It's time for coffee and company, fueled by Thornton's on Sports Talk seven nine
day. Now here's Nick Coffee, Well not exactly Nick Coffee, he is
on vacation. I'm Scott Fitzgerald, your substitute teacher for the next couple of
days along with John Alden, hanging out at Sports Talk seven ninety great shows
so far. Big thank you too. I'm the Olky's Matt Meloseovich for joining
us earlier on to start the show off. Talk a little baseball, very
special night in Major League Baseball coming up tonight as they owner the great Willie
Mays and of course a tribute to the Negro leagues. We'll talk more about
that as we get on through the morning. Coming up at four thirty,
the myth, the legend, the man himself, Jeff Milby, soccer voice
here in Louisville. No one knows the game more than mister Jeff Milby,
and he'll be longing to join us. Talk about that. Coming up at
four thirty then five o'clock, we're gonna talk helmets. Are you a helmet
geek like me? While we ran into a guy who has gotten so popular
that NFL clubs are now inviting him down to take a look at their product.
And it all started because he jumped on TikTok. It's not evil,
it's okay. TikTok isn't going to hurt you. You know what it is,
Scott, it's the new YouTube. Because I say, ten to fifteen
years ago, there were a bunch of people, whether it be music artists,
people like this guy, they were getting discovered off of YouTube. That's
exactly right. And you know, you had a few politicians who decided they
didn't like China and they had a chance to really expose China, and they
thought TikTok would be the vehicle to do it. I do think it's funny
that two of the top politicians in the country, former President Trump, former
President Are now President Biden, spoke out against TikTok, yet both of them
have a TikTok account. That's not that bad, Okay, there's good people.
When I've come to realize too, John, with TikTok is there's very
talent. There are talented people out there that are not getting paid enough for
what they do. There are people I see out there that just you know,
we had to periods. I don't know you're watching show America's got talent.
I've seen bits and pieces. I feel like some of its little hoky
nowadays, But yeah, it is. That's exactly right, and that was
a great analogy because what tiktac, what TikTok does is they cut through all
that riff wrap, They cut through all the overproduction, the tackiness of it,
and it's just people with talent. Plus I've gotten some tonk good recipes
off TikTok too. The only knock when it comes to a TikTok recipe is
we don't need to put cream cheese in everything. I mean, you have
people just dropping cream cheese and whatever. The lucky lucky charms and cream cheese,
let's throw that in there. I mean, we don't need cream cheese
and everything. But it's getting better. So what I do like though,
is that it's entirely algorithm based, and some people don't like that, but
it shows you exactly what you're looking for without you having to search for it.
That is exactly right, and it somehow it gets me, And like
I said, it is a great great tool for me. When I'm watching
TV ins commercial sounds like we're doing an advertisement for TikTok. I know,
no, we're not, we're not. It's just a good party. Well,
when you work at that, when you work across the hall at has
and you know every morning somebody's doing a new story on how they're scared of
TikTok, you kind of it's nice to sit amongst people who get it and
that enjoy it. So anyway you get a chance to see it. So
it's a lot of fun. So we're going to talk about a guy who
had discovered on TikTok. He's a lot of fun in the studio. Now
on the big TV, I am currently enjoying Spain and Italy. It is
nil nil at the forty fifth minute. Is all part of the Euro And
as we've been talking on HS in the morning, TV ratings for Euro twenty
twenty four have been through the roof here in the United States, people cannot
get enough of this tournament. And we'll talk more with Jeff Milby about that
coming up the bottom of the hour. But John is long and I know
John, We've got Copa America is starting up tonight. The Stars and Stripes
Team USA will be taking part in that. They're going to play I believe
is it's Saturday. I think it's Sunday. It could be run to play
Bolivia. They're in a group with Bolivia, Panama and Uruguay. Uruguay,
Uruguay. I know it can be pronounced yeah, millions of ways. But
this is this tournament for the US specifically, is a good opportunity for them
to kind of get their feet wet with some of the big boys. You
got Argentine and Brazila obviously in this tournament, and if you can do well,
maybe get to the semis even the finals that you're having a good run
with it. I mean, this is this is good practice for whenever the
big stage comes to town in a few years, the World Cup, and
you have some of your greatest up and coming stars, and really they're not
even up and coming anymore. They're they're in the prime of their career.
Most of the stars of the USMNT in their early to mid twenties, and
so this is the US's opportunity to finally kind of get off the mat.
As they say, they've kind of been in soccer purgatory for the past I
don't know, fifteen to twenty years. The people are always talking about how
they're finally ready to break out, and they've never really done that, so
this could potentially be their first real chance to show that they're ready to compete
with the big boys. To your point, John, they do play Bolivia
Sunday. That game will beyond from at and T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
I admit I know more about the international game than I do about Team
USA, and I love the fact my daughter has a new boyfriend. He's
a big he's a season ticket older with lu CID, He's a big,
big soccer fan, and we're talking a little bit about this. He did
mention and I don't know if you can speak to this, and maybe Jeff
can probably speak to it as well. He wished Team USA had a different
head coach, Yeah, Greg Berholt or he's now been their manager for a
while. I don't really there's a lot of people who have issue with him.
