Mario: all right.
Angela: All right.
Mario: Whenever you're ready
Angela: down to business to defeat the Bay
You're welcome.
Hi, everyone, and 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, ever,
silly co-host, Mario Salazar.
Pow, pow,
Mario: Hey everyone.
Hey everyone
Angela: we, we just spent the last,
10 minutes talking about designing
other stuff and also podcast
stuffs and all the designs, all
the brain stuff for next season.
man has so many things in his brain.
Meanwhile, my brain is just rickety
old car right now, 'cause I 24
hours away from being on vacation.
I need it
Mario: yeah, Angela's full
of senioritis right now.
She's, Hitting
Angela: two hours
Mario: clocking out
Angela: of my workday today, I
was like, "Guys, I don't care."
And my coworker started cracking up.
She's like, "You are ready to go."
I was like, "What am I gonna do tomorrow?"
'Cause I still have to work tomorrow.
Ugh.
Anyway, have way better
things to talk about.
Mario: Yes, we do
Angela: The biggest and most important
is our match preview of our final
San Andreas matchup of the year on
Saturday, October 24th against Bay FC.
This is the last regular
Mario: Regular
Angela: match at BMO.
We're manifesting a playoff berth, one.
Two, we're manifesting a
home playoff match at BMO.
So on Saturday, 5:45, BMO,
which should reallyâ¦
Can we rename it to, Be There B
Square or something like that?
Anyway, if you can't make it or
you're going to one of your best
friend's weddings in Arizona like I am
it will be on ION and also streaming
on iHeartRadio with Isaac and Tracy.
I love my friends so much.
But,
Mario: Ah.
Angela: yeah.
It is fan appreciation night.
Fan Fest is gonna start at 1:45.
There's a gate giveaway of some kind.
Somebody wanna scoop me something,
I would greatly appreciate it.
I'm beyond pumped for this game, and I
am stressed that I'm gonna be in Arizona.
Mario: She's gonna have to catch it
in secret on a tiny little screen,
Angela: one.
Mario: because, yeah, we've, if you
live your life around the NWSL schedule,
may I tell you about a little website,
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: does.
Let me tell you a little bit of web- a
website called, wherestheNWSLschedule.com.
Angela: pow, pow
Mario: Another thing
brought to you by Casual FC.
if you go check it out.
Angela: of websites
Mario: Yes.
and, and countdown has not
officially started yet.
It will start as soon as the final
whistle blows on the championship
match, but, as most of us know, and
as the meme was introduced to me
when I first came to the NWSL fandom
was, where the hell's the schedule?
Every
Angela: Ask Meg
Mario: every year the
schedule would never be out.
People have flights they wanna plan.
People have life events
that they wanna plan.
People have
Angela: People have friends
Mario: friends.
Angela: get married
Mario: so
Angela: Or
Mario: sooner the s- the sooner
the schedule comes out, the easier
it is to plan around things.
Angela: So you say,
Mario: I will say the, I do have
historical data where the times were
getting shorter, so we're trending
in the right way, yet this season is
launching 82 days after the final.
They have notâ¦
They're, they're somewhere
close to getting close to 80
days on their release dates.
So either way, when the finals,
when the final whistle blows,
go check out the website.
It'll start counting.
We'll start seeing where and where
we can start planning, the next year
Angela: of the final whistle, we
have a couple weeks before the end.
we have this weekend, next
weekend the end of the season
officially, regular season stuff.
We'll get into that part
of it in a little bit.
But you are going to find yourself in
DC and you would like to say hi, if you
wanna get stickers, hit me up, either my
personal Instagram, the podcast Instagram.
Please let me know.
Threads, other internets, like if you have
me, if you have my number, I don't care.
Just hit me up.
Please let me know if
you're gonna be in DC.
Eva and I will be there.
Our bestie Yessie will be with us.
I'm so excited because I'm not gonna jinx
it, but I'm so excited for the finals.
I'm so excited.
But
Mario: I'm a
Angela: to us-
Mario: a little jealous that I can't go.
it's too far in
scheduling, but, but still.
Angela: This is whyâ¦
So we live vicariously through each
other in different ways, Mario and I.
Mario travels a lot more than I
do right now with, even with his
kids, 'cause his family is amazing.
and I are like, "We have to save money.
We have to do all the things."
So we're like locking down.
But this trip is made possible because
we are staying at Eva's aunt's.
Mario: Yep.
Yep.
I will say
Angela: the sports things.
Mario does like the worldly things.
Mario: I will say though that there's
been a bit of worldly travel within our
friendship and everything where it's like,
Angela: true
Mario: you're going there?
Oh man, oh, that, that sounds like fun."
Or but yeah, it's all good.
A couple of great minds once saidâ¦
What?
Angela: 'Cause we have
so much to talk about.
I'm so
Mario: Yeah.
a couple of great minds have said,
you only need to score one more
goal than the other team, and
that's these two brains right here.
if you d-
Angela: that I said I don't care
if we score one goal or like 11,
as long as we score one more than
the other team, I don't care.
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: And
guess what?
Mario: if you did not see
it, there's an amazingâ¦
I- this is-- I love when social media
teams can take ownership and play
with the thing that they're on, right?
social media is about being social,
about being a little bit more casual.
It's not supposed to
be, corporate PR pushes,
Angela: Yeah.
And it
Mario: all the time
Angela: for marketing
reasons and information get-
getting and giving reasons.
But
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: fun, oh,
it's fun
Mario: think about the, the memes and the
hilarity when, Wendy's claps back, right?
