In the old movie this is where the editor runs into the newsroom shouting “STOP THE PRESSES!!!” To me this is intriguing on a number of levels: First, because without Macario I don’t see the #1 pick on this draft being worth all that much. Certainly not worth a subsidized player. Certainly not worth a […]
Read More Thorns FC: Wild CardOn paper or pixels it looks like it should have been a quick, one-sided, brutal beatdown. The Portland Thorns went to Salt Lake City and outshot the Utah Royals 21-7, and put 6 on frame to Utah’s 3. They won 11 corners to Utah’s 5. Dagny Brynjarsdottir rattled a bullet of a header off the […]
Read More Thorns FC: Good but not good enoughBy which I mean it’s time to crunch the numbers on NWSL attendance We’re a little past halfway into the 2019 NWSL season and the victorious USWNT players have returned from the World Cup. It’s time to take a look at how the league is faring at the turnstiles. Well folks, there’s good news and […]
Read More It’s Crunch Time!The World Cup for 2019 is over. The USA won for the fourth time. We made the long trek home from Lyon without incident. Our cat thrived at the kitty hotel. Now it’s back to normal life, but with small reminders comparing “normal life” in Portland to that in France. When you last heard from […]
Read More Done and DustedOur foreign correspondents Richard and Jeanette Hamje are in France for the World Cup and are bringing the experience to you. Learn what the French word for “goal” is! Marvel at the heat! Shake your head at how bad Brazil is! It’s like you’re right there with them.
Read More Innocents Abroad: The Hamjes Reporting From FranceThe group stage is over and we’re on to the knockout rounds. All the Thorns in France are still playing. The second set of group stage games were mostly dull or infuriating, as most teams played their b-teams. This was partly due to the short turnaround, partly so new players can get a few World […]
Read More Riveting in France: Group Stage is CompleteThe first matches in the group stage are now complete. The final match in the sequence was Group F, the USA versus Thailand. We have seen four of the matches in person and watched all but two of the others on local television. Nigeria versus Norway was the first match held in Reims. Norway won […]
Read More Riveting in France – Group stage round one completeThe opening match of the 2019 Women’s World Cup was tonight in Paris. France faced South Korea in what turned out to be an entirely one-sided affair. For example, France had 10 corners, 16 shots and 3 goals in the first half – Korean got one corner and nothing else. Former Thorn Amandine Henry assisted […]
Read More Riveting in France: Opening matchThe Thorns finally had a home game, and it was quite the day. The 3-0 win kicked off the introduction of the “Nat-free Thorns” to the home faithful in high style. But the fun started before the first whistle. Hammered Rivets The stadium update is pretty impressive. Aside from the obvious new stand, there were […]
Read More Home at Last!(This is the blog post Richard mentioned in Episode 24. It is very worth a read. –Patrick) Read it and weep. This long blog post from February details allegations, with supporting detail, about misconduct by coaches in the Vancouver Whitecaps girl’s academy back in 2008. It’s such a now-familiar story that it’s hard reading: girls […]
Read More When Sorry Won’t Do in Canada