da bet sport： After missing six weeks with a knee injury, the 2022 MVP is ready to attack the postseason as the reigning champion welcomes Gotham

da 888casino： Sophia Smith is one of the most talented players in the United States right now. Scratch that – she’s one of the most talented players in the world. Last year, she was at such a level as the Portland Thorns won the NWSL Championship that she became the league’s youngest-ever MVP. What a boost it is, then, for the reigning champion to get her back just in time to defend that title.

Smith limped off with a knee injury in just her second game back with the Thorns after the U.S. women’s national team’s disastrous World Cup campaign, and in a women’s game rocked by devastating ACL injuries, it’s understandable that some fans feared the worst.

Fortunately, those dreaded three letters weren’t the diagnosis, and six weeks later she was back, playing seven minutes in the team's penultimate regular season outing and 30 minutes the week after.

Having followed that up with a first start since August while on duty with the USWNT last weekend, the 2023 NWSL Golden Boot winner is working her way towards perfect condition as Portland prepares to welcome Gotham in its NWSL playoff semi-final on Sunday evening.

It’s hard to overstate just how big Smith’s return is for the Thorns. This time last year, she was decisive, breaking the deadlock in the Championship game before being named its MVP as Portland collected a third title. Twelve months on, is she ready to make the difference again?

Getty ImagesMVP 1.0

The year of 2022 was the year of Sophia Smith. Having been the No.1 pick in the 2020 NWSL Draft, her first season with the Thorns was always going to be difficult as the Covid-19 pandemic reduced the league to a minimal schedule. A foot injury didn’t help, either.

But she started to show what all the hype was about the following year, scoring twice on her regular-season debut to kick-off a campaign that returned seven goals. Then she exploded.

In 2022, Smith netted 15 goals in 20 games to fire Portland to a third Championship title, only pipped to the Golden Boot by Alex Morgan. The team was built around her, moving her into a lone striker role that made her its focal point, and it paid dividends, leading to team and individual success.

As well as a Championship winners’ medal, Smith ended the year by adding the league’s MVP and the Championship game MVP accolades to her collection. She had arrived.

AdvertisementGetty ImagesMVP 2.0?

Could she replicate that trophy haul this year? The Thorns are two wins away from another Championship and Smith, despite six weeks out injured, is up for the league’s MVP award again. Her 11 goals and five assists, all in the 15 games before that knee problem, have also secured her a first NWSL Golden Boot, with no one able to chase down her tally in her absence.

Smith’s form this year has been so good that Laura Harvey, head coach of bitter rivals OL Reign, called her “the hardest forward to play against in the league”. “Dangerous, unpredictable and deadly” were the words Emily Fox, one of Smith’s USWNT team-mates, chose to describe her earlier this year, while Alana Cook, another compatriot, said: “You watch her in games, both for club and for country and it’s almost an inevitability that she’s going to score. She’s always going to get a goal. She’s always going to forge the way forward. I think unstoppable is the word for her.”

There is tough competition for that MVP award, of course. Portland team-mate Sam Coffey registered more assists than anyone else this season; Debinha was joint-third for goals scored despite playing for a Kansas City Current team that finished second-from-bottom; San Diego Wave star Naomi Girma spent the year asserting herself as one of the best center-backs on the planet; and Kerolin, of the North Carolina Courage, was the only player other than Smith to hit double figures in the league. But Portland’s No.9 has a very strong case to retain the accolade, too, that much is for sure.

GettyNot alone

Smith would be the first to point out that her chances of winning such awards are boosted by the fantastic players around her. She’s capable of gliding past defenders, getting out of seemingly impossible situations despite being massively outnumbered and creating chances for herself out of nothing. But she also has some world-class team-mates alongside her that help her to play so well and rack up the numbers that she does for the Thorns.

Indeed, three of the names in the NWSL’s top five for chances created this year belong to Portland – Morgan Weaver, Meghan Klingenberg and Coffey. That’s something that Smith is able to profit from massively as the focal point of the attack.

And then there’s the experience of those around her, too. Let’s not forget that Smith is still only 23 years old. There’s a lot to learn and so much more development that can come from her, which is a scary thought.

“I'm so lucky to be on a team with so much experience,” she said earlier this year, picking out Crystal Dunn, a team-mate for club and country, as someone she directs a lot of her questions to, with her receptive attitude certainly encouraging.

There are three World Cup winners and three Olympic gold medallists in the Thorns’ squad, as well as a heap of players who have been part of the club’s three NWSL Championship and two NWSL Shield triumphs. There are so many winners on this roster and they all bring their own strengths to the table to make Portland such a strong side, just like Smith does.

That group effort was massive in last year’s success and it will be if the Thorns end the playoffs victorious again in 2023, especially because so many of those stars are able to sprinkle a little bit of magic onto a game at any given moment.

Getty ImagesPressure is a privilege

And Smith – just like Dunn or Morgan Weaver or Christine Sinclair – is certainly one of those who can be a match-winner. She’s proven that time and time again over the years. To have 33 goals to your name after your first 59 games in the NWSL is no mean feat. It’s given Smith quite a reputation and, in turn, a bit of added pressure to maintain it.

“I feel it, I definitely feel it,” Smith said earlier this year when asked about that weight of expectation. “It means people believe in me. I say that all the time. But I try not to overthink it and it means that I just need to keep being myself, doing what I’ve been doing, and not put too much pressure on myself.”

"She seems ready for it,” Megan Rapinoe, now a former USWNT team-mate, added. “I feel like she wants that herself. Whatever pressure we put on her, she's already put on herself. I feel like she loves being that player that has it on her shoulders and looks to perform in the biggest moments."