NWSL Heat Check: It’s HOT!, Man. Utd’s historic FA Cup win, NWSL rookies | Good Vibes FC Ep. 10

This week, the vibes are hot. Join Sam and Becky for a very spicy stroll through the latest NWSL action including Portland’s 4-0 win and contentious penalty kick vs. Seattle, Kansas City’s two shutout week, and Lynn Williams’ record-tying goal. They also Olipop Gut Check the NWSL Rookie of the Year candidates, and talk about the epic Man United FA Cup victory and Mary Earps’ champagne spraying prowess. Come for the heat, stay for the humidity.

0:00-4:28 Are e-bikers REAL bikers??
4:29-4:51 Heat Check!
4:52-11:30 Portland v Seattle v Handballs?!
11:31-13:40 Kansas City Offensive Prowess
13:41-16:21 NC & being on the road
16:22-17:35 Houston v Angel City
17:36-19:09 Gotham’s Big Scorers
19:10-21:27 Hot League Updates + Ban on Zambia
21:28-23:35 Olipop Gut Check: Way TOO Early Rookie of the Year?
23:36-28:00 FA Cup Final, Its Significance & Memories
28:01-32:13 WSL Match Ups: Coming Down to the Wire!
32:14-37:25 Highlighting New Podcasts + The Power of Content!
37:26-40:50 Should Matches be 90 Minutes?? + Upcoming Games
40:51-43:55 Who would President Becky choose as her running mate?
43:56-46:28 Good Vibes: Soccer History and Shoutout to Sam’s Mom!

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hi everybody and welcome to Good Vibes FC I’m samis I’m coming to you from Vermont where apparently the northern lights were visible the other day did you hear about that Becky I did hear about it but did you see the Northern Lights no I was in Boston with my family for mother’s day so I missed the whole shebang oh but that’s lovely that you were there for mother’s day I know it was so nice we’ll get to that I cut you off you do your introduction now okay okay okay um I’m be saign I am coming from Portland Oregon it is once again very early I love you Sam I love this podcast the the sacrifices that I make and I just had a lovely weekend we had a win against Seattle my club coaches were in town from St Louis so like people that I’ve known for 25 years getting to watch me play soccer at a rivalry match so it was it was really great weekend oh that is so nice I know Becky we keep getting you up early to do this and I really appreciate that from you because I know you love to sleep oh do I ever and I slept so bad last night it’s getting hot here and I don’t have air conditioning in this house and it it can be brutal sometimes oh my gosh it’s getting hot that is a little bit of foreshadowing for this episode okay I went to Boston for Mother’s Day I got to spend Sunday with a little time with my mother-in-law a little time with my mom I had a lovely little afternoon my Pat my husband made us chicken thigh sandwiches on toasted English muffins for dinner a nice early Mother’s Day dinner and my parents backyard it was really nice and also my other big news is that Pat and I got ebikes ebikes oh you know klingenberg has one of those she just Tools around Portland and it’s just like I don’t even have to Pedal they’re so fun like I love biking like for exercise too but they’re so it’s like fun like I feel like a little kid with a toy and it’s just this like very adult motorized bike it’s so sick wait so it’s not like a tandem ebike no it’s just like I have like my own ebike but and I rode them like 6 or seven miles and went on to breakfast and rode back and you do have to Pedal but it just really like zooms you along and it’s like so fun I highly recommend I like scarily not very good at riding bikes like I like doing it but in Portland it’s taken so seriously I don’t feel I know adequate biking around Portland I know exactly how you feel when you’re around people who are like like commute cycling and you’re just like oh they’re playing it’s like you’re it’s you’re like not really welcome there it’s like trying to surf in Hawaii with the real Surfers and they’re like can you get out of our way highly frowned upon wait tell me a little bit more about your Club coaches being in Portland did they come for your game and then did you get to like catch up with them they said they just wanted to come visit me but I’m also like well you’re also here for one of the best matches of the Season convenient you guys yeah they were my club coaches met JB Marine from like age 14 to 18 and they’re such like a sweet couple like this is how wholesome it is when we won State for the first time that’s what he proposed to her like literally after the match when we’re all getting our little medals oh yeah so just like wonderful wonderful coaches and people that like were so important to me growing up almost like a second set of parents watching out for me and just wanting the best for me so having them out here we grabbed a couple meals they got to play some golf did a couple hikes got to hang out with Zola on Gam day and so it was just like a really cool experience of having him here oh that’s so nice how was the weather in Portland it was hot it was it was oh it’s not rainy and gloomy anymore it is just it was a scorcher it was like 85 on the field when we were warming up for the match and you know the turf always makes it a little bit hotter so yeah we’re I think we’re getting into summer man de devastating for Becky pretty exciting for me honestly I’m desperate for some sunlight on my little face okay speaking of the weather today on the podcast Becky Becky and the Thorns win their rivalry game against Seattle while Kansas City and Orlando stay on top of the table we also have a firsttime FA Cup champion we are going to talk all about man United’s statement win over Tottenham plus we have some fun updates from players around the world and we have an email from Kyla M who asks who president Becky SAU Brun would choose as her running mate it’s going to be a really really good episode you guys I’m very excited before we get into that that if we were going to heat check this podcast we’re talking weather in Portland we’re going to be talking weather all over the place we’re going to be talking how hot are things so this podcast