Angela: All right.
Hey, everyone.
Welcome to Casual FC, an Angel City match
preview and footy therapy pod featuring
two certified footy, footy therapists.
A
Mario: God, it's gonna
be that kind of night
Angela: Okay Let's try this again
Hey, everybody.
Welcome to Casual FC, an Angel City
match preview and footy therapy pod
featuring two certified footy therapists.
I'm your host, Angela Morales,
with my ever-accommodating, also
politically involved and civically
inclined co-host, Mario Salazar.
Purr, purr, purr, purr.
Ooh, I forgot to put mine on.
Hold up.
Where's my sticker?
Mario: I got my sticker on.
Angela: My wholeâ¦
Oh, my whole thing was that I'm not
gonna wear this until we record because
I voted and I want to brag about it,
Mario: Yeah
Angela: I need to talk about the
fact that California has had the
same damn stickers for, a decade.
Guys, update it.
Mario: Yes.
Angela: internet friends in
Mario: I think it's, I think it's more LA.
I l- doesn't LA have this?
I think other counties have
had, fun ones too, right?
Angela: ones, but
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: so boring.
Colorado has a bear
where it says, "Ya voté."
You can get it in Spanish.
Mario: Yeah.
All right, next, next elec- election
cycle, Casual receive I voted stickers.
Angela: Bruh, 2028?
Let's go.
I'm, I'm so in.
Okay, so this is our match preview
for Saturday, November 7th,
Mario: pa paaa
Angela: round of the playoffs
against Kansas City Current.
It will be at CPK Stadium in Kansas City.
or not they serve pizza
from CPK, we don't know.
I've never been there.
People wereâ¦
I met from there were nice.
it's a stadium that has less seats
than you would think, and they
somehow sell it out every game.
But
Mario: They oversell at every game
Angela: The game will be on national
broadcast at 9:00 AM on Saturday
Mario: time
Angela: morning cartoons, not this week.
also really quick before we get into the
details about the watch party and all of
the things, if you are here because you
were on our Threads live chat, if you have
followed us because I've been harassing
people, harassing with hard air quotes,
telling people to come listen because
they are new to the NWSL and they wanna
get to know things, hi, how are you?
I love you.
I'm so glad you're here.
Welcome to the party.
It's a whole bunch of craziness.
we, we are currently recording
this at 10:17 on Super Tuesday.
Like it is election day.
I have results on.
If I keep lookingâ¦
If you're watching on video and
you keep seeing me like look up,
it's because I am watching results
and I'm waiting on Mississippi to
figure out they've elected because
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: Senate race
Mario: It
Angela: 30 votes stressed
out 'cause it's cool
Mario: and the reason we started late,
we usually we start a little bit earlier,
is because I was also watching, stuff.
Now I am watching my clock because my
computer is for some reason telling me
it's gonna update in about 45 minutes,
so we've got some recording to do.
And who knows what's gonna happen?
Maybe I finish the episode, maybe I don't.
I don't know, but let's go.
Angela: All right, so if you're
in LA for this insane matchup on
Saturday morning and you feel like
getting up at the ass crack of dawn
on the weekend, make your way down
to Skyduster Sports in downtown LA.
Doors are opening at 8:00 AM.
It's the Angel City sponsored watch party.
I'm sure Untamed is gonna be opening up.
I'm sure Watch Me is gonna be opening up.
We will post things as they are announced.
I will be awake I wake up early because
I have a 9:00 to 5:00 that keeps my ass
up before the sun, and we will be having
breakfast with our Angels here at home.
But we're going to the
playoffs and it's not a fluke.
We did this shit.
The, the team's motto of let's
get it is so incredibly pertinent.
it is just so perfect.
let's get it, let's get it.
let'sâ¦
next one, let's get it.
Next one, let's get it.
back to the Threads live chat thing
that we threw together with World Ride-
Worldwide Bri, who is a Portland Thorns
fan, and, Laura Brianne, who's a Spirit
fan and a fantastic website maker.
we threw that together and
just decided to go for it.
We had a few hundred people in there.
It was a blast.
Cap came in.
Ali Riley is like, "Ah," screaming.
I was in the press box at
the game for the first half.
I was too stressed out.
I was also hungry because I couldn't eat
anything in the press box down in Carson.
couldn't eat anything in the stadium,
but I wanted to like just pretend.
So I went down at halftime to sit
with Eva and our other 227 friends who
found each other because we were all in
different sections, which whole thing.
But, we're sitting there and w- after the
Claire goal, everyone is freaking out.
I'm in tears.
Vero's in tear- everybody is "Our baby.
our mom."
Claire is back.
We started a Claire Emslie chant.
Ali Riley's down on the field, turns
around, starts yelling with us.
it was, ugh, it was so good.
But if you're in that chat, I will be
watching every single game this weekend.
I get off work at 4:30.
My ass will be home by 5:00 on Friday
for the first match of the weekend.
We are having, the
Threads live chat again.
Jump in with us.
Come say hi.
I'm super, super excited.
It was a lot of fun and I can't
wait to do it again this weekend.
Mario: Yeah, yeah.
join us there.
If you're also a, Discord user,
join us on the Discord too.
Angela: Yeah, I'll be
Mario: Angela double duty,
she, she goes on both, so
Angela: I am
Mario: that's all her.
