Turbulent Times for the Portland Thorns
The Portland Thorns have hit an all time low on the pitch. Where do they go from here?
The Portland Thorns are in the midst of their worst stretch in club history. They’ve lost four straight regular season matches for the first time ever. To make matters worse, there has only been one win in the last eight matches. Goals have been extremely hard to come by and have scored only six times in the last ten fixtures.
How did this club fall from grace so suddenly? Let’s start from the beginning.
In 2022, the Portland Thorns were simply the best. They were the class of the NWSL and looked to have a dynasty on their hands.
The roster was for the most part due to the work of Mark Parsons and his staff. Additionally, first-year & former head coach Rhian Wilkinson turned it into one of the best attacking teams in league history.
Since that magical season, president of operations & general manager Karina LeBlanc & her staff have seen the Portland Thorns fall behind other NWSL clubs. They are now outside of the true contenders and dropping further back even more with each passing day.
The Portland Thorns are the most successful franchise in NWSL history. Winning is a way of life and an expectation. They compete for championships and making the playoffs is the bare minimum. This is a model franchise who expects to be a contender every season.
Unfortunately, in 2024 they are in danger of being left behind permanently.
But, how did the once shining gem and beacon of excellence get here?
At the 2022 NWSL Championship final, Rhian Wilkinson started: Natalia Kuikka, Kelli Hubly, Becky Sauerbrunn, Meghan Klingenberg, Christine Sinclair, Sam Coffey, Rocky Rodriguez, Yazmeen Ryan, Soph Smith, and Morgan Weaver. They also had significant contributions from Hina Sugita, Janine Beckie, Olivia Moultrie, & Crystal Dunn.
Since then, Dunn, Beckie, Rodriguez, Kuikka, and Ryan are no longer with the club. Additionally, Meaghan Nally & Taylor Porter are also with new clubs, and Emily Menges is now with Bay FC as well.
What should have been a start of a dynasty became short-lived. Weeks after winning the NWSL Championship, former head coach Rhian Wilkinson resigned from her position. She thought the locker room was lost along with the team’s trust & confidence in the team as a whole.
After she stepped down, Karina LeBlanc and the Portland Thorns would go down a path that led them to today: there have now been three different head coaches in three years.
In two global searches since Rhian Wilkinson’s resignation, LeBlanc has opted to hire internally both times. For the sake of continuity, Mike Norris seemed to be the right hire at the time. But a 2023 late season collapse, including a 1-5 defeat at Angel City FC to lose the NWSL shield and a home playoff loss, led to speculation that a change could be made with new ownership. Lisa Bhathal Merage & Alex Bhathal took over governorship of the club, however Norris stayed on for the first four games and was eventually replaced by Rob Gale.
After 12 games and an 8-2-2 record as interim head coach, LeBlanc named Gale head coach. Instead of letting the year play out, she opted to remove the interim tag in the middle of the season. The timing and logistics don’t add up and still don’t make much sense. Since being named permanent head coach, Gale’s Portland Thorns have not won a single regular season match.
Meanwhile, Washington Spirit owner Michele Kang and general manager Mark Krikorian hired Barcelona Femení head coach Jonatan Giráldez, who is one of the best club coaches in the world, to coach the Spirit.
The Portland Thorns had a chance to hire a franchise-altering head coach under new ownership and they passed up that opportunity.
To make matters worse, their roster hasn’t been improved much. The roster has way less depth, key contributors have aged, and it’s frankly not as talented. With the resources the Portland Thorns possess, it’s inconceivable to see 2022’s memories almost completely vanish.
In three draft classes, the team has drafted only one full-time starter.
