Month: May 2021

Categories
Soccer

Takeaways: Thorns Lose 2-1 to Tacoma, Orlando

Photo by Matthew Wolfe

Since Sunday, the Thorns have recorded their first two losses of 2021—both 2-1 scorelines—first to none other than OL Reign and then falling to the Orlando Pride.

Questionable officiating and missed chances took center stage in the Thorns’s attack, but Reign did enough to come away with the win.

Portland, for their part, got on the board early when Christine Sinclair volleyed the rebound off Karen Bardsley’s punch over the backpedaling keeper and into the back of the net.

But the Reign came back from that—once off a curled Megan Rapinoe free kick and the second time when Shirley Cruz put her short-range shot passed AD Franch.

Although Cruz’s 15th minute goal held as the game-winner, Rapinoe’s took center-stage—especially after her now-iconic quote from Sunday’s postgame press conference:

From there, it was a short-turnaround flight to Orlando, light training, and another 2-1 Thorns loss.

Here are a couple takeaways from the matches.

1. What’s going on with lineups?

After a 2021 Challenge Cup where she was (arguably) Portland’s best player, it’s been strange to see Natalia Kuikka start the first two games of the regular season on the bench in favor of Christen Westphal.

“I think after the Challenge Cup Final, it was clear that we’ve pushed her a lot,” Mark Parsons said, “She’s landed, she’s got here, she’s trained. She’s had to deal with a lot, and we’re playing her immediately in big games, big moments. I think was very important last week that she she had opportunity to rest.”

On Westphal’s part, Parsons credited her performance in training to her earning the start against Chicago and said there was no way she wasn’t going to start yesterday based on how she played in the Red Stars game.

Parsons didn’t seem all that concerned about the injury that saw Westphal limping off the pitch against the Reign, but he did choose to rest her in favor of getting Kuikka some minutes against Orlando on Wednesday.

There’s also the question of how Emily Menges fits into all this defensive depth; Parsons said she was fully cleared on Sunday, but they weren’t able to get her in—presumably because they had to sub Westphal out instead.

She did get to take the field for the last half hour against the Pride, though, and… looked like Portland Thorns centerback Emily Menges.

2. I really don’t think we’ve talked enough about Crystal Dunn playing for the Thorns

I think the fact that Crystal Dunn plays for the Thorns hit me again during the Reign game. Which means I spent a lot of the game internally freaking out at her first touch and every ball she slipped ahead to Sophia Smith and the fact that she was doing it all under Jess Fishlock’s pretty much constant pressure.

After the match, Parsons specifically praised Dunn’s ability to get out wide and allow Westphal to move up the field. He also pointed to the midfield’s developing connection as a significant improvement from the last time the Thorns played the Reign.

Orlando was something of a different match. There’s the fact that Portland played the game on a short turnaround—the timeline we got after the game had players showing up at the airport at 5:15 a.m. Monday, making the six-hour flight to Orlando, spending the rest of the day recovering from the previous day’s game, getting in a 90-degree light training session on Tuesday, and then going into the Pride match Wednesday—and players looking understandably tired as a result.

Which is to say the Thorns had something of a strange go at Orlando, but it was the most we’ve seen Crystal Dunn take chances on goal this year, and I’m taking that as a positive.

3. Kelli Hubly has had a weird couple games, and I’m honestly not that concerned

I do want to acknowledge that Kelli Hubly has had a couple shaky moments in the past two games and that those moments came after a very, very good Challenge Cup.

Becky Sauerbrunn said it best when she brought up the goal Portland conceded to Sydney Leroux early in the second half: “I don’t think that’s ever going to happen again. Every centerback, that’s going to happen to us. It happened to me in a quarterfinal at the World Cup. Every centerback’s going to have to go through that at some point.”

What does suck—for Hubly, at least—is that Menges’s return means she’s probably going to see fewer minutes going forward, at least until the next international break.

(While we’re on the topic of defense, I’d like to take a moment to apologize. After the Thorns beat Gotham in penalties, I wrote that Portland’s defense was “scary good.” I do think the Thorns have a lot of backline depth this year, but I think me outright saying that has cursed them, so I’m taking the whole “scary good” comment back.)

4. It’s been a weird couple games, but we did see this beautiful goal from Simone Charley

Mostly, I just want to put this here because it makes me happy:

Categories
Soccer Timbers

Timbers Find Their Stride as International Break Approaches

Photo by Kris Lattimore

It took a while for the Timbers to break through against the LA Galaxy Saturday afternoon, but once they did it became a field day at Providence Park.

