OK, welcome to Into the Channel podcast primarily about women's football.

I'm your host Dino de Suspitis and as always, I'm joined by my Co host Mr.

Grant Angle.

What's up, man?

I'm feeling fantastic buddy.

See any good football games this weekend?

Saw a couple.

Saw a couple, saw a couple.

Yeah, I saw some during the week last week.

It's been a lot of a lot of good football games happening here recently, but the two this weekend cannot wait to chop these up.

Yes, a couple of heaters in the NWSL semi finals.

Yeah man, they they absolutely delivered.

Ready to get into it with you?

Well, if you, if you followed my predictions from last week, you went over 2 apologies on that.

So I got both of them wrong.

It's not going to.

So anywhere we start, we'll start where after one of my my incorrect predictions, I'm going to kick it right back to you ticky Tacka style, Mr.

Grant angle.

Where are we going to get started?

Let's get started with a beverage.

Let's go to celebrate championship beverage.

Exactly.

If I can, if I can work this beverage.

What's going on here?

See, I'm not.

I got a round into championship form here.

It's all right.

Cheers to you.

Cheers to football.

Cheers to the Washington Spirit and Gotham FC.

As the league has told us, 2 bitter rivals, 2 fierce rivals as they were trying to make that a thing during champion, during rivalry week when it was Gotham and Washington were rivals, Orlando Pride and Racing Louisville were rivals because they both were purple.

It's very blood rivals.

Purple versus lavender.

The stinks don't get any higher than that, but for the purposes of this show, let us start with Saturday's match.

Washington Spirit to Portland Thorns Football Club No.

Lot of places we can start with this one.

I want to start in the midfield because obviously we talked a ton this year about Portland Thorns midfield, our Midfielder of the year, our M4A, Olivia Moultrie, you know, very much leading spearheading that midfield in this one.

That Portland midfield got way out midfielded by that Washington midfield, you know, Kroy, Hal Hirschfeld, Lacey Santos and what I love too.

Everybody was getting involved, whether it was like players on the wings, Kowasi Cantore or Rebecca Bernal would run up and back and like it.

Just the middle of the park was such a chaotic, frenetic place where Portland just could not get comfortable.

And it was a little, a little jarring to see, to see, to see them kind of get knocked on their heels in that part of the park.

I mean, it makes me wonder, you know, if they're just a really tough match up.

You know, like, I've, I've mentioned it a bunch of times like that August, I think I want to say it was like August 3rd, whatever the first match was out of the international break, it felt like there was a lot of that in that match.

Now, the Thorns were able to generate better chances in that match than they were this weekend.

And I don't even think the crazy part about it was, yeah, like Moultrie wasn't wasn't super effective.

Obviously really the Spirit were able to limit her, but I don't think they played terrible either.

Like, Coffee wasn't bad like she was.

She still did like some of her disruptive defensive stuff.

You know, Moultrie was able to to move around a little bit, but definitely wasn't a match to write home about.

Jesse Fleming had some moments where, you know, she was getting into some dangerous areas, but then there were those others, you know, those other like several minutes of time that you and I have talked about where it's like, Oh yeah, Fleming's on the field.

And so I just if you just get enough of that across the match and you know, the combination of spirits attackers and spirits midfield and and rose quasi just running at Portland's defenders, I would say the midfield got out midfield it for Portland, but I think Portland's defenders had a pretty rough go of it too.

I mean, going to get I mean, let's talk about Rose Quasi, because now she's been mentioned six or seven times already to this point and was just a player that was on a different planet in this match up.

I mean, you know, her chemistry with gift Monday is quickly, I don't know it.

It's sort of like nudging into LeBron wade territory.

I I put Montana rice in my notes.

I mean, I think they just are on a wavelength where, you know, we saw Kowasi last week, I'm sorry, last season, you know, have a ton of energy, get involved in the match in a in a bunch of different ways.

And I don't want to say not really find the right outlet, but for whatever reason, gift Monday is just the perfect counterweight to her.

You know, she can run with Kowasi.

They just have a really sharp eye for the angles.

Like they just know how to like cut in or around or behind the defense or through a defense.

And it just seems like the defenders are always like, I don't know, head spinning a little bit.

And the goal in this one was was awesome.

And I think we just kind of joked about it last week and leading up to to to the semifinal.

The chemistry that they've been developing has been is really something special.

Just so so just to see that goal happen.

I mean, you know, quasi an unbelievable play.

I mean, I I wrote in my notes for for for yet another sports analogy.

I'm like shades of Bo Jackson on that one.

I'm really having trouble putting that moment into words.

