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NWSL Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Portland Thorns 3, Racing Louisville 3

Photo by Kris Lattimore

It’s hard to write about a soccer game when there wasn’t much soccer being played.

When the Portland Thorns faced off against Racing Louisville on Sunday afternoon, nobody expected that the referee would make himself the main character and the game would set an NWSL record for the most number of fouls in a game (41, compared to the 25 the previous Thorns matches averaged). Thanks to two penalties and a brilliant headed goal by Reilyn Turner, the Thorns managed to eke out a win. Jessie Fleming said it best postgame when she said it was “embarrassing for Louisville, and embarrassing for the league,” to allow such blatant fouling and disjointedness.

Coming to the end of a three-game-week, head Rob Gale rotated his starting lineup, resting the Thorns’ only true outside back Reyna Reyes, and starting Hina Sugita in the No. 6 defensive midfield position while Sam Coffey was in Spain at a family wedding. Coffey had previously been the only Thorns player to see every minute. Gale described her as a metronome who “sets the tempo.”

As part of his squad management on the back of a congested three-game-week, Gale said, “It’s foolish at this stage of the season to be huge with minutes. We have a lot of young players, players who were squad players, who aren’t used to playing this many minutes. It would be irresponsible of me to push them too hard now, and it would cost us down the line. Squad rotation is very important, and I want to keep the players pushing each other, so that when they step up, they are able to perform.”

Hina’s heat map versus Racing

Hina, who does best as a free-roaming midfield player that can operate in both boxes, was asked to sit deeper. This rotation fundamentally affects the ways in which the Thorns’ attacking buildup is created, as they lose Hina’s creative ability going forward. Not including the penalty kicks, the Thorns created 0.54 expected goals—an abysmal outing. Hina’s heatmap shows that she very rarely got forward centrally, forcing the Thorns to try and build through their wide players. The only problem: the Thorns’ wide players are not actually wide players.

Photo by Kris Lattimore

The Thorns’ unbalanced roster construction has been a problem for the past several seasons, but is really coming to a head due to the current number of long-term injuries on the squad. With only two true wingers (Payton Linnehan and Alexa Spaanstra), Gale has resorted to playing central forwards Caiya Hanks and Turner out wide instead. By asking these players to be out of position, he is mitigating their strengths. We saw what could happen when Turner is able to find herself centrally: she scores a headed goal between the backs of two defenders. Unfortunately, Gale seems to be stuck in the mindset that Deyna Castellanos is the Thorns’ best option centrally, which time and time again has proven to be unsuccessful.

The game quickly spun out of control as Louisville scored their second and third goal in quick succession, both of which were egregious errors by the Thorns. Off a goal kick when trying to play out of the back, Mackenzie Arnold and Jayden Perry had a lapse in concentration and made a bad pass that was easily picked off by Racing and placed in the back of the net. Louisville is a high-pressing team, relying on the speed and stamina of forwards like Emma Sears to maintain the press. When up against such one-note opposition, sometimes it’s necessary to change up your style of play. If you know that you’re going to be under intense pressure on your backline, it’s up to the coach to recognize that and change up the style of play, using Macca’s long-ball distribution to switch the way the Thorns’ progressed the ball—especially without Hina operating in the midfield the way she usually does.

The third goal allowed by the Thorns started with a foul in the build up on Isa Obaze that left her on the ground and Racing outnumbering Portland in the box. Had the ref been competent, he would have called the ball back, but he didn’t. Ball don’t lie, however, and the Thorns were handed a lifeline when they earned a penalty in the fifth minute of first half stoppage time, with Jessie Fleming calmly slotting it home for her first ever (!!!!) goal in a Thorns jersey.

With twenty fouls recorded in the first half, the Thorns went into the locker room down 2-3. Gale said that during his halftime speech, there “wasn’t much tactically to change at half time due to the physicality of the other team and the nature of the game. We needed to stretch them better in a low triangle and deal with service in the wide area and stop giving away set pieces, because that is what they play for. Louisville goes long, dives, gambles on pressure and tries to slow down the game and they are effective at it. We rotated [Olivia Moultrie] into Jessie’s position, and at the end we just went for it with five at top and pushed for it.”

Momentum tracker via SofaScore

In a statistic that seems unbelievable, the Thorns are the only NWSL team that have not conceded in the second half, so clearly something that Gale is doing at halftime is working. With the frequent starting and stopping of play, it was hard for either team to create much rhythm. The inexperience of the Thorns’ roster showed through, with no Coffey on the field to step up and reset the tempo and place the Thorns back in control. This is one of the downsides of having your captain be a keeper, as it’s hard for them to reset the tone of the game from the penalty box. And unfortunately, no one in the outfield stepped up.

