Bridget
0:15
Welcome to the 9th episode of Queen Pitch podcast. I'm Bridget. And I'm kara. And today we are here to discuss the Toronto versus Charlotte FC game and the wind and everything else that came with this game. I think it was a super cold game. 37 degrees at the kickoff with 30 miles per hour winds. I definitely don't think I would have want to be a fan in those stands today.
Kara
0:39
Yeah, I think I would have definitely frozen and been very ugly. So you can understand why Toronto kind of went down there with their fan atmosphere and enthusiasm.
Bridget
0:49
Hey, it was just nice to see that their fan atmosphere, they felt kind of like we do at home, especially against the refs, but we can talk about that later. But that was pretty hilarious. So this week, Carol, let's start off with talking about the Crown Legacy game that was last Sunday. Kind of go through the week as chronologically as we can. I know we're talking about going to the Crown Legacy game last Sunday, and we did go, and we pretty much saw a whole Charlotte SC lineup starting the Crown Legacy Game last Sunday.
Kara
1:16
Yeah, it was really a fun match. We saw lots of kids, lots of fans. I mean, there was definitely still room. There was celebrity sightings with members of the first team, supporter groups really cheering for Crown Legacy. And, yeah, I thought it was a fun game. I think it came. 1s Less expectations because of, like, last year. So it to me felt like it was just there for the fun of it. So it really made you enjoy the game.
Bridget
1:44
It felt like an exhibition game, kind of like, here's a B lineup, team, new uniforms out here on the field, but you kind of had like the kind of high school feel to it. You were really close to the players, and the kids really loved it. They could be right there on top of it. Yeah, it was really neat. I liked how the fan interaction with the players and with what's going on in the game. It was really nice not having so much of a barrier like it is in the bank of America Stadium. I
Kara
2:11
agree with that. Yeah. I think it was really nice for a lot of those kids just to be able to be like, I can finally see over all these grown ups and move up to the front and see things if they wanted to and run around if they wanted to and not really get as much in front of other people. And they just get to see soccer being played for fun. I feel like a lot of bank of America is there's a lot of people there. There's a lot of adults, but the kids are the one who are out there playing because they want to one day hopefully be them. So 1s it's just so encouraging for the love of the game in this area to have multiple of these events to go to and for the kids and the youth in the sport to be able to see that right in front of them. It's just really inspiring to meet the people they admire on the pitch.
Bridget
3:03
Definitely. And I went again on Friday night, too. It was very much so less crowded Friday night than it was on Sunday, so the kids really had a great time. If you have a family and you don't get to go to so many of the Charlotte FC games because it can be quite pricey. 1s You should definitely take up going to some of these legacy games, because it's only $15 a ticket. $10, I think a ticket, if you're a season ticket holder, and it's well worth your money. It's just a lot lighter of a crowd. And then also, I think it's the thing where after every match, the players sign autographs, so it's really neat and it gets the kids to interact with the players. I know on Friday night, I was watching some of the plays go down brandon Cambridge and Jack Neely, and some of the little kids were talking about being off sides, and they were like, I want to say eight or nine. And they're little boys on the front, and they were arguing with each other about it being off sides or not. And it was just really cool because it's showing these kids that, look, one day we can be them, too. And it's giving them a little bit of a better access to the professional
Kara
4:03
level. Yeah, and teaching them about the game, too, like they get to make their own understanding of the calls that happen in the game and what's happening on the pitch right there with their favorite players. I will make a note that it is $10 for a Ticket for the whole season if you're a season ticket holder. So if you buy season tickets to Crown Legacy, it's $10. But I think if you can get the early bird rate before the match, that sometimes the Chris Ballard yes. Shares out. I think it was like twelve or 13 then. But be aware that ticketmaster will get you for at least $6 in taxes and fees, just so you know, because that's what happened to me last time. But I mean, still, if you're comparing, especially if you do have a family, it's a lot more family friendly atmosphere. Especially with the fact that you can get up with your kid and walk around and not really be in the way, or you can let your kid play off to the side or something while still being able to watch the match, which I really enjoyed, even though I do have to say I'm sorry. My kids sometimes one of them. 1s He needs a little bit of extra understanding. So just sorry, he got some people wet. Just a little bit. I made him stop. But you can never tell a
Bridget
5:19
keynote if you buy the ticket at the gate and not through the online app. It's still only $15 straight, and you don't have to pay taxes. So, also, about the Legacy Game, just to get back into the first one that there was, we got to see Ben Bender and Chris Hagart play and start, and then Sobasinski started, as well as Jack Neely. So a lot of the first team started.
Kara
5:41
Yeah, we saw Ajimang Cambridge virtimas, private Scardina and diop.
Bridget
5:48
Yes, we got to see a lot of them. It was just a different group than you normally see out on the field at bank of America. But I did know that when I saw that Bender was playing, I saw Hagart, they did play really well. And I think I mentioned to you and to Danny from the Charlotte soccer show that with lady being there, which we didn't know he was there, but I guess at the whole time, lady was there and so was Fooch that these two guys were getting their playing time so that they could fill in or do whatever they needed to do at the MLS games. And it seemed to come to fruition this week when Brent Bronco got suspended.
Kara
6:21
I feel like the last game that he played for the first team with Bender, we were like, this is a different vendor, this is a different vendor. Maybe we'll see if he gets more minutes. And I feel like every single opportunity that he's been given, he has shown that this is a different vendor. And I think results tonight only cemented that fact. Correct. You know what? Who else I really liked getting to see out there? I think it'll be interesting to see who gets some more minutes on the first team. I think Brandon Cambridge has done really well for his opportunities. He's had three goals of the four that we've had, and so it'd be really interesting to see what games he gets in, I think. Not that any of the Crowley guys didn't do well. I think the one thing that we're kind of on the fence about is that we still haven't seen from what we watched, and I watched the game online on Friday, is we have not seen Sobaccinski showing the way we would expect him to get into the first team. So anyone who is, I guess, banking on that, keep
Bridget
7:22
hoping. I don't mean any harm by saying this, but I thought Sobasinski did a great job last year at the end. So I've been wondering where he's at. And then I was like, yeah, he gets a start. He's getting his minutes. This is going to prove that he can do it. I just didn't see it. And then again, for Friday night when I watched it, I just feel like he's got a lot more work and I wouldn't be surprised if come summertime, he may not be on the team anymore.
