Portland Thorns vs Club América | Recap & Reaction
The Portland Thorns make their CONCACAF W Champions Cup debut against Club América
Portland won their first CONCACAF W Champions Cup game against Club América 3-1 on Wednesday night in Providence Park. The goals came from Christine Sinclair who netted a brace and Reilyn Turner who scored her first Thorns goal.
There were many Club América fans in the stadium doing their best to rival the Riveters, making for an energetic atmosphere in the stadium. Club América tallied the first shot in what would come to be a back-and-forth match. The Thorns struck first in the 13th minute with a banger from Sinc: her shot from outside the 18 sailed over Sandra Paños and into he back of the net. A little over ten minutes later Sinc netted her second goal after slotting away a cross from Marie Müller. The half ended 2-0 with Portland in control of the match.
In the second half, there were no changes made and Reilyn Turner was quick to impact the match as she headed the ball home after a corner service. This half was much more evenly matched as both teams battled back and forth trying to break through the other’s defense. Finally, Club América managed to put one away after Irene Guerrero rocketed a shot home past Mackenzie Arnold, though there was not much she would have done to stop the shot.
In the 68th minute The Thorns finally made some changes to the lineup when Marissa Sheva, Sophie Hirst, and Peyton Linnehan came on for Olivia Wade-Katoa, Sam Coffey, and Reilyn Turner. The match from there devolved into a case of Portland doing their best not to give up another goal. Luckily they were successful and came away with a victory.
Highlights
13’ 1-0 POR - Christine Sinclair with the chip over Spain International Sandra Paños for the opening goal. She celebrates with a tribute to the reported new Portland WNBA team.
28’ 2-0 POR - MM forces a turnover and initiates the attack. She gets out wide and feeds it into the box for Sincy who calmly finishes. She now has a brace!
51’ 3-0 POR - Reilyn Turner opens up her Portland Thorns goal-scoring account! It’s a set-piece header off a corner kick!
53’ 3-1 POR - Spanish International Irene Guerrero with the golazo into the side netting from outside the box. Nothing Macca could do to stop that.
68’ Sophie Hirst on for Sam Coffey — her Portland Thorns debut. Also in for the Portland Thorns, Marissa Sheva for Olivia Wade-Katoa & Payton Linnehan for Reilyn Turner.
73’ Kelli Hubly rises up on a recycled cross and it just goes over the bar
74’ Jessie Fleming on for Liv Moultrie
88’ Mallie McKenzie on for Isa Obaze
Reaction/ Assorted Thoughts
First of all, Mackenzie Arnold’s distribution is wonderful. She provides a new dynamic attacking option from the back that we haven’t seen from a Thorns GK in a while. She also has lovely shot-stopping abilities.
Rob Gale once again started three players up front none of whom were true wingers, the combination of Sinc, D’Aquila, and Turner offers three center forwards working simultaneously. This has been a trend in the last few games where we saw D’Aquila and Moultrie play wide. It is interesting because with the addition of Alexa Spaanstra we now have three proper wingers if you put Soph in that spot, and Payton Linnehan as the other winger.
The Club América fans really brought it to Providence Park, from the press box the chants of “Aguilas, Aguilas, Aguilas” occasionally drowned out the Riveters. It was fun to see some dynamic fans in the crowd rivaling the Portland fans.
Both Sarah Luebbert and Scarlett Camberos weren’t in América’s starting XI, meaning the visitors weren’t starting off with their prime XI — though the same could be said about The Thorns who had Soph Smith on the bench and also debuted a different lineup.
On the defensive end, both Kelli Hubly and Marie Müller deserve some mad props. While Sinc took home the Superior Player of the Match Hubly made a case for it with numerous goal-denying stops and putting her body on the line. She also brought her height to the table and cleared the balls out of the air. Müller not only put in the work making defensive stops but also in the attacking third, she assisted Sinc’s first goal and played a part in many possession-winning plays.
Post-Game Presser
Reilyn Turner on her first goal
Macca on her distribution
The next CONCACAF W Champions Cup game will be away against the San Diego Wave on September 18th. The game will start at 7 p.m. PT.
The Thorns return to NWSL action this weekend when they travel to DC to face the Washington Spirit on Saturday. Grab your coffee, because kickoff is set for 9:30 a.m. PT.
Obaze deserves some love for her work in the 2nd half to keep it from getting to 3-2.
Sinc's celebration was one for the ages, but I really loved her finding Muller after the second goal and saying to her "That was really good!"