Angel City to kick off second season with international exhibition vs. Club América

Angel City FC will kick off its second season with an international exhibition against Mexico’s Club América on March 8 at BMO Stadium.

“It may be considered a friendly, but they’re an exceptional team with great talent,” said Julie Uhrman, Angel City’s president and co-founder. “It’s a club that’s played a number of times in the U.S. They want a global footprint and certainly to start to build their reach here in the U.S., so, it’s exciting to play against them.”

Uhrman said the idea for the game came from Club América, which will be eight matches into its season when it comes to Los Angeles for the exhibition.

“Angel City offers something very different,” Uhrman said. “We have an experience that is unparalleled in women’s sports, we have a fan base that shows up in numbers for every single one of our games and a large crossover in audience. If they want to elevate their brand in the U.S. and even on the global stage, you know, I think we’re the best opponent to do that with.”

América, sixth in the 18-team Liga MX Femenil table, has a roster heavy in Southern California products including Torrance’s Karina Rodríguez, a former UCLA player, Fountain Valley’s Jocelyn Orejel, Itzel González (UC San Diego), L.A.’s Scarlett Camberos (UC Irvine), and Orange’s Kiana Palacios (UC Irvine).

Angel City played two summer friendlies against Mexican teams last season, beating five-time Liga MX champion Tigres 1-0 in August, then losing to the Mexican national team 2-0 in September, with Camberos scoring the second goal. An Angel City visit to Monterrey for a rematch with Tigres this season has been put on hold.

Next month’s exhibition, to be played on International Women’s Day, is scheduled 2½ weeks before Angel City’s first NWSL game. The game could mark the professional debut of Studio City Harvard-Westlake senior Alyssa Thompson, who was taken with the top pick in last month’s NWSL draft.

“Every game for us is an opportunity to learn and grow and to certainly find out more about our team,” Uhrman said. “We have new players on our roster. We want to challenge them with the best so that we know what they’re like when they get into a pressure-filled regular-season game. So winning and losing might not be the most important thing for us. But seeing how our players react in our stadium with those fans against an exceptional team is only going to benefit us.”

The game will be preceded by a street fair with food trucks and a beer garden next to the stadium. Admission to the match is included in the team’s 12-game season-ticket package; individual-game tickets will go on sale next week.