ACFC 1-1 Utah Royals

Before kickoff even happened in this match, Angel City was eliminated from the playoffs due to the other results on Saturday. For me, as I’ve talked about, the playoffs were never a goal to be celebrated. Had we finished 8th a year after finishing 6th, that would still be a step backwards. What I’d like to see is some preparation for the future, so that in the first game of next season, the team already has a foundation to build from. I’m not sure that we’re going to get that.

Match Stats

But first, just a few details to add context to this match. Angel City won the xG battle by a whisker, 1.1 to 1.0. But it’s an interesting breakdown. Utah had 21 Shots, with 10 On Target, to Angel City’s 14, with 4 On Target. In terms of shots worth more than .1 xG, they were 5 to 2, in favor of Angel City, although the best chance of the match feel to Utah. Interestingly, none of those seven chances resulted in a goal. So both teams are fairly even in xG, but they got there in different ways. Utah took a lot of lower quality shots, while Angel City took only a few, but of a higher quality. And in the end, kind of neither strategy worked, with each team scoring off fairly lucky goals. I’m not saying that there wasn’t tremendous skill and technique on both goals. There certainly was. But those same two players could try those same shots ten more times, and they would probably miss all ten times. Both goals are the kind of shots that are extraordinarily difficult to get right. PSxG is an interesting insight, as there is a discrepancy there. Angel City had 1.13 PSxG, while Utah only had .84. So despite their 21 shots, none were particularly threatening based on where they were taken from or where they ended up on frame, even their goal. Angel City only put 4 Shots on Target, but two of those generated very high PSxG.

There’s always the conversation about whether a draw feels more like a win or a loss, and I think this could be viewed either way, but to me, this felt like a loss. I was kind of hoping that with the pressure of the playoffs lifted, we might see an Angel City team playing with freedom in the final home game of the season. But getting outshot 21 to 14 on your home pitch, isn’t the kind of performance I wanted. So, yes, there were positives, but do any of us feel confident in the foundation that was placed for next year?

Free Agents

The big thing that struck me looking at the Angel City starting line-up was how many of these players are free agents. Of that XI, Haračić, Curry, Spencer, Dougherty Howard, and Emslie currently don’t have contracts for next season. I would have liked to see more attention on the future, specifically in Goal and at Right Back. To me, we know how good Haračić is at this point, and she actually had a great night, setting a new career high in saves. But she’s a -1.8 PSxG+/- this year, and she was a -1.4 PSxG+/- last year. I’m getting a little ahead of myself for my end of season review, but in a nutshell, I don’t think that she’s the caliber of keeper that will win you a championship. If it’s time to move on, I’d want to see as much from Anderson in real games as possible to determine if she should be the starter, or if we need to bring in someone else.

At Right Back, I was surprised that Gisele got a start in North Carolina, and played the full match, but Spencer got the start in this game. Coming into the season, I thought that Spencer was going to primarily be an option off the bench, and maybe even play more as a forward. But long term injuries to Riley and Mathias, combined with Gisele missing a lot of time for the U20 World Cup, meant that Spencer has had 15 starts and 1,552 minutes this year, so far. That’s the most that she’s played since 2016. Spencer had a club option for 2025, but Angel City declined it, making it likely that she will be leaving at the end of the year. Seeing how important she has been this year, and with the number of other free agents that need to be signed, I’m really surprised that the club didn’t exercise that option, but that only seems to make it clear that the club wants to move on.

Maybe Angel City is going to let both Haračić and Spencer walk at the end of the year, and they wanted to give them one last time playing in front of the crowd at BMO. They’ve certainly earned a sendoff. But if that’s the case, I think that should be announced so that the fans can show their appreciation for two players who have been a big part of the team for it’s first three years. If the intention is to try to get them to sign new contracts, then I think that these last two matches should be spent getting a better evaluation on some of the younger players. So the way it’s played out just feels confused.

Regarding Curry, Dougherty Howard, and Emslie, plus fellow free agents Leroux and Press coming on as substitutes, it shows just how much the team is currently relying on players that might not be here next year. The salary cap situation almost guarantees that some of these players will have to leave. But if they do leave, then it’s also going to cost money to replace them. Emslie is 4th in minutes for ACFC this year, while Leroux is 6th and Curry is 7th. Those are some absolutely crucial minutes to fill for next year. And the fact that we won’t get a transfer fee for whichever players do leave just makes the matter worse.

