Los Angeles were on the road this evening as Angel City FC took on Orlando Pride. With three matches on the road upcoming, and after suffering a tough loss at home in the opener, the team come into this one looking to secure the three points and shake off last week.
Preparation đȘ#Volemos | #NWSL | #ORLvLA | #AngelCityFC pic.twitter.com/T4pTPcaaC2
â Angel City FC (@weareangelcity) March 22, 2024
Both teams came out in this one looking to take control of the match, with both sides keeping the ball and taking their chances early. In the first 20 minutes it was fairly even, with Orlando getting the better looks between the two sides, putting the birthday girl Angelina Anderson under pressure early. Luckily for LA, the keeper kept calm and made a couple huge saves early to keep it scoreless, and give her team a chance to find the opener.
Adriana with the shot, but Anderson comes up with the save! Still scoreless in the first half.
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â National Womenâs Soccer League (@NWSL) March 23, 2024
As the half unfolded, Orlando began to find their rhythm and started getting off more shots. Angelina Anderson was put to work in the first 45, making save after save to keep it scoreless. Angel City did well to defend the opening half, but did get caught out a couple times, as well as falling victim to the sauce of the Pride, as they hit LA with a couple of spin moves, but nothing came of it. Halftime break arrived without either side finding the back of the net. If you looked at the stats, it was fairly even.
Orlando had slightly more possession with 52% as well as one more shot on target (4) while Angel City had one more shot (8) and far more saves. The eye test says that while even, Orlando held the slight edge having found ways to break down the LA defense and find more open looks at goal. Anderson put on an incredible half to keep them out, but the question is, how long would that last. If the team are going to get all the points in this one, they will need to find ways to get the attack going some more.
The worst part of the half for Angel City came when defender, MA Vignola, went down with an apparent knee injury, and had to come out of the match before the half. Again, the big silver lining is going into the half even, with an opportunity to get the winning goal in the second half. ACFC came out the second half continuing to work, and in the 50th minute that hard work paid off. Pride midfielder, Angelina, stuck her foot out a bit too much and caught Meggie Dougherty Howard as she was dribbling into the box. The foul was called a penalty and after a quick confirmation, Claire Emslie stepped up to the spot an slammed it home for the lead and the first goal for Angel City FC in 2024.
GOOOOOOOOOOALLL @emslie22!
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â National Womenâs Soccer League (@NWSL) March 23, 2024
Orlando woke up after conceding and proceeded to spend the rest of the half putting Anderson to the test. The goalkeeper did have a couple of nervy moments coming off the line a bit too far with the potent Pride attack nearby, but in the end she was able to secure everything that came her way through 80 minutes as the intensity increased. We did get to see the debut of Angel City draft pick, defender Madison Curry, who came on in the final 15 minutes as a substitute.
One of the more concerning things throughout the match was seeing how open one of the greatest soccer players of all time, Marta, was constantly wide open with plenty of time to make something happen. For most of the match, Angel City got away with it, but as legends do, Marta just needed one look and in the final moments she got that chance on a corner. The service was perfect and found, yet again, a wide open Marta who volleyed it as close to the post as possible without hitting it, sneaking it into the back of the net, past an outstretched Anderson for the equalizer.
Marta making it look EASY!
The đ finds the back of the net in the 88th minute!
Watch the finish >> @PrimeVideo pic.twitter.com/JsON4RoEuw
â National Womenâs Soccer League (@NWSL) March 23, 2024
Despite over five minutes of added time, Angel City couldn’t find the response to get back those three points and had to settle for the equalizer. Getting a point on the road, against an incredibly talented Orlando side isn’t the worst result, but given how the match went, the team will surely be disappointed. The goal now will be to get as healthy as possible as they prepare for their trip to face off against the KC Current in eight days.
Thoughts on the match? Leave a comment below!