Angela: these days, but
Mario: Eh, yeah.
But,
Angela: but
Mario: when w-
Angela: greater
Mario: in the grand scheme
Angela: yes
Mario: strategies, so Angel
City put out a beautiful,
Angela: Beautiful.
Mario: beautiful little clap back
video of, the press conference after
the first game where the Denver
coach was talking a little smack
with a nice compilation of what just-
Angela: like, "Yes.
Yes."
Agreed, nodding her head off her neck.
not,
Mario: And
Angela: co-captain, whatever
Mario: whatever.
Their star player, their big money player.
Angela: They're big
Mario: and, and then just
a nice compilation of, the
wap wap we gave them of
Angela: What?
ba, ba.
Okay.
H- okay.
Here's the thing.
I have watched that video, since it
appeared on my phone yesterday, I
have watched it easily a dozen times,
and I wanna watch it again right
now 'cause it makes me feel good
Mario: Actually, why don't
we just take a little break?
I'm gonna insert it right here,
Angela: Yes
Mario: let's enjoy it together
Angela: It's so good.
Mario: It's so good.
Angela: I,
Mario: Okay.
Angela: I wanna know what comes after
the ACFC something, something, something.
Like that is team language and I, I wanna
know so bad, but is not my business.
Mario: No, no, that's
Angela: a fan sometimes, you
have to let the team have their
thing, and this is their thing.
The little shark thingy they
did, that's their thing.
The little like stupid scuba
thing, granted it's a thing,
but like it's their thing too.
Like this is one of those
moments where I'm like, "God,
I miss being in a locker room."
Like the, the community and the language
and like the things that come out
of sharing a locker room, especially
with other women, is so special.
It is such this like unifying good,
if it- when it's good, it's great.
Like it is so wonderful and it's so
apparent that that's what we've got.
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: do we sit in the table, Mario?
Because last
Mario: In, we're in fifth, baby.
Angela: Whoo!
Mario: We
Angela: fifth place,
Mario: exactly what we said we had to do.
Simple win, and we're in fifth.
That's it.
Win in, that's all it was.
we have now been undefeated
in our last eight.
we've had three draws and
five wins in our last eight.
No losses.
Love that.
I did not realize it, and I
don't know if this was a typo.
I'm b- I'm getting this, I'm
getting the other piece of data
from, FotMob, but, has itâ¦
So Coach Leaf, has, has now 17
matches under his belt, which,
okay, yeah, 'cause I remember.
Okay, so when it happened, we were in
that, we were in a third of the season.
there was still two-thirds
of the season to play.
as as you were corrected
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: the press conference.
Angela: my bad.
We're not halfway through.
We're only a third," which would
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: sense that it's 17.
Mario: Yeah.
But, out of that
Coach Leaf has nine wins, six
draws, and only two losses
I, I
Angela: The,
Mario: as much as you don't really like
the six draws and, there was, like, a
long run of draw after draw after draw
The-- I
Angela: Okay.
Mario: I
' Angela: Cause that's what?
3 times 19 is 27, and 6
is 33 points right there
Mario: Yeah.
so
longest term interim coach in history.
Let's, let's have it going.
Angela: Let's do it.
Longest coach forever.
It's just been such a wonderful thing
to watch this team dig real deep.
There have been some
come to Jesus moments.
There have been some,
everyone has paid their dues
this season, it feels like.
Everyone has, has really locked
themselves in and really found
what it takes to be this team.
And oh my God, it's so fun to watch.
I'm totally gonna cry, mostly
because I'm on very little quality
sleep and I'm exhausted mentally.
I don't care.
So Cass, I know you're listening.
Chalk it up, 'cause
I'm already teary-eyed.
Love this for me.
Anyway, give me, give me San Andreas Cup
recap please, because Mario put inâ¦
Hold on.
It's in the Discord, and I commented
on this specific statement,
'cause I was like, you serious?"
where is this?
Mario: There's a reason why I
didn't copy-paste into the, into the
main . I thought it was hilarious.
I told Jen, I was like, "Is
this funny or do I not?"
And then I said it, and then
she laughed, and I'm like,
"Ha, it is funny, all right."
Angela: Oh my God.
It is very funny, but very facetious.
I don't know where it is.
Mario called his San Andreas
cup the Sac Cup, andâ¦
Mario: trophy,
Angela: Oh, sorry.
Mario: 'cause the, the C is a cup.
See, it's like, it's like
calling the ATM machine
Angela: the ATM machine.
Ma- yeah, Mario called this
the San Andreas Cup but he
abbreviated it to Sac Trophy.
Ew.
I saw it early in the morning because he
had posted it last night and I was asleep
or something, and I looked at it and I
was like, "Ugh, absolutely not right now.
I can't deal with this."
And then nine hours later,
I was just like, "For real?"
And he was like,
"Yeah."
Mario: I honestly, honestly,
when I posted it, in the Discord,
Cassandra, that one was for you.
That was, like, straight
up, I knew she was goingâ¦
I knew, I knew we were, I was, I was gonna
get the laugh, and I was like, "Yep."
Angela: oh, that's what it was.
To, to be accurate, he said, "This
weekend, San Andreas Cup, not only
can ACFC clinch the playoffs, they
can also clinch the prestigious sack."
That's what it was.
Clinch the prestigious sack, everybody.
Mario Salazar.
Mario: Andreas Cup, yes.
Oh, yeah.
