3/17 Bay FC - NWSL Opening Weekend

Welcome to episode 50 of Casual FC!! Thats right, he just hit the big 5-0. We are so excited to have done all these episodes so far and looking to have lots more with each and every single one of you.

As usual, we talk the upcoming matchup with Bay FC, players to watch on their team, players to watch on our own team and a fun lil giveaway that you’ll just have to listen to find out about. Here's to episode 50, and here's to an epic season ahead. Let's rock this!

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL
INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | TIKTOK | THREADS

SUPPORT THE POD
1) Leave a review where ever you listen!
2) Buy fun merch at shop.casualfc.com
3) Buy us a coffee at buymeacoffe.com/casualfcpod

Find other great WoSo pods at https://casualfc.com/support-woso-pod

00:00 Kicking Off with Episode 50: Celebrations and Surprises
01:15 Celebrating 50 Episodes: A Journey of Dedication
01:48 Previewing Angel City FC's Season and Upcoming Match
02:38 Navigating NWSL Plus and Game Broadcast Challenges
03:18 Game Day Preparations and Personal Updates
03:54 Reflecting on the 50th Episode Milestone and Season Kickoff
05:17 Angel City FC's Strategy and Roster Insights
16:39 Anticipating the Matchup with Bay FC: Strategies and Key Players
26:10 Celebrating Asisat Oshoala's Impact and African Soccer
27:16 Anticipation for Asisat Oshoala's Debut with Bay FC
28:13 Bay FC's Impressive Signings and Financial Strategy
28:31 Bay FC's Potential for Success in the Upcoming Season
29:11 Spotlight on Angel City's Key Players
30:17 Messiah Bright: A Rising Star at Angel City
33:46 Madison Hammond: A Defensive Midfielder to Watch
36:25 Clarisse Le Bihan’s New Role and Expectations
40:04 Fan Engagement and the Upcoming Game's Excitement
45:17 Game Day Tips and Stadium Information
50:51 Supporting the Podcast and Wrapping Up

★ Support this podcast ★

Creators & Guests

Host

Angela Morales

Host

Mario Salazar

What is Casual FC?

From causal and seasoned fans to fresh new fans to the game, Casual FC is your Angel City FC podcast previewing all upcoming matches, highlighting what to look for as the casual football fan.

Welcome to Casual FC, an Angel City preview pod. I'm your host, Mario Salazar, with my co host for now, 50, five, zero episodes.

This is 50?

This is 50. I was holding off because I was like, I don't think she knows yet.

I don't!

This is episode number five, zero.

No effin way.

Angela Morales.

I'm gonna cry.

Right? Like, I

50!

know 50! Yes,

We

now.

This is because of the World Cup.

It is because of the World Cup

World Cup and supporter groups, Thank you!

yes, thank you, that's six all at once, Oh my gosh, 50 friggin episodes? Holy shit.

And sometimes I think about I know that we dropped all the supporter groups, at once, but then and I'm like, oh, that was cheating. But no, it's

not, because we recorded every single one of those.

Yeah, we did.

And it wasn't just one marathon day of recording. It was six, six different days, our schedules, the folks in the supporter group schedules, having to reschedule things, people getting sick, like, all kinds of stuff.

So, wow, 50?

So we are starting the season with

Oh my god.

number 50.

10.

The World Cup is just one big blur of a year. like seven hour recording session we did.

yeah. Yeah. And it's going to be like that for the Olympics too.

I know. I'm pumped. I'm pumped.

So

welcome guys.

Happy, happy kickoff weekend.

Let's go.

NWSL kickoff weekend, let's go. So next match will be Sunday, March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, slash LA Marathon Day. It's

Slash selection Sunday. It's every Sunday.

is every day. It's everything day.

stuff going on. Angel City FC will be taking on Bay FC

At BMO Stadium at 4:30pm and it's going to be broadcast on NWSL Plus, which is the free online streaming from the website. Basically just go to nwslsoccer. com and you'll be able to find it. Go register for your account now because it's free.

Yeah. And I think the app is now available in the app store.

It had been like pending.

Yeah.

So let me look just to make sure to see if it's there. course not. Nevermind. Yeah, just go to nwsl.com. Let's hope things work this weekend. it's gonna be shenanigans either way. Hopefully you're gonna be at BMO with, with me. So

Yes, with, with and 'cause. Unfortunately, I will not be at this game because of the schedule changes. My schedule does not work anymore and I will not be at the home opener.

that's okay. I will still be there with merch, with stickers, with some secret stuff we'll tell you about later. I'll be there.

I'll be there with Eva. I'll be there with our friend Brit, who we talked about last week, or last, yeah, last week. Oh, last week. It's our, oh, this is just, I'm so happy. I can't believe we've, this is our 50th episode, and it's the kickoff for the season.

