What to expect when youâre expecting to watch some soccer this year
By
Margaret Seiler
2/2/2021 at 5:40pm
Rocky RodrÃguez and Simone Charley, seen here in a September 2020 game against the Seattle-area OL Reign, are among the players returning to the Thorns this year. After Los Angeles and Sacramento join the league in 2022, these wonât be the only two teams on the West Coast anymore.
National Womenâs Soccer League players reported this week for preseason training. In Portland,
itâs been nearly 16 months since the Thorns last played in front of a crowd at Providence Park. The home games of the 2020 NWSL Fall Series, which the Thorns won, happened in an empty stadium, save for a handful of staff, media, and a lone operator of the red smoke machine in the stadiumâs north end, called into service whenever the Thorns scored a goal.