Salary Cap

I’ve talked about this a lot already, but after speaking with some other Angel City fans, I realized some things. I view the club’s statement about childcare to be a deflection, and using an important issue that a lot of people can relate to to take the conversation away from what actually happened. But something that I think gets lost in the conversation is that Angel City put all their chips in this season. There were big money signings, big trades, and even if the front office thought they were within the salary cap, they were spending right up to it. When weighted for minutes played, Angel City has the 3rd oldest roster in the league, despite signing three teenagers in the offseason. All of these are moves made for winning now, and yet it was only good enough to be the 11th place team, before the 3 point deduction. We’ve had injuries, but not the slew of injuries that a team like the Spirit have had. So it bothers me that the club’s decision to deflect attention is protecting the architects of this roster. Which would mean that there’s no plan to do anything different next year. Certainly the bans on our president and GM doing any transfer business is going to make it difficult to reshape the roster. And maybe the club is just trying to protect it’s own image, but that’s part of what makes it a challenge to have a member of the ownership group as president. It’s hard to distinguish between protecting the club and protecting the president and GM. But I view the choice to deflect, rather than take responsibility, as a sign that there will be no real changes, and that’s the thing that’s been bothering me. Under this leadership, we spent more than anyone else and could still only field the 11th best team in the league.

Goals

21’ Utah Royals - The goal itself comes from a freekick, but the freekick comes from a pretty controversial foul. Mozingo receives the ball wide on Utah’s right, in a 3v3. Curry tries a tackle and misses, and Mozingo gets by her. Curry tries a second lunge, and connects with the ball, but maybe cuts across Mozingo’s legs. To me, maybe this is a foul, maybe it’s not. But it’s definitely not a yellow card, and even if it was a foul, it was Curry’s first of the afternoon. I think the ref got the card part wrong. It’s also clear that the tackle happened right at the top of the penalty arc; both players are literally touching the line when they fall. However the ref gives the freekick about 8 yards further back from this spot. I’d say this was from about 29 yards out. Conventional wisdom is that it’s a little more difficult to hit a direct freekick from just outside the box, because there isn’t the space to get the ball over the wall and then allow the spin to bring it back down. So Utah might be okay with a little further back, but then 8 yards gets to be kind of a lot. So maybe this helps Utah, but I’m not sure how the ref gets something like placement so wrong. Mostly I found his decisions baffling.

Still, none of this is a surprise. When MLS and the NWSL added VAR, that doubled the number of referees needed for both leagues. Now we’ve added the USLSL on the women’s side, which is technically the same level as the NWSL, and they need referees too. It seems clear to me that the talent pool is going to get very watered down with this big of an increase in job openings. And since the MLS pays referees more, when they doubled their quota, that left even fewer quality refs in the NWSL. And there are not going to be several dozen trained and experienced referees appearing overnight, so I think that we just have to live with this for the moment. At least, it’s not changing any time soon. But back to the goal. Lacasse and Zornoza are both over the ball to offer a left and right footed option. It ends up being Zornoza and the former Real Madrid player absolutely hammers it into the top corner. I don’t know if Haračić hesitated, thinking that it would be Lacasse, but I think that she does react a little too late. This is Zornoza’s 5th Goal Contribution (2G+3A) in only 9 Games for Utah. She’s been a great addition for the Royals.

57’ Angel City - This goal begins with Gisele earning a corner kick on Angel City’s left. Zelem takes it, and I don’t think that it’s a great delivery. I have actually been wanting more from her in this regard. Haught easily wins the ball, but it does have enough pace on it, that Haught punches it out, rather than catching it. It’s not a bad punch, either, clearing the box. Gisele tries to control it, but she’s swarmed by Utah defenders. She can’t bring it down, but she does rise above the crowd and gets her head on the bouncing ball, keeping the play alive. Leroux traps the ball, and then hits it on the volley from just outside the box. It’s perfect technique, and even though Haught is only 2 or 3 yards off her line, it gets over her. I can’t emphasize enough how difficult this shot is. Any less pace, and it Haught collects it easily, but any more pace, and it goes over. Maybe the best goal of the season?

Conclusions

There are positives and there are negatives from this game, but I keep coming back to the opponent. Utah is an expansion club, that fired their coach midway through the season. They brought in several more players during the summer window. Angel City should be further along than the Royals, but we’re actually a point behind them in the table, and fairly equal to them on the pitch. Utah also actually has the youngest roster, when weighted for minutes played. So the fact that the match was fairly even is actually a negative for Angel City. Especially since it didn’t feel like there were any moves made to plan for the future, now that we’re officially out of the playoffs. Kind of a sad note for for the final match at BMO this year.

All stats are from FBRef

Our final match will be after the international break, November 1st, at Portland for Christine Sinclair’s final game at Providence Park. Kickoff is at 7p Pacific, and it’s on Amazon Prime