Angela: And I was like,
"Dude, you're so cool."
She did attendance records,
and people have been like
A moth?
Mario: I thought that was your
reaction to the attendance records
Angela: No.
Hey, everyone.
Welcome to Casual FC, an Angel City match
preview and footy therapy pod featuring
two podcast-certified footy therapists.
I'm your host, Angela Morales, with
my, ever-creative website-making
co-host, Mario Salazar.
Mario: yeah.
I'm having way too much fun, fixing and
adjusting and working on these websites.
Angela: And then
Mario: every-
Angela: "Hey, should
I make a new website?"
I'm like, "No.
What?
Mario: I totally got, totally
got a sanity check this morning.
I was on my, on my drive and occasionally
I'll, I'll text, Angela as I'm
driving, not via phone, but voice
Angela: text message with like the
wildest, I have to sit there and be
like, "Mm, oh, that's what he meant.
Okay."
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: it's a stream of
consciousness, text, right?
And so it's sometimes
they get really long.
I'm pretty sure that when you get, the
paragraph long texts out of nowhere,
you're like, "Oh, he's in the car."
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: and then it's funny 'cause
every now and then I'll just hit send.
Other times it does read it back,
and then I realize that I say,
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," a bunch.
Angela: Yeah
Mario: So
Angela: You
Mario: yeah.
Angela: say a lot.
You're like, "Okay, so yeah.
All right, yeah."
I'm like, "Yeah."
But
Mario: and I had a new, a
new website idea, and then
Angela: He
Mario: Angela went, "Dan, yeah, no.
One, don't do that.
Two, you'll save your brain.
Don't do that."
Angela: I was like, "You are so strong."
Like we're bothâ¦
Our bandwidth is very thin right
now, and I was like, "Stop.
Don't do more things
you don't need to do."
This is like the biggest lesson I've
had to learn over the last year and
a half is like maybe chill out, which
like, I don't know what this means.
this is our match preview for our
upcoming match on Sunday, October
4th versus the still currently
New Jersey, New York Gotham FC.
I'm gonna justâ¦
This is the last time I get to say it.
like but th- we'll be playing at Sports
Illustrated Stadium at 10:00 AM Pacific.
Mario: Brunch game
Angela: Brunch game, baby.
I will be sitting here with coffee and
like protein coffee 'cause that's what,
that's what my brain's been doing.
the game will be streaming andâ¦
Or I guess streaming, but also on network
national, network TV, ABC Channel 7 in
Mario: Yeah, that's, that was surprising.
I was like, "Okay, nice."
Angela: Yeah, they probably
changed that real quick.
So hold up, Angel City's winning, guys.
obviously it'll be on iHeartRadio
with Isaac and Tracy, and then
there'll be a watch party down
in Long Beach at Watch M.E.
Sports Bar, at, starting at 9:30.
So they're opening up
Mario: I,
Angela: early.
Mario: yeah.
Angela: insane.
Mario: Yeah, I believe it's at 9:30.
Double-check the socials, but I
do believe they're just, they're
opening right before the game.
come on, it's a brunch game.
Angela: It's a brunch game.
Mario: yeah.
Angela: It's a
Mario: Yeah
Angela: game, guys.
I'll be in the Discord chatting it up.
There's also WNBA
playoffs, I'm so stressed.
It's also baseball playoffs also.
What am I Canadian?
The hell?
anyway, there's so much.
I don't know if you guys have seen
my posted on Instagram a couple
days ago, I got magnets from
Mario: I did see that
Angela: Okay, so I found her on,
WNBA Threads because I have been
deep d- WNBA Threads reminds me of
old school WNBA Twitter, like when
Twitter was like so good, WoSoSoc-
like WoSo Twitter was so good.
Like we had beautiful sports communities
on that website before it was,
abducted and whatever happened to it.
but now on Threads, it's
a fantastic community.
We've made so many friends already.
But I have magnets, so I have
standings in my own house.
So I didn't move us up to fourth
place when it happened 'cause
I was like, "I can't jinx it.
I don't, I can't do it."
we're currently sitting in sixth on
my little whiteboard near my kitchen.
So it, guys.
Mario wanted to put in here it's not
useful for us, but it is Hello Kitty night
in New York if you're at the Gotham Games.
If you're at the game,
Mario: A delicate night.
Angela: but the big WoSo news this
week is that Atlanta's team their
colors and their crest and their name,
and that was the thing that happened, and
I, the, Maybe we should bully them more.
We did it with Boston.
We can do it with Atlanta.
There'sâ¦
I have so much to say about this.
You, you start this, and then I'll
come in and yell about things, and
then I'll also come in and try and
speak soundly about things, but
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: it
Mario: Okay.
So yes, Atlanta, did their big debut,
launched their name to a big fatâ¦
Really?
That's, that's all?
Okay.
you're notâ¦
It, it, their launch was, it was
essentially a version of you're not wrong,
Angela: Yeah.
It was very anticlimactic and
Mario: So
Angela: like, "What?
Mario: yeah.
Angela: no, don't do that.
Take it back."
