NYRB/ End of the Road
Kara
0:14
So welcome to a new episode of The Queen's Bitch. It's been a while. I'm Kara.
Bridget
0:19
I'm Bridget. We're
Kara
0:20
back. 1s And the season's over.
Bridget
0:24
Yay! It feels like it's been over for like. Like I told you earlier, it seems like it's been the whole during pre-season in the off season, but it's only been two weeks in the long two weeks there. We
Kara
0:34
had some stuff going on, so I was traveling on an airplane with children and it was kind of a lot to recover and then come back from that and then have Halloween. So honestly, the timing worked out well. I'm really glad that we didn't have more games almost to continue watching because I'm sure I wouldn't have been able to juggle everything. So that's accounting for some of our break and also illness in there a little bit. So but we're come back and we're recapping our last match, which was the New York Red Bulls playoff wild card game and hopefully some end of season thoughts.
Bridget
1:11
Lots of thoughts, lots of thoughts. Hopefully we can like reign in the thoughts.
Kara
1:16
What did you think about the Red Bulls game? Bridget
Bridget
1:19
I didn't like it at all, but I'll tell you this much. I did not go to sleep at halftime and did not turn the TV off and go to sleep. I stayed awake, suffer through the entire first half, and then I actually was on, you know, like I like to do at home. I ate the whole first half because that's what I do at eat. And then the second half I was on my couch in a blanket with the cover like half of my head. So I don't only see like one eyeball out. And then they score and I'd jump up and scare the cat and the dog. 1s And then they scored again. So the second half was better than the first half. But you know, I don't really like to think about that too much.
Kara
1:53
It's always tough to come into it really having high, high hopes, especially for our first playoff match, even if it is just a really fast card match that somehow, you know, down to decision day getting into this position. And so the stakes are riding pretty high. But again, it's on a Wednesday and our track record for Wednesday games is kind of sucky unless they're maybe at home 1s and we didn't get a home match in the playoffs. So that was kind of disappointing. But you know, at least with last year, the last match being against the Red Bulls last year, last year felt like everyone had given up. Like they were like, oh, we can't get in the playoffs anyway. What are we doing? Well, it's kind of how the attitude I felt went last year. And so to have oh, here we are again. Last potential match or end of the road could be here too. Again with New York Red Bulls was. I felt like a different showing than last year. A happier one in many ways, but it's hard to see because of well, we lost it 5 to 2. It's a considerable amount there. That's a pretty tough scoreline. And if you had taken out the goals by Elias Manuel, well then maybe we could have tied it up. But
Bridget
3:15
hey, at least we didn't look like Lisa wasn't a shirt out. You know, I was really worried after the first half that we were going to give up and it was just over, and that the boys would write it off and be time to go home. And they had mentally cut out. Everybody have that fear. Yeah, but they didn't. And so, you know, we did lose the game and we weren't happy about that. But I was happy to see that our team didn't give up. We've been known I think, this season to sometimes just give up when we were behind or didn't have a chance. And this game, they, you know, when they easily could have they didn't. And so that means a lot to me. Yeah,
Kara
3:51
I agree, I think that's why I wasn't as upset as I would have been, because that's what I was scared watching the game through my fingers, sort of on edge, anxious about it again because we lost so many from just kind of not having that that heart and drive to even make something happen. And that's all really you want. And so I felt like that focus, that determination really did end up in the end, making some results.
Bridget
4:20
We tried well, some of them tried anyway. Let's do some favors. You want to do some favours first?
