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Title Town! KC Current Defeat Gotham to Win Summer Cup

Another Cup for the Current!

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Goal celebration | Credit: Thad Bell

 

With the NWSL on a two-week international break, the Kansas City Current and NJ/NY Gotham FC moseyed down to San Antonio to (finally) conclude the NWSL x Liga MX Femenil Summer Cup. Before even the kickoff, the most noteworthy element of this match was who was available for each side. KC was missing a few pieces, most notably Mace and Prince on international duty and Bia still out with a foot injury, but other than that, the Current lined up a very strong A Team to go win this title.

Meanwhile, Gotham–who loaded up on national team talent during the offseason–we’re missing most of their regular starting lineup. Crystal Dunn had an excused absence and Lynn Williams, Rose Lavelle, Jess Carter, Jenna Nighswonger, Yazmeen Ryan, Ann-Katrin Berger, & Emily Sonnett were all out with their national teams. This resulted in a very mix-and-match starting eleven for the Jersey folks, including former Current keeper Cassie Miller.

First Half 

From the opening whistle, Kansas City was clearly the more dangerous team. A nice cross in the first minute found Cooper alone at the back post but she only managed to head it over the crossbar. The Current would finish the half with triple the number of shots as NY wouldn’t get a single look on target. In fact, neither keeper would be credited with a save in the initial 45 as both of KC’s shots on target would be Chawinga chips over Miller’s head and comfortably into the net.

The first breakthrough would come in the 24th minute with LaBonta playing distributor and Chawinga calmly running into space and finishing over Gotham’s netminder. The goal was the first that NJ/NY had conceded in the five matches of the Summer Cup.

Just a couple minutes later, Chawinga’s pace and tenacity would force Gotham’s fullback Bruninha into a foul and yellow card. But in the 37th minute, nothing was going to stop Chawinga from completing her 13-minute brace. Worth noting that the Summer Cup was played throughout the competition without VAR so there is a chance that this goal would have been called back for offsides had VAR been present. As it was though, the lead was stretched to two.

Gotham’s most dangerous moment came literally on the stroke of the halftime whistle. A clever through ball found the feet of Gotham attacker Stevens who looked to be in on goal with only Schult to beat, but a last second slide from Sharples prevented a shot.

Second Half

The double tallies for Chawinga (both assisted by LaBonta) would complete the night for the soon-to-be MVP as she gave way to Elizabeth Ball to begin the final 45. In fact, as the half wore on, Andonovski would get increasingly defensive in his formation, subbing out five of the front six and replacing them with defenders and midfielders.

While Kansas City would create a couple of nice second half chances: Wheeler smashed a shot off the near post and Cooper latched on to a loose ball and had a chance to slot it home with Miller well out of position (but pushed it wide), much of the second half would be played in KC’s defensive end. In fact, Gotham finished the game having taken 10 corner kicks (to Kansas City’s zero), but never really seemed to threaten. Schult was consistently in the right place and wasn’t called upon to make any highlight saves. Despite 63% possession and all those corners, Gotham still only managed 5 shots and none were on target.

While the Current weren’t able to stretch the lead, the game remained a pretty low-stress affair. After the four minutes of stoppage time ticked off, KC was able to celebrate their second trophy of the season.

Following the Women’s Cup title the team earned against African and European (and Asian) competition in August, the Current now have bragging rights over the two top North American leagues with this Summer Cup. Of course, the most sought after prize is still there for the taking over the next month and after a night or two to celebrate this, focus will fully return to the main objective–the NWSL Championship. The Current will finish out the regular season next weekend in Chicago with a chance to finish anywhere from 2nd through 4th in the standings and are already set to host a quarterfinal match on November 9th.

During the trophy celebration, team captain Lo LaBonta was asked how KC had been able to transition from a bottom of the table team in 2023 to one of the best, most dangerous teams on the planet this year. With a grin on her face, her initial response was simply, “Temwa Chawinga!”

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SportsChum

Good to see the girls get some silverware! Well deserved!

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