Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
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 okay.
The intro was, I was actually
thinking about do we record the intro?
But then,
Angela: No.
Mario: no, we have a really good intro.
Let's leave that one.
Angela T1: Hi everyone, and welcome to
Casual FC, an Angel City preview pod.
I'm your host, Angela Morales, my Dad
of the Year co host, Mario Salazar.
And today we are joined by none other
than Gotham Superfan, extraordinaire
soccer, I don't even know.
I'm running out of adjectives.
It's six, it's seven
o'clock in the morning.
This is fantastic.
We have the one, the only Christian
Polanco from a very small podcast that
kind of sometimes talks about soccer.
You may have heard about it.
The Cooligans.
So welcome
Christian T1: Thank you so much.
thank you for the introduction.
yeah, super fan.
I love leading with that.
I, it.
It's, yeah, Gotham's, seeing their
success, and going from sky blue to
Gotham and then even being in San Diego
when they won the NWSL championship,
which is all, very surreal to be,
like, on the field hugging Ali Krieger,
those are, I feel like I get that.
Yeah.
It's like SuperFan, but it's even,
it feels more surreal than that.
What's above SuperFan?
Cause it's I feel like
a Make A Wish kid.
That's it.
That's where,
Angela T1: It's like super fan
plus like super best friend fan.
It's these
Christian T1: yeah.
Angela T1: it's your team.
And it's, that's how
we are with Angel City.
We're total homers.
And it's no, these are, this is my team.
You cannot tell me otherwise.
We, we're struggling right
now and it's still I will find
every good thing that this team
Christian T1: No, I get, yeah.
we will talk yeah, there's a, I
have an affinity also for Angel
City because I, Alexis and I did
get to be there in that first year.
I did get to.
Hang out with the supporters.
We saw the, we were in the room
when the first kit was revealed.
we were in
the room with Mia Hammond.
So we, which again, is bigger
than, it's again, another
make a wish, miracle.
I can't, I cannot
believe that the decisions I've made in
my life led me to be in a room To see the
kit for the first time with Mia Hamm, so
it's been, a very strange turn of events,
in soccer and women's soccer, and get
to experience these things is surreal,
yeah, it's dope, to say the least.
Angela T1: Definitely.
Well, this is our match preview of our
next game, which is a matchup between
Angel City and Gotham on Saturday,
June 8th, taking place in Harrison
New Jersey at Red Bull Arena, which.
I have gone by on a train because my
fiancĆĀ©e's from, she's from New Jersey
and we were going to see her family.
It's like a whole big trip, but big arena.
I didn't realize, it's on par with BMO.
it's substantial in size, which makes
sense why it's outside of the city.
Because, like,
Christian T1: Am I right?
it's, yeah, Red Bull Arena is a,
Honestly, it's, I'm an NYCFC fan,
so Red Bull Arena is a place where
I'm like, ugh, I don't feel great,
it's what I've always been, but it's
like,
Angela T1: fair.
Right.
Christian T1: better stadium experiences,
especially, And I'm like, even on the
East Coast, there's better ones now.
there's a lot of new stadiums that have
been built, and now it's really on par.
But for the New York area, and if
you're going to go see soccer, there
really aren't much better experiences.
The problem, the Red Bull have the
Issue of people always complain
and NYC fans make the joke of
you can't fill the stadium.
But when you're at Red Bull Arena and
it is full, like I've been there for
the Derby matches are pretty full, for
international games, Gold Cup matches.
It is.
If you go see Costa Rica against Honduras,
it is, you're not saying anything
about like the stadium experience.
It is intense.
so yeah, it is, yeah, without a
doubt, it's a great stadium, and
the, Gotham has made it, it's home
during their match days, and the
supporters are great, and it's
just, it's little by little, it's tough
to get people there, Gotham and Red
Bull have this kind of same struggle,
just getting people there, but to, the
stadium experience itself is awesome,
Angela T1: that's awesome.
kickoff starts at 930 Pacific time.
We
don't usually
Mario T1: morning game for us.
Angela T1: it's a morning game,
have, it's coffee and soccer morning.
we don't normally do East Coast times
given that we are very much LA folks, but
given the situation, kickoff is at 1230.
Eastern Time.
And the game will be streaming on CBS
and Paramount So I'm like, over here
tooting my horn about national broadcasts.
And oh my god, we're on
regular TV all the time.
It makes me so happy to see women's
sports nationally broadcast, which
feels like a big ask even still.
On radio, we'll be streaming on
iHeartRadio on the Angel City Network
with Isaac and Tracy, who we love dearly.
And yeah, if you're here in LA on
Saturday, the party is going to
kick off at nine o'clock at high
tops and endless villas on Vermont.
So make sure you check out Angel City
socials to go hang out really early in
the morning with a whole bunch of fans.
Mario T1: Yeah.
Christian T1: and
Mario T1: I hear High Tops has
a pretty good brunch selection,
Angela T1: Ooh.
Mario T1: probably be a good watch party.
Christian T1: see, this, also the
thing about LA, and, I go there often
to do stand up especially, but you,
when you said like Los Felix, and
it's just I'm like, I wanna say Los
Feliz.
right?
Angela T1: Because it's
Christian T1: it's correct.
And It's like, Redondo, it,
no, it's Redondo, right?
No.
it's all
these little things.
I'm like,
Angela T1: Yep.
Christian T1: it's, I
have to shut it off.
I have to like, okay, this is, it's.
Angela T1: Every Spanish
speaker has to shut it off.
Even those who are
from here.
It's
Mario T1: Yeah.
Angela T1: to, I was, I said
it on a previous episode.
Like I work, the company I work
for outside of the podcast,
like I'm constantly dealing with
different neighborhoods and cities.
And it's like, all these places are
in like the city of Los Angeles, but
they're just little neighborhoods.
And.
90 percent of the time I'll be like,
Los Feliz, and I just have to like,
Christian T1: Because,
Angela T1: my brain because most of
the time people are like, what is that?
Christian T1: yeah, because they're
gonna, they're gonna do oh, what did you,
study abroad in Barcelona, or they think
you're being like a snob, and it's no,
I'm saying it right.
Angela T1: no,
I'm
Mario T1: Yeah,
Angela T1: and I learned
how to speak Spanish.
So
Christian T1: Oh my goodness.
Angela T1: All right.
So are going to jump into our
regular match preview stuff,
roundabouts, all the good stuff.
And then we will get to our interview
with Christian in a few minutes.
Mario: Alright, holy shit.
We, yeah, we just talked, we just
finished talking to Christian.
we're cutting to a different day.
Our normal recording day is Monday.
Christian from the Cooligans is
Angela: Already
Mario: East Coast.
He's on the East Coast, and so in order
to record with him, we had to, figure
something out, and so we pre recorded
with him last week on Friday about the
Gotham match, and, we were excited,
so thank you so much to Christian,
and you will actually be hearing more
from him later on in this episode
when we get down to the match preview.
We'll cut back to the rest of what we
recorded with him, and yeah, that'll be
Angela: was excited because, we just got
to interview basically a stand up comic.
somebody who's just inherently so funny.
But this was, like, different level.
I easily could have talked
to him for the whole day.
I could have just been
like, tell me everything.
tell me about your
Mario: it.
Angela: We easily could have
transitioned that into a soccer, women's
basketball, baseball conversation.
And I was like, don't do it, don't
do it, don't do it the whole time.
Mario: Yeah, it just being able to
talk to him like we got the email,
we got the okay and all of that
and we were just both freaking out.
So just talking to him was super easy.
Super glad we had him on the pod.
And it was Can't wait for you
guys to hear it and also can't
wait to have him back on.
Angela: honestly.
Mario: his pod partner was not available.
He got, sent by CBS to the
Champions League Finals.
I would have said I would have
said, sorry Casual, I'm gonna go
to the Champions League Final.
Like that, yeah, valid response.
Angela: I don't even follow men's soccer.
I would have been like,
where are my plane tickets?
Sign me up.
Mario: ha.
Angela: Absolutely.
it was just, it was
genuinely just the best time.
And, oh, I love talking sports with
people who love talking sports.
It's just the best.
It's absolute best.
Mario: And then, not only
is that huge, mega for us,
Angela: guys.
Mario: we were, we have been
so stoked with everyone that
we've been able to interview.
Interviewing Christian is up there
with the fact that, The fact that
we got all the SGs together, and we,
recorded with all of them, with the
fact that we recorded with Tracy, and,
we got to, deep dive with her on, just
everything about her and broadcast,
our first interview being Elizabeth,
this has been such a great journey.
Angela: it sounds like
we're going to quit.
Mario: We're not quitting.
We're not quitting.
Angela: no, we're not quitting at all.
Mario: but It's been so amazing that
every single time we get the next thing,
I'm gonna say it's, the next thing always
tops, it's topping our expectation.
We're never, it's never like the next
thing has topped the last person we did
because we respect and are in awe of
everyone we've talked to on this and
in awe of all the people responding
to us, week in and week out on giving
us your two cents on the match and
just being a part of the community.
It's been super fun.
And every time we get a new thing
coming up, that's just adding
another, layer to this cake.
