Portland Thorns @ Chicago Red Stars Preview
Rob Gale and the Portland Thorns head to Chicago to face off against Lorne Donaldson and the improved Red Stars.
What: Portland Thorns at Chicago Red Stars
When: Saturday, April 27 at 4:30pm PST
Streaming: ion
The ninth place Portland Thorns head to the Windy City to face off against the third place Chicago Red Stars.
New Chicago head coach Lorne Donaldson has led a resurgence side to a surprising start to many. Mallory Swanson and Ally Schlegel have been key contributors with two goals apiece. And Alyssa Naeher has been almost unbeatable this year leading the second best defense in NWSL along with a former Thorn who is getting MVP shouts.
Portland, who secured their first win of 2024 at home against Houston Dash, made the change at head coach to Rob Gale with a victorious start. He will now need to contend with the firepower of Chicago seeing that his own backline is second worst in NWSL.
Players to Watch:
Natu Kuikka (CHI): She has seen a rebounded and more with the move to Chicago. Now playing some of her usual and best football of career under new head coach Lorne Donaldson.
Alyssa Naeher (CHI): Her and the backline have consistently been up to the challenge and will have their hands full again this weekend. They’ve only conceded four goals all season.
Mallory Swanson (CHI): She’s back! With running mate Ally Schlegel also playing at a high level, this dynamic duo will put the Portland backline to the test. They have contributed to over half their team’s goals.
Isabella Obaze (POR): The Danish International completed 70/71 passes in her last start opposite Becky Sauerbrunn. The comfort in the system and partnerships with her teammates continue to get better with each rep. Her speedy and ability to help out to snuff out counterattacks will be the key to the defense.
Marie Müller (POR): Her and Reyna Reyes will have to pick their spots to come forward and cannot get caught too far up the field. The fullbacks typically see the most touches during a game for the Thorns so it’ll be imperative to do the hard work defensively too.
Shelby Hogan (POR): This is a game where she’ll have to make key saves and come off her line a few times to keep the Red Stars’ attack at bay.
Morgan Weaver (POR): Soph Smith is carrying the load in attack and needs her to have a big game. Payton Linnehan and Janine Beckie will need to provide solid play as well.
Jessie Fleming (POR): Although the new advanced role is a bit new to her, she has complete freedom to just play. Rob Gale has full trust in her to go out and get the job done. Coming off her best performance, Fleming will look to help dictate this game in midfield with Hina Sugita & Sam Coffey.
Stumptown Corner:
The Red Stars have not out possessed in any of their games this year and have leaned heavily on their stellar defense and transitional counter attacks. This is tough, as Portland Thorns are accustomed to be a team who prefer to have the ball and get caught out of position. However, Hina Sugita’s insertion into the starting lineup has helped this a bit. Her work rate and contributions on defense cannot be commended enough. The players have a brand new freedom under Rob Gale and it resulted in much better football as a whole. It should be even better with another week of trainings under their belt.
The game will come down to whether Portland can break down Chicago, who will most likely be sitting in a low block or a more defensive posture for the majority of the game. It will also come down to whether or not the Thorns can snuff chances in transition or counters which will require low turnover numbers.
Can they continue to ride the new coaching bump with their interim head coach?
Prediction:
Thorns: 2-1
Chicago’s three wins have come against Seattle Reign home & away, and Utah Royals. Their only loss came against Angel City and only draw against Orlando Pride.
The Thorns are going to use their star power in the frontline to create chances and put away a few chances. Expect the Red Stars to find a goal on a counter with Swanson or Schlegel involved.
Projected Starting XI
Hogan
Müller, Obaze, Sauerbrunn, Reyes
Sam Coffey, Hina Sugita
Jessie Fleming
Morgan Weaver - Christine Sinclair - Sophia Smith
*Having Olivia Moultrie in for Sincy would make a ton of sense
Chelsea just crashed out of the Champions League. The 2nd game of the 2-legged semifinal vs Barcelona was tied at 1-1 when Kadeisha Buchanan on Chelsea got a second yellow. I haven't seen the play, just read about it, but Chelsea fans are saying it was soft. Barça then dominated the ball even more than they had been and earned a penalty (again, Chelsea fans say it was soft) to win the tie 2-1.
I guess that means Emma Hayes will turn her attention to the USWNT a couple weeks earlier than if they had made the UCL final.
Sinc starting is to help Fleming get comfortable out there, so there's another effect of the Fleming addition.
At this point, my preference would be to push Beckie out wide and have Soph playing centrally where she belongs, and use Sinclair as a 20-30 minute sub, not a 60-minute starter.
Also, somehow, soon, we have to rip off the bandage and put Fleming and Moultrie back out there again and let them figure it out. Either Moultrie needs to be part of the future here, not Fleming's sub for 20-25 minutes, or we need to think of moving on.
Last thought: Orlando were dreadful awful at the start of the 2023 season, but look at them now. A turnaround doesn't have to take forever, but it has to be done earnestly.