The early road trip has come to an end for Angel City FC, having gone 1-1-1 in the three match excursion. The team’s latest result, a hard-fought win over the then unbeaten Chicago Red Stars. One of the few times in this chaotic sport of ours that the winning team didn’t even score a goal. Still, you take it how you can in the NWSL, and now Angel City look to build on that result and get a proper win at home, hopefully doing the scoring themselves.
Mañana 🔜
🗓️ Sunday, 4/21
🆚 North Carolina Courage
📍 BMO Stadium
⚽ 4:30 PM PT – ACFC Kickoff
Tune in:
📺 @BallySportWest (SoCal Local)
📺 CBSSN (USA)
📺 NWSL+ (INT’L)
📺 Optus (Australia)
📺 Canal 11 (Portugal)
📻 @iHeartRadio (ENG)#Volemos | #NWSL | #LAvNC | #AngelCityFC pic.twitter.com/AqyNcQXTCS— Angel City FC (@weareangelcity) April 20, 2024
Home sweet home
As we mentioned, after opening the season at home, Angel City then hit the road for the last month with three matches as visitors. Now, the team are back in Los Angeles for the brief home stand against two of the league’s best. First, they face off this evening against third placed NC Courage. North Carolina come into this match having won three of their first four to start the season, with shutout wins in their last two outings. Unlike the other top teams in the NWSL at the moment, the Courage won’t drop a bucket of goals on you, usually. Instead, they stifle and suffocate you with defense and prevent you from getting any looks at the goal.
North Carolina currently sit tied for least goals conceded (3), making this a matchup nightmare on several levels for an Angel City side that has struggled under the best of circumstances to get the ball into the back of the net. The Courage are also really good at keeping possession, leading the league in possession as well as boasting the best successful pass percentage in the NWSL to start the season. This is a team that is comfortable on the ball, and good at keeping it until they feel ready to go forward on the attack.
That said, this is a team coming into Los Angeles without its 2023 MVP Kerolin, who suffered a torn ACL in the final match of the 2023 season. Courage have done incredibly well to navigate that major obstacle, but aren’t don’t have that bite in front of goal like they have with her healthy. The other thing, while Courage have won three of their first four, all of those came at home. Their only loss so far has been their one away trip to Utah. Add to it Angel City have a history of taking down Courage for their first home win of the season, having done so in their inaugural year. LA is always a tough place to play, and if North Carolina are going to struggle on the road, this is the best chance for Angel City to build on last week’s win with another result at home.
Keeping the vibes up
The toughest part about this match, outside of the opponents, will be watching how Angel City respond to recent news. With the NWSL Trade Deadline just a few days ago, the team announced not just one, but two departures. Standout defender Paige Nielsen and veteran midfielder Amandine Henry were both traded away this past week, creating even less depth at positions the team already seemed to have trouble with this season.
Expect to see 2022 Iron Woman Megan Reid step into the defensive role, having already made her first start of the season last week in Chicago. As for the midfield, an already lacking position seems to have only gotten weaker as it appears clear the team will be leaning on the youth that came in during the offseason. Considering these two players were not just fan favorites, but two players who brought a lot of talent and did a lot for the team when on the pitch, this is quite the blow ahead of a very tough couple of matches at home. While fans are definitely disappointed at the latest moves, it will be incredibly important that those bad feelings don’t create a bad environment in BMO. This is the part of being a fan where you have to put your disagreements with the club aside and provide all the support you can to help feed those players on the pitch.
We talked last week about the need to shake things up and try something different, and it appears the team is ready to do just that. It will be very interesting to see how the team is set up, how they defend, what the substitutions look like, and who is given the opportunity to snatch some quality playing time moving forward. While its still early in the season, there are just 22 matches in the NWSL, and with five played, not much time left for figuring it out. Its time Angel City start showing us just what kind of team they will be this season.
How To Watch
Today’s match against the NC Courage is set for a 4:30pm PT kickoff time from BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, Ca. The match will be broadcast live on Bally’s Sports West for those in Southern California, CBSSN for those in the rest of the US, and over on NWSL+ for International fans. There will also be an English-language radio broadcast over on iHeart Radio.
Thoughts on the match? Leave a comment below!