Angela: sorry, there was like a moth-
That keeps flying in front of me.
It just was like zoom.
Hold on
okay.
Rewind.
So imagine
Mario: All right
Angela: I'm totally
normal and totally fine.
Mario: Welcome to Casual FC, an
Angel City match preview and footy
therapy pod featuring two, we're
back to two, footy therapists.
I'm your host, Mario Salazar, with my
amazing host who is at the pressers,
being as quiet as possible, quiet
as a mouse in the, the press box.
there was lots of messaging about needing
to go downstairs to scream and cheer
Angela: had to get out
of the press box so fast
Mario: Co-host Angela Morales
Angela: Okay, so for those of you
who were not following our game
day, thread in the Discord, Iâ¦
They had a, a Nitro cold brew can
available to drink in the press box
on Sunday, and it was a sweet cream,
so it was, like, just sweet enough.
N- I don't like super sweet
coffee, and it was so good.
it went to my head immediately,
essentially, and I had food,
'cause this, this week was perfect.
I had f- there was food I
could eat in the press box.
I'd already eaten a little
bit, so I ate some there.
But then I was like, "Oh, sick,
I'm really sleepy already.
Let me drink this coffee," not just
get, the Pepsi Zero I normally get.
Guys, weâ¦
Mario: The pic- Yeah.
Play, if
Angela: You have to put it,
you have to put it in the show
Mario: I was gonna say, if anything,
join the Discord so that you can
go back into the thread and see the
picture of Angela with the cold brew.
She was like, "Rrr."
You
know
Angela: like, "Ah!"
Mario: you know that, that one GIF
of the girl with the cotton candy,
Angela: Yes, that's
me.
Mario: like, "Argh!"
Yeah.
Angela: Ah!
Yeah.
that is
100%.
Just so you know, I just sent it to you.
I texted you the picture of
me in case you wanna, put it
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: It's, I'm like deranged
Mario: for those of you
on YouTube, here you go.
For those of you not on YouTube, either
go to YouTube and make sure you hit the
like button, when you see there and you
see the picture, or join our Discord and,
come see it, and it's all for free, and
as long as you're cool, you can stay.
Um, so yes.
This is the episode that
we are pre- previewing our
match against the, Gotham FC.
Sunday, August 23rd, we're gonna be at
BMO Stadium, so it's gonna be a nice home
match before we go on the road, I believe.
it's at 5:00 PM kickoff.
It's gonna be streaming on ION
TV if you can't be there, and of
course, listen to Isaac and Tracey
on iHeartRadio if you can't watch it,
or if you wanna watch it and actually
listen to them for the broadcast,
then, sync it up and do it that way.
Just you're gonna have to delay a
couple things, so turn off your watch
and turn off your, Thought Mom and
Angela: Alerts that,
yeah
Mario: turn off the alerts.
but it's an amazing viewing
experience that way.
And, there's a fan fest.
It's gonna start at 1:00 PM.
out on the field, on the grass
with all the other SGs that
are having their tailgates.
Come early.
Come hang out.
There's giveaways, corporate
giveaways if you want to, but
then check out all the SGs.
They always have amazing food
and amazing, stuff just going on,
and everybody's super friendly.
Also, it is homecoming night, which
Angela and I have no idea what
the hell that means, but it is.
Angela: We'll learn when you learn
Mario: Yes, because it's not out just
yet as a recording, so when the post
comes out that says it's homecoming,
the best I can figure out right now
is something about, of, like, your
past jerseys of, I, I don't know.
It's, it might just be
a sales thing, like,
'cause they're
Angela: Who knows?
We'll find out
Mario: They're doing the kits for,
80 bucks right now or something,
a- any of the previous kits.
Angela: is noted.
Thank you.
I need that for a reason
Mario: I'll put up the
previous kits, not current.
So you cannot get, not the LA kit
Angela: Aw.
Mario: the current kit.
Yeah.
If it was the, if it was, I would've
gotten that one too, but yeah.
Angela: to get the LA kit for a thingy
Mario: yeah.
so yeah, there we go.
Syd is back
Angela: Like air horn,
air horn, bang a gong.
Like,
Iâ¦
That was part of it.
Okay, so let, I need
to rewind a little bit.
The coffee had set in too soon.
and then Angel City, we're gonna kinda
do a weird back and forth of, recap, pre-
there, some conversation's gonna happen.
So we come out of the gates, and
I don't know who this team is.
I love it.
Prisca's starting.
I'm losing my shit quietly
in the press box, just "Ah!"
I just wanted to, be in it.
The vibes in the stadium,
Mario: I heard, so I heard,
Angela: was so good
Mario: I caught the beginning
of the match, on iHeart,
Angela: Yeah
Mario: as we were coming
home from an event.
so just listening to the match I was
like, I was pumped 'cause I was like,
Angela: It,
Mario: oh, they got it back.
Oh, they're coming
again.
Oh, uh, uh, uh."
Like, it was great.
Angela: It was just like pew,
pew, pew, pew.
Mario: and then
watching the rest of
Angela: pew pews was Priscaâ¦
it was just like shot, shot, and then
Prisca comes in, rifles the ball, and
from the press box angle, it, I think
it looked closer than it was 'cause,
you're up even higher and looking down.
And I full on, white-knuckled the table,
and I was just like and that was the
first, "I need to get out of here."
"Get me out of this room."
