The Thorns extended their unbeaten streak with a hard-fought 1–1 tie against the Orlando Pride yesterday evening, thanks to Simone Charley’s fourth headed goal of the season. The Thorns beat the Pride 2–1 just a few weeks ago, but that was before then-coach Marc Skinner abruptly left for Manchester United. The Pride they played tonight, under interim head coach Becky Burleigh, was more physical and harder to break down, but the Thorns were able to dig deep and find a point on the road.
At the outset, the Thorns appeared tight and disjointed. Despite only two changes to the starting eleven from the previous week—with Natalia Kuikka getting the start over Christen Westphal and Marissa Everett stepping in for an injured Celeste Boureille—the team struggled to find a rhythm in the early minutes. That was a departure from previous games, where they’ve started on the front foot: the Thorns have scored 11 times in the first 15 minutes this season, a league record.
Last night was a different story: defensively, the Thorns trailed in the first half, winning 43% of their duels. And it was the Pride who found the back of the net early with a header from Jodie Taylor in the 13th minute. The Pride’s initial run of momentum came off of a 4-v-1 battle against Sophia Smith at the top of the 18, where Smith was offered no support or options to get the momentum on Portland’s side.
After the break, though, the Thorns turned things around. In the postgame presser, Charley and Meghan Klingenberg both framed that change as a shift to “Thorns Soccer,” which refers to the core principles that the team follows. Basically, the players hold each other accountable, focus on process over results, and play the same way regardless of who’s on the field. This consistency allows for them build momentum through a game, to where they can score with ease and class.
And that’s what happened: Charley, who is absolutely on fire, recorded her fifth goal of the season off a free kick by Klingenberg that looked straight off of the training ground. Although the goal didn’t come until the 78 minute, the Thorns had been building for a goal throughout the second half. They recorded three shots on target (up from just one in the first half) and only allowed the Pride four shots total, which is much more typical of the Thorns’ dominant, offense-focused style.
After the game, the players talked about their first-half struggle in finding a rhythm and acting on what the other team was presenting them with. “Somebody is always going to be open, and we need to find that opportunity,” said Kling after the match. She added that once the Thorns are able to find open spaces in game and make adjustments on the fly, they’ll be “scary good.”
Watching that first-to-second-half shift, it’s clear that the Thorns are more than capable of making necessary tactical adjustments and executing plans, and it’s more of a matter of finding the confidence to adjust on the fly, rather than being too shaken to act without having to wait for a break to discuss what to do.
The Thorns Soccer that Charley and Kling discussed in the post-game conference was also present on an individual level. Parsons cited that nine players were out for this match, but that those absences showed the depth of the team culture, as players went a full 90 and didn’t relent.
With Portland’s five international players still out, many players have gotten more minutes than they did in the first half of the season, but the tactics that they employ don’t change. Angela Salem, who got deservedly high praise from Parsons postgame, had the second-most touches (77) and the most chances created (5), as well as boasting a 78% passing accuracy. She’s a pivotal player in the midfield, acting as the glue to help facilitate movement forward and maintain possession. Against Orlando, Salem was one of the most successful in exploiting the space that the Pride left open and has made an exceptionally strong case to keep her starting spot on the team, as her visions and consistency are emblematic of the Thorns culture that the team has been cultivating all season.
Another player it’s impossible not to talk about is Olivia Moultrie, who recorded her second professional start against the Pride and played 82 minutes, nearly double what she played last week. And although she recorded the second fewest touches with 39, her work ethic on the field to recover, pressure, and infiltrate the open space opens up the field for her teammates. Especially in the second half, Moultrie played end to end, making several tackles back in her own 18-yard box, showing that she has the mental fortitude to play with the Thorns.
As the Thorns head into a busy few weeks, with five games in sixteen days thanks to the Women’s International Champions Cup, it’s crucial that they maintain the momentum they have built during the Olympic period. For this team to succeed, every player has to deeply believe in the “Thorns Soccer” culture that allowed them to get back a point on the road against Orlando.
