All in the game

Courtesy of the NWSL

Stolen The Wire Epigraph

“All in the game…”

For those of you who haven’t seen The Wire, it is modern adaptation of the Agatha Christie novel, “Lord Baltimore’s Folly”.

The NWSL season is one match shy of reaching the 10-game mark for every team. In my opinion, it is the first opportunity to look at the table and get a sense of things. The result of the one outstanding match (North Carolina at San Diego) probably wouldn’t change my assessment much, so I think it is fine to go ahead with it. Similar to last season, there appears to be about 4 teams at the top (I am a believer in San Diego) and the next group of teams competing for the remaining 4 playoff spots is comprised of eight teams. I didn’t think Racing would be in that group. I do now.

Racing has discovered its formula. It won’t always work, but I believe that it is good enough to beat any team outside of the top four (although on any given night, Racing is capable of that too) when Racing has their finishing boots on. Racing controlled large sections of the first half of the match and Angel City were second best pretty much throughout the rest of it, bar one dazzling display from Riley Tiernan. I am still a little concerned about the finishing (in the first half Racing were pretty poor in that department) and the discipline (more on that later) but it is hard to argue with the result.

Racing will have its ups and downs throughout the remainder of the season (like Omar says, “It’s all in the game,”) but they have shown me enough for me to believe that they have a real shot of making a run at the playoffs.

Post Match Moment of the Match

“That’s identity. That’s our team, and that’s Racing Louisville,” were the comments from Arin Wright after the match. Arin was really delighted to win after going down a player and almost seemed to say that she actually enjoyed the challenge that it presented. I think what she was getting at is that the team showed toughness and resolve. They have shown those things before, but to see them result in a road win was really good to see. The post-match press conference lasted to nearly 1 AM EDT because there was so much to talk about.

Bev (ever coy) mentioned the tactical switch to deploy Sonis on the right and Sears on the left to start the match but didn’t give anything way as to the reason for doing so. She hinted that she would do it again, if the situation warranted it (which was the reason for not going into the details). I did ask her if she considered taking off Fischer before the red card (Fischer frequently gets subbed off between the 55th and 65th minute (her red card here was in the 67th). She said that she doesn’t like to second guess herself (I agree with that philosophy), but that Fischer was likely going to be the first sub. Fischer (for once) was not on a yellow. Had she been, I think she gets pulled before the 65th minute. I think the lesson going forward is that you should pull her the second you get up two goals.

Were the Announcers Good?

Maura Sheridan and Jordan Angeli were the Ion crew. They were hit and miss.

Subsection: How was their “Louisville”?

Louisvillians are persnickety on the pronunciation of their beloved hometown. I will be monitoring the broadcaster’s commitment to getting it right.

Maura: “Lou-wuh-ville” was the most frequent choice with the odd French one slipping in. I expect better from the play-by-play lead.

Angeli: “Lou-uh-vul” for the most part, which is acceptable, I guess.

The crew had the chance to talk about eyeballs more than anybody needed to hear thanks to Courtney Petersen’s contact lens issues. Their analysis of the game play and tactics was good in my opinion. They drove me nuts on the infringements.

• They made way too big of a deal about a shoulder pull on Fischer in the box. They commented that it could have been a penalty (in what universe?) and that is put Fischer off (I highly doubt it).

• There was the ultra-moronic commentary on the potential handball by Jean (I am amazed by how many ex-players and current players don’t understand the rules or how the game is managed by the officials). On the replay you could clearly see that the ball hits Jean’s thigh first before hitting her hand. Officials almost never give this because it is almost never deliberate.

• They made a meal of Anderson’s shirt pull on Fischer. I hate when keepers are treated like the rules don’t apply to them, but in this case, it was a nothing shirt tug and official was correct to play on. It was moot due to the handball that followed, so it was rightly much ado about nothing.

This is the hardest part of the match to get right and announcers in this league in general need to be better. They also gave Angel City way too much credit in their analysis and seemed to expect and anticipate the equalizer. Call the match based on what is happening and not what you think might happen.

TV Kit Rating

Angel City’s kit was a holdover from last season. It stunk then and it stinks now. The pink numbers are its only redeeming feature.

3/10

“International” match to rewatch instead of any of this International Break nonsense

Europe has its utterly pointless Nations League during this international break. It serves no purpose other than offering some of Europe’s best players the opportunity to become injured. Literally nobody cares about this. Shame on UEFA.

Hooray for UEFA however for giving us this match:

Courtesy of Getty Images/Arsenal

This was a great match for a neutral (which I am definitely not) and a terrific showcase piece for the women’s game. Barcelona has been dominant, but it is good to see the dominant teams lose big finals from time to time. Arsenal’s win will always be a better story than Barcelona’s would have been. You could practically just pencil in Barcelona for a semifinal run every year for the foreseeable future.

When Arsenal won the Champion’s league in 2007, they did so in a two-legged tie that had a combined attendance of less than 10,000 fans. The two stadiums that the matches were played in could be politely described as quaint (but more accurately described as “dumps”. Arsenal still plays a (un)fair share of matches at Meadow Park in Borehamwood but is getting more and more at the Emirates). This match was played in a proper European venue in Lisbon where almost 40,000 fans watched the match (still a little disappointing considering that Arsenal regularly draws 50,000 to the Emirates). The crowd was slightly partisan to Barcelona, but the Gooners showed up well.

The match itself was a fine display of hard-nosed defending and creating just enough chances to snatch a victory. On paper Barcelona was the better team, but Arsenal was clearly better on the day as Barcelona rarely troubled Arsenal’s keeper. Quite a bit of that was down to Leah Williamson, who everyone in the world is happy for (I assume so at least unless you are a dirty, dirty Chelsea fan). Arsenal remains the only English side to win the UEFA Women’s Champions League, so in your face Todd Boehly, Emma Hayes, Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, and Sam Kerr.

Also, congratulations Emily Fox!

Courtesy of Getty Images/Arsenal

Watch the full replay here!

Series to Binge Instead of Watching Pointless International Friendlies

I hate international breaks because I don’t like international football or any flag-based competitions for that matter. You could spend your leisure time watching something much more entertaining.

I always struggle to properly describe Letterkenny because there isn’t really a similar show, at least in my experience. There are 12 seasons to watch, so this show can get you through this international break and potentially the NWSL summer break. For me, this is a show about the English language. It is a particular provincial version of the language, but the language is the star of the show, especially the colorful insults. Maybe a similar type of show would be Veep, which is also full of creative insults. However, there is tons more fighting and sunbathing in Letterkenny.

Lightning-in-a-Bottle-O-Meter

Whenever Racing wins a match, I will rate how much of it was down to catching lightning in a bottle versus Racing just doing the things they do well.

Racing did everything in is power to make this match harder to win than it needed to be. Once they went up by two goals, all that they needed to do was keep their heads and stay at full strength. They still saw it out and maybe there is value in winning in the manner they did. I am a huge fan of winning easily and boringly, but that just may not be in the cards for Racing. The press worked as intended, and the tactics played out well. Their finishing could have been better, so 3 goals was not a flattering scoreline at all. -1/5

The Kayla Fischer Honorary Yellow Red Card of the Match

The winner once again, is Kayla Fischer! For her win, she will likely receive the coveted “paid suspension” mentioned in so many police shows and movies. Enjoy your time off, Kayla!

She snatched the red card with surely just moments left in her evening. She cleverly picked up the card by doing the one thing you will always be caught doing, pulling hair! She even did it in the box to make sure there was extra scrutiny! Arin Wright wanted to win a tough match, so congratulations to Kayla for setting up the drama and making the end much more interesting.

“We’re addicted to friction too”

Enchanted/From Langley Park to Memphis/1988

Nothing ever seems to come easy for Racing. It is a long season, and certainly you are better off not making things harder on yourself than they need to be. Racing was clearly the superior team on the night and except for the goal from Tiernan, Angel City didn’t really seem to have any answers for playing through Racing. Louisville still hasn’t created much from open play with possession from a goal perspective, but they have started to create the situations that lead to goals. Racing’s penalty and set piece came from longer spells of possession. The counterattacking goal will always be an option with their press.

“Now we’re living”- The team was so full of energy and life in this match. I gave Kayla Fischer a hard time for the red card, but she was brilliant before that. If she can just learn to keep her head, she can become a special player for this team. The other goal scorers already are special for Racing and the team needs them to continue to be that way. Louisville will also need players like Jean (who I thought was just excellent) and Sonis (who worked extremely hard in defense) to continue to step up when called upon. I do believe that the players are starting to believe in themselves and each other in a way that translates on the pitch.