I think he did fine in the most recent World Cup. There were
some decisions that were made. I don't remember all the specifics about leaving certain
players off of the last World Cup roster that I think ruffled some feathers.
I guess really, for me, it's going to come down to how they
perform in this tournament. If they completely just bleed and fall out early,
then maybe you have some issues when you're looking ahead to I guess it's twenty
twenty six when the World Cup's come into the United States. So the jury
for me is still out on Burholter. Okay, all right, Well that's
fair assessment. And that's why I lean on you because I love to know
more about tam I'll sit down and watch Team USA and start getting up to
speed, and of course because we'll talk about it on news radio eight forty
whs. But also I need to get more up to speed with Team USA
because I had just assumed there really wasn't a whole lot to talk about when
it came to the Stars and Stripes this year, unlike years past. And
of course the women have just been constantly in the news when it comes to
Team USA. So it's good to hear. It's good to hear your take
on that. And I guess we'll find out come Sunday. We'll get a
good look at do we know what Bolivia's bringing to the table. I don't
know a whole lot about Bolivia and Panama. They play pretty frequently in Conker
CAF, so that's somebody I know. They should take care of it.
They honestly, they're probably they shouldn't have any issue coming out of the group
that they're in. They should be at least in the top two, with
Uruguay and themselves obviously being the two heavy hitters out of that group. So
okay. See and one other last note about the roster that's I feel like
it's pretty interesting. There's only three players on this roster of twenty six that
are from clubs in the United States, So it shows that these international clubs
are valuing the USA talent, which even though it would be great to have
the MLS be the primary soccer you know league, even it will never be
that. It's always going to be in England and Germany and Italy that kind
of stuff. But the fact that those clubs overseas want the US talent on
their squads, that shows how far soccer has come, at least with the
development of the players in this day and age. I feel like, have
you had a chance to see the series Welcome to wrexim. I believe this
is the third season now, No, I haven't seen that. It is
amazing. I will say this and Jeff Noby and I talked a little bit
about it before in our Footy Talk podcast. This is in its third season.
Of course it's Rob mclaney. If you if you've ever seen Always Sunny
in Philadelphia, he's big on on that. And of course Ryan Reynolds,
everybody knows him, he's you know, the famous actor. Well, they
went in and bought struggling Wrexham and if anything, I haven't seen the latter
seasons because I feel like I got my phill in a positive way from the
first season. And they went in and bought a club that literally was on
its last legs. I mean, the stadium was a dump. The fans,
you know, they had the glory days. The fans just didn't care
anymore, you were. I mean, it was like it was like real
life Ted Lasso almost, yes, and that's a great way to put it.
It was almost like Major League and they were one step away. Only
at least Major League had Randy Quaid and at the time the Cleveland Indian fans
sitting out there in the midst of nobody. Wrexham didn't even have that.
There was nobody there. They came in and it was it was a series
that I couldn't turn off, and I started watching. It was on when
I was on the treadmill, and I look forward to getting on the treadmill
because I wanted to watch another episode. And you watch them grow the game.
Not only did you watch them grow the game, but if you don't
know soccer, what Ryan Reynolds and mclaney did extremely well in that series,
they taught you the game. They because they had to understand it. Mcaleney
said, I've got to learn it. I wasn't a big soccer guy before
we jumped in this venture, even to the point where they did a whole
episode on hooganism and how as wrong as it is on every level, and
they admitted it's wrong, and soccer fans admit they're wrong. It's a fabric
of the game and it has a strong history with the game. They did
one episode where people would they showed literally where people will go out and absolutely
look for trouble you fall and one in two camps you're either going to the
game as a fan and you're going or you're going looking for trouble. And
you know, it's almost like a sport. It's just just like which side
do you sit? On. But what they did was they taught you the
game, but you also developed an appreciation for it. There were many times
they said and they go, what are we doing? Are we doing the
right thing? And for guys like Ryan Reynolds and to some degree mclaney,
money was no object. So it wasn't like, oh my god, we're
gonna lose all this money. They were more concerned with letting down an entire
city. Like the pressure these two guys felt because when they first arrived,
like this is crazy, what are you doing in this town. You're never
gonna save this town. You know, who are you? To come in
from the outside, it'd be like somebody coming in here and trying to tell
you, Hey, we're gonna save Kentucky basketball, We're gonna save Louisville basketball,
and people going, who are you? But they had to and the
pressures they had to deal with and overcome, and so long story short,
now into the third season, they relegated themselves up to the next few levels.