Karina LeBlanc led her first NWSL Draft in 2022. It started off the worst way you could imagine. With their draft pick at #13 (Second Round, Pick #1), they selected Sydny Nasello out of South Florida. LeBlanc and Wilkinson did not do their due diligence of Nasello’s social media, and as a result the controversy caused the club to opt not sign Nasello, and so LeBlanc’s first ever draft pick did not come to Portland. They also selected Gabby Provenzano (four appearances, one start) and Natalie Beckham (no longer with club) in the same draft, respectively. She would also bring in Janine Beckie from Manchester City to form a platoon with Yazmeen Ryan at right winger.
In the 2023 NWSL draft, they selected Reyna Reyes & Izzy D’Aquila in the first round. In the second round and third round, they selected Michigan State Spartans Lauren DeBeau (not signed) & Lauren Kozal. They brought in Canada international Adriana Leon (no longer with team) and Denmark international Rikke Sevecke (health - retired from football). All credit to the Portland Thorns staff for going the extra mile and helping Sevecke.
In the 2024 NWSL draft, they made five selections: Payton Linnehan (first round), Olivia Wade-Katoa (second round), Kelsey Kaufusi (second round), Kat Asman (third round), and Katie Duong (fourth round). Kaufusi and Duong are no longer with the team. Asman will be a free agent after the season and has not made any appearances. Linnehan has shown tons of flashes of her immense talent and looks to be a building block for the future (if she can ever get minutes again). Wade-Katoa hasn’t seen the pitch much, but will likely have more opportunities in the future.
The Portland Thorns have brought in Jessie Fleming, Marie Müller, Isabella Obaze, Mackenzie Arnold, Nicole Payne, and Ana Dias through both transfer windows. They also acquired Emily Alvarado, Alexa Spaanstra, Reilyn Turner, and Sophie Hirst through trades, respectively.
After seeing limited action, Alvarado was let go after only one start with the club. She was with the club for a bit more than four months and originally acquired from Houston Dash for $35,000 in allocation. Dias was with the team for five months, before being transferred to Tigres for a $100,000 transfer fee.
Only seven out of twelve draft picks still remain with the team, and Asman, Kozal, and Provenzano are set to become 2024 free agents. After the season, there’s a chance of only four draft picks will remain. Reyna Reyes is the only player drafted to receive an extension from the club - that’s one out of twelve… In three draft classes, the team has drafted only one full-time starter.
There wasn’t much movement through transfers in LeBlanc’s first two seasons as the team held a championship roster from 2022. Beckie, Leon, and Sevecke were her first three moves through the window and all are no longer with the club. In 2023 they lost in the semifinals at home to eventual champions NJ/NY Gotham FC. This was the first time they made drastic moves with an emphasis on a defense that gave up the fourth most goals.
In 2024 they added Dias, Fleming, Müller, Obaze, Arnold, and Payne. While it is way too early to fully evaluate these moves as a whole, Marie Müller has already proven to be one of the top fullbacks in NWSL and stands to be top transfer of LeBlanc’s tenure so far. The team has already struck out on four transfers and the success for the remaining players outside of Müller seems questionable at best. The success rate of transfers continue to be quite underwhelming.
The roster construction has cost this team and set them back even further. At one point the Portland Thorns had six goalkeepers: Arnold, Bixby, Hogan, Asman, Kozal, and Alvarado. Kozal is now on loan and Alvarado joined Club Tijuana Femenil. They have three true center backs on the team: Obaze, Kelli Hubly, and Becky Sauerbrunn. Due to Obaze’s injury, Hubly has been tasked with playing an insane amount of minutes on limited rest.
With Morgan Weaver’s injury for the majority of the season, the club only had Payton Linnehan & Janine Beckie earlier in the season — now they only have Alexa Spaanstra and Weaver after Linnehan was left off the gameday roster. Also, after not bringing back Taylor Porter, the Portland Thorns played without a true backup six the entire season until the late trade for Sophie Hirst. There are more issues to list, such as not having a reliable aerial threat, but that’ll have to wait for another day. The imbalance has made the results on the pitch also suffer.
After starting off his tenure with six straight wins, the wheels have started to come off with no end in sight. Rob Gale is winless after being named head coach (0-4-0 *regular season).
