Match Preview: KC Current at Angel City

Get ready to be tired on Thursday because the NWSL is giving us a midweek game on the west coast. The Kansas City Current head to the City of Angels for a 9:00 kickoff (probably closer to 9:10) in a match that could see KC building on their recent momentum. The Current are riding a three-match win streak (and four of their last five) and are meeting an Angel City team that is trending in the opposite direction.

When looking at the Current’s season as a whole to this point, the biggest blemish came the last time the team played three matches in a week. The team’s second, third, and fourth games were a Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday stretch with all three games on the road. Kansas City lost each of those and found themselves mired at the bottom of the standings and facing a lot of questions. This time around, the schedule makers were a little kinder to the Current with a Friday-Wednesday-Sunday trio of games, with two of them at home.

Since that rough early season stretch, the team has lost just once and is gradually looking a lot more like the squad that has dominated the league for much of the past two years. Over their most recent three matches, KC has scored eight and only conceded once (they’re hoping to build on a 186-minute shutout streak). They have almost climbed out of the negative goal differential they buried themselves in early in the season (currently sitting at -1).

Much of this recent momentum can be credited to the return of reigning MVP, Temwa Chawinga. She missed the season’s first four games and then had to build her minutes back up, but has tallied five times over the past two matches–suddenly leaping into second place in the Golden Boot race. Her return to form has clearly also benefited Michelle Cooper and Croix Bethune–both with multiple assists/goals over this stretch. The Cooper to Chawinga connection is proving especially strong, as three of Temwa’s five goals have come from a Michelle pass.

🚨 TEMWA BRACE ALERT 🚨TC6 puts herself at number 2 on the Golden Boot leaderboard with her second goal of the night 👏

— KC Current (@kansascitycurrent.bsky.social) 2026-05-16T01:41:39.487Z

Similarly, the Current’s defense is increasingly resembling the impenetrable force from 2025. The starting group that includes a back four of Rouse, Ball, Sharples, and Rodriguez, with the double pivot of LaBonta and Feist (or Rocky Rodríguez when healthy) is limiting opportunities for the opposition. And when there is a shot headed towards KC’s goal, Lorena is looking much more like the 2025 Goalkeeper of the Year.

A MELHOR DO MUNDO 🤯Lorena got height for this save 🔥

— KC Current (@kansascitycurrent.bsky.social) 2026-05-16T01:31:14.955Z

Some of this season’s wins for the Current: Gotham, North Carolina, even Utah, look good on their resume, but this most recent stretch of domination has come at the expense of two of the worst teams in the league, Chicago and Houston. That makes these next pair of matches before hosting Boston and heading into the long World Cup break that much more significant. Los Angeles is always a tricky place to play and then this Sunday’s game hosting the Portland Thorns could help define a favorite heading into the back half of the season.

First up is the trip west with an Angel City team (much like the Houston Dash team) that started the year very strong only to have significantly fallen off of late. Three games into the season, the Angelinos were alone in first with a perfect 3-0-0 record. However, they haven’t won since. They did manage to hold Portland to a scoreless draw on Sunday, but that followed four straight defeats.

LA had the NWSL player of the month for March with Icelandic forward Sveindís Jane Jónsdóttir opening the season on a tear. Unfortunately for her and for the team, she suffered a foot injury and will likely be unavailable for Wednesday’s match. (Angel City could also be without Savy King, Sydney Leroux, and Hina Sugita.) And while LA will be home for this match, they will be at a slight rest disadvantage having just played on Sunday evening, compared to the Current’s last match coming on Friday.

With all that said, Angel City still have a very talented squad. This is especially true along the back line as the trio Gisele Thompson, Sarah Gordon, and Emily Sams will make life hard for KC’s attackers. Gordon is considered one of the league’s fastest players, so could negate one of the advantages that a player like Chawinga brings to a match. Higher up the field, Riley Tiernan, Jun Endo, and Kennedy Fuller are trying to pick up the slack left in the wake of Jónsdóttir’s absence.

While CPKC Stadium continues to be a fortress for the Current, the road has been much less friendly this year. KC has four (lopsided) losses away from home and only the one win they picked up in Cary, NC. For a team with designs on making 2026 a year to remember, they will need to improve on their performances outside of Missouri. The final road test of the first half of the season comes on Wednesday night against a team desperate to regain their form and climb back up the standings. It will almost certainly prove to be a bigger test than these previous two matches, but still one the Current should be able to handle.

Weekday warriors to the front! See you on Wednesday 😎

— Angel City FC (@angelcity.com) 2026-05-16T02:00:45.517751751Z

WHEN: Wednesday, May 20 at 9:00 PM (Central Time)

WHERE: BMO Stadium, Los Angeles, CA

HOW TO WATCH: Victory+ / 38 the Spot

Record:

KC Current: 5-0-4 (15 points, 6th place)

Angel City FC: 3-1-4 (10 points, 12th place)

Last Match:

KC Current: 3-0 home win versus Houston Dash

Angel City FC: 0-0 road draw versus Portland Thorns