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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.
Mario: alright.
Angela: what was the,
oh, like in house bunny.
Oh, she's
Eva: Yes.
Mario: she says all the names,
Angela: Alex
Mario: Alex Morgan.
The way you, it's the way you remember it.
Angela: Yeah.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: Hi,
everyone, and welcome to Casual FC, an
Angel City match preview pod and a footy
therapy pod featuring Two very certified,
very official, very real footy therapists.
I'm your host Angela Morales with my
fantastic and wonderful co host Mario
Salazar with a very special guest today
returning for a second year in a
row to talk about the lore, the
like majestic majesty of the NWSL.
We have my fiancée Eva Friedman.
Track 1: Hey,
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916:
hey, thank you for joining
Track 1: thank you for having me again.
I'm, I'm glad that I didn't, mess it up.
So disastrously the first
time that I get to come back,
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916:
Hey, I mean, you did it off.
Your phone and some headphones.
You're coming back to us year two with, a
full mic setup and everything like that.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: Yeah,
she's, she's really far away tonight.
Also, I'm recording in the living room.
She is on the other side
of this wall in a bedroom.
Track 1: but don't get, don't get too
impressed yet, because what you can't see
is that the mic stand is held together
with tape, and I have to hold it so that
it doesn't just keep, falling downwards.
Like I found the one messed up mic stand.
at my rehearsal space and was
like, surely this would not
be the one that is messed up.
I was, I surely would not have left
that in such a, a convenient place.
So I just grabbed it and then
I went, like an hour ago, I
went to set up and was like, I
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916:
Oh, no, it's good.
By the end of the recording,
you're going to be, like,
just eyes.
Track 1: just, just down to there.
Yeah, I'll, I'll just come in like
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: just
Track 1: Keep, as it's, yeah, just,
I just slowly, slowly wound down.
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916: All
right, well, thank you for joining us.
I will do our little special intro
only because, am truly going to
be the casual in this episode.
Eva and Angela will be bringing you
lore, bringing you fun facts, tidbits,
tweets from the back of their head.
They don't have any of this written down.
And last time, they didn't have any
of this written down, and they were
pulling stuff that I had to Google
later to, try to put together.
So.
Track 1: Human junk drawer.
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916: So, I
might have to be taking notes during
this, but this is Chapter Two, or Dos,
or Deux, of our Retirement Retrospective.
think this is really going
to be an annual series.
Mainly because,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
It just, I hate it.
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916: yeah,
yeah, it's like a love hate thing.
it's probably going to be an annual
series because of the fact that these,
especially if you have been with the
NWSL the entire time, or if you've been
pre NWSL, following these players and
things like that, they're starting to
get to that point of retirement age,
which always sounds like a weird thing,
but then you have to think about sports,
and they're They're all elite athletes.
They're all putting their bodies through
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
the same age as us,
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916:
exactly They're all the same age as
us with probably way lower cartilage.
Not, I'm not going to say completely
lower, but you know, we're all,
we're all in different ranges here.
and we're, you know, we're at
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
out of all of them.
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916: and
we're at that point where, yeah,
they're, they're going to start
retiring kind of every, every year.
There's going to be a whole new batch
of the ones that we've, We've been
watching and we've been kind of following
their careers and we're seeing them
kind of move on to their next chapter.
Some of them might be going into
podcasting and rivaling us, goddammit,
with like bigger audiences already.
or, you know, doing whatever they,
they kind of end up going to.
But, you know, it's, it's like
the, I know we've talked about this
before, but it's like when you're,
when you're watching like an actor
and like they're really young.
Right, as a child actor, and you see
them, you're kind of growing up with
them, they don't feel like they're
getting any older or any faster, but when
you see the old actors already, they're
just old all the time, you know, it
doesn't matter that it's been
30 years, they're still that
old guy, or that old, you know,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
we watched, The Muppets Christmas Carol
the other night with Michael Caine
and we're like, yeah, he's just old.
He was always old.
He played like, at one point he was
like 30 in the film, like he was
old, like he just In my head, he is
Alfred, he is a butler, he is old.
there's no young version of Michael
Caine for, I think, of most Americans.
Track 1: Yeah, but we were also tal er,
I was talking about, because you haven't
seen it yet, but I was talking about being
obsessed with Muppet Treasure Island as
a kid, and Tim Curry is like the main
adult, but then there's like a human kid.
And, I remember, he sings, and I
thought he had the best voice, I
thought he was so cool, I was like,
I wanna be him when I grow up.
I watched it, a year or two ago?
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916:
not hold up.
Track 1: This, this poor kid, maybe I'm
gonna regret saying this, whatever joke
is about to come out of my mouth, but, He
just looks like he got cast immediately
after getting rescued from a locker.
just so, and not even close to
as, mature as I thought he was.
I, I know I was really young when I saw
it, but watching it back, I was like,
this kid looks like he's three years old.
has a weird haircut that you
could only get away with in the
90s, unless you're a lesbian or
a non binary person in the 2020s.
But
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
the 90s all over
Track 1: it's, yeah, or even watching
something like Now and Then, and seeing
young Devin Sawa and Christina Ricci
and stuff, and You're just like, when,
I can't believe, or what is it, it's
like, Halloweentown, right, where
the girl is I'm 13, I'm old enough to
go out trick or treating by myself,
and watching it as a kid, you're
like, yeah, she's 13, she's an adult.
And now I see it, and I'm like, n not a
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
Marnie.
Track 1: Yeah, it's stay home, read
a book, write an essay, learn to
cook, do some laundry, you have
no business being alone right now.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
Age is
Track 1: Age is so
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916:
age age is really weird.
And then me thinking, and this is my,
this is my son, the little one, he
stayed homesick, so I was home with
him today, but then he, he asked,
he saw a card game, and I told him,
oh, the box says you have to be 15.
It's, yeah, it, because
it's complicated, right?
So, and he's oh, okay.
And then he thinks about it, he's
like, okay, Maddie can't play.
And then he starts counting in his head.
And then he goes, what is seven years?
I'm like, fuck, seven years,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: Oh
no,
life hits you
real fast.
Track 1: Yeah.
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916:
well, okay, enough about all that.
So, okay, we are talking about some
amazing, amazing players that are
hanging up the boots for the last time.
There is no denying that this is
going to be a huge amount of soccer
IQ that we're going to be losing.
Hopefully they play well.
Past all that IQ on to, you know,
the young'uns that came up on their
teams, which up until recently hasn't,
hasn't been like a normal thing, right?
It's only the last couple years that the
NWSL's been like embracing them youths.
so hopefully they're learning and
getting to impart all that wisdom.
So let's talk.
The first one who is on our list is Not
completely out, we'd still be in the
NWSL, but only retiring from international
play, the great Alyssa Naeher.
Track 1: Uncle.
Uncle.
Uncle.
Uncle.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
I'm gonna preface this by
saying they're the Red Stars.
I'm sorry.
Like Red Stars are so important to
the city of Chicago and this the
rebrand is incredibly frustrating.
But yeah, so Uncle Naeher.
As a friend of mine and I were
messaging Friend of the Pot as well,
Alyssa Naeher is my favorite uncle.
T.
O.
Uncle is the best uncle in my family.
As is hers.
We're like, I don't actually,
I have uncles, but T.
O.
Uncle, Naeher is my favorite uncle.
Do you want to, do you want
to give the backstory of
Uncle McNamara you want me to?
Track 1: me?
Are you?
There are two people
you could be talking to.
Okay.
I was just checking.
I don't want to speak out
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916: I'm
not gonna know, I'm not gonna know why.
Track 1: But maybe, maybe you do know.
I don't know.
So, I don't know exactly when the nickname
officially originated, but I know that
we, we started hearing, the Red Stars call
her Uncle, and everyone was kinda like,
what, there's gotta be something here.
And so, if I remember correctly, Steph
McCaffrey, when, before she retired, when
there was still, still hope that she was
going to be able to continue playing.
she came out and said, oh yeah, we call
her uncle because, anytime any of us
need something fixed, we text her and
she just shows up with, a toolbox and,
fixes it or, hangs up, the, mounts the
TV or, does, literally whatever home
issue we're having and asking for and,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
your car
battery.
Like,
all those things.
Track 1: yeah, I love that, she is, she's
so reserved and private and quiet, which
by all means she has, she is absolutely
entitled to that, but I love that,
the, the few things we know about her,
Most of them are that she's just kind
and generous and is a very supportive
friend and teammate and is just always
down to help the people around her.
That's that's such an amazing thing to
like there's, again, I don't have many
fun facts about her because she doesn't
want us to have many fun facts about
her, but like I can tell you that she's
a great friend and a great teammate.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
The one fun fact I do have is that
she recently, like within the last two
years, upgraded, or two to four years,
I should say, she upgraded her car.
She was talking, I don't remember if she
was talking to Sam, Muis, Sue, and Pino,
or, um, Christen and Tobin about this
on one of the soccer pods, but she was
saying how she had just recently got a new
car for the first time since she was in
college, which was the first car she had.
And they were like,
what is wrong with you?
I think it was, I think
it was Christen and Tobin.
And they're like, what?
And she's yeah, it worked fine until
it died in the middle of nowhere.
And I was like, oh, okay,
well, I got to get it home.
And then it was like, oh.
Track 1: Did she just
carry it home herself?
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
she had driven it from Connecticut
to Chicago, multiple times.
after just, bonkers.
Track 1: I just assume she pushed
it back to Chicago with one hand.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
Yeah, just the force field.
Track 1: Yeah, just lightly jogging
and, slowly pushing the car back.
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916: I
mean, that's, that's pretty bad.
I mean, I'm gonna say my, my car
dying at Disneyland is probably worse.
But, yeah.
Bye.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
Oh no.
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916: we
paid, we paid, this is my high school
car, right after we paid for parking,
and I was driving away from the booth,
giant ass plume of white smoke, car
dead, got it towed, basically, I didn't
even go to get to, we didn't get to
go to Disneyland that day, towed it,
and then, the, yeah, basically I just
left the, after the mechanic told me
how much, I just left it with him.
I was like, fuck it, I don't,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
like use it.
for parts?
I don't
want that.
Track 1: brutal.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
That's awful.
Track 1: brutal.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: But
to give like a quick and dirty rundown
of Alyssa Naeher's tenure as America's
Keeper, truly, um, Man, so she had 113
caps overall within that 68 clean sheets.
So over,
That's like an over 500 record.
that's insane in any sport.
That includes two World Cup titles,
an Olympic gold medal, an Olympic
bronze medal, and seven SheBas.
she
Track 1: Sheep.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
The She Believes Cup is like the
best serious, non serious, un serious
shenanigans tournament on the planet,
Track 1: I just want there
to be a He Believes cup.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
yeah, Sheba and Heba,
Track 1: Yeah, tell me they, there's
no, we're not infantilizing the women
or anything, we're not trying to be
condescending to the fanbase or whatever.
