Angel City finding out what matters the most in L.A.: winning

It's been a terrible, terrible, no good, very bad season for Angel City FC. But this is not something the team is running away from.

“Did we get it all together this year?” team president Julie Urman asked. “No.”

In fact, the team has won just one of its last eight games; missed the playoffs for the third time in four seasons; saw a sharp drop in attendance; lost Alyssa Thompsonits best and most outstanding player to receive a million-dollar transfer; and watched two of its most decorated players – Ali Riley And Christen Press — to retire after a season in which they made two starts together.

For the sports director Mark ParsonsHowever, this was still considered progress. However, the team has a lot of work to do to reach the high bar of community impact. And success in football, which he has set as a dual target for his 2022 launch.

“This season we have laid all the foundations and all the elements that will allow us to compete for a championship from '26 onwards,” Parsons said. “And I'm very pleased with the success we've had. It'll help us win in the future.”

“Of course we would all like to win a couple more games,” he added. “But the priorities were: try to win, but build for the future.”

The die of the season, however, was cast in the smoldering embers of the deadly Palisades fire last January. That first night, when the Riley family home burned to the ground and other players were forced to move out, Parsons could see the flames from the gated estate in Brentwood. Bob Iger and Willow Baycontrolling owners of the City of Angels. He interviewed there for a job, which he got nine days later.

And he was very honest about what he thought the club needed.

“I looked at them and said, ‘We have a lot of work to do. If we're unlucky, it'll be a roller coaster ride. But by the end of the year we'll be very happy with our team,” Parsons recalled this month.

Part of the problem has to do with the way the City of Angels was built. In four seasons, the team had three general managers or athletic directors and four coaches, including interim manager Sam Laity. Parsons and Alexander Strausshis hand-picked coach, who started in June, was hired to shore up that creaky foundation and bring consistency to a team that had largely been running awry.

For Parsons, this essentially meant destroying everything and starting over. And if he had to sacrifice his first season to do it, he was willing to pay that price.

“We'll try to compete and win every game because that's why we're here,” he said. “We're not going to do it at the expense of building a championship winning team. This season is about building a future to not just get to the top, but to stay there.”

Thus, in the first nine months the team completed 29 transactions. In addition, seven players will not be re-signed when their contracts expire at the end of the year, including midfielder Madison Hammond and defender Megan Reed, who are 1-2 in club history, and Japanese defender Miyabi Moriya, a World Cup and Olympic veteran.

Of the additions, Parsons particularly rates midfielders Evelyn Shores and Hina Sugita, Icelandic striker Sveidis Jonsdottir and Zambian international Prisca Chilufya. All joined in the second half of the season, bolstering a core that included Rookie of the Year candidate Riley Tiernan and defenders Giselle Thompson, Sarah Gorden and Savie King.

Of those eight, only Gorden is over 28 years old, and the other three—Thompson, King and Shores—cannot legally buy beer in California. On Tuesday, Parsons will double down on one of those additions, announcing it has signed 28-year-old Sugita, a two-time World Cup player from Japan, until 2029.

“Most teams try not to do too much during the season. It can be unsettling,” Parsons said.

But for the City of Angels, every second mattered.

“The top teams in this league, who have been pretty consistent the last couple of years, have taken three years to get into the top four. We don't have three years,” Parsons said. “This city is expected to compete and win in a stadium that [is] is amazing and represents this community.”

That was not the case with the City of Angels, which was founded with strong community support and an ownership group of more than 100 people, including Hollywood stars, former U.S. national team players and wealthy investors. The idea was to create a team that would win games while making a deep and lasting impact on the community.

The Club certainly got the second half of that equation right, providing over 2.5 million meals and over 51,000 hours of education to youth and adults; distributing equipment and personnel for ongoing soccer programs for migrant children trapped at the U.S.-Mexico border; and direct $4.1 million to other programs in Los Angeles. Last week the club awarded $10,000 in grants and access to business coaching to 13 former players to help them move into the next stage of their lives.

Since the beginning of the game, Cities of Angels has been a welcoming place, especially for the LGBT community, and this has helped the team achieve a first or second place in the rankings. NVSL present in each of the four seasons.

“We strive to provide an environment of connection, community and belonging,” Urman said.

But at the same time, the club struggled on the field, reaching the playoffs only once, with a 30-42-24 record during that time. As a result, average attendance fell nearly 16% to 16,257 this year.

In their first three seasons, Angel City has only played in front of such a small crowd once, although the team still ranks second in the league behind only the Portland Thorns. To tie again, Urman admitted, he would have to try something new. Like a victory.

“Our goal is to be a dynasty on the field and a legacy off the field,” she said. “And for that to be true, we need to win on and off the field. We need to have a positive impact on the community and continue to make a difference, but we also need to win championships.”

Some of the team's most loyal fans are tired of waiting.

“I'm just disappointed in the team's performance,” said Caitlin Bryant of Burbank, a first-season season ticket holder who did not renew her contract for next year. “I'm done dragging myself to BMO. [Stadium] every other weekend until things change.

“The atmosphere is great. The atmosphere in the stadium is great. But watching a team lose game after game, season after season, it's tiring and not fun. I need the team to win.”

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