Kara
0:15
Welcome back to a new episode of The Queens Pitch. I'm Kara, and I'm Bridget. And we're here covering the Miami doubleheader. So first we have up on Wednesday. We had a 2 to 2 draw. Incredibly frustrating draw against Miami. But Miami, without mercy, we still had to play Busquets and Jordi Alba, but they were missing quite a few people from normal. And so we thought okay well Wednesday game we're missing Yerry. And you know that's about it. That's a starter. Like sure Carol is normally out there 90 minutes and he did come in later on. But as far as like that game went we thought okay so it's a different matchup.
Bridget
0:56
Wednesday was kind of a dejected situation because you know how like sometimes the guys have off days and sometimes you have good days. And our guys just head off day on Wednesday. But you know like they didn't lose. And like that's what I texted you in our group text after it was over. It was like we didn't
Kara
1:12
lose. No. But it was somewhat of a when it felt like a loss because we gave up those goals instantaneously just about as soon as we made them.
Bridget
1:23
I don't know why you have to always talk about the bad things. 1s I think that we did well on Wednesday. Well, I don't know. Wednesday was tough for me. It was another home game, like when I was sitting at home on my couch eating the whole entire game. So by halftime, I was already thought I was going to get sick because that ate so much. And then they scored, right? You know, when we were going into the half. So I thought I was going to cry. And then 1s we can't just close out a game. We just can't. It doesn't matter if we have Messi or not. So that's how I felt Wednesday.
Kara
1:55
But I
Bridget
1:56
also thought that maybe, you know, maybe there was some good things Wednesday. So
Kara
2:01
absolutely. It's it's just it felt like a tale of, of, of two parts of the pitch that one was doing well and the other and the other caboose couldn't, couldn't
Bridget
2:12
spout. I think I messaged you at one point was like, where is our midfield? Where is our midfield? And your answer was on the sideline.
Kara
2:24
Yeah, because normally Carol's a workhorse, you know, and that was a little bit different. So we had a different lineup on Wednesday too. So we had Brooks in the middle for the ten. Which is a different player. It's fine. I don't I don't think he did badly, but he's not Carroll. I think his his chemistry is is different. Like Burke hasn't had as much time to figure out that because he's been also been playing that winger spot.
Bridget
2:52
Yeah. And then he had his wife had that baby. So then he was gone for that. Yes.
Kara
2:57
He was not 100% that game
Bridget
2:58
either. So he just hasn't got to gel. Yeah, he played well especially for being traveling and sleep deprived I'm sure. And you know, welcoming a new baby into the
Kara
3:09
family means you're probably not getting enough sleep. But
Bridget
3:11
anyway, let's start with our favorites real quick on this one. We're just going to do real quick. No
Kara
3:15
no no no Bridget, we got to start with the rats here. We got to go from the down up.
Bridget
3:20
Oh okay. We're going from the down up. So let me start with my wrath or you want to start with your
Kara
3:23
wrath. I'll do mine. Then you can do yours. Okay. It's pretty obvious who did the worst on Wednesday. Still love him, but it's obviously a dose. Mylanta had the one of the worst games all year or all year for the like. Since he came to the Crown, he was making bad passes. Just something. Maybe it was the pitch because it was like. Gopher holes everywhere. Extremely poor condition. And so maybe it just never landed where he meant it to. But our normal Melinda was not on that game, and he had what I thought were multiple giveaways in key moments that led to shots on goal. And we're just not used to seeing him have that poor of a performance. It was a bad game for Milano, so much so that I think we were surprised he didn't get taken out.
Bridget
4:15
Who are you gonna take him out for, though?
Kara
4:17
That's a good question. We
Bridget
4:18
don't have anybody else on the back line that we could have solved, right?
Kara
4:21
I mean, we had some Luzinski, but you wouldn't want to get him out there. And then sometimes we put in for him, but, you know, and then 211 was gone.
Bridget
4:31
That's on me. You didn't really had anything because you didn't have sub even on the. I don't even know if Sova was on the bench.
Kara
4:37
He was. It was him and Caruso we could have put in Caruso
Bridget
4:40
who was on the bench.
Kara
4:42
So we don't remember because it's been a while. It's been
Bridget
4:44
three days okay. But it's
Kara
4:46
been a long also, we haven't seen Guzman other than in the team picture.
Bridget
4:49
He was going to Patrick today was. Anyway.
Kara
4:53
Yeah, so it has to go to Adel, even though I love him. I bless his heart, but he played. So incredibly poorly that game. And I don't even mean because those two goals that went through the back line. I think that's a different issue, which I do want to address, but I think it's more than just him on those those two goals. But oh my goodness. Well, we
Bridget
5:15
all have bad game you know like he hasn't really had a bad game this year. So
Kara
5:20
some but this is the worst one.
Bridget
5:22
Well I think the one earlier this year when he kicked it back he backed past it to clean on goal and almost think that was one of the worst. But that was you know,
Kara
5:31
that was worst moments. Yes.
