If you’re scratching your head at yesterday’s news that the Thorns have transferred Ellie Carpenter to Olympique Lyonnais, you’re not alone. Carpenter was one of the best outside backs in the league, famously matching up well in one-on-one situations against world-class offensive players like Megan Rapinoe. She also had something you can’t teach, something the rest of Portland’s back line—especially with Emily Sonnett having been swapped out for the 35-year-old Becky Sauerbrunn—is largely lacking: speed.
That’s of special concern when we look at the first matchup on the schedule in Utah: the North Carolina fucking Courage.
If starting the Challenge Cup against the back-to-back shield and championship winners wasn’t tough enough, the tournament format may make matters even harder. The Thorns tend to start slow and improve throughout the season; they don’t have time for that in Utah. They have to figure out how to win right away, and with an unproven offense, defense will be key. So who will shore up Portland’s back line in Carpenter’s absence? Let’s get into the Xs and Os and take a look at a few ways this defense could line up.
Gabby Seiler
Gabby Seiler seems as likely an option as any at right back. She’s been stymied by major injuries twice now, once before she’d reported to the team as a rookie, and then last year when she tore her ACL, but in the minutes she has gotten, she’s shown she can play at just about any defensive position. I’d argue she’s best employed as a No. 6, but with Parsons saying he wants to line Rocky Rodríguez up alongside Lindsey Horan as dual No. 8s, there isn’t room for her in a three-woman midfield. Seiler may not be as fast as Carpenter, but she had a 66.9% success rate in duels last season, better than Carpenter’s 42.9%, and she has both the physicality and the brains to stand up to the league’s toughest players.
Madison Pogarch
Madison Pogarch only played a handful of minutes in 2019, so she’s something of an unknown quantity. I do know the coaching staff is high on her, and that she’s fast and hard-working. I also remember watching her in preseason in 2019 and thinking, “wow!” Since that tournament wasn’t streamed, I have no way of confirming that memory. I’d say she’s a solid back-up option for Seiler.
Don’t Defend
Back in 2014, Paul Riley’s Thorns team team had a certain mystical quality where they were simultaneously good and bad, and also neither, at any time. This was a team that could beat the eventual champions 7–1 one week and then lose to Boston the next. It was high-concept soccer, where the concept was that it doesn’t matter how many goals you concede as long as you score one more than that.
Riley has grown as a coach since then. He still plays an extremely attacking style, but North Carolina’s defense has also been the stingiest in the league the past two seasons. So here’s my idea: since the Courage offense is all but unstoppable, why bother trying? Instead, Parsons could take a page from Riley’s own playbook and focus all the energy on breaking down that defense and scoring more goals than the opposition. That could look something like this:
The 1-1-3-6
The strength of this lineup starts with its front line of Sophia Smith, Tyler Lussi, Simone Charley, Morgan Weaver, Meghan Klingenberg, and Marissa Everett. All four strikers are fast; some are also technical and/or physical. Kling will play in her normal role, minus the defending part. Everett is an unproven quantity, but any other player on the roster runs the risk of being too defensive in that position. Tobin Heath, Rodríguez, Christine Sinclair, and Lindsey Horan will all both feed the forward line and make overlapping runs themselves.
Emily Menges is the goalkeeper, but will be tasked with covering the whole defensive half of the field as well as she can—as well as scoring, if possible. Let’s win this thing 15–14.
Human Pyramid
The spiritual opposite of the “don’t defend” strategy is the human pyramid. I’ve looked, and as far as I can tell there’s no rule against this.
I’m not envisioning a true human pyramid, but here’s the concept: build a wall on the goal line, then have the remaining players sit on the shoulders of the players in the wall. Where’s the ball going to go?
AD Franch can play in front of the player stack. Every time she catches the ball, she wastes as much time as possible, then kicks it as far away as she can. The concept here, obviously, is to play for a 0–0 draw, but it’s not hard to imagine the Courage getting so sick of this that at some point, the shoulder-sitters, with their fully rested legs, can rush the other goal and sneak one in.
Portland in better times. Photo by Craig Mitchelldyer.
With the MLS is Back Tournament set to kick off less than a month from now in sunny Orlando, Florida, there are still questions to be answered about basically every aspect of the league’s return to play.
How will MLS cope with spiking COVID-19 cases in Florida as the country struggles to implement the proper measures necessary to fight the pandemic? Who will broadcast the games and make them available to soccer-starved fans? After a four-month layoff, will teams be able to put together anything approaching a coherent game of soccer?
But before all of that can be addressed, there is one question that looms above all others: how the hell are you supposed to abbreviate the “MLS is Back Tournament”?