To be honest with you, and are clearly now a successful team.
And speaking of that, you're a soccer guy, so you get this,
And I ask a lot of soccer fans this question. Should we have relegation
in sport here. That's so I've gone back and forth on this. I
think in an ideal world, that's how it always has been. I think
that would be perfect. But with the way that most Americans consume every other
professional sport. If let's just take FC Cincinnati for example, since they were
new in the MLS a few years ago, they were horrible. If their
fan base knew them as only an MLS team, they weren't paying attention to
them as the USL franchise beforehand, and all of a sudden they jump back
down to the lower league. I feel like people are just gonna hop off
the bandwagon, and because that's what this country is used to. I can't
be wrong about that. But I think the reason pro ral works so well
overseas because that's all they know and that's part of the fun of those leagues.
People around here would hate that, I agree, aren't used to soccer.
I would agree because and I'm finding out, yes, And when I
go to low city games, I talk with random fans that I know,
some people I know through other people, and being a hockey fan myself.
We share stories on how we get the same response from people. It's almost
like what you don't know scares you. And there's this big pushback on hockey
every year. And when I tell it to soccer fans, go, we
hear it all the time. We hear it all the time. In fact,
was I was sitting at a Bats game one time and I was sitting
with a big Bats fan and there was a Low City fan that was there,
and they were there as a guest to somebody else, and the fan
actually said to him they we're having a nice conversation, very cordial conversation.
He goes the Bats fan system, don't take this personally, but we want
our field back, and to which the Lui City fan turned around and said,
we'd like our own field. So it was it was kind of like,
so now now when you separate yourself from that conversation. I just thought
about this when I went home the other day from the studio. If you're
coming over the bridge in Louisville, that beautiful bridge, not only do you
see a wonderful facility like Slugger Field, but then you go down and you
see Lynn Family Stadium, which is just gorgeous on every level. I mean,
it's a good problem to have so there's room for both fan bases in
town. There's room for both people here. And the way that Louisville is
growing, as we mentioned, it's going to be a home base city.
And the times lou City has appeared on national TV. They had the high
new game last weekend against Gotham. You know, they're on National TV,
and it looks great. Some of the shots that CBS would do were the
drone shots with the steeples of Saints Saint Joseph in the background, and then
you have you have Lynn Family Stadium. It's just a beautiful setting. So
why you would be against a team like lou City being here alongside the Louisville
Bats is beyond me. I don't know why you would you would hate that
for this city, But there are just some people that you know, hockey
evokes, you know, the little trigger point. Soccer definitely evokes it.
But you look at all the fans and now that we have, in fact,
what's his name last night who scored for lou City. His name escapes
me down and I'll get it here. I'll get his sound bite and call
it up. He's an Eetown grad and he graduated from Etown and worked his
way up here and used to go to the games and watch him as a
fan and has now worked his way here and is so appreciative of what lou
City's done for him. So you know, there's there's room for everybody in
this town and we can increase. And what I love the most though,
is just the explosion of women's soccer and and how good I'll never forget when
Meghan Rapino came out and she was the devil. You might as well slap
the horns on her. And you know what, though, when it's all
said and done, Meghan Rapino is responsible for probably the success of the WNBA
right now, which is huge. And by the way, the numbers on
the WNBA, and you keep them in perspective, they're not getting the thirteen
million now they got for the NBA finals, but this was one of the
lowest rated NBA finals in a long time. Meanwhile, the women still are
breaking records that that they've established. And you know, you can get on
Meghan Mpino all you want. Politically, you might not see eye high with
her. I don't fault you for that. Everybody differs in political views,
but I think she in large part has a lot to do with bringing women
to the forefront when it comes to sport, and I think that's awesome on
every level. By the way, the player I was telling you about who
scored the goal was Jensen Wilson for lou City. He's an e Town grad
and he had this to say last night when talking about scoring his goal for
lou City. Well, it's everything. I mean, every footballer wants to
play. It's always a privilege to put on this jersey and I can say
for every person on this team they have the same feeling. So how cool
is that that you know something as organic is and it's not just a Louisville
thing. I mean we're talking Etown. My man came up from Etown and
now he plays for LUs City and Danny Cruz is just the whole organization is
just growing from within. And Jeff Melby can speak more to that when we
talk later. But to your point, John, I just think when you
get events like the euro that's going on now, you get Copa America,
you get the success of the women, it's amazing, and then you transit
I don't know if you watched any of the swimming trials, those are a
big hit in our house. We like to watch those. You know,
we'll get somebody like Katie Ledecki. And you know in the factory that Indiana
Universities Lily King. That's right, yeah, I mean Indiana's just I didn't
realize this. Indiana just put another diver into the Olympics. They've had i
U has had a diver in the Olympics every Olympics since nineteen fifty four.
Oh wow, nineteen fifty four, nineteen sixty four, one of the two.
