Author: Jaiden Cirioli

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Soccer Thorns

Thorns Breeze Past Angel City with 3-0 Win: Takeaways

Photo by Matthew Wolfe

Wednesday night’s inaugural game against Angel City FC saw several Thorns professional debuts in a decisive 3-0 victory. The Thorns dominated on every stat except possession and played a high-press game, particularly in the second half. Portland ended the night with 14 shots—seven of which were on target—and 13 crosses, all of which were double what Los Angeles was able to produce. Despite being early into preseason with several key players out on injury or limited minutes, the Thorns are looking strong and cohesive, and the numbers reflect that. 

I’ve attended all of the Thorns games thus far, this was by far the most fun. Nearly 10,000 people attended a mid-week game, which brought a lively atmosphere into the Park. The purple smoke for domestic violence was sent off and the “YOU KNEW” banner flew, reminding everyone about the horrific actions of the front office. On the field, however, the team seemed as though they were having fun and enjoying themselves and the freedom they are given on the field, which is amplified by the crowd. 

Three different players scored on Wednesday—including Yazmeen Ryan, who tallied her first professional goal. And, because I think scoring goals is really fun, I am going to attempt to break down what went well to allow the Thorns their first multiple-goal game of the 2022 Challenge Cup. 

In the screen cap above, Sophia Smith is the red circle, and the green arrow is the trajectory of the ball played in by Natalie Beckman. Smith gets on the inside of her defender and has the pace to outrun her. If Beckman plays the ball too far ahead, or too hard, there are two Angel City defenders who are ahead of Smith to reach it first. With the quick movement of her hips and feet, Smith is able to fake out the defender on her shoulder and sit her down. From there, she has a clear path to goal.

When Smith reaches the inside of the penalty box, she is able to put the ball on her preferred right foot and deftly place it in the lower left corner of the net, out of reach of the Angel City goalkeeper. Postgame, Smith talked about how her shooting accuracy has been something she has developed through repetition, largely alongside Morgan Weaver. Seeing the fruits of training pay off in a game is very fulfilling. 

Ryan scored the second goal off a rebounded bullet shot by Natalia Kuikka. 

Ryan, circled in red, is watching Kuikka set up her shot. Once it goes off, she is able to turn on the inside of her defender and be prepared for the rebound. Her positioning here is what allows her to easily deflect the path of the ball into the back of the net. All of the Thorns were heads up during this play, with Kelli Hubly even with Ryan and ready to receive the ball if the initial shot didn’t make it. 

Weaver recorded her first Thorns goal of 2022 in the final 15 minutes of the game.

Madison Pogarch, coming back from injury and earning her first minutes of the year, was playing as a winger (finally one step closer to playing as a forward) and intercepted the ball high up the pitch. She controlled it, and passed it to Weaver at the top of the box. Weaver was able to swing the ball across her body into the open space in the arc. Both the defenders were crashing onto her left side, and by simply changing the direction, she was able to open up the entire goal. She then sent an absolute screamer curling into the side netting. Much like Smith, her goal is one that she has been repeatedly working on in practices and on her own time. As the season progresses, we can only hope that she will be prolific in front of goal. 

Challenge Cup group play is halfway over, and the Thorns remain undefeated. As they go against each team in the West once more, the Thorns’ depth will be tested. But, if they keep finding the space in front of goal as they did against Angel City, they should end up with plenty of points from these next three games.

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Soccer Thorns

Thorns Continue Challenge Cup With 1-0 Win Over San Diego: Takeaways

Photo by Matthew Wolfe

The Thorns look very different than when they stepped off the field in 2021, and two games into a preseason tournament, they are still finding their footing. Without being too critical of the team, there are plenty of bright spots to take away from the inaugural Thorns versus San Diego Wave game. 

Debuts!

Saturday night’s game marked the professional Thorns debuts of Abby Smith and Natalie Beckman. Both players appeared in the preseason games and showed new head coach Rhian Wilkinson that they had valuable skills. Although Beckman only played about 10 minutes coming in for Klingenberg, she looked confident on the wing as part of the Thorns’ five-back and should be an exciting prospect in the games to come. Smith has plenty of NWSL experience, most recently for the Kansas City Current, but had yet to make an appearance for the Thorns since signing mid-season in 2021. 