Kara
4:26
Yes. Go
Bridget
4:27
ahead. I think I'm going to go with Patrick. I'm going to give Patrick my favor because that kick came in the second half at that one was it just didn't look good, just didn't look good. And he went in and he did his thing and he scored. He didn't give up. And he followed through. For him to be so young and to be caught like like he says call on Patrick. And we called on him and he he rose to the level that he needed to be. And he came in there and showed those experience. Guys, this is how to do it. And so I'm going to give mine to Patrick this time. I think
Kara
4:58
Patrick brought a lot of hope when he came on the pitch. And it was a kind of controversial option considering that Yerry went off for him. And so here you're going to take off a defender when we're not doing so hot. We already have three goals against us. And at that point probably when he came in it was I think we got a goal not long after that, but still 3 to 0 at that point. And you bring on you take off a defender to put on an offensive player. But I think that was the right move. I think it showed that we weren't given up. I think honestly that Latencia was like, okay, something needs to be switched up and you cannot lie down and die here. We need something to move forward because everything's moving backward. As far as bringing the momentum and changing the momentum of the game, that second half was. More exciting. Ultimately, we couldn't handle it because they then let in two more goals. But, you know, at least they gave us something to watch. I know that there's been issues at times with having Patrick not be correctly roughed, and think that he had some moments in this game where he was correctly refs finally got some calls, which was nice to see. And not just because he's tall and bigger than a lot of people that, oh, he's automatically the foul offender. I loved his energy, love the fact that he came out there no matter what the result was. He's like, let me show you what I can do. Let me still make a difference. Patrick's efforts were really great for how little he's gotten to play this year, and how we're just where he's come from. Just a pretty amazing. I
Bridget
6:38
think that hopefully he has a place next year on the team. I think that he showed that he can stay up there with the big guys, and he can run with the big guys, and I just hope that next year he gets that opportunity and we see even more from him. A little bit more minutes out of Patrick. Yeah,
Kara
6:53
I think we'd all like to say that I
Bridget
6:55
am going to give my other one to Kerwin. I guess that's how they say his name here. It's so weird how they don't know. I can't even say it the way they do. It's so weird. Obviously, he did the little score thing, and he came out there and he could have gave up to. And he didn't. And he scored. And he scored the last two games, I believe, of the season that I just don't think he got enough opportunity this season to show off what he can show off. I like his tenacity. I like his like you said, his defense has stepped up these last couple games too, so that makes a big difference. He deserves it because he goes out there and he gives us all and he's a young guy. I think he's not even is he 21 yet. So he's still young and and he's out there making contributions to this team. And we just didn't get to see him as much this year, I think, as we should have said incident. My other
Kara
7:38
favor. Yeah, I think Kerwin definitely got hot toward the end of this with his output, and you could see it in how energized he really was dynamic and making things happen creatively and just, you know, when not everyone can finish something and turn them into a result. Kerwin was having that some great matches. So it's really kind of stinks that we couldn't keep going for him. But one of the things I really liked to was, I think that attributes to some of this is that he sometimes willing to take those chances when not everyone is, and he's also willing to take them from key spots outside the box when not everyone is as well. And that's resulted in some fantastic shots for him. But in this case, for him to have had a goal when he only had like three shots total the whole night mean to me like we weren't putting out so much offense that. Informally, we would have not finished any of those chances and it would have been a shutout. And so we weren't really seeing as many shots on target, shots off tart. Like we just didn't have as many shots up there as before. But then Kerwin made one of them because we were taking them. You know, we were trying to make things and they weren't landing. But to have him finally be able to get one, even have a couple attempts where he tried to pass it and make and someone else, you know, have an opportunity to score, you know, think I think that was good. I
Bridget
9:13
think he's just a good guy. I think we've seen him. He got hurt this season. That didn't help. And then he came back. Well, I like him doing backflips when he scores. So I just need to see him score a little bit more so we can see a little bit more backflips.
Kara
9:26
Well he's got time to work on that in the off season huh. And he is working. He's already out working some Instagrams with him. Still practicing some of that good
Bridget
9:34
Kerwin okay. So let's go with your honorable mansions. Let's do it.
Kara
9:37
So even though I think overall this game, we're just it's really hard to pick out good things that happened in players who are really trying. I think in this case, two of the people who were to me, get honorable mention favors for trying a little more than maybe others was. I think I felt like Ashley Westwood was really trying to make something happen, even though I don't think it went off well for him, and I don't think it could change the outcome of the match just because of the team. And we'll talk a little bit about that. Let me get into our raths. But, you know, I felt like he was trying to hold things together. It just wasn't working. There were multiple times in the midfield where, you know, we were losing those second balls and things like that. And so that was kind of it was a tough match to play against the Red Bulls. And we always know that because of how they play soccer, they he kept trying. And so for me honorable mention to Westwood, do you want to say anything about that before going to the next one. Well
Bridget
10:42
I think Westwood I mean just for his leadership in that game, he could have like said he could have given up. But I think he went in at halftime and he rallied the young guys and he kept them going. He kept the momentum. You know he never gave up. And that's one of those things we like to see is people that don't give up even when you're behind. So I think he had a lot to do with that mentality of both of those guys scoring and coming out there and having that confidence to do it. So. Go. 1s You know, I gave him a hard time at the beginning of the season, I know. Okay? I didn't know if he should be here. Then I thought maybe Carol should have kept it. Looking back, I think that I was wrong, and it's a good thing that Westwood came and that he is our captain, because I think he's built the morale of the team. He gives them that steady force, calm. And I don't necessarily think that Carol could have done that. And I just was blinded, blinded by the light. So I like West, but I'm glad he's here and I hope he stays through next year. We just keep on keeping. I hope he stays young for a long time so we can keep
Kara
11:42
him here. Yeah, I think his mental fortitude really brought us through some of that. And that's something that at times has been lacking. So the fact that you're able to keep the ship steady, both from on the pitch leadership and off in this one, I think was a lot because it's easy to get discouraged, especially the what the hand they've been dealt, where they were at and how tough their opponent was this time in making results happen when we weren't. And to be able to keep that and still make things happen. My other honorable mention is going to go to Carol Swirsky for getting an assist and really trying to work to get that assist. He came off in the 88th minute. And I think that again this was not the greatest game. And there were multiple times where you got three Red bull people around you and you know, they're going to be constantly trapping and defending and it's tough to get through them. But still, the fact that it's the determination, it is the follow through and trying to make things happen, I don't think anyone could have looked at Carol and gone, we ain't playing today. I think he was trying. He had five passes into the final third instrumental and getting that assist, which was very pretty. It's not been the easiest season for him either. I was glad that he got left on as opposed to petty and usually staying on, you know, like some days it's it's been playing that Carol is not working well. In that game, like everyone has bad games. But, you know, I felt like even though it's his last match, he was really trying to hold it together and trying to keep that endurance for the team to be able to hold out. It just didn't work.
