Home Opener 2024
Kara
0:15
Welcome to this week's episode of The Queen's Pitch. I'm Kara and I'm Bridgett. And
Bridget
0:19
welcome back to 2020 for Real Season. And we're so excited because we've got a great episode tonight because we had a win on a season opener. What do you think, Bridget, you got to go.
Kara
0:31
I got to go. I was very cold. It was probably one of it was, I want to say it was one of the best experiences in one of the worst, you know, just for the weather purposes, because I was just saying live with the wind. But I was excited with the atmosphere. I think there was 62,051 people or something crazy. And the atmosphere was really great. But the wind, the wind was a nightmare. But a win as a win as a win, how did it
Bridget
0:55
compared to that game where we got rained out like we all just sat in puddles?
Kara
1:02
I would rather sit in the rain, to be honest, because at least in the rain it was warm rain, you know, it was in the middle of summer. This was like so cold, like the wind was whipping so bad that I couldn't, I never I didn't sit down for the first half and it was just so cold. And then you would just take a break to go to the bathroom just so you could get like, you know, it's just something from the wind beating in the face. I would rather have been rained on. Yeah, my trailer been rained on and it could have just been like, I would have rather just been cold, because then you could wrap up with that. Wind was as whipping. But maybe the wind worked at our advantage.
Bridget
1:35
Maybe it was hard to see on the TV. The only thing I could tell was the fact that they, like they mentioned it, and the fact that they were like, well, this is why there's no tifo.
Kara
1:44
Oh my God, that was. What was that?
Bridget
1:46
Oh, well, does that mean they're not going to use it again? Like are we done. Do we not get to see it or are they going to repurpose it. I
Kara
1:52
think they're going to repurpose it. We'll have to add I mean, that'd be stupid not to use it, but they had like some black and blue because I set right like section over two. Section over. They had like a blue and black like. Papers for all of the people sent in supporter section to hold up. And they. I don't know what I was supposed to do, but the wind had blown them out of like order. So they were all hold it up, but it wasn't doing anything. It was just some black and blue. There was like a big bruise over there. So that didn't work out really well. So I'm thinking they're going to try it again. Maybe.
Bridget
2:23
Well. And on the TV you could see the blue really well, but it took me like I had a hard time seeing the black. So I just saw I saw two blue stripes. I
Kara
2:33
think it was supposed to go with the TiVo and says the TiVo didn't go up. And then the like, people are switching them in the seats. I don't know, you know, he can't really trust this. On the first game he cried. We try, you know. But some of us, you know, there was a lot of supporters that have been tailgating since 3:00 pm and it was, you know, windy. But it was a good time. But the, the Poznan was the best thing because like literally the entire stadium did it. And we were even on MLS last night, they retweeted us and said, you know, we're back. So I think that's awesome that we do that. That's what
Bridget
3:05
Jason said. He said it was all around the stadium. He was like, hey, you weren't even here to shout at our section. They did it all by themselves. 2s I was like, well, maybe they're catching on everybody.
Kara
3:16
Everybody wanted to do it. Everybody was ready. And then, like, I think you said you could see it on that. Enzo was bouncing around, bouncing around to it or something. But anyway, just so you know, everybody, if you haven't, the reason Carrie was not there was sort of taking care of our newest additions.
Bridget
3:30
Yes, but we had a baby last week, so not
Kara
3:35
waiting on her. On her husband did. Yes,
Bridget
3:37
he's part of the way,
Kara
3:39
and I understand, but, yeah, uh, I mean, it's nobody's getting very much sleep over here. And so I'll just say I'm sorry now. Yeah,
Bridget
3:47
we'll try to keep it together.
Kara
3:49
I won't talk about issues the whole time. And by the way, those shoes were popping last night, thank God, because I couldn't tell who was who. But back to the wind. You could tell the wind was gone because the fake refs, their flags on the sideline was just whipping. And they're not really fake refs. I just call them fake refs because it wasn't the refs out there. So I think some of the rules they didn't do last night, like if you fall down and get hurt, you didn't have to do that because of it. But I did like after the game when they had like extra time. The clock runs now. Yes. We didn't have to guess how many minutes we had left. That was awesome. That's
Bridget
4:22
great. With pro referees not being able to agree on salary and stuff with MLS. That's also why the VAR did not get read out by the referees. That's also why we have replacement referees right now. So in case any of you don't know about that news, it does mean that some of the other rules did get implemented, like the clock still went on, but not the VAR, which is sucky because it seems like every every game I watched so far this weekend there have gone to VAR and then they don't explain it. And so it's ah, but you know at least
Kara
4:58
I don't want to be. Ah so there's the ref on the field. Still get a choice or is it someone in the box that makes the decision. Repeat that again. So you know how usually the ref will go over to the side and get to look at like the box and just like does the way he did that. Okay, I don't know. I can't say yes,
Bridget
5:14
he did that on the TV. Okay. They're supposed to read out what they saw, and then they're supposed to read out the result and not just signal. They're just signaling because, you know, that's apparently that was an agreement with pro referees. And so if you're not peripheries you can't use it.
Kara
5:31
I think, you know, they did a pretty decent job. There was a couple times that the stadium decided to, you know, unleash the beast on them. But other than that, you know, I think overall they did a pretty good job on it. I have no complaints on their, their I mean, other than that one handball that wasn't really a handball, but not the one that was for the one against us. You know what I'm saying. That wasn't a handball
Bridget
5:53
or whatever. So Bridget, you want to go and sell your favor?
