NWSL playoffs: KC Current outlasts North Carolina Courage to keep home championship hopes alive

The first NWSL semifinal matchup is set, with the Orlando Pride and the Kansas City Current destined for yet another big-stakes matchup next weekend. The Pride advanced on Friday night with a 4-1 win over the Chicago Red Stars, as the team looks to add the NWSL championship trophy next to its 2024 NWSL Shield. On Saturday, the Current joined them thanks to, of course, a goal from Temwa Chawinga as they defeated the North Carolina Courage 1-0.

The narrative heading into the playoffs largely centered around the top four seeded teams and the expectations that all four will advance because the 2024 regular season has shown a clear divide between the best-performing teams and the rest of the league. So far, that narrative has panned out, though Bay FC and the Portland Thorns hope they can buck the trend on Sunday.

It was hardly an emphatic statement win, but the KC Current are through to the semifinal round.

From the opening whistle, the Current raced toward its desired outcome. Among the NWSL’s most high-octane attacks all season, KC rallied the crowd at CPKC Stadium early as Chawinga opened the scoring in the eighth minute. The record-setting striker stuck with a sequence that forced goalkeeper Casey Murphy into several saves, ultimately spilling the ball right to Chawinga inside the six-yard box.

While the hosts sustained that fervor for another 10 minutes, North Carolina capitalized on a more relaxed game state and leaned into the team’s possession-based instincts. The Current struggled to find Chawinga in transition for the next hour, and the Courage outshot the Current 9-2 from the 17th minute through the 77th. Germany international Almuth Schult came up big for KC, making four saves to protect her goal and with it, the lead.

Despite winning the elimination game, the Current faced similar issues to those seen in the U.S. women’s national team under head coach Vlatko Andonovski, who now leads KC. Early in the second half, Chawinga pulled up clutching her hamstring, requiring treatment before returning to the game. Clearly half a step below her usual pace, Andonovski decided not to rotate her out with a 1-0 scoreline still intact. The Malawi international played all 90 minutes despite going to ground clutching her hamstring multiple times in the final 10 minutes, a worrying sign for the Current.

After the game, both Vlatko Andonovski and Vanessa DiBernardo responded to questions about Chawinga being targeted for fouls.

“It wasn’t just this game. If you look at the season, every game, they’re overly physical against (Chawinga) and it’s not fair,” Andonovski said. “It’s not fair for Temwa. They’re targeting her. They’re going directly at her. And I just hope that as we go forward, she gets more protection from the referees.”

“I think she has a lot of attention on her physically and just I think when we see that happen over and over again and her not get the calls that she should be getting, it gets frustrating,” DiBernardo said.

Keeping Chawinga on the pitch while clearly impacted by the aggression — coupled with the whole team seemingly going into a turtle’s shell after the 20th minute — showed much of the pragmatism that cost Andonovski’s USWNT last summer. If Saturday is any indication, that mentality may keep them from overcoming an Orlando Pride side that has already stamped its superiority over KC this season. Chawinga’s status will be closely monitored, as she’s clearly vital to carry the Current’s attack in close games like these.

Orlando came into the game hot to go. Banda’s own goalkeeper, Anna Moorhouse, has spoken this season about how little time you have when Banda is closing down on you. It was precisely that pressure that put Chicago on notice, particularly throughout the first half.

Though Banda didn’t open the scoring — that was reserved for a header from Haley McCutcheon in the 26th minute — she had a brace by the halftime whistle, both times racing into space and selecting the right shot on Red Stars goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher. Her second goal was an example of her ability to quickly select an unexpected shot, to know when to pick placement and when to pick power, as her whisper-gentle touch feathered it past an onrushing Naeher.

Chicago did get one back from the initiative of rookie Jameese Joseph, who pounced on Moorhouse as she took too much time on the ball. But mostly, the team looked unable to keep up with Orlando, confused in midfield and vulnerable on defense.

“I feel like they were definitely baiting us. They wanted us to play through the middle and I think we really did a good job of exploiting them in the wide areas and behind,” said midfielder McCutcheon after the game. “Those transition passes when we win the ball in their shape, and they’re disorganized, is where we want to exploit them. That’s how Barbra got her first one, I think her second one as well.”

Importantly for Orlando, Banda got on the scoresheet after a big cooling-off period in terms of her scoring after the Olympics. It was against perhaps the weakest opposition they were likely to face in playoffs, but there’s no quantifying the confidence boost that can come from scoring after a bit of a drought.

“Barbra’s had an unreal year, and she’s gone through an Olympics, a lot of change coming into a new team,” McCutcheon said. “And so I think that she’s shown, not just in the goal she scored tonight, but in her play and her pressing, her defending, that when we can get her more involved in any capacity that it’s going to help the team.”

Pride defender Emily Sams said in early October — while Orlando’s undefeated streak was still intact — that the team felt it would be far better to lose in the regular season than in playoffs.

“And then you can build back up from that loss and see what it says about the character of the team,” Sams said. “And then learn about yourself and your team, and then take that into playoffs.”

The Pride lost 2-0 away to the Portland Thorns and then 3-1 away to Gotham FC before getting back to its winning ways with a 3-2 win over the Seattle Reign to close the regular season. The team did exactly what Sams talked about: rode the upswing into its playoff game against Chicago.

The other half of the quarterfinal bracket will feature in a doubleheader on ABC on Sunday, Nov. 10. The Washington Spirit is up first against Bay FC at 12:30 p.m. ET, then NJ/NY Gotham FC hosts Portland Thorns FC at 3 p.m. ET. The winners of those two matches will advance to the other semifinal match next weekend, with the location to be determined by the highest seed remaining.

Semifinals between the four teams that advance will take place the weekend of Nov. 16. Kansas City will host the finalists in the championship on Nov. 23.

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

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