Bridget
13:25
Yeah, I don't really want to talk too much about Harrell right now and he never gave up. So I do I do commend him for that one. He tried really hard. I will say that's the positives I would say about here right now. Salty I just want Carroll to stay here okay. And so when people keep saying it's his last game for us, probably it just
Kara
13:44
it hurts. Yeah.
Bridget
13:46
Just a little tear heart.
Kara
13:47
Yeah. You got any rafts for this game?
Bridget
13:50
Yes. Galena. And why? Because. Okay, let me say this. Nice. Because it's a family show and I have to be careful. Not that I say anything really bad. It's just it doesn't always come out
Kara
13:59
appropriately. Um,
Bridget
14:01
that's my kid. When I'm screaming at her on the soccer field. She had a really bad game the other day, and the ball went over her head into the net and I screamed, oh my God, you can clean. Oh, I really did scream that out on the field. And that was really embarrassing for her, not for me. But anyway, thank God her season's over 1s because she's saying that anyway. But Kaleena just it just seemed like he was off this game. Like we all gave him so many, so much props in the messy game. And I think the game before that, like, we were just like, Lina, woo hoo! He's, you know, he's back to form. He's like, he's back. And then it was like he came to that rebel game and it was like he just looked so like he was off his game. He just looked like he didn't know what he was doing. I don't know what it was. I mean, we all have bad nights. So I'm going to say he just had a really off night. It was a Wednesday. He'd had a lot of games in the last that week and was really tired from traveling. So I'm going to go with that because he just didn't seem like it just didn't seem like he was mentally there for the game. It's just like he just it was like everything was confusing him. And that's not that's not normal. Colina even when I give him a hard time, that's not normal. So he's my only wrath. And it's not like a huge I mean, he's not the reason we lost the game. I mean, yeah, there was five goals. That's not something we like to look at. But he's not necessarily the reason we lost the game. So I'm not saying that that giving him the wrath for that. But I'm just saying he was just totally not on his game at all. And that did not help.
Kara
15:23
Yeah. No, I can agree with that. When you face five goals, like something, something's not right here and not that. Again, I don't think you can put all of those on his shoulders, but for a shot stopper, as good as he has been, the fact that there were five and it didn't. For whatever reason, didn't look like he tried to save any of them, right? It just looks bad. So yeah, he had the, I think, one of the worst games he's had in a Charlotte FC kit. Again, not alone because I don't think he had as much defensive help. And some of that was sacrificed to try and put forward some more offensive. But you know, we're just like, oh, Kaleena, you had a terrible game. And when you have a terrible game as a goalkeeper, it happens to be that it results in goals,
Bridget
16:11
right? Yeah. The other guys on the team can have a bad day or a bad game, and it can not affect the, you know, the score always because you have those other guys to back you up and try. But as a goalkeeper it's like if you if goals going in there, there's nothing you can do unless your team's out there scoring like, you know, Hades and they're not, you know, and you're probably if you're getting scored on the other team, you're not scoring on the other team that much. So it's just a sad thing and especially coming off his high that he had and then that to be his last game of the season is probably just like, Holy crap, he's probably ready for a break too. He's had a tough season.