Look, nobody calls it Major League Soccer; we all call it MLS. Nobody calls it the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing; they call it NASCAR. Nobody calls it the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament; they call it March Madness.
The abbreviation is the name, and the abbreviation for the MLS is Back Tournament is a freaking mess.
So, let’s explore our options.
***
MLSiBT
Pros: This is as close to an actual abbreviation for the MLS is Back Tournament as we have gotten so far.
Cons: A mouthful. A mushy, incoherent mouthful.
***
MiBT
Pros: Possibly mistaken for “Men in Black Tournament.” Slightly increased chance of a Will Smith appearance.
Cons: Men in Black is a Sony property and it seems unlikely that they are going to get involved with a tournament being run on Disney turf.
***
EPSOT
(Experimental Prototype Soccer of Tomorrow)
Pros: Futuristic.
Cons: But in a very 80’s kind of way.
Folks complain that I don’t tweet about Epcot anymore even though it’s been closed for weeks and the only thing happening there is skunk vine growing like crazy and taking over the whole place.
In the wake of the current protest movement around racism and police brutality, I spoke with Thorns forward Simone Charley about her experiences over the last few weeks and beyond. Our conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
You posted some of your thoughts a couple weeks ago on social media. One thing you wrote was something along the lines of “are you actually ready to do this—are you prepared to feel uncomfortable?”
Yeah. Um. I think just for me especially when I was writing that, and just talking about it, thinking about it, it was just challenging, just because I feel like at least for me that was the first time that I’ve kind of seen everything go full cycle in my lifetime. Like I remember when Black Lives Matter started after Trayvon Martin was killed and you know it gained steam and “popularity,” and all of that, and then it died off. And we’ve seen it happen, police brutality and systemic racism in general, just continue. And so now I feel like it’s the first time I’m seeing the second wave and I feel like I just got some serious déjà vu, which I think is why I’ve been reluctant to be excited and like, happy about it. I think when we talk about racism and stuff, kind of like I put in the post, we’re talking about being uncomfortable. I think it’s a lot of confronting racism within yourself, and I think that can be challenging for people, especially, a lot of times I feel like we think of racism as like, there’s “a racist” and “a not-racist.” I feel like racism is more of a spectrum—how racist are you?—as opposed to whether or not it’s a good apple or a bad apple, and I feel like that’s uncomfortable for people, because racism isn’t limited to being in the KKK. It can be just a simple microaggression on a day-to-day basis.
You also wrote, “faking it or half-trying hurts more than it helps.” Could you talk about that?
Yeah. I think just kind of similar to what I was saying earlier as far as seeing it come full cycle. It’s like, I feel like it almost seemed trendy to post on social media, whether it was Blackout Tuesday, or anything Black Lives Matter. And I feel like that can hurt the movement, because then when you have a whole bunch of people pretending to care, then it can convince people that “oh, you see everyone cares, and everyone’s trying to not be racist,” and think that “oh, see, obviously things are changing, and we’re all on the same page!” when in actuality, that might not be the case. And so, I think that’s why I was saying, don’t fake it if you’re not actually there and you’re not willing to do the work. Because if you’re not willing to do the work, then nothing’s going to change and we’re going to be here again like we are this time and [were] the last time, in the first movement. Or first wave of the movement happened.
What has it been like for you over the past two weeks to continue going to training and worry about soccer and fight for a roster spot?
Definitely been challenging, I would say. I think when everything first happened, that was a hard couple of days for me, just grappling with that. I think seeing the huge contrast between—I feel like the contrast was just very apparent between my life and my teammates’ lives, just because, you know, something like that happens and that impacts me. That impacts my family. I think of my brother; I think of my dad. I think of the cycle I was talking about, and I was just very sad. Whereas I think for a lot of my teammates, obviously it’s sad for them, but it doesn’t affect them the same way. So their lives can just continue. And I think that contrast was very apparent in the beginning. But I would say I’m very proud of my team and how we’ve kind of addressed it now, where we’ve been having the hard conversations about race, and our team and staff are like, listening to podcasts, and having weekly discussions about it, and someone started a book club, and we’re reading So You Want to Talk about Race? And like, willing to have those discussions. So I would definitely say it’s been somewhat of a rollercoaster, where it started off where I just felt very isolated, but I feel like now our team has been doing an amazing job of taking steps towards confronting racism within themselves as well as within the community.
Photo by Matthew Wolfe
Who started those conversations—not naming names, necessarily, but is that something you or your other teammates of color started, or is that was that something your white teammates started?