In her inaugural game, Smith registered seven saves and a clean sheet, making her the fourth Thorns keeper to record a clean sheet in a Challenge Cup match. The decision to start Smith over Bella Bixby, Thorns No. 1, was a collaborative one between head goalkeeper coach Nadine Angerer, Bixby, and Smith. Head coach Rhian Wilkinson  said post-game that it was Bixby’s suggestion to have Smith play so that Smith has the minutes and confidence to fill in when Bixby is unavailable. Smith also spoke highly of the Goalkeeper Union in Portland and how all keepers push one another and inspire greatness. With such a solid culture in goal, any of the Portland keepers should be able to control the backline. 

Sophia! Smith!

Saying that Sophia Smith is good at soccer is probably the understatement of the year. Her technical skill and ability to get in behind the backline has already proven to be crucial to the Thorns’s attacking strategies. Sinking three out of three shots on target, Smith is lethal in front of goal. However, in the game against the Wave, Smith showed that she is more than just a pacey striker. In the run up to the Thorns’s lone goal, Smith was able to draw out three San Diego defenders to surround her, leaving both Natalia Kuikka and Christine Sinclair with plenty of space on the wings to send a ball in that Smith hit one-time deftly around Sheridan. 

Post-game, Wilkinson had high praise for Smith. She cited that Smith not only has a high ceiling that she delivers on, but that she is able to quickly implement feedback. One thing that Smith and Wilkinson are working on is “when to go in behind defense on transition and when to hold back to create different types of scoring opportunities.” With the combination of skills she possesses, it is a no-brainer that Smith will be a crucial member of the Thorns this year. 

Young players!

Sam Coffey, Yazmeen Ryan, and Meaghan Nally all got the start on Saturday. With Becky Sauerbrunn out after undergoing surgery to repair her meniscus, Nally has been able to slide into a starting role on the backline. She didn’t look out of place in the slightest alongside veteran defenders Emily Menges and Kelli Hubly, registering the highest number of touches and completed passes of the three. 

Ryan and Coffey, alongside Hina Sugita, are working to rebuild the midfield that the Thorns lost in the offseason. Together, the two young players in their first full season with the Thorns have already impressed. As the holding midfielder No. 6, Coffey had nearly an 80% passing completion rate. She was able to exploit the wide open spaces left by the non-existent Wave midfield, and looked as though she controlled the field. As she gains more experience and confidence on the field, she will be a real force to be reckoned with. Finally, Ryan also worked hard in the midfield, completing several successful dribbles to bring the ball into the final third, playing in Smith. As both Sophia Smith and Ryan get more time together and their partnership solidifies, they should be a lethal duo on the left. 

The Thorns go again tonight at home for their inaugural match against Angel City FC as they continue their run to secure their second Challenge Cup championship.

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Soccer Thorns

Thorns 2021 Draft Recap

Coming off of their strong 2021 season, the Thorns are retaining their core players, and weren’t looking for players in the 2021 NWSL college draft to make an impact right away. With a successful history of developing college players, the Thorns went for players who could add depth to their already deep roster. Here’s a rundown of their selections:

13th pick: Sydny Nasello, Forward, University of South Florida

Nasello has a public history of racism, transphobia, and xenophobia, which doesn’t with the “open” and “inclusive”—as new head coach Rhian Wilkinson described the team yesterday—culture on the Thorns. We’ll get into that more in a separate piece, but for now, her merits as a field player need to be evaluated separately.

A two-year first-team All American, Nasello has many personal accolades to her name. As a No. 11 forward at the University of South Florida, she had a 41% conversion rate, scoring 11 goals in the 2021 season. She is a strong passer and creates plenty of chances off a dribble. USF is consistently battling for the top of the American Athletic Conference (AAC), and Nasello has scored four game-winning goals to help send her team to the top, winning offensive player of the conference two times. USF lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament, which prevented Nasello from exhibiting her talents on the national stage. In order to fit in with the Thorns’ play, she will need to improve her crosses so as to not be wasteful in the final third. She will need to mature quickly to fit in with the Thorns, both on and off the field. Despite her stats, I don’t rate Nasello.

