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“The blade flashed by”
Photo by Elizabeth Shaw
Match Haiku
An elegant Wave
Sweeps Racing into the sea.
A fall into Fall.
“The blade flashed by”
“The Accidental” - Drawn to the Deep End, 1997
So efficient was the Wave’s victory in Louisville, that I am sure that by season’s end I will barely remember it. Aesthetically, the Wave may be my favorite team to watch. Everything seems so smooth and orchestrated. Sometimes their play is like a lullaby. If I do remember one thing from the match it may be a moment that ultimately didn’t matter but summed up the clash of styles on the evening. The Wave were weaving their way through the Racing defense bearing down on goal, surely to score, until Arin Wright threw herself in front of the ball. On this occasion, the ball serendipitously found its way to a Racing player which started a beautiful counter where Milliet played Fischer in for a great finish, only for Kayla to be offside. When I went back and watched the video, this call seemed impossibly close, but the assistant referee flagged offside on the pitch, and the poor camera angle was never going to overturn an on-field decision. Fischer might have been onside but needs to hold her run just a bit longer when she has the space like this afforded to her. It was still a great finish.
After that, the Wave never got caught out as drastically. And when you don’t get many similar chances, you have to finish the other ones you get. Racing hit the post twice, McKeen and Gacioch the culprits, so San Diego ultimately used two fantastic examples of quick ball movement to get its goals. The better, more efficient team won. End of story.
Post Match Moment of the Match
Rachel Hill and Lo Milliet answered a few questions after the match. Lo appeared a little more down and exhausted than usual and you do have to wonder what the point of this season has been to someone like her. Coach Bev discussed that the season was now officially over in terms of making a playoff run and that the team would have to find ways to create meaning in the remainder of the season. I used the time to try to get a little more intel on the plan for Macy Phillippus, who finally got onto the pitch for about 15 minutes or so. Bev thought she did well (what else is she going to say, but I agree) and sees her as either a wing back or an outside center back in a back three. That means heading into next season she is competing against the likes of Morris and Jean for minutes, assuming she sticks around.
Thing I bought at ear X-tacy back in the day
Artist: Joy Division
Album: Heart and Soul
Year: 1997
Format: CD Box set
Store Location: 1534 Bardstown Road
There is no possible way I could say anything insightful that already hasn’t been said about Ian Curtis and Joy Division. What I will say is that if you have Unknown Pleasures, Closer, and Substance you have everything you need. There is another giant box set out now from Rhino, but I can’t imagine you’ll learn anything new. Here’s “Transmission” if you are unacquainted:
Joy Division were from Manchester.
Speaking of Manchester, Man City might actually have to pay for their crimes! Good. They were bloody cheats and everyone knew it.
The Taylor Flint Honorary Yellow Card of the Match
Fischer got the match’s only card. The official statistics log this as a “reckless offense”, but center referee Joshua Encarnación clearly indicated that it was for accumulation, showing Kayla a “one, two, three” count with his fingers.
63rd Minute-Reckless offense - Kayla Fischer
I feel like Encarnación always calls a tight match. Once again Racing fan Daniel Goforth was on top of his game, getting a look from one of the assistant referees. The Fischer offside decision was tight and the crowd hated it, but I do think officials get those types of call right the overwhelming majority of the time. The other (non) call that got loudly booed was not calling the San Diego opener offside. It was clearly onside.
The 2026 UFL Champion Louisville (Draft?) Kings Sports Betting Corner
Racing looks closer than ever to a lock for 15th, so I think betting on their finishing position is no longer much of a challenge.
Let’s talk Racing’s goal contributions. Sears leads the team at 12; Fischer has 11; Milliet is the surprise in third at 9. Who will lead Racing in G+A at the end of the season?
Sears: -120
Fischer: +110
Milliet: +150
O’Kane: +300 (7 at the moment)
I think Kayla is a solid bet at +110. She looks much more likely to score than Sears at the moment.
“I barely saw it”
At least it was a pleasant evening.
It’s hard for me to believe that any rational person could look at the talent disparity between the two teams on the pitch on Friday night and expect a vastly different outcome. San Diego has the ability to play elegant football and win most of the time during the season. (In knockout competitions give me Gotham, who has more bite and grit while still being capable of good football.) I have been slightly encouraged by the energy brought by the subs in the last couple of matches. If McKeen sticks around for a while (we’ll see) she is physical enough to hang with anyone and just needs a little more polish to be a really good player. I would give Blackburn a start in place of Jean at some point to show if she can defend for 90 minutes or if she is just a substitute winger level of player. Lo could use a night off in spite of herself.
The better teams have exposed a lack of cohesion in Racing’s defensive structure, especially when Flint isn’t on the pitch in her usual role. I still like the formation, but Racing has lacked a defensive one-on-one quality in too many situations when a center back is caught out of position. Wright has to win her dual on the Wave’s first goal, and she simply got beaten by a deft touch from Byars and nobody in Racing’s defense had the recovery speed to catch Gia Corley. Corley was denied a brace by a block from Gacioch, but Dali’s great touch meant that Racing only had Gacioch in position to defend, so Ludmila buried the rebound. It’s painfully simple stuff. Racing’s central defenders were too high in both instances. Both goals are the types of goals that maybe could have been prevented with Flint on the pitch because Wright was trying to play the role of disruptor instead of being further back.
Racing 0 Wave 2 Player Ratings
The Wave just have that extra bit of technical class that matters in key moments.
Bloomer-7: Rounding back into form.
Morris-6: Downgrading all of the backline due to lack of organization.
Gacioch-5: Might be hitting a rookie wall.
Wright-5: Got turned too easily on the opener.
Jean-5: Gave too much space on the opener. Looks a little off pace at the moment.
Hill-6: Offers something different in defense.
Hodge-7: Her best performance since returning from injury. Full of energy.
O'Kane-6: No great impact but completed over 80% of her passes.
Milliet-6: Typical “no quit” performance.
Fischer-7: Dangerous, but no excuse for being offside on her disallowed goal.
Weber-6: Got a decent amount of touches in her 64 minutes.
Subs-7: Once again the subs brought energy.
Racing v Wave -1
Photo by Elizabeth Shaw
For all practical purposes, this otter family pictured above has about the same chance to make the NWSL playoffs as Racing does heading into this weekend, so I guess that’s my excuse for featuring them.
The otters came out to celebrate the first 60 degree day in Louisville since I can remember. Correspondingly, we should get a rather pleasant evening for some soccer on Friday. Since I was unable to attend media availability today, I had to rely on the videos. Makenna and Audrey talked about the focus in practice this week which was on securing the ball and being better in transition this week. These were the things that Bev talked about after the Bay match.
Bev talked about the shorter turnaround, which will be the last of those for the year. Due to the recent match against San Diego, their opponent this Friday will be fresh in everyone’s mind. At this point in the season, Bev expects the team to keep fighting, which is all that you can do. Bev said that the conversation from the Bay game led to spending the week talking about the good things (defensive organization) and like Makenna and Audrey referenced, securing the ball especially in transition. On what needs to improve the most, Bev said that focus should be on putting on good performances. The key for her is that the players walk away proud of how they handled the run out. In one word, Racing needs to continue to “fight”.
There was no official update on Sav DeMelo’s availability. I have reported that the target return match was this upcoming one, but since we haven’t heard anything official, I guess we have to wait for the availability report.
“The sky seems a little lower”
Courtesy of the NWSL
Match Haiku
Familiar Story:
Racing scoreless once again.
Bay the better team.
“The sky seems a little lower”
“Where Are They Now?” - Drawn to the Deep End, 1997
It was an all too familiar sight on Sunday evening. Racing struggled to impose much of themselves on the match until it was way too late. Racing looked tentative in the press (I will get into the reasons in the next section) and Bay controlled the first half with ease. The good news was that Racing was able to get to half still level at 0-0. We have seen that story before and have often seen Racing come out of half the more energized team. This time the more recent trend of giving up an early second half goal was on display.
It was difficult for this observer to figure out exactly what Racing’s plan was. Sometimes you can watch a match and see what a team’s plan is fairly clearly. In this one, I really couldn’t see it. It didn’t help that McCall Zerboni kept pushing the narrative that “this doesn’t look like Racing”. To me, it looked exactly like Racing in the last few matches. What I think McCall was talking about was that there was no aggressive press (again, I will get into this later). It’s nearly impossible, unless you mute the broadcast or really concentrate, to not let the opinions of the broadcasters have some influence on your perception. The NWSL broadcasts remain asinine, bar the rare exceptions.