Jayden Perry celebrates scoring the game-tying PK. Photo by Kris Lattimore.

The biggest takeaway from the match, since there was hardly any quality soccer played by either side, is that Perry needs to be signed to a longer contract immediately. Her cool, calm, collected presence in the 100th minute to earn the team a point should be worth at least five years in a  Thorns kit, in my opinion. If the front office wanted to signal that they were serious about a long term rebuild, this should be one of their first moves.

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NWSL Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Portland Thorns 4, NJ/NY Gotham 1

Photo by Kris Lattimore

The air in Providence Park on a Tuesday night is different. After a frustrating one-nil loss to the Seattle Reign on Friday, and with the possibility of losing five games in a row to NJ/NY Gotham, the Portland Thorns took the field with something to prove to both themselves and the fans.

The Thorns’ first multi-goal game of 2025 arrived in spectacular fashion: a 4-1 thrashing of the juggernaut Gotham. It’s not that the Thorns have been unable to get near the goal—which is what their three goals across their first five games may have suggested. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. The Thorns lead the NWSL in shots (60) and are second in expected goals (10.2), only behind Kansas City. With a front line whose most experienced players are sophomores Reilyn Turner and Payton Linnehan, it has taken a few matches for the young team to find their footing. The Thorns seem to be heating up at just the right time, before a congested slate of games before the league breaks for the Euros in June.

With such a quick turnaround between games—only two training sessions—the Thorns had very little time to focus in after Seattle. Speaking postgame, both Caiya Hanks and Jayden Perry credited the Thorns leadership team, in particular Sam Coffey and Jessie Fleming, for helping create the right mentality headed into Tuesday night.

“Sam gave us a great speech at the beginning: to play with intensity, and smile, and have fun, and that showed today,” Hanks said.

Perry focused on the Thorns’ change in approach to their training sessions as modeled by Fleming and Coffey, saying, “The intensity and response in the quality and the energy, we knew we could have given more in that game and gotten a different result. We had to switch our mindset, and that showed in this game.”

Head coach Rob Gale said postgame that “19 players featured between the two games,” and spoke of his pregame speech, which referenced the late Pope. “We have to do it together,” Gale said. “We are not a team of superstars. We are servants to the team, and are humble, serving something bigger than ourselves.”

Right from the whistle, these slight shifts were evident. The Thorns were on the front foot, and playing with intentionality as they moved the ball across the lines and into the penalty box.

Mimi Alidou’s goal by Kris Lattimore

Mimi Alidou, the 29-year-old Canadian, started her first game for Portland nearly two weeks after she arrived in the city and quickly showed why the Thorns brought her over from Portugal midseason . In just the seventh minute, Alidou redirected a ball from Hanks into the back of the net with ease, a lá Christine Sinclair.

When speaking about Alidou, Hanks said that, even though the two don’t follow each other on Instagram yet, they “have this weird connection. I just knew that she was going to be there in the box,” she said. “It’s really cool when you meet someone and just know that you are going to have a really good connection on and off the field.”

Unfortunately, the celebrations did not last long. Thorns let Gotham respond immediately, and the game went into halftime tied at one. Credit to Gale, quite literally coaching for his job, for making tactical changes at half time. The first half had the Thorns playing on the back foot, defending Gotham (and allowing them just three shots). But after conceding, the Thorns never regained solid spells of possession and thus weren’t able to play the style of soccer that they needed to.

But Portland came out of the tunnel at half time flying. Finally, importantly, things were starting to click. The Thorns’ second half was one of their best in ages on both sides of the ball.

“We all knew we were due for a win,” Hanks said. “We had an issue with coming out slow in our last games, and we had to come out with the intensity and the fire. The games we come out fast are the games we win; we saw that in Utah. Once one or two go in, they just start flowing, and we were due for that.”

Photo by Kris Lattimore

Hanks was the star of the show against Gotham. She had three shots on target and completely dominated Gotham’s right back on every dribble and pass. After recording her first career assist in the first half, she added her first professional goal in the second. When asked about what it felt like, she said, “I released all my thoughts, all my hesitations, and just hit it.”

With that, the flood gates were open. It seemed as though every touch was turning to gold, and the Thorns were running circles around Gotham, dictating the tempo and exhausting the traveling team.

The best sequence of the night was absolutely in the 70th minute when the Thorns won a penalty kick (without even needing a VAR review—how I love quick footballing decisions). Coffey stood over the ball, then, from the back line, came rookie Jayden Perry. She stepped up in front of a rowdy North End, and calmly sent Ann Katrin Berger, 2024 NWSL keeper of the year, the wrong way, becoming the first rookie to score a penalty this year.

