“It has been a damned serious business…(i)t has been a damned nice thing — the nearest run thing you ever saw in your life.”
Arthur Wellesley (1st Duke of Wellington) to Thomas Creevey, June 18, 1815
The fourth and last quarterfinal match of 2025 had a lot to live up to given two of the first three.
Only the first match went as expected, with #4 Orlando putting #5 Seattle to the sword 2-nil.
Saturday’s was epic; Washington and Racing scoreless past the hour before the Spirit went up on a Gift Monday header at 73′. Things looked bleak for Louisville…until Kayla Fischer leveled deep in injury time. Deadlocked at the end of extra time the game went to penalties, where Aubrey Kingsbury looms like a colossus and the lavender hill mob shanked three spot kicks to send the Thorns’ semifinal opponent through.
Sunday? First, the most shocking upset of the season; Gotham going up first – again, after the hour – thanks to Jadyn Shaw and this time it was the Shield winner and consensus Championship lock (and, remember, this was the “greatest NWSL regular season of all time”; Kansas City will end up with a plateful of records – fastest Shield-clinch, most regular season goals, points, and wins) that looked doomed before Ellie Wheeler bailed Kansas City out, again, late in regulation injury time.
But Gotham wasn’t through slapping the Current around; Katie Stengal knocked KC out late in extra-extra time (is the 121st minute the latest match-winning goal in NWSL history? I dunno, but I wouldn’t bet against it…) to lock in a Gotham-Orlando semifinal.
Which brought us here; the the last quarterfinal match of 2025.
Which is where I start by apologizing.
Because I’m sitting in front of the screen on Saturday afternoon, the 15th of November, looking at the draft of my quarterfinal match report, and, in the other tab, this:
Life got in the way last week, and so I didn’t finish screening the quarterfinal until late in the day last Friday, and didn’t begin writing this piece until mere hours before the semifinal kickoff in D.C., and, well…we now know the end of the story that followed the win over San Diego.
The Thorns season is over; blown out – and it really was a blowout; look at the Sofascore “momentum” plot for the semifinal –
…and done for the season. That’s about as one-sided and conclusive as a soccer match gets. The Thorns run lasted until they ran into one of the two really good sides in the league this season, where they were swatted down like a bug.
So why bother discussing the San Diego quarterfinal? We know now that it just led to Audi and elimination; there’s no suspense or uncertainty in any story we might find here. It’s already a closed book.
Why?
Because I think it’s worth looking at what happened here a week ago Saturday to understand what happened in D.C. this past Saturday.
Because I think the how of the win over San Diego holds a lot of clues as to the why of the loss to Washington in the semi.
Beginning with this:
Here’s Carlisle-sensei’s version (note that it doesn’t break down the actual “full time” out of the extra half hour):
If you break it down into the halves and ET the Thorns attack looks even more meager: 0.46xG over the first half (0.19 post-shot xG), then 0.43 xG (0.32 PSxG) to the end of regulation. The goal in extra time adds 0.67xG (0.93PSxG) enough to make the match total look respectable, but when you really look hard at the chances you can see how little both sides did in front of goal.
Carlisle pointed out the big problem this showed, the problem that the Thorns had to deal with against any opponent more lethal in front of goal than Houston or San Diego (such as, say, Washington…) in his preview of the semifinal:
Having concluded that, though, he also pointed out the problem with having “no reason to change now”;
“Rob Gale has seemed to shift from his typical open style of play to something more plodding, perhaps to spare his defenders. The problem will be that the Spirit do a bit more to manipulate the defense than knock it over to Cascarino in 5-yard increments. Washington use all sorts of combinations and off ball movements to open space, so the Thorns will need to be disciplined and on the same page so a missed assignment or hesitation doesn’t result in a 1v1 situation they’re likely to lose.”
Yep.
We’ll discuss this in depth when we review the semifinal, but the thing that jumps out from the quarterfinal that was characteristic of the Thorns’ final half-season was that KenBall is grossly dependent on heroes. Against San Diego, Moultrie and Turner. Against Washington..?
Nobody.
And when the hero didn’t arrive in D.C. that meant Washington would turn the ball around to shove it like a dagger into the heart of the Thorns defense.
The devil that’s been waiting for this squad has always been it’s lack of pace and especially the slow, clumsy, freelancing way it goes forward, KenBall lacks attacking pressure and fails to hold possession, which in turn means relentless pressure on the defensive midfield and backline that demoralizes and disorganizes and ships goals.
