Mario: Welcome to Casual FC,
an Angel City match preview and
footy therapy pod featuring two
podcast-certified footy therapists.
I'm your host, Mario Salazar,
with my vintage T-shirt-wearing
super co-host, Angela Morales.
That is a vintage shirt.
That's
There's two zeros in
the age of that shirt.
Angela: almost, yeah.
this is circaâ¦
Is there a date on it?
I think it's circa, 2009, 2010, honestly.
Maybe 2011.
I don't care.
it's so soft . It's so comfortable.
I just found it in, a box, and I'm
like, "Oh my God, I for- I didn't
know where this went," and it's mine
Mario: When you have that
one shirt that's just you
wanna take care of it and like
it goes into the delicates bag.
It like
you, you make sure that.
Angela: that.
Mario: I've had a couple shirts that like
I was like obsessed with, and then lo and
behold, the day comes when like I pull it
out of the dryer and there's a hole in it.
I'm like, "No."
Angela: yeah,
Mario: Yeah
you gotta be careful.
I think I haven't bought a
shirt for myself till like
maybe about a couple weeks ago,
Angela: Yeah,
Mario: been years before that.
Angela: the only thing I'm buying
right now is, occasion clothes.
I'm going to a wedding.
I need different clothes because I
don't wanna wear the things I've have.
It's not the right vibe.
So I'm on a clothes
quest, which is the worst
Mario: I will resend my statement.
I have bought stuff 'cause I bought
our own merch, but that doesn't
Angela: That doesn't count.
Mario: All right, everyone, this
is our, our San Andreas Cup preview
match, the Chum Clásico, which
is going to be next Saturday.
Not next Saturday, this Saturday,
July 11th, and, down in San
Diego against San Diego Wave FC.
It's gonna be at Snapdragon
Stadium, 5:45 PM kickoff.
If you're not gonna be able to
make it down there, which I am most
likely not, but Angela, I believe, is
Angela: I am gonna be there
Mario: If you're not going, you can watch
it on ION TV, and you can always hear
it on iHeartRadio with Isaac and Tracy.
It's, amazing.
They just make you feel like you're there.
and apparently it's beach towel
night in San Diego, so there you go.
You'll
Angela: Yep
Mario: free merch when you walk in there.
And
then
Angela: want this?
Yeah,
Mario: Depending on how the night
goes, we'll see what happens with that.
Angela: Do we light it on fire?
No, because every- California
will light on fire.
We just d- weâ¦
Okay, we're going with some family
friends who I get to takeâ¦
So one of my mom's coworkers is a good
friend of hers, and he's wonderful.
It's him and his brother or brother-in-law
and his niece, and she's never
been to a professional soccer game.
He's "You're not gonna turn
her into Angel City fan."
I was like, "I'm not trying to.
I'm just-- I want her hook, line,
and sinker into women's sports.
I don't care what team, just get into it."
And I'm very excited, veryâ¦
I'm gonna bring her trading cards.
I have, a whole plan, and I
get to say see and stay with
my best friend and his family.
It's wholeâ¦
It's a good time.
I'm so excited
Mario: Good times.
Good times.
Why can't she be an Angel City fan?
Angela: because they are San
Diego through and through.
There's also big shit talking,
because they're big Padres fans and
Mario: Ew
Angela: so there's big shit talking,
like between him and my mom.
It's very fun.
They'll just send each
other like eye roll emojis.
I'm like, "You guys are cute."
Yeah
Mario: That's fun.
Yeah.
She's gonna become an Angel City fan.
it's fine.
It's inevitable.
I don't know.
I don't know.
Angela: The Wave are in first
place and it's our first game,
Mario: So yeah.
Angela: it's a hard sell right now.
But there are things, good
things on the horizon, so we'll
talk about that in a minute.
But,
Mario: All right.
Episode one
Angela: was here to give us a little,
Mario: little drum roll.
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: Oh, I'm gonna see if I can find a,
generic, royalty-free drum roll to, like,
add in right here because
it is episode 150.
We, 150.
we had a couple things that we
had planned, but when I saw where
we were in the count, I was like,
"Oh, we're g- we're gonna hold
Angela: We reworked some things.
We're the boss here
Mario: So we are at episode 150.
It's the San Andreas Cup match episode.
It just, it just happened to work out.