All right, San Andreas Cup, for those
of you that might be joining us, more
recently, the San Andreas Cup is a
made-up cup that I made up and that,
Angela: for the rest of us
Mario: and that Angela has come around to.
But, eh, maybe.
Angela: that decision.
Mario: And the San Andreas Cup
is named so for the San Andreas
fault line in California.
It's for the three teams,
Bay, San Diego, and us.
And, I've got a beautiful mock trophy.
It's been made.
Eee.
Angela: Yeah,
made, a little baby trophy
Mario: And, yes.
So since we started looking
at this or since I made it up,
Bay FC has won the first one.
San Diego Wave won last year.
So it's our time, and we, we
handedly lost those first two years.
So this year
Angela: Sure
Mario: we are out of the, out of the,
the little group stage, basically.
We have two wins and no losses.
Wait, two wins and one loss?
E- one loss, yes.
E- e- two wins and one loss.
Either way, we're at six points.
They are not.
We can win it with a win this weekend.
So it's our time for this.
If we win, I'm making merch.
I am making merch if we win.
That's a good occasion to say
Angela: you,
Mario: an official shirt now
Angela: Mario making fetch happen, and I'm
so proud of him and also so distressed.
So distressed
Mario: I won't refer to
it as the sack anymore.
Angela: Prestigious.
Mario: Prestigious
Angela: the biggest part of
it, was the prestigious sack.
Anyway
Mario: Okay.
with all of that, before we get to the
recap of this match, because once again,
I was busy doing family stuff, so I
caught bits and pieces of the match,
bits and pieces of the match on TV.
Then I had to fight over
the TV for watching Disney
Network and all of that stuff.
and I was also building
furniture at the same time,
Angela: It
looked very good though
Mario: but, the footy therapy
was five goals, fifth place.
That's it.
And we got a bunch of love
the fight in the team.
I keep looking and I can't believe
that it's true that we're notâ¦
We still have our goal differential.
Angela: It's
Mario: s- we're in,
Angela: stupid.
It's so big
Mario: I think it's 17
Angela: It was 17 going into the match.
Is it
Mario: Okay, either
way, 17 or 18, whatever.
We still have the highest
one in the league.
Angela: everybody else.
Guys, we're drunk on
possibility right now.
Mario: yeah.
we have took my eyes off the score for a
few minutes and then boom, they came back.
'Cause as we'll get to it,
there's the little bit of heart
palpitations of what was going on.
We got hell yeah, we are Angel City.
playoffs now.
We're going for a home playoff game,
and really we need to all manifest that.
So please catch us up if we
didn't, if we didn't see it
Angela: Yeah, holy shit.
Essentially, this game
was hold on to your pants.
Hold on to your butts, guys.
This is a big deal.
Goal differential is 17.
You are correct.
So game starts, everybody
looks a little disjointed.
We looked very like, There's no--
I don't have a word for that.
It's
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: a little
Mario: And we
Angela: a
Mario: we did say going into this match
that we were either going to win or draw.
there- we didn't, we weren't in a place
where losing was really an option.
It wasn't something that
we wanted to entertain.
but we were so locked in that really
the draw that we were putting out
there as a possibility was not
necessarily to play, but was going
to be more about playing at altitude.
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: the, the conditions.
Yeah.
Angela: the conditions of the game.
But two minutes in, was just bing,
bonk in the box for a goal for Denver.
And Iâ¦
So Eva had a gig on Saturday, and
I was being, assaulted by chronic
illness, so I ended up staying home.
Thank God, because I would've
been on my phone during her
gig, and that's just rude.
I would've been like I'm
going to be this weekend.
but I sat here and I was like,
"Shit, we gotta get it together."
And then a few minutes later,
whap, a stupid Lindsey Heaps
goal from just outside the box.
I was so mad.
I texted, in the gr- in the
Discord, "I don't like her."
I've texted friends, "I hate her so much."
th- no context either,
and it was like, "Ah."
everyone is just raging in my phone.
I
Mario: I hate your guts
Angela: Yeah.
You are the worst.
that's basically what it was.
Like, all respect, you have a, you've
made a wonderful career for yourself.
you're not by any means a terrible player.
But I hate you right now.
Mario: Yeah, but in a
sports context, I hate you.
Angela: I hate using a sports context.
Yeah, that's a really good way to put it.
But then, I'm like, it feel-
it started to feel like, the
tide was shifting a little bit.
Theâ¦
You know how when you're in the stadium,
you're like, "Shit, they're gonna score."
you, you can feel the
other
Mario: yeah
Angela: building.
I could feel that at home.
I was like, "We're about
to knock one in right now."
And then that tear down the
pitch with, with Shortzy into
SveindÃs, like I screamed.
I had the door open.
My mom texted me from her house,
which is like a good, She, and she
was in the living room, which is the
opposite side of her house from where
I am, was like, "Did you just scream?"
And I was like, "Yes!"
"We got one back.
We got one back.
Okay, cool.
We're gonna win."
Like the second we scored that
goal, the second it went in, I
was like, "Oh, this game's ours.
Easy."
Which we didn't really get to talk
about this last episode, but, Prisca,
Barbara Banda, and Rachel Kundananji
are all out until the 31st due to travel
restrictions with the African Cup of
Mario: Combinations, yeah
Angela: tournament thingamajiggy they had.
So all three of our teams
are just like, "Cool.
Neat."
Prisca was posting during the game.
I just wanted to be like, "Do you
need somebody to scream with this?
Iâ¦
Please, me.
I
Mario: Join the Discord, please.
