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KC Current Pick Up First Regular Season Win

The Kansas City Current beat the Orlando Pride 2-0 for their first regular season win of the year with goals from Debinha and Cece Kizer.

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3 years ago

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Credit: Thad Bell

The Kansas City Current finished out an eventful week on Sunday afternoon. Earlier in the week the team announced that they had parted ways with head coach Matt Potter. Later the same day, they got their first win of the season in their opening match of the Challenge Cup.

The Current (0-3-0) were looking for their first regular season win of the season Sunday when they took on the Orlando Pride (0-3-0), who were also looking for their first win of the season.

One thing that has plagued the Current this season has been the onslaught of injuries and illness that have prevented many players from getting regular time. That trend continued on Sunday with quite a long, extensive injury report from the team.

The starting lineup featured only one change from the Challenge Cup win.  Hailie Mace returned to the starting 11 after being a late scratch due to illness in the Houston match.

FIRST HALF

The Current started the game keeping good position and looking dangerous early. The first good look for the Current came in the 9th minute when Debinha took a shot that deflected off of the post and fell to Cece Kizer. Kizer went down in the box. After a quick check, it was deemed not a foul and play continued.

The next opportunity came two minutes later when Mace came through the defense and made a cross/shot that the Pride keeper, Nelson, saved. The Current did not handle the rebound well and the scored remained 0-0.

By the 20th minute, the Pride started to have better possession, but didn’t have many opportunities to take a shot and require Current keeper, Miller, to make a save. The Pride were given back to back corners beginning in the 22nd minute. The second corner was dangerous, but Miller punched the ball away to end the danger.

The Current got their first corner in the 30th minute. Mace put a ball into the box that was cleared by Orlando and after a flurry of activity and eventually a foul on Vanessa DiBernardo the chance was over.

The Pride took another set of back to back corners and again the Current defending was shaky. Eventually the Current cleared , but not without some moments of worry.

The first half ended with a 0-0 score line with both teams taking 4 shots with 1 on goal.

SECOND HALF

Neither team made any changes at the half.

The Pride had the first opportunity in the second half with a corner kick in the 48th minute. Marta sent a great ball into the box that went flying around off of a couple of headers before heading out of bounds for a goal kick.

The first card of the game went to Ally Watt for Orlando for a late tackle on Hailie Mace from behind. The Debinha took the free kick, but the Pride headed it way. Marta led the Pride on a break, but again neither team could capitalize on the opportunity.

The first goal finally came for the Current when Debinha scored in the 64th minute. Mace took the ball off of the Orlando defender and sent the ball to Debinha who put the home team in front 1-0.

Only a couple of minutes later Hailie Mace makes a run and plays a perfect ball into the box. Cece Kizer gets on the end of it and puts the ball in the back of the net. The Current led 2-0 in the 69th minute.

The Pride tried to answer on their 7th corner kick of the day. The ball bounced off the crossbar, but Current defenders Croix Soto and Gabrielle Robinson (who played a great game!) both got a bit of the ball and cleared the danger.

The Current defended well over the last 10 minutes of the match and limited any Orlando shots in the final moments of the match.

The match ended as a 2-0 win for the Kansas City Current.

UP NEXT

The Current are back in action next Sunday, April 30 at Children’s Mercy Park. The Current take on NJ/NY Gotham FC in a regular season match at 4:00pm.

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Contributor- I am a lifelong Kansas Citian (albeit on the outskirts) and have always been a KC sports fanatic, but my love of soccer started much later in life. I attended my first Sporting KC match in 2015 after watching a few matches on TV. I became a season ticket member in 2016 and haven't looked back! I work full-time as an elementary school teacher in the Northland.

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SportingXK

I only got to watch the second half, but this seemed like a solid performance and more in line with the KC team we were expecting (despite the still long and ever-growing list of injuries).
What a successful switch to push Mace further up the field; no sooner did that change happen than she assisted on two goals.
I keep assuming the goals will come from Cooper, but she hasn’t quite found her scoring touch as a professional. She gets herself a few quality chances but then misses the target or sends a shot straight at the keeper.
Del Fava has quietly become indispensable. She may not always get credited with assists, but she keeps playing a part in the Current’s goals. It’ll be interesting what happens when Glas is finally healthy.
At least in the second half, the defense looked better than it has in recent weeks. It still feels like getting Ball, Scott, Glas, and Loera back will help, but counting Wednesday’s game, KC is on a shutout streak that would extend beyond 180 minutes. It’s interesting that it’s happening with Miller in goal. I didn’t see her have to make any particularly impressive stops this afternoon, but after conceding 9 through 3 matches with Franch, the Current have conceded zero with Miller. I’m not sure what to make of that.
I have a feeling KC is going to start scoring goals in bunches. Debinha and Kizer are already in solid form, and with all the weapons this team has when healthy, this could get fun!

