Portland Thorns coach Paul Riley said that all of Portland's national team players will be back from the Women's World Cup in time for the Thorns game against the Seattle Reign on July 22.

Riley is hoping to see a massive bump in attendance for the game against Seattle and is hoping teams throughout the NWSL will be able to build on the momentum from the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup and see attendances increases in the next few months.

"I hope there will be bumps at the gates for all the teams in the league when all the players come back," Riley said. "I think there certainly will be in Portland for sure."

Riley, who coached in Women's Professional Soccer, said that the WPS saw major bumps in attendance immediately following the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.

He said the challenge for women's soccer will be to find a way to maintain interest after the momentum built through the Women's World Cup begins to fade.

"I'm hoping it's a bump for the sport," Riley said. "We got obviously the games coming on TV, which will be another bump for us. It's a matter of if you can sustain it in October and November for people to go out and buy season tickets for next year...That's our struggle now."

-- Jamie Goldberg | jgoldberg@oregonian.com

503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg