The UWCL returned with Slavia Praha getting a victory over St. Pölten in the final game of Matchday 4. We talked about the "tale of two halves" in that match and how Praha was able to hold on and stay alive in this tournament.

Then, it was time to preview the full list of excellent matches on deck for Matchday 5. We discussed:

Group B: Slavia Praha v Brann; St. Pölten v Lyon

Group C: Roma v Bayern Munich; PSG v Ajax

Group D: BK Häcken v Paris FC; Chelsea v Real Madrid

Group A: Rosengård v Benfica; Barcelona v Eintracht Frankfurt

Finally, we end the show by talking the retirement of USWNT legend Sam Mewis -- a genius CM who played a critical role in USA's 2019 Women's World Cup victory. She also helped her various club teams win every step of the way of her brilliant career.

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In this week's episode, Dino and Grant talk to Christopher Gerrish, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of SoccerDossier, about the NWSL draft.

Christopher is one of the few journalists out there who is closely analyzing the NWSL draft, and he shared some interesting insight into which players in this draft have the pedigree to be successful, which teams fared the best throughout the draft, and who might emerge as a quality sleepers from the later rounds.

From there, the show turns its focus to The Guardian's Top 100 players in women's football list and ESPN FC's Top 50 women's football list. Credit to the teams of journalists who compiled those lists, but your boys have some notes.

Later, your hosts talk about the excellent domestic league match between two of our favorite UEFA Women's Champions League sides: Lyon vs. Paris FC.

And lastly, Dino and Grant discuss a wounded Chelsea taking on West Ham in an FA Cup match that was closer than most people expected.

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2023 was a landmark year for women's football.

Between rapidly increasing in-stadium attendance and television viewership across both domestic leagues and in the World Cup, we're past the whole "women's football is up-and-coming" thing: Women's football is here, and it's a powerhouse.

So, we used this episode to talk about the greatest players in the game through the scope of both Dino and Grant naming their respective Starting 11 for 2023.

You already know we're going to include many of our favorites: Salma Paralluelo, Aitana Bonmati, Olga Carmona, Lauren James, Caroline Graham Hansen, and Wendie Renard, but you might be somewhat surprised at some of the differing ideas we had about what formation to use and where we slot these stars.

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Dino and Grant go "Into the News," on this episode of Into the Channel.

We cover some of the most important football news in the USA:

- Gotham FC shook the NWSL by signing Crystal Dunn, Tierna Davidson, Rose Lavelle, and Emily Sonnett

- The NWSL draft is happening (this was recorded prior to the draft), and we wonder aloud if the draft is the best way for the NWSL to acquire talent as international clubs continue to build out their women's academies

- Soon-to-be-ex Barcelona FC manager Jonatan Giráldez has been announced as the next manager of the Washington Spirit. Is this a coup for the league?

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It's been a few weeks since Netflix released "Under Pressure," the four-part documentary covering the US Women's National Team's run at the 2023 World Cup.

With the documentary fully out of the "spoiler alert" zone, Dino and Grant talk about some of the things that jumped out to them, and they try to assign responsibility using the "Responsibility Pie" method.

(Editorial Note: "Responsibility Pie" is supposed to add up to 100% like any reliable pie chart, but this one only went to 95% because your boys get excited and move from topic-to-topic quickly some times.)

USWNT fans: Travel back in time with us to a confounding tournament and think about tactics, lineup decisions, body language, interpersonal relationships, commercials, and just not being able to put the ball in the net.

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***Note: The match between Slavia Praha and St. Pölten was postponed after a mass shooting in Prague on Dec. 21, 2023. Dino and Grant briefly discuss some of the circumstances surrounding the shooting before moving on to the distraction of football.

The UEFA Women's Champions League provided us with another incredible match when show-favorite Brann found a way to score a late (LATE) equalizer vs. Lyon. From the confidence to hold the ball in the midfield, to 18-year-old budding superstar Signe Gaupset's last-minute heroics, it is definitely in the running for best match of the tournament so far.