I would say is like Habanero hot that seems like pretty appropriate very spicy very spicy very spicy very hot very popular very cool okay let’s get into the NB first things first Becky we have your big game to talk about your Portland Thoren had your big rivals the Seattle ran down to Providence park in front of over 20,000 people what is the atmosphere like for a home game like this like this big rivalry game it’s a little bit hot out there you’re in Providence Park you have your amazing fans cheering for you is does it always feel like this like what’s the atmosphere like I mean the atmosphere is always amazing There’s Something About Seattle though it is like electric I mean if it had to be like this is like o what’s hotter than habanero this is like ghost pepper pickled jalapenos yeah ghost pepper that’s excellent yeah like the hottest of hot everything just gets turned up just a little bit and man like 20,000 plus the fans were amazing the energy was amazing and yeah it was it was amazing to play oh that is so cool okay so you end up winning four to nothing but the game was a lot closer than that for most of the game first Sophia Smith set up Olivia mtry beautifully she kind of like got in on goal and slotted this like great pass back for Olivia to finish this kind of looping far post way out of the goalkeeper reach a really skillful finish you guys go up one to nothing how did you feel oh I mean I had a perfect view of it and I was like surely that’s not going in and it was just like beautiful almost Upper 90 definitely side netting but Liv is such a technical player that like when she does finishing like she does practice these kinds of shots so I’m not surprised that it happened but to do it in the Run of play against Seattle at that time like huge huge moment I know that’s so exciting for Olivia mry again such a young player who’s gaining experience every year she’s playing in this league and now for the national team and to have a big moment in a big game like that I feel like is so exciting and indicative of maybe what’s to come for her this year so a bunch of the game goes by and then like way late in the game a handball gets called on Sophia wera Seattle defender in the box for a penalty kick so pton linan was one-on-one with Sophia W to In The Box and takes a shot sof blocks it with her foot but it just kind of ricochets up and hits off her own hand then play continued a few minutes later the ref flows the whistle goes to the V box to review it and eventually then calls it a PK but there was lots of drama around this call and maybe rightly so Jess fishlock was clearly unhappy with the decision she was on Twitter after the game and as reported by The Seattle Times Jess commented I for sure want to know what the penalty rule is up until that moment we were super comfortable with what we were doing but stopped doing the game plan and all hell broke loose which really is what happened once you guys went up on the penalty kick Seattle did fall out of the game in this moment Becky did you know the rule did you have a clear view of what happened like what were you thinking as this happened and H as the ref was going to the V review well like oddly enough maybe maybe 5 minutes before that I had a similar thing happen where I tried to clear a ball and it went up and hit my hand in the box and we just kept playing and so I was like okay I think I’m okay because I I made an attempt to clear the ball I cleared it into my own hand and he didn’t even I don’t we didn’t stop to review or anything and I was like okay like this is that’s that’s fine cuz it’s not really a hand ball that’s the rule is that if it deflects off your foot as you’re trying to attempt to play and it hits your hand it’s not a hand ball and so when that happened to to so fora I was kind of like I can’t believe he was reviewing this and then the fact that it took like 12 minutes I’m like what he’s still reviewing it’s probably not clear and obvious I I almost think like because he didn’t call mine he probably shouldn’t call soes like kind of like even it out for everybody but the rule really kind of states that that should not have been a penalty well exactly so we like get I research this rule I’m like typing away like end to cell handball rules like trying to find the facts about it but something you said I want to go back to do you feel like consistency in refereeing is one of the most important things like if you’re not going to make a call one way you have to be consistent and not make the same call the other way or is there more factors than that to it no I think I think consistency is huge I think like the degree of fouls like what qualifies as a yellow card um what just qualifies as like just a regular file like I think consistency is so important I think a referee you know a referee has done a good job if you don’t even realize they’re on the field at all right and so I think like when you start getting calls going more one way one way or the other like then they’re starting to play more of a role in this game and you’re like that’s this is not how it’s supposed to be yeah for sure okay so again I’m researching away rules handball rules what rules are we following According to ifab which is the International Football Association board kicking or heading the ball into your own arm is not considered a handball unless the ball goes directly into the opposing team’s goal or the player scores immediately after so like you said Becky they reviewed for five minutes award the PK your team went on to score the PK thanks to Sophia Smith and with this goal she became the youngest player to score 40 goals in the nbsl then you guys saw two more goals go in an extra time making the game really Out Of Reach for Seattle despite what was a competitive game most of the time before that so I guess my question is to me it sounds like there is some confusion about the rule here and some subjectivity of the ref’s decision to call this a handball and a penalty kick do these things all shake out in the end like missed calls and