Perry gets her rose by Kris Lattimore

Perry said postgame that she advocated for herself early into the preseason. As the designated penalty kick taker during her time at UCLA, she had never missed. “I told Rob that I am confident in PKs, and that if he let me take them, I would do that job,” she said. “My teammates and my coaches put their trust in me, and I knew that they had my back.”

In addition to slotting home her first professional goal, Perry had a solid performance at center back, winning all but one of her ground duels and all of her aerial ones and making four clearances. She is only signed through this season, and with the Bhathal family in attendance on Tuesday, they should swiftly lock Perry down to a longer contract.

Perry added: “Little Jayden would be crying right now. It’s such a dream to play at this level, and scoring my first goal brings so much joy to me and my mom and my sister, who were here today. Today, we were playing with that passion that we had as little kids.”

The fourth and final goal of the night came from Deyna Castellanos, who broke a 23-game scoring drought by capitalizing off a rebounded shot. Soccer is a funny sport, because despite having a 50% passing completion rate, losing the ball 20 times (per SofaScore), and having zero clearances, blocks, interceptions, accurate crosses, or duels won, Castellanos still plays ninety minutes and scores a goal. My only hope is that the goal unlocks something within her, and she is able to be much more productive going forward.

Air Turner by Kris Lattimore

There is still so much season ahead of the Thorns, but the win against Gotham was a statement to the rest of the league: Don’t underestimate the Thorns. We might be without Sophia Wilson and Morgan Weaver, but we have the best young talent in the league.

Maybe we should play more games on balmy Tuesday evenings in Portland.

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NWSL Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Portland Thorns 0, North Carolina Courage 0

Photo by Kelsey Baker

Three games into the 2025 NWSL season, the Portland Thorns are still searching for their first win. The club has managed to net only two goals across one away loss and two home draws. Last season, former head coach Mike Norris was given four games (3L, 1D) before being promoted to Technical Director, so head coach Rob Gale is on a very short leash before a potential reassignment. A failure to win all three points at home against a North Carolina team who are perennially terrible on the road should have been the final straw, but alas, it was not. Instead fans are left dissatisfied headed into the international break.

Game over game, there has been tremendous growth in the Thorns team—and that trend continued against the Courage. Gale fielded a starting XI with an average age of 24, the second-youngest in Thorns history, and Mackenzie Arnold had far and away her best game in Portland colors. The centerback pairing of Isa Obaze and Sam Hiatt is already strengthening, and the duo of Reilyn Turner and Caiya Hanks up front is one of the most exciting forward lines in the league in terms of raw potential.

It’s hard to look at a 0-0 draw and say that it was a good game or deserved, but for the defensive unit in particular, it was. Arnold played out of her mind, making five saves (including a penalty). She was commanding of her box, putting her body on the line several times. Her effort seemed to set the tempo for the rest of the team. Reyna Reyes won the most duels in the match (10) and Kaitlyn Torpey was the most accurate passer (94%), as both were tasked with starting the attack from the wide channels as well as defending. To complete the line, both Obaze and Hiatt had nine defensive actions apiece—and stifled the Courage’s forwards.

Leo wrote a very good article about the pressure that a new general manager is under to build a roster for a perennial powerhouse in under two months, and the roadblocks he has faced. I would like to expand on one signing in particular, Deyna Castellanos. By the time Jeff Agoos was named GM, there were very few free agent signings available, and most Big Name Players had already resigned with their clubs or chosen a new one by January. Castellanos was not a free agent, and had to be bought out of her million-dollar contract after a lackluster season in the Bay Area in order to be picked up by the Thorns. Castellanos has a lot of starpower in the NWSL, is the face of a new Nike campaign alongside Sophia Wilson, and was absolutely the Thorns’ biggest signing in their short offseason.

So, why would the coach bench her? Against the Courage, Gale tried a new formation, a 4-4-2, with a diamond midfield that relied heavily on progressing the ball through the center of the field. Castellanos played the point of that diamond, and in theory, this should have been a very successful lineup given the available players on the Thorns, with a lack of traditional wide forwards and outside backs healthy. Without Wilson to tailor the formation to, Gale seems to be setting up the team around Castellanos.

Unfortunately, during the 60 minutes she was on the field, it felt as though the Thorns were playing down a person. Her zero chances created, zero touches in the Courage’s box, zero accurate long balls or crosses, zero tackles, and one defensive action all point to a player that might as well have not been on the field—not someone who is supposed to be a creative centerpoint of a team’s attack. By not putting in much effort, Castellanos effectively stranded the two target forwards, Turner and Hanks, who then had to drop back further to receive the ball and had more work to do and players to beat once getting it.