Kara
16:45
I'm not sure I can give any more excuses, but that he just wasn't he wasn't up to par and the defense could not handle Elias, Manuel and all of that. Just we just got exposed. And I think to me it was more exposure out of the transition, the things that the. The way we like to play Charlotte ball. And so I think that's part of the criticism here. Again, you can't put all of that on collina, but it's definitely a part of the piece. Did you have any wrath? My wrath, I think, would be the fact that we were just outclassed this match. I'm not mad about getting outclassed. I think it's easy to see that New York Red Bulls deserved that game as a as a team. But as a team, Charlotte FC was they were gassed. They were not mentally whole to be able to pull the result out of this match. I think part of that is, is the fact that we just don't play as well, and the fact that we had such a high coming off of such a high from Miami. But as as we saw the week before, the Wednesday Miami match was not great. We managed to pull a tie out of it, but still, you'd expect to do better, especially turnaround. And so having that 12th man at home, you know, we got a win against Miami. And then to turn around and go to New York and be in front of their fans, which I guess the fans are there are really die hard because there was not very many fans there for a playoff match. And when you contrast that with our fans, like it is disappointing. But I expected them to play better overall, but they just they didn't have it in them. They didn't have it mentally. They didn't have it physically. They didn't have an emotionally. I think they were there. They were on the pitch. They were trying. But how do you do that when you're like your tanks? Empty. If they would have won. Barely managed to scrape out a win if that's the case, right? If that would have happened, we would have gotten absolutely killed on Saturday against Cincinnati, because I think just the timing of all those matches was unsustainable and hurtful with what we had. So again, I just think they were outclassed this time. I'm happy to give them to New York Red Bulls. I think if that's the team that we would have taken into the playoffs, I don't think any of us would have been like, oh, this is a winning team 1s based on how they look that day. So I'm cool with losing.
Bridget
19:18
That's cool with it. I mean, I'll say it. I don't think I was cool with it, but see, I
Kara
19:23
mean, obviously I didn't want to lose. I didn't want to go out there and lose. But once you saw that team, you're like, oh, this is backing a losing horse today.
Bridget
19:31
I guess the best part about it is two weeks later, we got to see that Red Bulls got killed and they're not in the playoffs anymore. So
Kara
19:37
Cincinnati I mean, I'm not pulling for them the whole time. But like saying I like to stay in the Red Bulls get beat up. And they did. So anyways anything else about that game? I don't really have anything else about that game. Nope.
Bridget
19:48
Tried to block it out of my head if I could. Yep. Where do you want to go from here now?
Kara
19:52
Well, so do we want to recap just kind of our end of season thoughts because this is the end. This is the end of our season with that game. And so, you know, we can now evaluate what's happened to us and how far we've gotten.
Bridget
20:05
It's been a long season. It's been a long season. This season started out really crazy. We started out like I was telling you, we started out in January with no goalkeeper because cleaning came back and we found out like two days into preseason that he was hurt and we were like, oh crap, here we go. I mean, wasn't all scrapping because like marks, he needed surgery. Yeah, he needed surgery so that we started off with the goalkeeper. Then two, 2 or 3 weeks later, you know, we had Anton passed away. And that was a huge hit on the team like super huge. Absolutely. So right there your defense just hit took a hit. You know you don't have a starting goalkeeper and you have your starting center back gone. So that was a big hit for us. So that right there you know started the season off for me. It was a little one of those feelings like oh I didn't know what where to go what to expect. I still had hope,
Kara
20:52
especially as you're pointing out we had Adelson as a fill in for Caruso. And he was paired with he was paired with walks. So, you know, Adelson was still new to the team and new to leadership on that backline. Like he needed an experienced person and we'd lost our two best experienced people within a few months of each other, or three roughly ish months of play. Don't even
Bridget
21:17
think about Kruger. That's huge. So you lost your two centre backs and your goalkeeper. And so that's how you're starting your season out and wasn't like just one of your other guys got hurt. I mean, he died, so that was huge. You know, that we don't want to put that into like make it sound
Kara
21:30
like you're two legs out from under you.
Bridget
21:32
Essentially. It's not like there's someone heard like, shakes the whole team up. So we knew that we came in the season like that. So that's how I felt like starting now, I wasn't sure. I still thought we were going to like, come out and do great things. You know, it is what it is. And then it was a good year. It was a crazy year. Lattanzi did a lot of shifting on the field, and I think that shocked us all because we saw a lot of lineups that we thought we'd never see him before. So to me, that's one of the things about the season was it was an interesting season. That's how would wrap the whole season up. Interesting. Hey, that's my word. But it was a it was a long season I felt because we tied, you know, he had ties all the time in the world every time. And we lost, you know, we were and then we would tie. So that was a long season for me then. You know, we don't even talk about Nuno and Andre. That just whole mess messed this up for a good six months. I feel like I think overall, with all the adversities our team had this year, the new players we brought in, when we finally did, I think we did overall really well. Thought we did better than last year. I guess the stats don't show that, but in my mind I felt like as a team, we did more team playing this year wasn't like just out there to see who was going to be the best. Last year was kind of crazy, but this year was a good year. But it was just it was a lot of highs and lows. You know, I was very emotional and I don't know if it's because we started this podcast this year, so I got more invested in it. Followers are not for the weary,
Kara
22:58
okay. And then that's for sure.