This past Saturday the devil had her due at Audi Field.
Short Passes
Portland was poor in the QF; only 75% completion of 514 passes, San Diego completed 81% of 774. That points up the degree to which San Diego controlled the flow of the match and generate the most opportunities. Here’s Sofascore’s “momentum” plot:
That matches my notes. I recorded the following dangerous chances or half-chances:
18′ (SDW) Cascarino good run, feeds Ascanio who heads over.
44′ (POR) Turner drops a good cross on a wide-open Moultrie whose shot clanks off the far post.
74′ (SDW) Series of good Wave attacks; Obaze has to throw a desperation block on an Ascanio shot, falls to Fazer, whose shot is also blocked, then out to Wesley whose shot rings off the crossbar.
77′ (SDW) Long stretch of Wave possession in front of the 18 leading to a Dali shot that Arnold boxes over. Cascarino heads the ensuing corner wide.
91′ (POR) Sheridan has to come out strong to take the ball off Castellanos’ feet.
94′ (POR) Turner goal.
105′ (SDW) Good passing sequence up the Portland gut, but Arnold comes off her line early to cut off a Byers run.
105+5′ (SDW) Another strong Wave possession with several good half-chances ended by a Byers handball
106′ (SDW) Another great central midfield attack; Arnold with a big block (but Armstrong was offside, I think – broadcast didn’t say) to shut it down.
In 120+ minutes Portland had three decent opportunities, one which produced a goal and one (Moultrie’s 44th minute post) which should have; San Diego had six, only one of which (the 74th minute Wesley crossbar) was really close to anything.
These were not teams doing good work going forward. Portland got two good looks and finished one; San Diego got nothing much – maybe one or two half-chances – and didn’t.
Against San Diego that was good enough.
Here’s Carlisle-sensei with the passing. Portland:
The usual KenBall cluster near the center circle only worse. Like most of the other Portland wins this season, it worked against a poor opponent.
Here’s San Diego:
As we saw last Saturday; Washington don’t play that shit. They come for your head.
Turnover and over.
Here’s how things are going;
| Opponent – Venue (Result) | Turnovers |
| Kansas City – Away (L) | 38 |
| Angel City – Home (D) | 38 |
| North Carolina – Home (D) | 32 |
| Utah – Away (W) | 25 |
| Seattle – Away (L) | 34 |
| Gotham – Home (W) | 26 |
| Louisville – Home (D) | 16 |
| Orlando – Home (W) | 18 |
| San Diego – Away (D) | 32 |
| Houston – Away (W) | 21 |
| Bay FC – Away (L) | No data |
| Washington – Home (W) | 16 |
| Chicago – Home (W) | 22 |
| Washington – Away (L) | 27 |
| Seattle – Home (W) | 20 |
| Carolina – Away (D) | 26 |
| Kansas City – Home (L) | 35 |
| Utah – Home (L) | 26 |
| Louisville – Away (W) | 28 |
| Chicago – Away (D) | 27 |
| San Diego – Home (D) | 28 |
| Gotham – Away (L) | 30 |
| Bay FC – Home (W) | 34 |
| Orlando – Away (L) | 30 |
| Angel City – Away (W) | 18 |
| Houston – Home (W) | 18 |
| San Diego – Home(W) | 20 (4) |
Twenty-four total; eleven in the first half, nine in the second, four in ET. San Diego was marginally worse in regulation- 12 in each half – but coughed up seven in extra time for a total of 31.
Moultrie and Reyes both turned over four times, and Torpey and Turner coughed up three each. Torpey had an ugly heavy touch down in her own end that San Diego faffed around with and squandered.
Neither side was tidy, but neither side could really do anything with the others’ mistakes, so it kind of came out in the wash.
Press!
Twenty-third match tracking the effect of each side’s press. I counted either a 1) turnover (either from a tackle-for-loss or a mishit forced pass), or a 2) forced retreat or drop-pass that killed off a progressive action, as a pressing “win”. If two players were involved in a press each received a half mark (for attempts) and a half credit for successes.
Portland came out against San Diego with the usual high line/hard pressing; as you’ll see, the first quarter hour was utterly bugnuts. Nobody could sustain that level of intensity, and the Thorns didn’t. Even at a lower level of pressing, though, Portland continued to disrupt San Diego’s forward momentum effectively throughout the match.