One possible formation change could be sliding Olivia Moultire into the point of the diamond, allowing her more freedom centrally. I am also eagerly awaiting Pietra Tordin’s first start, as she has looked particularly bright in her fifteen minute cameos so far. The flare and vision that she has shown in limited minutes could also be positive for the No. 10 position, despite her playing more as a No. 9 in college.

Post game, Gale mentioned that there was “no way to keep the upward momentum going when you have 11 players gone for international break,” but perhaps that is not necessarily a bad thing. The Thorns have played better each game, but are still experiencing the same poor results. The break in play will allow for a reset before these next stretch of games against the Utah Royals (one point), Seattle Reign (four points) and NJ/NY Gotham (two points), all of which are winnable games.

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Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Portland Thorns 1, Angel City 1

Photo by Kelsey Baker
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Preseason: Portland Thorns 1, Utah Royals 0

Photo by Kelsey Baker

It feels as though the universe is playing a cruel joke on the Portland Thorns. With the large number of offseason departures, even the most sadistic person would not have expected—or even imagined—four of the Thorns’ starting XI missing the entire season before it even had a chance to begin. With Marie Müller and Nicole Payne’s ACL injuries, the Thorns are down to one outside back (Reyna Reyes) and out a massive defensive force and outside playmaker in Müller. With Morgan Weaver getting reinjured, presumably right after returning from her USWNT call up in January (we have no specific data or timeline released from the club) and Sophia Wilson announcing her pregnancy, the offensive structure that the Thorns have been built around since they went one-two overall in the 2020 NWSL College Draft is gone. 

In isolation, these injuries and absences are devastating, but combined with the general ineptitude that has plagued the front office since 2021, the Thorns seem to be on a downward spiral with no signs of slowing. On Friday night, the gates of Providence Park opened for fans for the first chance to see what this new Thorns team was going to look like during a preseason game against the Utah Royals. It left everyone with more questions than answers.

The Thorns lined up in a 4-3-3, the same formation they used for the majority of the last season. Let’s look at how each line played and worked together.

In defense, new signing, Australian (not Austrailian, as the Thorns spelled in their press release) Kaitlyn Torpey slid right into the starting XI. Sam Hiatt started alongside Isa Obaze at center back, with Daiane not dressing for the game. Reyes got the start as well, to no one’s surprise. While individually all four defenders are solid players, what they lacked as a unit was a leader. With both Becky Sauerbruun and Kelli Hubly departing, the Thorns need a player who is willing and able to dictate play and organize the backline, and this became abundantly clear whenever Utah was on the attack. On the Royals’ lone goal, Mackenzie Arnold came up big one-on-one from a close range shot, but no one was tracking the runners on the far side. Torpey lost sight of Ally Sentnor completely, and Sentnor was able to score a fairly simple goal in the bottom corner. Set pieces in particular were a struggle for Portland, with players losing their marks on corner kicks and not tracking Utah’s runs. It was these lapses in defending fundamentals that caused the defensive line to collapse. Luckily, both Arnold (and Bella Bixby, when she came in at the 60th minute) were able to make the necessary saves. 

Hiatt was the eldest starting defender at 27. As she has the most NWSL experience over her career with the Seattle Reign and NJ/NY Gotham FC, and as a center-back, I have the expectation and hope that she will step up into that leadership position. However, I am also trying to keep my expectations reasonable and acknowledge that the Thorns are running on a skeleton crew of players and do not have the necessary coaches to help guide them. The Thorns are still without a goalkeeping coach and have only had two assistants since head coach Rob Gale was promoted last summer. By leaving these positions open, the Thorns are shooting themselves in the foot, with no time for a new hire to acclimate and disseminate their knowledge during preseason—when there are no consequences to trying new formations or tactics.  

The midfield trio of Jessie Fleming, Hina Sugita, and Sam Coffey was the best line on the field, and it was a shame that they were unable to dictate more play. Hina and Coffey both sat deeper, playing box-to-box, and read each other’s game very well; both were far-and-away the best players on the pitch. On both sides of the ball they retained possession, won tackles, and made clean passes to break through the lines, and Thorns fans should be manifesting that they maintain their health over the course of the season. Fleming, an utterly frustrating player last season, seemed to have more direction and intentionality in her play. Instead of merely running around the pitch, she helped start a high press, and was able to put lots of pressure on the Royals’ backline. While it became clear over the course of the match that Gale wanted to build the play out from Arnold through the wide channels, Coffey—as captain—should advocate for herself and her skills to switch up play centrally, particularly now that Weaver and Müller—the strongest wide playmakers—are out for the season. 