I thought Racing looked particularly vulnerable defensively in the first half, which is not saying much. I don’t want to chalk it up to a lack of organization or preparation, but to me the unit clearly seems to be lacking confidence and cohesion at the moment. We continue to see the good individual performance here and there from the defenders, like Wright’s last evening. However, the togetherness in defending has been lacking all season. Petersen has worked her way back into the lineup, which is good for Racing’s attack. However, she had a bad giveaway in the first half that ultimately didn’t cost her, but reminded us of her vulnerabilities. Jean had a nightmare on the right side of defense. Racing’s new back line formation provides more central cover but leaves defenders in more isolated in the buildup. Bay took advantage of this.
Then again, we know Racing needs to score to have a chance. The match might have been different if Fischer could have held her run just a fraction of a second longer on the goal that was chalked off for being offside. That was really the best opportunity for Racing until they trailed 2-0. Petersen’s set piece deliveries late in the match demonstrated her danger in those situations, but it was too little, too late by that point.
Post Match Moment of the Match
For some real insight into what Bev thought about the match, I suggest a listen here:
It’s a long one, but pretty insightful I thought. I will try to hit the highlights as I perceived them.
Bay rotated frequently in the build which threw off Racing’s design for the press. Bev frequently talks about looking at the last three matches to plan for an opponent. Based on what she saw in those matches, she planned for one thing, and Bay showed more rotation in their buildup from the back. Bev goes into specifics if you are interested. Bloomer described Racing’s press as more patient in its design which could look to the untrained eye as low energy or an isolated pressing technique. Several times, Racing appeared to have a single high presser, and Bay’s rotation made Racing’s players have to adjust their assignments.
Bev talked about ball security more than I have ever heard her discuss it. In her parlance, what she means is the set of passes completed to clearly establish possession. She said that Racing couldn’t effectively secure the ball in the first half. I think we all saw that. One of the items she mentioned is that Racing’s lack of possession didn’t really give the players a chance to get any reprieve from Bay’s attack in the first half. I have pointed to the lack of possession wearing out the Racing players on multiple occasions. Bev acknowledged as much in this discussion.
I asked if the style of play makes possession more difficult to achieve. If you can hear an answer to that question in what Bev said let me know. I wasn’t any clearer on her stance after I asked the question than I was before.
“Never a work ethic question” was Bev’s take on the performance as a whole and I think we take her word on that. Racing set up to play a certain way and it didn’t work. Bev stated that the team that executed better on the evening won, and that is usually the case.
The Taylor Flint Honorary Yellow Card of the Match
Arin Wright picked up a rare yellow card on a pretty clear jersey tug right at midfield. It was a smart foul.
35th Minute: Arin Wright - Foul - Tactical Foul
The match was one of the cleaner ones that I remember from this season. I don’t recall a single head-scratching decision from the officiating team. Good job Amin Hadzic and all!
Madchester Song to Make You Feel Alright
I never got into James. If “the algorithm” would have existed in the early 90s, I am sure it would have suggested them to me repeatedly. This one sounds like a prototypical “Madchester” song. It’s alright, I guess. I would rather just stick to The Charlatans.
“I am tied to the winter”
Racing has five matches left and even though the season has been a failure, there are still interesting storylines as the season wraps. Let’s put relocation to the side for now. Here are the leading footballing things to watch for as the season wraps.
Savannah DeMelo’s anticipated return: Things could still change, but I expect that DeMelo will be available for selection against San Diego on Friday. The big question will be what to expect. No one is expecting a start. I am unsure if we should even expect minutes from her quite yet. What I do expect is some sort of media focus on her return, if the plan is still on track to have her available for San Diego.
Her return could represent all kinds of things, but the most important one will be the narrative she creates for herself. Therefore, I won’t do anything at this point other than wish here a safe return to the pitch.
The Emma Sears transfer saga: It ended up being one of the most boring storylines of the summer. There has been no hint of anything yet. That could still change. In the bigger picture, I have a suggestion for the next round of labor negotiations. I don’t believe that the CBA between the league and its players has any restriction on how real (not allocation) transfer dollars are spent. If I were on the players’ side (spoiler alert: I am always on the players’ side) I would demand that any money received for player transfers be put in a separate bucket that has restrictions on how the money can be spent. I think every penny should go to either other player transfers, signing new players or extending current contracts. I highly suspect that any money that Racing would receive for Sears would go against the spending deficit that the club has already incurred. One could argue that much of that deficit IS spending on players’ salaries, but I think the CBA could be written in a way to make sure transfer dollars are spent against future costs that are not associated with a player on their current contract.
Bev’s contract extension: Personally, I don’t think Racing will be able to find a better coach. You may disagree. Racing is definitely not in the situation where they need to make a change for change’s sake. I never like switching coaches unless you think you can get a better one. Losing Bev isn’t and will never be addition by subtraction. If you think Soccer Holdings would ever pay for an external coach to come in and bring the staff they want and the players they need then you are out of your gourd. What Soccer Holdings might be prepared to do is give Bev an extension and a nice raise to get her to stay. I get the feeling that nobody in the organization wants to see her go, so essentially our opinions don’t matter and if that is news to you, I’m sorry.
Can we learn anything in these last five matches? I go back to the first season when I was new at this, and I thought I learned something in the last 3 matches that Racing played that season. Even if I did, the roster changed so much going into next season that it didn’t matter. I don’t think the roster will change a lot, but I am not sure you learn as much on the pitch as one might think. However, it is the only thing we have to go on so I should would like to see more of the younger players. There is no need to play Flint the rest of the season even if she is healthy. It’s the same with Milliet (although you would likely have to force her not to play), Bloomer, Wright, and Sears. You learn absolutely nothing about next season by playing them. Now, Old Man Neace may not like that because he evidently is of the opinion that you have to play your best players regardless of the consequences (based on his treatment of Sears), but he doesn’t get to select the team. I would much rather take 5 more loses than roll out a group of players that I already know all about. Racing isn’t bringing in any new fans at this point in the season.
Bay 2 Racing 0 Player Ratings
It was hard to discern what the plan was on the evening. Whatever it was, it didn't work.
Bloomer-6: Her defense let her down.
Petersen-6: You take the good with the bad with her.
Wright-7: Kept Louisville in the match early with a goal line clearance in the 21st minute.
Jean-4: Involved on the wrong side of both Bay goals.
Hase-6: At least the danger didn't come down her side.
McMahon-5: No impact.
O'Kane-5: The deeper role doesn't suit her.
Milliet-6: Ran all day.
Weber-6: Had a couple of decent moments in the first half.
Fischer-5: Her only contribution was to be habitually offside.
Sears-6: Provided some late threat.
All Subs-7: Brought energy that was lacking from some of the starters.
Bay v Racing-1
Racing is nearing the end of its season and running out of runway towards any mathematical path towards the playoffs, but in reality, there has been no practical path for a while. Even if Racing had continued on their four-match winning streak and was on an eight-match winning streak they would still be 2 points shy of the playoff line. Realistically, the team hasn’t been playing for a playoff spot this entire season because their early form doomed them. Therefore, the end of the season can be looked to as a chance to do things differently or continue on the same trajectory.
The game in Bay is a chance to see what Racing has left in the tank for this season. The coaches and players won’t quit, but the effort has never really been the problem. The players that will be on this team next season need minutes, so I would be floored if Sears doesn’t continue to see her minutes limited simply because there is no reason for Racing to risk an injury to her and the in-league transfer window is still open. There are a few players that need to prove themselves over these last six matches. I think Jean, Hase, Weber, Morris and Bloomer need to demonstrate some better form heading into next season. Jean and Hase haven’t been as good this season as they were last season. Weber needs to regain some confidence. Morris needs to find a way to stay fit so that she can demonstrate consistency and Bloomer needs to regain the focus she had when she wasn’t guaranteed a starting role. Philippus needs minutes along with Taylor White. Lardner will likely get hers and McKeen will when she returns.
The difficult part is that everyone that needs to find form or get more experience cannot all be thrown in at once. Racing will have to be better defensively next season, and if Wright in going to be part of next season I am not sure how much tweaking you can do. I think I would rotate at least one defender every match for the rest of the season, just to see what you have from a talent perspective. I don’t think it is a stretch to say that this defensive unit isn’t the solution, but some of the parts may work if you get one or two more NWSL ready defenders.