Angela: It's perfect
Mario: last match was,
Giselle Thompson's 50th match
appearance, which is pretty cool.
quick little s- boys
soccer tournament update.
yeah, all the host countries are out, so
fuck
Angela: one I'm sad about is Mexico
Mario: to borrow a phrase from
Angela, the US got mollywhopped,
and we got our asses handed to us.
Mexico, that was
such a great game.
Angela: oh,
Mario: It was such a heartbreakingâ¦
they played so well.
apparently the secret code for,
teams playing at the Azteca or any
of the Mexican, stadiums that are
up in elevation is taking Viagra.
Angela: Yeah, that's ho- that's weird.
Mario: it was
Angela: it makes sense
vasodilation-wise, but it's stupid.
Mario: Yes.
Yes.
It's
And
then, there has been a
shit ton of that all over
Angela: So much has gone
to low in the World Cup
Mario: Yeah.
Yeah.
Canada's out, Mexico's out, the US is out.
so
Angela: today is July 7th.
Happy four-star day to all the women's
national team fans who celebrate.
We, we just do what we
do in the big tourneys.
I did see a post, and I'm
As I said in the Discord, they showed up.
They showed up as themselves
for that game against Belgium.
So it was bound to happen, and I saw a
post today that said the men's national
team ceiling is the women's floor
In 35 years of the World Cup, the
quote-unquote worst experience
or worst appearance for the
women's team is the round of 16,
and that was the last World Cup.
That's it
And this is the best.
Round of 16 is the best for the men.
they still get $16 million.
Now they have to share it, suckas.
Anyway
You know what I'm thinking if
you've listened to this podcast
Mario: Ew, boys.
the tournament's still going on.
There's still going to be some
corrupt-ass, FIFA officials
doing some shady-ass shit.
So here's rooting, on some
more of the underdogs.
anybody but Argentina at this point 'cause
fuck them.
Angela: Honestly
Mario: It's, they, wheneverâ¦
It's one of those things that
whenever the tournament comes around,
they've, you finally, you know about
it, especially if you're Latino.
Angela: you, yeah, if you follow
Mario: know about it, and,
but then it shows, it, they
show themselves very clearly.
and
Angela: All of the good stuff to
Egypt, though, they played so well.
They did so good.
They stood for something, which is
rare in men's sports these days,
and that actually goes back to the,
either late '70s, early '80s Olympics.
It may be the '84 games or
the one right before that.
But when, sponsorships first
got involved is when activism
in men's sports disappeared.
Absolutely just disappeared overnight.
So to see a team stand on something, stand
for other people, for other countries,
for, those who are being, I don'tâ¦
They just did what was right for humanity
in so many ways, and I was really hoping
they were gonna pull out the upset,
and then FIFA FIFA'd, and here we are
Mario: Yeah.
and if the game was played
fairly, they would've,
Angela: Yep.
Mario: the
Angela: If that red card had been
called two games ago on Messiâ¦
But, you can totally
step on somebody's calf.
Anyway, I'm here to talk
about women's soccer
Mario: Exactly.
Okay, we got off the rails.
We're on episode 150.
We're gonna keep going with many,
many more episodes, and guess what?
That means starting today,
countdown to the Women's World Cup.
US Women's National Team and
Emma Hayes are, coming back.
She's got the whole system flipped around.
the boys can learn something from her.
so fuck, they need to learn
something from somewhere.
But all right.
The match that we just had for Angel City
against, the Orlando Pride was a fun one.
first match back from the break.
there was a little bit
of rust here and there.
There was a scary-ass moment afterwards.
so let's just talk about it.
let's get through this.
Angela: Okay, so as everybody
knows now, we won two-nothing.
It was fantastic.
It felt likeâ¦
And I'm gonna kinda jump around from
footy therapy to commentary to match
review because it's just fluid.
Someone said the players needed
that win 'cause they've been
through enough BS the last couple
weeks, and we're so happy for them.
But, we needed that win 'cause same.
same, but different.
It was a great start to a
long weekend for people.
and then as Joel said, two games in hand.
we're stillâ¦
We went from what?
12- 11th, 12th place to
Mario: to ninth?
Angela: from this match.
We are plus four goal differential.