22nd pick: Gabby Provenzano, Defense/Midfield, Rutgers University

Rutgers has proved a successful college for the Thorns to draft from, with Madison Pogarch—along with the now-traded Amirah Ali—attending the school. Rutgers made it to the NCAA College Cup, falling in the semi-final game to eventual champions Florida State. Provenzano played primarily as a center back, a position where she can learn from The Great Becky Sauerbrunn and Emily Menges. An excellent passer, Provenzano boasts an 86% pass completion rate. Provenzano has received numerous individual awards throughout her time at Rutgers, recently earning All-American, Big 10, All Region, and NCAA College Championship first team honors for her role on the back line. Taking her fifth-year of eligibility due to COVID-19, Provenzano captained Rutgers for three seasons. Despite her holding-down of the backline aiding shutouts, she has posted five goals over her 103 career games. With both proven leadership and solid stats, Provenzano could be a great impact player for Portland—and has a high ceiling to grow. 

48th pick: Natalie Beckman, Forward, University of Denver

Beckman is an excellent pick late in the draft. She has posted incredible stats throughout her four years at University of Denver and has the potential to grow into an impact player if she gets a contract with Portland. While Beckman has posted 21 career goals, her 47 assists set a college record. Her crosses are always spot on, and her 78% passing completion rate confirms this. In a system with talented strikers like Morgan Weaver and Sophia Smith, Beckman could prove valuable in feeding balls into the attack. An All-American second-teamer, Beckman helped lead Denver to Summit League champions three times. Beckman is also a competent dribbler, able to get into tight spaces and get crosses off at the endline. She is a two-time Summit offensive player of the season and a two-time offensive player of the region. Playing in an elite-level system like the Thorns will help aid Beckman’s development greatly. 

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Soccer Thorns

Some Thoughts on Endings

Credit: Matthew Wolfe

TW mention of suicide

Watching the Portland Thorns and Chicago Red Stars semi-final alone in my dorm room in Los Angeles, I felt numb. From the kickoff, something was off in the final third. The Thorns weren’t themselves. They seemed to be getting inside their own heads and psyching themselves out. While the stats showed the Thorns absolutely raining shots down on Chicago’s goal—21 to Chicago’s five—none of them were particularly threatening. It didn’t feel like the Thorns deserved to score. 

I wasn’t “having an okay time” seeing the team struggle on the field. They weren’t fighting for the ball as if their season depended on it, which it did. Maybe it was Lindsey Horan’s sudden freak injury or Crystal Dunn’s pregnancy announcement, but the personnel on the pitch seemed as though they had hardly played together. 

The Thorns haven’t had the best run of play leading into the playoffs; despite winning the shield, they won only three of their last 11 games. Ever since Paul Riley’s predatory behavior was made public, there has been a weight on the league that won’t lift. In the postgame, Emily Menges said that the team has done a great job of leaving these traumas off the pitch and focusing on soccer when they’re playing. I have to take her word for it, since I’m not in the locker room. However, I can’t help but think of the extreme mental toll that’s been taken on the players. 

Trauma and abuse as severe as what the players in the league have been through forges intense bonds between people. The foundation for that bonding was already in place. The Thorns have praised their team chemistry and culture throughout the season, saying that they are a team unlike they have been in the past and that they truly believe in one another.

But Menges and Christine Sinclair were on the team back in 2015, too. Having to relive terrible experiences while simultaneously working your job at a place that is entwined with toxicity is impossible for me to imagine, yet these players have done it.

They end the 2021 NWSL season with three of four trophies, which is an incredible feat they should be proud of. 

And yet, I think all these players need a long break. I’m not saying that it’s great that their season was cut short and that they are off now, but from the outside, it’s a bit of a relief. 

I’ve been through my own mental health struggles, which I wrote about for my school newspaper. I played soccer for 12 years at the club and high school levels, but had to quit due to the incredible pressure placed on me by my coaches and the toxic atmosphere my teammates created. Watching the game on Sunday, I couldn’t help but worry that this heavy NWSL season would turn players away from the league—or even from the sport they love altogether. I don’t want to make assumptions about what the players are going through, but I can’t help thinking about it in the context of my own experiences. 

After Chicago scored their second goal and the ref made several bad non-calls, the numbness overtook me. One aspect of the broadcast that particularly got to me was the repeated replays of the goals scored against Bella Bixby. Having only jumped up to first keeper midway through the season, the semifinal was her NWSL playoff debut. The Thorns’ playoff hopes rested on her shoulders. She was visibly frustrated after both goals, and the commentators talked about her reaction as the film looped. The broadcast even lingered on her after goal kicks, as if to implicitly blame her for the scoreline. As soon as the final whistle blew, the camera panned to Bixby, who was overcome with emotion. The camera stayed on her face far too long, and I, too, started to cry. 

Midway through Mark Parsons’s final media call as head coach of the Thorns, Bixby announced on Twitter that her father had died by suicide earlier that week. The rest of the world fell away as I read that. I barely registered another word that Parsons said. I knew exactly what Bixby was going through, and I couldn’t believe that she had just managed to play the most important game of her career. 

When I was 16, one of my close friends died by suicide, and I couldn’t do anything for weeks. Still, five years later, it’s hard for me to do things we used to do together. I can’t listen to Taylor Swift or have a picnic where we only eat veggie straws or see our horse, Willow, without crying. The mental strength it took for Bixby to go to work, to compete at the highest level, is something I cannot imagine, and I am so unbelievably impressed. It also made me more angry at the ways the broadcast fixated on her emotions. No matter the reason behind the sadness or emotions, they’re not for broadcasts or journalists to turn into content. 

When I lost my friend, I hated how people asked my mom, “oh, how is Jaiden doing?” for weeks. It never felt like genuine concern, just morbid curiosity. Like I was a museum piece.

I’m sad for the team, and how their season ended. There will not be a Thorns team like them again, with Parsons leaving and a roster shakeup inevitable with a double expansion draft next month. I’ll be sad to see people go, but I also know that the culture and community that the team has worked hard to create will inevitably be broken up. Losing that sense of safety and community so suddenly is hard to deal with.

Even with the team splintering off in the off-season, I hope they are still able to lean on one another as results of investigations are revealed. I particularly hope that Bella Bixby has people to support her. Having a group of people you can lean on no questions asked is one of the best tools for grieving. 

I don’t have much to say about the soccer played in that semifinal. But I do know that when you lose someone to suicide, it feels like the earth has stopped spinning.

If you suspect someone is suffering from suicidal thoughts or ideations, ask them about it point-blank. It’s uncomfortable, but it’s so much worse to regret that you didn’t ask. People who are suicidal feel as though they have no one to talk to. Showing them you’re the person they can talk to might save their life.

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Soccer Thorns

Still a Top Pro, Angela Salem Works Toward a Coaching License

Photo by Nikita Taparia
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Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Thorns 1, Dash 0

Credit: Matthew Wolfe

For the Thorns, the 2021 season has been all about building a strong mentality and culture. Through interviews and post-game pressers, Thorns players and coaches have spoken about the importance of their culture shift to their success this season. Back in August, Christine Sinclair said that “[the Thorns] want to put [themselves] in the best position to win, and not by chance,” which has been the byproduct of a team that has fun together—and fights and gives everything for each other. 

Since Sinc spoke in August, a reckoning has occurred in the league, with its shockwaves landing firmly in the Thorns’ locker room. In a turnaround from the recent four-game winless streak that’s had people doubting the team’s chances of winning the Shield—something they were favored to do for the majority of the season—the team managed to pull out a win against Houston, looking the best they had against the Dash all year.

The season isn’t over yet, with one last home game against the Courage to go, but I think last night’s win against Houston to claim the shield was a culmination of an entire season’s worth of work both on and off the field. So, in honor of that, here are some things that went really well for the Thorns. 

High Press

Historically, the Thorns have struggled to break down the Dash’s back line. In the Thorns’ 1–0 win in July, they recorded 14 shots, dramatically lower than usual. Just a few weeks ago in October, the Thorns lost 2–3, putting only nine of 26 shots on target. Forwards Sophia Smith and Morgan Weaver (among others) like to sit high, ready to either get the ball at their feet or receive a long ball over the top, and over the course of the season, the Thorns have struggled to score when they weren’t able to press high and sit along the back line. But last night, Smith and Weaver were able to find all sorts of space between the Dash’s defense, and exploited it well, combining for six shots.