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Bryan (the artist formerly known as Chzbro)

Found myself thinking much the same as XK. I’m still hopeful about Cooper, but I’m starting to worry that she might be ‘merely’ very good as opposed to a “generational talent.” At the moment I’d rather see Hamilton, Mace, or Larsen. This team is still loaded with good attackers.

Katie D is quietly so good. She’s involved in every attack and is seemingly immune from fatigue. I don’t know what happens when Glas is healthy but Kate has to play, imo. She used to be a midfielder…

Cassie Miller is a legit good goalkeeper. She isn’t as athletic as AD but she’s taller and more consistent. I think AD will bounce back but Cassie is capable of taking over if needed. She’s better than backup quality.

I’m reposting this last part from another story because I’m curious if I’m way off base or if others feel similarly.

Quick thoughts – Minniss was treated badly. No sugar coating that. Her mom posting about it does throw up a red flag for me, but the real red flag is that she quit soccer immediately. I am simultaneously upset that she was treated like an afterthought and okay with her being cut. If this was the adversity that broke her, she wasn’t going to make it as a pro.

I don’t think the organization handled Potter well and I don’t like anyone losing a job, but he was not good enough imo. I watch a few NWSL games a week and we were easily the worst passing team in the league. Potter’s go-to tactic is “hoof it long and hope,” which is okay for a struggling-to-compete team but definitely not one with Debinha. While results under Potter did turn around, the play on the pitch never really did. Since he got canned, that’s changed. Just watch how many passes the team strings together! I don’t know why Potter’s firing was handled so badly but it needed to happen. He’s a mediocre (by win/loss rate) college coach, not the kind of driven, this-team-is-my-life coach I’m sure the organization wants.

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SportingXK

This is a really interesting observation about Potter’s style. I hadn’t really made that connection, but I think you’re right. One of the strangest stats about the Current’s season last year was that even towards then end of the season, when they were flirting with the #1 seed, their goal differential was in the negatives, or at best even. That suggested a team that got good at eking out one-goal victories but also was prone to the occasional blowout loss. And, coincidentally or not, that’s how the 2023 season under Potter started as well. I’ll be on board with the new leadership if it continues to translate to better possession (with purpose).

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Chad Smith

I won’t rehash the stuff Bryan and XK already posted, just co-signing on what I saw on the field.

On the other topics:

Minniss: According to that press conference, the league and NWSLPA looked into the Minniss accusations, and it’s done. Now, that’s coming from Cami, so who knows. I haven’t seen a statement from elsewhere. But I have two theories, if it’s true.

  • (1) It’s simply miscommunication and not knowing how to adult from Minniss. Maybe she simply had to present receipts/ask and it’s handled. I can’t imagine them refusing to pay. Now I can imagine there being a level of disorganization (look not further than the handling of Potter’s firing) that didn’t have someone proactively following up. At Sporting, they have that lady Betsy who handles all that stuff for players. She may have a staff for all I know. The KC Current are smaller, and definitely don’t feel as organized. The NWSL is growing, but it’s an opportunity.
  • (2) Mom goggles. Her mom does the posting for her and she’s only getting one side of the story (obviously). We want to believe our children, but sometimes the facts are skewed or you tell a story in a way to present yourself better. We all do it. I do it to the point where I can’t even remember anymore, but I remember my version of the story that I’ve told over and over.
  • On Potter’s firing: I hit this pretty hard on For the Glory KC, go listen 🙂
  • Potter’s tactics: I’ll give two sides. 1st, Sjoblom said they didn’t change tactics on Wednesday b/c it all happened so late, so they executed the plan that was already in place. But 2nd, I do agree it was a lot of sitting in deep and trying to hit on the counter last year. I do believe KC were trying to build towards what happened on Sunday against Orlando. The personnel are there for it offensively and in the midfield, but that defense has me worried.

(Edit: all my bullet points went away.. sad! Re-did my spacing!)

Last edited 2 years ago by Chad Smith
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Bryan (the artist formerly known as Chzbro)

I’m glad you listed those two points on Minniss. The 2nd point is why I said the mom thing is a red flag. We have no idea what happened, but it’s very likely that there is a combination of blame to go around. Even if it’s mostly on the Current, I am certain mom-goggles were a factor. As a professor, when a student’s mother called she never had the full story and I couldn’t tell her what she didn’t know because her “baby” is a legal adult whose education information is private.

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Chad Smith

I bet that’s particularly bad on a college campus. My ‘students’ are adults of all ages and I’m amazed at how non-functional so many of them appear to be. I wonder how they survive in life.

Not saying this about Minniss, just a general observation.

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KCoutsider

Just watching the highlights linked here, nice touches and finishing. SKC could learn a few things.

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SportsChum

Upon watching the first 15 minutes I thought “Wow they’re looking really good”. They were tenacious. Great win!

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