Bridget
0:00
Welcome back to another episode of Queen's Pitch podcast. I'm
Kara
0:03
Bridget. And I'm kara. Well, it's Wednesday again and we played another game. This time it's an Open Cup match, and apparently it's our last Open Cup match of 2023 as we face Birmingham Legion and went down one to zero. Bridget, any thoughts? Probably
Bridget
0:21
not any that are appropriate for this podcast since we have kids zillow listen in families. So I'm going to probably just keep it very nice and simple and say, I don't think our guys played to their fullest potential. And you know how I am about that. If you're not going to go play 100%, then I don't want to see you out there. Diddily daddling around? I think Lee sent me a text at one point that said, Backpass FC. I do not like that. And then I also heard somebody call us yellow Card FC. So right there is exactly how I feel about the game.
Kara
0:54
Yeah, I think it's been a tough stretch for our guys. We've had injuries, we've had a lot of Fame guys play a lot of minutes because of that. And it was always going to be tough. This stretch was going to be ringing us out to dry. And I think you saw some of that in some of our missed touches and just sloppiness because I feel like there was a lot of sloppy passing at times and just not getting it the right direction. And so we just weren't clicking. I think that's just out of sheer exhaustion, but you can tell that that hurt us. I mean, I think Birmingham Legion had the easier schedule than we
Bridget
1:30
did. I think. I was listening. They've been on a losing schedule or losing streak or something. Anyway, so like they were saying, it's like the law of averages. They're not as bad as what their streak was looking like, so they were going to get a win eventually. And our guys coming off of playing legit every other day, it seems like the injuries and them coming back and trying to 1s it was just like a tsunami that came in at the same time, you know what I mean? With a hurricane? I think hurricanes and tsunamis are the same thing, but you know what I'm saying? Like, all came together in a perfect storm firm and it didn't work out in our favor, unfortunately.
Kara
2:08
Yeah, and it's interesting to contrast this with last year's schedule for the Open Cup games because they got to spread out some more when we played our round of what was it, 32? It was in mid June. 2s And here we are still at the end of May, just playing our round of 16. And at the beginning of June, it's going to be, what is it? The semifinal quarter final. There we go. Right? And then there's a giant two month break because of some MLS games and then the League Cup. So I feel like this year, this stretch of games is just brutal. I mean, I feel like when MLS plan all of these games and all these cups, they don't really plan how it is. Just not enough men and 1s it just feels unhealthy. Personally, I know they're supposed to do that in other places, but
Bridget
3:02
I don't think MLS really cares for the US Cup as much as Open Cup as we want them to, you know what I mean? I don't know, I think I heard one of those officials say something negative, but whatever. It's just a lot of games, especially with like the MLS playing on Wednesday and Sunday. So you're playing Saturday and then Wednesday, and then you throw in another Saturday and then here you go. Our guys are about to be on the road for a while, so that on top of the injuries, we can just come up with lots of excuses, to be honest. But in the end, our guys didn't win it. And I'm sad that we did not win because I always want to win, but in another way, we want to look at the positive. At least this gives our guys a little bit more of a break, you know what I'm saying? Coming up in June instead of them playing all the time. So if we can look at it that way, we can get some of our guys healed up, hopefully give our guys some times a rest. I mean, obviously we want to win, but I think 1s we can look at the positives out of the negatives.
Kara
3:59
Does that mean you want to start with the positives of tonight?
Bridget
4:02
Yeah, we can do that. Do you want me to start off with my favorite? Sure. Well, I'm going to go with my yawn. Joe Basinski. Actually. Yawnski. They say soba Chinsky. So I guess I should say it that way. Anyway, I just wish he had had his higher socks. Like I said, I don't like his 80 socks. But he did have his shoes tied tonight. Didn't have to do any of that. He's become a force to reckon with. And I think somebody on the Twitter verse had made a comment that they thought cleaning was the one that had solidified that back line. But if you really think about it, ever since John came back, moved up from the legacy and has been on that back line, he's been a steady force. He's always fighting for the ball, he's doing what he had. I think at one point he got the wind knocked out of him tonight and then he turned around and he had a kick, a free kick. So we hold him to a higher guard. I think what Tanzio does, too, at this point, because he's playing him over and over other guys, and so he's given him that time to get better, but he's also trusting him. And I just think that he's holding it down the best that he can. Obviously, he can't do the whole back, but he's doing what he can. And I think without him, we would have really struggled even worse tonight. So I'm going to give him my I think he had a pretty good game. That doesn't mean, like I don't think anybody made mistakes. Obviously we lost, so something went wrong, but. 1s I feel like I really liked some of his distribution was better tonight, which I really wanted to see out of him. So he had some much better crosses and passing. Not that again. Still some wayward passes that went places. But I also thought that he had some really excellent challenges coming up. I feel like it made me remember what Carujo did last year and feel like he would really see the pass coming and he would move to intercept. It much higher than we typically expect of our center backs. The way they
Kara
5:55
play Melanda, Tuiloma and even walks didn't really play much like that. I feel like Carujo and Sobachinski really play those. They cheat up further and more explosive. Right.
Bridget
6:10
They go higher and they're not afraid to attack, you know what I mean? And it's good that they can attack, which we appreciate, but the fact that they can attack and not get burnt. So I like that about him. He's just not scared to get in there and be aggressive. I like aggressive players. Absolutely.
Kara
6:28
I just think he had a good game tonight.
Bridget
6:30
He did. So who's your favor?
Kara
6:32
I was really happy to see Kirwin Vargas back in the lineup tonight. I really liked some of his moves and things. I don't think someone was on the end of them all the time like they should have been, but I feel like he really made an effort and was playing smart, and that one shot that he took felt really kind of close, and you didn't really know whether he was going to. 1s Send it to a runner in the box or was actually going to shoot it because, you know, he can do both. But I'm glad to have him back. I would have liked, I think, to see overall some more creativity just out of the whole front line. But I don't think that's on Kerwin's fault, and I just think he really made an effort on defense and he created some chances. He also won all of his ground duel s and winning. Those first and second balls are really important to keeping control of the game. Yeah, I like
Bridget
7:30
to call him Vargy. You know how I have nicknames for everybody, so I'm like, Go Vargy. Go Vargy. I think he did better tonight than he had done. I think the last game I saw him in. But he was controlling. Like you said, he controlled the ball a little bit better. It seemed like he was feeling better about his ankle. He was healthier. He was attacking more. I just wish he would shoot a little bit more than what he does. He's great at his crosses and passes, but I like to see him be a little bit more aggressive in shooting. I know that's not his number one thing, but he's really good at it, and I think. With the more time. And if he can stay healthy, then he's gonna be a really great outside outside winger for
Kara
8:08
us. Yeah. So do you have another favor? Yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and favor Carol again. I like to favor Carol a lot, but Carol's out there playing. He played with a bunch of young guys, it seems like a bunch of unexperienced guys out there, and he still does it. You know what I mean? If I was him, I'd give up. But he doesn't. And he plays with he plays he's very aggressive. I don't think he made a lot of crosses and passes and everything he needed to. He didn't shoot either, but I think he's always in the middle of the game. Was he the captain? Yes.
