The Thorns are about to embark on their first mutli-game road trip. On Saturday at 1 p.m. PT, the Thorns will face off against long time rivals FC Kansas City at the Swope Soccer Village in Kansas. Parsons was explicit about this; “the Portland Thorns always see the best of Kansas,” he said on Wednesday in training. “That rivalry has been there since the first year, and I learnt that [last year].”
Both teams have had a difficult start to the 5th season of the NWSL; the Thorns have had players sit out on injury, losing key pieces and being forced to dig into the their bench.