Mario: so whenever new franchises
get announced, for the longest
team, they'll have temporary colors,
they'll have some type of, logo, f-
placeholder logo, and the placeholder
logo usually just means, it just says,
like, where they're gonna be from.
So it says Atlanta.
The other team that's gonna be
coming in in 2028 is, Columbus.
and they just have, they, I
believe it's also in partnership
with the Columbus Crew, right?
The same ownership for that one.
Angela: yes
Mario: Yeah.
So they're going with the Columbus
yellow, for their placeholder logo.
But all it says is Columbus, right?
And it has
Angela: Yeah, just as like
NWSL Columbus, NWSL Atlanta, and
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: It's
Mario: That's fine.
That's fine.
Placeholder.
And then, they announced in a big
kind of fun splashy way, beautiful
graphics and branding presentation
that they're going to be named Atlanta
City FC or when you abbreviate it ACFC.
Angela: Sound familiar?
And apparently, apparent-
okay, apparently,
Mario: they don't have any issue.
They're like, yeah."
Angela: yeah, th- they consulted with
Angel City and they're like, "Sure."
Why?
What-
Guys, guys, okay, here's the thing.
Who calls Atlanta Atlanta City?
What is
that?
not a thing.
It's ATL.
Mario: Yeah
Angela: ho.
ATL, ho.
come on.
I,
Mario: No, y- what?
Angela: I don't understand
Mario: it's, it'sâ¦
The, I wrote that this was like
the baby Balls, Balls FC moment.
This was the, theâ¦
Angela: They've been
Mario: It's notâ¦
Angela: Do it harder.
Fix it
Mario: Again, they're not wrong.
itâ¦
Angela: Yeah, Atlanta is a city
Mario: Yeah.
M- okay.
But
Angela: it
Mario: it's just, it's
kinda baffling, right?
And then it's
Angela: so many cooler things
about Atlanta, about Georgia.
Like,
Mario: About Atlanta, about Georgia,
the history that they have, you
know, they, Galpal Sports mentioned, they
have, the-- they hosted the Olympics where
the women's national team played, the '96.
the-- they have history with,
women's basketball also.
they, it's-- they've
got stuff to pull from
Angela: It is a cool city.
I have not been to Atlanta, but it's
not because I don't want to, it's
because I don't have enough money.
I, do you know how muchâ¦
Part of it, it makes me mad because
I'm like, you're not gonna tap into,
the hip hop culture of Atlanta?
You're not gonna call Andre 3000
and Big Boi and be like, "Hey,
can we be like the ATLiens?"
there's so much cool shit in Atlanta,
and I'm pissed off for them it's notâ¦
It just feels lazy.
It's, it's not as embarrassing as
Balls FC in the sense of, who are you?
what
is that?
That's so stupid.
more just that's it?
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: that's all?
Mario: and, and
Angela: You
Mario: then
Angela: been cliche and been the Peaches.
literally anything that's
representative of Atlanta, Georgia.
Coca-Cola.
Shit.
Delta.
Mario: Yeah.
I, gr- g- granted, I, I'm, I'm glad
they didn't go with the Peaches
'cause, all the, the, just, yeah,
you know what that would've led to.
So yeah.
Angela: Yeah, it would've been real bad
Mario: yeah, that would've been, that
would've been full balls FC moment.
Yeah.
But then, then all the discourse
started coming down to "Hey, did
you not abbreviate your team name?
you don't write Atlanta City FC on TV.
what's your,
Angela: the, what's your airport code?
Mario: Exactly.
And then they're like,
"Oh, no, no, no, no, no.
ATLCTY."
what the hell is that?
You're just making it
more complicated now.
Angela: ATL.
Mario: Yeah, just leave it ATL
Angela: as I said earlier, ATL, ho.
justâ¦
It's so disappointing forâ¦
you have players like Emily Sonnett,
Chloe Bethune, Kelly O'Hara.
have amazing players coming out
of Georgia, and you're just gonna
be like, "We're Atlanta City."
ugh.
Who did you consult?
Mario: They, y- did you consult with
the same consulting firm for Balls FC?
Th- did they tell you in a locked
room, "This is a good idea."?
I know it's, it's, it's gonna be fine.
It's gonna, they'll figure it out.
They might get bullied into,
changing something or maybe
just dropping the city part.
they do have, I do love
the, the Phoenix logo.
They have, they went with a s-
Angela: was cool
Mario: they went with a circular crest.
It has, a phoenix, logo in there,
so they didn't go fully "Oh, it's a
circle crest, so it's a soccer ball."
no, there'sâ¦
And then, they did go with a,
a very kind of peach colorway
and everything like that.
Everything else about it is actually
really cool and has been done really well.
I just think you, you, you stopped
short on the, the naming part.
And, and honestly, honestly,
Atlanta FC would've been,
Angela: been boring, but
Mario: would've been boring,
but fine, and at least it's
AFC, right?
you
Angela: I
Mario: whatever.
But just in case anybody needs the
officil- official designations of
the way teams are already known
throughout the league, okay?
I'ma go down the list.
Angela: a refresher
Mario: All right?