And NAME, a men's cup
in America, HE BELIEVES.
I, just, just do it.
Just do it.
I love it.
The vibes.
just, I need it in my veins.
I want a shirt that says HE BELIEVES
with, Christian Pulisic and his,
fuckin sorry Vero's mom, the, fuckin
eagle, constitution ass tattoo that
he has, situation that he has, and
I just wanted to say HE BELIEVES.
And, just embarrass all of us.
I, I want it so bad.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: Yeah.
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916: jeez.
Yeah, I, I, I would, but then I don't,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
don't want the money from the
people that would buy that.
Track 1: That's true, but I, to
be clear, I want it the same way
that I wish I had one of the Boss
Nation Too Many Balls shirts.
I,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
didn't buy them fast
Track 1: yeah, I, I just want that,
I have some, weird NWSL lore stuff.
I had a furt sign at the,
first Angel City game.
I, I have, an FC Kansas City Blues shirt.
I have a Boston Breakers shirt.
I've got some, older stuff, and I
might, honestly, I might just make
my own Too Many Balls shirt, just
to know that I have it, I saved
pictures of the billboards, it's,
it, I just can't wait in ten years when
we're still doing this and you have me
on, and it's so the best, so do you guys
remember when Boston had Too Many Balls?
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: It's
like the breakers were slightly cursed.
This team may have, like, I guess curses
just reign supreme for Boston teams, but
Track 1: But not for Alyssa Naeher.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
not for a
Track 1: She is so far
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
New England, but she's so
far removed from Cursed.
Track 1: The only time she was ever
cursed was when we were trying to
do that three back with Ali Long in,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: that
Track 1: that, 2016?
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
the, the goal that she saved.
Does she fully will like the, that
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916: the, the,
Track 1: She
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916:
the line, the one over the line,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
that's the, that's the only
thing that's the biggest curse.
But I mean,
for those who are newer
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916:
was that the one that had
them go to the bronze game?
Yeah, right.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: yeah,
Track 1: it.
She
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
She saved it.
Track 1: She saved
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: Uh,
but for those who are newer to the Alyssa
Naeher chapter of women's soccer, she,
you may remember her from every save ever.
She had insane penalty kick saves
against England in the 2019 semifinals,
which was Honestly, I was still
on the newer end to watching WOSO,
and I was, I could not breathe.
my whole body just, wound up like
a rubber band, just so freaked out.
She is also one of the, or she is the only
keeper to have a clean sheet in both the
finals of the World Cup and the Olympics.
Track 1: I didn't know that.
That's
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916: Oh,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
And I don't know if she's, I don't think
there's many men who have done that.
I don't think, well, not in America.
Track 1: We don't, we're not really
concerned with that, if there is.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: no,
no, honestly, like I generally don't care.
but she is also known more recently
for her penalty kick taking.
Like she is one of the few keepers
to save a penalty, make a penalty,
Track 1: And she takes
them right down the middle.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
And she just
Track 1: Ice cold.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
things at these other keepers,
Track 1: Ice cold no, no, just the
odd, the audacity, it's so good.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: ugh,
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916: been
saying this up and down the Discord.
I want
the Keeper
Wars, the Goalie Wars, at
the, which they were doing the,
they did the skills challenge,
like, after Yeah, that's, that's,
look, I, I have, we didn't,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
does, they do something
stupid five seconds later.
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916: it's
okay, you're done watching the entire
season, now we're gonna do the cool
stuff, with the individual players after,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
You do it before the game.
it's the same day or
the day before.
Track 1: At least we finally have it.
We've been begging for this for
such a long time, it's, or some
sort of all star situation,
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916:
like, it feels
like such a cop out to
Track 1: It does.
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916: we
finally have it, it's no, you guys,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: We
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916:
up again, yeah,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
way, but
it's like, oh, thank goodness.
Finally, we get a skills challenge.
woo.
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916:
but but either way, I've been,
I've been wanting, and, to see, if
they can do it while a listener is
still here, and do a goalie word,
and,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
show off.
I
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916:
And for those,
for those that don't, aren't aware of
what goalie words are, it's something that
they had, at the, at the MLS All Star,
they brought it back like maybe a year
or two ago, it's two goalies With maybe
about 20 yards in between them, they're
just facing each other, and then they
have 10 seconds to get rid of the ball,
essentially, and they're just lobbing
balls back and forth to each other.
They can either throw them,
or they can kick them.
There is a line that they have to stay
behind, but It's just straight shots,
one on one, and it's like, whatever
you can do within a minute or something
like that, and then you just play
a little tournament, bracket style
type thing.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
get, get her
and Berger or Neely,
Neely Martin for keeper.
like Aubrey Kingsbury, like somebody like
that, just that matchup would be insane.
Especially after the,
saves that Kingsbury
made in the semifinals.
But, regardless, Alyssa
Naeher is etched in U.
S.
soccer history, NWSL history.
My heart, she's just, she's,
she's part of this family, is my
favorite uncle, genuinely, Alyssa
Naeher, thank you for your service.
You are the greatest keeper in, national
team history, just based on longevity
at, at the very least.
Track 1: of that, like I think one of
the things that I think kind of flies
a little bit under the radar, she came,
she stepped into the shoes of Hope Solo.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: Yeah.
Track 1: there's a lot to talk about
there, but goalkeeping standpoint.
To, to follow that up is nuts.
And to follow it up the way that she did
over the last ten years, I mean, there,
you, you never worried that she was there.
I remember when it was clear that Hope
Solo was done, and it was like, Okay,
Alyssa Naeher, let's go, it's, maybe
we thought this was gonna take a couple
more years, but it's time, I'm confident,
I feel good, and she lived up to that,
and I, I, I can't imagine what that
was like, and she just came in and was
like, I don't care, and she just did
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
Like it,
it just seemed so natural for her.
And I'm sure like the the athletes who
can put up that icy exterior know how
to manage the anxiety and the nerves and
all the pressure that comes with that.
But it's just so dope.
Track 1: mm hmm, yeah,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
It's so freaking cool to just watch
somebody be like, okay, it's game time.
Yeah.
Track 1: no, she, she
handled her business,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
Yeah, I'm just grateful that she was
able to say goodbye to the international
game on her terms with a mini send off.
Um,
Track 1: on a whole other continent
so that we couldn't bother her.
Yeah.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
So, yeah, so she couldn't be bothered.
Um Which is
the most a listener thing.
Yeah.
Um, and not every U.
S.
national team player is given that
like proper goodbye as they should be.
Sometimes it's,
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916:
It's a little more unceremonious.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: yeah,
it's a little more accidental if there's
like injury or, you know, something else.
sometimes people are dismissed
for reasons unknown or ignored.
Or they age out or they're injured
and then ignored and then not given a
proper send off like Captain America,
Becky Sauerbrunn, who we just wanted
to talk about a little bit because
she's Becky fucking Sauerbrunn,
Track 1: Yeah, we, we were trying to
figure out if, it technically counts
as retirement, but I know that she has
publicly said that, that season of her
life seems to be done with, and if,
if the national team isn't gonna honor
her, we, we might as well, because
what, why wouldn't you honor her?
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
she's America's captain.
Like she's legitimately
Captain America in my eyes.
She's done.
A fantastic, or she did a
fantastic job leading this team.
whoever wears that armband after her,
so far it's been Alex Morgan, Lindsay
Horan, Naomi Gurma, and somebody
else I can't remember off the top.
I think Sane had it for a hot
second, just because of subs,
Track 1: Did she really?
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
I think so.
Track 1: I didn't know that.
That makes me so happy.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
I know,
Track 1: What a time to be alive.
I
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
know that, anyone, I'm gonna
, anyone who wears that arm band
will not fill those shoes.
It's going to take a lot,
Track 1: mean, she, I think, at a
time, and we'll talk about this a lot
more when we get to another legend
who's, who's leaving us behind.
But She has done so much
work advocating as an ally.
She is always participating in the
Pride Month stuff, you know, donating
money for, soccer scores and, goals and
everything, and she's written op eds.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
says she's going to donate
twice as much or some crazy big
number if she scores a goal.
Track 1: I
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
has made that happen yet.
And I'm still mad about
Track 1: Well, it's homophobic.
It's homophobic that it hasn't happened.
And, but I mean, she,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Track 1: a new phase of this team where
it doesn't seem like it's going to stand
for what it used to, if anything at all.
I think it's really important to mention,
She has stuck her neck out there, she
was huge with equal pay, she's, you
know, she's been an ally to anyone
who's needed an ally, and, I think
we're not gonna see, I don't know that
we're gonna see someone like her with
the armband on the team again, I just
don't, and I think that, I mean again,
she was someone you never worried about.
You knew she was gonna just ball out for
you, she was gonna handle her shit, she
was gonna get bloody when she needed to,
and she was just gonna play her ass off.
And I'm glad that we still have her
at the club level, but I mean, I
think, again, Absolute Legend holds
the record for most amount of national
team minutes without scoring a goal,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
And the thing
is, it's not that she can't score.
She was a forward her entire career
before like late high school, early
college or something like that.
She scores prolifically.
She was a midfielder and scored
a billion, jillion goals.
And then was like, okay, I'm done.
I'll play defense.
Like what?
I mean, granted, that's completely
something I would have done,
but you just, I don't know.
There's something just great about
scoring points or like getting your
team ahead just as much as there is
something fantastic about shutting
another team down completely.
But to be that good that you can
just be like, I'll play, I'll play
a defensive position and just kind
of give the glory to everybody else.
It's fine.
It's fine.
okay.
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916: Well, I
mean, there is that saying that, you know,
Track 1: Selfless
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916: I mean,
there is a saying of you know, forward
score the goals, but defenders win games.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: Yeah,
defense wins games.
It's every What are you doing?
Track 1: pulling in I'm
getting into a half brune.
She always has half a She
always has one sleeve rolled up.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
She does.
Track 1: It's It's her thing.
It's her thing.
She always has, one rolled up.
And then she's Is it
really that noticeable?
And everyone's Yeah, cause
who rolls up a single sleeve?
look at, look at me.
I don't pull it off.
it doesn't work here.
It doesn't work, but it does, somehow
she does it, and you're like, yeah,
maybe I will try doing that, and then
immediately realize that you shouldn't.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
like, what is happening right now?
Track 1: I thought it was obvious.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: No,
Track 1: I thought you'd know.
It's okay.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
Yeah, but overall, Becky
Sauerbrunn is just Iconic.
