The Portland Thorns got a point on the road thanks to a late PK that centerback Jayden Perry buried in the back of the net.
Early goals
What is it with Portland and conceding first-half goals this year? The San Diego Wave scored in the 6th minute, but the trend holds true with all the other teams that have scored on Portland since the beginning of the season. Racing Louisville scored in the 9th minute, Gotham in the 8th, Seattle in the 4th, Angel City in the 9th, and Kansas City in the 4th.
So, are the Thorns focused enough since kick-off? Is it a mentality problem? Because it sounds like at least some of those goals would have been avoidable if Portland were been focused since minute one.
The club has a lot to thank Jayden Perry for with her PK goals, but at the same time, Kimmi Ascanio’s 6th minute goal wasn’t the first time Perry lost a forward in a play that ends up in a goal against.
It was frustrating to see Ascanio with a lot of space—nobody, and especially Perry, applied a tight mark on her at all—which resulted in her heading that ball comfortably and beating Bella Bixby at short range.
Fast buildups, slow buildups
It looked like on Friday, San Diego had it easier than the Thorns finding pockets of space and creating chances.
One of the reasons is that San Diego was good at pushing Portland to the wings. They let the Thorns move the ball there, and they made it hard for Portland to find space in the middle of the park, as you can see in the video below.
Added to the above, the Thorns weren’t close enough to make fast passes and triangles, which gave the Wave the chance to cut passes easily.
San Diego looked like they were more practical and were better at finding spaces to exploit. However, that wasn’t 100% to the Wave’s credit; it also says something about how Portland played.
In the video above, you can see how the backline completely forgot about Ascanio and that also there are acres of space between Reyna Reyes and Perry, giving another Wave player a chance to receive the ball. In the end, the play stops due to offside, but it still can give us a better understanding of how the team’s defensive shape was.
11 vs 10
In minute 41′, Kennedy Wesley got sent off due to a foul on Olivia Moultrie when she was the last woman standing. That resulted not only in Portland having a numerical advantage on the field but also in San Diego having to make an early substitution, an attacker for a defender.
So, Kristen McNabb came in for María Sánchez, which resulted in San Diego playing a 5-back formation. Understandably, Portland created better chances in the second half, although not many more shots (nine in the first half and 11 in the second). Portland’s expected goals went up from 0.87 in the first half to 1.82 in the second.
Nonetheless, numbers didn’t translate into goals until late in the match, when Sam Coffey got fouled inside the box. The play resulted in a PK that was scored by none other than Perry in stoppage time.
The rookie centerback has been ice-cold from the penalty spot. Portland has found in her someone the club can rely on in difficult moments.
Last but not least, Bixby got the start for the third time this season, and she had another convincing performance. Portland’s goal is in good gloves.