Angela: Honestly, though, it feels very,
early Twitter, LiveJournal, Myspace,
Mario: It does
Angela: now.
And I don't know if I'm leaning into,
millennial optimism of seeing people my
age get elected to the government finally.
but it is so much fun.
Women's sports threads is a great
place to be if you are not there.
yeah, have some fun
Mario: Yeah.
Yeah.
so I, as I mentioned, last one, last
episode, I was not, unfortunately not
able to go to the match, to the final
match where we were, like, riding high
and really wanted to be with that crowd.
I have kids, I have a family,
I got other obligations too.
Family comes first.
we had some stuff to do.
Went to the Aquarium of the
Pacific and had a great time.
and, yeah, had a great time.
Kids got a new patch, for
their, for their scouts.
and it was fun.
I gotâ¦
We got back into the car driving
back home, and I got to listen to
the last, 10 minutes of the game.
That's th- that's all.
everybody in the car, this
should've been the first indication
that everybody was getting sick.
They all knocked out.
Angela: Oh
Mario: I'm likeâ¦
And the little one, the littlest one,
I know he would knock out, after a
long day of a lot of walking and stuff.
Angela: He's
Mario: Jen even knocked out.
All three of them knocked out.
And so I was like, "Oh, okay."
but I turned on iHeart because I
wanted to check out Isaac and Tracy,
and lo and behold, Isaac wasn't there.
There was a new voice, and I
recognized that voice after a while.
it is, I would call him the
internet, my internet friend.
just because I've been following
his podcast, that he's been doing
with, covering LAFC, but also,
a lot of the other stuff that
he's been doing, everywhere else.
He's, he's now a radio broadcast
or play-by-play for the MASL,
which is the indoor soccer league.
he does a bunch of stuff for, college
and uni- college and university sports,
so he calls, those soccer games and
baseball games, basketball games, for,
UC Irvine and a, a number of the UCs.
UCR, yeah.
so he's, he is fully transitioned
into doing this as, a real gig,
and that's freaking awesome.
And so super congrats to you, Philly.
This was his first call
of a professional league.
M-A- MASL is their professional league,
but, this is the first call of a
professional league for the soccer world.
and he got to call it with Tracy.
And, he did a, an amazing job
during the recap of the episode.
I got to hear his highlights
and his, goal calls.
Freaking great.
Top tier.
Angela: out.
I haven't,
Mario: tier.
Angela: I haven't listened
Mario: and, we will be getting, we,
we will be getting, our original
dream team back for the next couple
episodes but he stepped in and he
filled in, did an, did an amazing job.
So good that I was like, hey, iHeart
replays this on a loop after the game
so everybody's asleep, I'm gonna leave
iHeart on all the way home and I actually
started h- listening to the first
Angela: Oh, nice.
Mario: 20 minutes of the
match again, which was great.
So big, big ups, big congrats
to Philly on, an amazing call
for what was an amazing match.
so also last episode we talked about FOMO
because I was at the home game, Angela
was not, where we doubly secured playoffs.
We already, we already made it because,
thanks to other results in the league but
Angela: Officially
Mario: you officially official.
and then I told you, flip it around
there's a lot more FOMO on this side.
You were at this match so
Angela: This one was like electric.
Ooh, another House seat flipped.
Sorry, again, I--
Mario: Yeah
Angela: best friends, I talk
about Ron a lot on the podcast.
I know he listens, and he and I, our
friendiversary is the night of the
State of the Union, whatever night
it is, 'cause we don't remember
what year it was the first one.
But this year our friendship
is old enough to vote.
For 18 years roughly, we have been
watching election nights together,
State of the Unions together.
this is my ride or die, and he and
I have been like, "Ah," all night.
He and his wife put their kids g- put to
bed early so they could like watch stuff.
Like it's a big deal.
So hi, Ron.
but yeah, lotsâ¦
is bonkers, guys.
Just absolutely fucking nuts and
Mario: So
Angela: I have cried a lot.
So I don't know if Cass or you
or whomever wants to start the
cry counter, it will happen
Mario: the cry counter will
come up once it happens.
I think we're at five now,
for all the new people hereâ¦
Yeah, really.
Yeah, it hasn't been that bad.
Angela: Has
Mario: for all the new people,
Angela: season?
Mario: for all the new people here,
there's been a long-running joke of
Angela, is did Angela cry on the pod?
And that could be for various reasons.
It's never actually
been about a sad reason.
It's been more about, a passionate
reason or an exciting reason or,
Angela: A really
Mario: just being elated about something.
but, we are here to talk to you guys.
We are here to have fun, but we're also
here to be us, and Angela is not anything
if not passionate about lots of things.
And yeah, they come out.
And this year we finally did a
cry counter, and there you go.
So okay, yeah, I think we're on five.
I could have miscounted.
Someone might correct me.
I don't know.
All right.
So yes, I had major FOMO.
The season is officially over.
We're done with it.
This is an Angel City podcast.
We love covering everybody else
also, but, our rider dies here.
Angela: And you know
Mario: see as it is
Angela: Covering our ride
or dies in the postseason
Mario: Yes.
So up to this point, the regular season
so far, we ended the season with a 15
win, seven draw, and eight loss record.
Angela called the 500 season.
Angela: is way
Mario: y-
Angela: I just wanted a
f- even across the board.
That's it.
