After a draw to start the season at home against their rivals, San Diego Wave, Angel City FC are back in action and on the road this time. The team look for their first win of 2025 as they take on another familiar foe, Portland Thorns. Thorns had the rougher start to the season of the two squads, as the loss of key veterans and the absence of Sophia Wilson, took their toll on Portland in their loss. Both sides come into this looking for the first win of the season, but for Los Angeles, its a chance to separate themselves from the teams we presume will spend most of the season near the bottom of the standings.
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🗓️ Friday, 3/21
🆚 Portland Thorns
📍 Providence Park
🎉 5 PM Watch party at @GrandCentralMkt
⚽️ 7 PM Kickoff #Volemos | #NWSL | #PORvLA | #AngelCityFC pic.twitter.com/gfb04bUDBd— Angel City FC (@weareangelcity) March 19, 2025
In complete fairness to our opponents, Portland took on Kansas City Current in their opener, a team that looks like they haven’t missed a beat from last season, as they jumped out to a three goal lead in the first half. Portland responded fairly well, had several chances to cut the deficit, had a penalty shot that was missed, and still were able to hold KC scoreless in the second half while putting the ball into the back of the net to avoid getting shutout.
The big story for Angel City in their opener against the Wave, was the head-first leap in to the youth movement. ACFC were one of the youngest teams on average to take the pitch in match week one, and for the first half it showed. Conceding a goal in the first ten minutes of the match, and looking like a team that was still getting into match fitness for the season. The second half was a bit better, with Kennedy Fuller and Alyssa Thompson combing for the equalizer. One surprise was we did not see Christen Press at all in the opener, with Interim Head Coach Sam Laity expressing he didn’t think it was the right match for her to return in. We expect to see the youth continue to be relied on heavily, but we also expect to see Christen Press get some valuable minutes as a sub if she isn’t in the starting XI.
Angel City hold a 1-2-3 (W-L-D)NWSL regular season record against Portland, but have been winners in two of the last three meetings between the two sides. The key for Angel City this match will be two-fold. Most importantly, they cannot start the way they did last match. The defense needs to be a bit more communicative with one another and need to get on the same page, lest they find themselves in another early hole. Second, they need to shoot. The opener showed this team has excellent ideas, incredible vision and the ability to put themselves in great positions for some good looks at goal, but tend to hesitate on the shot. Let it fly, you’d be surprised how at the results.
How To Watch
Tonight’s match on the road is set for a 7:00pm PT kickoff from Providence Park in Portland, OR. The match will be broadcast live and can be seen on Prime Video, with Amazon Prime. The match will also be broadcast live via radio, which can be heard with iHeartRadio while Spanish-language broadcasts can be heard on AM980 KFWB.