00:00How surprised you are to find Portland Thorns in first place.
00:05Listen, I'm surprised, but I can say that I'm very surprised.
00:09They were a mid-table team last season, but that's the thing,
00:12and we talk about it all the time on the show, that we love about the NWSL.
00:16The fact that it can be anybody's game.
00:19Any team could win at any moment.
00:20That's something that we do criticize Liga MX for
00:23because you see the same four or five teams dominating.
00:26But this is what I love about the NWSL.
00:28With the recent transfers and the new juniors coming onto the team,
00:33we're seeing a big difference in these squads.
00:34Without a doubt, they were great games this weekend.
00:38Big results that moved the table.
00:39But let's start at the bottom of the table with the expansion teams.
00:44Boston, a team that we were very hopeful for.
00:47It is starting to click in.
00:49Crespo, I know that you were checking that game this weekend.
00:52Break it down for us.
00:53I mean, what other way to celebrate you being in this league
00:56than, you know, go against the other team.
00:58That's going new into this league.
01:00We saw Boston versus Denver,
01:02which was such a back-and-forth game, first of all.
01:05But not only that, Denver was winning 2-1,
01:08and then Boston se puso las pilas.
01:11Two goals in the 90-plus.
01:13And, you know, ultimately deciding that from the new teams,
01:17they might be the better one.
01:18But the table doesn't say so just yet.
01:20So, I believe that was their first win of the season, actually.
01:23Now, let me ask you this, Crespo,
01:24because I feel like it will help our viewers understand.
01:27You were watching the very last place of the standings
01:31versus a brand-new team.
01:32What was the level of play that you were looking at?
01:35These guys, were you watching a chaotic game
01:37where there was, like, lack of touch, lack of technique,
01:40or we are seeing a league where the bottom of the barrel
01:45is actually pretty high level?
01:46I mean, I think the way with this game,
01:50we were seeing, you know, an equal match of drive
01:54because not only that, like, this team was down a goal,
01:58and yet even into the last minute of the game,
02:01they're still, you know, putting in the effort.
02:03So that means that they are slowly building that chemistry.
02:06I mean, it is still their first season,
02:08so we can't rush into them being, like,
02:11expecting them to be all the way at the top
02:12or even, like, mid-table.
02:14Like, there's still a brand-new team
02:15that's getting it all together.
02:16So I think that, overall,
02:19we could expect really good things from these two teams.
02:22It's just...
02:23You've got to give them some time.
02:23At the end, pull.
02:24Some time, some time.
02:25What is the key, Camila, for these teams
02:26to actually gear and start competing?
02:29Yeah, well, I mean, when you look at other
02:31really successful teams into the NWSL,
02:33I think one common factor seems to be, like,
02:36a leading veteran player
02:38from the U.S. women's national team
02:40specifically to kind of help lead.
02:42Or, you know, even when we look at players
02:44like Banda or Marta on Orlando Pride,
02:47these, you know, keystone players
02:49that I think help act as leaders.
02:50And because we know the NWSL
02:52is a very young league, right?
02:53It's full of young players
02:55who maybe didn't even play in college.
02:56So I think both of these teams are lacking,
02:59you know, a veteran player
03:00to help lead the pack.
03:02Very good.
03:02I have a question, though,
03:04because we did kind of mention this
03:05in the Liga MX segment.
03:08What do we think about both of these teams
03:12with the men's and the women's, you know,
03:14having different federations
03:16rather than, you know, being the same team
03:18like Liga MX, for example?
03:20Because we saw that, you know,
03:21they might be different,
03:22but, you know, maybe they still
03:24will support each other.
03:25You know what I mean?
03:26I think one of the main differences
03:27that we see between Mexico and the U.S.
03:30is the development of the women's game.
03:32Although Mexico has the infrastructure
03:34to create a professional league,
03:36I think culturally women's soccer
03:38in the U.S. is so ingrained
03:40that it has grown in a specific market
03:42that might not align with the men, right?
03:44Like, because the women national team
03:46have been so successful
03:47and so popular in the country,
03:49you might see that women's sports
03:51have actually...
03:51More popular than men's,
03:52I have to say.
03:53For many, many years,
03:54it was more popular than men's.
03:55So that has created markets
03:57and regional areas
03:58where the women's game is very big
04:01that MLS might not be able
04:02to ever, you know,
04:04become a popular thing.
04:05So I think that that's one
04:06of the main differences
04:07that here girls play
04:09at five, six years old.
04:11The girls are going, you know,
04:13on the opposite side
04:15for many years, wrongfully.
04:17Soccer was called a girls game, right?
04:20Like in the United States.
04:21So they have been doing the most.
04:23I think it's time to acknowledge
04:26that women have done the most
04:27for the growth of soccer
04:29or football here in the United States.
04:30It's them that have done it.
04:32But before we go,
04:33because we're running out of time this week,
04:35let's go down the list, my friends,
04:37because Angel City,
04:38the Jaro's excited.
04:40I know.
04:41They tricked us.
04:41They're becoming the Cruz Azul of NWSL,
04:43my friends.
04:43They were like playing again,
04:45again, dropping to eighth place
04:48on the standings, Camila.
04:49Three losses in a row.
04:50This is...
04:51Yep.
04:51Oh, my bad.
04:52No.
04:52I was just going to say,
04:53this is disappointing.
04:54As an ACFC fan,
04:55I mean, I feel like it happens
04:56every single season,
04:57yet I fall for it every season.
04:59These high hopes at the very beginning,
05:01and then it just kind of dwindles.
05:03That's right.
05:03I mean, you're a ride or die for your team,
05:05you know, that's what really matters.
05:06But what I think is very surprising
05:09that I'm almost at a loss of words
05:10is Orlando, where...
05:11I can't even...
05:13I don't even see them
05:14on the table anymore.
05:15You've got to kind of scroll
05:16all the way down.
05:17Surprises.
05:17Where's Marta?
05:18I don't know.
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