“I don’t care where you’ve been or what you plan to do”

Courtesy Connor Cunningham

Match Haiku

This given Sunday

Gotham a different class.

The goals have dried up.

“I don’t care where you’ve been or what you plan to do”

“I am the Resurrection” - The Stone Roses, 1989

It was hard to look at the two starting elevens prior to kickoff and not imagine the performance and the scoreline that we got on Sunday. There are some NWSL rosters that when you use them as a yardstick, you see just how far the talent gap is for Racing at the moment. At this point in the season, Racing is often getting “out talented” but also outplayed. Nothing that Racing did seemed to cause Gotham any problems. Racing’s disruptive style isn’t yielding any results and the better teams in the league have figured out that Racing can’t play through them. Gotham managed the game using possession and then dared Racing to prove that they can manufacture a goal. My opinion is that Racing needs to have a rethink about the midfield composition. Fischer isn’t an accurate enough passer to play in the central attacking midfielder role. Unfortunately, I am not sure there are any better options. It is hard to identify who the orchestrator of Racing’s attack is supposed to be.

Things are not working at the moment. That could just be that Racing can’t match up with the league’s best. It could also be that teams have Racing’s number now. It is hard to look at the match against Gotham and say that Racing played poorly top to bottom. I just think that Racing has become too predictable. That is the downside of having a strong identity when you don’t necessarily have the talent to back it up. This team isn’t as good as last year’s team right now. It is too early to write off a season, but I think it is time to start sprinkling some rookies into the starting eleven. Racing went all in on signing young talent this year, so I would like to see what they have, outside of 10–15-minute cameos.

Post Match Moment of the Match

Lo and Quincy McMahon were made available to the media after the match. Lo has to be sick of me at this point. We are in our 6th year of doing this. However, she is a consummate professional and spoke honestly about the performance. I did ask both her and Bev if the team needed some kind of spark or catalyst to change things. Lo said that she felt that the team needed “something” but doesn’t think that it has to be “life-altering”. She also spoke about “getting over that final hurdle” and “kicking things into gear’. The one specific item that she identified was that the team wasn’t creating enough quality chances. I totally agree there.

I pressed Bev a little on her comment that she thought the second half of the match was better for Racing. In the second half, they didn’t register a shot or touch in Gotham’s box until the 86th minute. She pointed to the relative improvement in possession and more composure that allowed Racing to have more attacking options. She did concede that Racing was not quick enough in their decision making once they started their attack. I saw quite a bit of forward, then directly backward, passing at times and it really stood out against Gotham’s more purposeful movements. Something that I made a mental note to do going forward is to spend a couple of minutes each match comparing Racing’s first touches in attack to their opponent’s. There was a sequence from Racing where almost every first touch was way too loose. The ball seemed to bounce away too far for the next touch to be a good one. In contrast, Gotham’s players kept their first touches close during that same period. Personally, I think a poor first touch sometimes negates your decision making because you run out of options if you are just trying to regain control.

On my question relating to whether Racing needed a spark or some kind of catalyst Bev said that it is hard to “manufacture” those types of things. Instead, she said that the team needs to stay in the right headspace because the players and the staff feel like they are “just shy” of getting the results that the team needs. The focus remains on the process, not the outcome at the moment. That mentality is about to run out of shelf life if Racing doesn’t start to get points very soon.

The Taylor Flint Honorary Yellow Card of the Match

I have decided to pull in the Opta descriptions of the yellow cards in this space going forward:

• 7th Minute: O’Kane-Tactical Foul

• 50th Minute: Flint-Reckless Offence

• 2nd Half Stoppage: McMahon-Tactical Foul

The Flint card was the only contentious one. She was obviously frustrated to lose possession in the spot that she did, but I didn’t think that a yellow was necessary. The other two were no-brainers.

NWSL Watch Party Drinking Game to Help You Get Plastered

If you’re out watching a random NWSL match (I had lunch at Shogun yesterday and the Stars-Thorns match was on at the bar) have someone turn up the volume if Merritt Mathias is on the broadcast. Do a shot/take a sip/destroy a Buzzballz every time she says the word “comfortability”. On second thought, maybe stick to sips. The other options are bound to lead to a stomach pump.

Madchester Song to Make You Feel Better

Your choice: chunky or smooth.

The top version is the album or “chunky” version. I prefer it.

The bottom version is technically “WFL”, which is the Vince Clarke remix. It’s more “Madchester”.

Would you call what Shuan Ryder does “singing”?

It’s good to be Jae

I am happy to see Jaelin Howell thriving in NYC. She seems happier. It’s a good time be Jae.‍

I don’t know what Racing could have or should have done to keep her here, but I think things worked out for the best for her.

That dress is such a great idea.

“Don’t waste your words”

I told Bev that I don’t look at the standings this early. She admitted that she doesn’t either. Both of us know the points total though. Four points from seven matches is nowhere near good enough. There are explanations and excuses, but you have to put those behind you now. I think I heard on the broadcast that Utah had won four in a row. Utah? The only thing you can say about figuring out this league is that you can’t figure it out. Racing frankly needs a “Utah-esque” run to pull itself out of the funk they are currently in. Everything seems low energy to me. I know we are supposed to “trust the process”, but I hate that phrase. What if your process is bad? It’s time for actions and results to speak instead of relying on words.

Racing’s hot start offensively now looks like fool’s gold (quick digression: Fool’s Gold by The Stone Roses is ineligible for selection for post titles because it wasn’t part of the original album). Teams are starting to make Racing “play football” and when Racing does that at the moment, they can’t sustain meaningful possession. Racing needs help in the midfield. I don’t think Bev is considering a formation change, but she may have to think about some sort of inversion to get numbers there when Racing has possession. The Flint/O’Kane/Fischer midfield is a factory for inaccurate passes. Against Gotham they had accuracies of 54%/67%/36% respectively. No philosophy, formation, tactic or identity can disguise those numbers well enough to make them not matter.

Jordyn Bloomer needs to have taken her last free kick from the forward two thirds of the pitch. Watching Berger distribute compared to Bloomer is night and day. Distribution is not Jordyn’s strongpoint and when she had another free kick from midfield in this match, it floated harmlessly into Berger’s arms. When Racing deploys Bloomer in this way it just makes them look like a team that has run out of ideas.

Racing often looks clueless on the ball instead of supposedly comfortable without it. I think the team needs to try to focus on possession more in matches, especially in the first half. Racing is not a team that can consistently go down a goal early and expect to get an equalizing goal in the run of play. The Spirit and Gotham have shown the league that playing within yourself is the way to neutralize Racing’s biggest threats.

Gotham 1 Racing 0 Player Ratings

Racing again lacks any real bite in attack and put in another tame performance. It's hard to picture where the spark is going to come from.

Bloomer-6: Made a good save in the second half to keep Racing in the match.

Petersen-5: Subbed off at half.

Wright-6: Better than last match but she and Jean were caught out of position more than once.

Jean-6: Hard to fault the defense as much in this match.

Milliet-6: Offered more going forward than most.

Flint-6: Needs to do more to stitch things together.

O'Kane-6: Had one of the few half chances.

Fischer-5: Lost almost all of her duels. She isn't the answer at the 10.

Hase-5: Need to rethink her regular inclusion in the starting 11 if she doesn't start to deliver more.

Sears-6: Offered more than the last match, but that wasn't difficult.

Weber-5: To be fair, didn't get service, but has to work to get on the ball more.

McMahon-6: Making a case to be the starter at left back.

“Soak me to my skin”

Courtesy Connor Cunningham

Match Haiku

Spring Potomac rains

Dampen Racing’s forward thrust.

Rodman’s goal enough.

“Soak me to my skin”

“Bye Bye Badman” - The Stone Roses, 1989

Anemic is the word that comes to mind to describe Racing’s performance on Wednesday evening. The Spirit never seemed to get out of second gear, nor did they need to. All that it took was one very good attacking move from the Spirit to take early control of the match and they never relinquished it. I had the feeling that if Racing did manage to equalize with any time left in the match that Washinton would shift up a gear and retake the lead. Racing’s attackers offered little to nothing up front, and the two most dangerous chances came for the outer backs. It was the Spirit’s fourth clean sheet in a row, so some of that is likely credit to them. However, Sears didn’t offer much and Weber even less.

