Angela: Hi, everyone.
Welcome to Casual FC, an Angel City
match preview and footy therapy pod
featuring, well, today, just one
podcast-certified footy therapist.
I'm your host, Angela Morales,
and I'm all by myself.
Mario has left.
I'm just kidding.
No, he's sick.
Um, I'm sure some of you
saw our Instagram story.
He's been sick essentially
since his birthday andâ¦
or since Sunday.
Um, his birthday was Monday, and we were
gonna try-- we delayed recording last
night when we were gonna try and record
today, but he is down for the count.
He said his coworkers, anytime he
was on a call, was just, like, sad
and like, "Oh, you sound terrible."
So it's just me.
I'm gonna run through a recap, or
two recaps, um, a preview, some
league stuff, and all the things.
So this is officially our match
preview for Sunday, May 31st
against the North Carolina Courage.
The game is our last home
game before the break at BMO.
Kickoff is at 4:00 p.m.
the game will be broadcast on
Victory+ if you're unable to
make it, also on iHeartRadio with
our besties Isaac and Tracey.
There is a special ticket pack.
It's the, um, Battle of the
Clubs, so there's gonna be
a ton of soccer teams there.
There's-- The ticket pack
is for a ball giveaway.
So if you're a season ticket
holder, check your email for it or
check your, um, account manager.
But yeah, we are the very last game of
the weekend, which is also the very last
game before the league takes a month off
for international breaks, friendlies,
and a big boys soccer tournament
that's happening all over the country.
So we're gonna have some Backpasses
episodes coming up during the
break, so don't worry, we're
not completely disappearing.
We're just kind of popping in with
some fun stuff here and there.
And then if you are local to Los
Angeles, Dallas, Miami, Seattle, all,
all of the cities that are hosting
the tournament, please be careful.
Um, I know at least out here in
LA, ice has been confirmed to be
In the area, not like they've
ever left, but just please
be extra careful next month.
Um, I just want you guys to
get home safe and be with your
families because this is dumb.
Well, notâ¦
I want you to be with your families,
but this is dumb and I just want you
to be careful out there in the city.
Um, yeah, that's it.
When it comes to that part, I'm not
gonna talk too much, so I'm just
gonna cry and cuss a lot and, uh,
we all know where I stand on that.
But in other big important news, if you
haven't already, make sure you fill out
your ballots and take them to a drop
box or vote in person because it is now
officially too late to put them in the
mail given USPS's new regulation that
they decided to put in, I say they very
lightly, um, it's too late to mail them to
get them to be counted in the primaries.
That's on Tuesday coming up.
This shit's important.
If you have any questions, if you need
help figuring out how to vote, what
to do, all the things, DM me either at
casualfcpod or my personal Instagram.
I will help as much as I can.
And as an elder millennial, please don't
vote for Spencer Pratt ever for anything.
Um, or frankly, Tom Steyer, 'cause
who needs another billionaire?
But that's another story.
Um, let's talk soccer, guys.
I'm gonna start with the
Chaos Award for Match Week 10.
It is yet again red cards because
as of this last weekend, we have
officially eclipsed the amount of
red cards that were issued in the
entirety of last season It's bonkers.
It's yellow card or cruel.
It's straight reds.
It's wild.
The game, uh, Bay FC versus
Chicago had two red cards.
One of them I understood, the
other I was very confused as
to why it occurred at all.
My beloved friend Sarah, who is a Bay
season ticket holder and a very good
friend of mine, and I were texting
during the game, and we screamed.
Like, Eva and I were watching the game,
and we literally gasped and then yelled
a lot when Silky touched the ball
out of the box and just got sent off.
It was bonkers.
Um, but honestly, good on Bay for
holding their own the rest of the game.
I did see a post today that somebody said,
and I don't know the validity, validity
of this, if it's real life or if it's
just somebody's thought process, but it
would make a lot of sense, that there
have been more referees who have come over
from the MLS to, like, fill in spots for
women's soccer, and they're calling the
game more similarly to the men's game.