I'm, we could not have planned this better,

honestly.

we could have not, because I literally found this out about, yesterday. I think yesterday or,

You've been holding on

for like a whole Oh, let me tell you, Mario cannot keep secrets

or holds,

the iridescent stickers that he ordered. The second they were at his house, he FaceTimed me and I was like, oh my god, somebody died because I was at work and I ran outside and I was like, what's going on?

He was like, look! No, it's, that's

I don't, I like surprises, but I don't like waiting for surprises, Yeah, I'm with you on

I need the instant gratification of, here's something for you to be happy about or for me to be happy about, yeah.

I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm holding on to something right now. It's killing me. But that means we really have to go to lunch on Wednesday.

Oh, shoot. Can we update the Instagram from this lunch that we're having on wednesday? Okay, good. So if they've listened to it before we go to lunch, because this episode's dropping

Wednesday the 13th.

Yeah.

Oh, I'm so excited.

Okay, On the last episode of, ooh, this feels good doing it again. On the last episode of Angel City FC.

All right. So last time we checked in with the girls, with the gals, they were at Golcella out in the Coachella Valley for the Invitational out there. And we had one game

of the three games. There, we just played one against Bay FC. No one scored, nil nil. There were 50 11 subs because it was an exhibition game, that was the whole point.

Kind of to help flesh out, yeah.

the AYSO match of the NWSL.

on the pitch at some point for both teams because it was an exhibition. This was a way for the teams to suss out people they needed to see in action, solidify folks in positions, that kind of thing. I'm not surprised there wasn't a Anything scored or there was no score, it makes sense because it's like basically spring training for baseball where you win either 12 to 0 or 2 to 1.

Like it, it's just no, nothing makes sense because nobody's where they normally are and it's all basically for, no, I don't want to say for fun, but it's, an exhibition is just to learn

your players. As a coach?

and as we have learned in past years of exhibition matches or,

made up Cups that don't make sense at times, challenge cup, going all out during an exhibition match or a preseason match does not make sense because it's going to screw over your season. So

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, everybody got on the pitch. Draftees, non roster invitees, the under 18 folks. A lot has changed since we dropped the episode last week, like we said was gonna happen.

yeah, immediately

three hours? Three hours after the episode goes live, they announce the signing of one of the, 18

invitees, the,

like invitees is the only way to say it now, which was great, but that also meant we only have one more spot on the roster.

so Kennedy Fuller had Visited a few other training camps, had, is like in the USA soccer world, like she's very well versed in professional soccer situation. She's looked at other teams, basically, she basically went on a college tour of NWSL teams to find the best fit. And she picked us,

Yes,

in the little, yeah, because she's not from, she's not from California. And

I think?

part of the U18 rules is that you must live near, you must live near the team

and have, Essentially a guardian with you.

So that means someone from her family is moving out with her to LA

yeah.

And the crazy thing, she had committed to North Carolina, which is a soccer powerhouse.

Yes.

And in this signing, Sorry, Tar Heels. Whoops.

Yeah. in the press release, it said that she, even graduated high school. She finished high school two years early so that she can go to play on to college so that she can get into like professional soccer.

just bonkers.

determination and the grit that, just in that brief presser that this girl has, and I'm all for it, I'm ready to see her on there.

She impressed, Becki and the team enough to be like, you're solid, you're gonna be on here, we're gonna sign another 16, or just 17 year old, I believe she just had a

Yeah, she

birthday.

That's impressive, exciting, not necessarily worrisome, but we got a young team, they young, you young,

but I, I think a lot of that is Angel City setting themselves up for the future.

yes,

Because we had, season, last season, we had Alyssa come in, but still, our team was veterans. Partially because expansion draft, partially because of other reasons nobody understands, just reasons, like you end up with older players sometimes and it's okay, now we have to look for the changing of the guard and who's going to pick up where we not left off, but who's going to pick up the next push of this team. And I think with the 10 year change between Freya and Becki, this is now Becki's team officially.

fast these women run a 40 yard sprint. So bad. put them through a football combine because I feel like they'd smoke those dudes.

probably,

just yeah. Straight out the gate.

yeah. And I'm ready for it, just I will have to catch it on TV, which is fine.

I'll give you any random crazy updates, I'll probably send voice messages screaming

at some point.

do it. We'll include it in, we'll include it in our recap of the next game.let's move on to checking our standings. And it's a dead even race. As I said before, this is like the teacher saying You know, you're starting the year with an A. It's up to you to

keep it. And you know what? In some of these tables, we're in first place.

Mm hmm.

it's because it's in alphabetical order. But still, we are in first place on some tables. dead even race,let's see how long we get to keep this. super excited about Becki having a full season. full preseason under her, she's going to get a full season with the team,there's going to be good, there's going to be bad, but I do believe that the confidence and the outlook from the team has been on the up the entire time,

so I'm

Yeah, I saw,

happens.