I, I was happy with just a
middle-of-the-road season
as we rebuild, as we adjust.
hello?
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: Thank
Mario: All right, so our season
did start off really rough.
of course we hadâ¦
We were all excited,
with Straus coming in.
We were excited about the potential.
We started off strong.
The team felt like they were buying into
everything, but somehow everything justâ¦
E- everybody got hurt and the
entire thing just, the entire first
third of the season went to shit.
Straus ended up before, before him
being let go, with a 36% win rate.
He had 11 matches, and had a 4-1-6 record.
So not ideal, and when you look-
Angela: given the fact that SveindÃs
was out, Mai was out, Karina Le
Garre was out, Taylor Suarez was out,
couple other people, Syd was still
out, there was a lot of injuries.
did what we could
Mario: June was out for
the beginning of that.
She came in a little bit
later and then went back out.
it
I, yeah, again, we don't, we don't,
we, we've talked about it previously.
We don't necessarily say,
this was all Straus' fault.
he had a stupid uphill battle
to get past, and he couldn't.
And, unfortunately, it is what it is.
The team had to move on, and
they had to figure something out.
It's your job as a coach is you
work with the pieces that you have.
whether you're the one building it
or that's the pieces that you're
given, you, you just gotta make,
lemon, lemonade out of lemons and
figure it out, and he couldn't.
And we were, we had that
really rough period of, six.
I think those six were,
like, six straight probably,
Angela: Yeah
Mario: of losses where,
we kept losing by one.
Angela: In the last 15 minutes
Mario: we would have the game.
We would get it, or, or we would
tie up the game, and then we would
lose it in the last 15 minutes.
We would be leading, and then
we would lose it in the last 15
minutes, and it was always by one.
It was never a blowout.
It was never a, a, a bad showing.
It was just he, for some reason, could
not figure out the puzzle of the players
that we had and how to solidify them for
the 90 minutes, and that's where we were.
first third of the season, he had
a third of the win rate, only 36%.
36% in his, grouping of matches.
And then, our ever-present, do
not change this guy's title,
interim head coach came in.
he was on the staff already,
but, Leif Smirud came in, and he,
in 19 matches to finish off the
season, he has a 58% win rate.
He is now our most winningest coach
that we've ever had, and we've had
a number of them in our s- in our
short tenure of the NWSL so far.
he ended up with an 11, six, and two
Angela: Freya, Becky, Sam,
Mario: Straus and then,
Angela: Leif.
Oh myâ¦
Hey, five and five
Mario: yeah, so he ended up, with
a 30, f- 58% win rate, our most
winningest coach, better win rate than
the Becky Sparkles, crazy playoff run
that we had, in the second season.
So all of that.
And
I- nobody would have believed you if you
would have said this, but we ended up
with a plus 22 goal differential, which
is tied for the most goals in the league,
the most goals for in the league at 54.
We were tied with guess who?
Kansas City.
we, are going to be matching up with the
other team that was scoring like crazy.
What happened?
Angela: Mike Rogers conceded
Oh my God, I'm sorry.
Abdul El-Sayed is going to the Senate.
Holy shit
They allâ¦
Oh, oh my God.
Okay, keep going.
I, here it is.
Here, here's number one officially.
Oh,
Mario: we are tied with the most, goals
at 54 with Kansas City and that is insane.
If you would've said that at the
beginning of the season, I don't thinkâ¦
And I don't think no- I don't
think anybody would've taken
that up, taken that money.
so that's, that's where we're at.
our footy therapy was about just onto
the breakfast playoffs basically, right?
We, we knew that by the end of the
night we knew that our match was
going to be at 9:00 AM Pacific Time.
I, I, f- it's been busy.
It's been crazy.
I didn't capture everybody, but
the, the, the general census
is of what from us right now.
It's been insanity.
It's been, "Oh my God, we're
going to the playoffs."
That we finished out strong.
there were some choice
words for Brad, who is, our
Angela: in
Mario: nemesis of a ref
Angela: So in stadium, you'll love
this, nobody's sitting with the
people they like normally sit with
unless you went and found them, right?
You're not with your folks.
And I ended up coming down at halftime.
I heard people from the press
box, that were not Eva and Vero
and Richie, hollering at Brad.
There were like, there was this one
play, oh shoot, it was like, I don't,
I don't remember who it was, but Ali
Centner got like half clotheslined,
half spun around, all kindsâ¦
I don't know how her
Mario: Geez
Angela: get hurt, and he just
looked and said, "Advantage."
And it was like, okay, yes, but egregious.
It's egregious.
You have to call that.
But, so you heard that, and in
the second half I come down, he
does something the same thing.
And oh, and in the Threads chat, if
you go back and look through it, I
think it's still accessible, other
people in the league also hate Brad.
This is like an I Hate Brad club now.
Mario: Yeah
Angela: like, it's really
sad that we know him so well,
Mario: Yeah.
Yeah, it's oneâ¦
Angela: him.
Mario: We've said it bef-
Angela: he was there.
Portland fans were mad.
Everyone's like, "Oh, you have Brad?
I'm sorry."
yikes, guy.
Mario: If, if you're the type of ref
that wants to make yourself the center,
the, the center of the plot, you're,
you're in the wrong, like league,
Angela: Yep
Mario: so yeah.
So with all of that, we had, There,
oh, we have someone watching that's
going to be watching in Maui.