Bridget
8:38
Okay. He was the captain. He seemed to be very into it. 1s I don't know. I don't think anybody played 100% tonight, which is unfortunate for me, but I think it's just because they're all tired. He played 90 minutes Saturday. Right. And then he played again tonight, and then he's going to play again Saturday. Right. Because we're hoping that Carol starts again on Saturday.
Kara
8:56
Yes. Well, he had no choice tonight. We needed a number nine up front because Enzo was out with his hamstring. Kind of expected him to do a little better, but that's why he went out at Nashville, and so he hadn't quite recovered enough where he even made the trip. And so that means we needed a separate number nine. And who else are you going to put up there but Carol? But he gave it all. I mean, he did go the full 90 and tried, but I think yeah, he's just run down and worn. I thought he had some nice chances, and I think had he been more rested, he would have more of that energy to be more explosive.
Bridget
9:32
He wasn't trying to pull all the fouls. He wasn't on the ground a lot. We didn't really have a lot of people on the ground tonight. I don't know if that's just us or what. The refin wasn't that bad either. I just think that he sometimes has to get frustrated that he doesn't have those other elements to help him. You know what I mean? I'm sure he understands it, but I don't know. If I was him and I knew I had this talent and I just didn't have everything coming at me, then I might get a little frustrated. But he still goes out there and gives it 110%, and I like that. I
Kara
10:04
think he would have done better had people been able to get him the but for whatever reason, sometimes our midfield wasn't as creative, as solid, as normal. So my other favor this was a hard one, my second favor is going to go to Derek Jones for holding down that midfield and just being a solid person day in and day out. He. 1s Had one of the highest accurate passing rates. Of course, a lot of it was back passing, but again, he's right there to make sure that defense plays solid. He's there to win duels, protect the ball. He's there to shore up that defense, especially when we have Lindsay coming up in the midfield and cheating upward. We had Melonda out the challenge, so he couldn't be as tough, but Jones is there trying to be the glue, trying to hold things together, and I just really appreciate having someone so solid.
Bridget
11:00
He's very stable, I like it. And he didn't get a card tonight, so that's good. He's very good at being able to do midfield and then going back to the back line when they need him. He's very versatile, and I like that. I like that. If Sladdy tells him to do something, he does it supposed to be midfield, he does midfield, he's go back to that line, he goes back to the line. You can trust him that he's going to do whatever is necessary, and I like that.
Kara
11:25
So I have two players who I think deserve at least a half favor for their effort. I feel like one goes to Brandon Cambridge. For coming in, trying to play 60 Minutes, trying to make something happen, and that's kind of what we wanted out of him. And he finally gets the start today. And I felt that you couldn't have asked much more of the guy, especially when he was getting muscled off by who is it? Passer was a lot of doing, a lot of muscling him off. And he was a broad guy. He was doing it to other people, too. So obviously talented there. But Cambridge made a decent start. It was pretty tough for him, being so young and so I liked what I saw out of him. I also think the other one goes to the debut player. Adimang got to come in for the this time, and right when he came out and got on the pitch, he made something happen. We were all extremely surprised at his attempt on goal and it almost succeeded.
Bridget
12:25
He changed the momentum, like you said. He came out there and he shot that ball and it was nice. And if it would have went in, everything would have changed, every single thing.
Kara
12:34
I also really enjoyed his hummingbird hover.
Bridget
12:38
He can fly. Did you know that? He can
Kara
12:39
fly. He can. Peter Pan 2s he's just like, hovering in the air. It was great. Patty
Bridget
12:46
Pan having him on a corner kick is going to be nice.
Kara
12:49
Yeah. So I can't wait to see what we see more out of him and more time he might get at some point, but way to come in and be solid for the first time for your team. That's all you're asking out of these younger guys, guys who hadn't had chances is to make something of their chance. So kudos
Bridget
13:06
to him. So I'm going to just say today my wrath is going to be to Jalen. Lindsay shoes. I really like those pink shoes. But anyway, he came in, he started. I missed him the last game because he didn't start and we decided to start Milan on the outside, but then we had Jalen in, so I was expecting high things from him, like great things. I just don't feel like he did his best today. I don't. And. 2s I think he got I don't like that inverted fullback mess. I don't know if he was supposed to do that or if it's Tanzio doing it. I just don't like it. And it wasn't wasn't executed well today, and I think that messed him up a lot. And he just had an off day, so poor guy with the pink shoes. I'm gonna give my wrath to Jalen.
Kara
13:50
Yeah, I don't think Jalen had a great game. I don't think he had a terrible one per se at all. You know, I do think think he plays 81 minutes. So Latanzio was obviously pretty happy with him for most of the time, which is debatable, but he did give a lot of passes into the final third. He had a lot of touches. I just think that he did struggle moving the ball forward himself. I just think he struggled creatively. And normally we're better about seeing him play. And I can't remember who he was against, but at times I think he was against passure and Kaseim, and Kaseim is the one who later scored. And I just feel like he had trouble getting beat this time. There was especially at the end, I mean, valiant effort, 1s but it just made you hurt for him, because I think that's why later on, Milanda, he got the first yellow and then the second yellow, and I think they were just drilling that side for Melanda and Lindsay, and I think that's really why. 1s He was just easier to penetrate on that side and it hurt them both. I hate hate to say
Bridget
14:59
I'm not sure who it was the goal was, but it got past him. Or more anyway. It got past the back line and 1s they didn't have their best day today.
