Tag: mike norris

Categories
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

The End of an Era: Thorns 0, Gotham 1

Photo by Matthew Wolfe.

You can’t give me back what you’ve taken

But you can give me something that’s almost as good

—The Mountain Goats “Getting Into Knives”

Despite finishing second overall in a very close NWSL season, the Portland Thorns had been on a downward trajectory since the World Cup in August. Following a 4-2 win at home against Washington Spirit in July, the Thorns went 4-7-2 in all competitions. Most notably for the high-scoring Thorns, however, is that in their last five games (semi-final included), Portland only scored two goals while allowing eight. There are a host of reasons for why the team never seemed to regain composure after the World Cup break, but they boil down to two things: a roster that isn’t as deep as its best 11 players and a complete absence of tactics. 

After a brutal 1-5 loss to Angel City—which lost the NWSL shield for Portland—the Thorns had to wait three weeks to play their next game. In that time, Hina Sugita went to Uzbekistan, Natalia Kuikka went to Finland, Cristine Sinclair to Canada, and Olivia Moultrie, Sophia Smith, Becky Sauerbrunn, Sam Coffey, and Crystal Dunn went across the United States. That’s the majority of the Thorns’ starting XI across the entire season gone during the preparation for their single most important game, without considering the extra minutes on legs and time zone changes that went along with international duty. For players like Smith, the break was a chance to build back up game minutes, but for players like Moultrie and Coffey, who either did not see the field or played limited minutes, it was more of an extended training away from the Thorns. That wasn’t ideal for a player as crucial as Coffey for a team that had been leaking goals left and right. 

The international break also factored into the XI eleven for the semifinal game against New Jersey/New York Gotham FC. The two outfield changes from the Angel City game were Kuikka and Hina, who were replaced by Reyna Reyes and Rocky Rodríguez, respectively. Hina has probably been the Thorns’ most consistent player all season behind Sam Coffey, and being able to bring her off the bench is an asset; perhaps if she had started the game as she had the last time the Thorns faced Gotham, the game could have been wrapped up in 90 minutes. Reyes, on the other hand, played her way into the starting XI—and deservedly so—but perhaps starting Kuikka and Reyes against the fast front line of Gotham would have been more effective. 

The biggest change of the night, however, was Shelby Hogan’s selection over Bella Bixby. In probably the boldest move of his tenure, head coach Mike Norris gave Hogan her second regular season start in the team’s biggest game. He said postgame that the change was performance-based, which is a valid assessment of Bixby’s recent form. As much as I love and appreciate Bella Bixby’s personality and vulnerability as a player, I think getting benched in such a crucial moment is what she needs in order to reset herself. None of that takes away the fact that Hogan is an excellent keeper, the lone goal she let in was borderline-unstoppable for any keeper, and she is capable of being a first-choice keeper. Hogan ended the night with two saves, but she was not very busy over the course of the 120 minutes. 

Statistically, the game was a stalemate. The Thorns ended with 0.62 xG and 11 total shots to Gotham’s 0.50 xG and 13 total shots. Gotham had 20 fouls (four yellow cards) while the Thorns had 18 (one yellow). Both teams had four corners. On paper, there was little separation between the two sides. The game was won and lost on the sidelines, with coaching, and with the bench. 

Over the course of those 120 minutes, Norris only made two impactful subs: Hina and Kuikka at the 60th minute for Rodríguez and Meghan Klingenberg. Smith, whose longest stretch of minutes since she got injured in August was 45 minutes for the USWNT, played the entire game, despite looking visibly fatigued and not as effective as she could have been. Morgan Weaver, who had tape around her left knee, also looked as though she was nursing an injury, as her speed, finesse, and power were absent along the left flank. Dunn has been dealing with an ankle injury for many weeks now, as well. 

The Thorns are consistently talked about as having one of the deepest rosters in the NWSL, but a more accurate statement is that their best 11 players are among the best in the league, if not world. The drop off in quality once these eleven are subbed off or injured is quite noticeable. For example, in the 116’ Hannah Betfort, Christine Sinclair, and Michele Vasconcelos came on for Weaver, Moultrie, and Dunn. Sinclair aside, Vasconcelos and Betfort have seen sporadic minutes over the course of the season to varying levels of productivity. While they are decent players—and could really shine at a mid-table team—there is a vast canyon between them and Weaver and Smith, who they typically come on for. By not having any serious game changers available off the bench, Norris had his hands tied when his game plan was not working and he had no good options to try something new. 

