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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: It's all your basketball right now.
Just
Ang: It's that,
and X Men, like,
Mario: Jock Jams and X Men.
That's what you got in
your head right now?
Ang: honestly, all the time,
Mario: Welcome to Casual FC
an Angel City preview pod.
I'm your host Mario Salazar
with my co host Angela Morales.
Ang: hello.
Mario: been stuck in
like March Madness mode.
So, you know, if, if she strays
from talking about soccer to
talking about baseball, baseball,
Ang: Baseball!
okay, listen, I'm also watching baseball.
A lot is happening in my sports brain
at the
Mario: if other sports start
creeping in, you have, you know why.
All right.
Welcome,
Ang: my favorite time of the year.
Woo.
Mario: So right off the bat and just
to keep you up to date, our episode
is going to be covering our next
match, which is Saturday, March 30th,
against the Kansas City Current.
We will be at CPKC Stadium in
Kansas City, Missouri, not Kansas.
They're just on the
other side of the river.
It is what it is.
it's going to be at 12.
30pm.
It's going to be broadcasting and
streaming on ESPN because they said
any match that is on ESPN will also be
broadcast on ESPN+ So you don't need,
if you don't have a cable subscription
for ESPN, you can still watch it on ESPN
You're all good there, and if you can't
watch it, it will be on iHeartRadio,
so listen to Isaac and Tracy, Call
the Game, Amazing, and if you can't
make it to Kansas City, Missouri,
Ang: Because they did not give us
a lot of supporter tickets or a lot
of away folks, because they didn't
build enough seats in that stadium.
Mario: Yeah, yeah, you
knew the demand was there.
Why didn't you just build it for, if you
Ang: if you build it, they will come.
Mario: Angel City will be having
a watch party, on the 30th,
watch party starts at 1130 AM.
Kickoff will be at 1230 PM.
The location will be at both 33 Taps
in Clover City and in Silver Lake.
So go have fun with people.
Meet new people.
Talk to new people.
They're
all going to
Ang: most likely.
not be there.
I need some downtime.
I'm burning my candle at both ends
and a few places in the middle.
And yeah, girl needs some sleep.
And just general rest.
Mario: baseball, March Madness,
and the availability of the NWSL
on pretty much every platform
that she has completely burnt out.
Angela.
Ang: That along with like
normal life responsibilities,
like a bunch of personal stuff.
And I'm just like, I need
three days off from life.
Not even just work, work, life.
I just need to ascend into the
clouds and float for three days
and be like, okay, I'm fine.
But it's worth it.
It's worth it.
Mario: it's worth it.
Well, I probably won't
be making it either.
It's just One of those things when
you've got two young children that
are involved in other activities and
things like that you just got to go do.
Plus, LAUSD is on spring break right now.
So this week is me time shifting going
to work super early just so that I can
head home from work at, sometime in
the like early afternoon just to be
able to come home and help and stuff.
And, try to save the kids from boredom.
Because no matter what
we do, they're bored.
yeah.
that's my week.
Ang: Yeah.
speaking of chaos.
Mario: Oh, yeah.
Ang: Speaking of chaos, we
have our week two chaos award.
So, if you missed it last week,
we are going to be giving a chaos
award to the team, player, fanbase,
weather, anything that creates
the most shenanigans of the week.
I have two nominees for this week.
Maybe we should put up like who
wins chaos and maybe do a little
poll based on this one on Wednesday.
So if you watch the game on Friday,
like the woman, the myth, the
legend, Marta, bonkers on Friday.
She was so frustrated by her own team
when they got the goal called back by
us, by like the referees, just everything
Mario: everything
was frustrating her.
Ang: so many things.
I appreciated the fact that we
had frustrated her that much, but
Mario: Oh, to the point where she was
slammed.
Ang: She was smacking the ground.
Yeah.
Mario: ground.
Yeah.
Ang: Yeah.
And speaking of somebody who's done that,
but on a basketball court, it hurts.
But, I had to do it to distract
the rest of my brain from a very
severe injury, so that's different.
Marta is my first nominee, because that
game was bonkers, she got carded way
too late, probably should have gotten
carded in the first half, but, yeah,
the other award nominee who I wish we
could just ban from the game are Nese.
just knees.
Mario: Yeah, just, knees,
ACLs are part of those, but
Ang: PCL, MCL, LCL, cartilage, patellas,
patellar tendons, none of this.
I'm it.
Mario: and your physio showing.
Yes.
Ang: Yeah.
here's all these letters for different
things that hold your knee together.
We have M.
A.
's injury, which we haven't really
gotten too much news on yet, we're hoping
she's good, all good thoughts to M.
A., Midge Purse as well went down,
it's causing a little bit of a
scandal because of what, Juan Carlos
from Gotham is saying, oh, this is
because of the gold cup, not because
he didn't Not like he let her play.
It's that's the whole thing.
