Angel City FC is on the road against the Portland Thorns this Friday, June 3, at 7:30 p.m. at Providence Park in Portland, Oregon. The match will stream live on Paramount+; an English radio broadcast will air on iHeart, and the Spanish-language broadcast will be on KWKW 1330 AM.
Last weekend, Angel City fell 0–1 at home to NJ/NY Gotham FC. Forward Ifeoma Onumonu scored the only goal, in the 57th minute, off an assist by forward Midge Purce. Despite the result, ACFC dominated the match, recording 23 shots—18 of which were taken inside the box—to Gotham's seven. The final ten minutes of the game were largely a scramble around New Jersey's goal, with multiple near misses during that time period.
'I think we can really learn from those last 30 minutes, but also from the whole game,' said defender Ali Riley to the media this week. 'Can we play, maybe not with that exact intensity for 90 minutes, but just a little more oomph—just that that desire and and kind of willingness to do whatever it takes.'
The Thorns, meanwhile, are 1–1–3 on the season, and are coming off a 2–2 draw on the road against the Chicago Red Stars. In that game, they conceded a goal to forward Mallory Pugh in the fifth minute, but Thorns midfielder Hina Sugita equalized just two minutes later with an angled one-time finish to the far post. Chicago forward Rachel Hill got one back in the 20th minute; early in the second half, forward Sophia Smith again equalized, bringing down a corner kick with her first touch, then putting the ball away with a beautiful midair strike.
Angel City played the Thorns twice in the Challenge Cup. The first matchup was a 0–3 loss for LA, but the second was a 1–0 win—their first ever win as a franchise—and knocked Portland out of contention for the cup in the preseason tournament.
Riley anticipates this game will be different from either of those preseason matchups. 'I think we've grown a lot as a team,' she said. 'I think we defend a lot better as a team than [in the 0–3 loss]. And then the game we played at home, they played a different formation, they played some different personnel... you kind of know some individuals, the important individuals in each team, you know a bit about style, but I think both teams are very different from when we played here and also when we played there.'
Under their new head coach, former Canada international Rhian Wilkinson, Portland employs a disciplined, well-balanced style of play. 'They'll be a very well organized team that have a clear structure,' said Coombe. 'They've made a slight change to their shape compared with previous years. But I think in terms of what they're looking to do, they've stayed consistent with the principles of play of the club.'
Although veterans like defenders Becky Sauerbrunn, Emily Menges, and Meghan Klingenberg—along with forward Christine Sinclair, the most prolific international goal scorer in history—hold down Portland's core, the player to watch on the Thorns front line is Sophia Smith. The 21-year-old Smith is equally threatening on the dribble, making runs in behind, and striking the ball from distance.
'She's someone who is can score goals,' said Coombe. 'She strikes the ball really well. I think she's dangerous on the dribble. And I think her movement in behind, being able to come in front of the back line and drop into spaces, get on the boards and dribble. Her movement in behind the back line is really threatening and [she's] dangerous and a good finisher.'
Two Angel City players, Simone Charley and Tyler Lussi, most recently played in Portland, where they both got their starts as professionals. Charley initially joined the Thorns as an unrostered training player, practicing with the team for a year before earning a contract in 2019.