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Racing v Angel City Preview
“My mind is elsewhere” was Emina’s comment upon being asked to answer a few questions at practice after being shown Jack Harlow’s birthday message to her on Instagram. Considering the recent loss of two of Racing’s original players and two consecutive 1-0 losses the vibes at practice on Thursday seemed good. Sav DeMelo received a pie in the face after being named to the NWSL Best XI for May. After practice on Thursday, Coach Björkegren commented that the previous day’s practice has been their best ever. I always think it is better not to dwell on the negative if you want to turn your fortunes around, and it looks like the team is ready to head into Saturday’s match against Angel City with a positive attitude.
Both Racing and Angel City find themselves in the logjam in the middle of the NWSL table with 7 teams separated by 2 points. After a really hot start where the club won 3 out of 4, Angel City has only taken a point from its last 3 matches and hasn’t scored since May 21st, which coincided with its last victory. Being a new team, I think Angel City will be expecting ups and downs but will be looking at Racing Louisville as a chance to turn its fortunes around. Similarly, Racing will be looking to score its first goal since May 22nd and will be looking to avoid a 3-match losing skid. With all of Angel City’s attacking talent you would expect them not to be last in the league in goals, but that is where they sit. However, if they score, they win. They have won all 3 league matches in which they have netted at least one goal but have been shutout 4 times with 3 losses.
Once again, the task seems blatantly apparent for Racing: don’t concede an early goal. Angel City likes to have the ball as much as Racing (51.7% and 53.3% respectively), so expect a good battle in midfield. Racing will have at least one change in its starting XI, but I don’t yet have a good feel for who will be taking over for Kizer. Nadia Nadim could be a natural fit, but she is probably still a few matches away from being ready to start. DeMelo is a possibility, but she tends to like to play a little more to one side. Emina Ekic is another possibility since she played centrally at U of L. I also wouldn’t be totally surprised to see McDonald play a little deeper and to give Ebony Salmona chance a start up front or play as a front two with McDonald. Of all of those options, I think I would put my money on DeMelo as the ten with Olofsson taking her spot in the midfield.
No matter what the actual starting positions are, expect Fox to stick with Press. Press has been playing left wing mostly, so expect Fox to start at right back. Since Press is capable of playing anywhere in the attacking half, Racing might employ Martin at left back in case Fox needs to switch sides (Holloway as a left-footed left back is somewhat limited in her ability to switch). McCaskill will be familiar to Racing fans and can also be a nuisance pretty much anywhere on the pitch.
Racing Trade Kizer and Merrick to KC Current
Courtesy Connor Cunningham
Racing announced today that the team completed a trade with the KC Current sending CeCe Kizer and Addy Merrick in exchange for $150,000 in allocation money and an international roster slot for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. Both players apparently requested a trade “to be back closer to their families.” As with any trade/player movement some fans will feel angry because they are losing some of their favorite players.
Kizer served an important role and scored important goals in Racing’s history. She will leave the club as its all-time leading goal-scorer (8) and assist provider (5). She memorably scored Racing’s first ever goal in its first ever match vs. the Orlando Pride. Beyond that, she was a regular in my section after the matches signing autographs for fans. I am also fairly confident that she was several fans’ absolute favorite player and a popular back of the jersey choice for many fans. However, part of me wonders if her time in the Starting XI was about to end regardless of this trade. She was mostly used by Racing in the 9/10 roles, which is where Nadia Nadim is likely to find herself very soon. Last year when Racing needed her presence, she was a good player in whatever attacking role she was in. This year she had managed to keep her place in the Starting XI, but it wasn’t always a given. Racing has other options in central attack now, and definitely many more options than last year. From a statistical contribution standpoint (using FotMob’s Player rating), CeCe ranks 8th on the team. In addition, American Soccer Analysis has CeCe rated 226 out of 256 NWSL players in Goals Added (which measures a player’s total on-ball contribution in attack and defense). I’m not a huge fan of this metric, but it is a measure by which to judge a player. To sum up, she will be missed (by some more than others) but is not irreplaceable.
Addisyn Merrick will probably be one of Racing’s great “what if” players. She was selected number one overall by Racing in the NWSL 2020 expansion draft, so you can infer that the team had big plans for her. As a versatile defender she seemed to be the ideal pick, but injuries killed her first season at Racing. When she returned healthy for 2022, many fans including me thought she would force her way into the starting back four. Somehow things just didn’t work out that way. I think Merrick will benefit from a change in scenery. The simple fact is that Coach Björkegren preferred other defenders. I deliberately say it that way because I believe it is true. Coaches look at their squads and decide which players can best help them win matches. It does not mean that the players that don’t get minutes are not good players, it just means that the coach believes there are better options. Addy’s best performance for Racing would turn out to be the second match of two enforced starts due to sickness on the back line. She played excellently in that match vs. San Diego and hasn’t seen the field since. A consistent run in the side is what she needs, and it just seemed like she wasn’t going to get that opportunity here in Louisville. I wish her the best of luck in Kansas City because luck has sure been against her in her time at Racing.
Now read into this what you will…Coach Björkegren said today that Wednesday’s practice (neither Kizer nor Merrick were involved) was the best practice that he has seen from his team this year. Good practices don’t always translate to good performances, but practice is a good indicator of mentality and effort. Let’s hope that translates to the field on Saturday.
Racing 0 Courage 3 Post Match Thoughts
Courtesy USA Today Sports Images
Last night’s Racing performance was reminiscent of several mid-season performances that Racing put in last year and eerily similar to some of those put in against the North Carolina Courage. The effort and energy seemed low from the start which resulted in another early goal conceded. After the match, Coach Björkegren conceded that there were too many areas of concern in the match to focus on a single one.
Racing has continued to sign players throughout the season and then immediately integrate them into the Starting XI. I would say that Lester has been the best of these decisions. Chidiac has put in solid performances, but seemingly at the expense of Olofsson, Davis, and Ekic. Holloway in my opinion hasn’t done much to merit an immediate inclusion. I saw some noise on Twitter about Simon and Merrick not being included in the squad at all. The fact of the matter is that who does and doesn’t start will always be up for debate among the fans. I asked Coach Björkegren after the match if he was considering switching things up a bit. I give him credit for basically saying that it would be a consideration, but also he said he wasn’t ready to move on from the loss yet and talk about the next match vs. Angel City.
Coming into the match, the Courage and Racing were the top two teams in the league in possession, so obviously something has to give in the match yesterday. The Courage were able to completely dominate the first half and got into halftime with a 2 goal advantage and over 60% of the possession. Racing simply need more of the ball especially early in the matches. In previous matches after going behind early, there has seemingly been a spark in the team to fight back. Last night the team seemed to be missing that spark. The way that the Courage play surely had something to do with that, but I also wonder if it wasn’t a bit of “here we go again” after conceding another early goal. In the final 10-20 minutes, Racing finally looked like a team desperate to win balls. While you would like to see that same fire all match you can also see that one mistake when giving that much effort to the offensive side can lead to dangerous counters. Personally, I didn’t think Racing’s press worked at all last night because you need to get a foothold in the game in order to get it going. In short, Racing needs to find a way to start matches better.
Racing did have a chance to get back into the match via a couple of opportunities from Jess McDonald: one through a first half effort that bounced off of the crossbar (where no other Racing player was in the box for the rebound) and a golden opportunity that was incorrectly ruled offside.
The flag had gone up and the whistle had blown too early for me to call it a “disallowed” goal. People will call for VAR again after this and others (like me) will point out that it is an expensive technology. However, I believe that there could be a compromise for calls that are so obviously incorrect to be quickly reviewed. I believe the major expense in the VAR technology is the multiple angles needed and the drawing of the lines. In last night’s instance neither would be necessary. A quick look at the broadcast replay showed that the decision was incorrect. Why not have somebody in a central office be available to take a look at clear and obvious errors? Frankly, this is also a bit of a pipe dream because 1) officials would have to be trained to leave their offside flags down until a phase of play was completed on close calls, and 2) I don't think the league is run well enough to afford or manage something as simple as this.
Now is not the time to wallow in the pain of two consecutive defeats. The team (Emily Fox in particular) looked down after the match yesterday. It's hard sometimes to keep a positive attitude after a couple of bad results, but winning typically comes from confidence. This may be the biggest test of Björkegren's tenure: to see if the team can stop the bleeding before it turns into a losing streak.
Racing 0 - Courage 3 Player Ratings
Courtesy Connor Cunningham
Racing had arguably their worst performance in recent memory in tonight's match. Racing can't keep conceding early goals and expect to get anything from the game.
Lund-6: Not really at fault for any of the goals and had a really good save to keep it at 0-1.
Fox-6: Wasn't called on in defense a great deal.
Lester-6: Probably the pick of the defenders tonight.
Bonner-6: Had an average match.
Holloway-5: It’s still early, but has to improve to keep he spot in the Starting XI.
Howell-6: Had a decent match with 9 recoveries.
DeMelo-6: Didn't fill up the stat sheet like normal but was the driving force in trying to find a late goal.
Chidiac-6: Keeps putting in solid performances.
Kizer-5: Not really involved in any real dangerous possession for Racing.
Milliet-6: Seemed to rush a couple of decent chances in the 2nd half.
McDonald-6: Unlucky to hit the post and their was some question about whether she was offside on her opportunity in the 2nd half. Regardless she was flagged off several seconds before the ball went into the back of the net.
Racing v Courage Preview
The North Carolina Courage come to town on Saturday as a bit of an enigma. The Courage are last in the league with a single point, but surprisingly won the preseason Challange Cup. Racing’s opponent leads the league in possession (57.6%) and number of completed passes per match, but are dead last in shots on target per match and next to last in goals scored per match. FotMob gives out Player of the Match awards based on their statistical performance player ratings and no NCC player has won the award in a league match so far this season (as a comparison Racing has 3 with Fox having 2 and DeMelo the other).
However, for Racing the Courage are a puzzle that they have yet to solve. The teams have faced each other 4 times with the Courage winning all 4 and the aggregate score line is 13-3 in North Carolina’s favor. When the season started, I thought that the Courage were going to struggle, but they played really well early on. It’s possible that the team benefited from surprising the other team’s in their group, or maybe their group was on the weaker side as those team currently occupy 4 out of the bottom 6 positions in the table.
Likely, the truth is that we don’t know who the Courage are yet. I suspect that they are probably in a group of teams that will be challenging for a playoff spot, but based on early returns that group could include all of the teams. In fact, it could be argued that there are no excellent or really bad teams in the league this year. That means that every team should be taken seriously and that every team has a legitimate chance to win every match. Racing had been on a run of really good performances, but Coach Björkegren conceded in his press conference today that Racing’s performance in the last match wasn’t up to their usual standard. Hopefully the most recent match was more of blip vs. a trend.
The big news on the Racing front is that Nadia Nadim is now available for selection. Both Björkegren and Nadim said that it would take a while for her to be up to full match fitness. It will be intriguing to see how Nadia is used as a sub. I could see her as a like-for-like replacement for both McDonald and Kizer. It’s also entirely possible to see her subbed on as an extra attacker if Racing trail after 60 minutes, but we all hope that doesn’t happen. I believe Nadia will have to get a few substitute appearances under her belt before she is under consideration for a start and Nadia also said that she expected to have to earn her way into the starting lineup and to fight for a place in the match day squad. Jordyn Bloomer is still in a walking boot and is “weeks” away from returning according to Coach Kim.
If you read my piece from earlier this week or follow me on Twitter, you might have noticed that I have become a bit fascinated by how teams perform when scoring first. Here is the lowdown on the Courage:
This season the Courage are averaging .25 points/match when scoring first which is below the league average
Conversely, the team is averaging 2.25 points/match when scoring first which is right at the league average
If Racing can jump out into a lead vs. the Courage (something they achieved on a 24th minute goal by CeCe Kizer in their first ever meeting), I like their chances at taking all 3 points. Racing has scored first in 6 of their matches in 2022 and the Courage has scored first in 8 (7 in the Challenge Cup and only once in the league) which may be the key stat in the shifting of their form. Here is the updated graphic through Wednesday’s match between the Spirit and Red Stars.
Current 1 Racing 0 Post Match Thoughts
Courtesy USA Today Sports Images
Much of the post game chatter yesterday surrounded Coach Björkegren's comments regarding the field conditions of the practice facility in Kansas City. The response from the Current was: “We take this matter very seriously. The field Louisville was provided is the same field that all teams have been provided when traveling to KC, without incident. We will look into any issues that occurred during yesterday’s training session.” There is no reason not to believe this. However, whether or not a visiting team takes advantage of this practice field is completely dependent on how early the teams arrive for the match. I understand that Racing has practiced at Swope Park on previous trips, and their earlier arrival for this trip meant that they needed to use the other field.
