Come clean and laugh

Courtesy of the NWSL

Match Haiku

It’s nearly all change

And Racing pays the full price.

Time to brush it off.

“Come clean and laugh”

“I Love You. What are You?” - Drawn to the Deep End, 1997

I think Bev got this 100% right.

Racing’s performance and result cannot and should not be evaluated in isolation. This was match against a very good team and even a full-strength Racing would have struggled. One site had the Current as a 66% favorite to win BEFORE Racing announced its lineup. This was a match Racing was always likely to lose.

From a strategy and planning perspective, I think if you play 3 matches in 7 days the right strategy is to sacrifice the middle one, even if you have an equal probability of winning each match. Given that Racing’s toughest opponent was the middle one, it made this an even easier choice. One of the reasons I would always pick the middle match to sacrifice is that a loss in that one is the easiest to recover from. You don’t ever want to sacrifice a match in which you have normal week to prepare, and a loss in the second one is easier to move past than a loss in the third one. You can have an intellectually dishonest conversation with yourself if you like and think that Racing had a legitimate chance to take 9 points from 3 matches, but any rational person (which includes Bev and her staff) would know that this scenario is utterly unlikely.

I am not Bev, but after watching her post match interview (one of the best she has ever given, likely due to my scheduled absence and her not having to answer my asinine questions) I made a few inferences. I think she was waiting to see how the lineup handled the first 20 minutes. If they had managed to avoid giving up a goal in the first 20, then you think about trying to get something from the match through your subs. Since Racing went down so early, it turned into a “run out the clock” type scenario and a hope to limit damage. There is no way that Bev thought this lineup was the one to go get Racing three points. She would have taken the three points for sure, but that was never the realistic goal for this match.

Now, I get that nobody likes to get beaten 5-1, but I definitely know that these players are made of tougher stuff than some of the fans are giving them credit for. I imagine that most of them were well on their way to getting over it before the team bus left the stadium. Most female athletes have to deal with an untold amount of nonsense from losers and misogynists, and some have had to deal with even worse things. Losing 5-1 in Kansas City on a random Wednesday night probably doesn’t make the Top 50 of the worst things that have happened to them as an athlete. It might not make the Top 1000. These players are resilient and will shake off this loss with no problem.

Post Match Moment of the Match

Many thanks to Brendan Devine for handling the load during the post-match press conference and I know he probably wished he didn’t have to carry the load by himself for this one. I was watching the match (to the best of my ability and desire) in the Lynn Family Stadium press box, which is a little challenging and since the match wrapped 35 minutes after the Lou City one, I needed to clear out and get home. As I mentioned above, I thought Bev did a great job of handling the questions. She reiterated that in her preparations for the match, she felt like she was doing the right things, so it isn’t fair to rely on hindsight too much to say she should have done things differently. She is never going to say that this was a sacrificial match, but as soon as the lineup came out, anybody with any sense knew it was a sacrificial match. You can like or not like that decision, but I doubt many of you have ever had to coach such a brutal stretch of matches.

Rachel Hill and Kayla Fischer were the players that drew the short straw. Both stated that they have to move on and look to the next match, which was always going to be the case and always is. As Rachel said, there is always another match to come to prove yourself again.

The Taylor Flint Honorary Yellow Card of the Match

Racing picked up two yellow cards in the match:

• 45th Minute + 5: Lauren Milliet - Foul - Reckless Offence

• 72nd Minute: Kayla Fischer - Foul - Professional Foul

Lo got her money’s worth on a late challenge on Lo’eau LaBonta…a little Lo on Lo’eau crime if you will. Kayla’s was a common offense for stopping a counter, so Lo’s was the better one. Racing Legend Katie Scott got a yellow for her foul on Sears that led to the penalty. It was almost 6 full minutes of real time between the foul and Taylor Flint taking the spot kick. VAR is awesome…

Madchester Song to Make You Feel Better

This song has aged much better than several “top” Madchester songs while still sounding of its time.

“Life goes on and so must you”

Reading the reactions online last night I was somewhat surprised at the, if not quite vitriol, then definitely enthusiastic disappointment directed squarely at Bev. I guess the fanbase is still under some kind of collective delusion about what this team is and what it is capable of. I think if you take time and step back and see this match as a last-place team getting soundly beaten by an almost certain playoff-level team, then the result should make sense. I think people may really be focusing on the way that Racing lost. I guess I kind of get that, but the manner in which they lost doesn’t particularly concern me, and I imagine that if Racing beats Chicago on Saturday, it won’t concern anyone else either. And of course, I know that some people are pretty brave until they have to look someone in the eyes instead of typing something and posting it.

As someone who does look Bev in the eyes, and asks her fair but tough questions when necessary, I can tell you that this is the best coach Racing has ever had and you are lucky to have her. It is because she is a good coach that I am not worried about a 5-1 loss. Past coaches, maybe a loss like this puts the team in a deep tailspin. Maybe this teams still goes into one with Bev at the helm, but I have a very hard time seeing anything close to the lion’s share of the issues being her fault. She takes her fair share of the blame. If you are a person who thinks Racing is going to get a better coach next year, then I will let you in on a secret. I am opening up a Fleur-de-lis FC store and will be selling sections of the new renovated I-65 for $10,000 per tenth of a mile. Email me if you’re interested.

However, if you are a person capable of level-headed, critical thinking (which I think the majority of my readers tend to be) I think you know that Racing’s squad isn’t built for a 3-match week and allowances and sacrifices had to be made.

FREE EMMA SEARS

Sometimes I think the lack of self-awareness is a trait that both Racing’s fans and ownership share. This is not a club that is going to consistently challenge for titles, and any playoff appearance should be cherished. This a a club that is going to have to develop talent to be competitive. Part of being a club like that is knowing when to let go. I know that Emma Sears signed a new deal through 2028 last season, but circumstances change. Right now, Racing is not going to benefit in any way if they hold onto her past September. Rational thinking has to win out, right?

Never mind, I forgot what country I was living in for a moment.