I know this is what fans do, but I don’t think it does anyone any good to look at this squad with rose-colored glasses. I am glad that fans are supportive of individual players, but we let ownership and management off the hook when we pretend that this roster is good enough. Not having a super talented roster doesn’t let the coaching off of the hook and one could argue that Bev and staff haven’t gotten the most out of this talent. I don’t think this is the case. Some do. They are perfectly allowed to have their incorrect opinions. I look up and down the squad and with a few exceptions, I just don’t see many players that would start for a playoff-level team. Most of Racing’s players are “system players” that fit in Racing’s system but wouldn’t necessarily start in a different system.
Sunday evening at Bay is a chance for players to step up and show their quality in Racing’s system. This is a winnable match, if not an easy one.
“Choose your favorite weapon”
Photo by Elizabeth Shaw
Match Haiku
Other people’s dogs,
Are a decent distraction.
Gotham is too good.
“Choose your favorite weapon”
“New Amusements” - Drawn to the Deep End, 1997
I feel like if Racing played this match ten times, they would probably lose at least nine but lose each one in a unique way. I maybe haven’t been as overt as I could be, although I have never hidden this: I admire Gotham FC. They always seem to play in a classy style that suits my eyes. They are so. so talented now that when I checked their form prior to the match, I was actually shocked at how poor it had been over the last three matches.
On the evening, Gotham never seemed to have to exert themselves too much to be in control. Here are the ways in which they can beat you that were displayed in this outing:
With a wonder strike from a defender
Cutting through a slow-footed defense coming straight out of halftime
Killing off six minutes of stoppage time with classy possession
(Audible sigh)
It’s proof of how good you can be when you only have to draw 5 out of every 10,000 citizens to your matches and have a seemingly endless pile of money to make your team better. (Louisville would have to draw roughly 80 out of every 10,000 to be on par.)
Racing didn’t play poorly on the night. They played like Racing, which will pretty much guarantee you the result they got against Gotham.
One thing that Racing misses when Petersen is on the bench is her fine deliveries from corners. She almost scored an Olimpico and Fischer, who frequently finds herself in the right spot, scored on a simple header. Set pieces are a great equalizer, when the deliveries are good. Too bad Racing forgot that the second half starts in the 46th minute and not the 47th as they looked flat and frankly, asleep on Gotham’s winning goal. It was way too easy and allowed Gotham to pretty much cruise the rest of the way. Like I said, it wasn’t unexpected. You pick your poison with Gotham. At least we got to enjoy a beautifully worked goal as we choked on Gotham’s lethal elixir.
Honorary Man of the Match
Definitely this guy in the houndstooth jersey (now identified as Legion member Daniel Goforth). He loudly encouraged center referee Robert Vincze, who he deemed “Bob”, to step up his game in the officiating department with often hilarious results. Who says your team has to win a match to have a good time. I thoroughly enjoyed his one-sided banter with good ol’ Bob.
To be fair to Bob, I thought he did fine myself. Who always sucks and has to make everything about her is Danielle Chesky. In case you didn’t know, Chesky was on VAR and took entirely too long to review Racing’s goal, surely looking for the smallest infraction. She seemed to be in Bob’s ear quite a bit. She is the worst, but Bob took the brunt of the crowd’s disapproval.
Definitely not “Man” of the match, any combo Gotham/Chelsea fans who were in attendance. They can buzz off right back to their evil lairs. London is red and don’t you ever forget it.
Post Match Moment of the Match
It is not lost on me that one of these remaining matches could be the last time I ever talk to Bev. I hope that isn’t the case and try not to read too much into things as they stand. Bev is always nice to me. We are definitely more friendly than any other coach that Racing has employed. I realize that it affects my objectivity, but I don’t really care. Some people may think it bad form for me not to ask her about the piece from Jeff Kassouf. What would she even say? I am never going to ask a player or coach about the sins of ownership unless a player or coach wants to go on record with me.
What I did ask her about was the six-minute stoppage time performance from Gotham. She essentially just reinforced my thoughts. It was a good team seeing out the match using their biggest strength. It really was an enjoyable six minutes if you take a step back and appreciate how Gotham killed off the match.
Weber and Fischer spoke as well. They seemed pleased with the performance if not the result. I tend to agree that they did well to stay in the match even if they didn’t quite have that golden opportunity to equalize. Something that Bev didn’t say on the record, but I don’t think she will mind me sharing was just how impressed she was with Fischer on the night. I get in discussions/arguments with fans about Fischer especially when they suggest she be deployed in the midfield. Fischer is never going to be my favorite player, but she has been the brightest spot on the team this season. In a match like this, fans thought she might be deployed back into the midfield due to lack of options. I say never again on that. She is too valuable as a forward. I don’t think any other team in the league would put her in the midfield. Every team would be proud to have someone who fights as hard as she does.
Thing I bought at ear X-tacy back in the day
Artist: The Smiths
Album: Hatful of Hollow
Year: 1994 (album released in 1984)
Format: CD
Store Location: 1140 Bardstown Road
Usually, I highlight something I bought the day or near the day it was released. In this case, this is a purchase made to catch up on a band that I was too young to appreciate in real time. I won’t waste your time on the story of the Smiths. Just know that they were the best English band in a world for a while (no arguments will be entertained). Because they were so short-lived and everything they did was great, they live in a moment in time. But also, they are bigger than that moment in time.
While that douchebag Morrissey does his level best to tarnish the Smiths’ legacy, Johnny Marr was never not the coolest man on the planet. Sometimes we have to take the good with the bad when it brings us joy. As pictured above, the Smiths became a symbol. Before that, they made devastatingly good music so effortlessly that it was almost unfair. As always, your listening experience may differ, but this is a universally revered album, and it isn’t even an album. It’s a collection of singles and B-sides.
Burn bright and brilliant if you have the luck to do so.
The Taylor Flint Honorary Yellow Card of the Match
Racing picked up a couple of tactical yellows, but we’ll call Morris’ the pick of the bunch because I am always a fan of getting your money’s worth.
45th Minute-Tactical Foul - Sarah Weber
69th Minute-Tactical Foul - Lauren Milliet
93rd Minutes-Reckless Offense - Makenna Morris
None of Racing’s players were on the potential naughty list this week, so everyone should be available next week if healthy. I haven’t noticed before, but two coaches, Eidevall and Spirit assistant Cristian Catena have to be on their best behavior to avoid suspension.
Speaking of healthy, Flint was walking around in a boot after the match again. She was healthy enough to hold a puppy sans boot at practice on Wednesday but didn’t participate as far as I could tell.
The 2026 UFL Champion Louisville (Draft?) Kings Sports Betting Corner
Here is a reminder of the relocation odds I set back in July.
Cincinnati +125: Who wouldn’t be down for the “Hell is Real Derby” (Women Scorned Edition)? I would make the annual trip to Cincy for that for sure.
Cleveland +130: Boring!
Minneapolis +150: I would be okay with this. I would love an excuse to go back there a few times a year.
St. Louis +180: Almost as boring as Cleveland with the added bonus of a 25% likelihood of failure.
Nashville +200: I could get down with that and maybe go to a few matches except that I am allergic to whatever passes for country music now and I am sure the pre- and post-game music would be mostly Morgan Wallen.
I feel like all betting should be temporarily suspended for Cincinnati at this point. It makes the most sense. Cincinnati has turned itself into a good soccer city, not that they haven’t always been. They support their MLS team well and are consistently in the top quartile in attendance in the MLS. That is no guarantee of success, but it is a “big paws on a puppy” good sign.
Believe it or not, there may actually be less competition in Cincinnati for the sports entertainment dollar, if you put the emphasis on entertainment. Only gluttons for punishment would attend many Reds games during the summer and their crappy TV deal makes people forget that they even exist. The Cincinnati Bearcats still think it is a solid idea to employ Scott Satterfield. I can’t imagine a more depressing way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Speaking of depressing, you could spend your Sundays watching the Bengals play in a decaying, open-air latrine and lose games by the score of 45-42 as their crappy defense lets opponents run roughshod. Their offense will be entertaining until Joe Burrow gets his league-issued turf toe injury in about Week 6.
Of course, the citizens of Cincinnati will “enjoy” all of these activities while eating the most disgusting food item in the history of mankind: Cincinnati-style chili. If truly “the first bite is with the eye”, I guess “dog vomit” must also be high on the list fine cuisines in Hamilton County.