Kara
7:43
And then I also think he got an injury Friday night and got pulled
Bridget
7:46
out. Oh, yeah. He was so mad. He wanted to go back in and he couldn't. And then he stood on the sideline forever and ever and ever. We were like, Why is he not going back in? And then they subbed him. He's got a lot of work to do if he's going to come back to the big leagues. And I wish him luck because I thought he did a great job at end of last year. I wouldn't be surprised if I saw if Jack Neely didn't get put up first, though, because Jack's really tough and he's really good and really aggressive. Of
Kara
8:10
the legacy players, Jack Neely is one of my favorites. Like, I am now a hardcore fan. My other favorite is of course, Romero. Every single time you saw him come in, the whole roar went up from the crowd and I can't wait to chant maybe one day again. Row mirror, row mirror, allah, the Chelsea game because he's just so cool to watch play. I really didn't feel like he got the ball enough Friday, but we did see him get some touches Sunday. Yeah, my
Bridget
8:38
daughter got to get his autograph and get a selfie with him on Friday night, so she was beyond herself. She said she looks like a kid in that picture and he looks like an old man. And I'm like, wait a minute, he's only like 15 or 16 and you're ten, so let's take that back. But he does have a little mustache now, so he's cute and he's so friendly and he signs all the autographs for people and he was just running around. So I can't wait to see good things out of him as well. Yeah. Don't be looking for them to come up all into the first team anytime soon. No, because 1s they're doing well at Crown Legacy. They need time, they need minutes. Coming up into the first team is going to I mean, we hope they do get an opportunity at least sometime over the, over the season, but I think it's going to be few and far between. Like tonight we saw Private get the asked to travel with the team to Toronto for the midfield since we were down a little bit. But I don't think you're going to be seeing that very often, and nor should we. Because the level of play
Kara
9:38
and aggression that we do see in the first team is sometimes to me, too much for those young guys. We need them to be on this playing field. We do need them to get better. They are sometimes practicing, I think, with the first team or still getting opportunities to compete, care their skills. But I think as far as encouragement and building blocks, I think they need to stay there and not move them up too quickly.
Bridget
10:07
Yeah, and on that note too, before we jump off the Legacy, adam armor played. 1s On Sunday. Not as many minutes. I think he came in as a sub. I almost got scared. He got hurt one time on Sunday, but he shook it off and then he played a lot more time on Friday. He started and he played well. He played the first half and then a good ten minutes and second half. But if you haven't seen him either, he's got a little bit more work to do, too. No offense to him, he just looks a little rusty. And I don't know if it's because he got hurt and then he's a little tentative and scared, aired to get back on that leg.
Kara
10:38
He's been gone a year,
Bridget
10:40
though. Yeah, but 1s he just didn't impress me and I was expecting more out of him. So I'm hoping that he gets more playing time and that he improves. But if any of you all think that he's probably moving up to the top team, he's probably not doing that anytime soon
Kara
10:54
either. No, I think let's give Crown legacy like another month at least, and then see where some of these guys are. Because it's already been at least a month in right, for guys in the first team. And we're just now, I feel like starting to see better quality, more finesse, better composure and things like that. And so let's give them the same courtesy there, too, even though they've done really well and tied and won their two games, especially for Armour. It's been a whole year that he's been gone and he's had to build back from this injury. And he's going to be rusty. I mean, we got to sharpen some of that polish, some of that rust off that's okay. The fact that he's out there, he needs to keep being healthy, keep being strong. His moment will come. He will get better. He just needs consistent minutes for a while, but also not too many that stress him. And I think that's also why he's. Playing it safe with the subs that he's getting
Bridget
11:55
too. I just think that from what we've seen in the last two games, we have a lot of promising things coming out of the Legacy team, and I can't wait to see what happens. It's comforting knowing that if something does happen to some of our players, for some reason, we hope not, that we have backup players that could easily come up and fill in, and eventually they will be by the end of the year. I definitely think
Kara
12:16
so. So let's look for the next crown legacy game this Sunday at April 9 against New York Red Bulls at 07:00 p.m on Easter Sunday. They will be playing away, but it will still be airing live on MLS season pass, so don't miss that. So far, we haven't noticed that they have kept the recordings, so you do need to watch it live. I highly suggest.
Bridget
12:36
So on that note, let's go ahead and talk about this wonderful game we watched earlier tonight. Yes, we are recording this right after the game, not so late. So hopefully we're not going to be as loopy. And we didn't go to the game, so we're here, we're comfortable. Let's talk about this Toronto draw that we had today. Kara. It was it was a tough game.
