KC Current wins the Women’s Cup and thus the first trophy in the club’s history
News

KC Current wins the Women’s Cup and thus the first trophy in the club’s history

Posted on by Edwin

The Kansas City Current entered Saturday night with a chance to win the first trophy in the club’s history. The Women’s Cup was only a two-game tournament, but winning a cup is never a bad thing.

The KC Current fielded a relatively top-notch lineup, minus the injured Bia and the still-recovering (and available as a substitute) Izzy Rodriguez. New addition Jereko was not on the bench, but should be available when the regular season resumes for KC next weekend. She was at the stadium on Saturday night.

Atletico Madrid used 10 of their 11 regulars from Wednesday’s match, replacing only Rosa Otermin with Andrea Medina. This included goalkeeper Lola Gallardo, who was a “consummate Tim Melia” on Wednesday when she scored a perfect penalty shootout win against INAC Kobe.

First half

The game started tricky for Madrid as in the first minute they got the ball to Temwa Chawinga just outside their box but the defence did well to force a throw-in. Moments later, Ellie Wheeler had a free reign from a well-taken corner but her volley went way over. Atletico won a corner but it was more of a chance for KC than them as Temwa dribbled through the five players and then laid the ball off to Claire Hutton who was dispossessed from behind. Immediately after that Vanessa DiBernardo fired a beautiful ball over the defence to a well-timed Debinha but her first touch slipped away and the defence blocked the shot. All this happened in just seven intense minutes.

Madrid finally had a chance in the 9th minute when an attack down the right (Wheeler was playing at left back, not Mace) resulted in a half-clearance and a volley just over the bar. The Current immediately responded with quick play down the left that resulted in Temwa firing a shot that narrowly missed the post. It was the best chance of the night up to that point.

In the 12th minute, KC made a breakthrough. DiBernardo opened up the defense with a pass to Debinha, who found Chawinga, who opted for the assist and sent a beautiful ball into the bottom corner for Deb. 1-0 for KC.

In the 15th minute, Current almost scored a second goal following a corner. Cooper received the ball, ran to the byline and sent the ball across the box, seemingly touching all the players but not finding the net. The first yellow card of the game came a few minutes later when Madrid’s Synne Jensen (#7) fouled Michelle Cooper from behind after Current had blocked a promising Spanish attack.

In the 24th minute, Kansas City had six shots (only one on target) and Atletico Madrid had one (zero on target). Current also had a three-to-one lead in corners. A few minutes later, KC Current appeared to be running deep towards goal, but the offside flag was raised and the attack was correctly blocked.

Aside from that moment, the game lost some of the frenetic pace of the first 20-25 minutes. Atletico Madrid began to play the typical Spanish style, playing quick one-touch passes to keep possession. Despite being in control, they failed to get the ball into KC’s final third once. While Kansas City took away much of the remaining possession, the rest of the half, including a minute of stoppage time, was uneventful.

The halftime statistics are the same as the 24th minute version, except that Atletico Madrid had another shot wide and KC was awarded another corner. KC led 1-0 at halftime.

Second half

No changes for KC Current at halftime. Jensen, who had a yellow card, came on for Rosa Otermin (#14) for Atletico Madrid. Although no substitutions were made, KC Current changed its tactics slightly. Chawinga was moved wide to the left and Debinha moved further into the middle.

Deb and Temwa continued to play back and forth and in the 52nd minute Merle Barth was caught and had to pull Temwa to the ground, earning the second yellow card of the match. The ensuing free kick was played on the ground and turned over, but KC quickly countered and won the ball back, which led to DiBernardo testing the goalkeeper, who pushed the ball out of play and awarded a corner. This led to the ball sliding all the way across the box to Wheeler, who received a forearm to the back, which referee Ekaterina Koroleva ruled as a shoulder to shoulder.

KC kept the pressure on as a ball found its way into the box to Debinha, who played a short pass to Lo LaBonta, who slid into her shot and let it bounce off the goalkeeper.

Triple substitution for Atletico in the 61st minute. They took off 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 continued to attack when LaBonta intercepted a ball at the halfway line, dribbled through the middle of the pitch and played an inch-perfect pass to a hard-charging Cooper. Unfortunately, Cooper was quickly closed down by Gallardo and her shot was blocked. KC came through and played a quick cross to Chawinga who took a half-shot with half-contact and the ball fell at the feet of the goalkeeper. Atletico got another corner but once again it was more dangerous for KC than for Madrid. After AD took the ball with the punch, Debinha was tackled from behind by Tatiana Pinto (#17) and received another yellow card.

The madness continued with a wild sequence where a ball deflected and landed behind the keeper at DiBernardo, but the flag went up (correctly) for offside on the first ball, ruining the chance. Next, Alana Cook was pulled for a common foul from behind the shirt, although in any other situation tonight that would have been a yellow card. Otermin was able to avoid a card, so has a free kick for later if she needs it.

Atletico finally tested Franch in the 72nd minute, but she made a great save to keep the ball out of the net. In the 73rd minute, KC made its first substitutions, taking off DiBernardo and Cooper for Nichelle Prince and Bailey Feist.

Kansas City’s rhythm was not interrupted, however. In quick succession, Debinha and Chawinga tested the goalkeeper on two consecutive possessions before a third chance resulted in a corner. In the 80th minute, KC went to the bench again, this time substituting Hailie Mace for Rodriguez. The switch moved Wheeler to the right side of defense and Izzy to the left side of defense.

After that substitution, the game became a little chaotic. Lots of ineffective possession, fouls and turnovers. In the 86th minute, LaBonta became the first Kansas City player to be booked. It looked like she had won the ball cleanly, but the referee had called her for a foul and a shot a split second after the whistle, and it felt like it deserved it, deserved or not. The game dragged on until stoppage time, when a minimum of three minutes was added to the clock.

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

The KC Current returns to NWSL action next Sunday, August 25th, away against the Washington Spirit at 11:00 a.m. CDT.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *