September 22, 2026: We Weavered Our Way to 4

Orlando 1-4 Portland. Four goals, four scorers.

We're back after a week off. We both had some medical stuff to deal with. We start with the episode we never recorded: Portland 1-1 Chicago on the 13th, the draw that felt like a loss.

Then Orlando. Nina Nijstad scored in the 3rd minute, her first NWSL goal, set up by Sophia Wilson. Wilson scored the penalty Caiya Hanks drew, her 11th career penalty, which passes Christine Sinclair's club record. Morgan Weaver scored from outside the box in the 74th, her first goal in 687 days after three knee surgeries, and Cassandra Bogere got her first NWSL assist on it. Renee Lyles came off the bench and scored in the 88th, Wilson assisting again. Wilson finished with a goal and two assists in her 100th regular-season game.

Marissa's read: Portland took their foot off the gas after half an hour, let Orlando back in at 2-1, and then the subs took over.

The next clean sheet is Portland's 100th shutout, and no NWSL club has ever reached 100. Houston at Providence Park is the next chance. Portland are fifth, level with Utah on points, and a top-four finish means a home playoff game.

Plus Marissa's Match Week Roundup, a rain-soaked camera that made Chicago 0-3 Spirit close to unwatchable, and Val Loboa's stoppage-time winner against Nigeria that sent Colombia to the U-20 World Cup semifinals.

Recorded at Pappy's on September 22, so the table and the shutout count are as of that night.

Adults only. Bring a drink.

CHAPTERS

00:00 Back after a week off, and the Chicago draw that felt like a loss
02:39 Orlando 1–4 Portland
05:58 Nina Nijstad's first NWSL goal, and the four goals
11:06 Portland's 100th shutout is still out there
12:20 Houston next, and the race with Utah for a home playoff game
16:08 Marissa's Match Week Roundup
20:00 Chicago 0–3 Spirit, and the camera that got rained on
24:35 Val Loboa sends Colombia to the U-20 World Cup semifinals
26:29 Thanks to Pappy's, and a hint about next week

THE NUMBERS

Goals: Nijstad 3', Wilson (penalty) 28', Weaver 74', Lyles 88'. Lemos 30' for Orlando.
Shots: Orlando 19, Portland 17. On target, Portland 13 to 6.
Attendance: 7,602 at Inter&Co Stadium.
Wilson: a goal and two assists. 11 career penalties, one more than Sinclair.
Table (at recording): Portland fifth on 42, level with Utah on points and goal difference. Utah are ahead on total wins, 13 to 12.
Next: Portland v Houston, Saturday September 26, Providence Park.

