Star-y Night in KC as the Current Host Chicago: Match Preview

Last weekend, there was a party in Kansas City. For the first time ever, the NWSL Shield resides in KC!

Rest at the end, not in the middle 🗣️

Watch the recap of our first @NWSL shield in club history 🎥 pic.twitter.com/vRAQOXwh7R

— KC Current – x (@thekccurrent) September 24, 2025

The Current locked in against the Seattle Reign on Saturday knowing that a win would clinch them the Shield (and the #1 seed in the playoffs) and emerged with a 2-0 victory thanks to goals from Debinha and birthday girl Temwa Chawinga and the team’s ninth straight shutout. Seriously, no NWSL team has scored against the Current in three-and-a-half months. They have established a new season record for total shutouts at 14 and have absolutely demolished the previous record for shutouts in a row.

DE OUTRO MUNDO 🤯🧱

Lorena breaks the @NWSL record for consecutive shutout minutes previously at 554 – with 6️⃣3️⃣2️⃣ minutes! pic.twitter.com/zYIBUFKGy7

— KC Current – x (@thekccurrent) September 23, 2025

With her goal, Chawinga regained the lead (on a tiebreaker) in the Golden Boot race with 13 tallies thus far. Her goal was also the first time she’d scored with her head in the NWSL and may result in coach Vlatko Andonovski showing up on Friday with some brightly colored hair.

Temwa challenged Vlatko to dye his hair if she scored a header 💀

Coach knew better than to accept that bet 😂 pic.twitter.com/Uy6ZaNi7SQ

— KC Current – x (@thekccurrent) September 21, 2025

As much as last weekend was a celebration and a coronation of, perhaps, the league’s next dynasty, there are still five remaining regular season matches to play. Yes, the Current have accomplished basically all they can prior to the playoffs beginning, and won the Shield faster than any team in league history, but that won’t matter to the Chicago Stars who visit CPKC Stadium for a primetime showdown this Friday night.

For Chicago, while this has largely been another season to forget, after finishing 8th last year and in the cellar in 2023, they have actually been one of the better, more exciting teams since the summer break. Yes, they suffered a 1-0 loss to the Houston Dash last weekend, but prior to that, they had been on a seven-match undefeated streak and forward Ludmila established herself as one of the most dangerous players in the league. Before the shutout at the hands of the Dash, Chicago had scored 15 goals in seven games, with Ludmila being responsible for six of those. She also set the record for the fastest ever hattrick when she notched three goals in ten minutes to complete a 3-3 comeback against the North Carolina Courage. Ludmila now sits third in the Golden Boot race, just three goals behind Chawinga and Gotham striker Esther.

Of course, the (Red) Stars have been without one of their key pieces this season as Mallory Swanson has sat out while on maternity leave. But despite that, and despite occupying last place with just two wins on the season, they do feature several noteworthy players, including two USWNT vets in goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher and Sam Staab. They also have former FCKC woman Shea Groom who scored Chicago’s lone goal when these teams met back in May, a 3-1 KC win.

Despite the Stars recent run of form with just the single loss in the last eight games, they have been all but eliminated from the postseason. They sit at 15 points while North Carolina, currently occupying the final playoff spot, has 28. With five matches to go, the most points Chicago could possibly reach is 30 and even if they managed that, they would basically need the Courage and many of the other five teams directly ahead of them, to not pick up more than a single point the rest of the way.

3 teams are tied at 31 points with only 5 games to go 😧@carmax.com | #RoadToTheShield

— NWSL (@nwslsoccer.com) 2025-09-22T15:08:49.794Z

So, this Friday presents an interesting matchup of two teams whose fates have basically already been sealed. Kansas City has won the Shield and is locked into first place. They could lose each of the next five games by 100 goals and they would still enter the playoffs as the #1 seed. Chicago, meanwhile, barring an absolute miracle, will spend November watching soccer from their couches.

What does that mean for the game itself? Well, undeniably, the Current’s full focus is on what starts November 7th–the playoffs. That means that for the next month-and-a-half, Vlatko and the rest of the team can treat the games however they feel like. Almost certainly, that means giving some of the regular starters some rest. Both Chawinga and Michelle Cooper have missed games recently because of minor injuries, and Hailie Mace twisted her ankle against Seattle last week. There is no need to rush any of these players back into action.

Additionally, this is an ideal time to get some of the lesser used athletes some minutes. Players like Alex Pfeiffer, Mary Long, Katie Scott, Regan Steigleder, Bayley Feist, & Laurel Ivory could all see meaningful action. (This would also certainly be true for Kristen Hamilton if she was ever not on the injury list.) This would also be the time to build up minutes for someone like Gabby Robinson, and to continue the integration process for someone like Ally Sentnor.

Vlatko is known as a coach who is always tweaking how his team functions, implementing new tactics or new formations to test them out. Again, these next five games would be perfect for any more of those experiments.

With all that said, it will also be important to not change things up too much, or give the regulars too much time off, because the team will need to be sharp when they step on the field for the quarterfinals. As wild as it sounds, it is entirely possible that the team KC will host in the first round will be the Orlando Pride as they are currently just a single point above the Courage. While they have been falling fast ever since Barbra Banda was injured, they remain the only team the Current have never defeated at CPKC Stadium, the only visiting team to ever beat KC on their new home soil.

The only other possible considerations for the Current heading into these final five games would be individual ones and/or records. For example, how far can the Current extend their shutout streak? Will Chawinga earn her second straight Golden Boot, and perhaps even MVP? Can Kayla Sharples complete an “iron woman” season by playing every minute for KC? Will the Current establish a new record for most points earned in a season? Some of these “legacy” types of goals may take a backseat to the more important goal of situating the team in the best possible position to finish the season strong and hoist another trophy on November 22nd.

Regardless of what approach Vlatko and the team takes, and what the starting eleven looks like that trots out on the field Friday night, the focus will be on continuing the good vibes and reminding the Stars that they’re at the opposite end of the table for a reason.

Congratulations to the 2025 @NWSL Shield winners, @thekccurrent 🩵 https://t.co/3ukIhKCJ0k

— U.S. Women's National Soccer Team (@USWNT) September 21, 2025

WHEN: Friday, September 26 at 7:00 PM (Central Time)

WHERE: CPKC Stadium, Kansas City, MO

HOW TO WATCH: Prime Video

Record:

KC Current: 17-2-2 (53 points, 1st place–locked in)

Chicago Stars: 2-9-10 (15 points, 14th place)

Last Match:

KC Current: 2-0 home win versus Seattle Reign

Chicago Stars: 0-1 road defeat against Houston Dash