This was always going to be the more important game. The bounce back. The chance to get back on course. The 90 minutes that would move the North Carolina Courage game into the past and give Portland Thorns FC a chance to resume their playoff push.
“We circled this a while back as being a crucial one,” head coach Mark Parsons said, from Orlando, Florida, where his team has trained all week. “All the focus and energy is on us trying to be our best.”
The defending NWSL champions could never assume they were going to get a result last week, in Cary, North Carolina, but Saturday’s game comes with an entirely different expectation (4:30pm PT, NWSLsoccer.