We're one point out of
the playoffs right now.
we are in ninth place, one point behind
Orlando, so depending on what goes
on this weekend, fingers, toes, like
I'm about to be like a little crab.
just please let us pull a point out of
this weekend to keep the ball rolling.
we won.
Everyone's getting set up for whatâ¦
I think everyone had trepidations
about the announcement that there
would be fireworks just 'cause why?
Mario: okay, I will
say I, I've been at BMO
plenty of times when
LAFC has had fireworks,
and they set them up
in the exact same way.
So I personally didn't have any
trepidation with them setting them in
the middle, 'cause it's been done before
Angela: But that doesn't mean it's right.
Like
Mario: y- Yeah.
they used to, they,
Angela: no sense
Mario: yeah
Angela: to do it in the field or on
the field when there's people in the
stadium, in, in my humble, normal
person who hates fireworks opinion.
But, we win, everybody's like
having a whole rejoiceful,
holy crap, we did it moment.
The team, us, everybody.
it was just amazing.
Like all of us wereâ¦
Y- like you felt the whole stadium take
a deep breath of okay, we showed up, we
were alive, alert, awake, enthusiastic.
Like we were ready to play.
And what was wild to me, I looked up
after the game, 'cause it felt like we
controlled that game from the jump, from
the first whistle to the last whistle.
I was like, we had 80%,
possession, like all this.
No, we did not.
We had 37% possession.
It was wild.
It was like way opposite what I
thought, but it reminded meâ¦
Or go ahead
Mario: No, I was just gonna
say that there was a lot of,
there was a l- a lot of rust,
being shaken off.
there was a lot.
So like we, there was definitely
a lot of, mispasses, a lot of,
Angela: Yep
Mario: th- sh- balls to nowhere.
there
was like, there wa- there wasâ¦
But
Angela: people forgot who
they were playing with.
Yeah, and you saw it get
better throughout the game.
But, I was joking that there was
so much CONMEBOL on happening
during the game 'cause it was
basically half of Team Brazil.
Between our team and their team,
there were so many Brazilians
on the pitch at one point.
I was just like, "What is happening here?
we're just watching a different
tournament played really weirdly."
it felt the drama and the emotion and the,
what's the word I'm look- like, theatrics
were there from all the Brazilians, and
it was so fun because everybody was mad.
nobody was mad at each other,
everybody was just mad.
it was, good.
Game ends, player of the match,
save of the match, all the things.
they get set up for fireworks.
Three minutes in, a couple go
psht, psht, psht across the pitch.
You hear the from the crowd.
everyone was like, that's not
what's supposed to happen."
And then more fireworks.
Few minutes later, north, south,
east, west, every side of the
pitch got fireworks in the stands.
Thankfully, everybodyâ¦
There's no serious injuries as of
the statement from Angel City today.
again, we record on Tuesday,
so it's the 7th, and it came
out earlier this afternoon.
The pyrotechnic company is
investigating what happened.
there's pieces moving, and I saw
a lot of commentary about this
should've been released over the
weekend, this should've been this.
It's one, every statement the team
releases has to go through legal, so
it's gonna add at least one extra day,
especially for something like this
where they also had to make sure the
people that were impacted were okay.
And when it comes to something where
there are real humans that are impacted
by the actions of, inadvertently,
other humans, I would rather the
governing body or whom- whomever is
the people in charge, air quotes big
time, I'd rather they take their time
to put out the right information.
We deal with, on a daily basis, so much,
breaking news, this is what happened.
and it's mostly correct, halfway correct.
When fi- four years ago, it was so muchâ¦
Or maybe a little bit longer now,
like 5 to 10 years ago, we took our
time to get the right information,
and that is so important still.
So I don't mind that this
statement took a couple days.
They also probably had to, call in crisis
PR because people were out of town.
there's so many things that could be
happening in the back end of this.
But I do know what I saw, and the
thing that impressed me, especially
given her sister being in one of the
other videos almost getting hit by
one of the errant fireworks, whenâ¦
'Cause I'm in 227.
Mario: Yeah, we're
Angela: One of theâ¦
Mario: side
Angela: Yeah, so one of the
cans or whatever came into,
123 21-24 into a family.
I have not seen somebody m- that
wasn't a player playing the soccer game
move that fast in that stadium, with
the exception of, the medical team.
