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KC Current Win the Women’s Cup for First Trophy in Club History

The Kansas City Current are The Women’s Cup champions with a 1-0 victory over Spain’s Atletico Madrid in KC.

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2 months ago

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Credit: Thad Bell

The Kansas City Current entered Saturday night with a chance to win the first trophy in club history. While The Women’s Cup was just a two-game tourney, winning trophies is never a bad thing to see.

The KC Current rolled out a relatively first choice lineup, minus the injured Bia and a still recovering (and available off the bench), Izzy Rodriguez. New signing Jereko wasn’t on the bench but should be available when the regular season returns for KC next weekend. She was in the stadium on Saturday night.

Atletico Madrid rolled out 10 of 11 starters from Wednesday’s game, only replacing Rosa Otermin with Andrea Medina. That included goalkeeper Lola Gallardo, who pulled a “full Tim Melia” when she had a perfect shootout victory over INAC Kobe on Wednesday.

First Half

The game got off to a dicey start for Madrid who turned the ball over to Temwa Chawinga just outside their box in the first minute, but the defense did well to force a throw. Moments later, a well-executed corner kick led to Ellie Wheeler being wide open but her shot off the volley was skied well over the goal. Atletico earned a corner, but it was more a chance for KC than them as Temwa dribbled the through five players before laying the ball off to Claire Hutton who was dispossessed from behind. Right after that, Vanessa DiBernardo clipped a beautiful ball over the defense to a well-timed Debinha run, only for her first touch to get away from her and the defense to block the shot. That was all in just seven, intense minutes.

Madrid would finally have a moment of their own in the 9th minute when an attack worked up the right side (Wheeler was playing left back, not Mace) led to a half clearance and volley just over the bar. The Current answered immediately with a quick play up the left side that led to Temwa getting a shot off that drifted just wide of the post. Up to that point it was the best chance of the night.

In the 12th minute, KC would break through. DiBernardo opened up the defense with a pass to Debinha, who found Chawinga, who opted for the assist and set Deb up for a nicely slotted ball into the bottom corner. 1-0 KC.

In the 15th minute, off a corner, the Current nearly added a second goal. Cooper got the ball and raced to the endline and sent a ball across the box that seemingly touched every player but didn’t bounce into the net. The game’s first yellow card would come a few minutes later when Madrid’s Synne Jensen (#7) fouled Michelle Cooper from behind after the Current broke up a promising Spanish attack.

24 minutes in, it was six shots Kansas City (just one on goal) and one for Atletico Madrid (zero on goal). The Current also led corner kicks three to one. A couple minutes later, the KC Current looked to be in deep on goal, but the offside flag went up, and the attack was correctly thwarted.

Outside of that moment, the game lost a little of the frenetic pace that opened the first 20-25 minutes. Atletico Madrid started playing that prototypical Spanish style and made quick, one-touch passes to maintain possession. Despite control, they couldn’t even get the ball into KC’s final third. While Kansas City wrestled away a good chunk of the rest of the possession, the rest of the half, including one minute of stoppage time, came without any major events.

The halftime stats match the 24th minute version, except one more off target shot arrived from Atletico Madrid and KC earned one more corner. KC up 1-0 at the half.

Second Half

No changes for the KC Current at the half. Jensen, who was on a yellow, came out for Rosa Otermin (#14) for Atletico Madrid. While no subs were made, the KC Current did change tactics slightly. They moved Chawinga wide left and Debinha more centrally.

Deb and Temwa continued to flip back and forth and in the 52nd minute, Merle Barth got caught and had to drag Temwa down for the game’s second yellow card. The ensuing free kick was played on the ground and turned over, but KC quickly counter-pressed and won the ball back leading to DiBernardo testing the keeper who pushed the ball out for a corner. That led to a ball sliding all the way through the box to Wheeler who took a forearm in the back that the ref, Ekaterina Koroleva, deemed to be shoulder to shoulder.

KC kept the pressure on when a ball into the box found Debinha who played a short pass to Lo LaBonta who slide into her shot and blasted it off the keeper.

Triple sub for Atletico in the 61st minute. They subbed out Vilde Boe Risa (#6), Gabby Garcia (#8) and Sheila Guijarro (#9). They were replaced by Giovanna Queiroz (#18), Luany Vitoria Da Silva (#22) and Fiamma Benitez (#22).

KC kept coming on the attack when LaBonta intercepted a ball at the midline, dribbled through the middle of the park and played an inch-perfect through ball to a hard charging Cooper. Unfortunately, Gallardo closed down Cooper quickly and her shot was saved. KC kept coming with a quick cross to Chawinga who took a half shot half touch and it fell kindly to the keeper. Atletico earned another corner, but once again it was more dangerous for KC than Madrid. After AD got a punch to the ball, Debinha was pulled down from behind by Tatiana Pinto (#17) for yet another yellow card.

The frenzy continued with a wild sequence where a ball was deflected and landed with DiBernardo behind the keeper, but the flag (correctly) went up for offside on the initial ball in and negated the chance. Next Alana Cook had her jersey tugged form behind for a common foul, despite that being a yellow card in all other situations tonight. Otermin avoided a card, letting her have another freebie for later if she needs it.

Atletico finally tested Franch in the 72nd minute but she executed a lovely kick save to keep the ball out of the net. In the 73rd, KC made their first subs bringing off DiBernardo and Cooper for Nichelle Prince and Bailey Feist.

Nothing broke the rhythm for Kansas City though. In quick succession Debinha and Chawinga tested the keeper on back-to-back possessions before a third chance led to a corner. In the 80th minute, KC went to the bench again, this time subbing off Hailie Mace for Rodriguez. That move pushed Wheeler to right back and Izzy moved to left back.

After that sub, the game became a bit chaotic. Lots of ineffective possession, fouls and turnovers. In the 86th minute, LaBonta became the first Kansas City player to go into the book. It looked like she won the ball clean, but the ref had been getting onto her case for a foul and a shot a split-second after a whistle earlier, it felt like it was coming, deserved or not. The game muddled along into stoppage time when a minimum of three minutes were added to the clock.

In the 93rd minute a foul in the back of LaBonta on an Atletico Madrid corner that had a ball drift wide, effectively ended the game. Franch’s goal kick didn’t even touch the ground before the final whistle blew. The Kansas City Current win 1-0 and lift the first trophy in club history.

The KC Current return to NWSL action next Sunday, August 25th on the road against the Washington Spirit in a return to NWSL play at 11:00 AM CDT.

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I've been covering Kansas City soccer since 2014, including Sporting Kansas City, the KC Current, SKC II and more. I'm based out of Kansas City, MO, but got my start covering SKC while writing from Phoenix, AZ.

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