In a league that’s always challenging, Angel City Football Club is looking to make another leap in its third year.
As an expansion club, Angel City narrowly missed the NWSL playoffs. Last season, thanks to a second-half rally under then-interim coach Becki Tweed, Angel City qualified for the playoffs, finishing fifth in what was then a 12-team league (expanded to 14 this season).
“This league is competitive,” Angel City defender and captain Ali Riley said. “Every team is wondering, ‘How are we going to get that edge? How are we going to improve on the seasons we’ve had?
“I just think, Becki having a full season, the games we have lined up for the preseason … this league is about consistency, honestly. Because this team is so competitive, it feels like on any given day and any team can win and we want to prove that on any given day, we’re going to win.
“This could be a really special team. Becki has set a really clear standard with her communication about what our standards are and everyone is totally on board.”
Angel City’s roster has changed in recent weeks, with the arrival of midfielder Raquel “Rocky” Rodriguez in a trade with the Portland Thorns and Messiah Bright in a trade with the Orlando Pride.
Tweed, who led the club to the second-half turnaround after taking over when the team fired Freya Coombe, had the interim tag officially removed during the offseason.
Some areas of focus for the preseason are possession and goals.
“When I look back at last season and especially the second half, we really got into a style of play that became really gritty and I think obviously, we want to keep that grip, but we want to now grow from that identity and try to keep the ball a little bit more,” Tweed said. “A lot of the games are really close, that’s the NWSL, but how can we put ourselves in a position where we can dominate a game from start to end and it’s not about the last 5-10 minutes purely being about grit, those things are going to really important for us to build on.”
The Angel City offensive attack could be special with the addition of Bright to go along with the likes of Alyssa Thompson, Sydney Leroux, Jun Endo, Claire Emslie and the newly acquired Rodriguez.
“Rocky’s experience and ability speaks for itself,” Tweed said. “That 10 that can get faced up and play forward, she’s incredibly technical, good on the ball, sees the game, understands the game. And then adding Messiah, bright, hungry, wants to score goals, has really big ambitions, really coachable, all the things that you want to bring into an environment.
“We have some really good new additions that can offer us a more flexible style of play so we can build that identity a bit further. We’re only about 10 days, so we still have a lot of work to do, but I think in terms of what we’re trying to do, the new additions have been really great.”