It's a whole other conversation
for Gotham fans because I'm
letting them take that one on.
but again, Midge is amazing.
Midge does not deserve an injury.
Um, and then on the like opposite
end of that, this week, yeah, on the
recovery knees, we get Kristen Press.
Posting training videos, doing
a little footwork, little steppy
steps, running, excuse me?
I don't know, just,
these,
Mario: the way, the way social media
works is like that, what you post is not
exactly what's going on at the moment, but
I'm wondering, was she just solo training
while everybody was, like, traveling?
she's just by herself at
the training center, oh,
my time, nobody will bug me.
Ang: yeah, and then if you know
anything about WOSO fans and
Kristen Press and Tobin Heath fans,
Mario: I have learned.
Ang: they went absolutely feral, one,
just because she posted, two, because
she posted playing, and then three,
because there was a picture of Tobin.
yeah.
It's a whole thing.
I just hope she's doing okay.
I don't know what it means.
I can't look too much into it
because there's too much that
is impacted by the possibility
of her coming back this season.
Mario: yes, yeah,
Ang: We talked about it a
little bit in previous episodes.
There's
not room on the roster
right now.
So who
knows?
Mario: no room, which means someone
has to, someone's got to go,
Ang: Yeah.
Mario: and,
it's stressful.
and then, like even she's training,
doesn't mean that she's going to be
at a hundred percent if she comes back
in the summer, everybody was hoping
for a summer comeback from her, but.
Again, whenever she comes back,
she's not going to be at 100%.
So I do wish her all the best.
I'm glad to see that she's up and training
like she's geared up and ready to go.
And I really do hope that all her
training is like making her stronger
and getting her ready to play.
And I would love to see her play again.
Because those first
couple games were great.
I just want to be like everybody,
just put your reality hat on
Ang: Yeah.
Mario: look at the actual situation,
Ang: I'm
Mario: the aura of
Kristen Press, right?
and I'm sorry for everybody who's
listening that is a Kristen Press
fan that like, is like, what
the F are you talking about?
Believe me, I'm with you.
I want her to be on that
pitch as much as you do.
Ang: Yep.
Mario: I also just want to like temper.
I'd rather set my expectations
in a kind of low realistic type
thing and then just be blown away.
Ang: And I think at this point we have
to, we just lost Sam Mewis to retirement
at 31 because of the damage that was done
to her knee and she was never able to
get back to the point of playing again.
yeah.
The only thing I want is for her
to be happy and secure in whatever
decision she makes, but we also
have to be realistic as fans that
to have, what, four surgeries now,
it's a little iffy,
realistically, just as a human,
you can only go through so much.
Enough for CP right now.
She'd probably be like,
please stop talking about me.
Like, back back to the rest of the league.
what happened this weekend?
Mario: So our quick roundabout for
the NWSL, we had The Utah Royals
taking on North Carolina Courage.
The Royals won two to one.
The Red Stars won two to one
against Seattle, which, going into
the season, everybody was
like, Seattle, yeah, bonkers.
Like Red Stars, what finished
like almost dead last or they
did finish dead last year.
Ang: yeah.
this team, both the Utah game, the
Utah North Carolina game was insane.
There was like PKs that were saved.
It was a whole thing.
the Red Stars are shooting the lights
out, frankly, in a way, I knew they
were going to come back strong this
season, given the sale of the team,
the coaching change, Mal coming back.
Alyssa Nair, though, Alyssa
Nair is in peak form.
Uncle Alyssa is what's up.
But anyway,
go ahead.
Mario: and then we've got, Washington
Spirit two to one over Bay I,
Ang: runs deep already in my
Mario: it's deep enough where we're
just going to have that little bit
of satisfaction every time they lose.
we want to see amazing things from
some of their players, but we also want
to see them lose every single time.
So, That's all good.
Houston and Racing both
came to a 0 0 draw.
San Diego and Kansas City won 2 1.
And then we've got Portland
and Gotham won 1 0.
Ang: Lots of spicy soccer this weekend.
A lot of it.
Mario: exactly.
And then that brings us to our match.
Ang: On the last episode of Angel City FC,
we took on the Orlando Pride at Inner Co.
Stadium on Friday.
The 22nd.
Mario: Yes.
Ang: I was like,
Mario: we were the first
match of the weekend.
Ang: Yes.
Which is always a good thing, also always
a bad thing because it's stressful.
we came out with a draw,
which honestly, we got lucky.
They had a goal called back.
Thank God.
we got a penalty and then we set
Marta up for the most beautiful
fricking goal in the whole
wide world.
Mario: Emslie took the penalty at 53
minutes, and then Marta was wide open,
nobody on her on a corner kick, and
she just karate kicked, she like jumped
Ang: It was dunk.
Mario: yeah, karate kicked that
thing in, and I'm just like, oh man,
Ang: Yeah,
Mario: that
Ang: that's one of like,
Mario: but it hurts.
Ang: it hurts so bad.
