Tag: NWSL
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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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
On Jan. 12, the Portland Thorns’ coaching staff picked five new college players from the 2024 NWSL Draft. As of right now, three of them—Payton Linnehan, Olivia Wade-Katoa, and Kat Asman—have signed with the club for the 2024 season.
So, let’s get to know this year’s picks a little better and see how they can potentially help the team this season to stay competitive and win some silverware.
Payton Linnehan (forward, 11th overall pick)
Portland’s first-round pick certainly has fans excited to see her in action. This is only logical, since she has not only has played with Thorns midfielder Sam Coffey, but she also helped her school win the Big Ten Tournament Championship in 2019 and 2022.
Linnehan’s certainly fun to watch. The winger is very good at dribbling, with the ability to leave more than one opponent behind or get out of difficult situations when she’s double- or triple-marked.
Her work in tight spaces is great, and she can be unpredictable by fooling the opponent with just one touch. She might not be as fast as a forward like Morgan Weaver, but her dribbling abilities compensate for this. Linnehan has shown that she not only feels comfortable going on the right wing but also through the middle.
The already-existing connection with Coffey, as well as her dribbling abilities makes Linnehan a potential Rookie of the Year in this 2024 NWSL season. Portland has always been able to rely on their Penn State players; let’s hope Linnehan continues that trend.
Olivia Wade-Katoa (midfielder, 23rd overall pick)
Ahead of the draft, the Brigham Young University midfielder appeared on the NWSL Prospect Profiles—and rightly so. Wade-Katoa proved to be a game-changer in her time in college over and over again, notably scoring in BYU’s historic comeback against the University of North Carolina Tar Heels in the 2023 NCAA quarter-finals.
As a midfielder, of course, Wade-Katoa’s position on the field is behind the line of attack. But, interestingly, she always holds her runs, and unless there’s a corner, she stays put in the top of the box.
Her duties as a midfielder for BYU weren’t always to distribute the ball; usually, her work was without the ball. She would stay centrally and wait for her opportunity to arise. Wade-Katoa’s opponents recognized how dangerous she was. As soon as she got the ball on her feet, she would be double- or tripled-marked or would be fouled near the box.
The midfielder doesn’t need many touches or many opportunities to make her shots count, and that’s how she helped BYU to reach an NCAA semifinal last year.
Kelsey Kaufusi (defender, 25th overall pick)
Portland’s first ever draftee from Utah State is also the only defender they selected this year. Kaufusi is an interesting pick. Her natural position in college was right center-back, and she has a variety of qualities that make her an interesting prospect now that Emily Menges is gone.
Although Kaufusi,’s aerial presence is notable, as is her passing range, two other qualities stand out the most. That’s her speed and her passing precision.
Kaufusi can sprint almost 22 yards just under three seconds and 44 yards about five seconds. That feature of her game helped Minnesota many times when school’s defensive shape wasn’t the best in counterattacks.
Kaufusi will remind fans of Menges when it comes to speed, with the former Thorns center-back having saved Portland countless times in that manner.
Kaufusi’s long-passing range precision earned her the nickname “Coast to Coast Kaufusi” from Equal Time Soccer’s Matt Privratsky. And the title suits her perfectly. In this regard, fans will see that she can be likened to a player like Kelli Hubly.
Kat Asman (goalkeeper, 39th overall pick)
Out of all the picks, this was an unexpected one. Knowing Portland already had three goalkeepers, everybody thought there was no need for a fourth. But little did we know that starting goalkeeper Bella Bixby had a surprise for the Thorns’ world—a surprise she announced one day after the draft—which made fans understand why head coach Mike Norris selected a goalkeeper for the club.
Make no mistake: Asman’s a certified wall between the pipes.
The Nittany Lion made herself a name while defending Penn State’s goal. “You’re gonna get absolutely nothing past her,” Penn State said to the Thorns after Asman was picked. “One of the greatest stories of growth and resilience in Penn State history. Portland, congratulations on drafting Katherine Asman, the best goalkeeper in America!”
Being a goalkeeper in the United States—and specifically in the NWSL—is hard because many of them are potential national team material. If there’s a position where there’s a vast number of options for the US, it’s in goal.
What about in Portland? Well, goalkeeper backup Shelby Hogan barely played last season. When she did, she did very well, but those performances still didn’t grant Hogan more significant minutes in the regular. When Norris decided to use her, it was maybe in the most important game of the year: the playoff semifinal. By then, Hogan hadn’t played in seven games, with the Challenge Cup match against OL Reign at the beginning of August being the last one she started in.