Angel City FC is just ACFC.
FC is just Bay.
Y- you don't, I don't,
nobody says Bay FC, no.
Boston Legacy is Balls FC,
Honkers FC, or just Boston.
That's fine, right?
Pick your one.
Chicago Stars FC?
No, it's the Red Stars.
Angela: That
Mario: Summit FC is just Denver.
Houston Dash,
Angela: They
Mario: what?
Angela: the Summit, and that's fine
Mario: That's fine.
That's fine.
Angela: Yeah
Mario: Houston Dash,
Houston, just Houston.
I, the Dash, yes, too, but
H- Houston's just easier.
Kansas City Current, just KCC, right?
or The Current, right?
either one.
New Jersey/New York Gotham FC.
No, it's just Gotham.
Yeah, th- th- and that's fine, right?
Just Gotham is awesome.
North Carolina Courage, it's
NCC or just the Courage, right?
You just drop North Carolina on there.
Orlando Pride, it's either
Orlando or the Pride,
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: never both.
No, it's just f-
Angela: you're talking to somebody new
that you're like, "Oh yeah, the Orlando
Pride did this," and you're like, "Oh,
Mario: Y-
Angela: yeah.
You've
Mario: exactly.
A-
Angela: about."
Mario: and same thing goes with,
the, the Thorns, the Portland Thorns.
It's either Portland or the Thorns.
You, you don't, you don't
normally say them both.
Racing Louisville is just Racing.
Racing Louisville FC is just Racing.
San Diego Wave FC is just the Wave.
Seattle Reign is just Seattle.
the, the, the new logo, the
logo redesign thing was great.
I love it, but
Angela: good.
Mario: it's still just Seattle
Angela: Like, when it's just
a one city name and a, a
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: it's
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: or the other,
Mario: But I'm pretty, I'm,
Angela: wonderful
Mario: sure most people are just
gonna go with Seattle, right?
Angela: Yeah
Mario: Washington Spirit, it's just
the Spirit or the Michelle Kang team.
It's one or the other.
Angela: Utah
Mario: Oh, I skipped over Utah.
Sorry, I'm just going down this list.
Utah Royals is just Utah, right?
Washington Spirit, it's just the
Spirit or the Michelle Kang team.
Either, either one, it's fine.
Angela: Yep.
Mario: And Atlanta FC
As, as hard as you're gonna try to make
Fetch happen, it's just gonna be Atlanta
Angela: It is.
Mario: cl-
Angela: the time to redo it.
You have the time to fix it.
Fix it,
Mario: Yeah.
And Columbus, it's gonna be Columbus
unless it's actually something catchy.
And look, if, if Columbus FC just
comes with "Hey, we're Columbus FC."
okay, cool.
Boring, but all right, fine.
it's just Columbus.
That's fine.
you're technically not wrong, but yeah
Angela: But you're not right either.
Eva just texted me from the other
room and said, "Please sing this
to a specific tune of BBL Drizzy."
She's like, "ATL City, City."
And I'm like, "Oh, God."
finally got BBL Drizzy out
of my head after three weeks,
Mario: Now it's back in there.
Angela: Kdot forever.
Like
Mario: Okay, so with all of that,
that is the names of the NWSL teams
going into 2028 all the way through.
So you've got two more magnets to buy.
There's time.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
Angela: Yeah.
we did the thing.
guys, I don't know if you know
this, but for hours, three
hours, we were in fourth place.
And do you know why?
It's because we beat the Spirit, and
it was amazing, and it was so good, and
I'm not gonna lie, I love
being Red Bull Sports.
I love it.
I love it so much because
Mario: you've been doing this for a while
Angela: it, it's like I played games.
just, we just looked so good.
We came outâ¦
we've been talking over the last few
weeks how the team's been building,
and everything is like becoming more
cohesive, and everybody knows their
role, and everybody knows their mark,
and everybody is on the same page.
years, we're finally in the same book,
in the same chapter, on the same page.
We're in the same paragraph.
We are in the same sentence together,
and it is beautiful, and it's wonderful,
and I love it so much with all my heart.
It's so good, especially because
our defense pisses people
off, and it's my favorite.
Everybody who has ever heard me talk about
sports knows how much I love defense.
Basketball, soccer, hockey,
football, like it doesn't matter.
Defense, defense, defense.
yes, you need offense because you
need to-- like I said, we need
to score more one, one additional
goal than the other people.
it.
Mario: all we need and
that's exactly what we got
Angela: in order to win.
We got the thingy, because what I
realized mid-game, every single time
we've played the Spirit, if Trin is
playing, she either crashes out or is
borderline crashing out because we are
one of the few defenses where our entire
back line keeps up with her or is faster
than her, and she's not used to it.
And it's like you forget, even though
you're like, "Okay, they're super fast
at it," you forget that Savvy is gonnaâ¦
Gisele's gonna be on your ass.
Savvy's gonna be on your ass.
Sarah Gorden's gonna be on your ass.
Emily Sands is gonna be there in case
for some reason you get past all of them.
