“Finished with Engines” (typically abbreviated in the bell log as “FWE”) is a nautical term that is commonly used to indicate that a ship or vessel has completed its journey…(i)t signifies that the…ship…has come to a halt or reached its intended destination.”
Well, since the “intended destination” of every franchise in any and every professional sport is the championship, in whatever form that takes, no; the SS Thorns didn’t reach it’s intended destination.
Instead the Thornies’ plucky little pirate ship sailed into the Gulf of Audi and encountered a dreadnought.
We all knew long before last Saturday that there were two clubs that had ruled the NWSL waves this season, the grim gray battlewagons Kansas City and Washington. The pair loomed over the six smaller vessels that had entered the playoff fleet action. Those challengers’ only hope seemed to lay in stealth, or speed, or surprise, or some combination of all three; the big guns were all on the decks in Kansas and D.C.
And, incredibly enough, earlier in the weekend the light cruiser Gotham had outmaneuvered and torpedoed the seemingly-unsinkable Current to send her to the bottom and set Pride of Jersey on course for Southern California and the Final.
Could the good ship Thorns do the same to the Spirit?
No.
The engagement was brief, and brutal, exposing the design flaws in, and damage to, the Thorns’ ship we’d seen all season; punitive lack of firepower, poor fire direction that resulted in scattered salvos and often an ineffective fall of shot, and weak points in the defensive armor that all too often let in fatal shellfire.
It took all of six minutes to expose all of those weaknesses;
Luckily for the Thorns somehow Kaitlyn Torpey’s left peg wasn’t ruled far enough goal-side to keep Gift Monday onside after she’d shed a ballwatching Sam Hiatt and poked the ball past Torpey into the goal.
But not for long.
In the first 25 minutes the Thorns produced a total of three “attacking” possessions and two shots; the first, in the 14th minute, resulted in a Deyna Castellanos shot that was right at Aubrey Kinsbury (xG 0.02, PSxG 0.09), the second ended in a 21st minute Reilyn Turner cross that went over Olivia Moultrie’s head to the byline, and the third a Moultrie shot fired wide right (xG 0.05, PSxG 0).
Meanwhile Washington had Portland under the cosh, carving up the Portland defense…
…like a warship tearing through a flock of sleeping seagulls at flank speed.
Look at the space the Spirit midfield has in the screenshot above; both Portland defenders still behind the ball are marking space, while the highlighter yellow shirts are wide open for…
…pass after pass…
…after pass. Until finally the Thorns backline provides Croix Bethune time and space to…
…tee the ball up right at the top of the penalty arch and…
…force a massive save out of Makenzie Arnold to keep the sheet clean,
Meanwhile going the other direction the Thorns’ usual lack of pace and understanding was on full display. Here’s Castellanos looking for an outlet in the 15th minute.
She’s got several options; Torpey and Alexa Spaanstra wide, Turner over the top, as well as Jessie Fleming short. But…
…instead she turns the ball back.
The Thorns forwards checked to the ball so often that even the gormless CBS announcing crew noticed it, which is like a milk cow learning to speak Latin and discussing the minutiae of transubstantiation.
After the Monday called-back goal and the Bethune rocket Washington put up four more shots (xG 0.1, 0.04, 0.18, 0.22) with a combined PSxG of 0.56, until the Thorns nicked a corner kick and – since nothing else was on – sent ladidadi-and-everybody up.
Moultrie served in an undercooked ball to the near side of the scrum that was cleared out to Rose Kouassi, who took off downfield. Torpey was the only Thorn with a shot at her, and…
….the problem with that was that once Kouassi rounded her the only way for Torpey to stop Kouassi was to foul her, and since Torpey was the last defender it would have been a DOGSO and an automatic red card.
Kouassi slid the ball to Monday for the tap in and the match was effectively over:
Yes, it was just that one-sided.
