Racing 0 (2) Palmeiras 0 (4) Post Match Thoughts
Courtesy EM Dash
Racing lost its first ever Women’s Cup semifinal and it is hard to argue that it wasn’t a fair result. Palmeiras did enough to keep Racing off of the scoreboard in regular time, so you just have to accept any result when a match ends in spot kicks.
This was probably the least entertaining match in the history of the Women’s Cup. While Bev gave praise to the team’s performance, I never felt like Racing generated enough chances to feel too shortchanged by the result. Mothalo had a golden opportunity on a header late, but it was just wide. There was another sequence in the second half where the ball could have ended up in the back of the net. Neither did, and with Fischer’s chance saved in the first half, those were the only real opportunities for Racing that I can recall. Palmeiras held possession enough to keep the match even, thus were very excited to come away with the victory on penalties. They will go on to face Juventus in the final who fairly easily dispatched Colo Colo and their very entertaining and enthusiastic supporter’s section.
I feel fairly certain that I have enough data now to deem this vintage of Racing as “disappointing and dull”. They don’t score enough to play what I would call entertaining football. Their defense is fine for the most part when they don’t take on one-way traffic for large portions of time. Very little on this team is producing the needed results. Coach Yanez feels like her message is getting across or at least communicates as much during her media time, but that might be the most indicting piece of information available. Juventus scored with so much ease in the first match, that sometimes it appeared as if they were scoring in first gear. Everything that Racing does seems to take maximum effort and produces minimal results. Bar a few personal favorites, there are few players in Racing’s squad that I would be too upset to see leave for different (greener?) pastures. This club got off on the wrong foot from its inception and has never been able to completely right itself. The owners and leadership probably deserve it. The fans don’t.
It sounds like Racing could be getting some reinforcements in soon. There was definitely an unfamiliar face hanging out with the other Racing players who didn’t dress. I believe something will be announced soon, but as always that depends on paperwork and the NWSL office getting though it efficiently, something they are definitely not known for.
Racing losing was probably bad for The Women’s Cup. If Racing was to be competing for a trophy on Tuesday, theoretically you could have had a decent number of walkups. With them playing for 3rd place, I can’t imagine anyone with a burning desire to get a ticket who doesn’t have one already. I feel like Juventus will take care of business and at least score a couple in regular time and win the final.
