Thorns CONCACAF W Championship Recap: Matchday One

The international contingent of Portland Thorns players fared very well in their opening matches at the Concacaf W Championship.

Becky Sauerbrunn, Sophia Smith, Christine Sinclair, Janine Beckie, and Rocky Rodriguez all traveled to Mexico to compete for their countries in the World Cup and Olympic Qualifiers.

Sauerbrunn and Smith were with the USWNT, Sinclair and Beckie featured for the CANWNT, and Rodriguez took the field with Costa Rica. All three teams won by multiple goals and all three teams collected shut-outs.

The U.S. played Haiti in their opening match. Both Smith and Sauerbrunn started. Smith started in the forward line and played the first half, and Sauerbrunn played in her usual position of center back, while also captaining the U.S. The game ended with a 3-0 USWNT win, with goals coming from Alex Morgan (2) and Midge Purce.

Canada started their qualifying with a bang. They took on Trinidad and Tobago and ended up winning 6-0. Sinclair in her usual fashion opened up the scoring for Canada. Her header from outside the 6-yard box was the only goal in the first half.

Canada really opened up scoring in the second half. Janine Beckie tallied up two assists and a goal.

Rocky Rodreguez was equally successful for Costa Rica as they took on Panama. Her headed goal opened up scoring in their 3-0 victory.

The U.S. next plays Jamaica on July 7 at 3:30pm PST. Canada next plays Panama on July 8 at 7pm PST, and Costa Rica next plays Trinidad and Tobago on July 8 at 4pm PST.