PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland Thorns FC's excitement came through in a way that was new one of the team's preseason training session, and new to a ritual the team goes through every preseason. Players leave the club at some point each winter, report to their national teams for around three weeks, then come back to their National Women’s Soccer League worlds. Once they do, those players have to reintegrate into a group that’s trained together for nearly a month.
Today at Providence Park, that dynamic came out in an ironic but celebratory way, and it came out early.