Bridget
5:32
Anyways, I think they had a really bad games at the beginning of the year. We just forget because they were so long ago that we forget, but think that he just had a rough, rough go of it, you know? And I think when he has a rough go then that because I really do think Milan and builds up the line. So think that when he or him and Privett bounce off each other. So think when Milano has a bad game and then that shakes Privett up to absolutely think. That had a lot to do with why Privett wasn't on his game. He wasn't as often as he was the time before, but he think he was off his game as well and think that was all because once Milan was off, it shifts everybody. It just threw that whole back line off.
Kara
6:13
Yeah, and it didn't help that Kempin really had his number for poor Melinda. So what I really think the issue was in this moment for those goals especially, that really took Milan down further and set a certain up like he had a lack of support in that. There was a lack of balance in that backline leadership, and I really think it showed because Byrne still played his game well, but not having yet to be the counterpart on the other side of him and be vocal and especially communicating when to go up and watching those runners in between who were getting in between Milan and Lindsay when it was Lindsay and Frida. 1s I honestly was like, and this is the notes I had from Wednesday. It was yet not being there which which we really needed. And I said otherwise. Lindsey played a good game forward wise, but the problem for those holes, lack of communication on that backline, lack of leadership and apparently that comes from Yeti. Yeah. And I think when you switched because you have to switch. Right. Because so when Jerry went in there, we have to put barn on the other side and then put Lindsay over here. And that just threw it off. That throws it off. Not that like Lindsay thought had some really. He had some mistake. Obviously a lot of people did, but he had some good saves. To think he played really good defensively sometimes. Yeah. But think it throws them off. I just think it throws Privett and Milan off because I also saw them switch and I don't see them switch a lot
Bridget
7:41
during normal games, but they were switching a lot there in the Wednesday night. I could just see them moving back and forth and think that threw them off too
Kara
7:48
well. They were also trying to cover each other and there wasn't someone else being vocal. If Bern wasn't there to do that for them, there wasn't someone else being vocal in that backline. And I do think that they noticed that issue and changed it for. Tonight's match or the Saturday match, which we will get to. And I do want to point out when we address that, but nevertheless. Okay, so who is your wrath for Wednesday?
Bridget
8:18
Wednesday? Don't really wrath a player per se, because I think that the team they did really well in first half think they held their own in the second half till it got to a certain point and then it was like they just slow down. And so my wrath is going to be to the coach. Have to first of all to to Lattanzi was gone by his name. Didn't get out to Lattanzi because a there was two reasons. First, the during the game he was slow. I don't know why he slowed the pace of the game down after they scored that second goal, but he did because Westwood was trying to throw it in really quickly, keeping the momentum going. And then Lattanzi said, absolutely not. Drop the ball and then have burned just little down over there and pick it up and throw it in. So don't understand the urgency and think that had a lot to do with the coaching. So didn't like that he slowed. I don't know what he's doing anyway, and then didn't like how he addressed Carroll afterwards with when we asked him about the fact that we continue to allow goals, the end of the game. If he doesn't understand why that's happening, then don't really know if anyone else can understand because he's a coach. So if I'm having to look at film after every game that we're losing because we're, you know, giving up goals at the end, I'm going to be able to answer that question. And he didn't. He was very rude and at that point was just very frustrated with him because I feel like he slowed the pace of the game down, and he was the one that threw the game off. And that that was a lot of the reason we tied. So my point of latte,
Kara
9:43
I really like it when he shows some emotion and it seemed like Wednesday he did not. He was pretty stoic and melancholy. Yeah. And then sometimes to me the subs on Wednesday were slower because it just the midfield looked gassed at times. It just seemed like we needed that injection of energy and we didn't get it in enough time, which is why we kept getting hammered in that second half, which was incredibly frustrating because the momentum at times wasn't too bad. But then we had such momentum at one point that we thought, oh, maybe we could get another goal. But it didn't. It didn't happen. And then from then on, it's just the Miami show, even though we had some subs and just I think that was too late. But no, I agree. I would say the way I categorized it with yours was why didn't we go for the win? That's the wrath, not playing for the win. And I agree that to me, that had to that call had to come from the coach. But also someone had to say that on the pitch, like it doesn't seem like Wednesday. Someone was really rallying them. Even when Carroll came in, I felt like he wasn't doing it. It didn't look like Wesley was doing it. It just looked like we weren't playing together. 1s And communicating together as a unit. We were
Bridget
11:04
all discombobulated on on Wednesday night. For some weird reason, you would have thought, like, without mercy there, we would have come in there and going like, we got this. Let's paint the town. It wasn't just messy out. There was a couple other ones out to, but it was like the first half they hung on and then all of a sudden I didn't want to say scored. It was like, I don't know what it is. It shakes our guys up so much that it's like, what? You know? And they were just, oh, maybe it's I want to say it's just Miami going back to Miami. Shakes them up. I'm going to go with
Kara
11:34
that. So do we have any positive things to say about Wednesday. Well it's had they didn't lose Karen scored. And so that was good Karen so good. He didn't do the backflip though don't think. But he did
Bridget
11:46
he did did Wednesday night okay. Didn't see it. Yes. Yeah it's not really I guess it's not a score. So think Karen was really good on Wednesday. So I'm gonna I'm going to say Karen. Yeah.
