Landon Donovan addressed the media on Friday afternoon following their last day of training before Saturday’s match against the Portland Thorns.

• Donovan said that the Thorns are very unpredictable, which makes playing them a second time just a short 10-day span difficult, but the Wave’s last two games have been their best “by a mile” and that their confidence with a nearly full roster for the first time since Donovan joined the club in August is very high.

• Donovan acknowledged that the Wave getting into the NWSL playoffs at this point in the season is not likely but that they very much want a win to at least keep themselves in the race. He also sees winning the Champions Cup as a much more attainable goal and that they have had some focus on that game as well this week.

• Minutes will be managed this week to make sure players are as fresh as they possibly can be on Tuesday, Oct. 1, for their Champions Cup match against the Vancouver Whitecaps FC who are coming off a 2-1 win over Santa Fe FC on Sept. 4.