Angela: Yeah, come
Mario: Come stream with us
Angela: the fuck out.
so that, that goal gets scored and then,
ball goes back and forth, back and forth.
The next goal comes in and
Taylor Suarez just is Taylor
Suarez and it was beautiful.
And itâ¦
I just sat here and I was
like, it's the first half.
I texted one of our friends and I was
like, "Girl, how long is this half?
This game is 100 years."
The first half, I swear
to you, took six hours.
It was so long, so much blah.
like it was so frantic, so stressful.
But by the time we, we equalized
and really, know, tied up the
game, that was a different team.
Angel City themselves were like, "Oof,
we just went down two-nothing again.
Wait a second.
We did this before."
We came back to tie that game,
and mind you, that game at
BMO was a three-three draw.
That is six goals scored.
Neither team should be happy that
that, that happened, frankly.
The d- the draw from Angel City,
yes, because they were, they
were able to capitalize and, and
e- and squeak out a, a point.
Denver, not so much, especially because
the next week Denver went and did
the same thing, two-two against Bay.
So like, they're leaking goals.
We're kind of leaking goals.
The, the first goal was weird,
the second was Lindsey Heaps
being exactly who she is.
Sometimes soccer happens.
So to equalize with 10 minutes
left in the half, okay, cool.
We got plenty of time.
We're cooking, and we
are cooking with gas.
We were just like, ohâ¦
you could tell when Angel City realized,
oh, we just need to keep our, our
heads about us because we're faster.
We can
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: we can push the tempo.
Mario: I s- I saw the messages
Angela: side is faster than Got
it
Mario: I saw the messages again where
it was like, "Oh, Angel City just
remembered that they're a fast team."
Just turning on the jets, a little
Angela: They
Mario: "Oh,
Angela: Just
Mario: wait, I had this on two.
Let me put this on 10."
Angela: Yeah.
Oops, my bad.
I hit the knob.
that's what it felt like.
oh, oh, one moment.
Ali- Eva, Eva and I were talking about
Ali Sentnor this afternoon, and she
said something that really stuck with
me, and Ali Sentnor reiterated it
in the post-game, which watching Ali
Riley in this post-game me cry because,
she got th- sh- she is the this.
she got us to this point.
But Ali Sentnor said,
"I feel like LA is home.
I've never felt like
this in another place."
And I was like, you can tell
'cause she's playing like it.
She's playing with an ease of, "Oh, yeah,
I get to sleep in my own bed tonight.
Oh, yeah, this is the city I
love to be in," or, "This is the
place I love," and it's apparent.
This
Mario: there they are
Angela: This is two.
But it was so apparent
the way this teamâ¦
Because after SveindÃs' goal, all
she did was go get the ball and run
it back to midfield, "We go again."
celebration.
Her celebration was essentially looking
over to the bench and, clapping.
That's it.
And everyone, the team
was like, "Oh, bet."
Same thing, Taylor Suarez, hugs,
yay, high fives, looks over at
the bench, thumbs up, we go again.
It w- it was just majestic, those
three goals, just blah, blah, blah.
it
Mario: It's three goals in 11 minutes.
It, that literally is wap, wap, wap.
thatâ¦
I, I put a, a GIF of a
cat smacking another cat
Angela: ba.
Yeah, that's what it felt like.
And it was, excuse my French, fucking
amazing because this team earlier this
season, this team last season, the
season before that, does not do this.
This team would j- would have shut down.
But I don't know what B has gotten in
their bonnet, but hell yes, I love it.
And I'm so proud of them because, people
have talked with Leif about his background
in, in psychology and how he approaches
that, and it's so different for him,
like clientele psych versus sports psych,
and, and it is, it's very different.
But you can see whoever they have
working with this team, kudos to you.
a fantastic job bec- even if it's
just him, because it's so apparent
that they all are on the same page.
They all know the goal.
They all know what their, their part
is in the mission to do this, and itâ¦
Man, love it.
Dude, I love it so much.
Mario: It
Angela: just screamed.
Every group, I have six different sports
friends, Angel City friends, messages,
group texts, everyone is just, "Ah!"
My friend was at, an awards
banquet for her work.
She's like, "Guys, I came
back to 70 messages," and
we're like, "We can do more."
Like oh my God.
Then she's like, "I'll watch
the highlights in the morning,"
and texted us, "Holy shit!"
I have rewatched the highlights,
I don't know, eight times since
Saturday s- yeah, Saturday night.
I have watched the video that
they posted with the, the press
conference and Sarah and everything,
I don't know, a dozen times.
it is so electric,
in a world that feels really shitty right
now, give me this in my veins all day
Mario: This, this is the, this is
the, the, the good shit, right?
This is the good, the good
hype, the good feelings.
This isâ¦
We talk about sports just being, right?
It, it's, you get emotional with
it, whether it's, being excited.
There's no way you cannot have an emotion.
You're either going to be excited when
we're winning, you're gonna be pissed
off when you feel like the team isn't
performing or not doing the right thing.
You're gonna be sad when, when we lose.
there is an emotion there, and it's
because fans are having fun, right?
When, when you've gone to your
first game and then they lost and
you're like, "Oh, that's cool."
Just wait.
In a couple games you're
gonna be like, "Oh, fuck."
it'sâ¦
Angela: like
Mario: but
Angela: bumping each other, high fives.
it just becomes this communal
effort to will this team to win.
And if not us, who?
Frankly.
If not us, who?
where I'm at with Angel City right now
Mario: Yeah, yeah.
okay.
So with that, we're in fifth place.
What got us there?
