Thorns International Duty Updates
Sinclair hangs up her international boots, Coffey scores her fist USWNT goal, and a few other Thornies take to the international stage.
During this international break, eight Portland Thorns players found themselves called up to the national level. For some it was their first time packing their bags — for others it was their last. Christine Sinclair (Canada), Reyna Reyes (Mexico), Rocky Rodríguez (Costa Rica), Natalia Kuikka (Finland), Hina Sugita (Japan), Sam Coffey (USA), Sophia Smith (USA), and Olivia Moultrie (USA) all played this window.
The biggest moment of the break was Christine Sinclair’s retirement from Canadian soccer. Canada played a two-game matchup against Australia. They walked away with two wins, 6 goals, and a goodbye worthy of the legend that Sinc is. The first match on December 1st was won 5-0 and the second match on the 5th was a 1-0 victory.
This final match marked Sinclair’s 331st cap- the most in Canadian history and second in the world all-time. She also leaves the international stage as the all-time leader in international goals scored for women or men with 190. During this game, they also honored Sophie Schmidt who played at the University of Portland with Sinclair and came out of retirement to play for Canada one last time. She replaced Sinclair in the 58th minute as BC Place thundered its applause.
Another big milestone came for two players in the USA’s games against China PR: Olivia Moultrie earned her first cap and Sam Coffey scored her first international goal. The US played China PR in a two-game series as well.
On December 2nd Olivia Moultrie claimed her first USWNT cap, coming in as a sub in the 71st minute. At 18 years and 76 days of age, she is the 72nd teenager all-time to earn a cap for the US and the second this year. The US beat China 3-0.
She told the media afterward: “It was pretty exciting, I was honestly just ecstatic. At that point, the nerves were gone. I was like, 'I'm ready, I'm ready.'" It showed on the pitch — the teen found an opportunity to fire off a shot garnering positive commentary from July Foudy.
Sam Coffey tallied her first career goal for the US in their second game against China PR on December 5th. In the end, the US won 2-1, Coffey’s goal was the first of the night for the US and the equalizer. In the 62nd minute, she fired home a one-touch volley.
Rocky Rodriguez earned a start for Costa Rica in their match and took to the pitch as their captain. They played Saint Kitts and Nevis on December 4th and won 19-0, they also secured their spot in the Gold Cup with this decisive victory. She contributed to the scoring in the 48th minute scoring on a PK. (Her goal is 5:48 in the video)
For Japan, Hina Sugita earned a start in the team’s 2-0 victory over Brazil on December 3rd. Kuikka also earned a start in Finland’s match against Slovakia, their match ended in a 2-2 draw. Reyna Reyes traveled to Mexico for their game against Trinidad and Tobago and while she didn’t find any minutes the team won 1-0.
Overall, a very very emotional and eventful international break that finds the end of an era but also the start of so many others. The Thorns are undefeated in this international break as well so that’s fun.
What was your highlight from the break?
Things seemed to be back to normal for the Nadeshiko in that 2-0 win v Brazil. The previous match was weird, with Japan conceding so many goals. That said, it's hard not to concede when you're playing 11 v 12: the center ref was atrocious. They got CONCACAF'd...only in CONMEBOL. Still possibly the best team in the world right now on playing form. Ikeda has Hina playing pretty deep much of the time...almost a wingback sort of thing. I don't think it suits her that well, but it probably suits the roster he has (which is really deep in attacking talent). She still looked good, though, in her 45 minutes. Ikeda was rotating players a lot, as befits a friendly against a quality side.
These matches were available online, albeit at an hour of the day that had me a bit bleary (yeah, I know...that's my usual state, right?). Domestic support for the team seems to be resurging; it fell off a bit as they were rebuilding. Japan's on a bit of a footy roll right now, with the men's team at its historic best...very dangerous opponent. It's nice to see in a country that very much prioritizes baseball (and among older folk, sumo).
Yikes! I guess I get moving some players for *something* rather than just having them taken in the draft but CB and striker look pretty fucking dire right now. Karina has her job cut out for her right now because at this point our CB corps are old/banged up/free agent potentially moving Becky, always good for a derp or three Hubly, and Nally (with maybe Kuikka, who is also a free agent and who playing at CB would leave us without a natural RB). Our striker corps is Sophia, a 40 year old Sinclair, and has not shown absolutely anything D'Aquila.
So basically we have one starting quality CB (maybe) and one starting quality striker.