And it's been freaking an amazing ride.
And all of this before our first year,
this is our one year anniversary podcast.
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: We both didn't realize
this till like this week.
The
Angela: I want to say, Sunday?
Yes.
over the weekend, I texted Mario,
half screaming, in all caps,
this is our birthday episode!
I'm so excited!
I don't know what, it
just randomly hit me.
I, woke up, I think, I took a nap at Eva's
and I was like, wait a second, oh, guys,
Mario: thing is that I wrote this down.
it's in our calendar.
I wrote this down, but then I completely
forgot about it until you like said it,
we're recording this episode, getting
ready for this Gotham match preview.
And I completely forgot about the
fact that this is our one year.
So
Angela: it's just so dope that it's our,
the, our one year anniversary, the first
time we published anything is actually
on game day, which is wild to me.
It doesn't feel like it's been that
long, but then I remember recording
everything for the World Cup and
I was like, it was that long.
Mario: yeah, it's that long.
Angela: We also didn't know
what we were doing at the time.
We're just like, let's just do it.
But,
Mario: you make it sound like
we do know what we're doing.
Angela: a little bit,
Mario: Kind of.
But
Angela: Polanco said,
I know what I'm doing.
So I'm just going to, I'm
going to ride that wave
Mario: yeah, let's write it.
Let's write it.
If the Cooligans gave us a chance.
Angela: everyone this last year.
Mario: It's been freaking amazing.
Angela: will start weeping.
Mario: It's been awesome,
everyone, and thank you so much.
and with all that craziness and
amazingness and tears of joy,
let's get to the Chaos Award.
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: Let's get back into the show.
Angela: soccer, the whole
Mario: Okay,
also been two weeks,
Angela: I was going to say Angel City's
last match was two and a half weeks ago.
we were talking before we started
recording and I was like, what happened?
I don't remember.
And I said that, jokingly, I blacked
out while recording with Christian.
I don't remember anything.
Mario: Yeah, no, I barely
remember what I ate this morning.
So I'm like, I didn't write it down.
I, but the one thing I did write down,
and I do remember was the fact that in
our match, both coaches got yellow cards.
So that's our chaos award for
Angela: We have said, I think it's
every other week, is that somebody, like
the amount of yellow cards are like,
coaches getting carded, players getting,
everybody, Oprah, you get a card, you
get a card, everybody gets a card.
that's the season, in general, but
have both Becky and Casey Stoney
get cards in the last game was wild.
Silly, I honestly think both of
them were justified, but they were
also justified in their actions
because the game was bonkers for a
Mario: Yeah.
there's so much going on in that game, so
much and so little going on in that game.
okay, let's do a quick roundabout
for the matches, scores that
happened two weeks ago, just to keep
everybody, get everybody back in
line after this international break.
in that last round of matches,
Orlando beat Portland 2 1,
extending their unbeaten streak.
They are now the record holders.
Don't ask me how many it is
right now, because I don't know.
But they are the record holders.
I think it's seven now, right?
Angela: Seven or eight.
It's a lot.
And they just signed, oh, what's her name?
They just signed Grace Chanda from Zambia.
So this in the past future, the pew
ture, with Christian, they're now
known as like Brazzalambia, because
that team is Brazilians and Zambians
and they're running through teams.
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: good luck.
Mario: Oh, man.
Okay, so the Spirit beat Seattle
3 2, Houston got a win, they beat
Courage 3 0, Bay FC lost to Gotham
0 2, Chicago lost to Racing 0 1.
Doesn't really boast well, since
also the two teams were facing them
next, and Utah lost to the current,
0 1, which brings us to our match.
And our match against our California
rivals, now one of our California
rivals, we got two, versus the SD,
blah, blah, blah, blah, rewind.
And so that brings us up to our match.
Our match was against the Wave.
Our California rivals are.
One of three California teams, so we have
two rivals now in California and we had,
I was going to try to make a
joke, but it fell flat on there.
Rewind.
And the score came out to zero, zero.
Super exciting.
It's fine.
You can tie in soccer.
It's a thing.
Angela: This is one of those
where it felt like a win.
We didn't get the points as if it were a
win, but it felt like it, it felt gritty.
Mario: It felt gritty.
we had some injuries that we were
going up against a very tough lineup.
So yes, it did feel like a win.
Two weeks later, doesn't feel
like a win, but I remember that
feeling when we were there.
It felt like a win.
Angela: that night was a oof, nobody
scored, but Our defense was frickin
everyone on that team stepped up.
Sarah was out, M.
A.
is not 90 ready yet,
Dougherty Howard is out.
Like we have so many random injuries,
knock on wood, not SEIs, you know,
additional than what we already had, but
like little knocks here and there that
are starting to add up, or bigger injuries
that people are rehabbing from, but This
team stepped up and in the post game
presser, everyone said, no, Sarah Gorden
is the hardest working person out there,
the least I can do go out there and give
everything I've got because that's all she
would want, and I was like, okay, fine,
I guess so, but good news, as of today,
Becky Tweed is saying that Sarah's day
to day, which is so amazing, yeah, I, Let
the universe shine down on Sarah Gordon.
Also, this is unrelated to the
match, but I just pulled up
Instagram and a couple hours ago,
so this is Monday night at 9 30.
So a couple hours ago, Jun posted
that she, it's been almost a month, so
three weeks since her second surgery,
which apparently has helped a lot.
I really don't like the fact that, So
many of these ACL issues are now requiring
multiple surgeries to rehab from.
I'm hoping that means that we
have a better Scope of injury
recovery going forward but yuck.
Mario: I think from the last From
the last thing I heard about how ACL
injuries have been treated, and that's
one of the reasons that, PRESS has had
multiple, surgeries, is that, they're
trying to do more, tactical surgeries,
trying to do smaller increments of what
they need to do instead of trying to
be like, here, let me make this one big
attachment, and then you're gonna be
good, They're trying to do more, let's
fix this little issue, let's let you heal
a little bit, let's Fix this other thing.
So hopefully that's, that just means that
although there are multiple procedures,
the overall recovery and getting back
to full strength is, shorter or even if
it's not shorter, it's just more secure,
Angela: Yeah.
Yeah.
So all the good healing
vibes to our girl Jun.
the supporter groups had a big happy
birthday sign for her after the last game.
But yeah, I, back to the
game though, Didi was on one.
I don't know what happened.
granted, she was just locked in.
We went to the hundredth minute.
There was a million years of stoppage.
It felt like in the second half and she
made at the death basically and wow the
ball went off the crossbar came back down
she stopped it there like it was just
boom it felt like for the last seconds
of the game which probably felt like
45 minutes to most people in the arena
Mario: Oh, yeah.
Angela: no the team really locked
in we looked really free like
we're starting to play free again
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: that makes me really happy.
Gisele and Alyssa on the pitch
at the same time, oh my god,
give it to me in my veins.
That's a jolt.
Those two playing off of each other
is gonna be so much fun, guys.
if you missed the last
game, get ready for it.
Get ready.
This is gonna be so fun.
Alyssa's there.
She's, Gisele almost put it
in, Alyssa almost had one.
it's coming, and the floodgates
are gonna open, and we're just
gonna be scoring machines and
work our way back up the table.
faith.
My faith has
Mario: You're
Angela: restored.
I also, got sleep.
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: hopeful.
Mario: yes, I will agree.
DiDi was on one and she like those saves
that she had were freaking amazing.
And the thing is that Yes, I agree.
It felt a lot more fluid when
it was able to be, right?
we were, there were some points where
we were getting shut down, and I know
there was a little bit of discourse
online about, should Didi keep starting?
Should Anderson come on?
And, okay, look, I'm an Anderson fan.
I love DiDi also.
I was ready for Anderson to come on.
Unfortunately, she got the short
end of the stick by not performing
in some really bad games, right?
her bad performance was
not completely her fault.
But unfortunately, that was
her performance, and so we
said it at the beginning of
the season, it was her to lose.
It was hers to lose, and she did.
so now, DiDi's got it, DiDi's solid,
and it's DiDi's to lose at this point.
there's no, in, in the keeper
position, there's no, Unless something
bad happens during training, you
pretty much aren't going to get
called out of your position from
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: training, right?
if you're a forward, if you're a
defense, and something is, lacking
in training, you're not quite in
the right headspace, you'll get
benched, but as a keeper, you won't.
Angela: with Clarisse.
I don't know if you saw that
article, Kamran Nia posted.
They interviewed Clarisse and she
said, told I wasn't bringing it.
In training, so I wasn't gonna play, and
I had to, dig deep to figure that out, to
change it, and now she's starting again,
and I was like, Justice for Clarisse!
Mario: ha.
Angela: it's that kind of thing, though,
where, for, if you're a field player,
it's so different, because you're a little
more interchangeable if you're a keeper.
Not
Mario: Yeah,
Angela: interchangeable,
but it's a different vibe.
It's a different selection process.
Mario: yeah, when things are rocky
and you're switching between goalies,
that's not a good position to be
in, but when you've got a keeper in
and they are solid, You let it ride.