I saw a clip of an interview with Cap, or with, not with Cap, with Becki, and she said, yeah, Ali Riley was like, this is the hardest preseason I've ever had. And Becki said, good. That's what I was hoping. And I was like, oh no, we're so scary.

Was it Rocky who was like, oh, I was able to play,

I was able to play like four 90 minute games,

Yeah. Because of how hard. Yeah.

our girls are getting ready to run. They've been marathon training at this point.

yes. So the Becki Sparkles Tour is gonna be in full swing. Get your merch, get your shirt for all the tour

The design has been updated

with a rescheduled date. So just like any other tour. You'll get a big ol stamp of rescheduled on there, which was coach's idea, which is the best part.

She's like, no, put it, put rescheduled on top with the new date, and I was like, that's perfect!

So get your merch, get everything ready. Becki Sparkle's tour is gonna be in full swing this year Woohoo!

and we're gonna, hopefully take it all the way. And

that's what we're all hoping for. So our next opponent, like we said, Bay FC starting the year off with a brand new

I'm gonna say rivalry. I know that rivalries, you don't want to, label rivalries right out the gate. That's a, very manufactured way to put those things together. But LA and the Bay already have,

yeah, NorCal, SoCal, in general,

regardless of sport.

Yes, exactly. it's an automatic rivalry.

is coming down. Hopefully people were able to switch their tickets and get themselves readjusted, but the game will be, was scheduled for Saturday, has been rescheduled to Sunday. We are playing at BMO. Start time is a lot earlier. Saturday it was scheduled for a 7pm start time. It is now at 4. 30.

everyone on the east side of the stadium, please remember your sunscreen. You will get a little toasty on that side.

I know some folks who were down in San Diego for the Gold Cup and may or may not have forgotten their sunscreen, which apparently is a habit. And apparently, I'm gonna have to start texting some people before, if I know they're going to games down in San Diego,

to remember their sunscreen. But I was told, it's okay, I have sleeves. So I'm not gonna name names, but it is somebody we talk about on the podcast a

lot.

just gotta remember, Snappy has no shade whatsoever. See,

at least at BMO, there is shade. And, they're like,

There's at least like a concourse

for the folks on the sunny side. Yeah.

Yeah, Snappy doesn't quite have that, yeah. alright, and as we get into our, headlines and talking points, we will caveat that we are recording, as usual, on a Monday night.

This episode will come out on Wednesday, the 13th, before our opener. The final roster has not been released, so we do not know, and it won't be released till the day that this episode goes out. as much as we joked last episode that we're like, as soon as it comes out, things are going to change, and they did.

one for sure we know things may change because we're expecting the roster to be finalized on Wednesday the 13th, which is the day that all teams in the NWSL need to submit their final roster of 26 players. And, or 22 to 26 players, so we don't know if anybody will take that final roster spot. We haven't heard anything about our two draftees yet, so Felicia Knox and Maddie Curry.

We don't know if they're gonna stick around or what's gonna happen.

there's only one spot now that Kennedy Fuller has been signed, so as we were semi correctly, incorrectly a couple episodes ago talking about how crazy the roster was and how slim chances were, we're at the same spot now where there's only one spot.

And there's a couple players that still have the possibility. And like we said, also, if there's any possibility of an SEI, player coming back in this year, for either Press or Endo, there needs to be room on the roster.

Right.

And they can't just waive a player. I, technically you can put a player on loan or you can you have to legit give them the opportunity for something else, not just be like, peace out, we don't want you anymore.

So you know, we'll see what the prospects are if they fill up the roster completely or not.

Yeah. Yeah. Without an official roster for either team, it's made it very difficult to figure out who I was going to talk about.

Yeah.

because now we're getting into the like nitty gritty of our show, the one, the reason why we started doing this, of giving folks information. Okay, we said, I don't know who's officially playing what position. Bay FC hasn't released roster or jersey numbers yet, I don't know. for us, I only know because I picked returning players and somebody whose number has already been announced. But Here's the thing, Bay FC, from the jump, built a team. They went international, and they're playing, they have only really said, yeah, we're playing an international game, we're not just playing American soccer, which is great, and also terrible, only because but Cool, now we have to figure out what the heck they're gonna bring to the table. There's no scouting, there's no video, game video to watch, there's no previous matchups to really go up against. Because even the Coachella game, whatever,

there signings that hadn't happened by that

yeah, yeah, they hadn't signed Asasat yet, they hadn't signed somebody else, they just have

And a couple of their signings didn't play. So

Yeah, there's a lot of good information both teams gathered on other teams from the Invitational, but also at the same time, nothing was gained.

