Houston Dash vs Portland Thorns, Take 2 – Game, (Re)set, (Re)match?
by Elisabeth Beathalter, Portland
The last couple weeks have not gone smoothly for the Thorns and it is hard to put a finger on why exactly. Or rather, the trouble seems to have many faces. Against Boston, the Thorns dealt with an extremely deep lying team focused on defending and found it hard to penetrate and get shots on goal. Against Houston, the problem was finishing the opportunities they did have and against the Spirit last week it might have been a combination of the two.
On top of that, individual defensive errors have hurt the Thorns. They lost them a point in Boston and most likely cost them 3 points against the Spirit.
Kendall Johnson referred to the game as the Thorns’ “worst performance of the season2 and Paul Riley saw the problem in midfield: Portland gave the Spirit too much control, too much of the possession and failed to put their stamp on the game. He went on to suggest that unfortunately most of the Thorns’ midfielders had “an average game.”
Psychology might have had a big part against Washington. Getting the lead they wanted, then feeling the momentum shift in favour of the Spirit and conceding not one but two easy goals before they could reassert themselves may have had something to do with a lot of individual performances not being up to par. Coming off of a two game losing streak would probably not have helped confidence levels either. The Thorns tried, but lacked both the final pass and the final conviction.
Now the team travels to Houston with heavy baggage and a lot on the line. Riley was blunt when he said the team needed the 3 points from the game, which will be their last one before the two-week World Cup break. Those points would not only help to keep the gap between the Thorns and the playoff spots from getting even bigger, it would also help going into the break on a positive note. That certainly would not hurt.
So what about Houston? They managed to shut out Portland at home in the first meeting this season, courtesy of Ella Masar’s incredible defensive performance, a couple of solid saves by Henninger and a lot of squandered opportunities from the Thorns. Last week, they played Sky Blue FC and after going down early, it took a late game rally from the Dash to take away a point. They still allow a lot defensively and were somewhat lucky not to go down 2-0 before they were able to create much of a chance to equalize.
But they are certainly still a gritty team and may hold the psychological upper hand: not only did they manage a second half come back, they also took 3 points from the Thorns last time and they know they can do it again. Getting an early goal may be crucial for Portland to shift them momentum back in their favour.
Going into the match, they will hopefully remember that it is possible to break down the Dash defence and hold their confidence levels high. It is a positive that Genoveva Anonma scored her first goal for the Thorns against Washington, off of a nice through ball by Allie Long. Her confidence will hopefully remain high in the wake of this success and her understanding with her teammates will likely only grow with time as she keeps settling in. “I’m getting used to it little by little,” she said this week. She added that her main objective was scoring more goals for Portland and hopefully she will start today. Knowing there is an experienced goal scorer on the team may take off some weight of the younger player’s shoulders and help with their composure, should they find themselves in a shooting position.
Finally, it will be important that Portland stop “shooting themselves in the foot” – as Paul Riley put it – by giving up easy goals, especially so early in games. As former Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp once remarked: “It is really hard to win games when you give up goals like that.”