After a frustrating, scoreless first half, Portland found the opening goal they so desperately craved in the 47th minute. Forward Felipe Mora, who subbed on after Andy Polo left the game in first-half stoppage time due to a hard, unnecessary tackle, read the space and got on the end of a well-placed cross from outside back Josecarlos Van Rankin. From there, the Timbers scored two more times and cruised to a 3–0 victory against Los Angeles. 

“The commitment to perform what we work on during the week is what coaches always want,” coach Giovanni Savarese said. “It shows what this team is all about. A united group that will fight. It doesn’t matter who goes out on the field, everybody’s going to try and perform for each other and today was another very good performance.”

Los Angeles provided a tough test for a Timbers team looking to build on their 2–0 win at San Jose a week ago. Coach Greg Vanney’s team entered the match on a two-game winning streak and took 12 of their first 18 possible points. Talented players such as Chicharito, Jonathan Dos Santos, Efrain Alvarez, and Julian Araujo dotted the visitors’ starting 11. Despite the talent on paper, however, they struggled to find any sort of rhythm against the hosts.

While it took Portland a while to grow into the match, the team looked solid defensively and did enough to prevent the Galaxy from finding too many dangerous opportunities. Still, for as solid as the Timbers looked, they struggled to find a decisive goal or opportunity of their own throughout the first half. 

A lot of those squandered chances stemmed from trying for the jugular. Multiple times throughout the first half, Portland pushed the ball into the attacking third in transition before settling for a half chance. A ball into the box turned into an attempted bicycle kick by forward Dairon Asprilla. In another transition moment, outside back Claudio Bravo found himself with time and space and tried to laser the shot in from deep. Those opportunities came dangerously close both times, but were both still low-percentage chances. 

Photo by Kris Lattimore

Near the end of the first half, the Timbers went a man up after Los Angeles forward Derrick Williams received a straight red for his brutal aerial challenge on Polo. The Peruvian watched the second half on crutches and Savarese’s immediate update did not sound good. 

“When there’s a tackle like that, you don’t want to see that on the field,” Savarese said. “Especially having players that then have to come out because of that situation. Right now, the most important part is hopefully Polo can come back.”

The reckless challenge quelled the crowd at Providence Park for a few minutes, but Portland eventually made the most they could of the man advantage. Mora said that the game changed once the red card was issued. Spaces between the Galaxy’s center backs opened up, which the team relentlessly exploited in the second half.

“It was very hard to find spaces, but after the red card we spoke at halftime,” Mora said through a translator. “We knew that we needed to be calm, patient, and wait for the right opportunities. Thankfully after the first goal, the game opened up more for all of us and we were able to get two more goals.”

Mora took advantage of the newly found space with his header to open the second half, then 13 minutes later, netted a brace. Once again, the Chilean forward showcased his movement in the box, but this time by reading a second ball. In a moment of chaos, Van Rankin’s floated shot hit the top post, Mora reacted first, and he powered another opportunistic header past goalkeeper Jonathan Bond.

To cap off the high-scoring second half, the Timbers received an opportunity from the penalty spot after Los Angeles defender Daniel Steres brought Van Rankin down in the box. Midfielder Diego Valeri, who missed a pair of penalties in Portland’s 2–1 loss against Seattle, once again stepped to the spot. This time, he left little doubt as he confidently blasted the ball past Bond for the 3–0 lead.

“I needed to score that goal,” Valeri said. “After missing those two PKs against Seattle, it was important for me to score that third goal and keep lifting the team. Anyone can miss a PK, but for me it was important to put the ball in the net and keep looking forward.”

Photo by Kris Lattimore

Just as sweet as the win, the Timbers put together their second-consecutive clean sheet against a team that entered Saturday with 10 goals. The center back tandem of Dario Zuparic and Bill Tuiloma came up big, while loanee goalkeeper Logan Keterrer put together another impressive performance.

“I think that has come because of the discipline of the group in the way that the guys have performed, in the way that the guys have executed the plan that we put together,” Savarese said. “We have players that are sacrificing for others in order to make sure that we cover every space, and that’s what we’ve seen in the last two games.”

With the three points, Portland wrapped up their home schedule before the three-week international break on a strong note. The Timbers now travel to Philadelphia high on confidence for one final match before the break, playing with house money and a roster getting healthier by the day.

Categories
Soccer Thorns

Exclusive Interview: Madison Pogarch

Photo by Lucas Muller
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Categories
Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Portland 5, Chicago 0

Photo by Matthew Wolfe

The Thorns finally put it all together yesterday. In a 5–0 dismantling of the Red Stars, the moments of disconnect and bad luck that had kept Portland from dominating throughout the Challenge Cup fell away, and the girls in (black and) red looked like the fully armed and operational battle station we’ve been waiting for.