As everyone could have guessed once they heard the news that Wilson was going to be out this season, the Thorns’ biggest struggle for this year will be to score goals. Deyna Castellanos, the Venezuelan marquee signing of the offseason, offers some qualities similar to Wilson in the way she drifts on the backline and looks to poach space over the top, but she does not have the speed that Wilson does, nor does she have the defensive abilities or willingness to cover and run deeper. The way the Thorns set up in a 4-3-3 did not serve to highlight Deyna’s skillset, which we were able to see in flashes in her playmaking, dummines, and through-balls. There were several times over the course of the game where she put the ball on a platter for a tap-in, and a teammate fumbled or missed the target entirely. 

In particular, Payton Linnehan was incredibly frustrating to watch on the wing, with probably the most chances on the night. Unironically, I think that the now-retired Christine Sinclair would have been a good partner for Deyna, where her ball-knowledge and control would allow Sinclair to dink the ball in the perfect corner of the goal off of Deyna’s set-up. Currently, neither Olivia Moultrie or Linnehan have that control, nor did they show any flashes of it. 

If I were Gale and were looking at my teamsheet, I would opt to play a two-front of Deyna with either Reilyn Turner or Pietra Tordin, and push Moultrie more centrally. This would allow Deyna to work off of a pure striker in Turner or Tordin (both of whom seem to be on minutes restrictions due to lack of playing time across all three broadcast preseason matches) and allow Moultrie to play the way she likes, with the ball at her feet centrally, thus maximizing the skillset and potential of each player. 

Off the bench, both Turner and Tordin looked promising, but we are at risk of another Izzy D’Aquilla situation, where Portland’s head coach forces a natural striker to play out wide and eventually causes them to lose their spot on the team entirely. Jayden Perry looked relatively strong at center back and had the confidence to move the ball up through the middle more than Hiatt (who she replaced) did. After those three names, the Thorns’ bench was incredibly thin and offered no real league-ready depth, something that they will need with a season that stretches through November. 

Ultimately, I think that the Thorns are one serious goal-scorer away from being a mid-table team that sneaks into the playoffs. The squad looked shaky, but I feel inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt that they are still getting used to one another. They are doing the best with what they have—barely meeting the roster minimum, not having enough coaches, losing four starting players in the last two weeks—but time is running out to right the ship before the season gets underway, and the hole is dug too deep. 

If Gale is out there reading this, I urge him to build your tactics around the team in front of him, not the one that he had a few weeks ago. 

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NWSL Soccer Thorns

Portland Thorns’ 2025 Roster Breakdown

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Takeaways: Thorns 0, Royals 0

The Portland Thorns have been resting on their laurels since their 2022 NWSL championship season and have not worked to cultivate a new identity in the two seasons since. After an uninspiring 0-0 draw to the worst team in the league, the Utah Royals, on Saturday night at altitude, it’s clear that the eight-week Olympic break cannot come soon enough. 

There are a multitude of valid reasons why the club has been in purgatory for several years, most notably being the sale of the club from Merritt Paulson’s cold hands. The ownership tumult has further complicated the club’s ability to find a permanent, competent head coach to step in after Rhian Wilkinson’s resignation. The club has been slowly leaking world class players from that 2022 squad, and they have not brought in many replacements. Coupled with the lack of tactics and willingness to change and adapt from former head coach Mike Norris and current interim Rob Gale, it seems almost like a miracle that Thorns have managed to dig out a niche in fifth place in the NWSL standings. (Even that placement feels less impressive when we’re reminded that over half—the top eight of 12—teams qualify for the postseason.)

It almost feels futile to try and break down the team’s tactics when it’s the same each week (get the ball to Portland’s wingers, who then are tasked with taking on the defense one-vs-one to get to goal), and the rest of the league has figured the Thorns out. But alas, I will try to. 

Against Utah, Gale chose to start Nicole Payne at right back and Reyna Reyes at left back, relegating the Thorns’ best defender, Marie Müller, to the bench. Müller has been consistently leading the Thorns on several stats, including tackles, recoveries, and crosses, and post game Gale clarified that her absence was to allow her to rest after the many minutes put on her legs in recent games. Against a dismal attacking side that has only scored seven games thus far, it seemed like a reasonable action. However, Müller’s absence required Reyes to play on her much weaker left side to accommodate Payne at right back. Payne is a good pure defender, but is weak in possession. She made  one progressive pass and only had two touches in the Thorns’ attacking third. For a team that likes their outside backs to push high and join the attack, these numbers are dreadfully low. Reyes, in her sophomore season with the team, is seeing the field markedly less, mostly due to the competition at her best position, right back. Her strengths are opposite those of Payne; Reyes is better on the ball due to her time in midfield at the University of Alabama, but she lost all of her duels on the night against the Royals. Her attacking play was much better, with 13 touches in the final third and two in the Royals’ penalty box, but on her weaker foot, her passing and distribution suffered. 