So if I get mimosas,
pineapple mimosas atâ¦
They're two hours,
Angela: 7:00
Mario: 6:00 AM, 7:00 AM?
Yeah.
I, go for it.
Let's, let's keep the party going.
Angela: Yeah
Mario: I will do a quick roundabout
of decision day, and then I will
let, our wonderful soccer brain here
take us through what's gonna happen.
All right.
we had, Gotham beating,
Utah two to nothing.
We had the Spirit beating,
Chicago two to nothing.
Thanks, Chicago, you could have helped
upset something for us, but, whatever.
we had the Reign one to
nothing against Orlando.
We had one to nothing, North
Carolina Courage over the Summit.
We had KC beating, Racing
Louisville two to nothing.
We ended up winning our match four to one.
Portland ended up winning their
match two to zero, and then San
Diego ended up beating Bay in for
second place of the San Andreas
Cup, one to nothing against Bay FC.
So there you go.
Angela: Also,
Mario: insanity, chaos
award, decision day.
That's just it
Angela: it was insane.
It was absolutely, utterly
and what, what a hell of a day.
It was so fun and so
ridiculous and communal.
Everyone was suffering in this way.
everybody was like, "This is too much.
What's the score here?
Who else is playing?
I don't even know what's going on."
everyone in the, in the chat was
just like, "I can't handle this."
So someone, Brian was traveling
for work, and he would just, post
the scores every once in a while.
He's watching, the TV in the hotel
room, on his computer, on his phone.
Like, all the different everythings.
But so a quick rundown of the
other three matches, 'cause
all of these are important.
Obviously, there's a chance we could then
match up against any one of these teams.
the first match, Friday,
November 6th, 7:00 PM Pacific.
It will be on Prime Video.
It's San Diego versus Utah.
big, big, big, big, big first
match of the weekend, because
frankly, this is a coin flip.
I don't know.
The thing is, especially if you're new
to the league, standings mean jack shit.
They mean nothing.
They barely mean anything
in the regular season.
you get into the postseason,
this league is chaotic.
It's what we're known for.
It's what we love.
It is also so stressful.
You cannot bank on anything.
Don't, don't bet on these games.
There will be upsets.
There will be, wild goals.
There will be, like, insane
moments all weekend, guaranteed.
But of these teams have primed
themselves to get into the playoffs,
to make it far into the playoffs.
Diego is exciting, and they're very
explosive, and they have big energy.
you have Mimi Van Zanten.
You have Kimi Escano.
You have Kenza Dali.
You have Ludmila.
You ha- you have Dudinha.
just, itâ¦
there's too many people on this team are
too good, and they have defenders who
can score, midfielders who can score.
Obviously, their attack can score.
this team is well-rounded.
but then on the other hand,
you have Utah, who's incredibly
feisty, and they are gritty.
They play together very, very well.
Whatever system they worked on
in the off-season, fantastic.
I did not like matching
up against Utah at all.
I don't think anybody did because
they were so good, and they were so
cohesive very early on in the season.
Mario: And yeah, and even in the
middle of the season they had
a really good run where weâ¦
Angela: Yeah
Mario: the time we ended up
playing them again where they
were on, they were on a run.
They wereâ¦
Yeah, and we were like, the way
they've been playing plus us
playing in Utah at elevation,
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: knows, right?
So and
Angela: with two red cards
Mario: and then they're bringing that,
that energy down to San Diego, so
Angela: Yeah, it's, it's
gonna be very interesting.
then like we said, Saturday
morning on the 7th, it's us
versus Kansas City at 9:00 A.M.
We'll talk about that in a
little bit 'cause that's a little
bit more, my bread and butter.
But the first other bigâ¦
obviously all these matches are
huge, but d- if we are to win on
Saturday morning, we would play
the winner of Gotham versus Seattle
Mario: Yes.
Angela: I hate that.
I don't wa- I don't want it.
I alsoâ¦
Okay, I don't want it because
as most people know, I am like a
secret Bats fan because a lot of my
favorite players are on that team.
Eva just brought home trading cards
that I bought, and I bought a Sonnett
spot in a break, and so many Emilys.
Oh, that's Rachel Kundanaji,
but so many Emily Sonnett cards.
So I, love a lot of those players, but
this is an incredibly important matchup
because Gotham lulls you to sleep with
their defense, with their slow-paced
offense, but can also win in their sleep.
Like you can try the same,
they'll be like, "Whatever."
We talked about it in that second
matchup where we drew once goingâ¦
We went down and we ended up
coming back to draw 'cause we drew
both games with them this season.
they have a team like agreement
if they are dispossessed to get
the ball back within six minutes.
So possession neverâ¦
What did I say?
Six minutes?
Oh, no, no, no.
Six seconds.
So very like consistent ball
movement, consistent disruptions.
Disruptions in any sport
are super important.
Th- it's the same thing in basketball.
Disrupt, disrupt, disrupt.
Move the ball away from where you,
where they're intending it to go.
So- Gotham can do anything.
Gotham can win it all.
we've seen them come in, squeak into
the playoffs in 2023 in eighth place
and take it all because Krieg's was
retiring and they said, "Like hell,"
because of everything else that
was going on with her that season.
They did it again in 2025, didn't
come in at number one and said, "Bet."
And that game was amazing.
but the thing is, this year
they are incredibly injured.
