It's funny – I expected the Reign to lose this one. A coast-to-coast-to-coast road trip on a short turnaround, a whole full-time workweek of travel delays, disruptions, and cancellations crammed into that short turnaround, and a high intensity rivalry match in the space of five days just did not have signature win written in the cards.
I doubt anybody expected them to lose like that.
There's plenty to be said about what was out of their control. The Reign played with leaden legs, played pretty much exactly like a team that lost their rest days and their training to disasters. They also lost 2-0 to their biggest rival while up two players. They looked tired, checked out, unable to meet the moment.
And maybe? Maybe they should've requested a reschedule from the league, given just how unprecedented and out of their control the circumstances were.
But! They didn't. So we were forced to watch that. Some of us were forced to watch that more than once.
And my response to my rewatches was uniformly the same as my response to the original full-time whistle: what the fuck was that?
And yet, though it was undeniably a bad showing by the whole team, I also had a hard time identifying any specifically disastrous performances. A team can – and does – win games with one or two or even four players playing tired and uninspired, rating-4.5-tier soccer. But when it's all 11 and the substitutes sleepwalking towards the inevitable... well.
Let's just get into this.
Goalkeeper
Claudia Dickey – 6 (POTM)
Double yellow. After wasting far too much of my one, precious, fleeting life watching the goals she conceded, I do think Dickey could've done better on Portland's second goal, despite being hung out to dry. But after that, she made a couple decent saves down the stretch to keep the deficit to just two. Considering the general performance of the team, merely showing up and having an average day really stood out.
Straight red. Maybe the Reign would've seriously threatened the goal more than one single time if they'd brought Claudia Dickey up on set pieces.
Defenders
Sofia Huerta – 5
Double yellow. Huerta put in a ton of defensive work, snuffing out the Thorns when they tried to break up her side. It's not ideal that she had to put in so much defensive work while the Reign were up a player (and then up two players). As part of a team effort to set records for hopefully lumping a ball into a group of defenders, Huerta completed just one attempted cross.
Straight red. Maybe if they'd attempted 50 more crosses into a packed-in penalty area, they might've gotten one to land.
Emily Mason – 4 (off 69' for Emeri Adames)
Double yellow. Mason definitely got scorched a couple times, including that time the whole back line got embarrassed by an onside run and just watched Reilyn Turner score. She was the least-active defender both on and off the ball, and seemed especially lost after the Reign went up a player.
Straight red. Maybe it's not entirely fair to blame a 23-year old backup centerback for getting scorched by a team that lives to counter.
Phoebe McClernon – 4 (off 78' for Angharad James-Turner)
Double yellow. There's really just no excuse for the entire back line getting embarrassed on the Thorns' second goal. Up a player and down a goal, that's the sort of counter that simply cannot happen, and Phoebe is the player the Reign most rely on to keep them organized and prevent it. She didn't get beat again, though, and she did absolutely body Olivia Moultrie in a moment I feel obligated to describe as hilarious.
Straight red. Maybe if she'd taken an extra touch to settle the ball in the 73rd minute, she could've laced it for a banger and we'd at least have something cool out of the match.
Madison Curry – 5
Double yellow. With 95 touches, Madison Curry spent a ton of time on the ball, shuttled it back and forth, and didn't ultimately do much dangerous with it. She attempted eight crosses and completed zero, providing her own significant contribution to the Reign's somewhat questionable strategy of ‘listlessly deliver a hopeful ball and watch.’ She wound up for a decent shot in the 90th minute, one of the Reign's few genuine chances on the night, but saw it blocked. It was also a rare off-night for her fighting for the ball – she won just four of her twelve duels. Granted, in one of those duels, Reyna Reyes did a full Kayla Fischer on her and saw red, which probably counts for something...
Straight red. Maybe the real treasure was the friends we got sent off for pulling our hair along the way.
