No more NWSL soccer for over a month? Nooooooo!!! Just international friendlies and regional cups (UEFA, CAF, and OFC in July, CONMEBOL running into early August…). For those of us who hold club >>>>>>>> country it’s a vast footy desert, barefoot-soccer-sunscreen-and-beach-read time…
Whaaa….
For a month and change I’ve got no matches to write up, no soccer to discuss. I watched the USWNT butcher the poor colleens from Eire and…ugh. Trying to analyze that would be like critiquing the techniques of clubbing adorable baby harp seals. Why?
So we’ve got a month to kill.
Is there anything about the Thorns, or about the league, or about the squad, you’d like to discuss?
If so, let me known in the comments! I got nothin’ but time.
One thing I’d like to note here that’s not really “soccer” but does have a bearing on the Thorns…specifically on the owners. It’s in this piece in the Oregonian:
“Less than three weeks before the expected launch of an official brand identity, the franchise, which is supposed to start play in 10 months, is now without its top executive. Multiple sources raised concerns of turbulence with the expansion team getting off the ground, pointing to a lack of connection between ownership and the city of Portland as well as women’s basketball.”
Hmmm. RAJ Sports diving headlong into a sport, a league, and a team, with little or no experience with the sport, the league, or the team? Why does that sound weirdly familiar?
I’ve been steadily resistant to the narrative “The Bhathals don’t care about the Thorns! They just want the WNBA!” and I think this makes the point that the RAJites aren’t exactly killing the WNBA thing, either.
But my concern about these owners is that they appeared to show up here without a competent soccer person. They relied on the former Peregrine hires like Karina LeBlanc and Mike Norris, and look where that got them.
Now I’m starting to wonder…what IS their sports cred? How good are they at this whole “assemble and curate a championship sportsball team” thing?
I dunno, but the news from the hoopsters doesn’t reassure me.
Thoughts?
(And don’t forget – any sort of vacation (read) writing? Example for some deep dives; pressing! Which Thorns are good? Who’s not? Who turns over, who doesn’t? Goals – where do they come from (for example, it seems like the Thorns aren’t good from setpieces. Are they bad, or is this not a good “score-from-setpiece” league?) and how.
Anything you’d like me to do a deep dive into?
In the comments!
Update 6/30: The club waived two players today; Peyton Linnehan and Olivia Wade-Katoa.
OWK wasn’t a shock, really. She’s deeeeep midfield depth in a midfield that already has too many players who do the same things.
Linnehan? I’m a trifle surprised.
First, she’s really the only genuine right winger on the roster right now. Mimi Alidou is supposed to be another, but we haven’t really seen her there. Admittedly, Linnehan has more than a flaw or two in her skillset; outside pace, she seems to lack the sort of “soccer intelligence” that helps players combine with their teammates and figure out the coach’s intent. She shoots a lot, doesn’t convert a lot (but as kielbj notes in the comments at Stumptown, her accuracy is good: “She has the second best SoT% of any player on the team at 46.5%, well ahead of Tordin (30.8), Turner (22%), Castellanos (33.3%), Moultrie (28.5%), and Hina (5.3%)”) but she’s…well, there. Without her I’m not sure who goes out to RW other than someone who shouldn’t, like Moultrie.
Second, she was the last first-round draft pick in Thorns history, and as such completes the 2024 Draft as “epic fail”. But that was in another country and besides, the wench got promoted above her failure point.
The thing is, Linnehan isn’t gone. She’ll be here until the end of the season, and will then need to find a new job, i.e. impress other clubs’ GMs. So we might still see good play from her as such.
The other possibility? This might mean a RW signing. I have no idea who’s available, though, so I don’t know who might be in Agoos’ sights.
Update 7/1: Well, the worriers will be spinning up into overdrive; Sophia Wilson is on the 2026 Free Agent List.
Okay, now, I’m not sure exactly how dire this is.
Wilson’s contract only runs through 2025. She’s got a “player option” for 2026, which I assume means that only she (not the club) can re-sign if she wants for the option year, and this means that she and the club haven’t locked down an agreement for ’26 and beyond.
Could she bolt? Sure! Will she? I don’t think this tells us any more than “she’s keeping her options open” – which is the sensible course for her. There’s a lot of soccer, and time, between now and next April. A lot can change; hell, a lot WILL change, in club form, locker room vibes, league position. Wilson owes it to herself to maximize her reward(s) during her relatively brief playing career, and locking herself here might not be the best way to do that.