His inability to put players at positions to succeed should raise alarm bells. Jessie Fleming has been asked to play the majority of her minutes as the 10 for this club which suppresses her elite box to box nature and world class work rate. Her transition into the NWSL has been a struggle which is in large part due to her being asked to do something that doesn’t suit her game. Since D’Aquila was drafted the bulk of her minutes have come out wide as a winger, which in Portland’s system requires you to be fast and a two-way player. She has struggled mightily out wide due to a lack of pace. Her best attributes are also as a nine and she posses an ability to find any way to put the ball in the back of the net. It’s his job to put the players in positions to succeed.
At one point in the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup, it looked like the club was going to roll out a back three, but it has not been seen since. This has caused the team to be in their predictable 4-3-3 shape.
Christine Sinclair is the greatest player of all time and there’s no debate on that. However, her starting games has cost the young players crucial development minutes. Soph Smith has to accommodate by playing her less-preferred position as a winger, as do D’Aquila and Turner. Playing time for their first round pick, Payton Linnehan, has all but evaporated. After a promising start (3 goals, 1 assist in all competitions), she has rarely been seen on the pitch.
Rob Gale is working with an imperfect roster set up and that is not on him one bit. Unfortunately, the personnel choices, substitutions, and starting XIs he has made have been inconsistent — and that is on him.
After the 0-1 loss to the Chicago Red Stars, several Portland Thorns were visibly upset & emotional after the match. That is where the team is at with their overall morale.
Is a fresh start needed? It’s a discussion that needs to at least be had.
There are six regular season games remaining and the CONCACAF W Champions Cup left. The Portland Thorns, Karina LeBlanc, and Rob Gale have raised tons of questions about their long-term fit together. The only way they can answer those is to finish strong down the stretch. If they can’t turn it around, expect pressure to come from supporters and stakeholders to make the necessary changes to bring glory back to the Rose City.
The memories of the 2022 NWSL Championship are quickly fading due to questionable decisions, roster construction, and failure to keep up with the modern day NWSL. There is already tons of pressure and calls for change. A decision of that magnitude will be a crucial one. Expect the club to use the rest of the season as part of their due diligence to decide the best route moving forward.
Is a fresh start needed? It’s a discussion that needs to at least be had.
Lisa Bhathal Merage & Alex Bhathal took over with ambitions of being the best club in the world. For a team with lofty ambitions, it has fallen short. In this first season, they said listening would be one of their priorities. The governors of the Portland Thorns will have their first true test this offseason with many questions, future decisions to be made, and answers to give.
What path will Lisa Bhathal Merage & Alex Bhathal choose for the club?
It’s refreshing to see such a pointed, accurate, thorough, yet fair assessment of the situation. I’ve made excuses for some of the FO moves with respect to the sale, maintaining some continuity with the upheaval and coaching changes, Olympic and World Cup years, etc. but nobody top to bottom has done as well as they could and should have even under adverse conditions. I’d entertain firing the whole staff minus Lowdon, including Norris and LeBlanc, to start a turnaround. We’ll look like clowns firing another coach so soon but we set ourselves back even more the longer we wait. There will be some fans who will see the new owners as too pragmatic or ruthless if they fire the lot, but it’s a statement of intent that needs to be made. We will lose great players to free agency and won’t attract and retain the best talent if we don’t quickly show we are moving in the right direction and that we mean business, that we aren’t just a place for Canadians to go to retire. We are embarrassing right now. That’s worse than bad.
Tnank you Phuoc for putting this summary of frustrations (and plea for action) out there where, hopefully, the ownership may notice it. I imagine this won't endear you to the team if they start to see you as an independent critical eye, and that their actions/inactions are, in fact being scrutinized.
Hopefully they can see the greater good in an honest media not afraid to be critical when it's appropriate, and that the Thorns organization will be better off in the long run for it.
THANK YOU!