Racing needs to be able to rotate players, and I think last night’s lineup was strong enough to be considered full strength. Morris did okay and McMahon will probably find herself in the mix at left back as long as she stays healthy. I think Racing needs to keep mixing things up until they find a lineup that works. They are definitely missing the spark that they seemed to get when Bloomer replaced Lund last season. It’s been a very tough fixture list for Racing at the beginning of the season, but that can’t be the excuse. The next few matches will be a real test for Bev to see if she can figure out some formula to make Racing a feared opponent again. Nothing in last night’s performance against Washington rose above the level of minor nuisance.

Post Match Moment of the Match

Kayla and Arin were made available after the match. They commented that the slow first half was down to playing timid and not sticking to the game plan. Specifically, they felt like they got baited into playing long too often, instead of playing into space. Brendan asked about rotation and got an interesting response from Wright who said, “there’s going to be rotation” and said the squad was built for 26 instead of 11. I am going to dive deeper into this later.

Bev said that the team was unfortunate not to walk away with any points. I highly disagree. I know that she has to say these types of things, and we are not in the post-match huddles or any of the behind-the-scenes discussions. I just happen to think it would be nice if she was a little more vocal about the team’s current lack of fire. She did malign another slow start, but we need a little more “run-through-a-brick-wall” Bev at the moment, especially in her public forums. The mood is coming across a little too casual for me right now. However, she obviously knows what she thinks will work in terms of volume and tenor, so I have to trust her.

I recently have spent a decent chunk of time around Lou City and players like Kyle Adams and Interim Head Coach Simon Bird. I have gotten used to the cadence of how often they talk about the performances not being up to ‘the standard”, even win Lou City wins matches rather easily. I get the feeling that “the standard” is this: playing hard, flawlessly, 100% of the time. That is an impossible standard but as a sound bite, it’s pretty good. I’ve not ever heard any talk about playing well enough to win or deserving more than they got from a points perspective. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t hear Racing players making excuses, but there is a subtle undercurrent of an inferiority complex mindset in some of their public comments. Lou City has the opposite issue. I think both teams could move towards the middle a bit more.

The Taylor Flint Honorary Yellow Card of the Match

Fischer got a very soft yellow card. It was quite ridiculous.

Madchester Song to Make You Feel Better

Depending on your perspective, Damon Albarn is either a chameleon or a poser. I lean more towards the chameleon side, as I was a big fan of Blur for a while. However, I could see your point if you wanted to argue the other side. This song sounds “baggy” but probably isn’t proper “Madchester” if you are super pedantic. Anyway, Blur quickly evolved into something much more interesting, if never quite original.

“Will you drown me in your sea?”

I have been somewhat transparent in the past about my soft spot for the Washington Spirit. I think they are a relatively well-run operation from a footballing perspective. It was interesting to see how they approached this match. They went all in with a “no change” line up from their recent 4-0 victory over Kansas City (who I have also been fairly transparent about my disdain for). Washington is the team that I wish Racing was, but for several reasons they cannot be. The Spirit is built for midweek matches. Their squad strength is much better than Racing’s. If, as Wright stated, Racing is going to have to play with all 26 players this year, I can’t say I am super excited by the prospect. Personally, I think Racing’s squad this season is deeper than last season, but not as talented at the top. The midfield options aren’t as good. That has to be clear now. The attack is probably better, but not astronomically so. There are more defensive options, but none as good as Janine Sonis. Racing’s squad is built to be competitive in every match but not have as high of a ceiling.

I guess that is what I find admirable about the Spirit. They don’t seem to drop off much when their subs come in. They can bring on a young player like Claudia Martinez and develop her slowly and steadily, where Racing has to throw their rookies into the fire to some degree. From time-to-time I like to identify a “non-Racing” favorite player. Based on the 2 matches I have seen from her this year, that player is Rosemonde Kouassi. She made a leap last season, and to me, is just a terrifying player to have to defend. She may not have the goal contributions yet this season, but in the two matches where she faced Racing, she was involved in the most threatening attacks. The Spirit has the luxury sub her off frequently to keep her fresh, which is something their squad depth allows them to do.

I do feel like Racing got drowned in the Spirit’s sea to some degree last evening. There was wave after wave of talent playing football on the pitch for that team. In hindsight, a 1-0 loss to them isn’t that bad. It was probably to be expected.

Spirit 1 - Racing 0 Player Ratings

Racing generates next to nothing in attack and the Spirit cruise to a 1-0 win. Racing's attackers have to show more grit and desire in matches like this.

Bloomer-6: Didn't like her being the free kick taker late in the match.

McMahon-7: Had Racing's only real threat on goal in the match.

Wright-5: Lucky that the scoreline only showed one goal for Washington.

Jean-5: The Spirit could have easily had 2 or 3 goals.

Milliet-6: Had one of the only other half decent chances.

Flint-5: Looked slow getting to the ball to my eyes.

Hodge-6: This is probably the right position for her.

Fischer-6: Got a harsh yellow, but needs to do more.

Morris-6: Was decent in her 66 minutes.

Sears-5: Virtually invisible. Has to give more in a match like this.

Weber-5: Not really involved much.

Spirit v Racing -1

Racing's schedule will be pretty congested over the next 10 days, so the first question at the top of my mind is whether the squad depth can handle it. I asked Bev to confirm on Monday that there were no new availability concerns coming out of Friday's win against Orlando. She did confirm that, which is a great relief. Makenna Morris was also made available to the media and the 20 minutes that she got against the Pride will likely prove very important. Racing will need minutes from several different players over the next few matches in order to keep up with the physical demands of the schedule. Morris commented that those 20 minutes were vital for her to shake off any rust and work on her touch. I could envision Morris getting a start soon and she would likely relish the chance to face her former club (she missed out on the playoff match last season and the match against the Spirit earlier this season).

Racing was a decent road team last season but haven't picked up any road points yet this year. I asked Bev about the importance of the first 20 minutes in a match like this. She responded that one could frame any section of the match as important based on what is occuring. Fair enough. My thinking behind that question was really more related to managing a hostile environment and not having a poor start. Against Orlando the first few minutes were fairly shambolic defensively. You definitely don't want to come out with a shaky defense at Audi.

If Racing is to pick up points in DC they will likely need another good couple of performances from Weber and Sears. Sarah's confidence has to be pretty high right now and there is a difference to how she carries herself now with a full year of experience under her belt. Sears has always been confident, but she has turned into a more balanced player this season. Like I said previously, Racing is likely going to need 2-3 goals in most matches to give themselves a shot at points, so having this duo firing on all cylinders will be key against the Spirit.

“I can feel the earth begin to move”

Photo by Elizabeth Shaw

Match Haiku

Cloudy afternoon:

One a banger, one cheeky

Milliet steals the show

“I can feel the earth begin to move”

“She bangs the drums” - The Stone Roses, 1989

There are obviously many things to talk about, but let’s start with this. If I ever find out who comprised the 3% of people who didn’t vote for Lauren Milliet as Player of the Match I am going to personally spit in your next concession item that you purchase at Lynn Family Stadium.

Just kidding…probably.

Milliet scored the goal of her life to give Racing an early lead that was somewhat fortunate based on how shambolic the defensive effort had been to that point. Based on what we have seen so far, Racing isn’t going to win many 1-0 matches. However, they did manage to hold a 2-goal lead pretty effectively in the second half and only the last few minutes of stoppage time ended up being extra nervy. You have to admit that Racing is nothing if not entertaining.

The good definitely outweighed the bad in this match, but Racing once again looked susceptible on the counter. I am tremendously grateful that Emma Sears in on Racing’s side because can you imagine having her running at this back line? It sends shivers down my spine. Speaking of Sears, she would also benefit with another teammate who could match her speed and determination on the counter because at least a couple of times her attacking moves fizzled out because there was no teammate to pass to.

On the positive side, Racing definitely seems more clinical in their finishing this year. They are getting in good spots and scoring enough goals to be competitive in matches. It remains to be seen if they can be stout enough defensively to see out a match that requires a bit more steel.

What did we learn in this match? We saw just a fraction more composure and purposeful possession for possession’s sake, something that was a focus for the team in the last couple of weeks. It’s not a seismic shift yet, but there are signs that things may be started to, if not turn around completely, at least stabilize.

Some of this has to be due to having a full strength back line. Wright and Jean had a decent, but not great match as a pair. However, allowing Taylor Flint to do Taylor Flint things is always a welcome sight.