You let them go until something
happens, or, there's a dip, then
they lose it, and you let the other
person go in, and, that's just how
it rolls, I hope, Angelina gets some
playtime, maybe during that, fill in
tournament during the Olympics, but
Angela: cup, not challenge cup.
Mario: Challenge Cup 2.
0, but hopefully, yeah, hopefully
she gets some minutes, hopefully
she gets some time, because, match
minutes are completely different
than, practice minutes, and, let's,
hoping the best for both of them,
but Didi, you are killing it.
Rocking it, and you can stay there
as long as you want, that is yours.
Angela: absolutely.
So after the game, Mario posted,
how are we feeling after that draw?
To see, we wanted to get a heat
check, if you guys are feeling how
we were feeling, all that good stuff.
Max came in saying that he was
honestly relieved having an entire
backup defense is terrifying.
Which, absolutely.
No matter how good your team is,
like even if you have a second
string full of starters, which we
basically do, it's still jarring as
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: Fan or as somebody
who's watching the game.
'cause you're like, that's not normal.
I don't know who that is.
you're like, people are
not in the right places.
What's happening?
People are playing all over the place.
I'll take it.
Kay sent the emoji with a thermometer,
the clenched teeth emoji, a smiley
emoji, a little spirit finger guy.
a peeking out between your hands like
you're watching a scary movie emoji and
then a party emoji and then said Alyssa
with a bunch of s's and a's at the end
and then prayer hands which apparently
are high fives according to the emoji
Mario: Yes.
Angela: they're not No.
Mario: They're high fives.
Angela: Societally, they are perhaps.
Vero said at least we
got a point on the board.
We were rocking up in
Mario came up to hang out.
one of the guys couldn't make it, but
else, we were just buzzing up there.
Everybody was like, oh, so much energy.
It was a good time.
Aaron said, I will take it.
And Dustin said, I'll take a clean
sheet against Shaw, Morgan, and Sanchez.
Didi was awesome, and it's no easy ask to
score on Girma, Dahlkemper, and Sheridan.
all in all, I'm really happy.
I thought we played a hell of a game.
And yeah, there was a second where, in
the beginning of the game, Didi got,
the she went to catch the ball, but
hit it down and it like, came back up
and hit her in the jaw or something
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: And so she was down for a minute.
They got her some painkillers.
Kaelin Sheridan.
I mentioned it to the folks in our
section, but for those who don't remember,
they were both on, this is like tying
back to the Angel City is Gotham 2.
0 section,
Mario: Yeah.
Yeah.
Angela: DiDi played as Kaitlyn Sheridan's
backup when they were both on Gotham.
So they're very good friends.
Like at Kaitlyn Sheridan's
wedding, DiDi was there.
Like they're very close.
So it's
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: yeah, you, they went
to check up on each other.
And the same thing happened last
season when Sheridan went down at
some point, DiDi hauled it across
the pitch to be like, yo, you good.
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: It's partly solidarity as
keepers, but it's also because they're,
like, they've trained together, they're
friends, they've been through some stuff.
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: Yeah,
Mario: They might be a little
bit more honest to each
other than their own physio.
Angela: honestly.
And one thing that blew my mind that
I didn't realize until she was subbed
out, I forgot Maria Sanchez was there.
Mario: Yeah,
Angela: Completely.
Mario: it was not,
Angela: her out, and I was like, huh?
Mario: yeah, it was not the threat
that we thought it was going to be.
I, honestly, all of us in that
section were just like, wait, what?
She was playing?
so I don't know what it was.
Angela: for our defense.
Mario: Yes.
Angela: much.
Mario: Yeah.
we'll see if she's, She's going
to be a threat no matter what, so
we'll see if she's a bigger threat
when we travel down to San Diego.
But also I want to shout out
Dustin here for, not letting the
Instagram little window keep you
down on your character count.
He sent us three different
messages to get his whole
thought out, so good on you, man.
Angela: thoughts, guys.
and then Alma said that we need to finish
our chances, which absolutely we do.
They talked to Becky Tweet about it.
I saw a clip today where she
was saying like, yeah, we need
to be able to see those better.
And to act on them earlier so that
we can, navigate the pitch better.
Mario: Yeah.
Jeff came in with, after
the first half, a win.
After the second half it was a loss.
Untapped potential still need
to unlock it though ASAP.
yeah,
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: along, along with the whole,
what Alma said of we need to finish
the chances, the potential is there.
We just need that little bit.
And we've been saying, once, once we
get, Once we get more people scoring
goals, because that's one of the things
we also have right now, is that we
don't have, and that's the same thing
we had last year, is that we only have,
two or three people on the team that
have scored goals so far, other teams,
like Orlando, I think at this point
has everyone on the bench has scored.
Angela: on the pitch that can score.
is, ugh.
Mario: KC I believe, everyone
on the pitch has scored.
it's just, it's, more people you
have, that means it's the more
chances you're getting on goals.
we just need to, we need to
finesse that a little bit more.
Zack came in with, green sick face.
Woozy Face, Poop Emoji, Scared Cat,
and then Heart Hands, he said this
was painful and coach got a yellow.
And I, okay, so the Rhino,
Angela: Yeah.
to preface this next
statement, Savannah McCaskill.
was very, divisive player.
Some folks loved her,
some folks hated her.
I've learned some things recently
and I can see, just, she's an
interesting character for the
team and for the fan base.
And so maybe we don't use a
rhino emoji to Describe people.
Use the croissant because
she has a hair bun.
Please.
Thank you.
For the future.
But she got booed a lot.
I will say for those who didn't
watch the match, every time homegirl
touched the ball, she got booed.
It was very fun.
Mario: is great.
Angela: it,
Mario: And Zack was part of that.
Zack booted her four times.
Angela: Four times.
Mario: Yesi,
he came with, so happy, Wave didn't
score in those last minutes, but
also, why can't we get it in?
Ugh, and then, upset emoji.
yes, very much we'll count that
as a win where we've been getting
scored on at the very end, and
that's always been, like, the curse.
Ethan said, great that we got a draw,
but we looked, shaky like he put scary
screen face so yeah we i mean i said we
looked free in some points we also those
points weren't very long or very long
lived or very often so there was still
sam just i love dd and you know what
like i said Didi, you stay there as long
as you need to, as long as you want to.
Jaimie came in with optimistic
because we saw that two forward minded
defensive wingers can just do for us.
Being,
Angela: yeah,
Mario: like I said, being able to push
all of that up, being to, being able to
play a little bit more aggressive and
get people up to pitch is what we've been
looking for and it's starting to happen.
Angela: yeah, starting to see it.
The more our defensive wingers,
push the ball offensively, think
we're gonna have a lot of fun.
We just gotta get the ball
in the back of the net.
Mario: Yeah, Charis came out, with,
I think that, I think that was a big
victory to not lose, especially with
Gordon out, and then our last comment
was from Sheehan, who said, stressed, but
feeling good, and I think that's where
we were at too, reading all of these
comments is bringing back that bit of
stress, I was cool calm collected because
it's been two weeks, but you know what?
That's good.
That's good.
That means I'm getting
geared up for this weekend.
I'm just getting geared up.
Angela: I was gonna say, that means
we've processed the trauma and we're
moving on and we're gonna be okay.
All right, so with that
said, The standings, dun.
As of right now, Mer,
this is after week 10.
first place through eighth
place are the playoff spots.
As of right now, we
are not in the picture.
We are currently in 11th with 11 points.
We still are a game behind
everybody else, but we need
Mario: Not many anymore though.
Angela: Yeah,
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: we, if we don't start winning
and pulling those three points and making
up that goal differential, so what?
As of right now, the 1st through 8th
places are The Pride in Kansas City,
both of them are undefeated, Washington
Spirit, Portland Thorns, Gotham FC,
Chicago Red Stars, North Carolina
Courage, and then Racing Louisville.
This all gets more complicated because,
like I said earlier, Orlando just
signed another major star out of Zambia.
And I swear to God I need to
know what this team is doing.
I am chomping at the bit.
I need to know why we
traded Paige and Mandy.
Because I don't understand, and I know
that means that something's in the works,
and they're probably dealing with visas,
work Visas and stupid things I don't
want to care about, but I have to because
they're legally important, but please,
I want to wake up, game day and be like,
oh, hey, guess what, I want to wake up,
tomorrow morning, so Tuesday morning,
and it's just hey, guys, guess what?
Mario: Guess what, we just signed this
player who's actually match day ready
and ready to go, right out the gate.
Angela: oh, she's already
been living in California.
She's been here for two months.
We've just been waiting on paperwork.
please, something, man.
Anyway, we've got time, not as much
as we'd hope, but the regular season
doesn't end until September this
season because of the Olympics.
We just got to keep grinding.
We've got to keep putting
support behind our girls and
just let them do what they do.
The freer we play, the better we
are, and we just gotta get it,
we just gotta get it unleashed.
We're there, but we're
not, we're so close.
But we're just not there yet.
And I hope that this
weekend is us being there.
Mario: Yeah, it is, yes.
11th place, 11 points, game
in hand, that's still a plus.
