August 24, 2026: Tobin Heath and 22,017 of Her Friends

Portland 1-0 Denver Summit, and Tobin Heath retired as a Thorn in front of 22,017 people. She signed a one-day contract to do it.

Sophia Wilson scored in the 44th, assisted by Jessie Fleming. It was her tenth of the season and the fourth time she has hit double digits in an NWSL season. Mackenzie Arnold got her seventh clean sheet. Marissa was in the building on a media credential and went to the post-match press conference. Alan watched on his phone because his seven-year-old had the TV.

The bit we care about: we have been asking this club to fix the back line since Episode 6, the 5-1 at Utah. Rob Vilahamn's post-match quote describes a "big, honest meeting" the team held after that exact match, where they changed how they press and asked the back line to step. He has never heard of this show. He just started from the same night and got to the same place. Three wins since.

Plus Tobin's whole career, the new Kaiser Permanente Performance Center in Hillsboro, a table check, and Marissa's Match Day Roundup.

Adults only. Bring a drink.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Cold open, one nil on Tobin's night
02:03 The defense finally shows up
08:07 Denver's side of it
09:25 Tobin Heath night
12:30 From the press conference
14:47 What are we drinking
16:04 The Kaiser Permanente Performance Center
22:53 Where we sit in the table
23:53 Marissa's Match Day Roundup
27:12 What's next: Gotham, then the Spirit

WHAT WE WERE DRINKING

Marissa: Rose City well vodka, water back. Cheap, house pour, genuinely not bad.
Alan: a Lagunitas IPA, chosen mainly so he was not drinking a Seattle beer. He concedes it is an Anheuser-Busch beer now anyway.

THE NUMBERS

Portland are third on 37 points, level with Washington and behind on goal difference. Gotham lead on 44.

Tobin Heath's NWSL co-record is 10 single-season assists, set in Portland in 2016. Pietra Tordin went into Saturday on nine, one away, on Tobin Heath's night. She did not get it. The record stayed with Heath.

Ann-Katrin Berger has ten clean sheets and just became the first NWSL keeper with 10+ in back-to-back seasons.

NEXT

Friday August 28 at Gotham. Sunday September 6 against Washington at home, a day game.

Transcript

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Alan: 0:14

Welcome to Rose City Red Card. I am Alan and with me is Marissa.

Marissa: 0:21

Yo, yo, yo, Alan, what's up in the house? We're at Pappies. We live in life. It's so hot outside. I don't know why I'm so hyper. I think I'm just so happy to be home.

Alan: 0:31

It is so good to have you home. It's so good we got to win. It was Tobin.

Marissa: 0:35

It was an electric weekend.

Alan: 0:37

Tobin retired as a thorn. Oh, God. Oh, maybe boy. You were at the game. I was watching it from home. I was watching it on my phone because my seven-year-old had the TV, which, you know, sometimes you have to make compromises.

Marissa: 0:54

Sometimes K-pop Demon Hunters comes before the game.

Alan: 0:57

This time it was Descendants.

Marissa: 0:59

Oh, okay.

Alan: 1:01

She's into the Disney thing now. Okay. So, you know, she's seven. She gets to decide what she wants and what she likes to watch. But I was watching The Thorns. Yeah, hell yeah. I was watching us a win, one-nothing, Tobin Heath night. Yeah, man. Watching Soph out there having an incredible night.

Marissa: 1:24

Soph just running through their defense, like they cones, like they cones, girl?

Alan: 1:28

She just, she was out there all by herself, like with the defenders running at her, not catching up. You know, she only made one of them, but she had some great shots and just multiple. multiple times.

Marissa: 1:43

But you know what's important? Three points. Three points at home. Providence Park gives.

Alan: 1:50

It does. Provident Park gives. It is, it is our home. We are undefeated at home. I think it's been a year.

Marissa: 1:58

It's been a year.

Alan: 1:59

It's been a year. That's incredible. That's so good. Yeah. And we just, yeah, we've been talking about defense the last couple of weeks and, you know, the problems that we've been seeing in our defense, but this weekend, we didn't see that. Oh, my gosh.