The Thorns held on for the three points on Sunday in a match featuring Simone Charley’s second regular season goal (!!), 80% fan capacity at Providence Park (!!), and some very warm weather for a late June Portland afternoon.
Here are a couple of my takeaways from the game:
1. A turning point, of sorts
I’ve talked a lot about the Thorns and missed chances this year, and I think this game was (hopefully) a turning point in that regard. It’s not that Portland did an especially good job on capitalizing on their chances—they recorded 20 shots on the afternoon, with only one goal to show for it—and it’s weird to say this match marked a shift right before fiveplayers step away from the team for the Olympics.
Still, I think Mark Parsons said it best when asked about Christine Sinclair’s missed penalty after the match:
“I think the team were excellent because we missed chances. I think we missed three or four chances that we should score. And I thought, in other games that could affect our decisions. OL Reign or Orlando, when we went through that period, a decision starts to get a bit more desperate, and we were starting to force things or take things on early or not play as fluid, as free in our decision making. I thought it was the opposite today.”
It doesn’t hurt that Simone Charley was the one who scored, either—both because she had the most good looks on goal of any player in the first half and because she’ll still be around through Olympic absences.
“For me personally, it was great to be able to get a goal and use that as momentum going into the Olympic break,” Charley said. “I think you got a taste of seeing how deep our team is, so I’m pretty excited for these upcoming weeks.”
2. 2019 flashbacks, anyone?
I hope I’m not the only one who saw Sunday’s lineup and immediately thought of the last time Sinc played as a dual No. 9 for the Thorns—specifically alongside Tobin Heath in Portland’s Very Weird last two games of 2019.
Fortunately, things were different this time around. Parsons said Tyler Lussi, Sophia Smith, and Morgan Weaver were all dealing with small injuries going into the match, and Charley had taken some time off during the international break for personal reasons.
(It was probably less fortunate for Elizabeth Ball—both in terms of her team losing the match and in terms of being on the receiving end of an interesting yellow card for “the offense of handling the ball to stop a promising attack,” according to match officials.)
The final game of the Thorns Extended NWSL Challenge Cup Preseason ended in a scoreless draw. A late Chicago winner last night means that the Thorns will be squaring directly up with the North Carolina Courage in the quarterfinals.
The Thorns haven’t had the most productive tournament in terms of goals, but if we look at these games as a challenge for a rebuilding squad to test themselves against, they’re getting what they came here for. They’ve faced off against the toughest teams in the tournament and are about to go against the best once again.
New look Reign are not pretty, but they’re effective
OL Reign have been a real mystery so far this tournament. They have a different style of play than anyone in the league has ever had. It hasn’t been great to look at, and the Reign didn’t have a single shot through 30 minutes of this game. But the Reign did not need a win today, and Portland did. New Reign coach Farid Benstiti has made it a point for his team to not lose in this tournament, and his team played a specific game to prevent that above all.
Parsons got his forward rotation wrong
The Thorns started with Simone Charley and Morgan Weaver up top, and with Portland very comfortably parked directly in front of the Reign box in the first half, it seemed like kind of a waste.
You see, Simone Charley Ran Track. She’s fast. She’s also a sprinter who usually does not last 90 minutes because of how much she puts into every forward run. Charley was putting up a real fight pressing the Reign backline in the first half. But with the Reign sitting very deep, it felt like a waste. Charley’s best moments are in the open field where she can put defenders on skates, create separation from her defenders, and create. Up against a set defense, however, she and the rest of the team struggled to do more than cross the ball somewhat aimlessly.
As the game opened up in the second half, Charley came off for Tyler Lussi in what was pretty clearly a planned substitution at the 60 minute mark. Unfortunately, the first few actions of the second half were Charley’s best of the game, with her crossing into the center where no one was waiting, only to put the second service over the bar.
