What NWSL Playoffs and fashion mean to Mandy Freeman & Kenza Dali
Full Time: A show about women's soccer
The Athletic
4.8 • 756 Ratings
🗓️ 7 November 2025
⏱️ 35 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The 2025 NWSL Playoffs are here, and they’re bigger than ever. And that means, on this episode of Full Time Focus, host Jillian Sakovits is joined by not one but two special guests preparing to kick off the postseason.
First up, Jill talks to NWSL veteran and Gotham FC co-captain Mandy Freeman. How is Gotham preparing for another underdog playoff run on the road? What does it mean to go play the No.1 seed Kansas City Current, who haven't lost a home game in 490 days? And, what is the secret behind Freeman's famous off-the-pitch fashion sense?
After that, Jill says bienvenue to Kenza Dali – the French San Diego Wave midfielder who has taken the league by storm in her first season in the NWSL. What's it like to be a European player in your first American-style playoffs? How does the English Women's Super League compare to the NWSL? Why did the Wave drop off in the second half of the 2025 regular season? And, Dali talks about the importance of playing entertaining soccer while winning.
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HOST: Jillian Sakovits
GUESTS: Mandy Freeman, Kenza Dali
PRODUCER: Theo Lloyd-Hughes
VIDEO PRODUCER: Lia Griffin
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Emily Olsen
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Referenced on the show:
NWSL playoff preview: How to watch, key matchups and bold predictions
San Diego Wave signs France midfielder Kenza Dali from Aston Villa
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Each game at this point is basically do or die, |
| 0:06.6 | so you have to show up and be ready to play for the full 90. |
| 0:10.0 | Hopefully no PKs and no overtime. |
| 0:12.9 | And yeah, I think there's definitely parallels, |
| 0:15.0 | but I think we're definitely feeling more confident. |
| 0:17.6 | Like we feel like this place was, where our spot was like earned throughout |
| 0:21.3 | the year, rather than just like kind of getting through. I'm so excited. I'm excited because as you |
| 0:28.3 | say, like, I'm an NBA fan and like the playoff is crazy and the regular season is not like |
| 0:35.3 | that important, which I found it so weird because it's so much harder to win the regular season that it is in the playoff. |
| 0:51.7 | What is up, everybody? It is Jillian Sackavits and a very warm welcome to Friday's full-time focus. |
| 0:58.4 | The NWSL playoffs are here and they are bigger than ever. So that means on today's full-time focus, |
| 1:04.0 | we have not one, but two interviews lined up for you. We're going to be speaking to two players |
| 1:09.4 | that are getting ready to compete in the postseason that all kicks off this weekend. First up, we're going to hear from |
| 1:15.4 | NWSL veteran, Gotham FC co-captain, and O.G. Mandy Freeman, who will once again be trying |
| 1:21.1 | to lead Gotham on an underdog playoff run. And then we'll be saying bienvenu to Kenza |
| 1:26.5 | Dali, the French San Diego Wave midfielder who has |
| 1:29.2 | taken the league by storm in her first |
| 1:31.1 | NWSL season. |
| 1:36.5 | I am so |
| 1:37.6 | thrilled now to be joined by |
| 1:39.3 | Gotham FC OG and |
| 1:41.5 | co-captain Mandy Freeman. |
... |
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