Dash v Racing -1

The club moved up media availability by a few minutes today to leave for the airport sooner because, like nobody has ever said, “I can’t wait to get to Houston”. Houston is one of those teams that some fans hate, but I don’t really mind. I was on a podcast with Bayou City Soccer’s Diego Martinez Reyes this week and had a really good time. I have been on with other folks who cover Houston in the past and have enjoyed my time with them too. “Media” is somewhat of fraternity/sorority though, so if you have never interacted with a nice person who likes team X, I guess feel free to continue to dislike whomever you want. (As an Arsenal fan I have a few friends who are Tottenham fans so if they can be friends with me, then you are perfectly able to be friends with anyone).

Hodge and Weber drew the short straw today and faced the media. Both talked about settling into Racing’s/Bev’s system for either a first or second season. Macey talked about how the staff made her role clear to her, with a few tweaks based on what the team needs in a game. Sarah talked about being more confident as a second-year player. Each of them mentioned how the staff prepared them for Houston and how to exploit them by sticking to the plan. Macey also said that she likes playing deeper. Sarah is embracing the added layer of expectations that she has this season.

Bev talked about the evolution (I will let Joe H. coin the phrase, “Bevolution”) of the team’s tactics, now that teams are more prepared for what Racing does. She said that Racing is consistently working on different ways to present different shapes while also using different personnel.

I specifically asked Bev about the challenges that the injuries are posing. She shared that she did have to make some mid-week adjustments and some more last-minute adjustments before the match in Spokane. She is also proud of how the players adjust to playing in positions that maybe don’t fully utilize their strengths but potentially uncover new ones. However, she did concede that sometimes a player is asked to fill in simply because they are the best (only?) option.

I still believe that the number of injuries and persistent inability to field a full squad is a symptom of something that nobody has an answer to. I will reiterate that I don’t believe anything nefarious is going on, but I can’t dismiss it as bad luck. Likely, it is the compounding of several small challenges all making a noticeable impact at the same time. Sears is day to day but aren’t we all.

Personally, I don’t feel too bad about where Racing sits at the moment. A loss at Houston, which is entirely on the table, might change my outlook slightly, but as I have said: this team isn’t built to win a shield. They just simply need to get healthy and field a more full-strength team.