I guess what I am trying to say is that I would enjoy covering their NWSL team for a year or so at least. Their mileage may vary.
I almost forgot, screw Mike Brown, Mike DeWine and all other terrible Ohio Mikes that sully my good name.
“From this list I have assembled”
As I said above, Gotham can beat teams in so many ways. That being said, Racing wasn’t played off the pitch. The first half performance was pretty good and Racing had some peaks on the momentum chart.
Gotham just had more and longer stretches. The second half shows way more imbalance and Racing couldn’t really get an effective foothold after the 60th minute.
Still no Macy Phillippus, which continues to be a head-scratcher for me. Her pedigree is good, but we haven’t seen her since a forgettable 18-minute appearance in Kansas City. I wonder what’s going on there.
With Racing now firmly in next-season mode, and all reliable information pointing to the 2027 season still being under the “Racing Louisville” name, the team has to figure out how to run next season. Emma Sears isn’t going to command a $10 million transfer fee, but you wonder it having someone like her signed and on the squad might get you an extra $10 million on the asking price. Any new ownership group buying the franchise is also buying the rostered players. The better your players, the more you can ask for in a sale price. Therefore, I think it makes financial sense to field as good of a team as possible. Soccer Holdings has always been way too short-sighted to think that way. I can’t see any way that next season’s roster is better than this one, but you never know.
I really do think that a franchise with decent central defenders drives the price up. Racing sorely needs that, so my unsolicited advice would be to focus on that specific area. Racing could use help in the midfield, but that is easier to find and buy. Racing might be mathematically eliminated earlier than they have ever been. I will have to check the math on that. When that happens, we need to see the clearest picture of what Racing could look like in 2027.
Racing 1 Gotham 2 Player Ratings
Gotham really didn't have to get out of second gear to control the match. Racing was simply outclassed on the evening.
Bloomer-6: Not to blame on the goals.
Petersen-7: Excellent delivery on Racing’s goal. They miss her set piece delivery when she doesn't play.
Wright-5: Got caught out on the goal.
Jean-6: Did fine.
Hase-6: Solid effort from her. Looks to be getting back into form
McMahon-6: Did okay, but only completed 4 out of 10 passes.
O'Kane-7: Subbed decently for Flint.
Milliet-7: Picked up a rare yellow card.
Weber-6: Deputized decently in midfield.
Fischer-8: Racing’s best player again.
Lardner-6: Barely involved, but logged some valuable minutes.
Racing v Gotham -1
Gotham comes to town on Friday in first place and in pretty mediocre form. Racing is in worse form obviously, but these Racing/Gotham matches always seem to be close. Both teams have three victories against the other, with a draw being just as likely based on history.
Racing will certainly be short in the midfield with Hodge suspended and Flint's status unknown at this time. If Racing is going to be down a couple of players in the midfield, it almost certainly means that a player listed as a forward will drop into the midfield. McKeen found herself in this spot recently, but with her gone there aren't too many options. Fusco is probably too new to slot in as a starter. Personally, I hate Fischer in the midfield, but Racing has gone that route before with less than stellar results even when her performances were decent. She had her worst statistical performance of the season in the 1-0 loss at Gotham when she played in the 10 role, so I don't think it serves her well to put her there again.
Racing has had a DeMelo-sized hole in the midfield since she began her long-term absence. What Sav's talent may have disguised has now been on display ever since. Racing doesn't have a reliable engine to run a disciplined attack and the goals that this team scores are opportunistic rather than manufactured. The good news is that Gotham is the type of team that can be caught out by the type of attacks that Racing excels at. The bad news is that if Gotham gets a lead they are the type of team that can grind out a 1-0 win through possession without breaking a sweat.
This feels like a match that Gotham either wins easily or snatches at the end due to Racing likely having to defend in their own half for large sections of the match.
Puppies (and a Loan)!
Racing had puppies at practice to promote the “Pups at the Pitch” promotion this Friday. The Kentucky Humane Society brought four brothers introduce to the team. All four are available for adoption (pending Maddie Prohaska not adopting all four) on Friday at Lynn Family Stadium. As a cat person I think other people’s dogs are awesome. “Gilbert” will be the honorary canine captain for the match against Gotham. If he gets loose and bites Sam Kerr (who as a Chelsea legend I hate on principle) I wouldn’t be mad.
On the news front, Racing signed Jordan Fusco on loan (wearing #28) from San Diego until the end of the season. Quincy McMahon and Jordan were roommates at San Diego. Racing’s depth in midfield is light in general (more on that tomorrow), so a loan makes sense, even if it was likely facilitated by Racing’s more immediate shortage at the position. The ability to get players on loan closed on September 7th, but NWSL in-league movement of the non-loan variety can still occur until the roster freeze date of October 8th.
Enough nonsense…Puppies!
A Chimpanzee Probably Not Writing Hamlet (A Third Quarter Review)
Photo by Elizabeth Shaw
Editorial note: These quarterly review pieces used to run on the State of Louisville website and were written for that broader audience. Due to the State of Louisville combining with the 1912 Society, I have decided to continue these pieces here but written with my normal readership in mind.
Four wins and four losses highlight the good and the bad as Racing briefly makes a charge towards relevancy.
Hey! did you see that they are releasing a new adaptation of A Tale of Two Cities?
Just like the infinite monkey theorem a mediocre team can put together a good, and in fact record-breaking, run of matches every once in a while. A quick aside, this has to be my favorite thing I have seen on Wikipedia in a while:
Anyway, Racing fans had the best of times if not quite the “blurst” of times during this eight-match stretch. Hopes were raised (although I don’t think anyone lost their heads and used the p-word too much) before Racing started to face some better competition and a brief, deadly cameo from Mal Swanson.
The Matches
Current 5 – Racing 1
Best Bit: Bev strategically rotates to save Racing’s legs for the more winnable match against the Stars at home.
Worst Bit: Giving up 5 goals is never a good look.
Takeaway: It was the middle match of a 3-games-in-9-days stretch. With a heavily rotated lineup, nobody should to read too much into the performance.
Racing 2 – Stars 1
Best Bit: Gacioch scores her first professional goal from a well-worked set piece.
Worst Bit: A Bloomer blooper makes the last 10 minutes nervier than they needed to be.
Takeaway: Bev can feel slightly vindicated with her choice to heavily rotate against the Current, but some people will always bellyache about it.
Pride 1 – Racing 3
Best Bit: McKeen scores her first professional goal from a corner via a header.
Worst Bit: Sears has a close call offside decision rule out a goal, or she might have had a hattrick.
Takeaway: Racing likely benefits by having Banda absent due to AFCON, but you can only play the team in front of you.
Racing 4 – Legacy 1
Best Bit: A Fischer brace sets a meaningless league record for the highest number of players to score a brace for a single team in a single season.
Worst Bit: Racing gets so close to keeping a clean sheet and Boston had already quit on the match when a stoppage time goal goes in.
Takeaway: Boston stinks.
Racing 2 – Reign 1
Best Bit: Sears completes the comeback and her brace on a nice pass from Milliet.
Worst Bit: Racing comes out flat and Seattle dominates the first 20 minutes.
Takeaway: Racing falls behind early but fights back for its first ever league victory against Seattle.
Stars 3 – Racing 2
Best Bit: Twice, Racing equalizes to pull themselves back into the match.
Worst Bit: The third time is the charm for the Stars.
Takeaway: The defending from Racing looks really shaky when they are up against an elite attacker like Swanson.
Wave 3 – Racing 2
Best Bit: Milliet and Flint capitalize on a very sloppy first 25 minutes from San Diego.
Worst Bit: The Wave pull one back early in the second half and they are off to the races.
Takeaway: Racing is probably better off being level at half against good teams so that Bev can win the halftime adjustment battle.
Racing 0 - Angel City 2
Best Bit: Lardner comes on and looks dangerous.
Worst Bit: Racing lets a defender score a brace.
Takeaway: The match is flat and Angel City’s moments of brilliance outshine Racing’s missed chances.
How did Racing (briefly) turn things around?
It was the formation and the competition, mostly.