Kara
5:57
This match is so weird because we haven't done this format in so long. It's like, wait, what are we doing here? So my first favor of I wanted to say, I want a favor, everybody, but I can't. Um, do that. So my first favor this time, and I'm just going to start off with my. Just a shocker. Okay. I'm going to say, yeah, you're you're on is one of my favors because I first of all, I had pink shoes so I could see him and he's pretty and he was out there. I just feel like he was all over the place. I could see the him, all of us. He didn't do the inverted full back mask, which I'm so excited I get to watch a game without that. So I actually understood the like actual formations and stuff was pretty great. But he was all up the field. He was covering his side and he was doing what he had to do. I think he got a couple fouls against him or whatever, but I think that it was just nice to see a defensive back that was back there doing what he was supposed to do. And it wasn't a it wasn't a lot of craziness. And I just think that he brings a lot of warmth and leadership to that back on. And he was he was protecting us. And so I'm going to give my first weird one to era
Bridget
7:04
his job. This game seemed to primarily be, uh, defensive. And I don't just mean that because he's on the defense. I mean, in relation to Nathan Byrne, who did get up the pitch and, you know, most of the game to overlap and put crosses in. Yet I didn't have that drive almost apart. And I think that's probably because, you know he had Yuri in front of him. And so I think he was providing extra support on that side. Either that or there was someone on the other team who he was pretty much getting covered on, but it was really funny. At one point, I don't remember who they said it was someone on New York who was coming down and they were like, oh, he's trying to get around. Yeah, right. And then Gary sticks out a leg and like blocks it like really quickly. And they were like, oh, surprised he got that one. And I was like, he did block messy, right. 2s Like for those people that he didn't block Messi like he's good. Come on now. So I think the benefit of having Gary there is just you don't notice when he's doing a good job pretty much because like. If he's doing his job, then you don't see him. Right.
Kara
8:19
Other than the pink shoes. And if he didn't have the big shoes. Because. Shoes. But he was. He's really. I like his whole attitude on the team. He had an interview the other day, a presser like right before the practice, and he said that he loves to hear the Poznan before the game, too. That gets him excited and he likes it. And he said that he thinks that if you go out there and you play with with a with his is how he said it, if you have a smile on your lips, you play better. And I'm sure that you know, it was a translation thing. But anyway, he just said that and I feel like he goes out there and he smiles and he enjoys it and he's having a good time, but he's doing his job as a you can't really ask for much more.
Bridget
8:57
Yeah, no, I agree. And he had a number of fouls on him as opposed to committing fouls. And he had some great opportunities to block things into the box for Kalina. So he's his coverage on that side was really solid. And I can't wait to see like overall what an entire season of having him with us
Kara
9:19
provides. I'm excited about it. I'm excited about that and I'm excited about the whole backline. But anyway, that's for another discussion. Who is your first favorite of the night?
Bridget
9:28
It's pretty obvious because he's the man of the match. It's a Dylan Miranda Amanda. He did so amazing.
Kara
9:35
It was Kara and I and I just me that address a lot about the goals. So we as a team effort told Milan that he needed that. We wanted him to score a lot and he scored the first game. So yeah, there you go. Anyway, I wanted to make that clear. And
Bridget
9:49
he scored a preseason game two like right after we said that. So yeah, it's just he had those opportunities last year and briefly the year before. But every single time, like they just weren't going in, they were going over or something. And you could just see him trying, but you're like, oh, if only it would connect. Like just his luck coming in. The fact that he's starting to make. Goals happen this year, even if it's just right now. One in regular season play. It's just so great to see for him because he has been trying and he just hasn't had the luck yet. So and he was the only one to like follow through on that ball. And everyone thought had already gone in for Tavares and it was really hard to see the replay, made it bounce off the bar and then down and it didn't cross that line. And so Milan coming in after him, really following through. Otherwise we'd have tied. That's
Kara
10:48
my biggest thing is that he followed through. I'm a big follow through here. And so the fact that he didn't give up, well, first of all, isn't it awesome that you had. Well, I guess because it was a
Bridget
10:57
corner, right? It was a corner. Yeah. I Karen
Kara
10:59
and I'm like, I mean, your fact that your CBS up here scoring goals like we're adding like we like he should be scoring goals all the time. The thing isn't him, but the fact that he can get up there and actually score and he does it and then he like, I love falling through. Like I tell my kids that we tell our kids that's the biggest thing in Zion, like when they first started out as just follow through, keep falling through. So when they do it and it works, and he did. And he's so humble about it and he's just a humble guy. Period. How old is he? Like 23 something. Something ridiculously young. And he's running that back like he's a leader. And man, we are so lucky.
Bridget
11:40
He turned 22 in October
Kara
11:41
okay, well he's 22. He's 22. Run on the field. We got a 16 year old and a 22 year old. We got we have the young ones. Rather we're busting it out with the young
Bridget
11:49
ones. Adelson also had a number of really fantastic tools where he just happened to make it there. You know, him cleaning up with privet, their duo just really works. And so it's so nice to see because I, you know, they're helping each other. You know, that privet has made comments about how much Milana has talked to him and is working with him and their their partnership really is based on trust. He also had a number of clearances. He had some great tackles. He put his like what face body on the line in a way like didn't he get hit a few times and went down like he just played his little heart out and I'm so glad he got man of the match because he's been a staple. He's being a leader. Like if you don't have him there and as young as he is. It just offsets because of his maturity. And I also thought too, there was a number of times where Kaleena is calling him off the ball so that Kaleena can get it, and so that communication was really working well along that back line, especially with those three, which you really have to have and I think contributed to the clean sheet.