What were the other results?
Let's, let's go over them real quick
Angela: All right.
So Boston kicked off the
weekend beating Louisville 2-1.
Then for the first time since
2024, the Spirit beat Gotham
1-nothing, which was a wild game.
It was literally defense,
defense, defense, defense
the whole night or whole day.
Kansas City beat Utah 2-nothing.
San Diego beat North Carolina 2-1.
Our game happened and we won 3-2.
Orlando beat Houston 2-1,
which was a wild game.
and Bay drew 2-2.
Reminder that Soph was still
out with red card suspension.
Wild things happened in that game as well.
And then the Reign capped it off with
a 3-1 win over Chicago, which was
just sad to watch, but I'm happy that
Seattle did And then my chaos award
Mario: Oh, you have one
Angela: Yeah, I do.
it goes to Lip Readers and Pushy
Pushy Shove Shove and Savvy King.
Mario: Yep.
Oh, no?
Angela: King is like the, the
recipient of hell yeah, girl.
That's, that's my award for Savvy.
but the chaos award goes
to Lindsay Heap's Push Up.
Mario: The,
Angela: about that
Mario: the clip, I, I, I did see
the clip of the push and I, i- in
the Discord I was like, when that
ha- the, the shove in the box.
And,
Angela: one?
was like six
Mario: the one that I saw was during
the, during the corner kick setup
and they, I remember in the Discord
I was like, "Don't take no shit."
it, it, whenever I say, whenever I think
about that phrase or I think about Cool
Runnings when they're in the room and
he's like he's "Look in the mirror."
and I remember I, I reposted that
with, Wu-Tang's, Wu-Tang Clan Ain't
Nothing To Fuck With 'cause you don'tâ¦
No.
Angela: nothing to fuck
with.
Mario: nah.
All right, so
Angela: Yep.
Mario: let me get into,
permutation Primo territory.
all right.
What happened?
Orlando got eliminated.
Chicago has officially
solidified wooden spoon.
the Waveâ¦
Angela: But so
Mario: Oh
Angela: I forgot to mention this.
In that game, that one goal that
Chicago scored, Simone effing
Mario: yes.
Simone's first goal withâ¦
Angela: in two seasons.
Mario: yeah.
Angela: I
Mario: I did see the
highlight on that one.
That was g-
Angela: I was like,
"Give her Hawaiian rolls.
Give our sweet baby Simone Hawaiian rolls.
She deserves so many."
Anyway, congratulations
Simone, we're so proud of you
Mario: Congratulations.
Hopefully, again, we've, we're
wishing good things for Chicago
next season, getting their stuff
together, with all of that.
a negative, 48 goal differential,
that's, that's rough.
But, better things coming on next year.
San Diego ended up, clinching
home-field advantage.
So there are two teams currently
that, have home field, which is
Gotham and, the San Diego Wave.
Spirit ended up clinching,
themselves also.
The Spirit could have also moved up
into home-field territory, but that did
not happen, the way it needed to go.
So only two of those top
four spots are locked in.
So what can happen this week?
Still, Gotham can still
win the Supporters' Shield.
they still need help from other teams.
St- they need to win, plus, a San
Diego loss, and then a result from KC.
So that's how they can clinch that.
Home-field advantage can be, secured by
the Current and by the Spirit, this week.
Now, we can play spoiler.
They need aâ¦
Washington Spirit, all they
gotta do is win or draw, and
they've clinched home field.
Current needs a lot of help, and
we can play the spoiler, which is
going to be the best part of that.
They need us, along with
all the other things.
They need, Utah to lose.
They need, Portland to draw or
lose, and then they need us to lose.
We're not gonna let that happen.
So Current, you're, you're not
gonna get your, your fourth place.
we can clinch.
The Current can clinch.
they can clinch and move all
the way up, but either way.
Portland can clinch.
Seattle can clinch.
Utah can clinch.
Basically, this week, the
entire playoffs can be set.
That does not mean the
final seeding will be set.
It just means that all eight
teams can theoretically
Punch their ticket now
Angela: by Sunday we might have our NWSL
top eight, like our Myspace top eight.
The rankings might change as later days in
Myspace when you could move things around,
Mario: As, as one does
to their top eight, yes.
Angela: Yeah
Mario: Yeah.
and within all of that,
we can be top four.
We'll get to that.
and then, of course, if that all happens
and that gets locked, that means Denver
and the Courage have both been eliminated.
so it's
Angela: if that happens and Ashley Sanchez
d- does not make the playoffs, I'm,
I'm gonna scream on her behalf frankly
Mario: All right, so that's what can
happen in a whole for the league.
Now let's look at us specifically
because things are getting so exciting.
They are if, if Angel City is
nothing if not Hollywood, right?
Keeping the drama, keeping
the suspense going.
Angela: Cinematic
Mario: with a win, straight
up clinch, that's all we need.
We don't need no help from anybody else.
We can do it on our own.
we can move up to fourth place also
if, Kansas City and Washington draw
Angela: Which I think they should.
I think they should do that
Mario: Yeah, they should.
They should definitely.
that would move us up into fourth place.
It would not lock us a home-field
position, but we would be in a
good place to lock one, on decision
day, which would be amazing.
we can draw and still clinch with,
Utah be- beating Seattle or Portland
beating or drawing the Courage.
So if we inevitably draw, which we
don't wanna do, we can still clinch.
There's even a possibility of us clinching
if we lose, which would take us to
fifth place, or leave us in fifth place.
But, we need Portland
to beat North Carolina.