And if, like Eva said, she stuck her
neck out for people in a way that
wasn't necessarily common at the time.
2015 2019, the world
was friggin different.
And this team really championed
Just taking care of each other.
Track 1: Yeah.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: if
I like, if somebody was getting paid more
than somebody else and they had the same
tenure, they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa.
If somebody wasn't being treated
fairly because of sexual orientation
or race or something in between or
everything, they were like, hard pass.
No.
There were so many people on the
2015 and 2019 teams that effectively
changed women's soccer internationally.
That we're now seeing retire,
which is why I'm like sobbing
constantly about it, because I'm
like, no, you don't understand this.
The U.
S.
women's national team has become
the model of how to act and how
to move forward and how to better
the game for different countries.
Every single other women's soccer,
um, international team is saying that.
And it's Marchos said it.
Vonderdonk said it, so many people
are like, oh no, we have these goals.
That's, that's the model.
That's the end goal, is to be as
good as the Women's National Team for
America has been, but for our country.
So, ta da, I cried.
I cried.
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916: I'm, if I
have the time I'm gonna put up a counter.
The,
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
a list in air, so
Track 1: It's been zero podcasts
since Angela last cried.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916: Yeah.
maaaaaario_1_12-09-2024_213916: what
was it that, what was it that we, that
I put up a little poll that did Angela
cry and then everybody was like, yeah.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
guess what?
I didn't shed a tear.
So there.
I was really
Track 1: At least not publicly.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
I didn't cry.
Track 1: If you did, you did
somewhere I couldn't see it.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
Yeah, I didn't cry at all.
Pinky sparks.
I was like,
Track 1: I believe you, I
just think it's unbelievable.
angela--ti-red-_1_12-09-2024_213916:
I don't disagree.
Angela: Doo doo
Mario: All right, well, now we're getting
on to the ones that are fully retiring.
The ones that are hanging up
the boots for good, that are,
yeah, like their time has come.
where do you want to start?
And may I just also say, the whole
Becky Sauerbrunn thing, Off the
dome for both of these people here,
like the only thing in the notes,
Angela: Oh, and she also has
chickens and she likes to read books.
Mario: the only thing in the
notes is a sad face emoticon, like
Angela: It's a colon
and a left parenthesis.
Mario: colon, and the closed
parentheses, open parentheses,
Eva: it's like T9, like
a Nokia flip phone emoji.
Mario: That's, that's
all that's in the notes.
And then they went on that.
So kudos to you.
But all right, should we just go top down
Angela: Yeah, we'll
just go in order.
Otherwise, we'll, we'll
not know what to do.
Mario: All right.
So First one on our list,
retiring from footy, all
together, Sinead uh, what, what,
Angela: She's Irish?
Mario: basically
Eva: but she's also
American, so who knows?
Angela: That's
Eva: yeah.
Angela: Fairly Farley.
Eva: Sourbrun technically
is like Sourbrun.
Angela: Yeah.
Eva: There is a video from like Way,
way early, like I think 2012 maybe,
of when Kriegs, Sauerbrunn, and one
other person were like new on the team,
and they were introducing each other.
And this was when Allie Krieger
was playing in Germany, and
spoke like fluent German.
So she's just and this is Becky
Sauerbrunn, and Becky's you just
said like the German pronunciation.
It's, I don't, that, I say Sauerbrunn.
Angela: Yeah.
That's also the same Allie Krieger
that, intimidated half of the
women's national team because she
was doing drills and counting in
German because she had been playing
in Germany for so long at that point.
Eva: That's like the one thing that could
get an Ameri that's the one thing that
could scare the crap out of an American.
Is someone exercising
and counting in German.
It's like the only thing that
seems more intense than the
American physical education system.
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: the, two examples, the
cool running, cool runnings
when they're like with the, with
the Swedish team
and they're counting, or the Mighty
Ducks when the team from Iceland
Angela: yeah, the Iceland team.
Eva: Or the little
giants with the antacids.
Angela: Yeah.
Eva: I just realized
it's not the same, but
Angela: It's close enough.
Eva: it's intimidation.
Mario: There has to be a Little
Giants reference somewhere.
Okay.
So,
Angela: of intimidation
Mario: yes.
Angela: and the impact it can have on a
player's well being, team's well being,
league's well being, we can't talk
about Sinead without talking about her.
The bullshit of it all.
given the fact that she was.
So terribly impacted by it and during
her tenure with the Portland Thorns.
didn't really ever go into the AIDS report
and all the investigations that happened a
couple of seasons ago, but Sinead has been
through the ringer throughout her career.
She played at FC Kansas City and like
during the inaugural season of the NWSL.
was traded to Portland, was a huge
part of their midfield and their
success, and was essentially punished
for it by coaching, front office.
There was a whole bunch of bullshit
in Portland around that time.
in 2016 she, or 2015 2016, she was
traded to the Boston Breakers and then
she was in a horrific car accident.
And suffered injuries from that,
had to sit out that whole season.
She then retired from
soccer and, was just gone.
And essentially is one of those, those
moments where you're like, wait, why?
Yes, granted she was in this terrible car
accident, but was that the reason why?
Was that what was happening?
And then you started to
hear her name more and more.
And people were talking about her
in the NWSL and internationally.
And all of a sudden like
Sinead's back, Sinead's back.
And it's Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God.
And this buildup to her being
called up as a non roster invitee
to Gotham's preseason, Eva and
I like halfway shit our pants.
We were both like, Oh my God, like just
very excited about this
because it was six years.
She was gone from WOSO.
That is a long time, and she had to
relive so much through the investigations,
through the discussions around the
investigations, so much trauma was just,
that pot was just boiling over while
being stirred and whole bunch of shit.
But she was able to play in 2023, had
21 caps for Gotham when they won the
championship with Kriegs, with Neely
Martin in the goal, like all that crazy
Eva: With Mana Shim.
Angela: with Mana Shim, who
we'll talk about in a second.
Um, but in June, so midway through
the season this year, she announced
her retirement officially, officially,
officially, because she has post
concussion syndrome, which is basically
like Long concussion in the sense
that those symptoms aren't going away.
She's not fully able to function and
you don't, you don't mess with brain
injuries because they, they don't, they
don't get better after a certain point.
And as much as it probably sucked to walk
away at that point after regaining so
much, cause she was on the Irish national
team, like so much had come back for her.
only to then have brain injury
and the fallout from that.
So I'm just really happy that she was
able to have such a wonderful experience
with Gotham to win the championship, be
involved with the team that supported her
and embraced her and her like her flowers
and what she deserved this whole time.
I'm crying again.
Eva: So, Sinead, along with Mana Shim,
who, like Angela said, we're going to talk
about, and Kaia McCullough, who played for
UCLA and then Washington Spirit, and she
was the whistleblower on, on Richie Burke.
The three of them are in just
a whole other, on a whole other
shelf of legendary to this league.
Angela: Yeah.
Eva: I think the fact that Sinead
was able to come back, this
league did not deserve that.
This league did nothing to protect her.
If anything, they purposely
did the exact opposite.
And I mean, kudos to Gotham, I think
it can't be overstated how amazing
it is that they built an environment.
That both she and Mana Shim felt like
they could step back into soccer.
Angela: Yeah.
Eva: glad that she got a ring.
I'm glad that she got some World
Cup experience with Ireland.
I wish it was under a different
coach, but that's another story.
But, you know, I, I think that when you
look at her career, so much was taken.
And.
It, I really, I hope that, you know,
the last year and a half, or the
season and a half, for her, it felt
like she finally got something back.
because, truly, I mean, there,
she should be, she is held in the
highest respect, and she should be.
I think it's devastating that we'll
never be able to see that alternate
universe where none of this bullshit
happens, and she just gets to play
soccer and succeed and shine there.
but, I mean, she put her in
all of the history books.
I mean, she is so crucial to this
league and women's soccer as a whole.
I mean, if you think about it, without
them being Brave, and, speaking up, Paul
Riley goes on to coach so many more women.
And,
Angela: hurt so
Eva: and hurt, yeah, and
hurt so many more people.
And, you know, to, to have the courage to
get to a place to say, enough is enough.
I've already tried and been
shot down and silenced.
It's now years later, I'm
gonna dig this shit back up.
And try again.
I mean, that, I can't
even, I can't fathom that.
And so I think, I wish that she was
leaving on her terms, but I'm so, so glad
that she got another shot and that it
went really, really well and that she has
that to, you know, sit with and, you know,
carry with her for whatever else she does.
Angela: I want to just like
copy paste that for Mana as
well, like, and there we go.
Eva: Yeah.
Yeah.
Angela: That last bit,
like just, and you too,
Eva: Yeah, I mean, I feel like
we can just talk about them both.
Angela: yeah, and I so much
of their careers overlapped.
So a lot of the Portland stuff,
the Gotham stuff, because Mana
got called up as a national team
replacement player during the Olympic
break to get her caps for Gotham.
Which, man, I'm just, I'm so
happy for her in that sense too.
Like she was able to come back
and reclaim the game for herself.
Eva: Yeah.
Angela: And honestly, there's, there's
generations of players that deserve that
Eva: And now she's working, and
now she's working for the league,
and, or is it the, the league or U.
S.
Soccer, but either way, now,
Angela: S.
soccer.
Eva: now she's dedicating her
life for the foreseeable future
to, keeping everyone safe.
And that also, that's just
tremendously selfless.
And, you know, the, the two of them
and again, I include Kaia McCullough
because this all happened at the
same time, and she, she is retired
a few years ago, but she often gets
left out of these conversations, just
because Sinead and Mana were the same
coach, the same team and everything,
also Kaia is Black, and that also
has a lot to do with it, but, yeah.
I digress, vaguely, kind of, but, you
know, I, the three of them, it, we, it
just can't be put into words what they
have done for women's soccer as a whole.
And I mean, give them statues, give
them blank checks, like whatever, just
whatever honor we can be giving the three
of them, you know, I, I wish them all,
you know, peace, happiness, joy, and.
I'm glad that as far as Sinead and Manna
go, they were able to come back and get
the game back for themselves, and get a
ring, and celebrate, and now move I know
Sinead found a partner at Gotham, Manna
is now stepping into her new role for U.
S.
soccer and everything, and I It's
just so amazing to see that they're
both getting to walk away from
this sport on such better terms.
Angela: Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Mario: that's, I mean, again, not knowing
a lot or a ton about any and all of this.
honestly, fuck yeah, these,
it's just the, to have the, the, to have
the gusto to, like you said, it's really
Dig some shit up that is really painful,
that is really it's not an easy subject
to broach, and being shot down, you
know, when it was happening, but being
able to say look, no, this is important
enough to, to bring up again and, and
actually get it, you know, figured out.