Kara
13:00
Yeah. This is our fifth one in a row. I mean if you count preseason it's pretty pretty tight. And that's another thing. Dean said that he told them for every clean sheet they get that the back line does he he will give them a bottle of wine. I'm sure. It's just so funny. Yeah. That's hilarious. And some someone asked Marlon to if it was going to be a French one, you know what I mean? Like, do they get to know which one is that? It was weird because when you. You're so scared. We were so used to last year tying and giving up a lead and, you know, mistakes being made on that back line. And it is the same back line as last year, pretty much. But this year when I was watching it yesterday, Marlon had on 1s him and he when it was happening I didn't have any fear like it wasn't the same fear. I don't know about everybody else, but it wasn't the fear like, oh my gosh, like, don't make a mistake. You know how he had last year? I had confidence in him. I had confidence in Milan, I had confidence and I knew I was going to start, by the way. And so I really like I think that a lot has happened on like a team leader. I mean, if I feel like if Wesley wasn't a captain, maybe Milan too might get it. He did get it one time, didn't he? And the preseason
Bridget
14:05
and preseason, yeah, it was a match we didn't get to watch. But yeah.
Kara
14:08
Yeah. So I think that Milan does become one of those big forces on the team. And we need the younger guys to step up because it's great that we have the experience in the West woods and the fields and the bricks, but we need those younger guys to step up and become leaders to. Down the road, and I think Martin takes it on him a lot, that he likes to be there and be a role model to other people
Bridget
14:28
too. So who's your other Favre man? Next, Favre is name for Bartimaeus. I don't really know how to say his whole first name, so I'm going to call a Nanfa. I don't even know if I said the pajamas, right, but I think I am. He turned 16 on Wednesday was Thursday, it was Thursday, and it was his MLS debut. And he went out there and he did a great job. He almost scored like we didn't always score, but he did have a shot. It didn't go in. And it was, you know not really. He just blocked his power.
Kara
14:55
Yeah. Right. But he got out there and I mean he was he's 16 freakin years old. Someone asked him if he was nervous to go out there and he said, no,
Bridget
15:03
I mean, he's not. But then the follow up was because he's played on the World Cup or the Bridget0 team. So he's like, you know, played on big stages as well. But he wasn't nervous. He said. He just went out there and he did what he could. And I just think that no, he didn't score, but I have to give him a favor because he went out there and he did the thing as a 16 year old out there on that field, and he wasn't making mistakes. He was doing a
Kara
15:29
good job. So I'm going to give it to him just because it was his debut and he's 16. Yeah,
Bridget
15:34
it was really cool to see him get this opportunity because we've seen that he has had the opportunities with the US youth national team and has scored for them, which has been really fantastic. And then he also had some opportunities in pre-season to get a goal, and so now he got to play in front of 60,000 fans or I guess whoever didn't leave at halftime because of the cold. Either way, he got to come out there and make his debut for the team that has been he's been representing but hasn't had that opportunity in the first team yet. And yeah, I think it was a good debut for him. I think maybe next time he'll get some more stability. I think it was kind of hard to know, like just just at the point of the game we were at, he was trying and I loved that the team was especially Enzo was like handing it off to him, and they were really trying to give him opportunities to to see what to make of it. And he were almost like, is he going to dribble around these three defenders? We'd like to see him do it. And he didn't get that. Um, he lost possession there. But still, you know, just the fact that. All right, let's let's see what he does for a few minutes because we know he can do things and just maybe give him some more room. But it's nice to get him out there, get him some minutes, and then at some point, maybe he'll get to start and we'll get to really see him. Take off and get to be creative. I think that's the most exciting thing about seeing him play, is that we know he can be creative and try different things, and sometimes fearlessly take on the opposition to get a result. I think
Kara
17:22
that he gets real along really well with Dean Smith. Dean Smith when I say Dean Smith that I always feel like I'm saying like the wrong name because I'm so used to saying Dean Smith. But anyway, so when he he said he gets along really well with Dean Smith and Dean, he really likes Dean a lot better than the last coach he can. He said that better about it, and Dean has a lot of faith in him and building him up. So I do think you will get to see him start soon. I misunderstood him, I thought that he said he would have started last night, but because of Patrick being out, then yeah, if I didn't get his start because he knew he needed his legs off the bench. But I'm not sure. But I just know that Dean has a lot of faith in him, and I think we're going to see him get to start this year. And I think it's amazing that he went straight from legacy to, I mean, did he even play on the legacy last year? I think like two games because he was too busy doing world stuff. Yeah. So then he just goes from there to straight to the big team, and he has to play in the first game of the season. Like, that's pretty dang awesome for a 16 year old that can't even drive yet. Yeah, I mean, we are short on wingers. So
Bridget
18:21
you know, that's what he plays so
Kara
18:23
hard that we only have one day for, you know, wingers.
Bridget
18:25
Right? Yeah. Right. It makes sense. Chances better. You know what you get. You get one shot. You gotta go do what you gotta do and you get a chance. So no, I think he would. I think he probably would have made a team eventually anyway because they had a lot of faith in him. I mean, hey, he's a he scored in the World Cup a couple times. For the team. For the team? Absolutely,
Kara
18:46
yes. We might even see this kid on, like, the actual us, you know, team one day. I don't I don't have a doubt. Maybe. And we can say, hey, he's a homegrown woo. I did I didn't notice one more thing about him I was listening to I forget who did an interview with him, but he said that when he was growing up, he's like 16. But when he was like 12, his dad would drive him an hour and a half to practice every single day.