Rule confusion does it even out or was this wrong ah it’s that’s tough like I I like to think like you’re going to get some calls and then you’re not going to get some calls so at the end of the season like it is what it is and if you deserve to win a game you know like score more than one goal like don’t make it tight where a bad bounce of the ball is going to cost you points so I I think it does even out in the end somehow I think the soccer Gods kind of smile down and they’re like all right we’ll give you this one today well that’s fair enough congratulations on the win Portland Thorns your team is flying Becky you now have 16 points you’re in fourth place such a great turnaround from three or four weeks ago when you and I were kind of discussing what’s going on what needs to change so I’m really happy for you guys how do you feel about where you’re at can you heat check us the Portland Thorns rise to the to Fourth yeah give me give me something with like a slow burn cuz it’s like we really did not start off great and so we’re just kind of building momentum I’m just hoping that like one of these days it’s going to be like the spiciest thing ever but right now it’s like a slow burn thing I like that Portland Thorn’s on a slow burn I think that makes a lot of sense okay around the rest of the league Kansas City got their first shut out of this season in their Wednesday night game tying Seattle 0 to zero then they went on to get another shut out this weekend in a one to nothing win over North Carolina dein’s back scoring goals for Kansas City it’s a very scary thought super scary they’ve been so dangerous offensively and now with this new found ability to get shutouts Kansas City is like terrifying I feel like all we’ve been saying all along is like like Kansas City wins 5 to4 Kansas City wins 3 to2 Kansas City wins 10 to1 it’s been their just offensive prows has been so impressive Becky once a team like Kansas City who are such an offensive superpower kind of shore things up at the back like they have been where is the Achilles heel or is focusing on stepping up their defense going to kind of Tamp back their offensive prowess that’s an interesting question I think one thing kind of does have to give if you’re going to prioritize defending like you’re just not going to send as many numbers forward and I think that’s what Kansas City did a lot of early where they were just direct they were letting players run onto the ball and behind they were using beia quite a bit to like link up play with chwinga so I think you know if you prioritize defending you do lose a little bit if they can find a way to kind of even that out like that is a very terrifying thought but Flo is such a defensive minded coach that I think the fact that they’ve given up so many goals probably really bothers him and so wouldn’t be surprised if they start focusing a little bit on that more okay Becky speaking of Kansas City we need to heat check them I’m kind of feeling like they’re kind of like a Florida heat I know they’re in Kansas City but a very tropical I’m thinking palm trees I’m thinking the wind is blowing and they’re kind of like chilling in the sun interesting I I would say have you ever been in Kansas City during the summer you’ve played there you know how hot and humid it can be Kansas City just might be Kansas City in the summer just a Kansas City Heat just hot heat exactly hot humid heat all right Kansas City it sounds like you guys are a hot heat you heard it from Becky sadly though for North Carolina who Kansas City beat this past weekend they’ve had a tough run of games they’ve now lost three in a row and they haven’t won on the road yet this season Becky I feel like your team the Portland Thorn you have your own Fortress at home North Carolina is kind of known for having that same Fortress and winning mentality when they’re home home but they’re struggling on the road what kind of challenges do you think might be getting in their way while they’re traveling right now it could be a number of things I think in North Carolina you’re obviously traveling like huge distances to get anywhere around the country especially when you get to the West Coast and I know for the Thorns we only won I think two games on the road last year and it becomes almost this like mental like what’s wrong with us why can’t we why why aren our legs turning over as much like is it the food at the hotels like you just kind of like try to find reasoning and you’re like no it’s all in us like we can we can figure this out we don’t need to find excuses and so it’s just figuring out what works for them and so I I’m kind of surprised I do think North Carolina put up a really good showing against Kansas City I thought they defended really well I thought they had some really good chances so it was like a close thing it’s not like they’re getting blown out by any stretch of the imagination right I agree I think they were defending really well they’re kind of discipline in defending Kansas City’s incredible attacking power including T watch winga I think they were really methodical in how they were doing that but I agree with you on the road is hard like there are so many additional factors out of your control when you’re on the road what if it’s noisy at the hotel or your pillow sucks what if you I don’t know you usually get this meal from Whole Foods every time and there’s no Whole Foods nearby what if the I don’t know bus ride to the game takes longer than normal like there’s just so many factors that you can’t control so I feel like getting out of your Rhythm routine is so much easier and you have to kind of have that adaptability do you personally struggle on the road at all or do you just find because you’ve had such a long career of traveling that you can kind of get used to anything I think because I started traveling with the youth national teams pretty early and then going around the world with the senior team I think I’ve just gotten so used to just being on the road that honestly any hotel room can feel like my room at at my