Rose City Red Card

The unfiltered Portland Thorns podcast. Marissa bleeds rose. Alan is from Seattle, which makes things interesting. Match breakdowns, hot takes, and one rant per episode. Adults only. Bring a drink.

Rose City Red Card is a sports podcast hosted by Alan and Marissa, with 8 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Alan and Marissa hosts Rose City Red Card, a sports show with 8 episodes published.

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  Rose City Red Card

  August 16, 2026: Hanks for Trying, Orlando

  Aug 17, 202634 min

  Portland 2-1 Orlando. Caiya Hanks came off the season-ending injury list on Friday, came on in the 88th minute, and won it in the 96th — her first match back after fourteen months out with a torn ACL. We were in the building on media credentials for the first time. We got in late, we missed the ceremony, we sat in the press box, and Alan asked a question at the post-match press conference. Plus the two knees, a table check, Meghan Klingenberg's whole career, and a vote we need from you. Adults only. Bring a drink. VOTE FOR BELLA BIXBY Bixby is the Thorns' nominee for the 2026 Lauren Holiday Impact Award. The overall winner's charity receives $50,000 from Nationwide. The NWSL Fan Impact Challenge is how fans back her nomination — one vote per device per day, through August 29 — and the fan-vote winner's charity gets an additional $10,000. Winner announced September 2. Her charity is Friends of Trees, Portland-based urban forestry. Vote here: https://g1j9uuaobs1.typeform.com/to/SWulrU2a CHAPTERS 00:00 Cold open — Hanks wins it in the 96th 02:44 Getting in — credentials, the press box, and the people who fixed it 06:58 The question — our first credentialed press conference 08:15 What are we drinking 09:07 The Two Knees — Moultrie out, Hanks back 15:20 The match — a shaky half, then Providence Park 22:15 Table check — fourth on 34, ten to play 26:05 Bella Bixby — the vote we're asking you for 27:44 Get Klingy With It — Meghan Klingenberg, top to bottom 31:54 Next week — Tobin Heath night WHAT WE TALKED ABOUT • Caiya Hanks won it in the 96th minute of her first match back. She tore her ACL at Providence Park on June 15, 2025, was cleared off the season-ending injury list on Friday, came on in the 88th, and hit the winner from outside the box into the bottom corner. Assisted by M.A. Vignola. • The goals: Deyna Castellanos 58' (assisted by Pietra Tordin), Jacqueline Ovalle 63' for Orlando, Hanks 90+6'. Orlando's equaliser came off Mackenzie Arnold's own punched save and ricocheted in off Ovalle's knees. It is credited to Ovalle, with no own-goal notation. • Tordin's assist was her ninth of the season — one off the NWSL single-season record of 10, co-held by Tobin Heath (Portland, 2016) and Croix Bethune (Kansas City, 2024). She can tie it next Saturday, on Tobin Heath's night. • Perry and Obaze kept Barbra Banda quiet, which almost nobody manages. Nina Nijstad continues to impress in midfield. • Nijstad's substitution was concussion protocol, not a diagnosed concussion, after a collision with Jessie Fleming. Sarah Lowdon called it precautionary and declined a medical answer. • Olivia Moultrie is out for the season with a torn ACL in her right knee, announced August 11. She's 20, and it costs her the Concacaf W Championship as well as the rest of the year. • Robert Vilahamn was in the building, near the media room — but not on the touchline, and the club still hasn't said why. Sarah Lowdon was acting head coach. • Attendance: 19,106. • The run-in: 10 matches left, six at Providence Park, where Portland are unbeaten in 2026. • We were outside for the Klingenberg ceremony. Credential pickup ran long and we didn't get in until after kickoff. We're not going to describe something we didn't see — go watch the club's footage. We honoured her our own way in Get Klingy With It. NEXT WEEK Tobin Heath is honoured at Providence Park on Saturday, August 22 vs Denver Summit, signing a one-day contract to retire officially as a Portland Thorn. Lindsey Heaps returns as captain of the Summit, and Pietra Tordin can tie Heath's single-season assist record on Heath's own night. THANK YOU Alberto and Bryce, who got us in. LINKS Club recap: https://www.thorns.com/news Match highlights: https://www.thorns.com/video/video-u16zoavmfwm Post-match press conference: https://www.thorns.com/video/video-cw87eybowlu