Now, that's not gonna happen.
We don't have to worry about those, right?
We're just gonna win.
That's it.
Win.
We don't care about anybody else.
That's all it is.
and we get to spoil Kansas
City's clinching of a home,
field match, so that's amazing.
and that's it.
that's really, it-
It's nice and simple and tidy for us.
It does feel like a dream.
the website, the NWSL playoff picture, the
normal card is this kind of, paper color,
card with the, all the possibilities.
Once we hit the possibility of just pure
clinching, it turns into a dark card.
So we're in dark card territory, right?
So like I said, but we have comparatively
to a lot of other teams, a fairly
easy, and simple scenario list.
A lot of other teams need a
lot of other things to happen
Angela: so many caveats.
Mario: Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So with all of that, if you
really wanna dig into all of the
stuff, go check out the website.
If you wanna make your own predictions
for what's gonna happen this week,
you can still, you can do that there.
If you wanna do predictions of just what
our team is gonna do, you can do that.
It's all good.
It's all fun.
There's a special little
surprise once the season's over
and once everything's locked.
The website's gonna be updated, so
keep an eye out for all of that stuff.
Angela: Ooh, I don't even know that
Mario: but yeah.
Yeah, it was a, that's a secret
project where it's gonna, it's not
gonna kick in till the season's over.
with all of that, we've got
The match that will determine
a lot of what these things are.
The San Andreas Cup match.
The thing, so like I said, we can clinch
the playoffs and we can clinch the trophy.
Both of those can happen.
It's gonna be fun.
It's gonna be wild.
we know, by we, I mean Angela knows Bay FC
so well that I'm even gonna throw a quick
little screenshot of our, of our notes.
All it is is a bunch of, little,
little evil smiley faces.
She doesn't have to wr- she
doesn't have to write out
anything, so at this point, tell
Angela: Listen
Mario: tell us what we got.
we do have the fortunate/unfortunate,
that we're missing, our, our, our player.
We're missing Prisca.
oh, that was fortunate,
unfortunate last season.
n- last game.
This match, Rachel's no longer there.
She's in Chicago, okay.
Angela: Yeah
Mario: right.
See?
That's why I don't know.
I'm not up in the know.
Tell me what tell me what's gonna happen
Angela: All right, so as Mario
said, Prisca, and we had mentioned
earlier, Prisca is out until
next weekend at the earliest.
Rachel Kundananji was traded to
Chicago in Vlatko's chapter of
collecting all of the Infinity Stones.
he did it in Kansas City, and
now he's gonna do it in Chicago.
cannot convince me otherwise.
Between him and Lorne, it's gonna happen.
But okay, so Bay FC, the reason I put all
the little emojis is I was talking to Eva
and I'm like, "I have to do my notes."
And she's like, "Girl,
who, who are we playing?"
I said, "Bay."
And she goes, "Do you need
to write anything down?"
And I was like, "Yeah, no, I don't."
Because while they don't have Rachel
Kundananji, do have the Kennedy Fuller,
Mario: Yes
Angela: Claire Hutton, which
the two of them a wild card.
We know Kenny.
That's our baby child.
That is our rookie.
That is our tiny little baby who came on,
turned eight, 17 and eight seconds years
old with second trip with that jersey on.
So I wantâ¦
This is one of those, I want you
to have a good game, but I'll
be damned if you give you a win.
I want you to play so well.
I'm so proud of you,
but n- not, sorry, no.
the other thing with Bay FC, one
of my best friends from college is
a Bay FC season ticket holder, so
we are con- and she, loves Angel
City, so it's like we, we have a, a
sisterly love of each other's teams.
So you have Claire Hutton, you have
Caroline Conti, you have Silky in goal.
you have a very, very, very good team.
And I think what happened this season
is that did not have the season they
were preparing for because they're
in, almost their entire back line,
pregnant Abby Dahlkemper, who has come
back since, Caprice Desco and Emily
Menges all had kids and have either
come back from maternity leave or are,
are still on maternity leave, but like
those are their vets, those are their
like the, the ones with experience.
Like they carried that responsibility
for that team, and then all of
a sudden you had players out
of position, players playing in
positions they had never tried before.
And so it was very much like,
"Oh, the kids are in charge.
It's three, three toddlers
in a trench coat."
like that kind of thing.
And all of a sudden they had to change
a lot and figure themselves out in a
different way, and they've come very,
very far this season, which is why were
able to steal that point from Denver
after we did in that first game where they
came back being two down tie it up 2-2.
why they were able to
do it against Portland.
Like they are sneaky good
because they're little snipers.
Just when you think you, your defense
can lag a little bit, no, but they take
advantage of it 'cause they're smart.
They're so good.
They just needed aâ¦
They needed more time to cook this season.
They had a weird season, I
think, with a lot of player
movement and things like that.
But overall, like you have, you just
have really fun, exciting players.
Like I said, Carolyn Conteh,
in goal is like Ange for us.
Like Silky is in her career is so similar
to Angelina's trajectory, and it's really
fun watching them because they're both
really good, and they're really fun and
exciting to watch without being too risky.
Like there are certain keepers,
Ann-Katrin Berger, Ashlyn Harris
when she was playing, sometimes Jane
Campbell, that are really risky.
They're really aggressive.
They come out of goal a lot.
They, they do a lot of flashy stuff,
and it's great when it works, but
when you get beat, no it doesn't.
if it, then all of a sudden it's
like, "Oh, maybe I shouldn't
have left the box like that," or,
"All right, I'll get it back."