Post Match Moment of the Match

Lo and Weber were obviously delighted by Lo’s upper 90 finish. Elizabeth captured this great shot:

Photo by Elizabeth Shaw

Lo called it the goal of her life. It surely was. It will take some doing for it not to win goal of the week, but those types of polls are dumb anyway, so it will be my goal of the week regardless. Bev talked about the slow start defensively and said that it was something that was discussed at half and that she showed a couple of pressing clips to highlight what she saw. I asked Weber a follow up from Thursday where she highlighted the focus on possession and composure. She said that she was “super proud of the team’ and highlighted their ability to “stay calm on the ball”. On Lo’s second goal she said that she was just trying to put herself in the frame of the goal because Emma is such a good crosser of the ball.

Thing I bought at ear X-tacy back in the day

(I would have loved to have been a music journalist in the 90s in England, but unfortunately, I lived here. Therefore, I will do a little retrospective music journalism to amuse myself. I will even try to tie it to Racing or soccer in general.)

Artist:  The Cure

Single:  a letter to elise

Year:  1992

Format:  CD single (Import)

Store Location:  1140 Bardstown Road, probably

My copy

I blame Robert Smith for my lack of skill on the guitar. Okay…he doesn’t get the full blame, but if I had to come up with a percentage of the blame he shoulders, I would put in 20% range. Elizabeth has to accept an equal 20% of the blame because just around the time I was starting to get competent, she came into my life as a beautifully wonderful distraction. The remaining 60% is simply that I lack any natural ability and have a terrible musical memory. Back to Robert. The Cure was the band I was listening to when I decided to start learning. His meandering guitar lines from Disintegration were fun and somewhat easy to play, but not great for somebody that should have been learning technique.

The album that this single comes from Wish was released in 1992 and was their most commercially successful album, if not their creative peak. I won’t go into labyrinthian logic about why I purchased a single of a song I already owned (stop me on the concourse one day if you want to hear that boring story) but I bought it for one B-side and ended up discovering that the other B-Side was even better.

“a foolish arrangement” is an odd song. It has a wordless chorus. That wordless chorus is composed of one of the laziest guitar runs you will ever hear. I love it. It is easiest enough for me to play and to me it’s hypnotic. There isn’t anything else like a good B-side. It’s like a song especially for you.

It was a most unexpectedly delightful purchase. I got what I wanted (the B-side that prompted the purchase) but so much more. Kind of like a win with a Milliet brace (which I never dreamed was possible).

The Taylor Flint Honorary Yellow Card of the Match

There was only one yellow card for Racing in the match. It was a late tactical foul from Morris, so not much to write about there. Let me then use this space to complain about the official’s management of the match. I think they (eventually) got almost every call right. It was a well officiated match. It was also an inefficiently managed one. Shortly after the match, there was lightning in the area, so we were rather fortunate to get the match in before it happened. I frequently complain about the amount of stoppage time that gets added in NWSL matches. The numbers yesterday didn’t bother me (6 in the first and 7 in the second) because they seemed right to me. What bothered me was that too much of that stoppage time was the officials doing administrative things very slowly. There were a couple of VAR stops for no reason that I saw. After one stoppage the officiating team almost awarded a dropped ball to Orlando instead of a freekick to Racing for a handball. Sports at is core is entertainment, so these unnecessary delays detract from our enjoyment.

The Louisville (Draft?) Kings Sports Betting Corner

(Racing’s new co-tenant at Lynn Family Stadium surely only exists to quench the thirst of those who must “have action” on sports 365 days a year. I am not a gambler, but if you are I will suggest “easy money” from time to time. Your challenge will be to see if you can actually bet on it.)

I wonder what the payoff would have been on a Lo Milliet brace in this match. +1000? +10,000?

Anyway, the real future bet should be this: Lo Milliet goals in 2026 Over/Under 2.5

I say take the over now that her confidence is up. Sometimes you score in bunches. Here’s to hoping she blows that 2.5 over out of the water.

“I hear my needle hit the groove”

I think we now know the songbook for Racing’s success this season: score lots of goals. The team has enough attacking threat up front that goals shouldn’t be the issue, especially when your right back can score two in a match. Early indications are that Weber may have made “the leap” in that she could be ready to contribute goals in the 8-10 a season range. Sears has expanded her skill set to include more left-footed strikes and she looks to make passes just enough to be a true multi-dimensional player. You have to have Fischer in the lineup somewhere, so for now the 10 is the best spot for her, but she needs to work on her field vision and distribution more. I believe Hase will get her fair share of goals as well.

I don’t know how to put this nicely, so I guess I won’t. Right now, the defense stinks. Racing could have (should have?) been down a couple of goals before Milliet scored her first goal. There was a lot of desperate defending, luck, and good shot-stopping from Bloomer to keep Racing in the match early. It will take a while to get Wright up to speed and comfort. Jean looks a little shakier recently than she had at the tail end of last season. To help out with this, Racing has been working on possession and composure, which is the right thing to do. You can’t change your system mid-season and there aren’t lineup changes that would make a difference right now. Bev is trying to figure out this specific version of Racing. Her adjustments at half probably won Racing this match, but it was still too nervy at the end. Racing finally conceded from a corner. They went all of 2025 without doing so, but I think that was a statistical anomaly (and Taylor Flint) instead of any ground-breaking tactical thing they were doing.

The good news is that Racing will likely win, lose or draw the fun way…in matches with a bunch of goals. It will be hard for any of the future ones to be as fun or memorable as this one. The team now has a Wednesday/Sunday road gauntlet to get through. “Defense travels” is the conventional wisdom, and Racing will likely need to do much better on that front if they want to continue to accumulate points. For now, it may take 3 or 4 goals to win a match, but it will be fun to watch them try.

Racing 3 Pride 2 Player Ratings

Racing weathered early and late storms to get their first win of the season. Between those storms, the performance was very good.

Bloomer-6: Had a few decent saves.

Petersen-7: Good performance from her and good on the corner delivery again.

Wright-6: Decent return from her.

Jean-6: Solid.

Milliet-10: One (or two) collector's item(s) deserves another.

Flint-8: Much better in her natural spot.

O'Kane-7: Nice two-way performance from her.

Fischer-7: Got an assist on Lo's wonder strike.

Hase-7: Did well for as much as she was isolated in attack.

Sears-8: An assist and another really good performance.

Weber-8: Terrific header on the goal.

Racing v Pride -1

After what feels like an eternity, Racing finally hosts another match in this 2026 NWSL season. Hopefully Racing has spent most of that break getting healthy, which had to be job one.

Job one-part two sounds like it was focusing on how to take the identity that Racing established last season and sprikle in a bit more composure and possession. Sarah Weber and Courtney Peterson talked about the team focusing on those two things and treating this extended break as the chance for somewhat of a reset of the season. When asked about specifics on defensive performance, Petersen reiterated that the emphasis continues to be on focus and effort as opposed to any tactical change. Both she and Weber commented that it was important to plan for the different looks that Orlando can give, but also to not panic if they give you an offensive or defensive look that they didn't specifically plan for.

Bev shared that the roster is getting healthier without being too specific, but an Availability Report should be out today. She was pleased with practice these last few weeks and emphasized that the team is doing many good things despite the results.

Look for many disco-themed social media posts this weekend due to this Friday being the debut of the new kits. I don’t limit myself to the strictly American definition of disco, but I expect that the club will lean heavily into the 70s version of it.

“Down, down, you bring me down”

Courtesy of Soccer Holdings, LLC

Match Haiku

Although goals abound,

Racing’s defense is leaky.

Bev says, “don’t panic.”

“Down, down, you bring me down”

“I am the Resurrection” - The Stone Roses, 1989

The match on Friday evening between Racing and Houston was one of the sloppiest matches I have watched in recent memory. Neither team could really defend effectively, and both played right into each other’s strengths and exploited their opponent’s weaknesses. Many matches with seven goals turn out to be “classics” and are utterly rewatchable. The video of this match needs to be buried 20 feet underground.

The good news is that Racing seems to be able to score enough goals to win matches. The bad news is that their defensive organization is expansion-franchise level. It reminds me of Year 1 Racing. Too many times, Flint was caught out of position by playing too high up the pitch, which left a) Hodge in a position where she was the makeshift center back and b) Jean without a partner and unsure of how to position herself relative to the assisting defenders. This was Jean’s poorest match in quite some time. Not being able to trust where your teammates are going to be defensively means that you sometimes have to overcompensate. Other times it makes you tentative, which is what I think happened with Jean in this match. On both open play goals and the action that lead to the Houston winner, Jean was scrambling, with Flint out of position, and having to make last ditch efforts without anyone that she trusted around to help.

