#5 Gotham FC
Key additions: Gabi Portilho (AM), Jaelin Howell (DM), Lily Reale (CB), Sofia Cook (CM), Shelby Hogan (GK), Kyah Harper (ST), Stella Nyamekye (AM)
Key losses: Lynn Biyendolo (LW), Delanie Sheehan (CM), Yazmeen Ryan (AM/RW), Samantha Hiatt (CB), Maitane Lopez (CB/DM), Crystal Dunn (CM/W)
If it feels like the league may be collectively a little too down on the last of 2024's semifinalists, there is, at least, good reason for concern. Gotham's stint as both a collection point for many of the USWNT's finest veterans and as a perfectly stable NWSL franchise seems to have lasted just over a year. In truth, the Sky Blue-esque talent exodus from Gotham over the course of the past three months is likely more a factor of the NWSL's salary cap and Gotham spending a little more than they should have after their fairy tale run to the 2023 NWSL title than major signs of collapse behind the scenes, but there are, nonetheless, concerning signs.
The first concerning loss was the departure of perennially underrated midfield fulcrum and all around great NWSL story Delanie Sheehan for Houston. Sheehan had been the most consistent (and perhaps just as important, consistently available) of Gotham's preferred midfield trio and was the first real NWSL "oh yeah she's getting paid" free agent casualty. This was always the risk with Gotham's high-priced star hunting of the previous offseason under the new salary cap: When you overpay veterans, you're going to lose players like Sheehan who had been tremendously underpaid relative to the provided value.
Next to leave was Sheehan's partner and arguably Gotham's best 2024 attacker Yazmeen Ryan, who Gotham traded to Houston upon player request. Backup CB Sam Hiatt joined Portland in search of more playing time, as did Maitane Lopez in Chicago. Lynn Biyendolo (nee Williams) also requested a trade and was shipped off to Seattle before not-so-subtlely implying that all was not copacetic behind the scenes at Gotham. Jenna Nighswonger swapped New York (New Jersey) for London after Mandy Freeman became preferred at LB late in 2024 before Gotham was unable to dump Crystal Dunn and her husband's contract on another NWSL team and was forced to buy her out before the veteran joined PSG.
So yeah: Not great. If I was to defend Gotham and any loudening whispers of discontent behind the scenes, I would say that almost every exit --barring Biyendolo's-- can relatively easily be explained by either soccer fit or financial reasons: They likely couldn't afford to fill in the gap between Sheehan's former contract and her current one, Ryan wanted to be close to her partner, Nighswonger wanted a change of scenery to further her national team ambitions. All reasonable, at least on the surface.
How they want to play:
Gotham manager Juan Carlos Amoros has been pretty steadfast in his 4-3-3, but the loss of key cogs Sheehan and Ryan may disrupt some of the fluidity Gotham established over his first two years in charge. Gotham did a good job at replacing the two in theory --they added young six Jaelin Howell in the Biyendolo trade and signed Brazilian NT winger Gabi Portilho from Corinthians-- but the Portilho lacks the versatility of Ryan and Howell is a natural destroyer six rather than the ball-controlling playmaker Sheehan was. The spider-chart comparison of their skillsets tells the story pretty well.
A constant feature of Amoros' 4-3-3 is that he values positional versatility in the midfield. Ryan spent most of her time on the RW when Rose Lavelle was healthy, but also deputized as the attacking 8 on the right side of the 4-3-3 at times. Even when she was played as an ostensible right winger, Ryan had a tendency to drop in and create from narrower positions. Ryan, somewhat quietly, took quite the leap in 2024: She led the league in key passes, finished 5th in both expected and actual assists, and 7th in both progressive carries and goal creating actions, and was a key cog in Gotham's high press which generated the most tackles completed in their opponent's defensive third. Ryan also rid herself of her somewhat troublesome over-dribbling tendency developed in Portland and her creation stats matched the eye test. She wasn't the biggest name signed by Gotham GM Yael Averburch during Gotham's rebuild, but she may have been the most important.
I've remarked a few times about how 2024 Gotham was a little more vertical than 2023 Gotham when they needed to be, and we might get even more of that this year without Sheehan and with the hopefully impending return of star winger Midge Purce, who recently re-signed with Gotham on a one year deal.
