Match Preview: Portland Thorns v. Utah Royals
The Thorns head to Utah to take on the Royals for the first time this season
The Thorns will kick off against Utah at 7pm PST and the game will be available on ION.
Coming off of a rough loss against the KC Current the Thorns head to Utah to take on the no. 14 ranked team. The Thorns sit in 5th place with 7 wins, 5 losses, and 2 draws, the Royals currently have 2 wins, 11 losses, and 1 draw. This doesn’t mean that the Thorns can go into this game expecting an easy win. Sandy, Utah, where the game will be played sits at 4,450’ in elevation and will be against a team with nothing to lose.
Utah has a lot of former Thorns on their team; Betfort, Pogarch, Henry, and Vasconcelos. It’ll at least be fun to see some reunions post-game.
Utah hasn’t scored in their last 5 matches and overall have only netted 7 goals.
What needs to change?
The Thorns have only scored 3 goals in their last 4 games one of those being a penalty kick, while they do have the attacking prowess in Smith they don’t have consistency from other players to support her. I would love to see Linnehan, Dias, and D’Aquila stepping up to help carry the weight.
They also need to shore up the defense and not allow any simple mistakes to lead to goals.
Players to watch
Utah Royals:
Betfort- Former Portland Thorn herself it will be interesting to see what she does while facing her old club. She may not be starting but will surely bring energy to the pitch.
Henry- The French international is a solid player, she is a midfielder who is also a former Thorn (there are a few on this Utah team.) She earned the silver boot in the 2015 World Cup and is still going strong.
Allyson Sentnor- The number one overall pick in the 2023 draft, she’s up and coming and has scored two goals for Utah this season (out of their 7)
Portland:
Hina Sugita- is a joy to watch in midfield and is a great connector throughout the field.
Ana Dias- Coming off a very successful charity match in Portland (tallied a hat trick), I hope she can translate that success to the NWSL pitch if she plays against Utah.
Janine Beckie- When she’s on she’s a great asset, I hope the Thorns in general can find more consistency and if they do and Beckie can shine it will be fun to watch.
Predicted Lineup and final score:
Utah
Haught
Flynn-Tejada-Del Fava-Burns
Henry-Fraser-Foederer
Sentnor-Tucker-Mozingo
Portland
Hogan
Müller-Hubly-Sauerbrunn-Reyes
Hina-Coffey-Fleming
Beckie-Smith-Linnehan
Score
Portland 3-1 Utah
Two memorable matches in Sandy:
(1) Sauerbruun's header goal against us and Sonnett's second yellow converting to a red - the beginning the Thorns 2019 tailspin.
(2) The 2020 Challenge Cup match when Eckerstrom stonewalled NC in front of unused playground equipment and not much else.
Thorns hopefully brought the Mojo Detector along with on this trip. Utah are really bad and other than altitude, have no home advantage to speak of. Score early (remember that?) and keep the hammer down the rest of the way. Make that flight home a pleasant one.
LFG