The rare Thursday night match day for Angel City FC this week, as they welcome a visit from their rivals, San Diego Wave. After an insanely chaotic opening 45 minutes against Washington Spirit that saw a total of six goals scored, and a second half that finished scoreless, the team look to bounce back after the wild loss on the road. Now, Angel City are back at home, hoping to take advantage of a Wave side that has also been struggling this season.
Get your gear ready and rally the crew. It’s time for the BLACKOUT! 🏴 pic.twitter.com/OqQI7gl71y
— Angel City FC (@weareangelcity) May 21, 2024
Familiar foes
One team ACFC are very familiar with, is San Diego Wave. This will be the eighth meeting between the two teams throughout all competitions, having got real acquainted their inaugural season, with several matchups in the Challenge Cup before beginning NWSL play. San Diego got off to the better start, flying through the league and into playoffs year one, looking like a team that would be a real problem for years to come. However, the NWSL hits hard and can adjust quickly, which is what we have seen. While not feeding at the bottom, the Wave have found themselves struggling to get out of the mediocrity this season, despite having one of the more talented sides on paper.
Wave currently sit just one spot above Angel City, occupying the last playoff spot, and while its way too early to start thinking postseason, it is a match that once again provides an opportunity for Angel City to not only get points, but separate themselves from the truly bad teams this season. Good news for Los Angeles, San Diego are awful on the road, having not yet won a match outside of Snapdragon (0-3-1). Winners in two of their last five, San Diego have been doing well to find the back of the net with more consistency. Much like Angel City, their issue is not allowing teams to do the same to them, only better.
Rivalry energy, always
Speaking of Angel City, they also have won two of their last five matches, but are currently riding a two match losing skid. The game of soccer giveth and it taketh away, as the team hope to have MA Vignola back with even more minutes in this match but will unfortunately be without Sarah Gorden, who is out with a sprained ankle injury. While the incoming Wave are not more than bathtub splashes on the road, Angel City aren’t exactly flying at home. LA are just 1-3-0 in BMO, but we all know a win against a rival counts as three, so this is a real chance to turn around the fortunes.
“It’s a California team. We’ve made up that it’s this rivalry game, I think every single game we play should feel like a rivalry game” said Angel City FC forward Sydney Leroux when speaking to media ahead of tonight. “We need to bring that energy a little bit more, we need to do better, especially at home.” Leroux might be on to something, with the team struggling to find that extra oomph, perhaps coming out with that rivalry, us against the world, energy would be useful. However, its far easier said than done. Sure, there might be slightly more coming into this one, but in the end this is a matchup between two teams at a crossroads. Two sides that know a win tonight could go a long way in kickstarting a pre-Olympic run during this crucial part of the schedule.
How To Watch
Tonight’s match against Washington Spirit is set for a 7:00pm PT kickoff from BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, Ca. The match will be broadcast live on CBSSN here in the US, and over on NWSL+ for International fans. There will also be an English-language radio broadcast over on iHeart Radio. As well as a Spanish-language radio broadcast on 980 La Mera Mera.
Thoughts on the upcoming match? Leave a comment below!