Sophia Smith scored a brace, though I’d argue she scored two and a half, as it was her powerful shot that deflected into the net off Tierna Davidson. A Christine Sinclair penalty and a right-place, right-time finish by Tyler Lussi—who pounced when Alyssa Naeher fumbled a save—closed out the scoring.

Read on for some of my takeaways from the weekend:

1. Reversion (progression?) to the mean

This was clearly Portland’s best performance to date, but it didn’t represent a huge leap in quality as much as it did all the pieces finally falling into place. We all knew the Thorns were good; that they hadn’t been this good before Sunday really does look like a combination of bad luck and insufficient time training as a full squad. These goals were always coming. It was only a question of which unlucky opponent they’d get unloaded on.

To review some numbers: the Thorns posted more than 20 shots in two of their five Challenge Cup games, including 26 in the final and 29, a club record, against the Reign. They ended Sunday’s game with 22, including 10 on target and 18 from inside the box.

Look at the xG for the 1–1 Challenge Cup final and the 5–0 regular season opener, and you may notice some similarities:

A lot of the chances that went wasted against Tacoma and Gotham came down to bad luck—Sophia Smith, in particular, looked totally snakebit last weekend—but yesterday, the team also solved a lot of the little miscommunications and disconnects that have shown up in previous games.

“We got everyone up to speed,” said Mark Parsons after the game. “What we saw today happened just before the FIFA [international] players broke off. We were playing like this for a couple weeks. Everyone returned, and what are we on now? Week three, week four? Around the same time the understanding became, rather than people thinking about what we need to do, it’s more subconscious and they’re just doing and having fun.”

2. The midfield had plenty of time and space

The Red Stars changed things up for Sunday and lined up in a 4-3-3, I assume because they were short a midfielder with Morgan Gautrat unavailable. This proved to be a mistake.

To start with, there’s an obvious numerical imbalance in the midfield, with Portland lining up in their usual diamond shape: Chicago’s No. 10, Vanessa DiBernardo, was largely tasked with marking Rocky Rodríguez, while Danielle Colaprico and Julie Ertz rotated between Christine Sinclair, Lindsey Horan, and Crystal Dunn. (When you put it like that, it doesn’t sound good for the Red Stars, does it?) Chicago’s wingers would sometimes help with Portland’s No. 8s, but since they were also responsible for Christen Westphal and Meghan Klingenberg, that always left either Dunn or Horan unmarked.

Still, with a sufficiently organized press, all that can be okay. Except the Red Stars’ press was not organized. This is just before Kling drew the penalty that led to Portland’s second goal:

The defensive disorganization is obvious: Dunn looks to have at least four passes available at this moment. Just before this, Ertz did succeed in forcing Rocky to pass backwards. On the other hand, DiBernardo has gotten lost, caught in the open because she wasn’t sure whether to press the back line or cut off a passing lane, and Colaprico has been caught ball-chasing and left Sinc open. In other words, not only are the Red Stars outnumbered in the center of the field, they aren’t effective in using the numbers they do have.

Making matters even worse, the mismatch wasn’t just numerical, but personnel-related, at many positions. Rocky turned DiBernardo a number of times, Christen Westphal handled Kealia Watt with ease, and Smith and Morgan Weaver stretched Chicago’s back line like taffy.

3. Portland shredded the Red Stars in transition

Speaking of which, two goals yesterday—and a handful of good chances—came from quick attacks in transition, either off counterattacks originating in the Thorns’ defensive third or from fast restarts by AD Franch. Smith and Weaver looked unstoppable, with Weaver sprinting at the back line to receive a long pass and Smith making the second run behind her. Franch’s distribution, not just fast but pinpoint accurate, is also to be lauded here.

This was another area where Chicago’s disorganization, and eventually (understandably!), a palpable sense of defeat, undid them. In the sequence leading to Smith’s second goal, three of the Red Stars’ defenders are sprinting shoulder-to-shoulder toward their goal after her. Then Arin Wright tries to hold Smith offside in what looks like a spur-of-the-moment decision—and ironically, Wright is herself the one keeping Smith onside, albeit just barely:

It’s a small moment, but it feels emblematic of how far out of step Chicago was throughout the game.

In short, we shouldn’t expect Portland to be this dominant in every game—but we did get a good look at the tools that are available when the squad is at full strength.

