Portland Thorns 4, Kansas City Current 5 - Instant Reaction

In the historic first ever match at CPKC Stadium, the Portland Thorns and Kansas City Current played a match that will remembered, forever.

Credit: Portland Thorns FC

The sold out CPKC Stadium would be the first of its kind in the NWSL. The deserved spotlight from the league, gave the utmost respect to the Kansas City Current and the Portland Thorns.

Everyone was treated to a chaotic game with a ton of fireworks. Luckily for KCC supporters, their brand new stadium would be the cure for their woes against Portland. The 5-4 win would be tied for the most ever goals ever scored in an NWSL game.

What the Longs and Maholmes have done for Kansas City soccer can’t be understated, and putting this historic event on ABC for the biggest audience possible is well deserved for both clubs. Also in attendance was the Bhathal family for the first time. They’ll be there in Portland next week as well.

Head coach, Mike Norris, mentioned at media availability on Tuesday that he would adjust the lineup to acclimate W Gold Cup players due to their limited trainings with the team. He started three newcomers and all on the backline in Nicole Payne, Marie Müller, and Isabella Obaze. One surprise omission was Hina Sugita who was benched in favor of captain Christine Sinclair.

Unfortunately, the occasion hit the teams in completely different ways. Kansas City Current came out flying and first to every ball, while Portland Thorns could not match their energy.

In the 22nd minute, Shelby Hogan misplayed a pass from her box and it found Debinha who took a shot that the Thorns goalkeeper parried away into the path of Vanessa DiBernardo.

Disaster would strike again in the 25th minute. After Hogan got the initial save, multiple Current players were unmarked before DiBernardo would smash the rebound to make it 2-0.

Sadly, it got even worse in the 34th minute when Bia (Beatriz Zaneratto) scored her first NWSL goal.

In the 43rd minute, Sophia Smith gave a jolt of life to Portland. Jessie Fleming won the ball in a high spot and played it to Smith who crushed it from outside the box to beat AD Franch.

Heading into halftime down 1-3 was all on the Thorns. They made mistakes trying to play from the back, constantly lost second balls to the Current, and never looked comfortable.

Before the start of the second half, Janine Beckie would make her return to soccer for the first time in 366 days. She is one of the vocal leaders of this team. As one of the only true wingers on this squad, her play this season will provide Portland a huge boost. She came on for Christine Sinclair who was asked to play a role that Sugita provided all of last year.

In the 64th minute, Hogan came off her line, but failed to bring the ball in resulting in a Kristen Hamilton goal.

In the 68th minute, Alex Pfeiffer became the NWSL’s youngest goal scorer of all time at 16 years old.

The Portland Thorns would not go down without a fight as they scored the rest of the goals. Being down four goals, this team refused to back down.

Janine Beckie opened up her scoring account with a perfectly slotted goal off a set piece in the 71st minute.

Three minutes later, Sophia Smith would get her second goal for a brace with a boss of a goal. Her effort and precision on this goal is why she is arguably the best player in the league.

If you thought the Thorns would go quietly, you were dead wrong. Janine Beckie, scored in the first minute of stoppage time to cut the lead down to one! Her right footed blast from outside the box was struck perfectly past Franch. The shot is one of the best ones you’ll see all season.

A year after having an ACL tear, Beckie tackled rehab like no other and recorded a brace in her first game back.

The Portland Thorns had two more chances from her to tie it, but Franch was up for the moment. The game would end 4-5 in favor of the home team.

This game was lost in the first half, but I would make the argument that it was lost before the game started. Asking three new starters in the backline to play and “make it work” is a recipe for disaster and was. The midfield has rarely got a chance to gel with Jessie Fleming. Christine Sinclair started at right wing over Hina Sugita and Janine Beckie. If you are going to play Sincy, you need to play her at midfield. With a traditional winger in Beckie, the Portland Thorns scored three of their four goals, and played their best football.

After being outshot, out hustled, and outplayed in the first half, they were the better team in the second half. Make no mistake, Kansas City did not win this game, Portland lost this game.

Norris will have an entire week to make adjustments which will include reinserting Becky Sauerbrunn and Reyna Reyes back into the backline. The defense continues to be a question mark and with defending NWSL Champions, Gotham FC coming to town, they’ll be tested again.

Scoring Summary

KCC:

• ^{Vanessa Di Bernardo (22')}

• ^{Ellis Wheeler (25')}

• ^{Bia Zaneratto (34')}

• ^{Kristen Hamilton (64')}

• ^{Alex Pfeiffer (68')}

POR:

• ^{Sophia Smith (43', 74')}

• ^{Janine Beckie (71’, 90+1’)}

Next Up:

The Portland Thorns will face off against defending champions, Gotham FC, in their home opener at Providence Park on Sunday, March 24 at 4pm PST (ESPN+ and ESPN Deportes)