Kansas City NWSL stays alive in Challenge Cup with draw at Chicago

We’re all taught growing up that plagiarism is bad. Whether it’s copying your friend’s homework in middle school or plagiarizing an essay in college, stealing someone else’s work is pretty universally frowned upon.

But for Kansas City NWSL on Wednesday night, copying the Chicago Red Stars’ tactics wasn’t such a bad thing.

Taking a note out of the Red Stars’ playbook, Kansas City recorded a 1-1 tie at Chicago’s SeatGeek Stadium for the club’s first points since the franchise returned to KC this season.

Amy Rodriguez scored the opener in the 80th minute off a Chicago defensive error but Red Stars substitute Katie Johnson leveled the score just two minutes later.

“It was a hard-fought game,” Rodriguez said. “I commented that Chicago is such a disruptive team, they’re hard to play against, and a lot of loose balls were around and we tried to get on them, but all in all it was a very tough match against a very good opponent today.”

Soccer is often considered a game of trends, and Wednesday night’s game exhibited a pair of early-season trends in the 2021 Challenge Cup.

For Chicago, that’s dominating possession yet being unable to find that final decisive pass or shot in the offensive third. The Red Stars entered the game with zero goals through two games despite dominating games.

For Kansas City, it was an inability to keep sustained possession and pressure on their opponents as well as playing too many wayward passes in the midfield.

And in the first half at Chicago’s SeatGeek Stadium, those trends continued.

For fans unaware that they were watching a competitive game, they could be understandably mistaken into thinking they were watching a training session in which the game is only played in one half.

Chicago controlled everything from possession to the tempo of play in the opening 45 minutes, pinning Kansas City deep into its half.

“First half we got hammered, let’s be honest,” KC head coach Huw Williams said. “They were way better than we were in the first half, and you know what, you’ve got to give credit to them too, that’s a good team that we just played against.”

It was a high-pressure system that saw the Red Stars immediately surround KC’s white shirts whenever the visitors picked up possession of the ball. Whenever Kansas City did try to play out of its half, the build-up play would quickly be snuffed out by the Red Stars midfield.

Part of the issue for KC was the formation that saw them play two defensive midfielders in Desiree Scott and Gaby Vincent. With the two players sitting back, KC failed to garner much momentum and Williams said after the game he doubts the team will turn to that tactic soon.

And when KC tried to go long, the Chicago backline was far enough back to diminish any threat of a ball over the top.

But despite Chicago’s heavy pressure, the Red Stars just managed one shot on target in the first half, and that was excellently headed off the line by Katie Bowen.

Something had to change for KC heading into the second half, and that was copying Chicago’s homework.

Kansas City put heavy pressure on Chicago after halftime and kept the backline at a safe distance to eliminate the threat of Red Stars forwards Kealia Watt and Katie Johnson.

A large reason for that change was a slight tactical change by Williams for his wingers, Victoria Pickett and Michele Vasconcelos.

Despite an impressive debut in midfield against Portland in KC’s Challenge Cup opener, Pickett was moved to the left wing to start the game against Chicago but rarely touched the ball as KC was pinned back.

Williams instructed his wingers to tuck tighter inside in the second half. Kansas City was struggling to get the ball into the feet of center midfielder Lo LaBonta in the first half, and it they did, she had little support.

Instructing Pickett and Vasconcelos to tuck inside gave LaBonta options outside of Rodriguez directly ahead of her.

“(Pickett) is a player that we’re very high on and we need to find her feet,” Williams said. “She is very good at beating players in one-v-one, able to glide past players, comfortable on the ball, and we feel that she can be dangerous for us. We needed to find her feet a lot more, too.”

Kansas City managed to finish the game with seven shots thanks to the increased pressure, but it was a Chicago miscue that allowed KC to take the lead.

A long kick from KC goalkeeper Abby Smith bounced all the way to Chicago’s box, and after some miscommunication from Red Stars defender Sarah Gorden and goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, Rodriguez sneaked in to strike the ball first time past Naeher.

“Playing in a quiet stadium such as this one, you almost felt like you were waiting for the ref’s whistle to blow,” Rodriguez said. “But I remember the ball kind of bouncing through the defenders and goalkeeper maybe having a bit of confusion of who was coming out to get it.

“And honestly I just kind of pounced on it and passed it in the goal really. It wasn’t too much thought into it other than ‘Did that count?’”

But just two minutes later, the Red Stars equalized through Johnson. On a similar long ball that led to Kansas City’s goal, Johnson latched onto a long pass from Arin Wright, took a quick touch and slotted past Smith.

The goal had hints of offside but without an offside flag signaling the end of play Johnson ran clear though to grab the equalizer.

The result means that Chicago has been knocked out of the 2021 Challenge Cup while Kansas City’s hopes stay alive with their home opener at the Houston Dash on Monday.

This story was originally published April 21, 2021 at 7:51 PM with the headline "Kansas City NWSL stays alive in Challenge Cup with draw at Chicago."