Kara
12:56
I think that's an understatement because, you know, especially if you're recalling last year's games against Toronto, we walked away with a four to zero loss in Canada, and we also lost against them at home. And so we have not shown our best games. For some reason. The Italians and Michael Bradley have our number for Colts, so that's not so great. Not only that, but we know our away record is questionable from last year. This year we're still kind of building that. And to go into Canada, where we lost every game we have so far played in Canada, is a tough task to overcome. But I do think that they really toughed it out tonight, not just against the weather, but against all of that weighing against
Bridget
13:47
them. I think today when they asked for predictions, or all week when they've asked for predictions of this game, it was like, what do you think? It's going to happen? And everybody, even our own fan base, said, we're going to lose today. We're probably going to go down. No surprise, because of our record with Toronto last year, it was insane. That Ford loss was pretty much one of the saddest games other than the LAFC game. And so, as a player, how do you think when they go into those games, like we're all sitting there thinking we're going to probably lose? What do you think those players think when they go into it, knowing that the weather is going to be 37 degrees, 30 miles per hour wind? We don't do well in Canada. Hey, at least we made it up there with nobody staying at home because of visa issues or COVID issues. But as a player, what do you think goes on in their head? Do you think that gets on to them as well? Part of
Kara
14:41
the intention here is just straight up coaching. Last year when we played Toronto and Canada, they just gotten their Italian new players right, so they just gotten transferred. They finally made an appearance for that game against us, and so far the rest of the season, they had been doing poorly. And as soon as that happened, it was like magic dust against us. And so we got the full brunt of Toronto's fairy godmother. It made us look very poor because we hadn't trained, we hadn't prepared for those outcomes. And so we were caught out. I don't think there's any way around that. I think that the weather was something probably to prepare for, and I feel like we did, even though they're not used to that. I thought it was really funny that most of them are wearing. 1s Under the warm under armour. Somebody said maybe it was you that was saying like, DJ wasn't wearing it. But I was looking at Toronto because I was like, they live here. Isn't it feel like normal to them? And most of them aren't wearing it. If they are, it's not wearing long sleeves. And we're all out there like, we've got all of our long sleeves on. We're cold. The ref himself. Yeah, nuno had gloves on. I'm thinking homeboy is like freezing. Like he's used to being warm. Dude, it's not ready for this. He's out there in gloves and I was about to ready for him to put on the bogging on and go for it. We was about to go skiing out there on that soccer field today. They sit in snow,
Bridget
16:13
the weather. I was thinking, oh my God. And then George's hair while we're on it, that wind was just going at it. He looked like Ken Barbie out there with the hair all up and I mean, it was just insane. 2s Okay, the wind, we'll talk about the wind later.
Kara
16:29
The wind chill had to I mean, that's a huge factor. I mean, it's not just, what, 37 degrees, it's 37 degrees and then plus the wind chill, which had to make it feel like, I don't know, 1s something ridiculous. I didn't look at it because I'm not there. Right. Good luck to all of you, all Charlotte FC fans who traveled up to Toronto. I hope you didn't freeze your butt off, but if you did, a power to you. Way to stick it up there with the team. That's just true love and support right there.
Bridget
16:57
I was cold watching it. And then I saw a guy in the fan with no shirt on. So that was good times.
Kara
17:04
Hello. Okay, so, Bridget, for this Toronto game, who has won your favor? Okay,
Bridget
17:12
well, my first favor is going to go to my boy Ben, Benny Bender. I've been singing his praises all week. I told you once, he I saw him on Sunday. He was very aggressive out there on the legacy game. He just had this tenacity about him, and I just saw it coming. And then I heard his interview with Willie P on Wednesday, so I had a feeling Bender was going to go in. Bender talks really well about how he's working really hard, and then lady said his work ethic, and I think it showed off today. I think Bender did a great job. He was all over the field. He had a great I think a couple of great passes, and then he got a score, and I just think he earned it. I think he's done exactly what lady wanted him to do. He got bigger on the offseason. He got more, I think, focused mentally. And it seems like he's learning if you listen to his interview, it seems like he's learning from the guys from overseas, is how he puts it. So I think he's learning a lot from Enzo and Westwood, and he's taking that into effect. And also with his haircut, he did that. You'll have to find out why he did it specifically, but I think that worked into what he's been doing and where he's been trying to get to. And lady saw him, saw that potential in him and saw him working, and lady rewarded him, and it paid off. And so for all the Bender haters out there, I told you he would start. 1s I told you that I had faith that he would do a good job, and he did. And so he scored a goal. And even if you think he wasn't great out there, no one else scored the goal other than him and Josiah. So this week the Haters are going to hate.
Kara
18:46
Maybe that's our title this week.
Bridget
18:51
This is a good one.
Kara
18:52
Last season, I feel like everyone kind of heavily criticized Bender for the times he lost possession or didn't finish chances. This is his first year. I don't feel like that was very fair. But also he has worked so hard on those things. And you can tell that one of the things I noted with statistics, and I'm not going to go into too much, but he had some of the least possession losses 1s that is recorded. And of course, stats, they could be wrong. I felt like he proved some of them wrong. He has improved his physicality, he's improved his protection of the ball. And that's one of the things in the interview that he points out, that you don't get to really work on that as much in high school and in college soccer. But here is where it really goes against you because you have to protect possession of the ball. And he's really seen that as a weakness and or an opportunity that he really needs to improve. And I do think he's been working very hard. And I think that's one of the things that you're seeing when he has gotten these opportunities to go in and show what he's learned,
Bridget
20:08
I mean, he's where he needed to be. Saw him steal the ball a couple of times from him. There was a couple of times that I think he passed it, that maybe he was off a little bit. And that's going to come with his more time out there. Very little, yeah. And more confidence, what he's doing. But I'm not scared to have him start in Veronica's place. I mean, granted, we love Veronica. We like what Bronco does, but I do think that sometimes I think Benner's got a little bit smoother footwork than Bronco does. 1s If he's on point, I think his footwork is a little bit better than Broncos. I don't know if his defensive side is this is just, in my opinion now. I just think that he will fit into Laddie's game plan a little bit more. Now that he's grown some and he's got a little more confidence and more guidance, I think he'll get a lot more playing time.
Kara
20:57
He does bring something different to this role than Bronco, because Bronco, I feel like, is a scrappy fighter. And that's also why, unfortunately, we were without him this week. Bender had the opportunity to actually pull some fouls on him, but he didn't do any fouls. He didn't get called for any. So I feel like with him you get a better attacking forward movement on the ball, you get some really nice he had some great key passes tonight, and that cannot be understated. He also had some completed and accurate crossing and had a big chance. He created as well as his goal. So he had a lot of momentum into being successful in this position. 1s Then he also made the other team foul him into his back. And he has such a good attitude out there with some of that. I don't necessarily think that's just down to him. I do think this is part of the influence on the team, too. I think that's just part of our team mentality in some ways. Even though he got some of these hard hits and got knocked down, he's good. He's just going to channel that into the next action. And that whole golf mentality, just forget it. Keep
Bridget
22:12
going. He's one of those players, though, when you knock him down, you're like, leave the kid alone. Just leave the kid alone, okay? Especially with that new little haircut. I think the haircut took ten years off of him. Now he looks legit. Looks like a little kid out there. Hopefully with the new haircut, he has a better eyesight on what he's doing and he can feel a bit more comfortable out there on the field. And on that note, who's your first favorite this week, Kara?