Mario: for anybody new listening,
we've talked about this before.
there is a decorum in the press box.
Um, we are up there whenever we, get
access to the press box 'cause amazingly
we do this podcast and they recognize
us, as people that are doing stuff.
So when we get to go up there,
there is a decorum that you have to
keep because people are working.
People
are doing jobs there.
We're not just there because we're fans.
We're there
Angela: there's videos being
edited, images, like, that
are going out immediately.
There's live reporters.
There's all sorts of things
happening, and it's veryâ¦
it's like bustling but quiet because
you also have to be impartial 'cause
you're supposed to be the press.
And whether, regardless of which
team you're covering, you have to,
like, be an adult.
And I'm just like, "Ugh."
Mario: were able to close the windows
and like not have the stadium sound, it
would be like, that kind of, busy library.
Angela: Yes.
Yeah, a busy library for sure
Mario: ru- lots of rustling, but
everybody's quiet because yes, you're
supposed to be neutral, in there, right?
So there's beenâ¦
when we were in Portland and we were in
the press box, there was a lot of us, ho-
like holding down, we both had laptops
'cause we were live, basically live
messaging in Discord about everything
that was happening.
So we were getting it out that way.
But yes,
that plus
Angela: yeah, thereâ¦
Some games are fine.
Some games you're just like, "Yeah, okay."
I'm excited, cool, neat.
But I was like, if Prisca scores
on her first start and I'm
in this room, I'm gonna die.
I'm so amped up from the coffee,
the energy of the stadium.
I'm just like, I'm gonnaâ¦
And then I'm like, oh God,
Syd is active, Savy's active.
I need to get out of here.
I al- it wasn't that I was panicked.
it wasn't claustrophobia.
It was I have too much
happening for this room.
I can't be in
Mario: I, the text message
I got, which was like, I, I
need to get out of this room.
I need to go down.
I need to cheer.
I need to be there."
I
Angela: Yeah, it was likeâ¦
and I've felt it before and I've
just been like, "Okay, whatever."
'Cause a lot of times I'll go down at
halftime, go say hi to Eva, come back up.
Sometimes I'll just stay
down and take footage.
A lot of it I'm just like either
taking pictures or recording or
whatever, and then I am terrible
at releasing said videos.
Mario: I will say I have not
seen any of these videos.
Said
videos are pictures that she has taken
Angela: Said videos or
pictures are just on my phone.
I'm terrible.
E- like even personal stuff, I'm
terrible at sharing the thing.
But I was like, I cannot be myâ¦
I cannot accept being quiet
when one of the most storied
players in the league comes back.
and no shade to Savy.
I love Savy.
We'll talk about that in a minute.
But like Syd's comeback is important.
It's important for the sport, it's
important for her, it's important
for women, and like last but not
least, it's important for the team.
Like it's a, a symbol of resilience.
She is a symbol of resilience.
She is a symbol of
determination and steadfastness.
Like there's a lot to talk about in
her return, and I wish she had been
subbed in earlier, but okay, whatever.
Mario: Yeah.
Yeah.
Angela: I like, I'm so happy she's
back and active and officially on
game day rosters where she should be.
Like, I hope this is a good move.
I hope this is what she needs and
what she's ready for, and I hope
she knocks that shit in a million
times before the season ends
Mario: So can we talk for a brief
second, and I'm gonna post it up
now, of Disney Princess Night,
Syd coming in as Maleficent?
Angela: Yes.
So
Mario: That is
Angela: Cassius is
like, you can tell Cassius is
like, "Mom, I'm not dressing up.
I'm too cool."
he's wearing his Angel City
mom kit, like very fine.
Rue, Princess Tiana, loved it.
Syd is like, "Do not forget who I am."
Like she, if she is nothing,
she is in for the bit.
Like she's there for the moment and
it was perfect, absolutely perfect.
It was so
Mario: good
I s- I saw the pictures
and I was like, "Iconic."
This is just,
this is awesome.
I love it
Angela: It's-- her doing something like
this is as iconic as the Women's Day
posts where she, scratches out Cassius.
Happy Women in Sports
Day, Happy Women's Day.
it's my favorite thing, and it's
a trend that has now crossed over
women's sports, and it happens
in the W and across the NWSL.
it's wonderful.
more peopleâ¦
My friends do it, cross out their
husbands, cross out their sons.
Women's Day, yay.
Syd started the best trend.
but no, I'm so happy she is back.
The reception the crowd gave her
pregame when she was announced, it was
so good too, because it was, Our, our
stadium announcer was like, "Ladies
and gentlemen," "friends of the team,"
like, all the best announcement,
"gold medalist, Women's World Cup
winner," like, all these accolades.
"Syd Leroux is back on the pitch."
And she's just "Hey."
She was so locked in, and it was
like, yep, Syd the Kid is back.
Let's go.
Yeah, but Savy's back.
She played fantastic.
then news broke today, Tuesday,
shocking that it happened before we
recorded, but Casey Phair has officially
been traded to a team overseas.
I really hope that she gets to play there.
The last time, we've loaned her out,
and then she didn't get minutes.
It's like
everything has backfired.
Mario: Yeah.
needs, as you guys have mentioned in the
Discord before, she needs the minutes,
and she's not really getting it here.
She wasn't getting it on
her loan the first time.