For the club, though? Locking her in for another couple or three years IS pretty important. I’m sure they tried, and yet that hasn’t happened.
Make of that what you will.
- Thorns FC: Vacation, got to get away! (Now with more angst!) - June 27, 2025
- Thorns FC: Good Enough for Government Work - June 25, 2025
- Thorns FC: Impressed - June 18, 2025
I know it’s cliche, but a mid season report card for players and coach seems like easy pickens.
I’ll email Jamie from H.R. and see if she has anything for us ( https://rivetingpdx.com/2024/06/04/jamie-from-h-r-part-1/ and https://rivetingpdx.com/2024/06/07/jamie-from-h-r-part-2/ )
I like this team a lot and I hope that Soph, Weaves, Muller and Payne come back in 2026 and of course our little dynamo Hanks is available in 26. I am a Hina stan and I think Coffey has made another quantum leap. I am really impressed with Reyes and Moultrie who have made big improvement. I think the Thorns struck gold with with Tordin. That is ten players that I think should be inked in to this roster. Turner and Perry are on their way to being really good. Goal keeping is more than adequate. I like both Obaze and Hiatt, but I feel like Obaze may want to move on and Hiatt needs to stay in the game more consistently. But yes there is a lot to discuss about the rest.
Well…the problem is that once you’ve clocked fourteen players you’ve pretty much wrapped up the starting XI plus first-choice reserves. What’s left? Pretty much the pure squad players and deep benchers.
By definition those are the ultimate (shrug emoji). Frankly who cares where your second fullback off the bench is Mallie McKenzie or Jane Doe? McKenzie is fine, so is Jane. It’s the ultimate in dixie cup swaps; reuse one, throw it away? Meh.
I’m thinking about how I might do this, but I’ll predict that whatever happens, there won’t be much to discuss about the rest; they just are what they are…
Yeah I suppose. I think the team we could have in 2026 would be a pretty good one and one that would have some flexibility for different opponents. To me the biggest question marks are can Rob Gale competently coach such a talented group, or are they so talented it doesn’t make any difference. I think big questions unanswered now are will Weaver Payne and Muller recover on schedule. When Macario and Carpenter did there knees one was ready in less than a year and Macario took over two years. When will Hanks be back? What will Soph’s post pregnancy recovery be like? Perhaps all of these questions maybe more clear at the end of the year.
One thought about set pieces, Emma Hayes has made that an area of emphasis and it seems to me the USWNT is starting to figure it out. The Thorns have three players that could be good at it, besides Turner. I am thinking Perry, Weaver, and Tordin. Actually Reyes last year had a really pretty header.
Remember that Ken had the full squad for some of 2024 and that made little or no difference. But he’s done better this season. Does that mean he’s learning? I dunno.
Injuries are like boxes of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get until you do. So no idea there, either.
So, in order:
Perry has shown no particular gift for other-than-PK-setpiece goals, so no idea why she’s on this list.
In three seasons Weaver has scored 19 goals. FBRef suggests that of those only one was on a dead ball play. That doesn’t sound like the “corner kick assassin” thing.
None of Tordin’s three goals this season have come off dead ball situations.
The Reyes CK header is listed as in in 2023.
I am going to defend my ideas for set piece targets. You will probably think my reasons are as lame as my choices, but here goes.
Jayden Perry is tall, strong, athletic, brave and confident (the last two might be redundant adjectives in her case).
Weaverscored headers in college and last year had a pretty easy wide open header; but my favorite header was the Franch to Weaver to Soph three touch goal. Weaves header pass to Soph was something sublime beauty that even Sinc or Taylor Flint would have had to appreciate. So she is not a turtle! Plus with tall winger talents like Emma Sears, Riley Tiernan, and Maddie Dahlien in the NWSL, Morgan is going to have to add “set piece monster” to her tool kit, to get another sniff of the National team,
Tordin isn’t tall, only 5’6″ but I don’t think we have scratched the surface of this young woman’s talents.
You are right that header goal by Reyes was in 23. But now I remember why I was so impressed because she was a newbie, non starter and she shouted it’s mine or I have got it; then she put it right in the basket. Reyes now is being praised as one of the best players on the Thorns. I think one of the reasons is her relentless physicality.