So

who knows, everything'sin the air.

yeah, Bay FC kind of did the slow burn, likethey got some people during the draft, they got some people during the expansion draft, they got a couple of free agent signings,

a big name from us, a big name from us, yes, but we're waiting for a while and I even saw some of the, the Bay supporters, on social be like, what's going on guys?

it

doesn't seem like you guys are doing much, can we please have a signing? And then all of a sudden, floodgates

yeah, and it was like,boom of all these international heavy hitters, and I was like, okay. But I will say that, as a whole, the league has expanded their international roster space, they've really Made it a little bit more friendly towards international players, which is amazing for the league, and for the quality of play, the level of play, it's gonna be probably some of the best soccer you'll ever see this season from the NWSL, and then very much getting it up to, other big leagues across the world.

I'm excited.

Genuinely. For this.

I am excited for this matchup. I'm going to be more excited for the second matchup of this when

we go up to Bay, because it'll be more mid season, more everybody's in their flow.

might see things a little bit more reserved this match, just because very first match, we were going to definitely play to win, but there's also going to be like a little bit of don't hurt yourself on the very first game.

it's don't hurt yourself on the very first game, and we don't know what we're going up against yet. Like, you can look at coaches tendencies and be like, oh, they run a 4 4 2, or oh, they do this, or this is how they set up their defense, or whatever. But, you don't know how they're gonna do this with these players.

And because nobody knows their rosters, it's not like you can,you can, but you can't. It's just, this is shenanigans. But, for Bay, I did pick three players to talk about. One is a household name for most Angel City fans, and Scarlett Camberos, I wanted to talk about her because it was a very interesting move that was publicly discussed as more playing time, better for her career, that kind of thing, privately amongst friends was more just ugh, like, she's gonna, yeah, probably right, but what what else?

And it's okay, we needed expansion draft protection, who was willing to go? We got allocation Monopoly money, like whatever, but what the heck, because she was beloved in Los Angeles and it's, I hope the stadium, so if you're listening to this and you're going to be there on Sunday, when she gets announced as starting lineup, like she's still one of us, like she is,

Angel City alum

she'll get the claps, she'll get the cheers,as I like to remind people that this is just a game. We are, we're watching grown ass people, grown ass women play a kids game

Yep.

money,

I know.

right? Even though we all want them to make more money, they are making money playing a kid's game, which, at a very elite level, so it's not to diminish anything,

I say the same thing about the men, it's like they're, and they flop around even more and make it a

Oh my goodness.

so remind yourself that this is, these are people playing a game, it's

all essentially for fun, pre game, before that first whistle, We are cool.

We can be homies.

hmm. dab. I'll share a beer with you. I will,I brought a six pack for the tailgate. I will gladly hand you one to a complete stranger, whether you're wearing Angel City or Bay, or at a future tailgate, because I'm not gonna be at this one soon as that whistle blows.

You are dead to me.

Yep.

Like, I don't know. You

fire brimstone.

Yeah.

will win.

My big thing too, for people who have been on my team and then go get traded, asked to be traded, whatever, I'm like, I hope you have a great game, but you cannot win and you cannot score.

That's it.

Them's the rules.

and then you hit the whistle at the 90 and it's

flip a switch and be like, oh, hug.

bye, see you next time, like, yeah,

gimme a minute.

yeah, we know how good Scarlett is, we know how crafty she can be, she will find the open person if she's not completely open, she's just great,

Yeah.

Scarlett,

it was a tough loss. But after reading all of the reasons why and things like that, I do feel that because she was one of their first

signings, they're hopefully building the team around her or building the team around the idea of her and her position and some of the other acquisitions that they've gotten, so

it will very much lead to playing time if she This becomes another hey you moved up there and you've uprooted your life and now you're gonna be on the bench.

It's gonna suck.

yeah, so, since I don't have a jersey number, but Scarlett Camberos is a forward, so she's gonna be over by our keeper, who we don't know yet.

So, DeeDee, Angelina, Hannah, somebody in goal, so she'll be on that side. Next up is Deyna Castellanos, who, when they announced this signing, I think the internet exploded for a good five minutes. This was huge, Castellanos is a Venezuelan national team player,super dynamic midfielder. That matchup is going to be the one we probably put Rocky or Mandy against because of The craftiness,it's, she's insane. She's played with a couple teams in Spain, Man City, she's won all over the place, so I'm nervous.

Like, when they signed her, I went, oh, no! so we'll see.

We'll see how this goes. I, I wish I had more to say, too, because I want to, pull more information from the league and, give you more information of her as a player, but she is stupid good. That's it.

Yeah.

she's the kind of player who can find the open person every time.

Yeah.

break up your midfield defense.

we've said, and we've talked about the fact that the NWSL for the longest time was, in women's soccer, was the kind of gold standard, right? all the best players wanted to be here. Now, with the strength of the WSL in the UK,

having,

and a lot of the other UEFA leagues that all over Europe, The money is attracting some really great players, and then you're getting some really great soccer over there.

So the fact that she's been, she's played with Vancity, the fact that she's played on a couple teams in Spain, that European knowledge is going to be huge coming back.

