ACFC 2-1 San Diego Wave

The NWSL is officially back, and Angel City is back to winning ways. Alyssa Thompson finally got on the scoresheet, and then wasted no time grabbing a second, becoming only the second teenager to score a brace in NWSL history (Mal Swanson is the other one). There was a lot to like in this game, and a lot that is encouraging for the future. I am going to rain on the parade a little bit, though, but feel free to skip that section if you just want to ride the good feelings from that win.

Positives

This wasn’t a fluke in any way. Angel City was the better team, and the more dominant team, by most metrics. Shots were even at 11 to 11, but Angel City had 6 On Target, compared to only 2 for the Wave. Also, all of our shots were from inside the box, while 5 of the Wave shots were from outside. We had 52% Possession, and Attempted 425 Passes to the Wave’s 389, so we controlled the ball for more of the match. I always like to look at how many shots of at least .1 xG each team had, and again, Angel City come out on top, 5 to 3, and Total xG was also in ACFC’s favor, 1.6 xG to .8 xG for the Wave.

Alyssa Thompson was by far the best player for Angel City. Yes, she scored her first two goals of the season, which is fantastic, and it’s still very possible for her to surpass last year’s tally. We’ve been speculating for a while that once she had that pressure of the first goal removed, they might start coming more quickly, whether that’s from confidence, or not overthinking things, or whatever. Let’s hope that continues, but she definitely looked like she was playing with more freedom. What I really liked about her goals, though, was that on both of them, she got herself into good positions first. The xG for her two goals were .23 and .22. I’ll get more into how the goals were constructed later on, but it was good to see this from her. We need Alyssa to be contributing if Angel City is going to be consistently winning. In this match, though, she did more than just score. She led the team in tackles (8), and in Carries into the Penalty Area (4), and was second in Progressive Carries (3). She was also 5th on Angel City in Touches, and well ahead of any other attacker (Alyssa had 49, despite playing 10 fewer minutes than Emslie who was next with 33).

While Alyssa definitely shined in this match, it was actually also very much a team effort. One of the most surprising statistics is that the only players on Angel City that did NOT have a shot creating action were Christen Press (who came on in the 88’) and Megan Reid. Yes, that includes the subs. Yes, that even includes Haračić. Alyssa did lead the team in this category, but all told, it was 14 different players putting together the 19 Shot Creating Actions. Alyssa and Emslie both had shots off the woodwork, so there was a real chance that we could have scored more.

Negatives

I don’t really want to pour cold water on this performance, as getting a win in San Diego is just always such a pleasure, but there are several factors that I think have to be acknowledged. First is the absolute chaos in San Diego’s front office that led to them hiring Landon Donovan as an interim manager. I feel like any interim manager is a mistake, but certainly hiring someone whose experience in women’s soccer is pretty much nonexistent is a real surprise. This is only Donovan’s second game of any variety with the Wave, and he’s the third manager San Diego has had this year. Donovan’s first game was the opening of the CONCACAF W Champions Cup against Santa Fe that was played in Panama, just four days before our match. And maybe Donovan wanted to be sure of starting with a win, but he played a very strong lineup against opposition that I think San Diego should have been able to comfortably handle. Morgan, Jakobsson, Sánchez, and Sheridan (to name a few) all started in that match, on top of the long travel down to Panama and back. My guess is that this is why we didn’t see Morgan start in the game against Angel City. Also, San Diego left out Girma and Shaw, as most teams did with Olympians that made it to the gold medal match. So as good as I think we looked, this was a fatigued San Diego team, without some of their best players, and who don’t have a clear sense of direction right now.