But with a full-on trade, hopefully this
means that the team has a plan for her.
and we are not going to try to pronounce
it because it has a lot of, um, consonants
in it that we probably can't pronounce.
But, she has been there, so she's
familiar with where she's going, and
I really do wish the best for her.
we we signed her when she was, so young.
that was the M.O.
of the team, right?
We had a bunch of really young players.
We were like
Angela: Development
Mario: City, basically.
Angela: Yeah, we had, we have
Rehab FC or Development FC, and
then some weird in-betweens.
Mario: yeah.
but I do really wish the best for her.
this was a post where it wasn't as
OMG as like the Alyssa Post or, or some
of the other ones that have happened.
but I think a l- everything
that I saw though was a little
bit more of "Go get it."
your, go get your
Angela: Everyone
Mario: luck."
Like, everybody wasâ¦
Angela: for her
Mario: Yeah, and she wasn't
getting it here, and like
that's the kind of sucky part.
we're a little overloaded in the
f- in the front line, and, we've
tried to make it work when we can.
and I think that might lead to a couple
of gaps where we're trying to fill
like the mid and the back whenever
injuries happen and things like that,
so people playing out of position.
and she just never really got a fair
share, a fair like real go at it.
there was a couple of
matches where she started.
There was a couple matches for like the,
the like in between matches that didn't
really like count for anything, right?
Angela: and stuff,
Mario: friendlies.
and she performed well
whenever she did those.
It was just like on
the regular roster she didn't necessarily
have a full-on spot, and, for whatever
reason that was, it just never happened.
So we wish her the best.
she's
an amazing talent, and hopefully she gets
to keep growing, with what she's doing.
And we'll most likely
see her at the World Cup.
Angela: Yeah, likely
Mario: I believe Korea has, qualified.
Maybe not.
I don't think they've
Angela: I don't know.
I don't know.
if they've had their tournaments yet
Mario: No, they haven't.
They haven't, sorry.
It's only like about half the teams,
for the World Cup have qualified so far.
But either way, most likely we
will see her in the World Cup.
But
Yeah.
Angela: Yeah.
But with that, we need some bodies.
We have a very, very
lean roster right now.
Lots of conversations in Discord,
but I still think there's hope
that we sign people or whatever.
But it's hard when there's
instability of a team.
What does it
Mario: To, try to convince
Angela: coach and who's
building the roster and whoâ¦
it's just complicated.
So we'll see.
Mario: Yeah, to try to convince
a player to come over to be like,
"Hey, come over," yet we're, you
have an interim coach right now.
we're not super set on this guy yet.
Like it's
Angela: they are and we don't know, but
like the interim title is just interim.
That's all we have right now.
And so when, from our standpoint,
like coming at it where this is
the information we have on paper
It's the kind of thing where you're
like, "Oh, I just got this new job,"
and then you find out that the person
who hired you left the company.
It's like, "Now what?
Whomst?"
Like, what?
what?
is happening right now?
So it is what it is.
I would love for us to have a great
signing, but I don't expect it.
I can hope for it, but I also
am going to hedge my bets and
not fly too close to the sun.
Mario: so I have a question here mainly
because it was popping off in the Discord.
a couple people mentioned it, and I
saw the first half of the match, and
then I was overruled on TV usage,
and so my t- kids took over the TV.
I played hard and fast on nap
roulette and lost, and didn't
wake up till the game was over.
Angela: Yeah, I got
Mario: the game was
Angela: when I was home, essentially.
Maya just said, "I played Natrulet
and lost after losing TV privileges."
And I was like, "Dang."
I was like, "Good night."
"I'm going to bed."
Mario: but, what, what per se did our
Angela here get to ask in the presser?
Angela: Yeah, so it, this was
actually thanks to Eva, 'cause I'm
like, "Ah, I don't know what to ask."
She goes, "Ask Savy about her connection
to Syd, her and her mom's connection
to Syd and how that impacts now."
And I was like, "Perfect."
So I asked, 'cause in the, the players
that came in were Ali Senter and Savy.
I asked Savy, c-
"Congratulations on the return.
We're so happy to have you back.
I'm really curious how your connection
to Savy, having met her when you were
young with your mom, having that have,
have happened to you, what does it
feel like now that she's your teammate
along with knowing that there's a very
large chance that you get to be that
same person for another young girl?"
And she just looked at me, 'cause I
was sitting in the front, she just
went, no, 'cause I had prefaced
it like, "This is a wee bit of an
emotional question, not super crazy."
But it, it's like pulling
on heartstrings kinda thing.
But it, she was just like, "It's
exactly what you think it is.
It's a dream come true."
Mario: I believe the
pressers are live on YouTube.
They might be.
If they are and I find it, I'll put
the timestamp in the show notes,
um, can go, see Angela's amazing question
Angela: Yeah, and then I got to
ask, our coach how does he takeâ¦
Like, how does it work when you're-
you have a team that has years
of n- international experience?
You've got U.S.
Women's National Team experience,
you have Syd's experience, not
just, Ali Centner, Giselle.
you don't have just younger players.
You have a tenured player like that.
You have Brazilian, you have Scottish, you
have South Korean, you have, s- Zambian.
You have so many different
federations represented.
How do you take that and combine
it with, the fresh blood of your
rookies and your second-years
to create the team that works?
How is that worked into
strategy plays-wise?
And he said, overarching, to paraphrase,
he said that it's his favorite part
of coaching because the goal is to
be diverse and the goal is to have
every aspect of the game represented.