2025 Season Outlook:
The makeup of Gotham's midfield will look like will likely decide the success of Averburch's the on-the-fly retool. With the ever-injured Rose Lavelle recovering from surgery and Ryan now departed, Gotham have significant questions at both 8 positions. With the return of Purce and the presence of 2024 breakout Ella Stevens, 2024 acquisition Cece Kizer, Pitt rookie Sarah Schupansky, and Portuguese winger Jessica Silva on the wings, don't be surprised if Portilho takes up the Ryan role and spends some time both on the wing and attacking midfield. Versatile striker Esther Gonzales is more than capable of filling that position as well, so Amoros has no shortage of options while Lavelle remains out.
Gotham's six and the more holding eight position vacated by Sheehan are a little harder to figure out. I imagine many think Howell will slide into the six, but I'd lean more towards Nealy Martin --another one of Gotham's eternally underrated late round draft picks-- having the inside track after Martin started 21 matches in 2024. My perhaps not-so-hot take is that UCLA rookie Sofia Cook will be the eventual 1:1 replacement for Sheehan and will take over that position by the end of the season, if not earlier. Emily Sonnett provides yet another option at the six if Amoros chooses, but her performances at CB combined with Gotham's depth at the six make it more likely she'll spend most of her time in the back four.
Defensively, there are no real concerns. Gotham finished second in expected goals against and returns the starting back five --Mandy Freeman, Jess Carter, Sonnett, Tierna Davidson. and keeper Ann-Katrin Berger-- that oozes experience and is comfortably my pick for the best defensive group in the league. Added to that group is mega-talented former UCLA CB and would-have-been top five draft pick Lily Reale who doesn't have a direct line to playing time unless Sonnett spends more time in midfield. Gotham's 2024 depth was so impressive that the loss of two CBs in Hiatt and Maitane --both likely to start for other NWSL teams-- will barely register on Amoros' 2025 depth chart. The departure of Nighswonger is a hit (and the relatively small 100K fee seems small), but Freeman had earned the left back spot by the end of the season anyhow and is a significantly better pure defender than the converted midfielder was, so her inclusion in the back line only makes it stronger.
Some prognosticators may have Gotham lower than 5th because of the name brand of the departures, but the simple fact is that only Sheehan and Ryan were crucial pieces in 2024 and Gotham's youth movement is a smart, cap-wise direction for the franchise to take. Biyendolo was relatively ineffective (and oft-injured in 2022), while Dunn failed to take her preferred 8 position from Sheehan and was mostly equally unimpressive parked on the right wing. Moving off both those contracts rather than extending the two based on past performance is unequivocally the right move for a Gotham side that has one of three best coaches in the league and added two of the highest rated college talents in the country in Reale and Cook. There is, of course, the possibility that the off-field issues hinted at by Biyendolo in her exit interview are more severe than we know and could cause some season-destroying friction, but I'm not privy to those and this isn't the place for speculation. A league-best defense and goalkeeper is a good starting point and Gotham certainly have enough talent to replace the departures.
Player to watch: Jaelin Howell (DM)
This is more of a "I'm curious" pick than one crucial to Gotham's success in 2025. Howell, a former top prospect tipped for USWNT greatness after her time captaining Florida State, is now on her third team in less than a calendar year after the Reign swapped her for Biyendolo just months after acquiring Howell from Louisville in the Bethany Balcer trade.
Howell has been pigeonholed a little bit as a pure destroyer over the course of what has so far been an exceedingly disappointing and injury-riddled pro career. Her passing stats are, frankly, not great, and she has failed to show some of the on-ball potential she flashed at Florida State, but there is a world in which the structure of Amoros' system brings out the best in Howell if she can stay healthy. Playing for Amoros is a sea-change from her previous stops at the perennially dysfunctional Louisville and the painfully slow sufferball Seattle plays under Laura Harvey. If she can stay healthy, there's a world in which Howell can have a bit of a renaissance under Amoros. It's a worthy (and likely pretty cheap) gamble for Gotham to make.
Projected Starting 11:
(Hilariously, Gotham has just TWO players --backup Taryn Torres and Lavelle-- listed as midfielders on their website)
#6 Utah Royals
Key additions: Alex Loera (DM), Ana Maria Guzman (FB), Aisha Solórzano (ST), Tatum Milazzo (CB/LB), Mia Justus (GK), KK Ream (ST), Nuria Rabano (LB)
Key losses: Hannah Betfort (ST), Agnes Nyberg (DM), Michelle Vasconcelos (W), Zoe Burns (FB)
Am I, perhaps, a little too high on Utah? Have I, perhaps, fallen prey to the classic "team who makes a lot of cool hipster moves in the offseason"? Am I a moron to put them ahead of teams like Portland, or an improving Bay FC?
Maybe.
But here's the thing: This isn't a reactionary pick, or at least not entirely. It's one that I made after long thought. After grinding end of the season Royals tape. After losing 10 of their first 12, Utah finished the season by taking 21 of a possible 42 points over their final 14 weeks, good for 1.5 points per match. The points per match of the North Carolina Courage, the team that finished 5th in 2024? You guessed it: It was 1.5
Not yet convinced? Let's take a look at what has happened over the summer. Utah's primary issue in 2024, even as their performances picked up, was the lack of goals from their Number 9. For the majority of the season, Utah started former Thorn backup Hannah Betfort at the nine, and, while an admirably hard worker and excellent pressing forward, Betfort simply does not have enough quality to be a starting NWSL striker. Betfort has since moved on to North Carolina, to be replaced with Guatemalan international striker Solorzano, signed from Tijuana after single handedly shocking the Reign in Seattle with a game-winning hat trick. Along with Solorzano, Utah strengthened their defense and defensive midfield by adding highly rated Colombian FB Ana Maria Guzman, former Chicago utility defender Tatumn Milazzo, Spanish FB Nuria Rabano from Wolfsburg, and former Bay FC captain Alex Loera.
Even without Canadian winger Cloe Lacasse, who tragically tore her ACL after leading Utah in scoring with 5 goals despite only playing nine matches, the pieces are there for newly minted permanent head coach Jimmy Conraets to play with. Let's see what he does!
How they want to play:
Frankly, we don't really know. Utah brought arguably the worst NWSL roster of the last decade into 2024 with former manager Amy Rodriguez, and things didn't go well. Outside of rookie attacking midfielder Ally Sentnor who took to the NWSL like a fish to water, Utah was a jumbled, mostly talentless mess under Rodriguez. Truthfully, there wasn't much analysis to be had: Utah played hard, but the lack of talent combined with Rodriguez's lack of a real plan besides "sit back and hope we get something on the counter." The Royals tried a number of formations, but primarily stuck in the hyper-defensive 4-1-4-1, with one of Agnes Nyberg or McKayla Cluff sitting in the six behind two eights. It was ugly.
Summer wrought changes to Utah. Rodriguez, who has since been called out indirectly by multiple current and former players for fostering a toxic environment, was canned with now-permanent manager Conraets taking over on what was initially an interim basis after Rodriguez was let go on June 30th. Perhaps realizing they had underestimated just how challenging an expansion NWSL season was, Utah's FO finally began to act: Young Spaniard Ana Tejada had already been brought in in April, but the summer window saw the arrival of Lacasse from Arsenal, Japanese veteran international Mina Tanaka from Kobe Leonessa, and veteran Spanish holding midfielder Claudia Zornoza from Real Madrid.
Conraets' first move was to move Utah to a standard 4-2-3-1, using the sturdy double pivot of Zornoza and Tejada to allow Sentnor to play as what was practically a second striker behind Betfort. On occasion, Conraetes started a front three of Tanaka, Lacasse, and captain Paige Monaghan, but he generally preferred Betfort's work rate up top despite her lack of technical ability and end product. At its heart, however, Utah's shape remained exceedingly defensive, the fullbacks rarely marauding forward and the two holding midfielders spending most of their time, well, holding. The production did increase: After averaging just 0.75 xG/match over the first 14 games of the 2024 season under Rodriguez, Utah more than doubled that number to 1.6 per match after Conraets took over, a remarkable uptick even considering the midseason talent infusion.
I'd anticipate Utah keep some of that same sturdiness in midfield, but the addition of Solorazano --who is best vertically in behind-- should allow Conraets to get a little more expansive with his attack. The loss of Lacasse for what will likely be the majority of 2025 may very well limit Utah's ceiling, especially if Solorzano takes a little while to adapt. I wouldn't expect any tremendous changes, but Utah will likely want to play with a little more creativity- Utah ranked second to last in the league in shots created by take-ons and passes, but ranked third in the league in shots created via deadball and first in the league by shots created by other shots (mostly, I'd have to imagine, thanks to Sentnor and her rocket of a right foot). In other words, a disproportionate amount of Utah's chances came via static situations. The infusion of yet another Spaniard (Rabano) into the Utah first team combined with the presence of Tanaka might mean Conraets is looking to play a little more possession than Utah did in 2024, but it's going to be hard to tell what Utah want to do until he see it.
2025 Season Outlook:
If Lacasse was healthy, I'd be even more optimistic than I already am, but things appear to be trending in the right direction in Utah. The heavy investment in young talent --particularly of the Spanish speaking variety-- indicates that Utah probably sees 2025 as more of a transition year where they can build off the successful end to 2024 and reduce an xGA average that, at nearly two per match, ranked second to last in the league. On the personnel side, the addition of Alex Loera from Bay raises the question of where the versatile former Current player will play when she fully recovers from the torn ACL sustained four games into last season, and, assuming she starts, what the ripple effect will be. Loera played a lot of RB in Kansas City, but prefers to play the six. It's possible her return will see Tejada drop back into CB after playing much of the latter part of 2024 in defensive midfield.
After Utah brought in Colombian teen sensation Ana Maria Guzman in on loan from Bayern Munich and did not retain promising incumbent right back Zoe Burns, it is probably safe to assume the 19 year old will get a majority of minutes at RB. On the left, Madison Pogarch had comfortably her best season as a pro in 2024 but will have to fight for her spot after Utah added Rabano just days before the European transfer window closed. Rabano has the quite the pedigree, growing up in the Barcelona youth system, playing one year in the first team before moving to Wolfsburg. As referenced in the previous section, Rabano is very much a classic Spanish FB- Stronger in attack than defense and someone who wants to get on the ball. If Rabano does sit behind Monaghan, Utah may use her to take some of the playmaking pressure off Sentnor.
Player to watch: Ally Sentnor (AM/ST)
Utah's attack, and therefore Utah's season, will likely go as the 20 year old does. In a season in many ways defined by impressive first seasons by rookies on good teams --Croix Bethune, Hal Hershfelt, and Claire Hutton foremost among them-- Sentnor went a little under the radar, even as the first pick in the draft. The rookie had an excellent season in carrying Utah's mostly anemic offense, leading the team in shot creation attempts, combined goals and assists, and shots on target.
Sentnor is relatively unique in how she plays her position. She typically plays primarily centrally off the back of the striker, but she also acted as Utah's best ball-carrier, frequently picking the ball up from deep and driving forward. Sentnor might be the best --or at least one of the most willing-- long range ball strikers in the league: Part of this may be down to the fact that she rarely had much help across the Utah front line, but a quick search of 2024 Ally Sentnor highlights will produce a wide range of long range efforts with both feet.
Utah will continue to lean heavily on their young talisman to produce, particularly with Lacasse out for the forseeable future. After captaining the USWNT U-20s to a bronze medal in August and missing a number of games towards the end of the NWSL season as a result, Sentnor will spend her first extended period in Conraet's lineup and will look to break into the loaded frontline of Emma Hayes' senior national team.
Projected Starting 11:
#8 Bay FC
Key additions: Karlie Lema (ST), Taylor Huff (AM), Kelli Hubly (CB), Hannah Bebar (CM)
Key losses: Alex Loera (DM), Jen Beattie (CB), Savy King (LB/CB), Deyna Castellanos (AM)
It's safe to say that the 2nd year side have somewhat switched up their player acquisition strategy from Year 1 to Year 2. Now-departed Bay FC GM Lucy Rushton and the rest of the Bay scouting department caught star fever in Year 1, spending exorbitant levels of money on internationals to Goldilocks levels of success. The big hit was BIG: The world record breaking transfer fee outlaid on Zambian winger Rachael Kundananji was a resounding success even if Kundananji's statistical production didn't quite catch up to her performances. It was anticipated that former Barcelona striker Asisat Oshoala and her conversion rate that had stat geeks frothing at the mouth would have the Nigerian tearing up the NWSL, but that never really happened. Veteran CB signing Jen Beattie barely played. And worst of all, Bay were forced to buy out the two years remaining on the hefty $450K/year contract of Venezuelan star Deyna Castellanos after a supremely disappointing season, only to see Castellanos sign for Portland hours later.
This season, Bay have taken a more methodical, disciplined approach. They've signed two of the top-rated college players in Florida St. attacking midfielder Taylor Huff and Duke midfielder Hannah Bebar. They added a local product in striker Karlie Lema out of Cal. And they supplemented their veteran CB starting duo with long-time Thorn Kelli Hubly, a perfectly competent third CB who was probably miscast and over-relied upon during the latter stages of her tenure in Portland.
How they want to play:
Bay couldn't seem to get out of their own way early in 2024 as manager Albertin Montoya took some time to bed into the NWSL. Defensive issues in particular plagued Bay for much of the first part of the season, the San Jose side simply leaked goals. Club captain and now-Royal Alex Loera's early season ACL injury played no small part, as Montoya's preferred 4-3-3 was left wide open without its anchor. Castellanos, for whose use I heavily critiqued Montoya for throughout 2024, was the scapegoat for the structural issues in midfield that ultimately led to Bay shipping goals at the back. Montoya's classic 4-3-3 shape (a six and two eights) deployed Castellanos in the attacking most of the eights, but still one with significant defensive and structural responsibility. Put simply, the amount of money spent on Castellanos only to play her in a role Montoya must have known would not suit her demonstrated a disconcerting lack of communication between front office and coach that had to be fixed expensively.
As noted in my Bay exit survey, Bay and Montoya really started to figure things out after the Olympic break. Montoya replaced Castellanos with Tess Boade and Joelle Anderson with the more defensive minded Dorian Bailey ahead of the always excellent Kiki Pickett, who deputized excellently at the point of Bay's inverted triangle. The addition of veteran Abby Dahlkemper played no small part in stabilizing Bay's backline, with Bay's GA going down steadily as the season progressed. Bay FC averaged just 1.36 goals against per game after the Olympic break, down from 1.75 prior to the break. If you take out the 5-1 shellacking Gotham issued them on October 5th, that number drops to just 1.1 goals allowed per match. A noticeable difference. It was the kind of know-your-players adaptation you want to see from a first year head coach.
Another aspect of Bay's resurgence was the continual improvement --mostly via increased verticality-- of its attack. Montoya seemed determine to play a little too beautiful-game, Nahas-y style possession ball in the early part of the season and he simply didn't have the horses to make it work. Bay's strategy in their expansion year seemed to be "build out the defense with kids and vets, spend on the attack, and worry about the midfield later." As it turned out, the midfield needed to be worried about a little sooner than later, and Bay suffered for it. Montoya's adjustments late in the season resulted in a rapidly increased pace of play that led to a lot more Kundananji in transition. And that worked wonders.
2025 Season Outlook:
The reason I'm not quite sold on Bay at the high end is because I'm not sure they've done enough in the offseason. Bebar and Huff are undeniable upgrades at Montoya's eights (though Huff in particular will have to show a little more defensive versatility than she had to in college), but Bay lost Loera and have not replaced her, meaning that Pickett will continue to be Bay's starting six in 2025 with very little behind her. Bay will also enter 2025 without either of their 2024 first round draft picks after 2nd overall pick Savy King was shipped down I-5 to Angel City
Bay is a team to watch out for in the summer window. While King's departure was likely a bit of a kick in the teeth for Bay fans given the draft capital and potential of the young defender, the $200K (plus add ons which could see the fee rise to $300K) is a nice sell for a player who didn't seem to have a starting spot on the roster after Alyssa Malonson beat her out at left back and it became clear Montoya didn't see King as a CB. The midseason addition of Penelope Hocking gives Bay a little more juice up top, but the cupboard is still relatively bare behind Kundananji and Oshoala. Tess Boade will likely see some time as an inverted right winger and Bay will hope Lema can provide some minutes off the bench, but Bay really only have veteran Rachel Hill as a backup winger, and Oshoala remains their only proven striker.
Bay are a tricky team to figure out. I still have some major concerns about their midfield and attacking depth --particularly if Huff and/or Bebar take some time to adapt to the NWSL-- but their improvements toward the end of 2024 give me some optimism they can continue to progress in 2025. Squeaking into the playoffs seems about right.
Player to watch: Rachael Kundananji (W)
Kundananji is an underrated "holy hell her team would be screwed without her" among NWSL stars. Her 9G/A in 2024 may have left some a little cold given the tremendous transfer fee it took to acquire her from Madrid CFF, but the metrics were there in what was only her third season of high level pro soccer. Don't be surprised if she's in the MVP conversation come midseason.
