Thorns FC
In a summer packed with Portland Timbers matches, Portland Thorns FC matches and the CONCACAF Gold Cup coming to town, there’s no shortage of the beautiful game to be found in Soccer City, USA.
Grant Wahl knows this as well as anybody, which is why he came to town to see the Portland's 2-1 home opener win against Seattle Reign FC as part of a larger story for Sports Illustrated on the Thorns' Alex Morgan.
Wahl, a longtime college basketball and soccer writer for SI, really made his mark in 2009 with his excellent book, The Beckham Experiment: How the World's Most Famous Athlete Tried to Conquer America. Written in near real-time during the MLS season, it was an in-depth look not only into Beckham’s arrival with the LA Galaxy but also an inside look into Major League Soccer as a whole entity.
Since the book, Wahl has covered World Cups and international soccer along with a bid for for the FIFA presidency on a platform of more transparency. Through it all, he has continued to tell insightful stories across the soccer universe.
I sat down with him to talk about his impressions of the Thorns home opener, where MLS is at now near four years past his book and the importance of this summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup to the U.S. Men’s National Team..
The Backcut Podcast sits at the intersection of Timbers, Thorns, soccer & culture to explore the unique elements of the beautiful game. You can subscribe to The Backcut on iTunes in the same feed as the Talk Timbers podcast.
Sunday's Portland Thorns FC home opener was memorable for many reasons.
There was the 2-1 win over the Seattle Reign FC.
There was the record setting 16,479 crowd in attendance.
There was the goals by Marian Dougherty and Alex Morgan.
And then, of course, there was THE HAIR. Hear goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc talk about her special edition 'do for the first ever Thorns home opener:
Want more Karina LeBlanc? Vancouver B.C.'s The Province, fresh from their great profile of fellow Canadian Christine Sinclair, does an excellent feature on LeBlanc's arrival in Portland and her deep commitment to the UNICEF Sports Ambassador program. Read it here.
Craig Mitchelldyer/Portland Thorns FC
Portland Thorns FC forward Christine Sinclair is The Equalizer’s National Women’s Soccer League Week 2 Player of the Week as voted on by the editors of the site.
The former University of Portland star and current Canadian national teamer earned a point on Sunday after she played a sensational ball to forward Alex Morgan, who netted the game-winning goal in the 52nd minute of a 2-1 win over Seattle Reign FC.
When asked about her role as more of an attacking midfielder against Seattle, Sinclair told The Equalizer, "It was an adjustment on my part; more feeding the forwards instead of being the one receiving the ball."
Sinclair, who scored Thorns FC first franchise goal in the season opener at Kansas City, now leads the NWSL in points (3).
For the full story, visit The Equalizer.
One of the most beautiful things about soccer is its ability to unite people around the world, whether it’s behind a team, a nation, or in this case, a cause.
Former professional soccer player Jared Montz believes that part of being a pro is giving back to your community. He started the Online Soccer Academy to provide free online resources and training to soccer players around the world.
This year, the Online Soccer Academy is putting on their 3rd annual charity event called the OSA World Juggle-a-thon to raise money for Nothing But Nets. On April 25, World Malaria Day, players of all ages will juggle at 6pm their standard time anywhere in the word they have a ball. Jugglers try to beat their personal juggling records and in the process they raise money for Nothing But Nets.
Every 60 seconds a child in Africa dies from a malaria infection. With this in mind, the UN Foundation created Nothing But Nets in 2006 to raise money to provide African children with anti-malaria bed nets. The campaign was inspired by sports columnist Rick Reilly, who challenged each of his readers to donate at least $10 to purchase anti-malaria bed nets.
As part of the campaign, Jared Montz is Soccer Walking America. This 45 day, 15-city video series tour to raise awareness for the event included a stop in Portland, where Montz juggled with some of the Timbers and Thorns.
To become a juggler and fundraise, or to make a one time donation, please visit the OSA World Juggle-a-thon website.
Follow Jared Montz on Twitter to keep track of his tour.
The Portland Timbers Food Cart Alliance (PTFCA) is a free, cross-promotional program designed to highlight the Rose City’s vibrant food cart culture. Through the PTFCA, select Portland-area food carts will have the opportunity to serve their food cart fare on Timbers and Thorns FC match days at JELD-WEN Field via fan vote.
Now’s your chance to choose the next round of carts that will serve at the stadium this season. Choose carefully, the five carts that receive the most votes on this poll will serve at three JELD-WEN Field events!