One moment that exemplified the ever-strengthening Thorns mentality was a shot by Sophia Smith in the first half. She was played a ball in from Meghan Klingenberg and after taking one touch to settle it, sent it rocketing towards the goal. She missed, but the important element of the shot was Smith having the confidence to take it early. So many times over the course of the season we have watched Smith dribble towards the goal, only to end up passing it straight to the keeper, and it’s much better for her to test the keeper with a harder, earlier shot than not. 

Strong midfield diamond

The Thorns have clearly found their ideal starting midfield with Sinclair, Rocky Rodríguez, Angela Salem, and Lindsey Horan (it’s wild that they still have Dunn on the bench to bring on). The passing chart below shows how important it is that the midfield keep their shape in order to dictate play throughout the center of the field. The heavier lines extending from Rocky and Horan’s bubbles indicate the volume of passes that each player gave and received, showing how they maintained possession, continuously feeding balls forward toward the pressing forwards.

Mark Parsons said post-game, “we knew we needed to control everything we can to put it in our favor,” which manifested in the form of the midfield being first to what felt like every ball. They dominated the center of the pitch, intercepting Houston passes and serving as the catalyst for counterattacks, many of which nearly paid off. 

Credit: Arielle Dror

When looking back at the season holistically, the Thorns struggled to reintegrate their international players after the Olympic break, largely due to the bulk of them being in the midfield. Finally having a consistent lineup over the past few months has let the Thorns implement the tactics they have been working on, allowing them to improve each game.

Brick-wall Bixby

Bella Bixby and the Thorns defense earned their 12th clean sheet of the season, and Bixby’s eighth. While a lot of the glory goes to the forwards and midfield for scoring, the defense has been quietly and consistently dictating games all season. Outside backs Kling and Natalia Kuikka had the most touches out of both teams on Sunday, and center backs Becky Sauerbrunn and Emily Menges contributed to the 48 duels won.

A quote from Bixby sums up the defense’s mentality quite nicely: “despite having big outcome-based goals, we have been extremely process-based, and [are] really just taking it one game at a time.” Bixby, who became the Thorns’ starting keeper after AD Franch went to Kansas City, has excelled at the position. She exudes confidence when directing her back line and stays focused until the final minutes, which yesterday was when the majority of the Dash’s crosses and shots came in. Plus, watching her palm the ball on saves is just epic. 

With one more regular-season game to go before postseason, the Thorns are in a good place to continue growing and proving that their elite mentality is what sets them apart.

As Horan said after the game, the Thorns set out to win everything this season—and now the elusive quadruple is within reach.

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Not Soccer Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Thorns 0, Kansas City 0

Photo by Matthew Wolfe

The Thorns suffered an utterly disappointing scoreless tie against bottom-of-the-table Kansas City on Sunday afternoon. While the game could have been momentous for several reasons, including Meghan Klingenberg reaching 10,000 career NWSL minutes, and marking the first time that the Thorns played against AD Franch (who made several great saves), this game is one that is going to be quickly forgotten. 

In the 85th minute, it looked like the Thorns would eke out a win when Morgan Weaver was awarded a penalty and Christine Sinclair stepped up to the spot to take it. It unceremoniously went off the lower left post, even after AD dived to the left, keeping the score at 0–0. 

In the early second half, Kristen Hamilton scored a goal that was called back due to a foul on Becky Sauerbrunn, and it seemed that maybe this would be the spark of intensity that the Thorns so desperately needed. But again, nothing came of it. The Thorns remained flat and lifeless, looking as though they had little desire to play this game.

Despite being close to soccer-specific Children’s Mercy Park, Kansas City’s home games take place on a baseball field with an extremely narrow and poorly sod soccer field crammed into it (the team has announced it will move to Children’s Mercy Park next year, but the fact they ever played on this field sends a message). The Thorns, who normally thrive off a high press and the ability to get wide, were unable to create space between themselves, causing passes and crosses and shots to all go out of bounds to no one. Mark Parsons noted after the game that “the team wasn’t able to play the type of soccer that they wanted to play.”

That field—and a litany of other factors—made the game hard to watch. It wasn’t just that the team wasn’t playing as well or as organically as they normally do, but that everything going on in the background made it impossible to focus.

