The Rose City Breakdown

The Rose City Breakdown duo immediately react to the Portland Thorns' first loss of the season, a 1-3 defeat at San Diego Wave. Melina breaks down what went wrong tactically and what metrics stood out the most. Phuoc speaks to Thad Bell of the KC Soccer Journal to preview the Saturday matchup between the two sides. They discuss the Chris Armas hire, trade of Claire Hutton, Temwa Chawinga's absence...

Welcome back to the Rose City Breakdown. In this episode, Melina Gaspar breaks down footage from the craziest Cascadia Derby ever. She focuses on Jessie Fleming's importance in attack and defense. She also discusses the six position moving forward without Cassandra Bogere (suspension). In the second half of the episode, Phuoc Nguyen speaks to Abe Zededa of All For XI and SanDiego. Futbol to previe...

Despite two red cards, the Portland Thorns took down the Seattle Reign 2-0 in front of a home opener record of 21,321 fans at Providence Park. Pietra Tordin chipped in two goal contributions, Reilyn Turner opened up her scoring account, and the Rose City recorded yet another shutout. Jessie Fleming, Morgan Messner, Sam Hiatt, and Isa Obaze have put on a masterclass and now have back-to-back shutou...

Welcome back to the Rose City Breakdown. Happy Cascadia Derby week! Portland Thorns vs Seattle Reign is widely-regarded as one of, if not the best rivalry in all of women's sports. Although these special matches are typically played later in the NWSL season, it is now the home opener for the Thorns - Friday at 5 p.m. PT on Prime Video. Phuoc and Melina break down the Portland Thorns opening day up...

The NWSL is back and kicking it off are the Portland Thorns and the Washington Spirit at Audi Field on Friday at 5 p.m. PST (Prime Video). To preview the Portland Thorns' 2026 season, we are joined by Expected Own Goals' (xOG) Evan Davis and Eric Morgan - two of the absolute best for women's soccer coverage. The xOG duo are brilliant and primarily focus on tactics and analytics in their coverage....

According to ESPN's Jeff Kassouf, the Portland Thorns have hired former Tottenham Hotspur manager, Robert Vilahamn. The Rose City Breakdown's Phuoc Nguyen and Melina Gaspar discuss the hire, the timing, and how Jeff Agoos failed his first true test as GM. The duo also provides a grade for the hire and a full assessment of why it doesn't meet the standards at the moment.

- Introductions - Was the offseason a failure? - Has ownership done enough or are they falling behind? - Where is the head coaching search at? Without a hire in place, is this a massive concern heading into the season? - Does a direct replacement at defensive for Sam Coffey take precedent as the biggest need? - CB ignored in the offseason - Preseason opener starts off with many issues from 2025 -...