Match Preview: KC Current at Orlando Pride

Yes, there are still seven regular season matches left for the Current, but the next three, starting this Friday in Orlando, will go a long way towards determining whether or not fans should expect any more hardware for the team this year. Take a look at how things stand right now:

7 Games left… Who's making their way into post-season action? 👀

Here's where things would stand if the season ended today.#NWSLPlayoffs | presented by @googlepixel_us pic.twitter.com/WLRAML8Wpb

— National Women’s Soccer League (@NWSL) September 10, 2024

Kansas City plays every other top-four team over the next three weeks. KC has already lost to both Orlando and Washington and the team’s first non-win of the season was way back in April when they drew at Gotham (after opening the year with three straight victories). Each of these upcoming matches would fall into the category of “six-point” games as a win earns the team three points and keeps an opponent from earning any–incredibly important when playing teams nearby in the standings. Through 19 games played, KC is 9 points back of Orlando, 3 back of the Spirit, and just one ahead of Gotham. A win on Friday shrinks the gap with the Pride to six points (and at worst keeps KC in the same place with WAS and NY). A loss, on the other hand, balloons Orlando’s lead over the Current to 12 points and potentially has KC falling to 4th in the standings. A 12-point deficit with six matches to play is basically insurmountable.

The Current earned a much-needed win last weekend when they hosted the Utah Royals. Just 90 seconds into the second half, Chawinga sprinted nearly the full length of the field and received a perfect pass from LaBonta to notch the only tally KC would need for the W.

CHAWINGA HOLDS NEW CLUB CAREER RECORD: 15 GOALS 👑

Temwa CANNOT be stopped!!!@nwsl | #KCBABY pic.twitter.com/AOF3gkQmkM

— KC Current – x (@thekccurrent) September 8, 2024

The victory staunched some of the bleeding from a three-match regular season losing streak, but also wasn’t quite the dominate win fans might have been hoping for. Remember when this team was scoring goals by the bucketful? Through the first 7 home games of the season, the Current hit the back of the net 25 times. That’s an average of more than 3.5 goals per match. But it’s been since June that KC has scored more than a single goal in any regular season game. The Teal still lead the league in total goals scored this season at 43, but Washington is sitting right behind at 39 and closing the gap fast.

Temwa is still doing (more than) her part by not only leading the Golden Boot race at 15 goals scored, but also setting a new league record with tallies in eight straight regular season matches (and counting). As long as she’s healthy, this team is hard to shut out. However, she suddenly seems like a one-woman show. It wasn’t that long ago that KC was buzzing about how many different goal scorers they could boast. That’s still technically true, but one has to travel all the way back to the 4-1 win over Portland on June 23 to find someone other than Chawinga on the regular season scorer’s sheet. In some ways, the current roster barely resembles that one from the middle of the summer as only five of the starters that day in Portland also started on Saturday versus Utah. In fact, the core of the team’s defense from last weekend (two center defenders and the keeper) weren’t even with the team in June.

But, KC did get the important 3 points last weekend. The issue is that the three teams around them in the standings all did as well. This includes Orlando which still has not lost this (regular) season. June 15th was the last time the Pride didn’t win–since then they’ve beaten Utah, Angel City, Kansas City, Houston, Gotham, & Chicago. With that said, it’s not like they are destroying the opposition. They beat Houston and Chicago 1-0 and Gotham 2-0. Additionally, the argument could be made that the Current actually outplayed the Pride back in early July when ORL emerged with a 2-1 win. KC outshot (both in total shots and shots on target) Orlando and if it wasn’t for a PK call, the game would have ended at worst 1-1. (Side note, Marta, who converted the penalty, was perhaps lucky to still be on the field after continuous and exaggerated dissent towards the ref.)

So then the question becomes what will this match look like? Does the Current travel to Inter & Co Stadium and return the favor to the Pride? Can KC rediscover their diverse and overwhelming attack? (The return of Bia can only help that.) Will Orlando finally get a tally in the loss column? Or will Banda (2nd place to Chawinga in the Golden Boot race), Marta, Moorhouse and company continue their march towards potentially an undefeated record, again dashing the hopes of Kansas City in this otherwise dreamlike season?

WHEN: Friday, September 13 at 7:00 PM (Central Time)

WHERE: Inter & Co Stadium, Orlando, FL

HOW TO WATCH: Prime Video

Record:

KC Current: 11-5-3 (38 points, 3rd place in NWSL league standings)

Orlando Pride: 14-5-0 (47 points, 1st place in NWSL league standings)

Last Match:

KC Current: 1-0 home win against the Utah Royals

Orlando Pride: 1-0 away win against the Chicago Red Stars