Portland Thorns Shine 4-0 Past Orlando Pride in Season Opener at Providence Park.
The Portland Thorns opened the new 2023 NWSL Season on Sunday. The current NWSL Champions have yet to be beaten at a home opener in the league’s ten year history. They faced Orlando Pride who failed to qualify for last year’s playoffs and finished tenth in the table. The 2022 season saw Portland and Orlando face each other twice, with a tally of 8 goals for the champions against 0 for the Florida team.
Orlando under the new leadership of Haley Carter as their VP of Soccer Operations, has been working on creating a team to reverse last year’s poor results, with a new coach, Seb Hines, and the star signing of Brazilian forward Adriana, to join Marta as their fearsome attack duet.
Portland’s 2022 Season was a roller coaster, in-and-out the thick of national news due to sexual harassment scandals that shook the club’s top leadership, and rendering team owner Merritt Paulson as persona non grata on Thorns grounds. The club’s VP of Soccer Gavin Wilkinson and VP of Business Mike Golub were flat out fired. The Portland Thorns and Portland Timbers also are under women leadership with Heather Davis taking over as the first women CEO with everyday operations run by Karina LeBlanc.
Scandals also reached the locker-room forcing coach Rhian Wilkinson’s resignation at the end of last season, along with other technical staff fired for various misconducts. With it all, the Portland Thorns finished second in the shield’s race just one point below the OL Reign and a fearsome goal average of +25. Then, they brought the NWSL Championship to Oregon after a tough final against Kansas City Current.
Under the orders of former Rhian’s assistant, Mike Norris, the team has built on a successful veteran group, adding new players to deepen the bench ahead of a complicated 2023 year full of competing international dates that will certainly take key players away. Building that depth took an unfortunate set back with the loss of Janine Beckie, the talented Canadian midfielder who tore a ligament in preseason and will miss the entire year.
The players entered the field in classic Portland style, austere ceremonies on the pitch, but with all the noise and color in the stands. The creativity and artfulness of Portland’s fans tifos are of international renown. With players already on the field, a speech by team captain Christine Sinclair, thanked the fans for last season’s support, and promised to do everything in their hands to repeat the feat this year. Then it was time to get the ball rolling.
Portland fans display a tifo minutes before the start of the NWSL Season Opener (Photo by Diego G Diaz).
The Thorns started the match with a very aggressive high pressure line that benefited from Orlando’s weak handling of the ball by defensive players. The Pride’s forced turn overs were costly, and the pressure caused Orlando to have a lot of trouble getting in the game altogether.
When the ball crossed the midfield, Orlando faced a superb Sam Coffey, excellent in her role as a defensive mid, and distributing the ball with criteria helping launch the Thorns forward. She countered with the tireless work from Crystal Dunn and an exquisite Hina Sugita, who are both able to pressure, help on ball recovery, and generate magnificent football.
The intense pressure tied up Orlando’s game and forced Brazilian star Marta to have to fall back to help to organize possession, and to track back to help in defense. Marta, considered by many one of the best players in the world, was coming back from an ACL injury. The added defensive work took her away from the attack and left the also Brazilian forward Adrianna, too deep behind the goal and unable to generate much danger.
Adrianna’s first action of notoriety didn’t come until almost 10 minutes into the second half, when she was able to find space between lines, producing venomous shot from outside the box that made Portland’s keeper Bella Bixby fly to the right of her goal post for a corner in an excellent save, the shot was headed for Bixby’s side netting, had she not gotten a touch. It was Orlando’s most dangerous play in the whole match.
Once on Thorns grounds, a wall created by central defenders Keli Hubbly and Becky Sauerbrunn was virtually impenetrable for most of the game. Thorns won in the air and won on the ground. They were first and second reaching almost every ball. On the wings, both Meghan Klingenberg and Natalia Kuikka always were outlets to restart the play. Kuikka lead the game in ball recuperations, venturing into the midfield, even contributing on the attack, always finding nearby help from Coffey, Dunn and Sugita. Their hard work and solidarity on the play was remarkable, they worked two gears ahead Orlando’s opposing midfield.
