Houston v Louisville Preview
If anyone is new to my previews (it’s a pretty big assumption on my part that anybody reads them), or if you just need a reminder these “previews” are really only previews in the loosest sense. I mostly just write about things that pop into my head around the same time that Louisville is scheduled to play a match. I usually go to practice (not a great experience today, but typically quite fun) and then write about whatever that inspires.
When Coach Björkegren and I talked during the first open practice, he told me that his goal with any first match is to get the players ready to play 90 minutes, or as close to it as possible. With this season pushing the Challenge Cup to midseason, it’s once again important to be ready to go for the opening match. I am too lazy to do the research, but I would tend to believe that opening on the road is a particularly difficult challenge as the road-trip-grind is another challenge that you need to prepare yourself to endure during the season. It probably helped that Louisville spent time in Portland to simulate both the matches and the road trip.
The first question out the gate for Coach Björkegren from me was basically “is the team ready for 90?” In typical coach speak he wasn’t fully committal, but he isn’t going to go on record saying one way or the other. I do know that he did everything in his power to get them prepared. The better question is how prepared is Houston compared to Louisville. I know (from Bekki Morgan because you can’t really find anything online) that the Dash played the Current and the Wave in San Diego. I think we then have to assume equal preparedness. Houston’s new coach Sam Laity managed the Reign during a six-match stint on an interim basis and wet 4-0-2, so not a bad record. Everyone knows that Houston is full of attacking talent, so Louisville’s back line will have to be ready from the start. That is probably the greatest risk for the first match. Jaelin Howell didn’t participate in practice today and might be listed as questionable for Sunday. That means that someone else could be deployed in central midfield. The one good thing is that Louisville can be flexible this season plugging holes. The bad thing is that the team just hasn’t played together enough for the hold plugging to go smoothly. Since I attend practices, I don’t make predictions related to the starting lineup because I pretty much know what it’s going to be, minus a late injury or late return to fitness. What I will say is that Louisville will be deploying a back line that has zero experience playing together when it matters, so that isn’t a great recipe for success right out of the gate. I would caution against putting too much stock in these first few matches, positive of negative. There will surely be 5 players listed on the injury report when it comes out this weekend and they are 5 very important players to this team. The good news is that other than Nadia Nadim, it’s fairly easy to see the other 4 be ready in April.
In other relevant news, Björkegren named Jae Howell the club captain, with Abby Erceg named to be captain for Sunday if Howell can’t go. I like the naming of a single club captain, with vice captains listed in ranked order underneath the club captain. Tyler Greever asked about the reasoning behind naming one of the younger players captain. Björkegren said that it was something he had done before, and I like the idea of giving the captaincy to a younger player who is committed to Louisville. I am also a fan of making either your CDM or one of your CBs the captain as they tend to be the ones who see the game the best.