Alright, that's
That's, that's great.
And I will say we've, I've heard clips.
We've, we've played clips before and the,
the, this, the accent is just awesome.
You can't go wrong with an Irish
accent.
So,
Eva: You can't.
You really can't.
Mario: okay.
so the next one on our list is our
very own, very stylish Merritt Mathias.
Who announced midway through, who
actually announced like the last month
of the season and ah, yeah, I'm done.
but we, you know, it's probably long time
coming, a big decision to kind of cross.
But yeah, we have Merritt hanging up the
boots for, already for the last time.
Eva: End of an era.
End of an era.
Angela: So she, this season we
saw something we hadn't seen for a
while in Orlando winning both the
regular season and the championship.
So they won the Shield.
They won the championship.
The last teams to do that were.
were the North Carolina Courage
in both 2018 and 2019, where
Merritt was on that team.
And we've mentioned it before.
She's an incredibly polarizing
player for both players and fans,
but it takes a hell of a player.
you have to be so good to
be so hated across sport.
it doesn't matter what sport you play.
yeah, you gotta have
the goods, regardless.
Like Um, there's, it's one thing
to not like somebody because you're
just like, if you're playing against
them, you're like, I genuinely
just don't like them as a person.
That's not what I'm talking about.
I'm talking about the fact that
you are so good at what you do.
You're so good at your position.
No one wants to play against
you because it's that you
make their job so much harder.
And you are also that good at,
you know, turning the ball or like
whatever it is to shift the game to
make it harder for everybody else.
So it's She's, she's just a menace.
Both soccer and attitude.
She's also known for having an
attitude as we saw after getting almost
pushed into a railing face first.
I don't even remember what team we
were playing, but it was the best
thing that happened at Angel City
this season was Merritt just standing
over somebody and saying some choice
words, which I think were warranted
given that point in the game.
Eva: She couldn't leave without one more.
Angela: No, and it was
Mario: wait, that was, that was Merritt?
Eva: Oh yeah.
Mario: in my head, in my head
right now I thought that was Syd.
Angela: long time WOSO fan in the
stands was like, that's Merritt Mathias,
Eva: Just cackling with glee.
Angela: we were screaming and my
mom was just like, what's happening?
Why, why are we applauding this?
And I was like, no, no, no, this is
Eva: we'll tell you later.
Angela: Merritt.
Yeah.
this is appropriate.
I have mentioned the the tweet
of all tweets that happened
after her ACL tear that was not
that she did not tear.
It was torn for her.
In dramatic fashion, honestly, this
is one of the best, this is one of
the reasons why I hate the downfall of
Twitter is because it's shit like this.
So I think I mentioned it before,
and Merritt, if you end up hearing
this clip, I'm sorry if this brings
up a bad time, but it was so good.
She tweets this whole thing,
my knee wasn't injured,
Eva: My ACL, I did not tear my ACL.
My ACL was torn for
Angela: for me
Eva: Houston was, I was awarded a foul.
Houston was awarded a free kick.
Angela: Yeah, like
Eva: I'm so mad that I can't get
the last bit of it, cause I would've
been so stoked if I could've
just monologued the whole thing.
Angela: It's amazing.
And at the time, like
Tumblr was big at the time.
So Tumblr just said, let's go re
blog, re blog, re blog, GIFs, videos.
Like someone did an interpretive dance
Eva: a dog.
There was a dog in the frame
the whole time just staring
at her like, what is going on?
Angela: is happening?
Eva: not
Mario: think that's the one we posted last
Angela: Yeah, that's the one we posted.
And
Eva: The
Angela: it's so good.
Like, It's one
Eva: so good.
It's
the Song of the Summer.
It was the Song of the
Angela: Yeah.
there is, we joke about the lore
of WOSO and part of the reason
why we do this show is because we
don't have the pre game stories.
We don't have these like connections to
the past and this is one of those things.
God bless the internet.
Like pre game stories.
This is why Twitter was important because
it built such a solid, the way it has
for the WNBA, for the NWSL, for the PWHL,
for the previous leagues, like women's
sports builds community wherever it goes.
for
15 years was the place to go.
I'm pissed about that actually now
because I started my Twitter account
Eva: Let's go, let's go.
Angela: like October 2009.
Eva: Hehehe.
Angela: still active,
but I have not tweeted.
I haven't opened it and it pisses me off
because friendships were built there.
Jobs were gotten off Twitter.
there was so much that has
been ruined by that man.
Whatever.
Put me on record.
I'm probably gonna get arrested
for it in six months, whatever.
no, genuinely, like the
WOSO community on Twitter.
Was slash still is for those who
are still hanging on, haven't moved
over to Blue Sky or Mastodon or
whatever the hell app we're on now.
Like it, so good and so fun.
And while this tweet was so dramatic and
so wild, it is it's remembered like this.
It's not, it's just remembered with
so much like love because it was
like, no, this was such a moment
Eva: It was
Angela: history for women's soccer.
Eva: It was an incredible
Angela: way.
Eva: was such a good day.
When that post dropped,
Angela: Yeah.
Eva: overstate.
just how much fun.
And like, you didn't have
to, like, do anything to it.
It was, like, the, the way, the
punctuation that was in there, really
and truly, again, to Angela's point,
Merritt, if you're listening, I,
standing ova a 20 minute Cannes Film
Festival, standing ovation, it was
It was so good.
It was, it's it's still so good.
Angela: your feelings.
Eva: It's unmatched.
Angela: honestly, there has not, honestly,
I don't think there's been a better moment
in a hot minute for something so terrible.
I hope it made you laugh.
I hope it still makes you laugh.
I hope you look back and go,
oh, I can't believe I did that.
oh my gosh.
Cause that's some shit I would have done.
I would have been so mad.
Eva: You really wouldn't,
Angela: I would have been so.
So, I, I would have had a quiet
vendetta, I would have just been livid
Eva: and I would've let
you post through it.
I, I would've, I would've seen it
coming, I would've seen it happening,
and I would've said, you know what,
for the betterment of the world,
I'm just gonna let this happen.
Angela: Exactly.
Sometimes you just got
to be mad on the internet
and there was a time where we
could be and it was the best.
It was so great.
I miss those days.
Eva: Yeah, I, I
Angela: But no.
Eva: go ahead.
Angela: No, no, go ahead, go
Eva: Oh, I was gonna say, I think
that coming from an era of Women's
soccer and very specifically
the NWSL where the villains were
like real life supervillains.
It was really nice to have a
villain that was just a villain
because of the way that they played.
Like there, there's nothing,
she's not like a terrible person.
She's not abusing people.
Like she, it truly was just that she was
a hard player and that is so refreshing.
Angela: I know.
Eva: to not hate some to not dislike
strongly someone in women's soccer because
they're an abuser or they're racist
or they're homophobic or something.
Truly, just because of the way she
Mario: long list.
Eva: Yeah, there's,
Angela: list of isms.
Eva: so many.
There are so many, things on
the bingo card of reasons to
be ousted from women's soccer.
And, she, she just played hard.
And
I think that, you know, she was one of
the few people, few players, of any,
sexuality to be open about how shitty
what was happening in North Carolina
was with, the Jaylene Daniels of it all.
And I'm just so glad.
I know that the last two seasons were
not what she wanted for her final
two seasons, you know, soccer wise.
It's not what the fans
wanted for her, or from her.
But I think that, for me personally,
knowing that she got to finish out
her career with an organization that
allowed her, respected, and encouraged
her to be exactly who she is, that's,
that's That's one of the, I think
for everything that you can say about
Angel City, that's one of the things
that it's no, we get that right all
the time, consistently, consistently.
And it just makes me, I'm so happy for
her that she got to really experience that
and have that and, you know, I, again, I
just can't over or understate the value
of just being a pure soccer villain.
Had nothing to do with
off the field stuff.
It had nothing to do with
who she was as a person.
Truly, it was just about
the soccer of it all.
And I, we, we need that.
That is such a good sign for
the game and for the league.
And it was, it really was just like
such a breath of fresh air to be like,
Oh, there's nothing wrong with you.
you just, you just make really crunchy
tackles, which I don't love, but compared
to the alternative for why you could be
a villain in this league, I'll take it.
by all means,
go in a little hard.
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: well, I mean,
Angela: she's
Mario: yeah, she's, she's leaving,
she's leaving the, like you guys said,
the, with a crazy, trophy cabinet
NWL Championship in 14, 18 and 19.
The SHIELD in 15, 18, and 19 and then was,
named second, second best loving in 2018.
So, I mean,
Angela: Which I like they do
defenders so dirty in Best XI.
Mario: Yeah, it's like in the, it's like a
best 11 of all full words and it's
just no, that's not how a team works.
Angela: Yeah,
Mario: that team will fail.
Eva: want a best 11 defenders.
Angela: Yeah,
Eva: give me a defenders list
and a forwards midfielder list.
I know that's
Angela: me Best XI of each
Eva: I know that's not the purpose,
but let's just celebrate more people.
It's not participation trophies.
I want to be clear.
We're not giving participation trophies.
We're just honoring how rich of a
talent pool there is in the NWSL.
So don't come at me for being a
millennial with participation trophies.
Angela: I am a millennial
without participation trophies.
That got mad the
Eva: I'm a millennial with part I'm a
millennial with participation trophies
who got mad and said, what is this shit?
I don't want it.
Aww,
Mario: my
Angela: I
Mario.
I remember the first time that became
a thing and it was because the woman
that was directing this league I was
in had experienced it in whatever else
she had coached like cheerleading or
something and it was in a time where
cheerleaders did not necessarily
support girls playing sports like it
was like ew gross why would we do that?
So we already were like, who
are you and why are you here?
But she was like, I got everyone
trophies because, you know, you
did such a good job this season.
And I remember looking at my mom
and just going, I didn't win.
And she's Angel, just take the trophy.
And I was like, I don't want that.
Why?
Why is that?
I participated.
I finished
Mario: Angela, don't make a scene.
Don't make a scene.
Okay,
Angela: why are we giving trophies
to people who don't win anything?
And she's oh my God, like my mom is
like, seeing the competitive nature of my
brain at 12 and she's oh no, here we go.
Yeah, well that set her up for the
next 10 years of me being bonkers.
But yeah, participation
trophies are stupid.
You just completed the
thing you signed up for.
That's it.
Congratulations.
Anyway.
Eva: I'm sorry, I was doing so
well with not derailing things.
I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry,
Mario: so next on our list
we've got, Desiree Scott.
Eva: The Destroyer.
The Destroyer.
a Canadian, cannonball for the midfield.
just so rock solid.
Rock solid.
there, I'm like struggling to come
up with what to say, because she was
just like an all around great player.