Like Gale said post game, “sometimes you have to give credit to the opposition,” and the Royals were able to successfully mark the Thorns’ midfield out of the game. Hina Sugita and Sam Coffey have been the fulcrum of the Thorns’ build this season, and other teams have begun to realize that if they press them high, then the Thorns are forced to play through their wingers, who are much more easily dispossessed. The Royals’ press led to many misplaced and overhit passes, particularly from Coffey, which resulted in easy turnovers and put the Thorns right back on the defensive foot. Gale has been asking Hina to play deeper to allow for Coffey to push forward, and the two of them work very well together. Still, Hina and Coffey ended up accounting for one through ball between the both of them, which meant Sophia Smith severely lacked opportunities to show off her skills in behind the defense, and Portland’s attack suffered greatly. 

The other most puzzling part of the Thorns’ lineup on Saturday was the inclusion of Ana Dias as the starting No. 9, which pushed Smith out wide. Dias put on a show in the charity match midweek, scoring a hat trick, and I had hoped that her confidence would translate to the league game. Which unfortunately was not the case. In her 75 minutes , Dias had one accurate pass and three shots, none of which were on target. She had three touches in the Royals’ box, and only 0.1 expected goals. To put it bluntly, she had a very poor showing. While Dias’ signing was relatively low stakes for a player with only seven appearances for her country and who had been playing in the Russian league (i.e, not a very competitive one), the gamble has not paid off, and the Thorns’ offense is lacking as a result. That she plays in the No. 9 position exclusively forces the Thorns’ best player to play in a position that she is not as successful in, and means that the crosses and plays into the box that Smith does get off are oftentimes wasted by Dias. Against a team like Utah that has allowed 27 goals thus far, it was a reasonable gamble for Gale to take, but unfortunately, the team is paying for it.

The Thorns have one more game before they take an eight week break, and it’s against the incredibly lost San Diego Wave, who just fired their head coach. On paper, it’s a home game that the Thorns should win handily, but, if the Wave press high and are disciplined at the back, it could easily turn into another 90 minute slog. The Olympic break cannot come soon enough, and hopefully the pause will give the Bhathals a chance to finally make an announcement about which world-class coach will come in and take over, hopefully lifting the Thorns out of their holding pattern and back to the top of the table where they belong. 

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NWSL Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Orlando Pride 2, Portland Thorns 1

Photo by Kelsey Baker

The Portland Thorns’ unprecedented six-game winning streak was bound to come to an end eventually, and a clash against top-of-the-table (!!!!) Orlando Pride on a sweltering Florida Friday night finally did them in.

Initially listed on the pregame availability report as “questionable,” the Thorns went the entire 90 minutes without Sophia Smith, who was “just a day or two too early with the low leg injury,” according to interim head coach Rob Gale. Her injury is not severe or lengthy enough to keep her out of the USWNT camp this week, but hopefully Emma Hayes doesn’t make a bad first impression and play Smith before she’s 100% sound.

Going up against the league leaders and their driving force Barbara Banda, Gale needed to prove that he was more than just a vibes merchant and can tactically guide the team—especially without crucial the support pillar of Smith. 

Here is what he got right, and what he got wrong.

Right: Izzy D’Aquila

Making just her third appearance of the season—and longest yet at only 28 minutes—Izzy D’Aquila came on and took full advantage of the opportunity to play at her best position as the No. 9, something she rarely got the chance to do under former head coach Mike Norris, netting the first regular season goal of her career. 

Bringing on D’Aquila in the 62nd minute was a smart change by Gale, and he deserves credit where it is due, but unfortunately, he also needs to be held accountable for his initial starting XI and the poor showing of the first half.

Gale started a front line of striker Christine Sinclair, left winger Olivia Moultrie, and right winger Janine Beckie. Only one of those three players was playing in their preferred and strongest position, and only one of them is fast (the answer is Beckie to both). With no speed up top, the Thorns were absolutely smothered by the Pride’s press in the first half and could not break through. Portland only managed three shots (and only one on target) in the first half to Orlando’s 14, and they only had six touches in the Pride’s 18-yard box—an absolutely abysmal stat line for the Thorns.  