Evelyn Shores is gonna be up there.
every single person on our back
line will haunt you, essentially,
and we proved it, and it's, not
necessarily like a criticism of Trin.
It's that, gets so entangled
and so frustrated, rightfully
Mario: Yeah,
we, we,
Angela: is to get open.
Her g- her job
Mario: Yeah, we lock her up.
We
Angela: to be there, but we lock her up,
Mario: Yeah.
And,
Angela: it
Mario: I, I listened to pretty much the
entire match, on the radio for this one.
So I was listening to Isaac and Tracy,
and, one of the points that Isaac
was making during this when it was, a
nil-nil draw for most of the game, right?
But it was a really good
battle back and forth,
Angela: It was great
Mario: that, both of these teams
are ba- are ranked best defenses
in the league at the moment.
So it was, right now the reason
everything was so even-Steven
was the, the back lines.
The back lines were doing the
most for each team, right?
And so that, that, that one provided
a really exciting, It would've been an
exciting nil-nil draw 'cause, it, it
sounded, at least from, like I said,
I was listening to the whole thing.
It sounded really exciting.
It sounded like there was a good amount
of back and forth, a good amount of,
Angela: Yeah
Mario: close near misses, close
shots, like a bunch of stuff.
but you didn't hearâ¦
It wasn't like a, a lopsided thing
where all of a sudden it was just like I
kept hearing the Spirit, I kept hearing
the Spirit, I kept hearing the Spirit.
So it was being locked down,
and so I think that's justâ¦
When you have, when our, our back
line is fully gelling and then
stopping everything, which we have.
that's how we've gone, that's
how we've gotten to the best goal
differential in the league, which
is a wild, wild thing to say.
Angela: Yep
Sure is.
Mario: Oh, w- I'm gonna say this again.
It's a wild thing to say just
because we're not used to that.
We're not used to having this
amazing goal differential.
We're in the double digits.
We're at,
15, 16?
16.
and that's just because, our back line
has been so good, so solid that Angelina's
been able to get a bunch of clean sheets.
they've been able to lock
down most of these defenses.
As we were pointing out, when we
were going through a slide and
when we were going through, what we
thought was doom and gloom, thatâ¦
'Cause that's always gonna happen when
you start losing, more than one game.
It's just "The world is over."
And that's fine.
That's sports, right?
you're, you're so ingrained and, and
passionate that that's what it feels like.
But, we were only losing by one,
Angela: Yeah, we weren't
getting blown out three
Mario: No
Angela: four to one.
We were losing one-nothing, two
Mario: Yeah
Angela: the death.
it was when fatigue would set in,
it was when we would get scrambled
a little bit, and you can tell
where the team has worked on things
and it's been really, really cool.
it- the way we've really come
together over the last couple
months, it almost feels like the
glue is ungluing for the Spirit in
the same, in like the opposite way,
Mario: Okay
Angela: they're getting a little
more disjointed and, frustrated
and, and easier to pull apart.
'Cause that's the other thing, it's like
you come out and everyone on the team has
a job, everything is cohesive, everything
works, but if the other team is, is
messing with that, you start to scramble.
You start to, lose those
connections and lose theâ¦
lose getting to your marks and
getting to your spots on the field.
So then everything is just a
little wonky, and it takes time.
It's when I was saying when Utah
went down two players, it takes team
on the other side of that time to
adjust to it because you're like,
"Oh shit, we have extra people.
What do we do?"
who goes where?
Because you can't stay in the
same spots 'cause they've changed,
so you have to react to that.
Mario: Yeah
Angela: the same thing as your team gets
more easily frustrated or easily figured
out, you have those similar struggles.
But I love this team.
Our, our prompt for Footie Therapy
was do you believe in magic?
Because Eva immediately started singing
it the second the, the final whistle blew.
I was like, "Oh, that's perfect."
Threw it up on Discord, threw
it up on In- on Instagram, and
everybody was essentially just "Ah!"
I don't
Mario: especially because at that
point too, we jumped up to fourth
Angela: Yeah, exactly.
It's like fourth place, highest
goal differential in the league.
Who, who do we think we are?
don't know.
I don't care.
I love it.
Mario: Yeah
Angela: having super subs, I
think this is the first time we've
actually had super subs like this.
subs, game changers.
We'll talk to 'em, talk about
it a little bit more later.
But, Mai is clutch.
She has the clutch genes and
I'm so happy she plays for us.
Thank God.
not excited about seeing that in
the World Cup, tell you that much.
that's my, that's my,
soapbox for the game.
She won goal of the week,
'cause duh, finally, since
we had to yell at the league.
But that's, that's Angel
City for last weekend.
I'm still riding high.
I don't think I will
ever come down from that.
I have a thought about something,
but I'll tell you later.
Mario: Okay
Angela: was a lot of other
crazy games during the week.
Please,
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: tell the people
Mario: So quick roundabout of, all, all
the matches that happened this week.
So we had a two to nothing
win of San Diego over, Racing
or the Wave over Wa- Racing.
we had a three-one win from
Gotham over the Red Stars.
We had a two-nothing, win
from Seattle over Boston.