Transcript

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0:16

Welcome to Rose City Red Card. Woo-woo! I am Alan, and with me here is Marissa. That's me. I'm Marissa. Welcome to Rose City Red Card. And we are back after a week hiatus. We had some medical issues, each of us, unrelated, but, you know, things happened that, you know, we got to take care of ourselves sometimes. And so we are back. And we are We should tell the truth. All right. Yeah. We got sports burnout, y'all. NWSL. The WSL is back. The Fiba Women's World Cup was back. Congratulations USA for taking that gold. Hell yeah. But yeah, we just, I got sports burnout. You got sports burnout. I had some medical issues, you know. We both took care of ourselves, but we are back. And we've got two days. different games to talk about. One, we're a little bit more excited for than the other. But, you know, we take what we can get. So, to get it out of the way, we did miss last week. We, our episode title that we didn't record was 1-1 felt like a loss. We played Chicago. We really needed those three. points and we almost had. Yeah. But we tied, you know. Even one point, it's something, but it felt like a loss. We kept them in the game. Like, it was so stressful watching that game. I cannot, like, this is a team that's been losing 5'0. And they came to Providence Park, and they tied us, the Portland Thorns, in Providence Park, 1-1. That was rough. Nobody was expecting it. Somebody was expecting it. We definitely were not expecting it. But, you know, we're here. We move on. We move on. And, you know, we have our energy back. And looks like the thorns have their energy back as well. Oh, yeah. So that brings us into, let's talk about what happened this last weekend. Okay. So we played against Orlando. And tell me, how did that game go? Well, we won four to one, but it was a very very, very interesting match. We are, I don't know, I would, I don't know if, I don't know, I don't know. We've had, like, discussions about this before for, like, a second half team. We've always said that we're not, but this kind of proved that we are. Now I feel like I'm introducing things that are, anyways. I, I think that we played good. It seemed like we took our foot off the gas at the 30th minute. We kind of let them back in the game. It was 2-0, and then they scored again. So going into half, it was 2 to 1. We definitely lost our momentum there. Yeah, we did. But, you know, we got it back. Yeah, we did. We got it back. I think those substitutes really helped. So our subs made an immediate impact. Harvey, Bogere, looked good. Lyles got a yellow card and a goal within 20 minutes of the pitch that she was on. She was literally only on the pitch for like the last 20-plus minutes. So our subs, I feel like, were a really big part of, that after 70 minutes, after that 70th minute, we, like, really started to cruise. We started to look good. We got two goals in those last 20 minutes. Yeah, I think, I think we played really well. I think so played amazing. I mean, she's definitely having some issues finishing on the field, but like, fuck, I can, I can say that, but I'm eating my words. She was making space for everybody. She had finished the game with a goal and two assists. She was playing so well. Yeah, and. And this would be. her 100th game in the NWSL, all with the thorns. Mm-hmm. But she still has not signed on with us with an ongoing contract. But like I said, anyway, this isn't the time to talk about that. We're talking about the game. But also, I don't think a lot of people are going to be moving and creating something new for them. Next summer's the World Cup. It's literally the biggest thing that you can win in soccer. It is. So I don't think that somebody's going to try to change up where they are training. their teammates, what their coach maybe wants from them. So I think that we're good with that. Stop jinxing us, Alan. God damn it. Where's the sage? Priscilla, where's the sage? Clean it up. Yeah, clean it up. You need to clean this fucking place up. You know, we have found that I curse us. Oh, shit. But so, yeah, so let's get back to Soph. Soph hit her 11th career PK, passing Sinclair as Thorns' all-time leader. Also, she is. Four straight seasons with double-digit goals. I don't think another player's done that. Brooke will let us know. She's been kind of fussy to us. She's been on top of things night. Yeah, she's been on top of it. Yeah, I... So she missed 20, 25, a maternity leave. But other than that, so double figures in each of her last four seasons played. So 22, 23, 24, and 26. Yeah, exactly. Because she was growing a life. Also, G.G. is fucking adorable. So congratulations on that. Yeah. But, yeah, no, I think it was a big... Okay, so, sorry. We're a little scattered over here. We are. I want to talk about the fact that we have talked about becoming a Nina Nijstad podcast. Let's talk about Nina. Yeah. Okay, so Nina got her first goal in the NWSL. First of many. She has looked so good for us. She's been playing so well. Like, even