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NWSL Angel City FC

Angel City Football Club's Match Preview against East Coast Rival NJ/NY Gotham FC

July 5, 2024 - National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
Angel City FC News Release


LOS ANGELES - Angel City Football Club (ACFC) prepared this week to face East Coast rival NJ/NY Gotham FC at BMO Stadium for the club's Olympics send off match presented by Birdies. Kickoff is at 7:00 p.m. PT/10:00 p.m. ET. The match will stream live on ION and internationally on NWSL+. Below please find the match preview and quotes from the club's Head Coach Becki Tweed and goalkeeper DiDi Haračić.

ACFC Goalkeeper DiDi Haračić

On regaining her position as ACFC's starting goalkeeper:

"It's part of the position. I have been through so much that I know I can overcome anything that comes at me. There's 30 games that we play and anything can happen. Now that it's my tenth year in the league, I know who I am and what I bring. I'm always going to be ready, because anything can happen."

"Our team has so much depth and anyone can step into any role."

On the club's Goalkeeping Coach Omar Zeeni:

"Omar has brought patience to the goalkeeper group with his calm demeanor. He's done a great job of integrating the in-possession part of our game and that was something our staff was looking for. Omar has done a great job and you can see that he is there for the players, and he wants to do what is best for us to grow as players and as individuals."

On the upcoming match against NJ/NY Gotham FC:

"We know they want to press us. It's truly an honor that teams want to press us. We thrive in those situations. We aren't afraid to play out of the back or to play through teams. That's who we are as a club. We don't want to be a kick-and-run team. I love it when teams press us, because I don't see pressure from teams as a challenge, I see it more as an opportunity."

"Gotham is going to bring it, but we're in our home stadium. We have a full stadium behind us so we need to cherish that and protect our home."

ACFC Head Coach Becki Tweed

On DiDi Haračić:

"For DiDi, it has been a little bit of a crazy journey and it always is when you're a goalkeeper. What's hard about being a goalkeeper is you're either starting or you're probably not playing. That's sometimes really hard to deal with mentally. Credit to DiDi, Angelina [Anderson], and Hannah [Stambaugh], all three goalkeepers are always ready to play no matter what the decision is."

"DiDi had that injury last season and it opened the door for Angelina to come in and Angelina had an incredible end to the season. Going into this season, their preseason was really competitive. They both were in a spot where it could have gone either way and again, both stayed ready. Both are ready for whatever happens and whoever we need to call on."

"You never know when your opportunities are going to come and you never know when you're going to be in and out of a team. Unfortunately, that's part of being a professional athlete, and you always talk about staying ready, but this has shown how important that really is."

"You can see DiDi makes game-winning or game-changing saves at [key] moments. She keeps us in games, and she's developed into somebody that is embracing the challenge and competing. I've really seen growth in her mentality and her shift in mentality to know that she has to compete every single week. It has been a pleasure to watch her continue to grow in that mental piece as well."

Her thoughts on playing Gotham for the second time this season:

"We've watched the last few games. What you're going to get from Gotham is they just execute really well. We have to go in and stick to our game plan. We have to nullify what they want to do, the spaces they want to hurt us in and embrace this last game before the break. We hope to put ourselves in a position to go into the break on an upside and come back really excited to go for the second half of the year."

On the upcoming break:

"This break is well needed for everybody in a sense that this league is ruthless. You have to continue to push and find solutions to things every single week. The break comes at a good time for us to get back in after it, reset, refresh and really look at the second half of the season and where we can level up."

"We know that we've dropped points in this first half of the season that we shouldn't drop and had no intention of dropping at all. The break comes at a good point for us to all reflect, take some time and come back to that mini-summer period where we do have games where we can look at some other things and at some different players in different spaces. That's hard to do while you're in season."

"I'm excited for that to get some other players some minutes to look at some things that I think can help us out going into the second half of the season, which is going to be really important."