house like get me in there for 30 minutes and it looks like I’ve lived there for two years you have your whole like bookshelf lined up behind you and a cup of tea by the bed exactly a little lavender spray for my pillow oh my gosh that sounds amazing well so I’m so sorry to do this to you North Carolina but feel like you guys are kind of like a little bit of a damp heat right now just just on the road just you’re just on the road as soon as you get back home it’s going to be hot hot hot calante I know it okay at the weekend Houston stole three points versus Angel City in the 998th minute paid P neelon scored a last second goal against Angel City who just traded her away and her celebration and facial expression and just pure happiness after scoring that goal was so incredible to see Becky what do you think that feels like for Paige you know I don’t really know what that would feel like CU I’ve never really scored a goal like that but uh the her facial expressions and just like the the sheer Joy on her face like running to the sideline like oh that must feel so good so especially against the team that just you away like what what a way to win a match against your old team I know they say that revenge is a dish best served cold do I have that right that sounds lovely but I think it should be served hot this week I think you’re right I feel like Paige neel’s heat check is like a hot wing just a spicy or how about the sun the sun solar the sun she is yeah it is just a uh the surface of the Sun exactly that was really fun to watch that a few other quick things to note after scoring this Wednesday in their one to nothing victory over Houston Lynn Williams you guys might know her from her side hustle as a podcast host Lynn Williams is now tied with Sam Kerr for the most nwsl goals at 78 goals Christine Sinclair is just to behind on 76 goals Lynn Williams heat check piping hot thermometer is broken Mercury is exploding out of the thermometer she’s breaking [ __ ] out here it’s Lynn Williams everybody can we just talk that 78 goals is so many goals it’s so many goals it’s hard for me to Fathom as someone who’s probably only scored four in her career but that is so many like she is remarkable she’s like just a such a winner I freaking know Lynn Williams just finds a way to get it in the back of the net finds a way to win so proud of her and we’re going to make a way bigger deal about this once she scores one more goal and she actually breaks the record we’re going to have but balloons and birthday cake and everything so congratulations to Lynn stay tuned for her to break the record it’s probably going to happen in her next game Ellis Stevens also scored a really great goal for Gotham against San Diego an absolute laser show and Gotham Drew their first ever Point against the wave so Gotham needs a heat check here too o I don’t know what what do you got for me Sammy I feel like it’s like when the oven is on but it’s like it’s not that hot yet but you’re still kind of like ah gotcha I like that a lot you know what I mean it’s just heating up it’s just pre it’s in uh preheat mode they’re just they’re just coming up to Temp sad news for the wave and the US Women’s National team was that Jaden Shaw came off injured in that San Diego game so we’re hoping that she’s okay we’re also hoping that Alyssa n is okay she got injured in Chicago’s 3 to1 win over Utah it looked like she maybe tweaked her thigh she attempted to keep playing but she couldn’t and then eventually got subbed off so neither one of those injury updates is what we want to be hearing about so close to the Olympics and just in general we hope that Jaden and Alyssa are both okay the Croy bathoon show is continuing she scored an awesome goal off of a volley from an Andy Sullivan corner kick in their game against Louisville I feel like Croy bethon needs her own heat check absolute straight fire I mean great I think that works I agree wholeheartedly you’re like yeah I can’t really argue with that one and then Savannah demello’s free kick in that Louisville game they did end up losing that but it was an incredible free kick from Savannah Dello we need a a little heat check for her I don’t know why I’m doing this if you’re if you’re listen listening to this yeah fireworks what a good if you are listening to this go on YouTube next time because you can see the weird hand movement that I’m doing that looks like fireworks and this whole episode’s available on YouTube Savannah Dell’s fireworks free kick I love that and another quick update Becky saburn actually has five career NB cell go not four don’t get it twisted Becky get your own stats right H don’t don’t cut myself short I guess okay our last nwl update Zambian Internationals Barbara Banda and Rachel konangi had a really nice moment they took a cute picture together after Orlando beat Bay FC one to nothing we’re so excited about these two to continue to rise up through the league but we did feel like we have to just mention if you’ve not seen the news yet the guardian reported a few weeks ago that Zambia may be barred from the Olympics this summer with reports of moneya laundering from the Federation the guardian reported FIFA threatened the country’s football association with suspension amid accusations of money laundering offenses against its president and undue influence by Third parties this would be so devastating we’re not going to dive deep into this right now but as the story develops we will certainly keep you posted but what I can say is that we all obviously want to see Barbara Banda and Rachel kinagi in the Olympics would be really really sad to lose Zambia from that spot but hopefully things will work out okay Becky it’s time for ollipop gut check of the week brought to you by our best friends at ollipop oh my God we’re back with another strawberry vanilla times orange squeeze ollipop Maggie Mack on Twitter has inspired me with this gut check idea as a followup to our way too early MVP of the Season we’re going to do a way too early rookie of the year I think this is so fun so