to be, you know, endured while she kind of finds her feet. ⁓ she, she is apparently a very talented goalkeeper starts for her, starts for a national team. it's pretty clear, like, you know, when we, when she was signed, I think we were all kind of like, what, like, you why we got Kingsbury? Why do we need her? ⁓ I think it seems to me like Kingsbury, ⁓ let the team know that this was her plan, you know, this year and then next year, you know, she wants to start a family. so they're like, okay, we'll go, we'll get a keeper that can, you know, essentially start and be, and we can be competitive because we're

speaker-0: Should have gave her more time last year then. If that was cooking, they should have figured out a way to spread the wealth a little bit more. But ⁓ I think it's really a matter of how to...

speaker-1: I'll disagree. I'll disagree with you there. You were, you were a team trying to vie for a championship. You vie for that. You deal, you deal like this is, this is all stuff that you, that if you're, if you trust your scouting, if you trust everything else, you know, this stuff will work its way out by March or April. ⁓ you know, we'll, see. And, know, then, you know, maybe you look elsewhere, but I don't, I don't think you then try to say, well, we, well, if you're going to do that, we're going to punish you by not having you play. I don't think you can do that. I vaguely disagree with you there. think you play Kingsbury was the starter. Kingsbury was everything. I think you respect that. And again, I had no basis of info, but just based on the signing, it seemed to me like the team was maybe thinking about next year. They might not have Kingsbury for this reasons. Anyway, pure speculation on my part. Could be completely wrong on that front, but the signing itself was a little confusing to burn an international slot on a backup keeper. I think it's making a little more sense right now.

speaker-0: Yeah, I think you could have probably waited. She wasn't even playing for Everton in that in that year She may not have even seen the field last year at our club team in ⁓ England. So I don't we don't know this problem yet We just got to see how she bounce back next game. This team is gonna win on the basis of its attack anyway I think in general so She's she'll have she should have more of a cushion than she's had lately as we go forward Santos has a shot saved off the post in the 31st minute ⁓ I asked me Morgan again, I mentioned her last week. Great, great stuff there. She's got, she has definitely turned into the player that she was, she said she wanted to be when she rode by, I spoke to her. She's like, I want to be the best player, best defender in the world. And she's working on it. She's getting, she's getting that way. She's heading, she's heading in that direction for sure. I love watching a de Guilhemo play. I think she is, she is the halsty hefty. She is the hefty of team except for, except for I think way better. ⁓ She is a tremendous addition. I think once the finishing is all the way there, the service that she's going to be able to provide is going to be crazy. She's going to have, I don't know about double digits assist, but it's going to be, it's going to be substantial. She is in the mix all the time and she's also great defender. She is, I'm, I'm a big fan. don't know you could tell. ⁓ Cantore has a half chance in the 38th minute. ⁓ Really, I was not impressed with Louisville's defense. Obviously they were sort of in a low block, but it was non-aggressive. ⁓ They were giving the spirit opportunities, like over and over again. They had space to create every single time. And they'd either hit the post, which happened quite a bit, or scup the shot, or just not have the angle she wants. And then ⁓ right after that chance, Emma Sears goes coast to coast. ⁓ After a collision in her own box, transition defending. just sort of looks completely out of sorts, that was not prepared for that, that can happen when you're that far down the field. And Terra does not, Terra Red does not do anyone any favors, does not force Sears either way, lets her run straight in on goal, and Sandy does not do, does not go above and beyond there and make the save and bail her team out. And then it's two-nothing. And it's a bit of a concern, again, for a team that you, in a game you did not expect to go down two-nothing to this team. Yeah. I just ⁓ can't Tori again was was really active. was a question this week if a gift Monday had a bit of an uneven start last week was would can Tori get in a start from the beginning. She did. I also think with a game ⁓ midweek here against the Utah Royals, there was a bit of rotation. ⁓ Trinity also came off later with a concussion sub ⁓ unclear. I don't have to have the media availability tomorrow. think so. I would imagine they're going to hold her out against Utah. probably think that can, know, her health is, long-term health is more important here, but also that they could get points against Utah. think that's what they're going to think. But you know, we don't, the, the, Cantori goal we could talk about in the 50th minute. Just a goal from distance at, you know, probably 25 yards from goal off of a corner, a right footer bending away from the keeper. Somebody asked her after the game, you know, why are all of your goals like this? And she was seen like she was so like, I would like them not to be, I'm trying very hard to just score a regular goal. would like to score a regular goal. Yeah, that would be, I could, I would be okay with that. ⁓ So that was awesome. ⁓ Santos had another opportunity. Kowasi was again, the creator all over the place, ⁓ sort of scuffed it right away. Tara, I thought it was interesting that Tara was deployed as sort of a free Roman forward.