While it is important that the core of the championship winning team (i.e. the same players that both former head coach Rhian Wilkinson and Norris used in their XIs) came back for the 2023 season, there was no recruitment outside of the college draft to try and bolster the depth of the team and challenge these top players for starting spots. Once Janine Beckie, one of the better additions over the past two years, went down with an ACL tear in preseason and no signing was made to replace her, the writing was on the wall that there was going to be little to no investment into the team this year. Reyes is probably the best addition to the team, as seen by her nod on Sunday. But other than her, the new recruits hardly featured. Izzy D’Aquilla got minutes at the beginning of the season, but her time waned significantly as it became clear she was having a hard time adjusting to NWSL play from college. Adriana Leon, a weird fluke of a loan most likely to help her build minutes for Canada before the World Cup, barely saw the field, and Rikke Seveke has not made a gameday roster since her signing. It’s hard to attract top talent to Portland when an impending sale has been looming over the club for nearly a year, the team is led by an inexperienced head coach, and the squad plays and practices solely on turf. Ultimately, the lack of competition for roster spots among players cost the Thorns the chance to challenge for the title again, because there was no adequate depth when players went down with injury or hit a run of bad form. 

It’s anyone’s guess as to when the Instagram post goes up saying that the Thorns wish Norris all the best and “thank him for his contributions as head coach,” but it is inevitable. From his announcement, where everyone was “Excited to get the season started 🙂 #RoseEmoji,” it was clear that the organization was in a holding pattern for the 2023 season. Postgame, Sauerbrunn said that the sale was expected to clear by the end of the year, and until that time, there probably won’t be anymore movement within the squad. However, waiting for the sale to be officially processed and to hire a new head coach leaves very little time to talk to free agents and prospective international players and convince them to join the new and improved Thorns. Until that happens, Portland is not going to be seen as a top soccer destination, which will seriously threaten their chances of building the squad depth that they need to win consistently next season. 

I feel as though every week I talk about Norris’ lack of tactics, so I won’t bear repeating myself again. For a first-time head coach, he relied on his star players, and for the most part that worked out well for him. I think with more experience, he could be decent. But the Thorns aren’t the team to learn to be great with; you already need to be great in order to get the job. I can only ask that the next head coach is able to actively switch tactics and game plans when something isn’t working instead of continuing to force a square peg into a round hole. 

It’s been a frustrating year to cover the Thorns, not due in any part to the players on the team. It’s been frustrating to see the players in press conferences take responsibility for bad tactics and leadership when in reality they’ve had little guidance. It’s been frustrating to watch the investment, marketing, and adequate training grounds flatline for a team that has set standards in the NWSL since 2013. And, of course, it’s been frustrating to watch Sam Coffey sit on the sidelines of so many USWNT games. I can only hope that this holding pattern that the team has been in since 2021 is over soon, that they can get an owner who puts their money where their mouth is, invests in the team, and attracts top players and coaches from across the world. Women’s soccer is exploding globally, and I fear that this offseason is crucial to make sure that the Thorns don’t fall behind even further. 

But, it’s also been a great year to cover the Thorns. Hannah Betfort had a breakout year, Reyna Reyes showed that she’s the future of the Thorns’ defense, Sophia Smith remained in God Mode, and Sam Coffey is such an incredible leader. Whatever happens over the offseason, the players that composed the roster these past two years are special.  

“The people in this locker room will never be the same after this year,” Sauerbrunn said postgame, “and we need to appreciate every single moment that we have together.” I think she’s right, and I hope that we have shown that we do appreciate the players, even when their organization repeatedly lets them down. 

There’s gonna come a day when you’ll feel better

You’ll rise up free and easy on that day

And float from branch to branch, lighter than the air

Just when that day is coming, who can say? Who can say?

— The Mountain Goats “Up The Wolves”

Categories
Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Racing Louisville 2, Portland Thorns 1

Photo by Matthew Wolfe.

Down Sophia Smith and on the second match of a two-game road trip, the Portland Thorns took on Racing Louisville on Saturday. Portland has yet to take points from two back-to-back road games this season, and they weren’t able to break that streak in Kentucky; after leaving with a draw against the Washington Spirit the weekend before, the Thorns fell 2-1 to Racing in a match that didn’t feel like Portland’s best work—even without Smith.

So, where did the Thorns go wrong?

Set pieces, for one. They’ve been one of Portland’s weaker points all season, and Racing took advantage. Both of Louisville’s goals—an Abby Erceg header and a brilliant strike from Thembi Kgatlana—came off corner kicks.

