Win over Louisville, Kerolin practicing, international break

Hello Courage Country! I was out last week for a family emergency; thank you for your patience.

I’m back for this issue, and then the newsletter will have some downtime between now and the end of August, when NWSL play resumes. I’ll try to send out an update or two between now and then, but this is a good chance for me to have a break as well!

Thankfully, we have a fun win to celebrate as we head into the international break.

Recap: Courage v. Racing Louisville

It feels almost universally acknowledged that this game was a tale of two halves; the commentators said it; Katie said it in our podcast, Coach Sean Nahas said it in a tweet, as did captain Denise O’Sullivan.

In the first half, Forward Reilyn Turner, sixth overall draft pick for Racing Louisville, put up an early goal around the 31’ mark. And aside from two yellow cards for Racing, we finished a fairly uneventful half down 1-0.

Then the Courage came … ahem, I’m sorry for this in advance … roaring back in the second half to finish 3-1 overall.

Nahas took the unusual step of making several halftime substitutions:

• Manaka Matsukubo subbed in for Victoria Pickett.

• Olivia Wingate came in for Tyler Lussi. It was Wingate’s first appearance this season after dealing with a lingering leg injury.

• Meredith Speck came in for Hayley Hopkins.

And in that second half, it felt like we got the Courage squad we expected at the outset of this season. The team that buried Houston 5-1 in the season opener. The team whose depth is so great that substitutions were playing as high caliber as the starters. Notably, all three of these substitutions immediately contributed to goals.

The equalizer was a play of sheer beauty, the stuff soccer is made of. After some passes around the back, Kaleigh Kurtz snuck a pass to Ashley Sanchez who was forced by two defenders to dump the ball quickly back to Narumi Miura. Miura then made a pinpoint pass to Matsukubo, who did an exceptional half turn to beat a defender and make a pass to Meredith Speck. Speck lifted an aerial cross perfectly positioned for Sanchez to head it in.

They achieved it in 15 passes, which OptaJack visualized:

The remaining two goals were just as fun, and arrived in quick succession. Around the 60’ mark, Sanchez pressed defender (and former Courage player) Abby Erceg, who dumped the ball back to keeper Katie Lund. Sanchez stuck with her press, and Lund frankly panicked and booted the ball upfield. Manaka was quick to intercept, which from the Courage perspective is the best mistake from Lund you could hope for. Manaka has the technical capability to sink a long ball and … that’s exactly what happened. She chipped a beautiful floating shot over Lund and into the net.

Matsukubo and Sanchez created more quality chances minutes later. And finally, O’Sullivan made a terrific connection with Sanchez, then beat a defender in time to receive a pass back from Sanchez. Sully tried to cross a pass in, it was deflected back to her … so she just kicked a cross in again, this time connecting with Wingate for the third goal. I can only imagine how good it felt for Wingate to score a goal coming off of an extended injury.

That last goal illustrated the story of the second half for me: players time and again sticking with the play, in a manner that felt next level for this squad, and having fun making creative scoring opportunities.

If the team can find ways to sustain this level of play beyond the international break – when we also should see Courtnee Vine joining and Kerolin Nicoli returning, we’re very well positioned to retain our playoff contention spot.

Underrated play

I liked this effort at the 91’ mark which I think shows how much players were sticking with this match.

Matsukubo intercepted a pass and moved the ball upfield.

She connects with Speck, who shot the ball between a defender’s legs, but the shot is deflected by Lund.

But Wingate is there to pick up the deflection and take another shot, and a good one given the awkward angle. Lund manages to block this, too.

So even though we didn’t score, it represented so much of the threat the Courage presented to the final whistle, showcased Wingate’s form, and is exactly the kind of pressure that we were creating throughout the second half. Beating defenders and working the goalie is exactly how you create quality chances. Some pay off, and we’re moving back up the table.

Standout stats

Stats via Fotmob, NWSL.

Courage news and updates

• The Courage announced a “mutual contract termination” with Mille Gejl, now that her loan with Montpellier HSC is up.

• The Courage used their option to buy out the remainder of Manaka Matsukubo’s loan, and extended her contract through 2025.

• Jackie Gutierrez, writing for Forbes, wrote a piece about the Courage’s evolving, improving club culture.

• Olympic summary:

  • Keeper Casey Murphy will be part of Team USA!

  • Intriguingly, Kerolin was called up to join Brazil’s national team for the first time, despite remaining on the season ending injury list for the Courage after an ACL tear last season. We assume this means she’s ready to return. She has been practicing with the team.

  • Likewise, defender Sydney Collins has been on the 45-day injury list, but was called up to Canada’s national team.

  • Defender Feli Rauch was named an alternate to Germany’s Olympic squad.

  We wish everyone the best and look forward to what’s certain to be an exciting Olympics in Paris. Katie will be there, so look for a report out on the podcast later this summer.

Around the league and beyond

• Meg Linehan and Jenna West at The Athletic report that Willow Bay and her husband, Disney CEO Bob Iger, are set to buy Angel City FC for a ballpark $300m (subscription required). Katie and I break it down in this week’s podcast.

• Gutierrez, for Forbes again, details Utah’s decision to fire head coach Amy Rodriguez.

• O.M.G. We finally got the Kansas City / Orlando matchup we’ve been waiting for with the two unbeaten titans squaring off. Orlando came out victorious, and it sets the stage for an exciting rematch in September.

• After San Diego Wave let go of head coach Casey Stoney, more turmoil erupted at the club as several former behind-the-scenes employees have accused the club of having a toxic culture that dramatically affected their mental health. The club denied the allegations so vehemently it’s threatening litigation. But the allegations were enough to cause star player Alex Morgan to say “it is clear there is so much work to be done.”

• The Wall Street Journal’s Rachel Bachman had a piece on the success of KC Current’s stadium, and kudos to the WSJ team on this headline: No One Wanted to Finance Their Stadium. Now Every Game Is a Sellout.

• DC Power of the USL Super League have announced their final roster ahead of the 2024 season.

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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