Regardless of the reason, the reality is that Racing did not look as sharp as they had looked in the previous 4 or 5 matches. Falling behind early again could have something to do with that as well. Interestingly, I have been laboring under the false assumption that Racing was uniquely prone to needing to score first in matches to influence their results. I looked at all of the non 0-0 results this year (Challenge Cup included) to see which teams were benefiting the most by scoring first. All of the analysis that follows is based purely on non 0-0 matches. There are a few ways to looks at this. Kansas City has the highest deviation from their average points taken with a perfect win record when scoring first and an average of .55 points when not. San Diego also has a perfect record when scoring first, and have a dreadfull avcerage of .29 points when not (SD is averaging slightly more points in non 0-0 matches with 1.41 compared to 1.31 for KC). The OL Reign and Courage have scored first the most (8 times). Angel City haven't taken a single point without scoring first, something it took Racing pretty much all year to accomplish last season. The only category where Racing is at the extreme is that they only average 1.83 points when scoring first, which is tied for last with Chicago. Obviously it is still greatly advantageous to score first (teams average 2.29 points vs. 0.45 points when doing so), but Racing doesn't benefit as much as other teams in the league when they do. Falling behind pretty much dooms your chances of winning with only 4 matches (6%) being won by the team that trailed first, and none of those teams trailed later than the 56th minute.
The stats will say that Racing completed 74% of their passes, but their passing yesterday was far from sharp. Perhaps the most telling stat was that they only really were successful in completing passes in their own half. In their previous 4 matches (all undefeated) the percentage of total passes completed that occurred in their own half were 50%, 59%, 60%, and 61%. Yesterday that percentage was 68%. Said differently only 32% of their completed passes occurred in the opposition half. I believe partial credit is due to KC for keeping Racing pinned into its own half, but Racing seemed to get pressured against the touch lines and thus created an “extra defender” for KC by not playing longer balls or trying to work the ball across the pitch.
On the positive side, Racing haven't conceded a goal from open play in 3 matches. KC didn't really look close to scoring other than the excellently taken penalty by LaBonta. I believe Lester and Bonner are starting to compliment each other well, and we'll chalk up Holloway's performance to first game jitters. The penalty was a bit soft, but probably fair.
Current 1 Racing 0 Player Ratings
Courtesy USA Today Sports Images
After falling behind early, Racing could never quite get a foothold in the match. The passing and energy were not up to the usual standards and thus resulted in no points.
Lund-6: Could do nothing on the excellently taken penalty.
Holloway-5: A case of early nerves cost Racing any chance at points.
Lester-7: Made several really good recoveries to keep the match within striking distance.
Bonner-7: Her positioning was solid and kept the score close.
Fox-6: Not up to her usual high standards, but not terrible.
Olofsson-6: Looked a bit off the pace in her return to the starting lineup.
DeMelo-6: Was due an average match, which is what she had.
Howell-6: See DeMelo.
Milliet-7: Came close to getting the equalizer, but was just wide.
Kizer-6: Looked dangerous in the first half, but couldn't get anything going in the second.
McDonald-6: On a different day probably turns at least one of her chances into shot on goal at least.
Current v Racing Preview
Courtesy Connor Cunningham
Racing looks to continue its winning ways at 3pm on Monday vs. the Kansas City Current. Racing won in Kansas City in the Challenge Cup in April rather handily by a score line of 0-3. In their midweek match-up, the Current were missing quite a few players in addition to the season ending injuries for Lynn Williams and Mallory Weber. Suffice it to say that the season isn't really going according to plan for the Current. However, it is still early and there is plenty of time for the team to turn its league form around. On the other hand, the Current are last in the league in goals scored and next to last in goals allowed.
For Racing, the key will likely be to continue its trend of scoring early, which the team has done in the previous two matches. Teams in a bad run of form shouldn't be given any form of hope, so look for Racing to press hard to start the match. Racing are nearing full strength with Nadim's imminent return. Ekic didn't practice on Thursday, so I suspect her return is less imminent.
The Challenge Cup match is Kansas City was also Sav DeMelo's first start with Racing. Now firmly entrenched in the Starting XI, DeMelo looks to continue her run of fine form that started there. Racing is also deep enough in midfield that I think we can start to expect at least one of the starting midfielders to be subbed off at the 60 or 70 minute mark on a regular basis in order to keep the team fresh. Chidiac may get her first 90 minutes depending on the score line as the match enters the last 20 minutes. Olofsson and Otto both have fresh legs, so we could see significant time from them. Lastly, Holloway may finally make her debut after missing the last 2 matches due to illness.
Gotham 0 Racing 1 Post Match Thoughts
Courtesy USA Today Sports Images
Part of the reason that coaches like to look at a team’s performance over the score line is that sometimes the score line is deceptive (or at least perceived to be). Yesterday in Gotham Coach Björkegren admitted that 1-1 probably would have been a more accurate and fair result. I don’t disagree, but Lori Lindsey’s ridiculous assertation that Gotham could have been ahead at the midpoint of the 2nd half really annoyed me.
I’m not going to relitigate my problems with xG, but one of the ways that I think it is misleading is when it’s added up and shown as a total xG for a match. More than any other team sport, the score line in soccer dictates the way a match is played. You will never be able to convince me that if Katie Lund doesn’t make that excellent save on Mewis’ free kick and the score becomes 1-1 that the remainder of the match plays out in the exact same way as it did. The fact that Gotham trailed for over 75 minutes dictated the way they played for those minutes. The truth is that you take different chances when you trail in a match vs. when you lead or are even. However, if you looked at the matches final xG (1.21 to .99 in favor of Gotham) and determined that Racing were “lucky” to win, I wouldn’t argue with that analysis in this instance. Lori Lindsey’s statement about Gotham potentially being ahead based on the chances they had is the type of “analysis” that I really loathe. Once a chance is gone and the score line doesn’t change, the game somewhat resets itself back to equilibrium. It is impossible to score the second goal before you score the first. I know what she was trying to convey, but it was some hypothetical alternate reality where one of those shots goes in. However, in this alternate reality none of the events are the same after the equalizer goes in. I jokingly gave Katie Lund’s goalpost a 10 rating in my post yesterday, but we all know that the goal posts and the ball don’t have memories. Only the players and fans do. Gotham players hit the woodwork 5 times yesterday, yet it didn’t matter to the ball. The ball will only go where the players and the elements dictate. When a shot hits the goal posts and bounces out, it is the fans and players that feel like the ball “owes” them a more fortuitous bounce next time. The ball feels nothing.
Racing continues their habit of playing a really excellent stretch of football for about 10-15 minutes in the match. One of the positives of this habit in the last few matches has been their ability to score during these stretches. I have witnessed many matches where teams have even longer stretches of excellent play, but can’t quite get the goal. The team has to be commended for converting while their are in control of the match. The other encouraging trend is the ability to keep up the excellent play after getting the goal. Racing doesn’t immediately sit on a lead, especially when getting the lead early. I thought they were always looking to get that second goal until about the 85th or so minute. The next step is to turn these 10-15 stretches into 15-20 minute stretches and to put teams away. I think they could become capable of this, but we will let them learn to walk before they learn to run.
People like all kinds of different types of goals. Some people like “bangers”, whatever that is supposed to indicate, and some people like goals scored from set pieces. Each of those have their charms, but give me a goal like Racing scored yesterday over a long-distance strike or free kick goal everyday. The move started from Lund and then went straight to Fox. Fox easily turned her defender and the move was kickstarted from there. Emily Fox is a cheat code and it is almost unfair to her opponents. She is visibly so much better than almost all of her opponents. It might be more exciting to have your best athlete in an attacking position, but it is likely much more valuable to have her in her current defensive role. The fact that she can recover so quickly allows Racing to play the way they do. The rest of the goal was simple passing to open teammates. It is football at its simplest and most beautiful. None of the passes in the build-up were difficult or risky. The ball moved quickly and efficiently. None of the touches were heroic and in fact Milliet might have even fortuitously mishit the final touch. I will happily code this one “Move started with goalkeeper from the back” along with my favorite goal from last season.
I try to wait until at least all of the teams have played a third of their matches before I put too much stock into the NWSL table. More than any other league I have ever followed, the NWSL’s early season table is subject tremendous volatility due to the competitiveness of the league. This year the margins could be even finer. My advice if you want to monitor Racing’s early season progress is to monitor the percent of available points taken to date. Right now, Racing has taken 8 out of 15 for 53% which should put them comfortably in the mix to finish in the top 6 places. Staying above 50% in that metric probably merits the team a playoff berth. As of right now, 5 teams are above that number.
Gotham 0 Racing 1 Player Ratings
Courtesy USA Today Sports Images
All things being equal, Racing are probably a bit lucky to get all three points against Gotham today, but you never apologize for going up 1-0 and hanging on to win.
Lund-7: Made several good saves but was greatly assisted by…
Katie Lund’s Goalpost-10 (Physical Object of the Match): I am not superstitious, nor do I believe in curses but if you told me Gotham had done something to anger the soccer gods, I might believe you.
Fox (Player of the Match)-8: Her ability to use her speed and physicality to get Racing’s defense out of trouble cannot be overstated.
Lester-7: Had a really solid return to the starting lineup and showed her speed to close down a couple of dangerous counters.
Bonner-7: It was good to have the captain back and she was solid as usual.
Martin-7: As more options become available in the defense, it will be interesting to see if she keeps her spot.
Howell-8: Led the team in interceptions with 6 and had a really good aerial clearance in the second half.
DeMelo-8: Again, had really good match and won 13 of her 22 duels.
Chidiac-7: Still getting up to speed, but kick started the movement for the goal.
Kizer-7: Looked dangerous and had the key pass to McDonald during the goal sequence.
McDonald-7: Keeps adding to her NWSL record in assists.
Milliet-7: Finished off the terrific team move for the goal.
Gotham v Racing Preview
Courtesy Connor Cunningham
Racing will be looking for its first road victory on Sunday vs Gotham. The team’s improving performances have resulted in points taken in each of the last 3 matches, and Racing will be looking keep up the momentum of its first victory of the league season this past Wednesday. Racing faced Gotham last year 3 times and drew all three. CeCe Kizer scored both goals for Racing in a pair of late-season 1-1 draws that were played within 4 days of each other. Kizer’s goal in the away fixture last year was Racing’s only in-match penalty taken and converted to date.
It’s still too early in the season in my opinion to read too much into the numbers but taking into account the Challenge Cup and the 2 league matches played by Gotham this season the team is averaging 9.3 shots taken and a SHOCKING 20.9 shots allowed in 2022. If Racing get off 21 shots, I expect a few to go in. Racing on the other hand are giving up 13.2 shots/match, which isn’t great either but tell me I get to shoot 8 more times in a match and I will like my chances.
The big question mark for Racing is who will be available to start. It’s not too hard to imagine both Fox and Howell getting a break since they were both carrying knocks into the match on Wednesday. Here’s hoping that Bonner, Holloway, and Olofsson are available. Lester is an almost certain inclusion due to her involvement on Wednesday. Typically the teams release availability around 24 hours prior to a match, but Racing had to be a bit cagey on Wednesday, and I think everyone in the league knew and sympathized with the situation. I think Kizer will fancy her chances to scores again and will be pushing for another start, but Jess McDonald has played a full match twice this week and may be given the afternoon off. Here is my best guess at a lineup for Sunday (which as always is sure to be wrong): Lund-Holloway-Lester-Bonner-Martin-Olofsson-Chidiac-DeMelo-Kizer-Ekic-Salmon. Gordon could get an opportunity based on her very good, but brief shift on Wednesday. DeMelo probably isn’t good for another 90 minutes, so if she starts expect her to be subbed off around the 60th minute. Davis might get a start over Ekic or Salmon as well. In a prediction that I hope doesn’t come true, maybe Milliet gets her first ever full day off.
I an unrelated note, if you happen to listen to Soccer City Radio or the newly released Vamos Morados podcast from this week, you know that I am working on a kit ranking piece. I have a decent number of responses so far, but might open my survey up wider after the original article posts. You can let me know on Twitter via DM if you might be interested.
Racing 1 Wave 0 Post Match Thoughts
Courtesy USA Today Sports Images
First of all, I would like everybody to calm down a bit on the “best team in the league” and “top of the table” status of the San Diego Wave. It is way too early to be staring at the NWSL table and way too early to be calling any team “the best team”. It also isn’t fair to the Wave as they will surely go through some growing pains this season and shouldn’t have to answer a bunch of “What happened?” questions if they do eventually slide back into the mid or bottom part of the table. However, for the night Racing got 3 points against the team that was at the top of the table entering the evening.
It was Racing’s first clean sheet of the league season, and it was a team effort especially in the last 10 minutes plus stoppage. Lund was called upon in the later stages of the match, but the players in front of her kept her out of too much trouble early on. San Diego had 10 corners, and many of those seemed to come in the first 15 minutes or so. Racing was able to buckle down and didn’t really allow a dangerous change in those first few minutes. After the first 15 minutes Racing did a good job of controlling the match (which in my opinion is the best defense you can play). Alex Morgan had a dangerous run, but ultimately tame shot in the 46th minute to open the second half, but for the next 35 minutes, Racing looked like the team more likely to score. In the 80th or so minute, Racing did the inevitable and set back and defended for the last part of the match. There was one really good opportunity from Doniak, but Lund was in the right spot.
I thoroughly enjoyed the run that Fox had that basically killed off the match. She had a couple of similar runs in the match which makes you wonder if anybody in this league can catch her when she is on the ball. Fox basically singlehandedly killed off a minute of stoppage time with her run and the corner that she won. Sh’Nia Gordon also deserves special mention here as she was responsible for reclaiming the ball in Racing’s end to give Davis a shot on goal, and also killed of the last few seconds with a run into the box. I always appreciate killing off a match in your attacking half vs. your defending half, which is exactly what Racing did here.