Racing doesn’t have blistering pace on the back line, so in order to compensate, adding an extra central defender seemed to be an answer to solve that problem. This pushed Milliet into a more central midfield role, and she has been excellent there. Racing has always struggled in the midfield control battle, so they solved for that by overloading the midfield in a 3-5-2 formation. Against competition where a skilled and speedy attacker wasn’t always the primary threat, Racing was able to either counter or move quickly enough in attack to catch out their opponent’s back line. When that wasn’t an option Racing used the great equalizer, the set piece, to score a few times.
Not to be overlooked, a big piece of the turnaround was Racing’s attackers stepping up and finishing off chances. In the stretch beginning with the draw at Houston, Racing’s attackers have scored 13 of the 19 goals (Sears, Fischer, Lardner, McKeen and Milliet are who I am calling the “attackers”). Forwards need to score goals to stay engaged and be effective, and Racing’s forwards have been good. Fischer had been consistent, but Sears stepped her production up tremendously during the winning streak. Racing is still playing without a traditional number 10, but Milliet has taken up the pressing, creative, and energy part of that role, if not the control. The lack of a need to create control probably created enough unpredictability in their attack to make their opponents commit errors.
In the stretch where Racing took 13 points from a possible 18, it was only the heavily rotated squad that gave up more than one goal in a match. When Racing limits the opposition to one goal, their offence is usually good enough to give them a fighting chance. Racing played with great resolve and great confidence…against mostly mediocre to bad teams.
What happened to bring Racing back down to Earth?
It was the players in the formation and the competition, mostly.
When Racing changed to a three center back system against Houston, it took the league a while to catch on…maybe. Against the good attacking teams, the system didn’t seem to yield better results. Against the poorer teams, Racing’s attack just seemed to be better on the day. Racing doesn’t have any elite on-the-ball defender, so when you come up against elite players or really efficient attacking systems, there is always the risk that the defense is going to bend until it breaks. In the 3-5-2 system, it doesn’t matter how much you overload any line if you can’t actually control enough sections of the matches. One can counter all day, but the cumulative effect of having to defend when you aren’t particularly good at it, is very frequently going to result in the dam breaking. Why does Racing give up so many late goal historically? I chalk it up to the fact that they defend too much for too long.
Racing’s best defensive talent on the team is Taylor Flint. She packs the stat line with duels won and interceptions. Who does she look for to progress possession when she wins a dual? When she intercepts a pass, does it end up coming right back the other way when she can’t find an outlet? Out of all of the defensive midfielders in the league who have played more than 500 minutes this season, Flint ranks 36th out of 41 in pass completion percentage. On the team, Flint sits in the middle of the pack. However, Racing as a team has the worst passing percentage in the league. I don’t care what style you play when it comes to possession, but you need to be completing around 75% of your passes, regardless. Racing’s pass completion percentage currently sits at 69.8% according to American Soccer Analysis. For you stat nerds, that sits three standard deviations below the median. For everyone else…that really, really, really sucks. It’s outside the realm of any real possibility that a percentage that bad has anything to do with any random factors. I can definitively say that this is the worst passing team in the league by far. You might beat some mediocre or bad teams with numbers like that, but you definitely aren’t going to consistently beat the top ones. Racing cannot continue to pass the ball this poorly and be taken seriously.
This is especially true if the team is going to average conceding 2.0 goals per match. Chicago concedes 2.3 but just like “How does NASA organize a party? They planet.” Chicago is a hilariously joke. To avoid being next season’s hilarious joke, Racing needs to drive that number back to respectability. To do that I think they have to keep more possession, regardless of what they ultimately do with it, and pass the ball better. A cursory glance shows that Racing’s players are average to below average at every position when it comes to pass completion percentage. I don’t think they can all be that bad, so it must be a style thing. That may be correctable. There has to be a happy medium between pressing and possessing. Of course there is. Plenty of teams do it.
Can Racing make a late push?
No.
I would tell you to come watch anyway, but it could be unbearably hot like it was on Saturday and you don’t need that. Or you could have the Racing players warm up in front of you so that you can’t see the field (my situation, but the Lou City players find a way to not do this). Maybe you need a quiet place to read a book, and I have a nickname for Lynn Family Stadium (“The Library”) when Racing is playing a particularly dull match. Maybe you are getting kicked out of your seats and want to enjoy those for a few more matches. If you want an excuse not to show up, I get it. The club has given you plenty.
Usually, I would follow this up with a “however”, but I don’t feel like it at the moment. I’ll leave that to the “Racing ‘til I Die” crew. I am Racing while convenient and fun. Other than this recent blip, this season has been fairly inconvenient and not a lot of fun.
"Don't blame me for my doubt"
Photo by Elizabeth Shaw
Match Haiku
The heat melts Racing,
And Shores capitalizes.
A clean sheet: wrong side.
“Don’t blame me for my doubt”
“Where Are They Now?” - Drawn to the Deep End, 1997
It was a rather dull and lifeless match for 65 minutes until an unlikely and rather stunning goal from Shores kicked the match up a gear. Lardner came on and briefly injected some life into the Racing attack until Shores finished off her unlikely brace as Racing was pushing to equalize. At least it was overcast and the sun relented for some of the time and switched the environment from unbearable to merely miserable.
One of the things that the league needs to do better is match scheduling. There was absolutely no reason whatsoever to start this match at 6:30 instead of 7:30 or 8:00. The broadcast schedule likely was the main factor in the timing of this match. There was only one match on the NWSL slate yesterday, so it could have been planned to start at 8:00 fairly easily by someone setting the schedule back in the winter. I would also like to see the league move to a single broadcaster in the future and stop pretending that anyone other than NWSL addicts are going to watch all of the matches on a weekend. I would love to see Peacock or Apple TV win the next contract exclusively.
Since the heat was a big factor, the play in the first half seemed slow from both teams. Sears appeared to not have enough energy to use her pace in the few attacking opportunities she had. To be fair, she found herself matched against Gorden when in the previous match, Bev made a conscious effort to organize things so that Sears matched up against Sams more frequently. Leif Semrud had Angel City set up in a flat back four when defending and Racing countered by pressing McMahon higher. Ironically, this ended up meaning Shores had more space behind the Racing defense and her average position for the match was in Racing’s attacking half. Due to having McMahon pressing higher, Quincy’s average position ended up being well into Racing’s attacking half. An examination of Fischer’s average position reiterates how little she was involved, with only 18 touches. Sears only had 18 touches as well but found herself in more dangerous positions.
After winning four in a row, Racing has lost three in a row. Maybe it’s just me, but the league seems to be having less draws this season. Racing definitely is less prone to drawing this year with only two compared to the seven they had last season. That has reinforced my perception of a “feast or famine” feeling this season. Racing has no shot at any points if they don’t score and they didn’t this time. Looking at the talent on the Angel City side, it’s not a shock that they won this match and more of a shock that Racing won the one in Los Angeles.
Post Match Moment of the Match
None of the trio of O’Kane, McMahan and Yanez thought Racing played particularly poorly. I guess I have to agree with that, even if the first half performance felt flat. I would counter that Racing didn’t do enough on the evening to distinguish themselves from a quality perspective. Typically, they have a couple of moments of brilliance. On the night, the trio agreed that there wasn’t enough finishing quality in attack to change the result. If this was any other team than Racing, a 0-0 result would have seemed likely and fair. Brendan and I were able to attend our first media availability together in person, so for me that was the best moment of the post-match activities for me. The second best was to see the Yanez children playing in the ice that got dumped out of one of the coolers. It was a hot one.
Thing I bought at ear X-tacy back in the day
Artist: Blur
Album: The Great Escape
Year: 1995
Format: CD
Store Location: 1534 Bardstown Road
Back when this album was released in 1995, I was pretty invested in it being a good album. It definitely needed to be better than the Oasis’ album that was going to be released a month later. There was this whole “Battle of Britpop” thing, in which Blur “won” the opening salvo. In retrospect it was all very stupid and cynical and made the wrong people all kinds of money. At first listen, The Great Escape sounded like a great album. It had scope and grandeur. The performances on the album were really good. You can’t complain about the care and craftmanship.
However, 30 years on, it barely registers. When I tried to listen to it recently, it is borderline unlistenable. The songs are half-baked and it is trying to be a better version of Parklife or at least a noble follow-up. It fails miserably. Parklife and its predecessor Modern Life is Rubbish are infinitely more re-listenable. Blur would learn their lesson and stop fantasizing about a Britain that never really existed. While Oasis “broke into” America with its mediocre album, Blur decided to embrace American rock and ironically its grunge-like “Song 2” has stayed in the American consciousness much more effectively than the insipid “Wonderwall”. Oasis always took themselves way too seriously and remain annoying today. Damon Album turned into the best chameleonic version of himself when he formed Gorillaz.