Kara
11:57
No I think he had one of his greatest games. He got a goal and an assist. And he had was key. Having key passes he was trying to cross. He was, you know, sure, he got a shot off target, but he was being creative. I felt like everything you just about asked for him was there almost. I didn't see him track back as much. So other than that would probably be my only. May only issue there, but I thought he had a great game and it's really nice to see him get those opportunities and be that hot, because for a while there, maybe it was because he wasn't 100%. He was having a lingering injury that was trying to heal, which is why we're kind of leaving him on the back burner for a while. I think that made a difference. But I also I wondered if having him and Enzo, like they just had better chemistry at moments. And I felt like that game, they had a lot of connection. And especially when to me, sometimes when we play teams where where I feel like Spanish is more obvious of a language used to communicate that for them. They seem to have better games at those
Bridget
13:06
games. Yeah they do. I think
Kara
13:08
it ups the communication and it ups their ability to read the game and predict and understand, and even the opponent and what the opponent might be doing. Well,
Bridget
13:19
it's like when you say Carol and Camille play, they they have that weird, you know, chemistry where they, where they can kick it and they just know what each other is doing and think that Caroline has that with Enzo a little bit. They're buddies off the field. So they have that and they're like, okay, they know where the next the their buddy's going to go. So think think they have a lot of that. And so think that works. That works in their
Kara
13:41
favor. Yeah. So speaking of Enzo, that's who I also thought played extremely well on Wednesday. And I don't just mean because he got a goal, which is fantastic. I mean because his hold up play was incredibly better than normal. You could really tell the impact he was having. Sure, he had another shot off target and one of them hit the woodwork too, but he was he had a key pass. He had good touches. He was winning duels. I don't know, I just felt like that was one of the best of of Enzo's games for the crown all season.
Bridget
14:16
He stepped up his game. He did follow through. So super excited about
Kara
14:20
that. I love it when Enzo follows through well, in any of them bother me like I did, he's more of a defensive player. I've noticed. Like he's more of a defensive player. He's not he's not a Carroll hasn't gotten, you know, just kicked all the time. But his part of the team is being defensive like a defensive offensive person maybe. Yeah.
Bridget
14:41
Hey if you can't do everything well, just do something right.
Kara
14:44
I think that's where you see really what him being the tank means. And it's for his hold up play, his physicality, and then sometimes he can punch through something he has been doing better at laying off passes to other people, or at least trying. Doesn't always connect. But that was a really good game from Enzo at Miami. Did you have anyone else that you thought did well on Wednesday? Not
Bridget
15:09
really. I mean, I just wasn't as excitable about Wednesday's game.
Kara
15:13
Do you. Yes. Have two more. Oh,
Bridget
15:15
let's wrap them up so we can get on to the fun one.
Kara
15:18
Okay, so this one's absolutely undeniable. And if you cannot say yes to this one, like, I think I'm going to think you're crazy because if Christian Colonna was not in there, they would have had more goals against us.
Bridget
15:31
Are we talking about Wednesday? Yeah. 2s I'm gonna I'm going to say he did a good job.
Kara
15:37
He prevented like a goal and a half almost on Wednesday. He had some great saves. He did
Bridget
15:43
a good I'm not gonna be mad at him. I think he did way better the second time we played Miami. But he did a good job because the backline wasn't doing their job so clean was having to do a little bit
Kara
15:52
more. He was he had to work
Bridget
15:54
hard and I'm going to give it to cleaner. I'll give it to you. I mean I'm not going to go all out, but yeah, I was going to
Kara
15:58
turn. It was agonizing because you knew our backline just was not having it together. And so he had to take it again and again and again.
Bridget
16:06
He doesn't control that back line. Thought he would and thought that that's some that would happen over the season. But I just don't see it. I don't see him controlling it. Not that it's a bad thing because it's working without that, but I just don't see him like he did with Caruso and some other people. He he doesn't he doesn't communicate with him as much.
Kara
16:23
Maybe that's because of who he has in front of him. And maybe they've just determined, too, that it was changing his concentration and that he needs to concentrate on his distribution because that's been good. In the latter half of the year,
Bridget
16:36
he's throwing it a couple times. He's learning from Isaac how to do that and getting
Kara
16:41
you're giving
Bridget
16:42
class. So who else. Who's your other one? My other one was Camellias React because he got the assist on Wednesday night. He also had some great key passes. He created a big chance that didn't work. And some of those crosses were just oh, he just hoped that someone would get to it. But also his defensive play like he is when he is on. He is great at giving everything. He has offensive and defensive and you trust him for what he can do in those moments. Yeah, like,
Kara
17:16
you know, I just think him missing Carroll was a was a little different. Didn't even get to play the full 90 right
Bridget
17:23
I mean he plays hard but just feel like he's got more chemistry. He knows what he's going doing more with Carroll off there. He feels more comfortable. Kind of like you know just feel more comfortable. So. Oh come here you Jack. We've been missing him this
Kara
17:38
year. Yeah well and he had gotten injured. And so it was just nice that he got a chance to come back.