Third goalkeeper Lauren Kozal didn’t feature at all in the entire year. She sustained an injury in her knee last July, which made the club search for a temporary replacement.
Without Bixby, the logic points to Hogan getting the starting position this season. But Asman’s rookie status doesn’t entirely rule out her getting some minutes this year, since she will can battle for the backup goalkeeper position against Kozal, whose rookie year was hindered due to that injury.
Can Asman rise to the challenge? She proved her value in her time at Penn State, and her coach, Erica Dambach, has a high opinion of her. “Even as a young keeper, you could see her potential,” she said of Asman. “She’s brave and communicates well.”
Asman is not afraid to wait patiently until she’s game-ready. In college, she decided to redshirt her freshman year, and she saw the field as a redshirt sophomore in just five games. The goalie later said that was one of the best decisions she ever made because it helped her to develop as a person and understand what it really means to play soccer at a Division 1 level for the Nittany Lions and to be part of a family.
According to her coach, it was in Asman’s penultimate season when she realized she could really affect the outcome of a game. Dambach praised Asman’s consistency and steadiness, as well as the big saves she made to help her team win matches.
Asman is no stranger to winning silverware, having won the championship with Penn State in 2022. In the process, she collected individual recognition: she was named Big Ten Soccer All-Tournament and Defensive Player of the Year. Not only did she make history, but helped her team to do so as well.
Now that goalkeeper coach Nadine Angerer is gone from Portland, there’s this fear that the goalkeeper position will not be as good as it used to be. It is comforting to remember that Hogan has spent three years being coached by the German and can therefore pass all that knowledge to Asman. And although Bixby won’t suit up for matches, she is used to coaching young generations and will be sure to pass her knowledge to the younger keepers.
Katie Duong (midfielder, 53rd overall pick)
Given the success of Stanford’s women’s soccer program, it’s kind of impossible not to get excited about the addition of Cardinal Duong to the team.
Duong was a necessary pick. Portland’s midfield is composed mostly of players that have national team duties, and when they’re gone for FIFA windows, the team suffers because of it.
The Stanford graduate is great with quick short passes, which helped her team to get out of pressure and move the ball forward.
Duong is also very good with passing precision, distributing the ball from the midfield to the wingers. She never disengages from the play, which allows her to win rebounds and second balls. She’s not afraid to shoot from outside the box—although her aim could be better.
When it comes to defending, Duong tends to anticipate her rivals to recover the ball. Once she does, she scans the field to see which teammate is available to receive quick pass to start an attack or to make a key pass.
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”
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:
xG Race Plot for @RacingLouFC v. @ThornsFC! #RacingLou #BAONPDX #LOUvPOR #NWSL pic.twitter.com/DvEPFDeET5
— Arielle Dror (@arielle_dror) September 3, 2023
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.
The Portland Thorns played their first game with all five World Cup players back in the squad last weekend against the Washington Spirit in DC. The team was coming off of a much-needed victory where the team set the record as the first NWSL team to receive a first-half red card (awarded to Kelli Hubly) and win the game. Better yet, that game resulted in the Thorns taking three points off the North Carolina Courage, which was probably the biggest win of a game that included some insane ball control from Hannah Betfort for the equalizer and a Sophia Smith game-winner less than a minute into her return to Providence Park.
With momentum on their side, the Thorns travelled to DC to take on Mark Parsons’ title-contending Spirit. More so than most teams in the league, both the Spirit and the Thorns had players that suffered significant World Cup roster-related injustices. Sam Coffey and Ashley Hatch were inexplicable snubs, Crystal Dunn had to play in a non-natural position, Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman were wingers in a system that isolated them and didn’t let them perform to the best of their abilities— the list goes on. With squads filled with players who were looking to prove their talents after a lackluster USWNT performance, tensions were always going to be high, and the match was set to be cagey.
Ultimately, a 1-1 draw was not what the Thorns wanted after dominating 4-2 in the earlier matchup, and the game was less tactically promising than it could have been. Let’s look at why, and how it may affect the Thorns as they head into the final stretch of the season.