Yeah, kind of a group of teammates. An intermix, a group of both Black and white teammates did, and kind of like addressed it as a team a few days after everything went down. Which I think that was very important, that it wasn’t just a Black person saying something, but it was Black and white. And then also our staff—staff members reached out shortly after that conversation to just see, okay, what can we do to further support you. So, kind of a group of people.
He talked about this whiplash feeling, where he’s been wanting to talk about these issues with his teammates, with people in his life, and has not been able to do that for so many years, and now all of a sudden it’s like, “oh, now you want to talk about this…” I’m wondering if you share that experience.
Oh, 100%. It’s very interesting. I think just—it’s interesting because I feel like people are open in a way that they haven’t been before, which I think has been interesting—I don’t know how else to word that. I think of like, I’ve had teammates who—one of my teammates from college who reached out to me wanting to discuss race and things like that. And it was just very challenging for her, just confronting it, and it was interesting because in college, me and her had had many conversations about race, but she admitted to me on the phone she just didn’t really believe me, and it just didn’t seem real to her, but like, now it does. And it’s like, it’s a interesting feeling. Obviously I appreciate your willingness to like, understand and be more open, but at the same time it’s like, I’ve been saying this, you know? So it’s interesting.
Soccer in America is a really white sport—I want to ask you in a broad sense what your experiences were like growing up in that system.
Yeah. Um. I think that’s kind of hard to unpack. I just think that growing up, I was always one of the only Black people on the soccer team, and I feel like it’s something, as you get older you notice it more, but I feel like it’s just something I got used to, and it’s just what it was. And so—yeah. I feel like—is there anything in particular you want me to talk about in that experience?
Well, I guess in part, expanding on the last question about being able to talk about race with your teammates—which, I can’t imagine how much harder that would have been as a young person.
I would say, I feel like at least for me, I would want to talk about race, especially growing up when things would happen. Not when I was very young, because I think you don’t really know what’s going on. But I think of, once you get in like, high school, something happens and you’re like, “hmm. I don’t know how I feel about that. But I wouldn’t really talk about race like that, because being one of the only Black people on your team, you don’t want to like, draw attention to your—what am I trying to say? Yeah, I don’t know. I just feel like it was something I didn’t want to bring up. I would just internalize it and I wouldn’t, I would just feel like people wouldn’t understand, so why bring it up? So I just wouldn’t. Because that’s how it always was, it was just the new normal at one point, and it’s only recently that it’s like, wait, that shouldn’t be normal, and that shouldn’t be okay, and we should be able to speak about these things.
Photo by Matthew Wolfe
Portland, also, as we know, is a very white city, and you moved here on your own a couple years ago—
[Laughs] Yeah.
Has the whiteness of this city been challenging for you?
Yeah. It’s definitely interesting. I think when I first moved here, I remember just like, joking with my parents, being like, “there’s really no Black people here? This is crazy!” You can walk down the street, go a whole day, and not see a Black person! Which is like, definitely an adjustment, I would say. Which I also think is super interesting too, because I feel like Portland prides itself on being inclusive and all that, which is awesome, you see like, signs in stores that say, “oh, we accept all religions and sexualities and races,” all of that. But it’s just, I mean it’s just funny, because it’s like, super inclusive, but there’s also not the diversity there to necessarily be inclusive? That’s just a funny thing. But I do think it was challenging for me in the beginning. I think when you don’t see people who look like you and have the same experience as you, especially when it comes to making friends and stuff, I think obviously I appreciate and value my friendships I have with my white friends, but at the same time, I do appreciate having Black friends, because there’s a level of understanding of like, my experience, that my friends that are Black can understand that my white friends don’t understand in the same way. I think that was definitely challenging for me in the beginning.
You broke onto this team in what I have to imagine was a pretty stressful way—by essentially training for free. I don’t want to make assumptions about your socioeconomic situation, but for a person who’s able to have their parents pay for their apartment or something, that situation is a lot easier. There’s an intersection there between class and race—rich white people will find it easier to break into the sport this way than people of color, and people who didn’t grow up with money.
Yeah. I would say I’m blessed and fortunate that my parents were able to help me during that time, but I started working at a gym that was close by. I was living with a host family. Yeah, I was working at a gym and training people on the side and stuff like that, and then in the offseason I was doing a whole bunch of odd jobs—Postmates, I was delivering food, stuff like that. But yeah, I would say I’m blessed in that my parents were able to help me during that time, but I know that that’s definitely not the case for a lot of people, and if that was the case, I don’t know how much—if I would have been able to be here playing, and been able to make it through a whole year of essentially being unemployed.
If you could tell the white soccer establishment anything about what you think needs to change in this sport, what would that be?