Sonnet is out with a
patellar tendon issue.
Jordan Dudley is out with a broken foot.
Bruninha is out with a ACL tear.
Jaden Ha- Jaelin Howell is now
questionable due to a no con- a
non-contact ankle injury last weekend.
There's other injuries, but, these
are the most recent that are, like,
the ones that are big in my brain
of big pieces for them thatâ¦
yeah, you have Sam Kerr, yeah, you
have Rose Lavelle, yeah, you have
Mandy Freeman, yeah, you have Midge
Purce, M- yeah, you have Jaedyn Shaw.
Mario: Just stop.
Just stop.
Angela: yeah, like you still
have all these heavy hitters,
but your bench is shorter.
As you get deeper into playoffs,
as you get further into the
season, everybody's exhausted.
Mario: Yeah
Angela: like, if you have to play
90, 90, 90, 90 without getting
any, break at all, it wears on you.
And what, what do the players have left
in the tank is the biggest question for
Gotham, I think, 'cause they can do it.
But then, on the other hand, Seattle
is young, and Seattle has nothing to
lose, and Seattle has Jess Fishlock.
And I'm gonna start crying again
because our tiny dragon is retiring.
she is officially done with professional
soccer because the regular season is over.
So right now, everything this
team is doing is to honor Fishlock
and the, the wonderful leader
that she is for this team.
That's it.
We saw it in the same way they made
it to the finals when Pino retired,
when, like, when Lou Barnes retired
and they, made a little run again.
there, there's something that
happens when players retire and
the rest of the team is s- "Bet."
season is not ending.
Mario: Yeah
Angela: Fishlock is different.
She is one of the original
players in the league.
She's one of the last women standing.
She is the last of the Pino, Lou
Barnes, Jess Fishlock trio to play.
It's balls to the wall for them.
it, it's all gas, no brakes.
They have everything to play for
and nothing to lose because this
season has been so weird for them.
They've been up.
They've been down.
They are super young.
They are super talented I don't know.
But we play the winner of this match,
it's gonna be a dogfight, whoever wins.
It's just, it's gonna be who can
grind it out, who can win, who
can score, who can block shots.
Because, Gotham is a low-scoring team, but
the same time, they don't let goals in.
So again, one goal.
You
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: by one.
That's all that matters.
Mario: just gotta win by
one, that's all that matters.
and if you want a little bit more of
Angela's love for the game, we have an
annual, unfortunately at this point,
we have an annual retirement episode,
Angela: Oh, God, I'm gonna cry so hard.
Mario: that we've done for the
last two years and we'll be
doing again this off-season.
So keep an eye out for that
because, of course, Fishlock's
gonna be front and center on that.
And we have a number of other retirements
that happened, got announced, this
past week and things like that.
So we'll, we'll be digging
into that afterwards.
But last matchup of the quarterfinals
Angela: Last match of the
quarterfinals, Sunday m- or so
the Gotham Seattle match is Sunday
Mario: Sunday morning
Angela: Pacific Time on ABC.
Right after that, still on ABC, is
the Spirit versus Portland match.
I can't wait for this game.
This game is going to be insane.
I'm excited for Friday's matchup because
it's gonna be fast and crazy, and I
don't know who the hell's gonna win.
Obviously, I'm excited for ours, duh.
Gotham Seattle, I'm nervously
excited for this game.
I want both teams to win.
I want both teams to lose.
I don't know.
Iâ¦
it just has to happen, and I have to do
my best to function during that game.
But then on-- after that,
versus Portland-- or excuse
me, the Spirit versus Portland.
Obviously, my heart is with M.A.,
duh.
If I have to pick a team, I'm
picking Portland because of the M.A.
Vignola, friend of the pod,
friend of us, like big homie M.A.
I was joking with, with
Brian, who's a, a Thorns fan.
I was like, "Listen, I will not
speak ill of Mary Alice Vignola.
I will government name her."
no, she is ours, and she was ours first,
and I cannot wait her to hear that.
She'd be like, "Ew."
"Why are you saying my
whole government name?"
But, these are both fantastic
teams with a history of winning.
They have won the championship.
there's so much that these
two teams know how to do.
knows how to come back
from behind and win.
Portland knows how to put up a
big lead and not let the team--
other teams score against them.
know how to disrupt.
They know how to grind out a win.
They are just really
good in the winning-ness.
They have a lot of players that have
been in the league across teams different
experience, international players that
have amazing, international experience.
They have young players that
are just like, "F it, we ball."
it's that I have nothing to be afraid
of because I don't know what I'm
supposed to be afraid of, which is
dangerous and wonderful to watch.
the Spirit, on the other hand, have
a chip on each shoulder, I think, at
this point, because they have had,
they have lost in back-to-back finals.
So obviously, every team wants to make
it to the finals, but it's a little bit
more important for the Spirit this year
because it's in their home stadium.
It's in that rowdy outie.
And if it was being atâ¦
If it was at BMO, I want my team there.
duh, who doesn't want their
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: having
Mario: Y-
Angela: field finals in any sport?
Mario: Yeah
Angela: it's when the Rams
won the Super Bowl at SoFi.
that's a home game.
That's such a different vibe
than going to a neutral field.
And because we still have neutral
field in the NWSL, like this is
like, "Ooh, what's gonna happen?"