Bridget
19:11
Oh my goodness. An
Kara
19:13
hour and a half every day. Monday through Friday, his dad would get off work or and go pick him up and then drive him to practice, which was an hour and a half away, let him practice and then drive back every day like I saw what I did for my kid was a lot for being on three soccer teams, and we go everywhere. But I don't know about driving an hour and a half a day for,
Bridget
19:30
yeah, that's some commitment that his family has has put to that. That's wow.
Kara
19:37
You know what I'm saying. So I mean that's a lot I mean, way to go parents because I don't know about all that. But he said that his dad was there last night and his siblings. So that was great. Oh well, I'm glad they got this in and I'm glad he got to do that. Okay, so who's your second flavor? My
Bridget
19:51
next flavor is another debut for the crown. It's Junior Urso. He's a new fielder. The bear. Right. The bear? Yes, obviously because of his name. That's an easy nickname. I guess that he picked up before
Kara
20:04
us or so is something like a constellation in the sky. And the constellation is a bear. So that's where it came from. That's
Bridget
20:11
what I was referring to. Okay,
Kara
20:13
well, I'm sorry, I'm slow. Okay. Anyway,
Bridget
20:15
it's Ursa major. Ursa minor. Oh, look at that. You
Kara
20:18
know it. I don't anyway. Okay,
Bridget
20:20
care. 1s That's right. That is the smart one. An art record. I was just like Danny told me the other day. I was like, oh my God, that is so cool. Like I'm supposed to know what a freaking constellation is. But I guess you do. I just 2s I thought maybe he was in big trouble, dude. Oh,
Kara
20:38
there. Anyway. Go ahead.
Bridget
20:39
I really liked what we saw from him last night. You know, we haven't gotten the opportunity to see him very much, even in preseason, you know, when he was still a trialist and we recently signed him last minute. So seeing him get to debut in front of 60,000 fans and start was also kind of a testament to how much I think Dean Smith saw in him to let him get that opportunity to start, because again. He's brand new, and a lot of the players that I've been watching, you know, who aren't DPS essentially on other teams and stuff, like they're not starting. Granted, we're a little short, but you know, we've got we've got a few midfielders who you might see in that different spot, but the fact that he let him start and then play the full 90, I think also was like, okay, he this man is solid. He really likes his leadership. He wants to be here. And man was he pesky to New York. So I really liked that. What we saw from him, he has a similar spirit I think to Brent Bronco. You know sometimes Brent can be all over the place and just, you know, constantly battling. He'll get fouls and fouls on him. I think we saw that same thing from Urso. And I also think that, you know, we had a couple chords yesterday. Um, and so there were times where you were like, uh, are we going to pick up another one? And luckily Urso did not get a second yellow. You know, he kind of seems like with his experience and years of experience in MLS. He just told the line, do not get that second yellow.
Kara
22:21
I think his reputation is that he does get a lot of yellows. I think that's something I read about him. Maybe, um, that he gets a lot of, you know, what we need is someone to do that. Like we don't have our yellow person. We don't have to pull the yellows. We don't have to pull the yellows. Enzo is not flopping around on the ground this year. So we need we needed someone to pull. The job is not here, so we need someone to pull our yellows for us.
Bridget
22:43
Well, and I think Brandt often does that too, at times. And I don't mean because any you know, it's not attitude or anything. It's just
Kara
22:51
that's your job is to do.
Bridget
22:52
Oh yeah. Exactly. And so I thought there was one play in particular where, you know, he almost pulled off a really nice shot too, which I didn't expect from just his, his play and everything. And he also had some really excellent tackles that saved our bacon a few times. So as far as a debut for the Crown, you know, I think hopefully he convinced some people last night that he's a great addition to our squad.
Kara
23:20
I think you did. I think a lot of us were like not sure of him. And then he came out here and he held his own and he did. He did it. He did what we needed. We missed our Bronco, but we had her so? So. Now, now, what are you going to do when Veronica is healthy? I mean, you guys are. You got two options that are great there to play that position well.
Bridget
23:37
And you've also got, you know, he can alternate with Westwood and you've got a Donny hopefully coming back. And they're all similar with this physicality.
Kara
23:47
And Bender maybe one day
Bridget
23:48
Bender I see a little bit more forward playing.
Kara
23:51
Is it ever a swing of forward and what is a forward. First of all because I was arguing my daughter just sorry I started dragging. Like people might not know this as listening. Okay. Like I was arguing with my daughter about what mess he was and she thinks he's a winger and he is not a winger because I didn't ever see his happy little about how they're winging it up like everybody else. But I guess he does play wings on them. But then he says he's a forward. So what's the difference in a forward and a striker like do? Here's our forward.
Bridget
24:16
So anyone who plays offense is a forward. Oh
Kara
24:20
so everybody's a forward except for the back line.
Bridget
24:23
No it's it's just position wise. So it's defender midfield forward striker is a type of forward
Kara
24:29
and a winger the forward to correct. So Messi could be that
Bridget
24:34
it. Messi is typically a midfielder.
Kara
24:36
That's what I thought. But if you look at somebody said he was he's probably
Bridget
24:40
playing a different position too. But okay.
Kara
24:43
I thought he was a midfielder and I was arguing about that, but somebody said he's a forward and I was like, well, that's a I don't know.
Bridget
24:49
He plays in the forward. He that cam role can kind of it's in between both okay and sometimes Bender plays that but he also plays more of a winger is what we've been playing him as. Even though that's my thought he can play on the wing. He could be one of our wingers maybe. Okay, sorry I tried to stop there.
