This was always going to be the more important game. The bounce back. The chance to get back on course. The 90 minutes that would move the North Carolina Courage game into the past and give Portland Thorns FC a chance to resume their playoff push.
“We circled this a while back as being a crucial one,” head coach Mark Parsons said, from Orlando, Florida, where his team has trained all week. “All the focus and energy is on us trying to be our best.”
The defending NWSL champions could never assume they were going to get a result last week, in Cary, North Carolina, but Saturday’s game comes with an entirely different expectation (4:30pm PT, NWSLsoccer.com). The Orlando Pride won the last meeting between the two teams at Providence Park, but they’re a group which, from the perspective of the league’s title holders, is beatable. Easily beatable? Absolutely not, but if you fancy yourself a genuine contender for the league’s title, there are very, very few games you should look at and go, “three points may be asking too much.”
This weekend’s visit to the Pride is not one of them. The Thorns need to accumulate as many points as possible to reach second place in the standings by season’s end, a spot that would secure home-field advantage throughout the NWSL playoffs (thanks to this year’s championship game being awarded to Providence Park).
While that goal is on Parsons’ radar, there’s no point in looking past the next obstacle.
“For us, number one, we’ve got to think about Orlando,” Parsons said. “They’ve been a little unpredictable. Their roster has changed a little bit.
“They’re predictable in the sense that their trends are mostly about their individual players. We don’t know who will be playing, but we know a lot about their individual players … They have a few tactical trends, but it’s more how can you keep quiet their [most dangerous players].”
With the Pride coming off a home draw against Sky Blue FC – the only team in the NWSL that’s yet to win a game this season – there is some vulnerability there, especially with Orlando's leading scorer, Sydney Leroux, ruled out for this weekend’s game. The Thorns know what that vulnerability is like, though, having themselves been drawn at home by Sky Blue this season, but if the form Portland carried into the North Carolina game can be rekindled, Orlando’s struggles become even more reason for confidence.
The Thorns had won three in a row before facing North Carolina. Even there, they were within a goal of the Courage, come the final whistle. People can have reasonable qualms about the way the Thorns achieved that result (having been out-shot 31-9), but one notion can be shared among all: The Portland team that last faced the Pride in that 2-1, May 12 loss at Providence Park? They’ve changed, perhaps drastically so.
Back then, the team was playing a different formation, still employing the 3-4-1-2 look that took them to last year’s title. Adrianna Franch was injured, as was Meghan Klingenberg. Andressinha had recently joined the team, as had Ellie Carpenter, who started the game at forward. Celeste Boureille had yet to cement her place in defensive midfield, Ana Crnogorčevic was still being integrated into the team, while Caitlin Foord was still in Australia, recovering from surgery on her foot. Those three combined for zero minutes in when Orlando was last in Portland.
Sometimes, it’s easy to forget how many the changes the Thorns have had to ensure this season. A lot of that was of their own doing – electing to trade for Andressinha, sign Carpenter and acquire Foord knowing (even before Foord’s injury) none would join the team until mid-spring – but other facets were beyond prediction. Injuries to Franch, Klingenberg, Emily Menges, Midge Purce, Emily Sonnett and Katherine Reynolds couldn’t have been planned for, even if they’ve produced valuable minutes for the players who’ve had to step up.
“No matter how you look at this roster, now, there’s going to be big, impact players coming off the bench,” Parsons said, talking about the squad at his disposal for Orlando, one that will likely see Andressinha and Foord outside his initial XI.
“That’s dangerous,” he explained. “For the first time this year, we have players of that caliber coming on and impacting the game.”
They did so last week, but in North Carolina, the obstacle proved too much. Progress was the underlying goal. Now it’s time to test that progress in Orlando.
“There’s five games to go. There’s five or six weeks to go,” Parsons reflected. “We’re in the home stretch now … It doesn’t matter the day is. It doesn’t matter where we are. We have to find a way to be, individually, at our best.”
“I told them, ‘When we play at our best, no one can stop us. We’ve got talent everywhere. We’ve got character everywhere. And we work hard.’”
What to watch for on Saturday:
- Orlando comes into the game one point up on the Thorns in the standings, albeit having played an extra game. Sitting on 30 points, the Pride are three back of Seattle Reign FC for second place, a spot that give the third-year team their first playoff game at home.
- Although Leroux has been ruled out of Saturday’s game with illness, the team’s two biggest stars (Alex Morgan, Marta) and its most important player (Alanna Kennedy) are all expected to feature, even if head coach Tom Sermanni has been judicious about playing time for even his most impactful players. But, as Parsons said, it’s the home stretch. Every team needs to push their biggest stars.
- How and where those players will play, however, is a different matter entirely. Sermanni has mixed and matched formations throughout the year: going with two center backs or three; one-forward as well as multiple-attacker sets. In Orlando’s two visits to Portland this spring, the team played two different formations, and coming off a game where they gave up two goals to Sky Blue while playing a 3-5-2, it’s unclear how the Pride will lineup.
- For the Thorns, right back Ellie Carpenter will be back in consideration, having spent the week with the team after missing the 18 on Sunday. Rest was the prescription, then, but over a week removed from the Tournament of Nations, she’s back in contention for time in Orlando.
- Carpenter’s fellow Australian international, Foord, should be in line for more playing time after making her Portland debut on Sunday. “She had a massive impact. She really helped us,” Parsons said. “She gave us a bright spark. But that’s six or seven out of 10 of what Caitlin’s going to do. I’m excited that she gave us that. I know it’s just the beginning … She can be a game-changer.”
