Angel City W v Portland Thorns W — prediction, stats and goal analysis

NWSL (W) · Sunday, 26 April 2026. Final score 1–2 (half-time 0–0). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 49% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals49%51%Under
Over 3.5 goals28%72%no pick
Both teams to score55%45%Yes

The result model puts Angel City W at 48%, the draw at 25% and Portland Thorns W at 26%, from expected goals of 1.63 and 1.14.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. NWSL (W) has produced over 2.5 goals in 45% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Angel City W have 4 in 4 this season (2 of 2 at home), Portland Thorns W 2 in 5 (2 of 3 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 53% and 44%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 4 and 5 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 48% and 41%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 45%.

Head to head. These sides have met 6 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 67%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 46%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 52%, from expected goals of 1.63 for Angel City W and 1.14 for Portland Thorns W. Folding in 30% of that view gives 48%.

Calibration. Tested against 97,729 past matches, our ratings below 55% have run consistently too pessimistic — a figure in the high 30s, for instance, has come in about four points higher. So ratings in that range are lifted part-way back, giving 49%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
Angel City W4100%50%75%
Portland Thorns W540%40%40%

Head to head

19 Oct 25Angel City W 0–2 Portland Thorns WU2.5
22 Mar 25Portland Thorns W 1–1 Angel City WU2.5
2 Nov 24Portland Thorns W 3–0 Angel City WO2.5
24 Sept 24Angel City W 2–2 Portland Thorns WO2.5
15 Oct 23Angel City W 5–1 Portland Thorns WO2.5
30 Apr 23Portland Thorns W 3–3 Angel City WO2.5

More: Angel City W season stats · Portland Thorns W season stats · NWSL (W) table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.