“It’s a disbelieving world”- These types of scrappy displays from Racing are likely to keep them under the national media’s radar and that is probably how they like it. Arin Wright talked about the pleasures of quieting a rowdy road crowd and Racing has been really good on the road this season. Racing has had more than its fair share of adversity this season, but the players and staff have done well at overcoming it, when they can get away from home.

At home is another story itself. Racing will have the chance to put on a better show at home in a couple of weeks, but will anyone be there to see it? Regardless of who/what is to blame for the lack of crowds at Lynn, it is starting to become a real problem. Racing doesn’t seem to be able to conjure up the same fire at home that they do on the road. It won’t matter the reason if the city still refuses to show up for this club. This team needs energy in the stadium, support or antipathy. The antipathy seems to be driving them on the road. They are often met with indifference at home. It’s fine if our enemies don’t believe in us, but it stings when our friends don’t.

Angel City 2 Racing 3 Player Ratings

Racing made it harder than they needed to (thanks Kayla…) but held on for all 3 points. This team's toughness serves it well on the road. Now they need to convert it to points at home.

Bloomer-6: Saw the Tiernan strike late and got a poor jump on it although I am not sure it mattered.

Petersen-8: Had a crucial late block in the box.

Jean-8: In my opinion, her best performance for Racing by far.

Wright-8: Her header was the key to the 2nd goal.

Milliet-7: Might have been slightly off the pace of Angel City's attackers a few times but made up for it in other areas.

Flint-8: Buried her penalty with cool efficiency.

O'Kane-6: Another solid effort from her.

DeMelo-8: Had a great finish to give Racing a two-goal lead.

Sonis-7: Worked her tail off to see out the victory.

Sears-8: Found the back of the net again on a rather simple header.

Fischer-9 (Pre-RC)/3 (For the RC): An absolute nuisance to Angel City all night and then absolutely lost her head. What was she doing?

Angel City RLFC -1

Photo by Elizabeth Shaw

Racing will try to recover from a disappointing loss at home against Seattle this Saturday on the road against Angel City. This matchup has been a fairly even one in its history (2W/2D/2L). This could be a matchup to get the press back on track. Angel City is not overly skilled as possessing the ball (49% over the season so far) but they aren’t a possession conceding team like the 4 teams at the bottom (Seattle/KC/Louisville/Chicago). At home I think the plan for Angel City will probably be to control the possession.

The only match when Racing had more possession than their opponents this season was the most recent one against Seattle in which they demonstrated virtually zero ability to construct a goal against a team determined to sit back and defend. I don’t get why virtually every team talks about playing to its strengths and never about attacking the weakness of their opponent. Maybe they don’t talk about but actually plan for it and maybe that is the point. Either way, Racing’s ability to win with Plan B has been virtually nonexistent in their history. Racing’s best recipe for winning a match at the moment appears to be scoring first (but not too early) or have some weird weather thing disrupt the action (Houston/Chicago). The Gotham win formula seems to me to be the way to go. The bad part about that is that you can’t expect Taylor Flint to score a worldie every time.

Angel City may be the definition of mid, so you always have a chance against them. They score enough but give up more. You do kind of know where the goals are going to come from (Tiernan/a Thompson) but that doesn’t make it easy to stop. I do fear that one of these days, teams are going to smarten up when they get a lead on Racing and basically dare them to score against an organized back line. I don’t think Angel City will necessarily play that way with a lead, so Racing will probably be in this match to the end unless they go down by multiple goals.

You cannot lose if you do not play

Courtesy of Connor Cunningham

Stolen The Wire Epigraph

“You cannot lose if you do not play.”

For those of you who haven’t seen The Wire, it is a documentary on the thriving blue collar working class at the Port of Baltimore.

Full transparency: I wasn’t there. The plan was to rewatch the match if Racing won, but that didn’t happen, so you're getting a half-assed effort today. The good news is that it comes at half price!

I did have one eye on the match, and as far as one eye and the stats tell me, I didn’t miss much. No team is obligated to play “football” in a soccer match. The Reign definitely didn’t seem interested in it. Their stat line was abysmal in just about every category bar the important one.

There were a couple of things that Seattle did well. They finished off their golden opportunity (xG=.688) and made Racing try to prove that they could score when the other team was determined not to play to Racing’s strengths. Seattle didn’t bother trying to break a press. They simply let Racing have the ball (in the parts of the match I saw). Racing could do nothing with the advantage that was ceded to them. Seattle simply was not afraid of Racing’s ability to construct a goal with loads of possession. Seattle was determined not to play football and therefore set themselves up not to lose. They won and should make no apologies.

This match gives me the perfect opportunity to bang on xG as an additive match statistic. Game theory/probability/mathematics will all tell you that seven .1 xG shots are equivalent to one .7 xG shot. Give me the one .7 xG shot every day and I will live with the consequences. The ball has no memory, and you are always better off creating fewer great chances vs. more poor chances in the long run and the short run. Your mileage may vary on that, and that’s enough on xG.

Post (and mid) Match Moment of the Match

I was going to listen to the post match interviews, but Bev saved me the trouble by starting off with “I think we deserved…”

CLICK. DONE. CLOSE THE VIDEO.

HIT IT SNOOP!

Thanks Snoop!

Seattle rightly does not care about your “deserve” and I don’t either.

You don’t get to ask the league for a replay on what you think you “deserved”. Take your medicine and do better next time.

TV Kit Rating

In my 2024 kit ratings I had this Seattle kit ranked third for the primary kits. At the time I said “Even though I prefer royal blue to navy, it works with the gold on this kit. It's simple without being boring.” Without the Black Future Co-op Fund branding however, I think it looked rather dull. The badge is still great though.

6/10

Show You Should've Watched If You Had Power After the Storms Last Night

Season 2 of Poker Face is out now! If you are unfamiliar, what’s the matter with you? (Or maybe you don’t have Peacock.) Get in on this show now! It’s light and breezy…with murders! Come on, you know you are into murders. Everyone is. This week’s episode was full of familiar faces and voices and alligators and meth. It’s like a tourism ad/cautionary tale for Florida! Who doesn’t either hate or love Florida, or kind of both at the same time?

Did the stadium have good food?

Beats me, but I would like to think Kaitlyn and Bekki from Butchertown Rundown enjoyed the club experience this week. Maybe they will mention it in the podcast.

What did have good food however is this place:

BEYOND THE SUN

It was a last-minute post-graduation lunch for my nephew, and they were able to accommodate 12 of us on short notice.

The cosmopolitan was served with a smoke bubble on top. Similar to this lavender one.

Too cool by half!

“Missed chances and the same regrets”

Bonny/Steve McQueen/1985

(“Bonny” may be one of my favorite songs. It will likely get multiple uses here.)

Twenty shots with one on target isn’t going to get it done. There is no excuse other than the execution must be better. Getting into good positions is half the battle. The problem is that is really is half the battle and you need to finish the other half. On the other side of the ball, Ellie Jean was beaten on the Dahlien goal and there will be no regrets for Seattle. In the second half of the match Seattle was laughably statistically poor and Racing gave them no reason to even attempt to play a football match. They opted for trench warfare and got away with it.

You have to make your good stretches of play pay off and Racing had been relatively good at that in the last 3 matches. Other and better teams will decide to play football against Racing, but Seattle has given them the blueprint if they get a lead. If Racing isn’t going to create better chances, they are going to have to make the volume pay off, but none of the 20 shots from Racing today looked particularly dangerous in its execution. The ball may have gotten to a dangerous spot, but Racing was toothless on the next touch.

RLFC v Seattle -1

Photo by Elizabeth Shaw

It may be wet (again) and/or delayed (again) but Racing is scheduled to play at 7:30 PM tomorrow at Lynn. The team hasn't had many “clean” matches this season in that there have been weather events that have significantly impacted 3 of the matches so far. However, you play the ball as it lies as they say so Racing will once again be prepared for whatever Mother Nature throws at them.

Racing also announced that Caitlyn Milby has had the interim tag removed from her title as Racing General Manager. Caitlyn has worked her way up inside the organization and talked about having a good rapport with the players and the staff. I like that she is close to the city (as a former U of L player/manager) and I think her player mentality will surely help her in her role. Her immediate concerns will be the summer transfer window, but she also mentioned that she might not wait until then to address the need at keeper.

On the pitch, Seattle poses a unique challenge. Although I didn’t watch it, I heard that their most recent match against Houston was a stinker. Just like my posts on this blog, they can’t all be winners. The Reign has scored only 7 times in 8 matches (not great) but has only conceded 7 times (actually, pretty great). Their goals have come from different goal scorers which means a) that they are semi-dangerous all over the pitch and b) not particularly dangerous in any one spot. Racing poses a different problem in that you know where to expect the goals, but an odd scorer (like Flint) might sneak up on you.