I saw Julie, in her ankle boots that
have a little heel, haul ass down
the pitch to make sure that they
were getting the care they needed,
that everything was, like, handled.
and there are very mixed feelings
about Julie these days from
everybody, I think, at this point.
Good, bad, neutral, whatever.
But in weird situations
like that, she shows up.
Mario: Yeah.
Angela: interviewed her,
I've talked to her, I'veâ¦
I, the intent is good
at the end of the day
Mario: Yeah.
th- s- the soccer of it aside, right?
She's a good person
Angela: decent person.
Yeah.
Mario: for what we n- you
Angela: She supported the podcast.
she's a decent human
Mario: she's, yeah.
And you know what?
I also saw her 'cause like I said, I'mâ¦
Angela: guys too.
Mario: She ran by, by me and then
I saw all the support staff, like
security and things like that, like
there was one guy that was like on it.
He was like,
he sprinted over the thing, and
then he was like, he couldn'tâ¦
I think he tried climbing the
concrete wall and couldn't figure
that out, and so he went to the
side and went up the stairs.
that guy was like, he was o- he was
the first one on there on the scene.
again, from whatâ¦
We can only talk about
what we saw, and really
it's just the kind of surface level
things that we saw, 'cause, it,
we weren't there.
We weren't down in that
Angela: the intent.
this wasn't on purpose, so
Mario: no.
And luckily most of the videos that I've
seen, from different angles all over the
m- most or half of the ones that kind of
went rogue either landed in an empty area,
which luckily, cause there was one that
like landed wh- there was patches of
people right around everybody, and it
Angela: Yeah.
It just went like
boop.
Mario: Yeah.
or it like bounced off
the boards or something.
The one that flew over by
us was one of the few that
actually went into the stands.
but
Angela: And it was, like,
in the stands with force.
It wasn't, petering out yet.
It was live.
Yeah
Mario: that one like was a, someone
loved the ball that way, and, the
people that needed to be there got
there, someone being taken to the per-
the whoever was affected on that end.
Saw them in a wheelchair real quick.
It was more precautionary,
like they looked
fine, and they were taken into
the, into the first aid area,
and I'm pretty sure it was allâ¦
there was noâ¦
Angela: It's just scary, I think, more
Mario: It was, yeah.
it's a veryâ¦
I was there with our kids because
it was the fireworks show.
it was like I was there with both Maddie
and Everett, and then, and Jen, and
like we were-- As soon as the first
one kinda went off, like both of us
Angela: it's that yeah.
Yeah.
And I want to make note, and this
is probably gonna make me emotional
because it was so important because
my phone started blowing up as I'm
blowing up everybody else's phone.
Everyone started checking
in on each other.
Texts from across the stadium,
"Did you leave already?
Are you at the game?
Are you okay?
I saw one go over."
I-- this community is so important,
and it showed up so hard that night.
And I saw someone post, I wanna,
I think it was, I think it was
Sylvia, but I don't remember.
Yeah, I think it was
Sylvia from, Diaspora.
But, or no, Shea Butter.
but she posted, "If there is one
group of people who might be reacting
a little weird because they're a
little numb, it's this fan base."
a year ago we saw somebody
get resuscitated, and now we
have this, and it's oh, okay.
We're good?
what?
but that being said, tears aside,
chaos award goes to the first and last
fireworks show at an Angel City game
Mario: Most likely, yes
Angela: We'll never see a
firework in that stadium again.
Mario: yeah
Angela: "You've got Disney money now.
Just buy drones."
just do something different."
but no, I'm just so grateful
everybody's okay and that trauma
aside, PTSD aside, I'm just grateful
to be part of a community who looks
after each other when things get weird
Mario: Yeah.
So that
was a really, that was
a really weird time.
But, aside from that and aside of way,
the way the night ended, I wentâ¦
Rollercoaster of emotions is
the only way to do a Angel City.
highs and the lows of lows or in the weird
like valleys of what the hell's going on.
Aside from that, we had some very
high highs, during this game 'cause it
was just, it was, like you said, it
was exactly what the players needed.
It was exactly what the fans needed.
Whether this was the new coach bounce,
whether this was, new coach keeping,
keeping, the same system going and
letting them continue with what
they know
Angela: just think it was
Svendas being healthy.
But that's just Svendas being
healthy, couple more players back,
like rest, the normal things that
happen after a break like that.