Kara
22:35
So mine is going to go to the man of the match, Camille Yoshiak. Yes. I cried. I was so happy to see him get that goal. Some of you know, I listened to the radio announcers during the game, and it actually is like 30 seconds at least ahead of the actual match on Apple. And listen, don't even tell me that I can get these things synced up because the app I'm using, I cannot it does not work. It will just pause it and make it longer or something weird. Anyway, never mind because I heard it happen and I'm sitting there crying, not like heavy tears, whatever, but I just had to shut up because I'm trying not to let on as much to my family who's also watching my husband. He might get mad. He got this amazing opportunity, finishes it. It's so beautiful. He did such a great job today, and not just in his defensive actions, but getting an assist to Bender. Oh, man, I'm so glad that we finally saw him get the results when we know he's been putting in work that maybe he's gotten a lot of criticism for. As you said, Hager's going to hate on Yosemiak and Bender recently. And I feel like now he may not be. 2s Proving the worth that people want him to prove. But he has done a good job and he's finally gotten that result out by getting this goal and really making a difference for the
Bridget
24:07
team. I mean, it won't keep him off his back for about five minutes the rate we do it around here. And this fan base is like off with their head. Oh, we love them. Look, I told you no off of their
Kara
24:19
head. That's every fan base least.
Bridget
24:21
Well, yeah, I'll just make sure that to do it, but I think it will get the monkey off his back. I know earlier today I saw a meme which was incredibly rude about him because of april fools, and so I'm glad that he came out and just shut those people up. First of all, it goes to also to show that laddie kind of does his lineup kind of what own off of what the other team is going to do. And we knew with Toronto and how they played that we needed some aggressive players in there. And if you want an aggressive player that can actually perform, we know we have to put camille in. It was just his time to shine was tonight. And so 1s you and matt barbie that's had his back, I think I'm glad for you all that it happened and I'm glad that now we have another key weapon. If he can continue to do this, we have more weapons in our arsenal, more power to camille this week. Yeah,
Kara
25:14
I think he finally showed also why he keeps getting put in that lineup, which I also think has been a point of criticism for him in this team and for Latanzio. But he had key passes, he had completed crosses. Do you remember that foul at the beginning where he made LOREA or whatever foul him? I can't remember who it was. I think that's correct. But he
Bridget
25:39
oh, yeah, he did it right this time. Yes,
Kara
25:43
I got pure joy out of that foul.
Bridget
25:46
I didn't see the foul like you did, but hey, it worked. It didn't work at charlotte last weekend when he did it, but this week it worked. I didn't see it, but you saw it and it worked. And I'll take a file when there is one, even if they say there's not one. Oh, yeah, this was more like he fell down, like he got interrupted by toronto and got them a very nasty yellow pretty quickly. Maybe I'm getting on the wrong guy. I probably do have it on the wrong guy, just for the record. But still, I think it's a center back. But either way, he gets an important player a yellow card pretty fast. And I also think right after that there could be a case for him getting a second yellow, but the ref doesn't give it to him. And yosefia is going to have some fouls. I feel like his fouls weren't egregious. He had some dribbles passed. He had some really nice tackles. He just played like the bulldog on the radio, they said, pit bull that he is. But you could just see it in that joy that he had from getting that goal. Just grinning ear to ear. And I'm so glad he has that. 1s Hope you have a great night. Camille, we want to see more of those nights. We do.
Kara
26:58
Okay. Bridget, do you have another favor you'd like to give?
Bridget
27:02
I don't really know. There's not a lot of people I want to give favors to this week. Not in a bad way, because I think people did a good job. But I think I'm going to give my favor this week, my second one, to the grit of the team. Just the grit and determination of the team. I don't think I have a player that I want to I mean, I do have one, but I think you're going to do that one. So I'm going to let you I just think I'm going to give it to the grit and determination of the team because I want to be honest with you. During that first half I know you know. And carol walton, who I was messaging, I lost my mind. I was angry. I was angry at the entire team. I wasn't angry at the rest. I was just angry at our team. And I just felt like they weren't doing what they could do. I didn't really understand the wind effect, the effect the wind had on which I did notice in the second half how much and drastically it changed. But I was very down at the half. I was like, there's no way I'm going to record this podcast and be a positive person. I'm going to rant. This is going to be not fun. I know Carol said breathe. And you're always like, just give them time. And so when the second half happened and they came out and they didn't give up and I've seen this team give up many times before. And so the fact that they didn't give up this week, I think they're actually starting to do what Latanzio wants them to do and fight. I was really surprised that he subbed when he did because he's not going to sub when they're on point and Camille shot that goal in and then he subbed him. And I was like, what?
Kara
28:33
I think that motion was already in play. To be honest.
Bridget
28:36
I think it was, too. But it was just weird in our because usually if they're going, Latanzi is not going to switch or lady is not going to switch them up right moment. And he did. And I was like, what? I'm not mad at it because I know a lot of people think that the subs slowed the game down or didn't help us, but I really think the subs did what they were supposed to do. So I'm not mad at that. The fact that he did it, do I think they could have done more? Yes. But I'm not mad that he did it. But the fact that George 2s after those first two goals, bless his soul, we
Kara
29:06
got a lot of criticism for that, which
Bridget
29:08
right, and I'll go off on that a little bit later on that raft, why? I feel like they got the goals, but I think that he didn't give up either and that helped the players because his line saw that George was like, okay, I can still double save after this mess. I can still do this. I got it in me and then we can still go. And I think a fool did a great job helping them with that, too. And so I think with the grit and determination of this team, they pulled through through the second half, even though I do think they killed time when they could have went and scored. We love to kill time. That's our 13th guy or 12th guy out there. 13th with Anton out there is our extra waste time person. I do think overall 2s they impressed me with that. I was happy with the draw, would love to win. But the fact that they kept going in that second half and didn't give up and just played with everything they had, 1s I'm impressed. I'm going to give it to that. I'm going to give it to them.
