Vanessa Gilles will play her first game in her new Angel City FC uniform on Friday against North Carolina Courage in the opening season of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).
In an interview with CBC this week, Quebecer admitted that the players and the organization have high goals for its expansion team.
We want to be better than all the other expansion teams, he says explicitly. The challenge we set ourselves was to get into the playoffs at the end of the season. We’re working hard for that, it’s not going to be perfect, but I feel like we’re a great team.
The player did not hide his enthusiasm on social media a few hours before the clash.
Who else is excited about this historic first home game? he wrote.
The team’s desire to be competitive in its first season is reflected in the quality of the players recruited. In addition to Vanessa Gilles, whose contract with Girondins de Bordeaux was bought by Angel City FC, there is also midfielder Savannah McCaskill and striker Christen Press, a two -time World Cup champion who played for Manchester United. .
All the players came carrying their baggage and their experience, but also found themselves inside a team where everything had to be done.
The beauty of being a new team is that everything is in front of a blank page, underlined the player from Châteauguay. Often, when you come to a team, there are already groups and tasks that you need to tune. It’s refreshing to create them together, do our own work and see what each individual can bring to the group. Fortunately, everyone has the same way of looking at things. I believe this will be a good season.
When she joined Angel City FC in December, Vanessa Gilles made no secret that the values of equality and inclusion espoused by her famous owners convinced her to leave Bordeaux.
The names of actress Eva Longoria and Natalie Portman, as well as tennis player Serena Williams, were the first to be mentioned when it comes to the owners of the Los Angeles team, but it should also be noted that 13 former US national teams own . sharing.
The first chapter of this new adventure for Vanessa Gilles and Angel City FC will be webcast on the Radio-Canada Sports website at 10:30 pm (EDT) with Olivier Tremblay in the description and Valmie Ouellet in the review.
Source: Radio-Canada