The other thing that really concerned me was Delphine Cascarino. I thought that she looked like Lyon’s best player in the Champion’s League Final, and I was impressed that San Diego was able to sign her, especially since they don’t have a coach. Cascarino came on in the 61’, and in that short time, she had more shots than any other San Diego player, more xG than any other San Diego player, and her 6 Shot Creating Actions were as many as the next three Wave players combined. She absolutely changed the match when she came in. The really concerning part, from an Angel City perspective, is that I thought that Jasmine Spencer just could not keep up with Cascarino. Cascarino was 7 of 8 in Take-Ons. For the whole night, Spencer was 0 for 3 in Tackles. I don’t want to put all the blame on Spencer, though. She’s not naturally a defender, and she wasn’t really getting any help. The thing that really surprised me was that Vignola was brought on in the 78’, but played as a winger instead of taking over her usual fullback role. I think that she could have fared better against Cascarino than Spencer did. But I also don’t want to put it all on Tweed either. Going back to when Paige Nielsen was traded, one of the big concerns for me (besides, of course, losing a player of her caliber and a fan favorite) was the fact that we only had two centerbacks on the roster, and that means that Tweed just doesn’t have the option to add an extra defender to finish off matches. This would have been a great opportunity for that. But instead, for whatever the reasons were, Spencer was left alone on an island, getting repeatedly beaten by Cascarino. In the end, it was a Spencer foul on Cascarino that gave San Diego the free kick that led to their goal.

The goal in general is concerning, because it almost let San Diego get an unearned draw. Yes, it was at the very end of stoppage time, but San Diego did get one more chance after the goal. And it’s one more case of Angel City letting in a goal off a set piece late in the game.

Angel City Strikers

It’s been a big debate all year, but this match gave us at least a few more data points on who should play striker for Angel City. This was only Bright’s second start of the season, and she got 64’ while Leroux got 26’, and once again, I didn’t feel like either of them were convincing. In a sense, this was kind of a tale of opposites. Bright was roaming all over the pitch, and her off-the-ball movement helped to open the space on Alyssa’s second goal. But maybe she was moving too much?

The image above is the NWSL’s depiction of basically all of Bright’s actions in the attacking half, including dribbles, shots, offsides, passes, and tackles. I know it’s a little confusing to make out exactly what’s what, but the point I want to illustrate is that almost all of these actions happen in the far left or right channels. She only had two touches in the box, and they are her two shots. There was an article on Angel City’s website in which she described herself as a “back-to-goal No. 9,” but this graphic doesn’t reflect that at all. We never really see her being able to receive the ball in front of goal, let alone turn and shoot, or distribute, etc. Looking at this graphic, it really feels like the San Diego centerbacks won this matchup, and forced her out wide. Her passing also wasn’t spectacular, just 8 of 17 for 47.1%, and she was dispossessed once. She also was the target on a number of long balls and I don’t remember her getting onto any of them. I think that she’s really pretty fast, but she needs to anticipate the passes, so that she’s already running full speed, but staying onside, when the pass is made.

Leroux, for me, was the opposite. The image above shows Leroux’s contributions, and as you can see, she does stay in a more central position, but also plays much deeper, consistently dropping into midfield. With the practically bird’s eye view that you get from section 212 in Snapdragon, I could appreciate this more in person than I usually do. There was a particular moment in the 71’ where Emslie broke down the right, got to the endline, and Leroux was in the box. I kept waiting for Leroux to move into just a little more space, as there was a San Diego defender between the two of them. But she just waited right on the penalty spot, kind of forcing Emslie into making a very difficult cross. Emslie did manage it, and Leroux got a header, but Sheridan handled it easily. I definitely felt like if Leroux had opened herself up for a better pass, either she could have taken a better shot, or it could have opened up space for someone else to take the shot instead. Although, maybe this debate is finally moot, as Christen Press may take over the central role when she’s back to starting. But it is kind of frustrating to me that we’re 17 games in, and nobody has claimed what’s really one of the most important roles on any team. And especially given the amount of money and draft capital that Angel City has committed to the position, and that we currently have four or five players on a twenty-five player roster to play that single role.

