what’s in a rivalry?

Rivalries are formed in a variety of ways, except on paper. 

Angel City FC and San Diego Wavé have all the ingredients for a clasico: proximity, NWSL debutantes in 2022, San Dimas native Alex Morgan playing for the “rival” side, San Diegiño and former USWNT superstar Julie Foudy is a founding member of ACFC. Serena Williams, also an ACFC founding member, sponsors SDWFC with her lifestyle brand Will Perform (if you follow both Wave and Williams on Instagram, you’ve probably noticed her in the comments).

So there is plenty of crossover waiting to boil over into something bigger. But it’s not there yet, and honestly it feels (TO ME) a bit forced. The players did seem hyped after the win. Not sure if it was because they beat ACFC away or just relieved to secure 3 points from a game neither team probably deserved points from, but more on that later.

Anyway, after the deadlock broke in the 75th via Sofia Jakobsson’s wonder run and banger, SDWFC’s twitter admin was firing off tweets like “Sofia said shhhh” when she in fact did not say shh, “SD > LA”, and “SOCAL BELONGS TO SD.” I have no idea what that last one even means. As far as the second one, I think only people in one of two cities make this city comparison a personality trait. I also think these same types have some political and demographic similarities that shape this hate, but that’s for a mirror to figure out, not me 🙂.  

[side note: a friend, years ago, made a comment that I still think of when SD and LA things are discussed. He said SD is like a watchtower between two vibrant art scenes (LA and Tijuana). Instead of being powered by spill-over from both scenes, they both attract art away from SD, particularly music.]

Before the NWSL came to Southern California, these two cities only had one consistent sport where top-level teams competed: baseball. Unless you’re a new fan, you know Dodgers fans care more about the Bay Area team up north than the one south. Is that changing though? Probably. With the Padres finally knocking LA out of the playoffs in 2022 and spoiling their 111-win campaign (imagine doing all that work just to get cooked by a team you beat 14 times in the regular season lmao), a rivalry may have been rejuvenated for both sides now.  

I think folks see rivalries as something set in stone, like a tradition. That may be true for teams that have deeper histories within a sport, but rivalries can also be fluid, particularly with teams lacking history. So what triggers the change…I’ll give some personal examples for a little context.

From 1996-2006, the San Diego Padres made the playoffs 4 times. One of those was a memorable World Series run. The rest were 3 sorry eliminations, where the Padres won 1 game out of 10 played, all to the St. Louis Cardinals. Plenty of baseball fans dislike that team, but the eliminations felt personal and after losing Game 1 to them in 2020, all that dread and anger boiled up again. 

In 2010, a Padres team not expected to compete, led the division for most of the season. Even though San Diego dominated the season series 12-6, the Giants went on a late-season run, the Padres collapsed, and the playoffs were missed. Within that season, only 3 of the 18 games they played each other had a final score difference of more than 3 runs. They played 4 games that ended 1-0 and 9 total 1-run games, and not to mention the final series of the season was between the two. Giants went on to win the World Series that year and kicked off a run of 3 championships in 5 years. The intensity of the 2010 games and season, coupled with a variety of unlikable guys on their team playing multiple years there, created a stretch where (I FELT) most Padres fans hated the Giants for a while, more than any team. 

The current Wave rival I would say are Portland Thorns. The 2022 champions took San Diego out of the playoffs in a heartbreaking fashion and I know that Challenge Cup win was the most gratifying this season, even if both squads weren’t at full strength. 

All this rant to say ACFC-SDWFC doesn’t feel like a genuine rivalry, yet. They’ve played close  games but the intensity is not there at all. But that can also be because nothing has been at stake. Despite playing 5 close matches against each other, none of those games felt like there was anything big to lose. There haven’t been controversial calls or nasty encounters to kickstart the fire. Well until this silly behavior from Angel City’s Paige Nielsen:

(you can see the inchident in the build up to the first goal)

Calling for a foul online is silly enough, but posting a video getting bodied into the Netherrealm is wild (disclaimer: this is absolutely funny only because she did not get hurt). Whether it was a foul or not, the NWSL refs stink overall.

She eventually deleted the tweet, but I hope it was seen by some Wave players to generate in-game banter next time they meet.

[side note: as far as derby names go, ChanClasico is clever enough, just something weird about non-latine folks using it. Would also be a fan of the “Dis Foo Derby”.]

A CONVERSATION NEEDS TO BE HAD

The match, it was sloppy. Both teams were below 70% in passing accuracy, only 5 shots total made it on goal, and Wavé generated an abysmal 0.4 xG. That’s consecutive matches (both wins) with an xG below 0.5. Last season, they finished matches with an xG below 0.5 just twice.

My biggest takeaway from the match is Alex Morgan and her inability to connect passes in the attacking third. FB Reference has been tracking NWSL numbers since 2019 and Morgan has a career 60.2% pass completion rate. This season she is at 58.3%. Over 365 days, she is in the 6 percentile among forwards around the world in pass completion. That’s not good! But it’s also fine if you’re scoring a ton which she was. Morgan was credited with an assist after a nice layoff to an oncoming Makenzy Doniak that freed her up to score the second Wave goal (although it was arguably an own goal?).

There have been too many instances where Morgan plays these wild passes upfield to no one instead of connecting a more accessible pass. These passes end up turning over possession and killing momentum.

The broadcast was also talking up what Morgan does off the ball and I noticed multiple times where Amirah Ali was dropping deep to help on defense and Morgan was nowhere to be found as an outlet. 

The solution is probably moving Morgan to a traditional winger role and letting someone else play up the middle who can connect passes at a higher rate, or who plays better with their back to goal. 

Morgan (thigh) was listed questionable for the next match against last place (respectfully) Orlando Pride so this could be a chance for Casey Stoney to experiment with a new front 3 and give Morgan a rest.   

TAKE MY MONEY

I was trying to access the team store a week or so ago and it was down for maintenance or construction, I don't remember. I was hoping it meant they were going to dump a bunch of new apparel, but after checking today, it doesn't seem like it…nothing exciting anyway. The pink away shorts are cool but nowhere to be found on the site. Sick!

Never got around to writing about the underwhelming design of their 2023 kits, but I will say I wish I could see them in person. They look like they have more texture on them that photos haven’t captured well. I’ll also add $125 for a very meh kit is not an accessible price. Usually replica kits or training tops are more budget-friendly options, but the team doesn’t sell the black training tops and the replica “Stadium Jersey” is still $90, and $125 if you want a name. 

But the biggest beef here is the customization upcharge. I understand the $35 upcharge for customization, but I don’t understand not having printed kits of the best players (Morgan, Girma and Shaw) available at $125 without the upcharge, or even at $135. 

The most expensive jersey I’ve purchased is a custom replica Yu Darvish in Padres away brown. It’s also the only “real” Padres jersey I own and the only jersey from any sport with a name on the back. It took one of my favorite pitchers of all time and a full redesign of the team color scheme for me to commit the money it would take to own a Wave kit. I’d absolutely drop $170 for a Naomi Girma kit but 1) they haven’t extended her a new contract, 2) the kit is on the edge of being ugly, cmon. Here’s to hoping for a midseason flash sale with printed name kits.

NEXT MATCH - April 29, Orlando Pride (12th, 0-0-4, 0 pts)

This post is long enough and kick off is less than two hours away so as stated earlier, Orlando Pride are in last place, yet to secure a point. Playing at home, even without Morgan potentially, this should be a match San Diego controls and secures a stress-free 3 points from. 

But it’s also NWSL After Dark hours so…