But we got a haiku from Ethan.
It's the first one back.
He said, "Interim season.
Passes had more zip to them.
I see you, Sentner."
My aunts were at the game with us and
didn't know that we were playing, Marta.
Not just, Orlando, but, Marta was out
there, and my tia was like, who's
the best player on this team?"
And we're like, "Okay, Barbara Banda
isn't playing right now because, reasons.
She's hurt.
but Marta just subbed in."
And she's "Like Brazil Marta?"
And we're like, "Yeah."
It's, the one soccer player she knows
outside of the Thompsons 'cause she used
to work with a family friend of theirs.
she's "Yeah."
we're like, "Yeah, like Brazilian Marta."
"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"
I was like, "Tia, she just subbed in.
She just showed up on the pitch."
"Oh my God."
And then five seconds later
is when Sentner did the spin
around her and it was like, ooh.
But itâ¦
she was so excited.
Both of them were just pumped now that
they knew who Marta was and she was
there and they got to watch her and,
I posted it in the Discord a few ofâ¦
everyone has been sending it to each
other the, ref cam still of Marta.
like peak Marta reaction and then
the full video of it is amazing.
But more ref cam both from the
World Cup and from the NWSL, please.
But overall, aside from the fact
that this was the same referee
that refed the Houston gameâ¦
so the best comment for me was, from Zach.
He has, the ice cold face
emoji where it's like, Mr.
Freeze, and then fire- and
then dot, fireworks, and said,
"We got the fricking win."
Mark, who was the referee, and he was
the same referee that, called the Houston
game, and, could not ca- He would, toot
his whistle and forget he had cards, and
then all of a sudden it was like card.
we joke that thereâ¦
Okay, so there's another ref in the league
called Trevor, and anyone who gets to the
really bad level just gets, Trevor 2.0,
3.0.
Zach said, "Mark is Trevor 7.0,
but we looked good.
Keep it up."
And that sentner was cooking.
So everybody's just "Wee!"
But also, holy crap, is this real life?
So yeah, there's a lot to look forward
to, a lot to just say, I don't know.
I don't even wanna say we should get
weird yet because I think we're fine.
Mario: everything's weird enough
that we can let
Angela: What if we just chilled a bit?
Mario: right now we're in cruise mode.
let's get our bearings.
let's keep it at a steady pace.
Angela: chill for a
Mario: figure it out.
let's get some gel going and then
you can, and then you can get weird.
All right.
All right, so a quick roundabout of
the scores f- for the opening weekend
back from the break for the NWSL.
We had the Spirit win
over, Houston two to one.
We had, KC win, over Denver three to zero.
We, of course, beat
Orlando two to nothing.
And then if you keep going on,
we have North Carolina being,
beating Seattle, three to one.
San Diego, which we'll get to in a
minute, two to nothing over New York.
Angela: Which is officially
New York as of today
Mario: as of today, they will be
playing, in the new Etihad Park,
where the NYCFC will be playing.
they'll be both playing in Queens,
so they're gonna be in within the
five boroughs, not in New Jersey.
So
that'll-
Angela: this, bicoastal household
has big feelings about that,
but that's for another episode
Mario: Oh, okay.
I wanna know.
Okay, so w- Well, Let's save
Angela: moving to Queens now isolates
the Philly fans and half of, half if
not two-thirds of the New Jersey fans
because it would be four to five hours
of travel round trip to get to Queens
from different parts of New Jersey.
And because where Harrison is, it's easy
to just take the train in from Philly.
Can't do that anymore.
It's, you can, but you have
to leave three hours earlier
Mario: From Philly?
From a different state?
Angela: Yeah, because it's, there,
there's a s- New Jersey is in
between New York and Pennsylvania.
It's a little bean in between
Mario: Look, that whole area, if you gave
me a map, I'd be able to identify them.
But like in here, I, it's the East Coast.
Like I
Angela: Yeah, it's-- there's a
lot of space, the space between.
That will not be the song
for this episode, guys.
I refuse.
No.
But anyway, that is Sky Blue into Gotham
will end up being a Backpasses episode
because Eva has feelings about it.
We were talking about it earlier today.
they're moving to Queens.
They get Sam Kerr back.
It's a whole, ugh.