We had, KCC four to one versus Denver.
And ACFC, as we were just talking
about, beat the Spirit one to nothing.
There was a draw, one-one draw
with Portland and Houston.
the Pride beat Bay three to one, and
Utah beat the Courage two to one.
So
Angela: They did not listen to us.
Mario: N-
Angela: They did
Mario: didn't
Angela: assignment was.
Carolina, congratulations to
Ashley Sanchez, one for the
call-up, two for 20 goals.
you can score more, but, not against us.
But job, girl.
congratulations to Haley Hopkins
for a hatty against Denver.
That was cool.
and then I think Haley McCutchen
had a brace for Orlando.
I don't remember, but the rush
to the playoffs is insane.
Mario: Yes
Angela: the Chaos Award.
It's just bonkers, and changes
at the blink of an eye because
Mario: Yeah.
Yep.
We're at that point, we're at that,
that point where the, the, the
way, the way American sport, the
way the American soccer works out
because we have the playoffs and
everything, the first couple of matches
matter, kinda don't matter.
they're used as, as a, as a warmup
period, a little bit of an extra,
Angela: Extra preseason
Mario: Yeah.
The meat and potatoes of the season
is really where you're just like you
need to be steady, you need to be
solid, to really build up that base.
But then because it's the NWSL,
because we have NWSL After Dark,
because we have parody that, will
give you random results every week,
Angela: this league is chaos.
Mario: e- exactly, the last couple
weeks become insane for, a whole group
of teams, not just, one or two, right?
So yeah, Chaos Award pr- pretty much from
here till the end will be the insanity
that's gonna be happening every week.
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: So-
Angela: something egregious, it's gonna be
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: The
Mario: Yeah, just the league.
all right, so the standings check.
Let's, let's take a look.
on the playoff rush, e- every,
like as we were saying, it's on.
Everybody's on.
The three teams that were on the
danger bubble last week, Bay,
Boston, and Racing, all dropped out,
so they have all officially been
eliminated from playoff contention.
theâ¦
I, I have, I added a section to
the website, at, that only kicks
in at this point, in the season,
and it's the who's in or who's
out kind of weekly just overview.
so right now Gotham has the
potential to clinch a top four
seed with their results this week.
the Wave and the Spirit can also
just clinch the playoffs and be set.
Houston and Orlando are both on the
elimination bubble, so they can both
be dropped out this, this weekend.
if you want, if you want to find
out the, what the permutations
are, what the, what needs to happen
for each one of those results,
Check out, NWSLPlayoffPicture.com,
for all the permutation details.
You can click on any one of them
and actually get the full download.
But for the important one, for what
this podcast is for, Angel City.
Let's talk about what we have.
we had a glorious few hours in
fourth place, and you know what?
We can relive that, too.
Now, the kinda high and low
of this weekend, we can reach,
again, we can reach up to fourth
place by the end of this weekend.
We can drop to as low as eighth
place, which is still it's like
a, it's like a silver lining bad.
Yeah, it's a catch-22.
we can, we can, it's gonna suck,
but we're gonna drop down and
still be within the playoff race.
Angela: What if we didn't?
Mario: yeah, but, but let's not do that.
so we have this match against Gotham.
If we win, we can go all the way up
to fourth, as long as, Portland also
beats Boston and Racing beats Utah.
Both
Angela: neat.
Mario: Yeah, yeah.
Both of those have to happen with our win
in order for us to get to fourth place.
with our win, we can still be in
sixth place if the opposite happens.
and then if, and if one or the
other happens, we're probably gonna
end up in the middle, in fifth.
a draw, we can reach as high as fifth
with a draw, with a couple of, of
occurrences like KC beating, or KC and
Bay drawing with Boston beating Portland.
and then again, we can fall, with
kind of opposite, results on that one.
And then even if we lost this
week, we can still stay in sixth
if Seattle and, the Courage draw
Angela: Ooh.
Mario: and Bay draw.
So
Angela: That's crazy because those
two match-ups could happen that way.
Mario: Yeah.
so there's a lot of the, the, the sweet
thing about where we're at right now,
and this is reflected on the website, is
we are in control because no matter what
happens to us, we are still within the
playoff race and it's not completely over.
there are other teams that are
designated as on the bubble because
they're the ones that like any one
of their results can either push
them up or push them down, right?
So we are not, we're solidly still in
the playoff top eight, which is insanity.
Now,
Angela: type I eat.
We gotta stay in there
Mario: we, the NWSL Myspace
top eight, that's us.
We're in there.
Angela: eight
Mario: so yes, the
Like I, like I mentioned before on the
website, there's, the first page that
you land on is, the realist page, right?
It's, it's the actual standings.
It's the actual, what
could happen, breakdown.
Then you have the what if page,
which is the kind of let's dream a
little, but let's have a little bit
of realistic, expectations, right?
And then you have the delulu page,
which is the page when you go straight
to the team, and you can select what
you want as the result and figure
out where you-- that would land
you in the most likely scenarios.
So I went ahead and I picked the
fact that we're just gonna win
all four matches from here on out.