I mean, Hirschfeld a nothing clearance on a corner that comes in and that nothing clearance because Rose Grossi, Rose Grossi going 850 yards roughly up the right hand side and and basically separating themselves from Portland in this match, this the single.

Touch to like really get the breakaway going of like, oh, I got to keep it in play and I just got to knock it forward and then it's a foot race.

And Gee, I wonder who's going to win that foot race.

Yeah, I mean, she's she's absolutely incredible.

The move to you know, right wing back is a is a stroke of genius by Gonzales.

I think there were a lot of a lot of matches last year where you would have Monday and Kawasi as your, you know, right and left wingers when when Trinity Rodman was battling injury, obviously, or maybe Monday was played in the middle more.

Again, off the top of my head from last year, not that important, but Kawasi clearly taking a big step in the right direction.

Off the top of your head and sorry to make you take a quiz here or ask you to take a quiz here.

How old do you?

How old do you think Rose Quasi is?

I mean, she plays like a 2526 year old player.

This is a good one because I don't know.

I don't know the answer.

23 Let's go.

So you're not, So you're not far off, but she still really kind of has a bit of a walk to get into her absolute prime.

And she's already looking this good, having switched positions, kind of moving around on the field.

You know, they're, they basically just found a new spot for her and to your point, found a new spot for her where she's excelling in her chemistry with another excellent player.

Yeah, I mean, there's pretty much nothing she can't pursue, you know, which is great.

Like she could run after everything she could.

And, you know, she loves to kind of like try those, you know, they're not really risky balls, but they're, they're a little bit audacious, you know, of passes.

And she just like, I'm going to, I'm going to slam that one through this little lane here and see what we can get.

But she's just playing really, really great as a distributor.

The, the, the move to wingback that you called out is just, it's so it's such a great call because one of the things that we were talking about the last few weeks is like so many players, we rattle off 8 or 9 players like right, well, you can only fit 5 or 6, you know, in, in those attacking spots.

What do you do exactly?

And credit to Gonzalez, I think he figured it out, you know, with flying colours.

Wanted to give Monday another shout out as well on on that goal.

It's funny because Monday recognizes that Quasi is on, right?

She's got a break.

She's like, OK, there's something here GIF Monday hits it and she's just flying up the field, catches up to Quasi and I'm like, look, I mean Monday's got some wheels and then she hits 5th gear.

Then then there's another gear.

You know, once when she realized that the ball is coming across, I'm like, Oh my God, just ran so fast that like almost outran the ball and then the the ball ends up being a little bit behind her because she like kind of outruns it.

Even though when it was played, it was played perfectly.

Just a, a, a, a tremendous, A tremendous display of like athleticism and just opportunism at the right moment.

And then and then at that moment, kind of felt like it was going to be an uphill batter for Portland getting back into it.

Yeah, surely.

I mean, you know, they're having a hard time, you know, kind of generating any really good chances, any chances that I felt like we're we're going to really, really test Aubrey Kingsbury.

I'm glad you use the term like opportunism and that that general idea of gift money being opportunistic in that moment.

Criticy of our pals at Fat Mob.

She had the fewest touches 31 of any outfield player who played 90 minutes with 31 touches.

And let me tell you, one of those touches, to your point, was the decisive 1.

So she didn't need that many, you know, I, I just think this team is, is really, they look like they're cresting at the, at the exact right moment.

And I understand like in sports, you, you have a cup or you have a playoffs type situation and the teams that make the final, it's, it's usually easy to say, Oh, well, they're peaking at the right time because they just won a couple games to get to the final.

But their form just looks different right now.

It's it's been ascending, you know, there's always, you have the peaks and valleys or whatever.

But I think they're doing the thing that you and I talked about months ago where they're really kind of getting it together at the exact right time.

I had the same thought.

I'm glad you brought this up.

And I don't think it's confirmation bias because 4 NWSL teams played ball this weekend and only one of them feels like they're peaking at the right time from what we saw.

And that's the spirit.

And what makes it even more valid is we spend a lot of time this season talking about all right, well, the spirit, what's wrong with them?

Like, why why don't they look awesome?

Why aren't they awesome?

You know, like, why are they losing this weird Rd.

match?

Or, you know, why are they struggling against, you know, whoever Utah or Chicago or whatever, and then you watch them in this match, they look unbelievable, like they look fast.

They look instinctive.

When they wanted the ball back, they got the ball back It it just looks completely night and day.

And you know, I'll I'll give Gonzalez another shout too, because obviously Cantore's looked, you know, really good since coming over.

She hits the post in this one like a perfectly, you know, a perfect setup up top.