speaker-1: Like to be a boring goal, it's g-

speaker-0: in the around the 50th minute, she was just in the box, like for a five minute period. She wasn't even going back. They were just like, you're good. Stay up there. Don't worry about it. Stay up there. You got, you know what you're doing up there.

speaker-1: I mean, that's why you sign like Bernal. got Bernal who plays a center back and now being played as sort of ⁓ a defensive midfielder type role.

speaker-0: I do not think that is her, I don't think that's her best position ⁓ for an alls. I had wrote down here, like she had, like right before she had played a square ball to the left back with no cover and the player had a straight opportunity. She tried to steal it and then lost the dribble, but had an opportunity to run it on goal. And I was saying like, boy, there was quite a few of those. And then as soon as she did that, she pinged a 50 yard ball to the right, to the right wing and hits her in stride. I was like, okay. Well, but still overall, I still think my initial analysis says that Bernal is a better center back than Devince of Midfielder. And the fact that Andy Sullivan is back, it made her appearance in the 90th minute is great. think that gives you an opportunity to sort of rotate there. Al Herschel has not looked her original self so far this season. And I would say for much of last season, her best time ever at the Spirit was the first half season when she was with Andy Sullivan. So, but also maybe before there was any sort of book on what kind of a player she was and what she wanted to do. I will be interested to see if they're able to make those, that pairing stick for a while and see, you know, what do you get out of how from that? I think that'll be important. ⁓ Mention the Trinity substitute. I think that would be, I think that's going to be important. ⁓ Yeah. I think they're, I think this team is in a position where they are very close to getting it. They're really close to getting it. ⁓ The season, I'm not concerned.

speaker-1: This was definitely a game where it was kind of like, I was able to watch the game afterwards, but I saw the score and I was like, ⁓ man, do we like completely miss on the season? And then I sat down and watched the game. said, ⁓ no, we didn't miss. Like they just, you know, couldn't finish. This game could have so easily been like two nothing, three nothing heading into that second half, like with the amount of chances that the spirit generated. So I'm just like, okay. Like the soccer is there, the chances are there, the moments are there. It's just gonna, you know, it's gonna take a little bit of time to kind of pull it all together. You know, they're not a team maybe that's gonna hit the ground running. And I think, you know, yes, maybe do I, do we want them maybe to be trying to compete with like the top, top of the league and maybe competing for that supporter shield? Sure. But I think we also want to see them make a run, you know, getting second is okay too. And that gets you into the... you know, into the playoffs. you know, right now they are third from bottom, but I would not expect them to be there. And I think, I think the whole league knows that they are, they have the talent to be a serious contender. ⁓ I think there was maybe some questions about, ⁓ about the missing of Cory Bethune. I will miss Cory Bethune personally. I thought she was like a very fun player to watch. She was like one of those players that, you know, you would go, you would watch a game and you would leave. But I think what this game I learned, okay, know, Santos can do it. Rodman can do it. Kowasi can especially do it. Like there's talent in this team. It might not be, you know, some of the stuff that we saw from Bethune that was so attractive and so fun to watch from just a pure like eyeball standpoint, but it still can be fun soccer for them, for this team to play.

speaker-0: we didn't lose to Chicago like some other people did. I don't know that the grass is greener playing for Chris Armis in Kansas City.

speaker-1: Yeah, no, yeah, that's a that's a that is an ultimate question for sure

speaker-0: ⁓ I was watching a bit of the Chicago game and I didn't realize where they play some other games and they play up at Loyola and they play right on the lake and the wind was blowing so hard it looked like they were playing in front of the Pacific Ocean, like during high tide. Just huge, like huge white waves. ⁓ And then they lost and I think that, you know, boy, I don't want to second guess any front office decision making at any clubs but... Chris Armis has a track record for a reason, you gotta pay attention to it.

speaker-1: You're well within your right to question, to question, question Chris Armis and in him being there in Kansas city. ⁓ this is a guy, this. Yeah, man. mean, just the amount of moments. mean, I guess Colorado wasn't a terrible outing for him, but I mean, he's just had some very uninspired moments and yet he keeps getting jobs. And I think it's like, you look at some of like, you look at the Bina Bethune, ⁓

speaker-0: He's us wrong. He's gotta prove us wrong.

speaker-1: all those players that are out there for that Kansas City team that should be really, really good. And then to just have the, ⁓ you know, to have him in charge feels very, very puzzling to say the least. And Chowingo as well, my goodness, like the talent that is on that roster. ⁓ Kind of, kind of shocking to be honest.

