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.
There was a tweet today, from a certain talking head/professional troll in the soccer space, about how we’ve reached the point—four years after Colin Kaepernick lost his job for declaring his life mattered as much as those of his white teammates, four years after US Soccer prohibited its players from publicly standing with him—where athletes find it hard not to kneel for the anthem.
It’s an incredibly inane, annoying take, engineered to provoke outrage, and that’s why I’m not linking to it here. Still, I think it expresses a line of reasoning that appeals to broad segments of white America, and that line of reasoning is worth unpacking.
To get the obvious out of the way: being wrong about this issue, or any human rights issue, is not brave, merely evil.
To dig down a little further: if you were an alien just finding out about human customs, seeing the photo at the top of this article with no further context, you probably would come to the conclusion that human beings kneel on one knee before sporting events, and that not doing so is a breech of custom that takes a certain amount of courage. This is how our species is wired, for the most part; it’s difficult for us to do things other than what people around us are doing.
But that conclusion willfully erases context. These players didn’t all show up to the stadium and put on their Black Lives Matter shirts because they saw everyone else was wearing them; nobody scrambled to take a knee when the anthem started to avoid looking out of place. This was a concerted, intentional effort by players on both teams—across the whole league, even. They had talked about this. They had listened to each other. This was not an easy decision.
Conversations within teams didn’t all start right away. Simone Charley talked to The Equalizer about how hard it was, in the days after George Floyd’s murder, showing up to training and deciding to act like soccer mattered, and seeing how easily that decision came to her white teammates.
In Portland, it took a few days for those conversations to start—prompted by both Black and white players, but in particular, according to Sophia Smith, by AD Franch—and nobody should take for granted that they started at all. They happened because Black women on these teams did the work of talking to their white teammates about experiences those same teammates haven’t always been willing to listen to. This sport is as white as it’s ever been, and many of the players who kneeled today come from backgrounds that haven’t forced them to ever think critically about racism—that have, in fact, actively discouraged it.
So while it’s true there’s been a massive, sudden shift in public opinion over the last month on the acceptability of publicly opposing racism, don’t think for a second that this show of support for Black lives was a foregone conclusion. It wasn’t the brands that brought us here. It was Black players fighting for their lives and finally being heard by their teammates.
Furthermore, there are stark facts here, facts that will be recorded in history: these players took their stance in an empty stadium, but that empty stadium was on broadcast television. As the first American sports league to return to play. That’s the biggest platform women’s club soccer has ever been on.
The players knew what this platform meant. It meant they were opening themselves up to criticism that no doubt would also have been directed at male athletes doing the same thing, but which, no doubt, will be more vicious thanks to their gender. Have things changed since 2016, when Crystal Dunn didn’t kneel because she was afraid—for good reason—USSF might “rip up her contract“? Of course. But you’d have to be an alien to sincerely believe there won’t be backlash.
But this is what can’t get lost in the noise: the players also knew how significant the moment was, and they knew they had to take it, and use it to say something. It’s okay for us to be proud of that.
The danger is in letting this gesture exist as a mere gesture, and in deciding once the tournament is over that we’ve all done enough. It’s great that we’ve finally reached the point in this league where players can express solidarity against racism and police violence without fearing for their jobs. Now it’s on us, at home, to commit to standing with them and doing the actual work of putting an end to those things.
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.
With the NWSL set to become the first American sports league to attempt a restart, the eight teams—minus the Orlando Pride, who, as we learned Monday, will sit out due to multiple positive COVID-19 tests on the team—that will participate in the Challenge Cup released their rosters yesterday.
One thing is certain: between a huge amount of offseason tumult and a stack of last-minute contracts—not to mention yesterday’s announcement that Tobin Heath will not participate—this won’t be a Thorns team we’ve ever seen before. A few of our thoughts on the newly announced roster are below.
Katelyn Best
Let’s just have fun, ok?
The Thorns, presumably, had a plan heading into this season. Amid whispers of a needed culture change, the club sent half the roster packing, snagged two promising young forwards at the draft, and made moves for Becky Sauerbrunn and Rocky Rodríguez. Fill in a few more blanks, and it’s easy to envision a good soccer team materializing—but those blanks never got filled. What we’re left with is pieces to a whole that never got finished.
Things were cast into even more doubt last week with the departure of Ellie Carpenter. With her departure, Sauerbrunn—a legendary but aging, and slowing, center back—starts to look less adequate as the season’s big defensive acquisition. The team has options at right back, but it’s hard to envision any of them filling Carpenter’s shoes on day one against North Carolina.