Maggie Mack tweeted Rookie of the Year candidates are deep she suggested Croy bethon railen Turner Emma Sears Hal herel Alli Sor and Ellie wheeler who are we missing Becky who would get your vote today for Rookie of the Year oh if I had to vote today I mean obviously I spoke about her last week Croy bethon I still think is having like such a great showing so far this season like I hope it continues for her I think as a younger player having that form maintain throughout an entire season would be super impressive I would love to see that but if she continues on like this I would probably say Croy bethon I totally agree with you I think Croy bethon has been incredible not only scoring her own goals but setting up goals like yes she’s getting a lot of assists but she’s playing these final balls in to just keep things dangerous create chances for her team another Spirit rookie Hal herfel has been really impressive in her play as well and I think this is a very extensive list Maggie Mack you’re doing a great job I also just wanted to shout out Kennedy Fuller who’s one of these other young kind of Youth national team player she plays for Angel City and she’s been playing a lot and doing really well and I think that especially with these rookies giving them more time to grow into the season as they just kind of continue to grow as players and gain experience in this league Sam note to self probably way too early to be doing these Rookie of the Year checks but I I love doing it and I love that ollipop lets us ask these questions so that’s our ollipop gut check of the week make sure you comment below to let us know who you think the way too early rookie of the year is and who’s going to continue to stand out and push for this and as always thank you so much to ollipop so the faup final was this weekend between Man United and Tottenham and man united made history with a statement four to nothing Victory it was their first ever FA Cup victory which is incredible hold up hold up I want to know your experiences in an FA Cup Final how big is it to play in one of these where did you play how did it go like what are your favorite memories yeah so when I first got to Man City they were still making up the previous season’s FA Cup because Co had like put paws on it so I actually only played in like the quarterfinal semi-final and final so it kind of felt like this like surprise playoff run like right off the bat it was like honestly some of my very first games there and making the FA Cup Final was I think I learned the most about the tournament when we made the final because everybody was so excited and honored we traveled to London to play at Wembley I learned more about the history I learned about like how much it means to England football the FA Cup like it’s just this really historic and meaningful tournament and I feel like as the WSL continues to grow the history of it continues to grow even more in the women’s game so I was so excited to play in the final there was obviously nobody at the stadium unfortunately it was at Wembley which was amazing but there was no fans cuz it was Co I actually scored a goal I talked to Alex Greenwood about it on friendlies a few weeks ago we just kind of reminisced about the FA Cup Final she assisted me for this goal we ended up winning we got to celebrate with some beers in the locker room afterwards and oh yeah it was like awesome it’s like one of my favorite trophies because I think it was like such a different experience and one that I had never like thought that much about until I got to Man City but it’s such a big deal in England and playing at Wembley is such a big deal in England too I know you’ve played at Wembley with the national team before Yeah we actually played our gold medal match from the 2012 Olympics at Wembley and it was I think like 80,000 like it was packed we played Japan we wound up winning 2 to one I believe it was it was like and then to get awarded your gold medal on Wembley’s grass was just like yeah chef’s kiss it was amazing that’s like really cool do you have that kind of Reven R it’s a hard word I know do you have that kind of reverence for any other stadiums like do you have other stadiums on your bucket list that you want to play in I would love to play like the bnab CU I love Real Madrid Emirates would be really cool just because of Arsenal I was thinking that for you I got to play at Old Trafford and like oh Manu is Zola’s team so he was like he was there and he was like this is so sick I got to play at Newcastle I thought that was really great so I’ve been very fortunate I’ve got to play at some pretty baller stadiums but I would also love to play at azka I think that would be sick too scary but sick yeah very sick well this game at Wembley was played in front of 76,000 people they all got to watch man united as they cruised to the FA Cup Tottenham were pretty much outmatched despite a strong first half showing by the time the second half rolled around the Spurs really just couldn’t put up with man United’s fight elun scored an absolute laser show then there was a Rachel Williams header and Lucia Garcia had a brace to seal it off and then Mary herbs United’s goalkeeper was celebrating like so funnily she was running around the field spraying everybody with champagne and just looking like it was an absolute dream come true which of course it was like winning the FA Cup is a huge deal she really celebrates hard cuz I very distinctly remember watching the Euro Championship presser and her like and the whole entire team like interrupting the presser and she was like on the counter with alcohol like dancing around I was like oh dang okay she parties hard I mean when again we’ve talked about this before but when you win you got to go like you that’s your chance heart tells you to do you just got to celebrate hard in that moment so for United it was a welcome change to what’s been kind of a subpar season Mark Skinner United’s manager according to the UK media was like a little bit on the outs and so maybe this Victory will book him another