Know of any additional carts that should be included in this program? Post in the comments below or learn more about the program here.
The Portland Timbers and Portland Thorns FC have announced a new partnership with Chirpify, which will allow fans to conduct transactions in-stream on social media, including entering online giveaways, buying merchandise and donating to charitable partners of the Portland Timbers and Portland Thorns FC.
Once registered through Chirpify, all shipping, billing, and customer information will be automatically entered and makes entering Timbers and Thorns FC contests or purchasing merchandise as simple as replying to an official post on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram.
Not only will Chirpify make transactions easier and faster for fans, they will also receive exclusive deals only offered through Chirpify. These exclusive offers will include contests, autograph vouchers and merchandise offers. When the Timbers and Thorns FC post contests and giveaways, fans that have registered with Chirpify can simply reply to the post to be eligible to win or to make a purchase.
For example, every home game fans that are registered with Chirpify will have the opportunity to enter to win autograph vouchers to use at post-game autograph signings with Timbers or Thorns FC players. Both teams will also give away signed merchandise and can’t buy game-day experiences.
Fans are encouraged to sign up now in order to take advantage of Timbers and Thorns FC promotions throughout the season.
Thorns FC teammates Alex Morgan and Rachel Buehler are currently with the U.S. national team in Holland preparing for their friendly with The Netherlands tomorrow. Training alongside them are FC Kansas City's Becky Sauerbrunn, Nicole Barnhart, and Lauren Cheney. Though they'll all be on the same side tomorrow, they'll be battling against each other on Saturday. Hear from each of them as they discuss the opcoming NWSL season opening match.
On the U.S. Soccer Federation's 100th birthday, Thorns FC forward Alex Morgan and the U.S. Women's National Team had a bit of a crazy game against Germany this morning. Despite taking a 3-1 lead on goals by Abby Wambach (47th minute), Megan Rapinoe (55) and Morgan (71), Germany battled back with two late goals in the 85th and 86th minute in front of 16,090 fans in Offenbach, Germany. Second-half sub Sydney Leroux had a late effort saved off the line in one of the wilder games in recent U.S. WNT memory.
Morgan started and played the full 90 minutes for the United States, while Thorns FC defender Rachel Buehler was an unused substitute. Midfielder Tobin Heath, who will join Thorns FC this summer after playing out her contract with French side Paris Saint-Germain, entered the match in the 77th minute for Heather O'Reilly.
Morgan's goal in the 71st minute came off a long, curling pass over the top of Germany's defense from FC Kansas City midfielder Lauren Cheney.
On Thursday morning, Thorns FC forward Christine Sinclair and the Canada Women's National Team tangled with France in a rematch of the London 2012 Olympics bronze-medal match (which Canada won). Despite going down 1-0 during first-half stoppage time on a well-placed Elodie Thomis goal, Canada kept it close and struck late in second-half stoppage time.
Sinclair collected a deflected ball and slipped a pass right into the path of Kaylyn Kyle in the fourth-minute of second-half stoppage time and Kyle netted the equalizer for Canada in front of 5,783 fans at Stade du Ray in Nice, France. Thorns FC goalkeeper Karina LeBlanc was an unused sub for the match.
Canada is back in action on Sunday, April 7 at 7 a.m. (Pacific) against England at New York Stadium in Rotherham, England. The U.S. Women's National Team visits The Hague, Netherlands on Tuesday, April 9, for a 10 a.m. (PT) match against the Netherlands at Kyocera Stadium.
Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated, fresh from his revealing MLS player polls, recently put together a grand list of the 50 most important people in U.S. Soccer. It has many of the names you'd expect. The top 5 are, in order: U.S. Sports TV executives, U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati, MLS commissioner Don Garber, Nike and adidas.
Of local note though are two rather big names. Coming in at No. 9 is Thorns FC forward Alex Morgan of which Wahl writes:
Let's be honest: the 23-year-old Morgan has everything it takes (on the field and off) to become the next Mia Hamm. Just one example of her appeal: Morgan has in excess of a million Twitter followers, more than any U.S. soccer player, male or female.
In a tie for No. 23 is Timbers and Thorns FC owner Merritt Paulson paired alongside Sporting KC's owner Robb Heineman:
Young owners who live and die with their MLS teams, Heineman and Paulson are the faces of MLS 2.0 and the league's answers to Mark Cuban. If only every league owner cared as much.
Head over to SI.com to read the full list. Any names missing you think should be on there? Any names on there you disagree with?