Kara
30:04
I don't have much more to add to that. I definitely think it was a matter of mental strength. The fact that they had had some really just beautiful chances earlier in the match, and honestly, the momentum was more on the side of Charlotte. I didn't really see so much out of Toronto that I was honestly impressed with. And I don't mean that because I'll give it to Atlanta when they had it, but I don't really feel like there was a whole lot I could even say much about Toronto, even though, at some points they did have the momentum against us. But I thought this was a team we could beat. I just think that our past and the situation we were in made it. 1s You know, mentally tough. And so for them to concede a goal that's like wild pretty early and then to be two down at the half and come back the last time we saw that us really do that was Chicago. And we did happen to pull out a win on that one. But I also think that there was a disallowed goal with Chicago, and Toronto had kind of a disallowed goal with another Olympico where he tackled Marks to the ground. He did like a body slam on George, and then like five minutes later was when they got the second goal where it seems like just his eyesight or something was blocked. And so that had to be a hard goal to give up after that being body slammed. I mean, I think George had it pretty tough right there. I landed on him was no joke.
Bridget
31:40
It was like, George is a rag doll tonight. At one point, I thought he was like a rag doll. He was just flapping everywhere. I mean, not in a bad way, but
Kara
31:46
you know those things that like car
Bridget
31:48
dealerships. Yes. Like that little thing that's fine because it's like and people talk about George's height and I've been sitting here arguing with people all night about it, which. They need to step off. If you want to fight, let's fight. But his height and had nothing to do with those two goals tonight. But anyway, he was flying everywhere and he had people in his way. His own defense wouldn't get out of freaking way so he could play. So then 2s if I was him, I'd be over there in the corner crying. And he wasn't. He was like, Let me have this water, drink my water, and then I'm going to go back here and we're going to keep on keeping on. That's dejecting for the whole team. When that ball went in that first corner, it was just dejecting. So for them to be like, okay, yeah, let's shake it off. Let's go with it and keep on keeping on. Good job for Laddie getting that into them and good job for them for continuing to do that. That's exactly what we want to see as fans. 1s We're not going to fault you if you're fighting as hard as you can.
Kara
32:46
Yeah. So my second favor kind of rides on that a little bit in that I thought the defense as a whole gets a favor with particularly Captain Harry.
Bridget
33:00
I'm happy with this captain. Let's just keep riding it with him. Let's keep on.
Kara
33:03
Yeah. He's making a good case. I feel like he's talking very smart to the ref. He tonight was blocking out Bernadeski from scoring and he was reading him and cutting out passes. He was doing the inverted fullback pinching in really well. And him and Lindsay to be fair, too. I just thought our defense had more cohesion. And even with Tuloma back recently from injury, I'm glad he fit back into the lineup. And I felt like they all connected so much better this time. And maybe there were some points where you were, like, going, are we communicating as a team on the field? Are we out there? I feel like there were moments of that, but 1s I feel like with the last couple of games, there have been times where we've gone, oh, it's our defense again. There's been a horrible bad luck, ill luck on something. And tonight I didn't see that, luckily. But I also felt like you saw the solidity of that defense and so you couldn't fault to me, even though we had two goals scored against us, I would almost argue that maybe we give away one of those, the other one with the Olympic. I don't I don't. 2s I will just have to throw that to just sheer luck. It's the beginning of April. That's our April fools for today. 2s That olympic out against us. But our defense had a great game. Just had a great
Bridget
34:34
game. Did you see the one time that Ronda made a break and a fool out of nowhere. I don't know how he did it. I would like to time it, but he just cut across the entire field and cut that off. And my daughter was sitting there and she's like, mama, look at him. What was just going I mean, he just took off and he was just like the road runner little thing. It was just like out of nowhere he's like I thought he was going to see the tracks in the grass. Beep, beep. And right there he was. And thank Gosh he did it because he saved the ball and didn't put your but I mean, you got to go back and look if you want to see that. I don't know who it was, but he just like cut the guy off. I really honest to gosh thought we were going to see tracks on the ground. It'd be like that black straight through. And we didn't. But a fool was there. And then I remember every time there was a call and a fool was up at the ref, I was like, hey, kara, look fool's up there. I mean, he's not up there screaming or anything. I know there's one time I saw a fool like get in between Enzo and the coat or Enzo and the ref and was like, okay, let me handle this, bro. I got you. And I think that speaks highly for a fool. And I think I might disagree with you on one of the plays that our defense obviously jacked it up, but overall they did a really good job. Melonda had a really great save at the end. I feel like they kept a goal out of the box. I think that they're getting there. I think they're getting there. I really do. And I think eventually once they are getting even more comfortable with each other, that. 1s If we keep a fool and Lindsay out there, 1s I think we're going to have a good back line.
Kara
36:10
Yeah. I think Harrison was kind of lucky because he had lots of tiny fouls where even Jess was like 1s but it seemed like I guess he was arguing pretty well. And they were just so, so minor that even though they kept blowing the whistle, but I also felt like there at the end, it was just like every 2 seconds. Foul. Foul, foul. Oh, soft foul. Still foul. But do you got anything else before you want to head into some wrath? I
Bridget
36:39
don't think so. I think I'm good on the favorite side of it. I do just want to make a small aside here and just say that while we say wrath, we don't actually mean sheer anger or anything. We just mean like, who could have improved, who didn't have a great game. I feel like if it's something that's what we saw from our
Kara
36:58
perspective, yes. And if it's something like this real egregious where we are actually really meaning some sort of raffle, I feel like we'll tell you so in case you think the word being pretty hard by using this, we also just find it funny to use the word.
Bridget
37:13
It's just a humorous thing. And we're not judgmental. We have no right to judge. We are definitely not. Yeah.
Kara
37:18
And we know that some of our audience is kids who are playing and people learning. And not only that, but the players, they're learning, too. This is a hard job, especially to be in front of fans talking about you. So we do just want to say we hope that the things we're pointing out, you don't take this as us being ugly. It's more like here's an opportunity here's where some things that we saw as turning against us this game, take it for that and not for actual ugly or
Bridget
37:48
meanness. This is what we see. And trust me, after last week, I don't obviously see what most normal people see.
