Angel City FC is at a Crossroads | OneFootball

Has the party on the pitch finally started in Los Angeles?

The next era of Angel City FC is underway. After a long rollout, the Mark Parsons-led rebuild has finally started.

It started with a head coach. Angel City entered the 2025 season with an interim manager, and announced that a permanent hire would likely come in the summer. Sure enough, the club introduced Alexander Straus, previously of Bayern Munich, in April, and he officially joined the team in June after the Frauen-Bundesliga season ended. Interim manager Sam Laity would stay on the staff as an assistant.

Straus coached two league matches before the mid-season break, and now looks for a fresh start for the second half of the NWSL campaign.

A lot can been said about how Angel City got here. From the team’s inception, it was clear that it was going to do things differently. Whether it was a flashy cadre of celebrity investors, a tech startup approach to its business structure, or building a thriving fan environment, Angel City has been a flagship team for NWSL off the pitch.

On the pitch is a bit of a different story, however. Through three-and-a-half seasons, the team has had four head coaches, three general managers/sporting directors, and one playoff appearance. In addition, the club hired its first technical director, Mark Wilson, in May 2024, mid-way through its third season. Not many teams operate like this, but as we’ve established, Angel City does things differently.

Off the field it’s worked brilliantly, yet on the field, it’s been a different story. Every high has been met with a brutal low. But with a renowned head coach in place along with exciting new signings, this could be the moment things finally blossom on the field for Angel City FC.

So far in 2025, it’s been an up-and-down season for Angel City. Rookie Riley Tiernan has been a sensation, going from undrafted pre-season training camp invitee to golden boot dark horse. Alyssa Thompson’s progression to superstardom feels inevitable, and every single time she touches the ball she’s a threat to score.

The young core has also developed nicely. Teenager Kennedy Fuller has been given the keys to the midfield and has truly made it her own, and Gisele Thompson has kept up with her big sister despite a few injury scares. Casey Phair’s development is on track — she has looked composed an poised in her few appearances, and a loan to Swedish side Damallsvenskan should be exactly what she needs to develop her game.

On the other hand, ACFC entered the break on a five-match winless streak, which extended to six after a 2-0 loss to Seattle Reign on August 1, and the club is once again on the outside looking in for the playoff hunt.

The crowds are still big at BMO Stadium, well above league average, but the team’s mean crowd size of 17,046 through seven matches is down nearly 12% from last year’s mark of 19,313. The fanbase is ready for the team to become actual contenders on the field. What’s it going to take?

The ACFC Vision

In addition to a new manager, Angel City FC has brought on a slew of new mid-season signings. Forward Sveindis Jane Jónsdóttir, defender Sara Doorsoun, midfielder Evelyn Shores, and goalkeeper Hannah Seabert have all been brought on to bolster the ACFC roster.

Jónsdóttir in particular is a massive pickup for the club, as the 23-year-old Icelandic international has already appeared in a World Cup and EUROs in addition to a Champions League final. She comes from Wolfsburg, a perennial powerhouse in the European game, and a large factor in her signing with Angel City was Straus.

“If I’m talking about the football perspective, I didn’t really accept coming here until after I saw who would be the coach,” Jónsdottir told me after her first official Angel City FC training session. “So I saw Alex was coming here…I remember what he did with the Bayern team. Before he came to Bayern Munich, we [Wolfsburg] won Frau-Bundesliga. After he joined they were completely different, he changed that club.”

In addition to Jónsdóttir, Shores is another interesting addition. After captaining the North Carolina Tar Heels to an NCAA national championship, she leaves the college ranks early thanks to the new NWSL rules regarding incoming college players.

A regular with youth national teams, Shores is well known in U.S. woso circles. Without the draft, she had the ability to negotiate with teams across the league, and she chose Angel City after speaking with Straus.

She seems to be fitting in just fine, and Parsons indicated that Straus is toying with four potential positions for her. Shores was direct and to the point when describing her style of play, saying, “I like to get the ball and I like to score.”

Not yet with the team is center back Doorsoun, who with 59 caps for Germany adds experience to the second-youngest team in the league. With Savvy King’s return still indefinite, she should immediately get some playing time alongside Sarah Gorden to anchor what has become a leaky defense. The team’s 26 goals allowed is the third-highest in the league.

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The first taste of what to expect from the new-look ACFC came in a friendly match against the Carolina Ascent of the USL Super League. The match itself felt like a team playing with a new coach’s tactics for the first time.

A tough giveaway from Fuller gifted Ascent a goal in the opening minutes. The defensive woes that have plagued the team this season haven’t been solved yet. Even excluding the error that gifted the first goal, Carolina had solid possession and moved the ball around with ease at times. It wasn’t a full “A” squad for Angel City, but they had enough starters in the lineup to recover without a problem.

A first half hat trick from Alyssa Thompson smoothed things over in what ended as a 4-2 win. The elder Thompson added a fourth into the net into the second half for good measure.

Shores lined up at left mid but would drop back into the backline as a left back when needed. It was a friendly, but that is not an easy ask for someone in their first professional start. Jun Endo made her first start of the season since tearing her ACL, playing centrally and looking plenty comfortable with distributor responsibilities. Again, it was a friendly, and as intriguing as a potential three-person back line is, expecting a huge shift in the team out of this break is probably setting yourself up for disappointment.

Then came a true return to action, a 2-0 loss away to Seattle on August 1. It was the reality check ACFC fans needed after a few months of huffing hopium. A boring 0-0 first half was a good start, as the team is incorporating new tactics. But it all fell apart in the second half, after two set piece goals, one of which was an own goal on a corner kick.

The process Straus and Parsons have signed up for is going to be long. The NWSL is the toughest from top to bottom in the world, and playing the long game has cost many a GM their job before. The players know this, and are up to the task, however.

“A lot of people in Europe were surprised I chose Angel City, but they don’t watch NWSL,” Jónsdóttir said. “In Germany we would have four or five games a year that were hard. Here, you can lose every single game.”

It’s important to also note that while Parsons has an impressive coaching resume, this is his first stint as a GM. It’s going to take time before the results fully blossom.

Next off season will be the first transfer window with both Straus and Parsons a part of the decision process. Strass needs time to implement his tactics, to find his players and get settled into an entirely new country and culture. It’s why the two-month break in the middle of the season has been particularly beneficial for Angel City.

The team can’t waste time though, even if the realistic end result for this season is another off season watching the playoffs. It will be hard to swallow for a fan base that was promised trophies from the start. There has to be improvement in the team’s play by the end of the season. It can’t be another offseason of self reflection looking for answers within.

So far the moves feel like hits. Both the coach and the players brought in reflect a new seriousness and a willingness to acknowledge the club hasn’t lived up to expectations. Being able to say that, while nice, doesn’t change the results. For a club that has talked the talk quite a bit, we are all very ready for them to walk the walk as well. I do believe Angel City are on the right track, but it’s still uncertain when the sun will rise on the future that they are intending to create.

Photography by Kyle Scoble for Urban Pitch.