It is a outcome born extra by probability than by plan. It’s extra serendipity than statistic and so trivial at that Thomas Angelo he did not know he’d made historical past when he got here off the bench for the ultimate 14 minutes of LAFC’s first away sport this season.
Ángel is the son of former Colombia striker Juan Pablo Ángel, who performed for the Galaxy and Chivas USA throughout a six-season MLS profession. So when Tomás made his LAFC debut in March, the Ángels grew to become the one household to have members play for all three Southern California MLS franchises.
“It’s like a coincidence,” Tomás mentioned after a latest LAFC coaching session, accepting the information extra with a shrug than a celebration.
“I hadn’t even considered it,” his father mentioned, equally deadpan, by telephone from Colombia.
Yet it is an achievement, one which will by no means be equaled since Chivas USA disbanded hours into the 2014 season, with LAFC rising from the ashes like a Phoenix 4 years later. But what Tomás, 21, actually needs to do is observe his father to an MLS Cup last, one thing solely two different father-son duos – Alex and Teal Bunbury and Gregg and Sebastian Berhalter – have completed.
First, although, he’ll should earn some enjoying time. In LAFC’s ahead rankings, Ángel is behind reigning MLS champion Denis Bouanga, Mateusz Bogusz, Cristian Olivera and Kei Kamara, who’ve scored 27 targets this season. As a outcome, Ángel made simply three MLS appearances off the bench – none lasting quarter-hour – in his rookie season, though he scored three minutes after approaching in Saturday’s 6-2 loss to San Jose, a victory that lifted LAFC again to the highest of the Western Conference standings.
That objective, Ángel’s first in MLS, made extra historical past as he and his father are solely the tenth father-son duo to each rating in an MLS common season match, and the one pair to take action for groups Los Angeles.
Even so, taking the sphere might turn into much more tough for Ángel when Olivier Giroud, the French nationwide staff’s all-time prime scorer, arrives from Europe subsequent month.
“That’s why I work on daily basis, I attempt to give my finest in coaching, to have these alternatives,” he mentioned. “As a participant, you wish to play extra.”
Ángel’s determination to signal with LAFC in January caused a homecoming of types, though Tomás might say the identical about many cities. Since his father performed for six groups in 5 cities and 4 nations, the youngest Ángel, the second of three kids, had traveled extensively by the point his father retired as a participant in 2014. He was born in Birmingham, England, the place his father’s father performed for Aston Villa, grew up in New York and attended major college in Southern California.
“I’ve childhood recollections of being on the seashore, actually experiencing every little thing that Los Angeles brings,” he mentioned. “As for soccer, I haven’t got many recollections.”
He began constructing these soccer recollections at 10, when the household returned to Colombia and Tomás joined the youth program of Atlético Nacional, his father’s first staff. He made his first-team debut in January 2021, and after enjoying 24 video games in 2023, scoring 5 targets, he mentioned he acquired presents from a number of MLS golf equipment.
LAFC, nonetheless, had an inside monitor, not solely due to Ángel’s fond recollections of Los Angeles, but additionally as a result of his father works for the membership, serving to handle negotiations with groups in South America. It has been a fruitful relationship for LAFC, which has seven South Americans on its roster.
But the choice about the place to go, Tomás mentioned, was as much as him.
Tomás Ángel, proper, tries to regulate a move from a Colombia teammate throughout a FIFA U-20 World Cup match towards Slovakia.
(Natacha Pisarenko/Associated Press)
“I actually thought this staff, specifically, might assist me develop due to the gamers that have been right here. And clearly the town has a variety of affect as a result of for a footballer it isn’t nearly soccer,” he mentioned. “When you end your schooling, you’ve a life. This metropolis is great.”
Yet it’s a metropolis he hopes to cross. His final objective is to play in Europe, like his father did. By advantage of his British beginning, younger Ángel has a British passport and sports activities an enormous tattoo of Big Ben on his left arm. (He additionally has one of many Brooklyn Bridge, an homage to the 4 years he spent in New York.) But as his father went from Colombia to Argentina to England, that path grew to become tougher. Preferred journey now goes by way of the MLS.
“Today’s league is a totally totally different league,” mentioned the elder Ángel, 48, who final week made his Copa América debut as a studio analyst with Fox Sports. “We used Argentina as a bridge to get to Europe. Now I believe MLS serves this goal for South Americans, particularly Colombians.”
Tomás agrees, saying that his father’s expertise influenced his profession.
“It’s a device you’ll be able to have with an individual who’s been by way of rather a lot,” he mentioned. “So it is regular to have these conversations when powerful occasions are coming and all that.”
As for the historical past the household has made in Southern California, the area now has a ladies’s skilled staff, Angel City, an much more becoming membership title for somebody bearing the final title Ángel. But there isn’t any probability the household may have anybody to play there till Tomás has kids of his personal.
“I haven’t got a daughter,” her father mentioned.