Bridget
17:45
He finally got back in the lineup.
Kara
17:46
Yay! Anything else you want to cover on Wednesday that we missed? No,
Bridget
17:53
I think I think we did good. Let's go to the fun game. Let's talk about tonight Aaron Massey came to Charlotte and we beat Inter
Kara
18:01
messy in front of 66 plus K fans. Everybody
Bridget
18:05
thought we weren't going to win because Massey was coming down. But guess what? We played the Grinch and we stole his Christmas. No, I don't even know why he came out, but he came out and he played 90 minutes on our turf 1s that everyone said he wouldn't do. But guess what? He did for no reason wasn't real happy about it. I was really mad all day that he was doing it, but he did it. And then grandpa got out there and ran around the field a little bit. But he did have color shoes so I could see him, but we won. That's all that matters. Wheat eating. I
Kara
18:37
think you could tell that Bridget has a negative bias towards messy, so we're just going to allow that. So, you know, like she's a Ronaldo fan. She's very passionate about it. I've had to hear a whole lot more. So. But we're not going to hopefully air it all for you all. But please, someone tag her.
Bridget
18:55
Hey, you said we didn't have to talk about the guy till we played him
Kara
18:58
on Twitter. That's true. And we unfortunately, our first time we played him, we didn't get to record it because we had technical malfunctions and just just gave up so it would probably
Bridget
19:09
good. Yeah. No, he came out there, but we did good. I'm proud of our team. We won one. Nothing. And like you said, no other MLS team has done that with biscuits. I know his name is biscuits but call him biscuits. But with biscuits out there and all the all them other people that have on that team, when they all played together, no one's beat them. And guess what? We did. So in your
Kara
19:35
face, yeah, no one has outright beat Miami with Messi in the lineup, especially not for the full 90, definitely. And no one has beaten them with Busquets, Jordi, Alba and Messi in the lineup, only Dallas, Nashville and Cincinnati have tied Miami with all three of those in the lineup, so Dallas, Nashville and Cincinnati. Also doing really well in the standings.
Bridget
19:56
I was just excited we won, added a full after the game, didn't sit around a lot and you know they played my favorite song, one of my favorites. You know I want to dance with somebody dance to 60,000 people, 30,000, which were Miami fans that were pissed and was leaving. But the other 30,000 of us, we was jamming now probably wasn't that bad, right? No,
Kara
20:14
there were not that many Miami fans, but
Bridget
20:16
we won. I'm excited. I thought we was going to have a playoff game at home, but we're not. And that saves me a little bit of money. And now I can sit at home on Wednesday night and eat my anxiety. So no diet
Kara
20:28
this week and be happy eating your anxiety.
Bridget
20:30
Yes. Anyway, it was a great game. Had a good time? Did you have a good time?
Kara
20:34
Yeah. Thought it was a massive win. I mean just meant a lot. I don't have a voice if I if I got excited right now I have no upper register anymore. So it's all scratchy because I used it all. I can't do Willie P's Mickey Mouse voice because it doesn't exist anymore. I use it all at the game, squeaking and fright when something really serious would happen. Or I thought it might have happened and or thought we were going to score and we didn't. Yeah, I had my heart in my throat, like quite a bit. But it's fine, I'm fine, I'm
Bridget
21:05
fine. For the last 30 minutes I was like, I don't even know what I'm going to do with life. My life, you know, it's like the longest 30 minutes ever, ever, and had to go to the bathroom like four times just because I was nervous and just not because of the bathroom, just because wanted to go and get away from couldn't handle it.
Kara
21:22
Mine was like more like the 80 minutes that we actually played after our first goal. That's when I had I mean, the whole time I was just like, okay, we've scored. Now I have to agonize over whether. They're going to score against us. Oh, it was
Bridget
21:34
hard. It was so hard, you know? But I'm okay. Let's just be nice, okay? So we did get to go see Messi play and we
Kara
21:41
got to see a messy goal. And that got called back. It's the best
Bridget
21:46
kind. It was the best hand. And we got to see him try to take some free kicks. And he didn't make them you know. So that was positive on our incredible and very much so. He did get a corner kick right where I was at. My kid got to be on the very front row. She ran down there and got to the very front row. I was like, yeah, won't get great pictures, good video. She didn't take a video or photo, okay. But she got to see it and she said she's got a screenshot in her mind. That really helps me out a lot. But but he was there. But we got to see the greatest one of the greatest soccer players of all time. So I'm not hating on messy for that. He you know, he's okay. I'm hating on the fact that, you know, he don't play for us and don't want him to. So don't go higher. Don't go sign him. Well like us. True for the Crown fans. And don't mean to start anything for real at all. I just mean like tonight, if you're if you're a for the Crown fan and you're for Messi, like what you're doing here, right?