chance next season with the team both clubs now have one more chance to kind of make their voices heard because this week they both are playing WSL matchups with inbound US Women’s National team coach Emma Hayes and her Chelsea side who are hoping to pull out a last gasp title Chelsea have two matches left the first one is on Wednesday at 2:15 p.m. against Tottenham the Spurs again are coming off this kind of bitter loss in the FA Cup Final so they’re going to have a chip on their shoulder and definitely something to prove and something to play for for sure but if Chelsea are successful and hold on to their one goal in differential over City it will all come down to the WSLS last day Saturday May 18th at 10:00 a.m. this is the end of the road for this season of the WSL man united FA Cup winners will host Emma Hayes’s last game as Chelsea manager meanwhile Man City will take on Seventh Place Aston Villa you cannot write this stuff this is like amazing scripts writing right here like how how is this coming down to the wire I don’t know it’s like should be a documentary it it really should it really should it’s honestly like so you know when like the TV channels who have it are like pumped because like they’re just rooting for it to be like a nailbiter so that more people tune in like I feel like that’s what’s happening is that like the powers that be you know how they’ll say like the NBA finals are rigged so it goes to game seven like this is what I feel like is happening here that there’s just like somebody behind the scenes that’s just like twiddling their like fingers like yes yes exact what we wanted I know literally so whoever comes out with three points and the goal differential would be the winner all of these WS games on the last day are play it at the exact same time Becky so there are massive Stakes here for NSL fans who see us have this playoff format each year I’m wondering what you think is a better ending to the season like does the race for the shield feel like this does oh that’s such a great question and if only I had experienced it where you just had the shield and that was the end of the season but because we have this like playoff format I hate to say this but it almost feels like winning that the playoffs afterwards feels more powerful than winning a shield and I I don’t want to I don’t want to say that but if I’m being really honest with myself that’s how I feel what about you I agree I mean I think on like I think in my like football brain Theory there’s a world in which winning The Shield is more impressive because it’s a sign of consistency and being great in every game all season long whereas the championship can just be a good run of form at the end but there’s just something in my like competitive or like I don’t know some side of me that’s like playoffs are the best like they’re so fun to watch the Do or Die nature of them is like just so competitive and it like adds this element of like desperation yeah and I think also the way that we like create events around it like you have weekend you goly and there’s this media and all the events and and so I know I I agree with you I think it is more impressive to win a shield but there’s just something about winning a championship I know it’s like the Super Bowl yes exactly but like better because it’s women’s soccer obviously bigger and better so Chelsea Man City I mean there’s still a few wild things that could play out and I’m sure they will like I am expecting the most things possible to happen in these last couple of days of the season but Becky putting your money on this Chelsea Man City oh I don’t like answering these questions Sammy I know I I’m GNA go with Chelsea you got to finish the story I love that I really like that I’m just going to oppose you here I’m going to go man city it’s my old team I think they are in like a little bit I don’t know if they’re in a position of power I don’t know it’s like literally so complicated but I I guess I’ll say rooting for Man City just to give uh us some some variation here in this conversation we can bet on some ollipop or something I would love that I would love to bet some mollipop it’s time now for some fun updates from some players from around the world so ellon from Man United and allesia Russo from Arsenal have started a podcast together they’re like best friends on the lionesses they were teammates for a really long time on man united and they’ve just started the show together it’s so fun and Whimsical and it’s a really good insight into their like friendship and personality it’s called the tuni and Russo show and I’ve been watching the first couple of episodes on YouTube do you know them at all like I’ve seen a little bit and they seem like hilarious people that I would love to know but they’re like so funny I guess I feel like I know them but I really don’t at all elun plays for Manchester United so when I was living in Manchester I was obviously driving the car on the other side of the road and I accidentally was like backing out of a parking space and like kind of bonked my car into a pole and so then I was asking some of my teammates on man city like how I should get it fixed and Ella tun’s dad like has a car company so he like fixed it for me oh my gosh but like I don’t I don’t know Ella but like I just feel like kind of eternally grateful that her dad like helped fix my car but I do love their show it’s like very very funny so I highly recommend it and then Becky Ally Riley and Sydney Laro obviously both on Angel City they’ve also started a show that nobody can really quite describe yet I want you to listen to this clip um so welcome to bffr what is this like I’m very confused what the show is is it a podcast like a walking podcast but like a living podcast like you’re coming with us you’re living with us is it is it like Ali and La Ali and LA but Sydney and Ally in the world everywhere with you so it’s like a vlog okay she’s doing too much she’s doing too much it’s just bffr show like what does that mean just just cut so that clip was Sid Laro Ali