For Alyssa and Gisele Thompson, Angel City 2.0 holds promise

When Angel City selected Alyssa Thompson with the No. 1 pick in the NWSL draft two years ago, she had two choices: take what the team offered or pass up the chance to play in the NWSL.

But last month, when the team came to Thompson and her sister, Gisele, with contract extensions, their choices were almost unlimited.

“They both have attracted considerable attention from multiple Champions League clubs,” said Takumi Jeannin, the players’ agent. “Pretty much every top team in Europe showed interest at some point.”

The Thompsons chose Angel City anyway.

“We’re very committed to Angel City,” Alyssa said. “We love being here and playing in front of our friends and family. Angel City is putting a lot of effort and resources into their players and the team shows their commitment to the future and developing us.

“So I felt like Angel City would be is a really good place for us to continue growing.”

In doing so the sisters, L.A. natives, chose community over continental stardom. They chose building a club at home over contributing to one overseas and chose to reward the people who gave them a chance rather than taking a chance on people who promised rewards.

That vote of confidence — and it’s a massive one — comes at a key moment for the team. Over its first three seasons Angel City lost more games than it won and conceded more goals than it scored. So as it enters its fourth season with a new majority owner in Willow Bay and a new sporting director in Mark Parsons, the team is looking for a new direction as well.

“This is Angel City 2.0,” Parsons said. “The foundation for having real soccer vision alignment is loud and clear and it’s perfect timing for it.”

Perfect for a couple of reasons. First, because Parsons is rebuilding with patience and purpose. Turning around a soccer team is a lot like turning around a cruise ship in that it has to be done slowly and with care. So while Angel City has added five players this winter and re-signed five more, it is willing to wait until deep into the season to sign a coach — it opened training camp last month with an interim manager in Sam Laity — if that’s what it takes to find the right person.

“We can’t make decisions based on emotion,” said Matt Wade, the team’s assistant general manager. “We have to be rational, thoughtful, intentional and make decisions that are aligned to a strategy that we’ve created.

“We would much rather get it [right] than get it wrong quickly.”

However the team has assured the foundation that new coach will build on will include two of the most dynamic young players in the U.S. Alyssa Thompson, 20, a forward and one of the fastest players in the NWSL, has already played 53 matches for Angel City and, in 2023, became the second-youngest women to play for the U.S. in a World Cup. Gisele, 19, helped the U.S. finish third in last summer’s U-20 World Cup and has already been called into training camp with the senior national team twice.

On Monday, Parsons added to that, sending $300,000 in transfer funds to Bay FC for defender Savy King, the second pick in last season’s NWSL draft. Three days before that, he signed former Japanese World Cup veteran Miyabi Moriya.

The second reason the timing is right for Angel City is because the Thompsons’ decision to stay through 2028 bucks a growing trend in women’s soccer. Last month Naomi Girma, Alyssa Thompson’s World Cup teammate, became soccer’s first million-dollar woman when she left San Diego and the NWSL to join Chelsea of England’s Women’s Super League for a record $1.1-million transfer fee. In the last two weeks NWSL MVPs Kerolin and Crystal Dunn and Gotham defender Jenna Nighswonger also left the NWSL for Europe, bringing to 11 the number of USWNT players on the continent.

“They’re believing in the vision,” Parsons said of the Thompsons. “They’ve believed in what we’ve shared and we have to repay that.”

That vision includes more than just signing players. A week before the contract extensions for the Thompsons were announced, Angel City unveiled its multimillion-dollar performance center, the largest and most opulent in the NWSL. Under the new ownership group headed by Bay, the dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, and her husband, Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger, Angel City is also investing is analytics, technology, even a sensory deprivation tank to accelerate recovery from games and training.

Then there’s Parsons, who didn’t come cheap after winning six trophies in as many seasons as coach of the Portland Thorns. But perhaps his biggest success there was in developing teenage players such as Olivia Moultrie, Ellie Carpenter and Sophia Smith at a time when teens were rare in the NWSL. Angel City will have at least four, including Gisele Thompson, this season and two 20-year-olds in King and Alyssa Thompson. Parsons believes that track record is another reason the Thompsons decided to stay.

“You’ve got to do it the right way and you’ve got to be there, you’ve got to support [them],” said Parsons, 38, who joined Angel City three weeks ago. “You’ve got to understand with young players there’s ups and downs. They are young. They’ve got to go through stuff on the field and learn how to deal with it.”

Keeping them also required significant investment from Bay, Iger and team president Julie Uhrman. Alyssa’s first Angel City contract, according to her agent, was worth $1 million over three seasons, making it the richest in the club’s short history. Gisele signed last winter, the day before her 18th birthday, for a reported $525,000 over three years, plus bonuses and stipends. The extensions, both sides said, included raises that likely pushed the combined value close to $2 million.

For the Thompsons, it was the commitment that counted.

“Angel City is just really committed to the future and I think they’re committed to us,” Alyssa said. “That’s a big factor in signing with the club. We really want to win and help bring home a championship to L.A.”

⚽ You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week’s episode of the “Corner of the Galaxy” podcast.