LOS ANGELES — 22,000 fans in attendance, a sellout. Pink smoke in the sky. Roars from fans. Thousands of flags waving. Expectations were high for Angel City FC (ACFC) in their season-opening game against Gotham FC.
And the club started strong.
ACFC began the game with pressure on Gotham’s back line. Forward Alyssa Thompson and midfielder Jun Endo made a few runs into dangerous positions in the box, but neither could find an outlet for their crosses.
Then, 11 minutes into the game, Thompson received a pass outside the box and took it herself. She took a few dribbles to her right and launched a shot that tipped off Gotham’s goalkeeper Abby Smith’s fingers into the goal.
The rest of the first half favored ACFC as they put pressure on Gotham’s back line with runs and through balls to create scoring opportunities. And Endo was the catalyst of many of these chances.
17 minutes into the game, she caught Smith too high and floated a shot over her head, off the right post, and into the goal. The score was checked by video assistant referee (VAR) for a possible foul and was disallowed.
Seeking vengeance 21 minutes into the game, Endo received the ball outside the box before being tackled to the ground by midfielder Yazmeen Ryan, but a foul was called, and a yellow card was assessed to Ryan. Then, her free kick was on target but stopped by Smith.
ACFC took a one-goal lead into halftime, even after one of their goals was disallowed by VAR. Then, the trouble began.
Gotham piled in pressure and flipped the script on ACFC. Then, 50 minutes into the game right-back Ali Riley turned the ball over to Gotham’s forward Svava Rós Guðmundsdóttir, leading to a one-on-one with goalkeeper DiDi Haračić, who fouled her. That set up a penalty, which forward Midge Purce scored to tie the game.
Three yellow cards were assessed to ACFC players after VAR reviewed Haračić’s foul.
“We need to look at our experience with VAR tonight and learn from it,” said head coach Freya Coombe. “For many players on the team, it was their first exposure to VAR and the emotions, and I think it’s a learning moment for all of us.”
Shortly after, 66 minutes into the game, Lynn Williams found space in ACFCs box and teed one up to score.
ACFC failed to respond, even with a few chances during stoppage time. Two VAR decisions and a momentum shift later, they could not leave BMO Stadium with points in their season-opening match.
“When we didn’t get the VAR decision our way, we let down some momentum and that’s something we have to learn to be better,” Riley said. “We have to be able to be more consistent through 90 minutes because I do think there were times where we looked really good and we looked dangerous.”
Despite the loss, ACFC took away positives from the game. One of them being Thompson in her NWSL debut. After the goal, she used her quick pace to set up corner kicks or shots on goal.
39 minutes into the game, one of Thompson’s runs ended up in a corner kick which center-back Sarah Gorden headed on goal. The ball dribbled out in front of Smith, but the second chance opportunity was not capitalized on.
Midfielder Savannah McCaskill also contributed on both ends of the field. Defensively, she shut down a couple of Gotham’s build-ups with headers and tackles. And on offense, she put pressure on Gotham with crosses into their box.
McCaskill led ACFC in touches with 73 and was second in crosses attempted with six.
Next, ACFC will face the Orlando Pride on the road on Apr. 2 at 2:30 p.m. pacific standard time (PST). The Pride lost their opening game to the defending champions, the Portland Thorns, 4-0.
