LOS ANGELES — Both Angel City Football Club and the Portland Thorns entered Monday night’s match in a fight for their playoff lives.
The difference, was the Thorns were above the playoff line, despite suffering four consecutive losses.
For Angel City, this two-game homestand will go a long way toward determining the club’s postseason fate.
At the sound of the final whistle, the teams were left to share the points in a 2-2 draw in front of a sellout crowd of 22,000 at BMO Stadium. The draw moves Angel City (6-11-4) up slightly to 22 points, still in 10th place in the 14-team NWSL, but three points behind Racing Louisville FC (6-8-7) for the eighth and final playoff spot with five matches left.
Angel City trailed 2-1 after Olivia Moultrie’s goal in the 64th minute. Fortunately for the hosts, they found an equalizer in the 76th minute when Claire Emslie took advantage of a spilled rebound by Portland goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold for the goal-line tap-in.
Late in stoppage time, Angel City thought it had a chance at a penalty kick, when Arnold and Messiah Bright collided. Arnold went up toward the ball, but in the process, trampled over Bright.
“I’ve seen it five times and my mind is blown,” Angel City coach Becki Tweed said. “I have no understanding, no explanation.”
The referee’s response to the pool reporter question was that “the ball was out of play,” adding that “according to Law 12, fouls and misconduct, direct and indirect and penalty kicks can only be awarded when the ball is in play.”
“I’m proud of the heart, fight and desire that we showed as a team. We created opportunities, put them under pressure, but it was unlucky to get rewarded for it. It was not the outcome we wanted, it could have gone either way.”
The Thorns (8-9-4, 28 points) opened the scoring in the second half on Morgan Weaver’s goal in the 49th minute. That goal wasn’t without some controversy. Behind the play, Alyssa Thompson was knocked to the…
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