Dino and Grant also cover Benfica and Eintracht Frankfurt battling to a draw that keeps the Portuguese side in second-place in Group A.

We close the episode by looking at Barcelona's latest destruction: A 7-0 victory over Rosengård while pondering who can lay claim to the title of "best" player on Barca.

Subscribe now to catch all of our women's football talk, including our ongoing 2023-24 UEFA Women's Champions League #UWCL coverage. 

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The UEFA Women's Champions League continues to deliver great matches and surprising results (in some cases).

In this episode, Dino and Grant discuss all the action in Group C and Group D from Matchday 4.

In Group C, first-place Ajax is only three points ahead of fourth-place Roma, with PSG in second and Bayern Munich in third. Dino has coined this as "the Group of Life," and that's bearing out with every team very much alive to advance to the knockout stage.

In Group D, Grant discusses how Chelsea simultaneously played their best match of the group stage while BK Häcken didn't look far off from winning a game they lost 3-1. Then, we turn our eyes to Paris FC essentially ending Real Madrid's hope in the competition with another class performance by the French-side that has proudly taken on the role as "Giant-Killers" in this tournament.

Subscribe now to catch all of our women's football talk, including our ongoing 2023-24 UEFA Women's Champions League #UWCL coverage. 

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We kicked off this episode by discussing Lyon's 3-1 victory over SK Brann, where Lyon looked like one of the tournament favorites, but our newfound favorite club in Norway showed they have a bright future.

From there, we kept it in Group B and talked about Slavia Praha v St. Polten, a match where Praha looked better than they have all tournament, and STP more than held their own.

Then it was time to discuss Group A, where the reigning champions of Europe, Barcelona, enjoyed a dominating victory over Rosengård; and Benfica had a gutsy victory over Eintracht Frankfurt.

We sprinkled in a lookahead at each reverse fixture for Matchday 4 after every match discussion, where we tried to pinpoint the prevailing narratives and points of interest as the group stage marches on.

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We were treated to an epic Matchday 3 of the 2023-24 UEFA Women's Champions League last week!

In this episode, we broke down both matchups from Group C and Group D:

Bayern Munich 1 Ajax 1

PSG 2 Roma 1

Chelsea 0 BK Häcken 0

Paris FC 2 Real Madrid 1

Some of the players covered in this one from Group C: Georgia Stanway, Katharina Naschenweng, Lea Schüller, Linda Dallmann, Sydney Lohmann, Regina van Eijk, Sherida Spitse, Lily Yohannes, Ashleigh Van Weerden, Grace Geyoro, Tabitha Chawinga, Jade Le Guilly, Élisa De Almeida, Sandy Baltimore, Lieke Martens, Katarzyna Kiedrzynek, Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Amalie Vangsgaard, Manuela Giugliano, Saki Kumagai, and patron saint of the Into the Channel podcast, Valentina Giacinti.

Then we hopped over to Group D and discussed: Olga Carmona, Niamh Charles, Lauren James, Erin Cuthbert, Sam Kerr, Fran Kirby, Johanna Rytting Kaneryd, Guro Reiten, Jennifer Falk, Katariina Kosola, Elma Nelhage, Josefine Rybrink, Aivi Luik, Chiamaka Nnadozie, Gaëtane Thiney, Julie Soyer, Mathilde Bourdieu, Julie Dufour, Ivana Andrés, and Hayley Raso.

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We kept things pretty U-S-A this episode. Your boys started out talking about what they're looking forward to regarding Netflix's US Women's National Team USWNT Documentary, Under Pressure. (This episode was obviously recorded before the documentary dropped. We'll have a recap show with our thoughts next week.)

In this episode, we also discussed ESPN's piece on abusive social media posts tied to this most recent FIFA Women's World Cup, NWSL expansion, before Grant gives an illuminating overview of how the expansion draft will work.

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