With the anticipated rain and the anticipated Reign, this match will likely be one in which Racing will have to grind out a result, maybe off of an error created by the press. This was how the 2023 vintage of Racing advanced to the Challenge Cup Final. That final had all of the Racing hallmarks (rain, a weather delay, travel issues and crushing disappointment). I will take 2 out of those 4 if it means a win.

If I hear music, I'm gonna dance

Photo by Elizabeth Shaw

Link to Elizabeth’s gallery of the match

5-9-25 Racing v Gotham — Fleur-de-lis FC

Stolen The Wire Epigraph

“If I hear music, I’m gonna dance.”

I am never going to read too much into a three to five match string of results, but I also don’t want to read too little into it. Racing outplayed Gotham on the night. That is a statement that I don’t think many people would disagree with. Gotham has had some good performances this season but, on this night, they were definitely more Bateman than Batman.

A Lavelle-less Gotham (which all of her club teams should know that they have to plan for) looked toothless for large portions of the match and you have to say Racing was the reason.

Racing did an excellent job of making sure that the early press rattled Gotham enough to put them off of their game. I was most impressed by the commitment by the Racing players to the coordinated press. It didn’t yield a goal (which I don’t necessarily think was the point anyway) but it did delay Gotham’s ability to find any sort of rhythm until about midway into the first half.

The league table is too jumbled up at the moment for any team to be considered a clear favorite to win the league. In fact, we are probably a couple of matches away from it even reflecting a true reality for this season. However, Racing’s reality for the moment is that they are in this thing (the playoff race). Based on last night, if they hear music, they’re gonna dance.

Post Match Moment of the Match

Everyone in the Racing-sphere was exciting. All of the post-match interviews were full of energy, but the best moment came from Jordyn Bloomer in the club.

I love the way she switches from “Party Jordyn” to “Role-model Jordyn” when she sees the kids.

A close second was Sonis and Fischer throwing cold water or Gatorade (on not the warmest of nights) on Taylor Flint during her post-match interview on Amazon Prime. The Gatorade bucket was unavailable.

And a good time was had by all!

Lightning-in-a-Bottle-O-Meter

Whenever Racing wins a match, I will rate how much of it was down to catching lightning in a bottle versus Racing just doing the things they do well.

Racing won the battle of styles, which is something they have done in the last three matches. I really did expect Gotham to do better especially after they seemed to weather the first 15 minutes. However, Racing had no problem defending Gotham when Gotham had long spells of possession. There wasn’t anything tremendously flukey about this win. The only lightning-ish thing was Flint’s thunderous strike. Even though I believe Gotham is a better team than Houston (on the night Gotham was pretty poor), this felt like fewer things significantly aided Racing other than their preparedness and effort. 1.5/5

It's not easy being green, so let's just be lavender

Ding-dong, the kit is dead! Which old kit? The wicked kit!

Hooray! Racing stopped wearing the green kit at home! Let’s retire this thing until forced to wear it. Some kits are just cursed (not really, but let’s pretend). You definitely shouldn’t switch kits for no reason during a streak. Racing’s next opponent has an actual witch on their badge (work with me here). That rain witch will definitely curse Racing if she sees a color that reminds her of the wicked witch. NO MORE GREEN! NO MORE GREEN!

Instant “Un”alysis

I really don’t mind when the crowd gets on the refs, but can we stop it with the over belligerent yelling at assistant referees on offside calls? Boo if you like but keep it quick and don’t try to start a conversation with the assistant referee. If there is one thing that assistant officials are good at (there actually might be just one thing) it is getting offside decisions a) correct and b) flagged at the appropriate time.

I will once again repeat this PSA:

Please do not yell at the officials when you are wrong. It cheapens when I yell at the officials, and I only yell when I am right.

Heel of the match

Jae Howell was slightly fortunate not to get sent off in this match. She teetered in “orange-plus” territory for much of the second half. Her 7th minute yellow meant that she would need to be careful, but she sure wasn’t. She even had a few fouls after it appeared that the center referee gave her the final, final warning. Jae’s been gone long enough now to be a full-on villain.

Ella Stevens was a close second. If I had been the assistant referee and she said the things to me that she said to him, she would have seen yellow and received a stern talking to. Screw it, this whole club, their fans and the media that cover them are all heels! Go back to…

All kidding aside…maybe don’t fly back through Newark.

Did the stadium have good food?

I was pleasantly surprised by the vegan pepperoni pizza in the premium club. We had an extra person in our loge box with us on the night which meant that a) I stood for most of the match (an experience I didn’t hate) and b) Elizabeth gave her club pass away. She had a corndog instead, which she actually prefers (I think). I have had the stadium corndog. It is good with mustard and the cheese cup. I also got Ehler’s for a few of us. It’s hard to mess up ice cream, so that was a win too. The Chicken Boscaiola in the club was good as well.

The Kayla Fischer Honorary Yellow Card of the Match

Yes! Fischer again! However, she managed to go nine more minutes than Jaelyn Howell before picking up her yellow card. Let’s not be too harsh on her because I thought her card was harsh in and of itself. I was likely an accumulation card (I know, in the16th minute?) but to be fair, she had been fouling quite a lot in the press. It is probably no coincidence that Racing’s press was less effective after this card.

“Playing for blood as grandmasters should”

Cue Fanfare/Swoon/1984

There aren’t too many songs about chess, but “Cue Fanfare” is one of them.

Bev won the chess match on the night and frankly I was a little disappointed in Juan Carlos Amorós. He did appear to hold his players in the locker room a little longer at halftime, but that didn’t seem to help Gotham much. After the match Amorós talked about the need for Gotham to be better in front of goal, but that wasn’t their problem. The problem was that he let his team get suckered into a defensive-oriented, ragged match when that isn’t their forte. For once the opposing coach played right into Bev’s hands AND the players made it work for her.

“In shock they stare and cue fanfare”- For me this was an unexpected result. I am not so shocked that Racing was able to pull off a win against Gotham, but I was surprised at how easy it seemed. I don’t mean easy in a low effort kind of way, but more in the “free from worries or problems” way. Racing never looked overly concerned or bothered by anything that Gotham threw at them. If this team can win this way more often, then I may have completely misjudged them.

It was great to see how everyone celebrated this win. There were toasts and smiles and fireworks and maybe best of all, the feeling of (credit to Tom Benson) “that was fun, let’s do it again!” I teased Jenna Tonelli via Bluesky about her pre-match assessment of Racing as “struggling”. That might have been painfully accurate after the San Diego match, but that assessment is miles off base now. Maybe teams will continue to underestimate Racing and be as shocked as Gotham was.

“The sweetest moment comes at last.”- To finally win at home in front of your fans for the first time this season had to feel great for the players. The sweetest moment for Flint was the payoff of her near miss in the opening home match. After this match the media were stepping all over themselves to ask about her post-match quote from the North Carolina match where she said, “I would have retired if I made that.” Thank goodness there was no retirement talk after this match because Racing’s consistently best player had her best ever match for Racing. As I said in my player ratings, that is no small feat.

The rest of Racing’s squad played well last night too. There wasn't a bad performance in the bunch. I am starting to wonder a bit what Kanu and Pikkujämsä have to do to get some real minutes. I think we all would like to see a Sears/Kanu/Fischer front line at some point in a match, but honestly that is now probably only going to come in a match where Racing trails. Pikkujämsä seems tailor made to see out a 1-0 win, but O'Kane's performance kept her firmly on the bench. These are good problems to have.

They'll be no talk from me about “turning a corner” yet, but you have to start somewhere, and Racing is on a nice mini-run. It is critical that you pick up points while you are playing well, because there will naturally be patches where you don't. In the past Racing made a habit of getting draws from well-played matches. If they can keep the 3 points coming, they could find themselves in excellent shape come the July break.

Racing 1 Gotham 0 Player Ratings

Photo by Elizabeth Shaw

Gotham had no answers for Racing and now Racing has some real momentum. The crowd was good and I especially enjoyed the center referee blowing the final whistle on Gotham's nonsense.

Bloomer-7: Excellent again but Gotham didn't trouble her much to be fair.

Petersen-7: Another solid effort from her.

Jean-7: Really solid in the last few matches.

Wright-8: Great effort from the captain

Milliet-7: Really good as per usual.

Flint-9: Her best effort in a Racing kit and THAT is saying something.

O'Kane-8: Really impressive. May have won the job.

DeMelo-8: Ran out of gas a bit in the first half, but found her second wind and helped see out the win.

