A draw in a sea of draws; new coach for Chicago Stars

Hello all! This week, the Courage landed a 1:1 draw against the Portland Thorns, and are now heading off for a Friday matchup in the Windy City.

Chicago will be an interesting opponent, undergoing yet another coaching transition.

We are releasing a very short, pre-recorded mini episode on the podcast next week due to conflicting vacation schedules, but we’ll be back in full force after the Kansas City match.

Here we go!

Recap: Courage v. Portland Thorns

The Courage opened with a fierce 20 minutes, taking advantage of midfield gaps in Portland’s attack and taking a relatively high volley of shots.

The game settled into a nearly dead-even match (both statistically and, you know, just eyeballing the thing).

The lineup was a little unusual, with Aline Gomes and Briana Pinto playing high. The arrangement also allowed Tyler Lussi to take some high runs in toward goal, a move that paid off in the second half. Ashley Sanchez continues getting the start over Jaedyn Shaw, with Shaw coming in as an early sub.

Around the 44th minute, Portland scored a goal very much in their style: forcing a fast transition and capitalizing on the disarray. Really, they’d caused more chaos just a minute before, and then made a great attack back-to-back. A quick pass to Moultrie resulted in an even quicker pivot and pass to Reilyn Turner. Turner had a high run beyond the Courage defense and took a great shot, which was deflected by Casey Murphy. It landed dead center in front of the net, and Olivia Moultrie fired it in.

Captain Denise O’Sullivan took a knock right at the half, with Shinomi Koyama coming in for her. Acting Coach Nathan Thackeray indicated it was a precautionary substitution during the post-game press conference.

The Courage equalized at 70’, with Pinto chasing down a well-placed free kick down the sideline. She got a cross in to Shaw, who couldn’t get quite enough power on it and the ball was deflected by Thorns keeper Mackenzie Arnold. Lussi closed in on the box, and got a terrific touch at a challenging angle. The ball ricocheted around Arnold’s feet, the near post, and the back of the net.

Katie and I had wildly different opinions on this match, despite agreeing on the major turning points. She felt ultimately it was a fun match, and that Portland put up a tough front. I was playing the uncharacteristic role of podcast pessimist, seeing this match as emblematic of the problems the Courage are experiencing this season: badly timed passes, multiple chances created with only one conversion, and inconsistency on execution.

Since there were so many draws this weekend and last, the Courage haven’t really moved up or down the table, so there’s still time to make a playoff run.

Standout stats

Look ahead: Courage v. Chicago Stars

Chicago announced their new head coach, Martin Sjögren.  He is bringing his long-time assistant, Anders Jacobson, who will serve as interim head coach the rest of the 2025 season, before Sjögren takes over in 2026.

Chicago also had a late road match Monday against Seattle that ended in (what else?) a draw. The match was a good example of Chicago’s stealth prowess; despite their place on the table, their forwards can score.

Also … keeper Alyssa Naeher scored:

That match tilted in Chicago’s favor in the second half, despite a 3-0 lead by Seattle.

The Stars could be forgiven for being a little lackluster after flying back and playing again on a Friday, an extremely condensed week. But the Courage will need to stay sharp the full 90 minutes if they want to walk out with 3 points on the table.

Courage news and updates

• Keeper Casey Murphy made her 400th career save in the match against Portland.

• Forward Hannah Betfort is up for the Lauren Holiday Impact Award. The Courage did a nice Instagram video on her achievements. To support Betfort, you can vote once a day until Aug. 30th at this site.

Around the league and beyond

• Katie caught this incredible story of Tier 5 side Clapton FC, who fielded only nine players at the start of their match. As the club states, “The two other positions were left deliberately vacant at kick off to represent the two FA bans – on women’s football as a whole in 1921 and on trans players’ involvement in football in 2025.”

That’s it for this week! As always, you can get in touch with tips, suggestions, corrections and more: [email protected].

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