Angel City FC Documentary Review - Episode 3

Episode 3

-Sydney Leroux is brought onto the team as a replacement for Cristen Press who is out with an ACL injury. But that isn’t the point of the cold open. The open is all about the clash between Freya Coombe and Eni Aluko. This feels like it has been a subplot for the entire series to this point. When the show was released, fans know what the outcome is of the building tension between Freya and Eni. Spoiler maybe, at the time of this writing, Freya is also no longer with the team. I have my own thoughts about that, but they don’t relate to the show, so we’re moving on!

-Julie presents the idea that if you love the club you will want to keep showing up for the team. IDK about that. I think fandom will survive the test of time but would I spend money to see a team that was not winning? No. As a fan of struggling teams who pays for the league broadcast packages, I find it a chore to watch a team playing mediocre when compared to the rest of the league. There is a specific set of fans that will stick it out with the team, forever and always. I think it’s short-sighted to think the excitement around the team during this first season will be enough to keep people showing up 5, 10,15 years from now. At some point, the winning of games deserves more focus in the story of ACFC.

-Simone meets one of her soccer idols in Brianna Scurry. It’s nice to know that the athletes of today, who have their own set of young fans, get to meet and fangirl to their own sports idols. Just another varietal of humanity brought to the team by the show.

-Julie defines the situation at ACFC with a great analogy, “the tension of trying to fly the plane while it’s being built” This is a fundamental point to the first season of this show and for the team. The mountains that exist for an expansion team are tall and the challenges ACFC is running into make it more difficult.

-As a great demonstration of the plane being built, the team is moved to yet another training facility but the way ownership and the front office are talking about the move, this will be their last move. Vanessa Gilles says what we’re all thinking about the team being a great hype machine and getting the numbers but there are some realities for the players that have to do with training facilities that are not being met in this first season. Julie then comes on and agrees that there are standards ownership has not been able to meet. They are working towards that goal.

This sequence provides a moment of clarity the struggle the organization has to go through. I see this and I think about the record the team has right now in their second season. It isn’t good and the team does not look like a playoff team. However, knowing where the team has come from and seeing this struggle while watching the training staff play the role of movers on top of their regular jobs. I take a step back and tell myself to enjoy the ride in these early seasons. The team is doing all they can to make a name for themselves in the league and in a crowded sports city. I trust they will get there, it is my job to support them through it all and enjoy the ride. Julie (ownership) is eyes open to the responsibility of what they need to do for the players. You feel good about hearing it directly from those who can cause the change.

-SD comparison to ACFC and their approaches. I hate to bring it back to this all the time, but the high-end players that can’t be on the field for ACFC are the difference between the fact that SD is #1 in the standings and ACFC is in the last playoff spot. UPDATE: ACFC beat SD last weekend. It was an awesome game and it was on a channel we get! Got to watch the whole thing. This was also the first game after the Interim Coach took over for ACFC.

-No-trade approach, Freya is asked and she dodges the question by drinking water in the interview with HBO. Eni talks about the culture and meaning of having a no-trade clause. What’s really frustrating is that since this was filmed, Natalie Portman went on a podcast and explained that the no-trade deal was meant to be a one-season thing because there was a history of players moving to a new team being moved around and they are never able to get comfortable with the process when they think they might get moved. This is fair but is never explained in the show. There was plenty of opportunity to explain the nuance and it was never covered. Winning fixes a lot of things, and the injuries are taking their toll in the first season and in this season.

-Eni leaves the team.

-When ACFC plays Gotham, Natalie is talking to the league commissioner. The frustration I expressed during the second episode is cleared up here when Natalie talks about her own experience of watching the games on TV and the weaknesses of the coverage. I don’t expect the commissioner to divulge coverage secrets while the documentary cameras are pointed at her, but rather than talk about what the league is doing to fix the issue, the answer is “look at the NCAA and putting games on at a time when people will watch.” The sense of urgency I feel doesn’t match what is being presented in the documentary. I would expect the head of the league to have a more definitive answer for one of the major owners. Certainly, I’d expect an answer that is more than “game times”. The solutions are complicated I’m sure. Since the league is entering a new era with a team and ownership group like ACFC’s, they should be striking while the iron is hot. The answer might be complicated, but the answer to one of the owners when they express their frustration with coverage should be more direct than “game times.” Are there discussions with the producers? How can the league leverage the numbers ACFC is seeing? What are the actions being taken and where are the conversations that will improve the exposure of the league 2,3,5 seasons from now? The urgency I feel is the diminishing returns on value created by the names and vigor of an ownership group. When the product on the field starts to drive value and ownership groups like ACFC’s can spend their time expanding the brand rather than asking TV coverage questions and getting indirect answers.

Caveat: we saw 12 seconds of a longer conversation, there may have been more details but it really felt like the commissioner was in the conversation for the celebrity face-to-face rather than actively addressing the concerns of a team owner.

-Angela Hucles is the new General Manager and she shows the permanent facilities the team is using. There is a great moment where she looks at the ice baths players use for recovery and we see the attention to detail from Angela. The tubes that feed the tubs are too small. It’s a small detail but it’s a nice touch to know that the players are being supported in that moment, even when they are not in the facility. If Angela and her staff are paying attention to these kinds of details, we can be assured that other important details are also being thought about.

-Lyon contacts the team about Vanessa Gilles and Gilles ultimately goes to Lyon on loan. I’m repeating myself but this hurts to watch knowing what skill level is leaving the team. I want all these players to make as much as they can when they can in their careers. This is a move that is great for the player and while ACFC is going to suffer in terms of talent level, if you are not enough of a draw to keep players on your team, this is what happens. This is the painful side of supporting a team. More often than not, the prime of a players’ career does not match up with a team’s window to win championships. ACFC is set up for being the team players want to play for, but that isn’t the case in ACFC’s first season.

-Sexual misconduct shakeup: An independent investigation found there was verbal and sexual misconduct by former coaches. The worst part is that it seems like there were multiple layers of failure that led to players being abused. I’m glad there is a change coming to the state of women’s sport and the NWSL with ACFC leading the way. I hope with the signing of a CBA and the change in ownership groups will give players the protection and the voice to be heard when they need to be heard.

-Alyssa Thompson drafted. To end the first season on a high note, we get to see ACFC pick first in the draft and they take Alyssa Thompson. Hope springs eternal and hope comes in the form of a High School national team talent.

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed the show. I think the show had several audiences to appeal to and I think they told the story of a new team in the NWSL, owned and operated by a majority women ownership group. We got to hear from the players about what’s important and we saw the ramifications when the team isn’t settled with their facilities or their Front Office. I like that we get to see or hear about the missteps along the way. If this had been all roses and candy for three episodes I would suspect they were putting a candy coating over everything.

Culture being front and center was refreshing. There are a lot of villains in the ownership of men’s teams. To support a team with an ownership group that has empathy and wants to be inclusive is a new and welcome concept to my fandom journey. I loved that we got to see the players and fans talk about what the team and the league mean to them. The story of ACFC and the NWSL is a piece of the road women’s sport is traveling and this documentary is a glimpse into the struggle.

I think the future is bright. I hope they make another season of this show. If they do, I’m sure I will be here again, giving you my thoughts. Thanks for sticking around!

CHR;)