Racing v OL Reign Preview
Courtesy Connor Cunningham
Tziarra King warmed up for the Reign’s match vs. Club America while singing along to Bon Jovi. Then she went on to score the equalizer and win player of the match. It seems like King and the Reign are enjoying themselves in Louisville. Now Racing has to make it their goal to end the Reign’s trip on a sour note.
It’s hard to quantify was a midseason invitation trophy would mean to a team like the Reign. For as good as the club has been, their trophy case isn’t exactly overflowing with the highest honors. Coach Björkegren has said that Racing wants to win every match and competition that the club enters, but that is what you are supposed to say. Since there doesn’t seem to be a clear way to rank trophies, I did what any irrational person would do: I created one. I will spare you the math and details, but you can let me know via Twitter if you would like them. Basically, I took 10 or so elements that describe a competition and assigned point values to them. I added in a couple of additional factors to rationalize the model and that was about it. I tested the model by picking a dozen competitions across the leagues of which I am most familiar. Here is the ranking of the four competitions for which Racing is eligible:
NWSL Championship (30 Points)
NWSL Shield (27 Points)
NWSL Challenge Cup (14 Points)
The Women’s Cup (11 Points)
In my mind, the Shield and Championship are just about equivalent, but I would give a slight personal preference to the Shield (I am in the minority on this I am assured). The Challenge Cup and the Women’s Cup are close in stature by value, but the Challege Cup is about 30% more valuable that the Women’s Cup and the NWSL Championship is about 3 times as valuable. That seems about right in my head.
Some of my additional tests showed the US Open Cup as a trophy as10% more valuable than the USL Championship to Lou City and the UEFA Champions League Trophy as about 10% more valuable to a team like Liverpool than a Premier League title and an FA Cup trophy as about half as valuable as the Premier League title. Arguably, a first Champions League trophy would probably be a lot more valuable to a club like Manchester City, so take that ranking with a grain of salt.
Regardless, the Women’s Cup trophy’s value isn’t nothing. OL Reign rested its starters for a chance to show that it could beat Racing after two draws this year. For Racing, winning a trophy in which NWSL competition was the final barrier would be valuable as well. Racing might have to try to hold off an initial barrage from the Reign like they did back in early August. Lester, Bonner, and Lund would be seeing their 3rd 90-minute performance in 9 days if they all go the distance on Saturday. I think it’s possible that DeMelo gets to begin the match on the bench and enter in the second half as a potential game changer. Beyond that hunch, your guess is a good as mine on the lineup for Racing.
