Casual FC

Mario: Welcome casual of in
Angel City Match Preview and

Footy Therapy Pod, featuring
three certified footy therapists.

I'm your host, Mario Salazar, and as you
can see, I am pre-recording this mainly

because I was not there for the recording.

If you heard our last episode, the
retirement, retrospective part three, Due

to scheduling issues, I couldn't actually
record with, Angela and Eva, but they did

an amazing job and they've done an amazing
job with these next two episodes also.

So today this is our retirement
special for the one and only the

amazing Ali Riley, our captain, our
ever smiling presence on Angel City.

You'll get some great insights from Angela
and Eva coming up, but here I get to, you

know, take over a bit since I'm recording
by myself as the casual coming in.

And I mentioned this before, I would
say a lot of the players that we talk

about on the podcast, a lot of the
players that we talk about during these

retirement retrospectives are new to me.

You know, and, and Aldi
Riley was no different.

but she was an instant favorite.

she feels like a, what you see
is what you get type person.

She.

Really feels like she's the same
person on and off the field.

And I think that's amazing.

And you can just feel how genuine she
is when it comes to everything that

she just permeates as her whole being.

Right.

the things that she's done for the team.

For her national team.

for the Angel City community,
and just for WoSo in general.

she is a force and I am so glad to
have her as our captain and to have

her as a forever member of Angel City.

And

I will hand it off to the "wide
world of Women's Sports", Angela

Morales and our special guest, the
Self-proclaimed "human junk drawer of

soccer knowledge", Eva Friedman to just
recap the amazing career of Ali Riley.

Angela: All right, everyone grab your
tissues, grab another emotional support

Caprisun, and let's go down this wonderful
memory lane for our Captain Ali Riley.

So in, if we go back to like, you
know, early days, she played at

Harvard Westlake in high school.

Yes.

Thank you for people

Eva: who, for people who aren't from
here, who maybe didn't grow up here

and don't know the, the agriculture
of Los Angeles high school sports.

Angela: Yeah.

So Harvard was like, and I, oh, I
didn't talk about this for Christen.

Oh, well.

Well,

Eva: did she go to, she
didn't go to Harvard Westlake.

Angela: No, but she went to Chadwick.

And what's the, anyway.

Harvard Westlake is a well well
known sports school, and if you are

from any other random regular people
school and had to play against Harvard

Westlake for literAli anything, God
help you because we all needed it.

Speaking from experience,
regardless of sport.

So Ali played at Harvard Westlake and then
went to Stanford from 2006 to 2009 where

she had 83 caps and seven goals there.

She then played for the Palley Blues
with seven appearances, FC Gold Pride

with 23 appearances, 15 appearances
for the Western New York Flash.

Flew over to Sweden where her life
completely changed and she met

her future husband and had 132
caps and four goals for Rosengård.

Went bounced over to the UK and played
for Chelsea for a year and had nine caps,

and then Byron Munich with three caps and
then had a tumultuous experience with the

Orlando Pride during we didn't, the COVID.

Season.

Big air quotes on that.

Um, but they didn't play exactly
because there were too many positive

tests on the team and they had to
withdraw from the challenge cup.

Eva: Some, some youngins.

Uh, some people caused some trouble.

Yeah.

Florida gonna Florida.

Angela: Exactly.

So she said, cool.

Later dudes, I'm gonna go back to Sweden.

So she played on loan.

For Rosengård for another season ish
with 17 caps and where she scored

a goal and then came home to us,

Eva: came back to Orlando
for the 2021 season.

Angela: Oh, right.

I forgot.

I just skipped it.

I didn't care.

Came back to Orlando.

It

Eva: establishes the war.

It does.

Of that like insane Veteran
Corps that Orlando had.

Yeah.

Of Marta, Ali Krieger, Alex
Morgan Syd Leroux, Ru Ali Riley.

Angela: Yeah.