If that seems like I am putting too much burden on Jean, I don’t mean to do so. It really was poor all around defensively. She just happened to be Racing’s last hope in several cases. I am not convinced that Hodge can play as the deepest central midfielder without help, which is what she did here. If that was the plan, it was a bad plan. More likely, her midfield partner O’Kane was higher up the pitch when Hodge became exposed. That is as much on O’Kane as it is Hodge, especially since O’Kane isn’t a tremendous attacking threat.

Therefore, Racing enters the first international break of the season in a mess. How did we get here?

Player availability is the obvious culprit. There have been so many players dealing with various levels of injuries that it is difficult to know what Racing can be. However, it is apparent that what they are at the moment is an inherently flawed enterprise on the pitch. The roster seems unbalanced at the moment and woefully lacking in natural central defenders. Central defenders are a prized commodity in the NWSL and there really aren’t enough to go around. All of Racing’s options at the moment to cover at the back are better placed elsewhere. Like I said in my Player Ratings post, if Flint is at the back in the next match, you know that Bev doesn’t have any other options.

More than most teams, Racing needs to be relatively healthy to be at their best. The strategy for roster building this offseason was to get players who fit the system and try to develop young talent. I don’t think that I wrote about this in the offseason, but I did think about what the limited resources available to Racing do from a roster building perspective. If money were no object, how would you build a roster? I know how I would do it. Other than Sears and Flint and possibly Bloomer (who’s form is slightly concerning) I would have built the roster so that every player that was a regular starter last season was fighting to keep their spot this year. That means bringing in players ready to play or rookies that are polished. Circumstances dictate that Racing can’t really do that, and very few teams can. I have accepted that Racing is mid table quality at best. That means that when times are challenging, the team is going to look like a bottom-third of the table team, which is what they are right now.

Post Match Moment of the Match

If there ever was a time to score two goals and not really want to talk to the media after the match, I am sure that Taylor Flint experienced it last night. When asked how it felt to score two penalties, Flint says “It feels great personally,” but that was either sarcasm or an obvious lie based on the rest of her comments. She also mentioned being “new to the role” a few times when talking about playing in her new position, which I took as an explanation rather than an excuse. Weber added that the defensive effort could have been better all around by Racing retaining possession better in transition.

Bev said that it isn’t time to press the panic button. I guess I agree, but I would be checking to see if the panic button is connected to something at this point. She could press it, but what changes or reinforcements would come. I think she is right in staying positive for now. There really isn’t another option. Changing the formation defensively is just going to put more square pegs into round holes. I did try to elicit from Bev the plan to monitor Emma Sears’ usage during this international break, but she just talked about how excited she was for her to get called up again. I know everyone gets tired of me saying how much I hate these international breaks, so let me say it another way. I don’t like the national teams using players at the expense of the player’s health and utility to their club teams. I saw posted somewhere that every player’s primary duty was to their national teams. That makes me incredibly sad if that is how most players feel.

Why can’t we have nice things?

By the NWSL’s very low standards, I thought the broadcast last night was decent. For once, my feed on NWSL+ was crisp enough. It isn’t the best HD you will ever see, but it was good enough. Jacqui Oakley and Merrit Mathias were presented with a match full of things to discuss and did a fine job covering those things. I blame the league itself for the things I didn’t like about the broadcast.

The length of time that it took to determine that there was a handball in the box on Racing’s first penalty was way too long. I did like that the central referee stopped play eventually when a Racing attack wasn’t imminent. I didn’t like that the VAR review took longer than 20 seconds. It was a clear, stone-cold penalty. The central referee’s audio was too low volume on the explanation. We also got to see the irrelevant action after the handball in reverse, for some reason. I like the transparency of the system, and not much else about it.

The excruciating 15 minutes of second half stoppage time seemed utterly ridiculous. The original 10 felt really high. There was guidance a few years ago for officials in all leagues to add on more minutes to compensate for time when the ball wasn’t in play. Every other league seems to have rightfully started to move towards rational levels of stoppage time except the NWSL. This time Racing was helped out by the extra few minutes, in that they got more chances, but 15 minutes was way too much.

I thought the first penalty awarded to the Dash was soft, but I see why it was given. If the penalty had not been given, I don’t think VAR would have overturned it or even looked at Weber’s challenge. Yes, she did make contact, but it wasn’t preventing any action from the Dash player who was already out of the play. Anywhere else on the pitch and this is a “play on” decision. If VAR doesn’t intervene here for the sake of rationality, then it is a broken system, which obviously everyone knows that it is.

One last thing: the central referee Alex Billeter looked mean as hell. I liked that.

TV Kit Rating

Houston wore their “Cosmic Storm” kits. Here is what I said upon their release:

“Elizabeth definitely likes this jersey more than I do. It is very “scrubs-y” but the color isn’t bad. It just doesn’t have anything to do with any of Houston’s previous kits. As a 3rd kit, I might be inclined to rank it higher, and I do like the pink socks. I initially thought is read as purple which seemed confusing, but I am sure that it will read as pink on the pitch. Enough nice things…Houston is an armpit of a city. It’s humid, hot and sweaty. I have only been there once. It is never on my list of potential away games.”

Without any other pink in the kit, the jersey definitely reads as purple to me. I was initially way too critical of this kit as I kind of like it now, but my comments on the city itself hold true. 7/10

The Taylor Flint Honorary Yellow Card of the Match

Macey Hodge once again makes the grade. Her nasty challenge around the 69th minute was a classic “orange” card in my opinion. With Billiter going with yellow on the pitch, VAR didn’t deem it worthy of upgrading. However, if red had been awarded, I also don’t think that would have been changed. For me personally, it was red. The last contact by Hodge was high using her forearms and was intentionally above the shoulders. I wouldn’t be surprised if the league has a second look and upgrades it like they did on Boston’s Ella Stevens.

A tactical yellow from Flint in one of the situations where she got beat would have been more than welcome this week.

Madchester Song to Make You Feel Better

Oh Bez, you make me so happy.

“I can’t sleep at night”

I hope nobody has any actual sleepless nights worrying about this team, but the concerns are starting to mount. By my count, we have three, possibly four starters playing out of their most dangerous and helpful positions:

• Taylor Flint: She isn’t a central defender. You weaken two lines when you are forced to play her as one. Continuing this is a recipe for disaster. Petersen isn’t a central defender either, but she is much more reliable. Moving her doesn’t solve the long-term problem and if there were better cover for Petersen, I am sure we would see her return there. The bigger issue for Flint is the things that make her a good defensive midfielder are the same things that make her a less-than-ideal central defender. Her aggression and quick decision making are good for disruption, but not as good for discipline, which is what you need in the back line.

• Kayla Fischer: Last night was a mixed bag for Kalya. She was in the right spot to win the penalty, which was at the very front of the press, but her passing was lacking and she struggled to create her own shots. She can be creative, but she works better when she isn’t the primary ball handler in attack. Positionally and from an effort perspective, I like what she is doing. She is just better in the center forward role. Weber’s lack of flexibility by comparison means that Fischer will continue to play out of position for the foreseeable future.

• Macey Hodge: I don’t really know what her best role is, but it can’t be as a starting central defender without consistent help. Here is where Racing misses Ary Borges. She could play the deepest midfield role or play slightly higher, or next to Flint. A pairing of Hodge and Borges might have been an interesting one. The pairing of O’Kane and Hodge isn’t working, and it is having a more negative effect on Hodge. I don’t think Macey has figured out how to play in the Racing setup at her full potential, so she is learning on the job, which comes with mistakes.

• Katie O’Kane: For someone who looked to be a good fit in the system last season, she seems out of place in the current one. She consistently had Borges with her in the midfield and now that Ary is gone, Katie seems a little less reliable as a box-to-box midfielder. In essence, she is a better front-footed defender than a back footed one. She is better suited to prevent an attack rather than stopping one that has already progressed deep into Racing territory. Ideally you want your box-to-box defenders to be able to do both. If Racing can figure out how to play Katie further forward, it will be better for her and the team. She still may not add goals and assists that way, but she can shift momentum.