But that wasn’t the only thing Portland struggled with.

“We’re probably our own worst enemy,” defender Meghan Klingenberg said after the game. “We gave the ball away in spots that we don’t usually give the ball away in, and that led to some counterattacks and transitions that were difficult to defend because we were in a big shape. I think that typically doesn’t happen to this team.”

The first six minutes

Make no mistake: Racing was ready for this one. They came out with an aggressive press in midfield, showing organized marking and pressure when the Thorns had the ball and a commitment to pick off passes, go forward, and turn any chance they had into a shot.

“Credit to Louisville,” Thorns goalkeeper Bella Bixby said. “Their tactic was to be high-pressing and have all their numbers around the ball, and they did that well.”

The Thorns, for their part, were caught on the back foot and were rather lucky (more on that soon) to get out of those opening minutes without conceding a goal.

Perhaps just as impressive was Morgan Weaver, who won the ball off Louisville goalkeeper Katie Lund, took the ball to the left, and sent her shot into the back of the net in the sixth minute. It was a very Weaver goal: making something out of nothing, and—even if it wasn’t in the dying moments of a game—scoring for Portland at a time they really needed it. (In my game notes, I described the goal as, “Morgan Weaver doing Morgan Weaver things.”)

Even if Weaver scoring didn’t allow Portland to shift into the commanding attack we’re used to seeing them Thorns, it at least settled the game down and opened up chances for both sides.

Luck and Bella Bixby

As alluded to above, the Thorns were lucky to go into the half 1-0. Racing finished the match with 26 shots to Portland’s 15—a stat that normally favors the Thorns—putting nine of them on target to the Thorns’ four. They ended the game with 1.8 xG, with many of their best chances coming before Weaver’s goal in the first half:

That the Thorns didn’t concede early—and that Louisville wasn’t able to get on the scoresheet until Erceg broke through in the 60th minute—was largely due to two factors: luck and a stellar performance from Bixby.

In many of those opening chances, Racing struggled to direct their shots on frame, giving the Thorns a lucky break.

But Louisville did direct quite a few of those on target, calling on Bixby to make seven saves on the night. (Prior to Racing, she’d made an average of three and a half saves per game in regular season competition.)

“I definitely think it was one of my busier games in terms of goal-defending,” Bixby said. “I find myself in games, oftentimes, most busy with defending the box in terms of crosses.”

It wasn’t only that Bixby was busy in goal; even with the two goals against, she did well to defend her net. “A really big performance from her,” Portland head coach Mike Norris said. “She kept the [Thorns] in the game far longer than we probably should have been.”

Especially with a shaky—by her standards—middle of the 2023 season, it’s nice to see Bixby finding her form and giving Portland a fighting chance when they were on the back foot, even if they didn’t go on to win.

Formation or fatigue?

“They played a good game,” Klingenberg said of Louisville, “and I think their transition was pretty lethal. But I think we played right into it. We shot ourselves in our own foot.”

It’s not the first time Portland’s come up against that kind of pressure, Klingenberg said. And she’s right: the Thorns have had a target on their backs since the first time they stepped on the field as the reigning NWSL champions and beat the Orlando Pride 4-0 in their opener. And they’ve found ways to win despite that.

For some reason, though, Portland just wasn’t good enough in this one.

We can probably chalk some of it up to fatigue: the Thorns haven’t been home since before their matchup against the Spirit, and being on the road for that long can weigh on you.

“If we were more crisp, if we connected passes, if we skipped over top of their press, then we could have gotten past it,” Klingenberg said, and I think we can attribute at least some of that lack of sharpness to Portland’s road stint.

But I also wonder how much of it is up to tactics and the Thorns’ formation. As Jaiden wrote last week, it’s important for Norris to play to the strengths of the forwards he has available. In this case, that’s Weaver and Hannah Betfort. Weaver, obviously, got her goal, and Betfort got a couple chances off and showed well in her off-the-ball pressure, but I don’t think the Thorns were feeding the ball into either of them nearly enough.

I think some of that could’ve been helped by formation—maybe by pushing Olivia Moultrie more centrally into the space of Hina Sugita and asking Moultrie to open up space while Sugita takes on defenders on the wing.

I think a lot of that could’ve been helped by letting Crystal Dunn play before the 61st minute—maybe in the place of Moultrie and slipping Sugita into that wider position—and letting her open up space going forward. Even in her half hour on the field, Dunn tied Betfort and Weaver for first on the team in shots and was fourth in expected goals—despite playing significantly fewer minutes than everyone in front of her.