Kara
15:07
Yeah, Moore didn't have an easy game either. It's the first game we've seen him back, which was nice to see him back. I thought he did pretty well for coming back and not having been playing. There was one time where he did something really amazing. Oh, that reminds me. Do you remember when I said that Cambridge was pulling a gains because he went all the inline to kick that craft in? So it was almost like McKinsey Gaines was here in spirit. We miss him.
Bridget
15:32
Oh yeah, we missed that kid. Dude, that bench looked weird. You know what I mean? I was like reading the bench and I was like it looks like it was missing a lot of people and it is. That's why. So who giraffe? I
Kara
15:44
think fairly obvious one. It has to go to our beloved Adilson Melonda for getting a red card at a terrible time because Charlotte FC. Had the momentum up until that point where he gets the card and he just makes a very poor decision kicking pasture in the leg. 1s On making that challenge and it just hands a lot of the momentum just right over to birmingham legion. And while I know we've seen a lot out of Milanda this season, he's had an injury, came back, he was okay, thank goodness. But the man's exhausted, too. I mean, he has been playing and he has a lot of responsibility on his shoulders, especially with all the rotation that's been in and around him. With sobochinsky, with bill, with jones at one point, with nathan byrne. Sometimes he's had bronco in there, slotting in with
Bridget
16:42
george, 1s right. And then that back line. So I just feel like this game he makes a poor decision, he's going to learn from it and I'm really proud of how he handles it, too. I feel like
Kara
16:55
he is still pretty calm and good natured about it, even though it's incredibly frustrating to everyone. At
Bridget
17:02
least it wasn't a real game, you know what I mean? So it's not like he has to be out because I think he's on the line. Right. So if he gets another yellow, he's going to be out for a game or so. Thank goodness. This doesn't count towards the real game, like the MLS game season.
Kara
17:17
Yeah, that's very good for us but doesn't do any good since we lost and won't go forward anyway. We
Bridget
17:22
definitely didn't think it was going to be Melonda that got the cutter red, right. That's not the person that we
Kara
17:28
would have picked. He is such a nice guy.
Bridget
17:31
He was just trying and he's trying and he'll learn. At
Kara
17:34
least they didn't get a penalty out of it, so I can't be that mad.
Bridget
17:37
I didn't think you did that much, but, I mean, I was watching it on my phone so I don't really know. We've
Kara
17:42
won with a man down before fooks did it and we didn't chew him out for it.
Bridget
17:47
Well, folks did it twice, right?
Kara
17:49
Yeah, I think so.
Bridget
17:50
I think he did it twice last year, actually. That's why I was thinking I thought about that after we talk about how Enzo gets all these cards and you know what I mean? And then all these people are getting cards, and I'm sitting here thinking we never said anything about foods last year when his butt was getting kicked out every other you know he didn't every other game, but you know what I'm saying? He was pretty aggressive and he was getting them cards and we weren't all hating and we was loving on the dude. We were like, he got red. So funny how our fan base goes back and forth real quick, like legit 30 seconds with the wind. So
Kara
18:23
I think there's some legitimate criticism coming right now after this loss. And here's what I wanted to kind of address it in that. Here's what I think the tactic was. This game. And for better, for worse. I feel like this is what we did because I think we saw it against tormenta. I think the whole point of how we played this game was trying to wait it out. We were trying to use our young guys, run the other team, because if you noticed, Birmingham Legion only subbed one person and that was at. The other than that, they had nobody. Everybody else played the full time. And I feel like our game was to just try to run them, make them move. That's why we kept possession. We were trying for things, trying to be slow and methodical. Maybe we went a little too slow or weren't quite creative enough. I feel like that's true, but I thought I saw his point there. And up until we went to the half, I don't think you could criticize much because I think the point was to try to get a goal right there at the end when it really mattered. So we were just trying to focus on when the windows of opportunity really were there. But then going into the half, into the second half, we get the red card, milanda goes off, our tactics are to pull in Bill, take out Hagart, and then ten minutes later, because Cambridge is winded, of course he's played well for the 30 minutes, but you can tell he's starting to get sloppy and things like that. He's not used to playing that long, especially in MLS play, which is a little tougher than playing for Crown legacy. And so in comes Maram, who's also been playing quite a ton and he's tired, and that's at 63 minutes. After that, all the momentum is on Birmingham Legion side. So eventually he was trying to change it up by putting in Miram. But the tactic just doesn't work. And I feel like we were all kind of calling for earlier subs. We've had other games where it looked like this. We know his pattern in the past has been to wait until sometimes he's been done and picked 70 minutes, 75 or so, and other times he's waited till 80. And this time we didn't get people in until the 81st minute. And I think that really just killed us. Now. I also think his tactic was, hey, well, if we can tie it up, then we're probably going to have to play another 30 minutes. So we are going to need those fresh legs because we've been playing a really tough schedule, right? And that just didn't happen. And so I think that whole plan completely backfired because we could never get the equalizer. I
Bridget
21:03
don't think there's much wrong with what LaTanza did except that he did substitute later than what we want. But I think he has his reasons. I think we're a lot
Kara
21:15
of.
Bridget
21:17
Chair couch coaches, you know what I'm saying out there? I don't know. I just think that it didn't work. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, you know what I'm saying? Sometimes the players execute the way that we think they should and sometimes they don't. It happens. And like we say, we have to give grace to some of these players. We got to give grace to a coach that's new, too. 1s He got us a lot of points the last few games, you know what I'm saying, and had one bad game. And this is an open cup. It doesn't count against us in the MLS. So let's just suck it up, buttercup and move on.
