Spirit 2 - Racing 2 Post Match Thoughts
Courtesy USA Today Sports Images
The Washington Spirit dominated the stat sheet last night, but Racing snatched a badly needed point at the end of the match. This Racing team looks like a completely different problem for opponents for teams when Nadim is on the pitch. As the season progresses, Racing may have to be a team that tries to win matches 3-2 vs. 1-0. Maybe that was the plan all along.
Racing looked disorganized in the first half. They never seemed quite sure whether to press of lie deep. Coach Björkegren hinted that the plan might have been to sit deep in certain situations. Trinity Rodman's goal was simply a good individual effort off of a long ball. Last year, especially early in the season, Rodman tended to get the positioning wrong and miss shots wide from steep angles. Last night she scored from a tough angle, but not so steep that it was an amazing finish. Still, it was a really, really good finish and she got the best of Fox on that one. Fox hasn't been her terrific self in the last few matches. Against Angel City, I felt she was strategically handled, but in this one I think Rodman simply outplayed her. To be fair, Emily did have a terrific long cross into McDonald to set up Nadim's equalizer. Fox and Rodman will hopefully battle each other for a long time, so expect them each to get the better of the other from time to time.
Racing might have done better on the 2nd goal. Biegalski was giving way too much space to deliver a cross into Hatch, and Elwell knocked in the rebound from the initial save. I have a completely unconfirmed suspicion, that the space given to her partially led to Ekic being subbed off in the 56th minute. The right back is the left winger's responsibility in that scenario. Ekic plays out wide, but I think was used to playing more centrally prior to her time at Racing. More than once during earlier matches this season, I have heard the coaches instructing her to be in better defensive positions. This time she might have been pulled for not being in the right spot.
Racing's passing in the first half was to put it bluntly, awful. The team seemed out of sorts when put into stark contrast to the Spirit's excellent passing moves. The Spirit created dangerous chance after dangerous chance, and had to be disappointed with only netting two goals. Several times in the first half, Racing played hopeful or blind passes into spots where there wasn't another Racing player around. Many times a Spirit defender would stick really close to a Racing player to prevent them from getting their head around to pick out a good pass. After the first half whistle, I thought Racing was out of the match.
The introduction of Nadia Nadim in the 56th minute changed the match for Racing. Not only did she score the 2 goals to equalize, but she seemed to unlock the next level in Jess McDonald's game. McDonald always looks more effective with a striking partner. Racing's most recent formations have employed Chidiac, Milliet, DeMelo and Kizer (before she left) in its attacking positions. None of those players are natural strikers, although Kizer played there by default for Racing last year at times. True stikers like being in the box, and a few times this year, there has been a noticeable lack of a presence in the box to follow shots especially in transition. Early in the season, McDonald commented that she loved playing with Kirsten Davis who tends to have more of a striker’s mindset even when playing out wide. Last night showed the impact of having another player on the pitch who is desperate to score goals.
Coach Björkegren commented that this point felt like more than just a point. Anytime you fight back from a 2-0 deficit on the road vs. a defending champion I tend to agree, especially coming off of a 3 match losing streak and heading into the international break.
To me the international break is a “break” in the way that a Disney World vacation is a “vacation”. You burn a lot of energy and return exhausted, and it is an event looked upon with great enthusiasm by a vocal section of the population and dreaded by another less vocal section (although I am in the super minority section who is vocally critical). From a club's perspective there are only really negative aspects to international competition: interruption to momentum, player fatigue or at worst player injuries. I hope all of Racing's international players return from the break uninjured and not too tired.
