Portland Timbers

It seems to me like it was only the author that threw that out there. Then it was promptly batted down in the comments section.

 

Fans here are tremendously excited about the allocation and are thrilled about the unexpected allocation of Morgan. They're disappointed about Megan, but it has nothing to do with the players allocated here. In fact, most of the news coverage has focused on Alex. That may be due to the fact that she's been accessible to the media and Christine is in China.

Any stuff about grief about Alex having played for the Sounders is total BS and I don't mean BigSoccer. Fans here were really happy about the Sounders women. Michelle French, their coach, is a great favorite here in Portland, having been a U of P grad with a really inspiring personal story and being a truly nice person.

We would have loved to have Megan, Sophie Schmidt, and Keelin Winters too, but people are saying, we would love that, but Wow!, we aren't trading what we've got.

Expect to see some new tweeting about season ticket reservations soon with significantly higher numbers.

 

As I mentioned when I said it, it could easily have been a vocal person or two which I then noticed, and for some reason it stuck in my head. I haven't seen any comments about that since very shortly after the announcement.

 

With 4000 season tickets already reserved so far, playing at Merlo Field looks like wishful thinking. If you account for 1000 walk ins, your already hit the maximum seating capacity and who knows in April what the the season ticket base will be like.

I understand why Merritt Paulson wanted to play at Merlo because of the diehard loyal fans the Pilots have. I would even venture to say that the Timbers and Pilots fanbase is seperate from eachother for the most part. With Alum and family members making the core fans who have gone to Pilot games for many years, attracting those fans to the Thorns will be critical.

Add to the allocation of Christine Sinclair who is loved by Pilot fans and Alex Morgan the most popular soccer player in the US and I think Portland is going to have some massive attendances at Jeld Wen.

 

I agree with you Forgedias. Except ... believe it or not, alums and family members are not the core fans who have gone to Pilot games for years. I know a ton of them, and most (not all) of the ones I know are neither alums nor family members. Portland, for whatever reason, has attracted (or retained) a lot of people who for years have been or who have become soccer lovers and who appreciate women's soccer and don't get caught in comparing it to men's soccer. Their view of women's soccer is similar to what I am familiar with in women's tennis. I wish I knew how this came to be, but it's hard to explain.

 

Then Portland is a very special place then. I figured those two fan groups were separate though, they both are a different crowd and the Pilot fanbase are very proud of their girls. I really do hope that Cindy Parlowe plays a Pilot brand football, short one touch passing game. Despite the contrary North Carolina does not play this type of game. You can call it possession football and it is if you retain possession for most of the match, but true possession football is quick passes, not smacking the ball forward and having forwards race forward to launch crosses into the box. I really hope they don't play like this.

 

Hopefully Parlow blends her style with that of the talent she ends up with. Trying to force feed her system with such a quick start up could be a disaster. Over time she'll be able to mold the roster to the style she wants to play but for the first year Id think a lot of give and take r in order.

 

I watched UNC a lot this year because I really like the way Ohai plays and my observation is that they were not playing the style people attribute to UNC. They could have been less direct, in my opinion, to advantage, but I saw Ohai a bunch of times possess the ball, take it to the end line and around the corner, and pass it to the open player in the middle. Of course, I think Ohai was their best player which the NCAA award givers obviously don't agree with.

 

Other than Dunn who has the ball on a string, Green handles the ball really well. She wasnt very good at getting her shot at the next level. If she could have kept it on frame she would have a lot of goals.

 

I saw Green play, admittedly at the very beginning of the season. I honestly was not impressed. She did not play within a team concept, held the ball too much, and took a bunch of poor judgment shots. To her credit, she did get off one very good shot that hit the post and didn't go in. I was curious to see how she'd progress, so I followed comments about her by UNC fans over the course of the season. I'd say that there was a split among those fans -- they could see potential and she may have played better towards the end of the season, but I also saw comments along the lines of mine above. In the NCAA Tournament, I thought it was all Dunn and Ohai and I actually liked Ohai better as a player ... but, they played different roles and I like the Ohai role better.

 

Green is young for a freshman so she may mature into the player she has the skill to be. Green scored almost all her goals early before the U20 came back and she left. She's earned a bit of a reputation as getting most of her goals against soft teams. She was unstoppable in concacaf for example but not so much against quality teams like France and Korea DPR. She gets a fair share of woodwork and sprays the ball a lot. That may be her forcing things instead of letting the game come to her. Again, she should still be in high school. I think Ohai is the perfect role model for her if she uses her. Ohai had a down sophomore year after a solid start as a freshman. Ohai learned a lot about being a cog in the machine with her international duty and I think it help her a ton when she got back.

 

Any change this thread could be moved to the empty thorns slot in the new NWSL section?

 

Sounds like she favors Sinc in the middle and Tobin on the wing. Prolly easier to find a good right side forward than a scoring center mid.

 

Returning to the subject of season tickets for a second, I have a question. Since I'm in So Cal and we don't have a team, this week I made my deposit and put my name on the list for Thorns season tix, with the intention of using some and sharing others. Those who know: is there any possibility I won't get them? (I'm on the Thorns deposit list, not the Timbers list). Are the women definitely playing at Jeld-Wen - in which case I assume I'll be OK? Cheers in advance.

 

From everything they heard, if they sell enough that they can't fit into Merlo, they will play all of their games at Jeld-Wen. There was also a comment that having too many season tickets to fit into Merlo would be a "problem" the front office would love to have.

 

Ta, aperfectring.

Oh, I hasten to clarify: I know and love Stumptown well, and have many friends there, lest anyone think I'm a total d-bag carpetbagger.

 

Correct. She also said Sinc was a great center mid and didnt know whether she would play her there or front line. Guess it depends on who else she gets which is a nice problem to have.

 

Seems to describe Bywaters. It will be interesting to see who they take. Someone to combine with the firepower upfront or a DM like M. Nogueira. It might depend on how the FA market fortunes are going for them behind the scenes.

 

I had to listen to it three times...the clearest thing in the interview was the best place to get doors and windows

 

With Siinclair and to a lesser extent Morgan they could get away with someone like Bywaters who is small but quick.

 

Pencil in Allie Long for the Thorns

http://www.nwslnews.com/allie-long-signs-with-the-portland-thorns-fc/

 

Why are they signing more forwards??!