Preview: Portland Thorns vs North Carolina Courage with Tyler Trent
After seeing their match win streak end, Rob Gale and the Portland Thorns look to start a new one with North Carolina Courage up first.
What/Who: Portland Thorns vs North Carolina Courage
When: Saturday, June 8 at 7pm
Where: Providence Park
Streaming: ion
The Portland Thorns have not played a home match since their 4-0 win over the Seattle Reign on May 11. Nearly a month later, they’re finally back at Providence Park.
Rob Gale’s tenure as interim head coach could not have gotten off a much better start reeling off six consecutive wins before falling to NWSL shield frontrunners, Orlando Pride, without Soph Smith. Luckily for the team, she is back and ready to roll.
Match Preview with Tyler Trent
The North Carolina were one of the favorites heading into the season, but have struggled as of late. After being firmly in the top three of the table for the early portions of the season, they’ve have fallen off the pace to seventh.
These two sides played each other when former Thorns head coach, Mike Norris, was at the helm. On the road, the Portland Thorns were outmaneuvered and outplayed by Sean Nahas and the North Carolina Courage.
However, the home form of NCC isn’t up for debate — it’s their away performances that have been lackluster.
To help me try to decipher their road woes, I am joined by Tyler Trent of TopBin90 and a colleague of mine with WPSL.
Stumptown Footy: Why have NCC struggled on the road, when they are one of the best teams at home?
Tyler Trent: It's an interesting question, and one I'm not really sure of the answer to other than perhaps mentality. Having Denise O'Sullivan gone for the last away match at Houston Dash was a major aspect of that match as well. Her availability for the match against Portland is still up in question, as far as I know.
One aspect that hasn't been mentioned as much with the Courage is the goals given up away. A lot of the noise on socials is about the lack of scoring chances away (which are also poor, but not as big of a gap on paper). This could partially be due to having to chase from behind more often in those games as well, though.
Goals for at home – 10
Goals for away – 3
Goal against at home – 1
Goals against away – 13Overall, I think it's a matter of weathering the storm and breaking the 'curse' for the Courage to get on track on the road. Reinforcing the offense in the transfer window is a must and the return of Kerolin can't come soon enough.
Stumptown Corner
If Denise O’Sullivan is not available, that is a game changer for North Carolina. She is their leader, heartbeat, and engine that runs the Courage. The road struggles will only be heightened at Providence Park.
After losing 0-2 earlier in the season to NCC, expect the Portland Thorns to come out with tons of energy and enthusiasm. Returning home to the Rose City Riveters, supporters, and their loved ones after almost a month will be special.
Soph Smith will lead the frontline and have them ready to go. One of the underrated parts of her game has been the leadership. Many of her teammates have spoken up about her growing comfort of being a vocal leader everyone in the locker room. She is going to find a way to make her mark in this game as a playmaker for herself or a teammate. Could Payton Linnehan see her first ever home start? Highly likely with Janine Beckie starting two games with Canada.
Expect the backline to feature Kelli Hubly with Becky Sauerbrunn. Isabella Obaze is coming back from injury and international break with Denmark. Marie Müller has been one of the best signings in Karina LeBlanc’s history as a GM and continues to play at an incredible level every single week. Reyna Reyes coming off two consecutive starts with Mexico, will likely need to be on the bench. Nicole Payne has been exceptional on the defensive side and will slot in.
In regards to the midfield, expect Hina Sugita, Olivia Moultrie, and Sam Coffey to be the trio. Jessie Fleming is coming off two starts for Canada.
The NCC are still one of the best sides in regards to possession and have tons of speed on their frontline. This game will come down to the Portland Thorns’ fullbacks doing their jobs in defense and using their suffocating press to generate opportunities with success.
Projecting Starting XI
Hogan
Payne - Hubly - Sauerbrunn - Müller
Sugita - Coffey - Moultrie
Smith - Sinclair - Linnehan
Prediction: 3-1 Portland Thorns
ICYMI
Kickin' It with Payton "Peeps" Linnehan
Payton Linnehan was selected by the Portland Thorns in the first round of the 2024 NWSL Draft with the 11th overall pick from Penn State. Since making her debut on the pitch, she has quickly become a fan-favorite in the Rose City. Instead of the usual and basic soccer questions that players get on a daily basis, we allow them to just be themselves. Kickin’ It is a fun Q & A where all topics are all non-football related.
Happy to report I ran into Ashley Sanchez (and Briana Pinto and Haley Hopkins) at the Adidas Employee store yesterday morning and wished her bad luck for Saturday.* Just doing my part for the team.
*Asked her how she was enjoying Portland, then said "good luck," and then "wait no, bad luck" after she responded. Definitely got her rattled imo.
Sinclair starts? I thought Orlando was the surrender-ball match.
ETA there's age and there's age. Last night I saw Marta close on an open-field ball more than once. Somehow, some way she still has wheels, just not 90-minute wheels.