Category: Thorns

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NWSL Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Kansas City Current 3, Portland Thorns 1

Photo by Kelsey Baker.

The Portland Thorns started their season on the wrong foot when they lost 3-1 to Kansas City Current last Saturday. It was an expected result, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

A new season has begun and with it a new reality for the Thorns. Gone is the mighty team that was feared by other clubs, gone is the experienced roster, and gone is Portland as one of the top spots in the world for players.

Of course, this piece is not meant to be a depressing one, but if you watched the club play in this 2025 season, you know what I’m talking about.

So, despite the loss, how did the Thorns do? Let’s see.

The backline

After Becky Sauerbrunn retired and Kelli Hubly went to Bay FC in the offseason, Portland’s backline ended up with a serious lack of experience.

Coach Rob Gale chose Reyna Reyes, Jayden Perry, Isabella Obaze, and Kaitlyn Torpey as the four-back for the debut against the Current. We have to remember that Obaze didn’t have the best of seasons last year, and Reyes wasn’t that impressive either. Nonetheless, Portland plans to rely heavily on them this season.

It was great to see Reyes stepping up big for the Thorns on Saturday. She recovered many balls, and since the team was playing mostly on the left side, the Mexican had to stay sharp. She did.

If we talk about the the less experienced defender on the field, it was a difficult game for Perry. It was expected, though. Imagine you’re a rookie and your first match as a professional soccer player is against one of the top teams in the league, and you’re tasked with marking 2024 Golden Boot and MVP Temwa Chawinga—a forward that if you blink, you’ll miss. What is more, Perry had to perform in a very new backline that is just getting acquainted with one another.

Nonetheless, and despite that, Perry did well in some departments as you can in the table below.

Defensive stats by the back four. Source: Opta

The Thorns got the short end of the stick in their opener. And that’s the thing: Facing KC in your first game of the season without the firepower Portland had last year, with a very new backline, and on the road was a recipe for disaster.

When it comes to defending against tricky players such as Chawinga or Debinha, you have to be tricky as well. On the first goal the home team scores, maybe it would’ve been good to make Chawinga fall into an offside trap, but to do that Portland’s entire backline needed to be on the same page.  That wasn’t the case in Saturday’s match and maybe won’t be for some time.

It would’ve been great to have Sam Hiatt available, since she has been around in the league for some time now. and she knows the drill. “Sam had a knee injury at the end of last year and a long RTP [return to play],” Gale said after the match. “We haven’t got her up to 90 minutes yet, as we just had to build that back. The medical and performance department has done a really good job in getting her close to being able to go 60 minutes.”

With Hiatt not ready to play, we can expect the coach to keep using the four defenders he used against Kansas City for the next few games. Hopefully, they will get more acquainted with one another and improve little by little.

We have the ball… Now what?

Portland tried to, in true Portland fashion, build from the back. The problem is that the team doesn’t currently have the personnel to do so.

Below we can see an image that was repeated over and over again on Saturday. Mackenzie Arnold passed the ball to the center-backs, and they moved it between them while Sam Coffey approached to help. Kansas City put a line of players high enough to prevent them from passing the ball to the middle.

The Current’s plan worked, and as a result, the Thorns’ backline was disconnected from the middle, which resulted in the center-backs sending long, aerial balls to the midfielders. After losing those aerial duels, Portland lost possession.

Credit: NWSL

The Current had many tools to make Portland pay for losing the ball so easily. Speed, individual brilliance, and scoring prowess are just some of them, and all of them were on display during the three goals the home team scored on the Thorns. Of course, the visitors didn’t make the task that hard.

Kansas City’s first goal was the result of a bad defensive effort. Their second was the result of individual brilliance, and the third a combination of both factors. Debinha’s class shined through in that third goal, but Portland’s entire defense was also hypnotized by the ball and didn’t mark her. As a result, she pushed the ball—which Obaze then couldn’t clear on time—against the back of the net.

Credit: NWSL
Olivia Moultrie

In brightest day, in blackest night, Olivia Moultrie will always show up. The youngest player on the roster is playing her fifth season with Portland, and she’s not even 20-years-old. How cool is that?