I would say expanding the lens of how to evaluate and review Black athletes. Because I feel like especially, at least in my experience in soccer, I feel like a lot of times Black soccer players are put in a box of, oh, we’re athletic, or we’re fast, or powerful, tenacious—things like that. As opposed to, “you’re a very technical player,” or “you have a high soccer IQ.” Things like that. I feel like a lot of times, regardless of how technical or smart you may be, a lot of times Black athletes are put in a box of just being athletic, and that’s what they’re applauded for. I think that we need to expand our thinking and ask ourselves, “why are we just saying they’re athletic? Are they technical? Are you a smart player?” Making sure, yeah, that we’re not limiting players and putting players in a box like that.
Has that been your personal experience, getting put in that “athletic, fast” box?
I think that’s been something I’ve experienced. I think I’ve seen that happen to Black teammates, as well, Black teammates I’ve had.
Is there anything you feel like the media needs to do better in covering race issues within the sport?
I would say just having more conversations about it. Obviously it’s very important as far as like, talking about gender equality and stuff, that’s a huge deal, and pay equity, all of that is super important. I also think race conversations should happen more often as well, because that’s also a very real reality for a lot of players. So I would say it’s more just continuing the conversation, continuing to have conversations like this, so that we can highlight the different experiences that players have, and even talk like, what I was saying earlier about having players be put in a box. I think we can highlight that and people know that. Just being more aware, I think is a thing that could make a big difference.
The Portland Timbers and Thorns are getting closer to playing real soccer games, and you have questions.
First off—and most importantly—as we’ve echoed through writing, Twitter, and TheRosette, soccer is just a game. Now is the time to be paying attention and educating yourself on this vital moment in our country’s history.
However, soccer does still exist, and as the weeks go by, we are inching closer to the return of the sport in North America. The NWSL Challenge Cup will kick things off in late June, followed by the resumption of Major League Soccer in July.
In this week’s Q&A feature, we answered questions ranging from our thoughts on the restart to our all-time favorite PTFC post. This article highlights some of the questions that were asked. If you are interested, the complete conversation can be found in our Discord, available to Patreon subscribers at the $5 and $10 levels. Subscribing also gives you the opportunity to participate in future Q&As. Without further ado, let’s get to it!
Some questions and answers have been edited for clarity.
The way the Portland Thorns ended their 2019 season was disappointing to everyone involved. With only one win and one goal in their final six games—and that nightmarish 6–0 loss to the North Carolina Courage—it was clear that the offseason would bring a number of changes.
“Short tournament [or] long season, our identity—especially after last year, where I think our identity had become very gray—our identity is our highest priority,” Thorns head coach Mark Parsons told media this week. “Because we think that leads to high performance, and we believe high performance leads to success.”
The player movement was as drastic as foreshadowed. Portland waived Ana-Maria Crnogorčević, and Dagný Brynjarsdóttir returned to Iceland. Emily Sonnett ventured southeast to the Orlando Pride. Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso were lost to the Australian exodus from the NWSL. (Technically, Foord was also traded to the Pride, but the end result was the same.) Andressinha was finally freed—unfortunately, not from the bench, but from Portland. Midge Purce was sent to Sky Blue, Elizabeth Ball to Utah.
Then there were those brought into the team. Raquel Rodríguez and Becky Sauerbrunn came in via trade. At this year’s draft, the Thorns claimed first and second overall picks Sophia Smith and Morgan Weaver, as well as Meaghan Nally and Christen Westphal—the latter through a trade with then-Reign FC.
But where does that leave us? Without the likes of Ball, Purce, and Raso, for one thing—all players who had grown into key roles in their time with the club. And while—for the most part—the individual moves make sense on paper, the overall trend means most Thorns players are very young or nearing the end of their careers, with few individuals in between. The notable exception is the midfield, although questions remain about how exactly a partnership between Rodríguez and Lindsey Horan will work, and Gabby Seiler and Angela Salem are both working their way back from ACL tears.
With that in mind, it’s worth noting that the core of the Thorns is still very much intact, Sonnett excluded. Assuming everyone makes the trek to Utah, Adrianna Franch will still be in goal; Emily Menges will help anchor the backline; Horan, Tobin Heath, and Christine Sinclair are still key players in Portland’s attack.
But three of those players are over 30, as are Sauerbrunn and a handful of others. And while they’re all still effective on the field, they’ll likely be playing closely managed minutes—especially given the NWSL Challenge Cup’s compacted schedule.