Mario: Yeah
Angela: they are, they're a little bit
more traditional in that sense where
they will come out, but for the most
part they're, they have their territory,
and they keep it, and they hold that,
that line, and they up with nasty saves.
Like love watching Bay FC for Silky.
Jordan Suchowetz is amazing, and
she will have a fantastic career.
So game, it's not one of those likeâ¦
granted, nobody, no game in this
league, no team in this league is
ever a shoe-in or like a, an easy,
Mario: lot.
Angela: win.
Mario: no, no
Angela: is, no matter if it's
the first game of the season,
the last game of the season.
Everyone wants to win.
Everyone wants to upset.
It doesn't matter if you're
out of the playoffs or not.
It's like, "Oh, I'm out of the playoffs?
Guess what?
I don't care.
Mario: Yeah.
That's, that's the m-
Angela: that's
Mario: that's the most dangerous part.
Angela: Yeah
Mario: I remem- I saw, I saw while
we were looking at posts and stuff,
and, the, our post about, our
position and the, the possibilities,
it was went pretty crazy for us.
Got, the most views and likes and whatnot,
that we've had in, in a long time.
But, as I was looking through a bunch
of, social media and replying and doing
all of that, I did see someone, and I was
like, "Oh, shit, that's, that's pretty
spot on," that the, Orlando match wasâ¦
Was it the Orlando match
that they were talking about?
That it, they love the NWSL because
no matter what, it's like these two
teams have been eliminated, have
nothing to play for, but they are going
all out and, and yet it's stillâ¦
Angela: 'cause that
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: intense.
Mario: Yeah, both teams
have been eliminated, but it
was still an intense match.
So yeah, I think that's what it was.
And then, but yeah, just that comment
of "Look, we don't have pro rel," you
know?
So yes, they don't have anything
to play for at the moment.
They've been eliminated, but they
aren't also just gonna roll over.
this is, they're still playing for pride.
They're still playing for, for face.
The California, call it
a rivalry if you want.
It, is, it isn't,
whatever your opinion is,
Angela: There's-- In Californian
sports, there is a specific
Mario: It's just an inherent thing
Angela: LA and the Bay, no, we don't, we
don't cheer for each other until, or until
Mario: we play everybody else
Angela: Yeah, until it's us ag-
it's California against everybody.
San Diego, when it comes
to baseball, I can't.
It's illegal for me to cheer for
you in general, but I will cheer for
The Wave if they are not matching
up against another team that I like,
like outside of regular season.
So it's very like, it, it is California
versus everybody at the end of the day,
but we play each other, I don't know
you, I don't like you, don't talk to me.
Like
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: kind
Mario: Yeah
Angela: Because many leagues right
now across sports are trying to force
these rivalries to happen, but then
you have a matchup like us against
Denver, that is a rivalry now.
Mario: That's gon- that's building
up into-- That's gonna beâ¦
Yeah
Angela: Like we don't like you.
You're probably fine, probably very nice.
I don't care.
Like that's, that's inherently a
rivalry because it just happened.
We have played
them two times.
Mario: it happened on the pitch.
That's the thing, is that
it happened on the pitch.
Both results were not what they wanted.
It was the first match, not exactly
what we wanted either, but it was what
we wanted to happen at the end because
we needed to, to come back in that.
This match, like the wap, wap, wap,
and then, it helped and we won.
And so that will build up
into an actual true rivalry.
But yes, I agree that when the California
teams, hence the San Andreas Cup, when
we play, you kinda have to throw stats
out the window to, to a certain extent.
As this keeps going, maybe the
rivalry will keep building up and,
and, and there'll be a little bit
more animosity when it comes to it.
But usually you can count on
the local teams, the California
teams, being a little bit more
unpredictable than normal, right?
Because there's a little bit of a
Angela: it's like if the Yankees
and the Mets play each other,
it's the same kind of thing.
If you have two, two
Mario: same market or same area
Angela: in the same state, nothing
statistically will make sense because
of the fact that it doesn't matter.
I don'tâ¦
I'm from here, you're from there.
I don't, I don't do that.
Mario: Yeah
Angela: subscribe.
So going into this game, we just
have to play Angel City football.
That's it.
And I know I've said that so
much, but time we go down a
goal, guess what happened?
have been pushed and shoved into
another situation where we're not
playing the way we wanna be playing.
If we control this game start to finish,
which after last week, I'm pretty sure
we're going to, because one, we're
at home, the last home match in BMO.
Yes, we have another game, but
it's gonna be in Carson, and that's
different, and I'm upset about it,
but so is everybody else, so whatever
Mario: And I will say, I will say,
look, another thing that we have as
an advantage is being tenants in the
stadium, we tend to get the shitty field
sometimes when things go back to back.
A lot of times they, the scheduling
ends up working where, we don't
necessarily have, a match back to back.
It helps me because I don't have to
go back to back to the stadium andâ¦
But this weekend there are back to back
matches, but Angel City goes first.
Saturday is the Angel City match.
LAFC plays on Sunday.
So we get the
Angela: That makes
Mario: field.
Angela: Butâ¦
Oh, this weekend.
I thought, sorry, my brain was
putting that as next weekend, but
yes, correct, week at the Betterfield,
which I love this, finally.
But in general, we have to
just lock in and play our game.
Focus on cleaning up the things
that fell apart last week.
Focus on, on calibrating all
of those little nuance things
because we are in the playoffs.
I'm not even, entertaining the
idea that we're not because why?
Why put that out there?