The second goal dagger was one of those horrible one-awshit mistakes that in a normal match would probably haunt Sam Hiatt through the offseason and beyond, like Bill Buckner’s grounder or David Seaman’s one-flew-over-his-head-concession…except the Thorns chance of ever equalizing was minuscule (FBRef is a bit less punitive than both Henderson and Carlisle; recording a total of 10 shots, 3 on goal, xG 0.47, PSxG 0.27, but that’s as good as it gets) and the defense was getting backhanded all through the match.
So had Hiatt’s backpass been precision-perfect?
It wouldn’t have mattered. The Thornies were already done for; guns destroyed, hull split, bilges flooding, masts shattered, all sinking beneath the Audi turf.
Short Passes
Portland’s completion was only slightly better than the QF; 77% completion of 380 passes, Washington completed 80% of 441. Here’s Sofascore’s “momentum” plot:
That’s fucking brutal.
Here’s Carlisle-sensei with the passing. Portland:
While I usually agree with Carlisle, I don’t think it was “separating” the Portland center circle cluster that “disrupted” their buildup or “broke” their connections. Here’s the quarterfinal:
Do you see more “disruption” there? I don’t! And we’ve discussed how much of the QF San Diego spent just faffing about.
Here’s from the Houston game:
Okay, now that looks more robust. But it’s fucking Houston! They suck ass!
So, no. I don’t think that Washington “disrupted” the Thorns’ passing by spreading the midfield. I think Portland’s passing was always on the edge of dysfunction, the product of slow, static training and lack of the sort of visceral understanding that only comes from hours of grueling, well-led practice learning how your teammates think and act. I think Washington is a better team; faster, better trained, more skillful. I think Portland, especially in the first half, as we’ll see when we get to possession, dialed it’s usual spray-and-pray passing up to eleven. And I think that pushed Portland over that edge into the deeps.
Here’s Washington:
As I said last week; 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) |
| Washington – Away (L) | 32 |
Like everything else Portland at Audi, not good. Back into the dumpster again; 19 in the disastrous first half, 13 in the second. Washington wasn’t exactly tidy; 26, but only eight in the matchwinning first half, 18 in the second when Portland was on their heels.
Fleming and Reyes both coughed up five. Turner lost four-and-a-half, Moultrie three-and-a-half, and Torpey three.
Hiatt’s backpass was, obviously, the worst of the lot. Fleming coughed up a horrible hairball in the 73rd minute that could have been another concession except that Moultrie bailed her out with a saving tackle.
Press!
Twenty-fourth 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 pressing, which if you’ve watched KenBall would surprise exactly no one. The problem was that, as you’d expect with a well-trained opponent that is used to working together with quick movement and quick releases, worked like a screen door in a ship’s hull. The most successful period of Portland pressing came after halftime with the match effectively out of reach, and was brief.
Washington didn’t press nearly as hard (by the total numbers) but much more successfully (by results).
| Match time | Spirit presses (wins)(%) | Thorns presses (wins)(%) |
| 0-15′ | 16(13) (81.2%) | 23(12) (52.1%) |
| 15-30′ | 7(4) (57.1%) | 20(15) (75%) |
| 30-45+4′ | 13(8) (61.5%) | 20(10) (50%) |
| First half | 36(25) (69.4%) | 63(37) (58.7%) |
| 45-60′ | 13(9) (69.2%) | 15(12) (80%) |
| 60-75′ | 12(7) (58.3%) | 5(1) (20%) |
| 75-90+7′ | 15(12) (80%) | 10(5) (50%) |
| Second half | 40(28) (70%) | 30(18) (60%) |
| Match Total | 76(53) (69.7%) | 93(55) (59.1%) |
My thoughts:
1) Washington was better at pressing, as you’d suspect. Portland might have had an opportunity or two had they been able to turn Washington over more frequently, but they were so seldom in position to do so, and did so little when they were, that the press worked, like most of the rest of the match, in Washington’s favor.
2) For the Thorns “defensive” press the usuals; Fleming (22 presses, 13 wins, 6 ball-gaining duels) and Moultrie (16 presses, 9 wins, 1 gain).