Personalities on top of that, you want
a wildly big group of personalities.
You want div- culture- cultural
diversity 'cause it allows you to learn.
It- he goes, "Every level of diversity is
important when you're building a team."
And it was a very thoughtful answer, too.
It was like, yes, so much of it is
what happens on the pitch, but it's
how they integrate together as well
Mario: Sorry, I chuckled a little bit
'cause I just had a flash in my head
of D2, the Mighty Ducks, when they're
playing for the Junior Olympics, and
then all of the almost like one-sided
but characters come in where it's like,
"This guy is really fast and he- 'cause
he's like Hispanic and spicy,"
and it's "This guy is from
Texas And yee-haw."
Angela: Yeah, he's got a lasso
and she's a figure skater.
Yeah, like that's what itâ¦
100%, that's exactly what it felt like.
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: Man, now I'm gonna
wanna watch Mighty Ducks.
Mario: I just not too long ago Jen
finally saw it for the first time.
we watched Mighty Ducks
then we watched D2.
We stopped there.
She didn't want to, she
didn't feel like going into college.
And I was like,
"That's fine.
You don't
Angela: D3's whatever anyway.
Estevez is the man
Mario: Yeah.
And then now we're gonna have
to, and I think it is on Disney+,
the Mighty Ducks animated show,
uh, which is just wildly why do we
have mutant ducks that play hock- yeah,
like alien mut- mu- mutant
Angela: let us live
Mario: amazing.
It was notha- it was the '90s.
It was the '90s, guys.
Angela: We had
a dam- we had gargoyles.
come
Mario: yeah, we had kids turning
into, Power Rangers basically.
yeah, it was amazing.
it was a wild
Angela: We had a damn good time.
Mario: okay,
Angela: okay, so
post-game, it took me a minute because the
press conference, I finally got around to
posting footy therapy, which I was also
confused by at the time because I did not
know Mario was, like, passed out asleep.
I was
Mario: Yeah, like, it
should have been up already
Angela: oh no, and I'm
like, something, come back.
yep
Mario: Yep.
Um, yeah.
So with that, we can
start off with our haiku.
Ethan always coming through with this.
first half, four check.
Came back looking tired at half.
Sentnor, Prisca, send
These are
Angela: The general
Mario: always good for, yeah
Angela: yeah, the general overview of
every single person's response to those
posts, messages, text messages, like
everything is like, "More Prisca starts,
please."
give it to us.
It was
electric.
Ugh, afterâ¦
So after that rocket of a shot,
they put her up on the big
screen, and she, found the camera.
It was, like, the most Hollywood moment.
She just, looked up 'cause it was
the camera guy, was at 124, something
like that, like just around the
corner, the guys in the middle.
And she just smiled, and it was
that, very facetious, smile.
And I was like, "Ooh."
Again, that's when I'm like,
Get me out of this box."
no, it- she played fantastic,
and more of that please.
And I think we're gonna get it based on
some things that coach said in the presser
Mario: Yeah.
yeah, so our, we had a little
bit of, of some Footy Therapy in
both the Discord and, Instagram.
again, Footy Therapy is your chance
to let us know what you think about
the game that just happened, vent.
Especially on Discord, you can
talk back and forth to each other.
So awesome
time
Angela: screaming into the void.
Mario: yeah.
Scream into the void with
a small group of people.
Jeff came in with, "VAR sucks."
Uh, the ref's ruling
sucked because it did.
I was sitting there reporting to the
Discord, what I was seeing on TV and Iâ¦
No, that was in no way a handball.
very very weak call of a handball there.
That
Angela: And it was at such close
proximity, where does your body go?
Mario: Yeah.
I'm like, do, does everybody just
need to jump like a dolphin just
Angela: Yeah.
Everybody just runs with their hand
behind their back just like this.
Yeah
Mario: Runs like Tina from
Bob's Burgers where she, has her
hands str- arms straight out.
Okay.
Jen, I, I don't necessarily think I
can say this, but if you wanna read it
Angela: Oh, LaRue 4.0,
our bitch is back.
And Iâ¦
Okay, there is a moment that even Iâ¦
Okay, so we, how do I set this up to make
it make sense to the greater population?
Syd Leroux is that girl.
Couple seasons ago, she came
in, knocked a goal in to, either
get us one back or equalize.
I don't remember where the scoreline was.
is the girl that's "Okay, we don't
wait around for another goal.
We do it again."
She ran into the goal, picked it up,
turned around, ran back to midfield,
and just said, "Let's fucking go."
c-
again.
Mario: Her celebration was grab the ball
and let's go.
It wasn't
Angela: we do not have time to party.
It is time to make up and get it back on.
there's an example that Kelley O'Hara
talks a lot about where during her
stint on the national team, she,
and she is a very physical player.
Oh.
It's well known that Kelley will
body you out of, just like boom.
there was a time where she was called up
to sub in and found out later the coach
said, "We need a bitch on the field.
Get Kelley."
It's that k- it's like a complimentary
thing because it's like you need
somebody with the tenacity to
not give a shit and just go,
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: and that's the same, like a
similar type of player in Syd Leroux in
the sense that she's not taking shit.
She's gonna, she's going to play box
to box and can knock a goal in easy
but will also haul her ass back to
defend and do everything she n- else
she needs to do because she's the
type of player that wants to win.
