• Crystal Dunn, a Thorn since 2020, is heading to her second World Cup. Lil Wayne memorably recorded her official roster announcement, noting her “intensity,” “leadership,” and “swagger.”
• Sophia Smith, chosen by the Thorns as the 2020 no. 1 draft pick and named the 2022 National Women’s Soccer League MVP, is heading to her first World Cup.
• USA cocaptain, longtime Thorn, and 2018 NWSL MVP Lindsey Horan, whose last Providence Park appearance came in 2021, now plays in France for Lyon.
• Emily Sonnett, the 2016 no. 1 draft pick who played four seasons with the Thorns, is currently with rival OL Reign in Seattle.
• The other national team cocaptain, Alex Morgan, now with Angel City FC, was a Thorn for the team's first three seasons, 2013–2015.
• Megan Rapinoe was never a Thorn but was a Pilot—University of Portland Class of 2008. This is her last World Cup, as she announced in July, and her last season with OL Reign.

Staying home: Long-serving defender and former US captain Becky Sauerbrunn, a Thorn since 2020, is recovering from a foot injury. 

Portlanders can catch the country’s opening game, against Vietnam, at a free watch party at Pioneer Courthouse Square at 6 p.m. Friday, July 21, cohosted by the Sports Bra and Portland Community Football Club. Team USA is first-ranked, and has won half of the eight World Cup tournaments held since the event began in 1991.

• Thorns captain Christine Sinclair, the all-time international goal record holder, is at her sixth World Cup—certainly not how most people spend the summer after they turn 40.
• Adriana Leon is on loan to the Thorns this season from England’s Manchester United. In true Canadian form, she grew up playing more ice hockey than soccer.
• University of Portland alum Sophie Schmidt, now a Houston Dash midfielder, will also be there. 

Thorns forward Janine Beckie will be part of the broadcast team for Canadian network TSN while she recovers from a torn ACL. Her withering glare provided a peak TV moment during the 2022 Men’s World Cup when a fellow broadcaster declared a goal scored by Canada’s men’s team to be “the greatest moment in Canadian soccer history” while sitting mere feet from Beckie, who won an Olympic gold medal with Team Canada in 2021.

The USA and Canada could meet in the final on Sunday, August 20, at 3 a.m. Pacific time, adding to a storied history of tournament showdowns between these friends, neighbors, and Thorns teammates.

• Thorns midfielder Raquel “Rocky” Rodríguez, now in her fourth season in Portland, scored Costa Rica’s first-ever World Cup goal in their tournament debut at the last Cup.
• Footwork phenom Hina Sugita, in her second season with the Thorns, represents Japan. 

These teammates will square off on Tuesday, July 25, in a rare Portland-prime-time match at 10 p.m.

Plenty of Matildas playing in this World Cup have spent time in Portland.

• Australia national team vice captain Steph Catley played here in 2014 and 2015.
• Defender Clare Polkinghorne was also a Thorn in 2015.
• Hayley Raso, known for the ribbon she wears around her ponytail (she wrote a children's book about it), was a Thorn from 2016 to 2019. She now plays with Real Madrid.
• Caitlin Foord came to Portland in 2018 and played two seasons with the team, leaving for Arsenal in 2020.
• Ellie Carpenter called Providence Park home from 2018 to 2020, then the youngest-ever Thorn (a title now held by Olivia Moultrie), before heading to Lyon.

Australia's most competitive group game is expected to come when it faces Canada, at 3 a.m. Pacific time the morning of Monday, July 31.

Sinead Farrelly stopped playing professional soccer shortly after she was subjected to alleged abuse by a Portland Thorns coach, which came to light when she and fellow former-Thorn Mana Shim came forward. Farrelly is now playing again, and is on the national team for her father’s home country. Ireland, in its first Cup, faces host Australia in the tournament's opening game at 3 a.m. Thursday, July 20.

Former Thorn Amandine Henry (2016–2017) is one of several players who separated from Les Bleues during the coaching tenure of Corinne Diacre. After three Black players announced in March they were leaving the national team to preserve their mental health, Diacre was fired, and Henry and others are now back on the roster.

France has a must-watch group-stage game against Brazil on Saturday, July 29, starting at—le sigh—3 a.m.

California-born Ifeoma Onumonu was in Portland for the 2018 season and now plays for Gotham FC. She'll face several former teammates at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 20, when Nigeria plays Canada.

A Thorn in 2018 and 2019, Ana-Maria Crnogorčević is a Swiss-Croatian dual citizen who holds the Swiss national team record for both most appearances and most goals. With Barcelona she’s won four back-to-back Spanish league titles and helped break Lyon’s stranglehold on the UEFA Women’s Champions League title.

The Philippines team, making its World Cup debut, is populated mostly by US-born athletes playing for the homeland of a parent.

• Goalkeeper Kiana Fontanilla spent part of her college career at Eastern Oregon University.
• Defender Malea Cesar is a Sunset High School grad who has trained with University of Portland soccer staff.

Fontanilla and Cesar played this year in Australian leagues, in part thanks to connections of the Philippines’ Australian head coach, and in part because travel to their national team duties is a lot easier from there than it would be from the US. While they won’t be in one of their home stadiums when they make their World Cup debut versus Switzerland at 10 p.m. Pacific time Thursday, July 20—that game is not in Australia but in Dunedin, New Zealand—it won’t be too far from the place they’ve been calling home.