But here’s the good news: soccer is a game. More good news: this “season” isn’t real. Even more good news: historically, the Thorns have played some of their most fun, memorable games without their veterans. This isn’t the same as a World Cup or an Olympics—Lindsey Horan and Christine Sinclair will be there—but the tight schedule means we’re sure to see more squad rotation than we normally would. The sheer volume of new names on this roster means it’s impossible to guess which players are going to be the Meg Morrises or Simone Charleys of this tournament.
That’s not to mention the proven names new to this Thorns roster; Rodríguez obviously falls into that category, as does, I would argue, Sophia Smith. This group of forwards, in particular, is mostly quite young, and none of them are French, but I’d bet they’re going to be a hell of a lot of fun to watch. Wacky stuff is going to happen in this tournament. Let’s enjoy it, yeah?
Photo by Nikita Taparia
The Lindsey Horan conundrum
I have this theory that’s going to sound ridiculous when I say it, but bear with me: Horan is a problem. More specifically, the role Horan plays for the Thorns is a problem.
In 2016 and 2017, Portland deployed Horan and Amandine Henry in the central midfield as dual No. 8s. Both could play disruptor, both could set plays in motion, and both could make forward runs and score themselves. They would trade off on these duties, one sitting back while the other pushed into the attack, and this worked because Henry is just as good at all those things as Horan.
When Henry left, Mark Parsons wanted to continue using the same system, swapping Andressinha in alongside Horan. This went… less well. Andressinha simply isn’t a strong or physical enough player to fill that role. Since then, a succession of players have been tapped to fill that third midfield slot, including Celeste Boureille, Dagný Brynjarsdóttir, and Gabby Seiler. Boureille, for a moment in 2018, worked well; she doesn’t have Henry or Horan’s creative brilliance, but she proved to be a good disruptor deep in midfield. Seiler, for a still briefer moment in 2019, looked even more promising. But none of them have played as Horan’s double like Henry did—unsurprising, seeing as none of them are in the conversation for being the best central midfielder in the world.
This is the question: is there another player anywhere on earth capable of playing a second No. 8 alongside Horan as effectively as Henry did?
Parsons intends to try again with Rodríguez. On its face at least, this makes a lot more sense than trying to convert Andressinha into a No. 8 did, seeing as Rodríguez has played a box-to-box role in the NWSL, you know, ever, although never in the same system; at Sky Blue, she played alongside Sarah Killion, a much more defensive player than Horan. The question is how well Rodríguez can partner with a player who, at any moment, can show up anywhere on the field.
I’d describe myself as curious, leaning toward optimistic about this. At any rate, I’m excited to see Rodríguez, who I think has been underperforming for a few years, in a new environment. And if it doesn’t turn out? Try her at right back, why not!
Photo by Nikita Taparia
Leo Baudhuin
What the heck is going on with defense?
With all of nine players listed as defenders on this roster, one presumably would not have as many questions about Portland’s back line as I do. With a schedule that has the Thorns playing their opening three games over the course of nine days, rotation is going to happen, and I think it’s going to happen sooner than we expect.
If you look at a back four of Meghan Klingenberg, Emily Menges, Sauerbrunn, and Katherine Reynolds, something comes to the forefront pretty quickly: three of them are over 30 and two of them aren’t particularly fast. (Menges, of course, is the exception in both these statements, and Sauerbrunn isn’t slow, per se, but as Katelyn points out above, she’s definitely past her peak.) And while they’re all very capable players, the quartet leaves something to be desired against a fast, high-pressing North Carolina.
On the other hand, Parsons isn’t exactly known for throwing young players into the line of fire. But if these games don’t really matter, there’s no time like the present to experiment, right? Yeah, there’s still Kelli Hubly and Christen Westphal—and where is Seiler going to play? As the No. 6 in a diamond midfield? Somewhere in defense?—but I personally think it would be very cool if Madison Pogarch got the start on Saturday. And why not give Meaghan Nally and Autumn Smithers some time in this tournament while we’re at it?
Photo by Nikita Taparia
Some good news
Guess what I remembered today? Two-time NWSL Goalkeeper of the Year Adrianna Franch still plays for the Thorns. Not only that, but she won’t be missing games that she could be playing with the Thorns for national team duty.