But I use had that in there. And these are female athletes.
And I'm not here to try to say any one gender is better than the
other. There's room for everybody to sit the table. But clearly Megan Rapino
was onto something when she goes, hey, look, we're playing just as
hard. We're giving our due diligence. And by the way, for those
of you who don't watch the WNBA, you want to watch a physical game.
And let's be honest, the NBA had a flopping problem not too long
ago. They probably have rectified that by now. I think they got that
under control. Those women are scrapping and they're playing hard, and you can
call it. Nobody's ever happy Let's be honest, nobody's ever happy in sports.
You could have women when they scrap like they do in the WNBA,
people have said, oh, they play too physical, they play too physical.
Well, if they don't play physical, then they're saying they don't play
physical enough. That just happens in sports. I have one issue with it,
though, like, there's nothing wrong with the physicality. Scott, you'd
probably agree with this when I'm ready to say, I'm very annoyed with all
of the whining from oh, absolutely absolutely. Angel Duty specifically is trying to
play this role as the villain to Caitlin Clarkin. And that's fine, and
she's trying to build her own brand and they're you know, she can do
whatever she wants with that, but for it to be built on this this,
I don't even know what else to say it other than just whining.
It's creating. And I know they say all press is good press, but
I think there comes a point where this just runs out of steam for her
and she needs to do something other than just complain about the attention being on
Caitlin Clark and actually do something for herself and not just be Caitlin Clark's villain.
You're right, And oh man, I wish it had brought that up
earlier too, because I had and I had to go see if I still
had the soundbites. I don't know if you had a chance to hear Gino
ari Ema when he was on with with Dan Patrick had heard some of that
good stuff. I mean, is he was. He was spot on everything
he said. He was spot on when it came to Caitlyn Clark and she's
gonna be good, but you just have to mature. And and Gino is
very poigned on saying the big reason why the women are having success now and
the men are too, but the women, let's fay start having a little
bit more is because they stick around. They're sticking around to play for these
schools and you can develop brand names. So we'll see either way we've got.
We got on this because it's a nice segue into our conversation we'll have
with Jeff Milby coming up. But it's just soccer has been very good to
Louisville, and it doesn't have to be just baseball, basketball and horses.
We can do more in this town and there's room for everybody to sit at
the table. Last I checked when you have more sports in your town,
that means more people are dropping in. We just had the NCAA Men's Soccer
Championships here, and I know because I was walking around downtown after I'd leave
on a Saturday, and you saw a ton of Clemson fans here and they
weren't here because they wanted to watch a football game, you know. So
these are more people that were getting into town. These are more people that
are spending money. These are more people that are going home with a positive
impression. I haven't met one person that is walked away from Lynn family STI
I'm saying, I'm never gonna do that again. I'm never gonna go to
that place. Was horrible. That place is a dump. Nobody's ever said
that. Nobody's ever said that about Slugger Field. I wish they'd give me
the premium beer window a little bit bigger, just saying Greg gall yet wish
would do that. No, I'm just kidding, But we're blessed. Oh
and did you see too with slugger I just read the article today. They're
getting rid of the carousel at Slugger Field. Really. Yeah, that's a
shame, it's a relic. Yeah, they're gonna auction off the horses.
You can grab the horse's minimum eight hundred dollars bid. But the upkeep cuss
has just just become too much. Glutam totally makes sense. All right.
Hey, he's John Olden, I'm Scott fitzgerw We're gonna take a quick break
when we come back. Jeff Milby's gonna join us after the bottom of the
hour. Talk a little footy, then we're gonna talk some helmets coming up
at five o'clock back after this on Sports Talk seven ninety. Long time to
stand over the ball for Flint and a long time to think about it.
Right now, she has not moved. He blows his whistle. Here's Taylor
Flint. She goes for goal and scores to the goalkeeper's left. Harrat Cheech
gets the wrong way and Flint it into the back corner from the penalty spot
and racing Louisville a goal back. In this game, I think we pressed
well. I think we had some really good opportunities off the press, which
was impressive in the second half, turn them over quite a bit in their
defensive third, which was great for us. So I think it's just finishing
those opportunities and we get them, but creating those chances is a positive note
for sure. That is Lauren Malay and of course the voice of Racing Louisville
and lou City, the great Jeff Milby. I'm Scott Fitzgerald. He is
John Alden. You're listening to Sportstock seven ninety Nick Coffee is on vacation and
I'm sitting in for the next couple of days talking all things sports. And
of course you heard John Alden I talking a little bit there, but my
man Jeff Milby is with us. Jeff was late night last night, brother,
great call. By the way, Hey, I appreciate that. And
what the production value? You like that high level stuff on this show right
now? Yeah, it was a late night last night. That's what happens
when Racing Louisville heads onto the West coast out in LA where they took on
a City last night. A thriller of a game, just entertainment from start
to finish. You couldn't take your eyes off of it. Huge, huge
entertainment value. But unfortunately Racing Louislle came up a little bit short last night
against Angel City. But just what a fun game that was. It was
Jeff Fan to your point, Racing Louisville is still occupying that eighth and all
important final spot for the postseason, and the Ladies had it. Where did
things go wrong last night? Besides I mean they gave up the lake goal.
