Tag: michele vasconcelos

The Thorns dropped their first points of 2023 campaign Friday night against the Houston Dash—but not without a myriad of close chances to earn the win. Since the Dash joined the NWSL in 2014, the Thorns have had an oddly hard time winning outright against Houston at home in Providence Park. In both 2021 and 2022, the Thorns won away in Texas, and lost at home in Portland, and they have already continued their non-winning streak in the 2023 season. 

Luckily, Crystal Dunn seems to hate the Dash as much as I do; she scored her eighth career goal last night, making the Houston the team she has scored on the most in the NWSL. 

Statistically, the Thorns were by far the better team on the night. They had 2.84 expected goals to Houston’s 1.47, which came from 22 shots, almost 500 passes, 133 passes inside the final third, and eight corners. So, how did the Thorns, who are currently sitting on a +7 goal differential after two games, only manage one goal? 

The game was won and lost in the final third. An international break that saw Hina Sugita, Rocky Rodríguez, Christine Sinclair, and Natalia Kuikka all go to Europe for games while Sophia Smith, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Dunn played significant minutes in the U.S. was always going to produce a rocky first game back. Thorns fans got their first glimpse at what the team could look like during the World Cup as Reyna Reyes, Olivia Moultrie, and Michele Vasconcelos got their first starts of the season. 

When a team scores as much as the Thorns do, their defense is usually overlooked. Against the Dash, who have one of the most threatening front-threes in the league, Portland’s defense was able to hold strong and only allow a combined 11 shots from Diana Ordóñez, Maria Sánchez, and Ebony Salmon. Reyes, this year’s fifth overall draft pick, got her first professional start as right back, placing her up against a fellow Mexican international in Sánchez. Reyes grew into the game during her 45 minutes, showing her quick feet and aggressive overlapping runs with Vasconcelos on the right flank. 

Postgame, Kling complimented Reyes, saying that, “she is super tough and gets in there and tackles. She has a lot of potential, and it was nice to see her get some minutes and have some fun.”

Thorns head coach Mike Norris acknowledged Reyes’ role in the allowed Dash goal. “She wants that moment back,” he said, “but she’ll be good moving forward. I think the first 15, 20 minutes, how she started, she started positively, and she looked comfortable in the environment.” 

With more minutes under her belt, Reyes will be hungry to show her talent and redeem herself for the missed interception. 

For me, the player of the match was Kling. She was all over the place, and her link-ups with Morgan Weaver on the left side were incredibly productive at launching Weaver one-on-one against Dash goalkeeper Jane Campbell. If Weaver can increase her shots on target, the partnership will become lethal. Additionally, Kling had 98 touches on the ball—nearly double what the highest Dash player had—seven crosses, and three chances created. She is also a leader, and her postgame analysis was an honest and unbiased reflection of the game.

“There were periods in the game where we lost ourselves a little bit, and when we do that, teams can compete with us,” she said. “I think Houston is a good team. They’re physical, and they’re high pressure. They’re direct, and that’s difficult to combat sometimes when you’re playing on your backfoot. The part that I was really proud of, though, was that the team didn’t stay on the backfoot. We kicked it into gear, got on the front foot again, and started getting after them, getting good chances. And it was a winnable game. We had chances that we could’ve won and put one away in the first half. The thing about us is that we’re never satisfied even when we win; we’re satisfied being unsatisfied. And I think that’s the story of this match.”

While the draw was won on the backline, it was lost in the front line. The majority of substitutions came through the front line, sans Reyes for Kuikka at half, and it was these changes that took the lethal sting out of the game for the Thorns. Olivia Moultrie has a real talent for seeing potential through-balls, but her actual delivery isn’t quite there yet. If she can get her 54% passing accuracy in the final third up, she will be able to fully put Smith, Sugita, and Weaver in on goal. 

Vasconcelos will be Mike Norris’ first choice on the wing to fill in for Hina and Soph when they are gone on international duty, and she had flashes of brightness to show that she deserves a valid shot. However, she only had one shot over 64 minutes, which is not quite good enough for a forward. Both Weaver and Smith are high-volume shooters, which usually results in a goal or two for each of them. This tactic is embedded in the Thorns’ recent playing, which regularly sees the team put up over 20 shots. For Vasconcelos to more regularly get that starting position, she needs to start putting up similar numbers to Sugita or Weaver. 

Like Leo said last week, the way the Thorns play during the World Cup will make or break the rest of the season. With more time, players like Moultrie and Reyes will become crucial to winning points during this period. In the meantime however, the Thorns need to practice on tightening up their passes in the final third. With three games this week, they will have plenty of time to try new techniques and improve their chemistry. 

By the way, the new kits are incredibly sick.