This article was researched and coauthored by Janai Williams.
Angel City fell to the North Carolina Courage 2-1 on Sunday, cementing a slow month for the football club. Going 1-for-6 in May, the team’s ranking dropped to 12th in the NWSL heading into the league’s World Cup break.
Following a scoreless first half, North Carolina’s Evelyn Ijeh scored the game’s first goal in the 48th minute. Three minutes later, Angel City answered with a goal by Maiara Niehues, tying the match in the 51st minute.
After a tireless back-and-forth, including two crucial saves by Angelina Anderson, the Courage sealed Angel City’s fate with a 79th-minute goal by Manaka Matsukubo.
“In all of these games, we do enough to win, and that’s the frustrating part,” head coach Alex Straus said post-game. “The structure and organization today were good. We created some big chances at the end, and we should have scored. Strategically, we were good today. We need to do more with the ball, and we need to ask ourselves why these things keep happening to us.”
This is now the sixth game Angel City has lost by a goal this season, with ACFC captain Sarah Gorden saying, “We need to go back to the drawing board and figure it out because we need to put our chances away and do a better job of keeping the ball out of our net.”
What are Angel City FC players doing over the NWSL break?
While the NWSL pauses for the month of June, players across the league will compete in the FIFA World Cup.
Angel City defender Gisele Thompson is set to represent the USWNT in what would be her 11th appearance with the team. In her first 10, she notched one assist and was a contributing factor in the SheBelieves Cup, where the US went 3-0 against Argentina, Canada and Colombia.
Midfielder Ary Borges will join the Brazil National team after scoring nine goals in 52 appearances with the squad.
Forward Claire Emslie is set to return to the Scotland National Team after making 69 appearances for the team since her debut in June of 2013. She has played 4,751 minutes for Scotland, scoring 14 goals and assisting on 11.
Angel City FC will resume play after the break on July 3 at home against the Orlando Pride.
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