Current 0 - Racing 3
Courtesy USA Today Sports Images
Racing won a frankly bizarre match on Saturday in Kansas City. The first goal was created by McDonald, but aided by Milliet’s positioning and caused an own goal (which shows up on the stat sheet as 0 xG for what it’s worth). The second goal was credited to Milliet, but it was reversed from being correctly ruled offside to being given as onside. The third goal was Racing’s first ever goal from a free kick and was Bonner’s debut goal for the club. KC honestly had a terrible night finishing the opportunities that they were given by Racing, putting their 3 best shots off target. You should never apologize when your opponent has an off night, so Racing will consider this a well deserved win.
Lund-7: Again, she had only a few saves to make, but one of them was an excellent instinctive kick save.
Martin-7: Started out on the left side, but put in the lion’s share of her time on the right when once again there was a swapping of outside backs in the first half.
Fox-8: All of this swapping of Fox’s positions makes me think that Björkegren is really considering working in a back 3 with Fox as a wing back at some point. New signing, Rebecca Holloway is a left back and could facilitate a change. Either way, it makes Racing unpredictable which is a good thing.
Bonner-8: Had 8 clearances to go along with her goal. She and Lester are forming a good partnership so far.
Lester-8: She seems so calm on and off of the ball. The fact that Lund hasn’t had all that much to do in the last couple of matches is down to the defensive effort put in by Bonner and Lester. There are still a few nervy moments, but not as many as this time last year.
Olofsson-7: With 3 interceptions and an over 80% passing completion rate, she had another typically solid night.
DeMelo-7: Sav had a rather interesting night in her full Racing debut. She gave up a couple of fouls in dangerous positions and was very, very close to a second yellow on a play where she ultimately made a great tackle. Going forward she was much better.
Kizer-7: Had a couple of late attempts at goal after the game was put to bed. Only attempted 18 passes, but completed 16 of them.
Ekic-8: Along with Milliet, had 7 touches inside of the opposition’s box, but might have been guilty of over-dribbling on her best opportunity in the box. Her corner kick delivery finally got the monkey off of Racing’s back for corners.
McDonald-7: Did most of her work outside of the box, but was directly responsible for the first goal.
Milliet-8 (Player of the Match): Her non-scoring stats were a little low to be given a rare 9 rating, but she was a nuisance for KC all day and scored one goal and greatly aided in the own goal.
One thing that is really encouraging from a team perspective, is how flexible this roster is. All of the regular defenders except Bonner, have demonstrated competency in multiple positions. The rotation in the midfield and forward positions gives hope that when changes are necessary, there are options all across the team sheet. Racing still hasn’t put together anything near what I would call a dominating performance, but more importantly has shown that it doesn’t have to in order to win.
