Photo by Elizabeth Shaw
Racing limped into its offseason with lackluster performances and lack of excitement about the future.
Thank goodness for the Chicago Stars!
Racing has been so uninspiring that only Chicago’s historic lack of swagger prevented Racing from becoming the league’s laughingstock, although Racing was plenty bad enough to grab some headlines. People who know that I cover Racing usually only have one question when they ask me about the team and that is “will they have a team next year”. I answer honestly (which is almost certainly). I am happy that they don’t ask many follow up questions like “are they any good" or “should I go watch a match” to which my answers would be “definitely not” and “sure but manage your expectations”. There will be a more thorough breakdown of the season later this week so let’s get into the results.
The Matches
Racing 1 – Gotham 2
Best Bit: Fischer equalizes on a good corner delivery from Petersen.
Worst Bit: Giving up the winning goal pretty much straight after the halftime whistle.
Takeaway: Gotham is good. Racing, not so much.
Bay 2 – Racing 0
Best Bit: Fischer almost scores a goal, but she is offside.
Worst Bit: The press looks mostly ineffective for the entire match.
Takeaway: Bay still seems to have Racing’s number for the most part.
Racing 0 – Wave 2
Best Bit: Fischer almost scores a goal, but she is offside. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.
Worst Bit: Lo seemed extra sad after the match. Nobody likes a sad Lo.
Takeaway: Racing is officially eliminated from the playoffs, but in retrospect their offseason sealed this fate long ago.
Racing 1 – Royals 1
Best Bit: O’Kane buries her penalty and Racing leads for most of the match.
Worst Bit: Near the end of the match, I mention to my friend that Racing hasn’t kept a clean sheet all season. I promise that I can’t speak things into existence.
Takeaway: Racing’s best chance for a clean sheet all season disappears, and the Royals rescue a point which ends up being pretty important for them.
Legacy 2 – Racing 1
Best Bit: Fischer pounces on a mistake from the Boston keeper and equalizes for Racing.
Worst Bit: The defense seems a little disorganized and confused.
Takeaway: Boston has lapped Racing and their improvement only highlights Racing’s atrophy.
Summit 6 – Racing 1
Best Bit: Taylor White scores a cracking first professional goal.
Worst Bit: You’re kidding, right? The rest of the match.
Takeaway: Racing looks disinterested and ready for the season to be over.
Racing 0 – Current 2
Best Bit: The fact that I have already completely forgotten everything about this match.
Worst Bit: If you can’t be organized defensively when the ball isn’t moving, how can you expect to be organized when it is?
Takeaway: Hooray! Only a couple of months before we get to experience this again, but probably an even worse version!
Finding reasons
I don’t hate this team, but this was too funny to resist.
Yes. I will continue to subject myself to this for some reason. It sure isn’t because I expect things to get better. The matches are still fun when the weather is nice (which happened too rarely this season). I am kind of morbidly curious about what a home match in February in Lynn Family Stadium might be like. We were kicked out of our section because it is closing, but I am excited about our new seats and to sit in a section with more than a handful of people in it. Elizabeth got a new zoom lens, so she has been trying that out and I want to see how it does in Section 207.
However, it is becoming more of an effort to enjoy this team. In the early years, there was always hope that Racing might be good “in a few years”. That seemly unlikely to happen in Louisville. I always say that somebody has got to be the doormat. That appears to be Racing’s fate at least in the short term.
These 4th Quarter performances didn’t fill me with much confidence. What’s worse than having a lame duck coach? Not knowing if you have a lame duck coach or not. Racing was both ineffective and dull in these last set of matches. THAT has to change if this club has any hope for staying in this city.
Instead of performing the autopsy here, I will get right to work on it in more detail for publication either tomorrow or Friday.
