Portland drops their 1st regular season game at home and 2nd consecutive game in all competitions with another 0-1 loss, this time to Kansas City Current.
I think every fan here would agree that the Replacements are working hard. Nobody’s jakin’ it. This isn’t the Timbers, playing dazed and confused.
But. The things we’ve seen the club do all season; things like turning the ball over, things like pushing up the 10s and fullbacks and getting torched in transition, things like people not named Smith failing to finish…these things are irritating when the squad is at full strength but lethal with this group of lesser talents. You can get away with doing stupid shit when you have Dunn and Sugita to bail you out. When it’s Taylor Porter? No. That stuff kicks you dead in the ass.
Fortunately it’s just this and Gotham and the Cup. So the damage is limited; it’s not 2015 or 2019.
Still. It’s frustrating for us to watch, and it’s gotta be as bad or worse for players like Sam Coffey who have to try to wrestle points out of this goat rodeo.
And it does shed a very unflattering light on Mike Norris and the FO. They had time to prepare for this. The league gave them a free hand to reach out and hunt up some quality unsigned players as NTRPs. They could have been working that group on playing together.
Instead we get two pickup games and two losses to very poor opponents.
And some epic crap officiating, but that is what it is…
I suspect we would be better prepared for this if the club wasn't in a one-year holding pattern.
Either the Thorns need to be sold OR Merritt needs to take it off the market and work directly with the NWSL, for the best interests of club and league, to divorce himself entirely from absolutely everything operational and governance.... and I mean everything.
But the limbo, now 7 months after he announced the franchise was for sale, isn't helping the club now or in the medium- and longer-term.
How the hell is Karina supposed to navigate expansion yet again? How is she supposed to rebuild in light of likely retirements and player poachings? How can she possibly be strategic and forward-looking? I don't know if she has those tools, but she can't be at all with the club still in limbo.
The longer the sale drags on, the less time the new owners have to retool the team and hire staff. I doubt Mike Norris will be retained. He was a convenient fill-the-vacancy-immediately hire, and who from the outside would seek the job knowing the team was being sold? As for Karina LeBlanc, who knows what constraints she might be working under and whether she will stay on. Paulson isn't going to invest heavily in the team if he indeed will sell it.
There's radio silence and there's motoring twenty miles off the coast and dropping the radio into the Pacific. I'm baffled at the lack of meaningful communication.
Agree. The front office was never highly communicative but became much more tight-lipped because of the scandals. Which was exactly the opposite of what it should have done.
I'm thinking perhaps there should be a coordinated effort -- NOT led by the RCRs, so it is not so easily compartmentalized and swept away, but certainly from a wide swath of Thorns fans -- to contact Heather Davis and Jessica Berman maybe once a week now, to request updates on the status of the Thorns sale.
I'm also thinking perhaps anybody who has media credentials should be asking this question just as frequently.
It's been 7 months now. Time for an update and some transparency.
The next NWSL (or- sorry, Phoecerman and others on here- PTFC) media person who asks hard substantive questions of the team and league will be the first. Not even Meg Linehan, despite her great work. It seems from what i've seen/read that Jeff Kassouf comes to closest to daring to being wished into the cornfield.
I was surprised no one asked Norris about the lack of NTRP's in the post-match presser. Having 3 actual midfielders, only 1 (maybe 2) of whom are 90 mins fit and then trying to shoehorn random players in to cover? Poor. Would've liked to hear an answer, though to be fair, Norris can only do so much there if KK isn't doing her job.
Re: the sale...Paulson will benefit from all media being distracted by and a part of the WC media circus. Which, of course is a good thing...but Paulson will still benefit from having larger media folks distracted. Would love direct questions, even if it's to the coach, so other folks will start to feel pressure. We have 3 clubs for sale, 2 of whom have been for sale for 7 months now, and one of whom is thee premiere club of the last decade....why is no one talking about this?
Announcement was Nov. 1st, wasn't it? Maybe I'm off by a month. Either way, I wish NWSL would put some pressure on as well, but they've said "no rush on the sale while we find some worthy hands." Just could be the undoing of a decade of work building up this club and roster while everything currently is being neglected, whether due to incompetence or tied hands.
Can some local reporters dig more into this? If the club won't speak about it, maybe contact the league? Any pressure would be nice! We don't even know if anyone is interested at this point.
It would be such a miss to not be able to capitalize on the World Cup for a new owner, especially because the star looking to carry the USA is the star of this club. So many eyeballs, they could be selling so much merch, making splashy announcements, ect....just, there's been nothing. KC has KCxUSA merch available and they don't even have one damn player on the US team! They also have a bunch of merch for the rest of their internationals. We just do literally nothing. Nothing was done for Pride, nothing for Juneteenth, nothing for AAPI month, women's history month, black history month....they did the bare minimum (which I think was more just the league.) Bare minimum for Pride- rainbow numbers. Bare minimum for Juneteenth- players wore tshirts and someone sang "Lift Every Voice and Sing" (which again, the league had every club do.) The club itself doesn't deserve the fans here honestly, it's done nothing to earn the respect of this community in recent years. I'd rather continue on with a new shitty owner (if that's the case), than carry on tethered to Merritt Paulson while he profits until someone meets his demands....it's so utterly frustrating to me.
But, yes, we're now into our 8th month of this water-treading.
And, honestly, it asks a helluva lot of the fans and the players, both of whom have been doing their best, to show up.
Attendance is up, merch and concessions sales are presumably strong, the crowds are loud, etc.
The team should be doing better than they are, but at least they are in 2nd in a 12-team league with just about 1/3rd of the season to go..
One could easily almost forget that the owner promised to sell the team because now was the time and it was in everybody's best interests for there to be new ownership going forward.
RCR could be a huge help by maintaining a large visible banner, etc presence in the stadium on game days, with an ongoing count, i.e, "### Days Without a Sale" etc
On December 20, 2022 it was announced that Mat Ishbia reached an agreement in principle to buy a majority stake in the Suns, the Mercury, and everything else involved.
This, after Robert Sarver announced on September 21 that he was puttin' the ol' place up for sale.
Just 3 months to find and vet a majority owner in principle, and only another 45-ish days until the NBA Board of Governors approved the sale of the Suns and Mercury to Ishbia.
Within mere weeks, Ishbia was overriding the front office he'd acquired and telling them to pay whatever it took to get Durant into purple-and-orange.
I'm guessing the Phoenix transaction was more complicated than buying the Thorns and resolving the lease issue and decoupling the franchises.
I'm also guessing Kang's acquisition of OL Kang while partitioning OL Reign from her ownership of DC Kang is also more complicated.
Yeah, agreed. I don't know a thing about basketball, but I agree it's bizarre how quickly the OL process has moved. I think it's very close to being done. I saw reports on the 30th that it was all but signed.
A possible reason for the almost complete blackout on news about sale of the team: the potential buyers might well be insisting on that silence as a condition for continuation of the process. Let's face it: there will be a segment among the supporters for whom virtually _no_ potential buyer will be sufficiently pristine. That segment is also likely to be extremely noisy about their objections. That's their perfect right...but the aforementioned less-than-pristine potential buyer may be unwilling to tolerate the social media shitshow until after the sale is a fait accompli.
Just a theory. Hell, there may not BE a potential buyer willing to pony up the asking price. Until recently, the franchise's unprecedented attendance numbers were running at a modest fraction of their former glory. Those numbers, even if they fully return to their peak, won't be best in the league again (although they'll certainly be close). The team's revenue stream might be too small in relation to the price to make the acquisition sufficiently attractive to anyone not willing to look beyond the short-term bottom line (and there aren't a whole lot of Michelle Kangs in this world). Deep pockets folk might be waiting to see what happens in the WoSo world after WWC23: will the rise continue...or will the buzz die down?
