ACFC 0-3 Portland Thorns
Author’s Note: I began writing this article on Monday, and I feel like a lot has happened since then that makes football seem less important. And for a while my heart wasn’t really in it. But football has always helped me make sense of the world, and analytics, in the end, is about finding order in chaos. And I, for one, need a little less chaos right now, so I’m going to do the things as I am able to do, which includes writing Goosecat.
As we had some flight credits that were expiring in a month, we decided to take the trip up to Portland to see this game in person. I’ve heard for years that Providence Park was one of the stadiums that I absolutely had to visit, and it lived up to the hype. Absolutely fantastic atmosphere, and especially for a night celebrating one of the greatest to ever do it, Christine Sinclair. And I’m not going to lie, Portland gave her a great send-off, which actually gave me goosebumps. I got to be at Mia Hamm’s final USWNT game, and I feel similarly honored to have been present for this game as well. Sinclair is a legend, and even if I was there supporting the visiting team, I think that anyone who likes the game of soccer has to applaud her career. And since this was something of a Goosecat business trip, we planned accordingly, eating dinner at the Goose Hollow Inn before the match, and then lunch at the Pizza Kat the next day. I definitely would recommend both to anyone visiting Providence Park.
As to the game itself, well, Portland had everything to play for, needing at least a point to get into the playoffs, and nobody on the Thorns wanted a bad performance on Sinc’s final game in Portland. Angel City, as we all know, was already eliminated, and didn’t really have any other stakes. And the game went pretty much according to plan, with Portland racing out to a 3-0 lead, and then shifting into 2nd gear for the second half. Angel City actually finished with more shots by the end of the game, 12-11, but 10 of those were in the second half. Actually, 7 of those shots were after the 63’ minute, when Tweed completely replaced her front three. xG was 1.5 to 1 in favor of Portland, but PSxG was dramatically different, 2.15 to .34 in favor of Portland. Both teams had 4 chances worth at least, .1 xG, but Portland did have the two best chances on the night, and 4 of the top 6. So I think that it’s fair to say that Portland both created better chances, and also did more with the chances that they did create. As usual, Angel City won possession 64%-36%.
Lineup
I was a little bit confused by some of the roster choices in the match. Part of this was impacted by the international break, with both Alyssa and Emslie playing for their national teams (with Alyssa getting her first goal for the USWNT!) and having extensive travel. Curry was also suspended due to yellow card accumulation, and if you remember, her yellow in the last game made absolutely no sense. If she does leave in the offseason, it will be very disappointing that that was her final game with Angel City after a stellar season. Let’s hope they can reach a deal. But even with all of that, there were choices that didn’t really make sense to me. For starters, having Vignola play as a winger is not a position that I’ve ever really liked. What makes her such a threat is that she can come marauding up the left wing and overload that side, but when she’s starting higher, then she’s already in that space, and the defender is already marking her. She only had 26 touches in 63 minutes, with only one Progressive Carry. Those touches were only good for 10th on the team. If this was Spencer’s final Angel City game, I think that it would have been fitting to let her play up top and have a better chance to finish with a goal. It was nice to see Press getting a start, but with her and Leroux in the lineup, I felt like Angel City was too static, and I’m not sure that the team can really afford to have both of them on the field together in a front three. In total, that starting front three of Press, Leroux, and Vignola had 78 touches, in 63 minutes or 111 per 90, while the replacement front three of Alyssa, Emslie, and Bright had 48 touches in 27 minutes, or 160 touches per 90. As I alluded to earlier, the team also managed 5 shots with the initial front three or 7.14 shots per 90, while the second group of the front three generated 7 shots in their 27 minutes, or 23.33 shots per 90.
Maybe the choice that confused me the most was leaving Casey Phair on the bench. She’s back from the U17 World Cup, but has now finished the season without playing a single NWSL minute. When it’s the final game, and you’re out of the playoffs, and you’re down 3-0, why not give her her debut? It feels like she’s earned it. And if the team really feels like she’s not good enough to play a single minute all season, why did we sign her? I wouldn’t put myself in that camp; from what I’ve seen of her with South Korea, I think that she has real potential. But I don’t see how she’s going to develop without any game time at all. She’s already played in a senior World Cup; I think that she’s definitely up to playing 15 minutes against Portland.
In the same vein, I don’t know what was gained by playing Haračić over Anderson. I spoke about this last week too, but giving Anderson experience in an atmosphere like Providence Park, and against some very good attackers, could only be beneficial for her. Haračić already has that experience. And leaving Rodríguez on the bench was also a surprise. Not necessarily that she didn’t start, because that’s been rare since the Olympics, but at least an appearance. I think that the Portland crowd would have given her a warm welcome, and again, at 3-0 down, why not do these small things? Maybe she was hurt, but she wasn’t on the injury report.
