ACFC set to take on OL Reign tonight in Challenge Cup opener
The Challenge Cup will have a different feel for NWSL teams this season.
Instead of serving as a preseason tournament, the Challenge Cup will be played concurrently with the regular season, starting tonight. This is the fourth year of the tournament.
“It's definitely going to be different,” Angel City FC forward Katie Johnson said. “It's in the middle of the season and the games will have a different look and feel.
“At the beginning of the season, you're still trying to form bonds and relationships with players. Now that it's going to be mixed in, depth will be important for us, too.”
Angel City will kick off Cup play at home tonight against OL Reign. Angel City will face each of its Western Conference opponents — OL Reign, San Diego Wave FC and Portland — in home and away matches in the West Division.
Gotham FC, North Carolina, Orlando and Washington are in the East. Chicago, Houston, Kansas City and Racing Louisville FC are in the Central.
The top finisher in each division, along with the best second-place team, will move to the semifinals Sept. 6. The winners will advance to the finals Sept. 9.
A big change this year is the prize money. The prize pool is $1 million, twice as much as last season, thanks in large part to sponsor UKG. The exact breakdown of the prize money is still being finalized.
The challenge this season is on the coaching staffs and how they rotate players, while trying to field a competitive roster, but also with the league games in mind. For Angel City, tonight's game is the second of three in a nine-day span. ACFC, which played to a 2-2 draw against Racing Louisville FC on Saturday, will return to league play Sunday at home against San Diego Wave FC.
“I do prefer it (the Challenge Cup) dotted throughout the season as it is now,” Angel City coach Freya Coombe said. “I think front-loading it like last season, I think it was good for us, I'm not going to lie, in terms of our ability to play a number of games that were meaningful and competitive giving us time to get organized prior to the start of the season.
“Now, I'm a year in and I'm not an expansion club anymore, I much prefer it in the season. I think it gives an opportunity to give players minutes or starts and I think it's good for the squad to have that rotation.”
The only concern Coombe has, especially for the opening round, is playing Cup games coming off an international window, giving clubs a three-game period.