Alex Straus’ new journey officially started Sunday.
Straus, who was announced as Angel City FC’s new coach in April, took over June 1, after leading Bayern Munich to third consecutive Frauen-Bundesliga championship.
“I’ve had the opportunity to go to the U.S. before,” Straus said. “More than once. I think two or three times, I could have moved before. The timing needed to be right. I was at a good place and an ideal timing for me to take the next step could maybe be later, but this opportunity came up and if I didn’t take it, it might go somewhere else and it wouldn’t come up again.”
Straus will lead Angel City in Saturday’s game against the Chicago Stars.
“I started here at my first training session on Tuesday,” the 49-year-old Norwegian said. “To be honest, we started this journey here and it’s a special thing because it is in the middle of the season. You don’t have a preseason, you need to learn a little bit as you go forward.
“There is still a lot of work to be done. We need to walk that road because it’s not done over 24 hours, one week or three weeks. It is a long journey and that is what identifies all successful teams in every sport.”
Straus takes over after Angel City went 4-4-2 under Sam Laity, who served as interim coach from the start of preseason.
Angel City went into the international break losing consecutive games, the first two games after defender Savy King collapsed May 9 during a game against Utah and underwent successful heart surgery.
Midfielder Madison Hammond said after the May 24 loss against Racing Louisville that the international break was coming at a good time.
“A new coach is coming in, everything is coming at a good time,” she said. “We’ve shown that we can really build on momentum and we have to get back to who we are, get people feeling good and feeling fresh.
“It’s been a crazy couple of weeks internally and on the field, but at the same time, we’re going to get back on track. We need a little bit of time to be with ourselves, laugh, have some lighthearted moments and then get everyone back in from the international break and go again.”
With so many players away during the international break, Straus said he finally met all of the players Thursday and Friday was the first full day of training with the entire team. Fortunately for Straus, the month of July will offer him a chance to implement all of his plans. Angel City’s June schedule concludes June 20. The league goes into a mandatory week off (June 23-29) and then an extended summer break from league competition through all of July.
Before arriving, Straus said he was in contact with sporting director Mark Parsons and watched the games, but didn’t want to interfere with the work of the coaching staff.
“The players I knew long before I came. I know the strengths and weaknesses of the individuals because I watched 100 hours of video on Angel City’s games the last couple of years,” he said. “I need to know the people and I need to know what makes them tick.
“How can I get the best out of Sarah Gorden, Christen Press, Riley Tiernan, Alyssa Thompson or other players on the team? How can I get the best out of them? It’s not about left or right foot or the heading ability. It’s about what gives them the confidence to be creative, to be open to development, to be coachable, all of these things.”
Tiernan claims second honor
For the second time this season, rookie forward Riley Tiernan was selected the NWSL Rookie of the Month.
Tiernan scored six goals in May, giving her six this season. Tiernan spent the recently concluded international break in Germany with the U.S. U-23s team.
Tiernan and Gisele Thompson were selected to the NWSL Best XI for the month of May.
CHICAGO STARS FC at ANGEL CITY FC
When: 7 p.m. Saturday
Where: BMO Stadium
How to watch: ION