Howell mentioned in her post match press conference that hopefully Racing had “broken the seal” on their ability to get wins. Racing didn’t have a dominant performance last night, but it was a performance that was good enough to give them a chance at a victory which they took. There will surely be several matches for Racing like this one where the outcome is in doubt until the very last minute. I think the team can feel good about how they managed all of the difficulties surrounding this match and move forward confidently that 3 points are always available to them.
I recorded an episode of the Vamos Morados podcast with Zach Allen-Kelly on Tuesday night that will air sometime this week. We both mentioned that we thought a goal for Sav DeMelo was coming sooner rather than later. After the match, Coach Björkegren said that he told his wife the same thing before tonight’s match. One of my favorite aspects of being a fan is watching a good player develop into a great one. I think that may be what we are seeing with DeMelo. Her injury in her Junior year of college, probably set her back from a development standpoint a bit and now Racing are the beneficiaries of that. In a few year’s time we may be looking back in even more astonishment at Racing’s ability to select the right players in the first round of the draft.
Racing 1 Generic Kit United 0
This terrific photo is courtesy of the inimitable Connor Cunningham
Positive ratings all around tonight (except for the Wave’s dreadful excuse for a kit) as Racing Louisville secures its first league victory of the season. The team was again short-handed at the back, but the Wave couldn’t find their way through and Racing capitalized on its one golden opportunity.
Lund-7: Made comfortable saves all night until the end where she had to made some challenging ones, but she was up to the task.
Fox-8: She basically ran the Wave out of the game in stoppage time with a terrific run to the corner flag. Was great all night on both sides.
Simon-8: Maybe a little nervy at the start of the second half on Morgan’s half chance, but had her second consecutive solid effort at CB.
Merrick-8: Strong in attack and defense as she switched out wide late after Lester came on.
Martin-8: She was effective again at right back and her pace helped kill off a couple of Wave attacks.
DeMelo-9 (Player of the Match): Even though it will air after the match, Zach Allen-Kelly and I called out on the Vamos Morados podcast that her goal was coming soon and it came tonight as the match winner. A full USWNT call up seems inevitable at this point.
Howell-8: Possibly her best match in a Racing uniform as she was all over the pitch.
Milliet-7: Picked up a questionable early yellow card, but managed her way though the match and drew two yellow cards from her opponents.
Kizer-7: Not her best night, but is was a solid shift.
Chidiac-7: Looked really quick early, but tailed off a bit in the second half. She is probably still getting used to the pace of the league, but had a solid debut regardless.
McDonald-7: Worked hard against the Wave back line and was close to getting the right pass played into her a few times.
Racing v Wave Preview
Look at that terrible jersey above. I had higher hopes based on the Wave’s color scheme, but that’s the NWSL for you.
Racing prepares for its first ever match vs. the San Diego Wave. Based on results in the Challenge Cup, Racing fans could be forgiven for at looking at this match a few weeks ago as a solid chance for 3 points, but recent trends paint a much darker picture for Racing’s hopes. First, let’s start with the San Diego side. Looking at the numbers from their 3 league matches so far, only their biggest critics would begrudge them from getting at least 5 points in those matches based purely on the statistics. In reality, they have all 9 and sit atop the league table. Alex Morgan does what she does which is score goals (albeit 3 of those coming from the penalty spot.) The Wave has conceded only one goal so far and they have real talent on defense. It is way too early to judge the class of this team, but there can be no denying that its form is excellent. On the Racing side, one hopes that they can field a full team. Losing 4 players in a day due to sickness is not a great sign, and who knows how many were exposed to illness. Hopefully those 4 players can recover to some degree, but the team stated “TBA” on its initial availability report on Tuesday, which isn’t good.
If Racing rolls out a similar lineup to the one on Saturday, the team will have a fighting chance, but Simon left that game with leg cramps and Racing finished the game with a back 3 comprised of primarily wing defenders. We really should be looking forward to the debuts of Holloway and Chidiac, but I’m pessimistic on any selection of players at this point based on anything other that their ability to take the field absent of illness. Racing have to release an availability report at some point prior to the match (possibly 24 hours prior to kick-off, but that is a guess), and we will know who is available at that point, but obviously that is subject to change as well. Watch my Twitter account for updates.
Racing v Dash Post Match Thoughts
Courtesy USA Today Sports Images
Racing dominated the possession in the match vs. Houston last night and had a much higher passing accuracy than the Dash, but everything else on the stat sheet was fairly even and that led to a mostly fair 1-1 result in Louisville in my opinion. Here are the things I noticed.
Houston’s goal was the result of another 2nd chance opportunity. Katie Lund made a fine original save on the first attempt, but Racing couldn’t clear their lines well enough to stop the second shot. Defending set pieces is still a work in progress for this team, and at this point in the match there wasn’t a traditional center back on the field for Racing, so maybe this goal was a bit unlucky for them. I rewatched the incident that led to the corner, and I didn’t see a clear error from the official, so maybe Coach Gonzales saw something I didn’t see. He has as mad as I ever remember seeing him, and he was definitely upset enough by the call to get a verbal warning from the official.
Racing had to deal with the loss of 3/4 or its back line last night. I can’t be 100% sure, but based on what I observe at practice, Coach Björkegren usually shows his starting XI in open practice a couple of days before the match. At practice on Thursday, a couple of different back lines were tried out, but I entered into the match assuming that we were about to get the debut of the Holloway-Lester-Bonner-Fox back line. When I saw the projected lineups I was surprised and then even more surprised when Bonner was a late scratch. I won’t speculate on their illnesses, but at least one was a positive COVID test. Coach Kim said that this situation was one of the most challenging that he ever faced. Not only did the absentees mean that he was missing 4 players, but also several players were playing in positions that were not planned. My assumption is that the replacements and adjustments went as such: Merrick for Lester, Simon for Bonner, Martin for Fox, Fox for Holloway, Davis for Milliet, and Milliet for Olofsson. That basically means only, DeMelo, Kizer, Howell and McDonald started in their projected spots from the beginning of the day on Saturday.
Based on all of the late changes, I thought Racing played well. In her post patch interview, Jess McDonald mentioned Simon specifically as a player that stepped up and that Simon is a tough opponent in their squad scrimmages. Being afforded the chance to see squad scrimmages from time to time, I hesitate to give too much away as to not give aid or comfort to the enemy. However, I will say this: in 7-10-minute stretches, the backup squad can hold their own and sometimes cause real problems for the starters. I think we can safely say that Racing now has an NWSL level squad and not just an NWSL Starting XI. That being said, I hope that Lester, Bonner and Holloway are available for selection sooner vs. later.