Bridget
23:01
And I don't know if that's really how you wanted me to wrap my season, but that's how it is for me. It was a long it was a long season, which I'm glad because I enjoyed soccer and had so many great memories. I can like if want to ask me, my favorite memory is, you know, I got to see George Marques star at the fortress and that was all I wanted. Like, I feel like I talked it into fruition, like I've been testing since last season. Say, you're going to do it, you know, and then clean it out. And I'm like, oh my God, you really are. So I felt like I talked that into fruition and that's what I liked. And then the fact that we beat Lafc at home, because that's the one thing I wanted to do all season and we did it so mean. Thanks for listening to me, Charlotte FC players and doing what I wanted done for the season. 2s I don't think anybody else wanted it, but hey, you did what I wanted. So what I was looking forward to. So overall had a great season. The players had a good season too. I think overall I just don't. I don't think we just had the results that we wanted. I will give the season a B minus. If we give them a grade?
Kara
23:53
Sure. I think that's fair. I find it incredibly tough and long, mostly because I feel like because we had so many things crammed into it, like it almost felt never ending. 1s Just thing after thing after thing after thing, both in, you know, in the news and in concerning wise with events around the team mentally. But also, you know, the fact that we had Open Cup and Leagues Cup and that we were aiming for the playoffs and the playoffs format, it changed and added more games. You know, Leagues Cup was a month long, but it was a lot of games in that span. And we lasted longer this year in the Open Cup than last year. And then we also lasted quite a long while in Leagues Cup, which was fantastic. But again, back to back to back playing new people, which was great, but also that kind of a rough point in the schedule actually. Like I felt like it worked out great for us, but it just to me feels like incredibly draining. How are they not exhausted? How do they make it all the way to the playoffs? How do we have that decision day result is kind of amazing to me because of how little I think players options we had. We had constant injuries to key players. We had, again, some players who are still finding their footing and a coach who is absolutely still finding his footing and changing things up and that all of those things had to be really tough on the team. So, I mean, I just wish that MLS would take more of those things into account as far as like if you're going to put more games on the schedule, if you're going to have them play more games, then you need more men in the lineup. And so therefore you need more money. And so, especially with all the roster changes that have happened over the course of the year. The signing of Lionel Messi and then all of those other people for Miami just makes it kind of look a little discombobulated. And on uneven with how that whatever is happening back there that I'm not sure we can speculate or say, I certainly can't, but it doesn't look fair when you account from that perspective. And not only that, but like when you take so many people out for international games, which we want to be able to do, and it just seems like that organization, that consideration of just the humanness and the needs of the players and the constant wear and tear on legs and people and recoveries, it's that's. Wow. We had just such a tough year from that perspective that it just felt like constantly playing injured almost. And by the time you finally got things going, we had added new people into it, which they still had time to get under their feet, and some of them took less time than others. But again, it's a roller coaster of emotion for them, for us, for the fan base, for results. I feel like we ended it pretty much on a high. Amazingly enough, pulled that out of some sort of magic hat. I have mixed feelings I would say about this entire season. I'm proud of the team and where they eventually got up to. I'm proud of the fact that they were able to hold things together in rough situations. There are points where I actually because, you know, we're talking about the end of the season, that I mean, I'd already started taking notes on some of the things that we would need to talk about. Some of them were going to push off to the next episode. So look for that, because one of the things I wanted to talk about and that I had on my end of season thoughts, was about Coach Latencia and things that he's done this year. And well, with the news this week, we kind of can't go into that right now. That's going to be a next episode because it's a
Bridget
27:46
lot of things have a lot to say about that. So I'm
Kara
27:49
not going to go into that here. But I was going to if we had recorded before this, I don't know. I feel tired last year it felt like energizing. At the end of the year, I was like, I can't get enough soccer. I never want this to end. I want more and more and more. This year I feel like, oh my gosh, everybody deserves a break. Go put them on a beach somewhere, feed them some food, let us all rest and then come back. But I just think they need a restoration and I don't think that they got it. And I think they kept having to suck it up and pull through it. It's kind of the mentality, and you can only do that humanly for so long. And I felt like maybe that's just me because I was pregnant and kind of roughly pregnant, especially during the summer. I barely remember June and July or. June, most of July at least. That was really hard for me. But the tale of two halves. Tale of two halves of the year. For us, the first half of the year was kind of exhausting to though. It was just emotionally exhausting. And then the second half of the year was just like, we just played so much. So it was kind of like, oh, wow. So you can just see where the players are exhausted. You know, I told you earlier last year after the off season that I was following the players around on their Instagrams and I was giving them all a hard time because some of them grind a lot, and some of them perception is that they're partying and having a good time enjoying life. And then this year when they got I mean, some of them already are enjoying it so far. And I'm like, I understand this year, I get it. Like, I totally get it. I mean, they just they deserve it. So I'm not upset, you know? I mean, obviously I wanted to start grinding in December, but they deserved to be able to go on there and do whatever they want to for a couple of months because they did. They played so hard and they worked and they they overcame a lot, emotional wise and physical, because a lot of them got hurt. You know, like half the team's been hurt this year at some point in time. So, you know I think that they all deserve to pat themselves on the back. They pulled through. They they did this crazy system where they were all playing out of position. They did what they had to do. They sucked it up and did that part as best as they could. They
Bridget
29:55
rallied around each other when each person got hurt, you know, pulled in for their teammate did that. They emotionally dealt with the loss of, you know, walks and then two other players that just a couple other players that, you know. Probably mentally just went, you know, to heck because of what happened to walks. And so, you know, they just dealt with a lot and I'm proud that they dealt with it. They kept their head high. We didn't have anybody to do anything stupid after all that stuff happened. And it was just nice to to see the guys put everything into winning or trying to win. So they deserve this all season. Yeah.
