Angel City v Racing Preview
Courtesy USA Today Sports Images
Racing will be looking to recover from a stinging loss to Portland where they played decently for the first 45 and then succumbed to a much better Thorns team in the second half. Personally, I don’t believe Angel City has near the amount of quality that Portland does, so I expect a much better performance from Racing on Sunday evening. In keeping with recent tradition in that these “previews” are only previews in the sense that I write about them prior to the match, and then pretty much say whatever is currently on my mind, I want to share a few tidbits and then get to the match at hand.
If Emily Fox plays in the next two matches for Racing (and there is no reason that she shouldn’t), she will be the second player to make 50 NWSL appearances for Racing. This will be a little more difficult for the team to celebrate, as there will not be another chance for Emily to appear in front of the Lynn Family Stadium crowd until next year. Look for the club to post something during the October 1st match on social media and then potentially announce something prior, during, or after the match. Being that we are a couple of matches away from this being an absolute certainty, let’s stick a pin in this for now but I wanted to make fans aware to be on the lookout for something in regard to this milestone.
Zach Allen-Kelly made a famous prediction that Racing would “turn over more than 50% of its roster next year” on one of our prediction columns for the State of Louisville. I always had it in my mind that he meant from the end of the 2021 season to start of the 2022 season. Looking at that number, it was just under 50%. Through another measure comparing the end of season roster in 2021 to the end of season roster in 2022, only 7 players (28%) survived a full second season with Racing (Milliet, Fox, Martin, Ekic, Lund, Bonner, and Nadim). I don’t bring this up to be a downer, but to remind you that there are 7 players who only have an option for 2023 (Beall, Bloomer, Bonner, Chidiac, Ekic, Goins, and Malham) and 2 whose contracts are completely up (Martin and Cheyna Matthews). Chidiac mentioned this in passing on the most recent version of the Vamos Morados podcast. Technically, Beall, Bloomer, Ekic, Goins, Malham and Martin couldn’t play for another NWSL team unless Racing gave permission, Bonner and Chidiac I believe would be more likely to head back overseas, and Matthews has full free agency. It will likely be another high turnover offseason even with some of the key players locking in a few more years. Zach and I will likely to another off-season prediction column, so we will see what his forecast is for 2023. He was eerily close last year regardless of the measure.
Players will be looking to exit Louisville and return home during their off seasons, so the next home match on October 1st may be your last chance to show your favorite players your appreciation. I did get to have a couple of post season interactions with Michelle Betos, my favorite player last year but that was purely accidental. Start to brace yourself to see some players in a Racing kit for the last time.
As for the match in LA, Angel City have loads to play for and Racing would enjoy mothing more that making sure at least one of the expansion teams doesn’t make this year’s playoffs. In their own ways, both Angel City and San Diego have set a new standard for expansion teams. I don’t expect the next few expansion teams to be as successful on the pitch as the two SoCal teams, but they have set a blueprint. The 2023 won’t see expansion, and I think a little stability might help all of the teams in the offseason. What would help Racing the most is another high draft pick, which they are looking very likely for 3rd or better, and a couple of decent performances in the last two matches. However, I’m not sure how much positivity or negativity carries over from season to season, but a win in LA would be fair payback for the early season loss to Angel City at home.
