Skip to main content
I knew eight games into this year that Marie Müller had been a good offseason signing for the Portland Thorns. With four games left in the regular season, I still don’t think we’re talking enough about her.
It’s not news that the 2024 Thorns are in a state of limbo. They’ve signed a lot of new players, lost some longtime starters, promoted a new head coach, and struggled to find a cohesive identity within all that churn.
Müller, born and raised a short drive from the Rhine River, is not a player with the established international stardom of a Jessie Fleming or Mackenzie Arnold. She’d played for German youth national teams growing up, helping her U-17 squad to a European championship in 2016. When she arrived in Portland this past winter, Müller was a young defender who had established herself in her five seasons with German side SC Freiburg. In the Thorns’ statement about her signing, former head coach Mike Norris described Müller as “versatile and tenacious.”
Yet in press conferences, Müller is soft-spoken—shy rather than standoffish. “When I came to America, I had not really high expectations. I was like, ‘OK, we will see,’” Müller said after Portland played the North Carolina Courage to a 1-0 victory in June. “We will see, but I’m really happy to be here.”
Müller’s apprehension was understandable: She was one of three defenders whose debut for the Thorns at the beginning of the season was also their first appearance in American soccer. (The other two are Nicole Payne and Isabella Obaze.)
With another defensive regular in Meghan Klingenberg playing significantly fewer minutes this season, the Thorns have leaned heavily on Müller and Reyna Reyes to hold down the backline and provide attacking width. Reyes was positioned to play more minutes than she had in her rookie season in 2023, but Müller has swiftly made a name for herself.
“She’s an outstanding player,” Portland head coach Rob Gale told the media in June, “quality on the ball, can go up and down.”
We’ve seen Müller’s abilities on display time and again this season. Fans quickly recognize her by the tight bun perpetually atop her head and her interceptions. She shines at reading her opponents’ play, picking off their passes with a controlled first touch and progressing the ball for the Thorns. She’s second in the league with interceptions (behind only Racing Louisville’s Taylor Flint) and second on her team (after Sophia Smith) in progressive carries, per the soccer stats tracker FBref.
“I like to run,” Müller told the media in June with a smile.
That movement up the pitch was on full display in Portland’s recent 2-2 draw at Angel City FC, when Müller assisted Morgan Weaver’s 49th-minute goal. Müller intercepted Angel City’s attempt to switch the field and looked forward, passing the ball to Christine Sinclair in the middle of Los Angeles’ defensive end. She continued her run to find the end of Sinclair’s return ball at the top of Angel City’s box before crossing the ball to find Weaver, who slotted her shot past goalkeeper Didi Haračić. (“She does that like it’s the easiest thing in the world, and it’s not,” Thorns captain Becky Sauerbrunn said in June of Müller’s one-two passing movement to work the ball up the field.)
A club obviously can’t expect every signing to pan out perfectly, but Portland’s roster-building this year has felt confused at best (see: the club’s weird little goalkeeping fiasco, where it took multiple signings and two-thirds of the season to settle on Arnold as their No. 1) and counterproductive at worst. (For the latter of these, we can turn to the Thorns lack of midfield depth, but that’s a topic for another column.)
Those offseason signings read as a move to build a younger generation of Thorns defenders as players like Klingenberg and Sauerbrunn move closer to retirement. But the 23-year-old Payne seems to be the third fullback on Portland’s depth chart, and Obaze, at the age of 21, has struggled to earn consistent minutes since working her way back from a knee injury early in the season.
But signing a player like Müller? One who’s been able to adapt to the NWSL and fill the profile Portland traditionally looks for in a fullback so seamlessly? That’s a win.