United 1 Racing 0
The brutal tweet above won Twitter on the night, but Racing still fell to defeat against the Portland Thorns. It wasn’t a completely unexpected defeat, and I thought for the most part Racing played hard even if the stats didn't necessarily translate into reflecting the effort.
The Match
I want to start by taking about that 2nd goal. I don't like to blame the officials as a rule, and they weren't necessarily to blame here, but I think it warrants a closer look. Just before the attack leading to the second goal, Simon held the ball for what evidently she thought was a Racing throw in. Klingenburg quickly knocked the ball out of her hands and hurled it toward an open Horan who deftly crossed into the box where it found Rodriguez's boot and the back of the net. Simon was woefully out of position on this one, which likely contributed to the goal. I couldn't tell on the Twitch stream if the touchline official was slow to indicate the direction of the throw, but the lead official blew her whistle to indicate that Simon incorrectly assumed a Racing throw. I thought the official should have blown the whistle again when Klingenburg knocked the ball out of Simon’s hands, but what do I know. Regardless, this is why during pick up games I never let the opposing team immediately have a ball that I tracked down. I always toss it a few yards away. This is often jokingly referred to by me as “strategic bad sportsmanship”, but you can see what NOT doing it can lead to.
Racing once again lost the keys stat battles: possession (41%), completed passes (by over 130) and shots (28-4). These numbers look eerily similar to the last three matches, including the victory. I think against tough competition these are likely to be the norm. I don't think you can fix all of these at once, so I think Racing should focus on passing accuracy. This was a little bit better than past games at 77%, but in the upcoming games it needs to get better. Especially early in the games, Racing has needlessly given away possession by making unforced errors. It is tough for a young and inexperienced to stay composed all of the time, but is especially important early in the game. The mental approach that I would take, although it is probably hard for a professional athlete to do so, is that as soon as the whistle blows you already have something to protect…a draw. A point would have been a fantastic result last night, but Racing seemed like they were chasing the game from the start, and due to an early deflected goal they soon were. In the next match, I would like to see better ball possession and composure early. Being at home will surely help. All of that being said, the effort was still there and they could have given up at 2-0 or 3-0, but kept fighting. They had a travel nightmare as a built in excuse, but Racing never showed signs of being tired. It was an effort from which you can take some positives.
The second thing that needs to get better almost immediately is the number of shots per game. Even in the victory last month, Racing was woefully outshot. It's hard to shoot when you don't have the ball, so what I would like to see at home vs. Houston in a couple of weeks is sustained possessions lasting more than 30 seconds that ultimately end up in a shot. Easier said than done, but I feel like part of the problem is that Racing are rushed in possession. There is a difference between playing quickly and playing recklessly. Make the easy passes quicker, and save the riskier passes for the final third. I felt like in this game some of the misplaced passes happened when trying to play a risky pass to the middle third of the field when deep in Racing's own third.
Now is the time where I regularly praise Racing's captain for her fine performance. Was she ever fantastic last night. For many other countries in the world, she is keeper #1 on the national team. She is especially great for this team as she brings so much experience and her shot stopping skills will fill this season's highlight reel. I don't think any player performed poorly last night, but if Ekic isn't now a first choice forward, I would be shocked. I could see Salmon coming in for Kizer as well. Coach Holly will have decisions to make, but I think it will be more about a player winning a job rather than losing one.
The trip
More will surely come out over the next week about travel issues, but here are a few of my thoughts:
Almost everyone who regularly uses airlines to travel will run into a nightmare scenario like this at least once. Most of the issues are systemic breakdowns, or the combination of several things going wrong. It seems like everyone kept their chin up through the whole situation.
In case you missed it, the club arrived with at least 3 different experiences:
Coach Holly and a few others arrived on time to Portland after leaving later than most of the team, without issue it seems.
The largest contingency arrived a day late after spending the night in Houston.
A last group spent the night in Houston and then flew to California before reaching Portland.
Racing's Twitter called out the offending airline. All airlines have problems and there are several that are way worse (Allegiant, flying out of Lexington is a roll of the dice at best), but the good news is that I think many of the remaining flights are direct and the next long flight isn't until a trip to OL Reign on July 31st.
Yuki's vlog this week could be a really good insight on how the team dealt with the travel. It's a must watch this week for sure.
Final Thoughts
I think a return to the friendly confines of “The Fam”, which I just coined, should be a welcome respite for the team (How isn’t Lynn Family Stadium “The Fam” in our vernacular yet?). With 3 games in seven days, I would like to see Racing pull at least 4 points from those.
By the way I also think our song should be “We Are Family” by Sister Sledge and not the song they played last victory, which I associate with darts coverage from England. Victory songs are quite odd. They often play the ghastly “Sweet Caroline” after Arsenal victories, so that sucks and the Red Sox used it first. I swore off attending any more Nashville Predators game due to the horrific Tim McGraw music they play after goals. They deserve to never win a game again. Oh well, I guess there just isn't any accounting for taste. However, your song should mean something (You’ll Never Walk Alone, right Liverpool fans?). During the travel issues I felt genuine concern for the team. Not that I worried for their safely, but it was the feeling you get as a parent when your child is dealing with a tough situation. This team is special because of what it means to city. It is THE top tier professional sports team in this city in my cognizant lifetime. They feel like more than a team. Plus what says family like a shared travel nightmare! Here’s to a song you can play win, lose or draw!
“We are family
I got all my sisters with me
We are family
Get up everybody and sing”
M