Midfielders
Nérilia Mondésir – 5 (off 78' for Sofía Cedeño)
Double yellow. For the first 10 minutes, Mondésir looked poised for another thunderous performance, getting into dangerous space and forcing Portland's defenders to make hard choices. Cassandra Bogere, faced with two hard choices defending Coco in under a minute, opted to take a yellow card both times, and promptly left the pitch. Unfortunately, with Portland down a player, Mondésir struggled to find space or separation again, and opted to fire in a whole lot of ineffective crosses instead. The Thorns continued playing her very physically, but Elvis Osmanovic didn't give her another whistle for the rest of her shift.
Straight red. Maybe in the future, we can trade Bogere getting sent off for Mondésir actually getting the benefit of a whistle when fouled for the remaining 68 minutes she plays.
Ainsley McCammon – 4 (off 69' for Brittany Ratcliffe)
Double yellow. Part of a central midfield trio that barely seemed to touch the ball, Ainsley still did have a moment, creating the Reign's best chance of the game with a flash of vision. (It was saved.) Through most of the match, the Thorns succeeded in baiting the Reign wide, giving up a cross that they trusted the Reign not to complete, and McCammon didn't spend enough time on the ball or provide enough of an option off the ball to disrupt that strategy.
Straight red. Maybe if McCammon had just gone wide and started pumping in crosses of her own...
Jess Fishlock – 4 (off 69' for Holly Ward)
Double yellow. A legend for the Reign and a legend against Portland specifically, Fishlock's Friday night outing was anything but. She touched the ball just 22 times, only occasionally fought for the ball (with mixed results), and was credited with creating just a single chance despite the prolonged player advantage.
Straight red. Maybe the Reign need a real succession plan for an icon and legend who is, despite still providing some very high-quality play, undeniably not 90 minutes fit or three games a week fit any longer.
Sam Meza – 5
Double yellow. Noted for her indefatigable running and seemingly tireless ability to be everywhere and break up everything, Sam Meza instead just looked tired. She was still the most active central player for the Reign, registering 50 touches, 30 completed passes, and a 20th minute shot from a decent area. (She missed, but it was a rare chance to change the narrative of the match.) She did lead the team with four tackles and five ground duels won, but that was a product of just how little control the Reign had over the middle of the park, even two players up.
Straight red. Maybe putting in a bunch of aerial balls for one of the shortest players on the team to lose isn't a great way to create danger.
Maddie Dahlien – 5
Double yellow. If anybody on the team was going to score, it would've been Danger Maddie, who led with five shots, and even forced two saves out of goalkeeper Morgan Messner. While neither her 48th minute nor 89th minute attempts were sure-thing chances, both actually made Messner work, and neither would've been particularly shocking to see in the back of the net. Unfortunately, she also caught the team's bout of speculativecrossitis, attempting seven crosses and completing zero.
Straight red. Maybe a little dribbling and a little speed could've turned at least one of those seven speculative crosses into a carry into the penalty area instead?
Forwards
Maddie Mercado – 4
Double yellow. In the 41st minute, Mercado had a great opportunity from just past the penalty spot. Unfortunately, the chance ended in a big block and nothing came of it. While she got into the penalty area a few more times, and had a decent key pass off a header on a corner, and even won a couple more headers amongst the Reign's unending rain of crosses, she was unable to find another chance, let alone a desperately needed goal.
Straight red. Maybe in the future, the Reign's forwards can attempt multiple shots in a game with a multiple player advantage.
Substitutes
Brittany Ratcliffe – 4 (on 69' for Ainsley McCammon)
Part of a 69th (nice) minute triple sub desperately trying to create some energy and danger with a two player advantage, Ratcliffe represented an acknowledgment that the midfield was losing the battle, an aggressive reinforcement seeking to produce something. And... she put in five more speculative crosses.
Emeri Adames – 5 (on 69' for Emily Mason)
Part of a 69th minute triple sub desperately trying to create some energy and danger with a two player advantage, Emeri replaced a defender with a straight-up flair and sauce attacker, an extremely aggressive substitute by Laura Harvey's standards. Anyway, she only put in three desperate crosses, which was nice, and even completed a key pass from a central area, something I wasn't sure was allowed before that.