Given the experimentation we’re going to see with this team, having arguably the best keeper in the league—and undisputedly the one with the best handling—means, worst comes to worst, at least we’ll see some great goalkeeping.
Tyler Nguyen
Young attackers will be in the spotlight
Tobin Heath has chosen to stay at home for this tournament. That is her right as a player, and it’s one that all the players in the NWSL have, as guaranteed by the negotiations between the player’s association and the league. Looking at the state of coronavirus cases in the US and Utah specifically, it’s a perfectly reasonable decision to make, and knowing how much she lives for soccer, it has to be an incredibly painful one.
What it means for the team is that, with the departures of Midge Purce, Hayley Raso, and Caitlin Foord in the offseason, no regular-rotation players from the 2019 forward line will play in the NWSL Challenge Cup. Sure, Christine Sinclair is listed as a forward, but you and I both know that’s not how it works, and in a compressed schedule, it’s even less how it works. Sinclair is simply not going to be running around full tilt for 90 minutes on three day’s rest, as much as I’m sure she wants to.
No, the forward line is going to a rotation of players who, while extremely talented, haven’t proven themselves as starters in the NWSL yet. This is going to be an attacking bullpen with no hierarchy and no secure starting places. Expectations are high for some of the talent on hand, but there’s quite a bit of depth, so the team can afford to take some risks if things need to be shifted around.
Heath has such gravity in the team and is so important that when she’s in the team they will almost always play in a very specific way, with Heath one of the three up front drifting inside. No one plays exactly how she does, so without her, Parsons has experimented with back threes, relying on wingbacks for depth. But with Carpenter’s departure, the team has only one proven attacking option from deep in Klingenberg.
So where is the attack going to come from? Sophia Smith and Morgan Weaver, the Thorns’ first-round draft picks, were both wide players who specialized in cutting inside and shooting in college. The Thorns could, in theory, play only them up top and load up another player in midfield to get more creation there. That would mean leaving Simone Charley and Tyler Lussi out of lineups though, and both are high-energy players whose styles of play, in totally different ways, can completely throw defenses off guard. Charley’s ability with the ball at her feet on the break, and Lussi’s combination of strength and shooting mastery will both likely prove useful up against different defenses. Marissa Everett showed off a knack for poaching shots in her limited minutes last year, impressing the team enough to earn a contract this year, and Anika Rodriguez, yet another undrafted player the Thorns picked up this offseason, flashed some creative passing playing alongside Ashley Sanchez at UCLA. The depth probably doesn’t even end there. Parsons loves throwing young defenders into the fray as attackers: this is where Pogarch got her first minutes for the club, so the new defenders could absolutely see some minutes there. The possibilities seem endless. It’s now on these young players to make the most of their opportunities.
If you’re scratching your head at yesterday’s news that the Thorns have transferred Ellie Carpenter to Olympique Lyonnais, you’re not alone. Carpenter was one of the best outside backs in the league, famously matching up well in one-on-one situations against world-class offensive players like Megan Rapinoe. She also had something you can’t teach, something the rest of Portland’s back line—especially with Emily Sonnett having been swapped out for the 35-year-old Becky Sauerbrunn—is largely lacking: speed.
That’s of special concern when we look at the first matchup on the schedule in Utah: the North Carolina fucking Courage.
If starting the Challenge Cup against the back-to-back shield and championship winners wasn’t tough enough, the tournament format may make matters even harder. The Thorns tend to start slow and improve throughout the season; they don’t have time for that in Utah. They have to figure out how to win right away, and with an unproven offense, defense will be key. So who will shore up Portland’s back line in Carpenter’s absence? Let’s get into the Xs and Os and take a look at a few ways this defense could line up.
Gabby Seiler
Gabby Seiler seems as likely an option as any at right back. She’s been stymied by major injuries twice now, once before she’d reported to the team as a rookie, and then last year when she tore her ACL, but in the minutes she has gotten, she’s shown she can play at just about any defensive position. I’d argue she’s best employed as a No. 6, but with Parsons saying he wants to line Rocky Rodríguez up alongside Lindsey Horan as dual No. 8s, there isn’t room for her in a three-woman midfield. Seiler may not be as fast as Carpenter, but she had a 66.9% success rate in duels last season, better than Carpenter’s 42.9%, and she has both the physicality and the brains to stand up to the league’s toughest players.
