So what I think is interesting about Sophia Smith's goals this week is that the first one came from the left wing which is where she played in the World Cup last year

Teams probably hopeful that they'll have Swanson in that role but she's showcasing that she's

showcasing that she can get these goals that she can move the ball

that she can assist from the wing, which is probably not

necessarily where she always plays best for Portland, or we can argue about whether that's the best place for her. not

about whether that's the best place for Portland or we can argue about whether that's the best place for her or not for the US.

But in order to build a portfolio that's compelling on an 18-player roster,

I like what we're seeing from Sophia Smith out why.

Hello everybody and welcome to this week's edition of The Late Sub it is Monday April 29th as we record

we've got lots of NWSL action to talk about through the lens of the bigger

picture moment that we're seeing as the Olympics approach. We're seeing

pieces come into place. We're seeing players rise up. We're seeing difficult questions

being raised about what these rosters are going to look like. And then we're

going to take a moment to shout out and do a quick

retrospective on one of the legends of the game in the W. M. A. who announced her

immediate retirement this week we're going to get into all of it. Let's dig in.

All right, so another big week of NWSL action.

We went long on NWSL last week.

I think this week, the best way to sort of frame what we've seen in

sort of this period, this moment in time for the NWSL and sort of soccer in America is I think

I want to contextualize everything this week in the context of the Olympics.

Now I know it seems a little bit early, however, there was a shift this weekend and it didn't actually have anything to do with the NWSL,

...