And then to her surprise, genuinely, she
just said this, not that long ago on a

panel, to her surprise, she was traded
to Angel City and then it ended up being.

The best homecoming you could ask for,
and I can't talk any barely anymore

because I'm already emotional about Cap.

But for her international career playing
for New Zealand where her dad is from.

Was a like a huge honor for her.

Yeah.

And she played for the
U 20 New Zealand team.

She had 11 caps and five goals with them
in 2006, and then from 2007 to 2025,

essentiAli she represented the senior
team and was captain for eight years with

163 caps where she scored two goals and.

I'm gonna do her like LA Yeah.

California history please.

So like I said, she played at Harvard
Westlake, she was the captain.

Senior year.

She was a two time
mission league offensive.

MVP.

We know Ali Riley is defender, but that
didn't happen until her junior year.

Stanford, which I don't
think a lot of people know.

Eva: I didn't know

Angela: that.

Yeah, some fan I'm, she was a forward
her freshman and sophomore year

where she scored six goals and had
four assists across both season.

And like honestly, when you're
playing with players like, I don't

know, well Christen Press was there
her in her later years, but Kelly

Eva: O'Hara, Kelly O'Hara,

Angela: you have insane Defenders
and you can just kind of

play where you can play, but.

She converted to an outside back her
junior year and played defense, either

left or right back the remainder of
her career, which is absolutely cool.

It's just, it's dope.

Yeah, honestly.

Yeah.

So here's Eva with the rest of Ali Riley's
career, so I can go and cry in peace.

Eva: So after Stanford,
she gets drafted in 2010.

To FC Gold Pride in the WPS,
which is the NWSL's predecessor.

She won a championship and Rookie
of the year, and then 2011 she

signed with Western New York Flash.

This is still WPS, not NWSL, but she signs
with them and was a finalist for Defender

of the Year and won a championship.

And then that league
folds, she goes to Sweden.

Wins three consecutive championships.

She bounces around Europe, has a great
like Lizzie McGuire like journey of life,

just like traveling Europe, being cool,
playing soccer, having, and then, and she

comes back to the NWSL, to Orlando and
then, which surprised everyone by the way.

Mm-hmm.

It had been stated quite a bit that
she was not interested in coming.

She would not be coming to the NWSL.

So I was pumped when she was coming
back to the league or coming to

the league for the first time.

And then COVID happens and then Orlando
doesn't go to the challenge cup.

And so what a lot of like national team
players and stuff did during this time

was go play over in Europe because they
had their shit together a little bit more

than we did here in case you didn't know.

Then she comes back and she plays
a season in Orlando, and then

surprise, she's traded to Angel City,

Angela: dun, dun, dun,

Eva: where a legend was reborn, truly.

And she was named our first
captain, which is why in this

household she's known as cap.

I don't think anyone else calls her that.

But we have said it.

We have said it to her face.

Angela: Mm-hmm.

Eva: Yeah, we, we call her cap.

She is, she's our cap.

She's our cap.

Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

Would love to see that jersey retired.

Angela: Yeah.

Big time.

Eva: Um, yeah, just, just
putting it out there.

You know, not, not like she's like the
first captain, not like she played for

like 20 years or anything like we do,
you know, she didn't captain in a whole

country's international team or anything.

She, she's done nothing.

So she comes to, she comes home, she
scores her first NWSL goal in 2023.

I'm gonna read the note
verbatim, champion of the city.

Angela: Just, and I mean that as like,
she, she's a champion of la like she Yeah.

Champions the city.

She represents us so well.

Yeah.

As Angelenos, which we're very,
um, as a group, very prideful.

Eva: No, I didn't know that.

Angela: Yeah, if you are
born and raised in la it's a

different, it's just different.

Like you've been here long enough
where most people consider you like.

You're in Angeleno, like you're
from like you're here and you've

integrated enough in the city.

Eva: My biggest life achievement,

Angela: quite frankly, but not
many people who move here do that.