Kara
37:55
So, Bridget, who are you going to put some wrath on
Bridget
37:57
today? Okay, 1s my wrath today. This is going to be a good one. I don't even know if I want to say it out loud. I do, though. I'm going to go with Vargas because oh, God, I just said Vargas. I'm going to go with Vargas because I just didn't see what I wanted to see out of him. And I think he probably had a lot of great passes. I think people said Vargas had some smooth passes and he made one or two that were Keith, and that's great. But I expect a lot out of Vargas out there. I expect him crossing it over to Enzo as much as possible. I want to see all that fancy footwork. I want to just see it. And I didn't see it today in Vargas. I don't know. I think we could get more out of him, but maybe he was doing his part and I didn't see it. But for me, if you're up there on the wing, camille was doing his job. I saw that. I saw Enzo out there doing what Enzo does. That's something to be discussed, too. But he was doing Enzo, but Vargas was I don't know. I didn't see Vargas. And so I'm just feeling like. 1s If all the other people are up there and I'm noticing them all, but I don't notice Vargas, then I have to give him my raft because I felt like everybody else was putting 110% in it that I noticed, period. So mine's going to Vargas today. I guess I said his name 50 times, but that's who it is.
Kara
39:19
So I do think we should point out that he is the one who gets the beautiful cross assist to Yoseak for his goal. And part of the press conference with Josephiak was saying that that's what they practiced before. That's what each of them looks for. And that came off beautifully. So when a fool does that forward pass, he looks for Vargas. Vargas has it. He just lifts it over because he knows Kamal is making that run. And it came off beautifully.
Bridget
39:49
I told you he had one good one. I don't deny him that he did have a good one, but I feel like you have one good one. Where's the rest of them? I need to see more good ones. Yeah.
Kara
39:59
So I think that some of the things that our frontline kind of struggled with this time was passes up front. I feel like the balls fell more to Bender and Santos than they fell to Vargas and Copetti. And I think some of that was to their obvious detriment. I think some of the goals that even came to where Santos had some opportunities for Vargas. Really? Because I feel like he's had the hot hand. And this is kind of crossing over into my soft wrath today is for poor Nuno. He lacked composure today. He lacked that clinical finishing, and he needed to pass to his open wings instead of taking those chances himself. He he's not necessarily proven that he can finish. And he had Vargas right at that 14 minutes mark. This just wasn't his game. He did well overall. He still had some key passes. He had some good notes. I felt like he almost had a like, St. Louis City klaus's. Joeyo Klaus opportunity for a goal, and he. 2s Oh, just messes it just completely up. The
Bridget
41:13
fact that we didn't get that goal is insane to me. There was two chances we had to get that go in because of what he did. We didn't get it. And I felt like it was his nerves, and I don't understand that. Yeah. I wanted to say last time, it was because he didn't have minutes. So this time you have the minutes. You're out there. Maybe he should have went down and played with Legacy. Oh, my God. Can you imagine if he would have showed up for the Legacy and all the haters out there? Last time, I said he doesn't play a Westwood game, and we're used to a Westwood, but I'm not even talking about Westwood. I felt like he wasn't controlling the game and wasn't he playing cam? He was okay. So I felt like as a Cam, that he wasn't doing what he should have done and he was trying to make things happen instead of in a way of, like, Kevin de Bruno makes things happen and makes assist and all that. It was like Nuno wanted to just get the score and get it done, and I get it. We just want to score and we talk about, let's just shoot, just shoot, just shoot. And then at one point and I texted you and I was like, tell Nuno to stop shooting. So I guess we're, like, contradicting ourselves in that aspect, too. But I guess our expectations are so high that when they don't go out there and they don't perform even halfway to that expectation, we get a little confused.
Kara
42:22
Well, I think it's worth pointing out that the opportunities where we tell him to shoot are typically like, you have no one. This is a perfect opportunity. You need to be taking the opportunity to shoot. And if you don't, that's wasted. But I think on the opportunities that he had, he had outlets where he could have made a simple pass and or made a simple shot as opposed to to the moon. Oh, my gosh. Which is incredibly frustrating.
Bridget
42:49
There were two of them. Yes. And so I do want to point out that Caleb Adams writes in his write up report after the match, and I have to quote this because I just love it. He says, Two opportunities that the Portuguese likely wish he could have back as he squandered them, which was absolutely savage. Caleb 2s I felt the burn of that
Kara
43:12
awesome. But I just felt like this was not his game and he was missing those chances. And I think it defeated him a little bit until Carol came in, but otherwise, I felt like he did well overall. But maybe those finishing chances, he needs to be handing them off to someone who maybe has the. 2s The hotter foot.
Bridget
43:29
I think once Westwood's back, Nuno is not going to start. Unfortunately, he's going to become a sub. I just think in my mind that hopefully we see Westwood back next week or sooner. Well, I guess it can't be any sooner, but I hope we see Westwood back. But I think once Wesley come back, nuno is going to go back to being a super sub. I just don't feel like he feels comfortable out there yet. And maybe it's because of the position. Maybe he's not comfortable as Cam, and maybe he's more comfortable as a winger or more comfortable in a different position than that, and maybe that's what it is. Yeah.
Kara
44:02
And I think 1s after he was rattled by some of those opportunities, even his passes into the final third, while he had a few, he was trying to do those line splitting passes, but I think after that, Toronto kind of had his number, and so he wasn't making those choices as smartly as he would have. Just because this wasn't his game doesn't necessarily mean anything necessarily bad. But I think we're all like dying that he missed those. But I do think if he had handed them off to Vargas, vargas would have had a better game. And so I think in that there was a give and take, I think there's also some confusion there where Nuno and Copetti and Josephiak, I think there's some passes that come in and just they bounce around in the middle there and back passing or something, and it just doesn't land. We'll get
Bridget
45:01
there. I feel like we're making progress every game a little bit. We take two steps forward and one step forward and two steps back. We're good at that. We'll be Texas two stepping soon. But yes, I think once it all connects, we'll see a lot.