Kara
25:08
I needed to know that it was unplanned. Yeah, but it was important. You know, it was important for me to know what? What's the more wise? Because now I don't need to know what inverted fullbacks are. I need to know what wingers are.
Bridget
25:21
Oh, wait.
Kara
25:22
Goodness gracious. Hey, it's the first episode. We gotta do what we gotta do. Okay? You want to? I don't know how many rats. I mean, I have rats. You don't have
Bridget
25:31
even one. Well, I guess you'd just be wrath the weather already.
Kara
25:35
Well, okay. My wrath is killing it. And I'm just going to be like, every other year. It's my wrath. Not. He's not my wrath. This time I don't really, honestly, I didn't watch it. I mean, I was really happy with everybody, I don't. I mean, the only thing I like, I wanted to give Enzo like a mini arm momentum, but the only thing I would rath was his like with the ball. Well, you gotta make those bro. Like oh my gosh, oh my gosh, he was so mad. I was mad at him, okay, I was mad. It was open like a whisper. And that's probably the only thing I'll rath. Okay. That went so fast though. That play was so fast, I almost didn't realize he whiffed it like I had to see it multiple times. We were all like watching because we were like, oh my God, it was right there in front of me. So that's how I could see it. And it was like, oh my God, the goal is open. Go, Enzo! Do it. You got this. Like, all you gotta do is tap the dang thing. He wished
Bridget
26:28
I was like he had to get some body part on it and it's just eating
Kara
26:31
it. Nothing. He's straight up with it. No wonder he told, oh, I love it. It's okay, it's okay. You gotta make that big as long as my happy. But couldn't even kick the ball in the car when it was wide open.
Bridget
26:42
That was probably my only. You did try. He put his whole body on there trying to make that momentum happen, but he just he couldn't get it off. Bless his heart.
Kara
26:50
That's probably my only real, real rest is I. I didn't really see a lot of mistakes out there that, I mean, other than the fact that we didn't have possession of the ball, I think we had like 38% of the time. That's it. I think that we need to work on that. But other than that, I don't really I can't say I can't say somebody messed up real bad.
Bridget
27:10
You might think that. Well, why didn't you Rath Kerwin. Right. Yeah. Because he had a tough night. Because I wanted
Kara
27:17
to kick people on their down. And then that's what the rats are, 2s right? Yeah.
Bridget
27:23
Sorry. It's pretty much. I'm hitting
Kara
27:25
it back in the routine of our episodes. Okay, okay. Let's start rhythm.
Bridget
27:28
Yeah. And I think it's a pretty obvious, like, poor Kerwin, he had a bad night. Other than the fact that in some cases, he's credited with that assist for Milan does goal. He he had multiple chances that didn't come off. He got a card he had that missed PK that he asked to
Kara
27:50
take. Yeah he was off.
Bridget
27:51
It was uncharacteristic of him to be one off his game when he was trying so hard to not be, and then also to get emotional about it on the pitch. Like that is not like him either. So I really think that he.
Kara
28:13
But he's a young guy too, you know what I mean? He's like 22 or 21. He's still young. We forget that he's super young. And I agree because like Dean Smith tried to give him a little he like grabbed his head. But he came on. I was like give him a little pep talk. He was like, hey, everybody in this stadium has failed at their job at one point in time, you know, you're okay. And then you see Kerwin, like literally push him away. Like, get out of my face, you know? No, I don't really like that.
Bridget
28:39
That's not the way I saw it from the replay. Um, I saw it like. Yeah, I know, but I'm. I'm still upset about this. I didn't see it at negatively, I
Kara
28:49
saw it. I mean, I get that you like he he missed it, but, like, why did it bother him so bad.
Bridget
28:55
Well, so I don't know if you read Football Friday that Carter wrote this week, but he actually invited a class from South Mac to the game last night. And so he had a class of teenagers who? The teacher. They're all native Spanish speakers who had come to Charlotte but didn't, like, necessarily speak English, like they're all coming from these variety of Latin countries. And so they were in this class and wanted to talk to essentially a native Spanish speaker. And they contacted Kerwin while he was in Colombia and got to like video chat with him. And so they like bonded. And he talked about, you know, what it's like as a soccer player. And he invited them to the game. And so he had this, I think extra pressure because he really wanted to do such a good job in front of these teenagers who were looking at him. And just as a role model, which is amazing. And I I'm so glad that they got to come and they probably had an excellent time, but it's just rough that he had such pressure on himself. I think for that, and I think that's why he took it so hard. Because yeah you're right. Like that's not that's not a normal care
Kara
30:13
when at least it shows passion. It shows passion. But we weren't losing at the time. It wasn't like he had to make it for us to win or that it had to be done. So that's why I was like, I get that he had pressure on him, but it wasn't like it could have been, you know what I mean? Like, we you miss PCAs. People miss PCAs. That's just a given. You're not gonna make them all the time. So for him to take it so to heart was just like, whoa, dude, you know? But like you said, I guess that that could add a lot of pressure. And he just wanted to do a good job. I
Bridget
30:43
think he was just really trying to score and trying to make something happen. And sometimes where he didn't quite hand it off the way you would expect him to or
Kara
30:53
cross it a lot like being in this.
Bridget
30:55
Yeah, he he didn't connect a lot of his crosses. Not that he had some bad ones or anything necessarily. But you know, he had some big chances essentially, and some key passes and a dribble attempt. And he just didn't get the result that he wanted for himself. I was just tough. And but he did get the penalty. I mean the penalty was on him. And so he was like, all right, I want to try for me.
