By Elisabeth Beathalter
After a long offseason, the Thorns finally return to Providence Park, ready to start their 2015 campaign on Saturday against the Boston Breakers.
Game previews are always a sort of guessing game, because this is soccer and it has a well-known habit of being unpredictable. But at the start of a new season, the guessing becomes so much harder. Especially in the NWSL, which by its very nature sees a relatively high turnaround of players in the offseason via trades and drafts. This year, the usual turnaround was intensified by a rather high number of retirements.
The Breakers come into the match-up with a core backline from last year, lead by Cat Whitehill, who started every game for the club last season, and backed by Alyssa Naeher. Their midfield and forwards, however, are almost completely changed and feature a lot of young talent fresh out of college or – as is the case with Brazilians Ketlen Wiggers and Rafinha – at least new to the league.
For Portland, the backbone of returning veterans is more evenly spread across the field. Despite substantial changes in the off season, the Thorns can build on a core of established players from back to front: starting with Nadine Angerer in goal, over Van Hollebeke, Menges and Williamson; Allie Long, Mana Shim, Tobin Heath and Sinead Farelly in midfield, right to Alex Morgan up top. These players have at least one season of playing and training together under their belt, which should help to integrate newer players. 
This is exactly what head coach Paul Riley has emphasized all through pre-season: laying a solid foundation with the players that will be around all season, so that national team players can transition in and out seamlessly while they balance club duty with World Cup preparations and eventually, with the World Cup itself. He calls it “building the house” that the internationals then can move into, whenever they are with their club. With Heath and Morgan missing pre-season entirely and Rachel van Hollebeke missing at least substantial parts of it, the game against Boston will be the first opportunity to see how well the plan works out, or – to stay with architectural metaphor – whether the house is standing yet and ready to comfortably take in its residents.
During pre-season, the Thorns played several friendlies: two against university teams (UP and University of Arizona) and one against WPSL side FC Tuscon. Portland dominated possession in all three match-ups, while staying defensively solid. Of course 4-0 and 6-0 wins against college teams are not the level of competition the Thorns will be facing in regular season, and FC Tuscon, too, was focused more on defense rather than on attack. Paul Riley, however, seemed pleased with how his team handled the very physical WPSL side and forward Jodie Taylor felt the team gelled very well, especially in the first half of the match-up, when all the rostered players were on the field. In the second half, numerous subs probably did their share to disrupt the flow of the game a little bit.
Still – some questions remain. In the first game against UP, goals did not come until the second half, when the college players probably were tiring out a little bit, allowing more time and space on the ball. It is promising that the team was able to score earlier in subsequent match ups, but it needs to be seen how well the midfield and front line are able to connect and combine. Final passes and crosses are tricky as they rely on timing as well as knowing each other’s runs. This might be something that needs more time and fine-tuning with players such as newcomer Jodie Taylor or Alex Morgan, who only joined the Thorns on Wednesday. Should either or both of them start on Saturday, it is important for the Thorns that they are not isolated up top but receive quality service. Another issue is Morgan’s current form, as recent USWNT friendlies suggest that her finishing is not quite back to were it used to be.
Boston, too, played several pre-season games, including two friendlies against the Jamaican Women’s National Team. Line-ups were varied, giving coach Tom Durkin the chance to experiment with several combinations of players. The results were equally one sided as the Thorns match-ups and featured a large variety of goalscorers – but of course, just as with the Thorns, they also say very little about how the Breakers will look in a competitive game. Team captain Cat Whitehill however feels the defense is much more solid than last season. The first successes of an improvement and growth were already visible in the late 2014 season, as increased experience together began to show in more solid performances. She also added the team is gelling and finding itself quite quickly. Which team can translate that chemistry better into Saturday’s season opener will probably be one of the most crucial factors of the game.
Breakers head coach Tom Durkin commented that he felt Boston matches up well with Portland and in fact Boston’s has exposed the Thorns on the counter several times last season. Avoiding being overrun in transition hence should be a key focus for the Thorns. This includes new defensive midfielder Sarah Robbins tracking back and covering for the outside backs when they push up the field – which she as already shown during pre-season friendlies. But as Nadine Angerer pointed out last season, defending is not limited to the backline – especially not when a team pushes up high – and the whole team will have to do its part: staying compact, communication and chemistry will be the challenges facing the team as they start into the 2015 season.
