BMO Stadium | Los Angeles, California – Sunday, March 26 at 9:00 PM ET
Players to watch:
As it begins its 2023 campaign, Angel City has a plethora of attacking options to choose from, including Sydney Leroux and Simone Charley, the return of Christen Press from injury, and the selection of 18-year-old Alyssa Thompson as the No. 1 player. 1st overall pick in the NWSL Draft for 2023. The team will be pleased to welcome back defender Sarah Gorden, who tore her ACL in preseason and missed the entire season last year, as well as goalkeeper DiDi Haracic, who contributed in significant ways multiple times last season. In the team’s 3-0 preseason win, Gorden put on a dominant performance, and he will try to lead this Angel City team from defense to offense this year.
NJ/NY Gotham FC are already exciting because of the plethora of new players brought in during the offseason. Kelley O’Hara, a veteran defender who joined the team after playing for the Washington Spirit for several years, and the addition of attackers Yazmeen Ryan (Portland) and Lynn Williams (Kansas City) already provide Gotham with more firepower this season. Club commander Ali Krieger will lead the back line alongside O’Hara, and the marking of promising Brazilian fullback Bruninha gives fans one more name to look as the season becomes older.
Match Facts: The regular season opener between Angel City FC and Gotham FC is set for Sunday at BMO Stadium. The two teams split the 2023 series, with Gotham winning 1-0 in May and Angel City winning 3-1 in August.
With 12 goals scored and 12 conceded, Angel City was the only team to finish the season with equal home goals scored and conceded. Even though the team’s five home victories were one shy of being tied for the most in the league, their 12 home goals were the third fewest of any NWSL team (Gotham–8, Louisville–11). Another highlight of the club’s first NWSL season was the play of attacker Jun Endo. Endo had 41 chances in 2022, 25 of which came at home, which was the third most in the league. Endo gave a teammate at least one chance in each of Angel City’s 11 home games last season.
Gotham FC, who came to the game on Sunday, finished 2022 with a 13-game winless streak (D1 L12), which was tied for the fifth-longest winless streak in NWSL history. However, they have everything in place to have a much more competitive season this year. The team conceded at least one goal in each of their last 17 games, the most in the NWSL since Sky Blue did so from May 2018 to September 19, when they conceded 41 goals in 17 games. Stars like Ryan, Williams, and even midfielders like Kristie Mewis should be able to move more freely now that the defense has improved.