If Gonzalez wants to move Rodman in and Cantore out, it's pretty much like that's the only move that you can get away with that move and leave everything else untouched because they can.

Like, I think he kind of figured out where the pieces go.

And this spirit side simply has not looked.

I don't know.

For me, I didn't I haven't watched every.

I watched most spirit minutes, I'll say this season, but I haven't watched, but I haven't seen them get anywhere near this level of, you know, defensive intensity, win the ball back.

The passes were crisp.

They were thoughtful.

You know, they, you know, like the way the, the, the, the way the players were moving.

I, I jotted down Rebecca Bernal specifically because you see her movement where she gets involved, how quickly she can wheel back to her spot on the back line and how the rotations fill the space behind her that allow Bernal to move up or Tara McKeon to go up field.

Did you hear?

Did you know Tara McKeon was a striker at some point?

I don't know if you heard that, but.

I've never heard it.

Yeah, but I mean, shout out to that Washington back line, Wiesner, Esme Mori on the other side, because the rotation just made it so that it didn't matter.

Anybody can go anywhere.

And everybody else just filled, you know, like the the like, whatever gap was there for a second just completely shut.

And it was just beautiful to watch.

The movement was awesome.

100% I'm glad you bring up Rebecca Bernal When Washington Spirit played at Lumen Field in lovely Seattle, WA against Seattle Rain Football Club when I was talking to Laura Harvey post match, it was a Washington Spirit victory if I recall correctly.

And I thought Rebecca Bernal was looked like the best player on the field.

And before I got the opportunity to ask a question to Laura Harvey, she was asking and she was answering another question and said Bernal was the best player on the field in the first half.

And I was like, OK, but I my eyes were not deceiving me.

Again, courtesy of our pals over at Fat Mob.

She completed 97% of her passes in this match, 32 for 33.

She's a, she's a genius.

And then you, you, you put her on the back line with, with Mickey Own and Esme Morgan, you know, it's a combination of toughness, smarts and skill that just makes them super hard to beat.

Oh, and if if you get past them, all you got to do is beat Aubrey Kingsbury, the 2021 NWSL Championship MVP.

Another word that I would use to describe those three defenders, Bernal McKeon and Esme Morgan, just there's straight up electricity running through all three of those players.

Like all three of them just look like they're I mean like just supercharged.

I mean it it great to watch super athletic super athletes and the connectivity is awesome.

Last week.

No, on this one, Cory Bethune, who I thought, you know, didn't have a great game, you know, against Louisville.

And then I I also caught myself thinking about that Emma Sears strike against Louisville, like how close, I mean, Washington might end up lifting the trophy and they might have also ended up being 6 inches away from being eliminated after, you know, one playoff match up.

I mean, who knows?

It's the sport's just unbelievable.

But Corey Bethune, who I thought kind of took a back seat in the Louisville match, the complete opposite in this one, leads the match in shots, leads the match in chances created, you know, gets that big take away.

And it was just kind of like a, you know, I mean, I always like bring basketball parlance to it, but it it's a kind of like when when there's a steal happens and you very quickly turn around and just throw it out of the loop, you know, because somebody's like streaking to the rim, you know, and it's like an immediate like go up and get it kind of play.

That was like a real go up and get it kind of moment from Corey Bethune after last week.

I thought I thought was great.

And you could see her super active from early.

She took a shot, got close, you know, gestures to the crowd is like we she was just very, very, very locked into this one and was like kind of like the fuel for, you know, that midfield takeover that I was talking about at the very top.

Yeah, and that's that's terrifying.

That should be terrifying for opponents because just because of her intelligence and then her ability to place passes in front of her running mates that are just perfectly weighted, that are extremely clever, and then she can do, you know, she can score too.

You got a feel for Sam Hiatt in that moment?

It's a horrendous giveaway.

And the the sub I think, was already planned.

So if you're Sam Hiatt, you have the terrible giveaway.

Bethune makes the right touch to get around Arnold and basically secure the match.

Then you get subbed off and your season is over.

So super, super bummer for Sam Hiatt.

You hate to see that happen to any athlete.

Obviously she's a good player though.

She'll she'll be back.

But the Washington Spirit marches on, and they March on to the NWSL Championship.

I can't believe it.

I got to go back and listen to see who I picked to to show up in the final.

Not sure if it was Washington, but I had Orlando win the whole thing and had Washington winning the shield.

But let's talk about that of the match up.

A big surprise.

I I would say in terms of the final score line.

I mean, I, I don't know that Orlando was much better than Gotham today, but I think they were better.

You know, you look at the XG differential 1.15 to 0.17, so roughly a one XG, you know, separates the two, one real G separates the two only it's not in the same direction.