On the clash of styles in the NWSL and how challenging it is to implement your identity:

"There is no secret that this league kills you in transition. You have to be able to defend in transition. That's the part that you're most vulnerable when you're expansive and when actually you have the ball. In this league especially, it doesn't even matter where the ball is on the field because what we've added to this league this year is quality finishers and brilliant footballers off the dribble players that can expose you in behind."

"That's stuff that we have to be really aware of when we have the ball and I think it works in two ways. You can become a really transitional team yourself, but that can also hurt you because as I always say it, this league is notorious for double transition, which means you have it, you give it away, you have it again."

"Being really aware of what other teams can do in transition and where they can hurt us in transition is something that is really important in the NWSL. When teams press you and you're able to break the press, you feel confident that you can play out and have good moments of possession, that's what leads you to success in that game."

"That's still stuff that we're working for in our identity. We know that at times we have to be a little bit more ruthless and play forward quicker. We don't want to jam balls into the sixes when it's not on. However, we also want to enjoy the style of play and the way that we play. A lot of players talk about how they do enjoy the way that we play. Now, we just need it all to click and we need to start getting results."

MATCH PREVIEW VS. NJ/NY GOTHAM FC

Tomorrow, July 6 at 7:00 p.m., Angel City is at home against NJ/NY Gotham FC. The match will be broadcast in the US on ION and internationally on NWSL+. English and Spanish-language radio broadcasts will be available on iHeart and 1330 Tu Liga Radio, respectively. The game will be the club's Olympic Send-off match, as the last regular-season game before the seven-week Olympic break.

Matchup

Angel City's last game was a 0-3 loss at home to Orlando Pride, following a first-half brace by midfielder Adriana and a third in stoppage time by forward Barbra Banda.

Gotham's last result was a 1-1 draw at home against the Seattle Reign FC. That game saw midfielder Rose Lavelle open the scoring in the 47th minute, with an own goal by Gotham midfielder Nealy Martin late in stoppage time securing the draw for Seattle.

Fourth-place Gotham's current record is 8-3-4 (W-L-D). Angel City sitssit in 11th place with a 4-8-3 record.

ACFC is 1-3-1 all-time against Gotham. Their most recent result was a 1-2 loss on the road in early June.

Scouting Report

After a sputtering 1-2-2 start to the 2024 season, the 2023 NWSL Champions have picked up momentum and are 7-1-3 since April 28.

Gotham went on a hiring spree this past offseason, bringing in four US Women's National Team regulars- defender Tierna Davidson, midfielder Crystal Dunn, midfielder Rose Lavelle, and defender Emily Sonnett- but it's a lower-profile player, former Chicago Red Stars midfielder Ella Stevens, who currently sits at the top of the team's scoring chart with five on the season.

Stevens' form is just one example of how Gotham isn't a team whose success depends on its stars; its chance creation also comes from multiple sources, as midfielder Yazmeen Ryan and defender Jenna Nighswonger each have three assists, while Stevens and forward Esther each have two.

The team has continued to find success with the possession-based style implemented last season by head coach Juan Carlos Amorós. They are also a defensively strong team and currently have the second-fewest goals conceded in the league with just 12, only one more than second-place Orlando.

A Proper Send-off

Angel City captain and defender Ali Riley will be competing at this summer's Olympic Games in Paris for New Zealand, but five others- forward Claire Emslie, midfielder Kennedy Fuller, midfielder Rocky Rodríguez, forward Alyssa Thompson, and defender Gisele Thompson- have been called up for international duty at either the senior or youth level.

Emslie will play for Scotland in a qualifying match for the 2025 UEFA European Championship against Slovakia, while Rodríguez will represent Costa Rica in the US Women's National Team's final pre-Olympics friendly on July 16.

Alyssa Thompson has been called in as a training player in the USA's pre-tournament camp, but not named to the final roster, which consists of only 18 players. Gisele Thompson and Fuller have each been called up for US Youth National Teams- the U20s for Thompson and the U17s for Fuller.

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