3) The rest were a sort of all in a lump; Spaanstra (7 presses, 4 wins), Coffey (6 presses, 2 wins), Castellanos (8 presses, 5 wins, 1 gain), Turner (7 presses, 4 wins, 1 gain), Torpey (7 presses, 6 wins, 2 gains), and Reyes (6 presses, 5 wins, 1 gain).
4) The most effective? Hiatt (3 presses, 3 wins, 2 gains).
5) Moultrie was the most-pressed Thorn, as always (11 presses, 9 losses, 2 turnovers), with four players right behind her: Fleming (9 presses, 6 losses, 4 turnovers), Reyes (8 presses, 5 losses, 4 turnovers), Castellanos (7 presses, 7 losses, 2 turnovers), and Spaanstra (7 presses, 5 losses, 3 turnovers).
6) Sam Coffey won 4 of her 7 presses, but also turned over twice. Torpey won 3 of her 5 presses, and Hiatt won 4 of her 6.
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%) |
| Washington Away (L) | 76(53) (69.7%) | 93(55) (59.1%) |
Nine-tenths of the Law
For the seventh 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).
Since Portland had no inflection points I just tallied by halves.
First Half
The Thorns had a total of 42 possessions.
4 (9.8%) ended in some sort of “attack” or entry into Washington’s final third.
7 (16.7%) were lost to good defending such as tackles for loss or intercepted passes.
31 (73.8%) were ended by Thorns turnovers.
I want to stop here and note that this half was the worst single period for self-inflicted turnover wounds this club has registered since I started tracking these stats. That’s appalling; at a time and in a place the club needed to be at it’s sharpest, most clinical, most effective…the Thorns threw the ball away like rubbish.
Well. They paid for it.
During these possessions the Thorns made a total of 175 passes.
62 (35.4%) were “forward” passes (which included diagonal passes, either out wide or inside).
12 (6.9%) were in the Washington defensive third (so “attacking” passes)
11 (6.3%) were long passes downfield, and
1 (0.6%) were long cross or switching-fields passes.
Second Half
49 possessions.
6 (12.2%) attacks or entries into the Wave defensive third,
15 (30.6%) lost to tackles, interceptions, or other defensive actions, and
28 (57.1%) lost to turnovers.
A total of 200 passes during this period.
87 (43.5%) were “forward” passes; 36 (18%) were in the attacking third.
12 (6%) were long lobs, and
There were no switching or cross-field passes.
Match Totals:
Total possessions: 91
Attacking possessions: 10 (11%)
Possessions lost to defensive actions: 22 (24.2%)
Possessions lost to turnovers: 59 (64.8%)
Possessions ended by FT: 1 (1%)
Total passes: 375
Forward/diagonal passes: 149 (39.7%)
“Attacking” passes: 48 (17.8%)
Long passes: 23 (6.1`%)
Cross-/switching-field passes: 1 (0.3%)
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) | WAS Away (L) |
| Possessions | 65 | 85 | 72 | 90 | 110 | 91 |
| Ended in attack | 6 (9.2%) | 17 (20%) | 19 (26.4%) | 13 (14.4%) | 24 (21.8%) | 10 (11%) |
| Lost to defending | 20 (30.7%) | 25 (29.1%) | 23 (31.9%) | 34 (37.7%) | 40 (36.4%) | 22 (24.2%) |
| Lost to turnovers | 37 (56.9%) | 43 (50.5%) | 30 (41.7%) | 42 (46.6%) | 48 (43.6%) | 59 (64.8%) |
| Lost to other | 1 (1.5%) | 1 (1.3%) | 1 (0.3%) | 1 (0.01%) | 1 (0.3%) | |
| Passes – total | 388 | 431 | 216 | 400 | 426 | 375 |
| Forward passes | 143 (36.8%) | 164 (38%) | 81 (31.4%) | 168 (42%) | 171 (40.1%) | 149 (39.7%) |
| Attacking passes | 113 (29.1%) | 67 (15.5%) | 46 (21.3%) | 122 (30.5%) | 65 (15.3%) | 48 (12/8%) |
| Long passes | 28 (7.2%) | 35 (8.1%) | 33 (15.3%) | 20 (5%) | 40 (9.4%) | 23 (6.1%) |
| Cross-field passes | 4 (1.2%) | 25 (5.8%) | 10 (4.6%) | 13 (3.2%) | 17 (4%) | 1 (0.3%) |
Thoughts:
1. The numbers don’t lie; this match was a disaster for Portland’s possession, in particular the first half, where turnovers killed off about three of every four attacks. Remember how we kept repeating the thing about “sloppy passing”? This was more than that. Sloppy passing, clumsy dribbling, heavy touches, forcing passes into players with opponents draped on them like a pelisse for instant tackle-for-loss…the Thorns were a hot mess in possession at Audi.
