Road loss at Houston, Summer Cup details and KC manager resigns

Hi everyone! It’s a quiet week in Courage Country, as there’s a scheduled break from league play to accommodate an international window. The Courage will be in Portland next Saturday, June 8, and we’ll preview that matchup next week.

For now, a light newsletter for the off week.

Recap: Courage v. Houston Dash

The Courage’s road struggles continued this week, with a 3-0 defeat in Houston. It was a tough loss, especially considering we beat Houston 5-1 in our season opener.

In many of our other road losses, the Courage looked strong, and it felt almost like some kind of curse that they weren’t getting goals after creating numerous quality chances.

The team looked rougher in this outing. Despite maintaining 65% possession, and taking 13 total shots, they never really looked like a threat. Houston keeper Jane Campbell easily handled the shots on target. It’s also becoming apparent we don’t have a strong option over the top; if we get bogged down in the midfield, we don’t have an answer.

I asked head coach Sean Nahas in the post-game press conference how the team is thinking about getting around the mental blocks during road travel. He noted it’s a tough league, and the Courage aren’t the only team that has lost its road matches (Seattle and Utah have had the same misfortune; Bay FC hasn’t won on the road since the season opener against Angel City; and San Diego have managed a few draws, but no wins).

He added, “I think right now, when we’re home, we have a belief about ourselves that we’re going to win, whereas on the road we’re waiting for something bad to happen, instead of going and making something positive happen. That happens at the highest of levels.”

In terms of the goals in the match: Houston forward Ramona Bachman scored just before the half. The other two goals were scored in the second half in quick succession. Midfielder Bárbara Olivieri getting a goal at 68’. Ten minutes later, Diana Ordóñez kept alive the 2024 tradition of former Courage players getting a goal against us.

We fielded virtually the same starting XI as the week before, with Tyler Lussi, Manaka Matsukubo and Hayley Hopkins up front, and Brianna Pinto filling in for injured captain Denise O’Sullivan.

Riley Jackson continues to earn more significant minutes of play, subbing in at 64’ for Pinto, along with Bianca St-Georges for Lussi.

And one bright spot: 2024 draft pick Landy Mertz made her NWSL debut, subbing in for left back Feli Rauch at 84’.

The Courage will have a short break this weekend to reflect before traveling to Portland to take on the Thorns.

Courage news and updates

• From the Courage: “Kaleigh Kurtz broke the NWSL record for consecutive minutes played in the regular season, surpassing Amber Brooks’ record of 6,483 minutes in the 43’ minute of the match against Houston.” That’s such an incredible accomplishment – huge congratulations from us!

• Ashley Sanchez joined Sam Mewis on The Women’s Game podcast this week for their “Friendlies” chat. Katie and I are taking a week off, so definitely give this a listen! Here’s the interview on YouTube:

Around the league and beyond

• NWSL announced more details regarding the NWSL / Liga MX Feminil Summer Cup. Related to the Courage:

  • the July 20 game against Orlando, already scheduled to take place at WakeMed, will be broadcast on Paramount+ in English and NWSL+ in Spanish.

  • The July 26 match against Louisville will be shown on Paramount+ / CBS Sports Golazo Network and NWSL+.

  • Same for the home match against Rayadas on July 31.

• NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman was named Sports Business Journal’s Sports Executive of the Year, the first woman to win in the 17-year history of the award.

• Kansas City’s general manager, Camille Ashton, resigned this week, with little explanation from the team, and reporting was scant on details as well.

That’s it for this week! Katie and I will be back on the podcast next week.

As always, you can get in touch with tips, suggestions, corrections and more: [email protected].

Trevor

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