Yeah.
I joked, I think I said it in the preview
where I was like, I love when Marta plays
well, I hate it when it's against my team.
Prime example.
The thing is that Angel City matched
up exactly how they had planned on
it, they did everything they were
supposed to do and wanted to do for that
corner kick, Marta just doesn't count.
Like,
Mario: Yeah.
although
Ang: Mathias was just like,
yeah, we did what you're supposed
to do, and then there's Marta.
Like, there's only so much you can do.
Mario: Marta was doing a
lot for that team though.
honestly, if Marta goes
down that, I know we were saying Brazil 2.
0, but if, and there were
some glimpses of that,
but if Marta goes down, it is.
honestly, that we would have
won five to one, like if
Marta was not in that,
like she was doing so much.
She was dropping back so far
into the defense to make up for
what her defense wasn't doing.
And
Ang: Marta was everywhere,
just like Messiah was.
If you watched the game,
Messiah was everywhere.
It was very apparent that she
was playing against her old club,
and she had a point to prove.
Just because I left doesn't
mean anything changed, you
I am who I am, but overall, we looked
good and that's the hard part right
now with the little tweaks that you see
happening, our pace is good, our control
is decent, everything is almost there.
Mario: yeah.
when you look, we looked good.
I think, when we look at the stats,
possession was pretty much 50 50.
the thing is, it's one of
those, what's the, the Wayne
Gretzky, Michael Scott quote?
Ang: I don't know, I've
never watched The Office.
Mario is quickly finding out how much pop
culture I have sacrificed to watch sports.
Mario: yes, she is watching the 90s X
Men, animated series right now for the
first time, and I'm just like, really?
Really?
Come on now, really?
Ang: Yeah, Saturday morning cartoons,
I half the time couldn't watch
them because I was at a tournament,
a game, practice, something.
Mario: Those weren't
Saturday morning cartoons.
those were like midweek
after school cartoons.
Ang: also at practice, games.
I played six sports.
Mario: the quote is, you miss 100
percent of the shots that you don't take.
Wayne Gretzky, Michael Scott.
Ang: Oh,
Mario: Yeah, so the shots on target
Ang: also a
quote from a Cinderella
story, for what it's worth.
Ha ha!
Yep.
From the paint peels in the diner.
Yeah.
Mario: like the office one better.
okay, so yeah, where I was going with
that was the fact that, total shots
overall, Orlando had us beat 14 to 12, but
the crucial one is the shots on target.
They had eight, eight on target,
and we only had four and it's
come on, like You need to shoot.
like, when the score is zero and
then you look at the stats and it
says zero shots on target, there
was a reason why the score was zero.
Ang: And that's the thing.
We have to capitalize on the chances
we have because we're making them
like those chances are being created.
It's just,
Mario: according to FOTMOB,
we had three big chances and
basically we missed all of those.
So
Ang: yeah.
Mario: And if you want me to define
what big chances are, don't ask me.
Cause I like,
Ang: Call Nina.
Go over
to Angel City Chicks.
Hit up Nina.
Mario: go, Hey Nina.
We heard it on, on Casual FC.
What are big chances?
Nina, come help us.
I'm going to text her right
now and tell her like, Hey,
Ang: Yeah, this is the second episode.
We're like, can you just phone in?
But overall, I think everybody
had the same feelings.
We posted up the, how you feeling
therapy session after the game.
And generally, everybody
felt the same way.
Katie said she was overly
or overall hopeful.
And that Ali Riley's post game was
spot on with the fingers crossed emoji.
So I didn't see Caps post game stuff.
So I'll have to go look at that
to see what that was all about.
I saw Merritt's and
coaches, but I didn't see
Mario: I think Ali's was something
about Like they, they just have to
step up on the, on these big moments.
And like they have to take
advantage of the moment and the
opportunity when it comes to them.
And that's just something
that they need to work on.
Ang: Yeah, I absolutely
agree.
Mario: it was.
If not, then that's what
I'm gonna say it was.
'cause they definitely
need to do that either way.
Ang: But yeah, then Ethan messaged us and
said that he was a bit underwhelmed, to
be honest, and that we need to execute
on the chances, which is what we were
just saying, and to crowd the box.
So for those who don't know, the
box By the goal, you want people
there to then have more feet
to kick the ball into the goal.
Mario: people in a small area creates
chaos, and that chaos can lead to a goal.
So Yeah.
Ang: many questions.
Clarice, where are you?
Mario: Yeah.
Ang: prior to the recording of this
episode, I took it out of my brain
because it would have been very
inappropriate given worldwide events
that are happening, um, but, I feel like
our second Frenchie is, missing, and the
vibe on the pitch Like, sometimes I'm
like, we just need a little something,
and I, honestly, I think it's Clarice
because she's such a playmaker.
So I agree with KL in wondering, what the
heck, Max messaged us and said that the
positives were that the team still looked
good and played with a lot of heart.