It’s really amazing to see her as one of the “veterans” and and as someone who has so many responsibilities in the team. Of course, it’s not ideal, but seeing Moultrie take on those responsibilities with no hesitation shows her maturity as a player. The first game of the season showed her strong mentality on the field; even though she contributed with a goal for Portland—the Thorns’ only one—she also missed another.

However, Moultrie had enough guts to step up on the penalty spot against a mighty opponent at a pivotal point of the match. If she had scored, the Thorns would have been back in the game. Yes, she missed. Some surely asked why Coffey didn’t take it. But Moultrie was also qualified to do so. Moreover, the penalty was also a learning opportunity and part of her journey as a player.

“I’ve grown as a player,” she said after the match. “I’ve grown as a person as I’ve been on this team. These things are a natural evolution for me. And it’s just like, how can I help my team? How can I do whatever I need to do for us to win games?

On Saturday, one of the few positive things we witnessed was that growth Moultrie referred to. She will keep showing up for Portland because that’s the kind of player she is. Age has never been a problem for her. Since day one, she was ready to take on the mantle of being the youngest player in the league, and she has always been up to the challenge.

That attitude and leadership will be key for the Thorns this season. Hopefully, her teammates will observe that and follow her example.

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Soccer Thorns

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. 

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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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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. 

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Soccer Thorns

Losing and Learning

Photo by Matthew Wolfe.

Four games into 2024, the Portland Thorns sit at last place in the NWSL and are one of two teams in the league yet to record a win this year. Their most recent result: a 0-2 loss to the rival North Carolina Courage.

I was at a loss about what to write about that game until Tuesday; give or take some scorelines and player quotes, it feels about the same as pretty much every Thorns game this year. The team is obviously talented but isn’t playing at the level we know they can and let points slip due to defensive errors. Against North Carolina, Portland simply lost to a team that played better soccer, and I have no idea how much of that we should be attributing to players coming in and out of the team due to international breaks, how much of it was due to players still figuring out how to be on the same page as one another this early in the season, and how much of it we can pin on poor coaching.

Unsurprisingly, the last of those does seem to be a factor. Three days after the Courage loss, the Thorns announced an internal reorganization of the club, with now-former head coach Mike Norris named the new technical director and assistant coach Rob Gale serving as the team’s interim head coach.

“Thorns FC have set the standard for excellence in the league,” Thorns general manager Karina LeBlanc says in the club’s release. “These changes will help us maximize our strengths as we continuously pursue championship-level success.”

As LeBlanc alludes to, Portland prides themselves on being a model of excellence in American professional women’s soccer. Of course, that hasn’t always been the case off the field (a certain abusive former head coach and general manager come to mind). But their on-pitch success—capped off by a league-leading three championship titles—speaks for itself.

When a team with the reputation of Portland is on a winless streak, something eventually has to give. “Not a lot—if any—of the players on this roster have been in this position,” Norris said after the Courage loss. And that position—sitting on one point for games into the regular season after a disappointing end to last year—demanded change from the Thorns organization. In this case, the change was appointing Gale to an interim head coaching position.

I think the move was a good one; Norris spent over a season at Portland’s helm and, while he seems to genuinely care about the team, has struggled to deliver the kind of results the Thorns expect. Despite that, I think he has something to bring to a player development role, and I’m glad Portland was able to transition him into a position that allows him to play more to his strengths within the club. Obviously, the issue isn’t fully resolved until the Thorns name someone as their next head coach, but the club’s willingness to take action in moving toward a better fit for the role is a good start.

“What I find encouraging is that people are frustrated and people are pissed off that we’re not doing well and we care,” Becky Sauerbrunn said after the North Carolina game. That combination of frustration and caring is a catalyst for change.

The Thorns have shown that they’re ready to take that first step as an organization by opening up the search for a head coach that can better fit the team’s needs. And hopefully that shift—and the players’ hunger to be better—can help this team start to click in the right ways.

Categories
NWSL Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Portland Thorns 0, NJ/NY Gotham 1

Photo by Kris Lattimore.

There’s no disputing that 2024 is a new era for the Portland Thorns. The club is under new ownership, majorly switched up their backline, have partnered with lesbian icon FLETCHER, and, on Sunday, lost their first ever home opener to reigning NWSL champions NJ/NY Gotham FC.

If one of those seems like it’s not like the others, it’s because it’s not: the Thorns are on something of an unprecedented losing streak, having failed to take a point out of their last four matches (unfortunately, a club record) across all competitions going back to last season.

Record aside, Sunday’s match looked to be a marked improvement on Portland’s season-opening 5-4 defeat in Kansas City. The Thorns looked more locked in, were making a collective effort to win balls (even if they struggled then use that possession to build out of pressure), and were ultimately denied from the scoreboard by two offside calls on two highlight-worthy Sophia Smith goals and a handful of brilliant saves from Gotham’s backline and goalkeeper Cassie Miller.

“I don’t think I could have asked for any more in terms of trying to win the game,” Thorns head coach Mike Norris said. “I’m not sure we could have done more without coming away with one or three points.”

The defense thing

Naturally, when a team concedes five goals in a game—as the Thorns did against the Kansas City Current last week—their defense is going to be something of a focus in the next one.

It also wasn’t shocking to see the changes Norris opted to make in Portland’s backline, with Becky Sauerbrunn replacing Isabella Obaze and Reyna Reyes stepping in for Nicole Payne in the Thorns starting XI. (Sauerbrunn and Reyes had both been limited in their minutes the week prior, as both were returning from national team duty and reintegrating with their club team.) And the changes, to Norris’ credit, left the team looking noticeably more settled in defense.

“This week, we really focused on team defending,” Sauerbrunn said. “When the people in front of you are really putting a shift in, it makes it a lot more obvious and easy for the backline to know where they need to be.”

Not a small portion of that can be credited to Sauerbrunn. Portland had looked to be missing her leadership against the Current—an issue amplified by the team playing a goalkeeper with relatively limited NWSL minutes and three of their four defenders making their league debuts.

“She just oozes confidence in terms of what she gives off and the belief and confidence that she has in other players,” Norris said of Sauerbrunn. And that mindset spreads to the players around her: “When you’ve got somebody with Becky’s experience in the backline, I think the leadership, the communication part, I think it just helps to bring the best out of other people as well.”

Fortunately, that best in others came out, with the Thorns showing a commitment to win one-on-one battles—not just in defense, but across the field—that had been missing last game.

“Eyes are on the backline,” Sam Coffey said, “but it starts with our No. 9, it starts with our frontline […] just making sure we are being our most front-footed, aggressive selves all over the field, and I think we did a much better job of that tonight.”

Photo by Kelsey Baker.
Did things just not go Portland’s way?

The thing is: Gotham definitely got lucky with Smith being offside on both her disallowed goals. The other thing is: Portland’s attack wasn’t nearly as fluid as we know it can be.

The Thorns did generate a fair number of chances—15 shots for 1.24 expected goals to Gotham’s nine shots and 0.72 expected goals—and were unlucky with the Smith offside calls and a couple shots that sailed just wide, but they also bypassed building possession through working through the midfield, a method that has traditionally helped Portland maintain control of a game’s tempo and find their moments to break down their opposition’s defense. Instead, the Thorns tried to use their width to move the ball up the flanks. It’s a decision that’s not unfounded given the skill of Reyes, Marie Müller, Morgan Weaver, and Janine Beckie, but Portland thrives on being a team that can hurt their opponent in so many ways, and confining their attack to the flanks limits those options.

And it’s not that the Thorns didn’t look good in the moments they attacked through the midfield: Jesse Fleming sent a beautiful through ball to Smith toward the end of the first half, and Hina Sugita added a new energy to Portland’s offense when she subbed on for Fleming in the 78th minute.

“She came on, she had an impact,” Norris said of Hina, “and that’s all you can ask from anybody coming off the bench.”

Hina’s presence on the field added another wrinkle to the Thorns going forward, and her connection with Smith added a fluidity that was lacking from portions of Portland’s attacking game.