Or is, was.
I mean, she through Kansas City, Utah.
Then Kansas City again, and
for Canada, Club and Country.
I think that she was really underrated
because again, you don't get the
nickname The Destroyer by sucking
or by not just being
a total wrecking ball.
And I think that I think there were,
there are so many legends from, at
least in my mind, from Canadian soccer,
Angela: mm
hmm.
Eva: like an Erin McLeod, Diana
Mathison, like those types of people.
And
Mario: drone pilots.
Eva: the who?
Mario: know,
Angela: pilots.
Mario: know something
Angela: sick burn Mario.
Eva: I didn't say it.
I just wanna, I just wanna say
I'm not the one who said it.
Angela: Oh, check you out.
Eva: Maybe it's the
Canadians in New Jersey.
Maybe.
Angela: Oh, Maybe so, maybe it
Eva: trying to spy on Gotham.
Angela: Maybe
Eva: And that's why there
are big ass drones all over
central New Jersey right now.
anyway, I think that, I think, I, I don't
remember if this was when she was with
Utah or when, they moved back to Kansas
City, but she took time off to take guard
like, legal guardianship of her brother.
Angela: wow.
Eva: yeah, and I, I don't remember
the specifics or, like, how
much of the specifics we know.
But, to be a female athlete and
take, a gap year, essentially, you
don't have the money to do that.
And
Angela: prior to, 2022.
Eva: yeah, and unless you're, like,
an Alex Morgan, you know, there's
really just no guarantee that,
there's gonna be a spot for you.
And between, so she, you know, ultimately
did the right thing and did this amazing
thing and it's a beautiful story.
as far as, her love for her brother goes,
and her, value of family and everything.
But between that and injuries, the
I think she just really fell under
the radar, and so, myself included, I
would encourage all of us to go look up
Highlights, because, she's just a baller.
she's great.
She, she does, I think I said it about
Alyssa, she just gets her shit done.
And what, what more, yeah, what
more do you want from a player?
Angela: Yeah, she, with over 10,
000 minutes, over 10 seasons, is
insane.
Eva: It's a thousand minutes a season.
Angela: Yeah.
Eva: That's a
Angela: That's a lot
Eva: How many
Angela: you play
I don't
Eva: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm
Angela: So that's too much.
But
Eva: I'll cal I'll calculate it
afterwards and I'll post it somewhere.
Angela: But no, the 10, 000 minute
mark is a huge thing, especially
given the fact that in those first
few seasons of the NWSL, you weren't
playing against 13 other teams.
You were playing against six.
So the season was what, 10, 12 games long?
Not twice that?
You know, we're going to be seeing so
many more players hit that mark now,
but for the older players, like the
folks that were in the league in 2013
or came through other leagues into the
NWSL and are still playing, like they're
amassing that now because those first
four or five years, they played a half
of the season they're playing now.
Eva: Yeah.
I mean, and you think Kansas City,
when, when they were like, OG Kansas
City, NWSL was not what this is.
They did not have a stadium that
was purposely built too small.
They didn't have, you know,
superstar MVP, other sport owners.
with questionable politics, well,
they, they might have had questionable
politics, but in a different way.
But, you know, they, I know at one point,
Becky Sauerbrunn was like, we won the
championship last year, and I don't think
the city even knows there's a team here.
And I mean, they were, they, I think
at one point, their high attendance
was like 4, 300, which, if we saw
that now from a team Like, it would
be, and it was devastating back then,
Angela: Yeah,
Eva: just to
Mario: you still, you
still see that now, on some
Angela: yeah, we're
still getting the 000s.
Eva: sorry, I, I'm
Mario: I mean, for Goth
Angela: of the country
Eva: I just made such an
I'm in Los Angeles thing.
Mario: Gotham, for being Gotham,
they were still only getting six,
Angela: That's because
they're far away from everything.
Red Bull Arena isn't near the ci any
Mario: It's in New Jersey.
That's why they, that's why they're
called the New Jersey, New York Gotham.
Angela: yes,
but here's
Eva: have just kept, I, don't come at
me about the marketing stuff, it should
have just been New Jersey, we don't
get anything for ourselves, and they
should have just stayed New Jersey.
Angela: yeah.
Honestly, because the, the stadium isn't
close to you have to take three trains
out, out of New York City to get there.
Like it's kind of far.
It's far from like where Eva's from.
We passed it on the train.
I remember seeing Red Bull Arena,
but it was still like a long time
before we, we got to Trenton.
Eva: Yeah, it's kind of near the
Abomination, Sports Center thing, but
that's also, I'm, it's, it's getting,
the, the ADD meds have
left the building, y'all.
Angela: We've been, we've both
been awake for so many hours,
Eva: doesn't matter, though.
I'm so happy to be here.
I'm having so much fun.
Mario: Alright, well,
Angela: is a Olympic
medalist, a three time Olympic
medalist, two bronze, one gold,
unfortunately all called into question
now because of the federation.
She was never paid enough given
the history of women's soccer
and also the Canadian federation.
Just one of those players that
wasn't given the credit she was
due and or paid what she was worth.
Eva: Yeah.
Angela: Probably until recently,
if that, because her salary is you
start at a lower place being in the
league for a longer amount of time.
And she has, what is it called?
Sponsorships and partnerships
and all the good things to send
her off into retirement happily.
Eva: I hope she somehow ends up
involved in this Canadian women's
soccer league that's popping up.
I hope we see a lot of Canadian women's
soccer legends take part in that
and leave the drones somewhere else.
Angela: Leave the drones at home.
Eva: Okay,
Mario: alright, and then per
Eva's request Cary Lawrence.
Eva: this is my soapbox.
I'm glad that she's doing
this on her own terms.
I think if she is ready to leave
the game behind, that's great.
I think that when she tore her
ACL, that was gonna be her year.
And I don't think that we ever got
to see the best of Carrie Lawrence.
I don't think that she hit her peak.
And I am so sad that we don't
get the chance to see that.
I'm so happy for her.
That she's ready and she's doing
this on her own terms and that this
feels like the right time for her.
but I, I have spent the last four years,
like we, last year we did, Fantasy.
And I had forgotten that she tore her
ACL, and when we got her, I was like,
screaming in my car, and then Angel
was like, Oh yeah, she's on the SEI.
But, but she, she was everything
that I love in defenders.
fast, gritty, smart.
She was just so much fun to watch play.
It felt like she, There was never
a challenge that she wouldn't go in
for, excuse me, and, you know, I'm
happy that she goes out with a ring.
I'm so happy that she goes
out as a winner, I just
Mario: What, what, what, what team was
Cary Lawrence on?
Eva: Orlando,
yeah, also Marta's fiancé,
to, if that helps people
Mario: could have started
with that for everybody
Eva: Well, yeah, you're right,
I know, I just, I'm a really
Angela: She's new here!
Eva: I'm a
Mario: I'm new here.
Eva: Yeah, I just have the I just
hold the lore, I don't share it.
Public speaking, I there's a
reason I sit behind a drum set
without a microphone near my mouth.
We are in rarefied air here.
but, you know, I I don't think that we
really got to see what she was capable of.
But I if If there are no Carrie
Lawrence fans, then I have passed.
I, I will, I am ride or die
for her as a player, cause I
don't know her as a person.
But I, you know, I, I think that she,
I, I think she could've, would've
been really spectacular to watch, and
she would've been great for Orlando.
And, you know, I'm just happy
that she's going out because she's
ready to go out, and not because
of injury or anything like that.
So, that is my Keri Lawrence spiel.
Long live, long live,
Keri Lawrence 5 ever.
I'll go cry about it, it's fine.
It's fine, it doesn't matter.
Mario: Anything to add, Angela?
Angela: Nope, that was
all
Mario: that was it.
That was all.
Angela: earlier, can I
talk about Keri Lawrence?
I was like, you can talk
about Keri Lawrence.
Yes,
Mario: Okay, alright.
Well, continuing on, we've got another
legend of the game, Christine Sinclair.
Sinc.
Eva: In fairness to us, she
doesn't want us to talk about her.
Angela: honestly.
Yeah.
Eva: In fairness,
Angela: she doesn't want any of this.
She had to wear a shirt with her own
name on it for her farewell game.
And like genuinely I felt for her in that.
That's awful.
Eva: my favorite Christine Sinclair moment
is 2017 semi final between Portland Thorns
and Western New York Flash, I almost
said Women's New York National Team.
But Western New York had scored, and
then like within three minutes, she just
sends ball or like line drive in and
afterwards she was they ended up losing
the game but afterwards they asked her
about the goal and she was like yeah
they scored i got pissed so i scored
Angela: Yeah.
Was that, that's a bonkers game with
Eva: yeah the yeah that's the game where
sonnet scored the equalizer and just
about ripped off her shirt and that's
i could do a whole podcast on that game
that's a whole other thing but yes that
Angela: If you have not
watched it, please find it on
Eva: it's on youtube
Angela: an absolutely bonkers soccer game.
Eva: honestly
If you want to check out any
of these players, the league
initially was streaming all
the games on YouTube for free.
Angela: Yeah.
Eva: believe all of those are still there,
still there, and the quality is not, not
quite as bad as you'd think it would be.
It sucks, but it does exist.
So, highly recommend, going, if you
need, something on while you're cleaning
the house or whatever, or you're bored,
throw on some of these games, see where
some of these players scored goals or
maybe got, a red card or something,
or, see, like, where some of these
highlights come from and, watch these
games and, They're very entertaining,
and when you consider, like, how few
resources they were getting, it was, it
was unreal to watch these players succeed
within the means that they were given.
Angela: Mm hmm.
Eva: And, and as far as I know,
Portland wasn't using drones.
Mario: No, they weren't, but
Angela: horrible FO,
Eva: Yeah, there's other stuff to
crucify them for, but not drones.
Angela: not drones, but
Mario: but she is one of the,
one of the few players that like
spent her entire career with one
Angela: mm hmm, yeah.
So
she and Pino went to college
Eva: In Portland.
Angela: in Portland.
They went to the University of Portland.
They were Portland Pilots together, um,
So they have a long history of playing
together, playing against each other.
that is a matchup, honestly, that,
of, that the stories are written
about because it's, like, two prolific
goal scorers sync is the all time
leading goal scorer in soccer.
Eva: Sorry, Carl.
Angela: That's it.
Soccer.
I know.
Um, men's, women's
doesn't matter in soccer.
And that's a big big thing that
the men's game likes to forget.
Oh, so and so scored this many goals.
There's still 20 behind sink
Eva: When
Angela: and I have make, or go ahead.
no, no, no,
Eva: you go,
Angela: Oh no.
I was just going to say
I'm kind of like, whatever.