Lastly, I will repeat myself from other analyses and say again how impressive DeMelo has been. She plays in a more forward position than Jae Howell and thus is likely to get more attention for the positive things she does over Jae’s less flashy but just as important duties in her defensive midfield role. That being said, she is going to give Howell a run for her money as Racing’s best rookie. DeMelo led the team in the following categories for the match: touches, passes in the final third, total duels, duels won, possession won in the final third, tackles, won tackles, interceptions and fouls won. She fills out a stat sheet and came very close to a goal again. At this point, her form (and hopefully class) will keep her in the Starting XI (barring rotation) for the foreseeable future.
Racing 1 Dash 1 Player Ratings
Courtesy USA Today Sports Images
After Racing’s 1-1 draw, Coach Kim Björkegren said it was one of the toughest matches he has ever experienced as a coach. There were 4 game day scratches due to illness. Most of those illnesses seemed to strike the back line. In fact Bonner was posted as projected starter on Twitter before being a late scratch. Taking that into account, Racing will be somewhat happy with a point.
Lund-6: Made a couple of routine saves and a good one that unfortunately found its way to Nichelle Prince who put away the Dash’s second bite at goal from a corner. On a side note, Coach Sergio Gonzales vehemently disagreed with the decision to award a corner, earning a verbal warning from the 4th official. I will take a closer look at that call tomorrow, but honestly I couldn’t tell who the ball was out on in real time.
Fox-7: Led the team in passing accuracy with 91.4%. I believe she was the only projected starter on the back line to play in the match.
Martin-7: Another solid effort from Martin, who continues to get minutes based on her work rate.
Simon-7: She the late replacement for Bonner and deputized brilliantly on short notice before having to be substituted for what I believe was a cramp.
Merrick-7: Led the team in passes and was a very solid partner of Simon while they were both in the match. She basically played the last 25 or so minutes as the lone center back.
Howell-6: She was Racing’s most accurate passer in the midfield, but was rather quiet on the stat sheet.
DeMelo-8: Was close to scoring again, and led the team in touches with 85. She is steadily becoming Racing’s engine.
Milliet-7: She seems to never get tired and had a very good assist on McDonald’s goal.
Davis-6: Was offside a couple of times when she probably shouldn’t have been, and rushed a cross early in the match that could have been more dangerous with a few more yards taken on a dribble. Was Racing’s first player subbed off.
Kizer-6: Looked a little off her game and definitely a little tired late in the match.
McDonald-8: Celebrated her 159th match with balloons from the Lavender Legion. She scored on a great header, which makes one wonder why she takes long throws when she is so good in the box. She was also probably working on very little sleep having taken the Red Eye back from Phoenix College’s commencement address.
Racing v Dash Preview
Courtesy Connor Cunningham
It’s the Dash for Racing again, and there is probably not a team that Racing wants to play simultaneously more and less. These teams definitely know what to expect from each other now, so it will be up to execution on the field. Instead of previewing the match in a traditional way, I wanted to give a few tidbits from last night’s fan Q&A with the coaches and from open practice today, and then tie that back into how it impacts the upcoming match.
The Q&A session was comprised of Kim Björkegren, Mario Sanchez, Serge Gonzolez, and James O’Connor. One of the questions that was asked last night was in regard to how Coach Björkegren has been slowly building up the team through a back-to-basics approach. If you listened to the most recent Butchertown Rundown podcast, Bekki and Tom talked about how this plan was going. The consensus was that Björkegren was probably most focused on attack at the beginning of his process, because that was where the most significant gains could be taken. Racing obviously has made gains in attack and has a clear philosophy and style. Then Bekki and Tom wondered how much time had been spent on defensive building blocks. Before I get to that, let me share that Coach Kim gave a really clear explanation about how and why he trains the team the way he does. He made the analogy that building a team was like building a house. You have to have a plan and do it in steps. One particular piece that stood out to me in his answer was that when you are teaching your team a new system that you shouldn’t force things because if you try to implement too many things at once, it becomes difficult for the players to remember what they should be doing in a specific situation. Getting back to Bekki and Tom’s question about how much time is being spent working on defensive building blocks, I don’t think I would be giving any trade secrets away by saying that in the most recent practices that I have attended, there has definitely been dedicated time spent to defensive shape and specific defensive situations. Based on all of this I asked Coack Björkegren today where he thought he was in the “house building” process. He said that the foundation and walls were up, and now they are focused on the details. I think this is a really strong analogy because if you have ever seen a house built, you know that it starts to become recognizable as a house much more quickly than it is ready to be lived in. There are all of the interior details that have to be finished. That is where Racing is at this point. They are recognizable as a coherent team with a clear philosophy, but they are still far from a finished product. The finished product will take more time, and how quickly the players get the details will determine how successful the team is.
One of the early questions was around Coach Björkegren’s take on the NWSL and how it differed from the other leagues he coached in. He said “Transition, transition, transition.” I tend to agree and just about everyone says this. The European leagues are much more “technical”. I wonder if there is a way to unlock the cheat code to win in a league where you know there will be so much transition. I have my own thoughts, but they are counter to the Soccer Holdings philosophy. It will be interesting if some smart coach can figure out a way to exploit the transitional nature of the league in both philosophy and practice.
One of the questions that surrounded the team at the launch is “why isn’t the team called Louisville City?” That question came up again last night. In case you didn’t know, the NWSL owns the rights to the names of its teams. Soccer Holdings owns the rights to “Louisville City”. It would be foolish to cede those rights to the NWSL, so they had to choose a new name. Basically “Louisville City FC” was never an option for the women’s team playing in the NWSL.
James O’Connor said the most challenging thing about getting involved with the NWSL was the restrictions put on building the team. All things being equal, I truly believe that if the club didn’t have to adhere to the league’s rules, it would have put together a much more competitive team up front. Of course, this assumes that the club would be able to negotiate with any player not on a current contract, and that just wasn’t how the league worked. Basically, the team worked within the rules they had to, but felt they would have been more successful it they weren’t (in my opinion, severely) restricted.
The W League Team, which obviously carries the Racing brand, starts on Friday. Since the club has a clear philosophy for all of its academy and professional teams, expect to see that philosophy carry to some degree over to the W League team. However, since many of the players haven’t even been in town more than a few days and the fact that the season isn’t terribly long, it may not fully translate on the pitch immediately.
There was a really good question about how the USWNT uses Emily Fox vs. how Racing uses her. Coach Björkegren said that the USWNT is better than every other team they play, so they use Fox pretty consistently in one position. Since Racing is in a battle every week, he thinks Fox’s flexibility has to be taken advantage of. He also said that he expects to get 7 to 8 points (goals and assists) from Fox this year.
There was another really intelligent and observant question asked about the keeper’s positioning in the men’s game vs. the women’s game. Coach Gonzalez said that in the men’s game, the ball if often delivered on a much flatter arc which requires the keepers to play off their line more frequently. Conversely, in the women’s game the keepers tend to stick closer to the line due to the risk of having a looped cross sent over their heads. I hadn’t made that observation and learned something new, which I always appreciate.