Marissa: 2:17

No. It was a different game. Also, I feel like that Utah loss, the 5-1 Utah loss was huge. That was huge. We don't really lose like that. Thorns don't really lose like that. Like, I think when we were doing that episode, we recalled the last time the thorns lost that bad was years ago. You know what I mean? It just doesn't happen. And Vilahamn, we have some quotes from him. Vilahamn had said, Like, yeah, so Vilahamn was saying, I think we went after Utah to a big meeting, a really

Alan: 2:48

honest meeting about how we defend and how we show up for this club. We wanted to press more, more man-to-man on the midfield, the back line needed to be more aggressive to step to players. Yeah. You know, basically what we'd been saying, you'd been calling out for a centerback.

Marissa: 3:05

Yep, yep.

Alan: 3:05

Strangely, we moved to center back. Yeah. But it weren't. You know, they recognize, you know, maybe we had the prescription wrong, but we had the diagnosis correct. Yeah, which is crazy. You know, for two people sitting in a bar.

Marissa: 3:24

Yeah, I know, yeah. Hey, we got something right.

Alan: 3:26

Mr. and Mrs. Sports analysts over here with a vodka of beer in our hands, you know.

Marissa: 3:30

But, no, but we were right. Defense, cheers. Defense needed to pick up. We have one of the scary offenses in the league. and if the defense doesn't follow, we're not going to win. And I feel like the last three games, the last three games we won, our defense has really picked it up. The Boston game was a little rough, but that was like the first in our three, like, win streak. And I feel like we're really picking it up. Yeah.

Alan: 3:58

We really felt like we were playing as a cohesive team this time.

Marissa: 4:02

Yes, yes, and that's what we've been talking about, the cohesion. Remember when we first started, episode, actually shout out, this is episode nine. But when we bring it back to like episode one, two, and three, we were talking about the players not being cohesive. Like, the goalie to defense, the communication falls apart. The defense to midfield kind of falls apart, you know, and the midfield to offense is great. We're scoring goals, you know, we're making assists. That's great. But defense needs to be communication, but communicating, and I feel like we've really changed that in the last couple games. Our funny-ass formation, a four-two. two, three, one.

Alan: 4:41

We've been playing it a lot this season.

Marissa: 4:43

Yeah, but it works. Like, I don't, like, we have, we have played it a few times this season, but the last couple games, it's actually started to work. We haven't also been playing, uh, top tier teams. I will say that, but it's working. We're not conceding as many goals. Um, and we're just looking better as defense. Our defense is just looking better. Um, yeah, like, M.A. Vignola. had a fucking amazing night. She was on it tonight. She was. She was there. Her half time, her speeches, there, she's so electric. She's, she needs to start every game. Like, Jayden Perry, on the line, Perry, like, you know, on the line kicks it out. Like, put her in the goal. Just kidding. We love Maca in the goal. But, you know, like, that was amazing. She's definitely our best centerback on the team. Like, we played so well. That was just, like, our defense. Like, Nina Nightshod, Kilt was killing it in the midfield. Deyna Castellanos, Castellanos, something has switched, flipped a switch for her. She's playing with urgency. She's playing a lot better. Like, the last game she played good, and this game, she played good. And that's...

Alan: 5:56

They had a great night, but Tordin would seem to have a little bit of an off night. She, you know, we were really hoping she'd get that, uh, that assist and tie up the...

Marissa: 6:06

Tobin Heath's record for assists.

Alan: 6:08

She didn't get that, but, you know, it looked like, you know, Sophia Wilson kind of, you know, she made it, so it didn't really matter. Yeah. She was out, like I said earlier, she was out there ahead all on her own.

Marissa: 6:21

Soph just scores every game. I don't know, you know, like, Tordin had an off night. People are going to have off nights. She, her off night is equivalent to some people's best nights. Like, she still played great. She still was good. People have off nights, but also when you have Sophia Wilson, you can, your off-night isn't so apparent, you know, like, also, so, on, with her, with a defender on her back, she is so fucking scary, like, yeah, she only got one goal in, it probably should have been three or four goals for her. It looked like she was aiming for the last, like, the 12 inches outside of each goal post.

Alan: 6:59

Just need to bring that target in a little.

