Racing v Dash Post Match Thoughts
Courtesy USA Today Sports Images
Racing dominated the possession in the match vs. Houston last night and had a much higher passing accuracy than the Dash, but everything else on the stat sheet was fairly even and that led to a mostly fair 1-1 result in Louisville in my opinion. Here are the things I noticed.
Houston’s goal was the result of another 2nd chance opportunity. Katie Lund made a fine original save on the first attempt, but Racing couldn’t clear their lines well enough to stop the second shot. Defending set pieces is still a work in progress for this team, and at this point in the match there wasn’t a traditional center back on the field for Racing, so maybe this goal was a bit unlucky for them. I rewatched the incident that led to the corner, and I didn’t see a clear error from the official, so maybe Coach Gonzales saw something I didn’t see. He has as mad as I ever remember seeing him, and he was definitely upset enough by the call to get a verbal warning from the official.
Racing had to deal with the loss of 3/4 or its back line last night. I can’t be 100% sure, but based on what I observe at practice, Coach Björkegren usually shows his starting XI in open practice a couple of days before the match. At practice on Thursday, a couple of different back lines were tried out, but I entered into the match assuming that we were about to get the debut of the Holloway-Lester-Bonner-Fox back line. When I saw the projected lineups I was surprised and then even more surprised when Bonner was a late scratch. I won’t speculate on their illnesses, but at least one was a positive COVID test. Coach Kim said that this situation was one of the most challenging that he ever faced. Not only did the absentees mean that he was missing 4 players, but also several players were playing in positions that were not planned. My assumption is that the replacements and adjustments went as such: Merrick for Lester, Simon for Bonner, Martin for Fox, Fox for Holloway, Davis for Milliet, and Milliet for Olofsson. That basically means only, DeMelo, Kizer, Howell and McDonald started in their projected spots from the beginning of the day on Saturday.
Based on all of the late changes, I thought Racing played well. In her post patch interview, Jess McDonald mentioned Simon specifically as a player that stepped up and that Simon is a tough opponent in their squad scrimmages. Being afforded the chance to see squad scrimmages from time to time, I hesitate to give too much away as to not give aid or comfort to the enemy. However, I will say this: in 7-10-minute stretches, the backup squad can hold their own and sometimes cause real problems for the starters. I think we can safely say that Racing now has an NWSL level squad and not just an NWSL Starting XI. That being said, I hope that Lester, Bonner and Holloway are available for selection sooner vs. later.
Lastly, I will repeat myself from other analyses and say again how impressive DeMelo has been. She plays in a more forward position than Jae Howell and thus is likely to get more attention for the positive things she does over Jae’s less flashy but just as important duties in her defensive midfield role. That being said, she is going to give Howell a run for her money as Racing’s best rookie. DeMelo led the team in the following categories for the match: touches, passes in the final third, total duels, duels won, possession won in the final third, tackles, won tackles, interceptions and fouls won. She fills out a stat sheet and came very close to a goal again. At this point, her form (and hopefully class) will keep her in the Starting XI (barring rotation) for the foreseeable future.