I guess my ultimate point is that the songs are important. Blur still plays several songs from The Great Escape when they play live, and a couple are beloved (not by me). There never was enough good raw material to create something of sustainable value or an album that was anything more than a record for a specific point in time.
The Taylor Flint Honorary Yellow Card of the Match
There was a lone yellow card for Racing in this match:
38th Minute: Macey Hodge - Foul - Tactical Foul
This is Macey’s 6th yellow, which I think means she is suspended for the next match. I am never quite sure. She was offically on the “Caution Accumulation Warning” list heading into the match. Regardless, she might have earned herself a place as the namesake for this section next season.
The 2026 UFL Champion Louisville (Draft?) Kings Sports Betting Corner
The race for the final playoff spot is heating up and Angel City sits in 8th as I write this. The race for finishing 15th is also heating up. It seems like a three-team race now with Racing, Boston and Bay as the front runners. The Pride and Dash are the outsiders. There are some mental benefits to not finishing in last place I suppose. Racing will keep fighting and I think any place between 10th and 15th seems possible.
10th place (+200): I think Racing would have to get into the 35-point range to get here.
11th place (+175): This is looking like a 32-point spot.
12th place (+125): Orlando sits here currently, and I think this seems like the right spot for them.
13th place (+125): In my opinion, this is where Racing will end up if they get points against the teams behind them in the table.
14th place (+125): If Racing ends on 28 points, this feels like the spot.
15th place (+150): The bottom would really have to fall out for them to end up here.
16th place (+500): Chicago has this on lock.
“You said that I should look to the future”
It is time to start thinking about next season. Bev returning is likely a 50/50 proposition, so I won’t get into that here. There is a list of players that Racing absolutely much retain. Assuming Sears is gone, Racing must retain Milliet, McMahon, Gacioch, Fischer, Lardner, McKeen, Morris, O’Kane, and Flint. They can’t lose any of those “must haves” and not replace them with equal or superior talent. They also need to upgrade on every line including goalkeeper. If Racing is going to stick with a three center back system, they need another pacy one at least. I thought it was a good call out on the most recent Butchertown Rundown episode that Racing needs another talented dribbler like DeMelo. I fully believe that O’Kane can be a good in-possession midfielder if she has better ball possessors around her. You make a possession trade off with Flint on the pitch, but you can’t have Flint and Hodge in there together and expect anything other than a scrappy match. You can win scrappy matches if the defense is better, but Racing’s is still below average in this department, to be extremely generous.
In my opinion, it’s borderline criminal to not be getting minutes from Philippus unless she isn’t good enough. Either Racing needs to play her and find out instead of just letting her be in the squad, or they already know she isn’t good enough and just stringing all of us along. Hase has had a tough year, and I could see her moving on (her 2027 option is mutual). I was hoping to see Taylor White get some minutes in this match, but maybe we’ll see her soon. Weber has been sent to some sort of purgatory and looks lost at the moment (she is signed through 2028 and likely going to be around). Looking at the roster, most of the players will still be here next season unless they advocate to leave. Racing’s front office sure isn’t going to kick anyone out and pay for someone better. I wonder what performance triggers are in Arin Wright’s contract. Surely, she has already hit them in order to earn herself a 2027 season in Louisville. It’s not a roster full of talent that gives me a warm fuzzy feeling, so unless something changes in the offseason, expect another year of bottom half of the table performances.
Racing 0 Angel City 2 Player Rating
Photo by Elizabeth Shaw
A brace from Shores means that Racing is on a 3-game skid. It was a low energy match and result was fair.
Bloomer-6: Not much she could have done on the second goal. On the first she maybe could have covered the shooting angle better.
Hase-6: Looked solid in her second start in a row.
Gacioch-6: Alright, I guess.
Wright-7: Looked better in this match than she has in the last couple.
Jean-6: Maybe could have been tighter on the first goal, but that's probably harsh.
McMahon-6: Deployed higher in the press to tilt the formation.
Hodge-6: Was a decent replacement for Flint.
O'Kane-7: Fairly lively.
Milliet-7: Best attacker unitl Lardner came in.
Fischer-5: Lost some of her sharpness in the last few matches.
Sears-5: Along with Kayla, seemed a little slow against Angel City's backline.
Racing v Angel City -1
Hot off of being named to the NWSL Best XI for August, Sears and Milliet face an Angel City side finally getting healthy and coming off of a five-goal performance against Boston. While Boston is Boston, a healthy Angel City is always a daunting challenge. In particular, Angel City’s wing defenders will be different for the rematch against Racing, if they stick with the same eleven as they did against Boston.
For Racing, the focus could go one of two ways: try scoring four goals or try to keep a clean sheet. Both seem improbable although Racing has scored four goals in a match this season. Obviously “score four goals” isn’t a plan, but all indications are that Racing is going to have to get points via shootouts. The best plan for Racing will be to try to take the air out of the ball in the first half and win a 45-minute match. If the first half is exciting, that is likely bad news for Racing regardless of the scoreline.
Historically, it could be argued that Angel City is Racing’s favorite opponent. They hold a 5-2-2 record against them (it doesn’t matter here, but the middle 2 is the number of draws and I list things win-draw-loss and not win-loss-draw like some psychopath). There have been some classics. This one feels like Angel City, once again, has more to play for and therefore, once again, Racing might like to play spoiler. My favorite match in this series is probably still the one in the video below, especially because Angel City scored first and the crowd went nuts.
There’s nothing quite like the sound of the air being sucked out of the stadium in an important match like that one. The names Davis, Chidiac, and Ekic were on the scoresheet for Racing. The assists came from Howell and Fox. Milliet won the penalty. You’re welcome for the trip down memory lane and the reminder that there has been some really good talent on Racing at times, but there has never been enough of it at once. What hasn’t changed unfortunately is that the back line that Racing put out for that match (excluding Fox) was extremely pedestrian. I would definitely take Racing’s current back line and isn’t that a sad indictment on how bad things have always been.
The central defense has always been Racing’s biggest issue, and the main problem is that Racing has never had a really good player in that position in their prime. Bonner was 30 when she signed for Racing, Erceg was 33 and Wright 31. It’s the danger of signing “names” past their prime. As a policy for Racing moving forward, I wouldn’t sign any expected starter that was older than 27, especially in defense. There are plenty of good defenders in the league over 27, but they are expensive and not likely to sign more than one contract for Racing.
“I am bad dreams made real”
Courtesy Soccer Holdings LLC
Match Haiku
Two goals don’t suffice
To weather the coming wave.
When will Racing learn?
“I am bad dreams made real”
“Voice of the Father” - Drawn to the Deep End, 1997
Racing couldn’t hold a two-goal lead and quite frankly, I wasn’t the least bit shocked. That isn’t meant as an indictment of Racing necessarily, just the sober reality of what happens when Racing plays good teams. Racing continues to struggle to counter momentum when opponents outplay them in the second half of matches. This has been the case pretty much since the inception of the team. Against good teams, no lead is safe, because Racing has never been able to take the air out of the ball through possession or an airtight defense. You pretty much have to have one or the other when you build leads against good teams. Racing had its false dawn against the NWSL also-rans, but that’s all it was.
Those of you who have stuck with me over the years know I prefer a possession-oriented philosophy. The ability to create close-control possession both tactically and through roster construction is a tough thing to do and even tougher to do on a budget. High possession doesn’t always win, but it creates good conditions. San Diego out possessed Racing 72% to 28%. That in and of itself isn’t necessarily telling. What is telling is the number of touches in the opponent’s box and total shots, where Racing lost those battles 43 to 13 and 32 to 13 respectively. There are some who will say, and it is anecdotally true, that you can win matches on the wrong side of those numbers. Racing was winning that battle at halftime. However, simple math will tell you that in the long run you are better off with good possession that creates more opportunities rather than having to rely on being clinical on the fewer opportunities created through a more aggressive style. Obviously, you want your team to be able to do both. Racing only has one of those options in its locker when it plays teams in the top half of the table. They’ll win the odd match here and there, but they will always lose more than they win.
