At just 24, footballer Madelyn Desiano has experienced a lot.

Life-shattering knee injuries, national championships, raw emotions on draft night, living out your goals, becoming a professional, and crossing the Atlantic to keep the dream alive.

Speaking to host Theo Lloyd-Hughes on the Squad Depth podcast, Desiano tells her story from Southern California to Odense, Denmark.

Stories from her enthralling five years at UCLA. The trials and tribulations of her rookie season with the Houston Dash in the NWSL. And, why she is now turning to a foreign league in Northern Europe.

A story of grace, maturity, ups, and downs. This is Squad Depth with Madelyn Desiano.

Follow Madelyn Desiano ⁠here.

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Alongside the podcast, check out and subscribe to the Squad Depth newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.squaddepth.com/⁠

If you have feelings about the show leave a review or send in your feedback. We'd love to hear from ya or feel free to spread the word. Or if you just have feelings, and want to keep them inside, then that's cool too.

Follow Theo on social media: @theolloydhughes

We're turning our focus back off the pitch, and the people helping grow the beautiful game. So, this week the founder of Women Kick Balls, Jackie Gutierrez, hung out on the podcast to talk about her journey.

Jackie is a tireless dynamo, doing just about everything one can do in the footy space. As a freelancer, she writes her own newsletter, captures her photos, publishes magazines, roasts coffee, and provides stories for Forbes and other outlets.

On the pod, Jackie talks about growing up as a soccer player in Southern California but having an awakening to the USWNT when her father and brother watched the 2011 World Cup.

The discussion digs deep into how you can follow your dream to tell stories about the game when you don't automatically see a space to do so.

At the end of the show, host Theo Lloyd-Hughes and Jackie talk about what they're looking forward to in the second half of the 2024 NWSL season.

Check out Women Kick Balls here.

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Alongside the podcast, check out and subscribe to the Squad Depth newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.squaddepth.com/

If you have feelings about the show leave a review or send in your feedback. We'd love to hear from ya or feel free to spread the word. Or if you just have feelings, and want to keep them inside, then that's cool too.

Follow Theo on social media: @theolloydhughes

Welcome back to Squad Depth with Theo Lloyd-Hughes.

This week, it's all about the NWSL moment. And more specifically the struggling Utah Royals.

Theo sat down with Kelly Cousins, the general manager of the 2024 expansion club, to get a better idea of what is going on behind the scenes in Salt Lake City.

After 10 matches, the Royals are bottom of the NWSL table with only one win. Over the past couple of months, the team has also lost two assistant coaches. Head coach Amy Rodriguez is learning a lot in her first-ever season as a head coach even if it is coming the hard way.

Having spent a decade as a head coach in the English Women's leagues with Reading FC, Cousins gives insight into how she evaluates and guides Rodriguez through this difficult debut year.

We look to answer questions about what are the Royals' targets and growth points for this season. How are they trying to improve? And, what changes might we see?

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Alongside the podcast, check out and subscribe to the Squad Depth newsletter: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.squaddepth.com/

If you have feelings about the show leave a review or send in your feedback. We'd love to hear from ya or feel free to spread the word. Or if you just have feelings, and want to keep them inside, then that's cool too.

Follow Theo on social media: @theolloydhughes