Yeah.

In the same way.

So those of us who grew up here, no matter
what part of the city you're really from,

you understand LA on a different level.

You understand the microcosms, the
west side, the east side, Mid-City,

like all of the neighborhoods.

You understand like.

We are all the same, and
we are all so different.

And we'll talk shit about each
other and different neighborhoods

and different little like micro
cities and things like that.

Like we'll talk shit, but
don't keep your name out.

Keep, keep our name out
your mouth kind of thing.

But she's such a wonderful,

just a wonderful
representation of the city.

Eva: Yeah, I think that, um.

The minute she was named Captain for
Angel City, it made complete sense.

Angela: Yeah,

Eva: it felt right.

When that signing was announced, the,
or the trade was announced, you know,

Angela said, you know, who, who is this?

And I, I think the first thing, one of
the first things I said was, you know,

to know Ali Riley is to love Ali Riley.

Yeah.

Um, you said.

Angela: You might not have seen her
play, but I promise you you'll love her.

Yeah.

And I was like, okay.

Sold.

And now I'm just weeping on the internet.

Eva: Yeah.

She, um, common theme for a lot of
the players who retired this year is

that they were champions for so many
communities who needed champions.

So first of all, she participated in.

The first ever World Cup win
for New Zealand in the 2023.

Yeah, I know what years things happen.

It's also, oh wait, it's, well,
I'm talking to the listeners who

are listening and not watching.

I'm not talking to the, anyway.

And on top of that, she gave a big
smiley, uh, smiley Riley middle finger.

Two fifa.

Yep.

They banned, pride armbands, and so she
painted her nails the LGBTQIA+ flag,

and in every image of her from that
game, she is like beaming, emotional

and she has her hands on her face and
you can, she just I don't think anyone.

Has ever not been happy for her?

Yeah.

Just ever.

Like she, she works incredibly hard.

She is so kind and good,
generous to everyone around her.

Angela: Generous.

Generous.

Eva: Yeah.

And, you know, I said this in another
episode, but you know, we're not in

the business of like congratulating
Alis for doing the right thing, but.

She, for as long as I have
been aware of her mm-hmm.

Has always been fighting pretty loudly.

For the LGBTQIA plus community, it has
not gone unnoticed, unnoticed, not at all.

Year one for Angel City, there was
a situation and she came right out

and was like, this is, you know,
this stadium is home for everybody.

This team loves everybody.

She, again, she is a champion for anyone
who needs a champion and I don't, I

don't know how else to like sum her up.

I think this sport

did not necessarily deserve
her for a long time.

Angela: That's why she
went and played in Europe.

Eva: Yeah.

And her.

So earlier this year in the nasty
fires, she, her parents lost their home,

her childhood home and getting, I, I
remember we saw her at the Jersey Reveal.

Mm-hmm.

And like we were asking her, she
was talking to us about like being

excited to get back to the pitch.

And I said like, well, you know,
if, if you have to stand on my sh

if you have to sit on my shoulders
and we wear a trench coat.

Yeah.

And I.

Try and run around the field like
you will be back on that field.

And I'm really glad that
it didn't come to that.

'Cause I, I think, I don't
think that would've ended

really well, but not for you.

No, no, definitely not for me.

But the point being Ali Riley
is everything that we could

ever want Angel City to be.

I think we're really lucky that we
have someone like Sarah Gorden, who

is our second captain, because I don't
know how else you fill those shoes.

Yeah.

Quite honestly, um, she loves the city.

She loves the fans, she loves the game.

I remember in, during the first season,
she said, she talked about like the

pressure to win in women's sports because
if you don't win and people stop coming.

Your attendance numbers are like zero.

Angela: And then the,

Eva: the team folds the lead.

Yeah.

And then, you know, everything is a mess.

And she talked about like, you know, we,
we are a, she didn't say it this way.