Not as much of a plus as we
thought, but, it's still a plus.
Regardless, especially with the
fact that after this Gotham match,
we're going to have a really tough
period because it goes to the finals.
it go, oh no, it's after the next one.
Sorry.
So after Gotham, we face Houston,
but then we go, within seven days,
we play Houston, Racing, and Bay.
Three games in seven days, with travel.
Two of those are away games.
So our chances are getting slimmer
and slimmer with these nice kind of
easy, what should be easy home games.
so yeah, the
Angela: though that the, I'm hoping
we have enough time for recovery
between games, but I'm hoping that
the quick turnaround that momentum.
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: And because you
can build off that as well.
yes, you're tired.
Yes, you need recovery time, but you can
also use that momentum to build and change
behaviors quickly because you have to.
you don't have a choice.
Mario: Yeah.
All right.
let's get into some fun.
We're about to get into,
Angela: is coming up.
Mario: we're about to get
into our match preview with,
Christian from the Cooligans.
so we'll see you on the
other side of that interview.
Enjoy everyone.
Angela: Have fun.
Mario T1: So let's
preview the match with.
Welcome to Red Bull
Gotham at Red Bull Arena.
But first, again, special guest,
Christian, let's talk a little
bit you and the Cooligans to get,
whoever's listening, if they don't
know, and how do they not know?
But if they don't know about the
Cooligans yet, or about Christian,
let's get them to know a little bit.
Um, how are you?
Christian T1: I'm good.
Sure.
Yeah.
I, the quick elevator pitch.
I'm a stand up comedian from New
York City, was, I'm from Brooklyn,
New York, from, two Dominican,
parents, b born in New York City.
And I've been doing comedy
a long time in 2015.
my co-host tonight, we started
going to N-Y-C-F-C games when, they
started in Major League Soccer.
we were like, yo, we should do
something like a funny soccer show.
And, we just started doing that and then
little by little people started liking it.
We started realizing there weren't
many, comedians working in soccer.
they weren't Most of the time,
I loved soccer for a long time.
People always usually
made fun of me for it.
It was always like, soccer is gay.
That was always like the same thing.
And I always tell people
like, yes, it's great.
And it's great.
I love it.
Mario T1: Yeah,
Christian T1: and
Angela T1: Thanks.
Christian T1: so thanks for
the compliment, I don't know.
Uh, we just started, talking about the
game and then, like literally just the
other day, we were hosting an event.
with Tim Weah and doing like a panel and
we've gotten to, it's changed our lives.
I show so much, appreciation and
gratitude for this game because
the amount of community that, that
it brings is unbelievable and life
changing and ju life changing.
I'm sure you go to games, angel
cities, supporters and I'm going to
be friends with these people for the
rest of my life and that's why I'm
just like grateful to just be in this
space, but yeah, we have a podcast.
It's on every Monday and Thursday.
It's available everywhere and, and
it is definitely not super serious.
We joke around a lot.
We have a good time, but we're serious
about the contribution we want to make You
know, to the game and to the women's game.
And it's, yeah, it's been awesome.
Mario T1: that kind of leads me into
the next point, which was, Angela and
I were having a small conversation
yesterday about, the idea of the
different levels of celebrity, right?
Like it in,
Christian T1: I'm
definitely at the lowest.
Okay.
I'm quite low.
Mario T1: to, on a personal level,
it's like you hear someone like,
we, I listened to the Cooligans.
I'm not in New York.
I'm never going to run into you
like, on the street and just be
like, Hey, Christian, what's up?
so there's that sense of
distance and celebrity.
And just, The stuff that you guys
have done from the podcast or from
what you guys have been building has
been so crazy that, like we told you
when you guys, when you agreed to
come on, we were like, holy crap.
He said, yeah, let's go.
So how do you, how do you like in your
own head, how do you see all of that
when you see the kind of support, and
how it grew from like your kind of,
you guys started wherever you started,
like in someone's kitchen to the point
of you're hosting things with Tim Weh,
you're, the emcee at the Senators,
Christian T1: Yeah.
Yeah.
Mario T1: U.
S.
Senators match.
Christian T1: Which is also
very bittersweet.
It's a very strange,
Mario T1: models, right?
Christian T1: yeah, it is.
it's something in maybe the last two,
three years, I thought about it a little
bit more, just like in my mind for a
long time, I'm like, Nobody knows who
I am, I gotta work my ass off, I just
gotta figure this out, I, I just got, I
got married two years ago, I had a baby
a year ago, and it's okay, now all the
responsibilities and pressures of life
start to, come through, and I think in
the last couple years, and even, and thank
you for the kind words, but I think it's
I'm starting to see oh, all the work that
I've put in is having an impact on people.
there's a lot of people,
and even speaking to you guys, speaking to
other Latinos, I'm also Dominican, right?
that is not, we're not known for soccer.
That's not, even other Latinos are
like, why do you, why are you here?
Why are you talking about the game?
so there's a lot
of Exactly, right?
Angela T1: Yeah.
Christian T1: my parents would have been
proud of that, so that's the thing of
we've had to convince people a lot of
like we have something to offer to the
game.
and, a couple years ago, we, sometimes
people ask us to do, to talk to kids, we
did this thing for, this, youth soccer
club that, that has, a, they have, an
after school program thing, and they
were doing, a journalism, they had, a
journalism program, for these kids that
played, also played soccer, and they
were asking us, Oh, I want to get into
soccer media and like work in sports.
And we were giving them our perspective
and things that we did and things
that we thought would be helpful.
And then so that kid was like probably
the kids are all like 12, 13 years old.
And this is like during the
pandemic and we're on a Zoom call.
And then five years later.
of four years, this is what
happened like about like last year.
the kid that was on that Zoom call
saw me at an NYCFC game and he was
like, Hey, you were on that call.
That was like really helpful.
I'm going to NYU now
and doing in the, in a
journalism program.
And I'm like, You're
gonna make me cry, kid.
This is crazy that, I had any impact in
this, in the direction of your life, and
I think people see Alexis and I, and they
see, he's on CBS every morning, and we're
doing all these, unbelievable things
that, I just, I can't believe it either,
but I think for a lot of people, a lot
of, podcasters in soccer, they see me.
They're starting to see, they
see us, and they're like, yo,
there's an, there's a pathway,
there's something that we can
actually make it, even, for, I know
exactly what it's like, you do this
stuff for the love of it, you don't
make, next to no money, you're
spending your own money to do, to do
it all, that the thing is, we,
especially because we, Alexis and I
had the hustle mindset of comedians,
we were already like, all right,
we're trying to do this show, we're
trying, who do we need to meet?
We were very, intentional about what we
wanted our careers to look like, and that
was what was helpful and almost allowed
us to distinguish ourselves in soccer
because it's like clearly there's not many
other, Stand up comedians that are doing
this, so that, that helps, but if it
could, inspire people to push themselves
and be like, Alright, I'm passionate about
this, and how do I, I want to do something
unique and dis and distinguishable that
other people are not doing, or something
that, bringing my expertise, if you
listen to our show, when we first started
our podcast, I was doing freelance IT
work, Alexis was doing pizza tours, so
that comes up all the time, computer
stuff, IT stuff, I set up everything
in the studio, and then when we're
speaking to guests, Alexis is
talking to them about different
pizza from all over the world, and
people are usually like, Damn,
too much about pizza, bro.
Why?
Why do you know all this stuff?
Mario T1: Alexis knowledge
Angela T1: Yeah.
Mario T1: insane.
Christian T1: uncomfortable.
Angela T1: in a past life, like
Christian T1: So it's it's something
that we brought all those aspects of
our lives to soccer and it doesn't
have to be, I'm not the best soccer
player or, but we have, we all have
something to offer to the game.
And that's the thing.
I hope that's, I could, I didn't realize
that could be an inspiration to people
who wanted to get in this like industry.
Mario T1: yeah, no, I think
it's, I think It's so cool.
And honestly, Alexis's pizza knowledge
is on a stupid level to the point
where I, it was a couple episodes
ago, but you guys were critiquing
a Tifo that had a pizza on it.
Christian T1: That's a guy.
Mario T1: straight up
went pizza connoisseur,
Christian T1: Yeah.
Mario T1: bake would have
been this way or that,
Christian T1: Dude, if Alexis knew how
to, he had the attention span to, write
stuff down, he could write a dissertation
about that pizza TIFO at the Gotham game.
It's incredible.
Mario T1: yeah, it's
completely been amazing.
Seeing the journey you guys been on
and just aspiring to this is possible
from a podcast, from like a kind of
start up scratch kind of mentality.
And then the, just the cool things
that you guys have been able to do
and, the people you've been able
to meet, like you were saying,
being in the room with Mia Hamm.
Tell us about your friendship
with Kriegs, though.
Like, how has that
Angela T1: Please,
Mario T1: I know Angela
really wants to know.
Angela T1: I have so many
questions and so little time.
I literally like I was looking at what
I was going to throw on because like I'm
running to work right after this and I'm
like okay wear your own podcast merch
because no joke I was about to pull out
my Ally Krieger fan club shirt and be
like don't be like that don't be weird.