Kara
45:16
So my real wrap for this game, though, is the wind.
Bridget
45:22
Oh, my gosh, the wind. The wind.
Kara
45:25
None of our goals were actually helped from the wind. Instead, we had some beautiful, 1s just beautiful soccer being played where we got those goals. I felt very legitimately against Sean Johnson, I might add. US men's national team goalie from NYCFC, who we beat twice last year. Our goals were from very good plays, and the wind did not help us with those goals but definitely hurt us with the corners. And so my wrath is on the wind. Evil thing that it is,
Bridget
46:03
right? I mean, how dare that wind come at us? I really thought it would help us more in the second half, and I think it did help us in the fact that it kept the ball on the end away from Mark. Poor dude. That win, it worked so bad against us in those corner kicks. They had, like, five corner kicks in a row, four or five in a row at one point every time they kick it in that win, I don't know. It just worked against us. I didn't think the wind would be that big
Kara
46:30
a deal until he finally missed it, which we were all like, yeah,
Bridget
46:33
right. I didn't think the wind would be that big a deal. And I always joke about, oh, the wind change the direction of the ball. You know what I'm saying? Or always blame it on the wind. But you could for real blame it on the wind tonight.
Kara
46:45
Yeah. And I think Bergeski is very talented, and obviously he would have gotten two Olympicos there because of the foul. He doesn't get one, which I bet he was real mad about. He also could have gotten another yellow, and it's probably unfair that he got the yellow in the first place because he was fasting the ref, since the other player was the one that pushed bender. But either way, Berndeski didn't have a good game. And I can't help being happy that that worked out that way, but no denying that talent. Plus the wind to push that in. Could the wind not play for Toronto? I mean, I understand that it's the northern wind and probably should play since it's from Canada as well. Canadian itself,
Bridget
47:29
it probably was Canadian. So it was probably against us because we're American and they don't like us half the time. They probably love us, maybe. I don't even know if I have a second wrath. How'd
Kara
47:39
you feel our subs did? I mean,
Bridget
47:40
I think our subs did okay. I'm not mad at them. I think Carol came out hot and heavy. 1s I'm not a big Carol fan. I'm going to be honest with you. I think he is what he is, and he did a good job in the World Cup. That one goal that he tapped in, it went a strike when it tapped in, so it helped his team. But 1s I thought Carol did go out there a little bit more aggressively than I've seen him in the past. And Shinoshiki was Shinoshiki, and he probably could have done a little bit more. I don't get it. With Shinshi, why does he kick the ball right into the foot of the opposing teammate? Like play player? He does it every time, though. Or is that just me? Am I dreaming? It's like Shinchi's got the ball, and then all of a sudden, he nails it, but he's nailing her legit right into homeboy. Shin and I'm like, It's never going to go by the dude. Shiny. Never. The dude. People are real people. They're not figment of your imaginations. Like, stop that, man. Do you think he's doing on purpose, to
Kara
48:42
be fair? Okay, so hold on for two of these things. We have to nail down where they are. For the first time in this season, shinishiki is finally on the wing, where he is a winger. Correct. And Swadowski is back at the ten for this, right? So I do think in those roles, those are their traditional roles that I think they probably should be playing in, or at least better. But they haven't played in those roles beyond Carol, that first game. So Shinishiki, that one that he has, where you're like, oh, you should do two touches and shoot it kind of Allah Kerwin Vargas a few weeks ago. And he doesn't he takes four, and that's why it bounces off the Shin, because the defense has time to close him down. And so I think if he had had that more opportunity, because we have been seeing him play the cam, he's not been playing that same role, so he hasn't been having those same opportunities, those. 1s Same choices. So he's probably thinking about all of those different jobs that he's been doing too. But his passing was good today. I think maybe his fouls are a little off or something, which causes Hagert to get that, but I can't fault any of them, honestly. I thought Carol did well for what he was coming in and being asked to do. I do think that the reason we didn't see more out of the subs is because we started playing a different game. We started not doing that same press, that high press. We started backing off some and leaving more space. So I think that's why you don't see the same people getting the ball on those opportunities. It's just my opinion, but I thought they did well. I think we just need more time to see them settle into those things. I'm glad Andre was trying to shoot, but I do wish he'd pulled it off a little faster. But other people have had those things. At least it was on target, just bounced back, and then we got to take possession of it again. So that opportunity
Bridget
50:35
was well, he just does that a lot. But I think it's because he's so into what he's doing. He's playing. He just wants to kick it, and he kicks it with as much aggression as possible, which is I'm not blaming the dude. And like you said, they're just there. They're just there to block it. And if it goes, at least it might go in or
Kara
50:52
it might ricochet or I think think that's where we are in the season. Right? It's just not he doesn't have that same. 2s It'll land. Right. But it's going to have to come a little later in the season. So on that
Bridget
51:04
note, is there anything else we need to talk about on this game?
Kara
51:07
There's one thing I want to point out again that I said the defense did really well. Lindsay Milanda Tuiloma a full great job. Jones, especially, had a very nice game tonight that I thought he did very well. I am concerned for Enzo, not because feel like he had a bad game. I do think some of those things that he got called for for fouls were soft and non existent. I think they're called because
Bridget
51:32
he's Enzo.
Kara
51:34
Yes. I think in that way, they're singling him out unfairly on some of those. I think the one where he gets a yellow, same thing. I don't think it's a deserving of a yellow. I think it's just yeah, because he's Enzo, they're taking it out on him.
Bridget
51:50
They warned him. They said, look, bro, you got to have to stop. If you do that again, you're getting a yellow.
Kara
51:54
But two of those beforehand,
Bridget
51:56
I don't think it warranted. It shouldn't have been. Yeah, he didn't warrant it.
Kara
51:59
Right. Especially when Harrison didn't get one and he got more just about, or at least it looked like that. I might be counting wrong.
Bridget
52:08
Harrison plays that role. He plays the innocent role. Benjamin Button, I think, is what they said they call
Kara
52:13
him. That's what I'm saying. I think it's just down to the
Bridget
52:16
appearance it does and Ento acts out, and so he's going to be dramatic. And when he's dramatic, they're noticing everything he does. Like, they're on point noticing him and a fool. They're like, oh, he didn't mean to do it. He's just a nice guy. He didn't mean to do it. So I think it comes down to the buzz of their personalities and playing the way they play.