Once Sinclair was removed from the game, the pace picked up immediately. The Thorns tripled their number of shots and entered the Pride’s box 15 times. While Orlando’s halftime substitution of Banda very well could have been the reason for the Thorns’ increased number of touches and possession, adding the speed of both D’Aquila and Payton Linnehan to the front line was a tremendous help in allowing the Thorns to successfully press. 

The question going forward becomes: How can D’Aquila get on the field more as a No. 9 when Smith’s name is written in on the starting XI in that position in permanent ink? With Morgan Weaver out until after the Olympics in August at minimum, and Linnehan still unable to play major minutes, the Thorns lack options out wide. In the 2023 season, D’Aquila got some minutes out wide, but did not get any return on goal involvements. The best course of action moving forward, and to prevent Smith from picking up additional knocks that can keep her off the pitch, is for D’Aquila and Smith to split minutes at the No. 9. Besides the season opener against the Kansas City Current where Smith played 75 minutes, she has consistently gotten 85 or more minutes in each game. While the Thorns rarely had the commanding 2+ goal lead that might have given Gale the confidence to sub Smith off early, a valid argument could be made that against consistently weak teams like the Houston Dash, Angel City, and the Utah Royals, D’Aquila can get the start and the bulk of the minutes while Smith rests. 

Another option that requires Gale to be a bit more bold in his formations is to have Smith and D’Aquila start in a front two. This change would allow the Thorns to build up the pitch centrally—the region where they have had the most success since Gale took over—and D’Aquila can unleash the through balls she consistently played forward for fellow Bronco Kelsey Turnbow at Santa Clara.

Wrong: Jessie Fleming

On the whole, the Thorns’ midfield had a collectively bad game, and it was probably Sam Coffey’s worst performance in a Thorns jersey. The starting trio of Hina Sugita, Coffey, and Jessie Fleming were unable to possess the ball, and they routinely lost it to the Pride’s intense pressure. However, 11 games and eight starts into the season, I think it is a fair time to examine how well Fleming has adjusted to the league and question whether or not she is a starting-caliber player for the Thorns. 

Fleming was pulled from the game at halftime, after a 45 minutes where she was clearly the weakest link of the three midfielders, and replaced by Linnehan. The move allowed Moultrie to slide back to her more natural central position. In those 45 minutes, Fleming had 10 completed passes over 16 total touches, and she won none of her duels or tackles. 

With two coaches already in her short tenure at the Thorns, it is possible Fleming’s poor positioning is due to a lack of clear instruction and tactics from the coaches. But regardless, with the international and elite club-level experience that Fleming has under her belt at only 25, her field awareness should be much higher. 

Per FBref, Fleming is in the 50th percentile of progressive passes compared to other midfielders and in the 80th for progressive runs. As the player at the top of the Thorns’ midfield triangle, Fleming should be the most creative player, playing balls forward to unlock the Portland forwards. However, that is not the role that she has been playing. She more often than not opts for short, less than 10-yard passes either perpendicular or backward (an average of 56% of her passes per-90 minutes are short; an average of 40% are medium, between 15 and 30 yards).

Despite playing in that more advanced midfield role, Fleming only has one assist on the season and holds an average of 0.12 expected assists per 90 minutes. For comparison, Moultrie, in the same eight starts, has 0.21  expected assists and 0.42 expected goals and assists per 90 minutes. As the two players are competing for the same position, it’s fair to say at this point that Moultrie is the more productive player and should be starting in that attacking midfield role. Moving her into that space also opens up a spot on the wing for Linnehan to slide into. 

As of right now, Fleming is not fitting into the system that Rob Gale is trying to play, and by placing her into the midfield, other players like Moultrie and Sinclair are forced to play out of position, which ultimately hurts the team as a whole. Fleming’s hefty transfer fee, international resume, and Barclay’s experience does not—and should not—make her a guaranteed starter in the league. 

Categories
NWSL Soccer Thorns

More Connections, More Assists, More Goals

Sophia Smith cuts the ball across her body to beat a Washington Spirit defender.
Photo by Matthew Wolfe.
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Categories
Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Chicago Red Stars 0, Portland Thorns 2

Photo by Kelsey Baker.

The Portland Thorns’ new Ken-look-alike interim head coach Rob Gale has an undefeated record in the NWSL as Portland (finally) picks up their first home and road wins of the 2024 season. It’s been a slow and bumpy start to the season, and while it’s too early to make any calls on how competent Gale is as a coach, there is officially enough data to try and determine what type of team the Thorns are going to be under his interim tenure. 