Marissa: 7:00

Just bring it a little bad in, but also, this is Soph Wilson. She's, she's hungry, she's going to get goals where I'm, we ain't worried. We ain't worried over here at Rose City Red Card. We ain't worried. Yeah, so if had a, yeah.

Alan: 7:14

Like you said, she's scary and looking out there. She's, you know, she just takes it and just runs and runs faster than anyone. And she's fast and she's strong.

Marissa: 7:26

She doesn't get bodied off anybody. It's amazing. It's amazing. She keeps control of the ball at that speed at full, full spore, and, you know, gets those shots.

Alan: 7:37

and they're not always right on, but, you know, when you're getting over to the end of the field like that and getting those shots, you know, it's a statistics game.

Marissa: 7:47

Yeah.

Alan: 7:47

And, you know, the more of those shots you take,

Marissa: 7:49

the only shots 100% time that you miss are the ones that you don't take. That is a butchered Wayne Gretzky, Michael Scott, quote.

Alan: 8:02

Gotta love Michael Scott.

Marissa: 8:03

Yeah, so let me, let's wrap up this segment about like the game. let's talk about, like, just some things with Denver. So Denver was without Lindsay Heaps again. This is her...

Alan: 8:16

Fourth straight game out with a knee injury.

Marissa: 8:20

Yeah, fourth straight game out with a knee injury, and they were also missing their goalie, Abby Smith, who's been pretty incredible, pretty great at keeping them in games. But also, their other goalie stepped up, Kat Asman. She stepped. up for the summit and she played great. I mean, she only kept us to one goal. Yasmeen Ryan obviously looked great. Janine Sonis, who is Denver's number one score, who's their defender. She's amazing. People are talking about her in the MVP race. Yeah, Denver had the better first half and possession, but they couldn't finish. And like we've said before, if you can't, you could have the ball for 80% of the fucking game, but if you can't put the ball on the goal, then you don't win. You don't get those three points. Yeah.

Alan: 9:07

You got to have those shots. You got to get it.

Marissa: 9:11

Bing bang fucking bong.

Alan: 9:13

Bing bang.

Marissa: 9:17

And now, drum moral, please. We're moving on to the Tobin Heath night of the segment. The segment, the Tobin Heath segment, as we're calling it. I don't know what to say about Tobin Heath. You were there.

Alan: 9:39

You were at the game. You saw her down on the field. doing her press conference. Yeah. How was it seeing her? She retired, she signed a one-day contract so she could retire. So she could retire as a thorn. From everything I saw, it seems like it was an emotional moment. It was, she was so meaningful to this team. You know, I'm, I'm new to the city and new to the thorns. But the more I learned. about her, you know, the quote we have later, you know, the NWSL would not be here if it wasn't for the thorns and for Tobin Heath. And she was such an integral part of this league from the beginning. Yep. It's just so awesome to see. Yeah. And seeing her, her be there is, you know, retiring as a thorn.

Marissa: 10:40

Yeah. It's just, it's incredible. No, it, it was, it was a. electric. I mean, 22,000 people packed Providence Park. That's incredible. I was, when I got to the game there early, I saw, I saw so many Heath jerseys. I saw Portland Heath jerseys. I saw U.S.A. Heath jerseys. I saw Man United Heath jerseys. I saw Arsenal Heath jerseys. And I'm pretty sure. I saw a PSG Heath jersey. Portland loves Tobin Heath. She is a part of our history. Like, she is, she's, she's here. Like, she's, yeah. And now let me.

Alan: 11:21

So, yeah, for those who don't know, tell us more about her history. What is it that she needs to.

Marissa: 11:28

All right. So starting, starting in college, she won three NCAA national championships with the historic North Carolina Tar Heels, 2006, 2008, and 2009. She won back-to-back World Cups in 2015 and 2019. scoring the final goal in 2015 against Japan. She won gold medals in 2018 of Beijing Olympics and the 2012 London Games. Run a bronze medal in 2020, Tokyo Olympics. So she won a championship with the Thorns in 2013 and 2017, earning MVP honors in the 2013 finals. She's, like I said before, she plays, she played for the Portland Thorns. She played for Man United. She played for Arsenal. She played for PSG. She did spend a year in Seattle, which is something we were not going to talk about, but for for bringing it up. So she did spend a year in Seattle. But anyways, moving on.