And once the goals start, they'll be hard
to stop, which I completely agree with.
I think that penalty that
Claire took is going to take a
little bit of that pressure off.
We scored, we pulled that band aid off.
We're good.
Max also said that the Sol Rosa looks
great, which I agree on, and that the
Prime broadcast was really well done.
I was at Rock and Brews,
so I only heard half of it.
Mario: Oh, yeah.
No, like I said, the prime
broadcast was Pretty great.
Quality was great.
I didn't really have
any, streaming issues.
So it was all good on my end.
And yes, the Sol Rosa kits looked great.
it wasn't until like halfway in
the first that I realized that both
teams were wearing their away kits.
Orlando also had their away kit,
and the way you can tell is that
every away kit has the gradient,
Ang: Yeah.
It ombre look
to it.
Mario: degree ombre gradient thing,
and then I was like, oh, it's because
we're playing in a Sol Rosa pink, and
theirs is like this kind of, Orange
Ang: It's like a coral.
Yeah.
Mario: It's like the Orange
Julius, kit, like a coral pinkish.
So both of them would have
been like colored things.
So yeah.
so it makes sense.
And then, Katie also came, another
Katie with a Y, came in with, so next
game is going to be a win, right?
Cause we're just trending upwards.
Basically, we started with a loss.
Ang: Please.
Mario: Next one's gonna be a win, right?
We just wanna, we wanna round out.
On the table, we wanna have a 1 1 1.
Basically.
Ang: Just give me some straight lines.
Mario: Exactly.
on that, let's check out the standings.
point on the road is
huge for anyone, right?
Short week, cross country.
Short week, cross country.
opponent, the fact that
we got a point was big.
We're still in 11th place.
it is what it is.
Again, that's only game two.
let's, when we're a little bit more in
the middle of the season, if we're still
in 11th place, then let's start talking.
we're fine right now.
like Katie said, next
one's going to be a win.
So, but looking at the standings, it's
been a surprising start for Portland.
They're at the bottom with two losses.
Ang: Yep.
Mario: and then,
Ang: before we were recording, I was
talking to Eva, and she brought this up.
We've been talking about it all weekend.
They, Their midfield is in, it's in
Shambles.
Yeah, they traded Emily Menges and
I feel like they regret that trade.
I don't know.
And they still have Becky Sauerbrunn.
you have Captain America on your team.
I don't know.
I have so many questions for the
Thorns for quite a few reasons.
But,
Mario: they had a pretty
cool T fell though.
Did you see it?
It was
like a dune, the
dune
Ang: they're doing TIFO.
Mario: that's pretty cool.
the other interesting thing is,
again, we've talked about it,
we've talked about earlier, was
seeing the Red Stars and KC on top.
Red Stars are in first
place, Kansas City in second,
Ang: It's wild.
Mario: more games, but it's still if it's
still roughly like this, like we're in a
Ang: This season's gonna be insane.
I, every NWSL season is,
but, league, man, what
the heck?
Mario: the excitement we want, but
just remember, this is game two.
There are tons of season left to play.
anything can happen.
They're going to keep
things interesting for us.
Which brings us to our
preview of our next opponent.
The meat and potatoes of this podcast is
the Angel City FC at Kansas City Current.
What are we looking
for?
Jeez,
Ang: be a prolific scoring team
just in these first two games.
They've put up, what, seven goals so far?
Yeah, seven.
Over two games.
yeah, Mario is currently, head in hand,
rubbing his face, just oh my god.
yeah, same.
is, I think, gonna be a true test
for us to see, one, if we can
really lock in offensively, because
we're gonna need to, in general,
we have to get the ball in the net.
We have to get the ball in the net.
In order to do anything to make
this game great or not painful,
one of the two, honestly.
Um, this team is so different this season.
Kansas City is insane.
They're whomping on people.
And it's, the scoreline for this
last game was closer, obviously,
and Portland was able to come back
in that first game a little bit.
But they are aggressively offensive.
Mario: Yeah, they're
pushing their
They're way up there.
They're just
Ang: are looking to score the jump.
Mario: exactly.
Ang: Yeah, they're different.
They're
different, season.
Mario: get your opponent on the back heel.
just get them a little
dizzy, a little mixed up.
and, that gives you just that
advantage for the rest of the match.
Ang: I think the way they're
Mario: Yeah.
Ang: Or, yeah,
well, the one thing I was gonna say
that I just thought of right now
is that the way they play is the
way we anticipated Bay FC to play.
This very forward, very
aggressive, very like score
mindset is how we anticipated BFC.
So if we're thinking that, I think
we're going to be okay overall.
A curious thing, which I'm very
curious to see how this plays out
this weekend, but Vlatko has told
the team to be humble, calm down
your celebrations, blah, blah, blah.
There is some outrage from US
national team fans because.
No, you do not make soccer.
are fss L Banta has the most
iconic and I queen of cell's.