Kara
30:28
And I think like if we compare this year and last year, they look extremely similar in how each half of the year operated pretty much, you know, and I didn't I didn't expect that. I did not expect that to happen again this year. But I also think it's it's very different in a few ways. One of them being the fact that our mentality was different on it. Like I felt like last year, it was a lot on the players to bring the mentality, the ones who wanted to be here and wanted to play. And then you also had the stability of this year and last year is different. And what what that brought as far as like cohesiveness, because last year we really didn't get much of that cohesiveness until the end of the year when we had pulled in new pieces. And this year we had moments of that in various time frames. It's just because of injury or something. Usually that would change and so we had to adapt. It was a different, adaptable year, but I would say each time something got knocked out from under us, it felt like we tried to replace it, except along the back line where we had a significant mountain decline. Overall, I think they added more stability. I think we adapted better than we did last year, but I think, I mean, there are absolutely real criticisms, but I think for what the players and everyone in the club went through, I think a B grade is fine. I think according to some fans, this probably an F or at least a D or something, especially depending on who you single out. But but I think we're looking at them as humans and looking at this as what are we trying to build. Being that overly harsh is unfair, kind of just like kick a wall or down attitude. And that's that's not what we're here for. Again, we're we like the club that they want to build something better. And I understand their mentality and how they've been trying to do that. It hasn't always worked out and it's worked out in some really unfortunate ways. So Charlotte's going to Charlotte. We have such high hopes. I think there's a piece that came out from Matt Doyle. Go read that. It's really interesting. I've, I haven't read much of it, but the perception is really rough from fans who are like reactive and volatile about how this ended. And then again, I feel like there's some steady voices in there too, and I feel like this is. 1s We can acknowledge that this has been a rough year, but it's not been the worst year. We made our goal the skin of our teeth. That's not a negative. It felt like you were that dog that they're trying to shake off real strongly. But it's got two teeth on there and it's holding on. It's kind of I feel like our season went. I'm trying to think of like my favorite moments. Worst moments. I think the worst moments are easy to pick out for me than my favorite ones. Just, I don't know, maybe because I was so dejected by them, but I'd like to cover, like, who you felt was like the best player this year or most improved the best prospects that we pulled this year. And who's been your surprise person to like? I feel like our surprise person has probably been the same, or at least for you. I can pick your surprise person.
Bridget
33:49
You think you can pick my supervisors?
Kara
33:51
And yeah, I think very naturally it's going to be Nathan Bernard. I was actually going to say prove it. But yes, Nathan Burgundy, I forgot about Ryan Little Bernie Byrne. I'm hoping that we can interview that kid next year, because I gave that guy such a hard time. I really, really did. He'd play, like, not very good at, to be honest. Nathan. He struggled, busted. They even had to have him have an interview about how struggle bus and he was doing that. And then he just came back and he was like superstar. Oh I just want to give that kid a hug so bad. But
Bridget
34:22
yeah, you're right. I totally forgot about that kid. I was gonna say private too, just because they asked a lot of that kid and they made him, you know, they brought him up from legacy, and they were like, here you go. We're putting you on the back line. We're going to do some newfangled zoom out on you and let you be a CB midfielder. And good
Kara
34:42
luck to me. He would be your most improved or best prospect.
Bridget
34:46
Okay, well let's go with that. LeBron Bernard is the one that I never thought I would ever like. Yeah, my eternal wrath. At the beginning of the season, I thought it was always going to be that. And now he has my eternal love.
Kara
34:55
Just for the record, Bridget would probably call me a kid. Burn is only like 2 to 3 years younger than me, so she probably calls me a kid behind my back. So it's
Bridget
35:04
funny because I got him a kid, but then I got a messy grandpa and they're like, two years difference.
Kara
35:08
Apparently I'm a grandma and a child, so
Bridget
35:11
how does he run on the field? But if I see run on that field and you look like me, 1s I will call you a grandpa, okay?
