137 Comments

All the best to our beloved Thorns. Wever, Muller and Payne. Rest well, take care of yourselves, physically and mentally. We will eagerly await your return. Much love.

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Well said.

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Wrong day to stop sniffing glue.

Gutted for all three and wow is this squad in trouble.

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surely you cant be serious?

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Stop cal...

Cigarette?

Yes, it is.

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I'm on the way to being an alcoholic.

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And with a taproom every 10 blocks...

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This is terrible news. I feel so bad for these three young women, especially Weaver as she already missed most of 2024. Müller and Weaver both got a sniff at the National team recently and then have it ripped out, that is just such cruel luck. Payne geesh, we will miss that speed against the Chawingas and Bandas in the league. 2025 was already looking like a terrible year, but this ties a bow on it.

We still have bunch of fresh faces and this will be their Thorns team and we need to support them with all the enthusiasm we can muster.

Castellanos, Linnehan, Turner, Tordin you are up, so grab this opportunity!

Sam Coffey, Hina Sugita, Jessie Fleming and Olivia Moultrie you’re the center of gravity for this team, you are vets. The season will absolutely depend on you.

Obaze, Hyatt, Daiane, Perry and Reyes you are what is left of the defensive line. We will need you to be leaders and stay healthy.

Macca and Bixby you are our keepers. Be a brick wall!

I didn’t mention the coaching staff and General Management, but this bad news is not an excuse it is an opportunity to prove yourselves.

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And, frankly, this season - now more than ever - we canNOT afford the whole "lionesses led by a KenDonkey" problem that tanked 2024.

Ken needs to be as cunning as a cunning fox appointed...no, fuck, I'll settle for just "better-than-average-NWSL-HC". No point in hoping to turn donkeys into racehorses.

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At least we’re getting a chance to see how good our new GM is sooner rather than later!

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Anybody run a welfare check on him recently? Asked the USPS about a forwarding order?

Agooses fly anorthes this time of year.

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Top 10 Things Going Extinct in 2025:

10. Welfare Checks

9. USPS

8. Order

...

1. Thorns playoffs hopes

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I was just thinking this is a silver lining. I think this is the perfect scenario for an ambitious GM looking to prove himself to really pull off some spectacular moves.

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Wellll…I think of it more like “picking corn kernels out of the turd”, but yeah. We’re going to get a hard look at Goose’s roster-building skills now. Tough situation, too; Europe headed into their stretch runs, USL season starting, who knows what contacts we have in Asia or South/Central America.

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1dEdited

The Weaver injury is bad and her phrasing in the IG post raises some real questions about the medical staff, Müller's is just outright devastating and drops the floor of this team significantly, and Payne's is tough as well given how it leaves Reyna as the only senior-quality FB on the roster.

Not really anyway to spin this one. Not necessarily the team's fault (although maybe a bit with Weaver), but the inactivity plus the need to evaluate Gale with a competent roster makes this even worse. Hell, if I was Soph and *wasn't* pregnant I might decide that now is a pretty good time lmao

I'd also say this makes the chances of seeing a 3-back on opening day rise from about 25% to closer to 75%.

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I was literally just about to comment: "If I was Soph and wasn't pregnant, I would get myself pregnant so I didn't have to play this year" lmao.

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:-D :-D :-D

Gallows humor.

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Is Morgan Weaver the Bill Walton of our times? For her sake, I sure hope not.

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The thing that really sucks is this feeling that the season is essentially over before it has even started. There is no one out there we can conceivably get before the summer who is as good as Morgan Weaver and Marie Müller. Payne has some offensive issues but is still a good defensive player. And if Soph is indeed missing a significant amount of time, this is going to be a lost season.

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No one who will be looking to come to Portland, anyway.

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Any one got Kling's phone number?

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867-5309?

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I gotta think there’s some contingent who’d like Sincy to “save” us too. (I am not one)

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Hell, we could use Sauerbruun as Weaver's replacement at this point.

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KK replace Soph?