I hate that it's against us, obviously.
Like the iconic, like
pulled hammy into a twerk.
Ugh.
It was so good.
So just so good.
Honestly, I think telling.
your team to be humble
after you suffer is stupid.
I'm just like, why are
you doing that?
Mario: No,
Ang: have Let them enjoy the game.
There's a lot of pressure on
women's sports to be proper.
And gentle and
kind and I think it's trash.
Mario: Yeah, don't give
us this like proper BS.
Like you're a professional player.
no
you everyone has the permission, the
right, the, you were born with it.
Maybe
it's Maybelline, you celebrate whichever,
which way you want, except taking off
your shirt because that's a card, but
Ang: mean, Brandi Chastain
did it so who cares.
Mario: Yeah.
Ang: down.
Mario: If you get one this
early in the season, okay, but,
celebrate, make it a thing.
The thing is, in a league like this
too, that's, it's here, there's
no denying that the NWSL is here.
Ang: Right.
Mario: there's also, and both
can be true, it's also growing,
Ang: Mm
Mario: You're still growing the sport.
The way you're gonna keep growing
it, in this day and age, is
the Instagrammable content.
It's the TikTok content.
It's
Ang: It's the little
15 second clip that is,
makes somebody go, oh, I
want to see that again.
As much as, I It makes me
so sad forever.
It's so good.
it into football, it
went into basketball, it,
like,
Mario: Exactly.
Ang: I wish we had videos because I'm
just like, ugh, with my hands right now.
The, I have big issues
around the policing of joy.
Especially in women's sports, because
that conversation is happening right
now in women's basketball, both at
collegiate and professional levels.
Let them be aggressive.
Let them be upset.
Let them be so freaking happy that
they're going to the Sweet 16.
not, not to the point where it's a
detriment to the team or to players
or whatever, but we have emotions too.
Guys have been doing this for generations.
Calm down.
Nobody cares.
woman runs around and pretends to pull
her hamstring and then twerks because she
just scored a friggin banger of a goal.
Yeah.
And is, cracking up while she's doing
it because her whole team bought it.
bought that she was hurt.
Like, no.
No.
He has the wrong take on that.
And she even said, when we're at
home, things might be a little bit
Mario: yeah.
And you know what?
Do the damn thing.
But I will ask, okay, if
you're going to tone it down
during, against us, then okay.
Ang: fine.
Mario: Because, don't hurt my feelings.
Ang: That part.
Please, La Bonta, don't hurt my feelings.
In general.
Just please don't.
Mario: Unless it becomes another
Ang: aside from that,
Mario: one, you can't be mad at it.
Ang: please just wait till next week.
Just wait till your next matchup.
Mario: But yes, I agree.
Telling them
to calm down or be humble is
like the dumbest thing ever.
Ang: Like, you tell
the woman to calm down.
That's, that's the only, ugh.
It makes me so angry.
Mario: I bet you he never
told it straight to them too.
It was like more of a, he said it to
a reporter, like on the side and be
like, don't tell them don't say I said
Ang: This is off the record,
Mario: heard this from someone,
Ang: no.
from that, I just need, I
need to know how my girl M.A.
Is doing.
Mostly because I just hope she's okay.
Mario: as soon as MA was on the ground.
Both of us started texting each
other, oh my god, what's going on?
What's happening?
She's limping off the field.
Ang: yeah.
Mario: This looks
bad.
Hopefully it's not bad.
please
Ang: I'm really grateful for the
length of this season and the
Olympic break is all I'm saying.
Mario: Yes.
Yeah.
Ang: so that she has time to heal and
that there's the possibility still,
I will hope, amongst hopes, wish on
every star, there's a full moon, if
you believe in astrology and stuff,
do some things for MA, like, whatever
it is, throw some up for our girl, I
know her family is probably stressed,
so, Yeah, I just want some news.
Hopefully it's good news.
Like, let's just get like
a funky weird injury.
And then she's got to
take a few weeks off.
Maybe even like a month or two.
That's okay.
A month or two means May.
birthday present for me, even
if it's belated.
A birthday
present for you.
cool.
Birthday present for Jackie
from Women Kick Balls.
for
my mom.
We've got all kinds
Mario: we got birthdays.
Ah, okay.
MA, please let us know.
Angel City, let us know.
we just want to know that she's okay.
And we're hoping, yeah.
we're sending, we're gonna be dipping
a little bit in that good luck,
Ang: the Good Luck
Mario: in the good luck fund.
And sending it just directly to MA and
be like, you need a little bit of this.
Hopefully it helps.
So yeah.
Ang: Yeah, absolutely.
Kansas City, okay, I've already
talked about Loâeau Labonta, I'm
gonna just start off with her.
She's in the midfield, she's from
Rancho Cucamonga, so she's got,
California vibes, which makes
so much sense, personality wise.
so good at scoring, dispossessing
in the midfield, just being up
there and being like, no, this
is my ball now, running away.
Um, just overall, being great, like
I said, her sellies are perfect.
As good of a player as she is, she's
a even better leader in the community.
She has really, stepped up to be
the face of the team in Kansas City.
She did the voiceover for the NWSL
commercials, her face is all over
the streetcars in Kansas City.
She's just Like, I'm so happy for her
that she's getting, the recognition in
the city, aside from the recognition
that we all know, she's frickin great.
So that's Loâeau Labonta.
She is number 10 in the midfield.
Um, then, the next person I want
to talk about is Bia Zaneratto.
She is a forward.
If you watched the game the
first week against Portland, she
came out of nowhere to score.
A few different reporters I follow
that follow different teams were
like, you guys gotta watch out
for her because she's sneaky good.
She's just in the right
place at the right time.
Guess what country she plays for?
Brazil.
Surprising she doesn't only go
by one name, but it's cause her
first name is a little short one.
So,
Mario: it a year and
she might be like, yeah.
Just going to go but be it now.
Ang: right, she's appeared, I
honestly thought she was like 22.
She's appeared in four women's
world cups and two Olympics.
I was really confused
when I looked that up.
So I was like, you're almost my age.
what?
This is confusing.
but she is number nine.
And just.
So good.
She, like I said, she finds the
ball, she finds where she needs to
be to get the connection to the pass,
all of that, Yet another person we
need to look out for defensively.
And then the scream I scrumped
during the first week of the
NWSL watching this Kansas city
game when Temwa Chawinga came in.
So she is the captain of
the Malawi national team.
like I said, we're getting
into African soccer again.
I'm going to cry about it.
I'm going to scream about
it because it's insane.
I have.
I was a track and field athlete.
I understand how speed works, how people
run, what makes you go faster, all that.
I was a thrower, but
now I'm a speed coach.
It's a whole thing.
I've never seen someone mid
stride change their speed.
they, she changed her gait, her stride
got longer, and she just ate up the field.
the
mid, like,
Mario: the X button.
That's why you just, you hold the X
button on the controller and they go
Ang: yeah, that's, honestly,
that's what it looked like.
I made Eva, run back into her living room.
I was like, come here right now!
You have to see her play!
She's so quick.
She's so smart.
You can see her soccer IQ.
you know how, in different movies and
stuff, you have, the radar in, the robots
I swear to you, that's how her brain
has
Mario: or the like math meme where
you like someone just like with
like calculations going all over
Ang: Yes.
Yes, absolutely.
She is Shockingly good.
Within the first 10 minutes of her
coming into that game, she completely
changed the speed of the game.
The vibe was different.
She assisted on two goals,
I think, one or two.
she's dangerous.
And I'm excited to watch her
play, but I hate that it's
against all three of these women.
Honestly, I could watch them play
forever, but just not against my team.
Mario: All right.
So just to recap for you,
we've got number six.
I'm going to let you say it
again, just real quick for me.
Ang: either Temwa or Te(a)mwa , I'm
not sure, but her last name is Chawinga.
Mario: Chawinga.
We've got number nine, Bia Zaneratto.
And number 10, Loâeau Labonta.
they're all going to be big threats.
They're all going to be playmakers.
they're all going to be people
to really keep your eye on.
and, if one or two of them are
just not in the starting, then,
Ang: But also, I don't
want them to sub in.
I want them to get tired.
yeah, because that first game
Chawinga came in and subbed
in and I was like, oh no.
Yeah, for our Angels, Q Charley's Angels
reference, number 9000, our three that
I want to cover today are, shockingly,
all defense, because we're gonna need it.
guessing M.A.
Is gonna be out, just given
how much pain she was in.
Yeah.
her, the sub that came in for M.A.
Was Merritt Mathias.
Making her second?
Yeah, appearance of the season and not in
Mario: being
Ang: the later game.
She had a rough offseason.
mentioned it before, she was recovering
from a knee injury that took longer
to, to rehab than anticipated.
Her dog passed away and she was
also diagnosed with diabetes,
which slows down your healing,
slows down a lot of the things your
body is supposed to do naturally.
There's a million different
reasons why diabetes happens.
And to see that in such a high
caliber athlete, super sucks.
Because it's I wonder now if she's
granted, she's probably going to process
this over the last year or so, but it's
that oh, is this why this happened?
Or, oh, is this why I couldn't
heal well enough the first time?
Or, you get in your head about
all those different things.
So I'm so happy that
she's back on the pitch.
Her play style seems to have
changed from when she was at North
Carolina, which I'm down with.
She wasn't my favorite
player on North Carolina.
wasn't for me, but she's, the intensity
and the intent of her play hasn't changed,
that's still, the meat is still there,
but there's a different level of,
I think, maturity, honestly, and if
you want some NWSL lore, There is
an infamous Merritt Mathias tweet
that, she posted after her ACL, she
had an ACL injury a few years back.