Where was the breakdown there? Well, let me start here. Bigger
picture, Scott, is that one moment last night, it struck me watching
that game, calling that game that the NWSL. This is something that other
people have said, and I've probably said it before, but for whatever even
for whatever reason, last night, it just really hit home for me that
the NWSL is I think the most competitive league of any sport that we watch.
Yeah, you know, go wherever you want, college football, college
basketball, the major the three major sports, NBA, NFL, MLB.
I think there is more parody, more competition in the NWSL than any other
sport that I can think of, because any given nights, the margins are
razor thin. Any given night, any given game, anybody can show up
and beat the other team. In this league. There's just so much talent
across the board. It's still probably could afford to continue to expand a few
more years to spread that talent out a little bit, but right now every
team is just so competitive with each other. And last night the great example
of what I'm talking about. I mean, it's a razor thin margin that
saw Racing Louis will go down and defeat. It was in the eighty fifth
minute or so, just in a flash, Angel City went down the field
from a goalkick of memory serves and took just a couple of passes to play
in Sydney. LaRue, who is one of the veteran stars of this league,
played with the women's national team for the US for many, many years.
Scored over thirty goals with the women's national team in her career. She's
in the later ages of thirty four years of age, it was still a
very dangerous player and she was in on goal one on them with Katie Lund
after a great threw ball from Melissa Thompson. I believe it was, and
she didn't make any mistake, just put it past her. And it's one
of those moments where even just for a second, just for a split second,
if you as a defender, as a defense as a team, click
off, turn off, fall asleep, whatever term you want to use,
just stop, you know, playing at the highest level even for a moment.
Teams in the NAUSL will make you pay, and that was the case
last night for Angels City with that goal. It was a great effort by
Racing Louisville to get back into the game. They trailed two goals to none
early in the game, got back into it, tied at at to too
first long stretches in the second half, they were the better team, looked
like they could have easily won the game or certainly come out of there with
a result, But that's just not the way that the game played out.
And I think last night just is symbolic of what this league is. In
the NWSL, just so competitive. Every single moment in the game matters.
You can't turn off even for a second because the other teams will make you
pay. You know, we're talking with Jeff Melby, had to call last
night of Racing Louisville on Talk radio ten to eighty WKJAK. Second straight,
by the way, nationally televised game for Racing Louisville. Jeff looking at some
of the statistics in the NWUSL now Racing top five in goals, shots on
target, and shots pretty impressive for this squad. Can they can they maintain
this and at least at least sneak under the radar and get into the postseason
this year. Not just the second straight nationally televised game. By the way,
it'll be three straight. Oh that's turn home next week, or I
beg your pardon, so it'll be three out of four. You're going to
correct myself. They go to Seattle this weekend, but next week when they're
at home against Bay the team from the Bay area of San Jose, that's
game going to be a game on ESPN as well, So lots of national
TV exposure this month for Racing Louisville. To answer your question, I think
yes. I think yes. They have the talent on this team to continue
to be a high scoring team and continue to be a team that will threaten
the opponent's goal for all ninety minutes. Talk about the rookies that have emerged
been one of the big storylines this year. Ms Sars and Raylan Turner.
We saw them both off the bench last night. But Sears in particular is
a real threat, especially in a situation like she was last night. We've
seen her from the starting position play really well, but she has so much
speed, so much dynamism. She is an absolute weapon out wide for Racing
Louisville. Give her the ball even in midfield and she can dribble pass defenders,
get to the in line, get into the box, and need to
create a scoring opportunity for herself or for her teammates. She's just one example.
Obviously, Racing Louisville fans and hopefully by now casual Louisville sports fans know
the name Savannah de Mello and how talented she is from a goal scoring perspective.