In the four days since the Thorns’ last game and the partial dismissal of Gavin Wilkinson (from only the Thorns side of his job), there has been no time to process the sheer amount of trauma that has occurred. Just the day before, broadcasters at the Pride-Gotham game zoomed in on Orlando backup keeper Brittany Wilson and repeatedly misidentified her as Mana Shim. With the endless onslaught of harmful mistakes and disinterest from the league, it’s hard to compartmentalize what is going on. I can’t imagine what it’s like for the players, for whom soccer isn’t a fun distraction, but a job.

Watching the game on Paramount Plus on my laptop felt like a fever dream. I couldn’t conceptualize how 1,600 miles away these people were being asked to play soccer as if there wasn’t a reckoning happening within the league. The quality of the broadcast, which sounded ripped from FIFA 2010, complete with LMFAO playing at each corner kick, felt like a slap in the face. Not only can the league not listen to players, but they seem completely unwilling to invest in them, either. 

The camera’s low vantage point and tight angle made it so that no more than half the players could be seen at any given moment. Players moved in and out of frame in dreamlike apparitions. The Thorns’ white jerseys looked as though they were outlined in black crayon, making them look cartoonish and animated. At one point, Larroquette did a bicycle kick at midfield just to advance the ball seven yards. I instantly did a double take to check that I wasn’t mashing buttons on a Playstation controller.  

All in all, it felt like a rerun of a game from the inaugural 2013 season, one whose final score I already knew. It was hard to get invested and feel as though anything was at stake, when in reality, there’s a lot on the line. The Thorns only have four more games this season, and have choked on their lead, leaving only one point between them and Reign in the race for the shield. 

But that brings me back to my original point. It was impossible to focus on the game because there is so much more at stake than a soccer game or title right now. Everyone on that pitch carried an incredible weight on their shoulders for 90 minutes. Once they step off the field, the weight remains squarely on them, getting straight onto phone calls and trying to fight for the league. There really is no escape for these players as they are constantly told they aren’t worthy, whether they’re being made to play on a horrible pitch or being asked in a postgame presser to recount their involvement in the initial 2015 investigations within the club. 

As the season winds to a close and the games pick up in intensity and importance for the postseason bracket, I find myself disconnecting with the game more and more. The Thorns could lose every game from here on out, but I would still support them just as much as if they won all of those games 5–0. The players’ mental and physical health is the most important, and if they choose to protest at Wednesday’s game, I will fully support and understand. If I as a fan can’t focus on the game, how can the players?

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Soccer Thorns

Statement from the Rose City Review on Paul Riley

Credit: Matthew Wolfe

On Thursday, The Athletic reported that former Thorns head coach Paul Riley sexually abused and coerced multiple players during his tenures with multiple professional women’s soccer teams—including his time in Portland. Sinead Farrelly and Mana Shim brought these reports to the attention of front offices, commissioners, and other league officials, but by no means are they the only survivors of Riley’s abuse.

Although Riley has been fired, NWSL commissioner Lisa Baird and general counsel Lisa Levine have resigned, and SafeSport—a questionable place to turn—is now investigating the allegations against Riley, we, at the Rose City Review, find lack of transparency and action until this point to be unacceptable.

It’s not enough for coaches and managers to apologize for hiring known abusers, as OL Reign owner Bill Predmore apologized for hiring former head coach Farid Benstiti in a press conference on Friday. “Getting it wrong” is not an excuse when there are known, credible accusations against a man. The systems of complacency within the NWSL run deep. We’ve seen them play out time and time again this year, with the terminations of Riley, Benstiti, and Richie Burke. And we’ve seen that same lack of transparency around the firing of Christy Holly, Alyse LaHue, and Tom Torres.

And it’s not enough for Riley to resign when the people who covered up his abuse remain in power. According to The Athletic’s report, Thorns owner Merritt Paulson and general manager Gavin Wilkinson released Riley from the club after investigating Shim’s allegations against him, but neither the club nor the league publicly acknowledged those accusations or that there had been an investigation. Despite knowing that Riley was a sexual abuser, Paulson, Wilkinson, and the NWSL let the league hire Riley for another job, placing him in yet another position of power.

We believe the Thorns’s statement on the report does not adequately address the harm the club has caused—nor does it outline a plan to keep players safe in the future. Merritt Paulson’s open letter, while outlining positive steps forward for the club, does little to acknowledge the complicit behavior of the Thorns’ front office. The “North Star” that he references as what is best for the players and techinical will need to involve the removal of Gavin Wilkinson to create a more safe and open environment. 

