Courage 3 Racing 1 Post Match Thoughts
Courtesy NWSL
Seemingly incapable of putting together two consecutive halves of solid football, Racing is now 0-0-10 all time against the North Carolina Courage. The second half display by Louisville was by far their worst this season, and things look pretty bleak at the moment. Luckily, the players and staff will have some time off to regroup and try to salvage something by the end of the season.
Somewhat incomprehensively, Racing finished the weekend no worse for wear in the hunt for a final playoff spot. Louisville is in the worst form in the league based on their last five matches (1 point from 15). They are aided by the fact the 5 teams below them have only marginally better recent form. This stretch of matches before the break seems like a missed opportunity, but based on Racing’s performances you have to wonder if the opportunity was really truly there.
After the aggressive decision by Sean Nahas to make 3 attacking changes at half, Racing had no answer for the speed and ferocity of North Carolina’s attack. The Courage’s first goal was a delight to those of us who prioritize ball movement over individual brilliance. It is my personal favorite type of goal. It makes the defense look confused and bewildered. My operating principle is that the ball is always the fastest thing on the pitch, so to see a goal like that reminds me of what is great about football. When teams get that type of quick passing right, there is little you can do to stop it. Wingate’s cheeky finish on the Courage’s third was the result of some good ball movement and a fortunate bounce when Erceg stopped the initial pass. It wasn’t as good as the first but was a “tails up” type of goal that teams get when they are “feeling it” and have the match well in hand. Lund frankly gifted the Courage the second goal, and if the team wasn’t already demoralized, that surely did it.
Turner scored a fine goal of her own. Here she is describing it. “Obviously, back to goal, I know that a quick touch and a shot will probably not be expected. The ball was able to get through to me, and I just saw a window, and I just took a shot.” It was the type of center forward’s goal that Racing misses out on when Bahr is starting centrally.
After the match Coach Moscato talked about cohesion and the lack of it in the second half. According to her, Racing’s lines of engagement became stretched and there wasn’t tactical cohesion in terms of players not collectively knowing when to press and when to drop. Maybe it's me, but Racing rarely seems cohesive. I will be honest with you and say that maybe they are, and it is just in patterns that I don’t recognize. I will tell you that I often see pattens that I recognize when I watch Racing’s opponents. It could just be my bias in that I think that we all tend to do more pattern recognition when the patterns are more pleasing to us. When I watch Racing, especially recently, I see a team of individuals who never quite know what to expect from each other. That issue was something that I pointed out at the tail end of last season too. I am positive that the staff is working tirelessly to communicate how they want their system to work, and I am sure that the players are giving it their all. I am just not recognizing it. That doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Maybe it’s a chaotic pattern that is meant to be disruptive and therefore my brain won’t see it as I like pleasingly elegant ball movement and spacing. I will tell you this. Regardless of the plan, it isn’t producing results and Racing’s better opponents seem to have no trouble figuring out the weaknesses.