#8 Portland Thorns FC
Key additions: Samantha Hiatt (CB), Daiane (CB), Pietra Tordin (AM/ST), Jayden Perry (CB). Deyna Castellanos (AM)
Key losses: Becky Sauerbrunn (CB), Kelli Hubly (CB), Christine Sinclair (ST), Meghan Klingenberg (LB), Izzy D'Aquila (ST)
For the second straight season, the Thorns look like the league's most high variance team. After a rollercoaster 2024 which saw the Thorns start off like the definition of a dumpster fire, fire their incompetent manager, promote the incompetent manager to technical director, experience the classic new coach bump en route to six unbeaten, have their incompetent GM fall victim to said new coach bump and hire the interim permanently, experience the inevitable fall back to earth, go long stretches of the season without 2/3 of their starting front line, sneak into the playoffs, lose in the first round, then fire the GM that had been making the decisions all season.
Deep breath.
The 2025 offseason has been equally roller coaster-y. After GM Karina LeBlanc became the second Thorns staffer to be canned-but-also-kinda-promoted on October 9th, Thorns ownership dallied on hiring new management until early January. While going through the hiring process, the fired LeBlanc and scouting director Mike Smith were, for unknown reasons, running the ship through the busy December period which saw a number of key roster decisions made. The biggest move was the club decision to let CB and baby-deer-on-ice-skates Kelli Hubly (Hubly has since joined Bay FC) depart in free agency, signaling the end to what was, by every metric, a successful half decade plus in the Rose City for the Depaul product who went undrafted in 2017 before carving out successful NWSL career. We give Hubly her flowers here on the East Stand, even if she frequently frustrated.
Perhaps more surprising was the club not re-signing veteran Meghan Klingenberg who, despite her declining minutes as she aged, remained arguably the most important non-Becky Sauerbrunn presence in the locker room. More surprising still--and consequential to the Thorns on the field-- was the announcement that Sauerbrunn herself would be retiring instead of returning for a final year, leaving a gaping hole in an already somewhat iffy defense.
The Thorns, after much hemming and hawing, did ultimately make a GM hire that went mostly well-received from the non Mark Parsons-stan contingent of the Thorns fanbase in bringing in long time executive and former USMNT defender Jeff Agoos. Agoos, in theory, represents the type of basic competence that the Thorns haven't had in the NWSL 2.0 era: Someone who has substantial experience in the role, is well respected, and won't be openly confrontational in press conferences. Next to Agoos, the Thorns brought in both former Bay FC GM and Atlanta United Technical Director Lucy Rushton, and analytics maven Angus McNab to assist Agoos' acclimation to women's soccer. The trio haven't gotten off the ground quite yet --their only big signing was the someone questionable add of Deyna Castellanos-- but the Thorns find themselves in an accelerated rebuild with stars Sophia Wilson and Sam Coffey both set to play on expiring contracts in 2025. I suspect we'll figure out what the Thorns' shiny new FO has in their locker pretty quickly.
How they want to play:
The key knock-on effect of the delayed GM hiring was that manager Rob Gale --who authored one of the most shameful runs of incompetency ever to sully the Providence Park turf-- was retained. With Gale presumably on a pretty short leash as the new FO looks to make an immediate impact, it's possible we see a repeat of last season's coaching situation: An early firing followed by an interim.
Tactically, Gale was all over the place in 2024. While the Thorns did have a brief dalliance with a 3-4-3 in the middle of the season after a rash of injuries, Gale has been nothing if not resolute in his reliance on the 4-3-3 despite clear roster issues and an increasingly evident inability to give his players the necessary structure. With key attackers Morgan Weaver and Sophia Wilson out through either injury or international duty for much of 2024, Gale was dealt an admittedly tough hand. With only only two true healthy wingers in rookie Payton Linnehan and midseason acquisition Alexa Spaanstra, Gale had two choices: Either rely on a pair of unproven young wingers or change formation to something more narrow in order fit the likes of Christine Sinclair, Reilyn Turner, Izzy D'Aquila, and Olivia Moultrie.