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New kit confirmed: https://www.thorns.com/news/back-in-black-for-2025-our-new-kit

I wish the Thorns would lean into the green like Racing did.

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Agreed. I didn't like the Thorns Tattoo You era, but I liked the shorts from that kit. They should just introduce a green third kit.

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Pics of Soph with “Wilson” on the new kit. Will you please allow me to interpret that as somewhat encouraging?

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I personally find the obsession with wanting personal information on Wilson to be invasive. We know she's out and that's all that we should expect, if she was leaving we would hear about that. Injury, mental health, family crisis, personal reasons, it doesn't matter and we aren't owed an inside look into her personal life imo.

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I don't need to know her business, but I do need to know whether she's going to be on the field for the Thorns. She doesn't need to share her personal info with us, but the team is absolutely obligated to share whether the team's best player will be playing to start the season. See how Chicago has handled the Swanson absence.

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1hEdited

They might not know if she will play. If (God forbid) she has a miscarriage it would take time for both her body and mental and emotional state to recover (and for her to get to a point she feels comfortable talking about it. If she even can with the state of the anti-abortion laws in the USA). There is no timeline on that. We know it's not holding out for a trade since she was also missing from the USWNT, and someone here said very few people know what is going on. It sounds like Wilson doesn't want to share it yet and that is her right. I am sure there will be an update when she is ready.

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“Sophia Wilson has not reported to camp due to personal reasons. We respect her privacy and will work with her to provide an update when she is ready. Until then, she will not be available for selection.”

This is a pro sport. Radio silence from the club is unacceptable when people spend large sums of money to watch the club. You’re creating a false dichotomy of “spill all her personal info or say nothing at all” when there’s a pretty clear middle ground which we’ve already seen Chicago use effectively with Swanson.

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1hEdited

The thing is saying personal reasons would just lead to more speculation. I think being general about agreeing with her on taking time off after a long demanding regular and Olympic season should be sufficient

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I hear ya. But I’m going to continue wanting to know whether our star player is going to play as a Thorn this season. And I’m going to continue reading into signs until we know for sure. 🤷‍♂️

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She was seen in the new kit and we haven't heard about a trade. If she's not playing it's for a good reason and we should respect that.

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So if messi didn't show up to camp would people say the same thing? I think there would be rampant speculation. Would should our star player be treated any different? How do we know it's personal issues? Maybe she is holding out for a trade or more money?

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I'm not sure what you want. If it's a personal reason, which is what it seems like since she wasn't with the USWNT, that's all we should get to know. We are not entitled to players medical records - mental, physical, or emotional.

If Messi was missing from club and international play for personal reasons, I assume something happened in his personal life that he doesn't want shared.

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Also, I would like to point out that you say "If it's a personal reason... that's all we should get to know."

Well we literally don't even know that much!

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I don't think any of us are so concerned with the specific reason, as much as what impact the specific reason has on her role on the team.

For example, taking a few weeks off to enjoy being a newlywed has different implications than maternity leave, which has different implications than wanting a trade because she doesn't think Rob Gale is a winning coach, which has different implications than continuing to recover from her knee injury.

I don't think any of us would argue that we are entitled to private personal or medical information, but when we spend thousands of dollars to sit and watch her (and her specifically!) play, we do at least deserve some basic information about why she is not training.

Since neither Soph nor the team has released any explanation, all we have to go on is the facts: She hasn't reported to Thorns or USWNT camp, she got married, she looked unhappy for stretches of the last season, etc.

We, the fans, allow this team to exist with our investment of money, time and energy. We don't need to know everything, but we do need to know something. And if all they give us is tea leaves, I'm going to read them.

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I will say this: the silence isn’t helpful. If they released a statement as Chicago did with Swanson it would stop a lot of speculation.

These players are star athletes and fans want to know the status of star players. That’s not unreasonable, it’s part of the deal when being an athlete and playing for a team.

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Exactly. I'm not holding up the NBA as a model organization, but they do a reasonably good job of getting info out there about a player's status. Of course, that's also influenced by several other factors beyond team communications, including league policy, the CBA, actual reporting and muckracking, and -- let's face it -- sports betting.