Riley and then their teammate Alyssa Thompson and they were trying to explain to her what their new show is Alyssa seems like she hasn’t quite picked up on what the concept is yet but regardless of what the concept is I think it’s going to be so fun to watch I’m so excited to see more players out here creating content and I wanted to talk about this a little bit Becky like you’re a current player so is Lynn I just recently retired but we’re out here making kind of player driven content and I think we see that as something that can further grow the women’s game by bringing fans along and kind of being open about what our life is like so I just want to ask a little bit like why do you think that this is important and can contribute to the growth of the game I really think about like people fall in love with teams but I also think people really fall in love with players as well and I think if you’re a good Storyteller you create these connections with the team with these players that like Outlast time and so I think like what we get to do um with our friendships with the players that we know so well the things that we’ve gone through like being able to tell these little stories so people really feel like they get to know us I think is so important I think you just bring fans into the game that it just like it lasts a lifetime and I think that’s so important for for us and I think for other people that cover the women’s game is like you’re bringing people to this community and you want them to feel like loved and you want them to be knowledgeable and educated and you want them to care yeah I totally agree I think everything you said is so true it like creates this level of Engagement that we’re kind of opening up to our fans opening up what it’s like for us and our personalities more but I also think for us it’s so fun fun oh so fun like I love doing this I love making this with you and Lynn I love on the friendly show getting the opportunity to ask players questions that I don’t know all these players have unique experiences and I think it’s this show from Ali and Sid and then even elun and lessi Russo show it looks so fun to make something and to do something that’s not what we usually do every day that’s not just soccer and traveling and going to practice and having team meetings it’s this kind of learning to use this other muscle of telling stories and making content I think it’s really cool and fun oh so fun and I think in a way being a professional athlete you can seem like the perception is that like you’re something distant and Untouchable and this makes us more human and relatable and I think I know that I’ve always wanted to like show that human element and to me it’s like so much more important than the Sakura element and so I also adore doing this podcast because I just love being able to tell stories with you I know it’s the best okay well good luck to these other new shows we highly recommend them it’s been so fun to chat a little bit about what this is like but coming up this weekend we have the Thorns heading to Texas to take on the dash it’s going to be hot Becky it says it’s going to be 90 degrees so we need to heat check the weather I mean it’s it’s going to be Houston hot just like it was Kansas City hot it’s going to be Houston hot I’m going to start drinking electrolytes now yeah you you should you should start drinking extra ollipop extra electrolytes it’s going to be like having a heated blanket on you in the heat yeah like in my house that has no air conditioning it sounds terrible so drink up all the additional extra time that’s being given in the NB cell and honestly like in the game now with like kind of this rule change virr checks all this added times getting out on we’re seeing like extra 9 Minutes extra 11 minutes some matches have upwards of 20 minutes of stoppage time doing that in this heat now with this weather starting up in America it’s going to be really hard is this something you and your team is thinking about at all yet oh for sure and I think especially when it gets so hot that you’re also then going to have water breaks so you’re just adding even more time to the end matches and so I think you just have to be so strategic I think high performance they just need to be like ready with the ice towels and drinks around the field and like anytime you get a chance to just take a sip just take care of yourself a little bit like you just got to be use some strategic I like kind of have this Theory I’ve talked about this before but when I played in at Man City the weather was a lot cooler than what I was used to playing games in the nwl over the summer and I all of a sudden was like oh I understand why games are 90 minutes long because here where the game was like kind of originated you can play well for 90 minutes whereas in the end of hell I have always felt like it’s like a torturous exercise to try to play in the heat for 90 minutes so I just like I don’t I don’t know I have this Theory and it’s terrible but like as it continues getting hotter I don’t know what we’re going to do like the world is going to get hotter like are are you suggesting that we shorten the games don’t do 90 minutes ew I didn’t really want to say that because I don’t really think that that’s my theory but my theory is just more that the climate is so indicative of what it feels like to play the game for that long so I really know where to go from there maybe don’t put our games at 4:00 on a Sunday afternoon in Houston that is a good place to start baby steps I’m like let’s just make the gamees 40 minutes long everybody’s like Sam what okay here’s an appropriately timed game 7:30 p.m. on Saturday Washington will play Angel City this will be a really fun battle for a Saturday night can Croy bathoon keep Croy boning I sure hope so then Gotham will host Chicago on Sunday at 5:00 p.m. we will really hope cross all of our fingers all of our toes to see Alyssa back in net but we will also hope for Lynn Williams to break the nwl all-time scoring record and if and when she does I’m going