It's also gonna be insane, and
I'm gonna be so tired because
there's 800 events, and,
Mario: And pace yourself.
Angela: literally just said today,
"Guys, there's still more coming."
And we're like, "Duda, What?"
So yeah, that's crazy enough as it is,
but those are the other three games.
All of them are equally important
to us for different reasons.
But now it is time to discuss the
wild matchup that will be Angel City
versus Kansas City at CPKC Stadium
Mario: Yeah
Angela: on Saturday
Overall, I wanna start with this.
This is, the craziest thing for me.
So our matchups over the last five
years with Kansas City has led to a
wild record of even across the board,
four wins, two draws, four losses.
10 matches, we have split even.
This season, we have one win and one draw
Mario: Nope.
I, I don'tâ¦
The, the way we knew this team
can play, and at this point, I
don't even remember at one point.
KC was one of the teams that we played
twice early on in the season, right?
Yeah.
Where we were just like,
"What the hell is this, NWSL?
Your schedule's, so insanely lopsided."
we played Boston, twice
at the end of the season,
Angela: the last
Mario: and within, a month of
each other, but when we did
play them, we got them one.
Like I said, we had an amazing
start, and then we started falling
off, and then that's when we got
them, and we ended up drawing.
the fact that we're on the upturn
with all of this, and we have this
amazing unity, this gelling, this,
incredible run that we're doing,
Angela: Yeah
Mario: I, I'm, like, I, I wouldn't,
I wouldn't n- count us out, you know?
Like, this
Angela: Oh, no.
Mario: this is definitely going
to be, a great matchup and a
great performance by Angel City.
Angela: with the matchup against
Kansas City, like obviously we
have to watch out for Temwa.
effing Chawinga.
Mario: Yeah
Angela: is, she is now tied with Ashley
Sanchez for most goals in a season.
She has scored against every
single team in one season.
Mario: Wait, didn't Ashley break it?
Angela: No.
Mario: Oh, she didn't break it.
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: Oh
Angela: Theyâ¦
She didn't end, end up
getting another goal.
But is amazing, and
she is so fun to watch.
But more fun than Temwa is the
matchup of Sarah effing Gorden against
Mario: That has been fun to watch.
Yeah
Angela: matchup.
You have speed, you have
talent, you have like football
routes, you have track stars.
You have every good thing about
sports that involve running
between the two of them.
You have Croix Bethune, who's
a master in the midfield, who's
having a hell of a comeback season
after last year coming over from
Washington, like big, big things.
She now has like more assists
against her former team than
anybody's ever done in history.
It's like a whole thing.
There was drama.
And then you have Hailey Hopkins,
who's having a wild season.
She has had a hat trick.
She is scoring like she's
never scored before.
She is having an amazing, amazing season.
All of them are players, but then
at the same time, you have Debietah.
You have, you have all these
people, but all of these teams
are so ridiculously stacked that
anybody can score, ourself included.
we have I think like 10 different
goal scorers this season.
Everybody is a threat.
Mario: 12th
Angela: Yeah.
Oh, SveindÃs had 10 goals.
We have 12 different goal scorers.
That's like unheard of.
Most teams have multiple
goal scorers, but like theâ¦
more than your starting
roster, that's insane.
at this point, Ange needs to score
I'm just saying, end
to end, just tip it in
Mario: Dude, oh, geez, a,
Angela: Dude.
Mario: Okay.
All right.
This is, this is my, this
is my, my merch pitch here.
We did release the Vibe Goals Count shirt
because because we've had, we, Angel
City, I feel, has disproportionately
been affected by vibe goals not
counting, by amazing shots by our
players being discounted for one reason
or another, ending up offsides, Brad
being the ref, all these other reasons.
so that's out there.
I feel that that's gonna be very
apparent for a lot of what we see
during this, this playoff, so you
know, it's, it, it's out there.
But yes, we we, we, we can go there
Angela: Yeah.
But then Kansas City, as much as they are
known for goal scoring, they also have
let up and, allowed a bunch of goals.
Yeah, we've sc- we've, just as
many goals for our teams, but they
have allowed more than we have.
Our defense has been so strong
this season and to have a plus
22 goal differential, what?
Mario: Yeah.
And then the clean sheets that we've
had, the number of clean sheets
that, that Angela has had that
Angela: Special, special, special.
And it's, it's so fun.
So when it comes to Kansas City, just
as a reminder, everyone is a threat.
are a little bit louder than others,
but they can be shut down given the
systems and who's doing what, and
sometimes you just have a bad game.
I really hope that the majority
of Kansas City has a terrible
game on Sun- on Saturday morning.
but I, I want possibly have a
home game the following weekend.
I don't know, it's selfish, but whatever.
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: And then there's
Angel City, our girls
If you are in the line, stay in line.
This back line, it is election night.
If you are in the line, hold the line
Eva and I were talking about this
earlier and she's "I feel like
our back line just needs to play
a massive game of Red Rover."
it's very much like now and
then, hold hands, link arms out,
elbows tucked together, like
Mario: just don't clothesline anybody?
Angela: Fair.
But in that sense of like we move
together, like everything, like
everyone has to be so super locked in.
I have no doubt our back line
is having the same conversation.
we hold the line, we
are a fortress, damn it.
Our backline has been our
saving grace this season.
It has been our backbone.
It has been the consistent.
I don't think anybody doubts it.