I'm not the biggest.
Oh my God.
Christine Sinclair is my favorite player.
Like whatever.
But you cannot deny really good players.
You can't.
I'm not a Carly Lloyd fan.
Was she great?
Sure.
that's just, it's statistics.
I don't even like stats.
Eva: Blink twice, blink,
blink twice if, Carly Lloyd is
standing next to you right now.
Angela: if she's in
our house, please help.
Eva: the, the thing about
Christine Sinclair being the like
all time leading scorer is that
she, the Canadian Federation.
Did not give those women the games
that they should have been getting.
They did they were not playing
we are very spoiled with the U.
S.
women's national team
and how often they play.
every international window,
they are playing, or at bare
minimum, they're in camp.
Canada didn't have that, and also
when you consider that they, this is
gonna sound really shady, but when
you consider that they weren't always
getting to the like, gold medal match
for everything, so when you factor in
how few, how many less games she had
to do this, it's Absolutely unreal.
And it's just that much more impressive.
And it makes you wonder what it would
have looked like with proper investment.
And without drones.
Angela: And with actual paychecks.
Yeah, Canadian Federation,
I have problems with the U.
S.
Federation.
I bear problems with a lot of
the international federations
not paying their players
at all.
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: Like, we, you can't even
approach equal conversations
when there's no pay happening.
Or, like,
Mario: we've talked about the Canadian
one, we've talked about Jamaica, we've
talked about Spain, yeah, there's,
there's some, there's some bullshit going
Angela: Do you remember, it was a
while ago, Eva won't remember, she
wasn't living out here then, but
do you remember, the Santa Anita
Racetrack Pay the Lady commercial?
It was
like betting on it and pay the lady.
that's what I hear in my
head every time.
I'll find it on YouTube
and I'll send it to you.
My mom referenced it the other
day and now it's in my head.
Eva: That sounds amazing.
Angela: Yeah, it's just a lady who,
who bets on a horse and wins and
she's pay the lady, pay the lady.
And it was, it was like a, a
commercial that lived in my
family's brains for years.
Eva: love that.
I can't wait to resurrect it.
Angela: Oh yeah,
it'll happen.
Eva: I can't wait to bring it
back and annoy your entire family.
Mario: Those, those, those old commercials
are like, we, Jen and I went through
a Roc A Pella rabbit hole yesterday.
that was, yeah, so good.
okay, so,
beyond that, back to sync,
Angela: and she hung up her boots
from the international game last year.
She stepped away from the Thorns
at the end of this season.
Honestly, left the game better
than it was when she showed up.
She
is decorated upon decorated.
Mario: I mean N-N-W-S-L
Champ 13, 17, and 22.
All time, like you said, all
time leading goal scorer, scorer,
all time leading goal scorer in
football in general, like
just in soccer period.
Um,
Eva: heard she won.
I heard she won the Super Bowl once.
She plays football.
That's a good joke, right guys?
Angela: interchangeably
because they were both
Mario: they're both English terms.
Eva: That's a joke no
one has ever made before.
You heard it here first,
Mario: I read it here first.
the Shield in 16 and 21, Olympic
Gold Medalist in 21, Olympic,
Golden Boot at the 2012 Olympics.
Dude, Golden Boot without even winning the
Angela: they won bronze in 2012 and 2016.
Won gold in
Mario: wasn't that, why
didn't they?
put that on the list?
Dammit, NWSL.
and then, Canadian Player
of the Year 14 times.
Eva: Jesus.
Angela: up there in the, like, where
Marta had played in six World Cups
and scored in six World Cups since
five and six or something like that.
Like she's right there too.
the thing.
it's not like she played
for a couple of years.
She's played for 30.
Eva: Yeah, to be named Player of
the Year 14 times, that's like,
that's like getting to high school.
Angela: Yeah.
Eva: that's a high schooler.
That's her life in soccer.
Angela: Mm hmm.
Eva: Her soccer career is
about to graduate high school.
That's nuts.
That's a long ass time.
Yeah.
Angela: Yeah, yeah.
So going from the Canadian national
team to the US national team, or
Mario: So we've got, we, we, we,
we've got a couple, we did a little
reorganization of the list here, per
the requests of our two, co hosts here.
and one of them, very late edition
because apparently everybody forgot.
but, let's start with that one.
Let's start with Samuels.
Angela: Sam Mewis.
Again,
Eva: It's not
Angela: no better midfielder.
Not fair.
Um, Sam Mewis is part of the generation
of players, both on the national team
and club, that were not given the
opportunity to heal when injured.
We talked about this with Kelly
O'Hara, with Merritt, like so many
players, Syd, Tobin, Christen Press.
I mean, she was given the opportunity
with Angel City, but like that was also
residual from other injuries, like there
are so many players that you can look
through their careers and you're like,
oh, you should not have been playing.
Eva: Yeah, the, the North Carolina,
the North Carolina of it all
comes through, feels pretty strong with
Angela: Both in college and club.
but Samuels.
It's just what a woman like so silly
and so anxious and so fun and so
goofy and just like the best there.
So the national team used to have.
Far too much access to
the internet in camps.
And it was great for all of
us because it was so silly.
You would get like pranks in the
hotel rooms and like excursions to
different restaurants and all just,
we had too much access to YouTube,
like in general, as late teens,
early twenties, in the early 2000s.
Like maybe it was the
best time on the internet.
I've reminisced and felt very
nostalgic this whole night, but.
Sam Mewis was part of such a
wonderful chapter of the national
team, as well as the NWSL.
she is so good.
She's so tall.
Eva: Tower of Power.
Angela: Mewis.
Yeah.
Tower of Power, just so, so cool.
Eva: She should have
the armband right now.
Angela: yeah.
Eva: I'll, I'll say it.
She should have the armband right now.
Angela: Yeah.
She should be the midfielder
with armband, a hundred percent.
A
hundred
Eva: captain right now.
Angela: Of every team she's on.
Eva: yeah.
Yeah.
She, I'm so glad that she's
not leaving the sport.
And I've so been enjoying being
able to hear her talk about soccer
and still share her, her knowledge
of the game through that way.
I think she's a wonderful
ambassador for the sport.
I mean, you can't go
wrong with an asshole.
you know, she, she, she was
just incredible to watch
and I think it, it sucks.
It sucks.
But I'm so glad that the game doesn't
lose her and the fact that she's
getting Becky Sauerbrunn to, talk to us
Angela: to people.
Eva: and, stay in public.
Because I'm really scared that
when Becky retires, we're just
never going to hear from her again.
Angela: No, like
Eva: And it's no, girl!
Angela: sit in their cottage of a
house and read books and mind their
business going to be wonderful.
Eva: girl, tell me about things.
Tell me about books, tell me about
soccer, tell me whatever you want.
But Sam Muise is, one of the few
things North Carolina has done right
is, you know, honoring her the way
that they did earlier this season.
she, I think a really, one of the
memories that comes to mind is after
that Portland Western New York flash
game that we were talking about
earlier with Zink, At the end of that
game, instead of celebrating, she was
comforting her friends on Portland.
Angela: Yeah.
Eva: No one ever would, but I think
that says a lot about who she is
and the kind of friend she is.
there is a video floating around
somewhere of her being late to a
national team meeting that is incredible.
her nickname at one
point was Panic Petunia.
I personally love the video, of her
interviewing Rose and Sonnet where she's
talking about how she had a meeting
with them telling them that it's her
job and they have to take it seriously.
I also love, I don't think
anyone was drunker than she was
in the celebrations after 2019.
Angela: Yeah.
Eva: I'm, I would love to know if she
still owes people money, but, cause I
know that was a thing, she went hard,
and she deserved to go hard, and I'm glad
she went hard, especially, in hindsight,
knowing how it pans out, it just makes
me so happy that she, I just milked
that moment for all it was worth and got
every bit of joy out of it for herself.
I, yeah, I'll always be sad that
it ended the way that it did, but,
you know, thanks for the mems while
you were here, you, like what, like
that's the thing, her career was cut
short, but what a career she had.
Like she won so much with North Carolina,
I believe she was in some Best XI's,
and And everyth she, she had an amazing
career, she packed so much into the short
time that she had, and I'm really grateful
that we had her for as long as we did.
Angela: And if she wants to
hang out and be friends with
us on the pod, that's cool too.
Like, can we get a casual FC,
Eva: Sam?
Angela: the women's game
crossover with Samuels?
I'm just putting that in
the universe for 2025.
I'll just cry the whole time.
I'm so sorry for being
embarrassing, but please.
All So next
two.
Mario: The two heavy hitters for, and,
Eva: it gets hard.
Mario: This is where the, the,
the cry count is gonna go up.
two are gonna be, Kelly
O'Hara and Alex Morgan.
Uh, I think we're gonna
start off with Kelly.
Heh, heh, heh,
Eva: I, I don't think there are many
more athletes that ooze personality
and charisma the way she does.
Angela: 2015
Eva: I hear the name Kelly O'Hara and,
30 different clips, fly through my mind,
like the 2019 World Cup when someone,
crashed into her and she just, threw
up her hands and was like, my bad.
Or, whiffing on the ball.
Angela: there's just
so
many.
Eva: the float in 2019 to go drink beer
from a fan, cracking the beer in her, in
her ESPN body issue shoot, long live R.
I.
P., in our hearts forever.
Angela: ESPN body issue.
Um,
Eva: Chocolate milk.
Big chocolate milk fan, look up those ads
Angela: yeah, there is a clip of,
again, when the national team had too
much access to the internet, um, they
were learning how to play Quidditch.
Eva: for the London Olympics.
There, there is context, to be clear.
Angela: context, yeah, but who needs it?
Um, and, and she just face
plants, it's just so good,
Eva: It had been raining.
Mario: I just imagine them
running out there with brooms.
Eva: Yeah, it, it's as in,
it's more incredible than
you could possibly imagine.
It so delivers on the, on how good it
Mario: I've seen, I've seen people
play Quidditch, but now just thinking
Angela: no, this
Eva: This is the women's
national team playing, running
with brooms in rainy England.
Angela: Yeah, but as prolific and
wonderful that as Kelly was on the pitch
like I mentioned it in The episode, I
think, against Gotham or going into the
playoff, something like that, where,
if you need a bitch, get, call Kelly.
that is a perfect example of the
kind of, if you needed someone
to start shit and get the team
rallied up behind you, call Kelly.
Eva: Yeah.
Angela: Because she's gonna be the
one to, pull everybody in a huddle
and say far too many words I wouldn't
normally say on this podcast.
But get the point across in like the
best way like we're gonna effing go
this and do this and you know it's like
we're gonna kill somebody and like just
so emphatic but it's that energy that
you need to shift the tide in a game.