We are a losing team and we still show up.

We are not fair weather
fans and everything.

End.

It's because of players like her who
make it so easy to want to root for.

Yeah.

Did that sentence make sense?

Yes.

Cool.

Again, I, I can't think of a better
person to have set the standard

for what an angel city captain is.

I think that we, we are so beyond lucky.

That she is the first person
to ever wear this armband.

Yeah.

And you know, I can't wait in, you know,
like 20 years when like they show her on

the screen at a game and like some little
kid is like, that's the first captain

mom, you gotta watch Ali Riley play.

And like we get to be telling like,
the new younger fans, like back

in my day, like, yeah, but like
the legend of Ali Riley and like.

Her fingerprints are going
to be all over this team for

Angela: ever.

Eva: Yeah.

Forever.

And.

I think we, you know, a again, I, I'm
just so grateful that she got to, I'm

happy for her more than anything that
she got to end her career at home playing

in front of her home team or her home
crowd, her hometown, team crowd home.

Yeah, T whatever.

Um, her, you know, her with her
family at just about every game.

John and Bev are everywhere.

And Warren, um, and Warren.

Yeah.

But John and Bev in particular,
like, just always want to talk.

They love, just like an incredible
family, incredible people, and

again, a case of being really sad
that it ended the way that it did.

However.

She did get back on the
pitch in front of all of us.

She did get to hear the entire
stadium chanting We want Ali.

Yep.

Which thank you to

Angela: Duda Pavão and Kelly
O'Hara for starting that.

Yes.

And then getting all the rest of
us really quickly wrapped into it.

Eva: Yeah.

And I, aside from the injury, I think
she had the ending, similar to Christen,

she had the ending that she deserved and.

Again, similar to Christen, I hope she
knows how beloved she is, not just to this

city, but to in women's soccer as a whole.

Mm-hmm.

And I'm really selfishly, I'm really
glad that we get to claim her as ours.

Yeah,

Angela: same.

Yeah.

And it's, it's so exciting.

'cause she's already broadcasting.

Yeah.

She's already, you know, talking
in soccer already back to the game.

Like she never really left, essentiAli.

Eva: She still has,
yeah, she still has BFFR.

Angela: Yeah.

She's got BFFR.

She's got, possibly a new
something in the works with Kelly

O'Hara that's been hinted at.

really?

Eva: Mm-hmm.

Angela: They might resurrect
their, uh, college vlog.

Eva: No.

Yeah.

Go look at that up, by the way.

Angela: At least they've hinted at it.

I don't know time-wise how that
worked because they're both, um,

bi-coastal and internationally Okay.

Everywhere.

Fair.

But yeah, Ali Riley as
a whole, what a badass.

Eva: Yeah.

We, we were trying to type out
like, you know, what we wanted to

say and everything, and we kind of
looked at each other and I was like.

We're just gonna talk
about how much we love her.

Yeah, pretty much like it.

Like I'm just gonna

Angela: cry.

You're gonna be able to talk about it
and then I'm just gonna cry about it.

Eva: Yeah.

Um, love it.

Like the gratitude and the warmth
that she extends to all of us as fans.

I hope she feels in return.

I am.

I am so sad that we have seen her last
minutes on the pitch, but again, I am

just so grateful that, you know, for the
last 20 years I got to, I got to watch

and enjoy and yeah, I'm, I'm thrilled
to have an Angel City kit with her name

and number on it that I didn't just do
for shits and giggles that like, it's

actuAli because she played for Angel City.

But yeah, thanks Cap.

Thanks Cap.

Mario: alright, well that's
our episode for Ali Riley.

Huge thanks to Eva for stepping in and
helping out with the episode and honestly.

I'll just keep it short and sweet.

visit casualfc.com

for all of the links.

You can buy some merch there.

You can hit subscribe,
do whatever you want.

check out our socials, as we end off the
new year, and we'll see you next year.

Bye.