Parsons addressed the challenges of training for a tournament in which his squad will be playing two games on short rest in the preliminary round alone—a number that will only grow as Portland advances through the Cup. “It’s not about getting every single player prepared and ready to play every single 90 minutes throughout this tournament,” he explained. “It’s not possible, it’s not going to be safe.”
In a sport where defensive consistency is key, it will be interesting to see how lineup rotation plays out across Portland’s backline—especially given that the majority of expected starters fall into the aforementioned age binary. Sauerbrunn, though still a solid player, has shown signs of slowing down, Meghan Klingenberg is now 31, and Katherine Reynolds—likely the first player off the bench in Ball’s absence—is 32.
On the other hand, there’s Ellie Carpenter, who has years of international experience, but also turned 20 just over a month ago. Seiler can also jump into defense if needed. Behind them, there’s a handful of players that are either coming off a 2019 season in which they barely played, or are new to the league altogether. (Although many of the former have looked solid in the time they have gotten, it remains to be seen how that translates as they begin to play more substantial minutes.)
“Every player knows they’re all going to be needed,” said Parsons. And while he’s done a phenomenal job in the player development department these past few years, that often entails gradually building game time—a luxury not afforded by the Challenge Cup schedule.
Portland’s youth is especially evident across its attacking line, with Smith, Weaver, and potentially a couple non-roster invitees joining the already-young group of Simone Charley, Marissa Everett, and Tyler Lussi. Based on the club’s preseason roster, the only real exception to this pattern is Christine Sinclair, although if the Thorns use their regular formation we’ll see Heath up there, too.
Regardless, there’s no way a 37-year-old Sinclair will play a significant role in every match, and all three of the players who stepped in as a No. 10 last year have since departed the team. That leaves a lot of Portland’s attack up to a handful of relatively inexperienced—though admittedly talented—individuals.
The other thing? The Thorns don’t get a preseason tournament this year. Parsons described that his communication with new players has catered to the lack of time to experiment. He explained the importance of establishing identity and expectations, clarifying where he sees a player helping the club, and that he wants the player to be “[themselves] in the rest of the areas.”
However, the lack of preseason opponents still presents questions for a team that likes to use that time allow players to showcase their strengths and test out prospective depth pieces.
“These players need minutes… to develop,” acknowledged Parsons. While the Thorns aren’t necessarily able to provide that time in preseason matches, Portland’s coaching staff has compensated with full-sided scrimmages.
Parsons remains optimistic about his group’s talent. Although preparation time is more limited, that a significant portion of the roster hasn’t played all that much in the NWSL means another thing: the Thorns will be harder to scout. “It’s an advantage that we know [our young players] and others don’t,” said Parsons, “and obviously we have a tournament [where] they’re gonna have to step up and step in. I’m confident that this experience is going to be a hugely positive one for them.”
However it shakes out, it’s pretty clear that that first match against North Carolina is going to be something—and that something will almost definitely sloppy and leave us with more questions than answers.
But despite the uncertainty, one thing is clear: what we see from the young players who are called to step into bigger roles during this tournament will be our first look at what this team can become.
With just over 12 minutes gone in the Portland Timbers second game of the 2020 MLS season, Diego Valeri took a step back, turned, and struck a bouncing ball past Nashville SC goalkeeper, Joe Willis, on a half-volley. 1-0 Timbers. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, that individual moment of brilliance would be the last Timbers goal for over three months.
In just over a month, the Timbers will take the field once again, but this time there will be no green and gold smoke or victory log slices. In fact, it will not be anywhere close to the Pacific Northwest.
Instead, the Timbers and other teams from around North America will be leaving their home markets to converge in Orlando, Florida for a tournament that would never have happened in a pre-COVID world. What will that tournament look like with no fans in the stands, no supporters groups, and no tifos? Well, nobody knows for sure.
It wasn’t long ago that many people within the league believed returning to play soccer in the first place would be impossible. Now, optimism is growing as additional information about COVID-19 becomes known. After nearly three months of archived games, streamed FIFA competitions, and too many organizational Mount Rushmores to count, the league is beginning to plan its path forward.
Despite many recent positive developments, it has not always been smooth sailing. Just a few days ago things looked choppy when multiple reports surfaced that the Players Association and the league were still at an impasse, held up by details like the language of a new force majeure clause and shared media revenue.
These talks came to a head over the weekend when ESPN’s Hérculez Gómez reported that the league threatened a lockout if the two sides couldn’t reach a deal in the coming days. On Wednesday morning, MLS commissioner Don Garber spoke to national media via Zoom about the labor agreement and said that this has been one of the few times in the history of the league that a severe measure, such as a lockout, has been considered.
