In the end, Angel City FC chose to stay in house for its new head coach, dropping the interim tag from Becki Tweed. But the decision came after serious deliberation.

The Los Angeles-based NWSL club was committed to finding the right fit. So committed, in fact, that Tweed was competing against roughly 52 candidates for the position, general manager Angela Hucles Mangano revealed Friday.

In the end, Tweed’s work in bringing together Angel City players in her months as interim head coach put her at the head of the pack. After stepping into the interim role in June, Tweed finished with a 6-1-4 record in the regular season, and she led the club to its first playoff berth.

“I think there was an early, very early inkling from the early success,” Mangano said Thursday. “But ultimately, and as [team president Julie Uhrman] mentioned before, one of the commitments that I had was to a thorough process.”

Angel City made sure to involve players in that process. But Mangano also didn’t want to make the search a distraction as they made their run to the playoffs.

“I did not want the process to be a distraction to Becky or the players,” Mangano said. “And so they kept winning and we wanted to be sensitive to the timing of their inclusion at the very end.”

Under Tweed’s leadership, the team went from 0.82 points per game to 2.0 while cutting goals against from 1.91 to 0.82. Angel City also had more success on tackles, goals scored and direct attacks.

Aside from that, Tweed also helped the club find its identity – something that players have been vocal about.

“She knows how we work,” M.A. Vignola said after Angel City beat Portland Thorns 5-1 on the final day of the NWSL regular season. “She knows how to say things to us and how each different player works. You can even just tell in training that she’s very in tune with everyone individually. That helps us as a collective because it helps talk to each other in certain ways or push each other.”

Even still, Angel City leaders had a timeline they wanted to follow. While they missed their initial Oct. 15 deadline by about a week, it was worth it to ensure that they hired the best possible person.

“It was also about having conversations internally to our staff just so that if there were questions that the expectation was known about what the timing did look like,” Mangano said. “I don’t think it was comfortable for anybody to be in that situation. But ultimately being able to get through the entire process being the goal and I think a very important one.”

With the interim tag officially dropped from her title, Tweed is excited to continue to build with Angel City into the 2024 NWSL season.

“It’s been an incredible journey and something that’s just started,” Tweed said Thursday. “I think we all look at: This is just a platform for us to grow from and move the needle and get bigger and better from next season.”

If any question remained about whether Becki Tweed deserves to have the interim tag removed from her head coaching title, it may have been answered Sunday when Angel City FC secured its first-ever playoff appearance.

Angel City FC did so with a resounding 5-1 win over the Portland Thorns, who have been one of the league’s best teams all season long. The win put an exclamation point on one of the greatest turnarounds in the NWSL.

After starting the season with a 2-3-6 record (W-D-L), the team fired head coach Freya Coombe and elevated assistant coach Tweed to interim head coach in her place. Since then, Tweed has proven she deserves a shot at a more permanent role, leading the team to the No. 5 seed in the NWSL playoffs.

Tweed started her tenure with an 11-match unbeaten streak across all competitions, and she finished with a 6-4-1 record in the regular season. Tweed spoke after Sunday’s win about the buy-in from players, and she shouted out her assistant coaches and her “incredible group of staff.”

“We’ve won games in these moments that haven’t just come down to the head coach or the player,” she said. “It’s a bigger squad than that. We say every day in the film room and at training, it’s not about 11 players, it’s about 26 people. We have players that graft and grind every day and don’t make a squad, but they keep going and they believe in the team.

“I can’t speak highly enough of how the group has come together. … I think the buy-in comes down to everybody being on the same page and having the same goal. I can’t speak highly enough about the team, the players and the staff that we have in and around every day that continue to push all the standards and the boundaries.”

For Angel City players, though, much of the success leads back to their head coach.

“I mean, Becki has done, can I say the eff word? Becki has done f—ing fantastic,” defender Sarah Gorden said. “She’s done a great job at holding us accountable, pushing us, knowing when to just manage players.

“She’s done great. I mean, you’ve seen the difference.”

In recent weeks, players have spoken about wanting to see Tweed take over the head coaching job on a permanent basis, noting that she has established a winning mentality and has given Angel City an edge they didn’t have before.

On Sunday, defender M.A. Vignola echoed that sentiment.

“She knows how we work. She knows the things [like], how she can say things to us and how each different player works,” she said. “You can even just tell at training that she’s very in tune with everyone individually and that kind of helps as a collective. Because it helps us be able to talk to each other in certain ways or push each other, get through s–t – the nitty and gritty – and that’s what she does best.”

Megan Rapinoe scored a brace in OL Reign’s 3-0 win against the Chicago Red Stars to clinch a spot in the 2023 NWSL playoffs.

Rapinoe headlined a banner NWSL Decision Day for U.S. women’s national team stars. The 38-year-old forward is set to retire after the season, but with her pair of goals, she assured Sunday’s match would not be her last.

Alex Morgan and Jaedyn Shaw each scored in the San Diego Wave’s 2-0 win, which sealed the NWSL Shield and the No. 1 overall seed for the club.

From an experienced veteran in Morgan, 34, to a teen phenom in Shaw, 18, the Wave represent the best of multiple generations for the NWSL and the USWNT as they splash into the postseason.

Midge Purce notched a goal for Gotham FC in their 2-2 tie with the Kansas City Current. M.A. Vignola scored and Sydney Leroux connected on a bicycle kick for Angel City FC in their 5-1 win over the Portland Thorns.

Stars from other national teams shined as well. Japan’s Jun Endo scored Angel City, while Hina Sugita scored for the Portland Thorns. Brazil’s Marta provided the lone goal for the Orlando Pride in their 1-0 victory over the Houston Dash.

For USWNT forward Trinity Rodman, though, Decision Day ended in disappointment. The 21-year-old forward received a red card early in the Washington Spirit’s 1-0 loss to the North Carolina Courage, and the Spirit narrowly missed out on the playoffs.