2. And Washington, not being Bay FC or Houston or San Diego, made them pay.
3. I suspect that cleaning off the DL and the ML and the SEI list will produce a general rise in skill level in 2026. But this isn’t about pure skill; this is about training, and if the training doesn’t change..?
Corner Kicks
Three, all long. One in the first half, two in the second.
| Time | Taker | Short/Long? | Result |
| 27′ | Moultrie | Long | Dropped into the near side of the scrum where a Washington head cleared it up for Kouassi to go end-to-end and win the game, so…not good. |
| 79′ | Moultrie | Long | Cleared out as far as Castellanos, whose shot was blocked out to Fleming, who was fouled to set up a free kick. |
| 88′ | Moultrie | Long | Cleared, Fleming took a shot (blocked!) that fell to Moultrie, who was tackled for loss. |
Like the quarterfinal; two of three produced a shot of some kind. Castellanos’ is shown as 0.01xG, and Fleming’s is 0.04xG; again, these were not high-quality shots.
And the third was a screamingly unmitgated disaster. If you’re not going to leave enough defenders back to cover, you have to get to the delivery and control it. The concession was a team failure, but Moultrie’s delivery was a huge piece of putting the failure in motion.
Player Ratings and Comments
Turner (82′ – +5/-1 : +0/-2 : +5/-3) Put in the work, at least while there was still some daylight. Suffered from the usual disconnected freelancing in the attack and lack of nous that meant her runs weren’t often rewarded with service and her dribbles often lacked outlets or support.
That said, Turner’s shift also highlights how bare the attacking cupboard was, given that what Ken had to replace her was a notional centerback…
Daiane (~8′ – +2/-0) …cosplaying as forward. It’s entirely unsurprising how little the squad could do with that.
Castellanos (82′ – +4/-2 : +3/-2 : +7/-4) Again, worked hard. Pitched some nice passes, made some intelligent runs while posting the squad’s top xG (0.19) and post-shot xG (0.16) on the day.
Without a coherent system, though, this amounted to a series of individual successes that couldn’t be fitted into a constructive whole leading to a goal, so her and her club’s seasons came to an end.
More than one thing can be true.
The loss of the stars – Wilson, Muller, Weaver, Hanks – was punitive, both in the match and the season.
But the whole “what do you do in training, Ken?” problem, which pointed at the way the gaffer failed to craft a way for the non-stars (and remaining demi-stars) to attack opponents consistently and effectively without hero-ball, also ensured that whatever chance remained in the depleted squad to beat a good opponent like Washington went wandering.
Harbert (~8′ – no rating) See “Daiane” above.
Moultrie (+7/-3 : +6/-4 : +13/-7) Adrián González knew that Moultrie was the danger woman his side was facing, so he sent out his midfield to lock her in solitary and they largely did; her 61 touches were six less than Izabella Obaze’s and only eight more than Sam Hiatt’s. Moultrie didn’t help herself with poor shot selection (four shots, two off frame, two blocked, cumulative xG 0.15, PSxG 0).
Bad day for this year’s Designed Hero to have an unheroic outing.