Christian T1: I should have, if I had
more time, I would have worn it too.
it's a, my favorite thing about it
is that it is, that friendship is
like just wildly organic where, we
were this, And this is another sort
of example of just simply betting on
ourselves and believing in ourselves.
we went to the United Soccer
Coaches Convention in 2018.
so this is January 2018.
This is in Chicago.
And they do, they have a podcast
row, which I would recommend,
if this is a thing that you
can get involved in, go for it.
and you get a booth, and you're like at
this convention center, and people are
walking by, and it's like we, you would
see Jermaine Jones walking by, and Ali
Krieger, and Kurt, Eric Rinaldo, and all
these people just walking around, and you
say hey, we have a podcast here, do you
want to, stop by for a couple minutes,
and that's exactly what happened with Ali.
Walking by, Alexa's yo, that's Ali
Krieger, and we, we said hello, and then
she was with two other people, like her
handlers, and they were like, oh, no,
she's really busy, she can't come to the,
we were there for two days, she was like,
oh, she can't, come do the podcast right
now, but maybe tomorrow, she could stop
by for five minutes, so her handlers,
the second day we see her again, we're
like, all right, make sure you come by,
make sure you come by, and she was like,
yeah, she has about, five, ten minutes.
Ali was there for 30.
She, Hey, we got to go.
Ali was laughing, making jokes.
We're like having a good time.
I always say it's I think she's generally
the funniest soccer player I've ever met
where comedians tend to, when you hang
out with other comedians, we always like
Tyra Top each other's jokes like there's
always a lot of answer back and forth and
she has a good she's Doing if you ever
been to an improv show that's how I was
like it's like a scene
partner she's really funny.
She can like really Add
on to whatever it is.
It's like that you're joking about and
so it's such a genuine thing And then,
and she was always just stayed in touch
and always really, where it was like, the
way you guys were reacting, we're like,
oh my god, holy crap, Chris is here.
I was like, Ali was, she's just responding
to our messages and I couldn't believe it.
and, obviously the roller coaster that
has been her life has been, crazy.
And that's been a thing where, it, it's
interesting as a person in media where
you're, where we were pretty intentional.
We're like, yo, this is,
it's so messy that we
could have fun with it.
And it's but we actually do have a
friendship and it's it's not worth joking
around about because it's like, we, even
if we try to be as tasteful as possible.
we're gonna hurt somebody's feelings
and this, that's just no intention
and it's, and look, and I'll be
completely transparent, it is, there
was an event that we had gone to,
right before everything really came
out to light, But Ali was there, so
was Ashland, and it's like, it's as
uncomfortable as you can imagine.
it's just the sort of messiness of life.
And
it's, it was like a real
thing, oh, this is real.
This is and even though things
look great on Instagram, it's like.
It's not always, exactly, and yeah,
it's a, it's a thing because when,
I remember when we interviewed her
the first time, we took a photo and
we're like, hey, interview with Ali
Krieger coming out soon, and I didn't,
I wasn't aware of the, the stan
culture that surrounded her, because
Angela T1: That WOSO has, especially Ally
Christian T1: that was the first
time where we were like, I was
getting DMs from Krieger, Stan
accounts, seven, eight of them.
Like,
when's the interview coming out?
What is taking so long?
I'm like, yo, I'm, I don't have an editor.
I'm editing it.
I don't, why should, why are you bugged?
Angela T1: My editor is me.
We are the same.
Christian T1: I have to go to work
during the day, it's, there's a lot
going on, and it was it was so shocking
that, that there, I think that was
my first peek behind a curtain of not
only are there like, women's soccer
fans, but there, there's toxic,
obsessive, it gets pretty crazy.
so it was like an interesting
thing, navigating through that.
But then when, when all the drama came
out, it made, everybody had to pick sides.
And it becomes a soap opera a little bit.
so
it's,
Angela T1: it was, it's been a
wild time on the WOSO internet,
Christian T1: yeah.
Angela T1: geez, and that's one of
those, we, we've made that decision
as well of These are people.
They will hear this.
the women's soccer community is still so
close knit, so small, there's no point in,
the degradation of those relationships,
and it's if you want to succeed, why
are you bringing everybody else down?
It's a whole thing.
I could soapbox on it.
for hours.
But it's want to promote
women's sports my life.
So yeah, let's do it.
And let's find the ways to have those
hard conversations, but and do it
lightheartedly, but not at the degradation
Christian T1: Yeah, and it's, but it's,
and it's tempting to get involved in
that because, people will click on
it, people will see it, people will be
interested in it, so it's a conscious
choice, because you could, and I don't
know, this feels like inside baseball,
but The, for us, especially given that
we're comics, the expectation is that
we're gonna be, like, messy and be, like,
and just, we don't care, and there is
a line of, we know who to make fun of,
or we choose who to make fun of, and we
know, when to, pull back, because you
have the option of, you can placate to
your, to an audience, and you can say,
they, they eat this stuff up, right?
People love TMZ, they,
even though they know it's,
they don't really, now, speaking
highly of people, they like it.
but if you want to, same thing,
like if you go to a game or you're
interviewing a player and they
know you said some like awful
stuff, that feeling doesn't feel
super genuine because it's like, they
know oh, you're just trying to use
something I'm going to say to, to spin
it or make me look bad or whatever.
And I look, it's a choice in life.
You can be chaotic and
get views or whatever.
and.
Maybe not have great
relationships with people, or you
can foster and, try to do something,
unique and special that maybe it won't
get millions of views, but, you still feel
good about yourself at the end of the day.
And that's where I lean.
Angela T1: Absolutely.
Same here.
Same
here.
Mario T1: that's awesome.
Angela T1: go ahead.
Oh,
Mario T1: was awesome.
Angela T1: so far this season,
I'm going to shift us into talking
about the matchup, but have you
caught any Angel City matches?
Have you, like, how much of the NWSL
season have you been able to invest
Christian T1: I usually try to watch
about one or two games, a week.
I've caught a couple Angel City matches
and in general, my, I just have this.
It's
just, It's it's concern.
It's just concern.
It's just one of those things
of like, you took our coach.
It
didn't work.
He got rid of our, it's just what?
So.
Angela T1: it's a Venn diagram,
it's nearly a circle at this point.
Coaching, half our players,
Christian T1: It's, look, I feel like
this season is a little bit, a little
bit better and it's like less concerning,
but the, there's been a couple of wins,
but I just feel like, given the amount
of support, as far as, the matches
there and the amount of people who
go, it just, I feel this way about it.
especially being like a Gotham fan
and seeing how the stadium is just
like sparse and it's not great, but
the team does pretty well on the
pitch and then, but if I could, if
we had your support and the way we
played, it would be like just so dope.
so that's there's, it's one of
the things where I feel bad for
the fans and there's a little bit.
yeah, there's a little bit, and I think
this is we're all figuring this out, I
think, in women's sports, of like, how
much do we voice our frustration with
the performances on the field, and we're
seeing it in in the WNBA now, like, where
the, K, Katelyn Clark, and it's almost
alright, we like that they're being held
accountable, but yo, relax a little bit.
It seems like a little,
it seems wildly intense.
we don't need to bring everything
from men's sports into this right now.
Angela T1: Exactly.
Like we have the ability
to make a culture all its
Christian T1: yeah.
Angela T1: a new way.
Christian T1: so that.
that's the one thing.
I think, I, maybe because maybe I'm
not seeing it enough, but I don't
think, Angel City is criticized enough
publicly about the low standard.
That's, I, and I'm not, and I'm not
saying that the players don't hold
themselves accountable because I've seen
stuff, I've seen some from
individual players, especially like
Sydney Leroux, they want to win.
I know that, but I think the, and
I don't know if necessarily the
criticism will help, but, and I
think this is a general thing.
in NWSL, we're like, nobody's super,
there's not really voices that are
loud about this isn't good enough,
this should be better, stuff like that,
and not to say also, that people are
accepting of losses, but I don't know,
that's just the, so the landscape.
Angela T1: still, and as a
competitor, this is the part
that's always been hard for me.
It's this idea of oh, at least we're all
playing and at least like we're, we have
this league and we're so grateful and that
carries over to In the WNBA, yes, it's
a family environment, but I am watching
professional athletes compete, and I want
to see that, and I want to see high level
Christian T1: Yeah.
Angela T1: every weekend,
every time I watch.
So it's, definitely a line we tow
of being like, guys, what's, the
call is coming from inside the
Christian T1: Yeah.
Angela T1: hello, is
Christian T1: Because even Gotham at the
beginning of the year were like, they
weren't losing games, but, and weren't
giving up a lot of goals, but not scoring.
And there was a
little bit of I had mentioned on the
show, this is supposed to be a super team.
Roosevelt, Tina
Davidson, They traded Yeah,
Angela T1: that
championship team is not the
Christian T1: exactly.
Mario T1: was supposed to be like,
Angela T1: Team, 2.
0, so I
Christian T1: yeah.
so that's the, the standard should
be high, especially with the
players that they brought in, I
know, Tiana Davidson and Roosevelt
were coming off of injury.