Goals

20’ Angel City - There’s not actually a lot of build up to this goal. Hammond wins the ball back from a San Diego throw-in, dribbles to safety, and then makes the safe pass back to Haračić, who has come way far forward to support the high line. She makes the pass to Dougherty Howard in the center circle. Dougherty Howard is able to dribble right in between the front two for San Diego, but I think that the Wave’s crucial mistake is that the midfielders completely drop off and nobody makes a challenge. Dougherty Howard is being harried, but puts the ball out to the left, where Thompson has stayed wide. This is San Diego’s other big mistake, because Hanna Lundkvist has an opportunity to cut out the pass, but she can’t quite control it. Alyssa reacts faster than anyone, controlling the ball and immediately getting her body between it and Lundkvist. She sells the shot perfectly, getting Sheridan to go to ground, before coming around and making the easy finish. I say easy, because it’s an empty net, but the speed at which Alyssa executes this is amazing, and Sheridan is not a keeper that gets faked out easily. I think that the Wave made a few mistakes that made the goal possible, but it was also a tremendous play by Alyssa. You could see what it meant to her; there was so much relief.

29’ Angel City - This play begins with Curry winning the ball back with a slide tackle in midfield on Lundkvist. The tackle goes straight to Dougherty Howard, who then sends a one-touch pass out to Alyssa on the left, and just inside her own half. The idea that that pass would be an assist was probably the last thing that Dougherty Howard was thinking, but in fact is the case. Because Lundkvist had pushed so high up, that means that there isn’t anyone in the San Diego right back spot. Bright reads that and makes a run into that corner and Dahlkemper is obliged to follow her. That creates a big piece of open field for Alyssa to run into, and Van Egmond tries to defend, but Alyssa has the pace to beat her all day long. Alyssa drives in at goal, and the San Diego defense continues to collapse, rather than challenge her. She cuts to her right and gets a quick shot off that just goes through Sheridan’s hands. You’d really expect Sheridan to make that save, but I think because Alyssa took the shot so centrally, Sheridan wasn’t sure which side the shot was going to, and maybe was anticipating the other way. She was also maybe screened by her defenders and picked up the shot too late. Only she can really say, but it seemed like the shot surprised her a little bit, and frankly, Alyssa was due for a piece of good luck. So, again, a really nice piece of skill from Alyssa, a great tackle from Curry, and good movement from Bright to open up the field for Alyssa to make that run.

90+7 San Diego - As I mentioned earlier, this free kick came from a foul on Cascarino by Spencer. I don’t know that there is a lot to say. Sánchez puts a great ball into the box. Dahlkemper comes from a little bit of a deeper position, attacks the ball, and scores a great header over Gorden. Dahlkemper has a clear runway on this; nobody tries to force her around, and nobody tries to challenge for the ball. It looks on the replay like Press was maybe marking her initially, but stays with Ali, so I think that there could have been a miscommunication with who the subs needed to be marking. The other thing that I thought was odd was that Leroux, Curry, Reid, and Zelem were in the wall. Of the players on the field at the time, only Rodríguez has a better Win Percentage of Aerial Duels than Leroux and Reid. It seems like they should both have been in the mixer, and someone else could have been in the wall.

And in an odd twist, Dahlkemper was almost immediately traded to Bay FC after this, meaning that this goal was her final contribution in a Wave jersey. Way to finish on a high note. The trade was maybe a little surprising, but it sounds like Dahlkemper had her heart set on going to Bay, as she’s from that area, and if San Diego was going to lose her at the end of the season anyway, then it does make some sense for them to recover at least a nominal transfer ($50,000), which isn’t bad considering it’s only for nine games.

Conclusions

I think that Angel City legitimately played well in this match, but we can’t overlook that this was the perfect time to play San Diego. I think the Panama trip took a lot out of them, Donovan is still figuring things out, and they were missing key players. I don’t think that Thompson scores that second goal if Girma is in the match, for instance. But you can only beat the team in front of you, and Angel City did that. And there’s also some reason to think that Angel City will also get better too. Hopefully we’ll see progress with Zelem and Press playing more minutes.

All stats are from the NWSL and FBRef

Next match is Sunday September 1, 1pm PST, at BMO and on CBS and Paramount+. That’s two matches in a row on CBS!