Gale did neither. He kept the both the talented Linnehan and Spaanstra locked to the bench despite the dearth of wingers, instead electing to play D'Aquila (a limited striker) Sinclair (old and slow) and Moultrie (young and slow) out wide. As a result, the Thorns frequently found themselves hemmed in by opponents who had no reason to respect the non-existent threat in behind and constricted the midfield as a result. Frequent watchers of the Thorns may be surprised to learn that the Thorns actually kept quite a bit of the ball --they were third slowest in the league in passes per attack-- but it was mostly possession without purpose; a stream of passes around the backline and defensive midfield without much bite going forward. Only the Courage had more touches in the middle third of the field and the Thorns finished third in short-range passes completed.
Aside from the attack and Gale's coaching struggles, the primary issue in midfield was a duplicative skillset from two of Portland's biggest stars: The consistently awesome Hina Sugita played next to Canadian NT captain Jessie Fleming in Portland's dual 8 role. The two --and six Sam Coffey-- are all players that want a lot of the ball and have had past roles built around their talents. Fleming for Canada, and Coffey last season for Portland. Hina is such a versatile, wildly intelligent footballing brain that she's capable of fitting in pretty much anywhere...but Portland's midfield trio was not the well-balanced machine that, say, Washington's was. Fleming, Hina, and Coffey lacked athleticism as a trio and seemed to experience some issues figuring out what their specific role in the Portland midfield was.
2025 Season Outlook:
The primary tactical question going into 2025 is whether Gale learned anything at all from 2024. Simply not having Sinclair or D'Aquila available to him may curb some of Gale's worst tendencies, but Portland's roster remains unbalanced and short on top-end speed. In Saturday's preseason friendly against Angel City, Gale teased fans with a new-look diamond 4-1-2-1-2 that saw a strike partnership of Moultrie and Linnehan, Castellanos sitting underneath as a 10, Hina and Fleming as shuttling 8s, and Coffey at the base of the diamond. For the 30 minutes --Gale switched back to his trusty 4-3-3 shortly thereafter-- the Thorns looked, dare I say, pretty fluid. Fleming and Hina in particular thrived as shuttlers, pulling wide and combining with FBs Reyna Reyes and Marie Müller. Moultrie was able to cut in from her left forward position and get involved centrally, while Linnehan offered threat in behind. With both Smith and Weaver unavailable, it was a clear best use of the players Gale had available and it will interesting to see if we see a version of the diamond going into 2025. I have my doubts.
The Thorns have a clear starting back four when everyone is healthy, but it remains to be seen whether Sam Hiatt can fill the massive hole left behind by Sauerbrunn. Second year Thorn and Danish international Isabella Obaze will need to step up (and stay healthy) because the Thorns CB depth behind the front two is lacking. FBs Reyes and Müller are arguably the strongest positional group the Thorns have, but with Klingenberg's departure and a bad-looking injury to backup Nicole Payne in Sunday's friendly, Portland has only 2nd year pro Mallie McKenzie as a FB option if Gale sticks with a back four.
The biggest question on the lips of Thorns fans is "where will Castellanos play?" After a dreadful debut campaign for Bay which, while not entirely her fault, made her one of the biggest and most expensive non-starters in the league by the end of the season, Castellanos was bought out by Bay and quickly reunited with Rushton in Portland. Castellanos --a natural 10 or false 9-- is a questionable fit in a Portland midfield stacked with offense first, technically forward, and athletically limited options. With wingers limited, I assume we'll see Castellanos start on the right wing and invert inside, but doing so would be a risky move with given Portland's defensively-short midfield and Castellanos' limited defensive chops. Gale could alleviate the issue slightly by going with the diamond or a 3-5-2 variant, but once again.....I'll believe it when I see it.
A fully healthy Portland should be a playoff team on talent alone, but I wouldn't be even remotely surprised to see the Thorns fall out of playoff spot entirely if teams below them improve. If Gale can benefit from a healthier roster and learned from this roster, Portland could finish as high as fourth or fifth, but the bottom could fall out pretty damn fast if he doesn't.
Player to watch: Payton Linnehan (W)
The 2nd year pro had an up and down rookie campaign. The "ups" were pretty much whenever she played, and the "downs" were when her manager inexplicably kept her locked to Portland's bench. Linnehan represents something Portland lacks outside of Wilson and Weaver, both of whom are yet to appear in training camp: Electric pace and directness. Linnehan is still just 22 and should get real minutes this season regardless, but there is a world in which we see a real jump from the Penn State product should Weaver or Wilson miss any more time. Keep an eye on this space.
Comments