The Wave was much less aggressive, but Portland’s attack was so all over the place and scattered until late in the match that they didn’t really need to be, and by the time the Thorns did start pushing up San Diego had lost the focus.
So Portland’s press probably helped pull what teeth San Diego had, but it’s difficult for me to really assess how much the paucity of attack in this match was due to opposition pressing and how much was just neither side having any real incision.
| Match time | SDW presses (wins)(%) | Thorns presses (wins)(%) |
| 0-15′ | 25(17) (68%) | 44(37) (84%) |
| 15-30′ | 12(11) (91.6%) | 20(9) (45%) |
| 30-45+5′ | 14(10) (71.4%) | 24(13) (54.1%) |
| First half | 51(38) (74.5%) | 88(60) (68.1%) |
| 45-60′ | 5(5) (100%) | 23(16) (69.5%) |
| 60-75′ | 8(6) (75%) | 9(7) (77.7%) |
| 75-90+5′ | 19(13) (68.4%) | 15(11) (73.3%) |
| Second half | 32(24) (80.5%) | 47(34) (59.5%) |
| 90-105+4 | 9(7) (77.7%) | 28(16) (57.1%) |
| 105-120+5 | 4(4) (100%) | 16(9) (56.2%) |
| Extra time | 13(11) (84.6%) | 44(25) (56.8%) |
| Match Total | 96(73) (76%) | 179(119) (66.4%) |
My thoughts:
1) The numbers show that Portland pressed much more than their opponent while succeeding less often. San Diego’s press, never particularly strong in numbers, fell off the table after halftime. The success was there, but it was lost in the small number of duels.
2) Joining the Thorns’ usual pressing suspects (Fleming (33 presses, 25 wins, 7 ball-winning duels), Moultrie (38 presses, 21 wins, 3 gains) and Coffey (20 presses, 12 wins, 4 gains) was a surprising newcomer, Deyna Castellanos (22 presses, 18 wins, 4 gains).
3) Two other forwards were a bit busy forechecking: Turner (13 presses, 20 wins, 2 gains) and Spaanstra (12 presses, 5 wins). Reyes chipped in from the back (15 presses, 9 wins) and Torpey was efficient (7 presses, 5 wins, 1 gain)
4) On the other side of the ball Moultrie was pressed hard (15 presses, 12 losses, 5 turnovers) as was Coffey (13 presses, 8 losses, 5 turnovers).
5) Portland’s forwards evaded pressure a little more successfully than the midfielders did – in terms of raw numbers – though they tended to be stymied when they were: Castellanos (7 presses, no wins, 4 turnovers), Turner (8 presses, 6 losses, 4 turnovers), and Spaanstra (8 presses, 6 losses, 3 turnovers). Substitute Pietra Tordin was hammered (8 presses, no wins, 4 turnovers) in her short shift
6) So was San Diego’s press effective? My guess is “yes, somewhat” but the effects are hard to parse out of Portland’s trouble holding possession in general.
Here’s the running tally:
| Match (Result) | Opponent Press (Success) | Thorns Press (Success) |
| Utah Away (W) | 28/12 (42.8%) | 27/15 (55.5%) |
| Seattle Away (L) | 32/23 (71.8%) | 21/15 (71.4%) |
| Gotham Home (W) | 28/20 (71.4%) | 19(15) (78.9%) |
| Louisville Home (D) | 34/25 (73.5%) | 14/8 (57.1%) |
| Orlando Home (W) | 28/17 (60.7%) | 43/24 (55.8%) |
| San Diego Away (D) | 18/18 (100%) | 100/36 (36%) |
| Houston Away (W) | 27/17 (62.9%) | 42/23 (54.7%) |
| Bay FC Away (L) | No data | No data |
| Washington Home (W) | 31(15) (48.3%) | 61(48) (78.6%) |
| Chicago Home (W) | 31(21) (67.7%) | 51(39) (76.4%) |
| Washington Away (L) | 18(17) (94.4%) | 25(12) (48%) |
| Seattle Home (W) | 51(27) (52.8%) | 42(33) (78.5%) |
| Carolina Away (D) | 47(26) (55.3%) | 59(39) (66.1%) |
| Kansas City Home (L) | 43(23) (53.4%) | 50(32) (64%) |
| Utah Home (L) | 44(28) (63.6%) | 64(29) (45.3%) |
| Louisville Away (W) | 54(40) (74%) | 46(30) (62.5%) |
| Chicago Away (D) | 32(18) (56.2%) | 67(39) (58.2%) |
| San Diego Home (D) | 27(17) (62.9%) | 87(61) (70.1%) |
| Gotham Away (L) | 66(48) (72.7%) | 101(43) (42.5%) |
| Bay FC Home (W) | 45(35) (77.7%) | 137(84) (61.3%) |
| Orlando Away (L) | 95(63) (66.3%) | 85(45) (52.9%) |
| Angel City Away (W) | 56(45) (80.3%) | 62(34) (54.8%) |
| Houston Home (W) | 79(64) (81%) | 110(67) (60.9%) |
| San Diego Home (W a.e.t.) | 96(73) (76%) | 179(119) (66.4%) |
Nine-tenths of the Law
For the sixth match in a row I tracked the Thorns possessions; what they did with the ball whilst they had it, and what happened to it at the end. Specifically I tracked passes by type, length, and location (attacking third or otherwise).
