Sunday’s return to NWSL play pits the Portland Thorns and Kansas City NWSL against each other, in the Pacific Northwest. Kansas City faces a formidable opponent in Portland. When you look at their records, place in the NWSL standings, goals scored and goals allowed, Portland is the far-away favorite.
The Thorns sit second in the standings, two points behind the unbeaten surprise of the season, the Orlando Pride. Kansas City is in last, with just two points in five matches. Kansas City has scored two goals all season, compared to Portland who has two matches where they’ve scored at least three.
A beautiful thing about soccer is that what’s currently on the standings, stat sheet or power rankings means nothing Sunday. While Portland, and their home stadium of Providence Park, can feel foreboding, Kansas City isn’t a team that’s easily intimidated. Portland can look like the favorite all they want, but as the saying goes, looks can be deceiving.
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Kansas City comes into Oregon having without a win on the season, in all competitions. After draws in their first two matches of the season, and one coming in stoppage time with just ten players, they’ve lost three straight. In each of the losses, they haven’t scored a goal. Their recent streak began with a Chicago Red Stars stretch of nine minutes where forward Mallory Pugh came on as a sub and picked KC apart.
Since then, Kansas City lost on a controversial Pride goal that didn’t appear to cross the goal line. A week later, Houston Dash center back Katie Naughton scored on a 79th minute header in a second-straight 1-0 loss.
Portland began the year better than their already high preseason expectations could have expected. They exposed Chicago 5-0 but quickly came down to earth in weeks two and three. OL Reign and Orlando each took 2-1 victories from Portland.
The Thorns’ last two matches swung a losing streak into a winning streak. Against Gotham FC, one goal was all Portland needed against a Gotham side that’s struggled to score in the 2021 regular season. Then last week, Portland handed expansion side Racing Louisville FC a 3-0 loss.
Tired Legs
Every match, we preview an area of the field where there will be the most interesting matchups. Portland’s offense is scary good. The Thorns have internationals in Raquel “Rocky” Rodriguez, Sophia Smith, Christine Sinclair, Lindsey Horan, and Crystal Dunn all causing nightmares for opponents. They’re so good that all of them represent their countries on the international level, and have each played a lot of minutes over the past week away from the NWSL.
Midfielders Dunn and Horan started all three of the US’ Summer Series matches, during the NWSL international break. That’s three games in six days. Dunn played 211 minutes out of a possible 270 and Horan played, even more, missing just 17 total minutes. Each of their fellow international teammates of Rodriguez, Sinclair, and Becky Sauerbrunn played two matches too.
All of that to say that expecting a full 90 minutes from most of their best players is a stretch. Portland will have to leverage their depth unless head coach Mark Parsons plans to get all the minutes, he can out of them before they’re called up for the Olympics. Even without them, the Thorns played well in the Challenge Cup with depth players. In one of those matches, they beat Kansas City NWSL with late-game on-field fireworks causing three players to get sent off with red cards. Kansas City is a different team now though.
Kansas City Growth
KC is basically an expansion team. After their sale in December, Kansas City had five months to get a coach, place to play, jerseys, and a roster of players. Sunday’s match is a benchmark for coach Huw Williams and Kansas City. They’ve grown a lot since that 2-1 loss on April 9 and each additional week together makes them stronger.
Williams’ Kansas City roster is different since that Challenge Cup loss. The Missouri-side added two attack-minded, game-changing, internationals of their own. From Argentina and Portugal are Mariana Larroquette and Jéssica Silva. Larroquette started the last three Kansas City matches. While they haven’t scored in that span, they were Larroquette’s first three starts of the regular season. Kansas City supporters’ have a lot more to see from her in her integration into the NWSL. Even fewer supporters have seen Silva. While she’s only logged 17 league minutes, in their 1-0 loss to Houston, she had a national audience on June 10.
Against the United States, Silva’s Portugal side had a tall task in front of themselves. Portugal’s goalkeeper Inês Pereira kept out nine USA shots on goal, but offensively Silva stood out. The only chances that the Europeans had were from moves made by Silva. She brings a physical play that disrupted the United States, and honestly looked to frustrate the number one team in international soccer.
When you add those two alongside forwards Amy Rodriguez, Darian Jenkins, and midfielder Lo’aeau LaBonta, their intensity will give the Portland backline problems. Kansas City has had their chances, even in their losses. As their team chemistry improves week-by-week, it’s only a matter of time before chances turn into goals.
Olivia Moultrie
A league-altering piece of news came down this week, in the ongoing case of 15-year-old Olivia Moultrie. The US soccer phenom that turned down a scholarship to college superpower North Carolina University at the age of 11 is eligible to be signed by Portland. This came after a judge ruled that the age-limit imposed by the NWSL goes against US antitrust laws.
That means Moultrie is eligible to sign a professional contract. She’s already trained and been part of the team. The only thing missing is getting her a contract so she could compete with the team. Moultrie already has a nine-year Nike endorsement contract to her name and soon she may get the chance to prove why at the professional level.
Scrimmages and games are very different though. Even if she was signed before the weekend, it’s unlikely to see the teenager get any minutes. It’ll take time for her to find her place in the first team but will have plenty of chances during the Olympics when fellow midfielders Horan, Sinclair, and Dunn are in Tokyo.
How to Watch
Portland and Kansas City is one of five NWSL matches after the league returned from a week off. Will a busy international calendar impact how the teams perform? Supporters’ can see for themselves on Sunday.
When: Sunday, June 20 at 4:00 p.m. ET
Where: Providence Park, in Portland, Oregon
How: CBS
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