Racing @ NC Courage Player Ratings and Instant Analysis

The good news is that NWSL Official Cards are out…

Well there was bound to be a game or two like this during the season…

Congrats to the Courage for what I thought was a well played game by them, especially in the 2nd half. Racing seemed a bit off the pace from the beginning of the game and despite a decent spell in the later stages of the 1st half, tonight just wasn’t their night. It’s difficult to know how tough to be on the players from a rating perspective for a game like this. With dishonesty being the second best policy I guess you know where that leaves us.

Before we get to the player ratings, a few things I noticed:

• LEFT, LEFT, LEFT! The Courage sure loved to attack down the left. If this was a surprise to anyone, they must not have watched the Challenge Cup match against NC. They did also find success down the right…once Fox was taken off in the 86th minute.

• The Courage are a really good side. I was super impressed with Williams (above), Mewis (of course), Debinha (duh!) and Pickett.

• Racing will have to find that fine balance between playing quickly and staying composed. It’s a fine line to walk. Tonight I was satisfied with the speed of play, but disappointed in the passing accuracy and composure.

• When you allow 5 goals it’s hard to give much credit to the defense. To my (obviously uneducated) eyes I thought the problems were more around positioning and discipline than effort. The effort was there and the other things are coachable. It was a bit worrying that I saw the same issues in the previous game vs. the Courage.

  Ratings (out of 10):

  GK: Betos - Could really do nothing about any of the goals. Did have an uncharacteristic spill on a save in the 3rd minute.

  Rating: 6

  RB: Simon - There will surely be great games for her in this uniform, but this wasn’t one of them. Continually beaten for pace and out of position on several occasions. Could have used more help

  Rating: 4

  CB: Riehl - Had a good interception or two. Most of the inside out play left her blameless for the goals

  Rating: 5

  CB: Hendrix - Had a nice tackle in the sixth minute. See above.

  Rating: 5

  LB: Fox - Was dangerous in attack, and most of the attack for NC seemed to go down the opposite side of the field while she was on the pitch. Easy to see why she was the #1 overall draft pick in this year’s draft.

  Rating: 7

  MF: Milliet - Didn’t do Simon any favors. Subbed off at the same time.

  Rating: 4

  MF: Ollofsson - Had a really good first half, but as the middle of the field opened up late she disappeared a bit.

  Rating: 5

  MF: McCaskill - Feisty, and quick on the ball. She didn’t linger in possession as much as she did in the previous games. If Racing were ever going to score, it was going to come through her. Hit a cracking effort late that was a yard or so wide. Worked her legs to death. Her best effort in a Racing uniform so far.

  Rating (Woman of the Match): 8

  LW: Yuki - Fought really hard and showed good toughness. Not given much service.

  Rating: 6

  RW: McClure - Unfortunately rather anonymous…subbed off early.

  Rating: 5

  F: Cece - Wasn’t given much to do, but still worked hard.

  Rating: 6

  Subs: Ekic (53’) - 6 /Martin (53’) had a slip that led to the second goal - 5/ Baucom - NR/Kara - NR