The last two weeks haven’t been an offensive masterclass for the Angel City Football Club.
However, the end result of two games (on the road against Chicago and at home against North Carolina) were both wins after the club started the season winless through the first three games.
Friday night, Angel City FC (2-2-1, seven points) will look for a third consecutive win against the first-place Kansas City Current at BMO Stadium (7 p.m., Amazon Prime Video).
“We have a lot to reflect on and still a lot of room to grow,” ACFC coach Becki Tweed said. “We saw our resiliency against North Carolina. They did create chances and we defended the box really well.
“We had that ugly and gritty side to us that we keep talking about and that really pulled us through in these last two games. We want to evolve as a team and we want to keep growing in our identity, but we also have to stick to what we are good at.”
Angel City could be in trouble if things look like they did against North Carolina. Although the team hung on for a 2-1 win, the Courage dominated possession, took 10 more shots, four more shots on goal and nearly doubled Angel City in total passes. Angel City created very few opportunities, but Claire Emslie scored twice and that was enough.
Kansas City (4-0-1, 13 points) is one of three unbeaten teams in the 14-team NWSL and leads the league in goals scored (17). In five games, the Current are averaging nearly 3.5 goals per game. Temwa Chawinga and Bia Zaneratto lead the NWSL with four goals apiece.
“They’ve got an insane amount of goals, but they’ve also conceded a lot of goals and we have to take that into the game,” Tweed said. “The last time we played them, it was a very transitional game.
“Ultimately, we gave up too many opportunities and if you give a team like Kansas City opportunities, they’re going to take them. We have to be better on the ball. We have to limit our mistakes and play a lot cleaner and we have to limit their ability to transition on us in the space that we leave in behind.”
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The teams met on March 30 in Kansas City with the Current winning, 4-2. Angel City nearly came away with a 3-3 draw, but a late goal by Raquel Rodriguez was ruled offside and the Current eventually put the game away.
“We have to limit our unnecessary giveaways,” ACFC defender Megan Reid said. “We need to make sure that we have a compact shape and we can’t let Chawinga use her pace as much as she’d like. Our defensive shape behind the ball needs to be locked down to avoid those transition situations.
“We must reduce the opportunities they get in places they like to be and put them into situations that they’re uncomfortable being and we feel strong in. Their strengths are still very much the same as the last time we played them, and so are ours, but both teams have grown and at the end of the day we need to mitigate the things that they do well and emphasize the things that we do well.”
KANSAS CITY CURRENT at ANGEL CITY FC
When: Friday, 7 p.m.
Where: BMO Stadium
TV: Amazon Prime Video