There’s obviously no telling how games will go ahead of time. But most people could probably have told you that the game was going to open up the more that it went on. It was a shame not to have her speed on the break as both teams got more frantic. The rotation in the first game against North Carolina, with Lussi and Marissa Everett eating up minutes and pressing the backline only for Weaver and Charley to come on later, may be one we see against the Courage a second time on Friday.
A makeshift backline once again gets the job done
Emily Menges was not available for selection today after showing up as questionable on the injury report. With Becky Sauerbrunn out for the tournament, Meghan Klingenberg was the only locked-in first choice Thorns player in defense going up against a Reign team that looked, on paper, very strong. Bethany Balcer had to depart early, but Jodie Taylor and Sofia Huerta are both highly experienced NWSL attackers. Yes, the Reign played conservatively, but all three forwards are more than capable of making things happen on their own.
And basically nothing happened. The Reign couldn’t put a single shot in for the first 35 minutes, and when they grew into the game in the second half, a defensive setup that could have been shaky ended up looking solid.
Kelli Hubly has now started three games for the Thorns in central defense. One or two mishaps aside, Hubly looked solid, putting in some strong tackles on Reign forward Yuka Momiki to keep the most dangerous Reign player pretty contained. Christen Westphal looks totally comfortable at right back for this team, providing important offense down the flank.
In its second game in the 2020 NWSL Challenge Cup, the Portland Thorns played the Chicago Red Stars to a 0-0 draw.
With both teams playing last Saturday, lineup rotation was no surprise. Only four of the players who started for the Thorns against North Carolina did so again today, while Chicago showcased a completely different starting XI.
1. Chaos is the name of the game
We saw it in yesterday’s 3-3 draw between the Utah Royals and Houston Dash: chaos is fun. Today’s match was less back-and-forth on the scoreboard—and, admittedly, a little less fun because of it—but scrappy play and all-out attacking soccer set a somewhat similar tone throughout the game.
From a very physical midfield battle with few fouls actually called to Autumn Smithers making her NWSL debut at centerback to Morgan Weaver running full-steam at Chicago’s backline, this morning’s match stood in stark contrast with last night’s build-out-of-the-back game between Sky Blue FC and OL Reign.
2. Lots of chances, finishing needs work
The Thorns got a decent number of looks on goal in the opening 20 minutes of the match, especially finding success through Weaver and Simone Charley’s wide runs. Both of Portland’s forwards found a handful of crosses in the first half, trying to find the central run of Lindsey Horan or try their own luck on frame.
Weaver had success putting Chicago’s defense under pressure with her speed, cutting inside, and beating the Red Stars backline to get on the end of through-balls, while Charley was tasked with dropping back more and beating players on the dribble.
Unfortunately, too many of Portland’s chances were directed high or straight at Chicago’s keepers, never really testing Emily Boyd or Cassie Miller.
Making runs out of midfield, Celeste Boureille looked sharper than she has in a while, threading balls ahead to Weaver and earning her own looks on goal. If she had been slightly quicker in taking those shots, that’s yet another potential scoring opportunity for Portland.
3. Christen Westphal is (almost) a solid utility defender
Earning her first start for the Thorns alongside Smithers—a player making her professional debut—and in front of a goalkeeper playing in her second ever NWSL game, Christen Westphal had a lot of defensive responsibility in this match. With two of Portland’s veteran defenders, Becky Sauerbrunn and Katherine Reynolds, sitting out the game with injuries, this game became Westphal’s chance to prove herself as a reliable depth piece.
And, for the most part, she did just that: anchoring the Thorns defensive line, finding a handful of blocks against a similarly-untested Chicago attack, and carrying that performance outside when Emily Menges came in at halftime.
However, as a team that likes to push high with wingbacks, or play out of the center with the distribution of Reynolds (or now-departed Emily Sonnett or Elizabeth Ball), Westphal’s performance left gaps to be desired. Often, she’d get on the end of balls and simply play it out rather than working her way up the field, or she’d push high to win a ball but miss the header.