It wasn’t Orlando’s day, but a loud display by the current champions who dictated the play, and never gave the visitors many options. After the first half, Orlando failed to register a single shot on goal. On the contrary Thorns on the attack were the ruthless and the dangerous team they were last year. They looked like a very well greased machine, dominating the midfield and constantly generating threat from their attacking trident.
Christine Sinclair, already a deity in the world of women’s football at her 39 years young, has found her place sitting in between the forward line and the midfield, being critical on attack, pressuring Orlando’s back, and recovering possession. Acting like a classic “enganche”(hook, or link, between midfield and attack), her play making was key to earning the three points.
Sinclair participated in goals and opened spaces for Sophia Smiths and Morgan Weaver’s game. The skilled Canadian world champion plays simple but always purposeful. In the words of the Dutch legend Johan Cruyff, “football is simple, but playing simple football is the hardest thing there is”, and Sinclair understands that perfectly, and has made her one of the most successful players in the sports history.
Morgan Weaver works tirelessly on the field and she is dangerous on its own merits, but she is also a generous player, opening spaces by widening the field, forcing opposing teams to sit deep. Morgan also adds an element of attrition to any defense with her constant long diagonal runs. On Sunday afternoon long balls to Weaver found her almost always free of mark.
Last but not least, the quality of Sophia Smith added the magic of the likes that can only be found in the beaches of Brazil or in the Argentine Potreros. Every time she walked, in the proximity of Orlando’s box, ball glued to her boots, you could feel the panic. And when she lost the ball, she still was the first line of work to get it back.
In a recipe like this, goals were a question of “when”, not “if”.
The answer didn’t wait long. In the 16th minute, Sinclair fired a hard shot from the 18 yard box that found Orlando’s English goal keeper’s hands, Anna Moorhouse failed to control the ball, which was left it bouncing on the right side of the goal where Morgan Weaver flew by the static defense to slot Portland’s first goal of the 2023 season.
We did not have to wait too long for the local advantage to double. In minute 22, again the high pressure of the Thorns was suffocating Orlando deep in their defense. Another turnover, this time forced by an aggressive Christine Sinclair who blocked a rushed clearance by an Orlando defender Emily Mandril. The ball deflected on Sinclair’s stomach, without slowing her run, she followed up to the end line left of the goal, where she sent a masterful cut back pass to the penalty spot. Orlando defense was caught running back out of position and the pass found a free Sophia Smith who put the ball past Moorhouse.
Portland second goal by Sophia Smith assisted by Christine Sinclair (Photo by Diego G Diaz).
This looked like was going to be a very long afternoon for the visitors, especially after an individual play by Sophia Smith, once again, dribbling around the defense, was left one on one with Orlando’s keeper. Sophia’s shot found the base of the right post and out for a goal kick. Also Sinclair, pressuring again the defense, won a ball just outside The Pride’s center of the area, her precise shot went past the keeper, but the referee, invalidated the play calling it a foul. Orlando was lucky to go to the break down by only two goals.
The second half started following exactly the same pattern, an aggressive Portland dictating the play, and even as Orlando started to connect a bit better, holding more to their possession, and generating a bit more threat, still, Thorns counter attacks seemed ever more dangerous, one of the dynamics that this team feels most comfortable at. The match looked closer to 3-0 than to a visitor reaction. Portland seemed to lack just a bit more edge in the final yards.
That changed on the 49th minute, when Sophia Smith’s inside cut, left a defender in the dust on the right edge of the the 18 yard box. Her shot forced a save by Orlando’s keeper, and the resulting deflection found an astute Sugita, who punted the ball in the net from the center of the box, barely eluding Moorhouse’s last ditch effort with no defenders to help her nearby. A very well deserved prize for the talented Japanese international in an outstanding performance.