Alan: 12:28

Everybody has their history. Everybody has their history.

Marissa: 12:30

So you were at the press conference after the game, and it sounds like there was some really

Alan: 12:36

cool moments in that.

Marissa: 12:38

Yeah. So, yeah, so Sophia Wilson, this about Tobin Heath. She said, I love Tobin. I'm super close with Tobin. She's been a mentor for me in a lot of ways. And I think her legacy in this city, it will live forever. She's an icon here. Everybody knows who she is. I still see her jerseys in the stands.

Alan: 12:58

Yeah. And like you were saying, you were still seeing them and seeing her jerseys everywhere. It was her night, but still. But even outside of her nights, there's, the Heath jerseys are always there. You know, it's, she's, pretty special. Absolutely. Well, and Soph also told a little bit of a story where she said she was in a little bit of a slump and she went out and got coffee with her and said, you know, Tobes, I just need to talk to you. And then she says, she just sat with me and listened. And she said, I really just view her as a big sister to me. And it's so great to see that. I also, I love the Tobs. I know. The cute little nicknames between the people. Like, it's, you know, I love those real moments.

Marissa: 13:49

Even, even Mackenzie Arnold, somebody that didn't, that hasn't played with Tobin Heath, but plays for the club. And I feel like knows what it means to be a thorn said, uh, talking about Tobin Heath, Mackenzie Arnold said that whole era is always going to hold a special place in Portland within the fans as well.

Alan: 14:05

They never let you forget. They never let you forget that. Yeah, no, it's, it's, it's part of the history of this team. You know, we, we helped start this league, like we were talking about earlier.

Marissa: 14:19

And it's so cool to see this. Tobin said it the best, like the NWSL. I mean, we obviously know that NWSL would not be here for every single hardworking female and male, everybody that goes into making this league amazing. We know that. But Tobin ain't wrong when she said the NWSL would not be here without the Portland Thorns. So shout out to the Thorns. Shout out to us. Shout out to Portland. like this community it's it really is something special out here it really is

Alan: 14:47

so marissa that brings us to uh what are you drinking tonight well vodka again i'm sorry well

Marissa: 14:58

well vodka well well vodka it's a rose city uh i forget what it's called but it is called rose city and it's a well vodka and it's they serve it here at the bar and it is it's cheap and it's actually not bad so i can either spend five bucks you gotta have a drink that you like yeah and you can stick with I do a shot in a water, shot in a water, so. That's the way to do it.

Alan: 15:20

I intend to do that. Yeah, what are you, what are you drinking over there?

Marissa: 15:23

I see you got three cups over there. We've been here, we've been here a while. We've been here a little bit.

Alan: 15:28

Been here a little bit. But I, I am drinking a water because it is important to drink water. And then I'm drinking a Lagunitas IPA because once again, uh, I am trying to avoid it drinking a Seattle beer, uh, even if it's now a big, the Anheuser-Busch beer and not really a Seattle beer.

Marissa: 15:49

You guys can't see it, but in person I'm not making eye contact with him when he says Seattle. So shout out, shout out, shout out. Very true.

Alan: 15:57

Intentionally looking away. But anyways, uh, cheers. Cheers. So then that brings us to a really fun story. Yeah. Which is we have a new amazing performance center. The first facility, uh, that it's the first of its kind dual sports center purpose built for professional women's athletes for both the thorns and the Portland fire um we had an incredible question ready to go for uh the press conference uh but it turns up uh being new to this whole media fucking thing um is is is hard so i'll say so i've been a fan of soph wilson for

Marissa: 16:47

five years. Been a fans of Mackenzie Arnold for like six years. When these people walk in, I'm not like a media person. I'm like a media person. I'm like fan immediately. And like I can't, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I, it's also only my second time down there, okay? Second time. But I also did come up. Me personally came up with these questions too and I couldn't even ask

Alan: 17:11

them. Well, we will wait. We're not going to give away the questions because you have some great questions. and, um, you know, we are going to be back, uh, at these games. Yeah. The next game, uh, unfortunately, we will not be, uh, because it is not local. Mm-hmm. The game after that, uh, you will be at. And then the one after that, we will both be at. Mm-hmm. So, um, we'll get into that a little bit later. Don't worry. You guys will hear me on the press.