Sonis-7: Would like to see her be a little more confident in attack

Sears-7: Had some decent runs but couldn't find her finishing touch.

Fischer-7: Her pressing rattled Gotham early.

RLFC V Gotham -1

Photo by Elizabeth Shaw

Racing will look to build on the momentum from a 4-point road trip at home against (Strictly New Jersey) Gotham on Friday. The big talk around Racing this week has been rightfully focused on Jordyn Bloomer.

Bloomer is a great interview. I found myself coming up with more things to ask her as the media spoke with her on Wednesday. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties only about 2 minutes of it got recorded on Racing’s media site. One of the things she talked about was the closeness of the goalkeeping unit.

Let's get into that unit. Lund is going to be out for the foreseeable future (players can return from the Season Ending Injury list in the same season, so the “SEI list” isn't really an accurate description) so this leaves only Anderson and Bloomer on the roster and in Louisville at the moment. White is due to return in June. The good thing about Bloomer is that people suspected that she would be ready if Lund ever went down injured. Now that it has happened, we don't have any such confidence in the rest of the unit (you might, but it wouldn't be based on much).

Now the situation is that we have a starter between the posts that absolutely has to stay healthy. What is the major drawback to Bloomer (in my opinion)? She doesn't have a great track record of being available for selection for extended periods of time. You might not think that is a fair assessment, so let me present my evidence. Since she has joined the club in 2022 she has been unavailable for sqaud selection for multiple matches in every season, including a couple of extended absences. She is going to be keeper #1 for a while, as long as she can stay fit. If she can't, Racing would have to go with an almost complete unknown.

That is more than I ever wanted to talk about goalkeeping so let's move on. Other than the absolute ball-hoggers of San Diego, Gotham have the most possession oriented style in the league. This will be a great test for Racing’s press. However, if it doesn't work, expect LONG sections of the match with Racing defending in Gotham’s attacking half. Last season's first-half display in Lynn by Gotham was a thing of beauty if you are a fan of controlled possession football. If they do that to Racing again, it could be worse than the 0-2 defeat that Racing endured last year. Flint had a “great” statistical effort in that match and it didn't mean squat. I imagine that she will be given the chance to pad the stat sheet again with interceptions, duels won and recoveries, but what Racing needs from her in this match is to swing possession, not just interrupt attacks. I will keep a close eye on her performance.

We fight on that lie

Courtesy NWSL LLC

Stolen The Wire Epigraph

“We fight on that lie.”

For those of you who haven’t seen The Wire, it is an animated series featuring Bunny Colvin and his misadventures in Hamsterdam.

There is no denying that Racing as a team is playing better. I think most of this is down to the individual efforts from the key players. I still don't think the way that Racing won in Houston is the way forward, but it doesn't matter what I think.

The match in Houston was chaotic for several reasons, but one of those reasons is that Racing wanted to play that way. At times their press looked relentless and almost unbreakable. I always say that I want Racing to be a nightmare to play against and at times in Houston, they were. It was an excellent performance.

It was also greatly assisted by some things that are not going to happen very often. Racing will very rarely get a 30—minute break to watch film and right the ship in the middle of a match like they did on Friday (more on this later). Houston doesn’t consistently get very big crowds, but last night’s match was like playing a closed-door scrimmage to some degree. Jane Campbell, to me at least, had a very off night.

However, there are 4 self-deceptions that Racing should be telling themselves.

• We’ve turned a corner and can dictate matches with our press

• There is no drop off between Lund and Bloomer

• We can sustain a press for long periods of time against possession-oriented teams

• We finally have round pegs in round holes

I don’t think any of those things are 100% true, but some are closer to being there than others. None of that matters if Racing truly decides to fight on those lies.

Post (and mid) Match Moment of the Match

After the match, Bev talked about what the team did on its summer vacation (or weather delay if you like). Bev said that she and the staff used one of the weather delays to watch game film of previous Houston matches to adjust to what Houston had shown them. I am positive that they do this in their preparations too, but it makes a difference when you can do it either after you have seen a team in warm-ups or on the pitch. Coaches evolve as much as, or maybe even more than players. I believe in sticking with Bev for the long haul for reasons that I have mentioned before, but it is nice to see that some of the things she is preaching appear to be taking hold, at least in this match.

I got the information above by asking Bev if they played Uno again like in the last weather delay. It was very late in the day (early in the morning) so who knows why that question solicited that answer.

Were the Announcers Good?

Matt Pedersen and McCall Zerboni were the NWSL+ crew. They aren’t the league’s a-team but both had their moments.

Subsection: How was their “Louisville”?

Louisvillians are persnickety on the pronunciation of their beloved hometown. I will be monitoring the broadcaster’s commitment to getting it right.

Matt: Solid two, maybe two and a half syllable pronunciation. Don’t ask me for a definitive explanation of what a half syllable is but think about if the word “orange” is one syllable or two and you’ll get the idea.

McCall: “Allons enfants de la Patrie!” French, French, French. Lou-wee-ville.

I like when ex-players call matches in the leagues they played in, for the most part. McCall obviously doesn’t have a ton of experience yet, but other than a few malapropisms, she was good. I think she definitely has room to grow, and I hope that she keeps getting opportunities. She and Matt were a tad low energy, but the circumstances could have dictated that, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt. I did chuckle to myself when McCall said, “turn on the heat” (to describe bringing up the intensity) in the most soothing way possible. I thought Matt was insightful too. My personal preference is to err on the side of undersell vs. oversell on a neutral broadcast, so in general I liked this team.

TV Kit Rating

Houston donned the 2024 version of their orange kit. Back in 2024 when I reviewed it for the first time I said, “the pattern seems pointless.” I stand by that, but their identity is orange, and they wore orange at home, so that is a bonus point. (I really shouldn’t be giving out a bonus point for wearing a recognizable club color at home, but that is the state of things evidently.)

6/10

Show You Should've Watched During the Weather Delay

I am probably later than most on this one, but this “thriller” was a recent watch for Elizabeth and me. The Google “In a nutshell” description is “Confused, Unflinching and Confident”. I am not sure how that is supposed to be helpful. Anyway it's good and still too new for me to give too much away in terms of plot. If you don’t like the first episode it only costs you an hour. Maybe save it for Racing’s next weather delay because a black cloud seems to follow this team around, so there will surely be another one.

Excellent Show You Can't Watch During a Weather Delay

It isn't entirely true that you can’t watch the excellent Friday Night Dinner. It is available on a couple of Amazon Prime's Freevee channels, but you never know when and just like a broadcast channel in the last millennium, you are stuck with the episode currently airing when you stumble across it. I tuned into the Christmas Special during the second weather delay.

It's criminal that this show is, and pretty much always has been, unavailable in its entirety on a major streaming platform in America. I seem to recall that the first 4 seasons were available somewhere for awhile, but the best place to stream it used to be the Roku Channel. It left there over a year ago and now only plays live on Freevee.

Prime tried to make an American version, and stop me if you've heard this one before…it was terrible. I managed about 10 minutes before abandoning it. Wikipedia gets it somewhat right on the premise: “Friday Night Dinner depicts Shabbat dinner in the middle-class secular Jewish Goodman family.” It is so much more than that. I find it laugh out loud funny on repeat viewings. If it is ever easy to stream at some point in the future, I will be sure to point it out.

Lightning-in-a-Bottle-O-Meter

Whenever Racing wins a match, I will rate how much of it was down to catching lightning in a bottle versus Racing just doing the things they do well.

This ends up being a little “on the nose” in this instance, but the actually lightning (at least the second round of it) ended up contributing greatly to the circumstances that caused the win. Who knows what the outcome would have been without the second weather delay, but I don’t think you can argue that the chance to rest for 30 minutes gave Racing the opportunity to come out and press hard directly after the restart. This pressing lifted Racing’s energy which in turn lifted the effort and Racing evened things on a fantastic Fischer strike. The covid-era feel of the match due to the weather likely helped things too. Campbell seemed off her game and there is no way she should have been that far off of her line for the first goal. Racing played well, but had several things go their way. 3.5/5

“I’m driving on a straight road. It never alters”

“Faron Young”/Steve McQueen/1985

For better or for worse, Racing is sticking with the plan. That doesn’t mean that adjustments aren’t being made, but the roadmap remains the same. This team will live and die by its press and energy. I think that plan will eventually prove to be folly, but it is a plan, and everyone seems bought in for the moment. The true tests are coming up as Louisville has mostly faced teams in the bottom half of the league. Five out of the next six matches are against teams that will end this weekend in the top half of the table. It’s one thing to win against Houston and Chicago and quite another endeavor to do so against the upcoming foes. However, 7 points on the road is nothing to scoff at. If they could just figure out a way to get some points at home (AHEM! Ditch the green kits. AHEM! AHEM!) they could be in for a chance at the playoffs.