Granted, Chicago wasn’t giving Portland all that much time with the ball at their feet, and granted, she’s coming off two injury-ridden seasons, but that’s something Parsons will want to see more of as Westphal earns more time in the future.
4. At some point, we’re going to have to play more than 20 minutes without Lindsey Horan
It shouldn’t really come as a surprise that Horan was everywhere in her time on the field. Whether she was making the run to be Portland’s target in the box or dropping back to help out Madison Pogarch or combining with Celeste Boureille in midfield, her presence was clearly felt across the pitch. And yeah, the Thorns didn’t get as much out of her as they would have liked last year, but otherwise that’s been her role throughout her time with the club.
However, we all saw how battered her shin looked after coming off for Raquel Rodríguez in the 69th minute, and at some point or other in this tournament, the Thorns are going to have to play significant time without her and without Christine Sinclair in the No. 10. Rodríguez can fill one of those roles, but not both—she may be good, but she’s only one person. Boureille showed promise stepping in at the No. 8 today, but she’s still a clear step below The Great Horan. With only three days off between this game and the next, we’ll see what Parsons pulls together.
Portland Thorns team in Black Lives Matter warmups. Rob Gray / ISI Photos
The NWSL Challenge Cup has begun, marking the return of live professional sports to the United States.
In a reminder of just how much has been going on in the world outside the NWSL bubble, all the starting players wore Black Lives Matter warm-up shirts and Black Lives Matter armbands throughout the game, and took a knee for the national anthem. Which was played by a saxophonist in a suit, with slicked-back hair, who could not resist getting in some delicious licks at the end of a very smooth rendition of the Star-Spangled banner.
This strange image just about summed up the odd sensations of watching live sports again: the seriousness of the threats against life around the globe—Black life in particular—weighs on us all. We stand in solidarity.
The Thorns played better than expected for a young squad who saw significant departures in the off-season, and it was only a late defensive lapse that cost the Thorns a point in stoppage time. Leaving Lynn Williams unmarked is a very familiar way to lose against North Carolina, but the competitiveness showed by a young team in what was effectively a preseason game was admirable. Simone Charley notched her first goal for the team off a Lindsey Horan header for the only Thorns goal in a 2-1 opening day loss.
1. Raquel Rodríguez is the real deal
The Thorns swapping an iconic defender in Emily Sonnett for the player taken after her in the 2016 College Draft was a huge moment in the off-season. Rodríguez (affectionately called “Rocky”) has been a solid NWSL contributor for years, but did a midfield already stacked with talent really need another attacking player?
Yes, it turns out. Rodríguez was a killer addition in midfield, keeping the team ticking over well, holding the ball up and waiting for support, and even putting in some impressive defensive play. Getting overrun by North Carolina’s four midfielders has been an issue for the Thorns in the past, and Rodríguez’s competitive energy and strength were much-needed additions. It looks like this pairing with Lindsey Horan might work out after all.
2. Bella Bixby is ready for the spotlight
She got thrown directly into the fire against the team that shoots more than any other team in the league, but Milwaukie, Oregon’s own Bella Bixby had an impressive NWSL debut. She got tempted off her line unadvisedly for the Courage’s first goal, but otherwise showed well in her first competitive minutes, getting called upon regularly to defend her near post, nabbing everything she could in the air and holding some real rockets from distance.
AD Franch being a late scratch for the whole tournament was bad news for the team. But this is such a weird tournament, one where the Thorns get to try out stuff they normally wouldn’t. Giving Bixby a chance after two years with the club feels right, and she didn’t disappoint. It’s hard to feel like the future isn’t secure.
