Thorns Head to Houston for Decision Day With Their Playoff Seed Still Unsettled

The Portland Thorns close the NWSL regular season on Sunday at the Houston Dash, a 4 p.m. CT kickoff (5 p.m. ET) at Shell Energy Stadium, with a playoff place already secured and a seed still to be settled. Portland is seventh with 47 points from 29 matches, a 13-8-8 record, level with sixth-place Utah on both points and goal difference entering the final weekend.

Gotham FC leads the table with 58 points and has locked up the top seed. San Diego (55), Washington (52), Kansas City (50) and Angel City (49) follow, then Utah and Portland on 47. Seattle, on 44, and North Carolina, on 42, are the teams still chasing the eighth and final place.

Seeding matters because of how the bracket is built. The quarterfinals, Nov. 6 to 8, pair the first seed with the eighth, the second with the seventh, the third with the sixth and the fourth with the fifth, and the higher seed hosts. The semifinals follow on Nov. 13 to 15, and the NWSL Championship is Nov. 21 at Audi Field in Washington. Finishing sixth rather than seventh would mean facing the third seed instead of the second.

Houston is out of the playoff race, but the Dash have already taken a point off Portland this season. The teams drew 1-1 at Providence Park on Sept. 26, when Marie Müller's 85th-minute equalizer answered Kat Rader's early goal for Houston.

The rest of the top of the table is in action at the same stage. Gotham hosts Utah, the team Portland is tied with. Washington hosts Chicago, Kansas City visits Louisville and San Diego visits Bay FC. The final seedings will be set when the last whistle of the weekend goes.

Standings are the league's table entering the final matchday, after the matches of Oct. 25.