The Thorns need to play to Betfort and Weaver’s strengths
The Thorns debuted their new 4-4-2 formation against the Courage and brought it out again in DC. As someone who has advocated for more defensive coverage with such advanced wingbacks all season, I am delighted at the success of a Rocky Rodríguez-Coffey double pivot. It provides much-needed stability for Portland’s backline, which was especially necessary with the Meaghan Nally-Emily Menges backline that Portland started due to Hubly’s red card. The Thorns held the Spirit to 0.62 xG, not including the penalty—very low for a team that has the attacking powers of Rodman, Ashley Sanchez, and Ashley Hatch.
While the new formation allows the Thorns to more effectively carry the ball through the middle of the pitch and have adequate defensive coverage, there was a disconnect between the eight midfielders and defenders and the two forwards. The Thorns only had 10 total shots, four of which were on goal, a shockingly low number for the team who has scored an average of 2.3 goals per game this season. The Thorns also only had 78 passes within the final third for a 53% passing accuracy, matching the eye test that showed the midfielders unable to find the feet of Smith and Morgan Weaver. In fact, the players with the highest number of completed passes throughout the game were the four defenders and Coffey. While it is important to be able to maintain possession in your own half, you need to be able to progress the ball up the field in order to win a game. The Thorns were unable to consistently do that against the Spirit.
The new formation seems to have been created around Smith and Morgan Weaver, who have great chemistry and the ability to change sides and seamlessly float in behind the back line. However, when Smith went down with what we now know is a mild MCL sprain in the end of the first half and the scoreline was still 0-0, the pressure was on for head coach Mike Norris to make some kind of formation or tactical change in order to grind out the win.
Betfort has been coming in for Smith all season and started in Smith’s absence at the World Cup. However, Betfort’s playing style is immensely different to that of Smith’s. Honestly, there is no player in the world who plays at Smith’s level, and it is unfair of Norris to slot Betfort into Smith’s position and ask her to do the same things, like receiving the ball with her back to goal and dribbling through multiple defenders to get a shot off.
Betfort is an out-and-out No. 9. Her ball control has improved immensely over the course of the season, as has her shot selection. However, she does not have the same dribbling control that Smith has (to be fair, no other player in the world does). A 4-3-3 is much better suited to Betfort’s strengths, where she can receive the ball in the box and use her physical strength to shoot it on target. A 4-4-2 where Betfort is up front with Morgan leaves less room for her to get good services into the box, and it’s not fair to expect Betfort to produce in a way that is not playing to her strengths.
Additionally, Weaver traditionally has done very well at tight angles, when she is able to cut in from the left side as opposed to starting centrally. Transitioning back to a 4-3-3, where she and Hina Sugita play out wide up top, will allow both players to cut in and threaten goal—a tactic that has historically worked well for both players.
The Thorns only had seven crosses throughout the entire game, compared to Washington’s 14. I would argue that the Thorns’ only good chance of the night came on Weaver’s goal, and in large part was due to Coffey’s excellent weighted ball behind the backline. Betfort, who played over 45 minutes, only had 17 touches on the ball, meaning that she was essentially boxed out of the game—largely was due to the formation. Reyna Reyes, who played only 15 minutes, had more touches than Betfort. In Smith’s absence the Thorns need to go back to a formation that allows their available forwards to succeed.
Bella’s command of the box is important
Despite failing to block Hatch’s penalty kick in stoppage time, Bella Bixby had a very good game. She had four saves on the night, but her real strength during the game was organizing the defense and being aggressive in the box. This season Bixby has become more aggressive off her line, stepping out to get crosses and long balls to mitigate shots before they even happen. A lot of the play in the NWSL is direct and over-the-top, inviting players to go one-on-one with the keeper. By coming off her line early, Bixby forced the Spirit front line to try a different route to goal, which they struggled with. Meghan Klingenberg and Natalia Kuikka were largely able to shut down Washington’s forwards’ attempts at running down the wings, and if they were able to get a cross off, Bixby was quick to track it down instead of waiting for the second ball.
These abilities are ones that should be valued by the USWNT, so hopefully Bixby gets called into an upcoming camp, as her play this season deserves recognition.
Hina is the GOAT
Honestly, I think Hina was the player I missed most during the World Cup break. Her work rate and ability to stick with the ball is unmatched. I don’t know how she manages to win some of the tackles she does, and her trickery on the ball is so much fun to watch. With Smith likely out until at least the playoff run, I would argue that Hina will be the Thorns’ most important player during the next stretch of games. They will need to utilize her strengths to float around the pitch wherever she pleases. Hina Hive let’s get loud!!