She's not there to play.
She's there to win, and it's a very
different mindset to bring to a team.
It's
ferocious
Mario: It's one step below enforcer.
Like, enforcer is, the player that you
want out there that's just gonna bruise,
just there to bruise and
kinda, make sure, nobody's
fucking with us.
One step below that though is,
Angela: Regulate.
Like, get this shit together.
Yeah
Mario: punk you and she's
gonna laugh about it, and
then she's also gonna get it done,
Angela: You're gonna feel
bad that you were there.
and I w- I would almost say, those
are equal in importance to me.
you need somebody who is going to be a
very physical and aggressive defender,
but you also need an offensive playerâ¦
not offensive.
you need a player who plays, as a forward
or a striker or some kind of, scoring
machine, part of that machine, who is
willing to be that person and be that
aggressive force on the field because it
changes the entire mentality of the team.
Because oh, they're there?
The ability for us to score
just increases tenfold.
So why wouldn't you want them there?
And that's Syd.
Always has been.
She's tenacious
Mario: yeah, and then we had a couple
of other, a lot of the VAR talk.
a lot of Prisca needs to be on the
starting 11, from now on really.
as, as we've been talking about it,
we still have two games in hand.
Yay.
that's kinda meaningless and less every
day, but, we have two games in hand.
and yeah, Joel also mentioned, the two
games in hand, but also mentioned that
after I got home and got to see the
replay, yeah, the VAR was atrocious.
Janthony actually mentioned that,
the goal from Centner reminded
him of Tiernan's first goal from
last year.
So, just I think when we hit
these plays where we'reâ¦
the beautiful ones where, things are
just kinda de, de, and then we get
that, beautiful chance of a goal.
it always feels like you got it together,
and then after that when things,
maybe start breaking down a little
bit, then we're like, where was that?
Where was of the, the gelling?"
Um, so yeah, I think overall,
overall it was a fun game.
I'm really sad I missed the, second
half 'cause that's where all the
excitement apparently happened.
but
yeah,
Angela: it very really truly
was the best game we've played
all season, like end to end.
Every, like coach agreed,
players agreed, it felt like it.
the one thing I'm so proud of this team
and I wish it had continued, but with
subs and other things it chilled out,
but in the first half I had talked about
how the Spirit is a very emotional team.
They play with so much emotion that it
can be used against them, and Prisca
was, like, pulling those strings and
I was like, "This is what I meant."
"Yes, finally.
Just piss them off."
Mario: Yeah
Angela: had Trin in her pocket.
Trin could not get open.
It wasâ¦
She was getting frustrated.
There was stuff there, and then having
Giselle and Prisca on the same side,
Trin had nowhere to go because Prisca
was backtracking to help defend.
it was just a beautiful pairing
and more of this please.
I hope we see it again this weekend.
But the, we leaned into it more
and more the closer we were
getting to halftime, and they were
getting more and more frustrated.
We weren't doing anything.
we were just playing well.
but when a team is getting frustrated
and frazzled and getting in their
heads outwardly, play into it.
There is so much of a mental
game that people forget about.
They're like, "That's mean."
Yeah, that's the point.
I'm trying to make you
lose along with winning.
Like, I'm trying to win while
you actively lose a game.
But once we came out of halftime, the
Spirit regrouped, reshu- you know,
shifted things around, made some subs
at the half, changed the temperament,
but it started to ramp up closer and
closer to the end of the game again and
I was like, "Oh, we're getting there."
it's coming together for us so that it
frustrates the other team more please.
That's all.
I justâ¦
It was a very important point for
Mario: I will also say starting the
match listening to iHeart, great
minds thinking alike, Tracy Bailey's,
keys to the match, one of them
was how they play with emotion and
that get- being able to get under
them is going to be a good key to
overwhelming them at a certain point.
I was like,
Angela: She and I had actuallyâ¦
" Mario: That's what Angela said.
Angela: She and I talked
about it before the game.
Mario: Oh, yeah?
Angela: 'Cause I went in to say hi because
I wanted to congratulate Is- yeah, Isaac
because he had a fantastic call after
Prisca's goal against, Seattle because
it was like 5,700 miles from da Morocco
to Seattle and and it was just this
monumental moment and I was like, "I just
have to tell you, like it's fantastic."
And I go say hi to them when
I'm in the press box 'cause
they're just like two doors down.
But no, we were talking about the
matchup and Tracy's like, "D- you
just, you s- need to frustrate them."
And I was like, "Yeah, you
have to get in their heads.
You have to play that game."
And then we got like more analytical and
Isaac was just like, "This is so cool."
Mario: yeah.
I- it was great.
And again, if you- actually, the cool
thing is that if you ever want toâ¦
Yes, you might have been at the game.
Yes, you might have listened,
or watched the broadcast.
for any particularly good match
that you wanna relive, iHeartRadio
replays the last match kinda back
to back because it's a streaming,
Angela: Mm-hmm.
Mario: internet radio,
Angela: our station
Mario: Yeah, it's our station, and it'll
loop back to back until the next match.
you can jump onto iHeart right now
and just catch the game at some point
during that and then, relive it.
So
that's the cool part about all of that.
and also, if you've never checked
out Isaac and Tracy, just do a thing.
You don't have to wait for game day.
Do it now, and, it's just, it
makes you feel like you're there.
so quick roundabout of
scores around the league.
we had, New York, our next, opponents
here, Gotham beating KC 2 to 1.