Racing did play a really good first 25 minutes. They did the things they needed to do to give themselves a shot. They made a counterattack pay off on a good pass from Fischer to Milliet and later scored on a set piece opportunity. Sears had a shot on target before the two goals, and that was it for the match for shots on target. They were clinical on two out of three chances that had an xG of greater than .20. The Wave only had one of those (Byars’ equalizer) but since they had ten shots on target compared to Racing’s three, they didn’t have to be nearly as clinical.
Racing lost a war of attrition, and they lose more than their fair share of those. Leads are built with your Starting XI, games won with your subs and silverware with your roster. Racing’s substitutes this season have been more productive than in previous seasons, but the back end of their roster still doesn’t compare to the league’s best. In this match specifically, I think they lost because they couldn’t swing the momentum. You can only defend for so long unless you both love to defend and are good at it. Racing doesn’t mind defending but there is very little evidence that they are good at it.
Post Match Moment of the Match
When I posed some numbers to Bev after the match, she surprised me by asking me to split the numbers into each half. It was insightful on her part. The first half numbers on possession and number of shots by San Diego where almost identical to the numbers in the second half. In fact, the numbers were eerily similar for both teams except for cumulative XG in both halves, meaning that the quality of chances were better for Racing in the first half and better for the Wave in the second half. (I am fine with xG as an indicator of the quality of the chance, my historical disdain for cumulative xG is as a reliable predictor/explainer of the scoreline). The funny thing about numbers is that we will each take away different messages. I don’t know for sure what Bev would say. What I took away from the quick glance at the 1st/2nd half splits is that the styles were reflected in the numbers.
Milliet and Bloomer were also made available for media after the match. They both spoke about the early second half goal being the turning point. They also said that San Diego made a tactical change that they struggled to adjust to quickly enough. Racing has been good in recent matches at coming out of the halftime break to win the first 15-minute tactical battle. They clearly lost it this time and even though they were able to stem the tide briefly for a stretch after the first Wave goal, San Diego always looked like equalizing and once they did, always looked like going ahead.
The Taylor Flint Honorary Yellow Card of the Match
Racing made up for their recent well-behaved stretch by picking up three yellow cards in this match.
58th Minute: Kayla Fischer - Foul - Tactical Foul
59th Minute: Quincy McMahon - Foul - Tactical Foul
86th Minute: Macy Hodge - Foul - Tactical Foul
Hodge seemed puzzled by hers and it did look soft. The other two were clear and earned. I think Fischer’s recent good behavior means that this one doesn’t yet cost her a suspension.
Madchester Song to Make You Feel Indifferent
This is a one-off single that the band released while they were presumably supposed to be off working on material for the follow up to their debut album. It's honestly a pretty lazy song. It took them 5 and a half years to produce the follow up to their classic debut and the result frankly sucked.
“Time devours you”
It sounds insane, right, but don’t you trust Racing more when they go into halftime with the score 0-0 against a good team instead of with a lead? If Racing had missed its early chances and the halftime score was 0-0, does San Diego make the same adjustments? It’s stupid but I do think about it.
The funny thing about this match is that I don’t think any of the performances by Racing’s players were particularly poor. However, the collective result was still pretty bad. What do you do with information like that? Do you penalize or punish a player for playing in the only system that has a chance of working when that system is torn apart by a better team? Two of the three goals that beat Racing were low chance efforts that happened to be struck well. Byars’ first was an excellent strike as was Dali’s winner. Racing came out flat in the second half and should have put more pressure on Byars. The Dali goal was much the same in that Racing didn’t close down the space around her quickly enough. It’s fine margins. We’ve heard it before. At some point don’t we just have to come to the conclusion that Racing’s on-ball defending isn’t good enough. There definitely isn’t enough defensive team speed to cover lapses in concentration.
Racing’s mid-season charge towards relevance is likely over and done with. At this point it serves nobody to have Arin Wright play for 90 minutes in the last 8 matches. Phillipus hasn’t seen match time for a while, so Racing needs to figure out what they have in her. Any roster building for 2027 must start with the defense in mind, even if it means rebuilding the midfield instead of focusing purely on the nominal defenders. If Racing is going to concede two goals per match on average (which is worst in the league) I’d rather them concede them with players on the pitch who have the chance to get better. Jean is serviceable at best at the moment but could still improve. Wright is likely done being an elite defender. There is no shame in it, but she can’t be a primary part of the plans next season if Racing is going to improve its defense in the long term. I think she still has a year or two left in the league, but Racing needs someone who can start a turnaround, not someone whose best days are behind her.
Wave 3 Racing 2 Player Ratings
We saw the best and worst of Racing in a 90 minute microcosm. They can be deadly in atrack, but really have no way to control a match with a lead against a good team.
Bloomer-6: Had some good saves, but can't face 32 shots and be expected to do much better.
Hase-5: In a match like this, the wing backs need to help more in possession.
Gacioch-6: Looked to be strategically placed high to help with the press.
Wright-7: Nice assist on the set piece.
Jean-5: Got beaten one-on-one more than once.
McMahon-5: Like Hase, if Racing is going to play in this formation, she needs to do better in possession.
Flint-7: Great on the goal, but the lack of midfield control lost this match for Racing.
O'Kane-6: This may seam like a harsh rating for a player with a 95% passing accuracy, but in a match like this she needs to impose herself more.
Milliet-7: Had a great, composed finish but has to get more touches as midfielder or Racing is actually playing with a 2 midfielder system.
Fischer-7: Had a composed assist to Milliet, but has to be a more accurate passer when she drops deeper.
Sears-6: Quiet night for her.
Wave v Racing -1
Racing finally faces San Diego for the first time this season on Friday. Louisville is entering a stretch of matches where the competition will start to be more difficult. They have San Diego twice, Gotham, Utah and KC who are all in the top half. They will get the two other California teams and the two expansion teams in Denver and Boston to balance out the schedule. Racing will need to take a decent number of points from the six teams that are higher up on the table in order to make a last-ditch effort towards the playoffs.
San Diego poses a particular threat down the wings in Barcenas and Byars. Trinity Byars torched Utah in the Wave’s last match getting two goals and two assists. Barcenas had a goal and an assist as well. It will be a good litmus test for Racing’s back line. Ludmina in the middle of those two is no slouch. It is a frankly terrifying attack, especially if you consider what Chicago’s attackers were able to do Racing on Sunday.
The elephant in the room (or in cyberspace, I guess) is that Racing’s good run of form came mostly against the NWSL also-rans. A good four-match run can blind you to the truth. Here is a list of the net points taken against the other teams in the league this season:
Gotham (1 Match): -3
Washington (2): -4
Portland (2): 0
Utah (1): -3
North Carolina (2): -6
San Diego (0): N/A
KC (1): -3
Seattle (2): 0
Angel City (1): +3
Houston (2): -4
Orlando (2): +6
Denver (1): -3
Bay (1): -3
Boston (1): +3
Chicago (2): 0
Racing only has a positive differential on three teams, all who are out of the playoff positions at the moment. Racing has neutral differentials against Portland, Seattle and Chicago. Two of those are pretty decent differentials for the season. That leaves eight teams where Racing has a negative point differential this season. They have a chance to get equal with Utah, KC, Denver, Gotham and Bay. In a league where half of the teams make the playoffs, I think you want a net score of around zero to be a safe bet. Racing has one of -17.
However, Racing still has a chance to prove the doubters (including me), wrong.
In the pre-match media availability, Bev shared that the strategy on recovering from a loss to end a winning streak was to not get hung up on the result. I agree. However, the defensive performance on Sunday was not nearly good enough. Racing will be up against (presumably) Byars twice, Chawinga, Sam Kerr and Jaedyn Shaw, and Tanaka from a “scary-good attacker” perspective in their toughest five matches on paper. They’ll certainly have to find a better way to deal with them than they dealt with Swanson in Chicago. Even if Racing went perfect against everyone else, which would give them 35 points, they are going to have to get something from a few of these tougher matches (36 points from 26 matches got the job done for Gotham last season).
McKeen has one more match before she becomes unavailable for a while, so Racing is going to be short-handed in midfield/attack until she returns, unless there is other help on the way (don’t hold your breath, but maybe don’t rule it out completely).
“But still shadows they come”
Courtesy Connor Cunningham
Match Haiku
The streak ends at four.
Pure class shines through from Swanson.
Racing: defenseless.