Anyway, they lost two-nothing
Mario: They lost two-nothing, yes.
all right.
And then just to finish off the weekend,
Boston and Bay, FC, drew two to two.
we have Chicago beating
Utah three to two, and
Angela: also crazy game
Mario: thumping Louisville four to nothing
Angela: wild that there was
only one draw this last weekend,
and it was a hell of a game.
Both teams played really well.
We watched that one.
but yeah,
Mario: so we are heading down to San
Diego, for the San Andreas Cup match.
It's gonna be at the Snappy.
Bring your sunscreen.
it's summer.
Even though it's a 5:00 match,
sun's still gonna be out, so
sunscreen, remember
Angela: come find me.
If you don't have some, I will
have the spray sunscreen, I will
have face sunscreen, I have stick.
I don't play.
People are like, "How do
you keep your skin so nice?"
Sunscreen and water, you freaks.
take care of your body.
I don't want skin cancer.
Oh.
Mario: and then on top of that, the
game is being played on 7/11 Day,
which means go get your free Slurpee.
Get a free Slurpee.
Just go on to any 7/11.
There's small little cups
that say Slurpee Day.
You can fill that thing up.
Back in my day, you can get the
whatever size you wanted, but
whatever
Angela: do you remember when it
was like anything but a cup where
you could bring in like a jug or a
Mario: I think they did that once
Angela: Yeah, and they
learned their lesson
Mario: then they learned their lesson
Angela: a bunch of freaks
Mario: you don't need a Home Depot tub of,
like a five-gallon paint tub of
Angela: Yeah.
Somebody was sitting there
"Worth it," with a crazy straw.
Like
Mario: I've done that, I've done
that before where, like late night
college nights where you were
just like at Denny's or something.
I just, instead of ordering like
a refill after refill, like the
waiter just brought me like the
Angela: A
Mario: of a Coke
and then started putting together straws
Angela: Yeah.
Mario: add the little ones areâ¦
Angela: Guilty as charged.
Mario: Fine ti- fun, fun times.
Fun times.
All right.
we're talking about San Diego.
What are we looking at?
What are we getting ourselves
into going down there?
Angela: shenanigans because San
Diego's at the top of the table right
now, and that's without Kat Macario
Who is still out with a
heel injury that we don'tâ¦
I don't know the prognosis of that
or when that's happening because, or
she's coming back or what the sitch is.
I haven't seen a lot of information on
it in general, but I also haven't looked.
So she's still out.
I don't know if it's
week to week, day to day.
Please, dear God, let it be not this
week for my own sanity, 'cause I swear
to you, if we get there and she's on the
starting roster, I'm gonna just, throw
myself into the, a pylon and, just bam.
but no, this team, man.
San Diego's coming off a big win
against Gotham because, yeah,
maybe Gotham is in first place.
It doesn't mean shit.
As long as Gotham makes the
playoffs, they're contenders.
So might Orlando now.
there's other teams, North
Carolina, the Spirit, that shit's
happening one way or another.
But Mel B has, Mel Barcena,
not, Mel B from the Spice Girls.
Mario: Now the Spice Girls Moby
Angela: no, this Mel B is mini baby goat,
Alex Morgan, or baby horse, excuse me.
She's also a baby goat, but
do you know baby horse lore?
Mario: Oh
Angela: Oh,
Mario: Is this a, pack passes?
Angela: yes.
Yeah, this is a PowerPoint, Baby Horse,
'cause there's memes, there's references,
there's tweets, there's everything.
Mario: Just yell to Eva right now.
Eva
Angela: Yeah.
Baby horse now.
but Melby is really stepping into her own.
She's really coming up as the
striker everybody, knows she
is, And, we knew she would be as
she, grew up, which sounds crazy.
I didn't realize this until
looking at more information on her.
Last season when she made her,
official debut of the season, she did
so alongside Trinity Armstrong and
Kimmie Ascanio as the first 17-year-old
trio to start a game together.
And I'm like, she's already
in her, third season.
What the hell?
Mario: The
Angela: So
Mario: Oh,
Angela: it just blows my mind
to have three 17-year-old
starters for a hot second.
And I was just like, that shouldâ¦
You need a work permit, but that'sâ¦
Sure.
this year though, she signed a one-year
deal to s- to stay in San Diego for
the season, which good for her because
the way she's playing right now, her
stock will go up, and she's gonna
get a fat contract from somebody next
season, whether it's San Diego or not.
