News Round-up
No Thorns games last weekend -- but always lots of news happening around the world of soccer
International Round-Up
The Thorns are re-assembling this week after ten members of the team dispersed around the world, to play for their various national teams. There may be some serious jet-lag in play, as many players are traveling back from overseas, with games played as recently as Monday or Tuesday of this week.
Three Thorns ended up as goal-scorers in games last weekend:
Deyna Castellanos
Castellanos made her return to the Venezuelan national team after a two-year personal gap between games. It was a quiet, empty field at a neutral site in Spain, as Venezuela took on New Zealand in a friendly. And, about 25 minutes into the game, Castellanos has an unbelievable strike from distance, for a fantastic goal. That makes 23 career international goals in just 39 career appearances for Castellanos. She is Venezuela’s all-time leading goal-scorer — at just 26 years old.
Sam Coffey
Coffey scored her second career international goal in an American friendly against China:
Funny enough, Coffey’s first international goal also came in a friendly against China, back in 2023.
Kaitlyn Torpey
Torpey scored on home soil in a friendly against Argentina. Kudos to the Australian crowds, who supported their home team with a massive 40,000+ attendance for an exhibition game. Torpey made her debut for Australia just over a year ago, in February of 2024, and has already gotten up to 15 appearances and two goals as a defender.
Make New Facilities, Keep the Old
A few weeks ago, the Thorns quietly released a video that showed off the team’s new, upgraded locker room inside Providence Park. As the Bhathal family has made clear, they are going to make huge, huge investments into every sort of behind-the-scenes resource available to the Thorns.
So, that’s a fantastic step forward. On the flip side, Taylor Vincent of Spotrac.com has been quite hilariously driving by the site of the team’s new shared practice facility in Hillsboro each week. Although the shovel-in-the-dirt photo-op to announce the groundbreaking was all the way back in April, there is still no visible work being done on the campus:
Weirdness in Washington
For the first time in a long time, we have some weird news out of the on-field/off-field juggernaut that is the Washington Spirit. Almost exactly 12 months after head coach Jonatan Giráldez arrived in DC, he is leaving, to become the coach of rebranded French giant OL Lyonnes.
What makes this move both more and less mysterious at the same time is: ambitious owner Michele Kang owns both the Spirit and Lyonnes. So, it’s almost like Giráldez is a manager being transferred from one branch to another — and not just abruptly abandoning a project in the middle. On the other hand: this does make it feel like Kang could see the Spirit as Team 1B in her portfolio, compared to Team 1A in Lyonnes.
The Spirit will be coached by Adrián González after the departure of Giráldez. That’s good continuity, since González coached the Spirit from March-to-June in last year’s awkward coaching-chairs maneuver, waiting for Giráldez to become available. But, more weirdness: this year’s coaching change isn’t happening until July 18th.
Washington comes to visit the Thorns on June 15th. When they will be coached by Giráldez — the about-to-leave-but-not-just-yet coach. Whatever unprecedented contractual moves are going on in the Spirit locker room, it feels like it will help the Thorns in that contest.
NWSL II
This is Thorn Town catching up on some news that has potentially gone stale. But, in early May, the NWSL announced they would begin operating a Division II league, starting in 2026. The minor league would have a team that is a direct affiliate for each “major league” NWSL team. It would start with a group of eight teams in 2026 — a list that does not include the Thorns — with plans to quickly add a Division II team for every NWSL team.
I recently gave some big-ups to Canada’s Northern Super League for a successful launch this spring. But this feels like a very different situation — and, I feel, a very ill-advised idea, top to bottom. Take your pick from a buffet of reservations that pop up, in no particular order:
Where are the coaches who are going to be developing these prospects to the next level — and why aren’t they on NWSL staffs right now? One subplot that’s been subtly getting louder throughout the league is: teenage players are arriving with a major splash on their debuts, and then tailing away from superstardom as they go through their would-be college years.
The NWSL is doing very well — but is it doing well enough to have a permanent loss leader? The United Soccer League (USL) just concluded its first season with an average of about 2,500 fans per game. That feels like an optimistic projection for a league that is putting “II” in its name, and intentionally labelling itself as a minor league. The NWSL operated for many years without being able to pay their players a living wage. Did the NWSL finally cross that threshold, only to throw dozens of future NWSL II players into the not-quite-full-time grind?
Compared to other American sports leagues, the NWSL has a frankly appalling record of how coaches and management treats their players. The NWSL league office often responds to these issues slowly, and with indirect communication to its fanbase. Is the NWSL capable of operating a respectful, professional environment in the comparable Wild West of minor league sports?
Up Next
Game #11: Portland Thorns at Bay FC
Saturday, June 7th | 4:30 PM
Broadcast: ION
On Saturday, the Thorns finally get back to regular season action. This game is the start of a quick three-weekend, three-game sprint before the NWSL’s six-week mid-summer break.
The Thorns would, in a normal matchup, be heavily favored against Bay FC. While the San Francisco team continues to draw an admirably large audience, they are floating around a bit aimlessly, in 11th place. Their star forward duo of Racheal Kundananji and Asisat Oshoala have only combined to score a single goal all year.
However: this is not a normal matchup. While the Thorns could show their dominance in this game, I also wouldn’t be surprised to see a dud from Portland due to the sheer exhaustion from their extensive travels. It has now officially been over a month since the team’s last home game. And, for Thorns who had international duty, this will be their seventh consecutive road game. If the team’s performance is flat, this would be the one game on the year when I’d have no problem with chalking it up to an intense scheduling quirk, throwing the game film in the trash, and moving on.
This game will also be a reunion with two all-time Thorns: Emily Menges and Kelli Hubly. However, both Menges (260 minutes all season) and Hubly (64 minutes) have been on the outside looking in at Bay FC’s regular rotation, so we may not see either player in this game.
Other notable Thorns scoring events: 2 assists for Fleming against Haiti, Caiya Hanks drawing the penalty kick goal at the Germany 23s.