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  Episode #7

  August 10, 2026: The Most Anxiety Filled Win

  Aug 10, 202644 minS1

  Boston Legacy 3, Portland Thorns 4. Portland went three up inside nine minutes and thirty-eight seconds. That is the fastest three goals in NWSL history, thirty-five seconds quicker than the record Portland set themselves in July 2022. They broke their own record and then spent the next hour nearly giving the game away. Marissa watched it from a bar in Las Vegas where the bartender would not let her touch the remote. By the eighty-second minute she had moved on to a third vodka for medical reasons. Pietra Tordin got her first career hat trick at twenty-two, the youngest a Thorn has ever managed one. The goalkeeper has an assist. The road drought is over after ninety-eight days. The coach got sent off in the fifty-eighth for kicking a dead ball away, and nobody had told us whether it stands. Also in here: the back line Marissa wants to talk about for seven straight bullet points, why beating a side that had scored nineteen goals in eighteen games is not the same as beating them well, and what fifth place actually buys you with eleven games left. Adults only. Bring a drink. Chapters: 00:00 Cold open, no remote in Vegas 01:40 The result: 3-0 in 9:38, then 4-3 09:16 Tordin's hat trick 18:30 The coach red card 21:25 What are you drinking 23:24 The defense 31:28 Ninety-eight days 35:28 The table 40:00 Look ahead: Orlando, Klingenberg night Takeaways: 3-0 in 9:38 is a new NWSL record for the quickest three goals, 35 seconds faster than the previous mark. Portland set that one too, in July 2022. They broke their own record and then nearly threw the game away. Pietra Tordin scored a hat trick at 22. Her first as a professional, and the youngest by a Thorn. She is on seven goals and eight assists, so fifteen goal contributions, not fifteen goals. Mackenzie Arnold, the goalkeeper, has an assist. She set up the hat-trick goal in the 37th. Boston had scored 19 goals in their first 18 games and put three past Portland. Marissa's read: Boston are not a bad team, but Portland made them look better than they are. The road drought is over after 98 days. The last away win was May 3 at Chicago, scored by Olivia Moultrie and Reilyn Turner. Neither was available on Sunday. Portland are fifth on 31 points, up from seventh, with 32 goals. That is joint-most in the league. The pressure is coming from below, not above. Robert Vilahamn was sent off in the 58th minute for kicking a dead ball away from play. At the time of recording the league had not announced whether it stands, and we say so rather than guessing. Next up: Orlando at home on Saturday August 15, Meghan Klingenberg night, with Tobin Heath honored on August 22. Rose City Red Card is Alan and Marissa on the Portland Thorns and the NWSL. https://rosecityredcard.com