Roosevelt just probably
had one of her best games,
recently, and that's, in the
last game that she played, I
was just like, yo, this is it.
This is what I want.
to see regularly.
I want to, Crystal Dunn hasn't
really been starting in games.
I'm like, she should probably be starting.
what is, I'm like trying to
figure out what is the sort of
long term plan or even just like
the long, in, within this season.
but yeah, I think there, there should
be a little bit More of that, because it
isn't that the, I also have like theories
about I watch WSL sometimes and I'm like,
you watch Chelsea and you're like, and
it feels like, oh man, they have all
these players and they're scoring all
these goals, four or five goals a game.
And then I'm like, Is it, are they better?
is it a more attractive style
of soccer in that league?
And I'm like, no, NWSL is just that
competitive and that difficult.
nobody's
scoring goals.
It's
just, it's one,
Angela T1: Defense is insane.
Christian T1: unbelievable.
So like some of the best defenders are in,
in the league and it's just 2 1, 1 0, like
it's just the goals are not coming a lot.
So it's the margins for
error are very small.
and that's also something I
have to just be mindful of.
yeah, Gotham
may not be scoring a lot of
goals, but it's really hard to
score goals in this league unless
you're Barbara Banda in Orlando.
You know what I mean?
Angela T1: You breathe
and the ball goes in.
and I feel too, like with Gotham, you
guys got hit with the injury bug very
Christian T1: Yeah.
Angela T1: in the season.
Four SEIs before, the
first month was over.
then, I feel like the news of
a player retiring takes the
wind out of everyone's sails.
And it's generation, like the 2015
World Cup team, the 2019 World Cup team,
those women are starting to, step away
from the game and retire more and more.
And I feel like there's
this big shift in soccer.
And so like with the news of Kelly
O'Hara stepping away at the end of
the season, and probably because
this injury is not going away.
I feel like that kind of devastates
a team in a different way.
Because like when we played Gotham at
BMO last year, and Kriegs went down
with a calf injury, we saw her play
15 minutes, and we were like, for
Christian T1: yeah.
Angela T1: we don't even
get to see her for the whole
Christian T1: Yeah.
Angela T1: The Ellie Krieger
gets hurt, like, why?
Why does this happen?
but I just, man, that team is so stacked.
And now as every, people are coming
back from the little knocks that
they had, you're becoming a very
dangerous team to match up against.
Christian T1: Yeah.
I think the.
Probably the most devastating injury was
obviously losing Mitch Peirce, for the
year, but the, I think it's interesting,
Jasmyne Ryan has stepped in and been that,
that, player, on the wing, and, scoring
goals, or great passes for possible
assists and stuff like that, but
there, yeah, there's, there seems to
be, it's not even a vacuum of, I guess
it's the vacuum, not leadership per
se because obviously there's so many
veterans there, but just not having Ally
Krieger and not having that same exact
day to day, guidance or motivation.
and it's just like figuring out
a little bit of a new identity.
There's obviously there's
new players there.
and it's just, there's a little
bit of an adjustment period.
I'm not.
too worried.
I, they have a couple wins in a row.
but the, yeah, it's
Mario T1: It must be nice.
Christian T1: I was a little concerned
at the beginning of the season, but,
Yeah.
they're also not, they're
not lighting it up either.
it's.
They're winning, and they're
defending well, and I think
that's been the strength.
I've appreciated that, the fact that
there's been a lot of, different
lineups, and everybody has, the identity
of the team hasn't really changed
that much regardless of who's there.
But it is a little
bit, you're a little taken aback when
you're like, We, there's, Tierna Davidson
is here, Crystal Dunn, Emily Sonnet,
Rose Lavelle, and they're not starting.
And that's been a couple games where,
they're, they are healthy, or maybe
they were coming from, international
break or something, but they are healthy
and they're not starting games, so I think
it's a conscious decision of just getting
everybody healthy, and just figuring
everything out, but it's nice to see
that even if they're not playing, this,
the team plays, still plays pretty well.
Angela T1: I feel like there's
a big push right now across the
league to preserve your national
players of whatever team they're
Christian T1: Yeah.
Angela T1: hasn't been
playing too much this season.
And I'm like, I can almost put
money on the fact that they're
just like, just chill, just stay in
shape, just train for the Olympics.
we'll, we just want to make
sure you're safe until then.
if she goes down, New
Zealand is just like that,
the leadership alone.
Mario T1: talking about all of that,
and then talking about how, I will
say one, that Even though they're
not blockbuster right now, they're at
least consistent, and that's something
we're a little bit lacking on our end,
has been that kind of consistency.
We're slowly getting back there, right?
Because we also got spoiled by the
second half of last year, right?
we went 11 matches undefeated, and so
basically it was like night and day,
like first half of the season was trash.
The second half of the
season was lights out.
And so now we went from that was the
way we ended the season on a high.
And then we start this
season with rough start.
And we're just like, why?
What is it?
And so I think Gotham has, even though you
guys had the rough start, and everybody
was calling it, like the season started.
The U.
S.
Women's National Team 2.
0, like the Gotham FC
is the training camp for
Christian T1: Yeah.
Mario T1: Women's
National Team.
it's at least been a little bit
more consistent, because you
guys are currently in fifth place
and with, with a 5 3 2 record.
And so that, that's, if we had a 5 3 2
Christian T1: Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Angela T1: So happy.
Mario T1: But talking about how, we're
trying to preserve those players for, the
Olympics and for kind of national pride.
How do you think that's
going to affect the team?
Because I was looking it up.
And, we're in the middle of an
international break right now.
this episode is going to come out because
we're going to get back into the season.
But you guys have five players
out on national duty right now.
You have Jenna, Tierna,
Emily, Rose, and Crystal.
Are all playing or all in the January,
the January, the June camp right now
with the national team because they're
going to be playing the friendly
matches and like training together
and all of that stuff, but then they
have to come back and play, a game.
So it's like, how do you think that
might, affect the outcome going
Christian T1: Yeah.
I think the, like what I was saying
before, maybe that's been the reason why.
A lot of these players haven't
started just to keep them
prepared for the international
breaks and for the Olympics.
The, I think about what our
midfield looks like, right?
And not having, obviously, Roosevelt
or Emily Sonnet, I assume is also yeah.
gonna be
away.
Angela T1: everywhere.
I feel like Sonnet is a
little defensive, a little
Christian T1: yeah, just hold,
yeah, she could play center back,
a little bit as well, for Gotham.
I think the, but Neely Martin
and Delaney Sheehan at, in the
midfield have been great.
They, really confident, on the ball
and Delaney Sheehan, if she needs to
go forward, she's been awesome too.
so I'm not super worried.
I, again, I think it's the
midfield might be a little light.
McCall Zerboni, I don't know
if she's coming back this year.
Angela T1: Yeah.
I think she, I think it was an ACL for
Christian T1: yeah, she, she heard it
last year.
I would imagine she should be
back this year, but I know she's
listed as a season ending injury,
which, so I saw her, but I saw her right
before the final at, after the, actually,
right before the playoffs last year, and
she, yeah, she was just saying she
was, like, rehabbing, but this was at
Ali Krieger's, retirement party, cause
they didn't know when
the season was gonna end,
so they did it right after the, The final
game of the season, and, she seemed like
in good spirit, my, my hope is that she
can come back, but again, she's another
just great holding midfielder, and,
just, again, never loses the ball, I,
I also thought, not bringing back Ali
Long was it might have been salary cap
issues and stuff like that, but I thought
that.
she,
Angela T1: Like, why was
she at a training camp?
Christian T1: Yeah,
Angela T1: she was training to, hopefully
make a team, and I'm like, do you
realize who you ha this is Ali Long.
Christian T1: she
just literally, 100 percent pass
rate every single time, just like
it, it feels, it almost seems
like she has like a boring game,
or style of play, but it's just
no, you're not taking the ball from
her and she's always completing
passes and that isn't,
that's not easy to come by,
in this league.
Angela T1: I'm such a huge cheerleader
for every, defender in basketball, too.
I grew up playing basketball, so
it's that's my, I was a post player.
I set screens.
that Stewie screen on
Christian T1: oh, yeah,
Angela T1: that was my job.
That was, that's,
Christian T1: just the enforcer.
Angela T1: exactly.
So defense in general, I'm just like,
why don't we give these accolades to
defenders the way we do you know, Prolific
those score, like those goals only happen
because of the most minute mistake.
Christian T1: yeah.
Yeah.
Angela T1: there was I think it was the
game, our first game against Kansas City,
had a half a step on Sarah Gordon and the
next time we played them, two weeks later.
'cause the schedule this year is crazy.
You saw it in Sarah Gorden's
face, which is like absolutely
Christian T1: yeah,
Angela T1: and she could not get
around her, and it was fantastic to
watch, but it's like you were saying
earlier, we don't get prolific scoring
games because have folks like Sarah
Christian T1: yeah.
Angela T1: and like Long,
like these players that are
just household names for her.
So many people and it's so cool,
but I will also say due to the
roster announcement and everything
like Justice for Lynn Williams,
Christian T1: yeah, sure.
