It’s finally happened! For the first time in 2024 Angel City FC come away from a match holding all three points. In what was arguably the toughest of their road trip matchups, the team went up against the incoming unbeaten Red Stars who went from serious question marks to serious contenders in the course of a couple of weeks leading into the season. The theme for Los Angeles this season has been grit, and it took every ounce of it, and a dollop of luck on top, to help propel the team to their first win of the new campaign.
Bringing home 3 points 👏👏👏#Volemos | #NWSL | #CHIvLA 0-1 | #AngelCityFC pic.twitter.com/JVAFILMwGr
— Angel City FC (@weareangelcity) April 14, 2024
Hard work meeting opportunity
In sports there’s a saying, sometimes its better to be lucky than good. In fairness to Angel City, they have been good most of the season, just not quite good enough. Not necessarily unlucky, but with a handful of new arrivals as well as several young talents being integrated into the squad its gone about as expected in terms of chemistry, timing, and just missing that extra something in the final third on attacks. However, the team hasn’t hung their heads and with each match improved little by little, in various aspects of their game. Which is probably why they say luck is just hard work meeting preparation.
Angel City had prepared for this moment, a team that was coming off a playoff run after going on the streakiest of streaks to close out 2023. The team that adopted grit as the rallying cry for 2024, and has had to use industrial-sized barrels full of it just to get through the first few stages of the season without catching a mountain of losses. Coming into this past weekend, the team had lost two of their opening three matches, having secured a point in the draw to open up the three match road trip. Outside of the two goal loss to KC in which the Current just showed off their potent attack, Angel City weren’t just competing in those other matches, but controlling them. The small lapses that plagued this team in the early stages of 2023, were showing themselves again to start this season.
Such was the case this weekend in Chicago where the team was in control from the very start. Once again the team found themselves doing incredibly well to find open spaces, opening up opportunities, but like much of the season, they just couldn’t do enough to get over the line. In a bit of foreshadowing, they nearly opened up scoring courtesy of an own goal that was saved off the line by defender Tatumn Milazzo. However, in the 40th minute nobody for Chicago was there to save the day as free kick from Angel City FC attacker Claire Emslie, found its way awkwardly bouncing off Red Stars defender Maxi Rall, and into the back of the net.
Goals That Give
⚽ Chicago Red Stars own goal#AngelCityFC | @DoorDash pic.twitter.com/BfcVjKcgzn— Angel City FC (@weareangelcity) April 14, 2024
The goal capped off a half that saw ACFC control nearly 70% of the possession, with them needing a strong finish to see out the win. Defend for your life was the theme for the final 45, with the Red Stars taking full control of the match the rest of the night. On paper, they dominated Angel City in every regard, but on the pitch, there were few threatening moments, though not zero. DiDi Haracic did an excellent job to keep the clean sheet and come up with a few key saves in her first start of the season. Far from the most impressive, a win is a win and when its the first of the season, on the road against a tough opponent, it can spark a run that catches fire in a crucial stretch of the year.
This incredible show of skill has earned tonight’s Save of the Match!
79’ | DiDi Haračić#AngelCityFC | @pncbank pic.twitter.com/VJYmjbwHKb— Angel City FC (@weareangelcity) April 14, 2024
Plenty to work on
We wont hold you and nitpick the match too much, as this first win should be enjoyed and built upon with the squad coming back to BMO for a brief homestand. However, there are still a few issues surrounding the squad at the moment that need to be addressed. Most importantly, the midfield. A big issue last season, it seemed the team had addressed the issue with a few draft picks used on the position, as well as a trade to see the arrival of veteran midfielder Rocky Rodriguez, to Los Angeles. However, no midfielder draft pick was signed, instead it was teen phenom Kendall Fuller brought into the squad. As for Rodriguez, a concussion kept her out the first couple of matches so it will take a bit longer before she is settled in. While Rodriguez and Fuller have shown glimpses of what this midfield could look like closer to its ceiling, more times than not its a forgotten wastleland where nothing really happens.
It’s clear the team play the widths, using the speed on the outside in defense, to connect with the attack and it shows. Close to 75% of balls into the final third from ACFC come from defenders. Most of the attack happens from the flanks, with the team foregoing the middle of the park. It makes sense to some degree, with the likes of MA Vignola (when healthy), Ali Riley, Alyssa Thompson all playing along the outsides. However, when you watch the team during the the course of the match, the lack of midfield play is painful in how obvious it is. Especially when you hashtag go to games, and see it live. Just wide open space in the middle of the field, with nobody there, just begging to be used. A bermuda triangle where arrant balls go to die and attacks vanish. Its hard to say what the answer is. On paper, the talent in the midfield is definitely there, perhaps its just a matter of getting Rocky healthy and giving Fuller a bit more confidence to play freely. Maybe there just needs to be more rotation and tinkering with various combinations as we saw in Chicago. Perhaps Tweed just needs to make a more concerted effort to utilize the middle of the field. Whatever it is, needs to be done asap. With the team already struggling to generate anything resembling an offense as it is, surely it can’t make anything any worse.
Thoughts after the win? Leave a comment below!