Marissa: 17:36

Don't worry. I'll get there.

Alan: 17:38

I, but, uh, you know, we're, we're all getting there and, uh, we're, we're less than 10 episodes. Yeah, goddamn. There's only, just wait until episode 10.

Marissa: 17:46

We want to blow you guys a fucking fucking, but, you know, we're going to blow you guys a fucking wait we're only episode nine we're media now i know i i yeah wait let's let's let's

Alan: 17:53

talk about the center though okay so tell me tell me tell me about this new center is sounds incredible

Marissa: 18:01

is the first ever ever ever building made to house two professional women sports teams this is this is fucking incredible they are sitting on a 12 anchor campus two two full-sized soccer fields, 17,000 square feet of practice gym with two full-size basketball courts, 5,000 square feet of performance and recovery center with yoga, Pilates, a Pilates studio, hydrotherapy, and the in-water treadmill we were talking about earlier. That's kind of crazy. Full service dining with an onset chef and nutritionist, family spaces, media studios. It's, I mean like this is the first of its kind. I remember, not I remember, but somebody was talking about what goes into making a woman's specific space and she brought up that she went to another woman's locker room and she was like, why is there a line for this bathroom and this shower specifically? And she was like, oh, because the handle comes off, because not all girls like to wash their hair or get their hair wet every time. And so there she was like, oh, well, I guess in each shower, we should just have a handheld thing. And so those are those little things, those little women details that I I feel like are really important. And also, like, it's a fucking tool. Like, oh, your team doesn't have this. Well, you know what? We have something brand new. So come to us. Come to the thought. Come to the fire. Come to the thorns. We'd love to have you, defenders.

Alan: 19:33

Yes, absolutely. Well, and like you said, you know, it's going to the needs of these players. And we've seen a couple of players who are starting to have kids. They have two mother's rooms in here. which is awesome breastfeeding somebody to help you like there's it's it's it's incredible it's

Marissa: 19:54

incredible it's incredible but they've created like shout out to the burn falls like there are the owners of they own the fire and the thorns and they've done nothing but great things like it's it's been pretty it's been pretty epic what we've seen from the owners and I don't typically talk highly of

Alan: 20:09

millionaires and billionaires but you know you know when people use their money for something that helps others Seriously, $150 million.

Marissa: 20:18

Sorry, I'm not saying prices on here, but it was a $150 million project. And it was started lower. I don't know what the starting cost was, but they just kept pouring money in it. And also, they were only a few months off of, like, opening date. Like, it was supposed to open up overly in the summer. Everybody knows things happen, like. Delays happen. Yeah, I don't mean to talk about another team, but in another league, but the WNBA, Chicago Sky, like they were supposed to have their thing open and it's been over. a year late and two months late is better than a year late. So earlier in the press box, Sophia Wilson had this to say about the new training facility opening up.

Alan: 20:59

Yeah, so she said, for the first time, it's something that's really ours. We've kind of been moving around everywhere from year to year, just trying to find spaces, renting out Providence Park and Nike. We've been all over the place. So to now have just a home that is so special. And we have a sauna, red light, we might never leave. We might never go home. I get it so much. Having that space for them, it's so special. And, you know, hopefully this really helps them. You know, they can really focus. It, you know, removes some of their, you know, those day-to-day things that they'd have to think about.

Marissa: 21:42

And on an off night when your team doesn't have practice and you're like, man, I'm up. Like, I could maybe go work it out the gym. Jim, go to your training facility. You know, like, for the basketball players, go shoot some hoops. That's your space. That's your card. That's your place. Go do that. You know, and I feel like that's, it's only good. It's only better. You know what I mean? Like, there's some teams in this league, like, sorry Gotham, but the where they play, so Gotham's, we can cut this, sorry, but Gotham's big thing is they're playing in New Jersey right now. But next season, they're getting moved to New York. And all these New Jersey people are like, we've kept this fan base alive. do you mean it's like in new jersey they don't even have locker rooms they're not you know what i mean so they're like out of place now they feel like they're gonna have a home base and that makes you feel like okay my things are still in my locker because this is my locker i don't need to you know and so this is where these girls are there and also like i am all about like women supporting women in sports and like the thorns and the fire being together like that it's it's just really cool that's it's it's it My bad. I love it. Marissa out. Sorry.

