Stolen The Wire Epigraph

For those of you who haven’t seen The Wire, it is an animated series featuring Bunny Colvin and his misadventures in Hamsterdam.

There is no denying that Racing as a team is playing better. I think most of this is down to the individual efforts from the key players. I still don't think the way that Racing won in Houston is the way forward, but it doesn't matter what I think.

The match in Houston was chaotic for several reasons, but one of those reasons is that Racing wanted to play that way. At times their press looked relentless and almost unbreakable. I always say that I want Racing to be a nightmare to play against and at times in Houston, they were. It was an excellent performance.

It was also greatly assisted by some things that are not going to happen very often. Racing will very rarely get a 30—minute break to watch film and right the ship in the middle of a match like they did on Friday (more on this later). Houston doesn’t consistently get very big crowds, but last night’s match was like playing a closed-door scrimmage to some degree. Jane Campbell, to me at least, had a very off night.

However, there are 4 self-deceptions that Racing should be telling themselves.

We’ve turned a corner and can dictate matches with our press
There is no drop off between Lund and Bloomer
We can sustain a press for long periods of time against possession-oriented teams
We finally have round pegs in round holes

I don’t think any of those things are 100% true, but some are closer to being there than others. None of that matters if Racing truly decides to fight on those lies.

Post (and mid) Match Moment of the Match

After the match, Bev talked about what the team did on its summer vacation (or weather delay if you like). Bev said that she and the staff used one of the weather delays to watch game film of previous Houston matches to adjust to what Houston had shown them. I am positive that they do this in their preparations too, but it makes a difference when you can do it either after you have seen a team in warm-ups or on the pitch. Coaches evolve as much as, or maybe even more than players. I believe in sticking with Bev for the long haul for reasons that I have mentioned before, but it is nice to see that some of the things she is preaching appear to be taking hold, at least in this match.

I got the information above by asking Bev if they played Uno again like in the last weather delay. It was very late in the day (early in the morning) so who knows why that question solicited that answer.

Were the Announcers Good?

Matt Pedersen and McCall Zerboni were the NWSL+ crew. They aren’t the league’s a-team but both had their moments.

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.

Matt: Solid two, maybe two and a half syllable pronunciation. Don’t ask me for a definitive explanation of what a half syllable is but think about if the word “orange” is one syllable or two and you’ll get the idea.

McCall: “Allons enfants de la Patrie!” French, French, French. Lou-wee-ville.

I like when ex-players call matches in the leagues they played in, for the most part. McCall obviously doesn’t have a ton of experience yet, but other than a few malapropisms, she was good. I think she definitely has room to grow, and I hope that she keeps getting opportunities. She and Matt were a tad low energy, but the circumstances could have dictated that, so I will give them the benefit of the doubt. I did chuckle to myself when McCall said, “turn on the heat” (to describe bringing up the intensity) in the most soothing way possible. I thought Matt was insightful too. My personal preference is to err on the side of undersell vs. oversell on a neutral broadcast, so in general I liked this team.

TV Kit Rating

Houston donned the 2024 version of their orange kit. Back in 2024 when I reviewed it for the first time I said, “the pattern seems pointless.” I stand by that, but their identity is orange, and they wore orange at home, so that is a bonus point. (I really shouldn’t be giving out a bonus point for wearing a recognizable club color at home, but that is the state of things evidently.)

6/10

Show You Should've Watched During the Weather Delay

I am probably later than most on this one, but this “thriller” was a recent watch for Elizabeth and me. The Google “In a nutshell” description is “Confused, Unflinching and Confident”. I am not sure how that is supposed to be helpful. Anyway it's good and still too new for me to give too much away in terms of plot. If you don’t like the first episode it only costs you an hour. Maybe save it for Racing’s next weather delay because a black cloud seems to follow this team around, so there will surely be another one.

Excellent Show You Can't Watch During a Weather Delay

It isn't entirely true that you can’t watch the excellent Friday Night Dinner. It is available on a couple of Amazon Prime's Freevee channels, but you never know when and just like a broadcast channel in the last millennium, you are stuck with the episode currently airing when you stumble across it. I tuned into the Christmas Special during the second weather delay.