Both Chidiac and Holloway participated in practice today. If either of them sees the pitch, it might be the advantage that Racing needs to get over the hump against Houston. I think Julia Lester demonstrated that a player for which a team doesn’t have much film can throw their opponent for a loop. Maybe Racing can catch Houston napping and get all three points on Saturday night.
I asked Coach Björkegren about only using 2 subs in the previous two matches and asked if we could expect more with 3 games in 8 days. He said to expect some rotation and fewer players playing the full 90 minutes. Alex Chidiac and Rebecca Holloway were both available for interview after practice. On Chidiac, she is still recovering a bit from jet lag, but should be available for selection. On her decision to come to Racing, it sounded like a spur of the moment thing with Racing reaching out late in the A League season. If you follow her on Twitter, you know that when she found out she was coming to Louisville, she asked for some facts about Louisville. Her two favorites were that 90% of the disco balls are made in Louisville, and that Louisville is home to the Pope Lick Monster. Conversely, Rebecca Holloway said she had been making plans to try to be a Racing player pretty much since the inception of the team. Having attended Cumberland University in Tennessee and having played in Nashville for the WPSL team she was familiar with the area. Even though Chidiac has been with the team longer, I get the sense that Holloway may be closer to game action, but that is mostly based on need, not readiness.
I promise that this will be the last time I mention the missed illegal keeper handling on Sunday vs. the OL Reign, but I started to wonder how prepared Racing would have been for an indirect free kick in the box. I asked the coaches during the Q&A last night, and Coach Gonzalez specifically said that the team had worked on that scenario. I have only even seen it once in a match that I watched in real time. That non-call prevented us from seeing something like one of these.
So, how does all of this relate to Racing’s upcoming match vs. Houston? In a nutshell, I think that the responses to the questions during last night’s event and the continued addition of quality players demonstrates that Racing is building to win. I mentioned to Jeff Greer last night that one of the things that is great about the Premier League is that the level of performances usually translates to points. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, there are 38 matches so the probability that a run of form, either good or bad, will completely misrepresent the quality of the team is pretty low. Mid-table quality teams don’t get relegated, really good teams finish in the European spots, and the best team almost always wins the title. Second, the gap between the top and bottom teams is vast. Teams usually end up where the quality of the overall club dictates. In the NWSL, the margins are finer and due to the randomness of officiating decisions one could picture the table playing out in all kinds of different scenarios. That being the reality, all that a team can do is to build to win. If you build to compete, you will compete. If you build to sell tickets, you will sell tickets. If you build be a nightmare to play against, you will be a nightmare to play against. Racing has been clear that there are building to win. James O’Connor was clear in reiterating this yesterday and when Björkegren was asked today how long before he expected the team’s effort to translate into 3 points he answered, “it depends on how many hours to the next game,” and then he stated clearly that he expected to win. That’s what you want to hear.
Reign 2 Racing 2 Post Match Thoughts
Courtesy USA Today Sports Images
Racing grabbed a decent result in Seattle on Sunday Afternoon all things considered. When asked about Emily Fox’s absence on the pitch, Coach Björkegren stated that she would be missed whether the team was Racing Louisville, Barcelona, of the USWNT. I don’t disagree, and it would have been easy to imagine a path to 3 points with her on the pitch. Both of the Reign goals came from attacks where the Reign had too much space on the right-hand attacking side. I will disagree slightly with the coach’s and players’ assessment of these goals and say that more credit is due to the Tziarra King for her finishing over blame for Racing’s defending. I mean honestly, can’t almost every goal be traced back to an error by the opposition team if you go back far enough? Speaking of errors…
I know I may get some negative feedback for this, but I can live with it…the NWSL’s legitimacy is hurt by its poor officiating. In fact, if someone was new to the NWSL and asked me if they should watch the league, first I would tell them to go to a Racing home match and have a blast like I always do. And then I would tell them that I can’t recommend watching the league as a neutral observer. This has nothing to do with the quality of play or the players and everything to do with how the match is presented on TV. The officiating is so bad sometimes I wonder why the teams even keep score. The league is so competitive and the margins are so tight that a single officiating decision can, and often does influence the outcome. So far this week I have seen obvious fouls in the box not given as penalties, bad and dangerous challenges not even called as fouls, blatant handballs not called and in the Reign v. Racing match an official possibly not understand one of the laws of the game. In the 7th minute of the match, Racing nearly scored when Sofia Huerta cleared the ball off her line INTETIONALLY WITH HER FOOT and the keeper HANDLED THE BALL. This is supposed to result in an indirect free kick at the point of the offence or if inside the 6-yard box at the point on the line closest to where the offence occurred. I went back and watched the replay. The official has a clear view of the incident and either A) Didn’t understand the law of the game that applied or B) understood it and chose to ignore it. Let’s be entirely clear here. This was not a judgement call. It was a complete miss. There were other calls in the match that were close and went in Racing’s favor like the own goal and Lund’s yellow card over a red. I thought the own goal crossed the line in real time and I’m not really interested in a forensic dissection of that call because of course there isn’t a good angle in the broadcast by which to judge it. Goal line technology is expensive as well as VAR, so I am not clamoring for those. I just want the officials to know the rules and apply them correctly. In this league, they don’t so why should I spend any more free time watching matches where the officials have more influence on the outcome of the matches than the players. By the way, I am mot blaming the NWSL here. They are clearly the victim and so is every fan that watches. I like to keep my life free of unnecessary stress, and watching the officiating in these matches is infuriating and stressful.
Racing is going to have to outscore teams to win. Coach Björkegren famously guaranteed more goals this year, but he didn’t guarantee less goals allowed. I am almost sure that Racing will improve on its goals allowed number this year, but it will probably take at least 2 goals to have a chance at 3 points. By starting Lo Milliet at left Björkegren basically conceded that he doesn’t think his current set of defensive players fit the style he wants to play. In his press conference, he stated that he doesn’t really care which formation he plays and this wasn’t his first time stating that fact. He cares that players run and play full of energy. It was a message to the team and to the fans. If a player is capable of playing in his style, she will get more minutes. I think we can infer that Holloway will go straight into the mix if she can demonstrate the pressing style that he wants to play. It is also of note that Racing has only used 2 subs out of the 5 available in the two league matches so far, so read into that what you will.
Sav DeMelo had an excellent match by almost everyone’s account. She seems to be relishing her role within the team as more of an right-sided attacking midfielder. Here is her heatmap for the match vs. the Reign.
Sav’s free kick that created the 2nd Racing goal was outstanding. It put the keeper in the precarious position of making an initial movement for the ball, but then immediately backpedaling. It was a nightmare ball for the Reign to have to handle. A Racing player (probably Howell, but I can’t quite tell) made an attempt to head it and that threw off the Reign defenders even more. Ultimately it was a dangerous ball put into a dangerous place and it resulted in a goal (and goes into the stat sheet as a 0 xG opportunity).
It thought Jess McDonald’s goal took a deflection on the way in, not that it mattered. It was a real striker’s type of goal. The tough part on this one is how to code it for my pie charts. Jess called it a “transition” goal and since she said as much I will use the “In Transition” classification. The other classification I was debating was “In possession from transition with opponent shape integrity”, but I don’t think Racing had possession long enough or that the Reign defenders had quite recovered their defensive shape yet so “In transition” seems like the right call there.
Reign 2 Racing 2 Player Ratings
Courtesy USA Today Sports Images
It wasn’t necessarily a well-played match by either side, but surely Racing will be pleased with a point on the road vs. the OL Reign. Racing had the better chances at the end of the match, but I think will satisfied with the draw.
Lund-6: Made a couple of good saves, and Lester didn’t put her in the best position on the free kick that resulted in her yellow card (maybe Lund called her off?). Solid once again.
Milliet-6: Emily Fox was surely missed today. Racing was narrow in defense on the two Reign goals, but it’s hard to fault Milliet too much in a deputizing role. This demonstrates how much the team needs Fox and how much Björkegren trusts Milliet over his other options.
Bonner-7: Led the team in clearances and played smart all day.
Lester-7: Racing’s most accurate passer on the day was solid in attack and defense once again.
Martin-7: Was heavily involved in the attack, but also solid on defense.
Howell-7: Howell and DeMelo had really similar statistical matches, both really good in attack and defense.
DeMelo-8 (Player of the Match): However, DeMelo is my player of the match with her terrific cross which confounded the Reign on the equalizing own goal.
Olofsson-7: Had a couple a really good tackles to win back possession.
Kizer-7: Did well to set up McDonald’s goal.
McDonald-8: Took her goal well, but I thought it took a bit of a deflection that may have helped. Either way, a great way to start the match.
Ekic-6: Salmon honestly did better with her time on the pitch. It wasn’t a bad game, but we know she is capable of better.
Bonus Rating: Away Kits-6: The new kits don’t really read as anything other than white on TV, especially in the sun. I will look forward to seeing how they appear in night matches.
Reign v Racing Preview
Courtesy Racing Louisville via Twitter
Racing travel to Seattle today to prepare for their 2nd league match of the season on Suday at 6PM EDT. The OL Reign are their opponents and they frankly have quite a bit to be angry about. First, the OL Reign should have been afforded the opportunity to play at home as the overall #1 seed in the recent Challenge Cup semifinals. However, their home pitch Lumen Field was hosting the CONCACAF Champions League final, where the Seattle Sounders became the first MLS club to win that particular trophy. Scheduling is always a challenge for the NWSL, but was there any real need to be so hard and fast with the schedule for the Challenge Cup? Once the 4 semifinalists were determined, I think there could have been some flexibility to move the Spirit/Reign match to a Tuesday or a Thursday. TV will always be the determining factor in these decisions and the NWSL was stupidly locked into a 1PM EDT kickoff for the final this Saturday. Is the kick-off time for a national television spot (what even is that anymore?) more important than anything else? To the NWSL it apparently is. One of these days we will get over the fascination of having sports on “broadcast” television. I really hope the NWSL finds a better partner than CBS next time the TV contract is up for negotiation. Second, the officials missed an obvious handball in the final minutes that almost assuredly would have been a converted penalty by Megan Rapinoe (she entered the match by this point just to be on the pitch to take a penalty in the shootout, which she converted.) Third and perhaps most important, the above two factors probably greatly reduced their probability to advance and ultimately compete for the $10,000/player reward for winning the Challenge Cup. That would be plenty of motivation for me.
However, the Reign are coming off of a midweek match and potentially could have some tired legs at the end of the upcoming match. I tend not to put too much stock into this, but it could be a factor if the game is close late. More important on the Racing side is the need to cut down on lapses in concentration/judgement. I have written several times about the statistics in soccer not mattering as much as other sports. In fact, sometimes it doesn’t even matter if you are the best team on the pitch. If you watched the UEFA Men’s Champions League semifinal on Wednesday between Man City and Real Madrid, this was on clear display. One of my favorite all-time footballers is Thierry Henry (duh). The Arsenal legend talked about the “moments” being so critical in that match. His point was that a lapse in concentration or effort in defense, or an extraordinary effort in attack often renders the rest of the match meaningless. Racing has shown both the tendency to embrace these moments in attack, but be incredibly susceptible to them at times on defense. Matches requires 90 plus minutes of concentration, something that this Racing team has yet to demonstrate. The team has shown resiliency, but not necessarily the ability to play all 90 minutes fully committed to the cause of winning.
In lighter news, Racing has the opportunity to attend Thurby at Churchill Downs which looked like fun. Of course, they won’t get to experience Oaks or Derby since they will be in Seattle. With an OL Reign victory on Wednesday, they may have at least been able to experience Louisville during these two days, but at least they knew they would be flying to Seatle on Friday by 11 or so on Wednesday night. Have I mentioned that I hate this league? I debated writing an article about the NWSL’s use of “Chaos” as a brand, but thought better of it. My main point would have been that their embrace of “Chaos” on the field translates to “Chaos” in the front office. Since I just came out and said that in a single sentence there is no need to write that article. The reason I decided against finishing the article (I got about halfway through it) was that I know that some people find the chaos exciting. I guess that’s fair, but March Madness is exciting and sometimes chaotic on the court…with a ton of logistical planning and support behind it. My patience has run out for this league. They need to get it together. One final note on “Chaos”: San Diego still don’t have actual kits while KC dropped another one this morning.
As for the match itself, Racing actually gets to play a team that is not Chicago, Kansas City, or Houston! Racing lost away and drew at home vs. the OL Reign last year, but that probably doesn’t mean much (so why did I even type that sentence?) Who knows what Rapinoe’s status is? Quinn is probably still out. Lavelle, Balcer, Huerta, Cook, Hiatt and Fishlock played 90 minutes, so there could be some rotation. Racing will probably roll out a lineup similar to last week vs. Chicago. Again there was no media availability this week, so I am free to speculate on the lineup. I’ll go Lund, Fox, Lester, Bonner, Merrick, Howell, DeMelo, Ekic, Kizer, Salmon, McDonald. Now that I put that out there, you can almost certainly bet against that lineup. I think Salmon needs starting minutes soon, or I am just going to assume that she isn’t part of the long-term plans as there are several other options at forward. I think DeMelo and Ekic have forced their way into the lineup, but I’m not the manager so it doesn’t matter what I think. If Racing can keep it close early, I think the most interesting part of this match will be to see which team dictates play. Racing have shown the ability to do so, and if they can do so in this match it will be encouraging regardless of the outcome.