Recap: Portland Thorns 1-3 Utah Royals
Not a good look from the Thorns.
Portland Thorns lost in its second game of the Summer Cup. It was 3-1 against the Utah Royals — but it could’ve been worse.
The lineup
After the five goals the Thorns put on Tijuana, coach Rob Gale decided to use the same formation but with slightly different personnel. Instead of Emily Alvarado in goal, he put Lauren Kozal (congratulations on your debut!).
In the defense, he decided to move Kelli Hubly to the right-back position and Reyna Reyes to the left. Mallie McKenzie was moved from the forward line to the midfield, replacing Olivia Wade-Katoa. Ana Dias started up front along with Christine Sinclair and Izzy D’Aquila.
The match
It was certainly not a good omen to see Utah scoring only three minutes into the match. And it was even worse to see former thorn Hannah Betfort score on her former team. Not much time passed until the Royals scored another through one of the season’s best rookies, Ally Sentnor.
Not to point fingers but it’s important to say that in both goals, Kozal is not to blame. In the first one, Paige Monaghan left Reyes behind with her speed and then Betfort anticipated Hubly to push that ball against the net.
In the second goal, the defense recovers and Becky Sauerbrunn follows Sentnor but gives her enough space to let her shoot and she scores a banger that Kozal didn’t have a chance to stop.
Utah did well to stop Portland on the flanks. Of course, Marie Müller has become one of the key players for the team this season and the Royals did well stopping her. Reyes didn’t have the same impact on the right flank and therefore they didn’t have to care much about her.
Therefore, that left Portland having to attack through the middle. With all its starters, the Thorns are usually strong playing through the middle but this was not the case with the personnel available. In the first half, the Thorns were reduced to long-distance shots given how congested the middle was.
Knowing that Hina Sugita is pivotal for Portland’s fluidity of the game, Utah targeted her putting even triple marks on her. In that way, the Thorns’ midfield became practically nonexistent.
Basically, Utah was playing in the way Portland should be playing by now: moving the ball to find pockets of space, sending dangerous crosses to the box and arriving to the final third in numbers.
I wouldn’t put the third goal on Kozal either. It was bad luck that the ball got a deflection and sent her to the other way.
I know it’s too early to say this but Luren Kozal showed a confidence in goal I haven’t seen since the early days of Bella Bixby. We should see how she performs against Seattle but I think Portland has found a candidate for the no.1 spot
Welcome back, Olivia Moultrie!
We know Portland is dealing with some injuries, among them was Payton Linnehan who came back in this game for Sinclair at halftime, and Olivia Moultrie. The youngest Thorn came into the match for Meaghan Klingenberg in the 61’.
It only took her four minutes to make an impact on the game. After a pass from McKenzie, she got rid of her mark and scored a banger. Moultrie was only 30 minutes on the field but oh, what a difference she made!
Let’s hope we can see Morgan Weaver soon.
It is what it is. We’ve been grousing since last season about the shallow depth of this roster. So when that depleted roster runs into a nearly intact Utah (shitty roster building has some bizarre upsides!) it would have taken soccer genius to overcome the mismatches and whatever else Ken is, he’s not that.
He wasn’t a genius last week. He’s not a mook this week. He seems like a nice replacement-level gaffer. The troops like him. That’s nice. Fits right in with the whoop-whoop GM who’s strong suit seems to be enthusiasm.
If we’re okay with that that’s what we’re going to get more of. If not? We’ll see what happens in the offseason.
Thanks Melina for the write up. I missed the game and now I’m not sure I want to see it. But to be fair it seems like Utah was nearly full strength and Portland missing a lot of normal starters.
I know it is not good form to blame the heat and altitude, but there is that. Despite being at the bottom of the table they have been much better at home beating NC, losing to Orlando by only 1. So I am not going to open my veins because they lost. Disappointed, Yes, Discouraging, sure!
Go Thorns!