Louisville v Portland Pre Match Thoughts
Courtesy Racing Louisville Football Club
The main storyline for Louisville this weekend has to be the combined absences of DeMelo, Howell, Pickett, and Baggett. Baggett is natural cover for the midfield so her absence hurts almost as much as DeMelo and Howell. This guarantees that Louisville will be using its 5th different starting midfield in 5 matches.
Then there is the opponent: Portland. If ever you wanted your best possible midfield to be fully available it is against Portland. The Thorns honestly didn't have much trouble cutting through Louisville's midfield in the first match this season, so I wouldn't expect that they will have much trouble in the return match against a weakened Louisville squad.
Louisville will need to keep an eye on goal differential in this match. They currently have an equal or better differential than the 4 teams directly ahead of them in the standings. A heavy defeat would wipe that away and be truly devastating to their playoff hopes. I have never thought of Louisville's playing style as very pragmatic, so this could be a very dangerous match to go down by a goal early.
Usually I would say that Louisville needs come out and believe that they can win a match like this. However, I feel like a smash and grab is pretty much the only chance for a win here. The longer this match stays 0-0, the better I will feel. Louisville has been conceding quite a bit of possession recently, so I think you have to go into this match stating that you cannot under any circumstances give up a counterattacking goal.
I can't picture a scenario where Louisville will score “playing through” Portland, so the onus will definitely be on the strikers to create a moment of individual brilliance or to win a corner where you might get something from a set piece. Kgatlana has to find the balance between defending and attacking while she is on the pitch in this match. To me, she always defends on the aggressive side and is capable of picking up a yellow at almost any point. If she can find herself isolated in attack, I think she has to be encouraged to shoot because I have a feeling that she won't have too many attacking options aggressively following behind her.
