Reign v Racing Preview
Racing is already in Tacoma preparing for tomorrow’s late night EDT match vs. the OL Reign. It appears that this trip is already better than the trip to Portland. The OL Reign is the final team that Racing has yet to play. The Reign still are a bit tough to figure out in my opinion.
First, let's look at the stats. The Reign are second in the league in shots on target with almost 6 per match. They are also good at creating big chances and are tied for the league league in that category with NCC at 21. However, they have only converted 2 of those big chances and are only averaging 0.9 goals per match. The Reign do sit 8th in the table now after spending much of the year in 9th. There recent form has been much better with 2 wins in 3 matches, but those two wins are against a slumping Orlando Pride and bottom of the table KC. The Reign have tended to win the possession battle against their opponents recently and keep it close even if they don’t win. They average 52.4% possession on the year which is 4th in the league. I expect the Reign to win the possession battle in this match-up, and frankly do it pretty easily.
That means Racing should set up to counter attack. At least that's how I would play it since a) you're on the road, b) the other team likes to have the ball and c) I think Racing's best chances to score come through quick attacks and not long build up play. What the heck do I know, so expect the same formation if not the same starting XI. If Nadia Nadim starts, it will be interesting to see who's spot she takes. Ebony and Nadia I believe would both prefer to play in the middle. Ebony shifted to the left side of attack when Nadia came into the game against Washington, but they weren't on the field much together since Ebony was subbed off for Cheyna. The other thing to watch is to see if Martin keeps her place. I believe she will, but it's really 50/50 in my mind. Brooke Hendrix wasn't in the 18 last match, so I wonder what's up with that. A full roster makes Coach Holly's decisions tough and usually only an injury or a late lead sees a CB sub. As I write this, there hasn't been a published injury report. Racing buries those in their game notes, so as a public service, I will start tweeting those out.
I didn't make a prediction last match and we saw how that went. Let's go with a 1-1 draw and hope I'm wrong in the right direction again.