Goals
16’ Portland Thorns - One last time for Sinclair. This goal begins with Portland winning the ball back in their own half. Sophia Smith picks up the ball, blows past Zelem and into open space, and into a 1v1 with Gorden at the edge of Angel City’s box. At this point, it’s 2v3 overall, with 3 other ACFC players in close pursuit. Smith drives Gorden back, and creates the space to take a shot from not a great angle, and Haračić makes the kick save. As always, when in doubt, shoot low towards the far post. Smith does that, and it works like a charm. Sinclair collects the ball, feints and puts Reid and Haračić on skates, before finishing comfortably. Look, this kind of poise and understanding is part of why Sinclair has scored so many goals in her career. And that pace, power, and finesse of Sophia Smith is why she won the MVP in ‘22. I think that Reid has to do a better job of keeping track of Sinclair, but the Thorns really created something from nothing here, and that’s what world class players can do.
26’ Portland Thorns - Smith had already scored one goal that was ruled out as offside, although in the replay it did really look like it was onside. She was not going to be denied again. Dougherty Howard gets dispossessed just inside Angel City’s half by Sam Coffey. Coffey takes the ball and finds Smith in Portland’s left-central channel, and once again, it’s a 1v1 with Gorden. Once again, Gorden can’t close her down, but tries to show her outside, but Smith finds the space for a shot, and this goes through Haračić’s hands and in. This is another case of Angel City getting caught in transition, and opened up with just a single pass. I also feel like Gorden has to be more aggressive. Yes, you have to respect Smith, but Gorden has tried to contain, and Smith has one shot that led to a goal, and another goal that was called back for offside. That plan didn’t seem to be working, but again, Smith is one of the best in the world, so we can’t be too harsh. I do think that Haračić has to do better. She gets a hand on it, not just fingertips, but isn’t strong enough to counter the velocity of the ball. It’s listed as a shot with .1 xG, and .2 PSxG. I think that a keeper has to make at least that initial save. And just a side note: I’m campaigning to call any goal in which Sam Coffey assists a member of Triple Espresso as a Red Eye.
45’+4’ Portland Thorns - This was probably my favorite goal, just from a soccer standpoint. Gisele tries a give-and go with Dougherty Howard, but the return pass is off target, and Fleming intercepts and sends a great through ball in to Smith. It’s a 1v2 and Smith can’t quite get past the combination of Gorden and Reid, so she eases off to let reinforcements catch up. Gorden drops off here, while Zelem comes to help Reid, with Gisele in support, but they can’t dispossess Smith. She spins away from the defenders, and finds Fleming at the top of the box, who lays it off to Sinclair and then makes a run into the box. That run draws the attention of Hammond and Gisele, but Sinclair has other ideas. She sends the ball out to Hina Sugita on Portland’s left, who is wide open because Spencer has come inside to challenge Sinclair. That shift to the left also pulls every single Angel City defender over, but Sugita sends a first time chip right back across the box to Weaver, who is all alone. Gisele tries to get back in time, but Weaver heads it home. Part of this is that Weaver had made a run earlier, when Smith had the ball, but Smith passed to Fleming instead. And once Weaver ran offside, all the Angel City defenders forgot about her, and didn’t see that she’d got back onside and was free. This goal had great off the ball movement by Fleming and Weaver, and great passing to not just move the ball left and right, but also to pull the ACFC defenders left and right. I wish that Angel City would score goals like this.
Conclusions
I didn’t go into this match expecting a result. I thought there was no way that Portland would accept anything but a win on the night honoring their greatest player, and one of the best of all time. But I did want to see some kind of building for the future from ACFC in these last few matches, and I didn’t really see that. To me, something needs to change for next season, but it feels like we’re planning on just moving forward in the same fashion. I thought that Emslie, Bright, and Alyssa immediately brought more energy, and made an immediate impact, but if everyone’s healthy, I’m expecting that we’ll see Press, Leroux, and Alyssa starting next year. I can’t imagine that Angel City won’t re-sign Press. There’s a long time between now and then, but that’s how I see things at this moment. During the match in person, I think that I was pretty caught up in the atmosphere of the evening, and since I didn’t have high hopes, I didn’t leave disappointed. But when I watched the replay on Amazon, it was kind of disheartening to see Angel City’s performance. The backline was kind of a mess, and I don’t think that Gorden and Reid seem comfortable together, even after almost a season playing next to each other. The midfield often seems unsure, and the attack looked stagnant against the 8th best defense in the league. Yes, it was cold a rainy, and there was nothing to play for, but it’s hard to say that the team has gotten any better over the course of the season.
That’s the final match analysis, but there will be a lot more Goosecat in the coming months. I’ll have analyses of the season’s performances for each position group, and some looks at the team statistics compared to the rest of the league. The offseason is actually the time to really get into the numbers, because there’s finally a substantial, and equal, data set for each team. And hopefully, there will be some news regarding contracts as well. So please keep an eye out for that. This has been the first full season of Goosecat, and I just want to say thank you to everyone that’s been reading, and especially those who shared their feedback. I’ve enjoyed writing this, and I hope you’ve enjoyed it too.
All stats in this article are from FBRef.