Yeah. Cause

think the product overall is pretty high with the NWSL,

and yes, other leagues are catching up, if not equal,

If not eclipsing in some places, there's, it's like the NWSL was like top notch wavered for a little bit, but a lot of that was when all the bad shit was happening.

yeah.

And then we got the CBA, the investigation and everybody's like, Oh, okay, we can play there again. Sick. There's money now. Sick.

Okay. We'll see you in a few months. Like it's crazy. And with that, my, so Deyna Castellanos is a midfielder. You'll have to just look for her come game day, because I can't tell you much

else.

have no numbers, yes.

Yeah, no numbers. the last person I want to talk about for Bay FC, and this is mostly because of my love for the Nigerian team, both soccer and basketball. Is Asisat, just, it's just, I can't believe they signed Asisat Oshoala, I can't,

it makes me so angry,

I saw that posting and I was like, Angel's gonna have a field day.

oh shit, I saw this, I sent it to Eva and I was like, great, and she was like, no, just, Oh, God, and we are only that, because she is so fantastically good. if you want to go back and hear me scream about the Nigerian team and why you need to pay attention to African soccer, go back to our World Cup episodes.

I think I did it every single time we covered a game with any Niger or any African team, but specifically Nigeria. Those women are different, and I love it, and they just, oh, they have so much fun, The pre and post game videos come, coming from the team, they're so joyful and it's just, ugh, they deserve the world for their national team. I am so excited to see Asisat play in real life with my own eyes, not on TV. for those who don't know, or don't want to go back, Asisat is a scoring machine. She has played for Barcelona, Liverpool, and Arsenal. No big deal.

Nobody important.

No, no household names.

Yeah. She is a two time Ballon d'Or nominee.

best player in the world.

the fact that we have That caliber of playerand more, the other players coming up,

Mm hmm.

that caliber. But the fact that we have that coming to the league really just defines like the league isn't going anywhere.

Yeah.

Yeah. When you're getting top of the line, huge, huge, huge, huge, huge caliber signings.

We're, We're good.

we're still top. I will say I was surprised by a lot of their kind of bigger signings too. thinking like, where are you guys getting the money for this? But

part. I'm like, what, I understand it's all Monopoly money, but I don't understand.

yeah, but like more on you if you figured it out, Yeah. So that's my precap for Bay FC. They're going to be good as hell, straight out the gate. It's just going to be a matter of how well does this team gel and have a cohesive style of play by kickoff. That's really what it's going to come down to. It's not going to be, oh, are they good enough? Because they are more, they are overqualified. To be a good team.

that's why I was saying that like the match, when we go up to Bay. Might be a little bit more interesting

in that they'll be in mid-season form

will be great.with that said, it's time to talk about our Angels.

I wanna, be like, queue up, what is his name, Bosley?from Charley's Angels, one of the iterations, and just like, you know, Hi, Charley, kind of thing. so the first person I wanna

is

audio clip? We need to like drop in every single time we talk about Angel City till we get a cease

and desist.

Yeah.

until they're going to be like, okay, that's cute. something like that. we'll have to find a good one. There's plenty, there's 30 years of Charlie's Angels to pull from, but so the first person on Angel City that I really want to spotlight, and this took me a minute to figure out, I was like, who am I going to talk about on the first game? But. There's reason. every single person that I'm picking for our team has stated or has talked about either their desire to find more consistency, be a better presence in their position, or do whatever it takes. So there's a theme, there's a running theme here. First person, Messiah Bright. If you have paid attention to me screaming over the last couple weeks, Rookie of the Year nominee had a stellar season in Orlando. For some personal reason, she asked to leave the team. We picked her up. Weeks after we traded Simone Charley to Orlando, who I just, if anyone is listening and has communication with Simone, please just send our love to her. She is out with an Achilles tear and I just, I hate it.

It sucks because she came off of an injury, everything was

An SEI.

in SEI, everything was looking up. She was I remember her post about I've got a regular shoe on,As somebody who was in a boot for six months, that first day of walking with a second shoe, there's nothing better. It feels

weird. But it, ugh, it's

my heart.

then she gets this other, injury, which has now declared her in SEI, season ending injury. So all the love to Simone.we're looking forward to seeing you play for Orlando, and you know what? there's more to come, yes, if anybody has a line to her,

Yeah, give her our best.

her to recover and get back on the field as soon as she can.

Back to Messiah Bright. We talked about her ridiculously cool promo picture with her hair, being flown back just in the coolest looking airborne mohawk I've ever seen. But, she's talked about coming to Angel City and wanting to find more consistency in her game. And that's after coming off an incredible rookie season. And she's oh, I just want to be more consistent. I want to put it in the back of the net more often. Okay.

me up.

please.