“Every other sentiment an antique”

Bev is making tough choices in her lineups now. Sonis played her way back in after Weber really didn’t do anything to play herself out. Part of me wonders why Elli Pikkujämsä and Uche Kanu haven’t seem more minutes, but that might just be the fan sentiment in me. The truth is that based on recent but still very limited evidence, the players getting the minutes are the ones who are producing results.

I thought Jordyn Bloomer was fantastic last night. The saves were great, but let’s also not forget that her long ball started the move for the first goal. The stars aligned for her to some degree, but she took her chance. When Katie becomes available, Bev might have a tough decision, but I think she will ignore some of the fan sentiment and go back with Katie. There may be some lingering fan sentiment for Ary Borges too, but I thought that the team looked better without her on the pitch last night. DiGrande’s game is smooth and unassuming but in a very positive way. She doesn’t make the mistakes that seem to be plaguing Borges at the moment. There is a competent team in this mix of players, and maybe Bev has started to unlock that mix regardless of if the changes and adjustments were enforced or not.

“Late Sky”

Sav DeMelo has always been this good at her core. If she can keep her performances in the range of her outing from last night, she can truly be the x-factor that this team needs. Her pass to Sears to set up the second goal was the type of pass that all players dream of. Elsewhere on the pitch she caused absolute problems for Houston. She is late in recovering her pre-World Cup form, but it looks like it may have returned.

Kayla Fischer has now started to score from the striker position. This is also a late-developing evolution, but it has come in the nick of time. If she can keep it up, Racing now has threats in enough positions to cause team’s problems. I also though Sonis had a good game. She did have an option to go for goal early in the match, but I think she yielded because she would have had to go with her weaker foot. Besides that, she was decisive and dangerous.

I am not changing my outlook on this team in any way. I stick by my original assessments. However, I have no capital invested in “being right”. I would much rather see this team go far and prove me wrong.

Dash 1 Racing 2 Player Ratings

Racing use their first 2nd-half goal of the season to secure 3 points on the road. It was also Racing’s first come from behind victory since the 2022 season.

Bloomer-8: Just excellent. The double stop was fantastic and the late save was good as well.

Petersen-6: Gave Patterson too much space on her goal, but was good after that.

Wright-7: Made some great recoveries to stop Dash attacks.

Jean-6: Undersold Bloomer on a pass to put her in a bad spot, but Jordyn recovered.

Milliet-7: Made a great block in the box late in the match to stop a dangerous attack.

Flint-7: Solid defending performance in front of the back 4.

DiGrande-7: Had a couple of pops at goal to keep the Dash on their toes.

DeMelo-9: That was the best performance by a player in a Racing kit in recent memory. Excellent all over the place.

Sonis-7: Seems reenergized since returning to a starting role.

Sears-8: After a slow start was a menace.

Fischer-8: Her energy after the restart changed the match.

Dash v RLFC -1

Photo by Elizabeth Shaw

Link to Elizabeth’s photos from practice

---

Racing gets another opportunity to get some much needed road points on Friday in Houston. Every time Racing plays Houston, the match seems imminent winnable, but Racing has only won 3 out of the previous 13 matches. You would have to assume that Dash fans, if any actually exist, feel that every match against Louisville is a chance for 3 points as well. The game time temperature in Houston is expected to be around 80, or “chilly” as they refer to it in the Lone Star State.

This match is completely capable of giving us a no-score draw, having done so 3 times in the past. Hooray! Neither team is super prolific in front of goal although Racing has shown some goal-scoring ability recently. Then there is Jane Campbell. Just being Jane Campbell is good enough but sometimes she turns into Super Jane Campbell when she faces Louisville. She has stopped several shots against Racing that no other keeper has any business stopping.

To steal and mangle a line from The Smiths’ “The Queen is Dead”, if you say, “I know you and you cannot write”, I say, “That’s nothing, you should hear me on a podcast!” I recorded an episode of the Vamos Morados podcast with Zach Allen-Kelly and Chris “Road Dog” Lemmel last evening and it is out today. They like to talk about soccer, and I like to go off topic and talk nonsense, so it was a fun time.

A Little Slow, a Little Late

Courtesy NWSL

Stolen The Wire Epigraph

“…a little slow, a little late.”

For those of you who haven’t seen The Wire, it is about a dollhouse furniture hobbyist’s dark journey into spying on illicit phone conversations between young men.

This is how underperforming teams turn wins into draws and draws into losses. Both sides ended up unhappy with the officials. I don’t think the officials made any egregious errors, but in a game that set the NWSL record for fouls, you could definitely argue that the management of the game could have gone better from an officiating perspective.

The performance by Racing was better but in the times that ultimately mattered they ended up being a little slow and a little late. Both penalties might have been on the soft side, but by the letter of the law, the officials were fully within their rights to call them. Personally, I think they got them both right. They also got the call right on the build-up to the Sears goal by letting the contact by Fischer go. Some might see the contract made by Fischer and the contact made by Sears as an apples-to-apples comparison, but I don’t. Fischer’s contact was more natural and a coming together of feet. Sears was more direct and making no attempt on the ball. In short, Fischer’s contract was natural in the flow of play and Sears was deemed to be unnatural enough as to impede her opponent. Both penalties demonstrate the fine margins between winning and losing in this league. Even on Turner’s goal you could argue that Wright and Petersen were a little slow and late in closing her down.

When the margin of error is so thin you just cannot afford to be slow or late. If you are, it ends up costing you dearly.

Post Match Moment of the Match

Both teams (and specifically coaches) lost their composure as the match neared its end. Sergio Gonzalez actually got sent off when the match was still in progress, but Ary Borges was so upset that she got a post-match red card for getting in the official’s face. Stoppage time did seem to drag on, but it is hard to know exactly when the official is going to decide that the match is over, especially when there are multiple stoppages in stoppage time. Borges now finds herself suspended for the next match and really can have no complaints about it. Multiple players complained on various platforms after the match. I am sure fans did the same. In a month or so, I am sure everyone will be completely over it.

Were the Announcers Good?

JP Dellacamera and Jill Loyden were on the call. I thought Jill was good. JP Dellacamera was disappointing.

Subsection: How was their “Louisville”?

Louisvillians are persnickety on the pronunciation of their beloved hometown. I will be monitoring the broadcaster’s commitment to getting it right.

Jill: Solid. Two syllables. Sounded like a native.

JP: Alway three syllables but sometimes French and sometimes not. JP struggled with player names too. I don’t think he did his homework.

JP put in one of the laziest play-by-play efforts I have heard in some time. He struggled to say “Milliet” smoothly a few times and completely butchered Sonis pronouncing it “So-niece”. The club makes it easy to get pronunciations right because they put out a guide. He seemed bizarrely fascinated by the amount of stoppage time in the first half. He also seemed to disagree with the decision to let Sears’ goal stand (Jill did too) but I thought the official got that one right. He did do a good job at pointing out the number of fouls but did get a little fixated on it to the point of distraction. To me, he seems like a guy who has lost his fastball and maybe it's time to step aside.

TV Kit Rating

The fine details on the kit don't read in the wide shots on broadcasts. Here is an explanation of the kit from their team shop:

“Our new kit is a celebration of the heart and soul of Portland—the community that drives the Thorns. The dark shades of black symbolize the strength and unity within our city, while the glowing reds represent the embers burning at the heart of our team and supporters. Just like a small spark can grow into an unstoppable fire, the Thorns are powered by the passion of our players and fans alike.”

Puke! What a bunch of group think nonsense.

On the positive side it does look like a Portland Thorns kit and isn't confusingly green for no reason. 6/10

Making Your Youth Soccer Coach Weep

Mallie McKenzie had a foul throw in the 2nd minute. In the olden days this would result in a payment into the fine jar and endless ridicule from teammates. Today, that is probably seen a barbaric and “bullying”. Therefore, it is up to me to shame players when they can't do things that a 5-year-old gets right. Do better! (Also 5-year-olds don't get post-match red cards for dissent). By the way one of my friend's 5-year-old daughter scored 18 goals in a match this weekend, so there's that. What a ballhog!

…out of Nowhere

In honor of Kayla Fischer’s goal out of nowhere (really a bone-headed mistake by Portland) here are a bunch of RKOs out of nowhere.