Tactics or tiredness, Portland has a chance to rest and regroup after this one. They have two weeks between Louisville and their next match against OL Reign, where they’ll take on a Seattle side that’s won only one of their last five matches but has a lot to play for with Megan Rapinoe appearing in her last Cascadia Rivalry game in Providence Park.

Categories
NWSL Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: OL Reign 0, Thorns 0

Photo by Matthew Wolfe.

The Northwest Derby turned another chapter Sunday as the Portland Thorns—who were already eliminated from contention in the Challenge Cup—took on OL Reign up in the Emerald City. It was a battle of defenses, resulting in a 0-0 draw that left Thorns fans breathing a sigh of relief.

Heading into the match, it would be understandable to expect head coach Mike Norris to throw in the towel on a match like this, rest all starters, and just get some minutes for the deeper bench. It would also be understandable for someone to look at the schedule and Portland’s recent results and say, “This is a team desperate for a win; we need to start whoever is available.” 

In the end, the Thorns split the difference, starting Shelby Hogan and Izzy D’Aquila in place of Bella Bixby and Morgan Weaver. A veteran-heavy backline left Reyna Reyes, who’s shown significant growth in form this season watching from the sidelines, as Meaghan Nally came in as a defensive sub for Emily Menges late in the second half. 

Watching this match as a fan of the team would not have been easy, I will concede that.

Fortunately, I was able to don my “media” cap for this one and set my emotions aside as I watched OL Reign dominate on the attacking action on pitch. The Thorns struggled to get into the attacking third in the first half, as their passes continued to get picked off through the midfield. Without Weaver in the starting lineup, the team lacked the burst-speed to get behind the backline and play over the top, as well. With the exception of a few half-chances, the Thorns never looked particularly dangerous offensively in this match, and with Weaver only seeing roughly 15 minutes, including stoppage, the chances just never materialized. Fortunately, the Thorns defense and Hogan played a solid match, keeping the score 0-0 and giving Hogan a well-deserved shutout. Given Challenge Cup stakes for either team, to escape Seattle with a point is a victory for Portland and a disappointment for OL. That is always something Riveters can hang their hat on.

Planning ahead

All-in-all, I got the message: We want to be competitive, but we want to get our depth players some minutes before the international players return as well. Players need match minutes to develop. 

I recognize that many may disagree. Players come to play, and they always (or should always) give 100%. I won’t ever imply that players take games off, but sports psychology is a finicky field. Playing in front of a crowd, the adrenaline of competing against another team, and the ability to match the intensity, skill, and focus of an experienced opponent whose goal is to pulverize you, is not easily replicated in practice. Additionally, some teams perform better when their backs are against a wall; must-win games can bring out another level in a team and their players. But why does this matter though when we are getting several of our international stars back within the next couple weeks? (Editor’s note: I’m still mad that Japan isn’t advancing past the quarterfinals, but it’s nice that all our World Cup players should be on their way back to Portland in the near future.)

It is hard for me to criticize USWNT head coach Vlatko Andonovski for his lack of rotation of the during World Cup, only to turn around and also criticize Norris for giving minutes to rotational players instead of regular starters—especially in a Challenge Cup match that wouldn’t realistically change our standings in either the league or the Challenge Cup race. 

That doesn’t mean this was a meaningless match. You always want to field a competitive team, especially in a derby, if for nothing else than for team psyche and routine. However, the chance for players like D’Aquila and Taylor Porter to get extended minutes is an opportunity the Thorns hope will pay dividends in late September and early October. With the Challenge Cup now a mid-season tournament, players are playing far more minutes each week than they are accustomed to. International players have had to add their duties to their country, and the resulting additional travel, on top of these extra games when they are with their club. It’s a lot of minutes on the body. 

As the season winds down, teams are looking to make a push for playoff positioning. The intensity is going to rise, and the minutes will be harder and more physical, players’ bodies are going to take longer to recover, and the fear of injuries will intensify. As the season goes on, having these rotational players ready to plug in will be extremely important. Developing their game mentality and their physical abilities to compete at the NWSL level will be a risk that should see benefits throughout the remainder of this season—and hopefully into the playoffs.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul

It is a unique perspective to watch a match from the press box, one you don’t get on camera or from the stands. As I watched OL continue to drop ball after ball over the Thorns’ outside backs, as Kelli Hubly and Menges did their best to rotate and take away angles, I realized how much the midfield still needs tweaking on the defensive end. 