Kara
31:18
And you see, I gotta give him a hug. I don't
Bridget
31:21
know if I think they all tried to encourage him,
Kara
31:23
but not like before the penalty before he did. The PK cleaner came out on the goal, went over there in the middle while I was doing the VAR, I was all huggy hugs. Yeah, I was like, get back in your goal. Not just getting that out, but that's what he was doing. He was one hug. He gave him a hug. I thought he hugged Enzo, but I'm thinking it was hard for me to tell Enzo apart from Caroline, to be honest, because that purple shoes didn't stand out like that he had on. And Enzo doesn't have the colored hair, so it doesn't help. And they both had on whatever. But I was having a hard time finding out who was who, but Enzo was there for for Caroline, so I really like that bond they have.
Bridget
31:58
Yeah. And you would have expected Enzo to take that pick, but Caroline asked for it, so, you know, and not only that, but like, he was so emotional right after that that I was almost expecting him to get pulled because of how. Getting his brain in here after all of that seemed tough for him, but I think it was a testament to how much I think Dean has bonded with these guys, and just watching in his maturity, too, that he was like, okay, I'm going to let you I'm going to pull you out when you stabilized.
Kara
32:32
Yeah, not right when it happened. So it looks like embarrassing, not like the humidity of cool out last when it was embarrassing to him. Well,
Bridget
32:41
I mean, again, we don't know. But he gave him an opportunity to mentally get himself back in gear because he had the PK. He got upset. He had another foul. Pretty rough foul right after that that he committed. And you could just tell that he he was losing his cool. And it's not like year one. Year one usually is pretty positive, pretty hard worker and not usually emotionally carrying that a lot of weight on his shoulders for this game. And I think for some, you know, possibly because he, he had some special guests there that he might have been. But, you know, I think he doesn't get a Roth today from us because you're going to have bad
Kara
33:22
games. There's your other half then, or who is your best.
Bridget
33:26
So I have I have too many rats. First of all, I don't think anybody played poorly. I was pretty proud of how everybody played, I think. A brief mention was like, I think Enzo was being a team player yesterday. And so I think there were opportunities where you could have expected him to play a little better, but he was being a team player and handing it off. I can't fault him for that. I think also Brecht had some trouble yesterday. He wasn't quite as visible and either didn't get the passes to him that I kind of would have expected with a guy of his talent. So I'm not sure what that was about, but I think he was more invisible than he should have been. I would have hoped to see a little more from him forward wise, and he either he just didn't get the service or something, but my actual wrath many. Raph goes for the first. Was it third minute or something when you're each of Arsh who made his debut, congratulations. He did not hand the ball off to Enzo and that first he he chose to take it himself when the smart choice would have been to hand it to Enzo, and you could see Enzo get upset about it naturally, like he was open and it was a great opportunity. He
Kara
34:41
didn't say anything towards the end, he just got mad.
Bridget
34:43
That's the only thing. I think Tomasz had a great game otherwise, was really proud of how the rest of what he played, he played had some really nice tricks.
Kara
34:50
I think. In his interview after, he said he was super nervous to play in front of that many people, he never played in front and I don't think and honestly, I like the way Dean said it. I don't think Tavares thought he was starting like, I don't think he thought, I'm hey, I'm going to be a starter all week. So I think it was something that was thrown on him, you know, towards the end of the week. And he was like, Holy crap on that start, you know, my first MLS game. And yeah,
Bridget
35:10
what an amazing opportunity for him.
Kara
35:12
Yeah. He was excited that he got to do it. You know he was like I'm so nervous. So I think that led to like because I was at the very beginning. So I think he was he was fairly nervous. You could tell he's not he can't play a full nine year. And he did get kind of worn out and like 89th minute. Yeah. But you could tell you it's going a little slower. Yeah. Towards the end. But that's okay. That'll come with time. He speaks Portuguese but he's trying to speak English so. And he does his interviews. He wants you to talk to him in English so you can try to figure it out. I think that's really neat. I like it when those guys try to do that. You know, how they try to interact with the fans. And I think also Westwood had said that Tavares, like he had had tragedy and I think Carroll followed up with it. But someone in his family had passed away just like two weeks ago or something. So it was very emotional night for him as well. And he thought he scored. He did. And and they asked somebody even asked him I don't know why people ask him questions like this, but they were like, what did you say when you found out you didn't score? And it was really Milan, you know, like, what was he going to say? You know, he said, I mean, just
Bridget
36:13
the attempt, he
Kara
36:14
just said that he was happy that that we won. So it really didn't matter who scored to go. At least it was. I mean, he wasn't gonna say I pissed, you know, or anything like that, but he didn't even get the assist though. Carrying on this is. That's stupid because if it wasn't for Tavares, then he wouldn't have got it. So I just think that's dumb. But he's a really nice guy and he wants to play for the team and he's, you know, in the first team. He went from being a legacy player like we had a whole I saw the Charlotte name and it said it said uh, Charlotte FC goes out there and wins with all the legacy and players and free agents.
Bridget
36:49
That was funny. I'm like, I thought about it. I'm like in them one deep, you know, we pulled it off on
Kara
36:55
BP one day and a bunch of legacy players and a 16 year old. Yeah, we beat you, New York. Who's your daddy? No, I'm kidding anyway.
