Angel City Football Club’s winless streak reached five games with Saturday’s scoreless draw against the Houston Dash.
With half of the season in the rearview-mirror after Wednesday’s meeting against Racing Louisville FC, Angel City (3-6-3, 12 points) is in the same situation as last season, searching for a second-half charge to make the playoffs.
Unlike last season, there will be eight teams making the playoffs, so when that’s taken into consideration, Angel City is just three points behind the final playoff spot, currently held by Wednesday’s opponent.
“I’m just focused on the team,” ACFC coach Becki Tweed said following Saturday’s game. “How we can move forward and how we can use it as motivation, but also move into a midweek game and shift our focus to continue keeping clean sheets and continue to create chances.
“This league is wild. We say it all the time, you have no idea. Sometimes you win games and you don’t move, and sometimes you get one point. You just can’t get so fixated on the table. You just got to take care of yourselves.”
Creating chances isn’t the problem. Finishing them is the biggest concern and one that has plagued Angel City in its short existence. Angel City has scored just 12 goals this season, the third fewest in the league.
Claire Emslie leads Angel City with five goals and has been Angel City’s most dangerous threat, with 28 chances created. Alyssa Thompson, who scored four goals as a rookie, hasn’t scored this season, but leads the team with four assists. Messiah Bright, whom Angel City acquired in a trade with Orlando City SC, scored six goals last season as a rookie, but hasn’t scored this season and probably hasn’t had enough time. She’s played in nine games and has only one appearance – 60 minutes March 22 – longer than 28 minutes.
Angel City will wrap up its three-game week with a trip up north to face Bay FC on Saturday, before the schedule relaxes a bit heading into the Olympic break.
“Being back home (Wednesday) will be nice,” Tweed said. “Everyone is excited to stay in L.A., even if it’s only for a couple of days. Midweek games are all about finding that extra bit of energy and that extra bit of togetherness to pull through on Wednesday.
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“These are the weeks where you need everybody. We actually played almost everybody in the season. We know what we’re about. We have some players that are fresh, that can step in on Wednesday. As a coaching staff, we are looking at the week, what it looks like and where we need to manage. We are letting the players just think about one game at a time. It’s the same for every team at some point. We all play three games in a week, but you truly do need everybody in these weeks for sure.”
RACING LOUISVILLE FC at ANGEL CITY FC
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday
Where: BMO Stadium
How to watch: Bally Sports SoCal; CBSSN
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