I could see her wanting to,
explore and, really, spread her
wings because she's from here.
like it'sâ¦
She hasn't, had the big change of
scenery yet, like she went away
to college or something like that.
But she has three goals on the season
thus far, and the last one was one
against Gotham, where she did the
full Alex Morgan, sip your tea celly.
Yeah, which was fitting
given, was it 4th of July?
No, f- it's like the last weekend,
it's the anniversary of the
99ers, the 15ers, and the 19ers.
which I think is also funny given the epic
fail of the men's team in the midst of it.
even Monica McNutt, who calls
WNBA games, said on a WNBA game,
they didn't show up like the men's
national team didn't show up.
this is going down in history as,
the worst game ever played in soccer.
So sorry, fellas.
But Melbye is dangerous.
Melbye is a threat.
The way San Diego is playing right now
is so cohesive and so team motivated.
It's like the ego death of playing
on a team where everybody buys in
is happening for them, and that's
great, until you have to play them.
Especially 'cause they have other
players like Kenza Dali, asâ¦
who's a defensive mid, but also has scored
goals, is a French national team player.
She's very good.
Last season, she was nominated for
Midfielder of the Year, ended up makingâ¦
She, Manaka Matsukubo ended up winning
the award, but then Kenza was named
to second 11 or best 11 of the league.
Like she's just solid and she's
cool, which like her rizz, as
the kids say, is like top tier.
listen, I've gotten six hours of
sleep in the last couple days.
I'm on one.
But San Diego is playing very cohesive
soccer, and they're really fun to watch
'cause they're also really aggressive.
But I don't want them to have
a good game this weekend.
I wanna be there and enjoy it for
me and my heart at Snapdragon.
It's my first time at Snappy.
I'm excited to go with people
I know and also see people
I know, like all the things.
But yeah, Kenza Dali is a badass.
She was in the press
conference earlier this season.
Ear- this season or last season?
Last season, 'cause I was
too scared to ask a question.
I remember now.
She was there with Delphine Cascarino
and, answering questions, and
they were wonderful to the press,
and they are very fun to talk to.
but Kenza Dali for sure is a
threat to, your life out there.
So we need to mark her.
If you make her life hard, you make
everybody else on their team's life
hard, so should be very interesting.
But for Angel City, we need toâ¦
The same way we showed up on, on Friday,
that is how we need to show up th-
this weekend and basically from here
on out because all that's gonna happen
is the table's gonna get tighter.
Kelly O'Hara said, "I just wish we didn't
know until decision day for any spot.
I want everything up in the air."
And I'm like, okay, but, not
everything, but most things
Mario: we're kinda getting that.
We're like, it's only a few weeks before
decision day that everything evens out.
Angela: Yeah.
So
Mario: we're really
Angela: ideally there's gonna be
some jumping around, but we'll see
Mario: There's gonna be lots of
jumping around during the, at the
end of this season just because
of the way it's just gonnaâ¦
And it's just because th- the matches
are gonna be uneven to the point where
there's gonna be lots and
lots of six-point games
Angela: Absolutely.
And we will have many of them, so fingers
Mario: Two games in hand
Angela: it's gonna be our
battle cry until September.
but I do wanna spotlight
one player on Angel City.
I know I haven't for a long time, but
I am so impressed by Carina Lageyre.
She's come in as a rookie
signing out of Duke.
No one really knew who she was.
We're like, "Who is this girl?"
And then she was, they were rehabbing
her, continuous rehab from her la-
her senior season and getting her
healthy before she made her debut.
She did not play against San Diego.
Her first match was the game
when we were in Portland,
Mario: Oh.
Oh yeah,
Angela: they haven't, matched up
against her, and she's got a little
dog in her, and she's really fun to
watch, and it makes me very happy
that she is wearing what was M.A.'s
number because of that same little,
chip-on-your-shoulder grittiness that M.A.
has.
but she has really pushed her way into
the starting lineup, and I don't think
anybody was really ready for it fan-wise.
It was like, "Who is this girl?
Okay, she can stay."
It was like, "Oh, okay, never mind.
She's one of our own."
she played at Duke from 2022 to
2026, and she missed overlapping with
Lily Nabet by, a year and a half.
but theyâ¦
She was part of the team that went to
the College Cup in both 2024 and '25.
