NWSL Angel City FC

Angel City Football Club's Match Preview and Game Notes Ahead of International Friendly Match

Published on August 17, 2024 under National Women's Soccer League (NWSL)
Angel City FC News Release


Tomorrow, August 18 at 7:00 p.m., Angel City plays their first game at BMO Stadium in over a month, hosting Liga MX Femenil's FC Juárez in an international friendly as the team gears up to go on the road against San Diego the following week.

About FC Juárez

Las Bravas, the women's side of Liga MX's FC Juárez, were founded in 2019. After finishing at or near the bottom of the table in their first few seasons, Juárez's stock began to rise in 2023, with the team making their first Liguilla appearance in Clausura 2023. The club is noteworthy for having the only female owner in top-flight Mexican soccer, Alejandra de la Vega.

Like many Liga MX Femenil teams, FC Juárez's roster boasts a number of Mexican-American players, including five- Enya Hernandez, Annia Mejía, Janelly Farías, Destinney Duron, and Jasmine Casarez- from Southern California. Three of those players also played collegiately in California: Duron at Cal State Northridge, Farías at UC Irvine, and Mejía at Cal.

A Chance to Experiment

While the Summer Cup saw some fresh faces on the field for Angel City, the coaching staff had to strike a balance between using the tournament as a training opportunity and aiming purely to compete.

"I think the Summer Cup was something that we went into with the mentality that we wanted to win," said Head Coach Becki Tweed after training this week. "I think the balance of finding players playing time versus getting consistency in lineups and performances was really important."

The results- three wins, four goals, and a penalty shootout victory, plus the return of Christen Press, the professional debut of Casey Phair, and the first four starts for Messiah Bright- indicate the group was successful in finding that balance.

Though the team will aim to win Sunday's friendly, with no trophy on the line, that balance can lean a bit more towards getting less-experienced players earning valuable minutes and experimenting with different combinations of players as there are unlimited substitutions in this match.

"This is an opportunity for us to play everybody, for everybody to get some good time, and to just look at some different things," said Tweed. "Giving people the chance to play at BMO and to get minutes under their belt is going to be important. I think it's a really good time for us to create that competitiveness, that hunger to go into San Diego next week," which, she adds, is ultimately the main focus.

Pregame Festivities

This week's Street Fair, which opens at 4:00 p.m. on the north side of BMO Stadium, features food and entertainment inspired by LA's Mexican roots. The festivities start with Norteño sounds courtesy of DJ Que Madre and tacos from Tacos Don Cuco Tijuana, whose adobada was named one of 2024's 101 best tacos by the LA Times.

After Que Madre, Banda Las Angelinas, an East LA all-women banda group breaking barriers in a traditionally male genre, will hit the stage. After starting with just four members in 2018, the group has become a staple at venues like the Pico Rivera Sports Arena, releasing a full-length album earlier this year.

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National Women's Soccer League Stories from August 17, 2024


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