Angel City v Racing -1
Hey! I actually remembered to take a picture for once!
Now, of course, I didn’t get a picture of them looking directly at me. That would be weird, right? I don’t know how many of you interview people on a consistent basis, but instead of concentrating on what they are saying, many times I am sitting there making sure to keep good eye contract and coming up with my next question as I am almost always woefully ill-prepared. Two weeks in a row, I have referred to Lou City’s opponent Pittsburgh as Houston while talking to Coach Simon Bird. When I used to have time to go to practice, I was better at getting pictures, but the arrangement for this year’s media availability has made that logistically challenging. Anyway, enjoy a slightly out of focus picture of Quincy McMahon and Mirann Gacioch not looking at me.
They were looking at me when I asked questions. Since I have slept twice since then I had to go back and watch the video to remember what we talked about. Oh yeah: taking positives from the Houston game. Mirann said that while they did take some positives, the team felt like they left two points on the table. Quincy added that the team felt like they were playing within their identity fairly well in the match, but just need to close things out better.
Quincy attributed the team’s lack of a clean sheet all season to some of the availability challenges that the team has suffered in defense. She did say that the flexibility shown by players was a positive and Mirann added that playing with different players has probably prepared them to build trust with more players than they would have with a consistent back line. Since Taylor Flint is suspended for the match against Angel City, it will once again be a different back line than the last match, regardless of whether or not they keep the same formation. The travel challenges of the week are definitely on everyone’s mind. Quincy said that playing in two good markets is exciting because the team can feed off the energy of the crowd and hopefully spin the energy into a positive. That is one of the main differences in this year compared to last year. Racing was a good road team in 2025. This season, they have yet to win a road point.
Bev talked about preparing for this specific trip since the schedule came out. She did mention that the team would be able to charter from LA to KC and then home. To some degree, this three-game stretch is just about surviving to the end of it and to not be out of gas at home against Chicago, which is certainly the best opportunity for 3 points. I asked Bev about the 3-5-2 system’s effectiveness now that she had time to study it. She said that she was pleased with how it worked against a specific opponent, but it wasn’t to be taken as a shift in philosophy as the principles remain the same regardless of the system. She added that she has been asking the team to give bigger “chunks” of good performance instead of 10 minutes here and 15 minutes there, and I think we saw that against Houston. Angel City is a team that Louisville has had some success against in the past, especially when you consider how Racing dominated portions of matches, even if the results didn’t always come.
FREE EMMA SEARS
The “Secondary Transfer Window” is open until September 7th. There are only 7 matches for Racing after the window closes. To hold on to Sears when those 7 matches are almost certain to be meaningless from a Racing perspective seem like idiocy at best and malice at worst. For a club with documented malice in its history, I guess idiocy is the lesser of two bad labels. I have to think that the closer that the September 7th date gets, the more Racing will be open to a transfer. However, Sears was overworked last season, and she hasn’t been available for every match this season. Therefore, injury is always a risk. Imagine having to shut her down after playing 3 matches in 7 days, not getting her back for the rest of the season (while paying her salary), and then getting less for her in the offseason. I know I wouldn’t run a club that way.
Look, I am throwing everything as the wall here to see what sticks, but because the decision to hold onto her seem so monumentally misguided that I can’t imagine running out of ammo. I will keep pointing this out every chance I get.