Yeah, exactly. And she's a forward, she's a scoring machine, she's so fierce in how she plays and I'm really excited for what she's going to bring to the team. She's young. She's young. She's full of energy. she's just, that's the word I'm looking for. She's very charismatic in the way she plays, in her energy, in all of that. There's just big personality and I'm excited to see her play. number 24, Messiah Bright. She's got a big grin also. She's got a big smile. you'll see her down on the pitch closer to the other team's goalie. yeah, that's Messiah Bright. I'm just so excited to see her play. So excited. It's she's gonna hurt somebody's feelings, like she's gonna make somebody and make them feel bad, but that's okay.

that's great. That is, you know what, let's get her consistency on megging other players.

Yeah, let's

get consistency. And then putting it in the back of the net,

the more goals off Messiah's boot, better we are.

can we add a meg account on the cards for like next year?

that'd be so funny. Yeah, we got to hit them up and tell them like, hey, we have an idea for another stat people can keep. Speaking of nutmegs, and that happens a lot in the midfield. Because people are fighting for the ball, getting around each other, moving plays, moving offense, moving offense if your team has the ball, stopping offense if your team is on defense, it's hugely important.

We've talked a lot about how for a hot minute we had a Swiss cheese midfield, just full of holes, full of problems, but one of the people who has been Like, willingly taking the torch, not even just okay, it's my turn to pick up the responsibility, it's like grabbing it with both hands and running with it,

is Madison Hammond. Since the end of last season, she has stepped up her game. In pictures she's posted, I always look to see, how has somebody's body changed? From the end of last season to the next season, because I look at that for baseball players, basketball, any pre season stuff, I always look to see, what have they worked on? She just looks more steady in herself, her pa her face in her pictures just looks

so confident. Yeah! Yeah, so much confidence in how she carries herself, she has definitely matured mentally, which, is almost scarier than somebody maturing their physical game. Because if you have a mental game that somebody else can't break, you're trouble.

You're scary. she had a solid season last year, and I think the tra the coaching transition really helped her step into that, and grow and find her role on the team. I'm really excited. She's more of a defensive midfielder, but she has scored. So, more power to her. let's get it.

nice,

Let's get it

with Madison. She is number 99, she is the first Indigenous woman to score in the NWSL, she is the first Indigenous player, she's just, she's got a laundry list of firsts for the league and it's super cool. and she's she's so active in the community.

she's carrying that crown with so much grace, it's amazing, it's awesome to see exactly her confidence just grow, solidify, and yeah, if, a confident player is a scary player,

of course there's playing For female athletes. Confuse confident players with really cocky women. It's the same thing for men, but it's it's talked about differently amongst women and female players. It's you're talked down to or talked down about if you are super confident in your game. And it's total BS. It's the same thing that the men do, but because they're women and they're like, Oh no, I'm damn good at what I do. Yeah. Cause you've put in 20 years of work.

If you're not good at it and after 20 years, what are you doing? That's a different conversation for a different soapbox day.

add it to the soapbox list.

Yeah. All right. My last angel on this list is Clarisse Lébion, our original, or our day two Frenchie because Vanessa Gilles was our first, Clarisse was our second, and Mandy is our third. But, Clarisse has moved more into a new position. She started out with us in the midfield through Freya and the beginning of Becki's run, and there was an interview that came out where Becki sat down and talked to everybody like, where do you want to be?

What do you want to do? And Clarice is I want to score. And so they moved her position more to just a straightforward or like a playmaking forward and she lit up. Okay, yes,

like do that more.she excelled in the spot. She was a joy to watch play. So I'm really curious how she's gonna lock it in with existing players, our newer signees, all of that.

I'm so excited to watch her play because she is an attacking midfielder, so she's more offensively minded, but that doesn't mean she isn't gonna rock you on defense either, It's just, it's exciting.

It's all good stuff. And then, Clarice is number 29 on the field.just to recap, we have Messiah Bright at 24, Madison Hammond at 99, and Clarice LeVillon at 29. Get your peepers ready. Get, get I want to be like, don't pull out your phone and then just enjoy the moment, enjoy the game. But there's probably going to be some bangers, at opening day. So get your phone ready.

yeah. Get your phone ready. Just be in it, be present, be excited for it. I'm just, I'm pumped for it because I feel like our team's gonna come out running 100 miles an hour for 90 minutes and it's gonna be bonkers.get ready to watch a soccer game on Fast Forward. We normally talk about the history between the teams. As of right now, aside from fans shit talking. That's about it.we don't really have too much of a history. They're a brand new team. I'm excited for it. It's gonna be a wild game. hold on to your pants. This is, it's gonna be a biggie.

It's going to be, yeah, being like, like we said,forcing it into a rivalry or naming it a rivalry. It is what it is. there's a NorCal, SoCal thing. It, you can't really escape it. the San Diego rivalry, it's it's, it was there.

That one

It feels more, forced. It's more fun,

it, yes.

It's a shorter drive.

it's a closer thing, but Bay Area and LA. Rivalry

has always been a contentious one, it's gonna be what it is, and it's gonna be fun, and I think both teams want to put their foot down on what that rivalry's going to be, like, moving forward.