Kara
21:48
And lastly, I think it's fair criticism to say that we just weren't clinical in the final third. It wasn't our normal what we've been used to seeing and capitalizing on the chances we did have. There was one really awesome one to the back post, especially in that second half where it just, oh, man, killed you because you thought, oh, Maram is going to go for it and we just didn't. We missed our chance. This was a miss. Swinging a miss. Well,
Bridget
22:20
and if one or two things would have went differently, then it would have been a totally different outcome. If Cambridges kick would have not hit the post, would have went in instead of out the opposite direction, we would all be like, this is the greatest thing we've ever done in our life. Thank God he saved everybody and didn't play everybody. You know what I mean? If Ojaman's kick would have went in, we would all been like, woo woo. He did the greatest thing ever. He brought the people in when he needed to bring them in, you know what I'm saying? If Melonda wouldn't have got his red, the two yellows and got out, everything would have been differently, you know what I'm saying? So could have would have showed us and it didn't happen that way. It's the US. Open cup. Yeah, we lost it, but it's not the end of the freaking world. We're going to play La galaxy this weekend. We need us to hopefully these guys can get over it, shake off whatever they have. Hopefully we have Camille back. We saw crew ho play tonight. I don't think that lady is going to play him for the galaxy because he did look a little rusty out there for the legacy, but it was nice to see him back. I needed him to dye his hair so I can see who he is out there on the field. He he doesn't look the same without his hair dyed because he's a little thinner. So I'm going to need that. Need you to fix that up for me. Okay. But I think we have Camille back. Hopefully. Fingers crossed on that one. It looks like George is on his way back, too. He didn't have his boot on. He was walking fine with Maram, it looked like. Not that I think he'll play ever Clean. Obviously clean is going to play, but I'm just saying injury wise. And so maybe, 2s just maybe we can these guys can get a lot of rest and do well in La. And that's at 1030 on Saturday night. For us, it's a late night
Kara
23:54
game, and I was really glad to see Kalina wasn't affected by the injury that he took last game, too. I thought he. 1s Reached and played well for that. So that's good because going into this with our last time going to La, we had quite a lot of shots and goals on us. So I would like to go to La and not have that happen again. But it's going to be a late game, so good luck to our guys. I hope they get some sleep. I hope they get some rest. I hope we travel to the West Coast this time with some energy and some hard heart and maybe this will put that into it. But I just know it's been tough and we feel for them,
Bridget
24:34
we do. And everybody just be nice to each other. We all have different opinions. 2s That's the way it's going to be. But let's not turn against the whole entire team, the whole fan base against each other. Let's just all get rally, suck it up, like cry our little pity parties tonight, get over it tomorrow, let's go back on the Go Charlotte train. And vomo. Charlotte.
Kara
24:57
And
Bridget
24:57
we just finished beating La galaxy in a land far, far away, feels like out there on the West Coast. It was pretty tense game, but we pulled it off for the 10 win. How'd you like that, Kara?
Kara
25:11
That was a mentally tough game. I wish we would stop having these games where I have to feel like I have to bite all my fingernails down to the bottom. Yeah, I
Bridget
25:19
thought that I feel like when I go to the games that I'm not as stressed out as I am when I'm at home. Because then I'm at home, I'm pacing, I'm literally standing 2ft from that television and I'm watching what's going on. And for some weird reason, our team doesn't want to put it away early. We just like to just be patient and hold the ball. And I'm not good at patience at all, so I don't know. But we pulled it off. We won it. We didn't let them score in the 94th minute. And I was just biting my tongue about that time, too, because we had 7 minutes added on the end of the game. That was insane. And I was like, one day, just have 1 minute, you know what I mean? Anyway, but we held on and we got the win and our guys got to come home with it. And so we'll take the three points and run. So
Kara
26:05
traditionally in the past, we haven't done as well when we crossed over to the West Coast, east to west just does seem tougher. And I think that it's easy to dismiss, first of all, for everyone watching, for fans, especially, being like, well, why don't you play good? But if you think about it, your body. 1s Regulates to where you live in time and what time you do things right. And so for West Coast teams coming to the East Coast, it's not as bad because it's just oh, it's kind of like earlier you play in the morning instead of in the afternoon or whatever it is you play at noontime. But for us, it's like, oh, well, we're ready to go to bed. And so all of our east coasters moving to play on the West Coast, to me, we've done poorly in the past is because our energy levels have just been ready for bed as opposed to let's play soccer. So for this time, I thought that despite that, I thought they came out with some energy, especially in those 1st 15 minutes or so where our momentum was pretty great. We had a lot of attempts, and that one by Carol just man, if that had gone in
Bridget
27:12
yeah, it was beautiful. He was just off a few feet. I feel like he needs to make those shots, but, you know, that's a lot of pressure on him. So he did a good job. So
Kara
27:22
should we go into favors? Because you just talked about my favor.
Bridget
27:25
Okay, well, then that means you get to go first. I tricked you. You walked into my trap. There you go. Anyway, well, why don't you start off since that's your favorite.
Kara
27:34
Yeah, I feel like we have to owe a lot of kudos to Carol Swaderski. First of all, he's back at the nine again, and Zoe Capetti has been out for a hamstring injury, and we hope he gets well soon. I think it was kind of unintended. It was in a training, and I think he doesn't want to anger that more, especially in this stretch of games. So we were without Capetti, meaning Carol's back at the nine. And in the past, some of the games we've had, they couldn't get the ball to Carol at the nine. And I feel like that's not what we saw last night, because I feel like the. 1s Wingers and Westwood. And there was through passes, I think I saw Harry make one to Carol. And so he got a lot more service, he got a lot more touches last night, even though he was kind of all over the place at various points. But he did settle in and get some good attempts and finally landed that one. But he was all over that pitch. There were times where he was definitely defending and he was waiting for the ball to come back. And so he wasn't at the front at the nine. You couldn't do the hold up play because he wasn't up there, because he was still back there defending. With his level of responsibility and his level of leadership, it's really good that he's out there being that type of inspiration and kept trying for those goals that with Kerwin and Miram or whomever passing him. Finally, the one by Miram. We got a goal in a corner that never happens. And
Bridget
29:02
when he got it, he got it with his foot, that little kick he did. But when he got it after the goal, he went over to the sideline. Obviously he does his little Superman slide thing on the ground and then he stands up and when everybody's hugging him, you could just tell it was like a sigh of relief. He didn't really smile at first. It was just like, okay, here we go. I did it. You know what I mean? It was like a weight lifted off his shoulders. You could just see it in his head, his mental state. And then after he took that on for a few seconds, everybody was congratulate. Then when he turned around and came back across the pitch, he was smiling, you know what I mean? All smiles, everything. But you could just tell at first when he first went in, he was just like, okay, I did it. I feel like he does wait. He takes a lot of the weight of the team on his shoulders. Obviously he's the DP. We put a lot of pressure on him last year. We rode him really hard, like we are Enzo this year. And he finally lived up to it and he's just now getting back to it this year. And I think he holds a lot of that on his shoulders. But poor dude was tired too, you could tell. And like you said, it is because probably we are playing on the West Coast, but I mean, that kid's been playing 90 minutes a game. He really has. He's been playing a lot. And so he's tired, but it's like the weight of the team is still even though he's not the captain, the weight of the team is on his shoulders because he has that expectation and without Enzo, he has even more expectation to do it. So I think he's rising to that level. And as far as the DP, I think he's one of the better ones in the league. I know that's a stretch, but for us, he's actually doing what he needs to do this year, and I like seeing that.
