Angel City FC heads to North Carolina amid slim playoff hopes

Angel City Football Club’s playoff chase took a massive hit last week and could come to official end Friday.

Angel City started last week with 22 points, but was docked three points due to an NWSL investigation that turned up salary cap violations.

To its credit, Angel City (7-12-4, 22 points) picked up those lost points with a 1-0 victory over the Seattle Reign. However, heading into Saturday’s visit to North Carolina, Angel City is still six points, instead of three points, out of the eighth and final playoff spot.

“Players always find a way to come together and that’s what they did tonight,” Angel City coach Becki Tweed said after the win last Friday in Seattle. “The message was that we are here to do a job. We are here to leave everything we have on the field. As a group, we are here to get every ounce that we can out of each other and get the best out of each other.

“The message is always the same. We want to go into every game with a mentality that we can win, perform, and outplay anybody, and I think we showed up tonight.”

To keep its playoff hopes alive, Angel City needs a win against the Courage. A loss or draw could see those hopes come to an end.

“We can’t focus on what we can’t control,” Tweed said. “We have another game that we need to head into and we have three points to get. Then we have two more games we have to get three more points in.”

“All we can control is how we show up every day. All we can control is the performance that we put forward. For the last three games, you can see this group is going to fight until the end no matter what it takes. Three points in the next three games is all that we are focused on.”

The Courage sits in fifth place (38 points) and has already clinched a playoff berth.

Fuller, Phair headed to U-17 World Cup

Kennedy Fuller (U.S.) and Casey Phair (Korea Republic) have joined their respective national teams for the FIFA U-17 World Cup in the Dominican Republic.

The U.S. and Korea Republic are in Group B, along with Colombia and Spain.

Phair, 17, made the South Korean national team for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

NOTES

Christen Press’ next appearance will be her 100th career in the NWSL. …Madison Hammond picked up a fifth yellow card last week and will be forced to sit out the game. …Alyssa Thompson earned NWSL Best of XI honors for September.

ANGEL CITY FC at NORTH CAROLINA COURAGE

When: 4:30 p.m. Saturday

Where: WakeMed Soccer Park, Cary, N.C.

How to watch: ION