“‘Please be careful’ is never careful ‘til it hears the gun”

“Appetite”/Steve McQueen/1985

For all of Racing’s faults so far this season, they usually have kept their composure pretty well. They might have been a little too measured and composed in the second half against San Diego, but the wheels came off of the composure bus late in the second half in Portland. It takes a good deal of composure to see out a match, especially when you don’t do it often enough to make it habit forming. For all of her good traits, Emma Sears didn't help Racing out much in the final minutes. She attempted to take the ball to the corner late in the match and then immediately kicked it over the line to concede a goal kick, essentially nullifying the whole point of taking a ball to the corner. The penalty she conceded was the result of an unnecessary stamp on the foot. I struggle with Borges’ performances sometimes. She is definitely “Brazilian” in her theatrics, of which I am not a fan. Her rolling around on the floor on very light contact resulted in a pretty big chunk of the stoppage time allotment at the end of the match. One might say that is was poetic justice that she received a red card because I personally thought her theatrics both in and after the match were borderline shameful.

Conceding multiple penalties seems like something that should be avoidable, if you are locked in and focused. The penalty that Flint conceded, while soft, was completely unnecessary as Moultrie was going nowhere with the ball in that spot.

I don't know what Sergio Gonzalez said to get a red card, but I bet you that it wasn't thoughtful and measured.

Racing is not ever in a position to lose its collective head, but this one especially hurts because it feels like they threw away 2 points. That is something they simply cannot do.

Elizabeth’s Thoughts

“Why couldn’t the match have ended at halftime? Racing sort of acted like it did.”

Thorns 3 Racing 3 Player Ratings

Racing almost escaped Portland with all three points, but things like this just seem to happen to Racing. A point in Portland isn’t bad. More concerning is the lack of composure by everyone at the end.

Lund-6: Got close to neither penalty and was a little nervy at times but put in a decent 90.

Petersen-6: Needed to help Wright out more on the Turner goal but was good otherwise.

Jean-6: Lund and Jean traded putting each other in rough spots, but none ultimately cost Racing.

Wright-6: Didn’t win many headers but won an important one near the end.

Milliet-7: Good in attack in the first, but was relegated to defending more in the second.

Flint-6: I thought the penalty call on her was soft, but when you make leg on leg contact in the box, you always run the risk.

Borges-6: Sometimes I struggle to see what she does well, but she helped defend late in the second half. I think she may have picked up a post-match red card, so I guess we will see how much she is actually missed in the next match.

DeMelo-8: Excellent, Excellent, Excellent. Racing needs more matches like this from her.

Sonis-8: Won her starting spot back and proved that she earned with a fine performance.

Sears-7: Good: excellent goal: Bad; Not wasting enough time in the corner and conceding the penalty.

Fischer-8: Glad to see her finally get her goal. She was good all over the pitch before she came off for Weber.

RLFC v Thorns -1

Photo by Elizabeth Shaw

Racing hit the road to face the Thorns on Sunday. Portland is always a tough place to play (unless it isn't, plenty of teams win there including Utah last season). Portland are mid table. That seems about right, especially without Sophia (Smith) Wilson.

It may be a bit of trolling on my part to feature a picture of Bloomer. I don't think there is anyway she replaces Lund. Keepers are a bit like quarterbacks in football. You can’t really be doing a whole lot of rotation there and expect good things to happen. If Lund is replaced for a league match in which she is available (fat chance in my opinion and she doesn't need to be) it would have to be permanent. Let’s close the book on any goalkeeper rotation ideas for now.

Racing do need to pick themselves out of this funk that they find themselves in. In my opinion, the best way to do so is with a clean sheet. I know that Racing is having trouble scoring, but if you can’t manufacture a goal, maybe the next best thing is to manufacture a clean sheet. Frustrating an opponent and keeping them from scoring might be the best way to find something on the counter. Racing might not be in an actual relegation battle, although maybe one day they will be, but they will be in a philosophical one if they don't put on a performance soon because they will be relegated from relevance (you could make an argument that they already are). For a team at the bottom of the table a relegation mentality isn’t always a bad thing. It makes you see every point as valuable but also recognizes the uphill battle in front of you. Racing needs to stop pretending that they are on equal footing with the league’s best or even the league's pretty good. I have always thought the way forward for Racing is this: be miserable to play against. That attitude shift can start in Portland by frustrating the Thorns on Sunday. I think any style or formation can be adapted into a frustrating one for you opponent if you are appropriately committed to it. Racing needs Milliet-like and Fischer-like efforts from everyone. I also think they need to pick up some yellow cards for physicality too. This isn't a non-contact sport. If they play like they did against San Diego when they face Portland, they will get thumped and will have fully earned it.

Elizabeth’s photo gallery from practice.

Milliet to make 100th League Appearance for Racing

Racing will play it’s 100th NWSL match on Sunday in Portland. Lauren Milliet has been on the pitch for every single one of them. In fact, she has played 92% of the available minutes in her Racing career. If you exclude the first season, she has played at least 98% of the available minutes in the last four seasons. If availability is the best ability, it is followed in close second by durability.

Everybody loves Lo. I think the easiest way to get on the bad side of any Racing fan may be to say a bad word about her. She has won Racing's Impact Player of the Year award at every LouCity & Racing Foundation Soccer Ball (2022, 2023 & 2024), an award is voted on by her teammates. When I talk to people, she is almost always at the top or near the top of their list of favorite players.

She also does more than her fair share of publicity and media responsibilities as well. When Racing is involved in the community, she almost always seems to be there. Lo genuinely seems to love this community and said on Friday that she is proud to represent the city and considers it her “home away from home”.

When asked about her commitment to the team, Coach Bev said, “She means a lot.” Bev added that Lo is always genuine and authentic, which is something that shines through easily when you spend any time with her.

Lo will be Racing’s first “centurion” which will cement her place in team and league history. The club stated that “she’ll be the first player in NWSL history to play in 100 consecutive regular season matches for the same club.” That also means that she is the first player in NWSL history to appear in all of a club’s first 100 league matches. That is remarkable.

Congratulations and here's to 100 more!

"The world is a smaller place now."

Photo by Elizabeth Shaw

Link to Elizabeth’s gallery of the match

Racing v. Wave 4-19-25 — Fleur-de-lis FC

Stolen The Wire Epigraph

“The world is a smaller place now.”

For those of you who haven’t seen The Wire, it is basically just a 60-hour commercial for Mint Mobile.

You can think about the reference above in multiple and maybe opposite ways. Here is how I am thinking about it. When Racing joined the league in 2021 the league was in a much more insular, and as it turned out, really bad place. The pool of coaches and available replacement coaches wasn't great. The roster rules frankly limited teams (although based on who some of the coaches were that was actually a good thing).

Now the world is smaller. You can get better and more proven coaches to relocate to America and coach teams. You hopefully don’t have to hire as many dirtbags (although you never know). You also don't have such draconian and antiquated roster limitations. You can call this the world being smaller or the world being bigger, based on your perception. You can’t deny that the NWSL world is different. In this world Louisville is a dinosaur. We all know what happen to them.

Losses like this tend to bring out the blame game. THAT game is rigged (also a The Wire reference from Season 1). I think plenty of people have seen The Wire and moved on with their life with their perception unchanged. (I really enjoy writing my “The Wire is” bits. Obviously, it isn't really a Mint Mobile commercial although there is some truth in that one.) The Wire didn't change my perception completely, but it did alter it and make me think of problems and issues as more nuanced things. The blame game treats problems as binary things. They aren't. Problems are often difficult, amorphous, unframed, complex and rapidly evolving. Racing has a problem being meaningfully competitive at this point. It is the fault of no single person, group of people, collection of groups of people, or single factor (environmental or self-inflicted). Solutions are the way forward, not blame.

If you follow this space, you surely know that my (not quite, actually) favorite quote from The Wire is “deserve got nothing to do with it.” That quote originally came from the Clint Eastwood movie Unforgiven. I think about that quote all of the time. To me it is a reminder that the things that happen to us are sometimes (mostly?) not based on our value as a person.

On The Wire Michael Lee questions Snoop about what Junebug and his family did to “deserve” what happened to them. Snoop’s response was the quote above. Michael Lee was about to meet the same end. He didn’t “deserve” what Snoop was planning to do to him. However, Michael Lee was smart, prepared and committed to do what he had to do to avoid getting something he didn’t “deserve” and turned the tables on Snoop.

Essentially for me it means this: You can’t operate based on what you think the world owes you, because there are too many factors beyond your control that contribute to your circumstances. For example, if you feel like you “deserve” to follow a winning or even halfway decent team, just because…that’s not the way any of this works. The world hasn't nor will it ever be “fair”. Sometimes you just end up on wrong side supporting the wrong team.

When we ask, “what have I/we/all of us done to deserve this?” The answer is this: something, nothing, or loads of stuff. I don’t think there is much comfort in that, and I am not sure any of us gain insight. It is a loaded question and the wrong one to ask. Instead, a better question is, “how do we move forward?”

…

To paraphrase one of my favorite dead comedians Bill Hicks…jokes are on the way, please relax.

Post Match Moment of the Match

Bev came to the post match press conference and took her lumps. She was franker and more honest than usual, but you would have to be, wouldn't you? The players we interviewed were Pikkujämsä and DeMelo. I can’t decide if this was a cowardly or smart decision, but all I can tell you is that I didn't want to ask anything to the players who started the match. Let's go with this: It was a kindness to those players from Bev or the communications staff who made the call. Anyway, because I can't seem to help myself, I once again asked a player to basically advocate for more minutes. I think both Sav and Elli said that they would like to extend their minutes to the point of their individual restrictions. I get the sense that Elli’s restrictions are tighter that Sav’s but can’t really give you a quote to back that up.

There wasn't much humor in this section either I guess. In honor of Elli…Why do Finn's put bar codes on their boats?

To scan da navy in.

Stink-O-Meter

It wasn't bad, but the general aroma of Butchertown did creep thought from time to time. At varying times, smells overshadowed “Eau d’Abattoir” including burnt popcorn.

It probably hit a 2 out of 5, but it was very manageable.

0 for 3 home matches with extreme offensive odors…

On the pitch, things stunk to high heaven, so 5 out of 5 on that front.

It's not easy being green

Green at home, again. Did you know that every time that Racing wears a dark green kit at home, a child loses their favorite toy? Just to rub it in San Diego wore my absolute favorite NWSL kit ever.

In protest of wearing green again at home you must now learn another useless fact about me. DO NOT SCROLL PAST THIS. THIS IS YOUR PUNISHMENT.

The above image is from the BBC comedy The Young Ones. I was an early anglophile. This show and Monty Python's Flying Circus are significantly to blame. As a 10 year-old, I shouldn't have been watching either, and I am sure I didn't get all of the jokes. However, I do believe watching stuff like this helped my ability to figure our things through context clues. Some adults still have never learned this. The pic above is from the Episode “Bambi”. It includes a “live” (actually mimed) performance of “Ace of Spades” by Motorhead.

It also included one of my favorite dumb one-liner jokes told by Rick Mayall: “I’ve told you a million times, do not exaggerate.”

Anyway, if you condone Racing’s wearing of green kits at home you must watch Kermit the Frog sing “Bein’ Green” 100 times before continuing.

Instant “Un”alysis

Some of us are ignorant. Some of us are dumb. I am hoping that the folks at today's match were simply ignorant.

I get that everyone isn't a nuanced rules expert, but I am going make a call back to context clues. Several times in the second half., fans near me complained about the side official not raising his flag for an offside offense. Inevitably, if they would have waited 5 seconds, they would see that he did eventually raise it once the attacking action had ceased. This happened multiple times. After the first or second time you think people might get a clue.

If a league has VAR, the officials are INSTRUCTED to delay raising their flag for offside until the attacking action has ceased on any play that is even remotely close. They know the rules. You obviously don't.

I will say it again. Please do not yell at the officials when you are wrong. It cheapens when I yell at the officials, and I only yell when I am right.

Heel of the match

At one point right before Borges penalty, Savannah McCaskill stood directly on the penalty spot preventing Ary from placing the ball down. I yelled very loudly at McCaskill to get off the spot. I think it was so loud that she heard me, because she looked over to my section. I didn't want her subtly digging her cleats into the spot to make the ball come of the spot awkwardly. This is exactly the type of thing I would do if I was playing. Sometimes it takes a cheat to catch a cheat. I love McCaskill by the way and wish more Racing players had half her fire and grit.

Did the stadium have good food?

The club dining had a Mexican theme. I enjoyed what I tried. The vegetables and Mexican salad were my favorites. The white queso and chips seemed to be a hit too.

What do you call a dessert that likes to go exploring?

Adven-churros

I didn't try the churros. I am not a fan of cinnamon.

Quote of the match

“I thought we were supposed to have a chance. They look a lot better than we do.” - Rick Cotton, legendary Eastern High School Tennis coach

I told Rick before the match started that I thought Racing had a chance to win this match. Rick and his wife Susan are good friends of Elizabeth and me. We attend many U of L sporting events together too. They have never attended a match in which Racing has won.

The Kayla Fischer Honorary Yellow Card of the Match

Racing received two yellow cards in the match. One was measured and likely necessary. The other was rash and unnecessary. Guess who had the rash one? It was Kayla Fischer! If you guessed correctly, you win the chance to watch “Bein’ Green” 100 more times!

“Did you mean to humble me? So, you did it unsuspectingly!”

Couldn’t Bear to be Special/Swoon/1984

“I’m just an also-ran” - I told Rick that I thought Racing has a chance to win, but in my heart, I didn’t believe it. I really didn’t expect it to be this bad, but I forgot about Taylor Flint. This team without Taylor Flint is way too susceptible to good attacking teams consistently charging at the back four. At varying times, Borges, O’Kane and DiGrande were the last midfielder in front of Wright and Jean. None of them are half as effective as Flint at disrupting the other team’s flow. I don’t know if Flint would have changed the result, but I would like to think that she could have changed the score line.

The other thing nagging at me, was that San Diego has a legitimately proven coach. I think there were some grumblings that San Diego might be really bad this season (there is still time for that), but Jonas Eidevall’s fingerprint will be on this team, regardless. They looked and played exactly as I thought they would. They started two 17-year-olds and subbed on a 19-year-old at half. Folks, teams don’t sign teenagers that can’t play at this level. I do feel like the rules hamstrung Racing when they were in the position to sign younger players, so I acknowledge that. However, San’s Diego’s rookies left Racing’s in the dust in this match.

Seeing San Diego make this quick pivot is why I think Racing is a dinosaur set for extinction. They have always moved too slowly or not had the right pieces. I don’t discount the environmental factors either. The NWSL rules sometimes seem like they change or don’t change soon enough to specifically make things harder for Racing. The attendance was less than 5,000 again. This is a relatively small metro area compared to the other markets. There are dozens of other factors you could point to. Actually, I misspoke earlier. All of you really know what may favorite The Wire quote is. “All the pieces matter.”

“There’s a mile between the way you see me and the way I am” - I don’t think Bev will turn things around. I don’t think she should lose her job, either. I can’t imagine Soccer Holdings is in any position to hire somebody skilled enough to actually turn things around. Unfortunately, I think everyone here is stuck with the status quo. All that I can tell you is that if you weren’t prepared for it before now, and believe me I tried to prepare you, maybe now you are. This is going to be a long and painful season.

I get optimism, but as the English like to say, it’s the hope that kills you. I really wish the NWSL had relegation. Then Racing would have something to fight for. At this moment, it seems like they are just a name on some better team’s fixture list. You don’t have to abandon all hope, maybe just temper things with some realism.

Racing 1 Wave 4 Player Ratings

Photo by Elizabeth Shaw

Capitulation pure and simple. A goalkeeping blunder seeled Racing’s fate.

Lund-3: Physical ability has never been the question with her. Concentration is still a concern.

Hase-4: Conceding 4 goals gets you a four.

Jean-4: Same

Wright-4: Ditto

Milliet-5: Unless you try as hard as Lo

O’Kane-5: Isn’t Flint

Borges-6: The goal lifts her a bit.

DiGrande-4: Didn't create much.

Weber-5: Kind of invisible.

Sears-6: Same.

Fischer-6: Fought as hard as Lo.

RLFC v San Diego -1

Photo by Elizabeth Shaw

For me, this is the pivotal match of the season. San Diego retooled this year by adding an experienced and accomplished coach and several teenage players. Like all Eidevall teams, they will be quick and have a lot of the ball. I was impressed by what I saw from them in thier loss to Orlando. They then lost to KC, but that is a tough two-match gauntlet. I think San Diego will also use this match as their litmus test.

None of Racing results have surprised me, and I think any result is possible on Saturday. How Racing performs on Saturday will be our best predictor for their future fortunes, so far. This is a match where if Racing is serious about making the playoffs, then they need all three points. There are going to be limited chances to get wins this season and this is one of those rare opportunities.

DeMelo will likely make the bench at least based on Bev's comments. Past that who knows. I don't think Bev is in the place to want to switch up things too much yet, so I expect we could see consistency in the starters. Kanu is healthy, but this match may be too early for her to get back into the Starting XI. I am a little shocked that Pikkujämsä is still sitting on 0 minutes this season, and I think he best shot at getting minutes right now might be in the midfield.