Kara
30:31
Yeah. And for all the criticism that has been leveled against Enzo for how much work he's supposed to be doing at the Nine, I feel like Carol put that work in last night so you could really see that effort that he was really trying to make, despite that not being the position he's been playing for most of the season. And I feel like that really has to be acknowledged here. So, Bridget, who's your
Bridget
30:54
favorite? I'm gonna go with the young boy. I'm gonna go with Carolyn Vargas. I call him Vargy. I have nicknames for all these players, but Ollie was like, go, Vargy. Look at Vargy go. But in his yellow shoes or gold shoes, whatever. He's a really he's a young player, so you never know what you he's not consistent all the time, I don't think. So far. He is getting better at his consistency. But this game, I think because Enzo wasn't there and I know him and Enzo are buddies, it was like he was taking on that Enzo attitude. He was pressing the guys. He was doing what he had to do. He was a little more aggressive than I think I've normally seen him. He went over in the middle more, into the box more, and I just like seeing that side of Vargas. He wasn't always trying to take shots. He wasn't trying to be the hero. He was just trying to do defensive work. He was trying to be a team player. And I like seeing that. Maybe he's learning that from Enzo, how to be aggressive. At the same time, he doesn't always have to be the playmaker. You know what I'm saying? That he can be a playmaker sometimes, but sometimes let's think about it. Who else can make those plays better? And I think this was one of those games where that shown through for him. And I think he's only going to get better as the season goes
Kara
32:03
on. Yeah, kerwin had a good game for not being able to get either a goal or an assist. He certainly had quite a number of key passes and crosses into the box for Carol to try and make it just didn't land, which had to be really frustrating for those big chances to not come off. And he also had a really nice shot himself off a pass from Westwood that got blocked by the key keeper. And so his effort truly was in for most of the game. He played 80 minutes, which normally we've been pulling him out about. About 60. So he really got almost a full match this time, and I really don't think he would have been pulled off except for that weird yellow card that happens right before that where oh, what was it? He says that La put the ball down and they started kicking it, and so he went after it and they were like, no, it wasn't done yet, or whatever. And he tries to argue it and gets a yellow. So it was kind of a pointless yellow, but good job, Karen. Yeah, I think
Bridget
33:10
that yellow confused a lot of people because he was coming off. He came off the field right after the yellow. So I think a lot of people were like, did he get a red? Did he get a red? And he didn't. It was just that he was already planning to come off, obviously, because Cambridge was already on the sideline. So I think whether he had had that yellow or not, he was coming off. So that did confuse some fans. But he just got a yellow. He wanted to join the yellow club. We got that ain't no hating. Actually, we didn't get a lot of yellows last night. We don't have a lot of guys on the ground either. I'm loving that part. I'm liking it. We did have some people arguing with the ref a little bit, but I like seeing a little aggression too. And actually, do you see that one guy on the La galaxy team tried to start a fight with Westwood and everybody had to step in on that one? That was pretty funny. Westwood wasn't going to fight. Westwood wasn't going to back down, but he wasn't going to fight the guy. But the whole team just jumped in, and I thought that was I always like seeing the team. DJ. Loves that part. Like, if he sees a fight happen, DJ. Is right there. He enjoys it, you know what I mean? Luckily, we didn't get any cards for that anyway. Okay, now that I sidetracked us, who's your second favorite?
Kara
34:11
Speaking of DJ. I really do feel like this game relied on him a lot. Now, that's not to say that he didn't make a mistake, and that's also not to say that any of our favors didn't make a mistake or any of the team. Everyone made a pretty significant mistake last night, 1s but Derek Jones just really seemed like he stabilized, not both the defensive line and the midfield. And I really think that we just don't think about him enough. And in the fact that he's, like, gluing both of those things together, he had a number of really key intercepts. A couple of
Bridget
34:46
times he stopped from happening. Yeah, and
Kara
34:49
it was a pretty significant one, too. I was like, oh, we have everything against us. There's only two men down there plus Derek Jones. But he intercepts it and pushes it back the other way, and for a few times of those. He also is pretty big and he got knocked down once last night, which was interesting. But otherwise I really liked his kind of stompy jump that he was doing to kind of really get in their faces and stop the ball. We just don't have as much of control and he stabilizes a lot of that. The pitch in the middle. I think he
Bridget
35:22
plays a lot of parts too. I think that we think of him as a midfielder or a CDM mostly, but a midfielder. But he always wins those balls. If he's out there, DJ is going to win it. But then he's on that back line saving the day sometimes, too. And I think at one point I think I told somebody, look like we were playing a five five, but we really did have a back five for a while. And DJ. Is very comfortable in backing up when he needs to back up, and I think that that says a lot for him. I think we take that for granted sometimes, that he's he's just so easy. He does it so easily, you know, so effortless, effortless. Lee and when we don't have him, we notice that he's not there. So he's like one of those guys that we just assume is going to be on the starting lineup every week, and when he's not, we're like, oh, and who did go down that one time? His ankle got hurt. He had to get that magic spray out. So we were a little worried about that ankle. Need to make sure we I set thing up. Yeah, I don't ever want to see a start lineup without DJ, not anytime soon anyway. Not to karuju's back. Karujo I know his name. Making fun of that. US. Open
Kara
36:30
announcer he didn't get a yellow this time, which is
Bridget
36:33
excellent, so he only needs a couple more. Maybe we get one taken away and he needs it. We need everybody we can get on Philadelphia. Do you want to know who my second favorite is going to be? I think I'm going to go with Maram. Maram is one of those guys. I think I favor him about it every week or give him, like, a partial favor or something like that. I remember when we got Maram that week, that whole mess was with the S shinishiki dude went down and we got Maram and we were all like, who is this Maram dude? And then I went to DC. And he was out there. 1s Doing Maram things and I was not happy about it. Like, I was just not happy with this dude. But now I told my daughter today on the way home from church, I'm like, what would we do without Maram? Like, literally, what would we do without that dude? He has brought something to the team that we don't have, especially with Camille Hurt and Enzo Hert. Maram's like that common front on that front line. He's like that common force. He can cross it to Carol. He can be there. He's a stabilizer. He can play defense when Burns getting burnt. He can do all the things. He was super tired yesterday, but he still made it. He made it through. So I just don't know what we would have been like without Miram. I didn't even know who that dude was, but he seems to be very popular in the MLS. I think they were saying in La. They like him that he didn't was it any from La. Too, at some point, because he has family out there, too. That guy's got around a lot. So where has he been? And we never heard of him, but now he's on our team and he's like a superstar. He has a lot of assist. He assisted that corner kick to Carol, and sometimes I think it's between him and Carol, and Carol's like, no, you go ahead and take it, dude, because I know you're good at it. You know what I mean? So 1s I'm going to keep riding that Miram train for a while.