She's the first Racing Louisville player, by the way, earlier this month
to score in three consecutive games. That streak was snapped and the lost last
week to Gotham. But she's playing really, really well right now. I
think the one question, the one area where Racing Louisville maybe could improve and
maybe hasn't found an answer yet, is that of all places, the center
forward position for a team that's scoring goals pretty well at the center forward position,
that is one of the question marks right now. Whether it's a Lexivar
who's been starting quite a bit, whether it's Raylan Turner, the rookie who
maybe has hit a little bit of a rookie wall right now, that's still
a spot where they haven't quite found the answers. But there's lots of talent
on this team. I think they can continue to be a high scoring team
relative to other squads. And they're also pretty stout defensively too, right in
the middle of the pack in terms of those defensive statistics as well. So
racing Louisville in a decent position. But like you mentioned, back to back
losses for them, they are in the playoffs, still in eighth place,
just barely hanging on to that final playoff spot. They'll need to get a
result on Sunday. Their next game coming up on Sunday, they travel up
to Seattle to take on the Seattle Rain And that team is a brand new
team this year in a lot of ways. Rose Levell, one of the
women's national team stars for the US, moved on in the off season in
free agency, went to New Jersey, New York Gotham, and everybody will
know the name Megan Rapino. She retired in the offseason. So it's a
new look Seattle team and they have been struggling mightily this year. They're down
in thirteenth place. That's second from the bottom in the standings. A club
and a team with big pedigree, big expectation, a winning tradition over the
years, but not living up to that standard this year. And for Racing
Louisville to have them on the road on Sunday the way that Seattle is playing
to start this season, to me, that is an incredibly winnable game for
Racing Louisville on Sunday, despite it being on the road, and if Racing
wants to prove themselves to be a legitimate playoff contender this year in the NWSL,
I think it's the kind of game that they have to win or at
the very least get a result in, get a point in with a tie,
but I think have to win on Sunday against Seattle. Staying with the
ladies, Jeffrey before we switch over to the men again, talking with Jeff
Milby, radio voice of Racing Louisville, had to call last night for Racing's
game out West against Angels City Women. They have a new coach, Emma
Hayes. As they get ready to play, they're friendly with Mexico. They're
going to take on Mexico, and I want to say, is it Croatia,
who they play in their second friendly before they get going in the Olympics
in the group stage on July twenty fifth. July thirteenth, by the way,
at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey, is their game against Mexico.
Emma Hayes. I had a chance to listen to her speak before women's national
team friendly a couple weeks ago. I like her, is she can she
back up the talk? It's Costa Rica by the way, Costa Rica,
thanks you. Yeah, Conko Rica one of those other countries with the C
name coming up in there. They're two friendlies again, like you said,
the final two tune ups, the final two tests they have before going off
to the Olympics later on this summer against Mexico and Costa Rica. Yeah,
Hayes, look the question for her. There are a couple of questions around
her coming to the US women's national team. One, can she adjust to
the international game. She's been a coach at the club level throughout her career,
most notably and most recently with Chelsea in London and England, one of
the premier teams in both the men's and women's soccer scene. Over in England,
they're great on the women's side, just as they are on the men's
side, and she coached them most recently, won the title with them in
England this year before joining the United States as the head coach. So that's
a different game, right, a different adjustment. At the club level,
you've got a long time to build your team, build your style of play,
get to know your players, implement the kind of tactics x's and o's
that you want to put in. You have an entire season over you know,
eight nine to ten to eleven months over the course of the year to
develop your team in the way that you want to see them play. On
the international side, it's much shorter. You get these little windows of maybe
two or three games every couple of months building up to a big international tournament
like we have with the Olympics on the women's side this summer. So can
she adjust, can she implement the style of play that she wants to have
in little short bursts and in in a more concentrated form. That's a challenge
for any coach going to the international level, So that'll be a test for
her. And then also, you know, frankly, coming to the United
States is a different kind of style of play in the United States and the
players that she will have available to her with the national team. Women's women's
national team player pool are accustomed to a different style. American soccer around the
world, especially on the women's side, is recognized as a very athletic and
very transitional game. That's the way the NWSL plays, and that's the way
the women's national team plays, at least has historically over the years. Europe
is a much more skillful, possession style. They rely less on their physicality,
rely less on their athleticism. So will Emma Hayes be able to adjust
in that regard with the player pool that she has on the women's national team.
Those are the two big questions for me. She's got the track record
and the reputation to believe that she'll to lead you to believe that she'll be
successful with the US women's national team. It was a home run higher when
they announced it several months back, so I think it's it's a great hire
for the US. I would expect that they will continue to be hugely successful,
including the summer at the Olympics, but we'll see. Those are the
two bid questions I have bet in hate Jeff Milby joining us. He is,
of course radio voice of a lou City and racing Louisville had the call
last night at Angel City. And now let's switch over to the gentleman Jeff,
and well, this guy had a night last night. It's a Wilson
pointing out front, Wilson Bullsessa cross Gonsales in side away from wider Wilson Johnson,
Wilson a long range effort that puts Louisville ahead on the road. Now,
I affectionately say this to mister Milby. We'd love to use his call
of that goal, but he is with the competition and we're prevented from using
that. So that is, of course, Mike Watts, the voice said,
even for an Ohio guy, he's not bad. I joke with him
about that all the time. But Jensen Wilson, Jeff, the young man
from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, with the goal last night. And that's all they
need is they get to win. Yeah, it was all they needed is
they got to win up at Pittsburgh against the River Hounds before a really great
crowd. We should point out, by the way, great atmosphere of Pittsburgh
last night. They looked like they had a full house. Their stadium,
High March Stadium seats about five thousand fans, and I think it was pretty
much a full house. Didn't quite see the attendance number in the end,
but a good atmosphere for that game last night, and a difficult opponent for
Louisville City to play against last two times they traveled up to face the River
Hounds. It ended scoreless between Louisville City and Pittsburgh. Bob Lily, the
Pittsburgh head coach, a legendary figure in the USL scene. He is typically
a very defensive minded coach. He's a guy that likes to play low scoring.
