Angel City FC seeks stability and success in Year 5

Angel City Football Club has had a hit-and-mostly-miss first four years as a franchise.

While the club has impacted the community off the field, results have been lacking on the field, as the club has missed the playoffs in three of four seasons.

The curtain on Year 5 raises next month. Coach Alex Straus, who arrived last summer, is back for his first full season in charge. Preseason camp opened in January.

“Based on what we’ve seen in our training sessions, what we’ve done in small parts, I’m happy with a lot of the things that we have implemented and we have been working on,” Straus said.

The preparation continues starting Sunday against the Portland Thorns in Indio at the Coachella Valley Invitational. Angel City will face the Seattle Reign on Feb. 21.

It will give Straus and staff another look at just how far along things are in the process.

The 2026 season opener is March 15 at BMO Stadium against the Chicago Stars.

“I think it’s important that we see things that we are working on,” Straus said. “It’s not going to be perfect at this moment and we know that, but it’s more about we see patterns, we see things that we do with the ball and without the ball, what we have been doing in practice, that we can see in game situations and then we’re going to take it back, the staff, the analysts and we go back and we work more on it and make adjustments. That’s what I always talk about, that’s the process of developing.”

It has been another offseason makeover for Angel City, but perhaps no move is bigger than the arrival of Emily Sams. The 2024 NWSL Defender of the Year arrived in a blockbuster trade with the Orlando Pride for $650,000 in intraleague transfer funds.

“Based on what I’ve heard, the energy is different from years in the past and I’m just excited for it,” Sams said.

“I’ve just always been competitive my whole life. I’m one of six kids and we just like fought over everything relentlessly and played soccer with each other growing up and I just hated losing. I think that’s really helped me a lot in my career.

Sams stepped right into the Pride’s lineup and helped the club to the 2024 NWSL Shield and Championship. Angel City has struggled to keep goals out, allowing 42 and 41 in the past two seasons, respectively.

“She has been on a list of (possible additions) since I arrived,” Straus said. “I was even looking at her when I was in Europe and Bayern Munich as well. A player like Emily Sams will always be in high demand for a lot of teams. We worked on different players, but when we had the opportunity to get Emily over the line, we threw away all of the other alternatives and we went all in for Emily because she brings leadership and she brings experience.

“Winning the championship in ’24, she can bring that into our team where we didn’t have that much experience of playing those type of games. Now, we got Emily in and together with Hina (Sugita), who won with Portland (2022), that came in at the end of last year, Neely Martin, who did it with Gotham in ’23. So we get some of that experience which has been important to get in with all of these exciting young players that we’re going to develop in the coming years.”

Another experienced addition is Ary Borges, who the club signed to a three-year contract after three seasons with Racing Louisville.

“I think the competitiveness within the group is very … is getting higher,” Straus said. “It’s a lot of players in our group that is working very hard, every day to be in the starting 11 or be on the field at BMO (Stadium) on the 15th of March (season opener). It’s going to be harder for the coaching staff to choose that, so that’s why we have to use the next week carefully.”

TV info for Coachella Valley Invitational

Both of Angel City’s games in Indio will air on KCOP (Ch. 13). Sunday’s game begins at 1 p.m. and the Feb. 21 game will air at 1:30 p.m.