Straus

Ever since she visited Los Angeles with her national team three years ago, Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir knew she wanted to play in the National Women’s Soccer League one day.

When the opportunity to play for Angel City presented itself, Jónsdóttir was eager to join the league and play for new Angel City coach Alexander Straus.

“When Angel City came up, I was just really excited about it,” she said. “I know Alex. I played against him when he was at Bayern and so I knew he was a great coach.”

Three new players have joined Angel City (4-3-6) during the past few months, delivering an infusion talent for a team that sits in 11th place in the 14-team NWSL standings. The league’s top eight teams advance to the playoffs.

Jónsdóttir, a forward with Icelandic national team experience, signed with Angel City on May 21. After finishing her stint with Frauen-Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg, Jónsdóttir joined her first Angel City practice on Tuesday afternoon.

Midfielder Evelyn Shores, who most recently played for the University of North Carolina, signed with Angel City on July 10. She has played for the U-23 U.S. women’s national team.

Goalkeeper Hannah Seabert, who was Sporting Clube de Portugal’s captain earlier this year, signed with Angel City on May 30 and has been training with the team for three weeks.

Seabert, a Riverside native and Pepperdine alum, spent most of her career playing abroad and wanted to return to the United States.

Angel City goalkeeper Hannah Seabert kicks the ball during a friendly against Bay FC on July 19 at PayPal Park in San Jose.

(Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

“As soon as Angel City opened up several years back, I just knew it was a team I wanted to be a part of,” she said of the franchise that began play in 2023.

When Seabert’s contract with Sporting CP expired, she pursued her goal of joining Angel City.

“When I came and visited here a couple weeks ago, it felt like a home away from home,” she said. “The facilities are amazing and the girls were so welcoming. It just felt right when I came here.”

Angel City sporting director Mark Parsons said the new players earned contracts because they aligned with the vision for the future of the club: winning.

“Who are the players that we believe represent where we’re going and can play for Angel City when we’re fighting for trophies,” Parsons said, referring to the question Angel City leaders asked before signing any new players.

While the new players present an infusion of fresh talent, Angel City also is benefiting from the return of a familiar face.

Forward Jun Endo, who tore her ACL in February 2024, played for the first time in 18 months during a friendly against Bay FC on Saturday. Endo was on the pitch for 30 minutes and scored the only goal of the game.

“If you’re missing a player like Jun Endo for as much time as Angel City has been missing her, of course it affects [the game] because you cannot replace a player like that,” said Straus, the team’s coach.

Angel City’s Jun Endo dribbles the ball during a friendly against Bay FC on July 19 at PayPal Park in San Jose.

(Icon Sportswire / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)

Straus said he expects Angel City to evolve and move closer to achieving its long-term championship goals with the new signees and Endo available to play.

Angel City, which is in the midst of an international break, plays a friendly Saturday against Carolina Ascent FC and resumes NWSL competition on Aug. 1 at Seattle Reign FC.

“Its not just about filling a roster,” Straus said. “We need quality. We need people who can make a difference for us and so we hope they will do this for us.

“We will be good now, but we will be better in January.”

Mary Alice Vignola scored the equalizer in the 80th minute and Angel City salvaged a 2-2 draw with the Chicago Stars at BMO Stadium on Saturday night.

Angel City (4-4-3) took a 1-0 lead into halftime on Kennedy Fuller’s goal from inside the box in the 29th minute.

Chicago (1-8-2) made it 1-1 just before the hour mark when an attempted cross from substitute Nadia Gomes took a wild deflection and looped over the head of goalkeeper Angelina Anderson.

The Stars went up 2-1 up when Ally Schlegel scored from 25 yards out in the 66th minute. Anderson got one hand to the shot but could only tip the ball onto the crossbar and into the back of the net.

Vignola rocketed in a rebound from close range to make it 2-2.

The tie was Alex Straus’ first game as Angel City coach. Straus, who has never previously coached in the NWSL, arrived from Bayern Munich last week.