Kara
52:37
Yeah. Unfortunately, I think this is going to bite us because that's four games and four yellows for Enzo. If he gets one more, he might have what is it? A five game suspension.
Bridget
52:49
Oh, is that what they do?
Kara
52:51
Yeah, it's like a yellow card penalty. Oh,
Bridget
52:54
you can't get a yellow card every game? No, once you get five in five games or something like that, like. 1s Urine. Yeah, that's bad. Mom. I only remember this from playing football manager and have yet to see this in real life. So that's my fault. I'm just noobs over here. But I do remember because in my fake video game, poor Walks, even though he never got that last year in my game, he kept getting them and then it was like he had four and he was like, okay, he gets one more, it's going to be a problem. And then he did really well and didn't get them for like ten games and they were like, oh, you've done so good. You're not on the warning list anymore. 1s But that's
Kara
53:37
like depending on Enzo to not get a yellow card for like ten games so that he gets rewarded for this good behavior. Listen, Bridget, I do not think I think that's wishing on star. I don't think that's going
Bridget
53:51
to happen. I mean, hopefully, lady, I'll have some talks with Enzo this
Kara
53:54
week. I think because of that call on him tonight, him getting the yellow tonight when I really didn't feel like he deserved it. He's going to get one. He's going to get one because they don't like him. It's going to be prejudicial or whatever it
Bridget
54:07
is. Yeah, that's sad. I don't know. We'll see. I guess I need to look more into that because that just doesn't seem right to me. I feel like you could get a yellow each game if you want. Do 2s what's? One yellow. That just means you're playing. I mean, come on. As long as you're not getting a red card every game.
Kara
54:24
Yeah. That's like four games, you're out if you're getting
Bridget
54:27
red. I think this is stupid. I feel like you should be able to get a yellow card every game. I think each game should reset it. That's just dumb. That's my opinion. And that's exactly why I don't make the rules on that. Well, that's great. That makes me feel so comfortable going into next week now. Yeah. So anyway, on that note, we play Real Salt Lake City next week and they struggle their struggle bus team, too, like us. So I'm hoping for the best out there. And now we know Enzo is going to have to play on his tippy toes. Yeah.
Kara
55:00
What's really exciting is next game we get to go to Utah for the first time as an awake match. We have yet to play real Salt Lake. So I think that'll be exciting. We get to see what's up here. Looking forward
Bridget
55:13
to it. And I think that we have about the same caliber team. So I'm hoping that we can go out there and at least I would like to pull three. I'll take a draw on the road. Just because our road record isn't great or it wasn't last year, we're not too bad this year. I'll take a draw. But I think Lasagna has got a lot of things to think about this week, especially with Carol being back. Do you start what do you do with Carol? What do you do with Camille? What do you do with benzer, with bronco? He's got a lot of options this week. Yeah.
Kara
55:43
I'm not going to predict anything because I don't like doing that, and I feel like it comes back to bite me. But I will say the last three games ago, before these last three games, I said I feel like we're going to lose the next three because I'm tired of predicting maybe a win and us losing. So I'm just going to go out and be like we're going to lose the next three because then I won't have expectations. So that's how I'm going to go into the season because I feel like I do a lot
Bridget
56:09
better. I'm not going to say we're losing. That's for me. I'm not going to go
Kara
56:13
along with you there. I'm not going to say we're losing. I'm going to say we draw. I'm not going to say we lose. I have faith that we'll pull off one maybe or two. Right now, I really think in my mind I can see Latanzio or ladies. I see what he's trying to do and a lot of people don't. People were calling for his head in the first half already,
Bridget
56:37
and I was like, it's not even his fault this game because I really do see what he's trying to do. I just think that and you can see it when it does start connecting one time out of every ten, if these guys keep doing what they're doing and buying into what he's saying, we shouldn't have any reason to not think that it's going to work. And when it does, I think then we'll be unstoppable. I mean, if we can play this, what good in the wind and 37 degrees, then think what we can do in 75 degrees or 80 degrees and sunny at home. I'm just hoping that it'll translate into that as we go on. And I really do see kind of the first couple of weeks, I didn't have a clue what land he was doing in life, but I do kind of see it coming into fruition now. 1s Game by game. The guys still are making mistakes that cost us each game, but they're doing better and they're making it work, and it is getting there. Yeah.
Kara
57:33
I don't want to say that I have a negative attitude by this at all. I just want to say that I have hope in the team. I had a good overall outlook.
Bridget
57:41
She's using reverse psychology.
Kara
57:43
Yes, that exactly is. Because I feel like I get less upset that and I start to focus a little more to see what's happening and not put pressure necessarily on things. And I have an overall more hopeful outlook or at least less biased. I don't know. It's a mental thing.
Bridget
58:02
You just don't feel as dejected or let down. Yeah.
Kara
58:05
I'm super proud of them today. Super proud of what they did, and I'm looking forward to the rest of this week. I
Bridget
58:10
think we have good things in store. Like I said, we hit right bottom and we're not shooting up to the top like a rocket, but we're the little engine that could, and we're chugga, chugga, chugga, chew, chewing the best that we can. And on that note, I think we should wrap it up, don't you? Yay. It's after midnight. We do have a couple of exciting or some exciting things coming up in the future. We did a wonderful interview with our queen, Carol Walton, and we hope to get that out soon. We do have busy schedules and busy lives, so it's hard for us to get everything together, but we do have a great interview with her. We also hope to have some other interviews lined up for this season. We did reach out to someone. They have agreed to us, so if we get it lined up, I'm pretty excited about that. I hope that you all will be excited about it, but if there's anybody that you would like us to try to talk to or you have any suggestions for us, just let us know. And we do appreciate you continuing to listen to us and give us feedback. So have a great week, have a great weekend. Let's go to Salt Lake. Bye. Yeah, be safe.
Kara
59:17
Bye.