KANSAS CITY – In what could be a preview for the NWSL Championship, played in the stadium now designated for the final, the Kansas City Current and the Orlando Pride had an absolute battle on Saturday.
The game started off extremely even with both teams having multiple chances. Both goalkeepers came up big to keep their teams in the game. Until, the 37th minute. A miscue by the back line had Barbra Banda one-on-one with AD Franch. Banda buried it past Franch to open the scoring! Just two minutes later, Temwa Chawinga showed why she is in the running for NWSL MVP. She cut up more than five players, dribbled through the last defender, and slotted the ball in the bottom right of the net!
Each team played very physical for the first half. The referee had his hands full managing the players. This produced four yellow cards. The players were very frustrated with the referee. Marta showed lots of emotion after getting a card for throwing the ball at a KC player. She was held back by her teammates as she was screaming at the referee. Right before the end of the second half, Carrie Lawrence committed a reckless challenge. She was shown her second yellow card of the match at this point and was subsequently sent off.
A penalty was called after AD Franch misread a ball played into the penalty area and practically tackled the attacker for Orlando. #10 on Orlando, Marta shot a laser into the top right corner and put Orlando back ahead with 27 minutes to play.
Orlando parked the bus for the rest of the match as they were down a man the whole second half. Kansas City created numerous chances but was unable to find the back of the net. Even after ten minutes of stoppage time, Orlando held KC to the lone goal from Chawinga.
The match finished 2-1 in favor of Orlando. The Kansas City Current suffered their first loss of the season and fell to second on the NWSL table, now behind Orlando who is still undefeated. Fans might blame this game on the referee, however, The Current had the chance to win it for sure and just couldn’t get it done.
The next KC Current game is at the end of August as they will be recognizing the Olympic break. The Current have two players participating.