3. Parsons has some clever squad management plans
Seeing Tyler Lussi and the newly-signed Marissa Everett in the starting lineup threw a few people for a loop. While both players who have made an impact in their minutes for the club, they seem like they would be further down the depth chart than others. After halftime though, it quickly became clear what the plan was: Morgan Weaver and Simone Charley were double-subbed on for the starting forwards and immediately went to work, with Charley scoring and both looking dangerous the remainder of the game.
Charley has been minutes-limited in her time with the club, even in normal NWSL play. She’s clearly a sprinter who leaves it all on the field, and up against tired defenses, this could be a real game changer. Weaver is still getting used to professional fitness. Especially in the opening stages of this tournament, both can be maximized by holding them in reserve from the start. And with five substitutions now allowed per game, why not? It’s a pretty different approach to soccer than most people think of (where your best players must always start) but it’s worth a shot, and it will be interesting to see if it stays the same through the knockout rounds.
4. Aggressive defense works, except when it doesn’t
The Thorns defense has many qualities. They are not as fast as the North Carolina Courage’s attackers. Therefore, they should sit back as deep as they can, right?
Wrong. Becky Sauerbrunn, playing in her first game in Thorns colors, played her markers incredibly aggressively, coming well upfield to head away from Lynn Williams. Kelli Hubly, starting her first game in a while, looked excellent going to ground to win balls near the edge of North Carolina’s penalty box to unsettle them and prevent them from having an easy time building out of the back. It’s hard to say it didn’t work.
And yet, at the same time, the winning goal was conceded because Sauerbrunn was caught upfield trying to cut out a pass, which left two Courage players unmarked at the back post, when most would probably say that the team should have been trying to protect a point.
There’s no doubting that the Thorns made a real impact on the Courage’s midfield buildup in this game, and it cut down on their shooting opportunities throughout. Looking a little foolish once or twice on the break is normally a trade-off that the team will take. Some one has to step up and be the hero in that kind of situation, and looking at Bixby’s face after she conceded, she clearly felt like it should have been her. Those kinds of decisions will get more automatic for her in the future, but she shouldn’t feel too bad about it: the team made a calculated gamble—one that meant that they would sometimes end up in those situations.
In the wake of the current protest movement around racism and police brutality, I spoke with Thorns forward Simone Charley about her experiences over the last few weeks and beyond. Our conversation has been lightly edited for clarity.
You posted some of your thoughts a couple weeks ago on social media. One thing you wrote was something along the lines of “are you actually ready to do this—are you prepared to feel uncomfortable?”
Yeah. Um. I think just for me especially when I was writing that, and just talking about it, thinking about it, it was just challenging, just because I feel like at least for me that was the first time that I’ve kind of seen everything go full cycle in my lifetime. Like I remember when Black Lives Matter started after Trayvon Martin was killed and you know it gained steam and “popularity,” and all of that, and then it died off. And we’ve seen it happen, police brutality and systemic racism in general, just continue. And so now I feel like it’s the first time I’m seeing the second wave and I feel like I just got some serious déjà vu, which I think is why I’ve been reluctant to be excited and like, happy about it. I think when we talk about racism and stuff, kind of like I put in the post, we’re talking about being uncomfortable. I think it’s a lot of confronting racism within yourself, and I think that can be challenging for people, especially, a lot of times I feel like we think of racism as like, there’s “a racist” and “a not-racist.” I feel like racism is more of a spectrum—how racist are you?—as opposed to whether or not it’s a good apple or a bad apple, and I feel like that’s uncomfortable for people, because racism isn’t limited to being in the KKK. It can be just a simple microaggression on a day-to-day basis.
You also wrote, “faking it or half-trying hurts more than it helps.” Could you talk about that?