Bridget
37:05
I know I thought one of the things that Tavares did like, I can't wait to see more from him because I think he was trying different things. The one thing I think that was lacking for him was just straight up chemistry. Like he doesn't always know where, you know, people around him are going to be. And I think that's the same problem that are so had because they haven't had enough time really to play together in this formation. Enough. And again, he didn't he might not have known he was starting. And that's some kind of pressure. So I will say like he pulled it up like after that first goof, he was like, oh, okay, I gotta not do that. And then he like really settled down and had just a really great game. I really enjoyed some of the plays that he, he made. And even though I think we were purposely not trying to attack up that left side pretty much to not put so much pressure on him, I think Carron had oh, most of that for him or to Enzo. So, you know, maybe we'll get to see Yuri get some more opportunities there. But I think as something on that side, I think the needs to become stronger for the attacking. And maybe that's with Yerry or so and Yuri all together just building that chemistry. So I can't wait to see what we play against for Vancouver. But that was my wrath for the players. My other mini wrath was for the poor ref, who did not seem to understand that Brecht's elbow was attached to his body and a full form like it was not.
Kara
38:40
Yes, I was talking about that I thought was the refs didn't do a good job on 2s it. Was I you should have heard
Bridget
38:48
German. German going off
Kara
38:50
textbook. He did. Right. Goes like textbook like how
Bridget
38:53
you tell people to do it right. Like they're having their back do it that way. Yeah. You're like, that's exactly what anyone does off of a what was off of a free kick. Like that's what you do.
Kara
39:04
You teach them that. And when they're starting out in soccer. Right. Like that's that part was crazy.
Bridget
39:10
So that that would be my one wrath was that was stupid. And otherwise I, you know, didn't get too upset at the refs this match, but that one deserve to ref. You suck. So I was cheering on the crowd as they were. Oh, I was like, I'm telling people
Kara
39:29
it wasn't as aggressive as it has been. You know, with that they said that. No, you know, but but it did come out well. They were
Bridget
39:36
calling things. He was calling things and he was. Not being unfair. It felt pretty fair, except for that one. Carl, which didn't feel didn't feel accurate. I wasn't sure when these rifts how we would get like what it would be like, you know what I mean? You could either go one way or the other. They don't call anything at all, or they call it or they get, you know, call happy. And this one, they just seemed like they just did normal and more to be seen.
Kara
40:01
Yeah. We'll see if the refs decided to do what they got to do. So this week we get to go play the Canadian teams I guess
Bridget
40:07
we get to go play Vancouver. That's next. And actually Vancouver hasn't played yet. They have not had their season opener. So we will be their season opener. Are they gonna bow next week. 1s Mhm. Yep. They didn't get to play. We play them next next Saturday. And good luck to the team as they get to travel a lot in the next weeks. I
Kara
40:32
wonder if they're going to stay out there right. Do you think they'll stay there for the whole week. I don't know because I played they play Vancouver and then we played Toronto. So we played both in falls in the same name. We. Yeah,
Bridget
40:43
but we have to travel all the way across the
Kara
40:45
West. I mean, 1s do you think that that's what I think. Like, I don't know if it'd be smart for them to travel home after Vancouver and then to travel all the way back to Toronto?
Bridget
40:55
Yeah. Bless them, they're gonna freeze. But they thought it was cold in Charlotte.
Kara
40:59
Yeah, right. That wind. At least they got some experience. Because, you know that wind it like is it Toronto that that wind does that.
Bridget
41:06
Uh yeah. That was the game. Yes.
Kara
41:09
That the wind's in there. I don't like how you got
Bridget
41:12
the Olympic. Oh
Kara
41:14
Georgia got to play that game I like that. But anyways yeah. So we get to go play the Canadians. The Canucks. Is that what they call. Oh we gotta go play them. But we won.
Bridget
41:24
Is it. Yeah a season opener first home game. Yeah. And that's amazing.
Kara
41:28
And we haven't ever won a home game. We never scored in the first game blah blah. But Dean said even Dean said we can drop that now because we've done it. It's over with. We've won the first season, first game of the season, we've scored the first game of the season and now we can move on. Yeah,
Bridget
41:44
and 60,000 ish or less fans got to see it. So hopefully we've converted some more fans. They don't
Kara
41:52
do that song afterwards anymore. They do a different song after. They don't do the LA, they do something else, and then they also do Whitney Houston's I Want to Dance to Somebody, which, you know, that was my first song because the EP we
Bridget
42:04
did Don't Stop me now by Queen.
Kara
42:06
Yes, they did that, but then they did the whole I want to dance to somebody, I want to hear soon. They're gonna do that too now. And I'm excited about that one, because that takes me back to my childhood days. Now. If they lose, I don't know if I would want to dance. I probably won't punch my nose. But we're winning. We're going to get I think we're going to do good this year. I have I have an optimistic and optimistic optimism. What do you think about this year? What would be your impression after this first game?
Bridget
42:32
I'm hoping we get some better depth. I just think that it's really nervy to play with what we're playing with right now, with some key people out, with our depth being so low and winger. I like playing with our younger guys. I like that they get opportunities. We had four debuts. Congrats to uh uh, Joe Pedro as well for getting his debut last night, but it's just really scary. With the year we had last year to not have more signings, more, more wingers. Hopefully we've got, you know, another month or two to put some more men on the books. But that's that's really the thing that I'm worried about. Just because there's there's a lot of games this year and with MLS rules like I just with having injuries the way we did last year, we're going to go down like flies. If we had another year with the men we have now. And I don't like that. Like the bench last night was 1s extremely young.
Kara
43:36
Do you think that's why he didn't sub? You know, like, well, we didn't really need it. But do you think that's another reason that we didn't have as many subs is because there were young guys, and you don't want to put your young guys in with A10 lead going into the end of it. You don't want to do that. Do you think that's why he didn't sub as many? Or was it just that we didn't need
Bridget
43:55
to? I think we didn't need to. I think what he did was I think he was balancing. Do you think we
Kara
44:01
have a sub for Enzo if he ever needs to come out, which you know how that that role.