Alan: 22:53

So that brings us to where we're at in the league, where things are. We are currently sitting at third. Third, yep. Third. So we're tied in points. 37 points with spirit. With spirit, but there was a different stat that we didn't match on and therefore we are in third. I think it's a goal different.

Marissa: 23:23

It's like we have. I believe you're right.

Alan: 23:25

So yeah, it's the tiebreakers. But, you know, we're in third. We're close to second. We're still up there. You know, Seattle, we were talking about earlier. They are sitting in eighth right at the cutoff. You know, they're going to have to still fight for it. But it's, you know, we're in a pretty good position. We're looking like we've got a playoff spot pretty well in the bag, right? Yeah. And you know what?

Marissa: 23:53

This brings us to is Marissa's match day roundup. He, yeah. Amazing. All right. So Marissa's match week match recap. Let's go. Week 18, Friday, we had San Diego versus Utah. San Diego beats Utah 4 to 2. Holy shit. That was a great game. Utah is stingy about their goals. San Diego came and killed them. That was the only game on Friday. Let's move to Saturday with the Kansas City current versus Seattle. It ended up in a tie one-to-one. We won't talk about. about it because Buck Seattle. Buck Seattle. And then the next game on Saturday was North Carolina versus Boston. This was kind of the bigger game of the weekend. North Carolina beats Boston two to one. Ashley Sanchez wins it for North Carolina with a penalty kick in the 17th minute of stoppage time. 17th minute of the game.

Alan: 24:50

That is crazy.

Marissa: 24:53

She wins the game and also has now surpassed Barbra. Banda in the Golden Boot Race at 13 points. Barbra's at 12. Ashley Sanchez is at 13. That's incredible. That's insane.

Alan: 25:04

That's insane.

Marissa: 25:05

That was the last game on, or nope, the last game on Saturday is us. Woo, woo, woo, woo. Saturday, a Saturday, Portland versus Denver Summit, Thorns' win, 1-0 with a Soph goal and a Fleming assist. That was really nice. Last game on Saturday. Now let's move to Sunday. Four games on Sunday. It was a big day Sunday. Four games.

Alan: 25:27

I was on the TV. I was busy and didn't watch any of these, but it sounds like you caught all of them. I did. I caught all of them.

Marissa: 25:35

Sunday, first game of the morning, we had Chicago versus racing. Chicago wins three to two. Mallory Swanson wins. Chicago breaks racing's four-game win streak and also breaks their seven-game losing streak. That's a big deal. Wow. Good for Chicago. Also, racing has been on the up and up, but it's all good. We want teams to be better. you know, especially Chicago. Then the next game was Washington Spirit versus Orlando. Orlando beat Spirit at Rowdy, Audi, Audi, 1 to 0. Nobody, I don't, I wasn't expecting that. Washington Spirit is one of the best teams in the league. They're one of the better ones, yeah. Literally, they're number two, our only team besides Gotham on top of us. And they lost, they lost, they lost to Orlando. Crazy that we happened to shut Orlando down at our. home field, but, you know, things happen. Like we said, Providence Park. Yeah, Providence Park. There we go. Next game was Angel City versus Gotham. Interestingly enough, Angel City and Gotham tie at 0-0. Gotham had a chance to win it with a penalty kick. Guru Ritin. Baby girl, it was a nice place shot, but the goalie, she blocked it and kept it at 0-0. Shout out to Angel City. Their record doesn't show it, but they've been really pushing and they've been really doing. and well, so shout out to them. That was the last game of the weekend. Yeah, we are tied with 37 points at the Spirit, and above us is Gotham at 44.

Alan: 27:12

Well, and that brings us to what is coming up next. So, this next Friday, the thorns are playing at Gotham. We will not be there, obviously, because we're here local. We're not big enough to travel. Not in New Jersey.

Marissa: 27:32

Sorry, New Jersey. We're not there. But we will be watching that game.