speaker-0: Captain first says, are you guys feeling about the spirit so far? I think we've been lacking offensively, but I don't know if the newcomers are still adjusting or if Croy has left a bigger hole than we thought, hoping it's the former. We talked about this from the week one. I think this is still a hangover from the late international break. And now they have another one, I believe, coming up soon. ⁓ It's just getting comfortable with each other. They're like so close. It's margins from clicking all the way into the attack position.

speaker-1: It is. If you still feel that really go watch go watch the game go watch the game against Louisville they were They they were the better side in my opinion the goals they gave up were they were there were things you can fix and Attack wise it's just you know they're gonna get there You know they they were able to sort of get you know got off the draw ⁓ I think once they got that first goal I thought okay I think they'll find a way back into this whether it's a win whether it's just a point I think they'll find a way back into this

speaker-0: ⁓ Roscoe says, what is going on with Hal Hirstelt? She does not look the same Hal, albeit two games in. I agree. I think it's like I was saying before, I think it's about the, I think it's about partners and sort of what, what's being asked out of her. So we'll see what, we'll see how this looks once Andy gets, I'm wondering when she gets her first, this was obviously just dipping her toes in. I'm wondering when they're going to dump, jump all the way in. I'm curious about it.

speaker-1: Maybe you got a Wednesday, Saturday, you got an opportunity maybe to to slatter in there. We'll see.

speaker-0: I'm trying to bring up a list of Washington Spirit roster moves here in the off season. Cause the question was what player ⁓ had the biggest effect on the Spirit? The ones that left or came in. Yeah. ⁓ yeah. guess if you count that, yeah. I think like permanently, if it's permanently, it's probably Croy. Cause permanently Courtney Brown, Brittany Radcliffe, Croy Bethune, Nairumi Miura, Croy Ricketts, Lulay Sarr. Heather staying broke on loan. it's obvious. think it has to be if McKenna Morris also left. We thought that we were getting an opportunity to see her, but she was injured this week. That's probably a quote with them. I think it, I think that's probably just based on the quality that came out, but the replacements are our pretty Claudia Martinez. The, young Paraguayan has gotten, ⁓ opportunities in each game, which again makes me look like an idiot since I was reading the tea leaves thinking that she was not going to play at all. ⁓ She's got really, I haven't got much to see except for her off the ball movement. like, I like, I like watching that. think she's got, ⁓ it's a very, it's a very, I would say like it's a very central American style. Like you get, it's very, it's like a, not just because of where she's from, but like you can see, you can see sort of like the run she's making, ⁓ that she doesn't run full steam into a run. She's sort of giving herself some optionality as the way she moves through, tries to run past defenders. I like seeing that. I don't know what the end product is, but yeah, I would say that's probably the easy answer, right? Scroi.

speaker-1: Yeah, Croix, you know, Croix from a sense from, and Croix really didn't play all that much. I think it's going to be a question of, know, like you said, is, ⁓ Claudia Martinez young player, is she able to become an effective contributor and maybe challenge for some spots, ⁓ where she can be a, ⁓ where she can be a, ⁓ you know, a big time player. I'm still going to stick with my answer of Aubrey Kingsbury. think that's, you know, she's out for the season. She's not coming back. That's been the obvious kind of step down now. She might she'll be back eventually but every everywhere else in the lineup it's like you know, you feel like There's just so much talent like maybe they're not as deep like, you You crew Bethune was like a weapon where you could bring you could have like a change of pace I think it'll be interesting to watch I do think it was very crowded between Bethune and Santos like as to who really drove the offense and I think That's where you saw Bethune kind of drop off once Santos got here And they tried to sort of pair them together and it really didn't work. So I'm, I'm, I'll be curious to watch it. How Santos performs, you know, versus Bethune in that kind of role. So.

speaker-0: I also, I'm interested in what this lineup looks like against Utah this week. think maybe you're going to see some rotation. Like Abby Oden probably will come in and play defensive midfield for how give her, give her a blow. looked like she was a little tired at the end of the game. And maybe it's another 45 minutes in there. Maybe who knows. But I think that that's going to do it for our, our, public show. I want, we've got to still a bunch of questions to get to that Ted and I will run through here to give the people a little bit more of that.

speaker-1: Andy

speaker-0: And other than that, think we'll have less to talk about next week. We'll have Spirit, and there's no DC United game for two weeks. So it'll be probably a short, on wood, maybe a shorter show. don't know if that's something you want. I don't know. Is it good news, bad news? Hard to say.

speaker-1: Yeah, well, maybe I have some preview content, who knows, preview content always works. And we will maybe we'll actually dive a little more into that. I should be after this weekend be a little more free and have a little more time to figure stuff out. So alright, folks, that's going to do it for the free show again, if you're on Patreon, stick around. Otherwise, free show we will if you want to continue being free, we appreciate the support as always and we'll catch you.

speaker-0: Next week, vamos, vamos.