I know it’s early in the year, and Norris is still figuring out his starting lineup for the season, but I’m honestly surprised to see a player of her skill sitting on Portland’s bench for the first 75 minutes of the game—especially in a match that could have used her flare.

When do we start asking about Norris?

We’re two weeks into the season, and Portland is the only team to lose their first two games and sits in last place. (The San Diego Wave could match that opening run, but they’ve only played one regular season match this year.) The Thorns, as mentioned above, have also lost their first ever home opener and are on their longest losing streak across all competitions in club history.

I think a number of factors are responsible for that—new ownership and offseason defensive upheaval among them—but I also think we have to start asking questions about Norris if the results continue.

Fortunately, we’re not there quite yet; Norris seems like a coach who has the respect of his players, and he has time to turn things around.

I’m sorry, I don’t really know Dune, but the people seemed to like this Tweet

Categories
NWSL Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: KC Current 5, Portland Thorns 4

Photo by Kris Lattimore

When the Portland Thorns lost Emily Menges, Crystal Dunn, Rocky Rodríguez, and Natalia Kuikka during the offseason, there were plenty of jokes that the Thorns were going to win every game 4-3 in 2024. In 2023, the Thorns allowed the third most goals in the NWSL, behind only the floundering Chicago Red Stars and Kansas City Current. Despite that, they still ended with the best goal differential amongst all teams, establishing the precedent for a high-scoring front line and leaky defense. Add the fact that the Thorns started three brand-new-to-the-NWSL defenders on Saturday’s opening game against Kansas City, and the 5-4 scoreline was to be expected. 

Putting the goals aside, when rewatching the game with a clearer mind and less emotions, there isn’t reason to pull the panic alarm on the Thorns’ season—yet. In an effort to be less of a pessimist this season, here are some positives to take away from the Thorns’ 2024 season debut:

1. The didn’t roll over and die after conceding early and in quick succession

I’m sure we all remember the horrific 5-1 loss to Angel City to close out the 2023 season and watch the shield slip from the Thorns’ grasp. While the Thorns now hold the cursed record of being the first team to allow five goals in back-to-back regular season games, the two performances couldn’t be more different. The worrying trend last season was that once the Thorns went behind, it would lead to the opposition scoring again, rather than the Thorns fighting back to end on top. Although they didn’t manage to complete their comeback against Kansas City to salvage a point, they did manage to come back from being 1-5 down to end the game 4-5.  

The individual efforts of Janine Beckie and Sophia Smith can’t be discounted in the comeback. Both players scored braces and led by example, quickly grabbing the ball out of the net and pushing the Current to restart quickly. It is this type of attitude that I want to continue over the course of the season. Postgame, both Beckie and Thorns head coach Mike Norris talked about the team’s halftime changes, with Beckie saying that there are a lot of “what ifs” in a game, and that they needed to keep going “one goal at a time”—exactly what the team did.  

2. Janine Beckie did the impossible: came from from a long-term ACL injury better than she was before

Beckie returned to the field 366 days after her initial ACL injury at Providence Park (we were still in the beginning of preseason this time last year!), and now she has the unique distinction of being more in-form than she was before the injury. While it may be premature to predict her play for the rest of the season based on 45 minutes of game time, Beckie looked the sharpest player on the field. Her two goals were outstanding, and showed a marked improvement on her accuracy and finesse. Assuming she will only grow stronger and more fit over the next several months, she will become a real threat. In the 2022 season, Beckie played 19 games and only recorded two assists. She has already exponentially increased her output. 

3. Plenty of time for the team to gel; this is going to be the longest regular season yet

With only three preseason games, one open to the public and two behind closed doors, the Thorns had very little time to play together in a game-like environment. Add the fact that six players were gone for a month at the Women’s Gold Cup, and makes sense why it looked like the Thorns had never met one another in the first half of play. Postgame, Norris said he is slowly working on reintegrating the players that had been absent for the majority of preseason, and the balance of including these Gold Cup players and those who weren’t on international duty was off. The biggest coaching fumble came on the decision of who to start on the back line. Kelli Hubly was the only returning player, and has historically been more of a follower than a leader, often being paired as second to Menges or Becky Sauerbrunn. She had a big ask on Saturday to lead the line, and unfortunately she did not pass the test. Alongside her was Isabella Obaze, Marie Müeller, and Nicole Payne, all of whom made their NWSL debuts. Of the debutantes, Obaze impressed me most, collecting an assist and completing 41 of 43 passes. Her long balls and passes into the final third were enticing, and with more time to train with Sauerbruun, she could become a formidable center back. 