“But still shadows they come”
“Speak to Me Someone” - Drawn to the Deep End, 1997
It was always going to end. We all knew that. While the Stars might not seem like the most likely opponent to end Racing’s hot streak, in retrospect it was utterly predictable. Racing seems to frequently luck out when it comes to facing Chicago in that Mal Swanson frequently is unavailable when these two teams meet. I was sad to see her go off with an upper leg injury in the second half. Racing’s defense probably wasn’t, but by then Racing had been exposed and the Stars’ confidence had to be high. I have said it more than once: Racing does not have a playoff caliber defense. Of course, the best attackers in the league are going to have a field day against Racing. The question is always going to be “Can Racing outscore their opponent?” On this day, two goals wasn’t enough.
Most worrying however, it that the back line looked disorganized. They played the entire match like they typically play the final few minutes. Wright looked especially off her game and made more than a couple uncharacteristic errors. Racing’s back line rarely looks as cohesive as the best units, but on Sunday they looked particularly puzzled about who was supposed to mark who, especially in transition. The first goal by Joseph was created by a comedy of errors. Gacioch gambled by trying to win the ball high up the pitch and when she got beaten, left Flint isolated against Swanson. She was nowhere near her actually, and then Swanson drew all four Racing defenders to her leaving Johnson isolated. The looked like a group that has never played together in that moment. The second goal was created by allowing every Stars players that touched the ball too much space. Full credit to Chicago in this sequence, as they moved the ball quickly and with purpose. There should be a full inquest on the third goal. Grosso was left grossly unmarked. Gacioch, O’Kane and Flint all stood in a straight, vertical line ball-watching and were in no position to stop Grosso’s shot. Overall, it was a masterclass in how NOT to defend.
The good news is that I think some of Racing’s issues are fixable in defense. The formation has done much of the heavy lifting, but Chicago is the first team to see the three-center-back system twice. It’s likely that their coaching staff found some weakness that now Bev and her staff can also diagnose and try to correct. On the other hand, some of Racing’s problems on the last two goals looked to be a slight effort problem. Let’s chalk that up to fatigue and hope that it corrects itself.
Offensively, Racing still looks capable of scoring in a plethora of ways. Milliet probably won’t take too many corners the rest of the season, but she did okay here. It was good for Morris to see the ball go in, and now she should have even more confidence. Flint finally scored from open play, and she will always be a weapon.
Let’s talk about Katie O’Kane. I felt like the team was so much worse without her in the starting lineup. She has to get some rest at some point, but maybe this match turns out differently if she starts. She is Racing’s engine. It is not quite to the degree that Sav DeMelo was Racing’s engine in the past, but it is pretty close. McKeen and Milliet don’t have as much controlling influence as she does, so without her in the lineup maybe Racing was tilted a little too much towards attack. Going back and looking at the previous few matches in the win streak, O’Kane often sits deeper when Milliet goes high. In this match, McKeen and Milliet ended up playing a similar role and that resulted in Racing being over-indexed high up the pitch and slightly to the right side on attack. The good news here is that if healthy, O’Kane should start and play significant minutes in the remaining matches, especially with McKeen on international duty.
Post Match Moment of the Match
Ellie Jean and Makenna Morris were made available after the match. They both said that they weren’t going to let a single match define the season and that they will just have to build upon what they learned in this match. Makenna was excited to get her first goal for Racing, especially since it was so quick after coming on. Jean did concede that the communication in the back probably could have been better in this match when I asked her about how Racing seemed to be a little disorganized at times. Bev has been pretty open that during this stretch, the staff hasn’t dwelt too much on over analyzing the film when they win and have such short turnaround times. I asked that if after a loss it was a chance to go to the film and try to be selective on some things to review with the team. Bev said that she would have to “narrow in” on what to focus on. I think when she reviews the tape, there are some things that will leap out at her.
The Taylor Flint Honorary Yellow Card of the Match
It was the third match in a row with no cards for Racing. Early on, Corbyn May set the tone by allowing some contact and letting a pull back from a Chicago defender on Sears go unpunished as Sears broke away. I rather prefer the “let them play” officials, especially if they keep a lid on the match by doing so. It was one of the better officiated matches in my memory so credit where credit is due to May and team.
Racing has the reputation as a gritty team that likes to play physically, so it does beg the question if Racing has lost some of its physicality in the change of formation. They rank in the middle of the league for fouls committed and in the bottom third for tackles. I am not complaining, as I like a cleaner style of play. However, Racing probably should have tried to be more physically imposing in this match. It’s something to keep an eye on.
Madchester Song to Make You Feel Better
It’s a bit “Route One” but sometimes that’s for the best. It's impossible to be in a bad mood after listening to this song. Hey Rowetta…what’s he gonna do?
“Will I ever dream again?”
Racing came tumbling back down to earth, so now the task at hand is to not crash too hard. Since the start of the season, the San Diego Wave has been a bit hit and miss. Racing will be hopeful to catch them on a “miss” night on Friday. I think fans can still hope and dream, but a splash of cold water to the face now shows Racing still needing to climb above five teams to reach the playoff positions. Racing was the worst defensive team in terms of goal conceded in the playoff positions last year. The fact that they have already allowed 40 goals in 21 matches this season compared to 38 goals in 26 matches last season tells the story. Top tier central defenders are one of the rarest commodities in the NWSL, and even they have off stretches. It was a position that needed upgrading, and I think Gacioch speaks to that because she has been solid. However, Racing still needs offseason upgrades. All signs still point to Emma Sears leaving either this season or during the offseason, so Racing should be looking for center back prospects in return for her. Straight cash (homie) doesn’t help because I think we all know that it would just be used to buy down financial losses.
Racing has gone from being awful, to mid, to pretty awful again in terms of goals conceded in its six-year history. Winning starts from the back line. It is painfully much easier said than done though. However, this does seem like one area that could be addressed through Racing’s roster building philosophy. They aren’t going to make many (any?) flashy transfers, so Racing is going to have to scour the college ranks and current NWSL rosters for opportunities. They have shown the ability to do that with pretty good results. What they haven’t been able to do is get much consistent production from gambles on players from leagues outside of the NWSL, other top leagues, or the college ranks. Some of these players showed flashes, but there were just as many forgettable ones. Scour here to be reminded.
In the meantime, the technical staff is probably going to have to be clever in how they disguise what got exposed in Chicago. I hesitate to call out the glaringly obvious too much, but I guess I will. Racing hasn’t played in this new formation long enough for the back five to know where each other is going to be on a consistent basis yet. All three goals might have been prevented if Racing covered Chicago’s spacing better. As Jean alluded to after the match, it looked to be a communication issue to some degree. However, there often isn’t time to communicate during an attack and until the defensive spacing for Racing becomes more instinctual, they will be at some risk.
Stars 3 Racing 2 Player Ratings
Racing's defensive frailty raises its head again. It will have to be back to the drawing board against San Diego.
Bloomer-6: Had a pretty good match and some important saves. None of the goals were her fault.
Hase-6: Managed a few good attacking moments.
Gacioch-6: The best of a poor defensive line.
Wright-4: Looked off all day and has to take some blame for the disorganized effort.
Jean-5: An unlucky touch from her led to Swanson's goal, but she needed to get closer on the initial movement.
McMahon-5: Out of position on the first goal.
Flint-8: The only bright spot defensively, and scored a good header.
McKeen-7: The sharpest player in the match in possession, but only had 20 touches.
Milliet-7: Great assist to Flint.
Fischer-7: Tested Atkinson a couple of times.
Sears-6: Not involved nearly enough.
Morris-8: Great confident finish for Racing’s second.
Stars v Racing -1
Racing looks to win 5 in a row on Sunday in Chicago.
The two teams matched up at the start of Racing’s four-match winning streak and Racing mostly controlled that match until a Bloomer error made things tight at the end. No matter how good a team is, five-match winning streaks are somewhat rare. I asked Bev if she ever recalled her longest winning streak as a pro. She didn’t recall, but I assume that it was the seven-match run at the start of the Seattle Reign's 2014 season. That team went 16 unbeaten on the way to winning the shield and losing in the playoff final.
The feat of winning five in a row is even tougher now, but there still have been three five-match win streaks so far this year: San Diego, Utah, and Washington. Bev cautioned not to overlook the Stars despite their 5-0 defeat to Houston. They did get off 12 shots and a few quality ones.
This away trip will be a keen test of Racing’s focus. It is the type of match that you would expext a good team to control from start to finish, but control through possession isn't Racing’s style. They'll probably look to press Chicago into danger early and try to put them on the back foot.