Denver and San Diego tied 1 to 1.
We had Reign over Chicago 1 to 0.
Utah beating Bay 3 to 2.
We had Racing beating, Boston 4 to 1.
Portland 2 to 1.
Really?
Angela: Yeah
Mario: I gottaâ¦
Okay, I gotta check out
the highlights on that one.
Portland 2 to 1 over, Orlando.
We have, Houston over, North Carolina
3 to 2, and then our game, last
one of the week, was a 1-1 draw.
But in a good way.
it was the good
Angela: Should've been a 2-1 win.
I'm just gonna say Ali
Sentnor should've had a brace.
Everybody agrees on that
Mario: Yeah.
Yeah, honestly.
and then quick standings check.
we're s- we were, with Seattle's win,
they leapfrogged us, in the standings.
They're in eighth place.
We're just outside right
behind them, at ninth place.
We're both two games back.
Everybody else is now at
18 or, 19 or 20 matches.
So Seattle and Angel City truly have the
two games in hand throughout all of this.
So we, the main thing moving forward
with all of these is we can't
drop points, especially at home.
you gotta win your home matches.
On the road, it's always harder.
You have the home crowd, you
gotta win these home matches.
And, at the very least, yes, the
draw at least gets you the point,
but you've dropped some points there.
you gotta win those.
So that's
where we're at.
It
Angela: thing is that Seattle is playing
Racing on Wednesday, and then over the
weekend they're playing Kansas City.
So I'm curious, 'cause they make up a
game, I believe, this week, but we do not
Mario: Yeah, we won't, like I said,
way earlier in a lot of these, I forget
which episode, but, we, the whole league
doesn't realign till like mid-September.
Mid-September is when everybody finally
hits the same amount of games played.
Um, and that's when we'll truly
see where the standings lie
leading into the last few weeks of
the season.
So it's gonna get, it's gonna get crazy.
And really the, the points with,
the points from second through, um,
let's see real quick, from second to
10th is only like about 13 points.
That's, you know
Angela: it's getting smaller
Mario: It's get- it's
getting smaller and smaller.
Angela: Yeah
Mario: 13 points is a big gap, but from
second to seventh is only seven, right?
So we al- we- every year, the top
eight usually just start flipping and
flopping next to each other and l-
laughing at everybody else underneath
'cause there's always this, hard
line at that eighth place, and that's
why it becomes so important, right?
We, yeah, let's get in there.
Let's make it.
All right, so let's talk about, Gotham.
They're visiting us in
nice sunny California.
how are weâ¦
What are we looking at for them?
Angela: I justâ¦
Okay, everybody knows I
am a closeted Bats fan.
I love this team for a million reasons.
I am very upset about Sana's injury,
obviously, as everyone should
be, frankly, as our, starting
center back on the national team.
But I, from everything I've heard
from other players and things like
that I've seen, she's doing very well.
She's in good spirits.
but it's really interesting how it's
changed their games over the last few
weeks 'cause you can definitely tell a
difference in their defense without her
being this, pillar in the back line.
as a, more overarching things
to talk about for this game, our
defense is gonna be working overtime,
and I'll explain this in a minute
Two words to give you
the TLDR, it's Sam Kerr.
But our defense is going to have their
work cut out for them because it's not
just Sam, it's Rose, it's Jordan Dudley.
Hell, it's Tierna in the back
line because she can score.
As we refer to them here
in this house, they are gay
goals and they are worth more.
th- thisâ¦
We love Tierna here.
they're just damn good.
They're steady, and they're locked in, and
they understand how to make adjustments on
the fly without needing a coaching moment.
the team itself can,
regroup and settle in.
they're very hard to disrupt.
Oh, also, Esther is stepping
away from soccer for a minute,
so she's no longer with the team.
She's back in Spain, which I hope
everything's okay family-wise.
Whatever is going on, I
hope she's doing okay.
But again, one of my favorite
players, so it's just damn.
the other funny thing is theâ¦
I haveâ¦
My iPad is currently on a box, as a
riser on the table it's on, and this
box has all my Gotham cards in it.
Mario: What kind of juju
are you putting out there?
We're recording on top of your Gotham
Angela: Angel City is on top.
That's
what it is.
Yeah, duh.
this game will definitely be a challenge,
but I think it's a really good test for
the team because we know we need bodies.
we need subs, essentially.
We need additional people to
alleviate the pressure that's on
especially our defense right now.
But with Savy coming back, that is a jolt
of adrenaline, I think, to everybody, and
I think it'll be really fun to watch our
defense match up against their offense.
It's gonna beâ¦
and vice versa, 'cause it's very cool.
But This is bonkers.
So I'm gonna start with Jordan Dudley.
I-- Okay, this is so hard.
I didn't even pick an Angel City
player to talk about because
I'm just like, there'sâ¦
this episode will be 100 years long.
Jordan Dudley played with
Taylor Suarez at Florida State.
She had 30 goals over three seasons.
She's a two-time All-American, a
three-time All a- All ACC selection.
She left after her junior year to go
pro, signed a three-year deal, like the
rookie deal essentially, with Gotham.
They are quoted as saying that she is
one of the top rookie prospects that
came out of college this last year.
She's a fantastic player.
She's incredibly physical.
She's incredibly fast.