I don't know if that's true.
It is some interesting food for
thought 'cause there have been a
lot of new referees to the NWSL.
Uh, one referee made his debut
again, uh, in one of the matches.
Like, it's, it's been a lot.
So let's talk matchups.
Whole bunch of scores to go over really
quick because there were Wednesday
matches last week, as we know.
So Houston and San Diego
drew on Wednesday 2-2.
Portland beat Bay FC 2-0.
And then as we get into the
weekend, Seattle beat Boston 2-1.
North Carolina beat Racing 2-1.
Lots of, lots of 2 to 1s.
Um, Utah beat Denver 2-1, which was
a bonkers game if you watched it.
Kansas City beat Portland 3-1.
The Stars beat Bay FC 1-nothing.
They were down to nine players.
Mallory Pugh (Swanson),
like, got her first goal.
Triple Espresso is back for
those of you who are mega fans.
And last but certainly not least,
Orlando beat San Diego 1-nothing.
Wild weekend of soccer.
When it comes to Angel City though,
um, we beat Kansas City at home.
I am so proud of that win.
Everyone had some big, big energy,
and it was amazing, and the stadium
was rocking, and it was a great time.
We effectively shut down Temwa
Chawinga, which was like my biggest
worry 'cause she'd been on a tear
since she came back from injury.
We shut down Croy.
We dismantled them in
a very interesting way.
And then they earned a PK and at aâ¦
as most people remember, the last PK that
Kansas City had against us was the Lo'eau
LaBonta, "Oh my God, I hurt my hamstring.
JK, let's twerk on the sideline."
Um, and that didn't happen because Big
Ange was Big Ange and blocked the PK.
It's been really fun watching
Angelina really grow and
mature over the last few games.
I'll talk about that a little bit later.
Okay, so Kansas City is a hell of a game.
It's so much fun.
Then we get to Houston.
It's definitely the third game
in a week and it was obvious.
We go down a goal, we earn a
PK, Maiara Niehues takes the PK.
After the game we find out from Kennedy
that she apparently takes PKs after
every practice and she said there's
nobody on the team I trust more
than her to take a PK and it showed.
Like her form, her, her steadiness,
the calm that came over her was
awesome and then I'm feeling good.
We're a little scrambly looking.
Everything's a little weird the
game's getting closer to the end.
They, they just go on a tear.
Maggie Graham scores and honestly,
I think this is, like, the biggest
error we've made thus far this season.
Like, there's been little things here
and there where it's like stuff happens,
soccer happens, that's what sports do.
But this one hurt more than the rest
'cause you saw the defensive breakdown.
You saw everything happen kind of
in slow motion, and it sucks 'cause
I really wanted to win that game.
But here we are going into this game
against North Carolina, and it's
gonna be a m- a big matchup because
both teams are having an okay time.
Eva made a really good
point the other night.
Like, if you take Angel City's
season and instead of gr- the way
it's, you know, three wins, four
losses, a win, a draw, a loss.
Like, everything is really clumpy, and
if you take it and you, like, put it in a
bag and shake it up and you just pull them
out and everything's more mixed up, okay.
It's essentially a 500 season.
It's an even season as of right now.
It's not obviously what we want 'cause
I'm pretty sure all of us want an
undefeated season with a bazillion goals.
It's not realistic, but it's where we are.
And when we're looking at North Carolina,
they are historically a very winning team.
Everybody knows this.
They're one of the older
teams in the league.
They've won a whole bunch.
They know how to win, and they know
how to dig deep when it matters.
And then you have Ashley Sanchez who
is on a tear, and she is a terror.
Like, she is a golden boot candidate.
She is having easily one of
the best seasons in her career.
She's already eclipsed her career
high in a season of goals scored.
It's May, and the season
does not end until November.
So homegirl is insane, and it, it'sâ¦
Like, as a, a fan of
soccer, it's amazing to see.
A lot of people, Kelly O'Hara included, me
included, a lot of people I know included,
all think that there should have maybe
been a call-up i- for the June camps.