Kara
22:40
We're all for the Crown today on decision day. No matter Messi or no Messi,
Bridget
22:44
it's all about Charlotte.
Kara
22:46
Exactly. After this game, I couldn't say. I don't know if I could love the team anymore than I already do. Okay, well probably good if they won the championship. I love them more, but you know, I still love them even, you know, even if we don't go that far because we made it, we made it to the playoffs and that's all we really wanted this season was to make it to the playoffs, and we did. So what more can we
Bridget
23:05
ask for in tonight was electric in the stadium. It was great. Even Taylor Tillman who hates us. He said that Charlotte was electric and it was great. The fortress so. That's positive. And we got a great light show at the half. That laser, whatever that thing was. Drone
Kara
23:21
show. Yeah, it was really cool. You know, that's all the stuff that's not about the game that was positive. So let's you want to talk about some favors and don't have any Ralph. So I'm gonna go with all favors, okay? You
Bridget
23:32
get a favor and you get a favor, and you get a favor and you get a
Kara
23:35
favor, I'll go first. Who's getting your favor
Bridget
23:38
there, Bridget? My favor is going to my favorite person. He's been my favorite all season.
Kara
23:44
Burn,
Bridget
23:44
baby. Burn. Discuss. Burn burn, baby. Burn. Dude. Love that guy. Absolutely love the guy. Like heart emoji. Exploding without burn. I don't know what we do. There were so many times that they would have legit got the cleanest burn. Wouldn't have just did his little Roadrunner thing and get there and he even like he did that little kick thing where he like, slid under and hit the ball and didn't kick the dude's legs out from under
Kara
24:10
him. Slide tackle right in front of you. Yes,
Bridget
24:13
it was right in front of me. Loved it. Absolutely. Chef's kiss it. He did that. He got hurt. When he got hurt I thought I was going to cry. I was like, please don't you know
Kara
24:23
don't hurt my burn.
Bridget
24:25
Burn. We need to burn. But he got up hobbling around did it. He did it. He had a really, really good game. I just think without burn we wouldn't have won. And I mean, I think there was one other person that really did well too. But think without burn it would have been a nightmare. So I'm going with my man. Burn my fave. He didn't score. Oh yes, it's going to go with the seasons. I got his jersey. We still have another game. You know we still have no game
Kara
24:49
burn. I'm waiting. Yeah. And he actually got pretty far up the pitch tonight and had some sort of an offensive great through pass that Enzo didn't keep running for, which is incredibly frustrating because I felt there were a few times if you just you kept running, you went through your man. The outfield did it to just if you keep going. Come on dude, I think I think Bernie's played so consistently in this latter half of this year that overall, his consistency just incredibly stands out game after game after game. So I mean, it's really now you're going, okay. When Nathan Burn has a bad game, it really stands out because he's just pulled off these seemingly. Miracles, or just impossible or incredible tackles and clearances that just make you hope and have such confidence in how he plays. Now I think that's great. My favorite is going to go to his counterpart on the other side, Yetta Ronen. Because again, if we'd had him Wednesday, I think that his his leadership tonight just really showed you what was lacking on Wednesday, incredibly, and just confirmed it because at one point he was the one telling everyone to move up. He was the one tracking the runner in the back. He was kind of covering both sides. And not only that, he pretty much had primary duty on Messi and was just calm, cool, collected, stopped him from moving all the way to the goal at one point. That was pretty obvious. Just, you know, Yetta hasn't been with us very long, but in the last month, maybe a month and a half, we've really seen his quality and we didn't really quite know what we were getting into there. But wow. I mean, just first of all, having a talented left back and two one to communicate, one to show leadership, one to help plug the holes and really bolster that back line. Like, I really think that that is one of the key things that has solidified our defense. Like if we just having him out Wednesday kind of showed some of that. So now I'm like, oh, I don't want you at or out of the lineup. I like having
Bridget
27:07
him there. Yeah, you stole my other favor because I was gonna get 1s yelled his name a lot today too. The blue shoes love blue shoes because I can see him. And he covered Messi. He wasn't scared. He wasn't scared of Messi. And that's one of the things that you know. Not that people are scared of him, but people are scared to, like, go out and like just go at him. And here did not care. Yeah. I was like, I will lay you out Messi if you do not get out of my way, you know I'm going to get that ball no matter what. And thought that takes a lot of guts for someone to do that, you know, against. Mercy. All those people won't do that again. Some wouldn't even get close to the guy. But the other guys out there, like, play with me, boy. Let's play, you know? So like that. And then he also isn't scared to go and try to be offensive too. So I really think that we wanted a left back. We wanted a really good left back and think that we got what we wanted, and now we just got to see his chemistry build and his fluidity build. But I think that next year, oh, we gotta have a back line next year maybe. Knock on wood.