“As leader of this league, I believe that [threatening a lockout] was important to do to reach an agreement,” Garber said. “At the end of the day, if we didn’t believe we were advocating for what was crucial for the success and the future of the league, I certainly wouldn’t have gone down that path.”
In addition to outside reporting, Garber admitted that there were four to five points that the two sides had to agree on, citing both the force majeure clause and shared media revenue as points of emphasis.
From the players’ perspective, Portland Timbers goalkeeper Steve Clark said that many players knew that lockout threats were a part of difficult labor negotiations—although he fully expected that both sides would finally reach an agreement.
“Negotiations are always tense,” Clark told local media via Zoom. “Overall, you have two sides that wanted to play soccer. We both had competing ideas and we wanted to take care of our own, but again, working with the Timbers, Merritt, and Gavin is fantastic.
“Not only that, but all the owners were on several Zoom calls with players. Getting on with Don Garber on Zoom with hundreds of players and a few owners is really unique.”
What Clark said impressed him even more was the amount of involvement from every player on the roster. Whereas in the past just a few players per team would work on the negotiations, this year everyone—from the lowest player on the roster to the designated players—was heavily involved.
“I truly believe that players are the most united we have ever been, and there is a kind of historic enrollment from the top of the roster to the bottom,” Clark said. “And the other part of that is the willingness of the owners to hear us out and get out of their shoes to walk a mile in our shoes. I’m really grateful for that.”
Over the past few weeks, MLS training facilities across the country have been opening up for individual workouts. These openings are reliant on local regulations as well as testing capacity in local markets and sanitizing regulations enforced at the training facility. On Thursday, the league lifted the training moratorium, allowing teams to plan their return to full team training. If teams can return to full training in their local markets, they can delay going to Orlando for at least a week.
Clark, for one, is excited to get back on the field, regardless of where the game is played and despite the lack of fans.
“I’m a soccer player,” the 34-year-old said. “I play goalkeeper. That’s what I do, I think it’s essential to my being, and I’m really excited to be out there playing.”
During the conference call, Garber did not announce any set dates or times for the Orlando tournament but said that more details are on the way. And regardless of what the tournament brings in, the league will take at least a $1 billion revenue hit. So while limiting the tournament to a maximum of 35 days helps players such as Clark, who will be leaving his family for at least a month, it doesn’t help the league’s bottom line.
And when teams eventually kick off in Orlando, there is at least one glaring question that needs to be answered: what will the on-field product be like? This tournament will undoubtedly give the league nation-wide attention from those interested to see how it handles the moment. Those new eyes will almost assuredly turn away if the product on the field is subpar, even if teams are now essentially in preseason form. (It’s worth acknowledging that the first few games will not be representative of the quality of the league during a normal season.) It will take time for teams to reach the quality of a derby game, or even what MLS fans saw during their last glimpse of live MLS Soccer—an end-to-end 3-3 game between the Philadelphia Union and LAFC.
Despite those worries, Clark said that the team is revving to play and believes that the quality on the field will not suffer, despite the lack of energy from the stands.
“The product will be good on that field,” Clark said. “We’re going to want to win and there’s going to be ways that I’m going to communicate better without fans. People will be able to hear me. I’m looking at it not in a negative way, but in a glass-half-full to see how I can impact the game, or as a goalkeeper, with my communication, because everyone can hear me.”
While the return to play is a positive step for all parties, there are still the unavoidable losses. Among these are the loss of revenue, and the (temporary) loss of fans. Playing a Cascadia Derby without the Timbers Army or Emerald City Supporters in a stadium over 3,000 miles away won’t be the same. Yes, the tournament-winning team will get a million dollars and a trophy at the “Most Magical Place on Earth,” but for the league’s 25th anniversary season, it’s a bit of a disappointment.
There remain plenty of questions around the league, many of which have no answer, but with tough negotiations behind them and a tournament on the horizon, it’s up to the players and the league to make the most of the situation. If there’s one thing for sure, it’s that the players are ready.
“It was nice to have a break,” Clark began, “but it’s time.”
As the NWSL gears up to meet in Utah for the 2020 Challenge Cup, Katelyn Best chats with Thorns defender and NWSL Players Association Treasurer Emily Menges. The NWSLPA was closely involved in the decision to restart, winning guaranteed contracts for players regardless of whether they participate or not. They touch on her offseason playing in the demonstration AFC international club competition for the Melbourne Victory and what classic works of American literature she’s been plowing her way through in quarantine.
It is a well-established fact that the Thorns are not Sith. This is a good thing for all of us—particularly the younglings.