She's very creative on the ball.
there's been some controversial
calls and no calls both in her
favor and against her this season.
I think a lot of it, one, is the
youth and playing against, you're 21,
you're playing against 33-year-olds
who are like, "Girl, get out the way."
"Move."
but there hasâ¦
And I don't know if it's just like
we're calling it more finally, but
there's been a lot of hair pulling
this season across women's soccer.
Alyssa, it's happened here in,
in the NWSL, and it's just some-
It's like the thing you don't do
is like yank a ponytail 'cause you
can hurt someone very badly forâ¦
in a variety of ways.
But, thereâ¦
She gets defended very hard, and so
there's a lot of dicey fouls that are
made both for and against her and that she
makes and controversy all over the place.
But I think she's a fantastic player,
and I think as she matures, she will be
incredibly valuable to both the national
team and whichever club team she's
on, if she's still on Gotham or not.
They are very lucky to have her.
She's fun as hell to watch.
That's the other part of it.
And then I'm gonna, I'm gonna take a
minute to talk about Sam Kerr, 'cause
Sam Kerr is important to women's soccer.
She's important to the NWSL.
She's important obviously to Australia.
She's important to my relationship.
There's a lot.
So Sam
Kerr is number 20.
There's history here.
If you know already, but we're gonna
give you a little rundown of all of this.
But she's a striker.
She is the back flipper.
She is Sam Kerr.
Across her Australian national team,
senior national team experience, she
has scored 73 international goals.
She leadsâ¦
She is the all-time leading scorer
in Australia, men's or women's.
Duh.
She debuted in 2009 on the
senior team when she was 15
years old, which is wild also.
Okay, so imagine the same year you go pro,
you also get called up for your senior
national team and make your debut at 15
Of course.
Of course.
But at that time also, a lot of
professional Australian players
were going pro around that age.
You have a lot of players in Sam's
generation of the national team
for Australia in similar fashion
going pro 15, 16, 17 years old.
She has been in, I think it's four
Olympics now, two World Cups, three
World Cups, a lot of international play.
In 2019, she scored a hat trick.
Of course sheâ¦
of course she did.
Duh.
It's Sam Kerr, like obviously.
and now for the NWSL.
She is the all-time leading
goal scorer in the NWSL.
Her record was broken by Lynn Biendolo.
She has since, in the three or four
goals she's scored since she's come
back to the league in, what, July,
girl's already re- retaken her crown
with 80 goals overall, and we still
have months left in the season.
So she's signed with Gotham through 2030.
She will eclipse 100 goals scored
Mario: 2030.
Angela: Yeah, guaranteed.
she's just so damn good.
The, so I'm looking up history
stats, cool Sam Kerr stuff
because she's also just neat.
She's a very cool person.
she has won the Golden Boot three
different times in three different
leagues on three different continents.
She has won the Golden Boot in Australia
for Chelsea and then in the NWSL.
No big deal
Mario: No, no.
Angela: Winning once is a big deal.
Winning three times is ridiculous.
Mario: Yeah.
no small feat, right?
So
Angela: Not at all.
No, big boots more like it.
so remember she went pro in 2009.
In 2013, she signed with
the Western New York Flash.
She tells a very funny story of thinking,
"Hell yeah, I'm going to New York.
This is gonna be so dope."
You're what?
If you're n- 15 in 2009, so you're
19 signing for a team in New York,
but you have no idea the geography.
Western New York Flash is based out of
Buffalo and she's like, "So I get there
and I'm like, 'What the hell is this?'"
"Where am I?
This isn't New York City."
very funny, like silly story.
But following the 2014 season, this is
also a wild thing to say given howâ¦
given who I am.
I'll leave it at that.
Following the 2014 season, Sam Kerr was
traded from the Western New York Flash,
so the, the up north team, to Sky Blue FC,
which has now become Gotham in exchange
for Elizabeth Eddy and a first round pick
But then Western New York Flash takes that
first round draft pick, the fourth pick
overall, and drafts Sam Mewis out of UCLA.
No big deal.
nobody important to soccer, nobody
important to the national team.
nobody good.
no, it's fine.
Yeah.
It's just a, just the
transactions that happened, right?
you're moving one huge piece to
another team in the same state
for a person and a draft pick.
That draft pick is one of
the best players to have ever
shown up in US women's soccer.
yeah, so then that happens.
She's playing in, with Sky Blue.
Theyâ¦
She then goes to play back and forth
between the NWSL and the W-League, which
is the Australian NWSL, essentially.
back and forth.
they're, they had the winter season, NWSL
had the summer season, back and forth.
Mario: It's year-round buddy
Angela: Exactly.
She leaves the NWSL in 2020 to go play
for Chelsea, has a ridiculously good
career with Emma Hayes in Chelsea.
just stupidly good.
Ends up tearing her ACL in
one of her final seasons.
she and Christie get married, have Jagger.
It's so cute.
But for the 2020 delayed Olympics,
so the 2021 games, it was, like,
announced unofficially that they
were, that Christie Mewis, Sam's
sister, is, and, Sam Kerr are dating.
So Olympics are happening,
delayed, COVID, all the things.
Pictures are published with Sam Kerr
and Christie Mewis canoodling on the
pitch, and everyone's like, "Oh my God."
The headline is like, "Sportsmanship
and Kindness," 'cause it was
right after we beat Australia, and
they're just, sitting there talking.