Kara
35:17
I can only roll. Okay? Only role. So you're pretty much like
Bridget
35:22
a petty. You like to do the flip flopping
Kara
35:24
around? Sort of. Yes, except I might have to call an ambulance quicker. 1s Don't do that. Don't
Bridget
35:30
do that. We'll get you that magic spray. We'll just get you the magic spray. What you're most improved, then? If, I mean, I would think you like Byron to
Kara
35:38
mean I like spurned at the end of last year. So I really had hopes that he would come back. So you really
Bridget
35:43
did pull for him the whole time
Kara
35:44
I was more like, oh man, he's having some bad games. I know he's better than that. It's kind of how I felt like at the beginning of the year. I felt like to me, the one that surprised me the most would probably be Justin Merom for how steady he was. Oh
Bridget
36:00
yeah. After that first game at Washington, I was not a Marin fan. No, it was
Kara
36:04
not. I think he came in during a tough a really tough spot in our season and we knew that he was, you know, an older winger, that he was out of contract, that his continuing with us didn't look great. But for what he brought and his attitude, I think he changed a lot of opinions with how he played. That's not to say that, you know, there's not going to be games where he's not the best person out there, and that's fine because again. To me he is a solid. Put him in substitute option which you need those experience substitutes. He knew what he was doing. I think he's a more traditional winger. So to me he really brought some things that we were lacking as far as consistency. And that man tried. I just really I found a new respect for him, never having seen him before this season. And so I'm really hopeful that they can resign him to a contract.
Bridget
37:03
Well, let's go ahead and say that Washington was my worst game of the year because I was there and it was awful. George got scored on line, a business, and this was not my favorite time to be there. And Marin came out there half out and people like, he was like, I don't know. And I was like, you are not that. You just literally started the team two days ago. Get your butt out there and play, you know? But I mean, I should have been a little bit better, give a little more grace. But that wasn't a good game for me, so didn't like me at all after that game. And then he came out and he just he just really did change everybody's attitude. I mean, a lot of people's attitude about him. He was like one of those common. He's so humble, he's so common, and he just does what he has to do. And yeah, he knows a lot of people. So that's why I was out high fiving everybody. But, you know, I need to start giving people a lot more grace at the beginning of the season. Maybe that's what I need to do next year. I probably won't, but I probably need to try.
Kara
37:51
I'm gonna hold it to that. I'll remind you. You're like, don't
Bridget
37:55
say, oh
Kara
37:56
gosh, I'm gonna say that pregnancy and mommy brain is probably going to really affect me at that point because yesterday I like straight up left my purse. So I'm not doing so hot as like, normal. Kara. So God bless.
Bridget
38:10
What was your worst game of the year? I was
Kara
38:12
going to go for Most Improved Best Prospect because that was my surprise.
Bridget
38:17
Like, I'm not telling you in my worst,
Kara
38:19
I'm not there yet. I'm not there yet. I got one more. I don't want to pick the same people you picked, first of all. But I would say my favorite prospect, I guess, that I saw the most improvement of the season would go to Ben Bender. And I am not a hyper Ben Bender train, but I saw how much work I felt like he put in defensively from last year to this year, that his quality got better. So I feel like the things that you would have picked out last year and gone, he needs to improve on these, you know, all the criticisms like he did. You couldn't say that as much at the end, and he was keeping the ball in situations where last year he would have absolutely lost it. Oh yeah. And then not only that, but he brought out some really quality things in in offense. And he was played out of position this year. Like he is not a winger typically like he would play some, but he's a more natural midfielder. That wasn't necessarily playing as a midfielder. He's playing a little more flexibly and that's hard enough for the people who are already out there and professionals. And so no, I just mean other than the fact that he got injured toward the end of the season, you know, I felt like when you asked Bender to come on this time, you knew he would try. He pulled some key things out of moments and one of some games that you didn't expect, and he improved his quality overall. So I think if we have that expectation going forward from some of these people who are who were like, oh, they've been really good, but they've got some things to work on. Like he had a lot of criticism, he had a lot of favorite fans who loved him, loved and loved him. He couldn't do anything wrong. But then you've also got people who are like. Ben got the ball again and he lost it. You know, so I love how hard he worked this year, how much he was trying to learn from Bronco and how hard he worked. We know he's a humble guy, but I can't wait to see where he brings that next year. Especially knowing that he went out on injury and he got surgery this year. He's going to have a longer bit of recovery, and so hopefully he'll be able to come back at the end of December and just be right as rain again. And that will lead him right into pre-season and be healthy for 2024, because I think we can expect better from him, especially if he's utilized in the more traditional way. I don't think it's bad that he learned to adapt and be flexible. I think that gave him some more skills, especially on his defense and reading of the game, but it wasn't a bad year for him. He really brought up the quality from last year to this year without giving the same opportunities.