And the gist is that I did
not tear ACL was torn for me.
It's a whole very
dramatic thing.
I completely understand it,
but it's also very funny.
I'll send it to you later.
Mario: okay.
Okay.
Ang: but number 12, Merritt Mathias,
I'm happy she's back on the pitch.
I hope she has a great game.
She's most, I'm assuming
she's going to get the start
Mario: I would think
Ang: with our backline.
Mario: for the way she came
in to, to take over ma.
Ang: She played fantastic
and she was, she held up that
speed and level intense, a level
of intensity for the whole game.
So I wouldn't be surprised if she started.
my next person is the one,
the only, Paige Nielsen.
I love Paige.
I love defense, we all know this.
I super love Paige for a million reasons.
Um, she was my second kit.
All of my kits are defenders.
Mario: Yeah, we, yeah.
Ang: Nobody's surprised.
Like, the interesting thing for me is
that I think Paige is having, what some
people's considering a breakout season,
but I'm like, this is just Paige Nielsen.
If you've been paying attention
for longer than two years,
this is Paige, being Paige.
And I think a lot of people forget
in that first season of Angel City,
she was recovering from almost dying.
And a blood clot where she
had to have a rib removed,
the whole thing.
This is Paige at the
top of her game, again.
is, this is how she was playing back East
on other teams in other countries, she,
is so solid.
She is a brick
Mario: she had an amazing save
during that Orlando match where, if
it wasn't for her, that was a goal.
Like it unfortunately passed past,
Angelina and but Paige was there to knock,
and it was hairy because it was like.
She, the only thing she could do is
slide and kick it up and it is just
if she kicked it up a little bit more,
it would have gone like into the net.
Ang: It.
Ha.
She came in there with the perfect
trajectory and got that thing out.
She is.
So like during the game, we're
sitting at rock and bruise.
Eva turns to me and my mom,
and she goes, are you willing
to bestow her your nickname?
And I started laughing so hard because
in high school and I was playing
basketball, my teammates called me
the wall because of the screens.
I would set, like you could not get by me.
I set a screen on the baseline.
Good luck to that poor, sweet little
guard who's about to run into me, who's
five feet tall The amount of people
that ended up on the ground because
they ran into me was more than 10.
it was a lot.
And, it was the kind of thing we
set up the play so that the first
green was me, and then I got my guard
free, which is what you want to do.
But Paige is a brick wall for our defense.
She, I talk up Sarah Gordon, Paige
is, right there for different reasons.
They are so good together and
having them as our center backs
is just so comforting in my brain.
is just different.
And I feel like in learning,
cause she found out that people
were saying that they didn't
know she was actually this good.
And she posted it, I think
she posted it on Instagram,
I've been playing for a while.
Like this isn't new.
This is just who I am.
And I think a lot of.
The drive to excel this season was
that of you didn't know my name?
Oh, you don't know who I am?
Okay, I'll make sure I'm here for it.
let's effing go.
Mario: And not soccer related, but
she has two really amazing dogs too.
Ang: real cute.
Mario: like looking at her
Instagram with the dogs, but she is.
a beast on our defense and I love it.
And like, just getting to hear from
her when she, during her podcast,
hopefully it continues or something,
but, but knowing that we've got her
on our back line, that's one of the
reasons why the Orlando game was so close
was because of our back
line, held it down.
So it's.
we're not worried about her backline
Ang: No.
Mario: in, previous years, there's
been a little bit of worry because,
like one side might be lacking the
other side, like it wasn't right now
we've got a solid wall back there.
So
Ang: Yeah.
And even our, our subs,
like they're super subs.
They're not just okay.
MA went down in the first half
and Merritt came off the bench
and I was like, that's fine.
that MA is hurt.
I'm not upset with the sub who came in.
it's not one of a, it's
not a consolation prize.
It's oh sweet.
She actually is going to get minutes.
perfect.
This is great.
We need reps.
And then last, but certainly not
least, is Amandine Mandy Henry.
she's only called Mandy
here in the States.
Nobody else calls her that.
She's that's my American name.
She is our
midfield.
Mario: like butchers Amandine.
Ang: absolutely, absolutely.
Yeah,
The, the commentators that, when I
did hear them, were mispronouncing
things all over the place.
During the game on Friday, and I'm like,
there's pronunciation guides that the
teams give you, please use them, if
you're calling international sports,
you need to know how to pronounce
people's names, but I digress, Mandy
is great, she, when we picked her
up last season, I was super excited
because she's so solid as a midfielder.
She locks it down.
Like our midfield has just,
it is different this season.
I don't know if anybody else has noticed.
We're solid in our midfield.
And again, our midfield subs, it's fine.
It's just, it's another
starting lineup for most teams.
And that's honestly at this
level is what it should be, but
Mandy also knows how to win.
She's an offensively minded midfielder
who obviously plays defense,
but she's not afraid to score.
I'm hoping she gets a
header in sometime soon.