A few more healthy bodies returning could help with most of these issues, but in retrospect, the roster looks unbalanced. Racing needs another central defender and someone with a skill set that can somewhat replicate was Ary Borges provided. Savanah DeMelo is irreplaceable but Racing needs more creative players in central positions. I consistently criticized a midfield comprised of DeMelo, Borges and Flint for not being able to dictate matches. This setup looks pale by comparison, which isn’t good.

Bev has to figure out something that works during the international break. You can’t change tactics too much, but a defensive wrinkle that makes Racing’s transition defensive more reliable is needed. Whatever it is, is has to be simple so that players can adapt quickly.

Dash 4 - Racing 3 Player Ratings

It was a mess of a game that was full of mistakes and goals. Racing needs to go back to drawing board defensively during the international break.

Bloomer-5: Made a great stop in the first half but hard to rate her higher when 4 goals ended up in the back of her net.

Petersen-5: Had a couple of good corner deliveries, but never seemed to be in the mix defensively.

Jean-5: Flint put her in some bad spots, but she wasn't in the best positions all night either.

Flint-6: Would be a 4 without the 2 goals. If you see her at centerback again you know that Bev has no other options.

Milliet-5: Conceded the winning penalty.

Hodge-5: Isn’t Flint, but still needs to do better because she was out of position several times.

O'Kane-5: Needs to be better in possession to give Racing a chance.

Fischer-7: Not at her best, but won a penalty.

Hase-6: Fair, but needs to have more production.

Sears-7: Was good for looking to be moving at about 80%.

Weber-6: Conceded a penalty, scored a penalty.

Dash v Racing -1

The club moved up media availability by a few minutes today to leave for the airport sooner because, like nobody has ever said, “I can’t wait to get to Houston”. Houston is one of those teams that some fans hate, but I don’t really mind. I was on a podcast with Bayou City Soccer’s Diego Martinez Reyes this week and had a really good time. I have been on with other folks who cover Houston in the past and have enjoyed my time with them too. “Media” is somewhat of fraternity/sorority though, so if you have never interacted with a nice person who likes team X, I guess feel free to continue to dislike whomever you want. (As an Arsenal fan I have a few friends who are Tottenham fans so if they can be friends with me, then you are perfectly able to be friends with anyone).

Hodge and Weber drew the short straw today and faced the media. Both talked about settling into Racing’s/Bev’s system for either a first or second season. Macey talked about how the staff made her role clear to her, with a few tweaks based on what the team needs in a game. Sarah talked about being more confident as a second-year player. Each of them mentioned how the staff prepared them for Houston and how to exploit them by sticking to the plan. Macey also said that she likes playing deeper. Sarah is embracing the added layer of expectations that she has this season.

Bev talked about the evolution (I will let Joe H. coin the phrase, “Bevolution”) of the team’s tactics, now that teams are more prepared for what Racing does. She said that Racing is consistently working on different ways to present different shapes while also using different personnel.

I specifically asked Bev about the challenges that the injuries are posing. She shared that she did have to make some mid-week adjustments and some more last-minute adjustments before the match in Spokane. She is also proud of how the players adjust to playing in positions that maybe don’t fully utilize their strengths but potentially uncover new ones. However, she did concede that sometimes a player is asked to fill in simply because they are the best (only?) option.

I still believe that the number of injuries and persistent inability to field a full squad is a symptom of something that nobody has an answer to. I will reiterate that I don’t believe anything nefarious is going on, but I can’t dismiss it as bad luck. Likely, it is the compounding of several small challenges all making a noticeable impact at the same time. Sears is day to day but aren’t we all.

Personally, I don’t feel too bad about where Racing sits at the moment. A loss at Houston, which is entirely on the table, might change my outlook slightly, but as I have said: this team isn’t built to win a shield. They just simply need to get healthy and field a more full-strength team.

“It’s far too late”

Courtesy of the NWSL

Match Haiku

In a home, away,

The Reign profit from error.

A meager spring start.

“It’s far too late”

“Shoot You Down” - The Stone Roses, 1989

A rare goalkeeping error from Bloomer (turf field or no turf field) dug Racing into a hole from which they could not recover and it results in one point from three matches, which is evidently Racing’s worst start to a season ever (to be fair, they never come out of the gates “on fire”). The players who were available (much more on this throughout this post) gave a valiant effort and pulled back a consolation goal at the end, but Racing never felt like they were really in this match, to me at least. The Reign team and fans had to feel comfortable the entire time. Even the late goal didn’t really put any pressure on the Reign. Racing almost never seems to be on the other side of the coin in a match like this. I can count on one hand the number of “relaxing victories” that Racing has ever had.

My greatest fear this season is a long stretch where Sears is unavailable. We are on match 1 of ?. Let’s hope that it is a short absence. It’s hard to picture this team down both DeMelo and Sears and figure out where a consistent attacking threat comes from. I think White and McKeen showed good early indicators, but neither is near ready to put up the type of goals that this team needs to stay in matches. The triumvirate of O’Kane, Weber, and Hase will have to embrace their newly acquired veteran status and manufacture goals if this team is to keep its head above water. After a slow start in the opener, Fischer has shown some signs that she can be the main attacking threat, but she will have to deliver more consistently than Racing has ever demanded of her.

The patchwork defense is going to give up goals. That is a fact. The full-strength defense was going to give up goals too. Here is where so-called “flexibility” is a killer. I never bought into this whole “positionless” football thing. It is the luxury of deeply talented teams with intricate systems implemented over several seasons. That whole Ted Lasso Season 3 thing was a pure and dangerous fiction. In Racing’s case, this flexibility that keeps getting mentioned is merely putting talented players into spots where they are less effective, simply because there is no other recourse. It’s okay for a “Plan C” for a match, but as a “Plan A” or “Plan B”, it is dangerous.

Racing seems to be on “Plan F” about right now. It would be unfair to place blame on anyone or anything, but as people like to say: “it may not be your fault, but it is your problem.”

Post Match Moment of the Match

I believe that in the last few seasons no team has put out a less-than-20-player squad more often than Racing Louisville. I could definitely be wrong in this, and I am happy to digest evidence that changes this view. All that I can tell you is that I have asked Bev about it multiple times and have written about it multiple times. Racing signed a goalkeeper this week and had to put her on the bench with another keeper to get the squad size even up to 18, compared to the allowable 20. My point isn’t that 18 isn’t enough (several leagues limit the matchday squad to 18 and historically football squads were much smaller) but it just happens so often with Racing that you can’t continually chalk it up to bad luck. A least, I can’t. I have to believe that there is something systemic going on that makes this situation keep coming up.

I asked Bev about this, the best I could. I didn’t expect her to have a definitive answer, because if she did know what the issue was, I truly believe that she would fix it. She stated that the club consistently looks into things like this (not specifically during this post match media session) and I believe her. My recommendation as a professional problem solver would be to really sit down and frame and analyze the issue.

I did think, and Bev reiterated, that the players that were available performed admirably, for the most part. White and McKeen will ultimately benefit from the unexpected minutes, but they aren’t “ready for primetime” yet. Flint did a good job covering at center back, but her replacement, Hodge, cannot replicate Flint’s performances in defensive midfield and would probably be more effective higher up the pitch. What this team needs is its best players healthy and in their best positions to have a fighting chance at anything more than temporary success.

Why can’t we have nice things?

Since I am already in a mood, let me also complain about the level of quality of the NWSL broadcasts. I personally think it is rather embarrassing that a second-rate gridiron football league can put on a broadcast that is 3 times as visually pleasing and about 5 times more compelling than the NWSL can. For whatever you think about Lynn Family Stadium’s new tenant the Louisville Kings, if you watched the Fox broadcast, you had to be impressed. Lynn Family Stadium is a wonderful venue, but the Fox broadcast on Friday evening put an extra shine on it. The camera angles and enthusiasm of the announcers made the watch so entertaining, even when the football wasn’t. I know that money has everything to do with it, but the NWSL’s marquee presentation each week can’t hold a candle to what Fox can do for the UFL. I am not mad at anybody in particular, but I am still mad.

The other thing that is a barrier to the quality of NWSL broadcasts, in my opinion, is this maternalistic compulsion by announcers to not call out bad mistakes. Bloomer’s error on the first goal was atrocious. She would be the first one to own it and not make any excuses. I don’t understand the compulsion by announcers or fans to make excuses for her. It undermines the integrity of the broadcast, the league, the sport, and the player when we can’t be frank and open about poor play. If I were going to make a suggestion to the NWSL about how to improve the broadcast, I would say that you need more ex-players calling out current players on poor performances. I have seen Lianne Sanderson do this more consistently than anyone, which is one of the reasons that she is my favorite. Well that, and the fact that she is a dear, dear friend.*

*The level of friendship between the author and Ms. Sanderson may be grossly exaggerated to the extent of delusion.

