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Thorns fans likely had the July 22 meeting between the Thorns and Seattle Reign circled on their calendars, as it is the only meeting of the 2015 season between the Cascadia foes at Providence Park, but now it has an added attraction:
As I mentioned earlier, we plan on recognizing WCC participants on both PDX & the Reign at that 7/22 game, pre-game. #baonpdx #NWSL
— Merritt Paulson (@MerrittPaulson) July 8, 2015
The match versus the Reign is the first time that the Thorns will be at full strength, Thorns head coach Paul Riley told Jamie Goldberg in The Oregonian earlier this week, and the post-World Cup attendance boost has already been seen in Portland, with 16,000 tickets already sold, with the possibility of a full stadium sellout for the midweek derby match.
We have 16K already sold for our @ThornsFC 7/22 (a Wed!) game vs Reign...strong possibility of a stadium sell-out. #NWSL #baonpdx
— Merritt Paulson (@MerrittPaulson) July 8, 2015
The Thorns aren't the only ones seeing ticket sales soar, as the Houston Dash are hoping to get 15,000 in to BBVA Compass Stadium for their meeting with the Chicago Red Stars on Sunday, which is up from the estimate of 12,000 published just yesterday in ESPNW, and each team is heavily marketing their national teamers on social media, and when they can see other members of the World Cup-winning squad at their home stadiums.
The USWNT is currently on a media tour, having a celebration on Tuesday at LA Live in Los Angeles, California and will close out the week with a ticker-tape parade down the "Canyon of Heroes" in New York City on Friday, the first women's team to receive such an honor, and U.S. Soccer has planned a series of friendlies in late summer and fall, with matches on August 16 and August 19 already announced.