Ryan Clarke of The O has said recently said that he inquires often. It has to be a complicated transaction, given how the current operations are shared by the Thorns and Timbers. But the skeptical me thinks Paulson is asking for an unreasonable sale price or at this late stage is just going through the motions and plans to retain ownership. After all, the value of NWSL teams continues to soar.
I'm glad Clarke asks. I think we need more people asking. Right now, there is every chance that the club goes into the 2024 Annual Member Renewal and Relocation process without any updates on the status of the sale. That is unacceptable.
I am not saying this because I believe Paulson needs to go; that's not my point.
I am saying this because Paulson needs to either sh!t or get off the pot for the good of the club, the league, and all the stakeholders.
Asking is one thing. But Clarke would be doing us all a great service if he REPORTED that he keeps asking and keeps getting put off- that would at least start some PR pressure on the league/team to respond.
At this point it is 100% clear that Paulson doesn't have to sell it he doesn't want to. The fan base already did what they were going to do and the people that were going to boycott are gone and replaced with new people that don't care. There was a stretch where attendance was down and I would see people in the section around me that had been there since day 1 missing. Now their seats are filled with new people who are new to the league and are just happy to be there. I don't see a path that gets the current fan base more worked up than the fan base from two years ago or achieves more significant collective action. Paulson won.
Yeah I mean the defensive performance wasn’t bad (KC had very few chances) but the way thorns defend set pieces - panic stations - is not encouraging. But there’s just not enough creativity and this team is p much a lock to concede at least one goal a game.
Yeah, I think the structural and tactical issues with the defense will remain regardless of the personnel, but these past two stinkers have mostly been on the midfield and forward lines being utterly garbage (and the coach.) I thought Natu and Menges were mostly decent despite the pressure the structure puts on the defense.
Chief, thank you for your service in providing write-ups and reviews over at Riveting for the PSWST and KCFUBAR matches. Those matches were excruciating enough to live through in real time. I can't imagine having to review them.
This last one was brutal. I'm not kidding, I had to stop tape and rewind repeatedly because I'd zone out watching strings of pointless rec-league passing or headless-chicken running around and forget to note what I'd seen.
Four years ago we were blown away by the Midge & Simone show--the club was ready for the break. This time? Did they lose the WWC break shopping list? Check between the sofa cushions.
Just saved two hours not spent watching the replay, so there's that. Yet again, overwhelming stats mean nothing, the score is the only thing.
Not particularly. Got the post in the second half, came close with a header. I didn’t think Weaver helped make as much space for her or serve her as much as I’d hoped.
I mean…D’Aquila was pretty awful Wednesday, so better than that. Just not enough; to play like Brazil you need Smiths, not D’Aqulas, but that’s all we have…
Space was absolutely an issue: When Weaver had the ball, more often than not, she'd dribble to the center...and no one else who was forward (Aquila, Vasconcelos, Moultrie...anyone) would vacate space and flare to the posts or into empty space. So every defender - and there were a lot of them as KC parked the bus after that pk - was there, clogging every shooting lane.
Lots of crosses into the box...but with the box that crowded, that was always going to be iffy, even when tall Betfort was subbed in. No one with Soph or Hina's dribbling skill to try to take the ball into the 18 and seek a pk (not that that walking incompetence of a ref would have called it...).
For the second match running, our veteran LB, who I think everyone was counting on to be a dependable rock to shore things up, committed an error that produced the winning opposition goal. Kling's quality of play has fallen off sharply this season, and it's more a matter of lapses of concentration and judgement than anything physical. I'm becoming more certain than ever that there are behind-the-scenes issues with this team, and one ramification might be Kling's head isn't in the right place.
Honestly, last night was a clinic on how to lose to a genuinely bad opponent.
IDK if Kling has an underlying knock, or if mother time has entered the discussion, but she's had a big falloff in the last month, to the point of being pulled/benched. Layered with the loss of Becky it seems to be making defense on that side very vulnerable, such that Morgan finds herself drifting all the way downfield to help cleanup on defense.
I recall during the Chicago match noting that St. Georges had outrun Kling while dribbling; well, she did the same thing to Po(!) last night so I'm no longer knocking Kling on her inability to keep up. Holy crap, she's a burner.
That shocks me w/ Po. Po's still probably at least as fast if you just had them sprint from a dead stop, but is also still VERY capable of being wrong-footed.
I did a triple take. It was later in the match so tired legs and all, but I took it as indicating how very fast St. Georges is with the ball, because Po is a hellova yardstick.
Or, maybe I had heatstroke.
ETA Must commend Chicago for playing like they really wanted that game. Also, biggest home crowd I can recall seeing in Bridgeview. (6k? big for them.)
Weaver is someone I'll be watching in the replay. It seemed to me watching live that she was doing something she hadn't been with the regulars - turning inside the way you mention.
Typical Weaver-before; sprint to the byline, look inside for a target to cross in to. Weaver-last-night; sprint to the edge of the 18, cut back inside, try and find a teammate in the crowd she'd helped create by dragging her defenders with her.
Not sure if it was pure instinct, or whether they'd been doing that in training, or what. but - as you also pointed out - it sure as hell didn't work.
Yeah, I remember commenting to my partner about this during the game...she wasn't going to the byline because the times she did, she had literally no runners. No one on the back post, no one trying to run onto a pass, nothing, she was the highest F in the final third....It's no wonder she was cutting back inside and trying to do it herself. The couple times she did pass, I remember thinking she should've shot instead.
She got to the byline a few times in the first half. There just weren’t a lot of players making runs, and not the run that Smith makes. There was the good chance that Izzy completely fucked.
I’d be really tempted to play Weaver centrally, honestly. It gives the thorns an important component of their play back - the early ball to the striker.
Weaver could definitely be the speed 9 that fits in this system. I would love to see the team play a 2 forward front instead of the 4-3-3. Izzy as the aerial threat and Weaver as the speed threat. Put more numbers in midfield and allow Sam and Liv to come forward. Play a double pivot to help Porter a bit more.
Both of Izzy's main chances came when the Thorns had stretched KC out with long balls and she took advantage of that space to, well, almost do something. Mostly the long balls were fruitless but those two stood out. Izzy was totally incapable of creating space for herself otherwise.
I don't know if that's in her skillset...but my understanding is that in college she played as a fox-in-the-box, a true poacher. A player like that shouldn't need a ton of space; that kind of comes with the job. But she hasn't shown any real ability to create even the SMALL space a poacher needs - control the ball and get a step on her defender to shoot. She seems to have touch problems that lead to her getting stripped, instead.
She's a definitely a true 9 which is why I'm a bit surprised they aren't delivering more crosses into the box to find her or Hannah's headers more often. Reyna in front line also has that aerial ability.
The adjustment period from college is also very drastic and tough too. Reyna mentioned that it was something she had to get used to with more playing time/trainings, so may be the case for Izzy too who has gotten way less PT.
The Thorns hucked in 31 crosses. I counted 27 as "attacking" passes but listed only 7 as finding a Thorn at the end. So they're "trying" crosses, but not "delivering" them. Not sure if it's lack of training or a general lack of skills.
Worth also noting that this group turned over the ball 27 times over 90+ minutes. That's after 18 turnovers in the Orlando loss and the Chicago grind-out-win, and only 10 in the good match against Washington.
So there's a fairly significant drop-off in individual skills going on here, as well as the organizational and team play issues.
Yeah, she's very much more a Morgan or Hatch-type 9. We just don't play that way, and Norris is hapless to adapt and make tweaks to benefit the players we have here. He's just shoving the newbs into the same mold he uses when the Nats are here.
But, I also think it's kinda ridiculous that D'Aquila hasn't played at all or has only gotten garbage minutes all season (or preseason), CC or league games, and def not at the 9. She should've been getting more time at the 9 in the CC games or the games we were already winning 4-0. Reyes was ROUGH the first several games she had, and is now playing much better. D'Aquila should've been given more if she was expected to play such a large role this window. Just, more poor planning from the coach/FO imo.