Madison Pogarch
Madison Pogarch only played a handful of minutes in 2019, so she’s something of an unknown quantity. I do know the coaching staff is high on her, and that she’s fast and hard-working. I also remember watching her in preseason in 2019 and thinking, “wow!” Since that tournament wasn’t streamed, I have no way of confirming that memory. I’d say she’s a solid back-up option for Seiler.
Don’t Defend
Back in 2014, Paul Riley’s Thorns team team had a certain mystical quality where they were simultaneously good and bad, and also neither, at any time. This was a team that could beat the eventual champions 7–1 one week and then lose to Boston the next. It was high-concept soccer, where the concept was that it doesn’t matter how many goals you concede as long as you score one more than that.
Riley has grown as a coach since then. He still plays an extremely attacking style, but North Carolina’s defense has also been the stingiest in the league the past two seasons. So here’s my idea: since the Courage offense is all but unstoppable, why bother trying? Instead, Parsons could take a page from Riley’s own playbook and focus all the energy on breaking down that defense and scoring more goals than the opposition. That could look something like this:
The 1-1-3-6
The strength of this lineup starts with its front line of Sophia Smith, Tyler Lussi, Simone Charley, Morgan Weaver, Meghan Klingenberg, and Marissa Everett. All four strikers are fast; some are also technical and/or physical. Kling will play in her normal role, minus the defending part. Everett is an unproven quantity, but any other player on the roster runs the risk of being too defensive in that position. Tobin Heath, Rodríguez, Christine Sinclair, and Lindsey Horan will all both feed the forward line and make overlapping runs themselves.
Emily Menges is the goalkeeper, but will be tasked with covering the whole defensive half of the field as well as she can—as well as scoring, if possible. Let’s win this thing 15–14.
Human Pyramid
The spiritual opposite of the “don’t defend” strategy is the human pyramid. I’ve looked, and as far as I can tell there’s no rule against this.
I’m not envisioning a true human pyramid, but here’s the concept: build a wall on the goal line, then have the remaining players sit on the shoulders of the players in the wall. Where’s the ball going to go?
AD Franch can play in front of the player stack. Every time she catches the ball, she wastes as much time as possible, then kicks it as far away as she can. The concept here, obviously, is to play for a 0–0 draw, but it’s not hard to imagine the Courage getting so sick of this that at some point, the shoulder-sitters, with their fully rested legs, can rush the other goal and sneak one in.
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.
The Portland Timbers and Thorns are getting closer to playing real soccer games, and you have questions.
First off—and most importantly—as we’ve echoed through writing, Twitter, and TheRosette, soccer is just a game. Now is the time to be paying attention and educating yourself on this vital moment in our country’s history.
However, soccer does still exist, and as the weeks go by, we are inching closer to the return of the sport in North America. The NWSL Challenge Cup will kick things off in late June, followed by the resumption of Major League Soccer in July.
In this week’s Q&A feature, we answered questions ranging from our thoughts on the restart to our all-time favorite PTFC post. This article highlights some of the questions that were asked. If you are interested, the complete conversation can be found in our Discord, available to Patreon subscribers at the $5 and $10 levels. Subscribing also gives you the opportunity to participate in future Q&As. Without further ado, let’s get to it!
Some questions and answers have been edited for clarity.
The way the Portland Thorns ended their 2019 season was disappointing to everyone involved. With only one win and one goal in their final six games—and that nightmarish 6–0 loss to the North Carolina Courage—it was clear that the offseason would bring a number of changes.
“Short tournament [or] long season, our identity—especially after last year, where I think our identity had become very gray—our identity is our highest priority,” Thorns head coach Mark Parsons told media this week. “Because we think that leads to high performance, and we believe high performance leads to success.”
The player movement was as drastic as foreshadowed. Portland waived Ana-Maria Crnogorčević, and Dagný Brynjarsdóttir returned to Iceland. Emily Sonnett ventured southeast to the Orlando Pride. Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso were lost to the Australian exodus from the NWSL. (Technically, Foord was also traded to the Pride, but the end result was the same.) Andressinha was finally freed—unfortunately, not from the bench, but from Portland. Midge Purce was sent to Sky Blue, Elizabeth Ball to Utah.
Then there were those brought into the team. Raquel Rodríguez and Becky Sauerbrunn came in via trade. At this year’s draft, the Thorns claimed first and second overall picks Sophia Smith and Morgan Weaver, as well as Meaghan Nally and Christen Westphal—the latter through a trade with then-Reign FC.