It's aggressive, it's hungry, it's
wonderful and until recently hasn't
really been celebrated I feel like
in in women's sports as a whole that
like true aggressive competitive
nature and she just embodied it.
Eva: Yeah, she could play
anywhere on the field.
She could be up top, she could be a
defender, she could be in the midfield.
there's I know I have the GIF.
I don't know if I have the video.
But there was a national
team game circa tw what?
Angela: I think I know what you're
talking about and it's already funny in my
Eva: I I'm curious if it is.
They're in like, when they, you know,
walk out for the anthem and everything
and they like, go in the line and
they're all high fiving each other.
And Kelly is just being,
bouncing off the walls.
Angela: Oh.
Eva: And the camera catches Becky
Sauerbrunn looking over at her and
just going, what is wrong with you?
Angela: That's
not what I was thinking of at
Eva: oh, what were you thinking of?
Angela: the whiff.
Eva: Oh, the, the whiff is,
the, the whiff is iconic, but
the, I think the thing that
makes Kelly O'Hara, Kelly
O'Hara is like the multitudes.
She could be the goofiest
person you've ever seen
Angela: Yeah.
Eva: and then the baddest bitch
you've ever watched, and it, it
happens like that, like it's so fast
and like I, I, I don't understand.
I don't understand how
that's all in one person.
Also, she is the reason that I know
that chocolate milk is a great recovery
drink, because she was sponsored by
chocolate milk officially for a long
time, and I think that's really cool.
Angela: Got Milk campaign person.
Eva: Yeah, but not just
milk, like chocolate milk
Angela: chocolate milk
Eva: Also, her dad, the okay, we had
too much access to these people, and
we'll never have this access again,
and it's probably a good thing.
Angela: we.
Yeah.
Mario: I, yeah, I understand why
the NWSL fandom is so intense,
Angela: had
Twitter.
We had YouTube.
We
Eva: but her,
but, but hold on, her family
would domesticate squirrels.
And so, there are video, there are
videos of her, talk, feeding and,
talking to squirrels and stuff.
And, people would, give her
squirrels after games and stuff.
And, it was a whole thing
for such a long time.
And I think it's so sad that, we lost
that and we left it behind somehow.
Mario: Give her
squirrels?
Eva: were, well, stuff, plush
squirrels, not taxidermy and not
live squirrels, stuffed squirrels,
or, squirrel memorabilia, squirrel
paraphernalia, if you will.
Mario: thought people were, like,
catching squirrels and just,
Eva: I wouldn't put it past, I would
not put it past some of these fans.
Some of them are real unhinged,
and I know I seem unhinged,
but not that kind of unhinged.
But, yeah, she, just, what a character.
What a character.
one of There are I love so many
athletes, but there are so few
that are as magnetic as she is.
you just want to hang out with her.
You, she's so
Angela: watching her on the pitch.
You just want to hang out with her.
So to give like the quick recap of how
many things she's won, she was an NWSL
champion in 2021 with the Spirit, 2023
with Gotham, World Cup winner in 2015 and
2019, and a fantastic person watching the
parades, an Olympic gold medalist in 2012.
Um, she was there in 2021, right?
For the bronze?
Eva: You know, I kind of repressed
that, so I genuinely couldn't tell you.
Angela: from, aside from, specific
things about the Olympics,
I just, that was just sad.
Eva: I know Tobin was there, and
I know it got me a fiancé, so.
That's all I've held on
Angela: that's about it.
Yeah.
Eva: all I know.
That's all I know.
Angela: and then she, in 2019 was the
FIFA FIFPro Women's World XI when like
that World XI was literally just like
the national team, our national team.
Because that team was insane.
Absolutely bonkers.
Eva: Also, a college teammate and pal
of our beloved captain, Ali Riley.
Angela: oh yeah.
Eva: That feels like a nice thing to say.
Angela: Oh yeah.
Eva: Yeah.
Angela: and another decorated
person from the women's national
team, the one and only Alex Morgan.
Eva: Where do you
Angela: Dun, dun, dun.
We will never know all the
things that she's done to save,
preserve, help, coach, prevent.
there's so many things that we will
never know that she's done in the game.
Eva: Yeah, everything that,
everything that we know that she's
done has come out from other people.
She has never, and, earlier in
her career, she got a lot of,
internalized sexist bullshit.
Yeah.
about, about her, doing, the
swimsuit issue and, stuff like that.
And you have to remember,
they were not making money.
Nobody knew who they were.
For a long time, she was the U.
S.
Women's National Team.
it kinda went like Mia Hamm in
terms of a player everyone knows.
And then, we, waited
and got to Alex Morgan.
And it, To, I mean, so many of
the players on their podcasts have
really said, like, all of it, you
have to be good or nobody cares.
And she was just unbelievable.
I mean, we all kind of forget
that she Got, was it Golden Boot,
2022, I think, with San Diego?
Like just, you know, I know that the,
the third string goalkeeper for San Diego
said that, on her first day, Alex Morgan
came and just, sat down next to her.
And
Angela: lunch together,
Eva: yeah, a true leader, she cared about
everyone on the team, and I think, you
know, when we were talking about Becky.
And talking about how, you know, these
types of players, the team culture
is changing, and, you know, not to
go too much into the Corbyn Albert
of it all, but when Alex Morgan was
there and said, we're handling this
internally, I believed her, because
her track record is fucking flawless.
And now that she's gone, I no
longer believe it's being handled.
but, I mean, we know what she did
for Mana Shim and Sinead, for, yeah,
Tottenham thank you, because I was
trying to figure out if I could even
come close to pronouncing it correctly.
Jess Fischlach came out and said
that she secured, reasonable practice
accommodations for the team, when
she went during the COVID year.
she is the reason that this league has,
an anti harassment policy, she, she
is the reason there's HR in the NWSL.
She, we will never know the extent
of what she has done for this sport.
I think that, maybe some people would
say this is a hot take, I think we're in
Billie Jean Kincaid territory with her.
Angela: Like this
Eva: yeah.
She is an American sport legend.
Not just women's soccer, not just soccer.
She has done and I believe will continue
to do really incredible things for the
world of athletics and I It's, it's
really hard for me that she's done, it
felt like she was gonna play forever.
It's hard to imagine that she's, I
still just think, yeah, she's coming,
she's gonna come back next season, she's
pregnant and she'll have her child and
then she'll, get it back together and
she'll come back and she'll be Golden
Boot Winner again and, she'll be at
practice with two kids in her arms still,
Angela: Sid did it.
Eva: Yeah, still, chipping goalkeepers.
I,
Angela: Mm-hmm
Eva: you know, it's, I don't
think, I think knowing what we
know, I don't know that the league
survives without Alex Morgan.
Angela: Yeah,
Eva: I think that, because again,
I just, I can't even, I can't even
imagine what we don't know that she
has done for players, for just overall.
I think we'll just never truly understand
how massive her legacy actually is.
Angela: because she doesn't talk about it.
She doesn't brag about it.
She doesn't say, oh, guess what?
I just did like Eva said.
We only know these, seven
things other people have, other
coaches have talked about it.
Different, you know, directors of other
leagues have been like, Oh yeah, we
did this because Alex Morgan said so.
And it was like, what?
Eva: Yeah.
Angela: That's a thing you can just do?
But, it is a really interesting
conundrum to be a woman who plays sports.
Because you're either too
feminine or not feminine enough.
You're too strong or
you're not strong enough.
there's not, there's no place
to exist of just existing.
There's always some level of criticism
like, oh she wears makeup on the pitch.
Who gives a shit?
If you can find mascara that
doesn't run in your eyes while
you're sweating and running around
for an hour and a half, cool.
Let everyone know it exists, like the
same thing for women's basketball players,
Oh, she's not female presenting enough.
She's not feminine enough.
She's too that she's too that like
women in general experiences on a daily
basis in every facet of our lives.
And then the second you go into
any industry, really, that's
more male dominated or that
people insist be male dominated.
It adds a different layer of criticism.
And because Alex Morgan was like the
hot girl on the team or the one that
everybody knew, or she did the swimsuit
issue, she did this, she did that,
it, it allowed her more exposure,
which added to that criticism and
the availability of that criticism.
And that in no way was easy for her.
She's starting to kind of talk
about how hard it was and how hard
it was to be the face of the team.
lead the team, but lead the
team for the rest of the world,
not actually lead the team.
I mean, she did in, in different
ways, but like to be so good
and also never good enough.
is a stupid thing to have to experience.
And she was scoring goals all over the
place, chipping keepers, like doing all
of these insane things on the pitch.
And people still were
like, she ain't shit.
And it's in what
world do you exist in?
Because there's 1v1 with Alex
Morgan and come out with an
ounce of ability to breathe.
especially dudes with microphones.
there was so much,
so much
shit that she had to exist in, but
she's an NWSL champion, a shield
winner, a golden boot winner, a
best 11 winner, a world cup winner,
a gold medal winner, a world.
She was, FIFA, FIFA Women's World
11, six different times, like just.
Insane.
And somehow was not given credit.
Which is wild to me.
But what do I know?
Eva: Something, something that I
think is interesting about her career
when, when she was with Orlando she
went and played with, Lyon in France
and people were very critical of
that move, because of money and
et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
And And This was at the time where the
league was very precarious, and there
was concern that American national
team players leaving and going to
Europe could destroy the league.
And she said that she wanted to, add a
new dimension to her game, and everyone
kind of thought she was full of shit.
And then she came back, and she had
added a new dimension to her game.
She had added like a defensive component
that hadn't been there before and it
just added like this whole extra color
to her game and I think, I just remember
being like, oh shit she actually did it.
Like I thought she was just like
giving like a canned PR thing of
you know, I can't say that, you
know, it's money, I can say that
I want to go for Champions League.
But I gotta say something else, I gotta,
I gotta say that it's for soccer reasons.
And then she came back and it was like,
oh maybe it really was for soccer reasons.
Like she, like she was a
different player, like she was
a new player when she came back.
And I would, in terms of looking back at
stuff, 100 percent go look at the hype
video that Orlando did when she came back.
Angela: Yeah.
Eva: It, I remember just like chills.
It's so good.
It's basically like Alex's home.
It's such a good video and I think similar
to Sinead and Mana, like this sport
did not deserve what she gave to it.
You know, and I'm, I'm so excited
to see what's next for her.
I'm happy that she is happy.
I wish she was just gonna play
forever, but that's not realistic.
But, you know, I, she's one of
those athletes that I feel really
lucky to have been alive to
see the entirety of her career.
cause I, there's not, there's never
gonna be anyone like her again.