He's the Tony Bennett of soccer. I'll say that, like Uba basketball,
the Tony bel socer, Bob Lily tries to keep the game low scoring.
Wants to keep you off the board as much as he can. And
that's kind of the way the game played out a little bit last night.
There were relatively few scoring chances, but Jansen Wilson took his chance, and
boy did he take his chance. I hit from this, it's about twenty
two yards away with his right foot, smashed the ball, hit a really
well great contact to the goalkeepers left into the bottom corner. And what a
story this kid is you mentioned a native of e Town. Elizabethtown, played
in college at UK briefly, then transferred to Belmont to finish out his college
career, where he was an All Missouri Valley Conference type player for them over
the last two seasons of his college career. Had trained with Louisville City of
the last couple of seasons as a local kid, had the opportunity to get
that kind of experience, and then this year was signed and was away under
the radar signing. They announced the signing midway through the preseason. It was
kind of like a whole all. They signed some kid out of college,
local kid. He'll fill out the roster, he'll take up a roster spot,
maybe take some minutes, but he's been an impact player from the start.
He's been one of the bright surprises or at least unexpected players who's made
a big impact on this first place season for Louisville City so far. That
was his third goal of the year last night. He's been a reasonably regular
starter, splitting time there with Aiden mcsah, the right wing back, but
he started I would say about half the games now of memory. Serves been
a really impactful player for Louisville City, and it's just such a cool story.
It's one of those stories that we will continue to get You and I
talk about it all the time about the academy with Louisville City being connected to
the community, having young players from the local area come up through and join
this senior team and turned professional with Louisville City. Jenson Wilson's not an academy
kid, but he's still a local kid, right. He's fright Town,
just down the road. He surely grew upcoming to Louisville City games. Now
here in year ten. We can say that about some of the guys joining
the team right that they grew up watching Louisville City because they've been around now
for those ten years. So it's just a great story to have this kid
from the local area who competed locally, growing up playing for the local team
Louisville City and playing really well as well. He's a dynamic player, tons
of speed, tons of creativity, and very confident. Very confident for a
guy that maybe wasn't highly regarded coming out of college, wasn't harold it wasn't
a big signing for Louisville City in the preseason, but came in, won
his spot, competed, earned playing time, and has taken advantage of that
playing time. And he might well have a bright future long term. This
is his first year as a pro, you know, a couple of years
down the line, if he continues to grow and develop, he might be
able to move upward, you know, into MLS or elsewhere in the future.
But right now, I think Louisville City is really thrilled to have him,
and it seems like just based on his interviews and based on watching men
on the field, seems like he's thrilled to be here and being thrilled to
play with Louisville City at such a high level. So yeah, he was
the He was the winner last night. Scored the winner last night. And
one of the great subplots of this Louisville City season has been the emergence of
Janson Wilson talking with Jeff Milby radio Voice of lou City and racing Louisville last
night, racing of course on talk radio ten eighty WKJK, and with the
win Jeff now lou City moves six points clear of Charleston for the best record
in the US All they've got what we would assume would be a couple of
easier matches. Nothing's a given in this league, mind you. They've got
Rhode Island coming in on Saturday night, then a week from Saturday to head
to Birmingham, and then a tougher competition is they go out west to take
on Oakland, who's not too shabby this year. LU City could be sitting
pretty good before they head to the West Coast starting next month. Yeah,
I mean they're sitting really pretty right now. Like you have six points clear
of Charleston. Not just Charleston, we should point out Indy eleven, the
rivals from the North sixty five, have been absolutely scorching hot. They've won
eight straight games in the eleven Wow, and they are now tied with Charleston
for second place not only in the Eastern Conference but in the entire league.