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  Episode #6

  Utah 5, Portland 1 — fuck a six, we need center backs

  Aug 3, 202630 minS1

  Utah 5, Portland 1. We recorded two hours after the whistle, Marissa on a mic at her parents' place in Las Vegas, and the argument she has been making for five straight episodes died on air. All season it has been the hole Sam Coffey left at the six. Somewhere in the second half she texted Alan "we need center backs. fuck a 6," and most of this episode is her working out why she changed her mind and then defending the new version for twenty minutes. Portland scored inside the first minute and lost by four. Utah were playing their third game in eight days. Portland had been off for nine. Also in here: the back four that changes almost every week, why Marissa thinks Mackenzie Arnold is carrying blame that isn't hers, what the money is actually for, and why all of it comes back to Sophia Wilson's contract. Adults only. Bring a drink. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:14 Utah 5, Portland 1 — and it wasn't the road 02:47 Their third game in eight days, and we still fell apart 06:00 "Fuck a six. We need centerbacks." 08:49 The new coach, and five goals 10:35 The FIFA share sale that got scrapped 11:03 The table: sixth, and it flatters us 12:34 Mackenzie Arnold, and a back line that changes every week 14:31 The money is there 18:00 The window, and Soph 21:51 It isn't Arnold's fault 24:39 Klingenberg honored, and Sonnett's season 27:54 Back at Providence Park on the 15th Takeaways: - Utah Royals 5-1 Portland Thorns, August 2, at America First Field. Sophia Wilson scored inside the first minute. Delzer got two, then Mozingo, Palacios, and a Kate Del Fava header from a corner on 89. Portland had conceded 20 in the previous 17 matches. - All season Marissa has said the problem is the hole Sam Coffey left at the six. Mid-match she texted Alan "we need center backs. fuck a 6." Most of this episode is her taking that apart. - Utah were playing their third match in eight days. Portland had nine days off and scored in the first minute. - The back four changes almost every week. Marissa puts Mackenzie Arnold's dip in form down to that rather than to the goalkeeper. - Portland are sixth on 28 points from 18, goal difference +3. They went into the night two behind Utah and came out five behind. North Carolina, Angel City and Seattle all sit below them with games in hand. - Sophia Wilson is a free agent after this season and still unsigned. The window shuts September 7. - Portland have the same salary cap as Gotham. The money, the facility and the ownership are all there. No center back has been signed. - Emily Sonnett ruptured her patellar tendon and is out for the season. - Meghan Klingenberg is honored at Providence Park on August 15, the first game the two of us watch together in the building. Next week is Boston away, our last remote recording. Then August 15, back in person.

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  Episode #5

  July 26, 2026: Don't F*ck with Providence Park

  Jul 26, 202633 minS1

  Portland 2, Gotham 2. A point against the league leaders, an eleventh straight home game unbeaten, and a club record — and none of it is the thing you remember. Emily Sonnett went down non-contact in the seventh minute and left Providence Park on a stretcher, and twenty-one thousand people in a building she doesn't play for anymore stood up for her. We open on that and we close on that, and we don't guess at a diagnosis in between. In the middle: Renee Lyles scoring and assisting in her first ever start, Morgan Weaver back on the pitch after a year and a half and three knee surgeries, and the salary-cap deep dive we've been promising for two episodes. Adults only. Bring a drink. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:14 Before anything else: Emily Sonnett 02:59 2-2, and 11 straight unbeaten at home 03:38 The game: Purce at two minutes, Lyles' chip, Kerr, and ten men 10:58 Morgan Weaver is back 14:34 What still needs work 20:36 The table: Utah leapfrog us 22:32 The transfer window: still no center back 24:07 The cap, the HIP rule, and how Gotham did it 29:29 Utah away, and one more for Sonnett Takeaways: - Portland 2, Gotham 2, at Providence Park. Midge Purce scored inside two minutes off a Reiten cross. Renee Lyles equalized on 21 with a chip over Ann-Katrin Berger — her first professional goal, in her first ever start, in her sixth appearance — assisted by Pietra Tordin. Jessie Fleming put Portland ahead on 53, deflected off Purce, assisted by Lyles. Sam Kerr levelled on 62 off a corner. - Emily Sonnett went off on a stretcher in the seventh minute, non-contact. No diagnosis has been published and we don't speculate on one. The whole building stood. - Eleven straight at home without a loss is a club record. Every league defeat this season has come on the road, and the next two are away. - Perry saw red on 72 as the last defender on Kerr. Marissa's read: nobody wants to call it a good foul, but it was the foul you make. - Renee Lyles got a goal and an assist in her first career start. Pietra Tordin leads the entire NWSL in assists with seven, and signed through 2029 last week. - Morgan Weaver is back after eighteen months and three surgeries on the same knee. Two standing ovations in one night — one for a player going off injured, one for a player coming back from it. - What still needs work: the goalkeeper talking to her back line, and a second minute that went missing. The midfield of Moultrie, Tordin and Fleming is not the problem. - Portland sit fifth on 28 points. Utah beat North Carolina and jumped us. Nothing on Sunday's card could move Portland either way — fifth is fifth. - Transfer window still open until September. Nina Nijstad in, Spaanstra sold to Utah, extensions signed, still no center back, and Sophia Wilson still unsigned. No news is treated as good news. - The cap and the HIP rule: Gotham's president of soccer operations has called the salary cap "a competitive weapon." Sam Kerr isn't even eligible for the high-impact-player rule the nickname suggests — what's actually moving is banked allocation money. The players' union filed a grievance in January over the rule being imposed without bargaining, and it hasn't been resolved. Angel City took a $200,000 fine and a three-point deduction for cap violations in 2024 — the points hurt, the money didn't. Both of us land on the same place: raise the cap. Next up: Utah away on August 2, and a proper segment on trans inclusion in women's sports. New episodes weekly. Yell back at us: rosecityredcard@gmail.com

