Jonas Eidevall

I have Jimmy Coon Rats.

I have Jonas Eidevall.

And I went with the big swing.

I went with Leif Schmierud.

And I do think there's an element of, you're right, it's filtering down from the coaching staff.

And there's a stubbornness, I do think, to Renee, which feels very reminiscent of the last days of Jonas Eidevall.

Yeah.

Of like, I'm sticking to these tactics.

So we're going to be keeping eyes on that.

Yeah, I would just say Eidevall, but also you sign a player like Kenza Dali.

Kenza Dali felt like she was on her last leg, where she was last in England.

And they basically were like, we're putting you out to pasture, it felt like, the way that they were treating her.

And Eidevall called her up and said, I want you to play for me.

And she is...

I think she's a really tough leader.

So since we're nearing the end of the regular season, maybe let's start having a little bit of a discussion about who might be taking home some individual hardware.

Why don't we chat a little bit about Coach of the Year predictions? Uh, our producer put together this segment, and they think that maybe the finalist candidates could be Jonas Eidevall, uh, Leif Smardt for, uh, Angel City, or Jimmy Kunrat.

Like, do you agree with those as finalists, or did, like, our producer, Phil, miss a very obvious choice here?

[laughs] I'm going with, yeah, I think Eidevall is a good choice for sure.

It's tough, though, because I think for coaches it is just three finalists that are named, um, for the category, and I'm including the Spirit in that mix.

If they walk away with some type of hardware, whether it's the, you know, the fact that they are already clinched for the playoffs, I think that gets him in the conversation a little bit, or they get that shield, it's gonna disrupt some things.

Uh, but I, I don't know if you got anyone different or if you're just in agreement around the Jonas Eidevall train, Lori.

Lori.Yeah, you and I were talking about it off, off-air before we jumped on, and McCall was still finishing up, but that's who we had too.

And yeah, you're right, Rancid.

Sleggers did win the Champions League after they sacked Eidevall during the season.

I think that's a really fair argument, actually.

So maybe there is scope to do it.

And I'm like, how many top teams are we going to count out at the end of this season? But it's like, I think it's hard because...

for so long they have also positioned themselves as a top team and you don't win the Champions League if you're not somewhat in the conversation as being a top team but what's been really obvious is domestically something is not working for them and maybe it was just because they could have a really good Champions League or maybe it was you know Eidevall left and they had sort of a new manager bounce in a way not really much had to change yeah but Champions League also starts a bit later although arguably they did go all the way through because they had qualified right the way through

but they were playing like lower quality teams arguably and with the league format you know they could drop it here and there you know and then they suddenly hit their stride when it matters later on in the season with the league hitting your stride late when you've already dropped X amount of points.

You know, a bit late.

We talked a lot about Kenza Dali.

I also want to talk about your manager, Jonas Eidevall, who joined San Diego from the WSL last season.

He was coaching Arsenal, which of course is, like, one of the hugest global clubs, a very international brand, and I think, you know, signing him said a lot about the ambition of San Diego.

I'm curious, when you found out that Jonas was gonna be your new head coach, what did that kind of signal to you about where The Wave wanted to go?

Obviously it's early days there and what not.

Now they're starting to do well and it's warranted but I th- it was a comparison of how sort of male managers in the women's game are being treated compared to women's managers and that obviously with Jonas Eidevall at Arsenal who was doing sort of as badly as Slagers is doing now and the crowd had turned.

I, I, I would, I, I think Slagers has started worse than when-

Yeah

I think Slaggers has been good in the role.

I mean, she took over from Eidevall, led them to lifting the Champions League trophy.

It just shows what a short shelf life a manager can have in football.

And I'm not saying that she should be sacked already, but like you're talking about, you're falling way behind in the league.