Instant Reaction: Portland Thorns fall Orlando Pride 2-1
The Thorns are handed their first loss under Rob Gale's lead.
The Thorns met their match in Florida, falling 1-2 against the Pride. The two Orlando goals came in the first half from Barbara Banda, in the second half it was a much closer game and D’Aquila was able to cut the Pride’s lead in half, but they weren’t able to come up with the win.
Portland found a lot of possession in the beginning, Orlando sat back taking a more defensive approach.
Hubly collected the first yellow of the evening, setting the tone for the chippy game that this would become. She was holding onto Banda, who was a thorn in Portland’s side all night (am I allowed to say thorn when not talking about the PDX side?).
Orlando made the quick switch from sitting back to attacking, they had a few opportunities that the Thorns were lucky to clear away. It felt like at any moment Orlando would find a way through… and get through they did.
In the 30th minute, a corner in from Marta pings around the box, and Banda was able to put it away with her head.
The Thorns found very little in terms of opportunities on goal, in fact, the first and only shot on frame didn’t come until the 33rd minute. Moultrie found herself in front of net but was unable to make it a strong enough shot to challenge Moorhouse.
The Pride doubled their lead in the 40th minute after Banda took the ball past Hogan with a touch and found the back of the net.
The three minutes of stoppage time weren’t enough for the Thorns to get anything back before halftime.
The start of the second half saw two subs for Portland- Fleming and Reyes made way for Linnehan and Payne.
Sinc got close in the 55th minute but her shot was sent over the crossbar but it was still a better look than most of what we had all night.
Orlando looked to be the better team throughout the game with more concrete chances and good looks on target.
Sinclair made way for D’Aquila in the 62nd minute, I’m sure she’s kicking herself for missing that shot opportunity, but hey at least she’s got a Barbie.
Portland was able to cut the score in half in the 71st minute; Izzy D’Aquila neatly put away a cross from Moultrie marking her first professional goal in the NWSL!
Kling and Dias come into the game for Müeller and Beckie. Kling always brings such good energy to games, I’ve missed seeing her on the pitch.
Portland had a late surge in the offensive half, Dias almost leveled the game with a header but it went off the crossbar and was collected by Moorhouse. Overall, this half looked much better than the first, it felt like what this game could have been from the get-go- evenly matched and fun to watch.
Five minutes of stoppage are added to the match- and they were action-packed, Portland was doing all they could to level the score but in the end, the unbeaten streak under Rob Gale was broken. Props to Orlando though, they now hold the NWSL record for longest winning streak.
Scoring Summary:
POR- Izzy D’Aquila (71’)
ORL- Barbara Banda (30’ and 40’)
Next Up:
Portland returns home on June 8th to take on North Carolina Courage. It will be their pride night and the game will kick off at 7 pm PST and will be streamed on ION.
Respectable performance marred by few individual errors. This is the first time I think I’d really criticize Gale’s approach to the game. He didn’t start the right players. Sinc should have stayed home. She’s got no business in Orlando heat and humidity, especially if we need to be quick in transition. Our lack of pace at both ends of the pitch left us exposed at the back and Beckie isolated up top. Our passing was a bit off too, even Coffey. May have had something to do with trying to conserve energy and not move off the ball too much.
We’re lucky Hogan didn’t see red. Banda would have been within her rights to be tripped. Hogan has improved but I am curious about Alvarado. I’m really happy for Izzy, especially because I didn’t think she had it in her.
Linnehan has made a case to start over Beckie IMHO, though her being better defensively makes some sense as a sub if we assume we are going to try to hold a lead. Beckie needs to work on her composure and decision-making in the box, though she was often double or triple-teamed without outlets.
I don’t know what Fleming is supposed to be doing. Apparently she completed some passes but I don’t know if they were progressive or chance-creating. I rarely or barely notice when she’s playing. That’s gotta get fixed. So far it seems more like a favor to team Canada to sign her than about building a balanced Thorns roster. She’s got Hina, Moultrie, and sometimes Sinc at least competing for what seems to be her role. Hina and Moultrie as kind of pivoting 8/10s seems the best choice most of the time but Liv has some off games. Sinc gets mostly charity minutes, which is unfortunate and unprofessional IMHO.
Obaze and Payne might have been better choices than Hubly and Reyes for this one. Hubly and Reyes have both been returning to form/improving and maybe Obaze and Payne are still settling in and finding chemistry, but I think they are faster and I haven’t noticed the same mental lapses.
Gale has been doing well so far but LeBlanc and Norris set him up with an unbalanced roster. Some of that is due to us sticking with some older players for consistency during this transition period and to allow them to have honorable send-offs in front of the supporters. Offseason should help if they can make better decisions and not just use Thorns as the Canadian national team’s farm team. I kind of like being honorary Canadian and appreciate the value of cohesion and chemistry, but the club comes before country.
Would have preferred Linnehan and Beckie on the wings, Liv and Hina pivoting in midfield above Coffey, and probably Dias up top. Was valuable to have quality, pace, energy, and creativity off the bench though.
Onward.
Perhaps a different game without Soph -- and you have to remember that the Thorns are already missing Weaver -- but we already know Sinclair and Moultrie in two of the front 3 positions doesn't work!
First half against Seattle: .17 xG, 1 goal
First half against Orlando: .22 xG, 0 goals
There's not enough dynamism, there's not enough speed, and the team isn't tactically set up well enough to go away from home and have 60, 65% possession (which is the only way that kind of front 3 can work).
The Thorns strength under Gale has been counter-pressing and then quick counter-attacks. Can't do that with the lineup they had last night.
The encouraging thing is he quickly made adjustments, but Gale's been wedded to using Sinclair a bit too much IMV when it doesn't match what the Thorns are good at under his coaching. Interested to see how they respond next time.