I suppose that your list is no more far-fetched as any other, but as this point it assumes facts not in evidence. Set-piece goals are rehearsed plays, and I see no evidence that the Thorns have effectively rehearsed any of these players on corner kicks. It’s not height, courage, or cleverness. It’s all about training, and our corners look undercooked.
You’re definitely right about preparation being the key thing left out of my set piece speculation. It was better under Parsons, but he had Horan/Heaps, so I don’t know how much of that was Heaps. But preparation is certainly more important than height.
Emma Hayes has made it an area of needed improvement and two of the three goals scored against Canada yesterday were scored by two 5’6″ spark plugs.
Wilkinson’s 2022 team scored two set piece goals in the semifinal against SD Wave by two players shorter than 5’6.” In Dunn’s case considerably shorter. Lindsey Wagner predicted the game would be decided by set pieces, but I think she was thinking it would be the Wave that would win, well Taylor Flint, yeah. It turned out both goals were scored when San Diego defenders cleared the corner kicks to a wide open Thorns.
Yeah, corner kicks are complicated and it’s not height, courage, or cleverness that make them happen, sometimes it may not be preparation, it could be luck. However, I am not the first soccer fan to look for the tallest player in the scrum to watch on a corner kick.
Those ’22 semifinal goals were not really “corner kick” goals in what we think of as a “corner kick goal” – a ball served onto a head and nodded down and in, or a thumping volley off the cross in. Both were cleared well out of the initial service, both were wildly-low-percentage golazos from distance, so the height or lack of same of Dunn and Rodriguez weren’t really factors.
So here’s a fun comment about the whole “tallest player in the scrum” from our Carlisle-sensei:
“Set piece design has become a necessity across soccer’s top tiers. The days of ‘just get it in the mixa’ are dwindling, if not already over. Teams now orchestrate all sorts of movements and routines to try and increase their chances of scoring from set pieces. Against Orlando, Louisville did something funny and it worked, brilliantly.
Taylor Flint is pretty much the tallest player on any pitch she steps onto. You know this, I know this, and Orlando knew this. Flint is also not one of those tall players that likes to try and play small. According to FBref, Flint not only has the highest number of aerial duels won (76; second place is 47), she also leads in percentage of aerial duels won, with an outrageous 83.5%.
Louisville used Orlando’s understanding of this to play a very mean trick on them. The corner routine started with Flint, and the 5’10 Emma Sears, hanging out beyond the far post. Once the corner was about to be taken, they sprinted to the near post, dragging multiple Orlando players in their wake.
By the time Arin Wright was nodding the ball into an open net at the back post, six (6!) Pride players were surrounding Flint (and Sears). The ball floated over the heads of two others, including the keeper, who all remained fixated on Flint until it was too late. Tough.”
But the thing I want to point out is in his first paragraph: “The days of ‘just get it in the mixa’ are dwindling, if not already over. Teams now orchestrate all sorts of movements and routines to try and increase their chances of scoring from set pieces.”
Yep. Yep, yep, and yep…and nope, the Thorns do not do that all that well. So, again, my point is that I don’t think it’s the “who” – it’s not Perry, or Tordin, or Weaver, or anyone – it’s the “we don’t do a good job in training on this play”.
What do you think of Turner? People on STF seem high on her, but I’ve been only moderately impressed. She’s our strongest heading threat up top, so that’s a point in her favor. But her touches (first and later) go awry much too often, and that’s not something that’s easily cured. I don’t know if, at age 22, she’s going to improve her touch very much, and it’s always going to limit her. I suppose once Wilson comes back Turner will be second choice at best, and Tordin, whose touch looks completely awesome, will move ahead of Turner in the pecking order sometime soon, so maybe it doesn’t matter much.
Right now I see the F depth chart something like this:
RW: Alidou(?) – (???? – normally I’d put Linnehan here, but the club just waived her)
CF: Wilson – Tordin – Turner
LF: Weaver/Hanks (depending on whose injury resolves best)
??: Spaanstra (probably just deeeeeep depth…)
I think the problem is much like the “#10 Dilemma”; we have too many players with similar skillsets (CF/LW) and not enough of others.
That Castellanos is listed as a forward is a sort of inside joke by the club.
I’m going to throw a HUGE what if out there: What if, given that Sophia can pretty much get what she wants, a request was made where Sophia said, “I’ll stay if you bring (x) person on board as well?” What if that person was Trinity Rodman, also in FA now?
