Match Preview: Portland Thorns vs Washington Spirit
The Thorns hit the road to take on second place Washington.
Coming off a 3-1 victory against Club America in the CONCACAF W Champions Cup, the Thorns travel to DC to take on the second-place team in the league and return to NWSL play. Portland sits in 6th place after a bumpy string of losses.
The game will air at 9:30 am PST (set your alarms) and can be watched on CBS and Paramount+.
This game is going to be a tough one for the team as they have been struggling to get results lately. With only one win in their last six NWSL matches, Portland needs to start finding results if they want to make the playoffs.
The big news for Washington is that Croix Bethune is missing the rest of the season after suffering a meniscus tear while throwing out the first pitch at a Nationals baseball game.
Players to watch
Washington
Trinity Rodman- I feel like I don’t need to explain this one… she’s crazy dangerous with the ball.
Esme Morgan- she recently signed with Washington and comes from a lengthy tenure with Manchester City. She tallied almost 5,000 minutes with the Manchester club.
Jonatan Giráldez- this is kind of a cop-out since he’s not a player, but as the new Washington head coach he is a big deal. Coming to the team after coaching Barcelona, he is one of the best managers in the world.
Portland
Reilyn Turner- She has really been making a name for herself after recently joining the team from Racing Louisville. She scored in her at home debut last Wednesday against Club América.
Alexa Spaanstra- She brings speed and a dynamic force to the front line which should work well with Soph Smith.
Hina Sugita- She is an amazing player in the midfield — I think we should always be watching her.
Predicted Lineup
Washington
Kingsbury
Krueger-Butel-McKeown-Metayer
Santos-Sullivan-Hershfelt
Kouassi-Sarr-Rodman
Portland
Arnold
Payne-Hubly-Obaze-Reyes
Fleming-Coffey-Sugita
Turner-Smith-Spaanstra
Is this a must-win match for the Portland Thorns? What are you expecting from the game? Let us know!
If Rob decides he’s not going to play with both wingers he needs to go. Deciding not to play wingers messes everything else up. I think Becky and Müller have to play because they are best defenders. Above all organization is required. Whole team defends. And that’s not been the case. Wingers have to go back and help defend. They can just stand around waiting for the ball all the time
Mueller should start instead of Reyes, and Sauerbrunn instead of Hubly..Too soon to tell, I guess, whether Arnold or Hogan is the better shot-stopper. Arnold's distribution is nice, but keeping the ball out of the net is the keeper's job. I'm afraid Rodman is going to eat Payne's lunch, but I don't see what to do about that other than have really tight defense in the box. We really need a couple of top-notch defenders.