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  Episode #4

  July 19, 2026: Mile High Clash of the Captains

  Jul 20, 202630 minS1

  Denver 2, Portland 1. Our old MVP came home to Colorado, pulled on the wrong shirt, and assisted the winner, so we gave it a full night before we sat down. That turned out to be the right call for a Lindsey Heaps homecoming. Portland are unbeaten at home and haven't won on the road all year, and this was the away day that dropped them to fourth. We get into the cohesion problem Marissa can't stop diagnosing, the clash of the North American captains at altitude, an air-quality mess at the Queen's Classic, and a transfer window that still hasn't produced a center back. Adults only. Bring a drink. Chapters: 00:00 Intro 00:14 Cold open: a night to become reasonable 00:50 The game: Denver 2-1, and the cohesion problem 07:29 The homecoming of Lindsey Heaps 12:35 The table and the match week 18:14 Air quality at the Queen's Classic 22:19 What we're drinking 23:59 The transfer window: Fleming, Tordin, still no center back 27:31 Wrap and the tease What we were drinking: - Alan: Lagunitas IPA. California, pointedly not a Seattle beer this week. His second. - Marissa: Rose City well vodka. "Easy peasy." Takeaways: - Denver 2, Portland 1, at Denver's home opener. Janine Sonis equalized in the eighth minute of first-half stoppage; Natalie Means won it at 86'. Portland were out-shot, out-cornered and out-possessed by an expansion side. - Marissa's read: not a defensive failure so much as a cohesion one. Midfield, attack and back line moved as three separate units, and Sophia Wilson spent the game marooned up top against four defenders while the midfield jogged in ten seconds late. - The road is the season. Unbeaten at Providence Park; every league loss this year has come away from home. - Wilson's 25' penalty was her 51st career club goal, which by their count ties Megan Rapinoe on the single-club list. Said as "by my count," not as a published milestone. - Lindsey Heaps gets the respect, not the boos. Captain America started at #10, played all 90, and set up the winner. Clash of the North American captains: Heaps for the USA, Jessie Fleming for Canada. - Portland sit 4th on 27 points from 16. Gotham 30, San Diego 29, Washington level on 27 from two fewer games. - Air quality nearly stole the Queen's Classic. AQI up around 170, a heat index near 100F, oxygen on the sideline, and 42,000 in the seats anyway. The point the hosts land on: the gate money kept a match on the field that maybe shouldn't have been, and the league's thresholds should move. - Transfer window: Jessie Fleming re-signed through 2028, Pietra Tordin through 2029, still no center back. Marissa is claiming credit for the Tordin deal. Next up: Gotham at Portland, July 24, Pride Night at Providence Park, plus the salary-cap deep dive we keep teasing. New episodes weekly. Yell back at us: rosecityredcard@gmail.com

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