Photo courtesy of Stephanie Yang.
Portland suffered their first loss of the season last week in Boston, when Kristie Mewis scored in stoppage time for the Breakers. More worryingly than a last minute defensive misunderstanding however, may be the fact that the Thorns only managed to get off 5 shots in 90min, only 3 of which were on goal (all three were taken by Anonma). Time and time again, good build up was broken up by an alert Boston defence before any threatening situation could evolve: Portland was very often the literal and proverbial step behind. As Paul Riley put it: “We didn’t get the job done.”
The Thorns had their fifth different forward start up top in as many games. But Ayo seemed to settle in relatively well, considering she only arrived in Portland less than a week before the match. It was Mana Shim and Allie Long having a relatively quiet game that seemed to hurt the Thorns the most.
Houston seems to suffer from a problem similar to that of the Thorns, as they struggle to compensate the loss of key players across the field. Most worrying seems to be the backline, after losing Stephanie Ochs 19min into the 3rd game of the season to an ACL tear. It was the teams’ defensive effort which Khelia Ohai called out with some frustration in a recent post game interview. The worries went so far that the Dash this week waived forward Stephanie Roche in order to sign Australian defenders Ellie Brush and Camila from Brazil. With the new additions Houston hope to return to defensive stability. Whether that will work against the Thorns already remains to be seen.
At the same time, the attacking side seems to still be trying to find its groove. Final passing and timing the overall issue, Houston struggled to look really dangerous against the solid defences of both Kansas City and the Chicago Red Stars. That is not to say, however, that Houston should be taken lightly. Both Khelia Ohai and former Thorn Jess McDonald have had a bright start to the season: both have scored three goals so far. McDonald seems to have returned from Germany a more well rounded player: on top of using her speed to create goals, she now often drops deeper, connecting well with the midfield and setting up her teammates. It was her ball into Melissa Henderson that was the start of Ohai’s goal against Chicago last week. The return of Brittany Bock from her ACL injury should also help the Dash’s attack in the future.
That speed alone can be deadly should be well known to those Thorns fans who were around last season, when Portland was somewhat notoriously vulnerable to counter attacks. Last week in Boston however, the defense dealt very well with the speed of the Breakers and McCaffrey in particular for most of the game (only to be somewhat surprised by Maddy Evans’ sprinting ability which eventually resulted in a hurried headed clearance to the feet of Mewis, who scored). Portland, however, is lucky to have a fast backline this year. Unfortunately one of the paciest players, Emily Menges, is listed as questionable for today’s game.
Listed along with Menges are Rachel van Hollebeke and midfielder McCall Zerboni. According to Paul Riley this means that the Thorns may play with four at the back, as they did in the first half against Boston. While the Breakers’ most threatening moments seemed to come in that first half (including a long range shot from Mewis which hit the crossbar), Riley still felt the defense did not allow too much. The fact that many people watching did not appear to notice the change for Portland can be credited to the very mature interplay between the backline. While both Johnson and Niemic moved forward at times to support the attack, the Thorns always managed to have at least three players staying behind – the timing between the two outside backs seemed good.
How Portland deal with a new player likely coming into the defence and how that will affect interplay and timing at the back is one of the key questions ahead of tonight’s game. Additionally they may have to replace Zerboni, who has been crucial in defensive midfield breaking up play and starting the attack for Portland. Promising for Portland is that Kate Bennett, who played the first half in Boston, seemed to adjust quite well to the Thorns’ fluidity. She most likely started on the right wing, but could be found in places all around the pitch, taking part in the frequent positional shifts of the Thorns’ box midfield.
Finding back to old creative strength in midfield as well as connecting (even) better with Anonma will be crucial for Portland, especially since match ups with the Dash have always been close. If they can exploit the Dash’s defensive weakness and compensate for their own, the Thorns can put last week’s loss behind them.