I don't think other teams doubt it.
if you're scouting, Sarah's fast,
Giselle is fast, Evelyn Shores
is fast, Savy King is Savy King.
Savy King is playing like
nothing happened last year
Like
Mario: Me- meanwhile
Angela: nothing
Mario: meanwhile I'm over here
like barely going to PT being like,
"Oh man, my heart rate's spiking."
Angela: Yeah, you're like, And she's
playing like she was never injured.
She's playing like she never
had went into cardiac arrest.
Like she is, she is that girl and so is
Sarah and so is Emily and so is Evelyn
and so is Giselle and so is whoever the
hell else you wanna put on that back line.
Everyone knows that if their name is
called it is their turn to step up.
And then you get to the midfield and
for multiple episodes in the years past
we have discussed our midfield being
similar to Swiss cheese, a little holey,
a little messy and like we're not.
But this game, Kansas City has an
amazing midfield, attacking midfield,
defensive midfield, holding midfield,
like all of the different facets
of their midfield are so well done.
They're well scouted, they're
well recruited, like it is solid.
We're getting there.
We have Ary, we have Carina, we
have Neely which really quick
I hope this gets back to Neely.
I had every intention at the press
conference after my question to Claire
to also congratulate Neely on her
first goal and my dumb ass hands the
microphone back to the, the member of
the PR team and I'm sitting there "I am
so rude," 'cause she scored her firstâ¦
I'm like, oh my God, she's a
goalkeeper, she's a defender,
she's a midfielder, she can score.
Neely Martin is that girl too.
Like we are not coming into this
game lacking, but our midfield has to
show up and they have to stay steady
and they have to stay calm and they
have to be locked in from the jump.
Our attack just needs to fly.
Like volemos in the
truest sense of the word
Mario: Re- remember, there-- every
game, there's some message, some tweet,
some thread, some whatever that says,
"Oh, Angel City forgot they were fast."
let's just
Angela: What if we justâ¦
Mario: fast
Angela: Yeah, what if we just were fast?
What if we just, went really
fast a lot the whole game?
and then we have, super subs.
We have game changers.
We have these players who can come in
and it's always "Okay, my name's called.
I'm the next woman up.
Let's go."
Claire, Riley, Syd, freaking
Hannah Siebert at this point.
Angelina gave up her Ironwoman status
for this season so that Hannah Siebert
could come in and get one more save on
her career because she has announced
her retirement at the end of the season.
She's won Goalkeeper of
the Year in Portugal.
She's won championships.
she's had this epic career, and then
you have Ange that's "One last ride."
Ends up getting a save, 10 seconds later.
It was great.
But no matter who is called up
to sub in, they're a threat.
They know their role, they know
what their job is, and that is
the best thing you can ask for.
And then because we are who
we are here at Casual F- FC
Mario: I just saw the note.
Angela: We have to trust in fert.
Trust in it.
Mario: Trust in Ferb.
Yes
Angela: Jump higher, high her.
Run fast her.
Run fert her and play to get her.
We play together
Because at the end of the
day, we still have fun.
This team has a damn
good time on the pitch.
And the teams going into the playoffs
that aren't so locked in that it's like
everything is analytical, everything
is serious, everything is like, "We
can't have fun, we're in the playoffs."
No.
If you are a connoisseur of sports
similar to me, and you watch the
World Series at all, if you've watched
the WNBA finals at all, the Brewers
and the Valks had a damn good time.
Yes, they played amazing basketball.
They played amazing baseball.
But they're have-- it's fun as hell.
I'm, now I'm crying about sports again.
That's number three.
you have to remember why you do this.
You have to know as a team what that is.
You have to know what the goal is,
and it's not always to win a ring.
obviously it is.
that's, that's a given.
That's, you don't have to state that,
"Oh, we wanna go to the playoffs."
No shit
Mario: Yeah,
Angela: Why are you playing
at this level if you don't?
We wanna win.
Okay, why?
For who?
For what?
This team has had that,
had those discussions.
They don't need to tell us why
if they all know, and they are
very much all on the same page.
Because it's really, really dope to know
that your team is a unit, and your team is
locked in and everybody knows what to do.
God, I love sports so much.
I'm also really tired.
I barely slept last night.
So everybody, if I don't sleep and
I'm emotional and, I just watched a
million government seats flip in favor
of, humanity, I'm just gonna cry.
I'm a freaking mess.
But, everybody on this team
can step up and be that girl.
It doesn't matter who you are.
So let's get it.
Mario: That, that's the
Angela: let's fucking go.
let'sâ¦
Ugh, just give it to me in my veins.
I wanna win.
I want a decisive win.
I want, I wanna go to the
next round of the playoffs
because we've done this before.
We've gotten to the playoffs.
We've lost in the first round.
We squeaked in, and that
decision day was damn good.
Mario: Yeah
Angela: We needed five goals to make up
the goal differential and, and qualify.
Mario: 'em
Angela: We needed all this shit.
We got a freaking bicycle kick.
We've got, this memory as, a
collective group of how beautiful
and how satisfying, how wonderful
it was, but how flukish it was.
That wasn't supposed to happen.
Like, all of the things that
needed every l- every other
team that needed to lose, lost.
Any other everything
that happened, happened.
Mario: Yeah
Angela: This isn't that.
This is, we have worked our
asses off to get to this point.
This is, we know how to win.
