Racing 3 - KC 1 Post Match Thoughts
Courtesy EM Dash Photography
Racing had, dare I say it…a rather easy victory today vs. KC. I’m not quite sure what to make of it because I thought: a) Racing played well and b) KC looked exactly like a last place team that has only earned 4 points all year. Other than the clever free kick that caught Racing napping at the end of the first half, and a couple of last ditch efforts late that required saves from Betos, KC's efforts were rather tame. Now, I know it's starting to seem like I'm beating a dead horse here, but the numbers don’t tell the entire story. The stat sheet is going to tell you that KC outshot Racing 14 to 12, and 9 to 3 on target. This is incredibly misleading. Other than the goal and the late last ditch efforts, none of KC's shots were remotely threatening. I would go so far as to say that their overall performance lacked conviction. I almost fell out of my seat at the end of the first half because I was convinced that KC were already set to go home, let alone go to the locker room. This also demonstrates Racing's tendency to lose focus, and how dangerous that can be.
However, that's enough of the negatives. On the positive side, Racing controlled the match for the most part. All 3 goals were well taken, with Salmon's being the pick of the bunch. Another statistical anomaly that I don’t think paints the complete picture is passing accuracy. The numbers say that Simon only completed 58% of her passes and McCaskill only 61.5% but I don't recall any of those incomplete passes being a bad decision or causing any real harm. Simon was extremely active and led the team in touches (71). Savannah was second in touches with 69. Two of her passes turned into assists. She threw herself in front of a shot late that probably wouldn't have changed the outcome, but definitely reminded you what Savannah is all about. On a side note, Savannah's parents were in attendance and I can't imagine how proud they must have been with her performance. I stated in my Player Ratings post, that this may have been the best performance ever by a Racing player. I stand by that.
Nadia Nadim won the Player of the Match in the fan vote, and it's hard to be too bothered by that because she had a fantastic game too. She scored and created 3 chances, so I see how she won the vote. Salmon scored as well, but somewhat worryingly only had 19 touches of the ball in her 69 minutes. For comparison Cheyna had 11 touches in 21 minutes and also scored. Cheyna looked impressive to me and I think she probably deserves a chance to start in one of the Women's Cup matches because I think there will be some rotation in those.
Overall, it was a good performance and 3 points count the same regardless of who the opponent is. I still think Racing is probably still just a notch below the 8 teams above them in the table, but clearly better than KC. I know there has been some hand wringing about KC not having to protect any players in next years expansion draft, but I’m not sure any of them would be drafted anyway. It will be a tough remainder of the year for KC, but maybe they will prove to be a tougher match-up for future opponents. As for Racing, Gotham should be an interesting test next Sunday.
