BEAVERTON, Ore. – “Every one, we’re all in a great mood. I think we’re playing pretty well.”
Those weren’t the only notes of optimism Portland Thorns FC captain Christine Sinclairsounded this week. The team, building toward Sunday’s preseason Spring Invitational, presented by Tillamook opener at Merlo Field against the Chicago Red Stars (5pm PT, TICKETS), has seen almost their entire international contingent return over the last fortnight, with only Australian forward Caitlin Foord’s absence keeping the group from being at its full numbers.
“It’s going very smoothly,’ Sinclair says about preseason, in spite of the myriad comings and goings. Then again, comings and goings are always part of Portland’s preseason.
Last week, players such as Sinclair, Ellie Carpenter, Tobin Heath and Emily Sonnett returned to training from early-March international duty. Adrianna Franch and Lindsey Horan were back a week earlier, while Hayley Raso, having returned to the States late last week, only took to training in Beaverton, Oregon, over the last three days.
Until Foord is back, the team will have zero days together as a full squad. Yet not only is that a familiar preseason experience for an international-laden roster, this season is a marked improvement on last.
“We’re a lot healthier than we were, last year,” Sinclair says, alluding to a preseason that saw Foord, Heath and Raso miss significant time. Players like Franch, Meghan Klingenberg, Sonnett and Emily Menges would also be sidelined early in the campaign, while Carpenter wasn’t eligible to play until April.
“This is something our team’s been through multiple times over the course of the Thorns, with people coming and going,” Sinclair explained. “(Thorns head coach) Mark (Parsons) has gotten a hand on how to handle us, those of us that are constantly leaving, and those of us that are staying around. He’s found a very good balance.”
That balance, though, casts this season’s Thorns Spring Invitational in a unique light. As Sinclair reminds, Portland’s first team is only going to be fully available to Parsons for the tournament’s first game, with internationals set to depart for the FIFA international break over the following week.
The likes of Sinclair, Horan and others will be back ahead of the season opener in Orlando, but the Invitational’s final two games will be about evaluating the depth Portland will need to navigate a World Cup season.
“All preseasons, it’s challenging, which means this feels more normal,” Parsons explained. “But we’re slowly getting everyone in, and the quality of the effort, quality of the focus, quality of the thinking and solving problems that we’re giving them has been really good.
“The energy and enjoyment just to be back on the pitch with these great people is always a pleasure, and is there, very strong. It’s been a great start going into week three – great first day of week three – exciting to look forward to some great games ahead.”
That Chicago will be Portland’s first match at Merlo Field is appropriate. A constant at the Thorns’ preseason tournaments, Rory Dames’ team enters 2019 in a very similar place to Portland. Both teams have as much talent as anybody in the league. Both teams are trying to find the right combination of skills and approach to derail the league’s favorites – a North Carolina Courage team that lost only once en route to a title last season.
Like Portland, the Red Stars will be decimated during the World Cup, with U.S. internationals Tierna Davidson, Julie Ertz, Alyssa Naeher and Casey Short highlighting a list of potential absent talents. And like Portland, they’ll use Sunday’s game and the rest of the tournament to gauge how close they are to regular-season form.
“[Thursday’s session was] a big one for us in our preparation before we start to tailor for the game against Chicago,” Parsons said, while also espousing a more metronomic approach.
“(We’re) trying to keep it basic and simple, at the moment, and trying to get everyone on the same page, playing like a Thorn, expressing themselves like a Thorn,” he said. “And we build from there, after the first game against Chicago.”
Come Wednesday, the U.S. U-23 squad will be in focus (7:30pm PT, TICKETS). Then, next Saturday, Reign FC (7:30pm PT, TICKETS). Three matches in seven days, with huge departures in between, will mark Portland’s final week of preseason, with the end of next week’s tournament also signaling the start to 2019’s real campaign - one which, for so many Thorns, will be about returning to what made previous seasons so special.
“Right now, it’s just about nailing our playing style; nailing the keys that have made us successful over the past few years,” Sinclair said. “Trying to grow from those. Just getting back to Thorns soccer, pressing teams, possessing the ball, and just being one of those teams that’s annoying to play against. I think we’re in a good spot.”