Kara
38:12
Yeah. I think there were moments that he had last night where he could have taken shots himself and he didn't because he got off zero shots and he definitely had open opportunities where it would have been nice and maybe he was just there to try and get them to the right people. But I almost think he could be a little less selfish because take your opportunities, man. We know he could make them in and it's no less that Kerwin has taken. So let's be equals here. If Kerwin is going to take some air mail shots, then Mary, what you doing? Go ahead, take yourself some. There
Bridget
38:45
was a lot of air mail shots last night, too, by the way. Just saying, not by just caring. Bronco is good at airmelon, too. We got to do better on the airmelon shots,
Kara
38:53
too. His understanding of tactics and where things are supposed to go or where he needs to defend or where the ball needs to move or slow down or something, I feel like that communication and that reading of the game is not something to be understated. And I think that's also why some of our other guys get out there. Like Harrison Awful also reads the game very similarly that way. And it makes sense when you're communicating with someone like Westwood, they just get it better and that's kind of I feel like what has been lacking sometimes is someone to just understand what needs to happen and where it needs to
Bridget
39:25
go and can execute it too. We have to remember some of our guys aren't at that level where they execute cute every single time, you know what I'm saying? So we need to get there, too. These guys, nine times out of ten, they're going to execute when it gets to him. And he's definitely one of those. 1s There was something cute. We heard the other day that his wife is pregnant, or they said last night his wife's pregnant again. I know you had mentioned that last week, but he just moved here, and now his wife's pregnant, too, and they just have another little baby.
Kara
39:53
Yeah, he had to move from Salt Lake to here with a pregnant wife. Like, that's tough, doing a move and getting traded at the end of the window with with one and a half small kids. That had to be really tough on their family. So I'm hoping that they do feel settled here and they do feel like they belong here. There's a lot of recent moms on our team, so hopefully they're making their family feel welcome. But it has to just be really tough.
Bridget
40:19
I think it's amazing how these families just move around like that, especially the wives that can do that, you know what I mean? I get that you got to do what your husband's got to do, but just to up your whole life and just be like, okay, I'm coming, and settle into a town that speaks very highly of them, too, to be so cool about it, because they seem to be really cool and enjoying it. I think I'm going to give one little favor out. Well, it's like a big favor. I'm going to favor the whole team for their grit and determination tonight. I think that we talk about this all the time. It's like, especially after Wednesdays, it's just a little disheartening on the team. And then they came out last night, and there were times at that first half that I was like, oh, jeez, here we go again, you know what I mean? And then even in the second half, there was a time where we just passed it around. It was like it didn't matter whose jersey it was. We were just going to pass it, but the team stuck through it. They went through the 97th minute, and we didn't let them score. So I'm going to have to say their grit did happen last night. They didn't give up. So let's just keep that going. I have to give it a little bit of a nod, you know what I'm saying? I wish it was a little bit stronger, but we'll take it. We'll take that three points and we'll run with it. So keep that grid up and we're going to definitely need it this week. Yeah,
Kara
41:31
I agree with you. I thought that the team played well together cohesively overall, especially that defensive line, especially with being as exhaustive as they are on this away streak. I feel like that's one of the real things that we need to commend them for is this ability to hold it together, to play together, to see it out. Even if those last 10 minutes were not great,
Bridget
41:58
it was just like, let's pray. Let's just hold it down and pray. But they did. They held it down and prayed anyway. Do you have any wrath today? I
Kara
42:06
do have a wrath, but it's not on a player. So, RAF, as a little more overall, team wise, and it would be clinical finishing mostly for people like I understand Carol. Carol had some attempts. They didn't quite come off in the right way to his foot, so I'm not going to go there. I'm talking more about Westwood and Bronco, who both had attempts. 1s At various points, and they just because if they're going to be there, if they're going to be making these runs, if they're going to be in holes that might receive something, then their level of finishing does need to do better. Now, Bronco got that really amazing goal against was it Nashville? Right? Yes. But he, like, dribbled through a bunch of players. Right. This one is a little bit different, where they're receiving crosses or, you know, getting some sort of rebounded ball kind of thing. I just feel like, oh, man, can they get the ball and can they put it in the net, please? Or at least get it on target. And if you're going to give them crosses, let's let them finish them. And so it especially frustrates me with Westwood because we know he's so good that I feel like if we get him a little more time, something yeah,
Bridget
43:24
he almost had that shot last night.