Holly Ward – 4 (on 69' for Jess Fishlock)
Part of a 69th minute triple sub desperately trying to create some energy and danger with a two player advantage, Holly replaced a dog-tired Jess Fishlock and provided an extra body at forward. She got into the box a lot, even got some touches there, and worked pretty hard off the ball, but with the Reign pumping in crosses, she never even got in a position to contest one in the air.
Sofía Cedeño – 5 (on 78' for Nérilia Mondésir)
In the 78th minute, the Reign made a double sub, and Cedeño replaced Mondésir. I actually want to call out Sofia's performance because, while short, it was possibly the highest-effort substitute appearance of the evening for the Reign; she demanded the ball, completed her passes, worked the ball and kept moving, and in 12+ minutes created about as much danger as any other Reign player had in much longer shifts. Unfortunately she also committed two needless fouls that ended attacking chances, so, mixed bag, but a genuinely solid debut in an overall horrific match.
Angharad James-Turner – 4 (on 78' for Pheobe McClernon)
In the 78th minute, the Reign made a double sub, and James-Turner replaced McClernon. This is an interesting one – Haz actually gave the Reign some bite and control in the midfield, something they'd been categorically missing for the first 78 minutes of the match. It was too little and too late to change the outcome, but on rewatch I was surprised at how much influence she exerted in a short shift, recording 23 touches and 15 completed passes. The Reign's late spell of pressure has a lot to do with her actually, finally, providing a bit of a central platform for them to build off of.
Thorns POTM
Pietra Tordin
While a significant number of her teammates were busy practicing their pankration and occasionally getting sent off, Tordin put the Thorns on her back, scoring the game-winning goal shortly after her team went down a player, and then assisting on the insurance goal a far too short amount of time later.
Referee
Elvis Osmanovic – 6
Genuinely, I hate writing this much about the ref, but the discourse around Osmanovic's performance in the middle might outlive the league itself. Which is ironic, because it was – and I know this sounds hilarious on the surface – a pretty unexceptional game from the CR. He ultimately called more small and marginal stuff on the Reign than on the Thorns (and by about a 4 to 1 margin at that), but he made big calls against the Thorns in a big home game. And not everybody in the home crowd, ah, took kindly to that.
The thing is, Elvis was clearly trying to keep the whistles down and call a fight-it-out sort of rivalry match. Portland just repeatedly forced his hand in frankly inexplicable ways.
Cassandra Bogere committed a no-question yellow card tactical foul in the 8th minute, and then just 56 seconds later she grabbed Mondésir's arm with both hands and dragged her to the ground. Osmanovic rightly sent her off, and his review with PRO would certainly not have been kind if he hadn't. That wasn't a discretionary matter, nor was it a miscarriage of justice; that was a player willfully choosing to commit two obvious and unnecessary yellow card offenses so close together the ref had barely finished putting his card back in his pocket after the first one.
In the 57th minute, Reyna Reyes got a fistful of Madison Curry's hair and gave it a good hard yank. Once the VAR got a look at it, the question wasn't should she be sent off, it was how long is her suspension going to be. (For the record, in all three prior hair pulling as violent conduct cases in NWSL history, the answer was three additional matches.) Osmanovic took his time, but again, really had no choice in the matter. When you get to the point that you're caught on camera pulling an opponent's head down by a fistful of their hair, you just gotta take your lumps about it.
As Osmanovic was adjudicating that red card, Marie Müller entered the field without permission – and I'm sorry, as a professional, she should definitely know better – and promptly saw yellow herself. At this point, Providence Park sounded like it might spontaneously combust in pure outrage, but once again, the question is what do you expect the referee to do in this circumstance.
Elvis Osmanovic is no more responsible for the Thorns apparent inability to stop repeatedly committing egregious, unquestionable, and utterly unforced offenses than he is for the Reign's listless disinterest and absolute lack of capacity to make a two player advantage matter.
He did fine. He got the big stuff right. And Reyna Reyes should, in fact, sit an additional three games. We'll see if she does.
And Another Thing!
After watching this match three (3) times, I have lost the capacity to hope, dream, or believe good things are even possible. The mere existence of this match is a cognitohazard, a tool of evil to spread malaise and ill will through the world.
Hopefully the Reign give us more to believe in against Kansas City.