She won a championship
in 2017 with Portland.
She's a French national team player.
She played for Lyon.
She, she has a storied career and we're
lucky that she came back to the NWSL.
it was one of those where it's
I'll never play here again.
But given that she was playing for
Portland in 2016 2017, I get it.
Cause that's when
everything went down.
Mario: yes,
Ang: I wouldn't want to come back to
this league at that time either, frankly.
I think there had to have been a lot of,
a lot of personal healing done for her.
And the league had to do a lot in
order, and a lot of players are starting
to come back, which is really great.
Overall, those are my angels.
That's who I think we
should pay attention to.
Mario: So in the back there, defending
against all of those forwards and
midfielders that we talked about on
KC, we've got Merritt at number 12.
We've got Paige, number 14, and
then Amandine we've got at number
26, and our history with Kansas
City has been three wins and one
draw, and zero losses, so we've,
Ang: Knock on wood,
that zero stays a zero.
Mario: Yes, we have not
Ang: I'll take a draw.
Mario: I'll take that.
I'll take a draw, but we're supposed
to be on an upward trend here.
So let's get that fourth
win against Kansas, but
Ang: Yeah, fourth win, three points.
I'm so down.
Let's make up a goal differential.
Mario: let's be the fun party spoilers
and spoil their, make, give them
their first loss in their new stadium.
Ang: everybody needs
the band aid pulled off.
So let's be the ones to do it.
Let's crash this party.
But, no, I'm very excited for this game.
I think it's going to be
a very intense matchup.
But We'll see.
I'll be with Eva and I'll probably
piss off her neighbors, but oh
because they're not the best.
Mario: yes.
Just a reminder on where
to watch and listen.
The game is going to be
Saturday, March 30th.
It's being played at Kansas
City at CPK Stadium in Kansas
City, Missouri at 1230 PM.
It's going to be on ESPN and ESPN
So ESPN also means like you can
go to a bar, you can watch it
because they're going to have ESPN,
Ang: them to put it on.
It's 12 30.
I
Mario: They just opened
Ang: one, they've just opened.
Two, basketball games
are a little bit later.
They've got time.
They can dedicate at least one TV.
Tell them to chill.
Yes.
Mario: you can't watch it on TV and
you can't be there, the game will be on
iHeartRadio, so go ahead and listen there.
Like I said, sometimes it's my
preferred way to listen and watch
is to listen to Isaac and Tracy call
the game while watching the game on
whatever streaming service it's on.
There is a delay, right?
Just like radio, any type of radio
has a delay, so there is a delay.
Usually when I do this, I take off my like
watch, my, my Apple watch, and I like turn
off notifications, because I don't want
one of the million, sports apps that I
have buzzing at me saying that there was
a goal like a minute before it happened,
so I will give you that word of warning.
and, And there will be a watch
party hosted by Angel City.
It'll be, the party starts at 1130.
Again, kickoff is going to be at 1230.
They will be at 33 Taps both in
Culver City and in Silver Lake.
But it's March Madness and Angela
is going to be like in a crazy
whirlwind of sports this weekend.
Ang: Yeah, I put a note.
Yeah, read that note that I put in
there for you to read.
Mario: Yeah, we know it's
the Sweet 16 and the Elite 8.
Please take a break at some find
some time to take a break, rest
your brain, watch a different sport.
This is really only directed to Angela at
the moment, but if you are one of these
people who have lost yourself in like over
30 hours of basketball this week alone
Ang: This weekend, like from Friday to
now, I've watched easily, let's see, I
watched five games today, three yesterday,
Mario: this
count all the like, all
the stoppages in time too?
Ang: Yes.
Mario: Okay.
Ang: They, yes, yeah, I've easily
watched close to 20 different games
just of the women's tournament, so do
yourself a favor and walk around, and
when I re listen to this on Wednesday
once it goes live, I'm gonna, yep,
this is a note to future Angela,
Mario: Yeah.
Future Angela, please
stand up and walk around.
I know you're good at
drinking your water, but
Ang: take a break.
Mario: so yeah, that's what we got
for you for this Angel City preview.
Ang: Yeah.
All right, everybody, thank you
for listening this far and getting
through my crazy noodle of a brain.
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Needs a little bit more, luck here.
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Ang: Absolutely.
Alright everybody, enjoy
the games this weekend.
Watch a whole bunch of them.
We'll see you next week!
Mario: All right, bye.
It's all your basketball right now.
Just
Ang: It's that,
and X Men, like,
Mario: Jock Jams and X Men.
That's what you got in
your head right now?
Ang: honestly, all the time, I
have the Pink Jock Jam on loop.
That specific one,
probably since like 1996.
Yeah, the Pink Jock Jam CD, I have it
somewhere, like I still have it, for sure.
It's my favorite.
Anyway,
all right, let's do this.
We have random dumb shit for
me to put in the beginning.
Okay, go for it.