Thorns v Racing Preview
As Racing are headed into their final stretch of matches for the year, the focus will naturally turn more and more to the 2023 season. After the recent announcement of Lauren Milliet’s contract extension, the club recently announced the contract extension of Sav DeMelo through 2025. I have to believe that the next priorities are 1) Fox and 1A) Howell. Not that everyone else on the roster is expendable, but those are the players that will be entering the prime of their careers in the next few seasons and as such require locking down. Björkegren spoke about expecting the young players’ contributions to increase in the next two seasons, so I think Racing will try to get a core group of younger players to lock in their seasons at age 25. Research tends to point to age 25 as the most productive plus or minus a couple of years on either side, with age outperforming youth just outside of the peak range. DeMelo is now contracted to spend her 25th, 26th and 27th years in Louisville. I tend to believe that 27 is the prime age, but that is really based more on what I have seen in the men’s game. Either way, DeMelo will be spending her statistically most-likely best years at Racing. Fox is also 24 and Howell is 22, while Milliet will turn 26 this December.
However, of immediate concern is a west coast trip that Racing is undertaking as I write this. The plan is to take the entire available squad on the trip in hopes of getting the entire roster some experience in playing in front of large crowds, or at least experiencing the environment. Portland and Angel City usually have large crowds and Portland at least has a “good” crowd (I’m not saying anything against Angel City, I just don’t know what their reputation is. If it’s like the other soccer clubs in LA I would assume it is a good crowd too.) Every other NWSL club’s fans will probably be cheering pretty heartily for Racing in both matches. A win or draw in either match definitely hurts their opponents’ playoff prospects (Thorns in seeding and Angel City in possible elimination). Racing will be looking to improve on a better but imperfect performance vs. Orlando. I think it would be fun to start 7 defenders against Portland just to grind out a draw, but everyone else’s definition of “fun” probably doesn’t match mine. I still think the best way to win when you are outmatched is to play strictly on the counter, but for Racing another good performance in the preferred style and system is probably much more valuable than a win or draw. Anyway…look at this insanely defensive lineup I made:
I’ll eat my laptop if that is the lineup, but it’s fun to dream.
Portland’s overall form hasn’t been great, but they have taken 16 out of a possible 18 points from teams currently in the bottom four, which is exactly what good teams do. I expect Racing to put up a good fight, but ultimately fall short.