Yeah, same here.
Angela T1: the fastest girl on the pitch.
Like just Lynn play is so cool.
Christian T1: Yeah.
Angela T1: Is there anyone else
on Gotham you want to call out?
Because you've, I think you've named
two thirds of the roster so far.
So like if you don't want to talk about
Christian T1: no, I think the,
another big decision was, to bring
in, Ann Berger, the goalkeeper.
That, coming from Chelsea, that
was a big, the goalkeeping wasn't a
huge, at least to me, it didn't look
like it was a huge concern, but the,
obviously, man, the, I forgot what the
goalkeeper we had last year, that Mandy
Hart, she, who,
who came on for, Abby Smith,
cause she got injured.
So there was like a lot of concern there.
but
yeah, they obviously
couldn't keep everybody.
And,
but I thought the decision to
bring, Berger on was a bold one.
and it's also one of those
things of like, how was Gotham
like managing the salary cut?
How are you able to get everyone?
Angela T1: Yeah.
What?
How do you have so much money
and can you please share?
That's what we joke with
Angel City all the time.
We're like, we have
Christian T1: yeah.
Angela T1: can you hook us up?
Christian T1: Making really good moves.
So shout out to
Yael Averbush.
Angela T1: Absolutely.
Christian T1: She's been awesome.
I think the, some of my, the other
player that I just also enjoy
watching a lot is, Maitane Lopez.
she's the center back.
she's been starting here and there.
but she's, I, when she was paired with
Ali, last season, that was just awesome.
So it's just two lockdown,
defenders that were, spectacular.
and I also speak about Jenna Niswonger,
who's been awesome too, and a
really great, just where, you didn't
necessarily know what the expectation
is, especially coming from a left back.
You're like, oh, they're going to
defend and whatever, but she has been a
huge contributor.
Going forward, and also a great defender.
So the, yeah, I honestly, what I
can speak to more is I think Gotham
is just a great defending team.
I also do not expect Angel City to win
this game because I don't know where
the goals are
going to come from.
Angela T1: I, don't even know because
everything feels like a toss up
Christian T1: right
Angela T1: are going to show up like
this last game against San Diego.
We probably had our best showing of the
Christian T1: Mm hmm.
Angela T1: defensively.
And we're our backline right now
is a little sketch since we traded
Paige and then Sarah got hurt.
So it's like, pulling at
everybody on the team right
Christian T1: That
page, I was gonna say the page.
thing is another one, which I met
Paige and we did it.
We did her show.
She's just, I met her in San Diego.
She was at, the it was like
a just women's sports party
thing that they did, and I met her there.
And she gave me a hug, but it
was like, that's the thing.
A one arm hug where I'm
like, yo, you're strong.
You need to chill.
she was like, Hey, cool.
You like want to give
me a noogie or whatever.
She was
Angela T1: like, hold on.
Christian T1: mad intense.
but she, yeah, I, you can tell
immediately, especially when she
scored against you guys in that, that
game where it was just like anger,
frustration, relief, and I'm sure you
guys are still asking the question
of like, Why did we let her go?
Angela T1: everyone
Everyone.
And it's there's rumors that
there's someone coming and we're
like, okay, but hurry up, please.
Christian T1: We need to, put the
Band Aid on cause it's still, the
wound is still open.
Angela T1: bleeding.
Yeah.
But I will say we lucked out with
one of our draft picks, like Maddie
Curry, who I don't know if you've
gotten to see her play very much
at all, but she has been fantastic.
She is fifth in minutes for this class,
Christian T1: Yeah, huge.
Yeah.
Angela T1: her way into
a starting position.
She had stitches put in at halftime at
a game, came out with the Vendee Donk
Christian T1: Yeah.
Yeah.
The, yeah.
Angela T1: situation
just has been prolific.
And between her and Gisele Thompson on
the back line, it's been a really big
shift of Angel City plays from the back
every single game and it frustrates
every single person in the stadium.
But at least this last game,
if we're going to do that,
we're at least going to like.
Push it this time, we had a little
bit of spark, we had a little bit
of fire, and I'm really hoping
we at least see it this game, and
it becomes more of a practice, M.
A.
Vignola should be, I don't know if she'll
be playing a full 90 this game, but
she'll most likely be back, hopefully
in the starting lineup, she's coming
back from, like a bone bruise around her
knee, we'll Alright, we're coming back.
Christian T1: Her?
Angela T1: I, at this point, I feel
like I'm at the mentality of just being
like, up, just show up, do this much
better, two inches better than you did
Christian T1: right,
Angela T1: and we'll see where this
takes us, and that momentum will keep
building, but we'll We've talked a lot
too about Alyssa Thompson having what
we think are the yips of just being
nervous last season was weird for her.
She got the call ups.
She went to the World Cup.
She didn't,
Christian T1: didn't play.
Yeah, it's
Angela T1: yeah, like the whole thing.
Second half of the season was a little
weird, but I think we're starting to see
her break out of that and get back to
what she loves, get back to what she does.
And I'm really hoping that we
start seeing more and more of that.
She's great on the ball.
She's great.
Just, she's fantastic.
She's, she and Nyse Wenger are
going to be a fantastic matchup
for the, remainder of their
Christian T1: totally.
Yeah.
I think the, there's, I think there's the.
Expectations or maybe it's just that
we're now used to seeing very young
players in women's sports, right?
Like
the, or especially obviously gymnasts
and stuff like that, we know.
But
like in team sports, it's
just something new to us.
We saw it with Olivia Moultrie in
Portland.
Everything like the attention
because obviously she's so young.
And then, we were joking about how
people, from San Diego, where the, when
she got assigned and how old is she?
16, I think, or 15, some of that.
Yeah, She was, at,
Angela T1: I think she was like two
weeks either older or younger than Olivia
Christian T1: yeah.
Angela T1: Like they were right
Christian T1: And the comp,
the comments are just like, she
shouldn't be, she's a young girl.
She shouldn't be playing.
She should like all this stuff
or just like, all right, she's
literally, literally one of the
greatest soccer players in the
world.
They tell me if he's getting signed, like,
why would she not take that opportunity?
And her
family wants that
for,
Angela T1: like over here being like,
as someone who was once a 16 year
old girl, if I had been able to go
pro in any of the sports I played,
Christian T1: yeah,
literally,
Angela T1: go to, I can
finish high school online.
I can go to college on the, I don't
Christian T1: I'll learn
everything on YouTube.
I don't need this.
Angela T1: The internet is free.
Christian T1: Okay.
Yeah, that is the, that's how
I feel about Alyssa Thompson.
Like obviously the pressure and
then the goal that she scored,
last year was just banger.
And then everybody's like, all right.
More of this!
This girl's gonna be the next Freddie
Adu, or whatever, the people put that
sort of expectation and pressure, and
it's we're coming back to reality, and
it's hard, every player has to find
their identity in this league, where
it's just if she was playing in England,
and playing against, Bristol City,
these teams that are just like, you can
see the level from Chelsea to the team
at the bottom is Unbelievably stark.
And it's that's why we have
this in inflated view of Oh,
that league looks awesome.
and yeah, they get a lot of fans,
but it's there's a lot of crap
players in, on those bottom,
Angela T1: It is a big league,
and when the league gets bigger,
Christian T1: yeah,
Angela T1: see the discrepancy and the
Christian T1: show it's like, Exactly, and
the, yeah, the teams that have a lot of
money can bring in all these players, look
better, so Alyssa Thompson has to, yeah,
adjust to, just the level of this league,
and it's just gonna, it's gonna take
some time, but I don't have any doubts.
You see the way she plays,
the defenders are like, Afraid
of this, little girl, right?
Like you see, they're back up.
Nobody's really trying to
tackle her really intensely
cause they know how quick she
is and great on the ball.
And they know that she
can, take a quick shot.
But do you see the little,
there's like that confidence
in finishing that probably just
will not come until she's just
a little bit older and a little
more mature.
Angela T1: And that's what
we've been talking about.
It's I know, she's starting
to get the assists in.
She's starting to get the ball
a little bit more on target.
Everything is slowly, we're
just tuning dials at this point.
We're not making big changes for her.
And it's I'm so excited because
the second that ball goes
in the net, all bets are off
Christian T1: Yeah.
Angela T1: And it's okay, we're back.
We're back.
We're back.
cool,
Christian T1: Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I think the, the other, I really love,
Rocky Rodriguez when she was at, in
Portland and I haven't seen too many Angel
City games, but I, I guess maybe you can
speak to how she has been this season,
cause that was a player when I, when she
went to Angel City, I was like, Oh, this
is bring this veteran sort of leadership.
and, I don't know.
If she's been like, if the chemistry
has been great or just been finding
goals, but that's one player
that I, hope a lot for.
Angela T1: The hard part was that she
started the season with a concussion.
Christian T1: Okay.
Angela T1: So it's, there, she missed a
few games and then forget it takes so long
to come back officially from a concussion.
Your brain takes time to heal and like I
have in playing a million sports, master's
in sports psychology, like all of that.
So I'm just like, guys,
brains are important.
We got to keep them
Christian T1: Sure.
