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Racing @ NC Courage Player Ratings and Instant Analysis
The good news is that NWSL Official Cards are out…
Well there was bound to be a game or two like this during the season…
Congrats to the Courage for what I thought was a well played game by them, especially in the 2nd half. Racing seemed a bit off the pace from the beginning of the game and despite a decent spell in the later stages of the 1st half, tonight just wasn’t their night. It’s difficult to know how tough to be on the players from a rating perspective for a game like this. With dishonesty being the second best policy I guess you know where that leaves us.
Before we get to the player ratings, a few things I noticed:
LEFT, LEFT, LEFT! The Courage sure loved to attack down the left. If this was a surprise to anyone, they must not have watched the Challenge Cup match against NC. They did also find success down the right…once Fox was taken off in the 86th minute.
The Courage are a really good side. I was super impressed with Williams (above), Mewis (of course), Debinha (duh!) and Pickett.
Racing will have to find that fine balance between playing quickly and staying composed. It’s a fine line to walk. Tonight I was satisfied with the speed of play, but disappointed in the passing accuracy and composure.
When you allow 5 goals it’s hard to give much credit to the defense. To my (obviously uneducated) eyes I thought the problems were more around positioning and discipline than effort. The effort was there and the other things are coachable. It was a bit worrying that I saw the same issues in the previous game vs. the Courage.
Ratings (out of 10):
GK: Betos - Could really do nothing about any of the goals. Did have an uncharacteristic spill on a save in the 3rd minute.
Rating: 6
RB: Simon - There will surely be great games for her in this uniform, but this wasn’t one of them. Continually beaten for pace and out of position on several occasions. Could have used more help
Rating: 4
CB: Riehl - Had a good interception or two. Most of the inside out play left her blameless for the goals
Rating: 5
CB: Hendrix - Had a nice tackle in the sixth minute. See above.
Rating: 5
LB: Fox - Was dangerous in attack, and most of the attack for NC seemed to go down the opposite side of the field while she was on the pitch. Easy to see why she was the #1 overall draft pick in this year’s draft.
Rating: 7
MF: Milliet - Didn’t do Simon any favors. Subbed off at the same time.
Rating: 4
MF: Ollofsson - Had a really good first half, but as the middle of the field opened up late she disappeared a bit.
Rating: 5
MF: McCaskill - Feisty, and quick on the ball. She didn’t linger in possession as much as she did in the previous games. If Racing were ever going to score, it was going to come through her. Hit a cracking effort late that was a yard or so wide. Worked her legs to death. Her best effort in a Racing uniform so far.
Rating (Woman of the Match): 8
LW: Yuki - Fought really hard and showed good toughness. Not given much service.
Rating: 6
RW: McClure - Unfortunately rather anonymous…subbed off early.
Rating: 5
F: Cece - Wasn’t given much to do, but still worked hard.
Rating: 6
Subs: Ekic (53’) - 6 /Martin (53’) had a slip that led to the second goal - 5/ Baucom - NR/Kara - NR
Welcome to Fleur de lis FC
This is the first post. I hope it will be the first of many posts. I am new to blogging, running a website, and many of the other technical things that make an idea that seems simple, actually quite complex. However, there has to be a first post and this is it. Hopefully other posts will be more insightful, relevant and useful.
The idea behind this website is really simple. It is a fan blog. I will post about Racing Louisville FC. Some of the posts will be news related. Some of the posts will be one person’s opinion on the games and other activities around the club. Some of the posts I’m sure will be digressions.
Hopefully they won’t be as boring as this one.
The week that was - Week 2
This week has been a special one for Racing. It has seen a first goal, a first win, a first player of the week. Here’s a quick recap by the numbers:
1 - A first goal in league competition. That is always special, but it helps when the goal itself is special. Emina Ekic’s effort was just that. It was also the first win and the first home win.
2- This was the second clean sheet in a row in the league and the third overall. The defensive effort for the game against the Spirit was a collective effort. Michelle Betos as the last line of defense was the official Racing “Woman of the match”, but there were several other blocks inside the 18 yard box that prevented goals. More on this later…
3 - There were exactly 3 on target. Spirit keeper Aubrey Bledsoe didn’t have much to do on the night other than pick the ball out of her on net. Racing was efficient with their shots, but you would like to see more attempts on target.
4 - WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE, SAID WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE…or at least we were until the Pride victory last night. 4 points from 2 games is a decent return especially for an expansion side. I believe the home crowds might be enough to expect some wins at home. The road form will be tested over the next couple of matches. It’s hard to gage this early, but I believe the league looks fairly balanced. It would be overly pessimistic to consider any road victory out of Racing’s reach.
7 - There were seven total shots vs. the Spirit. Racing seemed to get into some good spots during the game, but you would like to see more attempts on goal. Being outshot 4 to 1 is not a recipe for success.
10 - Michelle Betos made 10 saves, which is currently a NWSL season high through Wednesday’s game. A new/young team will quite have to rely on an experienced keeper in goal. It appears that Racing certainly has an excellent one.
29 - If the plan is to concede 29 shots on goal and win, then I would say that plan is flawed. Racing was beaten on the stats sheet in all critical categories except for the most important one. The possession was roughly at 40/60 split, which I am sure a little concerning for Coach Holly. Racing was also out passed by over 150 passes. The Spirit has 10 more corners. At the game I didn’t consider Racing lucky to win, but there was a around the 70th minute when I could sense a goal was eminent. If you have watched enough soccer (football) you know that you can get that feeling that a goal is on its way. I commented to my wife who was with me at the game that if Racing didn’t score very soon, there was very likely to be a Spirit goal in the next few minutes. Of course what needed to happed for a Racing win is exactly what happened next. Racing got a goal against the run of play, and another shortly after on the counter when the Spirit began to chase the game. If you watch enough soccer, you see this happed from time to time as well. It’s a great feeling to win a game you probably should have lost or drawn, but I imagine the long term plan for Racing is to control the possession like their brother club LouCity and to out shoot their opponents. It may be a long season if the stats for the game vs. the Washington Spirit repeat themselves.
100 - After that bummer of a paragraph I want to reiterate that I am 100% behind this club. I was on the phone the first day season tickets went on sale, and I bought the best seats I could get. I didn’t expect many wins this season, so each one will be a delight. You never know, maybe this team is special. Scratch that…I know this team is special no matter where they are in the table.
M