It's, a very intimate moment
that, I still feel like maybe
we shouldn't have been privy to.
But it works out in my
favor because the two ofâ¦
There's also internet jokes like, "They're
lesbians, Stacy," 'cause somebody's
like, "Oh, look at the sportsmanship.
they're just so kind,"
and everyone's like, "Girl
Mario: This is gonna, this is definitely
gonna be a Backpasses episode with
like receipts of what was happening.
Angela: Okay, but no, because there's also
a lot of text messages between me and Eva
Mario: Oh.
Angela: beâ¦
Mario: Not that part.
I meant more the, like, the,
Tumblr, the Tumblr of it
all that I'm pretty sure was
happening.
the, the Twitter, the
all of
Angela: Yeah, the internet
Mario: Yeah, this is a little
bit later than Tumblr, but yes
Angela: Yeah, Tumblr's demise had
already occurred with the Yahoo
buyout, but we won't talk about that.
anyway, Eva and I are talking about this,
and it legitimately, talking about the two
of them led directly to Eva asking me out.
So it's very much like Sam Kerr
and Christie Mewis are half the
reason why Eva and I are dating.
It's cute.
Mario: everybody, aw.
Angela: yay.
But Sam Kerr is ridiculously
good at soccer, and I'm so
happy she's back in the NWSL.
I'm so pissed that she is back
after, or be- she came back to league
before we were done playing Gotham.
I was really hoping it wouldn't happen
Mario: yeah, she's back.
we haven't even played Gotham once.
This is the first time we'll see
them this, this l- s- season and that
means we gotta play them twice, right?
Angela: Yay.
Mario: and it's not like we've had
the most amazing track record with
Angela: No.
So overall, and granted Angel City
came into the league as Gotham is
on the come up, similar to Orlando
where Angel City comes in 2022
Gotham wins a championship 2023.
So it does, it means they weren't, they
were bottom of the table, but it doesn't
mean that they were necessarily bad.
They were rebuilding, like actively
working towards big changes in the team.
Ali Krieger, all the
things happened in 2023.
But, and they have since won 2025 as well.
If you remember me towards the end of
last season at all, I was like, bats."
But yeah, so our record, we've won once.
We've, like, and we've had a lot of teams
lately where our record is, tied across
Mario: Like even, like yeah
Angela: Yeah.
this one is not that way.
No, it's one win, one
draw, and seven losses.
One of those was a friendly, but whatever.
Mario: no.
One of those was the playoff match
Angela: No, we played Seattle.
Mario: Oh, I thought it was Sorry, my
Angela: it was Copa Angelina
Mario: Oh, it was a friendly.
Boo.
Angela: Yeah, it was a
Mario: Oh, that was the one where we
were like, "If we win, this matters.
If we don't, this was a dumb tournament."
Yeah.
Angela: And
we're like, "This is
Mario: now.
Yeah
Angela: But overall, I think it's actually
gonna be a really good game because
this is gonna be a game that forces
Angel City to play up to their opponent.
It's gonna force us to be the
best versions of ourselves,
and I'm really excited for that
because we keep seeing more.
It'sâ¦
In previous seasons, we'd be like,
you see the flashes of goodness.
are we a good team but just
playing poorly, or are we
a bad team with good stuff?
we've had that conversation many times.
We are a good team who's been injured, and
as folks are coming back from injury, I
think it's gonna be really fun to see them
excel and progress and do really well.
And I think this is one of those
games that's gonna force our hand
and force us to play our top- our
version of top-tier soccer, which
is going to be so good and so fun.
I expect a lot.
Either Iâ¦
This is either gonna be like a one-
like a zero-zero or one-nothing
game, or there's gonna be like seven
goals scored between the two teams.
Hopefully we win- we wind up with four
Mario: Yeah.
Yeah.
Hope- hopefully.
I, I, as I told a coworker of mine, I was
like, m- they were looking for tickets
for a match, and I'm like, "Look, the, the
Gotham matchup is going to be a great one.
If you're if you can only muster
one based on the schedule,
Angela: That one
Mario: hit the Gotham one."
And yeah, they'll be there,
so hopefully, hopefully my
schedule works out and I can be there too.
but yeah, we'll see.
and then we'll f- we'll all find
out what homecoming means, so
Angela: Bechella in the supporter section.
what it should mean
Mario: If you've gotten this far, do
us a favor and subscribe to the show.
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We're on YouTube if you
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We're on there.
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It's fun.
Check out the socials
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If you don't see one or if you can't
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But, DM us and we'll get you the link.
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Grab some merch at, shop.casualfc.com.
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Brand-new merch store website with the
brand-new Leroux Le Comeback, uh, shirt
Angela: Yeah
Mario: just dropped because
our girl is back, and we areâ¦
we've been sitting on that one
since the beginning of the season.
We did this shirt
Angela: We did this intentionally.
we will have this ready
Mario: and it was just there
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So
yeah.
Overall, tell a friend about the pod.
Brings us good luck, brings us more
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It's slowly but surely making its way
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better and better results, so hopefully
we just keep building on all of that.
And with all of that, everyone,
enjoy Homecoming, and see you at BMO.
Angela: See you on Sunday
drafts Sam Mewis out of UCLA.
Fucking moth.
I got it.
I killed it.
It's dead.
Yes
Mario: Yes.
Quick hands.
Quick hands
Angela: practice.