Angel City FC: league-changers with a top defensive record

Next up are the centre backs. Coombe said: “Their main job is to defend the goal. It’s important they don’t get pulled into wide areas in the defensive third, making sure they are present within the width of the goal and protecting that space. We try to keep our centre backs home as much as possible.”

Over the course of the season, City have employed a number of formations – most of which accommodate one, sometimes two, defensive midfielders.

One of the key defensive roles they have is defending the cut back, something Coombe says the team have been looking at on the back of research from the Women’s World Cup about where most goals are scored.

Alongside her clear focus on the detail, there’s one other thing the Angel City head coach views as the key to a successful backline - a die-for-the-cause approach.

“A lot of it is about behaviours,” she says, “The willingness of the team to get behind the ball, and put their body on the line. 

“I think that’s about attitude. And that’s created in the practice environment and within the team culture. That’s down to the players themselves. 

“It’s having that willingness to defend, being proactive and having that mental battle with the opponent. You want them to feel like you’ve got the upper hand.

“You don’t want to ever give that attacker the moment to take charge within the game. Can we get in there from the get-go and set the tone?

“That’s where recruitment comes in, [looking for] players that are willing to literally put their body on the line to be able to prevent a goal going in.”

Angel City’s 27-strong roster includes US veteran Christen Press and their captain, New Zealand’s third-most capped player, Ali Riley.

One of the lesser-known names is Megan Reid, who signed following a trial as a non-roster invitee. She had been working as an emergency medical technician, believing her soccer career was done.

But the 26-year-old stepped into the void created by the preseason injuries to defenders, and has played every minute of every game for City this year.

We often look at where a team finishes in the standings as a judgement on their season.

On paper, then, Angel City’s eighth place - only missing out on their target of making the post-season playoffs on the final weekend - may not appear an unqualified success.

But, in truth, it is stories like Reid’s that tell the true tale. And Angel City is overrun with successes beyond the numbers. 

Coombe said: “We wanted to fully engage with the community and be competitive.

“If you look at the history of expansion teams within the league, they’ve typically finished either bottom or in the bottom two. We wanted to change that this year. 

“We set our sights on making the playoffs, but also making sure we were able to change what the league looked like, and what the standard looked like in terms of gameday experience, attendance, and in terms of some of our initiatives we were doing off the field.”

Gameday experience is something which Coombe believes sets City apart from other clubs in the league. 

Banc of California Stadium, the team’s 22,000-seater arena, has, more often than not, sold out for home games. When it doesn’t sell out, it’s still pretty full. The lowest attendances have been at the 17-18,000 mark.

“For us, it’s the number of fans we have and the noise and volume,” says Coombe. “It’s the noisiest ground in the league.

“We have a fantastic stand full of supporters’ groups that are on their feet, banging drums, singing, bouncing and jumping throughout the whole game. 

“You can’t hear any information that’s going on to the field. That energy is really channelled into our players - they feed off it and it makes it a really magical atmosphere. 

“It’s electric. We’re very grateful that that’s our home base.”

One thing that’s special about Angel City is its vision to be ‘not just another football club’ - to make an impact on and off the soccer field, standing ‘side by side’ with the community’.

Outreach initiatives - such as delivering meals to those in need, funding female entrepreneurs, refreshing school gardens, donating soccer balls and training soccer coaches - give as much back to the area as the fans give to the team out on the pitch.

Given the club was starting from nothing, on-field and off-field targets were all the more ambitious. And for Coombe, a blank page provided both opportunities and challenges.

"We had no history to work on. We could come in and create the narrative around it..."

“We had an opportunity to completely create the culture that we wanted to see within the club, the team and the players,” she explains.  

“We have no history to work on in terms of ‘we’re a losing team’, or ‘we’re a winning team’. We could come in and completely create the narrative around that. 

“But, in the same vein, you come into a club and there is no process. There’s not even a flip chart and a pen or a tactics board. 

“You have to go around and create everything, buy everything, create that inventory, and also establish processes.

“What time is our daily meeting? Are we having mornings, or are we having afternoons? There’s nothing to work on.

“That was great and challenging at the same time.”

It’s clear, though, that challenging isn’t something Coombe shies away from. It comes through loud and clear in her advice to other coaches.

“I think the biggest thing is just put yourself in situations where you can learn.

“Try to speak to other coaches, talk about the game as much as you can,” she says. “Also don’t wait till you’re ready, because you’re never ready.”

Going into the season, it would be easy to assume that new team Angel City weren’t ready. How they proved them wrong.