A draw leaves us standing still, looking ahead to Racing

Hello Courage Country!

We ended with a 1-1 draw against Bay FC, and it honestly felt a little fortunate. They were ready with a game plan to disrupt our usual style of play, and executed it well.

Like me, you’re probably looking at the table and thinking about our playoff potential with just six regular season matches left. Gotham’s win over a coach-less Houston means they leapfrog Kansas City, who pulled out a 0-0 draw against Orlando.

This leaves us solidly in the 5th spot, a full 7 points behind Kansas City, and 5 ahead of Portland. This year’s cutoff is eighth place, so things are looking good. That said, a few wins would help shore that up. And with the way we’ve played on the road, dare we dream to host at least one home playoff match?

Let’s look at how things played out against Bay.

Recap: Courage v. Bay FC

We finally faced expansion side Bay FC last Friday, a tight turnaround after traveling to the West Coast to play San Diego the Sunday prior.

It was clear from the outset Bay had a good read on our formation. At just 9’ in, Racheal Kundananji intercepted a pass from Malia Berkely, then passed to forward Rachel Hill. Hill connected with former Courage forward Tess Boade, who then got a nice cross in to Asisat Oshoala. The obvious choice would have been for Oshoala to fire back across to the far post. Instead, she did a nifty, tight kick to the near post. It was enough to make Casey Murphy hesitate for a split second. The goal put Bay up 1-0.

That might be a lot to recount in a text format, but I think it’s important to detail how the goal unfolded, because of a lot of the first half felt risky in a similar manner. Bay FC was quick to close off passing lanes, and earned six interceptions for their effort. They also won a lot of duels with our midfielders, which doesn’t happen often. The refs missed some calls, but didn’t miss giving Denise O’Sullivan a yellow card at 14’.

Even with all that, the Courage equalized in the first half, at the 28’ mark. Defender Ryan Williams won a battle with Kundananji, narrowly getting a pass off to O’Sullivan. Sully ran through two defenders and tried to move the ball to open space, but it was intercepted by defender Emily Menges. Sully stuck with it and made a perfect forward pass to Ashley Sanchez. Our leading goal-scorer took it from there.

The second half was a bit more even, with the Courage increasingly playing in our usual possession style. We made early subs, with Brianna Pinto and Olivia Wingate coming in at the 56’ mark for Tyler Lussi and Bianca St-Georges, respectively. And at 72’, Meredith Speck and Dani Weatherholt came in for Haley Hopkins and Narumi Miura.

Kerolin Nicoli still has yet to return, and Cortnee Vine had an excused absence.

Our magic number sits at 9 right now, so a road victory next week would be a huge help.

Standout stats

Look ahead: Courage v. Racing Louisville

With the away match curse broken, and new faces on both sides of the pitch, it will be exciting to see how we square up against Louisville.

We beat them 3-1 in regular season play on July 7. That was another match where early subs paid dividends for the Courage, so it will be interesting to see if coach Sean Nahas repeats this week’s pattern.

A few weeks later, we tied Louisville 1-1 in the NWSL x Liga MX Feminil Summer Cup, and the Courage won on penalty kicks.

Since that time, a lot has changed. The Courage, of course, acquired Vine. But perhaps the biggest news was Louisville trading star midfielder Jaelin Howell and $50,000 in allocation money to Seattle in exchange for another star, forward Bethany Balcer. Additionally, Racing traded defender Carson Pickett (a former Courage player) to Orlando Pride for $75,000 in allocation money.

This leaves Racing’s roster in an interesting position, with a goal-ready Balcer up top, and Savannah DeMelo and Ary Borges in the midfield to get passes lined up. And of course, former Courage player Abby Erceg is a key defender.

Racing is coming off a 2-1 win over Angel City, including a spectacular header goal from Balcer, assisted by Borges.

We’ve done a good job this season of containing superstar strikers. If we can continue that stance, and maybe get Vine back into the rotation, we have a shot at picking up more points on the road.

Courage news and updates

• Midfielders Riley Jackson for USWNT and Manaka Matsukubo for Japan continue their run in the U-20 Women’s World Cup. The US plays North Korea today at 5:30p, followed by the Japan v. Netherlands at 9p. Matches are broadcast on Fox Sports 2 and Telemundo.

• And that leaves the bittersweet news that the Courage waived defender Maya McCutcheon from her replacement contract a little early, as she was offered a deal to play in the Australian A-League. She’ll join the Wellington Phoenix FC in New Zealand. It’s a great opportunity, and we wish her the best.

Around the League and Beyond

It’s been a slow week. There’s not a lot new here, but if you’re interested, The Athletic documented the unusually long silence surrounding Houston head coach Fran Alonso’s extended absence, as well as their other staffing woes this season, on and off the field (subscription required).

That’s it for this week! As always, you can get in touch with tips, suggestions, corrections and more: [email protected].

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