But if they were Sith, there would be a real disparity in the quality of Sith names throughout the Thorns roster. Adding Darth to your name is great when you are going by Vader, Sidious, or even Revan, but modern-day, real-life names lend themselves somewhat less to the intimidating air preferred by the adherents of the Dark Side.
I took a look at the Thorns roster and tried to pick out the best Sith name for each player: Darth followed by their first name, last name, or nickname.
24. Darth Charley – As someone with two first names, Simone Charley was always going to struggle in a ranking that is about a combination of intimidation and hard consonant sounds.
23. Darth Ellie
22. Darth Hubly
21. Darth Sophia
20. Darth Kat
19. Darth Everett
18. Darth Franch – I want to put Franch higher on this list mostly because she is one of the players on the Thorns I can best picture wielding a lightsaber (it is probably her haircut), but at the same time I just can’t get around the fact that her name doesn’t really let you sneer properly as you pronounce it.
17. Darth Westphal
16. Darth Rocky
15. Darth Salem
14. Darth Menges
13. Darth Ogle
12. Darth Heath
11. Darth Britt
10. Darth Seiler – Any name ending in an “r” is much easier to imagine Emporer Palpatine growling in warning.
“You will not fail me again, Darth Seiler.”
9. Darth Lussi
8. Darth Weaver
7. Darth Cel
6. Darth Bella – The Sith of the extended Star Wars Universe have a long history of using Latin-ish words as their names. Tyranus, Iratus, Nihilus, and Rictus have all graced the Galaxy far, far away, and Bella, the plural for war in Latin, fits right in with the theme.
Of course, if Bella Bixby had stayed Bella Geist, she would have been an easy contender for the top ranking on this list.
Portland Sueño day-two participants at Providence Park. (Courtesy of MLS)
When Major League Soccer kicked off in the spring of 1996, one of its trademark features was its uniqueness.
In Europe, every league from England to Belarus is steeped in decades, even centuries of tradition. Meanwhile, MLS came into existence as an afterthought in a country with its own distinct sporting culture. To succeed, the league needed to find a way to stand out.
Run-up penalty shootouts; flashy, un-soccer-y team names like the Wizards and the Crew; and an actual playoff competition to crown a league champion. You name it, MLS tried it. So in 2007, when the concept of a reality-television-style competition to find the best young players in the country was pitched to the league, it was naturally given the green light.
That initial concept became Sueño MLS, a competition that lasted exactly a decade with varying degrees of success. The winner of that inaugural 2007 season was Jorge Flores, a young defender from Anaheim, California, who earned a spot in the Chivas USA academy. Today, Flores—nicknamed Sueño after winning the competition—goes by another surname: Villafaña.
In 2016, the competition named Portland, Oregon as one of its three first-round “host” cities for the first and only time. Up to 400 young players were allowed to participate, and six players (five field players and a goalkeeper) were then selected to travel to Los Angeles, California to take part in drill work and compete in scrimmages against local academies during a four-day finals.
Yet, despite its billing as a big-time competition, many of Portland’s finalists learned about Sueño MLS through happenstance. Andres Labate, a 15-year-old from Salem, heard about the event through his Argentinian father who heard an ad for the competition over the radio. 16-year-old Jonathan Reynoso, who lived in Madras, said that he heard about the competition through a friend at the very last minute.
On Sunday, April 16, hundreds of young players from around the region spent a beautiful, sunny afternoon at a Gresham public park in front of experienced evaluators, including Larry Sunderland—then the Portland Timbers Academy and Youth Technical Director, who took part in the competition twice when he worked for Chicago Fire—and Ryan Miller, an academy coach.
According to multiple players, the field in Gresham wasn’t ideal. Faded green with chunks of grass out of place, players claimed that it was difficult to dribble and play precise passes. But even the field couldn’t take away from what Miller called a “soccer-rich environment.” He said what really stood out while watching the scrimmages all day was the excitement among the players and an atmosphere that involved plenty of families hanging around for hours and even picnicking at the park. Labate claimed that the day felt like a scrappy and competitive club tryout, while Reynoso recalls being split into different teams and playing with a lot of different players.
After the first tryout wrapped up, participants were told to expect a phone call later that night, if they advanced. While some players could tell by their performance whether or not they would be invited back, Sunderland and Miller left Reynoso sweating until the last minute.
“I was on my way home and I was thinking that I wasn’t going to go back the next day,” Reynoso said. “It was already eight p.m., nine p.m., but then I got the call.”
Those who received a call that night were invited to Providence Park, where evaluators further trimmed the field to just six finalists, who would represent Portland at the finals in LA. Once again, the tryout consisted mainly of scrimmages—and even involved Timbers forward Dairon Asprilla, who showed up to support the young players.