Yeah the comp with Ashley Hatch is the most accurate, imo. I think they got better doing it this game, but they're all too used to delivering low crosses into Dunn and Smith. Even with the tough results, glad Izzy and the others are getting the necessary games, it will help the team the long run.
For me the lack of runs in the box was a problem the entire game and was a key reason the vast majority of our shots ended up being from distance. And as already noted the box was usually full of defenders and the long balls had little chance of getting through.
One thing to recall about 2019; the squad that year 1) had those two young players who were held in reserve only because they had internationals starting over them, and 2) got a month - and ONLY a month - of those two playing utterly lit.
So I give the then-FO and Parsons credit for having that depth and using it wisely.
But given her pedigree I’m not sure it’s fair to smack KK and Norris for hoping D’Aquila could and would be the 2023 Queen Midge. She looked promising in preseason and has regressed based on her form this past week; and it’s fair to (and I do) smack Norris and his staff for either having a role in that or not seeing it and howling to KK to get a NTRP to fill in there.
With their nasty fight with their national organization keeping lots of world class players off Spain's side and Liga F in its off season, I wonder if we could have gotten a short-term loan for, say, Claudia Pina? Maybe not do-able, at least for an amount of money that's within the regulations (and the short-timer FO would have splashed out anyway). But I wonder if they even considered something like that. I know it's only a couple league games, but still...
Yeah, I mean, Dagny is on break from the WSL in Iceland. I know I've mentioned her before. Could've used an experienced tall 10 who just came off a good season. History with the club...the rub is that's she's got a child now, but damn, it's 2023 they can figure that out. Coffey, Moultrie, and Dagny would've been a good start in midfield.
Even Bourielle, who I've seen has been in the Bay area recently. History with the club, and an upgrade to Porter.
Definitely avenues they could've explored. And so far, the first one across the line is...a CB, who'll be leaving back to Australia after the short loan? 2/6 (maybe 7) games of the window already played and we don't even have anyone over the line yet? Multiple teams have had their NTRP's practicing with them all season...
What’s the incentive for Claudia Pina, a top player who is coming off an injury hit season to play in this league when the best players aren’t here? Like the only ones who have done that have been OL Reign using the partnership, and the Kim Little history (and for Kim, I’m not sure you can say it worked out because she got two fairly medium term injuries in 22-23).
I've asked Ryan Clarke a few times in the past on twitter...I recommend anyone who has twitter to maybe ask him to report on the radio silence of all of this. After 2+ years of prior bullshit, this sale process has been excruciating for fans (and players, likely.) Add in the FO and HC incompetence lately and it's starting to feel like none of this will get better anytime soon. I've personally considered becoming less invested and just come back around if/when there's movement...it's been years of so much negative and I'm pretty exhausted being a fan honestly.
“INBOX: Gotham FC will announce the signings of two new players joining the club this week, with one player announced this afternoon, on Wednesday, July 5, and another player announced tomorrow, on Thursday, July 6. Both players will be available for roster selection for Gotham FC’s home match against the Portland Thorns on Sunday, July 9.”
If I were guessing, it would be the two Spanish players we’ve seen linked to Gotham, Esther González and Maitane López. Tough luck for the Thorns.
"Liverpool striker Katie Stengel has joined NJ/NY Gotham FC on loan during the WSL off-season. She returns to #lfc on 3 September. Pending international clearance, she will be available for Gotham’s clash with Portland Thorns on Sunday."
Def not a bad signing...a quick striker who should be pretty in-form and is familiar with the league. Our current frontline is looking to be one of the worst/least skilled in the league during the WC period...quite the summer bummer.
Keep seeing transfer news and signings around us, but never about us. Orlando just got themselves one of the best CB's in the WSL, and is in the rumor mill for a Portuguese int'l (whom Arsenal and PSG are also interested in), KC just signed the "player of the year" in the Danish league (a CB)....and we're just over here.....doing nothin'. Ever. Lol.
It's 'coz the club is (theoretically) for sale. Like having a used car to sell that could really use a full transmission overhaul, but you'll never get the money back out of that. So you give it a DIY detailing job, put some of that black shiny crap on the tire sidewalls, and cross your fingers it doesn't break down on the test drive.
Horan & Morgan double captains. Horan has been been slowly entrenching her place as captain for the last year or so. A little surprised in the double capo choice but not surprised by Horan getting the badge.
Nut graf: "Morrison, 26, most recently played for the Melbourne Victory in Australia, leading the team as its captain all the way to an appearance in the A-League Grand Final."
Anyone know much else about her? Centerback, I hope?
That's 6 goals and 2 assists over 3 years, so around 2G+1A/year. That's a pretty good rate for a defender who presumably gets up there for corner kicks. Because of her height I'll guess she's a centerback, and also it's rare for an outside back to be captain.
She is a CB, yes. She's a left-sided CB (so, where Menges is.) The footage I've seen was that all of her goals have come from CK/free kicks and with her head. She appears to have some aerial ability, which is nice. Also, she's had some track and field accolades and awards won (albeit in high school), but I hope that means she's got some speed because we have a lack of it on our backline.
She can join that other goal-scoring machine, Kelli Hubly!
Would legit be thrilled to see Thorns again become a set piece threat to be reckoned with. Put three header specialists in there and who do you leave unmarked?
Also, looks like Natu will be leaving after this away game, for the Finland Women’s National Team for upcoming matches during the July FIFA window, spanning July 10-18 against Iceland and Scotland.
What really chafes cheeks is that the best part of KC last night was their defending. Cooper impressed me with her defending more than her attacking, and Robinson and especially Ball were absolute pests.
When you look at last night's stats, it's astonishing how thoroughly Portland dominated and outplayed KC, but those of us who watched it live saw the Thorns utter offensive futility time and time again.
Except for Kling's second-match-in-a-row brainfart, our defending was good, too. Not that it was anything resembling a quality attack that was testing them, but they did their part. The absolute futility of the offense lost us a couple points (should have had at least a very good chance at one, and I'll be salty about that bullshit no-call on a foul in the box no less obvious on the one given KC for a while).
Based on watching last night, Weaver could be used like Smith as a running #9. She went central so much last night that maybe she should just start there. I thought Vasconcelos was serviceable last night on the wing. Reyes was active if not so much effective as a wing but she's much more dangerous playing in place of Kling on the back line. Better defender too.
Reyna's versatility has been huge for this team. The past two games, she's lined up in like 5 different positions: RB, LB, LW, RW, and switched off with Izzy ytd between winger and center forward.
Just her technical ability to keep possession and play the right pass is refreshing. I've not seen a FB that comfortable with the ball in so long. Think her best position long-term is midfielder, but FB is already solid.
Kling's best play these days comes in the attack. Why not just make her a midfielder (in place of Porter) or a wing/forward in Izzy's place. Keeping her as a fullback does not seem to maximize her strengths. It only maximized her weaknesses which is dumb.
I think Reyes should start at LB and Kling should start at the 8 (or a double pivot) with Coffey during this period. Norris has the options to put his best players he has on the field, and that means sitting Porter. She is just not good and he needs to adjust.
Agree completely with this! I think during the WC break Kling should be the new Coffey, Coffey the new Rodriquez or Hina. Reyes should take LB, Kuikka RB and McGrady to backup both of them. Up front Weaver, Vasconcelos and D'Aquila, who was a lot better last night and I am feeling like we need some patience with Izzy. Betfort is fine for closing minutes energy and aggressive play. Porter shouldn't be a starter just late legs.
The back looked OK last night and the new new NTR might be better than anyone we have as a backup because she has been playing , while in a lesser league, she has been playing at an elite level in that league.
Last night in my view the Thorns were the better team, but were both impatient and unlucky. Sam needs to take more shots as does Reyna and Liv needs to take better shots.