We support Mana Shim, Sinead Farelly, Kaiya McCollough, and everyone else who has come forward about abuse—publicly or privately.

We stand with the NWSL Players Association and their three demands. We commend the NWSLPA for the work they’re doing to push better league conditions and create avenues through which players can report abuse, but that work should have never fallen on them. 

The steps outlined in Paulson’s letter are positive, and we will be following up to ensure that he follows through on them. But we believe that the club’s current plan is not enough. We feel it is unacceptable that Gavin Wilkinson remains the club GM, given his role in covering up Riley’s abuse. We are calling for his removal from the Thorns and Timbers organization.

You can donate to the NWSLPA via PayPal.

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Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Thorns 1, Red Stars 2

Credit: Nikita Taparia

The Thorns fell to Chicago on Saturday night in a disappointing 2–1 road loss. It was the two teams’ second and final meeting this NWSL season, and had a very different tone to it than the 5–0 thrashing courtesy of the Thorns to start the season. 

There aren’t many words to describe the game besides “un-Thorns-like.” From the whistle, the Thorns seemed to lack pace and the drive to press, and the momentum of the first half was firmly in favor of the Red Stars. The Thorns opened the scoring, but they did so against the run of play, and the instantaneous response from Chicago was emblematic, so let’s break that down.

It’s rare for Bella Bixby to make a major fumble that leads to a goal, but she made several against Chicago. Right before the above still, Bixby had come off her line to collect a cross, but spilled it out of her hands. However, because there were no Thorns following the players making runs into the box, Chicago was able to shoot on an open net. The Thorns outnumbered the Red Stars five to three in the box, and should have been first to the ball. 

While it’s important for the defense to be confident in their keeper and listen when they call for the ball (which may or may not have happened—the broadcast was as silent as a golf broadcast), they also need to be covering the open spaces. Inside the box, I would argue that it is much more important to mark a player than it is to mark space, and by not doing this Chicago was able to score an easy tying goal. 

In the post-match press conference, Crystal Dunn, Christine Sinclair, and Mark Parsons all had similar sentiments about how the speed Chicago equalized with was a “cardinal sin” and reflected how the half had been going for the team. 

Dunn said “the equalizer took the momentum out of us, and it was hard to find it again. We came out of the second half looking to give it everything we had.” 

Unfortunately, the Thorns weren’t able to find their rhythm in the second half either. Parsons said that he was “frustrated with the way the team played, both individually and collectively,” saying that coming back from an international break where six players and the head coach were on international duty made it hard to quickly find connections, especially when the first game back was away from home. 

At half, the Thorns made three subs, but this triple change may have ended up hindering the connections even more by removing two midfielders and one defender, the areas where the Thorns were struggling most with possession. Let’s take a look at the second goal the Red Stars scored that night. 

In this (very poor) screenshot, you can see the Chicago player (Rachel Hill) is closer to the goal than the Thorns player (Meghan Klingenberg?), allowing her to easily get the header that results in the point. Even though there are far more white shirts than black ones on the screen, what really matters is backtracking fast enough to get goalside. 

The buildup came from a cross that the Red Stars were able to get off with relatively little pressure. The lack of shutting down space was a common trend for the Thorns throughout the game. Normally the team with the strongest midfield, the Thorns were outplayed and exploited, and were unable to gain the momentum the second half. 

One thing that is curious is that even though the Thorns walked away feeling disappointed in their outcome and performance, the stats show a different story. They had 59% possession and 396 accurate passes, 150 more than the Red Stars made. The Thorns’ accuracy was also 79% compared to Chicago’s 71%. So, what went wrong? 

The Thorns’ identity, which they have been cultivating all season, relies on a high press and building up out of the back, neither of which they were able to accurately employ during the game. The two midfielders who played 90 minutes, Dunn and Angela Salem, actually had more touches than they did against North Carolina, but like possession, that’s another statistic that yielded little in the way of results. Unable to be playmakers, the midfield was dimmed and couldn’t connect the backline and the forwards. 

When the tactical numbers are still high, questions of mentality begin to arise. Here, Parsons says that the team was having a hard time mentally, as they were “unable to find a way when things weren’t going as planned.” 