Yeah. I think just kind of similar to what I was saying earlier as far as seeing it come full cycle. It’s like, I feel like it almost seemed trendy to post on social media, whether it was Blackout Tuesday, or anything Black Lives Matter. And I feel like that can hurt the movement, because then when you have a whole bunch of people pretending to care, then it can convince people that “oh, you see everyone cares, and everyone’s trying to not be racist,” and think that “oh, see, obviously things are changing, and we’re all on the same page!” when in actuality, that might not be the case. And so, I think that’s why I was saying, don’t fake it if you’re not actually there and you’re not willing to do the work. Because if you’re not willing to do the work, then nothing’s going to change and we’re going to be here again like we are this time and [were] the last time, in the first movement. Or first wave of the movement happened.
What has it been like for you over the past two weeks to continue going to training and worry about soccer and fight for a roster spot?
Definitely been challenging, I would say. I think when everything first happened, that was a hard couple of days for me, just grappling with that. I think seeing the huge contrast between—I feel like the contrast was just very apparent between my life and my teammates’ lives, just because, you know, something like that happens and that impacts me. That impacts my family. I think of my brother; I think of my dad. I think of the cycle I was talking about, and I was just very sad. Whereas I think for a lot of my teammates, obviously it’s sad for them, but it doesn’t affect them the same way. So their lives can just continue. And I think that contrast was very apparent in the beginning. But I would say I’m very proud of my team and how we’ve kind of addressed it now, where we’ve been having the hard conversations about race, and our team and staff are like, listening to podcasts, and having weekly discussions about it, and someone started a book club, and we’re reading So You Want to Talk about Race? And like, willing to have those discussions. So I would definitely say it’s been somewhat of a rollercoaster, where it started off where I just felt very isolated, but I feel like now our team has been doing an amazing job of taking steps towards confronting racism within themselves as well as within the community.
Photo by Matthew Wolfe
Who started those conversations—not naming names, necessarily, but is that something you or your other teammates of color started, or is that was that something your white teammates started?
Yeah, kind of a group of teammates. An intermix, a group of both Black and white teammates did, and kind of like addressed it as a team a few days after everything went down. Which I think that was very important, that it wasn’t just a Black person saying something, but it was Black and white. And then also our staff—staff members reached out shortly after that conversation to just see, okay, what can we do to further support you. So, kind of a group of people.
He talked about this whiplash feeling, where he’s been wanting to talk about these issues with his teammates, with people in his life, and has not been able to do that for so many years, and now all of a sudden it’s like, “oh, now you want to talk about this…” I’m wondering if you share that experience.
Oh, 100%. It’s very interesting. I think just—it’s interesting because I feel like people are open in a way that they haven’t been before, which I think has been interesting—I don’t know how else to word that. I think of like, I’ve had teammates who—one of my teammates from college who reached out to me wanting to discuss race and things like that. And it was just very challenging for her, just confronting it, and it was interesting because in college, me and her had had many conversations about race, but she admitted to me on the phone she just didn’t really believe me, and it just didn’t seem real to her, but like, now it does. And it’s like, it’s a interesting feeling. Obviously I appreciate your willingness to like, understand and be more open, but at the same time it’s like, I’ve been saying this, you know? So it’s interesting.
Soccer in America is a really white sport—I want to ask you in a broad sense what your experiences were like growing up in that system.
Yeah. Um. I think that’s kind of hard to unpack. I just think that growing up, I was always one of the only Black people on the soccer team, and I feel like it’s something, as you get older you notice it more, but I feel like it’s just something I got used to, and it’s just what it was. And so—yeah. I feel like—is there anything in particular you want me to talk about in that experience?
Well, I guess in part, expanding on the last question about being able to talk about race with your teammates—which, I can’t imagine how much harder that would have been as a young person.
I would say, I feel like at least for me, I would want to talk about race, especially growing up when things would happen. Not when I was very young, because I think you don’t really know what’s going on. But I think of, once you get in like, high school, something happens and you’re like, “hmm. I don’t know how I feel about that. But I wouldn’t really talk about race like that, because being one of the only Black people on your team, you don’t want to like, draw attention to your—what am I trying to say? Yeah, I don’t know. I just feel like it was something I didn’t want to bring up. I would just internalize it and I wouldn’t, I would just feel like people wouldn’t understand, so why bring it up? So I just wouldn’t. Because that’s how it always was, it was just the new normal at one point, and it’s only recently that it’s like, wait, that shouldn’t be normal, and that shouldn’t be okay, and we should be able to speak about these things.