So a little bit unfortunate if you're Orlando from that standpoint.

Orlando, you know, outshoots, you know, Gotham in this one.

Gotham slight edge in possession, little bit crisper with their passing.

Just a pretty cagey match.

I mean, I think like, you know, Gotham got off to a really good start.

I think Orlando wrestled the way control for most of the rest of the first half.

Gotham gets cooking again in the second-half.

You know, as it starts to take down, they start to crank up the pressure a little bit.

I thought Mandy Freeman coming into the game provided Gotham with like a really nice jolt.

But what what was your read on the, you know, pre goal?

Obviously, you know, this one gets decided super late, but prior to that the match proper.

What was your read on on these two teams battling it out?

I liked, I like the physicality from both teams.

They were, they both clearly kind of have that in their DNA of like, OK, we're you're going to feel us while we're out there.

We're going to make things difficult on you.

I was really surprised.

And I thought our friend of the show, Leanne Sanderson was also rightfully like wondering, you know, it's not like we're always out here calling for yellow cards or whatever.

But that Raffaele fowl on on Katrin Burger, like around the 20 minute mark, cross comes in, Burger catches it and Raffaele fowls her, like clearly fowls her.

And usually that's a yellow card when you do that on the keeper doesn't get called.

Ref keeps it in his pocket.

And, you know, I, I think, I think the ref did a good job of, of making sure and, and pardon me, I, I think I said the ref keeps it in his pocket.

Referee in this match was Alyssa Pennington, who I thought called a, a pretty good match down down the middle.

I, I like that she let him play a little bit.

These two teams are going to be physical with each other.

And you know, we, we talked about, I had to, I had to break out the Rudy Tom Johnovich quote last time.

Never underestimate the heart of a champion.

The Bats just wanted to make sure in this in this one, they kind of raised their hand and be like, hey buddy, remember 2023 we got some champions on this team as well.

Yeah, I mean, I think and it's not just 2023, you know, you look at some of those US and national team players, you look at some of those Brazilian players, you look at those some of those Spanish players.

I mean there's there's champions up and down.

I mean the the entire pitch was probably littered with players with like recent 12/18/24 months championship experience.

Jess Carter, European champion.

Unbelievable.

Yeah, I mean, on Kutchenberger, you could think about what she does in the EUR, like right there, you know, didn't win, didn't win any hardware, but like right at that level, tons of championship football.

This this one was I, I don't want to say a great match, but there was so many close calls, like watching Marta trying to work out that Gotham defense, trying to find angles.

You know, I, I felt really bad for Jackie Ovaia in this one who got close like, you know, painfully close a couple times.

And you know, nobody's going to feel worse about it than Ovaia because you can just see what kind of player she is and you can see where she was at and she fought all the way through the match.

You know, even I think she was one that drew that foul at the very end of the match.

It also be that almost be an equalizer but super hard fought, you know, match.

And and I just kind of had the feeling that it was going to come down to a singular special play.

And even though I thought coming into it, Orlando was primed to kind of have the advantage if it was going to be a special play very late kind of moment that was going to decide this one.

You've got Marta on one side and then you've got 234 really good options maybe for a finish like that on the Gotham side.

And that's kind of end up where we had.

That's where we ended up.

Yeah.

And I think, I mean, to your point, like if you needed a special moment from Orlando, like obviously the number one most likely option for that would be Marta.

But to your point, though, Ovaya is a spectacular player.

Like she could provide that.

Hayley Mccutchen, AKA Hayley Mcclutchen has done it in the in the playoffs before.

And you know, and we know Angelina's capable of those things like, so there are options on on both sides.

I think it when we did our prediction, I predicted extra time, Marta winning it in extra time, Orlando winning one NIL, obviously.

So this it's my it's my turn to say I got a prediction wrong.

But yeah, I mean, they're just there wasn't a lot between these two squads.

And I think we kind of knew that coming in.

I know we both picked Orlando.

You know, we thought it would help that they were at home.

But you know, they just like Rose Lavelle had her, had her moments in there, obviously didn't didn't lead to a goal.

But when it when it comes down to it, like you just have like these these singular moments like Jaden Shaw puts in a brilliant, a brilliant set piece free kick.

And Morehouse just she has to freeze because it looks like the ball's going to get tapped, you know, kind of going to Morehouse's right.

And she just has to she has to stay there.

And I think it was it I I think it was purse.

Purse doesn't get make contact with it.

Yeah, or.

It was.

Yeah, and, and, and the ball goes and the ball goes in like side net right around there.

So, you know, those are like the fine margins that we are going to deal with with these two sides.

And you know, I I mean, in our hearts did the right team win?