So we're, we essentially
have clinched a playoff spot.
We'd have to do a lot to lose
that right now, and I don't
think that's gonna happen.
But when you are in
that, that time, it isâ¦
so we have this game and
the game against Boston.
We have these two matches to
really fine-tune and really lock
it in, say, "Okay, when the o-
when another team runs this kind of
route, this is how we fall apart.
This is what we need to fix."
That's what this game is for.
It is to win and it is to course correct.
Next week it is to win and
it is to course correct.
It is to throw your subs in, get
people reps, get people ready
because now we are in the playoffs.
Mario: Yeah
Angela: I
Mario: because playoffs are one and done
Angela: we see Claire.
yeah, like we prepare.
This is, this is the week before finals
when you really realize what you don't
know and you're like, "Oh shit, I
don't know this six months of school."
So luckily we have not been cramming.
We have been progressively
learning and applying what we
Mario: Yeah, this is not
gonna be a cram session.
This is gonna be more
of a readjustment and a,
Angela: 'cause
Mario: know
Angela: when you put it that way, our
first playoff run when Becky was leading
the helm, that was a cram at the last
minute, hey, we passed, we made it.
This is the slow and steady
cumulative work that is paying
off at the end of the year.
That's what we want and
our team, if not us, who?
Damn it.
Mario: We sq- the, the first one
we squeaked in so it made sense
that we bounced in the first round.
we squeaked in.
We were like
Angela: Seattle was absolutely gonna win
Mario: It was like we were
like, "Hey, we got a ticket."
And then it's "Oh yeah,
we'll see you next year."
Angela: We got our ticket home.
Mario: But, this year everything
in this last half of the season
feels like it's been turning around.
It doesn't feel as
I guess magical than
the, the Tweed run was.
'Cause the Tweed run was like,
holy crap, what's happening?
And b- and but we barely still
squeaked in even with that amazingness.
This, this run has been, look,
we're, we're, we're getting solid.
We are developing a good foundation.
We can see incremental changes,
which is a great thing, and
we are in a solid position.
Not putting it out there, but we're, we're
gonna be solid in the middle of the pack
when it comes getting into the playoffs.
Whether that's a home field match or not,
whatever, we're going to be in the middle,
which means we did not squeak in, right?
We did not, it wasn't like a
decision day miracle match where
we're like, "Oh, we made it."
And that's what happened
to the Portland 5-0,
Angela: sport or every game
to go a certain way and
then also score five goals.
have goal differential in our pocket.
so much in our favor right now and we just
have to hold that line because with Bay,
like looking at our record, it's silly.
We've played five times, so this
is our sixth matchup against them.
have two wins and three losses.
We have not ti- like this,
this is either yes or no.
I joke that I don't do anything
half-ass, I whole-ass or no-ass
because I either do it or I don't.
do things half.
I don't understand the mindset.
This is very much this matchup.
Whole-ass or no-ass.
We either win or we lose.
nothing in between.
But this is also the time in the season
when you have to remember to still
respect your opponent because like we
said, they will spoil, especially a
team like Bay, they're young, they're
feisty and they don't, they don't
wanna like just lay down and be like,
"Ugh, what, we're out of the playoffs
like, oh here's my fainting couch."
Like no they're, they're going
to give you hell for 90 plus.
Mario: Yeah
Angela: too because again I
will spoil your, your Cinderella
ride into the playoffs.
So the way our team has locked in, the
way our team has, stood up for each other,
supported each other and really found
ways to connect on the pitch tangible.
Like you can feel it, you can see it, you
can understand, oh they've worked really
hard to get to this point from even just
the beginning of the season it's been a
big transitional year again a variety of
reasons nobody still kind of comprehends
but hey we're making the best with what
we have and whatever has happened before
happened before and it's very clear that
this team is like this is what we've got
let's roll let's ride and this team rides
for each other and is so apparent and
that's what's gonna take them into this
next couple weeks and I'm, I'm just so
excited I'm so happy my friend is getting
married I'm so happy I hope everybody
has a great time on Saturday at BMO.
I hope you have a great time.
It's that you know what I'm that little
kid that picture day meme where he's like
congratulations great I'm so happy for you
like so upset that's me
I'm grumpy about it I'm
Mario: You're grumpy, but your heart is
full of but your heart is full of love.
It's, it's fine.
I get it
Angela: a sick ass outfit
so I'm excited to wear that
Mario: Oh, I'm excited
to see the pictures.
You, you told me about
it, but I haven't seen it.
yes.
Okay, with all of that, everyone, I'm not
gonna do the big spiel that we usually
do to end off these episodes 'cause
it's a whole long thing and it's a whole
paragraph and I don't wanna do that.
All I'm gonna say is casualfc.com,
share it with everybody.
Let's get all of, let's get all of
that good luck wrapped up together.
We are sending it to the team
for these last two matches.
We're gonna send them a second
package for the last match.
Share this with everybody, and please,
I- for these last two matches, let's
try something new of, whatever happens
in the match, send a voice note.
If it's the voice note of
just you screaming, let's
just, let's go through it.
Let's do that.
Let's just do that.
and if you don't know how to do
the voice note, just DM us and
I'll, I'll do s- I'll show you.
We'll walk you through it.
We'll do something, or just, just hit
record on your little voice note and
then, email it to, casualfcpod@gmail.com.
with all of that, everybody,
we'll see you at BMO.
You can watch it on ION TV.
Let's get, let's get a home playoff match.
Come on, let's, let's work towards it.
All right, bye everyone.
Angela: Bye