Another low-scoring match with little in the way of inflection points, so I just tallied each half separately, and lumped the extra time into one.
First Half
The Thorns had a total of 32 possessions.
4 (12.5%) ended in some sort of “attack” or entry into San Diego’s final third.
10 (31.5%) were lost to good defending such as tackles for loss or intercepted passes.
19 (59.4%) were ended by Thorns turnovers.
During these possessions the Thorns made a total of 160 passes.
58 (36.3%) were “forward” passes (which included diagonal passes, either out wide or inside).
5 (3.1%) were in the San Diego defensive third (so “attacking” passes)
2 (1.3%) were long cross or switching-fields passes, and
10 (10%) were long lobs or deep long passes.
Second Half
47 possessions.
11 (23.5%) attacks or entries into the Wave defensive third,
20 (42.6%) lost to tackles, interceptions, or other defensive actions, and
17 (36.2%) lost to turnovers.
A total of 163 passes during this period.
62 (38%) were “forward” passes; 27 (16.6%) were in the attacking third.
9 (5.5%) were long cross-/switch-field passes, and
19 (10.4%) were long lobs.
Extra Time
31 possessions.
9 (29%) attacks or entries into the Wave defensive third,
10 (32.3%) lwere ost to tackles, interceptions, or other defensive actions,
12 (38%) were lost to turnovers, and
1 (3.2%) was ended by the final whistle
A total of 103 passes during this period.
51 (49.5%) were “forward” passes; 33 (32%) were in the attacking third.
6 (5.8%) were long cross-/switch-field passes, and
7 (6.8%) were long lobs.
Match Totals:
Total possessions: 110
Attacking possessions: 24 (21.8%)
Possessions lost to defensive actions: 40 (36.4%)
Possessions lost to turnovers: 48 (43.6%)
Possessions ended by FT: 1 (0.01%)
Total passes: 426
Forward/diagonal passes: 171 (40.1%)
“Attacking” passes: 65 (15.3%)
Long passes: 40 (9.4%)
Cross-/switching-field passes: 17 (4%)
Here’s the running totals:
| Poss/Passing | BayFC Home (W) | Orlando Away (L) | ACFC Away (W) | HOU Home (W) | SDW Home (W) (a.e.t) |
| Possessions | 65 | 85 | 72 | 90 | 110 |
| Ended in attack | 6 (9.2%) | 17 (20%) | 19 (26.4%) | 13 (14.4%) | 24 (21.8%) |
| Lost to defending | 20 (30.7%) | 25 (29.1%) | 23 (31.9%) | 34 (37.7%) | 40 (36.4%) |
| Lost to turnovers | 37 (56.9%) | 43 (50.5%) | 30 (41.7%) | 42 (46.6%) | 48 (43.6%) |
| Lost to other | 1 (1.5%) | 1 (1.3%) | 1 (0.3%) | 1 (0.01%) | |
| Passes – total | 388 | 431 | 216 | 400 | 426 |
| Forward passes | 143 (36.8%) | 164 (38%) | 81 (31.4%) | 168 (42%) | 171 (40.1%) |
| Attacking passes | 113 (29.1%) | 67 (15.5%) | 46 (21.3%) | 122 (30.5%) | 65 (15.3%) |
| Long passes | 28 (7.2%) | 35 (8.1%) | 33 (15.3%) | 20 (5%) | 40 (9.4%) |
| Cross-field passes | 4 (1.2%) | 25 (5.8%) | 10 (4.6%) | 13 (3.2%) | 17 (4%) |
Thoughts:
1. The extra half hour makes Portland’s possessions look much better than they were on the pitch. If you normalize the quarterfinal to 90 minutes you get only about 80-odd possessions and 320 passes, meaning within about 5% of the Thorns late-season possession mean and about 12% less that the average passing numbers (and even less than that if the weirdly low ACFC passing total was excluded).
