Angel City Football Club has undergone a lot of change and the season is just 11 games old.
Angel City started the season winning its first three games, but had only one win in the next eight before the summer break, leaving the team in 12th place.
The extended break brought more change June 17 with the dismissal of coach Alex Straus, who made his debut last June and had a 4-9-4 record, with a 4-6-1 record this season.
“Change is hard and going through and making decisions like this as a leadership group is hard,” Angel City sporting director Mark Parsons said. “I spent multiple hours every day for 12 months, side by side working intensely on making sure that we’re moving forward, so it has not been easy.
“At the same time, it’s been clear and very clear that change needed to happen and it was also the time was right to do that. And while I can’t remove the previous three or four years from our memories, because I’ve only been here for 18 months, I can’t remove that. I understand why that gets thrown into this conversation around us making a head coach change.
“We hired Alex, he has helped and supported to push us along, to move us forward, to give opportunity to our young group, but just like when we look to bring in a player and we hold a player to a standard of what’s expected here at Angel City, it’s the same for staff, it’s the same for our head coach. And the decision comes down to, we fell short in and across multiple areas that we feel is going to help us and our players and our team, continue growing, continue improving, continue developing.”
On the same day Straus was fired, the team also traded away 19-year-old midfielder Kennedy Fuller to Bay FC for $520,000 in total fees. Two days later, Angel City acquired Ally Sentnor, a forward on the U.S. women’s national team, from Kansas City in exchange for $825,000 in intraleague transfer funds.
New-look Angel City resumes play Friday at BMO Stadium against the Orlando Pride (5-5-2). There are 19 games remaining in the regular season. Parsons expects a turnaround that will end with Angel City in the playoffs for just the second time in the five-year history.
“We would like … we believe we have a roster that has the quality to be in the playoffs,” Parsons said. “The goal for us this year is to be in the playoffs. Everything we’ve been doing for 18 months … last year was Year Zero. What we inherited in staff, roster, sporting structure and contracts was a tough spot and we’ve been digging ourselves out and building a really good foundation.
“So last year was Year Zero, this would be Year One and we feel we have a roster to be in the playoffs. Now, if we had won one or two more games, which we really could have very easily, then the points would look better. My role is to drive culture through the sporting structure and the organization through the sporting staff and be really clear on the football DNA. We attack in the opponent’s half, we defend and press in the opponent’s half. The head coach’s role is to be able to bring the football DNA to life.”
Leif Gunnar Smerud, who joined the club this season, will serve as the interim coach. Whenever the new coach is hired, it will be the fourth in Angel City’s short history. No coach has completed two full seasons.
“We’ve built a roster that is hungry and talented, but absolutely needs development and time,” Parsons said. “The rollercoaster has been wild and full of a couple of highs, some lows. It’s been wild. We think we are closer than ever to turn the corner.
“We want to play football where you are on the edge of the seat when we have the ball, you’re on the edge of the seat when we are defending, you’re on the edge of the seat if it’s their goal kick or our goal kick. You’re on the edge of the seat if they’ve got a throw-in or we have a throw-in. We are really close to representing the energy, the vibrant energy and the diversity and the passion that this city has every single week. You’ve seen flashes this season.
“We know the responsibility to play the football – attacking, high-energy football – that this stadium, this community deserves. We feel the responsibility and the weight of that and we’ve been been building a staff and a roster that can execute that and we feel really close.”
ORLANDO PRIDE at ANGEL CITY FC
When: 7 p.m. Friday
Where: BMO Stadium
How to watch: Prime Video