What was it that Robert Frost said? "Nothing Gold Can Stay"? Well I would posit that after last week we make an addendum: "Nothing Green & Gold, or Red & Black, Can Stay". At least, when we're referring to defensive midfielders.
Soccer City was rocked with news of two big departures from the Portland Timbers and Portland Thorns last week. First David Ayala was traded to Inter Miami CF in a shock departure, and then Sam Coffey was reported to be very close to leaving Portland for Manchester City in an even shockier departure. Both announcements were unexpected and out of the blue, and threw everyone for a loop. And of course, they triggered the usual questions.
"Why do two of the most important players on their squads want to leave?"
"What is wrong with the Timbers/Thorns that makes nobody want to stay here?"
"Which witch did we offend in a past life that made our favorite soccer team(s) cursed?"
I've got nothing for that last question, but I do have answers for the first two. No, I don't think anything is inherently wrong with either club that makes them less desirable of a destination than other teams. We can have a debate about the merits of each, but both the Timbers and Thorns have their own ethos of building winning rosters which led to those in charge making these moves. I don't think anything is broken (...yet?).
And to the first question, the answer is actually pretty simple: because they wanted to.