2. So, pretty much business as usual.
3. SSDD: “Still, the Thorns tend to lose a LOT of possessions to sloppy passing. And that doesn’t include poor pass choices such as trying to force balls in to players marked touch-tight (which I usually marked as “ended by defending”) so the passing problems are actually worse than they look.” So, yeah. A better opponent would punish that.
4. The match was tense, exciting, and (because the Good Side won) fun. But all the signs and symptoms of what was to come in D.C. were there; a Thorns “attack” that lacked bite, and an overall performance which lacked the sort of intensity you’d expect from a “win or go home” match.
5. The possession data suggests that this was just another day at the office for the 2025 Thorns and, while that did just fine against the San Diegos and Houstons and ACFCs of this world, Washington is – and proved to be – a very different thing altogether.
Corner Kicks
Five, all long. None in the first half, two in the second, three in the extra time.
| Time | Taker | Short/Long? | Result |
| 85′ | Moultrie | Long | Onto Turner’s head; the header went off target. |
| 86′ | Moultrie | Long | Into the scrum; Reyes got a head to it but not enough; cleared out to Coffey, who hit a rasper but right at Sheridan |
| 103′ | Moultrie | Long | Onto Tordin’s head; her header was wide right. |
| 116′ | Moultrie | Long | Cleared, recycled and cleared again for another corner. |
| 117′ | Moultrie | Long | Daiane headed right at Sheridan. |
Well…four of five produced a shot of some kind. So that’s something. But FBRef lists only three as actual “shots” and the numbers – Turner (85′, xG 0.08, PSxG 0.0), Tordin (105′, xG 0.02, PSxG 0.0), and Daiane (117′. xG 0.02, PSxG 0.05) – emphasize that these were not really high-quality shots.
I’d love to see whoever is in the technical box next season work on some more productive set plays for corners and free kicks.
Player Ratings and Comments
Before we start, a couple of notes.
First, the extra half hour produces a higher baseline for plus-minus ratings. Typically a “+10” PMR match is a good, a “+15” match is a very good, and a “+20” match is an outstanding, game for that player. Because of the extra time, however, the numbers tend to run 5-10 values above the normal baseline. So “+10” is pretty average for this match.
Second, to help get a sense of this the raw PMR values are broken out into thirds (first half, second half, extra time) and then summed up for the match totals, so if a player has appeared in all three periods her PMRs will look like:
Player (time – +X/-Y : +X/-Y : +X/-Y : +X/-Y):
Castellanos (113′ – +6/-1 : +4/-0 : +3/-0 : +13/-1) Castellanos’ comment could be applied to all three starting forwards; in general a solid outing, but muted by the overall lack of communication and coordination we’ve seen from KenBall going forward.
What I see as the heart of the problem is that 1) too many Thorns forwards have similar or overlapping skillsets (specifically center forward/ACM) while too few (or none) have the skillsets needed to compliment and exploit those skills (specifically winger or holdup-forward), and 2) Gale doesn’t or can’t find a tactical solution to that disconnection.
So several forwards, like Castellanos, had “good games” against San Diego in terms of individual actions; passes, runs to good positions, clever attacks, forechecking pressure. But lacking the synergy that comes from players with meshing skills working in a tactically cohesive system many of those good individual actions ended there without the endpoint, a goal.
Daiane (~7′ – +3/-0) Late game defensive shift plus timewasting.
Spaanstra (62′ – +5/-0 : +4/-0 : +9/-0) As discussed above, which serves to point up the importance of replacing Spaanstra with…
Tordin (58′ – +4/-0 : +9/-0 : +13/-0) …because as a true holdup forward as well as one of the few Thorns forwards with real pace, Tordin did work that had been lacking to disrupt the San Diego backline and open up space. It’s no surprise that two of the three productive Portland attacks came after Tordin was subbed in.
Moultrie (+6/-2 : +2/-0 : +8/-0 : +16/-2) All the positives we’ve seen in the last half of the season except a goal or two, and even then one was only the thickness of a post away. Lovely service on the Turner goal, too.
