Angel City FC to host Mexico Women’s National Team in Labor Day friendly

Angel City FC announced on Monday they will host the Mexico Women’s National Team in a friendly at The Banc on Monday, September 5 at 6 pm PT.

The Labor Day friendly will come during an international window, so El Tri Feminil should bring a fairly strong squad for the Los Angeles showdown. The game, billed the Copa Angelina, is said to be the first of a planned series of similar clashes as part of a deal between Angel City, the FMF and Soccer United Marketing, the marketing arm of MLS ownership.

Season ticket holders will get free access to the Sept. 5 friendly as part of their ticket package, unless they opt out of the game. There will be a pre-game fanfest at the stadium and a concert as well, the act to be announced at a later date. For those who can’t make it, the game will also be televised on the Televisa/Univision family of networks in the U.S. and Mexico.

Courtesy of Angel City FC.

“We are excited to partner with the FMF and SUM to host this first-of-its-kind annual event featuring a national team and a professional team and bringing together our communities, cultures, cities, and countries,” said ACFC President Julie Uhrman in a team statement. “We look forward to growing Copa Angelina year after year. We hope to set an example of what is possible when two organizations come together, celebrating our commonalities and differences, as we gather our communities to enjoy the beautiful game.”

Mexico are set to host the Concacaf W Championship next month in Monterrey, and the Mexico WNT program has been working to build back up to being a budding power in the region. The success of Liga MX Feminil seems to really be starting to pay off on the national team, and under Mónica Vergara, a former El Tri international and the senior national team’s first woman manager, there is optimism they have turned a corner and can eventually truly compete with regional powers Canada and the United States in the coming years.

Normally, we don’t see club team vs. national team friendlies as big events, usually these kinds of cross-stream matches are more training scrimmages than anything. But it will be interesting to see what happens, and with Angel City FC now hosting a friendly against both Tigres UANL Feminil and the Mexico Women’s National Team in the coming months, it sure looks like the club is interested in becoming a regional power themselves. And who knows, maybe one of the players we see face the Angels will one day join the team herself. Time will tell.

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