Kara
28:14
So do you have any other favors for this game? I
Bridget
28:18
am going to say that my other favorite this time is Christian Kamara. I couldn't give him credit on Wednesday nights because I was gonna give him credit tonight, because I honestly think he played so much better today than he did Wednesday. Now
Kara
28:33
he got a clean sheet. Clean sheet clean. He can't do it right. That joke they all do Colleen. She can't do it right. Anyway, he got a clean sheet against Messi. Although those two got pulled back you know. Yeah. But hey they were offsides counts. So he did so good. And that one shot that didn't even see until after it was over with. Because from where I was at that he hit it off his hand at the end in the 90th minute. And he saved the day literally in the 90th minute when they normally would score, anyone else would score on us. So he deserves it for that. He did very well with his distribution tonight. I'm very impressed with Colina with that. He also.
Bridget
29:16
It was a miracle that corner didn't go in, but hey, got his hands on it and didn't go in. So we'll take that clean and just did really, really well. I'm very impressed with cleaning. 1s Also. I told you I saw that do touch cleaners face and about lost my crap because. Don't be touching our goalkeeper's face. Okay? I will stand up for cleaner and not be my number one 2s anything. But he did a great job and he deserves all of us to say props. If Carolyn wouldn't have got the man of the match, it would have had to have gone to cleaner without his saves tonight. We would have really lost a lot, but we didn't.
Kara
29:51
Yeah, that had been another tie
Bridget
29:52
or we'd have lost because it would have been not even that good to.
Kara
29:56
Yeah, yeah, yeah. He stopped at least definitely one goal and then two of them off his office fingertips. Just the one that would not kept bouncing around that hit the woodwork where he had deflected it off the woodwork. And then we all had heart attacks because we were like, kick it out. Um, it was terrifying because there's so many Miami people right around there. And no, I felt like collina, you know, even if Messi did chip it over his head, it's. 1s You know, it's messy. You don't really kind of know what he's going to do, even if it was offside. You have to wait until after that play goes through. And that had to be hard to have two goals get called off against you and one of them incredibly quickly for the offside and you know, and not let that into your head. So, you know, I felt collina played a very mentally tough match. So I hope he gets like some sort of, I don't know, rest for half a minute. But like like Wednesday I was like, I hope his wife gives him just lots of love and so many kisses because he is so good on Wednesday and today that I'm like, oh, he just deserves all the love. I hope everyone's just proud of him, but especially
Bridget
31:14
his wife. I'm sure she is. I think that he is awesome. Like cleaner. 2s Cleaner has not won the heart over completely. Okay, but I give him props. You know, I've always wanted to give props when props are due. And he has. Come back to form this year, so I do trust him as being our goalkeeper. I'll trust him through the playoffs so that we can win and think that he's doing. He has gotten a lot better and he loves the team. And how can you hate any player that really, genuinely loves the team? Who's your other favor?
Kara
31:48
So once again, I have two more people that I think deserve honorable mentions, possibly three. Don't you think the goal scorer also has to get a favor?
Bridget
31:59
Curling have indeed said his name was awful. The announcer did
Kara
32:03
whatever. Yeah, that wasn't our same announcer. But yes, Karen Vargas again had a phenomenal match against Miami. So his goal was just he got it off at the right time, just around the edge. To be able to get that in. That pass comes across from Jack and it goes past Westwood. And you're just like please Karen, please Karen please Karen be be lucky again. And he is. And if that's just not a relief, he also had two other shots blocked. No, I just think he had a great night. And he was again like today he does a whole lot more on defense which. Also think made a big difference because they were asking him to do more because Miami had more firepower up front. So he really had to do more work. And so on the front end and the back end, he really brought it tonight.
Bridget
32:56
He's one of those players that we really missed him during for a bit. Like you said, he was hurt and we miss him for a minute. And then now that he's back, you just don't you don't know what it'd be like without him. He's got that young fire on the front line and he he's not scared to cross it. He's not scared to to do things with it. He's not the like you said. He played a little defense, but he's not the defensive guy. Like usually. Yeah
Kara
33:20
he's not normally. But I felt like tonight was a different Kerwin.
Bridget
33:24
I didn't see Caroline as much
Kara
33:25
because you had huge week on your side. I had Kerwin on mine. Yeah,
Bridget
33:28
yeah, he was doing good. Did you see the little back passing things that they all were all doing? That one. That one set where they just back pass it to back. Kiki pass the back. Kiki passing the back Kiki pass it. And then it ended up not working. But like four of them back kick to each other and just got all tickled. And it was on her side so I could see it. And I was like, scream was
Kara
33:46
like that Kiki. They didn't the back. Kiki, did
Bridget
33:50
you see it or was it just me? Mean it happened? Okay, I believe you don't even know if it was Camille that started. But anyway, somebody did it, and somebody started the little back Kiki thing and then went from that
Kara
33:59
one just doesn't end up. It doesn't end up going in. But there was a number of times where the momentum and the offensive were there, and it was like they
Bridget
34:06
were all back kicking posses
Kara
34:08
like that. Yeah, where it looked pretty, but it just didn't make it in. The goal. Right? Was screaming for the back. That's probably all those times that I was screeching because I'd get my heart in my throat, and then I'd sound like some sort of dying bird all
Bridget
34:22
around me. Think I'm weird? Well, everybody in my life thinks I'm weird, but especially people around me at the games because am looking back.