But where does that leave us? Without the likes of Ball, Purce, and Raso, for one thing—all players who had grown into key roles in their time with the club. And while—for the most part—the individual moves make sense on paper, the overall trend means most Thorns players are very young or nearing the end of their careers, with few individuals in between. The notable exception is the midfield, although questions remain about how exactly a partnership between Rodríguez and Lindsey Horan will work, and Gabby Seiler and Angela Salem are both working their way back from ACL tears.
With that in mind, it’s worth noting that the core of the Thorns is still very much intact, Sonnett excluded. Assuming everyone makes the trek to Utah, Adrianna Franch will still be in goal; Emily Menges will help anchor the backline; Horan, Tobin Heath, and Christine Sinclair are still key players in Portland’s attack.
But three of those players are over 30, as are Sauerbrunn and a handful of others. And while they’re all still effective on the field, they’ll likely be playing closely managed minutes—especially given the NWSL Challenge Cup’s compacted schedule.
Parsons addressed the challenges of training for a tournament in which his squad will be playing two games on short rest in the preliminary round alone—a number that will only grow as Portland advances through the Cup. “It’s not about getting every single player prepared and ready to play every single 90 minutes throughout this tournament,” he explained. “It’s not possible, it’s not going to be safe.”
In a sport where defensive consistency is key, it will be interesting to see how lineup rotation plays out across Portland’s backline—especially given that the majority of expected starters fall into the aforementioned age binary. Sauerbrunn, though still a solid player, has shown signs of slowing down, Meghan Klingenberg is now 31, and Katherine Reynolds—likely the first player off the bench in Ball’s absence—is 32.
On the other hand, there’s Ellie Carpenter, who has years of international experience, but also turned 20 just over a month ago. Seiler can also jump into defense if needed. Behind them, there’s a handful of players that are either coming off a 2019 season in which they barely played, or are new to the league altogether. (Although many of the former have looked solid in the time they have gotten, it remains to be seen how that translates as they begin to play more substantial minutes.)
“Every player knows they’re all going to be needed,” said Parsons. And while he’s done a phenomenal job in the player development department these past few years, that often entails gradually building game time—a luxury not afforded by the Challenge Cup schedule.
Portland’s youth is especially evident across its attacking line, with Smith, Weaver, and potentially a couple non-roster invitees joining the already-young group of Simone Charley, Marissa Everett, and Tyler Lussi. Based on the club’s preseason roster, the only real exception to this pattern is Christine Sinclair, although if the Thorns use their regular formation we’ll see Heath up there, too.
Regardless, there’s no way a 37-year-old Sinclair will play a significant role in every match, and all three of the players who stepped in as a No. 10 last year have since departed the team. That leaves a lot of Portland’s attack up to a handful of relatively inexperienced—though admittedly talented—individuals.
The other thing? The Thorns don’t get a preseason tournament this year. Parsons described that his communication with new players has catered to the lack of time to experiment. He explained the importance of establishing identity and expectations, clarifying where he sees a player helping the club, and that he wants the player to be “[themselves] in the rest of the areas.”
However, the lack of preseason opponents still presents questions for a team that likes to use that time allow players to showcase their strengths and test out prospective depth pieces.
“These players need minutes… to develop,” acknowledged Parsons. While the Thorns aren’t necessarily able to provide that time in preseason matches, Portland’s coaching staff has compensated with full-sided scrimmages.
Parsons remains optimistic about his group’s talent. Although preparation time is more limited, that a significant portion of the roster hasn’t played all that much in the NWSL means another thing: the Thorns will be harder to scout. “It’s an advantage that we know [our young players] and others don’t,” said Parsons, “and obviously we have a tournament [where] they’re gonna have to step up and step in. I’m confident that this experience is going to be a hugely positive one for them.”
However it shakes out, it’s pretty clear that that first match against North Carolina is going to be something—and that something will almost definitely sloppy and leave us with more questions than answers.
But despite the uncertainty, one thing is clear: what we see from the young players who are called to step into bigger roles during this tournament will be our first look at what this team can become.
As the NWSL gears up to meet in Utah for the 2020 Challenge Cup, Katelyn Best chats with Thorns defender and NWSL Players Association Treasurer Emily Menges. The NWSLPA was closely involved in the decision to restart, winning guaranteed contracts for players regardless of whether they participate or not. They touch on her offseason playing in the demonstration AFC international club competition for the Melbourne Victory and what classic works of American literature she’s been plowing her way through in quarantine.
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