The Thorns US internationals played a nailbiting quarterfinal against Japan, going through on the whisker of a Trinity Rodman goal. The Nadeshiko sat in and tried to counter, but while getting looks Japan couldn’t finish, Rodman did, and that was ballgame.
Goman nasai, Nadeshiko. I’ll miss you.
In the other quarters Brazil ousted the hosts, Colombia damn near did the same for the world champions, but a Spain goal in second half injury time took it to penalties and there the poor Colombians crashed and burned.
And oh, Canada…
For the better part of the final hour of regulation and most of the overtime in the quarterfinal the Canadian WNT took it to the Frauenmannschaft. Germany looked the poorer side going into the dying minutes.
But in the most Janine Beckie and Jessie Fleming thing I (and probably any other Thorns fan) can think of, between them and Adriana Leon the three bossed the pitch like bosses…until they got in front of goal.
Then?
Nothing.
Zero, zip, nada. Fleming had no shots, Beckie four, all off-target. Despite outshooting Germany 22-14 and 5-1 on goal…nobody else in Canada colors could finish, either.
So it went to penalties nil-nil, Ann-Katrin Berger saved from Leon and Ashley Lawrence (Beckie, at least, sank her putt..!) and converted against Kailen Sheridan and that was that.
If I was the US squad that German display would fill me with confidence for tomorrow.
Meanwhile the sad act that is the once-proud Queens of the North came to Portland for the final game of the Summer Cup Group of Life.
All four teams were sitting on three points after two games:
Portland had beaten Tijuana then lost to Utah, while
Utah had lost to Seattle then beaten Portland.
None of the group’s fates were in their own hands; all four depended on good results and good luck. Friend of the Rivet Thornando summed up the weird concatenation of events needed to see Portland through:
“NC are on 7 points, and only 4 teams advance – regardless of winning group.
Angel City and KC are already on 6, Gotham are on 5, and Loovull are on 4.
So…
Portland need to win, AND they would need two of the following to occur:
Gotham to lose or lose in a draw
Loovull not to win in regulation
Angel City to lose in regulation
KC to lose in regulation”
tl:dr – We beat the Sad Rain 1-nil to finish tied with Utah on 6 points, but…
…KCC won (9 points), ACFC drew but got the extra point by scoring more penalties (8 points), Gotham won (8 points), and The Damned Courage had already finished on 7 points, so nobody survived from the Group of Life.
I’m kind of conflicted about all this Summer Cupping.
- The Thorns roster was bereft. That the Thorns played a lot of dreary, uninspiring soccer was hardly shocking.
- That, though, exposes how thin the Portland roster is outside of goddamn goalkeepers.
- Particularly at forward. Payton Linnehan scored a pretty goal against Seattle, but Ana Dias looks increasingly hopeless, and Izzy D’Aquila has (among other issues) no left foot. That cupboard looks pretty bare.
- We did seem some different formations. Coach Ken stayed with the 3-4-3 that worked against Tijuana in Utah and got nowhere, so the formations against Seattle flowed from a 3-4-3 to a 4-4-2 to sort-of a 3-5-2. Marie Muller often inverted from LB to a sort-of-six to use her facility in possession.
- Ken got a LOT of love for this. Some commenters went to far as to suggest this tactical cleverness was the direct result of his getting the “interim” tag removed.
- That seems deeply weird. If the problem was him feeling like a “caretaker” for Mike Norris, well…Norris’ work got him canned. Why keep on doing that? And if you DID do that…what reason would your employer have to make your job permanent?
- So my guess is that Gale 1) HAD to try different ideas because his squad was so barren, and 2) had no reason not to; this Cup is pure gravy. Win it? Fine. Get knocked out? Meh.
Will all this Ken Kreativity carry over once the internationals return? I hope so; even at full strength this squad looked no better than fifth or so playing Norrisball.
If Ken can change that? More power to him.
Now the dog days of August begin; no league matches, no more Cup ties. A hot and barren stretch of summer lies before us. So.
I’ll meet you back here at the end of the month.
Until then; onward, Rose City!
- 2024 Final Grades: Goalkeepers - November 20, 2024
- Cornered: Thrice is nice - November 18, 2024
- Thorns FC: At the waning of the year - November 13, 2024