Renewed sense of urgency
Photo by Kelsey Baker.

The Thorns conceded within the first 10 minutes of three of their four first games of the season. Luckily—or more likely, intentionally—Portland has flipped the script and were able to score first in the sixth and 10th minute of their last two matches. Postgame against Houston, Sophia Smith credited the fiery start to a change in the team’s warmup, something that ensures the team gets a taste of competition and “that fire in our blood flowing before we step on the field and the kickoff happens.” The new pregame ritual includes competitive games like rondos. 

“To win is the expectation,” Smith said. “This is the Thorns that we know.”

Olivia Moultrie said  these wins have felt like “the start of a new season for the Thorns,” as they set a new standard for performances going forward. 

The lineup
Photo by Kelsey Baker.

 Gale has not made many changes to the starting XI that the Thorns began the season with, but the two he did make made all the difference. Firstly, Hina Sugita has played 90 minutes in both games, compared to being a second-half sub under former head coach Mike Norris. Hina a versatile player that needs to be on the pitch and can slot in pretty much anywhere in the front six. She played as a box-to-box midfielder in both games, connecting 88% of her passes in those 180 minutes and earning one assist. Gale’s choice to exchange Hina for Moultrie in the starting XI balances out Portland’s midfield; as in the first few games of the year, we saw Moultrie and Jesse Fleming occupying many of the same spots, leaving empty gaps in the midfield for the opposition to play through. 

After the Houston game, Gale said the midfield “smothered Houston” due to their pressing, and he was right.

Hina, Sam Coffey, and Fleming started against Chicago as well and worked very well together, combining for nearly 86% passing accuracy going forward. It seems as though the Thorns have found their ideal midfield trio going forward. 

The passing map from the Houston game makes it clear that the Thorns have well-executed passing triangles, which result in quick give-and-goes up the side of the pitch. The front three look a little wonky because Christine Sinclair and Smith frequently switch between center and wide forward, but the triangles are still there.

The Thorns are finally looking like the well-oiled machine that they have been in years past. I would also like to give a special shoutout to Isabella Obaze, who has looked remarkably strong and seasoned beyond her years in recent games, growing tremendously since that first showing in Kansas City. 

Gale starting Sinclair up front was a very curious (and unpopular) choice, but it allows Janine Beckie to come off the bench against tired legs, which is where she shines. After an ACL injury and a poor 2022 season, Beckie is still trying to find her footing on an attacking-heavy Thorns roster, especially with Payton Linnehan impressing in her early minutes. Sinclair, interchanging with Smith up top, has really surprised me. In the last two games she has one goal and one assist, showing that she can still be productive. I liked the Thorns using her to set a tempo and mindset early, and I think her presence up top helps ground the team as they work through their early-game jitters. Even if Sinclair’s speed and touch isn’t what it used to be, her mind is definitely still there. 

Photo by Kelsey Baker
The keeper issue

Shelby Hogan posted her first clean sheet of the season on Saturday, making three saves against Chicago. While her decision-making on the line was sharper than in previous games, Hogan’s distribution and ability to build out of the back still remained a major issue for the Thorns, as she gave the ball away in compromising positions numerous times and was bailed out by the woodwork. Prior to the game against Houston, the Thorns signed Mexican international Emily Alvarado from the Dash to provide competition for Hogan for the starting role. It was a move that makes sense at first, but upon closer investigation, leaves a little to be desired. I have been an advocate that, with Bella Bixby out on maternity leave, Portland needs an experienced keeper available for training and games. The Thorns started the season with three keepers who had played in two NWSL regular season games between them, the most inexperienced goalkeeper union in the league. 

Here is where the confusion lies: Alvarado also has zero NWSL regular season minutes, having served as Jane Campbell’s backup since Houston acquired her from Stade de Reims in early 2023. While she does have 39 starts in the D1 Arkema, she conceded 66 goals in those games. With the Thorns still working on building chemistry across their back line, bringing in another inexperienced keeper doesn’t make much sense. At this point, why not give Lauren Kozal a try in her second year with the team? Or even Kat Asman, who the Thorns drafted 39th overall and who has been with the team since the beginning of preseason. With a three-game week, I assume that we will see Alvarado in goal against Bay FC on Wednesday, and I am curious to see if her distribution and ability to organize the backline is any stronger than Hogan’s currently is. 

Photo by Kelsey Baker.

The Thorns’ one and only three-league-game week is this week, with the Bay and the Washington Spirit on deck for Wednesday and Sunday, respectively. It will be Gale’s first real test to see how he manages minutes for players to try to get nine points from the week.