It's criminal that this show is, and pretty much always has been, unavailable in its entirety on a major streaming platform in America. I seem to recall that the first 4 seasons were available somewhere for awhile, but the best place to stream it used to be the Roku Channel. It left there over a year ago and now only plays live on Freevee.

Prime tried to make an American version, and stop me if you've heard this one before…it was terrible. I managed about 10 minutes before abandoning it. Wikipedia gets it somewhat right on the premise: “Friday Night Dinner depicts Shabbat dinner in the middle-class secular Jewish Goodman family.” It is so much more than that. I find it laugh out loud funny on repeat viewings. If it is ever easy to stream at some point in the future, I will be sure to point it out.

Lightning-in-a-Bottle-O-Meter

Whenever Racing wins a match, I will rate how much of it was down to catching lightning in a bottle versus Racing just doing the things they do well.

This ends up being a little “on the nose” in this instance, but the actually lightning (at least the second round of it) ended up contributing greatly to the circumstances that caused the win. Who knows what the outcome would have been without the second weather delay, but I don’t think you can argue that the chance to rest for 30 minutes gave Racing the opportunity to come out and press hard directly after the restart. This pressing lifted Racing’s energy which in turn lifted the effort and Racing evened things on a fantastic Fischer strike. The covid-era feel of the match due to the weather likely helped things too. Campbell seemed off her game and there is no way she should have been that far off of her line for the first goal. Racing played well, but had several things go their way. 3.5/5

“I’m driving on a straight road. It never alters”

“Faron Young”/Steve McQueen/1985

For better or for worse, Racing is sticking with the plan. That doesn’t mean that adjustments aren’t being made, but the roadmap remains the same. This team will live and die by its press and energy. I think that plan will eventually prove to be folly, but it is a plan, and everyone seems bought in for the moment. The true tests are coming up as Louisville has mostly faced teams in the bottom half of the league. Five out of the next six matches are against teams that will end this weekend in the top half of the table. It’s one thing to win against Houston and Chicago and quite another endeavor to do so against the upcoming foes. However, 7 points on the road is nothing to scoff at. If they could just figure out a way to get some points at home (AHEM! Ditch the green kits. AHEM! AHEM!) they could be in for a chance at the playoffs.

“Every other sentiment an antique”

Bev is making tough choices in her lineups now. Sonis played her way back in after Weber really didn’t do anything to play herself out. Part of me wonders why Elli Pikkujämsä and Uche Kanu haven’t seem more minutes, but that might just be the fan sentiment in me. The truth is that based on recent but still very limited evidence, the players getting the minutes are the ones who are producing results.

I thought Jordyn Bloomer was fantastic last night. The saves were great, but let’s also not forget that her long ball started the move for the first goal. The stars aligned for her to some degree, but she took her chance. When Katie becomes available, Bev might have a tough decision, but I think she will ignore some of the fan sentiment and go back with Katie. There may be some lingering fan sentiment for Ary Borges too, but I thought that the team looked better without her on the pitch last night. DiGrande’s game is smooth and unassuming but in a very positive way. She doesn’t make the mistakes that seem to be plaguing Borges at the moment. There is a competent team in this mix of players, and maybe Bev has started to unlock that mix regardless of if the changes and adjustments were enforced or not.

“Late Sky”

Sav DeMelo has always been this good at her core. If she can keep her performances in the range of her outing from last night, she can truly be the x-factor that this team needs. Her pass to Sears to set up the second goal was the type of pass that all players dream of. Elsewhere on the pitch she caused absolute problems for Houston. She is late in recovering her pre-World Cup form, but it looks like it may have returned.

Kayla Fischer has now started to score from the striker position. This is also a late-developing evolution, but it has come in the nick of time. If she can keep it up, Racing now has threats in enough positions to cause team’s problems. I also though Sonis had a good game. She did have an option to go for goal early in the match, but I think she yielded because she would have had to go with her weaker foot. Besides that, she was decisive and dangerous.

I am not changing my outlook on this team in any way. I stick by my original assessments. However, I have no capital invested in “being right”. I would much rather see this team go far and prove me wrong.

We fight on that lie