Really seems like they're scraping to find anyone? I guess that's what an NTRP is...?
Not a starter at Santa Clara when she was there and Chris Henderson's system doesn't seem to value her very highly. 0.23 is pretty insignificant if you know what a better players' numbers look like. Looks like she's a central midfielder...I'd hope for an 8? Maybe she's better than Porter, so Sam can move back to the 6. Anyone know anything about her? This was posted back in June:
"NWSL Draft Board Update
From RPI #26 - Santa Clara
5YR MF (MC) #7 (Tier B) - Isabel Dehakiz
PEGASUS Rating - 0.23 (4YR, 2022)
[Signed with Deportivo Cali]"
Meanwhile, Gotham signed veteran striker Katie Stengel and Spanish midfielder Maintane Lopez, both of whom have already been with the team practicing. At this rate, maybe we'll have another forward or midfielder by August after we've lost all of our games lol. :)
And we can't even do that before the window starts...Even Orlando out here upstaging us lol.
Lol, it wouldn't be a Thorns acquisition if it wasn't getting a player just to put them in a different position than their natural one! Maybe she'll actually be playing forward lol.
I have figured it might be a pointless WC break. Can the full team recover enough to be a shield contender? The only thing helping is the other top teams have challenging matches and might not fare much better during this break.
Yeah, just really frustrating when you're seeing all the other teams who lost a lot (and even not!) pulling in decent NTRP's. There's also been a ton of int'l signings in the last week, of course, some of whom won't be with their new teams until after the WC, but some of whom are joining their teams. With how close the table is and going into this window on top, it's just more frustration that there seems to be no real effort to actually strengthen the roster during this period...and really, they can't even get the filler players over the line in time either. After this upcoming weekend game, we'll have already played 2 league games, and arguably one of the more important CC group games because of where we were in the standings and who it was (if you're a player you do care about those, regardless of how little they might mean to us.) I look at Gotham's roster, and unfortunately, I don't think we get a W this weekend either. If I were to guess, I'd say it'd be another L. At least most of the top teams dropped points this past weekend...that makes it a little better.
Just don't understand how they looked at our F line of Weaver, Betfort, Beckman, Vasconcelos, and D'Aquila and thought that would get the job done, especially since 3/5 of them have hardly played (or haven't at all.) Would've taken a Katie Stengel here!
One suspects this was Xeno's cheeky response to his kids during all those summer family chariot rides when they kept asking "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"
I've always appreciated the Ancient Greek philosophers for giving us gems that parents misuse to this day, such as "Because some things just are," "All explanations must end somewhere," "Everything is; nothing is not."
Socrates missed his calling; he should have written a self-help book on fatherhood. =)
Does anybody know what the NTRP salary rules are? Is this a cap issue? Are we all filled up with big contracts so that we have no money for NTRPs? Because what the actual hell? At this point, Karina has shown absolutely ZERO ability as a GM.
NTRP salary does not count toward the salary cap. So, this is definitely either a GM issue or a Merritt doesn't want to pay extra money into a team he's selling issue.
I wonder if ASU had a coaching change, as her #s fell dramatically after sophomore year. She played 38 games her first two years then 15 the second two. Nothing sucks more than being a senior and riding the pine (but: covid). Santa Clara played her more in that single year than those two.
She had a season ending injury her junior year, which probably dragged into her senior year plus whatever covid era issues came up. Don't know how much to read into it.
Here's a review of "Kansas City Bomber" found at Turner Classic Movies. Welch's rival in the film, Helena Kallianiotes, received a Golden Globe nomination. And Welch did all of her own skating and several of her stunts; apparently she even broke her wrist during filming.
Portland's flat track league has been highly successful too. I actually stumbled upon this movie researching them. Not a real popular sport but has a cult following.
Complete with a male coach or executive who has inappropriate relationships with, and makes inappropriate comments about, female players. You didn't tell me this was a documentary!
It was so weird that we had **nine** players on the bench and nobody other that Betfort even stretched during the second half. I think it sends a bad message to the players. Like "There is absolutely no chance that you are going to play tonight." Also, puts you in a bind if you need an injury sub.
I had the same thought. It’s a lot of change all at once. Moving Sam out of the middle seems to have caused a real loss of continuity. There should be a way to let her play further up without losing her as the QB so to speak.
We would need a strong single 6 to allow Sam to get forward, but we just don't have that unfortunately. Especially not in the way Norris plays, which demands a ton from the 6. I think it's too important of a position, and would like to see her back in the 6. Maybe try Kling along side her in a 4231, which could allow her to get forward a little more if her and Kling switch off staying home and getting forward.
I think every fan here would agree that the Replacements are working hard. Nobody’s jakin’ it. This isn’t the Timbers, playing dazed and confused.
But. The things we’ve seen the club do all season; things like turning the ball over, things like pushing up the 10s and fullbacks and getting torched in transition, things like people not named Smith failing to finish…these things are irritating when the squad is at full strength but lethal with this group of lesser talents. You can get away with doing stupid shit when you have Dunn and Sugita to bail you out. When it’s Taylor Porter? No. That stuff kicks you dead in the ass.
Fortunately it’s just this and Gotham and the Cup. So the damage is limited; it’s not 2015 or 2019.
Still. It’s frustrating for us to watch, and it’s gotta be as bad or worse for players like Sam Coffey who have to try to wrestle points out of this goat rodeo.
And it does shed a very unflattering light on Mike Norris and the FO. They had time to prepare for this. The league gave them a free hand to reach out and hunt up some quality unsigned players as NTRPs. They could have been working that group on playing together.
Instead we get two pickup games and two losses to very poor opponents.
And some epic crap officiating, but that is what it is…
Oh, well. Onward, Rose City.
I suspect we would be better prepared for this if the club wasn't in a one-year holding pattern.
Either the Thorns need to be sold OR Merritt needs to take it off the market and work directly with the NWSL, for the best interests of club and league, to divorce himself entirely from absolutely everything operational and governance.... and I mean everything.
But the limbo, now 7 months after he announced the franchise was for sale, isn't helping the club now or in the medium- and longer-term.
How the hell is Karina supposed to navigate expansion yet again? How is she supposed to rebuild in light of likely retirements and player poachings? How can she possibly be strategic and forward-looking? I don't know if she has those tools, but she can't be at all with the club still in limbo.
The longer the sale drags on, the less time the new owners have to retool the team and hire staff. I doubt Mike Norris will be retained. He was a convenient fill-the-vacancy-immediately hire, and who from the outside would seek the job knowing the team was being sold? As for Karina LeBlanc, who knows what constraints she might be working under and whether she will stay on. Paulson isn't going to invest heavily in the team if he indeed will sell it.
There's radio silence and there's motoring twenty miles off the coast and dropping the radio into the Pacific. I'm baffled at the lack of meaningful communication.
Agree. The front office was never highly communicative but became much more tight-lipped because of the scandals. Which was exactly the opposite of what it should have done.
I'm thinking perhaps there should be a coordinated effort -- NOT led by the RCRs, so it is not so easily compartmentalized and swept away, but certainly from a wide swath of Thorns fans -- to contact Heather Davis and Jessica Berman maybe once a week now, to request updates on the status of the Thorns sale.
I'm also thinking perhaps anybody who has media credentials should be asking this question just as frequently.
It's been 7 months now. Time for an update and some transparency.
The next NWSL (or- sorry, Phoecerman and others on here- PTFC) media person who asks hard substantive questions of the team and league will be the first. Not even Meg Linehan, despite her great work. It seems from what i've seen/read that Jeff Kassouf comes to closest to daring to being wished into the cornfield.
I was surprised no one asked Norris about the lack of NTRP's in the post-match presser. Having 3 actual midfielders, only 1 (maybe 2) of whom are 90 mins fit and then trying to shoehorn random players in to cover? Poor. Would've liked to hear an answer, though to be fair, Norris can only do so much there if KK isn't doing her job.
