“Soak me to my skin”
Courtesy Connor Cunningham
Match Haiku
Spring Potomac rains
Dampen Racing’s forward thrust.
Rodman’s goal enough.
“Soak me to my skin”
“Bye Bye Badman” - The Stone Roses, 1989
Anemic is the word that comes to mind to describe Racing’s performance on Wednesday evening. The Spirit never seemed to get out of second gear, nor did they need to. All that it took was one very good attacking move from the Spirit to take early control of the match and they never relinquished it. I had the feeling that if Racing did manage to equalize with any time left in the match that Washinton would shift up a gear and retake the lead. Racing’s attackers offered little to nothing up front, and the two most dangerous chances came for the outer backs. It was the Spirit’s fourth clean sheet in a row, so some of that is likely credit to them. However, Sears didn’t offer much and Weber even less.
Racing needs to be able to rotate players, and I think last night’s lineup was strong enough to be considered full strength. Morris did okay and McMahon will probably find herself in the mix at left back as long as she stays healthy. I think Racing needs to keep mixing things up until they find a lineup that works. They are definitely missing the spark that they seemed to get when Bloomer replaced Lund last season. It’s been a very tough fixture list for Racing at the beginning of the season, but that can’t be the excuse. The next few matches will be a real test for Bev to see if she can figure out some formula to make Racing a feared opponent again. Nothing in last night’s performance against Washington rose above the level of minor nuisance.
Post Match Moment of the Match
Kayla and Arin were made available after the match. They commented that the slow first half was down to playing timid and not sticking to the game plan. Specifically, they felt like they got baited into playing long too often, instead of playing into space. Brendan asked about rotation and got an interesting response from Wright who said, “there’s going to be rotation” and said the squad was built for 26 instead of 11. I am going to dive deeper into this later.
Bev said that the team was unfortunate not to walk away with any points. I highly disagree. I know that she has to say these types of things, and we are not in the post-match huddles or any of the behind-the-scenes discussions. I just happen to think it would be nice if she was a little more vocal about the team’s current lack of fire. She did malign another slow start, but we need a little more “run-through-a-brick-wall” Bev at the moment, especially in her public forums. The mood is coming across a little too casual for me right now. However, she obviously knows what she thinks will work in terms of volume and tenor, so I have to trust her.
I recently have spent a decent chunk of time around Lou City and players like Kyle Adams and Interim Head Coach Simon Bird. I have gotten used to the cadence of how often they talk about the performances not being up to ‘the standard”, even win Lou City wins matches rather easily. I get the feeling that “the standard” is this: playing hard, flawlessly, 100% of the time. That is an impossible standard but as a sound bite, it’s pretty good. I’ve not ever heard any talk about playing well enough to win or deserving more than they got from a points perspective. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t hear Racing players making excuses, but there is a subtle undercurrent of an inferiority complex mindset in some of their public comments. Lou City has the opposite issue. I think both teams could move towards the middle a bit more.
The Taylor Flint Honorary Yellow Card of the Match
Fischer got a very soft yellow card. It was quite ridiculous.
Madchester Song to Make You Feel Better
Depending on your perspective, Damon Albarn is either a chameleon or a poser. I lean more towards the chameleon side, as I was a big fan of Blur for a while. However, I could see your point if you wanted to argue the other side. This song sounds “baggy” but probably isn’t proper “Madchester” if you are super pedantic. Anyway, Blur quickly evolved into something much more interesting, if never quite original.
“Will you drown me in your sea?”
I have been somewhat transparent in the past about my soft spot for the Washington Spirit. I think they are a relatively well-run operation from a footballing perspective. It was interesting to see how they approached this match. They went all in with a “no change” line up from their recent 4-0 victory over Kansas City (who I have also been fairly transparent about my disdain for). Washington is the team that I wish Racing was, but for several reasons they cannot be. The Spirit is built for midweek matches. Their squad strength is much better than Racing’s. If, as Wright stated, Racing is going to have to play with all 26 players this year, I can’t say I am super excited by the prospect. Personally, I think Racing’s squad this season is deeper than last season, but not as talented at the top. The midfield options aren’t as good. That has to be clear now. The attack is probably better, but not astronomically so. There are more defensive options, but none as good as Janine Sonis. Racing’s squad is built to be competitive in every match but not have as high of a ceiling.
I guess that is what I find admirable about the Spirit. They don’t seem to drop off much when their subs come in. They can bring on a young player like Claudia Martinez and develop her slowly and steadily, where Racing has to throw their rookies into the fire to some degree. From time-to-time I like to identify a “non-Racing” favorite player. Based on the 2 matches I have seen from her this year, that player is Rosemonde Kouassi. She made a leap last season, and to me, is just a terrifying player to have to defend. She may not have the goal contributions yet this season, but in the two matches where she faced Racing, she was involved in the most threatening attacks. The Spirit has the luxury sub her off frequently to keep her fresh, which is something their squad depth allows them to do.
I do feel like Racing got drowned in the Spirit’s sea to some degree last evening. There was wave after wave of talent playing football on the pitch for that team. In hindsight, a 1-0 loss to them isn’t that bad. It was probably to be expected.