But if that's me and I'm Ashley Sanchez
and I don't get the call-up, I'm even
more in tune and locked into the fact
that I am that girl and I'm gonna score.
So she is the big mark for us right now.
They have Manaka.
They have a bunch of goal
scorers, which sucks because
that means they're really good.
But it means that our
defense has to be locked in.
The other weird part about what's
going on with North Carolina is that
they had multiple players go out
with SEIs in the last, like, two
weeks, two ACL tears That super sucks
because obviously, but it means they
have to kind of rearrange things.
And it was players who were
playing a lot of minutes, players
who were integral in the game.
So I'm curious what they're going to look
like on Sunday because changes happen
and changes get weird and things happen.
We know.
Um, after the June break, I'm going to
lock back in and get back to spotlighting
players because there's so many cool
people on our team that I want to
spend a lot of time talking about.
But right now we just need to regroup.
Angel City as a whole just needs to like
come back in, find our true north and lock
back in for this game before the break,
because everything has been essentially
like etch-a-sketched or put in a snow
globe and shaken up and messed around.
And there's been a lot of games
in a short period of time.
People have gotten hurt.
People are coming back from injuries.
Savvy King is running,
which is really good.
And the little like cool
bouncy treadmill guy.
Um, so it's really a weird time, but
this is kind of when good teams are
made because you're in this little
pressure cooker of figuring things
out and figuring out what happens
when stuff doesn't go your way.
The injury bug is huge right
now in the Angel City locker
room in Los Angeles as a whole.
And I think this month off is going to
be really great for the team to be able
to recover, to regroup and to really find
the unity and the fun they were having
in the first few games of the season.
More than anything.
I think if we hold steady,
if we show up as ourselves,
there's no reason we can't win.
And as long as we're playing defense, as
long as we're showing up, as long as we're
making it hard, we're going to be okay.
More than anything, this game is
completely up for grabs, and this is
a game that we need to show up from
the first whistle, snatch it, and run.
Like, we just need to
take control of the game.
And granted, this goes for any game,
but especially this one because
sending yourself off on a win is the
perfect high and the perfect confidence
booster that Angel City needs.
We've seen Angelina go from a
very confident keeper in the first
few games to a little shaky in
that stretch of what the heck.
Um, but to see her come up so,
so strong against, um, Portland,
against Kansas City, like thatâ¦
Those two games specifically showed
me that she remembers who she actually
is and that the, the weird things
that were going on in that stretch
of losses aren't her being herself.
So I'm okay with her end goal.
Big Ang is like the drum
in the supporter section.
It's me and it's her.
Like, you've got two six-foot
Angelas, Angelinas, and a big-ass
drum in the supporter section,
and we don't play around.
We come for a good time, but,
like, we'll ruin your life.
Um, overall, part of why I think
this matchup is very important
is because overall, our record
against North Carolina is three
wins, two draws, and three losses.
I- it's even across
the board, essentially.
There's noâ¦
I- it's just, uh, we've played them
eight times, and it's three wins, we've
lost three times, we've tied twice.
Like, that's essentially
as even as you can get it.
So I have high hopes for this weekend.
I hope you do, too.
I hope I get to see you at BMO.
We'll be there, and I will likely
buy trading cards even though I
probably shouldn't, but here I am.
And if you got this far, it's a super
short episode 'cause it's just me
yapping and nobody to talk to me.
So if you got this far, thank you so much.
Do us a favor if you haven't already
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Mario and I text each other
screenshots any time we get the
notification of just like, "Oh my God."
I usually tear up because I am who
I am, and it is so appreciated.
You guys essentially funded a trip to
Portland to go to the game over the la-
Like, it took four years to do it, and
it was worth every penny, and it was
worth every minute, and I'm so grateful.
Other than that, tell
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Tell them to tell a friend,
tell them to tell a friend.
If we do it 15 times, we get extra, extra
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Chain mail this shit, you guys.
I'll see you at BMO on Sunday.
Bye.