The first contender for the season’s best goal, happened in the 76th minute. HIna Sugita controlled a ball in Thorns own third of the field, pressured by two Orlando players, she skillfully dribbled past them in a delightful move that left them face to face narrowly avoiding collision. She quickly gained ground with her chin up looking up at her options, and the ball tied to the feet, the true sign of great footballers. Sugita found Smith with a pass now in Orlando’s own third, in her run on the right wing she dribbled past two defenders penetrating almost to the end line, then she sent a masterful cut back to the center of the box for Michele Vasconcelos, who was coming hot in a diagonal run from the left of the box. Vasconcelos connected a first touch shot between two defenders to put the 4-0 up on the score board. Top class football.
Portland Thorns midfielder HIna Sugita (Photo by Diego G Diaz)
Off Sugita’s move, coach Norris conceded in the after match press conference “we still don’t know how she did that, but she does stuff like that in training all the time”. Hina Sugita is on her second year in the club, and keeps growing in confidence according to Portland’s coach.
Just before, the benches had started making moves. Orlando subbed Marta, who had a less than ideal come back game after a long injury, not being able to generate her brilliant game, bugged down organizing far behind the attack and forced to trail back to contain the Thorns onslaught. Pride’s Coach Seb Hines, chose to not risk her recuperation any further, with the team down 3-0, Marta came out for Yates in minute 53.
Here is when Portland Thorns bench started taking center stage. Forward Michelle Vasconcelos went in for Morgan Weaver in the 62nd minute, at the same time, the youthful Olivia Moultrie subbed in for Crystal Dunn. In minute 76, it was the turn for forward Izzi D’Aquila to make her debut, for the woman of the match, Sophia Smith, who got a big roar from the crowd as she walked out with the score already settled. In minute 81, the legendary Christine Sinclair left her spot under the fans’ loud cheers, for the Costa Rican international Raquel “Rocky” Rodriguez in her third season with the club. Seconds after, defender Maeghan Nally took the last slot and entered the match for Keli Hubbly. .
Far from sitting back, the subs energized a relaxed Thorns that had let Orlando gain terrain. The visitors had upped the pressure a notch, trying to generate danger on an compact Portland’s defense. The last minutes however saw again a surge from the Thorns, generating danger with both through passes inside Orlando’s area as for middle distance attempts forcing Orlando to work hard up to the last minute of injury time.
With just a few minutes of added time, referee Eric Tattersall signaled the end of the contest. The outstanding victory of the Portland Thorns gave the fans something to dream about in this 2023 season. There is a lot to love about this performance, it was a combination of hard work, solidarity, team discipline and also just beautiful football.
It’s noteworthy the role played by the bench, and while it is not a time to rush to conclusions, there is something to keep watching in a year, where the overlap between the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the NWSL will deprive the local league of a lot of talent, with the Thorns potentially losing up to seven key players to the world’s top football tournament. The role of players like, Vasconcelos, D’Aquila, Moultrie, Nally, adding to league veterans like Weaver, Menges, Klingenberg, and others who presumably won’t get the call up to their national squads. Getting that deep squad up to speed will be critical to maintain the regularity of the team in the NWSL table while the biggest stars are away.
For some reason, we are again on World Cup year, and NWSL fails to write a calendar around it like it’s done with the rest of sports world wide when overlaps cause this kind of disruptions. A chance for the bench may be seen as challenging and might be a welcomed idea by some, but it short changes the fans looking and paying to see their stars. It unnecessarily hampers game interest, with attention focused elsewhere and certainly costs clubs unfilled stadium seats.
At least the acute time zone difference will keep local matches from directly compete for audience with the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. However, we also have seen that in the past, oversight is the regular currency at the league’s leadership.
This season opener accounted for many milestones in the teams history, mainly, the Portland Thorns haven’t lost a single home opener with a goal tally of 30 goals against 5 against. It was also coach Mike Norris’s first win at the helm of the team, and although it was hard not to be celebratory on his debut, this is just starting and he is conscious that there is much more work to do.
Next, the Thorns will be traveling to Kansas City to face their last rival in NWSL Cup final, KC Current, in what awaits to be a much tougher test for Norris team. Orlando will host Angel City in front of the home crowd at Exploria Stadium and will try to make fans forget that afternoon at Providence Park as it was a bad dream.