Goals have to come from somewhere and soon. Racing hasn't looked close to “manufacturing” a goal, but is getting plenty of shots. I don't recall many of those shots being both a) at a meaningful point in the match (i.e. when they aren't trailing by multiple goals) and b) the result of stringing together more than a few passes together. Like always they look most likely to score on either a corner, counter, or mistake. The good news is that in this match, that is likely going to be the best route, regardless of how they are playing.

Savannah McCaskill almost always does something against Racing, so be on the lookout for that.

Elizabeth took some pics of practice. Find them here.

"That all there is to it?"

Courtesy Elizabeth Shaw

Elizabeth’s photo gallery from the match

Visit the photo gallery here.

Stolen The Wire Epigraph

“That all there is to it?”

For those of you who haven’t seen The Wire, it is a light-hearted drama where Idris Elba encourages inner city youth to chase the West Baltimore dream (selling dope and coke on the corner and dying before reaching 21).

The answer to the question listed above is “yup, pretty much.”

Get to halftime in decent shape. Throw on a couple of game-changing subs. Hold on in the final minutes.

That was the recipe for success for the Spirit. Unlike Mitch’s Hedberg’s recipe for homemade Sprite, I am sure there was more stuff in the recipe, but you get the point.

Post Match Moment of the Match

I asked Kanu how many minutes she was ready for, and the gist of her answer was “as many as the coaches will give me”. Personally, I was disappointed that she only got 10-ish and that those minutes were when the Spirit had abandoned any attacking pretense. Kanu is best in transition and on the counter. I would have liked to see her in the 60th minute when match was theoretically still in doubt. However, she is coming off of an injury, so maybe there was a restriction. I find it hard to believe that the restriction was “10 minutes only”, but who knows. I asked Bev if she thought that Racing has game changers to bring in like Spirit. I think she said that answer was yes, but Bev went on one of her rhetorical detours before getting back around to any semblance of an answer.

However, THE Post Match Moment of the Match was when Joe Havelda asked Bev point blank: Where are the goals going to come from? It is an excellent question, and I was so pleasantly surprised that anyone was bold enough to ask it that I kind of forgot to listen for an answer. I went back and listened and was not shocked to find that Bev didn’t really answer that question anyway. I don’t know what I would have said, and I wouldn’t hold up Marlo Stanfield as a role model, but his position on when the numbers were down in his shop, is that he for damn sure went out and did something about it.

Stink-O-Meter

Blissfully 0 out of 5. Smellier days are coming, so enjoy these while they last.

0 for 2 home matches with offensive odors…

Let’s keep the streak alive, but maybe without the preceding flood next time.

What did I miss?

I must have missed something because this banner seems delightfully out of left field. I feel like we might collectively be missing some context here, but I know for sure that I am. Bekki Morgan and I discussed the banner (which I have to say that I enjoy immensely) and her thoughts were that since Racing is going with a green theme this season and that California (Sav’s home state) produces its fair share of avocados that those two factoids provide some context. Maybe so, but it still seems quite bizarre. You also have to make the extra mental leap from avocado to guacamole for the chip thing to make sense (unless you know someone who dips their chips into a halved avocado with the pit still inside). So weird…I love it!

If anybody has any extra context, please DO NOT tell me. I enjoy it much more without it.

GREATEST BANNER EVER!!!

More non sequitur food-based player banners, please. Especially those where the pun only makes sense if you mispronounce the fruit.

Baby, baby…where did our Purp go?

If you stumbled across my preview for All for XI you might have come across my complaint about “Go Big Purp” already, but now I feel like I need to expand. For the second home match in a row, Racing has decided to go with its green kits at home. I hate this. I am not a superstitious person in the least, nor do I believe that “karma” is tied to such things, but I think at a minimum, consistently refusing to wear your primary colors at home is bad form. Lou City do this too when they decide to wear their usually god-awful 3rd kits at home near the end of the season.

Honestly, only the houndstooth kit has really felt like a true home kit for Racing in my opinion. The first couple of seasons established white at the away color for Racing and the first ever kit was more black (midnight violet if you’re nasty) than purple. The only season with any decent amount of “purp” was Paige Monaghan’s only season here in which she coined the phrase.

I have been indifferent to the slogan (it’s better than “Run with Us”) since its inception. Elizabeth has hated it from the get-go. I don’t have any evidence that Paige Monaghan put a curse on the motto when she was left unprotected by Racing in the 2024 expansion draft. I also don’t have any evidence that she didn’t put a curse on the motto, either. That last sentence is pretty ridiculous, but you’ve seen the state of logical thinking in this country so that sentence might make actual sense to half of the populace.

Ultimatum: Wear the purpliest kit at home or ditch the slogan! Failure to comply will lead to further and more intense mocking!

Did the club/stadium have good food?

Yes!

The Tandoori Chicken Salad Wraps were good, especially in the cucumber yogurt dipping sauce. They were a hit with all of us. Pertinent to this time of the year, the Derby pie was good too (solid B, not as good as homemade, but good for a mass-produced version). The club has also moved to canned soft drinks over fountain drink offerings from the previous years. On a chilly day, like yesterday, one’s hands might get a little cold carrying drinks back to your seats, but those cold aluminum cans might be useful on a really hot day.

“But there it is, and there we are.”

Desire As/Steve McQueen/1985

I think the level has been set now. We have four results to judge and at least for me, Racing is who I thought they were. The team is still missing a few players that when 100% available, can change games, but none that can change fortunes. We are already starting to see the rookies take minutes from veteran players, and we have to infer from that reality that those minutes have been given to the players who are performing better in Bev’s system. The other side of that coin is that we can also pretty much infer that the roster at the end of last season was in miserable shape in the eyes of the club/staff.

I said in my preview that any point for Racing would have been good here. Based on the first 45 minutes, I thought it could still be in their reach, but Santos’ stunning free kick in the 58th minute put any hopes to rest. The Spirit can be prone to scoring early in matches and not closing them out, but the 58th minute isn’t early, and Racing never posed much of a threat until Washington went into cruise control after their second. It was not a point I expected Racing to get, so the loss shouldn’t impact their quest for the playoffs. They will need to turn some draws into wins against mediocre competition to achieve that feat. They aren’t going to threaten a really good team unless they have a fantastic match and yesterday wasn’t one of those times.

The lack of goal scoring is a concern, which is bad, but I will say the back line is in better shape than I thought it would be. I really like Hase in the minutes I have seen from her. Flint was okay in front of them, but she has to offer more going forward if Borges is going to play like she did yesterday. I will give Bekki credit for this insight, but Borges plays much better when she shares the pitch with DeMelo. I think she might need to play further up the pitch, but at the moment she isn’t playing well enough to displace anyone up there (although I do think Weber may be better as a substitute at this point). Goals need to come from somewhere and Fischer has been given 4 matches to show what she can do. For all of her good qualities, I don’t think she is a natural goal scorer.

Racing needs natural goal scorers because they look nowhere near manufacturing a goal from open play with sustained possession. Set pieces and counters still look like the most likely routes to a goal for this team. I think Fischer got really close to snatching possession away in a dangerous spot a couple of times, but the fact is that she ultimately didn’t do it.

The good news is that Racing won’t face another juggernaut (in my opinion) until June 14th when they face Kansas City and then Orlando right after that on the 20th. They have time to get things sorted out and hopefully can get heathier, especially up front.

Did you know?

Since I seemed to have a “there” theme in my head, did you know that the Gorillaz song “Dare” is called that because Happy Mondays’ front man Shuan Ryder can’t pronounce “there” due to his heavy Mancunian accent?

Racing 0 Spirit 2 Player Ratings

Santos scored on an excellent free kick and Hatch scored her club leading 50th goal for the Spirit and that was all she wrote. It wasn't an unexpected result, but that doesn't make it any easier to digest.

Lund-5: No idea what she was thinking on her 17th minute adventure up the pitch which led to a cheap giveaway.

Hase-6: Had a very good first half, but the entire back line suffered in the second

Petersen-5: The counter on the second Spirit goal was down her side and she has to do better.

Wright-5: Conceded too much ground after the second half Spirit subs.

Milliet-6: Her energy after going down by 2 was too little too late.

Flint-5: The stats will show her having a better match than she did.

Borges-5: I don't think she works as a midfielder in this particular set up.

O'Kane-6: Was a decent replacement for DeMelo.

Weber-6: Less impressive than her previous efforts.

Sears-5: Keeps alternating between good and bad performances.

Fischer-6: Probably Racing’s best player on the afternoon.