They used to make steel there, no?

Courtesy of the NWSL

Stolen The Wire Epigraph

“They used to make steel there, no?”

For those of you who haven’t seen The Wire, it is a cautionary tale of when seven drug lords picked to live in an abandoned row house have their lives taped to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start getting real.

“Sometimes the old ways are the best.” according to Eve Moneypenny from Skyfall.

Complaint A from my coverage of the entire history of Racing is that they aren’t good at Plan B. Once upon a time before Pep Guardiola convinced the world that playing one way and sticking to it regardless of the outcome was the “right way”, teams used to have self-realization. There are still pockets of it (ironically often deployed to counter Man City’s stubbornness) but it is becoming more and more rare. It’s a shame really. One of the most liberating things you can tell yourselves as a team is “we can’t beat this team strength vs. strength.” Racing was never going to beat Kansas City that way.

To be fair, (dammit Letterkenny, I can’t ever type those words without thinking of this) we really don’t know what Racing’s plan was in full force because they got smacked in the mouth before they could settle in and were down 3-0 before 20 minutes had elapsed. That used to be an adage too. “Weather the storm for 20 minutes on the road and go from there.” Racing didn’t look prepared to weather much of anything. For all of Racing’s newfound identity, there is still an absence of steel. I feel like Arin’s Wright’s Chicago Red Stars team that made it to the 2021 NWSL finals was a good example of this. They let in their fair share of goals but knew how to grind one out. Racing seems to be in a stage where they can only win a few different ways. Last night’s set up kind of made the performance irrelevant. Very few people in America make steel anymore. For all of the talk of blue-collar grit on this team, the thing missing from that old, antiquated metaphor is the humble self-awareness that goes unstated but implied.

Post Match Moment of the Match

I skived off my usual post-match duties for Racing to catch the last few minutes of the Lou City match (a mathematically pleasing inverse of the Racing result culminating in a 4-2 home win with Governor Andy in attendance). The “respectable side” platitude that Bev invariably uses to describe every team from Utah to Kansas City grates a bit on me at this point, but it is coach speak so I will move on. Identity was a theme from Bev. She said that they “veered away from who they are” even early. I think it was more accurate to go where Jeff Milby was trying to guide her and just say “KC was the better team”. Sonis gave “credit where credit is due”. Racing didn’t fold however, which honestly is the big takeaway for me. Bev seemed satisfied with the “fight back” and frankly so am I.

I also think a fair point is that Racing never folded (a habit seen as recently as against San Diego, but I think that was due to a bit of shock versus any internal self-doubt). Arin, Janine and Bev all commented on the subs, who all performed well.

Were the Announcers Good?

JP Dellacamera and Jill Loyden were on the call. As I hinted at this earlier, but I was not in my normal friendly confines at home for this match. I watched the Racing match in the Lynn Family Stadium press box while Elizabeth took pictures of Lou City’s 4-2 win. I caught some of the broadcast, so here is what I caught.

Subsection: How was their “Louisville”?

Louisvillians are persnickety on the pronunciation of their beloved hometown. I will be monitoring the broadcaster’s commitment to getting it right.

Jill: Solid once again. Two syllables. Sounds like a native speaker.

JP: The one’s I caught were French…again. JP pronounced Sonis wrong…again. Time to think about retirement on doubling down on studying the pronunciation guides.

I will give credit to JP for this assessment: “There are some teams you can make a mistake against, but Kansas City isn’t one of them.”

The Jill Loyden corollary was: “This team (KC) entices foolishness.”

I don’t think I could have said it better myself.

TV Kit Rating

My number two overall kit from my 2024 rankings still holds up well. I said at the time that if not for San Diego’s brave and wonderful kit, in another season it would have been number one. My hope for kits in this league is that when teams find one that works, they do variations on a theme and not go all change as Racing is wont to do. 9/10

Show You Might Want to Binge When Racing Plays a Top 4 Team

Thanks to Jonathan Lintner for the suggestion and reminder:

If the “Tusk” opening doesn’t hook you, you might want to check your pulse. It’s been a while for me, so I am due a rewatch. It’s a period piece (but in some ways isn’t everything) so it will be interesting to see if the relatively quaint concerns of 2013 play into the portrayal of the early 1980s the same way they do today as they did back then. No piece of art is free of the context in which it is created (that goes double for non-fiction). It’s something we would all be good to recognize when consuming anything. Other than The Wire this may be the one that I suggest most strongly if you haven’t seen it.

“Your mother’s got bags of good advice. The “don’ts” exceed the “dos”, but she’s not you.”

“Wicked Things”/Protest Songs/1989

You have to analyze the wisdom of playing a high line against the Current. Racing paid dearly once, and that was AFTER having another one ruled offside where the high line burned them. Everyone plays some version of a high line but after going down 1-0, didn’t it seem obvious that this was the way that Kansas City was going to counter? Kansas City is superfast. Prudence seems like motherly advice but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong.

The other thing that I noticed, especially in the first 60 minutes, was that while not quite everything came off for the Current, it at least looked like it was possible. Racing tried so many things that bordered the line between improbability and impossibility in possession and in attack (another long standing complaint as Racing often over depend on forcing mistakes versus creating).

Racing’s first goal came from its best spell of possession. This is why I held out some slight home before the match and after Racing pulled to within 3-2. Racing can score goals on teams, especially teams like Kansas City. I just don’t know if they can outscore them, which seemed to be the plan.

Then there is this: why not at least try something different against the Current? I could pretty much guarantee you that the effort that beat the Dash, Angel City, and Utah wasn’t going to get it done against the Current. Only the 1-0 win against Gotham seemed like a blueprint, but that was thrown out early due to Milliet’s own goal. If there ever was a time to switch things up in the Starting XI, I think Kansas City and Orlando are the teams to do it against. I think you have to confuse them out of the gate to throw them off. Wright talked of a slight tactical tweak that didn’t work after the match, so maybe that was some of the plan. You lose something with Kanu in the press but maybe don’t press as much in this match and show your opponent a puzzle to solve. But hey, if every team you play is a “respectable side” then maybe you don’t think you need to approach any match differently.

“All it takes is a little nerve as they close in for the kill.”

Racing simply looked rattled early. They did ultimately get their bearings, but it was too late. While the scoreline crept to 3-2 late in the second half, Kansas City always felt capable of killing off the match which they did with cold efficiency. Chawinga had a lot to do with that. Again, look at the talent gap and maybe say “we need a plan B here.”