FootyPop: Portland Thorns Honor Christine Sinclair

In this week’s women’s soccer news, the Portland Thorns retired Christine Sinclair’s jersey; Ali Riley announced her retirement at the end of the season; there was movement in the NWSL; and more!

High of the Week​

The Portland Thorns celebrated the legacy of their legend, Christine Sinclair, with a jersey retirement ceremony. They also inducted her into the Thorns Hall of Fame. Sinclair is one of the best players to ever play the game, and she very much deserved the recognition from the Thorns. She spent her entire NWSL playing career with Portland from the beginning of the league to 2024.

In her time with the club, she appeared in 204 games and scored 82 goals. She led Portland to three NWSL Championships (2013, 2017, and 2022), two NWSL Shields (2016 and 2021), and the NWSL Challenge Cup in 2021.

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Sinclair was a special player who embodied all that Portland is and represented the city that she called home so well. It was good to see the legendary forward get the recognition she deserves.

Angel City defender Ali Riley announced this week that she would be retiring from international and club soccer at the end of the season. Last season, there was concern that Riley wouldn’t be able to return to the field at all after suffering a leg injury that had her sidelined for a lot of the 2024 NWSL season and the 2024 Olympics. She showed a lot of resilience and determination, and she was able to return this season but after a 16 year professional career, she’s hanging up her boots on her own terms.

Riley has been playing professionally since 2009 after a stellar collegiate career at Stanford. She’s played for nine different clubs, including Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Orlando Pride, and others. Since 2022, she’s been representing her hometown club at Angel City.

On the international stage, Riley has represented New Zealand since 2007 and has since earned 163 caps. She was the captain for her country during the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Riley will be missed on and off the field, but she’ll likely still have a big impact on the game of women’s soccer in her new role.

News of the Week

There was some movement around the NWSL this week ahead of the roster freeze. The Washington Spirit traded midfielder Chloe Ricketts to the Houston Dash in exchange for $15,000 in intra-league transfer funds. At the conclusion of the 2025 season, Ricketts will join expansion club Boston Legacy FC for their inaugural season. Ricketts signed with the Spirit in 2023 at just 15 years old. She made 22 appearances for Washington during her time with the club.

The Legacy also announced the signing of Brazilian forward Amanda Gutierres.

Transfer of the Week

The Portland Thorns and Angel City completed a trade that sends midfielder Hina Sugita to Los Angeles and defender M.A. Vignola to Portland. The Thorns also received $600,000 in intra-league funds in the deal.

Sugita had been with Portland since 2022, with 82 appearances and 13 goals during her time with the club. Vignola had 57 appearances during her three years with Angel City.

Both teams are getting very good players, and it will be interesting to see how they fit into their new clubs. Vignola made her debut for Portland in their match this weekend against Bay F.C.

Game of the Week

The San Diego Wave traveled to the Washington Spirit for a midday game on Sunday, and the Wave were in desperate need of three points. Washington found the back of the net early on, thanks to Rosemonde Kouassi in the ninth minute, but then the match got chippy. Kailen Sheridan came up huge throughout the whole game for the Wave to keep them in it with a total of nine saves on the evening. San Diego struggled to get anything going offensively, but in stoppage time of the second half, they found the equalizer from Delphine Cascarino, and it looked like somehow the Wave were going to walk out of Audi Field with one point. Washington wasn’t done, though, and it took just three minutes for them to find the go-ahead goal; it was Kouassi again. It was a spectacular goal that looked like it was meant to be a cross, but it found its way into the side of the net to win it for the Spirit.

Goal of the Week​

Chloe Kelly was able to get a goal against her former club when Arsenal faced Manchester City. She sent a rocket into the back of the net from the top of the box. With the pace of the ball, there was nothing the goalkeeper could do to keep that one from going in. City, though, got the win with a 3-2 scoreline.

Assist of the Week​

Catarina Macario showed some amazing footwork to control the ball and send a backheel pass into the box for Wieke Kaptein to tap into the net.

Team of the Week

Racing Louisville got a massive 3-1 win this week against the North Carolina Courage as they fight for a playoff spot. The win moved them into seventh place in the standings with 32 points and three games left to go in the regular season. Emma Sears scored a second-half brace, bringing her goal tally to 10 on the season. Kayla Fischer also found the back of the net in the second half to secure the win for Louisville. It’s Racing’s second straight win, and they’ll need to stay in this form if they want to make the playoffs for the first time in club history.