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Nadine Angerer

The Portland Thorns believe that star goalkeeper Nadine Angerer did not deserve to be issued a red card and an automatic one-game suspension in Saturday's match against the Western New York Flash.

But they have no recourse to appeal the call. NWSL teams cannot appeal suspensions that are less than six games.

"We found out there's no review, even if it's completely wrong, which it was," Thorns coach Paul Riley said. "It was a poor decision by the ref... It probably changed the game."

The Thorns were down 1-0 to Western New York when Angerer was issued a red card in 28th minute for apparently taking down Western New York forward Samantha Kerr in the box. It appeared in replays that Angerer never touched Kerr.

Angerer was ejected and the Thorns were forced to play the remainder of the match with 10 players. Portland went on to lose 5-0.

"I think if you ask Kerr what happened, she'll tell you what exactly happened," Riley said. "It wasn't a penalty."

Angerer will leave Portland tomorrow to join the German women's national team for a friendly on Wednesday, June 18 against Canada.

While she is with Germany, Angerer cannot serve her one-game suspension. Instead, she will serve the suspension on June 21 when the Thorns take on the Washington Spirit on the road.

"She'll have to miss next week's game, which again if it was a red card legitimately and everything I could see, but the fact is it's not," Riley said. "I think just like we ask the players to take responsibility, just like as coaches we take responsibility, I think refs need to take responsibility and, unfortunately, they haven't."

Thorns back up keeper Michelle Betos will start the next two matches.

While Riley said he has a lot of faith in Betos, the Thorns will surely miss Angerer. The German goalkeeper has been tremendous for the Thorns so far this season and is a big reason why the Thorns aren't lower in the standings.

"So, we're in a situation where we lost our goalie for two games," Riley said, "and really she should be able to play the next game, as far as I'm concerned."

-- Jamie Goldberg | @jamiebgoldberg