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Teal Rising? Check! Current Cruise to Victory

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12 hours ago

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After Brazilian side Corinthians downed the Chicago Stars 1-0 on a 92nd minute goal to book their spot in the Teal Rising Cup finals on Tuesday, all eyes turned to the main event. Host Kansas City Current, the runaway best team through the first half of the NWSL season, welcomed Brazilian powerhouse Palmeiras in the evening’s second semifinal. Would KC prove their mettle against an international opponent or would the visitors spoil the party and set up an all-Brazil final?

Even before the kickoff, Kansas City got some good news as it was announced that Alex Pfeiffer, the now 17-year-old (who scored in her first ever match as a 16-year-old to open CPKC Stadium last season), had been removed from the season-ending injury list and would be available to play in this match. Additionally, Lo LaBonta’s name also appeared on the matchday roster. She’s been out for over a month after suffering an injury during international play with the USWNT.

Unsurprisingly, the starting 11 featured a heavily rotated group as several reserves earned some of their first minutes of the season.

A couple roster notes: the Current signed Grace Gordon as a goalkeeper (backup) replacement player for the Teal Rising Cup since the team’s normal starting keeper, Lorena, is with the Brazilian national team through July. Similarly, Meila Brewer, a young defender who had trained with KC this offseason, was added to the roster for this tournament. Additionally, it was curious that Bia Zaneratto did not feature on the matchday roster. Her image has adorned almost all of the promotional materials for this tournament since not only is she in fine form, but she played for Palmeiras from 2020-24 and is the club’s all-time leading scorer with 55 goals in 83 matches.

The South American team countered with this lineup.

Despite Kansas City only featuring one or two regular starters, they still looked like ventage Current once the opening whistle blew. A team whose identity has been racing out to quick starts and notching early goals, KC nearly had the first tally in the ninth minute. Hopkins got on the end of a bouncing cross and neatly put it in the back of the net, but was correctly flagged to have been offsides.

Shortly thereafter, Palmeiras enjoyed one of their few quality attacking moments and might have scored had Sharples not had a perfectly timed sliding intervention. Sharples, the only (non-GK) player for KC to have been on the field for every minute of the first half of the regular season, got to wear the captain’s armband tonight with such a young team surrounding her.

Most of the rest of the first half played out similarly, with the Current dominating possession and shooting statistics. Scott floated in a few great corner kicks that KC’s taller players: Hopkins, Sharples, Long, worked to get on the end of. Lacho showed off her pace and work rate and nearly created a goal as she danced along the endline and shot from a tight angle.

Then, in the 33rd minute, all the pressure paid off. Prince accelerated her way past her defender and had a perfect cutback pass that Feist cleverly settled for Hopkins to finish.

And as if that wasn’t enough, eleven minutes later the Feist to Hopkins connection struck again. Bayley played Haley into space down the left side of the field. Hopkins carried it into the box, cut it back to her right and roped a shot inside the far post.

The halftime stats showed Kansas City with 57% of the possession, 9 shots to 7, and 4 shots on target to Palmeiras’s 0.

KC made no changes coming out of the locker room and after Wheeler won a free kick from about 20 yards out, Long blasted the ensuing restart over the wall but into the arms of the Palmeiras keeper.

That same keeper would wish for a similar result a few minutes later after Flora Marta Lacho raced to the endline and whipped a ball towards goal. It seemed as if Ravena De Jesus Silva would be able to easily collect the “shoss”, but the spin on the ball proved too difficult to handle as it ricocheted off the goalie into the net for a 3-0 KC lead.

Already with plenty to cheer for, the KC faithful let out a full-throated roar in the 65th minute when Michelle Cooper and (for the first time in over a year) Alex Pfeiffer entered the match for Hopkins and Prince. And then in the 72nd minute, Hutton, LaBonta, and (up from Current II) Brewer entered the fray.

Pfeiffer almost had a dream return when, in the 78th minute, she collected a long pass behind the Palmeiras defense and tried to chip the keeper. She followed that with two more 1v1 attempts on the GK, but De Jesus Silva was up for the challenge each time.

Unfortunately, the official seemed to completely lose control of the match in the dying minutes. As KC lined up another corner kick, there was a lot of shoving in the box (as there had been all game). At some point a player in green appeared to flop to the ground, but after some discussion, Feist was shown a straight red card. It seemed a…curious decision. The Current, therefore had to play out the final few moments with 10 on the field and Bayley will miss Tuesday’s championship match.

Bailey Feist is given a red card. The ESPN+ broadcast doesn't show anything. The Palmeiras player acts like they are elbowed in the face. If there was an elbow, you can't see it, but it's to the body and low. No VAR in this tourney. #KCBaby #TealRisingCup

— Chad Smith (@chadcsmith.bsky.social) 2025-07-13T02:58:22.241Z

Regardless, a dominating 3-0 performance for the Teal in their opening match of the cup named for them. Hopkins with a first half brace and Lacho creating the only scoring in the second frame. They will take the field at 8:00 Tuesday with a chance to lift the third trophy in their brief history.

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Myrtle

Positives: Our depth looks solid. Pfieffer and LaBonta returned and Scott’s corners were quite good. This should give Hopkins confidence. Our active roster was already at 25 before Pfieffer was moved off SEI, so what moves were made to make room? I didn’t see Jerko on the bench, and this seemed like the right time to player here…and Was Brewer signed as a replacement player?

Negatives: An overly physical 2nd half was hard to watch at times, Were Bia and Debinha there? It concerns me that neither were shown, especially Bia being healthy. Hopefully the reffing is a bit better on Tuesday.

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