TV Kit Rating

Seattle was wearing its primary kit from last season. Here is what I said when it first debuted:

“I think Seattle always does well on their kits. It’s a shame to see the Black Future Co-op Fund go, but a clean, sponsor-less kit from time to time is refreshing. The reborn Reign badge will always do the heavy lifting on the Seattle kits, but I like the pattern, and the shorts really set off the shirt. It’s a fine addition to the Reign kit history.”

They do have a kit sponsor now (Trupanion, which helps its customers keep down the cost of vet care for their furry children), but it is inobtrusive and is matched for color. 8/10

The Taylor Flint Honorary Yellow Card of the Match

Macey Hodge, who one day has a real shot of finding herself the namesake for this column, had a proper crunchy tackle in the 63rd minute. There was no malice in it, just a little over aggression and maybe a like bit of misfortune (the announcers tried to make excuses). Good on you, Macey. I foresee many returns to this space in the future.

Madchester Song to Make You Feel Better

There are a bunch of videos options to go with here, but the mimed TOTP performance is probably the best vibe.

“I can’t wait”

Hindsight is always helpful. I wish I had chosen this year’s framing structure to go with last season. I have so many bright and exciting framing devices ready for this year that I can’t wait to use. However, Racing has to be cooperative and win some matches. If the injury list stays as lengthy as it currently is for much longer, the hole to dig out of may be too deep. I stubbornly refuse to look at the table because early season tables are often full of lies. If they do hold truths, they do tend to be in the bottom portions. A fast start this season was never all that probable or that important based on the schedule and Racing’s traditional slow starts to the season. It has made the wiggle room virtually nil and now they really need points on the road in Houston on Friday. If they put out a similar squad, I don’t have the highest of hopes.

Racing has an availability problem, and the club needs to acknowledge it. Problems are ripe to be solved most efficiently when little to no time is spent on assigning blame or worrying about who takes credit for finding the solution. Define and diagnose is my advice. I have watched many team’s seasons be destroyed by injuries. The only way truly around it is to have better solutions when the injuries come. Racing as an organization probably doesn’t have the capacity for the simplest solution: buy your way out of it. This is really only a viable option for the most elite of organizations and even then, you have to both have the spending capacity and also be having a good season.

I wish I had a solution, but the only one that I can think of as a second best option is prevention. Something has to be the root cause of Racing’s consistent inability to field full squads. The roster at the start of the season seemed robust enough, but right now it seems painfully thin. Any idea around what may be causing it would be pure conjecture, and conjecture is the enemy of good problem solving. I am hoping a solution can be found soon or this season may be lost before it even really begins.

Reign 2 Racing 1 Player Ratings

An early error puts Racing behind the eight ball and they end up with only a consolation goal. It too early to fret about the table but 1 point from 3 matches isn't going to get it done.

Bloomer-4: Regardless of what caused the lack of concentration, her error put Racing in a bad spot.

Petersen-6: Put in a decent shift at left back.

Flint-6: Deputized well at CB.

Jean-7: Of the starters, the lone bright spot.

Milliet-6: Looked better today in defense and attack.

Hodge-5: Liked her energy, but might be a little concerned with her in the position she played this evening.

O'Kane-5: Racing needs more from her.

Fischer-6: The only real first half attacking threat.

Hase-5: Another player that needs to step up.

White-5: Got in good spots, but needs to learn to finish more quickly.

Weber-7: Got a late assist to pad her personal stats.

Reign v Racing -1

I didn’t get to join the media availability for Racing today as I was toiling away at my full-time job. You probably know that items of note. The match is being played in Spokane and Racing needs points. The reason the match is being played in Spokane is because Lumen Field is undergoing preparations for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

I hate the World Cup and the Olympics for one main reason: they use public money to build stadiums that are almost always destined to be underutilized. From a financial perspective, the Olympics are a bad deal for the host city, likewise for the World Cup. I hate this. In addition, America has an epidemic of building taxpayer funded stadiums that almost are never worth the spend. Lumen Field’s renovations are of course being heavily funded by public money.

This gives me a chance to talk about the Louisville Kings. I may never go to a match. I may think their existence is silly. I may not like it if there are gridiron lines on the pitch for Lou City and Racing matches. I also want them to be wildly successful. I have seen a lot of hate and hopefulness of failure for this enterprise. That is tremendously short-sighted, even for fans that support Lou City and Racing and do not live in the state of Kentucky.

The Kings success is important for Butchertown, Louisville and Kentucky. Anything that drives revenue in the area theoretically reduces the potential tax burden of the citizens of Louisville and Kentucky. Just like Lumen Field, at some point the stadium will need modernization. With more tenants comes more opportunity to share the burden of that eventuality (although I am sure the owners will take the opportunity to put as much of that burden on the city and state as possible). The financial success of ownership groups gives us, the taxpayer, the right, the evidence and the duty to push back when they inevitably stick their greedy hands out again.

Now, for you out of state bellyachers: extra money in Soccer Holdings pockets is a good thing and that is exactly what the Kings are providing. Yes, it will suck if the pitch gets torn up. It will suck if the gridiron lines are distracting. However, Soccer Holdings needs every bit of money they can scrounge up to compete in the NWSL (and the new USL league will likely be more expensive to run too).

Lastly, let me remind you that every dollar spent on a stadium is a dollar not spent on something of that is almost certainly more important and vital to someone in need. If stadiums were a good deal for cities and they actually delivered on the promises made, maybe you could dismiss this. However, time after frustrating time, the wealthy owners get most of the welfare of a sweet stadium deal. To their credit, Soccer Holdings is trying to make good on their promise to the community, but it is a difficult road. Having the Kings as a tenant is a good first step.

“But it might go wrong”

Photo by Elizabeth Shaw

Match Haiku

A mild spring evening

Yields a welcome early lead.

The Spirit fight back.

“But it might go wrong”

“This is the One” - The Stone Roses, 1989

It will be a struggle for Racing to have many clean sheets this season. The team is not set up to defend for long stretches, especially against teams with the amount of attacking talent that the Spirit have. Having a new back line every match doesn’t help, but even when Racing figures out what a first choice back line looks like, I don’t believe that collectively the team can defend at the back for 90 minutes. Their style and philosophy are predicated on being tough to play against. This manifests itself most clearly when Racing presses high and disrupts things in the midfield. When their opponents have long stretches of uninterrupted possession, like the start of the second half where the Spirit had around 85% of the possession in Racing’s half, Racing tends to get penned in with no foreseeable way out. This happened a few times last season, and it looks like we may see a repeat this season. Regardless of the score, Racing needs to play every minute like the match is even or they are trailing because their best defense comes from aggression, not organization, unfortunately.

Racing found themselves with a 2-goal lead precisely because they capitalized on the things they do well. The first goal came from a decent spell of possession that resulted from the Spirit having to play a long ball to try to beat their press. The second was classic counter-attacking run from Sears. That is the winning formula for Racing against the league’s top teams. However, Racing has never been too keen on defending an early lead so the next evolution has to be that counter-possession thing that I always harp on. There were too many long clearances that came right back into Racing’s half, especially as the match wore on.

Fischer had a much better night as the central attacking threat in this match. Even if she was a bit fortunate on the goal, she was in better positions in this match. This was likely helped by Hase’s tendency to drift into central spaces and drag defenders with her. When both Hase and Sears can attract attention, it opens up the middle of the pitch for Fischer and Weber. Sears’ ability to play on both wings is a plus too. She looked more comfortable in her briefer spell on the left in this match. She had a decent shot on goal from a cut back onto her right foot, which is something that works better when she is on the left. Her similar movements on the right tend to set her up for passes or shots from tougher angles. On her breakaway goal she took every touch with her right foot. One of these days a defender might actually figure this out and start to overplay her if they can match her speed, which is much easier said than done.

Post Match Moment of the Match

After the post-match fireworks (Who are fireworks for? I didn’t see anyone who was particularly interested.), we got to speak to Bev, Jordyn and Lo. On the overall defending effort Bev said that they have to be ‘better in some of those moments” essentially to get the defensive shapes right and gain some control and respite. I pressed Bev a little about if there was anything “structurally or philosophically” that needed to be different, and she was pretty adamant that the answer was “no” and that they need to have “a bit more in us” in those moments when things are tough. There is a comforting element to her confidence and conviction, and it is still early in the season so one hopes that she is right and these little things get fixed and don’t become an epidemic.