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there are new kits out and need to know!! I have a history of getting new kits and then the player leaves. need to know before I purchase

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So. You’re Lisa Bhathal Merage. You;

1) call in your GM and hand him the checkbook and instructions to scour land and sea to restock the roster. Cost is no object. That includes a new HC - you’ve put Ken on notice. One way or another you’re going to save this season?

2) write this season off. Hold a presser, explain your plan is to rebuild over this season with the objective of coming back strong in 2026?

3) do nothing much. Fill in the roster holes with whatever bodies your GM can scrounge up, and hope for a miracle?

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Here’s hoping it’s a mix. Admit this year might be a wash but you’re still going to bring in class players and a class coach asap. Give the new coach this Half year? to implement the system and strategy and start planning the roster for next season. Realistically this is the last year you have Coffey + Soph so what’s next? Start planning roster construction now . Hire more experts in the ACL prevention / knee prevention fields . Maybe Check on Dawn Scott and what she’s up to or if she can recommend specialists

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Given what a scourge knee injuries are to WoSo in particular I’m sure the Thorns medical staff is following the research closely as are most WoSo organizations. It doesn’t seem like anyone has a good answer yet.

As I mentioned below, tho, Weaver’s re-injury raises some questions about her initial repair and her rehab. Could just be bad luck, but I sure wish we’d get more information (we won’t for perfectly legitimate reasons, but…)

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There might be someone that can help. Reality is there is a woso issue in general but some clubs get impacted more. The wave for example hadn’t had a single ACL in it’s existence. There’s been a lot of recent injuries Soph injury, Gabby surgery, Wade Katoa needed surgery , Weaver surgery, Weaver again , Moultrie has needed two surgeries as well, Muller, and Payne. I think adding experts can only help . And maybe this is all terrible luck but surely the club wants to know they are doing all they can

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15hEdited

Plan D: just import the entire Tokyo Verdy Menina (not Beleza, Menina...the academy team), toss some red jerseys on 'em and tell them to just do what they do. They're not gonna win the league (they're high-schoolers, after all), but they'll make the playoffs, I guaran-damn-tee it. And watching an academy side playing Barca- and Nadeshiko-style tiki-taka football in the NWSL would be fun, no?

Of course, they'd have to call back Miharu Shinjo from her loan to big sisters Beleza. She'd possibly be the league's best attacking mid...at 18. Not even kidding.

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You'll get 3 and like it!

I'm just looking forward to, at some point this season, learning what Mallie McKenzie's favorite berry is.... :-)

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I wish all the injured players a quick recovery. If Im being honest, none of these players are un-replaceable. Before the injury we were talking about how Weaver needed to step up and finish her chances to get to the next level. Payne is behind Reyes on the depth chart. Muller was a pleasant surprise, but not yet a world class player when we signed her. I would argue we have needed upgrades at almost every position on this team beyond Coffee and Wilson, and still do.

Unfortunately, this regime in its limited life span has proven it will choose the well drink over the top shelf liquor when it comes to signing players. This just gives them an excuse to mail it in for another year and sign more mid level talent for its starting positions.

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Eh, Weaver and Müller are easily two of the five most irreplaceable players on the roster imo, the others being Soph, Sam, and Hina.

Given both our lack of depth at FB and how awesome she was last season --I'd argue she or Hina was the best performing player on the team for much of last season-- losing Marie is sneaky massive. We also already had a dearth of speed in attack and Weaver would have filled that gap.

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Nobody’s irreplaceable, but if the squad has lost Weaver, Muller, and (I’m guessing) Wilson? Those are big holes. Add in Sauerbrunn retiring and the keeper issues as well as the RW hole from last season we never filled? That’s a lot of starting quality bourbon that a gallon jug of Fireball ain’t gonna refill.

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I saw "the RW hole ... we never filled" I immediately thought "RW" referred to "Rhian Wilkinson". Which is also true and remains so to this day.