her first game out with the Thorns, it always takes players. Every league is different. You know what I mean? She's only played in the Dutch. league. She came over here and everybody kind of, you know, you have to adapt to leagues. Different leagues are different. Different players. I mean, different countries, different teams. Everybody has a different style. But her first game, I feel like she was doing well. And she's only gone up. And this first goal, I feel like we've been waiting for it. Like, it's coming. And also, for her, so Soph assisted it and so crossed it right into her. And for Nina to perfectly open up her hips and take that one hit in, it was, it was a beautiful shot. It was a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful shot. And it was also only four minutes into the freaking game. Like, it's incredible. It was incredible, you know? Like, it was so good. And man, yeah, it was great. And, um, so I talked about the goals. So we bring in the goals. Yeah, let's bring them in. Like we talked about, we, we, we won four one. Yeah, we won four one. They were four fantastic goals. Oh, gosh, beautiful. Let's go through them. All right. So, yeah. So like we just said, Nina Nijstad got a goal at four minutes with a Wilson assist. It was beautiful. Everyone crowds to Soph Wilson because she's scared with the ball. And that leaves a lot of people open. Nina was open. Bing, bang, bang, one right foot in. It was nice. And then the second goal was a will, Soph Wilson PK at 28 minutes. Caiya Hanks dropped. She's, Caiya, Caiya's been so amazing since coming back. She's fast. And we saw her start this time. Yes. And she. Our first time seeing her start. She didn't play the whole game. I think she went out. Dang. We'll get that here in a second. Yeah. But she didn't play the whole game, but she played the majority of the game, started and played a big chunk of the second half. She's so fast. If you're a player in the box, if you're a defender, you're like, well, fuck, I'm going to fucking follow this, girl. You know what I mean? Because maybe the goalie could stop to PK, but she's not going to stop, like, you know, stop this. So, Caiya, thanks for going down, girl. We got a goal. So clocked it to the right top corner. Again, you, I've been saying, like, why aren't these people scouting soap's kicks? She's kicking to the same fucking spot. Kicked at the same spot. Goalie knew where it was going. Still out of a reach. She sunk that shit. It was so nice. It was it back. And then our third goal, Weaver. Yes. There we go. There we go. Weaver gets her fucking first goal back after two years of injuries. We love to see it, Morgan Weaver. Weaver. We love to have you. back. Morgan Weaver. Also, this girl sunk this shot at least 25 yards out. She dribbled, took a touch, and just sailed it. And their keeper, we'll talk about that later, because Orlando's keeper did phenomenal. Like, I mean, four goals doesn't say that, but the ball's got to get through 10 people until it can get to her. It was a fucking beautiful shot. She was so happy. She ran up right up to Caiya Hanks because they've been in the train. They're, you know, they're not with the, like when they're off with injury, they're not with the team. They're together, like, working on their own shit. So it was just so nice. It was so fucking great to see. Yeah. So the last goal of the game was a Lyles goal at the 80th minute with a beautiful Wilson assist. Stoff actually got assisted, the NWSL, whatever. Insta said that that was the assist of the week. It was fucking beautiful. And like I said, like Lyles was huge when she came onto the field. I hate, sorry to repeat myself again, but literally was on the pitch for 20 plus minutes and got a yellow card in a goal. That's outstanding. That's outstanding. Productive. Yeah. So we got some goals out of the way. Big shout out to having Reilyn Turner back on the field. She's having a good time. She's so fast. She's going to get a goal. It's coming, girl. Like, it's, yeah. I mean, we're seeing all our players, like, start to score these great goals. And so, honestly, like, something. We're coming back. Something that's dangerous for other teams, so, like, North Carolina. North Carolina has Ashley Sanchez, who has 19 goals for this season. If Ashley Sanchez doesn't score, who's going to fucking score for them? For us, we got four different players scored today, you know? So it just means that there's a scary attack, and I don't know, we do, we do have a scary offense, and I feel like our defense is deaf. picked up. So yeah, let's fucking go. Let's fucking go. So that brings us to an interesting little fact, which is that if Portland manages to get another shutout, that will be their 100th shutout. That's insane. Yeah. Yeah, I think that sound effects keeps going until you hit the stop button. I saw the red stop. We should probably. fix that because I... No, we shouldn't. I think I did the same thing in a previous episode. We may have cut us talking about it then, but we're not