The largest omission to the starting back line was Reyna Reyes. She is coming off a very strong rookie campaign, where she moved into a starting role over club legend Meghan Klingenberg, and has a commanding presence on the field. Alongside brand-new players, Reyes could have helped to anchor and guide the team from the back. Despite being at the Gold Cup with Mexico, Reyes’ familiarity with Noris’ tactics and game plan would have been a huge asset. She came on in the final 15 minutes and was immediately a difference maker, winning tackles and aerial duels, alongside making four recoveries—rate better than Hubly’s three over the course of the entire ninety minutes. 

With 26 regular season games, there is more wiggle room for dropped points, and dropping them early is okay, so long as we see continued growth over the course of the season. If the Thorns are still looking this disjointed next month, then alarm bells can be raised. 

4. New goalkeeper coach—can he teach the Thorns’ goalkeeper union how to improve their distribution? 

Nadine Angerer stepped away from the coaching staff in the offseason, and the Thorns brought in Australian Jordan Franken in her stead. He formerly coached the Australian Women U-23 and U-20 teams, as well as Melbourne City in the A-League. Having only been in Portland since the beginning of March, it’s fair to say that he hasn’t had much time to work with any of Portland’s keepers. However, the best keeper of the weekend, Lysianne Proulx for Bay FC, who made a whopping eight saves in her league debut, credits Franken as “instrumental in her development.” If Proulx is a marker for the type of style and play that Franken teaches, I am excited to see how much Shelby Hogan et al. can grow under his tutelage. 

To put it bluntly, Hogan did not have a good game on Saturday. With Bella Bixby out pregnant and Lauren Kozal and Kat Asman yet to make their NWSL debuts, Hogan is the defacto Thorns No. 1 for the start of the season. While I haven’t been able to attend training to see how Asman and Kozal are fairing against Hogan, I think it is the right call to play Hogan ahead of them, simply because there is so much change at the back for the Thorns. Hogan’s, albeit minimal, NWSL experience can help settle a nervy defense. In her appearances last season, including the start in the Thorns’ sole playoff game, Hogan’s weakness has always been her distribution. She is a good shot-stopper and a penalty kick god, but she isn’t good with her feet. Against KC, she only completed 13 of 21 passes and 6 of 13 long balls. For a team that wants to build out of the back and through their midfield, a successful buildup needs to start with a quality distribution from the keeper. The Current’s first goal came directly off of a major error by Hogan, who passed the ball straight to Debinha. These types of errors cannot happen by a starting level keeper in the NWSL. 

The other major error that Hogan repeated was hesitating and reacting too late. Poor defense—allowing the Current’s forwards to easily slice through to goal—aside, KC’s second and third goal were the result of Hogan coming out early but stopping around the PK mark, which allowed an open angle for the Current to shoot from. If she is going to come out and be aggressive, she needs to commit to it. Otherwise, she should stay on her line to give herself the best shot at stopping the shot. Maybe it was nerves, but we have seen Hogan be aggressive in the box, and her confidence needs to be brought back up to where it was. 

5. New ownership means we can finally leave the holding pattern that the Thorns have been in since MarPar left

Prior to this most recent offseason, the Thorns had not made a non-Canadian major signing since Hina Sugita in January 2022, which Mark Parsons and Merritt Paulson can take most of the credit for. Around the league, teams have seen an influx of international talent join their rosters, while the Thorns have been looking in from the outside. With the Bhathal family officially owners, the Thorns have begun their new era, and with it comes new recruits. There are still three international spots open on the roster; with the European season wrapping up shortly, I am keeping my eyes open for another elite striker, as well as a seasoned center-back to join the team.