It's gonna be like, no, we're taking this over,

yeah, I feel like this is gonna set the tone for the rest of the season, both for Angel City and Bay FC, obviously, because it's the first game of the season, but it's gonna be a who are we now statement for Angel City, because it's Becki's first full season, It's a lot of people stepping up into the roles that we were hoping they were going to have. It's a, who are we now? It's very, I'm very excited for what this is going to be. And for Bay FC, it's just whatcha got? It's a little bit of everything. But the cool thing is that we're going to do another Parkside card giveaway. And we're going to give you a way to pay it forward as well. I'm super pumped.

Yes, so our giveaway that we just thought of, the whole point of the podcast is to spread the love we have for the team, for the sport, for the NWSL in general, and bringing on anybody who feelsthey're a casual fan or they are a seasoned fan. We love it when people get back to us and say Hey, did you know that you were wrong?

And we're like, okay, yeah, no, that's awesome. Because that means we're learning too, but best way to learn is with these, trading cards. Parkside has the license to the NWSL cards. If you were ever a fan of old school, just baseball trading cards and stats and whatnot, it's just great nostalgia for all the, older fans out there.

Kids love them, and we have a ton to give away thanks to Parkside. So we are doing our Pay It Forward giveaway. You We'll get a pair of boxes that contain 25 randomly selected cards, one for you and one for you to give to a random person to spread the joy.

So the easiest way to participate in this is going to be to find us at the game. And by us, I totally mean find Angela because she will be the one there. Go up to Angela. First, tell her what an amazing person she is because she is an amazing person.

Mario. Mario, first of all, Mario made me cry on International Women's Day because I didn't know he was gonna post that on our Instagram story and I like checked my phone at work because I was like, why did that get tagged in? That's weird. And then I look at it and I texted him immediately going, what's wrong with you? You're not supposed to make me cry if we're not recording.

the funny part is that when you get the preview of the text, so

you don't get the full text when it pops up, all I see is what the hell in all caps. So I was like, what's going on?

oh. But anyway,

in order to get your pack of cards, the secret word will be moonlight. Everybody's gonna yell and scream like Pee wee's Playhouse, ahhh,

the word of the day,

and Angela will happily give you a pair of Trading cards, trading card packets that you can enjoy and help spread the love by giving it to someone else.

Maybe it's someone that you're sitting next to that you haven't met yet. Or maybe it's another person at the tailgate that you've, run into. Or a little kid standing behind you while you're trying to get some food. doesn't matter. It's all about spreading the joy. Laughter.

I'll be, for the most part, I don't walk around too much during the games. So if you remember where we sit. You can always come up there and say hi. I'm not going to drop what section because, I don't want to be bombarded. But, after the games as well, we mill around after and wait for parking to chill out for a second before we go and we're usually talking on the concourse somewhere.

find us. Eva I say us because it's gonna be Eva, Britt, and I the whole time, but find me, during the tailgate. I will have, I don't even know how many packs I'm gonna bring, so I might run out early. That's up to you guys.

if we run out, I'll post it, I'll post it on our Instagram stories just to be like, hey, heads up,

Yeah. Heads up, we're out.

still go say hi.

I'll post a reminder at tailgate too, just as a quick hey, come by me, so at least you know what I'm wearing, everybody's going to have merch on. I also didn't mention the last episode, I ended up buying an MA Vignola jersey

I did guess

for many reasons, yeah, Mario did guess it, we realized after the fact that we never said who, but my jersey this year is MA, so I now have Paige, cap, They're CAP, Paige, and MA in order, so if I don't love defense, I don't know who I am. I just realized that's all defensive

players. Cool, cool, cool.

That's why we, that's why one of our first shirts was just, I love defense.

I just love defense, because it's true. I was talking with my family this weekend because, some of my aunt's friends, we had a surprise retirement party for her over the weekend. And they were like, tell us about the soccer podcast you have. What is the team like? We want to come to a game. So we just bought tickets for the April game

for them to come. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, are you ready to party? And they're like, what? Granted, they're huge women's sports fans. So they're going to have a great time. They know what they're in store for, but yeah. Regardless, I'm super, super pumped to see everybody back at BMO packing the stands on Sunday. It's been a countdown to this day, and I'm so pumped.

So pumped.

And for anybody visiting the stadium for the first time, going to the first game or just needs a little refresher. Remember there are, the tailgate happens on Christmas Tree Lane, which is the grassy area right between the stadium and the parking lot. Go talk to any one of the SGs that are going to be having tents out there and having a good time with anybody else.

It is okay to bring an adult beverage to the field. You are only allowed to drink it within that grassy area though, so please don't start,

around.

don't crack a beer open by the, by the dinosaur at the Natural History Museum. that's not going to be cool.Remember,

you are on federal grounds, and the fines are worse. Yes. Way worse. the gates will open 90 minutes before kickoff.