Charleston has the slight edge over Indy based on goal differential. They've outscored their
opponents by more than Indy has outscored their opponents. But Indy eleven, they've
been absolutely red hot, and you have to take them seriously long term over
the course of the season. Now, though, based on the way they've
played over the last two months, and if you think back just quickly to
that nationally televised game on CBS for Lucity that there's a lot of hype around
several months back at Lynn Family Steadium against Indy was a game that ended five
to three, and I think that that it wasn't anhenomenally for Indy to play
that well against the high scoring Louisville City team. I mean, they were
in that game with those three goals, so I think that just shows that
they are a legit contender and a real quality team. But still, all
that being said, Louisville City is six points clear of both Charleston and Indy
there even now on games played with both of those teams. All three of
those teams have played fifteen games at this point in the season, and Louisville
City has some clear water. So as long as they can keep pace with
what they've been doing, they are in line right now to win the regular
season title, which is one of the titles that they've not won. Right
They won the two championships, winning in the playoffs in twenty seventeen to twenty
eighteen, but they've never been number one overall seed in the USL, so
that's on the table for this team this year. And also on the table
is a potential record. If they continue to score at the rate that they've
been scoring, Louisville City, they will go down as the highest scoring team
ever in USL history. Now, the long way to go, and the
scoring has slowed down a little bit over the last couple of weeks for Louisville
City because they've had injuries to Adrian and Perez. Notably, he's going to
be out for longer term period of time in the words of Danny Cruz,
the head coach, so that may impact that record chase. But so far
it's been the highest scoring Louisville City team ever and potentially the highest scoring team
in their league ever they keep scoring at this pace. So yeah, you
mentioned the game's coming up Rhode Island. They're a brand new team, an
expansion team there, in second to last place in the Eastern Conference. Lu
City went up to Rhode Island and played them a few weeks back. It
was a scoreless tie. A difficult place to go up there and play on
an artificial service didn't really lend itself to Louisville City's playing style. I think
seeing Rhode Island at home this weekend, you would expect Lucity to be a
heavy favorite, and frankly, but with the way that they played, you'd
expect them to win by three, four or five goals with a clean sheet
and a shutout as well. That's you know, who knows if that happens,
but I think that's a fair expectation from the outside looking in coming on
Saturday, and then yeah, the West Coast trip looming in a couple of
weeks time. Oakland's a great team in the Western Conference right now, they're
sitting in third place in a very competitive Western Conference, so that will be
an important matchup. And Louisville City still has yet this season's got to really
really impress on the road. They've played on the road, they've got the
faults on the road. Look at last night. It is a great example
of that. They get a win against Pittsburgh, but they've not played to
their full potential on the road the way that we've seen them play to their
full potential at home, winning comfortably by multiple goals and scoring multiple goals.
Every road result they've gotten this year has been a kind of dogfight. They've
had to grind it out and really earn their way to those three points,
really earn their way to the result. So it would be nice if on
that West Coast swing, maybe Louisville City can can find that road mojo the
way that they found it at home. That'll be one of the storylines going
forward for that. But if you're not really paying attention to Louisville City right
now out there listening to us, if you're a casual soccer fan, this
is the best Louisville team, in my opinion, that we've ever had,
at least based on the performance that they put in this year. They can
stay healthy, they are the most talented team that Louisville City has ever had.
They're the deepest team Louisville City has ever had so far, They're the
highest scoring team Louisville City has ever had. They are really how a contender
not only for the championship of the playoffs, but the regular season title.
It's a special group. The way that they play, the way that they
really go for it, really get after it offensively, attacking, It's an
entertaining brand that Danny Cruz is playing right now with this team, So it's
worth buying into if you're a fan of sports out there generally looking for something
to get into over the summer, you know, with college sports looming in
the fall, Louisville City is worth the price of admission right now, to
say the least. Oh and you've been on that bandwagon, Jeffrey, since
day one when we started doing this. You are the best, my brother.
Thank you so much, jeff We didn't get into some Copa America talking
some euro talk. We'll have to do that coming up soon. Yeah.
Man, we got the US on Sunday starting the Copa America. It's going
to be a really exciting summer tournament with US national team heading into that World
Cup. Remember we got the World Cup in twenty twenty six coming to the
US. That's right exciting time for soccer fans. Jeffrey. I appreciate you
as always, brother, Get some rest, take care of yourself. We'll
talk soon. Ye appreciate you, Scott as always. All right, there
he goes, Ladies and gentlemen. Jeff Melby Radio Voice of Blue City and
Racing Louisville the best when it comes to talking footy here in Louisville. John
not gonna come back. Talk for a few minutes, and we're gonna have
some helmet talk, and then John and I are gonna take you home as
day one of two days sitting in here with you for the vacationing Nick Coffee.
I'm Scott Fitzgerald. He's John Alden. That was Jeff Melby. We're
back after this on Sports Talk seven ninety filling in for Nick Coffee. Appreciate
Dad, little summertime vibe. John Alden playing those tunes there when we come
back. Helmet Mania. We all love football helmets. What is driving the
craze? I found a guy on TikTok and he's awesome, and we're gonna
hear his story. We're gonna hear some cool stories about what's behind some of
those helmets out there when we come back. He's John Olden, I'm Scott
Fitzgil. We're gonna push away for a sec, go we charge ourselves and
come back for the final hour. I'm in for the next two days.
Back after this on Sports Talk seven ninety