Kara
43:26
He did, but his whole body went into it and then he fell on the ground, and then it came back where he was, which was incredibly frustrating to me. I was like, okay, there's no one behind
Bridget
43:34
you. He wants a shot this year. I think he will get a goal. I think we're going to see him get a goal this season. I hope
Kara
43:40
so. The reason why I'm saying this is because they are not threatening to the opposition. And they need to be if they're going to be getting this quality of service at times, then they need to feel threatening to the opposition so that they drag more people, especially Westwood, because down that line where he is. And you know what? They do the little shop map, like, where the attacking modes are, the attacking lanes. His is always the lowest, and mostly that's because he's distributing and he's a great distributor. But I almost wish he would be just a little more threatening to even get a goal on target, to be blocked. That's fine. Least then they'll pay attention to him and he can get some attacking momentum because to me, he only really distributes it. But he's not a threat himself. I don't think we have many threats without Camille out there and without I don't even think Enzo is a threat as much as Enzo is like a defensive striker. That's how I like to look at it. You know what I'm saying? Like, he's there to offer defense, and if there's a ball comes his way, then he does what he should do. But other than that, I don't see us as a threat. We can't go down the middle. I'm not saying this in a bad way, but we just can't we just cannot attack from the middle. If we have any hope, we're going to have to we pass it out to the outside and hope Maram or Vargas or one of them two gets it and we can. 1s Do some ticky tacky mess until we can get a shot off. That ticky tacky mess just bothers me, too, because we are not good at ticky tacking. We are tick attack. However you say it, we're not good at it and we just don't it's like we're not aggressive enough. I don't know if that's part of Laddie's tactics or whatever it is, but it's like we get down there, whatever you all call the final third, or I like to say it's in the in the box, but we get down there and then we just it's like let's just pass it around and do step plays or whatever this mess is, instead of just like if we're in that box and you've got a chance and shoot that ball. I don't care if we're in the box and it's like, oh, no, I need to pass it to westwood before I can shoot it or I need to pass it to carol before I can shoot just shoot it. Is that something that they can't do? I don't know. That's what I'm asking. Is that like a rule? Like, if you're playing in MLS. You only can shoot it if they tell you you can? No
Bridget
45:57
Chicharita on the other team. He's going to do what he's going to do. He's going to teacherito it. He doesn't care. So he's going to try to make a play, you know what I'm saying? Make it happen. And that's what we thought enzo was going to be like, and I think one day he'll get there, you know what I'm saying? But carol doesn't have to me, he's not that mean person. You know what I'm saying? We need somebody with that fire that's like, I'm a score at all costs. I'm going to do it. Let's just go, guys. Let's go. Let's go. Do you think we have that guy?
Kara
46:22
I don't see chicharito playing the same role as Enzo. Enzo is kind of the hold up play, and he's also getting scrappier. Like people are being uglier on him. Yeah, you're right. That's why I think we had such a good ref game last night because I told my husband, I was like, look, if enzo was out there, we would probably be like, oh, he doesn't like enzo again. We're getting calls because enzo so the fact that he's not there, we're like, oh, it's fair. Well,
Bridget
46:49
luckily we didn't have enzo out there, so she really got the calls, you know what I'm saying? He
Kara
46:52
kicked the ball away from the people who are supposed to get it, which is why he got that first one. So who's your wrath? I
Bridget
46:58
don't really want to wrath anyone because I think I'm going to, but I don't want to really wrath anyone because the team did really we won. Now I want to say that we did really well. We didn't do really well, but we did well enough to win and to w in my book. So that's always great to come back with three. And we do need to have a lot. We have a lot we should work on. The poor dudes are tired. So I guess if I had to give a raft to anyone, I'm going to have to do it to Kalena. I like Kalena. Well, he's not my favorite goalie, obviously, that we have, but Kleena has been doing cleaner things. He's good at it, but. 1s There were a couple times, I think that cleaner lost his mind last night. He, like, was yelling at the back line. Like, he came out and was yelling, but at the same time, his distribution is not there. I don't know what what's going on with him. I don't know if that's just like, okay, here's another question. I thought, and my understanding was lady gives those goalkeepers kind of like a little bit of a leeway as to what they want to do with the ball. Right? He lets them kind of decided whatever Kleena was doing last night wasn't working. He just didn't have that distribution on. Now, granted, he had a colleen sheet, and I've been waiting on him to get a clean sheet. I just don't think his distribution is all there. And I think that 1s he just had some struggling times. Maybe it's because he's tired, too. I don't know. But if I had to give anybody a rap, it's going to have to be Kalena, because there's just times where I'm like, Bro, what are you doing?
Kara
48:24
It's just more like he is a more noticeable symptom of something that was happening, especially last night with the bigger team. But I do think his distribution that's one of the things that we called out saying, this needs to improve. And maybe it's because of the stretch of games we've had, because he's played every single one of them. Just like a lot of these other guys been out there for the full 90. He's not getting a sub, and he can't pretty much unless something's wrong with it, he just came back, right? And he just came back. So I don't know that he's had as much time to maybe work on his distribution, but last night, it was way off. He kept kicking them. 1s To the stands or out. He got
Bridget
49:04
lucky on one of them. He comes way out of that box. I know you all like that about him. Dude will come out of that box, though. And he got lucky that that dude just jumped over him and went straight out of bounds because he had that goal wide open. That freaks me out. I just don't feel like he needs to come out all the time, you know what I'm saying? But does that you think he comes out more because he doesn't trust his defense, or you just think that's how he
Kara
49:26
plays? I think that's just him, and I think that had he gotten chipped, we'd be probably singing a different tune. But he didn't get chipped, so his bravado was off putting enough that they didn't score. Yeah,
Bridget
49:40
I mean, he had some great saves. That one he hit, I think he nailed it up over the goal because I was like, oh, my God. But he got a clean sheet, so you can't be mad. You know what I'm saying? No,
Kara
49:51
his shot stopping ability was on point last night. He blocked how many he got some pretty incredible ones that we were kind of going, oh, how is this going to work? But I feel like with Kalina, one of the things you're getting not just his leadership on the back line, which you pointed out, that one of those you were like, who is he yelling at? And I'm like, his defensive line, one of those left him entirely exposed.
Bridget
50:13
Yeah, he wasn't playing. He jumped up, and luckily, the ball didn't go in the goal. They had an errant shot, but he was livid. He came out that goal right at someone, and I was just like, who is he coming out at? He was not happy. And there was another time that's what I was trying to figure out. Who he's yelling at? Because I'm like, no one was even looking at her. He's yelling. I mean, he wasn't just do better.
Kara
50:35
No, he's saying, like, y'all, what are you all laying down? You all supposed to be defending. You got to get in front of these guys. And you're not and that was like the last 10 minutes or so where they just felt like they gave up a little more. But
Bridget
50:46
he yelled at Burn because Burn hit that dude. Burn hit that dude in the box. And it could have been a foul, but thank God it wasn't. Caught a foul, but 1s super questionable about being a foul. And he yelled at Burn. He lit him up. I don't mean to say that because it was Burn. He lit him up on fire. Get it? But no, like, he lit him up because he was like, that could have been a foul in the box. You need to look at that. It was at the end, too. I was like, oh, my God. If they saw that foul, they would have called it on burn. And then they had a PK and, you know, if he got another one, you know what, kalina would have lost his mind on burn. I might have liked to see that
Kara
51:19
fight. But if you compare Kalina as a keeper versus George versus Cisniega, and you put them all out there in one on one duels, right? The person you're going to want is Kalina, mostly because he's big, intimidating and loud.
