Friday, April 25, at 5:00 p.m. Pacific, Angel City Football Club is on the road against the 2024 NWSL champions, Orlando Pride. The game will stream live on Prime Video, with an English-language radio broadcast on iHeart. Angel City will host a watch party at Hi Tops in Los Feliz.
Angel City’s last game was a 0–4 loss at home against NJ/NY Gotham FC. Forward Esther González had a brace, with an own goal by ACFC’s Miyabi and a late goal by forward Geyse rounding out the scoring. The loss was the first of 2025 for Angel City.
Orlando also suffered their first loss last week, falling 1–0 at home to the Washington Spirit.
ACFC last faced the Pride on June 30, 2024, losing 0–3. They are 1–3–2 (W–L–D) all-time against Orlando.
LA are currently in fifth place with a 2–1–2 record. Orlando are in second with a 4–1–0 record.
Last season, the Orlando Pride broke out of a years-long slump to win the Shield and the championship, both firsts for the club, and so far in 2025, the team looks to be keeping up last year’s run of form.
The headliner for Orlando is Zambian superstar Barbra Banda, a prolific striker who led her country to their first-ever Olympic and World Cup appearances in 2021 and 2023. Banda was sensational for Orlando in 2024, finishing the season with 17 goals in all competitions, including four in the playoffs.
2024 was also a return to form for Brazilian legend Marta, as Head Coach Seb Hines’s roster changes and cultural overhaul allowed her to focus on creating and scoring rather than picking up slack for teammates deeper on the field. In her eighth year with the Pride, the 38-year-old scored 11 goals in all competitions, her best year ever in the NWSL.
Unsurprisingly, the core of Orlando’s roster remains in place, including re-signing Brazilian legend Marta for another two years ahead of the season. The only starter the club lost was forward Adriana, with one of Banda’s Zambia teammates, midfielder Prisca Chilufya, taking her place.
The Pride remain one of the toughest tests in the league, and between Banda, one of the best players in the world right now, and Marta, one of the best of all time, this match promises to be a thriller.
Angel City announced last week that the club has selected a new permanent head coach, Alexander Straus, who will join the team in June when FC Bayern Munich Women, where he is currently manager, wrap up their season.
Straus has led FC Bayern München Women to two consecutive Frauen-Bundesliga championships, with the team also currently in first place in the league with three matches remaining.
The 49-year-old Norwegian began his coaching career at IL Varegg in 2010 while still a player there, later becoming assistant coach at Nest-Sotra, where he helped secure promotion to Norway’s first division.
From 2014–2017, he worked at Strømsgodset as an assistant coach and head of youth development before being named the head coach of Sandviken and leading that club to a Toppserien title and the 2021 Norwegian Cup final. After Sandviken merged with SK Brann, he became the inaugural head coach of Brann Kvinner, where he led them to a second title before moving to FC Bayern München Women in July 2022.
When Straus joins Angel City, Interim Head Coach Sam Laity will stay on with the club as senior assistant head coach.