We made it, folks: the interminable, albeit never boring, NWSL offseason ends tomorrow when the Thorns travel to Cary, North Carolina to take on the thrice-damned Courage in the first Lifetime game of 2018, a rematch of what Mark Parsons called “the worst game of soccer I’ve ever seen” in a media conference call this week. Hold on tight; it’s going to be a wild ride.
Projected Starting XI
Look for the Thorns to come out in the 3-/5-back formation they used in the latter half of 2017. Our own Tyler Nguyen wrote a great analysis of how that system works here; but broadly speaking this formation is the one that makes the most sense with the current pool of healthy players.