Re: the sale...Paulson will benefit from all media being distracted by and a part of the WC media circus. Which, of course is a good thing...but Paulson will still benefit from having larger media folks distracted. Would love direct questions, even if it's to the coach, so other folks will start to feel pressure. We have 3 clubs for sale, 2 of whom have been for sale for 7 months now, and one of whom is thee premiere club of the last decade....why is no one talking about this?
Agree, Kassouf has market and marketing sensibilities and asks the questions that need asking.
Announcement was Nov. 1st, wasn't it? Maybe I'm off by a month. Either way, I wish NWSL would put some pressure on as well, but they've said "no rush on the sale while we find some worthy hands." Just could be the undoing of a decade of work building up this club and roster while everything currently is being neglected, whether due to incompetence or tied hands.
Can some local reporters dig more into this? If the club won't speak about it, maybe contact the league? Any pressure would be nice! We don't even know if anyone is interested at this point.
It would be such a miss to not be able to capitalize on the World Cup for a new owner, especially because the star looking to carry the USA is the star of this club. So many eyeballs, they could be selling so much merch, making splashy announcements, ect....just, there's been nothing. KC has KCxUSA merch available and they don't even have one damn player on the US team! They also have a bunch of merch for the rest of their internationals. We just do literally nothing. Nothing was done for Pride, nothing for Juneteenth, nothing for AAPI month, women's history month, black history month....they did the bare minimum (which I think was more just the league.) Bare minimum for Pride- rainbow numbers. Bare minimum for Juneteenth- players wore tshirts and someone sang "Lift Every Voice and Sing" (which again, the league had every club do.) The club itself doesn't deserve the fans here honestly, it's done nothing to earn the respect of this community in recent years. I'd rather continue on with a new shitty owner (if that's the case), than carry on tethered to Merritt Paulson while he profits until someone meets his demands....it's so utterly frustrating to me.
Still 7. I had to count it on my fingers a few times to be sure... =)
https://www.timbers.com/thornsfc/news/announcement-sale-portland-thorns-2022
1) December 1 to December 31
2) January 1 to January 31
3) February 1 to February 28
4) March 1 to March 31
5) April 1 to April 30
6) May 1 to May 31
7) June 1 to June 30
But, yes, we're now into our 8th month of this water-treading.
And, honestly, it asks a helluva lot of the fans and the players, both of whom have been doing their best, to show up.
Attendance is up, merch and concessions sales are presumably strong, the crowds are loud, etc.
The team should be doing better than they are, but at least they are in 2nd in a 12-team league with just about 1/3rd of the season to go..
One could easily almost forget that the owner promised to sell the team because now was the time and it was in everybody's best interests for there to be new ownership going forward.
Let's not forget. Let's get it resolved.
Yeha, I see it's Dec. 1st rather than Nov. 1st. Seemed like we were hardly able to enjoy a championship win before more uncertain and/or bad news.
What an exhausting 3 or so years being a fan of this club.
RCR could be a huge help by maintaining a large visible banner, etc presence in the stadium on game days, with an ongoing count, i.e, "### Days Without a Sale" etc
On December 20, 2022 it was announced that Mat Ishbia reached an agreement in principle to buy a majority stake in the Suns, the Mercury, and everything else involved.
This, after Robert Sarver announced on September 21 that he was puttin' the ol' place up for sale.
Just 3 months to find and vet a majority owner in principle, and only another 45-ish days until the NBA Board of Governors approved the sale of the Suns and Mercury to Ishbia.
Within mere weeks, Ishbia was overriding the front office he'd acquired and telling them to pay whatever it took to get Durant into purple-and-orange.
I'm guessing the Phoenix transaction was more complicated than buying the Thorns and resolving the lease issue and decoupling the franchises.
I'm also guessing Kang's acquisition of OL Kang while partitioning OL Reign from her ownership of DC Kang is also more complicated.
Yeah, agreed. I don't know a thing about basketball, but I agree it's bizarre how quickly the OL process has moved. I think it's very close to being done. I saw reports on the 30th that it was all but signed.
A possible reason for the almost complete blackout on news about sale of the team: the potential buyers might well be insisting on that silence as a condition for continuation of the process. Let's face it: there will be a segment among the supporters for whom virtually _no_ potential buyer will be sufficiently pristine. That segment is also likely to be extremely noisy about their objections. That's their perfect right...but the aforementioned less-than-pristine potential buyer may be unwilling to tolerate the social media shitshow until after the sale is a fait accompli.
Just a theory. Hell, there may not BE a potential buyer willing to pony up the asking price. Until recently, the franchise's unprecedented attendance numbers were running at a modest fraction of their former glory. Those numbers, even if they fully return to their peak, won't be best in the league again (although they'll certainly be close). The team's revenue stream might be too small in relation to the price to make the acquisition sufficiently attractive to anyone not willing to look beyond the short-term bottom line (and there aren't a whole lot of Michelle Kangs in this world). Deep pockets folk might be waiting to see what happens in the WoSo world after WWC23: will the rise continue...or will the buzz die down?
Again, just some speculation...
Ryan Clarke of The O has said recently said that he inquires often. It has to be a complicated transaction, given how the current operations are shared by the Thorns and Timbers. But the skeptical me thinks Paulson is asking for an unreasonable sale price or at this late stage is just going through the motions and plans to retain ownership. After all, the value of NWSL teams continues to soar.
I'm glad Clarke asks. I think we need more people asking. Right now, there is every chance that the club goes into the 2024 Annual Member Renewal and Relocation process without any updates on the status of the sale. That is unacceptable.
I am not saying this because I believe Paulson needs to go; that's not my point.
I am saying this because Paulson needs to either sh!t or get off the pot for the good of the club, the league, and all the stakeholders.
Asking is one thing. But Clarke would be doing us all a great service if he REPORTED that he keeps asking and keeps getting put off- that would at least start some PR pressure on the league/team to respond.
At this point it is 100% clear that Paulson doesn't have to sell it he doesn't want to. The fan base already did what they were going to do and the people that were going to boycott are gone and replaced with new people that don't care. There was a stretch where attendance was down and I would see people in the section around me that had been there since day 1 missing. Now their seats are filled with new people who are new to the league and are just happy to be there. I don't see a path that gets the current fan base more worked up than the fan base from two years ago or achieves more significant collective action. Paulson won.
Yeah I mean the defensive performance wasn’t bad (KC had very few chances) but the way thorns defend set pieces - panic stations - is not encouraging. But there’s just not enough creativity and this team is p much a lock to concede at least one goal a game.
Set pieces and I swear, simple throw-ins seem to get them all jittery.
Yeah, I think the structural and tactical issues with the defense will remain regardless of the personnel, but these past two stinkers have mostly been on the midfield and forward lines being utterly garbage (and the coach.) I thought Natu and Menges were mostly decent despite the pressure the structure puts on the defense.
Chief, thank you for your service in providing write-ups and reviews over at Riveting for the PSWST and KCFUBAR matches. Those matches were excruciating enough to live through in real time. I can't imagine having to review them.
This last one was brutal. I'm not kidding, I had to stop tape and rewind repeatedly because I'd zone out watching strings of pointless rec-league passing or headless-chicken running around and forget to note what I'd seen.
I hope Gotham away is better.
Four years ago we were blown away by the Midge & Simone show--the club was ready for the break. This time? Did they lose the WWC break shopping list? Check between the sofa cushions.
Just saved two hours not spent watching the replay, so there's that. Yet again, overwhelming stats mean nothing, the score is the only thing.
How did Izzy acquit herself? Better than midweek?
Not particularly. Got the post in the second half, came close with a header. I didn’t think Weaver helped make as much space for her or serve her as much as I’d hoped.