I don't, I don't think so.

I think we probably agree on that.

You pointed out some of the stats as well.

I feel terrible for our pals like Ad Astra and everything.

Everybody who, you know, is rooting for the pride over there, but they'll be back.

So, you know, though I hear they're going to get a player named Barbara Banda back next season.

So they'll have a lot more to say in 2026.

Yeah.

She's pretty good, I think.

So I had a terrible thought.

I mean, it depends, depends on what side of your what side you look at it from.

Because if you're looking at my performance today from a how was his, how, how are his objective journalism skills?

Maybe I score highly there, but as I was watching this one nil, nil down the stretch, it's like 70th minute, 75th minute.

And you know, I love Orlando.

I love the Orlando Pride and I was I was really, really looking forward to seeing some of the old gang this this week in San Jose.

But right around the 70th minute I looked at that Gotham roster.

I was like, damn it, I'd be interested to go talk to those players next week and see them in the final.

You know, a, a handful of US possession team players on one side, a handful on the other.

And then just see kind of like a, a star-studded, you know, kind of like final.

And then I was just shook it off.

I'm like, no, no, no, we, we got to we got to win this.

We got to, you know, defend our title.

But yeah, a very conflicting moment for your boy.

I I just want to, I'll shout our pal out again at Astra.

I never had those doubts.

I wanted to see Orlando Pride win the entire time, but you know, but the Gotham FC, they do have a lot of players.

They passed my test of looking at the roster and going.

They got a lot of they got a lot of good players.

So I'm I'm still excited for the final for a lot of our Internet pals who were like, you know, asking us, did you get your credential yet?

Hope telling us they hope we get our credential.

The NWSL came through.

Do you know de Cespedes and Grant Angle are going to be live and in person in lovely San Jose, CA for the NWSL Championship, which we interchange and call the final because it is a final, but it's also, but, you know, respect to the league.

It is called the NWSL Championship.

Yeah, well.

That's next weekend.

Let's let's let's keep talking about this weekend where the semi championships went down and got no, I want to talk about when you talk about those those star, that's the star-studded Gotham players.

One in particular that I want to zoom in on a little bit a little bit further.

Who plays in goal on Kocherberger?

Come on, who?

I mean, you talk about moments, talk about moments.

You know, you get the goal at 90 plus.

What is it 5 or 6 for Jaden Shaw?

I think 90 plus.

Five.

Yeah.

90 + 7.

Sorry, 90 + 7.

Jeez.

90 + 7 and then I think this one happens 90 + 9 maybe.

And you could just see, I think Ovaya draws the foul.

This one's way, way deeper than where Shaw was taking hers from.

But you can see Marta completely locked in.

I think she's yelling at Angelina at one point.

Then she's yelling at the refs and then the refs are yelling at Roosevelt and I think Lily reel to back up or I don't know.

It was it was a it was a really wild scene that you see Marta take a deep breath.

You know, shit.

And I'm and at that point I'm like, oh shit, this is going to be the greatest ball I think I've ever go into the area.

And fuck if it wasn't an amazing ball into the area that gets headed by O Yani.

And like all of the energy that Marta put on the ball just bounces right off O Yani and just continues on into the back corner, you know, of the net.

And, you know, we we always joke about, you know, you and I about having the eye.

Oh, I I could see.

I could see that that one was, you know, a little bit off.

I could see that that one was going in.

I thought that was going in.

I was like, I mean.

And then, yeah.

And then?

You know, just from the angle too, it's like, you know, it's like right halfway line, you're looking right at the ball.

And then you could just see burgers spring, you know, out to her right through the air and just, you know, dispense of it and it's over, you know, and then you see her kind of grab her knee and like, I'm just like, what the whole that might have been everything she had.

You know, like, you know, she's like, but this is what she does.

She just makes these championship saves in these massive, massive, massive moments.

And I don't want to get ahead of myself.

We'll talk about the final here in a couple minutes, but it's hard not to think about the final be like, damn, is somebody going to beat her in that final?

Like, can somebody beat her in that final?

Because I mean, she's, she's just on a different level right now.

I mean, it was it was a double yell moment.

I'm total, I'm 100% with you.

You know, Yanni plays the header.

I I like, I perk up and go oh, and then Burger makes the sale like Oh my God, like it's like it and it happens in such quick succession.

I mean, she's falling backwards.

She basically has to hit it up as she's diving like to get enough on the ball.

Like how many times do you see a keeper in that spot?

They get their MIT on it, but they're just all they're doing is the the momentum takes it and all they're doing is basically just popping it into the top of the goal and it still crosses the line.

