NWSL 2020/21: how Orlando Pride’s attacking efficiency messed up Portland Thorns’ plans – tactical analysis

Orlando Pride hosted Portland Thorns in a NWSL fixture last Wednesday and the game ended with an important 2-1 Orlando Pride win that showed the latter’s ability to be harmful upfront even against one of the best performing teams of the NWSL currently. This win will certainly give a boost to Orlando Pride and enable them to approach the next games with more confidence and in the appropriate way to get as more points as possible. While for the visitors, they will have to look at what went wrong for them and fix it quickly to not lose more points in the future and get back to their winning ways.

In this tactical analysis article, we will provide an extensive analysis of both teams’ attacking tactics to explore how Orlando Pride were more effective in this regard and why Portland Thorns were not able to equalise or turn the table on their opponents, while looking at some individual performances that stood out in this match.

Line-ups

Orlando Pride started the game with the 4-2-3-1 formation with Ashlyn Harris as a goalkeeper, Ali Riley, Ali Krieger, Phoebe McClernon and Courtney Petersen in defence, Gunnhildur Jónsdóttir and Meggie Dougherty as central midfielders with Marta and Sydney Leroux as wingers and Taylor Kornieck as a second striker behind Alex Morgan, the team’s striker.

Portland Thorns relied on the 4-3-1-2 formation using Adrianna Franch as a goalkeeper, Natalia Kuikka, Kelli Hubly, Becky Sauerbrunn and Madison Pogarch in defence, Crystal Dunn, Angela Salem and Lindsey Horan as central midfielders while Christine Sinclair played as an advanced playmaker behind both Tyler Lussi and Simone Charley, the two strikers.

Portland Thorns’ attacking plans

Portland Thorns were dominant team in the first part of the match and were more dangerous upfront by relying on high pressing and attacking with numbers as soon as get possession. They also tried to alternate between crosses from both wings at times, short passes towards the box and specifically from Sinclair to one of Charley and Lussi while in some other instances Portland Thorns’ midfielders aimed at surprising Orlando’s defensive line by launching long-passes at the back of defence to one of the strikers. These chances were well-executed however the finishing touch lacked Portland Thorns in most of these cases and that’s what gave Orlando the chance to believe in their chances after they were conceding a considerable number of chances.