I mean…D’Aquila was pretty awful Wednesday, so better than that. Just not enough; to play like Brazil you need Smiths, not D’Aqulas, but that’s all we have…
Space was absolutely an issue: When Weaver had the ball, more often than not, she'd dribble to the center...and no one else who was forward (Aquila, Vasconcelos, Moultrie...anyone) would vacate space and flare to the posts or into empty space. So every defender - and there were a lot of them as KC parked the bus after that pk - was there, clogging every shooting lane.
Lots of crosses into the box...but with the box that crowded, that was always going to be iffy, even when tall Betfort was subbed in. No one with Soph or Hina's dribbling skill to try to take the ball into the 18 and seek a pk (not that that walking incompetence of a ref would have called it...).
For the second match running, our veteran LB, who I think everyone was counting on to be a dependable rock to shore things up, committed an error that produced the winning opposition goal. Kling's quality of play has fallen off sharply this season, and it's more a matter of lapses of concentration and judgement than anything physical. I'm becoming more certain than ever that there are behind-the-scenes issues with this team, and one ramification might be Kling's head isn't in the right place.
Honestly, last night was a clinic on how to lose to a genuinely bad opponent.
IDK if Kling has an underlying knock, or if mother time has entered the discussion, but she's had a big falloff in the last month, to the point of being pulled/benched. Layered with the loss of Becky it seems to be making defense on that side very vulnerable, such that Morgan finds herself drifting all the way downfield to help cleanup on defense.
I recall during the Chicago match noting that St. Georges had outrun Kling while dribbling; well, she did the same thing to Po(!) last night so I'm no longer knocking Kling on her inability to keep up. Holy crap, she's a burner.
That shocks me w/ Po. Po's still probably at least as fast if you just had them sprint from a dead stop, but is also still VERY capable of being wrong-footed.
I did a triple take. It was later in the match so tired legs and all, but I took it as indicating how very fast St. Georges is with the ball, because Po is a hellova yardstick.
Or, maybe I had heatstroke.
ETA Must commend Chicago for playing like they really wanted that game. Also, biggest home crowd I can recall seeing in Bridgeview. (6k? big for them.)
Weaver is someone I'll be watching in the replay. It seemed to me watching live that she was doing something she hadn't been with the regulars - turning inside the way you mention.
Typical Weaver-before; sprint to the byline, look inside for a target to cross in to. Weaver-last-night; sprint to the edge of the 18, cut back inside, try and find a teammate in the crowd she'd helped create by dragging her defenders with her.
Not sure if it was pure instinct, or whether they'd been doing that in training, or what. but - as you also pointed out - it sure as hell didn't work.
Yeah, I remember commenting to my partner about this during the game...she wasn't going to the byline because the times she did, she had literally no runners. No one on the back post, no one trying to run onto a pass, nothing, she was the highest F in the final third....It's no wonder she was cutting back inside and trying to do it herself. The couple times she did pass, I remember thinking she should've shot instead.
She got to the byline a few times in the first half. There just weren’t a lot of players making runs, and not the run that Smith makes. There was the good chance that Izzy completely fucked.
I’d be really tempted to play Weaver centrally, honestly. It gives the thorns an important component of their play back - the early ball to the striker.
Weaver could definitely be the speed 9 that fits in this system. I would love to see the team play a 2 forward front instead of the 4-3-3. Izzy as the aerial threat and Weaver as the speed threat. Put more numbers in midfield and allow Sam and Liv to come forward. Play a double pivot to help Porter a bit more.
Both of Izzy's main chances came when the Thorns had stretched KC out with long balls and she took advantage of that space to, well, almost do something. Mostly the long balls were fruitless but those two stood out. Izzy was totally incapable of creating space for herself otherwise.
I don't know if that's in her skillset...but my understanding is that in college she played as a fox-in-the-box, a true poacher. A player like that shouldn't need a ton of space; that kind of comes with the job. But she hasn't shown any real ability to create even the SMALL space a poacher needs - control the ball and get a step on her defender to shoot. She seems to have touch problems that lead to her getting stripped, instead.
She's a definitely a true 9 which is why I'm a bit surprised they aren't delivering more crosses into the box to find her or Hannah's headers more often. Reyna in front line also has that aerial ability.
The adjustment period from college is also very drastic and tough too. Reyna mentioned that it was something she had to get used to with more playing time/trainings, so may be the case for Izzy too who has gotten way less PT.
The Thorns hucked in 31 crosses. I counted 27 as "attacking" passes but listed only 7 as finding a Thorn at the end. So they're "trying" crosses, but not "delivering" them. Not sure if it's lack of training or a general lack of skills.
Worth also noting that this group turned over the ball 27 times over 90+ minutes. That's after 18 turnovers in the Orlando loss and the Chicago grind-out-win, and only 10 in the good match against Washington.
So there's a fairly significant drop-off in individual skills going on here, as well as the organizational and team play issues.
Yeah, she's very much more a Morgan or Hatch-type 9. We just don't play that way, and Norris is hapless to adapt and make tweaks to benefit the players we have here. He's just shoving the newbs into the same mold he uses when the Nats are here.
But, I also think it's kinda ridiculous that D'Aquila hasn't played at all or has only gotten garbage minutes all season (or preseason), CC or league games, and def not at the 9. She should've been getting more time at the 9 in the CC games or the games we were already winning 4-0. Reyes was ROUGH the first several games she had, and is now playing much better. D'Aquila should've been given more if she was expected to play such a large role this window. Just, more poor planning from the coach/FO imo.
Yeah the comp with Ashley Hatch is the most accurate, imo. I think they got better doing it this game, but they're all too used to delivering low crosses into Dunn and Smith. Even with the tough results, glad Izzy and the others are getting the necessary games, it will help the team the long run.
For me the lack of runs in the box was a problem the entire game and was a key reason the vast majority of our shots ended up being from distance. And as already noted the box was usually full of defenders and the long balls had little chance of getting through.
One thing to recall about 2019; the squad that year 1) had those two young players who were held in reserve only because they had internationals starting over them, and 2) got a month - and ONLY a month - of those two playing utterly lit.
So I give the then-FO and Parsons credit for having that depth and using it wisely.
But given her pedigree I’m not sure it’s fair to smack KK and Norris for hoping D’Aquila could and would be the 2023 Queen Midge. She looked promising in preseason and has regressed based on her form this past week; and it’s fair to (and I do) smack Norris and his staff for either having a role in that or not seeing it and howling to KK to get a NTRP to fill in there.
With their nasty fight with their national organization keeping lots of world class players off Spain's side and Liga F in its off season, I wonder if we could have gotten a short-term loan for, say, Claudia Pina? Maybe not do-able, at least for an amount of money that's within the regulations (and the short-timer FO would have splashed out anyway). But I wonder if they even considered something like that. I know it's only a couple league games, but still...
Yeah, I mean, Dagny is on break from the WSL in Iceland. I know I've mentioned her before. Could've used an experienced tall 10 who just came off a good season. History with the club...the rub is that's she's got a child now, but damn, it's 2023 they can figure that out. Coffey, Moultrie, and Dagny would've been a good start in midfield.
Even Bourielle, who I've seen has been in the Bay area recently. History with the club, and an upgrade to Porter.
Definitely avenues they could've explored. And so far, the first one across the line is...a CB, who'll be leaving back to Australia after the short loan? 2/6 (maybe 7) games of the window already played and we don't even have anyone over the line yet? Multiple teams have had their NTRP's practicing with them all season...
What’s the incentive for Claudia Pina, a top player who is coming off an injury hit season to play in this league when the best players aren’t here? Like the only ones who have done that have been OL Reign using the partnership, and the Kim Little history (and for Kim, I’m not sure you can say it worked out because she got two fairly medium term injuries in 22-23).
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland-thorns/2023/03/nwsl-commissioner-jessica-berman-upcoming-sale-of-portland-thorns-in-advanced-stages.html
Advanced stages of vetting prospective owners.... reported on March 20.
Berman personally checking up every few weeks or so... reported on March 20.