to make cupcakes for myself and then eat them at my own house what kind of cupcakes Funfetti H obviously obviously and as we said it is the last day of the WSL on Saturday at 10:00 a.m. so so depending on what happens in Chelsea’s game on Wednesday the title race might come down to the very last day of the season on which all teams play their final game at the exact same time I literally can’t wait let’s go to the inbox we got an email I’m very excited for this from Kyla M that asks I don’t want to speak for all US Women’s National team fans but I’m going to anyway thank God kylo we need somebody to I firmly believe that collectively we would choose Becky if we had to pick a presidential candidate obviously what I want to know is who would Becky choose as her running mate the obvious caveat it has to be one of her US Women’s National team teammates past or present great question also thank you so much for thinking that I should be the president like oh my gosh um the obvious I think people would be like oh she’s going to choose Megan rapino and most of the time yes that’s a fair fair thing to say I’m going to change it up though because I think I need to get the youth vote so I would bring in Naomi GMA oh as my running mate she is like such a remarkable woman as you know it is mental health month and Naomi helped put on this mental health Retreat that a couple nwsl players from each team went to earlier this year in San Diego and paired up with common goal to have this mental health Retreat and honestly Sammy like it was like lifechanging and you just bring these random players in we didn’t really know each other that well it was like different ages different professional experiences different lived experiences and you just like you talk about life you talk about values about living your values you talk about grief all these other emotions that you have as like as a human but also as an athlete and I feel like I got to learn more and I’m so close to these players from like 4 days of this Retreat than with people that I’ve played with for like 20 years like that’s how powerful it was and Naomi through the whole thing was just like so strong and like modeling vulnerability and so powerful and like the fact that she was able to put this whole thing together with common goal um and to basically like kind of host it for us I was like this this woman is remarkable and I would be honored if she I mean I’ll I’ll be her running mate like she can go ahead and be president honestly I was going to say that’s like presidential candidacy on Naomi’s part like her setting all of that up that’s like that’s her ticket oh yeah yeah it was like it was a truly remarkable experience and she’s a truly remarkable woman wow Naomi that is like the highest praise I can ever imagine getting from Becky sabrun that was so wonderful Becky thank you for sharing all of that so it sounds like if Becky sabrun Naomi GMA is an option I think you’ve got the entire nwell women’s soccer Community voting for you guys whenever that comes to fruition someday don’t forget you can write us with questions you can email us at Women’s gamem menand blazers.com and we might just choose it and read it on the show and ask Becky sarron anything that you want to know sadly this is bringing us to the end of the episode I’m going to miss you I’m going to miss everybody but before we go we always leave our listeners with a good vibe so Becky what is your good vibe to share with our listeners today this past Wednesday there was a showing at one of the cinemas here in Portland and it was called Copa 71 and it was basically the first kind of un official Women’s World Cup like FIFA decided not to recognize it but it was held in Mexico and it was a smaller tournament little known like not many people know about it and they had such great footage they interviewed a bunch of players that played in 71 and for me it was like such an amazing story that I had never heard so the good vibe this week for me is like the uncovering of stories that have not been told and allowing that like power to come out into the world oh that is so cool Becky I’m going to look more into that because I would love to know more the uncovering of stories that have not been told I that’s an amazing good vibe thank you Sam what’s yours I really really love that my good vibe since it is just briefly after Mother’s Day is just a little shout out to my mom I got to see her on Sunday and spend the afternoon with her my mom is so supportive she always asks such pertinent questions because she keeps up with everything that I do like she listens to every episode and so every time I talk to her she like really knows what’s going on even things I haven’t even told her and I just feel really really grateful I know that Mother’s Day can be a hard day for a lot of people and my heart goes out to everybody who had a good day or had a hard day but my good vibe is just my own mom I love her so much and she’s such a great lady and she’s a goofball but I really appreciate her and I know she’s listening to this so I know that she’ll hear it okay that is it for this week’s episode of Good Vibes FC I really hope that you’re subscribed to this podcast feed but if not subscribe right now you tiny turducken it’s available wherever you listen to podcasts we’re also on YouTube we’re also on Instagram Twitter and Tik Tok at women’s game MIB upcoming this week Becky we have an interview with cat marcario Chelsea and US wom’s national team midfielder attacker forward n extraordinaire and I’m going to ask her all about Chelsea’s title race her journey back from injury and her hopes for this Summer’s Olympics with the US Women’s National Team I’m really excited to speak with her and for everybody to hear the interview for sure I’m definitely tuning in for that one oh my gosh thank you all right goodbye everybody I’m Becky and I’m Sam and this is Good Vibes FC the podcast that’s so hot right now too hot to handle I’m actually literally sweating and so hot so that’s that goodbye all right love you guys bye