going to cut it this time. No, we're not. No, we're not. No, we're not. But anyway, um, so we were, we were two minutes away from having that 100 shut out again in Chicago. We didn't quite get it. Uh, but we're so close. Like, it's such a cool, cool thing. And it's such a fun thing to look forward to. We were talking about how this next game is coming up in town here. And, you know, we play so well at Providence Park. Yeah. What do you think? Can we do it? Um, yeah. It's so we're playing Houston. And Houston is, like, a good coach and a few players away from being really, really good. They have Avery Patterson, who is one of the best, one of the better defenders in this league. But I think we can do it. I think the importance of when it is in the season right now is kind of like, let's, we need to fucking lock it. Every point matters. We need to have a home game playoff. We need a playoff game that's at home. Absolutely. And I think that depends on where we. fall in, uh, the rankings, uh, right? Um, I was seeing something about if we, we hit fourth, we get a, yeah, if we hit fourth. Yeah. And right now we're fifth underneath Utah. So yeah, um, so yeah, I was just looking at who's playing who, who's close to us. And, uh, Utah, we, I've talked about this before, we have a pretty easy, I mean, nothing's easy in this league. But besides North Carolina, we're playing kind of lower table teams for the last, five games of the season. Utah plays who's tied with us in points. The only thing that's different is like goal, differential, goals against. That's kind of what's, that's the... I was seeing there was some controversy. Yeah. And that's the tiebreaker. Yeah. Some people were not understanding the tiebreakers and it went like down two levels, two or three levels. I had to look it up. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But so they play North Carolina, racing Louisville, KC Current, Seattle, rain in Gotham. That is not as, I don't want to say easy, but that doesn't, that's, they're not going to get, they're going to drop points is what I'm saying. You know what I mean? And I, they're going to drop points and the, who knows what goes on in the league and who knows, but. Like we said, anything can happen in this league. But, you know, I think we're in a solid position. Yeah, no, we are. Yeah, we're looking good. And I feel like we're healthy. We're healthy at the perfect time. We are. Not to get back to the game too much, but we looked beautiful out there. No, we looked so great. Let's get back to the game. Oh my God, it was great. But no, we've moved on. But like, we got Reilyn Turner and Caiya Hanks starting for us. That was huge. And also, we didn't bring this up in when we were going over the game, but we didn't have M.A. Vignola for us this game. and her, she was definitely missed, but we made up for it. Our defense looked solid. Our midfield looked solid. We did take our foot off the gas, but that's one goal. You know, we didn't, we played well. I don't know. I'm just really looking forward to getting this fucking season on and getting to fucking playoffs, you know. And we brought it back. We really did. You know, we came back from it. And again, we played great. Yeah. And before we get two, far away from it. Apparently, I buried the lead here. It's not just the 100th shutout that Portland would have. This would be the first 100th shutout in the NWSL. So this could be pretty fantastic. What do you think? That's how I feel. Yeah. I've got controls of the sounds over here, so. You guys should buckle up. You know, we didn't make it to the last game. like we had said we would. But hopefully we will this next time. And that brings us to this week's Marissa's Match Week Roundup. Yes. Yes. Soundboard coming in clutch. Okay. So welcome to Marissa's Match Week Roundup. Match Week 22. Presented by Marissa and Alan at Pappy's Bar. Woohoo. Let's go. All right. So, we We had a full week of game, starting on Wednesday, ending on Sunday. First Wednesday game was Denver versus the Bay. They tied two to two. Denver came back to tie that game last, like last part of the game. It was good for Bay. It's strong. I've said before. Bay, I don't know why they're so long on the table. They're strong. Also, Claire Hutton is a fucking beast. The other Wednesday, midday game, midweek, not midday. was Angel City versus Seattle. Angel City wins three to one. Thanks for losing Seattle. Always a good day. Yeah, always a good day. But also, like, Angel City is looking good. They have their yon starter back. They have Gorden back. They have Savy King back. They are looking strong. They are making a push. They're in the play. They made themselves in the playoff contention right now. So I'm really looking forward to the rest of the season for them. So those are for the, midweek games. All right. So then on Friday, we had San Diego versus Kansas City. San Diego wins in a doesn't sound dominant, but it was a really good game. San Diego wins, 2-0, beat Kansas City. San Diego looks scary. From the defense up, they just look scary. I, we'll see. We'll see, we'll see. We'll see. That was the only Friday game. Let's move on to Saturday. Saturday, the first game, Orlando versus Portland. Bea, bo, bo, bo! Sorry, I know we have a soundboard for that, but I love doing it. We won 4-1. Beautiful game. Fuck yeah. Let's go, Thorns. Second game of the Saturday was North Carolina versus Gotham. Gotham wins 2-1. It was a good game. Dudley is, Jordynn Dudley, got both goals. She is so fun to watch. She's only 21. She's almost 6 foot. She's so fun to watch. She got both goals. Yeah, Gotham is just going to Gotham. They really do. They really are just going to Gotham. Last game on Saturday was Denver versus Seattle. Denver beat Seattle 2 to 1. It was a good game. Denver is, I feel like, I think they might make playoffs this year, which is crazy as an expansion team. Like, that's awesome. But also, thanks for losing Seattle. Second time in a week you guys lost. That sucks. That sucks. That sucks, Seattle. That sucks. Looks, maybe, I don't know, maybe the cooler that Laura Harvey sits on has some magic tricks for you, but I don't know. You're going to have to figure that out. All right. So let's move to Sunday games. We had four on Sunday. It was. That's a busy game. It was a long game for your girl. So first game on Sunday was Boston versus Houston. Houston ends up winning two to one. It was fun to watch. I feel like the games that don't have a, like, who wins or loses this game doesn't affect us on the table. So it's a lot more fun to watch. It is. It's more fun when there's less stake. Yeah, it's a lot more fun. Games are more fun when there's either a lot of stakes or very little stakes. Like, it's so funny that like the Thorns games are the most anxiety-ridden for me when I should be like, I love this game. I love this sport. It's like, no, I want to cry. And where's my shot and where's my joint, you know. So, yeah. And then the second game on Sunday was Chicago. versus Spirit. Spirit wins 3-0. I also have to bring this up, which is something that maybe more people should brought up. I did my whole early week podcast and nobody was really talking about it besides time wasting. Shout out to Kelley O'Hara and Ali Riley. Fuck yeah, you guys. But the game was almost unwatchable. The main camera that has like the bird's-eye view camera was covered with raindrops for the entirety of the game. They may be wiped a solved problem. Dude, we talk about Chicago being a fucking, like, poverty franchise. What the fuck is going on? You guys can't give nobody a fucking paper towel, no micro fiber towel, no spray that has anti, like, you know, like [unclear]. We figured this out a hundred plus years ago, like, for trains. Because I showed you the pictures. They used the same fucking technology that they used to use for trains. If we're going to have a Brooke check-in, Marissa. So, to end. Ed, insult to injury. That second loss dropped Seattle out of the top eight entirely, 9th on 37 points. And then Chicago's whole season is a poverty-s franchise deadline. 14 goals scored, 57 conceded, a negative 43 goal difference. Nobody else in the league is worse than negative 14. That is... That's a big difference. That's actually a lot, sad. than I thought... Thank you, Brooke, and thank you, Marissa, for the Brooke voice. Yeah, I got to you guys. We had that earlier in the episode, but cut it out. But, yeah, that'll be a new part. I do mean, Aussie accent. So, you know, Macca, any time you want to come on the pod, I got you, girl. Just joking. All right. All right, but yeah, okay, so bring it back to the Chicago Spirit game in Chicago. It was terrible. I didn't know if it was a kaleidoscope, a watercolor painting, It was truly the worst camera work I've ever seen. I didn't watch it, but you showed me some of the pictures and the videos. You're like, no, this is fake. It was bad. There were points I couldn't watch. And then they would switch, you know how they switch to like side angles, like more zoomed up, like cameras are always on the field? And they tried moving them around for a better thing. They were all fucking terrible. Literally, there was one camera that was fine, but there was only the zoomed up camera, and it was just like one player at a time. It was fucking terrible. Chicago, get your fucking shit together. I could tell that the player had a head and that they were wearing a yellow jersey. Thank God that we were playing spirit. Dude, thank God we were playing spirit and they have those highlighter yellow so you can kind of see the fucking players. But it was a fucking joke. Chicago, get your fucking shit together. The league wants you to do well. We do not want a team to be shitty. We want everybody to do well. Rising Tides raises all ships. But you guys fucking suck. Figure your shit out. Anyways, moving on to. the second Sunday, or the third Sunday game. It was Bay versus Racing. Bay beats Racing 2.0. I don't know. I was one of the, I didn't really watch a lot of that game. It was a long day for