Kara
34:30
Oh my gosh, hey, back
Bridget
34:31
kick he did him and then he back kick you to him. And they're like, this chick knows nothing about cyber because she don't even have the right terminology. And then I'm over there saying, burn, you're my favorite. Anyway, here's another one. Your favorite. So since you got like 18 of them up
Kara
34:43
here, well, I can probably say something positive about everybody could do.
Bridget
34:47
But that's not the goal. That's not what we do. We don't roll like that.
Kara
34:50
No, but maybe today we should because we're going to the playoffs, baby. So I feel like you have to you have to give some credit where credit is due tonight because this team, every single person on and off, just really to me made a difference this time. But yeah, no, I thought usually I had another good game. And then my other honorable mention is Bronco, because I really felt like he was the other half that was really playing physical, especially with Busquets and Messi. And there's one point where I got so frustrated and I actually had to go back and watch it after the match because I was like, what happened? And it's where they call a foul on Messi. But we're all like, Bronco. He. Messi lets the ball go too far and Bronco gets in the way. Well. In. I recorded it because messy like hits him in the face. And yet they call a foul for messy. So it's against Bronco. Yeah.
Bridget
35:50
Now that that was done, they don't call fouls against Messi because Messi doesn't do anything wrong.
Kara
35:55
We have maybe one time. I think we saw one time that might have been in the least Cup match. Just like the one time.
Bridget
36:02
Yeah. It didn't happen tonight. Everything that he wanted, he got denied. But Bronco played his little heart out and he didn't make mistakes. Like, that's the thing about Veronica. Like, I sometimes think he's playing so hard that he makes careless mistakes. But tonight he was just playing so hard. But he didn't make any careless mistakes. Like, you know, the one time he almost had a chance to shoot it. And yeah, he did a good job on that one. And like he, he put a post after it was awkward that he did this for the that this was for the, the you know for the fans. So love that but think when he sometimes he just gets ahead of himself if that makes sense. Like think he is playing so hard that sometimes he does his concentration. It's not there. But tonight it was there and he was playing hard. So when he's on, he's on.
Kara
36:45
Anyone else you want to single out and just kind of compliment? Well, we have to say Milan to do a much better job this game than he did Wednesday night. He he redeemed himself. He came back. He was a force. That all you think that yellow card really should have been yellow and was yelling at that point. He was like, don't you be giving my little
Bridget
37:05
yellow glory, don't deserve and
Kara
37:07
do nothing wrong. But anyway, he he covered up for what he did the other night. Think he got think he just had a bad night Wednesday night. So I would give him a lot of props for coming back. Because when you saw Milano coming back tonight and being on, then privet was back to privet form. Yeah. And so you saw but then again that could be because. Yeah. Is back and burns back on the right side. I don't know if that's all that, but I just know that Milan to being on kept that line in order. Yeah.
Bridget
37:33
And so I have to give props for coming back because like, say, if you come back and give it your all,
Kara
37:37
I'm going to give them props. I definitely agree, I think that was regular Miranda tonight. He had a he had a good night. He was solid. He was covering things. They were all kind of trying to watch those through passes and fast runners from Miami. And you know that was each one of them had a job to do in that. And I think privet did really well coming into the midfield, coming into offensive plays. And Malathaat had some very good clearances and tackles where he got there ahead of it and boxed it out. He even got that one foul. That was pretty scary that he was fine. And then 1s I mean I think Enzo had a good night. It's pretty funny. His hold up play was pretty good. Not as good as Wednesday's, but maybe they were watching for that this time.
Bridget
38:24
Thought that Westwood he does. He did a really good job as coach. And you know he's really feisty and he he pushes the team I mean we could literally go through the entire entire team.
Kara
38:35
Yeah. And I want to say like Carroll's kind of like didn't happen. He had a great chance. I don't think he played badly, but I think stats wise like it says it because he didn't. But he could have gotten a goal. So he misses a big chance. He gets a shot blocked and he gets fouled a few times where he's just left there and we play on. So I mean I don't think he had a bad night. It's not as obvious as his good ones. But there's one point where he definitely
Bridget
39:08
heard heroin.
Kara
39:09
Oh, yeah. He gave Caroline the biggest, like Enzo obviously did. But Carol went over there after everybody else had gave Karen the biggest hug. Carol did, and it was just like, I love seeing that, you know what I mean? Because obviously they can't communicate because freaking Karen can't speak English and.
Bridget
39:27
I'm sure you can't speak Polish or whatever they speak anyway. But anyway, it was just cute to see Karol hug him and was like, so you know, it was just cute. One of
Kara
39:35
my favorite things happened at the beginning that I was telling you, because you had messaged Westwood's wife, Becca, and she had said, like, they were gonna all leave it out there and do everything they possibly could. And I cracked up at that because, like, I don't know, it's like the 13th minute. 1215 that's all ridiculous at the beginning. And it's like Westwood and I don't remember who from Miami is just they're getting into it and they're getting physical. And it's mostly done with Westwood first, but then yeah, then they get into a scuffle and like Westwood pancakes, the guy and thought that was just fantastic, that he's like, he's going to lay everything and including laying on the man.