We're gonna win out.
that would pob- possibly
lead us into third place.
We can end this season into third place
Angela: would lose my mind.
I don't think you understand.
I need that, but also,
Mario: At this point,
Angela: want
Mario: point
Angela: streak going into the playoffs
Mario: Yeah, that might
be a little bit taxing.
Angela: it.
Mario: I will say that, at this
point, home field advantage in
the playoffs is not completely
out of the realm of possibility.
Home field advantage only takes
up to fourth place, right?
The one through four get home field.
and then from there on,
Angela: Highest
Mario: seed pl- top seed gets
home field until the final, which
is at our neutral site at Audi.
There's also a world where we get two home
field games before going to the finals.
Insanity, right?
Angela: Insanity
Mario: of the realm of
possibility, so I'll take it.
This is exactly why I
do this every season.
I will take it.
with all of that, go
check out the website.
Play around with it.
There's a bunch of buttons you can click.
There's a bunch of easy ways to share what
you pull together and share, results and
share stuff for, teams that have already
clinched it and are gonna go even higher.
and once we're getting to that
level, believe me, we will be
sharing the shit out of those things.
So yeah.
So with all of that, first
hurdle, we need to beat Gotham.
So yeah
Angela: I just said I don't want an
unbeaten streak going into the playoffs,
but I don't wanna lose this game.
This one especially.
Most people know I have a
special love for the Bats.
lot of people hate Gotham,
I understand that, duh.
I love good teams.
I'm from LA, it's what we are.
Angel City, we're still working
through the, the kinks and the cracks.
But okay, so since Sonnet went
down, tore her patellar tendon,
their back line has been weird.
bad, just weird.
You've got Tierna back there, thank
God, because she's amazing and she's
healthy, and that's super good.
You've got Jess Carter, you've
got Midge sometimes, and then you
have, Mandy Freeman and somebody
else whose name I am blanking on.
So you have a really experienced back
line, but they've had to pull people
in and out, move people to different
spaces and positions and it's notâ¦
you have, Carter and Sonnet
or Sonnet and Tierna, they've
played together a long time.
They understand each other
and their tendencies.
You're g- when that gets messed up,
we've talked about it plenty with
Angel City, you can only make so
many changes before shit gets weird.
It's a little wonky.
They're fine.
I- there's a reason why they're
in first place by a mile.
they're fine.
their midfield though, they have
wildly good players And the thing
that breaks my brain that Savannah
McCaskill is on that list because
she frustrated me in Angel City.
ran the wrong way down
the beach to San Diego.
It's been weird, but in Gotham it almost
feels like she's kind of like found her
fit, that's irritating because she is
a catalyst in setting up good goals.
And when you have players like
Rose, you have, Jordan Dudley,
you have fucking Sam Kerr.
Shit, I don't want you
to have a good midfield.
stop it.
but in similar fashion to the way we
just messed with Washington, we just
messed with the spirit and their,
their game plan and their, their speed
and all that kind of stuff, Gotham
knows how to do that differently.
force you to slow down.
They force you into their game.
They don't let you break them up without,
doing your due diligence essentially.
they make you work hard for those goals.
They make you work hard to get
through their, their midfield,
to get through the defense.
I brought it up, after we, we had
the draw at BMO that legitimately
felt like a wind, a wind?
A win, and it, changed the tide
of the season when we, when
we had that draw with Gotham.
It was all of a sudden like, "Hold on,
this team is running over everybody,
and they didn't run over us."
Granted,
Mario: something there.
There was
Angela: Yeah, like
there's something there.
Rose got hurt that game, but that doesn't
mean that they're short players who can
score and short players who can win games.
not at all.
But Gotham is built different in that way.
Their, their foundation is so strong
that they, they know how to manipulate
every team they match up with.
And the point I was eventually getting
to that I just remembered was that they
have a team goal narrative, operative,
whatever you wanna call it, that if
they're dispossessed, they have to
get the ball back within six seconds.
That is really fast
really fast.
And
Mario: So the key is use that to
our advantage and get them tired
Angela: Getâ¦
And yeah, run them around.
Mario: Yeah
Angela: around in circles.
I don't care.
I feel after we held them to that
draw at BMO, the team looked at them-
at themselves, like collectively as
a group, and just went, "All right.
We can do that.
We can beat anybody.
We can do this.
Mario: Yeah.
Yeah
Angela: we just held them scoreless.
We can do this to anybody.
Let's do it.
We still have almost half the season.
All right, bet."
it really feels like there was a
players only meeting, and I say this
because you can tell a team themselves
together and they say, "No more
There was, in the, the Women's Basketball
World Cup that just happened, the
international tournament, there was
a game where it was really, really
close against Italy, and Kara Lawson,
the coach of the team, said, "I don't,
don't expect to see that again."
Or "We're essentially not on my watch."
that's never happening again.
They didn't have to call a players
meeting because their coach is a hooper.
their coach knows how this goes.
She's been there.
She's played these games.
So it- that's a little bit
different when you have somebody
on the inside that, understands.
But when, when a player only
meeting is called, it's a
different level of accountability.