Bridget
40:54
He got married, he had a he cut his hair off. He did a lot this year. Ben grew up, been turned into a little man and I think he did great. He shot the ball when he got into the final third a lot when he last year, he'd be scared to do it. I think he did it more. He has more. That's it. More confidence this year. And I think only, you know sad that he got hurt. But I think once he you know, I think he had surgery. But once he gets better and next year I think his confidence is just going to keep growing. And. I mean, he is he was a superstar in college for some for a reason. He was the number one draft pick. So think that we still get to see that out of them once it's harnessed. And he gets to play in the right position.
Kara
41:33
Yeah. So my my worst worst moment I feel like it just has to be kind of the beginning of the season. That stretch where like I didn't really mind losing to New England as much. Oh one goal. Okay. But when we lost the Saint Louis, just absolutely miserably, then we had that loss to Atlanta, which it seemed like no one out there knew where they were supposed to be and no one was playing soccer. And then the loss we had in Salt Lake like, to me, those were pretty rough. And you're right, the DC game was absolutely abysmal as well. And it was just so tough to be like, okay, we're doing okay. Oh gosh. We just shot ourselves in the foot and I didn't travel to any away games. But I can understand why that would be a really rough one for you. I just remember being in a hotel room being very tired. So because we were traveling that weekend, do I felt like this? The start of this season was just so painful to watch and so painful to watch us try and adapt and attempt to climb out of? I don't want to go through that again. I know this is going to have to be another rebuilding year, but I don't want to go through that again. I just really don't. It was it was too painful and slow for me.
Bridget
42:45
Hey, we're going to hold out though. We don't have to do that. Yeah, I think last year there was there was brighter moments for excitement like we had we had less expectation last year. So when things happen, we were just thrilled and delighted when they did. And also like full of righteous indignation when they did not. We deserved more of our bad luck this year than we had last year. It was good to see Enzo step up and adapt to the league better than he had been. That was incredibly painful for a long while. I think my favorite moments were probably just the league's cup run. Because we had had such crappy luck for a while. We didn't have necessarily new blood coming in yet. I think how it ended up was rough. You know, I don't think we deserved that result against Miami at that moment, but that was probably my favorite moment overall this year, that that stretch of games for Leagues Cup as as a team whole, I think personally there's probably some different ones. And then not only that, but you and I running our podcast has been this feels like a lot longer. We haven't even known each other a year. Bridgett. And like we've been doing this and it feels
Kara
43:54
like a lot longer than that because the season's gone so long and we've met such wonderful people through this. And that's been like really cool. Just getting to talk to some of the people we've gotten to talk to. Like, now we say hello to them and hey, how are you doing? You know, we just kind of our community has grown because of this podcast, and I'm so grateful for that and meeting these wonderful people, especially, you know, Carol and Taylor. And George has been great too. I just I
Bridget
44:27
loved the photo or I or Torres and Joe, we can't forget, you know, we talked to Joe, but, you know, he's really great. He's a really great guy. I agree with you. I didn't think that the podcast would ever start, you know, because there were some little hiccups at the beginning. But by God's grace. And he allowed me to meet you. And I'm just grateful that you've been here and you've been able to handle my crazy for the whole year and having, you know, haven't been done with me yet. But yeah, we've met a lot of good people, a lot of nice people, a lot of people that have been supportive and helpful. So this year has been on that note. It's been a wonderful year. I think it's changed my life, to be honest, just because of the people we've met and the people you know, that this has given us access to. And we get to meet the fans and people that listen to our shows and we love it. It's like a little community and enjoy it. Yeah. So
Kara
45:11
we're really grateful for you, all. Our listeners and anyone who's interacted with us said hello to us both on social media and in person, and just we're grateful to. Have had this run. That doesn't mean we're done for this year, but Charlotte's done. So our recaps are done.
Bridget
45:31
Yeah, at least around here. Just like get get some favorites. And I also have to give credit. I'll have to give props to Danny after show because he has been very supportive of of this show. He's been very supportive of me. He always gives me insight and if I'm ready to give up, which there are times because I'm very not patient at all and care doesn't necessarily have to come crazy all the time. Danny will step in and be like, look, because he has a lot of experience in the business of the social media world. And I do know that you need to calm down, have patience. I do not, but it does work out. If we do. So I have to give him a little shout
Kara
46:04
out and not like that. But thank you to our families. You don't know, but my husband has been supporting this from the get go. He's very enthusiastic. He is usually our editor. I've done some of them for a while. So he's been supporting that, you know, in time and effort as well, along with, you know, our both of our kids are involved in some ways and to where it's been occasional sacrifices on their part, right time and attention. And we're both still mom, so they're both still a priority. But what a year it has been. I'm so grateful for all of this.
Bridget
46:41
Yay! So we got more to go. Thanks for listening. And we have another episode where we're going to talk about the changes in the off season. So we're not done yet.
Kara
46:49
Yeah, look for that coming. We're talking about player options, the coaching change and what's coming next. So stick back with us. Thank you for listening. Bye bye.