Sure.
Angela T1: if she needs to sit
a game, she needs to sit a game.
And you can see the glimpses of
like old Rocky coming back of we're
starting to get the ball forward more.
We're being more aggressive in the attack.
And it's just, it's exciting to
see because I have a feeling.
In the next month or two over the
international breaks that are coming,
the Olympic break after that, I think
Angel City is going to be a different
Christian T1: Awesome.
Angela T1: At least I'm hoping.
Christian T1: Okay.
Just not, yeah, definitely
not against Gotham.
They can be the same team.
Angela T1: as it stands right
now, our record between the two
teams, we've won once, we've lost
twice, and there's been two draws.
who
Christian T1: It should.
Angela T1: a very even
Christian T1: I think so, yeah.
there's never any NWSL game where I'm
like, Oh yeah, we got this, or this game's
be, they're gonna crush it.
honestly, even seeing Kansas City
crush some teams and win, or, they had
the, their first game at the stadium
was like nine goals or something like
that.
Which is
like, what is happening?
this is,
Angela T1: And that game, it's so
crazy, because like you were saying,
We don't give up goals in this league,
and to have nine goals scored between
Christian T1: yeah,
Angela T1: of really good defense
and really good offense, it's
like, what, what is happening?
But Kansas City, I feel like they're
starting to show their cards a little
with injuries and everything, where it's
that, they're not as good on defense.
they'll outscore A
Christian T1: Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Angela T1: the interesting thing, because
their goal differential is really close.
Whereas, Orlando, now, never mind.
And they just picked up,
oh, who did they pick up?
Another Zambian player, I think.
It's people are calling it Bra Brazilambia
because it's just Marta and the Brazilian
women and now you've got like half
the Zambian team and I'm like, good?
Orlando deserves so much good.
Like they've been through it.
They
Christian T1: Yeah.
And they have they've had
some really poor teams.
so
it's and it's also wild to like,
you bring in a couple great
pieces, and all of a sudden
Marta's 12 years younger.
You know what I mean?
her knees don't hurt
anymore.
She's
Angela T1: yeah.
She's eggs and pains, what are those?
I don't know them.
Christian T1: I'm 25.
What are you talking about?
Okay.
There you
Angela T1: Like our birthdays
Christian T1: go.
Angela T1: a week apart.
And I'm like, girl, I know how I feel.
least you've had, the backing of
professional leagues, your federation,
all of that, I'm just like, I'm just
a homegrown, broken athlete at this
point, but no, it's just so cool.
We're so lucky to see them play and
I'm looking forward to the Olympics,
always, but then the World Cup in
Brazil with her as like the ambassador
for soccer and women's soccer there.
It's going to be, oh,
that's going to be so fun.
hopefully we see you there.
That would be
Christian T1: I've never been
to a World Cup, and that's one of
the few things where I'm like, I
bucket list, I cover them, and I, do
all this work around it, but I've never
actually been to a game at a World Cup.
I'm excited for 2026
because I can do that.
But, yeah, it'd be dope to, head
over to, I've been to Brazil before.
but it'd be dope to go for a World Cup.
Angela T1: for the men is out
Christian T1: yeah.
So I have no excuse.
Angela T1: Yeah, so when you're here,
hit us up because I live very close,
within walking distance of SoFi.
So there'll be stuff there,
Christian T1: yeah, we'll, chill.
yeah.
Angela T1: a home cooked meal, my, my mom
and I will bring out, peak Mexican food
Christian T1: it.
Yeah.
No, that's great.
Yeah.
Angela T1: thank you.
Thank you so much for coming.
we're just so grateful that you came.
the time and just wanted to
hang out and talk soccer with
Christian T1: Oh, good.
Yeah, thank you so much for the invite.
Happy to do it again in the
future if you ever need.
yeah, sorry I was late, but, no, this is,
Angela T1: Do you guys, you two both
have crazy packed schedules right now.
Do you guys have anything cool
coming up that you want to
Christian T1: nothing
Angela T1: neat?
Christian T1: we can particularly mention
right now, but right now it's just, I'm,
I'm playing in TST, so whenever this comes
out, I will already be in North Carolina
playing in TST, so you can watch,
Angela T1: this will come out on the 5th.
So right before
Christian T1: Yeah.
so I, my first game is on the 5th,
5th and 6th, my team is called
Summer of Soccer, if you want to
see my, you want to see my, Soccer.
Is it a professional debut?
there's money on the line, so
semi pro, and if you want to see my
debut, you want to see a stand up comedian
playing in a very serious tournament
where a million dollars is on the line,
that is where you can tune in on, I
think the website is The Tournament.
And, you just look up TSD and the games
that are, all the games are broadcast
on the website and some on ESPN.
I don't think I'm going to be
on ESPN, but you never know.
Who knows if we can get out of our group.
yeah, I'm just training for that.
And, yeah, I'm super excited for it.
Angela T1: That's awesome.
We will make sure to promote it all
over our socials too, and all that.
We'll send you guys graphics to post
about this if you want, thank you so much.
but yeah, that's it.
Thanks for hanging
Christian T1: don't know though.
Angela T1: You are more than welcome
to come by whenever you feel like
Christian T1: Angela, thank you so much.
I really appreciate it.
Angela T1: Yeah.
All right.
We will hopefully see
Christian T1: Cheers.
Angela T1: Awesome.
Mario: All right, special thank you to
Christian for just giving us his time.
he is, once again, he's going to
be playing in the TST tournament
that he will be playing when this
episode comes out on Wednesday.
So if you're able to watch it,
stream it, whatever, you know.
Yeah, I, uh, the website
was called TheTournament.
com, and, go check it out, he's
gonna be playing, let's hope
our boy gets some minutes, he's
been training for this, let's,
Angela: coming for his spot,
so we gotta hype our guy up.
Mario: Christian, best of luck, we will
be watching, we will be rooting for ya,
and, if you win that million dollars,
I know it's gonna be split between
your team, but, you win ,You know,
Angela: Feed
Mario: Next match is going
to be Saturday, Jun 8th.
Gotham versus Angel City FC at
Red Bull Arena in New Jersey.
The game time is going to be at 9 30 a.
m.
So remember this is brunch match time.
This is going to be morning for us.
The game will be broadcast
on CBS and on Paramount Plus.
And if you're not going to be around
to be able to watch it, because 9.
30am is swim class time, so
I won't be able to watch it.
iHeartRadio with Isaac and Tracy, the
homies, we love listening to them, and
I will definitely be listening to them.
There will be a watch party, the watch
party starts at 9am, kickoff is at 9.
30, and it's going to be
at Hightops in Los Feliz.
So go hang out.
And then we're also going to repost any of
the other watch parties as we always do.
I try to do like a watch party
recap by Friday before the weekend
of whatever matches or whatever
we've been seen or tagged in.
So check out our Instagram, and we'll
be reposting all the stuff we find.
And if you've been listening to us
and you're, At this point already,
you're either one, a fan of the
Cooligans and welcome, you can
subscribe to us, or if you haven't
hit the subscribe button, why not?
Just do it.
It takes you a second and it helps us out.
if you need a pod link for
wherever you want to listen
to this, check out casualFC.
com.
All the links will be there.
Best way to support the pod is the
best way for everyone to do it,
and you can do it multiple times.
You can do one for every single episode.
You can share, comment on one of our
posts on social media, or you can go
ahead and leave us a review on, apple.
com.
or on leave a comment on Spotify or
on YouTube you know all the algorithms
need stuff so just put stuff there and
we'll respond and you know we'll make
the algorithm pay attention to us it's
engagement people if you also want to help
you Yes, if you also want to help us out
by buying some merch at casualfc, shop.
casualfc.
com, we've got tons of silly ideas, we're
waiting for that Thompson Time t shirt
to like, come to fruition, and they will,
Angela: and
Mario: powers by the power
of By their powers combined.
I know that's Captain Planet still.
We are like,
Angela: protect them
and keep them healthy.
it's morphine time.
Mario: yeah.
and then lastly, if you feel so inclined
and you wanna help support the pod, you
can support us by buying us a coffee.
You can check out the link on
our socials or go to buy me
a coffee.com/casual fc pod.
throw us a buck, throw us a few bucks.
Anything helps.
It just helps us keep the
lights on as they say.
And, yeah, follow us on our
socials on all of 'em on.
Everywhere we've been able
to sign up, Casual FC pod.
Instagram's gonna be the most
active, but, we're everywhere.
here you go.
And, please, tell a friend
about the pod, send them a link.
It brings us good luck, it
brings the team good luck.
We bank all that luck
and we send it to them.
We're gonna send it along with them
in some special Casual FC luggage,
to New Jersey and we're gonna keep
it with the team and make sure they
get all the love and support that
every one of us brings to them.
So with that, this has
been an amazing episode.
Angela: Happy
Mario: thank you, Christian.
Happy birthday.
It's our one year birthday.
Angela: hell
Mario: thank you.
Angela: Thank you for listening.
Mario: Thank you.
I just, I don't, I'm going to keep
saying the same things over and over.
So thank you and bye.
Angela: Bye guys.