It's when your team steps up and starts
scouting their opponents themselves.
Not, the staff does it too,
but when players are like,
"No, you, things differently,"
Mario: Yeah
Angela: necessarily looking at
it from such an analytical level.
You're looking at it from,
your gut and your gut feeling.
Mario: Your gut feeling and the like,
okay, I'm, I'm looking at this player
because that's where I'm going to be.
Angela: Yeah
Mario: And, you know your body, you
know how you need to position, you know
how to not get tangled up on your own
legs, and so you're looking at things
differently than, like you said, the
analytical part of it, where it's just
hey, they run this fast, and the, the
six-second metric and things like that.
But it's like, no,
Angela: You have to take those,
Mario: no,
Angela: take all that data
Mario: and
Angela: it into like your gut
feeling of okay, what does that
translate to when this happens?
Oh, that's when-- because they're,
they're dispossessing us so quickly.
Okay, that's what that is.
So how do we get around that?
There was a really interesting
interview that came out after
either the 2017 or 2018 Baseball
World Series where Dodgersâ¦
It was, it was the World
Series against the Red Sox.
It was 2017.
I think so.
Either way, Dodgers got swept
by the Red Sox that year.
I was pissed 'cause again, that's
my second favorite team and the
conversation came out that the
head coach of the Dodgers was
not making like pitching calls.
Like he wasn't like, "Oh, we
need to pull this pitcher now.
We need to bring this guy
in," that kind of thing.
It was only being done by analytics,
by like the, the manager, like the FO
essentially, like the powers that be.
And they openly talked about
the fact that they went at it.
Like they got into a huge fight.
Like Doc, the, the coach of the team
is like, "No, you don't understand.
only gets you so far before
the human part of this happens,
before you have to trust
your gut, beforeâ¦
You're not in the dugout with
me making these decisions.
You're notâ¦"
like those game time decisions
are such a human thing that you
Mario: Yeah
Angela: like You can't manipulate that way
because it's not a real tangible thing.
Mario: Stats,
Angela: stats only get
you to a certain point
Mario: stats are historical,
Angela: Yes.
Mario: they're not predictive
of what's happening right now.
They might give you a good idea
of what's happening right now,
but stats are, yeah, but stats are
just, "Hey, that's what happened
in the past and here's a pattern."
Angela: Yes
Mario: Does not mean that's what's
gonna be happening on, on the field.
So yeah, you gotta trust your gut
and, that's why, that's why you've
got, good coaches and bad coaches.
That's why you've got
good refs and bad refs.
they're
Angela: there's, there's a lot of
humanity that's still left in sports
and I think that's why I'm like holding
onto the death grip, do not take this
out of my cold dead hands, because lost
so much human connection in the world.
But in relation to this specific
game, Gotham is that team.
Gotham is, is top of the table.
They're so good.
They have so much world-class
experience, but they're also beatable.
They're also very human.
So the outcome of this game, and
granted this statement could literally
be applied to like anything, but the
outcome of this game fully depends
on which version of ourselves we show
up with Because if it's the version
that was in Washington, that was in
DC, oh, we gonna show up and show out.
Like this, it's gonna be so good 'cause,
this team, they just, they have it.
They have that intangible thing finally.
All the stuff that we've had on paper
is finally tangible and it's finally
real, but, good stuff in our hands.
I was trying to figure out, do
I spotlight specific players?
What do I do?
And I realized there's, partnerships
you're really starting to see through-
in- throughout the games
in, in, conferences and, and
all the different things.
Like you see, SveindÃs and Prisca,
which is so fun and so fast.
And Eva and I were talking a few weeks
back about Taylor Suarez, about how she,
in the first half of the season when she
was starting, she didn't know yet when to
go, when to turn those jets on, how fast
to go, and now that part is clicking with
her too because if you have her, SveindÃs,
and Prisca up top, that's disgusting.
it's so fast.
It's terrifying.
But toâ¦
Even when you just have, Prisca and
SveindÃs, they, they see each other,
they get each other, they know the
push/pull of, okay, this person canâ¦
Their routes are a little bit faster.
She runs a wider, I can come in
more narrow, that kind of thing.
In the midfield you have Ary, who is
literally having the best fricking
season of her career, I think.
She's, she's so understated this season,
which eyes is like, oh, that's the
good shit because you're not making
waves in the way that I think a lot
of people anticipated with her coming
in from a very tumultuous season in
Louisville, coming to Angel City.
She's healthy, she's
happy, she's had a kid.
things are so good for Ary right now.
playing so well, and everybody I've
talked to, like I have a couple
friends who are racing fans that
are in Nebraska, and they're like,
"Yeah, that's not the Ary we know.
That is a different woman,
and that's amazing for her."
they're so happy for her
because they know she's so good.
It just wasn't necessarily
the right fit or whatever in
Mario: Yeah
Angela: But Ary and Karina Laguerre,
have Karina learn from Ary is
insane, and you can see how quickly
Karina said, "Oh, I've got my shot.
I'm gonna take it," and she's
fitting the system so well.
Obviously, you have Sarah
Gorden and Emily Sams.