I asked Jordyn what she was able to see on Cantore’s wonder goal. She said, “I thought I saw the ball perfectly and then as it was approaching my hands it went (makes a curving hand motion).” Fair enough. It really was one of the best goals I have ever seen live based on the swerve and the distance. Lo has been around for all of Racing’s persistent failures to close out games, so she really didn’t have anything to add other than “we have to find a way”. I guess that is why I pressed Bev on the structure and philosophy piece. It does seem to be this team’s Achilles heel.

Thing I bought at ear X-tacy back in the day

(I would have loved to have been a music journalist in the 90s in England, but unfortunately, I lived here. Therefore, I will do a little retrospective music journalism to amuse myself. I will even try to tie it to Racing or soccer in general. If you want to give it a go, contact me at admin@fleur-de-lis.fc and maybe I will use your piece. The rules are that you have to believe in good faith that you bought it at ear X-tacy, and it has to be “on-theme”. For example, don’t write about buying Nirvana’s “Nevermind” in 1993, but you can write about buying “Bleach” in 1989 or 1990. If that doesn’t make sense, maybe skip it.)

Artist:  Paul Weller       

Album:  Stanley Road

Year:  1995

Format:  CD (Import)

Store Location:  1534 Bardstown Road

The “punters” liked this album more than the critics if memory serves correctly.  It was a UK #1 for Weller, who was firmly into the third phase of his career after a hugely successful first act leading The Jam and an ambitious and underrated (but ultimately unsuccessful) second act as the leader of The Style Council.  This was his 3rd solo album and a follow up to the wildly successful (and frankly career rescuing) “Wild Wood” album.  This album was the last one he released before being dubbed “The Modfather”, but he was already working his way into the “dad rock” category. 

I was 20 when this album was released and Weller was just about to turn 37.  He was “old” for a relevant pop artist, and there aren’t too many artists who consistently produce hits after turning 35, let alone 30.  He seemed even older, probably because of his prodigious output and the reverence that people in Great Britain had and still have for him.  What I wouldn’t give to be 37 now.   This year Bev Yanez is in her 3rd season (3rd album?) as Racing’s head coach at the age of 37.  If she is fortunate, this is the beginning of a long second act as a coach after act 1 as successful player.    

The most famous song from the album today is likely Weller’s cover of Dr. John’s “I Walk on Gilded Splinters”.  I say this because it is the music used in the closing music montage for The Wire’s Season 4.  That episode, “Final Grades”, is usually thought of as The Wire’s best episode even if The Wire doesn’t really work that way.  This year, I hope a line from that song might be appropriate for the “Sunshine Assassin”.  I can see Bev smiling as she says, “see my enemy at the end of their rope”.

The Taylor Flint Honorary Yellow Card of the Match

Racing picked up two yellow cards in the match. The first one came in the 76th minute when a frustrated Sears shoved Kouassi (who always scares the heck out of me and was the best player on the pitch in the match) just a couple of minutes after the Spirit equalized. It was Fischer-esque but Kayla has been behaving herself well recently and I want to assume that she has somewhat “reformed” herself without losing her edge. The new namesake for this section didn’t let us down by picking up a silly one on a late challenge deep into stoppage time.

The Louisville (Draft?) Kings Sports Betting Corner

(Racing’s new co-tenant at Lynn Family Stadium surely only exists to quench the thirst of those who must “have action” on sports 365 days a year. I am not a gambler, but if you are I will suggest “easy money” from time to time. Your challenge will be to see if you can actually bet on it.)

I was going to go super easy on this first one and say take the -150 on a Taylor Flint yellow card suspension this season, but what might be more fun is an over/under on combined Taylor Flint/Emily Sonnett yellow cards this season. Let’s set the over/under at 16.5 which would mean that they will be better behaved this season. I am feeling the over on this one.

“All the plans that I have made”

One point from six isn’t the best of starts, but Racing has plenty of time to get things right. Nothing has been a disaster, but there also hasn’t been too much to make you believe that a mid-table finish isn’t the ceiling. That’s fine honestly. This team isn’t built to be an NWSL Shield winner. One does wish that their fate didn’t seem to be tied to some cosmic random number generator where all 3 outcomes seem equally likely and it is just like the roll of a 3-sided die. Some of that is the league itself, but with continued expansion maybe that will lessen for the good. Before the match, I did wonder to myself how Bev’s halftime adjustments will work this season if they have a lead at half. It is not fair to judge it based on one match, but despite all logic and probability, I think it is almost better for Racing to be all square at half and try to win matches late most of the time. It allows them to exploit their strengths and hide their weaknesses. I am all for Racing “boat racing” a team in the first half 4-0, but realistically I don’t see that happening all that often.

The difficult part is that Racing isn’t a defensive oriented team in the traditional sense. Most teams that are comfortable out of possession tend to be more defensively sturdy. They aren’t particularly good when they have long spells in either half. I know that sounds horrible, but it isn’t meant to be. Racing is at their best when they are making their opponent do things they don’t want to do. This season there has been too much comfortable possession conceded, and that will have to change if Racing is serious about a top half of the table finish.

Racing 2 Spirit 2 Player Ratings

Racing jumped out to an early 2 goal lead but couldn't hold onto possession enough to see out the win. Bev will need to figure out how to see out games like this if the playoffs are to be in the cards this season.

Bloomer-7: Made a few good saves but needed better defending in front of her.

Gacioch-6: Had a decent debut, but seemed to tire at the end.

Jean-7: The team needs another defender of her quality on the team.

Petersen-6: Lost the ball in a dangerous spot in the first half and had a few nervy touches.

Milliet-7: Handled Rodman well for the most part.

Flint-6: Loaded up the stat sheet again, but hasn't hit her peak yet early in the season.

O'Kane-7: Another solid performance, but would like to see her in attack more. That is predicated on Racing having more possession though.

Fischer-8: Fantastic stuff from her, but lucky to have MacIver spill her goal.

Hase-7: Attacked more centrally that usual.

Sears-8: So, so good on the counter and had a decent effort stopped when she was out on the left and cut in on her right foot.

Weber-7: Solid effort from her.

Racing v Spirit -1

In case I didn't mention it last week, I like the new interview setup. So far the Lou City and Racing media availabilities have lined up so I can do both. It also means that I get to watch the Communications Team do the backdrop quick change. This needs to be on social media at some point. Let's get on that.

Racing is coming off of the most positive loss I can remember and the good loss vibes carried forward to today. Bev continues to like what she has seen from the team but did share that she thinks that Racing's slow start against the Courage was due to the players being too amped up and not the other way around.

Is the Spirit Racing’s true rival? Taylor Flint seems more apt to go with Portland. I am of the mind that everyone should hate everyone equally. It makes things much simpler.

I mentioned the lack of yellow cards from both players in the last match, and the contrast to how that typically played out last season. That produced some giggles and the promise to try to be better behaved, but ultimately they said that you can’t worry too much about the officials and lose your edge.

Butchertown Rundown's new-ish writer Brendan Devine tried to sneak a player health update out of Bev. LOL! Nice try rook! She is never going to give you anything useful. Believe me, I have tried and honestly it would only give aid and comfort to the enemy, so I stopped.

You never know what level of underachievement you are going to get from the Spirit, but they never seem to be quite as good a they should be. Remember when they were hilariously bad a few years ago? Let's hope for a repeat of that.

"She'll carry on through it all"

Courtesy of the NWSL

Match Haiku

Springtime in Cary

Yields a familiar result.

A Sanchez brace stings.

“She’ll carry on through it all”

“Waterfall” - The Stone Roses, 1989

Let’s be frank about who Racing Louisville is as a team. I bellyached for years about this team’s lack of a true identity. Last year they found one, and it is likely to be the one as long as Bev Yanez is the coach. They are a hard-working blue-collar team. This is appealing for many reasons, but it also implies the things that they will never be. One thing that the team is for the first time in its existence is a squad that doesn’t have a single international player. That statement is meant to be a neutral statement of fact, but it’s hard to avoid the implications. From a footballing perspective that means that their youth careers and playing experiences are likely to be somewhat consistent. Sure, there will be differences, but when you add in players from different international backgrounds it can spice things up and makes sure things don’t get too stale. The club has made a big deal of getting players that fit into Bev’s system and the overall team culture. For the circumstances that define and conform and constrict the environment in which Racing Louisville must exist, it is probably the best way to do things even if the football is a little bland at times.