Bridget
51:36
Well, obviously I'm going to want George, but yes, I see what you're saying. Like you said, they all have their own qualities, you know what I mean? I feel like George would have been a little more agile, more flexible yesterday in the game, not that clean. I let him in so I can't be mad at it. So where clean is aggressive and big, like you said. Yes, but I like George for his agility and moving around spider Dorgy style, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, but like I told. We should throw Pablo in for Philadelphia. I mean, he got a clean sheet against Philadelphia last year, so I trust all three of them at this point. Okay, don't do that. Please, dear God, lady, do not do that. Put clean it back in.
Kara
52:13
Any final thoughts that you want to say about this game against La. I
Bridget
52:18
just was going to say I hope they play better Wednesday against Philadelphia. We watched that game before. We watched the Philadelphia game. It was it was a little disheartening to see how quickly they can score back to back. I think they scored two goals in a minute, within a minute. And I just feel like these guys, our guys are so tired and they're going back and forth on flying wise. And I just want to say that I'm glad they won. I think that it's going to give them a little bit of a confidence boost. I pray that we got Camille back and I pray that Enzo comes back, too. But I mean, as far as this game, we did well, and I can't be mad at him. I wish we would have killed at La Galaxy, but we didn't. That Ricky Peuge dude with his little pink shoes out there starting fights.
Kara
53:00
I particularly liked his dandelion hair.
Bridget
53:02
He was cute. He's a little cute dude. I just like his last name because I can't say, right? Peuge. Peuge. He had on the pink shoes. I didn't like the one thing about it. Okay, this one was saying guys on our team that don't listen to us, but if they did, I did not like the fact that everybody's starting to wear black, black shoes on that back line. I can't tell the difference in a fool. And Burn both have black shoes, and they're both little dudes. And the only difference I know is that a fool is not getting burnt half the time. Burns is. And a fool tends to do better in the inverted fullback crap that I hate. But they all got black shoes on, so I can't tell the little fools apart. So I'm going to need them to start wearing their shoes apart again. So I can tell them apart
Kara
53:36
every time you talk about that. I don't know where to start when we go back from that. But I think one of the criticisms that they had last night was part of the subbing, right? Like we again, didn't see earlier subs. We had Cambridge come on, Sobachinski, come on. And Ajimang. Came on for Carol. Sobachinski came on when Aful got hurt and Vargas right when he got the yellow card or something like he was starting to flag. So 1s they did good. I thought they brought the right energy to keep things competitive, but I feel like also, too, that we were tired and that's probably why it kept coming against us more. But one of the reasons why I think they didn't put in extra subs that. I feel like Bears being said is we've got three games away and we're going to need our young, fast guys, especially against Philadelphia, because they've got young, talented guys. We know that they're going to be kind of relentless now. They just played, so we're both going to be the same amount of tired, pretty much. But I feel like that's why he didn't put in some extra people for Lindsay, for Mora. That's why they didn't come out. I think they'll come out later. I also think that Latanzio expected us to be up by more goals, honestly, than what we were. And even it's really funny that momentum wise, the predictions were way against us for winning. 1s That came last night. Everyone kind of expected Ellie Galaxy to win, but I think that's why he didn't put Carujo in is because he expected us to be up by three goals. So the fact that we got one, I don't think Latanzio was happy about, and I don't think we should be necessarily either. We're glad we got the result, but I think ultimately he wanted more goals. He wanted more finished chances at that point and then maybe Carujo would have gotten some more minutes. But we know he needs some more time. We watched him play against Crown Legacy in the match on Wednesday and he's going to be rusty. I feel like it's going to take him probably a whole month, really, to come back into form because he's been out for practically a year and you just don't come back that quickly, especially when you're trying to be still watching and not trying to re injure yourself. You're trying to keep it healthy and build the strength up and build your abilities back up. And he's got to come back to reading the game the same way.
Bridget
56:02
Yeah. Honestly, I was surprised that they let him on the plane, to be honest. I thought that he would be playing in that Legacy game tonight. Latanzio wants him back so badly. I think he's going to have a lot of pressure on his shoulders when he does come back. So I want him to come back and not get hurt, you know what I mean? I want him to not pull this mess that Camille is coming back way early and then gets hurt again. You know what I'm saying? When he comes back, we need him to just be back. Don't come back and get hurt again. And I'm sure that the coaching staff has better they know what they're doing before we do.
Kara
56:34
Anyway, I have one last bonus shout out, okay. At this very end. And it's going to go to Bill, to Iloma for blocking that shot for the absolutely ridiculous backpass from Alanda that did not even make it nowhere near Kalina that it was supposed to. And La was able to pick that up and then take it, and Bill, luckily, was in the way. It ricochets off of him and so never been so thankful for Bill. Thank you, Bill. I didn't really feel like he made many mistakes, but I was super glad in that moment that we had him because Melonda, after getting that red card on Wednesday, he was not as solid as normal this game. He had his moments, but I like it better when he's just all on the positive and even Bill was looking out for him. He's like, hey, move over here. He was trying to direct him a little bit. 1s I'm ready for Milanda to kind of settle back into his normal routine and maybe we'll see that because I feel like sobachinski was probably taken out, not because that he was doing poorly. But again, maybe in the fact that we're holding him
Bridget
57:40
for Philadelphia. Yeah, I think so, too, because we're going to need that back on. You're going to need, like, noises. Yeah. That Milana mess mistake. Just I'll give Bill that.
Kara
57:52
I'll give Bill that. I think we're ready for Philadelphia on Wednesday. I don't know if we're ready, but we're going to go. We're not going literally, but the team's going to go, and it's going to be a tough game. But we're in 6th now in the standings. Who would have thought that a couple of weeks ago that we're six in the standings? We have won two away games in a row, which is our best streak, I believe, in our history of our team of away games, we have won five of the last seven games. I want to say one, or tied five of the last seven games. So we're on a good roll. We're on a positive. And I hope that we can go to Philadelphia. I'll be happy with a tie. I want to win, but Philadelphia is a tough team. It is a tough team.
Bridget
58:36
I hope Camille's back and I hope Enzo is back.
Kara
58:38
Yeah, it'd be nice to get at least three of our guys back or so to get some more depth on this team and feel more solid about our guys going forward. All right, well, we hope you have a great week, and we'll rejoin you after Philadelphia. Have a great week. Thanks for listening. Bye.