You know, I don't know how often
we're gonna see that balance of off
the field, you know, Work paired
with on the field production,
Angela: Mm hmm.
Eva: and I, I think we're all just really
lucky that we got to be here for it.
Angela: Agreed.
Eva: Yeah.
Angela: Co sign.
Whatever the kids say these days.
Thumbs up.
Eva: I couldn't tell you.
If you're a kid, call in and let us know.
Mario: No, no.
Eva: No, don't.
Don't talk to, don't talk
to us if you're a kid.
Angela: If you saw
Eva: talk to strangers.
Angela: Instagram post, she,
Meggie Dougherty Howard,
Eva: Douda.
Angela: Duda and someone else,
I don't remember who, went on a
vacation to a resort in Mexico
and it was like a no kids vacation
Eva: Adults only, if you
Angela: Yeah, Syd walks through this
door and you hear, Syd, look, a kid!
She goes, nope, and turns
around and just walks out.
that's, that's how this feels.
No kids.
Except for
Mario: That's what that was.
Okay.
So since I have my phone
permanently on silent,
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: I scroll through
Twitter and I mean, Instagram
and TikTok, like on silent.
So I see her like open the door, turn
back and I'm like, I don't get it.
Angela: Yeah.
It was like the partition between the
family side of the resort and the adults
only, and she was like, hard pass by.
I'm like
Eva: can't blame her,
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: ah, alright, well, that
is the class, the second class of
retiring, um,
Eva: And all of, all of the, the entire
2015 gold medal world cup championship,
championship team is now in the wind,
in a better place now.
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: um,
Angela: national
Eva: It's, it's nine years.
It's nine years.
That feels, that, that feels nuts, but
we're getting to a point where, if I can
leave some parting words on this, we're,
we're getting to a point for a lot of
us where the players who made us fall
in love with this game are phasing out.
And it shocked me when I saw that,
like, all of the 2015 team is gone.
it doesn't
Angela: like that was my team.
Eva: Yeah, it doesn't
feel like that long ago.
the youngest player on that
team was Morgan Gautreaux.
Or Morgan Gautreaux.
Angela: she just won
the, the championship.
Eva: she did just win the championship.
But, she's not, she's a veteran now,
but she's not, it's not like she's 40.
she's, she's still got years to go,
and it's, this is, these are legends.
These are legends of U.
S.
soccer, men's or women's, I
don't, I don't give a shit.
Just straight up legends, and what
they have done for the sport, and
for just, equal rights in general.
is unbelievable.
And these were, this was a,
these were two really special
groups of players, 2015 and 2019.
And we're, we're coming to
the end, and that sucks.
But we have a lot more
time with some of them.
And so, don't, don't
take them for granted.
Because these are really special players.
And.
We're not going to have this
much access to them ever again.
We shouldn't have this much
access to them ever again.
And we're never going to get to
know these players the way that
we got to know, you know, the,
The
the,
yeah, the 15ers and the 19ers.
So if that's what we're calling them.
So
Mario: that's
Eva: yeah, I don't, I don't
like it, but it just came out.
it, it doesn't have the same
ring as like the 99ers, but, you
know, this, this That is such a
special time capsule of this sport.
And so, you know, let's celebrate
them while we still got them.
We've still got some of these Titans,
you know, we've still got Rose Lavelle,
Sonnet, Horan, Mal, you know, we, Christen
Press, we still got Christen Press, y'all.
Angela: yep.
Eva: that's a whole other podcast.
But anyway, like it's, you know, we're,
we are getting to the end, like we are
in the twilight of this era and, you
know, let, let's just remember that and
let's just enjoy it and be present for
it and give these players, you know, the
respect and the love that they deserve.
Angela: And I'm gonna go sing We've
Got Four Stars On Our Shirt the
rest of the night, because it's
been in my head since we started.
Do you know them singing that,
Mario, after the 2019 World Cup?
Mario: No,
Angela: Oh, yeah, it's,
we've got four stars
On our shirt, we got four.
Eva: Also, Rose Lavelle was so
drunk that her mom was holding
up her legs at the afterparty.
Angela: Yep.
Eva: It's really, it's really
important to me that you know that.
They were all at the afterparty,
the entire team stood up, on the
bar top, and they were dancing,
and Rose's mom was holding her
legs so that she didn't fall over.
Legend.
Mario: The way it first came out,
completely different picture in my
head.
And I was like, wait,
Eva: Totally
Angela: to life with
Eva: Totally fair.
You rarely get context.
Mario: like I said, the, I know, I
mean, I learned so much through both
of you about all of these players.
But what I did know and did respect was
the, just the, and we've talked about
this before, like in many different
pods, it's just the idea, that kind
of semi unquantifiable soccer IQ.
And that has,
that almost has nothing to do
with, your actual ability or,
you know, your, your, Talent on the field.
It's the knowledge of how to
put those things together.
you know, the there's, there's reasons
why players aren't necessarily the
ones tracking back and forth the entire
time, but they're the ones that are
the playmakers and a lot of these
players are those types of players.
or they're like the walls
that complete these games.
Right.
So.
I really do hope for the sake of
the league that their knowledge
has been passed on, right?
Because we're getting a lot of new
younger players, which is great.
It means that we'll have faster teams,
longer careers with some of these players,
bigger kind of new amazing feats, but also
We also, we don't want to live through
the teenage years of them awkwardly
finding out, or figuring out how to play,
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: you know, learn from the, from
the, from the vets, from the people that
know, how to, how to play and, and, and
what to look at and things like that.
So, I really do, hope all of that for
the future and, and, you know, amazing
careers for each one of these, teams.
These players, and again, we
have Alyssa Naeher and Becky
Sauerbrunn from International Play.
And then from footy in general, Sinead,
Sinead Farrelly, and we're like screwing
up names every year, where, Shim, I'm
just going down the list, Merritt Mathias.
Angela: it's late.
Mario: Alex Morgan, Kelly O'Hara,
Denise, Desiree, not Denise, Desiree
Scott, Carrie Lawrence, per Evo's
request, and Christine Sinclair.
So, with all of that, thank you.
We did
Angela: Who did we forget?
Eva: Megan
Mario: we didn't forget anyone.
Angela: Oh, shit.
Eva: Can I just, I, real quick.
I will be so fast, I promise.
Okay, Megan Monofusco, aka, or formerly
known, FKA, formerly known as Megan
Oyster, started with Washington
Spirit, had a great, rookie season,
and a great early career there.
I forget where she went after
that, I wanna say Houston?
And then she ended up in Orlando.
So glad that she goes out with a ring.
Incredible defender.
So consistent, so fun to watch, got
screwed around by Jim Gabbara in the
early Washington days and did not get the
consistent minutes that she should have.
Again, that's a whole other podcast.
But she had been on the SEI, so
I'm sad that we didn't really
get to give her a goodbye tour.
But, really fun defender, again,
go look up some highlights,
you will not regret it.
great teammate, great player, cool name
like Megan Oyster, what a great name.
and Megan Monofusco is
also a very cool name.
it's so late, but, but, yeah,
I, props to Megan Monofusco, we
will, we will miss you so much.
glad you got a, glad you got a
championship, cause you deserve it,
cause you're that good of a player.
Mario: Nice.
I did put out a really quick, and
this was weeks ago, before life
happened, and so, I never really
followed up, Myrna did respond to us.
She was the main person that
responded, the only person that
responded to us, because she saw
it, and she did, and then I never
reposted it, so nobody else ever did.
but I was asking about, what are your
favorite moments of, the retiring class,
and three things, Merritt's outfits,
Angela: Yes.
Mario: everything Kelli O'Hara
did, says, and
does.
And Alyssa taking the penalty
kick are the three things.
So I mean, on board with exactly with,
what Eva and Angela here are saying.
So with that, thank you for
listening to our retirement
episode during the off season.
We'll have hopefully a couple more
episodes before the season restarts.
Angela: that may be,
Mario: whenever that
Eva: We may never
Angela: out.
Mario: If you want to keep,
updates on that, where's the nwsl?
schedule.com is an actual website.
Go check it out.
Very simple.
No, it's not out.
And when it is out, it'll have a link
straight to the, to the, Schedule.
there.
That's the word that I was trying for.
Um.
Eva: got it.
I
Mario: late, and with all of that,
if you like what you hear, hit the
subscribe button wherever you're
listening, check out casualfc.
com for all the pod links.
We're also on YouTube, also a video on
Spotify, which we were, you know, top
20 video podcasts on Spotify because
they, you know, just launched it this
year, so yay, we'll take that this year.
I mean, top 20%, sorry, not top 20, 20%.
Angela: I don't care.
That's,
Eva: was gonna say, that's wild.
not to be rude, but wow.
Mario: all right.
Follow us on all socials, casual FC
pod, Instagram, blue sky, fuck Twitter,
threads, and TikTok as long
as that's going to be around.
Cause I think that's gone in January.
So, you
Eva: Can't they take
the Cybertrucks instead?
Mario: come join us on the Discord,
the link's in the bio, or just
DM us and we'll send you a link.
the Discord's always been fun, we're
having lots of fun conversations on there.
of random gif
Angela: to merch and like early,
early input on cool stuff in the
discord, so come
Eva: We also talk about breaking news.
Angela: We do lots of breaking
Eva: There was none of that today.
But if there was, we would talk about it.
Angela: Mm-hmm
Mario: All right, and then best ways
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grab some merch at our shop.
Shop.
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I'm doing a lot of this because I'm
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Angela: It's a red bouncy ball.
We are so
Eva: What's the gif of Tom Hanks where
he's like typing like this with two hands?
He just goes
Angela: Oh yeah.
Tom Hank.
No, you're thinking Jim Carrey.
Mario: you're thinking Jim Carrey.
Jim Carrey, Bruce Almighty.
Angela: Yeah.
Wow.
Eva: just old yeller me now,
Mario: All right.
We have a bunch of stuff on the shop.
I just took down all of the
Becky Tweed stuff, but there's
more stuff coming along.
Yeah, and if you feel so inclined and
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Basically, throw us a buck or two and,
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Uh, and if anything, if all else,
just tell a friend about the podcast.
it brings good luck and, you know,
we're excited to be talking about
it, all of this, next season.
Eva: whenever it may be.
Mario: you know, we have the long, we
have the long list of things, of people
we want to talk to, of the things, and we
are determined to get a lot of them done.
So It'll help if more people
can listen and enjoy that stuff.
So thank you, it is almost
midnight, we're done recording
finally, and I will edit this
Angela: happy Hanukkah, happy Kwanzaa,
happy New Year, happy end of the
season, happy Monday night at 1147.
Thanks for hanging out with us guys.
We'll see you next year.
Mario: Bye!
Eva: Bye.
Angela: Bye!