This would have been a good two-for-one road trip: Royals at Portland on Friday night, RSL at Seattle on Saturday afternoon. I will hope for something similar next year. Royals are headed to Portland where, it might be said, the team began (given how Merritt Paulson courted Del Loy to join NWSL last Fall/Winter). We hosted Portland not too long ago in a 1-1 draw. The Thorns are ahead of us in the standings, in third place with a 3-3-3 record but haven't won in four games. Could be fun!
Portland has played some wildly entertaining and open home games lately on Lifetime. This one doesn't get the prime time coverage, though, so maybe it'll skip the theatrics. I'd love to see a win, but I just don't see how we pull that off if Heath is on the pitch. In the few minutes she played against us at the RioT she killed us. If she goes 60+, it's in the bag for Portland
Portland just beat Washington last weekend. It was their first win in 6 games. This is going to be a very difficult game for the Royals. Even though Portland has lost their last two at home, Providence Park is still an extremely intimidating place to play in. By far the best atmosphere in WoSo. And even though Utah currently has the best defensive record in the league (largely thanks to the Courage having a horror show on defense last night), they might be due for a thrashing. Hopefully not another 7-1, but it wouldn't surprise me to see a blowout.
Too many people playing streaming video games at my house tonight = too little bandwidth for me to be able to get a reliable stream on go90.
True, but the backline can't just let a player waltz into the box like Horan did. I don't know why go90 is playing this obviously fake crowd noise. Where are the chants and where are the insanely loud cheers when Portland scored? Not cool at all.
Royals getting stretched defensively in a way they haven't all season. Backline needs to tighten up. Thorns are owning the flanks.
Can't help but wonder how much of a difference having O'Hara would make. This is definitely a game where her fire could make a difference.
The Thorns are leaving lots of space in the middle of the pitch as they press forward. But we haven't been able to take advantage.
I already disliked the Pricks before the final last year, but when Heath deliberately injured Taylor Smith just two minutes into that game, that dislike turned to hatred. There's something about Portland that turns players into unlikeable jackasses. Players like Heath and Horan do things while playing for the Pricks that they would never even think of doing when playing for the NT because they know they'd get their asses chewed out by the NT leaders.
Lackluster performance from the Royals. Better defensively in the second half, but offensively they were in neutral at best all game. Harvey is definitely not going to be pleased.
Enjoyed the game except for the two little breakdowns that lead to goals for the pricks. Yea, I get the hate for them already. URFC still struggles with creating offense and are just a bit on the slow side but what they lack in speed they definitely make up for with bite. The Royals did make the game interesting after going down though. If not for a couple of good saves and one glorious miss near the end URFC had the look of a team working hard to get back in the game. If only RSL had the same tenacity and bite they might only lose by 1 or 2 and not 5 or 6. Oh well. Still think that URFC has a chance to make a run for the playoffs. I enjoy watching them immensely. They also have the best uniforms of all of the RSL family with the Monarchs close behind and RSL just blah.
God, I hate the Portland fans sometimes. They were bitching about the Royals doing their postgame sprints right near the Riveters' section, acting like the players were purposely interrupting the Thorns' postgame celebrations.