me. But yeah, Bay moves, is moving on. Utah versus Angel City, the last game of the weekend. I figure maybe, I mean, Angel City's been doing well. I figured maybe win, loss, draw, who knows? No, we do not. fucking no. Utah ends up getting two red cards within the first 23 minutes of the game. Two red cards. So from 23 minutes on, they're nine players down. Angel City, obviously then, I mean, not obviously, because we did end up being Seattle, nine players at the beginning of the season. But, yeah, so Angel City ends up beating Utah 3-0. It was actually kind of a boring game. Utah is playing nine players. They're only in a low block. You're not. There's only so much you can do, you know. But 3-0 was the game. Yeah, and also a lot of that, that was huge for Utah not picking up points. So Utah's not moving ahead of us, you know. So that was good. And that's it for Marissa's week, match week, roundup, week 24. Week 22 and not 24. But hi, who's counting? all right and welcome to the final installment of our podcast so first of all huge congratulations to Val Loboa girl represent in Portland she plays for Colombia she scored the game-winning goal to send Colombia to send Colombia to the semi-finals in the u20 world cup like that is sorry we have a soundboard but like dude that is fucking huge like Val that's huge um i i will i will have to admit that i haven't seen a lot of the u20 world cup um i there's only a few of our players that are actually playing in it Alan and i just had a conversation about FIFA windows and all this stuff and what needs to change but dude val you that is so awesome portland is about like behind you girl like that is fucking cool and we will absolutely be watching you tomorrow like we will absolutely be watching you tomorrow it's as we record this uh the semifinal is tomorrow we will hopefully be releasing this uh within hours of the start of that game yeah so next week we'll be able to talk about it a little bit more but that is that is so cool yeah like our thorn like that's that's so representing her country like and i i was like i watched all the videos and and she was so happy and everyone's so happy it's just it's so cool like we'll get into more thorns abroad but like it was just so special like so huge shout out to val like that's so fucking cool girl like we were talking about off air you know this is uh you know the the sport is growing so fast and we want to see these girls getting uh as many opportunities as they can and it's just it's so cool to watch um but that does bring us uh we are this week uh we are are at Pappy's uh our usual home um and so cheers uh next week hopefully we will be at a new location uh that is actually invited us to record there so um we won't name them quite yet just in case things fall through but uh we are very much looking forward to it yeah uh and i will just say uh as a preview uh your uh Brooke accent earlier uh might have something to do with the place that we are you should probably give it a away i mean if anybody's in portland knows they should they should probably give it away you know so we're looking forward to that uh it's going to be a great time um i won't promise anything uh because last time we we said we were going to be at a game but we weren't there uh but you know we might be at the game this week as well and uh you know this is it's going to be a great time so yeah also a huge shout out to all of our listeners you guys are the best we are learning you guys have been awesome love you darby have a good night you guys have been awesome like it's it's it's also yeah it's just really great getting to do this with my buddy and it's so much fun this is so much fun and thank you guys for listening we all care about the thorns this has been like this is fucking great like we're only up we're only up from here you guys so and shout out to everybody who uh has commented or interacted with us um um i am i um i am i I should have brought this up, but I didn't. Thank you to the guy on Reddit who gave us some great drinks elections or suggestions. Uh, the new bar that we're hopefully going to be at actually has a Portland beer on tap. So I will not be drinking all this out of state bullshit. Yes. So that's going to be fantastic. Uh, and thank you also to people who have commented on uh Spotify and YouTube. Um, I don't think we've addressed any of those comments, uh, but some people who have commented on uh, Spotify and YouTube. Um, I don't think we've addressed any of those comments, uh, but some people gave us some, uh, little minor corrections that were, you know, always good to hear. Uh, you can also email us, Rose City Red Card at gmail.com or just, you know, check us out, uh, rosecityredcard.com or Rose City Red Card on YouTube and Instagram. And if you run into one of us in person, uh, we'll give you your own red card. Yes, we will. Yes, we will. Yes. Yep. So as always, sorry, the bartender just flashed me. Uh, All smiles, no injuries, fuck Seattle. Let's fucking go, Thorns. Let's fucking go. Let's fucking go.