Turner (+8/-1 : +2/-2 : +11/-2 : +21/-5) It’s the progression that’s so interesting. Came out firing in the first half (damn near set up Moultrie for the 44th minute goal) but got no joy and began to slide out of the match in the second regulation period. Then Tordin came in, and fired up the attack, and Turner re-ignited, including the matchwinner. Tossup between her and Coffey for WotM.
Rhian Wilkinson supposedly believed that the part where players had defined skillsets that suited them to positions was hogwash. This sort of game should put a stake in that belief. Matching skills to positions, and to tactics, IS important and should be recognized as an important part of a soccer head coach’s job.
Fleming (+5/-2 : +7/-0 : +5/-2 : +17/-4) Again, all her usual positives; progressive carries and passes, pressing and defensive positioning. Fleming has been midfield glue for much of the latter half of the season, and has been doing the things we as fans (and, I’m sure, the coaching staff) wanted to see from her for some time.
Coffey (+11/-0 : +8/-1 : +6/-1 : +25/-2) Not sure what more I can say.
Reyes (+1/-2 : +7/-1 : +6/-1 : +14/-5) So, like the Castellanos comment, Reyes’ comment can stand for most of the rest of the backline.
Solid defensively, with some value providing outlet service, but largely untested beyond staying disciplined and defending as a unit. As Carlisle-sensei noted, you can get away with that when you’re facing San Diego (or any other NWSL team that lacks a Chawinga or Esther or Gift Monday to kill you 1v1…) but not when you come up against a team that does have one or more of those, as we found out in the semifinal.
Obaze (+2/-0 : +6/-0 : +1/-0 : +9/-0) And the centerbacks, who were even better walled off than the fullbacks, were even less tested. So good match – with little at risk from individual actions at CB because of the above.
Hiatt (+0/-5 : +2/-1 : +1/-2: ++3/-8) Hiatt is living proof of that, starting off with some ugly defensive errors including falling asleep on a 2nd minute Cascarino run that forced Reyes into a hurried clearance, but which were not punished as they would be a week later. Tightened up after the opening minutes, so, fine. But…
Torpey (61′ – +7/-4 : +4/-2 : +11/-6) Kept a collar on Dudinha, so that was fine, but had some defensive moments as well as being taken out of the forward progress by her defensive struggles that convinced Gale to swap her out early for…
McKenzie (59′ – +5/-0 : +4/-0 : +9/-0) which helped, along with the Tordin sub.
Arnold (+0/-0 : +2/-0 : +2/-0 : +4/-0) Should have been untroubled but for a couple of moments her defenders left her hanging; boxed a Dali rasper over the bar in the 77th minute, had to throw her body down to cut off Byers’ 105th minute run, than right from the second extra period kickoff had to throw a block to another San Diego run through her defense.
In a one-goal game those were pretty crucial, so well played.
Coach Ken: This turned out to be his last hurrah of the season, so let’s give the poor guy some love. He’s not Alex Ferguson, but he realized around the hour mark that he needed something, dug into his nearly-empty bag of player tricks and brought on Tordin who made the difference.
I’m very torn on Gale this season.
On the one hand the DL has slapped him around mercilessly. He started with an overloaded hospital and maternity ward, then every time what seemed to be a breakout player (Caiya Hanks, Julie Dufour, MA Vignola) emerged they were immediately shot down by injury. To have finished third and gotten to the semifinal was well above where his club was projected to finish, so, yay, Ken.
On the other, well…the NWSL was really a two-team league this season, and the Thorns were never really one of those two. Some of that was the DL, but some was the undercooked and disconnected way this squad played, dropping games to poor opponents and never really finding a tactical identity. All the issues we saw in those matches were there, simmering, until colliding with Washington in the semi and boiling over.
To me the real question is “what can/will this guy do with a stacked roster if everyone comes back healthy in 2026”? Because given this season, I’m pretty sure he’ll be back next April.
When he does…can he make this side one of the top two?
Because, frankly, that’s the only real metric of success. Anything less isn’t really “success”; just being one of the pack of tomato cans isn’t something that takes any skill.
We’ll be back later this week to discuss the semifinal, but next season should already be in the making, and we’ll have even more to discuss when we start to see some roster moves.
- Thorns FC: A damn nice thing - November 17, 2025
- Thorns FC: Multitudes - November 8, 2025
- A question for the readership - November 5, 2025