So I mean, it's a it's, she still gets a strong enough hand on it to bat it away.

I mean, she's just unbelievable.

I mean, we, we remember the performances in the 2024 Olympics that we're talking about the hardware that she's been able to pull down when she's a bronze medalist in the, in the Olympics, you know, I mean, she's going to be gunning for that trophy.

And how many other times have we talked about it?

Sometimes you just get a keeper game and if you know if if the if the keeper looks unstoppable it for 90 plus minutes, then you could lose in these kind of single game scenarios.

And who's more likely to look unbeatable for 90 plus minutes?

The non Catron burger in this league I'm not sure.

Anybody, man.

And I think like just the the poetry of that moment where it's like on one end of the ball is Marta and on the end and you know, Marta's not the same.

You know, it's not the same.

It's not peak Marta, but in the playoffs, when it's just a single moment, I mean, there's no difference between Marta today and absolute peak Marta.

She could do any possible any any conceivable thing that could happen.

She's she's capable of doing and seeing those two players one-on-one end of the ball and then the other on the other.

And it's like you look at the clock and you're like, what the holy shit, this is actually happening.

I mean, what a moment.

And you know, Berger just shout out to her like gets it done.

I mean, I I I just loved that moment.

And on a day when Gotham manages five shots, one on target, obviously the one, you know, Jaden Shaw, one shot, one shot on target, one goal like.

And and they.

They they get out of there with a win, you know, like, because even if that one goes an extra 30, you have to favor Orlando in that extra period, right?

With the, you know, the rest disadvantage, you know, the extra, the extra time last week.

And like, you know, I mean, the longer it goes, I mean, the, the harder it's going to be for Gotham to kind of like, you know, pull one out.

And I think that that that was a precise moment where the last funny moment.

I'd like to kind of like, you know, break out the dumbbells every now and again when I'm watching a match just because I got a little extra energy.

So, you know, it's hard for me to sit down.

So, yeah, let me get a little workout in here.

And right around 90, right around the in the 90s, I'm like, all right, this thing's going extra time, you know, and not a lot of shots happening.

And when the foul gets called, you know, and I think, you know, Jen and Leanne were on it, they're like, oh, this is bad, this is a bad spot.

And I was like, you're right, this is a bad spot.

Like, you know, usually I'm like, right, well, but this one I was like way, way.

And I was like, oh, this is a real, you know, and it, it kind of ruined my work.

I had to work out through, through the post game.

Not, not as not as lit here.

Yeah, hard to hard to get.

Yeah, hard to get jacked up for the for during the post match.

You know, sometimes it's, you know, you got to kick on some, you know, I I don't know.

I'm not sure.

I'm not sure.

What kind of lifting music are you, are you a rap guy when you lift or is it are you turning on Deftones or what are you doing here?

I'm a rap guy.

Yeah, yeah.

Trap.

Understand.

Dirty trap shit, you know, just let's get grimy.

There we go.

I respect it.

I like, yeah, I I mean I I go, I go back and forth there.

There are a lot of good clip songs to lift to, but if you want to give me some like early 90s Soundgarden, like the really like super hard stuff, I can lift like 1.25 my Max if like somebody is just like screaming and raging on a guitar at the same time.

But we digress.

Speaking of raging.

Like a little little rage.

If we go back to the 90s, I mean, that's, that's a haunting, yes.

Yes, yeah, yeah, no doubt.

Put on Rage Against Machine, you might do 1.45 year Max.

Yeah, no doubt.

I'm not so into no doubt harder to.

Lift to very sunny Orange County.

Like punk ska music?

Yes, I will say I could jump up to it.

There you go, a little double Dutch who was out there double Dutching on the field.

Wahane looks great coming on at halftime.

I thought she changed.

I felt like she kind of changed the complexion for the better.

It's not like Orlando probably played terrible in the first half, but she she was.

She was good.

Corey Dyke was good.

She was totally.

But Oyane.

Those crosses, I mean, offensively she's she's a very gifted player offensively.

And I think when she came over, you know, physically I, I don't think she was kind of like, I don't know if she was in the shape or wasn't, you know, she wasn't in Orlando Pride or end to BSL shape probably wouldn't think about everybody talks about coming to end to BSL.

I was like, oh, like the strength conditioning was like a different level.

So she looked a little bit like that when she came over.

And now she looks physically like everybody else and her crosses are like really dangerous and much needed for this Orlando side.

She put a couple really, really nice ones in there and, you know, it's just tough like down the stretch, little, little under personneled.

But everybody's dealing with that this time of year.

Can't really take anything away from Gotham.