I don’t think we can afford Rodman ~and~ Wilson without making some sacrifices, nor do I think Rodman would leave a better coaching experience.
But, what if…?
Also, I was on Insta today that Sophia is promoting Stumptown Coffee. Not that you can’t sell coffee from anywhere but, as a friend of mine noted, Stumptown is pretty Portland specific and would want a famous Portland person to be their representative.
O, here’s the add that went up today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afvdPwF7IFI
I have no idea how deep the Bhathals’ pockets are, but I’m going to guess that Wilson isn’t going to ask anything that insane.
That said, I have no idea what a post-maternity Wilson can demand. We may just have to wait and see.
I’ve always seen the limitation as more a matter of salary-cap room than what the Bhathal(-Merage)es can afford. Maybe I’m wrong, since I have no inside info, but a few hundred thousand here or there seems like peanuts to a family that’s paying $75M for a training center.
I honestly have no clue where to even begin. The whole nutroll is completely opaque; owner available cash, cap space, potential costs…there’s no real hard numbers available to us.
That said, yeah, cap limitations will be the big issue regarding whether Wilson stays not just here but in this league. If she can get Chelsea or Bayern to pay her double the sum the NWSL sets as the cap for an entire squad? She’d be a fool not to take it, and she’s no fool.
We won’t know until we know.
No way do I see Soph staying in Portland. With a new born she’s likely not to make the jump to Europe just yet, but I have to believe that’s in her long range plans – I mean why wouldn’t she? Plus she’s a native of Colorado so Denver might be an attractive next port of call.
I’m sorry about Peyton, she has a ton of pace but it never quite came together for her here. At least a few other Thorns, Midge Purce and Jasmine Ryan, have moved on and done pretty darn well – perhaps she will too.
I think that Olivia has benefitted greatly from her time under Emma Hayes, can she keep growing and evolving under Ken . . .
We don’t really have any clue as to Wilson’s plans, so I’m not sure how helpful it is to speculate – particularly since we also don’t have any clue what (or whether) the club is planning. Maybe they know she’s going to Chelsea and have a cunning plan to swap her for Sam Kerr…
We’ll know when we know.
I was a bit surprised by the Linnehan waiver. I can’t really say anything about her development or lack of same because I don’t have a comparable alternative Linnehan-under-a-different-coach, so like Wilson,?we kind of have to wait and see.
Moultrie is mostly a #10. Ken doesn’t really play a #10, so I’m not surprised that OM looks better for the Nats, where she fits better, than here. I suspect she may make a move this offseason.
Lots to unpack after a couple weeks of vacation, so I’ll start with the headscratchers. Why on earth would any league set up a system where a player is put on waivers in the middle of the season for the end of the season? I mean, its totally baffling unless the team is moving on from the player at that time.
I can understand moving on from Linnehan at the end of the season if the team is convinced that both Weaver and Hanks are going to be back full strength next year. To be honest, I would rather have Linnehan than Spaanstra, but if there is a planned move to strengthen the wings I’m okay moving on from both of them. I do think Linnehan has real potential, but needs a running mate (hello Wilson). Another way to fill the postion is if the team holds onto both Turner and Tordin, while resigning Wilson. Sophia is good enough to play on the wing and be impactful if/when Turner and Tordin are playing. It isn’t a great use of talent, but it would work.
Continuing on the shape of the team next year, as best as I can tell the team is prepared for Wilson’s decision. The duo of Turner and Tordin create depth at a position that is critical if Wilson decides to move on from Portland, and neither create a situation where we should be concerned about a logjam.
The concern for me is the situation at the wings, though I’m assuming that the decision to move on from Linnehan means the team is comfortable that both Hanks and Weaver will be back next year. The problem is that Spaanstra is the only other wing player on the team, though I suppose that Alidou can play out there. If the team is able to resign Wilson she could slot in at wing, though it wastes the best player at her best position.
The other area that the team is going to need to resolve is the logjam in the midfield. Coffey and Sugita should be starters, and I’m okay with a Fleming/Moultre rotation though I would prefer for the coach to simply decide. But we also have Castellanos and Alidou who seem to be best in the midfield as well. The simple solution is to move on from Castellanos as I just don’t see the production from her. And then the teams needs to decide on the pecking order of Moultre/Fleming/Alidou. My personal preference is to move on from two of them and find a capable 6, who can free up Coffey to play higher up on the field. It doesn’t need to be a starter, but a solid rotational player who can get spot starts.