I mentioned it earlier, the center
back pairings, but like their push-pull
of when Sarah charges forward to,
to catch up with somebody so that
she dispossesses them further away,
or when Sams does that and Sarah's
there to sweep because she's so fast.
Like they, they understand each
other without having to communicate.
You don't see the frantic
"Oh, go that way."
you don't see the, the of the
back line the way we used to
of
It's more just "Ah, damn it,"
and "Okay, let me go fix it."
It's very chill.
And then you have Evelyn Shores and Ali
Sentner who are playing very fun back and
forth up the wings, and that is so cool.
it's so fun to watch because you
have a newcomer to our team who is
essentially a phenom in the league
but hasn't had the right fit.
She was great in Utah.
Like she was good great in Utah.
It's like the, like where you have
a yellow crayon or a red crayon
and an orange crayon, and you have
like red, you have orange, you
have red-orange and orange-red.
Like it's like that where it's a
little bit more this way, a little
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: But
Mario: yeah
Angela: Ali played amazing soccer in
both Utah and Kansas City, but it, wasn't
the right thing, and I think it's how
free this team plays And where people
are, why isn't Riley Tiernan playing?
Why isn't this person playing?
Why isn't that person playing?
I think that's part of it.
This team is so fluid, and
they're playing so free right now.
Sometimes different players need
different structures, and if it's,
too free in the sense that, there's a
million options, sometimes it's hard for
players to conceptualize, and it takes a
little bit longer to get to that point.
She's young.
I don't care.
It's fine.
Just, just kick it, learn, let
your brain, absorb the information.
But to then have the game changers come
in, and it's essentially Mai and Taylor
right now, like Maiara Niehues, Taylor
Suarez, these young, young players
come in and being like, "Oh, hey, I'm
gonna go set a record for how fast
you can score after a substitution.
Oh, I'm gonna set the team scoring record
because I can, and I have the audacity
to do it's just, oh, it's so fun.
And the pairing ofâ¦
these pairings are pairing, and
they're working so well, and they're
clicking, and that's what's making it
so much more fun to watch this team.
it's whenâ¦
it's always fun to cheer on Angel
City, but it's, more fun because we're
successful right now, and you can see
that with, these different pairings
team as a whole, they trust each
other, that's one of those intangible
things that you can't put on paper.
You can't, "Oh, did you trust
yourself nine out of 10 today?
Did you trust your, your position partner?
seven out of 10."
it's not a thing that you could grade.
It's, it's a gut feeling.
It's that, oh, I know that walking
onto this pitch together with these
other women, I can take over the world.
I can do anything, and
that's where we're at.
Everybody knows what they're
supposed to be doing.
Everybody knows where they're
at, and, that's whatâ¦
That's the end goal always.
To peak right now or to, start
peaking right now is, is perfect.
Mario: Yeah.
Yeah
Angela: build-up going into the playoffs.
I don'tâ¦
Like I said, I don't want an unbeaten
record going into the playoffs, but,
I don't know who I say we lose to
because I don't actually want to lose,
so maybe a draw one game, that's it.
But a win, win, win because
that stresses me out.
it'sâ¦
I'm
so excited for
this game
Mario: that, that, that does
bring back, Becky Sparkles',
Angela: Yeah
Mario: of "Hey, we were going unbeaten,
undefeated into the playoffs, and then
we, we bow out first round," right?
Angela: Yeah
Mario: yeah, it's, The playoffs
as, as, people who are familiar
with it, you always know that,
the playoffs are different.
You set up your team differently.
You, you are looking to
hit that hot streak, yeah.
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: to hit that hot streak at the right
moment to peak during those playoffs.
Yes, there's aâ¦
Angela: wanna be playing
right now at this point in the season.
You want this.
Mario: Exactly.
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: no brakes.
Mario: But yeah, we're,
Angela: yeah
Mario: we have, we have a losing
record against the Gotham,
but so does everybody, so
Angela: exactly.
You have to remember when Angel City
came into the league, Gotham said, "Hey
guys, we're rebranding from Sky Blue to
Gotham FC, and we're going to rebuild
everything and, essentially gut the
team, build it back up from scratch,
and we're gonna kick everybody's ass
and collect all the Infinity Stones
and every trophy on the planet.
Duh."
Gotham has been on a different level
since Angel City came in the league.
So our record against them is one
win, two draws, and seven losses.
I would like a win.
2-2-7, that's my section.
I want that.
I want that record against
Gotham by noon on Sunday
Damn it.
Mario: Yeah, yeah.
okay, with all of that,
we have, gotten this far.
If you've been listening,
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we're doing this for fun and for
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the hypeness of reliving some of these
matches, whenever we talk about it.
And hopefully you're going through the
same thing too when you're listening.
it's all good.
And, best thing, and hopefully this
means that all of you have been doing
this, tell a friend about the pod.
It brings us good luck.
We package that up, and we send it right
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and they have been doing it great so far.
with all of that, I'll see
you all at brunch, everyone.
Angela: Yeah, see you in the Discord.
Bye
Mario: Bye