Spaanstra (63′ – +3/-2 : +1/-1 : +4/-2) Washington’s Kate Wiesner just ate Spaanstra’s lunch, including the hard-boiled egg and the carrot sticks, and then blew the milk money on candy and cigarettes. In a match where all the Thorns forwards had little service and few connections, Spaanstra’s 21 touches were the fewest of any of the starting XI’s. Complete non-factor for her hour, but replacing her with Tordin…
Tordin (27′ – +2/-0) …while at least producing a shot on frame, was unable to reproduce the catalytic effect Tordin had against San Diego. Because Washington is that much better-staffed and better-trained than both San Diego and Portland.
Coffey (+4/-1 : +3/-5 : +7/-6) “A good team usually beats a team of good players”.
Fleming (+8/-7 : +7/-6 : +15/-13) While I think the chances of winning this game were never great, what really didn’t help Portland was Jessie Fleming, who had grown into an increasingly central role in midfield this season, having a (by her own standards) absolutely horrifically poor match. Giveaways, heavy touches, defensive errors, silly fouls…all there, and all just another kick when Portland was down and needed another kick like a hole in the head.
Reyes (+3/-3 : +7/-2 : +10/-5) The Thorns defense didn’t have a very good day, but it’s hard to give them too much stick for it; they had someone – usually a bunch of someones – in highlighter yellow in their faces All. Fucking. Day.
To give Rob Gale credit I think he gets that this squad cannot park the bus. To his discredit, knowing that, he’s been unable to craft tactics or strategies to relieve the sort of relentless pressure that clubs like Washington can put on his backline. The Thorns don’t (or can’t) hold possession, and unless their heroes convert early and often winning 3-2 or 4-3 isn’t a possibility.
So Reyes wasn’t particularly sharp against the Spirit, but much of the reason for that wasn’t her issues as much as her boss’s.
Obaze (+3/-0 : +2/-1 : +5/-1) Her PMRs make Obaze look like the best of the backline, but by the low overall numbers I suspect it has more to do with her being less pressured than the others in her unit. Not shameful, but not a very good day for anyone in black.
Hiatt (86′ – +4/-2 : +2/-4 : +6/-6) We’ve already pretty much picked on Hiatt to the degree warranted by her form at Audi, her team’s form, and the mismatch between those and Washington’s.
That said, my hope when the FO dealt for her was that Hiatt would provide Sauerbrunn- or Menges-grade discipline and sturdiness to a defense that had been steadily slipping from the high of 2017.
Instead, Hiatt has been…pretty meh. She has her moments, both good and bad, but typically she’s been not much more then an NWSL-replacement-level centerback this season. That’s not awful! Everyone needs squad players! But with a less-than-lockdown defensive unit around her I’d wanted Hiatt to bring more to the pitch. It’s not her fault she didn’t; she is what she is. But the FO needed to realize and do something about that (and possibly did – shoring up the backline may very well be one of the big reasons for the Sugita-for-Vignola trade) instead of leaving poor Hiatt & Co hanging.
Perry (~4′ – +2/-3) Not really a factor, but my guess is that the substitution was more about giving Hiatt a mental health break after the turnover, so.
Torpey (63′ – +8/-4 : +0/-2 : +8/-5) Like her backline sisters, not a great day. Struggled with Sofia Cantore for an hour and ended up conceding Cantore a bit of ground; her four shots and 0.4xG are third on Washington’s sheet behind Monday and Bethune. But not routed on a day when the Thorns were pretty comprehensively undone, so…
McKenzie (27′ – +3/-1) Similar – both in positives and negatives – to Torpey whom she replaced, so kind of a wash.
Arnold (+2/-0 : +1/-1 : +3/-1) It’s a perfect summation of the whole “Arnold, Bixby, and the fanbase” thing that, having made monster saves in the 7th and 31st and 57th minutes, Arnold was hung out by her field players twice and the Riveting! Facebook page was immediately overrun with howls of “Where was Arnold, then!?!?!”.
Could Arnold have made even more heroic open-field stops on either Kouassi or Bethune or both? Sure! But to slag off on a keeper for losing a 1v0 duel is the height of entitled arrogance. Pull on the gloves and you try and time your tackle perfectly to get the ball off the foot of a charging opponent, knowing that you have fractions of a second to make the play and that if you miss and hack them down you’re likely to concede both the ensuing penalty goal and the sending-off.