But Orlando, I still, I still feel, feel really, you know, prideful, no pun intended, about how they played down the stretch, too, just because, yeah, you know, they looked, you know, the last time they played Gotham, I think.

Flongus Lammer was in the YouTube comments talking about it was like, oh, well, you know, they they smacked them last time.

And it's like, well, I didn't get the chance to respond, but I'll respond here that this was a few days after the band injury and they were just an absolute mental emotional shell of themselves.

And like now this team looks completely different.

This team looked like a team to your point last week that could have raised the trophy, could have easily got past Gotham and this one just didn't break their way.

But I want to talk a little bit about the final, you know, so Washington, Gotham, not a lot to go on from, from priors from this season.

Some.

Similarities I think you know, like little top heavy talent wise, you know, got the Spanish coach, you know, got that Acella corridor, you know, action you sell it goes to DC right.

I think it does anyway.

Oh yeah, totally.

What are you?

What are you going to?

Be looking like what sticks out to you this fine.

Obviously we'll be in the building, so I get to ask you this, what's the first thing you're going to be looking for when these two teams lock up?

I think it's going to be more midfield play, my good man.

I mean, it's it's my peak fascination with Washington spirit.

And then they're going to be, you know, they're going to go against some of the physicality of of Jaylen Howe.

You know, Jaden Shaw is going to be you know, in there that obviously we know she's like an attacking style player.

Is it is it just is it going to be a track meet?

Like are you going to have Lavelle and Shaw just trying to run by, you know, spirits midfield?

Are is is you know, Lacey Santos?

Is she is she going to bring the physicality?

Will Hal Hirschfeld?

I think we could say probably more than likely, yes, they will.

They probably will feel like they'll they'll need to, you know, and, and it's what's going to be I think sometimes when you have a final or a championship match like this, you can ask yourself, OK, who are our players who are going to have some, some big question marks who have never kind of played in this spot?

Well, this Washington Spirit team now, obviously Cory Bethune was injured, so she did not appear in last year's final, But the rest of the, the majority of the rest of the team for Washington Spirit have played in a final and played in gigantic matches.

And then like you said about Gotham FC, you think, you think Emily Sonnet is going to be super nervous before the final?

I think she'll be the right amount of nervous because she's, she's lifted the World Cup before.

She's, she's won a gold medal.

They, you know, she's, she played in that 2023 final, just not for the bats.

She played for the losing team.

I can't remember who that was.

It's not important.

But the I, you know, I think what I'm, what I'm looking for here is I, I think the first half hour is going to be awesome.

I don't think it'll be super cagey.

I think it's going to be we're ready to go.

Like each side is going to kind of walk in there and be like, we're ready to go win this thing.

And then the other team's going to be looking at them saying, well, we're ready to go win this thing.

Yeah.

I love that and Gotham today, got off to a fast start, had some chances early.

It makes me think about Mitch Perce because it makes me think about the early part of the game, but then also like the last 15 minutes of the game where Gotham was a little bit more patient, I'd say, and a little bit more, you know, I think I think that probably like they they developed the proper level of respect for that.

Orlando defense was like, we're not going to zip, you know, zip, zip past his defense.

Like we're going to have to actually like craft and kind of break them down and they start to kind of really focus on that.

The the attacks got a little bit more intricate, a little longer, a little bit more strung out down the stretch.

It's going to be interesting to see if a player like Mitch Purse, you know, can breakthrough, you know, like Shaw and Lavelle are are so talented.

Astaire couldn't really get going today in this one.

But I mean, even on her worst day, it's going to attract so much attention that there's such a tremendous value in that.

The one thing I'm going to look at, though, is, is Gotham going to be able to get shots off today against Orlando?

A good defense, five shots attempted, Roosevelt with two, and you have three other players with a single shot.

You know, five shots is the number you'll see where where when a team is like really painfully overmatched.

You don't really usually see that in a 5050 kind of coin foot match.

So we're going to have to see if like Gotham can turn possession some of those passes that they're able to connect into like legit chances.

And I mean, that Washington background to be tricky.

Kingsbury's, you know, she could be aggressive.

It's not going to be easy.

But on the flip side, you know, that Gotham back line, you know, Jess Carter, Sonnet Kochenberger, we talked about it's not going to be easy that way either.

So it's it's almost like I'm going to be the first thing we'll be looking for is like who who's winning the tempo game?

Who's winning the field position battle?

Who's slowly like chipping away at like we're starting to like gain.

You know, we're trying to, we're starting to get deeper and deeper, penetrate further and further with this possession, with these attacks, because I think that's how the goal is going to come.

I think it's going to be a culmination of good, good offense.

I don't know that we're going to see somebody just give away a goal.