Over her career as a midfielder,
she scored six goals for Duke, and
three of them were game-winners.
So sheâ¦
And she's proven this with Angel City.
She's not afraid to push until
the final whistle and just be
like, "Okay, we need a goal.
We need a goal.
Let's go."
And it's very exciting.
She was in the U20 World Cup
in 2022 as well, so she's been
in and out of US Soccer system.
I think right now she's at that weird
age of, do you get called in again, or
do you have to wait, or what's the deal?
I think we're getting into anotherâ¦
This is a side note of the national team,
but I think we're getting into another,
weird lost generation of players 'cause
the team is settling in for World Cup,
and there's all this blob of people that
are weird ages, older and younger, that
are like, "I guess I'm not on the team."
or, "There goes my shot," which is a
wild thing to say 'cause they're so good.
But the matchup between Angel City and San
Diego is It is such a good rivalry because
it, there's not so much the animosity
that can come from rivalries the way there
is with other teams, but there is this
evenly matched weirdness where you don't
know who has the power to pull this game
off I knew we had been evenly matched.
We've talked about it
since forever, basically.
But it has worked out that against San
Diego, we have won four times, lost
four times, and we have six draws.
So it's just even.
That's it.
It's just across the board,
right in the middle, and that's
including all the million Challenge
Cup games and all the things.
So across our four or our five
seasons, both of us as teams, four
wins, f- six draws, and four losses
is a wild matchup line, in my opinion
Mario: Yeah.
that gives theâ¦
Yeah, I, like you said, it's
pretty even across the board.
It's been, they've been,
there, there have been exciting
matches when it comes to this.
and yeah, it isn't very,
it isn't very animosity
driven, but it's been very,
Angela: yet.
I'm sure it'll come.
But it was also interesting too 'cause
when I was looking up the scorelines,
there have only been two matches
that were won by more than one goal
And it was a 2-0 scoreline where San
Diego won and that 4-2 game where
every goal was scored where San Diego
ended up pulling that one out or we
got two back or something like that.
So it's been 2-1, 1-0, 2-- 3-2, like 1-1.
Yeah, just very low scoring.
So I'm very curious what will happen.
Very curious.
It'll be fun.
It'll be hot, but I'll survive
Mario: I hope you got
tickets in the shade,
Angela: Mostly I hit up some friends
that were like, that go down every year,
and I was like, "What is the section
that gets the most shade the fastest?"
And they were like, "Oh, this one."
So if you need to know, hit me up.
But aside from that, I hope to
see you guys down in San Diego.
hit us up on, on Instagram if
you're gonna be at the game as
San Diego supporter, Angel City
supporter, I don't care, come say hi.
I have, four stickers left, so I will
likely not be giving them out 'cause
given the fiasco that was Friday,
I did not get to get replenished
from my sticker dealer, Mario.
So I will bring the various stickers I
have and just confetti them up as I can.
But come say hi.
even I will be there obviously
wearing Angel City stuff.
So
Mario: It'd be
amazing if you just go up to the
second level and just go, "Stickers!"
Angela: Imagine just wild.
All right, everybody.
If you got this far, please do us a
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if you don't know where to
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Um, please, please, please
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It's been really fun during the Men's
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I'll just, check in and
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Just everybody's just "Oh my God!"
There's rarely full sentences.
Right now I'm just in there dropping
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But, the Discord is a wonderful place.
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and, you're only allowed in if
you're super cool and not a jerk.
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and not a
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Click on the things.
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We don't-- We haven't been working
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If you want to support the pod in a
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Mario: Internet going?
Angela: Yeah, that
Mario: the video
Angela: Keeping this platform funded.
There we go.
I'm like, "There's a word."
anyway, it just helps things keep
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Last but not least, we're chain-mailing
this until the sun goes down,
and apparently it's not gonna
do that because it's summertime.
So tell your friends about the pod.
It brings so much good luck.
I will pack it up on Friday when we
are taking the train down to San Diego.
I will deliver it to the team
hotel and be like, "Here you go.
Please go have fun."
it brings good luck to the team.
Tell your friends about the pod, come hang
out with us, and let's have a good time.
See you in San Diego, guys
Mario: Bye everyone