Having attacking outside backs like Meghan Klingenberg and Natalia Kuikka leaves the defense in a constant state of transition. It felt, for much of this match, that the midfield needed to support the backline by getting back defensively. Too many times the Regin’s counterattack left the Thorns scrambling. 

This didn’t seem like a practical skill issue as much as a situational awareness issue. 

Players appeared to be clambering to put out fires they hadn’t anticipated. 

The Thorns have a midfield of players who excel at maintaining possession with the ball at their feet, but outside of Sam Coffey, it seemed the Reign defense was too often picking off the ball, resulting in Seattle counterattacks. When that happened, it became a mad dash to stop the bleeding. And fortunately, the Thorns had the skill and physical attributes to do so. 

Going back to my previous takeaway, this is something that can be practiced in training, but is a skill that takes match minutes to really become proficient at. It’s a mental preparation of visualizing possible outcomes, including the movement of opposing players positioned around the pitch, and how to respond. Veteran players have experienced nearly every outcome, have learned from their mistakes, and tend to be able to react with lower levels of stress and put themselves in less vulnerable positions. This is one reason why getting those minutes to rotational players in matches like this, will be better for the team down the road. 

That said, practicing visualization outside of matches will have practical applications for mental preparedness during in-match scenarios. Similar mental preparation tactics are deployed across occupations that face high-stress and volatile situations, such as emergency responders. In the moment, our brains don’t recognize the difference between, “Oh no, this is a life threatening situation,” and, “Oh no, I made a mistake that may give up a goal.” We all lack the ability to differentiate the value of those when our brains kick in the cortisol, but mental preparation helps us preemptively adjust in relation to changing conditions such as defensive positioning. 

With outside defenders moving so far up the pitch into the attack, the midfield needs to prepare themselves better mentally to react on the defensive end.

There’s speed, and then there’s speed

In case anyone was wondering, Sophia Smith, Hina Sugita, Weaver, Rocky Rodríguez, and Crystal Dunn are really, really fast. Their presence has the ability to change the offensive look of this team. The Thorns struggled to drive the offense past the Reign’s defensive midfield through the feet of Coffey. Hannah Betfort is a fast player, and can outrun much of the team in a baseline-to-baseline sprint, but the aforementioned players would win handily in a sprint from baseline to the top of the keeper box. Tziarra King had this for OL, which is another reason they were able to play over the top so easily against Portland. Without that quick burst of speed, the Thorns lacked the ability to play over the top, and struggled to get footholds offensively. OL Reign were able to dedicate their defensive resources to keeping play near the centerline of the pitch and to disrupting passing lanes. 

None of this is an indictment of the talent or skill of Betfort or D’Aquila. The Thorns don’t lack for talent, but the talent needs to be complimentary within the system, and the system didn’t adjust to fit Betfort and D’Aquilla. They’re just currently not the type of forwards who create the extra foot of separation needed to put a defense on their heels and cause chaos for an opponent’s backline, like Smith and Weaver are. 

There are ways for them to develop positioning tactics, like we’ve seen from Christine Sinclair or Lindsey Horan, that would make them more effective and impactful in the roles they play.

But the main takeaway is that without the dual speed of Smith and Weaver, or Weaver and Hina Sugita, the Thorns just aren’t getting behind enemy lines and become largely one-dimensional offensively. This has become glaringly obvious in the team’s recent run of play. Hopefully, the change of roles for D’Aquila and Betfort upon the return of Portland’s World Cup players allows them to be more effective within their minutes—and allows the team to be more effective at supporting their skill sets.

What next?

The World Cup misfortunes of Canada, Costa Rica, USWNT, and now Japan will hopefully breathe life back into a stagnant Thorns offense in the coming weeks. With the return of Rodríguez, Smith, and Dunn, the Thorns will get injections of speed and energy (not to mention the reigning NWSL MVP, who is statistically on pace to be in contention to repeat the title). One of my favorite aspects of Sinclair this year has been her defensive tenacity on turnovers between the goal and centerline, often getting the ball back before it can be played forward, if not disrupting the play and slowing the counter. The Thorns still sit comfortably in second place in the NWSL standings, with a majority of the NWSL matches during the World Cup being of the Challenge Cup variety, and not impacting league standings. 

They return home on Sunday, Aug. 20 for a match against the North Carolina Courage. Whether or not international players will be available for that match remains to be released, but an eventual return is inevitable, and tentatively on the horizon for some. In the meantime, the Thorns will continue to watch the film and grow from these opportunities. 