Alan: 27:36

We should be able to watch that together. Yep. And then the week after that, you will be at the game. Yep. Sunday, September 6th.

Marissa: 27:46

We play Spirit at home. It's a big game. These next two games are big games. These are the, we play the rest of our season. The rest of our games, we're not playing top of the table teams. But these next two, we're not playing top of the table teams. But these next two, games are, we're playing literally the only two games are, the only two teams that are ahead of us in the standings. It's, it's big. We need these points.

Alan: 28:09

So, obviously we need the points, but like what specifically do we need to be looking for, you know, at Gotham, it's, you know, what are we going to be looking for? We're not at Providence Park. We don't have that home field advantage. So I think, so we did well.

Marissa: 28:25

We, I think, shut Gotham down to a two to a two-to-two tie. at Providence Park the last time we played them. And Gotham, the last few games, they look beatable. They don't look like the high, scary team that the points in the standing suggest they are. I mean, they are. They are a great team. But they're beatable. I think Soph, I think it's, this game is going to be Soph Wilson versus Tierna Davidson. Tierna Davidson is Gotham's centerback, and she is USA centerback. She is the best. centerback in our fucking league by a fucking long shot. She is the Gotham's captain. She is also incredible.

Alan: 29:08

Yeah, I know.

Marissa: 29:09

And so it's, this is, I feel like this is kind of one of the matchups. If I didn't want, if I wasn't, if I was a neutral, I'd be like, this is going to be fun to watch, but it's not going to be fun to watch, you know? And so, I mean, it is going to be fun.

Alan: 29:22

We were talking earlier about anxiety being a real thing. You know, we will, we'll see more of that in this game.

Marissa: 29:31

But, yeah, no, but it's, and so, yeah, so I think with Gotham, we need to definitely, like, what we did with Barbra Banda, we shut Barbra Banda down with Orlando, we can shut Kerr down. Kerr is not, she's more technical than Barbra Banda, but she is not as fast as Barbra Banda, and we happen to shut her down. With the spirit, we have home advantage. Also, the spirit are introducing all their, because they had five players out at WoffCon, which is the. That's a lot.

Alan: 29:59

Yeah, they had five players out.

Marissa: 30:01

They kind of took a dip, and now I feel like they're getting their players back. They're getting their strong bench back, so I feel like, we need to play our game. I feel like the way that we played the last three games, our defense is getting better. Hanks is going to come back in. We're going to get Turner back. We're going to get Raylan Turner back. We're going to get some speed back. We're going to get our wingers back. And Caiya Hanks, when she comes down, she adds so much width, with, with, with. width. With. Don't cut this. She adds so much width to our game because we play so center, you know, with Tordin and like, Flem, like, we're so good in the middle. We just need to be able to play on the sides. Sorry.

Alan: 30:44

And we are getting a bunch of our players back. Yeah, you know, we had a lot of people who were injured. You know, we have new injuries as well, but we are getting a lot of players back. And that's exciting. It is exciting.

Marissa: 30:55

And I feel like Vilahamn, like our new coach, like, don't forget that he is a new coach. coach. Like, he is a new guy to our team. He is new. Like, he has to... He's still figuring things out. He's still learning the players. But also, like, thornies, we have 37 points. Washington Spirit has 37. We're, you know, I, Gotham has...

Alan: 31:17

Well, and he, he diagnosed some of the same things that we had. Yes, exactly. The problems of the defense.

Marissa: 31:24

He listens to our podcast. Obviously. Obviously. This is where he's getting his tips from, just so you guys know. Yeah, even though he's.

Alan: 31:30

there's no way he's ever heard of us. Yeah, especially because I don't ask questions in the media thought. One day. One day, we will get there. Two weekends. Two weekends. Two weekends. You'll be there. Three weekends will both be there. Yeah, birthday weekend. Your birthday weekend. It's going to be a blast. It should be so good. Yeah, it's going to be a good time. And so, yeah, we will see you all next weekend. It's an early game. So maybe we'll record a little bit early. Yeah, we will. and we will talk to you all next time. Fuck, yeah.

Marissa: 32:06

And as always, all smiles, no injuries. Fuck, Seattle. Let's go fucking Thorns. Go, Thorns!