However, one must live with the consequences. Bigger clubs in bigger cities will have the ability to showcase their cosmopolitan freedom and individuality as a way to win matches and achieve results. Every team plays a system. Every player plays in a system. The key is to live in balance with the system and its principles and not become a robot in it.

Matches like last night’s one in Cary are the ones that I worry about for Racing. Racing will almost always grind the other team down. Sometimes it will be enough, but last night it wasn’t. Sometimes you will have an excellent individual effort nullify all of your best laid plans and dogged determination. The key is to not lose hope and get back on the horse.

Post Match Moment of the Match

Bev as an interview subject is never going to say too much to criticize a performance. I actually don’t recall that many times after a loss where she hasn’t spoken mostly of the positives. I didn’t necessarily expect her to take the bait when I asked about the central attacking performance compared to the positives that I saw in the wings, and she didn’t really comment specifically. What I saw was a performance that relied too heavily on the outer thirds of the pitch. Depending on which side of the pitch the attack was building, the other two thirds didn’t really have to be defended at all. Sav Demelo and Ary Borges are players that can utilize the center of the pitch for creativity. I guess we will have to be patient to see what develops.

Sarah Weber and Jordyn Bloomer also spoke after the match. Bloomer was voted Player of the Match. You people need to listen to Butchertown Rundown and heed the advice that Tom Benson has given about awarding the Player of the Match to a keeper until the match is over. Also, do people not know how to count or not know the definition of a save? I think Zerboni referred to Bloomer’s save in the 63rd minute as a triple save. I think even the Racing official media made the same mistake (if not I apologize because I think it has since been corrected).

The double save was good enough, but what wasn’t good enough according to Bloomer herself, was the late goal from Sanchez that Bloomer said, “needs to be kept out of the net by myself”. I must have rewatched her positioning on the 2nd goal a dozen times and frankly I think she is being a little too hard on herself. She was in the right spot from a positioning perspective, but I think the thing that she will be critical of is her reaction time and being so rooted to the right spot that she couldn’t reach the deflection.

Were the Announcers Good?

No.

I might retire this section unless by some miracle I hear some intelligent commentary. The quality of the NWSL broadcasts in general is lacking and it is readily apparent. There is no need for me to pile on.

TV Kit Rating

The Courage’s kit was number 3 in our kit rankings but on the big screen the details simply do not read. It just looks blue. That’s what I get for saying anything remotely nice about the Courage. By the laws of probability some of the Courage fans are also likely Duke fans. Let that sentence sink in. There is only one excuse for being a Duke fan and that is only if you attended West Point with Mike Krzyzewski like my trivia teammate Jim Ruwet. That’s it. The rest of them can suck an egg.

Madchester Song to Make You Feel Better

Definitely revered in the UK and underrated in the US, the Charlatans will be making multiple appearances in the “Madchester” section this year.

“She’s a waterfall”

Thankfully, nothing much looks like it gets Bev down. She was generally pleased with the performance and to be honest so was I. In my season kickoff post I committed to not be so “doom and gloom” to start the season. I think a draw would have been a fair and good result here, but it wasn’t to be. I had another line prepared from “Waterfall” to be the title of this post, but I am sure I will get the chance to use it later on. The season was always going to be a grind and have its ups and downs. Therefore, the season will be about persistence and overcoming adversity, just like the song referenced here.

I liked the resilience of coming back to level the score at 1-1 before half. Ellie Jean seems just as good as last season and ready to lead the line as it were. Racing possesses dangerous wingers and there seems to be depth there. This team will always have a fighting chance with Bev’s ability to adjust at half and everyone is bought in (for now).

What has me worried is wing defense and central attack. Weber scored, but probably should have had another, and the goal was created out wide by Sears. It will be a long season is Fischer doesn’t immediately improve at the 10 or they don’t figure out a better option. It pains me to say this, but Milliet looked a little overmatched by Sanchez a few times and McMahon, to me at least, didn’t rise about the level of “serviceable” (she was better in attack).

This league for better or worse will always be about fine margins. When that is the case, oftentimes individual talent, skill and quality are what you need to get things done, regardless of how well-oiled and tight-knit your team is. If you look at the current roster, it is hard to see any player beyond Sears who has the ability to consistently change a match on the offensive end. That may just be the current state of things, but for now, any victory from Racing will have to come from a unified and gritty effort. The good news: that is right in Racing’s wheelhouse.

Courage 2 Racing 1 Player Ratings

Racing pulls one back in the first half and dominated huge portions of the second half but fall short when they can't make it count.

Bloomer-6: Had a fantastic double save but by her own account, should have done better on Sanchez's second.

McMahon-6: A little shaky at the start, but grew into the match.

Petersen-7: The team misses her delivery on set pieces when she doesn't play.

Jean-7: Other than one bad touch, was pretty solid

Milliet-5: Had 2 goals scored by the player she was defending. Not the best debut as captain.

Flint-6: Needed to do more to stitch things together.

O'Kane-6: Ditto for her.

Fischer-6: I like her better a center forward.

Hase-7: Was looking really dangerous and then got subbed off.

Sears-7: Oddly started on the left but looked more comfortable on the right and set up Weber's goal.

Weber-7: Scored one but probably felt like she could have had 2.

Courage v Racing -1

Welcome to my first proper post of the season! We are dangerously close to being able to talk about some actual soccer (note: posts may only contain around 25% actual soccer coverage). I am not much for reading previews, so I don’t write them. As a reminder and if by some bizarre reason you are new to this space, my “minus one” posts are really just an excuse for me to write something and make sure I don’t get my media pass revoked. My long con has now entered year 6 and expanded to getting to sit on the pitch for Lou City home matchers, weather and Racing duties permitting (Elizabeth always has to be on the pitch as the Fleur-de-lis FC official photographer: rain/sleet/snow/extreme heat/disgusting odor).

I maintain a virtual radio silence from December to February because the offseason doesn’t really interest me. I follow the signings, but that’s about it. I come out of my cave just in time for NWSL kit release day (a kit ranking post is now pretty common, but when I did my first one in 2022 it was pretty ambitious and rare. Yes, I do have a very healthy ego). I tend not to read anything beyond the press releases from the club and avoid anything with the words “offseason grade” in them like the plague. Who among us doesn’t sit down with our boss at the beginning of each year and get a performance review based on how he or she thinks we will perform in the coming year? As you process the ridiculousness of that previous sentence let me say that I don’t judge those who write and consume those types of things. There is an audience for them, it just doesn’t include me.

I assume that if you look back into the history of sports journalism (I can’t be bothered) that you will find that the concept of a “preview” and its first cousin, a “prediction” probably came about when newspapers figured out that gamblers might drop a spare nickel to get some sort of inside scoop. I don’t gamble. I am terrible at it. I never win at the track. However, I do find myself part of the “Big Preview Industry” as I regularly show up to ask questions of Racing players and coaches whenever there is “media availability”. New to Racing (and Lou City) this year is a designated interview room. This keeps everyone out of the elements when necessary. There has also been an emphasis on making sure that the consumers of the pre-match interviews can hear the questions being asked, so now you get to hear my stupid voice as I ask my dumbass questions. You’re welcome.

Lo, Emma and Bev are used to my dumbass questions, so they usually have good answers. You can listen here and here if you are interested and make your own judgements. The only piece of color that I might add this that the vibe seemed relaxed. Aren’t you glad that you came here for that type of analysis?

Of course, you cannot escape any piece of mine about the Courage without me reminding you that Cary, NC is an anonymous city in an overrated state. If Neil Tennant arrived in Cary and asked “Hay una discoteca por acqui?”, I am sure he would be greeted with a confused look, so it’s appropriate that Racing’s Disco Kits won’t be making a debut here. Also, the Courage’s stadium is an absolute dump. I am contractually obliged to say that the playing surface is nice and that it drains water quickly.

For everything we might think we know about Racing and this match at this point, we don’t actually know anything which is why sports is fun. Whatever starting 11 you are picturing in your head is surely to be wrong (not because I know anything, but because I have seen Racing’s collective fanbase be wrong so many times even when it’s a no change lineup from the previous match). Don’t worry, we’ll final have some evidence to judge come Saturday evening.