Fucking good luck with that.
I don’t see a ha’porth of daylight between Arnold and Bixby. Both appear to be solid NWSL-starting keepers. Neither looks to be the level-above like Kingsbury or Berger. Could the Thorns do better? Possibly. But there’s a lot more things on this roster to worry about more than keepers.
Coach Ken: The “overperformed” meme has been getting a lot of airing this past week, and I’m not going to flat-out deny that Gale had a lot of roster issues to deal with this season. We have no way of knowing how much the roster issues were on the FO and how much influence on the FO he had.
But, as we discussed last match, the Thorns didn’t really “overperform” by much; they were solidly in the “almost” gaggle of half a dozen or so teams that finished third through tenth this season.
And the flaws we saw that pulled the club down into the gaggle were not just lacking the big stars; they were training and communication problems that the squad and it’s coach never shed.
Whatever the reasons, and whatever the factors, the result was a Thorns that wasn’t at the same level as the Spirit (or the Current; I wouldn’t have bet that Portland would have been able to sneak a Gotham-like result against the Shield holders if they had been the semifinal opponent…).
The challenge now is 2026.
Can the coach and FO convince all the ML/DL players to return?
That’s far from a given; look at all the wailing over the rumors that one of the big pieces of the semifinal winner, Trinity Rodman, is looking for a big European payday. The cap is too low, and for clubs like Portland with players like Wilson, or Washington with Rodman, are going to have a difficult time keeping their truly top-end players if they have to bid against the plutocratic elites of the FAWSL and D1F and the FBL.
If the Portland FO can keep them here, can the technical staff forge that stacked roster into a top-two club?
That’s far from a given, too; look at clubs like ACFC or San Diego to see how it’s possible to underachieve with a roster full of excellent players.
Can the club – can the owners, the GM, the coach – figure out a plan to do all that? Does Gale have the vision of the club he wants, can he communicate that to Agoos, can they convince the Bhathals to commit the monies, to pull in all the pieces and make them fit, make them run like a big engine to the top of the league?
We won’t know until the offseason starts to unroll.
Because for now, we’re finished with the engines.
- Notes on the silly season, part 1 - December 2, 2025
- Thorns FC: FWE - November 22, 2025
- Thorns FC: A damn nice thing - November 17, 2025
Thanks John. That game must have been hard to watch.
I am looking forward to your post season review of the players and team.
The one thing this game did was give us a picture of what separates this team from the top two or three. That seems to be having, not just one, but at least three outstanding players and depth on every line. With Soph, Liv and Sam the Thorns have or could have three outstanding players. Hanks, Weaver, Müller, Fleming, Reyes and Vignola are all very good. The team needs some depth in the mid field and another CB. I think there is sufficient depth on the forward line with Tordin and Turner. Castellanos has started to show what she is capable of doing at the end of the season. Julie Dufore is not a player that I would feel bad about bringing off the bench or starting; she is a keeper.
On the back line, I think Jayden Perry will come on strong, but she was just a little underprepared for this season. The team is also solid at keeper.
That might not be enough depth, but I will defer to your review. One of the things this final showed is that coaches have to play more players. The season is long and those that depend on just a few players die by that sword. See Kansas City, not just Chawinga, but the whole team seemed to limp into the quarter finals. That was an upset that everybody could see coming.
Then there is the coach?!?
I’m planning to do a “Final Grades” series, but the thing about this offseason is that I’m not sure how fruitful recapping 2025 is going to be going forward, simply because there’s going to be SO many moving parts between now and April 2026:
1. Re-signing/extending Wilson. Obviously huge, but a bit worrisome that we’re not hearing anything on negotiations or, well, anything. Not huge – the current FO is just as opaque as ever! – but a bit.
2. Returns from injury, including Hanks, Dufour, Muller, and Weaver. All potentially big pieces for 2026, all with serious injuries, all presumably on different timelines. How well. – and whether – each and all of them return will make a big difference.