“There was a lot of pressure,” Reynoso said. “All those people there and it being in an actual stadium. It was fun though.”
Many talented players tried out that week, but there was one clear standout, and everyone knew it: Alan Gaytan. The 15-year-old from Troutdale was athletic, had a great left foot, and quickly impressed evaluators and television crew alike.
“It was pretty clear that of the kids that were there, he stood out,” Sunderland said. “He was dangerous, he could run the ball pretty well, he was good in the one-vs-one. At that Sueño level and that tryout level, he stood out to us.”
Gaytan, who ended up winning the entire competition a few weeks later, excelled at cutting in from the right and curling his shot into the corner of the net. “It was an easy pick,” Sunderland said.
The rest of the selections were not as straightforward. To come up with the other five finalists, evaluators had to scrutinize seemingly minute details.
“It comes down to moments,” Sunderland explained. “It’s easy to find the very top and identify the bottom third. It’s that grey area between the top grouping and the middle grouping. It’s catching the right moments, seeing the right thing, being able to identify potential versus performance. Unfortunately, when you do a tryout like [Sueño MLS], a lot of time you are looking for performance because you do not have enough time to judge potential.”
Added Miller: “Alan was a clear standout in the event because he was an athletic player, he was fast, he was left-footed, he was playing with joy. There weren’t too many questions about him.”
Shortly following the conclusion of the final scrimmage, players were called to the field where Sunderland and Miller officially announced the six finalists. Gaytan, Reynoso, and Labate were called up, along with midfielder Arturo González Vásquez, goalkeeper Antonio Campos, and defender Salvador Pérez. With excited family members in the surrounding stands, many participants called this their favorite moment of the weekend.
“I thought I played well, but I got really tired at the end,” Labate said. “My dad was there and we discussed it. I went down there, and I knew Alan [Gaytan] was going to get picked, but I was not sure about anyone else. It felt amazing to be selected.”
“If I were the director of Sueño, the atmosphere is what I would put my hat on,” Miller said. “That culture and environment that was created, I thought that was really cool.”
When asked about the final selection, Reynoso chuckled. He knew that he would be selected before the official announcement due to being accidentally tipped off on his way back from a water break. The forward admittedly didn’t know what he was seeing at the time other than his name on a computer screen, but he got a good idea as soon as the woman using the laptop quickly shut the screen.
“Once the game finished, I don’t know why, I was just behind everyone,” Reynoso said. “I was looking at the computer and they had the names written down already. So I saw my name on there way before [everyone else].”
Over the course of a decade, 11 separate players have gone on to win the competition. However, not every winner has gone on to find mainstream success in soccer. In 2015, Villafaña went on to win an MLS Cup in Portland and has earned a few international caps for the United States. Gabriel Funes Mori won the competition in 2008 and has since played the role of prolific striker for River Plate, Benfica, and Monterrey. Other winners are still in college, local academies, or are not playing soccer anymore.
“At that time I didn’t see [winning the competition] as pressure, I saw it as an opportunity, which I think is different,” Villafaña admitted. “I imagine every kid’s dream is to be a professional soccer player, and when I won I didn’t see it as pressure, I saw it as an opportunity to be a professional soccer player. That is what my drive was to keep me going. That I had this opportunity that I always wanted.”
Many other players echoed a similar sentiment of how SueñoMLS, as niche a competition as it was, influenced their soccer paths.
Labate, who is committed to playing soccer at Gonzaga University next year, knows that the competition helped him get noticed by the division-one school in the first place.
“Oh, for sure,” Labate said when asked to reflect on the competition’s impact. “Academy level compared to club is a step up, as well as, the connection to college coaches is better. The amount of people who I have gotten into contact with and the connections that I have made were all through the academy and the fact that I played there.”
In an interview back in 2016, Villafaña told MLS.com that “If it wasn’t for the Sueño MLS, I probably would’ve gone to college and I don’t know what would’ve happened. But I’m sure I wasn’t going to be playing professionally.”
Today, Sueño MLS no longer exists. After ten competitions, 2016 was the final run of a soccer reality-television show. And, in its final iteration, the competition gave the country a taste of just what talent can come out of the Pacific Northwest.
“It’s tough because [winning the competition] doesn’t mean that you made it,” Villafaña said when asked about the primary lesson he took away from a competition that helped kick-start his career. “It means that you’re just starting. It’s like every other guy that wants to become a first-team player.
“Once you are in the academy, it doesn’t mean that you have made it. It means that you have an opportunity to become a professional soccer player, so you have to see it as an opportunity, because there are a lot of kids that want to be there, and not a lot of them have the opportunity.”
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