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Even Wilkinson was sort of a "we looked everywhere...for the best Canadian we could find!" sort of hire. She figured it out and has to go down in club history as one of the two "one-hit wonder" coaches alongside CPC.

But for all that we like to think of ourselves as Soccer City USA it's kind of painful to see how many replacement-level (or worse!) managers we've gone through.

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I'd prefer 1 of course, but I think we get 3. Unfortunately.

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How many of the 7 players pictured in the photo shoot (from Pittock Mansion?) are actually going to play here this year? If I recognize my Thorns, 2 of them are out, maybe a 3rd, and 2 of them are strongly rumored to want to leave for Europe (though might not depart this year).

Olivia Moultrie and Hina Sugita: Your 2026 Portland Thorns!

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I don't recognize all my Thorns. That's Reyes on the couch, not Weaver. But yes, that's Pittock Mansion.

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Japan sees the game out, taking the SBC with a 2-1 win. Fair result: Japan were better, but not massively so. A more defensive look from them even before they re-took the lead (they only needed a draw to win the tournament on GD), but not really a "parking the bus" style. Still almost exactly even possession, for all that the US was chasing so much. Nielsen made some interesting subs to close out the match, and in a couple cases those subs made surprising mistakes. The US couldn't capitalize, though (nor could Japan convers some of the chances they still kept creating).

The US will be better, of course, with at least part of Triple Espresso back and of course Naomi Girma...but the Nadeshiko didn't field the absolute peak choice 11 I thought they might, either. It'll be interesting to watch both of these sides building towards WWC27, where they'll be a couple of the favorites (along with England, Germany, and _maybe_ Spain, although the latter's form has fallen off...they don't look right.

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Japan looked like a well-oiled machine while the US looked like a bunch of players who had never played together before. Hopefully Hayes settles on a first-choice team in a year so and starts getting them reps together.

Picking a first-choice team isn't going to be easy though. The list of viable starters at attacking midfield/forward just got longer, what with Yohannes and Sentnor adding themselves to it. Also Jaedyn Shaw. So we have Swanson, Rodman, Wilson, Macario, Biyendolo, Shaw, Sentnor, Yohannes, and Heaps for around 5 attacking positions (I'm ignoring d-mids here). It's a good problem to have, but it's still a problem.

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Agree. U.S. was a step late pretty much throughout the game. The difference between the teams on quick decision making, good runs, and sharp passing was stark and the U.S. had a lot of work to do.

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13hEdited

Agreed. Good teams have depth, and coaches just have to learn to deal with that "good problem," and either arrive at a preferred 11 (the most common successful solution) or better still, come to a point where they can plug anyone on their roster into the 11 and retain the understanding between players. The latter is clearly Japan's goal. Hard to do, but as I mentioned in a reply elsewhere in the thread, Japanese academy coaches tend to teach the same style of heavily integrated play. The closer Nielsen gets to that ideal, the harder the Nadeshiko are going to be to beat in '27.

The US has just as great a depth, but the players are less interchangeable. I think Hayes has to find her preferred 11, determine an optimal "rotation day" side to back it up, then stick to that for a while in advance of WWC27. If she's mixing and matching right down to the wire like some past coaches, the US will be in trouble. But I'm definitely getting the impression that Hayes is too good a coach to make that mistake.

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Who's up for some USLSL loans?

Offensively, I'm looking at Addie McCain (9 goals, 1 assist), Emina Ekic (3 goals, 4 assists, 56 crosses), and Madison Parsons (5 goals, 5 assists).

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Weaver's getting some love from Shea Groom and Simone Charley on IG.

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Weaver is tge heart of the team and an impact player. Argh. We gave up Kelly Hubbly for nada. Kuika!!!! Why??? We need some impact players. Go Shopping!

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Really devastating for the players and the franchise. Here is hoping each of the players can recover completely and as quickly as possible.

Agoos has his work really cut out for him, as does Gale. Its time for the team to work out a way to play with all four top midfielders no the pitch, we are at a point where you have to get your best players on the field. If Soph isn't ready to play its going to be a rough beginning of the year.

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