3. THEN – once the returning/not returning big names question has been answered – the HOW it’s answered will have a proportionate impact on the roster for 2026. Wilson, Weaver, Hanks and Dufour all return healthy and bought in? Then the place(s) for Spaanstra, Turner, Tordin, and Castellanos become even more up-in-the-air than they are now (and my argument would be that re-signing either Spaanstra or Castellanos or both is highly contingent right now and will become even more tenuous if all four of the players on the IR return…) and the process of fitting the returnees into the existing roster becomes even more complex.
4. Midfield depth, as you note, is complicated. Midfield ROLES are even more complicated; I still think the “is-Moultrie-a-F-or-a-10?” question needs to be settled one way or the other, or Gale needs to figure out a better way to use her as shifting between both depending on opponent, roster, and game state.
5. Backline; the return, and positions, of Muller and Vignola, make this a bit more complex, but the centerbacks are a potential issue. I’m not really sold on Hiatt but I think the FO is, but is a Hiatt-Obaze-Perry-Daiane CB rotation do-able? If not, who stays? Who goes?
And, the single biggest question is, as always, Gale. Did he really “overachieve” and so might be poised to do even better with a roster packed with players like Muller, Wilson, Hanks, Coffey, and Moultrie, &tc? Or was he just sort of flailing, bailed out by hero ball and luck? Can he be part of the solution, or will he be part of the problem?
Certainly the squad SEEMS to like him (though I thought Coffey’s remark about how the squad had been dealing with “issues you don’t know about” seems to be troubling) and that’s not entirely disregardable. But beyond the vibey stuff…has he got the actual soccer coaching/training/matchday management skills? I don’t think we really know, tho I tend to be skeptical.
Which is a long-winded way of saying…we’re going to have to just see what the FO does.
And I should add a general note re: the Wilson situation; one potentially huge (as in, REALLY huge) issue is the salary cap.
The fuss surrounding Trinity Rodman emphasizes how there’s two forces at play here.
1) The cap is too low. Period. Rich clubs in Europe know that there’s a “magic number” they can offer big stars that no club in the NWSL can meet. So if the cap doesn’t move, players like Rodman and Wilson are vulnerable.
2) The rich people who own NWSL clubs like the low cap for the fiscal discipline it forces on them. They have a built-in excuse not to throw money at players. How much they love the low cap is going to depend on how likely they think it is that rich European clubs will come to poach their players and turn the NWSL into a selling league that will drive down attendance and revenues.
So the Wilson question may not be answered for some time. If she and her agent are smart – and I assume they are – they’ll wait and see if the owners vote to raise the cap at whatever-passes-for-a-winter-meeting the owners do in the offseason.
Completely agree with both points about the salary cap. When the most recent CBA was signed I saw the cap limits and thought, “There’s no way those can stand. European teams are going to push this, hard.” It made me wonder if the owners, and Jessica Berman, are still living in the world of 10 years ago, when the NWSL was pretty much the only destination for players who wanted high-level competitive games and a decent salary. That hasn’t been true for years, but the league is acting like it still is.
Will Berman deal with this and raise the cap, or rather get the owners to raise the cap? Her public comments aren’t very encouraging, though I wonder how much she’s constrained by needing to present the league position rather than what she personally thinks. Her employers, after all, are the owners, not us fans. I’d like to see more leadership from her on this – i.e., publicly take a position, like raising the cap and/or instituting a DP rule, that’s unpopular with the owners* – but I’m not sure that’s going to happen. We’ll see.
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* I should clarify that it’s only *some* of the owners who like the current situation. Kang, to her credit, is willing to spend and spend big on WoSo (though of course I hate how she’s distorting the game by moving players around), the Bhathals are spending a lot on the training facility (though they punted on player costs this year), the Gotham owners seem willing to shell out, and there are probably others.
My reflex is to distrust anything plutocrats like or want, and the cap is no exception. People like Kang or Aulas have only their interests in mind whether it’s playing rendeer games with player “transfers” or buying titles by ensuring the league is their clubs and tomato cans.