Categories
NWSL Soccer Thorns

On Mindset and Motherhood

Photo by Kris Lattimore.
To view this content, you must be a member of the Rose City Review Patreon
Unlock with Patreon
Already a qualifying Patreon member? Refresh to access this content.
Categories
Soccer Thorns

Takeaways: Thorns 2, Racing 0

Photo by Matthew Wolfe.

The Portland Thorns claimed sole possession of the top of the NWSL table with their 2-0 win over Racing Louisville on Saturday evening. All time against Louisville the Thorns are 5-0-0, scoring 12 goals and conceding just one. While the scoreline may suggest a dominant performance over Louisville, the game itself left fans nervous that the Thorns would concede a goal late—not closing out the game with the professionalism and deftness the team normally shows. 

Photo by Matthew Wolfe

The largest reason the Thorns nearly threatened their dominant 2-0 first half lead was due to the sheer number of minutes that this roster has played recently. Portland was coming off of a stretch of three games in eight days that fell right on the end of an international break. Natalia Kuikka, Christine Sinclair, Adriana Leon, Hina Sugita, and Rocky Rodríguez played international matches in Europe, while Crystal Dunn, Becky Sauerbrunn, and Sophia Smith played in the United States. 

Photo by Matthew Wolfe

Here are the minutes that each player played for their country during the week of April 6:

Kuikka: 180’ vs Slovakia

Sugita: 77’ vs. Portugal, 3’ vs Denmark

Rodríguez: 90’ vs Poland, 90’ vs Scotland

Sinclair: 63’ vs France

Leon: 76’ vs France

Dunn: 67’ vs Ireland

Smith: 135’ vs Ireland

Sauerbrunn: 120’ vs Ireland

Six of these eight players already seemed to be heavily favored in head coach Mike Norris’ preferred starting lineup (Leon, the new arrival, and Rodríguez, who consistently comes in around the 60’ mark in the midfield notwithstanding). 

Photo by Matthew Wolfe

Norris’ starting XI against Houston on April 14 featured nine of 11 players that started against Louisville on April 22. This would not be much of a concern, if five of the players did not also start against San Diego midweek. 

Here are the minutes that the starting XI against Lousiville played during the three game stretch: 

Bella Bixby: 180’

Meaghan Klingenberg: 180’

Becky Sauerbrunn: 148’

Kelli Hubly: 270’

Reyna Reyes: 158’

Sam Coffey: 180’

Crystal Dunn: 137’

Morgan Weaver: 202’

Christine Sinclair: 158’

Hina Sugita: 174’

Sophia Smith: 197’

Compounded with the minutes that these core players played during the international break, many were averaging over 300 minutes in a two-week time span. 

Photo by Matthew Wolfe

I bring all this up because the Thorns lost the game against Louisville in a clinical sense. Racing did not play a midweek game, and many of their players did not get minutes internationally during the break either. The miles on players legs showed from the initial whistle, and it was both mental and physical fatigue that prevented the Thorns from closing out the game in a clinical sense. Every touch seemed a little heavy, and their passes seemed inches off or hit too hard, allowing Racing’s players to read and intercept them. Despite outshooting Racing 20-12, the Thorns did not outplay Louisville by any means. 

Photo by Matthew Wolfe

While, like Norris commented on postgame, the Thorns “did not have  a complete performance [and] were just a bit off in moments,” they still were able to persevere and that is a testament to the professionalism of the individual players. 

However, across the highest levels of professional women’s soccer, it seems as though long term ACL, hamstring, and calf injuries are plaguing players. The schedule of women’s players have increased to match men’s sides with the introduction of things like midweek Challenge Cup games, but funding and research toward preventative care and the anatomical differences between different genders has not kept pace. The Thorns have already lost one player to a season-ending ACL injury and have yet to name a new head trainer after the firing of Pierre Soubrier. All the positive culture and fun that the Thorns have at trainings and games cannot combat the “big ask coming back from Wednesday, travel Thursday, manage players [Friday] and then put a performance in [Saturday] to get the three points,” in the words of Norris. 

While the players, except Sauerbrunn, who went off around the 60th minute with an ankle injury that was being monitored all week, seemed to have made it through the three game stretch unscathed, a game against Louisville, a team the Thorns have a comprehensive history of victory against, would have been a good chance to give some of the players who typically come off the bench an opportunity to get regular season minutes. 

Photo by Matthew Wolfe