Despite the unexpected outcome, the Thorns are optimistic going forward, knowing they have a full week of training with the entire team ahead of them. The time at home and together can only benefit the team both mentally and physically, as they find time to recharge and reconnect with one another on the field. 

After the game, Sinc speculated that the team bus catching on fire last week may have been a bad omen. Hopefully this week is fire-free.

Categories
Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Thorns 1, Courage 0

Credit: Nikita Taparia

The Thorns recorded their first ever win away against the Courage on Sunday. The game was touted as a “top of the table clash,” and Kelli Hubly said afterward that “rivalry between the Courage and the Thorns might be bigger than that against the Reign” because both teams have won multiple NWSL titles. Despite the 1-0 scoreline and the Thorns’s 2-0 loss in Cary earlier this year, Portland dictated the tempo from the beginning and dominated in shots, possession, and passing. 

The Courage didn’t look as threatening as they have previously this season—they were unbeaten in their last seven games—and weren’t able to get many shots off. While this could be attributed to internal issues and player turnover on the team, the Thorns’s midfield have to get credit for effectively pressing and shutting down North Carolina’s box midfield.

In the above image (Thorns are moving left to right), it’s easy to see how much space the diamond midfield had. Angela Salem has the ball in the center of the pitch, and she has several easy passes to choose between. There are four Courage players within about a 10-yard radius, all of whom are behind the play. She chooses to play it forward to Crystal Dunn, who holds the ball and feeds it through for Sophia Smith to go 1v1 on goal. 

Due to the fact that the Thorns can never seem to have all their forwards healthy at the same time, Christine Sinclair has transitioned into playing the No. 9 striker role since she returned from the Olympics. This switch allows Crystal Dunn to slide forward play the No. 10 center attacking mid, where she’s been more successful than she was in the deeper midfield positions in the diamond. Here, she is able to be a playmaker. With 50 touches and 76% passing accuracy, Dunn was an effective link between Sinclair and Smith up top and the midfield. The combination of those lines allowed the Thorns to outshoot the Courage 23-11. 

In this image (Thorns are moving right to left), you can see Portland’s midfield holding their wider shape—as they did throughout the game—and consistently beating out the Courage’s. Lindsey Horan (bottom middle) plays the ball centrally, and Rocky Rodríguez is able to easily receive it. Due to the high press and wide shape, Rodríguez has several options to keep the ball moving around North Carolina. 

The strength and consistency of the midfield against North Carolina is an example of the “Thorns mentality”—a phrase that players and coach Mark Parsons have repeated throughout the season. After the game, Parsons said they “want to be constantly improving and playing as a team because that will push [the team] towards [their] best.” He shouted out Dunn and Salem as two players who exemplified that mindset. As the last third of the seasons approaches, the Thorns will look to build on the consistency and success they have begun to expect. 

Sophia Smith, tied for most goal on the Thorns with Charley, has been an example of the Thorns’ mentality. Staying with the Thorns all summer has been the ideal opportunity to get consistent minutes, and I don’t think I can say enough good things about Smith’s recent form. Against North Carolina, she had eight shots, a mere three fewer than the entire Courage team, with five on target. Probability says that if you shoot enough, one is bound to go in, but that statement cheapens Smith’s goal. Sinclair played a perfectly-weighted ball over the top, and Smith slipped between the two Courage center backs to go to goal. Seeing that Murphy was off her line, Smith knew she couldn’t take unnecessary touches, or Murphy would get the ball. 

In this still, right before Smith struck the ball, Smith’s body is facing toward the left hand side of the goal. However, she doesn’t go there. Reading the keeper well, Smith strikes the ball with the outside of her right foot, sending it to the near post and catching Murphy off-balance.

Smith leads the entire league in shots, and while she isn’t consistent yet on her conversion rates, her ability to read the game and control her body allows her to score at crucial moments. Goals like the one in Sunday’s game are not an accident or a statistic probability; they are well-intentioned. As Smith continues to grow into the league, she will become even more lethal. 

Also of note, it was good to see Tyler Lussi back on the field after so long out! Hopefully Simone Charley can come back soon because the Thorns’s front line will truly be frightening with all forwards fit.

Portland now heads off on international break, with the six players called up by their national teams joined by Mark Parsons as he officially begins coaching the Dutch National Team.