So if you get there early and you're like, I want to go check out my seat or I just want to sit down inside, 90 minutes before kickoff, the gates will open and you can walk in. Usually there's some type of like early bird, like deal, like you can get like a drink inside for like cheap or something.

Yeah, if you are in the supporter section in the North End, La Fortaleza, you get beer specials before the game.

Yes, if you are looking for family restrooms, they are located all over the stadium, just take a look at the, just pay attention to the maps and where they're going to be, all the doors are kind, when they're closed, are into, into script,

they look very much oh, that's just like a door to the inners of the stadium, but no, they, there are family restrooms everywhere. Guest services is behind 129,

and you can always

stickers, first game pins, all the things.

they do first game pins and like celebration pins, like the way you, yeah, the way you would like at Disneyland, which is fun. and those are free, so go pick one up before the game. there's also stickers, my kids love going just getting random little stickers.

love it.

And if you need some noise dampening headphones for yourself or for your kids, you can rent one out for free at the guest services counter. it has saved my life a ton. My kids actually prefer getting those than the ones we actually bought for them. So there's money down the drain.

That's hysterical.

you, if you need.

And earplugs yourself, there are free earplugs, there's the little foam orange ones there for free, and you can always ask them if they run out, they might just have them behind the counter, but, go check out Guest Services, they have a lot of cool stuff. Also, if you came in with your stroller, you can go check it over there, and they'll put it away for you, for the game.

Oh, wow, that's cool.

there's a lot of really cool stuff at the stadium. If you really don't know where anything is, just, look for one of the staff or like we said, over by section 129, right after the King's Hawaiian, place, food stall will be the customer service.

But yeah, tailgate starts at 12 or 12:30. So get there early. Parking's gonna fill up so fast, partially because everybody's gonna get there early to tailgate. Everybody's gonna get there early to try and beat traffic and get through traffic. it's gonna be bonkers, but

good bonkers.

Also, I believe there is a FanFest that day,

there will be a special FanFest area for Marathon Finishers. if

you are one of the people running the Marathon,

Wear your medal so I can come and tell you that I'm really proud of you and you just did something that not everybody can accomplish and I will probably make you cry.

and then, yes, and then Angel City has a special little section for you in the FanFest where you will have drink specials and something or other, they posted something on their Instagram, for you while you're wearing your medals, Congratulations in advance for finishing. Congratulations for even attempting to run the thing.

we are proud of you. It'll be awesome. I will be at the corner of Hollywood and Orange, cheering people on. So you might see me that morning. Encouraging everybody running the race, I will be with the Black and Gold Run Club, which is a, run club on the LAFC side, but we have runners that have been running in that thing every year, and we go and support everybody that's running that thing, so you will get high fives, you will get chants, you will get cheers from me in that morning, so congrats!

Yeah, I'm pumped for everybody running the marathon in general. It's a huge deal. Whether it's your first or your 50th marathon, dang,

Yeah.

you did the thing.

Okay,

so just to recap, Sunday, March 17th, Angel City vs. Bay FC at BMO Stadium, kickoff will be at 4:30pm. If you're going to be at home with me, just like me, watching the game, it'll be on NWSL Plus, so go sign up for your account, it's free, and the game will be on nwslsoccer.com.

Enjoy everyone! if you like what you hear, hit that subscribe button wherever you're listening. Check out casualfc. com for all the pod links. There's more than I can remember, so they're all there for whatever platform you want. Best ways to support our pod are going to be, from the free side.

Share, comment on a post or an episode. It's all about engagement, people. That's probably the best way to get other people to find out about our stuff. Or if you can spare a little bit, grab some merch at shop. casualfc. com. We have lots of silly ideas. more will be coming throughout the season.

And like we just mentioned, go get your Becki Sparkles. Tour shirt and have the entire, angel City schedule on, a band shirt for the incredible Becki Tweed. And if you feel so inclined, help support the pod by buying us a coffee. Check out our link on our socials or go to buymeacoffee.com/casualfcpod.

You can throw us a buck or two.it just. means a lot. either one of these that you do means a lot. And, thank you for listening to us. Follow our socials at casualfcpod on Instagram, Twitter, threads, TikTok, and tell a friend. We are just about to cash out our good luck bank account, and we are sending it to the team for this first game.

Every time you listen, every time you tell a friend about the pod, we get more good luck, and we pass it right along to the team.

Absolutely. Thank you everybody for listening and we made it. We made it through the offseason. We made it through free agency. We made it through the drafts. We made it. We're here. It's our, this is our marathon finish line. I might not be running the marathon. This is my marathon.

We're dancing, we hit 50. Thank you for being with us, this entire time, or if

you're just joining us, welcome to our 50th, and hopefully you stay around. We'll see you at BMO.

50 more. See you guys on Sunday.

Bye!

Welcome to the NWSL.