We need an update from Davis and Berman, and we need reporters asking about this.
It turns out Commissioner Berman has a geology degree and so one must adjust temporal statements accordingly. Ask for estimates in epochs.
I am recalculating according to Ann Druyan's "Cosmic Calendar."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bl-s4tqR8Bc
"Every few weeks or so" = 1-2 billion years.
I've asked Ryan Clarke a few times in the past on twitter...I recommend anyone who has twitter to maybe ask him to report on the radio silence of all of this. After 2+ years of prior bullshit, this sale process has been excruciating for fans (and players, likely.) Add in the FO and HC incompetence lately and it's starting to feel like none of this will get better anytime soon. I've personally considered becoming less invested and just come back around if/when there's movement...it's been years of so much negative and I'm pretty exhausted being a fan honestly.
Relevant to our Gotham game this weekend:
“INBOX: Gotham FC will announce the signings of two new players joining the club this week, with one player announced this afternoon, on Wednesday, July 5, and another player announced tomorrow, on Thursday, July 6. Both players will be available for roster selection for Gotham FC’s home match against the Portland Thorns on Sunday, July 9.”
If I were guessing, it would be the two Spanish players we’ve seen linked to Gotham, Esther González and Maitane López. Tough luck for the Thorns.
KK? KK? Beuller? Beuller? Hello?
Aunt Esther?
Welp, here's one:
"Liverpool striker Katie Stengel has joined NJ/NY Gotham FC on loan during the WSL off-season. She returns to #lfc on 3 September. Pending international clearance, she will be available for Gotham’s clash with Portland Thorns on Sunday."
Def not a bad signing...a quick striker who should be pretty in-form and is familiar with the league. Our current frontline is looking to be one of the worst/least skilled in the league during the WC period...quite the summer bummer.
Keep seeing transfer news and signings around us, but never about us. Orlando just got themselves one of the best CB's in the WSL, and is in the rumor mill for a Portuguese int'l (whom Arsenal and PSG are also interested in), KC just signed the "player of the year" in the Danish league (a CB)....and we're just over here.....doing nothin'. Ever. Lol.
It's 'coz the club is (theoretically) for sale. Like having a used car to sell that could really use a full transmission overhaul, but you'll never get the money back out of that. So you give it a DIY detailing job, put some of that black shiny crap on the tire sidewalls, and cross your fingers it doesn't break down on the test drive.
Horan & Morgan double captains. Horan has been been slowly entrenching her place as captain for the last year or so. A little surprised in the double capo choice but not surprised by Horan getting the badge.
Looks like we now have defender Kayla Morrison as an NTRP:
https://www.oregonlive.com/portland-thorns/2023/06/portland-thorns-sign-defender-kayla-morrison-as-national-team-replacement-player.html
Nut graf: "Morrison, 26, most recently played for the Melbourne Victory in Australia, leading the team as its captain all the way to an appearance in the A-League Grand Final."
Anyone know much else about her? Centerback, I hope?
It's almost like having a real Aussie on the team again. Oi Oi Oi!
https://twitter.com/ReusSimon/status/1613992306734149632
"Defender" with 6 goals and 2 assists? IDK how to square that circle but...
With Kansas she was awarded Big 12 Defender of the Year so hell yeah, let's see what she can bring!
ETA 5'9" so adds some height to a minuscule Thorns squad.
That's 6 goals and 2 assists over 3 years, so around 2G+1A/year. That's a pretty good rate for a defender who presumably gets up there for corner kicks. Because of her height I'll guess she's a centerback, and also it's rare for an outside back to be captain.
She is a CB, yes. She's a left-sided CB (so, where Menges is.) The footage I've seen was that all of her goals have come from CK/free kicks and with her head. She appears to have some aerial ability, which is nice. Also, she's had some track and field accolades and awards won (albeit in high school), but I hope that means she's got some speed because we have a lack of it on our backline.
She can join that other goal-scoring machine, Kelli Hubly!
Would legit be thrilled to see Thorns again become a set piece threat to be reckoned with. Put three header specialists in there and who do you leave unmarked?
Once had the Great Wall of Emilies.
Now have the Meh Bench of Izzies.
Maybe Merritt is trying to recoup $$$ from lost sponsorships and so is going after these folks....
https://www.instagram.com/izzyspizza/?hl=en
Some good news: Rocky has joined Costa Rica in preparation for the WC!
https://twitter.com/fedefutbolcrc/status/1676233148848574465
Also, looks like Natu will be leaving after this away game, for the Finland Women’s National Team for upcoming matches during the July FIFA window, spanning July 10-18 against Iceland and Scotland.
Might want to edit the link. Or I can just repost it.
https://twitter.com/fedefutbolcrc/status/1676233148848574465
Edited, thanks!
OMFG did everyone just see menges’ latest post? Im the happiest man in the world
She's pretty good at that photography thing.
Matching rainbow sneakers?
My GOD, it IS rainbow sneakers!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CuQvrgYrxzi/?hl=en
Rainbow sneakers on full display!!!!!
They say that love conquers all. I wish something would have conquered KC the other night.
Here's one for Abell4...
Menges's caption: "I was not given paddling privileges."
Jasper's reply: "Paddlin' the school canoe? Oh, you better believe that's a paddlin'."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKiLfH3DVGc
What really chafes cheeks is that the best part of KC last night was their defending. Cooper impressed me with her defending more than her attacking, and Robinson and especially Ball were absolute pests.
When you look at last night's stats, it's astonishing how thoroughly Portland dominated and outplayed KC, but those of us who watched it live saw the Thorns utter offensive futility time and time again.
Except for Kling's second-match-in-a-row brainfart, our defending was good, too. Not that it was anything resembling a quality attack that was testing them, but they did their part. The absolute futility of the offense lost us a couple points (should have had at least a very good chance at one, and I'll be salty about that bullshit no-call on a foul in the box no less obvious on the one given KC for a while).
Based on watching last night, Weaver could be used like Smith as a running #9. She went central so much last night that maybe she should just start there. I thought Vasconcelos was serviceable last night on the wing. Reyes was active if not so much effective as a wing but she's much more dangerous playing in place of Kling on the back line. Better defender too.
Kling just doesn’t have the legs anymore, I think. And Reyes is knocking on the door.
Reyna's versatility has been huge for this team. The past two games, she's lined up in like 5 different positions: RB, LB, LW, RW, and switched off with Izzy ytd between winger and center forward.
Just her technical ability to keep possession and play the right pass is refreshing. I've not seen a FB that comfortable with the ball in so long. Think her best position long-term is midfielder, but FB is already solid.
Kling's best play these days comes in the attack. Why not just make her a midfielder (in place of Porter) or a wing/forward in Izzy's place. Keeping her as a fullback does not seem to maximize her strengths. It only maximized her weaknesses which is dumb.
I think Reyes should start at LB and Kling should start at the 8 (or a double pivot) with Coffey during this period. Norris has the options to put his best players he has on the field, and that means sitting Porter. She is just not good and he needs to adjust.
Agree completely with this! I think during the WC break Kling should be the new Coffey, Coffey the new Rodriquez or Hina. Reyes should take LB, Kuikka RB and McGrady to backup both of them. Up front Weaver, Vasconcelos and D'Aquila, who was a lot better last night and I am feeling like we need some patience with Izzy. Betfort is fine for closing minutes energy and aggressive play. Porter shouldn't be a starter just late legs.
The back looked OK last night and the new new NTR might be better than anyone we have as a backup because she has been playing , while in a lesser league, she has been playing at an elite level in that league.
Last night in my view the Thorns were the better team, but were both impatient and unlucky. Sam needs to take more shots as does Reyna and Liv needs to take better shots.
Next year would be the ideal time to move some of the locker room leaders to coaching staff roles.
KC sign another international defender... Danish CB Stine Ballisager Pedersen.