Bridget
44:05
That's an interesting question. Since RG man was out and RG wasn't on the bench like I expected RG man to maybe be on the bench just uh, even if he didn't go in. It sounds like you was like oh and so you're fine if you can play the full 90. I don't know who they would have put up up there for him. That's kind of what made me nervous, because I felt like the the bench skewed pretty much defensively. Something
Kara
44:28
like Enzo goes down, you don't really have a person to put in there. Like especially if Patrick is not even on the bench. Enzo goes down. We didn't we didn't. What do I
Bridget
44:39
do? Well, and not only that, but putting in job Pedro for Yuri was here is a winger like gel. Page was a defender.
Kara
44:48
That was that
Bridget
44:49
kind of thing.
Kara
44:51
Well. Our defense played really well, but they were they were on their toes the whole night. And we can't continue to play games where our defense has to work that hard because the more pressure like they're eventually going to make a mistake. That's just life. That's just a given. You can't, like, clean it and have a lot of shots on him, which was great because our defense was doing so well. But you can't expect Milan to improve it and burn, and you had to do that every week, come in and out like you've got to give them back up. You've got to help them. The midfield has got to push that ball forward to the final third and you've got to have that. And I'm just having the ball like 38% of the time is not going to do it. For me. Like that just isn't going to work. Like you have to have a lot more
Bridget
45:34
than that. We came out out the gate pretty with a lot of momentum, but I do think there were times where it was really nervy with having New York with a lot of the momentum for a big stretch of the game, especially on that tail end, and that possibly was why JP came in. But. 1s I mean, 1s getting that back, I think there was opportunities in the midfield where we just weren't winning those second balls. Kudos to to New York for trying. And I thought their their goalkeeper had a good night. 2s But you know that's that's one of the things like I can't say right now that I feel like we're the best team we can be obviously. I think there are definitely things to work on. I think the result was amazing. But I think I still think it can kind of go either way. I don't think we have enough umph that I feel really confident. I think that's. That's to me where I really missed Carol.
Kara
46:38
I did miss Carol. I know that me and her different. That I did not miss Carol. I didn't I
Bridget
46:44
missed his work right in the middle.
Kara
46:46
That's pretty. I think that would be my wrath is I didn't I know that. Well, that one time actually was running around the field. He looked like he looked like a little barn, except he was obviously. But, um, he was just he went from the back to the front like he was so fast. I didn't know he had it in him. I was like, oh my gosh. He like literally busted out. Ashley was doing the thing last night, but other than that, the midfield was pretty much non-existent in my book. Like they didn't make any mistakes, but they weren't doing anything to progress the ball, you know, so I didn't even notice them. Period. Like, I don't even know what Scotty did when he was in there.
Bridget
47:19
I mean, he wasn't in there for very long, but I mean, I
Kara
47:21
know that I don't even know what he did it, honestly. And I mean, Brad did really well, I think. And, you know, I think they all did their part, but it wasn't like. They were making things happen, if that, if that makes any sense. They weren't making it happen for Enzo or Caroline. I just don't feel like they were doing their thing like they could do. If we're going to win. Right.
Bridget
47:40
There was there was something. That's why I mean, that's why I was saying that. Like, to me, Brett felt more invisible than I wanted for him. And Arfield certainly came in and did the exact same thing. So you got to think like maybe it was positioning, maybe it was whoever was nearby them all for New York. But that's where to me that needs to connect better and that needs to be more visible and have, uh, just better connections overall. But it is true that most of the connection to Enzo came on that right side. So I think just our, our shape was a little wonky. Yeah, our, our passing connections were a little wonky there. But as far as like the complaint last year where we had we kept going backward, kept going backward, kept going backward, playing it slow. I would say we didn't do that. And that was really exciting to see. So maybe it just it's, you know, it's the first game. Let's just give him time. Yeah. That's what I'm going to do because I think they did really well. They won the game. They did what they had. Like I think we're like the little engine that could the underdog. Obviously we're the underdog of the season because a lot of pundits say that we are going to be the worst. But we won the first games. 1s Guess who's better? We're better than New York right now. And then a lot of other teams that lost. So we're not at the bottom right now, so we're going to take it and go with that. But I think we're like the little engine that could. And I think it's a lot because Dean Smith has instilled that into the guys. And so anyway, that's all I have to say on that. I know I'm getting wrapped up anyway. I don't
Kara
49:06
care. Like wrap it up now anyway. So we're glad that you listen. Oh, by the way, it's been a year now. We've been doing this a year. So we want to thank all the listeners that have stuck with us through the year. Happy anniversary to Quincy. Yay. And so thanks, um, for everything that y'all done for listening to us. And we hope to bring more content. We're not going to get fancy and do YouTubes and all that because that's not us. But we do have to bring a little bit more stuff this year. And um, we just appreciate everybody. I am more excited and congratulations to Cara and her her newborn.
Bridget
49:36
Yeah. So we had to have some great plans this year. Um, hopefully for some better interviews and things like that. Um, coming your way. But you got to give me some time because, uh, I, I need some more time to adjust to having a newborn, um, to pull off those things.
Kara
49:52
So just keep me calm until then. Um, and, you know, Cara doesn't go off on me for losing it, but I will do it. But we appreciate everybody listening. We have a great week. We hope that we beat Vancouver. And we'll talk to you after that game. Bye bye. Peace out.