So my instinct is to be suspicious that any sort of cap change they propose will be mcgyvered to ensure that their clubs can gimmick the new rules.
I’d be a bit less skeptical if Berman had shown herself a bit less plutocrat-adjacent. I get it; she works for the owners. But at the same time she’s the only potential voice the fans have amid the thrones and dominations of the league. If she won’t stand against the owners’ relentless quest to jerk every available nickel out of our pockets, who will? If she won’t subject every proposed rule change to a hard-eyed assessment of its benefits not to the owners or the clubs or even the players but to the fans..?
Well…
Understood. Yes it will be very complicated. And time tables for the SEI and pregnancies will vary. Weaver’s contract will be difficult for the FO because she is very popular with the fans, I am a big fan; but will she be back to the player she was? Some players, like Rapinoe have returned from at least two knee injuries still excellent. The Thorns are very deep in attackers too. Who stays and who goes? And yeah the midfield is very complicated as we saw in the final coaches hate to replace a midfielder in a game. But yeah I agree there are so many moving parts. The Coach question, that is also a hard one, I am not sold on Coach Ken either.
The Coach question has been answered: https://www.thorns.com/news/portland-thorns-announce-departure-of-head-coach-rob-gale
Hopefully, this time will actually be a world wide search…
So I’m very much of two minds on this.
On the one hand, it’s a “good” sign that Agoos and the Bhathals are ambitious. It would have been very easy for them to overlook the issues with training and organization and ride the “overperformed”/vibe train into next season. They didn’t, which to me shows they were looking hard at the metrics and quality of play rather than just record and finishing above the red line.
On the other…I think – and “think” is the keyword, I really have no solid knowledge – that the squad likes Gale and wants to play hard for him. That’s a big piece! Tactics and strategy are important, but if your club isn’t solidly behind those and the coach who crafted them? That’s a problem.
Remember that after Parlow-Cone the “big move” was Paul Riley (spit!). There’s no guarantee that the FO will find someone that will do any better than Gale did. That’s the…I won’t say “bad” sign, but it’s enough that I’m going to be patient and see what the FO comes up with, and how soon.
The clock is ticking, and so unless they started looking some time ago there’s about ten weeks before the club needs to start spinning up for 2026, and even before that there’s going to be signings/extensions/waivers that will really need the HC’s input.
So…I’m cautiously optimistic. But there’s still a LOT to be worked out, and we’ll have to wait and see how it goes.
This story isn’t over. I think I am just going to take a break until the tea leaves settle. I ‘think’ there is more to this. But yes, it seems ambitious by Agoos.
I think they’ve been thinking about this for months. The stray comments from Gale subtly criticizing the FO and the fact that the firing happened right after the NWSL season concluded both point to that. Hopefully that means they’re far along on hiring a successor.
I think December will be key. If we start hearing names before the New Year? Very likely.
The problem being that it can be really difficult to keep secrets in a small organization, and if the FO was nosing around looking at potential replacements I suspect that would have been hard to hide from Gale and his ACs. So how far the search had progressed? Hmmm….
For me it’s more about the who. I’d love to see someone with a real vision, and a workable vision, than just getting a body in ASAP. We’ve had three “bodies” since Parsons left (I count Wilkinson there, tho had she been able to keep it in her pants she might have been a genuine successor) and I think it’s time to find someone who can put together a team with a demonstrable (and effective) style of play.
John, at one point you asked for article ideas. I think it would be fun to create your favorite thorns team of all time or alternately the best thorns team of all time they don’t have to be the same. I’ve enjoyed doing this and it’d be fun to see what your opinion is. I made up some rules like they had to be on the team for more than two years, but obviously could do whatever you want.
Hmm. Mkay, that’s worth thinking about.
FWIW, here’s where I was five years ago; https://rivetingpdx.com/2020/05/01/thorns-fc-memory-box-5-best-xi/
Obviously the Arrival of Smith changes that more than a bit. But I still think a fair number of those choices are pretty valid.
I forgot this article—it was fun to read and compare with mine. It is tempting to choose a favorite team versus a best team. The midfield is the hardest…