Good for KC. They need all the help they can get. Thorns would rather go shopping for rec league talent it seems.
Isabel Dehakiz signed. Midfielder help.
https://twitter.com/tayvincent6/status/1676990397766311936
Really seems like they're scraping to find anyone? I guess that's what an NTRP is...?
Not a starter at Santa Clara when she was there and Chris Henderson's system doesn't seem to value her very highly. 0.23 is pretty insignificant if you know what a better players' numbers look like. Looks like she's a central midfielder...I'd hope for an 8? Maybe she's better than Porter, so Sam can move back to the 6. Anyone know anything about her? This was posted back in June:
"NWSL Draft Board Update
From RPI #26 - Santa Clara
5YR MF (MC) #7 (Tier B) - Isabel Dehakiz
PEGASUS Rating - 0.23 (4YR, 2022)
[Signed with Deportivo Cali]"
Meanwhile, Gotham signed veteran striker Katie Stengel and Spanish midfielder Maintane Lopez, both of whom have already been with the team practicing. At this rate, maybe we'll have another forward or midfielder by August after we've lost all of our games lol. :)
Gotham out there signing players from Liverpool and Atletico Madrid and we're out there signing players nobody has heard of...
At Deportivo Cali, for what it is worth Dehakiz is rostered as a defender... Gotta get them all, lol!
And we can't even do that before the window starts...Even Orlando out here upstaging us lol.
Lol, it wouldn't be a Thorns acquisition if it wasn't getting a player just to put them in a different position than their natural one! Maybe she'll actually be playing forward lol.
I have figured it might be a pointless WC break. Can the full team recover enough to be a shield contender? The only thing helping is the other top teams have challenging matches and might not fare much better during this break.
Yeah, just really frustrating when you're seeing all the other teams who lost a lot (and even not!) pulling in decent NTRP's. There's also been a ton of int'l signings in the last week, of course, some of whom won't be with their new teams until after the WC, but some of whom are joining their teams. With how close the table is and going into this window on top, it's just more frustration that there seems to be no real effort to actually strengthen the roster during this period...and really, they can't even get the filler players over the line in time either. After this upcoming weekend game, we'll have already played 2 league games, and arguably one of the more important CC group games because of where we were in the standings and who it was (if you're a player you do care about those, regardless of how little they might mean to us.) I look at Gotham's roster, and unfortunately, I don't think we get a W this weekend either. If I were to guess, I'd say it'd be another L. At least most of the top teams dropped points this past weekend...that makes it a little better.
Just don't understand how they looked at our F line of Weaver, Betfort, Beckman, Vasconcelos, and D'Aquila and thought that would get the job done, especially since 3/5 of them have hardly played (or haven't at all.) Would've taken a Katie Stengel here!
Yeah, Stengel would have been an upgrade on Betfort, no doubt.
I'm telling myself the lack of spending is Merritt's way of telling us that the sale is getting close.
Counterpoint: a sign the contract is further away than ever. Xeno's pair o' docs.
One suspects this was Xeno's cheeky response to his kids during all those summer family chariot rides when they kept asking "Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?"
I've always appreciated the Ancient Greek philosophers for giving us gems that parents misuse to this day, such as "Because some things just are," "All explanations must end somewhere," "Everything is; nothing is not."
Socrates missed his calling; he should have written a self-help book on fatherhood. =)
Sigh. I hope so. Doesn't explain why they didn't have it done last week, though. Kinda like a day late, a dollar short.
I did ask Ryan on twitter if he knew about any other signings. Nothing yet lol.
Does anybody know what the NTRP salary rules are? Is this a cap issue? Are we all filled up with big contracts so that we have no money for NTRPs? Because what the actual hell? At this point, Karina has shown absolutely ZERO ability as a GM.
NTRP salary does not count toward the salary cap. So, this is definitely either a GM issue or a Merritt doesn't want to pay extra money into a team he's selling issue.
Does she happen to go by Izzy, because Izzy&Izzy from Santa Clara could be fun.
Started 8, played in 18 in her one season there. Nothing spectacular in the stats and perhaps a defensive MF.
Also, I think Bella is an Isabella lol.
She's somehow even more adorable: Annabella Madeleine Bixby (Geist)
That's it! She has a great name.
Get to know Izzy # 2.... Lot's of Q&A here: https://thesundevils.com/sports/womens-soccer/roster/isabel-dehakiz/12389
I wonder if ASU had a coaching change, as her #s fell dramatically after sophomore year. She played 38 games her first two years then 15 the second two. Nothing sucks more than being a senior and riding the pine (but: covid). Santa Clara played her more in that single year than those two.
She had a season ending injury her junior year, which probably dragged into her senior year plus whatever covid era issues came up. Don't know how much to read into it.
WEEK 14: With Great Power Rankings Comes Great Responsibility
(1) Courgettes
(2) Puget Sound WoSo Team
(3) Stems Without Thorns
(4) DC Kang
(5) Gotham's Dark Night
(6) SD Champipple
(7) Doordash
(8) Pride (In the Name of Love)
(9) Loovull
(10) KCFUBAR
(11) No Stars
(12) ACFCNFT
Did anybody have "Tyler Lussi, consecutive game-winning goals" on their 2023 bingo card?
Gal knows how to sieze the moment. Happy for her, just not with them.
There is room at the top for only one.....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG66Uwa4zwU
Here's a review of "Kansas City Bomber" found at Turner Classic Movies. Welch's rival in the film, Helena Kallianiotes, received a Golden Globe nomination. And Welch did all of her own skating and several of her stunts; apparently she even broke her wrist during filming.
https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/1793/kansas-city-bomber/#articles-reviews?articleId=78135
EDIT: The Wikipedia page has some interesting quotes too. Original idea was for it to be grittier, like Midnight Cowboy. Yikes!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_Bomber
Portland's flat track league has been highly successful too. I actually stumbled upon this movie researching them. Not a real popular sport but has a cult following.
https://rosecityrollers.com/
My aunt is (was?) a RCR for a long time, and my niece was on the youth squad! It was brutal (but fun!) to watch lol.
How on earth have I missed this??? It's Rollerball meets Slap Shot, but several years earlier and with Raquel Welch!
It's cheesy but watchable. Early 70's Portland vibes.
Complete with a male coach or executive who has inappropriate relationships with, and makes inappropriate comments about, female players. You didn't tell me this was a documentary!
And again the female taking matters into her own hands to bring about change.
It was so weird that we had **nine** players on the bench and nobody other that Betfort even stretched during the second half. I think it sends a bad message to the players. Like "There is absolutely no chance that you are going to play tonight." Also, puts you in a bind if you need an injury sub.
As bad as this week's results have been, they're hardly surprising. I mean, look at these changes...
(1) Hogan started Wednesday
(2) Bixby started Saturday
(3) Coffey is playing the 8, not the 6
(4) Moultrie is starting at the 10 and going 90
(5) Porter is starting at the 6
(6) Vasconcelos is starting
(7) Betfort is seeing significant minutes at the 9
(8) D'Aquila is seeing significant minutes at the 9
(9) Reyes is pushing up to the RW
There were other changes too... and they're all connected to all the absences
We made a huge amount of changes, most of which were below- or well-below-replacement level, all at once.
You can withstand 1-2 of those at a time, but not all of this.
I had the same thought. It’s a lot of change all at once. Moving Sam out of the middle seems to have caused a real loss of continuity. There should be a way to let her play further up without losing her as the QB so to speak.
We would need a strong single 6 to allow Sam to get forward, but we just don't have that unfortunately. Especially not in the way Norris plays, which demands a ton from the 6. I think it's too important of a position, and would like to see her back in the 6. Maybe try Kling along side her in a 4231, which could allow her to get forward a little more if her and Kling switch off staying home and getting forward.
Also we DID lose 6 players, five of them starters and including the best players on the team. I'm not too surprised we took such a hit.