Photo by Matthew Wolfe
Portland, also, as we know, is a very white city, and you moved here on your own a couple years ago—
[Laughs] Yeah.
Has the whiteness of this city been challenging for you?
Yeah. It’s definitely interesting. I think when I first moved here, I remember just like, joking with my parents, being like, “there’s really no Black people here? This is crazy!” You can walk down the street, go a whole day, and not see a Black person! Which is like, definitely an adjustment, I would say. Which I also think is super interesting too, because I feel like Portland prides itself on being inclusive and all that, which is awesome, you see like, signs in stores that say, “oh, we accept all religions and sexualities and races,” all of that. But it’s just, I mean it’s just funny, because it’s like, super inclusive, but there’s also not the diversity there to necessarily be inclusive? That’s just a funny thing. But I do think it was challenging for me in the beginning. I think when you don’t see people who look like you and have the same experience as you, especially when it comes to making friends and stuff, I think obviously I appreciate and value my friendships I have with my white friends, but at the same time, I do appreciate having Black friends, because there’s a level of understanding of like, my experience, that my friends that are Black can understand that my white friends don’t understand in the same way. I think that was definitely challenging for me in the beginning.
You broke onto this team in what I have to imagine was a pretty stressful way—by essentially training for free. I don’t want to make assumptions about your socioeconomic situation, but for a person who’s able to have their parents pay for their apartment or something, that situation is a lot easier. There’s an intersection there between class and race—rich white people will find it easier to break into the sport this way than people of color, and people who didn’t grow up with money.
Yeah. I would say I’m blessed and fortunate that my parents were able to help me during that time, but I started working at a gym that was close by. I was living with a host family. Yeah, I was working at a gym and training people on the side and stuff like that, and then in the offseason I was doing a whole bunch of odd jobs—Postmates, I was delivering food, stuff like that. But yeah, I would say I’m blessed in that my parents were able to help me during that time, but I know that that’s definitely not the case for a lot of people, and if that was the case, I don’t know how much—if I would have been able to be here playing, and been able to make it through a whole year of essentially being unemployed.
If you could tell the white soccer establishment anything about what you think needs to change in this sport, what would that be?
I would say expanding the lens of how to evaluate and review Black athletes. Because I feel like especially, at least in my experience in soccer, I feel like a lot of times Black soccer players are put in a box of, oh, we’re athletic, or we’re fast, or powerful, tenacious—things like that. As opposed to, “you’re a very technical player,” or “you have a high soccer IQ.” Things like that. I feel like a lot of times, regardless of how technical or smart you may be, a lot of times Black athletes are put in a box of just being athletic, and that’s what they’re applauded for. I think that we need to expand our thinking and ask ourselves, “why are we just saying they’re athletic? Are they technical? Are you a smart player?” Making sure, yeah, that we’re not limiting players and putting players in a box like that.
Has that been your personal experience, getting put in that “athletic, fast” box?
I think that’s been something I’ve experienced. I think I’ve seen that happen to Black teammates, as well, Black teammates I’ve had.
Is there anything you feel like the media needs to do better in covering race issues within the sport?
I would say just having more conversations about it. Obviously it’s very important as far as like, talking about gender equality and stuff, that’s a huge deal, and pay equity, all of that is super important. I also think race conversations should happen more often as well, because that’s also a very real reality for a lot of players. So I would say it’s more just continuing the conversation, continuing to have conversations like this, so that we can highlight the different experiences that players have, and even talk like, what I was saying earlier about having players be put in a box. I think we can highlight that and people know that. Just being more aware, I think is a thing that could make a big difference.