Categories
Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Thorns Tie Gotham in Regulation, Win in Penalties

Photo by Matthew Wolfe

It has been a while since we’ve heard the words “10 a.m. means nothing anymore” on a Thorns broadcast. And while I—and many others—miss listening to Ann Schatz when I stream Portland home games, it’s probably good to not tell your fans that 10 a.m. means nothing ahead of a 10 a.m. tournament final.

So, I may not have gotten anything from the McDonald’s breakfast menu on Saturday morning, but I did watch the Thorns lift the 2021 Challenge Cup trophy at Providence Park after beating NJ/NY Gotham FC on penalties.

Here’s what I took away from the match.

1. A couple goals were scored

For two teams who have conceded a total of five goals across a collective eight matches during the Challenge Cup’s group stage, both of the game’s goals felt incredibly silly.

Christine Sinclair did a pretty fun thing early on, in which she took the ball off Carli Lloyd (who then ran into Sinclair rather than trying to take the ball back), turned, took a couple touches before goal, and got the shot off as Gina Lewandowski made a half-attempt to step to her. It was a good chance on Sinclair’s part, even as it was a pretty foolish lack of defensive pressure on Gotham’s.

Still, the NJ/NY side got their payback when Lloyd headed Imani Dorsey’s cross into the back of the net in the 61st minute. Like Sinclair’s goal, it’s not particularly good defense; Becky Sauerbrunn either misread the ball or wasn’t aware that Lloyd was standing right there and didn’t jump high enough, and AD Franch was caught watching as the ball spun into the back of the net. (Admittedly, it’s close enough range that it would’ve been impressive if Franch had gotten there, but it’s got to sting when you’re not fully set for that shot.)

2. Minus the aforementioned goal, Portland’s defense is scary good

When Mark Parsons talked to media ahead of the Houston game, he said Natalia Kuikka was playing at a three or four out of 10 compared to her potential. I’m still trying to fully process that comment; to me, she’s been easily among Portland’s best players this year, and the thought that we’ve seen less than 50% of what she’s capable of is absolutely wild.

All this is to say Kuikka had yet another stellar game for the Thorns, especially in the first half. At some point during the first 45 minutes, I wrote “Kuikka vs Monaghan is a silly matchup” in my notes, and I think that sums up the defensive end of things pretty well. On the offensive side:

https://twitter.com/NwslAnalitica/status/1391084067102334979?s=20

And she wasn’t alone. Kelli Hubly deserves a shoutout for her work throughout the morning, and so does Meghan Klingenberg, who did a fantastic job of containing Gotham’s attack.

Parsons gave Kling just that, in response to a postgame question about her attacking presence:

“I love her attacking play. I think in decision making, build up, some of the passes that she’s playing in behind the back line, the distribution, the crossing, the crossing quality, how many goals, she could she could have shot. Let’s talk about how to defending because Gotham went after her a little bit today. Purce moves over to the other wing after 30 minutes in the first half, because she couldn’t get a look on Kling. And Monahan struggled against her. We saw against Houston with Prince, Kling has come up absolutely big. And you know, in training, we’ve had some one-v-one all out wars with, with Kling being someone that people just can’t beat. Her technical one-v-one defending ability is some of the very, very, very best.”

Photo by Matthew Wolfe
3. PKs!

Portland may have won the Challenge Cup at home, but they also did so in their first ever penalty shootout. I don’t really want to run through the whole thing—it was very stressful live, and we don’t need to bring it up again—but I am still very much in awe of Franch’s save to win the Thorns the trophy. She deserves both the roses between her teeth.

5. Handles

A snippet from yesterday’s presser with Franch and Kling:

Katelyn Best: You guys have won two trophies for the Thorns now. I’m just wondering how you would rate the actual Challenge Cup in terms of its aesthetic and utilitarian qualities.

Kling: We’re rating the trophies now? That’s hilarious.

I just like that it’s a cup. You know, we call it a cup. They gave us a cup.

Franch: We drank from the cup.

Kling: We drank from the cup.

[…]

Kling: Honestly, if you’re rating the cup, I would say I really like the big handles. I feel like the big handles are big here.

Franch: Yeah, you can hold it.

Kling: Yeah.

Franch: Two people can hold it.

Kling: I mean, you’ve got to give it a rating out of 10.

Franch: Maybe you could have a couple more handles, and it would be a 10.

Kling: More handles? How many more handles do you need?

Franch: For everybody.

Kling: I just want it to be a bigger cup.

Franch: So you can fit in it and bathe in it?

Kling: Yeah.

6. I still don’t know what Simone Charley’s yellow card was for, and at this point I’m too afraid to ask
Categories
Soccer Timbers

Injury woes continue in Portland’s 2-1 Cascadia Cup loss against Seattle 

Photo by Kris Lattimore
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