Bridget
40:16
Yeah. Was like, he thinks he's playing football. He laid that dude straight up out.
Kara
40:20
That was pretty great. No, just it was a great, fantastic night. I loved every bit of it. I thought those decisions on the subs and including putting Jones in to add some more defense, we're also very good because our guys were having to run and it helped to have some fresh legs there at the back.
Bridget
40:38
Then I was tired at that point. No, no offense. He was just he was just worn out, you know, and we needed him in. I could have, I could have Downpatrick in, but we didn't, you know. It is what it is. We'll save him for the next game. Do you have anything else to say? I have one more thing to say about the night, but it's not about the play. Well, you know what I mean. Just have one more thing to say about the night. No, I think mine more is the issues that were happening on Wednesday tactically obviously that holes we needed to plug got plugged. They got answered. So I think that they you can very obviously tell they watched those tapes and they targeted things to improve. And our offense was incredible for both times. Like I feel like Wednesday and today they've both tried to really bring things. And sure we didn't we? Again, like any time the complaint is we didn't land them, but we had chances and we had opportunities and we tried to make that goalkeeper work, even if some of them weren't as talented. But some of them just just didn't land. But they were pretty. And you just hoped. I don't know. Yeah. It was. They were great. It's a great game to watch. It was if you're going
Kara
41:53
to have your heart in your throat. We didn't sit down the whole game. There was no sitting down. This was the first game that we legit stood up from beginning to. And that'll say this portion. Okay. Those people don't. I'm not one of those people. Okay. But we legit stood up from the beginning to the end of the game other than halftime. So it was it was a it was a very exciting game, one that you didn't want to sit down because you might miss something. My only other thing about the game and want to say they did a great job with the fan appreciation tonight. It's a great job. I love the the little halftime show that they did with the drones. My favorite thing though was when the players walk in, they've kind of started doing this thing where they bring in their own kids. But tonight Ashley Westwood had Anton walks his daughter with him and walking out. 1s And so that was that touched my heart from again from the get go. Because if you've read Carol's Football Friday, which if you haven't read about the one she wrote on Anthony, you need to go back and read it. Um, but she, he
Bridget
42:55
and Tom's girlfriend had said that she was going to try to come to the Inter Miami game, the last game of the season and bring his daughter. And so it was nice to see that, that she was able to do that and that she was able to walk out with Ashley. So that that touched my heart. It made and Tom being there, and I believe LaTonya spoke on it afterwards, clean up on it afterwards. They were it felt to them and felt like Anton was there and they were playing for him. So I think that had a lot to do with how we play tonight, because it gave the players a little bit more, you know, it was a little bit special, more special to them. I also like the fact that, you know, Enzo had his baby out there. Carol brought his son as well, and Jerry had his little boy. So it's nice to see that our team is able to bring our kids out. You know, it's nice to see that they include the families in the introductions, and they include the families of the players, you know? So that's to me that that means a lot. And the fact that that we have continued all season to respect and honor Anton, it's just
Kara
43:49
special. Yeah. That was really sweet. I had like heart eyes for all of that. Love seeing the kids get the opportunity to be out there and for such a big special night. That was really lovely. And shout out to our seat mates who were so generous. Max and Abby, they sit next to us in our in our section season ticket holders, and they gave us extra tickets so that my daughter could bring a friend from her soccer team for tonight. So thank you guys.
Bridget
44:18
My daughter got to come with one of her friends from her soccer team tonight as well. So look at this family. Ended up with the soccer teams.
Kara
44:24
Thank you, all of you for listening. And all of our listeners and supporters, we appreciate you. Here's to the playoffs. Maybe
Bridget
44:32
when we get to go to the playoffs, we get to go to the playoffs.
Kara
44:35
I can't believe we had no grass because we've made it to the playoffs.
Bridget
44:39
And y'all thought, y'all are done with us. But guess what? You get another episode. 1s Okay. Another recap. We hope that everyone has a great time. We can't wait. We'll play Red Bulls on Wednesday. Unfortunately not at home because the stupid Red Bulls had to get a oh, whatever. So we get to go to new Jersey on Wednesday. They don't ever feel that stadium up, so don't really give a crap about that part. We probably have more Charlotte FC fans there. Chico we know you're going. We hope everybody enjoys that. But it's a Wednesday night game. I think I just saw that it was at 730 and so let's keep it going. We're excited and we do love our team. We love our team even though we give them a hard time a lot sometimes we love this team. And so no matter what we're going to be behind them. And they pulled it off for us. So I'm proud.
Kara
45:25
I think all of Charlotte should be proud of Charlotte FC tonight. So we hope you have a good night's rest. Wake up in the morning and know that Charlotte has one. So good night and
Bridget
45:35
we will see you after Wednesday. We say bye bye.