We trust each other.
We are in it to win this.
And guys, I know I've said it before,
but, I'm gonna be in DC for the finals,
and I wanna wear all my Angel City shit.
And I want to be obnoxious,
and I want to root on my team.
So thank you.
Please, that is my formal request
to beat the shit out of Kansas City,
whoever the hell we match up next, and
then we go to DC and we party together
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
Mario: I will end with this.
we-- As the insanity chaos of decision
day was coming upon us, and as I,
the permutation primo, went through
all the possibilities every week
Angela: Which really quick,
big, huge, massive ups.
I know I gave you shit for
co-creating 800 new websites.
There is not a single person that
I have showed that website to
that isn't "Where has this been?
We have needed this for a decade.
This is the best thing ever.
This is amazing."
People are DM'ing us, "Oh
my God, this is perfect."
The Angel City creative team is using it.
Other media outlets are using it.
people that I have looked up to in this
space are referring back to your website,
and I know it's for us, but it is yours.
It is from your brain, and I'm so
pumped that while I have had to put up
and come around to the prestigious San
Andreas Cup, nwslplayoffpicture.com
is a masterpiece, magnum
opus, if you will.
Mario: Thank you.
Angela: So yes, you just need to hear
Mario: for all the new people here,
Angela: that.
Mario: as we said, welcome.
But that literally started as an
insane spreadsheet with insane formulas
that broke every season because there
was a new team added to the, to the
league, and then all my formulas
broke and I had to recalculate it.
so yes, I'm so glad that it's
actually been well received and I'mâ¦
whenever I can, I try toâ¦
I, I built this to be shared and every
single thing, almost every single thing on
there has a share button, has a like, "Let
me generate like a cool graphic for what
you're looking at and spread it around."
I actually just updated.
There is a bracket picker.
You
Angela: Yes, there is
Mario: pick your bracket, and
tell everybody how the hell
you think this is gonna go.
I don't keep any of your information.
I don't care who you are
coming to this website and I
don't wanna know who you are.
like I don't have a need for your email or
Angela: No
Mario: do it and send it out there.
but the thing that I wanted to
say was the pie in the sky dreams
that we had of possibly hosting
a match at BMO to the point, that
it was mathematically possible.
We all, as season ticket holders, got
emails to set our, our cards, our opt-in
to be able to be like, "Hey, as soon as
Angela: I opted in so fast
Mario: we will, we will
charge your card," right?
everybody, hit yes.
of course, decision day didn't
go as planned, but we did all
of the things we needed to do.
So if it did go, if the other
results went the way we needed
to, we did our job, right?
It's the other people
that didn't do their job.
So there you
Angela: Yep
Mario: Where I'm getting at is we still
have a possibility to play at BMO.
We win, we continue.
If there is a upset in New Jersey,
Angela: If there is an
upset in New Jersey, we
Mario: and then
Angela: we are losing our
shit as a city next weekend.
Mario: That will be the
loudest ever, the most insane
Angela: You're gonna need like earplugs
plus over-ears plus like a helmet.
Like
Mario: not that you already
don't need that because of how
loud the stupid speakers are,
but yes, you're gonna need that.
it's gonna be insanity, so keep
an eye on that match on Sunday,
Angela: Yeah
Mario: because we are
going to win this match.
So Sunday, we'll know whether we're
gonna be traveling to New Jersey or
staying at home, for the next round.
With all of that, thank you for listening.
If you've gotten this far, hopefully
you like what we've been doing.
Check out casualfc.com
for any of the links
anywhere you wanna go.
We're on YouTube.
If you saw us on YouTube, go check out all
the other stuff we have on casualfc, .com.
Like I said, we have a Discord.
Come join us on the Discord.
The links are wherever they are,
everywhere, all over the internet.
But if you can't find them on our
website or on our, socials, just
us on one of the various platforms,
and we'll, we'll send it off to you.
best ways to support the pod, share,
like, comment, do whatever you
need to do to tell the algorithm
you like what we're doing.
grab some merch at, shop.casualfc.com.
Like I just said, vibe goals should count,
so that's a new shirt that's out there.
and if you feel so inclined and you
like what we are doing and you wanna
help support, us by buying us a coffee.
Go to buymeacoffee.com/casualfcpod,
and you can throw any amount of dollar
signs that you'd like towards the podcast.
And mean, it helped funded a
trip to Portland this year.
I, I doubt it's gonna help fund a trip for
another person to Washington, but it will
Angela: You never know.
Mario: You never know.
Angela: Yeah
Mario: if everybody gives $1â¦
Angela: For $1 a day, you
could feed a podcast host
Mario: some yerba mate.
with all of that, thank you for listening.
As we like to end w- this show
Angela: Don't forget, tell
people about this podcast
Mario: Yes.
As we like
Angela: Because
Mario: people about this podcast.
It brings us good luck.
Itâ¦
We package that good
luck and we send it off.
We're not, we're not greedy.
We don't need
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: luck.
Angela: And
Mario: that good luck
Angela: the sooner you give it to
us, we put it in a high-yield savings
account, and so it just racks it
up, and then we send it to the team.
Mario: Yep.
Angela: So get it, get it in early.
Mario: all that lug needs to start
revving up so we can get, we can
get it to them as fast as they can.
and yeah, with all, see you for breakfast.
Angela: See you for breakfast