Red Stars 0 Racing 1 Post Match Thoughts
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Racing was able to enforce its will for the most part on Saturday evening and came away with all 3 points. On the night, Chicago proved to be the perfect opponent for Louisville to demonstrate the best version of themselves.
Sears did it again, and I think you have to say that she is Racing’s chief goal-scoring threat at the moment. I was excited to see her get minutes pretty much the moment I saw her in training camp. However, I don't think anyone forsaw her being this reliable this early. Being still so early this could just be a good run of form, but I don't think so. Racing's opponents will surely start to game plan more around her. She doesn’t restrict herself to strictly wing positions on the pitch and I personally think that someday she could become this team’s number 9. Nobody seems to favor a 4-4-2 anymore but I think she would be extra special in that formation. Hopefully she will be as good as she has been in whatever position she plays.
Racing looked good against Chicago, but I couldn't believe how much space the Red Stars were giving them especially in the first half. I wouldn't expect many other teams to willingly concede as much possession as Chicago did. I thought Chicago were poor and Racing surely forced some but not all of it.
DeMelo has had 3 really good matches in a row and even though she didn’t score I thought this one was even better than her last two. She did find herself in more space than she is used to, but I thought her on the ball decision making was much quicker and she seemed to make the right decision 80-90% of the time. It will be a shame if the international break disrupts her newly recovered form and rhythm.
Lund and the defense had a much easier time of it this week, but Katie was called into action a few times and had to be ready when she was. Chicago rarely plays like a team that is going to break you down offensively, so you must be ready for the quick strikes and Racing was.