Yeah, I think that's fair.

I think that's certainly possible.

And then, you know, in in the range of outcomes, we also have what if Trinity Rodman produces a a singular moment of magic?

What if Astaire produces like that, that header that she hit in the, I think it was against Portugal in the in the EUR.

I can't remember if it was a header of it, but it was like some kind of like wild spinning touch to open up the scoring for Spain.

So yeah, I mean, we just get, we just get all kinds of possibilities here.

Can I, can I do some live producing if I may?

We are going to like we mentioned, we're going to be there.

We're going to record a.

Show on Friday and immediately publish it.

Obviously the final is going to be on Saturday.

Everybody should listen to that.

It'll be all the information you could possibly ever hope for.

We're going to be at media day, we're going to talk to some players, talk to the managers, you know, make sure that we're in giving you the most informed coverage on this here Internet for this NWSL Championship can.

How about we wait until we talk to the players, talk to the managers and make our predictions on that show so we have the full dossier of information?

See that that's some responsible not only journalism, that's what some responsible production from you.

So that's that's why I appreciate you excellent call.

We're going to do that.

We're going to put put a pin in the old prediction, you know, probably good for me.

Gives me a chance to kind of lick my wounds.

I'm I'm on, I'm on a icy cold, terribly frigid streak of predictions.

That's OK.

We've got, well, you know, like you, everybody knows that the the championship slash final counts for I'm going to go Chris Bourbon here counts for 30 picks.

There you go.

I like that.

That that makes sense.

Yeah.

I mean, what?

No, what?

I mean, it's the biggest match.

I mean, can we can we can we argue that and then you know, what am I gonna like?

I went one for 2 so I got one more prediction correct And what I think I said, I think I said spirit 2 thorns 1 and it was 2 Nils not not terrible, But yeah, I mean, you know, we're we're not here to we're here for the for the great takes, like the the predictions, you know, less important.

I think I cosign that.

All right, man.

Quick episode calendar.

As mentioned, the NW Cell Championship going on Saturday night.

Your boys will be in San Jose this week on the ground reporting live Champions League.

Turns out they're still playing that next week your boys are going to be doubly busy.

Another 9 matchups return for match day four.

Wednesday and Thursday.

We'll be back at some point to recap match day 4, so make sure you're subscribed.

Follow us on socials.

As mentioned, end of yourself final will be pretty much everywhere there.

There are things happening this week in San Jose, so there'll be a lot happening both on the channel and on our socials.

So as mentioned, make sure you're locked into those.

All right, man, massive week of football.

I think we've properly done it.

Is there anything else you want to hit before we get out of here?

No, I think that's it, man, I can't even remember the last time we saw each other in person.

So that's going to be cool.

Looking forward to that.

Obviously first time the ITC has covered a football match in the same building together.

Looking forward to that as well.

And then, you know, I mean, if you if you look at like star-studded rosters and obviously the the bitter long held rivalry between these two clubs, I think we've got ourselves in a plus NWSL championship on deck.

Very excited for it.

Yeah, like I said, it's going to be star-studded.

It's going to be awesome.

There's going to be moments.

I cannot wait.

Yeah, we'll be in the press box.

Should be a ton of fun.

And yeah, we're just a few days away now, so I'm excited there's been another episode of Into the channel.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for watching, listening, hanging out to our end of yourself semi championship weekend episode.

If you enjoyed the show or love them as well as much as your boys do, make sure you kick in with us each and every single week.

Like subscribe, follow or leave us a review.

YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcast where we like to watch or listen patreon.com/into the channel great way to support the show into the channel merch even greater way support the show.

Links to all the above much, much more in the description of this episode and a big thing in my coast as well.

Mr.

Grand Angle for now.

Now we did it for real, man.

We we made it to the final.

We literally made it to the championship.

We will be there in a few days and nobody I'd rather do it with than my guy.

You know, I appreciate you row.

Likewise, buddy, and we couldn't do it without all you watching dropping knowledge in the comments.

We we always appreciate that.

Let us know.

I mean, do people have food recommendations for San Jose?

I know like I know it's not far from from your neck of the woods.

I know you're going to have the wrecks.

Maybe somebody might have like a secret spot they could put us on game four.

Like, if people are going to be around, you know, let us know what's you know, who's hanging out, what's happening.

You know, I'm not the most like, social guy out there.

So I don't know if I'll be there.

But if you want to tell us, if you want to invite us somewhere, like, you know, we'll see what's going on.

We'll see what the schedule looks like.

I don't know.

But really the important part is the football.

I'm looking forward to it and I'm looking forward to talking about it with all of you.

And we will see you all next time.