Alexander Straus was fewer than two weeks from his first training session as Angel City FC coach. Yet, Angel City CEO and co-founder Julie Uhrman wanted to see her new manager at work.

She flew to Portugal, where Straus was completing his three-season stint as FC Bayern Munich coach — a club the 49-year-old Norwegian led to three consecutive Frauen-Bundesliga titles and a 57-7-2 league record.

As Uhrman watched Straus coach Bayern Munich at the inaugural World Sevens Football tournament, she already was familiar with his technical acumen that was on display en route to a championship victory over Manchester United. That was not a surprise.

But what caught Uhrman’s attention was Straus’ relationships with his players.

Angel City coach Alex Straus speaks to reporters during his first news conference while club president and co-founder Julie Uhrman looks on and laughs Wednesday in Thousand Oaks.

(Al Seib/For The Times)

“What I saw was something that you don’t get in an interview process and you don’t read on the [curriculum vitae,]” Uhrman said. “The connection he had with his teams was palpable. The way that they would celebrate him, the joy that they brought him, and vice versa, was just something you can’t learn in an interview process and it’s something that’s so critical to Angel City.”

So, when Straus, reserved and quiet until he opened his mouth, began to speak during his introductory news conference Wednesday morning as the third Angel City head coach in four seasons since inception — with Uhrman and sporting director Mark Parsons bookending him at the podium — he leaned on his beliefs.

How Straus wants Angel City to play on the pitch, is the same as how he wants to interact with his players in the locker room — and the state-of-the-art performance center on Cal Lutheran University’s campus.

“My philosophy is centered around people,” said Straus, who asked the media to “bear with” his English after spending four years in Germany. “I’m here to facilitate for our players to be able to go out on a pitch, have a clear plan and know how to execute it.”

Straus continued: “I need to know people, and I need to know what makes them tick. So how can I get the best out of Sarah Gorden or Christen Press or Riley Tiernan or Alyssa Thompson? How can I get the best out of them?”

Earlier in his career, Straus said he overly cared about trophies, medals and success. In 2018, he said his worldview shifted. Straus — who said he considered previous coaching opportunities in America, but didn’t feel the timing was right — realized he needed to craft bonds and relationships with his players to cultivate a positive team culture, one that could lead to championships.

Uhrman saw the bonds on display in Portugal while Straus was still with Bayern Munich and Parsons has watched the baby steps Straus is taking with Angel City in his first few days as official coach.

“Through this process, Meeting 1 to Meeting 3, I just didn’t think this person existed,” Parsons said, adding that during the coaching search he spoke to Straus’ former players and staff. “I really mean that I didn’t believe this type of quality existed, and I couldn’t be happier that we’ve got him here.”

What stood out to Parsons, he said, was that even players who didn’t play much under Straus — who may have left for better opportunities — would still speak positively about the clarity, confidence that Angel City’s new coach provided them.

Straus — and the Angel City backroom staff — are well aware that winning isn’t an overnight process. The club sits in seventh place in NWSL standings with a 4-4-2 record. In some matches, Angel City has exerted control and played the style Parsons said he wants to see asserted. But in other matches, such as recent defeats to Bay FC and Racing Louisville, Angel City has faltered — often losing despite controlling possession. Uhrman stressed she wanted a coach who could help the team bounce back from defeat, or setbacks. She and Parsons believe Straus can do that.

He doesn’t take falling short lightly. When pushed on his UEFA Women’s Champions League record since 2022 on Wednesday during a side media session, Straus spent six-and-a-half minutes breaking down why Bayern Munich fell short in the quarterfinals or group stages, adding what he learned from each losing experience.

Straus said he’s always open to talking. Angel City players, however, will have only a few more days to get to know the new coach before Straus takes the touchline Saturday at BMO Stadium against the Chicago Stars.

“One thing is to win one year, one game,” Straus said. “But it needs to be consistent, and it needs to be built on a foundation where you are always the ones that have been spoken about when it comes to challenging for winning the championship.

“That’s why we are here, and that’s what we want to do.”