Racing 1 OL Reign 2 Post Match Thoughts
Courtesy Connor Cunningham
Cup finals, no matter how trivial, are the hardest losses to swallow from my perspective. It's especially hard to watch another team win a trophy on your home field. This tournament reinforced my belief that Racing are at least another offseason away from challenging at the top end of the NWSL.
Coach Björkegren is somewhat stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to squad rotation and substitutions. He believes in his starters and they work so hard for him that I feel like he thinks his best chance to win is to keep players in the match who are playing well. Conversely, you have to believe that Laura Harvey had a rotation and substitution plan for this tournament and stuck to it. The Reign definitely have more bench strength, so her plan made sense and ultimately worked to perfection. I have asked the question of Coach Björkegren a number of ways and at different times during the season: Are you rotating players enough? I don't think there is a right or wrong answer to this, but in his mind I think his answer is “Yes, for the squad I have.” My answer is “No, because the squad isn't quite right.” It's really two sides of the same coin with the outcome being that the squad is still a work in progress. The reality is the sqaud is always going to be a work in progress and at best you probably get it 90 to 95% right. Racing isn't there yet.
What Racing is really lacking is enough game changing substitutes. In a league season I think you can get away with a set Starting XI (even then it is suboptimal), but in its current format the NWSL Championship is won through a knockout tournament. So is the Challenge Cup. And even though it isn't as meaningful, so is the Women's Cup. Last year the substitutes won the final for Racing. Yuki Nagasato scored the go ahead goal and Katie Lund won the shootout. Imagine putting on a Fresh Lauren Milliet or Emina Ekic in the 60th minute. I think that might have made a difference, but Milliet is required at right back at the moment and Ekic was given the start. Racing's limited flexibility doesn't really allow for a personnel change-up or a curveball during the match. It's 90 minutes of fastballs, and fastballs lose speed the later you get in a game. Racing tries mid-game adjustments in its tactics to change matches. Sometimes it works, but it would be nice to have the bench to do a tactical change with fresh personnel.
There isn't really much to play for during the rest of the season, so keep an eye on how the squad sticks together and learns to play better as a single unit. There can't be a huge amount of turnover in the Starting XI next year if there is to be any real success. There will be pieces added, but at a minimum the Starting XI next year has to include Fox, Lund, Howell, DeMelo, Chidiac, Wang, and Kgatlana. The players I didn’t mention may still be around, but those are the key core in my mind. They need as many minutes together as possible before the season ends.
